Samsung’s Onyx Cinema LED Screen comes to Australia

Samsung has announced that its Onyx Cinema LED screen has made its entry to the Australian market through its partnership with HOYTS Cinemas. The first such screen has been installed at HOYTS Entertainment Quarter in Moore Park, Sydney. More more Onyx screen will be installed at HOYTS Highpoint in Melbourne, Australia, sometime next month.

HOYTS has more than 50 cinema theatres across Australia and New Zealand. Its Entertainment Quarter in Sydney, where Samsung’s 14-meter Onyx Cinema LED screen is installed, was recently renovated, and it will act as the company’s flagship cinema in the country. It will host all significant Australian blockbuster premieres and several red carpet events. The company will install a 10-meter Onyx LED screen at its Melbourne cinema location.

The Onyx Cinema LED screen uses LED displays rather than usual projectors that are used in cinemas. It features 4K resolution, HDR playback, and up to 146fL (500 nits) brightness. In comparison, usual cinemas that use projectors can go as high as just 14fL (or 48 nits). No, wonder viewers are made to sit in the dark. Onyx screens also offer deep blacks, a wider range of colors, higher contrast, uniform content, and better surround audio via HARMAN technology.

Samsung has already managed to attract cinemas across 17 countries around the world, including Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, the US, and Vietnam.

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Samsung Galaxy S20’s data security chip will be available to other brands

Samsung has announced that it uses a new data security chip in its recently announced flagship smartphones, the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra. The security solution is said to be best-in-class and passes the Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level (CC EAL) 5+.

The South Korean electronics giant’s Secure Element (SE) turnkey solution uses a combination of security chip S3K250AF and optimized software to guard critical information on an isolated storage area. The Secure Element is claimed to be a tamper-resistant solution. It securely stores critical information such as crypto-currency data, fingerprints, face scans, login credentials, passwords, PINs, and more separate from typical mobile memory chips such as eUFS and eMMC.

The company’s new data security solution combines hardware-level protection, microcontroller, and an optimized, secure operating system. While current smartphones are secure enough, Samsung says that dedicated data security chips add extra countermeasures for protection from hackers, malware, and viruses. The new security chip also offers protection from laser attacks, power glitches, and reverse engineering.

The new Secure Element solution also manages failed attempts and prevents replay attacks by accepting only the most recent authentication request as a valid one. This makes it extremely hard for anyone to access or copy confidential information from smartphones and other mobile devices. Apple (Secure Enclave) and Google (Titan M) also use similar hardware-based security solutions in their products.

Samsung Electronics says that the chip has been under mass production, and has already been used in the Galaxy S20 series. Other smartphone brands can also use Secure Element with S3K250AF chip in their products.

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Galaxy S20 is the first smartphone with USB fast-charge certification

The Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra have become the first smartphones in the world to receive the USB fast-charge certification from USB-IF (USB Implementers Forum). This certification means that the three phones support both USB Power Delivery 3.0 and PPS (Programmable Power Supply) specifications. The certification also means that the phones will be safe while being fast-charged via a similarly certified charger.

Samsung started supporting USB PD 3.0 and PPS protocols with the Galaxy Note 10+. The phone supports both 25W and 45W fast charging modes, just like the Galaxy S20 Ultra. Hopefully, the Galaxy Note 10 and the Galaxy Note 10+ will receive the USB fast-charge certification shortly.

Right now, only the company’s own fast chargers support 45W charging on the Galaxy Note 10+ and the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and it is hard to find third-party chargers that can go as high as 45W and support USB PD 3.0 and PPS protocols. Samsung has also launched a car charger that supports 45W fast charging.

Last year, Samsung released its USB-C Power Delivery controller chips, with one of them going as high as 100W of power and support USB PD 3.0 specifications. Other brands may use the South Korean electronics giant’s chips to make chargers that are compatible with not only the Galaxy S20 Ultra and the Galaxy Note 10+, but also smartphones, tablets, and even laptops from other brands.

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Galaxy Z Flip slowly sells out in Netherlands, new batch ships on Friday

Another day has passed, and the Galaxy Z Flip has sold out in yet another country, this time the Netherlands. The company confirmed this earlier today and revealed that stocks will be replenished on Friday, February 28. This is the same day on which Canada will get its second batch of Galaxy Z Flips after the device sold out in less than a day.

Interestingly enough, that’s not really the case with the Netherlands. Samsung claims that the Galaxy Z Flip was sold out at its Experience Store in Utrecht after four days of market availability, so either the Netherlands had a much larger stock than other countries, or Dutch Galaxy fans weren’t as impressed with the foldable device as prospective buyers from other countries may have been.

We’d love to know just how high (or low) in demand the Galaxy Z Flip is globally or in each individual market, especially since the company aims to sell 6 million foldable phones by the end of 2020. However, it’s probably going to take a while before Samsung publishes these figures.

It took the company a few months to reveal that it sold between 400,000 and 500,000 Galaxy Fold units last year. The Galaxy Z Flip will hopefully perform better in this regard, otherwise, that target of 6 million units might be outside of Samsung’s reach. Then again, the company is also likely working on a Galaxy Fold 2, so anything can happen by the end of the year.

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Galaxy S20 Ultra camera has improved with the first firmware update

Although the Galaxy S20 series has yet to ship to customers around the world, Samsung has seemingly begun rolling out the first firmware update for the Galaxy S20 Ultra. According to a screenshot that we assume was captured on a review unit in South Korea and passed along by TizenHelp, the update introduces camera improvements as well as the March 2020 security patch. This makes the S20 Ultra the first Galaxy device to receive the latest Android OS security fixes.

The software package weighs around 418MB and it’s identified by firmware version G988NKSU1ATBR. It claims to improve the camera quality of the Galaxy S20 Ultra, and fix an issue with the auto flash. The Galaxy S20 Ultra already is a very impressive ‘camera phone,’ and we’ll tell you all about its crazy camera capabilities in our upcoming review, so stay tuned.

We assume that Samsung will release a similar firmware update for the standard Galaxy S20 as well as the Galaxy S20+. Either way, this new update should be immediately available for download once the Galaxy S20 Ultra starts shipping to customers around the world, or at the very least, the initial rollout will take place in South Korea but other regions will follow suit. We’ll keep you posted as we learn more.

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Samsung SoundAssistant update intros vertical volume sliders and EQ

Samsung has launched a new update to its SoundAssistant app, pushing it to version 3.3.07 and introducing a new vertical volume slider that replaces the default horizontal one. The new volume panel also offers quick access to an equalizer and a Dolby Atmos toggle among other goodies and quick settings.

The vertical volume panel pops up from the right side of the screen by default, but users can choose to relocate it to the opposite side. They can also pick a color for the volume panel, including the system-wide theme which follows Light or Dark Mode, and five additional color presets that don’t change based on the system’s theme.

Samsung already streamlined the default volume panel in One UI 2.0 to make it less obtrusive. Those changes were welcomed, but SoundAssistant elevates the volume controls to a new level.

Not only does it offer a vertical slider/volume panel after the latest update, but it also gives you easy access to a variety of sound-related settings and features. You can even create and save custom equalizer presets, and then share them with other Galaxy smartphone users in your contacts list.

You can grab the latest SoundAssistant version from the Galaxy Store or by heading over to our APK archive and download it manually from there.

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Samsung Health update adds menstrual cycle tracking and calendar

It’s been a week since Samsung Health was updated with Dark Mode support, and now Samsung is rolling out a new update for the app, pushing it to version 6.9.0.055 and introducing a new Women’s health category that lets you track your menstrual cycle.

This might be a most-welcomed addition to Samsung Health because, as it turns out, most third-party apps designed to track menstrual cycles are either locked behind a paywall or they are of poor execution. With the latest update to Samsung Health, this should no longer be as big of an issue, as the app now includes a dedicated menstrual cycle calendar.

The official changelog also mentions Dark Mode, but as we’ve explained, this feature was added last week. Likewise, the changelog states that ‘various bug fixes and improvements have been applied,’ but it doesn’t go into detail as to what exactly they entail.

As usual, you can try to update Samsung Health via the Galaxy Store or Play Store, or you can visit our APK archive by hitting the link and download the latest version of Samsung Health to install it on your Galaxy device.

This is just one of the ways in which Samsung has improved its Health platform over the past six months. At CES 2020, the company introduced Samsung Health to its smart TVs as the perfect companion for your indoor gym and has partnered with various fitness brands, including Echelon, to offer training videos on the big screen.

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Samsung and Galaxy Note 10 dominate South Korean market in Q4 2019

Samsung was the top smartphone vendor in South Korea throughout the fourth quarter of 2019, however, the company’s top spot was somewhat threatened by Apple’s increased influence in the domestic market. Samsung managed to retain first place with a 57% market share, but although the company held the majority stake, its market share has dropped by 14% compared to Q3 2019.

At the same time, Apple held the second spot on the podium with a 28% market share, and its influence has increased by 17% from a quarter earlier. According to The Korea Herald citing Counterpoint Research, Apple’s positive performance was attributed to strong iPhone 11 sales.

Nevertheless, 7 out of the 10 best-selling smartphones in South Korea throughout Q4 2019 were made by Samsung. The Galaxy Note 10+ 5G was apparently the most sought-after device in the three-month period, and it was even more popular than the iPhone 11 which took second place ahead of the standard Galaxy Note 10 5G.

LG was the third-largest smartphone vendor with 15% of the segment. Overall, the South Korean smartphone market continues to grow, and Q4 has marked a 1.6% increase over the previous quarter. Samsung wasn’t able to increase its own market share at the same time, but its 5G smartphones have helped to strengthen the domestic global market as a whole.

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Daily Deal: 21% off the Samsung Galaxy A50

The Samsung Galaxy A50 is a great mid-range smartphone. This means Samsung tried to fit in the best specs for as competitive a price as possible. It comes with a good Super AMOLED display that’s 6.4 inches so it will fit nicely when operating it with one hand. It has a three camera set up at the back which is able to take decent photos. With a Exynos 9610 chip to manage performance you can be sure it’s fast as well. Do check out our elaborate review if you want to know more about the Samsung Galaxy A50. Now available at 21% off, this already affordable smartphone just is a real bargain.

Hit the Buy Now button below to get your Samsung Galaxy A50 while they’re still discounted!

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[Updated] Here’s how much storage a minute of Galaxy S20’s 8K videos will use

Update: Samsung reached out to us to clarify that 8K videos aren’t limited by time but by file size. The phone simply divides the video into different files of up to 4GB in size but doesn’t stop recording.

Original story follows

The Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and Galaxy S20 Ultra are the first smartphones ever to support 8K video recording. 8K videos are going to offer a lot of detail, so much so that you will be able to extract 33MP stills from them. Of course, that also means they will need more space, and we now have an official figure of how big these videos will be.

Each 8K video will take around 600 MB of storage per minute

According to Samsung, one minute of 8K video on a Galaxy 20 will have a file size of 600 MB. On a Galaxy S10+, a minute of 4K video takes around 340 to 350 MB of space, and since 8K videos have four times as many pixels as a 4K video, it’s impressive that an 8K video will only use 600 MB per minute. But that’s still quite a lot, and a lot of processing power would be required for 8K video recording, which is why the Galaxy S20 will only record a maximum of 5 minutes per video.

Furthermore, each 8K video will be shot at 24 frames per second, which is the industry standard for Hollywood movies as well (though higher frame rates have been used in some movies, such as The Hobbit). Naturally, there’s no option to record 8K videos at 60 fps on the Galaxy S20, as both the Exynos 990 and Snapdragon 865 can only go up to 30 fps for 8K videos.

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Samsung already working on Android 11 as Galaxy S10+ visits Geekbench

Google took the veil off the first developer preview of Android 11 earlier this month, and it looks like Samsung is already testing the new software on the Galaxy S10+. At least according to a recent entry in the Geekbench database, revealing the Galaxy S10+, model number SM-G975F, running Android R. The next version of Google’s mobile OS will likely be officially known as Android 11, but for now, the developer preview follows Google’s alphabetical naming convention and is being referred to as Android R.

The Geekbench entry doesn’t reveal any unusual details about the OS, evidently, nor does it suggest when the final OS version will be ready for a public release. But assuming that the database entry is legitimate, what it tells us is that Samsung was very quick to pick up the first developer preview and test it on its hardware.

This could translate into a timely Android 11 roll-out towards the end of the year, not necessarily for the Galaxy S10+ but for one of Samsung’s more recent flagship series, at least. Now, keep in mind that there’s always a chance – albeit remote – for a Geekbench entry to be spoofed, so we advised that not much has been set in stone so far, no even by Google.

Samsung might establish a winning tradition

Samsung was surprisingly quick to bring Android 10 to some of its smartphones before the end of 2019, especially given the relatively slow roll-out from previous years. Support has been stellar over the past six months, with a few exceptions such as the Galaxy Fold, and as yet, there’s no reason to believe that Samsung won’t try to bring us Android R as swiftly as it did Android 10. Just don’t expect any miracles before Google itself introduces the final Android 11 version to the masses.

As to what devices you can expect to receive the next version of Android OS, well, nothing has changed and Samsung continues to guarantee two major software updates for most of its devices. Therefore, if your Galaxy smartphone shipped with at least Android Pie out of the box then it’s technically guaranteed to receive Android 11 at some point. If it already got its two major software updates then it probably won’t make the cut for a third one.

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Galaxy M31 unveiled in India with 64MP quad-camera, 6000mAh battery

After a few weeks of teasing, Samsung has unveiled the successor to the Galaxy M30s in India. The Galaxy M31 is a new mid-range smartphone from the South Korean electronics giant, and it brings improvements to the camera along with newer software.

The Galaxy M31 will be available in India starting March 5 through Amazon.in. It is priced at Rs 14,999 for the 64GB variant, while the 128GB variant of the device costs Rs 15,999. It will be available in two colors: Ocean Blue and Space Black.

Galaxy M31 features Exynos 9611 SoC, Android 10, 64MP quad-camera, 6000mAh battery

The Galaxy M31 features a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-U display with Full HD+ resolution. The phone’s design is similar to that of its predecessor, featuring a plastic frame and a glass panel at the front. There is a capacitive fingerprint reader on the rear.

The phone’s quad-camera setup features a 64MP (1/1.7-inch) sensor with F1.8 aperture, a 12MP ultrawide-angle camera with F2.2 aperture, a 5MP (F2.4 aperture) dedicated macro camera, and a 5MP (F2.2 aperture) depth sensor. At the front, the Galaxy M31 has a 32MP (F2.2 aperture) camera hidden inside the U-shaped notch. The phone can record 4K 30fps videos using both front-facing and rear-facing cameras.

For the first time, Samsung is bringing the dedicated night mode to a Galaxy M series smartphone. The South Korean firm claims that it works well, but we’ll have to test it out during our review before passing judgment. Other camera modes include AR Emoji, Bixby Vision, Hyperlapse, Live Focus, Slow Motion, and Super Slow-Mo.

The Galaxy M31 keeps the Galaxy M30s’ Exynos 9611 octa-core processor. It will be offered in two storage variants—64GB and 128GB—and both of them use 6GB of LPDDR4x RAM and UFS 2.1 storage chips. There’s a dedicated microSD card slot for storage expansion.

The phone runs Android 10 with One UI Core 2.0. It comes with most of the Android 10 features, including Google’s UI navigation gestures, dark mode, and enhanced privacy controls. However, it misses out on One UI 2.0 features like a screen recorder. It also features Widevine L1 certification and Dolby Atmos audio.

Similar to the Galaxy M30s, the Galaxy M31 comes powered by a 6000mAh battery and supports 15W fast charging. A 15W fast charger comes bundled with the phone, but headphones don’t come as a part of the package. The phone also features LTE, GPS, dual-band Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, FM Radio, USB 2.0 Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

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