الغريب: 09/16/19

الاثنين، 16 سبتمبر 2019

Large Galaxy Note 9 update brings September security patch

After the Galaxy Note 8 and the Galaxy S9 series, the Galaxy Note 9 is now next in line to receive a new update introducing the September 2019 security patch.

The update carries firmware version N960FXXU3CSH5 and is available in the Netherlands, Switzerland, Romania, and a few other European countries at the moment. Despite the update weighing a hefty 663MB, the changelog looks rather generic. It only mentions better security along with obscure performance improvements to the camera.

A large update that doesn’t have a lot to show for itself

Samsung seems to have built a habit of repeating the same changelog for the Galaxy Note 9 once every two major software releases; therefore, we wouldn’t be surprised if the camera experience on last year’s flagship phone has remained the same following this latest update.

For now, we can confirm that Galaxy Note 10-specific features like AR Doodle didn’t make it into this update. Likewise, there is no Live Focus Video or Link to Windows, so at this moment it’s rather difficult to explain why this release weighs more than 660MB. We couldn’t find any meaningful changes, but we will continue to investigate and update this story as we find out more.

Until then, if you’re a Galaxy Note 9 owner, you should receive an update notification at any moment, assuming you haven’t already. Alternatively, you can try to trigger the update manually by opening Settings, navigating to Software update and tapping Download and install. Feel free to leave a comment and let us know if you’ve found any new features that have not been mentioned in the changelog.

Galaxy Note 9

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)

More specifications

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Trade tensions put Samsung’s Olympics sponsorship in a fix

Rising trade tensions between South Korea and Japan have put Samsung Electronics in an uncomfortable position as it is one of the sponsors for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo next year. It is one of the 13 The Olympic Partners (TOPs) and currently the only company from Korea to be part of this group. The company has been sponsoring the Olympic Games since 1997.

The Korean tech giant is reportedly analyzing the impact of this partnership on its brand image back at home. It appears to be apprehensive of the backlash it might face for aggressively promoting the mega sporting event hosted by Japan. As such, it is yet to launch any large-scale marketing campaigns even though Olympic sponsors tend to start doing that a year before the event.

In July this year, Samsung launched the Galaxy S10+ Tokyo Olympics Edition with Japan’s NTT Docomo. The company has adopted this strategy in the past as well, but this time it is reportedly not marketing the limited-edition device.

“Our sponsorship for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics is already determined based on our contract in 2014 with the International Olympic Committee, and yet we cannot deny that we are somewhat uncomfortable with it,” the company is quoted as saying by Business Korea.

The post Trade tensions put Samsung’s Olympics sponsorship in a fix appeared first on SamMobile.

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Samsung’s Weather widget gets radar maps, weather alerts and more

Samsung has introduced a series of new features to the Weather widget in partnership with The Weather Channel. The widget now offers government-issued weather alerts, radar maps, as well as weather-related videos published by The Weather Channel’s editorial team. Galaxy users were previously able to access The Weather Channel’s website and obtain more weather information that way, but radar maps and weather videos are now shown directly inside Samsung’s Weather widget. Users will still be redirected to The Weather Channel’s website once they tap on the radar or a video, but it’s a right step in the direction of user convenience.

The new Weather features are not exclusive to the Galaxy Note 10

Samsung’s press release on the matter states that the latest additions are currently available only for the Galaxy Note 10 series, but this is not entirely true. The features did ship with the Note 10 series (or at the very least they were enabled shortly after the Note 10 debuted) but it now looks like they’re making their way onto other devices. The same Weather widget features are also available on the Galaxy A50s as well as the Galaxy Tab S6, although the latter lacks the video section. Either way, the latest additions seem to be targeting One UI 1.5 rather than the Galaxy Note 10 lineup, so if you own a Galaxy device running One UI 1.5 then you might want to check and see if these new Weather features are already available for you.

Do keep in mind that the new features have not been released worldwide. Samsung claims that they have not yet launched in China, Japan, and Korea. Another caveat is that the videos shared by The Weather Channel’s editorial team are available only in English and Spanish. Furthermore, weather alerts are supported in a few dozen countries. You can check Samsung’s official announcement and see if your country is listed.

In case you don’t see the Weather widget on your home screen, you can add it by pinching the home screen and accessing the Widgets section. You can then tap and hold one of the Weather widgets and drag and drop it on the home screen. Then, you can tap the widget from the home screen to get detailed weather information.

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Daily Deal: 70% off this Ultra-Compact Portable Charger

When you’re close to a power outlet, you can always charge your smartphone. However, sometimes you want to be able to charge when there’s no power outlet available. For instance, if you’re hiking, camping or commuting via public transport. For those times a portable charger, also known as power bank is a convenient solution. This one is super compact and light weight and therefore easy to carry around. It’s able to give you a full charge so you’ll be able to keep on using your device wherever you are. At 70% off, this is the perfect time to get a couple of them in. It also ships internationally so you’ll be able to order it from a lot of countries.

Use the Buy Now button below to get one while they’re still discounted!

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Samsung to adjust Galaxy Fold pre-orders due to high demand

The first round of Galaxy Fold pre-orders quickly sold out in South Korea. Samsung’s home country was the first to get the foldable smartphone. Those who missed out will now have the opportunity to place their order during the second round of pre-orders that opens on September 18.

Samsung is seeing considerable demand for the Galaxy Fold in South Korea. So much so that the company has reportedly decided to adjust the Galaxy Fold pre-orders in the second round. It will now be making more units available for pre-order than it had originally intended.

Galaxy Fold pre-orders are picking up steam

Customers who were unable to pick one up in the first round and absolutely couldn’t wait to get their hands on one have actually been paying a premium to resellers. Some resellers who imported the units into Hong Kong are actually selling them for more than twice the $2,000 retail price.

Samsung has used the scarcity tactic here perfectly to create hype around the device and to get customers to open their wallets. It appears to be working so far with customers in South Korea clamoring to get their hands on one.

Samsung largely kept the first batch of Galaxy Fold units limited to its own stores in the country with only a small quantity being given to carrier partners. The first round reported had around 3,000 units for Samsung’s stores and a 1,000 units for the three major carriers combined. Samsung’s website sold out of the Galaxy Fold in just ten minutes and didn’t take much longer to sell out online at SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus.

According to local reports, Samsung will now be giving additional units to the country’s three major mobile carriers. KT and LG Uplus only got the Cosmos Black units in the first round and they may now also be able to offer the Space Silver color in the second round. Samsung is expected to ship around 1 million units of the Galaxy Fold globally in the second pre-order run. Between 20,000 – 30,000 of those units will be distributed in South Korea. September 18 is also when the Galaxy Fold becomes available in select markets across Europe.

The post Samsung to adjust Galaxy Fold pre-orders due to high demand appeared first on SamMobile.

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Will Samsung kill the Galaxy Note series next year?

The Galaxy Note lineup has lost a lot of its charm in the last couple of years with the Galaxy S series acquiring many of its characteristics. The S Pen is the only significant differentiator left between the two, leading many to question the need for a separate Note lineup going forward. The argument is that Samsung could just add an S Pen to its future Galaxy S models to cater to the Note users.

It appears the Korean company may be thinking on similar lines, at least according to the recent tweets from Evan Blass. He says Samsung is considering the possibility of merging S and Note series under a new ‘Galaxy One’ branding next year. What this means is that the company could launch the Galaxy S11, or whatever it will be named, with an S Pen.

While that sounds like a sensible strategy, it also leaves Samsung without a flagship launch for the second half of the year, and that’s where the Galaxy Fold comes into the picture. If the first-generation model performs well in the market, Blass says the Galaxy Fold lineup will take the place of the Note series as Samsung’s flagship for the second half of the year.

To be clear, none of this is confirmed by Samsung yet, but Even Blass, more commonly known as evleaks, does have a reliable track record in such rumors. More importantly, all of this makes sense from a branding and market positioning perspective.

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Galaxy Note 10 Dual Messenger setup: All you need to know

Samsung’s Dual Messenger feature can be very useful, particularly if you’re looking for ways to connect a second account to a social media app running on your Galaxy Note 10/Note 10+. Generally speaking, smartphone users are limited to logging in with only one account per social media app (such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Skype and more) unless the app states otherwise. Dual Messenger circumvents this restriction and allows users to log in with two accounts on the same platform and device.

Dual Messenger achieves this by running a second instance of the desired social media app separately in a virtual environment. The setup is fairly easy and doesn’t require you to download any additional apps. Dual Messenger debuted with Android 8.0 and is part of the Galaxy Note 10 experience out of the box.

How to set up Dual Messenger on the Galaxy Note 10/10+

Step 1: Open Settings either from the apps drawer or by dragging the status bar down and tapping the small cogwheel icon. Tap Advanced features then scroll down and tap Dual Messenger.

Step 2: Tap the toggle associated with the social media app to which you want to add a second account. We’ve used WhatsApp as an example for this guide but the setup is similar if you pick Facebook, Skype, or other apps that may be listed. When you’re ready, tap Install to create a clone copy of your app, then check the disclaimer and tap Confirm.

Note: Only apps that don’t support multiple accounts by default will be shown in this list.

Step 3: Next, you can either enable Use separate contacts list or keep the feature disabled if you wish to use the same contact list across both accounts. If so, tap Yes when prompted to confirm whether you wish to use your regular contacts.

Step 4: Wait for the process to complete. This should take only a few moments. Once Dual Messenger is enabled, the cloned instance of your selected social media app will show up in the apps drawer. It can be easily identified by the slightly modified icon.

You should now be able to open the second app instance and log in with a second account by following the app’s specific steps. If you wish to disable Dual Messenger, follow the first step above and then tap the toggle associated with the app you want to disable. The second app will be removed from the apps drawer automatically. For more guides on how to use various features on your device, you can check our Galaxy Note 10 tips page.

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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Sprint’s Galaxy S9 and S9+ get September security update

North American carrier Sprint has released a new update for the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+. The update brings the September 2019 Android security patch to the 2018 flagships and sports software version G960USQS6CSH8 and G965USQS6CSH8 for the S9 and S9+ respectively. Nothing but security enhancements seems to be included in the update, and you can expect that to be the case for each update until Android 10 and One UI 2.0 come out for these phones.

The security patch for September 2019 fixes four critical vulnerabilities in the Android operating system. It also patches more than a dozen high and moderate-risk vulnerabilities. Fixes for 17 vulnerabilities that were found in Samsung’s own software are included as well. One of these vulnerabilities could allow brute force attacks on the lock screen password, while another allowed changing the USB configuration without needing to unlock a secured device. More details on the September patch can be found here.

The latest update for the Galaxy S9 duo on Sprint should be rolling out over the air, and you can download it from the Software update menu of your phone’s Settings app. If it’s not available for you right now, you can check again at a later time as updates are rolled out in stages and take time to reach all users. Not a fan of waiting? Just grab the latest firmware for your device from our firmware archive and flash it on your phone manually.