Amazon may delay the rumored 8.9-inch Kindle Fire and launch a 10.1-inch model instead. According to DigiTimes, sources speculate that the larger screen will help compete with the iPad, whereas the 8.9-inch variant was said to be designed to go against the Samsung Galaxy Note.
The crew over at GSMarena have got their hands on Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone and tested its battery performance. They came away impressed, comparing it to the performance of 31 other handsets in the process. The 2,100mAh battery managed to provide 10 hours and 20 minutes of 3G talk time on a single charge, placing fourth and behind the Motorola Droid Razr MAXX and Samsung's own Galaxy Note and Wave 3 S8600, in that order.
The Samsung Galaxy Note (N7000) has received its long promised update to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). The revised firmware (XXLPY 4.0.3, build date May 4) is rolling out to users over-the-air in Germany and the Netherlands at the time of writing. It brings with it Samsung’s revamped TouchWiz UI and its new Premium Suite of S-pen based apps including S Note, Shape Match and My Story.
While wandering around the CTIA show floor this week, we noticed that a newcomer to the smartphone arena, Plum Mobile, brought along several intriguing devices. One of the new models, the Might, appears to be a cheap clone of Samsung's Galaxy Note. We had a chance to try out the device and see how it stacks up against the competition.
Samsung announced today that the Galaxy Note has sold two million units since its release five months ago. The stylus-enabled "phablet" hit the two million mark in the shortest period for any Korean LTE phone to date.
The Samsung Galaxy Note has now received an experimental CyanogenMod 9 ROM that brings Android 4.0 to the half-phone, half-tablet. Team Hacksung has detailed the process and provided all the necessary files over on the XDA Developers forums, but cautions that only experienced developers apply the software to their 5.3-inch smartphones. There is also a list of known issues available online.
Samsung carried on its Android 4.0 updates by pushing them out to Canadians. The Galaxy S II and its LTE, HD LTE, and X variants should all start getting the new OS as of today. The Galaxy Note, as well as the Galaxy Tab 10.1, 8.9, 7.0, and 7.0 Plus, well get their update in a similar interval.
For HTC, 2011 was sometimes considered a write-off: what looked to be a promising year with an early 4G lead saw the company overwhelmed by Apple and Samsung, and even by its own at times confusing lineup with problematic phones like the Thunderbolt. The One series for 2012 is the reboot, a return to basics with an emphasis on high-end design and even stripping back the custom Sense interface layer. We'll determine in our review of the HTC One X in 4G LTE trim, and to some extent the Evo 4G LTE, whether HTC is back to being a fierce competitor for the iPhone and Galaxy roster.
Apple's new turn towards celebrity iPhone 4S ads is having an effect on viewers, Ace Metrix gauged Friday. The Zooey Deschanel and Samuel L. Jackson TV spots were the most effective ads of the week of April 20, beating out two Samsung Galaxy Note ads. They weren't the most effective ads so far in 2012, as one of Samsung's earliest feature-focused Galaxy Note ads from February just slightly pulled ahead.
Samsung has achieved a milestone in toppling Nokia for the crown of top cellphone maker, Strategy Analytics estimated in a new study. Using unofficial figures for Samsung as well as official data elsewhere, it had Samsung leading with 93.5 million cellphones sold, or 25.4 percent of the entire space. Nokia's rapid decline in smartphones saw it tumble from 108.5 million phones at the start of 2011 to 82.7 million a year later, or 22.5 percent.
Samsung reported a best-ever first quarter profit equal to $5.2 billion on Thursday. The company singled out strong smartphone shipments as the core factor behind the 81 percent jump, both in established models as well as new "high-end strategic models" like the Galaxy Note. It wouldn't reveal shipments, but did say that shipments were higher in all areas, most of all in the developing world.
Hints that Samsung could be prepping a version of the Galaxy Note for T-Mobile appear to have been confirmed with photos of the device surfacing in the wild. The photos, which passed through the in-box of the team at Tmo News, also show a number of T-Mobile apps preinstalled on the device. Pre-loaded apps include T-Mobile Name ID, Mall, TV and My T-Mobile.
LG has promised to offer a white version of its Optimus Vu smartphone at SK Telecom in its home market of South Korea. The large, five-inch display of the Optimus Vu nearly rivals the 5.3-inch screen of the Samsung Galaxy Note, but sports a 4:3 aspect ratio instead of the Note's 16:10. LG expects the white Vu to appeal to younger users and women.
Samsung has posted an upgrade guide for the US that shows just which devices in the country will get an Android 4.0 update. Galaxy S II variants at AT&T, including the regular and Skyrocket versions as well as the Epic 4G Touch, are slated to get the new OS. The Galaxy Note also gets an update, while the Nexus S and Nexus S 4G either have or already are getting their upgrades.
Samsung may be readying a version of the Galaxy Note for T-Mobile. A discovery of a browser user agent string for a previously unseen SGH-T879 device by TmoNews both has the characteristic Txx9 naming of a Samsung-made T-Mobile device and the 1280x800 resolution of the 5.3-inch Note. While a small chance exists that it's a tablet, the naming scheme, user agent, and listings both at the Bluetooth SIG and the Wi-Fi Alliance (PDF) suggest a smartphone like the Note instead.
Samsung may bring more than just a third-generation Galaxy phone to its upcoming May 3 event. As asserted by a source for CNET, the company would purportedly have a new 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab variant in store for the gathering. Other than a dual-core processor, the informant was short on details.
A court in Dusseldorf, Germany issued a ruling Friday that it would hear Apple's appeal over a denied Galaxy Tab 10.1N ban on June 5. The procedure will start decisions on whether or not a judge was wrong in February to decide that the slightly modified Android tablet didn't infringe Apple's design rights. A representative for the court, Ulrich Egger, didn't expect the June date to represent a final decision.
Samsung shed a good deal of light on its future plans regarding its software offerings for the Galaxy Note, releasing a video showcasing the capabilities of its coming Premium Suite of apps for the device. The Premium Suite, soon to be released along with the Note's Android 4.0 update, looks to contain a range of enhancements taking fuller advantage of the Note's unique capabilities.
After debuting a larger 10.1-inch version of its popular Galaxy Note 5.3 at Mobile World Congress, Samsung is said to be revising the product ahead of its launch. The revisions and delayed release dovetails with an earlier rumor that Samsung could be aiming to leapfrog the new iPad by offering a fully quad-core tablet before Apple does. Currently, the new iPad runs an Apple-designed A5X SoC which matches a dual-core ARM Cortex A9 with quad-core graphics provided by PowerVR’s SGX543MP4.
Early investigations have suggested that Nokia and AT&T attempts to have staff use the Lumia 900 may not be having an impact on actual recommendations in the short term. A tour by CNET of five Manhattan-area AT&T stores just after launch showed that staff not only didn't know much about the Windows Phone flagship but were actively steering users to the iPhone. A companion check by IDC researcher Ramon Llamas in Massachusetts showed one Windows Phone recommendation, but most recommended Android hardware like the Galaxy Note.
A graphic on Sprint's homepage as of Tuesday evening may have unintentionally spoiled, or at least hinted at, plans for its own version of the Samsung Galaxy Note. A "Take Control" image expands to show a woman standing next to an oversized rendering of what's clearly Samsung's 5.3-inch Android device, with the Samsung logo just above the controls. Sprint's current main Samsung Phone, the Epic 4G Touch, is conspicuously different.
Samsung has released a pink version of the Galaxy Note in South Korea. The color, named “Berry Pink,” went on sale in an attempt by Samsung to appeal to a female audience in a similar move to the Galaxy S II in November.
Samsung might once again be delaying a tablet after being caught out by Apple if claims by industry insiders are real. They purportedly told MK that the Galaxy Note 10.1 was being moved to June to upgrade from the dual-core, 1.4GHz chip recycled from the regular Galaxy Note to the quad-core, 1.5GHz Exynos 4412. What if anything else would change wasn't outlined.
Samsung late Thursday gave upbeat early estimates of its first calendar quarter results that showed a possible breakthrough in smartphone sales. Its pure operating profit would be 5.8 trillion won (nearly $5.2 billion), or almost twice as much as from a year earlier. Pure revenue would sit at $39.8 billion.
UK Samsung Galaxy S II owners, who bought unlocked versions of the Android smartphone, may have to wait a while longer to get the Android 4.0 (ICS) update. The phone vendor has confirmed that the update will be made available to them, but only after all mobile operators have finished testing the release on their networks. This means that those who bought the phones unlocked, or "SIM-free" as it is called in the UK, have been sent to the back of the queue.
An anonymous source has leaked an internal Samsung test-build of Ice Cream Sandwich for the Galaxy Note to the team at RootzWiki. Before making the download available to the public, the site used an internal build tester to identify what worked and what may not. In most instances, the Galaxy Note’s performance with ICS is both stable and enhanced.
Samsung's Galaxy Note commercial titled "The Best of a Phone and Tablet" has been rated the most effective ad for the first quarter of the year, according to a survey conducted by analyst firm Ace Metrix. The televised commercial is said to have achieved a higher score than ads from Doritos and M&Ms, which rounded out the top three.
Samsung should retake the edge in the smartphone space as of the first quarter, Canaccord Genuity said in early estimates. Analyst T. Michael Walkley saw Samsung going back to 28.2 percent share on the back of 41 million smartphones. Apple would have its strongest winter ever, but at 32.6 million iPhones would have a more modest 22.4 percent.
Although previously clued earlier in the week, the once-mysterious Phones4U and Samsung event on Friday was revealed to be a Samsung store-within-a-store at the phone retailer's location on Oxford Street in London. As caught in a quick tour by Engadget, the store has slight traces of an Apple retail store, including dedicated tables with fully working samples and staff trained to answer detailed questions.
Canadian wireless carrier Bell appears to have established an Android 4.0 update timetable for several of its handsets. A alleged internal memo posted by Mobilesyrup suggests the carrier has set June as a target for Samsung's Galaxy Tab 8.9 and HTC's Sensation and Raider smartphones.
Samsung has announced that it has now shipped 5 million units of its 5.3-inch Galaxy Note ‘phablet.’ Although not representing actual sell-through figures to end-users, the company has reached this production milestone in five months. It was only in early March that Samsung revealed that it had actually sold over 2 million units of its phone and tablet hybrid, suggesting that either that demand for the device is accelerating rapidly, or that channel inventories may be fully loaded.
Samsung has just released a video of Peter the Elephant playing with its Galaxy Note smartphone. Meant to emphasize that "bigger is better," the video shows the phone to hardly be elephant-sized, though it does sport a larger-than-average 5.3-inch touchscreen. In the video, embedded below, Peter is seen playing with a number of apps, and even takes a photograph of what we assume is its trainer and himself thanks to his claw-like trunk.
British retailer Phones4U has posted an uncharacteristic teaser for a Samsung event on March 30. At least its Oxford Street store in London is mostly blacking out windows with the exception of the Samsung logo behind theater curtains, one eyewitness for Eurodroid noticed. Other than a "coming" notice for the date, no clues exist of what the event is for.
Samsung's often hinted-at but still vague GT-i9300 may have been spotted in a new leak. Despite early suspicions that it would be a tablet, what Phone Arena was given in photos would be a 2012-era smartphone, complete with 'lips' to avoid accusations of copying Apple. It would be the first non-Nexus Samsung phone built for Android 4.0 and would drop the hardware navigation buttons in favor of all touch, likely bumping up the screen size beyond 4.3 inches on the Galaxy S II.
Samsung in a low-key step late Wednesday delayed its Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy Note to the spring. In exchange for the delay, it promised a Premium Suiite that would broaden the feature set beyond what 4.0 itself would bring. Most of the focus will be on extending the S-Pen's usefulness, with Formula and Shape Match features to turn math and geometry drawings into real objects, including answers for formulas.
A posting in Reddit's Android section has shown what's purportedly the Galaxy S III. The render shows a thinner design, adding a dedicated camera button to the side, and with a 16:9 display. Its most conspicuous change may be trim: it has the same 'lips' as the Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.2, designed to avoid the accusations of copying Apple that have led to lawsuits.
The ideal smartphone's screen size for most prospective buyers is on the large side, Strategy Analytics determined from a study. Researchers talking to existing American and British owners found that the "sweet spot" for a phone was between four and 4.5 inches, as long as the phone was reasonably thin. About 90 percent of those asked chose a device larger than what they have, although the study didn't gauge how many would buy a larger phone if pressed.
Samsung had an immediate reaction to the new iPad where it crafted a skewed comparison between Apple's new hardware and the Galaxy Note 10.1. The argument contends that Samsung's tablet is better primarily because it has native pen input, which would let it draw, edit photos, and write with a pressure-sensitive pen. "Popular" demand for aftermarket iPad pens at Amazon was portrayed as a sign users wanted the feature, Samsung said.
LG's Optimus Vu smartphone is now shipping at its home market of Korea. The LTE phone's five-inch, IPS display sports a rare 4:3 aspect ratio and a 1024x768 display. The potential competitor to the Galaxy Note competitor otherwise 8.5mm thick and weighs 0.37lbs (168g).
Samsung has announced sales of over two million Galaxy Note ‘phablets,’ according to Forbes. The cross-over device, which straddles the line between a smartphone and a tablet, has notched up the sales since its October launch showing surprising demand for it. While Samsung recently admitted that it was struggling to move significant numbers of its Galaxy tablets, it has had no trouble shifting Android devices in the smartphone class selling over 20 million Galaxy S IIs.
LG put out a trio of headlining smartphones at Mobile World Congress, and we've had the chance to try all three. The Optimus 4X HD is clearly the star: with a quad-core Tegra 3 and a 4.7-inch, 720p display, it's one of the more powerful devices at the show. Read on for its take as well as looks at the Optimus Vu and Optimus 3D Max.
Samsung had no less than three tablets unveiled ahead of Mobile World Congress, headlined by the Galaxy Note 10.1 as well as two sizes of the Galaxy Tab 2. Each promises a different take on tablets, but are they worth the while? We've tried all three.
Samsung has expanded its Galaxy Note lineup to include a 10.1-inch tablet. The Note 10.1 integrates a 1280x800 display that appears to match the Galaxy Tab 10.1 panel, though the new model jumps from a 1GHz chip to a 1.4GHz dual-core processor to match the five-inch Note.
New sleuthing by Mobil.se around the Mobile World Congress venue has supported notions that Samsung's real highlight for the show will be a Galaxy Note 10.1. A photo of the tablet includes text below it refers to "It's 10.1" as well as the familiar "It's Galaxy Note" line attached to the current Galaxy Note. The screen on the tablet shows what looks to be handwritten scrapbook contents.
Samsung as one of its last preludes before Mobile World Congress has brought out the Galaxy Tab 2 (10.1). A direct upsizing of the seven-inch version, it shares Android 4.0, the unnamed (likely Tegra 2) dual-core 1GHz processor, three-megapixel back camera, and VGA front camera of the smaller device. Its primary differences are the 1280x800 resolution (carried over from the original 10.1) and a frame more conspicuously meant to avoid treading on Apple's design rights in Germany.
Samsung has submitted a new mystery device to the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) for approval. The hardware, identified as the Samsung Mobile Tablet GT-N8000, reached the compliance certification body last week. Although there has been no confirmation, the N8000 is believed to be the follow-on product to the Galaxy Note, which reached US shores earlier this month.
Samsung made much ado of the Galaxy Note during the Super Bowl: the massive 5.3-inch screen and pen were tickets to "freedom" from the comparatively tiny iPhone. But are size and handwriting giving smartphone owners real choice, or is it an attempt to shoehorn the phone/tablet crossover into a market that doesn't want it? Our review of the Galaxy Note will find out if it's rethinking smartphones or just rewinding back to 2006-era PDAs.
LG has officially provided details surrounding the Optimus Vu, its own take on the same blurring of lines between the phone and tablet as Samsung's Galaxy Note. True to leaks, the device has a five-inch display like its Samsung rival but uses a 4:3 aspect ratio like the Pantech Pocket. The 1024x768, color-rich IPS display is said to improve text reading, LG claimed, although the ratio could make it even wider than the Galaxy Note.
Samsung in odd mentions may have confirmed that its follow-up for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 may revolve around pen input. Both a briefly available Developer Day guide (since pulled) and a Back Stage casting call have made references to a "Galaxy Note 10.1." While possibly an accident, the unlikelihood of making the same mistake twice in different sections suggests that Samsung was certain of the product name and had leaked it instead.
The LG Optimus Vu has surfaced in live photos. The large ‘phablet’ centers on a 5-inch display that uses a 4:3 aspect ratio resulting in wider 90mm body than the 5.3-inch Samsung Galaxy Note, which comes in at 83mm wide. The device is expected to be unveiled at the Mobile World Congress, which runs from February 27 through March 1.
