Samsung launches Galaxy S5 and smartwatches

At the second day of MWC(Mobile World Congress)  in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung launches its new Galaxy S5 and Gear smartwatches.

Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with fingerprint scanner on the home button like Apple iPhone 5S. Samsung's scanner works by swiping the finger over the home button. In addition to the phone unlock, it also works as fingerprint-protect a private data locker.  Samsung also announced a partnership with PayPal which allows you to make online payments using the fingerprint method.

The new hardware feature in Samsung Galaxy S5 is the heart rate sensor, which is embedded in the back portion of the phone on the LED flash module. It is conjunction with S-Health 3.0. To monitor the pulse, hold the finger up to the sensor and wait till you see the reading. Samsung is planning to offer an open SDK for developers to incorporate this technology into their own apps.

"With the enhanced S Health 3.0, the Galaxy S5 offers more tools to help people stay fit and well. It provides a comprehensive personal fitness tracker to help users monitor and manage their behaviour, along with additional tools, including a pedometer, diet and exercise records, and a new, built-in heart rate monitor," said a Samsung spokesperson.

The first phone in Samsung to be IP67 water and dust-resistant.

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy S5

Dimension 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm
Weight 145g
Cat 4 4G (LTE) with 150Mbps download and 50Mbps upload.
5.1 inches super AMOLED display with 1920x1080p
2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Krait 801 processor
2GB RAM
16GB and 32GB internal storage, Expand upto 128 GB using  microSD card
16 megapixel rare camera, 2 megapixel front camera
4K video recording
2800 mAh battery, standby time of 390 hours and talk time of 21 hours
Android KitKat 4.4.2
USB 3.0
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and ac
Bluetooth 4.0 BLE/ANT+, NFC and InfraRed
accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, RGB ambient light, Gesture (IR), and heart rate sensors
Available in charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold

"With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to basics to focus on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our consumers," said JK Shin, president and head of IT & mobile communications division at Samsung. "Galaxy S5 represents an iconic design with essential and useful features to focus on delivering the ultimate smartphone in the market today through people inspired innovation."

Samsung included a feature called Ultra Power Saving Mode which turns the display becomes black and white and all 'unnecessary features' are disabled to reduce battery consumption. Calls and text messages are prioritised.

Along with Galaxy S5, the company also announced the Gear Fit, a new fitness band. David Park, a senior Samsung executive, said, "Gear Fit is for people who want the functionality of Gear 2 smartwatches, but in the size of a fitness band."

It counts steps with a watch and also measure pulse with the heart-rate sensor embedded inside.

Samsung also reveals Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo which runs on Tizen. It is expected to have a better battery life than the Gear. The camera  of the Gear 2 is on the strap. Gear 2 Neo, being a cheaper model don't have camera.

"Galaxy S5 users can further customize their experience with an enriched third party app ecosystem and the ability to pair with next-generation Gear products for real-time fitness coaching," said by Samsung spokesperson.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and smartwatches will hit the market by April 11 in 150 countries.

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Tizen Association Chairman being cautious, says to launch smartphone with Tizen soon this year

In MWC(Mobile World Congress), Tizen Association Chairman and a director of product development at Japanese carrier NTT Docomo Ryoichi Roy Sugimara is very cautious of launching smartphone running on Tizen. Sugimara said the association and its carrier partners are carefully looking at the best market for a launch.

"You'll see a real commercial launch in some markets," he said in an interview following the Tizen Association's Mobile World Congress event here on Sunday.

Tizen talked up the 15 partners it had signed up to the group, as well as additional partners designed to help speed up the adoption of apps. Samsung's Gear 2 and Gear Neo smartwatches, the only mainstream products to run on Tizen were in display.

Sugimara pointed to a Tizen-powered phone that is a test unit from Samsung, as well as an R&D unit from ZTE. Sugimara said he wanted to find a market where the competition is less.

NTT Docomo was the first carriers to offer a Tizen phone but ended up canceling the plans because it thinks the market could not support more than two operating systems.

Sugimara is looking at markets where competitors are less and oppurtunities are more, that is Tizen is looking at the emerging markets and regions that would be interested in a lower end, but still powerful, smartphone.

Sugimara has to build relationship with both the vendors and carriers in China. When the carriers' move to more advanced wireless networks, there are opportunity for Tizen to take advantage of that shift as consumers change out their phones.

Sugimara have signed with ZTE and looking for more Chinese vendors, to help him create more competitive mid-range smartphones.

Sugimara announced that Tizen is expanding to wearables and TVs as well. The aspirations are higher, but Sugimara said he is trying to control expectations for Tizen. "In order to get into real-world devices, we need a step-by-step approach," he said.

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Mozilla looking forward in low-end smartphones, to bring $25 smartphone with Firefox OS.

In an ongoing event MWC(Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain. Mozilla focus on its bet that low-end smartphones will give Firefox OS a start in the crowded mobile market, announcing partnership that will bring $25 smartphones to large number of people who can't afford high-end models.

Mozilla stricked a deal with Chinese chip designer Spreadtrum Communications. This smartphones will arrive in India and Indonesia where the demand of low-budget phone is very high.

One company that plans to make and promote the phones is Indonesia-based Polytron. And Indian carriers Telkomsel and Indosat plan to sell the devices.

"We're working with them to break through the $50 barrier, which is a hard," Mozilla Chief Technology Officer Brendan Eich. "This is going to be for a set of [sales] channels in Asia that do not involve operators," the carriers that in other parts of the world dominate distribution.

The phone may have low-end configuration then most android and iOS smartphones. But Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation, said at a press conference in MWC that the devices have to be judged by a different, lower-end standard.

"Imagine the phone in your pocket is a feature phone. Imagine, when you go buy one of these devices, that every euro is precious to you," Baker said. Looking at "the richness and power we're able to offer to this market, you'll be astonished. Then imagine where we can go from there."

Mozilla has found itself little less in the mobile OS market by pursuing its low-end strategy, with the first phones debuting in countries such as Hungary, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and Greece. Mozilla, a nonprofit organization, hopes to use the browser-based operating system to lower the barriers that today keep people locked into ecosystems linking hardware, OS, app store, services, content, and apps. In the same show Mozilla also expanded parternship with Alcatel and ZTE. They debuted models with dual-core processors and larger-screen options and Firefox OS without raising the price.

Firefox OS v1.1 is the latest version of the HTML5 based operating system which comes with Twitter and Facebook. HERE Maps is available with offline feature. The update to version 1.1 adds MMS capabilities. Adaptive App Search lets you type in something that you are looking for and find out which apps will give it to you. One can load the app instantly for one time use and discard it, or install it for future use. One can download apps from Firefox OS market.

"The positive market reception of the first Firefox OS smartphones demonstrates that people like the user experience and openness we’re building with Firefox OS. We continue to enhance Firefox OS to deliver the best experience for the many people around the world buying their first smartphones. We are looking forward to seeing the response to the next round of Firefox OS launches."-Jay Sullivan, COO, Mozilla

Version 1.1 of Firefox OS also allows you to import your contacts from Gmail, Hotline, Facebook and from your SIM card while the QWERTY keyboard now offers auto-correction. Search your music by artist, group or song title and more than 15 languages are now supported.

Alcatel's The One Touch Fire S will take Firefox OS to new heights, a quad-core processor and support for faster new 4G LTE networks and Alcatel also showed off an early version of a planned new tablet, the One Touch Fire 7.

At Mozilla's event, Huawei also announced its first Firefox OS phone known as the Y300. It comes with a dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4-inch 800x480 display, a 5-megapixels rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front facing camera and Firefox OS v1.1. No news about when the Y300 model will be in market.

Arriving at the show are two ZTE phones and four Alcatel phones:

The ZTE Open C has a 4-inch, 800x480 display, a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, 3G networking; 1,400mAh battery, 512MB RAM, 2GB flash storage, and 3-megapixel camera. The Spanish carrier Telefonica will sell it in Venezuela and Uruguay in the second quarter of 2014, ZTE said.

The ZTE Open II has a 3.5-inch 480x320 display, dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3G networking; 1,150mAh battery, 256MB RAM, 2GB flash storage, and 2-megapixel camera. Telefonica will sell this model in six countries

The Alcatel One Touch Fire S, the company's highest-end model, has 4G LTE networking, a 4.5-inch 960x540 IPS screen, a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and support for near-field communications (NFC).

The Alcatel One Touch Fire E is a step down. It's also got a 4.5-inch 960x540 screen, but not with in-plane switching, and its 1.2GHz processor is only a dual-core model. Its rear-facing camera has a 5-megapixel resolution, but its front-facing camera is only 0.3MP.

The Alcatel One Touch Fire C is the clear successor to 2013's model. Its 3.5-inch 480x320 screen is the same size, but it now is accompanied by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. Its camera is pretty low-end, just a 0.3-megapixel model.

Google is pushing toward lower-end phones, with Android 4.4 memory-saving techniques that fit KitKat into phones with 512MB of RAM. Firefox is pushing, too. It uses the same ZRAM memory compression technique to halve its memory requirement to 128MB of memory, Eich said.

Alcatel is also pushing Firefox OS tablet, The One Touch Fire 7, into the market. Alcatel plans to reproduce a low-budget Firefox OS tablet. It's got a 7-inch 960x540 display, dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 0.3-megapixel front and rear cameras, a 9.9mm thickness, and 285g weight.

Mozilla itself will sell phones: Firefox OS Flame. It's got a Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, a 4.5-inch 854x480 screen, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 3G networking, 8GB of flash storage, NFC, a 1,800mAh battery, 256MB - 1GB RAM.

Mozilla's main focus is on smartphones, but it's encouraging others to help push Firefox OS into tablets. Via's 7-inch Vixen 7 and Foxconn's 10-inch InFocus are available to developers who are interested in the area.

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