SamMobile Daily Recap: November 2, 2017 — Android 8.0 Oreo, Galaxy S8 and more!

We publish a lot of stories on a daily basis. Unfortunately, the majority of news breaks during our European hours of operation, which makes it difficult for our readers in the US (and other regions) to keep up. However, we think we’ve come up with a fantastic solution — a daily recap.

Here’s what we published today.

Firmware News

Galaxy S6 edge+ October security patch now rolling out in various markets

Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ Oreo beta program is now live in the UK

How to download Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta

Samsung officially announces launch of Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo program

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 1: Keyboard gets several improvements

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 2: New Edge lighting effects

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 3: Pin or snooze notifications

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 4: Dual Messenger is now a standard feature

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 5: App shortcuts on steroids

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 6: Hide albums in the gallery

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 7: Samsung DeX enhanced

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 8: Custom color options for folders

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 9: Settings menu gets a few changes

General

Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling program helps you put your old Galaxy devices to use

Phones

Galaxy Note 8 Enterprise Edition launched in the US

PSA: Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta does not have Live Focus in the camera

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What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 9: Settings menu gets a few changes

We have seen a lot of new features on the Android 8.0 Oreo beta for the Galaxy S8, and our What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo articles give you the rundown on what’s changed. We have discovered that the settings menu has also received a few minor modifications, which may or may not impress you but are still notable.

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo: Settings menu gets a few changes

The settings menu has had a search option on Samsung’s software for quite some time, and on Oreo, you now have the option to clear your search history from the settings. We’re not sure why one would clear it as the history can be useful for quick access to settings you need to change regularly, but the option’s now there for those who want it. The other change in the settings is in the About phone menu. On Oreo, the phone number, device model number, serial number, and IMEI are displayed right at the top in the About phone section, with things like the status and battery information sections available as the usual list just below.

Again, none of these changes are huge, but it’s possible Samsung has only just begun modifying the settings menu and will implement more changes with subsequent versions of the Android 8.0 Oreo beta. As always, we will let you know if we discover something new on Oreo, and you can do the same for us if you’re using the beta by leaving a comment.

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What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 8: Custom color options for folders

The Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta brings a lot of new features. There are also countless user interface tweaks that we’re discovering as we spend more time with the beta. If you’ve always wished for more color options for your app folders, Oreo has you covered. The beta firmware allows users to choose a custom color for their folders.

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo: Custom Color Options For Folders

If you tend to have a lot of apps on your device then it’s best to sort them neatly into folders. It makes it easier to find the apps that you’re looking for without having to scroll endlessly.

The Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta lets users add some flair to the folders. Tapping on the icon alongside the folder’s name brings up a list of available color options. The multi-colored option can be selected to pick a custom color for the folder from a full-fledged color picker.

Once the preferred color has been selected, users just need to tap “Done” and the folder will automatically be filled with that color. It’s as simple as that.

We’ll be sharing more observations as part of this ongoing What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo series so do check back for more. If you don’t already know, here’s how you can download Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta on your device.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling program helps you put your old Galaxy devices to use

Have a Galaxy smartphone or tablet lying around at home that you haven’t used for a long time? If the answer is yes, then Samsung has a few tips on how you can put your old Galaxy device to use instead of throwing them away or letting them sit in your drawer. Samsung has teamed up with iFixit for the Galaxy Upcycling program to offer tips on the same.

Upcycling is a better alternative to recycling

Recycling old devices helps the environment, but the process of breaking down the materials has some costs and isn’t entirely pollution-free, so Samsung and iFixit are suggesting that consumers put their devices to other uses, such as turning them into a CCTV for the house, an IoT device, a game console, or even into Bitcoin miners. The project hasn’t gone live just yet, but you can sign up to be notified when it does at the source website. It’s certainly an impressive undertaking from Samsung, and it would be great to see other manufacturers following suit.

Check out the video below to see what Samsung intends to do with the Galaxy Upcycling program. What’s your take on the company’s plan to reduce environmental pollution and put older devices to creative uses?

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Galaxy S6 edge+ October security patch now rolling out in various markets

The October security patch is beginning to arrive on the Galaxy S6 edge+ with the latest update for the device. The update is rolling out in various markets in Western Asia and a couple of others, including the UAE, Iran, Egypt, and South Africa. The build number for the new firmware is G928CXXS3CQJ3.

Galaxy S6 edge+ October security patch now available

The October security patch fixes 215 vulnerabilities found in Google’s Android operating system and six vulnerabilities that exist in Samsung’s software. Some of these are detailed in this post, while others are kept secret to prevent hackers from exploiting them before the October patch has hit all eligible devices (and right now, the October patch hasn’t hit even the Galaxy S8 or Note 8 in most markets). We’re not aware of any other changes in the latest update for the S6 edge+, and we’re guessing there isn’t anything on offer other than the security enhancements.

You should be able to download the update by going into the Settings » Software update menu. Alternatively, you can download the corresponding firmware for your country from our database and flash it manually using a PC, or by using Samsung’s Smart Switch desktop software. Let us know if you have received the update on your device.

Firmware Details:

Model	SM-G928C
Model name	Galaxy S6 edge+
Country	Select country Afghanistan  (AFG) Algeria  (TMC) Cambodia  (CAM) Egypt  (EGY) Iran  (THR) Iraq  (MID) Israel  (ILO) Israel (Cellcom)  (CEL) Israel (Orange/Partner)  (PTR) Israel (Pelephone)  (PCL) Kenya  (AFR) Libya  (BTC) Mauritius  (MRU) Morocco (MAT)  (MAT) Morocco (MWD)  (MWD) Nigeria  (ECT) Pakistan (PAK)  (PAK) Saudi Arabia  (WTL) Saudi Arabia  (ACR) Saudi Arabia  (KSA) Saudi Arabia (STC)  (XFU) South Africa  (XFA) South Africa  (XFE) Thailand  (THL) Tunisia  (TUN) Turkey  (TUR) United Arab Emirates  (LYS) United Arab Emirates  (XSG) Vietnam  (XXV) Zambia (MTN Zambia)  (MTZ)
Version	Android 7.0
Changelist	11762721
Build date	Tue, 10 Oct 2017 11:38:20 +0000
Security Patch Level	2017-10-01
Product code	WTL
PDA	G928CXXS3CQJ3
CSC	G928COJV3CQJ1

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PSA: Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta does not have Live Focus in the camera

Last month, one of Samsung’s support staff mentioned in the Samsung Community that the Live Focus camera mode from the Galaxy Note 8 could come to the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ with the next software update, despite the lack of a second camera at the back. Well, the Android 8.0 Oreo beta that is now rolling out technically counts as a software update, and we thought we’d confirm to our readers that there is no Live Focus mode (or portrait mode, as it is generally called) built into Oreo for the Galaxy S8 or S8+.

No Live Focus mode for the Galaxy S8. Not yet anyway

This doesn’t come as a surprise, as implementing a portrait mode with a single camera would take some work. Google has done it with the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL by using the Dual Pixel autofocus system and AI trickery, so it’s certainly possible, but we don’t see Samsung making it available for any device before the Galaxy Note 8. Well, and even to a phone with a single rear camera that launches in the future, as having two cameras at the back of a phone would be somewhat useless if Live Focus wasn’t an exclusive highlight.

But hey, Samsung could make Live Focus available in a newer version of the Oreo beta. Even if it doesn’t (and we have no solid reason to believe it will), you do get a slew of other new features and functionality on Oreo. Check out what’s new in the Oreo beta for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ in our What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo series of articles.

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What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo Part 7: Samsung DeX enhanced

The much-awaited Galaxy S8 Android 8.0 Oreo beta program has finally been released by Samsung. Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ users can now get the beta firmware if they’re located in a market where Samsung has launched the beta.

We have started this What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo series to share our discoveries from the new beta firmware. Our readers can thus follow this series to find out everything new that’s going to be included in the Oreo update.

What’s New With Android 8.0 Oreo: Samsung DeX enhanced

The biggest new feature for DeX is the ability to use the phone as a mouse if you don’t have an actual mouse to use with the dock. When enabled, the phone will show you a black and white screen on which you can trace your finger to emulate mouse movement, with a button at the top for emulating clicks (although currently you can only select an app; long-pressing to emulate a right-click isn’t supported yet). Nifty, and something that should have been a feature on DeX since the beginning.

Game Launcher for DeX is also getting updated. Game Launcher support came to DeX four months ago. The feature didn’t offer much at that point in time. It felt like Samsung prematurely rolled out this update as most games in the “Supported by DeX” section didn’t recognize keyboard and mouse as input devices.

Samsung DeX is properly receiving support for Game Launcher with the Android 8.0 Oreo beta. It enables users to access games that are playable on DeX. It will recommend those titles on its promotional page. Game Launcher on DeX will also provide users an option to launch games in full screen mode.

Android 8.0 Oreo also brings some minor cosmetic changes for DeX. The all apps UX for DeX has been changed. It now expands to fit the entire screen and shows up to 38 apps at the same time (similar to how Windows 8 used to do it before Microsoft went back to a standard start menu on Windows 10).

We’ll share more of our observations about Android 8.0 Oreo in the near future so do check back soon.

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