Samsung Launching Marshmallow Beta Testing Program

Samsung does a lot of things to be considered as an innovative OEM. The Koreans invest a lot of resources to provide the best design their devices had in recent years. They also focus on safety and overall performance of their devices.

According to reports, Samsung is looking to make the best software too, as the company is looking for beta testers for Android 6.0 Marshmallow and the new version of TouchWiz.

Android 6.0 is likely the first incarnation of Google’s mobile operating system that is officially tested on a wider group of users. Samsung will use two devices for tests – the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge. Don’t get super optimistic, as there is one requirement – you have to live in either the UK or South Korea and be a user of KT or LG U+ carriers. It’s uncertain if the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ will also be part of the beta testing program. They might be, but the hardware of these devices is quite similar to Galaxy S6’s, so Samsung might want to test only two aforementioned devices. Either way, we’ll likely see ports.

There are a few pros of using such approach. A wider group of users might provide lots of logs and suggestions. Samsung desperately needs them to catch and fix potential issues as soon as possible. Samsung faced some serious criticism after releasing the Lollipop update for devices like the Galaxy S5. The company is likely looking to avoid a similar situation hence the decision to launch the program.

Soak tests aren’t an entirely new idea. Some other OEMs like Motorola use such tests to get user input prior releases. From the XDA’s power user point of view, it’s a great thing, as it’s quite easy to capture such update. Developers should also benefit as we know how much harder rooting a Marshmallow ROMs is.

Samsung Netherlands confirms that there is no plan to release the soak test in other parts of Europe. South Korean and United Kingdom users can download the Galaxy Care app from Play Store to apply for the beta test. The whole program ends on January 18, so there is a fair assumption that the Marshmallow update shouldn’t go live until late January. If you are impatient and what to see what Marshmallow will look like on Galaxy phones, read our Note 5 Marshmallow leak hands-on.

Snapdragon 820 to be Made by Samsung

Rumors had it that Qualcomm would come to Samsung for the fabrication of their new Snapdragon 820chipset. At launch, the announcement of a 14nm build narrowed it down to just a couple alternatives.

Today, we learned that the Snapdragon 820 will, in fact, be built by Samsung. While it was likely this would be the case after learning the process specification, we now have official confirmation that it won’t be GlobalFoundries’ 14nm yield to make it into the big-name flagships of 2016. This is big news for two reasons: one, it confirms that the 820 will use Samsung’s class-leading fabrication process; and two, it could mean that the 820 will have few issues and, perhaps, even make it to Samsung flagships.

Alongside this reveal came the official announcement of the 2nd generation, 14nm FinFET process mass production from Samsung. With this new generation, dubbed LPP (“Low-Power Plus”), the company claims to have achieved unparalleled power efficiency through optimizations to their three-dimensional FinFET transistor structure, and will be used in their upcoming Exynos 8 chipset set to appear on Samsung flagships throughout 2016 (explained here). The new process can deliver up to 15% higher speed and 15% less power consumption over the previous 14nm LPE process, a considerable gain considering this is mostly optimization of the process and structure rather than a full size change.

Keep in mind that the Snapdragon 820 using Samsung’s fabrication process does not guarantee that the chipset will find its way to Samsung flagships (and this is not the first time it’s happened either). Recent benchmark leaks have suggested it would, but we must not get excited just yet (as much as we want AOSP ROMs on Samsung hardware). That being said, the 820 using the same 14nm LPP process found in the newer Exynos will likely result in a more competitive chipset race this year. In 2015, the Snapdragon 810 not only suffered throttling issues, but the A57 cores on the 810 had relatively high power consumption and did so especially on 20nm nodes, which was one of the reasons why sustained performance took a hit and A53 cores had to be used so often.

Marshmallow rollout for the Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5

Two weeks ago, Telus published its Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow update schedulefor its carrier-branded variants of the Galaxy S6 edge, Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5. However, it’s now issued a statement declaring that it will not be able to meet its self-imposed distribution deadlines of March 9th and March 16th.

Instead, it will now roll out the upgrade for the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 a few days after on March 13th, and will push out an identical over-the-air (OTA) update for the standard Galaxy S6 edge on March 30th — 17 days later than was previously expected. There is some good news, though. Owners of the non-curvedGalaxy S6 are still on track to receive the firmware on April 13th.

SOURCE

OnePlus 2 Receiving OxygenOS 2.2.1 Update, Marshmallow Still Pending

The good news is OnePlus 2 is now eligible for another update, but you'll be disappointed to learn that it's not the highly anticipated Android 6.0 Marshmallow.

According to OnePlus, the new OxygenOS 2.2.1 update brings lots of improvements and a few new features that should enhance the smartphone's functionality.

One of the most significant improvements announced by OnePlus is aimed at photographers. OxygenOS 2.2.1 brings full RAW support in OnePlus Camera, a new feature that wasn't available at launch.

But that's not all, as OnePlus confirmed the update contains improvements to Bluetooth and Ultra SIM compatibility. Also, the Chinese company states that it has provided GMS 3.0 upgrade to OnePlus 2 users.

Some improvements for roaming issues have also been added, along with a fix for occasional image corruption issue in OnePlus Camera.

Romanian language support, security patch update

The official changelog also mentions a security patch update, but no additional details have been provided. Last but not least, Romanian language support has been added to OnePlus 2 too.

If you own the OnePlus 2, then you should know that OxygenOS 2.2.1 update is rolled out in stages, so it will not be available for all devices at the same time.

In case you wonder whether or not this a pre-Marshmallow update, you will have to wait for OnePlus' confirmation because the Chinese company is still mum on when exactly the upgrade will be released.

Thankfully, OnePlus has been delivering many updates to its smartphones, so we can expect things to continue to improve in the coming months.

Sony Xperia Z5 series get Android Marshmallow in Japan

Sony has begun rolling out the Android 6.0 Marshmallow update for the entire Xperia Z5 lineup in Japan - Xperia Z5, Xperia Z5 Compact, and Xperia Z5 Premium. The Marshmallow update for Sony Xperia Z5 has been already available in Turkey.

The new Marshmallow-based firmware improves on the battery manager, app permissions manager, notification area customizations, and it brings a new Xperia Home launcher as well as an updated Camera app.

Sony UK announced the Marshmallow rollout for the Xperia Z5 series, the Xperia Z4 Tablet, and Xperia Z3+ units will begin on March 7. Now that Sony is seeding Marshmallow updates in Turkey and Japan, we believe March 7 should be the date for the global release for those updates.

Thank you, Chary, for the tip!

Source • Via

S7 Edge Throttling & Thermals

now that the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge have arrived to consumer hands, we can finally begin exploring the nature of the Snapdragon 820 thanks to our first set of tests.

While no amount of single-device testing will reveal the true nature of the 820, we can, at the very least, see how the 820 behaves inside the S7 and S7 Edge, and thus draw conclusions for the resulting performance of this particular package. Because we are testing the Snapdragon 820 confined in the S7 Edge and its waterproof body, and altered by TouchWiz and Samsung configurations, do not extrapolate our results: these scores and temperatures do not reveal how the 820 will behave in every flagship from now on, as many confounding variables will be different.

Our sample consists of 5 devices with various processors: an iPhone 6S Plus (Apple A9), S7 Edge (Snapdragon 820), Note5 (Exynos 7420), Moto X Pure (Snapdragon 808) and Nexus 6P (Snapdragon 810), and the HTC One M9 (Snapdragon 810) except for thermal imaging. We found some interesting results that we’d like to share in preparation for our in-depth testing and subsequent S7 Edge review. Without further ado, let’s begin.

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CPU

Geekbench	1		2		3		4		5		6		7		8
Device	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core	Single Core	Multi Core
iPhone 6S Plus	2520	4410	2527	4415	2526	4414	2529	4402	2525	4407	2529	4414	2528	4412	2512	4401
Galaxy S7 Edge	2337	5309	2307	5179	2341	5341	2336	5335	2338	5379	2341	5362	2327	5359	2312	5281
Note5	1476	5127	1480	5148	1476	5141	1474	5147	1480	5018	1472	5115	1472	5071	1475	4984
Moto X Pure	1245	3440	1247	3526	1253	3511	1251	3502	1217	3445	1213	3388	1249	3481	1218	3371
Nexus 6P	1249	4348	1242	4613	1255	4591	1186	4503	1149	4219	959	3647	1018	3908	1001	3801
HTC M9	1307	3911	1284	3943	1243	3885	1217	3832	1186	3826	1163	3860	1147	3660	1068	3563

Here we have the first set of results, after we ran 8 consecutive Geekbench tests. This is a CPU-intensive test that is also cross-platform, allowing us to compare Android and iOS scores.

For those not familiar with the score breakdown, single core scores measure the performance of individual cores while multi core scores measure the performance of multiple cores at once. This distinction is important, because the Snapdragon 820 packs fewer (4) but more powerful cores than the Snapdragon 810 (8) and 808 (6), as reflected in single core scores.

In these tests, the Snapdragon 820 in the S7 fared surprisingly well with virtually no signs of throttling, with the Nexus 6P and HTC One M9 seeing the highest declines consecutively and in the final scores. The Note5 proved remarkably efficient throughout, mirroring the results we obtained on our Note5 in-depth review last year. The Exynos 7420 proved its might once more, and luckily enough, the Snapdragon 820 in the S7 manages to not only score higher than all other devices, but also retain those scores and lead all the way to the end. Below you can see an image comparison that exemplifies the thermal performance seen after the CPU stress-test.

Order: iPhone 6S Plus, S7 Edge, Note5, Moto X Pure, Nexus 6P

This image is telling as it shows the relative heat efficiency of each phone, with the ranking coming just as we expected and in-line with the final results of both of our tests. The iPhone 6S Plus (1st from the left) and Note5 (3rd from the left) show very good thermal efficiency (83°F|28.3°C). As we had noted in our Note5 review, the device rarely got hot, even under stress. The Nexus 6P got the hottest at 95°F|35°C, followed by the Moto X Pure at 88°F|31.1°C, and then the S7 Edge. It’s worth noting that the S7 Edge managed to keep a good balance between performance and heat, reaching 84°F|28.9°C, whereas the X Pure and Nexus 6P show less-stable performance. Overall, the S7 Edge kept its cool similarly to the Note5 in this CPU test.

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GPU

3D Mark	Initial T (F/C)	1	2	3	4	5	Final T (F/C)
iPhone 6S+	90/32.2	2759	2561	2469	1900	2076	104/40
Galaxy S7 Edge	90/32.2	2511	2519	2480	2103	2090	99/37.2
Note5	90/32.2	1258	1246	1244	1199	1232	97/36.1
Moto X Pure	91/32.8	1023	973	995	1001	968	91/32.7
Nexus 6P	95/35	1330	1180	1283	1185	1141	97/36.1
HTC M9	93/33.9	1401	1266	1338	1144	1082	97/36.1

The newest Adreno processor in the Snapdragon 820 promises up to 40% better performance, and considering how powerful mobile GPUs have been getting, this is nothing to scoff at. We ran our sample through 3DMark and found that the 820 did bring the S7 Edge a sizable increase over both the Nexus 6P and the Galaxy Note5. But unlike our CPU results, the S7 Edge couldn’t keep its lead over subsequent tests. It’s worth noting that we let the devices cool down for 30 minutes in a 76°F|24.5°C room, but the initial temperatures were still not perfectly equal, likely due to the final temperature of the previous tests and the materials of the phones.

The Snapdragon 820 S7 Edge began and ended with a good lead over all other Android devices, showing a healthy increase in GPU performance as promised. But the S7 Edge also saw some of the sharpest performance drops in this test, which is admittedly much more intensive than Geekbench. The Nexus 6P fared better by comparison, and the Note5 managed to sustain its performance as well. The M9, however, saw a really sharp decline from 1401 to 1082. At the end of each test we measured temperature again:

Nexus 6P | 36.1°C

iPhone 6S Plus | 40°C

Note5 | 36.1°C

S7 Edge | 37.2°C

Moto X Pure | 32.8°C

Surprisingly, the iPhone 6S Plus got the hottest under these tests, with the S7 Edge coming second. Both began the tests at the same temperature as the Note5, which didn’t get quite as hot, but managed to retain its score throughout the 5 rounds. The Nexus 6P surprised us by only getting 2°F hotter than its initial temperature, which we don’t have a clear explanation for; this might be the case that because this is a GPU-intensive test, and it was the CPU and not the Adreno 430 that suffered from architectural issues; thermal management and throttling were less of an issue, as the 430 was a formidable mobile GPU.

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Closing Thougths

We reiterate: this is by no means representative of the 820 itself, as there are several confounding variables at play including but not limited to proprietary/software modifications, background services, internal hardware allocation, device volume, and more. This is also by no means an exhaustive analysis, but only the beginning of our in-depth testing. However, so far we can spot some interesting behavior displayed by the S7 Edge.

First of all, the Snapdragon 820 does bring noticeable increases in theoretical performance, and this is a very welcome upgrade from what we saw in 2015. Indeed, we find that Qualcomm has managed to tame CPU throttling to a considerable degree. Further tests might reveal different results; if that’s the case, we’ll report back. GPU scores have also improved significantly, but it’s disappointing to see that the S7 Edge is not able to sustain its graphics performance through prolonged stress. That being said, the implications here are not too significant, and so far we haven’t had issues with Gear VR software/performance.

Perhaps what’s most interesting, yet not shocking, is that we still managed to find lag across the user interface, including random stutters and framedrops. Indeed, our go-to GPU profiling test showed many skipped frames when scrolling through the Play Store, significantly more than our 810 devices running stock or close-to-stock software (Nexus 6P, OnePlus 2). We’ve also encountered random input lockups where performance did not take a hit but we simply couldn’t interact with the UI for a few seconds (repeated instances on the camera app and settings menu, reported by two XDA editors).

We haven’t had our hands on this device for very long, and upcoming findings might reveal more about the nature of the S7 Edge, and in turn, further glimpses of the Snapdragon 820’s behavior under varied circumstances. For more coverage on the S7 and S7 Edge, stay tuned as our in-depth review will come soon™

Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 with SD-650 India

the budget device segment in India is surely heating up, thank to the entry of new Chiese brands such as LeEco (with their Le 1s), it was time Xiaomi let them know they were still in the game. And they did so, with the Indian launch of the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3.

The Indian Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is the same on the outside as the Chinese variant, but on the inside, it has one key difference. The Chinese variant bore a MediaTek Helio X10 to keep things running, while the Indian variant of the Redmi Note 3 bears the Snapdragon 650 (formerly known as the Snapdragon 618).

Starting off with the design and body, the front of the device tries to follow a clean look, going with the standard set of sensors, earpiece, front camera and a notification LED on the top; a 5.5″ FHD IPS LCD display and three capacitive buttons on the bottom bezel. The side bezels appear thin, but the phone does follow along the usual Chinese practice of camouflaging part of the bezel with the display. This is slightly disappointing because the side bezels on the Redmi Note 3 are not that large to begin with, so what you end up with is a black border look around your screen. The advertised image is deceptive in this regards, so please refer to the hands on images in the gallery below to get an idea of the bezel black box border.

The phone follows along an aluminum unibody design with subtle tapering curves towards the edges and a smooth finish. The top of the device has an IR Blaster, a feature that you will be hard pressed to find in many phones, leave alone in the budget segment. The back of the device bears the rear camera with dual LED flash, the fingerprint sensor as well as speaker holes in the bottom half. Aesthetically, the Redmi Note 3 matches a lot of good phones in the market, and that’s not a bad thing. Metallic phones are currently the market trend and consumers do seem to like them based on their sales, so Xiaomi is not attempting to fix what is not broken in this particular department. Combined with the decent 164g weight (despite the big battery), the phone certainly gives out a premium feeling and there were no complaints regarding the build quality during our first impressions.

On the inside, as mentioned earlier, the Redmi Note 3 bears the new Snapdragon 650. Xiaomi’s VP, Hugo Barra, took quite some time on stage to talk about the performance of the new processor, citing various benchmarks and comparing with different SoC compositions. Essentially, Qualcomm’s decision to rename the 618 to 650 is justified because the 650 is quite a jump in terms of specifications when compared to its predecessor, so much so that the Mi Fan community refers to this variant as the Redmi Note 3 Pro. The Snapdragon 650 was compared to various SoC’s, claiming to blow the mid/low end processors like the Helio X10 (which is what the Chinese variant ships with) out of the water, while giving yesteryear flagships processors like the Snapdragon 808 and 810 a run for their money as well. The Snapdragon 650 hexacore processor, with its 2x Cortex A72 @1.8GHz and the 4x Cortex A53 @1.2GHz, boasts of delivering an optimum mix of raw power and battery efficiency. The GPU is handled by the Adreno 510. The Redmi Note 3 has two configs for its LPDDR3 RAM & eMMC 5.0 Flash Storage: 2GB + 16GB and 3GB and 32GB. The phone also comes with microsd card slot for expansion in the form of the hybrid dual SIM tray.

The fingerprint sensor on the device claims to unlock in 0.3 seconds, and can be used for other purposes as well thanks to MIUI. Barra also showed a video demo of him using the scanner with his lips to unlock his device [Disclaimer: It was meant as a joke]. One point to note is that the device ships with MIUI 7 based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop, which is disappointing for a device in 2016. MIUI does have quite a few tricks (and as many duds as well, if not more) up its sleeves, such as Wallpaper Carousel (which rotates wallpapers from professional photography sources) and Reading Mode (which filters out blue light, similar to f.lux functionality). The phone also sports a non removable 4050 mAh battery with Quick Charge 1.0 (5V/2A) support.

Talking about the cameras, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 boasts of a 16 MP rear camera with f/2.0, PDAF and dual tone LED flash. Thanks to dual ISPs in the sensor, the device can undertake powerful post-processing tasks to give us features like Local Tone Mapping, which adjusts contrasts at a pixel level. The front camera is a 5MP shooter with f/2.0.

While the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 is not one of the best phones out there, it does offer a fairly well balanced set of features. The pricing just adds on to the appeal, making the device competitive in the entry level. The Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 starts at Rs. 9,999 ($150) for the base 2GB+16GB variant, while the 3GB+32GB variants will be available for Rs. 11,999 ($179). The device will follow the flash sales model, becoming available on Mi.com and Amazon.in on 9th March 2016. Pre-registrations for the sale begin on 3rd March 2016 at 4pm IST. Hugo Barra mentioned that the device will be available from Snapdeal, Flipkart and offline partners as well, but at a later date.

On a slight tangent from the Redmi Note 3, Hugo also mentioned that the Redmi Note 3 is “just the beginning”. He went on to announce that the Xiaomi Mi 5, Xiaomi’s flagship of 2016 that was launched in China as well as at MWC 2016, will be available in India next month. The Mi 5 has received tremendous response in China, with registrations for the device crossing 16,000,000; so it is no surprise that the device has generated quite a buzz in the Indian market as well. Xiaomi reacting positively to this buzz is good news for people waiting to get their hands on an updated affordable flagship.

All in all, the Xiaomi Redmi Note 3 Launch was quite a fun affair. Xiaomi also announced the India arrival of the Mi Bluetooth Speaker as well as a larger 20,000 mAh Power Bank. The event concluded with hands-on experience with the Redmi Note 3 as well as the Mi 5 (not the Pro variant).