Watchmaker Orient wants Galaxy smartwatch sales banned

Samsung has changed the branding for its smartwatches recently. “Gear” was the branding previously used for these devices. The Galaxy Watch is what Samsung’s calling its latest model. Samsung did this to bring the product under the Galaxy umbrella which has largely been associated with its smartphones. It will likely stick to this moniker going forward.

Japanese watchmaker Orient is now seeking an injunction against Samsung. Orient says that it trademarked the “Galaxy” monikers for watches in 1984.

Galaxy smartwatch claimed to infringe on trademark

The company has reportedly filed for an injunction with the Seoul Central District Court. It says Samsung has violated the trademark law and the unfair competition prevention law.

Orient does indeed have a trademark for Galaxy related to watches. It was awarded to the company in 1984. Orient has made several Galaxy-branded watches since then. There is a fundamental difference here, though. The local patent system categorizes Samsung’s Galaxy smartwatch as an electronic device. Orient’s Galaxy watches are classified as jewelry.

“We have registered Galaxy and Galaxy Gold trademarks since 1984. Samsung Electronics’ advertisement of Galaxy Watch as a watch is a violation of the unfair competition prevention law and the trademark law,” said an Orient official.

He added that it will now be difficult for Orient to develop and release a smartwatch that utilizes its Galaxy brand. It is thus seeking a sales ban on the Galaxy Watch. Samsung says that it hasn’t received any information about the injunction filing as yet. The company will reveal its position on the matter once it has all of the information.

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Samsung brand ambassador uses iPhone X on TV, gets sued for $1.6 million

It’s not uncommon for social media influencers to hawk products that they have no intention of using. There are no contracts to bind them in most cases. Companies usually pay them for a couple of posts on their social media accounts and that’s that. It’s a bit different for contracted brand ambassadors, though.

Ksenia Sobchak is the face of Samsung in Russia. She’s reportedly bound by contract to appear in public with her Samsung smartphone. So you can imagine how Samsung felt when she was seen on TV using an iPhone X.

Samsung wants its money back

Sobchak, a reality TV show host and politician, was seen using an iPhone X during a TV interview. She seems to do her best to try and hide that she’s using an iPhone X, using a piece of paper to shield the phone from view. It’s not that hard to notice and many people did which caused a frenzy on social media.

The Mirror reports that this isn’t the first time that Sobchak has been seen with an iPhone X. This has apparently happened on previous TV appearances and some of the “hottest social events” in Moscow. Samsung will have paid her handsomely to be the face of its brand in Russia and now it wants some of its money back.

It has reportedly sued Sobchak for 108 million rubles or $1.6 million for breach of contract. The company likely paid her more to become its brand ambassador. Samsung Russia is yet to officially comment on the matter.

This happens all too frequently. People roped in to promote products of one brand for a fee actually use the competitor. This isn’t the last time this has happened for sure.

Image credit: CEN/echo.msk.ru

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BREAKING: Samsung just teased a notch-free phone that has a hole in the display

Well, here’s something to send you into a tizzy. At the Galaxy A9s and Galaxy A6s launch event in China today, Samsung teased a new phone called the Galaxy A8s, and it looks like this will be the Korean giant’s first smartphone with a truly all-screen design. There’s no notch on the thing, but according to Chinese leakster Ice universe, the Galaxy A8s will have a hole drilled into the display to accommodate the front camera.

Don’t want a notch? How about a hole?

Yes, we’re wondering the same thing: How is a hole any better than a notch? It would still get in the way when you’re watching videos, even if it won’t be as big as the notches on competing devices nor have to be in the center of the display. Samsung’s official teaser at the event doesn’t seem to have any obstruction on the display, so will the camera possibly be under the display or will the display just turn off that part when you’re using YouTube or Netflix?

There are a lot of questions here, and it might be a while before we get proper details as the Galaxy A8s is reportedly coming out in early 2019. But we sure are excited. Nay, we’re positively drooling over the not-so-mysterious tease, especially since this could be the precursor for the Galaxy S10’s no-notch display. Fingers crossed Samsung has the answer to the question no one in the industry has answered yet, at least not without involving moving mechanical parts anyway.

What do you think? Is a hole that’s only as big as the camera sensor instead of a notch a better solution, or at least one that can tide us over until the Galaxy S10 arrives? Let’s discuss in the comments!

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Galaxy A6s (Samsung’s first ODM phone) and Galaxy A9s unveiled in China

Samsung has just unveiled two new Galaxy A series phones in China. Well, one of them – the Galaxy A6s – is new while the other is a renamed Galaxy A9 (2018). The Galaxy A6s is Samsung’s first ODM phone, which means Samsung will not be manufacturing it in its own factories. That is probably why the Galaxy A6s is rather cheap despite specs that include a Snapdragon 660 SoC, 6GB of RAM, and dual rear cameras. Cheap for a Samsung phone, that is, something that should help the company in the competitive Chinese market.

Galaxy A6s is not too pricey and not half bad on specs, either

The dual rear cameras aren’t as high on megapixel count as devices like the Galaxy A8 Star, though. The Galaxy A6s has two 12-megapixel cameras on the back, but unlike the flagships, neither of the two is a telephoto lens. The second camera is only for Live Focus bokeh pictures; both cameras have f/1.8 aperture. The front camera is apparently a 24MP sensor, but that’s somewhat unclear at the moment. Other Galaxy A6s specs include a 6-inch Super AMOLED Full HD+ Infinity display, 64GB and 128GB storage options, a rear-mounted fingerprint sensor, and a 3,300 mAh battery.

The Galaxy A9s only gets a name change for China, as expected. It has four rear cameras – a 24MP primary sensor, an ultra-wide 8MP lens, a 10MP telephoto lens for 2x zoom, and a 5MP depth sensor for Live Focus shots. There’s a 24-megapixel camera at the front for selfies. Other specs include a 6.3-inch Super AMOLED Infinity display, Snapdragon 660 octa-core chipset, 6GB RAM, 128GB of expandable storage (512GB cards supported), and a 3,800 mAh battery with fast charging.

Galaxy A9s, Galaxy A6s pricing and release date

The Galaxy A9s and Galaxy A6s are up for pre-order on major online retailers in the country. Prices start at ¥1799 ($260) and ¥3499 for the A6s (6GB+64GB) and A9s (6GB+128GB respectively. The 6GB+128GB version of the Galaxy A6s is ¥2199 (roughly $320). The A9s comes in Caviar Black, Lemonade Blue, and Bubblegum Pink, colors that are rather beautiful to look at thanks to the gradient touch. The Galaxy A6s comes in a pretty Koi Red flavor along with Salang Black, Flower Blue and a purple version. Strangely, the A6s is the same color on the front and back, so its Infinity display may not be that immersive on the non-black color options.

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Samsung just released the November 2018 security patch for one device

Samsung has just released an update for the Galaxy J7 Prime in Panama, and the update comes with the November 2018 security patch. This is one of those rare instances where an unannounced security patch has been pushed to a Galaxy device in the previous month. Since it’s unannounced, we can’t say what security fixes are a part of the package.

November 2018 security patch already here for one Samsung device

The Galaxy J7 Prime is already quite rare in being a budget Galaxy J series phone that has gotten two major OS upgrades. That’s something Samsung only offered to mid-range and flagship devices till last year, although it remains to be seen if the mainstream Galaxy J smartphones will get the same treatment in the future. And no, it doesn’t look like Samsung will start providing three major OS upgrades to its flagship phones. Even if it does, we won’t know until a few months after Samsung has updated its flagships to Android Pie.

If you own a Galaxy J7 Prime, you should be able to download the update from the Settings » Software update menu. It comes with software version G610MUBU3CRJ3 and the complete firmware for the same is also available from our firmware database.

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Samsung fined $5.7 million for slowing down phones through updates

Samsung denied slowing down phones through software updates earlier this year when Apple was caught in the controversy. Apple was said to be slowing down phones on purpose to nudge customers to purchase newer iPhones. The practice is called planned obsolescence.

When those reports surfaced earlier this year, Italy’s consumer watchdog announced that it was investigating Apple and Samsung for planned obsolescence. It said back then that the companies may have infringed four separate articles of the country’s consumers’ code. They risked multi-million euro fines if found guilty. Unfortunately, guilty is the verdict for both companies.

Samsung found to be slowing down older handsets

Apple explained why it was doing this. It said that older iPhones were slowed down through updates to prevent accidental shutdowns. Devices with degraded batteries can’t handle the surge in power requirement when the chip takes on heavy load. This can lead to the device shutting down unexpectedly. Apple limited the processor speed on other devices through updates.

This was done to ensure that there wasn’t a big enough spike in the power requirement that the battery couldn’t deal with. Not only did Apple apologize, it also released an update which allowed users to opt out of this functionality.

Samsung said at that time that it does not reduce CPU performance through software updates over the life cycles of its smartphones. It denied the planned obsolescence claims yet again when the Italian watchdog launched its investigation. It also said that it would cooperate fully with the Italian Authority for Market and Competition during the investigation.

Samsung has been fined 5 million euro ($5.7 million) after the investigation concluded that the updates for smartphones “caused serious dysfunctions and reduced performance significantly, thereby accelerating the process of replacing them.” Apple has received double the fine due to both planned obsolescence and failing to tell consumers about the “essential” characteristics of the lithium batteries in its phones.

It also added that the two companies didn’t provide users with adequate information about the impact of the new updates nor did they provide them with any means of “restoring the original functionality of the products.”

Samsung yet to comment on the verdict

The Korean company is yet to comment on the matter. While it may not have been limiting CPU speeds, many users have complained about their older handsets feeling sluggish after major OS updates, including flagship ones like the Galaxy S8 and the Galaxy Note 8. They also didn’t appreciate that some basic functionality present in earlier versions of the OS was removed.

Have you ever felt that your device feels slower after you upgrade to a newer OS version? Do you think that this fine on Samsung’s is justified? Sound off in the comments below.

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UFS 3.0 storage may debut on the Samsung Galaxy S10

The Galaxy S10 could be the first smartphone on the market to come with UFS 3.0 storage. The UFS (Universal Flash Storage) 3.0 standard was announced earlier this year, and Samsung has confirmed at Qualcomm’s 4G/5G Summit in Hong Kong that we will see UFS 3.0 storage in products in the first half of 2019. The Galaxy S10 wasn’t mentioned, but it may well have the newer UFS storage at its heart.

Galaxy S10 performance could benefit from UFS 3.0

UFS 3.0 storage offers double the memory bandwidth over UFS 2.1 and will go hand in hand with the arrival of 5G networks next year. Samsung has a 5G-enabled Galaxy S10 variant in the works, and it’s possible UFS 3.0 will only be seen on that 5G model. The cheapest Galaxy S10 model could have 64GB of base storage according to our sources, and since UFS 3.0 is said to be offered in 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB variants, there’s a small chance Samsung will reserve UFS 3.0 storage for the 5G Galaxy S10 and only make it mainstream with the Galaxy Note 10 or Galaxy S11.

The Qualcomm summit also revealed an interesting bit about smartphones in general. According to Micron, one of the big names in solid-state storage and flash memory production, we will see smartphones with 1TB of internal storage in 2021. That’s a long time to wait, but with 512GB storage now an option on flagship smartphones, it wouldn’t be surprising to see Samsung (and other companies, such as Apple) offering 1TB variants of their phones before 2021.

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