Samsung bakes SMS support into ChatON for Android, because please use ChatON

SMS support added to ChatON for Android in select countries, because please use ChatON

Between social networks and a near infinite number of messaging apps, there are frankly too many ways us humans can keep in touch. With so many platforms competing for a slot in your app drawer, some are attempting to absorb SMS traffic and become your one-stop messaging shop. Google Hangouts was updated a month ago with SMS support (stock Android 4.4 KitKat does away with a pre-loaded SMS app altogether), and now Samsung's ChatON for Android has followed suit. The latest version of the app allows you to set it as your SMS/MMS inbox, though the feature is only live in Germany and Brazil at the moment. Not that anyone uses ChatON, but it's another mixture of cellular and data threads that's a recipe for confusion. Facebook recently killed SMS integration from its messaging app due to poor uptake, probably because users still prefer the distinction. Everyone uses Snapchat exclusively now anyway, right?

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Via: SamMobile

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Samsung claims 100 million people use its ChatOn messaging service

Samsung's ChatOn hits 100 million user mark

Though we haven't received any ChatOn messages ourselves lately, Samsung says that its messaging service has caught on with some. In fact, it's just chalked up a "global subscriber base" of 100 million folks in around two years, thanks to its availability on diverse platforms like iOS, Android, Bada, the web and Windows Phone. Samsung singled out China and India as key markets for the service and touted features like drag-and-drop media sharing and the ability to hand-write messages with an S Pen-equipped device. Though the numbers sound good, we're not sure if the Korean company is counting active users or just those who registered out of curiosity because it came pre-installed on their phones. By contrast, WhatsApp counts 300 million subscribers who use the service monthly. We've reached out to Samsung to confirm and maybe we'll get around to registering for the service ourselves, some day.

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Source: Samsung

Samsung unveils the Galaxy S 4’s software tricks: camera modes, Story Album, S Voice Drive and more

Samsung unveils the Galaxy S 4's software tricks camera modes, Story Album, S Translate and more

Samsung is revealing what Smart software additions the Galaxy S 4 will bring to the table, and they're well beyond what's been rumored. The camera is one of the biggest focuses, borrowing much from the Galaxy Camera: Cinema Photo captures still images with moving backgrounds, a Drama Shot burst mode that creates animated GIFs, an Eraser mode to remove unwanted background subjects, and a Sound & Shot mode that puts audio in the background of still images. A Story Album automatically creates photo albums based on common details such as location and time. And did we mention that it can shoot photos and video from both the front and back cameras at the same time?

That's just the start. AirView now works with your finger, rather than a pen, and is effective right from the lock screen. Adapt Display and Adapt Sound automatically tune the picture and speakers for varying viewing conditions, and WatchOn uses a built-in IR blaster to tune your TV. S Translate, meanwhile, will take both spoken and written words and translate them through several languages, inside of multiple apps. S Voice has been upgraded to S Voice Drive to let drivers get navigation, find points of interest and otherwise interact with the phone without having to take any hands off the wheel. S Health, which Samsung initially mentioned last year, is around to track calories and steps through accessories such as S band, a body scale and a heart rate monitor.

Like to do things that involve more than one person? There's more still. ChatOn has been upgraded to support video chat, and Group Play both allows for sharing songs in a surround mode or playing local multiplayer games -- when it's supported, that is. All told, there's a small deluge of new features that could amount to a lot, even excluding new hands-free elements like Smart Scroll. Check after the break for a quick preview video and the press release.

Check out our event hub for all the action from Samsung's Galaxy S 4 event.

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Samsung doubles down on its web-based messaging app with ChatON 2.0

Samsung doubles down its webbased messaging app with ChatON 20

If you like to let your fingers do the talking but basic text and smileys alone don't cut it, Samsung has just released version 2.0 of its ChatON internet-based messaging app. It works on Android, iOS, Blackberry, Bada and even web browsers to let you send missives to your besties -- alone or in groups -- with video, audio or images. The updated app / website works in over 200 countries and 60 languages, and now includes a multiscreen feature to let you chat with over five separate accounts at once along with the ability to conscript new chat-ees via Facebook or Twitter. You'll still be able to post messages to the "trunk" for friends to see before they hit social networks or create a personal profile with status updates -- so, hit the source for more info, social butterflies.

[Image credit: Samsung Tomorrow]

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow

Samsung doubles down on its web-based messaging app with ChatON 2.0

Samsung doubles down its webbased messaging app with ChatON 20

If you like to let your fingers do the talking but basic text and smileys alone don't cut it, Samsung has just released version 2.0 of its ChatON internet-based messaging app. It works on Android, iOS, Blackberry, Bada and even web browsers to let you send missives to your besties -- alone or in groups -- with video, audio or images. The updated app / website works in over 200 countries and 60 languages, and now includes a multiscreen feature to let you chat with over five separate accounts at once along with the ability to conscript new chat-ees via Facebook or Twitter. You'll still be able to post messages to the "trunk" for friends to see before they hit social networks or create a personal profile with status updates -- so, hit the source for more info, social butterflies.

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow

Samsung doubles down on its web-based messaging app with ChatON 2.0

Samsung doubles down its webbased messaging app with ChatON 20

If you like to let your fingers do the talking but basic text and smileys alone don't cut it, Samsung has just released version 2.0 of its ChatON internet-based messaging app. It works on Android, iOS, Blackberry, Bada and even web browsers to let you send missives to your besties -- alone or in groups -- with video, audio or images. The updated app / website works in over 200 countries and 60 languages, and now includes a multiscreen feature to let you chat with over five separate accounts at once along with the ability to conscript new chat-ees via Facebook or Twitter. You'll still be able to post messages to the "trunk" for friends to see before they hit social networks or create a personal profile with status updates -- so, hit the source for more info, social butterflies.

[Image credit: Samsung Tomorrow]

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Source: Samsung Tomorrow

Samsung ChatON for Android gets Olympic Buddy feature, also sports a new logo

Samsung ChatON for Android gets Olympic Buddy feature, also sports a new logo

Ever since its debut late last year, Samsung's ChatON application has been a moderate hit amongst folks using iOS, BlackBerry, Windows Phone and Android devices. Now, along with outing a slightly redesigned logo (pictured above), the Korean outfit's also updated its app in Google's sweet OS to version 1.9.5 on handsets, or 1.7.3 if you're handling one of those larger slabs. Most notably, the ChatON refresh brings the London 2012 spirit with a timely "Olympic Buddy" feature, which keeps you in the loop by pushing out breaking news, daily schedules and, of course, medal tables. Additionally, there's now a walkie-talkie service within the phone application, while the tablet variant gained the ability to send documents to your friends -- not to mention it finally lets you use fancy emoticons. Feeling pretty antsy to give it a try? That Google Play link below will take you there.

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Samsung ChatON for Android gets Olympic Buddy feature, also sports a new logo originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 27 Jul 2012 16:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Chat brings Nature UX to the messaging crowd

Samsung Galaxy Chat brings Nature UX to the messaging crowd

We didn't have to wait long to find out what Samsung would do with the GT-B5330 we saw just a day ago: meet the much more elegantly-titled Galaxy Chat. The finished product is Samsung's first phone outside of the Galaxy S III to carry the Nature UX layer, but takes it in a very message-happy direction with a QWERTY keyboard, a bundled copy of Quick Office and a dedicated key for ChatON that reminds us of the BlackBerry Curve 9320's BBM shortcut. Not that you'd confuse the two otherwise, as the Galaxy Chat's 3-inch, 480 x 320 touchscreen and 4GB of built-in storage (plus a microSD slot) are decided steps up. About our only letdowns relative to the category are the 2-megapixel, flashless camera at the back and the difficulty some will have in getting their hands on Samsung's first keyboard-touting Android 4.0 phone. Unlike the global blitz we saw with the Galaxy S III, the Chat is launching in Spain this month and will exclude some large swaths of the Earth when it goes worldwide later on, leaving out Africa, North America and Russia.

Samsung Galaxy Chat brings Nature UX to the messaging crowd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung ChatON messaging app comes to Windows Phone, cross-platform party planned

Samsung ChatON messaging app comes to Windows Phone, crossplatform party planned

Continuing to (perhaps unintentionally) kick SMS messaging to the curb, Samsung's taken another, admittedly smaller, chunk of the smartphone crowd, announcing its ChatON messaging app for Windows Phone. It has already claimed a place on Android, Bada, iOS, and BlackBerry devices, plus its own web-based client. Now the app's finally ready to embrace those long-suffering Samsung-made Windows Phones -- it's apparently available to download from the phone-based marketplace. Unfortunately, the link has gone inert on the web store, so you'll have to hit up the dedicated Samsung zone on your phone to grab the messaging service. Let's hope Victoria Justice is still looking to party.

Samsung ChatON messaging app comes to Windows Phone, cross-platform party planned originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 07 Jun 2012 10:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Texting: the truth serum of the 21st century

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The University of Michigan and The New School for Social Research has found that if you want someone to tell you the truth, you should text them. Dispensing with the lie detector for job interviewees, academics found that people gave more honest and detailed answers via SMS than over the phone. The team believes it's due to the lack of time pressure and not having to produce a pleasing answer for your interrogator. If the findings continue to provide similar results, it looks like Steve Wilkos could be replaced with a smartphone.

Texting: the truth serum of the 21st century originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 17 May 2012 15:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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