Galaxy J8 undergoing various certifications with a new model number

For some reason, Samsung chose to make the Galaxy J8 official in India last month alongside the Galaxy J6, Galaxy A6, and Galaxy A6+. What made the announcement strange was the revelation that the Galaxy J8 would hit retail in July while the other three devices would go on sale the very next day (at least in India, where the company also quietly launched the Galaxy J4 recently). Perhaps the company wanted folks to know that it has more devices with an Infinity display on the way, and while we can’t say if that was actually the reason, Samsung seems to have doubled down on getting the Galaxy J8 ready for a proper launch.

Samsung testing the Galaxy J8 with an updated model number

The Galaxy J8 was originally coupled with model number SM-J800, but Samsung has now decided to change it to SM-J810F. It is with this new model number that the J8 is now being tested, and the phone has secured important certifications in the last week from the FCC and the Bluetooth SIG. The SM-J810F can also be seen on the Geekbench website, which reiterates that the specs aren’t going to change along with the model number. Oh, and Samsung has put up support pages for the SM-J810F and SM-J810Y in Russia and Thailand respectively, lending more support to the possibility of a global launch in the next couple of weeks.

The Galaxy J8 and Galaxy J8+ were rumored to be rebranded versions of the Galaxy A6 and Galaxy A6+ for some markets, but it’s clear now that a J8+ doesn’t exist and the Galaxy J8 takes elements from both the A6 and A6+. It’s unknown at this point if the Galaxy J8 will launch as widely as the Galaxy J6. It is probably going to be released in markets where Samsung needs to launch as many devices in the budget and lower-mid-range segments as it can to keep the competition at bay, which might be why it is currently listed for countries like India, Russia, and Thailand.

The post Galaxy J8 undergoing various certifications with a new model number appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2kO4Wck
via IFTTT

The Galaxy J6’s build quality and impressive performance betray its low price tag

When we first heard about Samsung’s plans to bring Infinity displays to the mid-range lineup with the Galaxy A8 (2018), we weren’t completely surprised. The company’s flagship phone features have often trickled down to the mid-range A series devices, and it only felt logical that the Infinity display also be brought down to a lower price bracket. It was also necessitated by the industry’s quick adoption of tall, all-screen smartphone design, and Samsung didn’t waste any time in bringing the Infinity display to its budget lineup, either. And, based on my time with the Galaxy J6, I think it’s one of the best moves the company could have made as it struggles to fend off the competition in the budget smartphone market.

The Galaxy J6 punches above its weight

Well, at least that’s one of the reasons why I think the Galaxy J6 feels much better to use than what its price tag. The Infinity display is helped by the unibody design, even though the phone is made of plastic instead of metal or glass. But what really makes the difference here is that Samsung also seems to have worked on optimizing the software. The Galaxy J6 uses the same SoC (the Exynos 7870) as last year’s Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7, but performance is better than I expected it to be. I am yet to run into the kind of stutters and lag Samsung’s budget phones usually develop soon after you start using them, which makes the Galaxy J6 all the more impressive considering it costs less than what the 2017 editions of Galaxy J5 or Galaxy J7 did at launch.

Using the Galaxy J series phones always has me longing to return to a flagship phone, but I’ve not felt the same with the Galaxy J6. Well, unless I open the camera to take a few pictures, which reminds me of the phone’s budget underpinnings. Our full review will give you a better idea of the camera performance and aspects such as battery life on the Galaxy J6, but if I had to give an early verdict, I’d say Samsung has finally managed to make a J series smartphone that punches above its weight.

Don’t Miss: Samsung Galaxy J6 hands-on

The post The Galaxy J6’s build quality and impressive performance betray its low price tag appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2sFPwdt
via IFTTT

Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2018) gets Wi-Fi certification

A couple of days back, we came across what appears to be a successor to the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 on the Bluetooth SIG website. The same device has now been spotted at the Wi-Fi Alliance undergoing Wi-Fi certification. Though not much is known about this device, the series of certifications confirm that the official launch is around the corner.

Comes with Android Oreo 8.1 onboard

Going by the documentation on the Wi-Fi Alliance website, the Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2018) will come with Android Oreo 8.1 onboard. If the launch indeed happens in the near future, then it may be the first Galaxy device to launch with Android 8.1 out of the box. Strangely, no concrete information is available about the specifications of the device yet. However, since the previous model was a mid-range tablet, the same may be true for the 2018 version as well.

To clarify, we are calling this a successor to the original Galaxy Tab A 10.1 based on its model number SM-T595. The 2016 version launched with the model numbers SM-T580 and SM-T585 for the Wi-Fi and LTE variants respectively. If Samsung is sticking to the pattern, then the SM-T595 is an LTE variant of the 2018 model.

Interestingly, the Bluetooth listing mentions the product name for SM-T595 as the Galaxy Tab A2 XL. Whether it is merely an expanded codename for gta2xl used as a placeholder or a new moniker will be known at the time of the announcement.

The post Galaxy Tab A 10.1 (2018) gets Wi-Fi certification appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2kQ2SQJ
via IFTTT

Galaxy A3 (2017) update brings the June 2018 security patch

Samsung is once again releasing an Android security patch for one of its devices ahead of the patch’s official announcement. This time, it’s the Galaxy A3 (2017) that’s on the receiving end. An update for the device is rolling out in a couple of European markets including Germany, Italy, and Nordic countries with the June 2018 security patch. It also hopefully fixes the reboot and bootloop issues some users have faced after upgrading to Android 8.0 Oreo on their A3 (2017), although if that can’t be confirmed just yet. It’s certainly plausible, though, given how Samsung has released the latest A3 (2017) update in so many countries at the same time.

Galaxy A3 (2017) June 2018 security patch

As usual, you can grab the update by opening the Settings app on your phone, navigating to the Software update menu, and tapping Download updates manually. If the update is rolling out in your country, it should start downloading in a few seconds. If it doesn’t, you can try again after a while. You can also download the latest software for your A3 (2017) from our firmware database if you’re feeling impatient, especially if you have had the misfortune of running into issues after installing Oreo. Once updated, the build number on your phone will change to A320FLXXU2CRE3.

Have you received the latest update on your Galaxy A3 (2017)?

The post Galaxy A3 (2017) update brings the June 2018 security patch appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2JfJTKb
via IFTTT

SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine: June 4, 2018

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly Firmware Magazine. You can think of it as your go-to resource to find out which of your Samsung devices has received a new update or if it’s going to receive a new firmware update in the near future.

To keep things interesting, we present the Firmware Magazine in new designs every week. It will always include the important details about firmware updates such as the firmware versions, device model numbers, Android OS versions and the country where said update is out already.

SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine

Keep in mind, however, that these firmware details are based on the firmware that are available in our database, and in some cases, the latest updates might not show in the same week as the full firmware files take additional time to make it to our database.

The purpose of this magazine is to bring all of that important information about firmware updates to you, the reader, in a manner that’s easy to comprehend—so even if you’re new to the world of firmware, you’ll have no trouble making sense of it all.

Click on the image below to grab the latest firmware magazine!

The post SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine: June 4, 2018 appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2syTBAa
via IFTTT