Samsung Launches Premium Music Hub in the UK, France and Germany

Today is not only the day of the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S III, because apparently the Korean company had another trick up its sleeve that has thus far wisely kept hidden from the eyes of the world, namely the "extension" of its Music Hub which now becomes a complete music store that points directly to compete with the likes of Apple and Google.

British, French and German users  will be able to benefit from a streaming service that will draw from a catalog of 19 million songs , with 100 GB of space in the cloud for you: obviously similar services are not free, but at a cost of € 9.99 per month.  For those who would rather not subscribe, there will always be able to listen to tracks purchased, either by phone or through web interface .

The new Music Hub will become a standard in future models of the company, and not necessarily just talking about phones, plus the service will later be distributed on a global scale , although we have no precise information on either the timing or countries involved, in any case, the common goal was to make as much as the messaging app Chaton .

Below is the full press release

Samsung Launches Music Hub, Offering the Ultimate Mobile Music Service

New service integrates all your music experiences in one place: Millions of songs, your own music stored in the Cloud, a music store and radio discovery
Initially launching on the Samsung Galaxy S III in Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK

Open Mobile Summit, London, U.K., (May 29, 2012)- Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, today announced the arrival of the much anticipated new Music Hub – the first completely integrated, all-in-one mobile music service. Initially available on the Samsung Galaxy S III and hitting European markets today, Music Hub vastly simplifies and enhances the everyday experience of listening to music. Whether you’re an avid collector wanting easy access to your own music collection, someone with ever-changing music tastes, someone who likes to sample a broad selection of music and genres or a passive listener who prefers radio, Music Hub provides a richer music experience for everyone.

Based on the technology services of mSpot, a leading mobile content service provider recently acquired by Samsung, the new Music Hub service will initially be available on the Samsung GALAXY S III and will soon be offered on a wider selection of devices.

“When you ask yourself, ‘what do I want to listen to?’ there is now one simple answer, for every mood, every place and everyone,” stated TJ Kang, Senior Vice President of Samsung Electronics’ Media Solution Center. “With the new Music Hub, we’re bringing the joy back to music – listening, collecting and sharing.”

“We believe that today’s mobile market must have an open mobile music system – one that offers all kinds of services across different devices. Music Hub removes all the barriers to your music,” stated Daren Tsui, CEO of mSpot.

The new Music Hub service will be offered for free and also in a Premium version:

Music Hub Store: (free)
Offering a vast, 19 million song catalog provided by 7digital, Music Hub Store enables you to buy songs and albums, as well as listen to 30-second previews of all songs. Purchased music is stored in the cloud and automatically appears on all of your devices, while music can also be stored locally on devices for offline listening.

Music Hub Premium: (€/£9.99 per month)
For €/£9.99 per month, you can upload and access your entire music collection anywhere, enjoy unlimited streaming from the millions of songs in the Music Hub catalog and discover new songs with radio stations based on the artists you like.

Music Hub features include:

Scan & Match Cloud Locker: Upload your music to the cloud so you can play it anywhere. Music Hub utilizes scan & match technology to decrease upload time and ensure high-quality playback. Any unmatched songs are directly uploaded from your library so you can access rare or personal recordings (100 GB of storage for all unmatched songs). When you edit playlists or purchase music, your collection stays automatically updated across all authorized devices.

Catalog of millions of songs: Enjoy full access to our entire catalog to stream or purchase, with unlimited plays and no advertisements. Search for new music, create playlists, share songs with friends, and view lyrics and album information.

Radio: Relax and listen to the music you like with personal radio and programmed stations. Create personal stations based on songs and artists you love, or browse genre stations recommended and tailor-crafted by the Music Hub team. Hear a song you like? Tag it so you can find it later and play it again whenever you want.

Recommendations: Discover great new music all the time with customized recommendations for songs, artists, albums and radio stations. The more you listen, the better recommendations you’ll get.

Optimized for Mobile: Music Hub is optimized specifically for your Samsung device. Advanced streaming and downloading options let you save storage space, play music when offline, and cut down on cellular data usage. Audio settings are designed to prolong battery life and ensure smooth streaming even under spotty network coverage.

Web Player: In addition to the mobile app, users can access their music library and the Music Hub catalog/store online at www.musichub.com. The Web Player allows users the freedom to play their music easily on any PC.

N.B.: Users must initially register on a Galaxy S III phone using a Samsung account.

Bada OS: Facebook and Twitter app get updated

Facebook and Twitter apps for Bada OS received new updates.The main new features of the new release 0.9.0 of both applications relate to the improvement of their performance , and various changes to the UI layout .

In particular:

Facebook

• performance improvement;
• changes to the design of the chat.

Twitter

• performance improvement;
• changes to the design of the "bottom bar";
• the application is automatically updated each time.

At the time, at the Bada WVGA display are available both Facebook to Twitter , while on the Bada HVGA display is only available with the updated app for Facebook , but probably will not need to wait long for it to be available to Twitter.

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Foursquare official client finally arrives for Bada OS

It 'a release that will surely please all Bada smartphone owners with WVGA display, as occurred in recent hours. Foursquare , is i now officially available for use on Samsung operating system, thanks to a dedicated client.

In fact, on Bada devices with HVGA display, the application is been available now for almost a week.


For those who have not yet ever used Foursquare , as noted just above, it is certainly the most popular social network of the moment, between those of signaling their location and use of geolocation in depth.


The foursquare app for Bada devices allows access to all the main features offered by the service which, of course, displaying points of interest nearby, the release of offerings , receiving tips on places to go and what to do once you is on the rise, both on the part of your contacts, that the wider audience of social network users.All this without forgetting the side more 'fun' of Foursquare, which is the ability to make points every time you make a check-in , ie it indicates its presence, alone or in company of other people, in a place , or to receive a prize, in the same way, one of the many badges in the social network is full.

Samsung instant messenger ChatON is now also compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich

Big news for ChatON , the instant messaging service from Samsung, the new version for Android is now finally compatible with Ice Cream Sandwich.  In addition to compatibility with the latest major release of Android, we find the following changes:

• improves localization , extending it to other 27 languages;
• introduces an additional set of emoticons ;
• finally allows to resume the download of a file if for any reason had been discontinued.

ChatON can be found here at Android Market

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Angry Birds back on Samsung App but now costs 2.99 euros!

Simply strange, the behavior of the Finnish software company Rovio : a few weeks ago , after having made ​​available their flagship title, Angry Birds, Wave 3 for Samsung, it removed within a few hours, without releasing any comment on that. After some time, Angry Birds returns available on Samsung Apps , but with one key difference: it is now 2.99 euros.

The application, which requires Bada 2.0 and is still only compatible with the Wave 3, it is now for sale at a cost of 3 euros , not cheap, when compared with versions for other mobile platforms.

The game can be found here at Samsung Apps.

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