Technology Android

[Casey]

Moto just out-Blackberry'd the Blackberry. This design is better than I have seen on any BB model.

Motorola this morning announced the UK as the Motorola Fire, a 2.8-inch Android 2.3 touchscreen device with a physical QWERTY keyboard on the bottom. The device will launch with a 1420mAh battery which is said to deliver best-in-class battery life, allowing users to easily make it through an entire day. The device will be available in the standard black that we have seen before, as well as a white version. It'll be available in September. Full details after the break.
Source: Motorola

 

[Casey]

Samsung on the case, too. I've now lost count of how many devices there are in the Galaxy line. All I know is, in my circle of close family and friends alone, there's people with Samsung Galaxy S, Samsung Galaxy S2, Samsung Galaxy 5/Europa, Samsung Galaxy Ace, and Samsung Galaxy Portal. I know there's a bunch more, and now they've added another 4 to the range.

​

Samsung took the wraps off of four new Android 2.3-powered GALAXY smartphones on Wednesday — the GALAXY W, GALAXY M Pro, GALAXY Y and GALAXY Y Pro — all of which will be on display during the IFA trade show in Berlin next month. The Galaxy W is equipped with a 1.4GHz processor, a 5-megapixel camera and a 3.7-inch display. The GALAXY M Pro has a full QWERTY keyboard, a 1GHz processor and is pre-loaded with enterprise applications including Sybase Afaria, CISCO Mobile and CISCO WebEx. The GALAXY Y has a 2.6-inch display and will be marketed towards younger consumers. It is equipped with an 832MHz processor, a 3-megapixel camera and will be available in a variety of colors. Finally, the GALAXY Y Pro is a second QWERTY smartphone with a 2.6-inch screen and an 832MHz processor that will be targeted towards enterprise users. It is unclear when these new phones will hit the market. Confused with the naming scheme? Here’s how Samsung is choosing to label its next-generation devices: GALAXY S means “Smart,” GALAXY R means “Royal,” GALAXY W means “Wonder,” GALAXY M means “Magical” and GALAXY Y means “Young.” Yes, we’re still confused, too. Read on for the full press release.

Samsung introduces new GALAXY smartphone naming strategy, expands GALAXY smartphone range
SEOUL–(Korea Newswire) August 24, 2011 — Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading mobile phone provider, today announced a new naming strategy for its GALAXY range of smartphones. The creation of the new naming system is marked by the release of four new GALAXY smartphone, the GALAXY W, GALAXY M Pro, GALAXY Y and GALAXY Y Pro, all of which run on the powerful Android 2.3 Gingerbread operating systems.
Samsung has created a new and simplified system of naming its smartphones, focused on its ever-expanding portfolio of industry-leading Android devices. The naming structure will organize and group all devices into five classes, identified by a single alphabetical letter. Devices will then be further designated by an additional indicator which will identify specific functionality.
“As Samsung continues to innovate, our goal is to provide consumers with an experience uniquely tailored to their needs. We have introduced steps to ensure users can simply identify the device designed to deliver the perfect experience for them,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.
“In addition to this new naming strategy at IFA this year we unveilling the GALAXY W, GALAXY M Pro, GALAXY Y and GALAXY Y Pro – designed with the professional and social consumer in mind. These products further build on the phenomenal success we have enjoyed with the GALAXY range.”
New ways to identify your GALAXY Smartphones
According to the new naming structure, new class designators refer to the specific category that the smartphone product fits into, for example a premium device, or an entry-level device. All classes will be used within the higher branding of the ‘GALAXY’ smartphones.
- “S” (Super Smart) – Devices at the very pinnacle of Samsung’s mobile portfolio. This class will only be used on flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S, the award-winning smartphone that has already sold 10 million units throughout the world.
· “R” (Royal / Refined) – Premium category models, a combination of power, performance and productivity for the individual who wants to be defined by the technology they carry.
· “W” (Wonder) – High quality, strategic models, perfect for those seeking a balance between style and performance.
· “M” (Magical) –High-performance models at an economic price-point.
· “Y” (Young) – These are entry models or strategic models for emerging markets or a younger audience more sensitive to price.
Class indicators allow a more specific description of the key selling points of a device:
- “Pro” – This indicates that the device includes a QWERTY keyboard for speedier email typing and increased productivity for professionals.
- “Plus” – This indicates that the device is an upgrade from an existing model.
- “LTE” – This indicates that the device is designed to utilize LTE (Long-Term Evolution) connectivity standards, a 4G standard to provide increased mobile network capacity and speed.
Introducing the Samsung GALAXY W
Equipped with high-spec technology including a 1.4GHz Processor, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity and a large 3.7″ touch screen, the GALAXY W is the ideal solution for those who need to Live Fast and Live Smart. This powerful performance is enhanced with the inclusion of Samsung’s Game, Social and Music Hubs, providing one-stop solutions for a consumer’s gaming, socializing and listening needs. Kies Air enables additional control, allowing users who have misplaced their phone to track it, meaning complete peace of mind.
GALAXY M Pro
Providing a strong performance for high value, the GALAXY M Pro is the ideal solution for young and sociable professionals. A QWERTY keyboard provides swift, accurate typing on the go – enhancing productivity when drafting memos, documents and messages. The keyboard also simplifies communication with Social Hub allowing users to talk to whoever they want, however they want, all from their contact list. Communication history, instant messaging and updates from social networking sites are all readily available.
An optical track pad and touch screen ensures the interface is easy and simple to use. This productivity and functionality is packed into a sleek 9.97m body. Designed with professionals in mind, the GALAXY M Pro offers extensive productivity through a variety of enterprise solutions, including Exchange Active Sync, Sybase Afaria, CISCO Mobile and CISCO WebEx.
GALAXY Y
Compact but with a full range of features and allowing the ability to stay social on-the-go, the GALAXY Y is an ideal device for younger consumers. Seamless multitasking is enabled thanks to the device’s powerful 832MHz processor. The GALAXY Y includes Samsung’s Social Hub, allowing users to stay connected with their online social circles. Equipped with Samsung’s TouchWiz User Interface, the GALAXY Y delivers a simple and intuitive experience. Additionally, the inclusion of SWYPE facilitates speedy typing. The GALAXY Y is available in a variety of colors ensuring it can fit with anyone’s style.
GALAXY Y Pro
Equipped with a QWERTY keyboard as well as enhanced social and professional features, the GALAXY Y Pro Smartphone is optimized for young professionals looking to manage both their work and home lives with ease. Users can stay constantly connected with Social Hub Premium, which supports email, social network integration and instant messaging.​

An optimized, intuitive touch screen interface allows an accessible and intelligent experience, while users are able to work on the go thanks to ThinkFree mobile office, enabling a variety of Office documents (Word, PPT, Excel and PDF) to be edited from the handset. Productivity is enhanced thanks to the combined power of touch screen and QWERTY keyboard inputs, enabling smooth navigation with efficient and professional input. WiFi Direct also allows faster transfer rates, allowing content to be shared quickly.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

here's the thing with the samsung phones that look like blackberries/E71s - they don't look tacky. the motorola's qwerty layout is good.

 

[masta247]

Roftlmao at how the new Symbian looks like:

And Rotflmao at at how the Dutch court decided that Samsung does not violate any of Apple's patents with their phones except of a swipe method in gallery which Samsung declares to remove to be all okay and clear of all charges. Oh and the former German court's decision is not valid in the EU, lmfao.

 

[dilla]

I hope the market expands beyond two serious competitors, Apple and Android. I hope Symbian makes a big push or just someone new comes in and gives the other two a run for their money. The mobile OS scene is moving to fast forward, but I feel it could have more depth. I'd like a change in the way stock Android looks. Natively, since launchers tend to slow things down a bit.

I dunno what I'm saying, but competition needs to expand so that more attention is paid to quality and depth of the OS.

Also, whatever happened to Google Music killing iTunes? Haven't heard much about it since the beta.

 

[dilla]

http://phandroid.com/2011/08/25/sega-classic-sonic-cd-coming-to-android/

 

[Casey]

I hope the market expands beyond two serious competitors, Apple and Android. I hope Symbian makes a big push or just someone new comes in and gives the other two a run for their money. The mobile OS scene is moving to fast forward, but I feel it could have more depth. I'd like a change in the way stock Android looks. Natively, since launchers tend to slow things down a bit.

I dunno what I'm saying, but competition needs to expand so that more attention is paid to quality and depth of the OS.

Also, whatever happened to Google Music killing iTunes? Haven't heard much about it since the beta.

I don't foresee that happening. Symbian is dead already, Nokia are abandoning it once their WP7 handsets are ready.

Outside of "the big 4", nobody else has enough muscle. The big 4 is obviously Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. I don't foresee WP7 getting much traction and Amazon are utilizing Android for their upcoming hardware. They'll likely bypass Android Market since they have their own Appstore, but they'd be morons to try and launch hardware without Google Maps, YouTube etc.

Google Music just gave their users more invites. I gave some out to my family and they are raving about it, uploading their music as we speak. But it's a slow-paced strategy and there's no music selling store as of yet. But the shift is moving away from dedicated MP3 playing devices. iPod sales are down quite drastically and even Apple themselves dropped the iPod branding from iOS. People don't want multiple devices. Same reason Cisco killed the FlipCam line.

So, as more and more people just use their smartphones...Android market share continues to go up... (550k activations a day, 52% market share compared to 29% for Apple)..... more and more people understanding the benefit of cloud storage... Google Music has a 20k song limit, which at the average MP3 bitrate is 50GB of storage. Apple are offering 5GB in iCloud for free, and if you want 50GB it'll cost you $100/year. That is laughable and nobody is going to pay for that. So you have to ask yourself... in the long-term, who is in a better position, what's the most probable outcome here? I don't have any music stored locally on my laptop. Everything in my personal collection is on Google Music and everything I would ever want to listen to is on Spotify or YouTube.

Google Music is part of a long term strategy. But suffice it to say I see a lot less people using iTunes within a few years.

 

[Casey]

http://phandroid.com/2011/08/25/sega-classic-sonic-cd-coming-to-android/

OMFG FUCK YES

I was a diehard Sonic fan as a kid, had all the Mega Drive/Genesis games. But I never got to play Sonic CD much because it required the "Sega CD" add-on, which was a CD reader that connected to the Mega Drive and I didn't have it

I got it on an emulator now, but it's gonna be epic to have it on my phone too.

 

[dilla]

I don't foresee that happening. Symbian is dead already, Nokia are abandoning it once their WP7 handsets are ready.

Outside of "the big 4", nobody else has enough muscle. The big 4 is obviously Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon. I don't foresee WP7 getting much traction and Amazon are utilizing Android for their upcoming hardware. They'll likely bypass Android Market since they have their own Appstore, but they'd be morons to try and launch hardware without Google Maps, YouTube etc.

Google Music just gave their users more invites. I gave some out to my family and they are raving about it, uploading their music as we speak. But it's a slow-paced strategy and there's no music selling store as of yet. But the shift is moving away from dedicated MP3 playing devices. iPod sales are down quite drastically and even Apple themselves dropped the iPod branding from iOS. People don't want multiple devices. Same reason Cisco killed the FlipCam line.

So, as more and more people just use their smartphones...Android market share continues to go up... (550k activations a day, 52% market share compared to 29% for Apple)..... more and more people understanding the benefit of cloud storage... Google Music has a 20k song limit, which at the average MP3 bitrate is 50GB of storage. Apple are offering 5GB in iCloud for free, and if you want 50GB it'll cost you $100/year. That is laughable and nobody is going to pay for that. So you have to ask yourself... in the long-term, who is in a better position, what's the most probable outcome here? I don't have any music stored locally on my laptop. Everything in my personal collection is on Google Music and everything I would ever want to listen to is on Spotify or YouTube.

Google Music is part of a long term strategy. But suffice it to say I see a lot less people using iTunes within a few years.

Well, I'm not big on having all my eggs in one basket. I use Dropbox for documents, Amazon and Google for all my music, even though I would have about 20 GB of music I would like to keep as opposed to the 37+GB that I have now, and then I have the 50GB free from HP when my TouchPad gets here.

How much cloud space does one need? Sure, Google's being free is nice, but with all these services that I use everyday providing some storage here and there, isn't needing 100GB a bit silly, like Apple's $100 yearly option?

It may change when cloud computing is the norm, and not just this cool thing that works well but the average Joe has not employed yet, but until then, if companies want to use it, I'm sure they're not gonna use these services and would instead use premium services that are meant for more industrial uses. My computing is not on an industrial level. And I don't trust the internet to be impenetrable from the likes of lulzsec or simply being shut down like it did in Egypt.

 

[Casey]

I had a small hard drive die recently. After just a few months. If all the stuff on that drive was in the cloud... that would be better. I also use Dropbox, I have 7GB of space with them and have used 6GB of it.

Needing 100GB isn't silly at all. Not when you work in media. Yeah, companies use premium services, my cousin runs a hosting company and was showing me the service he uses the other day, it's literally unlimited backup space in the cloud.

I'm all for it. I'd put every digital file I have in cloud storage if it was a bit more affordable.

 

[Casey]

Samsung inadvertently confirms Nexus Prime. Apparently someone got hold of a leaked version of the Ice Cream Sandwich firmware, and Sammy's legal team sent them this in response.

 

[dilla]

the Galaxy S2 isn't coming to Verizon. Ain't that some shit? Hopefully it means they'll be getting the Prime exclusively, or at least first. Reminds me of what happened with the Nexus One and Incredible.

hope it ends p better than that situation, though.

 

[masta247]

Coonie - I would also like to see more operating systems on the market. Mostly because while I really like Android I recently found out that there are many things about it that I don't like, and that in many aspects it is overrated and I realized that a lot of its popularity is based on fashion and hype. Of course it's a good system too but there are many weird solutions there and when I think about it longer I find out that it's not really "the ultimate one" for me. It's just that overall there are no better ones.
Here in Europe Samsung's Bada OS is pretty popular, much more popular than Windows 7 Phone and in Poland probably more popular than iOS (or about the same). That's mainly because of Samsung Wave which was a really great phone and it was very affordable. Now they're releasing Wave 3, if it's anywhere as good as the original Wave but updated then I can see Bada maintaining their position as a no.2 mobile operating system here.
I'm pretty sure that it's not popular in America at all and it's selling good only in Europe and Asia but it really does so much better than Android at some things, it made me realize how many annoyances there are in Android.
It comes with a very reasonable process management (you launch and close whatever you like), it's so much less battery-draining, data feels safe since it doesn't keep you logged in all the time and it runs smooth always, as opposed to Android. It doesn't tie with any sorts of accounts and apps can't use annoying, clickable ads.
Of course it lacks the amount of apps or customizability but in my book it's a very good system with these 2 aspects limiting it the most.

 

[Casey]

Google TV is finally coming to the UK. fuck yeah

 

[dilla]

I feel the same way about Android. That there's a bit too much hype around it than needs to be, and a lot of the arguments for it are based on ones against Apple. So fanboys really hype it up to be something that it really isn't.

I'm not familiar with Bada outside of just the name of it. Apparently there's TouchWiz too but I think that's more of a UI.


quote="masta247, post: 1103264"]Coonie - I would also like to see more operating systems on the market. Mostly because while I really like Android I recently found out that there are many things about it that I don't like, and that in many aspects it is overrated and I realized that a lot of its popularity is based on fashion and hype. Of course it's a good system too but there are many weird solutions there and when I think about it longer I find out that it's not really "the ultimate one" for me. It's just that overall there are no better ones.
Here in Europe Samsung's Bada OS is pretty popular, much more popular than Windows 7 Phone and in Poland probably more popular than iOS (or about the same). That's mainly because of Samsung Wave which was a really great phone and it was very affordable. Now they're releasing Wave 3, if it's anywhere as good as the original Wave but updated then I can see Bada maintaining their position as a no.2 mobile operating system here.
I'm pretty sure that it's not popular in America at all and it's selling good only in Europe and Asia but it really does so much better than Android at some things, it made me realize how many annoyances there are in Android.
It comes with a very reasonable process management (you launch and close whatever you like), it's so much less battery-draining, data feels safe since it doesn't keep you logged in all the time and it runs smooth always, as opposed to Android. It doesn't tie with any sorts of accounts and apps can't use annoying, clickable ads.
Of course it lacks the amount of apps or customizability but in my book it's a very good system with these 2 aspects limiting it the most.[/quote]

 

[Casey]

Finally, visual proof that unicorns do exist! Someone, somewhere, has leaked a shot of the upcoming Galaxy S II US market handsets headed for three of America's big four carriers (ATT, T-Mo, Sprint). Without further ado, here they are:

Where the image is from, we're not sure (pocketnow provided no details), but it could very well be a slide from Samsung's upcoming press conference to announce the arrival of the first US-friendly Galaxy S II

phones​

. But where it's from, frankly, isn't all that important, right?
If you look closely, it appears all of them are "4G" - meaning WiMAX on the Sprint model and HSPA+ on its T-Mobile and AT&T cousins. It's no LTE, but as carriers continue to expand and improve their sort-of-4G networks, having a device which can access those networks has become a lot more useful in the last year.
What do you guys think - which model is best-looking? All of them seem relatively similar, but I'm liking the lines on the AT&T version.
pocketnow.com

As for me, Android isn't a perfect OS by any means but it's leaps and bounds ahead of the competition, AND it has more potential too. It's like a coal that is being pressurized into a diamond. When I think back to Android 1.0, it was like 90% coal 10% diamond, but you could literally see it improving with each update (1.5, 1.6, etc). Two generations in the ratio for me is like 65% diamond 35% coal. From what I know about ICS it's gonna become 75%/25%.
I don't think anyone who got into Android post 2.0 can really appreciate how far the OS has come from 1.0 to now. It's pretty mindblowing when you stop to think about it.
For me a perfect OS is about synergy with the services that I need to use, and that I want to use. I want to use the best services possible. Clearly for email, that's Gmail. Clearly, for navigational needs it's Google Maps. Clearly for office, it's Google Docs. Right now I enjoy G+ more than other social networks. For music, it's Google Music and Spotify, which simply works better on Android than it does on other platforms. Those are the main features, and a wide range of hardware is the next most important thing. Other platforms just aren't competing, even with just those things considered.

 

[dilla]

I was into Android pre-2.0, and I definitely saw improvements from 1.5/6 to 2.1 to 2.2. More recently, 2.3 did not seem to be a whole lot differentoutside of the visual update. To green. Am I missing something else. Honestly nothing sticks out to me. To me, 2.3 was not a big update. And so I'm bored with it and need a new gimmick. That's what it's all about.

 

[Casey]

1.0 - 1.5 was the most significant jump, then 1.5 - 1.6, then 1.6 - 2.1.

Gingerbread was a pretty big update but it was almost all under the hood. And it's now been longer since Gingerbread was released than any other length of time between updates. Almost 10 months now. Which is why ICS is going to be a BIG update, and not just because it's merging the 2.3/3.0 trees.

I remember being on 1.1 and waiting for Cupcake. That was a long time as well - about 7 months, and there were some pretty maddening bugs that we were all desperate to see fixed. Cupcake pretty much became this legendary quasi-mythical thing that nobody really knew about or understood how it would change everything, because Android hadn't had a major update yet (1.0 - 1.1 was about as minor as it gets). Now ICS has been even longer than that. It's gonna be more than worth it.

 

[THEV1LL4N]

i remember how the cupcake update introduced video-recording and sped up the initialising for the camera - that was a big thing back then. donut officially introduced the power management widget and if i remember correctly, before cupcake every single app was free.

 

[Casey]

Gotta admit, kinda jealous that all the US SGS2 variants have 4.5" screens rather than 4.3".

Nexus Prime allegedly ups the ante to 4.6" with a full 720p HD resolution to boot. Gonna be seriously tempted to sell the SGS2 and flip it for a Nexus.. we'll see.