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An official unveiling of Samsung smartphones running on Tizen may be on the horizon, following a number of leaks. A Samsung user agent profile for the GT-i8805 running on the mobile operating system has been discovered, while images have surfaced of a phone that is claimed to be the GT-i8805 running on Tizen 2.1.
Apple has wasted no time filing with the US International Trade Commission (ITC) regarding the landmark ruling from May 22 enjoining a standards essential patent holder from enforcing a potential ITC-ordered sales embargo. Apple's filing with the court summarizes Judge White's decision, and calls Samsung's conduct "even more egregious" than that of the cited case's patent holder.
Samsung Electronics has announced that global channel sales of its Galaxy S4 has surpassed 10 million units shipped in less than one month after its commercial debut. Launched globally on April 27, the phone is estimated to be selling at a rate of four units per second. Shipments of the Galaxy S III reached the 10-million mark 50 days after its launch in 2012, while the Galaxy S II took five months and the Galaxy S seven months to reach the same milestone.
An an unusual show of solidarity, leaders of the US Congress intellectual property and antitrust subcommittees submitted a letter to the US International Trade Commission (ITC) reiterating the prior request that "the Commission carefully assess the substantial public interest considerations that exist with regards to this and other cases at the ITC in which SEPs are at issue."
Samsung will soon be providing a theft recovery service for its devices, starting with the flagship Galaxy S4. LoJack, created by Absolute Software for securing notebook computers, will be released for Android, with Samsung embedding it into the firmware for future activation, in the event that the phone is stolen from the user.
Apple has filed its amendment to its ongoing courtroom battle with Samsung, adding the Galaxy S4 to its list of infringing devices, just as it told the US District Court in California last week. The filing specifically names five patents said to be infringed by the Galaxy S4 itself, two of which are apparently infringed by Google Now.
A new reliability report from Rescuecom shows Apple placing in second place, beaten by Samsung by a wide margin. The new report for the first quarter of 2013, which now takes into account tablets as well as computers, also puts Apple ahead of Lenovo, Asus, Toshiba, HP, Dell, and Acer, with both Sony and Panasonic dropping out of the rankings entirely.
Samsung has bought a 10 percent stake in South Korea-based mobile producer Pantech. The purchase of shares in the country's third-largest smartphone manufacturer, reported to be worth 53 billion won ($47.6 million), will make Samsung the third-largest stake holder, just behind Qualcomm and the state-owned Korea Development Bank.
A ruling yesterday in the Northern District of California may have repercussions on the smartphone patent battles raging across the US court landscape. A federal judge granted a user of a standards-essential patent a preliminary injunction against enforcement of a possible US International Trade Commission (ITC) sales injunction. This decision by Senior District Judge Ronald Whyte is the first time a US district court is preventing the ITC's only option to combat patent infringers in conjunction with standards-essential patents.
The ‘Google Edition’ of the Samsung Galaxy S4 running stock Android will be a US-only model it has been revealed. The long anticipated device is set to go on sale on June 26 for $649 will only be available through the US Google Play Store with no current plans to expand its availability internationally. The news will come as a blow to users who like what the Galaxy S4 hardware offers, but don’t like Samsung’s TouchWiz version of Google’s Android operating system.
Samsung Display announced today that it is showcasing several mobile to extra-large-sized display prototypes at the Society for Information Display’s Display Week. These include a Full HD 1920×1080 mobile AMOLED 4.99-inch display with the world's broadest color gamut, a 10.1-inch 2560 x 1600 LCD for tablets, and a 13.3-inch 3200 x 1800 LCD for notebooks.
Images reported to be of the rumored Samsung Galaxy S4 Active have surfaced, complete with a ruggedized casing. The leaked photographs come at the same time as a fresh rumor claiming Samsung is creating a Mega version of the Galaxy S4, following on from the Mega devices revealed by the company last month.
A future update for the Samsung Galaxy S III could include a number of features carried over from the Galaxy S4, according to a report. The pre-release ROM using Android 4.2.2 as a base, still undergoing testing by the manufacturer, adds new options to the lock screen, as well as a number of design cues carried over from the Samsung flagship smartphone.
Samsung has released an updated version of its NFC tagging stickers that will work with the Galaxy S4. TecTiles 2 can be assigned individual on-device functions, like automatically updating Facebook and Twitter with a predefined status or muting all sounds, that are triggered when scanned by an NFC-enabled Samsung smartphone running Android. A pack of five updated TecTile stickers cost $15.
Samsung is preparing to launch 55-inch and 65-inch models of its UHD TV sets next month. Starting off in Korea, the new models will go on sale in June, with a view to releasing it in other markets shortly afterwards, with the two differently-sized 4K-capable TVs following the 85-inch S9 the company released in the country at the beginning of this year.
A new image has appeared online that could have been taken by an as yet announced Samsung Galaxy Note III. The image appeared on SmartFan over the weekend, showing nothing of much interest. What was notable was the image's EXIF data, which lists the device taking the picture as GT-N7200.
An LTE version of Samsung's Galaxy S III will be showing up on T-Mobile's network even as Samsung has moved on to the next generation of its Galaxy S series. The carrier already supported the Galaxy S III, but T Mobile's network wasn't LTE-compatible until just last month.
We have already published our full review of the Galaxy S4 for the US, which ships with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor. In some international markets, the Galaxy S4 ships with Samsung’s own Exynos 5 Octa, an eight-core chip that uses ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture. We have been using one for the past week, putting it through its paces, although our focus here is to see whether US customers are missing out on any performance.
Samsung is expecting to hit the 10 million sales milestone for its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4, in the next week. If reached, Samsung co-CEO Shin Jong-kyun believes it would become the fastest selling smartphone in the company's history, beating its predecessor to the very same sales barrier by almost three weeks.
An eight-inch version of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 has apparently surfaced, with rendered images accompanying a list of specifications. The alleged leaked details come after the company revealed the third generation of its popular line of tablets, though that uses a more conventional 7-inch display and smaller form factor than what has now appeared.
Samsung is working on reducing the amount of internal storage in the Galaxy S4 that is taken up by the operating system. After a number of customer complaints and an investigation from the BBC consumer affairs show Watchdog, the company will try to shrink the room its TouchWiz implementation and other items it has added to the base Android installation.
Google has unveiled that a version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 with a stock installation of Android will be available to purchase, confirming an earlier rumor. The smartphone will be fully unlocked from purchase, will use an unlocked bootloader, and will apparently receive quicker software updates compared to the version of Android provided by Samsung.
A surprise rumor is circulating ahead of Google I/O suggesting that Samsung and Google will reveal a new version of the Galaxy S4 that runs stock Android instead of Samsung’s own version of Android, TouchWiz. According to reports, the device will be known as the Samsung Galaxy S4 ‘Google Edition.’ However, it is not expected to form part of Google’s Nexus line as it the hardware was not-co-developed with Google as is typically the case for Nexus-branded devices.
Apple has told the US District Court in California hearing motions for the upcoming second patent-infringement trial against Samsung that it intends to add the Galaxy S4 as an infringing device. In order to do so, the iPhone maker will have to drop one of its previously-listed infringing devices from the list, such as the Galaxy S III, S II, Note or Nexus (among other possible models). Judge Lucy Koh is attempting to keep both companies down to a minimum number of patent claims and infringing devices.
The forthcoming, but yet to be announced, Samsung 4.3-inch Galaxy S4 Mini could incorporate a dual-core implementation of ARM’s big-LITTLE architecture, or 2+2 configuration. The larger 5-inch Galaxy S4 is available with an Exynos 5 Octa chip in some markets, which incorporates four high-powered ARM Cortex-A15 cores coupled to four power efficient Cortex-A7 cores. Benchmarks of the Galaxy S4 Mini have appeared confirming an Exynos 5-series dual-core chip, which at the very least, will incorporate two Cortex-A15 cores.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has sent letters to several smartphone makers asking them to explain what they're doing to deter thefts, Bloomberg reports. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Samsung are said to have been contacted on May 10th. "I seek to understand why companies that can develop sophisticated handheld electronics, such as the products manufactured by Apple, cannot also create technology to render stolen devices inoperable and thereby eliminate the expanding black market on which they are sold," reads Schneiderman's letter to Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Confirming earlier reports, Amazon has purchased touchscreen company Liquavista. The company, previously owned by Samsung, is one of the developers of low-power color e-paper technology. No terms of the deal are currently known. Samsung was previously said to be seeking sale of the manufacturer due to the acquisition not meeting expectations of Samsung executives.
The anticipated ruggedized version of the Samsung Galaxy S4 has appeared for certification at the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The device had previously been alluded to by a Samsung executive who said that it would be releasing a device with water and dust resistance along the lines of the Sony Xperia Z and ZR. Its appearance on the Bluetooth SIG site is indicative that it is set to join the ever expanding range of Samsung Galaxy products in the next couple of months.
While carriers around the world are still working on their 4G LTE network deployment plans, the next generation of cellular networks is being worked on by Samsung. The manufacturer has announced it has developed an adaptive array transceiver technology, which will apparently form the core of 5G networks by 2020.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be available in an extra shade of blue, according to a Japanese carrier's promotional material. The images from DoCoMo arrive at the same time as other photographs that claim to show the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, something which has been suggested as launching at some point this month.
The US Patent and Trademark Office has issued a preliminary rejection of some claims in an Apple patent, Method and apparatus for providing translucent images on a computer display, says FOSS Patents. Claims 29-30 and 33-35 have been rejected. The USPTO says that aspects of the patent were obvious or anticipated in light of another patent, Method and apparatus for displaying simulated keyboards on touch-sensitive displays, as well as prior art.
Samsung has submitted a Galaxy S4 Zoom to the Bluetooth SIG group for Bluetooth 4.0 certification. The device is set to join the fresh battle for the rejuvenated camera phone segment with a 10x optical zoom built-in for users looking for better camera shots as their first priority in a smartphone. Listed on the Bluetooth SIG site as a “Samsung Mobile Phone” the device also carries the model designation SM-C101.
Magistrage Judge Paul S. Grewal, the judge in charge of pre-trial discovery issues in the second Apple vs. Samsung patent trial, has ruled that Google must provide Apple search terms used in the unearthing of documents related to the case. Google is now compelled to "produce search terms and a list of custodians that Google used in response to requests for production Apple served on it." The seven-page ruling makes a point clear -- Apple wasn't seeking further discovery, it just expressed concern on the information Google pulled for discovery.
Apple retook fifth place in the Chinese smartphone market during the first quarter of the year with an 8 percent share, according to Canalys data obtained by IDG News. Previously, during the third and fourth quarters of 2012, Apple had been relegated to sixth place. Samsung remained in control during Q1 2013, managing a 20 percent share. Local firms Yulong, Huawei, and Lenovo completed the top five.
A teardown of the 32GB US Samsung Galaxy S4 by research firm IHS iSuppli shows the device costs the Korean manufacturer just above $237 to build per unit. Many of the components are sourced within Samsung itself and is not far below the Bill of Materials (BOM) cost of the Galaxy Note tablet, which runs the company $270 per unit.
As a part of one of its lawsuits against Samsung, Apple is asking US Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal for access to Google's Android source code records, Bloomberg reports. The documents are being demanded as part of pretrial information sharing; Apple argues in a court filing that Android is used in all of the Samsung devices accused of infringing Apple patents, and "provides much of the accused functionality."
Nokia is continuing to tease its impending launch of the Lumia 928, by comparing its camera against that of the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S III. A video on the Nokia website using footage from the three phones claims to show how the 8.7-megapixel PureView camera stands up to those found in competing handsets in low-light conditions.
Production of Retina displays for a new iPad mini should start in June or July, says NPD DisplaySearch analyst Richard Shim. Elaborating, Shim claims that LG Display will be the parts' major producer, and that Samsung will continue to be omitted from the Mini display chain. "Samsung is currently not in the iPad mini and they won't be in the next generation. LGD is becoming a much bigger supplier than before," he says.
Samsung is steadily improving its profitability in the smartphone area, but Apple continues to be the dominant player when it comes to making money on smartphones sales according to the latest report from Canaccord Genuity. Apple's lower profit margin on smartphones in the first calendar quarter of the year led to a significant drop in its share of smartphone profits but was enough to allow the iPhone maker to claim 57 percent of the entire industry's profits, with Samsung taking the remaining 43 percent.
Samsung has launched the Galaxy Core, a new mid-range smartphone that is also available in a dual-SIM variant. The new device continues with Samsung’s current Galaxy styling with rounded corners and an arched back, while also retaining the plastic body. It also carries Samsung’s S-Voice and Smart Stay function that allows tracks a user’s eyes recognizing when to keep the display on or turn it off.
Though the combined sales of Android smartphones continues to best Apple as a platform, Google's mobile OS continued to lose marketshare in the US in the latest quarterly comScore survey, as Apple solidified its position as market leader despite the lack of any new iPhone model in since before the holidays. Apple's share of the US smartphone market is now 39 percent, up 2.7 percent since December. Though Samsung was able to increase its US share slightly, the other three major Android vendors all lost ground in the most recent quarter.
Early purchasers of the Samsung Galaxy S4 have discovered that approximately 45 percent of the storage on the 16GB model is occupied by Samsung's Android implementation, and unusable by the owner. Upon inspection of the device, the base Galaxy S4 model has only 8.82GB available to the user -- with the rest filled by Samsung with new features like the TouchWiz UI, Samsung Hub, and ChatON.
An incident at a Samsung production facility has seen another set of employees injured. The leak of hydrofluoric acid gas at the processor plant in Hwaseong, Korea is the second incident of its kind in a four-month period, with the previous incident taking place at the same factory with the same leaked gas causing injury.
The US Department of Defense should grant two separate security approvals to iOS 6 devices and Samsung Galaxy phones in the coming weeks, according to sources for the Wall Street Journal. Apple's iOS 6 is expected to be vetted as safe for non-classified data uses, namely email and web browsing. Galaxy phones, meanwhile, will allegedly be judged as conforming to the DoD's Security's Technology Implementation Guide, allowing use by some military agencies for sending and receiving internal email.
Samsung has unveiled a new compact system camera with a large 3.7-inch, 1,152k-dot touchscreen on the back. The NX2000 Smart Camera, using the same 20.3-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor as the NX300 shown earlier this year, uses the WVGA-resolution screen for navigation, replacing most of the buttons and controls usually seen on the back of a camera.
US District Court Judge Lucy Koh has set a November 12th date for a trial to recalculate damages vacated from last year's initial, $1.05 billion Apple v. Samsung ruling, reports say. On March 1st, Koh issued an order vacating $450.5 million from the original judgment, owing to a questionable jury outcome which set only one damage figure per device despite multiple patents being involved in each instance. The $450.5 million figure did come down on Monday though, since Koh reversed a ruling on the AT&T edition of the Galaxy S II, returning $40.5 million back to Apple.
Samsung Semiconductor is ramping production of new 20nm 4 gigabit LPDDR3 mobile DRAM, the company has announced. The company says that it is the first to produce the ultra high speed low power double data rate 3 DRAM claiming that its performance is comparable to that which can be achieved from desktop computer RAM. According to Samsung, the bandwidth of the new chips is up to double that of previous designs.
A new rumor has the forthcoming Samsung Galaxy Note 3 packing a 5.99-inch 1080p display. As with many of Samsung’s mobile product iterations, the new display will be larger than the displays on the original Galaxy Note (5.3-inches) and the Galaxy Note 2 (5.5-inches). Each of the earlier versions of the device carried Super AMOLED displays, although the new rumor doesn’t specify whether it will follow suit, or carry an LCD panel.
Samsung has unveiled an update to one of its successful lines of tablets, though it appears to be a mild upgrade rather than a complete product overhaul. The Galaxy Tab 3 houses an upgraded dual-core 1.2GHz processor, up from the 1GHz version used in the Galaxy Tab 2, along with options for 16GB of internal storage with extra microSD expansion.
A large number of tech press reviews of Samsung's Galaxy S4 have noted that it's design is inferior to HTC's premium-feeling One, and that would appear to be paying off for HTC. The manufacturer's North American president recently told Business Insider that the knocks on Samsung's design ethic are drawing the right kind of attention to HTC just when the company needs it most.
