Samsung offers one-time free cleaning and inspection services for affected customers

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If you’re a Samsung customer that has been affected by the floods happening in Malaysia, Samsung is offering help in the form of one-time free cleaning and inspections along with free labour costs to repair your affected Samsung products.

You’re valid for the Flood Relief Programme only if:

You’re a Samsung customer located at areas affected by the flood.

Your Samsung product has been water damaged due to the flood (not from accidental physical damage such as cracked screens).

Do take note that the spare part costs are not included in the free labour costs and repairs are subject to availability of the spare parts.

The Samsung Flood Relief Programme is valid from now until 31 January 2022 and you can contact Samsung at 1800-88-9999 or live-chat via Samsung Members/
samsung.com/my
. Feel free to reach out to them anytime of the day and week to arrange for an appointment or for further enquiries about the programme.

For more details, you can read them
here
.

Our hearts go out to those who are affected, take care and stay safe.

Flood Relief Programme
samsung
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Samsung repair


Samsung officially announces the Galaxy Note 7

374

After weeks of leaks, leaks and more leaks, it is finally here. Behold, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 and all its glory.

For those of you who have been following the Galaxy Note 7 leaks religiously over the past couple of weeks, you’ve pretty much know what to expect out of the Galaxy Note 7. For starters, the Galaxy Note 7 will sport a dual-curved 5.7″ Super AMOLED screen at 2K resolution (2560 x 1440). Another thing worth mentioning about the Note 7’s screen, is that it now comes with HDR support, so you can expect some rather impressive video quality on the device itself.

In terms of specifications, the device will be powered by the Exynos 8890 chip, which is the same chip that is utilised by the S7 and the S7 Edge. The Exynos processor is paired with 4GB of RAM. Also making a return from the S7 and S7 Edge is the camera, as the Note 7 comes with the exact same 12MP Dual Pixel rear camera and the 5MP front shooter that both devices have.

Storage-wise, the Note 7 will come with 64GB of storage, with a microSD slot that can expand it up to a maximum of 256GB. The Note 7 will come with a 3,500mAh battery, and it will support both wireless charging and fast wired charging via the USB Type C port.

One of the most anticipated feature of the Note 7 is, of course, the Iris Scanner. As the name implies, this feature will allow you to unlock your Note 7 via your eyes. Of course, Samsung is aiming to be a little more ambitious with the Iris Scanner. Firstly, the Iris Scanner can be used to gain access to the Secure Folder, a folder which can only be accessed by the user themselves. Besides that, the Iris Scanner will be applied to other Samsung services like the company’s Samsung Pay service. If you’re more of a fingerprint type of person, you need not worry as the Note 7 will also come with a fingerprint scanner.

Lastly, the S Pen. Samsung has done some design touch-ups to the S Pen, giving it a smaller tip for more precise writing. The S Pen is also rate IP68, making it waterproof and dustproof. This allows users to utilise both the Note 7 and the S Pen underwater. Apart from the minor design changes, the S Pen will also be receiving some new features such as the Translate feature that translates whatever text the S Pen is currently hovering over.

Locally, the Samsung Galaxy Note 7 will come in three different colours: Gold Platinum, Silver Titanium, and Black Onyx. Nothing was mentioned about the fourth colour, Blue Coral, by Samsung Malaysia, therefore, we assume that that particular colour will not be reaching our shores. The Note 7 will launch on the 19th of August with a retail price of RM3,199. Pre-orders for the Note 7 will begin on the 8th to 10th of August where 4,000 units will be available for order. Samsung has also promised that there may be special deals for those who are pre-ordering the Note 7, so those who are looking to get a Note 7 should probably keep their eyes peeled.

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Samsung officially introduces the Galaxy Note 8 in Malaysia

364

Samsung Malaysia has officially launched the Galaxy Note 8 here in Malaysia. The Note 8 dubbed the redemption device after the huge mishap that was the Note 7 when it seems to cause some accidents to which Samsung had to recall all devices for the public’s safety. With the Note 8, Samsung has assured us that the device has gone through detailed test through different variables and conditions. The Note series is back and we can get our hands on it.

Overall the Note 8 is a gorgeous device that has a 6.3-inch QHD+ AMOLED screen which makes videos, pictures and games pop with vibrant colours. The phone is equipped with the Exynos 8895 chip which is Samsung’s own making to supply enough processing power to run the most demanding of applications smoothly. They have also upped the RAM from the S8 to include 6GB of RAM into this device which should be more than enough RAM to perform multitasking and 64GB of storage expandable up to 256GB via MicroSD card.

With a screen as huge as that, Samsung has enabled Multi Window, a feature that can pair up two apps which will launch them in a split screen view to that advantage of the Infinity Display screen.

The S Pen has also been upgraded from previous Note devices as it now has a finer tip, improved pressure sensitivity and features that allow for user expression through Live Message by illustrating animated texts or drawings across platforms that support animated GIFs. The Always On Display now not only displays notifications without waking the phone, but it will also support Screen Off memo which allows users to immediately start taking 100 pages of notes even when the phone is on sleep.

This also marks the first Galaxy device to adopt a dual-camera setup which features 12MP cameras on the back with OIS on the both the wide-angle and telephoto lenses. The Note 8 camera has a Live Focus feature when lets you control the depth of field by allowing you to adjust the bokeh effect in preview mode and even after you take the photo. Dual Capture mode will make both rear cameras take two pictures simultaneously, one close-up shot from the telephoto lens and one wide-angle shot that captures the entire background.

Adding on to the fun, Samsung is also offering a new Gear VR with the controller for RM499, which will fit with the phone and new GPS sports band, the enhanced water-resistant Gear Fit2 Pro. The Fit2 Pro features a built-in GPS tracker to accurately capture your rin or ride with activity tracking. Aside from its new swim and heart rate monitoring capabilities, the Super AMOLED curved 1.5-inch display and high-resolution colour touchscreen make updates and notifications easier to read.

The Galaxy Note 8 will be available in Malaysia from 21 September 2017 and will retail for RM3,999. It is available in three colours, Midnight Black, Orchid Gray and Maple Gold.

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Samsung officially launches the Gear S2 in Malaysia

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Samsung officially launched circular Gear S2 in Malaysia after the pre-order started last week. In terms of hardware, the Gear S2 runs on Samsung proprietry Tizen OS and has a 1.2-inch (360×360) circular Super AMOLED display, powered by a 1.0GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, and a 250mAh Li-ion battery. The company claimed that the Gear S2 has two to three days of battery life before needing a recharge.

Besides that, the IP68-rated Gear S2 is part smartwatch, part fitness tracker which isn’t surprising that it comes packed with a multitude of sensors to monitor your fitness activities, including an accelerometer, gyroscope, barometer, ambient light sensor, and even a heart rate monitor.

There will be two variants of the Gear S2 available at all Samsung Experience Stores nationwide from tomorrow onwards: the Gear S2 (Sport), and the Gear S2 Classic. But the difference between the two variants, is that the latter is fitted with a genuine leather band while the former is fitted with one that’s made of silicone. Both the straps of the Gear S2 Sport and the Gear S2 Classic are available in a variety of different designs, and you can change them with ease.

The difference between the Gear S and S2 will be the compatibility issue as its predecessor was only compatible with Samsung devices, while the Gear S2 will now be able to pair up with Android devices from other manufacturers, as long as they’re running on Android 4.4 KitKat and above.

The Gear S2 Sport will be priced at RM1,399 with two colors – Dark Gray and Silver, while the Gear S2 Classic – which will only be available in Black, comes with an RM1,599 price tag. Stay tuned for the full review on the new Samsung Gear S2.

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Samsung officially rolls out Nougat for Galaxy S7 series, names a bunch of potential Nougat receiving handsets

308

Samsung has been testing Android Nougat for a number of weeks now through its own Galaxy Beta Program. The South Korean manufacturing giant has finally rolled out the official Android Nougat software beginning with its Galaxy S7 series, which were part of its beta testing program. The software update includes some native Nougat features, along with Samsung’s own UX changes and improvements.

First off, Samsung’s UX will feature a cleaner looking Quick Settings panel. Notifications are also now grouped to better display information, also adding a Direct Reply option, from the notifications. Multi window support has been on Samsung’s handsets for a while now, hence the multi window support that comes with Android Nougat is pretty much a re-introduction of the existing one. A new nifty feature will be Performance Mode, which allows users to tailor the handset to Game mode, Entertainment mode or High performance mode on top of the regular Optimized mode, according to how users want their devices to perform. Samsung has also introduced Samsung Pass for the S7 and S7 Edge handsets, making it the login master key for selected websites, apps and in the near future, mobile banking.

Along with the rollout of Android Nougat, Samsung has also announced a list of devices that will be receiving Google’s latest Android version within the first half of the year – Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 edge and S6 edge Plus, Galaxy Note5, Galaxy Tab A with S Pen, Galaxy Tab S2, Galaxy A3, and Galaxy A8. The rest of Samsung’s device users will probably have to wait till the second half of 2017. Do you have Nougat running on your Galaxy S7?

Source:
Samsung

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Samsung is launching the online-exclusive Galaxy M31 on March 27

439

While it’s not advisable for us to travel or go outside right now, Samsung made sure that its new phones keep coming. The latest Galaxy M31 is announced to launch soon and it will be an online-exclusive phone.

This phone comes with a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED display and runs on Exynos 9611 chipset. It has 6GB RAM and 128GB storage which is expandable up to 512GB. However, its biggest highlight is its huge 6,000mAh battery that supports 15W charging.

Samsung also made sure to keep the conventional 3.55mm headphone jack with the Galaxy M31. It has a quad-camera setup, consisting of a 64MP lens paired with an 8MP ultra-wide lens, a 5MP depth sensor and a 5MP macro lens. On the front, it comes with a 32MP selfie lens. For a midrange phone, the Galaxy M31 is quite appealing.

The Galaxy M31 comes in three colours — Blue, Black and Red. It will be available on Samsung Malaysia’s e-store and exclusively on Lazada from March 27 onwards at the price of RM1,099.

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Samsung opens Trade Up Program for the Galaxy Note9 in Malaysia

297

Samsung has started a trade up program for their Galaxy Note9 phone. They are not only accepting Samsung phones, but they are open to other manufacturers like Apple, Oppo, Vivo and more.

There are some requirements that your phone has to pass in order to be accepted for the trade up program,

Your device must be able to turn on and off and the IMEI must be accessible

The display screen is functional

No damage, missing buttons or cracked casing

The device might be unlocked

There is a long list of devices on the website it is broken down into three grades of A, B and C:

Grade A

All parts of trade-in device are in good working conditions, including but not limited to the following:-

•
Housing
– No Dent, Peeling, Crack & Open Gap

•
Home Button
 – No Scratches/Peeling, Crack & Open Gap

•
LCD Screen
 – No Fine Line Crack, Dead Pixel, Shadow & Discolored

Grade B

All parts of trade-in device are in good working conditions,
SAVE AND EXCEPT
 the following conditions are allowed:-

•
Housing
– Dent/Peeling

•
Home Button
 – Scratches/Peeling

Grade C

All parts of trade-in device are in good working conditions,
SAVE AND EXCEPT
 the following conditions are allowed:-

•
LCD Screen –
in working condition but Screen Display and/or Back Glass Cover Fine Line Crack only

Grade D

All parts of trade-in device are in good working conditions,
 SAVE AND EXCEPT
 the following conditions are allowed:-

•
Housing
– Dent/Peeling

•
Home Button
 – Scratches/Peeling

•
LCD Screen
– in working condition but with shadow

For more information and locations on where you can perform the trade up, check out their
Note9 Trade Up
 website.

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up


Samsung partners with Malaysia brands to optimize their apps for foldables

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In an ambitious move to redefine foldable device experiences for Malaysians, Samsung Malaysia Electronics is harnessing the power of local organizations and the creative minds of university students. This joint endeavor aims to enhance the usability and versatility of the Galaxy Z Fold and Galaxy Z Flip devices, thereby making foldable UI/UX more accessible.

Five leading local entities, namely AmBank, Family Mart, Maxis, Pay4U, and ZUS Coffee, have kicked off the partnership. Taking advantage of Samsung’s and Android platform’s advanced capabilities, they are optimizing their local apps to provide an elevated user experience. Their innovative app adaptations were recently showcased at a partner sharing session themed ‘Reimagining Foldables for Malaysians’, where they demonstrated flexible screen expansions and multi-angle fold use.

Samsung is planning to broaden this partnership in the coming months, with potential additions like Gigi Coffee, Golden Screen Cinemas, TGV Cinemas, and Zapp. As part of their Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) mission, Samsung will also be fostering innovation among local students through a hackathon in collaboration with universities. Here, students will have the opportunity to pitch their unique foldable app ideas, encouraging them to become influential contributors to the tech sector.

Luke Au, Head of Product Marketing, Mobile eXperience at Samsung Malaysia, expressed his enthusiasm about this new initiative: “At Samsung, we are deeply passionate about bringing mobile innovation that matters to our consumers. As we strive to popularize foldable smartphones, we are joining forces with homegrown brands to deliver unique, localized Galaxy Z experiences via their apps—apps that Malaysians engage with on a daily basis. We warmly welcome more local organizations to join us in this industry collaboration, aimed at enriching their customer experiences.”

This initiative underscores Samsung’s commitment to innovating technology that is not only cutting-edge, but also deeply integrated into the everyday lives of their users.

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Samsung patents a smartphone with a screen that wraps the back of the phone

314

Samsung has yet again filed another patent for a smartphone with a screen that wraps around the edge and back of the phone which was discovered by LetsGoDigital. The patent was filed September last year but was only published today.

In the filing, it did not mention the reasons for having a screen setup like this but from the patent illustrations, we can see that some of the icons will be positioned on the edges of the phone. They are not the first company to propose a design like this, as Apple has a patent for a wraparound display last year and LG has its own ornamental wraparound screen patent earlier this year. As most of you know, Samsung created the Galaxy Note Edge where the screen goes all the way to the edge of the phone but not to the back.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

Like all odd and cool patent designs we have seen this year, a phone with this design factor might not see the light of day. This looks more like a gimmick rather than a feature that users might actually utilize as its going to be very odd to hold the back of the phone without pressing on the screen.

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Samsung patents suggest physical controllers for future phones

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Not long after news surfaced of Samsung’s Galaxy F foldable smartphones being in development, the Korean tech giants have released patents that suggest they intend to integrate what seem to be physical controllers with the phone.

The image shows off the flexibility of the phone, being able to take on different configurations – a smartphone, a tablet, a tablet with controller extensions and a Nintendo Switch-esque form.

Image credit: LetsGoDigital

Another patent shows that the physical controllers can be rotated vertically to align with which ever side of the screen you use. Right off the bat, the controller looks a little out of place, but time will tell how Samsung plans to refine their design.

The Galaxy F series is expected to make an appearance at the Unpacked event in San Francisco this February 20.

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Samsung files patents for under-display cameras

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The latest trend we’re expected to see hit the smartphone market like a wave will be under-display selfie cams – we’ve seen the first one arrive in the form of the
ZTE Axon 20 5G
; now, Samsung wants in on the action and have submitted patents for their own take on the technology.

According to reports, Samsung has filed a
patent
 onto the United States Patent and Trademark Office for their under-display camera design that will utilize two separate display panels on the phone.

Image credit: Let’s Go Digital

Samsung wagers they can do it three ways – have the display where the lens go stretch across the top portion of the display in varying sizes, while they brand could also fit a smaller cut-out of the panel on the top corner of the display.

The patents show that this second panel has a higher light transmission rate and a lower resolution output to allow the camera lens underneath to capture images better.

There’s no word on when Samsung will put their plans into the works, but considering we
already
 have the ZTE Axon 20 available to purchase, perhaps we won’t have to wait long before Samsung, or the likes of OPPO and Xiaomi to introduce their renditions of the technology.

ZTE Axon 20 5G

For now, we’ll be turning our attention to the Galaxy S21, which will be launching this January 14.

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Samsung quietly hints at an upcoming collaboration with Boost via Samsung Pay

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Today’s the day for you to get your hands on the newest Galaxy S20 series at Samsung’s roadshow at Midvalley, but that’s not the only surprise we have from the brand.

Malaysians who have bought their Galaxy S20 today have revealed a screenshot that hints towards collaboration between Samsung Pay and Boost e-wallet. Samsung Pay has been a unique feature from Samsung, allowing users to add their credit/debit cards to the app so that they’ll never have to pull out their cards from their wallets to make purchases.

Image credit: Samsung

However, there are some questions to be answered; since Boost e-wallet is a digital service and not a physical card, how will it be implemented? Our current guess is that Boost will create a digital card that is unique to each user.

Though there hasn’t been any official announcement from both companies, we should be expecting one soon.

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Samsung Pay is getting its own debit card this year

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Remember when Apple came out with its own credit card? Well, Samsung is about to do the same, but with a debit card.

Samsung Pay has been one of the best features you can find on Samsung phone compared to others, allowing you to make payment via Magnetic Secure Transmission along with NFC. Samsung even added a rewards program so its users can earn points when they use their respective bank cards to pay via Samsung Pay.

Now, Samsung is moving forward — or to some of us, backward — by creating a debit card for Samsung Pay. The company is teaming up with SoFi, a finance company, to develop this card that will be tied to a cash management account.

This new debit card is said to launch in a few months’ time, but we should expect it to roll out to other countries at a later date due to all the licenses and processes that will need to be done.

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Samsung Pay enters Open Beta Test stage on the 1st of November in Malaysia

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Samsung’s payment system, Samsung Pay, was first demonstrated in Malaysia back during the Samsung Forum held at KLCC back in January. Since then, the system has been undergoing a closed beta test that is limited to its employees. Today, Samsung Malaysia has revealed that it will be conducting an
Open Beta test
 of the payment system, and it will begin on the 1st of November.

For those who do not know what Samsung Pay is, this system would allow you to register a credit card or debit card to any Samsung smartphone that supports the Samsung Pay system. Once a card is registered to your phone, you can then make contactless mobile payments through your Samsung device, either through Magnetic Secure Transmission (MST) or Near Field Communication (NFC). The Samsung Pay system is reinforced with Samsung’s own KNOX security platform, as well as a digital tokenization system, ensuring that the card details on your Samsung device of choice remains secure.

One thing to note about the Samsung Pay Open Beta test is only Maybank Visa Debit, Visa Credit, and Visa Prepaid cards are supported. Any cards outside of these will not be supported, so make sure you have a Maybank Visa in hand before registering for the Open Beta test. Needless to say, you’ll also need a compatible Samsung device of your own, which is shown in the image above.

Samsung has yet to announce a local launch date for Samsung Pay, but with the announcement of an Open Beta Test, it seems that we might be getting it before the end of 2016.

Source:
Samsung Pay

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Samsung Pay goes online in China

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Samsung Pay is launched in China, courtesy of a collaboration between Samsung and China UnionPay. This launch comes slightly over a month after Apple Pay was launched in February, after an announcement last December. The benefit of partnering with China UnionPay means that wherever you can tap or swipe your card in the country, Samsung Pay will work as well.

Certain credit cards and debit cards are supported by Samsung Pay, coming from these banks in China – China CITIC Bank, China Construction Bank, China Everbright Bank, China Guangfa Bank, China Minsheng Banking Corp. Ltd, China Merchants Bank, Hua Xia Bank , Industrial and Commercial Bank of China and Ping An Bank. Nine of them, to be exact. On top of that, Samsung Pay will be adopting an additional six banks in the future, supporting cards from Bank of China, Bank of Beijing, Bank of Communications, China Bohai Bank, Industrial Bank and Shanghai Pudong Development Bank.

Currently, only flagship Samsung handsets have Samsung Pay available, namely – The Galaxy S6 Edge +. Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. However, Samsung plans to have mid range devices supporting the payment system very soon so fret not. Further details of the launch can be accessed right
here
. Till then, stay tuned!

Source:
Samsung

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Samsung Pay is now official in Malaysia with more bank partners and loyalty cards

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Mobile payments have come a long way and Samsung Malaysia has just brought it to the next level with the launch of Samsung Pay in Malaysia today, the service was launched as a public beta for supported Samsung phone models previously and only works with Maybank VISA credit and debit cards. In conjunction with the launch, the company announced new partnerships with four more bank partners on top the current one, which includes CIMB Bank, Citibank, Standard Chartered and Hong Leong (available later). Besides, Samsung Pay has also extended support for loyalty cards such as B-Infinite, Bonuslink and Sunway Pals.

Samsung Pay will benefit users who holds a Galaxy S7, S7 Edge, S6 Edge+, Note 5, A5 (2017 and 2016) and A7 (2017 and 2016) smartphone, the service can be used almost anywhere even if the merchant is using a non-paywave credit card terminal, as the service supports both NFC and Magnectic Secure Transmission (MST) technology. If you are using any of the said Samsung smartphones, setting up your credit card in your phone is pretty simple and secure, and you don’t need to be worried about thefts and misuse of your card as Samsung encrypts all of your credit card information, alongside with secure authorization such as tokenization, biometric authentication and KNOX protection.

To encourage the use of Samsung Pay, Samsung Malaysia isn’t missing out the opportunity to offer goodies to users who sign up for its payment service, customers can visit the Samsung Pay roadshow located at KLCC from February 24-28, where there will be one unit of the Galaxy S7 edge and 100 units of the Samsung Wireless Charger stand to be given away, Samsung has also mentioned that more bank and loyalty card partners will soon be available on its payment service in the near future. For more information on Samsung Pay in Malaysia, do visit
www.samsung.com/my/samsungpay
.

The following Malaysian credit cards will support Samsung pay at this time of writing:

CIMB – MasterCard Credit Cards
Citibank – MasterCard and Visa Credit Cards
Maybank – Visa Credit, Debit and Prepaid Cards
Standard Chartered – MasterCard and Visa Credit Cards
Hong Leong – to be announced

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Samsung Pay now supports Public Bank credit and debit cards

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Samsung is continuing to strengthen its efforts on its mobile payment service, as the company has added Public Bank as one of its supported banks today, while there isn’t any official announcement, the company has updated its website with the bank’s logo, so if you happen to own a Credit and Debit card from Public Bank, you can now add either Visa or Mastercard onto your Samsung Pay account, it is also good to note that Public Bank’s Visa Electron and Lifestyle Debit Cards are not supported.

Samsung Pay is currently supported at a wide range of merchants, the service supports using both NFC and MST to make transactions, which MST will enable payments even on older credit card terminals. Samsung Pay is also supported on a wide range of Samsung devices, including the Galaxy A (2017) series, Galaxy A8 and A8+, Note 5 and newer, S6 and newer, and smartwatches such as the Gear S3 and Gear Sport. For more information on the list of supported devices and banks for Samsung Pay, head on over to www.samsung.com/my/samsungpay.

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Samsung permanently discontinues the Galaxy Note 7 [UPDATE]

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With Samsung reportedly suspending production of the Galaxy Note 7 yesterday, the Korean company has announced that it will be freezing sales of the Galaxy Note 7 today.

In a statement released by Samsung today, the company has announced that it will ask all of its global partners to stopp sales and exchanges of the Note 7 while further investigation takes place. For those who currently have a Note 7 in hand, regardless of whether or not it is an original model or the replacement model, Samsung is advising users to “power down” the device and request for a full refund from either a carrier, a retailer, or Samsung directly. Samsung itself will be working with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission to investigate the problem behind the exploding replacement units.

Samsung’s decision to halt sales of the Note 7 was inevitable after multiple reports of the Note 7 exploding. At this point, the Note 7’s reputation may have been damaged beyond repair, so it may be possible that Samsung will be scrapping the Note 7 altogether. Of course, it is possible that Samsung will relaunch the Note 7 sometime next year, although only time will tell if Samsung manages to figure out if the Note 7 can be salvaged without needing a complete overhaul in its manufacturing or design.

[UPDATE]

It is final, Samsung is officially pulling the plug on the Note 7.
The Wall Street Journal
 has reported that the Korean company will no longer be selling the smartphone as replacement Note 7s are shown to have the same defect that the original production have. “Taking our customer’s safety as our highest priority, we have decided to halt sales and production of the Galaxy Note 7,” says a statement issued by Samsung.

Source:
Samsung
,
The Wall Street Journal

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Samsung PlayGalaxy officially launched – lets you play PC games on your Samsung Galaxy phones

375

Samsung PlayGalaxy is now available to download and use. It was quietly announced alongside the Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series a few weeks back.

PlayGalaxy is essentially mirror your PC games onto your Samsung Galaxy device via an internet connection. You can also connect third party controllers, in display controls and even mouse and keyboard to play your games.

You need to download the PlayGalaxy app onto your PC and Galaxy smartphone to get it to work – however, the only supported device is the Galaxy Note 10 and Note 10+ – but it will be compatible with more Galaxy smartphones and tablets in the near future.

The system requirements you need on your rig to properly utilize the feature resembles an upper-mid tier PC with an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX550 GPU, an Intel Core i5 CPU, a minimum of 8GB RAM a Windows 10 system.

You can play any game that you have on your PC, and have them in your PlayGalaxy library on your smartphone. If you have a Galaxy Note 10 series phone go ahead and try this out – play your games any where in the house!

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Samsung started pre-registration for the Galaxy Fold in China

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We know Samsung is ready to launch its Galaxy Fold in September, but news of the Galaxy Fold being available for pre-registration in China made it more surreal.

The device that was supposed to be launched a few months back has been postponed until recently due to the faulty hardware discovered by the first batch of tech reviewers. The Galaxy Fold’s screen was easily broken and reviewers were peeling off its outer layer that they thought was a screen protector causing even more issues.

Since then, Samsung has made its amendments and ensure that the protective outer layer extends beyond the bezel so users understand that it’s not meant to be peeled off. The device also received various reinforcements to prevent dust particles from entering.

We can assume that Samsung reopens the pre-registration in China without involving any amount of money yet because they want to prove a point — they are confident that the Galaxy Fold is ready to be released to the market. There hasn’t been any official launch date yet, but one thing we can be sure of? The price will remain luxurious.

Galaxy Fold
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Samsung promises an update to fix the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s camera issues

394

The Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra is Samsung’s latest and highest-end model of the Galaxy S20 series, but it’s recently discovered that the phone has some camera issues that needed to be fixed.

Reviewers have discovered that the phone has issues with focusing — the camera takes a long time to focus on a subject and sometimes fails to focus entirely. That’s not the only issue;
The Verge
 also mentioned that there’s an issue with its image processing whereby it aggressively smoothens out the skin.

Image credit: Android Central

Luckily, Samsung has responded to these complaints and promises to provide and update to improve the camera. “The Galaxy S20 features a groundbreaking, advanced camera system. We are constantly working to optimize performance to deliver the best experience for consumers,” said the company.

Apart from these issues, the Galaxy S20 Ultra’s camera system has been fairly impressive. If you want to know more about the Galaxy S20 and its camera performance, stay tuned because we will be releasing a video review of this phone next week.

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Samsung promoted the Galaxy Note 9 display while using an iPhone

240

Samsung was recently made fun of by Twitter users, as the company’s Nigerian Twitter account promoted the Galaxy Note 9’s Super AMOLED display but the tweet was found to be done via iPhone.

The blunder made was first discovered by Marques Brownlee, a famous tech reviewer who suggested he could be a “Twitter police” during the incident. The Samsung tweet was posted on 25 November, and Brownlee discovered the fact that the tweet was made via iPhone on 2 December, posting it on his own account to expose Samsung.

However, Samsung is quick to respond because within an hour or so the account was temporarily shut down, and people were

assuming that it’s to remove that promotional tweet and to check if there are any remaining tweets that were made via iPhone. The Twitter account is already reactivated, though some Twitter users are still replying to the account’s newest tweet, mocking the company for their mistake.

This is not the first time Samsung messed up, as previously the company’s Saudi Twitter account was also found to share a tweet that was sent via iPhone. There were also the times when LG made fun of iPhone’s ‘bendgate’ issue while tweeting from an iPhone, and Huawei was promoted by Gal Gadot on Twitter using an iPhone. Gadot did explained afterwards that it was her publicity team that might’ve been using an iPhone to tweet on her behalf, so this means that Samsung could’ve faced the same situation.

That being said, Samsung should ensure its publicity team or marketing team are more cautious, and maybe just not use iPhones for work to prevent future embarrassment.

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Samsung promoted their device through an iPhone…again.

335

Remember earlier this month when Samsung made a blunder and tweet-promoted the Samsung Galaxy Note 9’s Super AMOLED display using an iPhone? Well it happened again, but this time instead of the Samsung Nigeria’s Twitter account, it’s the Samsung India’s Twitter account.

The mistake was spotted by the same tech reviewer who spotted the previous mistake, Marques Brownlee and the tweet was posted on 12 December. The Samsung account tweeted about the Galaxy A9’s ultra wide camera, including two beautiful pictures but sadly, the bottom right of the post wrote”via Twitter for iPhone”.

As expected, when Samsung came to realisation of their mistake, the tweet was removed immediately but even then, damage has been done with Brownlee screenshooting the tweet and responding to it. This ongoing trend of Samsung promoting their devices using iPhones can be easily justified; it could be the marketing agency that is not directly under Samsung that is tweeting the promotional posts, which is why it’s possible that they’re not using Samsung devices. However, the past mistakes should’ve been a lesson learnt, and Samsung should’ve been more strict and careful when it comes to social media posting, especially when Twitter shows the device you’re tweeting from.

Of course, this is no grave mistake for it’s just another way people can make fun of Samsung and their contradictions. Unlike the recent incident where Samsung used a photographer’s DSLR picture to promote the A8s’ camera capabilities, the tweet is simply a minor matter. It is noteworthy that Samsung has been getting a lot of heat lately, with the photo manipulation incident and also the Supreme incident where the company chose to collaborate with a “legal fake” brand known as Supreme Italia. One thing for sure is Samsung needs to be more cautious and thoughtful when it comes to their decisions, be it posting a tweet or doing a collaboration.

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Samsung provides identification for safe Galaxy Note 7s

364

With some countries getting their replacement Note 7s today, Samsung has decided to publish a guide that would allow anyone to identify whether or not their Note 7 is explosion-free.

The first way to identify the safety of the Note 7 begins with its packaging. From this point forward, safe versions of the Note 7 will come with a square symbol located on the label of the packaging box. The second method is through the battery icon located on the status bar, the lock screen, and the power-off screen. On Note 7s that are deemed safe, the battery icon will be coloured green with a white outline. While this green indicator goes against Google’s Android Compatibility Definition Document, Google has granted an exception for Samsung in order to use the green indicator.

Should neither of these indicators appear on either the packaging or the phone, this is a clear sign that you really should exchange your Note 7 before something bad happens.

Source:
Gizmodo

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Samsung QN800A Neo QLED 8K TV: the ultimate 8K TV that lets you do more

2.8K

Samsung has recently sent us their flagship QN800A Neo QLED 8K TV, which comes in an impressive 85-inch canvas with significant visual improvements over last year’s QLED TV, we had the opportunity to test it out for two weeks and also have it paired up with the Samsung Q700A 3.1.2 channel soundbar, which both create a killer home cinema experience that has spoiled our eyes and ears.

The QN800A Neo QLED 8K TV combines Samsung’s Matrix Technology Pro and Mini LED backlighting that brings better blacks and brightness, as the use of the latter allows more local dimming zones due to its smaller size compared to traditional LED diodes, which the TV has many of them packed densely to provide the most accurate brightness and contrast.

4K content looks crystal clear on the QN800A all thanks to the Neo Quantum Processor 8K, which intelligently upscales the content and naturally sharpens detail such as hair strands and facial features, this is very noticeable when you play 4K content on Netflix.

Apart from visual improvements, the QN800A is an excellent TV for gaming all thanks to 4K 120Hz support and AMD FreeSync Premium Pro, which gamers can experience buttery smooth gameplay and no graphics tearing in high frame rate games, input lag is also eliminated with an exclusive game mode, which also allows you to change to a 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratio for an even more immersive gaming experience.

With Samsung’s exclusive Q-Symphony and SpaceFit sound, the QN800A Neo QLED 8K TV and Q700A soundbar works harmoniously to deliver a complete home cinema experience with an immersive surround sound experience, Q-Symphony plays sound from both the TV and soundbar with no delays to amplify audio, while SpaceFit sound intelligently calibrates sound according to your surroundings such as walls and corners for accurate sound projection.

The Samsung QN800A Neo 8K QLED TV and Q700A sound bar are an excellent combo to have for a great home cinema experience, watch our video as we bring you through the features.

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Samsung quietly launches Galaxy A31 with quad 48MP camera and 5,000mAh battery

472

On the back of the launch of the Samsung Galaxy A41, Galaxy A51 and Galaxy A71; is the all-new
 Galaxy A31
; it looks like a complete set of variants in the series but we doubt Samsung is anywhere near done yet.

The new device succeeds last year’s Galaxy A30 and packs improvements across the board namely in the camera department – you get a quad 48MP setup with an 8MP ultrawide lens, a 5MP depth sensor and a 5MP macro lens. For selfies, you also get a 20MP shooter. Pretty adequate set of cameras we get on this affordable device.

The display here is a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED panel with a waterdrop notch. It pushes a 1080p resolution and comes equipped with an in-screen fingerprint sensor.

Under the hood is an octa-core chipset – most likely a
Mediatek

Helio
 P65; alongside up to 6GB of RAM and 128GB of internal storage, which is expandable via microSD card of up to 512GB.

Another massive selling point is that it’s packed with a massive 5,000mAh battery pack that supports up to 15W of fast charging.

Its local pricing and availability has not been disclosed yet, but judging by the price of the Galaxy M31 of RM1,099 – the A31 should be priced RM200-RM300 less than its superior counterpart.

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Samsung would rather stretch screens than bend them

310

We have always heard about companies taking out screens that can bend but Samsung has taken a step further by showing off stretchable screens. They have just unveiled a 9.1 inch OLED prototype display that can stretch, bend, roll and even dent it up to half an inch deep, while still retaining its original shape. Samsung stated that the screen can be implemented into all types of devices that require a screen including wearables and in-car displays.

They did not stop there, they company also showed off a 1.96 inch 4K LCD with a pixel density of 2,250 pixels per inch which would be ideal for VR eliminating the gap in-between pixels that we see in other VR devices. Samsung also showed a 5.06 inch OLED with stereoscopic 3D that does not require you to wear glasses to see the effect. They stated that by using OLED, it will offer more natural-looking results compared to LCD.

It would seem that Samsung is trying to target three different markets with this unveil but again, we been hearing about bending screens and foldable screens which has still not seen the light of day. Will this just be another hype? Or will they actually release this to the public and be the first to bring this tech to consumers.

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Samsung receives first lawsuit over exploding Note 7

285

It was only a matter of time until Samsung gets sued for their exploding Note 7. Lo and behold, Samsung has received their first lawsuit over the weekend as a Florida man is taking the Korean company to court.

The lawsuit is initiated by Jonathan Strobel on Friday, and is the first case of an United States’ user suing Samsung over the Note 7’s battery defect. According to the lawsuit, Strobel was in a Costco store in Palm Beach Gardens on the 9th of September when his Note 7 exploded. The exploding Note 7 burned through his pants, leaving him with severe burns on his right leg. The lawsuit also states that Strobel was severely burned on his left thumb after he reached over to try to remove the phone from his pants. “He has a deep second-degree burn, roughly the size of the phone, on his right thigh,” says Strobel’s lawyer Keith Pierro. “Unfortunately for my client the recall came too late.”

Strobel is now seeking unspecified damages for medical bills, lost wages, pain and suffering, and other alleged injuries. With Strobel officially bringing a lawsuit to Samsung’s doorstep, you can expect the company to receive more lawsuits over the coming weeks.

Source:
Reuters

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Samsung reconsiders the partnership with fake Supreme after backlash from fans

659

When Samsung launched the A8s in China, the Korean tech giant also announced that they will be collaborating with the brand Supreme. However, the collaboration has caused outrage and dissatisfaction among many Samsung and Supreme NYC lovers.

Now the reason why many are outrageous to hear the news is because Samsung is not collaborating with the original, famous Supreme that everyone knows of, instead the company is actually partnering with Supreme Italia, a “legal fake” in Italy that managed to win a court case against Supreme NYC hence the reason of its current existence.

It could be possible that Samsung collaborated with Supreme Italia instead of Supreme NYC because the original brand have no authorisation to sell and market in China, but Samsung’s decision has resulted in so many negative responses that the company announced that it’s reconsidering the partnership.

Leo Lau, Samsung China’s digital marketing manager initially stood by the partnership but due to the huge amount of criticism and negative feedbacks on Weibo, the company then announced the reconsideration on the business partnership.

It is unsure as to why Samsung thought it was a good idea in the first place to partner with a “legal fake” brand, especially since it’s indirectly meaning that the company is supporting the act of misusing bigger brand names to bring fame to one brand, but hopefully this backlash from the brands’ fans has helped Samsung learn their lesson.

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Samsung reduces prices of Galaxy Note FE, J7+ and J7 Pro

338

2018 seems like a good year to start off, as Samsung has announced price reductions to three smartphones, the Galaxy Note FE is now priced at RM2,199, which is RM400 off its original price, while the mid-range J7+ and J7 Pro are now priced at RM1,299 and RM1,099 respectively, that’s actually great news if you are thinking to purchase a new device for this new year.

For starters, the
Galaxy Note FE
 is the refreshed variant of the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7, while it isn’t as powerful as today’s Note 8 when it comes to raw power, it still has a rather decent hardware package with support for Samsung Pay, the phone is still IP68 water and dust resistant and has built-in fast wireless charging, but more importantly this is already one decent phone with a stylus if you want it for note taking. As for the J7+, it comes with a 13MP RGB + 5MP monochrome dual camera system and a front facing 16MP camera that takes great photos. The J7 Pro comes with 13MP main and front cameras, with large apertures of f/1.7 and f/1.9 respectively.

The price reduction for these three smartphones are available starting today at all Samsung Experience Stores, dealers and official online stores.

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Samsung released 2TB variants of 850 PRO and 850 EVO

357

Samsung

Electronics, one of the market leader in advanced memory technology and an innovator in consumer electronics, today announced a groundbreaking piece of hardware again – 2 TB of solid state drives. Two models will cover with this huge capacity intact – 850 PRO and 850 EVO, both of the models uses Samsung’s 3D Vertical NAND (V-NAND) that used in their retail SSDs.

These drives will retain the same 7-millimeter of thickness, 2.5-inch aluminium
case

as their predecessors did and equipped with
Samsung
’s advanced chip solutions. It includes 128 individual
Samsung

32-layer 128 GB 3D V-NAND flash chips, an upgraded high-performance MHX controller that supports 2TB capacity, and four 20nm-class process technology with 4 GB LPDDR3 DRAM chips. With all these technologies,
Samsung

claims they will have the industry-leading performance and power efficiency and with added capacity, professionals, and consumers can experience a better computing environment especially for viewing or editing 4K video content nowadays.

Samsung

promised the 2TB 850 PRO will sustain for 10 years or 300 terabytes written (TBW), meanwhile for the 2TB 850 EVO is 5 years or 150 terabytes written (TBW) which impressive to the capacity it contains and still capable to reach such high durability.
Samsung

also mentions that they are going to expand the high capacity of 3D V-NAND SSD lineups to include mSATA and M.2 form factors to address the gaming PC, laptop PC and high-performance SSD markets.

The
Samsung

2TB 850 EVO estimated price is at USD 800 (approx. RM 3,050) and the
Samsung

2TB 850 PRO estimated price is at USD 1000 (approx. RM 3,811).

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Samsung Released 950 PRO Consumer M.2 PCIe SSD

366

Samsung Electronics released the Samsung 950 PRO solid state drive (SSD), designed to meet the demands of high-performance consumer and business laptops and PCs. The drive’s M.2 form factor means that users with ultra-slim notebook PCs and workstations can benefit from industry-leading storage endurance, reliability and energy efficiency.

It’s the first consumer-ready Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) M.2 form factor SSD wth vertical NAND (V-NAND) technology; supporting the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) 3.0 interface. With the introduction of NVMe, the first protocol optimized for SSDs, users of the Samsung 950 PRO will benefit from improved performance and power saving which can help increase battery life and potentially reduce operating costs. The compact M.2 2280 form factor ensures compatibility with next-generation desktop and mobile platforms that support the M.2 PCIe slot interface.

Featuring the PCIe Gen.3 x4 interface and supporting the NVMe protocol, the Samsung 950 PRO offers improved random and sequential performance over Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) interface drives utilizing the legacy Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) protocol. Users of applications that benefit from high input/output operations per second (IOPS) will experience up to four times faster performance than with traditional SATA SDDs.

The 950 PRO will be available in 512GB and 256GB storage capacities. The 512GB version delivers sequential read/write speeds of up to 2500 MB/s and 2500 MB/s. Random read performance is up to 300,000 IOPS, with write speeds of up to 110,000 IOPS. It features Samsung’s second generation MLC V-NAND 32-layer 128 Gb die with UBX controller and magician software.

Both capacities come with a 5-year limited warranty up to 200 terabytes written (TBW) for the 256GB and 400TBW for the 512GB. The 950 PRO will be available beginning in October 2015, with a suggested price of USD 199.99 (approx.) for the 256GB capacity and USD 349.99 (approx.) for the 512GB capacity.

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Samsung releases entertaining videos to mock Apple’s products and launch event

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Sammy, Sammy, no one can do better than you on creating videos to mock your competitors, and we think it’s a really good one this time. No offence here, we aren’t biased towards
Samsung
 and love the iPhone 6 as well, however at the end of the day, anyone who knows the tech industry well has realized that Apple has reached its limits in innovation and playing catch ups with other manufacturers.

The series of videos are called “It doesn’t take a genius”, which is set at a Genius Bar with two service engineers wearing a similar uniform like Apple’s staffs, it has six videos mocking at the launch event, the iPhone 6 and Apple Watch. We find it really humorous and totally reveals the truth of how Apple has failed to WOW people again. Find out the videos down below.

Well, the live stream is pretty buggy and slow that day and it’s the first time ever in Apple history that this has happened.

Apple calls the upsized displays of the new
iPhone 6
 revolutionary, Samsung is really laughing hard at this. Remember what Jobs said – nobody wants to buy a phone larger than 4 inches, and there you go, Tim did it.

Alright, the
iPhone 6
 and iPhone 6 Plus have big and beautiful screens, but what’s the point if the operating system doesn’t take advantage of it?

This is slightly more out of the focus, where
Samsung
 pointed out that the
iPhone 6
 lacks the S-Pen.

In this video
Samsung
 mocks the iPhone 6 lacking fast charging capability, but really, I’ve personally used an iPhone before and they charged really fast, let’s test on both devices when we get them here.

Alright, this one is probably the one totally worth mocking – the Apple Watch, it still simply fails to address the current problems of smartwatches and heck, it looks like a 3 year old design.


Samsung releases One Hand Operation + for intuitive one-handed usage of smartphones

386

Six-inch smartphones are the standard nowadays and for good reason too – productivity, higher resolution displays, and more. But with the extra screen real estate comes with a minor sacrifice in ergonomics. You’d be hard-pressed to find such a tall device easily usable with one hand.

To remedy this, Samsung has released a free app called ‘One Hand Operation +’ – this is not to be confused with the one-handed mode that scales down the display to one corner of the screen – nay, this app makes use of the entire display and lets you use gestures to perform actions instead.

Image credit: GSMArena

You can swipe in multiple directions and you can customize what each gesture does, like going to homescreen, go back, take screenshots and more.

Now, being able to use the phone intuitively with one hand without the sacrifice of viewing pleasure is an intriguing selling-point for us.

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Samsung releases software update to fix fingerprint authentication issue

369

Samsung’s recent blunder with its ultrasonic fingerprint sensor has caused some commotion, but the company has come up with a fix with its latest software update.

As reported by Reuters, Samsung apologised for their mistake and has reminded Galaxy phone users to update their software to fix the fingerprint sensor issue. Users will also have to re-register their fingerprints after they’ve updated their devices, and they have to do so without the screen protectors.

Image credit: Samsung

While it’s good news that Samsung has introduced a fix, this also means that all the affected users will have to spend extra cash on getting a new screen protector. In the meantime, there are already several banks that have already excluded the Samsung devices from their apps and fingerprint log-in methods.

So if you’ve got a Samsung Galaxy S10 or the Galaxy Note 10 devices — some say the latter is also affected — then it’s best if you update your phone as soon as possible.

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Samsung releases the Galaxy J7 Prime in Malaysia

325

Samsung’s entry level Galaxy J series has a new member in its ranks, and this one aims to bring wefie-taking to the next level. Ladies and gentlemen, allow us to introduce to you the Galaxy J7 Prime.

The Galaxy J7 Prime runs on an 1.6GHz octa-core processor and 3GB of RAM. To help you with your photo taking, the J7 Prime comes with 32GB of built-in memory which can be expanded upon via a microSD card for a maximum storage capacity of 256GB. The 3,330mAh battery also means that you can take selfies and wefies for an extended period of time without needing to resort to a power bank. Much like the other phones in the J series, the J7 Prme will also come with Ultra Data Saving Mode (UDS), allowing you to ration your data quota if necessary.

For the cameras, Samsung has saw it fit to equip the Galaxy J7 Prime with a 13MP F1.9 rear camera, as well as a 8MP F1.9 front camera for the wefie lovers. The Galaxy J7 Prime retails for RM1,199 and comes in either White/Gold or Black colour options.

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Samsung Releases U32E850R 32-inch Ultra HD Monitor with AMD FreeSync

305

Samsung

is one of the world’s most requesting monitors at the moment, the company didn’t miss out the chance to release a new premium 32-inch Ultra HD monitor with AMD FreeSync support; U32E850R. The monitor features a 32-inch PLS panel, with 4K Ultra HD (3840 x 2160 pixels) native resolution, 60 Hz refresh rate, 350 cd/m2 maximum brightness, 4 ms response time, and dynamic mega-contrast.

The PLS panel will offer 30-bit color (1.07 billion colors). Connectivity includes DisplayPort 1.2a (require for FreeSync to work), mini-DisplayPort, two HDMI and one surprisingly additional connectivity from
Samsung
; USB 3.0 hub.
Samsung

seems that they have finally learned from feedback from its flimsy T-shaped
stand
, and gave this monitor a conventional rectangle-base
stand
that offers swivel, tilt, and height adjustments.

The buttons on the screen appear to be tactile feel rather than the predecessor touch buttons. Overall the screen design looks sleek and minimalist, which will be one of the selling points for
Samsung

to the consumers. However, the
stand

looks slightly small for a big screen like the U32E850R and we hope that the
stand

can withstand a huge screen.

The
Samsung

U32E850R will price at USD 1,199 (approx. RM 4,630) and it’s already available in some retail stores.

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Samsung will remove chargers from smartphone packages starting 2021, says report

678

Another case of monkey
see
, monkey do in the tech industry? After emerging news of Apple supposedly opting to ship new iPhones without a charger, it appears that Samsung too may do the same.

According Korean news portal
ETNews
, Samsung will begin omitting a charging brick from the packaging
of a
 selection of their models starting next year – the report cites cutting costs as the reason for this decision; which is exactly the same reason for Apple doing the same.

The thing is, Samsung will only do this for cheaper models – the ones that don’t require high-power chargers for fast charging. According to the report, Samsung will bank on people already having a good enough adapter in their kit, so giving them a new one is
unnecessary
.

Image credit: PhoneArena

Apple
, on the other hand, don’t have the same lineup of budget phones as Samsung do – meaning their flagship iPhones are the ones to ship without a charger.

If this is true, it’ll be interesting to see how customers will react the decision – could there perhaps be a chance of the company in reducing the prices of their chargers for those who need a new set? We guess we’ll have to wait and see.

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Samsung replies to Apple's Jet Black iPhone with a Pearl Black Galaxy S7

337

Apple has always been at the forefront when it comes to setting new trends, with the ability to shift the perception of consumers in the world of technology. Most recently, the company launched its latest iPhone 7 lineup, controversially removing the 3.5mm headphone jack from the handsets, yet majority of Apple’s diehard fanbase stood by the decision. The annual iPhone refresh also saw a new color option – Jet Black. Seems like Jet Black is a really favorable color as Samsung happens to be planning something similar with its 2016 flagship.

According to Sam Mobile, Samsung will be adding a new paint job for the Galaxy S7 Edge, set to launch on the 9th of December. The new color pretty much resembles the Jet Black color of Apple’s iPhones, and it will be dubbed Pearl Black. The Pearl Black model of the Galaxy S7 Edge is said to come in with 128GB of internal storage. Apart from that, everything else internally remains the same.

The Pearl Black Galaxy S7 Edge will likely be a South Korean exclusive for the near future, since there are no talks of Samsung bringing the newly painted handset outside of its home land. Needless to say, a handful of enthusiasts can’t wait to get their hands on the Pearl Black variant. Having said that, is it too late for Samsung to add another color option to its early 2016 flagship smartphone?

Source:
Sam Mobile

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Samsung reportedly working on ‘Gear Glass’, a competitor to Google Glass

266

After releasing two smartwatches this year, it seems that the giant Korean phone maker has realized the rising trend of smart glasses and is reportedly working on one at this point of time. According to reports, Samsung’s new smart glasses can be referred as ‘Gear Glass’, which joins the Gear wearables and most probably running off the company’s own TIZEN OS, the Gear Glass is expected to be revealed together with the
GALAXY Note 4
 in the upcoming IFA event in Berlin.

We all know that the Gear Glass will do things similarly to the Google Glass and the way
Samsung
 throws in all the gimmicks to a product could change the way a smart glasses work, we can also guess that the Gear Glass would probably work with
SamsungGALAXY
 devices only. Let’s look forward it is whatever it is called.

Image Credit: Product-reviews.net

Source:
Business Korea

Via:
9to5Google


Samsung reveals the Galaxy Tab A8: Bigger screen and better display

647

Yesterday, Samsung announced their newest addition into the A series with the Galaxy Tab A8. This tablet is Samsung’s newest mid-ranger that has an improved screen, better battery, and a faster chip, compared to the previous Tab A7. So let’s see what else this device has in store.

The design looks very similar to its predecessor with a similar back panel that comes in a thin and light form factor measuring 6.9mm thick and weighs 508 grams. This tablet also has three color options – Gray, Silver, and Pink Gold.

This tablet has a 10.5-inch FHD+ TFT LCD Display with an 80 percent screen-to-body ratio, while for the speaker setup, you get 4 speakers with Dolby Atmos support so that you are ensured a great listening experience with this device.

In terms of hardware, the chipset for the Galaxy Tab A8 was not revealed, but it was said that the device will have a 10% increase in CPU and GPU performance compared to the Tab A7. But what we do know is that this tablet will come with three storage variations – 3GB RAM and 32GB internal storage, 4GB RAM and 64GB internal storage, and 4GB RAM and 128GB of internal storage with expandable storage up to 1TB via a microSD card.

As for the cameras, you are getting an 8MP main camera on the back with a round design rather than the squared one on the Tab A7, as well as a 5MP front camera that is housed on the bezel on the display. While for the battery, the Galaxy Tab A8 will have a
7,040mAh battery
 that supports 15W fast charging.

Right now, Samsung Galaxy Tab A8 is set to arrive in Europe later this month and will be released globally sometime in January 2022. In terms of the price, it is expected to retail at €230 (roughly RM1,099), similar to last year’s Galaxy Tab A7.

Source –
Samsung

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Galaxy Tab A Series
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Samsung reveals the new and improved Gear VR

274

The Note 7 isn’t the only thing that Samsung has announced at its Unpacked event as the company has also revealed a redesigned Gear VR.

Co-developed by Oculus, this new Gear VR is an improvement over the original in many ways. The first obvious improvement is in the field of view, as the new Gear VR now comes with an FOV of 101 degrees as opposed to the old headset’s 98 degrees.

A new addition that has been made to the new Gear VR is the USB Type C port, allowing it to support the Note 7 right from the get go. That said, the new Gear VR will still be able to support older micro USB-based Galaxy devices such as the S7 and S7 Edge, so you need not worry about backwards compatibility.

The new Gear VR will also receive a few physical changes. Besides the obvious colour scheme change, the new Gear VR has flattened out the touch-sensitive directional pad on the side of the headset. Also, Samsung has decided to add a dedicated button that brings you back to the Gear VR menu. This button is located right above the touchpad and next to the headset’s “back” button.

While Samsung Malaysia has not announced the price of the new Gear VR, other sources are reporting that the new Gear VR will have the same price point as the original headset. If this is true with Malaysia as well, the new Gear VR will probably have an asking price of around RM460. Like the Note 7, the new Gear VR will be available on the 19th of August.

Source:
The Verge

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Samsung reveals the Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 with an updated heart rate tracker

429

The Samsung Galaxy Watch Active2 is officially announced and this time Samsung’s fitness wearable comes with a bigger screen and intuitive touch bezel.

The Galaxy Watch Active2 is more customisable now, offering choices such as the Bluetooth variant or LTE variant, 44mm or 40mm straps and even aluminium or stainless steel design. In addition, it is now slimmer and users can customise their watch face by either scanning the QR code on the package of their strap and snap a picture of their outfit with the watch to find a matching watch face.

In addition to that, the Galaxy Watch Active2 helps users stay active. It tracks its user’s movements and reminds them whenever they’ve been inactive for a long time. It can also track other exercises including walking, running cycling, rowing and supports GPS and has 5ATM rating so swimming with the watch won’t be a problem.

With an updated heart rate tracker, the Galaxy Watch Active2 is better at tracking stress levels and also sleep stages. It now sports eight photodiodes on its new design that offers more accuracy in tracking your heart rate.

As expected, the watch also functions as a smartwatch that can control your camera, play music, accept and reject calls and more. With LTE connectivity, you can leave your phone when you go for jogs and still listen to music. The Galaxy Watch Active2 also supports wireless charging, just like its predecessor. In addition to its 5ATM water rating, it also has an IP68 dust rating for further protection against damage.

The price of the Galaxy Watch Active2 is still a mystery, but it will be announced later on during the Unpacked event launch that will also reveal the upcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 10 series.

Galaxy Watch Active2
samsung


Samsung rival TSMC to manufacture iPhone 7's A10 chip

515

It looks like Samsung’s semiconductor sector is in trouble. With weak forecasts for the semiconductor this year, Samsung must have been hoping to cling on to Apple’s lifebuoy – the manufacturing of the iPhone 7’s A10 chip. However, a recent report from Kimchi land suggests that Apple has granted Samsung rival TSMC to manufacture its A10 chips for the upcoming iPhone.

A brief history lesson – both Samsung and TSMC have been sharing their load on manufacturing Apple’s iPhone chips. In 2014, TSMC snatched the rights to make the A8 chip for the iPhone 6. Fortunately for Samsung, the company managed to salvage their cut of workload the next year when it gained back the split rights to manufacture the A9 chip for the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus. This year, history looks to repeat itself with TSMC getting the edge yet again.

According to the report, TSMC managed to gain exclusivity because of its 10nm process compared to Samsung’s 14nm process. While this is fresh news to all of us, Samsung’s semiconductor division apparently knew about this change of contract, hence forecasting a weak 2016. This might be why the company has also been vying with Qualcomm to produce the Snapdragon 820. What do you think about this rivalry? Let us know your thoughts!

Source:
ET News

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tsmc


Samsung to reveal rollable and slideable displays in 2021

724

Samsung’s latest conference confirmed that Samsung Display will be expanding their portfolio and develop
rollable
 and slideable displays that will likely be revealed this year.

Others are ready to roll out their rollable phones this year

We’ve already heard of some rollable phones like the
OPPO X 2021
 and the LG Rollable, but Samsung may not necessary bring its rollable/slideable display to its smartphones yet. Samsung could focus on its TVs first to compete with LG’s first rollable TV, the LG Rollable OLED TV R.

Samsung will be selling its foldable panels to others

Reports also suggest that Samsung will be sharing its foldable displays with other competitors in the market. It will be selling other brands its foldable panels which includes its UTG technology, but Samsung will also work on its rollable/slideable displays so it can stay ahead. According to
DSCC
, foldable panels this year are also going to be thinner and Samsung’s UTG technology will be improved.

With other rollable phones launching this year, we can’t help but to think that Samsung will be surprising us with its own rollable phone in 2021 too.

Foldable displays
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Samsung rolls out Android Oreo beta for selected Galaxy S8 users

297

As Android Oreo increases in popularity from its recent official release, smartphone companies are beginning to tease their own version of software based on the latest Android version. Some companies have already kicked off their respective Oreo beta programs, and Samsung is the latest in line to do so.

Samsung has announced its Samsung Experience 9.0 beta program today for Galaxy S8 and S8+ users. Just for old time’s sake, Samsung Experience is previously known as TouchWiz, infamously known for bloatware and constant lag overtime. Samsung has upped its game in recent years, now running a much more lightweight software based on Android. The Galaxy Note 8 runs on Samsung Experience 8.5, hence the 9.0 version will be operating on top of Android Oreo.

Samsung’s next flagship smartphone will be running on Android Oreo out of the box as promised by the company. The Samsung Experience 9.0 beta program will be open to Galaxy S8 and S8+ users in the US, UK and South Korea. Samsung did not mention any future availability of the beta software in other regions.

By running Samsung’s beta Oreo software, you will experience the new features that come with Android Oreo. Of course, you will be exposed to bugs on the way, in which you can contribute by providing feedback through the beta program. This beta program also means that it won’t be long before Samsung releases the official Android Oreo software for the Galaxy S8 series.

android oreo
beta
galaxy note 8
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Samsung rolls out Gear VR specific browser.

288

If you’re one of the few people in Malaysia who owns a Samsung Gear VR to go with your Galaxy Smartphone, you might be interested to know that there is a web browser that is tailor made just for your VR headset.

Dubbed the Internet for Gear VR, this browser comes with features that allows its users to enjoy the internet in a more immersive way. Key amongst those feature is Gaze Mode, which allows users to select menus by looking at them. No finger movement is required for this mode. For text input, Internet for Gear VR comes with its own voice recognition technology as well as an on-screen keyboard.

As a browser, Internet for Gear VR supports 360-degree and 3D video streaming. It is also capable of supporting HTML5 media playback.

For those interested, the app can now be downloaded through the Oculus Store. Do be warned though that the app is currently in its Beta Phase, and as such, may have a couple of bugs and glitches in it.

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Samsung rumored to develop chips for Tesla self-driving cars

301

Rumor has been circulating that Samsung has been quietly hiring experienced self-driving car engineers and that they might announce a new autonomous vehicle research division.

Even though Samsung is denying the rumor, South Korean newspaper known as “The Korea Herald” has mentioned that an anonymous source from within the industry has told them that Samsung may announce the new division in early 2019.

The inside source has also reported that Samsung may be producing chips for the Tesla Model 3 next year on March. According to International Business Times reports, “It’s possible that Samsung is entering the self-driving car space to compete with its longstanding rival, LG Electronics, which recently announced an autonomous driving task force”.

As for now, there isn’t much information that could be taken from the rumors but there’s only inside source, however if this report is accurate, Samsung is expected to kick things off in 2019 and will begin mass production of these chips for use in Tesla’s Model 3.

samsung
tesla


Samsung SDI to stop supplying batteries for Galaxy Note 7

313

Samsung appears to be neck deep in waters right now, as the company has issued a global recall for its Galaxy Note 7 units after numerous reports worldwide of the latest flagship catching fire or exploding. What seemed like just an ordinary incident in China has escalated so quickly that the Korean manufacturer had to recall all Note 7’s. As many as 2.5 million units of the phablet have been recalled, and according to Korea Herald, the company will stop using Samsung SDI batteries for the Galaxy Note 7.

The significance about this decision is the fact that 70 percent of the Galaxy Note 7’s batteries are supplied by Samsung SDI. The remaining 30 percent are supplied by ATL, a Chinese battery maker. When Samsung introduced non-removable batteries with the Galaxy S6 series last year, Samsung SDI didn’t really manage to supply the batteries though it has began developing them since 2014. As a result, Samsung might be looking to purchase more batteries from ATL, or even rope in LG Chem, a familiar name in supplying Samsung’s smartphone batteries.

Korean Investment & Securities’ analyst Lee Seung-hyuck has claimed that Samsung SDI will most likely bear the expense of the battery parts from this recall. The battery maker is also expected to make a loss of 18 billion won (RM 65 million) in Q3 including the cost of the recall. As for Samsung Electronics, German bank Deutsche has predicted that the company will spend up to 1.5 trillion won (RM 5.5 billion) for the recall of 2.5 million units.

It might look like Samsung has faltered in its attempt to rival Apple when the latter launches its iPhone 7 series later this week. How do you think the Galaxy Note 7 will fare when the iPhone 7 lineup releases? Let us know your thoughts at the comments section below!

Source:
Korea Herald

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Samsung has a second dual camera smartphone in tow

441

The Galaxy Note 8 is Samsung’s first ever smartphone which sports a dual camera setup. Samsung’s latest phablet has ticked every box when it comes to an ideal flagship, and the dual cameras only add on to what is already an excellent device. We have news that there will be another Samsung handset that will feature a dual camera setup as well, joining the likes of the company’s premium flagship.

Samsung’s mid range collection of smartphones will be welcoming this new dual camera module that is still brand new for the South Korean manufacturer. A series of images have leaked on the the world wide web of what might be the Galaxy J7 Plus. While the highlight will definitely be in the optics department, the rest of the rumored specs shouldn’t be overlooked as well.

The Galaxy J7 Plus won’t be featuring an Infinity Display like Samsung’s flagships, but it will have a 1080p AMOLED screen measuring at 5.5-inches. Underneath the hood, the Galaxy J7 Plus is tipped to be powered by a 2.4 GHz processor with 4GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable storage. The handset will have a 13MP + 5MP dual rear camera setup which differs from the 12MP + 12MP dual cam system on the Note 8. But the former will be able to capture images with blurred background and bokeh effects as well.

The Galaxy J7 Plus will likely see an official unveiling very soon. If you do not have the means to get a Galaxy Note 8, the J7 Plus can be a viable option as Samsung carries on its smartphone camera excellence to its mid range devices.

dual camera
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Samsung sees 60 percent decline in smartphone sales in China

320

Samsung has been thriving ever so strongly worldwide in terms of smartphone sales, but the company seems to be taking the plunge in certain regions, most notably China. With the amount of Chinese smartphone manufacturers available, it is certainly no surprise the Samsung is becoming less popular in mainland China.

The Korea Herald reports that Samsung has been losing out to local favorites such as Huawei, Oppo and Vivo. The South Korean manufacturer only managed 3.5 million smartphone shipments in Q1 2017, a whopping 60 percent decline from the same time last year. Oppo, Vivo and Huawei however secured healthy growth with 81 percent, 60 percent and 25 percent increase in sales respectively. Huawei clinched first place in Q1 with a 19.7 percent market share in China.

An undeniable factor that contributes to Samsung’s lesser presence in China is the price points of its handsets. With flagship smartphones by Huawei, Xiaomi and OnePlus costing roughly half of Samsung’s, Chinese consumers are more likely to opt for local smartphone brands instead. In order for Samsung to revive its presence in China, the company definitely has to revamp the prices of its handsets being sold. What do you think?

Source:
The Korea Herald

galaxy s8
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xiaomi


Samsung sells at least 10,000 units of the Note 8 everyday

302

Most of Samsung’s Galaxy flagship smartphones have never failed to impress when they are launched. The phones further impress when it comes to their sales as well, smashing the company’s own records and pushing way past targets set for each ones. The same can be said for the long awaited Galaxy Note 8 phablet, which happens to be the first official Note smartphone by Samsung in two years discounting the recalled Galaxy Note 7.

According to South Korean local news outlet Yonhap News Agency, at least 10,000 units of the Galaxy Note 8 have been sold daily so far in October. If that’s impressive, the phablet performed even better during the last week of September when 20,000 to 30,000 units of the phone were sold each day. Do bear in mind that these figures are only from the South Korean market, which translates to a near quarter of a million units sold in the last week of September.

The record figure however isn’t very surprising as Samsung managed to rake in over 850,000 pre-orders in South Korea alone for the Galaxy Note 8. The latest flagship by the company is its first ever with a dual rear camera, along with an attractive bezel-less display design plus the equipped S-Pen. It looks like Samsung is still going strong despite Apple’s launch the iPhone 8 series and the iPhone X.

flagship
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Samsung set to reveal the Galaxy C series next week

328

A couple of weeks back, we’ve gotten a few rumors of an alleged new alphabet to Samsung’s Galaxy lineup. The Galaxy C series have been in the rumor mill for a while now and looks like Samsung is gearing up for their release in Beijing next week.

The launch, which is exactly a week for now, is slated to be of the Galaxy C5 and C7, both of which had leaks which have headed our way and captured our attention. Both handsets are said to carry a budget price tag with pretty impressive mid-range specs. Both the C5 and C7 are rumored to sport 1080p displays of 5.2 inches and 5.7 inches respectively. The phones are also reported to feature metal unibodies which will largely remind you of the HTC One series.

On top of that, we’re expecting to see a Snapdragon 617 underneath the hood of both devices, along with a more than sufficient 4GB of RAM for multi-tasking goodness. Both the Galaxy C5 and C7 are said to pack a camera pair of 16MP and 8MP, which shouldn’t disappoint, given the reputation of Samsung Galaxy cameras. Let’s just wait for the event next Thursday, shall we?

Source:
SamMobile

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Samsung silently launched Galaxy C5 Pro in China

321

Just recently, Samsung brought the China-exclusive Galaxy C9 Pro to our local shores. There’s now a lower end sibling of the C9 Pro called the Galaxy C5 Pro. Don’t let “lower end” fool you though, this newly launched smartphone packs some good stuff as well.

The Galaxy C5 Pro isn’t as large as the C9 Pro, as it is non-phablet sized. Sporting a significantly smaller display than the latter, the screen of the former measures at 5.2-inches. It retains the same Full HD 1080p display. Underneath the hood lies a mid range Snapdragon 626 chipset, accompanied by 4GB of RAM. It comes with 64GB of internal storage, along with a micro SD card that supports up to 256GB.

The handset likely features the same cameras as the higher end Galaxy C9 Pro – a 16MP sensor with f/1.9 aperture both on the rear and front of the device. The Galaxy C5 however, packs a rather small battery with a capacity of 2,600mAh, which sounds barely sufficient considering the processing power on its shoulders.

Priced at 2,499 CNY (RM1,611.67), it is definitely value for money, at least for a Samsung Galaxy device. The larger Galaxy C9 Pro costs a third more than the C5 Pro for comparison. Samsung China has already started receiving pre-orders for the Galaxy C5 Pro.

Source:
Samsung

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Samsung silently launches Galaxy J7 Nxt

397

The spotlight might be on Samsung’s more high end smartphones, but the South Korean smartphone maker has been known to silently unveil its other mid range and entry level devices, mostly to Asian regions again. This time the company has launched an entry level handset in India, known as the Galaxy J7 Nxt.

There isn’t much to scream about when you look at the Galaxy J7 Nxt. For starters, Samsung went with a patterned plastic back design for the phone, along with a said “unified color scheme” of gold and black. The 5.5-inch screen features Samsung’s own Super AMOLED technology, but is at a sub par 720p resolution. Underneath the hood is an unknown octa core processor clocked at 1.6 GHz code named “Joshua”. The 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage is of a standard affair when it comes to entry level devices.

The rear camera, although at a typical 13 megapixels, comes with a more impressive aperture than usual at F/1.9, which helps under low lighting conditions. The front facing selfie camera is of 5 megapixels. The Galaxy J7 Nxt packs a 3,000mAh battery, which should be enough to fuel the 720p display and the rest of its processing power.

The Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt is currently available for sale exclusively in India for the time being for a price of Rs. 11,490 (RM763.13). Do you think there are better entry level handsets out there with better value?

entry level
galaxy j7 nxt
india
samsung


Samsung silently releases 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab A (2016) with S Pen

316

In the midst of its Galaxy Note 7 woes, Samsung has nowhere to look but only forward, and with that, the company has quietly released a new Galaxy Tab A (2016) with an S Pen. While it actually isn’t as new, the addition of the S Pen makes the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab A a somewhat new device by Samsung.

A Galaxy Tab A (2016) was launched earlier this year, only without the S Pen, so do take this “new” tablet as a refresher’s course, since there’s almost no difference at all compared to the “old” one. First off, the Galaxy Tab A sports a 10.1-inch display with a 16:9 aspect ratio and a 1920×1200 resolution. Underneath the hood is Samsung’s homegrown octa-core Exynos 7870 chip clocked at 1.6GHz, coupled with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal storage, expandable up to 256GB via the provided micro SD slot.

The tablet features an 8MP rear camera if you intend to take photos when you happen to be in a pinch, alongside a 2MP front facing camera, sufficient for video calling purposes. Powering the whole package is a 7,300mAh battery, which Samsung claims to provide up to 14 hours of internet usage. The Galaxy Tab A also comes equipped with 4G LTE support in the absence of WiFi. The extra S Pen comes a couple of new software features similar Samsung’s troubled Galaxy Note 7 phablet. One thing to note is that the tablet weighs a little more than half a kilo, so carrying this 10.1-incher around can prove to be a load for some.

The Galaxy Tab A (2016) with S Pen fetches a price tag of 489,000 won (RM1,796.69) and will most probably remain as a South Korean exclusive unless Samsung decides otherwise. What do you think?

Source:
Samsung

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Samsung silently releases Chromebook Pro with PEN

411

Samsung’s latest Chromebook has a new stylus along with it, but it appears to not be named the S-Pen. Instead, the company has named the stylus “PEN”. The 12-inch Chromebook Pro has been silently listed on the manufacturer’s Korean website, without a proper launch. Let’s check out what Samsung has to offer with its latest Chrome OS device.

For starters, the Samsung Chromebook Pro features a 12.3-inch touchscreen display with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2400 x 1600 pixels. The transformer-style Chromebook has a 360-degree hinge, plus a dedicated slot for the newly named “PEN” stylus. Weighing at just over a kilo (1.08 kg), the Chromebook Pro comes with a thickness of 13.9 mm. Underneath the hood, the Chromebook Pro sports a hexa core processor clocked at 2.0 GHz. Along with that are 4GB of RAM and 32GB of storage.

The I/O of the Samsung Chromebook Pro consists of two USB Type-C ports, an SD card slot plus a headphone jack. The company has claimed on its Korean website that the Chromebook Pro is able to last up to 10 hours on a single charge, which is fairly decent. It runs Chrome OS onboard, but with the Play Store now available on Google’s OS, the Chromebook Pro, along with other similar devices can now support Android apps on top of the native Chrome apps.
The Samsung Chromebook Pro comes with a price tag of $499 (RM2,098.79) and is expected to be released in other regional markets as well. Let us know your thoughts at the comments section below!

Source:
Sam Mobile

chrome
chromebook
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os
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stylus


Samsung Smart Monitor M8 goes on sale for RM3488

1.7K

After announcing a registration of interest event last week, Samsung has officially unveiled the Smart Monitor M8 in Malaysia for a rather steep price tag of RM3,488, but before you start ranting, Samsung is offering customers free gifts of up to RM947 when you pre-order the monitor, the gifts include a Smart Keyboard Trio 500, Bluetooth Mouse Slim and Samsung Buds Live, which are decent additions to get you kick started with the Smart Monitor M8.

Sporting a 32-inch VA panel with a 3840×2160 resolution, the Samsung Smart Monitor M8 is an ultra sleek monitor that comes preloaded with Tizen OS, the same operating system that powers up the company’s TV line ups, so you get access to streaming apps such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, and expand its features just like its Smart TVs.

Compared to the Smart Monitor M7, which is also available in a 32-inch model, the Smart Monitor M8 features a brighter display panel that now goes all the way up to 400 nits, which is the reason that it is now HDR10+ certified, the speaker system has also been updated to a 2.2-channel speaker system, while it supports Samsung’s Adaptive Sound+ that automatically adjusts sound based on the type of content and noise levels within a user’s environment.

The biggest addition to the Smart Monitor M8 is a SlimFit camera that attaches magnetically to the back of the monitor where you can use it not only for your usual conference calls, but also natively supports Google Duo that can be accessed within the monitor’s operating system. Without a PC, the Smart Monitor M8 can still be your productivity hub as it supports Samsung DeX and Microsoft 365, which all you need is to connect a Bluetooth keyboard and mouse to get started.

Samsung also wants the Smart Monitor M8 to be your smart home hub, as the monitor can control SmartThings enabled home appliances, while it also supports both Bixby and Amazon Alexa voice assistants, AirPlay 2 mirroring, USB-C charging up to 65W, this is quite a lot of things packed into this sleek 32-inch panel.

Preorder the Samsung Smart Monitor M8 and check out other models
here
.

samsung
Smart Monitor
smart monitor m8


Samsung Smart Monitor: Pre-order now to get up to RM400 off

870

Samsung’s Smart Monitor is finally available in Malaysia; all three models run on Tizen OS and don’t need to be connected to a PC.

These smart monitors can function independently

According to Samsung, these are the “world’s first do-it-all screen” in which users can watch Netflix, YouTube and other streaming services via Smart Hub. Not only do they come with built-in WiFi, they also have Remote Access which allows users to connect to another PC in the house/office wirelessly.

In addition to that, the monitors can also run Microsoft Office 365 apps on their own. The M5 Smart Monitor pushes 1080p resolution while the M7 supports 4K content — both come with a 60Hz panel.

Mirror your smartphones and game on a bigger screen

These monitors can also be used with smartphones via Samsung DeX, App Casting or even AirPlay 2. You can either control the monitors using a remote control, Bixby or the SmartThings app.

Up to 20% off if you pre-order now

Originally priced at RM1,999,
Samsung
 is now offering a 20% discount when customers pre-order the
M7 Smart Monitor
 — this means that it’ll be priced at RM1,599 instead. On the other hand, the
M5 Smart Monitor
 will get a 15% pre-order discount. The 27-inch variant will cost RM899 whereas the 32-inch model is priced at RM1,099.

M5 Smart Monitor
M7 Smart Monitor
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Smart Monitor


Samsung smartphones at risk of hacks via humble calculator app – possible threat includes screen recording for one hour

361

Keep your phones close to you folks – researchers gave discovered a flaw in Samsung smartphones that allow attackers physical access to your phone and capture network traffic.

Image credit: Elliot Alderson

A Twitter user shared a thread on the site detailing how one can go about exploiting the flaw – and surprisingly, the line of steps to do it starts from the humble calculator app.

By entering a code in the calculator app, the hacker can access your device in DRParser mode and from there, they’ll be able to choose from several developer-level options like delete dumpstate, run dumpstate, media db dump, and the option in focus here is ‘tcpdump’.

Image credit: Elliot Alderson

According to the Twitter user, tcpdump is a command-line packet analyser which can be used to capture network traffic, and even scarier record the victim’s screen for one hour.

Image credit: Elliot Alderson

With this, the hacker will know the websites you visit most frequently, and with the screen capture, they could steal personal information while you’re using the phone.

So to avoid this, be sure to update your security pins and to keep your device close to you.

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Samsung stops Gear VR from working on Galaxy Note 7

310

It’s bad news after bad news, after a wild Samsung rollercoaster ride, the Korean manufacturer has officially announced the permanent stop in production for its flagship phablet, the Galaxy Note 7. After what seemed to be numerous explosions and fires of the device, Samsung has issued a global recall for the Note 7, trying to pick up the pieces. But things took a turn for the worse as reports of replacement Note 7’s started fuming in smoke again, forcing Samsung to close this disastrous chapter in smartphone history.

Oculus, the company responsible for Samsung’s Gear VR has stopped its support for the Galaxy Note 7. On top of that, the Gear VR will not be compatible with the phablet till further notice, for safety reasons. According to Android Central, Oculus has reportedly rolled out a forced update to its mobile app on the Note 7, pushing out a message, saying:

“
Customer safety is Oculus’ top priority. Oculus is removing support for all Note7 devices on the Oculus platform. Until further notice, Note7 devices will not be compatible with the Gear VR. For more information regarding the Note7, please contact Samsung directly.”

This is definitely a good move by Oculus and Samsung, badly burnt or injured faces is the last thing that both companies want, though both companies should have taken a similar step when the Note 7 units were recalled. Having said that, it’s better late than never, and the decision to stop support of the Gear VR for the Galaxy Note 7 is definitely for the better. What do you think?

Source:
Android Central

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Samsung hints stylus support in more Galaxy phones next year

359

TM Roh, the President and Head of Mobile Communications Business of Samsung Electronics has
confirmed
 that more Galaxy phones will be getting stylus support, and we believe that’ll start with the Galaxy S21 series.

Not all Galaxy S21 models will get stylus support

Image credit: Voice x OnLeaks

The Samsung Galaxy S21 series has been rumoured to come with the S Pen since a month ago. This is also related to the recent news that there
may not be a new Galaxy Note series next year.
 With the Samsung Galaxy Note series gone, Samsung will need to make its Galaxy S series more interesting and appealing; there’s no better way than to include the Galaxy Note’s unique feature — the S Pen.

The Z Fold 3 may also come with a stylus

Samsung flagships to expect this year:

S21 FE
 S21
 S21+
 S21 Ultra
 Z Fold 3
 Z Flip 3
 Z Fold FE

— Max Weinbach (@MaxWinebach)
November 15, 2020

That being said, there’s a possibility that not all the Galaxy S21 phones will feature the S Pen. We’re assuming the Z Fold 3 will be one of the three phones to get the S Pen, so the remaining two may be the Galaxy S21 Ultra and Galaxy S21+. Apart from that, Roh also says to “be on the lookout for super-intelligent, pro-grade camera and video capabilities in 2021.”

Samsung customers can expect more upgrades in next year’s phones such as better performance optimisation, longer battery life and more AI capabilities. Samsung is also developing technologies like UWB which supposedly can open your car doors and locate different items including your house pet, but we still don’t know if these technologies will be integrated into the flagship Galaxy S21 series.

galaxy s21
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Samsung successfully appeals Apple's patent verdict

310

Remember how
Apple and Samsung got tied up in a patent battle
 that ended with Apple winning? Well, Samsung did went on to appeal the decision and it worked out in their favour as the appeal judges ruled that out of the three patents that Apple claimed Samsung has violated, one of them did not infringe of any Apple patent and the other two were invalid.

In an
opinion
 published over the weekend, the appeals judges listed out the reasons why Apple’s claims of patent violation were invalid. Firstly, the judges claim that Samsung did not infringe on patent ‘647, a patent that describes how to turn phone numbers and other software “structures” into links. According to the judges, Apple “has failed to prove, as a matter of law, that the accused Samsung products use as ‘analyzer server’ as we have previously construted that term”.

Patent ‘721, also known as the ‘Slide-to-unlock’ patent, was deemed invalid by the judges because of two pieces of prior art. The first piece was the
Neonode N1m
, a Microsoft-powered touchscreen phone that instructed users to “right sweep to unlock” the phone. The other piece was a paper and accompanying video presented at a 1992 “computer-human-interactivity conference”. This paper, presented by a research scientist named Catherine Plaisant, described a variety of on/off switches that could be used in a touchscreen environment. The controls include a ‘slider toggle’ that could be moved with a finger.

The last patent involved revolves around Apple’s “autocorrect” feature, which the judges also found invalid in light of prior art. The judges found that Apple’s ‘autocorrect’ feature has been disclosed in an earler patent numbered 7,880,730.

Samsung’s successful appeal means that the company does not need to pay Apple USD 120 million that was awarded by a jury in 2014. It is also expected to lift a
court injunction
 that would result in certain Samsung smartphones being sold in the USA. “We are delighted with the resounding victory from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which found that two of Apple’s patentes should never have been issued. Today’s decision is a win for consumer choice and puts competition back where it belongs – in the marketplace, not in the courtroom,” says a Samsung spokesperson.

Source:
Ars Technica

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Samsung sues Huawei over patents

287

Last month, Huawei filed a lawsuit against Samsung, alleging that the Korean company has infringed on some of its 4G-related patents. In retaliation, Samsung has fired back with a lawsuit of its own, claiming Huawei has infringed on six patents owned by Samsung.

This lawsuit was filed through multiple courts in China. An intellectual property court in Beijing has stated on its Weixin account that Samsung is suing Huawei and a department store in Beijing and has claimed 161 million yuan in damages. Apart from that, Samsung has asked that both Huawei and said department store to stop production and sales of products that infringes on its patents. These products include the Mate 8 and the Honor line of smartphones.

A spokeswoman for Samsung has since confirmed the filing of the lawsuit, but did not clarify as to what these patents are, or which Chinese courts will be involved with this lawsuit.. “Despite our best efforts to resolve this matter amicably, it has regrettably become necessary to take legal action in order to defend our intellectual property,” says a statement issued by Samsung to Reuters.

Source:
Reuters

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