Galaxy S II LTE and Galaxy Tab 8.9 LTE announced, set to debut at IFA

Well, if you thought Samsung was done tweaking the Galaxy S II, you were very mistaken. The Korean company is getting ready to unveil the Galaxy S II LTE at IFA in Berlin this week, alongside an LTE version of its still elusive Galaxy Tab 8.9 -- and we'll be there to get some hands on time. Both devices are sporting an updated dual-core processor running at 1.5GHz, while the S II is also getting a size bump and moving up to a 4.5-inch screen. The Tab remains otherwise unchanged, rocking the same 1200 x 800 screen and super-svelte (8.6mm thick) design. Honestly, we're not sure what else you need to know -- 4G LTE and an over-the-top processor? OK, maybe price and availability would be nice, but you'll just have to make do with some PR for now. Check it out after the break.

Press Release:
Samsung speeds up the Smarter Life with LTE versions of the GALAXY S II and GALAXY Tab 8.9

SEOUL--(Korea Newswire) August 28, 2011 -- Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced LTE editions of its GALAXY S II and GALAXY Tab 8.9. These stylish devices now offer high-speed 4G connectivity in addition to power, portability and second-to-none screen technology.

"With the introduction of GALAXY S II LTE and GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE, we will take the capabilities of these devices to a whole new level. LTE redefines the user experience made possible by these devices and opens entirely new possibilities in terms of content viewing, sharing, quality and connectivity," said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung's Mobile Communications Business.

"This is a milestone in our commitment to lead the charge in 4G mobile telephony around the world, both in terms of back-end network solutions for service providers and the development of powerful consumer handsets," added Shin.

When connected to a 4G network, LTE technology allows portable devices to download high-quality files at speeds of up to 100Mbps, and to upload at speeds of 50Mbps theoretically – five times faster than even the quickest HSPA+ connection. This means that a four-minute long MP3 track can be downloaded in 0.3 seconds, or an entire film file in less than two minutes.

The enhanced connectivity afforded by LTE technology opens up a range of possibilities for users: Features like social gaming, video conferencing and high-quality media streaming can all be enjoyed seamlessly, with vast improvements in download times and connectivity. 4G technology also enables the seamless and near-instant sharing of multimedia content with friends and family, ensuring that users can share the experiences they love whenever they want.

The addition of LTE to the Samsung GALAXY portfolio also opens further opportunities for mobile application and content developers creating a new generation of mobile services that take full advantage of increased bandwidth and improved connectivity.

GALAXY S II LTE

In addition to offering a high standard of connectivity, the GALAXY S II LTE delivers powerful performance due to its 1.5GHz dual core processor. Superior 3D graphic performance makes games and video consumption fast and smooth, while popular Web pages like Google, Yahoo and YouTube can load easily, giving customers instant access to the information they need.

A 4.5" Super AMOLED Plus display provides stunning visual clarity, with HD video and images taken on the device's 8MP camera displayed in full vivid color. The GALAXY S II LTE also offers a rich content experience, with Social, Game and Music hubs all included, while the Readers Hub will be available for download after launch. These are in addition to a number of enterprise solutions aimed at increasing productivity. Running on Android 2.3, the GALAXY S II LTE is easy and intuitive to use.

Additionally, the GALAXY S II LTE can also be connected to up to eight devices via WiFi, meaning that files can be quickly and seamlessly synchronized with laptops, tablets and other Smartphones.

GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE

The LTE edition of the GALAXY Tab 8.9 is incredibly portable, measuring just 8.6mm thin while weighing only 455g. The boosted connectivity and genuine portability ensures that the GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE is the ideal device for modern professionals, who need to stay productive and entertained while on the move. LTE capabilities enable video conferences to be held without need to worry about failing connections, while the 8.9" screen enables easy rendering of business content such as presentations. The TouchWiz interface enables an intuitive user experience, enhanced by the space and freedom provided by the large display.

Whether writing emails on a trip or reading an eBook in bed, the GALAXY Tab 8.9 LTE provides the ultimate tablet experience without compromising mobility.
source: Engadget

Samsung said to be considering webOS acquisition from HP

Following rumors that Samsung was considering a purchase of Hewlett-Packard's PC business - rumors that Samsung would later deny - DigiTimes is having another go at this potential unholy union. This time around, however, the site claims Samsung is eying HP's webOS platform instead of its PC business. DigiTimes on Monday reported that Samsung has hired HP's ex-vice president of PSG marketing Raymond Wah to head up Samsung's PC business. The report goes on to claim that Samsung is also “considering purchasing webOS to compete head on against Apple and Google, according to sources from notebook players.” The South Korea-based electronics giant is clearly having issues with Android right now. Despite Google's OS having helped Samsung climb to the No. 2 spot among global smartphone vendors, it also brought with it a flurry of patent-related lawsuits from Apple and other companies. Google just announced its intention to acquire Motorola for $12.5 billion, however, and this purchase is intended in part to help the company defend itself and Android partners against patent complaints from Apple, Microsoft and other combatants in the patent wars. Beyond that, Samsung also has its own in-house smartphone platform, bada, which is seeing success in the Asian market. Samsung declined to comment.
source: Boy Genius Report

Sprint Holding “Strategy Update” Event In New York This October 7th

Looks like Sprint has something big planned for October 7th in what they’re calling a “Strategy Update.” Tons of press have been invited to their event in New York city and although no one knows exactly what ‘ol #3 will announce/unveil/reveal, you can bet it more than likely will have something to do with their acquisition of Clearwire and possibly their move to LTE-Advanced. Time for you guys to do some speculating of your own. What do you think will be announced? Merger with Google? iPhone 5? I’m still hoping it will have something to do with the return of the “Sprint Guy”
source: Android Phone

Sprint's Samsung Galaxy S II press shots leaked

Samsung is preparing to announce the Galaxy S II for Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T during a press event on Tuesday and one day ahead of the announcement, official images for Sprint's model have been leaked. We exclusively reported earlier this month that Sprint will dub its device the “Epic Touch 4G,” and it will pack a dual-core processor, a Super AMOLED Plus display, a forward-facing camera for video chats, an 8-megapixel camera capable of shooting HD video and more. We're digging the textured back of the Epic Tough 4G and it appears Samsung was able to keep the phone just as thin as its European counterpart despite packing in a 4G WiMAX radio. We'll be live reporting from Samsung's press conference at 6:00 p.m. EST tomorrow, so stay tuned for more details.
source: Boy Genius Report

Last Year's Smartphones Selling Better Than the Latest and Greatest

Hardware companies are in the business of convincing you to buy the hottest new item. And save for Apple, it looks like smartphone makers aren't doing a good job of it.

Four of the top five best-selling consumer smartphones of the second quarter were all made over a year or more ago, according to a recent report.

The iPhone 4 was the best selling smartphone among non-corporate consumer purchases from April through June, according to research firm NPD, with the iPhone 3GS coming in at a close second. Representing the Android operating system, HTC's EVO 4G ranked as the third most purchased smartphone in Q2. And finally, the lesser-known Samsung Intensity 2 (released in June of 2010) came in fifth place. Samsung's Inspire 4G ranked fourth, the only phone released in 2011 to make the top five.

To some extent, the increased iPhone sales make a certain amount of sense. The price of the 3GS dropped after Apple debuted its iPhone 4, attracting the bargain hunting demographic. To boot, the iPhone 4 saw a surge of new buyers after the release of a CDMA version on Verizon's 3G network. Most recently, Apple released its white iPhone 4, resulting in another spike of sales.

With the slew of new Android phones released this year, sales have spread across the myriad Android-powered options consumers face. As a result, no one particular Android model has emerged as a true victor.

Instead, Android continues to dominate in operating system market share, as 52 percent of new smartphone purchases run Google's operating system. Apple's iOS emerges in a not-too-distance second place, with 29 percent of the OS market share. And of course, much of this growth is at RIM's expense; the Canadian company bled out over half its share of sales compared to the same period last year. As usual, Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, and webOS each held less than 5% of the market.

Image courtesy of NPD Group

source: Gadget Lab

Google Closing Android Market Developer Support Forums

If developers weren’t already peeved enough, we have some more bad news for them – Google’s shutting down the developer support forums where the coders of the market convene to discuss issues with the Android market or application development. The site has been home to huge discussions and complaints from market developers with massive threads usually spawning when developers are seeing diminished returns due to Android market bugs, errors or what have you.

Now, Google’s going to focus on supporting developers one-on-one, handling issues only when developers directly contact them. We like to think they’re getting a bit annoyed when a big ****storm brews over market issues and seeing the entire tech community immediately alerted to it.

But what’s the alternative? Developers can continue to contact Google independently for each issue as they always have. The problem with that is, more often than not, developers are met with canned responses. And in some rare instances, they are met with no response at all.

If you do get that canned response, you probably won’t get a status update on whatever fix you’re concerned with. I imagine a lot of isolated issues are handled in a timely manner, but the widespread issues that have popped up in recent months have taken Google forever to fix, with some not even having a resolution in sight.

Many would say that Google’s taking the easy way out (or being a “cop out”) by shutting the developer support forums down. I’m not so sure I’d disagree. As one Reddit user put it, their customer service and support were already rock bottom with the forums, and to take away the avenue developers use to discuss issues in hopes to fix problems Google drags their feet with is doing nothing at all to help. [Google]

source: Android Phone

Acer M310 Windows Phone said to have HDMI-out, 8GB storage

We first heard about the existence of the Acer M310 Windows Phone last week, but literally no information was given besides the fact that two test units were discovered on a developer's traffic sheet. How about a few more shreds of meat to chew on? According to WindowsPhoneNZ, the Mango device was sighted at TechEd New Zealand with HDMI-out support. We may be seeing this feature across a large variety of Windows Phones coming out this fall, as the HTC Eternity has been rumored to include video output via HDMI as well. The observer claims the M310 has a "black shiny look" and "bevelled edges," has a similar appearance to the Acer W4 (shown in the above image), and includes DLNA support over WiFi. The handset was also seen snuggling up to Asus' entry into the Windows Phone market, which was said to have a matte black finish and may have a front-facing camera. Certainly, if these factoids are correct, this fall's Mango lineup looks to be laden with all kinds of hidden gems we haven't seen on Microsoft's OS yet.

source: Engadget

Samsung intros the Galaxy W, Y, Y Pro and M Pro

Samsung has announced four new Android phones that conform to their new naming scheme for the Galaxy brand.

The first of the lot is the Galaxy W. It has a 3.7-inch, 800 x 480 touchscreen TFT LCD touchscreen, 1.4GHz single-core processor, 5 megapixel camera, 14.4Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and a 1500mAh battery. It runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread and come will with Samsung’s Game, Social and Music Hubs.

Next is the Galaxy M Pro. It’s a slim, 9.97mm thick, QWERTY smartphone with a 2.66-inch, 480 x 320 TFT LCD touchscreen and optical trackpad. It will have a 1GHz processor, 5 megapixel rear camera and VGA resolution front camera. Connectivity features include 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 3.0 and Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n. Being a business phone, Samsung is also offering a variety of enterprise solutions, including Exchange Active Sync, Sybase Afaria, CISCO Mobile and CISCO WebEx. It will be running Android 2.3 Gingerbread and powered by a 1350mAh battery.

Third is the Samsung Galaxy Y. It’s a candybar touchscreen phone with a 3-inch 320 x 240 resolution TFT LCD touchscreen, 832MHz processor, 2 megapixel camera, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, Bluetooth 3.0, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Android 2.3 and 1200mAh battery. The phone will come with SWYPE built-in and will be sold in a variety of colors.

Last one is the Galaxy Y Pro. Samsung did not divulge much information about the specifications of this phone but they should be similar to those of the Galaxy Y, except the Galaxy Y Pro has a QWERTY keypad instead.

You can look forward to more information regarding these four new smartphones at IFA (Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin) next week.

source: GSM Arena

Samsung Hercules confirmed as a T-Mobile Galaxy S II variant

The picture almost says it all: the Galaxy S II is coming to T-Mobile. Except it's slightly more complicated than that. According to TmoNews, you're actually looking the back of the new Samsung Hercules - a handset rumored to possess godly specs, which we already knew was heading to both T-Mo and Telus, and which is now confirmed as an honest-to-goodness Galaxy S II variant. It's similar to the original superphone in many respects, but it has a slightly larger 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen like the Infuse 4G, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor that's possibly a Qualcomm instead of Sammy's own Exynos, and a 42Mbps HSPA+ radio. The rounded corners of the back cover also look distinctly similar to the Within - the GSII variant coming to Sprint. You'll find full-frontals after the break, which also recall the design of the Nexus S. The only thing missing is any mention of NFC, which featured in the initial rumors, but this is still a hotch-potch of the best Samsung phones around and we can't wait for it to arrive.
source: Engadget

Huawei Vision shown off in 360 demo and video

The Huawei Vision, an upcoming high-end Android device, was just announced last week and while we were given detailed description of the phone's specs, we only had a couple of press shots to look. A phone's appearance is just as important as its specs for some people - I mean, who wants to spend money on a good device if it doesn't look great at the same time? So for those who are considering purchasing a phone based on its looks, Huawei has something just for you.

Huawei recently updated its Facebook page with a Huawei Vision demo that users can play around with to check out how the phone looks like from every angle. They've also updated its YouTube page with a video demonstrating the UI of the phone. One thing which I didn't notice from before is that the phone looks like it's running on a customized version of SPB Shell 3D for Android, which is one of the nicest looking Android UIs around - in my opinion. And it's not often you see it come preloaded with a phone.
source: Ubergizmo