Tag: Samsung

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Samsung, Pixel devices vulnerable to exploits that expose calls and texts

Google’s ‘Project Zero,’ an in-house team of cybersecurity experts and analysts, warned in a new blog post of 18 different potential exploits in some phones using Samsung’s Exynos modems. That includes devices from Samsung, Vivo and Google’s own Pixel line (more on the specific devices below).

Project Zero warns that the exploits are severe and should be treated as zero-day vulnerabilities — the term ‘zero-day’ refers to recently-discovered exploits that software makers and manufacturers have zero days to fix. The exploits could allow malicious actors to compromise a device just by knowing the associated phone number, and the device’s owner wouldn’t notice a thing.

Specifically, four of the 18 exploits could allow a malicious actor to gain access to the data coming in and out of a device’s modem using just the phone number. That data includes things like phone calls and text messages. Particularly concerning is that this could be done remotely, while some of the other vulnerabilities would require local access to a device.

Project Zero recommends that people with affected devices install upcoming security updates as soon as possible to protect themselves from the vulnerability, though when those updates will arrive varies by manufacturer. Google included a patch for some of the flaws in its March 2023 security update for Pixel phones, for example. Impacted devices include:

  • Samsung phones including the Galaxy S22 series, the Galaxy M33, M13, M12, A71, A53, A33, A21, A13, A12 and A04
  • Vivo phones including the S16, S15, S6, X70, X60 and X30
  • Google Pixel 6 and 7 series
  • Wearables using the Exynos W920 chipset
  • Vehicles that use the Exynos Auto T5123 chipset

Those with an affected device will want to take a few steps to mitigate risks until patches arrive. Project Zero advises people to turn off Wi-Fi calling and Voice-over-LTE (VoLTE) — you should be able to find both of these in the Settings menu under Network & internet > SIMs, though the exact location may vary from device to device.

Project Zero reported the exploits to manufacturers in late 2022 and early 2024, but the team withheld publication for four other vulnerabilities due to the ongoing severity.

Source: Project Zero Via: CNET

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Bell, Virgin Plus offering free Galaxy Buds 2 with select Samsung phones

In the market for a new Samsung smartphone? You might want to get one from Bell or its flanker brand Virgin Plus since right now, the providers will give you a free pair of Galaxy Buds 2 with the purchase of select Samsung devices.

If you’d rather not go with Bell or Virgin, it’s worth noting that Telus and Koodo have a similar offer but only on the Galaxy S22 and S22 Ultra.

Bell’s Galaxy Buds 2 offer as of March 17th, 2023

Currently, Bell is offering free Galaxy Buds 2 with the purchase and activation of the:

Bell notes that customers need to activate the phones with Bell SmartPay (the name Bell uses for financing) on a two-year plan and that the Buds 2 will ship separately from the device itself. The offer is only available online.

Oddly, Bell’s website includes two sets of fine print (above) for the deal that list availability with alternate Samsung phones, like the Z Flip/Fold or the S22 series. However, when viewing those devices on Bell’s website, the free Buds 2 offer isn’t shown. One of the two sets of fine print also notes the offer is valid from December 6th, 2022, which seems extra odd.

Virgin Plus

As for Virgin Plus, it’s a little more straightforward. You can head to the provider’s devices page, filter by Samsung, and see which devices include the Buds 2 at a glance because Virgin actually put a label on each eligible device. Hurray for basic, clear communication with customers! Devices include:

Considering Virgin Plus currently offers double the data on its $60/10GB and $65/15GB plans, bringing them up to 20GB and 30GB, respectively, I’d argue Virgin is the way to go unless you desperately want 5G and to overpay for it. Unfortunately, if you’re getting a phone, you can’t get the $10/mo bill credit for 24 months.

Virgin’s offer also appears to be online only.

Telus and Koodo

Finally, as mentioned up top, Telus and Koodo have free Buds 2 available with the Galaxy S22 and S22 Ultra. As with Bell and Virgin, my recommendation would be to get the deal with Koodo and take advantage of the promotional $60/20GB or $65/30GB plans. You’ll save a bit of money compared to Telus and get more data.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Book 3 360 is now available in Canada

Samsung’s Galaxy Book 3 360 is now available in Canada.

The Book 3 360, part of the company’s Galaxy Book 3 series, is a 2-in-1 convertible laptop running Windows 11. Canadians can now pick one up from Samsung’s website, Samsung Experience Stores and from other retailers.

Sporting a 13.3-inch 2880×1800 pixel AMOLED display with a 16:10 aspect ratio, the Book 3 360 runs on an Intel Core i7-1360P. It supports Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1 and it comes in ‘Graphite.’ You can learn more about the Book 3 360, as well as Samsung’s other Galaxy Book 3 devices, here.

The Samsung Canada website offers the 16GB RAM, 512GB storage Book 3 360 configuration, which costs $1,899. There’s also an 8GB model with 256GB of storage that costs $1,499, but it doesn’t appear to be available to purchase on Samsung’s website. It’s listed on this page, but when you click through to purchase, only the 16GB/512GB config is listed. MobileSyrup reached out to Samsung about the issue and the company is looking into it.

Samsung’s Galaxy Book 3 360 promotions.

Samsung’s website also has some promotions for those looking to get a Galaxy Book 3 360. First off, Samsung’s offering up to $150 in savings if you trade in an eligible device. Second, Samsung’s offering $300 off the 512GB storage model, but warns customers will need to wait five to six weeks for delivery.

You can check out the Galaxy Book 3 360 on Samsung’s website.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though MobileSyrup may earn a commission on purchases made via these links.

Image credit: Samsung Canada

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Samsung announces Galaxy A54 with S23-like design

Samsung has announced the Galaxy A54 mid-range smartphone with an S23-like design. The device lacks the camera bump featured on its predecessor, the A53, and now has a camera setup similar to the S23.

The A54 features the same 50-megapixel primary camera as the S23, which is technically a downgrade compared to the A53’s 64-megapixel shooter. On top of that, the A54 sports a 12-megapixel ultrawide and a 5-megapixel macro but lacks the depth shooter that the A53 sports. And the A54 features a 32-megapixel primary camera.

Additionally, it has a 6.4-inch Super AMOLED 120Hz display with 1000 nits of brightness and 1080 x 2340-pixel resolution.

Further, the A54 sports a 5,000mAh battery, a mid-range Exynos 1380 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of expandable storage; however, the U.S. only has the 6GB/128GB variant, which will likely be the same in Canada.

The A54 comes in Lime, Graphite, Violet and White. The A54 hasn’t been announced in Canada yet, but it was spotted on Canada’s Radio Equipment List, meaning the phone is coming here. We’ve reached out to Samsung Canada for pricing and availability.

Source: Samsung

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Samsung Galaxy A53 is now $180 off

Samsung’s Galaxy A53 is now available at a discounted rate. Until April 6th, you can get the mid-range smartphone for $409.

The $409 price tag is $180 off the regular price, which is a pretty sweet deal. The Galaxy A54 is rumoured to launch on March 16th, so it makes sense that this might be the last offer before Samsung retires the handset.

You can also get 50 percent off a two-year Samsung Care+ plan by purchasing select smartphones. However, you can only get the two-year Care+ plan until March 28th.

The Galaxy A53 is a solid mid-range device with a 6.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate and an FHD+ resolution. It also sports a mid-range Exynos 1280 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, a quad-camera setup with a 64-megapixel primary shooter and a 5,000mAh battery.

I reviewed the Galaxy A53 last year and found that the smartphone struck a reasonable balance between performance, style and cost.

You can buy the handset from Samsung’s website, here.

Source: Samsung

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Redditor proves Samsung Moon shots are heavily fabricated

A Redditor is making a bold claim about Samsung’s Galaxy S23 Ultra and its Moon photography.

According to ‘ibreakphotos’ on the Android Reddit page, “Samsung space zoom moon shots are fake.”

“Many of us have witnessed the breathtaking moon photos taken with the latest zoom lenses, starting with the S20 Ultra. Nevertheless, I’ve always had doubts about their authenticity, as they appear almost too perfect. While these images are not necessarily outright fabrications, neither are they entirely genuine. Let me explain,” wrote u/ibreakphotos.

According to the user, Samsung adds detail to Moon shots where there is none, with the AI doing most of the heavy lifting and not the phone’s camera optics.

To prove the claims, the Redditor downloaded this high-res image of the Moon from the internet and downsized it to 170 x 170 pixels. The Redditor then blurred the photo so that no detail of the Moon was visible. u/ibreakphotos then put the image on full screen on their monitor, turned off the lights, moved to the other end of the room and zoomed in on the digitally blurred image with their Samsung device.

The image the Redditor clicked with their device was this one. Essentially, they shot the image on the left and got the image on the right as a result.

It’s safe to say that the details captured in the photo couldn’t have been possible because they weren’t clearly visible in the blurred image in the first place, leading me to ask, are all Samsung Ultra device Moon shots essentially fake? Well, the images or not entirely fake, but they’re not entirely genuine, either.

“Samsung is leveraging an AI model to put craters and other details on places which were just a blurry mess,” wrote the Reddit user. “There’s a difference between additional processing a la super-resolution, when multiple frames are combined to recover detail which would otherwise be lost, and this, where you have a specific AI model trained on a set of moon images, in order to recognize the moon and slap on the moon texture on it (when there is no detail to recover in the first place, as in this experiment).”

The experiment doesn’t fail to prove that Samsung’s marketing is deceptive, considering that the AI software trained on Moon images is doing most of the work, and fabricating images, at least in some capacity, in contrast to the phone’s camera doing the heavy lifting.

Check out u/ibreakphotos‘ full experiment on Reddit here.

Image credit: u/ibreakphotos

Source: u/ibreakphotos

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Samsung’s Galaxy A54 might be more expensive this year

Samsung’s upcoming A series smartphones are reportedly getting European price hikes.

According to notable leaker, SnoopyTech, the A14 will cost €219, the A34 will cost €419, and the A54 will be priced at €519. This is up €50 from the A53 from last year.

Last year, A53 retailed at $589.99 in Canada, which was roughly 418€. This means the phone was a bit more affordable in Canada compared to its €449 price tag.

Now that we’re looking at an A54 that costs €519. With the current conversion rate, this means the device will cost roughly rate $753 CAD. As I mentioned, Samsung’s phone was a bit more affordable in Canada last year; however, if SnoopyTech is right, I can see the phone being priced at $700 or even more.

Hopefully, SnoopyTech is wrong, but only time will tell. Samsung announced the A53 and A33 on March 17th last year, so we can expect that Samsung may launch the handset any day now.

Source: SnoopyTech

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Samsung Electronics reported to create in-house CPUs for future phones

LONDON, UK – FEBRUARY 20, 2020: Samsung tech brand leterring logo in Harrods shopping mall.

Apple and Pixel smartphones both use in-house chipsets, but Samsung still relies on Qualcomm for its chips with most of its devices, and its in-house Exynos chips have always performed worse and are less efficient in most cases.

With that in mind, Samsung could be looking to build its own custom CPU, according to a Business Korea report. Samsung’s electronics division has even gone so far as to create a new internal team to spearhead its custom CPU design efforts.

The new in-house CPU could appear in 2027 alongside the Galaxy S27 series, considering that Samsung continues to name the S series numerically.

Samsung’s previous in-house designed Mongoose CPU cores in Exynos SoCs (System-on-Chip) were powerful but too power-hungry and inefficient compared to what Qualcomm had to offer, resulting in the company killing off its CPU design team and laying off over 300 developers from its R&D facility in Austin, Texas.

Now, Samsung has beefed up efforts to develop its next-generation system-on-chips (SoCs), likely called the Galaxy chip. With an in-house CPU, Samsung aims to optimize the SoCs for its devices, leading to superior performance and battery life.

Despite the renewed interest in custom CPU development, Samsung has gone all in on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chip across all markets for its Samsung Galaxy S23 series. The Samsung S23 series preorders have already squashed S22 sales in multiple markets.

The chip used in the S23 series delivers exceptional performance and efficiency compared to last year’s Snapdragon 8 Gen 1. Samsung will likely continue using Qualcomm’s chips until its in-house custom CPUs are ready for primetime.

Source: Business Korea Via: Android Police

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Samsung trademarks ‘Galaxy Glasses’ and ‘Galaxy Ring’

LONDON, UK – FEBRUARY 20, 2020: Samsung tech brand leterring logo in Harrods shopping mall.

Samsung has trademarked ‘Galaxy Glasses’ and ‘Galaxy Ring’ with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

The Galaxy Glasses are Samsung’s way of breaking into the AR and VR tech world, as the company announced its own intentions to break into the “extended reality” hardware market last month.

The patent for the Galaxy Glasses reads as follows:

GALAXY GLASSES™ trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of virtual reality headsets; Augmented reality headsets; Headphones; Smartphones; Smart glasses.

I’d hope for something like North’s Focals or something that uses both AR and VR, but we’ll just have to wait to find out.

Here’s what Samsung had down for the other trademark, ‘Galaxy Ring:’

SAMSUNG GALAXY RING™ trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of wearable smart devices in the nature of a smart ring for tracking, measuring, monitoring, and uploading health, fitness and sleep-related information; smart rings; smartphones.

It’s unclear what this will look like, but by the text alone, it may be like the Oura Ring as it offers very similar features.

Even though these devices are being trademarked, it’s possible that we won’t see them for a while. However, 9to5Google suggests that one possibility is that we’ll see a preview of them using an announced version of Android meant to power these wearables at the upcoming Google I/O.

I think that’s a bit too wishful, but I definitely wouldn’t be mad if they were right.

Source: 9to5Google

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Galaxy Watch 6 expected to feature larger battery this year

Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 6 is expected to launch in the latter half of the year, so it makes sense that the South Korean company is starting to prepare for its arrival. Part of this process includes ensuring the device’s components are certified by regulators.

GalaxyClub spotted that South Korean regulators have certified two power cells that will likely be available in the Galaxy Watch 6. The certification indicates that there will be two watch models, one with a 40mm base and a slighter 44mm base. The certification filing also features two model numbers, ‘SM-R93x’ and ‘SM-R94x.’

The image shows a 300mAh battery for the smaller watch, with the larger device sporting a 425mAh cell. This is compared to the 285mAh battery in the 40mm Galaxy Watch 5 and the 410mAh cell in the 44mm variant.

According to a previous leak, the Galaxy Watch 6 is rumoured to feature a curved glass design similar to the Apple Watch Series 8’s display. Samsung’s Galaxy Watch 5 series released on August 26th, 2022.

Source: GalaxyClub Via: 9to5Google