South Korea Grants Samsung a Patent on Fingerprint Scanner Gestures

We've seen multiple companies begin implementing fingerprint scanner gestures on their smartphones in the past. Huawei/Honor has been known for these gestures for quite a while, and many were hoping that it would be included in the Nexus 6P. This never happened, but Google was able to bring the feature with this year's Pixel and Pixel XL. However, it seems Samsung now has a patent for this type of functionality… at least in its home country of South Korea.

Samsung had actually filed for this fingerprint scanner gesture feature two whole years ago. So they have been thinking about this type of feature for a while now. The patent illustrations show off a different implementation than we've seen on smartphones today though. Instead of using the swipe gestures to trigger the notification shade, like we see on the Pixel phones, it looks like Samsung wants to use them for quick access to certain applications.

The patent shows someone swiping up on the fingerprint scanner to launch the web browser, swiping to the left to launch a saved contact, and swiping to the right to bring up your messaging application. If implemented, it's possible that these fingerprint scanner gestures could be customizable within Samsung's TouchWiz OEM skin, but we'll have to wait and see how the company plans to introduce it before we know for sure.

Just because Samsung now owns a patent for this implementation of fingerprint scanner gestures in their home country, doesn't mean we will see it in a product they will sell. Companies own lots of patents for things that are never used in their own products. So this might just be something that Samsung wants to keep in their trove of patents, but we could see it brought to life in an upcoming smartphone or tablet.

Source: SamMobile

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Samsung and LG Both Announce Their Q3 2016 Financial Reports

Yesterday we saw HTC publishing their financial report for the third quarter of the year, and today we see that both LG and Samsung have done the same. All three companies were not able to put their best foot forward this year for different reasons, but some were able to come out better than others. LG wasn't able to sell as many units of the LG G5 as they had hoped, and Samsung had to deal with the Galaxy Note 7 debacle. So let's take a look at how these two companies fared this past quarter.

For Samsung, the company's overall revenue dropped by 3.87 trillion won to 47.82 trillion won when compared to the same quarter last year. As far as operating profits though, they were able to bring in 5.20 trillion won, which again is down by 2.19 trillion won compared to the 7.39 trillion they brought in last year at this time. When we specifically look at the company's mobile division, we can see that profits dropped a whole 96% when compared to the third quarter of last year as they were only able to bring in 100 billion won thanks to the Galaxy Note 7 being discontinued.

As far as overall revenue is concerned, LG was able to bring in $11.8 billion from the sales of their entire company. This resulted in LG being able to bring in $252.7 million in profit, but this is partially due to the company's Home Appliance & Air Solution business. LG's mobile division accounted for $2.3 billion of the company's revenue stream, which is down 23% compared to the same quarter last year. LG's mobile division actually had an operating loss of $389.4 million during the quarter, even though they were able to ship 13.5 million units.

It's safe to say that a number of smartphone companies haven't had the best 3rd quarter in 2016, but at least Samsung can say they were able to bring in some profit while others were unable to do so.

Source: Samsung Newsroom

Source: LG Newsroom

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Google Announces New Tools for Creating Material Design Apps

In a new article this week, Google tells us that design is never done, because it's the art of continuous problem solving. Even if you optimize a user interface element for today's world, something will change that will require you to go back and work on it at a later date. To support this, Google has just announced some new tools for designers who want to collaborate with other's who practice the Material Design philosophy.

The first new tool that Google tells us about is called Gallery, and it works similar to how GitHub is currently set up, but specifically for designers. So those who are creating Material Design interfaces for applications can upload their designs, share a design that's currently on the website, and comment on them as well. The system is said to have version control as well so that you can upload new versions of the project you're currently working on.

The next Material Design tool that Google announced this week is called Stage. The goal of this tool is to help designers speed up the prototyping process. With Stage, application developers can test various elements of their project. This will also give developers a way to demonstrate how movement and animations work in applications much earlier. The quicker you can get a demo out to show your vision, the easier it is to communicate the idea to your team.

Last up, we have a new Material Design tool that Google is calling Remixer. This tool also helps with the prototyping process, but this one will actually get you a demo in your hand that you can interact with directly. Remixer will allow you to demonstrate the design of your application and even make changes to the app right on the smartphone/tablet, or even on a website.

Learn more about these new collaborative tools, and other Material Design articles on Google's Material.io website.

Source: Google Design

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Google Confirms Fix for Huawei Phone/Android Auto Incompatibility is on the Way

Android Auto has remained one of Google's more low-key products these past two years since its initial announcement in 2014, but the project has slowly been expanding each year. During this year's Google I/O, the company announced that it would be working with Qualcomm to deliver a customized Snapdragon SoC aimed at car kits as well as allowing car manufacturers the ability to customize the user interface and even develop their own apps. (By the way, we're still waiting on that promised standalone Android Auto app for smartphones, Google!)

For now it seems that the only way to truly experience Android Auto is if you have one of the vehicles listed on the Android Auto website. But even then, it seems that some users are having issues connecting their Huawei device to their Android Auto-enabled vehicle. The issue, as reported multiple times on our forums, seems to be affecting the Huawei P9, P9 Lite, and P9 Plus. The apparent "incompatibility" bug could be affecting other Huawei devices, but we haven't seen reports from users on other Huawei devices as of yet. Fortunately, we now have confirmation that Google is aware of the issue and that they are working with Huawei to deliver a fix.

In the recently launched "Android Auto User Community" Google Group, one of the Android Auto Community Managers states that they've discovered an issue with some Huawei devices that marks them incompatible with Android Auto. How or why this issue occurs is not mentioned in any sort of detail, but at least they've acknowledged the issue and have promised to resolve it as soon as possible. If you've ever used Android Auto before, let us know your experience below!

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Report: 70% of Note 7 owners will stick with Samsung

Unless you've been living under a rock these past few weeks, you've probably heard of the sometimes explosive nature of the Samsung Galaxy Note 7's battery. The fiasco has resulted in Samsung recalling the millions of phones it had shipped out: not once, but twice. Samsung has been so careful with trying to salvage what's left of the Note brand that they've even sent thermally-insulated return kits to press so any further news wouldn't blow up in their faces (quite literally). Despite having weeks to investigate the issue, the company is still unsure why their Note 7 devices keep exploding. Estimates peg that the Note 7 fiasco will cost Samsung a catastrophic $9.5 billion in lost sales. Despite these setbacks, a new report by BayStreet indicates there may be a silver lining for Samsung amidst the Note 7 chaos. According to the report, 70% of prior Galaxy Note 7 owners will remain with Samsung and will likely purchase a Samsung branded smartphone in the future.

The report continues with its findings and tackles a different question: how many Note 7 owners will abandon the Android ecosystem in favor of the premium iPhone 7 Plus? The answer is, apparently, very few. BayStreet finds that despite the fact that Note 7 owners are "aspirational" and "value premium brands", they are unlikely to favor switching to an Apple product due to their loyalty to Samsung. These findings are quite surprising, considering the fact that an exploding smartphone is quite literally one of the few things one would expect a consumer to abandon a brand over. Instead, BayStreet estimates that only 15% of total Note 7 owners (approximately 200-300k) will switch to an iOS device.

Another marketing information and analysis firm, CCS Insight, believes that Samsung will easily weather the storm of financial and reputational damage incurred by the Note 7's PR disaster. They note that the company's $70 billion war chest as well as the estimated 80 to 90 million non-Galaxy Note smartphones they will ship will more than make up for the lost revenue from the Note 7. But if there is one lesson to be learned from this mess, it's that Samsung cannot rush its future products. The Note 7 seems to be an isolated incident among Samsung products, but any repeat disaster could spell doom for Samsung's future in smartphone electronics.

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Source: FierceWireless

Source: CCS Insight

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Google Allo Updated to 2.0 With Split-Screen and Quick Reply Support

Google Allo did not quite have the start that Google had hoped for the app. In the saturated market of Instant Messaging platforms, Allo has offered very little to the average consumer that could keep the user, and his contact circles, hooked. Decouple the Assistant from Allo, and you're left with an IM app bereft of key messaging features found on other popular platforms such as Whatsapp.

Nevertheless, Google still has hope for Allo. The company has just pushed a new update to Allo which bumps up its version by a full number. Allo's Play Store listing does not yet display the change-log as the app is still rolling out, but the Google Nexus Twitter account has announced that the latest update brings Nougat split-screen support and quick-reply from notifications. However, a couple of community members have posted an unofficial change-log Allo 2.0's APKMirror page, which we've reproduced below.

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What's new in Allo 2.0?

Allo 2.0 adds the following changes, in addition to presumed bug fixes and performance enhancements:

• Support for toggling chats to monochrome
• Direct Voice Recognition in Assistant
• Splash Screen
• Quick Reply Support
• Split-screen Support
• GIF Support in keyboard for 7.1+
• App Shortcuts for 7.1+
• Direct share

While the update might not seem significant enough for a full version number jump, the update does add a few useful features to the app. The addition of quick reply and split-screen support was necessary to take proper advantage of Android 7.0 Nougat's feature set. With the Pixel devices shipping with Allo pre-installed, it was important for Google to provide the same set of features and experiences that we've grown accustomed to from other apps on Nougat. The splash screen might seem like a trivial addition, but it does give users on older devices with longer loading times something pleasant to look at instead of just a blank screen while the app is loading.

You can download Allo 2.0 from the Google Play Store, however, the new update may take some time to roll out to all users. Alternatively, you can also download the update from APKMirror.

Have you tried out the new update? Let us know in the comments below!

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Source: Twitter: Google Nexus

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Google Pixel XL costs $285.75 to Manufacture – in line with Rival Smartphones

When Google finally unveiled the Pixel and Pixel XL on October 4th, many people were put off by the price tag of the two phones. While Google is no stranger to sticking a premium price tag on their products, many users hoped that the two Pixel phones would continue bucking the trend of expensive off-contract prices. Alas, this was not the case, but at least most users appear to be very satisfied with their purchase judging by early user reviews of the devices on our forums. Although many technology journalists have drawn similarities between the Pixel and iPhone in terms of price, just how true is this similarity? According to an IHS Markit teardown of the device, it appears that the cost to manufacture the Pixel XL is $285.75. At an unsubsidized price of $769 before taxes, this means that the cost-to-sales price ratio for the Pixel XL is similar to the iPhone 7 Plus and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.

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Pixel XL Price Teardown

In its press release, IHS Markit detailed how it determined the cost to manufacture the Pixel XL. The company deconstructed the Pixel XL to its base parts and then determined the approximate price point of each component, while adjusting for bulk purchasing costs. After assessing the cost of each component, IHS Markit determined that the bill of materials for the base Pixel XL model with 32GB of internal storage costs $278. Add to that a $7.75 cost to manufacture the phone in an HTC factory, and you get the $285.75 price figure.

The company directly compares the manufacturing cost and design decisions of the Pixel XL to that of the iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S7 series, stating that the "total BOM costs for the Google Pixel XL are, not surprisingly, in line with those of other competitors, because the supply base and specs are very similar from phone to phone—whether it's an iPhone, a Galaxy-series phone or the Google Pixel XL" – Andrew Rassweiler, senior director of cost benchmarking services for IHS Markit. While Samsung is facing a tumultuous time with its Note 7 disaster, Google's Pixel XL arrives at the perfect time to challenge Samsung's dominance in the high-end Android smartphone market. It's clear that the Pixel XL was designed to compete with the upper echelon of premium flagship phones, and IHS Markit's price teardown only solidifies that point.

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Source: IHS Markit

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