Galaxy Home Mini beta testing program goes live in South Korea

It’s been more than a year since Samsung originally unveiled the Galaxy Home smart speaker alongside the Galaxy Note 9, and roughly eight months have passed since we’ve exclusively reported on the existence of a second model dubbed the Galaxy Home Mini. Now, it appears that the wait is nearly over, at least for the latter model and for prospective buyers in South Korea who might want to participate in a beta program.

Starting today and until September 1, Samsung enthusiasts in South Korea can apply to join the Galaxy Home Mini beta program via the official website. Once approved, early adopters should receive the smart speaker ahead of its full-fledged market release, and with testing from the outside, Samsung might be able to bring the Galaxy Home Mini on store shelves sooner rather than later.

As yet there doesn’t seem to be a beta program for the full-sized Galaxy Home, and the beta program for the Galaxy Home Mini is seemingly limited to South Korea, at least for the time being. Earlier this summer a Samsung executive stated that the Galaxy Home series should be released in the “mid-second half of the year” or in the third quarter ending with September. Even more recently after the Galaxy Note 10 launch event, the company confirmed that it’s continuing to refine and enhance the product before its launch.

It’s worth considering that Samsung has a lot of smart devices and home appliances that can connect and communicate with one another. Unlike most other smartphone manufacturers, Samsung has a fairly rich product ecosystem and unifying these various smart devices through a smart speaker can be a challenging task. While this means a later-than-expected release, it’s probably better for Samsung to take its time and prepare the smart speaker for a successful launch, particularly because this is the company’s first product of its kind.

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Microsoft Outlook gains S Pen support in the latest app update

Microsoft has added S Pen support to its Outlook Android app in the latest update. Galaxy Note users with Outlook version 3.0.131 and above can now use their S Pen to hover over emails, attachments, events, and people to quickly preview the contents and take actions, similar to the Samsung Email app.

The update is interesting given the recent strategic partnership between Samsung and Microsoft. The deal will involve, among other things, Samsung pre-installing Microsoft apps on its Galaxy devices. Accordingly, the Galaxy Note 10 comes with Microsoft apps such as (may vary by region) Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, OneDrive, and LinkedIn. It also comes with the Link to Windows feature, which is a rebranded version of the software giant’s Your Phone app.

Interestingly, Samsung already has many first-party apps which compete with Microsoft’s offerings. The former’s apps also take better advantage of Samsung-specific features such as the S Pen, Bixby, etc. If Microsoft adds some of these features to its Android apps, like the S Pen support for Outlook, we may see them replacing a few Samsung apps (Samsung Email, Samsung Notes, Samsung Cloud, etc.) on future Galaxy devices. To be clear, neither Samsung nor Microsoft has announced any such plans yet, but given how the Korean company has opted for Link to Windows when it had Samsung Flow, it is not a far-fetched prediction.

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Samsung demos 5G performance and multi-cell handover at the race track

Samsung Electronics and SK Telecom have teamed up to perform a new 5G test in less than usual conditions. In a quest to demonstrate the power of 5G communications, the companies have deployed Samsung’s end-to-end 5G mmWave solutions and 5G NR base stations along the Korea International Circuit racetrack. They’ve then equipped a couple of closed wheel racecars with the Galaxy S10 5G flagship, with the main purpose being to demonstrate 5G network performance in high-speed mobility conditions and multi-cell handover, i.e., switching from one 5G base station to another on the fly.

5G networking is still in its early stages, with only a few countries around the world offering it, and with coverage being limited to certain urban areas. But regardless of how widespread 5G is or isn’t, the technology works differently from 4G. 5G wavelengths are a lot shorter, which means that the network infrastructure is also a lot different.

While 4G is usually delivered by large radio towers, 5G coverage is mostly achieved through a lot of base stations (image above) sprinkled around smaller areas. This effectively means that, in a real-life usage scenario, a moving car in a city will have to quickly switch from one 5G base station to the next and maintain uninterrupted 5G connectivity. And what better way to test the efficiency of this system other than using a couple of racecars?

Opening up new possibilities for motorsport live broadcasting

So, the idea behind the demonstration at the Korea International Circuit racetrack was to showcase exactly how multi-cell handover is handled by Samsung’s end-to-end networking equipment, and how the Galaxy S10 5G can seamlessly switch between 5G base stations. The result was a data throughput of 952Mbps even when the phone is strapped to a high-performance racecar driving at over 210km/h. This deems the test a success, and even more so, the demonstration gives us a glimpse into the future and how 5G networking could change motorsport live broadcasting.

Samsung claims that future racecars could be equipped with cockpit cameras that would livestream footage over 5G, giving viewers the option to switch broadcasts between cars at their leisure. Or they could just stick with the point of view of their favorite driver throughout an entire race. 5G would also make it possible for live races to be enjoyed by fans using more unconventional technologies such as VR, AR, and 360-degree video.

Galaxy S10 5G

• Model: SM-G977U
• Dimensions: 77.1 x 162.6 x 7.94mm
• Display: 6.7"(170.2mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9820 Octa
• Camera: 12 MP.CMOS F2.4 45° Telephoto & 12MP F1.5/2.4 77° & 16MP F/2.2 123° Ultra-wide & 3D Depth: hQVGA

More specifications

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Samsung Galaxy A71 and A91 coming to Europe with Android 10

Curious reports point to the arrival of Samsung’s new Galaxy A71 and Galaxy A91 at different times in different markets. Though European versions seem planned for spring 2020, an Indian A91 could be released earlier.

Galaxy A71 and Galaxy A91 with Android 10

It has been known for a while that Samsung is hard at work preparing next year’s A series. More details now surface pertaining to two of those models, the Galaxy A71 (SM-A715F) and Galaxy A91 (SM-A915F). The guys over at GalaxyClub have found confirmation that both devices will be released in Europe. More interesting, however, is that they are currently under development running Android 10.

Unless Samsung is seriously overhauling its software policy, this fact confirms both phones will not be released until after the Galaxy S11 hits markets in 2020. After all, this year’s A series was launched with Android 9, but only after the Galaxy S10 series.

Interestingly, DroidShout claims the Galaxy A91 will be released in India soon. Though the other information seems to exclude this, we have confirmed the Indian model is in fact under development running Android 9. Perhaps the A91 will indeed hit some Asian markets before Europe, but with an older OS. Still, we expect the device to be released in early 2020 rather than ‘soon’.

Recently, a market analysis revealed that Samsung’s current mid-range line-up is dominating smartphone sales in Europe. A massive change in product strategy seems, therefore, unlikely – at least in 2020.

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Galaxy Note 10 gets exclusive Candy Crush Friends Saga AR features

Samsung vastly extended the capabilities of the S Pen last year by adding Bluetooth to it. With the Note 10, the company went further and added an accelerometer and a gyroscope to its stylus, turning it into a kind of magic wand to control various functions on the phone. The company also made these features available to third-party developers through an SDK.

Candy Crush Friends Saga will be one of the first games to utilize some of these new S Pen Air Actions. King, the studio behind the Candy Crush franchise, is bringing one of the game’s famous characters, Hungry Yeti, to life with a new AR (Augmented Reality) feature for Android users. It will be available to players on level 25 and above from August 30.

Pointing the device’s camera at a flat surface will bring Yeti to life in AR form and users can interact with it. Players can earn gifts that they can use in the game by feeding the character. While the Yeti AR feature is available for all Android devices, Galaxy Note users get additional AR interactions like making the Yeti by shaking the S Pen, etc.

King invited K-Pop superstars and Candy Crush fans, Lisa and Jisoo of BLACKPINK, to its headquarters in Stockholm to try the new feature on the Note 10. “With technology advancing at such a fast pace, the Galaxy family of smartphones feature next-generation accessories such as the S Pen and are optimized for the best gaming experience possible,” said Thomas Ko, VP Global Head of Service Partnerships at Samsung Electronics.

Galaxy Note 10

• Model: SM-N970F
• Dimensions: 151.0 x71.8x7.9mm
• Display: 6.3"(160.02mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9825
• Camera: 12 MP, CMOS F2.2 Telephoto & 12MP F1.5/F2.4 77° & 16MP F2.2 123° Ultra-wide

More specifications

Galaxy Note 10+

• Model: SM-N975F
• Dimensions: 162.3 x 77,2 x 7.9mm
• Display: 6.8"(172.7mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9825
• Camera: 12 Ultra Wide: 16MP F2.2 (123°) & Wide-angle: 12MP 2PD AF F1.5/F2.4 OIS (77°) & Telephoto: 12MP F2.1 OIS (45°) & DepthVision Camera: VGA

More specifications

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