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The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association is the global standards organization for the microelectronics industry. It has now announced version 3.0 of the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) standard. The UFS 3.0 standard has been developed for mobile applications and computing systems that require high performance with low power consumption. UFS storage solutions are used in a variety of products such as smartphones, tablets and Chromebooks. With Samsung being a dominant force in the advanced memory technology market it’s only a matter of time before it comes out with UFS 3.0 storage solutions. UFS 3.0 doubles bandwidth, reduces power consumption The new UFS 3.0 standard doubles the bandwidth from the current UFS 2.1 standard with a data rate of 11.6Gbps per lane for a maximum peak data transfer rate of 23.2Gbps with two lanes. It’s also more power efficient with a new 2.5V power supply mode that enables lower power consumption with support for the latest NAND technology. Simply put,

Samsung has teamed up with the first indoor skydiving in the Benelux region to offer people a taste of the experience of skydiving over different locations, without actually hopping on a plane and going there. Situated in the city of Roosendaal and simply titled Indoor Skydive Roosendaal, the venue lets consumers take to the skies inside a wind tunnel. It’s just like any other wind tunnel, but Samsung has thrown the Gear VR into the mix to add a virtual reality element. Gear VR enables indoor skydiving over global destinations Basically, you can strap on the Gear VR (after you’ve donned a helmet to protect against head injuries), tell the instructors where you want to free fall, and they’ll fire up a virtual reality video taken from the skies in that particular location. The simulation begins at 3,800 meters above the chosen destination; San Diego, Hawaii, and Dubai are the supported locations at the moment, but the company says that more cities will be added later on. It’s among th

The Android 8.0 Oreo beta test program for the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+ has concluded in every market that it was launched , meaning Samsung has the final code required to roll out the official update ready to go. For those using carrier-locked variants, an update doesn’t hit the air until it goes through the necessary certifications from their carrier, and at least T-Mobile in the US has now begun testing Oreo for the S8 and S8+. This is another hint that the Oreo update could soon hit unlocked models of the S8 and S8+ , and a pretty big one at that, as carriers usually begin testing a major upgrade after development on the base software has been completed by the device manufacturer. Of course, we could just be reading too much into the whole thing, but that’s not hard to do when anticipation for the Oreo update is at an all-time high. Not to mention Samsung had previously said it is trying to release Oreo for the S8 and S8+ by the end of January , even though it later changed its t

Samsung inked a licensing agreement covering both 3G and 4G with Qualcomm back in 2009 for use of the latter’s CDMA2000, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA and OFDMA patents. The company would pay $1.3 billion for use of Qualcomm’s patents. The $1.3 billion upfront payment granted Samsung a license to use Qualcomm’s patents for 15 years while also paying additional royalties but the royalty rate was not disclosed. Qualcomm’s royalty rate is said to be different for every company and Samsung reportedly pays some of the lowest rates due to massive volumes. Qualcomm and Samsung today announced an expansion of the 2009 global patent cross-license agreement covering mobile devices and infrastructure equipment. Qualcomm is yet to provide specifics of the new deal but the head of its licensing division Alex Rogers said during the earnings call today that Samsung will continue to pay royalties on handset sales, instead of combining the royalty agreement with its chip purchases. Samsung agrees to drop regulato

Powering the Galaxy J7 Nxt is the powerful Exynos octa-core processor Feb 1, 2018-Samsung is looking to start 2018 with a bang by launching the Galaxy J7 Nxt in Nepal. The new smartphone features premium design, hardware and many notable features that belie its low price point. The leading technological brand from South Korea has priced the Samsung Galaxy J7 Nxt at Rs21,990. It will be available in three colours, Silver, Gold and Black. Samsung has not held back in the camera department and equipped a 13MP rear camera with bright f1.9 aperture while the front of the smartphone houses a 5MP front shooter with LED flash. According to the company, taking selfies will be a breeze even when there is less than ideal light due to the front led flash. The Galaxy J7 Nxt also features ‘Beauty Mode’ for best looking selfies. This feature sharpens and brightens facial features to absolute perfection. To further enhance the selfie experience, the front camera also provides bokeh effect—blu

Samsung's about to launch the Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+, with the firm having issued invitations to its offical launch event on February 25 - taking place just a day ahead of the MWC 2018 expo in Barcelona, Spain. Rest assured, the Galaxy S9 series will, just like the Galaxy S8, Galaxy S8+ and Galaxy Note 8, feature the firm's Bixby AI assistant and the dedicated Bixby key. We know this as we've seen plenty of leaks and renders of the final design, and they all show the Bixby key in more or less the same location as on last year's handsets. Samsung's 2017 line-up was quite compelling - we are rather fond of all three of its flagships. There's a lot to like about these phones, from the specs, to the overall design, the display, the processor hardware and performance, the battery life, and the camera experience. On the whole it's one corker of a compelling package. But there is one thing that's kind of annoying; the Bixby key. Personally I'm not

If you own a T-Mobile version of Samsung 's Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ , we have great news! T-Mobile just started testing Android 8.0 Oreo for both Galaxy S8 models, and will likely update them in the near future. By testing the Oreo update before releasing it, T-Mobile is making sure that the Galaxy S8 family is getting the "best quality software possible." If everything goes well during the testing phase, all T-Mobile Galaxy S8 and S8+ owners should expect to get Android 8 Oreo on their devices in a few weeks' time. In addition to updating the Galaxy S8 and S8+, T-Mobile will also deliver Android Oreo updates to the following Samsung devices: Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S8 Active, Galaxy S7, Galaxy S7 edge, Galaxy J7 Prime, and Galaxy Tab E 8 . However, the testing phase for these has yet to start. 

Samsung Galaxy Note 9: The top 5 features we want to see    Android Central Get two free tickets to Little Mix, Katy Perry, Bryan Adams and a host of top festivals when you buy a Samsung Galaxy ...    The Sun Full coverage

Sony Mobile has a new firmware update rolling for the Xperia L1 which moves the build number from 43.0.A.6.49 to version 43.0.A.7.25. The update is live on both single SIM and dual SIM variants, and this build is likely to move to a more recent Android security patch. If you have the Xperia L1 and have upgraded, please post your impressions and screenshots below. Thanks Moisés!

For those who are hoping to see a completely redesigned Samsung Galaxy S9 or S9+ this year, you might be disappointed to learn that won’t be the case. Instead it seems that Samsung will be keeping the design of the Galaxy S8 and S8+, save for some minor changes here and there, namely to the bezels of the phone. A recently leaked render of the phone revealed what the upcoming handset could look like, with some claiming that the bezels are actually fatter than its predecessor. Now according to a set of CAD schematics posted by @OnLeaks , we have a slightly better idea of why the Galaxy S9 renders looked the way they do. On the surface it seems that the Galaxy S9+ looks identical to the Galaxy S8+, but if you look at the bezels, you’ll realize that they’re actually more rounded compared to last year’s model. Some believe that the rounded bezels means that the phone could potentially be better to hold without the possibility of accidentally touching the side displays and launching an

Last year, when the Samsung Galaxy A5 (2017) and Galaxy A7 (2017) came out, we quickly compared the two as the tech-specs were quite similar back then. Fast forward to one year later, the Galaxy A8 (2018) is coming out real soon so if you have the Galaxy A7 (2017), you might have wondered if it's worth it to upgrade or not. Just in case you were wondering, no, there's no Galaxy A8 (2017) model and the last time that an A8 model did come to Malaysia was way back in 2015. Anyway, check out our comparison below. Tech-specs and performance - Galaxy A8 has the upper hand First up, the Galaxy A8 (2018) is now using a new mid-range tier processor called the Exynos 7885. It's an octa-core processor with two cores running at 2.2 GHz Cortex-A73 while the remaining six runs at 1.6 GHz Cortex-A53. This is an improvement from the Galaxy A7 (2017), running at 1.9GHz octa-core Cortex-A53 for the Exynos 7880 chipset. For memory, the Galaxy A8 (2018) also has more - 4GB of RAM an

This morning a set of images of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus have been leaked. Or not so much leaked as posted right out in the open, for all to see. These images were shared by the folks at dbrand, the same folks that release skins for devices that are always so extremely precise, it’s difficult to imagine them ever releasing a skin that’s not accurate to even the smallest degree. Because we’ve got the images here, we can pretty safely assume we’ll see to smartphones from Samsung come February 25th. Two Samsung Galaxy S9 devices, that is, one standard, the other a Galaxy S9+, or Galaxy S9 Plus, however you prefer. The smaller device has a single camera that may have an adjustable aperture, while the larger device simply has two completely separate lenses with which it can take photos and videos. Both devices are sleek, looking a whole lot like they did in their Galaxy S8 forms. Both have the brand name Samsung at their back along with Samsung Galaxy S9 ju

Samsung has never been one to conform to convention, and it served up yet another reminder early Wednesday morning by discussing a next-generation flagship smartphone that hasn’t even been announced yet. The upcoming Galaxy S9 and Galaxy S9+ aren’t exactly a secret at this point, with just about everything there is to know about the upcoming new devices having leaked over and over again in recent months. Still, consumer electronics companies tend to refrain from discussing new products publicly until they have been announced. Well, that’s what most consumer electronics companies do, at least. Samsung on Wednesday announced its financial results for the fourth quarter. The company’s massive holiday quarter was highlighted by a record $14.13 billion profit that skyrocketed 64% compared to the year-ago quarter. Full-year profit also reached a new record in 2017, totalling a staggering $50.2 billion. The company’s smartphone business continues to flourish, but Samsung has another divi

Yesterday, it was reported that Samsung is entering the cryptocurrency market by making ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) chips for mining hardware companies. Samsung has now confirmed this news to TechCrunch . This news follows Samsung’s Q4 2017 earnings , where its semiconductor business has performed stupendously well to emerge as the largest chip maker in the world by ending Intel’s 24-year reign at the top. When asked for a comment, a company spokesperson told TechCrunch “Samsung’s foundry business is currently engaged in the manufacturing of cryptocurrency mining chips. However, we are unable to disclose further details regarding our customers”. The spokesperson refused to divulge any further details on this. World’s largest chipmaker enters cryptocurrency market Making ASIC chips makes business sense for Samsung as it also manufactures many components used to build mining rigs. Samsung already makes high-performance memory chips for GPUs and industry-leading S

There are always rumours that the next generation of Samsung phones will have 4K displays, competing with  Sony’s Xperia XZ Premium  that came out last year. However, this seems unlikely – we expect similar specs to last year: the Quad HD (2K) Super AMOLED on both devices. This is probably a smart move; it takes a lot of extra juice (and therefore a bigger, bulkier battery) to power a  4K  screen, so it’s worth forgoing the extra thickness and increased price. While the screen technology might not be new, the heart of Samsung’s new flagship phones certainly will be. At  CES 2018 , the company announced the Exynos 9 Series 9810; this has the latest custom CPU, an “ultra-fast gigabit LTE modem and, deep learning-enhanced image processing” according to Samsung. This means that it will offer twice the performance of the Exynos 8895 used in the Galaxy S8, with a high clock speed (how fast the processor will work) of 2.9GHz. With regards to RAM, we expect to see 4GB in the S9 and 6GB i

2017 was an odd year for smartphones. Samsung's early release of the Galaxy S8 and S8 Plus set the bar for smartphone design, and despite the excellent devices that launched shortly afterward, all eyes were on Apple to deliver something as good, if not better. The problem was that Apple released not one, but two devices. Given that the iPhone X became the most expensive smartphone on the market, and essentially priced itself out of the range of any rivals, it fell to the iPhone 8 to compete against Samsung's Galaxy S8 . It was a risky move, particularly as the iPhone X and S8 are, at least on the surface, very similar devices, and you can't help but dismiss the iPhone 8 as a rehash of its predecessor. With that said, we've pitted the two larger models in the series against each other to find out whether the iPhone 8 Plus is truly a match for the Galaxy S8 Plus. Apple iPhone 8 Plus vs Samsung Galaxy S8 Plus: Design Let's face it - when it comes to looks, it&#