Samsung appears to be readying a Galaxy S III variant for T-Mobile's network, according to Federal Communications Commission filings. The carrier has yet to officially confirm plans to launch the Korean handset maker's latest flagship device, however the FCC test documents point to a new model geared specifically for T-Mobile's 1,700MHz AWS spectrum.
Samsung is reported to have notched up 9 million pre-orders for its Galaxy S III smartphone ahead of its launch. According to Reuters, the pre-orders have been made from over 100 global carriers, not customers, ahead of its release. Customers will be able to get their hands on the device starting May 29 in Germany, before it begins rolling out across other countries.
On May 16, British mobile telecom carrier O2 announced that they are building out a DC-HSPA wireless network capable of 42Mbps wireless downloads in the UK's largest cities. Samsung has jumped on board the effort by announcing yesterday that the Samsung Galaxy S III would connect to the DC-HSPA network. The Galaxy S III is expected to launch in the UK on May 29.
The forthcoming Samsung Galaxy S III for Japan has been fitted 2GB of RAM, versus the standard 1GB of RAM for most other international markets. The Japanese variant of the GS III also runs the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 ‘Krait’ dual-core SoC, which is compatible with Japan’s NTT Docomo 4G LTE network. The inclusion of the additional RAM is likely to help support Japan-only features such as 1 seg TV tuner without bogging down overall system performance.
Japan's NTT DoCoMo has revealed its summer lineup of releases including 16 Android 4.0 smartphones, a tablet, a mobile phone for children and a mobile Wi-Fi router. The announcement comes at the same time as plans for the company's Dmarket content to be expanded to offer anime videos and music on a flat-rate basis for smartphones and tablets.
The FCC has posted a filing for the Samsung Galaxy S III without LTE onboard. The tested handset seems to be the global release version, which is limited to HSPA+ and EDGE, with the filing more a formality for handset imports to the US before the LTE variant is released.
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.
Samsung has gone ahead and released official images of the accessories it will offer for its Galaxy S III smartphone. This includes the C-Pen, which looks somewhat thicker than the pen bundled with the Galaxy Note. The soft flip cover is also seen, as is the Wi-Fi Display Hub, which will let users charge the handset while outputting its content over a full-sized HDMI port.
The previously spotted Samsung GT-i9500 is rumored to carry a Super AMOLED HD Plus display. According to sources of SamMobile, the handset was seen at the Tizen Delopers Conference in San Francisco sporting the display tech, previously speculated to be destined for the Galaxy S III.
The launch of Samsung’s Galaxy S III was met with a muted reception from some sections of the tech community. While its quad-core Exynos processor has been shown to be very fast, some have criticized its extensive use of plastic materials and some its size. However, one detail in its specifications that probably caused the most consternation is its use of a Super AMOLED PenTile pixel array instead of the Super AMOLED Plus technology found on its predecessor, the Galaxy S II which includes a true RGB array without sharing subpixels.
The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD that AT&T promised back at CES and was subsequently leaked in a roadmap for the carrier will not be sold after all, The Verge learned. The news came during an interview with Ryan Bidan, Samsung's VP of marketing, who explained that there is no point of bringing it out considering the Samsung Galaxy S III was recently unveiled. By the same merit, the VP pretty much confirmed AT&T is getting the S III, though he didn't commit to a date other than that it will arrive this summer.
The official wireless charger for the Galaxy S III unveiled last week won't ship until September, learned from UK retailer Mobile Fun, who will sell the accessory. That's between about three and four months later than the phone's launch, depending on which market one's in. Included in the kit is a replacement rear battery cover that likely adds thickness to the handset and a desk cradle that will wirelessly charge the device.
The brand new Samsung Galaxy S III is now available for pre-order in the UK, just one day after the device was unveiled at a special event in London. Five carriers have started orders, with an expected availability date of May 30.
The first image of Samsung's upcoming Windows Phone smartphone, the SGH-i667, codenamed Mandel, has shown up on Chinese forum WPXAP. While the model number is shared with the Focus S on AT&T, the Mandel supports LTE networks, as revealed by FCC testing in March. It is also likely to arrive at AT&T, though exactly when isn't known.
Samsung held its "Unwrapped" event in London yesterday to show off its next handset, the Galaxy S III. Electronista attended the unveiling, and spent some time with the handset after an hour-long presentation from the company management. The new model is considerably larger, but not significantly thicker. It offers a high-quality screen, faster processor, a Siri-like voice management feature and a smooth finish in Samsung's latest attempt to best the industry-leading iPhone.
The newly official Galaxy S III will sport a number of features that Samsung says enhance the user experience and make for a natural interaction. The Smart stay feature, for example, will use the front, 1.9-megapixel camera to adjust the display brightness based on ambient light, the user's eye position, and the task he or she is performing. If they are reading an e-book or a web page, it will optimize the display to minimize eye strain, Samsung said.
When the Samsung Galaxy S III arrives, which is rumored to be sometime later this month, it will be available in blue and white colors, GSMArena found out. A tip from UK retailer Carphone Warehouse that included an inventory screen showing the handset will be available in the two colors. It should be noted that North America may get different color choices, with the common black color likely to arrive on our shores.
With a Samsung-hosted event just two days away, where the electronics giant is expected to officially unveil the Galaxy S III handset, new images of the handset have been shared online by SamMobile. The source also revealed that the phone will ship with Android 4.0.4 and confirms that the Galaxy S III is indeed the GT-I9300, as earlier reports maintained. A small chance remains that the phone picture below is just a dummy version, and is not representative of the final product, with the strongest supporting evidence coming from the three dedicated buttons at the bottom.
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.
The Samsung Galaxy S III may have had its final form uncovered based on a rumor Friday. The shot forwarded to Phone Arena would show a device that would still have hardware home, menu, and back buttons, but with a display roughly as large as on the Galaxy Nexus. It would possibly have a very narrow bezel as well as a metal border.
(Update: Samsung denies involvement) Samsung has decided to go beyond just TV ads decrying Apple stores to actively campaigning in front of them. As seen first-hand (below) by well-known Australian video maker Nate Burr and recounted through checks by mUmBRELLA, the Korean company has recruited marketers at Tongue to send buses of mock protesters to Apple's Sydney store, urging those inside to "wake up." Although the street team makes no mention of Samsung, a Wake Up Australia site has a countdown that directly lines up with Samsung's Galaxy S III event on May 3.
Samsung on Wednesday ended one of the largest rumors surrounding the new Galaxy S with news of its main processor. The Exynos 4 Quad carries a namesake four ARM Cortex-A9 cores and is made on a newer, smaller 32 nanometer process. Although it clocks in at the same 1.4GHz as in newer Samsung phones, it's roughly twice as powerful while using 20 percent less power, the company claimed.
A device being billed as a Galaxy S III has shown up in AnTuTu benchmarks that could point to more modest hardware. The device spotted at Droid-Life is listed as having a 4.7-inch, 720p screen like some rumors, but it would only have a dual-core, 1.4GHz Exynos 4212 chip, not the quad-core 4412 commonly attached to the next-generation phone. It added a 12-megapixel camera to the otherwise suspected details.
Samsung's May 3 event was spoiled in conspicuous fashion on Friday after Vietnam's Tinhte briefly posted (since pulled) a detailed look at what's now very likely to be the Galaxy S III. Previously seen earlier as the GT-i9300, the hardware appears to have roughly the physical footprint of the Galaxy S II but with a taller, 4.6-inch, 720p screen that uses Android 4.0's onscreen controls. A quad-core 1.4GHz chip (likely the Exynos 4412) makes it clear the device is high-end.
Following launch secrecy details, a second leak Wednesday has dropped hints that the Galaxy S III, or whatever the device is named, may be a breakthrough in speed. The same source for The Verge as earlier said it would use the rumored quad-core chip, likely the Exynos 4412, and deliver "superlative benchmark performance." The part isn't confirmed, but it's likely to be identical to the Samsung chip in the Meizu MX Quad-core, which could be 60 percent faster than the dual-core MX.
Samsung's Galaxy S III launch is running under security levels previously associated most closely with Apple, scoops on Wednesday unearthed. A tip to The Verge understood that test units were being put in generic enclosures that disguise the actual look for field testing. One such example was caught by Gizmodo in Brazil (pictured) and was "not even close" to the final look.
Samsung ended months of speculation with an invitation to a special event on May 3. Asking fans to "come and meet the next Galaxy," a believed reference to the expected Galaxy S III, it plans to both have an open house at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London as well as to livestream the event. Few clues if any are available as to the hardware, with hints limited to blue and white 'droplets' with a brushed metal texture.
Korean newspaper DDaily is reporting that LG was not completely happy with the reception to its smartphone launches at Mobile World Congress. Not wanting to sit idly while watching Samsung and HTC getting a jump on it with the introduction of their next-generation halo phones, LG is said to be prepping a 4.7-inch, 720p smartphone known internally as the D1L. As with AT&T's HTC One X, the device will be powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 dual-core processor clocked a 1.5GHz.
The latest rumor to surface about the eagerly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S III is that it will be the recipient of a large 4.65-inch 720p Super AMOLED Plus display. If true, this would trump the similar sized display in its Galaxy Nexus by adopting a true RGB pixel arrangement instead of a PenTile array. This approach will also result in a higher pixel density, putting in the Retina display class above 300ppi on a smartphone at 316ppi.
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 Greater China President Kim Young-Ha has hinted to the Maeli Business News that the hotly anticipated Samsung until May, possibly to tie in with its sponsorship of the London Olympics. The company had already chosen not to reveal the handset at the recent Mobile World Congress, as it had with the previous two Galaxy launches, reportedly because it wanted to reduce the gap between its official unveiling and actual launch.
A slide leak Monday has unearthed more details about Samsung's Exynos 5250 than what it has shared so far. The SemiAccurate copy shows that the 2GHz, ARM Cortex-A15 performer should also be mated to a much newer Mali-T604 graphics core. With 2.1 gigapixels per second and a wide 12.8GBps memory bandwidth, the T604 should blow past the already fast Mali-400 in the Galaxy S II.
The Samsung Galaxy S III may be powered by a 1.5GHz, quad-core Exynos processor and have a 4.8-inch, 1080p touchscreen if the latest specs leaked to BGR prove true. These are in line with earlier reports from the same source, and while the phone isn't officially being unveiled at the currently ongoing MWC, it's expected out soon. Otherwise, it's said the rear camera will be an eight-megapixel unit, with the front rated at two.
Samsung continues to send out conflicting signals about when its future flagship phone, the Galaxy S III might be released. Earlier today, Samsung's Senior marketing VP, Younghee Lee, said that the company was "still reviewing" options. At the same time, a probable reference to the phone has since shown up on Samsung's UAE support page as the GT-i9300.
