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Category: smartphone

  • Samsung Wave 3 Available in Europe

    Samsung announced yesterday the availability of the Samsung Wave 3 on the European market. The smartphone running bada 2.0 was first announced in late August in Berlin during the IFA Consumer Electronics Fair.

    “The Wave 3 is a smartphone to benefit from the power of the bada 2.0, as well as a newly expanded suite of Samsung applications and services. We will continue to enhance our bada platform and its eco system for Wave smartphone line-up by developing more innovative features, application and content services,” said JK Shin, President of Samsung Mobile Communications Business.

    “We believe the Wave 3 is a smartphone that will truly deliver Samsung’s commitment to the bada platform in the mobile industry, and I hope customers around the world will enjoy it and take full advantage of its many innovative features,” he added.

    The new Samsung Wave is a solid smartphone, literally and figuratively, dedicated to persons who focus on design and safety, not just performance. The phone has a 9.9 mm thick aluminum body, a 4-inch Super AMOLED screen, a 1.4 GHz processor assisted by 512 MB RAM, plus a storage capacity of 4GB (plus a microSD card reader). The Wave 3 also offers support for A-GPS and for the Glonass system (Russian counterpart to GPS), a 1500 mAh battery, HSDPA communication module, WiFi b/g/n support, WiFi Direct and Bluetooth 3.0, but also a 5-megapixel camera.

    Bada 2.0 platform

    Samsung Wave 3 runs on bada 2.0 platform, providing users a new experience: bada platform and TouchWiz interface. The Live Panel home screen can be optimized with Instant shortcuts to the most important content and applications.

    The Wave 3 also features an integrated technology called WiFi Direct, which is automatically connecting the device any WiFi networks available.

    Applications

    The device allows access to thousands of local applications through the app store Samsung Apps. The messaging service ChatOn is also present, connecting all the mobile network users in a single community.

    Thanks to the integrated system Store & Player, Music Hub gives users access to over 12 million tracks and also the possibility to fully customize the music files.

    Samsung Apps will celebrate the launch of the bada 2.0 operating system through the free download promotion of the games Camcard, Skyview and The Adventures of Tintin and: The Game, for a limited period of time.

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    Amazon Prepares a Smartphone
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    HTC Edge – The First Smartphone with Quad-Core Processor

  • Amazon Prepares a Smartphone

    It seems that lately, Amazon becomes a synonym for “success”: after the exceptional sales of their e-book reader, Kindle, it foresees a good season for Kindle Fire tablet, but also the launch of a smartphone under the same brand!

    The information comes from the research department of Citigroup, which recently published a note by Mark Mahaney: “Based on our supply chain channel checks in Asia led by Kevin Chang, Citi’s Taipei-based hardware research analyst, we believe an Amazon Smartphone will be launched in 4Q12.”

    Mahaney adds that Amazon would develop the smartphone together with the producer Foxconn. Thus, Foxconn will develop the concept of the smartphone and will receive the NRE fees (non-recurring engineering fees) from Amazon, while the execution part will come to TMS division of Hon Hai Group (the same that produced the e-reader and the tablet for Amazon).

    According to Citigroup’s predictions, the smartphone will be based on a processor powered by Texas Instruments and a 6 Series dual core chip from Qualcomm (traditional supplier to Amazon).

    Mahaney’s estimates led to a production cost of about $150 to $170, the analyst stating that a competitive sale price should be close to this amount. “For a normal brand like HTC, they need to price the product at US$243 to make 30% gross margin. If Amazon is actually willing to lose some money on the device, the price gap could be even bigger,” said Mahaney.

    Although he doesn’t specifies whether the smartphone will use Google’s Android OS, but suggests this stating that Amazon will have to pay royalties to Microsoft for the operating system – given that Microsoft has obtained this fee in justice from the hardware partners that are using Android.

    Speculations about pricing are perfectly real, considering that Amazon decreased the price of their Kindle Fire tablet to only $199 and expects sales of five million units in Q4. According to iSuppli, this price would be lower than production costs, given that components’ price would be only $185.

    The future Kindle Phone would have to be another “sales vehicle”, a mobile extension of the website, additional to Fire tablet. According to the scenario, the phone may integrate an application that will scan the desired product on the website and to buy it through a single touch.

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    Official: Motorola Mobility To Be Bought by Google for $ 12.5 Billion
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  • Official: Motorola Mobility To Be Bought by Google for $ 12.5 Billion

    It's official! Motorola Mobility shareholders have approved the transaction by which the company will be acquired by Google for $ 12.5 billion, but the ball is now in the competition authorities' field, which have already opened an investigation after which they will also have to give their consent for this transaction.

    Motorola expects the deal will be completed at the beginning of 2012. In mid-August Google announced that it would buy Motorola Mobility in what is the biggest transaction in the history of web giant.

    Motorola shareholders approved unanimously the transaction, the company being convinced that competition authorities will also give their consent. U.S authorities have also opened an investigation in September in order to see if a so big transaction has or not a negative impact over the market competition.

    Motorola estimates that all approvals will be obtained before the beginning of 2012, and the transaction will be initiated at that time.

    Motorola Mobility separated earlier this year by Motorola Group, which five years ago started to have serious difficulties in mobile segment, but also because they didn’t react quickly enough to come up with competitive touchscreen devices.

    Motorola recorded in 2009 losses of $ 1.2 billion and last year earned operational profit of $ 76 million.

    Explaining why Motorola, the company in Mountain View mentioned in the press release of announcing this important transaction that this company has 80 years of history, invented the mobile phone three decades ago and in 2008 decided to use Android OS on the entire range of smartphones, being among the first large companies that have adopted this operating system.

    Google made a stock of Android adoption and says that over 150 million terminals were activated since 2007 and so far, and 550.000 are added daily.

    Android handsets are sold in 123 countries under the logos of 30 smartphones manufacturers.

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    Kaspersky Lab In a Partnership with TAG Heuer
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    HTC Edge – The First Smartphone with Quad-Core Processor

  • Kaspersky Lab In a Partnership with TAG Heuer

    Kaspersky Lab has signed a partnership agreement with TAG Heuer, the famous Swiss luxury watches manufacturer. The latter, in collaboration with ModeLabs Manufacture, launched the first luxury smartphone with touchscreen, called TAG Heuer Link, which runs Google’s Android.

    For this new smartphone, Kaspersky Lab developed TAG Heuer Mobile Security (powered by Kaspersky), a security solution, which is offering a high level of data stored in the phone.

    “Kaspersky Lab and TAG Heuer share common values, such as cutting-edge technology and an ongoing process of innovation,” said Eugene Kaspersky, President and CEO at Kaspersky Lab. “TAG Heuer Mobile Security is our first project in the luxury segment and we want to further develop this partnership.”

    The new smartphone TAG Heuer Link is a powerful communication tool, developed by Swiss engineers, assembled in France and equipped with Android OS. According to the company, TAG Heuer Link was made with quality materials and with the most advanced components used in horology and automotive industries, including diamonds and pink gold. The stainless steel used for this phone is also used to create surgical instruments and is hypoallergenic and resistant to corrosion.

    TAG Heuer Mobile Security offers a high level of protection against network attacks, malware for mobile phones and SMS spam. Besides the fact that it grants users the possibility to locate where the phone was lost or stolen, using the GPS Find function, the software offers the opportunity to store all digital files in encrypted folders and to lock or delete remotely all the files from the phone.

    Thanks to Mobile Security software from Kaspersky Lab, the owner is able to effectively manage the private contacts, to filter out the unwanted calls and SMSs by entering contacts in “black” and “white” lists and to restrict children’s access to the phone.

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    Samsung Launches Galaxy Note

  • RIM Launches Blackberry Bold 9790 and Blackberry Curve 9380

    Canadian smartphone manufacturer Research In Motion has announced today in Jakarta two new models from the series running the new operating system Blackberry 7. The new smartphones, BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380, will be offering a unique design and an impressive suite of features.

    BlackBerry Bold 9790
    The new model from Bold family does not differ very much from the previous 9900. The only difference worth mentioning is its design. BlackBerry Bold 9790 has embossed buttons over the QWERTY keyboard, while the device’s back looks very much like BlackBerry Torch 9850. The new Bold presents – like the BlackBerry 9900 – a touchscreen in addition to the physical QWERTY keyboard.

    BlackBerry Bold 9790 has a 1GHz processor, NFC support and an internal memory of 8GB, which can be easily expanded with a microSD card.

    BlackBerry Curve 9380
    Curve series has always been designed for customers who want an affordable and powerful BlackBerry device and the new model does not disappoint. BlackBerry Curve 9380 is very similar to BlackBerry Storm, being the first device in Curve series with a 3.2-inch touchscreen. The new Curve presents a lot of social media applications preinstalled, such as Twitter, Facebook, BlackBerry Messenger or Social Feeds.

    BlackBerry Curve 9380 is expected to have a 5-megapixel camera and a 800GHz processor with 1GB of storing memory.

    Rumors inside RIM say that their brand new BlackBerry Bold 9790 and BlackBerry Curve 9380 will be available globally in the next few weeks, but they didn’t disclose any pricing details.

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  • HTC Edge – The First Smartphone with Quad-Core Processor

    Smartphones market is loading as we speak with more efficient and innovative devices. According to pocketnow.com, Taiwanese manufacturer HTC is preparing to launch, early next year, the first smartphone with quad-core processor!

    The first images with the phone have already been offered by an anonymous source, and its probable specs have thrilled the technology enthusiasts. With a 4.7-inch screen, the smartphone has a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, making it by far the most powerful phone on the market. With an announced internal memory of 1GB and with a 8-megapixel camera, HTC aims very high. And because a smartphone with such specifications should have a next-generation operating system, HTC Edge will come with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

    Among other features, is mentioned the high speed HSDPA connectivity (21 Mbps) and the Bluetooth 4.0 technology. It is also possible to be launched a HTC Edge version for the next-generation mobile networks (LTE 4G).

    Disadvantages of processor with multiple cores
    Nevertheless, the latest smartphones equipped with dual-core processors and with energy systems have their disadvantages. First of all, a quad-core processor will put pressure on phone’s battery and will consume its power very fast. In addition, installing multiple cores inside the phone – the internal computer that controls all processes inside the phone – will heat up the system. But there can also be benefits: developers can be more creative and can expand further than they did so far by using some more-demanding games for the system, with improved graphics.

    Officially presented next year
    Most likely, this new HTC smartphone will be presented at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, scheduled to start on February 27.

    The only mobile device that has received a quad-core processor so far is the 2nd generation of Asus Transformer tablet. The gadget has not yet been officially presented, therefore doesn’t exist any data about its functionality.

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  • Samsung Presents New 4G Communication Solutions

    During the 4G World 2011 event, held in Chicago, Samsung made a few demonstrations of its smart solutions Smart LTE and Voice over LTE, which take full advantage of the 4G technology.

    Samsung has shown the improvement in data transition provided by Samsung Smart LTE solution, which is designed to support a large influx of mobile data traffic in congested urban areas. According to the company, applying its advanced technology of radio resource allocation, Samsung Smart LTE solution allows mobile service providers to reduce the interference that occurs inside network’s sectors and cells, making possible the efficient expansion of the signal range without reducing its intensity.

    Youngky Kim, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Telecommunication Systems Business at Samsung Electronics, said: “It’s clear that LTE is the central point of the transition from voice-service-based communication towards the one based on data service. Thus, the telecommunications industry is currently working on finding the most effective ways to satisfy user demand for multimedia and data services at a higher speed, while continuing to provide stable voice services of the highest quality.”

    Samsung has also made a VoLTE demonstration using complete solutions, including networking equipment, but also smartphones and chipsets compatible with LTE. Samsung provides a high quality of the service VoLTE (QoS), ensuring uninterrupted voice communications, even in case of overloaded network.

    Both network equipment and the smartphones used in proving the VoLTE solution are expected to hit the market in 2012.

    Samsung has also introduced SmartMBS, a multi-standard base station that brings together the LTE, 4G and 3G technologies in a single platform. SmartMBS allows quick and easy integration of the LTE technology into existing networks at considerably reduced costs. SmartMBS has a bandwidth range of 65MHz Remote Audio Unit (RRU), equipped with Software Defined Radio (SDR) capabilities.

    Samsung supported the launch of the first commercial services LTE and Mobile WiMAX in USA. Having an extensive experience in OFDMA technology, the company already created dozens of partnerships with mobile operators in order to help them implement 4G solutions, including Sprint and MetroPCS in the US, KDDI in Japan and Mobily in Saudi Arabia.

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    Ubuntu Linux Mobile – An alternative to Google Android

  • Ubuntu Linux Mobile – An alternative to Google Android

    Google’s Android OS will soon have Ubuntu Linux for mobile devices as competitor, an operating system developed under open source and available for use for free.

    Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu Linux, revealed that after finalizing the latest version of the operating system for PCs, their efforts will be focused on extending this platform towards the most popular computing platforms currently used. Thus, in the near future we will have available Ubuntu Linux distributions for tablets, Smart TV devices and, of course, smartphones.

    In the preparation for this expansion, Canonical is currently in talks with many of the producers of mobile devices chipsets, including ARM, a leading manufacturer of processors for tablets and smartphones.
    Through this extension into the world of mobile devices, Ubuntu becomes a direct competitor to Android OS, an operating system which, ironically, is compromised even by Google creator, after the recent acquisition of Motorola, one of the major mobile phones manufacturers in the world.

    The acquisition of Motorola Mobility is not seen well by the other hardware manufacturers, because it transforms Google from simple software developer in hardware manufacturer. Thus, Android OS ends up being caught in a conflict of interests arisen between Google’s creator and the other mobile devices manufacturers. This way, Ubuntu Linux is seen as the saving solution, a free and flexible alternative, coming from a company far less intimidating than Google.

    Interestingly, the strategy chosen by Canonical is ingenious, but without a solid brand that has resonance among the users of tablets and smartphones, its success or the potential failure depends almost entirely on the partnerships concluded with the hardware manufacturers.

    The delivery of Ubuntu OS on as many devices is essential for its promotion, but it remains to be seen whether the facilities offered will be able to rise at the standards of a strong competition, such as the one provided by Google with its Android 4.0.

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  • App-based Infotainment to Revolutionize In-Car Driver Experience at Content & Apps for Auto USA 2011

    Enhanced content and applications have made it possible for OEM’s to offer future-proofed and constantly updateable in-car infotainment direct to the driver. Plus, connected infotainment solutions are set to grow substantially: according to analytics, globally shipments will reach 27 million by 2016.

    Compelled by these figures, OEMs have spent the past 12 months rapidly launching their own content and app strategies. Influenced by enhanced smartphone and tablet capabilities many integrating next-gen content and services through advanced platforms and cloud-based technology.

    The content & apps market is at a crucial tipping point. If a real return on investment is to be achieved – the following challenges must be overcome:

    – Are consumers willing to buy dedicated in-car apps?
    – How to engage the app developer community?
    – How will new players such as software developers influence content offerings?
    – Will we see a convergence in platform technology?

    To answer these crucial questions Telematics Update will gather BMW, Toyota, Ford, HTC, Nokia, Amazon, Audible, HD Radio, Tune In, Hyundai, GM, Audi, Honda, Pandora, Mercedes, ESPN, Yahoo, ABC News Radio and many more on November 29-30, San Diego, Hilton Mission Bay Hotel Resort & Spa, San Diego, California.

    The final $100 registration discount will expire on Friday 4th November sign-up via this secure link.

    About Telematics Update
    Telematics Update Conferences are the most prestigious in the industry. We produce the largest telematics events in North America, Europe & Asia, and attract the most influential speakers providing a rich environment for establishing strategic relationships and networking.

  • Samsung Launches Galaxy Note

    Samsung has finally announced the availability of Samsung Galaxy Note on the European market. The company's new smartphone will be available in November through the major European mobile operators, like Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefonica and Vodafone.

    Galaxy Note has the first and the largest HD Super AMOLED screen, measuring 5.3 inches. According to the company, this is an intelligent expansive, high-resolution screen, offering immersive viewing experience, "the most performing in its class." The S Pen, along with the full touchscreen of the device, is creating a truly unique user experience. Users can enjoy multi-tasking, can create and view more, with fewer interruptions, even in motion.

    The digital S Pen can be used for precise drawings or fine art, while the superior handwriting recognition allows the user to capture and share any idea on other devices without the need for subsequent digitization; handwritten text is converted with accuracy in digital characters.

    Specially designed applications

    Along with Galaxy Note, Samsung announced the launch of "S Choice", a new menu category in the Samsung Apps, with applications designed specifically for the Galaxy Note's S Pen function. The new applications include Soonr Workplace, OmniSketch, Zen Brush, ComicBook! and iAnnotate PDF. Soonr Workplace enables team collaboration through the annotation option directly in the various file formats stored in Soonr Cloud, while iAnnotate PDF offers direct annotation for S Pen in PDF files. OmniSketch allows drawing using S Pen as a brush, while Zen Brush simulates an oriental brush.

    Unique visual experience

    The high-resolution screen of Samsung Galaxy Note allows users an improved visualization of e-books, PowerPoint presentations, news applications and web pages, with scrolling and minimal zooming. The HD Super AMOLED screen of the Galaxy Note is large enough to allow split-screen and multi-tasking operations. The most commonly used native applications can run side by side, thus reducing interruptions. In addition, 5.3-inch screen is the largest ever included in a mobile device; having a thickness of only 9.6 mm, the new Samsung Galaxy Note perfectly fits in your pocket.

    Power and performance

    Galaxy Note’s 1.4 GHz dual core processor ensures a higher speed. Fast network speeds are possible thanks to the HSPA+ or LTE-enabled connections featured by the new smartphone. This means that users can play videos by real-time streaming or play with friends through online gaming platforms (facilitated by Samsung Game Hub).

    SPECIFICATIONS

    Network:
    – HSPA+ up to 21Mbps 850/900/1900/2100
    – 4G LTE
    – EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
    Processor:                
    – 1.4 GHz Dual Core Processor
    Display:                      
    – 5.3” WXGA (1280 x 800, 285 PPI) screen
    – HD Super AMOLED
    Platform:                    
    – Android 2.3(Gingerbread)
    Camera:                      
    – Main (Rear): 8 MP with LED Flash / Front : 2 MP
    – Action Shot, Beauty, Panorama Shot, Smile Shot
    Video:                        
    – 1080p Full HD video recording & playback
    – Recording: 1080p@24~30fps/ Playback: 1080p@30fps
    – Codec: MPEG4/ H.263/ H.264/ DivX, Xvid, WMV, VC-1
    Audio:                          
    – Codec: MP3, AAC, AMR, WMA, WAV, FLAC, OGG
    – Music Player with SoundAlive
    – 3.5mm Ear Jack, Stereo FM Radio with RDS
    Multi Input:                 
    – Full touch + S Pen (Advanced smart pen)
    Connectivity:              
    – Bluetooth® technology v 3.0 + HS
    – USB 2.0 HOST
    – Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct
    Sensor:                        
    – Accelerometer, Digital compass, Proximity, Barometer, Light
    Memory:                      
    – 16 GB internal memory + microSD (up to 32 GB)
    Battery:                        
    – Standard battery, Li-on 2,500 mAh
    Features:                    
    – Samsung Touchwiz/ Samsung Live Panel UX
    – S Memo/ S Planner/ S Choice (Apps for GALAXY Note)
    – Samsung Apps Samsung kies 2.0/ Samsung kies air
    – Social Hub, Readers Hub, Music Hub
                                          

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