Android Go is a low-configuration variant of Android designed to take up less resources and run on low-end hardware. It was unveiled by Google back at I/0 2017, and the first Android Oreo (Go edition) phones went on sale in April. Previously, we reviewed the Blackview A20, which was one of the first Android Go phones. We also took an in-depth look at the Android Go software ecosystem.

In terms of devices, Android Go phones have been released by the likes of HMD Global (Nokia 1), Micromax, Intex, and other local smartphone vendors. Recently, Google also announced Android Pie (Go edition), which would be rolling out in new smartphones starting this fall. We know Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone vendor, was developing its own Android Go phone, and photos of the phone had leaked a month ago. Now, the company has officially launched the Android Go-powered Samsung Galaxy J2 Core in India and Malaysia, and availability will expand to additional markets in the future.

In terms of specifications, the Galaxy J2 Core is a standard Android Go phone. It’s powered by the Exynos 7570 SoC, which has four Arm Cortex-A53 cores clocked at 1.4GHz, paired with Arm’s Mali-T720MP1 GPU. The main bottleneck here is 1GB of RAM, which doesn’t lead to a good user experience in current generation Android Go devices. There is 8GB of storage, along with a microSD card slot for expandable storage.

The Galaxy J2 Core has a 5-inch qHD (960×540) TFT LCD. The phone has an 8MP rear camera with f/2.2 aperture and LED flash, while the 5MP front-facing camera also has a f/2.2 aperture. It’s powered by a 2,600mAh battery.

The phone ships with Android Oreo (Go edition). Samsung didn’t state anything regarding an Android Pie (Go edition) update. Interestingly, the Galaxy J2 Core is the first Android Go phone to run a customized OEM user interface instead of running stock Android. Samsung Experience is still present here on top of the Android Go OS, confirming earlier reports.

This has potential implications on performance as it’s popular knowledge that Samsung Experience isn’t exactly a light user interface (in the past, it was notorious for showing jank and stutter even on flagship Samsung phones). This time it will have to run on especially low-end hardware, so here’s hoping that Samsung has optimized the phone’s software for the Galaxy J2 Core to be usable as a first-time smartphone.

In terms of software features, the J2 Core includes Samsung’s Ultra Data Saving feature that provides options and suggestions for efficient data use. Samsung states that it comes pre-loaded with “fewer apps” that use less memory, providing up to 1.5 times the available storage capacity compared to previous offerings. (It’s unclear which previous offerings the company is referring to here.)

Full specifications of the Galaxy J2 Core are noted below:

Samsung Galaxy J2 Core – Specifications at a glance

The Galaxy J2 Core will be available in India and Malaysia starting August 24, and availability will expand to additional markets in the near future. Samsung hasn’t revealed pricing details yet, but it’s fair to expect the phone to priced at or below the $100 price point, considering that the regular Galaxy J2 sells for ₹7,000 in India. The phone will likely compete against phones such as the Xiaomi Redmi 5A and the recently launched Amazon 10.or D2 in pricing.

The launch of Fortnite Mobile on Android hasn’t been too great, especially since many of the supported devices really struggle to play the game with acceptable frame rates. The game launched as a Samsung Galaxy exclusive for only 3 days. The Fortnite Installer was first available on Samsung Galaxy Apps before Epic Games allowed non-Samsung players to download and install the full game from the Fortnite Installer obtained on Epic’s website. Shortly after the Fortnite Installer became available, Epic Games quietly pushed an update to the Installer. Now we know why: They patched a Man-in-the-Disk exploit that made it possible for a malicious app to silently install any app they wanted on Samsung Galaxy smartphones. Because there has been some confusion about how this flaw works, we’ll try to clear things up. First, we need to explain the basics of app installation on Android.

App Installation Flow on Android Smartphones

Silent installations from first-party sources

To silently install an APK on Android without prompting the user for permission, you need to have a system-level application with the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission granted. Examples of applications with this permission include the Google Play Store on most Android devices. First-party application stores on devices from Samsung, Huawei, and other device makers may also have the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission granted. If you want to install any app from the Google Play Store, it’ll handle the download and automatically install the app for you without further intervention after you press “Install.” (The Google Play Store even automatically grants certain runtime permissions such as the one for overlays, whereas apps installed from outside of the Play Store need to ask the user to grant these permissions.)

If you’re curious whether an app on your device has the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission, you can find out via an ADB command.

adb shell
dumpsys package package.name.here | grep "INSTALL_PACKAGES"

For instance, the Google Play Store’s package name is “com.android.vending“. Another app with this permission is Shell with the package name com.android.shell. For those of you who use rootless Substratum via the Andromeda plug-in on Android Oreo, the Andromeda script run from your PC keeps the shell process running so Substratum can use it to install packages (the theme overlays) and then use the OverlayManager commands to enable the overlays.

Side-loading apps from third-party sources

If you attempt to download and install an app from outside of a first-party app store, you’ll first need to enable unknown installation sources. This lets the Package Manager Service within the Android framework (which has the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission) know that you acknowledge the risks of side-loading apps from third-party sources. On pre-Android Oreo devices, there’s a single toggle in Security settings to allow installation from unknown sources. On Android Oreo and later versions, an app calling for the installation of an APK must declare the REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES permission and the user must whitelist that app so it can request app installs via the Package Manager Service. Since REQUEST_INSTALL_PACKAGES is an “appop” permission, that makes it one of the permissions that can be controlled from within Settings’ permission manager or via the cmd appops shell command.

Once installation from unknown sources is enabled either globally or specifically for a requesting application, then the user can side-load an app. However, the Package Manager doesn’t allow the app to be installed silently. Rather, it’ll prompt the user whether they want to install the app and list any sensitive permissions that it requests to be granted on install. If the user accepts, then the app is installed with the requested non-runtime permissions. OEMs can also customize the Package Manager: For instance, the Package Manager in the Chinese version of Huawei’s EMUI 5 has a feature to scan the APK to decide if it’s safe and control what permissions are granted before installation. I have observed this on the Honor Note 8 running EMUI 5 imported from China, though I’m sure other Chinese Huawei and Honor devices also have this feature in their Package Managers.

In any case, that about sums up the difference between installing an app from an approved, first-party source and third-party source. If you attempt to install an app from the Play Store or equivalent app store with the INSTALL_PACKAGES permission, it’ll silently handle the install all on its own without further user intervention after you start the download. But if you download an APK from XDA Labs, APKMirror, or other third-party sources, the standard package installer will handle the install and prompt the user to install that package. So where does the Fortnite Installer come in and why is this all relevant?

A Flaw in Fortnite’s Installation Process

Earlier today, Google disclosed a vulnerability they discovered with the first version of the Fortnite Installer. The vulnerability was demonstrated on the Exynos Samsung Galaxy S8+ (dream2lte) but also affected all other Samsung Experience devices including the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S4. The vulnerability allows an already-installed malicious application to take advantage of the way the Fortnite Installer tries to install Fortnite for the first time on Samsung Galaxy devices. By using a private API in Samsung Galaxy Apps, the Fortnite Installer bypasses the need to prompt the user via the standard package installer to install Fortnite. That’s because Galaxy Apps has the permission it needs to handle the installation silently. There wouldn’t be anything wrong with this silent installation process if the app that’s being silently installed is the real Fortnite. But because of where the Fortnite Installer stored the downloaded APK file for the Fortnite game, it was easily exploitable.

The AndroidManifest from Samsung Galaxy Apps shows that Galaxy Apps has the permission to install other apps on its own, bypassing the standard package installer.

According to the report on the Issue Tracker, the Fortnite Installer would download the Fortnite Mobile APK to /sdcard/Android/data/com.epicgames.portal/files/downloads/. This is considered “external storage” on Android as /sdcard is a symbolic link to /data/media/CURRENT_USER, and /sdcard was the name used in the early days of Android when app data was stored on physical SD cards. Nowadays, app data is usually stored in app-specific directories in /data/data/, and each app only has access to the files in its own /data/data directory. Thus, if the Fortnite Installer stored the downloaded Fortnite APK to its own /data/data/ directory, it would be impossible for any app without read permissions (ie. without root access) to know what’s happening in this directory.

However, since the Fortnite Installer saved the downloaded APK in external storage, it could be monitored and overwritten by any app with external storage read permissions. Normally, apps write to /data/media, the “virtual SD card,” when they store files that need to be accessed by the user via MTP or by other apps. For an app to read or write to /data/media, they need to have the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE and WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permissions respectively (both are under the same permission group and are hence granted together). Before Android 4.4 KitKat, most apps requested these permissions upon installation because otherwise, they wouldn’t be able to read or write to the files in their package’s designated external storage directory in /data/media/…/Android/. With the introduction of FUSE to emulate FAT-on-sdcard style directory permissions in Android 4.4 KitKat, apps no longer need any permissions to access files in their designated directory in external storage. Accessing files in any other directory would still need the external storage permissions, which is what a malicious app can do to hijack the Fortnite installation process.

As shown in the video below, a malicious app with the READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission monitors the Fortnite Installer’s download directory in external storage. When it detects that the download is complete and the fingerprint is verified, it replaces the downloaded Fortnite package with its own malicious package thanks to the WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission. However, because of the way that Samsung Galaxy Apps verifies the Fortnite APK before installation (…it just checks if the package name is “com.epicgames.fortnite”), it is possible to have Galaxy Apps silently install the malicious package in the background with no user intervention or notification—so long as the malicious package’s name was “com.epicgames.fortnite.” Even worse, if this malicious package targeted SDK level 22 or lower (Android 5.1 Lollipop and earlier), it would automatically be granted all permissions defined in its manifest because runtime permissions are only mandatory for apps targeting SDK level 23 and above (Android 6.0 Marshmallow and later).

But what would happen on non-Samsung devices? Well, because Samsung Galaxy Apps isn’t installed on non-Samsung devices, the malicious APK won’t be silently installed in the background. Fortnite Installer is a third-party app and hence needs to first prompt the user to enable installation from unknown sources and then send a request to the package installer to install the fake Fortnite APK. It would then depend on the user to tap “Install” when asked if they want to install the app or not. This is problematic regardless of the fact that non-Samsung phones aren’t in danger of a malicious app being silently installed in the background. The average user would be none the wiser if a malicious APK crafted with “Fortnite” in its name and the Fortnite app icon is presented to them for installation.

Still, there’s a clear distinction between exploiting this flaw on Samsung Galaxy smartphones and non-Samsung smartphones. The former is a Man-in-the-Disk attack that also takes advantage of a hidden system API to silently install any app in the background, with any permissions, and with no need to trick the user into thinking they’re installing a fake Fortnite APK. The latter is a standard Man-in-the-Disk attack that can also happen to other apps that save APKs or other important data in external storage directories, as shown by the recent CheckPoint post. It just so happens that, thanks to the hidden Galaxy Apps API, this Man-in-the-Disk attack is more dangerous on Samsung Galaxy devices.

Fixing the Flaw

To Epic Games’ credit, they responded very quickly to the report on the Google Issue Tracker and rolled out an update to version 2.1.0 as fast as they could. The fix was simple—just save the downloaded Fortnite APK to the Fortnite Installer’s internal storage directory in /data/data rather than its external storage directory in /data/media. The Epic Games’ engineer requested that the flaw be disclosed after 90 days, though Google declined and made the issue public 7 days after a fix was rolled out. Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney was not happy with the quick turnaround time from the initial security report to its disclosure. He offered the following statement to Android Central.

Epic genuinely appreciated Google’s effort to perform an in-depth security audit of Fortnite immediately following our release on Android, and share the results with Epic so we could speedily issue an update to fix the flaw they discovered.

However, it was irresponsible of Google to publicly disclose the technical details of the flaw so quickly, while many installations had not yet been updated and were still vulnerable.

An Epic security engineer, at my urging, requested Google delay public disclosure for the typical 90 days to allow time for the update to be more widely installed. Google refused. You can read it all at https://issuetracker.google.com/issues/112630336

Google’s security analysis efforts are appreciated and benefit the Android platform, however a company as powerful as Google should practice more responsible disclosure timing than this, and not endanger users in the course of its counter-PR efforts against Epic’s distribution of Fortnite outside of Google Play.

I can’t speak for how many existing Samsung Galaxy devices still have the older Fortnite Installer. Maybe Epic Games should tell these users to update their install by sending a message in Fortnite Mobile. Firebase’s nifty new In-App Messaging feature could do the trick. Although, it’s probably not a big deal anyway because, if a user with the older installer already downloaded the legitimate Fortnite, then any MITD attack won’t work because the malicious APK can’t be installed on top of the existing Fortnite installation. In any case, the discovery of this flaw so early after Fortnite’s release on Android—when there’s still so much controversy about Epic Games’ decision to ditch Google Play—certainly helps the argument that Epic Games’ decision was careless. Whether that was Google’s intention behind publicizing this issue so quickly, we’ll never know.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was released to the public more than two weeks ago. The phone has some subtle improvements over its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy Note 8. The Galaxy Note 9 has a slightly better screen, slightly better camera, and slightly better battery. To put it in short, it’s a slightly better phone. The most notable change is the inclusion of a Bluetooth-enabled S Pen. In typical Samsung Galaxy Note fashion, it’s packed full of extra sensors and features you won’t find on any other smartphone. But for those of you who love Samsung Galaxy Note phones for their build quality and specifications but not necessarily its software, you may be interested in installing a custom ROM on the smartphone. For that to happen, you need two things: an unlockable bootloader and the kernel source code to make custom recoveries and kernels possible.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has two hardware variants available, one with the Exynos 9810 system-on-chip and another with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. We can unlock the bootloader officially on the Exynos variant of the phone. For the Snapdragon one, we have to rely on the third-party tools or exploits like SAMFail, which is not yet available for the Galaxy Note 9.

Even after unlocking the bootloader, you need to have the resources available to mod the phone, like a custom recovery, ROM, kernels, etc. Thankfully, Samsung has released the kernel source code for the Exynos Galaxy Note 9. Developers can now start building TWRP and custom AOSP-based ROMs for the device.

To download the source code, head to the link below, hover over the ‘Mobile’ section and go into the ‘Mobile Phone’ category. Then, use the built-in not-so-great search function and look up “N96” (without quotes). There is your kernel source code, named ‘SM-N960F_OO_Opensource.zip’. We can’t link the direct page because it’s broken, so we’re putting a link to the Samsung Open Source Release Center.

Samsung Open Source Release Center

Samsung released Bixby 2.0 with the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Bixby 2.0 made promises of being way better than Bixby 1.0 which launched last year with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. I have been using the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 for a few days and in my view, Bixby 2.0 is basically the same as 1.0 but missing some features I liked. So like any sane human being, I found a way to remap it. Below are instructions on how to install and use the two best remapping apps for Bixby 2.0 on the Galaxy Note 9.

Remap Bixby 2.0 on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9

Option 1: Button Mapper

Button Mapper: Remap your keys (Free⁺, Google Play) →

Button Mapper lets you remap any button on your phone, but specifically for our purposes, it lets you remap the Bixby button on the Galaxy Note 9. This app is more reliable than option two, but it does have one downside. You need to run the script every time you reboot your phone. You can follow the tutorial below to set it up.

1. Install Button Mapper from the Google Play Store.
2. Set up ADB on your computer. You can follow this guide to get it installed.
3. Enable ADB by going to Settings > About Phone > Software Information and tap build number 7 times. Once you do this enter your password and go back twice. You can enter the developer options menu now. Just toggle the USB Debugging switch to enable ADB.
4. Open the Button Mapper app, at the bottom of the window, there will be a popup asking you to enable accessibility services. You then just enable accessibility services for Button Mapper.
5. Select the Bixby Button option at the top of the app. Then click the customize button. Once you do this you will need to run the following commands:

   adb shell sh /data/data/flar2.homebutton/keyevent.sh

   And then

   adb shell sh /data/data/flar2.homebutton/keyevent.sh -d

6. You will need to run this second command every time you reboot your phone. This will also disable Bixby Voice. If you don’t disable Bixby Voice, it will open every time you press the button along with what you have it remapped to. You can re-enable Bixby Voice with the following command:

   adb shell sh /data/data/flar2.homebutton/keyevent.sh -e.

7. You select whatever option you want to use in the single tap and long press menus. You can set it to do things like open Google Assistant or toggle the flashlight.

This app seems to be a bit better in use because it disables Bixby Voice and remaps it. The downside is that you will have to run the ADB command every time you reboot your phone. If you don’t want to have to run the command every time you reboot your phone, option 2 will be for you.

Option 2: bxActions

bxActions - Bix Button Remapper (Free⁺, Google Play) →

bxActions is an app that has been doing Bixby remapping since the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Samsung Galaxy S8+ launched last year. This app is pretty reliable for remapping Bixby on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, but Bixby Voice is still installed so there could be some compatibility issues with that. The developer is actively developing the app so if you do find any bugs, you should expect them to be fixed.

1. Join the open beta for bxActions then install the app.
2. Install ADB on your computer. You can follow this guide to get it installed.
3. Enable ADB by going to Settings > About Phone > Software Information and tap build number 7 times. Once you do this enter your password and go back twice. You can enter the developer options menu now. Just toggle the USB debugging switch to enable ADB.
4. Open bxActions and follow the prompts to give it the permissions it needs.
5. Select the Bix button options and click the red box that says “please unlock permissions using a PC”
6. Run the two commands:

   adb shell pm grant com.jamworks.bxactions android.permission.WRITE_SECURE_SETTINGS
   adb shell pm grant com.jamworks.bxactions android.permission.READ_LOGS

7. Once you do this close and reopen the app.
8. You can now select the option you want to use to remap the Bixby button on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. This app has actions like Google Assistant and the flashlight toggle as well.

This app does work well, but it’s not always as reliable as Button Mapper in my experience. It has the great upside of only needing to be enabled once. You don’t even need to run the adb command, but it does make the app faster and more reliable. This app is by no means bad—I would say it’s probably the best for its function. Just sometimes, I have found it to be unreliable on my Galaxy Note 9.

What remapping Bixby on the Galaxy Note 9 lets you do

Button Mapper lets you remap the Bixby button on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to either a long press or a single press. Once you do this you can remap it to one of the actions in the list below. There are also options for Zello, which is a walkie-talkie app. There are Pro options for disabling Bixby when locked and vibration on button press.

bxActions has options for both a single press and long press, along with a long press on the lock screen. The long press and long press on lock screen both require the pro mode to be unlocked for $3. You can remap the Bixby button on the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 to the actions below.

In my opinion, Bixby 2.0 is not that great on the Galaxy Note 9. Luckily for us, we have amazing developers who also agree with this and work on apps to remap it to more useful features, like Google Assistant.

The current trend in smartphone design is small bezels and display notches. Foldable phones have threatened to be the next design trend for a while, but so far nothing has materialized. Samsung is one of the manufacturers that has been working on foldable phones for a while. According to a report from ETNews, Samsung is already sending samples of foldable displays to the competition.

Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung, has reportedly sent samples of potential folding displays to Oppo and Xiaomi. Why would Samsung do this when they don’t have a foldable phone of their own? Making displays for other manufacturers is a big source of income for Samsung. They have even made iPhone displays. But the other reason is more important to the future of Samsung’s foldable phones.

Another possible reason is to grow the folding ecosystem before they launch their own foldable device. Oppo and Xiaomi can get the idea of a foldable phone into the minds of customers before Samsung swoops in with a superior product. Analysts predict they could ship up to a million foldable displays next year and up to 5 million in 2020. If foldable phones are going to happen, Samsung wants to be in on it.

Source: ETNews via: Phone Arena

Foldable phones have been talked about for a long time, but so far we haven’t really seen a worthwhile entry into the category. There have been phones that can fold, like the ZTE Axon M, but they typically utilize multiple displays. The perfect foldable phone would have a single display that can fold. Samsung (among others) has been working on such a device, and we may see it this year already.

Samsung’s history with foldable phones has been well documented. Just this year alone, we heard they were planning to start production in November, the phone could cost $2,000, a canceled prototype leaked, code was discovered, and Samsung sent foldable displays to competitors to boost the market. The latest news comes from Samsung CEO DJ Koh himself.

Koh said to CNBC, “it’s time to deliver” on a foldable device. He cited consumer surveys that showed there is a market for such a device. He went on to say:

“You can use most of the uses … on foldable status. But when you need to browse or see something, then you may need to unfold it. But even unfolded, what kind of benefit does that give compared to the tablet? If the unfolded experience is the same as the tablet, why would they buy it? So every device, every feature, every innovation should have a meaningful message to our end customer. So when the end customer uses it, (they think) ‘wow, this is the reason Samsung made it’.”

Koh did not give any details about how Samsung will execute this device. It’s widely assumed that they will be using a foldable display, rather than rehashing existing “foldable” phones that have flopped. Koh hinted that we will learn more about the device later this year at the Samsung Developer Conference in November. If that does come true, an actual launch would still likely be far off. Are you excited about the prospect?

The virtual reality market continues to heat up. Leading companies are innovating left and right when it comes to the various types of hardware devices that use the technology. This innovation is happening under the hood as well, and this is something that really shines through when the technology from Samsung, Amazon, and Google connect and interact with 3rd-party hardware and services. It has recently been reported that Samsung is finally going to open up an API for Bixby in an attempt to compete with the likes of Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant.

Due to Amazon’s head start in the market, many have felt that no one will be able to compete with them, but Google was quick to respond with the launch of Google Assistant. Naturally, due to Amazon’s head start, they were able to partner up with a ton of 3rd-party companies to get their products and services integrated with Alexa and its roster of products. Google has done well for itself, though, and recently outsold Amazon for a yearly quarter for the first time since the first Alexa product was made available to the public.

Samsung wants in on this market and that’s where Bixby comes into play. The company is pushing it so hard that they include a dedicated Bixby button on smartphones in hopes that their customers will press it and learn about the service. Earlier this year the company began to partner up with some 3rd-party applications so they could be integrated into Bixby 2.0 for the launch of the Galaxy Note 9. This was a rather closed system though, which was likely used as a beta test for what was announced earlier today.

To help Bixby compete with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, Samsung will finally let developers create applications for its Bixby virtual assistant. The goal here is for the South Korean conglomerate to launch an SDK and an API for Bixby at the Samsung Developer Conference in November. When launched, this will allow 3rd-party developers to create various applications and games with Samsung Bixby, just like we’ve seen with Alexa and Google Assistant.

The Samsung Internet Browser is generally known to be one of the best web browsers available on Android phones. This is because of its support for extensions like Amazon Assistant for finding the best deal or the built-in ad blocking support. Samsung posted to their blog to announce a few new features. This beta update includes the new Do Not Track mode, faster downloads from parallel downloading, Quick Access sync, and an updated Chromium engine. All of these updates to the web browser should mean you get a better and faster web browsing experience on any Android 5.0+ device.

The new Do Not Track is under the privacy menu in the browser settings. This sends a Do Not Track request to the website so it doesn’t track your browsing habits. This would mean it requests for Google to not track what other sites you visit so it can’t serve personalized ads. Samsung says this will help with user privacy. It is disabled by default but you can enable it at any time in the browser’s settings.

They also added a new optimized download system for faster file downloads. This new system will split each download into smaller chunks in which it can download separately at the same time. The chunks will all be downloaded at the same time in parallel connections. This is only for larger files, though Samsung didn’t say what constitutes a large file. Samsung said that download speeds can be 15-40% faster depending on network availability and system configuration.

The next new feature is Quick Access Sync. This allows for the quick access bookmarks saved to be synced between devices using Smart Switch. Those who factory reset or switch phones a lot will find this handy. Smart Switch is Samsung’s backup and restore software which also allows for you to transfer data between iOS and Android devices. Smart Switch will now back up and transfer these bookmarks.

Lastly, Samsung updated the Chromium engine behind Samsung Internet. Samsung Internet v7.X used Chromium M59. This has now been updated to Chromium M63 in Samsung Internet v8.X. The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is running Chromium M63. The older Samsung Galaxy and Note phones should be getting an update to Samsung Internet v8.2 once it is out of beta and officially launched. Chromium M63 adds JavaScript Modules, including dynamic imports, CSS properties like font-display, overscroll-behavior, and navigator.connection, which reports back network information. All of these are to better support web developers.

Samsung updating and supporting the web browser is good to see. They have had a habit of really bad software support, like taking over 6 months to update the Samsung Galaxy S8 to Android Oreo. At least Samsung is able to get timely updates for one of their products. This beta is available in the Play Store to anyone with an Android 5.0+ device.

Samsung Internet Browser Beta (Free, Google Play) →

While smartphones are constantly evolving with new features, the networks we rely on have also been changing. Verizon and the HTC made waves when they launched the first LTE phone in the US. Since then, 4G LTE has been the industry standard for high-speed mobile connectivity. However, 5G is coming sooner than you might think, and Samsung is poised to be on the train before it leaves the station.

It will take a few years before 5G is widely available, but a new report claims Samsung will future-proof their lineup with a 5G-capable Samsung Galaxy S10+. The regular Samsung Galaxy S10 will not have 5G support, according to the report. Earlier this month, Samsung announced their first 5G modem, the Exynos 5100. We’ve also seen Qualcomm’s mmWave 5G antennas. So this is certainly not a far-fetched rumor.

The report goes on to say that the Galaxy S10+ 5G model would not launch alongside the non-5G models. It would launch later to coincide with the launch of 5G in Korea. Also, the report says the Galaxy S10 series will be announced at CES rather than a separate event. This would be two months earlier than the typical Galaxy S# event. Personally, I would take that part with a grain of salt. We’ve heard rumors in the past of Samsung announcing major phones at CES and they usually don’t pan out.

Samsung is expanding their mid-range lineup in the United States with the addition of two devices: the Samsung Galaxy A6 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5″. Both of these devices were announced earlier this year, but we finally have the pricing and availability information for the unlocked versions in the U.S. First, here’s a recap of the specifications for each device.

Samsung Galaxy A6 Specifications

This smartphone may not seem much on paper, but if you’re looking for a mid-range device from a top-tier manufacturer, then you may be interested in this device. The deals that carriers will offer may make the Galaxy A6’s price more palatable, too.

Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5″ Specifications

This tablet is intended for families, and especially ones with small children. Samsung is offering a free 30-day trial of Samsung Kids if you download the Samsung Kids app from Galaxy Apps or the Google Play Store.

Samsung Galaxy A6 and Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5″ Pricing and Availability

The Samsung Galaxy A6 will be available in the United States on Samsung.com for $359.99 starting September 14th. It will also be available from carriers in a few weeks. The Samsung Galaxy Tab A 10.5″ Wi-Fi version will go on sale starting September 14th on Amazon.com, Samsung.com, Walmart, and Walmart.com for $329.99. The LTE model will be available on Sprint and Verizon sometime later this year.

This year, Samsung has released two flagship devices: the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Depending on the market, you’ll either get a model with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 or Samsung Exynos 9810. There’s little doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S10 will launch next year as Samsung’s premiere flagship smartphone, but another Samsung flagship smartphone powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 (likely the Samsung W2019) may launch in China before the S10.

For those of you who aren’t familiar, Samsung sells premium Android flip-phones, but only in China. The Samsung W2017 was released in December 2016 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 820, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, and a hefty $3,000 price tag. The Samsung W2018 was released in December 2017 with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, Android 7.1 Nougat, and a price tag over $2,000. Thus, we would expect to see a Samsung W2019 this December with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and ideally Android Pie, though Android Oreo is far more likely. It’ll very likely cost a pretty penny and won’t be available outside of China, too. Of course, nothing about the Samsung W2019 has been confirmed, but there have been a few credible rumors that we can now add to.

The clamshell Samsung W2018. Credits: Tech Sina.

Samsung W2019 Rumors

The first mention of the Samsung W2019 was made by @MMDDJ_, a Chinese leaker of Samsung products with a decent track record. He suggested that the Samsung W2019’s code-name is “Project Lykan” and that the device would have dual cameras. Next, SamMobile discovered firmware build W2019ZCU0ARI1 which is likely for the W2019. Unfortunately, there has been no other information about this upcoming device. While we don’t have any exciting information to share like photos, press renders, a full specification list, etc., we do have evidence that there’s indeed a China-bound Samsung flagship code-named “lykan” with the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845. Given what @MMDDJ_ and SamMobile posted, “lykanlte” is likely the Samsung W2019. Here’s the evidence we gathered, thanks to help from XDA Recognized Developer deadman96385.

We dug through the kernel source code for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 variant of the Samsung Galaxy S9 and found several references to a device code-named “lykan.” There are also mentions of two files named sdm845-sec-lykanlte-chn-r00.dtb and sdm845-sec-lykanlte-chn-r01.dtb, which are Device Tree BLOBs (DTB), in the project’s makefile, though the actual DTBs aren’t in the kernel source we examined. Unfortunately, that means there’s little information we can share on the device. All we can tell, mostly from the DTB filenames, is that “lykan” has the Qualcomm Snapdragon 845 and is a device for China. The “lykan” code-name matches up with what @MMDDJ_ posted back in July, so this finding matches up with previous rumors.

Although we know little about this device, there’s no doubt in our minds that it’ll be an expensive, premium clamshell device. The Samsung W2018 was the first Samsung device with a variable aperture that could automatically switch between f/2.4 and f/1.5 depending on the lighting. We don’t know what crazy camera technology Samsung will pack in the Samsung W2019, but we expect it to be impressive. It could possibly serve as an early look at next year’s Samsung Galaxy S10. We’ll keep an eye out for when this device launches, likely in December.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 has been official for almost exactly one month now. Our friends over at Pocketnow have had enough time to give the device a full review. Check out the in-depth 9-minute review video below. If you’re considering purchasing the Galaxy Note 9, this is a great source of information to help you decide.

The most important specs are highlighted in the video, but you can see the full specs in the chart below. The Galaxy Note is typically the device to get if you’re looking for an “everything but the kitchen sink” approach. And the addition of Bluetooth to the S Pen makes that special accessory even more useful. This is one of the best Android devices on the market right now. Samsung knows what they’re doing with the Note, and it may even replace the “+” devices.

Smartphone companies these days do a lot to keep their brand new devices in the headlines. The more times a device gets mentioned in the news, the more sales the company can potentially rake in. We see this strategy done in a number of different ways, but the most common is introducing a new color variant. It’s been less than a month since Samsung launched their latest flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, and now a new color variant has been leaked that is said to be coming to the United States.

Current Note 9 colors

Samsung launched the Galaxy Note 9 in a plethora of colors including Ocean Blue, Metallic Copper, Midnight Black, and Lavender Purple. Having a smartphone available in unique colors gives more choice to the customers, but it also adds some additional burden onto the smartphone OEM as well. This is why we usually only see devices released in one or two color variants. For the big OEMs though, they can afford the additional resources required to manage the inventory and can partner with retailers for promotions to get rid of the colors that didn’t sell well on their own.

The smartphone market is very competitive these days and keeping a brand new flagship smartphone in the news while competitors release their devices is a proven strategic plan. Sometimes these color variants are exclusive to certain retailers and regions, but they always end up creating more headlines for the smartphone. MySmartPrice has been able to get their hands on a press render for an unreleased version of the Galaxy Note 9 that shows it in the color Silver. It certainly looks very similar to the Arctic Silver shade that we saw Samsung use with the Samsung Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+, so it makes sense that they would use it for the Galaxy Note 9 as well.

So far, details are telling us that the new Arctic Silver Galaxy Note 9 is said to be released in the United States, but that the South Korean conglomerate could also bring it to additional markets as well. Are you interested in this color?

There is a large number of people who feel that Samsung Experience on the company’s devices is a bloated OEM ROM with too many features that hardly anyone uses. Describing applications and features as bloated is a subjective process as we all use our smartphones differently. However, one Samsung application that a lot of people have grown to love is the Samsung Internet Browser. It’s lightweight, optimized, and has a number of useful features built into it. The company has just announced version 7.4 of the application and with it comes two new features for shopping and breaking news notifications.

The company just announced beta version 8.2 of the Samsung Internet browser and with that means version 7.4 of the application is now officially stable. This new stable update comes with a couple of standout features that have the potential of pulling in more people from the Chrome and Firefox user base. The first big feature included in this update is what they are calling Quick Suggest. This is a personal shopping assistant that is built directly into the web browser.

Samsung is calling Quick Suggest your own “personal smart assistant shopper” and it will suggest related articles, offers, and expert reviews when it detects you are shopping in the application. The feature even includes the same cashback offers that Samsung Pay currently includes and that’s directly from the Samsung Internet web browser as well. Next up in version 7.4 is a feature for those who are always wanting to know the latest breaking news.

Some use dedicated applications for delivering the news, but this new feature, called News Push, can let you use one less application if you so choose. Thanks to this feature you can be alerted of the top and trending news from reputable media sources including CNN, Reuters, BBC News, and AP. News Push in Samsung Internet 7.4 offers breaking news across many categories of interests such as world, national, business, technology, entertainment, sports, science, politics, health, food, and travel.

Samsung launched two flagship smartphone series this year: the Samsung Galaxy S9 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Two of the new camera features touted during the Galaxy S9’s announcement were “Super Slow Motion” and “AR Emojis.” The Samsung Galaxy Note 9 was also announced with these features. Now, the September security update is rolling out for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 in some regions, and it also brings the Super Slow-Motion and AR Emoji features.

Super Slow Motion on the Galaxy S9 allows you to take 0.2s of 960fps video at 720p in automatic mode, or 0.4s of 480fps video at 720p in manual mode. Super Slow Motion on the Galaxy Note 9 allows you to take 0.4s of 960fps video at 720p. AR Emoji is Samsung’s take on Apple’s Animoji—you can make an avatar of yourself from a selfie. Our tipster flashed the update via Odin and confirmed the features are present on their Galaxy Note 8, but could not tell us the exact details of Super Slow Motion so we don’t know what the framerate or resolution are.

A thread on Reddit reports that the update is rolling out in France, and one user states that the video is 720p and that the video “looks like it’s the same as on GS9.” We can’t confirm how the Galaxy Note 8’s Super Slow Motion feature compares to the same feature on the Galaxy S9 or Galaxy Note 9. However, we can confirm that the build number listed in the screenshot posted on the Reddit thread is legitimate since the update has appeared on Samsung’s servers. The update has not begun rolling out in India yet, but we know that it is currently being tested in the region.

Thanks @BluePhnx in our Telegram group for the tip!

Similar to Xiaomi, Samsung has a number of different smartphone lines that are used to serve different purposes. Some are aimed a specific price points, others are targeted for certain markets, and they have multiple in the high-end section. The company introduced the Galaxy J back in 2013 as a mid-range series. The original Galaxy J launched with 3GB of RAM, while the company’s J7, which released 2 years later, had 512MB of RAM. It’s rare for us to see even the biggest smartphone OEM push out two major version updates to mid-range and low-end devices, but you can now download the Android 8.1 Oreo firmware for the SM-J727P variant of the Galaxy J7.

There are multiple variants of the Galaxy J7, so if you own one you may want to hold onto your excitement for now. Samsung has been releasing smartphones with the Galaxy J7 name since 2015 with model numbers such as SM-J700, SM-J710, SM-G610, etc. The variant that we now have Android 8.1 Oreo download files for is the model number SM-J727P. This is actually the Sprint, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile, and US Cellular version that comes with the Snapdragon 625 chipset from Qualcomm.

According to the firmware database over at SamMobile, this device has received three updates so far this year and they have all been based on Android 7.0 Nougat. The latest of these updates has a build date of last month too so while we have the download files for Android 8.1 Oreo for this Galaxy J7, it’s unclear exactly when the update will begin to roll out. This new update has been uploaded and published in our Galaxy J7 forum thanks to XDA Recognized Developer and Contributor deadman96385 and comes in two different versions.

You could download the full ROM if you’d like, but deadman96385 has also provided us with a 4 ROM download link as well. The details of this new firmware update for the Galaxy J7 are as follows:

• Android 8.1
• Samsung Experience: 9.5
• Security patch level: Aug 2018
• No Treble
• Build date: Aug 23rd

deadman96385 says he has tested it on their device already and tells us that if you want to flash magisk you will need to format your data again after flashing it. Then you will need to manually patch it with Magisk Manager after booting up for it will work properly.

Community developer support tends to be hit or miss when it comes to Samsung devices. The company’s high-end offerings have divided the community due to the locked down bootloader of the Snapdragon variants sold in the United States and the Exynos versions sold around the world (minus the Chinese Snapdragon models though). However, official builds of TWRP have just been released for a low-end and upper mid-range smartphone released over the last two years.

First, we have the 2017 variant of the Samsung Galaxy A5, which was released in January of last year and offers some modest specs when it comes to hardware. Inside, it has the Exynos 7880 chipset from Samsung along with 3GB of RAM, up to 64GB of internal storage, a 5.2-inch display, and a 3,000mAh capacity battery.

Download TWRP for the Samsung Galaxy A5 2017 Official XDA Samsung A Series Forum

For those who don’t like to spend as much money on a smartphone, we have the 2018 variant of the Galaxy J2 Pro. It switches gears to the Snapdragon 425 SoC with 1.5GB of RAM (unless you live in India which received a 2GB RAM variant) and gets powered by a 2,600mAh capacity battery.

Download TWRP for the Galaxy J2 2018 Official XDA Galaxy J2 2018 Forum

Both are capable devices smartphones for those who aren’t looking to play the most graphically intensive games on them. And with official TWRP support available now, we just may see these devices receive unofficial builds of Android after Samsung has given up on them.

Samsung’s Galaxy J budget/lower mid-range smartphone series continues to do well in markets like India, despite the fact that the phones don’t usually compete well against the likes of Xiaomi, Asus, and Honor in terms of specifications. This year, Samsung has launched the Samsung Galaxy J6, Galaxy J8, Galaxy A6, Galaxy A6+, and the Galaxy A8+. Last month, the company also launched the Galaxy A8 Star in India.

We earlier reported that Samsung was developing a variant of the Galaxy J6, which we termed as Galaxy J6+. The phone’s model number will be SM-J610, and it will be coming to Europe. It has since been leaked elsewhere. Now, SamMobile states that the publication has been able to get hold of the full specifications list of the Samsung Galaxy J6 Prime, which may be launched in some markets as the Galaxy J6+.

The Samsung Galaxy J6 Prime could come in red and grey colors in addition to the usual black color variant. It will have a bigger 6-inch display (in comparison to the Galaxy J6’s 5.6-inch display), but the display resolution will remain HD+ (1480×720). The display will be an “Infinity Display,” which means that it has a tall display aspect ratio and small bezels. SamMobile states that there is a chance the Galaxy J6 Prime will have an LCD and not an AMOLED display.

The phone will get a dual camera setup like the higher-end Galaxy J8, with 13MP and 5MP rear cameras, while the front-facing camera will be 8MP. According to SamMobile, it’s possible that the phone’s fingerprint sensor will be placed on the side of the device, which was suggested by recently leaked renders.

The Galaxy J6 Prime will have a quad-core processor clocked at 1.6GHz. SamMobile’s information suggests that the phone could be powered by something like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 425, which is a low-end SoC that is used in phones like the Xiaomi Redmi 5A.

The phone will have 3GB/4GB of RAM, paired with 32GB/64GB of storage along with a microSD card slot. It will have a 3,300mAh battery—up from the 3,000mAh battery of the Galaxy J6. Connectivity options will include a microUSB port, dual SIM slots, and LTE. In terms of software, the Galaxy J6 Prime will be powered by Android 8.1 Oreo out of the box.

The Galaxy J6 Prime’s support pages are already live on Samsung’s website, and it has also received FCC certification. Therefore, it’s probable to expect the phone to launch shortly.

Earlier this month, Samsung released an update for the Samsung Galaxy Note 8 that included some features from the newest Galaxy devices. The update added Super Slow Motion mode and AR Emojis, which debuted on the Samsung Galaxy S9 and Samsung Galaxy Note 9. Now, the update is rolling out to the Samsung Galaxy S8 as well.

Super Slow Motion allows you to record very short clips of 960fps or 480fps video in 720p. The Galaxy S8 can only do the 480fps in 720p. At launch, it could only record slow motion at 240fps in 720p. AR Emoji is Samsung’s attempt to replicate Apple’s Animojis. You can make a 3D emoji of yourself or use masks and try to track your head and mouth movements. They look a little creepy, but it’s a fun thing to play with.

The update also includes the September security patch, which is always nice to see. The screenshot above is from Reddit user samismytag and it’s from the European Exynos model and the update comes in at 553.10 MB. No word on when the update will roll out to other countries and carriers. It’s nice to see Samsung adding new features to their old flagship devices.

Samsung currently sells smartphones in well over 100 countries and they have multiple series of smartphones that they use to target things like certain carriers, price points, design styles, and even individual countries altogether. The Galaxy moniker has remained a constant throughout these devices, but they currently have the Galaxy J series, the A series, the Core series, the Grand series, and many more. Naturally, we hear more about the Galaxy S and Galaxy Note series of devices the most as they are the company’s high-end smartphones but a new report says the company is thinking about reorganizing some of its other lineups that they currently sell around the world.

There are definitely some advantages to having a large number of different smartphone lineups to sell when you have a presence in so many different markets. However, a new report from etnews cites industry sources who say the company is about to go through a reorganization period where some models get the ax while others are going to be strengthened. For instance, the report quotes “a multi-industry official” who says Samsung is going to be eliminating the Galaxy J brand as of November 17th.

Instead of getting rid of the Galaxy J series altogether though, the official says the goal here is to actually integrate the Galaxy J series into the company’s current Galaxy A series. This is rather interesting as these two had different target customers. The J series had lower performance, and in turn, means that it cost less than devices in the A series. So it’s possible that we may end up seeing multiple variants of upcoming Galaxy A devices similar to how Xiaomi handles the Redmi series (since the Xiaomi Redmi 5, the A variant of the device has been the lower end version of the regular and Pro/Plus versions).

Combining the Galaxy J and Galaxy A devices doesn’t seem to be the only thing Samsung is currently planning either. Samsung has been using the Galaxy ON series as a brand which was mainly sold to India and China, but it looks as if the company will be replacing it this year with a new M series. We have seen Samsung sell devices using the M moniker in the past. In 2011 they sold devices called the Samsung Wave M and M Pro and then in 2012 they had a smartphone on the market called the Galaxy M Style. Back then we were told the M stood for Magical but the new M series seems is said to be a low-end smartphone series that hopes to compete with the very affordable Chinese smartphones.