Samsung Gets to Work Quick, Seeks Ban on iPhone 4S in Italy and France

Had any doubts Samsung would stick to their word and be more aggressive against Apple in this patent war? Business Week is reporting that Samsung has taken to Milan, Italy and Paris, France courts to file patent infringement claims against Apple and to seek bans on the iPhone 4S for these infringements. They’re citing two patents that deal with wireless technology, likely those that have to do with 3G data.
We didn’t expect this to take too long following Apple’s “Let’s Talk iPhone” event considering they specifically mentioned that Apple would need to essentially strip all their wireless components out of the iPhone in order to refrain from infringing on their patents.
As we learned before, Samsung can’t outright deny Apple a patent license since 3G technology has become a standard. Samsung has to come to fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms with Apple in these claims.
Still, it’s perfect timing for Samsung who is looking to have a big week next week. As CTIA Fall kicks off in San Diego on October 11th, Samsung and Google will lead the charge as they look to introduce what we all know to be as the Nexus Prime
Yesterday, a quick shot of the device (couldn’t see much but we’re almost certain it was the phone) leaked and Samsung later decided to one-up that with a teaser video of its own. It didn’t show much, but they told us to hang tight as something big is coming.
Many have considered the iPhone 4S disappointing as it’s only an incremental upgrade over the iPhone 4 (the fact that the 4S isn’t much better than the 4 isn’t surprising, it’s that Apple didn’t announce an iPhone 5 after more than a year). With that, people are waiting for Samsung and Google to show their cards and it all goes down next week.
As for those patent cases, it shouldn’t be long before these court sessions get going. Samsung says they will be pursuing the same in courts of many other regions.

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Get the low-down on India’s $45 tablet

India is set to launch a $45 ultra-low cost tablet computer aimed at providing connectivity to the country’s masses.
The tablet, called Akash (meaning Sky), is a government project that was long heralded as innovative, however years of delay and uncertainty have frustrated many advocates of the program.
The limited spec, which is expected given the $45 price-point, is detailed below:

• Running an Android 2.2 operating system
• 7 inch touchscreen
• 32GB expandable memory
• 256-megabyte RAM
• Two USB ports
• Wi-Fi Internet access
• Video conferencing capability
• Internal media player
• Estimated battery life of 180 minutes
• 2GB SD memory card included

AFP confirms that an initial 500 devices will be given to students, with the Indian government hopeful that device manufacturer, Datawind, can produce 700 units per day.
Smartphones and tablet computing are India’s great new hope for connectivity. Current internet penetration rate is below 10%, severely limited the online potential of the the country’s 1.2 billion population.
The Akash is up against strong competition in the budget tablet market, earlier this Hong Kong-based iberry announced a 6,999 rupee ($140) device while Beetel ($180) are amongst others jostled to compete for sales.
The Indian government is not alone in introducing a budget smartphone for the benefit of its population, a key pledge of Thailand’s newly elected Pheu Thai Party was to distributed a tablet-PC to every schoolchild in the country. The government is aiming to begin its distribution of the estimated 400,000 tablets, estimated to cost $100 each, by May 2012.

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Samsung teases Nexus Prime in new video

Oh Samsung, you temptress. The rumored builder of Google’s next developer phone, the Nexus Prime, just posted this YouTube video featuring 27 seconds of boring and three seconds of jaw-dropping wow. At the end of the ad is what appears to be a profile view of the upcoming superphone, just before a plug for Samsung’s Mobile Unpacked event at CTIA.

First impressions: man, that is some serious screen curve. The last developer phone, Samsung’s Nexus S, also featured a screen with curved tempered glass, but the Nexus Prime looks like it takes the concave styling to a new level. If you look closely, you can see three gold-colored circles on the phone’s side, possibly electrical contacts for a dock, a la the original Nexus One. You can see that the phone has an exaggerated bulge on the back, much more pronounced than the various Galaxy S II models.
Check the video below:



Rumored specs on the Samsung Nexus Prime include an HD 1280 x 720 screen, NFC and facial recognition capability, the latest dual-core processor and of course, the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. The as-yet-unnumbered software version will combine elements of Gingerbread and Honeycomb to create a unified Android platform. The preamble to Samsung’s video certainly seems to allude to some sweet food-based codenames. And if you think that it’s a coincidence that this preview came out the night of Apple’s iPhone 4S announcement, I’ve got some ocean-front property in Arizona to sell you.
Keep an eye on Android Community during CTIA for full coverage. The Samsung Unbox event – and hopefully the Nexus Prime unveiling – will be held next Tuesday, October 11th.

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Sony Ericsson is “patent safe” says CEO

A lot of lawsuits are being thrown around in today’s competitive smartphone industry, with the most famous ones being the ongoing battle between Samsung and Apple. Instead of focusing on innovation and besting their rivals – companies seem more concerned about bringing patents to the table and getting sales of devices blocked and banned all over the world. But there’s one company that seems to be staying away from all these legal issues, and that company is Sony Ericsson.

According to the company’s CEO, Bert Nordberg, Sony Ericsson is “one of the most patent safe companies around… Apart from our own 6,000 patents, we’re licensed to use the combined patent portfolios of both our owners, Sony and Ericsson.” Judging by how nobody seems to be throwing lawsuits their way, it looks like they’re not doing anything wrong. Not to mention, Sony Ericsson’s devices usually stand out from the crowd and don’t look like offerings from the competition.
Unfortunately things aren’t so rosy for companies like HTC and Samsung. With Google’s proposed acquisition of Motorola in order to defend Android; hopefully things work out in the end. Google just has to make sure that it stays unbiased if it manages to buy up Motorola Mobility.

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iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4

The iPhone 4S has arrived and with it the panic from well over a million iPhone 4 users out there who suddenly feel the sweat on their brow and sinking ache in the pits of their stomachs because they no longer own the number one Apple handset in town. There are, of course, only three ways of dealing with this and, since Pocket-lint isn’t, officially speaking, inclined to advise drinking lighter fluid until you forget, then your choices are either to get pre-ordering on 7 October or to discover that the iPhone 4S isn’t actually that much better the iPhone 4. So, which is it to be?

As ever, we’re happy to help out with your decision making by laying both handsets side by side in virtual comparison and picking through their respective details. Naturally, the results are best viewed next to the iPhone 4S review itself but, for the time being, here is the iPhone 4S vs iPhone 4.

Form Factor

Tie: iPhone 4S

115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm, 140g

Tie: iPhone 4

115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3mm, 137g

Well, waddya know? After all those imaginative mock-ups, the iPhone 4S has the very same case as the iPhone that’s been known and largely loved for the last 12 months plus. So, well, it’s a tie then. The form factor has been good up until now and it remains good, if a little unexciting, still. It’s still pretty thin at 9.3mm and certainly light enough at 137g or even when 3g heavier. We might have all rather got used to the way it appears but the iPhone 4S will still be a good looking handset.

Display

Tie: iPhone 4S

3.5-inch, 960x640px, LCD with IPS

Tie: iPhone 4

3.5-inch, 960x640px, LCD with IPS

The one area where most iPhone users were probably crying out for an improvement was in screen size but the bad/good news, depending upon your point of view, is that that the iPhone 4S screen is identical to that of the last incarnation. It’s still got that outstanding pixel density but sadly not the real estate to back it up. So, for the time being, it’s a case of holding it closer to your retinas if you want to get a better look at whatever that film is that you’re trying to watch is. Better luck next year.

Engine Room

1st: iPhone 4S

Apple A5

2nd: iPhone 4

Apple A4

As with the iPhone 3GS, that “S” stands for speed and so the iPhone 4S processor set up is the big selling point over the older model, and this is one category where you want to be paying close attention. As predicted, Captain Cook and his crew have taken the Apple A5 chip from the iPad 2 and stuffed it into the guts of the iPhone 4S.
The Apple A4 consists of a 1GHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU with a single Hummingbird core and PowerVR SGX 535 graphics processor GPU. There’s also 512MB of RAM to back it up. The Apple A5 chip has a dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 processor clocked at 1GHz. On the graphics front, it’s an upgrade to a dual-core PowerVR SGX543MP2 GPU and there’s, again, 512MB of RAM in support. According to Apple, what this means in real terms is a chip that has a CPU twice as powerful as its predecessor and a GPU that can work seven times harder.

Imaging

1st: iPhone 4S

8MP rear, VGA front, 1080p video

2nd: iPhone 4

5MP rear, VGA front, 720p video

There weren’t going to be many places that Apple could make a realistic improvement on the iPhone 4 without making things very costly and more difficult to manufacture but replacing the camera was one of them. The slightly dated 5-megapixel unit has been replaced by a far healthier sounding 8-megapixel sensor and the ability to shoot a more headline and impressive 1080p is a big bonus too.

Naturally, megapixels aren’t everything, so Apple has improved the optics on the iPhone 4S by opening up the maximum aperture from f/2.8 to f/2.4. That, plus a change in image sensor technology, is quoted as allowing 73 per cent more light gathered than on the iPhone 4 camera. There’s also the bonus of face detection, stabilisation and noise reduction to a degree. In short, we're talking sharper shots and at lower light levels too.

Connectivity

1st: iPhone 4S

HSPA+, GPS, BT 4.0, Wi-Fi, ant. switching, AirPlay Mirroring

2nd: iPhone 4

3G, GPS, BT 2.1, Wi-Fi

There’s not a lot missing from the iPhone 4 connectivity arsenal but there are two noticeable gaps, one of which has been filled by the addition of a 4G radio inside the iPhone 4S. HSPA+ support isn’t much good if you live outside the US and a handful of other countries but it will offer up to 14.4Mbps download speeds in Utopian conditions.
With the iPhone 4 and its straight 3G, the best downlink you’ll be looking at is more like 7.2Mbps. As we say though, just because the iPhone 4S works with HSPA+, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be experiencing it where you are. What might be the real advantage is the improvements to the antenna such that it can switch between the radios more smoothly and, fingers crossed, not drop so many calls.
Finally, there's also the added bonus of AirPlay Mirroring with the iPhone 4S. While the iPhone 4 and AirPlay app will still allow you to stream videos and music from your phone to your HDTV and speakers via Apple TV, it doesn't allow you to show everything that's on your handset such as web pages, games, messages and all the rest. That's all possible with the iPhone 4S.

Battery Life

1st: iPhone 4S

up to 8 hours 3G talk time

2nd: iPhone 4

up to 7 hours 3G talk time

Running the same screen and a more efficient chip at very similar output means that all it takes is a bigger power pack to get more life between charges on the iPhone 4S battery than on the iPhone 4, and that’s exactly what Apple has gone and done. While the older model can bring you up to 7 hours 3G talk time, 14 hours 2G talk time, 6 hours internet use over 3G, 10 hours of video playback or 40 hours audio; anyone purchasing the latest edition can look forward to 8 hours talk 3G talk time time, 14 2G talk time, 6 hours internet use over 3G, 10 hours of video playback or 40 hours music.

So, when Apple says that it’s improved the battery, as far as the quoted specs go, what you appear to gain is a single hour of 3G talk time. And that’s it. Not a massive boost here.

Software

1st: iPhone 4S

iOS 5 + Siri

2nd: iPhone 4

iOS 5

The launch if the iPhone 5 has also seen the arrival of iOS 5 which we all knew was coming since Jobs dropped the details at WWDC 2011. Both phones will be able to run this latest version of the mobile OS with the difference that one will have it installed out of the box and the other you may or may not have to update yourself depending on if you already own your iPhone 4.

The major difference is the addition of Siri - a voice-controlled personal organiser of a sort which will translate your more human, sentence based commands into actions such as opening specific apps to search and do things for you. So, for example, it can set alarms, read and reply to your messages, find restaurants and the like.

Storage

1st: iPhone 4S

16/32GB/64GB

2nd: iPhone 4

8GB

Is it for the video, is it because there’s no removable storage or is it because storage is just cheap these days? We’ll never know, but the fact remains that the 64GB iPhone 4S offers double the space of the previous model and that’s a lot to play with. The nasty part is that the 16GB and 32GB version of the iPhone 4 line have been axed from this moment on, meaning that anyone who opts for the older model from new is limited to a rather small 8GB storage space only. Just count your luckies that there’s iCloud to give you a hand.

Price

1st: iPhone 4

$99

2nd: iPhone 4S

$199/299/399

The bonus of going for the more budget option is that you get the more budget price to go with it, although that’s of little comfort to anyone who already owns the iPhone 4. Annoyingly for those in search of a bargain, the price differential reflects the halving of the storage space each time and the actual difference between the iPhone 4 and 16GB iPhone 4S is actually much greater than that. Worth bearing in mind.

Conclusion

1st: iPhone 4S

2nd: iPhone 4

There’d be something seriously wrong if the iPhone 4S didn’t come out on top here but is it so much better that you need to upgrade? Well, if games aren’t your thing and if the idea of Siri doesn’t drive you wild with excitement, then the answer is probably no. Sure, it’s got a better camera and takes video at a higher resolution and it even has a marginally longer battery life too but none of this is any reason to try to buy your way out of a contract. It's also arguable as to whether 4G connectivity or AirPlay Mirroring - which only works with Apple TV anyway - is really going to add enough value for many people as well.
Much as with the iPhone 3GS, you can bet that it’s the 2012 iPhone launch that will see a bigger update to the hardware and the kind of thing that you will be wanting to sell your grandmother in order to get hold of.

If, however, you’re looking to buy for the first time, then don’t bother with the straight iPhone 4. Sure, you’ll find it a little cheaper out there but the difference in cash isn’t really worth it and any saving you make will be outbalanced by that sense that you’ve got an inferior phone with an inferior camera too.

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HTC Explorer Set To Arrive Early: End Of October

HTC announced its once-Pico, now-Explorer late last week. Set to take the new spot in the budget-priced stall of HTC's stable, we first were told the phone would hit Europe, the Middle East, and Asia sometime in Q4, and later heard that a late November release was likely for Europe. Retailer Clove has now updated potential customers with the news that it expects the Explorer to show up a bit earlier, now on-track for October 31.

It's hard to get very excited about the Explorer's hardware, which consists of a 600MHZ processor, 512MB of RAM, and a 3.2-inch HVGA display, but at least it will have all the latest software installed, including Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread and Sense 3.5 – not something you'd necessarily find on your average Android with these specs.
With lots of color options, including three base models and additional swappable back panels, there's plenty of opportunities for personalizing the HTC Explorer. Maybe that's not your thing, and you've got your eye on MHz and resolution when phone-shopping, but that's why HTC has a whole range of smartphones to choose from.
Source: Clove

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Comparison chart: Samsung Galaxy S II vs. the iPhone 4S – Yes, the SGSII still rocks!

As you probably know, Apple announced the latest version of its iPhone today, the iPhone 4S. A lot of people were expecting an iPhone 5 announcement, since that didn’t happen, many Apple fans have been disappointed throughout the world. Not only are they disappointed because the iPhone 5 wasn’t announced, but also because the iPhone 4S doesn’t really offer that much. If you look at the specs of the iPhone 4S, it’s what many Android phones have been launching with for quite some time now.
Samsung wanted to remind the world of its powerful Galaxy S II phone. Compared to what Apple announced today, any variant of the Galaxy S II is still far more superior. Check out the comparison chart below to see for yourself.
In addition to the comparison chart below, not the following about the Galaxy S II:

• Screen Size: In terms of screen size benefits scale by AREA (length x width), the AT&T Galaxy SII has 42% more screen area than the iPhone 4S. The Sprint (Epic 4G Touch) and T-Mobile variants of the Galaxy S II have 58% more screen area than the iPhone 4S.
• Download Speeds: In terms of download speeds, AT&T’s Galaxy S II supports AT&T’s HSPA+ network speeds of 21Mbps, 50% more than the iPhone 4S’s HSPA 14Mbps. With T-Mobile, the Galaxy S II can support speeds of 42Mbps, compared to the iPhone 4S’s 14Mbps.
• Phone Size: When it comes to size, the Galaxy S II is still the thinnest phone on AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile, even after the announcement of the iPhone 4S.
• Openness: The Galaxy S II supports an Open Ecosystem. You are free to get your content from who you please. Want to buy your apps from Amazon’s Appstore, Google’s Android Market, or any of the other appstores available? What about buying music? Want to buy your music from Amazon, Rhapsody, or Samsung’s Music Hub? The choice is yours. Remember that with the iPhone 4S, you’re stuck with iTunes.

So, disappointed Apple fans, my word of advice to you is to head over to your local AT&T, Sprint, and soon T-Mobile store and pick up a Samsung Galaxy S II. You will not regret it.

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CyanogenMod 7 for DROID 3 coming soon to a custom recovery near you

When the ROM wizards at CyanogenMod release a version for a new phone, you know it’s hit the big time – at least in the eyes of the most devoted members of the Android community. For the Motorola DROID 3, that day is drawing near. A member of the CyanogenMod development team posted an early version of the Gingerbread custom ROM in a YouTube video.

There’s a lot of work still to be done for the DROID 3. Basic functions like the camera, MicroSD card, and wifi are still inoperable, and the OS is pretty jittery with lots of detection and rendering errors. The CyanogenMod team famously abhors ETAs, but team member Kevin estimates that nightlies and beta versions will be posted in the next few weeks.
Take a look at the progress below:



There’s been exciting news for the CyanogenMod team as of late. Steve Kondik (“Cyanogen” to his friends) was actually hired by Samsung, presumably to help them optimize future versions of their phones and tablets. The Android modding community is getting some major manufacturer attention as well: Sony Ericsson has officially teamed up with CyanogenMod and FreeXperia to bring the CyanogenMod 7 and other custom ROMs to Xperia phones in the future.
Who knows, by this time next year we could see manufacturers hosting and distributing CyanogenMod 8 for customers to download and flash directly. A guy can dream, can’t he?

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2.3 Gingerbread now on almost 40% of Android devices

Google announced the latest software breakdown for Android today (what, you didn’t think there was only one announcement going on, did you?) and the numbers are promising. 38.7% of devices running Android are using version 2.3, “Gingerbread”, the latest smartphone version officially supported by Google. For what’s probably the first time this year, less than half of the Android userbase is running on Froyo.

That isn’t a particularly encouraging figure, but at least more and more carriers and manufacturers are releasing phones with the latest version of Android available. Since this summer it’s been unusual to see a new product announced with anything except Gingerbread or Honeycomb running on its silicon, a promising sign that both consumers and manufacturers are beginning to expect up-to-date software to match the hardware. Unfortunately, with the exception of Nexus-class phones, older devices are still rarely upgraded to more than one major Android version past their release date.
The third-largest chunk of the userbase is running Android 2.1, at just under 12%. That’s a relevant figure, since 2.1 users are far more likely to run into app compatibility issues than 2.2 users. Honeycomb, Google’s official tablet version of Android, is still only running on 1.6% of devices more than six months after the debut of the Motorola XOOM. There’s no two ways about it: Android is getting whipped in the tablet market. Here’s hoping that the upcoming Ice Cream Sandwich will fix at least some of these woes by unifying the latest version of Android on both slates and phones – however long that takes.
[via ReadWriteWeb]

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