Tag: Samsung

South Koreans know how to dominate online reactions and this Wall Street Journal reporter is finding that out:

The Wall Street Journal’s “mocking” review of Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Fold smartphone has caused a controversy here as some internet users have criticized the U.S. newspaper for posting an “insensitive” video on YouTube.

Critics said Monday the paper’s journalist should have offered a thorough and independent review of Samsung’s latest smartphone in the video rather than focused on ridiculing it.

In February, Samsung unveiled its first foldable smartphone and the device is set to hit the U.S. market April 26, but the phone has been criticized by U.S. reviewers as the top layer of the display easily peels off, which can cause serious damage to the screen. 

WSJ reporter Joanna Stern posted the video review of the Galaxy Fold, Friday (local time). In the three-minute video, the reporter put a sausage inside the screen of the smartphone, showed clips of peeling a banana and orange and folded a colored piece of paper.

The video has gone viral logging more than 570,000 hits as of 3 p.m. Monday, but has generated negative responses from some viewers, recording 22,000 thumbs-downs while having 10,000 thumbs-ups. More than 4,400 people left comments on the video, many expressing anger over mocking the device by putting a sausage and other objects inside the smartphone.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link and view the review below.

It is pretty surprising that Samsung’s new foldable phone would have this many problems right before its release:

A number of U.S.-based tech reporters reviewing Samsung Electronics’ potentially game-changing mobile device, the Galaxy Fold, reported faults after just a few days of use.

Reporters from CNBC, Bloomberg and The Verge have each tweeted pictures and videos showing faults with the folding screen of the Galaxy Fold devices they were given this week to review ahead of the phone’s U.S. release on April 26.

Steve Kovach, tech editor for CNBC, tweeted in the early hours of Thursday morning, Korea time, a video of his Galaxy Fold that showed the left hand of the screen flickering and flashing white with a bold black line splitting the screen in two, presumably along the point where the screen folds when it is closed. The video was captioned “After one day of use…”

The Galaxy Fold is designed to open like a book to become a 7.3-inch display tablet. The cover of the phone — the front when it is folded — is a 4.6-inch screen that works like a conventional smartphone. In all three reported cases, it is this internal folding screen that was defective.

Joong Ang Ilbo

You can read more at the link.

This article makes me wonder what the real story is that the police are going after the Samsung heiress for something that may have happened 3 years ago?:

Police searched a plastic surgery clinic, Saturday, as part of an investigation into an allegation that Hotel Shilla CEO Lee Boo-jin habitually received injections of propofol, an intravenous short-acting anesthetic. Lee is also the oldest daughter of Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee.

Investigators from the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency carried out an eight-hour search at the Gangnam-based clinic from 6:30 p.m., Saturday, and confiscated Lee’s medical records and the clinic’s drug control records. 

They conducted a digital forensic analysis to restore deleted data, as well. 

Later in the day, police announced they had booked the head of the clinic on the charge of violating the Medical Law.

The search came three days after the drug abuse allegation was first reported by a local media outlet, citing a former employee of the clinic. 

According to the report by Newstapa, Lee was regularly given propofol at the hospital from January to October 2016 while the witness worked there. The former employee said Lee received the substance in a VIP room at least twice a month.

In the wake of the allegation, police asked the clinic to submit its documents without seeking a warrant, but it refused to comply.

Hotel Shilla has parried the allegation, claiming that she had only visited the clinic for legitimate treatment.

Korea Times

Back in 2016 when the supposed illegal propofol use happened Lee Boo-jin was recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the Top 50 businesswomen in Asia. That year she was also dealing with a $1 billion divorce fight.

It looks like Kim Jong-un may visit a Samsung factory during his trip to Vietnam. I suspect that such a visit will be used to further the perception that he has changed and really wants to advance the DPRK economy and thus why sanctions should be dropped before denuclearization:

 A senior North Korean official is believed to have looked around areas near a smartphone factory in Vietnam owned by South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics Co., sources said Sunday.
The move is prompting speculation that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may seek to visit the Samsung factory when he travels to Vietnam for his second summit with U.S. President Donald Trump.
Kim Chang-son, known as North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s de facto chief of staff, and other officials arrived in Hanoi Saturday to check logistics for a second summit between Trump and Kim slated for Feb. 27-28.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

I am curious to see how durable and useful this foldable smartphone is going to be:

Samsung Electronics Co. plans to launch its first foldable smartphone in March, along with a fifth-generation (5G) network-powered Galaxy S10, industry sources said Monday.

According to the sources, the South Korean tech giant plans to unveil the flagship Galaxy S10 smartphone in February, followed by the presumed foldable Galaxy F and another edition of the Galaxy S10 that runs on the 5G network in March.

The outlook came after Samsung Electronics President Koh Dong-jin, who heads the mobile business, said last week that the company will release a foldable smartphone within the first half of 2019. Koh said the shipment volume of the foldable smartphone will be at least 1 million.

Industry watchers said Samsung is expected to showcase the upcoming foldable smartphone in the Mobile World Congress in February, ahead of the official launch in the following month.

The much-awaited foldable smartphone, however, is not expected to support the 5G network.

While the price of the foldable smartphone has not been decided, industry watchers said it may cost around 2 million won (US$1,770). The steep price is expected to limit sales.

Samsung said the upcoming foldable smartphone will fold inward, and will sport a 7.4-inch screen when unfolded and have a 4.6-inch display like a regular smartphone when folded. [Yonhap]

You can read more at the link.

It seems to me that Samsung is getting off pretty cheap on this issue:

Samsung Electronics plans to deliver an official apology on the long-standing dispute surrounding its former workers suffering from diseases apparently related to the working environments at its factories, the mediation committee said Wednesday.

The apology is part of the agreement reached between one of the world’s leading makers of chips and Supporters for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry (Sharps), a group of victims suffering from various illnesses such as leukemia after working on Samsung’s production lines.

Earlier this month, the mediation committee announced the settlement – which Samsung and victims earlier agreed to accept – which included compensation of up to 150 million won ($132,000) per illness.

The mediation committee said the signing ceremony of the settlement will be held on Nov. 23. In July, Samsung and Sharps agreed to accept any decision made by the mediator to end the issue that has been unsettled for over 10 years.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read more at the link.

Moon has been deputized by Kim to extort Lee to give Kim. Confusing? Put differently: The tyrant has cajoled the president, an elected leader, to coerce his nation's richest man to pay up to the tyrant. https://t.co/Kx3MSYnCOi

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) September 20, 2018

Quasi-hostages, dragooned into the dreaded anti-capitalist dictatorship by their own so-called liberal former human rights lawyer sovereign. Do those billionaires strike you as happy campers? https://t.co/B9oUyyKatg

— Sung-Yoon Lee (@SungYoonLee1) September 19, 2018

Its finally over:

The patent war between the two biggest smartphone rivals has finally ended.

Samsung Electronics and Apple have settled a seven-year legal dispute over each other’s design patents. Neither disclosed the amount of the settlement.

The two giants informed the district court in San Jose, California, “they have agreed to drop and settle their remaining claims and counterclaims in this matter,” according to an order signed by Judge Lucy Koh of the Northern District of California. The settlement means all suits will be dismissed and no further case will be filed on the same claim.

“We can only say that we have settled with Apple and cannot offer any comment,” said a Samsung spokesman.

The dramatic turn of the lengthy legal battle came a month after retrial jurors in the Northern District of California handed Apple $538.6 million in damages for Samsung violating design and utility (technical) patents that included the infamous “rounded corner” patent. Samsung at the time vowed to consider its options including another appeal.  [Joong Ang Ilbo]

You can read much more at the link.

A notice apologizing for a massive “fat-finger” dividend payment error at Samsung Securities Co. is posted on the door of the brokerage’s branch in Seoul on April 9, 2018. Last week, the brokerage mistakenly paid employees huge amount of shares in dividends instead of cash dividends. (Yonhap)