Watch the Samsung Unpacked live stream here

Samsung’s Unpacked event in New York City is about to begin, and the company is getting ready to start live streaming the event. If you weren’t able to go and see the unveiling in-person, you can watch the presentation from the comfort of your own home.

Hit the break to watch the embedded video below.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Samsung is expected to launch the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus. What’re you most excited to see?

Come comment on this article: Watch the Samsung Unpacked live stream here

128GB Samsung Galaxy S6 available for just $599.99 till midnight

As Samsung prepares to unveil the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+ on Thursday, we have found a great deal on the Samsung Galaxy S6 for you. If you hurry, you can buy the 128GB variant of the Galaxy flagship for as low as $599.00.

The original price of the Galaxy S6 with 128GB onboard storage is $999.99, but you can get a $400 discount if you buy it at B&H before midnight. Meanwhile, there is a $200 off on the device at Verizon, which is $400 less than the offer price at Amazon.

The price cut on the Galaxy S6 is not surprising as Samsung had recently announced that it would make its current flagships more affordable in the wake of the launch of its new high-end phones.

We would advise you to wait for the launch of new Samsung devices and choose the one which fits your bill the most. Scheduled at 11:00a.m. today, Samsung Unpacked will reveal the prices and specifications of its upcoming Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge+, giving you plenty of time to compare and decide.

Source: B&H

Come comment on this article: 128GB Samsung Galaxy S6 available for just $599.99 till midnight

Samsung: This is the Note 5 we wanted

Dear Samsung,

I am tired of complaining about the choices you guys are making without offering a solution. The writers over at Sammobile are misguiding you by saying you guys know what you are doing in posts like this one. Very few commenters agree with the article, and those commenters are your true fans, like me. None of us are incentivized in anyway to only write positive things as we pay for our devices and have the right to speak up when we aren’t happy.

I have been groaning over your decisions because I know you are capable of so much more. Why you choose to take on Apple head to head blows my mind. You were always better than Apple, but now you are trying to be Apple, and it just isn’t working. Us Note fans will come back in flocks if you make this phone for us.

Note 5.1

Software – Allow true bloat removal and get us faster updates

Many of us love some of the features that come with TouchWiz, because we can have dual windows, S-Pen controls, one-handed mode, and customizable quick toggles. We love that stuff, so keep improving on that. But do better at getting us software upgrades. Many of us have been, or are still stuck on Lollipop 5.0.1 and we know the fault is on Google for releasing a terrible version of Android, but you aren’t providing us with the fixes that Google implemented. We are tired of not getting updates when we pay for the most expensive device. Usually the more you pay, the better service you get…usually.

Stop agreeing to allow carriers to install bloat. The last time I did a count of how much storage those apps consumed, I counted over 1.5GB! I know we can deactivate the bloat, but that causes other issues. Whenever I deactivate the 15 AT&T pre-installed applications, it causes my phone to act buggy. An example, my texting stopped working when I deactivated all of the AT&T apps. AT&T is adding a layer, on top of Touchwiz, and Touchwiz is on top of Android.

This leads to slower updates. First Google provides updates to Android. Then you have to update your customized Touchwiz software, and then AT&T has to do it too. It slows everything down and can ruin the Touchwiz experience.

Focus on making Touchwiz useful and stop letting carriers add bloat. I will live with your pre-installed apps that I don’t want like S Voice.

Battery – Continue to add battery size and allow it to be removable

Some people never swap their batteries, but many of us do. It is one of our favorite features. As some phone manufacturers went away from it a couple years ago, you continued to keep this feature which kept us loyal. For each Note iteration, you continued to increase the battery size even as processors became more power efficient. Give us a bigger battery – give us the 4100mAh that was once rumored to come in the Note 5, not a smaller 3000mAh battery.

We need a bigger battery because as you give us more features and improve hardware, we find more reasons to use our Notes. Better phones = more usage. We aren’t typical users where we mainly just care about texting, emailing, and web browsing. We use our Notes for EVERYTHING, from gaming to business and everything in between.

Build – Stick with the Note 4 language and add IP67 water and dust resistance

The Galaxy S5 had it, and it was great. Who wouldn’t want a little extra protection from the elements? Us Note users want IP67, because we pay a premium price, as in the image below, AT&T customers paid almost $900 dollars for the Note 4 after taxes. Don’t give us more glass on the phone that can break.

The Note 4 does have a premium build, feel, and comes in the perfect size. We love being able to pull the back panel off, to replace it with an S-View Flip Cover without adding much thickness.

If you wanted to make us even happier, although this isn’t necessary, make color options available like Moto does with their Moto maker. You don’t have to go as far as them, but how hard is it to make that back panel in other colors? You can even make money on the sales if you want, charge us 20-50 dollars per back cover. It allows us to customize our phones and makes us even more loyal because we will love our phones just that much more. If you want to get ambitious with it, offer carbon fiber, oak, bamboo, and leather like LG and OnePlus. We would much rather have that than a glass back.

Storage and Memory – 4GB RAM, and be the first to offer 64GB as standard with expandable memory via MicroSD

For many of us 32GB is enough.  But we want more. It doesn’t cost you a ton of money to standardize every device to 64GB. The Note is a premium device, so give us premium storage. And don’t take away the expandable memory, that was just mean. Expandable memory has worked well in every device you have made, and now you’re the only major Android manufacturer who doesn’t offer it in their flagship.

As for memory, 4GB is a great choice as Touchwiz adds more usable features, we need the RAM to keep up with our multitasking.

Speaker – Move it to the front, dual speakers would be great but not at the expense of our home button

Having the speaker on the bottom of the Note 3 was acceptable, but moving the speaker to the back of the Note 4 was moronic. It doesn’t make sense to point sounds away from ears unless it is sound we don’t want to hear like gunshots. So get with it, and turn our ear piece into a front facing speaker at a very minimum. Dual speakers would be even better, but you would have to find a way to sneak it in under the home button.

We love our home button, and you could follow the Nexus 9 design language and push the speakers to the very top and bottom edges of the front of the phone.

Display, Processor, and Camera – Stick with what has been working

The Note 4 has an incredible display and camera. To be honest I would be happy with the same QHD Super AMOLED display as well as the 16MP rear camera. But now that the Galaxy S6 showed superior images over all other devices, go ahead and give us that camera. Can’t really go wrong with either. Your Super AMOLED display is without a doubt the best display on the market.

Just stick with the highest end processor. We don’t necessarily need it, but we love having the fastest device. It has worked with the Note 3 and Note 4 so stick with what you’re doing with the processor and GPU.

Remove hardware features like the UV sensor and give us a clock

Okay I might be going a little overboard here, so let me know in the comments if you have something else to offer, readers.

I don’t use the O2 sensor, heart-rate monitor or UV sensor. They are all very cool concepts in theory, but I don’t use them and could do without them.

How cool would it be if you added a cool feature on the back of the phone like an always on clock? It doesn’t have to be digital, it could be analog. Premium cars come with analog clocks with actual number hands and that would make the Note even more distinct. And it would allow us to not have to turn our displays on just to see the time. Most of us use our phones as a clock now, so it would be really cool to have an analog watch on the back. Digital would be cool too.

Warranty – Add accidental damage protection

You would do good by us Note fans by giving us accidental damage insurance included in our warranty. I know this is more money out of your pocket, but it will give us just one more reason to stick with you. HTC does it with their UH-OH plan, and I know they sell a tiny fraction of phones compared to you, but you could make it work.

Summary

I know this is a bit of tough love Samsung, but it is only because I want you to succeed. You are the only company capable today of giving us this device and if you build it, we will come. Stop listening to people who don’t actually use the Note line, and listen to the customers who actually use your devices. We will be your marketing crowd as we will tell everyone how great our Note 5.1 is and what everyone else is missing out on. I may not be buying the next Note 5, but I will buy the Note next year if you actually make a Note for your loyal fan base again.

Sincerely,

Derrick Miyao

Readers, if you think I missed anything please add it in the comments section. I can add your comments to my post in an edit, and pass this article around to fellow Samsung fans if you agree with it. We need to help Samsung get back on track.

The post Samsung: This is the Note 5 we wanted appeared first on AndroidGuys.

The new Note is coming, but is it still special?

Look at the current smartphone industry trend and you’ll see that smartphones have progressed towards bigger, more vibrant displays. But this wasn’t always the case.

No more than four years ago, the concept of a large-screen phone was unheard of and most smartphone displays measured around 3.5 to 4.0 inches, with the latter considered larger than most people needed. However, at the end of October that year, Samsung unveiled its first Galaxy Note and in doing so, it not only created an entirely new product range but also shaped the industry for years to come.

With Samsung set to launch its new Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus smartphones tomorrow, we’re asking – the new Note is coming, but is it still special? Before we look at the new Note, let’s look at what made the Note so special in the past.

A big-screen era

Nexus 6 vs Galaxy Note 4 – two BIG screen devices

I can still remember the first Galaxy Note and the general reaction that it was far too big, it would never sell, and big-screen devices would never become the norm. Oh, how hindsight is a wonderful thing.

The truth is that once the Galaxy Note 2 was announced the following year and sold in the millions, Samsung’s rivals realised that big-screen devices were the way to go. As with most ‘trends’ in this industry, it usually takes one company to push the boundaries, and once Samsung experienced some success with its Note range, its rivals turned their attention towards developing rival products.

Until a couple of years ago when every manufacturer began delivering big-screen devices, the Galaxy Note range was the default device customers turned to when looking for a handset that bridged the gap between smartphone and tablet. Even though manufacturers have developed big-screen devices, Samsung still has one key item in its arsenal that other manufacturers have been unable to contend with: Samsung Display.

The Galaxy Note display has always been a Super AMOLED panel, and while other manufacturers have managed to offer similar resolution to the Note, the display on the Note range has always offered better vibrancy and colours (at least in my opinion). In a big-screen era, where manufacturers offer the same displays (on paper), it can often come down to the quality of the display and this is something that Samsung has never failed to deliver in the Galaxy Note.

The S Pen

The Galaxy Note was iconic not just because it introduced a big screen era, but also due to the S Pen; styli are certainly not new and are a throwback to PDA devices of the past, but the S Pen on the Galaxy Note arguably made styli cool again.

Some manufacturers do offer a stylus for their devices and there are thousands of third-party after-market styli that you can purchase. But the S Pen is more than just a stylus as Samsung has incorporated a range of features into its Note handsets to make the most of the S Pen.

The S Pen is also unique as it is housed in the handset itself, meaning you don’t need to remember to carry it with you. As a Galaxy Note user since the first generation, I’ve found the S Pen to be somewhat useful, but the fact it is always with my phone has made it a lot more useful than if I had to carry it separately.

With each generation of Galaxy Note, the S-Pen was improved with additional features and better responsiveness and in the Galaxy Note 4, the S Pen was the best its ever been. Touch responsiveness and handwriting recognition were almost as good as if using a normal pen and the S Pen is the first “accessory” to replicate the experience of writing on a piece of paper but on a touchscreen handset.

TouchWiz features

The “revamped TouchWiz” we all forgot was a real, beautiful concept261482

The Galaxy Note range stood out not just for the S Pen but also for other features that Samsung had built into its TouchWiz interface to make the most of the much larger display. Many manufacturers have developed large devices, but very few have optimised the interface to make the handset a lot easier to use, especially for people who have come from smaller smartphones.

For Samsung, the answer to making the most of big screen devices like the Galaxy Note is two-fold; one-handed mode shrinks the entire OS to fit into a section of the display to make it easy to use with one hand; meanwhile, Multi Window lets you arrange two apps side-by-side to make full use of the large display.

Multi Window especially is a feature that other manufacturers have tried their hardest to offer similar versions of, and while some have come close, the Galaxy Note Multi Window works best when used with the S Pen. Just like with Windows PCs, the dual screen arrangement is easy to use, and at least with the Note 4, it came with the ability to easily share content between windows, resize the windows, and shrink them to pop up windows that overlay anything else on the device.

With past Galaxy Note devices, the handset was made for power users and the ability to run two apps side by side certainly increased the appeal of the handset. While Samsung’s TouchWiz interface and icons don’t appeal to everyone, the specifically designed features on the Galaxy Note were made to make the most of the large display and its something that Samsung’s rivals are yet to replicate as well.

Is the Note still special?

That’s what made the Galaxy Note range so special, but what about this year’s handset? Tomorrow, Samsung is taking to the stage in New York (and a special event in London) to unveil its new devices, and with all the leaks and rumours, it’s pretty certain we’ll see two new devices – the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus.

Samsung’s past Galaxy Note devices were also iconic, as they usually came with large batteries and for the times when this wasn’t enough, you could easily swap the battery out. This year’s devices won’t have either, with the battery expected to be smaller than the Galaxy Note 4 and non-removable as well.

The key problem for Samsung this year is how to differentiate the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus from the competition. We’ll talk about the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus below but aside from the metal and glass design of the Galaxy S6 which should make its way to the Galaxy Note 5, there’s very little to set the handset apart from the competition.

Yes, Samsung’s Super AMOLED display is without doubt, one of the best on the market, but the problem for Samsung is that, with these devices set to cost more than ever before, the display may not yet be enough to persuade customers to buy the handset. The Galaxy Note has always been a special device, but a high price tag in the face of massive competition may mean it has lost its extra appeal.

The S Pen is and will always be an interesting addition to a smartphone, but the lack of removable battery – coupled with fears of the battery life thanks to the battery life reported on the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge – means Samsung’s Galaxy Note may not command the aplomb in the marketplace that past generations have.

Is the S Pen, a stylish design, and an excellent display enough to justify the lack of removable battery and the high price tag, especially with so many other devices that offer the same size and resolution at a lower cost? As much as I would like to say it is, I have a feeling that the new Galaxy Note 5 won’t have the appeal of past devices and if this is the case, Samsung has a real problem.

Is the Edge Samsung’s secret weapon?

Last year saw the introduction of the Galaxy Note Edge, which had all the Galaxy Note 4 features but added a curved display on one side. Without doubt, the Note Edge had its faults, and the dual curved edge on the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus should right the biggest of these, but it has one big issue.

The key difference between the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is expected to be the lack of S Pen on the latter, and, although it gains a dual-curved edge, it drops the feature which set the Note range apart from the competition. The lack of S Pen makes the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus nothing more than a larger Galaxy S6 Edge and while this will certainly appeal to some users, an S Pen would have given the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus market appeal unlike any other device.

Of course, Samsung is likely to announce several other features (most likely software-based) of the handsets during its launch tomorrow and we’ll come back and update this piece accordingly but what do you think? Is the Note range still special or has it lost its appeal? What would you buy instead? Let us know in the comments below guys!

Samsung’s Galaxy Note 5 and S6 Edge Plus will both feature 3,000mAh batteries according to leak

There isn’t long to go until August 13th, the day that Samsung will officially launch the Galaxy Note 5, the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and possibly another (as yet) unknown device at its Unpacked event. There’s been a steady stream of leaks in the last few weeks about both devices, and today’s leak is about battery capacity.

Both the GN5 and GS6e+ sport 3000mAh batteries. pic.twitter.com/yHcWg8Hj75

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) August 11, 2015

Thanks to @evleaks, who is seemingly intent on regaining his crown in the leaks business, we now know that both the Galaxy Note 5 and the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus will both sport 3,000mAh batteries. Fans of the Note series of smartphones will probably be disappointed that the battery has been whittled down to just 3,000mAh, 240mAh lower than what last year’s Note 4 offered. The smaller battery, coupled with the lack of MicroSD card support, could be the last straw that drives long-time fans of the Note series away from the Note 5. Time will tell, and we don’t have long to wait to find out. What do you think about the Note 5 only having a 3,000mAh battery? Will the more energy-efficient processor make up the difference?

Fans of the original Galaxy S6 Edge wanting a larger screen and a bigger battery will be happy to see a 3,000mAh battery in the S6 Edge Plus. Is it a big enough upgrade though from the 2,600mAh battery seen in the original, though? And will you also purchase the rumoured physical keyboard accessory?

As always, let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Source: @evleaks (Twitter)

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