Samsung
Samsung Self-Repair Program Discontinued by iFixit Over Accessibility Issues
Samsung partnered with iFixit a couple of years ago and introduced a self-repair scheme in the US as an alternative to Apple’s program. This program is known for its repair guides, which make the program user-friendly.
Now iFixit has decided to step back from collaborating with Samsung on this program. It is expected that Self-Repiar will live on with another partner, but iFixit will no longer play a role in it. iFixit has made some crucial claims regarding ‘obstacles’ from Samsung that prevented it from achieving the objective; however, the Korean brand has not responded yet.
Regarding this decision, iFixit stated that even after its best efforts, it has not been able to deliver on the promise of offering independent repair shops with the tools and parts they require. The brand also depresses the point that it has continued going through a hard, challenging face that has made it “doubt Samsung’s commitment” to make repairs more accessible for customers.
Samsung’s Self-Repair program faced various challenges; for instance, spare parts were difficult and expensive for repair shops to obtain; high part prices made repair costly as compared to replacing the device; and Samsung’s glued-together phone design raised repair difficulty and cost. iFixit also claims that the design of Samsung’s Galaxy devices is “frustratingly glued together,” forcing the brand to sell batteries and screens in pre-glued bundles that repair costs.
In the end, iFixit says that it has ended its partnership with Samsung, saying that the Korean giant’s progress towards repairability doesn’t align with its mission. Starting next month, iFixit will cease to be an authorized third-party parts and tool distributor for Samsung.
However, Samsung has not commented on the situation, but a response is expected due to the seriousness of iFixit’s claims.
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Samsung’s One UI is a powerful package of convenient features. It also includes a hidden pop-up menu for application shortcuts, which users can access through a tap-and-hold command.
Samsung One UI Instant App Shortcut Feature
This pop-up menu helps you access certain functions quickly; for instance, you can hold any particular application shortcut, like Camera. From the pop-up menu, select if you want to launch the Camera application directly in selfie or portrait mode or start a video recording immediately.
You can turn app shortcut menus into permanent shortcuts on your home screen. This seems beneficial for apps that don’t offer direct access to frequently used features, such as starting specific tabs within Instagram directly instead of the Home tab.
The social media app Instagram is a perfect example of this. You must know that when you open Instagram, it always opens on the “Home” tab, and you can’t change this. But OneUI’s hidden feature lets you access any particular app function directly.
For instance, if you want to open a message tab within Instagram, you can create a custom shortcut for the message tab. You can also create an Instagram shortcut that always opens the app on the “Reel” tab. “Search” tab, or any particular tab that you use the most.
Noticeably, One UI’s hidden quick access shortcut feature is not compatible with each app, like Samsung Health and more.
Here’s how to create quick access shortcuts on Galaxy devices
- You can easily create quick-access shortcuts on Galaxy devices by just pressing and holding an application’s shortcut.
- Once you open the pop-up menu, tap and hold one of the app’s functions from the menu, then drag and drop it on the home screen or inside a folder to create a shortcut.
- Once you are done, you can place these apps’ function shortcuts on the home screen. You can also organize them in folders.
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Earlier this year, Samsung debuted its premium Galaxy S24 series. Now it has already started to work on the forthcoming Galaxy S25 series, which is supposed to debut in 2025. This series will be beneficial for gaming purposes, as the report says.
Before any official announcement from the giant’s side, leaks and rumors have been blowing in the market for so long regarding the features and specs of the forthcoming Galaxy S25 series. It has already been reported that it could be based on its in-house chipset or maybe MediaTek chips. Let’s take a closer look at the rumors.
A new report suggests that at least some units of Galaxy S25 series devices will be powered by the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4. This processor will make it a gaming powerhouse. If the report from Chinese tipster Digital Chat Station reported by NotebookCheck is to be believed, the Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 has AI-powered frame generation technology.
Somewhere, it seems similar to AMD’s FSR and Nvidia’s DLSS. It is reported that the next-gen Snapdragon 8 Gen 4chipset will boast AI-powered frame-generation technology; the chip is powerful enough to run Genshin Impact at 1080p resolution and a 120fps frame than the current Snapdragon 8 Gen 3’s 60fps limit.
AI-powered frame generation will not only deliver a seamless and smooth gaming experience but also bring higher input lag and graphics artifacts. It’s expected that Qualcomm will handle those issues with its upcoming flagship chip, which will be unveiled in October 2024.
The upcoming Snapdragon 8 Gen 4 features Qulacomm’s custom Oryon CPU cores and the Andreno 830 GPU, which is clocked at 935 MHz. It is reported that this chip is fabricated using TSMC’s 3nm process node and could be costlier than its predecessor.
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Samsung is set to debut its next-generation Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6 foldable phones. Now the giant is working on offering full-screen fingerprint sensors for future foldable smartphones, as the report says.
Before the official announcement of the forthcoming foldable smartphones, a lot of a lot of leaks and rumors were reported regarding the specs, design, and features of the phones. Now a new report is saying something new: a brand could attach full-screen fingerprint sensors to phones. This new facility could be particularly significant for foldable and rollable smartphones.
Undoubtedly, Samsung is one of the leading brands in the foldable market, but yet to implement under-display fingerprint scanners on its foldables sounds weird. If the report is to be believed, the Korean giant is gearing up to bring this under-display fingerprint scanner compatibility. From the initial Galaxy Fold (2019) to the yet-upcoming Galaxy Z Fold 6 and Galaxy Z Flip 6, each single model features a side-mounted capacitive sensor embedded into the power button.
The brand potentially sees this as a more logical solution since a single sensor only allows you to unlock the device in folded and unfolded states. Due to the bigger size of the foldable device, sometimes it seems inconvenient to reach the power button when unfolded instantly. The new under-display fingerprint sensor will be beneficial in this case.
It is reported that Samsung has a plan to one-up its rivals, at least in terms of fingerprint recognition on foldables. Noted tipster David Kowalski recently collaborated with Thenerdstash to bring a Samsung patent for a full-screen fingerprint scanner technology for smartphones. The report says that this new compatibility of recognition fingerprints across the display and not just over a designated place on the screen.
On the other side, the patent document suggested that, with its application across a wide range of display products, this solution might be beneficial for foldable and rollable smartphones. However, the confined fingerprint sensor does not appear enough to complement the big display on these devices as compared to being much better by placing the finger anywhere on the screen to unlock the device.
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