Samsung’s Exynos 980 chipset ends up in one more Vivo phone

The Exynos 980 is Samsung’s first chipset with a completely integrated 5G modem, and it was first used in the Vivo X30. Now, the chipset has been used in one more Vivo smartphone, the Vivo S6 5G. It’s a mid-range phone Super AMOLED screen and 5G connectivity.

Vivo announced the S6 5G for the Chinese market earlier today. It features a 6.44-inch Super AMOLED screen with HDR10, a U-shaped notch for the selfie camera, and an under-display fingerprint reader. The phone runs Android 10-based Funtouch OS 10 and is equipped with the 8nm Exynos 980 processor, 8GB LPDDR4X RAM, and 128GB/256GB UFS 2.1 storage.

The Vivo S6 5G has a quad-camera setup on the rear, consisting of a 48MP primary sensor (F1.8), an 8MP ultrawide camera (F2.25), a 2MP macro camera (F2.4), and a 2MP depth sensor. It supports 4K video recording. At the front, the phone has a 32MP selfie camera with an F2.0 aperture.

Other features of the phone include SA and NSA 5G connectivity, dual-SIM card slot, Wi-Fi ac, Bluetooth 5.1, GPS, USB Type-C port, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The Vivo S6 5G is powered by a 4500mAh battery with support for 18W fast charging. The phone is priced at CNY 2,698 (around $380) and comes in black, blue, and white colors. It will go on sale starting April 3.

Very few mid-range chipsets offer an integrated 5G modem with SA and NSA compatibility and support for sub-6GHz technology, and the Exynos 980 is among them. No wonder, the chipset is seeing attraction from other brands. Interestingly, no Samsung has yet been released with the Exynos 980 chipset, but we know that it will be used in the Galaxy A51 5G and the Galaxy A71 5G.

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You can now easily enable 96Hz refresh rate mode on Galaxy S20

The Galaxy S20 series features 120Hz refresh rate mode for the screen, and the experience of using a high refresh rate is downright amazing. Everything feels fast, fluid, and smooth. However, it also consumes a lot of power and ends up affecting the battery life. What if you want a high refresh rate experience without depleting battery by a considerable margin?

Well, the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra feature a hidden, 96Hz refresh rate mode. The 96Hz mode should theoretically offer a reasonable middle ground between high refresh rate and battery life, but Samsung hasn’t enabled the option yet. You can still change your Galaxy S20’s refresh rate setting to 96Hz via ADB, but there’s an easier way that doesn’t require you to hook up your phone to a PC and run some commands.

Set Galaxy S20’s screen refresh rate to 96Hz using this app

XDA forum member SatySatsZB has created an app that places two toggles—96Hz and 120Hz—in the Galaxy S20’s quick settings panel. You can easily switch between those two modes without having to restart the phone. Similar to the 120Hz mode, 96Hz mode is limited to Full HD+ screen resolution.

No one has tested if the 96Hz mode actually offers better battery life than 120Hz mode, but it should be the case unless Samsung has done something wrong. You can download the app from here. Some users who tried out the app on the Exynos variant of the Galaxy S20 have reported issues with the unofficial 96Hz mode, but others say that it is working fine on their smartphones.

Since this is an unofficial workaround, we advise you to try it out at your own risk. We wish Samsung had offered a 90Hz or 96Hz setting officially, but the company may be working on the feature already with newer software builds. The company is also reportedly working to offer 120Hz refresh rate mode with QHD+ resolution.

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Galaxy S20 Ultra to reportedly get a new color soon

Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S series phones usually come in four or more color variants. Then, the company goes on to release additional color variants of the phones over the next few months. The Galaxy S20 Ultra is the most boring Galaxy S series device from Samsung in years in terms of colors. The phone comes in two colors—Cosmic Black and Cosmic Grey—and both of them are quite boring.

Now, it is being reported that Samsung could introduce the Galaxy S20 Ultra in a new color. Ice Universe, who has an excellent track record in predicting information about upcoming Samsung products, has tweeted that a new Galaxy S20 Ultra color will be launched soon. However, he hasn’t revealed the color, but we think that consumers won’t have to wait long.

If you were thinking of getting yourself a Galaxy S20 Ultra but were unhappy with the color options, we suggest you wait a little longer and see if the upcoming color makes you any happier. The Galaxy S20 and the Galaxy S20+ are available in Aura Red, Cloud Blue, Cosmic Grey, Cloud Pink, and Cloud White, and it is possible that one of these colors would be released for the Galaxy S20 Ultra as well.

Which color do you want Samsung to bring for the Galaxy S20 Ultra? Let us know in the comments section below. I would want Samsung to introduce the S20 Ultra in Aura Glow, Aura Red, or Cosmic Blue.

S20 Ultra new color, coming soon…

— Ice universe (@UniverseIce) March 31, 2020

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First Galaxy Note 20 leak reveals major hint about its design

Samsung is due to launch another flagship smartphone later this year, it will be the successor to last year’s Galaxy Note 10. Initially believed to be called the Galaxy Note 11, seeing as how Samsung has jumped straight to the Galaxy S20 branding, there’s a good chance that its next phablet may be launched as the Galaxy Note 20.

This Galaxy Note 20 leak has dropped a major hint about its design, particularly that of the top-tier Galaxy Note 20 model. Who knows if Samsung ends up using the “Ultra” branding for that as well.

Galaxy Note 20 leak drops a big design hint

Tipster @rquandt has posted some images of a mold for an inlay of the Galaxy Note 11+ (possibly Note 20 Ultra) LED View Cover. The LED View Cover is a staple accessory for Samsung’s flagships so it would make sense for the company to offer one for the Galaxy Note 20 as well.

The aspect ratio could be off, he cautions, but that’s not what stands out here. The massive cutout for the camera housing is impossible to ignore. It appears to be very similar to the one on the Galaxy S20 Ultra. That’s not surprising, given that we already expect the top-of-the-line Galaxy Note 20 model to boast the same camera specs as the Galaxy S20 Ultra.

This mold also has the hardware buttons on the right side of the frame, a design choice that has been consistently used in Samsung’s recent handsets. It will be completely opposite to the buttons on the Galaxy Note 10 which were all placed on the left side.

It’s far from being the only Galaxy Note 20 leak as we will surely see more in the months to come. However, given the state of the world right now with the pandemic and everything, it remains to be seen if it’s going to be business as usual around the Galaxy Note 20’s expected arrival in August this year.

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Galaxy S7 and S7 edge are still getting security updates

It was almost exactly four years ago that the Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge went on sale in markets around the world. The S7 and S7 edge stopped getting major Android updates with Android 8.0 Oreo, in keeping with Samsung’s software update policy for Galaxy devices. However, the Korean giant continues to support the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge with security updates to this day, and it has released the March security patch for the two phones in quite a few countries in the last week or so.

The Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge continue to be in the quarterly schedule for security updates four years after launch, though there’s a good chance that will change starting next month. That’s because Samsung’s policy dictates that every flagship get monthly security updates for three years and once every three months in the fourth year. From the fifth year onward, security updates only arrive when a critical security vulnerability is discovered and needs fixing.

The March 2020 security update is rolling out for the Galaxy S7 and S7 edge in a slew of markets around the world, and you can find out if it’s available in your country from the phone’s Settings » Software update menu. You can also check the Galaxy S7/S7 edge section in our firmware archive, where you can also download the latest firmware to manually install it on your device.

Thanks for the tip, Arif!

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The one major reason I don’t use Samsung Internet

I’ve been using Galaxy devices since 2010, when Samsung launched the first Galaxy S. Android, and many Android apps, were an unoptimized mess in 2010, but the Samsung Internet browser stood out as one of the most polished apps back then. Samsung’s browser app ran amazingly smooth thanks to its use of hardware acceleration (i.e.: it offloaded graphical tasks to the GPU for better performance) at a time when the Android OS didn’t officially support hardware acceleration, and that meant Samsung Internet ran better than every other browser app that was available at the time.

But, just a couple of years later, Google launched Chrome for Android devices, and with the popularity the internet giant’s browser had been gaining on desktop computers, it wasn’t long before many shifted to Chrome on their Android smartphone as well. I was one of them, and I’ve stuck with Google Chrome on both my desktop PC and my phones for more than half a decade. Samsung Internet has continued to be awesome all these years, and it also offers some unique features, like support for extensions and a built-in ad blocker, but it has lacked a key feature that keeps me sticking to Google Chrome.

Cross-device sync is the name of the game

It’s a feature that no doubt keeps a lot of other users on Chrome as well, and it’s the fact that you can sync everything from bookmarks and saved passwords between Chrome on Android and Chrome on a desktop PC (whether it’s running Windows or Mac). Samsung has a Chrome extension that lets you copy your Chrome bookmarks to the Samsung Internet app on your phone, but for me (and many like me), only having bookmarks synced isn’t enough.

I need my passwords saved in Chrome as well (yeah, I know this isn’t a very secure thing to do), and I like how quickly everything syncs between my phone and PC every time I set up a new Galaxy phone (which I do often for reviewing Galaxy devices) and fire up Chrome. With Samsung Internet, that’s not possible, as there is no Samsung Internet browser for desktop PCs. And Samsung probably won’t ever make one, as it’s a mobile-first company that makes most of its profits from selling mobile devices and making the parts that go into smartphones, both from Samsung and other manufacturers.

Samsung could make a Chrome extension that copies more than just bookmarks across Chrome and Samsung Internet, but there probably isn’t a way for extensions to access saved passwords and send them to other apps. Well, you can export passwords from Chrome (and mostly any app/software that saves passwords) as a text file and import it into other browsers/apps, but that’s not an automatic process and doesn’t serve the purpose of syncing that I require.

However, considering Microsoft’s Edge browser is now based on Chromium, maybe Samsung can use its partnership with Microsoft to cook something up that solves the syncing problem for me and others like me? Maybe it can, maybe it can’t – I’m not really sure. But until something like that comes out, I don’t think I will ever be able to use Samsung Internet on my Galaxy smartphones (or any other third-party browser for that matter), despite some of its excellent features and functionality.

Do you use Samsung Internet, or do you stick with Chrome because of the lack of cross-platform syncing on the former? Do you have other reasons for sticking to Samsung Internet or Chrome? Let me know in the comments below!

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Daily Deal: 23% off Anker Bleuthooth Wireless Headphones

Wired headphones had a good place in the personal audio space. However, since more smartphones come without a headphone jack, wireless headphones have become more popular. Their battery life has become good as well with these headphones by Anker giving you up to 10 hours of playtime on a single charge. They’re lightweight and have a perfect fit so you can even use them during your workout or run. They’re IPX 7 waterproof so you don’t need to worry about sweat or rain damaging your headphones. They’re now available at 23% off making this the perfect time to get them in.

Hit the Buy Now button below to get them before they’re out of stock!

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New Galaxy S20 update brings improved camera, April security patch

The most recent firmware update that was released for the Galaxy S20 series brought much needed improvements to the autofocus performance of the Galaxy S20 Ultra camera, and it also included some general camera improvements for the other two Galaxy S20 models. Now, Samsung has released a new update for its latest flagship in Hong Kong and Taiwan, once again targeting camera optimization.

The update sports build number G98x0ZHU1ATCT and, in addition to camera performance improvements, it packs the April 2020 security patch. Now, it’s worth mentioning that the updates Samsung releases for its flagships in markets like China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan are often different from what it releases in the rest of the world, so it’s unclear if this new update will also make an appearance in other markets. The April patch will no doubt arrive at some point for all countries, but we will have to wait and see if the camera improvements will be included in the update for those countries as well.

As usual, we will be keeping an eye out and letting you know once – and if – this new update starts rolling out internationally. For now, if you reside in Taiwan or Hong Kong and are rocking one of the three Galaxy S20 models, you can download the update over the air from the phone’s Settings » Software update menu. You can also download the latest firmware from our archive and install it manually on your phone using a Windows PC.

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Galaxy A50 receiving March 2020 security patch in the US

Although Samsung started rolling out the Android 10 update to the Galaxy A50 in India and some other markets, users in other regions such as the US are not so lucky. Today, the South Korean firm has released the March 2020 Android security patch to the unlocked variant of the Galaxy A50 in the US.

The OTA (over the air) update has a file size of 128.34MB and it bumps up the firmware version of the Galaxy A50 to A505U1UEU5ATC1. Apart from the March security patch, the update also brings the usual assortment of bug fixes and stability improvements. Unfortunately, the update is still based on Android 9. We had hoped that the phone would receive the Android 10 update this month, but it looks like users would have to wait just a bit longer.

The March 2020 security update was released to the Galaxy A50 in various markets, including Israel, earlier this month. If you have an unlocked variant of the Galaxy A50 in the US, you should be able to see the update notification on your phone’s screen. If you haven’t received the update already, you can manually check for it by heading to Settings » Software update and tapping Download and install.

Samsung has improved a lot over the past year in releasing Android updates and security patches to its phones. It first released the Android 10 update with One UI 2.0 to the Galaxy S10 series and then to the Galaxy Note 10 series. Various other high-end and mid-range smartphones started receiving Android 10 updates over the past couple of months.

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Samsung to end production of all LCD panels by the end of 2020

After announcing its plans to close one of its two LCD production lines in South Korea last year, Samsung Display has now announced that it will end the production of all LCD panels. The company will close all of its LCD manufacturing facilities in China and South Korea by the end of this year due to falling demand.

Samsung’s display manufacturing arm mentioned that it would fulfill all the current orders for LCD panels by the end of 2020 and supply the panels to its customers without any issues. In October, the company had announced its plans to invest KRW 13.1 trillion ($10.72 billion) to upgrade its LCD production lines to make QLED panels.

While Samsung plans to upgrade both of its dedicated LCD plants in Korea to QLED plants, nothing has been said about the company’s plans for two LCD panel manufacturing facilities in China. The company has been investing in the research, development, and production of Quantum Dot OLED panels to compete with LG in the TV space.

The South Korean display giant’s rival firm LG has also announced to shutter the domestic production of LCD TV panels by the end of this year to focus on QLED and OLED production.

Samsung introduced Micro LED TVs last year and expanded its lineup during CES 2020 earlier this year. This technology offers brighter panels, better colors, deep blacks, and lacks any burn-in issues. Apple will reportedly switch to Micro LED displays for iPads and Macs as soon as this year, and Samsung Display would be wanting to be one of the suppliers.

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