SDC 2019 highlights: Clamshell foldable phone, Galaxy Home Mini, QLED laptops, and more

Perhaps what surprised many sitting in the audience was the reveal of the next-generation Galaxy Fold with a new clamshell design. We also did see some new hardware in the form of the Galaxy Home Mini, as well as the Galaxy Book Flex and Icon laptops with QLED displays.

Here’s everything the South Korean major announced at the Samsung Developer Conference 2019.

SDC 2019: Clamshell-style foldable phone 

Samsung shocked the audience by teasing a new foldable prototype at SDC 2019. The device, likely to be called the Galaxy Fold 2, appears to be a clamshell device like the iconic Motorola Razr. The design of the phone is different from the Galaxy Fold that opens up from a chunky device into a 7.3-inch tablet. In fact, the concept phone looks like a regular Galaxy S10 when unfolded. The main screen folds down to half, something like a flip phone, making it more portable than the original Galaxy Fold. As expected, Samsung did not provide any further details like the specifications, price or release date. Expect to hear more about this mysterious foldable smartphone in the coming months.

The concept foldable phone looks like a regular Galaxy S10 when unfolded.

SDC 2019: Galaxy Home Mini

Samsung is making a mini version of the long-delayed Galaxy Home. At SDC 2019, the company demonstrated a Galaxy Home Mini speaker which is powered by Bixby. The smart speaker looks like a cross between the Google Home Mini and the Amazon Echo Dot. It has a fabric exterior on the outside and the AKG logo in the middle. The announcement of the Galaxy Home Mini comes at a time when the people started forgetting about the Galaxy Home, which is yet to get a proper release date. Like the Galaxy Home, it remains to be seen when Samsung launches the Galaxy Home Mini in the market.

The Galaxy Home Mini is a smart speaker powered by Bixby, a virtual assistant that lets you control your smartphone with your voice commands.

SDC 2019: Galaxy Book Flex and Icon laptops

Samsung also showed two new laptops — the Galaxy Flex and Galaxy Book Icon – at SDC 2019. Both laptops are special for one reason: the QLED display. The new Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book Icon are the first laptops in the world to feature quantum dot LEDs (QLED) screens. The company is known for producing high-end TVs with QLED displays, but this is the first time a QLED display is being used on a laptop. Samsung says the laptops can deliver a peak brightness of 600 nits.

The Galaxy Book Flex is a premium laptop with a 360-degree hinge and a built-in S Pen.

Out of the two, the Galaxy Book Flex is a better option. Not only it has a 360-degree hinge, but also comes with a built-in S Pen. Both thin and light notebooks feature Intel’s 10th generation Core processors, Wireless PowerShare feature, and respectable connectivity ports. Samsung says the Galaxy Book Flex and Galaxy Book Ion will be available in the US in early 2020.

SDC 2019: Tizen TV OS coming to third-party TV makers

Samsung is opening its Tizen TV OS to third-party TV makers for the first time. It’s a part of Samsung’s strategy to tap into more users to use its apps and services, such as Bixby. The move is also significant, because it will allow Samsung to better compete with Google’s Android TV platform, which is increasingly adopted by Chinese smartphone makers who are getting into the TV segment. The smart TV market is growing fast in India and Samsung seems to have its eye on the Internet-of-Things (IoT) market,

Samsung’s OneUI 2 now includes a dedicated dark mode, more colourful icons, and better one-handed use for large screen phones.

SDC 2019: Bixby, OneUI 2.0

Despite many call Bixby “slow” and “annoying”, Samsung remains committed to its voice-based, virtual assistant better. But Samsung wants developer support to make Bixby understandable and useful in different scenarios. At SDC 2019, Samsung launched the Bixby Developer Studio, followed by the Bixby Marketplace earlier this year. Now Samsung is adding new capabilities in the Bixby Developer Studio with Bixby Templates, Bixby Views, and Natural Language Categories.

We also saw Samsung expending its support to OneUI, a custom user interface on top of its Galaxy smartphones. At SDC 2019, the company introduced OneUI 2 that now includes a dedicated dark mode, more colourful icons, and better one-handed use for large screen phones.