Samsung Unveils Galaxy S4 with Bigger Screen and Wild Features

Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S4 (or Galaxy S IV, as it is officially known) with a Bigger Screen and Wild Features at an impressive unveiling event Thursday night in New York.

The Samsung Galaxy S4's largest physical change is its display, a 5-inch monster (up from 4.8 inches on the Galaxy S3), with an improved screen resolution and pixel density. 

Despite being a bit taller and wider than the Galaxy S3, the Galaxy S4 is thinner and weighs three grams less, at 130 grams. The rear camera, too, has been upgraded, from 8 megapixels to 13 megapixels.

The Galaxy S4 will run Android 4.2.2 "Jelly Bean," with Samsung's familiar TouchWiz skin loaded on top.

You can see full specs for the Galaxy S4 here.

Read more about it at: Huffington Post
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Galaxy S4 Unveiling Ceremony: Watch Live Streaming from New York Tonight

It is here Tonight: The launch ceremony of Samsung Galaxy S4 - One of the biggest event of year 2013!!

The Korean smartphone manufacturing giant Samsung has made arrangements for the live streaming of the unveiling ceremony of its 2013 flagship Galaxy S4 smartphone from New York at 7 PM EST to its fans all over the world tonight.

Samsung has also arranged a huge public live streaming of the event at the Times Square so that more people can become an active part of the ceremony. For all those of you who can’t be a part of this glorious event, Samsung has provided an opportunity for people to experience the event at the comfort of their homes via web Live Streaming.

This much awaited unpacked event of the year comes amid a bundle of speculations, predictions, gossips and rumors. We have 'seen' how the Samsung's 2013 flagship looks like, not from one source but two - each giving a different outlook.

We also heard of eye-movement scrolling of the page, the battery saving screen and florating touch input.

There was much ado about the processor and vague details. The latest speculation came claiming S4 to have a PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU instead of the speculated ARM’s Mali.

And just now we posted about another Antutu benchmark which 'predicts' that the alleged model GT-I9505 of Galaxy S4 (presumably the LTE version) equips a Samsung’s quad-core CPU termed as ARMv7 that doesn't explain much regarding the processor’s type and that’s not all.

So these were some of the many gossips and rumors that kept us busy and while away our time till the very last day.

Tonight is going to be special and all eyes and eras will be tuned toward New York where the unveiling launch ceremony of Galaxy S4 smartphone will take place.

In order to view the ceremony live, please adjustable your timing according to the 7 PM EST. Following are the different time zones at which the anticipated Galaxy S4 launch event will commence:-
The standard timings for the launch ceremony is:

UTC (GMT/Zulu)-time: Thursday, 14 March 2013, 23:00:00
* UTC is Coordinated Universal Time, GMT is Greenwich Mean Time.

The exact timings for other places are as under:

Thursday, 14 March 2013:
Los Angeles: 4:00 pm
Denver: 5:00 pm
Chicago: 6:00 pm
New York: 7:00 pm
London: 11:00 pm

Friday, 15 March 2013:
Berlin/Western Europe: 00:00 am
Moscow / Dubai: 3:00 am
Pakistan: 4:00 am
Delhi: 4:30 am
Singapore: 7 am
Philippines/Hongkong/Malaysia: 8:00 am
Tokyo: 08:00 am
Sydney: 10:00 am

Complete list of timings world wide are given here

So the wait for Something is over. To watch the live event officially hosted by Samsung, click on following links:

Samsung’s official Facebook live Streaming page or Samsung Mobile’s Official YouTube Channel and C|net and enjoy the much anticipated launch of the Next Big Thing!

Or else you may watch the live streaming directly from here:

Free live streaming by Ustream

via Silicon Buzzard

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Apple's attempt to ban Samsung Android phones pended till December

The judge in the US Apple-Samsung case has set a December date for a hearing in which Apple will argue for the banning of eight or more Samsung Android smartphones.

Lucy Koh will hear Samsung and Apple's arguments on 6 December, she reportedly said late on Tuesday. A hearing had already been set for 20 September, but that will now be taken up by Samsung's attempt to have a ban lifted on its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Koh granted Apple a temporary injunction against the tablet before last week's verdict, but the jury then only found Samsung's smartphones to be infringing on Apple's patents.

As for the meat of that verdict — the $1.05bn in damages that Samsung has to pay Apple for past infringements — Samsung has filed to have that put on hold while the court decides on its appeal.

Read more: ZD Net

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'Jelly Bean' 4.1 takes on Siri

Google has officially unveiled Android 'Jelly Bean' 4.1, taking on Apple's Siri with enhanced voice-driven search and a personal assistant feature called Google Now.

Jelly Bean will debut on the Asus-made Nexus 7 tablet — also announced at Google I/O on Wednesday — and will start rolling out to the Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S smartphones and Motorola Xoom tablet in mid-July. In addition to the Siri-like features, the update introduces a significantly enhanced notifications system and security features for developers.

"Today's smart devices still rely on you to do pretty much everything — that is, until now," Android chief Andy Rubin said in a blog post. "Google Now is a new feature that gets you just the right information at just the right time. It tells you today's weather before you start your day, how much traffic to expect before you leave for work, or your favourite team's score as they're playing. There's no digging required: cards appear at the moment you need them most."

read details: ZD Net

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Apple moves to ban Samsung's hit Galaxy SIII handset in the U.S.

Apple has moved to ban Samsung's new Galaxy S3 handset in the U.S., saying it infringes two Apple patents. 

The companies have been locked in a patent battle on several continents for years - but Apple's latest move targets a key handset for Samsung, seen also as a 'standard bearer' for Google's Android operating system.

The handset is due to launch on June 21 in America, and has been seen as a considerable threat to Apple's iPhone 4S, as it offers faster processing and a bigger screen.

Read more: Mail Online

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Nokia: The fallen hero

When Apple unveiled its first touch-screen iPhone in June 2007, then Nokia Chief Executive Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo simply underestimated the impact of its release saying, ``What we decide is the global standard.’’ This was the beginning of the Finnish firm's fiasco.

His remark illustrates how Nokia’s influence and confidence was great back then in the phone making business. Nokia, once the handset titan and ``the pride of Finland’’ is falling. It ended its 14-year leadership in the entire mobile phone industry in the first quarter of this year. Rather, Korea’s Samsung Electronics has risen to the top in the industry globally.

Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has downgraded Nokia’s credit rating to BB minus. It also cut Nokia’s short-term credit rating to B from A-3. Moody’s has also slashed its credit rating to near junk status. 

Read more: Korea Times

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Samsung Galaxy S III vs. HTC One X: Quad-core faceoff

Now that Samsung has announced its Galaxy S III muscle phone, one big question is how its core technology stacks up against that of its main Android rival, the HTC One X. So let's take a look under the hood and see.

The S III packs a 1.4GHz quad-core chip, as the company indicated last week. Samsung obviously believes that kind of horsepower is necessary to drive a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED display with 1,280 x 720 resolution, among other things.

The One X, with a 4.7-inch screen and an identical 1,280 x 720 resolution, also sports a quad-core chip in its European variant--but opts for dual-core in the US More on that in a moment.

Samsung has gone into some detail to explain why it has gone quad-core for the first time in the Galaxy S series.

Read details: c|net

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Samsung Reveals Galaxy S III

Samsung finally announces the most anticipated Android handset of the year Thursday at an event in London. The phone is the third-generation in a line of popular smartphones created by Samsung.

The phone has a 4.8” touchscreen, 8-megapixel rear-facing and 1.3-inch forward-facing camera, and comes running the latest version of Android — Ice Cream Sandwich. Much like the HTC One X, the camera has zero shutter lag so you can capture photos instantly. The camera is also capable of taking 20 photos at once in burst mode, and a feature called “Best Photo” will pick the best shot out of a group of eight.

The Galaxy S III has a Super AMOLED Plus (1280×720) screen, offering more subpixels than a Super AMOLED screen resulting in improved colors as well as better visibility in bright situations.

Read details / more photos: Mashable / Emily Price

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Samsung Beats Apple To Become The Top Smartphone Vendor

Despite Apple selling more than 35 Million iPhone devices last quarter, the Korean handset maker Samsung has finally exceeded the number by shipping more than a staggering 42.2 million shipments in the first quarter of this year. Thus, Samsung’s  now boasts nearly a third of the market at 29.1 percent, while Tim Cook’s company commands 24.2 percent share of the market. 

Speaking of which, the other smartphone manufacturers, Nokia came in third place (behind Samsung, Apple) with just 11.9 million smartphones shipped, which a year ago, led the pack with 24.2 million units shipped. RIM came in fourth place with 9.7 million smartphones shipped and HTC came in last place with just 6.9 million.

Read more: Chip Hazard

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Nokia unveils Monstrous Smartphone with 41 Mega Pixel Camera

Nokia has just announced the 808 Pureview, a flagship Symbian device with a 41-megapixel camera, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

The Monstrous Nokia 808 PureView Smartphone with 41 Mega Pixel car Zeis optics

Nokia has incorporated the Carl Zeiss optics and has coupled it with the Nokia-developed pixel over-sampling technology. 

Nokia PureView imaging technology can distil 7 pixels into 1 for stunningly sharp and clear 5 MP photos that are easy to share. You can keep zooming – up to 3 times as close – with no loss of detail. It works with video too, so you can shoot Full HD video at 30 frames per second at 4 times zoom.

Read more: PureView

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Smartphones power Samsung to record Q4 profit

[ via Reuters ] 6 Jan

Samsung Electronics, the world's top maker of memory chips and smartphones, reported a record quarterly profit on Friday, aided by one-off gains and best-ever sales of high-end phones.

The South Korean firm, which surged past Apple as the world's top smartphone maker in the third quarter, is quickly building on its supremacy with sleek designs and a rich product line-up, while the latest models from the likes of HTC, Nokia and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion struggle to interest consumers.

Read more: Reuters

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Check Out These 12 Incredible Smartphones And Tablets That Will Be Unveiled Next Week

[ via Business Insider ] 3 Jan

The Consumer Electronics Show kicks off next week in Vegas, and most of the big tech players will be there laying out their plans for 2012.

Some of the predicted / expected smartphones due next week

While we don't know everything that companies are planning to announce, a lot has leaked out already, reports Business Insider.

Here are the 12 predictions for next week:

1. Nokia Lumia 800 will be the new Windows Phone flagship
2. Nokia ACe will be a souped up version of the Lumia 800
3. LG may use Intel's new smartphone chip in its next phone
4. HTC is planning a powerful new Windows phone
5. Devices from Samsung with bendable screens
6. A new 7-inch tablet from Asus
7. Another new tablet from Toshiba
8. Will Windows tablets finally take off?
9. Acer's New Iconia Tab will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich
10. Lenovo hasn't given up on tablets either
11. Samsung's Galaxy Note is a unique tablet/phone hybrid
12. Ice Cream Sandwich phones from most of the major manufacturers

View slide show for details on each above: Business Insider

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iPhone Dominated AT&T By Grabbing 66% Of Smartphone Sales In December 2011

[ via Chip Hazard ] 1 Jan

With the year coming to an end, a recent report by Mac Observer claims that iPhone dominated the smartphone sales when it came to AT&T. 

Mac Observer :-

According to the numbers we were shown—numbers not shared through official AT&T channels—AT&T sold some 981,000 iPhones through its corporate stores in the first 27 days of December, while 126,000 Android devices were sold during the same period. Even basic flip and slider phones did better than Android, with 128,000 units sold.

AT&T was the first carrier to give support for iOS devices back in 2007 which is one of the main reason for such popularity of iOS smartphones among others. The calculation however includes the sales which included on-store pickup and those ordering online were not counted in the evidence.

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27% of Photos and Videos Now Captured on Smartphones [STUDY]

[ via Mashable ] 23 Dec

More than a quarter of photos and videos shot by individuals in the U.S. are now being captured by smartphones, according to an online survey of 3,300 Internet users ages 13 and up. 

Sales data suggest smartphones are replacing consumers’ need for low-end point-and-shoot cameras and camcorders.

The percentage of photos taken with a smartphone went from 17% to 27%, a 44% increase from the year previous, according to a survey conducted by NPD Group. Meanwhile, sales of point-and-shoot cameras dropped 17% in volume and 18% in revenue in the first 11 months of 2011. Individual sales of pocket camcorders dropped 13%, with a 10% decrease in revenue.

Read more at Mashable

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How to extend your smartphone’s battery life

[ via Yahoo News ] 20 Dec

No matter what type of smartphone you have, it works well as long as you have battery power. If it seems like smarter phones are getting less life out of their batteries... you're absolutely right. Smartphones can help you get a lot done while traveling, but if you're doing a lot on one in a day, you're apt to see your screen go dark long before the sun goes down.

Watching out for a few small things during your day, however, can help extend battery life on your trusty device and make sure you've got enough juice to make it all day and well into the night. Here are some tips:

• Mixed signals
• Focus on the task at hand
• Bright future
• Bad vibrations
• Mandatory nap time

Still having trouble?  Read more at Yahoo News and for details on tips listed above. 

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Top 10 Tips for Using Your Feature Phone as a Smartphone

[ Mashable ] 11 Dec

There are plenty of ways to utilize your phone for more than just texting and calling. Even if you have a smartphone, sometimes you run into an area without service, so it’s good to know how to get back to basics.

Here are ten ways to get more out of your phone.

Read full post for elaboration of all above.

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Gingerbread Dominates 50.51% of Android Phones

[ via Mashable ] 4 Dec

Gingerbread dominates the other five versions of Android devices (Cupcake, Donut, Eclair, Froyo and Ice Cream Sandwich), survey reports.

Android 2.3.x represents 50.51% of all Android installs while the rest of the versions still account for a total of 47% (the difference is Honeycomb on tablets). In layman’s terms, for every Gingerbread phone in use, there’s a phone running older code.

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Samsung VS Apple Patent Wars

[ via Chip Hazard ] 4 Dec

Apple and Samsung being partners are also the biggest rivals of one another and have been engaged in patent wars since a long time now. Apple could never bare the Android’s birth impact on the smarphone industry along with Galaxy tabs.

Apple initiated the war and after taking much heat, Samsung finally retaliated to seek the damage compensation by fighting fire with fire. 

Read full story for a long infographic which deeply illustrates the rivalry.

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Carrier IQ Denies Wiretap Claims

[ via Information Week ]

Carrier IQ, a "mobile service intelligence" provider, has responded to ongoing questions about exactly what types of information its handset monitoring software records, and denied allegations that its software runs afoul of wiretapping regulations.

The Company says:

"While a few individuals have identified that there is a great deal of information available to the Carrier IQ software inside the handset, our software does not record, store, or transmit the contents of SMS messages, email, photographs, audio, or video. For example, we understand whether an SMS was sent accurately, but do not record or transmit the content of the SMS. We know which applications are draining your battery, but do not capture the screen."

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"Ban Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Sales in U.S" Request by Apple Denied

[ Chip Hazard ] 3 Dec

After its failure to block Apple's onslaught against its Galaxy Tab in Australia, Samsung will finally be able to sell its Galaxy Tab 10.1 and smarphones in US peacefully as a result of denial faced by Apple which attempted to ban the Korean giant’s tablet device in US.

Chip Hazard reports quoting Reuters:

Apple failed to convince a U.S. judge to block Samsung Electronics from selling Galaxy smartphones and tablets in the U.S. market, depriving the iPhone and iPad maker of crucial leverage in a global patent battle between the two companies.

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