Samsung’s plans to improve Galaxy Z Fold 3 resilience are on the rails

Samsung is apparently thinking of new methods in which it can make its foldable flagship phone-tablet hybrids more resilient to shock damage, a new patent application found at the US Patent Office reveals. The patent doesn’t outright mention the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 3 but instead it describes new additions to the inside structure of the foldable form factor designed to improve the phone’s resilience.

Samsung’s foldable smartphones are inherently more susceptible to taking damage from drops because they have a fairly intricate hinge system and two displays, one of which is a softer foldable panel. The Galaxy Z Fold 2 is surprisingly resistant to abuse given the form factor, but the upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 3 and/or subsequent models could boast new design and structural elements that were meant to improve fall resistance.

An unusual system of rails with no clear definition

The patent application discovered by Patently Apple doesn’t seem to be going into many design details but the attached sketches reveal an unusual system of rails located inside the phone between the foldable panel and the midframe.

We can’t really be certain of how exactly this rail system would work and provide additional protection in the event of an accidental drop, but that’s apparently its purpose, according to the source. Your guess as to how it would function is as good as ours.

As always though, patent applications don’t guarantee that an idea will become a real product, so perhaps this odd rail system won’t make it in the Galaxy Z Fold 3 or any other consumer device. One thing is clear: Samsung is continuing to work on making its foldable devices more resilient, and that’s a great area to improve upon given the segment’s high prices.

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Samsung is making self-driving car chips for Google’s Waymo

Google’s Waymo is among the many companies working on self-driving car technology. These vehicles use sophisticated technologies and advanced chips to drive themselves. So it goes without saying that only the best components find their way inside these cars.

Samsung is one of the world’s leading manufacturers of advanced logic chipsets. The company is now believed to be making self-driving car chips for Waymo, Google’s self-driving car division.

Waymo’s self-driving cars may use Samsung chips

South Korean media is reporting that Samsung has won a project to develop chips for Waymo’s next-generation self-driving cars. Waymo has been testing out a ride-hailing service based on cars that can drive themselves and ultimately aims to fundamentally change mobility.

Samsung is reportedly going to develop a chip for Waymo that can compute data collected from the various sensors installed in a self-driving car. It may also exchange information with Google data centers in real-time to centrally control functions.

Since it’s a special project, it’s said to be carried out by System LSI’s Custom SOC Business Team. Samsung hasn’t commented on the matter and that’s not surprising. It rarely offers insight regarding such business deals.

Samsung has been actively trying to find new customers to make chips for. The work that it does for Waymo can go a long way in helping it score new clients. The self-driving car industry is seeing a lot of rapid advancement. If Samsung is able to prove itself as a reliable partner to Waymo, it may find others in the self-driving niche turning toward it for assistance as well.

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Samsung secures SaskTel as its latest 5G equipment client in Canada

Samsung has secured another 5G client in Canada and as a result of the new collaboration, the Korean tech giant has been selected as SaskTel’s sole vendor of 4G/5G RAN (Radio Access Network) and Core technologies.

SaskTel claims that it is confident in Samsung’s state-of-the-art 5G technology and the exceptional connectivity inherent in their 5G solutions. Samsung will be responsible for supplying SaskTel with all the hardware and software necessary to ensure a successful entry into 5G territory.

Don Morgan, Minister Responsible for SaskTel, says the collaboration between Samsung and SaskTel for the deployment of 5G solutions is an important step towards setting the foundation of: smart cities, next generation virtual healthcare, immersive education, smart agriculture technology and next level gaming.

Meanwhile, Samsung is obviously pleased with the fact that it has once again increased its presence in the Canadian 5G space. SaskTel isn’t the first or the only 5G client in the country. Videotron has also signed a 5G contract with Samsung all the way back in 2019, and last year Samsung has agreed to empower network operators TELUS with 5G technologies.

Samsung is one of the world’s largest 5G equipment supplier in the midst of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the company’s presence is only getting better as the global infrastructure improves.

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Think this secret Galaxy Labs menu in Samsung Gallery is secret enough?

The latest version of the Samsung Gallery Android app comes packaged with a somewhat-secret Galaxy Labs menu listing quite a few fun featurettes. And as you might have guessed, Samsung’s devs did not fare too well at avoiding detection. But it’s dubious how low-key this experimental addition was meant to be in the first place. Because from the looks of things, it’s available within every regular, non-beta version of Samsung Gallery from Android 10 onward. I.e., starting with One UI 2.5.

While it’s possible someone at Samsung merged the wrong code repo branch, this inclusion is likely very much intentional. And assuming you have a Galaxy device released within the last three or so years, you should be able to check it out yourself.

How to enable the latest experimental features in Samsung Gallery?

To do so, launch the stock Gallery app on your smartphone or tablet, bring up its bottom toolbar by tapping the hamburger menu, and go to Settings. Scroll all the way to the bottom and tap the penultimate section that says About Gallery.

This is where you do the big hacking part by repeatedly tapping the version number below the Gallery header. This one right here:

A system-wide prompt will helpfully count down the seconds until the deed is done. Go back to the previous screen and you should see a new menu item, Gallery Labs, at the bottom of the app’s settings. We’ll soon be doing an in-depth look at this feature list but check it out yourself in the meantime. There’s a bunch of cool mobile photography ideas hiding in there, so hopefully, at least some of them make it to an official release.

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Entry-level Galaxy A20 gets March 2021 security update

If the Galaxy A20 was a flagship, it would have been a well-maintained one. But as it happens to be an entry-level smartphone from 2019, it’s at the very least a testament to how Samsung’s software support policy has lately been out of this world. Case in point: select variants of the Galaxy A20 have already started receiving the March 2021 Android security update.

The over-the-air package identified by build version A205XXDXU9BUC4 has been spotted in parts of Asia within the last 12 hours. And going by Samsung’s software versioning practices, this release appears to include some extra bells and whistles in the form of bug fixes, performance improvements, and the like.

There’s no stopping the Galaxy update train, is there?

Not bad for a device that will be pushing three in just a few weeks from now, right? Unfortunately, the Galaxy A20 isn’t included in Samsung’s 2020 promise of three generations’ worth of Android OS updates, but given the array of smartphones that are, it only narrowly missed out on being part of that crowd.

Anyone half as eager to get their hands on this update as Samsung was to develop it can try triggering a manual installation before the gradual rollout reaches their Galaxy A20. This can be accomplished by launching the Settings app, scrolling down to the Software update section on the bottom, and tapping Download and install on the final screen. Alternatively, our firmware archives already provide mirrors of full system images compiled for the Galaxy A20. Just make sure you’re flashing them to a compatible device and make a full backup or three prior to any tinkering. By the time you’re done, Xiaomi and co. might remember to look at the calendar.

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Galaxy Z Fold 2 starts getting March 2021 security patch

Samsung became the first Android smartphone brand in the world to release the March 2021 security patch. The update was first released to the Galaxy Note 10 series in late February 2021, and the rollout was then expanded to various other smartphones and tablets. The company has now started rolling out the latest security patch to the Galaxy Z Fold 2.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 has started receiving the March 2021 security patch in China. The latest software update for the foldable phone, which comes with firmware version F9160ZCS1DUC1, also includes bug fixes and stability improvements. Apart from Google’s own bug fixes, Samsung’s March 2021 security patch includes fixes for 19 vulnerabilities in Galaxy smartphones.

If you are a Galaxy Z Fold 2 user in China, you can check for the latest update by navigating to Settings » Software update and tapping on Download and install. Alternatively, you can also download the entire firmware from our firmware section and flash it manually. We expect the South Korean firm to release the latest security patch to the Galaxy Z Fold 2 in other parts of the world over the next few days.

The Galaxy Z Fold 2 was originally launched in August 2020 with Android 10 (One UI 2), and it has been consistently receiving monthly security patches. The foldable smartphone received access to the Android 11-based One UI 3.0 update two months ago and the One UI 3.1 update late last month.

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Weekly SamMobile Quiz 64 – Come test your Samsung knowledge!

Fancy yourself as a Samsung superfan? Take our quiz and see how many answers you can get right! This is a fun activity that we do with our readers every week to test their knowledge of the Korean giant. The quiz has a mix of easy and difficult questions that most fans should be able to answer without turning to Google.

We make a new quiz for you every weekend so we hope that you’ll participate and learn a thing or two about Samsung in the process! Don’t forget to share the results of the quiz with your friends and see if you can outscore them. A little competition never hurt anybody!

Remember, if the quiz isn’t loading properly, please access the non-AMP version of this webpage.

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