Samsung invested nearly $14 billion in R&D last year
An audit report of Samsung’s accounts conducted on March 8th has revealed that the technology giant spent a colossal $13.8 billion (15.3trillion won) on research and development in 2014. That’s a little more than the amount estimated at the end of last year and a new record for the company.
This total accounts for 7.4 percent of Samsung’s sales income and the budget saw an increase of 3.7 percent compared with 2013 figures. Importantly, Samsung’s R&D budget has increased despite the fact that 2014 saw poor smartphone sales and lower revenue than in previous years.
Instead, Samsung has seen it fit to cut back on marketing and sales promotions, dropping the two by 9.4 percent and 3.2 percent respectively, when compared with 2013. Samsung seems to have straightened out its priorities in order to try and turn around its fortunes. It is better to build superior devices rather than try to market mediocre ones.
Of course, being the broad consumer electronic company that it is, Samsung hasn’t spent the majority of this money on its latest Galaxy S6 smartphones. Even so, based on our own hands-on time, it’s clear that this additional expenditure has paid off with the latest entries in the Galaxy S range. All of that impressive technology can’t be cheap.
With one of the largest R&D budgets in the world at its disposal, 2015 will hopefully continue to be an exciting year for Samsung products.
Griffin Announces Charging ‘WatchStand’ for Apple Watch [iOS Blog]
Griffin yesterday announced the WatchStand, which the company calls the first entry into its “new line of products for Apple Watch.”
The stand is set to be a nightly solution for more easily charging the Apple Watch. Like other Griffin products, the stand itself doesn’t include its own charging cable, but users will need to snake in their own MagSafe charger through the stand during the initial set-up of the device.
“The introduction of the Apple Watch ushers in what is bound to be the next generation of wearable technology,” said Mark Rowan, President of Griffin Technology. “Griffin has long been at the forefront of developing solutions for Apple’s newest devices and we’re continuing that legacy with our WatchStand charging dock for Apple Watch.”
Griffin notes that the stand is compatible with all versions of the Apple Watch and provides an “easy viewing angle” when charging. The pedestal will also accommodate both a vertical and horizontal orientation, allowing personal preference to each user laying their Watch on the stand to charge.
Although there is no in-house storage for an iPhone cable, the WatchStand does provide a small dock underneath the Watch pedestal to store a user’s iPhone, providing a neat and organized solution to charging and displaying both devices.
Unfortunately, the Griffin WatchStand won’t be available on the Apple Watch’s April 24 launch date, but has been given a more general “Summer 2015″ release window. The company did note, however, that the stand will retail for $29.99 when it launches.
Samsung Norway halts buggy Lollipop update for Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 handsets
When you have an Android smartphone, receiving a notification saying that there is an OS update available is a great feeling, even more so when it means your handset will soon be running Android 5.0 Lollipop. That feeling quickly turns sour though when the much-anticipated update ends up breaking things, as Galaxy S4 and S5 owners have experienced in Norway to such an extent that the Norwegian arm of Samsung has decided to halt the Lollipop rollout. Samsung Norway halts buggy Lollipop update for Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5
Some of the bugs include the com.android.phone process freezing at times, the Contacts app giving errors and poor battery life. In response, Samsung Norway have admitted on its Facebook page that the complaints have been taken into consideration and that a new update with the requisite bug fixes is being worked on full-time. You can see the full response below. I own a Galaxy S5 that is running the UK version of the Lollipop update, and ca confirm the Contacts app error is not limited to the Norwegian firmware. If you have a Galaxy S4 or S5 running the Android 5.0 Lollipop firmware, have you noticed any quirks or bugs? Let us know in the comments below or at our forum.
Source: Samsung Facebook
Via: Sammobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung Norway halts buggy Lollipop update for Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S5 handsets
Nokia Lumia 1520 screen protectors on sale today for $8.95!
These bad boys are not just your average protectors; they’re made from the same material used to shield the front of vehicles from abrasive elements and provide unmatched scratch protection. Ultra thin and optically clear, the UltraTough ScreenGuardz are virtually indestructible. Includes 2 per package.
DiscStorm is bringing retro-styled arena combat to the Mac in summer 2015
DiscStorm is a new arena combat game coming to Mac in 2015. Featuring an 8-bit art style, a chiptune soundtrack, and fast-paced combat, in DiscStorm you’ll fight your opponents in challenging solo and multiplayer matches.
Combat in DiscStorm centers around hurling discs at your opponents. Discs will ricochet off of the environment, something you’ll need to watch out for and use to your advantage in order to take down your enemies.
DiscStorm features a number of single and multiplayer game modes in different arenas. From developer XMPT Games:
Choose from classic first-to-ten brawls, tactical games of survival and the dreaded one-hit-kill “Death Disc” mode! Each arena brings its own unique play-style and enemies. Whether it be the laser-shooting Stone Golem in the jungle temple or the lava-spewing Fire Elemental of the volcano lair, exciting new challenges await you at every turn!
DiscStorm arrives this summer for Mac, PC, and Linux through Steam.
Apple labored over the perfect interface for its Watch Activity app
Apple’s Watch designers did a lot of reps on the Workout and Activity apps before arriving at the final design, according to an internal memo dug up by 9to5 Mac. The company’s in-house fitness guru Jay Blahnik detailed the design process of the Watch’s key apps, saying “we kept asking ourselves, what could we do to measure all-day activity that would be more useful than traditional all-day activity trackers?” To arrive at the answer, the company decided to build both apps in-house, in order to “build our own knowledge base from the ground up” rather than using off-the-shelf software.
He went on to say that while building the Workout app was hard enough, “we wanted to build something iconic” for Activity. They built that app around the guiding philosophy of “sit less, move more and get some exercise,” but tried hundreds of interface designs to get that across. “The first time we saw the current Activity Rings design that ended up being the final design in the app, we knew that was it. Simple, elegant, unique, easy to view, visually motivating and fun.” He added that he hopes that seeing how lazy or active you’ve been at a glance will “motivate (you) to do more.” We’d hope that the $349 minimum entry ticket would be motivation enough.
Source: 9 to 5 Mac
Asus to release a xenon flash dongle for the Zenfone 2
Alongside the launch of its latest Zenfone 2 smartphone in Taiwan, Asus also announced a new xenon flash dongle. The accessory is designed to dramatically increase the brightness of the camera flash compared with the standard dual-LED flash setup.
The xenon flash dongle connects up to the handset via a USB cable and then sticks to the back of your phone. It then syncs up with the camera app for a “400 times” stronger flash when taking a picture in low light conditions. Unfortunately, we don’t know if the dongle works exclusively with Asus smartphones or if it can be used with all Android devices.
Asus also announced a similar, smaller circular “LolliFlash” accessory, which is a dual-tone LED torch designed to add a little color to your pictures. It has its own battery and doesn’t communicate with the host device like the xenon flash dongle does, but can be secured into the headphone jack of any smartphone for stability when taking pictures. The LolliFlash comes with a set of color filters, either red, yellow or blue, which double up as protective covers.
Asus has not announced the prices or release details for either of the two camera accessories yet.
Apple buys itself some time with £59 Apple TV price cut
How long can the current Apple TV survive? The sleek streaming box has stayed the same, more or less, for just over three years now. Sure, there’s been a steady stream of new apps and software features, but the components and basic experience have barely changed. Meanwhile, we’ve seen Roku, Amazon, Google and others bombard the market with rival hardware that offer new, modern takes on navigation and discovery. We’re still waiting on a major Apple TV refresh, but in the meantime the company has dropped the price of its set-top box yet again; now, you can pick one up for £59 rather than £79 in the UK.
It’s hard not to see this latest discount as a stop-gap measure. Price drops are always welcome, of course, but after three years even the most devout Apple fans will be hoping for an upgrade. Even so, the Apple TV is still a competitive bit of kit. If you compare it side-by-side with other sub-£100 set-top boxes, the list of features that it’s missing out on is still relatively small. Most of the major streaming services are there (Amazon’s Prime Instant Video is a notable exception) and AirPlay streaming is still invaluable for Mac, iOS and even Android users, if you’re willing to download a third-party app like AllCast.
At £59, it’s also a tad cheaper now than most of its biggest rivals. It’s an unusual tactic for Apple, which normally prides itself on offering a best-in-class experience with a luxurious price-tag to match. Settling for second-best and undercutting the competition just isn’t its style. Nevertheless, it’s a move that could shift a few more Apple TVs off store shelves. At least until the company launches its long-rumoured Apple TV successor, which some suspect is now cancelled or stuck in development limbo due to uncooperative TV providers. Alas, the wait for truly à la carte TV channels and programming continues…
Filed under: Home Entertainment, Apple
The Apple Watch Battery Will Be Replaceable [iOS Blog]
New details are still emerging about the Apple Watch following yesterday’s big “Spring Forward” event in San Francisco, with a new report pointing to a completely replaceable battery for Apple’s new wearable.
Following the event yesterday, an Apple spokesperson disclosed to TechCrunch that the Apple Watch “battery is replaceable.” The big missing piece of information of course relating to how much the process will cost, if it will be done in both Apple’s retail stores and online, and how long it will take.
There’s still well over a month to the Watch’s launch, so no doubt this will be another piece of information Apple fills out as the April 24 release date gets closer.
Well, when it comes to the battery at least, owners of Apple Watch will be able to extend its lifespan. An Apple spokesman confirmed to TechCrunch the “battery is replaceable”. Albeit, it’s not clear how much it will cost to send in your wearable to Apple to get it returned with a new cell in place.
The other potential obsolescence issue relates to the processor. It’s not clear whether Apple will offer any kind of CPU and/or RAM upgrade to existing owners. At the time of writing Apple had not responded to our request for clarification.
There had been much talk over the Watch’s battery life leading up to the event, with Apple yesterday confirming all-day battery life with mixed usage for the device. This boils down, according to the company, to 90 time checks, 90 notifications, 45 minutes of app use, and a 30-minute workout with music playback via Bluetooth over the course of 18 hours.
As TechCrunch points out, given the Apple Watch Sport’s target audience, the battery itself may face the most intense usage compared to the other models, which means its lower entry point makes more sense for yearly, or bi-yearly, upgrades.
A large amount of information came out of the Apple event yesterday, including detailed prices of the numerous versions of the Apple Watch, specific information on its battery life, and the pricing tiers of the various bands. The Watch will be available for pre-order April 10 and launch officially in the United States, Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan and United Kingdom on April 24.
Non-final press render of the LG G4 appears on Twitter
Now that Samsung and HTC have announced their latest flagships at MWC 2015, it’s getting closer to LG’s upcoming launch of the LG G4, and that means yet another monster handset to contend with when considering which smartphone to buy. Here we have our first glimpse of the new LG G4 handset. As you can see from this image tweeted by @onleaks, the LG G4 appears to be building on the G3’s design although it should be noted that this is an early ‘non-final‘ press render. This means the design could change drastically between now and the official announcement.
Looking at the image, the G4 seems slightly curvier than the G3, and possibly a little sleeker. This could be due to the angle of the device in the picture though. This non-final version of the G4 has dimensions of 148.9 x 76.5 x 9.9mm which makes it a tad larger than the G3(146.3 x 74.9 x 8.9mm) in every respect. Whether this will result in thicker bezels or a bigger display, it’s anyone’s guess. You can also see that the speaker is staying on the rear panel, although as said before, that could change because this is not the final product. You can almost certainly count on the power and volume buttons staying on the rear of the device though. What do you think of this non-final press render of the LG G4?
Source: @onleaks
Via: Android Authority
Come comment on this article: Non-final press render of the LG G4 appears on Twitter
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