الجمعة، 31 أغسطس 2018

Hands-on: This is the Galaxy J2 Core, Samsung’s Android Go smartphone

Samsung’s first step into the Android Go segment comes in the form of the Galaxy J2 Core. We were the first to reveal the phone in live pictures ahead of its official announcement, and other than the absence of an AMOLED display, leaked specs were rather spot on as well. The J2 Core, like other Android Go phones, is designed to offer a light and relatively quick Android experience with basic specs, especially low memory. There’s just 1GB of RAM on the Galaxy J2 Core, so it’s up to lighter versions of Google’s official apps and various memory management tools to ensure the phone runs well despite the low-end specs.

Galaxy J2 Core hands-on

We were finally able to get our hands on an actual Galaxy J2 Core following its launch in India. We have the phone in blue, and as you can see in the pictures, it looks pretty nice in that color. The J2 Core is priced at ₹6,190, roughly $90, and it’s good to see Samsung is offering at least one funky color option. The back panel – which is removable – also feels different than Samsung’s usual plastic backs for its budget phones. Well, that or we just haven’t used a Galaxy phone with a basic plastic back cover in a while and have forgotten how it feels. It’s smooth and a little slippery, but thanks to the 5-inch display, that shouldn’t be an issue when it comes to handling.

The front of the phone is all black, but sadly, Samsung has also placed its logo below the display. The bezels are also quite big, which is to be expected for a Samsung phone priced so low. And if you are wondering why software navigation keys were needed here, it’s clearly Samsung’s attempt to make things uniform across its Galaxy lineup. After all, now that flagship Galaxies have software keys, it’s only natural for the same to trickle down to lower priced devices. However, that also means unlocking this phone is a chore, since there’s no fingerprint sensor or physical home key.

Okay, now let’s talk about the reason this phone exists: Android Go. While a proper verdict on performance can only be given after a few days of usage, the J2 Core feels quick and smooth out of the box. There has been much contention about the fact that Samsung has slapped its custom interface on the J2 Core, but the company seems to have stripped away many features to keep things lighter than other Galaxy devices. For example, there’s no Advanced features menu in the settings. The recent apps screen, meanwhile, just shows all running apps as separate cards instead of overlapping ones.

But while general navigation feels smooth, browsing isn’t as nice. Both Chrome and the Go version of Samsung’s Internet app skip a few frames when scrolling through a website. That shouldn’t come as a surprise, though, since the J2 Core is running off the entry-level quad-core Exynos 7570 chip. Thankfully, the Go versions of Google’s proprietary apps, such as YouTube and Assistant, seem very optimized as they have a more basic interface than the full-fledged apps. Of course, it remains to be seen how good the phone’s performance remains after a few weeks of usage. Samsung has built in the option to install apps directly to a microSD slot, and an uncrowded internal storage should help matters.

To be frank, our time with the Android Go phone has been rather short at this point. It feels well optimized for the specs under the hood, but we will need to test it out extensively to come to any sort of conclusion. For its price tag, it certainly seems like a better option than Samsung’s Tizen phones, so keep an eye out for our full review in the coming days.

  • Model: SM-J260G
  • Dimensions: 143.4 x 72.1 x 8.9mm
  • Display: 5.0"(126.4mm) TFT
  • CPU: Exynos 7570
  • Camera: 8 MP, CMOS F2.2

The post Hands-on: This is the Galaxy J2 Core, Samsung’s Android Go smartphone appeared first on SamMobile.



from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2PTkg5q
via IFTTT

Samsung Galaxy A8 Star review: A solid mid-range offering

The Galaxy A8 Star is the most costly Galaxy A smartphone Samsung has launched in recent history of the mid-range lineup. But unlike other A series phones, the Galaxy A8 Star isn’t widely available. It was initially launched in South Korea and China, and it has now made its way to India with a price tag of ₹34,990 (roughly $495). We have already given our opinion on some of the A8 Star’s strengths, which are its high-resolution rear cameras, impressive performance, and excellent battery life. Today, we bring you the rest of our Galaxy A8 Star review and our final verdict on the device.

Galaxy A8 Star review: Design

The Galaxy A8 Star initially caught everyone’s attention for its iPhone-like design. To be more precise, it’s the way the dual rear camera module is set up that makes the iPhone inspiration so apparent. And, well, with iPhone lookalikes a big hit in the Chinese market, it wasn’t an entirely surprising move to see from Samsung. The design of the A8 Star is, however, classic Samsung in other aspects. It’s got glass on the front and back and metal on the sides for a premium feel, an Infinity display with small bezels and no notch up front, and a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor that’s placed higher than it should be. There’s no water resistance on this phone, though.

The A8 Star also comes with a hybrid SIM slot, so coupled with those high-resolution cameras and big battery, it might be the lack of internal space that forced Samsung to put the fingerprint sensor so high. But it’s becoming inexcusable at this point, because the A8 Star has the fingerprint sensor just too high for it to be convenient for even those with big hands. You shouldn’t have to move the phone around in your hand to access a fingerprint scanner, and it’s just a shame that Samsung hasn’t yet found a solution. Perhaps the company is doing this on purpose, but even if it isn’t, it’s high time it’s fixed.

The Galaxy A8 Star is special for being the first mid-range Galaxy to sport a dedicated Bixby key. Somehow, I’ve rarely pressed the Bixby key accidentally on the A8 Star compared to the flagships, so rare that I had nearly forgotten the button exists. If you have been skeptical of Samsung pushing Bixby on its devices, that should come as good news. Those who want to give Bixby a chance can do so now without having to spend a premium on one of Samsung’s flagship phones.

Display, Sound

The 6.3-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ (2220×1080) Infinity display on the Galaxy A8 Star is pretty good, as expected. Deep blacks, vivid colors, and wide viewing angles are all here, with the option to shift to have more lifelike colors by switching to the Basic display mode. The bezels, however, aren’t as low as one would like, especially on the top and bottom. It’s the same story with other mid-range Galaxy phones with Infinity displays, and while Samsung is steering clear of notches, the competition has been stepping up its game and that might require the Korean giant to come up with an even more compact design. Hopefully, that will happen sooner rather than later.

Before you ask, yes, the software navigation keys are customizable. The area around the home button isn’t pressure sensitive like it is on Samsung’s flagships, so the fingerprint sensor is the best way for you to quickly unlock the phone despite its problematic placement. You also get facial recognition, but that remains somewhat flaky in poor lighting conditions.

The Galaxy A8 Star’s audio performance is pretty average, at least on the single bottom-firing loudspeaker. It’s fairly loud but lacks bass and also distorts a bit at highest volume. Thankfully, Samsung is bundling good quality earphones and also Dolby Atmos support for wired and Bluetooth audio. Dolby Atmos makes a difference to both the richness and loudness of audio, while also increasing the separation between the left and right channel for a surround sound support.

Cameras

My opinion of the dual rear camera setup hasn’t changed, so you can take a look at our article about the cameras, performance, and battery life to see how they fare. For the front camera, you can take a look at our Galaxy A6+ review, which has the same selfie camera both hardware and software-wise. The A8 Star does get the new camera app from the Galaxy S9, with various camera modes including dedicated night, beauty mode and basic Pro modes for the rear camera and support for stickers. You can take Selfie focus pictures on the front camera for a bokeh effect, which does well enough in good lighting but not so well at other times. A few samples from both front and back cameras can be seen below.

Performance, Battery Life

Since our initial verdict on performance, things haven’t changed. Galaxy A8 Star continues to be smooth, quick, and mostly stutter-free. The Snapdragon 660 is a good chip, and Samsung phones have always done better with Snapdragon chipsets in the mid-range and budget segment. The 6GB of RAM helps, of course. Outside India, the base variant comes with 4GB of RAM, but Indian consumers get the 6GB variant, no doubt because the OnePlus 6 also offers the same amount of RAM on the base variant. As I had said earlier, gaming is particularly impressive on the A8 Star, with some usually intensive high-end games running without any issues.

Battery life has also kept up extremely well. One fine day, with 4 to 5 hours of usage on mobile data (and two SIM cards active), including 45 minutes of navigation, the A8 Star lasted for nearly 22 hours with a screen time of 6.5 hours. On Wi-Fi, this thing refuses to die in less than 24 hours and has 15-20 percent charge left the next morning. Add fast charging to the equation, and the A8 Star is a monster when it comes to battery endurance. Top marks in this regard.

Software

The Galaxy A8 Star comes with Android 8.0 Oreo and the Samsung Experience 9.0 UX. Most features are similar to those found on other mid-range Samsung phones, including Secure Folder, themes support, Dual Messenger, Multi Window, Always On Display, and fingerprint gestures. What the Galaxy A8 Star doesn’t have is Samsung Pay, at least here in India. It’s clear Samsung had to make a few trade-offs, and the high-resolution cameras and large battery made the cut while stuff like Samsung Pay didn’t. A good thing, then, that you have other options from the company, like the Galaxy A8+ (2018). The A8+ might not have dual rear cameras, but you do get a dual front camera and Samsung Pay. Again, it’s all about trade-offs and up to what your preferences are.

As for Bixby, this is the same version of Samsung’s virtual assistant that is found on the company’s flagships launched before the Galaxy Note 9. Bixby 2.0 should arrive at some point in the near future, hopefully with the option to disable the Bixby key intact unlike the Note 9. As far as software updates are concerned, you can expect to get two major updates, which would be Android 9.0 Pie and whatever next year’s version is called. However, security updates may not be as regular compared to the globally available mainstream A series phones.

Conclusion

Without Samsung Pay, the Galaxy A8 Star had a tough job going up against the likes of the OnePlus 6, as it’s one feature that can easily sway the decision in Samsung’s favor when it comes to smartphones at mid-range prices. But it doesn’t fizzle out like you would expect. The battery life and cameras are impressive, as we have already said before. You also get a microSD slot to expand storage, something the OnePlus 6 doesn’t have. And Samsung’s software holds its own when it comes to user-friendly features, with fine performance despite a mid-range chipset inside (and yes, you can expect performance to not deteriorate much over time, another benefit Snapdragon chips seem to bring to Galaxy devices).

I know the OnePlus comparisons above are a bit heavy-handed, so where does the Galaxy A8 Star stand in Samsung’s own lineup? Well, it depends on what you’re looking for. The Galaxy A8+ is great for those looking for a large display, good battery life, dual selfie cameras, water resistance, and Samsung Pay. The A8 Star gets you an admirable dual rear camera, better performance, even better battery life, and a slightly bigger screen in a sleek body. The price could do with being lower by around ₹2,000 (roughly $30), but if that doesn’t matter to you, the Galaxy A8 Star should be on your list if you’re out shopping for a new smartphone.

Pros Cons
Beautiful, sleek design Bezels can be smaller
Excellent AMOLED display Fingerprint sensor is in a horrible location
Solid performance Hybrid SIM slot
Rear cameras perform well, especially for bokeh pictures Loudspeaker is average
Front camera produces clean selfies No Samsung Pay (only Samsung Pay mini)
Battery life is amazing No water resistance

 

  • Model: SM-G885F
  • Dimensions: 162.4 x 77.0 x 7.6mm
  • Display: 6.3" (160mm) Super AMOLED
  • CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 660
  • Camera: 16 MP, CMOS F1.7 & 24MP, CMOS F1.7

The post Samsung Galaxy A8 Star review: A solid mid-range offering appeared first on SamMobile.



from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2C4hIPb
via IFTTT

9 things to set up first on your new Galaxy Note 9

Many of you may have already received your Galaxy Note 9 handsets while others will be picking one up in the next few days. Before you take it out of the box and run through the Galaxy Note 9 setup procedure, here are 9 things that you should set up first on your new Samsung flagship.

Samsung Galaxy Note 9 setup

When you power up your Galaxy Note 9 for the first time you will be taken to the setup wizard which will walk you through the steps. Connecting to Wi-Fi is one of the first steps followed by either logging in with or creating a new Google Account. Accept the user agreements and policies to keep the process moving.

1. Set up Intelligent Scan

Configuring access control to the device should definitely not be skipped during the Galaxy Note 9 setup. There are five different options that can be used for this purpose. The Galaxy Note 9 supports conventional Android methods such as PIN, pattern or password in addition to fingerprint scanning, iris scanning and facial recognition.

It requires you to register your irises and face both. When you try to unlock the device it scans both and just uses what it can detect first. It thus speeds up the unlocking process. Simply follow the on-screen instructions offered by the Galaxy Note 9 setup wizard to configure Intelligent Scan.

2. Sign in or create a new Samsung account

It’s entirely possible to continue using your device without setting up a Samsung account but you’d be better off with it. As the company itself says, the account is your gateway to the world of Samsung. You need it to access the wide variety of services that Samsung offers to device owners.

The Samsung account is your ticket to services like Bixby, Samsung Themes, Find my mobile, Samsung Pass, Galaxy Apps, Secure Folder and Profile Sharing. You also can’t access the 15GB of free Samsung Cloud storage unless you have an account. So this step certainly shouldn’t be skipped during the Galaxy Note 9 setup.

3. Increase display resolution to WQHD+

Samsung opted for a lower default screen resolution on its flagships with the Galaxy S8 and has stuck with it since then. The Galaxy S8, Galaxy Note 8 and Galaxy S9 all come with the resolution set to Full HD+ (2220×1080). If you wanted to get the most out of the display, you had to manually switch to WQHD+.

It’s the same story on the Galaxy Note 9 as well. The handset certifiably has the best smartphone display on the market right now and it doesn’t really make sense to limit it to a lower screen resolution by default. It made sense on those devices because they had smaller batteries. The Galaxy Note 9 has an impressive 4,000mAh battery so do yourself a favor and learn how to switch to WQHD+ (2960×1440) display resolution on the Galaxy Note 9.

4. Configure Always On Display

The Always On Display was introduced with the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge. It displays time, date, battery status, app notifications and more when the display is turned off. This eliminates the need to turn on the display every time you want to check these details at a glance.

It’s highly recommended to configure the Always On Display. The relevant options can be found in the Lock Screen menu of the Settings app. There are various clock styles and colors that you can choose from. FaceWidgets provide quick access to useful information such as the day’s schedule, next alarm, weather and even a music controller. Your contact information can be configured to show on the Always On Display as well.

5. Enable Dolby Atmos

The Galaxy Note 9 comes with stereo speakers that provide a powerful audio experience. Dolby Atmos is a useful feature to have on a device that has stereo speakers so it’s no surprise that the Galaxy Note 9 has it. The feature also enhances the audio experience on the AKG-tuned earphones that ship with the new flagship.

Dolby Atmos is disabled by default on the Galaxy Note 9. It works on the Auto setting which will detect the type of media being played and adapt the audio accordingly. You can also play around with the different mode to see which one fits your use case best. We already have a tutorial up on how to enable Dolby Atmos on the Galaxy Note 9.

6. Configure S Pen Remote

The S Pen has received a major update for the Galaxy Note 9. It’s the first stylus in this series with Bluetooth support. This means that the S Pen can offer features never seen before on a Galaxy Note series device. It can double as a remote control for the camera and media player or even as a controller for presentations.

You’re informed of this new capability when you pull out the S Pen for the first time after the Galaxy Note 9 setup. If you tap on More, you will be taken to the S Pen Remote menu where you can configure what app opens when the S Pen button is held down and what a single or double press of the button does in various apps.

7. Setup Bixby

Bixby’s polarizing presence continues on the Galaxy Note 9 as well and there’s no escaping it because you can’t completely disable Bixby on the device. Might as well set it up and see if the new improvements made to the assistant make it any more useful. Bixby will update when you launch it for the first time by pressing and holding the dedicated key.

You will then be prompted to teach it your voice so that it can wake up when you say “Hi, Bixby.” You can access tutorials within the new Bixby interface to find out more about what it can do. The updated assistant has better natural language processing capabilities and get a lot more done for you without needing additional app installs.

8. Create an AR Emoji

Samsung launched the AR Emoji feature with the Galaxy S9 earlier this year. It lets users create an animated digital likeness of their face which can then be used to record their facial expressions. Samsung also offers a variety of customization options for these digital avatars including hair, clothes, skin tone and more. Samsung also has a deal with Disney which has brought a variety of its popular characters to AR Emoji.

This feature wasn’t present on the Galaxy Note 8 so it’s one that you should take for a spin once you’re done with the Galaxy Note 9 setup. To create an AR Emoji, launch the camera app and select the AR Emoji mode. You’ll need to take a selfie of yourself before the feature can create your digital likeness. It will then present you with the customization options to finetune the appearance of your AR Emoji.

9. Configure Samsung Pay

Samsung’s mobile payments service is available in 24 markets across the globe. If you’re based in one of those markets, you should configure Samsung Pay to make payments on the go. With its MST technology, Samsung Pay lets you pay anywhere that you can already pay using a conventional credit and debit card.

The Galaxy Note 9 obviously has support for Samsung Pay and will allow for one-tap payments on the go. Samsung Pay can also be used for online payments in some markets. Refer to our comprehensive Samsung Pay guide to find out more about how you can set up and use the payments service on your new flagship.


That about does it for this Samsung Galaxy Note 9 setup guide. These are the new key things that you should set up on the flagship once you get it out of the box. Need any more information about any particular step? Let us know in the comments below.

  • Model: SM-N960F
  • Dimensions: 161.9 x 76.4 x 8.8mm
  • Display: 6.4" (162.5mm) Super AMOLED
  • CPU: Exynos 9810
  • Camera: 12 CMOS Dual OIS (F1.5/F2.4) & Telephoto: 12MP AF F2.4)

The post 9 things to set up first on your new Galaxy Note 9 appeared first on SamMobile.



from SamMobile https://ift.tt/2C3lGYb
via IFTTT

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لمدونة الغريب 2013