Take a look at the entire Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge user manuals ahead of launch day

We take user manuals for granted these days. Most devices come with small tutorials to show you the basics, and then leave you off to explore your new toy with glee.

But if you’re the type who likes the informative literature that’ll show you the ins and outs of your device before using it, then you’ll be happy to know that the manual accompanying some of 2015’s most anticipated phones — the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge — is already available for your viewing pleasure.

We’ve already given you an in-depth look at all the exciting new stuff the Galaxy S6 devices have to offer such as an improved fingerprint scanner, an awesome camera, and — in the case of the Edge variant — some great new display features. You’ve even already gotten a full unboxing experience. Now it’s time to get the rest and take your pre-launch hype experience full circle.

AndroidForums.com has the guides — Samsung Galaxy S6 user manual is here, while the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge user manual is right here — as well as all the great discussion you can handle to get yourself prepared for the device’s launch this April.

Take a VR tour of Google’s first retail store via new Cardboard app

Google has officially opened their first retail store in Currys PC World in London. Called the “Google Shop,” the new store displays a variety of Google devices ranging from Android Wear smartwatches, to Chromebooks and Nexus devices. It’s really not unlike the smaller displays they already have inside of Best Buy locations.

The big difference is their London shop is much larger and features interactive experiences like Chromecast demos, or even a doodle wall where the user can use an electronic spray can to shoot virtual paint onto the wall. According to Business Insider, who got a firsthand look at the store, retail associates were actually real life Googlers, with one associate mentioning he previously worked on Google Glass (and we all know how that turned out). Ouch.

Because not everyone can make the trek out to London to experience the Google Shop for themselves, Google is also launching a new virtual reality app in the Play Store, giving users a 360-degree tour of the new store via Google Cardboard. Definitely a cool way to show off the fruits of their labor. The Google Shop is expected to launch in several new locations in the coming months, with Fulham and Thurrock, in Essex next on the list.

Google Shop at Currys VR Tour (Playboard) | Google Shop at Currys VR Tour (Play Store)

Watch the Galaxy S6’s image stabilization take the iPhone out to the shed [VIDEO]

If you think optical image stabilization (OIS) is a gimmick that exists merely to allow manufacturers to hype up their latest smartphone camera, you need to watch this video. A simple demo put together by Samsung demonstrates exactly what OIS does and why it is actually quite useful in helping you take the best photos possible.

We slid in an iPhone 6 for comparison. It lacks OIS altogether (you need to pony up for the iPhone 6 Plus to get that feature). We’ll let the results speak for themselves.

For more on how the cameras of the Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 stack up, see our full comparison post.

Take control of March Madness with these sporty Android apps

The field of 68 teams will soon be announced, and the 2015 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament will officially be underway. For many sports fans this is considered the best time of the year. There will be games happening at all hours of the day, buzzer beaters, massive upsets, and tons of excitement. We’ve got a list of essential apps that will help you get the most out of this year’s March Madness.

Brackets

What makes March Madness so exciting? It’s a tournament filled with schools you wouldn’t normally care about, until you fill out a bracket. Suddenly you’re cheering for a school called “Robert Morris” like you’re an alumni. Filling out a bracket and entering it in pools at work or in online challenges is what makes this tournament so fun. We’ve got a few apps that can fill your bracket needs.

ESPN Tournament Challenge

Back in the day joining an office pool meant printing out a dozen brackets and keeping track of winners and losers by hand. ESPN Tournament Challenge makes it much easier. Simply create a group and invite your friends. ESPN will automatically keep track of the brackets and show you who’s winning. It’s also a great place to read news and updates from the tourney. [FREE]

Bracket Tracker

Bracket Tracker is great if you’re just looking for a simple way to fill out and track your bracket. You can create multiple brackets, for both men and women, and keep track of wins and losses. It’s a nice alternative to keeping a folded up bracket in your pocket all day. [FREE]

Scores & News

You might not be interested in filling out brackets, but you still want to keep up with news and scores.. We’ve got a few apps that will help you stay on top of all the happenings from this year’s tournament.

Thuuz Sports

Thuuz is one app that every sports fan should have in their arsenal. It uses an algorithm to rate all live and upcoming games for level of enthusiasm. It will also send alerts when a live game is particularly exciting. This year they used their algorithm to determine that the 2013 Sweet 16 game between Michigan and Kansas was the most exciting tournament game from the last few years. Thuuz is indispensable during March Madness. [FREE]

NCAA Sports

When watching an NCAA sporting event you can’t for wrong with the official NCAA Sports app. With this app you can get live scores and updates, breaking news, custom alerts for your favorite teams, and a special hub for your favorite team. When you want NCAA go to the NCAA. [FREE]

ESPN

The ESPN App gives you up-to-the-minute scores and news with loads of video highlights from the “worldwide leader in sports.” You know ESPN is going to cover every single inch of March Madness goodness. Check out the “NOW” views for real-time updates while the tournament action is hot and heavy. [ESPN]

theScore

If you’re not a fan of the “Mothership,” a.k.a ESPN, you can use my personal favorite sports app: theScore. With the score you get news and scores without all the extra fluff. You can also set up favorite teams and sports to get custom alerts. It’s simple, fast, customizable, and easy to use. [FREE]

CBS Sports

One of the main TV networks to broadcast NCAA Tournament games is CBS, so you know they have a good app for coverage. Follow live action with GameTrackers, scoreboards, stats, and more. Plus you can set up scoring, team news, and breaking news alerts to keep you on top of all the action. [FREE]

Watching Live

The most important thing to do during March Madness is, of course, watch as many basketball games as humanly possible. In order to do this you’ll need much more than just a television. Use these apps to watch games while you’re at work, on the train, in the bathroom, sitting in a waiting room, or any other possible moment of free time.

NCAA March Madness Live

Far and away the best app for watching live tournament games is the official March Madness app. Log in with your TV provider to enjoy unlimited access to live streaming video of all 67 games of the 2014 NCAA® Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament, across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV. If you don’t have cable a temporary preview period is available for live game streaming before login is required. [FREE]

Sling TV

If you don’t have cable, but still want to watch as many games as you can, consider trying Sling TV. You can get 7 for free and then it’s for a full month. SImply cancel your subscription after March Madness is over. With Sling you’ll get TBS and TNT, which leaves just CBS (free OTA), and truTV. The service is not free, but it’s not a bad price for one month of basketball. [FREE]

How to take a screenshot with the Samsung Galaxy S6 or S6 Edge

Taking a screenshot on the Samsung Galaxy S6 or Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge should be familiar to anyone that has used a previous Galaxy device such as an older S series phone or Note device. If that doesn’t jog the memory here’s the lowdown:

So, one more time: to take a screenshot with the Galaxy S6, simply press and hold the power on/off and the home button simultaneously. The process is identical on Galaxy S6 Edge.

The screen will flash to indicate the screenshot is being captured. A shortcut to the newly saved image will appear in the notification tray, or you can access your screenshots at any time through the Galaxy S6’s gallery app.

For more Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge tips and tricks, be sure to visit Android Forums. For even more on both of Samsung’s latest smartphones, check out our article where we detail everything you need to know about the new Galaxy S6.

Samsung expects to take a 30% dip in profit for Q1 2015, but the Galaxy S6 should make up for that

Samsung has posted an early outlook for their Q1 2015 results, and the numbers don’t look great. Compared to the same quarter a year ago, the company suffered a 30% drop in profit, from 8.5 trillion Korean won (.79 billion) down to 5.9 trillion (.44 billion). That hit was also reflected in overall revenue with 47 trillion Korean won ( billion) compared to 53.68 trillion (.18 billion) a year ago.

Samsung has been on this downward slope for more than a year now largely thanks to their mobile division, though they haven’t experienced much of a drop off quarter-over-quarter. The company posted 52.73 trillion Korean won in total revenue last quarter, but just 5.29 trillion in profit. Increased profit on decreased revenue doesn’t seem to be a bad deal to us.

Still, Samsung needs to bounce back in a big way, and the company is hopeful that the forthcoming launch of the Samsung Galaxy S6 in just three days will change that. They’ve already recorded their highest pre-sales ever for a Galaxy S6 smartphone, and it’s poised to become one of the best selling Android smartphones of all time.

All of that is sure to help them recover quite nicely in 2015, and a renewed focus on premium products will certainly make people want to help them achieve that goal. We’ll have to wait for the full numbers at the end of the month to see what, exactly, caused the drop-off, and we’ll have to wait until next quarter’s results to see what impact, if any, the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge will ultimately have.

[via Samsung]

It’s no Galaxy S6 Active, but Samsung’s latest phone can take quite a beating

Unlike the Samsung Galaxy S5, the Samsung Galaxy S6 is not waterproof. While we wait for the Galaxy S6 Active to (hopefully) arrive Samsung has a rugged phone to tide us over. Today Samsung announced the Galaxy Xcover 3, a phone that can take a beating and keep on kicking.

The Xcover 3 adheres to the MIL-STD 810G specification that allows the phone to withstand falls up to 4 feet. It’s also rated IP67 dustproof and waterproof for up to 30 minutes under 3 feet of water. The Xcover 3 also has dedicated key to turn on the flashlight or double-tap to quickly launch the camera.

In terms of specs we’re looking at a mid-range device. It has a 4.5-inch WVGA display, 1.2GHz quad-core processor, 1.5GB of RAM, 8GB of storage, microSD card slot, 5MP camera, and a 2200mAh battery. The Xcover 3 will be released in April for 275 Euros. Here in the U.S. we’ll have to keep waiting for the Galaxy S6 Active.

[via SammyHub]

5 tips to take great photos with the LG G4’s camera by photographer Colby Brown [VIDEO]

LG and Colby Brown are continuing their informative series on the LG G4’s top notch camera (which we gave some pretty good marks in our LG G4 review).

This time, the professional photographer is dishing out 5 tips to take great photos with the device’s 16 megapixel f/1.8 lens. Here’s a recap of everything covered in the video:

1. Make good use of the f/1.8 aperture

A wide aperture (f/1.8 is as wide as it gets for a smartphone camera) means more light gets to the lens. More light means more clear photos. Since it isn’t possible to change the camera’s aperture, this “tip” is more of just to say: go out there and shoot without any fear, because there’s no other smartphone camera out there that can capture as much light as the LG G4’s.

2. Use Manual mode for advanced control

You can use manual mode to adjust shutter speed, ISO, white balance and other exposure controls to your liking. Here’s a general breakdown of the exposure triangle (the trio of settings — ISO, shutter speed and aperture — that determine a photo’s lighting):

ISO: How much image noise is used to fill in color spots to make for a balanced image. The lower the ISO, the less noise, but if you lower the ISO you will need to make sure you have adequate lighting as it will lower the overall exposure of your image. The trick is to get your ISO as low as possible without underexposing your image.

Shutter speed: The speed at which the shutter snaps determines a couple of different things. A slower speed lets more light into the image, as the shutter is opened longer to allow more light to get in. The downside is that slow shutter speeds might not be appropriate for fast shots such as taking photos of children playing sports, otherwise it’s bound to come out blurry. That said, using a slow shutter speed can be used to do some pretty neat stuff if you’re creative, so just play around with it.

Aperture: the third spoke on the exposure triangle is typically aperture, but since it’s not possible to adjust this then you will always have to maintain a constant of f/1.8. That means you’ll need to primarily tweak ISO and Shutter Speed appropriate to your situation and liking.

White Balance: this extra variable determines the type of color temperature you want for your photo to make sure lighting is accurately depicted. It’s often fine to stick with basic white balance presets, but it’s worth brushing up on the various temperatures and which situations they’re appropriate for. The folks at FStoppers have a pretty good breakdown.

The learning curve for using manual mode is obviously more steep than setting the camera mode to auto and letting the software pick your settings, but if you understand these concepts and commit to practice you’ll find yourself to have a lot more control over the way your images turn out (and you’ll know exactly what to do to avoid bad ones).

3. Embrace the Color Spectrum Sensor

The LG G4’s camera has something called a “Color Spectrum Sensor” that can accurately identify both infrared and RGB spectrums of light. What this will allow it to do is get an accurate reading of the sort of colors that are in your shooting environment and make sure the camera captures those colors as nature intended.

4. Use Optical Image Stabilization

This one should be a no-brainer — use optical image stabilization whenever possible. If you don’t know what it is, optical image stabilization uses hardware to diminish the shaky camera effect that can often ruin a photo or video. It’s much preferred over software-based image stabilization which can often times do more harm than good.

It’s a feature that you shouldn’t take for granted considering there are still an alarming amount of flagship devices that don’t implement it. Know it. Use it. Love it.

5. Don’t shun the selfie

The LG G4 comes with an 8 megapixel selfie camera, which is a whole lot of camera for something that will only be used in limited situations. Still, when the need to take a selfie arises you’ll be glad it’s there. Like tip #1 above, this is less of a tip and more of a PSA: don’t let anyone tell you it isn’t cool to take a selfie. It’d be a shame to waste 8 megapixels of front-facing goodness over principle.

Take 2 minutes to sign up for a free Conan O’Brien virtual reality cardboard headset

Conan O’Brien’s going to Comic-Con July 10th, and this time he’ll be bringing all the fun to those who can’t make it in glorious virtual reality goodness. So what do you do if you want your Conan in VR but don’t have a headset? You take 2 minutes out of your fine Friday afternoon and request a free one, of course.

These VR headsets are made from the very same cardboard specification Google has published (which you can actually make yourself), only they have Conan’s freakishly orange hair plastered on the side (which makes it 10 times better).

With it, you’ll be able to drop your phone in and check out Conan360 videos throughout Comic-Con, as well as any 360-degree video content made for cardboard. Be sure to throw your name into the hat for one, even if only because you’re as obsessed with Team CoCo as everyone else seems to be.

[via AndroidForums]