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Buckle up people, because this is going to get rough. When the world's four most powerful smartphones are about to go ballistic, it is the right time to take this website's name literally. The stage is set for the four titans of the Android world...
Samsung's full report of its Q2 performance is out (there was a preliminary report earlier this month) and gives us a more detailed picture of how the tech giant did in the second quarter. Sales for the company as a whole reached $41.8 billion (up 21% year on year), operating profit was $5.9 billion (up 72% YoY) and net profit was $4.6 billion (a 48% increase YoY).
Just the handset division of Samsung accounted for $18 billion in sales, a 75% increase from the sales from Q2 last year. IT & Mobile communications (of which the handset division is a part of) reports $21.1 billion in sales and an operating profit of $3.7 billion - a massive 145% jump up year on year.
During Q2 of this year, Samsung shipped an estimated 50 million smartphones, compared to Apple's 26 million iPhones. According to Reuters, Samsung broke a smartphone sales record in Q2.
Demand for Samsung's smartphones increased QoQ by a "low single digit %", while feature phone sales cooled off. The newly launched Galaxy S III flagship and strong sales of the Galaxy Note phoneblet along with higher demand for other high-end Samsung smartphones are behind the increased profit. The Average Selling Price also went up.
Samsung predicts better smartphone sales in Q3 and expects feature phones to bounce back. There will be new "products with diverse price ranges" and tablet competition will continue with "new product launches" (we'll see what they deliver on August 15).
Samsung, of course, makes a lot more than just phones. You can read their report for all the details, but here's a quick summary. Sales of LTE network equipment decreased quarter-on-quarter. TV sales increased a bit and now over 60% are LED TVs (up from mid 50%), 3D displays are also in demand. Mobile/server DRAM is selling better than desktop DRAM, NAND demand improved due to new mobile product launches.
Source (PDF)
A few days ago Samsung removed the local search functionality from the smartphone's search widget with an update. An Apple patent violation was supposedly the reason behind the downgrade.
Yesterday though Samsung said the local search removal in the international Galaxy S III was "inadvertent" and promised to bring it back in a few days.
Well, the updates are already rolling out and if you got your local search removed, it should be restored any moment now.
Thank you, Daium, for the tip!
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And the juicy details keep flowing in. Like we mentioned in our previous article about leaked iPhone prototype designs, the Apple vs. Samsung legal battle is resulting in a lot of never before seen information reaching the public through legal documents.
The latest bit of info comes regarding Samsung and how it was repeatedly warned against Apple's designs. One of the warnings came from Google themselves back in 2010, who noticed that Samsung's tablets P1 (Galaxy Tab) and P3 (Galaxy Tab 10.1) were too similar to the iPad and demanded distinguishable design vis--vis the iPad for the P3. Google even asked Samsung to make the tablets noticeably different, starting from the front side.
Another interesting things is that Samsung's own Product Design Group also noted in 2011 that it is regrettable that the Galaxy S looks similar to the older iPhone models.
Also interesting is the fact that famous designers as part of a Samsung sponsored evaluation said that the Galaxy S looked like it copied the iPhone too much and that innovation is needed. They felt that the design resembles the iPhone's design too closely so that the buyer would confuse between the two and that all you have to do is cover up the logo and there won't be any difference between them.
The Verge is also reporting that Samsung was so hell bent on beating Apple, they made it their official internal goal for 2012. Earlier documents also reveal that Samsung specifically requested to have features like the iOS' bounce effect while scrolling be implemented in their browser.
One of 2011's notes also say that Samsung diverted their attention away from Nokia and towards Apple as it was their main competitor and that Samsung's UX compared to Apple was like that of Heaven and Earth.
One last and rather damning piece of evidence against Samsung is a document that says that in seven out of the thirty Best Buy stores that Samsung surveyed, the main reason for returning Samsung's tablets was that people bought them thinking they were iPads, thus proving Apple's original point for suing Samsung.
There is a lot more to find in the source links below. One thing's for sure, if you thought Samsung was innocent all this time, you could not have been more wrong.
Source 1 Source 2
A few days ago Samsung removed the local search functionality from the smartphone's search widget with an update. An Apple patent violation was supposedly the reason behind the downgrade.
Yesterday though Samsung said the local search removal in the international Galaxy S III was "inadvertent" and promised to bring it back in a few days.
Well, the updates are already rolling out and if you got your local search removed, it should be restored any moment now.
Thank you, Daium, for the tip!
Source
Every time Google announces a new version of its Android mobile OS, every droid user out there starts asking - will my smartphone get it? Well, we have some bad news for Sony Ericsson phones regarding Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and worse still - LG cancelled the ICS update for two of its phones.
Sony (actually, Sony Ericsson at the time) made sure to announce early on that its 2011 Xperia lineup will be updated to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (even if the company wasn't so quick to actually deliver the updates). And now is has revealed that the Xperia arc S and Xperia mini pro won't be getting Jelly Bean.
This is coming from John Cooper, UK Product Manager for Sony Mobile, and while he didnt say anything about other models, they all use the same chipset (with the arc S using an overclocked version). This means it's more than likely that the entire 2011 lineup will be missing out on the Android 4.1 JB fun.
As for the 2012 Xperia phones, Cooper says they're still reviewing which handsets are "the best for the Jelly Bean update" and promised Sony will announce its decision on Facebook once it figures it out.
No Jelly Bean sounds rough, but LG Canada had some worse news for some of its users - no Ice Cream Sandwich update for the LG Optimus 2X and Optimus Black. The LG Optimus 2X was expected to get Ice Cream Sandwich in Q2 but got delayed to Q3 and the Optimus Black was originally scheduled for Q3.
Now it turns out that the ICS update for both phones has been canceled - in Canada, at least. The statement doesn't make it entirely clear if this is a country-specific thing or if all Optimus 2X and Black phones will remain stuck on Gingerbread.
Source 1 | Via Source 2
The DROID Incredible line of smartphones for Verizon Wireless, much like the EVO family offered by Sprint, consists of US-only, carrier exclusive devices made by HTC. The HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE is the latest member of the family to come our way and it seems to have ambitions worthy of its rather epic name.
HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE official photos
Unlike its predecessor, which was a minor update over the original, the HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE is a major leap forwards. The smartphone offers a curious blend of high-end features, packed into an already familiar looking and pocket-friendly package. As a matter of fact, you will have a hard time finding a more powerful Android device with similar dimensions on the US market.
Here goes the two lists, summing up the most important things you need to know about the HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE.
As you probably noticed , the HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE is anything but short on processing power. Even when underclocked, the Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with its two Krait CPU cores is more than sufficient to easily pull a smartphone through any task you throw at it.
The fairly compact body of the Incredible 4G LTE is likely its most important feature. The device offers a great alternative to those who think that a Galaxy S III or an HTC One X is a bit too much to handle. Also, we had almost forgotten when was the last time we could handle an Android flagship with one hand.
The HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE does have its disadvantages but depending on your preferences and usage patterns they might not matter too much to you. The phone's looks are hardly revolutionary, but some might prefer to call the design an HTC classic. . Either way, the device is easily recognizable as a member of the Taiwanese company's smartphone lineup.
HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE live photos
As always, we are going to kick our review off with an unboxing of the HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE, followed by a design and build quality inspection.
Editorial: You might notice that this review is shorter than usual and doesn't include some of our proprietary tests. The reason is it has been prepared and written far away from our office and test lab. The HTC DROID Incredible 4G LTE is a US-only phone and it will not be making rounds on the Old Continent. Still, we think we've captured the essence of the phone in the same precise, informative and detailed way that's become our trademark. Enjoy the good read!
The lucky geeks at Engadget got their hands on a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro MDP (Mobile Developer Platform) and managed to run several benchmarks on it. The Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset in question is APQ8064 - with a quad-core Krait processor and Adreno 320 GPU. It should come as no surprise then that it managed to beat current chipsets quite easily.
Krait is a newer architecture than Cortex-A9 (which powers the likes of Tegra 3 and Exynos 4 Quad chipsets) and even dual-core Kraits usually come close to quad-core A9's in tests. The brand new Adreno GPU turned out quite powerful too - it's a new design compared to the 2xx series.
Here are the benchmark results obtained:
| S4 Pro MDP (APQ8064) | Nexus 7 (Tegra 3) | Galaxy S III (Exynos 4412) | One X (Tegra 3) | Galaxy S III (AT&T, MSM8960) | One X (AT&T, MSM8960) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Quadrant | 7,698 | 3,501 | 4,454 | 4,906 | 5,084 | 4,784 |
| Vellamo | 2,538 | 1,650 | 1,751 | 1,617 | 2,153 | 2,259 |
| AnTuTu | 13,826 | 8,995 | 11,960 | 11,030 | 6,713 | 6,956 |
| SunSpider 0.9.1 (ms) | 1,227 | 1,785 | 1,460 | 1,773 | 1,926 | 1,453 |
| GLBenchmark Egypt Offscreen (fps) | 132 | 63 | 99 | 63 | 54 | 56 |
| CF-Bench | 18,219 | 11,807 | 13,110 | 13,233 | 9,439 | 9,479 |
| SunSpider: lower scores are better | ||||||
The processor offers double the performance of a dual-core Krait CPU according to CF-Bench (no surprise here) and a big improvement on the quad-core Cortex-A9 chipsets. The SunSpider results also improved even though JavaScript isn't exactly multicore-friendly.
GLBenchmark shows GPU performance has more than doubled since Adreno 225 and easily beats Tegra 3's GeForce GPU. The Mali-400MP in the Exynos chipset comes closer, but is still over 30fps behind.
Those are some very impressive results, but it will be a while before we see the beastly chipest inside a consumer product. S4 Pro chipsets will probably debut on tablets, seeing how every major smartphone maker has already unveiled its flagship phone (besides Apple, but theyll use their own design anyway).
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The latest 'stability' update for the international Samsung Galaxy S III no longer lets you search your local data (such as contacts and media files), due to legal pressure from Apple.
This comes after a similar patch removed universal search functionality from the Sprint and AT&T variants of the Galaxy S III in the US a couple of weeks ago. The driving force behind the downgrade is the search feature patented by Apple was found to be violated in Samsung's Galaxy Nexus, which, as you'll recall, was temporarily banned from sale in the US because of this.
It is a bit of a mystery why Samsung has decided to remove this feature on the international version as well, since Apple have yet to pursue any patent infringements overseas, but it's most likely a preventative measure by Samsung, who don't want to impede the S III's stellar sales record.
This update does not necessarily mean that we've seen the last of local device search on the S III, but until Samsung finds an alternative, know that the latest firmware version XXLG6 does away with this functionality.
Source | Via
LG handed in its report card for Q2 of this year. Overall the company did well, but the mobile phone division continues to struggle. The other divisions picked up the slack though and the company's profit increased compared to the same quarter last year.
The Mobile Communications division (which handles phones and network equipment) shipped 13.1 million phones, noting decreasing demand for featurephones and strong sales for LTE-enabled phones.
LG sold handsets worth $1.98 billion in Q2, a 28.6% decline year on year and 6.8% decline quarter on quarter. That resulted in an operating loss of $51 million, compared to $48 million loss during Q2 of last year. Part of the operating loss is attributed to increased marketing expenses.
LG expects to see even more demand for LTE phones in Q3, but also tougher competition from other companies and their new flagship models. The company plans to continue bringing out new LTE phones in the developed markets and try to improve its marketing and supply chain.
The consolidated sales of LG went up to $12.5 billion (up both QoQ and YoY) and the operating profit increased to $303 million (up from $137 million in Q2 2011). Net profit was $138 million.
Home Appliances saw improvements in sales and profit both QoQ and YoY, while sales from the other divisions decreased compared to last year. They (aside from the Mobile Communications division) did improve quarter on quarter though.
You can find LG's detailed Q2 financial report, including more on how each of its divisions did, over here (PDF).
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Today Nokia announced that they have completed the acquisition of technologies, developers and intellectual property from imaging software specialists Scalado. The Finns first hinted at this deal last month, and they are now ready to finalize it.
As you may know, due to some reasons that the two companies have chosen not to disclose, Nokia is not actually buying the Scalado company, but only its personnel and technology. From a users' perspective there's little difference though, as the cool software features developed by the Swedish-based company will soon be making their way to Nokia smartphones.
In fact, Nokia Lumia users have already started seeing the benefits of the Nokia Scalado partnership with the camera extras update that was delivered at the end of June.
With hints getting stronger and stronger that we might see the first PureView-packing Lumia smartphone this Fall, the completion of this deal could only lead to more good news for cameraphone lovers. Imagine the power of that huge sensor combined with impressive software tricks like Scalado Remove and Scalado Rewind and Smart Group Shot.
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The T-02D is the latest in Toshiba's range of REGZA smartphones for Japan. This one comes with a 13.1 megapixel Sony EXMOR R BSI sensor and claims to go as high as ISO 25,600 equivalent ISO, although what kind of images you'll get at that sensitivity remains to be seen.
Other features on this phone include a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor, 1GB of RAM, 4.3-inch, qHD NEW AMOLED Plus display with Corning Gorilla Glass coating, fingerprint sensor, water IPX5/8) and dust-resistance (IPX5), 1,800mAh battery and Android 4.0.
The phone will be available on NTT DOCOMO network, starting July 26.
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It seems Samsung is planning a new smartphone for Sprint's equally new 4G LTE network and we have got some pictures of it as well. The Samsung SPH-L300 or 'Gogh as it is known for now, comes across as a mid-range smartphone but with some pretty good specs.
For starters, it is said to have a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, same as the one inside the US version of the Galaxy S III, except on the Gogh it has been underclocked to 1.2GHz from 1.5GHz. Other specs include 4-inch, 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus display, 1GB RAM, 5 megapixel camera, NFC with Google Wallet support and Android 4.0.4, Ice Cream Sandwich.
The phone has a very simple and almost bland look to it. It also looks quite similar to some of HTC's phones, such as the Desire.
No price or release date is available at the moment but the phone is said to be announced soon. Check the source link for more pictures.
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We're hearing new reports about a smaller dock connector debuting on the iPhone 5 - this time courtesy of insider sources close to Reuters. While we've heard before that the next iPhone will feature a smaller dock connector this is the first time we get a sneak peek at the actual size. According to the undisclosed sources the new dock connector will be 19-pin, instead of the previous 30-pin one.
The new smaller dock will open up space at the bottom for the migrating 3.5 mm headphone jack (which makes its way down from the top of the device), whilst keeping the microphone and speaker grills at their previous locations, albeit with a different design.
A new connector will surely infuriate the numerous owners of accessories, tailored for the iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. And it makes us think why put a brand new connector instead of just switching to the popular microUSB. Apple is sure to have its reasons, but on the surface it looks like a move motivated mostly by the company's aim to sell more accessories.
In other news DigiTimes reports that Taiwan-based Pegatron has begun production of the next iPhone in their Shanghai factory. The iPhone 5 should hit the shelves around October with sources suggesting it will feature a bigger display of 16:9 aspect ratio, an updated design and finally sporting the shiny new iOS 6 (but you knew that already, didn't you).
Source 1 | Source 2 | Via
An image, which leaked on Twitter reveals a low-end Samsung Galaxy Reverb (SPH-M950), that's bound for a Sprint release. The image was leaked by the same source that brought us the Galaxy Jasper - a similar device bound for Verizon's LTE network. The post has been deleted from Twitter since, which leads us to believe that it was trustworthy.
The Reverb offers a different capacitive button layout than the Jasper, but otherwise looks identical. Both should feature a 4" WVGA (400 x 800) screen, 768 MB worth of RAM and a 5 MP camera on the back with Ice Cream Sandwich on top. Under the hood is where things are different - the Reverb is reportedly powered by a single-core 1.4GHz processor, while the Jasper has a high-end dual-core Krait processor, clocked at 1.5 GHz.
There's no word on eventual pricing or availability or if the Galaxy Reverb will offer LTE connectivity like the Galaxy Jasper.
Source (pulled) | Via
Unlike HTC, Samsung is yet to announce the list of devices that will get Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Insiders have talked to SamMobile, however, and said that Samsung is already testing Jelly Bean on the Samsung Galaxy S III.
The new flagship is proving to be a strong seller and Samsung is reportedly close to finishing up the update - there's no planned date yet, but August or September are reportedly a realistic target.
An update for the predecessor - the Samsung Galaxy S II - is also being tested, but it is less certain as Samsung is yet to evaluate how well the new OS with its customizations on top runs on the older hardware.
The company will reportedly place more focus on updating its high-end devices, so the Galaxy Note and Galaxy Tab 7.7 (which use pretty much the same internals as the S II) also have a chance of getting an update.
By the way, both the Galaxy S III and the S II have already got the chance to taste Jelly Bean through CyanogenMod 10 (and other ROMs too). Still, Samsung hasnt committed to any updates officially, so which devices get what and when is yet uncertain.
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Samsung Electronics America sent out "Save the date" notes to the press that they will be announcing a new Galaxy device on August 15. They kept the note all mysterious and offered no info on the device, but the words "major announcement and unveiling of the newest GALAXY device" are enough to draw plenty of interest on their own.
So, what's it going to be? The Samsung Galaxy Note II has been going around the rumor mill for a while now, but the latest rumors put its announcement two weeks later - August 30, just before the IFA start.
The other Note - the Galaxy Note 10.1 - is a likelier candidate. It has gone through a redesign (its CPU got updated to four cores and a slot was added for the S Pen stylus) and even briefly popped up (by mistake) for pre-order on J&R. The pre-order deal was $499 for the 16GB version and $549 for the 32GB version, but that page has since been pulled.
It has been pointed out that the note comes from Samsung Electronics America, not Samsung Telecommunications America (who usually handle phones), which lends some credence to the Note 10.1 theory.
Then there's the possibility of something new (or new to America at least). Anyway, the full details will be revealed during the August 15 press conference, but maybe the upcoming invitation for the event will give us some more info.
Note: the image above is just an old Galaxy S teaser image and not from the note sent out by Samsung.
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