Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time to take a peek at the Samsung Galaxy Camera once again, this time in its final form straight out of the crate, the shipping materials, the box inside a box, and the wrapping. This device is essentially a two-in-one device, with all the looks and functions of a digital camera but with the ability to connect via a SIM card and use all manner of Android apps with the giant 4.8-inch HD touchscreen display on the back. Here in its final form we’re ready for some sweet high definition action as well as full Android app control.

The device is ready to rock right out of the box, with its pop-up flash and full 21x optical zoom, 16-megapixel camera up front. Normally we’d say that the camera on this side of the device is on the “back” of a smartphone, but because this device is first and foremost a camera, it’s now the front. The “back” then brings on a brand new user interface built on Android – but here with a mind for photography.

The user interface is quote different from what you’re going to see on a Samsung Galaxy S III with a brand new interpretation of Android allowing you to quickly access mainly photography-centered apps easily. The apps you’re using here we’ll be having a closer look at in the full review, of course. For now we can say this: they’re just as impressive as they were way back at IFA 2012 when we got our first look at this device.

This device has extremely simple physical controls around its sides and a single speaker on one side. Samsung certainly expect you to be using the touchscreen interface here primarily with only the most basic reliance on the physical buttons – as it is with a smartphone. Note also that this isn’t a device that’s mean to replace your smartphone, instead acting as a replacement for your everyday point-and-shoot camera.

Now we’ve got to decide if it makes sense to add another device to our pockets since we’ve been using nothing but the smartphone for such things for some time – we’ll see!

Samsung Galaxy Camera hands-on and unboxing is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Weather? What weather? Google has announced the Nexus 10, a Samsung-made 10.05-inch tablet that appears to share a lot of DNA with the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1. Android chief Andy Rubin revealed that the device will be packing a 2,560 x 1,600 display, promising a pixel density of 300 ppi. Google has also indicated that the Nexus 10 will crank out nine hours of continuous video playback and 500 hours of standby on its 9,000mAh lithium polymer battery. Of course, no new tablet would be complete without a new operating system, and while we’ll still be calling it Jelly Bean, it’s now been bumped all the way up to Android 4.2.

The official specifications match those that were leaked late last week, and inside the device is a dual-core, Cortex A15-based 1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos 5250 CPU. In addition, there’s a Mali T604 GPU, stereo speakers, 2GB of RAM, NFC, 802.11 b/g/n (MIMO + HT40) WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, with front-and rear NFC (Android beam) radios. ‘Round back you’ll find a 5-megapixel main camera and a 1.9-megapixel forward-facing shooter. Weighing 603 grams, it’s 8.9mm thick and offers microUSB, Pogo Pin, microHDMI and the standard 3.5mm headphone jack. It’ll be available from November 13th on Google Play in the US, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Spain, Canada and Japan — with the 16GB edition costing $399 (£319 in the UK) and the 32GB version setting you back $499 (£389).

Continue reading Google’s Nexus 10: 2,560 x 1,600, 300 ppi display and Android 4.2, shipping November 13th $399

Filed under: Tablets, Google

Google’s Nexus 10: 2,560 x 1,600, 300 ppi display and Android 4.2, shipping November 13th $399 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung’s Galaxy Note II played coy at first by only hanging out with the European crowd, but now that it’s here, it’s the life of the US carrier party. The two biggest, AT&T and Verizon, have now glommed the phablet and each are offering it for pre-sale in all its quad-core Exynos, 5.5-inch glory for $300 under a two-year contract. We just handled Verizon’s variant, but weren’t sure of a sale date, and AT&T’s version, which we saw earlier was already expected for pre-order today. When Sprint’s copy of the handset arrives later today, that’ll round out the Note II’s major US carrier dance card — so you’ll be able to grab it at whichever plucks on your heart (or purse) strings.

[Thanks to all who sent this in]

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Verizon, AT&T

Verizon, AT&T put Samsung’s Galaxy Note II on pre-sale for $300 with a two-year contract originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 25 Oct 2012 01:52:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Samsung Galaxy Note II is coming to America, and unlike its predecessor, it’s not being as quiet about the move. In a completely unprecedented feat, the mammoth smartphone not only won over the hearts of four national American carriers and one regional network, it did so without having to make sacrifices in its design, specs or even its name. This is a considerable amount of progress when taking into account the fact that only two mobile operators adopted the original Galaxy Note — the inaugural phablet, if you will — and they did so months after its global launch. Heck, T-Mobile released its variant of the Note just three months ago, which likely will be a sour point to early adopters for a long time to come.

As you may have seen in our review of the global Note II, there’s a reason for all of the buzz circulating around this new flagship device; it’s good. It’s very good. Once you get used to the idea of a 5.5-inch smartphone with an included stylus S Pen, you’ll take heed of the incredibly fast quad-core processor, the latest version of Android, the high-end camera and the litany of other top-notch features that have helped the device become worthy of our praise.

This review, as you see it today, discusses our impressions of T-Mobile’s version of the Note II and how it sizes up against the global model (the N7100), but we’re changing things up this time around. Since there will be very few differences across the five different versions offered on US carriers, we’re simply going to add our reviews of each carrier-specific unit to this space as we go along. The idea is that this review will encompass every Galaxy Note II sold stateside. Enjoy the galleries below, and continue past the break as we dig into Samsung’s latest flagship… again.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy Note II for T-Mobile review

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

Samsung Galaxy Note II for T-Mobile review originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 24 Oct 2012 09:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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If you’re asking yourself if the brand new $249 Samsung Chromebook is going to get you through the school year, you’ll want to know a few details on how this device actually functions. First of all, it may look surprisingly like a MacBook Air, but it’s not a full-fledged system in the way you’re used to – this device isn’t made for massive video editing and it’s certainly not ready for any big-name gaming adventures. What it is made for is web-based action – and lots of it.

If you’re ready for a web-only experience, the Chromebook might be right up your alley, especially since it’ll only run you $249 USD. The notebook looks and feels rather similar to what you might already be used to with your MacBook or Acer Aspire notebook – if you’ve got one or the other – or any of the recent high-end Samsung notebooks that look rather similar to this model. With this device you will not have the same power as a full-fledged laptop, but physically you’ll feel like you always do.

“If you’re ready for a web-only experience, the Chromebook might be right up your alley.”

This device works with one giant heap of Google Cloud services, including Google Drive. With Google Drive you’ve got file storage on the web in Google’s servers, and with a purchase of a Chromebook here, you’ve got 2 free years of 100GB of space on those servers. You’ll be working with Google’s services primarily – or that’s what’ll be easiest – including Gmail, Google Docs, and the like, but you can also work with a variety of Chrome apps as well.

Chrome is not just an operating system, it’s a web browser as well – the same one you use on the computer you’re on right this minute. Chrome has a variety of apps that do all manner of tasks that you’d otherwise do on your desktop, here optimized for the web browser. Have a peek at the Chrome Web Store now to see if you’ve got enough greatness there to do every single task you’d normally do in a day.

“…not that far away from a high-end smartphone…”

The hardware you’re working with on this new Samsung Chromebook announced this week is a dual-core A15-based Samsung Exynos 5 Dual (5250) SoC paired with 2GB of RAM, for starters. That’s not that far away from a high-end smartphone, mind you. That’s the kind of processing power you’re working with. You also get 16GB of built-in flash storage as well as Bluetooth and wi-fi capabilities. The display has a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution, it’s got one USB 3.0 port, one USB 2.0 socket, and a headphone/mic jack too. You can boost your storage with the full-sized SD card slot this device works with as well.

Sound find enough to you? You’ll be able to pick this beast up through several online sources and it’ll be out in stores extremely soon – you’ll be able to see it in person at Best Buy likely by the beginning of next week, for example. You’ll also be able to purchase this Chromebook from the Google Play store too. Think about it!

Should I buy a $249 Chromebook for school? is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.