Samsung Shrink-Washes the Galaxy S3 To Produce A Mini Smartphone

 To cover all bases, and hand sizes, Samsung is entering the shrinking game with the announcement of a smaller-model Galaxy S3 smartphone. Will all smart devices soon come in a range of glove sizes?

Harry Potter, Where Are You?

With Apple engorging the size of its iPhone screen and shrinking down the iPad to Mini proportions, why can't Samsung get in on the fun? All they, and other, companies need is a handy wizard to do the work, instead of all these process shrinks and redesigns. 

Wizardry aside, Samsung has done it the hard way and will announce tomorrow a European mini version of the top-selling Galaxy S3 super-phone. That will bring it more in line with Apple's iPhone 5 and give choice to those who think the original S3 (and the Samsung Note) are just a touch too big.

Likely to ship with a 4-inch screen, it will match Apple's phone and create a new entry point in Samsung's arsenal. But the phone shouldn't be substantially less-specced, as Samsung is stating that it is only a mini in size, not in specification, while highlighting the demand for smaller-screen devices in Europe. 

The specs have just leaked and we see a dual-core CPU clocked at 1GHz and 1GB RAM with 16Gb storage (plus a microSD slot). It will be running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean and comes with a 5MP main camera and flash, plus a VGA front-camera, The European model will have quad-band 2G and tri-band 3G (No real need for 4G in the old world).

What Size Would You Like?

Samsung won't comment if the smaller device will come to the American market, where presumably those hulk-hands are happier with the current Samsung Galaxy model (pictured below). Either way, you can expect an interesting court date between Apple and Samsung at some point in the future arguing over the "Mini" name, with lawyers going "we shrunk it first!" "No, we did!" etc. 

The official unveiling will take place in Germany tomorrow, and the news is scorching across Twitter right now. But, will a smaller phone be as successful as a larger model… we have Apple going up the scale and Samsung going down it, it will be interesting to see which is the most successful route?

It would be hard to envisage existing Samsung users "downsizing" against the throng of upgrading Apple users. But, if Samsung gets many million new users through this popular-branded product, it should put it in a far better position over time. 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Samsung's Trio of ATIV Tablets Show Microsoft's Splintered Future

 While a lot of the hype at yesterday's Samsung Unpacked event was around the new Galaxy Note 2, PC users will be taking a keen look at the company's Windows RT and Windows 8 tablet PCs with a range of underlying technologies. 

A Three-Pronged Unified Approach? 

So, this is what Microsoft's unified Windows 8 dream has come down to, a major partner offering three tablets, running three different processors and two different operating systems. These are potentially very crazy times for buyers. 

Samsung showed off three Windows tablets under the all-things-Windows 8 brand of ATIV, they are called the Tab, Smart PC and Smart PC Pro. They run on ARM with Windows RT, Intel Atom with Windows 8 and Intel Core i5 with Windows 8 Pro respectively.

 

The three devices look substantially similar, with a stylish, executive, aesthetic, but will sit at three very different price points with various screen sizes, resolutions, storage and memory options. The Tab comes with a dual-core 1.5GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4, 10.1" screen, 2GB of RAM and up to 64GB of storage expandable via a microSD slot. 

Playing Happy Families

A dedicated tablet, compared to its PC-in-disguise larger brothers, it is the acid test of Microsoft's new strategy. Will users really buy a Windows-with-MS-Office tablet that isn't quite a full PC when there are so many other options? With an army of rival modestly-priced tablets out and on the way, selling these for around €699 ($875) is a big ask. 

 

The Smart PC and Smart PC Pro are competing in the more traditional PC space (see more spec details on the official site), albeit in a very tablet style, with the detachable keyboard likely to be a standard feature on most devices come next year. Even these will be under huge pressure as the first full wave of Ultrabooks offers full-spec, lightweight computing, and prices start to come down. 

 

Perhaps it is a masterstroke for Microsoft and partners, but it looks like a recipe for consumer confusion. If you go into a store and ask for a PC today, you can get a rough idea of price/performance, but with dozens of competing models like Samsung's ATIV family on the shelf, things could hardly be less clear. 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Samsung Launches Galaxy Note 2, Windows 8 Phone and Smartphone-Camera

 After its bruising defeat in the courts to Apple, Samsung tries to get on with business as usual, with some of its more distinctive products, including a New Samsung Galaxy Note, being launched today in Berlin at an event titled "Unpacked."  

Welcome to the Future

Samsung's Unpacked event is being livestreamed now on Facebook but most of the details are out already. With new phones, tablets and computing devices on the way, it promises to be quite a show. 

Is It A Phone or Is It A Camera?

There have been quite a few iPhone stuck on the back of a camera spoofs, but Samsung has gone and done it for real, with a new product shown ahead of today's event. The Galaxy Camera looks like a sleek consumer camera with a large touchscreen on the back and a super 21X zoom lens up front. 

Taking 16megaixel shots, you can view them on the 4.8" HD screen and upload them direct to your usual social and photo services directly using your Android apps. Internals include a likely 1.4GHz processor, 8GB of internal storage and a microSD card slot. Expect more details on this soon. 

Taking Notes

The specs for the Galaxy Note 2 are also being widely dispersed ahead of the event. as expected, it will offer a 5.5″ HD Super AMOLED screen running at 1280×720. Inside is a 1.6GHz quad-core CPU with 2GB of RAM (with 16, 32, and 64 GB options and a microSD slot) plus dual cameras.

Juice is delivered by a huge 3,100mAh battery which makes it a smudge heavier by a couple of grams on the original, even so the overall dimensions are slightly thinner.  There will be LTE and HSPA+ 21 models depending on your region and it will ship in white or grey with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. It is out in October in Europe, U.S. release details to follow. 

Phoning Home on Windows 

Samsung is also showing off its first Windows 8 phone, the ATIV S, this features specs that match the latest Android devices, but will be a key part of Microsoft's success as a smartphone player. This ATIV s offers a 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED screen, 1.5GHz dual-core and dual cameras.

Windows 8 Phones are headed your way in huge numbers

Looking rather executive in silver and grey, the phone was shown on Microsoft's Windows Phone blog which has more photos and specifications. ATIV is the product name for all Samsung's Windows 8 products including a smart tablet PC, with detachable magnetic keyboard. 

Samsung showed off Windows RT tablets, Ultrabooks and other devices, focusing on lightness, thinness and design specs, but the phone came across as the highlight of the show. 

 

 

Source : cmswire[dot]com

Everyone Has A Tablet. Samsung Launched A Pen

At the unveiling of the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet today, Samsung set out to prove that the S Pen is mightier than the iPad.

Only the geekiest of the tech press attended Samsung’s U.S. launch event for the Galaxy Note 10.1 on Wednesday. The kind of gizmo-sapians who wrote their first hands-on previews of the tablet when Samsung debuted it at Mobile World Congress in February, and published their second-round reviews--with a multitude of pictures from every conceivable angle--before today's event had even begun.

But even though most of them can rattle off the device's clockspeed with ease, they were at a loss when asked to explain the difference between the Galaxy Tab 2 10.1, a tablet Samsung launched earlier this year, and the newly unveiled Galaxy Note 10.1.

“It’s the pen,” said one reporter from a publication that specializes in mobile device reviews.

Ok, the Galaxy Note 10.1 has a pen. More specifically an “S Pen,” as the company termed it when the feature was originally introduced with the Galaxy Note Smartphone in February. But if you took the pen away, would this tablet be any different than Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 2?

“There are some cool side-by-side features,” the reporter adds, referring to the tablet’s ability to run two apps at once.

“I think the trim is different,” offers another from a competing technology-focused publication.

Samsung’s presentation didn’t offer much more distinction. The S Pen stole the show.

“What makes the Galaxy Note 10.1 possible is the S Pen, which really, truly changes the game,” said President of Samsung Electronics America Tim Baxter during an on-stage presentation.

One important thing you need to know about the S Pen is that it is not a stylus. “Make no mistake, this is not a stylus,” said Travis Merrill, Samsung’s director of tablet marketing, during the same presentation. “Our competitors have nothing like it. The S Pen looks and feels like a pen, yet it’s packed with advanced technology.”

To be fair, it’s a pretty cool stylu—er, “S-Pen.” For one, it uses electromagnetic technology to wirelessly sync with the screen, which helps accuracy. If you increase pressure on the S Pen, for instance, the line will be thicker on the screen. The screen distinguishes between more than 1,000 levels of pressure sensitivity.

The Galaxy Note 10.1's screen can also tell the difference between the pen and your hand, so you won’t see marks from where your hand touches when you write. And the built-in software works with the pen to translate hand-drawn math problems, text and shapes into type.

But no matter how you spin it, the S Pen is a stylus. Which is why Samsung is positioning the Galaxy Note 10.1 as a tablet for content creators. Instead of just consuming content, this feature allows them to easily sketch, take notes or write math problems.

So what’s new in the tablet itself? The Galaxy Tab 2, which does not include an S Pen, measures 10.1 inches diagonally. The Galaxy Note measures 10.1 inches diagonally. The Tab 2 has a screen resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. The Note has a screen resolution of 1280 by 800 pixels. The Tab weights 1.24 pounds, the Note weights 1.3 pounds. Both tablets run Android 4.0 and have similar audio, video and camera features. It’s a good thing the color choices are different (the Note comes in white and dark grey, the Tab in white and titanium silver).

Merrill tells Fast Company the biggest distinction between the Galaxy Note 10.1 and the stylus-less Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 is the device’s quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor and 2 GB of RAM. Translated from Greek--"Exynos originates from the Greek words smart (exypnos) and green (prasinos)," according to Samsung--that means it's more powerful than any of its predecessors, which allows it to run two apps simultaneously.

“Think about it like the car industry.” Samsung Director of Public Relations Ethan Rasiel tells Fast Company. “When you go to buy a car, there’s not just one car, you might have a hatchback, you might have an SUV or a convertible. That’s what you’re doing for different lifestyles and different needs.”

Baxter jumps in: “And then within the SUV market, now you have the small, the big and the supersize. As those categories are emerging, and as we’re looking at a 25-million unit market of tablets in the U.S. this year, consumers are all not using them in the same way.”

While Apple has earned a 65% worldwide tablet market share with one line of iPads, Samsung aims to serve a segmenting market. It started by offering two different size Galaxy Tabs. Now it's aiming to tackle different styles of tablet use.

Source : fastcompany[dot]com