Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re a Verizon subscriber and you’re looking forward to seeing what sort of Windows Phone 8 devices the carrier could be offering, it looks like a Samsung-made Windows Phone 8 handset could be headed your way this December. The handset has been given the name “ATIV Odyssey” and surprisingly there was not much revealed about the handset. In fact as you can see in the image above, a placeholder image was used instead of the actual photo of the device. Some are speculating that the final product could be the ATIV S, which according to the rumors will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor, LTE connectivity, 8 and 2MP cameras and a possible 4.65” Super AMOLED display. In any case this is just giving customers more choices which is always a good thing. We expect that more details about the ATIV Odyssey will be revealed closer to its release date, so do check back with us at a later date for the details!

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Samsung ATIV commercials start to appear, Samsung Galaxy Note 2 from Verizon has carrier logo on its home button,

If you didn’t get enough in mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we’ve opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This past week, T-Mobile announced the price and release date for the Optimus L9, carriers were announced in Canada for the ATIV S Windows Phone and ZTE released a low-priced Android smartphone for Virgin Mobile in the UK. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore the “best of the rest” for this week of October 22nd, 2012.

Continue reading Mobile Miscellany: week of October 22nd, 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, LG, T-Mobile

Mobile Miscellany: week of October 22nd, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments

Are you looking forward to what Windows Phone 8 can deliver in terms of smartphones? If you have answered in the affirmative, then you will definitely want to take a closer look at the Samsung ATIV S which was first introduced to the world at IFA 2012 in Berlin, Germany. From what you can see above, the Samsung ATIV S does seem to shape up to be one slick looking handset, where it will not compromise on its processing power, merging both form and functionality into a single device.

Just how thin is the Samsung ATIV S again? Well, we are looking at a brushed aluminum chassis that measures just 8.7mm, and yet despite that, it is still capable of housing a rather massive 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display which is made from Corning Gorilla Glass 2, nudging it nearer to phablet territory than ever before. Gorilla Glass’ claim to fame would be being super tough, so the “sequel” to this material will exhibit a certain degree of toughness without weighing down your smartphone.

Underneath the hood, you will find a rather zippy 1.5GHz dual-core processor, where that will be accompanied by 1GB RAM, an 8-megapixel camera at the back with autofocus capability, a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera, with a choice of either 16GB or 32GB of storage space. I know that some of us are media junkies, which is why Samsung has thrown in a microSD memory card slot for good measure.

To make sure that everything runs just fine and dandy, the Samsung ATIV S will be powered by a rather huge 2300mAh battery which should last you the entire day. No idea on just how much this puppy will cost nor when will it hit the market, but “soon” should be a good time frame to fall upon. After all, Windows Phone 8 has been rumored to be released this coming October 29th.

Press Release

[ Samsung ATIV S announced at IFA 2012 copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

Sorry Nokia, consider your thunder stolen. It hasn’t yet made an appearance at Samsung’s big IFA press conference inside the Berlin Tempodrom, but Samsung’s first Windows Phone 8 device has just been made official thanks to a post on Microsoft’s Windows Phone Blog.

That device in question is the ATIV (Ah-TEEV, not EYY-tiv) S, a rather handsome new handset that sports a (sadly unspecified) 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, an 8-megapixel rear camera, and a 1.9-megapixel front-facing counterpart to boot.

Update (5:02PM ET): Neither Samsung nor Microsoft dug into what kind of processor the ATIV S has under the hood, but Qualcomm confirmed to PC Magazine that it’s an MSM8260A. That’s the same chipset seen in the U.S. variants of the HTC One X and Galaxy S III so the ATIV won’t leave you wanting for horsepower, but it means LTE is definitely off the table.

The spec sheet may not be the most riveting you’ll ever see — Windows Phone has never really required bleeding edge hardware — but the move puts the pressure on Nokia to unveil something tremendous next week.

The ATIV S features a 4.8-inch Super AMOLED display swathed in Gorilla Glass, which may make it a bit of a handful (its size puts it right up there in Galaxy S III territory) — but there’s little question that Samsung knows how to make a big device feel smaller than it actually is. The fact that the ATIV S squeezes all that into a brushed aluminum 8.7mm thick chassis (the Galaxy S III is only just a hair thinner at 8.6mm) certainly doesn’t hurt. What really lends the ATIV some star power is that it’s the world’s first Windows Phone 8 device, though it may be a while before the rest of us get to see how well the software complements the hardware.

Users will be able to pick up a 16 or 32GB model at some point in the near future — no one has mentioned availability yet — but they can rest easy knowing that at long last they’ll be able to throw a microSD card into their Windows Phone.

Remember those Ativ Tab and Ativ S trademarks we saw just a couple of days ago? They may well be more than just Samsung’s daydreams. As long as details at The Verge prove true, the devices attached to those names represent a two-pronged revival of Samsung’s Windows-based mobile strategy. We’re most interested in the Ativ S: thanks in part to Windows Phone 8’s multi-core support, it’s effectively a Galaxy S III for the Microsoft crowd with a similar 4.8-inch Super AMOLED HD screen, a dual-core 1.5GHz processor, a 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9-megapixel front shooter. Swinging attention to the Ativ Tab shows what’s likely to be a commonplace list of features for a Windows RT slate. Outside of the 10.1-inch screen, it’s sporting its own 1.5GHz dual-core chip and 1.9-megapixel front camera as well as a 5-megapixel rear sensor, HDMI video out and USB. We’re still missing a slew of details, such as storage and launch dates, although we might not have to wait long at all to know — if the claims are correct, one or both of the Ativ models may show their faces at Samsung’s IFA 2012 events.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile

Samsung Ativ Tab and Ativ S details leak, hint at a Windows RT and Windows Phone 8 power duo originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 29 Aug 2012 12:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  The Verge (1), (2)  | Email this | Comments