galaxys
Latest
Mophie pad offers fast wireless charging for Apple and Samsung phones
You frequently have to be picky when you get a fast wireless charging pad: a device that tops up your Galaxy S9 at high speed might recharge your partner's iPhone X at a humdrum pace. Mophie thinks it can create some harmony with its new Charge Stream Pad+, however. The Qi-compatible puck delivers the maximum wireless charging speed possible for both Apple and Samsung handsets, topping out at 7.5W for the iPhone X/8 and 10W for numerous Galaxy models. Mophie's original iPhone-oriented pad stopped at 7.5W regardless of the device you were using, so it wasn't particularly compelling unless you lived in an Apple-centric household.
Supreme Court denies Samsung's appeal in Apple lawsuit
Samsung has been fighting tooth-and-nail against Apple's victory in a key smartphone patent lawsuit, but it may have little choice but to pay up at this point. The US Supreme Court has refused to hear Samsung's appeal in the case, upholding a circuit court decision reinstating a $120 million penalty for allegedly infringing on Apple's patents for technology like slide-to-unlock and autocorrecting text. Samsung had argued that the lower court didn't consider additional legal material, and supposedly changed laws for both issuing injunctions and invalidating patents.
The Galaxy S7 Edge gets doomed Note 7's Coral Blue outfit
Samsung's Galaxy S7 series is benefiting yet again from the death of its Galaxy Note cousin. After that always-on display update, this time around the S7 Edge gets a new color scheme: Coral Blue. This was the flagship color in most of Samsung's media releases and ads -- and it's pretty darn nice in person. The company is looking to make the most of all that leftover blue casing, we assume, after halting Note 7 production. It joins the existing color options of Black Onyx, Gold Platinum, White Pearl, Silver Titanium and Pink Gold; all of which sound like Pokémon games.
AT&T's insurance plan will soon repair busted phone screens
If you have insurance on your phone and smash the ever-loving tar out of the screen, you normally have to file a claim, pay a deductible and wait for a replacement device. Bleh. AT&T and its insurance provider Asurion, however, are trying something a little different. As of November 15, people paying to insure their phones can shell out $89 to -- schedule permitting -- have a technician repair that display that very day.
The Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge are beautiful, if unsurprising sequels
When Samsung outed the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge last year, we all generally lavished it with praise. It was for a good reason -- they were easily the nicest phones Samsung had crafted in years, even though one was clearly more popular than the other. This year isn't really about reinventing those formulas, but about refining them, and the results are the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. You'll be able to get your own starting on March 11, but read on to get our early impressions.
Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge say hello in leaked photos
We're in prime flagship leak season since Mobile World Congress is just a few weeks away, and we might have just gotten our first in-the-wild looks at Samsung's Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge. If this pace keeps up, we could all the most important details down before Samsung's February 21st press bonanza in Barcelona.
Meet Samsung's Galaxy S7 on February 21st
Waiting to see if Samsung can rekindle its smartphone sales streak with Galaxy S number seven? You won't be waiting long: media invites, as well as a tease-next-to-nothing teaser video, have both surfaced, with the most salient points being that the new Galaxy S will be revealed during the annual mobile flood of Mobile World Congress (in Barcelona, amigo), and that you can expect to sit through an hour of feature rundowns and poetic pontificating on February 21st. (Or, wait on a supercut of the most important parts.)
Meet Samsung's Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge
The last time Samsung put on a show in Barcelona, it came bearing the Galaxy S5 and that love-it-or-hate-it bandage back. Not exactly a high point in the company's design history, you might say. Over the past year, though, the Korean juggernaut has come to the realization that it needs to pare down and push a few more envelopes, a philosophy that begat weird, arguably wonderful experiments like the Note Edge. So, Samsung, it's been a year -- how far have you come? We have our answer. Meet the Galaxy S6 and the S6 edge. try{document.getElementById("fivemin-widget-blogsmith-image-450804").style.display="none";}catch(e){}
Qualcomm confirms loss of a 'large customer', probably Samsung
Qualcomm's presence inside many of the world's most popular mobile devices over the last few years has kept the money coming in (creating the need for the picture shown above), but today there was some bad news. In its Q4 earnings release, the company revealed (PDF) "Expectations that our Snapdragon 810 processor will not be in the upcoming design cycle of a large customer's flagship device." Uh-oh. Even though it didn't say who the large customer is, for years there have been expectations that Samsung would eventually stop relying on Qualcomm chips to run many of its Galaxy phones.
Samsung SideSync functionality gets detailed on video
For many iOS users, the concept of backing up their iPhones and iPads to ones PC is a familiar one -- just plug it into iTunes, hit a button, and wait around for an undetermined amount of time. For Android users, however, the idea of syncing one's phone to a PC may be a bit more foreign. Back in April, Samsung quietly launched SideSync software in order to both back up a user's phone while also allowing a laptop's mouse to dictate actions on the mobile. Things like copy / paste and drag / drop can be accessed while connected, and users can even pull a virtual copy of their phone up while mousing around on their laptop. For those needing a few visuals to get their noodle wrapped around it all, just click through the break.
When being better doesn't equal victory: Samsung's curious overshadowing of HTC
In a lot of things, being the best generally leads to victory. Usain Bolt is the fastest man in the London Olympics? He wins the gold. A hosting company has the best recorded uptime? It takes home an award. Google launches the fastest consumer broadband available in the US? Boom, victory. But every so often, life throws us a curveball. For every 1972 Dolphins team, there's a pack of believers from NC State eager to do something crazy in 1983. And in more germane terms, there's presently no rhyme or reason why HTC has continually outgunned Samsung in terms of design prowess, yet continues to bleed cash while its Korean rival mints it. Actually, there is a reason. It's called marketing.
Samsung Unpacked 2013 liveblog!
It's time to see what our friend Jeremy has been hiding and meet Samsung's next Galaxy phone. The fourth generation of its Android flagship will debut on this page, so check back here for a minute by minute breakdown of the events from Radio City Music Hall in New York City. The fun gets started at 7PM ET on Thursday, March 14th! March 14, 2013 7:00 PM EDT
NPD: Apple tops Q4 US smartphone sales, Samsung a strong second place
Nothing super-shocking in this latest report from NPD -- not after seeing fairly similar numbers from Strategy Analytics not all that long ago, that is. According to the research group, Apple's leading the pack at 39-percent of US smartphone sales in the final quarter of last year -- that number's down from 41-percent this time last year. Bigger changes are afoot over at Samsung, however. The handset maker jumped from 21- to 30-percent from the same time last year, thanks in no small part to demand for the Galaxy S III. Go figure, NPD's top five list is dominated entirely by iPhone and Samsung Galaxy S iterations -- in fact, combined, the two manufacturers make up some 70-percent of sales. Motorola is in at a distant third, with seven-percent of sales, followed by HTC and LG, each at six-percent.
CyanogenMod 10.1 Milestone 1 hits Nexus and Samsung devices
Despite all the nightly builds of CyanogenMod 10.1, there hasn't been much of anything definitive to hang our hats on. There's at last some sense of reliability now that Milestone 1 versions have hit the servers. Most Nexus devices, as well as swaths of Samsung's Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab 2 ranges, can get the unofficial Android 4.2 build for themselves. The M1 code is deemed "mostly stable" and good enough for daily use, although that's relative -- it's not yet to the level of a fully stable build, let alone factory firmware. If you only needed fewer risks than before, though, the downloads and details await at the source links. [Thanks, Rashid]
Samsung Galaxy S series: over 100 million served
The Galaxy S III's 30 million sales landmark? Impressive, but still just part of a larger equation -- according to Samsung, its entire line of Galaxy S phones has now sold over 100 million units collectively. According to the firm's Flickr page, the line of popular smartphones passed the nine-digit mark two years and 7 months after the original Galaxy S hit the market. Since then, the Galaxy S II has sold over 40 million units, doubling its sales since February. New iterations old hardware and up and comers like the Galaxy S III mini contribute to the big number too, but Sammy puts the focus on old number three, citing 190,000 as the Galaxy S III's average daily sales. So, that's what it takes to sell 500 phones a minute.
CyanogenMod 10.1 nightlies spread to more Nexus models, ASUS and Samsung devices
There was a certain degree of irony to the first CyanogenMod 10.1 nightly reaching a lone device that already runs Android 4.2. What about the rest of us? Thankfully, logic is getting the upper hand with the arrival of regular test builds for a much wider hardware selection. All versions of the Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 get their expected turn at the code. However, the mix also includes devices that weren't predestined to receive an official update to the latest instance of Jelly Bean, such as ASUS' Transformer Pad Infinity and Samsung devices ranging from the original Galaxy S through to both Galaxy Tab 2 slates. It's still throwing caution to the wind by running an unfinished version of unofficial firmware, but we're sure CyanogenMod's target audience is comfortable enough with the risks to visit the source link.
Refresh Roundup: week of November 19th, 2012
Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!
Samsung's Galaxy S III crosses 30 million sold (Update: More stats!)
Just hours after Samsung's Korean arm remarked on the sales of its Galaxy Note II, Samsung Poland jumped into the act confirming the Galaxy S III has moved 30 million units. We don't know if the celebration included taking a victory lap going the wrong way, but the figure is the highest announced for a phone in the series, after the original Galaxy S topped 10 million in 2011, and the Galaxy S II breached 20 million earlier this year. The line has even spawned spinoffs like the aforementioned Note and upcoming Galaxy S III mini, all while showing no sign of slowing any time soon -- lawsuit or not. Update: Samsung has filled in a few more details, revealing that mark was reached from the supply-side (read: shipped) in just five months, faster than any of its previous phones. That's one Galaxy S III out of the warehouse every 0.45 seconds, at a rate of about 190,000 per day for 157 days. Compare that to the Galaxy S which took 17 months to pass 20 million, and the Galaxy S II's 14 month journey to 30 million. Take a peek after the break for a chart and infographic.
ITC rules that Samsung violates four Apple patents covering design, touch
The back and forth continues. US International Trade Commission Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender has made an initial ruling that some Samsung's devices violate four Apple patents, including one iPhone design patent (the one you see above) and three software patents. Apple didn't manage a clean sweep, as Samsung was cleared of treading on two more patents, but the verdict still carries the all-too-familiar potential for a trade ban if the ITC maintains the findings in its final review. It's bleak news for the Korean company, which faced an initial loss to Apple at the ITC just last month -- even though large swaths of the mostly Android-based Galaxy phones and tablets in the dispute have long since left the market, an upheld verdict gives Samsung one less bargaining chip in a protracted legal war.
AOKP team posts giant update to its Jelly Bean build, allows rotation and tablet UI anywhere
Custom ROM fans will know AOKP (Android Open Kang Project), but the first build derived from Jelly Bean was knowingly rough around the edges. What a difference a month makes: along with the usual round of bug fixes, the team's second build has added options to force screen rotation and the tablet interface on any device. Not-quite-so-early adopters also get fine-grained control over the interface DPI, LEDs, theming and vibration, and the device list has grown to include the Verizon Galaxy S III, the Galaxy Note and multiple variants of both the original Galaxy S and the Galaxy Tab family. If you were waiting to stay just short of the bleeding edge before trying AOKP, your version is ready.
