Samsung Unpacked 2019 was held at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco. This year, I had the opportunity to attend while in the past few years, I’ve streamed it live from Atlanta, watching in awe of the excitement. This year, I wore my “partner” badge proudly and found a seat. From up in the bleachers, here’s what I saw:
It Started with the Samsung Galaxy Fold
The event started with a bang by making the first announcement about the Samsung Galaxy Fold, releasing April 26. While maybe not a complete surprise, the Fold is unique to the world of mobile devices. It combines a phone with a tablet, but it’s also much more than that. The technology behind it is next generation: two batteries, app continuation, Infinity Flex Display, and of course that hinge system required to make it fold without being bulky. Bringing productivity to the next level, the Fold lets users simultaneously use 3 apps.
For work purposes, I can see the multi-tasking ability to be beneficial. Here would be my top apps that I’d triple task with:
- Pin VMware Workspace ONE to the top right corner so I can always find my work apps
- Pin VMware Boxer below Workspace ONE because I’m one of those people whose inbox is at 0, checking my email easily and constantly is a must
- This one would be dynamic based on my task at hand. I could see it being the browser, Slack for chatting, or Netflix (for my lunch break)
Now for the elephant in the room, those gasps and whispers when the price was announced. Yes, $1,980 is more on the expensive side for a luxury phone. But when you think about the price of buying a smartphone and tablet separately, it’s reasonable. Plus, the Fold comes with the savvy new Samsung Galaxy Bugs wireless earbuds included, a $130 value. I’m looking forward to seeing the innovation involved in protective cases for the Fold. As someone who just on occasion drops my phone, I want to be sure to protect my investment.
Introducing 3 New Samsung Galaxy Smartphones: S10e, S10 and S10+
Smartphones have come a long way in the past 10 years. Samsung is calling the S10 series the next generation of smartphone with more innovative designs that’s paving the way for the next 10 years. The screen is bigger and clearer. The Ultrasonic Fingerprint reader is built into the screen and includes security measures to ensure that a fingerprint is indeed a fingerprint. The camera looks incredible with the multiple lenses and wide-angle capabilities, making me doubt if I still need my bulky DSLR. Something I found interesting is the Wireless PowerShare that lets your phone serve as a wireless charger for other devices – like the Buds, various watches announced, or even another phone. I long for the day that I can borrow the charge off a friend’s phone rather than having to find an outlet somewhere if I happened to bring my charger with me.
The specs on the phone are bigger and better than past models. Samsung boasts that the phones have the storage of a laptop, with the option of adding additional storage with a microSD card. Samsung DeX (desktop experience) wasn’t mentioned, but I made sure to ask the staff at the experience center and they said all the devices are indeed DeX compatible through DeX Station or HDMI to USB-C connection. The processing power enables clear images no matter what you are watching or playing with up to 29% faster CPU, 37% faster GPU and 12GB of RAM. With these phones, the possibilities would truly be endless, whether your objectives are gaming or working harder.
These are just a few highlights of the Galaxy S10 line of devices. Some of the above features are only available on certain models. Be sure to visit Samsung’s site for individual specs. These phones can be preordered today and will be available on March 8.
One More for the Road: The Galaxy 5G
While there was no release date mentioned, 5G doesn’t seem too far within our reach. The Galaxy 5G will be the first 5G compatible phone. It promises immense speed for streaming, downloading and sharing. There is a link on Samsung’s site to sign up to get news on when it will release.
Workspace ONE: Boosting Productivity on the Latest Smartphones
I loved being able to experience the leading edge of mobile innovation. It’s these latest phones with the newest features and best cameras that make people want to use their phones in every aspect of their lives. To enable business mobility on your device of choice, VMware and Samsung have joint solutions to enhance the user experience so working from your new phone can be as seamless as your other everyday activities.
- Workspace ONE and Samsung Devices: You are always on the go. You are a road warrior who is triple-tasking like a champion. You need to open a work app to record a deal you just won but cannot remember your password (just a slight misstep in account of being distracted by your greatness). Workspace ONE terminates this challenge by enabling single sign-on to all of your work apps – web, native, SaaS and virtual – so you never have to skip a beat. And from an IT perspective, devices can be secured and enabled throughout the device lifecycle. From out-of-the-box enrollment with Knox Mobile Enrollment, update management with E-FOTA, to deprovisioning, IT can manage and deploy devices from a unified console. End users have the ability to get the job done while IT has the ease of mind that devices are secured.
- Workspace ONE, Horizon and DeX: Here’s another mobile scenario that is available today by combining great technologies from Samsung and VMware. Being the road warrior that you are, you are making amazing things happen while being fully equipped with the apps and resources you need on your Samsung smartphone. You get to your office, or even a hotel business center, and can use that same phone that you’ve been using all day and plug it into a full-screen monitor, mouse and keyboard. Your phone then becomes your computer, equipped with the apps, and even Windows apps and full Windows desktop, that you need to continue or record the great job you did. Without carrying around a laptop with you all day, you can skip that appointment with the chiropractor and spend that time doing what you love.
VMware is dedicated to supporting the latest and greatest devices and features. To stay up to date with our latest product announcements, be sure to subscribe and check out My Workspace ONE.
