iPhone 4 vs. Samsung Galaxy S II Pre-Order: Apple Loses

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It would appear that Apple’s iPhone 4 has a battle on its hands in Korea, this is according to the pre-order sales figures for the Samsung Galaxy S II.
It is claimed that the Samsung Galaxy S II had nearly 200,000 pre-orders across all 3 of Korea’s major carriers between Monday, April 25th and the handset’s launch in its homeland on Friday, April 29th. The majority of the pre-orders (160,000) were with the country’s largest carrier SK Telecom.
Now compared with 110,000 pre-orders of the Apple iPhone 4 in the month of August just before its release, this could be considered as a win for Samsung. However, as with the USA the iPhone was confined to only one carrier at that time, which no doubt had an effect on the overall sales figures for the device.
The plan by Samsung, as indicated by Electronista coming to us via Phandroid, is to get 10 million Galaxy S II’s in customers’ pockets by the end of this year, this is the same figure that they received for the original Galaxy S smartphone. Whilst, this number sounds huge, it is quite modest when compared to the 18.65 million iPhones that Apple shipped last winter.
The Samsung Galaxy S II could be a major contender to its rivals this Summer. Which device do you prefer the Apple iPhone 4 or the Samsung Galaxy S II?

 

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Android Honeycomb Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 Previewed on Video

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Thinking of getting an Android tablet, perhaps one from Samsung? How about the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 that is expected to become available on June the 8th? How about having a quick look at the Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet in action?
That’s what we have for your viewing appraisal below, a preview video of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 WiFi model I action courtesy of Phone Arena by way of Engadget and NewGadgets.de, which delivers just over two minutes of previewing the device.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 in the footage is a working model of the device, but alas doesn’t come up with anything informative concerning the tablet’s capabilities, but it at least does give us a look at what we can expect from the new Android device..
As stated earlier the expected release of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 is the 8th of June and price wise the 16GB version commands $469 while the 32GB model commands a price tag of $569. So anyone hoping to snap up the Samsung Galaxy Tab 8.9 come June the 8th?

 

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Verizon Wireless Launching Official Pirates App

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Verizon Wireless has teamed up with Disney to bring you the official Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides app. This app will carry exclusive Disney content from the upcoming theatrical release of the movie with the same name. The Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides app will feature character bios, character stills, movie artwork, local show times and allow integration with social networking sites Facebook and Twitter.
The app will also stream live starting at 8:45pm PST from the world premiere of the movie in Anaheim California on May 7th. Verizon Wireless and Disney will also make the mobile game: Pirates Of The Caribbean: Master Of The Seas, available to Verizon Android users from May 17th to June 14th.
The highly interactive Master of The Seas game allows players to customize pirates and their ships, engage in battles and embark on quests.
Hopefully the pirate advocates won’t try to get this game pulled off the market.
 

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Things We Missed You Shouldn't

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Its another wonderful morning here at Phandroid and after another 24 hours of bringing you the latest Android news and goodies, we’re left with – the other stuff. But don’t let “other stuff” fool you. We simply mean the items that for one reason or another, didn’t manage to grace our glorious front page. That doesn’t mean you wont find anything of interest, so feel free to sift through our selections and comment on the ones you found most interesting. Good night!

• Eric Schmidt explains Google’s hiring process. Rubix cube and long division required.
• RIM looks to extend it’s Blackberry Enterprise Server to Android and iOS by acquiring Ubitexx [BGR]
• Spacetime Studios announces exciting news for Pocket Legends players. Free anniversary content will remain free… forever. [iSource]
• Another Gingerbread leak for the DROID X is available via MyDroidWorld.
• Rovio says Angry Birds Rio will get its first update sometime next week. [Droid Gamers]
• The LG Optimus 2X has gotten a Guinness world record for the world’s first dual-core smartphone.
• Google Shopper has updated with new interface and QR scanning.
• Woman racks up $200k on stolen SIM Card – welcome to jail!

 

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HTC Kingdom Gingerbread ROM Leaks – Is This The Sprint EVO 3D? [Analysis, Download Mirrors]

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A few days ago, the Chinese HTC blog 911sniper that most HTC ROM leaks originate from posted images and a minimal amount of information on HTC’s 2 newest and mysterious devices: the Rider and the Kingdom. Not much was known about either, except that the Kingdom has a qHD (540x960px) resolution.
Today, 911sniper gave birth to an actual ROM of the Kingdom, which cleared up quite a few things to us.
Update: Porting of this ROM to the Desire HD is already in progress.

Analysis

After downloading the HTC Kingdom ROM and ripping it apart, there is no doubt in my mind that the Kingdom and the EVO 3D are one and the same, the Kingdom being EVO 3D’s codename.
First of all, this is clearly a Sprint device. It is evident from the name of the ROM (Kingdom_Sprint_WWE…) and the fact that inside it contains references to WiMax all over the place.
Going further, the qHD screen matches the one on the EVO 3D, and the only differences I can see are in the looks – 911′s device has "HTC" in the center with the circles around the buttons not visible, while our CTIA hands-on with the EVO 3D showed a slightly different picture. However, having differences between test and production devices is not unheard of.

Left: Kingdom; right: EVO 3D

Based on the build.prop file, we’re dealing with a Gingerbread build with a familiar build number GRI40 (Android 2.3.3) – htc_kingdom-userdebug 2.3.3 GRI40 eng.root.20110430.001439. If you remember, the EVO 3D comes with Gingerbread, so things check out here.
Finally, there is an abundance of 3D apps in the leak, which may or may not point to a 3D-enabled device. It’s possible that these are just normal 3-dimensional apps visible without a 3D device, which is what we were all used to before glasses-free 3D came along. Specifically, they are:

• com.htc.htcmsgwidgets3d.apk
• HtcPhotoGridWidget3D.apk
• htccalendarwidgets3d.apk
• HtcFootprintsWidget3d.apk
• HtcWeather3DWidget.apk
• com.htc.FriendStream3DWidget.apk
• htcbookmarkwidget3d.apk
• htcmailwidgets3d.apk
• htcwatchwidget3d.apk
• com.htc.Sync3DWidget.apk
• HtcClock3DWidget.apk
• com.htc.Twitter3DWidget.apk
• htccontactwidgets3D.apk

I think that the HTC Kingdom is the EVO 3D. I’d be surprised if HTC had an almost identical to the EVO 3D device, also on Sprint, in the works. Please prove me wrong if you see something I’ve missed.
P.S. I’ve taken a look at the static and live wallpapers and disappointingly found pretty much nothing new.
P.P.S. The HTC Rider ROM was leaked as well.

Download

Feel free to download and play with this ROM, eloquently named (with _ replaced by space for readability)
Kingdom Sprint WWE 0.81.651.0 Radio 1.05.00.0429 NV SPCS 2.25 0429 PRL21078 test 188785.zip
from the original link (very confusing and all in Chinese) or from the collection of faster mirrors I just uploaded.
 [source: Sniper]

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Two fanboy fire starters: Android market share and free apps, and there relevance to you

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We reported a little while ago about two things that are stirring up quite a ruckus in the digital world: The Android Market now has more free apps than its iOS counterpart, and that for the first time in a LONG time Android market share actually decreased slightly. As an Android user what does this mean for you?

More Free Apps:
Anyone with half a brain knows that companies will play to their strong points. When the App Store had 10 times the amount of apps as The Market, Apple was quick to point it out (for proof, look at the press release of the iPad 2 and their comparison to Honeycomb). Now that Apple is losing ground (and quickly) in the number of apps, Apple likes to point out that people are happier with the quality of their apps (this, ironically coming before their announcement that they’re going to start “cleansing” the app store of “crappy” apps). While it’s no surprise that the App Store generally wins the award in the quality department, how much does that matter? Do you care if you get a slightly more polished game when you have to pay for it. Or does a slightly less perfect, free alternative suffice? A lot of iOS users were annoyed when they found out that Angry Birds was free on Android, but they had to pay .99 to get it for their iPhone (I can even recall a friend saying “why the heck can’t I have an app filled free version? They don’t bother me”). I think this is where the debate stems from, and where I think Android pulls away. Angry Birds looks just as good on my Evo as it does as my iTouch, and it actually plays slightly smoother on my Evo than it does on my iTouch. Some people may argue “well, not everyone can afford an Evo.” Well, people shouldn’t compare the iPhone to a cheap, $50 Android phone. That’s rather biased, don’t you think? When put up to the Android devices that compare with the iPhone, my experiences tell me that the games look just as good and play the same (and yes, games look better on a Super AMOLED screen than they do on a retina display). So if you take that out of the equation all you have let is options. You have the OPTION on Android to get an ad-free version for a price, or an ad filled version that’s free. Also, something a lot of people don’t realize, if you turn off mobile data and/or wifi you won’t get ads. So you can even get an ad free version without paying. Cool, huh? iOS developers know that a lot of buyers in that market will pay for their games so they don’t even offer an ad free version most of the time. The fundamental debate: Android has options, Apple is more polished but with a “take it as we give it” mentality. I personally prefer the Android approach, how about you?
The other thing that people are having a cow about is that Android market share went down for the first time in nearly 2 years. It fell from 53% to 50%. All I have to say is, are you kidding me???? Why is this a big deal? Yeah, Apple supporters will likely rejoice at the idea that Android has plateaued, but if you think that you aren’t looking at things past the numbers. Now is the first time we’re seeing Verizon’s iPhone have an impact on Android. Did it dent the market share? Absolutely. Did people assume it would do so? Absolutely. Does this mean Apple will catch up now and Android will slip? Absolutely not. Look, Apple went up 9% and Android went down 3%. EVEN IF all of those 3% users jumped ship to the iPhone it wouldn’t account for another 6%. More than likely that 6% (and possibly more) came from the RIM users jumping ship like they’re on the Titanic and the fact that there are a lot of people who held out on smart phones waiting for the iPhone on Verizon. The Army decided that it was going to use Android for it’s units. Android is becoming more and more business friendly. And there’s that whole Honeycomb Table market that hasn’t even begun (who really thought that the XOOM was going to be super successful at that price?). Android has not stopped growing. Trust me, this war has many battles yet to be fought.
 

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Wireless Tether no longer available for Android users?

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There is some rumors floating around that Verizon might be looking to block a popular wireless tethering app from the market. Apparently, Droid-life received a tip that Verizon was looking to squash the Wireless Tether app and then the publication started to look into that rumor. What the gang found was that, in fact, the Wireless Tether app wasn’t available from any of the phones it tested with.

Wireless Tether is listed on the market, but as you can see in the image above the list of devices that can’t use the app is huge. That is most of the popular Android smartphones that are unable to get the app. I think we can assume that what is going on; here is Verizon attempting to crack down on unofficial tethering in an effort to charge for official tethering and cut down on network use.
AT&T has done this with the iPhone and has texted users to warn those using cracks to tether that they will be charged $25 monthly for using tethering. Once one carrier makes a move like this you can bet that others will follow. I would be surprised if all carriers aren’t moving to block unofficial tethering in short order. The Wireless Tether app is reportedly unavailable form devices on both AT&T and Verizon. Any T-Mobile or Sprint users who can find and use the app let us know.
 

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Asus Eee Pad Transformer production limited to only 10k units monthly

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The Eee Pad Transformer officially hit the market around the world late last month. We mentioned then that there were not many of the tablets in stock, especially in the US, with the launch mainly focusing on Europe. The available units were sold quickly at most of the retailers in the US, and many people were probably wondering exactly why the supply of the tablet was so low. Some may have figured that Asus was just taking it slow with their tablet to see what the demand was and perhaps to keep the demand for the tablet up.


Apparently, that isn’t the case. Netbooknews cites sources that claim that Asus is facing massive shortages of required hardware to build the Transformer and that shortage is only allowing the tablet to be built in very small quantities. Exactly what component is so limited is unknown at this point. However, it appears that it’s not a matter of the parts simply going to other companies, but rather the parts simply aren’t available at any price.

The limitations placed on Asus by parts shortages are reportedly limiting Asus to making a mere 10,000 Transformer tablets each month. Asus would like to be making 300,000 tablets per month. The sources claim that the bottlenecks are expected to last until mid-June. I don’t think it would surprise anyone to find out that ht shortages are due to the disaster in Japan. If you want a Transformer, buy it while you can, when you can. I expect prices of the available units might push up if demand remains high.

 

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Nexus One Owners, It’s Your Turn – Download Android 2.3.4 Now (GRI40 -> GRJ22)

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Nexus One owners, tonight you’re getting a nice treat in the form of the incremental Gingerbread update 2.3.4, previously available only to Nexus S owners. To recap, the main feature in this release is the video and audio enabled Google Talk, although since the N1 lacks a front-facing camera, it’s not going to be as useful as it was for the Nexus S.
Update: Err, looks like there is no video or audio support in this release at all, according to those of you with Nexus Ones. Why Google didn’t just disable the phone’s camera and left it a one-way video and two-way audio is beyond me, but at this point you may as well try the Gtalk version that was extracted from the Nexus S for everyone with Gingerbread to play with.
Additionally, the following issues should now be fixed:

Battery life: some users let us know that their batteries didn’t seem to be lasting as long; battery life should be improved for these folks.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=5d1a4878e4ace375

GPS location/navigation: some Nexus One users who noticed location and navigation problems after updating to 2.3.3 should notice improved location accuracy.
http://www.google.com/support/forum/p/Google+Mobile/thread?tid=4e60b45c18d6665c

Installation instructions
Note: If you don’t have GRI40 (2.3.3) and instead somehow still have FRG83G (2.2.2), then head over here and install GRI40 first, then proceed below.
To download and apply the update to your Nexus One manually, follow the following steps:

1. Download the update file GRJ22-from-GRI40 and rename it to update.zip (make sure it’s named update.zip and not update.zip.zip if you’re using Windows and have it set to hide file extensions).
2. Move the file to your SD card’s root using your favorite method – the easiest way is probably mounting the phone as disk using a USB cable.
3. Reboot your phone and when it starts booting back up, hold down the Power button and the Trackball.
4. Select Bootloader and then Recovery.
5. The phone will reboot into recovery but first it’ll show an exclamation point and a triangle. At this point, mash the Power and Volume Up buttons a few times until the recovery screen shows up.
6. Select Apply sdcard update.zip, which should start the update process.
7. Reboot and enjoy Android 2.3.4.

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