Behind the Glass: a detailed tour inside the Samsung Galaxy Note

While the Samsung Galaxy Note might be a behemoth of a phone (or is it a phablet?), momma always taught us that it’s what’s on the inside that really counts. But first we need to get to know the device a little better. To do this, we once again recruited the knowledge and insight of Francois Simond (Supercurio) to dive into the circuitry, sensors, and other innards to find out what makes this Note tick. Follow on below to get the inside scoop.

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Behind the Glass: a detailed tour inside the Samsung Galaxy Note originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s SCH-i929 and SCH-W999 dual-screen clamshell get certified in China

Ready for a heavy dose of Android this morning? Then enjoy this Samsung double whammy freshly delivered from China. On the left we have the China Telecom-branded SCH-i929, a 9.7mm-thick handset featuring a Snapdragon MSM8660 chip (likely clocked at 1.5GHz), 4.5-inch 480 x 800 AMOLED display, eight-megapixel camera and GSM plus CDMA2000 connectivity. All of this makes the i929 a near-identical cousin of the Galaxy S II LTE — same processor, same chassis, but obviously with different network compatibility.

Of course, the real star of the show is the SCH-W999, a follow-up to the SCH-W899 of the same dual-screen clamshell form factor. As you can see on the right, on the outside this phone features a 3.5-inch 480 x 800 AMOLED display along with three touch buttons, while on the inside it packs a similar screen plus a physical keypad. Like the i929 above, this funky flip phone is also powered by a MSM8660 chip and supports both GSM and CDMA2000 on China Telecom, though its camera is limited to five megapixels instead. Anyhow, we’d certainly love to get hold of a world-friendly version of this 204 gram beast, so what do you say, Won-Pyo Hong?

Samsung’s SCH-i929 and SCH-W999 dual-screen clamshell get certified in China originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 27 Oct 2011 05:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Droid RAZR by Motorola: the tale of the tape

Well folks, the wait is over. Now you can push the rumors, early introductions and other pre-announcement ramblings aside and focus on the real matter at hand: which of these shiny new handsets will you buy? Will it be the Galaxy Nexus or the Droid RAZR? Let us offer some insight into the matter as we dive head-first into the specs below.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Droid RAZR by Motorola: the tale of the tape

Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs. Droid RAZR by Motorola: the tale of the tape originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 23:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Galaxy Nexus images, specs and benchmarks apparently leaked

Either these posters are extremely elaborate fakes, or NTT DoCoMo is really bad at keeping secrets. Just hours after it prematurely tweeted a November release for the Galaxy Nexus (aka the Nexus Prime), we now have what appears to be a full spec list and comparison with the other handsets in the Japanese carrier’s range. The details are nearly all familiar from previous suspected leaks, including the dual-core 1.2GHz Texas Instruments processor, 720p Super AMOLED curved glass display, five megapixel camera with 1080p video recording and 32GB of storage (plus 1GB RAM). Now, it’s entirely possible that the fakers are all singing from the same dodgy hymn sheet — but if that’s true, then they’ve also been busily submitting forged benchmarks to GLBenchmark, which displays results from a ‘Galaxy Nexus’ that include the same 1.2GHz clock speed and HD screen (albeit listed as 1196×720, supposedly due to the onscreen buttons). We’ll know the truth soon enough — the full fandango is but hours away.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Galaxy Nexus images, specs and benchmarks apparently leaked originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II review

T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II review

What else is there to say? Whether in its original, exotic exterior, its lightly changed but rather more accessible AT&T-flavored model, or the decidedly Epic Sprint version, the Samsung Galaxy S II has never failed to impress us. In fact, we called that first release “the best Android smartphone yet” and still, nearly six months later, it sits mighty close to the top of the pile — if not squarely at the peak, waving its flag proudly whilst taunting the others below.

Here today we’re looking at the last of the Three Musketeers: the T-Mobile version. This marks the final US release of the Galaxy S II, unveiled in late-August. At that announcement event the device was curiously locked up in Lucite, but now it’s right here in our hands. While we didn’t really want to set down this 16GB, 1.5GHz, 42Mbps HSPA+ wunderphone, we gently laid it aside just long enough to write this very review. Join us as we see what sets this latest and final revision apart.

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T-Mobile Samsung Galaxy S II review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 11 Oct 2011 16:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Another Windows Phone spotted, Nokia Sun on the horizon?

It’s getting increasingly difficult to pin down exactly how many Nokia Windows Phones we can expect to see this year, now that the French WinPho obsessives at Mon Windows Phone have added the Nokia Sun to that list. The site got its hands on the vague screengrab above, which shows this mystery phone joining Orange France’s ranks of forthcoming devices. With names like the SeaRay and Sabre already being bandied around, the Sun does fit in with Nokia’s naming trend for Mango handsets, although it could be another name for previously leaked hardware. The accompanying spec sheet, meanwhile, hints at a very N9-esque device with an AMOLED screen, eight megapixel camera, polycarbonate shell, and (perhaps) a Micro SIM slot — all centered around a slightly smaller display. Who knows, maybe this is the anonymous (and possibly fake) phone we saw last month? All bets are on the table at this point, but with Nokia World set to kick off in a few weeks, we shouldn’t have to wait long for an answer. We’ll be there to sniff out all the details on the Finnish colossus’ Windows Phone offerings — however many they decide to shower us with.

Another Windows Phone spotted, Nokia Sun on the horizon? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 06 Oct 2011 08:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II review

Here comes the second episode of a thrilling three-part saga. Not content with simply selling ten million units of the GT-I9100 — its flagship device — in the course of the last five months, Samsung’s ready to flood the good ol’ US of A with a healthy dose of the Galaxy S II, and it has three carriers — Sprint, AT&T and T-Mobile — already signed up on the dotted line. The Epic 4G Touch has already made its way into stores (not to mention the hearts of customers), and Ma Bell’s next in line to appease the masses.

This time, things are a smidge different. Whereas Sprint opted to enlarge the screen and add in a few other select design tweaks, it appears that AT&T wanted to keep its variant — appropriately named the Galaxy S II — as close to the international smash hit as possible, opting for the same display size, squared corners and battery (albeit, with a twist). As it turns out, the tweaks are much more subtle than they were on last year’s Samsung Captivate, which arguably looked almost nothing like the original Galaxy S. So does AT&T’s model fit in with its two close compadres? Was its design choice the right decision for this go-round? Follow us below to get the full scoop.

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AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II review originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 30 Sep 2011 14:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Epic 4G Touch gets torn down, confirms its epic crendentials

The Samsung Epic 4G Touch is a triumph of engineering, jamming oh-so-very-much into an oh-so-little frame. What better way to celebrate its wonderous design, than to tear it all down to its constituent parts, and then reassemble it? Thank the guys at iFixit, because they’ve already done it — again. Interesting points include just a single EMI shield — unlike some competitors — which is great news for those looking to emulate a tear-down of their own Sprint-specific GSII. It could still prove to be a challenge, with both the glass panel and LCD apparently fused to the middle of the phone, meaning a replacement for that sumptuous 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen could prove costly. Click below for a pictorial blow-by-blow of the teardown, let’s keep the drooling to a minimum, shall we?

Samsung Epic 4G Touch gets torn down, confirms its epic crendentials originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Sep 2011 15:40:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nokia 701, 700 and 600 get hands-on treatment with Symbian Belle, Nokia proposes NFC love in China (video)

Nokia may be over Symbian in the United States, but the Finnish company is certainly pursuing the Chinese market with ferocity. Engadget China recently sat down with the three new devices from Espoo — the 600, 700 and 701 — along with its new operating system, Symbian Belle, and has a number of hands-on photos and videos for your perusal. We’ve got plenty more after the break. Join us, will ya?

Continue reading Nokia 701, 700 and 600 get hands-on treatment with Symbian Belle, Nokia proposes NFC love in China (video)

Nokia 701, 700 and 600 get hands-on treatment with Symbian Belle, Nokia proposes NFC love in China (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Aug 2011 02:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s GT-19220 shows up in leaked photos, preps for battle with iPhone 5? (update: nope!)

If you’re a sucker for juicy handset rumors, then this one’s for you. A few months ago, a supposed Samsung roadmap leaked, revealing a slew of new Android, Bada and WP7 handsets on the horizon. Today, a picture purporting to be one of those phones, the GT-19220 (W43) surfaced, complete with some specs to further grease the rumor mill. Word on the web says that the Sammy will have a 1280 x 720 Super AMOLED Plus display that measures in at 5.29 inches diagonally — even bigger than the 5-inch Dell Streak tablet. If our observational geometry is right, we’d say that screen size is probably pretty accurate. Rather than taking tablet status like the Dell, however, it seems bound to be the Galaxy S II’s big brother, as sources claim it’s running Gingerbread with a 1.4GHz dual-core processor and packs an 8 megapixel camera. Of course, these specs can’t be officially confirmed until the phone is launched, but it’s safe to say it’s likely a part of the Android army taking on the iPhone 5 this fall.

Update: Alas, as many of you have pointed out in comments, there’s not a lot of truth to this story. First, both devices you’re seeing above appear to actually be PMPs, not phones — the Galaxy S players we’ve seen before. Secondly, we’re hearing the actual name of this supposed smartphone is GT-i9220, not 19220.

Samsung’s GT-19220 shows up in leaked photos, preps for battle with iPhone 5? (update: nope!) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Aug 2011 17:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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