Samsung preps 16MP OIS camera, won't premiere on Note III

A new report coming from Korea reveals Samsung is working on a 16MP camera module with optical image stabilization. The new sensor is intended to be used in company's upcoming Galaxy flagships.

Unfortunately Samsung's suppliers won't make enough sensors in time for the Galaxy Note III release. This means that the new camera will most probably premiere with the Galaxy S5 next year according to the report.

Samsung already has a smartphone with a 16MP OIS camera - the Galaxy S4 Zoom - but it's a hybrid device with 10x optical zoom and therefore it's pretty huge.

Samsung will unveil the Galaxy Note III next month in Berlin, so we'll know soon enough if those new sensors will make it to the phablet or not.

Source (in Korean) | Via

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Samsung Galaxy Note 8.0 will hit US stores on April 11 for $400

Following last weeks debut in the UK, Samsung has announced the Galaxy Note 8.0 will hit US stores on April 11 for a suggested price of $400.

It will be available directly from Samsung, as well as Amazon, Best Buy, Newegg, Staples and others.

Accessories for the Note 8.0 will be available from mid-April. Those include Book Covers in white, grey, pink or green, USB and HDMI adapters, travel charger, etc.

The Note 8.0 will also be preloaded with content, estimated at around $200, like 50 GB of Dropbox storage for 24 months, 1 month of unlimited Music Hub streaming, etc. There's a limited $25 Google Play voucher which will be given when you register the device. The Note 8.0 will also premiere the company's WatchON service, which acts as a digital TV guide.

Samsung describes what each of the nine sensors on the Galaxy S4 does

The Samsung Galaxy S4 is one of the most feature-rich smartphones around, and it duly packs a wide array of sensors. Samsung published an image that explains what each sensor does and what feature uses it.

There are the standard sensors that have been around since smartphones first appeared, like an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer and proximity sensor. But then there are unusual sensors like a humidity sensor (used by S Health to calculate “comfort level”), and others.

Here’s the image in question:

The barometer is used for quicker GPS locks, but it can also accurately calculate how many calories you’ve burned if you’re going up a hill. The gesture sensor is separate from the proximity sensor and is, of course, used for Air Gestures.

You can also read the full press release for more details on the individual sensors. For example, there are interesting tidbits like a special Micro Controller Unit (MCU) that only wakes up the powerful CPU if it’s needed. The MCU can control the sensors itself, so Samsung says the Galaxy S4 is very battery efficient despite having so many sensors.

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy Mega specs confirmed, 5.8-inch display in tow

Samsung is all set to introduce a new series of "Galaxy Mega" smartphones and the detailed specifications of the first of those have surfaced online.

According to a report from SamMobile, the Galaxy Mega 5.8, which is codenamed as GT-I9152 will be a Dual-SIM phablet. The Galaxy Mega will sport a 5.8" qHD display with a resolution of 960 x 540 pixels and will measure 164 x 83.8 x 9.7mm. The device will feature a 1.4 GHz Dual-core processor with 1.5 GB of RAM, 8 megapixel rear camera and a 2 megapixel front shooter.

Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 will come with the latest connectivity options, which include Bluetooth 4.0, Wi-Fi 80211 a/b/g/n and GPS support. The upcoming phablet will be powered by Android 4.1.2 or 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and as usual Samsung will be preinstalling its own Nature UX on top of that. The juice for the phablet is coming from a 2,600mAh battery.

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Samsung announces global availability for the Galaxy Win

The Samsung Galaxy Win was announced last week as a China exclusive, but today the company announced it's going to be making the mid-ranger available globally.

The smartphone runs Android 4.1 Jelly Bean on a 1.2GHz quad-core CPU, packs a 4.7” TFT screen of WVGA resolution (199ppi pixel density). It has a 5MP camera that shoots D1 video, a 0.3MP front-facing camera and a microSD card slot. The battery has 2,000mAh capacity.

Available in two color variants - Ceramic White and Titan Gray - the Galaxy Win will be hitting multiple markets in single-SIM and dual-SIM versions. Pricing and availability, however, are still undisclosed by Samsung.

Via

Samsung Galaxy S4 with Exynos 5 processor gets rooted ahead of its global launch

Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone is yet to go sale and the developers at XDA forums have already managed to gain root access on the smartphone. The tech enthusiasts have found a way to root theGalaxy S4, which runs on the Exynos 5 octa-core processor, while the root for the Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 chipset version is yet to come.

Samsung Galaxy S4 can be rooted with a ROM, which is packed with ROOT&Busybox image. You can flash that using Odin and gain root access on your smartphone in just a few minutes.

Unfortunately, most of the devices in the first Galaxy S4 batch is said to come out with the Qualcomm powered Snapdragon 600 processors. However, we expect the developers to come up with the methods to root the Snapdragon version of the smartphone in the coming days.

Keep in mind that rooting or flashing any custom ROMs on your smartphone involves some risk and would void your warranty. So, please continue with the instructions from the source link below only if you are sure about what you are doing.

Source

Alleged Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Plus images and specs leak, might be called Galaxy S Tab

Two images supposedly showing the Samsung GT-P8200 Galaxy Tab 3 Plus slate leaked today. The tablet’s design looks much like the Galaxy Note 8.0 and features the new Galaxy S4 lockscreen wallpaper.

The rumors go even further suggesting Samsung might change the lineup’s moniker.

The slate is supposed to pack a 10-inch 2560×1600 pixels (300ppi) SuperAMOLED Pentile or PLS LCD display. Samsung’s own Exynos 5410 Octa chipset should be powering the Tab – a 1.6GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A15 and a 1.2GHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 processors, 2GB LPDDR3 RAM and PowerVR SGX 544MP3 graphics.

The rest of the rumored specs include an 8MP rear camera with 1080p video, a 2MP front snapper, 32/64GB internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot, an IR blaster and a 9000mAh battery unit.

As the rumor has it Samsung might change the naming convention for the new Galaxy Tab 3 lineup and call it Galaxy S Tab after the successful Galaxy S smartphones. I guess we’ll have to wait for the official announcement to shed more light on this.

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Samsung start Android 4.1 Jelly Bean updates for Galaxy Ace 2

If was a known fact that Samsung was testing out the Jelly Bean firmware for its Galaxy Ace 2 smartphone and the leaked firmware had confirmed that the official rollout was just around the corner. Now, Samsung has officially announced that the first phase of the update is in progress.

The Android 4.1.2 (build JZO54K) Jelly Bean update for Galaxy Ace 2 comes with the improved notifications, performance, battery life and a new TouchWiz. The update is currently rolling out in Portugal and is available through Samsung KIES and Over-the-Air (OTA).

Unfortunately, there is no official confirmation on what regions will follow and how long it will take for the update to go global.

Source

Here are the launch dates for Galaxy S4 in Eastern Europe

A global launch of a smartphone is no easy task – there are long lists of which country gets what and when. The latest list (courtesy of SamMobile) about the Samsung Galaxy S4 is about the Eastern European launch of the flagship droid (including Russia and the Ukraine).

The Galaxy S4 is split into two versions – 3G and LTE. Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear if those are the Exynos 5 Octa and Snapdragon 600 or some mix of the two. Both chipsets support LTE. The earlier rumors suggested the Exynos version will be the one sold in both Russia and the Ukraine, you can consult the list for the rest of the countries.

Both color versions – Black Mist and White Frost – will arrive at the same time. Also, the 32GB version seems to have been dropped – you get either the 16GB version or go for broke with the 64GB. The microSD card slot means storage is easy to expand, so you must really need huge amounts of storage to go for the 64GB units.

Anyway, here’s the list:

• Galaxy S4 3G 16 GB – Week 16
• Galaxy S4 3G 32 GB – DROPPED
• Galaxy S4 3G 64 GB – Week 24

• Galaxy S4 LTE 16 GB – Week 21
• Galaxy S4 LTE 32 GB – DROPPED
• Galaxy S4 LTE 64 GB – Week 24

Week 16 is April 15-21, Week 21 is May 20-26 and Week 24 is June 10-16.

Source

Samsung Galaxy Mega handsets with 5.8" and 6.3" screens coming

Samsung is preparing to introduce a new series of Galaxy devices carrying the Mega moniker, a report by SamMobile suggests.

The information comes from an inside source, who confirmed that two Galaxy Mega smartphones are in the works. The first is codenamed Galaxy Mega 5.8 with a model number GT-I9152. Obviously, we are talking about a handset with 5.8-inch display and the model number pointing to its dual-SIM nature.

More interestingly, the second one is carrying the codename Galaxy Mega 6.3, which hints at a 6.3-inch display - the same as the Galaxy Note III is rumored to pack. However, the model number GT-I9200 doesn't correspond with Samsung Galaxy Note naming convention Nxxxx (Galaxy Note II N7100, Galaxy Note N7000), so it will most likely lack S Pen functionality.

Everything should be revealed once those two phones get out of Samsung's factories. The Galaxy Mega 5.8 should do so around the end of May, start of June (week 22, as per SamMobile), while the Galaxy Mega 6.3 around mid-June (week 25).

Source

Snapdragon 600 to power 70% of the first Galaxy S4 batch

Latest reports suggest Samsung will use Snapdragon 600 chips in 70% of the first Galaxy S4 batch. This was already confirmed by the leaked list showing the availability of the two Galaxy S4 versions around the globe.

In case you need a refresh, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will be sold in two flavors - the Exynos 5 Octa-powered I9500 and the Snapdragon 600-powered I9505. The "octa" units are reserved for Asia and Africa and few European countries that don't have wide LTE availability just yet.

According to the reports coming from Samsung's homeland, the company is having issues with the Exynos 5 Octa production and there was no chance for it to meet the tremendous demand of the flagship. So the Snapdragon 600 switch was necessary, and the reach of the I9505 model was expanded beyond the US borders to most of the developed markets.

We already met the Snapdragon 600-powered Galaxy S4 and it turned out to be the fastest phone currently available, so no one should worry about the performance of the device. It's a beast that easily outruns the competition. And we are yet to see how those four 1.6GHz Cortex-A15 cores within the Exynos 5 Octa chipset are doing compared to the four 1.9GHz Krait 300.

Samsung has already announced the Exynos 5 Octa chipset will enter mass production in Q2 this year, which probably suggest the octa-core Galaxy S4 will get wider availability in June or July.

Source | Via

Samsung Galaxy Note III rumored to launch in US with 5.9" display

Samsung Galaxy Note III, the potential successor of the popular Galaxy Note II phablet was said to come out with a whopping 5.9" display. Now, an executive from one of the main parts suppliers for the company has confirmed the screen size.

According to a report from Korea Times, the next generation Galaxy Note will launch in the United States as confirmed by the local suppliers. The report also claims that the South Korean manufacturer will be showing off its Galaxy Note III concept to the US carrier AT&T in the coming days.

Samsung Galaxy Note III is also rumored to sport the latest OLED technology for the display, which is expected to offer a full HD resolution.

The successor of the Galaxy Note II is expected to be launched by the end of August, falling in line with the IFA 2013, but Samsung might chose to skip the show and hold its own Unpacked event in the US as it did for the Galaxy S4.

Source | Via

Exynos 5210 chipset in the works, to power the Galaxy S4 mini

Samsung has unveiled only two Exynos 5 chipsets so far – the 5250 Dual in the Nexus 10 and the 5410 Octa in some variants of the Galaxy S4 – but there seems to be a third one in development, the Exynos 5210. To spice things up, there’s a rumor going around that this will be the chipset used in the Galaxy S4 mini.

Linux dev tools were committed to Free-electrons.com for a smdk5210 development kit. The model number also appears in anAOSP port on GitHub where “Exynos 5210” is mentioned by name.

The Samsung Exynos naming scheme marks the generation with the first digit and the number of cores with the second.

So the Exynos 5210 is in the same generation as the two Cortex-A15 based chipsets and is a dual-core model. Note that the Exynos 5 Octa is marked 5410, but uses ARM’s big.LITTLE architecture and has four Cortex-A15s and four Cortex-A7s with only one group of four works at the same time.

It’s unclear if the 5210 will be a big.LITTLE with four physical CPU cores that work as a dual-core processor (switching between a fast dual-core and an energy efficient one) or just pack to A15s like the 5250. The GPU is also unknown, for this generation Samsung has used both Mali and PowerVR, so it’s anyone’s guess.

Naturally, the rumor mill linked the Exynos 5210 and the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini. So far we know that it will have a 4.3” qHD Super AMOLED screen and run Android 4.2.2 on a dual-core 1.6GHz processor – the same clockspeed as the Cortex-A15s in the I9500 Galaxy S4, the A7s run at 1.2GHz.

Keep in mind that there will be an LTE version of the Galaxy S4 mini, which might switch to Snapdragon, like the I9505 Galaxy S4.

Source | Via

Galaxy S4 mini appears on official website, LTE version confimed

The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini will have four different versions, according to info spotted by Twitter userst7761. He found the I9190 model number on Samsung’s support page, along with three other I919X devices.

One is the I9192, the dual-SIM version that was promised by the initial leak. The other point to an LTE version, the I9195, and a China version, the I9198. This is judging by the final digit of the model number, Samsung’s naming scheme is fairly consistent here (though there are exceptions).

Anyway, the only other info we have on the Galaxy S4 mini is that it will have a 4.3” Super AMOLED screen of qHD resolution (540 x 960 pixels, 256ppi) and it will run Android 4.2.2 on a 1.6GHz dual-core processor.

The official announcement of the Galaxy S4 mini is should happen around June or July this year. The info on Samsung’s support page identifying the I9190 seems to have been taken down now, but we’ll be on the lookout for more info.

Source | Via (in Italian)

First Samsung Galaxy S4 mini live photos appear

With the Samsung Galaxy S4 now official, it's time for the rest of the new generation Galaxy devices to start making an appearance. It turns out the first one to break ground is the Galaxy S4 mini.

SamMobile has got hold of some live photos of the smartphone, which reveals a design quite similar to the Samsung Galaxy S4. The photos below confirm that the S4 mini will even feature the back cover design of its bigger brother.

The Galaxy S4 mini (GT-I9190) will be available in a dual-SIM version as well (probably carrying the Galaxy S4 mini duos moniker and GT-I9192 model number).

    
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini live photos

Despite its name and resemblance to Samsung's flagship, the Galaxy S4 mini allegedly won't pack a monster of a CPU, but rather a 1.6GHz dual-core CPU and a 4.3" Super AMOLED display of qHD resolution (960x540 pixels, 256ppi).

It's slightly bigger than the ongoing Galaxy S III mini, which features a 4" display of WVGA resolution. Unfortunately, the S4 mini's CPU type isn't known at this point, but what's known from the photos above is that the smartphone will run what's currently the latest version of Android -4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

According to the source the Galaxy S4 mini is expected to make its debut in June or July this year.

Source

The iPhone passcode can still be bypassed after the iOS 6.1.3 update

It was just yesterday Apple released the iOS 6.1.3 update to address the lockscreen passcode bypass issue. Unfortunately, there is another work-around that will still give you access to the Phone app without entering the pass code.

To make this work though, all you need is a SIM ejecting tool or a paperclip. The good news is you can make your iPhone immune to this workaround by simply disabling voice dial in your passcode lock settings screen.

Here is how it’s done:

Let the countdown to iOS 6.1.4 begin, then.

Source

LG accuses Samsung Galaxy S4 of violating its eye-tracking patent

At the day of the Galaxy S4 event, LG officially announced its Smart Video feature for the Optimus G Pro, and later Samsung touted a similar Smart Pause feature for its flagship.

As a result, LG says Samsung violates its eye-tracking patent with Smart Pause. The patent in question is applied for in 2009, but LG suspects its domestic rival of violating more patents dating as far back as 2005.

LG will start investigating once the Samsung Galaxy S4 hits the market next month. Naturally, Samsung denied the accusations, stating that it uses different methodology to implement its Smart Pause feature.

We'll see if LG and Samsung go in court over the eye-tracking patent in a month when both the Optimus G Pro and Galaxy S4 will go on sale.

Source | Via

Here’s an infographic on the Samsung Galaxy S line, up to number 4

Since its arrival last week the Galaxy S4 has been all the rage, easily topping our website’s daily interest chart and being all over the tech-oriented web.

But the guys over at Toptienmobiel.nl decided to take a look at the roots of the flagship, down to the first Samsung Android flagship – the Galaxy S.

The original Galaxy S launched with Android 2.1 Eclair and scored the impressive 20 million sales globally. The Galaxy S II was an all-round improvement on screen, processor, camera, OS version, TouchWiz UI and build quality. It managed to beat the sales of its predecessor in its first year of sales alone (28 million). Recently we heard that its has already passed the 40 million units mark.

The Galaxy S III upped the ante even further and managed to sell around 50 million in its first year of availability (and counting). Overall the whole Samsung Galaxy S series sold more than 100 million unitsand that sales figure will likely double with the Galaxy S4.

Thanks, Samer Hadi for sending this in!

Source

Gmail for Android update brings notification screen shortcuts

Google has updated the Android version of the Gmail app and has added a very useful new feature for Jelly Bean users. As you may know, Jelly Bean features expanded notifications, which allows applications to integrate additional functionality within the notification screen, a feature the Gmail app now takes advantage of.

If you have a device running Jelly Bean, you will notice Gmail notifications now have a reply and archive button within the notification screen itself. This way, you don’t have to launch the app to reply, for instance, and can do it from the notification screen directly. By default you see Reply all and Archive options but if you prefer you can switch from Archive to Delete.

Other changes, which are available from Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich onwards include faster search experience, even when you are offline and the usual bug fixes and performance improvements. Android 2.2 and above devices also get new Labels API for third-party developers.

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