Articles about Samsung

Patent lawsuits in the world of technology are nothing new, and the case between Apple and Samsung resulted in one of the largest fines ever being handed down. Samsung was ordered to pay $930 million in damages after a court found that the company had violated Apple patents with its smartphone and tablet designs.

Today the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit overturned part of the original ruling, saying that the jury was wrong to say that Samsung infringed on Apple's trade dress intellectual property. The exact details of what this will mean are yet to come out, but it should lead to a fairly hefty reduction in Samsung's legal costs.

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Today, Samsung is expanding its UHD monitor portfolio with the addition of two new lineups, called UE590 and UE850. The former is designed for consumers, while the latter is aimed at professionals. The newly-unveiled monitors can be had in 23.5-inch, 28-inch and 31.5-inch trims, the last of which is reserved for the UE850 lineup.

The consumer-oriented UE590 targets "entertainment seekers and avid gamers", promising a contrast ratio of 1000:1 and response times as low as 1 ms (gray-to-gray). Viewing angles differ among the two offerings, with the 23.5-inch U24E590D touting horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 178 degrees and the 28-inch U28E590D only featuring horizontal and vertical viewing angles of 170 and 160 degrees, respectively. The latter is also the one with the lowest response time; the former's response time is a higher 4 ms.

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Every company worth its salt is keen to get aboard the Internet of Things bandwagon, and Samsung is no different. Today the company announces its ARTIK platform which it hopes will accelerate the development of IoT apps and hardware for both consumers and the enterprise.

This is more than just a platform announcement, however; Samsung has produced three modules with a variety of integrated features ready to power the next generation of connected devices. The modules are backed up with embedded hardware security and can be tailored to a range of tasks.

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While Android is the clear leader in the mobile market, in the enterprise space arch-rival iOS is the platform that actually comes out on top. Apple's iPhones and iPads make up 72 percent of all mobile device activations, while handsets running the green droid operating system have to make do with just 26 percent.

Unsurprisingly, it is iPhone 6 which sustains Apple's enterprise dominance, coming out as the most-popular handset in the enterprise thanks to it making up 26 percent of all activations between January and March. Apple's flagship is followed by Samsung's Galaxy S5. Together, the two leading vendors offer 28 out of the 30 most-popular devices in the enterprise.

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China's smartphone market has declined year-over-year for the first time in six years, according to a new report from IDC. In the first quarter of the year, shipments decreased by 4.3 percent compared to the same period from 2014, with the likes of Samsung and Lenovo posting huge drops.

Apple leads the pack in China, shipping 14.5 million iPhones in Q1 2015, 62.1 percent more than a year ago. Meanwhile, rival Samsung, which comes in fourth place, saw shipments of just 9.6 million units, a whopping 53 percent lower compared to Q1 2014.

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Alongside Euro-zone cell phone data, U.S. first-quarter 2015 phablet shipments are out from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech. Depending on how the numbers are cut, fanboys can rally for their platform.

Spurred by iPhone 6 Plus, iOS showed strong performance, representing 44 percent of phablet sales. However, the number of iOS smartphone switchers from Android fell -- to 11.4 percent from 14.6 percent year over year -- supporting early anecdotal evidence that existing Apple customers are the most-likely 6 Plus buyers. Also confirming: Android smartphone conversions from iOS fell from 9.8 percent to 5.9 percent.

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It has been a while since I last talked about Android distribution numbers. At the time, the first Jelly Bean iteration claimed the top spot, while Gingerbread was still on the podium. Lots of things have since changed, so it is now time to take another look at the state of Android releases.

As always, we start with the latest Android distribution and work our way back to the oldest. As you know, Android 5.1 Lollipop is the newest release available, officially announced two months ago, in early-March. However, it was made available starting a month earlier, since reaching 0.7 percent usage share, based on data collected by Google during a week-long period that ended on May 4. No popular handsets ship with it, and few software upgrades to the second Lollipop incarnation are available today.

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Samsung’s Galaxy S6 is a great device, no doubt about it. It has all the elements needed for a great smartphone: a large, high quality display, powerful processor, a great operating system with countless features, and two amazing cameras.

However, the competition out there is merciless. Apple has hit the South Korean giants hard with the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus models, and now the LG G4 seems to be out for blood, as well.

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Samsung is down but not out in the global smartphone shipments battle with top rival Apple. That is the conclusion from analysts at Juniper Research, which like Strategy Analytics released first quarter 2015 data today. Juniper sees sharp rebound from Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, which "reception" is stronger than their predecessors.

Quarter-on-quarter, Samsung smartphone shipments -- 82 million units -- rose by 23 percent but fell 29 percent year over year. By comparison, annually, Apple shipments soared by 40 percent, to 61 million, largely lifted by China. The country's importance to the fruit-logo company cannot be overemphasized for either manufacturer. But Apple reaped the big crop, with shipments up 71 percent that generated $16.8 billion in revenue.

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Something interesting happened in the last quarter of 2014: Apple tied with Samsung on smartphone shipments. Both players moved 74.5 million units, reaching this figure from two opposite directions. The Cupertino, Calif.-based vendor saw its iPhone shipments increase by a whopping 46.07 percent year-over-year, while its South Korean rival dealt with a 13.37 percent decline.

But, luckily for Samsung, things changed in the first quarter of 2015. According to Strategy Analytics, its smartphone shipments reached 83.2 million units, while Apple's iPhones shipped in just 61.2 million units. And just like that, Samsung is, once again, back at the top. However, it is not yet in tip-top form.

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For many of us, smartphones have replaced dedicated cameras. And it is easy to understand why. But if there is one area where DSLRs and the like still shine, picture quality is definitely it. That said, smartphones are getting better and better each year, with today's flagships leading the charge.

Not all flagships are created equal though. Some are better than others in this regard, packing useful hardware features like optical image stabilization (OIS), which helps in low-light and video recording, and software to match, featuring clever algorithms that offer the right balance between image quality and noise. And if you are looking for the best all-around camera, that can take great photos and videos, apparently nothing can match Samsung's Galaxy S6 edge.

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The absolute best upgrade for any computer that's operating system is running from a hard disk drive, is a solid state drive. Why? The performance increase is significant, while SSD prices are decreasing. In other words, you can speed up your PC without hurting your wallet.

The problem, however, is deciding which SSD to buy. While affordability and speed are important qualities, I tend to put a premium on reliability. Of course I want the drive to be fast, but the contents of the drive -- important documents and family photos -- trump anything else. Luckily, Samung's offerings have proven to be both reliable and fast, while also being reasonably priced. Today, I am taking a look at the latest and greatest SATA variant; the 850 EVO.

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I, like many others, was glued to my favorite tech site on 1 March, awaiting news on the new Samsung flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S6. But when the stream I was watching came to a close, I couldn’t help but feel a little bit disappointed.

The expandable memory and removable battery was always a major selling point to me over an iPhone. However with the new S6 removing expandable memory and having a non-removable battery, I was torn. Unfortunately, my trusty S4 bit the dust and I knew I’d have to try the S6 first-hand to see if the features I had used for so long would be missed. I don’t know what I was worried about…

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I’m usually not the paranoid one in a relationship, but the fingerprint scanner on smartphones always used to freak me out.

And now, a pair of researchers from security firm FireEye breathes new life into my paranoia, as they claim hackers can steal your fingerprint data before it gets encrypted in the device. One of the potentially dangerous devices, ‘leaking’ fingerprints is the Samsung Galaxy S5.

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The virtual reality hype is real. In years past, promised virtual reality systems were expensive and did not meet expectations. Ultimately, it never really took off in the mainstream. Low-cost electronics have birthed a renewed interest, however, as seen from Facebook's Ocluus Rift and Samsung's Gear VR.

Samsung's solution is rather genius, as it utilizes a users exiting smartphone to cut costs and reduce redundancy. Unfortunately, creating a one-size-fits-all mask for smartphones can be problematic, as the sizes and dimensions can change with every upgrade cycle. If you are the owner of a Galaxy S6 or S6 edge, however, you are in luck; Samsung today announces a refreshed Gear VR for you, with the "Innovator Edition" moniker.

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