Samsung

Samsung Labor Conditions Are Still Terrible

Samsung recently commissioned an independent inspection of 100 of its suppliers in China. Surprise: their working conditions are still dreadful. Mercifully, the report does at least report that there’s currently no child labor used in the factories that manufacture Samsung products. But the rest makes for depressing reading. https://gizmodo.com/samsung-denies-new-claims-of-underage-workers-in-its-su-5968732 Most of the factories fail to…

Samsung Galaxy S5 Mini: Same Sensors as Its Sibling, Slightly Slower

Samsung has just announced a new, smaller version of its Galaxy S5 flagship—and it manages to pack many of the features of its bigger brother, while just losing a little of its speed. In particular, it carries many of the same sensors as its sibling, including waterproof certification, power-saving modes, a heart rate monitor, fingerprint…

Samsung Gear Live Hands-On: Turns Out Smartwatches Could Be Great

We got a surprise announcement at Google I/O today, with Samsung unveiling its first Android Wear, the Gear Live. We slapped it onto our wrist and got to play with it for a few minutes, and while it was in its demo mode so we couldn’t dive in too deeply, we were impressed. The hardware…

The Best Tablet Display Isn’t On an iPad

The key element for a great tablet has always been a truly innovative and top performing display, and the best leading edge tablets have always flaunted their beautiful high tech displays. But Tablet displays are more challenging to produce because their large screens are three to four times the size of a smartphone. Up until…

Samsung Galaxy Tab S Review: Good Lord, That Display

Samsung’s tablet approach the last few years has been to toss every conceivable size into the stores to see if anything takes. They tended to all look they same, perform the same (not great), and vary by just an inch or two here and there. The Galaxy Tab S is different, though. It grabs you…

Adventure Tested: ​Samsung Galaxy S5 Active Review

With additional armor and unique, physical buttons, the waterproof Samsung Galaxy S5 Active targets outdoorsy users. Well, I’m outdoorsy, so I took it outside and beat it up. Does it work? You might be reading this review on Gizmodo, but I’m no phone expert. Instead, I’m an outdoors nerd making the sub-site around adventure travel…

The Galaxy S5 (and Other Android Phones) Are Easier to Root Than Ever

Famed hacker Geohot has released a tool called Towelroot that will allow you to root your Galaxy S5, along with a number of other prominent Android devices. Geohot, the hacker behind a number of iOS jailbreaks and the target of Sony’s legal team after hacking the PS3 a few years back has turned his sights…

Samsung’s Smart TVs Just Got a Pretty Sweet App (Finally)

For all the promises that “Smart TVs” make, they aren’t really all that smart. Generally, they’re just TVs with glorified streaming boxes built into them, plus a few unwieldy bells and whistles nobody wants or uses. So when a smart TV app comes along that actually looks cool, it’s pretty shocking. That’s the case with…

Samsung Galaxy Tab S: A Shining Screen On a Whole New Body (Update: Hands-On)

Samsung’s Galaxy Android phones have been a terrific success—its Galaxy tablets, not so much. Meet the Galaxy Tab S, Samsung’s crack at making a tablet as great—and as appealing—as the Galaxy S5. The new Tab S replaces last year’s Tab 4 and comes in 10.5 inch and 8.4 inch models with Super AMOLED displays, both…

Samsung’s Smart Bike Uses Your Phone to Keep You Safe

Samsung has teamed up with Giovanni Pelizzoli—an amazingly talented frame builder—to create a bike which uses a smartphone, combined with onboard sensors and devices, to try and keep you safe. Unveiled at a show in Milan, the bicycle is centered around a curved frame which is designed to reduce the road buzz that gnarly city…

Amusing Vacuum Billboard Sucks Its Own Ad Back Into View

Here’s further proof that you don’t need celebrities, scantily clad models, or even a developer’s conference to advertise a product. Playing up those billboards that rotate through multiple advertisements during the day, Samsung stuck one of its vacuums on top of this sign, and it roars to life with suction whenever another ad attempts to…

Remember how Barnes and Noble said it was going to give up on its Nook tablets? Well they are back! As branded Samsung Galaxy Tabs. Samsung and B&N just signed an agreement to bring the Nook software and name to a flavor of the 7-inch Galaxy Tab 4. Hooray?

Bluetooth-Controlled LED Bulbs That Create Their Own Wireless Network

Coincidentally timed with Apple’s WWDC HomeKit announcement, Samsung has revealed a new line of smart LED lightbulbs that communicate with your phone, and each other, using a mesh Bluetooth network they automatically create. What does that actually mean for you? Well, for starters, the bulbs don’t have to be connected to your home’s Wi-Fi network.…

This Is Samsung’s First Tizen Phone

Samsung’s been playing with its Tizen operating system for some time now, looking for a way to break free of the Google ties it relies on for its Android Galaxy smartphone successes. The OS recentlywormed its way into the Samsung Gear 2 smartwatch, and now, after a long development period, there’s a Tizen phone too…

4K Is Officially the Next Dumb Format War

If your bank account has left you unaware of the state of the 4K movement, here’s a fun surprise: if you buy a 4K movie from Sony, you’ll need a Sony television to play it back. If you buy one from Samsung, you’ll need a Samsung TV to view it. Which means that what should…

Samsung Wants to Be the Central Platform for All Wearables

In the last year, Samsung has released three different smartwatches in an apparent attempt to iterate and get out ahead of the pack with a viable product that’s actually useful. Today, we’re getting a look at Samsung’s master plan here: It wants to develop the central open platform for all the the data your wearables…

Samsung Smartwatch Patent Predicts Gesture Control on Your Wrist

There’s only so much room for a touchscreen on your wrist and, unless you’re dressed like Dick Tracy, talking into your watch will make you look like you’ve lost the plot. A newly-uncovered Samsung patent looks to motion-tracking gestures as potential supplementary smartwatch controls to ease the burden on the smaller devices. The concept details…

Report: Samsung Is Still Working on a Smartwatch That Is Also a Phone

In the lead up to the announcement of Samsung’s Galaxy Gear, there were rumors aplenty that this would be the device that would satiate the strangest of nerdom’s appetites: a watch that is a phone. The Galaxy Gear was not that at all, but according to the Wall Street Journal, Samsung is not done quite…

Report: Samsung’s Working on its Own Oculus Rift Rival

Got pockets big enough for a Samsung phablet? You might want to stitch an extension into them: Samsung is said to be working on its own virtual reality headset to be paired up with its mobile devices, according to Engadget. http://www.engadget.com/2014/05/22/samsung-vr-headset/ Whereas the Oculus Rift focusses on PC gaming, and Sony’s Project Morpheus will do…

If you thought that Samsung’s Music Hub media subscription effort was ill-conceived, you’ve just been proved right: it’s shutting down on July 1st. It’s Book Hub may soon follow, too.