HiTechEdge

Tag: Samsung

  • iPhone Won’t Get New OLED Till the iPhone 16

    iPhone Won’t Get New OLED Till the iPhone 16

    A new report says the Apple iPhone won’t receive new OLED tech until the iPhone 16, with the iPhone 15 slated to receive the existing tech.

    According to The Elec, via AppleInsider, Samsung will use the same M12 OLED materials in the iPhone 15 as is currently used in the iPhone 14 Pro and iPhone 14 Pro Max.

    The next generation of materials, M13, seems slated for Samsung’s own phones, as well as those of other non-Apple clients. The next material upgrade for the iPhone will be M14 materials Samsung is already working on, and will likely be used in the iPhone 16.

    While some will no doubt be disappointed that the iPhone will skip a generation of OLED tech, most people probably won’t notice, given how good the iPhone’s screen already is.

  • Google Pixel 6 Will Come With Five Years of Security Updates

    Google Pixel 6 Will Come With Five Years of Security Updates

    A new leak indicates Google’s upcoming Pixel 6 will include a full five years of security updates.

    Samsung made headlines in February when it announced it would provide four years of security updates for its Galaxy line of devices. Updates have traditionally been an area where Android has played second fiddle to Apple, with the Cupertino company well-known for supporting its iPhones for years.

    Not to be outdone, a new leak indicates Google is planning on one-upping Samsung, providing five years of security updates for the upcoming Pixel 6. Leaker Evan Blass tweeted about it, including screenshots of the leaked pages before they were taken down.

  • Samsung Phone Owners at Risk of Losing Their Photos

    Samsung Phone Owners at Risk of Losing Their Photos

    Samsung smartphone owners are in danger of losing their photos if they don’t retrieve them from the cloud soon.

    Samsung offers its Samsung Cloud service for backing up one’s smartphone, and that includes backing up one’s photo library. Unfortunately, Samsung is killing off that particular feature. Samsung Cloud will still be able to back up other data from a smartphone, such as contacts, calendars and documents, but not photos or videos, according to Forbes.

    As a result, users have a limited time to retrieve their photos before the service shuts down. Unfortunately, Samsung isn’t making it very easy to know which group a person is in, as the company has split its users into two groups, each with their own cutoff date.

    Consider this a PSA: Download your photos off of Samsung Cloud now, or risk losing them forever.

  • Samsung Pay Now Supports Digital COVID Vaccine Card

    Samsung Pay Now Supports Digital COVID Vaccine Card

    Samsung has announced Samsung Pay now supports SMART Health Cards, including digital COVID-19 vaccine cards.

    Governments and organizations around the world are working to develop vaccine passports and digital vaccine cards. With the Delta variant surging around the world, many companies are requiring vaccines, and some jurisdictions are requiring them for travel.

    Samsung is working with the Commons Project Foundation to bring SMART Health Cards, and COVID-19 vaccination status, to Samsung Pay.

    “Samsung Pay simplifies transactions for millions of mobile device users. As more and more consumers use their Samsung devices as a digital wallet it is a natural extension to make Covid-19 vaccination records more easily accessible,” said Rob White, Sr. Director of Product for Samsung Pay, Samsung Electronics America. “We are proud to partner with The Commons Project Foundation on this important initiative and to help make life easier.” 

    “CommonHealth’s collaboration with Samsung marks another important milestone as the availability and acceptance of SMART Health Cards as the standard for digital vaccination records continues to expand,” said JP Pollak, cofounder and chief architect of The Commons Project. “As a leading mobile device manufacturer and digital wallet, Samsung offers a secure and easily accessible place for consumers to store this vital health information. The Commons Project is committed to the continued expansion of our network of partners, empowering users with their own health data to use in enhanced and secure ways.”

  • Google’s Pixel 6 Won’t Include a Charging Brick

    Google’s Pixel 6 Won’t Include a Charging Brick

    Google is on the verge of releasing the Pixel 6, but reports indicate the phone will not ship with a charging brick.

    The Pixel 6 is Google’s highly anticipated next version of its flagship line of smartphones. Following the lead of Apple and Samsung, Google appears poised to sell the phone without the customary charging brick, according to The Verge.

    While some users may be put off by not having a charging brick included, Google’s decision is not all that surprising. Device manufacturers are looking for ways to reduce costs, as well as cut down on electronic waste. In the meantime, after years of smartphones and tablets saturating the market, most users have more charging bricks than they can use.

    Either way, Google won’t be the last company to take this route.

  • Samsung Will Remove Ads From Its Stock Apps

    Samsung Will Remove Ads From Its Stock Apps

    Samsung has finally decided to stop putting ads in its stock Android apps…something it should never have been doing in the first place.

    Samsung is one of the biggest Android smartphone makers and is considered a high-end smartphone manufacturer that competes head-to-head with the likes of Apple. Despite that, and despite prices upwards of $1,000, Samsung seemed to think it was a good idea to include ads that were, as The Verge described, the“kind of ad that’s normally at the bottom of a crappy, overloaded website.”

    It’s truly amazing that a company charging a premium for its devices would think bombarding its users with ads is an acceptable business model. Fortunately, Samsung has seen the light and informed The Verge it plans to stop.

    “Samsung has made a decision to cease the advertisement on proprietary apps including Samsung Weather, Samsung Pay, and Samsung Theme,” the company said in a statement to The Verge. “The update will be ready by later this year.”

    “Our priority is to deliver innovative mobile experiences for our consumers based on their needs and wants,” the company continued. “We value feedback from our users and continue our commitment to provide them with the best possible experience from our Galaxy products and services.”

  • Have Google Fi? Get $400 Off a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G

    Have Google Fi? Get $400 Off a Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G

    Google Fi customers, both new and existing, can get $400 off a new Samsung Galaxy Z Flip3 5G.

    Samsung has been firmly in the lead when it comes to flip phones. While the first generations had some issues, recent models have been winning high praise.

    Google is giving Google Fi customers $400 off a Galaxy Z Flip3, a significant savings from its $999 price. The company outlined some of the details on its site:

    Get up to $400 in savings plus $150 Samsung.com credit with the purchase and activation of a Samsung Z Flip 3 5G from fi.google.com. You will receive the $400 savings in Google Fi bill credit. New Fi customers must transfer (port-in) your number to Fi from your current carrier to be eligible. Users who pre-order and purchase a device by 8/26/21 will also receive $150 in Samsung.com credit if they register in the Shop Samsung app between 8/25/21 and 9/26/21. The Samsung.com credit is valid through 11/9/21.

  • Xiaomi Is Now the Number One Smartphone Maker

    Xiaomi Is Now the Number One Smartphone Maker

    Just weeks after knocking Apple off as the number two smartphone maker, Xiaomi has now overtaken Samsung for the number one spot.

    Xiaomi has been making major moves in the smartphone industry. The company has benefited significantly from Huawei’s recent misfortunes, as the latter’s smartphone business has been sanctioned into near-oblivion.

    According to Counterpoint Research, that has created an opening for Xiaomi to become the top smartphone maker worldwide.

    “Ever since the decline of Huawei commenced, Xiaomi has been making consistent and aggressive efforts to fill the gap created by this decline,” noted Research Director Tarun Pathak. “The OEM has been expanding in Huawei’s and HONOR’s legacy markets like China, Europe, Middle East and Africa. In June, Xiaomi was further helped by China, Europe and India’s recovery and Samsung’s decline due to supply constraints.”

    Samsung will have its work cut out to regain the top spot moving forward.

  • Latest Google App Crashing on Android Devices

    Latest Google App Crashing on Android Devices

    The Google app appears to be crashing on multiple devices following the latest update, impacting Google Pixel, Samsung and Motorola phones.

    The latest version of the Google app for Android is 12.23.16.23. Unfortunately, some users started experiencing problems immediately after updating, according to 9to5Google. In addition, the Podcasts and Lens apps are also crashing post-update.

    It seems that updating to the 12.24 beta of the Google app resolves the issue. While beta software should usually not be run on a production device, in this case, it may be the best option for users looking to restore stability and functionality.

    Users experiencing the problem can get the beta here, or via the Play Store listing.

  • Google and Samsung Combining Wear OS and Tizen info Unified Platform

    Google and Samsung Combining Wear OS and Tizen info Unified Platform

    Google and Samsung have announced they are combining their wearable platforms into a single unified one.

    Apple is currently the market leader in the wearables market, with Samsung coming in third-place. Google, on the other hand, hasn’t been able to break into the top five, prompting it to purchase Fitbit to give it a boost.

    Google and Samsung are now joining forces, combining Google’s Wear OS and Samsung’s Tizen into a single, unified platform that will help both companies better compete. The unified platform will be called “Wear,” although one can’t help but hope they come up with something with at least a little more pizazz.

    Bjorn Kilburn, Google Director of Product Management, Wear, outlined some of the benefits of the unification in more detail.

    For performance, our teams collaborated and made apps start up to 30% faster on the latest chipsets with smooth user interface animations and motion. To achieve longer battery life, we’ve worked to optimize the lower layers of the operating system – taking advantage of low-power hardware cores to enable better battery life. That includes handy optimizations like the ability to run the heart rate sensor continuously during the day, track your sleep overnight and still have battery for the next day. Finally, our unified platform will make it easier for developers to build great apps for the watch.