SamMobile Magazine Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 o BREAKING: Samsung to hold Unpacked event on Feb 24 o Visit GearFaces.com for stunning downloadable Galaxy Gear watch themes o More Galaxy S5 spec details leak, might feature 3,200mAh battery o Samsung SM-W750V (Windows Phone for Verizon) picture and specs leak o Samsung and Phones 4u to launch 15 retail stores in the UK o Samsung Galaxy S III mini, Tab 3 7.0, Note 8.0 and others to get KitKat update? SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 BREAKING: Samsung to hold Unpacked event on Feb 24 Are we ready for the next flagship phone from Samsung? The Korean phone maker thinks so as they’ve announced a new Unpacked event that will happen on Monday, February 24 in Spain. Admittedly, the invite does not say anything about Galaxy S5 but the number 5 placed besides the Unpacked is good hint, isn’t it? The event will start at 8PM (CET) but Samsung says the gates will open from 6.30PM for the attendees. We’ll be there to cover the action live during MWC but like every other Unpacked event, Samsung will also stream it to the majority of the crowd on YouTube. SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 Visit GearFaces.com for stunning downloadable Galaxy Gear watch themes The Galaxy Gear is quite the feature-packed smartwatch, and due to the fact that it runs on Android, it’s quite customizable as well, through a plethora of apps available on Samsung’s app store. One of the important functions of the Galaxy Gear remains the same as normal watches, and that’s to display the time. However, thanks to its customizability, it’s possible to show the time, date and other info in visually appealing ways, which has prompted a certain section of the community to create custom watch faces for the Gear and publish them for everyone to use. Well, given the awesome and stunning watch faces that some folks have been able to come up with, we decided to launch a dedicated website for these custom watch faces:GearFaces.com. At Gear Faces, you can find a plethora of custom watch themes – both analog and digital – for your Galaxy Gear, cooked up by talented people through an app called Watch Styler, with the aim of extending the visual appeal of the one part of the Gear’s interface that you’ll be seeing more than others. If you’ve created watch faces of your own, you can even submit them to Gear Faces by shooting an email to Martin at [email protected], and see them put up on the site. GearFaces is optimized for both mobile and desktop browsers. The site also contains easy-to-follow instructions on how you can install and enable these beautiful watch faces on your smartwatch, so go ahead and hit the link below and start sprucing up your Galaxy Gear. Gearfaces.com SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 More Galaxy S5 spec details leak, might feature 3,200mAh battery We’ve already given everyone exclusive details on the Galaxy S5′s hardware, and today, Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin has leaked info on a few specs that were previously unknown. Murtazin reaffirms that the Galaxy S5 will feature a 5.25-inch QHD (2,560×1,440) Super AMOLED display, Exynos 6 / Snapdragon 805 processor, 3 GB of RAM, 32/64 GB storage, and a 16-megapixel rear camera – new details that the man has offered say the S5 will feature a 3.2-megapixel front-facing camera and a large 3,200 mAh battery, both of which will be a couple of notches higher than the ones on the Galaxy S4. If the details are accurate, that 3,200 mAh battery will be welcomed with open arms by consumers. It will also be put to rather good use, as that QHD display will no doubt demand considerable battery power, and a battery smaller than 3,000 mAh might not have been enough. The 3.2-megapixel front shooter will also be a first, and it seems Samsung is encroaching on the territory held by Chinese smartphones, which often come with 5-megapixel front-facing cameras. Murtazin doesn’t exactly have the best track record when it comes to leaks, but considering the fact that his prediction of the Galaxy S5 being unveiled in February at Mobile World Congress seems to have come true, we’re willing to believe the hardware details he’s revealed might be spot on as well. The Galaxy S5 will run on Android 4.4 KitKat out of the box, with improved versions of several Samsung apps, such as S Health and WatchON, possibly a new interface, and will likely sport a fingerprint sensor. Market availability is expected to begin sometime in late April, and the handset will come in two variants, one with a metal body and the other with Samsung’s infamous plastic build (though with the faux leather back seen on the Galaxy Note 3 and other recent phones from the company), with a radically different design than current devices. SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 Samsung SM-W750V (Windows Phone for Verizon) picture and specs leak Samsung’s upcoming Windows Phone handset, the SM-W750V, was recently revealed to be headed to Verizon, and now a picture of the device has been leaked by evleaks, confirming the leakster’s words that it looks like a recent Galaxy S device (almost too similar, which might put off a few people who don’t want their Windows Phone devices looking like Android devices.) However, it seems the SM-W750V – which is codenamed Huron – might be focused at the mid-range market instead of the high-end, despite sporting a 1080p 5-inch screen. The listing for the SM-W750V at GFXBench indicates that the handset will be powered by a quad-core Snapdragon CPU with the Adreno 305 GPU, a combination that powers most of Nokia’s low-end Lumias. The screen resolution is incorrectly listed as 720 x 1280, something which is the case for Full HD devices like the Lumia 1520 as well, though it would have actually been better if the display was a 720p unit instead of 1080p, as the not-so-potent processor and graphics chip might not be able to push so many pixels too easily even on a lightweight OS like Windows Phone. SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 Samsung and Phones 4u to launch 15 retail stores in the UK Samsung recently announced its plans to launch retail stores across Europe in partnership with Carphone Warehouse, and now the company has revealed that it’s teaming up with one of Carphone Warehouse’s biggest competitor, Phones 4u, to launch similar retail stores across the UK. A total of 15 standalone stores will be launched in the country, operated by Phones 4u staff and focusing on “smartphones, tablets and wearable technology,” and will act as an extension of the partnership the retailer already has with Samsung through its dedicated Samsung device sections inside existing stores. SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 Samsung Galaxy S III mini, Tab 3 7.0, Note 8.0 and others to get KitKat update? Take a poll asking what’s the topmost question on users’ minds these days, and you’re pretty sure to hear a lot of folks answer “is my Samsung device going to get updated to KitKat, and if yes, when?” A leaked document that we obtained a few months back indicated that devices like the Galaxy Mega and S4 mini would be getting the Android 4.4 update in addition to flagships like the Galaxy S4, Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S III, and the Galaxy Note II, and now information obtained by Phandroid suggests that a few other devices will be getting KitKat as well. Here’s the list of devices that will reportedly be updated to KitKat (note that while these are U.S. variants, international models will be updated as well): - Samsung Galaxy Note 2 SGH-i317 - Samsung Galaxy S3 SGH-i747 - Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 SM-t217a - Samsung Galaxy S4 SGH-i337 - Samsung Galaxy S4 Active SGH-i537 - Samsung Galaxy Mega SGH-i527 - Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom SM-c105a - Samsung Galaxy Note 3 SM-N900a - Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 SGH-i467 - Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini SM-g730a That’s a considerably huge list of devices and rather unsurprising, except for the mention of the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 and S III mini. I’m not so sure the Galaxy Tab 3 7.0 would be getting the update, since it’s a budget tablet that’s still on Android 4.1, and it would be a surprising move on Samsung’s part if they manage to give it a jump to Android 4.4 directly. Same would be the case for the Galaxy S3 mini – while the device was relaunched for AT&T and Verizon recently, it’s a very cheap device, though we wouldn’t mind if Samsung decided to shower some update love on its budget models, something which Motorola is doing pretty nicely with the Moto G. But for the other devices, all of them were released only last year and are fairly mid-range/high- end, so they should be making the cut for the Android 4.4 update. If they don’t, well, let’s hope they all end their life on at least Android 4.3. SamMobile Magazine Volume 1 Issue 6 Columns Samsung vs.