Specifications of Galaxy J7 (2016) revealed through GFXBench

The Galaxy J7 (2016) just passed through GFXBench, and there are a lot of surprises here. The Galaxy J1 (2016) has already been quietly revealed, so it makes sense that the South Korean giant will be releasing a new J series device soon, and it could be the Galaxy J7 (2016).

One of the surprises about the Galaxy J7 (2016) is the fact that the RAM has almost been doubled to 2.7GB from the previous model, which had 1.5GB of RAM. Another surprise is that this device won’t arrive with Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box, or at least according to GFXBench. The device will arrive with Android 5.1.1 by default, which isn’t bad at all.

It will pack a 5.5-inch 1080p display, an octa-core Snapdragon 615 processor capped at 1.5 GHz, 2.7GB of RAM, and 16GB internal storage. It will feature a 13-megapixel rear shooter with 1080p video recording, and a 5-megapixel front shooter. Finally, the Galaxy J7 (2016) does have a couple of minor downsides such as a lack of gyroscope and the lack of barometer, but this isn’t anything major.

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The Dutch Consumers’ Association files lawsuit against Samsung over device support

The Dutch Consumers’ Association has filed a lawsuit against Samsung over device support, stating in its lawsuit that the Korean giant doesn’t provide support for most of its devices in a given calendar year nor inform customers as to when they can expect their device(s) to receive subsequent Android updates.

Consumers are not sufficiently informed on the purchase of a Samsung Android device about how long they will receive software updates. The Dutch Consumers [are] demanding that Samsung [make] this matter clear and [provide] unambiguous information to customers…Samsung also does not provide sufficient information on critical security holes in its Android phones like Stage Fright (translated by Google Translate).

As for device support, a study from last year details that Samsung doesn’t update 82% of its devices, leaving only 18% of its devices as update-eligible.

Samsung does seem to have an erratic update policy, but it’s also true that many of its devices are budget-friendly and do not necessarily meet the demands that warrant an update. At the same time, however, many Samsung users are buying budget-friendly devices and want to see them updated for some time. Samsung is looking to bring fingerprint sensors and other high-end specs such as improved cameras into its budget-friendly lineup, so we could very well see Samsung’s update policies progress to include more budget-friendly devices. Google could help in this regard as well by not releasing so many incremental updates that only add emojis, for example.

We have reached out to Samsung for an official comment on the matter and will update when it gets back to us. Do you think this lawsuit is fair? Is Samsung right or wrong, or is this just another frivolous lawsuit? Speak your mind in the comments.

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Samsung starts mass producing world’s fastest high-bandwidth DRAM chips

Samsung likes to be the first in the world to produce memory and storage products with new technologies. It has now become the first in the world to start mass producing 4GB DRAM chips that are based on fast HBM2 interface, which will help in high-performance computing, gaming, and network systems.

These HBM2-based DRAM chips can sift data at a pace of 256GBps, making them seven times faster than current generation DDR5 DRAM chips. The company said that it will supply these chips to enterprises server manufacturers, who value performance more than anything else.

Samsung said that it will also supply these 20nm-based chips to NVIDIA and AMD, which will help these companies in churning out graphics cards with extremely high-performance and reduced power consumption. Samsung is currently making 4GB modules with four layers of 8-gigabit cores, but it will soon start making 8GB modules with eight layers.

Sewon Chun, senior vice president of Memory Marketing at Samsung Electronics, said, “By mass producing next-generation HBM2 DRAM, we can contribute much more to the rapid adoption of next-generation HPC systems by global IT companies. Also, in using our 3D memory technology here, we can more proactively cope with the multifaceted needs of global IT, while at the same time strengthening the foundation for future growth of the DRAM market.”

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Tech companies and even farmers want Supreme Court to decide Samsung vs Apple patent lawsuit

Samsung wants to end its patent lawsuit once and for all by trying to get the US Supreme Court to take up the matter. It has already been through a very lengthy legal process that involved lawsuits, payment of about half a billion dollars in damages and also a sales ban on some of its devices. It’s up to the apex court to decide whether it wants to take up this case and in order to convince it to do so, many non-profit organizations, tech companies and legal experts have filed amicus (friend of the court) briefs requesting that the Supreme Court consider this patent infringement case.

It’s not that all of them support Samsung’s position against Apple, rather they are aware of the implications of a Supreme Court decision on matters of patent infringement, particularly related to design patents and the damages associated with infringement. The judicial system often comes under fire for not doing enough to stop patent trolls so a decision by the Supreme Court will be a potential game changer. The idea is to throw their weight behind this patent infringement case and ultimately convince the federal government to bring about patent reforms that will prevent patent trolls from making money off of intellectual property. Newegg, a major electronics retailer, filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court alongside major tech companies including Facebook, Google, Dell, HP, eBay and Pegasystems. Even farmers and small businesses have done the same. Samsung and Apple have not commented on these amicus briefs.

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Samsung Galaxy J5 (2016) benchmark reveals more details

It has only been about six months since the Galaxy J5 was released but from the looks of it, the successor is already in the pipeline. We reported about a week ago that the Galaxy J5 (2016) is being tested at Samsung’s R&D facilities in India and now the handset as appeared on GFXBench, reiterating some details about this device that previously surfaced online and revealing some more.

The benchmark shows that SM-J510x, the Galaxy J5 (2016), has a larger 5.2-inch display with the same 1280 x 720 pixel resolution of its predecessor. There appears to be a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor under the hood with 2GB RAM, 16GB internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear and 5-megapixel front camera. The handset will be powered by Android 5.1.1 Lollipop. It can’t really be said for sure right now when Samsung is going to formally launch the Galaxy J5 (2016) so if you’re in the market for a robust mid-range device perhaps you should check out Samsung’s recently revamped Galaxy A (2016) series.

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Apple wins a sales ban on Samsung smartphones infringing on its patents

Samsung and Apple’s patent lawsuit has been ongoing for several years now, some of Samsung’s devices were found to be infringing on Apple’s utility patents, and even though the company is still trying to fight its rival despite agreeing to pay over half a billion dollar in damages this time around it’s a win for Apple. Its wish for a sales ban on infringing Samsung devices has been granted as a result of which the company can no longer sell those devices.

Apple may have won a sales ban but it’s effectively useless since all of those devices are outdated anyway and Samsung doesn’t sell them anymore. The devices that it can no longer sell in the United States include the Galaxy Nexus, the first Galaxy Note, the Galaxy Note 2, the Galaxy S2, the Galaxy S2 Skyrocket, the Galaxy S3 and the Stratosphere. Samsung is trying to get the US Supreme Court to take up the matter and reform patent law to fit modern devices and many have thrown its weight behind the company, but until that happens this ban will remain in place.

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Investigation reveals Samsung suppliers might be employing child labor in Africa

An investigation conducted by Amnesty International and Afrewatch, a non-govermnet organization based in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has revealed the possibility that suppliers of some of the biggest tech companies and car manufacturers might be employing child labor in Africa. Cobalt, believed to be mined by children as young as seven, might be entering the supply chains of tech companies like Microsoft, Apple and Samsung aside from car manufacturers like Volkswagen and Daimler AG.

Samsung SDI, the division which makes batteries for Samsung as well as other clients including Apple, said in a statement that it’s “impossible” to determine if its cobalt is sourced from the DRC, adding that both CDM and Huayou are not in its supply chain. However it acknowledged its relationship with L&F Material, a battery maker based in South Korea that has also been implicated in the report, but Samsung says that its materials were sourced from Japan.

According to the report, cobalt mined by children is sold to Congo Dongfang Mining International, a DRC-based subsidiary of Huayou Cobalt. The cobalt ore is processed and then sold to companies in China and South Korea who use it to make lithium-ion batteries for smartphones and electric cars. Amnesty International contacted several companies, and while Apple and Microsoft said that they were evaluating their supply chain, Amnesty says in the report that none of the companies it contacted gave enough information which would allow for their origin of cobalt supply to be independently verified.

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