Hasta La Gadget!

This week it’s become apparent that not only does the Samsung GALAXY S 4 work on Verizon’s 4G LTE network now, it’ll soon be the first to work on the network’s next-generation system. Speaking with Bloomberg on the matter earlier today, Verizon’s vice president of network support Mike Haberman made it clear: the carrier’s next network upgrade will work on the GALAXY S 4 after a simple software download.

This update will allow the GALAXY S 4 to work on Verizon’s Advance Wireless Service spectrum, or AWS. Once the phone is bumped to work on the AWS frequency, data speeds will “more than double”. This network is already under construction as Verizon works with existing AWS airwaves as well as those acquired in a deal last year led by Comcast.

It’s also been made clear that of the devices Verizon currently has on sale, only the Samsung GALAXY S 4 is capable of taking part in this service upgrade. The first cities to get access to this AWS-based system will be the most populated – New York City will be up in the ranks without a doubt.

According to Hamerman, LTE traffic volume will increase 6 to 7 times in the next three years – that’s a lot of action to keep track of. This expansion is taking place due to necessity as much as it is because Verizon wants to keep their speed up – the largest wireless carrier in the USA can never stop!

Verizon GALAXY S 4 will be first on next-generation LTE is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

The Verizon version of the Samsung GALAXY S 4 has arrived – and it’s surprisingly clean. While the Samsung Galaxy Note II came with a strangely placed Verizon logo on its home button, this device keeps with the common look on its outsides. On the other hand, inside, there’s a slightly different situation going on.

The Samsung GALAXY S 4 works with a 5-inch 1080 x 1920 pixels Super AMOLED display, that coming in at 441 PPI. This machine is 5.38 x 2.75 x 0.31 inches and weighs in at 4.59 oz, coming with a hard plastic back and a pane of Corning Gorilla Glass 3 up front.

On this smartphone’s right side you’ll find a power button in the upper 1/3rd region, while on the left side in the same place you’ll find the volume rocker. The front works with capacitive back and menu buttons and a physical home button, while the back works with a 13-megapixel camera and a single LED flash.

This iteration of the device has a collection of style differences inside compared to the version on other carriers. Little bits and pieces, like moving the toggle for Blocking Mode from the notifications icons collection and pushing it to “My Device” in settings. Apps have been taken away and added too, of course, most of them coming directly from the carrier itself.

Some other apps that are missing from the Verizon version – for whatever reason – are ChatON, Samsung Apps, and the Samsung Optical Reader. It would seem that Verizon has told Samsung that they’ll need to keep their app store out of the mix in favor of Verizon’s, while it’s unclear why the Optical Reader has been axed. ChatON is anybody’s guess.

Below the fold you’ll notice some of the changes that do take place on many Verizon phones vs AT&T, starting with a long press on the device’s Home button. Holding down the GALAXY S 4′s Home button will bring up a selection of apps being used for easy switching – this being a standard since Android 4.0 Jelly Bean. Below this, though, Verizon has opted to use text to signify Task Manager, Google, and Close All, where AT&T’s model – and others – show icons instead.

Stick around while we review this device and its Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor as well as its dual-recording abilities with front-facing 2 megapixel camera. For those of you that can’t wait, have a peek at SlashGear’s Samsung GALAXY S 4 Review from its initial release earlier this year – April to be more precise.

Verizon Samsung GALAXY S 4 Unboxing and Hands-on is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the Samsung GALAXY S 4 Developer Edition has been announced by the company for Verizon and AT&T, here opening the door to a more “pure” Android experience for those wishing to hack and port. While the Google Edition of the Samsung GALAXY S 4 is being delivered with stock Android next month, here the Developer edition merely gives you the keys to the locks that are Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface and custom build.

With the Developer Edition of the Samsung GALAXY S 4, the device’s bootloader is unlocked and S-Off is fully initiated. Developers will be able to open up the device, so to speak, and work at as base a level in its software as possible. Other than these locks being flipped, the device is the same as the standard edition of the GALAXY S 4.

The Samsung GALAXY S 4 works with a 5-inch Super AMOLED display at 1080p, with a 13 megapixel camera on the back and all of its features in-tact as they’ve ever been. Of course if the developer working with this device decides they’d like to completely wipe out the software on this device provided by Samsung, a few abilities that Samsung has been pushing the device with thus far will be out the window.

Air Gesture and Air View will be gone, while a full Samsung Galaxy S 4 Nexus phone will be at your fingertips. Both the Verizon and the AT&T versions of this Developer Edition of the GALAXY S 4 are up through Samsung – and yes, you’ll be able to work with T-Mobile’s microSIM cards with the AT&T version as well.

Pricing has not yet been released for this device, but it’s a good bet that it’ll cost right around $649 USD, just as the Google Edition of the device does. That’s without a contract, mind you, and open to all manner of cards as the user sees fit.

SOURCE: Samsung

Samsung GALAXY S 4 Developer Edition opens door to Android purity for Verizon is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung saw quite a bit of success with its GALAXY S III handset, prompting a large launch party for its next-generation flagship, the GALAXY S 4, late last year. Earlier this evening, Samsung announced that the handset has broken records set by previous iterations of the phone, selling 10 million units in the one-month time span since its launch.

According to the announcement, the 10 million-units-sold milestone was reached a full 20 days earlier than with the previous unit, the Galaxy S 3, and quite a bit faster than the Galaxy S (seven months) and the Galaxy S 2 (five months). The smartphone is available for purchase in 60 countries. By the end of June, the total number of Galaxy S – S4 handsets available will span 327 operators in 155 countries.

We reported on May 17 that GALAXY S 4 sales were expected to exceed 10 million units sold this week, information that was passed down by co-CEO JK Shin. The announcement was expected to be made on May 24, so Samsung hit the range a solid two days ahead of its anticipated schedule. Samsung has plans to roll out additional colors for the handset, expanding on the black and white varieties with Blue Arctic, Red Aurora, Purple Mirage, and Brown Autumn starting this summer.

On May 15, it was revealed during Google’s 2013 I/O event that a 16GB Google Edition of the GALAXY S 4 will go on sale later this year via the Google Play Store, receiving updates straight from Google and running a vanilla variety of Android. The handset will work on both AT&T and T-Mobile’s 4G LTE networks.

Of course, with the greatness that will be an unlocked vanilla Android Google Edition GALAXY S 4 comes a comparable price tag, pegged at a hefty $649. The handset won’t feature the Nexus branding, and will run Android Jelly Bean 4.2.2, Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor, and mostly all the regular hardware to be found on the regular variety. The Google Edition is slated for sale on June 26.

SOURCE: Samsung Tomorrow

Samsung GALAXY S 4 breaks records with 10 million sales in first month is written by Brittany Hillen & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 Active – the more ruggedized version of the Samsung flagship – has been caught in the wild again, now showing up on video ahead of the company’s official launch. The new handset, which is expected to wrap the same 5-inch 1080p display in a tougher metal chassis, was handled on video, MobileTechReview reports, at an unnamed event recently.

The video is short, but it does at least give us a little more of a view of the new phone. There are also some extra details on specifications, which counter previous indications that the S 4 Active would basically put identical hardware to the Galaxy S 4 into a new body.

Instead, the Active version is said to have a more humble processor and camera than its sibling. The chip is tipped to be a 1.9GHz dualcore Snapdragon S4 Plus, from Qualcomm’s stable, while the camera is believed to be an 8-megapixel model rather than the 13-megapixels of the S 4.

Whether that will make a difference to everyday use is arguable, though it does likely mean that Samsung will position the handset underneath, rather than alongside, the existing flagship.

It’s not the only variant on the Galaxy S 4 we’re expecting in the near future, however. A goof in Samsung’s changelog for the WatchON remote control app revealed support for not only the S4 Active but the S4 Mega and the S4 mini. They’re expected to be larger and smaller versions of the phone, though when they’ll be officially announced is unclear.

VIA: Engadget

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Active video leak tips humbler specs is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.