Samsung launched the Galaxy Note7 Tuesday, touting the smartphone’s iris-scanning biometric authentication, 5.7-inch QHD Super AMOLED screen with Gorilla Glass 5 and high-dynamic-range playback of streamed content. The phone and stylus are IP68-rated and can withstand immersion in 5 feet of water for up to 30 minutes, said the company. The iris scanner will be available for Samsung Pay mobile payments in the future, said Samsung. The phone’s 12-megapixel camera, the same dual-pixel sensor technology used in the Galaxy S7, produces sharp photos in low light, it said. Features include 64 GB memory, expandable storage up to 256 GB via microSD, a 3,500mAh battery with power management, USB-C port and wireless charging compatible with Wireless Power Consortium and Power Matters Alliance standards. Available colors: blue, silver and black onyx. Preorders begin Wednesday with availability Aug. 19. Samsung’s news release didn’t provide pricing, but a T-Mobile news release Tuesday gave a full retail price of $849. T-Mobile will sell the Note7 for $69 down and $32.50 for 24 months, it said. In a research email Tuesday, IHS said the Note7 demonstrates Samsung's desire to be a “technology leader in smartphones” and will act as a premium showcase to boost Samsung margins, define Samsung’s strategy and increase brand appeal. The “halo effect” of the Note7 will grow sales of less expensive Samsung phones, it said. The expansion of the edge screen is important for Samsung’s relationship with developers, extending the reach beyond S6 and S7 devices and making a case for developer support of its user interface platforms as a differentiator as Samsung continues to evolve and enhance the user interface of its devices, said IHS. Samsung is also introducing more use cases for the S Pen, offering Google Translate, for instance, while hovering over text. Samsung needs to keep improving existing features while layering new ones on top to differentiate the latest S Pen generation from those on previous devices, IHS said.

Huawei faces headwinds in its aim to become the top global smartphone vendor in five years, said a Monday ABI Research report. The Chinese smartphone maker has risen impressively to the third-largest global smartphone maker primarily on sales in its home market, but it will need to get a strong foothold in the U.S. and Western Europe to achieve its goal, while creating its own chipsets and Android-based mobile operating system, ABI said. Huawei “may succeed with chipsets, but many other competitors tried similar OS development tactics in the past to no avail,” said analyst David McQueen, calling it a “tough” goal despite Huawei’s brand strength and volume gains. Huawei “strikes an appropriate balance between supplying cost-effective devices to low-end markets and setting high standards for its creativity, fashion, and innovation in its high-end market product lines,” said McQueen. It was helped by the “ongoing collapse” of shipments from brands including Blackberry, HTC, Sony and Microsoft Lumia, he said. By developing its own chipsets, Huawei can avoid dependency on IC suppliers including Qualcomm, and control costs in the process, but creating its own mobile OS is more challenging, said McQueen. Other Android smartphone makers -- Samsung, for one -- tried to develop competing OS platforms and “failed miserably in their attempts,” he said. Huawei can avoid the same fate if it can provide a viable ecosystem that doesn't focus only on volume sales "but also encapsulates other business models based around revenue share agreements and partnerships, while offering a range of devices to allow for customer modifications,” he said.

CTIA said 16 participating wireless companies have successfully fulfilled the wireless industry Smartphone Anti-Theft Voluntary Commitment. “In doing so, the authorized user may choose to disable or enable the anti-theft solution at any time,” CTIA said Tuesday. “By granting authorized users access to the pre-installed anti-theft tools, consumers’ phones and personal data are more secure.” FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler had pressed industry to make the commitment (see 1506110037). “CTIA and its members understand that smartphone theft remains a serious problem and that anti-theft tools only work if adopted widely," Wheeler said in a statement. "I applaud the wireless industry’s steps to make anti-theft tools accessible and available for consumers."

Pokémon Go players should watch out for public utility properties as they try to catch all the Pokémon monsters, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission warned Friday. The PUC cited “scattered reports across Pennsylvania” of people who are playing Nintendo’s mobile game trespassing and sometimes suffering injuries. “Some players focused on the new augmented reality game may wander too close to secure utility facilities, either accidentally -- because they are focused intently on the game -- or because they believe that some elusive Pokémon might be found there,” the PUC said in a news release Friday. “Additionally, the location of some Pokémon ‘gyms’, where players gather to virtually battle other players, could also generate concerns around utility property that is considered critical infrastructure -- triggering calls to security services or police.”

T-Mobile US plans its quarterly earnings call Wednesday, it said Thursday. That will make T-Mobile the last of the four major wireless carriers to report. The call starts at 10:30 a.m. EDT and listeners can offer questions via text, Twitter or Facebook, T-Mobile said in a news release. “Similar to past quarters, prepared remarks will be kept to a minimum in order to provide more time for free-flowing dialogue with analysts, investors, media and consumers.”

Americans are making their smartphones more secure, CTIA said Thursday, reporting on the results of a Harris Poll it commissioned. Harris found that 69 percent of U.S. wireless consumers surveyed use PINs/passwords on their smartphones, which is an increase of 13 percent from 2015 and 38 percent from the first survey in 2012. Harris also found that 51 percent have installed remote lock and erase software on their smartphones, up 42 percent from 2015 and 31 percent from 2012. It said 73 percent of respondents say they run software updates “every or almost every time,” 51 percent have installed an anti-virus and 86 percent “are familiar” with cybersecurity. “These results show that our continued education initiatives are working, and we remain committed to increasing consumer adoption,” CTIA said in a news release. Harris used a sample from the Harris Poll Panel of 1,008 U.S. adults, 18 or older, who own and use a smartphone and/or tablet, the firm said. “Because the sample is based on those who were invited to participate in the Harris Poll online research panel, no estimates of theoretical sampling error can be calculated."

Common Sense wants the creator of the popular Pokemon Go mobile game to improve the privacy of kids' data and their physical safety. In a letter to Niantic CEO John Hanke, the group said developers paid "scant attention" to privacy and security when the company asked iOS users who registered through Google for full permission to that account. The company last week acknowledged the mistake, saying that was not the intention and it fixed the issue (see 1607150014). "These issues are so significant that it appears that, during the game's development, the desire to score a big and lucrative hit outweighed considerations of the privacy, security, and physical safety of users, in particular the many users who are children," said the letter, signed by Common Sense CEO James Steyer. He asked Niantic to take several steps, including getting "informed and meaningful consent from parents" that clearly delineates in-app purchases from items that can be purchased with game currency. Steyer also said the company should put in place a "data sunset on storing location data collected from children and teens" and not use location data to target ads or build children's profiles, among other steps. The letter was copied to members of the Senate and House Commerce committees and individual senators including Al Franken, D-Minn., who also had raised privacy concerns (see 1607120072). An email to Niantic seeking a comment was not immediately answered.

An FCC wireless hearing aid compatibility draft order builds on HAC rules and a proposal the agency issued in November (see 1511190032), Chairman Tom Wheeler said Thursday in a blog post highlighting one of the items on the agency's tentative agenda for commissioners' Aug. 4 meeting. "The new order would enshrine a consensus plan [(see 1511130027)] developed collaboratively by the wireless industry and groups representing people with hearing loss that puts us on the path to achieve hearing aid compatibility for 100 percent of new handsets within eight years," he wrote. "This evolution will greatly expand options for people with hearing loss, simplify the task of finding handsets that work with hearing aids and ensure that people with hearing loss have full access to innovative handsets. At the same time, the implementation time line would ensure that manufacturers and service providers will include HAC features from the earliest stages of the design process." Groups representing deaf and hard-of-hearing people recently asked the FCC to move forward on rules to improve access to HD voice-enabled phones and better noise-canceling technology (see 1606230053). Wheeler also summarized a second draft order to make permanent a pilot National Deaf-Blind Equipment Distribution Program: "Known as 'iCanConnect,' this program provides equipment needed to make telecommunications, advanced communications and the Internet accessible to Americans who have significant vision and hearing loss. The new NDBEDP would be able to spend up to $10 million annually to distribute equipment to low-income individuals who are deaf-blind. The program would also provide training and other technical support, including individual assessments of each consumer’s specific accessibility needs, to help low-income people who are deaf-blind better utilize the communications equipment they need to fully participate in society." A third draft order would raise inmate calling service rate caps to account for "reasonable" correctional facility costs (see 1607140087).

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., introduced the Cell Phone Theft Prevention Act (HR-5834) Thursday. The measure would “prohibit mobile service providers from providing service on smart phones that have been reported stolen,” “require smart phones to be equipped with anti-theft functionality and mobile device identification numbers” and “prohibit the alteration or removal of mobile device identification numbers of smart phones,” said the text, provided by an Engel spokesman. The one co-sponsor is Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., and it has been referred to the Commerce Committee.

Asus released in Taiwan Thursday the 6.8-inch ZenFone 3 Ultra with DTS Headphone:X, the first smartphone with 7.1-channel surround sound, said DTS. Additional markets will be announced soon, it said. The ZenFone 3 Ultra is one of 15 mobile devices expected to ship with Headphone:X in coming months, said DTS CEO Jon Kirchner on a May earnings call (see 1605100033). Other mobile brands incorporating DTS: Acer, Huawei, Gionee, Haier, LeMobile, Nubia, Obi Worldphone and ZTE. Dolby won the audio contract for the upcoming iPhone 7.