Samsung Galaxy Note 5 to feature a USB Type-C port

Right on schedule to counter Sony's choice to steer clear of the emerging USB Type-C trend for the time being, reports have surfaced stating that Samsung is to implement the new interface in the upcoming Galaxy Note 5. It's worth noting that it will support USB 3.1, which may have become synonymous with the Type-C designation, but is in fact a distinct standard.

The obvious convenience of the reversible plug aside, having USB 3.1 Type-C on your phone means transfer speeds up to 10Gbps with compatible devices. The pair of standards also brings support for 1.5A and 3A currents for improved power delivery.

Industry insiders have also revealed additional key specs of the future high-end phablet. Screen size will be increased to 5.89 inches, though the rumored jump to 4K resolution is not going to happen, the sources claim. The increase in display diagonal comes with a decrease in thickness, and the new model is tipped to be 7.9mm thick, compared to the current Galaxy Note 4's 8.5mm profile.

Battery capacity has been quoted at 4,100mAh, a significant upgrade over the 3,220mAh of the existing model. A further improved version of the S-pen stylus will make it to the Note 5, though it's unlikely someone has expected that a headline feature of the lineup would be retired. Android 5.1.1 is the OS version the phone in development is currently running.

So far the consensus is that the smartphone will be powered by an Exynos 7422 chip, a modified version of the 7420 found in the current Galaxy S6. The speedy UFS 2.0 memory of the flagship will also be carried over to the larger model.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 5 is more than likely going to become official at the IFA in Berlin this September. Plausible as all of the above may seem, there's plenty of time for things to change.

Source 1 Source 2 (both in Korean) | Via

Platinum Gold Galaxy S6/S6 Edge arrives in Canada

Just over a week before the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge launched in Canada, Samsung had said that the Gold Platinum variant will be released in the country “in the coming weeks… through major carriers.” Looks like the wait is over.

The model is now available for purchase from Rogers, Fido, Telus, Videotron, and SaskTel. Everything else, including the specifications as well as the price, remains the same.

For those who aren't in the know, Samsung's latest flagship smartphones were only available in the Black Sapphire and White Pearl colour options at launch in Canada.

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Android 5.1 for S6 and S6 Edge to reportedly bring Guest Mode

The Android 5.1 update for the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will also bring along a new Guest Mode feature, according to a Sammobile report.

Guest Mode enables you to set up separate profiles for guests, allowing you to share your device without worrying about your personal stuff, including installed apps, being seen by others. The feature was first introduced for tablets with the Jelly Bean update but arrived on phones with Android Lollipop.

It isn't yet clear when the update will roll out to the devices. Meanwhile, a Samsung Galaxy S6 edge for T-Mobile has been caught getting Android 5.1.1.

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Model numbers for "Noble" Note 5 and "Zen" Galaxy S6 uncovered

Two Samsung IMEI numbers have surfaced that point to two new Galaxy models. Their model numbers are SM-G928S and SM-N920F and the rumor mill has decoded them as the "Zen" Galaxy S6 Plus and "Noble" Galaxy Note 5 respectively.

The SM-G928 appears to be a variation on the Galaxy S6 (G920), but it's unclear what will change from the current model. The final letters reveal regional versions, F for Europe, A and V for AT&T and Verizon, S and K for SK Telecom and KT.

The SM-N920F we couldn’t find and its name does coincide with what the next Note should be – the Galaxy Note 4 is the N910. Unfortunately that doesn’t give us much, neither does the "Noble" codename.

The letters indicate a European version, plus one for each carrier except KT.

Source | Via (in Korean)

Samsung reports a $5.5B operating profit for Q1 2015

Samsung Electronics has released its financial results for Q1 2015 and they mark improved profits quarter-on-quarter despite a sales drop of 11% over Q4 2014. While the Device Solutions (DS) and IT and Mobile (IM) divisions show only marginal decrease in sales, Consumer Electronics (CE) is the black sheep with sales down 28%.

The explanation for the low figures in CE is the weak seasonality and the strong dollar which led to decreased demand in Europe and emerging markets. Little improvement is expected on that front in Q2 due to continued exchange rate impact.

IT and Mobile reports improved earnings, brought about by lower marketing expenses. Decreased shipments of tablets and feature phones have lead to a slight decline in revenue. Meanwhile, smartphone shipments have increased, fueled largely by mid-to-low-end products. The word "stagnate" is mentioned in the Q2 forecast for smartphone and tablet demand.

The semiconductor division is doing well, and is not influenced by seasonality. Increased sales of DRAM and SSD/UFS products are reported. The Q2 forecast is for even better figures, driven by the demand for the recently released Galaxy S6 flagship and SSD data centers.

Display Panel subsidiary reports increased shipments of premium OLED products and solid performance on the LCD front despite decreased shipments. The Q2 2015 outlook focuses on OLED shipment expansion and increased sales of LCD TV panels due to China labor day. The new production line however means increased costs figures.

Source

Samsung details Galaxy S6 and S6 edge software gift packs

With the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge, Samsung has definitely set the flagship bar pretty high yet again. Both handsets employ cutting-edge technology and offer premium quality and leading performance. Naturally, the Korean giant hasn’t skimped on the software side as well. TouchWiz has received a major overhaul and the device works better than ever.

But the perks don’t stop there when you purchase a new shiny Samsung phone. As has become customary for Galaxy devices, both the S6 and S6 edge come with a gift bundle of apps and promotions, exclusively picked out by Samsung.

The list of deals in quite lengthy and while nobody actually expects a six-month free subscription to draw new buyers in, this type of after-market attention helps quite a lot with customer satisfaction, not to mention exposure for the said applications. This being said, none of the apps in the list is preinstalled or hidden away in the new Galaxy. Just like with previous models, the offers can be accessed through the Samsung App Store and each one is strictly opt-in.

Galaxy Gift	Details
Audible	Three months of Audible membership
Dragons of Atlantis: Heirs of the Dragon	“Samsung Resource Pack” valued at 5,000 gold
The Economist	Six months of  digital subscription
Endomondo	Six months of Endomondo Premium
Evernote	Three months of Evernote Premium
Fleksy Keyboard	Fleksy Keyboard and Modern premium themes
Hancom Office 2014	Office editor download for an unlimited period from Galaxy Apps
The Hobbit: Kingdoms of Middle Earth	“Samsung Resource Pack” valued at 100 Mithril
Keepy	Six month Keepy Unlimited to save your kids art, school work and mementos
Kindle for Samsung	One eBook every month
LastPass	Three months of Premium for U.S. customers and six monthsPremium for international
Life360	Six months premium service subscription
Magisto	Three months of Magisto Pro HD
NY Times Breaking News	Three months with a subscription
OneDrive	An extra 100 GB of OneDrive storage for two years* Offer valid only on devices where OneDrive is preloaded
PAC-MAN Friends	Samsung customers receive 30 cherries (plays)
Parallels Access	Six month subscription
Pocket	Six month subscription to Pocket Premium
Shazam Encore	Special ad-free version
VSCO Cam	Download The Minimalist Collection, which includes 10 VSCOCam® presets
Workout Trainer	Six months of Workout Trainer Pro+

The apps are worth $500 if purchased separately and Samsung is pretty confident that each customer can find something of use in the list.

Source | Via

Samsung's new custom CPU cores 45% faster than A57

Samsung has undoubtedly secured its top-dog position in terms of current gen mobile SoC performance. The latest Exynos 7420, powering the Galaxy S6 and S6 edge has proven itself more capable than anything Qualcomm or Mediatek currently have to offer. But, in today's fast-paced mobile realm tides can shift almost instantly and Samsung doesn't intend to let its competition catch up.

A few weeks ago, we heard a rumor, that the Korean giant is currently hard at work on a custom CPU core design of its own. This is, actually the next logical step in evolving the company's own Exynos chipset family, as, even though, the Exynos 7420 is manufactured with proprietary Samsung technology, it is still based on standard Cortex A57 and A53 cores.

The new silicon, codenamed Mongoose, is said to employ an entirely different architecture altogether and according to some preliminary benchmarks and estimates, in churns out 45% better single-core performance than the Exynos 7420. As far as we currently know, the 64-bit Mongoose chips should cover an ARMv8 instruction set and offer clock speeds of up to 2.3 GHz. There is, however, a lot more that contributes to a mobile chip's performance and proper heat management is another key factor. Samsung has led us to believe that Mongoose will be build using 14nm FinFET technology, just like the current Exynos 7420.

In other words, Samsung, needs to really implement things right, or else it might risk causing another overheating fiasco, like the one still plaguing the Qualcomm Snapdragon 810. Another interesting rumor concerning the upcoming chips is that Exynos M1, which will supposedly be the first Mongoose chip, might employ a Heterogeneous System Architecture. This would be an exciting step forward for mobile tech, as the concept of employing GPU processors for genera-purpose calculations has really caught on lately. Furthermore, Samsung is, in fact, part of the HAS Foundation, along with other major industry names, like AMD, ARM, Imagination Technologies, MediaTek, Texas Instruments and Qualcomm, which makes the leap to heterogeneous computing all that more plausible.

As far as availability goes, industry source estimate that the first Mongoose chips might enter into mass production in 9 to 12 months. If Samsung sticks to its standard release schedule, this could mean that the company's next flagship device, presumably the Galaxy S7, will be the first to use the novice architecture.

Source | Via

Samsung opens new plant to meet Galaxy S6 edge demand

Apparently there can be too much of a good thing, and in Samsung's case the unanticipated high demand for the Galaxy S6 edge lead to shortages in the smartphone's supply. The limiting factor was quoted to be the dual-edge display, but Samsung was quick to address the issue.

Industry insiders report that a new manufacturing line has already gone operational, which should bring the production volume to 5 million curved displays a month. That's a substantial increase compared to the previous 2 million units monthly output and should help the company reach the latest forecast of 70 million Galaxy S6/S6 edge device sales.

The new plant's planned launch date was set for the month of June, but with the explosion of market demand Samsung managed to pull it off two months ahead of schedule.

Owing in no small part to the special screen, the Galaxy S6 edge was reported to be the company'smost expensive smartphone to produce. The 64GB Verizon version cost Samsung a whopping $290 for materials and assembly alone.

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Rooting the Galaxy S6 will break Samsung Pay

Samsung will launch its Samsung Pay service sometime this summer. It will allow owners of the Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge to use their smartphones to make payments easily in retailers that support both NFC and magnetic secure transmission payments. The service won’t function properly if you root your smartphone, however, so keep that in mind before tweaking your device.

SamMobile said that, like Samsung’s KNOX security feature, Samsung Pay will automatically be disabled on a device that’s rooted. “When you root your device, the integrity gets breached, which is necessary for important and sensitive features like mobile payments,” SamMobile explained on Wednesday.

It’s not the end of the world for rooters, but Samsung Pay looks like it’s going to be a pretty awesome service. The support for magnetic secure transmission payments, which was added likely thanks to Samsung’s acquisition of LoopPay, will open up support for payments in places where even Apple Pay isn’t supported.

It’s your phone, though, and ultimately the decision is yours. Just consider the pros and cons first.