Samsung France confirms that it will roll out the Lollipop update for the Galaxy Alpha

Earlier this week, Samsung France took to its official Twitter account to confirm that it will begin pushing out the much-anticipated Android 5.1.1 Lollipop update to all unlocked variants of the Galaxy Alpha in Europe next month.

The South Korean company announced that carriers are able to get their hands on the firmware now too, but it may take them significantly longer to start rolling out the OTA as the software will have to undergo operator testing before despatch.

The full changelog can be seen below:

• Material Design: You will quickly notice a whole new colorful look and feel to your device – from fluid animations to new application and system themes, colors and widgets.
• Notifications UI & Priorities: In order to alert you to the mosttimely and relevant information, the format and behavior of notifications have evolved:
  • notifications will appear on the lock screen and are intelligently ranked by type and who sent them.
  • you double-tap to open one, swipe left or right to clear one, or clear all notifications from the bottom of the list.
  • you can set the priority and privacy of notifications for each application.
  • very high priority notifications will pop up briefly over other applications so that you can take action.
  • when you dismiss a notification on one device it will be dismissed on your other Android devices, if they are connected to the Internet.
  • you can further tailor how notifications behave with the new Downtime and Ambient Display settings (see below).
• New Interruptions & Downtime Settings: You can tailor how interruptions behave, choosing to allow all, none, or only priority interruptions.  You can personalize what counts as a priority interruption (reminders, events, calls, messages) and even tailor them to be from only contacts you specify.  The Downtime setting will allow only priority interruptions during the times and days that you specify.  e.g. allow only priority interruptions on the weekend.
• Recent Apps (Multi-tasking): The redesigned Overview space (formerly called Recents) will include both applications and separate activities within those applications.  For instance, each open tab in Chrome will also appear here along with recent applications; both your Gmail Inbox and a draft email message will appear as separate cards.  This provides a consistent way to switch amongst tasks.
• Flashlight: Lollipop includes a new flashlight option as part of Quick settings (swipe down with two fingers from the status bar to see it).
• Pin a view/app: Screen pinning allows you to keep a specific app or screen in view. For example, you can ‘pin’ a game and your child will not be able to navigate anywhere else on your phone.
• Battery: The Battery settings panel now shows an estimated projection for how much time you have left while discharging or charging.  You can also enable a new battery saver mode that will save power by reducing performance and most background data operations to extend your battery life.
• Smarter Internet Connections: With Android Lollipop, your phone will not connect to a Wi-Fi access point unless there is a verified Internet connection. This feature improves hand-offs between Wi-Fi and cellular connections, helping to maintain your video chat or voice-over-IP (VoIP) call as you switch.
• Performance: Your phone now uses the new Android Runtime to help optimize application performance.  After upgrading to Lollipop, your applications will undergo a one-time optimization process.  Note that the optimization for ART requires more space.
• Security: Encryption can now use a stronger 256-bit key to help protect your data.  Note that the stronger key willonly be used after you perform a factory reset on Android Lollipop.  Otherwise encryption will continue to use 128-bit key.  You can turn on encryption in the Security settings menu.

Be sure to check back as we’ll let you know as and when this update starts its roll out .

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ITC Staff recommends clearing Samsung, Qualcomm in Nvidia case

Remember that lawsuit between Nvidia and Samsung that began late last year as a result of the graphic card manufacturer believing that the Korean company had infringed upon seven of its patents? And how Samsung hit back by first accusing Nvidia of false advertising and then by issuing its own lawsuit claiming the Nvidia had infringed upon Samsung’s patents? The International Trade Commission (ITC) stepped in soon after and have now formed a recommendation.

According to Bloomberg Intelligence, ITC staff members are recommending that Samsung and its co-defendant, Qualcomm, be cleared of patent infringement allegations brought by Nvidia. While this endorsement gives Samsung and Qualcomm a definite advantage over Nvidia, the case will rumble on until at least October before a ruling is made.

If Nvidia were to manage to prove its case, it could receive up to $2 billion in royalties from the defendants. It could also result in a U.S. ban on some of Samsung’s products that are proven to infringe on Nvidia’s patents. While the ruling is only due in October, I’m sure this isn’t the last we have heard on the matter.

Source: Bloomberg

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U.S. Cellular begins Android 5.1.1 rollout for Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge

Right off the heels of an international rollout, U.S. Cellular has begun sending Android 5.1.1 out for both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge.

The update will bring your baseband to G920R4TYU2BOF7. And if you haven’t received the update yet, you can check manually by heading into Settings > About Phone. Unfortunately, there’s no official changelog from U.S. Cellular yet, but you can expect to see some minor notification improvements and Factory Reset Protection.

Anyone get the update yet?

source: U.S. Cellular

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Samsung’s Theme Store is a hit, surpassing 6 million theme downloads

Over 6 million themes have been downloaded from the Samsung Theme Store since the Galaxy S6 launched, according to Samsung. More themes are added to the Theme Store each week, no doubt because of the popularity of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge.

A big part of this surge in downloads may have a lot to deal with the Samsung-Marvel partnership. They collaborated together to bring the Galaxy S6 Edge Iron Man Edition to a select few Asian markets, but they’ve also worked together to bring many Marvel-based themes to the Theme Store. And with advertising from both companies, there’s no doubt this had a big part to play in the millions of downloads.

Samsung has tried to launch a myriad of different software stores (e.g. the Samsung App Store) alongside device releases, and none of them have really taken off, in part because users prefer Google’s ecosystem over a Samsung ecosystem. However, Samsung seems to have gotten it right this time with the Theme Store, taking advantage of the many customizable aspects of Android.

After all, who wouldn’t want a Captain America-themed launcher? What is your favourite theme in Samsung’s Theme Store? Sound off in the comments below.

source: Samsung (Twitter)

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