Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung is holding an event tomorrow, August 15th, to showcase the next entry into its Galaxy Note series. The drawing on the invite suggests we’ll be looking at something focused on using Samsung’s S-Pen, promising that we’ll “meet the new way”. Rumors suggest that we could finally be seeing the Galaxy Note 10.1 tomorrow, and judging from the various reports and release dates from international retailers that we’ve seen lately, that seems like a safe bet.

Just yesterday, Samsung UK indicated that the Galaxy Note 10.1 would go on sale at its retail store in the Westfield Stratford shopping center, offering users a 10.1-inch tablet with a 1280×800 display, quad-core Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, and stylus-enabled touchscreen. The S-Pen has reportedly seen some performance improvements too, with Samsung throwing in Adobe’s Photoshop Touch app to aid drawing and doodling.

One report indicated that tomorrow may see the announcement of the Galaxy Note II instead, but the current information surrounding the successor to the popular phablet points to a reveal at Samsung’s pre-IFA event on August 29th. Reports indicate that device will also feature a quad-core Exynos processor along with a larger 5.5-inch screen, although the resolution and aspect ratio may shift to 1280×720 and 16:9 respectively.

Whatever Samsung’s mystery device turns out to be tomorrow, we’ll fill you in on all the details. The event kicks off at 11am EST (8am PST), so keep it locked to SlashGear to keep up to date with Samsung’s shenanigans.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 event hits NYC tomorrow: join us! is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

We’ve officially reached the middle of the week, folks – only two more days to go and then the weekend is here once again. Today we didn’t have too many stories about the ongoing trial between Apple and Samsung, but what we did get was huge. A rather damning 132-page report surfaced in court today, which shows Samsung attempting to differentiate the original Galaxy S from the iPhone specifically, and we looked at the difference between competitive analysis and flat out copying as a result of the report. On the lighter side of things, Conan O’ Brien had a bit of fun with the trial on last night’s show, so be sure to give that a look.

It was a pretty big day for NASA’s Curiosity rover, as it lifted its head for the first time and sent back new images of the surface of Mars. It appears that the Galaxy Note II – which is expected to be announced at the end of this month, remember – will come complete with a flexible display that makes it more resilient than typical smartphone displays. Speaking of the Galaxy Note, T-Mobile finally received the phablet today (along with the myTouch and myTouch Q), so if you’re a T-Mobile user, you might want to check that out.

Starbucks made a multi-million dollar investment in Square today, and we tell you all you need to know about using Square to pay for your coffee. Tickets for Microsoft Build 2012 went on sale today, but don’t expect to get any now, as they sold out just one hour later. Between the two of them, Android and iOS now make up 85% of the smartphone market, with Android taking 68.1% market share for itself. Apple did a couple of things to boost security today, temporarily freezing over-the-phone password resets and announcing that it will soon bulk up identity verification measures for iCloud.

Today OUYA announced that it is in talks with Namco Bandai as its Kickstarter winds down, it was revealed that Google voice search will soon land on the iPhone, and we caught wind of a rumor that claims the new iPhone will be 7.6mm thick. RIM’s stock enjoyed a little jump after one analyst claimed that Samsung was considering buying the company, and Valve revealed today that Steam will soon begin offering non-game software, complete with support for Steam Cloud. Finally, Warner is thinking about holding limited showings of The Hobbit at 48 frames per second, which has us excited since we have a tendency to go nuts whenever The Hobbit is mentioned.

That wraps up the news, but be sure to check out our interview with Kate Beckinsale of Total Recall fame, and also spend some time with our review of the HP ENVY 4 Ultrabook. Enjoy the rest of your evening, everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: August 8, 2012 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

It’s August 8th: do you know where your Samsung Galaxy Note is? If you’re a T-Mobile customer, the fantastically famed phablet is now ready to drain your finances. Feel free to head into your local store or go online — if the idea of a sequel coming in three weeks doesn’t deter you from plunking down $250 in exchange for a fresh two-year commitment. Head to the source below to begin your shopping adventure.

Note (no pun intended): Walmart is offering the T-Mobile Galaxy Note for $350 with no contract attached. We’re not sure if this is a limited-time deal, but it’s strongly worth considering. [Thanks, Joe!]

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless

PSA: T-Mobile Galaxy Note now available for your purchasing pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 08 Aug 2012 12:58:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  T-Mobile  | Email this | Comments

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 is one of the tablets that intend to push Apple’s iPad to the very brink, but then again, you can say that Samsung is not too successful in this matter as the iPad is nigh untouchable where tablet sales figures are concerned, just like how the iPod decimated all the other portable media players out there in the market previously no matter what the competitor did. The thing is, hardware is not the entire equation, there needs to be decent software and enough killer apps in the ecosystem to keep a particular device going strong, not to mention having a fantastic ‘cool’ image to go along with it.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 certainly has its fair share of ‘coolness’ by virtue of it being an Android-powered tablet, and hopefully it will be able to provide an even better competition to the iPad compared to its brethren. This extension of the Galaxy Note category will come outfitted with the functionality and precision of a pen and paper on a 10.1-inch large display, opening up the door to potentially endless possibilities while elevating your creativity, productivity and learning abilities.

It will boast of an intuitive user experience and thanks to its 1.4GHz quad-core processor which can be found on the Samsung Galaxy S3 as well, in addition to 2GB of RAM for enhanced performance, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 will certainly not come up wanting on the hardware front. Some of the key intuitive features and capabilities incorporated into the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 include side-by-side multitasking, where Samsung’s unique ‘S Pen’ experiences will include a range of ‘S Note templates’ and productive tools, ranging from Shape Match and Formula Match to Learning Hub for accessing educational curricula (Learning Hub is currently available in Korea, the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, China and Singapore, and will gradually roll-out to other global markets) and Adobe’s premium creative application Photoshop Touch.

It also boasts of a Multiscreen feature that lets you effortlessly utilize a couple of different applications side-by-side simultaneously, paving the way for true and easy multitasking. You are able to check out Web pages or videos, or even launch other applications when you are writing the next novel or sketching ideas with the S Pen. Feel free to capture and crop images, and paste them onto the other screen in order to churn out your very own personal notes, now how about that?

There is a 5-megapixel camera at the back alongside a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera for video calls and self-portrait purposes. Three models are available – a WiFi-only version, a WiFi-and-3G HSPA-Plus connectivity version at launch, and a WiFi-and-LTE version that will be rolling out later this year.

Press Release

[ Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 announced copyright by Coolest Gadgets ]

The question on every smartphone owners lips when a new version of Android is released is always, “When is my device going to get it?” Manufacturers are often cautious in giving out exact timelines as phones and tablets need to be extensively tested before updates can be approved and rolled out. Sam Mobile has some information regarding Jelly Bean updates for the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II, and the Galaxy Note, with Samsung seemingly busy behind the scenes testing each device.

According to Sam Mobile, test Jelly Bean firmwares for the Galaxy S III have passed the necessary tests, with Samsung currently working on a public version of the update. At this point Samsung is simply trying to finish the Jelly Bean update before getting the final approval from Google to release it out into the wild.

The Galaxy S II, meanwhile, is still being tested for compatibility with Jelly Bean. The initial tests are apparently “looking fine,” and Samsung is more than likely moving ahead with the update thanks to the strong sales of the Galaxy S II and large installed customer base. Sam Mobile adds that if Samsung decides not to update the device to Jelly Bean, owners will receive a “Value Pack”, not unlike what happened with the Galaxy S and Ice Cream Sandwich. The situation is said to be the same with the Galaxy Note.

As for when you can expect the updates to roll out, the Galaxy S III should see the Jelly Bean upgrade at the end of the third quarter or the beginning of the fourth. The Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Note will see updates during the fourth quarter, assuming Samsung gives the devices the go ahead. And what about the rumored Galaxy Note II? Sam Mobile has heard from a source that the device is still being tested on Ice Cream Sandwich, and that it’s unclear if the device will launch with ICS or Jelly Bean. If it does land with just Android 4.0, then a 4.1 update will be available a few months later in Q4.

[via Phone Arena]

Samsung’s smartphone Jelly Bean update plans detailed is written by Ben Kersey & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.