Samsung has expanded its Android 4.0 update list to include several devices sold through T-Mobile. The carrier appears to have committed to Ice Cream Sandwich for several Galaxy handsets and two Galaxy Tabs.
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.
Samsung is believed to be the first company to launch two computer monitors that support Mobile High Definition Link (MHL) technology. The technology made its mainstream debut on the Galaxy S II smartphone, which is also made by Samsung. It involves the ability to send HDMI signals over a microUSB connection, though it requires a separate power source.
After months of rumors, the Samsung Galaxy S III was officially unveiled at the currently ongoing Mobile Unpacked event in London. As expected, the Super AMOLED touchscreen is 4.8 inches in size and has 1280x720 resolution, while the processor is Samsung's own Exynos quad-core unit clocked at 1.4GHz and paired with 1GB of RAM. The phone weighs in at 4.7oz (133g) and its thinnest point measures in at 8.6mm.
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.
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.
An upgrade roadmap has given out tentative upgrade timing for Android 4.0 as well as T-Mobile's next myTouch smartphones. Although details are still in flux, TmoNews heard that the custom, upsized version of the Samsung Galaxy S II for the network would get its update on or near May 14. Those with the two most recent HTC phones for the carrier, the Amaze 4G and Sensation 4G, would get theirs over a month later, on June 16.
LG on Friday grew the reach of the Optimus True HD LTE to more countries than just Germany. The 4G phone is now launching in Portugal and Sweden in a slightly larger European release as well as the headlining Asian cities of Hong Kong and Singapore. The device is an international edition of the Optimus LTE already on sale in Canada as the Optimus 4G LTE at Bell and the US as the Nitro HD at AT&T.
Samsung officials in Korea have purportedly hinted that the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III will get different chips for different markets. The comments were made by an unnamed exec after Qualcomm CEO Paul Jacobs admitted that the 28nm MSM chips were facing a supply shortage, The Korea Times reported. Qualcomm chips will only be used in the US, the Samsung exec said, not explaining why.
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.
After reaching overseas versions of the Samsung Galaxy S II, the official Android 4.0 update is now reaching US versions of the unlocked device. The 216.6MB over-the-air update is gradually being released to handsets, though users can go and check for its availability by going into the Settings menu.
Samsung's Galaxy S II HD LTE is coming to Canada, and Bell Canada will be the exclusive carrier for the "superphone" at launch. The Samsung-Bell partnership marks the North American debut for the Galaxy S II HD LTE, which launched in Korea last year.
Samsung on Tuesday started rolling out the Android 4.0 upgrade for unlocked versions of the Galaxy S II. Those whose phones were bought SIM-free, or unattached to any carrier, should have the option of updating through the Kies desktop app. Multiple European carriers had already seen their carrier-locked versions get updates sooner.
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.
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.
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.
An interview with Samsung's global Product Planning Team has revealed that the Android 4.0 software update due for its Galaxy range of smartphones and tablets also contain some unique features. Chief among them is a twist on the Face Unlock feature that requires the user to blink before the screen will open. The regular Face Unlock feature found in stock Android 4.0 has no requirement, letting users trick it with photos.
An official Android 4.0 update for AT&T's original Samsung Galaxy S II has been leaked over at RootzWiki. The leak indicates that the official update is coming from AT&T, though these dates aren't known. The 3G phone can be upgraded now by owners willing to take the risk to flash the leaked software.
Another Android phone will soon be getting its Android 4.0 (ICS) update. RootzWiki has posted what appears to be a leak of an official Samsung release of the software for the Galaxy S II Skyrocket. The phone, which first was available from AT&T last November, currently ships with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
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.
Sony may be working on an NVIDIA Tegra 3-powered tablet codenamed the V150, an online NenaMark benchmark benchmark indicates. The quad-core device would run on Android 4.0 as well, and scored a 59.70 on the single test it's been run through. This compares to the nearly 60 average score of the Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone and the 42.7 scored by a Pantech P4100 tablet with a 1.5GHz Snapdragon CPU on a single run.
Samsung confirmed in a follow-up statement that its Android 4.0 update for the Galaxy S II would spread to the UK quickly. The first British devices should start getting the upgrade on March 19, a spokesperson told Pocket-lint. It warned that updates would depend on individual carriers greenlighting the update and might be staggered over the future.
SK Telecom has breifly tweeted that it will begin updating the Samsung Galaxy S II handsets of its subscribers to Android 4.0 starting on the morning of March 13. The South Korean provider will start at 10AM local time, but this may not happen after all as the tweet was removed, though not before The Verge saved it. Internal SK documents are also said to confirm the date, however.
Samsung faced a minor and embarrassing PR trip-up when its Philippines division incorrectly told to its Galaxy S II users that an Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) update was imminent. Users were informed that ‘Starting March 10, 2012, you may upgrade your Galaxy S II to Android Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) thru [sic] KIES 2.0.’ However, this date was abruptly kyboshed by Samsung Korea, which issued a statement saying that the March 10 date was incorrect and the any launch of the long awaited update for the GS II would be announced through its dedicated Twitter account.
HTC has posted unaudited results (PDF) for February that have shown the company is on the path to have its second tough quarter in a row. Its revenue for the one month was down 36.8 percent from where it was a year ago, to 20.3 billion $NT ($687 million). Results so far in the winter saw an even steeper drop, losing 45 percent of their value to 36.9 billion $NT ($1.2 billion).
Samsung's Israeli division in a posting on Facebook has put a date on the long-promised Android 4.0 upgrade for the Galaxy S II. It promised on Sunday to end a 'patient' wait by delivering the new OS to the flagship phone on March 15. The upgrade would apply both to carrier-locked versions as well as unlocked versions bought directly from Samsung.
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.
US Cellular has a teaser page up for its version of the Samsung Galaxy S II, promising to ship it soon. It will run on the carrier's 3G network and thus gets the overall faster 1.2GHz dual-core Exynos processor instead of the 1.5GHz Snapdragon in the 4G-capable versions. The screen is nonetheless the larger, 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and an eight-megapixel camera with LED flash continues to sit out back.
T-Mobile has announced that its entire range of phones, and a number of tablets, will be offered for free during a one-day promotion on Saturday, February 11. The "Valentine's Day Sale" applies to smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S II, BlackBerry Bold 9900, HTC Amaze 4G and Nokia Lumia 710, along with the SpringBoard tablet and the Sonic 4G hotspot.
The iPhone is now the top-selling cellphone of any kind in the US, the NPD Group determined on Monday. As of the fall, the iPhone 4S was the bestselling device in the field. Apple also managed a clean sweep of the top three, with the iPhone 4 and iPhone 3GS at second and third places.
Benchmark results from An3DBenchXL indicate the existence of a new smartphone from Samsung, dubbed the 'Galaxy S 2+.' Compared to the Galaxy S II it's based on, the listed specs of the tested device include a 1.5GHz CPU (versus 1.2GHz in some S II models), an 800x480 display, and Android 2.3.4 preloaded.
Samsung's marketing lead Younghee Lee outlined a different plan of attack for reaching the US in an interview published on Monday. She made clear to AllThingsD that Apple was the company's main target. Americans were "obsessed with Apple," she said, and her goal was to trigger that same, seemingly irrational desire for Samsung's devices.
Benchmark NenaMark 2 test results of the upcoming 28nm Snapdragon S4 processors reveal fairly strong performance. The device the chip was on isn't identified, however, but it is likely a seven-inch tablet as the resolution is typical of such devices, at 1024x600. It ran on the 1.5GHz MSM8960 processor with Adreno 225 graphics and scored 54.90 on the test.
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.
A unique variant of the Samsung Galaxy S II has now shown up undergoing FCC testing. The device, only known so far as the GT-i9070, will have GSM/EDGE 850MHz and 1,900MHz support, along with WCDMA 3G bands II and IV used in the US. It's believed focused on China.
Separate IHS iSuppli and Strategy Analytics studies Friday have backed Apple's rapid return to the top of the smartphone space in the fall. Determining that Samsung had shipped 36 million smartphones, slightly higher than Samsung's preliminary estimates, IHS iSuppli put Apple's 37 million iPhones just on top. Although Samsung nearly quadrupled the amount of smartphones it shipped and moved more year-long, Apple's higher starting point meant it could just double its yearly shipments to stay competitive.
Samsung has detailed its full results following a brief preview earlier in the month. The Korean electronics giant mustered the equivalent of $42 billion in revenue, but owed much of this and its profit to a 30 percent increase in its cellphone business. Almost half of its working profit, $2.3 billion out of $4.7 billion, came from its mobile group; profit as a whole was up 17 percent.
More details from AT&T's escaped roadmap have shown in two leaks Wednesday afternoon. The new BGR tips point to a new, $410 Sony tablet known as the Crystal. While it could be something new, it's most likely to be the long-delayed Tablet P (S2), a dual-screened Android tablet with HSPA+ 3G.
Apple in its fall quarterly results retook the crown as the world's largest smartphone maker. Its 37.04 million iPhones shipped were enough to pass Samsung's 35 million and ran significantly above most estimates. The American company had not just the advantage of the iPhone 4S launch during a holiday season but widened carrier access and its fastest international rollout to date.
Samsung in the space of a day has already posted a new ad (below) in its Galaxy S II campaign run-up to the Super Bowl. The new spot returns to the infamous barista of the first ad and mocks him for being 'creative' through latte art. His friends come in to get ready for what the Samsung owners think is real camping; they find a campsite quickly on 4G, only to learn that the others meant the iPhone line.
Samsung has run another ad for the Galaxy S II that this time deliberately omits an iPhone feature that negates its advantage. One of those waiting in line for an iPhone ducks into a store and is impressed when he sees a clerk use Android's built-in Voice Actions to send a text. In a first for the ad campaign, the S II actually catches a buyer, who raises concerns among his iPhone queue friends when he doesn't come back.
Samsung has resumed its ads jabbing iPhone 4S waiters with a new spot as part of what should ultimately lead to a Super Bowl promo. The 30-second clip shows more iPhone queues, this time at night, and touts the Galaxy S II's advantage of having Google Maps Navigation. When asked how much he paid for the app, the Android phone owner says he "just has it" for free.
Samsung has developed yet another Galaxy S II variant for a particular carrier. This time, Japanese carrier KDDI has landed a version that includes a WiMAX radio. However, unlike the 4.5-inch display toting Sprint Epic 4G WiMAX variant, the KDDI version comes with a 4.7-inch Super AMOLED HD display with a 1280x720 resolution.
The iPhone 4S held off the Galaxy Nexus for the top spot in smartphones on Verizon, Canaccord Genuity analyst T. Michael Walkley found through channel checks. Apple's newest phone still had the top sales spot on every major US carrier that sells it in December, keeping the first Android 4.0 phone at second place. As before, the only carrier where Apple didn't lead was T-Mobile, where it doesn't participate.
Sprint made a minor contribution to the CES run-up with two special phone variants. The provider confirmed a white Epic 4G Touch and plans to have the special version in stores on January 8 for $200 on a contract. It keeps the 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen, dual-core 1.2GHz Exynos processor, WiMAX 4G, and Android 2.3 as its black cousin.
The rumored Epic 4G Touch in white at Sprint will arrive on January 8 at the carrier,
The iPhone made dramatic share gains in the fall, but only in some countries, Kantar Worldpanel found Thursday. In the more recently Android-friendly US, Apple's share of smartphones between September and November was up from 25 percent a year earlier to 36 percent. The UK saw a similar turn, up from 21 percent to 31 percent, while Australia was also positive.
Nuance shook up the smartphone field Tuesday by acquiring Vlingo. The deal gives it a natural language voice command system available both after the fact and preloaded on phones like the iPhone 4S, which itself uses Nuance as part of its recognition.
