The much anticipated Samsung Galaxy S4 will be unveiled on the 14^th in New York and we are pretty sure that as the time of announcement nears we will see plenty of leaks and rumors related to the handset. We also will see many teasers from Samsung such as the one that you see above, as the company needs to publicize its latest and greatest device as much as possible.

The new teaser invites the public to the Times Square where visitors will get to watch the livestream of the Samsung Unpacked event. But we don’t think Samsung wants you to go to there just to watch the event, you might even get hands on experience with the device as the invite also says “experience Samsung’s new flagship smartphone”.

An unveiling at the Radio City Music Hall along with a public event at Times Square will certainly give the device good publicity in the US, which is a very crucial market for Samsung. And there could be more about the new teaser. Last year, when inviting everyone for S3’s event, Samsung hinted the glazed finish of the device. The dot pattern that you see above could be that of the S4 and it looks like a glossy plastic back cover for a black S4.

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I remember way back in the day when Casio calculator watches and even TV watches were what was considered “the in thing”, but the latest wave of Smartwatches make those devices look prehistoric. Rumors of an Apple iWatch have been doing the rounds of late and now it appears Samsung is jumping on the Smartwatch bandwagon with a Galaxy watch of its own.

The rumors of a Samsung Smartwatch kicked-off after alleged leaked images turned up on a Korean message board. According to reports the watch will be named the Galaxy Altius and will feature on-board storage, its own AltiusOS and will sport a 500 x 500 resolution display.

Could the Altius arrive in the middle of next month along with the Samsung Galaxy S4? Recently a rumor indicated that an S4, S4 Mini and third non-phone device were all in the works, could this be what the rumor was indicating?

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A new rumor indicates that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of three products that are making up Samsung’s “Project J”. What are the other two devices? Apparently the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini and some kind of companion device for both the Mini and standard S4.

That’s right, seems like the S4 is getting the “Mini” treatment right out of the gate, at least if the rumor mill proves correct. So who is the source of this rumor? It comes from SamMobile, and while it should be taken with a grain of salt, I wouldn’t be that surprised either.

If the Galaxy S4 is getting a larger 4.99-inch 1080p display, it makes sense that Samsung might want to position the S4 Mini as an alternative for those that just don’t want a screen that big. So what can we expect from the S4 Mini? Hard to say, but hopefully it delivers a heck of a lot more than the Galaxy S3 Mini. Except in styling and name, the S3 Mini was more along the lines of Galaxy S2 then an S3.

If Samsung follows this pattern, the S4 Mini might have close to the same specs as the Galaxy S3. Here’s to hoping that the Galaxy S4 Mini is quite similar to its bigger brother, though odds are it will probably feature a 720p display over a 1080p.

What about the third device? The rumor mill says it is currently called “Fortius” and is designed to work with a number of accessories like a bike mount, arm band and more. This isn’t a smartphone, but it is unclear what exactly it is– maybe some kind of smartwatch?

Hopefully we learn more on March 15th, when Samsung is supposedly set to unveil the Galaxy S4. Would you be interested in a Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini or not?

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Samsung refuses to let the Samsung Galaxy S2 die, it seems. They have now officially announced a newer, improved version of the aging handset under the name Galaxy S2 PLUS.  While it doesn’t have many external changes and looks nearly identical to the S2, it did get some notable upgrades under the hood.

For starters, it has a 4.3 inch WVGA Super AMOLED plus display, 1GB RAM, a 1.2GHz dual core processor and 8 GB of internal storage with expandable MicroSD. There’s also Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean right out of the box.  The phone will feature an impressive 8 MP rear facing camera and 2 MP front camera.  The phone will come in a non and NFC version.

While we haven’t been given any indication on what we can expect to pay for the phone, you can probably expect it to be fairly reasonable. This might not be a great choice for those of us that want the latest and greatest, but if the price is right, it could be a great device for those looking for something light on the wallet yet still more than capable of reasonable performance.

Is this a phone you would be interested or has the S2’s ship sailed?

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The post Samsung Announces Upgraded Version of Galaxy S2, the S2 Plus appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

Last week we introduced to you the Ubuntu phone OS, and that has left us yearning for the ability to test drive it for ourselves.

The good news is that Alan Pope, engineering manager on the product, has now confirmed a version of the Ubuntu phone OS will be released for the Galaxy Nexus in late February for those brave enough to give it a go.

Hopefully with this limited release there will be enough hype created to force  at least a few app makers to consider crafting apps to the OS.  This will also give Canonical a chance to work out any early bugs in the OS.

It’s hard to know exactly what we will be in store for us with Ubuntu OS, but the possibilities for those wanting an easy-to-tinker open OS could be endless.  At any rate, having Linux distro in the palm of your hands is an exciting prospect and one that could open a lot of possibilities beyond the normal Android based handsets. Just don’t expect many (if hardly any) apps to work with your Ubuntu-running Galaxy Nexus when it first arrives.

As for commercial Ubuntu phone hardware? We are probably still looking at nearly a year before such hardware arrives.

Are you chomping at the bit to get your hands on the OS?

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If you’ve been off the planet for many months, or even years, perhaps you aren’t aware of the many massive legal battles between Samsung and Apple. During the course of the U.S. Part of this legal war we’ve seen tons of iPhone prototypes that were previously unseen and had a lot to gossip about. When it truly came down to who was winning though, it was always hard to clearly say one side or the other. Recently though, Apple has managed to find what some critics believe is the “smoking gun” needed to swing the case in their favor for good- an internal memo that recognizes that Samsung needs to copy the iPhone.

While this might sound damning enough, it really depends on how you look at it. The content was written by Samsung’s head of mobile communications, JK Shin. Here’s a good chunk of the memo to give you an idea of what was said:

Influential figures outside the company come across the iPhone, and they point out that ‘Samsung is dozing off.’ All this time we’ve been paying all our attention to Nokia, and concentrated our efforts on things like Folder, Bar, Slide. Yet when our UX is compared to the unexpected competitor Apple’s iPhone, the difference is truly that of Heaven and Earth. It’s a crisis of design.

I hear things like this: Let’s make something like the iPhone. When everybody (both consumers and the industry) talk about UX, they weigh it against the iPhone. The iPhone has become the standard. That’s how things are already.

The reality is that this letter said that some within the company say they need to make something like the iPhone. The letter doesn’t say they are going to steal exact designs or infringe directly patents, or completely copy the icons intentionally. You might argue that intending to make something that is intentionally like the iPhone is admitting they are copying, I suppose perhaps there is at least a little truth to that idea, but at the same time, innovation in technology isn’t about being the first to do something. The best products and evolutions in technology have come when someone takes an existing idea and runs with it, evolving the design from there. The Samsung Galaxy phones in question are Apple iPhone-like, but they have their own differences as well.

What do you think, will this memo make any real difference? Do you feel that Samsung was wrong in the design of the Galaxy and that it is too iPhone like?

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The war between Samsung and Apple continues to wage on in the courts, but in the UK at least, things just took a major turn in Samsung’s favor. A new court decision will require that Apple address the findings of the July 9^th London court decision, which basically states that Samsung Galaxy tablets don’t infringe on Apple’s registered designs. According to Judge Colin Birss, Apple’s UK home page will have to have the notice on it for six months and will also need to pay for publishing in major UK newspapers that clarify Galaxy’s design wasn’t directly copied from Apple. These notices will appear in the Financial Times, Daily Mail, Guardian Mobile Magazine, and T3.

Essentially this means that Apple has to eat crow and pay for positive advertising abdicating their rival, something no company ever wants to do. As you could probably have already guessed, Apple has already begun to work on appealing the decision and the requirement of the notices.

According to Birss, no one is likely to mistake Samsung tablets for iPads, because they just don’t appear nearly as cool, or so he says. Samsung attempted to get an injunction filed that would stop Apple from saying that the Samsung copied their design style, but the courts figure they have the right to their opinion, as long as they clarify through notices that the actual design doesn’t infringe on copy rights and isn’t an exact copy. The war between the two companies is far from over, though its hard to say if Apple will have any luck getting this overturned or not.

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The Apple iPhone 5 is certainly a much anticipated device, and so is the Samsung Galaxy S 3. We have already heard a lot of rumors regarding the upcoming Android handset and what you see above is thought to have come from a public relations PowerPoint file. Is that really the S3 we have been waiting for all this time? We believe it is most probably not.

The new leak suggests that Samsung is planning a Samsung Unpacked event in London on May 22nd at which the Galaxy S 3 will be introduced. There is nothing unbelievable about that since the “unpacked” events have become a tradition and also a European launch is probable as they went with that for the S2.   London is a good place to introduce the handset as the Summer Olympic Games is going to happen there.   But all the other details available suggest that we might be looking at the work of a good artist who loves working on fake images. As you can see above, Weber Shandwick, which is a PR agency, has their logo on the powerpoint. We’re not sure if PR companies usually do that.  The other tip off, that dedicated home button is all too apple-esque.

The S3 appears to be extremely thin, measuring in at 7.89mm (possible, but still sounds fake). And it isn’t very unlikely that Samsung would design a white device with a black ring around it. The S 3 will probably come without a Home Button, similar to the Galaxy Nexus, which is a design that we also are expecting from Samsung. So the conclusion is that the new leak has come out with a lot of inconsistencies, so it is most probably a big giant fake.

But that date really sounds sweet. As for the specs, rumors so far are suggesting a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor, a 4.8 inch “full HD” 1080p resolution display, 4G LTE support, Android ICS, and an 8-megapixel rear cam.

Stay tuned for updates.

The post Samsung Galaxy S 3 To Arrive in May? Photos “leaked” appeared first on Mobile Magazine.

As expected, HTC has just introduced their Quad-core Tegra 3 handset and the flagship phone appears to be one of the most impressive Android devices ever designed. The One X, which will be part of the company’s new “One” series, comes with awesome specs.

HTC’s One series is basically what the Galaxy series is to Samsung. And HTC has come out with their latest line after listening to feedback and taking a decision to change their strategy completely. And they appear to have delivered.

The HTC One X boasts a beautiful 720p 4.7-inch Super LCD2 display which provides vibrant and bright colors. The screen performed well in bright sunlight and the viewing angles are good as well. The 312ppi screen is no iPhone 4S display, but it surely is very pretty.

Gizmodo says the handset feels very comfortable in the hands as it features a curved back and is light (but strong) since its body is made out of a machined polycarbonate. The device is one of the fastest they have ever played with all thanks to its 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The applications were launching and running smoothly, and multi-tasking is impressive. As you might know, this is the same Tegra 3 seen in the Transformer Prime, and therefore it’s expected to do well. But we will be taking a closer look at its performance later on.

The phone also boasts Beats by Dre audio, 1GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (and 25GB of free Dropbox storage for two years), NFC, a front-facing 1.3MP shooter (supports 720p video chat), a 1800mAh battery, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with Sense 4.0 UI, and comes with 4G LTE.

Many of you out there might not be too excited about Sense, but the new version appears to be quite interesting, although we will have to do a thorough inspection before the final verdict. The device’s rear 8MP camera has “the best optics and sensor (they’ve) ever used“. We will be checking out that later but we do know that it will do well in low light conditions with f2.0. And HTC’s new ImageChip (a secondary processor exclusively for image processing) will make sure that you shoot 1080p video while simultaneously take full resolution stills.

And if you are interested in watching a movie or playing a game on your TV using the phone, the HTC MediaLink, an HDMI dongle, will be  what does it.

HTC is promising that the ONE X will arrive within the next 60 days. It will be available in white or black exclusively from AT&T. No hints on the price, but we are expecting $200-$300 on contract.

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Want to get a Samsung Galaxy 10.1 in Germany? Good luck, as Samsung’s most recent attempts to overturn the ruling that banned the 10.1 have failed. So why did Germany ban the 10.1 in the first place?

The design was deemed too similar to Apple’s unit. Despite Samsung’s best attempts to change the courts mind, the ruling will stick.

The good news is that Samsung fans can still get the 10.1 in its redesigned form, the Galaxy Tab 10.1N, specifically made for the German market to get around the ban. Even with the redesign, Apple attempted to shut Samsung done, but luckily last month the courts upheld Samsung’s rights to sell the 10.1N in a preliminary judgment. A final ruling in that case is expected on February 9^th.

The battle between Samsung and Apple will likely wage on for quite a while, both in Germany and elsewhere. Who will be the winner in the end? It’s hard to call, though Samsung has had some strong recent victories like with its Samsung Series 9 ultrabook success.

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