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Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G bringing keyboard, longwinded name to T-Mobile September 19th
We knew it was arriving soon, but until now, we weren't exactly sure what T-Mobile meant when it said the Relay 4G was hitting in the "coming weeks." Now the magenta carrier is putting the release of the QWERTY handset formerly known as the also verbose Galaxy S Blaze Q at September 19th. The slider will run you and your thumbs $150 with a two-year contract, after a $50 mail-in rebate.
IRL: Mailplane, Verizon Wireless iPad and the Samsung Galaxy S running CM9
Welcome to IRL, an ongoing feature where we talk about the gadgets, apps and toys we're using in real life and take a second look at products that already got the formal review treatment. Do we like the stuff we bought? You betcha we like the stuff we bought. This week, Darren tells of giving Mailplane another shot three months after deciding it was crap. Steve loves his aging Galaxy S all the more now that he's upgraded it to CM9. As for Edgar, he thinks his new VZW iPad is okay.
Japan court rules Samsung's Galaxy phones, tablet do not infringe on an Apple patent
Samsung may have lost a billion dollar round here in the US, but it appears to have scored a victory in its patent battle against Apple in Japan today. Reuters and Bloomberg report a judge there decided its Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not infringe on an Apple patent. Apple sued Samsung there in September of last year, however the Tokyo District Court has ruled Samsung did not violate a patent that covered syncing music and video data with a PC. According to The Yomiuri Shinbun, presiding judge Tamotsu Shoji dismissed the claim, saying Samsung's implementation of this specific technology was not covered by the scope of Apple's patent and, Bloomberg reports, ordered Apple to pay the costs of the lawsuit. Just as we're seeing in US District Court in California however, one judgement doesn't mean the seemingly never-ending battle is over however because Apple may be able to appeal this decision to a higher court. There are also other cases ongoing, which The Sankei Shimbun reports includes one focusing on the infamous bounce-back patent, so as usual, stay tuned for further updates.
Samsung Galaxy S Relay 4G shows off all sides, sticks with new name
The saga of Samsung's Galaxy S Relay 4G (né Galaxy S Blaze Q) continues. In this latest episode, we're presented with an annotated set of pictures showing each side of the device -- courtesy of Samsung's very own US support site. Of course, this further confirms the handset's new name, which is just as terrible as the old name. No matter -- if you're a fan of QWERTY sliders this is definitely a phone to keep an eye on. While the full specs remain a mystery, previous leaks have confirmed HSPA+ 42Mbps support for T-Mobile's AWS network, a 4-inch screen (probably not HD) and a dual-core 1.5GHz processor (likely a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4). There's still no word on pricing or availability, but an official announcement can't be far behind, right?%Gallery-162860%
CM10 nightly builds now rolling out to select devices
Like Jelly Beans, custom Android ROMs tend to have different flavors -- and CyanogenMod happens to be a fan favorite. Good thing then, that the CM10 team is now serving nightly builds of its Jelly Bean-based custom ROM update. According to the CyanogenMod Google+ page, CM10 nightlies are now available for the US Samsung Galaxy S III variants, the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy S II (i9100g), the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 (P3), Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 (P5), Nexus 7, Transformer and Transformer Prime tablets. The list will fill out with more devices when they are ready, the team says, and will continue to have CM9 updates (now weekly, rather then nightly) at their disposal.
Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q may be renamed to equally awkward Galaxy S Relay 4G (update: image)
The Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q might have missed the August 15th date mentioned in its leaked press shot, but a rumored name change would still put the future T-Mobile device in the running for the most convoluted phone name ever. Although there's a distinct lack of tangible evidence -- take this with a grain of salt -- the usually reliable TmoNews hears Samsung's TouchWiz-infused QWERTY slider will be called the Galaxy S Relay 4G when it ships. No, we're not feeling it, either. While there's no word on an updated release date, we'd at least like the earlier claims of a Snapdragon S4 to be true so that the phone is worthy of the respect the name isn't providing. Update: Just in case there was any doubt, TmoNews has snagged a training document that shows the new name and mentions a 1.5GHz processor of an unknown make (likely the S4), a 4-inch display, S Voice and support for mobile hotspots.
Samsung's defense against Apple patents begins with DiamondTouch table, LiveTile UI prior art
Samsung may have convinced Judge Koh to toss a few international handsets out of Apple's lawsuit, but the Korean firm still has Cupertino's patent licensing accusations to contend with. Their tactic? Convince the court that Apple's claim to the inventions are invalid, and that the technology was developed prior to the disputed patent's filing. It's called showing "prior art," and Sammy's done it before -- famously showing a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey in an attempt to put Apple's iPad design claims to rest. Today's examples were more grounded in reality, focusing on debunking Cupertino's claim to the "bounce back" effect that happens when a user reaches the end of a page and common multitouch zoom / navigation gestures. Samsung pitted the famous "bounce back" feature against an old PocketPC interface called LaunchTile, which allowed users to navigate through 36 applications by zooming in and out and a panning across a grid-like "world view" of said apps. Movement between grids snap to each zone, marking the end of a page. Apple shot back, noting that LiveTile's snapping navigation didn't work on diagonals, and cited other differences as well. Samsung wasn't deterred, however, and brought out DiamondTouch, a projector based multitouch table that utilized both one touch scrolling and pinch-based zoom gestures. The table even takes aim at the aforementioned bounce-back patent with a technology called TableCloth, which bounces back images that are pulled off screen. DiamondTouch's creator, Adam Bogue, told the court that he had demoed the technology to Apple privately back in 2003, noting that it was also available to anyone who visited the Mitsubishi Electronic Research Laboratories' lobby. If the jury takes to Samsung's claims of prior art, it could severely cut Apple's claims against it. Even so, Cupertino's lawyers aren't going down without a fight, and still have a number of navigation and design claims that Samsung hasn't addressed. The two parties are expected to keep up the fight for about a week, we'll keep you posted on the inevitable revelations as they come.
Judge cuts international Galaxy S and S II, Galaxy Ace from Apple lawsuit against Samsung
Apple rested its side of the case in its main lawsuit against Samsung on Monday, and with the switch of focus came a small sacrifice. While Samsung failed in a Hail Mary bid to have the suit dismissed, it successfully argued that a few devices should escape the clutches of a full-fledged ban. Don't get too excited, though: the exclusion list mostly touches on phones that only reach US shores through unofficial importers, including the Galaxy Ace as well as international editions of the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II. The decision still leaves the American variants of phones under scrutiny, and it doesn't change Apple's hopes of a large licensing fee for all the alleged transgressions. We'd still say the exemption provides some small amount of relief for Samsung, however. Most of Apple's early, less-than-flattering accusations of trade dress violations focused on the more familiar-looking foreign Galaxy models and lose some of their thunder when leveled against the conspicuously altered designs that eventually set foot in the US.
Samsung Galaxy S Blaze Q leaks in August 15th-dated press shot, keeps terrible name
Remember Samsung's Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch for Sprint? Think that name was a mouthful? Well here's a press shot of -- wait for it -- Samsung's SGH-T699 aka. Galaxy S Blaze Q, a QWERTY slider for T-Mobile that's been leaked before. Beyond the terrible name, the August 15th mention on the screen appears to confirm the previous launch date rumors. Spec-wise, the phone is expected to pack a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 with 1GB of RAM and 16GB of built-in storage. There's also mention of 1080p video capture and a 720p display -- the latter being unlikely in light of the large amount of bezel surrounding the screen (Samsung's smallest HD Super AMOLED display is 4.65-inches across). Our guess is that T-Mobile's just complementing Samsung's existing Galaxy S Blaze 4G with a mid-range QWERTY slider, but we'll find out soon enough.
Scientists release biggest ever 3D map of the universe, lacks turn-by-turn navigation (video)
The stargazers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have released a huge three-dimensional map of outer space, a core part of its six-year survey of the skies. Encompassing four billion light-years cubed, the researchers hope to use the map to retrace the movements of the universe through the last six billion years. Using the latest Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-III), the center says the data will help improve their estimates for the quantity of dark matter in space and the effect that dark energy has on the universe's expansion, "two of the greatest mysteries of our time" -- if you're an astrophysicist. Even if you're not, you'll still want to board the animated flight through over 400,000 charted galaxies -- it's embedded after the break.
Apple, Samsung reveal sales data to the court, boast of millions served
Have a smartphone from Seoul or Cupertino riding in the pocket of your jeans? You aren't the only one. New documents filed in Samsung and Apple's ongoing legal battle reveal specific sales data going back several years, confirming something we always knew to be true: there are a lot of devices out there. Samsung's filing reveals that it has sold 21.25 million "accused" phones and 1.4 million tablets from June 2010 to June of this year, and further breaks down the data by device and, in some cases, carrier. The Galaxy S II, for instance, takes the lion's share of US sales with over 4.1 million units sold between all models and carriers. The Epic 4G makes an appearance at 1.89 million sold, and the Captivate totals in at 1.39 million. Finally, the Samsung Prevail lives up to its moniker by netting 2.25 million in sales, lagging only behind the Galaxy S II -- though its $180 asking price brought in significantly less revenue per unit. Apple's charts are a bit less specific, detailing the total sales of its iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch lines rather than the sales of each specific hardware iteration -- though where it falters in detail it makes up in numbers. U.S. consumers have snatched up 85 million iPhones since 2007, alongside 34 million iPads and 46 million iPod touch devices -- bringing in almost $80 billion in revenue, collectively. Puts those quarterly reports into perspective, doesn't it? Check out both charts in full at the source link below.
Apple seizes on Samsung internal document as proof of mimicry
As much as Apple would love for Kwon Oh-hyun to turn up at court and tearfully confess to being a copycat, that's probably not going to happen. Instead, Cupertino's lawyers are burrowing through Samsung's history in search of a legal smoking gun, and one of their latest submissions has been presented as just that. It's a 132-page document written in 2010 by Sammy engineers that directly compares the iPhone against the Galaxy S and makes recommendations about how the latter should be more like the former. The excerpt shown above, which focuses on the aesthetics of icons on the rival handsets, even appears to contain advice about how Samsung should copy Apple without appearing to copy them so much, whereas the full document embedded after the break reveals how all-encompassing the internal guidance was. On the flip-side, Samsung may well argue that any responsible company should compare itself to its competition in this manner, and you can bet there's an army of lawyers beavering away right now to make that sound convincing. [Thanks, Alex]
MetroPCS outs Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G: 4.3-inch Super AMOLED, LTE and Dyle Mobile TV
Well, that didn't take long. Shortly after showing up in some leaked shots, Samsung's Galaxy S Lightray 4G is with us yet again, save for this time around it's an official appearance courtesy of MetroPCS. The underdog carrier's announced the Lightray 4G will be the latest addition to its lineup of LTE-equipped handsets, with this new Galaxy also said to be the first one to offer speedy hotspot capabilities within the network. Additionally, Sammy's Lightray features a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen, an undisclosed 1GHz processor and access to Dyle Mobile TV's on-the-go entertainment service -- that said, don't expect an Ice Cream Sandwich here (better yet Jelly Beans), as all you'll be getting is a taste of Mountain View's popular Gingerbread. MetroPCS has the Lightray 4G up for grabs now on its site at $460, and for those interested, there's a photo gallery down below as well as the official presser from the carrier.%Gallery-161719%
Samsung Galaxy S Lightray 4G hides out in the open, heads to MetroPCS
What's old is apparently new again for MetroPCS subscribers. Thanks to some leaked training materials over on Howard Forums, we have a pretty clear idea of the next Galaxy S device to bow on that budget carrier's lineup -- the Lightray 4G. No, your eyes aren't deceiving you, we've seen this exact phone before at CES 2012 where it was part of Dyle's Mobile TV showcase. And that chassis you see above? It's a mostly unaltered version of Verizon's Droid Charge, although that formerly pointed chin seems to have gotten the Ashlee Simpson treatment. Spec-wise, the 4.3-inch device reportedly packs a Super AMOLED Plus display, 1.3-megapixel front-facing / 8-megapixel rear cameras, 16GB of included microSD storage (what it'll ship with onboard is unknown), HDMI-out and, bizarrely, that aforementioned TV tuner, replete with antenna. No word on when this unofficial fella's set to go legit nor which Google OS treat it'll run, but with a recently surfaced FCC doc and company slides to go off, we're sure to find out sooner rather than later.
Apple says Google warned Samsung about copying Apple's work
The big trial between Apple and Samsung is slated to begin next week in the US and the two companies are filing briefs in advance to prepare for the jury part of the trial. One juicy tidbit pulled out of Apple's brief by AllThingsD reveals that Samsung was warned by Google and others that its early Galaxy devices were too similar to Apple's products. According to the brief, Google told Samsung that its prototype Galaxy Tab (P1) and Tab 10.1 (P3) were "too similar" to the iPad and ordered Samsung to make its products a "...distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3." Even a group of designers told Samsung that "innovation" is needed because the Galaxy S looks like it was copied from the iPhone. The group went so far as to say that "[a]ll you have to do is cover up the Samsung logo and it's difficult to find anything different from the iPhone." Earlier this week, we saw a brief from Samsung that claims the Korean company indirectly helped Apple achieve success with the iPhone, and another one that shows some cool early renderings of the iPad and a Sony-inspired iPhone. #next_pages_container { width: 5px; hight: 5px; position: absolute; top: -100px; left: -100px; z-index: 2147483647 !important; }
AT&T scores red Galaxy S III, pre-orders start July 15th
Not a fan of the white or "Pebble Blue" shells the Galaxy S III is packed in, looking for something a little more sultry perhaps? Well, if you're an AT&T customer, you've got a new choice in fingerprint-highlighting plastic -- Garnet Red. The shade of maroon we were promised is exclusive to Ma Bell, and you can pre-order it starting July 15th at the usual price point ($199). If you want to get a glimpse of it in person first, you'll have to wait till July 29th when it officially hits shelves.
Samsung T699 passes federal inspection, lacks naming conviction
The obtusely-named Galaxy S Blaze Q rumored to be coming to a T-Mobile store near you, has appeared at the FCC labs. It tallies with the magenta mobile network, packing AWS, GPRS 850 and 1900 radio bands. No disassembly shots this time, so you'll have to combine the above body outline with your imagination to make a stab at how the rest of the handset will look. As we saw earlier, the phone is set to pack a slide-out QWERTY keyboard, while a 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 and 720p display should ensure the rest of the hardware passes muster. A launch is rumored for next month, but until then, schematics and radiowave tests are yours to explore; hit up the source for the full filing.
Samsung Galaxy S, II and III pitted against one another in DisplayMate shootout
Feeling nerdy? Good, because the folks at DisplayMate have put together quite the comparison of the three different AMOLED displays featured in the Samsung Galaxy S, II and III smartphones. While the study places an emphasis on quantitative measures -- and thus leaves more subjective qualities out of the discussion -- the comparison is nonetheless an insightful look into the progression of Samsung's AMOLED display technology. Curiously, some elements remain unchanged, such as color gamut, which is 138 percent of the sRGB standard across all displays and is to blame for images that appear over-saturated. In terms of color temperature, DisplayMate reveals that while Samsung is trending closer to a white of natural daylight, even the Galaxy S III -- which measures 7,900 K -- is still far too bluish in comparison to an ideal 6,500 K. Believe it or not, but there's one area that DisplayMate suggests is subtly worsening over time, and that's light reflection. The issue is nearly moot, however, as the 5 percent reflectance of the Galaxy S III is but a small shift from the previous iterations, and what's more, this remains among the lowest reflectance in the industry. We'd be fools to try and summarize all of DisplayMate's findings, but if you're curious to learn more -- and we hope you are -- be sure to hit up the source link below.
Samsung T699 may become Galaxy S Blaze Q, compete for silliest phone name ever on August 15th
T-Mobile might have just gone with the nuclear option when it comes to ridiculous smartphone names. Apparently not content to let Sprint's Galaxy S II, Epic 4G Touch hold on to the crown for unnecessarily wordy titles, Magenta is reportedly launching Samsung's T699 as the Galaxy S Blaze Q. Yep. If you've stopped giggling, you'll be glad to know TmoNews' leaked photos and details at least hint at a serious QWERTY slider attached to the silly name. The Android 4.0 hardware should be a slightly detuned Galaxy S III, with the familiar 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 and 720p display being tempered by a more restrained 1GB of RAM and a 5-megapixel back camera. As long as a store layout document proves accurate, we'll have the choice of snagging a Blaze Q at T-Mobile on August 15th... assuming the store clerk doesn't get tongue-tied first.
Samsung expects record earnings for Q2 thanks to all those Galaxy phone sales
Samsung's complete earnings results for the April - June 2012 period won't come out until July 27th, but Reuters reports its early guidance to investors estimates the company's profit at a record 6.7 trillion won ($5.9 billion). That's mostly due to strong sales of the ever-expanding (and increasingly targeted by lawsuits) line of Galaxy smartphones. Sales forecasts are slightly below earlier estimates, and while there's no specific numbers for each division, a Bloomberg breakdown of analyst predictions suggests there should be more good news to go around later this month.
