Samsung may adopt force touch technology for the Galaxy S8

According to multiple industry sources, Samsung is mulling over the pros and cons of adopting pressure sensitive display technology for next year's Galaxy S8 flagship smartphone. However, it's not clear how far Samsung will integrate the technology into its software, and may instead take another year or two before fully adopting the technology.

Pressure sensitive displays also go by the name of Force Touch or 3D Touch. Such a technology would allow Samsung to offer additional contextual options and features to users by allowing them to apply different amounts of pressure to the displays. Useful examples could include quickly zooming in on photos or creating app shortcuts for the desktop.

In addition to this report, a senior executive in Samsung's component division has confirmed that the company is working on force touch display technology for future devices. Samsung has made a number of large investments into research and manufacturing facilities for its display division this year, and so certainly has the resources to develop this technology in house.

"Samsung is mulling to adopt the force touch technology partially from the S8 but the full adoption will come in one or two years … It is a matter of time before other major Android smartphone makers deploy the technology that will help enhance user interface." – anonymous Samsung supplier

See also:

Samsung Galaxy S8: all the rumors in one place

2 weeks ago

If this report turns out to be true, the Galaxy S8 would not be the first smartphone to feature a pressure sensitive display. The technology first appeared inside the Huawei Mate S in September last year, followed up quickly by the iPhone 6S, and similar technology also appeared in the Meizu Pro 6s. While somewhat useful, this technology doesn't appear to have become a must have feature for many consumers. At least not yet.

Would you make use of a pressure sensitive display if Samsung included one inside its Galaxy S8?

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Huawei explains why it walked away from the Google Pixel

Following its development on the Nexus 6P in 2015, Huawei was in the running to collaborate with Google on its next smartphone, the Google Pixel. However, Huawei later backed out of the project for an unspecified reason. Now, an executive has spoken out about the decision.

Colin Giles, the Vice President of Huawei Consumer Business Group, talked to WinFuture.de regarding Huawei's Pixel involvement, confirming some previous rumors about the project.

According to Giles, Huawei decided notto pursue the Pixel development after Google said it wanted to use its own name exclusively on the handset. The last smartphone the two manufacturers collaborated on, the Nexus 6P, featured both Huawei and Google names on the device body.

Keen to increase its reputation in the US, Huawei didn't want to act purely as a contractor on the Pixel with no visible recognition of its production efforts on the device itself. So Huawei said no, and the Google Pixel was eventually manufactured by HTC. HTC's involvement, while clear throughout the phone's design principles, doesn't appear in the branding of the device.

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Google Pixel sells more than Nexus 6P in first week

2 weeks ago

Despite this, Huawei and Google's relationship doesn't appear to have been harmed by their differences over the Pixel; Huawei may even develop a Google product in 2017 (presumably with its name attached). Learn more about that, and other rumors surrounding Huawei's Pixel involvement at the link.

Did Huawei miss out on a great opportunity? Or was it the right decision for the Chinese manufacturer? Give us your thoughts in the comments.

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Google Play Music receives new UI and smarter playlists

Google Play Music is finally receiving a new makeover today, which brings major changes not only to the app's user interface but also to how search results and recommendations are discovered. Google has announced that this update will arrive for Play Music on Android, iOS, and the web.

Much of the upgrade is based around Google's new machine learning technology that it is rolling out to the platform. The algorithms not only figure out what music you like, but can also combine this with data like your location, current activity, and even the weather, to create personalized music playback. Google says that its machine learning tool plugs into other Google products to help discover more about you. Those concerned about privacy will be pleased to note that it seems that listener have to opt in to the service.

"When you opt in, we'll deliver personalized music based on where you are and why you are listening — relaxing at home, powering through at work, commuting, flying, exploring new cities, heading out on the town, and everything in between,"

With more data available, Google has made some significant changes to the Play Music user interface that will help listeners discover new music more easily. The home screen now features a couple of panels that will offer up new music and playlists that are tailored to your tastes and current activity. Google may present some new songs to get you pumped for your workout, or offer up some upbeat tunes to get your weekend off to a start on Friday evening.

On top of the new UI and playlist tools, Google Play Music also includes an offline listening playlist for subscribers. This list will be packed full of your most recently heard tracks. These new features should help Google Play Music better compete with the likes of Apple Music and Spotify, the latter of which is pushing its own personalized playlists with its new 'Just for You' feature.

This Google Play Music update will begin rolling out this week across Android, iOS, and the web, to listeners in 62 countries. So keep an eye out for that update notification in the next few days.

Download from Google Play

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Amazon Music Unlimited hitting UK, Germany and Austria today

Amazon's music streaming service, Music Unlimited, is rolling out in the UK, Germany and Austria. Amazon made the announcement in a press release today – a month after Amazon Music Unlimited went live in the US – bringing the subscription-based music service to Europe for the first time.

Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazon's second recent attempt at cracking the premium music streaming market, after offering access to two million ad-free songs for its Prime members with its previous product, Prime Music.

Comprising of more than 40 million songs, Amazon Music Unlimited is a larger service from Amazon, who also overhauled its music app to coincide with the launch.

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10 best music streaming apps and services for Android

July 5, 2016

The UK price structure Music Unlimited follows closely to the US: £7.99 per month or £79 per year for Prime members – or £9.99 per month for non-Prime members, and £3.99 for use of Amazon Music exclusively with an Amazon Echo device. The discounted Prime and Echo rates provide purchase incentive in a product which otherwise does little to differentiate itself from Apple Music, Google Play Music and Spotify.

In a statement, Amazon said it was "thrilled" with the US reaction to Music Unlimited and that it was excited about the UK launch, but didn't provide figures on the adoption rate of its service.

What are your thoughts on Amazon's latest music subscription service? Let us know in the comments.

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LG V20 sales reached 200,000 units in the US only ten days after launch

The LG V20 was announced a few months ago and started selling in the US on October 28. The device, which directly competed with Samsung's Galaxy Note 7, is apparently doing a lot better than expected.

In only ten days, LG has already managed to sell 200,000 units of its phablet in the US. That's 20,000 units per day on average or 10,000 units more when compared with the sales of its predecessor — LG V10.

So, what's the main reason for LG's V20 success? Well, the fact that the Note 7 — its biggest competitor — is out of the picture probably did help quite a bit. But that's obviously not the whole story. The main reason for the high sales numbers is simply that the V20 is a great looking device with enough power to satisfy even the most demanding users.

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Nougat-powered LG V20 has been successfully rooted

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To refresh your memory, the V20 packs a 5.7-inch Quad HD screen, a Snapdragon 820 processor, 4 GB RAM, and 64 GB of storage. It stands out from the crowd thanks to its secondary display (shows app shortcuts and notifications) that is positioned above the main one. In also has dual cameras at the back with a wide-angle/normal-angle setup (16 MP and 8 MP) that we've already seen on LG's G5.

The device also sports a 5 MP selfie snapper at the front, a 3,200 mAh battery, an aluminum body (non-modular), a fingerprint sensor, and Android 7.0 Nougat OS. It's available on all four major US carriers and retails between 750 and 800 dollars off-contract.

Are you currently using LG's latest phablet? Share some of your impressions of the device in the comments below.

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Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge coming to T-Mobile too

We know that the Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge model is on its way, after Samsung recently announced that the new variant would receive a US release, and it seems that T-Mobile will be stocking the phone when it launches in the country. A leaked image of T-Mobile's product database reveals a new handset listed at the "SAM G935T GS7 Edge 32G BLUE".

Unfortunately, neither T-Mobile nor Samsung have made an official announcement about when we can expect this phone to begin appearing on shelves in the US. Other than the color change, there aren't any hardware differences with between the Blue Coral and existing Galaxy S7 edge models. Samsung decided to bring the new color option to the S7 after introducing and then having to recall Blue Coral Galaxy Note 7 handsets.

While we're on the subject of Samsung releases, we can also spot reference to the "SAM R765T GEAR S3 FRONTIER BLK" on the product database. The Gear S3 is expected to be released in the US come November 18th on the AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon networks.

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Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge will be available in US and other select markets

2 weeks ago

Samsung has confirmed that the phone will be coming to the US though a number of carriers, and AT&T has already begun taking pre-orders for the phone, so a launch doesn't seem to be too far away now. AT&T's website states that the Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge will begin shipping out between November 15th and 17th. We haven't heard anything from Verizon or Sprint on the phone yet, although a leaked photo suggests that the handset is coming to Verizon.

The Blue Coral Galaxy S7 edge is already on sale in Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan. Will you be picking one up when it arrives in the US?

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Bring Ambient Notifications to Pixel devices with Ambi-Turner

Google Pixel owners can now benefit from ambient notifications thanks to free app Ambi-Turner. When activated, Ambi-Turner illuminates a portion of a smartphone display to reveal recent notifications, rather than the whole screen, potentially saving battery life.

Ambient notifications were in place on the Nexus 6 – developed by Motorola, who created the feature on its other devices under the banner Moto Display – but has been absent from the next generations of Google's devices.

Ambi-Turner brings them back, waking the device when a notification is received, when the device is taken out of a pocket, or when it's flipped face-up. Since it works automatically, there's also no need to press the home button or fingerprint scanner to view the notifications.

See also:

Google Pixel XL vs Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

5 days ago

Ambi-Turner is available for free or you can pay 99 cents to access additional features like wave-to-wake and tilt-to-wake. Though it doesn't require root, the app only works on devices running Android 6.0 and upwards, and it's designed for stock Android. Phones running third-party skins may encounter problems.

Ambient notifications is something of a sought-after feature thanks to its battery life benefits and accessibility. Earlier this year, we wrote a guide on getting ambient notifications on Android devices. If you want a quick solution on a compatible device, don't miss Ambi-Turner.

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