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Mobile Syrup

Samsung updates its Try Galaxy app with Galaxy S23 in mind

Samsung has rolled out an update to its Try Galaxy web app to better reflect its Galaxy S23 offerings. The update aims to showcase the experience of using the latest flagship Samsung phone, including its One UI 5.1 software.

In a press release, the company lists the latest inclusions:

  • Powerful camera: Users can explore what’s possible with Samsung Galaxy’s most advanced camera system, including truly cinematic Nightography and transformative AI for vivid and clear night shots. They can also test in-app editing tools like Photo Remaster to automatically improve details of images.
  • Leading performance: Users can experience how the Galaxy S23 series is redefining peak performance through a video demonstrating next-level gaming capabilities with optimised mobile platform, battery and display.
  • Connected ecosystem: Users can immerse themselves in the latest world of One UI 5.1 with customisable wallpapers, icons, message interfaces, backgrounds and more, for a mobile experience that matches their own personality and style.

The Try Galaxy experience first launched in 2022, and has been downloaded over two million times, according to Samsung. The experience is available specifically for iPhone users, and can be downloaded using the QR code on trygalaxy.com.

Source: Samsung

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Mobile Syrup

How to turn motion photos on (or off) on your iPhone or Android

Several phone manufacturers added some form of motion photo feature to their phones a few years back. Although the name changes from smartphone to smartphone — some call it Motion Photo, Live Photo, Moving Picture, Top Shot, or whatever (I made up one of those, guess which one) — the main benefit is the same: images move.

Here’s the thing: I used to turn motion photos off all the time because I thought it was pretty useless. Who wants pictures that move? That’s what videos are for. At least, that’s how I felt until I became a dad — now, motion photos are indispensable. The feature has saved so many pictures I’ve snapped of my very, very wiggly daughter because even if I don’t get the shot, it’s probably in the motion photo.

Because of that, I’ve been making sure motion photos are turned on whichever device I’m using (currently, that’s the excellent Pixel 6a). Below, you’ll find a brief overview of how the feature works and steps to enable it on some popular smartphones.

How motion photos work

Motion photos rely on a pretty complex mix of machine learning (ML) and software trickery, but the basic premise involves capturing a short video when people press the shutter button. The thing is, a video is just a stream of pictures stitched together, and most modern smartphones already capture a bunch of photos when you press the shutter button for things like HDR.

That’s a very simple explanation, of course — there’s a lot more to it. Google has a whole blog post about its motion photo tech, which does a great job showcasing some of the complex ML work going on in the background — it’s likely other manufacturers use similar systems.

It’s worth noting that some parts of motion photos are fairly consistent across devices. Regardless if you use an Apple or Android phone, you should be able to play a motion photo by pressing and holding the photo when you view it in your gallery. Moreover, I’ve noticed the actual photo often looks better than the motion photo, in part because the photo generally gets the full benefit of image processing and HDR, while the motion photo doesn’t.

How to enable motion photos

iPhone

Apple’s ‘Live Photo’ feature is very easy to turn on and off right in the camera. Look for the bullseye-like icon in the top-right corner of the camera — if it’s yellow, Live Photos are on. If it’s white with a line through it, Live Photos are off.

In the Apple Photos app, look for the ‘Live’ icon in the top-left corner when viewing a picture to tell whether an image is also a Live Photo.

Google Pixel

Google wrapped its motion photo feature into something called ‘Top Shot’ when the Pixel 3 launched. Top Shot adds some extra functionality to motion photos, such as automatically suggesting the best picture based on everything captured with the motion photo. This is part of what made motion photos such a lifesaver for me since I could snap a picture of my daughter and then use Top Shot to pick out the motion photo frame where she’s actually still smiling.

To turn on Top Shot in the Google Pixel camera app, tap the settings icon in the top-left corner, then select one of three options: off, auto, or on. I usually run with auto, since it’s pretty good at grabbing motion photos and running Top Shot when I need it (like when I take a picture of my daughter) and when I don’t (like when I take a picture of a flower).

In the Google Photos app, look for a circle icon with a play button in it at the top of the screen when viewing a photo (usually next to the Cast button). This icon marks which photos have motion — you can press and hold the picture, or tap the icon, to play the motion.

Samsung Galaxy

Similarly, you can enable motion photos on Samsung phones within the camera app. Look for a square icon with a triangle intersecting the right edge — that’s the motion photo icon. Tap it to turn motion photos on or off.

To view a motion photo, look for the ‘View motion photo’ button in the Samsung Gallery app.

Image credit: Samsung

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Mobile Syrup

Leaked images show off Samsung’s budget Galaxy Tab A8

More images of Samsung’s rumoured Galaxy Tab A8 10.5 have leaked, this time courtesy of WinFuture (via Android Police).

This leak features a series of marketing pictures that give us a good look at the budget tablet from all sides and in three colours, including a dark grey, a light grey/white/silver and a pink colour.

The Tab A8 will reportedly sport a 1920 x 1200 pixel 10.5-inch LCD screen running at 60Hz with slim bezels. The top edge of the tablet appears to have the power and volume buttons and a microphone, while the bottom edge features an expansion slot. The two sides have speakers and the left edge has another microphone. The right side sports a USB-C charging port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Additionally, the Tab A8 has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a lone 8-megapixel rear camera. There’s also no rear flash.

As for the internals, leaks suggest it will have an octa-core Unisoc Tiger T618 chip — Android Police calls it “low-midrange,” so it likely won’t blow anyone’s mind with performance. Additionally, the A8 will offer 4GB of RAM and 32, 64 or 128GB storage options. The tablet will have a 7,040mAh battery with up to 15W fast charging. However, it’s unclear if Samsung will include a charger in the box.

Finally, the Tab A8 will likely start at around €240 (about $345.68 CAD) for the Wi-Fi model with 32GB of storage.

Source: WinFuture Via: Android Police

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Mobile Syrup

New Samsung feature lets users add more RAM to Galaxy phones (sort of)

Downloading more RAM has been a long-running joke in tech circles, but a new feature coming to a Samsung smartphone is about as close as we’ll actually get.

For those unfamiliar with the joke, random-access memory, or RAM, is a physical part of computers and can’t be downloaded. The joke is associated with those who aren’t tech-savvy and it’s often used to troll people on tech or gaming forums. Unfortunately, downloading RAM has also become almost a scam with plenty of places online and apps on the Play Store offering the ability to upgrade RAM.

Samsung, however, is reportedly rolling out a feature called ‘RAM Plus’ to the Galaxy A52s 5G. According to SamMobile (via Android Authority), RAM Plus lets users set aside a portion of the phone’s internal storage to use as ‘RAM.’

This isn’t exactly a new feature, and it’s one offered by Android itself as well as by other operating systems like Windows. Called paging in some systems, it’s simply a way for an OS to use a portion of the storage drive as RAM. What sets Samsung’s RAM Plus feature apart is that it gives users an easy way to control the feature, which isn’t common on Android devices (Android Authority notes that Oppo has a similar feature).

While certainly neat, it’s not clear how helpful the feature will be in practice. RAM is typically much faster than memory used for storage, so there will likely be a performance hit when accessing any information stored this way. That said, there may be benefits for devices with a small amount of RAM to begin with, even if the added RAM Plus memory isn’t as fast as actual RAM.

Of course, the Galaxy A52s offers 6GB of RAM out of the box, which is a fair bit and I have my doubts people would benefit from increasing that via RAM Plus. Additionally, it’s not clear if RAM Plus will be available on other Samsung devices — at the time of writing, it appears the A52s wasn’t available in Canada, but you could get the very similar Galaxy A52 5G.

Source: SamMobile Via: Android Authority

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Potins

Chris Evans and Chris Pratt agree Super Bowl wager

Chris Evans and Chris Pratt have placed a wager on the outcome of the Super Bowl.

The actors – both of whom are Marvel superheroes – have engaged in a light-hearted war of words on Twitter ahead of the game between the Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots on February 1, and have agreed to visit a children’s hospital in costume if their team loses.

Evans, a Patriots fan who plays Captain America, said: ”Well, well, well @prattprattpratt, looks like our teams are going into battle. For the next 2 weeks, you are not my friend, you are my enemy (sic)”

Pratt, a Seahawks fan who plays Star-Lord, replied: ”We both know there’s only one Captain America and his name is Russell Wilson.”

Evans responded by asking his fellow actor whether he wished to place a bet on the outcome of the big game.

Pratt responded: ”OK. Seahawks win you fly yourself to Seattle, visit @seattlechildren hospital as Captain America, waving the 12th man flag.”

Evans accepted the challenge, predicting his team would win the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

He said: ”I accept. And when the Patriots humiliate your seachickens, I expect Star-Lord to arrive at @chris_haven in a Brady jersey.”

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Potins

David Beckham buying US soccer team

David Beckham is "close to" buying a US soccer team.

The sportsman recently quit Los Angeles Galaxy to focus on "one last challenge" and is thought to be planning to play in Europe but leaving the club doesn’t mean he is completely bowing out of the game in America.

Speaking to Ryan Seacrest on Kiis FM, he said: "Yes. That will obviously comes into play now. It only came into play once I finished playing here. I’m excited about that. My commitment when I came here six years ago was to take this league to another level, and my commitment stays the same. I might not be playing here but I will become a owner of a franchise and it’s something that I’m excited about. We’re close to a decision on that, but I can’t say it right now. I’m close to a decision on that!"

Announcing the end of his contract with LA Galaxy recently, David – who has children Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 10, seven-year-old Cruz, and 16-month-old daughter Harper with wife Victoria – spoke about his ownership ambitions.

He said in a statement: "I’ve had an incredibly special time playing for the LA Galaxy. However, I wanted to experience one last challenge before the end of my playing career.

"I don’t see this as the end of my relationship with the league, as my ambition is to be part of the ownership structure in the future."

Categories
Potins

David Beckham buying US soccer team

David Beckham is "close to" buying a US soccer team.

The sportsman recently quit Los Angeles Galaxy to focus on "one last challenge" and is thought to be planning to play in Europe but leaving the club doesn’t mean he is completely bowing out of the game in America.

Speaking to Ryan Seacrest on Kiis FM, he said: "Yes. That will obviously comes into play now. It only came into play once I finished playing here. I’m excited about that. My commitment when I came here six years ago was to take this league to another level, and my commitment stays the same. I might not be playing here but I will become a owner of a franchise and it’s something that I’m excited about. We’re close to a decision on that, but I can’t say it right now. I’m close to a decision on that!"

Announcing the end of his contract with LA Galaxy recently, David – who has children Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 10, seven-year-old Cruz, and 16-month-old daughter Harper with wife Victoria – spoke about his ownership ambitions.

He said in a statement: "I’ve had an incredibly special time playing for the LA Galaxy. However, I wanted to experience one last challenge before the end of my playing career.

"I don’t see this as the end of my relationship with the league, as my ambition is to be part of the ownership structure in the future."

Categories
Potins

David Beckham: LA will always be home

David Beckham will always regard Los Angeles as "home".

The English soccer star recently announced he is going to leave his club LA Galaxy when the season finishes next month and while he is looking to play his sport in another country, he says he and his family will eventually return to California.

David – who has four children, Brooklyn, 13, Romeo, 10, Cruz, seven, and 16-month-old Harper, with wife Victoria – said: "Whether we spend more time in England more time in England or here, LA is always going to be regarded as our home.

"I have loved playing here and living here. Like I said, I will always be part of LA and it will be very special."

David – who has previously played for English club Manchester United, Spanish team Real Madrid and Italian club A.C. MIlan – has been linked to a number of clubs including ones on China, Australia, Russia, South Africa and his native England.

However, he has yet to make a decision as he wants to concentrate on his final game for LA Galaxy.

Although he now regards Los Angeles as home, David and his family will spend Christmas in England with their parents and siblings.