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Samsung Posts Record Q4 Numbers, 35 Million Smartphones Sold

admin — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 14:39:54 +0000

Samsung has today posted record quarterly profits after selling 35 million smartphones in the fourth quarter, up from 27.9 million in the previous quarter. Operating profits have soared to 5.2 trillion won (US $4.47 billion), representing a 73 percent year-over-year increase. You can bet that the still-very-popular Samsung Galaxy S II has something to do with it, along with Google’s latest flagship device: the ICS-powered Galaxy Nexus. Of course, the revenue generated from Samsung’s processing chip and OLED display business didn’t hurt either, reports Reuters . What’s most interesting perhaps is that Samsung only joined in on the smartphone party back in 2010, and has since dominated the market. Last quarter, the South Korea-based electronics giant surged past Apple to take the lead as smartphone king — all the while being taken to court in all corners of the globe.

Samsung DV300F Dualview Camera

admin — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 23:35:40 +0000

The Samsung DV300F camera is an update to Samsung’s DualView line of cameras. Obviously, its main differentiation is the front LCD display that lets users capture shots that would otherwise be more difficult, like self-portraits. The front LCD also has a cool feature that displays an animation to keep young children focused on the camera: that’s pretty smart

Optically, the camera has a 7.76mm 16 Megapixel CCD sensor which receives light from a 4.5-22.5mm (5X zoom) f4.5 lens. It should do well in good lighting conditions, but could be more challenged in dim lighting situations. Samsung has included an image stabilization system (IS), although it is not clear which technique they use, although I suppose that it is an electronic IS system rather than an optical one. (more…)

Samsung DV300F Dualview Camera, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Asus Transformer Prime Review,

Refresh Roundup: week of November 28, 2011

admin — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:08:02 +0000

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging to get updated. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery from the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Official Android updates

Amazon began delivering a system update to the Kindle Fire this week, updating the tablet to version 6.2 of its software. It’s an OTA update that gets installed automatically. All Amazon will say about the new version is that it provides improvements to the Fire’s operation. [MobileBurn]
The Samsung Droid Charge got Gingerbread (Android 2.3.6, specifically) this week, and the rollout began a day later than promised. Still, it’s finally here. [Unwired View]
Verizon also sent out Gingerbread build EH03 to owners of the Samsung Fascinate. [Droid-Life]
The Motorola Milestone 2 in Europe started receiving Gingerbread this week. [Phandroid]
Speaking of Europe, the UK version of the LG Optimus 2X finally got its Gingerbread refresh. [AndroidCentral]
Another OTA update for the Motorola Droid has come, and once again it’s not Gingerbread. This one is merely a security / bug fix update. [Android Community]
If you’re a Motorola Milestone X owner on regional carrier Cellcom, congratulations — you have a Gingerbread refresh coming straight at you. [AndroidCentral]
Verizon pushed out a minor download for the Motorola Xoom. The update, known as HLK75F, essentially includes the ability to set up the Xoom on a PAYG plan. Oh, and a refreshed Google Setup Wizard. Yeehaw. [Droid-Life]

Unofficial Android updates, custom ROMs and misc. hackery

Plenty of CM9 news: alpha builds of the ROM have been found working on the Nexus One and Nexus S. [ExtremeTech and TechCrunch]
MIUI showed off a few screenshots of its official ICS ROM. [MIUI]
An alpha build of ICS is now available for the Motorola Droid Bionic. It’s mostly functional, apparently, but still has a few things missing, such as data and WiFi connectivity. [AndroidCentral]
The HTC Droid Incredible 2 has a custom ICS ROM in beta. [Droid-Life]

Other platforms

All of you Nokia N8 owners waiting for an update to Symbian Belle, it looks like it was leaked again, this time on NaviFirm. They’re still hidden from public view at the moment, but someone was able to grab a copy of the firmware and upload it for everyone’s enjoyment — before updating, however, make sure you know how to properly use it. [ZOMGitsCJ]
Sprint pushed a maintenance release to the BlackBerry 9670 Style. Known as version 6.0.0.706, it’s not exactly certain what enhancements were added into the download. [N4BB]
The AT&T Dell Venue Pro is finally getting updated to Mango. If you own one, you should be able to connect your phone to your desktop Zune client and get going. [The Verge]
Build 7740 of Windows Phone 7.5 is making its way out to the Nokia Lumia 800, LG Optimus 7, Samsung Omnia W and a few HTC handsets. [WMPowerUser]
Windows Phone 7 Connector for Mac was updated for added compatibility with Mango. This edition threw in Aperture support (instead of just using iPhoto for photography), drag and drop capability for transferring files and 13 additional languages. [Electronista]
Curious to know what every single WP7 update has included thus far? The Windows Phone Team published a history of every new version pushed out to phones and what each one included. Good Sunday read, if you’re interested. [Microsoft]

Refreshes we covered this week

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Android Smartphone Round-Up: November Edition

admin — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:54:33 +0000

Changing Leaves. Black Friday. And Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. These are the cornerstones of the month of November. Releasing new phones, however, is not. Unfortunately, this means that our Android Smartphone Round-Up for November is a bit lean, but we’ve still managed to pick out a few handsets worth your valuable consideration. Without further ado, these are our favorite November releases of the Gingerbread (2.3) persuasion: The Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket (AT&T), the HTC Rezound (Verizon), and the Samsung Captivate Glide (AT&T). They range between a solid $300 to a cool $149 (all with a two-year agreement, of course), and each has its claim to fame. Onward! HTC Rezound: Features: 4.3-inch 720

Motorola DROID 4 official photos and specs leaked

admin — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 10:06:06 +0000

The last we heard about the Motorola DROID 4 was last week when a leaked document showed the phone having the same release date as the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon’s network. Now, more details about the phone have been leaked ahead of schedule, including some official pictures of the device. With reports about training for the DROID 4 commencing in some Verizon shops, it looks like the phone is on track to arrive next week.

The Motorola DROID 4 will have a 4″ qHD (960 x 540) display, a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1GB of RAM, a 5-row slideout keyboard, 4G LTE, 8-megapixel rear camera, a front facing camera, Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, HDMI out, MotoACTV and more. It is expected to go on sale December 8^th, so expect an official announcement soon.

Motorola DROID 4 official photos and specs leaked, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Epic 4G Touch Review,

Samsung Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 doesn’t have Flash

admin — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 14:26:59 +0000

We’re nearing the end of November and Verizon still hasn’t starting selling Samsung’s mammoth-sized Galaxy Nexus running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. Well, you can add another thing to the worry list: no Adobe Flash support for the time being.

Windows Phone 7.5 update heading towards Samsung Focus 1.4

admin — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 05:58:19 +0000

For AT&T customers who are rocking to a Samsung Focus 1.4 smartphone, here is a little bit of good news to end your week on a decent note – it seems that Windows Phone 7.5 updates will be rolling out for said smartphone, while the same update is also in the works for those who are using the Samsung Omnia 7 all the way across the pond – in Spain, specifically, for Telefonica subscribers. The scheduling process will need to be sped up though, since it has been fully tested. (more…)

Windows Phone 7.5 update heading towards Samsung Focus 1.4, By Ubergizmo. Top Stories : Galaxy S2 Review,

Patience Is A Virtue: Motorola Releases The 32GB Xoom 4G LTE, Available From Verizon From $499

admin — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 18:00:58 +0000

Maybe somewhere out there, a diehard Motorola and Android fan has patiently been waiting for the LTE edition of the Xoom. He’s stuck it out, not wanting to buy the 3G Xoom and eventually having to send it back to Motorola for its LTE transplant. He’s been waiting for the complete package. Well, nearly eight months to the day after the Xoom first hit the market, Motorola finally introduced the Xoom 4G LTE and it’s available from Verizon. It only comes in the 32GB flavor and carries a price of $669 or, with a two year Verizon contract , $499. But everything else is the same as the original. A 1GHz Tegra 2 powers the Honeycomb 3.2 operating system. But this time around, it packs the goods right out of the box to jump onto Verizon’s speedy LTE network. This release fulfills the destiny of the Xoom. It was originally supposed to be the first Honeycomb LTE tablet but launched …

Android Smartphone Round-Up: October Edition

admin — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:53:09 +0000

Even with Ice Cream Sandwich on the way , Android Gingerbread devices are still as hot as ever. That said, there are way too many Android handsets on the market to parse through each and every one, but that’s why we’re here. We’ve looked through all the latest Android smartphones to give you our brief thoughts on the pick of the litter. These aren’t full-length reviews, but rather a way for you to easily compare what we think to be the most full-featured Android handsets released this month. Hopefully, your shopping research just got way less intensive. For the glorious and spooky month of October, we’re putting the following handsets on the table: Samsung Galaxy S II (AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint) Motorola Droid RAZR (Verizon, and maybe AT&T ), HTC Amaze 4G (T-Mobile), and the Samsung Stratosphere (Verizon). While each of these phones run Android 2.3 Gingerbread, they all have something different they bring to the table, …

Samsung MV800 Review: For The Narcissist In All Of Us

admin — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 17:01:16 +0000

Short Version: While the idea of a flip-out screen for self-portraits is just a tad gimmicky, the MV800 is one sweet little point-and-shoot. Whether you’re straight-up obsessed with yourself, or a narcissist is hidden deep within, this thing just begs you to take pictures of yourself. And if your experience is anything like mine, you’ll really, really enjoy it. Features: 3-inch capacitive flip-out LCD touchscreen 16.1 megapixels 26mm wide-angle lens Full HD video capture 5x optical zoom MSRP: $279 Pros: Too many fun software features to count Compact (and beautiful) design: should fit comfortably in any pocket Straight-forward interface: easy enough for a grandma to understand Cons: Touchscreen wasn’t as responsive as I’d have liked — flipping through pictures was a bit tedious No microphone input, despite 720p video capture capability Samsung may have overdone it on some funky features — Pose …