Gear S2 arrives in Rose Gold and Platinum for customers in The Netherlands

Samsung announced two new editions of the Gear S2 smartwatch at the International Consumer Electronics Show 2016 earlier this month, customers can now also get the Gear S2 in Rose Gold and Platinum. The new editions are gradually being released in markets across the globe and now customers in The Netherlands can put money down to get one for themselves.

The Gear S2 is now available for pre-order through an online retailer in the Netherlands, both the Rose Gold and Platinum editions are available. Those who are interested in picking one up will have to pay 479,99 euro for either one. The retailer is currently taking pre-orders for both new editions and it expects to start shipping the units by February 24, 2016.

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Thanks, Henk!

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Themes Thursday: Worst week ever!

Welcome back to Themes Thursday! Samsung has released 23 themes in the Theme Store this week, and we’re afraid to say that none of those are good-looking. If we can remember correctly, there has never been a week when we couldn’t find even a single good-looking theme, and we hope this isn’t something that will be repeated too often in the future.

Just have a look at some of the themes from this week, and let us know what you think!

 

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Samsung might start mass producing chips based on third-generation 14nm FinFET technology

Samsung was the first to release a mobile processor, the Exynos 7420, based on 14nm FinFET technology, and now its already competing with TSMC to mass produce chips based on third-generation 14nm semiconductor process. Improved technology brings reduced power consumption as well as production cost.

Samsung recently started mass producing chips based on second generation 14nm FinFET process known as Low Power Plus (LPP), which is claimed to be 15 percent power efficient than first generation (LPE) 14nm chips. The upcoming Exynos 8890 and Snapdragon 820 processors will be manufactured using LPP process.

Bae Young-chang, Vice-President, Department’s Strategy Marketing Team, System LSI, said,  “We are going to develop a derivative process that will follow Gen.2 14-nano process and lead mobile chip and foundry markets.” The 14nm and 16nm processes are expected to become ‘longevity’ processes, because it has become quite difficult to further reduce the line width.

According to a representative in the chip manufacturing industry, Samsung and TSMC will develop third generation of 14nm and 16nm derivative processes, and focus on securing customers before starting to develop 10nm technology. Even if they successfully develop 10nm technology, there will be a lot of fabless firms that will still use 14nm or 16nm designs.

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Samsung delivers three immersive episodes of GONE VR along with behind the scene clips

Have you watched the first two episodes of ‘GONE’ on your Gear VR? It’s a movie that is available through Milk VR, and involves a mother and her nine-year-old daughter who goes missing. It’s been about six weeks since the first episodes were released, but the Korean giant is starting the year off right by bringing more of this specific experience to Milk VR users.

While the next three episodes of GONE are more than sufficient to keep VR users happy, there’s also some footage on what life has been like behind the scenes, including the technological challenges that a team faces when shooting VR movies. Whereas normal movies tend to focus on a specific experience of what the screen allows, VR is designed to allow more of the experience – with a “look around” experience that helps you see more of the scene and gather more clues.

While you don’t have to solve the case, however, GONE is unique because it gives you a mosaic of perspectives, including those of the little girl and her mother. The pilot episode of GONE, released in December, rose to fame to become the top content available on Milk VR. We have no doubt that these next three episodes will do the same.

Samsung has decided to showcase the next three GONE episodes at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival alongside of the first-ever VR comedic short comedy with Rob Huebel and Paul Scheer. In a world in which some VR critics are claiming that virtual reality is a lonely experience, Samsung’s is bringing people together with the Gear VR.

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Samsung Pay will soon allow payments using South Korean cards in the US and China

A new report out of Korea reveals that Samsung Pay will soon allow users to use their credit and debit cards from issuers based in South Korea for transactions in the United States and China. It’s said that Samsung is going to link up the foreign payments system with Samsung Card, Lotte Card, KB Card and Hana Card and enable Samsung Pay to accept these cards at foreign merchants in the aforementioned countries by the end of this month.

The aforementioned card issuers have negotiated with global card companies such as MasterCard and Visa who have agreed to link payment networks, negotiations with another major issuer, American Express, are said to be in the final stages. It took three months for the payment system to be linked and the conversion of fixed token with international card companies. In the first stage, the ability to pay using cards issued in South Korea will be provided to Samsung Pay users in the United States and later in China when the service eventually goes live in the People’s Republic. Samsung will continue to expand this as its mobile payments service goes live in additional markets later this year.

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Samsung launches the Gear S2 and the Gear VR in India

As we reported earlier this week, it was expected that Samsung would launch its latest smartwatches and its virtual reality headset in India before the end of this month. Today, the South Korean smartphone giant has launched the Gear S2, the Gear S2 Classic, and the Gear VR in India.

The Gear S2 and the Gear S2 Classic will be available online exclusively through Flipkart for INR 24,300 (~ $357) and INR 25,800 (~ $379), respectively. They will also be sold through company’s retail stores across the country. The company said that the Platinum and the Rose Gold variants of the Gear S2 Classic, which were unveiled during CES 2016, will be launched in India by the end of this month.

Read More: Gear S2 Review: Samsung finally understands a smartwatch should be round

These smartwatches are compatible with Android smartphones running Android 4.4, and featuring 1.5GB RAM (or higher) and Bluetooth 4.0 L.E. The company has pledged to bring support for iOS devices later this month. However, some features will only work when paired with a compatible Galaxy device from Samsung.

The Frost White variant of the Gear VR, which will be available online through Flipkart exclusively as well as at select stores from offline retailers Croma and Reliance Digital, has been priced at INR 8,200 (~ $120). The virtual reality headset from Samsung will be compatible with the Galaxy S6, the Galaxy S6 edge, the Galaxy S6 edge+, and the Galaxy Note 5.

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New Samsung Pay ad takes a direct swipe at Apple Pay

Samsung is no stranger to taking swipes at Apple in its advertisements and it’s sticking with that strategy in the latest ad for its mobile payments service Samsung Pay. The ad follows comedian Hannibal Buress to New York’s iconic Katz’s Deli where he purchases the infamous pastrami sandwich and things get interesting when he asks to pay with his phone.

“You mean like Apple Pay?” asks one of the employees at the deli, “We don’t have that,” he says. Buress replies “No, like Samsung Pay,” and then proceeds to show how he can make the payment using Samsung Pay by just hovering his phone over the conventional credit card machine. It works like a charm even though the deli staff insist that it won’t work since they don’t have any of the fancy terminals that are required for most mobile payment services.

This really is one of the biggest reasons why Samsung Pay’s adoption has increased significantly ever since it was launched, it does work with fancy NFC payment terminals, but it also has support for magnetic secure transmission. That’s the technology used to process credit card swipes through POS machines, so Samsung Pay is able to process payments even if the merchant only has a regular card machine. Samsung has been pushing this point in all promotional activities for the payments service, the fact that it’s widely accepted as opposed to rivals like Apple Pay, all users need to have is a card from any of the countless supported financial institutions and a Samsung smartphone and then they’re good to pay with just their phone anywhere they can pay with a credit or debit card.

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