technology

Samsung S9 expected in January

Samsung's new flagship smartphone is expected to be released early next year.

The release of Samsung's next flagship smartphone could come as early as next January, ahead of the usual February launch the Korean company has stuck to for the last few years.

According to SamMobile, an independent Samsung smartphone blog known for getting rumours right, Samsung could release the Galaxy S9 a little earlier than expected, unveiling it ahead of Mobile World Congress in February.

This year, the Galaxy S8 was launched slightly after the tech conference in Barcelona, as the company was reportedly running extra tests on the device to ensure there would not be a repeat of last year's Note 7 battery inferno.

The blog warns this early rumour makes the rounds every year, but Samsung has moved its launch dates away from big tech events, such as the Note 7 being revealed before IFA last year.

Other rumours include the smartphone incorporating new technology featured in Apple's tenth anniversary edition device, the iPhone X. This could be the rival's complex face recognition software that removes the need for a home button – giving the device a truly bezel-less screen.

Samsung is late to the dual-camera setup game, a feature that was first introduced to the mainstream by Huawei in 2019 with the P9, followed closely by LG and then Apple last year.

The Korean company introduced its first dual-camera setup with the Note 8 a few months ago; the Samsung S9 is expected to follow suit.

Huawei's dual-cameras were one monochrome camera and one colour camera, LG had both colour cameras but one normal and the other wide-angled. Apple had a normal-sized lens and a telephoto lens.

The Note 8 has two 12MP cameras, each with different focal lengths – wide and zoomed in. The S9 is rumoured to include a similar setup.

Expert Reviews reports the new device will feature 6GB of RAM, the removal of the headphone jack, and a faster processor.

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Samsung Will Reportedly Preview Galaxy S9 And S9+ At CES 2018

Samsung Galaxy S8, S8+ and S8 Note became the hot selling smart devices in the year 2017. Samsung made major design changes as well as processor improvements.

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The result was a bigger, smarter device which offered a lot more options for its users than its predecessors in the Galaxy series.

One of the things that Samsung users know for a fact is that the company soon started working on Samsung Galaxy S9 and related models as soon as they were done with S8. The new phone is most probably scheduled to launch for sale during the month of May in 2018.

There are predictions by experts that Samsung may launch the phone ahead of sales in January at the CES 2018 event. That will give the device two months in advance for reviews and updates.

This speculation comes at the back of the information from the VentureBeat via The Verge that Samsung is already making changes and updates to the S9, S9+ and S9 Note devices.

The devices are reported to be an iterative improvement over the S8 series. The experts at Blass have said that the S9 series may be getting Qualcomm’s forthcoming Snapdragon 845 updated processors.

This will help give the upcoming devices a significant speed boost. The fingerprint sensor is also being reportedly moved below the camera at the back instead of its location next to the lens as in the S8 series.

The S9 series will see the upgrade to the AKG stereo speakers and it will retain the audio jack as well. S9+ will reportedly be bigger than S9 in size and it will also be upgraded to 6GB of RAM. It will also add additional rear camera similar to Note 8.

It is not yet confirmed how many of these reported features will be showcased at the CES. However, knowing that Samsung fans will be getting a look at the S9 series sooner than expected, it is happy news all around.

Samsung S9 smartphone to come in three — maybe four — versions?

So THAT’S what they were saying…

We’ve been waiting to give Google’s new Pixel Buds a go since they were announced a while ago. The $159 wireless earbuds – which are connected to each other by a single wire but connect to your phone wirelessly, just to be clear – include a clever feature we think we’re going to see much more of in the future: the ability to translate a language in near real time. Oh, and yeah, you can also listen to music and make call with them.

So how do they stack up against their most apparent competitor, Apple’s slightly more wireless and losable AirPods? DT audio critic Ryan Wanianta says that while the translation feature is definitely cool, the Pixel Buds fall a little short in other areas, at least for this initial generation. Check out his full review, especially if you’re a Google Pixel phone user.

(Screen) size matters

It’s practically raining amazing smartphones these days, and it looks like Samsung is pressing forward with the Galaxy S9 after the successful but also slightly troubled launch of the S8. With the apparent success of Apple’s new iPhone X, it looks like Samsung will try to launch three and maybe even four S9 models starting early next year. BGR is reporting that the S9 line will include the typical standard and “plus” phablet options, along with a sturdier “active” model.

However, BGR adds that sources say Samsung may also be planning to re-introduce a small or “mini” version of the phone in the 5-inch screen size range. Apple has had unexpected success with their legacy-sized iPhone SE, which is essentially an old-school 4-inch iPhone 4 with an iPhone 6S stuffed inside. Apparently, not everyone wants a phablet. Can’t say we disagree with the small-but-powerful idea. Just don’t wander into Zoolander territory.

City of Ideas

Here’s an interesting question: If you literally had all the money in the world, unlimited access to incredible technology and grand ambitions, what would you do? How about… build a smart city. That’s the plan that seems to be taking shape in Arizona, where billionaire and tech icon Bill Gates has purchased over 24,000 acres of scrubby desertBill Gates is building his own city, and he’s loading it with smart tech outside of Phoenix. So what’s the plan?

Gates and his partners in the Cascade Investment firm say they want to build the city of the future literally from the ground up, and this won’t be some Microsoft company town, either. The city, which seems to have the tentative name of Belmont, would be a hive of data centers, autonomous vehicles, scaled-up 3D printed construction, cutting-edge schools, gigabit connectivity, and pretty much every tech advance smart people like Gates can dream up.

Gates has done this before, albeit on a much smaller scale; with his gigantic home hear Seattle. The 66,000 square-foot residence is teched out to the extreme, and it’s now 20 years old, so suffice to say he has some experience with these ideas. Gates and friends haven’t turned a robotic shovel in the dirt yet, so we’ll be keeping close tabs on this unique project as it moves forward. Be sure to tell us what tech you’d like to see piut to use in Gates’ smart city project.

We’ve got more news on our Facebook page and YouTube channel, and be sure to tune in to this week’s DT podcasts: Trends with Benefits (general tech shenanigans)  on Thursdays, and Between the Streams (movie and TV topics) every Friday.