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Samsung Hercules confirmed as a T-Mobile Galaxy S II variant
The picture almost says it all: the Galaxy S II is coming to T-Mobile. Except it's slightly more complicated than that. According to TmoNews, you're actually looking at the back of the new Samsung Hercules -- a handset rumored to possess godly specs, which we already knew was heading to both T-Mo and Telus, and which is now confirmed as an honest-to-goodness Galaxy S II variant. It's similar to the original superphone in many respects, but it has a slightly larger 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen like the Infuse 4G, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor that's possibly a Qualcomm instead of Sammy's own Exynos, and a 42Mbps HSPA+ radio. The rounded corners of the back cover also look distinctly similar to the Within -- the GSII variant coming to Sprint. You'll find full-frontals after the break, which also recall the design of the Nexus S. The only thing missing is any mention of NFC, which featured in the initial rumors, but this is still a hotch-potch of the best Samsung phones around and we can't wait for it to arrive.
Linaro and Samsung roll out Exynos 4210-based Origen development board for $199
You may recall a little group of Linux-loving chums called Linaro, which was formed almost a year ago in the hopes of speeding up Linux development. Today at Computex, the company's taking one step further with the announcement of the Origen development board. Based on Samsung's beefy Exynos 4210 dual core chipset, the kit packs all the essential ports -- including HDMI, USB 2.0 host, SD slot, etc. -- for keen developers to get their hands dirty on, and its base board is also removable to accommodate future chipsets. Potential buyers are told to keep an eye on Insignal, which will soon be offering the basic Origen package for $199, along with optional parts at an extra cost.
Samsung Galaxy S II overclocked to 1.5GHz, used to obliterate benchmarks (video)
What do you do after you've bought the most powerful smartphone to yet grace the Android universe? Some timid folks would urge you to just enjoy it, but if you're like us, you'll probably want to know just how high that dual-core Exynos 4210 birdie could fly. The processor inside the Galaxy S II started off life at 1GHz, then got sped up by Samsung to 1.2GHz just before release, and has now been taken all the way to 1.5GHz thanks to coolbho3000 over on the xda-developers forum. He's been nice enough to provide the source code and instructions necessary to reproduce this stable overclock on your Galaxy S II, but don't rush off just yet -- there's video of the GSII romping through Quadrant and Linpack after the break. [Thanks, Mike and Sam]
Samsung Galaxy S II review
If you don't already know all about the Samsung Galaxy S II, where have you been the past two months? The successor to one of the most popular Android handsets to date carries a burden of expectation almost as sizable as its 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen. It promises to be thinner, lighter, and faster than the Galaxy S that preceded it, while garnishing Android 2.3.3 with a set of TouchWiz customizations that might actually enhance, rather than hinder, the user experience. As such, the Galaxy S II earns Samsung full marks for ambition, but does this slinky new smartphone live up to its interstellar hype? The answer, as always, can be found after the break. %Gallery-122444%
Samsung promises a dual-core 2GHz smartphone 'by next year'
Are you ready for a scorching-fast future? Samsung sure is, as today the Maeli Business Newspaper reports "a high-ranking" company official has disclosed Samsung's intention to deliver a dual-core smartphone that runs at 2GHz. That's 2GHz for each core, not the specious 1GHz multiplied by two mathematics that Sanjay Jha likes to dabble in. ARM already has a dual-core Cortex-A9 design capable of scaling such speed heights, which is most probably the basis on which Samsung is building its future processor on. The report goes on to state that Samsung will consider selling the chips separately, so you wouldn't necessarily have to buy a Samsung-branded handset in order to have what's being described as desktop-class performance in the palm of your hand. Man, just as we prepared one dual-core comparison chart, here comes the next next big thing.
HTC Sensation versus the rest of the dual-core world: smartphone spec sheet smackdown
We got to feeling a bit curious about how exactly HTC's latest Android superphone, the Sensation 4G, stacks up against its fellow dual-core competition, so we did what every geek does in such situations, we compiled a chart. Included in this list are the finest and brightest Android handsets from each of the major manufacturers that have gone dual-core so far: the Galaxy S II, the Atrix 4G, the Optimus 2X / G2X, and HTC's own EVO 3D. As it turns out, there are quite a few commonalities among these phones (besides the benchmark-crushing performance). They all boast screens of either 4 or 4.3 inches in size, the minimum amount of RAM among them is 512MB, the smallest battery is 1500mAh, and yes, they all have front-facing video cameras. Basically, it's the future of smartphones, reduced to a stat sheet. As such, it must also come with the warning that specs aren't everything, and user experience will most often depend on the software available on each device and on the preferences of the human holding it. With that proviso fully digested, join us after the break for the data.
Samsung Galaxy S II to be available May 1st in the UK
Samsung has just delivered a most welcome (and concrete) bit of news for British smartphone lovers. Its next do-it-all Android superphone will be available on May 1st in the United Kingdom. The Galaxy S II will emulate its predecessor by being made available "across all major networks and retailers." The press release promises a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, which indicates we're looking at the Exynos 4210 variant of this handset. We'll try to track down availability information for the rest of Europe, but at least Brits can now stop fretting about the delay / non-delay of this marquee phone's launch.
Samsung Galaxy S II shows up in Ukraine, gets a loving preview (video)
Where would we be without prototypes, eh? One such pre-production unit, of Samsung's dual-core Galaxy S II, has escaped into the Russian Ukrainian wilderness, where it's been thankfully rescued from the cold by the guys over at gagadget. Apart from squaring it up against the Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 -- which we can only surmise was the nearest available Android handset, it surely can't have been the best -- they also dig pretty deeply into the latest TouchWiz UI and dish up a thoroughgoing gallery of sample images from that 8 megapixel autofocus camera on the back. It's an enlightening read, once you've enrolled Google Translate's help, though the video after the break might not be too informative if English is your only language. Still, it's a great visual tour of some yummy hardware. [Thanks, DarkDvr]
ODROID-A tablet fits 1366 x 768 res on a 10-inch screen, dual-core Exynos inside transparent shell
Samsung might not have quite enough Exynos 4210 processors to sell a tablet of its own based on that Cortex-A9 dual-core beastie, but it's found a few to hand over to Korean partner Hardkernel for this here ODROID-A reference platform. It's strictly a dev kit, and as such is unlikely to find its way to your local Best Buy any time soon, but we have to admire the specs on offer. First up is the delightfully dense 1366 x 768 resolution, a rare sight on a 10-inch display, followed by a transparent rear panel that bests anything out on the market right now in terms of sheer sex appeal, and then there are also two MicroSD slots, a HSPA+ modem, HDMI output, a USB 2.0 port, cameras on the front and rear, and a crazy 9000mAh battery. How all this is supposed to only cost $750, we don't know, but then we also don't know how to qualify to get one when it becomes available later this month. So many mysteries. Jump past the break for some hands-on and benchmarking video action.
Samsung's Exynos 4210 flexes 3D gaming muscle at GDC 2011 (video)
What might Android gaming look like on a Samsung Galaxy S II? You're staring it in the face right now. We spotted Samsung's Orion / Exynos 4210 at GDC 2011, showing off the power of its dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 CPU and Mali-400 graphics on a nice big 1080p television screen --- with a completely playable asteroid obstacle course that ran at a butter-smooth 60 frames per second in stereoscopic 3D. ARM representatives told us the chip actually has even more headroom, but was actually constrained by its HDMI 1.3 port, and could push stereoscopic content at up to 70fps if their reference board had HDMI 1.4. When we asked if there were any plans to publish the TrueForce space shooter demo, ARM said it might indeed be done; the company's thinking of releasing it on the Android Market as a benchmark of sorts.
LG Optimus 3D's OMAP 4 benchmarked, pulls ahead of Exynos and Tegra 2
Which dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex A9 system-on-a-chip rules the roost? It's probably too early to tell, but if you're looking for a preliminary verdict, AnandTech has benchmarked all three of them now. Texas Instruments' OMAP 4430, NVIDIA's Tegra 2 and Samsung's Exynos 4210 went head to head in a gauntlet of browser and graphical benchmarks, and it looks like the LG Optimus 3D's OMAP 4 came out on top, boasting minor but significant improvements practically across the board. Good news for the BlackBerry PlayBook, no? Oh, and if you're wondering why the iPhone 4 and Atrix 4G fall behind their older brethren in the image above, remember that they both have to render images at a higher screen resolution. More graphs at our source link below.
Samsung Galaxy S II and 10.1-inch Galaxy Tab II confirmed for MWC, 4-inch 3D display, LTE-based cloud gaming coming later
Alright, we've just laid eyes on some internal Samsung documents and can bring you the official names and specs of the successors to the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab. Firstly, the Galaxy S II will tout a 4.3-inch, 800 x 480 Super AMOLED Plus display, a 1GHz dual-core Orion / Exynos processor, NFC, Bluetooth 3.0, and 24Mbps HSPA+ connectivity. All those stats were leaked earlier this morning, along with the image above, and we've once again seen the 8.49mm thickness for this device, although we now believe it is the measurement at its thinnest point -- it's likely that the S II will fatten up to 9.9mm, presumably to accommodate the camera module, one of the last remaining parts of smartphone construction that require extra girth (NFC being another). As to the Galaxy Tab II, it is indeed the 10.1-inch Honeycomb tablet we've been hearing so much about, with the added bonus of it being a Google Experience Device. That should mean no Samsung-derived skin customizations atop the stock Android 3.0 UI -- exactly what we expect to see from the Motorola Xoom. Also matching the Xoom are the resolution, at 1280 x 800, and CPU speed, at 1GHz, though we couldn't determine whether the Tab II will be a dual- or single-core tablet. Our money's on seeing the Exynos 4210 appear in both new Galaxy devices, but we'll have to wait until Samsung's presser tomorrow to find out for sure. One more note of import on specs: we saw a 16GB / 32GB / 64GB storage listing, but couldn't be sure what product it referred to -- wouldn't it be lovely if the Galaxy S II was the first smartphone to step past the 60GB barrier? Finally, looking toward the future, Samsung is apparently working on a 4-inch WVGA display with 3D capabilities -- presumably autostereoscopic like LG's Optimus 3D -- and an intriguing "Motion UI" control scheme. The latter will allow you to pan inside Google Maps and StreetView just by the movement of your phone, as well as zoom in and out of pages by tilting the handset up and down (a gyroscope will be required for both functions). Samsung also has big plans for LTE, with a focus on pumping out whatever you receive over the 4G connection to a nearby HDTV using dual display technology. The two applications we caught sight of were personal broadcasting, where your Sammy handset would act as an extremely sophisticated internet TV receiver, and cloud-based gaming. Here's hoping we learn more about these future ventures tomorrow.
Samsung dubs its mobile processors Exynos, dual-core 4210 (formerly Orion) arriving next month
We've been talking about Samsung's Orion processor for some time, the dual-core successor to the well-received Hummingbird core of 2010 -- but Orion was a codename all along. What will you be calling these two slices of high-performance silicon by the time they finally grace a phone of yours? "Exynos 4210," it turns out, as the Orion becomes the first member of Sammy's newly-branded Exynos line of application processors. We'd already known that the company was targeting the first half of 2011 for Orion's commercial release, but they're ready to get a little more specific now... and the news is good: production begins next month, which might line up nicely for some announcements the company has in store for MWC next week. Here's hoping! Follow the break for the release.
