New Android Wear Device Launched By Samsung, Tizen Phone This Year

Samsung plans to launch an Android Wear device as well as a Tizen smartphone in 2014, Reuters reports.

Samsung is working to introduce at least two smartphones running on its own Tizen operating system, a major step in the market leader's bid to break out of the Android universe, a top executive says.

The company wants to build its own ecosystem around Tizen to reduce its heavy reliance on Google's Android, which powers majority of the South Korean firm's mobile devices, according to Yoon Han-kil, senior vice-president of Samsung's product strategy team.

It also wants to open its own stream of revenue from sales of third-party apps and services on its devices, challenging the mobile software duopoly of Android and Apple's iOS.

But expectations for the platform have sharply weakened after a series of delays in product launches. A global patent cross-licensing agreement between Samsung and Google in January further dampened prospects for a Tizen phone, as the deal was seen by some as locking Samsung deeper into Android.

Yoon said that although Android "still needs to be our main business", Tizen or Windows Phone would be used for markets that Android could not address.

"We had tried to launch [Tizen] with DoCoMo and Orange ... but couldn't because of poor market conditions. We have changed our strategy and will release the phones in a few countries where we can do well," he said, adding that he thought Tizen would have to account for up to 15 per cent of Samsung's total smartphone shipments to become a successful platform.

Samsung's first Tizen phone, which will launch around the end of the second quarter, would be a high-end model and the second would mainly be aimed at the middle of the market to drive volume growth.

Speaking of smartwatches, Yoon had something to say on those, too: first, that Samsung eventually wants its Gear watches to be compatible with all Android smartphones rather than just its own Galaxy devices; and second, that it plans to launch an Android Wear smartwatch later this year.

Seems like Samsung thinks there’s plenty of scope for it to enjoy the best of both worlds.

Apple Could Finally Adopt NFC On iPhone For Mobile Payment Plans And Touch ID

Apple’s 2014 roadmap was laid out in pretty considerable detail by KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo earlier this week in an investor note, and while ordinarily analyst predictions aren’t worth the paper they’re printed on, Kuo has a solid track record of actually getting things right. Among Kuo’s predictions are larger iPhones, a Retina MacBook Air, improved Apple TV, iPad with Touch ID and iWatch launch later this year. But one small detail could have more potential impact than all the rest: NFC inclusion in iWatch and iPhone devices.
Apple has never thought much of NFC, at least when it comes to its own devices, and has avoided building the communication tech into its gadgets for years while the Android competition turned it into a device default. NFC had a lot of early buzz, but for the most part, its usefulness for the average person comes in its ability to act as a handshake tech to ease the process of Bluetooth pairing. It still has some utility as a mobile payments transfer tech, but even with mobile payment options built into Android phones that support it, it hasn’t taken off in that regard.
If Apple starts building NFC into its devices, as Kuo reports it will, that could all change. While Apple now offers iBeacons Bluetooth LE-based tech, which could replicate the payment functions of NFC, support for the other tech would mean broad compatibility with existing hardware that more and more merchants have now been adopting with their in-store point-of-sale systems. Both types of tech are early, but NFC has the virtue of more time to find its feet.
As Finextra notes, the WSJ reported earlier this year that Apple was looking to develop a mobile wallet for iPhone, using the existing iTunes accounts the company already uses for purchases within its own software and retail store ecosystem. That would give Apple an instant network of over 600 million users with credit card information on file, making it likely the largest mobile payments network of any kind without even trying. And with NFC, Touch ID could be used to authenticate those payments, or even to authenticate identify for store loyalty or other purposes, too.
Apple has previously patented tech related to NFC and mobile payments, and Apple CEO Tim Cook mentioned that payments was part of what drove the inspiration behind creating Touch ID, the fingerprint-based authentication tech on the iPhone 5s. Touch ID is reportedly coming to iPad Air 2 in 2014, as well, which expands the pool of potential payments applicability even further. Apple may have seemed disdainful of NFC in the past, but it has a habit of waiting on new and emerging tech until it becomes genuinely useful to a large swath of consumers, and NFC could be just about at that point, and a key route to Apple’s domination of the mobile payments space.

The New Samsung Galaxy S5 is a Amazing phone with heart

The Samsung Galaxy S5 is bound to become one of the hottest selling handsets and so it must undergo heavy scrutiny. Battery life is an everyday worry, especially with bigger screens and faster chipsets.

The way Samsung hawked the many features in prior versions of its Galaxy S series smartphones, you'd think the devices belonged in a circus act: Step right up and see all the tricks your phone can do.
However, this wow-the-consumer strategy too often went over the top. Things such as waving your hand to take a call made a neat demonstration, but I don't know many people who actually answered that way.
Not that you could entirely blame Samsung for trying to make its phones stand out against formidable competition. The fact is, along with Apple's iPhones, the Galaxy phones are the most popular premium smartphones around the world.

The Galaxy S5 is the first smartphone to boast a dedicated heart-rate monitor. The phone is dust- and water-resistant, too, to a depth of one meter for 30 minutes (though the evaluation units that Samsung supplied weren't ready for any kind of water-testing). The USB connector is sealed under a protective flap.
Samsung also added a fingerprint scanner that you can use to unlock the phone, log on to your Samsung.com account, or to make payments through PayPal. Alas, I had trouble with the first test unit Samsung supplied — my fingerprint batting average was no better than 30%. To be fair, Samsung suspected I had gotten a wonky phone, and on a replacement device, I did a whole lot better (though the results still weren't perfect.). The fingerprint scanner doesn't work as well as the similar feature Apple has on the iPhone 5s.
A heart-rate monitor, protection against water and a fingerprint scanner may be the Big Top attractions this time around. But it's the basics that should sell this very solid Android handset. I can easily recommend it, even if aside from that heart-rate sensor, it doesn't break a lot of new ground. In other words if you have an S4 and are happy with it, there's no urge to upgrade.
The S5 has an eye-popping 5.1-inch Super Amoled 1080p display that can adapt to its lighting environment. It's thin but a bit longer than the S4. At 5.1-ounces (vs. 4.6 ounces) it adds some heft, but not to the point where I was bothered. Samsung chose a design with a dimpled plastic back. It doesn't come close to measuring up to the premium feel of the HTC One (M8) that was recently introduced and that is crafted from an all-metal uni-body design. It was much the same design story with last year's models. But the S5 is comfortable to hold.

The Galaxy S5 doesn't have all the circus tricks. But water resistance and heart-rate sensor are definitely welcome, and this is a solid device. Sometimes less is more.