🚀 Good morning! It’s Friyay again!

Samsung confirms S series launch, in farewell Note letter

Something curious out of Samsung, with Dr. TM Roh, President & Head of MX Business (the new name for Samsung’s mobile business) penning a kind of farewell love letter to the Galaxy Note, and confirming the “most Note-worthy” Galaxy S series will launch next month.

The news:

• The one thing you can take away is that Sasmung’s next Unpacked event is coming next month. No date was announced but the rumors have all been pointing to early Feb: the 8th or 9th, last check.
• Anyway, TM Roh said: “At Unpacked in February 2022, we’ll introduce you to the most noteworthy S series device we’ve ever created. The next generation of Galaxy S is here, bringing together the greatest experiences of our Samsung Galaxy into one ultimate device.”
• There was some other bits of marketing schtick slapped in there, too,
• The new S was said to take “the best and brightest photos and videos you’ve ever captured with a phone” at night.
• And in the day, be chock full of “power, speed and tools that can’t be found elsewhere.”
• Which, ok sure, we hear that stuff a lot.
• There’s a short video which shows silhouettes of the Note line and S line, from what I can gather, merging, too.

The Note:

Samsung’s mobile boss also, more or less, hinted the Note is dead.

First, the look back:

• “In 2011, the Galaxy Note merged the convenience and portability of smartphones with the expansive screen and notepad-like functionality of tablets. Some balked at the 5.3-inch display — considered enormous then — but Note created a legacy where a large display is now the standard. The S Pen also surprised everyone. It empowered people to bridge creativity with productivity – whenever inspiration struck, they could quickly write down their ideas and thoughts in Samsung Notes.”
• Agree on the large display, never really found the S Pen super useful.

Moving on…:

• Koh touches on the lack of Note in 2021.
• “We know many of you were surprised when Samsung didn’t release a new Galaxy Note last year. You loved the unparalleled creativity and efficiency of the Galaxy Note series, which enabled you to switch from gaming nirvana to high-octane productivity in the blink of an eye. You raved about the lifelike S Pen, which many say rivals putting ink to paper. And we haven’t forgotten about these experiences you love.”
• And the next section of the letter starts with a title: “Catalyzing the next evolution of Galaxy,” strongly hinting at an S22 with an S Pen.
• Which, to be fair, I didn’t figure out, we’ve seen plenty of leaks hint at the S22 Ultra having an S Pen slot.

Roundup

• 🥽 Google is building an AR headset: Project Iris, running on custom Google silicon and will not require a tethered connection to a power source, maybe shipping in 2024 (Android Authority).
• 💻 Amazon has the entire Galaxy Tab S8 lineup listed with images and specs (Android Authority).
• 📸 Smartphone cameras might soon capture polarization data, which gets into understanding what things are made from because the direction of light (Wired).
• 👉 Developers unearth the bones of an overhauled Task Manager for Windows 11 (Ars Technica).
• 🎵 TikTok is reportedly testing paid subscriptions, though details are scarce (Mashable).
• 📉 Netflix’s herky-jerky subscriber growth misses target, set to screech slower in early 2022, and the stock tanked (CNET).
• 🦑 That said, Netflix co-CEO says there will ‘absolutely’ be a second season of Squid Game: “The Squid Game universe has just begun” (The Verge).
• 🛑 Twitter brings NFTs to the timeline as hexagon-shaped profile pictures (The Verge). But, also, there’s no checking of verified NFTs, so anyone can grab a JPEG, mint it, and use it as their profile pic. Which is really irritating for people…. Much to the mirth of Twitter users… (Twitter).
• ⚖ The first Big Tech antitrust bill lumbers toward reality: the American Innovation and Choice Online Act (TechCrunch).
• 😬 Cameras keep rolling as solo reporter is run over live on air (She’s ok! She went to the hospital and was released) (Jalopnik).
• 🌗 Saturn’s ‘Death Star’ moon, Mimas, might be hiding an underground ocean (The Verge).
• ☕ “What’s your dirty lil secret?” (r/askreddit). (Stuff like this is great “I got an $8,000 dollar scholarship, due to a clerical error, for having above a 3.7 GPA all semester but my GPA was actually 3.07.”)

Friday Fun

Pupperazzi is here for Windows/Mac, and it’s a game to take photos of dogs. And that’s it, completely it. It’s a pup version of Pokémon Snap.

• You need to fill up your Puppypedia and to do so, you take pics of different breeds in a variety of poses and outfits.
• Because it’s fun. And that’s it!

From the game’s website, features of the game include:

• “Lots ‘n lots of dogs”
• “Dogs with clothes. Hats! Shoes! Jackets!”.
• I think you can also pet the dogs?

Which is all great but I need this game on Nintendo Switch, the perfect platform for this kind of thing, no?

Cheers! Tristan Rayner, Senior Editor.