Your Galaxy Phone

Despite the fact that Samsung Pay is supported only by a few Samsung flagship phones, and while the platform is available only in a handful of regions, the South Korean giant’s mobile payment service has been quite successful so far, registering over 5 million users by February 2016. This adoption rate can be largely attributed to the fact that, in regions where it is already available, Samsung Pay can be used at virtually any payment terminal supporting physical cards. Now Samsung wants to make things even better for its customers and accelerate mobile payment adoption by partnering with global POS (point-of-sale) providers.

Earlier today Samsung announced its newfound partnership with some of the largest POS makers in the world, including Pax Technologies, USA ePay, MagTek, ID TECH, Equinox, First Data and Clover, Verifone, and Ingenico Group. The idea is for Samsung to work closely with these companies in order to deliver the best experience for Samsung Pay users at checkout, to accelerate the platform’s adoption rate, and to “systematically test and validate the different POS systems”, ensuring “maximum compatibility and universal acceptance” for the service. According to Samsung, universal merchant acceptance is “critical to consumer adoption”, which is why Samsung’s mobile payment system relies not only on NFC (Near Field Communication) but MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) as well. This allows Samsung Pay customers to use their smartphones and make fast, secure payments almost anywhere, and the new partnership with the aforementioned global POS manufacturers should further facilitate universal compatibility with more merchant terminals.



Samsung Pay is a mobile wallet / payment service developed by Samsung Electronics using LoopPay technologies. The service was first released in South Korea in August 2015 and was introduced in the United States in September last year. Last month the payment service was also launched in China in collaboration with China UnionPay, and by the end of 2016 Samsung Pay is expected to widen its reaches to a handful of other countries across the globe, including Australia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, Spain, and the U.K. In February 2015, Samsung revealed that more than 5 million customers have registered for Samsung Pay, and that the service has processed over US$500 million since release.


Source : www.androidheadlines.com

According to IHS Technology's analyst Kevin Wang, Xiaomi has managed to sell 14.8 million smartphones in the first quarter of 2016. This number includes sales outside China as well.




For the same period last year, the company managed to ship roughly the same number of phones - 14.98 million. While it's certainly not the growth the company hoped for, it's not too shabby either. In 2015, Xiaomi sold 70 million units and didn't meet its own expectations of 80 million units.

Xiaomi started 2016 on a strong note with the Mi 5 and the Redmi 3 Pro. The 6.4" Xiaomi Max is also expected to be an interesting addition to the company's product lineup.




Source : www.gsmarena.com

Remember a few years ago when lockscreens had shortcuts and widgets and multiple screens? Well, these over-stuffed kind of lockscreens have fallen out of favor now, but if you miss the glory days, you should look at Samsung's new app - Good Lock.


It's a lockscreen replacement that is not 100% sure whether it wants to replace the lock screen or the home screen. It has shortcuts - frequently used but also recent apps.



It has widgets and quick toggles too:



One thing I do like is the advanced notification actions - they are treated almost like calendar events, you can save them for later, set alarms to remind you, tag them so they are easier to find.



The Good Lock app is adaptable, it lets you add rules called Routines. They are based on time, location and network that switch the available shortcuts and apps. Basically, you can create a "work" lockscreen that switches to "personal" after working hours.



The app is available from Galaxy Apps in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore and Korea. You'll need a Galaxy S6 or S7 (including versions like edge and Active) or a Galaxy Note5 (running Marshmallow). Samsung has committed to updating Good Lock bi-weekly based on user feedback.



Source : www.gsmarena.com