Hasta La Gadget!

Samsung’s Galaxy Note II is one of the biggest phones this year, both figuratively, and literally. The OG Note stretched palms when it arrived last 12 months ago, with its 5.3-inch display, and it proved so popular that Samsung did it all over again — and a little bit more. Not only is it hot off the production presses, we’ve also got one to give away to a lucky UK reader, courtesy of the kind people at online retailer MobiCity. That’s where to send the thank you card if it’s your name out of the hat. And if it’s not? Well perhaps peruse their many SIM-free handset deals and treat yourself all the same. Want to know if you’re eligible to win? Head south for the rules, and then get involved!

The rules:

• Leave a comment below. Any comment will do. Duplicate entries will be filtered out and discarded, so adding additional comments won’t increase your likelihood of winning.
• This contest is open to all UK residents — aged 18 years or over! Sorry, we don’t make this rule (we hate excluding anyone), so direct your anger at our lawyers and contest laws if you have to be mad.
• Winners will be chosen randomly. One winner will receive one (1) new Samsung Galaxy Note II. Service does not come included with the prize.
• If you are chosen, you will be notified by email. Winners must respond within three days of being contacted. If you do not respond within that period, another winner will be chosen.
• This unit is purely for promotional giveaway. Mobi-city and Engadget / AOL UK are not held liable to honor warranties or customer service.
• The full list of rules, in all its legalese glory, can be found here.
• Entries can be submitted until 10th of October, 2012 at 23:59 GMT. Good luck!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung

Engadget UK Giveaway: win a Samsung Galaxy Note II courtesy of MobiCity originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 08 Oct 2012 06:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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When it rains, it pours. As if to clear the decks, Samsung has passed three devices through the FCC’s scrutiny at the same time. Two, the SPH-P500 and SCH-i915, are LTE-equipped tablets respectively headed to Sprint and Verizon with a dash of mystery; their label images imply a pair of Galaxy Tab 2 variants, but both have previously been spotted in as yet unverified benchmarks that allude to much faster Snapdragon S4 processors instead of the Tab 2’s TI chips. The SPH-L900’s dimensions and dual-mode support make for a safer bet, pointing to what’s likely the Galaxy Note II for Sprint. We’re less concerned with the hardware details so much as when everything ships — although we may get a clearer picture of the Sprint Galaxy Note II’s fate around October 24th, the tablets aren’t linked to any kind of public schedule, official or otherwise.

Update: Not long after Sprint’s Galaxy Note sequel arrived in the FCC, US Cellular’s flavor — the SCH-R950 — also made it through the federal approval process.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Samsung

Samsung P500 and i915 tablets for Sprint and Verizon, Galaxy Note II for Sprint reach the FCC (update: Note II for US Cellular as well) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:31:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s no secret that Samsung plans to bring the Galaxy Note II to many US carriers by mid-fall. Even so, getting there requires the FCC’s blessing — which makes us glad to see the regulator approve what might be three carriers’ variants of the giant Android phone. The SGH-i317 looks to be the model for AT&T and Canadian carriers, having been greenlit for their key 3G and 4G bands while lining up with a briefly available benchmark of the device sharing the Note II’s HD screen and use of Jelly Bean. The SCH-i605? Based on its inclusions of both CDMA and GSM, a lone 700MHz LTE band and a past screen capture leak, it’s a dual-mode Note II destined for Verizon. As for the SGH-T889, it’s even more conspicuous beyond what we’ve already seen: the T889’s HSPA includes the 1,700MHz AWS frequency that T-Mobile will still call home for a long while. LTE likewise exists on the 1,700MHz and roaming-friendly 700MHz bands in possible instances of futureproofing. While we rarely want to say a mobile device is confirmed until we see it first-hand, the convenient timing and natures of the three FCC approvals only help to fuel suspicions that Samsung’s pen-focused event on October 24th is all about the Note II’s American launch.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II variants for AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon possibly caught at the FCC originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 20:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Looking for Samsung’s latest big phone? Get yourself over to Korea, where the Galaxy Note II has kicked off its launch “world tour” with a party in the center of Seoul. The 5.5-inch Jelly Bean superphone will be available across SKT, KT and LG U+ carriers, supporting LTE connectivity on all three, available in 32GB and 64GB storage offerings. The Galaxy Note II will eventually arrive in 128 countries — and we’re expecting a US arrival date sometime in November, on even more carriers than its Korean debut.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II launches on three carriers in Korea originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 26 Sep 2012 07:24:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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All we know so far is that it’s possibly coming to US shores at some point in November, but the good news is that Sprint brought along one of the world’s most famous phablets to a press event in New York City and, better yet, we got to play with it for a little while. Yes, we’re talking about the Galaxy Note II. Looks-wise, the Now Network’s flavor of that 5.5-inch behemoth hasn’t exactly changed much from the unit(s) we landed our hands on when it was first unveiled to the world, meaning there’s no “Sprint” branding anywhere to be found on the plastic shell — at least for now, and, frankly, we kind of hope it stays this way. With that being out of the picture, the oversized handset looked as shiny as ever in its Marble White attire, which is the only color Sprint was happily showing off for the night. And while this particular Jelly Bean-loaded Note II was capable of running on the carrier’s new LTE network, we weren’t able to test out out data speeds due to matters out of our reach.

On the software side of things, we didn’t notice any major hiccups worth pointing out, with the experience being rather similar to the one during our first encounter with Sammy’s second-gen Note — or, in other words, it felt very, very snappy and overall great. That said, the carrier, as it did with the Galaxy S III, looks to be pre-loading the device with some of its own applications, including ones such as Sprint Zone and other third-party apps like Polaris Office 4. Naturally, we popped the obvious question to Sprint of when we could expect the device to legitimately become part of its lineup, to which the carrier told us that it’d be sometime “this holiday season.” For now, it looks like the hands-on gallery below will have to suffice, but you can be sure we’ll let you know as soon as we find out the official release date.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Samsung Galaxy Note II for Sprint hands-on originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 20:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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