You can sign up for updates on US Galaxy S III (but not pre-order)

Yesterday, Samsung announced that its brand new flagship, the Galaxy S III, will hit Europe on May 29. Availability in the US will come some time in June - and you can now sign up for updates on the Samsung US web site.

The sign up page has a field where you can pick your carrier preference - there are the big players like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile but also, Metro PCS, US Cellular and C Spire Wireless.

The "carrier preference" title is intentionally vague - it doesnt necessarily mean that the Galaxy S III will be available on those carries, Samsung is just gauging people's interest.

In some regions, the Galaxy S III will have LTE connectivity (and the US is a prime candidate). If you look closely at the official specs, you'll notice a note, saying the specs on the LTE version might differ.

There's speculation that this means a dual-core Krait CPU - that's what HTC and AT&T did with the HTC One X. Plus, Samsung has several US-bound Galaxy S II phones that use a Qualcomm chipset, so a Snapdragon S4 (those are the ones with Krait) isn't out of the question.

We'll have to wait some a few more weeks before Samsung releases official info on matters regarding launch dates, prices, carriers and chipsets for the US S III.

Source

Carphone Warehouse: pre-order Galaxy S III, get a free Tab 10.1

The Samsung Galaxy S III deals for the UK keep rolling in - Carphone Warehouse have it up for pre-order both on contract with several carriers and SIM free. Here's the kicker - if you go for the on-contract option, you'll be getting a free Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Yes, that's the original Tegra 2-powered Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 16GB, though the differences between the Tab 10.1 and Tab 2 10.1 aren't that big. Carphone Warehouse currently offer the Tab 10.1 on its own for 400 (though it's cheaper in other places, 350 on Amazon UK, for example). Anyway, the offer is valid only for the first 1,000 pre-orders.

Anyway, you'll also receive a free car charger and a Zagg InvisibleSHIELD screen protector to go with your Galaxy S III. Carphone estimates their price at 30.

Update: It's gone now. The new deal offers a free 32GB microSDHC card (priced at 45) along with the charger and screen protector.

The contracts you can choose from are all 2-years long and most offer the phone for free with 36 monthly payments. There are contracts for Vodafone, Orange, O2 and T-Mobile.

If you want to go the SIM-free route, the price for the Samsung Galaxy S III is 500. But you won't be getting the tablet or the other two goodies. Delivery is set for May 30, just like the other UK carriers. Note that both the on and off contract offers are for the 16GB version of the S III.

For more, check out yesterday's article about Galaxy S III pre-orders in the UK.

Source

New WP-powered Samsung 'Mandel' images leak

We first heard about the Samsung Mandel at the end of last year, when it got out that both Samsung and HTC were planning on launching a pair of LTE-enabled Windows Phones sometime in 2012, most likely by the end of Q2.

Whether or not the Mandel will meet that deadline remains to be seen, but we now got a couple of leaked images, showing us what the eventual Samsung smartphone will look like.

The glossy pearl white paintjob looks a bit familiar, especially in light of yesterday's announcement of the Galaxy S III. Could this mean a WP variant of the new Galaxy flagship sometime in the future?

The second image, posted on a Chinese Windows Phone 7 forum, shows us an i667 model number, which is eerily similar to the i677 model number of the Samsung Focus Flash. Perhaps this points to the Mandel becoming the next member of the Samsung Focus family?

Obviously, no word is available on pricing or availability yet, but we'll update you if we hear more about this device.

Source | Via

You can sign up for updates on the US Galaxy S III (but not pre-order)

Yesterday, Samsung announced that its brand new flagship, the Galaxy S III, will hit Europe on May 29. Availability in the US will happen some time in June - and you can now sign up for updates on the Samsung US web site.

The sign up page has a field where you can pick your carrier preference - there are the big players like AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and T-Mobile but also, Metro PCS, US Cellular and C Spire Wireless.

The "carrier preference" title is intentionally vague - it doesnt necessarily mean that the Galaxy S III will be available on those carries, Samsung is just gauging people's interest.

In some regions, the Galaxy S III will have LTE connectivity (and the US is a prime candidate). If you look closely at the official specs, you'll notice a note, saying the specs on the LTE version might differ.

There's speculation that this means a dual-core Krait CPU - that's what HTC and AT&T did with the HTC One X. Plus, Samsung has several US-bound Galaxy S II phones that use a Qualcomm chipset, so a Snapdragon S4 (those are the ones with Krait) isn't out of the question.

We'll have to wait some a few more weeks before Samsung releases official info on matters regarding launch dates, prices, carriers and chipsets for the US S III.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S III leaks again hours before the announcement

This is becoming the iPhone all over again. Yet another Galaxy S III unit has escaped the Samsung R&D center and posed for some pictures. There aren't any specs to go with the photos, but those should be finally confirmed in a few hours.

The Samsung Galaxy S III

The device is running on Android 4.0.4 ICS, the ROM version is from April and the build is specifically for Brazil.

Sammobile's tipster also says there might be another device showcased at the event in London tonight. It's supposed to be carrying the model number I9800, but thats all the info about it we got. We'd certainly advise you to take this rumor with a pinch of salt, though.

The Samsung UNPACKED event kicks off in less than 10 hours (18 o'clock London time) and we'll be covering it live for you, so stay tuned.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S III rumor roundup: what to expect

It seems like years of waiting, but finally the almost historic (or at least that's what the hype might make you believe) London event is closing in. Just a couple of hours before we finally see what the next Galaxy flagship is all about, we will try to sum up rumors and give a better idea of what to expect.

The event itself is said to bring us the next Galaxy smartphone, which will most probably be called Galaxy S III (or Galaxy S3), a name we've even in several times, including the Kies software.

At the event tonight we might see a new tablet and a new cloud storage by Samsung.

The new Galaxy smartphone was teased numerous times before. We've seen countdowns, pre-orders, carrier availability confirmation and whatnot. We've even lerned that it will be offered in blue or white colors.

Samsung cleverly released a generic design Galaxy S III to carriers and devs, so they can test it without revealing the final design. The prototype body has appeared in various leaks, which suggests that it is the dummy body we've heard about. We've seen a wider variant too. But latest rumors suggest that the device will have a Nexus-like shape, with rounded edges and a 4.8" 720p display. We're yet to learn if it will be a PenTile matrix SuperAMOLED or a conventional RGB matrilx SuperAMOLED Plus.

The CPU powering the Galaxy S III is almost certain to be a quad-core Exynos 4 Quad, which features four Cortex-A9 cores with 32nm architecture and the Mali 400-MP GPU. We've seen early GL 2.1 benchmarks where the Galaxy S III made easy work of its competitors.

The camera is taunted to be either a 12MP or an 8MP unit. The sample pictures we saw supported the 8MP claim. Interestingly, the Galaxy S III EXIF data reported an aperture of F/2.6 (the S II offers a F/2.65) and a focal length of 3.7mm (as opposed to the 3.97mm of the S II), meaning that the new device will have either a wider angle lens or a slightly bigger sensor.

Finally we expect the Galaxy S III to feature both a hardware home button and a 5-column UI (like the Galaxy Note).

There's not long to go now so stay tuned. We'll be at the London event tonight, covering it live for you as it unfolds.

Pantech Vega Racer 2 now shipping in South Korea

Pantech unveiled the Vega Racer 2 last month and now South Koreans will actually be able to see it in flesh. Pantech just announced the device has started making its way from the factories to retailers around the country.

The Vega Racer 2 is based on the Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon SoC with a 1.5GHz dual-core Krait processor and Adreno 225 GPU. It has a 4.8-inch 720p display, a 2020mAh battery, LTE connectivity and runs on Android ICS.

The Vega Racer 2 supports voice commands (which are supposedly further reaching than the standard Android ones). For example you may take pictures with your voice, explore the gallery, etc.

Pantech is shipping the Vega Racer 2 to all three major carriers in South Korea, but we are still to learn if it will ever hit markets outside its homeland.

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy S 3 will launch in Blue and White

We received an anonymous tip that the Carphone Warehouse inventory system lists the Samsung Galaxy S 3 in two color versions. In other Galaxy S 3 news, Unwire HK got their hands on a screen protector meant for the upcoming Samsung Android flagship, which reveals its screen size.

The snap from the inventory system of the large retailer Carphone Warehouse suggests that the Galaxy S 3 will be available in two colors at launch - Blue and White. Has Samsung abandoned its typical black color?

Probably not, the Samsung Galaxy Note for AT&T is available in Carbon Blue and Ceramic White, but if you look at the photos from our review you'll see that the blue color is actually so deep that it's almost black. You can only see a blue tint under specific lighting there and we guess it will be the same with the S 3.

As for the screen protector - an Ultimate Screen Guard (USG) screen protector - it's too big for an HTC One X and its 4.7" screen, suggesting that the 4.8" rumor for the Samsung Galaxy S 3 was the correct one (4.6" was also mentioned frequently).

USG next to a One X next to Galaxy S II next to Galaxy S II LTE

It's much bigger than the Galaxy S II (4.3") and bigger than the S II LTE (4.5"). Also, notice the wider hole for the home key - it's what we've seen on most leaked images so far.

Source (in Chinese)

Android in April: ICS gets 4.9%, Gingerbread still king

Google just updated the Android version distribution charts. In April Android Gingerbread growth started to slow down, while the ICS market share nearly doubled.

The latest version of the Android OS - Ice Cream Sandwich a 4.9% share, up from 2.9% a month ago. We do wonder if it will manage to become the most widely adopted version before Jelly Bean becomes available.

Version	Market Share, April	Market Share, March	Change
1.5 Cupcake	0.3%	0.3%	0.0
1.6 Donut	0.7%	0.7%	0.0
2.1 Eclair	5.5%	6.0%	'0.5
2.2 Froyo	20.9%	23.1%	'2.2
2.3 Gingerbread	0.5%	0.5%	0.0
2.3.3-2.3.7 Gingerbread	63.9%	63.2%	'0.7
3.0 Honeycomb	0.1%	0.1%	0.0
3.1 Honeycomb	1.0%	1.0%	0.0
3.2 Honeycomb	2.2%	2.2%	0.0
4.0-4.0.2 Ice Cream Sandwich	0.5%	0.5%	0.0
4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich	4.4%	2.4%	'2.0

Versions 2.1 and 2.2 (Eclair and Froyo) saw a slight decline while the other releases maintained their market share.

Source

Sony Xperia P caught in the wild, benchmarked too

Greek tech site DigitalLife got hold of an Xperia P before its launch and decided to put it through a number of benchmarks to see what its chipset is made of.

The ST-Ericsson U8500 chipset should, in theory, be quite similar to the Exynos 4210 found inside the Samsung Galaxy Note and Samsung Galaxy S II. They all feature a couple of Cortex-A9 cores (although the Galaxy devices have a slight clock speed advantage), 1GB of RAM and a Mali-400MP GPU.

The similar specs were easy to spot in the AnTuTu benchmark results. The 1GHz CPU, the pre-release status and the Gingerbread OS did prevent the Xperia P from matching its rivals, but its performance was quite close.

AnTuTu

Higher is better

• Sony Xperia P
  5325
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  6495
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  6249

The Xperia P didn't fare quite so well in the Nenamark 2 GPU-stressing benchmark. It's either that its Mali-400MP is clocked way lower than those of its competitors, or Sony still have some issues with the drivers that need to be ironed out before the market release of the smartphone. We suspect it's the latter, as even the Note, which has more than twice the pixel count of the Xperia P and runs on the same OS, managed to outdo it.

NenaMark 2

Higher (fps) is better

• Sony Xperia P
  29.2
• Samsung Galaxy Note
  33.9
• Samsung Galaxy S II
  51.6
• Sony Xperia S
  37.5

The Sony Xperia P should hit the shelves later this month, so we'll soon know how good a performer it really is.

Source (in Greek)

LG has no future plans for Windows Phone devices

LG is dropping from the Windows Phone race and has no plans to release any gadgets of that kind. The decision is not final, of course, and LG will continue its partnership with Microsoft.

As you can imagine, LGs U-turn is based on the really weak sales and most probably the threat from the Microsoft/Nokia team.

Microsofts CEO Steve Ballmer has a scheduled visit in Korea in May to explore partnership opportunities. LG is most probably on the list too, so well have to see what happens then. Keep in mind though, that Samsung will surely be pushing WP8 running devices later this year, which will be an additional threat for everyone else.

Anyway we look at this, it seems a wise decision on LG's behalf - at least for the time being. The Lumia lineup is the most popular WP brand and, combined with the low user demand, it is quite natural for LG to focus completely on Google's Android OS.

Source | Via

Is this the first legit Samsung Galaxy S3 press shot?

So far Samsung has been keeping its next flagship under wraps quite successfully. We've only seen blurry shots of the externals and supposedly, those are not even the final designs.

Props to Samsung for their success so far, but could this be the first serious leak of the handset?

What we have on our hands today is an image that looks a lot like what the Samsung Galaxy S3 is supposed to look like, judging by some of the more substantial leaks from the past.

Update: The image is confirmed as old and has surfaced before. It's certainly a mockup. Sorry about that, move along.

Now this photo didn't come with any extra info on the handset, but the leaked specifications for the device so far detail a 4.6 or 4.8-inch SuperAMOLED screen of 720p resolution, Samsung's latest quad-core Exynos chipset, and an 8 or 12 megapixel camera to go with those. There should also be an extra beefier battery to make the phone last a bit longer.

Now as usual, take this thing with a pinch of salt. But our guess is leaks won't get any better than this before the official announcement. Even if it's some user-land fan art, we still appreciate the effort and it's a job nicely done.

Thanks for the tip, Ali.

Nokia close to selling Vertu for 200 million euro

At the end of last year, Nokia was reportedly looking into selling Vertu to raise funds and help focus the company, which is still in transition. Now, the Financial Times says that the deal is nearing completion.

The purported buyer is Permira, a British private equity group, who are reportedly willing to shell out 200 million ($265 million) for the luxury phone maker. Neither Vertu nor Permira have confirmed the deal.

Another equity group, EQT, are also said to have been interested in Vertu, but according to the Financial Times these negotiations aren't going anywhere.

If you were hoping for a WP-powered Vertu phone, this is probably not good news. But considering the precious metal plated phones mostly ran S40 (aside a couple of Symbians), the luxury niche of Vertu doesn't really mesh very '''' with Nokia's micro&soft strategy.

Source

Latest Galaxy S III picture points towards a 4.8-inch display

The Galaxy S III rumor mill is now running on full steam. According to the latest bit of info from Know Your Mobile, the next Galaxy phone will have a 4.8-inch display.

They reached upon this conclusion after they received the picture above with the phone set against a ruler. The length of the phone seems to be somewhere around 130mm, which makes it about as long as the Galaxy Nexus. The display itself seems to be a bit above 100mm. If you do the math it turns out to be around 4.8-inch diagonally, which is slightly greater than the 4.65-inch figure that was being floated around.

There is not much else to see except the presence of what looks like a physical Home button below the display. The constant appearance of this button keeps confusing us as we have already seen the phone having software keys within the display, as on the Galaxy Nexus. Then again, this is just a prototype device and the final device might not have this button at all.

Source

Samsung Russia starts a countdown to the next Galaxy

As we near the May 3 press event in London where the next Galaxy device will finally be unveiled, we saw a countdown timer on Samsung Russia website.

The timer currently has just over 6 days remaining and ends on May 5, which could be the date when Russians will get the Galaxy S III.

This isn't the first time a regional Samsung website has done some S III teasing - the Denmark branch posted a teaser on its Facebook page last week.

Besides the inevitable Galaxy S3 (or S III) unveiling we expect Samsung to show its own cloud storage service and perhaps a new tablet as well.

Thanks, Shaheer Ali for sending this in!

Source

Nokia N9 rumored to get PR1.3 update by the end of May

The PR1.2 update for the MeeGo-running Nokia N9 came out a couple of months ago, but even before that Nokia had been teasing PR1.3, calling it a "small but valuable" update.

Someone from a MeeGo fanblog was eager to find out more details on the next update, so they contacted Nokia - and Nokia answered. Reportedly, a Nokia representative said that the update will be out by the end of May and confirmed that the update is small, but it would contain many surprises.

The Nokia representative couldn't comment on whether the Skype app for the N9 will support video calling, like the Google Talk Video Call app already does (Skype is a third-party app after all).

It goes without saying that this info should be treated as a rumor for now.

Source (in Russian)

Samsung I9100G Galaxy S II ICS update now available

The original I9100 Galaxy S II started getting its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update in March, but its TI OMAP-based I9100G cousin wasn't that lucky.

Until recently that is, as we started getting user reports that the I9100G ICS update is already seeding in several countries. It seems the rollout has now reached almost all the I9100G Galaxy S II units worldwide.

It's good to know that Samsung hasn't forgotten all about the less popular versions of the extremely popular Galaxy S II and is deliver their due ICS servings.

If you are not sure what differences between the two international Galaxy S II versions are, you should check out our comparison article.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in!