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Tag: Samsung

  • Samsung Galaxy S III Teaser Ad Hints That iPhone Users Are Sheep

    Earlier this month, Samsung put all of the release date rumors to rest about the new Galaxy S III by sending out invitations to an upcoming event, set to take place on May 3rd in London. There, Samsung will unveil their much-anticipated new smartphone, which they’re referring to as “the dawn of the next Galaxy.”

    And today they dropped a new teaser ad for the device, which takes a not-so-subtle jab at iPhone users.

    The ad is pretty vague. It discusses “holidng a galaxy in the palm fo your hand” and gaining the power to “explore it freely and swiftly” over some abstract galactic images. The end of the ad is where it gets interesting, though. The final message from Samsung takes an obvious swipe at the Apple hivemind, saying “now you can stand out from everyone else” over the image of a bunch of sheep.

    Of course, this sort of depiction of iPhone users is par for the course for Samsung.

    Check it out below:

    Although Samsung hasn’t officially released any specs on their upcoming smartphone, the Galaxy S III is rumored to sport a 4.7-inch AMOLED display, 1.5Ghz quad-core processor and 1GB RAM. Other rumors have even suggested that it could come equipped with a Liquipel waterproof coating.

    If you want to travel even further down the rumor mill, a Vietnamese tech site recently shot video of what they claim is a prototype of the new phone.

  • Samsung Galaxy S3 Teaser Compares iPhone Users To Sheep

    Considering the war of words that broke out after Instagram was made available to Android users, perhaps Samsung is onto something. Is it a sense of insecurity that goes with owning Apple products, or are people really that butthurt over an “iPhone-only” photography app crossing over to another platform?

    Again, when you look at the complaints that followed, Samsung may have nailed it down with their latest teaser commercial for the upcoming Galaxy S3. An aside first, however: Since when do tech toys get “teaser trailers?” To which Samsung apparently answered, “when we feel like calling out iPhone users in a very noticeable way.” And that’s just what they did:


    In case you missed it, the text says, “With technology that fits in this easily, you can now stand out from… everyone else.” The “everyone else” is punctuated by a shot of a herd of sheep. All things considered, it’s surprising these sheep didn’t have apples in their mouths. Motivated by the Apple lawsuits (which were countersued by Samsung), it’s clear the Galaxy manufacturer is pulling no punches in relation to how they view the iPhone and its army of users.

    The question is, is that a fair assessment of the average iPhone user? No, not really. There are tons of iPhone owners who didn’t complain about Instagram or, well, anything having to do with Android. They, like other rational folks, enjoy their product while acknowledging other people are free to do the same, regardless of what platform they prefer. This portion or users, however, isn’t as outspoken as the vocal minority, a group of people who allow themselves to be defined by the tech toys they own.

    These are the types of folks who perpetuate the “Android users are too poor for iPhones” and the “iPhone users are a bunch of sycophantic followers who like shiny products” myths that populate almost every “iPhone versus Android” discussion. The thing is, the anti-Android/anti-iPhone snarkiness is not limited to consumers anymore.

    Take Apple Senior Vice President Phil Schiller, for instance. Schiller left Instagram because once Android users got ahold of it, the app, in his mind, “jumped the shark,” and now, we have Samsung firing a sheep-filled volley at Apple. Can’t we all–“we” as in the tech giants–just get along? Or would that be too boring?

  • Samsung Galaxy III Possibly Leaked [Video]

    Samsung Galaxy III Possibly Leaked [Video]

    A video and pictures have surfaced of what is claimed to be Samsung’s highly-anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone. Vietnamese technology news website Tinhte.vn leaked the information early this morning, but has since removed all evidence of the announcement. It’s a good thing the internet never forgets! Tinhte’s video has been preserved on YouTube and it shows the alleged internal components and screen of the phone.

    The man in the video claims the screen is a Super AMOLED and estimates its size to be 4.6 inches. The case, he admits, is just a shell for the internals of the phone, not the actual final design. That reminds me of news that Apple was doing something similar with its iPhone 5 testing units.

    The video goes through the phone’s configuration menus, listing out its internal components. The device has a 1.4 Ghz quad-core ARM CPU, 1 Gigabyte of RAM, a 2050 mAh battery, an 8 megapixel camera, and NFC support. You can watch the video for yourself below, but remember to take in all of this information while exercising a bit of skepticism. The leak could be a fake, or, more likely, this early prototype might not even be close to what the final version of the phone will be. We will only know for sure when Samsung unveils the phone at its event on May 3rd.

    What do you think? Is this the real deal? Would you want a Galaxy S III over an HTC One X or a Motorola Droid Razr given these specs? Let me know in the comments below.

    (via engadget)

  • iPhone 5 May Be Getting A Liquidmetal Body

    iPhone 5 May Be Getting A Liquidmetal Body

    Apple may be exploring the possibility of using a liquidmetal rear panel for the next iPhone in place of the glass panel that has been present in the past two models, the iPhone 4 and iPhone 4S. Instead, Apple may be planning to make the panels from alloys created by Liquidmetal Technologies. Apple purchased exclusive rights to Liquidmetal’s patent portfolio in late 2010, prompting a wide array of speculation as to what the company might do with the technology.

    Liquidmetal Gone Bad

    Hopefully not this.

    Well, according to South Korea’s ETNews, they plan to make iPhones with it. Citing “industry sources” they claim that the rear casing of the next iPhone is going to be made of liquidmetal, an allow of nickel, zirconium, copper, and titanium that is extremely strong and durable, even when cast (unlike other metals like steel). This liquidmetal-backed iPhone, they claim, will be unveiled at WWDC in June.

    They also claim that the Samsung Galaxy S III, set to be unveiled May 3rd in London, will have a ceramic rear panel, rather than the plastic one present in previous Galaxy S models.

    One of the more… peculiar design choices Apple has made in recent years was putting a glass rear panel on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Though undoubtedly aesthetically pleasing, the change left the phone vulnerable to damage from which a phone with a metal or plastic rear panel would be much safer. There was speculation that Apple would forego the glass rear panel on the iPhone 4S, but the form factor of the 4S remained almost completely unchanged. A liquidmetal rear panel for the iPhone would be a good choice for a lot of reasons: the metal is far more durable than just about anything else Apple could put on the iPhone, and it would be a good use for patents Apple spent a lot of money on.

    On the other hand, it’s a little hard to believe this particular report, not least because of the claim of a June release date. Given that the iPhone 4S released in October of last year, it is all but unthinkable that Apple would release a new phone just nine months later, especially if that phone is (as this one almost certainly will be) a major re-design. That said, it’s a fair bet that Apple will ditch the glass rear panel. What they will replace it with is not known, and liquidmetal seems as good a guess as any.

  • Samsung, Apple CEOs Ordered To Discuss Patent Dispute Settlement

    With the first of many trials between Apple and Samsung scheduled to start in July, a U.S. judge has ordered that the CEOs of the two companies sit down and make another attempt to settle their differences outside of court in order to avert a trial.

    According to Florian Mueller of FOSS Patents, the two companies have 90 days to meet in a courthouse in San Francisco to discuss a settlement under the mediation of Joseph C. Spero, a U.S. magistrate judge. Apple will be represented at the meeting by CEO Tim Cook, along with the company’s general counsel, while Samsung will be represented by CEO Gee-Sung Choi, along with his company’s general counsel.

    With the trial date looming, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh, who is presiding over the two lawsuits between Apple and Samsung in the U.S., doubtless wants to avoid a lengthy trial. At issue in the two lawsuits are allegations of patent infringement. Apple has accused Samsung of copying design elements of its iOS devices with the Galaxy S line of smartphones and Galaxy Tab line of tablets. The suit was originally filed in 2010 by Apple, with the goal of blocking the sale of infringing Samsung devices in America. Samsung responded by counter-suing in the U.S., and by filing suits in ten other countries around the world. There are currently upwards of twenty suits and countersuits between the two companies.

    What do you think? Will Apple and Samsung settle out of court? Should they? Is Samsung really guilty of copying Apple’s designs? Let us know in the comments.

  • Samsung Fortune Fuels Family Feud

    Lee Kun-hee is the chairman of Samsung Electronics. He resigned as chairman of Samsung on April 21, 2008 owing to Samsung Slush funds scandal, but returned on March 24, 2010. He received a three year suspended jail term after he was found guilty of making illegal bond deals.

    His dirty dealings brought huge losses to Samsung Data Systems.

    The court found 67-year-old Lee guilty of forcing the company to sell bonds with warrants to his son and daughters at a huge discount in 1999. The sale cost $180 million to the sales integration unit of Samsung.

    Now the big bossman is trying to keep his siblings from claiming more money from their father’s (Lee Byung-chull ) inheritance.

    “If they file suits against me, I will take the same actions and I am even thinking of going to the Constitutional Court, taking it a step further than the Supreme Court. I have no intention of giving them any money.”

    Lee’s elder brother, Lee Maeng-hee, initiated the inheritance suit in February; since then, two other family members have joined him. The siblings could win over 100 billion dollars.

    When asked if he was hurt by the fact that his own sibling raised the suits, he said, “No, I don’t feel hurt since they are not my competition.”

    At least his children aren’t suing him.

  • Galaxy Nexus Coming To Sprint April 22nd

    A month ago we reported a rumor that the popular Samsung Galaxy Nexus would be coming to Sprint on April 15th. With the 15th having now come and gone, that rumor was plainly wrong. But apparently it was pretty darn close. Samsung has announced that the Galaxy Nexus will be coming to Sprint this coming Sunday, April 22nd

    Unlike Verizon, Sprint’s version of the Galaxy Nexus features Google’s NFC-based instant payment platform, Google Wallet. To encourage customers to use the service, Sprint is offering everyone who purchases a Galaxy Nexus $50 to activate their Google Wallet account within a week of getting their phone. You’ll get an instant $10 credit when you activate your account, followed by another $40 credit sometime in the following three weeks.

    The Galaxy Nexus is the first phone on Sprint’s network to run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. It’s also one of only two phones (so far, the other being the LG Viper, which became available for pre-order last week) that will be compatible with Sprint’s 4G LTE network when it begins to go live later this year.

    The Galaxy Nexus launched in December of last year on Verizon’s network and has proven quite popular. In addition to Google Wallet, it also includes Android Beam, another feature that makes use of the phone’s built-in NFC technology to share web pages, contacts, videos, apps, and more between NFC-capable Android devices. It also sports a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and a 4.65-inch Super AMOLED HD display.

    The Galaxy Nexus is currently available for pre-order on Sprint’s website. Though Sprint doesn’t guarantee arrival by Sunday if you pre-order today, they promise to “do our best to get it to you” before then. It costs $199.99 with a 2-year service agreement.

  • Samsung Sends Out Galaxy S III Event Invitations

    Samsung has issued invitations to a media event where it will unveil the much-anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone. Though rumors about the release date for the follow up to the popular Galaxy S II have been all over the board – sometimes in March, sometimes in April, it appears that the phone will actually be hitting store in May.

    According to the invitation, Samsung will be unveiling the Galaxy S III at an event on May 3rd at the Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London, England. The event is scheduled to kick off at 7 PM local time (2 PM EST).

    Samsung Galaxy S III Invitation

    Little is known about the Galaxy S III, and the invitation reveals nothing. Though the rumor mill has suggested things like a 4.7-inch AMOLED HD display, a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, 32GB of memory, 1GB of RAM, and a microSD card slot. There have even been rumors that it would ship with a Liquipel waterproof coating.

    [H/T: CNet]

  • Samsung Announces New Galaxy Tabs, Galaxy Players

    Samsung has announced updates to its popular Galaxy Tab line of tablets. The new Galaxy Tab 2 brings several new features and ships with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. At the same time, they’ve announced two new Galaxy Player devices. These media players allow users to get “the full Android experience” without the need to pay for smartphone service contracts. The company also hinted at forthcoming updates to the Galaxy Note line.

    The Galaxy Tab 2 will be available in two variations: 7-inch (pictured below) and 10.1-inch (pictured above). Both tablets feature dual core processors, Ice Cream Sandwich, and integrated microSD card slots that allow their memory to be expanded by 32GB. The 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 comes with 8GB of onboard storage, while the 10.1-inch model comes with 16GB. Both also include a 3.2 megapixel rear-facing camera and a VGA front camera, as well as GPS capabilities.

    Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7-inch

    Perhaps the most interesting new feature of the Galaxy Tab 2 is the integrated infrared transmitter. When paired with Samsung’s Smart Remote app this “IR blaster,” as Samsung calls it, allows you to use your Galaxy Tab as a universal remote. The Smart Remote app even has the ability to help you find your favorite shows.

    The 7-inch Galaxy Tab 2 will be available on April 22nd, and has a suggested retail price of $249.99. The 10.1-inch model will be available on May 13th and will sell for $399.99.

    The new Galaxy Player also comes in two models, differentiated mainly by their size. The larger Galaxy Player has a 4.2-inch WVGA display, while the smaller has a 3.6-inch HVGA display. Both run Android 2.3 Gingerbread and have 8GB of internal memory, as well as a microSD card slot. Each comes with an FM radio built in, as well as an embedded microphone. The Galaxy Player 3.6 has a mono speaker, while the Galaxy Player 4.2 sports dual stereo speakers. Each player has a 2 megapixel rear camera, along with a VGA front camera.

    Samsung Galaxy Players

    The Galaxy Player 3.6 is available now at Best Buy stores for $149.99, and will be coming to more retailers in the near future. The Galaxy Player 4.2 will be available alongside the 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab 2 on May 13th, and will retail for $199.99.

    What do you think of Samsung’s latest additions? Let us know in the comments.

  • LinkedIn Introduces New Marketing Tools

    LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, saw a revenue of $522 million in 2011, though its net income was only $22 million, considering the company hired 531 new executives during that time frame. LinkedIn had stated that it was more focused on brand awareness and upping its user base than profitability. Though after a bit of time to let things settle, the company appears to refocusing on profitability, and is set to launch its LinkedIn Targeted Updates and Follower Statistics, a more robust marketing and analytics tool, to help brands forge a more effective following in a business context.

    linkedin marketing

    LinkedIn’s early launch partners include AT&T, Dell, Microsoft, and Samsung Mobile, who have commenced using the new follower tools. LinkedlIn, being much more of a business-focused social networking environment than say, Facebook, sees its unique follower ecosystem as ideal for more targeted marketing. Marketing content can now be adjusted to industry, seniority, job function, company size, non-company employees and geography, and marketers have access to an insights field, to monitor progress in acquiring new followers, engagement metrics – including likes, shares, comments, and percentage of engagement over time – and reviews of followers’ demographic information.

    LinkedIn has offered some stats about its platform – 63% of users expect companies to have a LinkedIn presence, with 70% stating that they’d follow a company’s profile on the site – 64% would indefinitely. LinkedlIn users who follow company pages are twice as connected as the average member, being in twice as many groups in the network. Roughly half (49%) claim they would be more apt of buy a product or service from a company they are following that is more engaged with its followers, and 47% state that LinkedIn is a more appropriate venue for learning company news, than say, Facebook.

    Though, like Facebook, Linkedin has its own ‘follow company’ button, similar to the ‘Like’ tab. Interestingly, a recent study has shown that Facebook still holds its own against LinkedIn regarding business to business marketing, when the latter would appear to be the better choice first off.

  • Samsung to Report $39 Billion for Q1 2012

    It seems Samsung is continuing their outstanding progress in gadget sales and is said to be reporting sales in the $39 billion range for the first quarter of 2012. Last they were controlling almost a fifth of the smartphone market and are presently considered Asia’s most valuable tech brand. Their profit from last quarter’s sales should come in around $4.5 billion.

    While the giant will have to continue to introduce new technology to keep their share of the market, a little help can be counted on from one of their biggest competitors. According to Reuters, Apple purchases vast number of microchips and displays from Samsung for their iPad and iPhone devices.

    But I don’t think we have to worry about Samsung, their Galaxy Note seems to be selling quite well and may even be a viable competitor for other tablets including the iPad. We can look forward to the official Q1 2012 earning from Samsung in late April, until then we can just watch the technology market and try to predict what 2012 will bring.

  • New Samsung MicroSD Cards are Ultra High Speed

    Samsung announced today that it has begun mass-producing Ultra High Speed-1 (UHS-1) microSD cards. The UHS-1 interface supports the higher performance levels required on newer LTE smartphones and tablets.

    “MicroSD cards with a UHS-1 interface offer users an extremely high level of performance on their LTE smartphones and for other advanced mobile applications. This allows consumers to enjoy high-quality images and video playback directly from the memory cards, which fully support the advanced performance features of diverse digital gadgets,” said Wanhoon Hong, executive vice president, memory sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. “Our UHS-1 card demonstrates how Samsung plans to continually expand its line-up of memory cards in accommodating the market need for higher densities and greater performance.”

    The new microSD card only comes in a 16 gigabyte version so far. It uses Samsung’s 64 gigabit toggle DDR 2.0 devices and a Samsung controller that supports the UHS-1 interface. Samsung claims that internal tests the “maximum sequential read speed” of the card is 80 megabytes per second. Normal microSD cards operate at 21 megabytes per second.

    Production of this microSD card began in late march, and Samsung says it plans to upgrade all of its microSD cards with higher density solutions. Hopefully this will mean microSD cards we can use in all of our different mobile and portable devices to quickly stream HD media in the near future.

    (photo courtesy Baran Ivo)

  • Maria Sharapova Signs 3 Year Endorsement Deal with Samsung

    Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova has recently signed a 3 year endorsement contract with Samsung electronics, to promote the company’s smartphone, tablet and TV products. At present, the contract only covers her native Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, but her the deal might expand globally sometime next year. According to Sharapova’s agent Max Eisenbud, “Maria really hasn’t been marketed that much in Russia – It’s important to her because that’s where her roots are. I also felt that was a really untapped market, with the 2014 Sochi Olympics coming up.”

    Sharapova, who shot to fame after winning Wimbledon at age 17, once was the highest paid athlete in the world. She presently pulls in about $25 million a year, and endorses companies including Nike, Tag Heuer, Tiffany & Co. and Evian water. Sharapova, who is currently ranked at #2 in women’s tennis worldwide, is no neophyte in regards to endorsing mobile devices – she’d previously promoted Motorola products via her Digital Sharapova Experience, and also shot unboxing videos and made public appearances for Sony Ericsson.

    Regarding the tennis star’s upgrade to Samsung, Eisenbud states, “Maria had a positive experience, and a positive four years with Sony Ericsson – Now we are just looking forward to a new partnership with a great brand.” Sony Ericsson, who signed a record $88 million endorsement deal with the women’s tennis tour in 2005, won’t extend its agreement with the WTA when it expires at the end this year.

    It is unlikely that Samsung will dissolve as an independent entity like Sony Ericsson, or be bought by Google like Motorola, after dealings with Sharapova, though they are apparently willing to take the gamble.

  • Samsung Has A Mobile Ad Platform To Compete With Google, Apple

    Samsung’s throwing its hat into the ring of mobile advertising and has announced that it’s partnering with OpenX Technologies, a prominent digital advertising firm. By partnering with OpenX, Samsung’s new AdHub Market looks to develop an ad exchange that will be specific to businesses wishing to advertise smartphones and tablets, though don’t be surprised if this also doesn’t eventually include web-enabled televisions.

    Of course, Samsung AdHub Market will be directly competing with Apple and Google in the advertising arena. In the case of Google, I imagine Samsung’s foray into advertising on mobile devices – and Samsung makes many devices powered by Google’s Android platform – could twist a kink or two into the company’s relationship with Google.

    This mobile-specific ad strategy is the first of its kind but that a company has realized the potential value in targeting the mobile market isn’t exactly a surprise given how the mobile market is growing so rapidly. Samsung described the strategy as such:

    The new exchange enables advertisers worldwide to purchase mobile inventory from mobile developers and Samsung Electronics within a closed marketplace environment, allowing easy targeting of desired audiences. By offering Real-Time Bidding capabilities, the exchange enables application developers to maximize their ad revenue by selling their inventory to buyers who compete for each impression in a real-time auction with a minimum floor price. Additionally, the private exchange offers developers superior levels of control, including the ability to approve all demand sources, in order to maintain the high quality of ads.

    It was only earlier this year that Samsung formally launched its AdHub for SmartTV advertising. By partnering with OpenX, Samsung is stretching their advertising umbrella to cover smartphones and tablets.

    “Samsung is empowering both the developer and the advertiser by creating a win-win solution in which the app developer is able to achieve higher revenues and advertisers are able to reach their marketing goals,” said Daniel Park, Vice President of Samsung’s Media Solution Center. “To this extent, we believe Real-Time Bidding can play an important role in motivating all players and we’re delighted to partner with OpenX and use its excellent technology as the foundation for it.”

    Tim Cadogan, CEO of OpenX, added enthusiasm to his company’s new deal with Samsung and added, “The partnership will provide advertisers with access to a new pool of high quality mobile inventory at scale. Helping both publishers and advertisers maximize the value of online advertising regardless of the device on which it is displayed is core to our mission at OpenX.”

    [Via 9to5Google via WSJ.]

  • Elephant Plays With A Samsung Galaxy Note [Video]

    The intelligence of elephants never ceases to amaze me. How they seem to grasp things that only humans do is unimaginable. In these sets of videos, we see Peter the elephant playing with a widely popular Samsung Galaxy Note. The video shows Peter playing some piano, choosing music to listen to, even going as far as to draw a picture of another elephant with the stylus pen.

    Samsung wanted to make sure that people don’t start to doubt that any of this video is real, so they also released 2 other ‘behind the scenes” videos showing a little bit of Peter playing the drums and playing the piano. These extra videos are unedited and fairly raw. I think the main video is cool and the only part i doubted was the drawing, but then they panned out and dang, this is real!

    Here is the “commercial’:

    Here is the unedited piece with Peter playing drums:

    Here is the unedited piece with Peter playing piano:

    (image)@ANshrikant
    AN SRIKANTH    Watch Peter the Elephant playing with apps on Samsung galaxy Note! View the videos at http://t.co/oQoC5vom(image) 39 minutes ago via Su.pr ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@KevinGilmartin
    Kevin Gilmartin    I can’t decide if this video of an elephant using a Samsung Galaxy Note is fake or not: http://t.co/I1s2rYFb(image) 32 minutes ago via TweetDeck ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

    (image)@thisiswafiy
    Abdul Wafiy Baha    peter the elephant plays with the samsung galaxy note! 😀(image) 13 minutes ago via web ·  Reply ·  Retweet ·  Favorite · powered by @socialditto

  • Samsung Sells 5 Million Galaxy Notes in 5 Months

    Five months after its launch, the Samsung Galaxy Note has achieved sales of 5 million units, according to the company. The first million devices were sold by the end of December.

    Users have been given ample time to decide on whether they like the 5.3 inch screen and large frame of the Galaxy Note, or the S-Pen stylus it features, but the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich software update is still highly anticipated. The Galaxy Note, a sort of cross between a smartphone and a tablet, was initially met with a bit of skepticism regarding how it would fare in its uniqueness. An AT&T exec originally stated that the device brought “a new level of efficiency to busy customers who would normally rely on multiple devices,” which would allow users to “accomplish more with a single device than ever before.” AT&T went on to support the Galaxy Note in the U.S.

    With five million units sold so far, its clear that the Note is not a fad device. And with the impending release of the Premium Suite of apps and Android 4.0, the Note could establish even more of a foothold. Also, a recent study has shown that smartphone users want larger screens, which adds to the Note’s attractiveness.

  • Ice Cream Sandwich For Galaxy S II Skyrocket Leaked

    Two weeks ago Samsung began rolling out upgrades for the popular Galaxy S II smartphone. The updates brought Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, the most recent version of Google’s smartphone/tablet operating system, to Samsung’s flagship phone. There was just one problem: the upgrades were starting in South Korea (where Samsung is based), as well as Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and other European countries. The UK was set to follow on March 19th, pending carrier approval, but there was no word on the US. When asked to clarify, Samsung said that there was no further information on when Ice Cream Sandwich would be coming to American Galaxy S II owners.

    Whether Ice Cream Sandwich will ever come to the Galaxy S II in America is unclear – it’s possible that Samsung will delay the update in order to prompt people to upgrade to the Galaxy S III, which may be due out in May. If there’s one thing, though, that smartphone makers have had to learn and re-learn over the last few years, it’s that if you tell your customers that they can’t have something, some of them will figure out a way to get it anyway. That’s why there are those who jailbreak or root their iOS or Android devices (respectively). Now it looks like Galaxy S II users aren’t going to be denied their Ice Cream Sandwich after all.

    According to a post today on RootzWiki, a build of Ice Cream Sandwich designed specifically for the Galaxy S II Skyrocket has been leaked. According to the post, the OS appears to have been designed specifically for the Galaxy S II, and it’s available to anybody who wants it (and has the know-how to install it on their phone). The OS apparently has the hallmarks of an official Samsung-designed build, but of course, that may not be the case.

    Will you put Ice Cream Sandwich on your Galaxy S II? Should Samsung go ahead and release the software to US customers? Let us know in the comments.

  • Samsung Galaxy S III May Be Coming In Late March

    Rumors surrounding the release of Samsung’s new, highly anticipated addition to the Galaxy S lineup, the Galaxy S III, have been all over the map lately. There were rumors of an April release, however Samsung themselves sent out a tweet denying them. All they would say was that the phone would be coming out sometime in the first half of the year.

    With an April release apparently out of the question, general opinion has settled on May 22nd as the probable release date. Speculation about the date was revived somewhat last week, though, when Samsung’s president of Greater China hinted that Samsung might be planning to release the phone earlier, perhaps in April.

    Now, though, it looks like there’s a chance that the Galaxy S III may release even earlier. Reports out of London today suggest that the phone may actually hit stores as early as next week. It seems that a sign bearing the Samsung logo and the caption “Coming 30/3/2012” has appeared at a Phones 4U store on Oxford Street in London.

    Signage like that is usually reserved for major product releases, and so far as anybody knows, the Galaxy S III is Samsung’s next major product. In that case, the Galaxy S III is the most likely subject of the sign. On the other hand, there’s that tweet from Samsung that suggests that the Galaxy S III won’t be out until closer to summer. There’s also the fact that Samsung hasn’t made any sort of announcement or sent out media invitations for the phone’s launch, which makes a Friday release look unlikely, as well.

    All things considered, it’s probably best to keep looking for a May release of the Galaxy S III and assume that the sign in London is referring to something else.

    What do you think? Would Samsung release a major new phone like this with almost no warning? Are you excited for the Galaxy S III? Let us know in the comments.

  • Samsung Galaxy S III Photo Leaked

    Samsung Galaxy S III Photo Leaked

    Press images of Samsung’s forthcoming Galaxy S III smartphone have apparently been leaked, according to recent reports. The phone, which is expected to release in April or May, is to be Samsung’s primary competitor for Apple’s upcoming iPhone.

    The image was obtained by Dutch site GSM Helpdesk (Google Translation) from a “trusted source” and shows several noteworthy features of the new phone.

    Samsung Galaxy S III

    Along with the photo, GSM Helpdesk got several details about the new phone, many of which confirm what the rumor mill has been saying. The phone will have a 4.7-inch HD (720×1280) display, with a pixel density of 313 pixels per inch. In case you’re wondering, that’s just a bit above the 300 ppi Steve Jobs defined as a retina display when the iPhone 4 was unveiled in 2010. The device will have a slightly reduced battery life, but like many Android-based phones will have a removable battery. It will be about 8 mm thick and weigh 4.4 ounces. It will also have a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 32GB of internal memory, and 1GB of RAM. Whether it will have a microSD slot for memory expansion is not clear, however previous Galaxy S models have not.

    GSM Helpdesk’s source predicts a release date of May 22 for the phone.

    This is the second time this week that an image purporting to be a Galaxy S III has appeared. Over the weekend an image appeared on reddit purporting to be the Galaxy S III. The phone in this image, however, has some significant differences:

    Samsung Galaxy S III

    With just two months to until the rumored release date of the phone, expect to see some more information come to light in the near future.

  • Samsung Developing Its Own Chips for Galaxy S III

    Samsung Developing Its Own Chips for Galaxy S III

    Further distancing itself from Qualcomm technology, Samsung will be using their own chips in its upcoming Galaxy S III smartphone. The change will see Samsung implementing its own single-chip design in the new Galaxy device.

    A Samsung executive told the Korean Times that “Samsung’s single-chip solution is a combination of long-term evolution (LTE), telecommunications and W-CDMA functions. We don’t think there will be big technology-related problems as we have already tested our telecommunications chips in some smartphones and tablets for consumers in North America. Also, Google’s first reference mobile, the Galaxy Nexus, is using Samsung’s telecom chips.” The executive added that Samsung’s Exynos-branded quad-core mobile application processors will go into the new Galaxy phones.

    Samsung has said that it has a stronger drive to lessen its dependence on Qualcomm, by relying on its own chipsets. Another Samsung executive stated that “Samsung is paying huge amounts to Qualcomm in return for using its single-chip solutions in strategic digital devices, however, Qualcomm is gradually losing its edge – It was believed that Qualcomm chips had greater stability and suited easy upgrades. But, that’s the old story. Our long-term plan is clear. Using Samsung solutions for Samsung products.”

    Still, both executives wanted to hide their identities, as they claimed they weren’t authorized to be speaking to journalists, making none of their intel completely official.

  • Samsung Galaxy S III May Launch In April

    Samsung Galaxy S III May Launch In April

    Just a little while ago we brought you news that a new image of Samsung’s Galaxy S III smartphone had been leaked. The newest addition to Samsung’s flagship smartphone lineup has been long been rumored to be launching on May 22, as the source for the earlier report suggests.

    Now, however, it looks as though an April launch of the phone might be a possibility. Kim Young-Ha, Samsung’s president of Greater China, has hinted in a recent interview (Google Translation) that Samsung was considering rescheduling the release from May to April in hopes of increasing sales of both the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note.

    Samsung’s Galaxy S II has been a major hit both in the US and elsewhere, and is seen as one of the chief rivals for Apple’s iPhone. With the launch of the next iPhone coming some time later this year, the pressure is on other handset manufacturers like Samsung to produce a phone that will compete with it. Rumored features of the Galaxy S III include a 4.7-inch or 4.8-inch 720×1280 HD display, a 12 megapixel rear camera, and quad-core 1.2 GHz processor. The phone will almost certainly run the most recent version of the Android operating system, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

    Are you excited about the Galaxy S III? Will you be buying one when it comes out? Let us know in the comments.