Nielsen: Samsung, Motorola and HTC Top Five in Recent Smartphone Market Share

Nielsen’s ringing in with their end-of-the-year lists of top brands, companies and web destinations. One that caught our eye, of course, was the smartphone manufacturer chart. They pulled data from the months of August 2011 through October 2011. This isn’t overall OEM market share but gives an idea of the trends that were developing leading into the holiday season. At the top of the chart was Apple taking up 29% of the sales throughout this period, but HTC is not far behind with 21%. RIM, surprisingly, is sitting at 17%, ahead of Samsung and Motorola who both have 11% each. It would be nice to get an idea of how these numbers stacked up through Christmas but those numbers will make their way to the forefront soon enough. To see more...

Read more »

Samsung Epic 4G, LG Optimus 3D and More Gain CM7 Support

Some new devices have finally been added to CyanogenMod’s list of supported devices. We’ve got the Samsung EPIC 4G and LG Optimus 3D as notable additions. We’re also seeing support for the LG Optimus Black, Optimus Hub and Optimus Pro. These devices are on the list for CM7, of course, though we don’t expect all of these to be absent from CM9′s party sometime down the line. (The first two we mentioned are definitely high up on that “probability” list.) Head over to CyanogenMod’s site for the downloads. [Thanks to all the excited Epic 4G owners who sent this in!]...

Read more »

Verizon Wireless Discounted Galaxy Nexus Battery Now 50% Off – $20 For A Limited Time

If your recent Galaxy Nexus purchase found the battery life to be a bit… lacking, I have some good news. Verizon Wireless has the official Samsung — NFC enabled — 1850 mAh batter for only $20. That’s half-off the original asking price! Let me tell you, there’s nothing quite as liberating as having a spare battery at hand. Still a bit expensive for a regular ‘ol battery (you can get a 3-pack from China for half that price) but that’s the price you pay to keep full NFC capabilities intact.We have no idea how long this deal will last so you may want to hurry. [Verizon Wireless] Via Droid-Life...

Read more »

Samsung Conquer 4G Discounting To $50 In January Sprint – Offers You Another One FREE With Purchase

Sprint is trying to kick off 2012 into high gear with a new winter promotion starting next month. From January 8th through March 10th, new or existing Sprint customers (with an upgrade) can get a Samsung Conquer 4G at the discounted price of $50 but that’s not all — it also comes with a matching Conquer for free. Deals always sound more fun with you throw BOGO into the mix and you could do a lot worse than the Conquer 4G. As a refresher for anyone suddenly interested in the device, the Conquer features a 3.5-inch screen, 1GHz 2nd gen Snapdragon processor, 512MB of RAM and connectivity to Sprint’s 4G WiMax network (where available). Not too shabby for $25 a pop when you buy two. [Via SprintFeed]...

Read more »

Samsung Ships 1 Million Galaxy Notes Globally – Promises US Release Coming Soon

With all the complaints I’ve seen in our comments sections about devices being too large, who knew there would be such a huge market for tabletphones/phoneblets like Samsung’s Galaxy Note. The Korean phone maker announced today that they have shipped over 1 million units globally of the device since its October launch (not to be confused with actual sales) to countries in Europe and Asia but the device is still nowhere to be found here in the US where we tend to like our phones the same way we like our cars and women — BIG. Samsung did confirm that a US launch is coming soon but didn’t give any specifics on a carrier or launch date. Although, current rumors and leaked FCC docs place the device on AT&T sometime next year. Anyone...

Read more »

Samsung Aims to Sell 150 Million Smartphones in 2012

Korea Economic Daily is raising their sales forecast for Samsung by 15 percent, bringing total projected handset sales to 374 million. Of those handsets, 150 million are expected to be smartphones. To put the figure into perspective, Samsung was projected to move 300 million units this year, a figure that was easily surpassed thanks to strong sales of their Android-based Galaxy S lineup. Samsung continues to close the gap with the world’s current leading handset manufacturer, Nokia. The Finnish handset maker is projected to sell around 399 million mobile phones. [via SammyHub]...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S III Coming In February 2012?

We have been hearing rumors about Samsung’s third generation Galaxy S smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy S III over the last few months, and now according to a recent report Samsung are expected to unveil the Galaxy S III in February. The Samsung Galaxy S III is expected to be announced at Mobile World Congress 2012, which takes place next February, and we suspect it will be even more popular than the Galaxy S II. We don’t as yet have any official specifications on the Samsung Galaxy S III, from what we heard before it may either come with a quad core 1.5GHz processor or Samsung’s new dual core 2GHz Exynos 5250 processor, 2GB of RAM and a 4.65 inch HD display with a 1280 x 720 resolution similar to the Galaxy Nexus. We are looking forward...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 CM9 preview build available [ICS]

An unofficial preview build of CyanogenMOD 9 (based on Android 4.0.3) for Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Wi-Fi has been released at XDA. This is purely a preview build, full of bugs, certainly not meant for daily usage.If you want to have a look at what is coming in CM9, then you can take a shot at this build but make sure to do a full Nandroid backup. Installation process is pretty easy; you just need to have the latest CWM recovery. Do a backup, full wipe and install ROM. There is no clarity on what hardware components are actually working in this build, but according to users till now, Automatic screen rotation and camera are not working, graphics are also buggy.You can grab the download from her...

Read more »

Samsung, DoCoMo reportedly close to mobile chip joint venture

Japanese operator NTT DoCoMo is planning to make a move into mobile chipsets, with the carrier said to be close to sealing a joint venture with Samsung, Panasonic, Fujitsu and NEC, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal. Rumours originally arose in September but, this time around, sources have provided more specific details. Talks between partners are said to be close to completion, with DoCoMo set to take a majority stake in the venture to develop mobile chipsets, which is slated to be set up by March 2012. The move will be a significant one, as it will offer Samsung — which has seen record sales in 2011 — a new option for the chipsets to, as sources claim, “reduce dependence on Qualcomm”. Currently the Korean maker uses...

Read more »

Samsung transparent LCD panel

Transparent LCD panels are more often than not the stuff of sci-fi movies, but will they ever make it to our realm and dimension? It seems that the stuff you normally see on the silver screen is now about to arrive in real life, thanks to South Korean technology giants Samsung. We are talking about the Samsung LTI460AP01 transparent LCD, where it obviously works differently from regular LCDs in order to get the job done. Standard LCD panels require BLUs (Back Light Units) as a light source so that they are able to display an image, making BLUs an essential part of a LCD panel. As for transparent LCDs, it does away with BLUs but relies on other available light sources instead such as sunlight and in-door lighting. What about when you...

Read more »

Pro Tip: Take Photos During Video Recording with the Galaxy Nexus

With Android 4.0′s updated camera software, the Galaxy Nexus has quite a few tricks up its sleeve for blossoming photographers. Time lapse video and sweeping panoramic views are just the tip of the ice berg. Here’s one feature that you will hopefully be as pleasantly surprised to discover as I was. While using the camera in video mode, tapping the screen will take a snapshot of the scene without interrupting video recording (a red box around the viewfinder means you’re doing it right). Results aren’t as instant as when using the camera in photo mode and you lack the ability to refine the shot’s focus and adjust other parameters, but the functionality insures the best of both worlds, allowing you to capture life’s precious moments without...

Read more »

Custom ROM Makes ICS Face Unlock Available to Nexus S Users

What’s better than unlocking your phone with your finger? Unlocking your phone with your FACE. And now even the Nexus S will drop its lockscreen at the sight of your beautiful face. A custom ROM is necessary (of course), but the best Galaxy Nexus party trick is available for both the GSM Nexus S and the Nexus S 4G. The available ROMs are based off of the Android 4.0.3 AOSP release and the installation journey begins at the source link below. Don’t call it a gimmick, it’s the future! [via AndroidCentral]...

Read more »

Android clear winner of 2011 Smartphones race

The year 2011 has been a great year for Android based smartphone manufacturers. Handset makers like Samsung, HTC, Sony & Motorola lead the Android handset market. Special mention goes to Samsung's Galaxy series of Android phones. The series boasts various range of Android smartphones for everyone ranging from 5000 INR to 30,000 INR.According to Business Standard, Samsung Galaxy S II, priced at 30,100 INR has broken all the records. It not only became a hot-favourite of reviewers across the globe but also managed to hold ground against Apple’s smartphones. It seems to be one of the most powerful and user-friendly Android phones. Its 8MP camera is a very good replacement for a pocket camcorder.Other Android phones which lead the list of...

Read more »

Samsung to launch 3D Android phones next year, Galaxy S3 to feature quad-core processor

Samsung is planning to launch 3D Android smartphones next year. Company is actively working on the next generation of 3D technology to integrate in these smartphones, they won’t just provide 3D display, but will also help you play 3D games, record 3D movies and work with 3D TVs. Apart from these new 3D devices, Samsung might also include the technology in Galaxy S III. According to ETnews, it is however not final till now whether Galaxy S3 will come with 3D or not, but in order to procure 3D components at a major level, Samsung would need six months and that would delay the S3 launch. Thus Galaxy S 3D (tentative name) might be company’s first 3D Android phone, which is expected to launch in Q2, 2012. Korean publication further stated...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S II Duos Headed to China with Dual GSM/CDMA Support

After revealing a duo of dual-SIM handsets yesterday in the form of the Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos, Samsung will add to their lineup of handsets with expanded radio capabilities. A new variation on the Samsung Galaxy S II is headed to China and will support both GSM and CDMA2000. The phone is known as — you guessed it — the Samsung Galaxy S II Duos. The specs largely mirror previous GS2 iterations and include a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, 4.52-inch Super AMOLED Plus display, and 8MP camera with 1080p video recording. The phone ships with Android 2.3 but should be in line for an Ice Cream Sandwich update along with other members of the Galaxy S II roster. The world phone will be available from China Telecom. [Samsung via GSMArena]...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S III: Concept rendering or leak?

It seems that the folks down at Concept Phones received an email with images attached (as pictured above) of a device that the person claims to be the Samsung Galaxy S III. That person went on to list down the specs of the device which to be honest seemed a little too good (and slightly outrageous) to be true, but we’ll let you decide. According to Ivan Ilchenko, the person who leaked/created the rendering, the photo appeared on Samsung’s official page in Russia as well as on Russia’s social network Vkontakte. The device apparently features a 5” HD Super AMOLED display and is “Universal” phone that runs on both Android 4.0 and Bada OS, while powered by a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos 4412 processor with TouchWiz 5 as its UI of choice....

Read more »

Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S won’t get ICS updates, sky continues to be blue

Considering how hard it is to get Android manufacturers to update nearly new phones to the latest official software version, it should be no surprise that Samsung has declined to upgrade the Galaxy S line of smartphones and the original Galaxy Tab to Ice Cream Sandwich. The company confirmed the news on its Samsung Tomorrow (translated) blog, disappointing many and surprising few. If you can read Korean or make sense of the Google translation, it looks like TouchWiz is a primary culprit. Samsung notes that unlike Nexus phones, the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab require extra space for TouchWiz, video applications and carrier additions. There’s an obvious answer to that conundrum, Samsung, and it’s spelled A-O-S-P – just leave out the extra...

Read more »

Samsung explains why older devices won’t get Ice Cream Sandwich

Samsung global recently revealed the Ice Cream Sandwich plans for its devices, and most of the expected candidates made it to the list. However there were a handful of notable exceptions – like the original Samsung Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab (the 7″ version). Now it couldn’t be a case of device specs: even the OG DROID is capable of running Ice Cream Sandwich, so what gives?No reason was mentioned previously, but now it looks like Samsung Korea has cleared the air with a statement released yesterday. According to them, the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab both feature TouchWiz customizations and will not run smoothly on the hardware of the devices if they were ported over to Ice Cream Sandwich. From that statement, it seems that Samsung is unwilling...

Read more »

Verizon Galaxy Nexus modification will change your softkeys and their color

For Galaxy Nexus owners that just picked up their device from Verizon, you may finally have a reason to root your device. Yes, rooting does void your warranty – but it opens a world of new available features. Even though Verizon’s Nexus is fairly new, development has been progressing at an excellent rate. We recently discussed a battery mod compatible with the Android Revolution HD ROM for the Galaxy Nexus, and now there is a softkey mod that adds a “Search” softkey pictured as a magnifying glass to the right of the bottom menu buttons. The softkeys are also available in different colors; personally, I prefer the ICS blue. It looks excellent. You can now expect support for both the 4.0.2 and 4.0.3 based ROMs, and as they are incorporated...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Nexus vs Nokia Lumia 800

We compare Samsung's flagship Android Ice Cream Sandwich phone, the Galaxy Nexus, against Nokia's premier Windows Phone 'Mango' handset, the Lumia 800.FormSamsung Galaxy Nexus - 135.5x67.9x8.9mm,135gNokia Lumia 800 - 116.5x61.2x12.1mm,142gVisually both devices are very impressive with some distinctive and unique design features which help them stand out from the competition.The Nokia Lumia 800 is a very sharp and angular handset being bluntly rectangular in shape and topped by a gently curved glass screen.Build quality feels very impressive indeed, the phone uses an aluminium unibody and it’s probably one of the most well put-together handsets we’ve seen this year.Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus is the polar opposite in terms of aesthetics, it’s all...

Read more »