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?

[ source ]

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Sony is giving it their best effort to take on Apple’s iPad and the array of other Android tablet’s inching for a #2 spot in the tablet work. Sony’s tablets, code named S1 and S2 consist of a single screen 9.4-inch tablet and a dual 5.5-inch screened tablet, both sporting 3G/4G and WiFi and will run on Google’s Android 3.0 Honeycomb tablet-optimized OS.

Sony knows about dual screens, with the Nintendo DS, so it’s no big surprise to see them entering the dual-screen tablet world. Apps would have to be optimized for dual-screen viewing on the S2, but that wouldn’t be anything too difficult for developers if the hardware is popular enough to support it. The lower screen could be an area for navigation, or a virtual keyboard, while the top screen for displaying your content.

The single screen S1 9.4-inch tablet is shaped like a wedge, making the majority of the weight “off center” to give it a more stable center of gravity. Good idea Sony.

You can expect them in Q3 of 2011, no firm date of release is set yet, but this should put Sony in view for the shopping season.

[Sony JP]

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