Carrier-locked Galaxy 20 units start getting September 2021 update in the US

Two weeks ago, Samsung started rolling out the September 2021 security update to the international variants of the Galaxy S20 series. Last week, the rollout was expanded to the unlocked units. Today, the South Korean firm has started releasing the update to the carrier-locked units in the US.

The carrier-locked versions of the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, and the Galaxy S20 Ultra have started getting the new update on Xfinity Mobile’s network in the US. It has firmware version G98xUSQS2DUH2 and includes the September 2021 security patch. Samsung had revealed a few days ago that its latest security patch fixes more than 50 vulnerabilities related to user privacy and data security. As usual, the update might include some device stability improvements.

If you are a Galaxy S20 series smartphone user on Xfinity Mobile’s network in the US, you might soon get the new update. If you don’t want to wait, you can check for the update manually by navigating to Settings » Software update and clicking on Download and install. You can also download the latest firmware file from our firmware database and flash it manually using a Windows PC.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy S20 series early last year with Android 10-based One UI 2. The smartphones received the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update in late 2020 and the One UI 3.1 update earlier this year.

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Galaxy Tab S7+ 5G picks up the September 2021 security update

Samsung’s latest and greatest high-end tablet has received a new security patch. The 5G version of the Galaxy Tab S7+ has started getting the September 2021 security update in various parts of Europe. The vanilla Galaxy Tab S7 and the Wi-Fi-only and LTE variants of the Galaxy Tab S7+ haven’t been as lucky, though.

The Galaxy Tab S7+ 5G (SM-T976B) is getting the new security update in Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, Nordic countries, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Southeast Europe, Spain, Switzerland, the Baltic region, the Netherlands, and the UK. The new update, which bears firmware version T976BXXU2BUI1, includes the September 2021 security patch that fixes more than 50 privacy and security-related vulnerabilities. Device stability improvements and general bug fixes could be a part of the update as well.

If you are a Galaxy Tab S7+ user in any of the regions mentioned above, you might have received a notification regarding the new update. If you haven’t, you can check for the update manually by navigating to Settings » Software update and tapping on Download and install. You can also download the latest firmware file from our firmware database and flash it manually.

Samsung had launched the Galaxy Tab S7+ alongside the Galaxy Tab S7 last year. The tablets ran Android 10-based One UI 2.5 out of the box. Earlier this year, they received the Android 11-based One UI 3.1 update.

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Screw Exynos, I’ll take the Snapdragon Galaxy S22, thanks

The last couple of years have not been good for Samsung’s chip-making team. Samsung’s flagship Exynos chips first started showing signs of concern back in 2018 when the Galaxy S9 lineup came out running the Exynos 9810. The Exynos 9810 was more powerful than that year’s top-end Snapdragon chip, but Samsung failed to optimize things well enough as far as power consumption was concerned.

The Galaxy S10’s Exynos 9820 was better, but Samsung fell behind the competition and used an 8nm manufacturing process when everyone else had moved on to 7nm, something the company only rectified with the Galaxy Note 10’s Exynos 9825 six months later.

And then came the Exynos 990. The Exynos 990 was so bad that Samsung ended up vowing to do better when it started teasing the Exynos 990’s successor. But while the Exynos 2100 that powers this year’s Galaxy S21 series has no serious issues, it still manages to lag behind the Snapdragon 888 that you get on Galaxy S21 smartphones in markets like the USA in many important parameters.

Once bitten, twice shy, and I no longer trust Samsung to get things right

Now, Samsung is enticing everyone with the Exynos 2200, which will be the company’s first chip to have an AMD GPU. Benchmarks and rumors have painted an exciting picture, with the 2200 showing a considerable increase in graphics performance. The AMG GPU will also bring support for modern features such as ray tracing and variable rate shading, which are commonplace on desktop GPUs these days.

But, as Stephen King put it, fool me twice, shame on me, fool me three times, shame on both of us. By now I’ve lost all trust on Samsung to get things right. The Exynos 2200 sounds good on paper, but so did the chips that came before. Only Samsung couldn’t get the implementation right and was beaten by Qualcomm every single time, making the Snapdragon versions of its flagships more desirable.

What I’m saying is that at this point I wish Samsung would start bringing the Snapdragon variants of its Galaxy S flagships to more regions. There are rumors that may end up being the case thanks to the global chip shortage, and I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed. Whether the Exynos 2200 turns out to be great, not-so-great, or another misstep, I no longer care – just give me the Snapdragon 898 version of the Galaxy S22 and I’ll be a happy camper.

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Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra’s massive screen and battery size rumored again

For Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Tab S8 series, it wasn’t the rumor mill that first gave us all of the important details. We got those through a survey that Samsung ran in Korea a few months back, and rumors and leaks since then have only served to reiterate what we learned in that survey.

There are going to be three Galaxy Tab S8 models: The base Tab S8, the Tab S8+, and the Tab S8 Ultra. The Ultra model is said to have a massive 14.6-inch screen and a huge 11,500 mAh battery, and those specs are being reiterated today by tipster Ice Universe, who also revealed that the screen resolution will be 2960×1848 pixels.

That would equate to a pixel density of around 240 PPI, which isn’t much lower than the Tab S7+’s (the Tab S7+ comes with a 266 PPI 12.4-inch display with a resolution of 2800×1752 pixels) and should make for a sufficiently sharp viewing experience. Oh, and the Tab S8 Ultra will use an OLED panel – so will the Tab S8+, while the Tab S8 is expected to feature a TFT panel. Naturally, a 120Hz refresh rate can be assumed to be present on all models.

Samsung is also reported to be working on a new ultrathin display bezel tech for the Galaxy Tab S8 Ultra called BRS (Border Reduction Structure), though it remains to be seen exactly how much of a downsize in bezel size it will turn out to be. Ultra-thin bezels on a tablet don’t make as much sense as they do on phones, but smaller bezels could be a good idea for a tablet with a 14.6-inch display.

Recent rumors say the Galaxy Tab S8 lineup will be announced early next year.

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One UI 4.0 lets you use icon packs from Play Store, but…

The first Android 12-based One UI 4.0 beta firmware update brings about tons of new features, small and large. We detailed many of these changes over the past couple of days, and we’ll continue to do so as more features and changes get discovered. Speaking of, you might be happy to learn that One UI 4.0 beta finally lets you download and install icon packs from the Google Play Store. However, there is a catch.

Icon packs found at the Google Play Store are not usually compatible with One UI, but the new one UI 4.0 beta build addresses this shortcoming, to a degree, at least. Beta testers with access to Good Lock can now download and install icon packs from the Play Store through the Theme Park module released in 2019.

3rd party icon pack devs could add native One UI 4.0 support soon

Obviously, this process is not as straightforward as installing the icon packs directly from the Play Store, but it’s a lot better than the alternative of not having access at all. Besides, with icon packs from the Play Store now coming to One UI 4.0 through Good Lock Theme Park, there’s a high probability that developers will eventually bake One UI 4.0 support right into their icon packs, thus eliminating the need for Theme Park.

Until that happens, One UI 4.0 users will be able to acquire Play Store icon packs as long as they have access to the Theme Park module. Sadly, Good Lock is not available in every market, so there still are some limitations. It supports only a handful of modules in One UI 4.0 beta — though Theme Park is obviously included.

If you want to install Play Store icon packs on your Galaxy S21 running One UI 4.0 beta, open Theme Park and choose to create a new theme. Then, tap “download” in the “third-party icon packs” section and wait to be redirected to the Google Play Store.

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Samsung’s unique Z Fold 3 for China known as the W22 5G has leaked

Samsung is developing a unique Galaxy Z Fold 3 model for China — SamMobile exclusively reported all the way back in June when Galaxy Unpacked was still more than a month away. It hasn’t been much in the headlines since — or barely at all — but the so-called Samsung W22 5G was spotted in a leaked render earlier today, courtesy of @evleaks.

The Samsung W22 5G will be a direct successor to last year’s W21 5G. The latter was based on the Galaxy Z Fold 2, but it wasn’t a carbon copy. It was slightly taller than the Z Fold 2 and was released in a different combination of colors.

Exclusive to China and likely more expensive

As for the sequel, the leaked render at hand shows the W22 5G only from the front, but like the 2021 model, it may have a slightly modified design/finish and even different dimensions compared to the international model.

The Samsung W22 5G seemingly has UDC (Under-Display Camera) technology and a new wallpaper similar to last year’s model. Pricing and release details are unknown, but it’s worth reminding that the W21 5G cost 50% more than the international Galaxy Z Fold 2 at launch, which could mean that the W22 5G may go on sale for the equivalent of around $3,000.

The S Pen situation is unknown for the W22 5G, but a slightly redesigned exterior might call for a reworked S Pen case and other accessories.

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Samsung’s new foldable flagships and wearables hit the shelves in Brazil

Samsung has officially announced the launch details of its latest Galaxy Z3 foldable phone lineup, the Galaxy Watch 4 series, and the Galaxy Buds 2 earbuds in Brazil. The new wearables got released yesterday — September 15 — whereas the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and Galaxy Z Flip 3 are hitting the shelves in Brazil today.

Customers who’ll buy the Galaxy Z Fold 3 and register on Samsung’s website between October 8 and October 31 will receive a Galaxy Watch 4 or Watch 4 Classic and a pair of Galaxy Buds 2 earbuds for free. The 256GB/512GB Galaxy Z Fold 3 in Brazil costs BRL 12,799 ($2,445) and BRL 13,799 ($2,636), respectively.

Similarly, Galaxy Z Flip 3 customers have an opportunity to obtain a Galaxy Watch 4 for free, as long as they register on the website before the end of October. The Z Flip 3 with 128GB and 256GB of built-in storage is launching in Brazil for BRL 6,999 ($1,337) and BRL 7,499 ($1,432), respectively.

The new Galaxy wearables are already available for purchase separately

If you’ve been waiting for an opportunity to buy one of Samsung’s latest wearables in Brazil, well, now you can.

The 40mm and 44mm Galaxy Watch 4 is available in black, silver, and rose/green, whereas the 42mm and 46mm Galaxy Watch 4 Classic models are available in black and silver. The new smartwatch series has a starting price of BRL 1,999 ($381).

Last but not least, the Galaxy Buds 2 earbuds are now available in Brazil for BRL 899 ($171), and customers can choose from four color options: black, green, violet, and white.

You can learn all about the new Samsung foldable phones and wearables from our hands-on and review links below.

Galaxy Z Fold 3 hands-on | Galaxy Z Fold 3 review
Galaxy Z Flip 3 hands-on | Galaxy Z Flip 3 review
Galaxy Z Flip 3 one month review
Galaxy Watch 4 hands-on | Galaxy Watch 4 Classic hands-on
Galaxy Watch 4 series review
Galaxy Buds 2 hands-on | Galaxy Buds 2 review

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Samsung’s bringing a piece of the Louvre to living rooms with The Frame

Samsung and the Louvre Museum are joining forces through an exclusive artwork partnership to bring a new art collection from the Louvre to the living room via The Frame Art Store. The art selection includes world-renowned pieces such as the Mona Lisa, and of course, a short history lesson accompanies each art piece.

Forty pieces of artwork and photographs were bundled in the new collection from the Louvre Museum. Along with famous paintings are photos of various Louvre galleries and museum grounds, offering The Frame customers not only a digital gateway to numerous masterpieces but a glimpse into the museum’s architecture and history.

Together with other collections of art released previously for The Frame, the Art Store now offers a catalog of over 1,500 artworks from 42 different countries and museums, including the Thyssen Museum in Spain, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam, and the State Hermitage Museum in Russia, to name a few.

Samsung and the Louvre to unveil more content for The Frame this year

As mentioned before, The Frame owners now have access to forty unique art pieces and photographs from the Louvre via the Art Store. However, this partnership will bear more fruit by the end of the year.

Samsung announced that it plans to unveil “other exclusive content” for The Frame, in partnership with the Louvre Museum, later this year. The company didn’t spoil any surprises, so we’ll have to wait and see what other art pieces will grace Samsung’s digital canvas over the next few weeks and months.

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Galaxy Z Flip 3 one month review: It’s for everyone?!

At $999, the Galaxy Z Flip 3 was destined to be a hit, and Samsung’s pre-order figures in various markets are proof of that. The Galaxy Z Flip 3 comes in at $450 lower than the Galaxy Z Flip 5G ($350 compared to the LTE Z Flip), yet it brings improvements in a number of areas.

Some of the phone’s best features include a 120Hz display that’s 29% brighter, a larger and more useful cover screen, stereo speakers, IPX8 water resistance, and the powerful Snapdragon 888 chip. For the asking price the Galaxy Z Flip 3 is simply a stunning device, and we loved it in our original review.

A month has passed since we first got the Galaxy Z Flip 3 in our hands, and in our latest YouTube video, we tell you how the phone has held up in that time. So stop the presses and go check it out, and do let us know in the comments about your experience with the Z Flip 3!

Don’t forget to subscribe to our YouTube channel and help us in our journey along the #roadto100k!

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T-Mobile CFO calls out Samsung for shortage of smartphones

Samsung has been facing supply chain issues over the past few months. Most of its best-selling smartphones, such as the Galaxy A52 and the Galaxy A52 5G, have been in short supply in various parts of the world. It is now being reported that T-Mobile’s CFO isn’t pleased about the situation and has called out Samsung for device shortages.

Peter Osvaldik, Executive VP and CFO at T-Mobile, singled out Samsung during an investor event by Bank of America Securities. He reportedly criticized the company for not launching a Galaxy Note series phone this year. Apart from mid-range smartphones, he mentioned that the Galaxy S series has been in short supply as well. The network carrier is more reliant on Samsung devices when compared to some other US network carriers.

Fierce Wireless reports that Peter said, “Samsung has really fallen behind the eight ball relative to other OEMs on the global supply chain issue. A lot of our customer base are also very significant Samsung lovers.” Commenting on the discontinuation of the Galaxy Note series, he said, “many of our customers just loved [Galaxy Note series].”

Many T-Mobile customers reportedly buy Samsung’s mid-range and high-end smartphones. Since those devices are in short supply due to the global chip shortage and Samsung’s own supply chain issues, T-Mobile has been facing a crunch and may not meet its sales targets. Due to chip shortages, Samsung had to release the Galaxy A52s 5G, while the launch of the Galaxy S21 FE been delayed as well.

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Galaxy A73 to get Samsung’s 108MP camera and cool bragging rights

The Galaxy A series has an important place in Samsung’s lineup. The Galaxy A5x and A7x handsets are particularly noteworthy. Not only are they some of the best Samsung phones that you can buy, they also happen to be among its best-selling devices.

Samsung has consistently made them better over the years. It has also been improving their cameras significantly to enhance competitiveness in this segment. If a new rumor is believed, Samsung’s planned camera upgrade for the Galaxy A73 will give the new device some cool bragging rights.

Galaxy A73 will lead mid-rangers in the megapixel race

Rumblings from South Korea suggest that Samsung is planning to equip the Galaxy A73 with its 108-megapixel camera. Samsung has previously used it as the primary sensor on the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy S20 Ultra.

The company has launched multiple iterations of its 108MP camera over the past couple of years. The ISOCELL HM3 sensor inside the Galaxy S21 Ultra is the latest. It’s a 1/1.33″ sensor with 0.8μm-sized pixels. Check out our Galaxy S21 Ultra review for details about this sensor’s performance.

It’s unclear if this will be the same sensor that Samsung uses for the Galaxy A73 or if it opts for one of the earlier iterations. There’s always the possibility that this rumor could true out to be inaccurate.

It’s not impossible for the Galaxy A73 to get the 108MP sensor, though. An “awesome camera” is very much part of the Galaxy A series DNA. With the company expected to bring OIS to the entire Galaxy A 2022 lineup, it may need to introduce this upgrade just to make sure its top mid-range device has some cool bragging rights.

Samsung is obviously not hinting anything right now about next year’s Galaxy A series. We still have a few months to go before these handsets are due. We’ll keep our eyes peeled for more information about them in the coming months.

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Exynos 1200, the chipset Samsung won’t give you, gets benchmarked

Samsung’s pretty good at making chipsets for mobile devices. The vast majority of its Exynos chipsets are used in its own devices. However, some third-party manufacturers have started utilizing Exynos silicon in their devices.

The company has been working on one such chipset that you might not find on any Samsung phone. We’ve talked about the Exynos 1200 previously and now this elusive chipset has just been benchmarked.

Exynos 1200 isn’t coming to a Samsung phone near you

The Exynos 1200 is going to be the successor to the Exynos 1080. Samsung didn’t really cut any corners with the Exynos 1080. It was a top-notch chip in its segment with high-end specs. However, you won’t find any Samsung Galaxy phone that uses the Exynos 1080. You’ll find it inside high-end smartphones from Chinese manufacturer Vivo instead.

We might see a similar fate for the Exynos 1200, in that it may not be used for any Samsung Galaxy phones. Samsung might just be supplying it to third-party OEMs. This is a crucial part of Samsung’s chip business so it’s hardly surprising to see the Exynos 1200 being reserved for other manufacturers.

The Exynos 1200 has surfaced on Geekbench where it has posted decent single-core and multi-core scores of 759 and 1878 respectively. Boasting ARM v8 cores, it also has a Mali-G68 GPU. Previous rumors had suggested that it may one of the multiple new chipsets that Samsung will ship with AMD graphics but that no longer appears to be the case.

No word as yet on when Samsung might formally announce the Exynos 1200. The Exynos 1080 was announced on October 14 last year so perhaps its successor will be made official around the same time this year.

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Samsung on self-destruct mode: Galaxy S22 to get serious battery downgrade

It seems Samsung is on a mission to piss off as many of its fans as possible with every new Galaxy S flagship it brings to the market. We saw the removal of the headphone jack with the Galaxy S20 series and the removal of the microSD slot from the Galaxy S21 series. For the Galaxy S22 lineup, Samsung seems to be focusing on downgrading the battery capacity.

We’ve heard before that the Galaxy S22+ will have a 4,500 mAh battery instead of a 4,800 mAh cell like the Galaxy S21+. We had assumed the battery capacities on the Galaxy S22 and the Galaxy S22 Ultra wouldn’t change, but it looks like that won’t be the case.

Our friends over GalaxyClub have discovered that the battery capacity for the base Galaxy S22 could see a similar reduction as the Plus model. The rated capacity for the S22 battery is apparently only 3,590 mAh. For comparison, the Galaxy S21 comes with a rated capacity of 3880. It means the marketed battery capacity of the Galaxy S22 could be around just 3,700 mAh compared to 4,000mAh on the Galaxy S21.

The vanilla Galaxy S22 uses a battery with model number EB-BS901ABY. Power efficiency improvements with a new OLED display and the upcoming Exynos 2200 chipset might not be enough to compensate for such a drastic reduction in the battery capacity. So, it is possible that Samsung might bank on 45W fast charging ability for its upcoming high-end smartphone.

This story is developing…

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Samsung Developer Conference 2021 will kick off on October 26

Samsung has announced that SDC21 (Samsung Developer Conference 2021) will happen on October 26, 2021. The event will be held completely online due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. However, the company says that none of the excitement around its annual developer conference will be missed since Samsung has many things planned for the event.

Going by the teaser video published by Samsung, the company might unveil new features coming to One UI on smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches. It might also unveil improvements to its AI-powered digital voice assistant Bixby. New features related to Samsung Health, SmartThings, Tizen, Samsung Knox, and Samsung Internet could be unveiled.

Samsung might also announce new partnerships or new integrations with its existing partners (Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Spotify) during SDC21. We don’t expect the company to unveil any new hardware product, though.

The South Korean firm had unveiled Android 12-based One UI 4.0 software for its smartphones earlier this week. It also unveiled One UI Watch for Wear OS 3 and a new version of the Samsung Internet web browser.

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