Hasta La Gadget!

We didn’t have to wait long to find out what Samsung would do with the GT-B5330 we saw just a day ago: meet the much more elegantly-titled Galaxy Chat. The finished product is Samsung’s first phone outside of the Galaxy S III to carry the Nature UX layer, but takes it in a very message-happy direction with a QWERTY keyboard, a bundled copy of Quick Office and a dedicated key for ChatON that reminds us of the BlackBerry Curve 9320’s BBM shortcut. Not that you’d confuse the two otherwise, as the Galaxy Chat’s 3-inch, 480 x 320 touchscreen and 4GB of built-in storage (plus a microSD slot) are decided steps up. About our only letdowns relative to the category are the 2-megapixel, flashless camera at the back and the difficulty some will have in getting their hands on Samsung’s first keyboard-touting Android 4.0 phone. Unlike the global blitz we saw with the Galaxy S III, the Chat is launching in Spain this month and will exclude some large swaths of the Earth when it goes worldwide later on, leaving out Africa, North America and Russia.

Samsung Galaxy Chat brings Nature UX to the messaging crowd originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 11:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung has been quiet on the subject of its second-generation Galaxy Beam and the Galaxy Ace 2 ever since they showed together in Barcelona this February, but the two just reemerged as close buddies for an initial launch in East Asia. The Galaxy Beam receives the grandest introduction, as it’s coming to Singapore on July 7th followed by a more nebulous mid-July release for Taiwan residents. Those craving tiny, dual-core TouchWiz will have no choice but to flock to Singapore and pick up an Ace 2 at the end of the month. There’s no word on where else they’ll go on their respective world tours, although the cash outlay is strictly in the middle of the pack: we’re looking at S$648 or NT$16,900 ($513 or $566) off-contract for a Galaxy Beam, while its more diminutive cousin carries a S$438 ($352) price tag on similar terms.

Samsung Galaxy Beam, Galaxy Ace 2 resurface, get proper launches in Singapore and Taiwan originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 04 Jul 2012 04:27:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Jeez Louise, Google’s 2012 I/O opening keynote has barely begun and much of the news has already leaked out on the company’s own Play Store. Add this to the list: Google is dropping the price of the HSPA+ Galaxy Nexus to $349 from $399, and is updating its flagship phone with the next, soon-to-be-unveiled version of Android, Jelly Bean. That screenshot up there should answer some of your most likely questions, but here’s the short version: it’ll be compatible with AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, and roughly 200 other GSM carriers everywhere else in the world (no surprise here). As for the software, well, we have enough early intel about Jelly Bean to know that’s Android 4.1 running on a seven-month-old handset. As for what that jump from 4.0 to 4.1 entails, you can expect quite a few stories from us, but this official announcement should be as good a place as any to start.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

Google cuts the price of the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ to $349, adds Jelly Bean originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 12:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Earlier this week a leak prompted rumours to circulate suggesting that Google’s hotly anticipated tablet would be announced today. Now, Reuters is reporting that an unnamed Asustek executive has confirmed that to be the case. More »