Hasta La Gadget!

You say you want a revolution? Too bad, because this Galaxy smartphone update is just that… an update. Samsung’s newly unveiled Galaxy S 4 is an incremental step up, an evolution less “inspired by nature” and more by last year’s GS III. Don’t believe us? Just take a look at the two handsets side by side to see the overtly obvious heritage. Samsung’s staying the course with the overall design language, though it’s expanded the screen size to five inches — now powered by a Full HD Super AMOLED display with 441 ppi (and yes, it’s still PenTile).

On the inside, it has a processor setup that we’re told will be either an Exynos 5 or Snapdragon depending on the region, along with 2GB of RAM, 16, 32 or 64GB of internal storage, a 13-megapixel rear-facing camera and a 2,600mAh battery. Starting to see the bigger picture here? Samsung had a good thing on its hands with the GS III and it’s not willing to compromise much of the tried-and-true with the GS 4. It will launch globally in Q2, with a stateside debut on T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, Verizon, US Cellular and Cricket. Until then, join us past the break for our detailed first impressions.

Check out our event hub for all the action from Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 event.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung, Google

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While it is more or less a given that flagship phones of 2013 have 4G LTE connectivity, it is always nice to have it confirmed. Samsung will be launching the next-gen Galaxy S device tomorrow and LTE is one of the features many predicted would be part of the phone, and rightfully so. Well the good news is that if you were ever in doubt, UK carrier EE has confirmed that the Galaxy S4 will indeed feature 4G LTE connectivity. This was revealed in a tweet by the carrier who wrote, “It’s coming to superfast 4GEE.”

However as far as the UK market is concerned, this would mean that the UK version of the Galaxy S4 will be able to access the 4G 1800MHz spectrum used by EE, and assuming 4G LTE is a given for all versions of the Galaxy S4, we expect that other bands will be supported as well. In any case if you can’t wait for the Galaxy S4, be sure to check back with us tomorrow for all the details. This confirmation by EE makes them the second carrier to confirm that the Galaxy S4 will arrive in the UK (Three was the first).

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Clearer Samsung Galaxy S4 (GT-i9502) Photos Leaked Ahead Of Launch, 1 Million Order For BlackBerry 10 Devices Keep Canadian Company Happy,

Sony’s major Mobile World Congress product reveal turned out to be the very same slate it had already taken the wraps off of this past January in Japan: the Xperia Tablet Z. Now that the 10-inch Android tablet’s been officially announced for global availability, it’s time for it to start trickling out to market and (surprise, surprise) Japan’s getting first dibs. Starting March 9th, NTT DoCoMo will begin accepting pre-orders for the LTE-enabled tablet (in black or white) with a general launch date set for March 22nd. There doesn’t seem to be any indication of pricing as of yet, but we’ve seen figures that indicate this region-specific Xperia Tablet Z could retail for around ¥85,470 (about $900 USD). If you like what Sony’s done with this waterproof, Jelly Bean tablet and you live in the Land of the Rising Sun, well then you know what to do. For everyone else around the globe, there’s always the vague promise of a Q2 launch to cling to.

Filed under: Tablets, Sony

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Via: Xperia blog

Source: NTT DoCoMo (Translated)

While I am quite sure that some of us might not even be sure that we will be able to make it past this year into the next, companies cannot have such a fatalistic view point for two things – unless it has been financially “sick” for the longest time and has run out of reserves and assets, it should have a decent plan to get back into the black, and there are no “terminal diseases”, so to speak, in corporations as the correct disciplined approach should help sort things out. Having said that, at Deutsche Bank’s Media, Internet, and Telecom conference, we saw Verizon’s chief financial officer Fran Shammo step up to the plate to share that they have plans to offer only LTE smartphones from 2014 onwards. This move will most probably also see the start of Verizon slowly but surely reducing subsidies on devices.

The whole idea of offering just LTE-only handsets is this – Verizon has pinned their hopes on consumers to make the transition of voice calls to Voice over LTE (VoLTE) by the end of 2013, and the moment that is achieved, there really isn’t any need for the CDMA chipset within handsets. Sure, Verizon could work on maintaining the CDMA network, but majority of their resources would be concentrated towards LTE. Would you prefer to pay for an unsubsidized handset, but have the freedom to choose carriers without getting bogged down by a contract?

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: China Thinks They’re Too Dependent On Google’s Android Operating System, Blackberry Z10 To Launch For T-Mobile Business Users 11th March,

About a week ago, we went hands-on with LG’s new mid-range LTE-capable Optimus F5 and F7 smartphones at MWC. At the time it was unknown where these handsets would land in the US, but it appears that we now have the goods on the former. According to a pair of alleged press shots obtained by UnwiredView, LG’s F5 will be showing up on Verizon in the not so distant future. Said to be a follow up to last year’s Lucid, this mid-tier device’s main bullet points include a modest 4.3-inch qHD display, a 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera (capable of 1080p video capture) and Android 4.1.2. Sure, the Lucid 2’s specs remind us more of a keyboard shortcut and less of a powerful storm — we just hope that its price tag will also be a refresh. If so, that should make this device a considerable option for first-time smartphone buyers looking to make the jump to LTE.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

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Source: UnwiredView