Hasta La Gadget!

The Samsung Galaxy S IV will be announced at an event tonight in New York. It’s so close we can almost feel it in our hands. And thanks to the leaky ship that is the internet, we’ve got a pretty good idea of what to expect once it’s real. More »

Yearning for a contract-free option for cellular service? Ting‘s certainly a compelling one, but to date, the limited device options have kept it from becoming a standout alternative. That, however, is about to change. The MVNO — which leans on Sprint’s network here in the US — has just announced plans to sell contract-free Galaxy S IV “for around the full unlocked price” as soon as it can. Specifically, you’ll see it hit the Ting device page as a pre-order in around six to eight weeks.

If that’s a little large for your blood, HTC’s drop-dead gorgeous One will also be making its way over, with pre-orders to start in around 30 days. Inching ever smaller, the Galaxy S III Mini will join the carrier’s lineup about the time the GS IV does, though there’s no mention of pricing there. As for other nuggets? Ting’s expecting to offer up its first LTE device for pre-order “within six weeks,” and yes, it’s still working on a way to support Apple’s iPhone as well as the entire range of Windows Phone 8 products.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

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Source: Ting

In an effort to promote their upcoming Galaxy S IV handset, Samsung has plastered Times Square in New York City with billboards and advertisements promoting the new device. However, LG has stepped in to rain on their parade with its own ad that mocks Samsung and the “4″ theme. The ad, which is placed right above Samsung’s billboard, promotes the company’s new Optimus G.

Whereas Samsung’s ad reads “Be ready 4 for the next Galaxy,” LG’s ad reads in a similar, but mocking tone with “LG Optimus G is here 4 you now!”. Of course, LG has occupied that billboard space for quite some time, while Samsung only recently bought the advertising space right below it, but it’s pretty obvious what LG is doing here.

However, we’re not sure if LG did a great job in this case, since both of the ads look almost identical, meaning that someone just driving by and glancing at the billboards may not notice that they’re actually different from one another, and due to Samsung’s viral marketing of the number “4″, most people may just quickly assume that LG’s ad is a Samsung ad at first glance.

Either way, while this may not turn the heads of most people walking along Times Square, it may certainly ruffle some feathers at Samsung headquarters in Korea. Plus, we doubt the ads themselves will persuade anyone from getting an Optimus G. Marketing and advertising is a tricky industry, and it takes more than just a few billboards to persuade someone to buy a specific smartphone.

[via Android Community]

LG one-ups Samsung with Optimus G ad in Times Square is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S IV today at its event this evening at 7 PM ET in New York, but the cat is pretty much out of the bag at this point, and new videos have surfaced (via SammyHub) to try to spoil any remaining surprise. The Galaxy S IV videos depicts Floating Touch, SmartPause, the new unlock screen and the GSIV’s new web browsing experience.

Floating Touch works essentially like its name would suggest, allowing a user to get tooltips and other information by hovering a finger over the surface of the screen, rather than with direct touch input. In the video, it’s shown being used to bring up image previews, for example, without opening the image completely. Looks like it’ll take some getting used to, but we’ll wait until hands-on time to pass judgement.

With the Internet browsing experience, Samsung looks to have incorporated not head tracking features, but full hand gestures. The person using the phone in the video is seen using his hand to scroll the page he’s viewing up and down, and also to navigate back and forward in the browser. It looks pretty cool, but again there’s some question about how useful it’ll be in everyday applications.

The SmartPause feature looks like it could be all of what actually launches with the Galaxy S IV that constitutes so-called “eye tracking,” according to a Bloomberg report yesterday. Still, it looks impressive. Essentially, it can pause a video when a user turns away, which is useful if you’re watching something on your mobile device and get interrupted by a pesky coworker asking you to actually do something related to your “job.”

Finally, there’s the new unlock screen. Not much to say about this one, except that it appears to have Tinkerbell-style sparkle effects for tapping, and it unlocks with a swipe gesture.

Samsung had better have some things it kept extra close to the chest at this upcoming event tonight, or else it’ll face the wrath of a thousand tech bloggers who feel ‘disappointed’ because they weren’t surprised by anything. Still, some of these features could go over very big with developers, depending on whether third-parties can access and use these features: hand gestures and Floating Touch in particular might be very useful for game and app makers looking to add some secret sauce to their Google mobile software  offerings for Samsung device owners.

The saying, “It takes money to make money” most certainly applies to Samsung. It turns out that the leader of Android spent about $401 million on advertising last year, which is even more than the $333 million that Apple spent on its campaigns. Researchers say that the huge increase in spending is necessary as it’s competing with Apple for the top spot in the smartphone market place.

In 2011, Samsung only spent $78 million on its advertisements, a number that was completely overshadowed by the $253 million spent by Apple. 2012, Samsung realized that it needed to step up its marketing efforts greatly in order to dominate the market place, so it went on a spending frenzy. It went all out with ads on TVs, billboards in major cities, and massive online advertisements. A good amount of its advertising money was also budgeted to create smear campaigns towards Apple.

2013, there is no doubt that Samsung will go even farther in its marketing efforts in order to make its Samsung Galaxy S IV device, as well its other line-up of smartphones, THE smartphones to buy. It purchased a highly coveted, and highly expensive ad slot during the Superbowl this year in order to appeal to the 114 million people watching the game. It’s set to announce the S IV tomorrow at Radio City Music Hall in New York, and you can expect the company to give the device 110% when it comes to marketing. Not that the S IV needs it because it’s already the most highly anticipated phone of the season, if not the year.

The amount of money Samsung and Apple spent on advertisement is enough to embarrass the other phone companies out there. HTC came in 3rd place, spending only a measly $46 million. Blackberry followed behind with only $35 million spent (but what were they really going to advertise?), and Nokia spent a laughable $13 million. HTC’s CEO Peter Chou has stated on numerous occasions that marketing was the reason why its brand did so terrible last year. This year, Chou plans on stepping up HTC’s marketing game, and the company will be going all in on its flagship device, the HTC One.

[via Wall Street Journal]

2012: Samsung spent a fortune on ad/smear campaigns is written by Brian Sin & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.