Samsung yesterday formally unveiled the Galaxy S 4 handset at a spectacular Radio City Music Hall launch event, which attracted enough people to completely fill the sidewalks around the entire block. Although the festivities were certainly impressive, we spent some time with the new smartphone to see if it lives up to the hype.
Samsung has announced that it passed the 100 million sales milestone for its Galaxy S smartphones. The South Korean technology giant said that it achieved the milestone just two years and seven months following the launch of the original Galaxy S in May 2010. Of the three models sold so far, the 4.8-inch Galaxy S III is the fastest selling model to date selling 40 million units in just 7 months.
Samsung started giving Galaxy S owners a consolation for the lack of a true Android 4.0 update with a Value Pack update in its native Korea. The addition provides some 4.0-like features on top of Android 2.3, including Face Unlock and a photo editor. More unique are the ability to take still photos in mid-video, improvements to the app launcher and folders, and the ability to change the font size for some apps.
AT&T has published a list of several devices that are confirmed to be upgraded to Android 4.0. The carrier has already released an Ice Cream Sandwich update for HTC's Vivid, ahead of updates for LG's Nitro; Motorola's Atrix 2 and Atrix 4G; Pantech's Burst and Element; and Samsung's Captivate Glide, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II Skyrocket, and Galaxy Tab 8.9.
The Samsung Galaxy S Wi-Fi 3.6 introduced at last year's IFA will be making a debut in the US sometime this year, Engadget has learned on a recent trip to Samsung's Korean offices. The device would once more compete with the likes of Apple's iPod touch. The design is relatively low-cost and carries a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, a 3.65-inch, 480x320-pixel LCD, and Android 2.3.
Samsung has filed a new lawsuit against Apple in its home market of South Korea. The new lawsuit claims that that the iPhone 4S and the iPad 2 infringe on three of its patents and comes on the eve of Apple’s special iPad 3/HD launch event today. Specifically, Samsung claims that Apple has infringed on three of its utility patents including the way data is displayed, an aspect of the iOS user interface and the way Apple has implemented SMS.
T-Mobile in reporting its fall quarter's results revealed that it would join other major US carriers in adopting LTE. The breakup fees and spectrum transfers from AT&T's abandoned takeover deal gave it the resources to add the faster network in "key US markets." It planned to use its existing AWS spectrum in the 1,700MHz and possibly 2,100MHz bands and would have a deployment in 2013.
Samsung notched another milestone for the Galaxy S II late Wednesday after it said the range-leading phone passed 20 million sold. The figure came about 10 months after launch and showed Samsung keeping a steady rate of sales, having reached 10 million five months after the April 2011 arrival. Hitting 20 million still took about seven months less than it did for the original Galaxy S.
Late last month several leaks hinted that the Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone bearing, the model i9300, might be officially revealed as soon as the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) later this month. A new posting by Android Community now casts doubt on both that the GT-i9300 is the next generation Galaxy S III and what little expectation was left that it would be making an appearance at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
US Cellular acted on promises and detailed its first LTE devices. Both would be slight tweaks of existing Samsung devices and would include the Galaxy S Aviator, an adaptation of the Droid Charge from Verizon, and the Galaxy Tab 10.1 LTE. The two should arrive in April and March respectively.
The Galaxy GT-I9070 that surfaced in the past few days undergoing testing at the FCC has been given a name. Turning up in the Philippines, the new model has been dubbed the Galaxy S Advance. While originally thought to be a spin-off of the Galaxy S II, it appears like a cross between the original Galaxy S and the Nexus S, amounting to a what could be described as a Galaxy S 1.5. While it carries the same 1GHz clock speed as the Galaxy S and Nexus S, it includes a more advanced dual-core processor.
Carrier T-Mobile will hold a New Year, New Phone Sale this weekend. The available devices include the Samsung Galaxy S II, HTC Amaze 4G, T-Mobile G-Slate, T-Mobile Springboard and Sonic 4G mobile hotspot, all for between free or up to $50, albeit after a mail-in rebate. Each phone requires a new two-year contract with a T-Mobile Unlimited Value plan.
A photo said to have been taken by the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III has shown up on the web and shared by PocketNow. The EXIF data of the image reveals model number GT-i9500, the highest numerical value for the model numbers used for the Galaxy-series handsets (the Galaxy Nexus has a GT-i9250 model label). The person who took the image is also said to be the same one that tested a Galaxy S II back in January.
Samsung has confirmed that it will not be releasing an Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update for both the original Galaxy S smartphone and the original Galaxy Tab. The company has explained in a blog that it cannot upgrade the devices and keep its TouchWiz layer as the devices do not have enough available memory to support both the OS and Samsung’s overlay. This is despite the fact that the Samsung Nexus S, which has virtually the same hardware, is in the process of being upgraded to Ice Cream Sandwich.
Samsung's Galaxy S II smartphone has surfaced with a white housing and Bell branding, suggesting the color option will be available in markets beyond Europe. Leaked pictures, which were posted by Mobilesyrup, show a white color scheme and chrome edging, matching images for a similar offering announced earlier this month by Vodafone.
The Samsung Galaxy S Glide may soon be coming to Rogers. MobileSyrup has gotten its hands on one of these elusive sliders and reports that the Canadian wireless provider may push the phone out to the market "just in time for the holiday." The phone will revolve around a slide-out QWERTY keyboard and run Android OS 2.3.
Samsung's rumored i9220 handset may integrate a 5.29-inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 1280x720 resolution. Early reports suggested the device would offer a smaller 4.5-inch panel with the same 720p resolution, however unnamed sources have told the Italian site Androidup that the company is actually using the larger spread.
Apple has once again falsely manipulated evidence in a case against Samsung, a Webwereld investigation suggests. This time an accusation has been directed at Apple's Dutch legal complaint, which if successful would see all Samsung Galaxy devices removed from European stores. A side-by-side comparison image in Apple's court documents -- only simulated in graphics here -- depicts the Galaxy S as the same size as the iPhone 3G, even though the S is significantly taller and wider in reality. Apple acknowledges the difference in text, remarking that there are "some non-identical elements, such as the slightly larger dimensions."
Samsung's unannounced Hercules handset has surfaced in the wild yet again with Telus branding, corroborating earlier rumors pointing to an imminent launch through the Canadian carrier. The images, which were posted on MobileSyrup, also include results from a Quadrant benchmark that show performance levels on-par with leaked tests from the reference Galaxy S II.
LG has released a stop-motion video to help market the Optimus Black smartphone. The device is compared in a 'race' against other handsets, which appear to represent the iPhone, Samsung's Galaxy S, and Sony Ericsson's Xperia Arc, though the competing devices uses nicknames. The company is highlighting the Black's 9.2mm thickness and 109g weight, while the 700-nit display is claimed to be 40 percent brighter than the rest of the group.
Samsung's Galaxy S II handset has reportedly reached sales numbers exceeding 120,000 in just three days of availability, industry sources have told Yonhap News Agency. Although the numbers appear to be easily eclipsed by initial sales from other high-end smartphones, such as the iPhone 4, the Galaxy S II report is limited to three carriers in South Korea.
The Samsung Galaxy S Plus i9001, first rumored by Eldar Murtazin, has now been confirmed for the Russian market. The replacement for the original Galaxy S, it will feature a single-core CPU clocked at 1.4GHz. Although only single-core, Murtazin suggests that it is Samsung’s answer to the HTC Pyramid, which will be HTC’s first dual-core mobile.
The Galaxy S support team has used Twitter to announce that the Samsung Captivate on AT&T will get the long-awaited upgrade to Android 2.2 on Thursday. The update was shown on an AT&T support page earlier this month. The updates will begin to be sent out over the air starting on Thursday, but not all handsets will get it at once, as it could take several days.
Samsung may be preparing to launch a Tegra 2-based version of the upcoming Galaxy S II smartphone, which could arrive in select markets. The company admitted to collaboration with NVIDIA to create a new handset based on Tegra 2, but the Galaxy S II served as the primary focus of its Mobile World Congress handset unveilings.
A significant portion of the Mobile World Congress unveilings were geared for international releases or European launches, but Samsung also brought one of its forthcoming Galaxy S variants that will be headed to T-Mobile. Electronista had a chance to preview the Galaxy S 4G, which offers several tweaks aside from HSPA+ support.
Samsung may be set to introduced yet another Galaxy S variant designed as a PMP rather than a smartphone. The new device, which is said to be named the Galaxy S Wi-Fi 5.0, appears to represent a larger variant of the Player 50 PMP. The latter model has allegedly been renamed to Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.0 to match the same naming scheme, sources have told Engadget.
Samsung is preparing to introduce new products at its 'Mobile Unpacked' meeting, and we're providing live event coverage at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. The company is expected to unveil the next-generation Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab devices.
Samsung confirmed its Mobile World Congress plans early with details of its two flagships. The Galaxy Tab II is now slightly larger than the iPad it goes up against with a 10.1-inch, 1280x800 display much like the Motorola Xoom. It uses what should be a stock version of Android 3.0 and runs on a 1GHz (likely dual-core) processor that can record 1080p video from the rear eight-megapixel camera.
T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy S 4G has appeared in a series of more definitive photos. Also referred to as the Samsung Vibrant 4G, the new photos clearly show that 4G update does not differ greatly in external appearance to the original Samsung GalaxyS 3G. The most notable external changes are silver color touches and a front-facing camera. The version snapped in the photos is also still running Android 2.2 (Froyo), although Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) remains a possibility for the shipping model.
Samsung has begun shipping its latest Galaxy S variant, the 'Hoppin,' which has arrived in the company's home country of Korea. The device offers a number of features common to other Galaxy S offerings, including a 1GHz processor, GPS, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth. Android 2.2 is presented on a four-inch AMOLED panel with WVGA resolution.
At a press event on Thursday, T-Mobile USA CEO Philipp Humm confirmed that a Sidekick and a Samsung Galaxy S phone with HSPA+ support will arrive at the carrier soon. The Sidekick news was already covered, and both handsets will carry a 4G suffix. According to a PCMag report, the two devices will be joined by the known Dell Streak 7, T-Mobile G-Slate tablet with Android 3.0 and a USB modem capable of 42Mbps speeds in the first half of this year.
The Samsung S5830 revealed in a leak last week will carry a number of names depending on the market it's launched in, MXPhone said. Other than the Mini it was called last week, the new names for the Galaxy S handset include Galaxy Ace and Galaxy Cooper. While the former will most likely be sold in Thailand, the latter is reportedly earmarked for the Indian market.
Leaked images reportedly show a 'Mini' variant to be included in Samsung's Galaxy S family. The compact form closely resembles the Galaxy Player 50, a media player that was recently unveiled at CES. Both devices share a compact form and iPhone-like home button below the display. The Mini -- officially labeled the S5830 -- is said to be built with a 480x320 touchscreen.
Samsung's successor to the Galaxy S handset, said to be named the Galaxy S2, has allegedly surface in leaked renderings. The images, posted on the Korean newspaper ETnews, show a 4.3-inch display that reportedly uses the same Super AMOLED Plus technology as the company's Infuse 4G handset, which made its formal debut last week at CES.
Samsung has announced that sales of its Galaxy S line of mobile phones have reached the 10 million sold milestone. It was only in October last year that it announced sales had reached the 5 million mark after five months on sale. It has taken only another two months for Samsung to double its sales figures indicating that demand for the line has increased as new models have been added and sales have expanded to additional markets.
Samsung introduced a new media player, which mimics the styling and many of the same features as the Galaxy S line of handsets. The YP-GB1 will use Android 2.2 out of hte box and is powered by the same 1GHz processor as its counterpart. AMOLED supply shortages will lead it to use a four-inch Super Clear LCD with an 800x480 resolution and will be available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB capacities.
Samsung UK has announced through a tweet that it has made the Android 2.2 software update for the Galaxy S handset available on its support site. The UK update trails other European countries, such as Sweden, Denmark and Norway, by over two months and applies to all networks. The new OS brings Samsung's tweaked TouchWiz interface, Flash 10.1 support and improvements to the assisted GPS.
Several days after the Meizu's M9 handset arrived on the market in China, the device has already been dissected to reveal its internal components. The teardown shows hardware very similar to the Samsung's Galaxy S-series handsets, which share the same 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 "Hummingbird" processor, despite earlier reports suggesting the M9 utilized a slower 800MHz chip.
Samsung will join HTC in having one of the first 4G phones on Verizon's network, a leak uncovered today. The SCH-i520 superficially resembles a Galaxy S phone and still uses Android 2.2, but has the requisite LTE support to get 4G access. A front camera is also new in the Gizmodo tip and would borrow loosely from the Nexus S as a result.
Samsung late on Sunday claimed the distinction of outpacing Apple to two million sales of a given smartphone model in Korea. The native firm sold two million Galaxy S phones in the six months since launch, beating the iPhone's 1.8 million since it went on sale over a year ago. The rate was a slight slowdown from the summer, when Samsung sold 800,000 phones in two months.
T-Mobile today quietly cut prices permanently on some of Samsung's Android devices unusually early. Its version of the Galaxy Tab is now the least expensive of any US carrier when attached to a contract, dropping $50 to $350. The Vibrant has itself dropped down to $150 on similar terms.
Samsung's Galaxy S smartphones will get Android 2.3 firmware, according to a Twitter post from Samsung's Indian arm this week. This comes despite an earlier ambiguous answer about evaluating whether the latest Google OS will arrive on the handsets. There should be no technical issue stopping Samsung from doing this, as the Google-branded but Samsung-built Nexus S is said to ship with Android 2.3 later this year.
Google today at last confirmed the Nexus S, the first phone to run Android 2.3. The Samsung device is the first to run Android 2.3 and is a showcase for some of its most important features: it now has a front-facing camera for video chat and other functions, NFC for short-range payments, and a full gyroscope for better motion control. It also has a unique variant of the four-inch Super AMOLED in the Galaxy S, the Contour Display, which reportedly has a more natural view than a flat screen.
Samsung Canada, via its Facebook page, has announced that the Samsung Vibrant from Bell and the Samsung Captivate from Rogers will get a firmware update to Android 2.2 in mid-December. The Fascinate from Telus will receive the same upgrade early on in 2011, Samsung adds. The Galaxy S-series phones will be upgraded due to "tremendous interest," Samsung says.
Panasonic announced today it will start selling Android-powered smartphones in Japan in 2011, maintains a Tuesday report. The handsets will arrive in other global markets sometime in 2012, and will be relatively high-end, as the plan is to compete with Apple's own iPhone and Samsung's range of Galaxy S handsets. Panasonic will try to make up for its late arrival by focusing on a high level of networking between the phones and existing Panasonic hardware.
Giorgio Armani has once again collaborated with Samsung to bring out a more exclusive and luxurious version of a smartphone. The Android-powered Galaxy S received the treatment this time around, though how exactly it differs from the standard device in hardware other than one Giorgio Armani logo on its face hasn't been revealed. An Armani app will also be preloaded, though exactly what it does is unknown.
More details have emerged about the forthcoming Samsung-based Google Nexus Two. The device is now expected to be missing from Samsung’s November 8 event. Doubts have also been cast on the naming by PCMag's sources, although what this would involve isn't known; Nexus S has been speculated, but not confirmed.
A Verizon rebate form has just been leaked online thanks to Engadget, revealing a number of upcoming smartphones at the carrier. This includes two different listings for the upcoming Droid 2 Global, each carrying a $100 rebate. A Droid Pro is also listed, though there is only one model, leading many to believe there will be camera and cameraless versions of the Droid 2 Global, not the Pro.
The five million Samsung Galaxy S owners patiently awaiting Samsung’s version of Android 2.2 are beginning to receive the anticipated update. The TouchWiz tweaked version of the Froyo upgrade has so far surfaced in Sweden, Denmark and Norway and is a available for download through Samsung’s Kies or PC Studio applications.
A leaked image hints that two new Android smartphones are coming to Sprint relatively soon. The Kyocera Zio, badged as a Sanyo, is one of them, as is the Samsung Transform. Not much is known about the latter device, but it may be a Galaxy S-series Android device.
