Tag Archives: IFA 2014

Samsung Gear S Smartwatch Packs a 3G Modem for Calls and Texts without a Smartphone

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Samsung Gear S Tizen OS Smartwatch

Not long ago, it was rumored that Samsung might be working on a standalone smartwatch, and now the rumors became reality in the form of the Gear S wearable.

Not being tied to a smartphone when using a wearable definitely feels great, and Samsung finally realized that. Its standalone smartwatch was first hinted at back in May, and now it has become very palpable. The Gear S (which was actually meant to be called Gear Solo, according to the rumors) has a few things that set it apart from the rest of the crowd, and Samsung surely hopes to capitalize on that.

First of all, it includes a 3G modem that enables the smartwatch to send texts, as well as place and answer calls without the need of a smartphone around. That’s definitely convenient, as there are plenty of situations where a smartphone could be cumbersome, rather than helpful. Armbands aside, when running or performing any other physical activities, smartwatches are definitely a better way of tracking the activity than a smartphone.

Secondly, Samsung Gear S, as its name suggests, is not part of the Android-running Galaxy family. Instead, it uses Samsung’s home-grown operating system, Tizen OS. This is yet another proof that the Korean tech giant intends to cut some of the cords that keep it tied to Google and its mobile OS.

In terms of technical specs, Gear S features a 2-inch AMOLED screen and a dual-core 1GHz CPU, along with 512MB of RAM, as anything more than that would practically be useless in such a device. As far as the internal storage is concerned, the 4GB that are available to the user should be more than enough for a lengthy playlist.

The motion and heart rate sensors will come useful when working out, even though there might be other situations when knowing your heart rate comes in handy. On top of that, the GPS sensor that’s accompanied by Nokia’s HERE pedestrian navigation software could prove useful for apps that are the equivalent of Endomondo for Android. Knowing the route that’s been covered while working out is good, in case you want to do it again sometime.

Samsung Gear S will be officially launched at IFA 2014 in Berlin, next week, and will start shipping in October at a yet to be disclosed price.

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4K Curved-Screen Samsung Galaxy Note 4 Specs and Release Date Are Out

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Samsung Galaxy Note 01

The latest and the latest phablet coming from this Korean tech company is no longer an enigma. Its specs and release date are now official, to the excitement of the company’s fans.

What seems to be the world’s first 4K smartphone will be launched in September at IFA 2014, in Berlin. Samsung decided that this wasn’t enough of a convincing selling point, so it added a curved-screen to the mix. In this context, it shouldn’t surprise anyone if the price of this phablet will be exorbitant.

According to The Korean Times, an executive of a Samsung partner mentioned that the company is preparing to launch quite a few devices at IFA 2014, including OLED TVs and a competitor for Google Glass. When referring to the next big thing (this time quite literally), that executive claimed that the Note 4 would be available in two versions. The more expensive one will feature a curved-screen, and will be offered on niche markets, while the flat-screen version will be available for the masses.

Even though Samsung is all hush-hush about this, Yoon Han-kil, senior vice president of Samsung’s product strategy team, revealed that the new Note would have a new form-factor. Now everybody’s expecting the new Note to resemble LG’s G Flex, but I hope Samsung is going to be more creative than that.

From what I see in the following image, Samsung’s Exynos 5433, which will power the Note 4, will be quite powerful, but not enough to take Nvidia’s Tegra K1 down. Handwritten signature authentication is yet another innovative aspect, just in case the CPU wasn’t convincing enough.

The expected price ranges between £550 and £600 (around $940 and $1025), according to PCAdvisor, and I’d say they’re not that far from the truth, at least for the flat-screen version.

Not everything will be changed from the previous generations. For example, the screen diagonal of 5.7-inch from Note 3 seems to be a keeper, even though people believed that Samsung would go for something bigger, in the 5.9-6-inch range.

Evleaks claims that Samsung Galaxy Note 4 will come in the same colors as the S5: Charcoal Black, Shimmery White, Electric Blue and Copper Gold. Judging by the reaction people had on Twitter, I’d say that this is not the best idea in the world. The Copper Gold version of the S5 was considered particularly ugly, so following this trend won’t help the manufacturer gain many fans. On top of that, recent leaks suggest that the next phablet coming from this Korean company will have an aluminum case. That would surely set it apart from the rest of Samsung phones, which are pretty feeble, to be frank.

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Samsung’s Gear VR Headset Could See the Light of Day at IFA 2014

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Samsung Gear VR Headset 01

The virtual reality headset developed by Samsung is closer to becoming a reality. According to Sammobile, who have also gotten their mittens on photos of GEAR VR, the device will be launched at IFA 2014.

Gear VR, as Samsung’s product is rumoredly going to be called, will function in a manner that makes it closer to Google Cardboard, rather than to Oculus Rift. Samsung’s VR headset will only be compatible with Galaxy smartphones (most probably only flagships such as S5 or Note 3), so the South Korean company has a precise target audience in mind. On top of that, this design enables Samsung to create a VR headset that doesn’t have an exorbitant price.

Galaxy smartphones will connect to Gear VR via USB 3.0. The necessity for a high-speed connection rose from high bitrate of the material that’s projected in the headset. The virtual reality effect is achieved with the help of the accelerometer, gyroscope and processing power included in the smartphone. Basically, the headset relies on the smartphone to do the head-tracking required for the VR effect.

If the above picture is real, it means that Samsung has also decided on how to call its VR headset. It’s good to see that they went for a simple name that’s incredibly easy to memorize.

Oculus currently reigns supreme in the world of VR headsets (which frankly, doesn’t really have that many members), and Samsung somehow admitted that it couldn’t have possibly developed Gear VR from the ground up, alone. More precisely, the Korean company collaborated with Oculus VR (or, in other words, with Facebook) in order to create the software for Gear VR. As far as the hardware is concerned, Samsung took the matter into its own hands, and to be honest, the headset doesn’t look bad at all.

As IFA 2014 takes place as usual, in Berlin, from September 5 to 10, we’ll have to wait till then to see if the above photos are real, and if Samsung’s device represents a threat to Facebook’s Oculus and Sony’s Morpheus VR headsets. Another star that Samsung might launch at IFA 2014 is the Galaxy Note 4, which should also work with Gear VR. The problem is that the Note phablets are made for productivity, while Gear VR is clearly built with gamers in mind, so it will be interesting to see the reaction of past and future Note users.

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