Saturday 30 July 2016

Samsung appears to be testing a new Exynos processor

Import logs often reveal the components that Samsung runs tests on so they are a great source of getting an idea of what we can expect from the company down the line. Latest data from Indian import tracker Zauba shows that Samsung has imported a pair of boards in the country and the Exynos 8895 chipset is on each board. Samsung has not announced this processor yet and it’s not immediately clear which devices it will be powering.
Samsung’s existing high-end processor is the Exynos 8890 which powers the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S7 edge. Some rumors have suggested that the Galaxy Note 7 could be powered by the Exynos 8893 processor in some markets but there’s no confirmation of that just yet. Technical specifications of the Exynos 8895 are not available at this point in time so any and all improvements made to the chipset remain a mystery right now. It would be too soon to assume that this is the chip that’s destined for the Galaxy S8 which is due to arrive early next year.
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Galaxy On5 (2016) clears the FCC

We reported about a month ago that Samsung had the Galaxy On5 (2016) in the pipeline and that the budget handset could be released in the coming months. Data from Import tracker Zauba showed that Samsung had imported several units of the SM-G5700 into India for testing, evaluation and R&D. The Galaxy On5 bears model number SM-G550 which makes it very likely that the SM-G5700 is the Galaxy On5 (2016). The handset is now closer to seeing the light of day as it has received the necessary FCC certification.
Rumored specifications of the Galaxy On5 (2016) include a 5-inch display, 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos 7570 processor with 2GB RAM and Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow. Samsung is yet to confirm when the Galaxy On5 (2016) is going to be released but considering the fact that the existing Galaxy On5 arrived in October last year it may not take more than a couple of months for its successor to hit the market. Whether or not Samsung will charge the same price for the new On5 handset remains to be seen.

You’ll never guess which phone won Samsung’s flagship smartphone battery test

Samsung has posted a new video online in which it conducts a battery test on flagship smartphones. The company’s Galaxy S7 and Galaxy S7 edge go up against the Huawei P9, Apple iPhone 6s, HTC 10, Sony Xperia X and the LG G5. All devices are said to have been tested on equal terms, the same video is being played over and over again on all handsets. Which phone do you think won the test?
The LG G5 is the first to bow out after 6 hours 31 minutes and 49 seconds followed by the Huawei P9 which lasted 6 hours 51 minutes and 43 seconds. Sony Xperia X lasted 7 hours 15 minutes and 35 seconds while the HTC 10 kept fighting for 8 hours and 3 seconds. The iPhone was next to throw in the towel after 8 hours 13 minutes and 57 seconds. Unsurprisingly, it’s Samsung’s flagship smartphones that beat all of its competitors. The Galaxy S7 edge lasted for 10 hours 30 minutes and 14 seconds while the Galaxy S7 nearly made it a full 11 hours – it died after 10 hours 59 minutes and 11 seconds.
There’s no doubt about the fact that the Galaxy S7′s 3,000mAh battery and the Galaxy S7 edge’s 3,600mAh battery is more than capable of keeping up with users’ rigorous demands but the test isn’t really indicative of real world usage. It doesn’t take in a lot of factors like individual users’ screen brightness preferences or how much time they spend on call or online streaming videos. Your mileage is bound to vary if you stream a lot of videos on your Galaxy S7 edge while your friend with an iPhone 6s only uses the handset for emails and text messages. Nevertheless, you can get the point Samsung is trying to make here, which is simply: Buy the Galaxy S7.

Press renders of the Galaxy Note 7 and the new Gear VR leaked

There’s no stopping Galaxy Note 7 leaks. Even though we’re only a couple of days away from the official announcement the leaks just keep coming in. The official press renders of the Galaxy Note 7 and the new Gear VR headset have now been leaked online. We saw a blurry photo of the new Gear VR just yesterday but this render is crisp and clear so we get a really good look at the upcoming virtual reality headset.
As previously reported, the big difference between the existing Gear VR Consumer Edition and the new Gear VR is the color, aside from the USB Type-C port. The new headset is all black yet it retails the design of its predecessor. It doesn’t appear to have been changed in any major way but Samsung will have made some tweaks under the hood. The accompanying report mentions that the new Gear VR measures 207mm x 122mm x 98.5mm and that it offers 110° field of view as opposed to its predecessor’s 96°. Despite having a USB Type-C port the new headset remains compatible with the Galaxy S7 and the Galaxy S6 series. I don’t really need to explain the Galaxy Note 7 renders because they’ve been leaked so many times that you are all quite familiar with Samsung’s upcoming flagship handset by now. The report claims that the new Gear VR will be available next month while the Galaxy Note 7 will be released in France in early September. Another report today claimed that the Galaxy Note 7 will be released in Amsterdam on August 16.
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Galaxy Note 7 release date in Amsterdam said to be August 16

Samsung is going to unveil the Galaxy Note 7 on August 2. Previous reports have suggested that the company might release the handset on the very same day. A new report has surfaced which claims that the Galaxy Note 7 release date in Amsterdam is August 16 which means that the handset will be launched there a full two weeks after it’s unveiled in New York City.
Even though the report only mentions August 16 as the release date for this handset in Amsterdam, there is a possibility that the Galaxy Note 7 might be released on this very day across much of Europe. As far as the U.S. release is concerned it’s still believed that the handset could be released on August 2. T-Mobile is one of the carriers that’s expected to start taking pre-orders from next week while pre-orders in Dubai have already begun. From the looks of it, Samsung might release the Galaxy Note 7 in a handful of markets on August 2 and will make others wait until August 16. None of this has been officially confirmed as of now so take it with a grain of salt.