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Trio of US Samsung Galaxy S II models get together for a group photo?
Gaze closely at the above picture. Is this classy-looking bunch of phones the actual trio of Galaxy S II devices we expect to see unveiled at Samsung's press event this coming Monday? If so, our mouths are commencing salivation as we speak. From the looks of it, the Samsung Hercules, Epic Touch 4G and Attain are shown off hanging out together in full disclosure. Granted, we've seen the T-Mobile and Sprint versions before, so this image simply verifies what we've already seen. The big reveal, however, is the look of AT&T's variant -- a device that's managed to do the best job at playing hide-and-seek -- which appears to be eerily similar to a leaked render we encountered in June. We're only a matter of days away from knowing for sure, but this will definitely get your weekend started off on the right foot.
Leakster names Sprint's latest: Samsung Epic 4G Touch, HTC EVO Design 4G, and Motorola Admiral
We love starting the week with a good leak, and thanks to an anonymous tipster, we're swimming in a flood of juicy names. First, it appears the Samsung Within is getting a new alias, and without delaying your anticipation, let us re-introduce you to Sprint's upcoming Galaxy S II handset: the Epic 4G Touch. As the moniker suggests, the QWERTY keyboard is likely sliding away, though lovers of physical buttons might find solace with the mysterious Epic 2. If your ideal smartphone combines qHD resolution with HTC Sense -- and eschews the 3D display and dual-core CPU -- the Kingdom is one step closer to reality, and it'll be known as the EVO Design 4G. Finally, a new Motorola will arrive at the Now Network, and it's been christened the Admiral. Unlike its peers, it's lacking the "4G" nomenclature, meaning it's avoiding the upper echelons of Sprint's stable... and hopefully sporting longer battery life, too. [Thanks, anonymous]
Did the Samsung Galaxy S II with NFC just hit the FCC?
Hooray, another Samsung phone made it through the FCC, and it looks like it could be another Galaxy S II variant. No, it's not the Tegra 2-clad version. Nor is it the one with WiMAX. Heck, it's not even the GT-i9100 that showed up in March. Nay, it's the Samsung i777, a new form of the phone sequel we've been pulling our hair out in anticipation for. What's so great about this candidate? It's rocking an NFC antenna on the battery cover and utilizes 850 / 1900 bands in the WCDMA / HSPA variety, making it a tasty target for users on AT&T, Bell, Rogers, or Telus. The phone's dimensions are identical with Europe's current model, which nearly seals the deal on its likely association with the Galaxy S II lineup. Annoyed that this beauty is cradled in some FCC tester's hands and not yours? Fret not, August is quickly approaching.
Samsung Galaxy S II with WiMAX stops by the FCC on its way to Sprint
This Sprint-bound Galaxy S II already posed for one candid and now it also appears to have made a tour of the FCC's testing facilities. Packing CDMA and WiMAX radios, along with a design that matches the leak and and an appropriate model number (SPH-D710), this definitely appears to be the Within we were expecting. So far the only additional clue teased from the FCC documents comes from Wireless Goodness which points out it's 5mm taller and 3mm wider than Euro-spec Galaxy S IIs, but feel free to click the source link and look for yourself.
Galaxy S II expected to land in the US next month, someday, somewhere
Ever since it first peeked its sizable Super AMOLED face out from behind the curtain, anticipation for the Galaxy S II has been tough to tamp down. As the months have worn on though, Americans have simply been left wondering when (if ever) they'd be able to start leaving fingerprints all over one of their own. Well, we finally have an answer... kinda. President of Samsung's mobile division, Shin Jong-kyun, told reporters on Wednesday, "we expect to release the Galaxy S II in the US market sometime in August." So there you go -- on some undetermined date, for some undetermined price, with some undetermined carrier, you'll finally be able to get your greasy little paws on a Galaxy S II next month. It's not much, but hey, it's better than nothing.
Samsung Galaxy S II may be destined for Bell July 21st for $150
Time to break out the peanut butter and syrup, folks, because Bell is waffling. The Canadian mobile provider looked all set for a July 21st launch of the highly-coveted Samsung Galaxy S II, according to a listing on Best Buy Canada, but the page has unfortunately been pulled. When it was live, the galactic sequel was priced for $150 with three-year commitment, and if that were true it would make Bell the first North American carrier to offer the hot-selling Android device -- though it certainly won't be the last. Was the page taken down at Bell's request to allow it the chance to formally announce the device? Has it been delayed? Or, was it just wrong? While we're guessing it's the first possibility -- it is, certainly, a flagship phone that deserves some fanfare -- we'll toss a quarter in the wishing well in hopes that our dreams come true next Thursday. Update: Best Buy Canada reinstated the page, but nudged the price up to $170. Thanks a lot. Update 2: Well, will you look at that? Bell's gone and made it official. The carrier will indeed get the Galaxy S II on July 21st. Think it's too good to be true? Check the Bell source link. [Thanks, idimdb]
Microsoft unveils new Windows Phone 7 Mango handsets from Samsung, Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE
Generally Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Conference is a relatively low key affair, but today it caught a few in the tech world off guard by unveiling not one or two, but four new Windows Phone 7 handsets running Mango. Acer and ZTE both have models on tap, as does Fujitsu -- which slathered its mobile in pink and gave it a waterproof seal. The biggest news though was Samsung. Microsoft pulled out what is believed to be the SGH-i937, a version of the Galaxy S II that sports the Redmond mobile OS instead of Android. From the screen cap above it appears as if the phone is sporting a front-facing camera, something that has been missing from WP7 handset until now and is rumored to be supported in Mango. It's only a brief glimpse but you can catch it in the video after the break. [Thanks, Simon]
Samsung Galaxy Z: Galaxy S II's 'affordable little brother' now ready for pre-order
Been lusting after the Galaxy S II, but aren't willing to break the bank? We hear you, and apparently Samsung does too. Up for pre-order today, on the Swedish arm of Three, is the Galaxy Z -- billed as a more affordable spawn from its Korean progenitor. The Gingerbread-toting handset will sport a 4.2-inch Super Clear LCD, 1GHz dual core processor (rumored to be Tegra 2), and 8GB of onboard storage, extensible with microSD. Fret not camera junkies, also present is a 5 megapixel sensor plus flash and "HD" video recording. All that stands between you and this little Galaxy, are 4,000 kronor (about $630) and your undying love of Swedish meatballs.
Samsung teases 4G tablet for 2011, Galaxy S III in first half of 2012
Don't expect a lawsuit or two to keep a good chaebol down. Not if J.K. Shin has his way. The president of Samsung's mobile communication division is telling us to expect an "enhanced" LTE Galaxy Tab (without providing any detail) sometime later this year, following the launch of the company's 8.9-inch Tab this summer and 10.1-inch Tab next month -- the latter priced between $499 and $599. Shin said that Samsung is already in talks with US and South Korean carriers to launch the 4G tablet. He also teased a third version of the wildly popular Galaxy S handset series for the first half of 2012. A proclamation arriving on news that the delectable Galaxy S II has just set a record for the fastest selling smartphone in Korea after unloading one million handsets in the first month of domestic sales.Naturally, Shin also had a bit to say about Samsung's ongoing legal battle with Apple. "We didn't copy Apple's design," he said bluntly, adding that Apple's allegations "will not be legally problematic." Sure Sammy, tell it to the judge.Update: The Wall Street Journal updated its story calling for the 8.9-inch Galaxy Tab to launch this summer, not in June as originally stated.
Galaxy S II KE7 update brings better battery life, fixes "pink spot" camera bug
Galaxy S II owners, now is the time to load up Kies or to start impatiently tapping "system updates" -- Samsung is rolling out a new firmware for its flagship handsets dubbed KE7. Not everyone is seeing it yet but, according to users, you can expect better battery life, more accurate GPS readings, improved performance, a few upgraded apps, and a fix for the "pink spot" bug in the camera app. We appreciate Samsung making sure everything is just right and pushing a second update before bringing the Galaxy S II to America, but we think it's ready now -- hurry, before we change our minds about owning something called the Attain, Function, or Within.
NTT DoCoMo introduces Palette UI for Android, breathes life into your app tray
If you blinked for even a second during the announcement of NTT DoCoMo's summer lineup, you may have missed the mention of an exclusive Android skin dubbed "docomo Palette UI." At the time, all we knew about this international-interface-of-mystery was that it had a heavy emphasis on app management. After gazing upon a recently-published YouTube video and doing a little digging, we can now wrap our minds visually around what to expect. The demo you'll witness below shows off an app tray that's sorted by categories, rather than one buffet that bundles every app you own. It's a welcome idea that will likely be an added value for consumers, but there's one small concern: we've seen this before, most recently in the latest version of MotoBlur, so we would hardly call it innovative. We should expect to see the Palette UI on at least four Android devices coming out this summer, most notably the superthin Medias WP N-06C and powerful Galaxy S II --though we're curious to see what happens to TouchWiz 4.0 on the latter. [Thanks, Derek]
Samsung updates Galaxy S II, speeds up Swype and fixes auto-brightness issue
Samsung's Galaxy S II superphone didn't have many issues to begin with, and we're hearing there's one fewer annoying quirk today -- Android Community reports that a new firmware update (available via Kies) addresses the overzealous auto-brightness setting that continually irked us during testing. The i9100XWKE2 revision also apparently increases the responsiveness of the Swype software keyboard -- which is always a plus -- so unless this update also fries handsets or something, it sounds like a desirable one. [Thanks, Fayez]
Samsung Galaxy S II nets two additional carriers on South Korea's official launch day
Today marks South Korea's official launch of the Galaxy S II, with Samsung ensuring its home country gets plenty of superphone love before turning its attention abroad. Rival carriers SK Telecom and LG Uplus have added this Super AMOLED Plus beauty to their repertoire, joining KT, who's already begun taking pre-orders for the device which retails for approximately $790 (before subsidies, of course). Though we're left wishing this amazing slab of engineering was available everywhere and all at once, we must remind ourselves that patience is a virtue, and -- oh, forget it -- who's flying to South Korea with us? [Thanks, Amjath]
Samsung Galaxy S II begins quest for 120 country domination
How do you best 10 million 14 million in sales of your flagship Galaxy S smartphone? Easy, do what the movie studios do and launch a bigger-budget sequel to an even wider audience. Samsung is holding a media day event in South Korea to celebrate the domestic launch of its smokin' fast Galaxy S II. The dual-core 1.2GHz Gingerbread handset with 4.27-inch 800 x 480 pixel Super AMOLED Plus display, TouchWiz 4.0 UI, MHL port, and 8 megapixel camera capable of 1080p video is already on limited sale in the UK on its way to a 120 country / 140 carrier invasion -- that's plus 10 countries over the initial Galaxy S target. Naturally, we expect variants of the S II, with and without NFC, to hit all the US majors just like the Galaxy S did in its day. Stay tuned to see if our very positive first impressions of this gorgeous 8.49-mm thick superphone carry over to the review which should be up later today.
Galaxy S II benchmarked, makes other phones cry in shame
The first benchmarks of Samsung's 1.2GHz Galaxy S II -- we saw the 1GHz variant tested previously -- are rolling in, and it's fast. Almost suspiciously so. Its speedy dual-core Exynos CPU pulled off a 3,053 in Quadrant and scored double what the similarly specced HTC Sensation did in Smartbench2011. Those scores also represent a more than threefold improvement over the original Galaxy S. Of course, these are purely synthetic benchmarks and may not translate into an equally improved experience in day to day use. We'll know for sure when we get our hands on one for a proper review in the coming weeks. Full benchmarks are after the break. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Samsung Galaxy S II gets upgraded to 1.2GHz, delayed until May or June?
Well, it looks like there's some good news and some bad news for those holding out for a Samsung Galaxy S II. GSM Arena is reporting that Samsung has decided to upgrade the phone's dual-core processor from 1GHz to 1.2GHz, something that was first revealed on Samsung Estonia's Facebook page and has apparently be confirmed by GSM Arena itself from an "internal source." The bad news is that it seems you'll also have to deal with a bit of a delay. Some UK retailers are now listing a release date of May 6th, while Samsung India has tweeted that the phone's global launch has been delayed by "at least" a month, and that it won't roll out before June. P.S. There's no indication as to how this upgrade will affect the Tegra 2 version of the phone, which was confirmed to be on track last month. [Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Samsung Galaxy S II first with MHL port for dual-purpose USB or HDMI out (video)
There's a small but important fact about Samsung's newest Android flagship that slipped under our radar last week at Mobile World Congress. The Galaxy S II is the first smartphone to feature an MHL port. MHL, as you'll recall, was first announced in 2008 as the Mobile High-Definition video Link "standard" for mobile devices promoted by a consortium that includes Nokia, Samsung, Toshiba, Sony, and Silicon Image. So yeah, another mobile interconnect standard just like DisplayPort, mini-HDMI, or Light Peak. Essentially, the micro-USB shaped MHL jack at the base of the Galaxy S II features internal circuitry that recognizes USB or MHL impedance and then automatically switches the phone into USB data / charging or MHL audio / video / charging modes. A special 5-wire micro-USB to HDMI cable lets you send video and audio to existing HDMI-equipped displays. Unfortunately, the TV won't charge the Galaxy S II during playback unless you insert a phone charger adapter between the GSII and TV or wait for MHL-enabled TVs to begin shipping later this year. Once connected, you can then use your TV's HDMI-CEC compatible remote to navigate and control the Galaxy S II's media interface. The GSII is just the first MHL device with a half-dozen phones, at least one tablet, and a few TVs coming this summer. More details are available in the video interview after the break.
Samsung Galaxy S 2 and 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet leaked on Korean website (Update: high-res shot!)
Uh oh, looks like someone got the wrong date for Samsung's MWC keynote. The above screenshot is captured by the eagle-eyed folks at Moveplayer, who spotted what appears to be an embargoed article about the Galaxy S 2 (or Galaxy S II) over at Korean news site Paran. While the offending press shot has since been removed, the text remains intact with the following specs: Android 2.3 Gingerbread, 4.3-inch display, 1GHz dual-core processor, HSPA+, Bluetooth 3.0, and 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi. Additionally, Paran says that this new handset weighs 116g (4.09 ounces) and is 8.49mm thick -- which is close to, if not the, thinnest smartphone device we've heard of yet. (For the record, the Xperia Arc is 8.7mm at its thinnest point.) The article also mentions that 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet that we heard of yesterday, confirming it will pack a 1GHz dual-core processor, 8 megapixel camera with "full HD" video recording, and dual surround sound speakers. Sounds promising, but only time will tell whether all this is true or simply a matter of lost in translation. Update: OK, so we've done some spying and can confirm that both devices are very real, and their specs look legit. Update 2: Oh snap! Samsung Hub managed to get hold of a high res press shot of the Galaxy S 2 before it got pulled off the Korean sites. It sure resembles the Infuse 4G with an extra home button. We've posted the pic after the break for your viewing pleasure. [Thanks, Tran Quoc Hop]
Samsung sucks at Photoshop: The next Galaxy S (video)
Photoshop is hard. Hell, we're just hacks ourselves, using the tool as a means to help convey a story. But we don't have BAs in graphic design and we're definitely not operating within Samsung's multi-million-dollar advertising budget. So pardon us while we tease Sammy for failing to add a starburst to cover the reflection of its super-secret next-generation followup to its Galaxy S handset. The grab above comes at the 13 second mark of the official "next Galaxy S" teaser video (posted after the break) released in the runup to the big Mobile World Congress event. We guess some secrets really are meant to be shared. [Thanks, Shavar]
Samsung Mobile boss confirms Galaxy S successor, Galaxy Tab roadmap being announced next month
Far be it from Samsung to announce an extremely high-end US-only smartphone -- the Infuse 4G for AT&T, pictured above -- without a global equivalent, and it's starting to look like we'll get that equivalent in just a few weeks' time. JK Shin, president of Samsung Mobile, has now gone on record saying that we'll get a new Galaxy S device at Mobile World Congress in February that'll feature Gingerbread, a dual-core processor (whether that's Tegra 2, Orion, or something else entirely, we're not sure), and the Super AMOLED Plus technology that debuted at CES last week. Shin's also saying that we'll get a peek at Sammy's plans for the Galaxy Tab line for 2011, which we're guessing will include that lovely 7-inch Super AMOLED display that's been kicking around. Should be an exciting show, to say the least.
