Samsung - 49/179 - Android Police - Android News, Apps, Games, Phones, Tablets

Oct

Apple's Rubber-Banding Patent Is Invalid - Here's What That Actually Means, And Why It Was Invalidated

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News, Samsung

In perhaps its soon to be most-publicized decision in decades, FOSS Patents is reporting that the USPTO has issued an initial finding of invalidity on every claim in Apple's patent for "rubber-band scrolling," that is, the scroll bounceback patent which anyone with half a brain knows is about as patent-worthy as any purely aesthetic user interface element is.

The claims were rejected on findings of prior art from two sources - an AOL patent, and a patent previously filed by Apple. All of the claims of the '381 patent were either rejected as being anticipated (previously described) by prior art, or being obvious in light of it.

Oct

AT&T's Galaxy Note II Will Be Available For Pre-Order Beginning October 25, In Stores On November 9 For $300

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

We've been patiently waiting for US carriers to start announcing the availability of their respective Galaxy Note II variants. While Sprint was the first to step up to the plate, AT&T has now committed to something that you can pencil in on your calendar: pre-orders begin on October 25th, with November 9th as the confirmed launch date.

Much like the other variants that we already know about, AT&T's Note II will hit the wallet fairly hard at $300, which is of course the subsidized price and requires a two-year agreement. All version of the Note II share the same beastly specs, so if you need a reminder of what three-hundred bucks will get you, this should whet your appetite:

5.5" 1280x720 Super AMOLED display
1.6GHz quad-core Exynos processor
2GB RAM
16/32/64GB storage, microSD Card slot
8MP Rear shooter
1.9MP Front camera
4G LTE
S Pen
80.5 x 151.1 x 9.4 mm, 180 g
3100mAh battery
Android 4.1

Signups start in two days at AT&T's Note II landing page - get your checkbook ready.

Oct

There Is Hope For AOSP Support Of Sprint's Galaxy Nexus After All As Google Releases "Experimental" Binaries

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Development, Galaxy Nexus, News, Sprint

The Galaxy Nexus variant on Sprint might actually have a chance of being officially supported by Google in AOSP after all, which would be a big step in the right direction for carrier-branded Nexus devices.

If you remember, neither Verizon's nor Sprint's Galaxy Nexus was supported by the Android Open Source Project at launch, with the Verizon's version joining the program over half a year after its release. Even though the Nexus S 4G is fully supported, Sprint's GNex variant remained absent from the Nexus Binaries page and was therefore completely unsupported by the Android team.

When the Android 4.1.2 binaries (i.e.

Oct

Samsung Pushes Out Jelly Bean To Unbranded Galaxy S IIIs In Germany And France (As Well As Bouygues)

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy S III, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Samsung

Samsung continued the European rollout of Android 4.1.1 to Galaxy S IIIs today with updates going live for carrier unbranded handsets in France and Germany. Jelly Bean is also hitting SGS III devices on France's third largest mobile operator called Bouygues.

^{Image via androidromupdate}

To recap, here is how the JB update got pushed out all over Europe in recent weeks:

October 22: O2 in UK and Ireland; Vodafone in UK, Italy, Czech Republic, and Germany.
October 18: Hutchison Whampoa companies (Three, 3, H3G) in Italy, UK, Ireland, and Austria; Swisscom in Switzerland.
October 17: SFR in France; Vodafone in Spain and Romania; A1 in Austria; unbranded in Spain
October 15: Sweden (unbranded or Telenor, it's not clear - the CSC for the release is VDS)
September 24: unbranded in Poland

As always, check your update notifications, pull via Kies, or download from unofficial ROM sites SamMobile or Samsung-Updates.

Oct

Samsung's Newest Chromebook Now Available Directly Through Google Play

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Google, News, Samsung

A few days ago, Google intro'd a new entry to the ChromeOS family: the 11.6", Exynos 5-powered Samsung Chromebook. At $250, this dual-core ultraportable isn't going to break the bank, and for users who don't normally venture outside of the web browser, it's a pretty ideal solution. And starting today, you can grab this little guy directly from Google Play.

Just to avoid confusion, this does not run Android. It runs ChromeOS.

This new Chromebook is the first non-Android device to make its way into Play Store, which is clearly going to be Google's new storefront for future hardware sold directly by the company.

Oct

Jelly Bean Update For The Samsung Galaxy S III Goes Live On Vodafone And O2 After Brief Delays

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Galaxy S III, Jelly Bean 4.1, News, Samsung

European O2 and Vodafone Galaxy S III owners, it's finally your turn to check out Jelly Bean first hand. Following last week's updates on Hutchison Whampoa networks (Three/3/H3G), now O2 and Vodafone joined the party and started pushing out Android 4.1.1 to Galaxy S IIIs in at least the following locations:

O2: United Kingdom, Ireland
Vodafone: United Kingdom, Italy, Czech Republic, Germany

The Vodafone launch started today right on schedule, as per this post from a few days ago.

The O2 rollout was scheduled to begin on the 19th of October, but was delayed until today, the 22nd, as confirmed by several updates to this blog post on O2's forums:

Watch out for the update notification in the next few days or load up Kies for instant gratification.

Oct

[Weekend Poll] Pick A Phablet Edition: HTC DLX, Samsung Galaxy Note II, Or LG Optimus Vu II?

Posted by Aaron Gingrich in DLX, Galaxy Note II, Optimus Vu II, Polls

This is the latest in our Weekend Poll series. For last week's, see Are You Content With Your Phone's Stock Battery Life?

Complain as some people might, smartphones are getting bigger and bigger. Nothing exemplifies that fact more than phablets like the HTC DLX (or other variants, such as the J Butterfly), Samsung Galaxy Note II, and LG Optimus Vu II. Packing 5"+ displays, powerful CPUs, and 2GB of RAM, these phones aren't for your grandmother.

^{Left to right: HTC J Butterfly (Japanese variant of the purported DLX), Samsung Galaxy Note II, and LG Optimus Vu II.}

Oct

Samsung Releases Unity Extension SDK For Galaxy Note S Pen Game Integration

Posted by Ryan Whitwam in Galaxy Note, Galaxy Note II, News

Device-specific hardware tends to get overlooked by the third-party development community, but the S Pen from Samsung's Note phones might be the exception. There are a lot of Note users out there and it has a stylus that's actually worth using. Samsung is now offering game developers a way to better utilize that feature with the Unity Extension SDK, which can be downloaded from Samsung's developer site.

In case you're not aware, Unity is a 3D game engine that's used by a number of popular titles. The new SDK will allow developers to accept input from the S Pen. The SDK provides devs with access to SCanvasView in their games.

Oct

MetroPCS Is Getting The Galaxy S III Too, Priced At $499 Without A Contract

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

When we think of "budget" phones, a $500 Galaxy S III may not be the first thing that comes to mind. However, MetroPCS' usual strategy of having customers buy phones off contract and save money on the service is in full swing here. The device comes with a hefty price tag up front, but pick up the carrier's $50/month plan for unlimited talk, text, and 2.5GB of data, and you're looking at around $1700 over the course of 2 years. Compare that to, say an $80/month plan with a $200 device ($2120 over two years) and you could face some steep savings.

Oct

Apple Still Required To Run 'Samsung Didn't Copy Us' Ads In The UK After Appeals Ruling

Posted by Eric Ravenscraft in Legal, News, Samsung

It may be pretty hard for Apple to get away from the ruling that it has to state publicly on its website and in advertisements that Samsung didn't copy the iPad. An appeals court has ruled that the previous sentence should still be in place. The judges stated that, if Apple wasn't the one to clear up the confusion, the damage caused by the lawsuits all over Europe would be irreparable to Samsung.

Said the judges:

The acknowledgment must come from the horse's mouth. Nothing short of that will be sure to do the job completely.

The one thing the appeals court did change is that the web-based disclaimer doesn't need to take up a large amount of real estate on Apple's homepage, and instead a simple link to "Samsung/Apple judgment" will suffice.