Leaked press images show Samsung's ATIV SE for Verizon

Samsung's upcoming Windows 8.1 smartphone for Verizon, the ATIV SE, passed through the FCC last month, and now we're getting a look at the actual device. The leaked press photos above show a phone that strongly resembles the Windows Phone-powered ATIV S, with a physical home button. The alleged ATIV SE appears to share design elements with Samsung's Galaxy handsets as well, from the rounded edges to the textured finishes on the back and front. It's still unclear when the ATIV SE will launch on Verizon, but we know it'll arrive some time this year following the debut of the Windows Phone 8.1 operating system. Expect a 5-inch, 1080p display and LTE capability when the SE hits store shelves.

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Daily Roundup: new Amazon and Valve controllers, Samsung's ultrasonic phone case and more!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Samsung's Kid Store for Samsung Galaxy S5 won't let junior wipe out your bank account

The Kids Mode that we earlier told you about for the Samsung Galaxy S5, will include apps allowing kids to draw, record their voices, snap pictures and sing karaoke. But there also is a special Kids Store that gives the young ones a chance to load more fun and games on a Galaxy S5. One thing that Samsung wanted to prevent was situations where junior would figure out a password and start making in-app purchasers that wipe out the family bank account.

To prevent the sort of in-app purchasing that has seen Apple get into trouble, the Kids Store will include some paid apps without any in-app options. This way, Mom and Dad know just exactly how much they are spending to pacify junior for a few hours. A special PIN number will need to be punched in when purchasing a paid app from the Kids Store. The apps will be listed in categories including Special, Learning, Play and Story. The PIN number also controls what phone numbers the kids will be able to call.

Kids Mode is for those 10 years of age or younger, and those who have seen it say that it is colorful and cartoonish, which should help it do the job that it is intended to do. That is, to keep kids away from things on the Samsung Galaxy S5 that they shouldn't be messing with, whether accidentally or on purpose.



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Samsung's Milk Music internet radio service is only for Galaxy devices (video)

Do we need yet another online music service? Samsung certainly thinks so, as it's just introduced its very own internet radio service called, weirdly enough, Milk Music. So named for its supposed "fresh" take on music (Get it? Because milk is fresh? Yeah, we're not sure about that either), it's free to download from Google Play starting today. In fact, you can start streaming tunes immediately as soon as you launch it, no sign-up required. Best of all, the service is completely ad-free (for now at least -- we'll explain more about this later). The caveat, of course, is that it's exclusive to Samsung phones. Milk Music is a completely separate entity from Samsung's existing Music Hub subscription service, as the former is focused more as a free radio service that you can use without having to set up an account.

At launch, Milk Music will only work on the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4, the Note 2, the Note 3 and GS4 variants like the Active and the Mini. It'll also be compatible with the upcoming Galaxy S5. Here's another interesting tidbit: all of Milk Music's 200 genre stations and catalog of nearly 13 million songs is powered by Slacker. Yep, that Slacker. That's why Samsung didn't have to do any licensing deals with content partners to release Milk Music -- all of that was left up to Slacker to handle.

However, everything else about Milk Music -- the logo, the interface, the menus -- is all Samsung. And it's the design of Milk that really makes it stand out from other internet radio apps we've seen. The first distinct difference is apparent the second you launch the app -- you'll be presented with a large round dial populated with nine different genre stations along with Spotlight and My Stations. Spotlight is a set of "what's trending" stations curated by Samsung and Slacker that changes on a weekly basis. According to Samsung, Spotlight is also an opportunity to deliver Milk Music exclusives and "first-listens" from collaborators like Jay-Z. My Stations, as the name suggests, are stations you create yourself based on a particular artist or song. So for example, you can set up a Lorde station that'll play songs from her as well as related artists. You can also create a station based on all the songs that you've marked as favorites. Milk Music screenshots

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This music service wants to be the first on Samsung's smartwatches

7digital really wants to put its music store on Samsung's new Gear smartwatches. Really badly. Need proof? The company has announced plans to release a hybrid shopping and streaming app for Tizen devices in the second quarter of the year, and it's eagerly highlighting the app's support for wearables -- at last check, Samsung is the only major firm producing wearable Tizen gadgets. The music provider isn't being subtle about its intentions, then, even though it's not making any official connection between its software and the Gear line. If nothing else, 7digital would be a logical fit for the hardware. The company has a history of being the first to offer music services on young platforms, and it was the backbone for Samsung's Music Hub. Don't be surprised if you can buy a hot new song from the Gear 2 on your wrist this spring.

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Via: The Next Web

Source: 7digital

Tags: 7digital, music, samsung, smartphone, smartwatch, tizen, wearable Next: Dell's Precision M2800 workstation is for prosumers who need performance on the cheap
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Daily Roundup: Samsung's Milk Music, a stun gun-equipped drone and more!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Hands-on with Samsung's vastly improved Tizen OS

Samsung's device lineup may still be heavily dominated by Android, but change is in the air. Tizen, the open-source OS it jointly develops with Intel, powers the company's three new Gear wearables, and smartphones are coming later this year. We got the chance to play with Samsung's latest Tizen phone prototype, which runs a customized build (version 2.2.1) of the platform, allowing us to see what's changed since the last time we saw a Samsung developer handset. While there's still plenty of similarities between the prototype and what we've seen in the past, Samsung's worked to incorporate parts of its Android design language, particularly in the apps drawer, notification tray and homescreen widgets. Not only do they look better, each of the elements are more feature rich than before, offering users greater control over the device and making it feel like a complete platform. The company insists the platform isn't designed to replace Android, affirming that it forms part of its "multi-OS strategy," but given its recent wearable overhaul, we'll never say never. Check out the hands-on video below to see what a Samsung mobile future without Google could possibly look like.

Samsung Tizen prototype hands-on

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Samsung's slumping sales suggest China is the next mobile battlefield

Samsung had a rough day yesterday. Its earnings report indicated the company experienced the first posted drop in profit in two years (a mere $7.8 billion, compared to $8.27 billion in the same quarter last year), thanks to a strong Korean won, a special one-off bonus payment to employees and heavy holiday marketing costs. Given its increased year-over-year profits and sales this may not seem so bad, but there is a growing concern that the company has a difficult year ahead, especially for smartphone sales.

The company expects slowing sales in the first quarter of 2014 for its smartphones and tablets, thanks to "seasonality." This means fewer people are buying mobile devices -- as a new Galaxy flagship approaches, many people put off their phone purchase until it comes out. But the company also indicated that the mobile battlefield is only going to get fiercer over the next year, as developed markets are reaching saturation. Now, the war is shifting to developing markets where more people are becoming smartphone and tablet owners for the first time.

With developed markets becoming saturated and experiencing slow sales, regions like China are ripe for the picking.

In its earnings report, Samsung stated: "In 2014, Samsung will focus on expanding its smartphone portfolio both by region and price range, and actively responding to growing LTE demand in Europe and China. Expect ... intensified price competition, amid developed and emerging markets to continue rapid growth." With developed markets becoming saturated and experiencing slowed sales, regions like China are ripe for the picking.

This isn't to say that Samsung doesn't already have a large presence in areas like China and India -- it's currently the market share champion in both countries -- but its dominance is quickly slipping as it faces intense competition from both local and global companies alike. Local powerhouses Micromax and Karbonn are quickly catching up to Samsung in India, and in China, Apple has experienced exponential growth in recent quarters; reports indicate that the iPhone 5s and 5c helped Apple more than double its market share to take third place. The phones launched on China Mobile (the country's largest carrier with 750 million customers) this month, so we expect Apple's foothold to only get stronger there in the coming months. But that's not the only large company making strides in China: Lenovo, which is in second place, is also growing significantly.

If the rumors about Apple releasing iPhones in larger form factors are true, Samsung will have to directly compete against a major force that didn't exist last year.

Not only is there more competition in these countries in general, there's also a much more pointed focus on specific form factors and price points. As we pointed out in an earlier piece, the under-$100 pricing tier is becoming very aggressive, especially in emerging markets. Additionally, the large-screen smartphone, a form factor once dominated by the Galaxy Note, is now covered by nearly every major company. If the rumors about Apple releasing iPhones in larger form factors are true, Samsung will have to directly compete against a major force that didn't exist last year.

As the battle continues to intensify in countries like China, where demand is growing at a tremendous pace, Samsung's profit margins will get squeezed as phone prices plunge. Thus, we expect to see the company hit tablets and wearables even harder in 2014 -- according to Samsung, the former will experience a 20 percent increase in demand, and it has more of the latter on the way as well. We don't know if it will be enough for the company to enjoy a record year, but Samsung is under more pressure to bedazzle its customers than at any time in recent memory. It's just going to have to be more creative to stay on top.

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Tags: developing markets, earnings, editorial, emerging markets, loveisalsoabattlefield, mobilepostcross, samsung, smartphones Next: SoundCloud reportedly in talks with record labels to stem copyright claims .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Samsung's new Smart Home service outlined, wants to connect to third-party services and products

We heard whispers that Samsung was planning big for CES, and we're not just talking TV panels. It's now revealed Smart Home, which attempts to tie together Smart TVs, home appliances and handheld smart devices into one single platform. Perhaps more importantly, the company says it's going to collaborate with third-party partners to extend the platform to products and services beyond only those with Samsung branding.

At the middle of it all, there will be a single app that (as the picture above suggests) will get its hooks into all your wearables, phones and white goods with a cloud-based server keeping your data moving. Device Control will let users adjust lighting and temperature management through your smartphone. Meanwhile, Smart Home will also included embedded voice commands: if you say "going out" into your Galaxy Gear, then the system will automatically turn off your smart lighting and "selected appliances", so presumably not your fridge. The, once out, Home View will let you tap into devices with cameras inside your house, offering up some not-so-covert video streams to your Galaxy phone. Alongside the new system, the company announced a new software protocol too, hoping to forge a new ecosystem -- with Samsung in the middle of it all. Expect to hear more later this week.

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Source: Samsung

Tags: ces, ces2014, hdpostcross, mobilepostcross, samsung, smarthome Next: LG's 105-inch UHDTV isn't coming to CES alone: flat 65-, 79-, 84- and 98-inchers on the way .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Samsung's new TV remote for 2014 has a new pebble shape, 80 percent smaller touchpad

Samsung couldn't wait for CES to start leaking information about its new HDTVs, starting with the remote. After rolling out larger and larger contraptions over the years with more buttons (on both sides, even), this year's "Smart Control" model has a touchpad that is 80 percent smaller than the 2013 version. That control is in the middle (adjusted from the 2012 and 2013 versions, shown in this infographic) which, combined with a new button layout, integrated microphone and gesture control -- similar to LG's Magic Remote, among others -- promises to make controlling apps and content even easier. We've heard these claims before, and its pebble shape is very similar to the Panasonic Viera Touch remote introduced a couple of years ago, but we're for anything that's simpler than Samsung's previous remotes.

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow (1), (2)

Tags: ces2014, hdpostcross, remote, samsung, smartcontrol Next: Netflix is testing multiple new subscription plans, like 3 streams for $9.99 .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Samsung's 110-inch Ultra HDTV is the world's largest, and it goes on sale Monday

Samsung promised at CES last January that it would deliver a 110-inch UHDTV this year, and with just a couple of days left to spare here it is. Apparently rolling out in China, the Middle East and a few European countries first, there's no word on price (the 85-inch version that launched earlier this year had a $40K pricetag attached when it launched), but can you really put a price on a TV that's bigger than a king-size bed? That's right, at 2.6-meters by 1.8-meters there's more than enough room for well-heeled VIPs or employees of large companies and government agencies (the target market for the S9110) to catch some z's on it -- and bring a few friends. It's available for custom orders just before we see the new generation of Ultra HD (including a 105-inch curved model) at CES 2014 next week, although most of us will be looking for TVs that actually fit inside our living room.

Update: Even though the set is custom order only, an Associated Press report puts the price at about $150,000 -- anyone want to get a group order going?.

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Samsung's new chip could put 4GB of memory in your next smartphone

Think the 3GB of RAM in the Galaxy Note 3 was a lot? Samsung was only getting started. The company has just unveiled the first 8-gigabit (1GB) low-power DDR4 memory chip, which could lead to 4GB of RAM in a multi-layered, mobile-sized package. Moving to the higher-bandwidth (3.1Gbps) DDR standard should also provide a hefty 50 percent speed boost over existing DDR3-based chips, even though the new silicon uses 40 percent less power than its ancestors. Samsung is only promising mass production of the new RAM sometime in 2014, but it's already clear about the target audience. The technology will go into laptops, smartphones and tablets with Ultra HD displays, where additional memory will be crucial for powering all those extra pixels.

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow Global

Tags: 20nm, 20nm-class, laptop, lpddr4, memory, mobilepostcross, ram, samsung, smartphone, tablet Next: How would you change Canon's EOS-1D X? .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Samsung's got another tablet in the works

One of the great things about the FCC is that the commission is obligated to reveal all of the newly minted and as-yet unannounced gadgets that pass through its hallowed halls. The latest to be shown is a Samsung tablet measuring in the 8-9-inch category. Naturally, all that the FCC is concerned with is if the unit's Bluetooth and WiFi modules are working properly, so we shall have to wait and see what the SM-T320 turns out to be. But considering that we've got CES in less than a week and MWC a month afterward, we doubt we'll be waiting long.

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Via: Phone Arena

Source: FCC

Tags: Galaxy, samsung, SM-T320, Tab Next: Taiwan prosecutes HTC's ex-lead designer for fraud and leak .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Samsung's HomeSync now works with non-Samsung devices

Samsung's HomeSync media center.

Samsung announced Tuesday that it is extending compatibility of its HomeSync media center to more Android devices, including those made by other companies.

The $299 device, which launched in the US in October, lets people store, sync, and stream content from their mobile devices to their TVs while at home or on the go. HomeSync also provides 1TB of storage for up to eight separate accounts and gives each user the option to sync photo albums, video, and music and to upload and download mobile content.

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While HomeSync initially worked only with Samsung mobile devices equipped with Samsung Link, the company's program for connecting and sharing content, Android smartphones made by other companies are now compatible with the system. According to its Google Play description, the app is now compatible with the HTC One and Butterfly; Sony's Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, and Xperia SP; and LG's Optimus G pro and Nexus 4.

HomeSync connects to a TV with an HDMI connection, allowing almost any TV to be a smart TV, Samsung said. It features support for wired or wireless mouse and keyboard, as well as access to Web browsing, YouTube, apps, games, and social networking. Users can access content on the box while on the go, and each account can include up to six devices.

Samsung HomeSync is an Android media hub Topics: Apps, Android, Samsung Tags: media center, Android, HomeSync, Samsung

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Daily Roundup: Samsung's sound lab, the gadgets of 2013, HFR movies and more!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Samsung's Galaxy GamePad brings precision Android controls to Europe first

Well, that took awhile. Remember the first-party gamepad Samsung trotted out at the Galaxy S4 unveiling? It's finally ready for release -- in Europe. The months of extra development don't seem wasted, at least: The revised pad sports a new facade that thankfully discards the odd Xbox 360/Wii hybrid look that the prototype flaunted, and there's a rechargeable battery pack too. What's more, the outfit says that the controller can handle devices from 4-inches to 6.3-inches running Jellybean and up. The controller's "play" button will also launch the company's new Mobile Console app on certain Samsung devices; a sort of virtual game shelf, if you will. At launch, that button promises to foster a list of some 35 compatible titles, with Need for Speed: Most Wanted and Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame leading the pack. We've reached out to Samsung for pricing and North American availability and will update this post if we hear back.

Samsung Smartphone GamePad

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Samsung's HomeSync media hub will play nice with non-Samsung Android devices

If ever a product needed to work harder to justify its price tag, it'd be Samsung's new $299 HomeSync box. Fortunately, the manufacturer seems to be self-aware enough to make some changes: the Android-powered storage, streaming and mirroring hub will soon offer full support for Jelly Bean phones and tablets even if they're outside of the Galaxy stable. This should allow an average household with numerous, diversely-branded devices to store and share their photos, music and videos using the HomeSync's 1TB "personal cloud," while also using their handsets as remote controls and as sources for mirroring via the box's HDMI input. As things stand, however, only a handful of non-Samsung phones, like the Sony Xperia Z and HTC One, are listed as compatible over at the Google Play store, and it could be a while before the HomeSync becomes truly brand-agnostic. In the meantime, there are plenty of other mobile-friendly NAS solutions around that are worth a look.

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Source: Samsung

Tags: android, hdmi, homesync, mirroring, mobilepostcross, nas, samsung, streaming Next: Facebook confirms autoplay video ads are coming to your News Feed
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Weekly Roundup: Instagram Direct, Jawbone Up24 review, Samsung's EMC lab and more!

You might say the week is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workweek, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Weekly Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past seven days -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Physical buttons make a comeback in Samsung's low-end Galaxy Core Advance

The rugged Galaxy S 4 Active had them, and so did the lesser-known Xcover2. But all-physical navigation buttons are becoming rarer on Samsung phones nowadays, and that's why our eyes were drawn to the manufacturer's latest low-end offering, the Galaxy Core Advance. In addition to the obvious trio on the front, the handset also finds room for dedicated camera and voice recorder buttons on the side. Specs-wise, however, we're still in deeply unexciting Galaxy Core territory, with Android 4.2 and TouchWiz running on a 480 x 800 display (now slightly bigger at 4.7 inches), a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of onboard storage (expandable via MicroSD) and Europe-friendly 3G data bands. The phone will be out early next year, although we're not sure exactly where it'll be sold or for how much. What we can say, though, is that Samsung will have to drastically undercut the superior Moto G (which has a 720p display and Android 4.3) if it plans to go up against Motorola in the same markets.

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Source: Samsung

Tags: android, budget, galaxy, galaxycoreadvance, low-end, mobilepostcross, samsung, touchwiz Next: Huawei's Honor brand challenges Xiaomi with 3X and 3C low-cost phones .fyre .fyre-comment-divider

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Daily Roundup: Samsung's EMC lab, interview with Qualcomm's Raj Talluri, new Chromecast apps and more!

You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours -- all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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