You can now use Samsung Pay at Target stores across the US

It will now be possible for customers in the United States to use Samsung Pay at Target stores across the country. The retail giant has announced that its stores will soon accept Samsung’s mobile payments service.

This will make it much more convenient for customers to pay for their purchases at checkout. Target has only just officially confirmed it now accepts Samsung Pay. However, given the nature of this service, it has already been possible to pay with Samsung Pay at Target stores.

It has always been possible to use Samsung Pay at Target stores

Some of you will be well aware that Samsung Pay supports something called Magnetic Secure Transmission. It’s a proprietary technology which enables conventional card machines to accept mobile payments. There’s NFC support as well for contactless terminals but Samsung Pay isn’t completely dependant on it. With MST, you can use Samsung Pay basically anywhere you can pay using a traditional plastic card.

You’ll find reports from countless Samsung Pay users online who have been making purchases at Target with this service. Target never adopted it officially like it has done with Apple Pay and Google Pay now. That wasn’t a barrier for users because MST enabled them to make payments anyway.

It’s official now, though. Customers can use Samsung Pay at Target stores by holding their Samsung smartphone or wearable device near the card reader at checkout. A beep will confirm that their payment has been processed and they’re good to go. It’s literally as simple as that.

Do keep in mind that not all banks in a country might support Samsung Pay. These banks are the ones that allow their customers to make payments with Samsung Pay in the United States.

The post You can now use Samsung Pay at Target stores across the US appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile http://bit.ly/2S3ZFzk
via IFTTT

Samsung unveils world’s first 15.6-inch 4K OLED laptop display

It was first reported late last year that Samsung might introduce a 4K OLED laptop display at CES 2019. No announcement was made in Las Vegas but the wait is finally over. Samsung Display today announced that it has succeeded in making the world’s first 15.6-inch UHD OLED panel for laptops. It will be supplying this panel to leading manufacturers for their premium notebooks.

The Korean conglomerate’s display business is no stranger to OLED panels. It has effectively cornered the market on mobile OLED displays. It’s now expanding into the notebook market. Samsung Display has nine production facilities worldwide and is a specialist manufacturer of high-quality displays.

Samsung’s 4K OLED laptop display enters production next month

The OLED display technology offers several benefits over LCD and will indeed be a great fit for premium laptops. Samsung points out that this panel meets the VESA’s DisplayHDR True Black specification, has extreme color accuracy and full HDR compatibility.

Samsung’s 4K OLED laptop display panel has a brightness level ranging from 0.0005 to 600 nits and a dynamic contrast ratio of 120,000:1. When compared to LCDs, the blacks appear 200 times darker and whites twice as bright.

The spectrum of 3.4 million colors is double that of similarly sized LCD panels and they meet the DCI-P3 standard that’s best suited for video streaming. Samsung says that the panel has a 1.7 times higher color volume when compared to LCDs of the same size. This improves clarity when viewing the display outside.

Samsung hasn’t said which manufacturers will be the first to use its 15.6-inch 4K OLED laptop display in their products. We can expect it to land on the premium models from the likes of Lenovo and Dell. Samsung says that it will start mass producing the panel by mid-February. So it’s going to take a couple of months before products with this panel arrive. Samsung may also use the panel in one of its own premium notebooks.

The post Samsung unveils world’s first 15.6-inch 4K OLED laptop display appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile http://bit.ly/2UeaEUv
via IFTTT

Galaxy Note 9 selfie camera tops DxOMark’s new leaderboard

DxOMark has now introduced its first-ever test protocol for smartphone front cameras. The aim is to offer neutral and reliable test data about selfie cameras like DxOMark already does for rear cameras. The Galaxy Note 9 selfie camera has topped the leaderboard.

It makes perfect sense for DxOMark to start ranking selfie cameras as well. The technology in this area has improved significantly over the past few years. Front cameras have also become a major selling point for smartphones as the selfie-obsessed generation is very particular about capturing the perfect shot.

Galaxy Note 9 selfie camera is one of the best on the market

The Galaxy Note 9 selfie camera is unique in its own right. The 1/3.6-inch sensor with 8-megapixel resolution may not be something to write home about. However, the fact that it has an autofocus lens certainly is. It can also capture 1440p video at 30 frames-per-second.

The new DxOMark Selfie test protocol is based on the same procedures and methodologies as the protocol for primary cameras. The tests are conducted in both lab and real-world situations with different subjects and light conditions. Approximately 1,500 images and dozens of video clips are captured as part of the test. All devices are tested in identically-configured lab setups with the same scenes, procedures, software, and evaluation methodologies.

DxOMark released the first ranking chart of its Selfie test protocol today. The Galaxy Note 9 front camera has topped the leaderboard with 92 points but it’s not alone up there. It actually tied with the Google Pixel 3. The Galaxy Note 9 scored 96 points in the photo and 86 points in the video test for this combined score. The Galaxy S9+ and the Galaxy S8 have found a place further down on the list as well.

Full marks to Samsung for shipping an exceptional front camera with the Galaxy Note 9. What many of us will now be interested in seeing is how the Galaxy S10 fares.

The post Galaxy Note 9 selfie camera tops DxOMark’s new leaderboard appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile http://bit.ly/2MtvAEo
via IFTTT

Samsung trademarks Neuro Game Booster: more AI optimized gaming incoming

A trademark application filed in the European Union suggests Samsung is planning further AI-based optimization of games on, possibly, the Galaxy S10 and other devices.

Samsung Neuro Game Booster

When Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 9, it added several AI-based features, such as game optimization. With the arrival of the next generation hardware, the company is set to develop this further, as the Exynos 9820 launch emphasized its massively improved NPU (Neural Processing Unit). A new European trademark application adds fuel to that fire.

Yesterday, Samsung filed paperwork for protection of the name Neuro Game Booster. The trademark’s description makes very clear we are looking at: ‘Software for smartphones; … Computer application software featuring games and gaming; Artificial intelligence software.‘ Though this application was filed with the European Union Intellectual Property Office, we expected the same trademark to surface in other parts of the world in the coming days or weeks.

Samsung has not yet used the term to refer to any of its existing AI-optimization efforts. The timing of the new application, therefore, suggests we could see a Neuro Game Booster make its debut on February 20, at the launch of the Galaxy S10. However, let us not forget there are more devices on their way to launch in the first half of 2019.

For example, the upcoming Galaxy A50 is expected to pack the Exynos 9610 soc. This chip, too, was launched with an emphasis on an improved NPU. Perhaps, therefore, Neuro Game Booster will not merely be a neat bit of marketing speak that accompanies the new flagship devices, but an AI-application to be found on a broader range of phones and tablets with hardware powerful enough to handle serious gaming.

The post Samsung trademarks Neuro Game Booster: more AI optimized gaming incoming appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile http://bit.ly/2FFPVpp
via IFTTT

Galaxy S10 camera features reportedly improved on Samsung heir’s order

Samsung has reportedly improved the Galaxy S10 camera features on the orders of its heir apparent Lee Jae-yong. He is the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics. Lee Jae-yong is widely believed to take over the reins from his father and chairman of the Samsung Group Lee Kun-hee.

He has reportedly shown a specific interest in camera features and ordered the company to set up its game with the Galaxy S10. It’s going to be Samsung’s first flagship series with a triple camera system. One model may even have a quad camera system at the back.

Lee Jae-yong ordered Samsung to improve Galaxy S10 camera features

The Korea Herald hears from a senior official at Samsung that the company has worked hard on improving the Galaxy S10 camera features. Samsung gets compared to the likes of Apple and Huawei in this department. It sometimes tends to come up short.

There was a discussion at Samsung about the camera capabilities of its phones after Lee Jae-yong made a trip to Europe last year. During his visit to a smartphone retailer there, he got input about the personal preferences of a store employee. That employee favored the iPhone over the Galaxy due to the better camera features of the Apple smartphone.

“The issue was about how the quality of pictures taken on the Galaxy smartphones was felt by individual users,” the official added. It was pointed out that some users do like pictures from Galaxy smartphones as they’re more vivid. However, “others say such vividness causes fatigue in eyes, describing the colors as being too sharp.”

Excessive oversharpening of pictures by Samsung smartphones is something that we have highlighted time and again in our reviews. We did notice improvement on this front with the Galaxy Note 9 but more can certainly be done. So these comments suggest that Samsung has focused on improving the color and detail reproduction in photographs. That too without excessive oversharpening.

None of this can obviously be quantified until we can test the device. That’s going to happen next month after Samsung unveils the Galaxy S10 on February 20.

The post Galaxy S10 camera features reportedly improved on Samsung heir’s order appeared first on SamMobile.

from SamMobile http://bit.ly/2R6067J
via IFTTT