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Samsung's next foldable phone could have a glass display
Samsung teased a new foldable phone concept back in October, and leaked images from earlier this month suggest the next Galaxy Fold may well come with the unique clamshell form the company had hinted at. Now, if new rumors are true, it's pushing the envelope even further and will be making the display -- the foldable display -- out of glass.
Samsung update brings Watch Active2 features to earlier Watch models
Thinking about upgrading your Samsung Galaxy Watch to a Galaxy Watch Active2? You might want to hold off for now, as Samsung is rolling out an update that'll bring enhanced features to earlier-generation watches. This means that the Galaxy Watch and Watch Active will get the same user experience functionality found on their successor, the Watch Active2, including new health and Bixby features, as well as boosted customization options.
Samsung says its new flagship processor is 20 percent faster
Samsung has unveiled a bunch of new chips that mean the next slate of smartphones are going to be faster, more efficient and have much improved battery lives. If you go for next year's flagship Samsung Galaxy, chances are it'll come with the newly-announced Exynos 990 processor, which according to the company is offers a 20 percent improvement in performance or a power efficiency gain of up to 20 percent.
Samsung phones now connect to Android Auto wirelessly
If you've been waiting to connect your non-Google phone with wireless Android Auto, today's your lucky day. While Google initially said -- more than a year ago -- that Android Auto would work with any phone running Android 9.0 or higher, it's been restricted to its own Pixel and Nexus devices. Until now, it seems. As identified by Android Police, a Google support document has been revised to include a number of Samsung phones within Android Auto's ecosystem.
Samsung confirms when you can buy Galaxy Tab S6, Watch Active2 and more
Samsung announced a bunch of new products over the summer, including the Galaxy Tab S6 and the second iteration of its Galaxy Watch Active. Now we know when to expect them, and how much they'll cost.
iFixit teardown takes a look inside the Note 10+ 5G
The Samsung Galaxy Note 10+ 5G will be available online and in stores tomorrow. Just in time, the folks at iFixit are sharing a peek inside the new device. Most notably, the phone borrows one major design queue from the iPhone, and it won't be super easy to repair.
Supercomputer creates millions of virtual universes
How do you understand the development of galaxies when even the younger examples are frequently billions of years old? Simulate as many universes as you can, apparently. Researchers at the University of Arizona have used the school's Ocelote supercomputer as a "UniverseMachine" that generates millions of mini universes to see how well they line up with the real cosmos. Rather than try to portray every nuance of the whole universe (even a single fully modeled galaxy would require far too much computing power), the team devised a system that had just enough resolution to scale from supernovae to a "sizeable chunk" of observed space. Each virtual universe had a different set of rules, and it was largely a matter of seeing which simulations lined up the closest with real data.
The Galaxy Note 9 a year later: Still good, but not for everyone
When Samsung unveiled the Note 9 a year ago, I was surprised by how much I liked it. Sure, it didn't bring many fresh features -- mostly just refinements in areas where the Note line already excelled. There was more power than before, longer battery life, a larger display and more built-in storage. Plus, some camera improvements made the Note 9 more capable in low light. These upgrades are pretty much a given with any new smartphone, though.
Astronomers believe the young Milky Way once swallowed a dwarf galaxy
Astronomers believe they've mapped an important sequence of events that shaped our galaxy 10 billion years ago. In a paper published in Nature Astronomy today, researchers from the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias (IAC) share their findings that a dwarf galaxy, Gaia-Enceladus, once collided and merged with the early Milky Way. Their discovery offers a new understanding of how the Milky Way formed.
Russia launches X-ray telescope to find 'millions' of black holes
Russia is back in the business of space observation after losing control of a radio telescope a the start of 2019. The country has successfully launched Spektr-RG, an X-ray telescope co-developed with Germany's help. The vessel will take 100 days to reach its final destination of Lagrange Point 2, where it can conduct studies in stable conditions a million miles from Earth. When it gets there, though, it could significantly reshape human understanding of the universe.
The Large Magellanic Cloud comes alive in a 204 megapixel image
The Large Magellanic Cloud is what Austin Powers might call a quasi galaxy, just one percent the Milky Way's size and orbiting it like a hanger-on. At a distance of 163,000 light-years from Earth, you might think it would take a space telescope like Hubble or a huge observatory to do it justice. But the 204-megapixel image above, showing the Magellanic Cloud in incredible, colorful detail, was shot by a small group called Ciel Austral using a telescope in Chile just 160mm (6.3 inches) across.
Samsung's Galaxy A80 has a rotating triple camera and no notch
Samsung wants to bring the rotating camera phone back. And the Galaxy A80 is the phone that's going to do it. It has a huge 6.7-inch 1,080 x 2,400 AMOLED screen, but before we dig into all the other specs, let's get right into the most interesting point: that rotating triple camera, made for both primary shooting and your selfies. And thus, no notch. It will launch in Europe, Asia and other territories on May 29th.
Engadget giveaway: Win a Samsung Galaxy S10 courtesy of Speck!
Samsung's just finished its recent phone-launch extravaganza leaving several new handsets to choose from. If you're not a fan of super-sized phones like the S10+, but want to spend that little bit extra, you may be angling for the Galaxy S10. It has many of the hallmarks you'd want in a handset: A quality camera, good battery life, a zippy experience and... a headphone jack! It's still a valuable item to be carting along with you on everyday adventures, so slipping it into a protective case like one of Speck's Presidio line is a no-brainer. In fact, Speck has provided us with a Galaxy S10, three of its cases and a GrabTab ($9.95) for one lucky reader this week. The Presidio Grip ($39.95+), V-Grip ($39.95+) and Pro ($39.95+) all have "Impactium shock barrier" drop protection and easy-to-hold exteriors. They're also a slim fit and allow for wireless charging without removing the case. All you need to do is head to the Rafflecopter widget below for up to five chances at winning Samsung's latest, along with the peace of mind that Speck cases can provide. Good luck! Winner: Congratulations to Carlos Y. of Canoga Park, CA!
Samsung imagines full-screen phone with a camera hidden under the display
Samsung is working on a "perfect full-screen" phone that will be 100 percent display, with no notches, bezels or cut-outs. According to Yang Byung-duk, the company's display R&D vice president, "Technology can move to the point where the camera hole will be invisible, while not affecting the camera's function in any way."
You can now remap the Bixby button on older Galaxy phones
When Samsung revealed its Galaxy S10 last week, one feature caused a buzz: the ability to remap the phone's Bixby button so that it opens any app. On older phones, the Bixby button simply opened Samsung's voice assistant, but that changed today. A software update is rolling out that allows you to remap the Bixby button on a handful of older models: Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9/S9+ and the Galaxy S8/S8+.
The Galaxy S10 will support Samsung Gear VR
Things have been quiet for Samsung's Gear VR recently. Once upon a time the company would launch a new headset alongside its latest Galaxy flagships, but it hasn't done that for a while. That's not to say that the Gear VR is dead, though, as Samsung has just confirmed that it'll be supported by the new Galaxy S10, which was unveiled yesterday.
Samsung's Galaxy S10 provides a sneak peek at WiFi's future
Samsung's Galaxy S10 and S10+ have a lot going for them; their luscious OLED displays, the in-screen fingerprint reader, and they each have three rear-facing camera lenses. Another interesting feature on both these phones (as well as on the lower-end S10e), is the support for WiFi 6, the very latest in WiFi standards. In fact, Samsung claims that the S10 series of handsets will be the first-ever to adopt WiFi 6. I had a chance to test this out following the Galaxy Unpacked event earlier today, and though there are a few significant caveats, I did think it was a lot faster than I expected. To recap, WiFi 6 is another way of saying 802.11ax, and will be the WiFi standard of the not-too-distant future. It promises over 10Gbps speeds under ideal conditions, but more importantly, it will supposedly allow double the amount of data streams, which will help limit congestion. That means more simultaneous 4K streams, gaming and file-downloading than ever before. It also promises something called Target Wakeup Time, which will apparently extend the battery life of devices like smart thermostats and locks by avoiding frequent device wake calls. In short, WiFi 6 is for the home of the future. Following the Samsung Galaxy Unpacked event, I noticed that several S10s in the demo area were connected to a WiFi 6 network; there's a tiny number 6 on the top right of the WiFi symbol to indicate this. There were well over a hundred different S10s at the event, and I can't be certain that they were all hooked up to the same WiFi router, but a vast majority of them did have a WiFi 6 symbol. I ran a speed test on a handful of these phones (I used the browser and loaded fast.com), and found that most of them had speeds of 76Mbps. No, that's not really a blockbuster speed, but based on my experience, that's still a lot better than the WiFi speeds at most large-scale events. I went ahead and changed the WiFi network on some of them to a separate WiFi SSID at the event (it was the SSID meant for press and attendees), and saw that the 6 symbol was no longer there, which tells me that this particular WiFi network did not support WiFi 6. Then I ran the speed test again, and it was much slower; around 6Mbps (I also ran the same speed test using my iPhone XS -- pictured above -- on the aforementioned event WiFi network, and it was around the same speeds). There are too many variables to really say one is definitively better than the other -- there's no telling how many devices were connected to each network, and I don't know if the routers were in the same room or what their settings were. Plus obviously this was in a relatively controlled environment, and Samsung probably made sure the WiFi speeds for the S10 demo phones were better than average. But considering that most event WiFi speeds are very dire -- certainly closer to the 6Mbps end of things -- I was still fairly impressed to see the WiFi 6 phones clock in at that aforementioned 76Mbps. This doesn't mean you need to go out and get the S10 immediately if you want a WiFi 6 phone. For one thing, WiFi 6 isn't widely available right now; there aren't that many WiFi 6 routers on the market, and they're pretty pricey at around $300 or more each. Plus, there will most definitely be more WiFi 6 phones in the future; the S10 is just the first out the gate. But, if you're in the market for a new phone, and you want one that's pretty future-proof, then the S10 might not be a bad idea.
Latest Samsung leak shows new watch and earbuds from every angle
With all the leaks in advance of Samsung's Galaxy Unpacked event tomorrow, we can practically forecast the whole launch. The company started taking S10 reservations in the US earlier this month, and it seemed all but certain earbuds and a smartwatch would be unveiled. Now, we have full sets of images of both the Galaxy Watch Active and Galaxy Buds.
Samsung may unveil its foldable phone and Galaxy S10 on February 20th (update)
Samsung has traditionally launched its new Galaxy S phones at Barcelona's Mobile World Congress. This year, though, it appears it's breaking with tradition. Wall Street Journal reports that the company will be showing off its 10th anniversary flagship phone line up and its much-anticipated foldable phone at events in San Francisco and London on February 20th. Initial reports suggested we'd have to wait until March to see the foldable, rumored to be called the "Galaxy F".
Astronomers detect more mystery radio bursts from beyond the Milky Way
Sure enough, astronomers have discovered even more of those mysterious fast radio bursts from outside the Milky Way galaxy. Scientists using the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME) telescope have detected 13 different radio bursts, including six repeat bursts from the same location in a galaxy 1.5 billion light years away. Each of those bursts represents about 25 million times more energy than the Sun, and they were collected at the lowest frequencies yet (400MHz to 800MHz).
