Hasta La Gadget!

We weren’t kidding about that influx of FCC filings: the Verizon edition of Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, the SCH-i545, has passed through the US regulator’s approval right on cue. The device on display ticks all the checkboxes we’d expect, including LTE on both Verizon’s main 700MHz band and the carrier’s recently acquired AWS frequencies. We also notice HSPA-based 3G, which suggests Big Red’s GS4 won’t be a paperweight when abroad. The filing just leaves AT&T and T-Mobile as the major stragglers in the US; at the current rate, though, they’ll have little trouble getting clearance before they have to fulfill any future orders.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Verizon

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Source: FCC

Get ready for a small deluge of Galaxy S 4 filings at the FCC in the near future. Just a couple of weeks after Samsung’s flagship hit the US agency in its international guise, we’re now seeing the first US editions of the smartphone receive approval, starting with both MetroPCS (SCH-R970) and Sprint (SPH-L720) examples. Either has CDMA, EV-DO and LTE, although there’s variances you’ll want to watch for if you’re free to choose between carriers: the Sprint version has HSPA 3G for world roaming, while the MetroPCS model drops HSPA but has a broad four bands of LTE meant mostly to support other mid-size American networks, like US Cellular. We still have AT&T, T-Mobile and Verizon to go among the bigger US providers supporting the GS4, although it’s just a matter of time before their models make FCC appearances.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, Sprint

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Source: FCC (1), (2)

Here at T-Mobile’s “UnCarrier” press conference, we’ve heard loads of pricing and availability details for the company’s new LTE-enabled handsets. Well, here’s one more tidbit: the Galaxy S4 is expected to hit T-Mo on May 1st. If that sounds like soft, tentative language on our part, it’s because the carrier said the phone will arrive “about May 1st,” so it’s possible it could arrive, you know, on May 3rd instead. That said, it’s coming, and soon. As for pricing, nothing’s been confirmed, but we already know T-Mobile’s other LTE phones (the iPhone 5, HTC One, etc.) will go for $100 plus monthly payments of $20 for two years, so we wouldn’t be surprised if the same were true here.

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

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You might say the day is never really done in consumer technology news. Your workday, however, hopefully draws to a close at some point. This is the Daily Roundup on Engadget, a quick peek back at the top headlines for the past 24 hours — all handpicked by the editors here at the site. Click on through the break, and enjoy.

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Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 isn’t even available yet, but already it’s being eyed for possible patent infringement. According to a report from Korea’s Yonhap News, LG suspects the S 4 might violate eye-tracking patents used in the Optimus G Pro. At the crux of this squabble is Samsung’s Smart Pause feature, which LG finds similar to its Smart Video technology. Chiefly, LG is focusing on a patent it applied for in 2009, though the company also plans to investigate whether Samsung infringed other eye-tracking patents dating back to 2005. So far, of course, Samsung has denied any wrongdoing, saying its eye-tracking tech is implemented differently and is based on proprietary technology. Given that the phone isn’t even out yet, we’ll leave it to LG to do its due diligence before accusing Samsung in court.

Filed under: Cellphones, Samsung, LG

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Via: The Verge

Source: Yonhap News Agency