Here are the Samsung phones that will get RCS support

Samsung and Google are teaming up to make RCS better.

Samsung announced today it’s working with Google to make their respective texting apps fully compatible with each other. In other words, Samsung Messages users will be able to use all of the advanced RCS features when chatting with Google’s Android Messages users. These include group chats; the ability to send images, stickers, and files; location sharing; read receipts; typing indicators; and video calls. With RCS, all of these features are part of the basic messaging service that’s tied to your phone number, reducing the need to use WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, or other similar services.

Read: What is RCS messaging and why is it important?

In theory, RCS could become the overarching messaging service that connects every smartphone in the world. In practice, the rollout of RCS support has been slow and chaotic, despite the best intentions expressed by manufacturers and carriers. Samsung itself dragged its feet, having first announced its RCS rollout in February 2017.

Samsung phones getting RCS support

As part of its announcement, Samsung said it would roll out RCS support to many of its recent flagship phones, as well as some mid-rangers. Starting with the Galaxy S8, the following devices will get RCS support:

• Galaxy S8;
• Galaxy S8 Plus;
• Galaxy S8 Active;
• Galaxy S9;
• Galaxy S9 Plus;
• Galaxy Note 8;
• Galaxy Note 9;
• “select” A- and J-series phones.

In its blog post, Samsung said the devices need to run Android 9.0 or higher, but it’s not clear from the wording if this requirement refers to all phones on the list or just the A- and J-series ones.

Furthermore, “select Galaxy phones on carriers that support RCS” will feature RCS support out of the box.

Carrier support required

“By furthering our robust partnership with Google, we will bring a richer messaging experience to our customers, letting them seamlessly chat with their friends and family across messaging platforms. This collaboration will help further the industry’s momentum toward advanced messaging and global RCS coverage,” said Samsung’s Patrick Chomet.

The big question mark remains carrier support. Carriers control a major part of the complex infrastructure required to support RCS messaging. Without carrier support, you can’t have RCS, despite the best efforts of Google or Android OEMs.

Read: Huawei will bring RCS to its smartphones via Android Messages

At the last count, 55 carriers from around the world have pledged to support the RCS Universal Profile, which is a set of technical features designed to ensure compatibility between various RCS implementations. Not all of these carriers actually offer RCS already though.

The good news is Google and Samsung seem to be on the same page when it comes to RCS. That will hopefully give the initiative the momentum it needs to become a truly universal service. Well, as close to universal as possible, considering that Apple has shown no intention of ever adopting RCS.

Source: Android Zone

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Huawei now testing Android 9.0 Pie for Mate 10, P20 Pro, Honor Play

• Huawei has confirmed Android 9.0 internal testing for the Mate 10, Mate 10 Porsche Design, Mate RS Porsche Design, P20 Pro, and Honor Play.
• With the Mate 10 Pro, P20, Honor 10, and Honor V10 already confirmed to be in testing earlier this month, that takes the full tally to nine in total.

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Huawei certainly isn’t hanging around with its plans for Android 9.0 Pie, as today the Chinese giant has confirmed internal testing has begun for five more phones. The devices in question are the Mate 10, Mate 10 Porsche Design, Mate RS Porsche Design, and P20 Pro, as well as the recently revealed Honor Play from its Honor sub-brand.

With the Huawei Mate 10 Pro, Huawei P20, Honor 10, and Honor V10 already confirmed to be in testing earlier this month, that takes the full tally of Huawei/Honor phones to nine in total. The confirmation this time comes from MyDrivers (via GSMArena) which notes that Huawei is readying all nine phones for an imminent beta program in China.

Editor’s Pick

Here are the best Huawei phones you can buy right now

China-based Huawei makes and sells a lot of different smartphones, and it can get quite confusing for consumers who might want to buy one for themselves. There are plenty of choices for people who want …

Huawei says the beta will be available for a maximum of 2,000 users starting this September. Only 200 will receive the update to start with, followed by the rest towards the end of the month.

Huawei also noted that testers will need at least 6GB of free storage on their device and that they have to be mindful that this isn’t final software — basically, expect bugs, incompatibility issues, and crashes.

Recently a Huawei spokesperson recently revealed that the company is planning to kick off its official rollout of stable Android 9.0 Pie-based EMUI 9 firmware, starting with the P20 series, at IFA in Berlin. The rest of Huawei’s flagship phones are expected to follow shortly after, so it makes sense for the company to be testing the full range on beta software at this time.

Are you excited to see the magic of Android 9.0 Pie on your Huawei/Honor phone? Let us know in the comments.

Up next: Android 9.0 Pie update tracker: What we know so far

Source: Android Zone

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Two more painfully forced and awkward Samsung ‘Ingenius’ ads are here

YouTube

• Two new spots in the series of Samsung “Ingenius” ads are now live.
• The new spots focus on the capabilities of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9.
• One of the ads is at least a little humorous, while the other is just awful.

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Prior to the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 9, Samsung started posting a new series of advertisements to its YouTube page called “Ingenius.” The ads all focus on an Apple store employee who continuously tries to convince customers that Apple products are superior to Samsung’s products.

Of course, the skeptical customers all seem to think the Apple store employee is wrong and/or crazy because Samsung products are clearly superior in every way, forever and ever, amen.

Editor’s Pick

Calling it: The Galaxy Note 9 won’t sell as well as the Note 8

Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, and the Samsung Galaxy S series is the most successful Android smartphone brand.

The Samsung Galaxy S9 and S9 Plus are poised to be the best-selling Android smartphones of …

Now that the Samsung Galaxy Note 9 is launched and up for pre-order, we are blessed (or cursed) with two more ads in the “Ingenius” series which center directly on the capabilities of the latest Samsung flagship.

The first – simply entitled “Pen” – features an Apple store customer asking about the Apple Pencil and how it compares to the S Pen in the Samsung Galaxy Note 9. The Apple store employee says the difference is that the Apple Pencil can only be used on the iPad, which Samsung obviously thinks is hilarious.

Check it out here:

I will admit that the “Pen” spot is not the worst of the “Ingenius” bunch, simply because it’s true: the Apple Pencil is pretty useless if you don’t have an iPad Pro. And the part where the Apple employee says he has ten fingers got me to chuckle a bit.

However, the second spot – titled “Power” – is a pox on humanity and probably one of the worst advertisements I’ve ever seen. Unlike the “Pen” spot, “Power” doesn’t seem to have any clear direction; it’s just two people arguing about nothing where nothing funny happens. Watch to see for yourself:

Samsung’s marketing department has used its rivalry with Apple as a marketing strategy for a long time in many different ads. But these “Ingenius” spots only seem to be saying one thing: “Samsung isn’t Apple, and isn’t that great?”

The problem is that many, many people around the world think Apple is pretty awesome, and these silly little videos aren’t going to change their minds. Instead, it just makes the Apple fans cringe and the Samsung fans…also, cringe.

Are you sick of these ads, too? Or do you think they’re hilarious and insightful? Hit up the comments and let me know.

NEXT: The evolution of the Samsung Galaxy Note S Pen

Source: Android Zone

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Deal: Up to 80% off Anker USB car and wall chargers at Amazon

Amazon

If you’re looking for some USB charger deals, Amazon is running three awesome ones for its Deal of the Day series.

The three products come from Anker, and after the discounts you stand to save up to 80 percent off the list prices.

The deepest discount of 80 percent is for the Anker Quick Charge 2.0 in-car USB charger. While we are way beyond Quick Charge 2.0 at this point, the fact that this charger has a small profile, two USB ports, and the ability to charge your devices quickly is pretty cool. And at only $11.99 with one-day shipping for Prime members, it’s simply a no-brainer.

Get the Anker Quick Charge 2.0

If you’re looking for an in-car charger that’s a little more robust when it comes to its features, Anker is also offering the Roav by Anker Car Charger with FM Transmitter and Bluetooth 4.2 Receiver. This device has a nifty trick: you can use an Anker app to locate your car. If you park in a city you haven’t visited before, it can sometimes be difficult to remember where you parked and navigate back to it. Granted, you can already do this with other apps, including Google Maps, but it’s a neat feature nonetheless.

The Roav by Anker also has a built-in FM transmitter for cars that don’t have Bluetooth built-in. Essentially, this little unit does it all and will only cost you $19.99 with free one-day shipping, a savings of 51 percent.

get the Roav by Anker Car Charger

And finally, if you don’t need anything for your car but just need something for the house, Anker has you covered there, too. The Anker PowerPort 5 is a 40W/8A 5-port USB charger that features smart-charging capabilities. The “smart” in smart-charging means that the unit will detect what kind of device you’ve hooked up and alter its charging pattern appropriately to deliver the fastest and safest charge it can get. Plus, it’s a small unit so it won’t take up too much space.

Get the Anker PowerPort 5

These deals will only go for the next 12 hours or so; we recommend buying now before stock (or time) runs out!

Source: Android Zone

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Comments of the Week: Huawei, gaming phones, and Android P changes

Welcome to the second installment of Comment Authority, a weekly feature where we highlight the best comments on the site from you, our readers. There were lots of positive comments made on our inaugural Comment Authority post last week, so we’re glad to see that you all enjoy this concept. There were some issues with people not being able to see embedded comments in the post, so to rectify that we are posting screenshots instead that link to the highlighted comment. Hopefully, this works better for you!

If you have any suggestions or constructive criticism for Comment Authority, let us know in the comments (naturally). This is your feature, after all, so it should be catered to what you think works best!

Without further ado, here are the best comments from this past week!

It’s called a gaming device for a reason

The CEO of Asus hinted this week that the company would release its own gaming phone. His comments (whether he intended them to or not) seem to be a response to Xiaomi’s announcement of its own gaming phone, the Black Shark.

One Android Authority reader by the moniker Reon has a very specific qualification for what a gaming phone needs to have in order to be called a gaming phone. When you think about it, their requirement makes a whole lot of sense:

If it ain’t broke…

We got a sneak peek into some changes that may end up in the stable version of Android P. One of the changes is the switch from a vertical scroll through recent apps to a horizontal scroll. Granted, we don’t know for sure if this change will make it to the final version of Android P, but reliable sources indicate that the change has been implemented in internal previews. One reader by the name of meyerweb is not too happy about that, for good reasons:

Your loss is my gain

Judging from some info leaked by sources close to the matter, it appears Huawei is giving up on America. The company has tried numerous times to bring its highly reviewed smartphones to the United States, but it’s faced numerous roadblocks. Now it seems that it is moving on to focus on other things, chalking up its American footprint as a lost cause for now.

One European commenter going by Da_James thinks that’s just fine:

Star Wars reference of the week

A leaked set of patent images point to Samsung developing a phone with a display notch. Our own Scott Adam Gordon’s catchy title for the article on the topic, “Samsung design patent reveals a notch and we can already hear the screams,” generated quite a bit of conversation. However, it was Steven Osorio who had just the right Star Wars reference for the occasion:

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Have a terrific weekend, everyone! Try not to spend the whole time playing God of War. Get outside, at least for a few hours!

Source: Android Zone

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