iPhone’s Market Share Grew Slightly Last Quarter Despite a Few Weeks of Galaxy S9 Availability

Apple’s share of the worldwide smartphone market grew slightly in the first three months of 2018, despite Samsung launching the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ in March, according to research firms IDC and Strategy Analytics.

Apple on Tuesday reported that it sold 52.2 million iPhones last quarter. Based on that, the research firms estimate that the iPhone accounted for 15.3 percent of smartphone shipments during the quarter, a slight increase from 14.5 percent in the year-ago period. Both percentages are averaged.

While the single-percentage-point growth is modest, the slight gain becomes more impressive when considering that the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ launched March 16 in several countries, a full two weeks prior to the quarter ending. Pre-orders of the devices began even earlier on March 2.

Samsung shipped 78.2 million smartphones last quarter, according to the research firms, but its estimated 22.6 to 23.3 percent market share was essentially unchanged from the year-ago quarter, despite the bumped-up Galaxy S9 launch. Last year, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ were released April 21.

Samsung continues to lead the smartphone market in shipments, but it sells a variety of handsets at a wide range of price points. Apple typically ships fewer iPhones, but the company captured an estimated 87 percent of smartphone profits in the December quarter, according to research firm Canaccord Genuity.

Apple doesn’t disclose iPhone sales on a model-by-model basis, but given iPhone revenue increased 14 percent last quarter despite only a three percent rise in unit sales, the higher-priced iPhone X was likely a big factor.

Tags: Samsung, IDC, Strategy Analytics
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Sphero spin-off’s Misty II robot is now available for pre-order

Sphero spin-off Misty Robotics has officially announced the mass-produced version of the robot helper it showed off at CES this year. The cute little machine officially called Misty II still resembles its Wall-E like its predecessor, but it can actually do things unlike Misty I. Thanks to developers’ work on the original robot, it now comes with a set of capabilities and has a bunch of downloadable skills to choose from. It can move autonomously and respond to its environment, create a 3D map of its surroundings, recognize faces, respond to commands, charge itself and talk.

You can also create your own skills if you want: its visual block-based programming interface makes it easy to conjure up simple skills use, but you can also use JavaScript APIs to come up with more sophisticated ones. If you’re an experienced programmer/developer, you can add third-party services like Alexa and Google Assistant and modify it to create something entirely new — maybe even find a way to make it fold your laundry or do your taxes.

Misty Robotics has also launched a 30-day crowdfunding campaign, which makes the robot available for presale at 50 percent off. Its first 250 backers can get it for $1,499, while the next 1,150 buyers can get it for $1,599. The 14-inch, 6-pound machine’s components include a 3D sensor for mapping, a 4K Sony camera for facial and object recognition and sensors for obstacle avoidance. It’s powered by two Qualcomm SnapDragon processors and runs on Windows IoT Core and Android 7 operating systems.

While other companies had released cheaper robots in the past, Misty Robotics says Misty II “is the first, easily programmable robot offered at a consumer price point for developers, entrepreneurs, students and makers.” It believes the machine is the first step to putting a robot in every home and office and expects to start shipping orders on December 4th, 2018.

Misty founder Ian Bernstein said in a statement:

“At Misty, we are focused on creating the personal robot of the future that developers and makers can build upon as well as share skills and ideas for what a robot can be. Crowdfunding the Misty II robot aligns with our mission of building a community for developers and makers, and allows us direct access to our early backers for feedback and collaboration. We are excited to see what they build on Misty and then share with the larger community.”

Source: Misty Robotics

Hulu rivals Netflix with its own exclusive Dreamworks partnership

Back in January Hulu hit 17 million subscribers. Now it’s sailed past the 20 million mark, and to celebrate, has revealed a raft of upcoming plans for the platform. For a start, it’s expanded its slate of original series, confirming the arrival of Mindy Kaling’s Four Weddings and a Funeral, Ramy Youssef’s Ramy, plus Catch-22 from George Clooney and The First, starring Sean Penn. The Handmaid’s Tale has also been renewed for a third season.

Hulu is also tipped to become the exclusive streaming home of future Dreamworks Animation movies, thanks to its first ever multi-year deal with the studio. Starting in 2019, you’ll find the likes of How to Train Your Dragon and Trolls on the platform, plus classics such as Shrek and Shark Tale. And, naturally, the two companies will be working on series spin offs from these franchises. What this means for Netflix’s partnership with Dreamworks, though, is yet to be seen, although Netflix probably isn’t too worried, as it recently blew past the 125-million-subscriber mark.

And in decidedly ­un­-family-friendly content, Hulu has also partnered with Blumhouse Television for a year-round horror event series called Into The Dark. The first Friday of every month will see the arrival of a super-sized episode, inspired by that month’s major holiday and featuring a broad selection of filmmakers and actors.

Of course, all of this programming comes at a price, hence the launch of a couple of new advertising features. Later this year, Hulu will start displaying dynamically-inserted ads within Hulu Live TV, and has announced plans to become the first entertainment company to offer ad-supported downloadable content. So you can download your shows to watch on the go, but you won’t escape the advertising. This is slated for launch during Hulu’s 2018-2019 upfront season.

Facebook Messenger Update Shown Off in Images: Dark Mode, Simplified UI, and Custom Chat Bubbles

Yesterday during its F8 conference, Facebook announced that an update coming to Messenger would simplify the chat app and reduce the amount of visual clutter that had been added into the user interface over the last few years. The Next Web has shared images of this new update, showing off the cleaned up interface, a dark mode, and more.

Images via The Next Web
The updated Facebook Messenger greatly reduces the number of buttons on the bottom of the screen to just three, and moves the camera and call buttons to the top right of the UI. In the current app, the bottom row has five buttons for Home, People, Camera, Games, and Discover. As The Next Web pointed out, Facebook doesn’t appear to be removing any features from Messenger, so anything that appears missing is believed to be combined into another button.

Messenger will still open on a recent chat list, with circles of friends aligning the top of the screen that includes a + button to add to your Messenger Day story, the app’s Snapchat clone feature. When you click on a chat, the bottom-screen UI buttons shift to include options for chat bots, the camera, and emoji. In this screen, you’ll also be able to customize your chat with various color options and set what appears to be a shortcut to your favorite emoji.

During the keynote on the update, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company knows its users want a “simple and fast experience” in a chat app, so it would be “taking this moment to completely redesign Messenger to focus on these ideas.” Facebook introduced a pared-down version called Messenger Lite in 2016, but it was only made available for Android devices and has yet to launch on iOS.

For the new update to the iOS Messenger app, Facebook said it’s coming “very, very soon.” Yesterday, the company also unveiled a “clear history” tool for ads and analytics, showed off a dating feature to rival Tinder, and launched a standalone VR headset “Oculus Go.”

Tags: Facebook, Facebook Messenger
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How to Take a Screenshot on the Samsung Galaxy S9

You need to know how to do this.

It’s one of the simplest features of a smartphone: capturing a screenshot. The basic function can be found on any phone out there, but each company does things slightly different and adds extras to make the screenshot process more powerful and useful. Samsung goes above and beyond on the Galaxy S9 and S9+ to give you multiple ways to capture a screenshot, plus extra tools to capture scrolling lists and make quick edits after capture.

Here are all the ways you can capture, edit and share screenshots on the Galaxy S9.

• Button combo screenshot
• Palm swipe screenshot
• Scrolling capture
• Bixby Voice

Button combo screenshot

This is the simplest way to capture a screenshot, and one that the most people will be familiar with.

Open the content on the screen you want to capture.
Press and hold the volume down button and power button for about 2 seconds.

• You’ll see the screen shrink in, and editing options will appear briefly on the screen.

If you want to edit the screenshot right after it’s captured, you can tap the bottom options to draw, crop or share it immediately.
If you miss those buttons, the screenshot will also be saved in the notification shade, where you can expand and tap the options to edit, share or delete it.

If you dismiss notifications, the screenshot can also still be found in Gallery or any other app you may use to manage photos, like Google Photos.

Palm swipe screenshot

Samsung also offers a secondary method for getting to the same exact screen shot options, using the edge of your hand to swipe across and activate the process.

Go to Settings, Advanced features and make sure that “Palm swipe to capture” is turned on.
Open the content on the screen you want to capture.
Place the side of the palm of your hand on the edge of the screen, and in one motion swipe it across the face of the phone.
The screenshot will be captured in the same way as above, with the same editing and sharing options at the bottom of the screen.

Scrolling capture

Whether you initiate a screenshot with the button combination or palm swipe, you’ll sometimes notice an extra option in that bottom edit bar: “scroll capture.” This option lets you automatically scroll (in apps that vertically scroll) and stitch together several screenshots into one super-tall screenshot.

Open the content on the screen you want to capture.

• Whatever app you have open must be able to vertically scroll — remember to start this process at the top of what you want to screenshot, since the scroll only goes downward.

Use the button combo or palm swipe to initiate screenshot.
Tap scroll capture at the bottom of the screenshot edit menu.
Continue to tap scroll capture until you’ve covered everything in the app that you wish to capture.
The extra-tall scrolling screenshot will save in the exact same way as any other — you can now edit, crop and share it.

Bixby Voice

Bixby Voice can actually be useful for taking a screenshot if you’re unable to grab the phone to do the button combination or swipe gesture.

Open the content on the screen you want to capture.
Press and hold the Bixby Button, or if you’ve configured it, say “Hey Bixby.”
With the interface activated, say “take a screenshot.”
The screenshot will automatically be saved to the Gallery, where you can then view, edit and share it.

• Note that with the Bixby method, you miss out on the instant edit capabilities of the other methods. You can, however, string together commands to for example “take a screenshot and share it to Twitter” if you want to get elaborate.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Update May 2018: There are a few ways to take screenshots, and we have them simply broken down here.

How (and when) to clear app cache or data on Android

Apps sometimes can misbehave. If it happens to you, here’s something to try.

Every Android smartphone has an application manager that you can get to through the settings menu. It’s usually in the top level somewhere, though it can vary a little by phone. But once you get to it, you’re at the heart of the matter. This is where you can see every application that’s installed on your phone or tablet. And it’s a handy place to clean things up a bit should they go wonky. Here’s what’s up:

Clearing the app cache

As you use applications, they start storing files for reference later. These files are stored in an app “cache.” For instance: When you’re using the Android Central app, it’ll save images and other pieces of the stories you’ve read so that they don’t have to be downloaded each and every single time the app needs them. This saves you time and data.

But maybe you want to clear an app’s cached data, either to regain some used space or to try to fix a misbehaving app. This is where you can do it. Just tap into the app, and then tap the “Clear cache” button.

The next time you use the app it will download everything it needs from the internet like it did the first time you used it. Clearing cached data does not clear other data like logins or saved games.

This often fixes things, especially when an app pulls its content from a website that always changing and adding more content. If this doesn’t work, move to the next step.

Clear app data — or resetting an app

Clearing app data is a little more drastic. You’re wiping the cache, but also clearing any and all settings that go along with that app. You’re basically starting that app over, from scratch, and it’ll behave as it did the first time you installed it. This is generally a last resort type of thing. If you clear app data on, say, the Facebook app, you’ll need to log back in. If you clear data on a game you’ve been playing, you’ll be back at the beginning, as if you’d never played it. (And let’s hope that game is properly saving your place to the cloud.)

Next, open the app and sign in or do anything else you need to get started using it. With no “old” data in place — either stored settings or cached — you’re essentially running the app for the first time again. See if your problem is resolved and if so you’re golden.

One nice thing to do if this fixes any weirdness with an app is let the developer know. It’s mighty hard to keep track of versions and data conversion and everything else about making and publishing a great app and they’ll appreciate the heads up if you found a bug that affects everyone.

When to clear cache or data …

So when should you clear an app’s cache manually? Chances are you’ll never need to. But should an app start to “feel” sluggish or otherwise start misbehaving, this is where I’d start. Clear the cache.

And should an app really go haywire — or if you just want to start it from scratch — you can go all out and clear its data and start over from the beginning. Just tap the “clear data” button. You’ll get a warning asking if that’s really what you want to do. Confirm that, and you’ve reset the app to scratch.

Update April 2018: This post has been updated to make sure the info is good with current versions of Android.

Here’s every device with Google Assistant built in

Google Assistant is available on your favorite devices. Here’s where you can use it!

Whether you prefer using it on your phone, tablet or with a speaker, Google Assistant is working its way into more and more of our gadgets. Smart speakers are ubiquitous at this point, but Assistant is also making its way into other appliances.

Here is every device with Google Assistant!

Your phone

The easiest way to use Google Assistant is to use your phone or tablet. Assistant is available for every Android phone running Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later — about 60% of all Android phones. Just hold down the home button, and ask away.

If iOS is your preferred mobile operating system (it’s OK, we still love you), you can also download and use Google Assistant on your iPhone and iPad. Because Assistant isn’t part of the operating system like it is with Android, you’ll need to manually open the Assistant app whenever you want to use it.

Download Google Assistant on the App Store (Free)

Your car

Android Auto has had access to voice commands since day one, but just received Google Assistant support a few months ago. In reality, the Assistant voice commands are limited to the few things the older voice commands already handled — starting navigation, handling notifications, and a few other specific features, so you don’t get too distracted from the road.

Your watch

One big draw for the dozens of people with a Wear OS watch is the ability to use Google Assistant right from their wrists. Lift your wrist, say “Hey Google,” and you’ll be able to ask questions, control your smart home, and do everything else that you could do if you were using Assistant on your phone.

Chromebooks

More specifically, a Chromebook. The Pixelbook is currently the only Chromebook with Assistant — even including a dedicated key to launch it — but there is evidence to suggest that Assistant will be rolling out to more Chromebooks in the near future.

Smart speakers

Google Home served as the launch vehicle for Assistant, and is still probably the most famous use case. As nice as the Google Home family is, there are speakers from third parties that may sound better, be cheaper, be portable, or just fit your decor better. The following manufacturers are making speakers with Google Assistant:

• JBL
• Sony
• Panasonic
• Onkyo
• Mobvoi
• Insignia
• Zolo

Your TV

If you have either of the excellent NVIDIA SHIELD TVs or one of Sony’s newer TV’s with Android TV built-in, you can use Assistant right on the big screen. The SHIELD TV’s remote and controller and the Sony TV’s remotes feature microphones that you can use to talk to Assistant. You can use your voice to control your home, browse your favorite YouTube channels or ask to watch shows and movies on Netflix.

Coming soon: Smart Displays

Smart speakers are great for small bits of information that can be spoken to you, but there are some things that are better represented with visual cues. You’ll be able to use the new Smart Displays for video calls, seeing your Nest camera feed, seeing the weather forecast, music playback with album art, and more. LG’s Smart Display is available for pre-order, so you won’t have much longer to wait for a dedicated Google Assistant screen.

More: These new Smart Displays include Google Assistant

What say you?

Where do you use Google Assistant the most? Let us know down below!

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How to Get Samsung Software Updates Faster Using Smart Switch

There is another way.

We all have plenty to complain about when it comes to software updates landing on our Samsung phones. Right now it’s the slow rollout of Oreo, but we’ll soon feel the same way about the next one. But sometimes it isn’t Samsung’s fault that you don’t yet have the latest update — issues with carriers and even the current software on your phone can prevent your phone from downloading an update even when it’s actually “available” to your model.

That’s where Samsung’s own desktop software, Smart Switch, comes in. Despite its core feature being backing up and restoring data when switching phones, it has the added benefit of being able to download and update the software on your Samsung phone. Here’s how it works.

How to manually update your Samsung phone using Smart Switch

Go to Samsung’s Smart Switch website and download for PC or Mac.
Install and open Smart Switch on your computer and connect your phone via its USB cable.

If you haven’t plugged in to your computer before, tap Allow on the pop-up on your phone to give it access.

• If Smart Switch doesn’t recognize the phone, click the menu in Smart Switch and click Reinstall device driver then restart.

After a few moments, your phone will be recognized by Smart Switch and you’ll see several options on the main screen for backing up and restoring. You do not need to back up or restore your phone to initiate an update.
A software check is performed when you plug in, and Smart Switch will list your current software details. If there is a software update available for your phone, you’ll be notified on the main screen.
If available, Click Update to install the latest software. It will download first to your computer, then sideload to your phone.

• The phone will reboot, and the process will take roughly 10 minutes.

If this will be your preferred update method going forward, click the menu (Preferences on Mac) in Smart Switch, click Software Updates and check the box for Update Pre-Download.

• When a new software version is available for your phone, Smart Switch will download it and then apply the next time you plug in.

To be clear, this isn’t going to force an update onto your phone that Samsung has yet to release. Unless Samsung and your carrier (where applicable) have signed off on and released an update for your exact phone, there’s no way to get it.

Hooking up to Smart Switch can get you an update quicker, though, in cases where your carrier is slowly rolling out an update over the air (OTA) or the update checker on your phone for whatever reason won’t download an update. If you’re impatient, it’s absolutely worth having this tool at the ready.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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Update May 2018: Added fresh information reflecting Smart Switch’s usefulness for a variety of Samsung models, including the new Galaxy S9.

Do you use an always on display on your phone?

The pros and cons of an AOD.

There are a lot of benefits that come with AMOLED/POLED screens, but one of the most useful is that of an always on display. Always on displays keep a portion of your screen turned on to showcase the time, date, notifications, or other small bits of information, and allow you to quickly glance at your phone at any point to catch up on what’s new.

Having an always on display can be a great benefit to stay in touch with what’s going on while working away at the office or running around the house, but at the same time, also cause some extra strain on your battery.

Our forum users recently got into a discussion about whether or not always on displays were worth using, and this is what they had to say.

boltsbearsjosh
04-30-2018 03:22 PM

“

If you like it, use it. AOD doesn’t drain enough battery to make anyone be on the fence about using it.

Reply

eduardmc
04-30-2018 03:59 PM

“

I get 6-7 hour with aod on 24/7. Battery health won be affected cause of aod in any way. Overnight i lose around 3% battery cause of aod

Reply

Abbers727
04-30-2018 06:54 PM

“

AOD is usually on from 10am – midnight . So I do have somewhat of break after midnight. About a 10 hr break from AOD. I honestly can’t remember when I didn’t have AOD. My last phone was a S7 Edge.

Reply

MooMooPrincess
04-30-2018 07:37 PM

“

I used to have it on and was still getting 6-7 hrs before 20% but it’s too much of a hassle for me. It’s extra work to check notifications and stuff.

Reply

What about you? Do you use an always on display on your phone?

Join the conversation in the forums!

Galaxy S9 and 15W Qi wireless chargers: Does it actually charge faster?

Does more wattage mean faster speeds?

This year, Samsung’s Galaxy S9 series supports wireless charging. Same as last year, right? Except that there’s new hardware inside the phones to wirelessly charge at up to 15 watts, which is twice the speed of most phones (and more than double that of the Galaxy S8).

Charging speed is the only thing keeping some people away from wireless chargers, assuming their phone supports the feature. Even with advancements in the Qi standard and new charging pads, they’re still notably slower than wired charging. For Samsung’s phones, the sure bet for the fastest charging has always been its own chargers — product reviews for third-party chargers all over the internet are littered with people citing various problems using X phone with Y charger.

Now that Samsung’s phones technically support these new speeds, we wanted to see how that translates to real-world usage. Several manufacturers have debuted wireless chargers with 15W of output, a considerable jump over the 10 or 12W previously offered, and far more than Samsung’s own chargers that top out at 9W. They’re available from Ventev, Griffin, Belkin and Spigen, to name a few. So I bought that Ventev model to see just how much faster it is than Samsung’s own charger.

It was a simple test setup: run a Galaxy S9+ down to 0%, then turn it back on while on a charger and see how long it took to reach 100%, measuring every 15 minutes. The tests were done with the phone in airplane mode, to rule out extraneous network activity impacting charge time. For a baseline, I also recorded the charging speed from the in-box Fast Charge wall charger.

The results were disappointing.

Even with a much higher wattage rating, the charging times were identical.

You can see that Ventev’s wireless charger, running at a much higher 15W output, charged at a near-identical rate to Samsung’s 9W wireless charger. Doing two more rounds of testing, including a run with the phone completely off, yielded the same results within a couple minutes. Both chargers also charged the phone at a very linear rate, about 10-11% per 15 minutes, no matter the charge of the battery; the only outlier being the final 5%, which was unsurprisingly slow. Total charge time was 2 hours 30 minutes, which aligned with the estimate provided on the GS9+’s lock screen — turns out those numbers are generally accurate.

Compare that to the wired charger, which charges at almost double that rate, 20% per 15 minutes, up to about 75% before slowing down. The wired charger gets from 0-50% 30 minutes faster than wireless, and 0-100% 50 minutes faster — a full charge happens in 1 hour 40 minutes.

Pick your wireless charger for its design, utility and price — not for its claimed higher output.

After collecting all of this data, it looks like Samsung has done us a favor by choosing to not emphasize the wattage ratings of its own chargers and instead simply standardizing to a brand like “Fast Charge.” In this case, a purportedly higher-end and “faster” wireless charger didn’t yield charging speeds that were faster in any way, yet the Ventev charger is about $55 — more expensive than the current listing for Samsung’s latest charger and far more than other lower-wattage chargers.

Now it isn’t all bad news. Knowing that you can go buy a third-party wireless charger that charges just as fast as Samsung’s is great — and you get more options for designs, form factors and prices without giving up charging speed. And I don’t feel Ventev (and all of the other companies listed above) is attempting to mislead anyone — it’s simply trying to market its advantage in charging output … even though as I’ve shown here, that doesn’t translate into an advantage in charging speeds. It’s possible the Galaxy S9 series will be updated to support 15W charging (Apple’s iPhone 8 and X series was updated through software to increase wireless charging from 5W to 7.5W), and we’ve reached out to Samsung for details about this.

So after this testing, we know to pick your wireless charger for its design, utility and price — not necessarily its claimed higher output. And when in doubt, know that Samsung’s own wireless chargers will provide the fastest speeds for a Samsung phone.

Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9+

• Galaxy S9 and S9+: Everything you need to know!
• Galaxy S9 review: A great phone for the masses
• Complete Galaxy S9 and S9+ specs
• Galaxy S9 vs. Galaxy S8: Should you upgrade?
• Join our Galaxy S9 forums

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