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  • Samsung Galaxy R Revealed

    Samsung announced the launch of the latest Android smartphone – Galaxy R. The phone has a slim design with a thickness of only 9.55 mm and is weighing 131 grams.

    Galaxy R comes equipped with a 4.19-inch Super Clear LCD screen and a dual-core processor, which offers the ability to record 720p HD video and to play 1080p Full HD (Divx, WMV, MP4, H.264 B/P) at 30fps.

    New Samsung device is equipped with a 5MP camera on the back and a 1.3MP on the front. It has an internal memory of 8GB, which can be extended to 32GB by using a microSD memory card.

    On the connectivity, the handset comes with Bluetooth 3.0 HS and USB 2.0 support. The Dual Channel Wi-Fi connection is also included as standard.

    Besides using the intuitive Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) platform, Galaxy R also includes Samsung Hubs, which provides access to content anytime, anywhere and provides continuing connectivity with users’ social circles.

    Hubs included are:

    • Social Hub – combines contacts, calendar and user’s e-mail with instant messaging and social networking connections, all within an easy to use interface that gives you control of social life everywhere.
    • Music Hub – provides access to over 14 million tracks, new and old, which transforms Galaxy R in your own jukebox.
    • Readers Hub – allows users to access whenever and wherever a large library, consisting of over 2.3 million books, 2,000 newspapers and 3,000 magazines in a variety of languages.
    • Game Hub – offers a great experience for both fans of gaming and mobile gaming enthusiasts.

    Samsung has improved the functionality of their new smartphone by including a number of other functions like Samsung Voice Command, an intuitive voice recognition service that allows hands-free control.

    Voice recognition feature gives users the ability to listen to their offline written messages and to respond with voice, while the calls, the e-books and other functions, can be started by a voice command.

    The Koreans have also included the L! ve Panel function, providing the ability to customize the main screen and improve the visual experience with 3D effects.

    The “Find My Mobile” function allows users to locate, call, remotely block the device and to activate the call history when the smartphone is lost or stolen. This function removes the worries about losing the device or some confidential data.

    The phone comes with a battery of 1650 mAh, which provides autonomy of 580 minutes of conversation and 550 hours in standby.

    Galaxy R will be available from July in Europe and will be included successively in global markets, including Asia.

    You may also want to read:
    HTC Sensation vs. Samsung Galaxy S 2
    Samsung Out from Apple’s Suppliers List of Components for iPad
    RIM Fires 2000 Employees and Announces Two New Smartphones

  • Samsung Out from Apple’s Suppliers List of Components for iPad

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), a Taiwanese company producing chips, began manufacturing a new generation of components for Apple’s mobile devices, which could mean that the manufacturer of iPad tablet will break the contract with its supplier of Samsung Electronics chips, according to several sources close to the situation.

    Samsung is the only supplier of A5 chips used for the iPad 2, but Apple has suggested that wishes to depart from the Korean company.

    The two companies have each other filled a complaint in court accusing of infringement of patents, while Samsung has proven to be the fiercest competitor of Apple in the battle on the smartphones and tablets market. Apple is faced with several obstacles if would want to make a transition to TSMC.

    "Apple is trying to diversify its source of components, but will continue to be some way in a relationship with Samsung," said William Wang, an analyst at Fubon Securities.

    "I believe that TSMC will receive orders for the new chips, but the problem is how many. Apple will not provide 100% of the orders of a single supplier, such as TSMC. Maybe will allocate only 20-30% of the orders", he completed.

    The analysts and other sources have previously said that TSMC, the largest manufacturer of chips under contract, will become the supplier for the next generation of chips for Apple devices, probably starting from next year.

    TSMC is an obvious candidate to win the future business with Apple, because it has budgeted 7.8 billion dollars this year to update the technology and to add capacity of production.

    The company has experience with the architecture of the British ARM Holdings chips, widely used by Apple to make efficient mobile chips in terms of energy consumption.

    "Taiwanese company already has all the details and authorizations in place," said another source.

    Tablet market, which last year was aggressively dominated by Apple's iPad, is expected to grow to 108 million devices next year, from 70 million as estimated for 2011 and 17.6 million as it was in 2010, according to Gartner.

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  • Nokia, At the Lowest Rate in 14 Years, on a Growing Market

    Nokia mobile phone market share dropped from 30.6% to 25.1%, reaching its lowest level since 1997, selling in the first quarter of 2011 107.6 million units, according to a study made by the research firm Gartner.

    At the same time, Samsung’s sales increased from 64.9 to 68.8 million units, and the producer has a market share of 16.1%.

    The list is completed by LG, which has sold in the first quarter of 2011 27.2 million mobile phones, representing 7.6% of market.

    Apple is ranked four in the mobile phones top, but also in the operating system top, with 16.9 million iPhones sold worldwide, double value than in the first quarter of last year. The company’s market share, both in smartphones and operating systems, increased from 2.3% to 3.9%.

    The sales of the Canadians from Research In Motion, the Blackberry manufacturer, have increased in the same period from 10.8 to 13 million units, the company having a market share of 3%.

    In the operating systems, Android has become the most popular platform in the world, increasing its last year market share from 9.6% to 36%.

    The market share of Symbian, at which Nokia will renounce in favor of Windows Mobile, has decreased in the last year from 44.2% to 27.4%.

    In total, in the first quarter of 2011 were sold 427.9 million mobile phones, an increase with 19% over the number recorded in the first three months of 2010. Gartner says that, despite this 19-percent increase in sales, would have been sold even more smartphones, but several companies have announced the launch of new terminals for the current quarter, and many customers have waited them and haven’t bought any phone in the first three months of the year.

    Smartphone sales have doubled up in the period mentioned, to 100.8 million units, according to the source.

  • Smartphone Sales Surge As Prices Plummet

    The smartphone market is on an upward surge, according to IDC, the market research firm. The market has witnessed an outbreak of cutthroat competition among the major smartphone companies, leading to a fall in phone prices. Low cost coupled with the innovative marketing strategies has led to the growth in the smartphone market.

    The first quarter of 2011 witnessed a sale of 99.6 million smartphones, which is almost double the quantity that was sold in the previous quarter. The sales figures registered a 79.6 percent growth in this period. Senior analyst of Mobile phone Technology and Trends team of IDC, Ramon L lamas, attributed this growth to the prevailing smartphone market conditions.

    Fall of smartphone prices is the major factor that has contributed to the rise in sales. The market is flooded with new models from different companies, which has forced a slash in the rates of even expensive models. The corporate rat race has benefited the consumer market as expensive models are now within the reach of more people.

    The upward trend in the purchase of mobile phones has given companies a fillip in taking their wireless expense management further. IT departments all over the country are concerned about their employees’ demands to provide high-end smartphones.

    The IDC report has forecasted a bright future for Android phones. Google’s Android technology reinstated itself on the top in the first quarter of 2011. The demand for Android based phones has encouraged several phone manufacturers to come with phones that work on Android technology. Samsung registered a profit of 350% and HTC recorded a 229.6% growth in its sales owing to their Android based phones.

    A report by Global Industry Analysts has named enterprise mobility as the force behind the surging smartphone market. By 2017, the smartphone sales are expected to go beyond 1.6 billion units.

  • SAMSUNG GALAXY S II at 3M Pre-Orders

    Samsung continues to break records. After announcing a few days ago that it had sold 120,000 copies of the super-phone Galaxy S II only in South Korea, now Samsung makes public the real number of the preorders.

    According to the company, we are talking about 3 million people worldwide who had pre-ordered the new smartphone Samsung Galaxy S II at the end of April, when it was released in Korea.

    The Korean electronics giant says the 3-million demand is so unprecedented, the pre-orders being made before the official launch of its first dual-core Android. For comparison, it should be noted that the first Galaxy S has been sold in 10 million copies, so this 3m-demand is very huge. In addition, the demand is expected to continue its growth, since the phone will be launched in 120 countries worldwide.

    According to the analyses, in the current pace, the rapid increase in demand for Samsung smartphones continues to threaten companies like Apple or Nokia. Samsung Galaxy S II is the world’s first phone with a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus screen.

    However, the demand for this new smartphone could be overtaken by the launching of the new HTC Sensation in summer or by the launching of the new iPhone in September this year.

  • Samsung Becomes the World's First in Mass Production of Transparent LCD Panel

    Samsung has announced that it began mass production of a 22-inch transparent LCD panel in March this year. The panels come in two types, the black-and-white type and the color type, and they have a contrast ratio of 500:1 with WSXGA+ (1680*1050) resolution.

    Compared with the conventional LCD panels that use back light unit (BLU) and have 5% transparency, Samsung’s transparent LCD panel boasts the world’s best transparency rate of over 20% for the black-and-white type and over 15% for the color type.

    The transparent LCD panel has a high transparency rate, which enables a person to look right through the panel like glass, and it consumes 90% less electricity compared with a conventional LCD panel using back light unit.

    It’s because a transparent LCD panel utilizes ambient light such as sun light, which consequently reduces the dependency on electricity for generating power.

    According to Samsung, its transparent LCD panel maximizes convenience for not only manufacturers but also consumers by incorporating the HDMI and the USB interface.

    Transparent display panels have endless possibilities as an advertising tool, which can be applied to show windows and outdoor billboards or used in showcase events.

    Corporations and schools can also adopt the panel as an interactive communication device, which enables information to be displayed more effectively.

    Younghwan Park, a senior vice president of Samsung Electronics LCD Business, said, “Transparent displays will have a wide range of use in all industry areas as an efficient tool for delivering information and communication. With the world’s first mass production of the transparent LCD panel, Samsung Electronics plans to lead the global transparent LCD market by developing various applications.”

  • Google Nexus S 4G Coming to Sprint

    Sprint has announced the upcoming availability of Nexus S 4G from Google. Coming to Sprint this spring, this Android 2.3-powered device features 1 GHz Hummingbird processor, Super AMOLED 4” display, Google Voice integration, NFC support and Mobile Hotspot capability.

    Manufactured by Samsung, Nexus S 4G comes packed with a "pure Google experience" using Android 2.3, Gingerbread, the fastest version of Android available for smartphones. It is powered by a 1GHz Samsung application processor that produces rich 3D-like graphics, faster upload and download times and supports HD-like multimedia content along with a dedicated GPU. 

    It is designed with Samsung’s Super AMOLED touchscreen technology. The 4-inch Contour Display features a curved design "for a more comfortable look and feel in the user’s hand or along the side of the face." It also offers a screen that is bright with higher color contrast, meaning colors are vibrant and text is crisp at any size and produces less glare than on other smartphone displays when outdoors.

    Nexus S 4G also features a 5 megapixel rear-facing camera and camcorder and front-facing VGA camera.

    Additional key features include:

    • 3G/4G Mobile Hotspot capability, supporting up to six Wi-Fi enabled devices simultaneously
    • Android Market for access to more than 150,000 applications
    • Google mobile services such as Google Search, Gmail, Google Maps with Navigation, syncing with Google Calendar, Voice Actions and YouTube
    • Corporate email (Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync®), personal (POP & IMAP) email and instant messaging
    • Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, which allows the device to read information from everyday objects, like stickers and posters embedded with NFC chips
    • 16GB Internal Memory (ROM)/512MB (RAM)
    • Wi-Fi® – 802.11 b/g/n
    • Bluetooth® 2.1 + EDR
    • Integrated GPS
    • 1500 mAh Lithium-ion battery

    Sprint Nexus S 4G customers will be among the first to receive Android software upgrades and new Google mobile apps. In many cases, the device will get the updates and new apps as soon as they are available.

    "Nexus S 4G shows the strong commitment Sprint has to Android, and when combined with our 4G network capabilities, it gives customers the option of a pure Google experience," said Fared Adib, vice president – Product Development, Sprint. "As the first 4G smartphone with Android 2.3, Nexus S 4G delivers on the promise of the advanced data capabilities of 4G to deliver an incredible Web browsing experience, offers quick and easy access to future Android updates and access to the services built into Google Voice."

    Andy Rubin, vice president of Engineering at Google, stated: "We’re excited to partner with Sprint on Nexus S 4G, which brings innovative hardware by Samsung and innovations on the Android platform, to create a powerful smartphone experience,"

    Nexus S 4G will be available exclusively from Sprint this spring for $199.99 with a new two-year service agreement or eligible upgrade.

  • Vizio Maintains Lead in U.S. LCD TV Market

    Riding a wave of demand for its light-emitting diode (LED)-backlit televisions, Vizio managed to maintain leadership in the U.S. market for LCD TV in the fourth quarter as well as for the entire year in 2010, according to new IHS iSuppli research.

    U.S.-based Vizio in the fourth quarter shipped 2.9 million LCD TVs, up 78.9 percent from 1.6 million in the third quarter. This gave the company a 27.6 percent share of unit shipments, up from 19.5 percent in the third quarter. Vizio’s lead over second-place Samsung expanded to 7.4 percentage points in the fourth quarter, up from 2.1 percentage points in the third quarter.

    Topped by a strong fourth-quarter performance, Vizio padded its leadership of the U.S. LCD TV market for the entire year of 2010. Company market share amounted to 21.3 percent in 2010, up from 18.3 percent in 2009. Vizio’s lead expanded to 2.5 percentage points over chief rival Samsung, up from 1 point in 2009.

    “Vizio’s market share gains in the U.S. LCD TV market in 2010 were driven by strong consumer demand for the company’s LED-backlit sets,” said Riddhi Patel, director, television systems for IHS. “Vizio has been able to offer sets with this advanced feature while maintaining competitive pricing. Consumers are snapping up LED-backlit LCD TVs from Vizio and others because of their thinner profile, superior picture, lower power consumption and reduced prices.”

    Vizio Takes Flat-Panel Lead in Q4 2010 but Samsung Takes the Year

    Vizio in the fourth quarter of 2010 also managed to displace Samsung for leadership in the U.S. market for flat-panel televisions, a category that combines the LCD TV and plasma segments. With its strong business in both plasma and LCD sets, Samsung historically has led this area. However, Vizio captured the lead because of aggressive shipments of feature-rich LCD TVs at attractive pricing through its distribution network.

    Vizio in the fourth quarter shipped 2.9 million flat-panel sets, up 78.9 percent from 1.6 million in the third quarter and a 55.5 percent increase from 1.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2009. This gave Vizio a 23.9 percent share of the U.S. flat-panel market in the fourth quarter, up from 16.6 percent in the third quarter.

    Meanwhile, Samsung’s share rose to 21.5 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 18.8 percent in the third. While its share rose, the increase was not sufficient to keep it from falling to second place in the U.S. flat-panel television market.

    Samsung shipped 2.6 million flat panel sets in the fourth quarter of 2010, up 41.5 percent from 1.8 million in the third quarter and a 22.8 percent rise from 2.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.

    However, because Samsung led Vizio in flat-panel television shipments during the first three quarters of 2010, it maintained leadership for the year as a whole. Samsung accounted for 20.1 percent of U.S. flat-panel shipments in 2010, compared to 18.4 percent for Vizio.
     

  • Samsung Develops Mobile DRAM with Wide I/O Interface

    Samsung announced the development of 1 gigabit mobile DRAM with a wide I/O interface, using 50 nanometer class process technology. The new wide I/O mobile DRAM will be used in mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

    The new 1Gb wide I/O mobile DRAM can transmit data at 12.8 gigabyte (GB) per second, which increases the bandwidth of mobile DDR DRAM (1.6GB/s) eightfold, while reducing power consumption by approximately 87 percent. The bandwidth is also four times that of LPDDR2 DRAM (which is approximately 3.2GB/s).

    To boost data transmission, Samsung’s wide I/O DRAM uses 512 pins for data input and output compared to the previous generation of mobile DRAMs, which used a maximum of 32 pins. If you include the pins that are involved in sending commands and regulating power supply, a single Samsung wide I/O DRAM is designed to accommodate approximately 1,200 pins.

    Following this wide I/O DRAM launch, Samsung is aiming to provide 20nm-class* 4Gb wide I/O mobile DRAM sometime in 2013. The company’s recent achievements in mobile DRAM include introducing the first 50nm-class 1Gb LPDDR2 DRAM in 2009 and the first 40nm-class* 2Gb LPDDR2 in 2010.

    According to iSuppli, mobile DRAM’s percentage of total annual DRAM shipments will increase from about 11.1 percent in 2010 to 16.5 percent in 2014.

  • Google Android Reaches #2 Spot among Smartphone Platforms

    comScore has released data from the comScore MobiLens service, reporting key trends in the U.S. mobile phone industry during the three month average period ending November 2010. After several months of strong growth, Google Android captured the #2 ranking among smartphone platforms with 26.0 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers.

    The report ranked the leading mobile original equipment manufacturers and smartphone operating system platforms in the U.S. according to their share of current mobile subscribers ages 13 and older, and reviewed the most popular activities and content accessed via the subscriber’s primary mobile phone. The November report found Samsung to be the top handset manufacturer overall with 24.5 percent market share, while RIM led among smartphone platforms with 33.5 percent market share.

    OEM Market Share

    For the three month average period ending in November, 234 million Americans ages 13 and older used mobile devices. Device manufacturer Samsung ranked as the top OEM with 24.5 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers, up 0.9 percentage points from the three month period ending in August. LG ranked second with 20.9 percent share, followed by Motorola (17.0 percent), RIM (8.8 percent) and Nokia (7.2 percent).

    Smartphone Platform Market Share

    According to the report, 61.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in November, up 10 percent from the preceding three-month period, as RIM led with 33.5 percent market share of smartphones. After several months of strong growth, Google Android captured the #2 ranking among smartphone platforms in November with 26.0 percent of U.S. smartphone subscribers. Apple accounted for 25.0 percent of smartphone subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points), followed by Microsoft with 9.0 percent and Palm with 3.9 percent.

    Mobile Content Usage

    comScore finds that in November, 67.1 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers used text messaging on their mobile device, up 0.5 percentage points versus the prior three month period, while browsers were used by 35.3 percent of U.S. mobile subscribers (up 0.8 percentage points). Subscribers who used downloaded applications comprised 33.4 percent of the mobile audience, representing an increase of 1.1 percentage points. Accessing of social networking sites or blogs increased 1.0 percentage points, representing 23.5 percent of mobile subscribers. Playing games attracted 22.6 percent of the mobile audience while listening to music attracted 15.0 percent.

     

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