Hasta La Gadget!

Where would we be without prototypes, eh? One such pre-production unit, of Samsung’s dual-core Galaxy S II, has escaped into the Russian Ukrainian wilderness, where it’s been thankfully rescued from the cold by the guys over at gagadget. Apart from squaring it up against the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 — which we can only surmise was the nearest available Android handset, it surely can’t have been the best — they also dig pretty deeply into the latest TouchWiz UI and dish up a thoroughgoing gallery of sample images from that 8 megapixel autofocus camera on the back. It’s an enlightening read, once you’ve enrolled Google Translate’s help, though the video after the break might not be too informative if English is your only language. Still, it’s a great visual tour of some yummy hardware.

[Thanks, DarkDvr]

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S II shows up in Ukraine, gets a loving preview (video)

Samsung Galaxy S II shows up in Ukraine, gets a loving preview (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Mar 2011 05:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Surely you remember the Samsung GT-i9100, colloquially known as the Galaxy S II? Sammy’s been tight-lipped about which US cellular carriers might offer it, but the Federal Communications Commission might have an idea. You see, the Exynos 4210-toting Super AMOLED Plus smartphone just made its way to the FCC authorization database, 850MHz and 1900MHz GSM frequencies in tow — which just so happen to be the ones required to get a gig at AT&T. Mind you, the handset could also be moonlighting in Canada with those particular bands, but the odds are decent we’ll see it stateside sooner than that. By the by, this particular Galaxy S II is also sporting 2.4GHz and 5GHz frequencies, meaning it’ll almost certainly come with dual-band 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi.

The Galaxy S II wasn’t the only Samsung to hit the FCC this week, though, as the SGH-i708 also dropped on by — it appears to be a worldphone with 850 / 1900MHz GSM frequencies alongside CDMA, EV-DO, and the standard Bluetooth and 2.4GHz WiFi.

Samsung Galaxy S II hits the FCC, potentially ready for AT&T 3G originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 13 Mar 2011 11:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’ve confirmed with our own sources what was almost an established fact already: there will be a version of Samsung’s 4.3-inch Galaxy S II Android smartphone relying on a dual-core Tegra 2 chip for its processing. The second-gen Galaxy S launched at MWC this year with Samsung’s own Exynos dual-core solution at its heart, but it seems that yields of that chip haven’t been good enough to sate the expected high demand for the handset. So, in steps NVIDIA with its soon-to-be-ubiquitous Tegra 2 — which runs at the same 1GHz as Exynos and offers comparable performance — to fill in the supply gap. The decision as to which part you’ll get in your next Samsung smartphone will depend on which territory you’re in, with Americans and Brits likely to get first bite at the Exynos cherry.

[Thanks, Anshul]

Confirmed: Tegra 2-equipped Samsung Galaxy S II is coming originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 03 Mar 2011 04:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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There’s a small but important fact about Samsung’s newest Android flagship that slipped under our radar last week at Mobile World Congress. The Galaxy S II is the first smartphone to feature an MHL port. MHL, as you’ll recall, was first announced in 2008 as the Mobile High-Definition video Link “standard” for mobile devices promoted by a consortium that includes Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, and Silicon Image. So yeah, another mobile interconnect standard just like DisplayPort, mini-HDMI, or Light Peak. Essentially, the micro-USB shaped MHL jack at the base of the Galaxy S II features internal circuitry that recognizes USB or MHL impedance and then automatically switches the phone into USB data / charging or MHL audio / video / charging modes. A special 5-wire micro-USB to HDMI cable lets you send video and audio to existing HDMI-equipped displays. Unfortunately, the TV won’t charge the Galaxy S II during playback unless you insert a phone charger adapter between the GSII and TV or wait for MHL-enabled TVs to begin shipping later this year. Once connected, you can then use your TV’s HDMI-CEC compatible remote to navigate and control the Galaxy S II’s media interface. The GSII is just the first MHL device with a half-dozen phones, at least one tablet, and a few TVs coming this summer. More details are available in the video interview after the break.

Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S II first with MHL port for dual-purpose USB or HDMI out (video)

Samsung Galaxy S II first with MHL port for dual-purpose USB or HDMI out (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Feb 2011 02:59:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Which dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 system-on-a-chip rules the roost? It’s probably too early to tell, but if you’re looking for a preliminary verdict, AnandTech has benchmarked all three of them now. Texas Instruments’ OMAP 4430, NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 and Samsung’s Exynos 4210 went head to head in a gauntlet of browser and graphical benchmarks, and it looks like the LG Optimus 3D’s OMAP 4 came out on top, boasting minor but significant improvements practically across the board. Good news for the BlackBerry PlayBook, no? Oh, and if you’re wondering why the iPhone 4 and Atrix 4G fall behind their older brethren in the image above, remember that they both have to render images at a higher screen resolution. More graphs at our source link below.

LG Optimus 3D’s OMAP 4 benchmarked, pulls ahead of Exynos and Tegra 2 originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 15 Feb 2011 21:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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