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Samsung Electronics, with its wide range of products and services, remains committed to delivering industry-leading innovations that enhance and redefine the lives of its users around the world. At this year’s Samsung Developer Conference 2023 (SDC23) — held on October 5 in San Francisco, CA — the company unveiled the latest advancements to its software and device services. Samsung executives and employees discussed the next-generation technologies equipped within Samsung products, enhancing the way users interact with the platforms and innovative products from both Samsung and its partners.
 
Samsung Newsroom sat down with five prominent SDC23 speakers to delve deep into some of the company’s updates and how they add convenience to and revamp the user experience.
 
 
SmartThings and Matter: Offering an Even Better Connected Experience
Charles Kim of the SmartThings Team highlighted the updates to Samsung’s SmartThings home ecosystem, including expanded support for Matter devices, and discussed how SmartThings is leading the new era of smart homes through its advanced multi-device network.
 

 
 
Q. SmartThings has been working hard to create a hyper-connected experience for customers based on seamless interoperability with third-party devices. Could you discuss a few of the most notable announcements unveiled during this year’s SDC?
 
Matter stands as the universal IP-based communications protocol for smart home IoT devices, and is supported by major corporations all over the world. When it comes to expansive smart home experiences, Samsung has been at the forefront of widening its device network, which was furthered by its added support for Matter devices beginning last year. To expand on this, we are now offering an enhanced Matter-compatible ecosystem that will allow developers to create new apps, hubs and clouds.
 
One of our first steps is to expand the application of Matter to a broader range of devices and introduce new features to these devices to enhance its capabilities. These features include adding control functionalities for Matter-compatible devices, which support Matter Bridge1 devices as well as over-the-air (OTA)2 and Multi-Hub Network.3 One of Matter’s key advantages is its compatibility with various platforms from different companies. As such, it facilitates easier usage of the Multi-Admin4 feature, allowing administrators to efficiently control multiple devices simultaneously from a single platform.
 
To take innovation further, we plan to introduce an Application Programming Interface (API) for controlling Matter devices via the SmartThings Hub — making it easier for developers to utilize Samsung’s platform. In addition, the Software Development Kit (SDK) will allow the seamless integration of Matter devices within the SmartThings platform.
 
We hope that this will empower more developers to deliver new, advanced services to users that utilize Matter devices within the SmartThings platform.
 
 
Q. How will SmartThings contribute to the evolution of smart homes in the future?
 
Our vision for SmartThings encompasses various dimensions of home automation. Currently, users can control Samsung and third-party IoT devices in their homes through SmartThings, which gives them the ability to optimize and automate certain functions among connected devices. Looking forward to the future, smart homes are poised to elevate personalized home experiences by harnessing the power of device-connected AI and machine learning, which will deliver users ultra-personalized home services that meet their unique needs and preferences.
 
One of these future-forward settings is Ambient Sensing, which recognizes the space the user is in and automatically adjusts to the user’s preferred settings. Additionally, we intend to advance Edge Computing technology to ensure a stable and secure connection experience for users, enabling SmartThings to serve as a main hub for such services. Our aim is to help users enjoy a higher quality of life, and we will continue enhancing SmartThings in order to achieve this goal.
 
 
HDR10+ GAMING: Delivering a Perfectly Immersive Gaming Experience
Alongside the rapid expansion of the gaming market came an increased demand for an enhanced gaming environment. In line with these trends, Samsung has been working with leading game content companies to develop advanced visual technologies, setting a standard for the industry. Suzie Hyun of Samsung Research America spoke about HDR10+ GAMING.
 

 
 
Q. As game image quality technology continues to advance, what are the advantages of using HDR10+ GAMING while playing games?
 
In comparison to the conventional Standard Dynamic Range (SDR) format, High Dynamic Range (HDR) displays images at a higher brightness, greater contrast and with a wider color range — accentuating all on-screen details and making gameplay even more immersive.
 
From the standpoint of a developer, an ideal HDR gaming experience provides jaw-dropping realism, fully immersing users in the heart of the action. Equipped with HDR10+ GAMING technology, game creators are able to provide next-level immersion, drawing users deeper into the game world.
 
On the user side, HDR10+ GAMING technology automatically sets the game and display to optimal HDR settings, ensuring a consistent, stunning and engaging gaming session from start to end.
 
 
Q. How is HDR10+ different when watching videos and gaming?
 
HDR10+ GAMING technology delivers cutting-edge gaming experiences by combining ultra-responsiveness, an important factor for ideal gameplay, with leading image quality optimization technology. Equipped with these advanced technologies, HDR10+ GAMING provides immersive gaming experiences and allows users to experience the content as the game creator intended.
 
 
The Software Platform Innovation for Home Appliances: Tizen
The Tizen operating system will be extended and is set to be integrated into a broader range of home appliances. SeongIl Hahm of the S/W Development Team explained Tizen and its distinguished services that upgrade user experiences.
 

 
 
Q. What role does Tizen play in home appliances?
 
The landscape of home appliances has undergone a remarkable transformation, expanding beyond customers’ imagination. With the integration of the latest AI technologies, these appliances can perform a variety of unique functions. For example, appliances can detect food, the user’s voice and presence using high-tech cameras, microphones and Neural Processing Units (NPUs).
 
In driving these innovations forward, Tizen — Samsung’s open and flexible operating system (OS) ­— will help evolve home appliances and expand their capabilities. Samsung plans to expand Tizen to home appliances equipped with even larger screens than before, which will allow users to intuitively check the status of their devices and control them, as well as monitor other devices connected to SmartThings.
 
Tizen not only supports network, multimedia, web and security capabilities, but it also offers flexible software performance based on different hardware modules across product lines. It provides a web and development environment that is most commonly used by developers so helps them to adopt services easier.
 
 
Q. During SDC23, new technologies such as on-device AI and AI Home Edge Hub were introduced. How will these advancements elevate the capabilities of home appliances?
 
On-device AI-support signifies the integrated AI engine within home appliances, supporting round-the-clock deep learning inference. Home appliances generate a wealth of information, far beyond what users may realize. Learning from this information can significantly improve the user experience. Examples of AI functionalities include how refrigerators and air conditioners can save energy by predicting the temperature, how vacuum cleaners adjust the cleaning mode according to the floor type, and how washers and dryers can optimize laundering according to the clothing material.
 
Another important consideration that AI performance levels vary among different home appliances led us to work on developing AI Home Edge Hub. By device-to-device sharing of AI capabilities, it significantly enhance the performance of each device.
 
To illustrate this, let’s imagine that an AI inference task was delivered to the Family Hub, which is the most smart appliance nearby. Upon receiving this information, the Family Hub transmits it to the robot vacuum cleaner, which then notifies the user when the cleaning process is complete.
 
Many of these futuristic scenarios will become realizable through cutting-edge software innovation.
 
 
Samsung Privileged Health SDK: Helping the Development of Advanced Digital Health Services and Solutions
Incorporating essential features such as sleep, fitness, mental health services and health indicator monitoring, Samsung Health has firmly established itself as a comprehensive health solution. Sungchull Lee of the Health S/W R&D Group presented Samsung Privileged Health SDK, which offers users an unparalleled digital health experience.
 

 
 
Q. Could you introduce some of the main developers and partners that are using Samsung Privileged Health SDK?
 
With the Samsung Privileged Health SDK, Samsung aims to support developers and service providers in developing more sophisticated and advanced digital health services and solutions.
 
Developers and service partners around the world have expressed their interest in utilizing Samsung Privileged Health SDK and many are using it to develop apps. Interested parties can apply to the Partner Program via the official Samsung Developer website and can begin developing and utilizing the platform’s suite of tools once approved.
 
According to data measured on the Galaxy Watch’s BioActive sensor, our SDK partners span across a variety of digital healthcare fields — including heart health monitoring, remote patient monitoring, mental health services, worker healthcare and digital therapeutics. Moving forward, our primary goal is to strengthen Samsung Privileged Health SDK’s role as a health platform and expand its ecosystem to support the sustained growth of our partners.
 
 
Q. What are the strengths of the Samsung Privileged Health SDK, and how can digital health services harness its capabilities?
 
Samsung Privileged Health SDK offers a convenient and consistent development environment, as developers can measure biometric information through the Galaxy Watch’s BioActive sensor.
 
Within the Samsung Privileged Health SDK, there is a range of data types available for service research and development, including the Galaxy Watch’s specialized functions — body composition and skin temperature measurement. Additionally, the platform incorporates an advanced batching method, which aggregates data for a certain period of time to ensure both efficient data measurement and minimal battery consumption.
 
The skin temperature measurement function, for example, can be used to improve sleep habits, predict the menstrual cycle, estimate exercise intensity and so on, whereas the inter-beat interval can calculate stress index, detect sleep stages and monitor irregular heart rate.
 
Samsung’s commitment to enhancing SDK’s capabilities persists, and it will continue to provide a consistent and simple API with samples to make it easier for developers to utilize.
 
 
Samsung Health Stack: Contributing to Broadening the Digital Health Ecosystem
Amidst increasing adoption of digital tools and software for medical research within the healthcare industry, Eric Song of Samsung Research’s Data Services Lab introduced Samsung Health Stack — a groundbreaking open-source tool designed to simplify the management and analysis of health research.
 

 
 
Q. Samsung Health Stack was first unveiled at SDC last year, and subsequently released version 1.0 this year. What objectives does Samsung aim to accomplish with Samsung Health Stack?
 
Looking at recent trends in the IT industry, a variety of wearable devices are rapidly evolving. In the same regard, sensor technology that can be deployed is advancing at a swift pace.
 
Alongside these technological advancements, the concept of “digital therapeutics” has gained traction within the healthcare industry. Many organizations are actively seeking to treat diseases in novel ways, including the use of software to further these aims. The goal of Samsung Health Stack is to make it easier for medical researchers, who may be unfamiliar with IT systems, to safely access and utilize digital health information.
 
Additionally, as an open-source project, Samsung Health Stack seeks to dismantle the barrier between medical researchers and the field of digital technology field, laying the groundwork for the development of the digital health industry.
 
As it supports developers and researchers in the field, Samsung Health Stack will contribute to the establishment of a digital health ecosystem for both Samsung and the broader healthcare industry.
 
 
1 Technology that enables devices with multiple connection protocols, such as Zigbee and Z-Wave, to connect to Matter and allows Matter and non-Matter devices to communicate.
2 A function that supports firmware updates of Matter devices.
3 A function that connects Samsung’s various hubs on a single platform.
4 A function that controls Matter devices and multiple connected platforms simultaneously and shares the device’s status with users.
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As it continues to innovate for users, Samsung Electronics is gearing up to present its latest developments at the Samsung Developer Conference 2022 (SDC22). At the conference, Samsung showcased the updates to its software, services and more, aiming to improve the overall user experience. To learn more about some of the ideas behind these developments, Samsung Newsroom sat down with four SDC22 speakers to hear more.
 

 
As people become increasingly more health-focused, tech industry realized the value in pursuing projects that help individuals monitor their health and fitness. Principal Engineer Jinwoo Song from Samsung Research’s Data Research Team explained how Samsung Health Stack project helps developers and engineers optimize app development and more.
 
 
Q1. What does Samsung Health Stack do and what benefits does it ultimately provide?
 
Samsung Health Stack is an open source project that provides help in conducting research related to digital health using wearable devices, developing applications needed and creating tools for backend server and analysis in Android and Wear OS environment. By utilizing Samsung Health Stack, IT developers and engineers can save time and cost needed for developing the right environment, and researchers can focus more on conducting research studies that utilize new digital data. I believe that such convenience for development will be a great foundation for various forms of digital health care research and new data-based technologies.
 
 
Q2. What was the focus of the open source when designing Samsung Health Stack?
 
We designed it by analyzing the user experience of everyone involved in healthcare research so that the solution can accommodate the entire process of recruiting participants, collecting data and analyzing data. When there were some difficulties during the course of the development, we found solutions through health care-related cooperation with many research institutions.
 
In addition, we made effort to provide the structure that can continue to be scaled up to handle new forms of data and devices that become the interest of digital health researchers. In particular, we’ve designed the structure so that only certain necessary parts can be selected and expanded for use in order to enable application in various cases that go beyond clinical research, such as the area of care, etc.
 
 
Q3. What do you think the direction of development will be going forward for data-based health-care technologies?
 
Due to the technological advancement including AI, and the transition to aging society, the digital technology that centers on consumers and data is becoming more important in the field of health care. In order to respond to such changes, it is important to have the capability to safely manage and precisely analyze various data on users.
 
We believe that a world in which everyone will be able to receive customized, optimal health care solutions with data on users’ everyday life will come in the future. We’ll continue to make effort to develop technologies and products to make this possible, and we look forward to seeing many developers participate in this effort.
 

 
In order to create the best product experience, Samsung’s One UI platform offers a simple and intuitive interface across all of its devices, putting the user at the center of its unified device experience. Content Strategist Josh Ross from Samsung’s Core UX Group of MX Business shared the inspiration behind One UI and how it was created with users in mind.
 
 
Q1. What is One UI and what experiences does it provide to users?
 
One UI is the unified platform for Samsung Galaxy products, from phones and tablets to watches and Galaxy Books. It creates a single, seamless experience that empowers users to get the most from their Samsung products.
 
 
Q2. To create an intuitive and easy-to-use interface for users, One UI adheres to four key principles: simplicity, effortlessness, consistency and authenticity. Can you explain why these principles are important for development of One UI and how you think this enhances the mobile experience for users?
 
You need principles so you can be sure your design is heading in the right direction. We’ve chosen these four principles because they put the focus on the user, which is what we always want to do. Simplicity helps users focus on what matters. Effortlessness means that you don’t have to struggle to get things done. Consistency means that things work the way you expect them to, which helps to make things effortless. And authenticity is about creating experiences that feel natural, like a part of your own self-expression. When these principles come together, the result can be very powerful but also subtle. You don’t always notice all the work that goes into the design, and that’s actually good. The best design is almost invisible.
 
 
Q3. Why are partnerships an essential part of One UI? What are the benefits of partnerships for One UI development?
 
Partnerships are a huge part of the One UI experience. As good as Samsung is, we need the insight and expertise of others to deliver the best experience to users. Partnerships make apps like SmartThings and Samsung Wallet possible, so that you can do amazing things like control your car or your lights, make payments, board an airplane and so much more, right from inside One UI. Partnerships enrich our Samsung Health content with fitness expertise about everything from sleep coaching to body composition to mindfulness. Partnerships add flavor to your chats with GIFs from Giphy and Tenor, stickers, fun camera features on Snapchat and much more. Partnerships like the Global Goals app, a collaboration between Samsung and the UN, help bring awareness to important causes.
 
We want to empower our users to do things the way they want, with the apps and services they love. Partnerships are a huge part of that.
 
 
Q4. Going forward, what are some things users can expect from Samsung’s One UI?
 
We have a lot of things we’re announcing at SDC this year, so I don’t want to give everything away, but you can always expect further refinement and improvement. We look at everything from icons and animations to how you organize and find things and so much more. We’re learning more and more from our users about how the foldable experience changes things, so keep looking for exciting developments in the area of unique features for the Galaxy Flip and Galaxy Fold.
 

 
Samsung has also partnered with HealthTap to provide telemedicine services through its Smart TVs. Samsung’s Tizen, an open-source operating system, helped developers optimize the service for use on Smart TVs. Sean Park, Senior Product Manager from the Experience Planning Group of Visual Display Business, explained more about accessing telemedicine through Samsung’s Smart TVs.
 
 
Q1. How did Tizen help with the development of this service?
 
Samsung Electronics’ smart operating system (OS) Tizen provided the grounds for easy navigation on the large screen display. Tizen is very quick to deploy as evidenced by what we were able to achieve in three months’ time.
 
 
Q2. What are the benefits of accessing telemedicine services through Samsung Smart TVs?
 
Everything nowadays has gone remote. We want to provide Samsung users with a more convenient way to access medical care, which is telemedicine.
 
Samsung’s collaboration with HealthTap allows you to see a doctor through a large screen from the comfort of your home, creating a more immersive telehealth experience. If you want to access services including mental health counseling, you can do that with Samsung Smart TVs. For those who are a bit older and whose vision makes it difficult to use a small mobile screen, or for those who need to hold small children while consulting a doctor, they can easily access telehealth services through Samsung Smart TVs. We want everyone to be able to easily see a doctor from home, which we believe is not only convenient but necessary.
 

 
Ultra-wideband technology (UWB) has been recently gaining more and more attention in the smart device industry. Principal Engineer Haeyoung Jun from Samsung Research’s Standards Research Team talked about the importance of standardization of UWB and how it could shape the future of the industry.
 
 
Q1. What is the role of the FiRa Consortium that Samsung Electronics established in 2019 with key industry players, and what specific activities does it do?
 
The FiRa Consortium develops the interoperability standard and certification program to enable consumers to use services powered by Ultra-wideband (UWB) technology in smart devices across devices made by different manufacturers.
 
After the FiRa Consortium was initially established by only a few companies, including Samsung Electronics, there are now more than 115 member companies participating in defining the interoperability standard together. Furthermore, FiRa is exploring various applications that utilize UWB, and is cooperating with multiple standard organizations across various industry verticals for the standardization of these applications.
 
 
Q2. We’d like to know why UWB technology is gaining attraction again recently and how it is moving forward.
 
As many service providers and manufacturers investigate use scenarios utilizing relative location information obtained by direct communication among devices without heavy infrastructures, the barrier to implementing UWB technology and applications have been lowered. Along with Samsung Electronics, global companies are also implementing UWB into their devices. As the number of UWB enabled products increases in the market, there will be motivation to install UWB infrastructures as well. We anticipate that, if just one or two game-changing UWB applications emerge in the market, the UWB ecosystem will expand rapidly.
 
 
Q3. We’d like to know what the new era of wireless communications envisioned through UWB technology standardization would look like in detail.
 
UWB technology allows your own devices to detect the location, including distance and direction, of other UWB devices in proximity. It also enables the secure data transactions among devices as well as secure internal interfaces, therefore UWB can provide different type of location-based services that GPS is unable to. For instances, UWB brings the same effect as tagging NFC to a reader even with the smartphone placed in a pocket or bag. With the standardized UWB technology, consumers will be able to access new convenient services across multiple verticals.
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More improvements to Seller Portal were released at the end of September. This past month, the Seller Portal team made some changes based on requests from you. Also, learn more about two upcoming events in October that will give you the opportunity to provide us additional feedback.
Settlement and financial reports include local currency information
New local currency information has been added to the settlement and financial reports. The type of currency is defined in the Payment Currency column (for example, USD) and reflects where the sales occurred. There are new local currency columns for sales, commission, transaction fee, and VAT.
Seller Portal timeout
After you log in to Seller Portal, an inactive session remains open for up to 24 hours. That means you only have to log in to Seller Portal once a day and won’t see the login pop-up notification every 20 minutes. If your session is idle for 24 hours, you are automatically logged out and you will receive a pop-up notification 10 minutes prior to being logged out. For security purposes, remember to log out of Seller Portal when you have completed your tasks.
Requirements for Samsung IAP and Android R
If your app is integrated with Samsung In-App Purchase (IAP) version 6.0 or earlier with target API level 30 (Android R) or higher, an Android policy change requires an update to the manifest file. Without this update, Android R (or higher) users may not be able to make a payment.
To the https://developer.android.com/training/basics/intents/package-visibility manifest file, add the following:
<queries> <package android:name="com.sec.android.app.samsungapps" /> </queries> IAP subscriptions and your customers in India
The Reserve Bank of India issued a regulation that, starting October 1, 2021, customers in India must consent to renew a subscription at the end of a subscription period. Auto-recurring (automatically renewed) subscriptions are no longer allowed.
If you are using Samsung IAP, your subscription customers in India will automatically receive an email notification to renew their subscription. If you are using another payment service provider for your subscription items, you must consult with this payment service provider about the changes you need to make to comply with this regulation.
See this Seller Portal notice and the IAP Subscription Guide for more information.
IAP beta testing
The Samsung In-App Purchase (IAP) team needs your help! If you have published an app or game integrated with Samsung IAP, you may be eligible to participate in an upcoming beta test to review and provide feedback on the following features:
Manage item prices and information separately from app information Change the status of each item to active/inactive, when necessary Provide a price template that allows you to manage all items with the same price Look for an announcement in October with more information, including how you can apply.
SDC21 is coming
Join us online for the Samsung Developer Conference on October 26th. See what’s cooking with development tools and our latest technology. Learn from and network with our experts and your fellow developers and designers.
Shape. Design. Create.
Additional resources on the Samsung Developers site
This site has many resources for developers looking to build for and integrate with Samsung devices and services. Stay in touch with the latest news by creating a free account and subscribing to our monthly newsletter. Visit the Marketing Resources page for information on promoting and distributing your apps. Finally, our Developer Forum is an excellent way to stay up-to-date on all things related to the Galaxy ecosystem.
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Regular Security and Feature updates and more apps support - It lacks feature updates and apps. Samsung Smart TV lacks lot of apps compared to Android TVs or LG WebOS. Kindly consider