Archive for the ‘Samsung’ Category

MWC 2015: Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge smartphones unveiled

Sunday, March 1st, 2015

Samsung unveiled during Mobile World Congress 2015 in Barcelona, Spain its latest flagship smartphone – the Galaxy S6 – as well as the curved edge version – the Galaxy S6 edge. Global availability: 10 April, 2015.

The Galaxy S6 (right) measures 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8mm and weighs 138g; while the Galaxy S6 edge (left) measures 142.1 x 70.1 x 7.0mm and weighs 132g. Both run Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The Galaxy S6 (right) measures 143.4 x 70.5 x 6.8mm and weighs 138g; while the Galaxy S6 edge (left) measures 142.1 x 70.1 x 7.0mm and weighs 132g. Both run Android 5.0 Lollipop.

Going further than the Galaxy Note edge which only has one curved edge, the new Galaxy S6 edge has curved displays on both edges.

Its glass body is made from tough Corning Gorilla Glass 4 and is available in an array of colorful jewel tones, including White Pearl, Black Sapphire, Gold Platinum, Blue Topaz and Green Emerald.

Both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are equipped with F1.9 lenses for both the front 5-megapixel and rear 16-megapixel cameras.

A new “Quick Launch” feature give users fast, direct access to the camera from any screen in just 0.7 seconds by simply double clicking the home key button.

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New arrivals: Samsung GALAXY A Series – A7, A5 & A3 smartphones

Tuesday, January 13th, 2015

Samsung has launched in Singapore its GALAXY A Series of Android smartphones. The mid-range smartphones include the 4.5-inch A3 (S$448), 5-inch A5 (S$598) and the 5.5-inch A7 (S$TBA).

The A3 and A5 will be available in Singapore on 16 January while the A7 will be available this quarter.

The new GALAXY A series comes in three sizes (from left) - the 5.5-inch A7 (S$TBA), 5-inch A5 (S$598) and the 4.5-inch A3 (S$448).

The new GALAXY A series comes in three sizes (from left) – the 5.5-inch A7 (S$TBA), 5-inch A5 (S$598) and the 4.5-inch A3 (S$448).

The A3 and A5 were launched in Korea on 31 October, 2014 while the A7 was launched on 12 January, 2015 in Korea.

First impressions

I like the thin metallic body of the A-series.

The GALAXY A3 4G will be available from January 16 in Pearl White and Midnight Black, and will retail at $448 without contract. The Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold, Soft Pink versions will be available in late January and February.

The GALAXY A3 4G will be available from January 16 in Pearl White and Midnight Black, at $448 without contract. The Platinum Silver, Champagne Gold (24 January), and Soft Pink (February) versions will be available  later.

The beauty face feature is really interesting.

This offers three ways of enhancing your selfies – skin retouch, eyes enlargement and face-slimming.

There are sliders to let you control how much of the effect to apply, and you can preview the effect as you drag the slider to the left or right.

The skin retouch effect is nothing new and is basically the run-of-the-mill skin blurring functionality which produces instantly-recognisably fake blurred skin.

So it’s good that you can use a slider to limit how much of the effect to apply to avoid appearing too amateurish.

The GALAXY A7 4G will be available this quarter in Pearl White and Midnight Black.

The GALAXY A7 4G will be available this quarter in Pearl White and Midnight Black.

The eyes enlargement effect is really interesting but you have to try-and-error, as the effect can be either flattering or downright weird.

I was most impressed with the face slimming feature. I can see how it’s going to be flattering for many to see their face slimmed slightly.

All three models come with SUPER AMOLED screen for a vivid and colourful display.

The A-series GALAXY smartphones are priced more affordably than Samsung’s two flagship smartphones – the Note and S series.

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New arrivals: Samsung GALAXY Tab Active ruggedised tablet

Friday, December 5th, 2014

The new 8-inch, Android 4.4 (KitKat) ruggedised tablet is now available in Singapore at S$698 (LTE) and S$598 (Wi-Fi).

The Samsung GALAXY Tab Active is available in Titanium Green and it comes with the Ruggedized Cover and the “C Pen”.

The Samsung GALAXY Tab Active is available in Titanium Green and it comes with the Ruggedized Cover and the “C Pen”.

Samsung has launched its first ruggedised tablet, with anti-shock protection to withstand a 1.2-metre drop (with ruggedised cover on); and water/dust resistant to IP67 certification.

The GALAXY Tab Active is developed specifically for the business environment with professional functionalities and reinforced security.

Weighing 393g and measuring 213.1 x 126.2 x 9.75mm, the tablet has 1.5GB RAM and 16GB memory, with MicroSD slot for a further 128GB.

The GALAXY Tab Active is driven by a 1.2GHz Quad Core processor and powered by a 4,450mAh user replaceable battery.

The following accessories are also available for purchase with the GALAXY Tab Active:

  • Gear Circle (SM-R130) available in Black, Blue and White at S$168.
  • 9500mAh Battery Pack (EB-PN910) available in Black and White at S$128.
  • USB/LAN Hub (ET-UP900) at S$98.

The 8-inch WXGA (1280 x 800) TFT LCD touch screen has 16 million colours.

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Zalora launches flagship pop-up store at ION Orchard in Singapore

Wednesday, October 29th, 2014

Zalora has launched its flagship digital interactive pop-up store at ION Orchard, extending its online fashion retail business offline into a traditional retail showroom, with a digital in-store experience.

The ZALORA Shop @ ION Orchard is located at #B2-04/05 and operates from 10 am to 10 pm daily till the end of January 2015.

The ZALORA Shop @ ION Orchard is located at #B2-04/05 and operates from 10 am to 10 pm daily till the end of January 2015.

The ZALORA Shop @ ION brings the online retailer to life by allowing customers to touch, feel and try on a carefully curated selection of exclusive brands.

They can choose from in-house label ZALORA, as well as global brands including River Island, Material Girl, Lola Skye, H.E. by Mango and Burton Menswear.

“ION Orchard is pleased to add the first ZALORA store to ION Orchard's exciting retail offerings. ZALORA’s proven track record of cult and favourite brands will surely be a hit with our trendy and fashion-savvy shoppers. The ION Orchard boutique will be a trendsetting concept which will offer the comfort of actual browsing through the racks of fashion and the ease of virtual shopping. This sits nicely with ION Orchard’s vision to create delightful and innovative shopping experiences,” said Chris Chong, CEO of Orchard Turn Developments Pte Ltd.

“ION Orchard is pleased to add the first ZALORA store to ION Orchard’s exciting retail offerings. ZALORA’s proven track record of cult and favourite brands will surely be a hit with our trendy and fashion-savvy shoppers. The ION Orchard boutique will be a trendsetting concept which will offer the comfort of actual browsing through the racks of fashion and the ease of virtual shopping. This sits nicely with ION Orchard’s vision to create delightful and innovative shopping experiences,” said Chris Chong, CEO of Orchard Turn Developments Pte Ltd.

With an entirely new click-and-mortar concept, The ZALORA Shop creates a seamless shopping experience through multiple touch points in a stylized and modern retail environment.

How it works:

  1. Specially curated products are displayed in-store and customers can pick out the items they want to try on.
  2. “Samsung is delighted to be the technology partner for ZALORA. With the GALAXY ALPHA 4G+, the functional beauty perfect for stylish fashionistas, shopping is now even more enjoyable for ZALORA customers,” said Eugene Goh, Vice President, IT & Mobile, Samsung Electronics Singapore.To enhance the customer experience, the shop is equipped with the GALAXY ALPHA 4G+ and GALAXY Tab S (10.5”) provided by technology partner Samsung. Free WiFi is also available so customers can browse lookbooks for styling tips on how to mix and match pieces.
  3. Once they decide which item/s to purchase, they can scan the barcode and then proceed to the self-serve express checkout counters to process their purchases.

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Samsung donates 3,000 smartphones to fight against Ebola

Tuesday, October 21st, 2014

The GALAXY S3 Neo smartphones will be used in a UN project for the three worst-hit African countries. The donated smartphones are worth about US$1 million.

Update (23 October, 2014):

LG Electronics is also contributing 2,000 smartphones to the United Nations’ response to the deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa.

“We hope that our contribution will make a difference as the UN and NGOs fight on the front lines to improve healthcare, food security and sanitation in areas affected by the Ebola epidemic. This endeavor is representative of LG’s ongoing mission to use its technology to contribute toward resolving global issues,” said Choong-hak Lee, senior vice president and head of LG’s corporate social responsibility efforts.

The donated smartphones from LG will be provided to healthcare and other key personnel dispatched by the UN in the affected areas where they are urgently needed.

The smartphones will allow for fast and seamless communication between the teams on the ground, focusing on medical data gathering, monitoring and planning.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) will facilitate the distribution of the mobile devices.

According to OCHA, almost one billion dollars will be needed to address the immediate humanitarian needs caused by the Ebola virus.

Almost 5,000 people have been infected with Ebola since the outbreak started in West Africa in March with more than 2,400 individuals having died across the region.

Support from LG and other international partners are critical to the UN’s efforts to stabilize the outbreak.

All donated smartphones will be destroyed once the virus outbreak has subsided.

All donated smartphones will be destroyed once the virus outbreak has subsided.

The smartphones, to be donated through the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs (OCHA), will be used in the Humanitarian Connectivity Project, the UN’s IT project that utilises mobile devices to provide humanitarian support in disaster areas.

By installing the UN’s Smart Health Pro mobile application, medical staff can utilise the smartphones to treat patients and collect medical data, while quarantined patients can contact their families using the devices.

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Fearless Channel by Garage Entertainment & Samsung SportsFlow

Saturday, October 18th, 2014

Sydney based studio, Garage Entertainment, Australia’s producer/distributor of Action Sports & Adventure film and television content has collaborated with Samsung SportsFlow to launch a new Actions Sports & Adventure Channel called Fearless.

Home page of the Fearless Channel on Samsung SportsFlow.

Home page of the Fearless Channel on Samsung SportsFlow. Image source: Samsung SportsFlow.

The Fearless channel is now available on the SportsFlow app, giving on-demand access for SportsFlow users (currently over half a million) to over 1,000 best in class action sports films, including films from media houses such as Red Bull, Crusty Demons, Taylor Steele and Rip Curl.

“We are thrilled to collaborate with Australian studio Garage Entertainment. As a company that understands actions sports and how to effectively display the sport, they are a critical partner supporting us to bring awesome content to SportsFlow users,” said Maurizio Barbieri, Head of Sports, Media Solution Centre, Southeast Asia and Oceania, Samsung Electronics.

Titles include “The Art OF Flight”, “Where The Trail Ends” and “Missing” – which were shown on the big screen at the Fearless Film Festival in Sentosa, in celebration of the launch of the channel.

Additionally, there will also be premium content available for purchase through the Fearless channel.

Content on the Fearless channel will be available to all SportsFlow users across Southeast Asia and Oceania.

The Fearless channel marks both the first time sports film content is available on the SportsFlow app as well as the first collaboration of Samsung SportsFlow with any film studio/distributor worldwide.

Fearless Film Festival in Sentosa (15-17 October, 2014) - action movies under the stars.

Fearless Film Festival in Sentosa (15-17 October, 2014) – action movies under the stars. Photo source: Fast Track

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Infographic: Intel in smartphones & tablets – #IntelMobility

Saturday, October 11th, 2014

I was wondering how well Intel has penetrated the mobile market. Here are some quick updates from Jonathan Ong, Area Sales Manager of Intel Singapore & Malaysia.

Intel's Atom processors are being adopted in smartphones and tablets in the mobile devices market.

Intel’s Atom processors are being adopted in smartphones and tablets in the mobile devices market.

According to the September report of the Strategy Analytics, Intel ranked second in Application Processor Shipment in Q2 of 2014.

The keys to their mobile strategy:

  • Compute performance based on true 64-bit architecture
  • Global communications platforms
  • Leading manufacturing technology
Intel Atom processors focus on providing the performance demanded by today's road warriors.

Intel Atom processors focus on providing the performance demanded by today’s road warriors.

There are now more than 200 smartphone/tablet designs currently in the market or coming this year in over 150 countries.

Examples of their latest smartphone partner products include:

Tablet partners include Acer, Dell and Lenovo, amongst others.

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New arrivals: Samsung GALAXY YOUNG 2 available in Singapore

Monday, October 6th, 2014

The Android smartphone is targeted at first-time users looking for essential features and usability. Available in Singapore at S$148 from 11 October, 2014.

The Samsung GALAXY YOUNG 2 weighs 108g and measures 109.8 x 59.9 x 11.8mm. It is available in Iris Charcoal and White.

The Samsung GALAXY YOUNG 2 weighs 108g and measures 109.8 x 59.9 x 11.8mm. It is available in Iris Charcoal and White.

Powered by a 1GHz Single Core Processor, the GALAXY YOUNG 2 features a long lasting 1,300mAh battery, 3.2-megapixel camera and a 3.5” touch screen HVGA (320 x 480) TFT LCD display with 262K colours..

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Samsung launches GALAXY Note 4, Note Edge, Gear S and Gear S in Singapore

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

The GALAXY Note 4 (S$1,088), Gear S (S$498) and Gear Circle (S$168) will reach Singapore on 11 October and but you can register your interest for the Note 4 from noon tomorrow (2 October). The GALAXY Note Edge 4G+ will be available in Q4 2014.

The GALAXY Note 4 4G+ will be available in Singapore from 11 October 2014 in Charcoal Black and Frost White. The Note Edge 4G+ will only be available in Q4 2014.

The GALAXY Note 4 4G+ will be available in Singapore from 11 October 2014 in Charcoal Black and Frost White. The Note Edge 4G+ will only be available in Q4 2014.

The slew of mobile products were first unveiled during IFA 2014.

I first played with these new gadgets when they were brought to Singapore for a preview 2 weeks ago.

They are indeed exciting additions to Samsung’s line of mobile devices.

Recommended retail prices in Singapore are listed below.

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Preview: Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge, Gear S & Gear Circle

Thursday, September 18th, 2014

Samsung Singapore showcased in Singapore today a few of the devices unveiled during IFA 2014 – namely the Galaxy Note 4, Galaxy Note Edge.

Also available for hands-on were the Gear S smartwatch and Gear Circle Bluetooth wireless earphones.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge with its innovative curved-edged screen, with Montblanc leather flip covers for the Note 4 in the background.

Samsung Galaxy Note Edge with its innovative curved-edged screen, with Montblanc leather flip covers for the Note 4 in the background.

Both the Galaxy Note 4 and Note Edge now have the same Quad HD (2560 x 1440 pixels) as the LG G3 but on a larger 5.7-inch screen, and the S Pen and S Note have been improved to enhance their functionality and productivity.

Samsung Gear Circle, with the ear buds

Samsung Gear Circle, with the ear buds “stuck” together magnetically, can be worn around the neck like a necklace when not in use.

The rear camera now has 16 megapixels and the front has 3.7 megapixels with an f1.9 lens.

By the way, the processor that’s going to ship to Singapore is the Snapdragon with 3GB RAM.

The Note Edge really does look novel with the sharp display on the curved screen that wraps around the thin right edge of the phablet.

The Gear S smartphone runs on the Tizen OS and has its own nano-SIM slot so you can place and receive calls independently of a smartphone.

It can also store and play music directly and be paired with the Gear Circle.

First Impressions:

Having used the Galaxy S4, Note 3 and now using the S5, I find the Note 4 and Note Edge exciting new additions to the Galaxy flagship devices.

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