Flexible screens: Samsung launches a competition to find new ideas

The Korean brand is launching a contest to find applications of the flexible screen technology ideas. The winner will carry 10,000 dollars.

Samsung has introduced a prototype phone with flexible screen at the last CES.

Invent new technologies, it is one thing. To put them into practice in everyday life is another. This is why Samsung has launched a competition to find new ideas to use its flexible AMOLED technology. At stake: a first prize of 10,000 dollars. Two other projects will be awarded prizes ranging from 5,000 and 2,500 dollars.

This contest is open to entrepreneurs, designers and developers. Their suggestions should comply with a set of very precise: the products must use a flexible screen whose maximum size is 20 inches, do not go beyond a definition of 1920 x 1080 pixels, do not belong to a market niche and will be produced on a large scale.

But that's not all because the projects will be economically viable and initiators must claim no royalties on the future development of their ideas. Ah yes ... the last detail, and not least to participate in this contest, you must reside in the United States!

Samsung TVs in Tizen prepares for next year

We knew that Samsung was preparing Tizen smartphones, but it seems that the Korean giant thinks integrate the operating system in future televisions to create an ecosystem of Android ... away.

In the beginning of last week, pictures, showing a Galaxy S4, Samsung, running Tizen , a Linux-based mobile operating system, emerged on the Web. A few days later, at the end of last week, Boo-Keun Yoon, the man at the head of the consumer electronics division of the Korean giant, announced that his company was working to build an ecosystem around Tizen.The co-developed operating system, with Intel, will present "on some of our smartphones as well as on our televisions and appliances. We are creating an ecosystem in which we can connect all Samsung devices together. "

When asked when do we see the arrival of the first TVs with Tizen, Boo-Keun Yoon stated that these models could hit the market next year.

Is a priori in the estimated arrival of a possible Apple iTV period. Obviously, Samsung and Apple do not go at all the same positions in this field. Korean is actually a global issue televisions in recent years while American society is non-existent in this area, even if the Apple TV is experiencing a minor hit in the United States mainly.

The arrival of Tizen in TVs Samsung is certainly a new step away or becoming independent from Samsung vis-à-vis Android. Remains to be seen what will this new ecosystem. 

Samsung announces pricing of its tablet Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition

Its tablet Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition 10-inch screen will be sold in October 2013, € 549 for 16GB (Wi-Fi) and 679 € in 4G compatible version.

Samsung will launch in France, in October 2013, its tablet Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 edition 10-inch screen.His prices are now known: 549 euros in its 16GB version and 679 euros Wifi version compatible with the (Wi-fi) Mobile 4G network.

This tablet features an LCD screen resolution WQXGA (2560 x 1600), dual quad-core 1.9 GHz processor (for the 4G version) and 1.3 GHz (for wi-fi and 3G versions) and 3 GB of RAM .

Its operating system is Android 4.3 and its graphical user interface, TouchWiz, clean the Korean manufacturer.

Its dimensions have been revised downwards (24.31 × 17.14 × 0.79 cm) and it is a bit lighter (535g) than its predecessor. Finished in black and white stitching in the seam also differs.

Faced with the Google Nexus 10 (sold 499 euros for 32 GB), its price can be justified given the condensed technology (4G, microSD, infrared pen card) it loads, but the competition will be rude.

LG Z will be the first smartphone flexible screen of the firm. And the announcement of the Galaxy Note 3 Active is expected soon

After the escalation of the screen size and the resolution of the smartphones on the moment, everything suggests that the next step will be the use of a flexible screen. Indeed, after many hesitations on the subject, Samsung has finally confirmed the launch of a smartphone with a curved screen for the month of October, which will probably be the very famous Galaxy Note 3 Active, which will be sold in limited edition.

Asked about the matter by reporters at the release of third quarter results, CEO of Samsung has even stated that it is expected to be launched as early as next week. However, it appears that Samsung is not the only one on the market compared to its flexible screen, as his great rival, LG, is also ready to deliver a real competitive battle to offer first Smartphone with a flexible screen.

To support this theory, a leak published by ZDNet indicates that LG is currently in the process of producing a smartphone that has the distinction of offering a curved and concave screen, and the firm has baptize LG Z, emphasizing the word Z for dimension / axis. One wonders what would think Sony on this appellation. In any case, it is said that LG will also launch this Smartphone from the month of October.

Anyway, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and LG Z will not be quite flexible. Indeed, other components such as the battery and the motherboard are not yet reached such a technologically. However, we must not forget that a flexible display allows manufacturers to design a smartphone with glasses and fine qu'incassables to ensure durability.

In addition, this screen will consume much less energy. Otherwise, it should be noted that these two terminals will be sold in very limited edition, as the two companies are not yet able to produce displays of this type in large quantities, at least for the moment.

An unofficial version of Android 4.3 for the Galaxy S4 is available for download

Expected for the month of October, the update to Android 4.3 Galaxy S4 starts fuiter on canvas. Indeed, a new publication published by one of our colleagues refers to a test of the Galaxy S4 running version 4.3 of Android Jelly Bean, with I9505XXUEMI8 firmware. An update is intended for the European version of the Galaxy Note 3 (GT-I9505), which is already available for download.

If you plan to install this firmware on your Galaxy Note 3, we advise you to do so with great caution, because it is not official and therefore it can be unstable. However, our colleague SamMobile who tested the device says that the OS is "very stable" and that the Galaxy S4 received a real "boost" in performance. In fact, they indicate that this version of Android is much faster than version 4.2.2 Jelly Bean installed in the marketing of the Galaxy S4. This is due to several changes in the management of material and some minor changes to the user interface.

Moreover, a recent rumor indicates that the official update for Galaxy S4 Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2 should happen this month will be delayed and arrive until the month of November. For now Samsung is silent about it. So if you're eager to test this new update, you can get the download details below:

• Model: GT-I9505
• Country: Open Europe
• Version: Android 4.3
• Changelist: 1715731
• Build date: Fri, September 20, 2013 6:48:24 p.m. 0000
• Product Code: OXA
• PDA: I9505XXUEMI8
• CSC: I9505OXAEMI8
• MODEM: I9505XXUEMI8
• Download link: I9505XXUEMI8_I9505OXAEMI8_I9505XXUEMI8_OXA.zip

How to install the lock screen of Galaxy 3 and Galaxy Note S4 on your Android device?

Android is a world where it is easy for everyone (or almost) to change its interface and even the ROM from the device at will. Many developers invest fully in the development of these custom ROM as CyanogeMod example. Other developers focus more on the minor modification of the ROM without bringing a whole new operating system, such as XDA Developer among others. Speaking at XDA members, know that they were able to extract the screen saver and S4 Galaxy  ,Samsung Galaxy Note 3, so that you can install on all devices that run on Android 4.0 or any later version.

If you have seen a Galaxy S4 or Galaxy Note 3 belonging to one of your loved ones, and the lock screen you particularly like, you may be interested in this news. The lock screen of Galaxy S3 and later is actually run by customizable effects that appear when you unlock your smartphone, and are particularly beautiful and pleasing to the eye. Samsung has also added several new options on the lock screen of the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3, as the ability to change the text font, or adding a custom text other than the name of the operator .

So you can find this fully customizable lock screen Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3 from the Google Play Store . The developer of this application also included some new features and parameters. The application is still in beta, so that you can meet small bugs on it, but what happens if the application does not suit you, you can easily uninstall it so that you can the screen that you had before.

Samsung have also installed the software on the Galaxy Note 3 which increases its benchmark score

You probably know that we usually do not give importance to the benchmark score a Smartphone or tablet. In fact, we never tire of saying that the benchmark does not affect the use of a smartphone or tablet, and it is completely ridiculous to say that a mobile device is more than another just because it has a better benchmark score.

However, we discovered there was not long ago that Samsung had used the software in its Galaxy S4 to inflate the score Benchmark its flagship smartphone, overwriting any competition. A benchmark score that sparked the enthusiasm of many users looking for raw performance to run big games. In fact, the software used by Samsung increased the GPU clock when the device is subjected to a benchmark test. A frequency normally never crossed when the user runs an application, even if the intensive graphics performance.

Questioned on the subject, block Samsung denies having used any command line for inflating the benchmark of its terminals, and indicates that the frequency of the GPU achieves this frequency where the Benchmark score high. A statement more than discussed, because many tests were conducted on the Galaxy S4 , and no one has reached that standard frequency fora during normal use.

Following this controversy, it was expected that Samsung abandoned this practice on its future smartphones. However, every reason to believe that we were wrong. Indeed, when comparing the Galaxy Note 3 to the LG G2, we see that the Galaxy Note 3 provides a benchmark score abnormally high, while both devices have the same Snapdragon processor 800. Anyway, so says ArsTechnica . Thus, Samsung does not intend to change his habits? High score or not, it remains our position: a benchmark score can in no way define the actual performance of a mobile terminal. We must not forget that benchmark only compare the raw performance of a device, and if it is not paired with the software part, there is little point.