Samsung Galaxy J7 Prime launched in the Philippines

Samsung launched the Galaxy J7 Prime in Vietnam about a month ago and later launched this handset in India as well alongside the Galaxy J5 Prime. This mid-range handset has now been officially launched in the Philippines as well. The company has also confirmed when it’s going to start taking pre-orders for the Galaxy J7 Prime online.

The Galaxy J7 Prime touts a 5.5-inch full HD TFT display with an Exynos 7870 octa-core processor under the hood aided by 3GB RAM, 16GB storage as well as a 3,300mAh battery. The handset also features a 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel selfie camera aside from a microSD card slot, dual-SIM slot, LTE and fingerprint sensor. The Galaxy J7 Prime comes with the S Secure feature which enables users to protect images, apps and Wi-Fi networks using the fingerprint sensor. An advanced battery saving feature called S Battery Planning is also onboard.

Samsung is going to start taking pre-orders for the Galaxy J7 Prime online in the Philippines tomorrow. It’s yet to confirm the local price. The device costs around $280 in India so expect it to cost around the same in the Philippines.

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Samsung’s $120 million patent dispute victory against Apple overturned in latter’s favor

Earlier this year in February, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington, D.C. overturned a jury verdict which imposed $120 million in damages on Samsung for infringing on Apple’s slide-to-unlock and quick links patent. The court also ruled that those patents were invalid and it even found Apple liable for infringing on one of Samsung’s patents. This was chalked up as Samsung’s victory in one of two patent lawsuits it’s fighting with Apple, the other one initially imposed $1 billion in damages on Samsung but that lawsuit is now being taken up by the U.S. Supreme Court. The $120 million Samsung victory has now been overturned in Apple’s favor.

A federal appeals court ruled today that Samsung infringed on Apple’s slide-to-unlock and quick links patent. It upheld the initial verdict and remarked that the three judges who overturned it in Samsung’s favor considered information which wasn’t introduced in trial and ruled on issues that were never brought up in the appeal. “We conclude that the jury verdict on each issue is supported by substantial evidence in the record,” the federal appeals court ruled, adding that the district court’s award of costs now stands reinstated.

The appeals court has also maintained the ruling against Apple which found that it had infringed on Samsung’s photo and video gallery patent. Apple now has to pay $158,400 in damages to Samsung. The court has also sent one issue back to the initial court or reassessment, a move which might increase the damages award against Samsung. Both companies have yet to issue a statement on this latest development.

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Purported Galaxy J3 (2017) imported into India for testing

An unknown smartphone with Galaxy branding has been spotted on Zauba’s online database. The handset, which carries the model number SM-J327P, was imported into India for testing and evaluation purposes on Thursday, October 6.

Unfortunately, it’s currently unclear what moniker the device will flaunt when it hits the shelves. However, we believe that the mystery unit is a second-generation model of the Galaxy J3 that was released back in November 2015.

As you’d expect, the documentation accompanying the prototype doesn’t shine any light on the internals it packs, other than that it features a 5-inch display. Recent rumors point towards it being powered by a 2,600mAh battery, though.

We’ve known for a little while now that Samsung is looking to refresh its Galaxy J lineup, and four days ago a separate smartphone — believed to be the Galaxy J7 (2017) — was brought into the region for testing.

There’s no word on when the refreshed handsets will be announced. Although, we expect to see the Galaxy J3 (2017) available on the mass market as early as next month in order to tie in with its predecessor’s release date.

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Reports of two replacement Galaxy Note 7 units exploding emerge from South Korea

There appears to be no end in sight for the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. This week alone there have been four separate reports of the replacement Galaxy Note 7 exploding in the same fashion as recalled units. Now reports of two new Galaxy Note 7 handsets suffering the same fate have emerged from Samsung’s home market of South Korea. A video has also been posted online which shows one of the handsets emitting smoke.

The video shows the Galaxy Note 7 emitting smoke while it’s lying on a table at a Burger King outlet. An employee wearing protective gloves tries to pick up the device and take it outside. The second unit reportedly caught fire at the Hanwha Eagles baseball park in the central city of Daejeon. Samsung is yet to provide a statement on these incidents, it has previously said that it’s taking all reports of issues with replacement units very seriously.

Following these reports, major carriers in the United States are now allowing customers to exchange their replacement units for any other device in their lineup. Samsung isn’t ruling out a potential safety issue in these units but it hasn’t confirmed anything as yet. If the reports keep coming in and it becomes clear that replacement units are not safe as well, Samsung may have to issue a second recall for the Galaxy Note 7.

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Verizon and T-Mobile now allowing customers to exchange replacement Galaxy Note 7 with any other device

Samsung would have hoped that the Galaxy Note 7 debacle would end with the replacement program but a new storm is now brewing. There have been four reports of the replacement Galaxy Note 7 devices exploding in this week alone and now even the company itself is not ruling out a potential safety issue with the units that were meant to be safe in the first place. A couple of days ago AT&T announced that its customers could exchange their replacement Note 7 with any other device in its lineup, its announcement came a day after Sprint made a similar offer.

All four major carriers in the United States are now on the same page with regards to the replacement Galaxy Note 7 units. Verizon and T-Mobile are now also allowing their customers to turn in a replacement device and exchange it for any other smartphone in their lineup. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a Samsung smartphone so there’s a real risk that many who have lost faith in the Galaxy Note 7 might easily jump ship to the iPhone 7.

Samsung is yet to offer an explanation as to why it just can’t seem to fix the Galaxy Note 7. So far the company has only said that it takes all reports of exploding units seriously and that it’s closely working with the US Consumer Product Safety Commission on this. If the issue persists Samsung might even have to authorize a second recall of the Galaxy Note 7 which will certainly further damage consumer confidence in the company.

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No early launch for the Galaxy S8 ‘confirmed’

The Galaxy Note 7 is fast morphing into a potential disaster for Samsung. Some have suggested that the company should just discontinue the Galaxy Note 7 and opt for an early launch of the Galaxy S8 instead to try and contain the fallout of the botched launch of its latest flagship. Samsung hasn’t commented on the matter as yet and has given no indication which might suggest that it’s considering dumping the Galaxy Note 7. That might not happen because it has been “confirmed” that the Galaxy S8 will be launched as per schedule.

Samsung unveils new Galaxy S series handsets at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona every year. It unveiled the Galaxy S7 at MWC 2016 and was expected to do the same for the Galaxy S8 next year. MWC 2017 takes place from February 27 to March 2 in Barcelona and Twitter leaker Ricciolo says that it has been confirmed to him that there will be no early launch for the Galaxy S8. He has also shared an image of what appears to be a Samsung graphic for the MWC 2017 event which mentions that the Galaxy Unpacked 2017 event is going to take place as expected on February 26.

Despite multiple reports of replacement Galaxy Note 7 units facing the same issue as the recalled units Samsung is yet to make a decision on whether it will continue to sell the flagship or take the hit and discontinue it. Reports suggest that the Galaxy Note 7 was rushed to beat the iPhone 7 and perhaps that’s why it’s facing these issues. If that really is the case I don’t think many at Samsung would be in favor of rushing the Galaxy S8 as well.

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Samsung trademarks ‘LightUp Camera’ for the Galaxy S8′s dual camera

There has been some speculation recently that Samsung is going to introduce a dual camera setup with the Galaxy S8, a report out of Korea that predicted huge hardware changes for the Galaxy S8 also mentioned the dual camera. Samsung has now filed for two trademark registrations in South Korea for “LightUp Camera” and “Light+ Camera,” it’s likely that these trademarks will be associated with the Galaxy S8′s dual camera in some way.

The description in the trademark filings for both monikers reads “Camera Sensor for use in enhancing the brightness and clearness of digital images and photographs taken in low-light environments.” That’s basically what the secondary camera in a dual camera setup is supposed to do. Rumor has it that the Galaxy S8′s dual camera is going to feature one 16-megapixel sensor and another 8-megapixel sensor for a better photography experience overall with particular improvements being noticed in low light performance. The Galaxy S8 will be out in the first quarter of 2017.

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