Friday, May 4, 2012

Android Phone Fans

Android Phone Fans

LG Announces Optimus LTE 2 With A Whopping 2GB of RAM – Did Samsung Just Get LG’d?

Posted: 03 May 2012 07:07 PM PDT

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Not to be outdone by longtime rival smartphone maker Samsung, LG has announced a superphone of their own today, and although they didn’t have a flashy multi-million dollar stage, or Philharmonic orchestra to present it, they did manage out-spec Samsung’s Galaxy S3 in some areas. The LG Optimus LTE 2 is the first ever smartphone to include 2GB of RAM in its boxy housing — a spec that has somehow managed to elude this generation of “superphones” like the HTC One X and Samsung Galaxy S3.

The Optimus LTE 2 also goes on to boast a LG’s own “True HD IPS” display, 2,150mAh battery and wireless charging capabilities. No word yet on the processor, but we expect a more than capable S4 or even a Tegra 3 (if they hope to stay competitive in the “core wars”). Not gonna lie, I kinda prefer the LTE 2′s design a little better over the GS3. I also like that they’ve given their old custom UI a complete overhaul in Android 4.0, and find it a tad more appealing than TouchWiz.

LG says the LTE 2 will hit Korean carriers in the middle of May with no word on pricing or availability outside of their homeland just yet. Tell me, would a device featuring 2GB of RAM tickle your wallet? Or do you find 1GB more than ample so far?

[LG Press Release (Translated) | Via Engadget]

SwiftKey Beta 3 Updated To 3.0.0.190 – New Tweaks And Enhancements [Download]

Posted: 03 May 2012 05:58 PM PDT

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Almost got swept away in all the Samsung Galaxy S3 news that I forgot to tell you guys about another very important update today. SwiftKey Beta 3 was updated to version 3.0.0.190 earlier today and brings a loads of bug fixes and tweaks. As my personal softkeyboard of choice on my Galaxy Nexus, I welcomed the update with open arms. Here’s what you can look forward to since the last version:

  • Improved the UI: there is now a dedicated comma key, and the <123> key is now in the bottom-left corner. And of course you still have the larger spacebar.
  • Refined the Smart Punctuation pop-up.
  • Reintroduced the Long-press duration setting.
  • Improved Smart Space functionality.
  • Further reduced lag on some devices.
  • Fixed a number of bugs, including the missing decimal point in the numpad and the “What’s New” dialog popping up all the time.

Normally restricted to VIP members of their forums, I noticed SwiftKey publicly tweeted the following download links and I have made them available to you guys. If you haven’t tried it out yet, now would be a great time. Enjoy!

Phone: Download here

Tablet: Download here

[Swiftkey | Swiftkey VIP]

Samsung Galaxy S3 Coming To Sprint? – Other US Carriers Listed On Samsung’s Site

Posted: 03 May 2012 04:42 PM PDT

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With Samsung’s announcement for the Galaxy S3 earlier today, the Korean manufacturer mentioned that their upcoming flagship would be launching globally in 145 countries, across 296 operators. Globally is great and all — but what about America? Samsung also mentioned that the GS3 would begin arriving stateside this summer. Okay, summer is great and all — but about carriers? Well, the boys at The Verge have it on good authority that Sprint is ready, willing and able to carry the LTE equipped future-phone which really, comes as little surprise. So, what about others?

If you head on over to Samsung’s signup page to be notified of Galaxy S3 releases, you’ll notice that when choosing your carrier, all the major carriers, including a few regional ones, are listed and you can select them to receive updates. This is by no means concrete, but it does show us that Samsung has full intention of bringing this device to everyone under sun. Only real question is when.

Thanks, Michael!

[Samsung]

Pantech Vega Racer 2 tries to take on the Galaxy S3

Posted: 03 May 2012 03:32 PM PDT

South Korean manufacturers had a pretty big day today. While all eyes were on Samsung’s Galaxy S3 unveiling in London, Pantech decided to stay home and quietly announce the next entry into their flagshp – the Pantech Racer Vega 2. The device is fairly similar to the Galaxy S3 with a 4.8 inch HD display, a 2,020mAh battery, LTE radios, and Android 4.0, but it doesn’t have the quad-core processor.

It’s instead equipped with the Snapdragon S4. Oh, and it certainly doesn’t have TouchWiz 4.0 which has introduced some of the most innovative features you can find on mobile software. It’s a nice try, and it could do well, but it definitely doesn’t have the firepower to take down the Galaxy S3. The device launches starting in South Korea next week. Take a look at the Korean press release at the source link. [Press release via The Verge]

Three UK starting Galaxy S3 presales tomorrow

Posted: 03 May 2012 02:33 PM PDT

Three UK is already set to offer presales for the Samsung Galaxy S3 soon. They’ve announced that presale opportunities will begin tomorrow. The tariff for this one is £34 per month and that will get you the phone and all the data you want.

As an added bonus, anyone who preorders the device between now and May 30th, the device’s launch date, will be entered for a chance to win 1 of 26 Samsung Smart TVs. The exact models and size are not known. Either way, it’s not a bad incentive to claim the phone ahead of time. Read on for full details.

Samsung Galaxy SIII - available to pre-order on Three from 4th May.

Samsung’s much anticipated smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, will be available to pre-order on Three from 4th May.

The Galaxy SIII will be available on The One Plan with all-you-can-eat data at £34 per month and with no upfront cost.

In addition, everyone that pre-orders the Samsung Galaxy SIII with Three before the 30th May will be automatically entered into a daily draw to win one of 26 brand new Samsung Smart TVs.

Nigel Field, director of devices at Three, said, "We can’t wait to bring Samsung’s amazing Galaxy SIII to Three, and we’re very proud to be one of their UK launch partners. With our high speed, award-winning network and market-leading all-you-can-eat data, we believe we can deliver the ultimate mobile internet experience to our customers with this phone.

"The Galaxy SII was one of the smartphones of 2011, and we’re expecting its successor, the Samsung Galaxy SIII, to be amongst 2012’s biggest mobile success stories."

Customers can pre-order a Samsung Galaxy SIII by calling 0800 358 1799 from 9am tomorrow, or by visiting their local 3Store. They can register for updates and information about the Samsung Galaxy SIII at http://three.co.uk/SamsungGalaxy.

Pricing:
Samsung Galaxy SIII on The One Plan
£34 per month
No upfront cost

All-you-can-eat data
2000 any network minutes
5000 Three-to-Three minutes
5000 texts
Tethering included

Galaxy S3 users to get 50Gb of storage from Dropbox

Posted: 03 May 2012 01:41 PM PDT

Looks like Dropbox and Samsung have struck a deal for those who plan on buying the Galaxy S III when it’s made available later this month. Anyone who elects to buy one will be eligible to get a whopping 50GB of free storage to use with Dropbox, the popular file sharing service that received new competition late last month.

They mention that the deal is only applicable for the first two years, but we’re not sure if this means it’ll only be offered for two years or if your account will be downgraded after two years. We’re willing to bet the latter, but we’ll reach out to Samsung and get clarification either way.

Watch the first Samsung Galaxy S3 ad here [video]

Posted: 03 May 2012 01:27 PM PDT

What will Samsung use to entice people to buy the newly-announced Samsung Galaxy S III? Well, word-of-mouth is always great, but nothing does the trick like a good ol’ TV advertisement. Samsung’s already revealed the first spot they’ll be using, and you can watch it right now on YouTube. They’re sticking to their “Designed for Humans” guns.

I wouldn’t call it Apple-esque, but it definitely follows an advertising model that I think every phone manufacturer and carrier should use. Showing the device’s value to everyday life will draw a ton of people in, and it should prove to be successful all around the world. We won’t jump to conclusions just yet, though. Press play on that video you see embedded above.

What are your impressions of the Samsung Galaxy S3? [Polls]

Posted: 03 May 2012 12:25 PM PDT

So Samsung’s Galaxy S III presentation just wrapped up, and we know the lot of you are teeming with thoughts, good or bad. There was a metric ton of new and innovative features shown off today. Samsung focused more on the software in this press conference, and that’s where a majority of the features are put into motion.

We’ve got things like continuous camera shutter that can take take up to 20 consecutive photos lag-free, pop-up video that’ll allow you to watch video on top of another app, wireless sharing using the Allcast Share Dongle, S-Voice for Siri-like commands, Smart Stay for eye-tracking to determine whether or not to turn the display off, and more.

The list of new features is so long that it would probably take me an hour discussing it all in this post. A majority of the new features can be seen in the announcement post we made earlier, and those of you who watched in on the live stream saw all of the goods being demoed and shown off with your very own eyes.

So with everything out on the table, what’s the verdict? This is probably the biggest Android device launch of the year, even with stiff competition from HTC. You all must have seriously considered the device in your future purchase plans, and while exhaustive reviews haven’t come out yet we’re sure opinions have already started brewing.

And even if the phone as a whole left you feeling underwhelmed, we still want to hear which features you liked best. There’s a long laundry list of them and would I find it hard to believe that those who didn’t like what they saw  as a whole didn’t like at least one of the many new features that you just won’t find in any other phone (yet).

You can see a host of polls below. Be sure to vote in all of them and head to the comments section for added discussion — things should get real interesting down there.

Take Our Poll Take Our Poll Take Our Poll


Samsung officially introduces the Samsung Galaxy S3

Posted: 03 May 2012 11:21 AM PDT

Samsung Galaxy S3: Specs |  Pictures | News | Forums!

Welp, it’s official: the phone we’ve all been waiting for has been officially announced in London today. The Samsung Galaxy S III (nope, not S3, or anything else) is being touted as the biggest launch of the year as it houses an 8 megapixel 1080p HD camera, a 1.9 megapixel front camera, 16-64GB of internal storage, a microSD card slot, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE, a 4.8 inch 720p AMOLED display, and more.

And though the press release doesn’t mention it, there should be a 1.4GHz quad-core Exynos inside with 1GB of RAM to tag along. It has a 2,100 mAh battery to help keep it going all day (though we admittedly expected more). On the software side of things, we’re being introduced to TouchWiz 4.0 and Android 4.0, and Samsung’s focused on smart user interactions.

S-Voice will allow you to do more than the average Android can do in regards to voice action. You can say “snooze” to your alarm clock, for instance, and it’ll wake you up a bit later.

Siri-like commands can be given to bring up the weather, take a photo, send a text message, and more. It understands 8 different accents and languages so it won’t give many users many problems.

“Smart stay” will use the front-facing camera to track your eye movement. It’ll know if you’re reading a webpage or book, for instance, and will keep the display from turning off.

Finally, they have innovated the motion category. Last year, you could zoom and pan simply by holding the display and moving the phone. In addition to this, if you are messaging someone and you decide you want to call them, simply putting the phone up to your ear will automatically dial their number.

The phone will be coming out at the end of this month to European customers, and a global launch including North America (Summer) and Asia will follow shortly afterward (though I guess it’d depend on your definition of shortly).

If you want us to give you a buzz when this device goes up for sale, simply sign-up using your email address at the Samsung Galaxy S III page of our phone guide here. Read on for full press details.

 

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S III, the Smartphone

Designed for Humans and Inspired by Nature

 

Effortlessly smart and intuitively simple,

Samsung GALAXY S III reveals a new concept of smartphone

 

 

London, UK--May 3, 2012--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the third generation GALAXY S, the GALAXY S III. Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the GALAXY S III is a smartphone that recognizes your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily.

 

This sleek and innovative smartphone has the enhanced intelligence to make everyday life easier. With Samsung GALAXY S III, you can view the content like never before on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display. An 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly. Samsung GALAXY S III is powered by Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier. Packed with intuitive technology, the GALAXY S III delivers a uniquely personalized mobile experience that refuses to be compromised.

 

"With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximized the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability," said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. "Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary."

 

 

Introducing Natural Interaction

 

The GALAXY S III enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. Smart enough to detect your face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the individual user to provide a more convenient and natural experience. With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how you are using your phone - reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance - by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

 

The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III "snooze." You can also use S Voice to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

 

In addition to recognizing your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximized usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number. With ‘Smart alert,’ the GALAXY S III will also save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; your phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle.

 

 

Easy and Instant Sharing

 

The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants you to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of where you are. With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android™ Beam™, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

 

With ‘AllShare Cast’, users can wirelessly connect their GALAXY S III to their television to immediately transfer smartphone content onto a larger display. ‘AllShare Play’ can be also used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and your tablet, PC, and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices. Under AllShare Play is also the ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows you to share your screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; you can make comments and draw changes at the same time with your co-workers, witnessing real-time sharing on your individual device.

 

 

Human-centric Design with Uncompromised Performance

 

The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves, and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Inspired by nature, its design concept is the flow and movement of nature. The elements of wind, water and light are all evoked in the physical construct of the GALAXY S III. In its essence, the minimal organic design identity is reflected in the smooth and non-linear lines of the device. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional color options.

 

With a 4.8" HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

 

The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways. It introduces ‘Pop up play,’ a feature that allows you to play a video anywhere on your screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web. Its 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets you capture moving objects easily without delay - the image you see is the picture you take. With the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs for you, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which you can use to capture a video of yourself. Improved backside illumination further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low lights.

 

Mobile payment is also accessible with the device through advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The gaming experience is enhanced through ‘Game Hub,’ providing access to numerous social games, while Video Hub brings users high quality TV and movies. Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service. Game Hub, Video Hub and Music Hub will be introduced in select countries initially and soon rolled out to global markets.

 

The Samsung GALAXY S III will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally.

 

For multimedia content and more detailed information, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com.

BOKU brings carrier billing to Sprint customers

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:54 AM PDT

BOKU and Sprint have announced that a deal between the two has been inked. The deal will allow BOKU customers to purchase for content in-game and put the charge on your monthly bill. BOKU is an in-game content system not unlike native options already available for Android. Some developers prefer using it as it’s platform agnostic. Sprint was the last to the table with this service, but I guess it’s better late than never.  [via Into]

Archos G9 tablets get bug-fixing update

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:27 AM PDT

Archos have issued updates for two tablets in their G9 line, the 80 and 101. For starters, we’ve got fixes for WiFi disconnection issues, fixes to help with GPS stability, and fixes for an issue where the device would reboot if an application took up a lot of resources. You can find the full changelog over at Archos’ site, and the device will be heading out over-the-air so find yourself a WiFi hotspot and get going. PS: the firmware version is 4.0.6, but the version of Android is still 4.0.3. [via Android Police]

UK and France get Rdio service

Posted: 03 May 2012 10:18 AM PDT

Rdio have just  expanded their service into some major parts of Europe. They’ve announced that both France and the United Kingdom will be able to enjoy streaming music on both desktop and mobile. You’ll only need to pay about £5 to stream from the web and £10 if you want to add mobile to that. Rdio is even offering a 6 day free trial to those who want to see all the hype is about before throwing cash at them. Head here to get started.

HTC One V shows up on TELUS’ site, “coming soon” for people in Canada

Posted: 03 May 2012 09:47 AM PDT

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The HTC One V has been released for Bell today, but we have another option for those who aren’t fans of the carrier. The same device popped up on TELUS’ website with “Coming Soon” written on the top section.

It is still unknown what pricing will be like. But as our friends from Mobile Syrup mention, the device’s page has just gone live on Future Shop, with a price tag of $29.99. This is a bit higher than Bell’s price, which is $0 on a 3-year contract. You may have your reasons to stick with TELUS, though.

As for the release date, Bell’s press release did state that the TELUS version “will be available later this month.” You won’t have to wait too long.

We are not as familiar with Canadian carriers as we are with American ones. So tell us, guys. What carrier would you prefer and why?

[Source: TELUS Via: Mobile Syrup]

Kindle Fire was “on fire” only for a few months

Posted: 03 May 2012 09:16 AM PDT

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The Kindle Fire quickly became the top-selling Android tablet in the market, but it seems their success is not lasting as long as one would think. In fact, it is probably becoming the top declining Android tablet, as well.

According to IDC’s study of global shipments, Amazon’s Kindle Fire quickly became the second top-selling tablet in the market during Q4, 2011 (After the iPad). With a 16.8% market share, the company managed to ship over 4.8 million units in just one quarter. Things are not looking very bright for Amazon now, though.

The Kindle Fire has seen a substantial decrease in sales during Q1, 2012. Its share went down to a mere 4%, over a fourth less than what it was during the past quarter.

But what could be the reason? Current Android devices are known for having a short lifespan. Phones and tablets tend to be way outdated in less than a year. But lower-end, affordable products experience this phenomena in a much stronger manner.

The Kindle Fire stormed through the market due to its substantially lower price. It was definitely the best bang for your buck, then. But with technology moving forward, and prices lowering, these affordable devices tend to be overshadowed by the new guys much quicker.

We have the ASUS Transformer Pad 300 going for as low as $379.99. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 is going for $250. Hell, the Nexus Tablet is rumored to cost no more than $250, and that will be Tegra 3 tablet. The Kindle Fire simply has too much competition now. It is no longer as relevant, as other manufacturers are now releasing better tablets with similar price tags.

We will have to see how Amazon plays its game in the future, but the company is still not doing bad. Owning 4% of the market with a single device could still be considered a success. It just happened to see a very quick fall. What do you guys say? Will Amazon be as successful now that other manufacturers are releasing competitive tablets (both in specs and price)?

[Source: IDC Via: All Things Digital]

The Samsung Galaxy S3 announcement is nigh! Here is how to watch it live

Posted: 03 May 2012 08:36 AM PDT

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The day counter has gone down to zero and now we are only a few hours away from the Samsung Galaxy S3 announcement. We are sure you don’t want to wait any longer to learn all the details (we know we don’t), and the best option to get all the hot news right away is watching it live.

The event starts at 7 PM, London time. This means that in the US, it is 11 AM Pacific, 12 PM Mountain, 1 PM Central and 2 PM Eastern. You can join us in the knuckle cracking fest in multiple ways. The most popular will probably be through a computer. If you want to watch the live event from your PC, simply go to the following links:

If you know you are going to be on-the-go, you can also watch it conveniently, straight from your Android device. Simply download the Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 app and you are good to go.

Regardless, we will be here covering all there is to know about this bad boy. Make sure to keep checking back with us and join us in the post comments and Galaxy S3 forums! What do you guys say? Could this be your “Next Galaxy”?
Posted by at 8:19 AM

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