Android Authority this week
Hello fans, here are the biggest news in the world of Android this week. In typical Samsung fashion, we’ve been treated with a slew of mouthwatering teasers for the upcoming Galaxy S6 – Samsung is strongly hinting to a metal and glass design, and the company also alluded to built-in wireless charging. HTC went easier on the teasers, but the surprise may be spoiled anyway by a listing of the M9 on a German’s retailer website. In non-flagship news, the Pebble team announced a major update, new chips were unveiled by Samsung and Qualcomm, and LG introduced the elegant Watch Urbane.
Inside AA HQ
Our Friday Debate podcast is at its fifth installment, and we think we’re finally starting to hit our groove with it. And by “we” I mean Josh, Joe, Andrew and Jon, who all agree that edition #5 (listen to it below) was the nicest and funnest yet. Apparently, at least some of you guys agree, since our little podcast made it to the Trending 100 of Pocket Casts. We thank you and we hope that’s just the beginning.
This Tuesday we finally released Ash’s magnificent History of Nexus video. A production of epic proportions and quality, as well as one of the longest videos we ever put out, the video walks your through all the key moments of the glorious Nexus series. Check it out.
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Next week, we’re heading out to MWC, the biggest mobile event in the world. Josh and Lanh will be on video duty, Darcy will be leading us fearlessly, while yours truly will try not to get into anyone’s way. Technically, MWC starts next Monday, but all the really good stuff (M9, S6, mmm!) will be out on Sunday. We can’t wait to be there and share it with you!
Real phones have curves, thinks LG, and we agree. That’s why we’re giving away a curvaceous G Flex 2 in our beloved Sunday Giveaway. Head over here to get your raffle tickets, and good luck!
The Friday Debate Podcast
The stuff you shouldn’t miss
Here are some interesting posts for your Sunday reading:
- Epic: Check out this awesome video on the history of Nexus from our very own Ash Tailor
- Feature: Andrew looks at some of the nicest smartphones you probably never heard of
- Versus: Josh finds out how the bendy G Flex 2 stands up against the LG G3
- Feature: Despite the appearance, Xiaomi isn’t unstoppable – here’s what could throw it off tracks
- Editorial: Mark delves into the paradox of Android – most OEMs don’t make any money
- Review: The new Raspberry Pi is here – Gary takes a look
- Tech talk: From Tegra to MediaTek, and everything in between – check out our latest SoC guide
Top news of the week
And here are the top news in the Android world this week:
Pebble is back in the news
- Pebble updated to support Android Wear apps
- New Pebble watch will reportedly feature a thinner design and a colored e-paper display
New chips
- Samsung announces Exynos 7 Octa SoC based on 14nm FinFET process
- Qualcomm announces four new mid-tier SoCs with high-end performance and features
- Samsung announces faster eMMC 5.1 flash memory chips
LG: G4 and Urbane
- LG is bringing a stylish new smartwatch to MWC, the LG G Watch Urbane
- LG G4 will launch around mid-April – sources
Galaxy S6 teaser bonanza
- Samsung releases second Galaxy S6 teaser video
- Samsung hints that Galaxy S6 could support multiple wireless charging standards
- Another clue that the Galaxy S6 will feature a 2,600-mAh battery
- New Galaxy S6 teaser alludes to curves, metal, and glass
- Here are the first brief glimpses of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
- Samsung Galaxy S6 will reportedly feature Sony’s IMX240 camera sensor
One M9: getting closer
- HTC begins teasing the ‘new HTC One’
- One M9 won’t be Quad HD, but the HTC Butterfly 3 probably will
- Something “HUGE” is coming, says HTC
- Seemingly official One M9 press shots and specs found on German retailer site
Sound off
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Happy Sunday!
Samsung, Lionsgate bring “Insurgent – Shatter Reality” to Gear VR
The sequel to last year’s popular film Divergent will be seen in theaters on March 20. The film, called Insurgent, will have a supplementary virtual reality experience arriving on February 27 due to a partnership between Lionsgate and Samsung. The Insurgent – Shatter Reality experience lasts four minutes and features characters played by Kate Winslet, Miles Teller, and Mekhi Phifer. Users get to see what Winslet’s character, Jeanine Matthews, puts members of society through in a 360° environment.
Through the Gear VR headset, fans of the Divergent series can go to locations setup in major cities to experience the Insurgent – Shatter Reality. The experience will tour in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin, and San Francisco starting on Tuesday. Also, the Milk VR service will host the experience through March 1. And, to maximize Insurgent – Shatter Reality‘s exposure, select Best Buy stores will host demonstrations on March 7-8.
Lionsgate and Samsung Announce “INSURGENT – SHATTER REALITY” Virtual Reality Experience
Exclusive to Samsung Gear VR and Samsung Milk VR, 360-Degree Immersive Video Creates Unique Experience for Fans of The Divergent Series: Insurgent
SANTA MONICA, Calif. and RIDGEFIELD PARK, N.J., Feb. 18, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next generation global content leader, and Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (Samsung), one of the world’s leading technology companies, have teamed up to create the exclusive virtual reality (VR) experience “INSURGENT – SHATTER REALITY,” the two companies announced today.
The four-minute visual work of art is a fully-immersive, 360-degree narrative experience set in the world of the upcoming feature film The Divergent Series: Insurgent and features stars from the film including Academy Award winner Kate Winslet, Miles Teller and Mekhi Phifer. Beginning February 27, fans can experience the VR content for themselves exclusively through Samsung Gear™ VR powered by the Galaxy Note® 4 as “INSURGENT – SHATTER REALITY” goes on tour in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Austin and San Francisco prior to going live across all platforms and app stores.
The experience will also be available exclusively on Samsung’s Milk VR™ service through March 1. Fans outside the tour markets will have an opportunity to view the experience on Samsung Gear VR over the weekend of March 7-8 at select Best Buy® stores across the US.
“Virtual reality elevates the world of Divergent to a whole new level by creating a uniquely exciting and immersive experience for our fans,” said Lionsgate Chief Marketing Officer Tim Palen. “The ‘INSURGENT – SHATTER REALITY’ experience reflects our commitment to partner with leading technology companies like Samsung to remain at the cutting edge of VR and other innovations that expand the worlds of our franchises and extend our storytelling in exciting new directions.”
“As we push new boundaries in the world of technology and virtual reality, we are excited to continue our relationship with Lionsgate and bring Divergent fans a one-of-a-kind experience through Gear VR and Milk VR,” said Nick DiCarlo, Vice President and General Manager, Immersive Products & Virtual Reality at Samsung Electronics America. “This partnership will bring fans closer than ever to the action in this blockbuster series.”
By putting on the Gear VR headset, consumers are immersed in the role of “Divergent” members of society who have been captured by Jeanine Matthews (Kate Winslet) and her Erudite faction and are subjected to a series of mental “simulations” in order to determine the full extent of their divergence. As the VR technology simulates Jeanine and her faction cohorts testing them with experimental serums, they experience two distinct, intensely gripping and realistic fearscapes, transporting them from the frightening heights of a crumbling Chicago skyscraper to the intimidating challenge of a massive, fast-approaching locomotive.
Created by virtual reality innovators Kite & Lightning with assistance from the film’s VFX team, the experience was built using stereoscopic 4K video of the actors, with effects and environment built in Unreal Engine 4 and then rendered into an immersive 3D/360-degree experience. It was scored by The Divergent Series: Insurgent composer Joe Trapanese.
The Divergent Series: Insurgent, the second installment of the blockbuster Divergent franchise, will be released in theaters worldwide on March 20. The first Divergent film grossed nearly $300 million at the global box office, and the Divergent trilogy has sold more than 30 million books around the world.
ABOUT LIONSGATE
Lionsgate is a premier next generation global content leader with a strong and diversified presence in motion picture production and distribution, television programming and syndication, home entertainment, digital distribution, channel platforms and international distribution and sales. The Company currently has more than 30 television shows on over 20 different networks spanning its primetime production, distribution and syndication businesses, including such critically-acclaimed hits as the multiple Emmy Award-winning Mad Men and Nurse Jackie, the comedy Anger Management, the broadcast network series Nashville, the syndication success The Wendy Williams Show and the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black.
Its feature film business has been fueled by such recent successes as the blockbuster first three installments of The Hunger Games franchise, the first installment of the Divergent franchise, John Wick, Now You See Me, Roadside Attractions’ A Most Wanted Man, Lionsgate/Codeblack Films’ Addicted and Pantelion Films’ Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate’s home entertainment business is an industry leader in box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates. Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is an important source of recurring revenue and serves as the foundation for the growth of the Company’s core businesses. The Lionsgate and Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the world. http://www.lionsgate.com
ABOUT SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC.
Headquartered in Ridgefield Park, NJ, Samsung Electronics America, Inc. (SEA), is a recognized innovation leader in consumer electronics design and technology. A wholly owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., SEA delivers a broad range of digital consumer electronics and IT products. Samsung is the market leader for HDTVs in the U.S. To discover more, please visit http://www.samsung.com.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. inspires the world and shapes the future with transformative ideas and technologies, redefining the worlds of TVs, smartphones, wearable devices, tablets, cameras, digital appliances, printers, medical equipment, network systems, and semiconductor and LED solutions. We are also leading in the Internet of Things space through, among others, our Smart Home and Digital Health initiatives. We employ 307,000 people across 84 countries with annual sales of US $196 billion. To discover more, please visit our official website at http://www.samsung.com and our official blog at global.samsungtomorrow.com.
Come comment on this article: Samsung, Lionsgate bring “Insurgent – Shatter Reality” to Gear VR
Samsung releases promo video for the upcoming Galaxy S6
On the lead up to the release of the Galaxy S6 at Samsungs Unpacked event, a new promo video has been released teasing the flagship device. Whilst specific images or details do not appear in the video, it does give some teasers as to what we can expect.
Tomorrow, metals will flow, beauty will be powerful, borders will disappear, reflections will be free, colors will live, the future will be the present.
So from the statement above, and the leaks and rumours, it wouldn’t be crazy to assume that the Galaxy S6 will have at least one curved edge, if not a complete curvature to the chassis/screen. “Borders will disappear” implies that we may be looking at either a bezel-less device, or a complete curved device.
We’ll have to wait and see what Samsung have in store for us on the 1st March at MWC, but it seems they are taking a completely unique and new direction with the Galaxy S6.
Check out the video below.
The post Samsung releases promo video for the upcoming Galaxy S6 appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung Teases Front Stereo Speakers
Samsung’s Norwegian site has posted some rumors that have been floating around the web about the much-awaited Samsung Galaxy S6. The rumors have to do with the build design, from dual front-facing speakers (a la HTC One), metal body (a la HTC One), and a curved screen (a la Galaxy Note Edge).
While most of these rumors are most likely false, it is still worth thinking about and maybe getting excited over. As an HTC One user, one of the most beneficial design features on the device is the front-facing speaker. The ability to watch a video or play a game and actually hear it loud and clear is a fantastic part of the user experience. The metal body is most likely a design premium that may shrink the profit margin for Samsung this year, and may sacrifice some security against drops for looks. Lastly, the curved screen is most likely not going to happen due to it being a niche feature at this point in the tech world, but an optional Edge model would be a very neat addition to Samsung’s already enormous product line.
What do you think about the rumors? Are you anxiously awaiting March 1st? Leave a comment below and let us know about your plans in regards to the Galaxy S6.
Source: Samsung
Via: Sammobile
Come comment on this article: Samsung Teases Front Stereo Speakers
Samsung teases that the ‘Next Galaxy’ is borderless and metal
Samsung’s teasers for the Galaxy S6 (or whatever it might be named) are getting decidedly less cryptic. The company’s latest hype video for the new smartphone promises that “borders will disappear” and “metals will flow” — if there was any doubt that the next Galaxy is ditching the S5’s utilitarian plastic design, it’s gone. There are further hints of a curved (and reflection-free) display, too. There’s a good chance that the phone won’t quite live up to this teaser’s breathless prose, but one thing’s increasingly certain: Samsung doesn’t want its upcoming flagship device to suffer the ignominious fate of its predecessor.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Source: Samsung Tomorrow
Here are the first brief glimpses of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge
Samsung is kicking the hype machine into overdrive for the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge. Following the video teaser from yesterday, a longer clip that Samsung just published today shows us the first brief glimpses at the long anticipated devices.
Like the teaser from yesterday, this new video is all about curves, metal, and glass. The metal frame of S6 is briefly shown, and there’s a lot of imagery of glass and other silky smooth materials. The curved metal frame of the Galaxy S6 Edge can also be spotted, and the entire device can be seen, vaguely, around the 0:23 mark.
The silhouette of the Galaxy S6 seen at 0:37 seems to match the many renders, product schematics, and case leaks from the past couple of weeks.
Check out the full rumor roundup to get up to speed to with the Galaxy S6 and its sloped-edge sibling, and stick to Android Authority for more teasers as they come.
Samsung Galaxy S6 will reportedly feature Sony’s IMX240 camera sensor
Just like every year, we hear a ton of different rumors regarding Samsung’s next big flagship phone leading up to its announcement. According to a new rumor that’s not so surprising, Samsung will reportedly use Sony’s IMX240 camera sensor in the upcoming Galaxy S6. As reported by SamMobile, the Galaxy S6 will also tote a 16MP rear-facing camera, not the 20MP camera that was previously rumored.
So, why is Samsung’s decision to use a Sony sensor not surprising? First of all, if you can recall back to last October, an iFixit teardown of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4 handset revealed that the company used the same Sony IMX240 camera sensor in the phablet. So, this isn’t the first time the company moved away from their in-house built camera tech.
Samsung hasn’t exactly been quiet about their journey into ISOCELL camera technology, which they used in the Galaxy S5. A big drawback to using ISOCELL tech in the camera is the omission of optical image stabilization (OIS). Instead, ISOCELL uses a software-based alternative called Picture Stabilization. Even though we praised the S5’s camera in our full review, the lack of OIS support may be the reason why they’re going with Sony this time around.
Perhaps the company is working to better their own camera tech before they put it in another flagship device. And for now, that may not be a bad thing. The Note 4’s camera, which used the IMX240 sensor, was one of our favorite cameras on a smartphone that released last year.
What do you think of the rumor? Are you glad to see a return to Sony’s cams or would you prefer Samsung to have stuck with ISOCELL?
Here’s when your Android smartphone will receive the Lollipop update
If you’re wondering when your HTC, Samsung, Sony, LG or Huawei smartphone is set to receive the long-awaited Android 5.0 Lollipop update, then wonder no more. Here at Talk Android, we have compiled a list extracted from a variety of sources, predominantly leaks, to provide you with an estimated timeframe of when your beloved handset should start receiving the upgrade.
Just remember, that unlocked versions are likely to get the update first. Carrier branded devices go through rigorous testing, which can take up to a month or two depending on how many bugs are found. So, without further ado, here is the list:
HTC:
- One (M8) — Asian, International and American distribution in progress.
- Desire Eye — March
- One E8 — March
- One Mini 2 — March/April
- Desire 816 — March/April
- One Max — April/May
- One Mini — April/May
- Butterfly S — May
Samsung:
- Galaxy S5 — Asian, European and American distribution in progress.
- Galaxy S4 — European and American distribution in progress. Update expected in Asia in March.
- Galaxy S4 LTE-A — European distribution in progress. Update expected in Asia and America in April/May.
- Galaxy Note 4 — Asian, European and American distribution in progress.
- Galaxy Note 3 — Asian, European and American distribution in progress.
- Galaxy Alpha — April
- Galaxy Note Edge — February
- Galaxy S4 Mini — June/July
- Galaxy S5 Mini — June/July
Sony:
- Xperia Z3 — March
- Xperia Z3 Compact — March
- Xperia Z3v — March
- Xperia Z2 — April/May
- Xperia Z2 Compact — April/May
- Xperia Z — June/July
- Xperia ZL — June/July
- Xperia ZR — June/July
- Xperia Z1 — June/July
- Xperia Z1 Compact — June/July
- Xperia Z Ultra — June/July
LG:
- G3 — Asian, European and American distribution in progress.
- G Pro 2 — European distribution in progress. Update expected to arrive in Asia and America in March.
- G2 — March/April
- G2 Mini — March/April
- G3 Beat — April
Huawei:
- Ascend Mate 2 — March/April
- Honor 6 — May/June
- Ascend P7 — April/May
Come comment on this article: Here’s when your Android smartphone will receive the Lollipop update
Samsung Galaxy S6 render looks pretty close to the real deal
When a device release gets closer, the design community usually has a field day trying to render the device as closely to the real deal as possible. Naturally, a Samsung Galaxy S6 render is at a premium at the moment, and some designers appear to have nailed Samsung‘s latest devices in a video featuring some very […]
The post Samsung Galaxy S6 render looks pretty close to the real deal appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Samsung shows us what happens when Australians go shark diving with Gear VR
Things are rather dry in the center of Australia. The country is surrounded by water, but the Alice Springs region is a desert and that means some people may have a hard time ever seeing the ocean. Samsung, though, brought the ocean to the people in the form of virtual reality. The company opened a swim shop in the Alice Springs region that allowed people to come in, put on the Gear VR headset, and go diving with sharks. The participants were shocked to learn upon taking off the headset that the Galaxy Note 4 was powering the experience.
Hit the break for the video.
Click here to view the embedded video.
Via: Phone Arena
Come comment on this article: Samsung shows us what happens when Australians go shark diving with Gear VR
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