Samsung Galaxy Beam about to Hit the Store Shelves!

The South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung has announced the arrival of the Samsung Galaxy Beam smartphone handset. Now, the Galaxy Beam is not just another run of the mill smartphone device. It is one smartphone comes fitted with an ultra bright 15 lumens built-in projector which Samsung claims can function to full effect even outdoors.

Needless to mention, the Samsung Galaxy Beam may prove to be the ideal handset for those who are always on the move and need to make those presentations every now and then. Samsung though has not mentioned any launch date.

Here, let us take a closer look at the likely technical specifications that the Samsung Galaxy Beam will come equipped with. The Galaxy Beam packs a four inch wide 480 x 800 WVGA TFT touch sensitive display screen and a 2000 mAh battery.

You also have the dual core 1 GHz processor alongside the 8 GB of RAM. The Android 2.3 Gingerbread version of the operating system will run the show. The five mega pixel camera attached on the rear of the phone device is accompanied by the 1.3 pixels front video telephony camera. The snappers will be able to deliver 720p high definition video recordings and playback and that too at 30 fps.

The e on board memory of the Samsung Galaxy Beam is 8 GB and this storage capacity can be enhanced to another 32 GB by using the microSD memory card.

HTC One X competes with better photo features

It's becoming very hard to choose between Android phones -- and the manufacturers know it. As a result, many of them are now concentrating on try to differentiate their devices, either by making them more stylish (such as the ultra-thin Motorola Droid Razr) or more like a tablet, such as the recently introduced (to the U.S., anyway) Samsung Galaxy Note or more attractive to music lovers, such as the HTC Rezound.

Cameras have also become popular with smartphone buyers, to the point where they're no longer considered modest add-ons, but important features. The ability to create higher-quality photos and video will certainly be a large part of the marketing push for HTC's latest line of smartphones: HTC One.

Announced yesterday at the Mobile World Congress, the HTC One thus far consists of three phones (none of which will ship for at least a couple of months): the HTC One X, which has a 4.7-in. screen and will be sold by AT&T; the HTC One S, which has a 4.3-in. display and will be sold by T-Mobile, and the HTC One V, which will have a 3.7-in. display and will be sold in the pre-pay market (and about which, so far, there is not much information).

Both HTC One X and One S will come with the same Beat Audio sound enhancement as their Rezound predecessor, but they will also offer HTC's new ImageSense technology: a suite of features designed to try to convince consumers that having a separate camera is a thing of the past. According to HTC, they've give the One X an 8 megapixel camera, an f2.0 lens, backsensor illumination, and an HTC ImageChip to speed up the graphic processing.

Giving it a try 

I had a chance to try out the HTC One X this morning at an HTC press event here in NYC (see video below), and the camera interface was certainly nice. You can access the camera directly from the Android lock screen (the One X will come with Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) overlaid by HTC's Sense environment). Once in the camera app, two large icons give you the choice between still photos and video -- click on the video icon and you're immediately recording.

There are a number of interesting features, such as the ability to take up to 99 continuous photos by pressing and holding the shutter button (and then easily choose the best of the group. While recording a video, you can capture a frame without stopping the shoot, essentially creating a video and a still photo simultaneously. There are also a number of special effects and setups (for group shots or panoramic shots) which you can access via menus.

I only played with the HTC One X for a short time, but from what I could see, the photo and video-taking ability of the camera seemed to have the a lot of potential -- it could, at the very least, satisfy casual photographers who would like to be able to grab a photo or throw a video up on YouTube quickly, cleanly and with some extras added.

HTC isn't the only phone vendor looking to making itself more visible by making the phone's camera more useful. Nokia has just announced that it is launching a phone called the Nokia 808 PureView which will be capable of 5-megapixel, 8-megapixel and 38-megapixel photos. (Unfortunately and, rather strangely, it will also be one of the last Nokia phones running Symbian and not Windows Phone.)

As someone who used to always carry a small point-and-shoot in my bag in order to be able to take photos or videos whenever the opportunity might arise (and living in a large city, the opportunity arises frequently), I count myself among those who would welcome better, faster and higher-quality cameras as part of my smartphone. However, even if Nokia's new smartphones fulfill their photographic promise, there may be a slight hitch in HTC's specs.

How well will the battery hold up? 

The battery for the One X will be a reasonable but not impressive 1800mAh -- and will not be user-replaceable. (The HTC One S, which will also feature the same photo/video enhancements, will have a 1600mAh battery.) As the owner of a Samsung Galaxy Nexus, which came with an 1850mAh battery, I know how power-hungry these smartphones can be, especially when using them as video cameras or viewers.

Many of the Nexus owners I know have opted to purchase the 2100mAh extended battery; when I first purchased my phone and couldn't get the extended battery in time for a business trip, I opted for a second 1850mAh battery so that I could switch off when I needed to. If the HTC One X turns out to be as power-hungry as many of the other feature-heavy smartphones out there, there's a good possibility that its owners will need to either be very careful about power use or get used to carrying around mobile power devices.

Or not. When the new HTC phones ship (they are expected to be available in two or three months), we expect to be able to provide a more thorough review.

 Via: blogs.computerworld

Samsung: 'We're not doing very well in the tablet market'

BARCELONA, Spain--Samsung Electronics admitted that its attempt to breach the tablet market has largely been a flop, with one executive offering a sobering summary of its performance. "Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market," Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung, said today during a media roundtable here. 

That's about as frank a statement as it gets from any executive at the Mobile World Congress trade show this week. 

That Samsung hasn't met expectations in its tablet business isn't a huge surprise; the company lags well behind Apple's iPad and even Amazon's Kindle Fire in the US market. But for an executive to acknowledge the weakness is refreshing at a time when corporate-speak and jargon dominate conversations--particularly ones of a sensitive nature. 

Unlike Apple and other tablet vendors, Samsung has tried a shotgun approach at pushing its Galaxy Tab line of tablets. Initially offering a 7-inch version, it moved up to 10 inches and filled in the rest of the portfolio with sizes in between. Samsung, for the most part, was experimenting with the sizes and using the market as a testbed for what resonates with consumers. 

Samsung, however, appears to remain confident that the Galaxy Note will take off. The 5-inch version, which is already out in the market, has been hit by a string of criticism, largely due to its a size. While it acts as a phone, it looks more like a tweener product in between a smartphone and tablet, calling some to label it a "phablet." 

Yoon said he expects to ship 10 million units of the 5-inch Galaxy Note, lofty expectations for a company still smarting in the tablet business. He believes the S-Pen--the stylus that comes with the device--allows users to more easily create content, rather than consume it. 

Samsung earlier this week announced a 10.1-inch version of the Galaxy Note. When asked about the threat of redundant products, Yoon said he hoped the Note cannibalized sales of the original 10.1-inch Tab "The best thing to survive in the market is to kill your products," Yoon said. "We want to stay competitive in the market." 

That's why Samsung has been focused on pushing the Note and its S-Pen. Having struggled in the traditional tablet market, Samsung wanted to do something different in the category, Yoon said. He added that he no longer carries a physical notepad or papers, and does all of his note-taking on the 5-inch Note. 

"Even if the design is similar, how you use the (Note) is totally different," he said. Yoon dismissed the early criticism of the device, saying it would take some education for consumers to get comfortable with the larger size. He noted that three years ago, the largest phone in its line up had a 3.7-inch display, while the Galaxy S II has a 4.3-inch screen. It's just a matter of adapting to a larger screen. 

"Once I used this, the Galaxy S II looks too small," he said. "I don't go back to any other smartphone or tablet." 

Via CNET
Source asia.cnet

Report: Apple's iPhone 4 was most purchased smartphone in 2011

The three top-selling smartphones in the U.S. last year all belonged to Apple, according to data released by ComScore on Thursday. The iPhone 4 held the number one spot, with the 3GS following in second and the 4S in third, despite an October release. (The RIM BlackBerry Curve 8530 and HTC EVO 4G came in line at fourth and fifth, respectively.)

ComScore's annual Mobile Future in Focus report also shows that Apple is the top-selling manufacturer of smartphones in the U.S., with 29.6 percent of the smartphone market.

Although three different iPhone models account for the most popular individual smartphones sold in 2011, iPhones only make up roughly 30 percent of the total smartphone market. With more than just one hardware manufacturer building phones for the platform, Android reigns as the leading smartphone platform at 47.3 percent of the market. Still, comScore data suggests that RIM BlackBerry users are more likely to switch from a RIM device to an Android device, rather than an iPhone.

When looking at mobile traffic across all portable devices, Apple is the clear winner in the U.S. at 60.1 percent, thanks to the iPad, iPhone, and iPod touch models. A breakdown of iOS traffic shows that 90.4 percent of all tablet traffic came from the iPad in December 2011, where 37.7 percent of smartphone traffic came from the iPhone. As for app use, the most popular mobile apps amongst iPhone users are YouTube, Google Maps, and Facebook.

Overall smartphone adoption in the U.S. has grown from 27 percent in 2010 to 41.8 percent in 2011, thanks in part to a wide variety of phone models at different price points across multiple carriers.

For a full report, visit comScore's Mobile Future in Focus press release.

Via source

Nokia’s Windows Phones Get a Good Start in Europe

In the United States, the chances of seeing someone using a Windows Phone 7 handset seem about as good as spotting a leprechaun riding a unicorn. Sales here of the new Windows smartphones have been so tiny that Microsoft has shied away from sharing numbers.

Simon Dawson/Bloomberg News

The Nokia Lumia 800

But your odds are better in Europe. Recent signs suggest that Nokia’s Lumia handsets with the Windows Phone 7 software are doing reasonably well there. In Austria, the European carrier Orange lists the Nokia Lumia 800 as a best seller. And in London, sales of Nokia’s Lumia 800 drove Windows Phone 7’s market share up to 2.2 percent, from 0.4 percent a year ago, according to estimates by Kantar WorldPanel, a research firm. The largest number of Lumia shipments — about 200,000 units — went to Germany in the fourth quarter of 2011, according to the research firm Canalys.

Of course, Europeans have always been fonder of Nokia phones than Americans. “Europe has traditionally been a really strong market for Nokia, but Nokia’s been under pressure ever since the introduction of the iPhone, which is when the tide turned,” said Pete Cunningham, a principal analyst at Canalys. “They’ve found competition to be really tough, but this is the beginning of recovery for Nokia.”

Mr. Cunningham said Nokia’s new Lumia Windows phone was selling exceptionally well in London, largely because of a promotion with Orange. Microsoft, Nokia and Orange were offering a free Xbox 360 to people who purchased a Lumia 800 with a two-year contract.

Although these are positive signs for Nokia, the struggling Finnish phone maker still has a long way to go to reverse its slump. Nokia is still the world’s No. 1 maker of mobile phones when you include both traditional cellphones and smartphones, but its dominance of the global phone market has been fading. In 2011 its share of the market dropped to 23.8 percent, down from 28.9 percent in 2010, according to Gartner. Apple, meanwhile, has become the world’s biggest smartphone maker.

How will Nokia and Microsoft fare in the United States? The big test will be the debut of the Nokia Lumia 900, which will be exclusive to AT&T‘s network when it is released in the coming months. No price tag has been confirmed, but Nokia has said it intends to be “quite aggressive” with pricing.

Resource Via

Apple could release iPhone 5 in Fall 2012

iPhone 5 could come by September or October

According to a "reliable source", Apple will release the new iPhone 5 in fall 2012.  Japanese publication Macotakara initially reported the rumor which, if true, could mean Apple will launch the sixth-generation iPhone in either September or October 2012 - starting a new trend in which iPhone will be released in the fall.

Up until the launch of Apple's iPhone 4S in October 2011, Apple had a tendency to launch their new iPhones during the summer.  The original iPhone, iPhone 3GS, and iPhone 4 all launched in June, while the iPhone 3G launched in July.  It wasn't until the iPhone 4S launched in October of last year that the pattern was broken.

It wasn't long ago, however, that we were hearing rumors of Apple planning to return to the summer release schedule - with the iPhone 4S October launch being nothing more than one time thing.  Back in January, a "reliable source at Foxconn" claimed Apple was gearing up for iPhone 5 production which, following the five-month estimated lead time pointed towards a summer 2012 release.

If these newest rumors from Macotakara are true, then they are actually in line with previous reports of an alleged Best Buy document referencing an October release for the iPhone 5. 

With the iPhone 5 fall launch, Apple could be trying to replicate the success from the iPhone 4S fall launch which yielded some impressive Q1 2012 results. In the company's latest earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced Apple sold a record-breaking 37 million iPhones - partially thanks to the holiday shopping season.

In related news, an iPhone 5 October release could also allow the iPad 3, rumored for a March release, to have the spotlight for quite a few months.  In all honesty, a spring release for the iPad 3 and a fall release for the iPhone 5 would effectively allow Apple to dominate the mobile market for a good portion of the year.

Source 

HTC One X or Apple iPhone 5

We have heard plenty of rumors about the specifications of both the HTC One X and the Apple iPhone 5. Let us see how these super phones stack up. (rumors of course)

Let us start with the HTC One X

The HTC One X is said to have the all new Tegra 3 quad core processor at 1.5 GHz, with a 1GB RAM. A 4.7 inch Capacitive touch screen with 720x1280 pixels. The 8MP rear facing camera with auto focus, LED flash, face detection, and Geo tagging that can capture 1080p video. A 1.3MP front facing camera for video chat.

As far as memory goes, the HTC One X will have 32GB of internal memory, and HTC may have got rid of the microSD slot in this one. As expected the HTC One X will come with Google's latest Ice Cream Sandwich. Although rumors are going around that it will be an upgraded version 4.0.5 that will be able to support mass storage mode. It will also be operating with the new HTC Sense 4.0. 

You can also expect a 1800 mAh battery, and it would not be a stretch to say that 4G LTE will drain it nicely. But the Gorilla Glass is always great to have. 

I have not heard anything regarding the HTC One X having NFC capabilities. 

Now the Apple iPhone 5

Let me start by saying that I am not sure as to which way Apple is going to go with the quad core. It is just that Apple is currently testing two versions of the iPhone 5, and it would not be a stretch to say that Apple may release a iPhone 5 dual core and then a iPhone 5S quad core.

Let us just say that the iPhone 5 is the quad core A6 at 1.5 GHz and 1GB RAM. Besides, anything less and this comparison would end here. The display is rumored to be between 3.7 and 4.0 inches with a Quantum DOT LED. A 12MP rear facing camera (WOW), with Geo tagging, auto focus, LED flash, and 3D (If you like to get dizzy). A 2MP front facing video chat camera too.

Apple always goes with the three memory sizes of 16, 32, and 64GB in their new iPhone's. We hope to get to see the new iOS 6 or at least a iOS 5.1.

Let's see that 4G LTE!!! The iPhone is in desperate need of speed. That brings me to the battery. I hear that it will be 1420 mAh. Yes, that is bigger than the previous battery and they say that it will give 8 hours of talk time on 3G. What about 4G LTE? I imagine that it will drain that puppy dry quick, like all the other LTE phones.

Now it comes down to who is better from the rumors....

MY answer is WHO CARES!? Both of these sound like dream phones. I can't wait to try them both. Although I do lean toward the HTC because I feel that I can do more with Android.

Any other rumors that you would like to share???

Source: MoDoCo Electronista IBTimes CNET IBTimes PRinside iPhone5latest

Via 

BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 could arrive this week

The latest version of Research In Motion's PlayBook operating system could trickle out to users as soon as this week, according to various reports.

The BlackBerry PlayBook could see an OS upgrade this week.
(Credit: James Martin/CNET)

The new operating system is expected to launch 21 February, according to blogging site N4BB, relying on intel from its own sources. The confirmation followed previous "rumblings" pointing to that date for the launch.

Canadian blog site Mobile Syrup also added its take by revealing an upcoming Best Buy flyer listing the BlackBerry PlayBook OS 2.0 upgrade as arriving in February.

Mobile Syrup picked up one more clue. The latest version of the BlackBerry Desktop Softwarehas been available since Tuesday. The new version 7 of the client software is likely needed for users who choose to upgrade their tablets to OS 2.0 by syncing with their computers.

Research In Motion did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment, but these latest rumours follow the company's earlier announcement that the PlayBook OS 2.0 would debut in February.

Previewed at last month's CES, the upgrade will bring a variety of much needed features to the tablet.

Chief among them will be native email, calendars and contacts.

All three features have been missing in action since the PlayBook debuted, requiring users to find unwieldy workarounds, such as connecting their BlackBerry phones to their tablets. And like many apps today, all three will play nicely with social networks, letting users access their Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

PlayBook OS 2.0 will also finally let people run certain Android apps. One major app that won't appear is BlackBerry Messenger. However, an updated version of Bridge is expected this week. The new Bridge 2.0 will let users remotely control their tablets from their BlackBerry phones.

Via CNET

More Info here

T-Mobile Connection Manager OTA Update Improves Software Performance

T-Mobile’s Mobile Broadband users should be on the lookout for a new OTA update for Connection Manager that began going out on February 14th. This update upgrades the connection manager from version 2.05 to 2.06 for the Jet 2.0 and improves software and device performance for the Rocket 3.0. The following legacy devices may also receive the OTA:

Dell Mini Netbook
Jet
Rocket
Rocket 2.0
USB Laptop Stick

Improvements:

Improved software performance
Improved network connectivity
T-Mobile Broadband is now the default tab when opening the connection manager

For Information Here