Samsung posts details on the December security update for its devices

Samsung joined hands with other Android manufacturers earlier this year to follow Google’s new monthly security updates schedule, and the company launched a dedicated blog to detail the changes each of its security update brings to its devices. We saw the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ get a software update with the November security patch earlier this month, and Samsung is now detailing the security patches the next such update will bring to its flagship devices.

Of course, none of the information is particularly interesting for regular users, so the only thing to take away here is that Samsung is working hard to ensure its flagship devices are as secure as possible. In addition to the patches made by Google, the December update will also fix nine additional security vulnerabilities, which you can read about at the source link. The update itself hasn’t started rolling out yet, but that should change in the next week or so.

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[Update: More details] Samsung Galaxy A9 leak reveals 6-inch display, 4,000 mAh battery

We have been hearing a lot about the Galaxy A9 in recent weeks, and a new leak has now revealed some interesting details on the upcoming handset. An image posted on Samsung China’s official Weibo account shows what looks like an official advertisement with the Galaxy A9, the Galaxy A5 2016 and the Galaxy A7 2016, along with a few specifications.

The Galaxy A9 will have a 6-inch display, something we already knew from an earlier leak, and it looks like it will have a giant battery. A 4,000 mAh unit to be exact – coupled with the Full HD display resolution and the Doze feature on Android Marshmallow (which the device will probably get as an update, if it doesn’t come with it preloaded out of the box), we would expect the Galaxy A9 to be able to last really long.

That would be in keeping with the best feature of the Galaxy A8: epic battery life. Also interesting is the fact that an 8-megapixel front camera is listed, which would be a first for a smartphone from the Korean giant. Oddly, there seems to be a 13-megapixel camera on the back; the Galaxy A8 has a 16-megapixel camera, but given its mediocre performance, we guess the downgrade on the A9 won’t really matter in the real world.

There’s still no word on when the Galaxy A9 will go official. It will probably be after the recently announced Galaxy A trio goes on sale, and we are likely to see more details on the handset crop up in the weeks leading up to an official launch.

Update: Well, it seems a full infographic detailing the Galaxy A9 has also hit the web. The Galaxy A9 will feature the Snapdragon 620 CPU clocked at 1.8GHz, 3GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a fingerprint scanner (with Samsung Pay support), and Android 5.1.1 (yep, users will have to wait for Android 6.0). An official announcement will supposedly take place later this month.

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Samsung Galaxy S7 to feature pressure-sensing screen and retina scanner: WSJ

Starting with the Galaxy S6, Samsung rethought its smartphones and brought forward beautiful devices and a hugely improved software. The South Korean smartphone giant is expected to announce the Galaxy S7 during the last week of February 2016, and there have been a lot of reports regarding the features of the device. Now, Wall Street Journal is reporting that the Galaxy S7 will feature a pressure-sensing display, something similar to the 3D Touch technology used in the recent iPhones.

The publication, which has an excellent track record regarding technology products, states that the Galaxy S7 will also feature USB Type-C port along with fast charging technology, something we reported exclusively long back. Moreover, the report states that the Galaxy 7 will have an improved camera and a design that’s largely similar to the Galaxy S6, but there will be no camera hump on the back. Apparently, “some versions” of the device will also feature a retina scanner, and the device will be announced during MWC 2016, and it will hit the market sometime in mid-March.

Now here’s the exciting bit. The WSJ is also reporting that the variants of the Galaxy S6 with a non-curved display is likely to have expandable storage (yes, a microSD card slot). The Galaxy S7 is expected to feature a Super AMOLED display, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, an Exynos 8890 processor (or a Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 SoC in some variants), 4GB RAM, fast wireless charging, and LTE Cat. 12 connectivity. Are you excited about the Galaxy S7?

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Samsung’s CEO meet may focus on auto business prospects

According to KoreaHerald, Samsung’s top executives are set to attend a meeting this week where they will discuss the company’s global strategy. Among the most important attendees are the three chief executives: Kwon Oh-hyun, Boo-keun, Shin Jong-kyun, and last but not least, the company’s vice chairman, Lee Jae-yong. The global strategy conference is usually held twice a year so the news shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone. However, this time they will be debating about business in a low-growth era, which suggests a shift in the strategy in order to recover from losses.

A hot topic in this meeting will be the auto parts business, which seems to be a source of profit this year. As a matter of fact, the South Korean giant is already making a team for handling the development of next-generation auto components and even big companies such as Audi are gaining Samsung’s business. It’s a very big field in which LG is also starting to get into so Samsung’s endeavors will not be met without competition.

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Dear Google, your OEMs can’t keep up!

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich turned into Android 4.0.1 (October 21, 2011), 4.0.2 (November 28, 2011), 4.0.3 (December 16, 2011), and 4.0.4 (March 25, 2012), which then turned into Android 4.1 Jelly Bean (July 9, 2012). Then, there was Android 4.1.1 (July 2012) and Android 4.1.2 (October 2012), followed by Android 4.2 Jelly Bean (Nov. 2012). Android 4.2 was followed by Android 4.2.1 (Nov. 2012) and 4.2.2 (February 2013), which was then succeeded by Android 4.3 Jelly Bean (July 2013).

Then, there was Android 4.3.1, which, after a big update to 4.3 was met by another big update in Android 4.4 KitKat (Oct. 2013). KitKat brought a host of incremental updates: 4.4.1 (December 2013), 4.4.2 (December 2013), 4.4.3 (June 2014), and 4.4.4 (June 2014). Then came Android 5.0 Lollipop (November 2014), 5.0.1 (December 2014),  5.0.2, and then Android 5.1 (March 2015) and 5.1.1 (April 2015). The announcement of the Nexus 6P and Nexus 5X in September brought the release of Android 6.0 Marshmallow for Nexus devices on October 5, 2015.

Now, in just two months, Android 6.0.1 has been released and there is an Android 6.1 Marshmallow on the way, confirmed by a renown leakster in the business regarding a new HTC device codenamed “Perfume.” Yes, in just eight weeks, we’ve gone from the Android 6.0 Marshmallow confirmation to Android 6.0.1, which brings over 200 new emoji, fonts, and a new Google keyboard, and Android 6.1 will be an even bigger update than 6.0.1. Android 6.1 will bring not only security updates but also improvements to Google’s own AMOLED display colors, with some Nexus 5, 6, 6P, 5X, and Player users noting that their devices are now displaying washed-out colors on certain occasions. Google has said that it’s solved the problem internally, but will need a new update past 6.0.1 (hence Android 6.1) to deliver a fix.

Yes, there are some updates worth having, and Google aims to bring the best Android experience to its Nexus customers as well as OEM customers. However, why is it that we need to have Android 6.0.1 at all? Why not have saved all the new emoji for Android 6.1 and provided two updates to Marshmallow instead of what will eventually become 3 updates (6.0, 6.0.1, 6.1, and beyond)? These Android updates are starting to become what I call “update spam,” updates for the sake of updating. In addition, many of the Nexus updates contain new bugs that the new updates create while fixing old ones at the same time. Perhaps taking time to iron the bugs out of new updates before their releases would help OEMs catch their breath some before clawing through a second successive update.

Google, do you not realize that you must take your OEMs into consideration? After all, the success of Android has been on the shoulders of OEMs who should be considered when these updates are released. Not only do OEMs have to push the updates from Google, but they also have to provide their own tweaks and changes to their UI overlays or add additional features for their users within these updates.

Why make the work harder for them and, in turn, frustrate customers who continue to grow upset with Samsung (for example) because it takes 4 months to update from 5.1.1 Lollipop to Android 6.0 Marshmallow, for example? And now that Android 6.0.1 is announced, what will Samsung customers say? “Samsung, Nexus devices are on 6.0.1, and I’m still on 5.1.1; I’m two updates behind!” Then, Samsung customers complain about Samsung when it’s not Samsung’s fault that the company has to add additional bug fixes and enhancements for 6.0 and send it out as Android 6.1 Marshmallow.

This is not to say that updates are bad; they’re not. However, it appears as though Google is creating fragmentation through updates. Since Google owns Android, and can pass the updates along as it pleases (which, of course, comes after updating its own Nexus devices), how can other OEMs be blamed if Google passes along one update like Android 4.4 KitKat while creating Android 4.4.2 KitKat in the same month, for example? Before the 4.4 update arrives, the OEMs are already two updates behind.

Let me paint a picture of what OEMs must endure when updating devices. First, they start with a ROM, say Android 5.0, but then, while updating devices, Google releases Android 5.0.1 and 5.0.2. At this point, OEMs are forced to start over with the current ROM if they want to provide the latest (which would be 5.0.2). Instead of starting over again and again, OEMs choose to continue with the ROM they have. The only problem is that, now that Android 5.0.1 and 5.0.2 are out, customers won’t be so happy with 5.0. If Google released Android 5.0 and saved the incrementals for Android 5.1 while waiting for a few months, perhaps Android OEMs could all update to Android 5.1 Lollipop at the same time. The same goes for Android 6.0, 6.0.1, and 6.1.

Some have blamed Android OEMs for the fragmentation (with their UI overlays and additional software, such as Samsung’s TouchWiz), and others have said that Google needs to force OEMs to stop adding their own “flair” to Android, but perhaps another solution to all this would be for Google to stop sending so many incremental updates in-between major ones. For example, Android 5.0 and Android 5.1 Lollipop were enough for Android Lollipop; there was no need of a 5.0.1, 5.0.2, and 5.1.1. In the same vein, Android 6.0 and Android 6.1 are enough; there’s no need for an Android 6.0.1 that brings a new Google keyboard, fonts, and emoji. I’m sure that no one’s dying to use that “Taco” or “Unicorn” emoji so badly that they’ll just have a heart attack if they have to wait until Android 6.1 to experience it.

What Android OEMs bring to the table is a good thing, and Android’s freedom of choice is what makes it the world’s most popular platform. If the benefits of fragmentation are going to be seen for what they are (“benefits” and not “handicaps”), then Google has got to step up, be the “Parent” of Android (not compete as one of the “children”), and stop with these incremental updates that deliberately place Samsung and other OEMs behind its own Nexus devices as though Google’s Nexus devices are part of the OEM competition. If Android 6.1 is on the way and will provide all of 6.0.1 and then some, why do we even need Android 6.0.1 in the first place?

Updates should be like sweets, sent sparingly.

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Samsung will reportedly ramp up production at Vietnam facilities

A new report out of Korea claims that Samsung Electronics is going to increase the proportion of production of smartphones in Vietnam from 30% to 40% in 2016, and that this is the first time that the proportion of production in Vietnam will surpass that of its facilities in China. It’s also said that Samsung is going to begin producing household appliances like ACs, TVs and refrigerators in the country from next year. From the looks of it this means that Vietnam will emerge as the biggest production base for Samsung products ranging from mobile devices to appliances.

Expansion of social overhead capital and cheap labor cost is reportedly what’s enticing Samsung to shift the bulk of its production to this country, and even as China’s labor and tax regulations get more strict, labor expenses are still almost half of China in Vietnam. The report does quote an unnamed person associated with Samsung who says that while the company’s new production facilities will come online in Vietnam next year, it can’t be discussed just how much the production of new products will increase at these facilities.

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Samsung celebrates 50 years of football by giving customers a $200 discount

There are some pretty cool promotions to choose from these days if you’re in the market for a new Samsung smartphone. Buy one Samsung smartphone at AT&T and get the other one for free, or go with T-Mobile if you want flat $75 off the Galaxy Note 5 or the Galaxy S6. Samsung also has a promotion for customers in the United States, it’s celebrating 50 years of football by offering a discount of $200.

Customers can get $200 off a purchase made on Samsung.com when they purchase a qualifying Samsung smartphone and also activate Samsung Pay. Qualifying handsets include the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 edge, the Galaxy S6 edge+, the Galaxy S6 Active or the Galaxy Note 5. They then have to submit a valid online offer claim, the receipt will be needed in this step for the claim to be filed. The fineprint can be read on Samsung’s Promotions website. This promotion runs through January 20, 2016.

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