Galaxy S10’s big update with Note 10 features is rolling out more widely

Samsung began rolling out a new major software update for the Galaxy S10 series earlier this week, and availability has now expanded to a few other European countries. The update was initially launched in Germany and Switzerland, but Galaxy S10 users in Panama, Luxembourg, and the Baltic are now receiving the package as well.

The update is rolling out to the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and Galaxy S10+, carrying firmware version G970FXXU3ASIG, G973FXXU3ASIG, and G975FXXU3ASIG, respectively. The release introduces a handful of features from the Galaxy Note 10, including Samsung DeX for PC, Dynamic Lock screen, AR Doodle, Super steady recording in the camera’s Hyperlapse mode, new effects for the Live focus mode, and Live focus video.

Another big change is the addition of Night mode for both the front-facing sensor and the rear-facing telephoto camera. The mode doesn’t do a whole lot to benefit images captured in low light with the selfie shooter, but as we’ve detailed yesterday, the telephoto camera takes greater advantage of Night mode thanks to its smaller aperture.

Galaxy S10 owners residing in Panama, Luxembourg, and the Baltic should now be able to download the update over-the-air. Alternatively, they can visit our firmware section for the Galaxy S10e, Galaxy S10, and/or Galaxy S10+, download the firmware manually and install it using a Windows PC. As for the update’s availability in other regions, Samsung originally stated it will begin reaching Europe on September 23 – which it did – but the company didn’t reveal any dates for other markets, so only time will tell where it might arrive next.

Having said that, availability will likely continue to expand to more European countries before Samsung will bring it to other continents. Users of the Snapdragon variants in the US are likely to have to wait the longest, as carriers stateside have not been particularly quick with releasing previous Galaxy S10 updates, either.

Galaxy S10e

• Model: SM-G970F
• Dimensions: 69.9 x 142.2 x 7.9mm
• Display: 5.8” (146.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9820 Octa
• Camera: 12 MP, CMOS F1.5/F2.4 (77°) & 16MP, CMOS F2.2 (123°)Ultra Wide

More specifications

Galaxy S10

• Model: SM-G973F
• Dimensions: 70.4 x 149.9 x 7.8mm
• Display: 6.1"(157.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9820 Octa
• Camera: 12 MP.CMOS F2.4 45° Telephoto & 12MP F1.5 77° & 16MP F2.2 123° Ultra-wide

More specifications

Galaxy S10 Plus

• Model: SM-G975F
• Dimensions: 74.1 x 157.6 x 7.8mm
• Display: 6.4"(162.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9820 Octa
• Camera: 12 MP.CMOS F2.4 45° Telephoto & 12MP F1.5/F2.4 77° & 16MP F2.2 123° Ultra-wide

More specifications

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Galaxy S7 gets another security update (September 2019)

Samsung’s software support for the Galaxy S7 continues to impress us, as the company has released yet another security update for its 2016 flagship. The September security update is rolling out for the Galaxy S7 in Puerto Rico and Uruguay right now, with software version G930FXXS6ESIS in tow. The Galaxy S7 edge doesn’t seem to have joined the party just yet, but it shouldn’t be long before the curvier Galaxy S7 gets the update as well.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge have been in and out of Samsung’s quarterly schedule for security updates in the last few months. Earlier this year, the company had surprised us by keeping the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge on a quarterly schedule even after the devices crossed three years on the market, only to dump them in the “other regular security updates” category a couple of months later, meaning they would get updates only when necessary.

That didn’t last long and both phones are back to getting security updates every three months. Of course, just being in the quarterly schedule doesn’t guarantee that a device will get updates in every market, but it’s still a good show of support from Samsung. The September update is likely to remain limited to a few countries, and the next update that comes out for the S7 and S7 edge will similarly be rolled out only in some countries.

In any case, Galaxy S7 owners in Puerto Rico and Uruguay can download the new update over the air by tapping the Download updates manually option in the Settings » Software update menu on their phone. Alternatively, they can download the latest firmware from our firmware archive and flash it on their phone using a Windows PC.

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Galaxy Note 10 shipments set to eclipse the Galaxy Note 9

The Galaxy Note 10 will most likely outsell its predecessor, according to industry analysts cited by The Investor, who predict that the Galaxy Note 10 shipments will be up 11 percent compared to the Galaxy Note 9. This wouldn’t come as a huge surprise considering how Samsung sold twice as many Galaxy Note 10 models in its first month of availability.

Analyst Lee Chang-min of KB Securities expects the company to push 10.5 million Galaxy Note 10 units onto the market. The company could achieve this thanks to its two-phone strategy, which seems to be working well. The analyst also claims that Samsung’s early foray into the 5G market is going to bump up sales figures even further.

Samsung is seemingly winning the 5G race too

Samsung isn’t seeing a lot of competition in the 5G segment and its biggest potential competitor, Huawei, has been losing ground amid trade disagreements with the US government. Meanwhile, Chinese OEMs including VIVO could partner with Samsung and acquire the company’s Exynos 980 5G chipset solution.

Samsung fans in South Korea have been limited to purchasing the Galaxy Note 10/10+ 5G with no alternative to acquiring the LTE models. That’s not necessarily a bad thing as Korean carriers are aggressively expanding 5G availability. The flagship series enjoyed a successful launch, with pre-orders topping the 1.3 million mark in just ten days.

Strong sales figures for the Galaxy Note 10 series will benefit Samsung Mobile as well as the tech giant’s component divisions, such as Samsung Electro-Mechanics who supplies the flagship’s three rear-facing camera modules. Kim Ji-san of Kiwoom Securities estimates that the strong sales for printed circuit boards and camera modules will offset some of the losses experienced recently in the multilayer ceramic capacitor segment.

Whatever the case may be, the Galaxy Note series is stronger than ever, partly thanks to Samsung’s early entry in the 5G segment, partly due to the two-phone strategy, and mostly because the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ are just shy of being perfect.

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

Galaxy Note 10 5G

• Model: SM-N971N
• 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 Note10+ 5G

• Model: SM-N976B
• Dimensions: 162.3 x 77,2 x 7.9mm
• Display: 6.8" (172.7mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
• 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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New evidence suggests Galaxy Home release may be around the corner

It has been over a year since Samsung first unveiled the Galaxy Home, its Bixby-powered smart speaker. It was unveiled alongside the Galaxy Note 9 in New York City. Samsung didn’t even mention the Galaxy Home during its Galaxy Note 10 event in August.

We know that it hasn’t been discontinued and that Samsung still intends to release it. Some new evidence has surfaced which suggests that the company might finally be close to releasing the much-awaited product.

Galaxy Home release could be just around the corner

One of our readers shared a screenshot with us of a pop-up he got out of the blue upon launching the Spotify app. The Galaxy Home’s silhouette is clearly visible in this pop-up, which when translated from French essentially encourages Spotify users to link their streaming account to their Samsung account so that they can access their music on all of their Samsung devices.

We’ve not seen the pop-up on any of our devices in the Netherlands or elsewhere so it could just have been a test of some sort. It’s not odd that this happened with Spotify. Some of you may remember that it was at the August event last year that Samsung confirmed Spotify as the go-to music service across all of its devices.

Users could link their streaming account to their Samsung account in order to bring their music to their Samsung IoT ecosystem which includes Smart TVs and even Family Hub refrigerators. The Galaxy Home will undoubtedly be a key part of this ecosystem going forward.

Samsung is yet to confirm precisely when it’s going to release the Galaxy Home. However, Kim Hyun-suk, CEO of Samsung’s Consumer Electronics Division, did say four months ago that the speaker would be released in the “mid-second half of the year.” We have just about reached that point in the year so here’s hoping that this is an indication that Samsung is finally going to release the Galaxy Home.

Have you seen a similar pop-up in the Spotify app in your region? Do share with us in the comments below.

Thanks, Luidjy!

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Galaxy Tab S5e LTE coming to AT&T on September 27 for $479

The Galaxy Tab S6 might be the greatest Android tablet of 2019 but there are still reasons to want and buy a Galaxy Tab S5e instead. For starters, it’s cheaper and offers a great bundle of features for the price. AT&T is going to start selling the Galaxy Tab S5e LTE to customers in the United States beginning September 27 for the price of $479, or in exchange of $16 a month for 30 months on an AT&T Installment Plan.

The Galaxy Tab S5e has been available for a few months, but AT&T is only just now launching the LTE variant on its network. The mobile carrier released a promotional video to celebrate the release and detail some of the tablet’s main characteristics as well as some of its own services available on the tablet, such as AT&T TV.

AT&T’s Galaxy Tab S5e LTE has the same overall specifications as the international model, so you can expect a 10.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a resolution of 2560 by 1600, a Snapdragon 670 chipset, and 64GB of storage paired with 4GB of RAM. The tablet also comes with four speakers and Dolby Atmos support for a great multimedia consumption experience.

Will you be interested in the Galaxy Tab S5e LTE from AT&T once it arrives on the network on September 27, or do you think the mobile carrier is too late to the party and you’ve moved on?

Galaxy Tab S5e (LTE)

• Model: SM-T725
• Dimensions: 245.0 x 160.0 x 5.5mm
• Display: 10.5” (266.7mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 670
• Camera: 13 MP, CMOS

More specifications

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Report: Galaxy S11 camera to feature 5x optical zoom, 108MP camera

The Galaxy S11 could up the ante in the camera department by featuring 5x optical zoom capability. A report from Korean publication The Elec citing industry sources says that the Galaxy S11 would be the first Samsung phone to feature its 5x optical zoom camera module that it started mass producing earlier this year. It wouldn’t be the least bit surprising if that does end up happening, but reports from South Korea media are always good to see as they make things more believable than just speculation and random rumors.

The Galaxy S11 won’t be the first to offer something like 5x optical zoom. It will also not be the first to use the ingenious periscope-type camera modules that make high optical zoom capabilities possible in smartphones. As you can see in the video below, such modules have the sensor and lenses arranged sideways and utilize the principle of reflecting light in a periscope. Samsung’s 5x optical zoom module is just 5mm thick, so theoretically, it could fit inside the Galaxy Note 10+ and not protrude any more than the current 2x telephoto lens on Samsung flagships does.

Samsung’s flagship phones may have the best overall camera experience, but the company needs something exciting and innovative to make the Galaxy S11 stand out in the photography department now that the competition has amped up their efforts. And while 5x optical zoom alone won’t be enough to do that, it certainly won’t hurt, either. 2x optical zoom is getting a little old at this point, having been introduced on the Galaxy Note 8 back in 2017; while the Galaxy Note 10 brought some improvement by way of a wider aperture for the telephoto lens, it doesn’t really make a whole lot of difference in real-world performance.

The report also claims the Galaxy S11 will be equipped with a 108MP camera for wide-angle shooting (regular pictures, that is, not ultra-wide), but that sounds like too big of an upgrade considering Samsung flagships currently feature 12-megapixel primary rear cameras. The 108MP camera sensor was designed by Samsung in partnership with Xiaomi, and only time will tell if it will actually find its way into the Galaxy S10 successor.

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Exclusive: Is Samsung working on more affordable Galaxy Note smartphone?

Rather than combining the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note flagship lineups and replacing the Galaxy Note series with the Galaxy Fold lineups, could Samsung instead be working on a more affordable Galaxy Note smartphone that falls somewhere in the higher mid-range category? That’s perhaps the only possibility we can think of based on the latest information that we have uncovered: Samsung is developing a device with model number SM-N770F, one that doesn’t fit into any existing smartphone lineup in the Korean giant’s stable.

Right now, the Galaxy Note series is the only one to use model numbers starting with the letter N, and all Note devices sport model numbers in the SM-N9xx range. What makes us think that the SM-N770F is a non-flagship Note is the fact that Samsung’s working on a more affordable foldable phone for next year with model number SM-F700F. The Galaxy Fold, which is Samsung’s flagship foldable phone, is SM-F900F, and if the SM-F700F is indeed a more affordable foldable Galaxy, then we see no reason why Samsung couldn’t be doing something similar for the Galaxy Note lineup.

Making the S Pen accessible would certainly be a good move – the regular Galaxy Note 10 already is an excellent way for Samsung to court new customers who currently use a non-Galaxy smartphone, and bringing the Note experience to a lower price point would further help the strategy. And with the cost of a top-end Galaxy Note flagship—the Note 10+—now touching $1100, a non-flagship Note would be just as good of an option for Galaxy Note fans who want the S Pen experience but don’t want to spend a thousand dollars (or even $950 for something like the Galaxy Note 10).

All of this is just speculation, however, and we will need more details to get a clearer picture of what Samsung is up to. For now, we only know that the SM-N770F will come in a 128GB storage configuration. We’ll keep digging further, and in the meantime, you can tell us what you think about the idea of an affordable, possibly mid-range Galaxy Note smartphone down in the comments.

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Samsung is already testing the Galaxy S9 with Android 10

Samsung is not preparing only its current crop of flagship devices for the Android 10 upgrade. The Galaxy S9 lineup, too, is already being tested with firmware based on the latest version of the operating system.

Galaxy S9 under testing with Android 10

We’ve known for a while that Samsung has been working hard to bring Android 10 to the Galaxy S10. We have even seen a hands-on video of the device running the next version of One UI and confirmed the Galaxy Note 10 is under testing with the same new software. It seems all is well, concerning the coming upgrade for Samsung’s flagship phones. But what about the previous generation?

Well, it seems the Korean company is not sitting still here either. As the guys at GalaxyClub now confirm, both the Galaxy S9 and S9+ are currently being tested with Google’s latest. Firmware versions G960FXXU7DSI3 and G965FXXU7DSI3 are based on Android 10, as evidenced by the letter ‘D’ which represents the next Android version. Current Android 9-based firmware have a ‘C’ in that same position, after all.

Now, we would very much like to jump to conclusions that Samsung is developing the next big Android upgrade surprisingly fast this year. But while it is true that the news of Android 10 for the Galaxy S9 comes relatively early in the year, there is still a long way to go until it can be rolled out globally.

Of course, the Galaxy S9 will simply not be the first Samsung device to get the upgrade. The Galaxy S10 and Note 10 will be upgraded first, logically. We do expect their Android 10 beta to start soon, but that program will need to finish before anything else happens. And even after all that, there is a good chance the Galaxy S9 will first have to go through a beta test of its own, just like the Galaxy S8 did last year before widely receiving Android Pie.

All we want to say is: do not start holding your breath yet, as the road to Android 10 for the Galaxy S9 is still long. But we are indeed on the way, as today’s news confirms.

Galaxy S9

• Model: SM-G960F
• Dimensions: 147.7 x 68.7 x 8.5mm
• Display: 5.8” (146.5mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9810
• Camera: 12 MP, CMOS OIS (F1.5/F2.4)

More specifications

Galaxy S9+

• Model: SM-G965F
• Dimensions: 157.7 x 73.8 x 8.5 mm
• Display: 6.2” (158.1mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Exynos 9810
• Camera: 12 MP, CMOS Dual OIS (F1.5/F2.4) & Telephoto: 12MP AF F2.4)

More specifications

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Samsung Fortnite Glow skin confirmed, available September 27

It was expected that the Samsung Fortnite Glow skin will be unveiled in the near future and that’s precisely what the company has done today. Samsung has confirmed that it’s retiring the iKONIK skin, released with the Galaxy S10, on September 26.

That doesn’t mean those who currently have the iKONIK skin will lose it after that date. They will continue to have it, it’s just that it will no longer be possible to download the skin anymore. Samsung is going to replace it with the new Glow skin the very next day. The exclusive Levitate emote is included as well.

Samsung Fortnite Glow skin will be available soon

Samsung’s partnership with Epic games began last year when Fortnite was just making its way to Android devices. The game was exclusive to Samsung devices for a limited time and Samsung also offered a custom skin.

It has since offered a custom skin with the Galaxy S10 as well and is doing that once again with the Galaxy Note 10. The good news is that the Samsung Fortnite Glow skin isn’t limited to Galaxy Note 10 customers only. Qualifying devices include all Galaxy Note 10, Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S10, Galaxy S9, Galaxy S8, Galaxy S7 models in addition to the Galaxy A9, Galaxy A70, A80 and A90. The Galaxy Tab S6, Tab S4 and Tab S3 are covered as well.

An Epic games account is required to get the exclusive skin. Customers can choose to redeem the skin and emote for themselves or gift to a friend. Only one Glow skin will be granted per device. Samsung has also made some changes to the process for obtaining the skin. The changes will deter Fortnite skin thieves who were particularly rampant when the first exclusive skin was released for the Galaxy Note 9.

The exclusive Samsung Fortnite Glow skin and the Levitate emote will be available for download starting September 27.

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Exclusive: Samsung’s next Galaxy Fold will be sold worldwide

Samsung’s first foldable smartphone has made quite the comeback. Despite the early troubles, it has come back stronger and is actually selling out in markets where it’s being sold. The Galaxy Fold won’t be the only foldable smartphone to come out of Samsung, though.

It has been known for a while that the company is working on another foldable smartphone. From what we gather, this is going to be a slightly more affordable version, and we now hear that it’s going to be made available worldwide. Samsung is currently selling the Galaxy Fold in select markets and that too in limited quantities.

Next Galaxy Fold will see a wider release

That was to be expected. It’s not going to end up making more units of the Galaxy Fold than it can sell. What the first device is doing more than anything is taking the market’s temperature, so to speak. It will help Samsung understand just how big of a demand there is for foldable smartphones and what improvements or features customers would like in subsequent models.

We exclusively reported last month that the new Galaxy Fold, bearing model number SM-F700F, is going to feature 256GB of internal storage as opposed to 512GB on the original model. That may very well be a conscious choice on Samsung’s part to keep the price down. We now hear that Samsung is going to offer the new Galaxy Fold worldwide, including in markets like North America, China and Samsung’s home country of South Korea.

A wider launch will obviously make sense for the next iteration of the Galaxy Fold. Samsung has shown to the market with the original model that this can be done, that foldable smartphones aren’t a far-fetched idea. An affordable model that’s more widely available should end up doing well in the market. Samsung isn’t likely to launch the new model until next year, though.

Would you be willing to consider the new Galaxy Fold? What’s a price tag you feel would be appropriate for the device? Let us know in the comments below.

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I think the Galaxy Fold is a true ‘halo phone’ deserving of some slack

I’m less annoyed about the Galaxy Fold’s relatively fragile nature than I thought I would be, and for the past few days I kept asking myself “why?” As a commercially-available device, it deserves scrutiny and criticism, so what’s different about the Galaxy Fold that makes me feel like its lack of protection for the foldable screen – and the lack of dust and waterproofing – isn’t that big of a deal? At the very least, my internal monologue doesn’t seem to criticize the Galaxy Fold as harshly as it would other devices, so what gives? The answer came to me when I realized I’m looking at the Galaxy Fold with the same eyes I’d be looking at a halo car.

At the risk of sounding like a blind fan, I’m cutting the Galaxy Fold some slack

A halo car is a vehicle manufactured by a company with the purpose of putting itself on the map in a vehicle category that’s been previously unexplored. It’s a demonstration of force, but unlike a prototype, a halo car is always going to be commercially available in more or less limited quantities. A halo car will push the company outside of its comfort zone and, likewise, it generally pushes high-end technologies to even higher limits. Halo cars tend to have bold designs and hit the market at higher prices than full production vehicles. In the best-case scenarios, a halo car represents the first chapter in a new era for an automotive company. In others, it can represent a bad decision implemented poorly or at the wrong time. Either way, halo cars are rarely perfect, but as long as they get the job done, they’re a success.

For me, Samsung’s first foldable phone is a true halo device. You could argue that the Galaxy Round and Galaxy Note Edge were similar in regards to pushing boundaries, but while they may have had unique characteristics, they were still very much rooted in the standard candy bar smartphone form factor already mastered by Samsung. In contrast, the Galaxy Fold resides in an emerging device category; it pushes Samsung outside of its comfort zone and into an unexplored territory, and it poses an incredible challenge for the company’s display, software, and design divisions, more so than any other mobile device released over the past half a decade, or longer.

I’ve made peace with the idea that I’m not going to own a Galaxy Fold – or a halo car, for that matter – anytime soon. My Galaxy Note 10 is fresh and I’ll continue using it as my main driver for the foreseeable future. Therefore, it’s only natural for me not to get too anxious at the thought of not buying a $2,000 phone which could break if handled improperly. Then again, if you’re the anxious type then the Galaxy Fold is probably not for you.

In other words, I’m watching how the Galaxy Fold story unfolds from the sidelines and not from an owner’s perspective. Perhaps the Fold’s shortcomings would’ve been more difficult to digest if I was an early adopter, so maybe this is a case of me having a double standard. But even though the foldable device may be more fragile than conventional phones, it’s just as exciting to me as the idea of a halo car, even if I might not own one. I enjoy reading about it and looking at its design, and if I were to hang posters of mobile tech up on my bedroom walls, the Galaxy Fold would be the main piece. At the same time, I’d be uncomfortable using Samsung’s foldable phone on a daily basis, so does this mean it failed? I don’t think it did, or at the least, that’s yet to be determined.

In my eyes, a halo device – even one that may have shortcomings – fails only when it doesn’t succeed in putting the manufacturer on the map. So far, the Galaxy Fold proves that Samsung is capable of creating a solid foldable phone, and chances are that the Huawei Mate X will fail to overshadow it. Granted, Samsung’s foldable phone might be deemed a failure in some echo chambers as it is an easy target, but I think it’s too early to tell whether or not it succeeded. The early adoption figures look very promising and speak in its favor. The way I see it, as long as the Galaxy Fold doesn’t kill a potential legacy dead in its tracks and will instead lead to Samsung developing more foldable devices for next year, the company’s first foldable phone will have succeeded. And not in small part thanks to the brave early adopters of new technologies who believe in the foldable phone future.

Galaxy Fold

• Model: SM-F900F
• Dimensions: Unfolded: 160.9 x 117.9 x 6.9 mm Folded: 160.9 x 62.9 x 15.5 mm
• Display: 7,3" (185.4mm) Super AMOLED
• CPU: Qualcomm Snapdragon 855
• Camera: 16 MP, CMOS F2.2 & 12MP, CMOS F1.5/F2.4Wide & 12MP, CMOS F2.4 Telephoto

More specifications

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Galaxy S11 fingerprint sensor might be more convenient to use

A report from the Korean media that seems to have flown under the radar has indicated that the Galaxy S11’s in-display fingerprint sensor would be more convenient to use thanks to a larger sensing area for detecting fingerprints. According to The Elec, the ‘Active Area Dimension’ (AAD) for the in-display fingerprint sensor on the Galaxy S11 will measure 64 square millimeters while the Galaxy S10’s (and the Note 10’s) measures 36 square millimeters. It’s unclear just how accurate those numbers are, but the increase in sensing area would certainly be a welcome improvement.

Right now, fingerprint technology on smartphones isn’t perfect. In their pursuit for smartphones with minimal bezels around the display, manufacturers opted for rear-facing physical fingerprint readers, and the one point of contention there was the fact that you had to pick a device up in order to scan their fingerprint. In-display fingerprint sensors solved that dilemma, but without any physical boundaries to guide the user, in-display sensors also have a learning curve and require far more precision from the user compared to physical fingerprint readers.

And while you can’t add physical boundaries to in-display sensors, having a larger sensing area is the next best thing, which means the fingerprint sensor could be one of the Galaxy S11’s biggest highlights. Of course, nothing is official at the moment. The Galaxy S11 is at least six months away at this time, and even if the reports are correct, a lot could change as development on the device proceeds further. That includes aspects such as storage options, which could spoil consumers for choice as we had exclusively reported last month.

What do you think? Would an in-display fingerprint sensor that’s more convenient to use make you consider the Galaxy S11, or is it something you don’t think is consequential enough to be a deciding factor? Would something like Apple’s Face ID be more enticing in your eyes, or would you like to see the iris sensor make a return? Let us know in the comments!

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Galaxy A70s user manual reveals nothing of importance

The Galaxy A70s is getting ever closer to an official launch, as the user manual for the upcoming device has now been published online on Samsung’s website. Samsung has lumped the A70s with the Galaxy A50 and Galaxy A70 in a single manual, which is perhaps a good decision as the three devices look exactly the same and offer mostly the same software features as well. Oddly, the Galaxy A50s gets a separate user manual despite being quite similar to the Galaxy A50, so there’s probably no rhyme or reason at work here.

And, as you would expect, the Galaxy A70s user manual reveals nothing about the hardware upgrades we can expect it to bring over the Galaxy A70. Going by the differences between the Galaxy A50 and A50s, the A70s is unlikely to have anything but higher-resolution cameras to show for it, and reports have suggested a 64-megapixel rear camera will be the primary highlight. The design will also be upgraded to include a new ‘3D Prism’ effect like the Galaxy A50s, as revealed by A70s images spotted earlier this week, but the screen size and underlying specs should remain unchanged.

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