With the next Samsung device event coming up quick – June 20th, that is, a selection of devices have been appearing: smartphones to notebooks to cameras. Today’s appearance is by a device code-named EK-GN120 and suggested to be known in the market as the Samsung Galaxy Camera II (aka Samsung Galaxy Camera 2). This device
Samsung saw its market value dive by $12bn over concerns that it would erode profit margins with too many variants of the Galaxy S 4, along with indications that Apple would begin an official trade-in scheme for the iPhone. Roughly 6-percent of the South Korean company’s value was wiped from its share price today, Reuters
This week the folks at Samsung have made good on their word of a Samsung GALAXY S 4 wireless charging solution, bringing it out with the Qi-standard for good measure. There’s two pieces to this puzzle, the first being a Wireless Charging Pad, the second being a Wireless Charging Cover. These are being pushed separately
Samsung has begun pushing out a firmware update for the Galaxy S 4, addressing complaints about limited storage space along with fixing a display glitch that led some users to see purple smearing. The new firmware, currently being released in Germany for the Galaxy S 4 GT-I9505 – the Snapdragon 600 powered variant – is
Samsung has officially revealed the Galaxy S4 Active, its ruggedized version of the Galaxy S 4, complete with resilience to dust and the ability to withstand 1m dunks underwater for up to 30 minutes. Fronted by a 5-inch Full HD display, though TFT LCD rather than the Galaxy S 4′s AMOLED, the Galaxy S4 Active
With the Samsung GALAXY S 4 in consumer hands internationally, fully stocked with Exynos OctaCore processors, so too has a new Chromebook been tipped with the same technology. While the big.LITTLE ARM processor architecture suggested for this next-generation machine has been implemented on the GALAXY S 4 (the international edition, that is) for a split between obvious “big” and “little” tasks, its usage in Chrome may be a bit less obvious. This device could very well be introduced at the June event teased by Samsung as well.
While the technology used in the Samsung GALAXY S 4 sets “big” tasks as high-powered games, video processing, and GPS tracking, Chrome OS doesn’t generally have such high demands. Low-powered “little” tasks appear much more regularly – messaging, music, and background bits and pieces galore. These low-powered tasks are assigned to lower power cores in the SoC, therefor keeping energy demands as minimal as possible.
It’s likely that this, not so much the high-powered end of things, would be the main reason a Samsung Exynos 5410 (or something similar) would be used in a Chromebook. The tip sent to MobileGeeks this week suggests this device might never actually come to the market, mind you.
But consider the possibilities: perhaps this means Samsung will be releasing a device not unlike the Chromebook Pixel, complete with super-high-definition display and touchscreen abilities! It was no small deal when the entirety of Google I/O 2013 was given a Pixel to develop with – Samsung may just be following up with their own high-powered web-based machine soon.
Samsung tipped to bring big.LITTLE ARM power to Chromebook is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
The Samsung Galaxy S 4 is a neat device and all, but like a lot of flagship devices, the off-contract price can be a little off-putting to those not willing to shell out the cash for it, which is why subsidized pricing is a lot more attractive to consumers. However, that isn’t stopping Microsoft from taking a whack at the Galaxy S 4, saying that its off-contract price is just way too expensive.
Microsoft pits the Samsung Galaxy S 4 up against the Windows Phone 8-based Nokia Lumia 521. Right off the bat it’s kind of an unfair fight performance- and feature-wise, but the Lumia 521 only costs $150 off-contract, compared to the $750 off-contract price of the Galaxy S 4 at Best Buy (although you can get it for $650 at Verizon and other carrier stores).
Microsoft says that both phones offer “a good camera, a good display, thousands of apps, and the ability to keep you connected to the weather, sports, news, and all of the people you care about,” but they ultimately tout the low $150 price tag of the Lumia 521, and they show us what else customers could buy with the $600 dollars that they’d save if they went with the Lumia 521.
For instance, with the money you save from buying the Lumia 521 instead of the Galaxy S 4, Microsoft says you could buy a 3-month Xbox Music pass for $30, a 16GB microSD card for $20, a pair of Monster Purity earbuds for $100, and to top it all off: an ASUS VivoBook X202E laptop for $450. Seems like a pretty sweet deal.
Obviously, the Lumia 521 isn’t one of Nokia’s flagship devices, nor is it even one of their more decent high-end handsets. We reviewed the Lumia 520, which is just a slightly different variant. It’s merely a budget device from Nokia that really doesn’t stand a chance against the Galaxy S 4. Pitting the Lumia 920 up against the S 4 would be a fairer fight, but we know Microsoft wouldn’t want to do that.
Samsung Galaxy S 4 dissed by Microsoft over high price is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Because both the Samsung GALAXY S 4 and the HTC One work with infrared-blasting hardware and they’ve both been grabbed by Google in the past few weeks, the next version of Android will likely have IR-Blaster-supporting drivers built-in. It’s been confirmed today that both the HTC One and the Samsung GALAXY S 4 in their “Google Editions” will not have IR-Blaster support because this connection to their hardware is not part of the basic build of Android – it’s made by HTC uniquely, and Samsung uniquely. As this is true, and as Android’s next big update is well on it’s way, one thing follows the other.
Because Android 4.2.2 is the launch version both of these devices will be coming with, IR-Blaster support will not be a reality for either piece of hardware immediately. It will be in the next big update of the Android mobile operating system that this support will be pushed – and as if it were planned all along, they’ll have two devices in their Google Play store that work with said support.
When Google introduced Miracast support for their devices, it was especially confusing. Android 4.2 Jelly Bean wireless display mirroring works with the Miracast wireless connectivity standard, but because this standard hasn’t been widely adopted, there are precious few instances where anyone is able to make use of it.
In fact, not every device that claims to be “Miracast” is working with the same technology. Even several months after Android 4.2 was introduced, this remains largely true.
But here comes an opportunity for Google to shine. As the “Nexus user experience” hits both the HTC One Google Edition and the Samsung GALAXY S 4 Google Edition, so too do we inch closer and closer to a time when it makes sense for Google to introduce Android 4.3. We’ve seen this operating system creeping around our own visitor ranks as early as May 5th.
So while we’ll just have to wait and see, the fact that IR remote functionality is supported by the Linux kernel may just be too simple an equation not to add up. Vanilla Android infrared remote device control, here we come.
Android 4.3 Jelly Bean will have IR-Blaster support: here’s why is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Samsung has revealed the Galaxy S4 Mini, the widely-anticipated smaller version of the Galaxy S 4, packing a 4.3-inch display, dualcore processor, and an 8-megapixel main camera. Set to hit shelves in LTE, 3G, and 3G dual-SIM forms, depending on country, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini shrinks its full-sized sibling’s screen down to qHD resolution from Full HD, and has only a 1.7GHz dualcore chip rather than the quadcore of the bigger phone. However, that makes for a more pocketable device, trimmed to 124.6 x 61.3 x 8.94 mm and 107g for the new Mini phone.
Above the display there’s a 1.9-megapixel camera, and Samsung’s various camera editing features – such as Best Photo, HDR, and Panorama – are also included. In fact, many of the Galaxy S 4′s software enhancements will also be included on the Galaxy S4 Mini, with S Voice, S Translator, Group Play, and WatchON, the latter of which gets to use the Mini’s built-in infrared abilities.
Underneath TouchWiz there’s Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, which gets 1.5GB of RAM to play with. There’s 8GB of storage – around 5GB of which is user-available – and a microSD card slot. Connectivity includes WiFi a/b/g/n, GPS, GLONASS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC on the LTE version of the Galaxy S4 Mini, and the usual sensors (light, digital compass, accelerometer, etc).
In total, Samsung will offer three variants of the phone. There’ll be a basic 3G model, with quadband GSM/EDGE and up to 21Mbps HSPA+ support, network depending, and a dual-SIM version which can take a pair of SIM cards. Then, there’s a 4G model, with up to 42Mbps HSPA+ and LTE, with various band sets depending on market.
No word on pricing for the Galaxy S4 Mini at this stage, nor when it will hit shelves. However, there’ll be more details at Samsung’s “Premiere 2013″ event in June, where the White Frost and Black Mist versions of the phone will be shown off, among other devices.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini official: 4.3-inches and optional LTE is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
Though it was reported earlier this week that the Samsung GALAXY S 4 would be the first device on the market with the ability to work with Verizon’s next-generation mobile data network via AWS, it’s become apparent that this device is not alone. Straight from Verizon this afternoon comes word that there are actually seven devices already on the market with the ability to work with their AWS band when it’s activated later this year.
In addition to the Samsung GALAXY S 4, the Nokia Lumia 928 is able to work with Verizon’s AWS, and the BlackBerry Q10 (launching with Verizon soon) will work with AWS as well. Verizon’s quote includes word of some unnamed devices we can figure out based on their current in-store supply as well.
NOTE: We’ve also reached out to Verizon once again to clarify which specific devices are being referred to in this list.
“Seven 4G LTE devices with AWS-capability are being sold by Verizon Wireless today. They include two Samsung 10-inch tablets, two jetpacks, a USB, the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the Nokia 928 Lumia. They will utilize the AWS band when it is activated later this year. The BlackBerry Q10, which launches soon, will also be AWS-capable.
The first device with AWS capability was put on the market in November of last year. Most of our 4G LTE devices going forward will be AWS-capable. They will require an over the air upgrade that we will push out once 4G LTE service on AWS spectrum is activated later this year.” – Verizon Spokesperson
As AWS is activated later this year, Verizon will make clear which devices wont (very few, if any) and which devices will be able to work with it. Verizon has been picking up AWS for many months now, with plans to expand and strengthen their wireless network in large cities line New York City first and forward similar to their initial push for 4G LTE several years ago.
GALAXY S 4 now one of seven AWS-capable devices on Verizon is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.
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