الأربعاء، 14 يناير 2015

Round smartwatches and Samsung: It’s just about time

Considering Samsung’s recent show of interest in having everything, right from your kitchen to your bathroom, connected to the internet, it is evident that a not only phones and other ‘orthodox’ tech, but also new-found gadgetry such as wearables will be the center of focus for the coming few years. As it stands, we’ve hardly seen much of an advance on the smartphone scene in the past year or so. Why, you wonder? Compare the advancements you’ve noticed in the past one year to how smartphones changed from 2012 to 2013 and you’ll know what I’m talking about. Everything’s been incremental, nothing truly groundbreaking. So, new and rather unexplored areas in technology remain to be terrains yet to be inhabited.


And who better than Samsung to do the honors. What’s great about Samsung is that the company is never shy of an experiment; whether or not these pay off is a completely different story, but the ones that do, turn into something truly special. Take for example, the Galaxy Note series. No one was really making phones as big as the first gen Galaxy Note back in the day, and the Galaxy Note itself was pretty much rubbished by the critics. Turns out though, they couldn’t be more wrong; the numbers are out for everyone to see. Even a company as ‘conservative’ as HTC has a large screen phone out, and its far from doing badly on the market.


Back to Samsung, another place where it didn’t do too badly was with its Galaxy Gear smartwatch. It was among the first smartwatches to be available in the market, and like many other Samsung products, it did pretty well. However, a certain Motorola soon changed how everyone looked at smartwatches with the launch of its round-dial Motorola Moto 360. In fact, it wouldn’t be unfair to say that it changed the smartphone market forever. After its launch, people hardly cared about smartwatches that didn’t have round dials, and every other manufacturer had to play catch up.


Funnily enough, despite being the ‘try it all till it works’ sort of a manufacturer, Samsung is yet to have a smartwatch in the market with a round dial. Its only about time. General consensus is out in the open, and there’s probably no other firm better than Samsung to realize that it does take a smartwatch with a round dial and a great build quality to succeed in the market… at least for the time being. LG’s done it. Alcatel’s done it. Heck, even a company as new as GEAK as done it. So why not Samsung?


While I can’t really give the answer to that, I can tell that its coming. Of course, nothing’s official as yet, but that’s me speaking from experience. Knowing Samsung, I wouldn’t be surprised if they launch it in metal and a cheaper, plastic option!


People have spent lavishly on the timepiece since the time it came into existence, but fact is that tech companies of today aren’t really able to churn out ones that compare to their non-smart cousins at least as far as the style quotient is concerned. The ones that have tried to do so (read: Motorola) have embraced great success in no time, which makes you wonder all the more about why Samsung doesn’t have one out already. After all, like I’ve said a million times before, the company isn’t one to shy away from experimenting.


A phone is something that you can keep inside your pocket, but people generally associate with their watches — regardless of them being smart or dumb — in a very different manner. This is perhaps why we’re noticing a massive skew towards those with designs that truly stand out. Samsung hasn’t done too bad with the pricing for its devices, but from what one sees with the Galaxy A series for example, is that the company is charging a premium for good design (at least as per the company) and proper, metal build. This makes you wonder if Samsung’s metal clad, round-dial smartwatch, whenever it does come, will burn a hole in your pocket. As it stands, the Moto 360 too isn’t the most affordable smartwatch on the market right now; it might well turn out that Samsung’s take on that isn’t the cheapest, too.


Here’s to hoping that Samsung does listen to its users (and well wishers), and makes a smartwatch that isn’t heavy on the pocket, and has a truly remarkable design. We consumers can be a demanding lot, but that’s what Samsung — or any other tech company that dreams of making it big — signed up for, anyway. As for me, I think companies should stick to churning out remarkable designs for the moment — the tech will follow suit.






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الثلاثاء، 13 يناير 2015

Samsung Galaxy E7 and A7 wallpapers and firmwares now available for download

Both, the Galaxy A7 and E7, are Samsung’s one of the first metal unibody, mid-range devices. Even though the Korean giant has announced the devices, they aren’t on sale yet. However, the stock firmwares have started popping up on the company’s Kies servers, which are based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat. So, if you’re interested in the firmware files, you can grab ‘em from our firmware section. Also, we took the liberty to extract wallpapers from the firmwares, respectively. Checkout the firmware details and wallpapers down below.


Firmware Details (SM-E700F):


Model: SM-E700F

Model name: GALAXY E7

Country: Turkey

Version: Android 4.4.4

Changelist: 3703532

Build date: Fri, 26 Dec 2014 15:53:34 +0000

Product Code: TUR

PDA: E700FXXU1ANLB

CSC: E700FOJV1ANLB

MODEM: E700FXXU1ANLB


Firmware Details (SM-A700H):


Model: SM-A700H

Model name: GALAXY A7

Country: Uzbekistan

Version: Android 4.4.4

Changelist: 3753735

Build date: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 06:44:21 +0000

Product Code: CAC

PDA: A700HXXU1AOA3

CSC: A700HOXY1AOA3

MODEM: A700HXXU1AOA3


Samsung Galaxy E7 and A7 Wallpapers


wallpaper_002 wallpaper_003 wallpaper_004 wallpaper_005 wallpaper_006 wallpaper_007 wallpaper_008 wallpaper_009 wallpaper_010



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الخميس، 8 يناير 2015

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge now available on Verizon networks for $399 on contract

As reported earlier, Samsung has made available its first Edge series phone, i.e., the Galaxy Note Edge for US$399 with a 2-year contract. Back when we first reported about the possibility of the device landing on Verizon networks, we weren’t completely sure about the authenticity of the leak, but it turns out there wasn’t much to worry about on that regard. Coming back to the launch, the Note Edge can also be had off-contract for a US$799 lump sum.


The Note Edge comes with a 5.6-inch 2560 x 1440p (+160 for the curved screen) QHD display, and is powered by a 3000mAh battery, besides having a 16 mega-pixel rear camera, and a 3.7 mega-pixel front. Hit the source link to get to the listing on Verizon’s official website, and if you’re not sure about how good the phone is, check out our review of it.


Via | Source






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Exclusive: A round-dial Samsung smartwatch is in the works, MWC release likely

How many of you’ve found yourselves ranting about how Samsung doesn’t have a real (read: round faced) smartwatch on the market? Turns out, the company’s working on addressing that. Right from the first Galaxy Gear smartwatch to the full-blown Gear S (which is a phone in itself), we’ve seen a design language which although looks very futuristic, does little to satisfy the design critic in you. Also, a heavy dependence on Android has been seen; Samsung is out there now, to change that and a lot more, it appears.


LG launched its own round-dial version of the G Watch, aka the G Watch R (emphasis on R). The upcoming Samsung smartwatch we talk about gets some R-love too, which is perhaps why it’ll be called ‘SM-R720′, with a codename ‘Orbis’ for reference. In the past, we’ve broken news about a ring operated design that Samsung was working on, which is probably also what will feature on the Orbis. So, this new round Gear smartwatch is going to be quite a departure from the usual Galaxy gear fanfare, thanks to the (obvious) round design, and the OS: it’ll come with Tizen out of the box.


If you’ve been following the tech scene lately, you’ll have realized that although its complete frenzy at the ongoing CES, Samsung is pretty much keeping it low profile. This is perhaps because Samsung has plans to reveal this round dial ‘Orbis’ smartwatch at the MWC, which is due a little over a month and a half from now.


Who’s looking forward to this one?






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Samsung Galaxy A3 and A5 coming soon to Europe, firmware now online

The Galaxy A3 (SM-A300) and Galaxy A5 (SM-A500) are mid-range devices that Samsung is hoping will attract consumers with their metallic designs, but both devices have been in limited supply due to production issues, keeping their availability limited to a few Asian markets. However, it looks like Samsung is finally ready to bring the two devices to Europe, as firmware for a slew of European countries for both the A3 and A5 are now available online. That’s the only indication we need that European consumers will soon be able to buy the two A series devices, though we will have to wait for information on their pricing and exact launch dates.


Those interested can download the firmware for the Galaxy A3 and A5 from our firmware section. Do let us know if you’re planning to buy either device by leaving a comment down below, and don’t forget to check our review of the Galaxy A5.


SAMSUNG CSC






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Samsung Galaxy A3, A5 official in Malaysia; Galaxy A7 coming next month

After the launch of the Galaxy A3 and A5 in India (where Samsung also pulled off a couple of surprise launches), Samsung has made official the devices in Malaysia. While the smaller of the two — Galaxy A3 — is launched for RM899 (US$250), the Galaxy A5 gets an RM1199 (US$335) price tag, making the prices pretty much in line with other markets. The devices come with rather mid-range specifications, but the USP remains the metal build, which is also what you pay the premium for. A 4.5-inch 960 x 540p qHD display sits on the smaller Galaxy A3, while the Galaxy A5 comes with a 5-inch 1280 x 720p panel. Both devices are powered by the same Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, but there’s a slight difference in RAM with the Galaxy A3 having 1.5GB while the A5 gets 2GB.


In related news, Samsung will also be making available its Galaxy A7 in Malaysia next month. There’s no official word on pricing as yet, but the 5.5-inch Snapdragon 615 powered phone is expected to sell at RM1499 (US$420), extrapolating from prices of the A3 and A5.


Source






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الأربعاء، 7 يناير 2015

Gold-plated Samsung Galaxy A5 is available in Vietnam

After dipping the Galaxy Note Edge in molten gold (well, not exactly molten), Vietnamese gold-plating shop Karalux has turned its attention to the Galaxy A5, the first metallic mid-range phone in Samsung’s lineup (not that there are too many of those in the high-end segment). For an extra $200 over the standard $410 price of the phone, you will get a device with a gold plating on almost every part of its body, except for those areas on the back which house the antenna and are used for improving reception (a good move considering the Galaxy A5 already suffers from network performance issues.)


Karalux is also offering the option to put a custom design on the back. Of course, whether someone would be willing to spend an extra 200 bucks on a mid-range device just to see it in gold remains to be seen, but hey, at least you have an option now, right?


gold-galaxy-a5-3


gold-galaxy-a5-2


gold-galaxy-a5-1


Via | Source






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