Samsung reportedly trying to control production of mobile phone components

According to a new report Samsung appears to be more cautious towards investing in production facilities of mobile phone components, it’s adjusting existing facilities in Vietnam following expansion in production capacity until the first quarter of this year. With sales of the Galaxy S6 dwindling in Q2 Samsung has reportedly stopped purchasing more computer numerical control (CNC) milling machines which is an important piece of equipment when producing metal cases for smartphones.

The industry saw Samsung put a lot of money into CNC machines last year before the mass production of the Galaxy S6, with analysts saying that thousands of machines were installed in the factory in Vietnam, machines that can cost as much as $88,000 per unit. Rumor has it that the company might sell off some of its component manufacturing facilities in Vietnam and Korea to its affiliates, it’s expected to offload the Samsung Fiber Optics’ camera module business to Samsung Electro-Mechanics. Industry watchers are of the view that Samsung’s adjustment in production capacity is probably brought on by the Samsung Group’s efforts to overhaul the organizational structure of its electronics subsidiaries.

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Exclusive: Samsung Z3 will feature a 5-inch HD Super AMOLED display and a quad-core processor

After months of work on Tizen, Samsung released the Z1, an entry-level smartphone that was meant to compete with low-end Android and Windows Phone devices in the developing markets like India and Bangladesh. No one expected it to achieve good sales figures, but it did. Samsung managed to sell more than a million units of the Z1 within six months of its launch. It also became the best-selling smartphone in Bangladesh during Q1 2015.

Now, it’s time for the launch of the next Tizen smartphone, which we believe to be the Samsung Z3. We’ve managed to get hold of exclusive information about its specifications, and according to our reliable insiders, the Samsung Z3 (SM-Z300H) will run Tizen 2.4 operating system, and will feature a 5-inch HD Super AMOLED display, a 1.3GHz quad-core Spreadtrum SC7730S processor, 1.5GB of RAM, and 8GB of internal storage space, which makes the device more powerful than the Samsung Z1.

The camera department will be getting an upgrade as well, thanks to an 8-megapixel primary camera with autofocus and LED flash, and a 5-megapixel secondary camera. Both these cameras will feature 1/4-inch sensors. If you can remember, most of the recently launched smartphones from the South Korean smartphone giant are embracing the selfie craze with high-resolution front-facing cameras. The Z3 will be 141.5 mm tall, 70 mm wide, 9.5 mm thick, and will weigh somewhere around 140 grams.

Inspite of its low- to mid-range specifications, the Samsung Z3 will have a relatively large 2,600 mAh battery. Since Samsung is targeting the entry-level segment of emerging markets like India, it is expected that the Z3 will be a dual-SIM smartphone. According to previous reports, this device will be launched somewhere in second half of 2015, which could also be this month, or anytime during the rest of the year.

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Galaxy Note 5 to have Write on PDF feature

We are now just two months away from Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 unveiling, and, while we’ve seen leaks of what could be the Galaxy Note 5 (and potential cases for the behemoth productivity phablet), very little about Samsung’s software changes are public knowledge. One of the first clues about what software changes we’ll see has arrived today.

In a United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) application filed on June 30, 2015, Samsung has requested a new feature called Write on PDF. The patent says that this new function is “computer application software for mobile phones, smart phones, tablet computers, portable media players and handheld computers enabling users to annotate and save PDF documents, images and files.”

Samsung’s Screen Write function is already one of the most popular on the Note experience, allowing you to write on any screenshot and save your note or handwriting as a screenshot in your local photo gallery, but writing on PDFs at the moment is somewhat difficult. First, you have to activate Screen Write with the S-Pen, take a picture of the screen, then write on it. Samsung’s Write on PDF feature will likely allow you to write on the screen directly, without needing to take a screenshot or activate Screen Write to do so. Instead, you’d select the function in your settings, then write on PDFs immediately.

Outside of the description, there’s nothing else said about this feature, but it is exciting to think about the Note line and how much smarter it will get with this feature. Samsung just upgraded its two-year-old Galaxy Note 3 with Smart Select, a feature that allows you to “clipboard” texts and images simultaneously. Samsung’s always been at the forefront of the software experience with its feature-packed philosophy, and Write on PDF just made the smartphone-buying experience exciting again.

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Samsung begins Android 5.1.1 rollout for the Galaxy Note 4 in Russia

Samsung has been testing Android 5.1.1 on the Galaxy Note 4 for some time now, and it looks like the company has started rolling out the update over the air. One of our readers has sent us a screenshot showing Android 5.1.1 running on the Galaxy Note 4 (SM-N910C), and while we don’t have a way to make sure this is the real deal and not some beta build out in the wild, it’s possible the OTA is indeed making its way to users, at least in Russia.

There’s no telling what changes are included in the update, though the standard security and bug fixes of 5.1.1 should be part of the package. We’re not expecting too much in the way of user-facing features, and especially not any of the features that come with the Android 5.1.1 update for the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge (like the option to remove those pesky S Finder and Quick Connect toggles in the notifications, or advanced camera features like RAW support.) Samsung could do well to surprise us though, considering how poorly it has treated the device since its launch.

Have you received the Android 5.1.1 update on your Galaxy Note 4? Let us know if you have, and do tell us about the differences you notice if you have already updated.

Thanks, ReddyUmakant!

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Samsung Galaxy A8 will feature a 16-megapixel camera with f/1.9 aperture and Real-Time HDR

Samsung has not officially announced the Galaxy A8 yet, but the device has been leaked a number of times, revealing its design as well as some of its specifications. Now, a new image has surfaced on the Internet, which seems to be a brochure that lists all the specifications and special features of the device.

According to the brochure, the Galaxy A8 (SM-A800S) will feature a 5.7-inch 1080p Super AMOLED display, an octa-core processor (probably a Snapdragon 615), 2GB RAM, 32GB internal storage, a microSD card slot (up to 128GB), and a 3,050 mAh battery. Other specifications include a new 16-megapixel primary camera sensor with f/1.9 aperture and Real-Time HDR similar to the camera in the Galaxy S6, and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.

This particular variant of the Galaxy A8 features LTE (Cat. 6), VoLTE, and DMB. A 5.9 mm, it will be the thinnest smartphone from Samsung yet. It will also feature a newer version of TouchWiz that will be running on top of Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. This brochure doesn’t reveal any detail about its pricing or launch date, but we will report it as soon as Samsung announces it officially.

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Samsung served with a lawsuit over bloatware in China

The Galaxy S6 and S6 edge allow users to disable a lot more pre-installed apps than was possible on existing Samsung phones, but it looks like the company’s penchant for bloating its devices has gotten it in trouble over in China. The Shanghai Consumer Rights Protection Commission has filed a lawsuit against Samsung (and local manufacturer Oppo) alleging that the Galaxy Note 3 does not allow users to uninstall a lot of pre-installed apps.

According to the commission, the Galaxy Note 3 (the Chinese model) comes with 44 apps installed out of the box, and it wants smartphone manufacturers to state on a product’s box what apps have been installed and how users can remove those that they do not need. The commission is also alleging that some of these apps steal cellular data, thought out of the 20 smartphones tested, it did not lay the blame for this particular wrongdoing on Samsung’s phone.

Maybe this is what we all need for manufacturers to stop putting apps that can’t be uninstalled on their smartphones, but it remains to be seen if this lawsuit will bear any fruit for what has been a major evil in the smartphone industry for a long time. A Chinese court ruled in favor of Apple in a similar case last year, and it’s very likely Samsung will come out of this without any repercussion.

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Samsung Pay enters final testing with eight card companies

Despite formally announcing Samsung Pay back in March the company is yet to launch its new payments service, Samsung Pay is slated to go live in South Korea and the United States initially by September this year. According to a new report the payments service has entered final testing with eight local card companies in South Korea as Samsung puts it through strengthening tests to ensure that the service is properly ready for the public.

Citing financial industry sources the report claims that Samsung is facing issues with its technology to beam information to conventional card readers at checkout counters through magnetic fields because the system isn’t working as smoothly as initially believed, hence the need to conduct multiple technical tests with card companies to ensure that things are up to the mark before launch. Samsung Pay works by replicating the card’s magnetic information and creating a magnetic field which is used to activate a Credit Authorization Terminal but only after the user authorizes it through the fingerprint sensor.

Apparently magnetic field formation and fingerprint verification isn’t quite up to the mark as older card readers at merchants are facing difficulties in recognizing the magnetic fields generated by the payments system. Thus it’s imperative for Samsung to continue running these tests to minimize error rates and ensure that the Samsung Pay launch goes off without a hitch this September.

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