Archives February 2023

At Galaxy Unpacked 2023, Samsung unveiled its latest Galaxy S series flagship smartphones — Galaxy S23, Galaxy S23+ and Galaxy S23 Ultra. The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ feature an updated rear camera design with individually placed camera lenses. Additionally, the headsets are powered by the most powerful chipset available for the Android ecosystem — Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2. Other features include a 50MP triple rear camera setup with improved Nightography.
Samsung Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+: Specifications
In terms of specifications, the two Galaxy S23 smartphones aren’t that different. The entire Galaxy S23 lineup, including the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+, is powered by Qualcomm’s latest and most powered Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset clocked at up to 3.36GHz. The handsets come with 8GB RAM and up to 512GB UFS 3.1 storage.
The Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ feature a 6.1-inch and 6.6-inch Dynamic AMOLED 2X FHD+ display, respectively. The display supports a 120Hz adaptive refresh rate. In addition, the display on both handsets is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. In addition to that the displays also support Vision Booster and Enhanced Comfort features, which claim to optimise the displays for a better viewing experience.
In terms of camera, the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+ retain the same camera setup as their previous generation counterparts. The handsets feature a 50MP primary shooter, a 12MP ultra-wide sensor and a 10MP telephoto sensor with 3X optical zoom and 30x hybrid zoom. Samsung claims that they’ve improved low-light photography and video capabilities by adding features like noise-reduction technology, Astro Hyperlapse and more.
Samsung has upgraded the front camera setup on both devices with a new 12MP sensor compared to the 10MP sensor from the previous generation.
The handset runs OneUI 5.1 based on the Android 13 operating system out-of-the-box. Samsung has increased the battery capacity on both handsets by 200mAh. The Galaxy S23 is now backed by a 3900mAh, while the Galaxy S23+ comes with a 4700mAh battery.
The Galaxy S23 supports 25W fast charging, while the Galaxy S23+ comes with 45W fast charging support. Also, both devices support wireless charging and wireless PowerShare.
(Disclaimer: The author is covering the Galaxy Unpacked event at San Francisco, USA on the invite of Samsung India.)

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has been experimenting with the platform ever since taking over. From introducing differently coloured verification ticks to tinkering with the algorithm, he has actively engaged with bringing new changes to the social media giant.
Musk’s latest experiment involves checking the impact of account privacy settings on tweet visibility. In a recent tweet, he shared that he was making his Twitter account private for a day to test this. He wrote, “Made my account private until tomorrow morning to test whether you see my private tweets more than my public ones.”

The backstory of Musk’s latest move
Musk’s decision to change his profile privacy setting to private stems from one of his recent interactions. Earlier, Twitter user “Libs of TikTok” – an account having over 10 million followers – tagged the billionaire and enquired about an odd observation. The user claimed that its tweets were not getting enough visibility until the account privacy was switched to private.
Following this tweet, the comment section was filled with users resonating similar concerns. A user reported not being able to post something on Twitter despite trying twice. Another one hinted that the platform may have reduced his tweet visibility by shadowbanning his account.

Among all these concerns popping up, Elon Musk chipped in and replied, “Something is wrong.” Not long after, he went ahead and made his account private as highlighted by the ‘lock’ next to his Twitter name.
The tweet where he revealed this move has 18 million views at the time of writing. Interestingly, this amount is close to the combined views (21.3 million) received by the three tweets before it.
Musk’s followers replied to this tweet apparently acknowledging they saw it without any delay. A few people also noted they have been observing seeing less of his tweets. Some others didn’t find any particular increase in tweets from Musk in their feed.
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Alongside the Galaxy S23 and Galaxy S23+, Samsung also announced the top-of-the-line Galaxy S23 Ultra, the Galaxy S22 Ultra successor and its first 200MP camera smartphone, at the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event.
Apart from the new 200MP camera and improved camera capabilities, the Galaxy S23 Ultra retains the same industrial design language with a curved display and individually placed camera setup at the back. Apart from that, the handset also comes with the new Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipset, 5000mAh battery and more.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Comes with a new 200MP quad camera setup
The biggest highlight of the Galaxy S23 Ultra is its new 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor, announced last month. It packs 200 million 0.6-micrometre pixels in a 1/1.3-inch optical format that’s basically the same sensor size used in the company’s own 108MP sensor, which helps reduce the camera bump on smartphones.
The new 200MP ISOCELL HP2 sensor comes with advanced pixel-binning technology — Tetra pixel, allowing it to produce details and sharp images in different lighting conditions. The company claims that the sensor transforms into a 50MP 1.2-micrometre or a 12.5MP 2.4-micrometre image sensor by binding four to 16 surrounding pixels together into one large pixel to improve lightning. This also allows the sensor to transform into a 50MP sensor to minimise cropping while shooting videos, according to the company.

The Galaxy S22 Ultra also comes with an improved Night Portrait mode with an improved bokeh effect in low light conditions.
Another major camera improvement in Galaxy S23 Ultra comes in the form of improved video stabilisation with Adaptive VDIS. It comes with a 2x wider OIS angle, that according to the company, allows the handset to offer better and improved video stabilisation even in low light conditions. In addition, the Galaxy S23 Ulta also comes with a new Noise Reduction technology to offer improved sharpness and reduced noise levels in the videos.
The company has also added a new Astro Hyperlapse that let users shoot Astro hyper-lapse videos without the need for additional equipment. Samsung has also added support for 360-degree audio recording for videos with Galaxy Buds2 Pro.
Samsung has also updated the ExpertRaw app with support for 50MP sensor, Astrophotography and Multi exposure mode.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra: Specifications
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra features a 6.8-inch Edge QHD+ Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with an adaptive 120Hz refresh rate and 360Hz touch sampling rate. The display is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass Victus 2. It now features a newly shaped curvature that offers more flat screen estate compared to the Galaxy S22 Ultra. In addition to that the display also supports Vision Booster and Enhanced Comfort modes for an improved viewing experience.
Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 Mobile Platform clocked at 3.36GHz. The handset is paired with up to 12GB LDDDR5 RAM and 1TB UFS 3.1 onboard storage.
The handset is backed by a 5000mAh battery and supports 45W fast charging along with 15W wireless charging and Wireless PoweShare. The handset runs One UI 5.1 based on the Android 13 operating system.

(Disclaimer: The author is covering the Galaxy Unpacked event at San Francisco, USA on the invite of Samsung India.)

Samsung has unveiled its latest range of notebook PCs at the Galaxy Unpacked 2023 event. The Galaxy Book 3 series includes a total of four devices — the Galaxy Book3 Pro 14, Galaxy Book3 Pro 16, Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 and the top-of-the-line Galaxy Book3 Ultra.
Galaxy Book3 Pro is a thin and light laptop with a portable form factor, the Galaxy Book3 Pro, on the other hand, features a 360-degree hinge design in a compact form factor and the Galaxy Book3 Ultra is the most powerful laptop in the company’s lineup.
The entire Galaxy Book3 lineup is powered by Intel’s latest 13th-generation Intel Core processors. The Galaxy Book3 Ultra also comes with dedicated Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series graphics.
Another major highlight of the new Galaxy Book3 series laptops is the integrated multi-device experience.
Samsung Galaxy Book3 series: Multi-device experience
Samsung has integrated its Galaxy ecosystem into the Galaxy Book3 laptops. It comes built-in with Samsung’s own apps and services like Samsung Gallery, Samsung Smart Switch and more. In addition, it also includes Multi Control and Second Screen features that allow users to control other Galaxy devices right from the laptops and also use features like copy, and paste from one device to another. The Second Screen feature lets users use their Galaxy Tab as the secondary screen.
In addition, the laptops also support Expert RAW Auto Share feature. This let users automatically share photos captured using the Expert RAW app directly with their Galaxy Book3 laptops via Adobe Lightroom. Samsung is also offering two months of free Lightroom subscription with the purchase of the Galaxy Book3 laptops.
Samsung Galaxy Book3 series: Features
As mentioned, Samsung Galaxy Book3 Ultra is the most powerful laptop in the lineup. It is available in two processors — 13th-generation Intel Core i7 (45W) and Intel Core i9 (45W) and also two dedicated graphics card options — RTX 4070 and RTX 4090. Samsung claims that the laptop offers up to 50% faster multi-thread performance and up to 15% faster single-thread performance compared to the Galaxy Book2 Pro series laptops.
Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 and Galaxy Book3 Pro are powered by up to 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processors with integrated Intel Xe graphics.
In terms of display, the Galaxy Book3 features a new Dynamic AMOLED 2X display with 3K (2880 x 1800 pixels) resolution with 500nits of peak brightness, 1M:1 contrast ratio and 120Hz refresh rate. The display is also VESA Clear Motion Ration 5000 and VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified. The Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 comes with a touchscreen display and supports S Pen.
The laptop comes with USB Type-C charging port that allows users to charge all Galaxy devices with just one charge.
In terms of ports, the Galaxy Book3 Ultra and Galaxy Book3 Pro series come with two USB Type-C ports with Thunderbolt 4 support, 1-USB Type-A port, an HDMI port and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

The laptops are equipped with 1080p FHD webcam with Studio quality dual microphones and Active Noise Cancellation. The laptops come with quad-speaker setup which includes AKG-backed two 5W woofers and two 2W tweeters with Dolby ATMOS support.
Talking about the design, the Galaxy Book3 Pro 14 is just 11.3mm thick and weighs 1.17kg. The Galaxy Book3 Pro 16, on the other hand, has a max thickness of 12.5mm and weighs 1.56 kg. The Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 is 12.8mm thick and weighs 1.66 kg for the non-5G variant, while the 5G variant weighs 1.71 kg.
Galaxy Book3 Ultra measures 16.5mm in thickness and weighs just 1.79 kg. Following its sustainability program, certain parts of the Galaxy Book3 devices are made using recycled materials.
Samsung Galaxy Book3: Availability
The Galaxy Book3 Ultra will be available in 16-inch in

Graphite

, the Galaxy Book3 Pro will be available in 14-inch and 16-inch

Graphite and Beige

colour options and the Galaxy Book3 Pro 360 will be available in 16-inch with 5G connectivity options and

Graphite and Beige

colour options.
Galaxy Book3 Pro, and Pro 360 will be available in select markets starting on February 17 followed by Galaxy Book3 Ultra starting on February 22.
(Disclaimer: The author is covering the Galaxy Unpacked event at San Francisco, USA on the invite of Samsung India.)

Twitter is set to introduce a feature whereby it’ll show a badge to indicate that an account has been ID-verified, at least going by a new leak.

Jane Manchun Wong, a software dev and reliable source of spillage on the social media platform in the past, just shared this info in a tweet which we should naturally regard with the usual skeptical stance that all rumors deserve.

Cybersecurity researchers have spotted new versions of a known Point of Sale (PoS) malware (opens in new tab) that blocks advanced features to be able to steal credit card data.

The team from Kaspersky observed the Prilex PoS malware versions 06.03.8070, 06.03.8072, and 06.03.8080, in the wild. These versions were released in November 2022, and prevent the terminal from accepting contactless credit card transactions. 

Microsoft has revealed it is tracking more than 100 threat actors deploying ransomware (opens in new tab) against businesses around the world.

In a recent Twitter thread (opens in new tab), the company discussed the current state of ransomware, saying the Ransomware-as-a-service (RaaS) ecosystem continues evolving and expanding. 

The Russian censorship machine has struck again, this time banning a new secure email service. 

The block order against Skiff comes only seven months after the encrypted collaboration platform was launched. Now, its Russian users need to use a VPN service to carry on using their account.

Despite having well-defended digital premises and endpoints (opens in new tab), many firms are at risk of cyberattacks because they work with different vendors and third parties that aren’t as secure. 

This is according to a new report from cybersecurity ratings firm SecurityScorecard, which analyzed more than 235,000 organizations worldwide, as well as 73,000 vendors and products they use, to find that virtually all firms (98%) have vendor relationships with at least one third party that suffered a data breach in the last two years. 

Lenovo has unveiled details of its latest all-in-one video conferencing system that it says will fit in a wide range of setups, including hot desking, phone booths, executive desks, and the home office.

The company took to the stage in Barcelona at ISE 2023 to take the lid off its latest project which it calls the ThinkSmart View Plus running Microsoft Teams display.