Android 5.0.1 Lollipop leaked for the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge
After many leaks and teasers, Samsung has been gradually rolling out Android Lollipop updates for its Galaxy S5, S4, and Note 3 smartphones. Now, a leaked Android 5.0.1 build, complete with Touchwiz features, has appeared for the Samsung Galaxy Note Edge, courtesy of folks over at the XDA Forum.
The build, labelled XXU1BOA2, appears to have come from a beta version of a stock Touchwiz, Android 5.0.1 Lollipop that was created on January 29th, which suggests that it’s probably as up to date as Samsung is with the ROM right now. As it stands, the firmware is reported to work with the SM-N915FY (for Europe) and the SM-N915F models of the Galaxy Note Edge. As we’ve seen before with Samsung’s Touchwiz tweaked Lollipop, the theme and new menu layouts take on a slightly new look than before. See the image below:
Those interesting in flashing the build can do so through ODIN without tripping Knox and can also go back to Android 4.4.4 without too much hassle. Which is probably a good thing, as the beta build probably has a few bugs left to work out. One important bug to note is that you have to manually set the minimum CPU frequency to 300MHz using some third party software.
There are the usual instructions over on XDA link below for those looking to install the ROM, so read them carefully and, as always, make a backup before you start.
Samsung event teaser hints that ‘what’s next’ is a curvy Galaxy
Samsung’s pre-announcement clues are sometimes cryptic at best, but it’s not being especially subtle this time around. Hours after Tinhte first revealed that something was up, Samsung has posted a “what’s next” teaser for a March 1st Galaxy Unpacked event in Barcelona whose centerpiece is the shadowy profile of a curvy-looking device. While it’s not perfectly clear what this image represents, it bears an uncanny resemblance to the right-hand side of the Galaxy Note Edge, where the smartphone’s signature curved display tapers off. Seeing as how Samsung isn’t about to re-unveil a phone, our money’s on the teaser alluding to a Galaxy S6 with an Edge-like screen, whether it’s optional (as SamMobile rumored earlier) or standard issue. Whatever shows up, it’s pretty obvious that March 1st is going to be a very busy day in the Android world — we’ll be sure to attend those events and let you know what Samsung, HTC and others have to offer.
What’s next? The answer will be revealed March 1st at #Unpacked. #TheNextGalaxy pic.twitter.com/h6wve2BFWJ
– Samsung Mobile (@SamsungMobile) February 3, 2015
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Samsung Unpacked event slated for March 1; invitation hints at Galaxy S6 Edge
Samsung is expected to announce its next-gen flagship Android experience on March 1, according to Unpacked invitations being sent out over the last few hours. Touting only “What’s Next” we get teasing glimpse of what figures to be an Edge variant of the presumed Samsung Galaxy S6.
With less than a month to go before we see the new hotness from Samsung, we figure there will be plenty of leaks continuing to spill online. To keep up with everything there is to know about the phone, be sure to check out our ongoing and updated What We Know post.
The post Samsung Unpacked event slated for March 1; invitation hints at Galaxy S6 Edge appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 in 60+ device design pipelines this year, with LG, OPPO, Sony, Motorola and others on-board
Much of what has been written over the last few weeks in regards to the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 processor was negative. Not in the grand scheme of things, but due to information that Samsung wouldn’t be using the chip because it over heats. Just last week Qualcomm said it would be not working with one […]
The post Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 in 60+ device design pipelines this year, with LG, OPPO, Sony, Motorola and others on-board appeared first on AndroidSPIN.
Android 5.0 Lollipop rolling out to Verizon Galaxy S5
When Lollipop first became official, Motorola was pretty much the first player out of the gate, even beating out the majority of Nexus devices. Many other OEMs talked a big game too, such as HTC and LG, who promised quite updates to Lollipop. Samsung on the other hand kept quiet about its plans, leading many of us to believe they would once again drag their feet.
Fast-forwarding to today, we’ve seen HTC announce it will miss its 90 day Lollipop rollout deadline, and while LG has been good about bringing the update to LG G3 users, the same can’t be said for US owners of the device. Seemingly out of nowhere, Samsung has now beat nearly every other OEM to the game by releasing Android 5.0 Lollipop to the Verizon Galaxy S5 in the United States.
It’s hard not to applaud Samsung for pushing the update out in a reasonably quick matter, and it is even more impressive that they got it out to Verizon.
Similar to the LG G3 Lollipop update rolling out, a lot of Lollipop’s biggest changes (Material Design) are almost nowhere to be seen here due to the OEM UI taking precedence. That said, there are still changes including brighter colors, an updated multitasking interface, ART by default, a new lock screen and the priority system for Lollipop. Regardless, it’s hard not to applaud Samsung for pushing the update out in a reasonably quick matter, and it is even more impressive that they got it out to Verizon, a carrier known for slow updates. It is worth noting this isn’t the first Samsung device to receive an update to Lollipop, just the first Samsung device to receive it in the United States, at least officially.
Don’t be surprised if it still takes a few days or longer for the update to reach your device, though you can always try checking for the update by heading into Settings>System Updates. For those that have received the OTA, what do you think so far? For more details, be sure to check out Verizon’s GS5 Lollipop update PDF.
What is fragmentation and how does it affect me?
Many of you may have read the report by OpenSignal that came out this past August. In it OpenSignal gives a frightening view on just how fragmented the Android ecosystem truly is. As of the published date of the report, there were 18,796 distinct Android devices up from 11,868 of the previous year with not all of them being on the same version of Android. That equates to a 58.38% jump in just over a year. Now you might be thinking “Okay Juan, so what? You just threw a few scary numbers at me but I just got a shiny new Samsung phone for the holidays. Why should I care how many unique Android devices there are?” While there are many ways that fragmentation can affect the user, let’s touch on the two big ways that we experience its effects in our daily lives.
Android Updates
You may have noticed that when Google releases a new version of Android you do not immediately see an update notification on your phone to upgrade to it. It usually takes a few months for users to see the update hit their devices and some users may not get to see it at all. This boils down to the open source nature that is Android. When Google releases a new version of their OS, they are only releasing the core system. Since Google does not manufacture actual devices to run Android and instead depends on other OEMs like Samsung, HTC, and Motorola to create them, they cannot really develop something that is going to meet everyone’s needs. So it is then up to the OEM’s to use the source code and modify and make adjustments so that it runs smoothly on their specific devices. Many OEM’s like to add their own twist on Android phones such as customized UI’s, different sensors, and various hardware specifications and it would be impossible for Google to be able to create something that cater to so many different configurations. This is where fragmentation begins to occur.
Let’s take Samsung’s line of Galaxy S5 phone for instance. What we see as just the Galaxy S5 is actually just one of many models that have been released around the world. This in turn means that when an update comes out Samsung has to modify the code that Google releases for not just one model but many and that is just for the Galaxy S5 alone. Now imagine all the lines of phones that Samsung has and then each one of those having different models and you begin to see why it might take a while for updates to hit your phone. Samsung would have had to prioritize and seen which devices were actually going to get the update and how fast. You might see their latest flagship, in this case the Galaxy S5, get the update within a few short months and other devices it could take up to year. If Samsung deems the devices to be too old and not worth the update, then they will keep it at the current version and only releases critical updates if they are needed. From just one OEM alone now you have a line of phone each one with a different version of Android and different capabilities and you begin to see the fragmentation take place. Samsung would not have been able to just get the source code and make something that would run on all their devices due to the nature that each model and line of devices is different and has different capabilities. So with all that said now you have an idea on why it takes so long for your devices to get an update and how fragmentation plays a part in it. Having so many different devices configurations makes it quite difficult to create something that will run on everything and so instead we are depending on the OEM to modify the code and must wait for them to deem our device worthy of an update.
Android Apps
You may have caught your friends talking about that awesome new app that just hit the Play Store only to find that your phone is not capable of running it and you are left out. This occurs just due to the nature of how Android works. We already touched on how Android is an open source project and is available all around the world. Well that not only affects how updates are handled but also the very way nature of the apps that are installed on it. You see, when a developer comes up with a great idea for an app it’s not just program and go. He has to decide where his target audience is and program from there. Since there are so many distinct android devices with each one running a different version of android and having different hardware configurations, it is impossible to create an app that is going to run 100% on all devices. The developer has to decide which version of android he is wanting to target and focus on that one group.
Using the social giant’s latest release as an example, Facebook Lite, we can see how this process works. When Facebook first came out with its app on the Play Store one of the biggest complaints was that the app would lag and was not very smooth to use. The issue was due to the fact that the Facebook App can be quite taxing on phones as it requires quite a lot of resources to run smoothly. For most recent phones that is not an issue and they will never have to really worry about the phone lagging. It does start to become an issue though when you have low level phones in emerging markets such as India where the phone is just not capable of running the app smoothly or at all. This is due to the hardware configurations of the various devices and the version of Android that they are running. So what did Facebook do? They had to create an entirely new app that was toned down to be able to run on lower level phones and did not require so much power from the phone itself. For a giant tech company like Facebook having to create a completely separate app to accommodate other markets is not a big deal but for smaller companies and single developers who cannot spare the resources or the time they have to just pick one market and go with it. So fragmentation limits the apps that are able to run on devices and in turn makes it so that just because you have an android phone it does not mean you are going to be able to run every app that is made for the OS.
Final Thoughts
You may now be second guessing having gone with the Android ecosystem of devices but that should definitely not be the case. I stated earlier that Android being open source is one of its greatest strengths and I firmly stand by that belief. Though fragmentation does have some drawbacks it is also what makes Android such a huge success. Instead of having just one company making all the decisions and shaping what Android is going to look like in its next iteration you have a consortium making these decisions all with the consumer in mind. So if you enjoy using that shiny new Samsung device just remember that if it were not for fragmentation your experience might have been completely different.
Sources: OpenSignal
The post What is fragmentation and how does it affect me? appeared first on AndroidGuys.
Samsung Unpacked teaser hints at curved Galaxy S6 variant
A new teaser for Samsung’s March 1st Unpacked Event is starting to make its way to the media, showing off an image with a curved line that is most certainly a hint at what to expect from Samsung when it comes to the company’s latest Galaxy S flagship.
There’s no denying that 2014 wasn’t the best year for Samsung, at least when it comes to mobile devices. In a hopes of returning to a greater state of profitability, Samsung has been talking big recently about how the Galaxy S6 will be a major departure from the GS5 in terms of design. One of the more persistent rumors is that Samsung will deploy a dual edge/curve design at least for one variant of the Galaxy S6, said to be named the Galaxy S Edge. The new Unpacked teaser could very well be confirmation of this.
In fact, an image from the German site All About Samsung further drives home the point that this is likely a look at the side of the Galaxy S6’s edge variant. As you can see, the image in the teaser looks very similar to the side of the Galaxy Note Edge:
Of course, the design isn’t the exact same as the Note Edge, but it still seems pretty likely that this is a hint of the curved/edge Galaxy S, though that’s just speculation for now. We really can’t say for sure what Samsung is teasing, only that it’s just enough to have our curiosity piqued. One thing is for sure, regardless of what Samsung brings, Android Authority will be on the scene bringing you all the latest coverage from MWC and Samsung’s Unpacked Event next month.
Looking to know more about the Galaxy S6? All the latest rumors can be found in one place through our GS6 rumor roundup post.
How would you change Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 10.1?
When we placed Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 3 10.1 in front of Joseph Volpe, it was all he could do not to roll his eyes. Rather than any headline features, the slate was merely an improvement on the second generation, just with a newer version of Android and, interestingly enough, an Intel chip. When he was done with it, Volpe remained as underwhelmed as when he’d began. In his words, it’ll adequately do what you need it to do, but it won’t look pretty, or dazzle you with performance. At a price of $399, he suggested you take your cash elsewhere – but we imagine some of you didn’t heed his sage counsel. So, if you bought one, what did you think of it? Dive feet-first into our forum and tell us what you would have changed.
Source: Engadget Product Forums
Samsung Galaxy A3 Review
The Bottom Line
- Unibody metal design
- Good battery life
- Compact form factor
- Good performance
- Low resolution screen
- Non-removable battery
- Poor camera performance
Hindered only by its camera, the Samsung Galaxy A3 is a solid mid-range smartphone with good performance, battery life, and an unibody metal design that can rival the build quality of some of the highest end flagships out there.
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With competing OEMs stepping up their game in terms of build quality, there have been a growing number of consumers that have been wanting Samsung to use a build material other than plastic. Samsung took a step in this direction with the Samsung Galaxy Alpha with its metal frame, which was also the design language found with the flagship Galaxy Note 4, with the back cover still plastic in both cases.
With their latest A series of smartphones though, Samsung took things in terms of build quality to another level, with the two otherwise mid-range devices boasting premium metal unibody designs. While neither of these smartphones are widely available in the US, their design language may serve as a precursor for what’s to come, as was true in the case of the Galaxy Alpha and the Galaxy Note 4, which is what has us very excited. We’ve already taken a closer look at the Galaxy A5, and today, we’ll be taking a look at its smaller sibling, in this in-depth review of the Samsung Galaxy A3!
Design
For many years, Samsung smartphones have been made entirely of plastic, and while this didn’t particularly affect durability, it did unfortunately result in expensive flagship smartphones not feeling as premium as they should be. With the Galaxy A3, as well as the Galaxy A5, Samsung has taken things in a different direction, with both devices featuring a full metal construction.
Even with the change in build material, the design aesthetics remain largely the same across the board, with signature Samsung elements returning with the Galaxy A3, including, but not limited to, the tactile home button up front, flanked by capacitive back and Recent Apps keys. In typical Samsung fashion, the easy to reach power button is found on the right side, with two SIM card slots found below it, with one of the slots also doubling as a microSD card slot. The volume rocker is to the left, with the headphone jack and the microUSB port found at the bottom. The rear camera is flanked by the LED flash on its left, with a single speaker found on the other side.
The way it feels in the hand however is drastically different from even a flagship device like the Galaxy S5. Despite its metal body and smooth back, the phone isn’t as slippery as one might expect, with the flat sides and chamfered edges providing plenty of grip. With its 4.5-inch display, one-handed use with the Galaxy A3 isn’t an issue, which is not something you can say with regards to a lot of current smartphones. The Galaxy A3 feels solid and looks great, serving as proof that Samsung is certainly capable of making premium feeling devices.
Display
As mentioned, the Samsung Galaxy A3 comes with a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 960 x 540 resolution, resulting in a pixel density of 245 ppi. AMOLED technology brings with it everything we love about it, including deep blacks, high contrast ratios, saturated colors, and wide viewing angles.
That said, while a 4.5-inch display size is great for one-handed use, it does seem a little small when it comes to media consumption. The low resolution doesn’t help either, especially when it comes to gaming or watching videos on Youtube. This display is great for everyday tasks such as browsing the web or social media, but does leave a lot to be desired from a media consumption standpoint.
Performance and Hardware
Under the hood, the Samsung Galaxy A3 packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon 410 processor, clocked at 1.2 GHz, and backed by the Adreno 306 GPU and 1 GB of RAM. This is Qualcomm’s updated 64-bit mid-tier processor, and while it seems like a modest package, it provides more than enough power to handle most tasks on the device, including some graphic-intensive games, without too many hiccups.
The only real issue that comes up is with the fact that the Galaxy A3 tends to refresh the home screen after playing a high-end game, or when spending a lot of time in the camera application. This is mostly likely because of the device featuring just 1 GB of RAM though, as this happens only after using apps that use a lot of memory, with the device performing really well otherwise.
The Galaxy A3 comes with 8 GB or 16 GB of internal storage, further expandable via microSD up to 64 GB, as well as a full suite of sensors and connectivity options, including LTE support. One thing to watch out for though is the version number, as various versions support varying LTE bands depending on the market, and this particular review unit was unable to connect to T-Mobile’s LTE network.
The single speaker can be found on the back, next to the camera unit. The speaker produces a clean sound, with no distortion, but doesn’t get especially loud, even when compared to single speaker setups on some other smartphones. The placement of the speaker does allow for a clear sound when holding the device in portrait orientation, but you may end up covering it when watching videos or playing games while in landscape orientation.
The Galaxy A3 is a small and compact phone, and that reflects in the rather small 1,900 mAh battery of the device. That said, the battery life is still very impressive, with 12 to 15 hours off the charger including 4 to 5 hours of screen-on time, even with a lot of gaming and watching videos on Youtube. The low resolution AMOLED display is certainly a contributing factor, but the battery life is still one of the highlights of this phone.
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One factor that may disappoint die-hard Samsung fans is the fact that the battery is non-removable, a sacrifice that had to be made to accommodate the metal construction. Power saving features are available though, including the ultra power saving mode that switches the phone to a grey scale palette, but severely limits functionality, that should allow most users to get enough juice out of this battery.
Camera
When it comes to the camera, the Galaxy A3 features an 8 MP rear unit with LED flash, along with a 5 MP front-facing camera. The camera application hasn’t changed much from previous Samsung devices aesthetically, but isn’t as packed with features as before. Standard settings like exposure, ISO, and white balance are available, with the number of shooting modes slimmed down to include just beauty face, rear-cam selfie, continuous shot, and animated GIF, panorama, night mode, and HDR.
The picture quality is serviceable, but for the serious smartphone photographer, the camera is going to be a disappointment. Even in good lighting, there is a noticeable amount of noise and photos are soft and muddy with very little detail, becoming even more apparent in low light and night time photography. With a maximum ISO of only 800, low light shots will suffer, but the built-in night mode, and even HDR, can help improve the situation without resorting to using the flash. All said and done, the camera isn’t particularly impressive though.
Software
Finally in software, the Galaxy A3 runs Android 4.4 Kitkat, and of course, it wouldn’t be a Samsung device without the TouchWiz UI. A point of note is that while this may be TouchWiz aesthetically, it may not be the user interface you may be used to, with this iteration not sharing a whole lot in terms of features with the flagship Galaxy S5 and Galaxy Note 4. There is no multi-window, air gestures, smart stay, smart pause, or the pre-installed apps like chatON and S-Health to be found anywhere. Surprisingly, S-Voice is also missing.
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The software experience is actually quite reminiscent of what was on the Galaxy S2, before TouchWiz became as cluttered and convoluted as it is today. It does feel like Samsung is taking a lot of steps to remove a lot of the redundancies they have created on top of Android, and this could very well be a preview of what is to come.
Specifications
Samsung Galaxy A3 Specs
| CPU/GPU | 1.2GHz Quad-core |
| Display | 4.5-inch, qHD |
| RAM | 1GB |
| Memory | 16GB, microSD up to 64GB |
| Battery | 1900 mAh |
| Camera | 8MP/5MP, AF with LED flash |
| Connectivity | WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, A-GPS / GLONASS, NFC, Bluetooth® v 4.0 (BLE, ANT+) |
| Network | 3G HSPA+ 42.2/5.76Mbps or 4G LTE Cat 4 150/50Mbps |
| Sensors | Accelerometer, Geo-magnetic, RGB, Proximity, Hall Sensor |
| OS | Android 4.4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz |
| Dimensions | 130.1 x 65.5 x 6.9mm, 110.3g |
| Colors | Pearl White, Midnight Black, Platinum Silver, Soft Pink, Light Blue and Champagne Gold |
Gallery
Pricing and Final Thoughts
The Galaxy A3 isn’t available in the US from any network operator, but can be picked up from Amazon for $320. This is quite steep for a device with such specifications, especially when you consider the slew of budget-friendly options available that offer a similar experience, and sometimes better, if you can manage to get yourself an invite for the OnePlus One.
There you have it – a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy A3! Samsung is certainly stepping up in the build quality department once more with the A series lineup, and while the Galaxy A3 is not a flagship, it’s a very solid smartphone overall. That said, even with a build quality that rivals some of the top tier smartphones currently available, this device won’t satisfy the needs for users who want a smartphone at a higher performance level. If history is any indication though, we may be seeing this design aesthetic with an upcoming Samsung flagship very soon.
Android Authority this week
Hello Android fans, here’s what went down in the world of Android this week: Facebook launched its Lite app for entry-level Android devices, we’ve heard some troubling news about Sony, Qualcomm confirmed its overheating problems, ZTE and Meizu introduced new devices, alleged renders of the Galaxy S6 and One (M9) surfaced, we discussed Cyanogen’s plans to take Android from Google, and Microsoft launched its Outlook and Office apps for Android.
Inside AA HQ
This week Josh and Darcy visited Huawei’s headquarters in China, where they learned more about the tech giant’s plans for 2015 and got a peek at all the work that goes into designing, building, and selling a modern smartphone. Expect a look behind the scenes soon.
Because of Josh’s trip, our Friday Debate podcast is actually going down this Sunday. In this edition, Josh, Andrew, Joe and Jon are talking about the Cyanogen’s plans for a Google-free Android. This topic has been on everyone’s lips this week, especially since news broke that Microsoft has become an investor in the company founded by Steve Kondik. We’ll update this post with the podcast widget as soon as it goes live.
Joe is piloting a new format and a new name for his popular weekly show about apps. The segment is now called Android Apps Weekly, but the gist of it is the same – cool new apps, big updates, and all the news that matter in the world of Android apps.
In our Sunday Giveaway, we’re putting up for grabs a brand new Nexus 9! Throw your name in the hat here.
The stuff you shouldn’t miss
Here are some interesting posts for your Sunday reading:
- Opinion: Matthew prefers Tizen to Android Wear – read all about it here
- Hands-on: Josh checks out the new Huawei Honor 6 Plus
- Review: It’s thin, it’s cheap, it’s the Blu Vivo Air
- Throwback: A modern look at the phone that start it all – the T-Mobile HTC G1
- Debate: Cyanogen has huge ambitions. Can it make it?
Top news of the week
And here are the top news in the Android world this week:
Sony news
- Sony is getting back to longer smartphone release cycles – report
- Is releasing a single Xperia Z flagship a year the right move for Sony?
- Sony will reportedly cut 1,000 more jobs from its mobile division
- Sony announces partnership with Spotify to replace Music Unlimited service
Facebook Lite
The heat is on Qualcomm
- Snapdragon 810 issues may put the heat on Qualcomm
- Qualcomm reveals “large customer’s flagship” won’t use Snapdragon 810, all signs point to Samsung
- LG reassures that the G Flex 2 and G4 won’t be affected by Snapdragon 810 issue
ZTE Blade S6
Meizu M1
Our first look at the One (M9)?
Cyanogen saga
Microsoft loves Android
- (Update: final versions) Microsoft Office for Android tablets now available on Google Play/
- Microsoft Outlook Preview for Android lands in the Google Play Store
Galaxy S6 rumors
- There will be less bloatware on the Galaxy S6 – report
- Don’t take those Spigen Galaxy S6 cases too seriously (Updated)
Samsung’s shaky quarter
- Q4 2014 was a photo finish between Apple and Samsung
- Samsung sold fewer phones in Q4, but made more money out of them
Sound off
We always want to hear your feedback. Whether it’s criticism or praise, feel free to tell us what you think about Android Authority’s content, design, and community. Comment here or get in touch with us on our social channels:
Happy Sunday!
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