Tag: Samsung

Samsung is working hard to try to sort out the battery situation with the Galaxy Note 7 and in their homeland, are taking an extrodinary step.  Starting today, the Associate Press is reporting that  Koreans who have a Galaxy Note 7 that has been recalled but is still out in the market, will receive an OTA update that will limit the battery charging to 60%.  The idea, of course, is to not over charge the batteries (which is a leading theory on the battery exploding issue) and make it painful enough for users to return the phone for an updated and safe unit.

Unfortunately, for now, this is only going to happen in Korea.

Today’s Deal is on the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and it is a good one.  Right now over at eBay you can pick up the unlocked version of the phone with 32GB of built-in storage for $184.99 while supplies last.  It is available in black only and it is a manufacture reconditioned unit but for what this phone offers, at this price it is a great deal.  In case you don’t remember all of the specs on this 5.7″ phablet, here is a quick run down.  The 5.7″ display renders at 1440 x 2560 so you get about 518 ppi.  It is powered by the Snapdragon 805 quad-core processor running at 2.7GHz, has 3GB of RAM and built-in 32GB of storage.  You can expand that storage up to an additional 256GB with the MicroSD slot.

As a general rule, I try not to pick on any one particular carrier or device because whichever they happen to be, meets the need for some of the Android faithful.  But seriously AT&T, you need to get your act together.  Yesterday the carrier began rolling out the Android Marshmallow update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4 and the Note Edge on their network.  That is nearly three months after the last carrier in the US (T-Mobile) updated the device on their network, six months after the first updates were done by Sprint and yes, a year after Marshmallow was released by Google.  AT&T is notoriously slow at getting updates out to their devices (which isn’t helped in this case as Samsung is slow as well) and this may well be one of the best cases.

Okay, enough complaining.  It’s here and that’s the good news.

Today’s deal over at eBay is a great one for those looking at a Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.  Right now you can pick up the phone with 32GB of built-in storage for $569.99.  That is a savings of some 37% and the phone is unlocked.  Right now the color options are gold and black so quantities are very much limited.  The even better news:  The Galaxy S7 Edge doesn’t have blow-up batteries. 🙂 (Sorry, couldn’t resist).

Specification wise, the Galaxy S7 Edge does not disappoint.  It comes with a quad-core 2.15 GHz on 2 cores and 1.6 GHz on the other two.  It has 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, 32GB of storage with expansion up to an additional 200GB thanks to the MicroSD slot.  The S7 Edge has a 5.5″ Quad-HD Super AMOLED display that renders at 2560 x 1440 resolution and 534 PPI.  The rear camera is an impressive 12MP f/1.7 shooter with OIS while the front camera is a 5MP that is also f/1.7.

If have a Samsung Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge on the Verizon network, there is a new software update waiting for you.  The new build of Android Marshmallow addresses some call quality issues as well as enabling the FM radio built into the device.  Specifically, you are looking for Verizon’s software version MMB29M.G935VVRU2APG5 for those keeping score at home and it is currently rolling out to customers.  You can manually check for the update by going to Settings>System Updates.  It is a small one as Verizon is allowing users to download it over LTE but you can expect about a 10 minute download and another 10-15 minutes to install and reboot your device.

With demand high and supply limited, Samsung is having to ramp up production of the Galaxy Note 7.  Reuters reports that the Korean company has had higher demand than they expected for the Note 7 and that they will be sorting out how and where to increase production to meet the needs.

“As pre-order results for the Galaxy Note 7 have far exceeded our estimates, its release date in some markets has been adjusted,” Samsung told Reuters in a statement without commenting on where launch delays could occur.

Samsung has made similar comments in the past, most notably on last year’s Galaxy S6 Edge, and one could argue that they creating a false urgency in the market.  While there is probably a little bit of truth to it, the numbers don’t lie.  Samsung is expected to sell upwards of 15 million Galaxy Note 7’s this year and delays in launching have already happened with further “adjustments” to the launch schedule made to try to keep up with demand.

The challenge, of course, is that Samsung risks losing buyers outright to competitor products so the faster they can ramp up that production, the better.  Samsung’s stock was down 2% yesterday after this news broke.