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Sep

[Video] Most Galaxy S III Devices Are Not Vulnerable To USSD Wiping Exploit: It Was Already Fixed In An Update

Posted by David Ruddock in Development, Galaxy S III, News, Samsung

Update: We have confirmation that this exploit is also fixed in Jelly Bean, as well, so any device running Android 4.1 should be safe.

Auto-executing USSD codes is an Android bug that was fixed in Jelly Bean, see last 3 commit: android.googlesource.com/platform/packa…

— Nagy Ferenc László (@nflnfl) September 25, 2012

There has been a lot of misinformation floating around this morning about an alleged "exploit" on Samsung phones that allows the entire device to be wiped from the browser using what's called a USSD code. Basically, a bit of Android intent code cleverly placed in a web page can call up your dialer and insert a code that wipes the whole device (the USSD code), all without you ever confirming anything.

Sep

[Update: Not Just Samsung] Exploit Could Force Factory Reset On Many Android Phones

Posted by Cameron Summerson in News, Samsung

Update 2: This exploit probably won't work on most Galaxy S III's as long as they have the most recent OTA update, as we demonstrate on video here.

Update: This issue is, unsurprisingly, a lot more nuanced than the video here lets on. The bug is based in the stock Android browser, is in fact quite old, and has been patched in more recent builds of Android - this is probably why Nexus devices running the most recent OTAs are unaffected. The fact is, this is not a Samsung problem, it's an old Android problem that has been known about for some time.

Sep

Wirefly Compares The Samsung Galaxy S III To The Apple iPhone 5 In The Newest Schmackdown

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy S III, News, Samsung, Videos

We've seen Wirefly Schmackdowns before, but we've never seen one like this. Under normal circumstances, we watch them compare two high-end Android phones. Today, however, they've put mortal enemies in the ring for a fight to the death: the GSIII and the iPhone 5. Oh snap.

They compare the size, weight, display, hardware guts, and software, ultimately calling a winner at the end. Honestly, we're not surprised at how it turns out, but you won't find any spoilers here. Hit play and watch for yourself.

Sep

Samsung Announces That Jelly Bean Is Coming To 15 More Devices "Soon," Including The 'Galaxy Music'

Posted by John Thompson in Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Ace 2, Galaxy Beam, Galaxy mini 2, Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), Galaxy Note 10.1 (GT-N8000 / N8010 / N8013), Galaxy S II, Galaxy S II LTE HD, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 2 7.0, Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus

Following the initial rollout of Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) to Galaxy S III phones in Poland this morning, Samsung has announced that the update will be coming to 15 more devices in other markets "soon."

This latest software update will bring Google Now to a wide range of models and see the frame rate of the entire OS increased thanks to Project Butter.

The devices due to be updated to Jelly Bean are:

Galaxy Tab 2.7.0
Galaxy Tab 2 10.1
Galaxy Note 10.1
Galaxy S II
Galaxy Note
Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus
Galaxy S Advance
Galaxy S II LTE
Galaxy Music
Galaxy Chat
Galaxy Ace 2
Galaxy Beam
Galaxy Ace Plus
Galaxy Mini II
Galaxy S Duos

Although a device called the Galaxy Music is listed here, we aren't entirely sure what it is just yet.

Sep

Official Galaxy S III Jelly Bean Update Reportedly Rolling Out In Europe, Starting With Poland

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

One of the most anticipated OS upgrades in recent Android history has reportedly begun in Europe (specifically, Poland) where official Samsung Galaxy S III Jelly Bean firmware was discovered via Kies a couple of hours ago. Since no carrier marking was attached to the announcement by SamMobile's tracker, it looks like the update applies to the unlocked, unbranded variant localized to Poland - specifically, GT-I9300MBDXEO. Google Now and the updated Google Search, offline speech recognition, Project Butter, expandable notifications - it's all there.

Earlier this month, Samsung promised that the international S III units would start seeing Android 4.1 as soon as October, so it appears the company is actually ahead of schedule.

Sep

Apple Seeking $707 Million More In Damages On Top Of The $1 Billion It Already Won Against Samsung

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News, Samsung

After winning a $1.05 billion verdict against Samsung for alleged trade dress dilution and patent infringement, Apple has filed a motion with the presiding judge of the tech world's biggest trial requesting a massive increase in the initial jury award.

An additional $707 million has been tallied up by Apple's lawyers as being due to the company, and unfortunately, the logic here is sound. The jury in the case found Samsung willfully infringed Apple's design and software patents (meaning they should have known they were infringing, basically), and under US statute, this entitles Apple to an award of triple the amount of the actual damages resulting from infringement.

Sep

CyanogenMod 10 Nightlies Now Rolling Out For The T-Mobile Galaxy Note

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Note (GT-N7000), News, T-Mobile

If you have a Galaxy Note on T-Mobile, you're probably worried about things like device updates, considering T-Mo basically ditched it after only a couple weeks of availability. Worry not, because the CyanogenMod team is here to save the day: just one week after the custom Jelly Bean build showed up for the AT&T and International versions of the Note, CM10 Nightlies are now available for T-Mo's variant of the device.

Definition: A "nightly" is a bleeding edge release that is built on a daily basis, usually at night after a full day's worth of new code has been committed.

Sep

Verizon Finally Pushing Jelly Bean (JRO03O) To The Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Posted by Cameron Summerson in Galaxy Nexus, News, Verizon Wireless

Today's the day, Galaxy Nexus owners - Verizon just updated its support documents to reflect the long-awaited Jelly Bean update. From what we're hearing, the OTA is already rolling out, so you should be able to pull it down right now. You'll just need to jump on Wi-Fi and head into Settings > About phone > System update.

Sep

Samsung Will Add The iPhone 5 To Its Existing Lawsuit Against Apple In The US

Posted by David Ruddock in Legal, News, Samsung

Reuters is reporting that Samsung will be amending its counterclaims against Apple in the two companies' second lawsuit in California, currently scheduled for trial in March 2014. Here's what Samsung is saying:

"Samsung anticipates that it will file, in the near future, a motion to amend its infringement contentions to add the iPhone 5 as an accused product ... Based on information currently available, Samsung expects that the iPhone 5 will infringe the asserted Samsung patents-in-suit in the same way as the other accused iPhone models."

This trial focuses squarely on software patents Apple is claiming are violated by the entire Android operating system (eg, the app picker, unified search, auto-correct), and has essentially nothing to do with product design.

Sep

T-Mobile Giving Galaxy S III Owners A Free Copy Of The Avengers From September 25th

Posted by John Thompson in Galaxy S III, News, T-Mobile

In an attempt to show off the capabilities of its nationwide 4G network, T-Mobile is giving every Galaxy S III owner a free copy of The Avengers as a virtual preload.

New and existing users will be able to download the movie from the Samsung Media Hub, with T-Mobile encouraging customers to take advantage of their unlimited 4G data. Users with Samsung AllShare will be able to stream the movie, and any other movie downloaded from the media hub, to their TV.

“T-Mobile is committed to bringing leading-edge smartphone experiences to our customers by offering new features, including exciting content such as ‘Marvel’s The Avengers,’” said Brad Duea, senior vice president, product management, T-Mobile USA.