Galaxy S III dev edition sales page goes live, ‘coming soon’ for VZW freedom-lovers

Galaxy S III dev edition sales page goes live, 'coming soon' for VZW freedomlovers

Even if you have $600 in your pocket and plenty of reasons to want a custom ROM on your Galaxy S III, you still can’t quite get hold of Samsung and VZW’s promised developer edition. That said, the tinkerer-friendly device has now appeared on Sammy’s US mobile sales site, with the promise that it’ll be ready to order “soon,” with its unsigned bootloader wrapped up in pebble blue alongside 32GB of storage, and with support and a 12-month warranty provided directly by the manufacturer. There’s no reason to think that other colors and sizes won’t follow suit, or that there’ll be much longer to wait for availability, and we’ll keep you alerted as soon as that page gets updated.

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Galaxy S III dev edition sales page goes live, ‘coming soon’ for VZW freedom-lovers originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 05:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon appears on Samsung’s website

Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon appears on Samsung's website

Fans of unlocked bootloaders rejoice! It looks like the landing page for the Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon is now live on Samsung’s website. As you’ll recall, Verizon is the only US carrier to sell the handset with a locked bootloader — something that’s not sitting well with us, developers, custom ROM aficionados and other tech enthusiasts (you know who you are). Thankfully, Samsung recently announced it would offer a special version of the handset with an unlocked bootloader on its website for $599. While there’s still no info on availability, you’ll at least be able to purchase the 32GB model in blue at some point soon. No word on the 16GB or white options, or whether the $599 pricetag applies to this blue 32GB version. We’ll keep you posted when we find out more — in the meantime, follow the source link below for the details.

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Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon appears on Samsung’s website originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 01:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Refresh Roundup: week of July 9th, 2012

Refresh Roundup week of July 9th, 2012

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

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Refresh Roundup: week of July 9th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: Sprint LTE goes live today, honest and for true (update: includes Missouri)

HTC EVO 4G LTE review on table

Sprint’s decision to take its LTE live in Kansas City marked a short prelude to a full orchestral performance — the carrier’s upgraded 4G network is now official. Kansas City and St. Joseph in Kansas and Missouri, as well as 13 urban areas in Georgia and Texas, are taking the leap past WiMAX speeds as of today. Senior network VP Bob Azzi has warned the Kansas City Star that the current LTE access is still mostly for use outside until it expands to the 3G network’s range, although he adds that there will be a coverage map available from July 16th onwards to let EVO 4G LTE, Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S III owners know when their phones reach full potential. Just remember that the real party starts in 2013, when Sprint hopes to both flick on voice over LTE and ramp up to extra-speedy LTE-Advanced.

[Thanks, Alex]

Update: As locals in the comments have helpfully reminded us, St. Joseph is in Missouri and just sits along the border with Kansas — you know what they say about horseshoes, hand grenades and being close enough.

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PSA: Sprint LTE goes live today, honest and for true (update: includes Missouri) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 15 Jul 2012 11:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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PSA: Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S III finally arriving in stores today

PSA Verizon's Samsung Galaxy S III finally arriving in stores today

Despite some lucky folks claiming they’d received their GS3 order a bit earlier than expected (and others still patiently waiting for delivery), a good chunk of Big Red customers were eagerly looking forward to this past Tuesday, only to be brought down by an unexpected delay. Thankfully for them, though, it looks like today’s the day the Verizon faithful can finally snag one of Samsung’s chart-busting Galaxy S IIIs. As you may or may not know, the network’s offering both the Marble White and Pebble Blue flavors of the device, with the 16GB running at $200 and the spacier 32GB selling for $250 — naturally, this will require a fresh two-year deal. If all that sounds good, then head over to your nearest retail store to get in on the human-centric experience — or you could always take the easier route and snatch one up straight from Verizon’s site.

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PSA: Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S III finally arriving in stores today originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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AT&T scores red Galaxy S III, pre-orders start July 15th

DNP AT&T scores red Galaxy S III, preorders start July 15th

Not a fan of the white or “Pebble Blue” shells the Galaxy S III is packed in, looking for something a little more sultry perhaps? Well, if you’re an AT&T customer, you’ve got a new choice in fingerprint-highlighting plastic — Garnet Red. The shade of maroon we were promised is exclusive to Ma Bell, and you can pre-order it starting July 15th at the usual price point ($199). If you want to get a glimpse of it in person first, you’ll have to wait till July 29th when it officially hits shelves.

AT&T scores red Galaxy S III, pre-orders start July 15th originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 10:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung Galaxy S, II and III pitted against one another in DisplayMate shootout

Samsung Galaxy S, II and III pitted against one another in Display Mate shootout

Feeling nerdy? Good, because the folks at DisplayMate have put together quite the comparison of the three different AMOLED displays featured in the Samsung Galaxy S, II and III smartphones. While the study places an emphasis on quantitative measures — and thus leaves more subjective qualities out of the discussion — the comparison is nonetheless an insightful look into the progression of Samsung’s AMOLED display technology. Curiously, some elements remain unchanged, such as color gamut, which is 138 percent of the sRGB standard across all displays and is to blame for images that appear over-saturated. In terms of color temperature, DisplayMate reveals that while Samsung is trending closer to a white of natural daylight, even the Galaxy S III — which measures 7,900 K — is still far too bluish in comparison to an ideal 6,500 K.

Believe it or not, but there’s one area that DisplayMate suggests is subtly worsening over time, and that’s light reflection. The issue is nearly moot, however, as the 5 percent reflectance of the Galaxy S III is but a small shift from the previous iterations, and what’s more, this remains among the lowest reflectance in the industry. We’d be fools to try and summarize all of DisplayMate’s findings, but if you’re curious to learn more — and we hope you are — be sure to hit up the source link below.

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Samsung Galaxy S, II and III pitted against one another in DisplayMate shootout originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 12 Jul 2012 01:08:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung drops universal search from Sprint’s Galaxy S III

Sprint’s latest OTA update to its new flagship jewel, the Galaxy S III, addressed some security niggles, but the download remained otherwise fuzzy on the details. It now appears the update also nixes the universal search function, meaning the handy box now directs to the web upon entry. It’s likely a response to recent legal hairpulling between Apple and the Samsung-made Galaxy Nexus — a phone which has the very same search capabilities. As Android Central notes, those looking to return the search option can hit up a download of the previous version in their forums. Visit the source to grab it while you can.

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Samsung drops universal search from Sprint’s Galaxy S III originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 12:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home

Galaxy S III Sprint - top half

Samsung and SugarSync are already cozy with each other, having struck a deal to put SugarSync’s cloud file sharing on Samsung’s AllShare Play-equipped TVs. That relationship just got a lot closer: SugarSync will now be a mainstay for Samsung’s rather successful mobile devices. Starting with the Galaxy S III, any Samsung phone or tablet that supports AllShare Play will have SugarSync built-in, whether it’s for looking at files and media from back home or just to upload the phone’s own photos and videos for sharing later on. The service still offers a free 5GB of storage as a baseline and will scale up to 500GB if you’re willing to fork over up to $40 a month. Between this and a Dropbox deal for most carriers, Samsung has the cloud largely sewn up on its handhelds — if you can’t access it, it probably doesn’t exist.

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SugarSync to ship with many Samsung mobile devices, make Galaxy S III a home away from home originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 11 Jul 2012 09:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Samsung brings out Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon, answers the call for an unlockable bootloader

Samsung brings out Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon, answers the call for unlockable bootloaders

We didn’t have too many reservations about the Galaxy S III for Verizon in stock form. Anyone who’s been eager to load new firmware, however, has been up in arms over the particularly locked down bootloader that Big Red (but no other US carrier so far) demands. Enter the Galaxy S III Developer Edition. The new, direct-from-Samsung variant will have all the CDMA and LTE a Verizon subscriber could want, but with the option to unlock the bootloader for as much customization as serious Android fans might stand. As you’d anticipate, the catch is simply who takes the hit if something goes wrong: brick the phone and you’re likely looking at an expensive phone call to Samsung rather than a trip to the local Verizon store. Regardless, those who like Verizon’s network but don’t believe its claims about ‘dangerous’ unlocked phones can get the best of both worlds soon — as long as they’re willing to spend the $600 off-contract once the Developer Edition is ready in the near future. Check after the break for Samsung’s official Q&A on the subject.

Continue reading Samsung brings out Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon, answers the call for an unlockable bootloader

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Samsung brings out Galaxy S III Developer Edition for Verizon, answers the call for an unlockable bootloader originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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