Hasta La Gadget!

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Information emerged a few weeks ago about Samsung’s Jelly Bean update plans for its current range of smartphones, indicating that the Galaxy S III was undergoing testing and that an update would be released early in the third quarter. Now an anonymous source speaking to GSMArena suggests that the Jelly Bean update is ready to go, and will be released on August 29th alongside the announcement of the Galaxy Note II.

It’s not clear if all models of the phone will receive the update or if will initially be for the international version, but if the information is correct, then Galaxy S III owners will be getting a nice little treat in a few short weeks. Previous information indicates that the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note are also on track for an update to Jelly Bean, although both devices are still being tested internally at Samsung.

The tests for the Galaxy S II are apparently “looking fine”, but Samsung hasn’t made the final decision as to whether or not the handset will definitely receive the update. Strong international sales for the handset suggest that Samsung will follow through, but if it doesn’t then the company intends to release a “Value Pack” for the phone, similar to the what happend with the original Galaxy S and Ice Cream Sandwich.

Samsung is facing a similar situation with the Galaxy Note. The phones are still pretty powerful by today’s standards, and they’ve gained impressive sales figures across the globe, so we can’t imagine that Samsung will leave the two models out in the cold. Even if they don’t receive updates, then enterprising developers and hackers on xda-developers will get to work and no doubt provide stable builds of the latest version of Android. Ideally, though, Samsung will provide official builds for the best results.

[via TechnoBuffalo]

Samsung Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update tipped for August 29th is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
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We all know the iPad is king of tablets, but it would appear that Apple has extended its lead in the slate market shipping approximately 70 percent of all tablets in the second quarter of this year. Unfortunately for Apple, Google’s recently released Nexus 7 tablet isn’t included in these numbers as it only started shipping after the April-June quarter was over.

Up from a 58 percent market share in the first quarter, Apple now holds 69.6 percent of the market, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

The firm claims that this is the largest share of the market that Apple has held since Q1 of last year, before everyone and their brother was making a tablet and sending it out into the market.

Samsung has taken the second place spot behind Apple, shipping approximately 2.3 million tablets for a 9.2 percent market share. Impressive as it is, it’s a far cry from Apple’s 17 million tablets shipped globally.

Rounding out the market, Amazon shipped about 1 million Fire tablets, accounting for 4.2 percent of the market, while Asus and Barnes and Noble walk away from Q2 with 2.8 percent and 1.9 percent of the market respectively.

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The race for smaller and more innovative electronics is on, and Samsung has a stake in the space on multiple levels: as a seller of consumer electronics products itself, and as a component supplier for the products of other companies. To that end, today its investment arm, Samsung Venture Investment Corporation, announced it was leading a $20 million investment in Raydiance, a developer of laser precision solutions that are used in the manufacturing of very small, detailed components for medical, automotive and other devices.

Raydiance says the growth round will be used to expand its business into consumer electronics (like phones) as well as build out existing business serving medical and automotive customers. Existing investors Draper Fisher Jurvetson, DFJ-Growth and Greenstreet Partners also participated.

The investment is a strategic one, in that it will give Samsung better access to the technology being developed by the company. “The demand for smaller, smarter devices continues to grow,” said Jay Chong, investment director at Samsung Ventures, in a statement. “Raydiance solutions have the potential to significantly improve existing manufacturing processes and to enable exciting new products. We are investing in Raydiance to ensure that these solutions are available for a variety of high volume manufacturing applications.”

One of the distinctive points of Raydiance is that it uses a “femtosecond laser light source” for precision cutting through any material. Founded by people who come from the defense industry, Raydiance says it is the only company to have created commercial-grade ultrafast laser solutions:

The company’s breakthrough technology brings intelligent control, commercial grade availability and small form factor to ultrafast laser light. Raydiance bundles lasers in ready-to-integrate solutions – validated, factory-proven tools that save valuable time and money.

Raydiance solutions are in production today in the medical, industrial and consumer markets, but the aim is to expand the business also into consumer electronics, which would fit nicely with Samsung’s business in handsets, televisions and other products.