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Samsung's first Odyssey gaming monitors include a 240Hz ultra-wide
Samsung is now applying its Odyssey gaming badge to monitors, and it's marking the occasion with two displays that are clearly geared to enthusiasts. The 49-inch G9 (above) is billed as the first 5,120 x 1,440 ultra-wide display with a 240Hz refresh rate and a 1ms pixel response time. You won't have to choose between extra-smooth performance and expansive, high-res visuals. It's also one of the first Samsung screens with a 1000R curvature, and it can handle DisplayHDR 1000 brightness as well as AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync. It should show up in the second quarter of the year.
Samsung shipped 6.7 million 5G phones last year
Samsung has confirmed its plans to release a Galaxy Tab S6 model with 5G in the coming months, and it also announced that it sold 6.7 million 5G phones in 2019. The 5G-capable version of the hybrid tablet, which first popped up on the tech giant's Korean website on Christmas, will be available in Korea in the first quarter of 2020. It could become the world's first 5G tablet if Samsung beats rivals that are also developing similar devices, like Huawei.
Samsung adds a cheaper model to its Galaxy Book QLED laptop line
Samsung is stepping up its laptop game in 2020 by expanding its Galaxy Book line with a new, lower-cost addition. The Galaxy Book Flex Alpha is a thin and light 13-inch notebook with a QLED display that will cost $830 when it retails in the first half of 2020. The more-premium Galaxy Book Ion and Flex, meanwhile, are expected to cost upwards of $1,100 and $1,400 respectively.
EUV will use plasma and lasers to make next-gen chips
Microchips are so ubiquitous, it's easy to lose sight of how remarkable they actually are. Something as mundane as a thermostat or singing greeting card contains millions of microscopic structures created in one of the most remarkable manufacturing processes ever developed. The current process has been evolving since around 1977, and works sort of like a projector. Lasers shine light through a mask, which is like the blueprint for the chip, and projects the mask onto light-sensitive chemicals painted onto a slab of silicon. The result is almost like exposing a photograph: The light transmits the image of the chip onto the silicon, where it can be etched directly into the metal. This process is called photolithography, and as it's become more advanced, transistors have gotten smaller, faster and more energy efficient.
Samsung's QLED 8K TV will be one of the first certified by the 8K Association
Samsung has fired a shot in a brewing 8K standards war by announcing that its 8K QLED TVs will be among the first to be certified by the fledgling 8K Association (8KA) sometime next year. That means the sets will hit a minimum 7,680 x 4,320 resolution (twice that of UHD), while peaking out at 600 nits of brightness and supporting HDMI2.1 and HEVC (H.265) standards. That could include models like Samsung's rumored bezel-free Q950T.
How home assistants ruined us, an explanation
Our situation became clear when my friend ran through Trader Joe's screaming "ALEXA WHAT TIME IS IT?" This wasn't a cringey mockumentary comedy segment. It's the way we live now. I'm certain San Francisco's sea of terrified Postmates and Prime delivery runners parted for her, trampling an Instacart personal shopper already wallowing in the misfortune of crawling along the baked goods aisle, feeling blindly under tortillas for lost earbuds. Everyone wondering if they should yell at Google or Siri to call 911. Several cameras are trained on everyone, of course, to memorialize and broadcast these special moments forever.
This might be Samsung's upcoming 'zero bezel' 8K TV
You might not have to wait until CES to see Samsung's fabled 'zero bezel' TV. German site 4KFilme has posted what it says are the first pictures of the 8K set, which might be called the Q900T or Q950T. If these are accurate, it's not literally a zero-bezel TV, but it's very close. The most you see is a tiny chin. It would also have a soundbar-friendly stand, and there appears to be a gap-free wall mount like before.
Samsung may unveil a true 'zero bezel' TV at CES 2020
Samsung might soon make good on its promise of bezel-free TVs. The Elec sources say the company plans to introduce a zero bezel TV at CES 2020 in early January, with mass production starting in February. While the finer details aren't available, the design reportedly welds the display and main body "more closely" to eliminate the usual borders on sets 65 inches and larger. And we do mean eliminate -- this supposedly "really doesn't have a bezel," one source said.
Samsung's newest experiments include hands-free typing and a scalp scanner
It wouldn't be CES without Samsung unveiling projects from C-Lab, and the latest batch is once more trying to solve common problems through unusual methods. For some, the most practical may be SelfieType. As the name suggests, it uses your device's selfie camera and AI to translate finger movements into keyboard input. You wouldn't need to grab your phone to reply to a text when your hands are grubby.
2019 wasn't the year of foldables we were promised
We weren't far into this year when the trend pieces arrived. "2019 is going to be the year of the bendy phone," one read. Another declared that "2019 is shaping up to be the year of the foldable smartphone," or, at least it did before someone quietly edited it within a few hours. Hell, I'm probably guilty of this too. In our defense, that was because for a while there, it really did seem like this was the year foldable phones would become devices worth splurging on.
Samsung may name its next flagship the Galaxy S20 because 2020
When Samsung releases the successor to the Galaxy S10 next year, it may call the phone the Galaxy S20. The rumor comes from frequent Samsung tipster Ice Universe, who tweeted this week that the company will skip S11 for its next flagship.
The worst tech of 2019
2019 was full of hype. From excitement over foldable phones and laptops to plenty of noise about 5G, the year was packed with news about promising new technology that had the potential to monumentally change the industry. But many of these were first-generation efforts, and what we ended up getting, instead of piles of functional new toys, were buckets of disappointment.
Samsung’s Galaxy Tab S6 with 5G is coming soon
A version of Samsung's Galaxy Tab S6 with 5G is likely to arrive in the coming months, according to the company's Korean website. SamMobile has found a reference to the device on a page on Samsung's Korea website, with the model number SM-T866. It confirms long standing rumors that Samsung had a 5G version of the S6 cooking after a device carrying the name was granted approval by Korea's National Radio Agency.
Samsung's next foldable phone could have a glass display
Samsung teased a new foldable phone concept back in October, and leaked images from earlier this month suggest the next Galaxy Fold may well come with the unique clamshell form the company had hinted at. Now, if new rumors are true, it's pushing the envelope even further and will be making the display -- the foldable display -- out of glass.
The best gadgets of 2019
It's the end of the year, and everyone from Santa to Time is making lists. Engadget is no different. Each year, we take stock of the hits and misses from the past twelve months to inform us as we look ahead. But as we hurtle towards the close of a decade, our picks feel even more important and telling of how far we've come.
Samsung could unveil a Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite very soon
All signs point to Samsung launching two cheaper flagship phones, the Galaxy S10 Lite and Note 10 Lite, in the not too distant future. Both devices have been rumored for months and could, according to a report by The Korea Herald, be unveiled at CES next month. The publication doesn't cite any sources, though, so we would take that particular tidbit with a pinch of salt (CES isn't known as a smartphone show these days, though OnePlus is bringing a fancy concept device this year). The timing would make sense, though, given Samsung will almost certainly want to announce its next Galaxy flagship (the S11, we assume) at Mobile World Congress in February.
Samsung's next foldable phone could be this RAZR-like clamshell
Shortly before Motorola revived the RAZR, Samsung made it loud and clear that it was also working on a clamshell foldable phone, so it's no surprise that a prototype would eventually show up in China. Earlier today, Weibo user Wang Ben Hong shared five photos of what he claims to be Samsung's latest foldable prototype -- one that appears to be half the size of the Galaxy Fold. There's no word on internal specs, but we can see the punch-hole camera right below the earpiece, and the lack of chin allows the unfolded screen to extend all the way to the bottom. Both characteristics match the clamshell concept art at this year's Samsung Developer Conference.
AT&T phones now show when calls come from verified numbers
AT&T is making good on its promise to validate calls and fight robocallers. The carrier has enabled validation displays that let you know when a call really did come from a given number. You'll need a Galaxy S10, Galaxy S10+ or LG V40 ThinQ to use this away from home (it's also available for digital home phone users), but it works same way regardless of platform. If a call has been validated ,you'll see a green checkmark next to the number as well as "valid number" below.
Samsung’s Galaxy S11 will reportedly feature a 108-megapixel camera
The leaks regarding Samsung's upcoming flagship phone, the Galaxy S11, are coming thick and fast. Last month we saw a reported render of the device, and earlier this week we heard it may be capable of capturing 8K video. Now, more rumors suggest that it'll feature considerable battery capacity and that the camera will be significantly upgraded in order to compete with the iPhone.
More signs point to Samsung's Galaxy S11 capturing 8K video
It'll likely be a couple of months before Samsung officially unveils the Galaxy S11, but leaks are already starting to paint a picture of what's in store for its next flagship phone. A render that emerged last month offered a peek at what the S11 may look like, while a SamMobile report stokes the flames of rumors it'll be capable of 8K video capture.