Samsung details March 2018 security patch

As Samsung continues to roll out the February 2018 security patch to more devices, the company has now detailed the latest security maintenance release for the month of March 2018. While it has only been about a week or so since the company ramped up the release of last month’s patch, device owners can now start looking forward to receiving the latest patch for March 2018.

March 2018 security patch

Samsung today detailed the March 2018 security patch which brings all of the fixes that are part and parcel of Google’s Android Security Bulletin – March 2018 package.

It brings fixes for nine critical vulnerabilities that were discovered in the Android operating system as well as scores of high-risk and moderate-risk vulnerabilities. No low-risk vulnerabilities were discovered which is why the patch doesn’t bring any fixes for them.

The most severe vulnerability that was patched by Google in this latest release could enable a remote attacker to use a specially crafted file to execute arbitrary code in the context of a privileged process on the device.

Also included in Samsung’s latest security maintenance release are fixes for five Samsung Vulnerabilities and Exposures (SVE) that were discovered in the company’s own software. The security patch that Samsung will start rolling out in the near future which include fixes from both Samsung and Google.

Samsung has developed something of a habit recently to start the rollout of new security maintenance releases by rolling them out first to mid-range devices. That’s what it did last month as well so there’s sufficient reason to believe that the March 2018 security patch will first be released to mid-range devices.

Expect Samsung to start rolling out the March 2018 security patch in the coming days. It’s still in the process of sending out the February 2018 patch. It did so at a leisurely pace last month as it had its hands full with the Galaxy S8 Oreo update so it’s likely that some devices that didn’t receive last month’s patch will skip straight to the March 2018 patch.

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Galaxy S9 in India: Price and release date confirmed

Samsung conducted a launch event today to formally launch the Galaxy S9 in India. It has officially confirmed the price and release date for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+ in one of its key markets. The new flagship brings a variety of enhanced features that Samsung says will reimagine the way users communicate, share and experience the world.

Galaxy S9 in India

The Galaxy S9 in India will have several “Make for India” features, according to Samsung, and the new flagship will also be bundled with offers aside from Samsung’s own Samsung Rewards loyalty program.

The Make for India features include carrier aggregation for 2.5x faster data speeds. Samsung has teamed up with Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel to enable LTE Carrier Aggregation on the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ where spectrum across different bands merge into one single pipe.

This gives users more bandwidth which results in faster streaming and quicker downloads. Samsung says that the Galaxy S9 in India will be one of the fastest smartphones on 4G networks with speeds of up to 250 Mbps.

The company’s mobile payments service Samsung Pay has already been a big success globally and locally in India as well. The company has now introduced its Samsung Rewards loyalty program in the country. Samsung Pay users will earn points when they make payments using the service and can subsequently redeem them for perks such as food and beverage vouchers, movie tickets and shopping. They can also be redeemed for discounts on Samsung products.

The Galaxy S9 in India will be available in Midnight Black, Coral Blue and Lilac Purple colors from retail stores, Samsung Shop and Flipkart. The Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ will be priced at INR 57,900 and INR 64,900 respectively for 64GB models and INR 65,900 and INR 72,900 respectively for 256GB models.

Samsung will release its new flagship in the country on March 16. That’s also when the handset will be released globally. The 256GB model of the Galaxy S9+ will be exclusively available from Reliance Digital stores, Samsung exclusive stores and Samsung Shop.

Samsung is also offering a host of promotions for the Galaxy S9 in India which include mobile data and cashback offers. They’re explained in more detail on the company’s website.

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Samsung buys another AI startup to improve Bixby

In its mission to further improve Bixby, Samsung has acquired artificial intelligence startup Kngine. It has taken a 100 percent stake in the company that has developed an artificial intelligence search engine which can understand and answer questions as well as perform relevant actions.

Samsung acquires Kngine

Kngine started its operations back in Egypt back in 2013. The company details on its website that its artificial intelligence engine crawls the web, enterprise documents, books, FAQs and even customer service logs to create “biologically plausible knowledge representations,” which basically means that the AI strives to function like a human brain.

It first understands the questions and then breaks them down into sub-questions and dependencies before forming a solution plan. It then searches its knowledge graph which combines knowledge from countless documents to find possible answers before surfacing the most plausible answer to the query.

A Samsung official revealed to The Investor that the company’s venture capital unit Samsung Next had actually invested in Kngine jointly with Vodafone Ventures Egypt in 2014. Samsung Research America later acquired a 100 percent stake in the company last year.

This isn’t the first acquisition of its kind. Samsung has been picking up smaller artificial intelligence companies recently some of which include Expect Labs and Vicarious. These acquisitions are in line with its efforts to advance artificial intelligence solutions.

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First Galaxy S9+ review comes from a lucky pre-order customer

The first Galaxy S9+ review is now live and it’s not from any tech publication, it’s from a lucky pre-order customer who received his unit way ahead of schedule. It’s not uncommon for Samsung’s retail or carrier partners to mistakenly ship out a unit or two of its upcoming flagship devices. We’ve seen this happen in the past as well and now it appears to have happened again. It’s quite likely that other pre-order customers in markets like the United States will start receiving their units a couple of days before the official March 16 release date.

First Galaxy S9+ review

Reddit user Pinusnigra pre-ordered the Galaxy S9+ the day Samsung started taking them in his country (Turkey) and much to his surprise, the Exynos-powered variant of the device landed on his doorstep on March 1. Samsung is offering a neat little pre-order bonus to customers in Turkey who pre-order the Galaxy S9 or Galaxy S9+, they will get a Gear Sport smartwatch for free. Both devices are shipped in one single box.

He doesn’t claim to be a professional reviewer in any way but his observations are what most average users will feel when they use the device for the first time. Pinusnigra touches on many aspects of the new flagship in his Galaxy S9+ review. This includes the packaging, the AKG-tuned earphones in the box, the various guides and documents that nobody reads and the finish of the device itself. He says that the Galaxy S9+ in Midnight Black has a better matte finish compared to last year’s glossy one.

For those who are wondering if the new stereo speakers live up to the hype, he says that they’re an “enormous upgrade,” with the earpiece functioning more or less like a tweeter while the main speaker completes the sound.

Commenting on the performance, he says that the device is snappy as expected. The Intelligent Scan feature is described as “fast and good but unreliable.” AR Emoji is a feature that’s going to figure prominently in Samsung’s marketing campaign for the Galaxy S9 and the Galaxy S9+. He doesn’t seem to think it works well, though, and his similar thoughts about the much-hyped Super Slow-motion video feature too.

You can read his 2000-word Galaxy S9+ review on Reddit to get a sense of what Samsung’s new flagship is all about. Don’t forget that our full Galaxy S9 review is going to be published in the near future so do check back for that as well.

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No more security updates for the 2016 Galaxy A3, Galaxy J1, and Galaxy J3

Barring Google’s own hardware devices, software updates continue to remain as the biggest drawback of the Android ecosystem. Slow updates and shorter support period have become synonymous with Android devices, particularly the mid-range and budget offerings. Even within the Android ecosystem, the experience varies vastly from one OEM to another in this aspect.

Although far from satisfactory, Samsung has a better track record than most other OEMs in updating its devices. Within Samsung, again, not all devices receive the same level of support. Samsung’s flagship smartphones may get around three years of Android updates, security updates at least, but the company’s budget and mid-range options usually hover around two years of support. Samsung seems to be sticking to this strategy for its 2016 models if we go by the new information on its website.

Monthly security updates to the Galaxy A8 (2018)

Samsung quietly updated the Android security updates page, adding and removing devices from the security updates list. As spotted by Android Police, Samsung has removed the 2016 variants of the Galaxy A3, Galaxy J1, and Galaxy J3 from the security updates page, signaling the end of support for these devices.  The changes may be on expected lines but are still disappointing nonetheless.

Samsung has also added four new devices to the Android security updates page: Galaxy A8 (2018), Galaxy A8+ (2018), Galaxy J2 (2018), and Galaxy Tab Active2. Of these, only the Galaxy A8 (2018) is placed under the monthly update list with the rest filed under the quarterly list.

Recently, Samsung has launched the Galaxy A8 Enterprise Edition promising three years of monthly security updates. The puzzling placement of the Galaxy A8 (2018) in the monthly update schedule, while the Galaxy A8+ is slotted for quarterly updates, is probably driven by that announcement. This only goes on to show the kind of inconsistency plaguing the entire Android ecosystem.

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SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine: March 5, 2018

Welcome to the latest edition of our weekly Firmware Magazine. You can think of it as your go-to resource to find out which of your Samsung devices has received a new update or if it’s going to receive a new firmware update in the near future.

To keep things interesting, we present the Firmware Magazine in new designs every week. It will always include the important details about firmware updates such as the firmware versions, device model numbers, Android OS versions and the country where said update is out already.

SamMobile Firmware Update Magazine

Keep in mind, however, that these firmware details are based on the firmware that are available in our database, and in some cases, the latest updates might not show in the same week as the full firmware files take additional time to make it to our database.

The purpose of this magazine is to bring all of that important information about firmware updates to you, the reader, in a manner that’s easy to comprehend—so even if you’re new to the world of firmware, you’ll have no trouble making sense of it all.

Click on the image below to grab the latest firmware magazine!

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Samsung organized an LED show at the Burj Khalifa to market the Galaxy S9

Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ with a strong emphasis on the camera. The new flagship devices look similar in design to their predecessors while offering many changes inside. Unlike the striking design of the Galaxy S8 duo, communicating the under-the-hood improvements in the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ require more marketing efforts from Samsung. The company seems to be doing precisely that with its advertising event at the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building.

Samsung plans to hold similar events in other major cities

Samsung organized an extravagant LED show on the face of the iconic skyscraper, the Burj Khalifa, to celebrate the launch of the Galaxy S9. Samsung is the first technology company to present an LED show at the iconic building. Samsung also set up a series of booths near the skyscraper to let the tourists and spectators who came to watch the light show experience the capabilities of the Galaxy S9 duo in person.

These booths were designed to communicate the new features of the Galaxy S9 in a fun and engaging way. The Paint Beat Box experience station allowed visitors to paint with music, creating a perfect place to try the new Super Slow-motion feature in the S9 and S9+. The Water Balloon Wall booth presented visitors a chance to test drive the Super Slow-mo feature’s automatic Motion Detection by letting visitors capture the exact moment their balloon burst and then watching the action in super slow motion.

AR emoji is one of the headline features of the Galaxy S9. So, Samsung also set up the My Avatar experience booth where visitors could transform themselves into an AR emoji and play with their animated character. For showcasing the Galaxy S9 and S9+’s low-light camera capabilities, the company set up the Seeing Through the Lights experience booth, letting visitors test the camera in a ‘mirrored room full of low illuminate lights.’

Samsung will project its Galaxy S9 and S9+ campaign on the Burj Khalifa five times from 19:57 GST on March 2 through 20:27 GST on March 3. The company is planning to hold similar Out of Home (OOH) advertising events in other major cities and at iconic landmarks, details of which are yet to be announced.

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