Samsung's BYOD-friendly Knox 2.0 suite lands on Galaxy S5

Samsung has made the second version of its Knox data and app security platform available worldwide, but only the new Galaxy S5 can take advantage of the improvements it offers for now.

The popularity of Samsung’s smartphones has opened the door to the enterprise thanks to BYOD (bring-your-own-device) projects, but becoming enterprise-ready and earning the trust of IT departments is a long journey for the company.

The Knox platform uses a security-enhanced version of Android, and creates an isolated “container” that separates work data and apps from personal data.

Knox 2.0 is currently pre-installed on the Galaxy S5, and more devices will receive it via OS upgrades in the coming months, the company said without offering any details. To use Knox, IT departments first have to activate the functionality.

After the long-delayed and underwhelming rollout of Knox 1.0, Samsung still has to prove that it can release high-quality products in a timely manner. An important part of that work is to quickly expand the number of compatible devices.

Some of the new features in the upgraded version are a dedicated app store called Marketplace, cloud-based management, and certificate management functionality that can turn a smartphone into a smartcard.

The platform is also compatible with third party containers, such as Good’s secure container, Fixmo’s SafeZone, and MobileIron’s AppConnect, which are getting the same level of hardware-based protection as Samsung’s own container. The goal is to give IT departments more choice when they implement or augment their BYOD programs, Samsung said.

To separate personal and professional usage on a BYOD smartphone, a new billing feature lets carriers calculate the costs for personal and professional apps, according to Samsung.

Knox 2.0 has been integrated with the Galaxy S5’s fingerprint scanner, as well. But with a group of German researchers tricking it into accepting a mold of a fingerprint instead of a real finger, enterprises have to think carefully about how they use the scanner. Samsung has played down the risks, saying that the scenario used is widely regarded in the industry as posing no critical risk for general consumers.

The cost of Knox 2.0 service will be $3.60 per user and month with discounts for larger volumes, the company said when it launched the upgrade at Mobile World Congress in February.

pcworld.com

Galaxy S5 ‘killer’ confirmed to launch next month

LG on Tuesday confirmed the name of its next Android flagship device, the LG G3, in a press release announcing the company’s “improved first-quarter 2014 results.” The LG G3, expected to be one of the main Galaxy S5 rivals this year, has been featured in plenty of reports and leaks so far, with some of them suggesting the phone will arrive earlier than anticipated.

Its predecessors launched in fall 2012 (Optimus G) and fall 2013 (LG G2), but it looks like LG is eager to bring its next-gen high-end device to market as soon as possible.

LG apparently sees the G3 as a best-selling device, one that would help the company’s bottom line. “Higher revenues are expected in the second quarter with the release of the flagship LG G3 smartphone and wider roll-out of the mass-tier L Series III,” LG said in its announcement.

Furthermore, the company told reporters in South Korea that the phone will be launched by the end of May, according to ZDNet Korea, although a clear release date for the handset isn’t available yet. Pricing details for the G3 aren’t available either.

The company has not revealed what the new smartphone will have to offer, but recent reports indicated the handset would feature a high-resolution QHD (2560 x 1440) display, Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor, 3GB of RAM and a main camera with optical image stabilization. Recent image leaks have shown the G3′s home screen and revealed the phone will also have buttons on the back, like its predecessor.

bgr.com

The Galaxy S5 now has a special bedazzled edition with sparkly crystals

 

When we reviewed Samsung’s next heir to the Galaxy S line, the Galaxy S5, we thought that, while it was held back by some of its software, it was still an excellent smartphone that we would recommend to just about anyone. However, there was one thing that we couldn’t help but notice: it wasn’t blinged out. Sure, it has those dimples, but where are our crystals? Enter Swarovski.

A teaser video posted on YouTube by Samsung Mobile Korea reveals that Samsung will team up with Swarovski to make a “Crystal Collection” edition of the Galaxy S5. The video shows a Galaxy S5 completely covered in Swarovski crystals. The handset will be available in Samsung’s home turf, South Korea, sometime in May. It’s unknown whether Samsung will make the Crystal Collection Galaxy S5 available in other regions.

This is not the first time Samsung has partnered with Swarovski to line its smartphones with the latter company’s crystals. Last year, the same thing was done with both the Galaxy S4 and the Galaxy Note 3, though the Galaxy S4 was sold as a Crystal Edition versus just selling a blinged-out Galaxy Note 3 battery cover. To provide some context, the crystal-backed Galaxy S4 sold for roughly $630, while the crystal-encrusted Galaxy Note 3 battery cover  retailed for $300 when it launched in New York City.

Samsung and Swarovski even gave the Galaxy S3 Mini the crystal treatment. It’s obvious that Samsung loves to bling out its hardware, and this only continues the trend.

digitaltrends.com

New York Times pits Galaxy S5 against iPhone 5s, says competition isn’t even close

Last week, we took an in-depth look at Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 smartphone to see how it compared with the HTC One (M8). While the competition was certainly intense, in the end we called HTC’s new flagship phone the best Android smartphone in the world. In terms of sales, however, the M8 will never compete with the Galaxy S5.Even HTC knows that. Apple’s flagship iPhone 5s is the only smartphone that sits at the top of the food chain alongside the Galaxy S5 when it comes to sales, and The New York Times recently pitted these two leading smartphones against each other to see which one should be called the best smartphone in the world.

Interestingly, the newspaper found that the competition wasn’t even close.

“Although it offers no spectacular advances over the previous version, Samsung seems to have done just enough with the S5 to stay ahead of every other Android phone maker,” NYT columnist Farhad Manjoo wrote. “The only plausible competition comes in the form of the HTC One, which, as my colleague Molly Wood wrote, is prettier than the S5 but not as functional. The upshot of all these reviews is that if you’re looking for the best Android phone, Samsung’s is the one to buy.”

He continued, “But that’s not the whole story. While there are probably some people who go out to shop for the best Android phone, I suspect that most people want to know which phone is best of all, whatever operating system it runs. In other words, how does the Galaxy S5 compare to the iPhone 5S, Apple’s six-month-old flagship device and the champion to beat?”

The answer, Manjoo says, is “not very well.”

According to The New York Times, the brand new Galaxy S5 really doesn’t compete on any level with the iPhone 5s, which is nearly seven months old at this point.

“By just about every major measure you’ll care about, from speed to design to ease of use to the quality of its apps, Samsung’s phone ranks behind the iPhone, sometimes far behind,” Manjoo wrote. “If you’re looking for the best phone on the market right now, I’d recommend going with the iPhone 5S.”

Manjoo says the Galaxy S5′s three biggest advantages over the iPhone 5s are slightly longer battery life, water-resistance and the phone’s larger display. The first two are minor advantages according to Manjoo, and the display size discrepancy will reportedly disappear later this year when Apple launches a larger iPhone 6 and an iPhone phablet.

The columnist concludes that Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is the best smartphone with a large screen that money can buy right now, and that will continue to be the case for the next few months. But Manjoo says that once Apple launches its larger iPhones, “Samsung’s smartphone ascendance may look a bit uncertain.”

http://bgr.com/

Galaxy S5 draws rush of trade-ins from Samsung phone owners; iPhone users uninterested

New flagship smartphone launches are often accompanied by a rush of users trading in older phone models as they upgrade, and data surrounding which models saw increased trade-in volumes can give us a good idea of where business is coming from as people purchase new phones. If data provided to BGR by Gazelle is any indication, early Galaxy S5 buyers were already Samsung device owners in large part, with a comparably small amount of new business coming over from the iPhone.

According to data from leading gadget trade-in service Gazelle, the volume of used Samsung phones being sold using the company’s site exploded on April 11th, the day Samsung’s Galaxy S5 went on sale at all four nationwide U.S. wireless carriers. The firm’s data shows that Samsung device trade-ins were up 69% over the Galaxy S4′s launch day and 209% over trade-in volumes on the day the Galaxy S III first went on sale in 2012.

In terms of attracting new business from the iPhone camp, however, things didn’t look as impressive.

Gazelle saw iPhone trade-in volumes drop 35% compared to where they were last year on the day the Galaxy S4 launched in the U.S. Interestingly, the Galaxy S4 didn’t even go on sale at all U.S. carriers on the same day last year, so the Galaxy S5 saw fewer trade-ins from a much larger group of potential customers.

Of course, this is just one data point and it doesn’t necessarily tell the whole story. We’ll have to wait for usage tracking companies to start releasing mobile traffic share data and other similar statistics for a more comprehensive look at whether or not Samsung’s latest flagship phone might have stolen a good amount of business away from Apple.

As for which older Samsung models users traded in most during the S5′s launch, Gazelle says Verizon’s Galaxy S III and S4 trade-in volumes spiked 114% and 82% during launch weekend, respectively, compared to the prior weekend. AT&T Galaxy S4 trade-ins were up 250% over that same time period, and T-Mobile Galaxy S3 trade-ins ballooned 175% on April 11th compared to the prior day.

http://bgr.com/

Samsung has high hopes for the Galaxy S5, reportedly expects to ship 35M in Q2 alone

Samsung has high expectations for the Galaxy S5. The 2014 flagship phone has received widespread acclaim for its stellar display and surprising durability, leading to huge adoption numbers and growing sales predictions from Samsung. The Korea Timesreports that Samsung shipped 1.3 times as many Galaxy S5 units on the first day of sales than it did on the launch day of the S4.

Investors and analysts are impressed with the phone’s performance so far, eliminating any fears they may have had about market saturation or a shift away from Samsung.

“Against earlier expectations, the S5 was well-received by consumers in the global market. We don’t have any plans to advise our big clients to unload their Samsung stock,” said one senior fund manager speaking to The Korea Times.

According to Samsung insiders, the company is expecting to ship 35 million Galaxy S5 units by the end of the second quarter. To put that into perspective, the same source claims that Samsung has shipped 63 million Galaxy S4 units in total since launch last year.

“We believe the mobile phone division performed better than our previous estimates on the back of the strong smartphone and tablet results ― higher units and higher margin ― due to lower marketing spending,” said Mark C. Newman, a senior analyst at Bernstein Research in Hong Kong.

VIA: SAMMOBILE

SOURCE: THE KOREA TIMES

bgr.com

New study suggests Samsung’s Galaxy S5 is more breakable than the iPhone 5s

The Galaxy S5 can do plenty of things that the iPhone can’t, but even with IP67 certification, Samsung still hasn’t built a more durable phone than the iPhone 5s. TheAssociated Press shares the latest results from SquareTrade’s durability tests, which put the iPhone 5s just half a point ahead of the brand new Galaxy S5. According to SquareTrade, the relative small size of the iPhone 5s gives it an edge over the 5-inch Android phones which have begun flooding the market. An iPhone owner is simply less likely to drop his or her phone.

Although Samsung didn’t topple Apple this generation, the Galaxy S5 did receive a much lower score (where lower is better) than the Galaxy S4. Last year’s Galaxy S4had the high risk score of 7, owing to its poor performance during drops tests and a slippery back panel. Samsung took the back panel criticism to heart, as the new, less stylish band-aid look is admittedly much easier to grip. The improved design coupled with the water and dust resistance of the Galaxy S5 bumped the score down to 6.

Of note, Samsung’s Galaxy S5 has done very well in recent torture tests — it even survived a crazy two-story drop.

The battle between Apple and Samsung rages on, but even as the breakability scores of the iPhone and Galaxy smartphones continue to drop, other Android phone makers have already surpassed the mobile leaders. With a score of 4.5, both the Moto X and the original HTC One outclass the best-selling competition in terms of durability. With a 5.5-inch iPhone rumored to be on the horizon, Apple’s score is likely to rise even further during the next report.

SOURCE: CHRON

The Galaxy S5 avoids being labeled a medical device, despite built-in heart rate sensor

Shortly after Samsung announced the Galaxy S5, the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in South Korea decided it would take a close look at the phone’s wealth of fitness, health and lifestyle features. Depending on the findings, the Galaxy S5 was at risk of being reclassified as a “medical device,” and Samsung would be forced to submit it for approval. This may have resulted in the phone’s launch being delayed.

Apparently, Samsung had already held talks with the Ministry during the phone’s development, but has been made to wait until now for the decision. The good news is, the Ministry has decided the Galaxy S5 doesn’t meet the requirements, and therefore won’t be locally categorized as a “healthcare instrument.”

It’s Samsung’s inclusion of a heart rate sensor on the Galaxy S5 which caused the problem. Under existing Korean rules, products which can test or monitor organ functions are subject to medical device regulations. While this ruling is specific to South Korea, it’s also important for the phone’s international release. It’s one less obstacle for Samsung to overcome in order to meet the April 11 launch date.

The Galaxy S5’s release, along with other similar products such as LG’s HRM Earphones, which monitors heart rate through the wearer’s ears, and Samsung’s own Gear Fit, could result in a change in Korean law. The alteration will see this type of device reclassified as one used solely for fitness and not medical purposes.

So far, any similar issues with the Galaxy S5’s functionality haven’t risen in the U.S. or Europe, but may have done if the Korean Ministry’s decision had gone the other way. Several manufacturers are expected to include health and fitness-centric features on new products this year – Apple’s iWatch being one notable rumored example – and this will smooth the way for their eventual release.

digitaltrends.com

http://unlockedsamsunggalaxys5.com/the-galaxy-s5-avoids-being-labeled-a-medical-device-despite-built-in-heart-rate-sensor/

The Galaxy S5 won’t get medical device certification, technically “still a medical device”

After completing a review of the Galaxy S5, South Korea’s health agency officially proclaimed that the Galaxy S5, which features a heart rate sensor, doesn’t fall into the “medical equipment” category. This is actually a good thing for consumers, because it means that the SGS 5 won’t risk missing its release date due to the thorough testing that medical devices go through. However, some recent rumours claim that Samsung might be having a different headache with supplying components on time.

The South Korean agency stated that the Galaxy S5 is, technically, still a medical device, but it doesn’t fall into the category under current law. Thus, the ministry plans revisit the law as to differentiate between heart rate sensors made specifically for medical usage, and those made for sport and other leisure activities.

Thanks for the tip!

source: G for Games

phonearena.com

http://unlockedsamsunggalaxys5.com/the-galaxy-s5-won-t-get-medical-device-certification-technically-still-a-medical-device/

Wait… how did the Galaxy S5 suddenly became desirable?

Weird back? How do you make me still want it, Samsung?

Sometimes they say that less is more. I always think that’s rubbish. I’m speaking from experience here. I’m writing this with a coffee made from five scoops even though the packet says I only need two. But who cares. I’m high as a kite!

In many other ways though, the less is more mantra is now becoming true. Case in point: The Galaxy S5. Yes, I know I’m late to the party here, but having heard that the pre-orders are opening made me wonder if the annual cash-draining-ebay-frenzy-phone-merry-go-round should begin again.

My opinion of Samsung has actually been slightly changed. It was always the slightly crazy one. Remember the toe-curling launch of the Galaxy S4 launch last year?

Hiring out New York’s Radio City Music Hall, getting some poor fool to ping around the stage in some crap musical role play and then launching a phone which had more WTF features than Buzzfeed.

It sold well – but as so many people agreed: it was just TOO MUCH!

Seriously… this happened at the Galaxy S4 launch

So, in many ways, it looks like Samsung reigned itself back with the S5. It’s sat on its hands. Put the crazy pills back in the cupboard and the designers clearly laid off the gin during this design phase. Because looking at it: it looks like it just works.

Samsung hasn’t given us a phone that is a perfect circle in shape just because it can. It hasn’t given us one with a 4K display which would be great on the spec sheet but utterly pointless right now. It has created sensible features. Bits and bobs we will actually use.

Good doesn’t need to be new

Sure, some are not original ideas. The fingerprint scanner can hardly be described as ingenious. But others really are useful. The monochrome display to save power.. the after-shot focusing of photos. These are things that you’ll find come in handy. A darn sight more usable than Smart Stay.

Maybe Samsung had no choice. Maybe we are entering the age of sensibility because we have to. Face it, there isn’t much space left for real innovation any more.

The iPhone was the last big device to really give us something completely new (I’m preparing for an onslaught here – but I’m talking iPhone 1 which, regardless of where you sit on the fence, you have to admit really changed things.) Prior to that, it was the Motorola RAZR.

Other devices have tickled my fancy, but none have really wined and dined it, good and proper.

I’ve been using an iPhone 5S since November (jailbroken since January, I hasten to add!) Why? Because I got bored of the S4. It started to slow down, I got fed up with its various nuances.

But after days of ennui over an identikit Samsung phone, suddenly I can’t wait for the S5. April usually means one thing – my bank manager starts to panic.

OK, he doesn’t really – he’s wringing his hands with glee, because he knows I’m about to go ballistic on the old flexible friend. If he’s any sense. he’ll be popping the champagne already. It’s an inevitability.

 techradar.com

http://unlockedsamsunggalaxys5.com/wait-how-did-the-galaxy-s5-suddenly-became-desirable/