Upcoming smartphone 2016 

Galaxy S7 With Android 6.0 Marshmallow Rumored Release Date February 2016

A recent report out of South Korea indicates that the company's next-generation flagship handset, the Galaxy S7, will be released in February 2016.  The release would be a departure from Samsung's traditional April release schedule for S smartphones.

Samsung seems to be ramping up its production and release schedule to compete with Apple, its main rival. The company just released its two new flagship phablets, the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ in August, purportedly to beat Apple to the punch. Apple just released its newest iPhones, the the iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus, on Sept. 25, and has announced that demand for the devices shattered previous sales records, with more than 13 million of the new handsets already sold.

Now, an analyst in South Korea, Samsung's home turf, has stated that he expects the company's latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S7, will be revealed in January 2016 and be available for sale the following month.

Last month, we reported  that Samsung has apparently been utilizing a new, speedier development methodology to produce its new devices sooner. Rather than the old "waterfall" method, which involved the development of smartphones one section at a time, Samsung has switched to an "agile" methodology, which allows for development of various components of a new device simultaneously.

The new development methodology adds credence to the early release rumor, as does the source. The analyst in question works at SK Securities, which is an affiliate of one of South Korea's largest carriers, SK Telecom. The Samsung Galaxy S5 and Galaxy S6 were both launched at Mobile World Congress and went on sale in April 2014 and 2015, respectively, but it appears as if Samsung may be pushing its release schedule up somewhat if this rumor holds true.

The Galaxy S7, which is code-named Jungfrau, is rumored to be packing a Snapdragon 820 processor and running Android 6.0 Marshmallow out of the box.

Apple Is Building Google Now Rival 'Proactive' Into iOS 9

Rumors about a new Apple search engine have been doing the rounds since the start of the year. For once, this tech rumor seems to have had some basis in truth as the company looks set to launch a new discovery tool for iOS 9.

Code-named "Proactive," the tool isn't a traditional search engine but is more of a rival to Google Now that aims to provide iOS users with any information they need.

9to5Mac reports that Apple is set to reveal Proactive as a vital part of iOS 9 at the company's annual worldwide developer conference on June 8.  Proactive will reportedly combine information from Siri, Contacts, Calendar, Passbook and third-party apps to create an evolution of the Spotlight search feature that provides users with information when they need it, similarly to how Google Now operates. It will also work with Apple Maps to display points of interest personally relevant to the user in an augmented reality display and integrate with a third-party Siri API code-named "Breadcrumbs."

The report claims that Apple has been working on the tool since the 2013 acquisition of personal assistant app, Cue. Proactive will be located to the left of the home screen, where Spotlight lived in iOS7. Usage of Spotlight, Apple's system-wide search, dropped when it was hidden at the top of the screen in iOS8.

Within the Proactive screen there will be a search bar at the top, below which there will be content based on the user's Apps, Contacts and Maps. For example, if a user has a flight scheduled in his calendar and a boarding pass printed in Passbook, a bubble will show in Proactive close to the flight time to allow him to access the boarding pass quickly. It will also learn a user's habits and suggest apps based on those routines. For example, if you always check Twitter when you wake, a notification will appear in the morning allowing you to open your Twitter app with one click. It will also give restaurant or bar recommendations based on your phone's location.

Then there's the augmented reality maps that arise from the acquisition of Spotsetter, a social search engine. Using this feature a user can hold his phone up to a street and Proactive will display a virtual view of businesses on that street, including restaurant and cafe menus and shopping directories.

9to5Mac's sources also suggest that Apple will allow third-party developers to integrate their apps with iOS search results and Siri. The scaled down Siri API code-named "Breadcrumbs" is apparently a limited version of Siri as Apple believes integration with a full Siri API could lead to personal data being sent to the wrong third-party apps.

If the report proves to be true it would be a huge improvement over current versions of Siri and Spotlight and be a genuine rival to Google Now. It would make for some interesting news on June 8 when Apple is also expected to unveil its new streaming music service.

Sony: 2016 will make or break mobile business

For the first time in many years, things might be starting to look good for Sony's smartphone business, but it isn't out of the woods yet. The recently unveiled Sony Xperia Z5 looks promising but the company still needs to achieve a massive turnaround to recoup its losses. Naturally, Sony "feels" optimistic that things are going for the better, but just in case, it has set next year as the deadline for its mobile business, which could end up getting sold if things don't turn out well.

To be fair, Sony has been having problems across almost all of its divisions. It sold off its ailing VAIO PC business and was rumored to be even be considering doing the same for its TV line. Just this week, it spun off its imaging sensor division, it's so far strongest business next to the PlayStation, into its own company. That gives it the opportunity to hunker down on its biggest pain point: smartphones.

Sony once held a special spot in the market, but that has since dwindled down to a negligible one percent in the US, and even 17.5 percent in its home country of Japan. The company faces strong competition both from the giants like Apple and Samsung as well as the myriad of more affordable brands in Asia, particularly from China. It faces an almost Herculean task of reinstating its relevance in an already saturated smartphone market.

And Sony might have finally gotten it right this time around. After the flop that was the Xperia Z4/Z3+, the new Xperia Z5 family is poised to help Sony reclaim its spot, especially if it has finally gotten around the overheating problems that plagued its half-flagship. The smartphone's cameras have proven to be quite formidable, reinforcing Sony's prowess in the imaging field. And after refining its hardware, Sony is now focusing on the software experience. It has opened up its "Concept for Android" experiment to 10,000 owners of Xperia Z3 and Xperia Z3 Compact devices in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Iceland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany, in an attempt to solicit feedback on its next big step in smartphones.

Sony's three years' worth of cost cutting and restructuring might finally be paying off. Company representatives feel quite confident that they are on track towards a more profitable fiscal year next year. For now, they aren't yet backing out from the smartphone rat race, but how long that sentiment will last will depend on just how much its turnaround will be next year.

To be fair, Sony has been having problems across almost all of its divisions. It sold off its ailing VAIO PC business and was rumored to be even be considering doing the same for its TV line. Just this week, it spun off its imaging sensor division, it's so far strongest business next to the PlayStation, into its own company. That gives it the opportunity to hunker down on its biggest pain point: smartphones.

9to5Mac's sources also suggest that Apple will allow third-party developers to integrate their apps with iOS search results and Siri. The scaled down Siri API code-named "Breadcrumbs" is apparently a limited version of Siri as Apple believes integration with a full Siri API could lead to personal data being sent to the wrong third-party apps.

Huawei May Launch Smartphone Similar To Galaxy S6 Edge In 2016

Huawei has significantly improved its position in the global smartphone market over the past few years, the company now happens to be the third largest smartphone vendor in the world and it has no plans of stopping any time soon. To gain more traction across the globe the company needs to come up with really good devices that get people talking, according to a report Huawei might release one such device next year which is going to be quite similar to the Galaxy S6 Edge.

The report comes out of China from a well known source, apparently Huawei is going to produce three million units per month next year of a new smartphone that has the same dual-edge Quad HD Super AMOLED display as the Galaxy S6 Edge.

Not much information is available about the device’s specifications right now and we might not hearing anything substantial until next year, the report only says that its dual-edge curved Quad HD Super AMOLED display will come from Samsung.

Samsung is already believed to be supplying the exact same display panel to BlackBerryfor its Venice slider smartphone so there’s nothing stopping the company really from supplying this panel to Huawei as well.

Huawei has not commented on the report.

Possible Huawei Honor 5X Spotted

I know that Google just released their LG Nexus 5X, but here is another handset that might just carry the 5X suffix – the Honor 5X from Huawei, of course. This metal clad smartphone has already picked up its TENAA certification that will see it accompanied by model number KIW-AL10. There is a very real probability that this could very well be the Huawei Honor 5X, taking into consideration how the Huawei Honor 4Xwas introduced earlier in the year, which means the upgrade cycle is about to come one round.

The KIW-AL10 will sport a 5.5” display alongside a Full HD resolution, with a pixel density of 401ppi. Apart from that, the Snapdragon 615 SoC will power the device, where it boasts of an octa-core CPU and an Adreno 405 GPU. Accompanying it will be 3GB of RAM and 32GB of internal memory, with a 13MP shooter behind and a 5MP camera in front, while there is a fingerprint scanner located at the back for security purposes. Expect the device to arrive with Android 5.1.1 Lollipop right out of the box. It has already been benchmarked on AnTuTu while picking up a score of 20916 that places it in the mid-range scale of things. All that we can do now is sit tight and wait to see whether this is indeed the Huawei Honor 5X or not.

Rumor Suggests That The iPhone 7 Will Be Waterproof

Is it a bit too early to start talking about the iPhone 7? After all the iPhone 6s and 6s Plushave barely gone on sale for a week! That being said we suppose some of you guys who are skipping the iPhone 6s and 6s Plus for the iPhone 7 are probably eager to learn what could be in store for Apple’s 2016 flagship.

To that end, a new rumor from China has emerged which suggests that Apple could be interested in waterproofing its next-gen smartphone. The rumors also claim that Apple will not use the 7000 series aluminum but an even stronger material that will somehow be able to prevent water from seeping inside the device.

All of this seems highly suspect because if anything, Apple has designed its products with aesthetics in mind. Compromising on its looks for more functional features like better drop protection and waterproofing has never really been Apple’s practice, so we’re not sure why they would start with the iPhone 7.

In fact if anything, last we heard Apple was planning on making the iPhone 7 its thinnest iPhone yet, so clearly aesthetics still plays a huge role in the planning and designing process. Either way do take it with a grain of salt for now, but would a waterproof iPhone be something you might be interested in?

 Samsung Pay for mid, low-budget smartphones to

 launch by 2016 

In a new Samsung Electronics Co ad, a mysterious monk strides through a supermarket to a hip-hop beat using his staff to wizard groceries into a cart. At the checkout, an acolyte whips out a smartphone to settle up using Samsung’s new mobile payment system, as if by magic.

 The tongue-in-cheek nod to martial arts movies is a plug for Samsung Pay, a technology to be rolled out in the United States later this month that allows customers to pay for goods by simply placing their handsets on or next to a point-of-sale terminal. 

Since its August 20 launch in South Korea, Samsung says the service is beating internal expectations by averaging 25,000 new users and more than $620,000 in transactions per day.

 The world’s top smartphone maker is trying to push into mobile payments, a sector seen by researcher IDC as being worth $1 trillion in 2017, as part of a drive to stem market share losses to Apple Inc, Huawei Technologies Co and Xiaomi Inc.

 Gartner says Samsung’s global smartphone market share fell to 21.9 percent in April-June from 26.2 percent a year earlier. 

Samsung Executive Vice President Rhee In-jong said in an interview the firm will likely launch new mid and low-tier smartphones compatible with Samsung Pay next year.
 “The way to protect pricing power, even for low-end or mid-range phones, is to offer a service that users can’t get elsewhere,” he said. 

The firm hopes the new service will set its phones apart from competing devices and compel users to pay a bit more for the universal convenience it offers. 
But with Apple already offering payments and others like Google Inc preparing to launch Android Pay, some analysts say Samsung’s relatively late entry and weaker software ecosystem pose challenges.

 “Samsung Pay is a necessary step in the right direction but it doesn’t guarantee increased sales of smartphones for the company,” said IDC analyst Shiv Putcha. Apple and Google did not respond to requests for comment on how they perceive Samsung’s mobile pay services. 

BUILDING A BASE Samsung has declined to disclose its overall investment in launching Samsung Pay, which follows the February acquisition of mobile payments start-up LoopPay for $230 million. Samsung’s system offers wider coverage than rivals because it allows users to make payments by putting their phone on, or near, magnetic stripe card readers already in wide use.

 It has signed up credit card firms and banks such as Visa, MasterCard and Chase as partners. By comparison, Apple Pay, launched last September, requires retailers to install new equipment compatible with its service

Cho Min-kyung, a Seoul office worker who recently tried out Samsung Pay through her Galaxy S6 phone, said the service was convenient because it cuts out the hassle of having to carry around both her wallet and phone every time she heads out.

 In a research report, brokerage SK Securities said Samsung Pay may be helping shipments. Estimated South Korea sales of Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 edge+ devices – which support Samsung Pay – for the first three days after launch were more than double comparable sales of the Note 4 and Note Edge handsets last year. 

Samsung executive Rhee declined to give targets on Samsung Pay, though he said the company, for now, was focused on adding new users, rather than making money. Samsung’s Gear S2 smartwatches, which go on sale in October, are also compatible with Samsung Pay.

 The service will expand to China and countries in Europe and Latin America, and Rhee said Samsung is considering additional measures such as online payments to further beef up the service. 

Beyond Samsung Pay, he said the firm will increase investment and acquisitions to bolster software and services. “We’re looking at every company that could give some new element of differentiation for our devices,” Rhee said. - See more at: http://technospirit24.blogspot.com/2015/10/pay-for-mid-low-budget-smartphones-to.html

Samsung may launch foldable touchscreen smartphone in February

NEW DELHI: After Apple debuted its new 3D Touch display technology with the new iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus, all eyes are on Samsung to introduce a game-changing technology that will lure buyers away from its arch rival. While the dual curved screens of Galaxy S6 created waves, Samsung may have another ace up its sleeve -- foldable touchscreens.

In March, a Samsung Display official had said that smartphones with foldable touchscreens would be commercially possible in 2016. The company seems to have been taking the project forward since then. A new report by a blogger on Chinese social network Weibo has dished out a few details related to Samsung's upcoming foldable touchscreen smartphone.

According to the report, the smartphone is being developed under the name Project Valley or Project V and will be ready for production by January next year. This timeline suggests that the South Korean giant may unveil the world's first foldable touchscreen smartphone at Mobile World Congress in March or possibly a few weeks before the tech event, as it did with Galaxy Note 5 and S6 edge+ in August.

On the hardware part, it is likely that the display will be flexible OLED, as no manufacturer has been able to achieve foldable LED displays yet. The report also says that Samsung is testing the phone with two chipsets: Snapdragon 820 and Snapdragon 620. It is not yet clear whether this phone will be released in just one variant or two.

Other than that, the Project Valley smartphone will have 3GB RAM, non-removable battery and microSD card for storage expansion.

Samsung did not use Qualcomm's Snapdragon processors in its top-end smartphones this year, instead relying on its own Exynos chipset range to power Galaxy S6, S6 edge, S6 edge+ and Note 5.

A foldable touchscreen smartphone would be a great selling point, but it is not yet known what unique features this type of form-factor would entail. Moreover, getting Google Play Store developers to create apps for the foldable design may prove to be a challenge, though Samsung can deliver those through its own Apps platform, like it currently does for the Edge series phones.

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