Samsung will pay your installment plan until 2016 if you buy a Galaxy phone (US only)
Competition is fierce in the mobile industry and Samsung is really urging to sell some devices! So much that they are willing to pay part of the phone if you switch to any of their latest handsets! Interested? Of course you are.
Here’s how it works. Eligible users are those who buy a Samsung Galaxy S6, S6 Edge, S6 Ede+ or Galaxy Note 5 on an installment plan or lease. Samsung will then give customers a rebate amounting for the full price of your installment payments up until 2016 comes around. You just have to go through an online claim.
The only issue is that there’s a $120 limit, but iPhone users can take this deal to the next level. Apple smartphone users can simply pre-register and trade-in their iPhone to get an extra $100 on Google Play Store credit. The process is simple, just head over to the Samsung Promotions page from the eligible iPhone (iPhone 4s and newer) and enter your email. You can then simply turn in your device and get a Galaxy phone from your carrier.
As you can expect, this is only a US offer. Another huge caveat is that for some reason AT&T customers are not qualified. Here the terms and conditions, just in case you need to catch all the small print. Most of it is pretty straight forward, though.
Are any of you signing up? If you are not sure which phone to get, remember we have our reviews on the Samsung Galaxy S6, Galaxy S6 Edge, Galaxy S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5. Go check them out and hit the comments to tell us which one you are getting.
Here are the videos you don’t want to miss this week – September 26, 2015
We’re just now wrapping up yet another busy week in the Android world. As we get ready for Google to unveil the new Nexus devices in the next couple days, we thought it would be a good idea to catch you up on some of the best Android-related videos of the week.
Both the new Moto 360 and Huawei Watch showed up on our doorstep, and we’ve wasted no time unboxing and giving you our first impressions on both devices. We’ve also published our full reviews of the Huawei Mate S and BLU Vivo Air LTE, and brought you some handy tips and tricks for your brand new Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
Without any further ado, here are the videos you don’t want to miss this week.
Unboxings
Motorola Moto 360 (2nd Gen.) unboxing and first look
Motorola created one of the best looking Android Wear smartwatches with last year’s Moto 360. How does this new one compare? Josh unboxes and gives us his first impressions on the Moto 360 (2nd Gen).
Huawei Watch unboxing and first look
The second-gen Moto 360 is quite the attractive device, but it looks like it has some big competition. Don’t miss Josh’s unboxing of the Huawei Watch.
Reviews
Huawei Mate S review
Just recently unveiled at IFA 2015, Huawei’s Mate S boasts some impressive specs and features. Does Huawei have another hit on its hands? Check out Gary’s review to learn more.
BLU Vivo Air LTE review
BLU has proven itself time and time again in the mid-range smartphone market, but the company’s Vivo Air LTE has some quirks you should know about. Don’t miss Bailey’s full review.
Tips and tricks
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 – 5 tips and tricks
Want some advice on how to use your new Galaxy Note 5? Josh is here to give you five tips and tricks for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.
How to…
Make your own Google Cardboard headset
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With the launch of Google Cardboard, VR is making its way to the masses. Here’s how to assemble your very own Cardboard headset.
The latest in VR
New Samsung Gear VR reaction at Oculus Connect
Samsung just recently unveiled a new Gear VR headset. Josh got the chance to try it out, and he’s here to give you his reaction.
Oculus Touch demo reaction at Oculus Connect
Want some more information on the new Oculus Touch controller for the Rift? Josh will walk you through the basics.
Android Apps Weekly
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Free music, cheap apps, FIFA 16 and Eternity Warriors 4 – you don’t want to miss Joe’s newest episode of Android Apps Weekly!
How Netflix works in virtual reality, and why it’s not HD
It’s true, the Netflix VR app is ready for your compatible* Samsung phone and Gear VR headset (if you don’t see it, try uninstalling and reinstalling the Oculus app), and has a virtual living room for you to chill in. Oculus CTO John Carmack worked with Netflix on the app, and in a post to the tech blog explained how it all comes together. Besides the technical details of how the app creates a screen inside a virtual environment, and includes controls for use while browsing or viewing, Carmack also explained one more thing: the streaming video in VR is limited to standard definition (720×480). According to Carmack, because the area you’re actually looking at is only composed of so many pixels, anything higher than 720p is the highest res video you should consider for VR right now. The reason he can’t hit that mark? Content protection, aka DRM.
The Hollywood studios have very strict requirements about the path their content takes within the device, in order to prevent someone from making a high-quality copy directly from the stream. Because of the nature of how it’s rendered in VR in order to blend with the virtual world, this stream doesn’t quite cut it, and so it has to make do with a less-than-HD source feed. This isn’t going to be the case with all video setups in virtual reality, as NextVR (behind the Oculus event stream and the upcoming Democratic Party debate VR stream with CNN) has DRM implemented on its streams for the Gear VR. Fox said its movies in the Oculus store would be in HD, and we’ll be interested to see if they’re available in HD on all devices.
So after all the pixel counting is done, the real question is — how did it look? I gave it a shot on a Galaxy Note 4 plugged into the original Gear VR headset, and it was surprisingly good. The video stream was clear, and the virtual world actually did help settle me in. The resolution wasn’t nearly as much of an issue as you would expect. While it’s not the sharpest or highest quality looking stream, I saw very little artifacting, and decent color reproduction. Watching the racing documentary Gonchi, subtitles were perfectly clear and readable with no eye strain or any other problems.
RoadtoVR posted this video of the experience that should give you an idea of what it’s like. In virtual reality, the screen seemed a lot like watching an 80-inch 1080p HDTV, and just like HDTVs that large, when you’re up close you can start to make out pixels. There aren’t any advanced features like group watching (perfect time to bring back the Xbox 360’s old Movie Party feature, Netflix), but it can lose the virtual living room and go to “void mode” to save on battery. As for higher res, Netflix says it does not have “near term” plans to add HD streaming for VR because of “technical limitations there that could sacrifice a comfortable viewing experience.”
John Carmack said he watched the entire season of Daredevil in VR for “testing” purposes. I’m not sure I would want to use it for that long, but mostly because of the weight of the first-gen Gear VR (the new unit unveiled yesterday is significantly lighter). It’s hardly a replacement for an actual living room and big-screen TV, but Netflix VR is already good enough to fill in when that’s just not an option.
[Image credit: (top) AFP/Getty Images]
Source: Netflix Tech Blog
Verizon are sending out security updates for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, S6 Edge Plus, S6, and S6 Edge
Verizon are sending out security updates to all 2015 Samsung flagship phones. That includes the Galaxy Note 5, Galaxy S6 Edge+, S6, and S6 Edge. The update does not really go over much as to what it entails other than “Android security patches”.
If you own one of the listed phones and are on Verizon, but have not received the update yet, you can manually check for it. Go to your settings, click “About device” at the very bottom, and click “Software update”.
Source: Verizon (1), (2), (3), (4)
Come comment on this article: Verizon are sending out security updates for the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, S6 Edge Plus, S6, and S6 Edge
Samsung’s second quarter results are in, remains the lead smartphone manufacturer in the world
A new report from Counterpoint Research states that Samsung remained the top smartphone manufacturer globally for the second quarter.
Samsung accounted for 21% of all smartphone shipments this quarter. Apple was a near second with 14% percent and Huawei took the third place crown with a share of 9%. Rounding out the top five were Xiaomi and ZTE who each had 5% of the pie. However, in North America numbers differed. Apple took the crown with a remarkable 31% share, Samsung was a distant second with 24% and LG placed third with 15%.
With smartphone sales still growing faster than ever and tablet sales slowing down, smartphones managed to make up 75% of all mobile shipments this past quarter. Both China and the United States were the leading countries when it comes to LTE enabled devices.
With new smartphones hitting the market such as Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus in addition to Apple’s newly announced iPhone 6s and 6s Plus, one could expect the stats to change in the upcoming quarter. We’ll provide the results when they come. But for now, all the details regarding Samsung’s results can be seen in the info-graphic sourced down below.
Source: Counterpoint Research
Via: GSMArena
Come comment on this article: Samsung’s second quarter results are in, remains the lead smartphone manufacturer in the world
Bugs and software fragmentation spoils Samsung’s premium devices
When Samsung released the Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge last year, both devices screamed premium and were laden with features beyond all other phones. Out of the box the devices ran Android Kitkat 4.4 which was rather stable. Since then Google has released Android Lollipop 5.0 with Material Design but that release was laden with bugs like memory leaks and terrible battery life.
Due to the fragmentation of Android, many of the most expensive Android devices, from less than a year ago, are still dealing with issues because they are still running Android 5.0. Even though Samsung was testing 5.1 back in the summer, very few Note 4 devices got the upgrade to 5.1. I happen to be one of those AT&T Note Edge users who has been dealing with incredibly poor battery life, memory leaks, display issues, and laggy performance when users of almost most other flagships are running 5.1 and are not having issues. When I ask AT&T customer support for help they tell me they have no time frame but to continue to look for updates. (Thanks AT&T!)
Fragmentation is a huge issue for manufacturers and only a couple have made a firm commitment to get updates out within a reasonable time frame, which Samsung is not one of those companies. They make deals with carriers to further customize their software, and in my case I have over 20 apps that I cannot uninstall because of AT&T. Those apps and customizations add another layer of fragmentation to my updates.
If Samsung wants to fix their sales and stop laying people off from poor sales, they need to stop selling out to the carriers as well as focus on getting updates out to their phones more quickly. Sure I bought the Note Edge for $945 without tax, which was my fault for not knowing Samsung and AT&T was going to leave me hanging, but shouldn’t customers expect their phones to work for more than a year without major bugs? I almost feel as if those of us dealing with bugs should get a manufacturer’s replacement device of choice because our software does not work. My Note Edge battery life lasts an incredibly short five hours and that isn’t five hours of on screen time. That is five hours of being disconnected from the plug.
By the time most of us power Note users get Android 5.1, the rest of the Android community will be on Marshmallow 6.0.
If you bought a Note 5, S6, S6 Edge or S6 Edge plus I sure hope Samsung gives you updates after the first six months. Until Samsung makes a commitment to pushing updates out on a timely basis, my future phones will only be pure Android Nexus devices. I would never buy an iPhone ever again, but at least when an update is published, every phone/tablet within the last three years has access to it.
Most of you readers here are super users and would tell people like me to flash their devices. For a flagship device, I shouldn’t be forced to flash it and void the warranty just for it to perform normally.
Are you a 2015 Galaxy S6 or Note 5 owner? Are you worried about not getting updates?
Or if you do happen to be one of the lucky Note 4 and Note Edge users on 5.1, is it running smooth for you?
I posed the question to my colleagues here at AG ,”If you didn’t switch phones so quickly, do you think you would be okay with fragmentation?” Out of all of the writers only one, Benton, has used a phone for two years and he has a Moto X(2013) which is one of the phones to get updates on a regular basis. Personally I do not think most Android bloggers would be okay with fragmentation if they used their phones like normal people and hung onto them for two years.
Let me know how you feel in the comments.
The post Bugs and software fragmentation spoils Samsung’s premium devices appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung crashes the iPhone 6S launch in London with the Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+
Consumers flocked to Apple’s Regent Street store in London to be some of the first to get their hands on the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus. However, Samsung was there ready to hand out information packages on the Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+.
One thing’s for sure, Samsung worked hard to announce and release the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ ahead of Apple’s year iPhone release. As the old maxim goes, “the early bird gets the worm!” And in this case, Samsung’s doing everything it can to take advantage of that.
Android Central was able to get some stills of Samsung’s aggressive marketing tactics on the streets. Just head over to the link below to see Samsung in action!
via: Android Central
Come comment on this article: Samsung crashes the iPhone 6S launch in London with the Galaxy S6 Edge and S6 Edge+
T-Mobile rolling out Samsung Pay update for the Galaxy Note 5 in the US
T-Mobile is currently rolling out an over-the-air update weighing just 30MB to all its carrier-branded variants of the Galaxy Note 5 located in the United States. This upgrade brings a newer version of Samsung Pay to to the handset in readiness for the service’s official launch on Wednesday, September 28.
As usual, the update is being rolled out in stages, but if you don’t feel like waiting for a notification confirming that it’s ready for your device to hit your unit, you could always search for the upgrade manually. To do so, open the Settings app, scroll to the bottom and tap on “About Device”, hit “System Updates”, then select “Check for updates”.
Come comment on this article: T-Mobile rolling out Samsung Pay update for the Galaxy Note 5 in the US
Samsung Gear VR reactions at Oculus Connect
Yesterday, Samsung announced its new $99 Gear VR headset and we were there at Oculus Connect developer conference to spend some hands-on time with Samsung’s latest virtual reality hardware. (Samsung was keen to specify that the unit we played with was a pre-production model.)
As mentioned during the announcement, the new hardware is designed to work with Samsung’s latest smartphone releases. There’s no setting for previous generation of hardware, such as the Note 4, but the headset can now be easily adjusted between the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge+/Note 5 handset sizes with a simple slider. The new headset still presses down on the cheeks at little, but overall it is lighter than previous models, which is a major improvement.
Software is the other half of the VR formula and video is a big part of the platform. We tried out Netflix’s VR streaming app, which sticks you in a virtual living room, and watching shows feels like you’re right at home watching TV. Twitch also has an app to watch live streams, which places you in a virtual theater setting and allows you to share the experience with friends through Oculus Social. Other viewers appear in the room as avatars sitting alongside you. You can hear what they’re saying and chat to them while watching the live stream. Other platforms should be able to offer a similar experience too.
More Gear VR videos:
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On the gaming side of things, it’s pretty much what you would expect from a mobile platform, rather than the more performance demanding demos that are designed for consoles and PCs. So far we have seen mostly point and click type games, although the Samsung game controller does allow for a wider range of experiences.
There is a lot of potential here for some unique experiences and the $99 price tag helps to keep them accessible. What are your initial impressions about the new Gear VR?
Samsung opens new office in Silicon Valley
Samsung Electronics has just opened up a swanky new office in the epicenter of the Western tech world – Silicon Valley. Silicon Valley is home to a number of familiar names in the industry, including Apple, Facebook, Intel and Google.
Samsung first set up camp in Silicon Valley more than 30 years ago, and its new office is on the same corner as its first campus in the neighborhood. The new campus will house 700 employees, but there is enough capacity to reach 2,000 members of staff in the 1.1 million square feet of space.
The facility is built from a number of two-story buildings stacked on top of each other, which reaches 170 feet high. There are also garden spaces, a peaceful courtyard and a modern food court for staff. If you would like a little look around the inside, check out the selection of pictures below.
The campus will unify a number of company offices that have previously been scattered around Silicon Valley. The company’s components business will primarily be moving into the office, where employees will focus on research and development in semiconductors, LEDs and displays. Sales, marketing and other support staff will also be located at the site.
By unifying its development teams under one roof, Samsung is hoping to improve communication between divisions and spur on a little extra innovation and creativity.
AIVAnet 