Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung’s latest phablet-style smartphone, the Galaxy Note II, has proven its worthiness over in the states, but what about in the company’s own home land of South Korea? It turns out that Samsung has sold one million Galaxy Note II units in the motherland alone, just over 90 days after launching back in September.

Samsung announced last month that they sold over five million Galaxy Note II units worldwide, and it’s very likely that number has grown since then, and will continue to grow for some time now. Sales of the Galaxy Note II were three times higher than its predecessor as far as early sales numbers are concerned.

The Galaxy Note reached 10 million-unit sales in 10 months after launch, but the Galaxy Note II is expected to reach that milestone in half the time given the current momentum that it has. Samsung says that a variety of new applications along with S-Pen functionality mostly contributed to the continued popularity of the device.

The Galaxy Note II features a gigantic 5.5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 1280×720 resolution. On the inside, there’s Samsung’s own Exynos 4412 quad-core chip clocked at 1.6GHz paired with 2GB of RAM and up to 64GB of internal storage. It also comes packing with a huge 3,100mAh battery for all day productivity.

[via MK News]

Samsung Galaxy Note II sales top 1 million in South Korea is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung has launched a promo to help Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II owners beat the post-holiday blues, with the promise of a free Flip Cover and free NFC TecTiles in return for registering their device. The offer, available to Samsung owners in the US, requires users to register their handset on the company’s Facebook Owner’s Hub, with a “customized care package” of accessories in return. [Updated after the cut]

The Flip Covers for the Note II and Galaxy S III are Samsung’s official folio-style protection for the handsets. They involve replacing the battery cover, and have an attached flap – available in different colors – which covers up the display. Earlier this year, Samsung began offering holiday bundles for the GSIII and Note II, though they were priced from $39.99.

As for the TecTiles, they’re adhesive NFC tags which allow the handsets to be easily set into different modes – such as silent, or driving mode – by tapping them on the stickers. They can also be set to load apps or specific webpages, so if you always run the Sonos controller app when you walk in the front door, you can have a TapTile on the doorframe to trigger it automatically.

Of course, in return for the “care package” you’ll be giving Samsung some extra personal details, including your basic Facebook information – name, gender, any networks you’re in, your list of friends, and other public information on the social site – and your email address. If you’re happy with that, you can find more details – and a link to the Samsung Owner’s Hub – here.

Update: Looks like Samsung is out of stock of the freebies – we’re hearing that new sign-ups are being told they’ll have to buy the accessories now, rather than get them free.

Samsung offers free Flip Cover and TecTiles for GS3 and Note II owners [Update: All gone!] is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s phablet day across the world as tipsters pointing toward three new elephant-sized smartphone devices leak a Nokia Lumia Juggernaut (code-name), an 8.5-inch Huawei un-named unit, and the Samsung Galaxy Note III. The Samsung unit is what we’d vote Most Likely to Succeed – or in this case Most Likely to Exist – in 2013 as each time a new Samsung Galaxy Note (non-tablet-sized) has been released thus far, it’s gotten bigger than the last iteration. After that we’ve got to put our skeptic goggles on tight for all the salt that’s flying our way.

Samsung Galaxy Note III

For information on the Samsung Galaxy Note III (or Samsung Galaxy Note 3, if you will), you’ll want to head back to the detail post where it was first tipped less than 24 hours before the post you’re in right this minute. There you’ll find the next-generation Note bringing a new aesthetic to the Samsung family, evolving beyond the Galaxy S III feel we’ve been working with for the majority of 2012, as well as a much more massive display.

The current Samsung Galaxy S II works with a 5.5-inch display and we’ve seen more than a few out in the wild thus far – 6.3-inches of whopping Android Samsung goodness can’t be that far off.

Verdict: Quite Likely!

Huawei 8.5-inch Prototype

Next is the most likely to exist on a small scale, that being what could be considered a hearty joke coming from the likes of publisher / analyst Eldar Murtazin. You’re seeing this beast above as he holds it portrait-style while the screen remains in landscape. The display doesn’t actually appear to be 8.5-inches as he tips, instead the entire device looking more likely to be coming in at 8.5-inches diagonally beyond the display. We’ll see if this unnamed device ever comes to the mass market. NOTE: the image you see on the display can also be seen separately with a fancy model standing beside Murtazin – this leads us to believe that the device’s display is real, at least!

Verdict: Probably appearing next at Mobile World Congress!

UPDATE: This phone is more than likely the Huawei Ascend Mate mentioned earlier this month by Huawei’s CEO per Android Community. That’d be a 6.1-inch display with 1080p resolution – fits the image we’re seeing here, wouldn’t you say? Note that the image used on Android Community is a placeholder, not the Ascend Mate itself.

Nokia Lumia Juggernaut Semaphore

Finally there’s the Nokia Lumia Juggernaut Semaphore – the word semaphore relating to computer science, a term which represents (basically) control over multiple processes or a multi-user environment. Basically Nokia is saying that this massive beast is going to be really, really good at handling all of your tasks, as a good Windows Phone 8 device should! Unfortunately this device is more likely a prototype device being disguised as something brand new: compared to the device used by Joe Belfiore at Windows Phone summit earlier this year, this device’s similarities are uncanny.

Verdict: Prototype!

In other words: don’t expect this device to be released to the market at all – it’s not even really all that new! One of the images above comes via WMPowerUser from @coolRaffy, attending what appears to be a Nokia Beta Labs event in Helsinki, Finland.

Check these 3 phablets coming in 2013 from Samsung, Nokia, and Huawei is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The device known over the ocean as the Samsung Pebble has been released in the USA this week as the Samsung Muse, bringing with it Samsung’s clearest answer yet to the Apple iPod. This little device is made to be a companion for the Samsung Galaxy smartphone line and is compatible with essentially every model that’s come out in the past two years, Galaxy S II, III, Note, Note II, and more. What the Muse represents is the slightly more miniature and more mobile version of the music you already work with on your Galaxy smartphone – for runners, first and foremost.

This device hooks up with your Samsung Galaxy device and keeps your tunes to itself so you can leave the smartphone at home. Three music services that are compatible with this device right out of the box are iTunes, Google Music, and Amazon MP3. Of course you can also load up your MP3s you’ve ripped from your CDs just as easily, all of this done with the “Muse Sync” app also available for download from the Google Play store this week.

The Samsung Muse comes in Blue at the moment, the surface and the color matching up with the Cobalt Blue Samsung devices that’ve been released throughout this past year. You’ve got 4GB of storage inside this little unit, and each of the control buttons are touch-sensitive, this meaning you can activate them with a tap rather than a hard push. Interestingly you do not connect to this device directly with a microUSB cord to sync and charge it up, you use one of the package’s included adapters that connect through the 3.5mm headphone jack.

You get one 3.5mm-Micro USB Adapter, a 3.5mm-USB Adapter, and a lovely EHS61 Stereo Headset (earbuds) with the package. Have a peek at our hands-on with this device from earlier this year to see what you’re in for and pick one up for a mere $49.99 USD from Samsung starting this week. See Samsung’s full compatibility list for this device as far as Samsung Galaxy smartphones go right this minute and make sure you’re hooked up for the holidays!

Samsung Muse up for sale in USA: Galaxy’s most miniature music player is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s time to bust out the fabulously gigantic smartphone known as the Samsung Galaxy Note II to bring on a rather impressive bit of interactive water art. Artists and designers at Steak Studio have used the Galaxy Note II and its build-in S-Pen to create a pool of water that blasts forth waves wirelessly, showing all manner of designs in the wetness. This project took 10 days to create and was made to cross-promote Samsung’s device and the group that’s working with it to create beautiful splashing letterforms.

What you’re seeing here is a continuation of the connections Samsung has made with artists, designers, and musicians to promote the Samsung Galaxy Note II as a creative machine. We’ve seen Kanye West, Futura 2000, and an ever-expanding collection of creative people brought in by Samsung to keep this next-generation device in the forefront of your mind – and here comes another. Steak Studio’s Director Daniel Kupfer is at the head of this project.

Kupfer made it clear that the Galaxy Note II wasn’t just a device his group was sponsored by for this video, but a device they use on the regular as well. “The Galaxy Note II is a fantastic device that gave us all the computing power required and the ease to bridge things together with zero hassle”, said Kupfer. The video you’re seeing above was created by Jam and directed by James Morton-Hamworth from Grama Film.

We’ve also got a set of reviews of the Samsung Galaxy Note II for you, starting with the International Edition review and moving on to the T-Mobile edition review as well. From there you’ll want to check our Galaxy Note II tag portal and jump on in to our giant Android portal as well!

Galaxy Note II glows powerful in massive water art project is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.