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Samsung's got no more security updates planned for the Galaxy Note8
And there's new update schedules for some Galaxy A, M, and Tab models
The Samsung Galaxy Note8 had an excellent run. After the colossal exploding battery disaster that the Note7 represented in 2016, Samsung was looking for something that was good enough to not only clean up the Note brand but also become a sales success — and Samsung delivered. But all good things must come to an end, and for the Galaxy Note8, that time has come. It has officially reached end of life.
Samsung's Galaxy A51 is receiving the August 2021 security patch internationally
It's also available for the Tab A7 LTE and several A series phones
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Samsung's May 2021 update arrives for the Galaxy Tab S6, Note8, and more — here's the full list
Bringing improved Quick Share to more flagships
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Samsung has been trying to improve its image in software lately, especially when it comes to security updates for Android devices. What better way than to release an update several days early? That's the case with the May security update, which is already rolling out to several devices, with new features coming to select flagships.
Samsung retires the Galaxy Note8 from receiving monthly security updates
The Galaxy J7 Prime is being dropped entirely
Samsung releases a lot of devices, which means it also issues a lot of security updates. While Google has a standard 3-year policy for Pixel devices, Samsung keeps a running list of when specific devices will receive security patches, and for how long. Now it looks like the company has made a few updates, including adding new devices to the list and dropping one older model entirely.
The AT&T S20 series is receiving the August security patch
Our continuously updated list of patched Samsung phones
Samsung got incredibly fast when it comes to security patches, often beating even Google to the punch. The story is different for carrier-issued updates, but compared to prior years, they've gotten quicker, too. As such, AT&T has started pushing the update to the S20 series and the Note9 while the Verizon S9 and S9+ are in for the patches.
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Google promised over a year ago that the wireless version of Android Auto would work out-of-the-box on any Android 9.0+ phone, but that hasn't quite panned out. The only devices that have been able to use it are Google's own Pixel devices (plus the Nexus 5X and 6P), but that finally appears to be changing.
Moment announces biodegradable cases for Samsung Galaxy S20, S20+, and S20 Ultra
Most Samsung cases on sale for the next few days
After yesterday's presentation for the Galaxy S20 line of phones, many of you may have already made the decision to order one of the three models to be your next phone. Since Samsung is sticking to the glass sandwich recipe for this generation, it may be wise to wrap that (potentially $1400) phone in a case to add a bit of protection. If you didn't choose one of Samsung's options, Moment has a couple cases available that might fit the bill, and they are designed to be very environmentally friendly.
Until recently, the words "Samsung" and "timely updates" were never uttered in the same sentence, unless you were emphasizing the contradiction between them. The Korean behemoth had a reliable, albeit very leisurely update schedule, pushing Android users who valued prompt access to security patches and new features away. With Android 10, things changed drastically, and Samsung has been impressing us more and more, with both major OTA rollouts and monthly security patches. Whether it's due to a different strategy, new team or leadership, Android's Project Treble, or some magical potion, Samsung is quickly becoming the OEM to beat for Android updates and we can't help but applaud its recent efforts.
Broken displays often end up being the death sentence for old phones, so in a great marketing move that's also good for the environment, Sprint has decided to offer $50 repairs for shattered Samsung Galaxy screens. The deal is valid regardless of your carrier and will run through February 9 or while supply lasts. To take advantage of it, you need to drop in at a nearby Sprint shop.
For years, AT&T has been trying to push its SMS successor, Advanced Messages. The problem is that the standard only supports a handful of flagships and isn't even interconnected with the networks used by other carriers. Still, AT&T is working to get Advanced Messaging out to more devices and has just pushed out one such update to the Samsung Galaxy Note8 as well as the S8 and S8+.
TWRP is a custom recovery partition that can be installed on hundreds of Android devices, allowing homebrew ROMs to be sideloaded, full system backups to be created, and much more. Since the last time we covered the project, a handful of more phones and tablets have been added to the official roster, including the Asus Zenfone 6 and Samsung Galaxy Tab S5e.
If you happen to be in the somewhat curious position where bundling all your TV, internet, and phone services with one company aligns with your best interests, you may have considered joining Xfinity Mobile at some point to complement your other Comcast services. But up until now, if you wanted to bring an Android phone over to use, there was no way to do so except to trade in and buy one from the carrier. Today, the MVNO has finally expanded its BYOD program to include several major Galaxy phones though there are three massively disappointing omissions to the list.
More than two years after Samsung announced its original Dex dock, Plugable designed a competitor that can work with virtually any USB-C device. The Cube is a tiny hub that connects to your device through an external cable and acts as a dock to link it to USB peripherals, a monitor, and even an external network.
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Some Sprint customers who own smartphones in the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S10 series are facing major cellular reception problems. There has been some progress in solving the woes of S10 owners, but for those with plagued S8 devices, the investigation is just beginning.
With One UI, Samsung introduced a system-wide night mode for its Android Pie devices. The new feature darkens the manufacturer's proprietary software such as the Calculator and Messages apps and also alters the overall menus and interface colors, but still requires you to manually enable dark mode in other applications like Messenger or Slack. Android Auto, on the other hand, happily receives this setting and defaults to it, no matter the time of the day.
After releasing Android 9 Pie for the American Galaxy S9, S9+, and Note 9, Samsung is now rolling out the new software to the US variants of the Galaxy S8, S8+, and Note 8. People in other countries, such as the UK, India, and Korea, were already able to participate in the beta program, and it only made sense for the 2017 handsets to follow in their siblings' footsteps.
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- Well look at that, the Pie beta registration is also open for the Galaxy S8 and S8+. The firmware version numbers are G950FXXU4ZSA5 and G955FXXU4ZSA5, respectively.
Samsung's long-awaited Android 9 Pie update finally started coming to phones late last year, complete with a rather sweeping interface overhaul in One UI (maybe we'll have to stop calling it TouchWiz now). The roadmap for bringing Pie to other phones tells us that the Galaxy Note8 will be getting it in February, and sure enough, the beta is now available to try.
The way that smartphones send and receive messages is changing, and the name of the game is now RCS: Rich Communication Services. Little by little, manufacturers and carriers are getting their handsets ready for this next-gen protocol, so we're always interested in seeing when some new hardware comes on board. Last year T-Mobile brought compatibility to a number of Samsung devices, and it's continuing to do so now with RCS Universal Profile support coming to the Galaxy Note8 and Galaxy Note9.
Samsung's Android 9 Pie rollout has been rather swift. After beta testing it along with its new One UI on the Galaxy S9, S9+, and Note9, it began rolling it out to users of the first two models late in December. Back then, the company also released a Pie update roadmap with the months it expected to push the OTA for its remaining devices. Now, an updated roadmap has been spotted by SamMobile, pointing to quicker release dates for the Note9 and Note8.
If you own a Samsung Galaxy Note8, you may soon have a bit less envy for those who bought the latest-and-greatest Note9. A recent update for last year's Note device brings AR Emoji and Super Slow-Mo video capabilities to the camera, along with the September security patch. It's worth noting that as of now, this update seems to have rolled out to only some Note8 phones running on the Exynos 8895 chipset.