Samsung note 5 gets Android Nougat 7.x Update in India

Samsung finally seems to be launching their Android naugat 7.x software update for the Samsung Galaxy note 5 mobile phones in India. The update which is roughly 1.03 GB in size mainly has all the components of the new operating system which brings about of fresh new user interface with lot of improvements and tweaks.

The installation itself did not take a long while over my 100 mbps home connection from ACT. Blazing fast downloads and followed by the install itself.

The usual sequence of upgrading all the possible applications for the new version of android and the installation is done. The new Nougat does look extremely cool on the rather old note 5 what with the note 7 fiasco. The icons are rounded, screen looks much better with the new layout and icons.

You can find the reasons to upgrade the note 5 to Nougat, and the reasons not to in this post.
Once you are thoroughly convinced then you can move over.

So far I did like the blue light filter setting which is rather cool, in addition to performace modes, private mode setting, and enhancements to power saving options.

Issues are bound to be there with any new update and till now I have faced only one problem which is a deal breaker for me. My fast charging has stopped now. And this is unacceptable. Are you facing issues after the upgrade? Leave your opinion in the comments below.

How to use Samsung Pay in India using Galaxy devices

I had the opportunity to receive an update on my Samsung Galaxy Note 5 for the Samsung Pay app. Back then when Apple launched apple pay they marketed it as the next wave of payments and (as usual) just with yet another Apple ceritified payment terminal payment could be as easy as waving your iPhone across the counter when you were with a merchant.

However Samsung had to do something to counter this onslaught of Apple and they looked at this whole payment thing in a different light. What if they could replace card swipes across existing payment terminals with an app (and needless to say some hardware technology) ? They could then pull the carpet under Apple’s feet. And that is precisely what they finally did. Launched Samsung Pay. An innovation that did not need any change in existing hardware at any merchant. The only thing was that Samsung had to align with the banks for virtualizing their cards on the phone or equivalent devices such as the smartwatch and it was pretty much done.

This whole thing became so seamless that you could use it from day one. Its unfortunate that while the feature was already available since 2015 end in other countries it has made it to India only by 2017 which is really late and I hope Samsung learns from this. But then demonetization, alignments with banks, etc have impacted the launch a bit and they had to clearly plan it out. Alignment with banks in India is still a cumbersome process but something Samsung has finally completed. Not all banks participate with Samsung but many are about to sign up and you already have the major ones such as SBI, HDFC, Axis and ICICI on board. Standard Chartered and Citi are on the way too. Given these biggies control most of the banking market in India, pretty much many of these cards would then be covered under Samsung Pay.

So what really does it take to use the application? You need a supported version of a Samsung smartphone such as Samsung Galaxy S7, Note, etc or a smartwatch such as the S2 or S3 series. You need to install the application, add your credit or debit cards that are supported by the application. Adding a card involves authenticating the application to use your bank details by verifying an SMS sent to your registered mobile number. Its really that easy. And you are done. As for the smartwatch you can install Samsung pay application which is specifically tuned for the watch and add the same cards there as well.

Walk over to any merchant near your house, make a purchase and when you are about to pay, fire up the card by swiping up from home screen, choose your card, and you have options to pay using PIN or fingerprint. Once you input either of those an MST (magnetic secure transmisison) happens and your card data is provided to the card reader. Then on you still need to enter the 4 digit PIN for your card and your transaction is completed.

The same thing works from both the Samsung S3 frontier smartwatch as well as the smartphone and will be a big boon in how easily a payment can be made. Imagine taking out the right credit card from a bunch of cards in your wallet? Those days are over. And if you have a watch, even the days of using your smartphone to make that credit card payment will be over soon Smile

Take a look at the video and if you like it, and you appreciate Samsung’s innovations for its users, please do like, and share the post.

Intex and Panasonic challenge Micromax on its home turf

Intex and Panasonic have launched android smartphones having jelly bean to challenge players like celcom and micromax on their home turf. Both these players have launched phones that boast of HD displays, 1GB of RAM, dual sim, Jelly bean 4.2. , 8MP camera and over a 2000-2500 mAH battery that must suffice to make the phones last a long while in a given day.

While the ad shows that intex is priced at a paltry 11,000 , Panasonic have preferred not to put up the price ranges on the ad. However a small search reveals the price of the latter to be in the 25000 range. This puts panasonic in direct confrontation with the just launched Nexus 4 by LG, except that the LG phone boasts of faster google updates as well as a 2GB RAM which DOES make a significant difference in the way the phone operates.

What is more in focus is that there are now serious challengers to Apple, not limited only to Samsung, which have cropped up in recent months. While Apple might actually keep screaming about the fragmentation of Android, that does not seem to hit any mobile provider too hard at the moment. This only in fact proves that Apple must roll out an iPhone with a higher sized display and more RAM and perhaps a 128GB flash drive as soon as possible (a.k.a September of 2013). As is the usual custom they have now created ios7 from the ground up as demonstrated a while ago in the keynote of WWDC and what matters to be seen is the followup on the device front in september. Whether or not this will make any significant impact in sales or the consumer’s mindsets is still a question for which there is no answer.

Only one thing is clear: Even phone makers like Nokia/Microsoft, and the small time ones, such as micromax or celcom or intex and of course the market leaders to some extent LG/Samsung have now managed to pull the carpet from under Apple’s leg. The more Apple does not forecast or produce some good hardware on the phones segment, the likely it is that their value might take a further hit no matter how much is the innovation done. All said and done, Apple do things differently each and every time, but whether that alone is enough to keep a hungry public waiting is another question to be answered.