The navigation solution on the Samsung Wave S8500 is Route 66 powered by Navteq.

All Samsung Wave phones that are sold in South Africa have a life-time navigation, however, it is only on South African maps. Samsung supplied Route66 with all IMEIs of Wave phones selling in South Africa and designed the application so that it asks of you wish to synchronize your license key. Once you select “yes”, the phone’s IMEI will be verified against the list provided to Route 66. If verified, the license will unlock the life-time navigation.

If you don’t you didn’t select this option, you can always go to the “Contents” tab and select to Sync the license key.

If you are still having difficulties, contact the Route66 help desk:

From Land Line: 010 500 2319
From Cell phone : +27 105002319
The number is redirected by Telkom and customer will pay local call charges.

Hope this helps

Cheers!
Alan Shawaf

After nearly 6 great years at Samsung it is finally time to say goodbye. It has been a great journey joining Samsung straight from university and working for one of the top brands in the World.

Some of the highlights include: working with great people at Samsung around the World, travelling and watching Chelsea who Samsung obviously sponsor playing in the UK vs my team Man United, the growth our Blog site achieved including being nominated for a Blog award last year, the amazing online campaigns we launched, our mobile site reaching the 1 million unique visitors mark in one month and Samsung achieving a strong number two market share position from 8% market share when I first joined.

A big thank you must go out to our online/digital/social media agencies namely Base Two, Thumbtribe and Cerebra without whom a lot of successes would not have been achievable.

I can only see the Samsung Brand growing from strength. Thanks to all of you for all the support over the years.

All the best.

Daniel Lamberti – Former Brand Manager: Samsung Mobile

To celebrate the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung is giving you a chance to win a magnificent holiday to the Mayan temples of Chich?n Itz? worth a whopping R100,000!

You and a partner will stay in opulent five-star luxury at the Mayaland Hotel. Set amidst the ancient ruins, this premier resort is famous for its historic charm and true Mexican hospitality.

By entering you’ll also get a chance to win the weekly prize of the brand new Samsung Galaxy S. This super smartphone runs the Android operating system (giving you access to tons of apps and games), has an integrated calendar, HD recording capability, a Super AMOLED screen (for the best viewing capability), wireless tethering and much more!

Head over to http://www.samsunggalaxys.co.za or our fan page on Facebook to enter now!

To celebrate the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung is giving you a chance to win a magnificent holiday to the Mayan temples of Chich?n Itz? worth a whopping R100,000!

You and a partner will stay in opulent five-star luxury at the Mayaland Hotel. Set amidst the ancient ruins, this premier resort is famous for its historic charm and true Mexican hospitality.

By entering you’ll also get a chance to win the weekly prize of the brand new Samsung Galaxy S. This super smartphone runs the Android operating system (giving you access to tons of apps and games), has an integrated calendar, HD recording capability, a Super AMOLED screen (for the best viewing capability), wireless tethering and much more!

Head over to http://www.samsunggalaxys.co.za or our fan page on Facebook to enter now!

I received my Samsung Galaxy S Android smartphone two weeks ago and have found it difficult to let go of it since. No, not because I’ve been inundated by incoming calls (for whatever reason) and neither because I have had a urge to call my mates and tell them that I’m the owner of this awesome phone. The reason for my time being consumed by the this powerful device is due to the availability of applications on Android Market and the addictive grip it’s got on me.

You see, I’m a platform guy, and I appreciate that one of the major values of an operating system to the consumer is how developers embrace it and create a rich ecosystem around it. You could argue that the availability of applications is directly proportional to the acceptance of the platform for the end-user.

And that’s why I have had so much fun with the Galaxy S. Technical features aside (I love the Super AMOLED screen!), the fact that I can go to the Android Marketplace, search for an application, find it and install it in a couple of steps is really helpful. (Note there are around 100K apps on the Android Market and over 1 Billion downloads to date!).

But, with all that choice of applications, which ones is the right one? So that’s why I decided to write this blog post. Hopefully I can save you some time (and data costs ?) by listing some of my most useful apps. Sure, at the end of the day it’s all about your personal preferences, but some of these might be relevant to you. I’ve rated the apps based on the software quality (UI, ease of use), rating, size, and the all-up individual appeal to my user profile. For this post, I’ve classified the apps by application category (e.g. games, finance, themes, etc.).

First Step: customizing the Home Screen

Zedge – this nifty tool allows you to customize your wallpaper and ring tones. I’m not too interested in the latter, but definitely wanted to change my home screen look. Zedge has a selection of over 300,000 wallpapers and ringtones – the majority of them of really great quality. If you can’t find one to meet your needs, try the next option below – live wallpapers.

Live Wallpapers – instead of individually describing what each of these listed below do (live wallpaper is self-explanatory right?), I’ll opt to just list my favorites and let you decide which one you like best:

• aniPet Aquarium
• Aquarium
• Ascension Lite
• Aurora
• Fireworks
• Plasma
• Tap Tap Bubbles

Paulo Ferreira
Head of Product and Business Solutions: Samsung Mobile

Read the second part: Pimp your Galaxy S, part 2.

Fans of our Samsung Fan Club page on Facebook may be aware of the major changes we’ve had on it lately, starting with the recent Samsung Wave competition. Today we’re pleased to share with you that we’ve now also added a mini phone catalogue.

This new section will allow fans to browse the Samsung Mobile South Africa catalogue (of available handsets) and the ability to “like” your favourite models or even Tweet about it.

Give it a whirl at http://j.mp/phonecat and let us know what you think.

See the screenshot below:

Remember that Samsung B7330 “Be your own boss” competition from a few months ago? The lucky winner is Suvasha Naidoo who has won herself a share portfolio and home office – a prize worth a whopping R200,000! Suvash was kind enough to share her fascinating story with us.

I was thrilled and totally shocked. When I got the call, I asked the lady from Samsung that contacted me if she wasn’t playing a joke on me. I seriously could not believe it! And after the call I could not stop smiling for quite some time… To be honest, that same morning I received a call to say I had won R5000 in another competition I had entered, and told some colleagues about it – hence, I thought that someone was playing a joke on me. I was over the moon – it’s a day I will never forget!

You gotta be in it to win it
Previously, I always thought that I was unlucky and would never win any competitions. It was my husband who convinced me to stop saying that I was unlucky (this was a few years ago before we got married) and he also told me that “you gotta be in it, to win it!” so we enter as many competitions as we can. He has won a few himself, but much smaller prizes. We both have entered other Samsung competitions, but didn’t win any. I still enter the other Samsung competitions but I’m not sure if they will award another prize to me.

Actually, I entered the B7330 competition because of my husband – he entered and referred myself and many other friends. I received the e-mail link and entered not expecting to win… and I think this was maybe a week or so before the competition closed. It was just one entry.

My prizes
I absolutely love the prizes. I haven’t decided what to do with the Share Portfolio yet, but it has to stay invested for six months, so I guess for the next six months it will just grow a little (or a lot).

The people at Samsung were kind enough to let me choose the second part of the prize – the home office equipment. To choose office stuff to the value of R100,000 was quite difficult, so I incorporated some items that will serve as office accessories when needed and also double for home pleasure! I am off on a two week holiday later today, and when I get back I will be receiving these incredible Samsung products. I can’t wait!

I have collected one item though because I wanted to use it for my holiday, my new camera, the Samsung NX10 – so I when I get back I will share some pics that I would have taken with this new camera.

Thank you, Samsung!
A very big THANK YOU to all at Samsung Mobile for running such amazing competitions and picking random winners like me. SAMSUNG ROCKS!! And also a special Thank You to two wonderful PR ladies Brina and Lizelle.

Suvash Naidoo

It’s only been a few months since the Samsung Wave, the first ever smartphone to use our own operating system bada, was unleashed on an unsuspecting world. The Wave hit the market in June, and since then a whopping total of over 14 million bada applications have already been downloaded from the Samsung Apps store. In a short period of time, bada has established itself as a major player in the mobile platform stakes, and the service’s user base continues to expand by the day.

This great news comes just in time for us to celebrate the first birthday of the Samsung Apps store. In case that’s not enough reason for celebration, Samsung has decided to expand this mobile and television applications store to cover 109 countries. We South Africans were lucky enough to be one of the first nations to gain access to Samsung Apps. Very soon, a host of new nations including Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, Iceland, Nicaragua, Tanzania, Trinidad, Tobago, and Sudan will also be able to download applications from the store.

Soon, the launch of new bada-powered devices is sure to lead to even greater growth for Samsung Apps. This is a time for expansion, and we will be working hard to ensure that the amount of people using Samsung Apps continues to grow. After we blow out the candle on our first birthday cake, of course.

Daniel Lamberti,
Samsung Mobile Brand Manager

The navigation solution on the Samsung Wave S8500 is Route 66 powered by Navteq.

All Samsung Wave phones that are sold in South Africa have a life-time navigation, however, it is only on South African maps. Samsung supplied Route66 with all IMEIs of Wave phones selling in South Africa and designed the application so that it asks of you wish to synchronize your license key. Once you select “yes”, the phone’s IMEI will be verified against the list provided to Route 66. If verified, the license will unlock the life-time navigation.

If you don’t you didn’t select this option, you can always go to the “Contents” tab and select to Sync the license key.

If you are still having difficulties, contact the Route66 help desk:

From Land Line: 010 500 2319
From Cell phone : +27 105002319
The number is redirected by Telkom and customer will pay local call charges.

Hope this helps

Cheers!
Alan Shawaf

The navigation solution on the Samsung Wave S8500 is Route 66 powered by Navteq.

All Samsung Wave phones that are sold in South Africa have a life-time navigation, however, it is only on South African maps. Samsung supplied Route66 with all IMEIs of Wave phones selling in South Africa and designed the application so that it asks of you wish to synchronize your license key. Once you select “yes”, the phone’s IMEI will be verified against the list provided to Route 66. If verified, the license will unlock the life-time navigation.

If you don’t you didn’t select this option, you can always go to the “Contents” tab and select to Sync the license key.

If you are still having difficulties, contact the Route66 help desk:

From Land Line: 010 500 2319
From Cell phone : +27 105002319
The number is redirected by Telkom and customer will pay local call charges.

Hope this helps

Cheers!
Alan Shawaf

Samsung is immensely proud to have been awarded five EISA 2010-2011 Awards. The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) Awards are voted for by editors from top consumer electronics magazines across Europe and recognise the best equipment in the industry across a range of technology categories.

In the Mobile Devices category, Samsung was honoured with the following awards:

European Social Media Phone 2010-2011 – Samsung Wave S8500

European Smartphone 2010-2011 – Samsung Galaxy S I9000

The Samsung Wave is currently available in South Africa and has enjoyed a great reception from users and reviewers alike. The much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S is set to launch in the next week.

Samsung was also honoured with three additional awards in the consumer electronics division:

European 3D Solution 2010-2011 (Samsung UE46C8000 & HT-C6930W)

European Blu-ray Player 2010-2011 (Samsung BD C8900/8900s) and,

European Advanced Compact Camera 2010-2011 (Samsung Ex1)

You can find more information at samsung.com

Daniel Lamberti,
Samsung Mobile Brand Manager

Samsung is immensely proud to have been awarded five EISA 2010-2011 Awards. The European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA) Awards are voted for by editors from top consumer electronics magazines across Europe and recognise the best equipment in the industry across a range of technology categories.

In the Mobile Devices category, Samsung was honoured with the following awards:

European Social Media Phone 2010-2011 – Samsung Wave S8500

European Smartphone 2010-2011 – Samsung Galaxy S I9000

The Samsung Wave is currently available in South Africa and has enjoyed a great reception from users and reviewers alike. The much-anticipated Samsung Galaxy S is set to launch in the next week.

Samsung was also honoured with three additional awards in the consumer electronics division:

European 3D Solution 2010-2011 (Samsung UE46C8000 & HT-C6930W)

European Blu-ray Player 2010-2011 (Samsung BD C8900/8900s) and,

European Advanced Compact Camera 2010-2011 (Samsung Ex1)

You can find more information at samsung.com

Daniel Lamberti,
Samsung Mobile Brand Manager

Who says playing Guitar Hero isn’t a serious pastime?

There are plenty of people who attended the recent South African final of the World Cyber Games 2010 Samsung Mobile Challenge who would disagree with you.

Winner AJ, for example, who won 500 US Dollars, a Gameloft Gift and a trip to LA for the global finals, all for rocking at a higher level of awesomeness than his competitors.

The 2nd place winner, Anesu, and 3rd place winner Matthew, who won 300 and 200 US dollars respectively, and each got a Gameloft Gift to boot, would agree that Guitar Heroes should be taken seriously…

Congratulations people! You make South Africa proud.

The finals took place on August 7 and 8 at Sandton City in Joburg. Winners from the regional finals in PE, Cape Town and Durban competed for a coveted place at the LA Grand Final. A great time was had by all. See this gallery for more photos: http://mobile.wcg.com/main/main_sa.asp.

Let’s hope AJ kicks some butt at the Grand Final, to be held at the Los Angeles Convention Centre, California, USA, from September 30 to October 3! Watch this space for more details….

We have spoken at length on this blog about the new Samsung Wave.

You’re probably already in the know about its full touch Super Amoled screen, which offers the best viewing quality on a mobile ever.

Chances are you are also clued up on way the Wave uses Social Hub to bring all your social networks together in one, unified solution.

Maybe you’re even aware of how TouchWiz 3.0 takes Smartphone usability to the next level.

And it’s possible you’re even clued up on the Wave’s brand new OS, BADA, and the Samsung Apps store, which puts a wealth of games, navigation, social networking, e-book, health and lifestyle applications right at your fingertips.

There’s even a remote chance that you know that BADA means ‘wave’ in Korean.

So, seeing as you’re so knowledgeable about the new Samsung Wave, it’s time to stop talking about it and start winning a submarine trip to the Canary Islands.

Yes, that’s right, we’re giving away a R80 000 submarine Safari to the Canary Islands, just to prove how excited we are about the launch of the new Samsung Wave. Because waves are even better when you’re safely underneath them. To enter, just follow this link and fill out the form:
http://www.facebook.com/SamsungFanClub?v=app_10349429675&ldsrc=395&ldcli…

Daniel Lamberti,
Samsung Mobile Brand Manager

Two nights ago I was pretty excited to download my very first AR game, ARDefender, from Samsung Apps. The game is surprisingly free for download despite its high quality and innovative technology.

The game requires a print-out from ardefender.com (see below).

Once the game launched, I simply pointed the phone’s camera at the printout and voila – I was playing my first AR game and it’s awesome!

See the attached video clip for a live demo.

Two nights ago I was pretty excited to download my very first AR game, ARDefender, from Samsung Apps. The game is surprisingly free for download despite its high quality and innovative technology.

The game requires a print-out from ardefender.com (see below).

Once the game launched, I simply pointed the phone’s camera at the printout and voila – I was playing my first AR game and it’s awesome!

See the attached video clip for a live demo.

Samsung Mobile is proud to be a sponsor of Android ZA Developer Day which is set to take place this Saturday (31 July 2010). This event will see 30 developers sharing their thoughts on innovation in the Android space, as well as up-skilling themselves in a bid to become world-class Android developers.

Brett Loubser (Samsung Mobile Product division) will be presenting on Samsung and its new developments in the Android space, as well as Samsung’s future plans for Android. Samsung will be awarding the sought-after Samsung Galaxy S to one lucky attendant. The Android-based Samsung Galaxy S is one of the most anticipated releases from Samsung this year. It boasts features such as a dazzling 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, 1Ghz Application Processor, HD video recording/playback, Swype text-input and much more.

You can watch the whole event via a live video stream on Androidza.co.za from 9am to 5pm (SAST | UTC +2). If you have an Android device you can watch through the Ustream Viewer app which you can find on Android Market (search for username “androidza”). It’s also possible to get involved by submitting messages in a chat box.

Daniel Lamberti,
Samsung Mobile Brand Manager

Last year’s Samsung Jet competition winner, Benedict Winkler won a once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Kennedy Space Centre and Cape Canaveral. The competition required entrants to design a spaceship using the components on the microsite. You can view some of the submissions in the gallery section at samsungjet.co.za and experience the AR (Augmented Reality) component here.

Benedict was kind enough to share some of his pictures with the Blog community (see below) and has said the following of his experience:

The trip was amazing! Cape Canaveral blew my mind, it really was a once in a life time experience. I got to see the Shuttle off in the distance on the launch pad and it was a very enjoyable day. The trip inspired me to dream again and to do my best to follow my dreams.

A great thanks to Samsung for making a dream come true!

Click on images for enlarged versions.

Look out for the next Samsung competition where you could also win really big, in true Samsung style

The Samsung Blog team attended the last leg of the Samsung Mobile L!ve “Smart Move” mall tour this past Saturday at Maponya Mall in Soweto. Samsung brand ambassador and legendary South African soccer player, Shaun Bartlett, made an appearance to a highly appreciative crowd.

Other than the usual autographing of branded gear and taking pictures with fans, Bartlett awarded gifts to those who excelled in the Samsung Shoot-out game. This computer game is basically a penalty shootout that involves a real ball, a massive screen and having to outsmart the A.I goalie. Participants found out that it’s not as easy as it looks but great fun nonetheless.

The stand also featured a display of Samsung’s latest handsets such as the Monte and Corby Pro to the upcoming Wave S8500 – the show-stopper at this event.

Were you present at any of the Smart Move events? Tell us all about it here on the Blog.

See more pictures of the event on our Samsung Fan Club page on Facebook.