Galaxy

Samsung to unveil Galaxy Note 4 and other new gizmos at September 3 ‘Unpacked’ event

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 27, 2016

Apple's arch-rival Samsung just made it known it'll be holding a major media event on Wednesday, September 3, 2014. The invites for the new 'Unpacked' event, something of an annual tradition for the South Korean conglomerate, have now gone out to select members of the press, hinting at a possible unveiling of the Note 4 phablet.

Although the Galaxy S5 smartphone is already there, the firm is rumored to be also unveiling a premium all-metal edition of the smartphone to help improve its market standing in the wake of the expected massive iPhone 6 launch, which is also expected to be unveiled at a media event some time in September...

Samsung’s latest ‘Wall Huggers’ Galaxy ad attacks iPhone’s battery performance

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 3, 2014

Samsung's marketing department is no stranger to Apple-bashing and its most recent advertisement for the Galaxy S5 flagship proves the point.

Titled 'Wall Huggers', it depicts iPhone users in a series of everyday situations with a recurring theme being them chained to a wall socket. "There they are," the voiceover opens the 60-second commercial.

"Clustered around power outlets, recycling bins and bathrooms, tethered to the wall." The ad is embedded for your viewing pleasure right after the break...

iPhone 5c outsold Galaxy S5 in the UK

Christian Zibreg ∙ July 2, 2014

I'm sick and tired of hearing armchair analysts repeatedly proclaiming Apple's unapologetically plastic iPhone 5c a failure just because sales numbers don't meet their wet dream targets.

I bought an iPhone 5c for my Mom's birthday. My friend owns one. Yes, I even see it used in public.

To this date, not a single iPhone 5c owner exhibited a case of buyer's remorse.

I mean, you never hear anyone complaining about Apple's practice of keeping past two iPhone generations on the market at reduced prices whenever a new model comes along. The strategy has served the company well and that's exactly what the iPhone 5c is - a previous-gen iPhone repackaged inside a plastic chassis, sold at a discount.

A lot of ink has been spilled to paint the iPhone 5c a dud, but time and again real world numbers simply don't corroborate this notion. A good example is a new Kantar survey proving that Apple's mid-tier handset beat Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S5 in terms of sales in the United Kingdom...

Dutch court upholds sales ban of older Samsung Galaxy devices

Cody Lee ∙ May 21, 2014

Recode reports that a Dutch appeals court has upheld a lower court's sales ban of some older Samsung Galaxy devices that infringe on Apple's IP. The patent in question involves how iOS users are able to peak at the next photo in a gallery by swiping the current image.

The ruling will apply specifically to the Galaxy S2, and the Galaxy Ace—both of which include Samsung photo apps that run an exact copy of the feature—and it could possibly be extended to other Samsung devices found to similarly infringe on Apple's European patent...

Samsung schedules June 12 tablet event in NYC

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated May 17, 2018

As Apple has launched zero products this year, its main rival Samsung Mobile has scheduled a tablet-focused media event for Thursday, June 12, 2014.

The invite-only Samsung Galaxy Premier 2014 event will be held at Madison Square Garden in New York City, which can seat 18,000 people.

The invite graphics adorned with the Tab Into Color tagline indicates that the company might be on the verge of unveiling its tablet series in colors, perhaps?

Samsung’s Galaxy S5 video tour takes swipes at iPhone 5s and Apple’s Retina display

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 30, 2014

Yesterday, four new feature tour videos cropped up on the Samsung Mobile USA channel on YouTube, showcasing the handset's full HD Super AMOLED screen, the selective camera focus feature, its ultra-power saving mode and the bundled S Health app. Unlike some of the conglomerate's previous promotional videos, these clips do a good job explaining how the four aforementioned features enhance experience for the user.

However, Samsung being Samsung meant the firm couldn't resist comparing its flagship to Apple's iPhone 5s in terms of the display size, image quality and pixel count. I've included that clip, along with the remaining three videos, after the jump...

Samsung takes more swipes at iPad in new Galaxy Pro ads

Christian Zibreg ∙ April 8, 2014

Samsung's back at it again. The company has aired four new ads that bash the iPad while painting its own 12-inch Galaxy Tab Pro tablets in favorable light. Samsung released these big tablets three months ago. The ads convey a few hard-hitting yet simple to grasp messages that likely won't sit well with loyal fans of the California-based company.

One ad tells the viewer that anyone can multitask like a pro on Samsung's tablets that can run two apps side-by-side. Another commercial focuses on Samsung's 'Multi User' mode allowing different people to use devices, with each person's settings, documents and apps separate of the others, a feature notably absent from the iPad.

Yet another video, titled 'Pixel Density', offers a critique of the iPad's 2,048-by-1,536 Retina display at 226 pixels per inch. Apple's "Retina thingy", the ad explains, pales in comparison with the Tab Pro's sharp 10.1-inch screen at a whopping 2,5600-by-1,600 resolution with a pixel density of 299ppi.

I've included all four ads for your viewing pleasure right below the fold...

Samsung launches ad-free streaming radio service ‘Milk Music’

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 2, 2016

In a somewhat surprising move, Samsung announced today a new streaming radio service dubbed 'Milk Music.' The service is a lot like Apple's iTunes Radio in that music is chosen based on a user's preferences, and it's platform-specific—it's only available to Galaxy device owners.

The service is powered by Slacker Radio, which would explain the absence of rumors that Samsung was working on such a project, and there are no ads. As for the app, it offers the usual features including the ability to save songs for offline listening and create custom radio stations...

Latest Samsung ads take swipes at iPhone’s screen size and iPad’s multitasking

Christian Zibreg ∙ February 19, 2014

Samsung is taking a page from Microsoft's book with the release of a new ad featuring side-by-side comparison of its 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab Pro and Apple's iPad. Not only that, Samsung has actually borrowed the concept of Apple's inaugural iPad Air commercial dubbed 'Pencil' and applied it to its ad.

The ad titled 'Multitasking Redefined' highlights Samsung device's multitasking capabilities allowing it to render two apps side-by-side, because "doing two things at once is greater than doing one thing at once".

The 60-second video proudly proclaims the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to be an even thinner tablet than the iPad Air despite a negligible difference in their thickness. There's also another ad which uses a video of a LeBron James slam dunk to mock the iPhone's screen size.

Here it is...

Rumor: Galaxy S5 to integrate fingerprint scanner into Home button, not as sophisticated as Touch ID

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated November 19, 2018

Apple paid big bucks to acquire AuthenTec, the world's leading maker of fingerprint sensors. Following the $356 million deal, it took Apple's teams an additional year or so to apply AuthenTec's technology to Touch ID. An in-house project, Touch ID has rethought what fingerprint scanning on mobile devices should be like, resulting in a seamless and integrated solution that, in Apple's parlance, "just works".

That's not saying Touch ID isn't without pitfalls.

Apple cautions that fingerprint scanning doesn't work well with greasy or wet fingers and there are reports of old people's prints not being recognized properly as a result of a few decades worth of scarring and general wear and tear.

Despite rumors that Samsung's upcoming Galaxy S5 would feature iris scanning, KGI Research analysts instead pointed to a fingerprint sensor.

And now a publication called SamMobile says it's been able to confirm with a Samsung source that the feature will work by swiping one's finger over the handset's redesigned Home button. It would let users unlock the device by swiping and remember website passwords, the latter not (yet) being supported by Touch ID...

Samsung sends out invitations for likely Galaxy S5 event

Cody Lee ∙ February 3, 2014

Outside of maybe Apple's next-gen iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy S5 is probably one of the most anticipated smartphones of 2014. The Galaxy line has gained a reputation for bringing about new and innovative features, and it has built up quite the following.

We were expecting to see the S5 appear sometime in March or April, but it looks like it could land much sooner than that. Samsung just sent out a round of press invitations for Samsung Unpacked 5, a media event to be held in Barcelona on February 24...

Galaxy S5 confirmed: due late-April, iris scanner a possibility, beast specs rumored

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated July 15, 2017

Yesterday, I told you that Dennis Miloseski, head of studio for Samsung Design America, basically confirmed that the Galaxy maker will be adding new wearable devices to its Galaxy Gear smartwatch lineup in 2014. He also noted that the South Korean company tends to have two major launches.

One is for its Galaxy S flagship handset in the Spring and the other tends to be for the Note phablet in the Fall. Speaking to Bloomberg today, a Samsung executive vice president has now officially confirmed that the Galaxy S5, a successor to the current S4, is coming by the end of April.

It will feature a brand new design and may or may not take on Apple's Touch ID with an iris scanning technology. Hardware-wise, Samsung shouldn't disappoint as the S5 is shaping up to be quite a beast of the phone.

With the upcoming iPhone 6 in the pipeline, I thought we should compile everything we "know" about Samsung's next big thing that'll take on the iPhone in a few months time, all over again...