Androids: October 2013

Thursday 31 October 2013

Verizon Galaxy S III mini leaks in blue

The Galaxy S4 mini has been out for a few months, and all major US carriers will be launching the device in the coming weeks, but it looks like the Galaxy S III mini from last year still has some life left in it. AT&T recently launched the S III mini, and now it seems Verizon has decided to follow suit, as prolific leakster evleaks has tweeted an image of the Verizon S III mini in blue.

At the unveiling of the Galaxy Note 3, Samsung announced three colours for the device – black, white and pink. While the first two are readily available, the pink coloured Galaxy Note 3 will soon be available in UK at least, via Phones 4u. The retailer will be the exclusive UK retailer for the new colour for the month of November.

Samsung is rapidly expanding the rollout of its high-end tablet with South Korea being the latest country to get the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition. South Koreans will get the device in two variants – LTE-A and Wi-Fi-only. The LTE-A version will be powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, which is safe to assume a Snapdragon 800 processor while the Wi-Fi variant to have a 1.9GHz Exynos 5 Octa chip.

Sprint has announced that it will be launching the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini and Galaxy Mega 6.3 on November 8th, and that both devices will support the new Sprint Spark tri-band LTE network. Sprint Spark is an enhanced LTE network designed to achieve high data speeds, coverage, and throughput by combining three bands of 4G LTE wireless spectrum, and both Samsung devices will support this network, though the Galaxy Mega will get support via a software update post-launch.

Does Samsung have too many unsold tablets lying around? That certainly seems to be the case, as after Woot, who’s giving away numerous Galaxy Tabs on a discount, AT&T launched an offer as well – anyone who buys a Galaxy S4, S4 Active, Note II, or Note 3 on a new two-year contract this holiday season will get a free 7-inch Galaxy Tab 3. You’ll be able to add the tablet to an existing Mobile Share plan for $10 more per month, or get a separate data plan if you choose.

The deal will be available both online and in retail stores, and kicks off from today itself. Hit the break for the press release from AT&T.

Samsung might not have been successful in its endeavors to incorporate proper LTE support in its Exynos series of mobile chipsets, but the Korean manufacturer is responsible for Sprint’s newly launched TD-LTE network in the US, as confirmed in a press release today. Samsung Mobile will provide radio network infrastructure, as well as implementation services, to deliver faster and more efficient internet speeds to consumers.

The Galaxy Note 3 comes with a 3,200mAh battery. The Galaxy Round, which has exactly the same specs as the Note 3 except for the lack of stylus support, comes with a 2,800mAh battery. Why? Well, because while the Galaxy Round is curved, its battery is flat and straight like standard batteries, only elongated so it can fit underneath the back cover. This is in stark contrast to LG – its curved smartphone, the G Flex, comes with a battery capacity of 3,500mAh, considerably more than the Round’s, thanks to the use of a curved battery.

Optical image stabilization (OIS) has become quite an important feature on smartphones these days, with manufacturers like Nokia, HTC, and LG having implemented it on their flagship devices’ cameras. The Galaxy Note 3 was originally rumored to have OIS as well, and while that didn’t pan out, the rumor mill started pointing towards the Galaxy S5 as being the first Samsung flagship that would have OIS (the Galaxy S4 Zoom already has it, but that’s more of a camera than a smartphone).

Verizon surprised everyone by becoming the first carrier to roll out the Android 4.3 update for the Galaxy S4, and now Sprint is following in Verizon’s footsteps – Galaxy S4 users on Sprint’s network can now upgrade to the latest version of Android over the air, and get new features such as faster performance (thanks to TRIM support), Galaxy Gear support, improved camera firmware and features, KNOX functionality, and other minor improvements and tweaks.

The Galaxy S4 is still a powerhouse of a smartphone, and the only Samsung flagship available that can easily fit in your pockets and give some semblance of ease of use with one hand. Now, folks in Australia looking to purchase the S4 and stand out a bit from those who already own one can head over to retailer Dick Smith Electronics, where the device is available in Arctic Blue, Purple Mirage and Pink Twilight, in addition to the standard White Frost and Black Mist colors.

We know Samsung’s latest flagship device – Galaxy Note 3 is doing good in the market and the number confirmed by JK Shin today resonates the fact. At a press briefing in Korea, JK Shin confirmed that they’ve managed to ship 5 million Galaxy Note 3s to sales channels, carriers etc. Samsung never confirms the actual consumer sales but this figure is also a good proof on the traction of the Galaxy Note 3.

It was only earlier this week that we heard of Samsung entering a deal with the National Basketball Association, and the Korean manufacturer followed up by releasing an ad during the first quarter of the Miami Heat’s season opener against the Chicago Bulls, starring four-time NBA MVP LeBron James.

More rumors are cropping up about the 64-bit Exynos processor that Samsung is expected to debut with the Galaxy S5. According to a new report by the Korean media, the 64-bit processor, the first of Samsung’s Exynos 6 series of chipsets, will be accompanied by 4GB of RAM, making use of one of the biggest advantages of 64-bit processing support.

Curved screen on Samsung Galaxy Round not a gimmick, says DisplayMate

Ever since Samsung announced the Galaxy Round, the world’s first smartphone with a curved ‘flexible’ display, almost everyone has written off the curved screen as a gimmick, saying it doesn’t offer any advantage for the end-consumer. However, the folks over at DisplayMate, who are considered the experts on mobile displays and came away impressed with the Galaxy Note 3′s display, think the curved screen is actually more than a gimmick.

For a smartwatch that is supposed to be an extension of your smartphone and let you know of various notifications right on your wrist, the Galaxy Gear is surprisingly limited, with only text and email notifications showing the full text of the message. However, this is more a limitation of Samsung’s notification service on the phone rather than the watch’s, and to overcome this limitation, XDA forum member Sepiroth887 has released AllTheNotifications (ATN) Manager.

Samsung’s often-rumored-but-not-that-anticipated 12.2-inch tablet seems to be inching closer and closer to launch – just a few days after the Wi-Fi model was certified by the Bluetooth SIG, an LTE model, SM-P905V has been given certification as well. The V at the end of the model number makes it more than likely that this is the Verizon model, hinting at Samsung wanting to make its first 12.2-inch tablet quite widely popular.

International Galaxy Note 3 gets a stability update

Samsung has started rolling out a new software update for its international Snapdragon 800 Galaxy Note 3 (SM-N9005). The UDMJ6 is a stability update available to Galaxy Note 3 users over-the-air and it brings in some performance improvements including a confirmation on the Reactivation Lock feature which will now be turned off by default.

According to a study released by Strategy Analysts, global smartphone shipments reached an all-time high in the third quarter this year, with more than 250 million devices shipped in what was a 45 percent increase over last year, and Samsung took the lead with a whopping 35 percent of the market share.

Samsung had announced back in August that the Galaxy NX, its Android-powered mirrorless camera, would be arriving in the U.S. in October, but it’s a schedule that Samsung might not be able to meet as we approach the end of the month. However, it shouldn’t be long before the camera becomes available, as it has recently visited the FCC seeking certification for being used on American carriers’ networks.

Well, in a rather surprising turn of events, Verizon has beaten other carriers and become the first to start rolling out the Android 4.3 update for the Galaxy S4, as was expected when the update’s details were made available just a few hours back on Samsung’s website. In addition to inherent features of Android 4.3 (though there’s no OpenGL 3.0, as the S4′s GPU doesn’t support it on the hardware level), the update will add support for the Galaxy Gear, enable Band 4 LTE, update the Group Play app, improved Easy Mode, KNOX support, and a few other tweaks.

Samsung is currently the largest manufacturer of Android devices in the world, that’s not a secret. But how many smartphones and tablets are they actually selling each day? Well, according to Samsung executive vice president David Eun, the Korean company is selling a whopping 1 million devices every day, which equates to more than 350 million devices every year.

At its first global developer-centric conference in San Francisco, Samsung rolled out five software development kits to lure developers into making apps for its devices, in a move to create a robust ecosystem that enables developers to make use of Samsung’s exclusive features. Leading the pack is a multiscreen SDK, which will allow users to share content across various Samsung devices such as mobiles, tablets, and televisions; also included is a multiscreen gaming engine developed in partnership with Unity Technologies that will allow gaming on any Samsung TV paired with a Samsung mobile or tablet.

Like everyone has pointed out time and time again, the biggest reason for poor consumer interest in the Galaxy Gear, Samsung’s first smartwatch, has been its rather high asking price of $299. If you’re in the US and have been waiting for a price drop on the Gear before buying one, then you might want to head over to eBay’s Daily Deals section, where the smartwatch is currently selling for $279.99.

Samsung announced on 28 October that the Android 4.3 update for the Galaxy S III, Note II and the S4 would begin rolling out in the US in the coming weeks, and it looks like the Verizon variant of the Galaxy S4 could begin receiving it from today itself. The update’s details were listed on Samsung’s and Verizon’s website, showing the build number VRUEMJ7 and a release date of October 28th, though Verizon’s support website still points to a previous update as being the latest one.

Samsung has announced that the Galaxy Tab 3 Kids,officially unveiled back in August, will be launching in the U.S. on November 10th for $229.99, and will be available from Samsung and all major retailers in the country. The tablet comes with an impact-resistant case and numerous software features to make it a better experience for kids, including a special kid interface, advanced parental controls, kid-friendly games, and more.

A recent study found that Apple’s new iPhone 5s and 5c beat all other smartphones in existence when it comes to touch response time – however, when it comes to touch accuracy, both of Apple’s new iPhones fell behind the Galaxy S III, Samsung’s yesteryear flagship that is now more than a year old. A touch accuracy test was done by OptoFidelity, a Finland-based tech test and measurement company, and the results were universally in its favor.

In a few months, if you start seeing a lot of Samsung devices in basketball games, don’t be surprised: according to The Wall Street Journal, Samsung has entered a $100 million deal with the National Basketball Association, to “bring the South Korean company’s technology courtside” at NBA games. As part of the deal, Samsung will provide the courtside monitors that referees use to review close calls, and will get customized video content for its smartphones, tablets and televisions.

While the Galaxy S4′s camera packed the highest amount of features of any smartphone when it was launched, it has since been superseded by the Galaxy Note 3, which adds in a few more, including Surround Shot, which is Samsung’s take on the 360 panorama mode (Photo Sphere) that Google introduced in Android 4.2. Now, thanks to a few developers over at XDA, Galaxy S4 owners can enjoy all those new features as well, as the camera app from the Note 3 has been ported over to the S4.

Samsung o 28 October announced their Galaxy Golden in India, making India one of the few countries to get an Android-powered flip phone from Samsung. Now this would've been a good launch but the phone is priced at Rs. 51,900. The asking price of the Galaxy Golden is higher than what Samsung’s top of the line Galaxy Note 3 goes for (around Rs. 45,000 street price). We’re not sure how Samsung came to the conclusion of pricing it but it’s really expensive, irrespective of the ease of use and golden color.

The Galaxy S4 Active, with its ruggedized exterior, was no doubt a hit for Samsung, since they thought it important enough to give it an upgrade that would put a Snapdragon 800 processor underneath. But was it enough of a hit to make Samsung start working on a low-cost variant of the device? Well, that seems to be the case, as a mid-range device – sporting model number GT-I8580 – with the S4 Active’s looks has popped up on numerous places.

According to Phone Arena, the original source of this info, the listing is a fake, as it was apparently sent to them by a tipster with a poor track record of accurate news.

While Google’s original Samsung-made Nexus 10 tablet never caught on in the market, the search giant has still been working on a successor, with Android head Sundar Pichai revealing at Google I/O that an upgraded model was on its way. Now, it looks like the new Nexus 10 – 2013 Edition if you like – could be launching very soon, as it was briefly listed on the Google Play Store earlier today.

OLED.at believes Samsung Galaxy Round doesn’t feature YOUM display technology

OLED information website OLED.at isn’t sure if Samsung used YOUM display technology inside their first flexible display device, the Galaxy Round. Oled.at says that not a single time Samsung mentioned “YOUM” in their Press Releases. We at SAMMobile HQ have a single Galaxy Round unit but we won’t open it up just to confirm if it uses the YOUM display technology or not. However, we will ask our sources to send us a service manual so we will be able to exactly confirm if this is the case or not. Stay tuned for that!

After the Galaxy S4 receiving Android 4.3 update in Europe and Asia, many U.S. customers who bought their devices from different carriers started to wonder when will they receive the new update, as most of the time carriers take a lot of time before rolling out a new update. Thanks to geek.com, we now have exact dates on which U.S. network providers will start rolling out Android 4.3 for the Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 Active. The Android 4.3 update will also add Galaxy Gear support to the device, as well.

The rumours about Samsung’s 64-bit Exynos SoC have been going strong post the announcement of Apple’s 64-bit offering. New piece of tidbit comes from the Korean media today claiming Samsung has managed to overcome the “most complex tasks of the development process and is now dealing with technicalities and logistics.” This, if true, is good news because the last time we heard, it was rumoured to be in the final stages of the development.

Samsung GALAXY Note 3 + Gear makes every moment of life easy and amazing.

Showcasing the incredible design of Note 3 + Gear with colorful accessories, and demonstrating useful features including Action Memo, Hands-free Call (Gear), Scrapbook and Multi Window.

How big is the largest photobook? According to the Guinness World Records, it’s 5mx6m, features 28,000 photos across 16 pages and has been created by Samsung. To promote the Galaxy S4 zoom in Germany, Samsung attempted to create a world record by creating the world’s largest photobook.

Oct 25 (Reuters) - South Korea's Samsung Electronics Co Ltd's quarterly operating profit matched estimates with a 26 percent rise to a new record, powered by a strong recovery in its memory chip business as smartphone sales growth eases sharply.

Samsung has a couple of development devices for Tizen out there, and now the first official Tizen-running tablet has been launched in Japan by Systena Corporation, a leading provider of IT solutions and cloud computing in the country. The tablet – a 10-inch unit with a WUXGA (1900 x 1200) display – will be offered as part of a development kit for developers, to help them efficiently develop apps and software for Tizen, especially tablet-optimized ones.

Earlier this month, not-always-accurate blogger Eldar Murtazin had speculated that Samsung was working on a Google Glass-like product - called Gear Glass - and now, a patent unearthed by The Wall Street Journal lends importance credence to that speculation. The patent shows a pair of glasses with side buttons and a camera on the front, and the description says the glasses can be paired with a smartphone to display information and offer a few controls.

You can’t run a smear campaign against a competitor in its home country and expect to get away with it, and while Samsung tried, the Taiwanese Fair Trade Commission is having none of it and has fined the Taiwanese manufacturer with a whopping $340,000, for running an internet campaign in which Samsung took to defaming HTC’s products while praising its own by hiring college students.

The Galaxy Round, the world’s first smartphone with a curved ‘flexible’ display, might be a prototype of sorts for Samsung, but it’s no secret that the Korean manufacturer is taking flexible displays seriously. On that front, Samsung has filed four new patents for flexible displays with the US Patent Office. The patents are rather broad in coverage, but it seems like Samsung is developing flexible displays that can be operated in various ways.

Samsung has issued an apology to its consumers in China, after China’s state broadcaster blasted the company in a half-an-hour program for issues with the Galaxy S3 and Note II, namely the issue which caused devices to stop working due to the use of defective NAND chips (the infamous Superbrick).

We’ve got everything we could possibly want on our smartphones these days, everything except good battery life, which makes accessories like battery packs a rather attractive buy. If you’ve been looking to extend the usage times on your Galaxy S4, then Xtorm’s Solar Power Pack could be the best and most, um, juicy battery pack you’ll get – it adds an additional 3,000mAh battery to your Galaxy S4, and this add-on battery is chargeable through a solar cell.

Back when we first got an unofficial glimpse at Verizon’s Galaxy S4 mini, we were disappointed to find that the carrier had decided to put its logo on the home button, like it did with the Galaxy Note II last year (and thankfully didn’t with the Note 3). However, we were still hoping against hope that this wouldn’t come to pass, but unfortunately, it’s really happening – Verizon has tweeted confirmation of the S4 mini’s launch on their network after Samsung’s announcement yesterday, and its ugly logo is painfully visible on the front.

Apple and Samsung have been battling out in the court over patent infringements for couple of years now but the companies argued yesterday in the San Jose court over leaked patent licensing agreements.

The story so far is that Apple handed patent licensing agreements with Nokia, Ericsson, Sharp and Philips marked with “Attorney Eyes Only”. These confidential documents were not to be shared with anyone outside the legal counsel but according to Apple, over 90 Samsung employees know the details of the agreement and more than 130 lawyers from outside legal firms.

The Galaxy S4, Samsung’s first 1080p flagship, has been quite a success in the market, reaching milestones of 20 million and 30 million units in two and four months respectively. The growth in sales has slowed down since then, with only around 5 million units said to have been shipped in August, and according to Samsung CEO JK Shin, more than 40 million Galaxy S4′s have been sold worldwide since its launch.

We got a hint about its impending arrival and though there’s no pink coloured Galaxy S4 mini in sight (yet!), Samsung just announced the Galaxy S4 mini for the United States. The phone is expected in November on major carriers like Sprint, Verizon, AT&T and U.S. Cellular and will bring the goodness of Galaxy S4 in a compact package.

By now, it’s become pretty clear that chances of the Galaxy S2 (and Galaxy Note) getting updated to Android 4.2 are slim to none. Our insiders said the device has reached end of support, and later Australian carrier Telstra confirmed that the update won’t be coming, at least on the 4G variant of the device. However, it’s possible there still might be a slight chance the update will arrive at some point.

The Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy Gear have been advertised heavily by Samsung, through internet and television ads, billboards, and more, with the Note 3 even becoming the official Olympics phone. However, while most of the marketing is in-your-face, Samsung seems to have done some subtle marketing as well, the best example of which we found today in the official video for Redfoo’s latest single, Let’s Get Ridiculous.

Well, eBay is at it again, looking to sell off as many Nexus 10 as it possibly can by offering nice little deals on Google’s only tablet made by Samsung. After reducing the price of the 16GB Nexus 10 back in September, eBay is now giving away the 32GB variant for just $350, which is a nice little discount considering Google sells it for $500 on the Play Store. Shipping is free, though unlike the previous deal, this one doesn’t have international shipping.

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