Samsung Announces Galaxy Note

Losing its touch, or gaining an edge? Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. has been losing ground to by Apple Inc. in the Chinese mobile market, but a redesigned handset may bring the Galaxy phone maker back into the spotlight.

It’s been a troubled few months for the South Korean phone maker, as profits of Samsung’s mobile division fell 73.9 percent to 1.75 trillion won (about $1.6 trillion) during the third quarter, pegged as the company’s worst performance since the second quarter of 2011.

It also doesn’t help that more consumers around the world are interested in Apple’s iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. Are buyers growing weary of Samsung’s handsets, which have barely changed in design over the years and use cheaper components like plastic covers?

Project Zero

Samsung is said to be working on its next Galaxy device from scratch, using the code name Project Zero. It is rumored to be the best flagship smartphone from Samsung to date, so we can expect it to have powerful internal components and never-before-seen features. As for the design, it should be a fresh departure from Samsung’s older Galaxy smartphones and phablets.

So what will make Project Zero standout from other Galaxies, and make it better that all the other smartphones currently available in the market?

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Display

Project Zero is said to feature a Quad HD display with a 2560×1440 resolution but the size of the screen has yet to be determined. It’s most likely to be in the 5.2-inch range.

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Camera

Both the front and rear cameras are said to be getting an upgrade. Project Zero will either have a 16MP or 20MP rear camera with optical image stabilization, and will perform even better in low light settings. As for the front camera, it is expected to be upgraded to 5MP, which means better selfies.

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Storage

Smartphones started with 8GB of storage but as more apps find their way onto smartphones and handsets gain more functions, 8GB is no longer enough for the average user. And neither is 16GB. Project Zero is said to be available in 32, 64, and 128GB variants to accommodate consumer demand.

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Processor

Project Zero will use the Exynos 7420 processor, a 64-bit chip with four Cortex-A53 and four Cortex-A57 cores. The reason for using a 64-bit chip is because the device will be running the latest version of Android, Lollipop, which supports the 64-bit architecture. However, there could be a variant of the device that uses Snapdragon 810, which is also a 64-bit chip capable of supporting Android Lollipop. You can expect Project Zero to feature a 3GB RAM so it can keep up with demanding tasks.

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A new chip

Project Zero could also be equipped with a new chip from Broadcom Corp. called the BCM4773, which takes and computes data from WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS modules and other sensors to reduce battery drain.

As for the physical appearance of Project Zero, no leaked images have come out yet.

photo credit: AlicePopkorn via photopin cc