Samsung has always been known to include quite a few of its own custom features with its smartphones, and its latest device, the Galaxy Note 7, is no exception. Just like the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge from earlier this year, Samsung has included dozens of great features on the Note 7 and one that you may find very useful is the built-in spam identification services.
This service is baked directly into the stock dialer app and is powered by Hiya, a leading source in providing caller ID information and detecting calls that may be spam. The functionality works very similarly to a feature that was added to Google’s dialer app last month for Nexus and Android One devices.
To ensure accurate results, Hiya keeps track of over 600 million phone numbers here in the US, but also over 1.5 billion numbers globally with years of experience in the field.
Just like on Google’s dialer, the stock Samsung dialer will present a warning before answering the call, although it is noticeably more subtle compared to Google’s. After a call users will also have quick and easy access to block or report that number as spam, whether it was marked as such before or not. This service will be available in 28 countries on the Note 7 and other recent Galaxy devices such as the Galaxy S7. Along with spam protection, Hiya will also assist the Note 7 in searching for businesses within the dialer as well as being better informed when a business calls a user.
As for availability, this is a slightly limited release. For international countries this feature will be available on every Note 7, however in the States it’s limited to the T-Mobile variant only.
Mobile Data Leader Also Expands Service to an Additional 12 CountriesSEATTLE and NEW YORK – (August 2, 2016) – Hiya, the leading source for caller identification and phone spam detection services, today announced that it has extended its partnership with Samsung to include the integration of its caller ID, spam detection and business search services into the Galaxy Note 7. Previously available only on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Hiya (formerly a division of Whitepages) will now integrate this seamless experience to help Note 7 users identify unknown callers and protect them against the increased threat of phone spam and scams. The service, already available for Galaxy S7 users in 16 countries, will also expand into 12 additional countries, for a total of 28 countries. Both Galaxy S7 and Note 7 users will now benefit from a better phone experience that includes:
- Caller Identification: By leveraging Hiya’s proprietary data set that includes more than 600 million active mobile and landline phone numbers in the US and over 1.5 billion unique numbers globally, users will be able to make informed decisions about whether or not to answer an incoming call.
- Spam and Scam Detection: With Hiya’s state of the art phone reputation service, users will have much needed context for unsolicited spam and scam calls, giving them peace of mind when answering or ignoring a call. The service also includes a spam button for users to easily report spam numbers, which will in turn help other users from falling victim to fraudulent calls.
- Nearby Business Search: Powered by a global database of local business information, users will be able to search directly within the native dialer to easily find nearby businesses for any and all of life’s purchases and curiosities.
“As consumers worldwide continue to find themselves inundated with an influx of unwanted calls, we are pleased to further expand our partnership with Samsung to bring our best-in-class caller ID and phone spam detection services to even more users across the globe,” said Alex Algard, Founder and CEO of Hiya. “Expanding our service to include Galaxy Note 7 users and further growing our footprint in the international arena gets us one step closer to providing the kind of phone experience that everyone with a smartphone deserves.”
The issue of caller identification has come to the forefront in recent years as phone scam and text spam has significantly increased due to a lack of filtering at the carrier level and a rise in automated VoiP/OTT platforms that have driven the cost of communication down to fractions of a cent. Of the 665 MM incoming calls Hiya scans per month globally, nearly 35 MM are classified as “unwanted.” In June, Hiya saw a more than 100 percent increase in scam calls as compared to the previous year.
As an issue impacting nearly every person with a smartphone, the growing phone spam problem has also caught the attention of regulators in the United States. In June 2015, the FCC announced that it would enable U.S. mobile operators to block spam. In April of 2016, Representative Jackie Speier introduced the ROBOCOP Act, a piece of legislation that would require telecom companies to offer consumers free optional robocall-blocking technology. The ROBOCOP Act was then almost immediately introduced to the Senate by Charles Schumer of New York. Finally, last week, Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the FCC, sent letters to major wireless and wireline phone companies giving them 30 days to come back with concrete, actionable solutions to address these issues.
Hiya’s integration with the Galaxy S7 and the Note 7 will now be available in 28 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States (on very limited devices).
About Hiya
Hiya provides enhanced Caller ID products and services designed to make the phone experience better. With a database of more over 1.5 billion unique numbers globally, Hiya leverages its expansive algorithms to identify unknown calls and texts and to monitor phone-based threats for consumers and businesses. Hiya screens more than 665 MM incoming calls per month, and has detected more than one billion robo, telemarketing and scam calls and texts to date. Hiya is available as a consumer app on Google Android and iPhone and is integrated into the phone experience for T-Mobile and Samsung Galaxy S7 and Note 7 users worldwide. For more information, please visit www.hiya.com.
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