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“At Samsung, we believed in the promise that large screen smartphones could actively address some major consumers pain points by providing users with a better viewing experience and more productivity on-the-go. With the launch of the Galaxy S6 edge+ and Note5, we’re emphasizing our ongoing commitment to bold, fearless innovation that meets the needs of our consumers.”

CEO and President of IT & Mobile Division, Samsung Electronics JK Shin durign the Samsung Unpacked Event in New York

On Thursday August 13th 2015, Samsung stunned the world yet again at their Unpacked Event in New York as anticipated in my article How Samsung Galaxy S2 replaces your Laptop at Samsung Unpacked Event.

How Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Note 5 Keyboard Cover Nostalgia wins Applause (2)

As expected, they’d launched the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, albeit the Samsung Galaxy S2 Tablet was nowhere in sight.

However, they did tease a new Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 smartwatch, their first update since the Samsung Galaxy Gear S launched October 2014 in Jamaica as reported in Samsung’s Galaxy Gear S Smartwatch coming to Jamaica while reppin’ for Tizen.

But as I did this article, even I was for a surprise as Samsung seems to be placing all the right bets on the right things. But first, a quick look at the show stealers; the Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 smartwatch and Samsung Pay!

Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 smartwatch – Apple Watch has a huge lead that Tizen might fill

The Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 smartwatch marks Samsung’s first foray back into the smartwatch arena since the year began!

Already, it’s clear that Samsung smartwatch and Fitness tracker game isn’t up to par, as they’ve being outclassed by the likes of Fitbit, Garmin and Xiaomi as per the analyst IDC’s stats in Analyst IDC logs Wearables Profitable in Q1 2015 Fitness Tracker Business.

Expect to hear more about the round faced Samsung Galaxy Gear S2 smartwatch that’s’ expected to be running Tizen OS on Thursday September 3rd 2015 at the IFA Trade Show in Berlin.

Samsung Pay Mobile Wallet – Apple Pay Killer that works with Magnetic Card Readers

They’d also launched their Samsung Pay, their answer to Apple Pay as mentioned in Apple iPhone 6 and Plus with 128GB Storage and Apple Pay is Biggest iPhone Launch that promises to be more universal and a guaranteed Apple Pay killer.

This is because they’d purchased a company called LoopPay that has developed a proprietary technology called MST (Magnetic Secure Transmission) that allows Samsung Pay to be backwards compatible with older Magnetic Swipe Card readers, something Apple Pay cannot do.

It’s also very secure thanks to fingerprint verification, digital tokenization to verify the transaction. This is thanks to Samsung KNOX, their Government Intelligence grade encryption that’s baked into such products AnyConnect for Samsung KNOX, a free VPN (Virtual Private Network) App that integrates Cisco Systems AnyConnect 4.0 with Samsung KNOX as explained in AnyConnect for Samsung Knox is a Cisco Systems partnership for Secure VPN Communications.

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Samsung Pay can also work with NFC (Near Field Communication) as described in Samsung Pay supports NFC, MST with KNOX Security for Merchants and Banks.

Which of course brings me to the last thing, as for all this to work, Samsung has to secure contracts with the various banks across the USA, Canada, UK and Australia and elsewhere for their Samsung Pay solution to be universally accepted.

So expect Samsung Pay to be coming to Jamaica when they have their launch event here in Jamaica, which I suspect will be pretty soon!

So on to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5!

Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Galaxy Note 5 – Brothers bringing Blackberry Keyboards back

Samsung new phablets are packing Android 5.1 Lollipop as their OS, even as Google Android 6.0 Marshmallow is set to launch in September 2015.

Both Smartphone run on Samsung’s Octa-Core Exynos 7420 processors that came in the original Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge as described in Samsung Galaxy S6 and Edge at MWC 2015 coming to Mash up Jamaica.

In much the same way that the Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge are siblings, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 are brothers, save for a few slight differences.

How Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Note 5 Keyboard Cover Nostalgia wins Applause (1)

The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus weighs in at 153 grams, slightly lighter than the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 which tips the scales at 171 grams. However, the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 retains the stylus from the original Samsung Galaxy Note 4 as detailed in Samsung Galaxy Note 4 is a flatteringly fabulous Phablet with an improved S Pen, which the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus lacks.

Meanwhile the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus retains the curved edge to edge screen that made it distinctive and stand out when it was first launched in Jamaica at the Pegasus Hotel in April 2015 as reported in The Future is Now as Samsung Galaxy S6 launches in Jamaica.

I suspect many people reacted more positively to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge than the Samsung Galaxy S6, so they decided to keep that variant and drop the less popular Samsung Galaxy S6.

The most curious feature of all is the Keyboard Cover, which fits both the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5. Set to make its debut on September 2015, it costs an extra US$80.

How Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and Note 5 Keyboard Cover Nostalgia wins Applause (3)

It’s an additional accessory that is sure to bring back fond memories for Blackberry users, who have missed the standard keyboard and long for the feel of physical keys. The Keyboard Cover sports the following colours:

  • Black
  • Silver
  • Gold
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The aesthetics are also different, as the range of colours for the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus as a little more emphasis on semi-precious metals:

  • Black Sapphire
  • Gold Platinum
  • Silver Titanium

For the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, it’s really more about black and white:

  • Black Sapphire
  • White Pearl

So with these basic specs in the bag, Samsung look like they have a major hit on their hands, especially with Samsung Pay, albeit as I’ve emphasized before, they’ll have to get Banks to sign up to their Digital Wallet Solution.

But will this be enough to head off the threat from the Apple iPhone 6S, which is slated to launch on Wednesday September 9th 2015, based on some sources?

We’ll have to wait and see…

Samsung Galaxy Launched event in Jamaica – Anticipating Samsung Pay coming to Jamaica and the death of Contract Plans

In the US of A, 2-year contracts are slowly dying off with Sprint becoming the latest to make to move toward unsubsidized smartphones as reported in the Wall Street Journal.

They follow Verizon, who killed off contract plans in the week of Sunday August 9th 2015 and T-mobile, who started this contract-less Un-carrier revolution almost two (2) years ago.

AT&T are the last of the Mohicans holding on for dear life on the very profitable 2-year contracts which were highly subsidized, but they’ll eventually have to cave in to pressure, possibly on or before Black Friday in November 2015. The new paradigm is either to pay for the smartphone upfront or monthly installments until you own the smartphone yourself.

Both the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 are to be launched on Friday August 21st 2015, with pre-orders already starting for Americans on Thursday August 13th 2015. The Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus can be yours for US$200 on 2-year contracts (obviously AT&T) with the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 going for US$300 on a contract.

Under installment plans, 32GB Samsung Galaxy Note 5 will require twenty (20) payments of US$33.42 whereas a 64GB Samsung Galaxy Note 5 requires US$38.46 for each of those payments. Meanwhile the 32GB Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge Plus is 20 payments of US$38.40.

With 2-year Contract plans dying off in the US of A, will the same occur here via Digicel and LIME in Jamaica when Samsung launches these fabulous phablets? Only time will tell as Friday August 21st 2015 draweth nigh…..just in time for back to school in September 2015!

Samsun is sticking to their guns and is betting big on Samsung Pay, the death of Contract plans and the nostalgia of a Blackberry Keyboard Cover to woo customer away from the Apple iPhone 6S come September 2015.

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