Samsung - 59/103 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

First Blurrycam Shot Of The Nexus Prime Shows Up, Shows Off On-Screen Buttons And 320 PPI

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

Of all the questions that have been surrounding the upcoming Nexus Prime, there has been quite a bit of intrigue about the buttons, or lack thereof, I should say. How will it work? What will the on-screen buttons look like? How will Ice Cream Sandwich work on device that already has physical buttons? ...and that's just the beginning of the inquiries.

While we still can't confirm how ICS will handle the latter, thanks to a leaked blurrycam photo obtained by GSMarena, we now have a better idea of what to possibly expect from the Nexus Prime and its button configuration.

Sep

Leaked System App List For The Next Nexus Shows Lack Of Bloatware... And A Few New Goodies

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Nexus, Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0, News

So, by now you've heard of the Galaxy Nexus/Nexus Prime/Droid Prime/Samsung Prime... or whatever we're calling it these days. If you haven't, well... you should find a rock with internet access to live under. Details are few and far between, but thanks to the guys over at MyDroidWorld, we have a full listing of the installed system apps to gander at while we wait for something better to come along.

There are a few notable entries in the list, but we can talk about those after you look over it in its entirety:

ApplicationsProvider.apk
BIP.apk
BackupRestoreConfirmation.apk
Bluetooth.apk
BooksTablet.apk
BrowserGoogle.apk
Calculator.apk
CalendarGoogle.apk
CalendarProvider.apk
CameraGoogle.apk
CertInstaller.apk
ChromeBookmarksSyncAdapter.apk
Contacts.apk
ContacsProvider.apk
DefaultContainerService.apk
DeskClockGoogle.apk
DownloadProvider.apk
DownloadProviderUi.apk
DrmProvider.apk
EmailGoogle.apk
ExchangeGoogle.apk
FaceLock.apk
Galaxy4.apk
GalleryGoogle.apk
GenieWidget.apk
Gmail.apk
GoogleBackupTransport.apk
GoogleContactSyncAdapter.apk
GoogleEarth.apk
GoogleFeedback.apk
GoogleLoginService.apk
GooglePackageVerifier.apk
GooglePartnerSetup.apk
GoogleQuickSearchBox.apk
GoogleServicesFramework.apk
GoogleTTS.apk
HTMLVierwer.apk
HoloSpiralWallpaper.apk
IMSFramework.apk
KeyChain.apk
LatinIMEDictionaryPack.apk
LatinImeGoogle.apk
Launcher2.apk
LiveWallpapers.apk
LiveWallpapersPicker.apk
Maps.apk
MarketUpdater.apk
MediaProvider.apk
MediaUploader.apk
Microbes.apk
Music2.apk
MusicFX.apk
NetworkLocation.apk
NfcGoogle.apk
NoiseField.apk
OneTimeInitializer.apk
PackageInstaller.apk
PhaseBeam.apk
Phone.apk
Phonesky.apk
PlusOne.apk
SDM.apk
Settings.apk
SettingsProvider.apk
SetupWizard.apk
SoundRecorder.apk
Stk.apk
Street.apk
SyncMLSvc.apk
SystemUI.apk
TagGoogle.apk
Talk.apk
TelephoneProvider.apk
Thinkfree.apk
UserDictionaryProvider.apk
VZWAPNlib.apk
VZWAPNService.apk
Videos.apk
VisualizationWallpapers.apk
VoicDialer.apk
VoiceSearch.apk
VpnDialogs.apk
YouTube.apk

Alright, let's do this in alphabetical order, shall we?

Sep

Editorial: Is Samsung's Patent Licensing Deal With Microsoft The End Of Royalty-Free Android?

Posted by David Ruddock in Android OS, Editorials, HTC, LG, Motorola, News, Samsung

It certainly seems like it. Yesterday, Microsoft announced via blog that it had concluded negotiations with Samsung and reached a licensing deal for the same seven patents it previously licensed to HTC for Android (along with other, smaller Android manufacturers). There were rumblings about just what royalty rate Samsung is paying, but the guess is anywhere from $5 to $15 per handset (it's likely on a percentage-of-MSRP basis - so think about 1-3% per $500 MSRP phone).

When it comes to royalty agreements, rates are usually internally fixed regarding certain categories of IP to avoid confusion about damages in lawsuits, but when there are allegations of continued infringement, the game changes.

Sep

Samsung Announces Next Generation Of Mobile Processors With The 1.5GHz Dual-Core Exynos 4212

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Samsung

In a press release earlier today Samsung announced an update to its Exynos line of mobile processors with the release of the Exynos 4212 a 1.5 GHz dual core ARM Cortex-A9 chip. The chip is designed on Samsung's advanced 32nm low-power processes and is intended for the burgeoning smartphone and tablet market. According to Samsung's release the Exynos 4212 will deliver a full 25% increase in processing power over the previous chip and will feature an enhanced GPU capable of delivering 50% higher 3D graphics performance. All this sounds great, but if the battery dies before you can even start the game then an increase in power is useless.

Sep

Rogers Rolls Out LTE For Major Canadian Cities, Leaks Pricing For Device Line Up

Posted by Zak Stinson in 4G, Galaxy S II, HTC, Jetstream, News, Rogers

After just over a year of envious grumbling, the Canadians have finally gotten their first taste of LTE. Rogers Wireless announced today that true 4G speeds are available to customers in specific coverage areas in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Vancouver.

While this is surely a cause for excitement for my fellow Canucks, the devices that are currently on this new network aren't. At the time of launch, the only LTE device available to consumers is the Sierra Wireless AirCard 313U, a mobile "LTE Rocket stick" for laptops. On October 18, the HTC Jetstream will hit the market, with an LTE version of the Galaxy S II and the Sierra AirCard 754S mobile hotspot to follow in the weeks after.

Sep

T-Mobile Follows Verizon's Lead, Tells Court Not To Allow Apple To Ban Import Of Samsung Android Devices

Posted by David Ruddock in 4G, Android OS, News, Samsung, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless

Everyone's getting on the peace train, it seems. T-Mobile, in concert with Verizon's filing last week, submitted an amicus curiae ("friend of the court") brief to the Federal Court for the Northern District of California this morning in regard to the ongoing patent and trademark suit between Samsung and Apple. Its contents? Basically the same thing Verizon's said - that denying Americans their 4G Samsung devices just for some silly little patent infringement will hurt 4G deployment in the US and decrease access to high-speed mobile broadband. T-Mobile actually refers to Verizon's brief in their own document, basically saying "Yeah, whatever he said, too."

After T-Mobile's statement regarding the fact that it still doesn't have the iPhone earlier this week (as though customers needed a reminder), this brief is a pretty logical step for the company to take.

Sep

Poll: Does The Samsung Galaxy Player Really Have A Place In The US?

Posted by David Ruddock in Galaxy Player 4.0, Galaxy Player 50, Polls, Samsung

When I saw the announcement by Samsung that they were bringing the Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 and 5.0 portable media players to the US, I paused, and thought "Uh, why?" We have yet to come up with an answer.

That's to say, we're not sure what Samsung is thinking bringing a PMP (portable media player) product line into the United States, where the iPod Touch dominates that already-dwindling market to a laughable extent. PMPs are a product of the early smartphone era, where having a device that could make phone calls, store your music, videos, and play games was simply impractical because of technological battery and storage limitations.

Sep

Samsung Mobile Unveils Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Player 5.0 and 4.0 - All Slated For October Release

Posted by Liam Spradlin in Galaxy Player 4.0, Galaxy Player 50, Galaxy Tab 8.9

It seems that T-Mobile isn't the only one with a handful of big announcements today. Samsung has just unveiled a selection of brand new devices to give us even more to look forward to in the coming months.

Samsung has finally announced the Galaxy Tab 8.9, the slightly smaller counterpart to the 10.1. It's packing a 1GHz Tegra 2 dual-core processor, 1280x800 TFT display, a 6100mAh battery, and other specs made familiar to us by the Tab 10.1 (including Samsung's Touchwiz UX overlay).

The Tab 8.9 is available for pre-order right now, and is slated for nationwide release October 2nd, with a price tag of $569 for the 32GB model and $469 for the 16GB variety.

Sep

Samsung Galaxy S II Sales Hit 10 Million, Excluding The U.S.

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in Galaxy S II, News, Samsung

We already know the Samsung Galaxy S II (SGSII) is a huge success (even compared to the original SGS), but now sales of the uberphone have been kicked up even higher. In the last 8 weeks, sales have gone from 5 million to 10 million - or 625,000 units sold per week. And here's the real kicker: the press release expressly states "Model: GT-I9100," meaning these sales figures don't even include the United States.

Between the Sprint SGSII (the Epic 4G Touch), which just hit shelves, and the U.S. T-Mobile and AT&T variants going on sale soon, that number should ratchet up even further.

Sep

Rogers Galaxy S Captivate Receives Its Gingerbread Update

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Captivate, Gingerbread 2.3, News, Rogers, Samsung

Yesterday, we started receiving reports that the official Gingerbread update (reportedly version 2.3.3) for the Samsung Galaxy S Captivate on Rogers is finally here.

The update isn't showing up on Rogers' own website yet (under the Support tab), but if you go through Samsung's Kies upgrade software (go here, click Support, then Download), you should find it sitting in plain view, itching to jump over to your device.

Galaxy S users, if you've upgraded, let us know how it went and if you experienced any issues.