10.Samsung takes a time-out on smartwatches as Apple Watch launch nears

Summary:Samsung is taking a breather from its frantic smartwatch release schedule, preferring for the moment to play a watching-and-waiting game.

Samsung was one of the biggest producers of smartwatches in the years leading up to the launch of the Apple Watch but now the company is taking a pause to rethink its strategy.

The Korean company hasn't been shy of trying out new designs to appeal to various consumer tastes in the emerging smartwatch category, having released everything from simple fitness bands like the Gear Fit to the Tizen-powered 3G Gear S, with core specs not far off some low-end smartphones.

Indeed, Samsung has launched six smart watches in just 14 months, as analyst firm Canalys noted recently. This propelled it to the top spot among 'smart band' makers, who shipped 4.6 million units in total last year.

But unlike last year's Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo, which were launched alongside the Galaxy S5, this year's release of the Galaxy 6S at the MWC trade show came with no companion smartwatch.

According to the Wall Street Journal, that's because Samsung is taking a "pause" as it ponders what it means to create the perfect smartwatch.

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http://www.zdnet.com/article/samsung-takes-a-time-out-on-smartwatches-as-apple-watch-launch-nears/

TOWARDS A REVERSE ENGINEERING OF SAMSUNG’S S-PEN

A few years ago, Wacom, the company behind all those cool graphics tablets, teamed up with Samsung to create the S Pen, a rebirth of that weird pen computing thing that happened in the 90s and a very interesting peripheral if only someone would write some software for it. [Kerry D. Wong] was wondering how the S Pen worked and wired up some hardware to take a look at how the pen communicates with the phone.
It was already known that the S Pen was powered by an RF field, and works somewhat like RFID. Listening in on the communication would require a coil of some type, so [Kerry] disassembled a small speaker and connected it to a scope.
A look at the captured waveforms from the S Pen reveled the carrier frequency appears to be in the range of 550 to 560kHz, outside the range of standard RFID. He doesn’t have the equipment to decode the complete protocol, but a few things can be deduced – the screen senses the location of the pen by detecting a dip in the RF field strength. The only information that is transferred between the pen and phone is the 11-bit pressure sensitivity and a 1-bit value that signals the button is on or off.
[Kerry] put the waveform data up on his site should anyone want to make an attempt at decoding the protocol.

Posted in Cellphone HacksTagged Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note 3, galaxy note 4, S Pen, tablet, wacom


Source:
http://hackaday.com/2015/02/22/towards-a-reverse-engineering-of-samsungs-s-pen/

Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 vs. Tab S 10.5 – Comparison of Screen Display, Camera and Hardware & Software

By The Fuse Joplin | Feb 22, 2015

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Samsung is a leading manufacturer worldwide and is well known for its gamut of Android smartphones, phablets and tablets in various price ranges.

In fact, there is a gadget to suit everyone’s needs with the number of devices launched each year increasing in number. Among the releases for the year 2014 are two popular Galaxy Tab S tablets – the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 and the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Interestingly, Samsung officially announced the coming of these two tablets with many similarities at the same time in June 2014. The Korean manufacturer is also known for experimenting with various screen sizes and overall sizes for its devices. While it is more comfortable to use the Galaxy Tab S 8.4 in the portrait mode, it is easier to operate the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 in the landscape mode.

Design, Dimensions and Weight

One of the first similarities in the two Tab S tablets, among many others, is their design. Available in white and black colors, both tablets feature the traditional rectangular design with perforated rears made of faux leather material. Without giving rise to any qualms, the Tab S 8.4 is smaller and more compact than the Tab S 10.5 in all aspects. It is also considerably lighter. Known for a hardware button in almost all its offerings, Samsung does not leave this out in these tablets. It is located on the bottom of the Galaxy Tab S 8.4, when it is held in portrait orientation. Similarly, when the Galaxy Tab S 10.5 is held in landscape orientation, the hardware button is situated at the bottom. This results in the top and bottom bezels to be larger in the case of the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 10.5. Additionally, the tablets comprise a power button, a memory card slot, a volume control button, an IR port, dual stereo speakers and a headset jack on either side.
Verdict: With the two tablets being exactly identical in the looks department, the Samsung Galaxy Tab S 8.4 is definitely more effortless to operate. This is because this tablet can be held more comfortably in the hand, owing to its smaller size and lesser weight.