Samsung SM-G9198 with Snapdragon 808 appears on GFXBench

Samsung is the only major Android manufacturer that has chosen to ignore the Snapdragon 810 and opt for a different flagship chip (one it’s making all by its lonesome), thanks to the 810′s heating issues and the fact that the Korean giant’s Exynos chip is considerably superior. But Samsung has said that it chooses processors according to need and hasn’t given up on the Snapdragon lineup, and the company might just be gearing up to launch its first device to be powered by the Snapdragon 808.

The Snapdragon 808 is a hexa-core chip that slots in somewhere between the Snapdragon 805 and the Snapdragon 810, and has none of the heating issues of the latter. It’s the chipset LG has chosen for the G4, its 2015 flagship, and while it might not be as powerful as the 810 or the Exynos 7420, it’s certainly a high-end chipset that can tackle everything you would throw at it. That would make the SM-G9198, which has appeared out of nowhere on the GFXBench benchmark database with a 4.6-inch display, a small yet formidable powerhouse of a device.

There’s no telling what this device is, but its specs – a 1.8GHz Snapdragon 808 SoC, a 4.6-inch, a 16-megapixel camera, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and Android 5.1.1 – suggest it could be a spin-off of the Galaxy S6. It could possibly be the Galaxy S6 mini, and if that is indeed what this device is, then we could finally see a powerful mini version of Samsung’s flagship, something none of the previous mini smartphones managed to be.

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Android M could introduce Multi Window to Android later this year

Google officially announced Android M, the next major version of the world-dominating mobile OS, at Google I/O yesterday. While not being as big an update as Android 5.0 Lollipop, Android M will bring a lot of new features, such as native support for fingerprint sensors, Android Pay, better volume control, a new battery saving feature called Doze, and an iOS-like permissions management system for apps. But what Google didn’t announce was that Android M might also bring support for a Multi Window-like feature, something that has been discovered in the preview build the internet giant released for Nexus devices.

Samsung introduced Multi Window to Android with the Galaxy Note II back in 2012, and many have clamored for the feature on stock Android ever since. Google was rumored to be working on an implementation of its own but there was never any proof until now. A Reddit user managed to enable a multi-window feature on Android M through a series of rather complicated steps (though those who flash custom ROMs shouldn’t find it too hard to follow the procedure) – it’s rather buggy and experimental for the moment, but it’s certainly a nice indication that multi-window support could make its way to vanilla Android later this year.

A lot of Samsung features have made their way into Android’s core over the years (like the notification toggles, KNOX, or the smart select-like copy feature that will be part of Android M), but this might just be the most useful functionality that Google is taking from the Korean manufacturer. It remains to be seen if Google’s implementation will be ready by the time Android M rolls out, but it’s looking more and more likely that it will be part of the OS at some point in the future.

Moreover, this also shows how stock Android is becoming better and better each year, and how manufacturers might not need to add too much bloat and could instead work on differentiating their software mostly through the user interface in the years to come.

If you have a Nexus device and are trying out the Android M developer preview, head to the source link to see how the multi-window feature can be enabled. Or you could simply use a fully stable and intuitive Multi Window mode if you have any of Samsung’s recent mid-range and high-end devices.

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Samsung completes Lollipop rollout for Galaxy A lineup with the Galaxy A5

This week is turning out to be a good one for owners of Samsung’s full metal Galaxy A devices. The Galaxy A7 recently started receiving the Lollipop update, and it is now hitting the Galaxy A5. The Galaxy A3 was the first A series device to get the update, and today marks the day when it is available for all three in at least one region around the world. The Galaxy A5 update is rolling out in Poland, and it comes with build number A500FUXXU1BOE6.

You can expect the same changelog as the OTA for the Galaxy A3 and A7 – a slightly refreshed user interface, increased performance, lockscreen notifications, and more. You can grab the update over the air, via Samsung Kies, or through our firmware database (this is similar to how Kies works, though the installation process is manual and explained fully in our firmware section.) If you don’t see a notification for the update on your device in the next day or two, you can force it to show up by heading into the Settings » About device » Software updates menu.

Firmware Details:

Model	SM-A500FU
Model name	GALAXY A5
Country	Poland
Version	Android 5.0.2
Changelist	4944491
Build date	Thu, 21 May 2015 07:53:55 +0000
Product code	XEO
PDA	A500FUXXU1BOE6
CSC	A500FUOXA1BOE6

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Exclusive: Samsung Project Valley is a dual screen, possibly foldable, smartphone

The number of patents surrounding folding and dual screen smartphones that we have come across from Samsung would suggest that such devices would already be available in the market for consumers, but the reality is that such technologies take a long time in coming to the commercial arena from their prototype stages. But with the Galaxy S6 edge, Samsung has shown that it is ready to launch devices with unique form factors, and we now have exclusive information on what could be the company’s first dual-screen smartphone.

This smartphone is codenamed Project Valley (it’s also called Project V) and is in extremely early stages of development, and its ambitious nature means it might even be terminated at any time, something that happens with a lot of such projects. The device will support multiple gestures for switching between its two screens, and the fact that it is codenamed Project V/Valley suggest it could be a foldable device (the letter V is similar in shape to what a valley would look like, and it wouldn’t be too far-fetched to think the phone could feature two sides that fold together.)

Rumors earlier this year had hinted that Samsung could release foldable devices by 2016, and if our information is accurate, the Korean giant could indeed be hard at work on meeting that deadline. Again, there is no guarantee Project Valley will ever be showcased to the public, but it’s a clear indication that Samsung is making unique smartphone form factors an area of focus in order to keep its stronghold in the mobile industry.

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How to transfer content using Wi-Fi Direct on a Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge

Wi-Fi Direct support was introduced in Android way back in 2011 with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, but to this day, Google hasn’t added a direct (pun intended) option for sending content using the protocol on stock Android, leaving it to third-party apps to make up for the OS’ shortcoming. Wi-Fi Direct is a technology that allows devices to connect to each other directly without the need for a common access point – it’s like Bluetooth, but is a hundred times faster and can reach speeds of up to 150 Mbps and more.

Samsung was the first to make Wi-Fi Direct work properly out of the box without the need and has offered the option of transferring data between two Samsung phones or tablets via Android’s sharing menu without the need for installing third-party apps, something that isn’t possible on devices from major competitors. The company’s implementation doesn’t work with non-Samsung devices, but if you’re moving data between two devices from the Korean manufacturer, Wi-Fi Direct is an extremely fast and convenient way of doing so.

The Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are Samsung’s latest flagship devices, and the lack of a microSD slot on the two makes Wi-Fi Direct an even more useful feature. How exactly do you use Wi-Fi Direct to connect and transfer media and other data between two phones? Read on to find out.

The type of content you can send and receive includes basically everything that you can select and share via the Android share menu, such as media files (photos, videos and music) from the gallery, files from the My Files app, and even links from apps like the browser, Play Store, and more.

Here’s how the transfer procedure works:

1. On your Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge, open the app from where you want to send files/content to another device.
2. Select whatever content you want to send, then press the Share button in whatever app you’re in (the share button is an icon with three dots, with two dots connected to one in between by two lines.)
3. In the options presented, select Wi-Fi Direct.
4. Now, on the device you’re transferring content to, go into Wi-Fi settings from the settings menu. Now, depending on your device, you will either see the Wi-Fi Direct option right in the Wi-Fi settings on the top right, or it will be available from the three-dot menu, which should also be on the top right.
5. Select the Wi-Fi Direct on this device to go into the Wi-Fi Direct menu, then go back to your Galaxy S6 or S6 edge.
6. Now, you should see the name of your other device on your S6 or S6 edge. Tap on the device name, then tap the CONNECT button when you get the relevant popup on the other device.
7. This will start the transfer process. Depending on your devices, the transfer speeds can vary anywhere between 50 to 150 Mbps and possibly more, meaning all but the largest of files should be moved between your devices extremely quickly.

Go ahead and try it out on your Galaxy S6 or Galaxy S6 edge or any other Samsung device from the last year or so!

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Themes Thursday: Ten new themes launched in the Samsung Theme Store today

Starting today, we will showcase new themes from the Samsung Theme Store on our website. We will do this once every week, and we call it Themes Thursday. This week, Samsung has released ten new themes in the Theme Store that are shown below. I personally liked three of them; Low Poly, Peperico Farmer, and Mexico. Which ones did you like? Let us and other readers know your choice in the comments section below.

Stud Silver

Cubism

High Tech

Impressionism

Low Poly

Mexico

Music

My Little Friends

Peperico Farmer

Sweet Dream

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New Galaxy S6 variant (SM-G929F) imported to India for testing

We reported a few weeks back that Samsung has developed two new handsets with model numbers SM-G928S and SM-N920F, with the former being a new variant of the Galaxy S6 because the model number made it clear that it’s a derivative for an existing model rather than a completely new one. The list of model numbers for the SM-G928 that we received showed that this variant would at least be released in the United States, South Korea and a few markets in Europe.

The latest data from import tracker Zauba shows that a “sample Samsung mobile phone set” with model number SM-G929F has been imported to India for the purpose of evaluation and testing. This isn’t unusual as many unreleased Samsung devices first get imported to the country for testing before they’re made official. From the looks of it this is variant similar to the SM-G928S, and it’s unclear at this point in time when Samsung intends to launch this variant of the Galaxy S6.

Thanks Arthur!

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