Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is going to get even faster with LTE-Advanced

 After announcing smaller and tougher versions of its flagship smartphone, Samsung is now gearing up to launch a new version of the S4 with support for LTE-Advanced networks, Reuters reports.

The phone could hit South Korea as soon as this month, Samsung co-chief executive officer J.K. Shin told Reuters. LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) is a major upgrade over the current LTE standard, and it could end up being the driving technology behind future “5G” networks. For now, though, it looks like carriers are approaching LTE-A as a way to speed up existing 4G LTE networks. T-Mobile, for example, claims it’ll be the first to offer LTE-A in the U.S. because it has newer LTE equipment than other carriers.

LTE-Advanced will potentially offer speeds up to 300 megabits per second (three times faster than LTE’s theoretical bandwidth), so you can be sure that carriers will want to market the heck out of that upgrade. Samsung claims its LTE-A Galaxy S4 will be about twice as fast as the current LTE models.

For the most part, the LTE-A Galaxy S4 seems like a show horse for Samsung. It gets to claim that it’s the first in the LTE-A handset market, but most consumers won’t be able to take advantage of the faster speeds for some time. The phone will also serve as a way to push Samsung’s 4G networking-equipment business. (After all, it’ll only be able to convince carriers to adopt its LTE-A equipment if there’s a phone that supports the faster network.)

By Devindra Hardawar/  VentureBeat

Samsung GALAXY S4 LTE 32GB - White/Black Mist SAM-GT-I9505ZKEXME

Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
GT-I9505 (quad core Snapdragon 600, LTE)
5.0" inch Full HD Super AMOLED
2GB RAM
32GB internal memory
13MP camera
2MP Front Camera

RRP: RM2,499

Maxi 4G LTE Network

FEATURES
WARRANTYExtra 1 year peace of mind with Senheng extended year warranty on top of the 1 year original Samsung Malaysia (SME) manufacturer warranty when you shop from Senheng Online Store.

Life companion

 Make your life richer, simpler, and more fun.

Make your life richer, simpler, and more fun. As a real life companion, the new Samsung GALAXY S4 helps bring us closer and captures those fun moments when we are together. Each feature was designed to simplify our daily lives. Furthermore, it cares enough to monitor our health and well-being. To put it simply, the Samsung GALAXY S4 is there for you.

Dual Shot

See both sides of the story

Two cameras, one extraordinary photo. Capture the ‘I was there’ moments of your life by simultaneously shooting with the front and rear cameras. Get the shot you want with more variety of styles to choose from. With Dual Shot, friends and family can experience everything with you, no matter how far they may be.

Sound & Shot

Listen to your photos

Every picture you take on the Samsung GALAXY S4 can come with sound. So now you can remember what was said, played, and heard, not just what it looked like. It adds another layer of excitement to help you relive and share every moment of each picture much more vividly.


Capture every action in one photo

Get a sequence of photos in one frame to create a collage that tells the story better than a single photo could. Drama Shot lets you take a series of pictures of any moving subject and puts them together - so you can see the detailed action that’s seamlessly merged into one very dynamic photo.

Group Play - Share Music

Share the enjoyment with friends

Get your friends together and let them enjoy your music simultaneously. Wirelessly connect multiple Samsung GALAXY S4 phones to play games and share photos and documents. Get all Samsung GALAXY S4 phones together and create a powerful sound system that enhances the sound quality and keeps the party going.

Story Album

An album for every occasion

Have the Samsung GALAXY S4 organise your photos and create albums based on specific events or customise them the way you want. You can even apply themes and choose various layouts. Then print the photos and hold the memories in your hand.

Samsung Hub

One stop shop for any content you want

With the Samsung GALAXY S4 you can browse and shop through any content available from every Samsung Hub in one place. Videos, games, books, learning - it’s all in one integrated store. It has what you’re looking for in an easy to use and stylish magazine layout.

S Translator

No more language barriers

Say or text what you need translated into your new Samsung GALAXY S4 and it’ll read or text back the translation. The Samsung GALAXY S4 is a handy companion while traveling abroad, allowing you to easily communicate with locals, discover exotic foreign dishes, and explore hidden hangouts around the world.
Support: English, German, French, Chinese, Spanish, Italian, Japanese and Korean.
* S Translator relies on a data connection and available languages are limited. Additional terms and/or data charges may apply. Results will vary by circumstance.

ChatON

More ways to communicate

Share what’s on your screen with one of your friends, even if you’re both in two entirely different places. Now with voice and video data call support, instead of just hearing what they’re up to now, actually see everything that friends and family are doing with Dual Camera. Connect with two of your friends or family on a more intimate level.

Air View

A simple and new approach from the ordinary touch

- Save time by having a quick preview without having to open up the entire content.
- Air View makes it, easier, and super-convenient to enlarge content and photos, preview emails, and speed dial all with your finger barely hovering over the screen.
- Supported features: Information Preview, Progress Preview, Speed dial Preview, Webpage magnifier.

Air Gesture

A simple and new approach from the ordinary touch.

- Control your phone by just waving your hand over the screen without actually touching the screen.
- Just wave over the screen to go through contents for a quick glance Respond quicker to your calls by answering with Air Gesture.
- Supported features: Quick Glance, Air Jump, Air browse, Air move, Air call-accept .

Samsung Smart Pause

A phone that follows your every move

Building off of the Galaxy S3’s Smart Stay, the Samsung GALAXY S4 knows what you’re doing and intuitively moves along with you - automatically scrolling up or down emails or websites when you tilt the phone from one side to another. Whenever you look away, the Samsung GALAXY S4 makes sure to pause whatever you’re watching, so you don’t miss anything. Amazingly, Smart Pause resumes where you left off when you look back at the screen again.

Samsung Home Sync

Enjoy your personal cloud

- Samsung HomeSync is the optimum personal cloud device for family entertainment. With 1 TB of storage capacity, Samsung HomeSync stores tons of pictures and videos once it's taken wherever you and your family members are.
- Bring Android games, movies, TV shows and streaming content directly into your living room on a large and vivid TV. Mirror Mouse, the specialised navigating feature of the Samsung GALAXY S4, is a much simpler and easier way to enjoy all the features of Samsung HomeSync!

Samsung WatchON

The ultimate TV remote

Connect your Samsung GALAXY S4 with your home entertainment system and let it be your TV expert. It suggests different programmes based on your preferences, provides programme schedules, and does the channel surfing for you.
The Samsung GALAXY S4 even allows you to remotely control the TV or set top boxes. So sit back, relax and let the Samsung GALAXY S4 take the work and hassle out of TV for you.
* Subject to information from local service provider.

S Health

Achieve more for your health

Stay active and fit with the Samsung GALAXY S4. It will track your workouts, daily intake, and weight levels. Get the current status of your surroundings for your activities with the Samsung GALAXY S4’s Comfort Level. It shows your comfort level based on temperature and humidity. Monitor your progress with both Health Board and various charts. Together with the Samsung GALAXY S4, being motivated for better health has never been so easy.

Adapt Display

Optimised display settings that fit you

Give your eyes a rest and let the Samsung GALAXY S4 adjust your view.
With 7 automatic modes and 4 manual modes, the Samsung GALAXY S4 provides the optimal viewing experience. See your favourite videos, games, books and emails displayed with amazing colour quality. Get the perfect and optimised view with the Samsung GALAXY S4.

Adapt Sound

Sound, the way it was meant to be heard

Hear everything with the right balance and perfect volume customised for you. The Samsung GALAXY S4 dials music up and down and balances left and right audio based on your hearing, the sound source and your preferences. The Samsung GALAXY S4 provides an optimal sound experience tailored to you.

Live in a world of infinite possibilities

He design of the Samsung GALAXY S4 defies what’s possible.
The incredibly - wide FULL HD Super AMOLED screen fits perfectly within an extraordinarily slim bezel that’s encased in a special polycarbonate body, making this the lightest and most sophisticated GALAXY yet.

Proud of dubious titles: Datukship award ...

  
Abdul Latif presenting an award to Koh at an investiture ceremony at the ‘balai rasmi’ in Simpang Ampat, Malacca, on Feb 16, 2013

PETALING JAYA: Scores of recipients of questionable awards from territorial chieftains are shamelessly displaying their dubious titles of “Datuk”, “Datuk Paduka” and “Datuk Seri” online.

A website lists a number of people with Datukships conferred by Malacca’s Undang Luak of Naning, Dato’ Seri Raja Merah Dato’ Abdul Latif Hashim.

The website also contains a full list of awards conferred by the chieftain, compri­sing 60 awards under 11 categories.

Awards in the first 10 categories come with different titles while the last category – with three awards – does not come with a title.

The categories range from Anugerah Darjat Kerabat Gelaran, which lists the highest award as the Darjah Kerabat Undang Naning, to the Anugerah Kehormat Gelaran, which carries the title Datuk.

The Star reported recently that Abdul Latif handed out scores of unrecognised Datuk­ships and other titles to those who had “contributed” to the Naning Territory.

Another self-claimed “Malacca-Perak Sul­tan” Ahmad Shah Raja Noor Jan Shah had also awarded titles to over 90 people.

Awards conferred by territorial heads and self-styled traditional leaders are not recognised anywhere in the country, unlike those conferred by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and heads of state.

As of yesterday, two people had been identified on the website as recipients of the highest award, the Darjah Kerabat Undang Naning, which carries the title Datuk Seri Diraja.

Twenty-three others carry the title “Datuk”, of whom 17 were awarded the Darjah Kehormat Undang Naning while the rest were conferred the Darjah Kehormat Wilayah Naning.

Other titled recipients are Datuk Paduka Seri and Datuk Jaksa (six recipients each), Datuk Seri (one recipient), Datuk Paduka (nine recipients) and Datuk Panglima (five recipients).

The website also contains background information on Naning Territory, photographs of the Naning flag and those of its divisions, the current chieftain of Naning and pictures of his birthday in 2010.

‘I was told to pay RM90,000 for award’

By LOSHANA K. SHAGAR  loshana@thestar.com.my

 

KUALA LUMPUR: A week after his face appeared in the newspaper, a recipient of the unrecognised Dato Kehormat Undang Naning award has claimed that he was led to believe the award was genuine and he almost paid RM90,000 for it.

Sebestian Koh, 49, said there were over 100 recipients that day receiving one of three titles – Datuk Seri, Datuk Paduka and Datuk.

Koh also refuted a statement by Malacca’s Undang Luak of Naning, Dato’ Seri Raja Merah Dato’ Abdul Latif Hashim, that he did not confer the title.

Showing photographs of him receiving the award at the “balai rasmi” in Simpang Ampat, Malacca, on Feb 16, Koh said: “I think the confusion must have arisen because there were so many people being awarded titles that day, so he (Abdul Latif) might not have remembered me.

“I was told by a friend, who also received the award, that it was recognised by the Government. He said I could even include the title in my MyKad and passport.

“Although I had never heard of the award, I decided to accept it since they were conferring it on me anyway.”

Koh was speaking to reporters at the MCA Public Service and Com­plaints Department yesterday.

The Star had front-paged the issue of questionable titles conferred by Naning chieftains and interviewed Abdul Latif and Ahmad Shah Raja Noor Jan Shah, who claimed to be the “Malacca-Perak Sultan”.

Abdul Latif had said that the investiture ceremony to confer titles was purely customary and the awards were merely customary titles with no connection to those bestowed by the Malacca Government.

In November last year, Koh said his friend, a certain “Datuk” Teoh, had called to inform him about the Datukship and handed over a “surat watikah”.

He said he was also informed about the RM90,000 “standard donation” for the title, which would be “contributed” to the Naning territory.

Before the investiture ceremony, Koh said he paid RM6,000 for a yellow sash with red stripes, a medal with the words “Dato Kehormat” and a card identifying him as a title holder.

When asked if he knew that the award was dubious, Koh admitted that he did know that the historical state had no sultan.

“The one conferring the title claimed to be a descendant of the Malacca sultanate and I asked around to check if this was true,” he said, confessing however that this was not done thoroughly as whatever information he had, coupled with Teoh’s persuasion, made everything “look very real”.

A few months after he accepted the award, Koh said his friends asked if they could advertise their congratulatory messages, to which he agreed.

“Only after The Star article on the Datuks of Naning was published did I realise that I had received an unrecognised award. My friends are laughing at me for being a recipient of a fake award. It is very embarrassing.”

When asked about his next move, Koh said he would not lodge a police report but had set aside the award and moved on.

On whether the award might be revoked if he did not settle the “standard donation”, Koh waved it off as a non-issue, adding that “it was not recognised anyway”.

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Asian banks remain to be seen more scandals will surface

HSBC, Standard Chartered and DBS were among 20 banks at which 133 traders tried to manipulate the Singapore interbank offered rate (Sibor). Photo: Bloomberg

HSBC, Standard Chartered, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and DBS were among 20 banks at which 133 traders tried to manipulate the Singapore interbank offered rate (Sibor), swap offered rates and currency benchmarks in the city state, [the Monetary Authority of Singapore] said.

BANKING scandals are surfacing in Asia, this time in the form of a US$250mil (RM799mil) fine on Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc on claims that it had transferred money to countries facing US sanctions.

According to the South China Morning Post, The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, the main lending unit of Japan's biggest bank by market value, moved an estimated US$100bil through the state for government and privately owned entities on the Specially Designated Nationals list.

This list was issued by the US Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control between 2002 and 2007, the New York State Department of Financial Services and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a statement recently.

Just about two weeks earlier, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) had cracked down on the rigging of the Singapore Interbank Offered Rate or Sibor.

HSBC, Standard Chartered, JP Morgan Chase, Barclays and DBS were among 20 banks at which 133 traders had tried to manipulate the Sibor, swap offered rates and currency benchmarks in the city-state, MAS said in a statement recently.

Greedy

These incidents within Asian banks are significant, as the European and US banks have been bearing the brunt of criticism.

The major UK banks have been fined for the Libor (the London equivalent of Sibor) rigging and the mis-selling of products.

Due to their role in the churning of derivatives, these banks in the West have been described as greedy, careless and manipulative.

The recent scandals seem to involve only a few Asian banks, but it remains to be seen how many more names will surface and what sort of rules have been flouted.

In view of their important role in the economic growth of Asia, they will be closely watched in terms of risk exposure and ethical banking practices.

So, Asian banks, some of which have become very profitable, beware on all fronts.

In Europe, overnight talks aimed at ensuring shareholders and bond holders bear the brunt of bank failures collapsed after almost 20 hours of discussion, reports The Telegraph.

After investors, the proposals would impose losses on savers with more than 100,000 euros in their account, but France and non-eurozone countries want the ability to tailor the rules, the report says.

Discussing possible bank failures may not be the most urgent agenda, although extreme stress testing and estimation of potential bank losses should be conducted.

This is tied to the capital position of the bank.

However, there should be a constructive approach to boosting capital buffer and ensuring that the bank does not fail rather than what to do if it fails.

It is like pointing a gun at a man's head even before the crime is committed.

Bond bubble

There is said to be a “bond crisis” out there, where the bond bubble is about to burst, with investors looking for other asset classes to invest in.

With the impending halt to the US quantitive easing programme of additional liquidity, this search for other asset classes has become more urgent.

Nevertheless, 'We see improving US gross domestic product as a positive support to risk' assets such as shares, but would expect liquidity reductions to remove some of the froth' from current valuations, including in corporate bonds.

“Where we have the biggest concern is some of the riskier banks.

'Even five years on from the financial crisis, we cannot with any confidence say we are happy with the quality of their balance sheets; this is where risks of capital losses are highest,'' says Chris Bowie, manager of Ignis fund management.

Such is the reality of investing. It involves constant assessment of risk, changes in the markets and valuations.
Micromanagement is usually discouraged but may be useful in this case.

 By Yap Leng Kuen
Columnist Yap Leng Kuen cautions on the headwinds.
Related post:
For the sake of money people will risk anything