Galaxy M31 gets the June 2021 security update

The last software update released to the Galaxy M31 brought One UI 3.1 and the March 2021 security update. Today, Samsung has started releasing a new software update to the smartphone, and it brings the latest security patch. It is always great to see even mid-range and affordable devices getting frequent firmware updates.

Samsung has started rolling out a new software update to the Galaxy M31 in India. The latest update, which bears firmware version M315FXXU2BUF1, includes the June 2021 security patch. As per the company’s documentation, the latest security patch includes 47 fixes from Google and 19 fixes from Samsung, and some of those fixes have been marked as critical. The new firmware might also include device stability improvements.

If you are a Galaxy M31 user in India, you can either wait for the OTA update notification to hit your smartphone or manually check for the update. You can navigate to Settings » Software update and tap on Download and install to check for the latest software update. You can also download the new firmware from our firmware database and flash it manually. Other markets may get the new Galaxy M31 software update over the next few weeks.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy M31 in March 2020 with Android 10-based One UI 2 on board. The phone received the Android 11-based One UI 3 update in January 2021 and the One UI 3.1 update three months ago.

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Samsung Notes’ voice recording feature should get this improvement

Microsoft is bringing a live speech-to-text transcription feature to its Office mobile app through an update, and it’s one of those additions that might make some Samsung Notes envious. Following the recent update, Microsoft Office users can record audio and have their speech transcribed in real time. Both audio and text are saved in cards that can be accessed and played back in sync.

Transcribing audio in real time sounds like something Samsung Notes should be able to do, but it isn’t. Granted, Samsung Notes lets you record audio in real time while writing text or doodling with the S Pen — which can be very useful for presentations and recording memories — but it doesn’t have the capability to do live transcriptions.

What about Bixby and Live Transcribe?

To be precise, Bixby Voice can be used for text-to-speech while using Samsung Notes and the Samsung Keyboard. Just open a note and the Samsung Keyboard, then press and hold the Bixby side key and speak.

Furthermore, Galaxy smartphones running Android 10 or later are compatible with the Live Transcribe accessibility feature, though it requires a download from the Google Store.

But neither one of these transcription tools work as well as Microsoft’s new live speech-to-text feature does. Bixby can only be used for text-to-speech, but it isn’t a Samsung Notes feature, so it doesn’t record or sync audio with text. It just transcribes audio in real time, but it doesn’t have a playback option.

Similarly, Live Transcribe is an accessibility feature that can transcribe audio in real time, but it can’t record audio or sync it with text.

Do you think Samsung should borrow a page from Microsoft Office and implement a live speech-to-text transcription feature to Notes? Leave a comment below.

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Ascot fashion design contest won by 17-year-old using Samsung Flip

The first Ascot Racecourse fashion design competition kicked off today in the UK, and although Samsung wasn’t the star of the show, the Samsung Flip was certainly an important part of it. The competition had students from three secondary schools in Sunningdale and Bracknell create an outfit that could be worn in the Queen Anne Enclosure at Royal Ascot 2021. The winner is a 17-year-old pupil, Isobel Butler, who created the design using a Samsung Flip.

As a technical supplier for Ascot, Samsung donated the Flip digital whiteboard to all three schools that were invited to participate in the competition. The Samsung Flip was released in 2018 as part of the company’s vision for a “Workplace of the Future.” It’s seen a couple of major upgrades since, with Samsung announcing the Flip 3 last month.

But aside from enabling and improving collaborative engagement, the Samsung Flip can also act as a canvas for digital artistry when paired with the Samsung Touch Pen. And this is exactly how it was used by students in the Ascot outfit design competition. Isobel Butler’s design was picked by Royal Ascot designer Zeynep Kartal and milliner Beverley Edmondson.

“It’s fantastic to see the unique and stylish designs from the students brought to life through our Samsung Flip technology,” said Drew Rogers, Senior Product Manager at Samsung UK via AV Magazine.

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Samsung introduces a 12-month subscription plan for the Galaxy Z Fold 2

Samsung is trying to put the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in the hands of more foldable enthusiasts, and after launching a 60-day trial program for the device in the UK a couple of months ago, Samsung is now introducing a new subscription plan for foldable fans in Brazil. Through a partnership with Porto Seguro, Samsung is giving prospective Galaxy Z Fold 2 buyers in Brazil the option to acquire the device on a Tech Fácil subscription plan, with options to upgrade to subsequent models later down the line.

Tech Fácil is a monthly subscription plan offered by Porto Seguro in partnership with Samsung. The platform was released in February, and up until now, it gave customers the option of buying one of the Galaxy S21 flagship models on a subscription plan. Now, customers can also choose the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G in exchange for 499 Brazilian real ($98) a month.

After 12 months, customers can keep, return, or upgrade the phone

After a period of 12 months, Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G owners can choose to renew their subscription and receive the Galaxy Z Fold 3 in return for the old device, or they can choose to return the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G and end their subscriptions, free of charge. There’s also the option of canceling the subscription after one year and keep the Galaxy Z Fold 2 by paying roughly 40% of the product’s value.

There are other benefits to acquiring the Galaxy Z Fold 2 5G through the Tech Fácil subscription plan. For starters, customers whose devices might need repairing will be given a placeholder phone so they won’t be cut off from the rest of the world. In addition, Porto Seguro offers protection against theft as well as physical, electrical, and liquid damage.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is the most advanced Samsung foldable yet, though a direct sequel is just around the corner and should be unveiled in August. You can find out more about the Galaxy Z Fold 2 from our review and device widget below.

Galaxy Z Fold 2 review

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Corning becomes a UTG (Ultra Thin Glass) supplier for the Galaxy Z Flip 3

The upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 3’s foldable display will have a layer of UTG (Ultra Thin Glass) supplied by Corning, marking the company’s first foldable UTG design win, according to a recent tweet by DisplaySearch lead analyst @DSCCRoss. But Corning won’t be the only UTG supplier for Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Z Flip 3. The source adds that SCHOTT will also continue to supply Samsung with UTG, while eCONY will be responsible for thinning, strengthening, and cutting the panels.

Rumors of Samsung Electronics and Corning collaborating on the development of UTG emerged last year around the time the Galaxy Z Flip and Galaxy Z Fold 2 got introduced. These devices are equipped with UTG supplied by Samsung Display, but the company’s consumer electronics division reportedly partnered with Corning to expand its supply chain and be less dependent on Samsung Display, the latter of which is said to begin supplying foldable displays to Google, Vivo, and Xiaomi later this year.

On the other hand, Samsung Display has an ownership stake in Corning after the two companies have signed another 7-year agreement. So, in a roundabout way, you could say that Samsung Display continues to be involved in the development of UTG for the Galaxy Z Flip and Z Fold lineups, though maybe not directly.

Galaxy Z Flip 3 rumored display specifications

Although Samsung is successfully keeping the Galaxy Z Flip 3 under wraps, some rumors suggest that the device will have a 6.7-inch or slightly larger display with a similar aspect ratio as the original Galaxy Z Flip. It’s also rumored that the sheet of UTG used by the Galaxy Z Flip 3 could be twice as thick as the current solution.

The company may have trimmed down the display bezels for a more modern look. It remains to be seen if the foldable panel will have a high refresh rate. As for the outer display, it’s expected to be slightly larger, and it might be protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus.

Leak #1 – Corning will share the Z Flip 3 UTG business with SCHOTT. This is Corning's first foldable UTG design win. Korea's eCONY will handle the thinning, strengthening and cutting steps.

— Ross Young (@DSCCRoss) June 14, 2021

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This is how the Galaxy Z Fold 3 would look like with flat edges all around

Sooner or later, the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will hit the shelves before the end of the year. It will be Samsung’s third smartphone in the series, as the name implies, and although the book-like form factor hasn’t changed, the overall design of the Galaxy Z Fold 3 will likely be different.

Fan renders gave us a glimpse of what the Galaxy Z Fold 3 might look like last month, and now, a couple of new fan-made concepts are painting the Galaxy Z Fold 3 in a bit of a different light.

The source of these new concept images claims to have created them based on a few leaked details. However, they shouldn’t reflect the final design. These are not official press renders that got leaked ahead of time, and some design details were made up to fill in the gaps.

A Galaxy Z Fold model with flat edges all around

The new renders depict a vertical main camera setup with three sensors and an LED flash, same as the previous images. However, the latest concept renders give us a glimpse of what the Galaxy Z Fold 3 would look like if it had flat instead of rounded edges.

The design is somewhat iPhone-esque and looks interesting, to say the least, but it’s probably not something that Samsung is aspiring to. Historically speaking, Samsung was never a big fan of flat edges for the Galaxy smartphone lineup. Most of its smartphones have rounded corners. The Galaxy Alpha (released in 2014) was probably the company’s last true attempt at a design with flat edges, and even those were chamfered.

Then again, Samsung has adopted flat edges for its more recent flagship tablet models like the Galaxy Tab S7 series, so it’s not like the company hasn’t experimented with this design detail in recent years. The Galaxy Z Fold 3 is kind of a tablet in itself, so it would make some sense if it had flat edges as depicted in these fan concepts.

Do you think the Galaxy Z Fold 3 would look better with flat edges, or do you believe that Samsung should stick to what it knows best?

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Galaxy F22 specs might not surprise anyone

It was revealed last month that Samsung is working on yet another entry-level smartphone, the Galaxy F22. While many had guessed that it could be a variant of the Galaxy A22 that was launched a couple of weeks ago, we can now confirm that it is indeed the case. The Galaxy F22 has appeared in a certification, which mentions both Galaxy A22 and Galaxy F22 to be the same device.

The Galaxy F22 has model number SM-E225F, and it has appeared in the Bluetooth SIG certification database. The Galaxy A22 and the Galaxy F22 (SM-A225F) are identical devices, which is why both are listed under the same certification. The Galaxy F22 features Bluetooth 5.0 with LE, and it most probably features SBC, aptX, aptX-HD, and LDAC wireless audio codecs. Samsung could launch the device in India exclusively through Flipkart’s online store.

Galaxy F22 specifications could be similar to Galaxy A22

We expect the Galaxy F22 to feature a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display with HD+ resolution and a 90Hz refresh rate. Samsung could debut the upcoming smartphone with Android 11 out of the box (with One UI 3.1). The device will most likely feature a MediaTek Helio G80 processor, 4GB/6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot (up to 1TB). It could have a side-mounted fingerprint reader as well.

At the front, we can expect the Galaxy F22 to feature a 13MP selfie camera. At the rear, it could have a 48MP+8MP+2MP+2MP quad-camera setup. It might offer 1080p video recording via both front and rear-facing camera setups. Other features like GPS, dual-SIM card slot, Wi-Fi b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth 5.0, USB Type-C port, and a headphone jack could also be present. It could come powered by a 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging.

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Walking around with your Galaxy S21 Ultra in your pocket may be draining its battery

The Galaxy S21 Ultra seems to be suffering from a rather strange bug that has frustrated owners over the last few months. According to numerous reports from Galaxy S21 Ultra owners, the camera app is causing an abnormal amount of battery usage when the phone is idle. Strangely, this happens mostly when they’re walking around with the phone in their pocket, apparently because the camera app is waking up the device when motion is detected.

The battery drain can be mild to quite severe depending on the device, with at least one user reporting a drain of 21% over the course of seven hours and just 15 minutes of screen on time. Worse yet, the only way to find out that there’s something fishy going on is by using advanced battery monitoring apps (such as this one). Android’s regular battery stats monitor doesn’t show anything amiss.

In fact, that might be the reason why Samsung has brushed this off as a non-issue to those who got in touch with the company through its support channels and through the Samsung Members app. But the issue seems serious enough going by the number of complaints that have piled up on various websites over the last couple of months, despite Samsung’s official stance.

It’s also worth mentioning that the Galaxy S21 Ultra is the only device affected. Galaxy Note 20 Ultra owners have noticed the camera waking up the phone in a similar manner but have not seen it affecting battery life. Unfortunately, there’s no fix for Galaxy S21 Ultra owners at the moment despite all the software updates Samsung has released for the S21 series since February.

We’ve reached out to Samsung for a comment and will update this article once we hear back. In the meantime, let us know if you’ve noticed higher battery drain on your Galaxy S21 Ultra (or any other Galaxy phone) when you’re out and about compared to when the phone isn’t moving around.

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Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4 gain FCC certification ahead of launch

Samsung is expected to unveil two new smartwatches—Galaxy Watch 4 and Galaxy Watch Active 4—alongside its next-generation foldable smartphones and wireless earbuds. Ahead of their launch in August, the two smartwatches have received the necessary certifications from FCC and moved closer to their launch.

The LTE and Wi-Fi-only variants of the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch Active 4 have received the FCC certification, revealing their connectivity features, batteries, and Qi wireless chargers. The Wi-Fi-only version of the Galaxy Watch 4 has model number SM-R880, while its LTE variant has model number SM-R885. The Galaxy Watch Active 4’s Wi-Fi-only variant bears model number SM-R870, while its LTE variant has model number SM-R875.

Going by the information present in the FCC certification documents, both upcoming smartwatches from Samsung feature single-band (2.4GHz) Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 5.0, NFC, and wireless charging. Their LTE variants feature multiple cellular bands and support voice calling. All the Galaxy Watch 4 series smartwatches use ATL and Samsung SDI batteries, and they come with wireless charging adapters.

Samsung has confirmed that all of its future smartwatches, including the Galaxy Watch 4 and the Galaxy Watch Active 4, will run Wear OS instead of Tizen. They are expected to feature circular Super AMOLED screens, accelerometer, barometer, compass, gyro, heart rate monitor, SpO2 sensor, fall detection, and sleep tracking. The Galaxy Watch Active 4 is powered by a 247mAh battery. They could also feature an IP68 rating and Samsung Pay.

Galaxy Watch 4 (42mm)

• Model: SM-R880
• Dimensions: Watch: x x mm
  
• Display: 1.2 inch / 30.2 mm Circular Super AMOLED
• CPU:
• Camera:

More specifications

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Samsung will fix Android Auto issues on its phones with July 2021 security update

Android Auto-related issues keep cropping up every now and then, and some Samsung Galaxy smartphone users have been facing an issue where Android Auto crashes. The problem could either be due to the Android Auto app itself or a particular smartphone and its firmware. However, Google and Samsung seem to be aware of the problem, and they have been working to fix it.

Various Galaxy S21 users say that Android Auto crashes when they unlock their phone. It appears that the issue isn’t limited to just the Galaxy S21 series. Various Galaxy smartphones are facing this issue, but not all users are affected. The good thing is, Google and Samsung have verified and worked on the issue, and a fix is underway.

Since the cause of this issue came from Samsung, it will be fixed via a software update sometime next month. A member of the Android Auto team confirmed in Google’s support forums that Samsung would include the bug fix in next month’s software update. So, if you are facing the same issue on your device, you have to wait at least a couple of weeks before the July 2021 security update gets released to fix the bug.

Last year, Galaxy smartphones faced a bug related to Android Auto where the app would stop working and show a message that reads “Internet connection isn’t strong enough at the moment,” even though the phone has an active internet connection. The bug was fixed after a few weeks via a software update from Google’s side.

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