Samsung and Sectra team up to make a ‘secure smartphone’ for a European defense organisation

Samsung has teamed up with Sectra, a mobile solutions provider in Europe, to create a secure smartphone that integrates the Korean manufacturer’s KNOX solution with Sectra’s communications security platform. This smartphone will be rolled out to an unnamed European defense organization. KNOX will allow the device to be more secure at the device level, while Sectra’s Tiger/R solution will enable secure communication over mobile networks.

Samsung has been working actively to get KNOX into government organizations around the world , with the US government’s certification of KNOX-enabled devices one of the biggest achievements. KNOX is also the security platform used on Android, and allows corporate and business users to separate their personal and work spaces for data and apps on a mobile device.

Press Release:

Linkoping, Sweden – September 22, 2015 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., and Sectra (http://ift.tt/1zSvFYq) (STO: SECT B), a leading European provider of secure mobile solutions, have entered a technical partnership to integrate the Samsung KNOX™ platform in Sectra’s solution for secure smartphone communication. A first delivery of the next-generation secure smartphone, which is the result of this cooperation, is currently being rolled out to a European defense organization.

There is increasing demand within security-conscious sectors for a smartphone that provides full usability, without compromising on security. Sectra’s encryption solution for smartphones, Sectra Tiger®/R (http://ift.tt/15GyvlG), is a response to this demand, enabling the use of smartphones to securely communicate classified information over mobile networks. It is designed for use at the RESTRICTED security classification level.

“Through the cooperation with Samsung and the integration of Samsung KNOX in our Tiger solution, we have combined our expertise in encryption technology and Samsung’s advanced knowledge in platform security,” says Michael Bertilsson, President of Sectra Communications. “This strategic cooperation with Samsung allows us to focus on meeting our users’ needs in terms of communications security, availability, and mobility in an environment where new threats against smartphones appear on an increasing basis.”

The partnership enables Sectra to enhance the Sectra Tiger/R solution with the Samsung KNOX comprehensive smartphone security platform. While Sectra’s hardware -based encryption ensures communication security, Samsung KNOX ensures the integrity of the device, substantially reducing vulnerability to malicious applications and tampering.

“Sectra is one of the pioneers in mobile voice encryption, with 20 years’ experience of mastering mobile secure communication systems,” says Björn Hansen, Sales Director Telecom at Samsung Electronics. “Through close cooperation between the development teams behind Samsung KNOX and Sectra Tiger/R, we are making the technology available to users who were not previously able to benefit from it.”

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Counterpoint Research: One in five smartphones shipped globally during Q2 2015 was from Samsung

Counterpoint Technology Market Research, an independent market research and consulting firm, has just released its quarterly smartphone sales report, which shows that Samsung is still ahead of its competitors in the smartphone market. According to their latest report, one in five mobile phones shipped worldwide during Q2 2015 is a Samsung device, which is not a big surprise considering that Samsung holds 21 percent of the global smartphone market.

Things aren’t as good for Samsung in North America, where Apple holds 34 percent of the smartphone market, but it’s doing better in Asia with 14 percent of the market, as well as in Europe where it holds 32 percent of the smartphone marketshare. All the data is highly reliable as Counterpoint tracks more than 75 top vendor shipments every quarter of the year. If you are interested, you can head over to their official blog to have a look at the inforgraphics.

Other data included in their research shows that Huawei is gaining a lot of ground as the Chinese smartphone brand became the third largest handset manufacturer, even surpassing Microsoft. Asus also has shown quite an improvement, and has been labeled the ‘fastest growing brand’ as it grew five times when compared to last year. Samsung and Apple are also reinforcing their position, for instance Apple generates more smartphone sales revenue than all the other players combined (excluding Samsung).

Source

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HERE updates its HERE Maps App, adds Gear S2 compatibility

HERE has partnered with Samsung to produce a maps and navigation app for its Gear smartwatch line, particularly the Gear S released last year. With Samsung’s announcement of the Gear S2 and its Fall arrival to the world market, HERE is wasting no time preparing its HERE Maps app to work for Gear S2 buyers. “You can install HERE for Gear on your brand new Samsung Gear S2 to get drive and walk navigation,” the company says in its Gear S2 compatibility announcement.

Samsung’s Gear S2 is the first round smartwatch from the Korean manufacturer to feature not only a round shape but also a circular UX and a rotating bezel. The rotating bezel has become the crowning glory of the upcoming smartwatch, allowing users to navigate the circular UX without needing to touch the display. Currently, Samsung has announced that the North American continent will see the Gear S2 arrive on October 2nd. While Samsung’s circular smartwatch will travel worldwide, only the US and Korea will see the Gear S2 3G model – for now, that is.

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Galaxy O5 (SM-G550) spotted in benchmarks, specs suggest mid-ranger

We reported some time ago on rumors regarding a new Galaxy O series of smartphones. Well, we now have some specifics to report regarding the new series. The Galaxy O5 (under the model number SM-G550) has been cited in benchmarks, with the specs suggesting this will be a mid-ranger.

GFXBenchmark points to the Galaxy O5 as a device with a 5-inch, HD display with a screen resolution of 1280 x 720p, a 1.3Ghz, quad-core Exynos 3475 processor with a Cortex A7 chip, an 8MP back camera (7MP usually translates to 8MP when smartphones arrive on the market), 5MP front camera, with some of the usual features (minus NFC, interestingly enough). Both front and back cameras will have 1080p video recording capabilities, but the mere 1080p back camera video recording is far from the 4K Ultra HD video recording capabilities of the Galaxy S5, Galaxy Note 4, and the new Galaxy S6 series and Galaxy Note5. The handset will arrive with Android 5.1.1 out of the box, but even Android 5.1.1 will be outdated by September 29th, when Google unveils Android 6.0 Marshmallow for the upcoming Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P devices.

The 900MB of RAM and 5GB of storage with the Galaxy O5 seems to hint at a low-end smartphone, but mid-rangers often have specs of both the low-end and high-end. The 5MP and 8MP cameras hint that this is a typical mid-ranger with specs from both ranges.

The device is labeled “Galaxy O5” in testing, although we have it on good authority that SM-G550 phone here will be labeled the Galaxy Grand On when Samsung announces it.

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Samsung Z1 update brings ‘double press home to launch camera’ shortcut

With the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung introduced a novel way of letting users quickly launch the camera app by pressing the home button twice. This shortcut works from everywhere in the UI and also when the screen is off, and without a dedicated camera shutter key, it’s a great use of a button that has become a staple of Samsung smartphones and tablets. We’ve seen this feature on cheaper devices like the Galaxy A8, Galaxy J5 and Galaxy J7, and it has now made its way to Samsung’s one and only Tizen smartphone.

The Samsung Z1 is getting a 67 MB update over the air, which adds the quick launch option in the camera settings. The option is enabled by default and works pretty well; the camera app launched quickly the numerous times we tried the shortcut, and it’s possible the phone is now keeping the camera process in memory at all times, similar to the company’s latest Android devices.

The update’s build number is Z130HDDU0BOH1 and it is currently available in India. You should be getting a notification on your Z1 for the update’s availability; if you’re not seeing it already, you can head into the Settings » About device » Software update and hit the Update button to start downloading. The firmware is also available in our firmware database for a manual flash using Samsung’s Odin tool.

Firmware Details:

Model	SM-Z130H
Model name	Z1
Country	India
Version	Android 2.3.0.1
Changelist	0
Build date	N/A
Product code	INS
PDA	Z130HDDU0BOH1
CSC	Z130HODD0BOH1

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Samsung offering €75 cashback to customers in The Netherlands who purchase one of the Galaxy S6 models

Prior to unveiling the Galaxy Note 5 Samsung said that it’s going to adjust prices of the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge to maintain sales momentum, which is why the flagship handsets received a price cut in most markets across the globe. Samsung has also been running additional promotions to get people to buy one of its Galaxy S6 models and one such promotion has now gone live for customers in The Netherlands. The company is offering €75 cashback to customers who purchase the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 edge or even the Galaxy S6 edge+.

Even though it has only been a few weeks since the Galaxy S6 edge+ was released the company has decided to offer cashback on that handset as well, which will bring down the price to consumers from €799 for the 32GB model to €724. The base model Galaxy S6 costs just €430 after the cashback is applied. Cashback is also available for the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 edge, orders can be placed online or through participating retailers. Customers will then have to go to the promotion page and fill out the registration form with details such as the EAN and IMEI number of the device as well as a copy of the receipt. The promotion runs from today through November 1, 2015.

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Weak profit expected in Q3 as Samsung’s phone business remains under pressure

Market analysts predict that Samsung Electronics will bring in under 7 trillion won ($5.9 billion) in Q3 operating profit, it will be yet another weak quarter for the company as its smartphone business remain under pressure across all segments of the market. 22 domestic brokerages in Korea have formed consensus over Samsung’s third quarter operating profit which they expect will come in at 6.61 trillion won or ($5.68 billion). The brokerages have reduced this figure by 6.4% from the previous month when it was estimated that Samsung would bring in close to 7.06 trillion won this quarter.

Even though Samsung is expected to reap 50.17 trillion won ($42.3 billion) in quarterly sales it may only post a net profit of 5.4 trillion won ($4.3 billion). If these numbers are accurate then Samsung would post more revenue than Q2 2015 but net profits will have declined over the same period despite the fact that the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 edge+ were released in this quarter. Many analysts are of the view that this is due to dwindling demand for high-end smartphones which tend to give higher margins which is why sales of Samsung’s flagship handsets aren’t doing much to turn the company’s fortunes around. On the other hand Samsung is coming increasingly under pressure from local vendors in emerging markets as well as Chinese OEMs in the low-end and mid-range segments of the market. It was expected that 2015 will be a tough year for Samsung and it’s certainly proving to be so.

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