Samsung - 32/103 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Aug

Samsung Sending Out Invites For August 29th Unpacked Event At IFA 2012 In Berlin, All But Confirms The Galaxy Note 2

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Samsung

Samsung will be holding an event on August 29th at IFA in Berlin. Sound familiar? It should, because Korean news publication Digital Daily outed this event back in mid July. At the time it was said that Samsung would be announcing the Galaxy Note 2, which seems to be highly likely considering the event invite:

It doesn't really get any more obvious than that, so we'd be willing to put some money on the table that the next iteration of the Note will definitely be the highlight of the event. Digital Daily didn't stop with event details back in July, either; it also gave some pretty believable specifications about the device, noting that it could have a 5.5" display with a smaller bezel, which should keep the overall device size comparable to the Note 1.

Aug

Samsung Starts Production Of New High-Speed Embedded Flash Storage

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in News, Samsung

One complaint many people have had (particularly with Asus tablets) is that the performance of the embedded storage is just plain bad. So I ran some storage benchmarks (2 apps, 13 metrics) on 11 different devices and compiled the results. In sum: while adequate, most devices aren't exactly speedy in the storage speed department.

That's likely all set to change soon, as Samsung (who, let's not forget, is one of the world's biggest suppliers of everything electronic) has begun production of a new generation of embedded storage. The company claims read speeds of up to 140 MB/s and write speeds of up to 50 MB/s (for comparison, the fastest microSD card on the market checks in at 17 MB/s and 19 MB/s, respectively).

Aug

New Jelly Bean (JRO03H) Binaries Up For Nexus S/4G, Motorola Xoom Wi-Fi, And Verizon, GSM Galaxy Nexus

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Android OS, AT&T, Development, Galaxy Nexus, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Nexus S (Crespo/Soju), Nexus S 4G (Crespo4g), Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, XOOM

In a post to Google's Android Building group today, Jean-Baptiste Queru once again acted as the bearer of good tidings for developers and tweakers everywhere, announcing that "a new set of proprietary binaries for Jelly Bean are available."

The new batch of binaries includes those of the Nexus S and Nexus S 4G (Crespo and Crespo4G respectively), the latter of which we just recently saw added into the AOSP fold.

The set also includes updates to the both the GSM Galaxy Nexus (maguro), and Verizon's Galaxy Nexus (toro, which itself is ever so close to full AOSP support).

Conspicuously absent from the party is Sprint's variant of the Galaxy Nexus, but there's no surprise there.

Jul

Original Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Getting ICS Now In The UK And Italy

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Tab 10.1, News

Slowly but surely, Samsung has been pushing ICS to several devices in the Galaxy Tab series, and it looks like today's the day for the Wi-Fi (GT-P7510) in the UK and the 3G version (GT-P7500) in Italy. The long-awaited update brings not only Android 4.0, but also an updated version of Touchwiz UX that's quite similar to the newest Tab 2 series.

We expect that the update should become available in other parts of the world quite soon, but there's no official word as to when that will happen.

The update is rolling out OTA-style right now, but it can also be pulled via Kies.

Jul

Samsung's 11.8-inch 2560x1600 Tablet Confirmed In Apple Lawsuit Documents

Posted by Jeremiah Rice in News, Samsung

We'd heard that Samsung was planning an oversized tablet with an incredible screen resolution, but after said 11-inch Galaxy Tab failed to appear at both CES and Mobile World Congress, the Android world moved on to bigger (though not necessarily better) things. In today's opening salvo of legal back-and-forth between Apple and Samsung, the tablet was revealed as part of the latter's strategy for 2012. The slightly larger 11.8-inch, 2560x1600 tablet has no designation beyond "P10", but it looks like Samsung definitely intended to release it when the document was created last year.

This is a confirmation of Samsung' intentions, but not its future.

Jul

T-Mobile Is Already Planning A Minor OTA Update (LG3) To The Unreleased Galaxy Note

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), News

Well, that was fast. Just a few hours ago, we got official word that the Galaxy Note would be arriving on T-Mobile on August 8th. Now, we hear that as soon as the device launches, an OTA update will be available for the device. The update will ~~bring the device up to Android 4.0.3~~ add some new minor improvements. The device will ship with Ice Cream Sandwich, but the tiny bump should still bring a few moderate improvements.

Here's the list of what's new:

Improvements

Error: ‘Enter MAC address’ after entering MAC address

Weather widget does not show current location

MobileLife contacts addresses combined into a single field

Regardless of the changes, if you're going to pick up a Galaxy Note, may as well make number one on your to-do list when you get it home to plug your shiny new device in to your computer and fire up Kies.

Jul

Samsung Releases The Ice Cream Sandwich Kernel Source Code For The AT&T Galaxy S II

Posted by Cameron Summerson in AT&T, Galaxy S II, News

When a new device comes out or gets a new version of Android, one thing developers ~~want~~ need to ensure ROMs run as smoothly and efficiently as possible is the kernel source code. Samsung has been quite good about releasing source code for new and updated devices, and it has now made available the Ice Cream Sandwich kernel source for the AT&T Galaxy S II.

While that may not mean much for the bulk of the crowd in terms of actual usefulness, it's definitely good news for the development community. Hit the link below to grab the download.

Samsung Open Source Release Center

Jul

Samsung Delivers On Its Promise To Return Universal Search To Galaxy S III - At Least In The UK

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Galaxy S III, Legal, News

When Samsung inadvertently removed the universal search feature from the international Galaxy S III, everyone assumed it was for legal reasons. Not so, says Samsung! As it turns out, the feature was removed on accident and, as of today, the feature has been restored. If you live in the UK, at least. No word yet on restoration to any other devices.

As you can see in the photo above, the device model this is being applied to is t he GT-I9300, which is the model for the international Galaxy S III. We're still waiting to hear if any users outside the UK get the feature restored, but for now, it looks like if you own the device inside Her Majesty's borders, you should be getting local search back before you know it.

Jul

Images, Details Surface – Samsung's Galaxy S Lightray 4G Set To Land On MetroPCS With Super AMOLED Plus Display, Single-Core Processor

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy S Lightray 4G, MetroPCS, News

Rounding out the list of budget Android handsets for which details emerged overnight, it looks like Samsung will be releasing the Droid Charge look-alike Galaxy S Lightray 4G to MetroPCS in mid-August.

The Galaxy S Lightray is not your average budget device, though – besides a 4.3" Super AMOLED Plus display (carrying an unknown resolution), 8MP rear camera (with flash), 4G LTE connectivity and (maybe) a 1.3GHz single-core processor, this phone appears to be packing a TV antenna for "Mobile TV" (evidently powered by Dyle TV). Besides that interesting inclusion, the Lightray will also feature HDMI out and a mobile hotspot capability.

Jul

Sprint's Galaxy SIII And Galaxy Nexus Receive Minor Updates

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Nexus, Galaxy S III, News, Sprint

Sprint customers using Samsung's Galaxy Nexus or Galaxy SIII should expect an OTA update to roll in any time now, bringing some enhancements and fixes that – while not entirely exciting – are worth picking up.

The Galaxy SIII update brings the device's software up to L710VPLG8, and includes a handful of improvements, including enhancements to Samsung's Smart Stay feature, voice recognition, and the addition of All-Share Cast support.

The Galaxy Nexus, meanwhile, will be bumped up to IMM76K.L700FG01. Users can expect relatively fewer changes with this update, but the small handful of enhancements include support for Sprint TV and an unspecified Google Security Fix, among others.