Samsung’s big move: Samsung TV Plus video streaming service quietly expanded to the web

Samsung’s free and linear video streaming service, Samsung TV Plus, is now available on the web. It was earlier limited to Samsung’s smartphones, tablets, and smart TVs. Although the company didn’t formally announce this launch, it is a big move from Samsung as everyone can now use the video streaming service.

You can access Samsung TV Plus by visiting samsungtvplus.com using any web browser, which means you can access it via a computer, laptop, tablet, non-Samsung smart TVs, and even smart displays. The interface displays the current video and a list of channels divided into genres such as comedy, crime, entertainment, food, game shows, gaming, international, kids, movies, music, news, reality, sci-fi, sports, travel, and more. You can choose the video resolution (up to 4K) and subtitle language.

You don’t need to install anything or set up any payment option as it is completely free. In the US, Samsung’s ad-supported video streaming service offers 146 channels, including ABC News Live, Bloomberg TV+, Bon Appétit, Deal Or No Deal, Hallmark Movies & More, Impact Wrestling, ION Plus, Kitchen Nightmares, Love Nature 4K, Nick Pluto TV, Paramount Movie Channel, PBS Kids, Tastemade, The LEGO Channel, USA Today, Vevo, Vice, and Weather Nation.

Samsung TV Plus is now installed on more than 50 million smart TVs worldwide. It is available in 23 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Sweden, the Netherlands, the UK, and the USA.

The company’s free video streaming service is now directly competing with other free video streaming services like Pluto TV and Tubi. With the South Korean firm’s reach, Samsung TV Plus can turn into a profitable business in itself. The company had added support for Chromecast a few months ago, but whether or not Samsung plans to make it available as an app on other smart TV platforms like Android TV, Fire TV, Roku OS, and tvOS remains to be seen.

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Buying the Galaxy S21 FE? Samsung may not be selling it to you, though

The Galaxy S21 FE has been shaping up to be quite a promising device so far, but that shape now seems to be losing contour. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it, assuming you lost the geographic lottery as far as being a Samsung fan in 2021 is concerned. A bit ironic for a “Fan Edition” device, but there you have it.

Namely, the company’s reportedly close to not doing a release of the Galaxy S21 FE outside of Europe and the United States at all. This is all on account of the still-ongoing chip shortage that’s been making tech executives nervous since spring. The very same one Samsung’s been warning us about for about as long. Not that this required much foresight, nor did it do much good for Samsung on the avoiding-a-disastrous-multi-billion-dollar-loss front. Which is a pretty important arena to be competitive in, or so we hear.

Is… prospective buyer’s remorse a thing? Like, is someone upset about this?

Coincidentally, the United States and Europe are two of Samsung’s largest markets by every metric that doesn’t involve a headcount. And this isn’t the first time we’ve encountered speculation of this sort, either, though another rumor did suggest that other markets would get the S21 FE, but with the Exynos 2100 powering it instead of the Snapdragon 888.

Given how well the Galaxy S20 FE did in terms of critical acclaim and sales, Samsung will no doubt try and find a way to bring the Galaxy S21 FE to as many countries as possible, chip shortages be damned. However, which of these reports and rumors ultimately turn out to be accurate is something we will have to wait and see. Samsung’s expected to make the Galaxy S21 FE official in October, so there is still some time for the company to work out all the logistic challenges.

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Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon smartphone costs more than a Galaxy S21 Ultra

The Galaxy S21 Ultra is arguably the best Android smartphone right now, offering the right blend of features and performance. Now, it has a new competitor in the form of the Snapdragon Smartphone for Insiders. Yes, that’s the name of Qualcomm’s first smartphone. The device has high-end specifications and it is co-designed and manufactured by ASUS.

Snapdragon Smartphone for Insider packs in Qualcomm’s latest technologies

Qualcomm unveiled its first smartphone, the Snapdragon Smartphone for Insiders (EXP21), earlier today. It features a minimalistic design but packs in high-end specs. It has a 6.78-inch Super AMOLED display with Full HD+ resolution, a 144Hz refresh rate, up to 1,200 nits peak brightness (during HDR10+ playback), 111.23% DCI-P3 color gamut coverage, always-on display, and Gorilla Glass Victus protection.

It runs Android 11 out of the box (with stock Android UI) and comes equipped with the Snapdragon 888 processor, 16GB LPDDR5 RAM, and 512GB UFS 3.1 storage. Despite the Snapdragon 888+ being Qualcomm’s latest flagship chipset, it is not being used in this smartphone because ASUS started designing it a few months ago. It has high-quality dual-stereo speakers and a rear-mounted 3D Sonic Sensor Gen. 2 fingerprint reader.

The Snapdragon Smartphone for Insiders features a 24MP front-facing camera and a 64MP+12MP+8MP triple-camera setup at the rear. The 64MP camera uses the Sony IMX686 sensor and OIS, while the 12MP ultrawide camera uses Sony’s IMX363 sensor with dual-pixel autofocus and doubles up as a macro camera. The 8MP telephoto camera has OIS and features a 3x optical zoom lens. Primary and ultrawide cameras can record 4K 60fps videos, while the primary camera can also record 8K 30fps videos.

It is powered by a 4,000mAh battery, which seems small for such a high-end smartphone with a big high-refresh-rate display. It does come with a 65W Quick Charge 5.0 charger that can top up the phone’s battery up to 70% of its capacity within 30 minutes. Other features of the phone include dual-band GPS, Wi-Fi 6E, mmWave and sub-6GHz 5G, Bluetooth 5.2, NFC, a USB Type-C port, and a flowing Snapdragon logo on the rear. It weighs 210g and measures 173.15 x 77.25 x 9.55mm.

It comes packed with a special pair of premium truly wireless earbuds ($299 Master & Dynamic MW08 with aptX LL), two braided USB Type-C cables, 65W Quick Charge 5.0 adapter, and a specially-designed bumper case. The whole package costs a whopping $1,500, which is $300 more than the Galaxy S21 Ultra’s launch price. It will be launched this August in China, Germany, Japan, Korea, the US, and the UK, followed by India.

Would you buy the Snapdragon Smartphone for Insider over the Galaxy S21 Ultra?

The main aim of this smartphone is to showcase all the latest Qualcomm technologies, including the Snapdragon 888 processor, Quick Charge 5.0, Qualcomm aptX Adaptive and Snapdragon Sound, and Qualcomm Game Quick Touch. However, this is not the only phone to feature those technologies. Plus, it costs a whole lot more than most other high-end Android smartphones.

If you had the chance, would you buy it over the Galaxy S21 Ultra? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Galaxy A12, Galaxy F02s, and Galaxy M02s prices have increased in India

After launching the Galaxy F22 and the Galaxy M32 in India, Samsung has increased the prices of some of its entry-level smartphones: Galaxy A12, Galaxy F02s, and Galaxy M02s. Although the company has not issued any statement regarding the increase in prices, it is being reported that this price hike could be related to the global chip shortage.

The Galaxy A12 was launched in India with price tags of INR 12,999 (4GB+64GB) and INR 13,999 (4GB+128GB). The company has now increased the price of both variants by INR 500, which means that 64GB and 128GB variants of the Galaxy A12 are currently priced at INR 13,499 and INR 14,499, respectively.

The Galaxy F02s was launched in India with a starting price of INR 8,999 for the variant with 3GB RAM and 32GB storage. Its 4GB RAM + 64GB storage variant was priced at INR 9,999. Now, the prices of those variants have been increased by INR 500. The 32GB and 64GB variants of the Galaxy F02s are currently priced at INR 9,499 and INR 10,499, respectively.

The 32GB and 64GB variants of the Galaxy M02s were launched with price tags of INR 8,999 and INR 9,999, respectively. Now, their prices have been increased to INR 9,499 and INR 10,499, respectively. This price hike can be seen on Samsung India’s official online store.

Galaxy A12

• Model: SM-A125F
• Dimensions: Bar: 164 x 75.8 x 8.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.5 inch / 165.1 mm PLS TFT LCD
• CPU:
• Camera: 48MP

More specifications

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Google wants to destroy Samsung’s major software update advantage

Samsung offers three major Android OS updates and an additional year of software updates to all of its high-end smartphones, making it the best Android OEM in terms of software updates. However, its reign may soon be over, at least going by the latest rumor regarding Google’s upcoming smartphones.

According to an exclusive report from FrontPageTech, Google will offer at least five years of software updates to its upcoming high-end smartphones, the Pixel 6 and the Pixel 6 Pro. That is one year longer than Samsung’s software update promise. However, Google’s promise might not mean that it will offer five major Android OS updates. It could very well translate to three major Android OS updates and two years of security updates.

If Google offers more than three major Android OS updates to future Pixel smartphones, it could make them more attractive than Galaxy devices, at least to enthusiasts who want longer software support. Even OnePlus recently announced that it would offer three Android OS updates and four years of security updates to its high-end smartphones. However, Samsung could still remain a top choice for many smartphone buyers, given its excellent hardware specification, additional software features, and wider availability.

The Galaxy S21 series could face decent competition from the Pixel 6 series. The Pixel 6 reportedly features a 6.4-inch OLED display, a 50MP+12MP dual-camera setup, an 8MP selfie camera, Google’s own Whitechapel processor, 8GB RAM, 128GB/256GB internal storage, and a 4,614mAh battery. The Pixel 6 Pro could have a 6.7-inch OLED display, a 50MP+48MP+12MP triple-camera setup, a 12MP selfie camera, Whitechapel SoC, 12GB RAM, 128GB/256GB/512GB storage, and a 5,000mAh battery.

Would you switch to a Google smartphone if the company offers a longer software update support than Samsung? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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Galaxy S22 might come with a next-level cooling solution

Smartphones are getting thinner and more powerful than ever before. Running the internals at max performance generates heat. These devices thus need robust cooling solutions. Otherwise, the only option left is to throttle the device to bring the temperatures down, reducing performance in the process.

That’s why most gaming smartphones rely on vapor chamber cooling. Samsung has utilized this technology on some of its previous flagships but later gave up on it. Rumor has it that the company might be thinking about bringing it back.

Samsung might bring back vapor chamber cooling

Vapor chamber cooling has long been used in high-performance computers and smartphones. A flat vacuum-sealed metal canister with a very small amount of liquid is used in smartphones. Once it heats up, this liquid turns into gas and then condenses when it cools. It goes back to the heat source through a secondary channel. This, coupled with the larger surface area of the chamber, allows for faster heat dissipation compared to a conventional heat sink.

Samsung has used vapor chamber cooling on devices like the Galaxy S10+. The Galaxy S20 and Galaxy Note 20 series phones had it also but not on all units. Teardowns showed that some units had vapor chamber cooling while others had a multi-layered graphite thermal pad instead.

A report out of Taiwan claims that the company’s supply chain partners and suppliers are preparing for Samsung’s vapor chamber development. They believe that Samsung will bring this cooling solution back with its 2022 flagships, possibly starting with the Galaxy S22 series.

A vapor chamber would bring significant benefits. Lower temperatures would allow the chipset to be run at peak performance for longer, providing users with an enhanced gaming and multi-tasking experience. Whether or not this rumor turns out to be true is another matter altogether.

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Google reportedly tried to kill Samsung’s Galaxy Store illegally

Galaxy Store, Samsung’s alternative to Google’s Play Store, comes pre-installed on Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Users can download apps, games, themes, and more from the Galaxy Store. Sometimes, it exclusively lists some Samsung apps and third-party gaming titles like Fortnite, and Google reportedly felt so threatened by it that it tried to kill it illegally.

According to an antitrust lawsuit filed against Google by a coalition of 36 states’ attorney generals, the internet search giant is illegally attempting to control app and game distribution on Android. The company reportedly paid off popular app developers to stop them from listing their apps on other app stores like the Galaxy Store and Amazon Appstore.

Google’s tactics prevented Galaxy Store from emerging as a viable Play Store alternative

Going by the information present in a heavily redacted section of the lawsuit, Google used various tactics to prevent Samsung’s Galaxy Store from becoming a viable alternative to the Play Store. It was also mentioned that Google made “a direct attempt to pay Samsung to abandon relationships with top developers and scale back competition through the Samsung Galaxy Store.”

“Google felt deeply threatened when Samsung began to revamp its own app store, the Samsung Galaxy Store,” the lawsuit says, and describes Google’s approach to the competing store as “a threat it needed to preemptively quash.”

The internet search giant also Google also used revenue-sharing agreements with various Android OEMs that prohibited them from pre-installing app stores other than the Play Store. Apparently, Google’s response came as a direct consequence of Epic Games choosing to distribute Fortnite outside of the Play Store via direct download from its website and Galaxy Store.  “To Google, competition in app distribution is a virus to be eliminated,” the suit says.

Google’s claims of Android’s openness seems like a facade

Although Google claims that, unlike Apple, it allows rival app stores and direct sideloading of apps and games on Android, the lawsuit alleges that its openness is a facade. Although people have the choice of downloading Android apps from elsewhere, Google’s business practices prevent a viable app store (such as Samsung’s Galaxy Store) from emerging.

Epic Games made similar allegations against Google in its lawsuit last year and claimed that the internet services firm forced OnePlus from preloading a special Fortnite launcher on its smartphones. The company also reportedly prevented LG from pre-installing the Epic Games app on its devices.

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Galaxy S21 finally gets July security update… where you wouldn’t expect

The July 2021 security update has at last started deploying to the Galaxy S21 series, which is still the poster line for Samsung’s mobile tech, if only for a little while longer. But nevermind that – guess which country was given the honor of trialing this month’s security release? That’s right, it’s the U, S, of a… wait, what?

Apparently so and yes, we’re certain. Certain that this might be another sign of the apocalypse, after COVID ruined last year. Namely, the July 1st 2021 security update, identified by release version G99xUSQS4AUFD, is now steadily making its way to some Galaxy S21 units as of a few minutes ago. Expect the rest of the series to follow momentarily, if that hasn’t already happened.

Has Samsung put a foot on U.S. carriers?

We have waited for a while though, regardless. The July 2021 security patch has been deploying worldwide for over a week by now. Over that period, Samsung kicked off 36 other deployments across 21 countries, present company not included. Oh, and this particular release at hand only ships fixes for the latest Android vulnerabilities Samsung detailed just yesterday. I.e., no other additions or changes are part of the release.

If the July 2021 security update still hasn’t hit your Galaxy S21-series flagship, there are a couple of options for you to consider. You can, of course, wait for the update to reach you naturally. Alternatively, you can try triggering the installation manually by going to Settings > Software update > Download and install. Finally, you can download the full system images containing the new update from our firmware archives, then flash those to your device on your own.

And as for those who decide to go the manual flashing route: don’t let data backup slip your mind, this might be the only time ever you’re experiencing the wonder of being first to a security release. Or maybe the last that you aren’t. It’s getting difficult to say, given how much Samsung‘s been ramping up momentum on the update-churning front.

Galaxy S21

• Model: SM-G991U
• Dimensions: Bar: 151.7 x 71.2 x 7.9 mm
  
• Display: 6.2 inch / 157.48 mm Dynamic AMOLED 2X
• CPU: Snapdragon 888
• Camera: 12MP

More specifications

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Yet another Galaxy A series smartphone inching closer to launch

We had reported earlier this week that Samsung is working on a new Galaxy A series smartphone. Now, that smartphone appears to have inched closer to its launch. The Galaxy A03s, which has model number SM-A037F, has received a certification from the Wi-Fi Alliance, revealing some of its features.

The Galaxy A03s will be available in two variants: SM-A037F and SM-A037F/DS. It features single-band Wi-Fi b/g/n and Wi-Fi Direct. It will be launched with Android 11 out of the box, most probably with One UI 3.1. The smartphone’s 3D CAD-based render images were leaked the last month, showcasing its design. The entry-level smartphone also received Bluetooth certification last week.

Samsung has equipped the Galaxy A03s with a MediaTek Helio G35 processor (MT6765V/WB) and 4GB RAM. We expect the smartphone to be available in variants with 32GB and 64GB storage space. It could also feature a microSD card for storage space expansion.

Going by previous leaks, the phone will feature a 6.5-inch Infinity-V display with HD+ resolution, a 13MP triple-camera setup at the rear, a 5MP selfie camera, dual-SIM card slot, GPS, Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth, USB Type-C port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a 5,000mAh battery with 15W fast charging.

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Samsung could relaunch this smartphone in India as an Amazon exclusive

Samsung frequently launches existing smartphones and tablets with new names. This year, the company launched the Galaxy A02s, Galaxy F02s, and the Galaxy M02s, and all of them have the same design and specifications. Now, the company is getting ready to relaunch one more mid-range smartphone in India.

According to 91Mobiles, Samsung will launch the Galaxy M21 2021 Edition (SM-M215G) in India. It will reportedly feature the same design and specifications as the existing Galaxy M21 (SM-M215F). However, the upcoming variant is expected to come with Android 11 out of the box, and it will most probably debut during the Amazon Prime Day sale (which starts on July 26, 2021) in the country.

One advantage of buying the Galaxy M21 2021 Edition over the original Galaxy M21 would be that the former could get one additional Android OS update and one additional year of security updates. The upcoming smartphone could also feature a slightly different design and memory configuration options. This smartphone had received BIS certification last month and Samsung India had published a support webpage for the device.

The Galaxy M21 2021 Edition could feature a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED Infinity-U display with Full HD+ resolution and Gorilla Glass 3. It will likely come equipped with the Exynos 9611 processor, 4GB/6GB RAM, 64GB/128GB internal storage, and a microSD card slot. The phone could also have a 48MP triple-camera setup on the rear, a 20MP selfie camera, and a 6,000mAh battery.

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