Samsung Galaxy

We’ve got our hands on another one of Samsung’s latest smartwatch offerings. After taking a closer look at the Gear Fit, we’re checking out Samsung’s mid-range smartwatch option. The Gear 2 Neo is a slightly scaled back version of the Gear 2, but overall there aren’t many differences between the two.

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Samsung’s Gear Fit smartwatch/fitness band is finally available online and in stores, but unfortunately, its Android compatibility is still very limited. According to Samsung, the Gear Fit will only work with 17 different Galaxy devices including the new Galaxy S5. Once again, Samsung is keeping its Gear line within the family, but luckily we’ve found a way around this small problem.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnXYhQZ5H5Q]

Samsung’s Gear Fit smartwatch is a very unique take on wearable devices. It acts as a fitness band, but functions like a smartwatch in many ways. With the Gear Fit you’ll be able to monitor your exercise habits, steps, heart rate, sleep, and more. Along with that, the device will push notifications for calls, emails, texts and updates from various social networking apps. Check out the video above for an in-depth look at the Samsung Gear Fit. Real world:
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Training materials leaked from both HTC and Samsung identify the arguments each manufacturer hopes will persuade you to buy its new flagship handset.

HTCSource posted a flyer showing that HTC has five main arguments, and seven secondary ones, for the HTC One M8. The primary features highlighted are the metal casing, two front speakers, tap & swipe features to facilitate one-handed use, the duo camera and the HTC Advantage program … 
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Samsung has announced that the Samsung Galaxy S5 goes on sale today in 125 countries, along with the new Gear smartwatches. It was already known that it would be launched today in the USA.

The new Galaxy S5 and the Samsung Gear devices – Samsung Gear 2, Samsung Gear 2 Neo, and Samsung Gear Fit – are ready to hit the market in 125 countries in Europe, Middle East, North America, Latin America, and most of Asia.

The S5 has a 5.1-inch full HD display which was declared “the best smartphone display ever tested” by DisplayMate. Other key features include a fingerprint sensor and heartrate monitor. Reviewers considered it an excellent phone, albeit lacking in excitement … 
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV8ONpWvtgY]

If you’ve been debating on upgrading to the Samsung Galaxy S5, there are definitely a few things you need to know. Is it worth upgrading to Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone? If you currently own a Galaxy S4, you may be better off waiting for the Galaxy S6. In the video above, we compare the features and specifications between the Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S4. In the video above, we’ve laid out all of the facts to help you make an informed decision.

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The early reviews of the Samsung Galaxy S5 are in, and the general verdict appears to be that it’s a very good phone – but perhaps doesn’t offer any really persuasive reason to upgrade from the S4.

Re/Code took the view that the waterproofing was the only real standout feature.

I’ve been testing the new S5 for a couple of weeks, and I like it, though I didn’t find it especially exciting or novel. In every major hardware area, it’s a very good phone, with a sharp, gorgeous screen that, at 5.1 inches, is a teeny bit bigger than the five-inch display on last year’s model, the S4 […]

Overall, the Galaxy 5S is a very good phone, but not one compelling enough for me to recommend that you buy it to replace last year’s Galaxy or the current iPhone. But there’s one caveat: If you drop your phone in water a lot, you want this one …

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Samsung took a big step into the health and fitness market with its Galaxy S5. One of the device’s main selling points is its built-in heart rate sensor. This new feature allows users to check their heart rate using the preinstalled S Health app, but the truth is, nothing special is happening here. According to Samsung’s official Galaxy S5 page, it’s the first smartphone with a built-in heart rate sensor, but technically almost any device with a camera and flash is capable of providing this functionality. The same sensor is found on Samsung’s new Gear smart watch lineup and certainly makes more sense ona wearable device, but unfortunately it’s nothing more than a gimmick on the Galaxy S5.

The heart rate sensor found on the back is no different than what many third party apps have offered for quite some time. Runtastic’s Heart Rate Monitor app is a perfect example. This app uses the LED flash and camera on almost any smartphone to read your heart rate, and it works surprisingly well.

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Verizon has started accepting pre-orders for the Galaxy S5, confirming pricing at $199.99 on a two-year contract (after $50 mail-in rebate), or $599.99 full retail without contract, with shipping from 11th April. These are similar deals to those already announced by AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint.

Verizon has also extended its HTC One and Samsung ATIV buy-one, get-one-free deal to the S5 – though only if you sign a two-year contract for each … 
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Chipworks managed to get its hands on a Galaxy S5 ahead of Samsung’s new flagship handset officially going on sale on 11th April, and has been taking a look inside. The model it obtained was a Korean one, thanks to several carriers releasing it early. We’ve also noted third-party suppliers on Amazon advertising it as available in 1-2 days.

While Chipworks has only just begun its analysis, it does provide a sneak peek of the innards, together with a steer on three of the elements it plans to examine in detail: the fingerprint sensor, heart-rate chip and camera sensor.

The company says that the fingerprint sensor is split into two parts, a touch sensor embedded in the home button, and a second part connected to the touchscreen. It isn’t yet clear whether the screen simply detects a touch and switches on the sensor, or whether data from the touchscreen forms part of the identification process.

 
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DisplayMate Technologies, which makes display test kit for every major screen manufacturer in the world, has declared that the new Samsung Galaxy S5 has “the best performing smartphone display that we have ever tested” with “a long list of new records.”

While OLED screens have long been considered to be playing catch-up with LCD, DisplayMate says that the S5 demonstrates that the race has now been won.

In a span of just four years OLED display technology is now challenging and even exceeding the performance of the best LCDs across the board in brightness, contrast, color accuracy, color management, picture quality, performance in high ambient light, screen uniformity, and viewing angles …

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xOIGUfAlMY0]

Samsung’s description of a nine-minute video as a ‘quick look’ at the Gear 2 and Gear Fit smartwatches may be about as accurate as its claim that they are everything users “loved” about the original Gear, but if you want to know everything the watches do and how to do it in full detail, this video is your friend.

The Galaxy S5 video (below the fold) is a little shorter, at a touch under eight minutes … 
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Samsung already launched the Galaxy Note 12.2 tablets it announced at CES earlier this year, and today the company has announced the availability date for the Galaxy Tab 12.2 version. Starting March 9th, customers can purchase the 12.2″ Android tablet starting at $649 in black or white versions with 32GB and 64GB configurations through Samsung.com, Best Buy, Amazon, and other retailers.
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Samsung’s new Chromebooks leaked a little bit last week and again over the weekend, but now they are official.  The biggest upgrades include the form factor featuring the faux leather stitching made famous by its Galaxy Note 3 and a new 1080P 13-inch display on the higher end $399 model. Both still use Exynos 5 Octocore processors that lack a little bit of the oomph of Haswell Intel processors, but they compete very well in battery life (8.5-9 hours claimed by Samsung). These machines also have wake times of less than one second and cold boots in less than ten.

Another prime area of improvement is the Hangouts video chat experience enhance by a 720P front side camera paired with improved mic and 2x 2W speakers.
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Samsung just unveiled the fifth iteration of its Galaxy S line of smartphones at Mobile World Congress, and alongside that unveil, the company shared some sales numbers. According to Samsung CEO JK Shin, the South Korean company has sold more than 200 million Galaxy S smartphones since the line was first introduced in 2010.

While Shin didn’t break down that 200 million by each specific smartphone, we do know that Samsung crossed 40 million sales of the Galaxy S4 back in October. In December, the company announced that it had sold 10 million Galaxy Note 3 units. Another report also claimed that Samsung sold a whopping 120 million smartphones total in Q3 of 2013, more than Apple, Nokia, and LG combined.

Apple recently crossed an even bigger milestone by selling  its 700 millionth iOS device. Of course, that number also includes the iPad. Either way, it’s clear that both Apple and Samsung are neck and neck in terms of device sales. Samsung could also soon face stiffer competition from HTC when it unveils its newest flagship.

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Photo: ibtimes.com

Customers buying Samsung devices at Samsung retail stores will soon receive a personalized experience based on their job, hobbies and other traits, 9to5Google has learned.

This includes contextually preloading third-party apps at point of purchase. For example, banking, finance and spreadsheet apps will be targeted at people working in corporations or self-employed businessmen. Similarly, students in higher education will get office suites and note-taking apps preinstalled. Casual games are also in the pool of possible apps, particularly aimed at satisfying younger buyers.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y42eQJmGbxk]

A lot of clues in the above ad, but obviously nothing is guaranteed. The waterproof angle would be a major blow to Sony’s Z line which is the only major phone than can get dunked. Samsung’s S4 Active is water resistant, but not very rugged. I’ll be waiting for the Google Play edition, personally.