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ComScore: Android grows US smartphone market share as all others decline
Slip on your fine silk smoking jacket and light up a victory cigar US Android fans, the latest comScore numbers are out for the three-month period ending in May 2010. The most notable trend spotted was a 4 point (up from 9.0% to 13.0%) quarterly increase in Google's Android market share as all other smartphone OS subscribers declined. ComScore also saw Motorola's slide continue, slipping behind LG now for a third place US finish as Samsung continued to bolster its dominant position. Expect the numbers to be jostled a bit next quarter when Apple's iPhone 4 numbers are factored in. Just don't expect to see the Android numbers suffer, especially with the Samsung Galaxy S launching on all the major US carriers before the quarter is done. [Thanks, Jeremy]
Samsung Captivate coming to AT&T on July 18 for $200
We've just gotten official word that the Captivate -- AT&T's rendition of Samsung's global Galaxy S line of high-end Android phones -- will be available starting Sunday, July 18 for $199 on contract with no rebate required. That pricing is more or less what we'd expected considering that T-Mobile priced the Vibrant the same way -- and if rumors of T-Mobile's launch date bump are true, the Captivate won't be the first kid on the block. Still, all four US nationals are getting this thing pretty shortly, which is an extremely impressive Android coup for the boys and girls over at Sammy. Stay tuned for a review just as soon as we can make it happen.
Samsung Vibrant launching on July 15 instead of 21?
We've just been tipped with a document claiming that the Samsung Vibrant -- T-Mobile USA's flavor of the Galaxy S -- is now slated for a July 15 launch (with devices actually shipping to stores on the 7th) versus the July 21 date that had been pegged at the official announcement. Interestingly, this lines up with a completely different document that's been slipped to TmoNews today, so we tend to believe it; question is, why the change? Is T-Mobile looking to get a Super AMOLED jump on the competition, seeing how all four US nationals are launching a version of the phone? On the outset, seems like it wouldn't be a dumb move, though we can't imagine many folks jumping ship and heading to T-Mobile to pick it up when they know they can wait a few days and get a virtually identical phone (or in the case of Sprint, an arguably even better phone) on their own provider.
Samsung T-Mobile Vibrant and Verizon Fascinate preview
You'd think we'd be totally sick of Samsung's Galaxy S phones after seeing AT&T's Captivate and Sprint's Epic 4G, but we're just not done lovin' the 4-inch Super AMOLED, Android devices. Verizon's Fascinate and T-Mobile's Vibrant happen to be the last two Sammy phones to jump into our hands-on, but coincidentally, they're also the most alike. Design-wise, both remind us of the iPhone 3G / 3GS -- they're all screen on the front, strikingly thin, and have black shiny backs. And just like the Captivate and Epic 4G, they've got four touch sensitive buttons along the bottom edge. The Super AMOLED screens continue to impress, and watching a clip of Avatar on both versions was pretty breathtaking. (No, we didn't have an iPhone 4 on hand for comparisons, but make sure to check out the post where we put them head-to-head). We didn't get to put the 1GHz Hummingbird CPU to the test in our short hands-on time, though both Android 2.1-running phones seemed to perform briskly when opening videos and pulling up the browser. Beyond Samsung's TouchWiz skin, both are preloaded with Swype and other carrier apps -- Verizon's version had Skype Mobile as well as a number of VCAST applications. Oh, and unlike most of the other Galaxy S phones, the Fascinate had a flash on its backside. We don't have much more on these bad boys for now -- we're still waiting on pricing and availability -- but the pictures and videos after the break should hold you over. %Gallery-96589% %Gallery-96590% Note: Pay no attention to the background -- there isn't any intended symbolism to draw here, it was just the best lighting arrangement we could muster.
Samsung's American Galaxy S phones pose for family portrait
Samsung's US team held a swanky event in NYC this evening to launch all four of its new US-spec Galaxy S phones in style. If you haven't been brought up to speed on Samsung's stateside Android invasion, the Captivate is headed to AT&T, the Fascinate to Verizon, the Epic 4G to Sprint and the Vibrant to T-Mobile. Each of the phones have 4-inch Super AMOLED screens, 1GHz Hummingbird Cortex A8 CPUs, and cams that can capture 720p video. We've already got detailed hands on impressions of the Captivate and Epic 4G, but stay tuned for Fascinate and Vibrant previews tonight. In the meantime, check out the family all together in the pictures in the gallery below. %Gallery-96583%
Samsung says all Galaxy S phones will get Android 2.2
Samsung has mercifully confirmed at an event in New York this evening that all Galaxy S versions -- including the Captivate, Epic 4G, Vibrant, and Fascinate -- will be receiving updates to Android 2.2 Froyo later this year and offer compatibility with Flash 10.1. All of the devices will be shipping with Android 2.1 out of the gate, so considering that Froyo's already launched, we're sure there'll be no shortage of pressure to get the updates fast-tracked. Sprint says it won't be a long wait on the Epic, but otherwise, we don't have any time frames at this point.
Verizon ropes in Samsung Fascinate, US Cellular gets a Galaxy S too
Scoring the top four US carriers plus a top-tier regional with a single family of smartphones in one fell swoop is a major achievement for any manufacturer -- a feat memorably pulled off by the HTC Touch Pro2 -- so you can officially color us impressed now that Samsung has unveiled the Fascinate for Verizon plus an unnamed device for US Cellular, both variants of the Galaxy S (generic version pictured). As a refresher, this is the same phone family coming to Sprint as the Epic 4G, T-Mobile as the Vibrant, and AT&T as the Captivate, so these guys have a bit of an Android coup on their hands. Like the others (Epic 4G notably excepted), the Fascinate is a non-keyboard Android slate and features the usual 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 1GHz Hummingbird silicon, and 5 megapixel camera with 720p video recording; US Cellular's phone looks to be roughly the same thing, though it seems they've yet to choose a retail name for it. Both will be available on an unannounced date for an unannounced price -- but if the market is any indication, $199.99 on contract seems like a good bet. More on these models as we have it.
Samsung Vibrant is official on T-Mobile, coming July 21 for $200
When it rains, it pours, ladies and gentlemen -- and tonight, it's pouring high-end Android phones from Samsung. Hot on the heels of the Epic 4G for Sprint and a dash of preliminary official info on T-Mobile's flavor of the Galaxy S, the Vibrant is now 100 percent official with a 1GHz Hummingbird processor and 4-inch Super AMOLED display. Though the physical design of the phone is unique to T-Mobile -- just as all North American versions of the Galaxy S are -- the specs should be ringing a bell by now, and the trend continues through to the 5 megapixel camera with 720p video capture and Samsung-skinned build of Android. It launches on July 21 for $199.99 on a two-year contract, though interested folks will be able to pre-order in Radio Shack locations starting July 1 for $50 (which gets returned to you in the form of a gift card). Oh, and don't worry, entertainment buffs: you will definitely get both The Sims 3 Collector's Edition and a little motion picture called Avatar pre-installed on a 2GB microSD card. Bonus! Follow the break for the full release.
Samsung's Epic 4G for Sprint seems to live up to its name
That rumored Galaxy S Pro is very real and very official for Sprint this evening, 'cept it's not actually called the Galaxy S Pro -- instead, it'll be known as the Epic 4G when it comes to market "in the coming months." Like the EVO 4G before it, the Epic 4G sort of blows everything out of the water on paper: 4-inch Super AMOLED display, 5 megapixel primary camera with LED flash and 720p video recording paired with a VGA front-facing cam for video calls, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, six-axis accelerometer, and a 1GHz Hummingbird core. Oh, and of course let's not forget those EV-DO Rev. A and WiMAX radios, the latter of which will earn you theoretical downlink speeds in excess of 10Mbps -- speeds that will work nicely with the phone's five-device mobile hotspot support (three devices fewer than the EVO 4G, interestingly). As software goes, the Epic 4G will be running Samsung's reworked version of Android 2.1 offering features like DLNA support and Social Hub. In other words, this is the closest you're going to get to an EVO 4G with a landscape QWERTY slide -- and at 14.2mm thick, you're only about a millimeter and a half thicker than HTC's entry. Like AT&T's Captivate, the Epic 4G is being described as "a Galaxy S smartphone," so it's pretty clear that Samsung's looking to group all of these things under a global brand with big-time name recognition. Neither pricing nor a launch date have been announced -- but hey, the EVO deserves a few more days in the spotlight, wouldn't you say? Follow the break for Sprint's press release.
T-Mobile offers up official Samsung Vibrant (a.k.a. Galaxy S) details
We already knew that T-Mobile's version of the Samsung Galaxy S would be called the Vibrant, and it looks like the carrier is now starting to share a bit more not-too-surprising information about the phone in what they call an "early FAQ." That includes the first official pictures of the device with T-Mobile branding, and details on some of the phone's specs, including the somewhat interesting tidbit that while the Vibrant "benefits from enhanced speeds with T-Mobile's HSPA+ network," it is "not an HSPA+ device." Otherwise, T-Mobile has simply confirmed that the phone will indeed come with Android 2.1, and that it of course packs a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor and that standout 4.0-inch Super AMOLED display. Still no official word on a launch date just yet, but T-Mobile is promising to share at least a few more details when its countdown reaches zero late tonight. [Thanks, Brent]
iPhone 4 vs. Galaxy S, part deux: HD video playback (video)
We just couldn't leave this face-off of superscreens alone, and went back for another bite at the cherry. Admittedly, we found out the Galaxy S had a browser-specific brightness setting that we hadn't maxed out before setting off our camera hounds, so we've gone and remedied earlier comparison shots with the gallery below, and just as a bonus, we've now also run a HD video clip on both phones. This was to see how the Hummingbird and A4 SOCs, considered close siblings, handled some taxing video work and also to again compare performance deep down on the pixel level. What we can tell you now is that both handsets chewed through the 1080p HD clip with ease and that both gave results we have no hesitation in describing as sublime. Click past the break for the up close and personal video comparison action. N.B. -- We ran a 1080p clip on both phones' respective YouTube apps over WiFi. Although we're certain from the quality of the video that it was at least 720p, we can't say for sure that it was the full 1080 enchilada.%Gallery-96333%
iPhone 4 Retina Display vs. Galaxy S Super AMOLED... fight! (updated)
If the title of this post isn't enough to entice you, we don't know what else to say. We've gone and run some sunlit comparisons between Apple's brand spanking new phone's Retina Display and Samsung's equally fresh and exclusive Super AMOLED panel on the Galaxy S. We don't know if we'll be able to settle the argument, but we're certainly going to subject both superphones to an expansive visual inspection. Follow us after the break for video exploration of this most pressing topic. Update: Due to the Galaxy S having a separate setting for browser brightness, which we didn't max out in the original investigation, we've gone back and collected some truly 100 percent illuminated pictures. See the gallery after the break. Keep in mind that this shouldn't discredit most of the work done here, as we were more interested in pixel-level detail than brightness.%Gallery-96227%
T-Mobile USA's Samsung Galaxy S to be called 'Vibrant'
So, we know AT&T's version of the Galaxy S is called the Captivate -- but what about T-Mobile? Earlier rumors that it'd be called "Vibrant" are all but confirmed today thanks to a carrier-run site that's slowly revealing a rebus puzzle... and so far, we can clearly see Sam + Sun + G and Viking - King + [unknown] + Ant. So yeah, that pretty much locks it up -- and with a Super AMOLED display on board, we'd say the name fits perfectly (and TmoNews claims to have the original image anyway, where the unknown portion is Bee + R). We're expecting some sort of US-focused Galaxy S announcement out of Sammy next Tuesday, so we imagine this'll be it.
Samsung plans to double its smartphone share by end of year, jump ahead of HTC and Motorola
More than 10% of worldwide smartphone market share: that's where Samsung plans to be, on triple its current handset volume, by the end of 2010 according to Lee Donjoo, senior VP of the company's Mobile Communications division. Mind you, such a jump would be staggering in terms of growth with Samsung owning less than 5% of global smartphone market share currently. A move to 10% would place them at number 4 globally according to IDC's numbers, behind Nokia, RIM, and Apple. The Android-lovin' Galaxy S / AT&T Captivate is good, but is it that good? We'll see. Regardless, the term "smartphone" can be defined many ways, and we suspect that Samsung's new Bada OS being pushed into devices previously classified as featurephones could help pad Samsung's numbers.
Hacker finds root for Samsung's Galaxy S
We've seen the inside of the hardware for Samsung's Galaxy S, and now a Russian coder who goes by the name LeshaK is ready to take you down to the core of the software -- despite himself not actually having one of the phones. He's posted a kernel that you can apply for easy unpacking or, if that's not your thing, provided the commands you can use to do it yourself, which look to be as simple as changing the permissions on 'su' and then re-flashing the phone with the new, lighter restrictions. We're not able to test this ourselves, but a few users are reporting infinitely looping reboots when trying to apply this, so we'd advise reading the entire thread on the other end of that source link before you go ahead and ruin your whole Wednesday. [Thanks, Amit]
Exclusive: Samsung Captivate for AT&T preview
AT&T may have been accused of crippling its Android phones, but the Samsung Captivate -- one of the US versions of the Galaxy S -- is about to change all of that. Oh sure, the company released the specs last week, but us resourceful folk got some hands-on time with the Super AMOLED-boasting, Android 2.1 phone prior to its unknown stateside launch. The model we got to play with was clearly an early build (it wasn't even branded Samsung or AT&T), but that didn't stop us from putting it through the paces at a local Starbucks. Hit the break for a bulleted breakdown of our impressions and a short hands-on video. Oh, and don't forget to make a pit stop at the gallery below before getting into the good stuff. %Gallery-95992%
Engadget Mobile Podcast 043 - 06.21.2010
The latest Engadget Mobile Podcast, finally available as a hi-fi download, finds Chris and Myriam deep in the throes of discriminating phone fandom (e.g., Phandom). Hear the pair wallow through oceans of new handsets from Nokia, Samsung, and HTC as they make sense of this week's mobile hardware landscape and answer your questions about how and when to buy your next phone. Hosts: Chris Ziegler, Myriam Joire (tnkgrl)Producer: Trent WolbeMusic: Daestro - Light Powered (Ghostly International)01:08 - Nokia N8 preview01:20 - Nokia N8 meets Bluetooth mouse and keyboard, has a good time (video)10:34 - Nokia E73 Mode review17:03 - T-Mobile confirms free phone offer for family plans this Saturday21:32 - iPhone 4 pre-orderers overwhelm servers, world on the brink of ending28:05 - iPhone 4 is unlocked in Canada, too30:44 - Exclusive: Motorola Droid X preview36:43 - T-Mobile's Samsung Galaxy S outed by way of FCC?38:50 - Samsung Captivate is AT&T's version of the Galaxy S, launching 'in the coming months'42:00 - HTC Aria review52:27 - Listener questionsHear the podcastSubscribe to the podcast[iTunes] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in iTunes[RSS MP3] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in MP3) to your RSS aggregator and have the show delivered automatically[RSS AAC] Add the Engadget Mobile Podcast feed (in enhanced AAC) to your RSS aggregator[Zune] Subscribe to the Podcast directly in the Zune MarketplaceDownload the podcastLISTEN (MP3)LISTEN (AAC)Contact the podcastpodcast (at) engadgetmobile (dot) com.Follow us on Twitter@zpower @tnkgrl @engadgetmobile
Super AMOLED vs AMOLED vs LCD in direct sunlight... fight! (video)
By now you know that (one of) AMOLED's Achilles' heel is readability in direct sunlight. But Samsung's been working hard to fix that with its new Super AMOLED technology. Techblog took the display to task by pitting the Samsung Galaxy S (4-inch, 480 x 800 pixel Super AMOLED) against the HTC Desire (3.7-inch 480 x 800 pixel AMOLED) and Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 (4-inch, 480 x 854 pixel TFT LCD). It's clear from the video embedded after the break that the LCD still has the edge in the harsh Greek sun, but the Super AMOLED certainly makes a much stronger showing than its AMOLED sib. In fact, differences in visibility between the LCD and Super AMOLED are often indistinguishable, like the picture above. That'll be good news for us just as soon as Samsung can start meeting demand... regardless of what Stevie J has to say. Check the video after the break and be sure to click the source for some more side-by-side pics, including a few taken indoors where that Super AMOLED display really shines.
Samsung Galaxy S Pro specs leak out?
Can't confirm these ourselves, but if Android Central's sources are to be believed, these Samsung Galaxy S Pro specs are mighty impressive. Here's what we're looking at: a Sammy-borne 1GHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, a Super AMOLED screen that may or may not be the same 4-inch, 800 x 480 window on the Galaxy S, a strong QWERTY slider with raised keys, front-facing VGA camera, 5 megapixel back camera with 720p video recording capabilities, WiMAX support, and Android 2.1 with some TouchWiz 3.0 customizations. As for qualms, the source does drop "plastic-y" a couple times in a none-too-flattering light. Still, for those who find a lack of physical keys a dealbreaker for the EVO 4G, this might end up being a proper alternate. We'll have to wait and see -- not too long, right Sammy? [Thanks, Ulf S.]
Samsung Captivate is AT&T's version of the Galaxy S, launching 'in the coming months'
So much for the "AT&T refuses to release high-end Android devices" conspiracy theory, eh? T-Mobile had been widely pegged as Samsung's launch partner for the Galaxy S in the States, but AT&T stole its thunder this morning by announcing the Captivate featuring a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, Android 2.1, 7.2Mbps HSPA, and a 1GHz Hummingbird processor. If it sounds more or less like the European Galaxy S, well, your intuitions are spot-on -- AT&T actually describes the Captivate as "a Galaxy S smartphone." As for media, you can expect a 5 megapixel camera with 720p recording, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and 16GB of onboard storage combined with support for external storage for a total of up to 32GB; you also have 802.11n WiFi and a variety of built-in apps (some of which you'll want, others you won't) like Swype and AT&T Navigator. Unfortunately, this is a little while out yet -- AT&T is only saying that it'll launch "in the coming months" for an undisclosed price -- but we're at least stoked that AT&T's finally fully entrenched in the Android superphone game. Follow the break for the full press release.
