Hasta La Gadget!

It is a known fact that there is undeniable tension between the two corporate giants in the world of technology at the moment – Samsung and Apple, with the former managing to claim up to $1 billion in damages from the South Korean conglomerate in a court ruling earlier this year, where Samsung was deemed to have infringed upon Apple’s patents. Incidentally, Samsung is one of the main suppliers of parts to some of Apple’s best selling devices including the iPad, leading to that added touch of intrigue. Well, the game of one upmanship continues between the two of them, where we do hear whispers of Apple preparing to roll out a 7.85” version of the iPad, appropriately calling it the iPad mini. Perhaps out of this rivalry, Samsung wants to go one up on Apple with their Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini by announcing it in Germany yesterday.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini, as its name suggests, is a compact version of the South Korean conglomerate’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S3. The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini will deliver a similar high performance, intuitive ease-of-use and nature-inspired design of its larger sized sibling, albeit with a slightly smaller display at 4”, making it the ideal choice for those who want to use their smartphones with a single hand.

As for the operating system of choice, you will find Android 4.1 Jelly Bean installed right out of the box, while delivering what Samsung claims as “stunning graphical capabilities, fast screen transitions, and an upgraded Google Now service featuring contextual search.” Sporting an ultra-minimal curved frame, the Galaxy S3 Mini will deliver a rich natural feel, while its 4” Super AMOLED display lets you view images in a generous manner in brilliant color and clarity. It will also come with S Voice, Samsung’s choice of an advanced natural language recognition software.

No idea on pricing just yet, but one thing’s for sure – if you always wanted the Samsung Galaxy S3 but didn’t really like its size, then the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini might just be the smartphone for you.

Press Release
[ Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini announced copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Teething problems with Apple Maps failed to blunt mass market enthusiasm for the iPhone 5, new research suggests, with demand significantly higher than ahead of the iPhone 4S. 451 Research and ChangeWave Research surveyed 4,270 consumers in September, and found that those saying they were “very likely” to buy an iPhone 5 were almost double the number of those saying the same thing ahead of its predecessor’s release last year. Meanwhile, Windows Phone 8 could “make serious inroads in the smartphone industry” the researchers claim, surprisingly highlighting Samsung as likely to be the manufacturer that benefits the most.

While some suggested that the poor performance of Apple Maps might sour the iPhone 5′s appeal, consumers don’t appear to have reached the same conclusion. Only 3-percent of those iOS 6 users questioned said Maps presented a “very big problem” to them, while 90-percent said it was “no problem at all”; in fact, the change to the new Lightning port was more of an issue, with 6-percent saying the different connector was a “very big problem.” Only 26-percent said it was “no problem at all.”

“Despite the media attention surrounding both the Apple Maps issue and the Apple Lightning port issue, neither has had an impact on the massive numbers of buyers queuing up to buy the iPhone 5,” said Dr. Paul Carton, ChangeWave’s VP of Research. “Rather, the survey results show both issues hardly rank as bumps in the road.”

In fact, those who decided not to buy the iPhone 5 mainly did so because they were content with their existing device, according to the ChangeWave research. 61-percent said “their current cellphone is sufficient” while no respondents said it they were dissuaded because of “reported problems with Apple Maps.”

“Has Apple Maps been a problem for you?”:

As for Windows Phone 8, 2-percent of respondents said they were “very likely” to buy a phone running the OS in the future, while 7-percent said they were “somewhat likely”; integration with existing Windows apps and devices was the most cited reason for that decision, at 36-percent of the responses.

Most interestingly, though, despite Nokia and HTC being the two brands who have put the most effort into Windows Phone 8 device launches, it’s Samsung which gets most cited as the go-to manufacturer. Of the 55-percent who knew which Windows Phone 8 OEM they were likely to buy from, just over half said Samsung would be their brand of choice, with Nokia following in second place.

iPhone 5 appeal unblunted by Apple Maps says research is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

A recent scan by Android Police through the latest Google 3.9.16 APK for its Play Store has revealed that wish lists are coming along very well, thank you, and that Mountain View will likely introduce a malware scanner soon too. The latter hasn’t appeared on our radar before, and it looks like the search giant will soon be able to scope all the apps you’ve already installed and also bar the door to any suspicious-looking software before it can sully your smartphone or slate, unless you specifically request otherwise. So, perhaps you’ll feel a bit safer once the Google Play portal is being watched from both sides.

Filed under: Internet, Software, Mobile, Google

Google Play Store gets good cop / bad cop APK update, will add wish lists and malware scanner originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 11:18:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a large contingent of photo enthusiasts online who will dismiss a photo straight away if they find out it was taken with a smartphone. The rally cry of “get a real camera” can be heard echoing through the rafters of comment sections for many websites. We think everyone should have a dedicated camera, but a good photo is a good photo, regardless of the gear used to take it. More »

Back in August, ASUS unveiled its Vivo Tab line of tablets at IFA 2012, which come packing with Windows 8 and an NVIDIA Tegra 3 quad-core processor. However, it seems that ASUS thinks the Vivo tablets need a big brother, so it teased the VivoBook laptop today, which also comes with Windows 8 and sports the same style and look as the Vivo Tabs.

According to a product page on the ASUS website, the laptop will officially be called the VivoBook X202, and will sport an Intel Core i3-3217U clocked at 1.8GHz with 4G of RAM. It’ll also have a 500GB hard drive and an 11.6-inch LED HD display with a 1366×768 resolution. It’ll have capacitive touch capabilities and multi-touch functionality as well.

However, it says it’ll only have “Intel GMA HD” graphics according to the product page, which isn’t fantastic, but if it includes GMA graphics that are towards the high end of the spectrum, it should be able to keep up the pace. Battery life also seems rather disappointing, claiming to get up to only 5 hours of life with a 2-cell battery.

Honestly, the VivoBook almost seems like a glorified netbook rather than a full-scale laptop. It reminds us of the company’s 12-inch Eee PC 1201N from a couple years ago, which easily had comparable specs. Either way, the VivoBook X202 is available for pre-order as we speak from Amazon, Newegg, TigerDirect, and B&H Photo. The laptop can be yours for $599. The listings mention the VivoBook having “Intel HD 4000″ graphics, which technically isn’t the same as Intel’s GMA series like the ASUS product page mentions, so we’ll have to wait until the company’s official announcement on October 23.

UPDATE: ASUS has also posted its TAICHI 21 up for pre-order. It’s an 11.6-inch hybrid machine that comes with a 1.7GHz Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. It starts at $1,300.

[via EeePC.it]

ASUS unveils VivoBook Windows 8 laptop [UPDATE] is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.