The Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp Program

The Samsung Dream the Blues campaign is part of the Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp program. The partnership gives the opportunity to train children for the next generation of football players. Football-loving youths from age 9 to 13 are encouraged to achieve and expand their football dreams. The campaign reaches across four continents and eight different countries. Since 2007, the Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp program has benefited 5 000 youths across the world.

For this campaign, Samsung and Chelsea will visit football camps in each country to provide training for local youths. They will be trained to learn ‘The Chelsea Way’ from Chelsea Foundation coaches. From each of the local camps, the 16 most passionate participants will be selected to advance to the Blues Camp in London to train and meet the Chelsea players.

Samsung consumers in Mexico, Nigeria, Ghana, Republic of South Africa, China, Thailand, Brazil and Turkey will have the chance to apply for the campaign, which will kick off in Mexico and end in Turkey in April 2013. The Blues Camp will take place in London in May 2013.

Chelsea players Juan Mata, Fernando Torres, Victor Moses and Oscar are the campaign ambassadors and will be promoting the campaign to football fans and Samsung consumers around the world.

If you would like to keep up to speed with Samsung's latest campaigns and innovations, they have a really great YouTube Channel called Samsung Tomorrow TV. Click on over and take a look!

Sponsored by Samsung

REVIEW: Introducing the Samsung Galaxy Note

IF there is one thing I can say about Samsung, it's that they continue to impress me with their screen technology. I watched a video recently where someone tried to scratch their Samsung smartphone screen with a penknife (violently), which left behind very little carnage.  

The new Galaxy Note smartphone (launched this year) features the world’s first and the largest 5.3" HD Super AMOLED display. This is an expansive high-resolution screen, which is currently the largest screen size available with smartphone portability. The Galaxy Note was designed to combine core on-the-go benefits of various mobile devices while maintaining smartphone portability.

The HD Super AMOLED display offers quality viewing experiences for video, photo, documents, webpages, apps and e-books. The blacks are deep and the colours bright. The superior screen also offers a 180 degree viewing angle, allowing contents to be viewed and shared comfortably from all angles. It is also great for showcasing high resolution PowerPoint presentations and the screen is large enough to allow split-screen operation, which handles well thanks to its 1.4GHz dual-core processor.

"The artistic freedom of a paper notebook is coupled with the benefits of Samsung’s smartphone technology and services, allowing users to create, edit and share with more style than ever before," says JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.

Samsung plans to release the S Pen SDK soon which will allow app developers to create new applications and services incorporating the pen functionality. Samsung has also included S Planner - a smart, professional planning tool that makes full use of the device’s large screen. The management planner integrates the phone’s To-Do list and schedule.

The Galaxy Note also features S Memo - a multimedia application designed to record all forms of user-created content. Pictures, voice recordings, typed text, handwritten notes or drawings can all be captured via a single application and converted to a 'memo', to be edited, annotated and shared as desired.

A good smartphone wouldn't be as such without good connections into the online world. Fast network speeds are enabled through the HSPA+ and LTE-enabled connection. This allows users to stream videos in real-time or engage with their friends through online gaming platforms.

This article has been sponsored by Samsung.

SAMSUNG DIVE: Samsung gets smart with mobile security

AS Smartphones become ever increasingly sophisticated, more and more personal information is stored on them, and the loss of a phone can be far more than just an inconvenience. It is with this in mind that Samsung has launched Samsung Dive – an online access portal to address the security issues associated with a mobile lifestyle.

“If you’ve ever lost your phone, you’ll know it can be very frustrating and more importantly, it can be a huge security risk. We have responded to the security needs of our consumers as the Samsung Dive service will provide peace of mind by allowing you to not only see the details of your phone via the Internet, but where you last used it, and if you have lost it or it was stolen, you can wipe your personal information off the device.” - Paulo Ferreira, Head of Product and Software Solutions at Samsung.

Samsung Dive is in essence a free security assistant. When your device is lost you can lock your device via Samsung Dive and with the Mobile Tracker service you will be able to lock, wipe or see the location of your phone. Key elements include:

• Ring my Phone feature: This service will use the Internet to send a message to the phone to ring and initiate a call whether the phone is on or off.
• Receive notification when the SIM card is changed: You can be notified when the SIM is changed in the case that someone uses your phone illegally.
• Remotely lock your phone: You can lock your phone to prevent people from using it and accessing your personal information.
• Remotely wipe your phone: If you lose your phone and it hasn't been returned, you can initiate a remote wipe to protect your privacy.
• Receive the location of your phone: To help you find your phone, the service will show the last location of your phone on Google Maps.

In addition to the above, Samsung Dive allows for the ability to pull up call logs remotely. This is certainly a practical function for parents as it allows them to monitor their child’s cellphone and stay in contact. If your child is out and isn’t answering, for example, not only can your track the phone, but you can also pull up the call logs and dial the last person they were in contact with.

• Note: The Samsung Dive application is only available for the Samsung Galaxy SII (which will be officially launched locally within the next quarter) and the Samsung Wave II (locally available in-store). Further models will become available at a later stage. Samsung will keep you updated as to these additions.

- Published on behalf of Samsung and Orange Ink.

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THE SAMSUNG CORBY: For nimble-fingered tech savvies

THE iPhone has certainly set the standard for new cellular descendants with newer mobile releases favoring the larger, full-touch screen. There is also a major focus on making cellphones exclusive social networking devices.

Samsung has followed suite with the release of a few touch-friendly iPhone clones – one of which is called the Samsung Corby. The device is specifically aimed at the youth market and it’s easy to see why; it takes a tech-savvy youth to get to grips with it. However, touch technology is amazingly intuitive and it shouldn’t take long for anyone to learn to use a Corby – provided you have thin and nimble fingers and thumbs.

Social features
On the plus side the Corby is certainly a very social phone. It is fully Facebook, Twitter and MySpace compatible and can be used to upload content to a variety of sites, such as YouTube, Flickr, Picasa and Photobucket. One is also able to receive updates and live feeds via Facebook, MySpace and Twitter through a simple pop-up SNS (Social Networking Service) notification feature.

With a Corby, users can upload photos and videos and view such content on these sites through a feature called Communities. However, community access is only granted after an extensive disclaimer is displayed, which includes the clause that any content uploaded may be accessed and used by third parties. Be warned that there is a risk of being spammed with adverts once your personal details are divulged.

The screen
The 2.8-inch QVGA screen is large and crystal clear – something that Samsung certainly gets right. I thought the screen would get smudgy after a few hours of fingering and was surprised to find that it didn’t leave a single fingerprint behind. Apart from three buttons found on the front, the phone is entirely operated with the screen using one’s fingers and thumbs.

This may pose a problem for some as the Corby does not favour users with fat fingers. You have to use your thumb to type / touch anything comfortably and I’m sure that the average thumb is not as small as most of the keys on the touch-screen. A better option is to use a stylus (a phone-poking pen with a thin, touchy tip). Yet the Corby comes with none.

What’s on the menu
The Corby has an elaborate menu – two and a half screens worth. These all have a function and purpose but Samsung could have easily gone for a minimalistic approach by combining some of these. For example, there are separate synonymous icons for “Google” and “Internet” as well as separate “stopwatch” and “timer” functions. I guarantee that consumers would agree that less is more and imagine that a lot of the Corby’s multiple functions would go unused.

Apart from the 27 pre-installed widgets an additional 75 are available for download from Samsung’s online Widgets Store (not unlike the iPhone App Store). The Corby makes use of quad band connectivity to download content and browse the web, which is no 3G experience but is still sufficiently fast.

Nonetheless the Corby is easy enough to navigate and it doesn’t take long for all the mysterious symbols to start making sense. There does, however, seem to be a slight misunderstanding between the scroll and the zoom functions – often confusing themselves with each other. What also lacks is an on-screen QWERTY keyboard – making message-making rather difficult.

Other features
The Corby has an impressive memory and can support up to 8GB of external storage. Battery life is said to be 9 hours of talk time and an incredible 730 hours of standby time. It has a camera yet this is a mere 2 megapixels and has no autofocus or flash. It does have a “smile shot” function which is becoming all the rage – i.e. the phone will only take a photo of a person when he/she is smiling.

There are two unique features belonging to the Corby, namely “one finger zoom” and “smart unlock.” As the name suggests, one finger zoom enables consumers to zoom in and out with one finger, while smart unlock is a feature which enables users to unlock the phone by drawing a letter on the screen. One can choose from 9 letters with which to secure their phone from teenaged trespassers.

The verdict
The S3650 Corby would definitely appeal to youngsters that are keen on technology and consider themselves as active social networkers. It is also a phone for those who like to personalise and customise and comes with extra covers slanged “fashion jackets”. The relatively low price of R1500 implies no fancy stuff, but the wide range of features and downloadable content is certainly relevant to the target audience. Tech-savvy and mobile-intuitive traits required.

Related Reviews:
Samsung S3500: Budget Bundle
Jet-setting with the Samsung Jet

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REVIEW: The Samsung S3500 Quad-band

I’VE had the same brand of cellphone since I was 16, and that’s not because I’ve had the same phone since I was 16. On the contrary, I’ve been through about seven phones in the last eight years.

There was my first phone that drowned in a fishpond, another that committed suicide by jumping out of a six-storey window, a third phone that died in a freak electrical-induced accident, and a few others that were simply tossed aside because something sexier and more exciting had come to town.

But of all the phones I’ve had in my life, they’ve all had one thing in common — they all belonged to the same brand. My current phone is the same brand. I believe this is because of a fundamentally human thing — that we tend to resist change, especially in the technology department. There is something comforting about the familiar and we don’t want to have to faff about learning something new when we already have something old that works perfectly fine.

This brings me to the Samsung S3500, which was a pleasant introduction to Samsung mobile phones. This model seems to be marketed as a fairly up-to-date budget phone, because apparently we’re in some kind of merciless economic recession. It’s not a bad marketing strategy, although I would argue that what actually appeals to consumers the most is the idea of paying less for more.

And it’s not a bad bundle that you get for around R3 000 (prepaid).

It has one unique function called “fake call” which is a little strange. This function enables you to activate a bogus incoming call so you can free yourself from awkward conversations or dodgy situations by pretending to take a call.

It has EDGE connectivity capabilities, an embedded music player, FM radio, Bluetooth, a WAP browser and a camera, among other things. It also looks really slick and there is something very pleasing about a slider phone.

Let’s take a closer look (a full list of specs appear at the end of this post):

DISPLAY
The Samsung’s display, on the other hand, is great, with each of the main keys of the D-pad bringing up a different set of options. It is easy to navigate and all the functions are neatly displayed on the main menu. It has a nice selection of themes, the icons are large and the screen is bright. Top marks for presentation.

SOUND
One thing that cellphones today are really starting to perfect is the way they sound. Gone are the days of fake-sounding, mosquito-like noises emanating from phones as they ring. Most mobiles today sound so good that they make for great portable radios and MP3 players. The Samsung S3500 is both and they sound great.

KEYPAD
Until this year I had always been reluctant to get a phone on contract. The thought that yet another phone might drown or kill itself, leaving me with the responsibility of having to pay for it every month for two years, doesn’t really appeal to me.

However, one needs to consider that as long as you take good, vigilant care of your cellphone, having one on contract should be a lot cheaper in the long run. I am finally content with my current phone with the exception of its keypad, which is very similar to that of the Samsung S3500.

I find these newer, flat and hard keypads difficult to operate, especially when trying to type an SMS in a hurry. This does not bode well for someone who SMSes more than he/she phones.

My fondest memory of my very first phone was its spongy buttons, which almost massaged one’s fingers. With these flatter, more plastic-like keypads, such as that of the Samsung S3500, I find that I have to use my fingernail to type … if it hasn’t yet been chewed off from frustration.

GAMES
The Samsung S3500 has a large library of games, which tells me that this phone is really suited for the teenage market. The phone comes with seven free games with the option of downloading more. And these are not the standard, outdated games such as Snake, but classier, more challenging digitalised treats such as Harry Potter, Midnight Pool and Sudoku.

If mobile games are your thing, these should keep you entertained for hours.

INTERNET
As soon as I read “Quad-band” on the side of the Samsung S3500’s box I got rather excited as I expected to experience lightning-fast Internet speeds. However, if you have experienced ADSL Internet speeds, then connecting to the web using this phone (or most phones for that matter) is nothing special and can be painfully slow. To make matters worse, this particular model doesn’t have 3G capabilities, which can be a bummer.

CAMERA
Considering that most modern phones today have five-megapixel cameras, the Samsung S3500’s two- mega pixel camera is a bit of a disappointment. It’s fine for taking photos (and even video) to view on the phone itself, but if you are wanting to preserve your mobile memories by printing out your pictures from your phone, this one really isn’t quite up to the task.

OTHER FEATURES
With the exception of 3G and GPS, there seems to be very little that the Samsung S3500 is missing when compared to other cellphones of 2009. It has a standard phonebook and messaging interface, the usual call log, a separate folder for all your downloaded or produced content, an organiser with a clock, alarm, calendar, calculator and converter, a voice recorder, timer, stopwatch and numbered buttons from one to nine.

FAKE CALL
There is, however, one unique function called “fake call”, which is a little strange. Many of Samsung’s more recent handsets include this feature, which enables you to activate a bogus incoming call, so you can free yourself from awkward conversations or dodgy situations by pretending to take a call.

For added authenticity, you can record your own fake voice “call” that plays back when you answer. Potentially useful perhaps, but don’t be caught using it!

Apart from that, the Samsung S3500 is nothing too special but is a decent upgrade if you currently have on older Samsung model. I think I’ll stick to my particular cellphone brand for now and simply avoid getting too close to fishponds, hanging around high-rise windows, and make an extra effort to stay away from electrical experiments.

SAMSUNG S3500 SPECS:

• GPS: No
• Java: Yes, MIDP 2,0
• Games: 7 + downloadable
• Bluetooth 2,0 + EDR and USB
• Messaging: SMS, MMS, e-mail
• Size: 100 mm x 48 mm x 14 mm
• 2-megapixel camera (1600x1200 pixels)
• FM radio with RDS and recording feature
• MicroSD card support with up to 8GB support
• 30MB of internal memory • Phonebook: 1 000 contacts
• EDGE: Class 10; 236,8 kbps • Browser: WAP 2,0/xHTML, HTML
• 2,2-inch TFT; QVGA resolution (240 x 320), 16 million colours
• Quad-band GSM/EDGE connectivity (850/900/1800/1900 MHz)
• Standard Li-Ion 800mAh battery with talk time of up to 7,5 hours
• Embedded music player supports MP3/AAC/AAC +/MIDIplayback
• Video: Record 15 f/s QVGA video in MPEG4 and H.263 formats (playback in 25 f/s QVGA)

Related post: Jet-setting with the Samsung Jet

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SAMSUNG JET REVIEW: Samsung Jet and its innovative smartphone-like features take handsets to the realms of being 'smarter than a smartphone'

THE Samsung Jet has opened up a whole new world of mobile web browsing with its high performance Dolfin web browser and revolutionary 3D cubic interface, allowing super-fast surfing. The device also supports the option of multi-window browsing – allowing one to surf up to five pages simultaneously.

The 3.1" Samsung WVGA AMOLED display is four times sharper than a WQVGA screen, has a fast touch response, and is also very efficient in its power consumption - consuming 40% less energy than a mobile phone equipped with TFT-LCD display.

When it comes to a review of music, the unique features of the Samsung Jet give users the option to operate simultaneous playback audio and scroll through the phone's music library.

For video, the DVD-like playback recording (with D1 Video Playback and D1 30fps Video Recording) enables seamless playback without residuals and the ability to instantly download and play DivX and Xvid formats without converting and resizing- all in HD-like quality.

This full-touch mobile phone boasts revolutionary speed thanks to its 800MHz Accelerated Application Processor. This sophisticated high-performance processor is the Samsung Jet's secret to speed and versatility, integrating multiple applications and functions, such as navigation and viewing.

Samsung Jet also has an A-GPS application, to provide navigation services in life-like 3D, to convey real places, information and directions in real-time. This incorporates 3D Map Navigation, GPS on Google maps and location-based services. And if all that isn't enough, it also includes a Geotagging feature.

SAMSUNG JET SPECS:

• HSDPA 3.6Mbps (900, 2100 MHz)
• Revolutionary 3D Cubic Interface
• Display: 3.1" 16M WVGA AMOLED
• Camera: 5.0 Megapixel AF camera+ Dual Power LED
• Face Detection, Smile Shot, Panorama Shot, Blink Detection, Geo-tagging, Photo Editor
• Video: D1 Video Playback/D1 30fps Video Recording, Vid Editor
• Supports: MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX, XviD
• Audio: Music Player with DNSe & SRS WOW Sound Effect
• Find Music, 3.5 Ear Jack, FM Radio/Recording
• Supports: MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA, AMR, MIDI, SP-MIDI, i-melody, WAV, MMF, XMF, OMA DRM v2.1, WMDRM,
• DivX VOD & Wi-Fi
• Active Sync for Push Mail

Value Added Jet specs:

• In-house developed Dolfin Browser, WAP 2.0, One finger Zoom
• Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync, Share Pix & Mobile Widget
• A-GPS, On Board Navigation(3D Map), TouchWiz 2.0
• Motion UI, Media Gate 3D, Multi-tasking Manager
• Connectivity: Bluetooth® v2.1, microUSB (USB v2.0 Hi-Speed), Wi-Fi
• Memory: 2GB onboard memory & 8GB microSD card (included)
• Battery: 1,100 mAh - Talk time : 2G/492 minutes, 3G/300 minutes
• Standby: 2G/422 hours, 3G/406 hours
• Size: 108.8 x 53.5 x 11.9 mm

Related Review: Samsung S3500: Budget Bundle

- issued on belhaf of Samsung Mobile Phones
www.helloworldagency.com

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GPS: Garmin launches Mobile XT

THERE is an ever-increasing number of mobile devices (phones and PDAs) being launched on the South African market that include global positioning system (GPS) receivers as a standard feature.

However, these devices rarely come bundled with accurate, high-quality GPS and mapping software - a deficiency that often makes the GPS feature an underutilised mobile option.

A GPS in your pocket
Garmin Mobile XT Version 5 is a new product Garmin are launching in 2009 specifically for cellphones with GPS receivers.

The product is installed on an SD card and transforms GPS-enabled mobile phones or PDAs into full-featured navigation devices, with all the functionality of conventional GPS devices (such as turn-by-turn voice prompts).

This is according to Andrew McHenry, head of mobile and content for Avnic Trading (the official South African distributor of Garmin and Garmap), who says that for very little cost users can take full advantage of having a “go-anywhere” navigation device in their pockets, which is as convenient and beneficial to use as it is easy to set up.

To enable South Africans to get the most out of their GPS-enabled devices, Avnic Trading has announced the retail availability of Garmin Mobile XT version 5 - the company’s full navigation application, which utilises the very latest Garmap Africa Series 2008 mapping data.

Garmin Mobile XT: Points of interest
Garmap Africa Series 2008 Second Edition now includes over 750 000km of routable map data for 1 700 cities, towns and villages, as well as 55 nature reserves, in nine countries. To date, the map set also includes over 190 000 points of interest (POIs) and the list is growing on a regular basis.

“Garmin Mobile XT gives users the ability to check weather forecasts for their destinations, access flight details for many major airlines, and call a point of interest (such as a restaurant or coffee shop) using the phone feature.”

Garmin Mobile XT: Social / community feature
“There are a number of community-focused features in Garmin Mobile XT that aim to add even more benefit to having a GPS in your pocket,” says McHenry.

Users can send a location message to another mobile phone - detailing their exact location in GPS coordinates. If the receiving mobile phone also has Mobile XT installed, the message translates into a destination point and allows the receiver to easily and quickly navigate to that point.

Garmin Mobile XT: Safety feature
Being able to find someone also plays a huge role in safety and security. Mobile XT includes a “panic button”, which automatically fires off an urgent location message to three emergency contacts whenever the # key is depressed for more than 3 seconds in certain Samsung and Nokia handsets.

Garmin Mobile XT: Panoramio
For tourists and pedestrians in South Africa, Garmin Mobile XT also includes a useful social feature called “Panoramio” - a tool that allows consumers to access user-generated content that has been uploaded to the web.

“Utilising Panoramio, users can download a list of photos that were taken by other users who had visited the same area before and uploaded these geo-tagged photos to the Panoramio website,” says McHenry.

“In Garmin Mobile XT, users see a list of photos, a short description of the photo and the distance to the place where the photo was taken. Users then simply select the attraction that they want to see and Garmin Mobile XT shows them how to get there.”

“This makes it easy to navigate cities and tourist destinations, using landmarks and tourist attractions without having to know the exact address,” McHenry adds. “It’s a great new way of discovering attractions in foreign cities, or maybe even in your own backyard.”

From point A to point Z
“There is so much more to the GPS feature on mobile devices than the glorified map book,” McHenry says. ”It’s not just about navigating from point A to point B anymore. There’s so much to discover out there, and you may just be carrying the very tool in your pocket to help you find it.”

• Garmin Mobile XT version 5 will be available in retail blister packs at leading retail outlets from the beginning of 2009, for a recommended retail price of R990.

Compatible handsets include:

• HTC: Touch Diamond, Touch Cruise, Touch Pro, P3300, X7500, TyTNII, P3470, X7500
• Sony Ericsson: Xperia X1
• Nokia: E90, E71, E66, N96, N95 8GB, N95, N85, N82, N79, N78, 6220 Classic, 6210 Navigator, 6110 Navigator
• Samsung: i560, G810, i8510, i780, i900

As someone who is somewhat renowned for getting lost in his own backyard, I’m writing to Santa and asking for one of these babies as a late Christmas present!

- issued on behalf of Garmin and Tribeca Public Relations

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