Packard Bell EasyNote LV, TV laptops bring Ivy Bridge to speed-hungry Europeans
Most laptops being updated to Intel's
Ivy Bridge processors have come from
international brands, so it may be some relief to European PC buyers that Acer's local
Packard Bell badge has made the leap as well. The 15.6-inch EasyNote TV and 17.3-inch LV will each use the new 22-nanometer processors both to push performance that little bit farther as well as get a middling five hours of battery life.
NVIDIA graphics in GeForce GT 620M and 630M flavors will spruce up the gaming side, however, and Packard Bell is delivering a 20 percent more responsive multi-touch trackpad, dedicated music / social keys and a bamboo-like lid pattern to add a little dose of style. The duo will surface in Europe during June at prices starting from €499 ($656). Acer has sometimes brought Packard Bell PCs to the US as roughly equivalent
Gateway models and vice versa, so Americans shouldn't be surprised if they get counterpart laptops before long.
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Samsung's SGH-i667 "Mandel" Windows Phone surfaces, still shrouded in mystery
Sure, today's gadget news is saturated with Samsung's new
Galaxy S III, but lest we forget that it's been a hot minute since its released a Windows Phone device. The last we saw were the
Focus S and Flash, and that was right around when the
Nokia Lumia 800 and
Galaxy Nexus were still fresh in our minds. Well, this can only be classified as a potential leak, but two purported photos of another Samsung WP7.5 device, codenamed "Mandel," was recently posted at the
WPXAP forums. While there's not much in the way of hard details, according to
WPCentral, this is the white SGH-i667 that passed through the FCC during March with AT&T bands, but then apparently nixed before it could hit stores. Along with the photo, a screenshot from the Zune software shows it having only 8GB of capacity, which likely means it wasn't slated to be a premium offering. That's about all the info that's surfaced for now on the Mandel, but feel free to hit up the links below for more details and analysis. Here's hoping that Samsung will announce more love for Windows Phone soon.
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Buying an iPad 2? Here's the rarer, more efficient specimen you need to (somehow) track down
Not all iPads are made equal, even if they're all packaged and branded identically. There's a major new mutation within the 2nd generation tablet and it brings significantly better battery life. Specifically, the fourth and latest production model of the
iPad 2 (known as iPad2,4) has not only a lower price tag ($399) but also a new 32nm processor, which is significantly smaller and more efficient than those in previous iPad 2s (which had 45nm chips and an older transistor design). According to
AnandTech, this results in an overall 16 percent increase in battery life during web browsing and as much as a 30 percent boost when playing games. Obviously that's worth having, but how can you tell if a boxed-up iPad 2 has the new processor before taking it to the checkout? Here's the downer: you can't. Until retailers' inventories naturally flood with the updated type, the only way to tell is by switching the slate on and running a utility like GeekBench -- and perhaps there'll be circumstances where you can give that a go on the shop floor. Alternatively, if third-party sellers discover that their stock is the iPad2,4, they could pull off a Darwinian win-win by marketing that fact to buyers.
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MTV on demand launches in the UK, now everyone's got a 'banker' for those cold nights
If you, or your kids, wish to view the
dionysian exploits of Newcastle's finest at any hour of the day, then you're in luck.
MTV has unveiled an online
on-demand service in the UK that will allow you to binge-watch
Geordie Shore and other shows of its ilk for a modest fee. £2 ($3.20) will buy you 24 hours access, while £3 ($4.80) will provide a full week of delightfully low-brow programming. Given the adult nature of MTV's oeuvre, only those 16-and-over will be eligible to access the service, but be warned -- it's charged via your monthly cellphone bill, so keep it a safe distance from the rugrats.
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Google Play adds shared song playlist to Music, helps you relive your friends' terrible taste in tunes
Remember that funky beat your buddy at work shared with you over
Google+? Don't bother digging through their post history,
Mountain View's music service has you covered with its new "Shared with me" auto-playlist. This self-maintaining list keeps track of all the songs friends and colleagues send your way, making it easy to hunt down a catchy tune your brother sent you, or to endlessly ridicule a coworker's awful sense of sound. The playlist not only shows the track, artist, duration and price, but also a preview of the Google+ post (and a thumbnail of its author) that you scored the shared song from in the first place. Looking for lost music? Just take a look at your auto-playlists.
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Audi, GM, others unite on 20-minute EV charging standard for green drivers in a rush
Fast-charging an
EV isn't new in itself, but deciding on a standard for it is. Which is why we're glad to hear that Audi, BMW, Chrysler, Daimler, Ford, GM, Porsche and Volkswagen have all agreed to a common format for their EV charging ports, the not-very-elegantly-titled DC Fast Charging with a Combined Charging System. Together, the automakers are promising a consistent way to power up a car within 15 to 20 minutes, all without breaking a current Type 1 AC charging implementation. The new format will be demoed at the Electric Vehicle Symposium 26 in Los Angeles starting May 6. Just be aware that your first-generation
Focus Electric won't be certain to use the newly universal technology: the first cars to tout the new plug won't be at dealerships until 2013, and the European vehicle association ACEA is only guaranteeing that charging stations on the continent will be using the DC Fast Charging system by 2017. Check after the break for a further look at the port.
Continue reading Audi, GM, others unite on 20-minute EV charging standard for green drivers in a rush
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Nintendo patent application lends a look at Wii U's core technology, add-ons too
Little did we know that, just two months after we were
trying the Wii U for ourselves, Nintendo was busy patenting nearly everything its unique game console would have to offer. A pair of just-published US Patent Office applications filed last August get into the nuts and bolts of how the controller and the legacy
Wii remote will play with the new device. It's clear that the patent work had started before Nintendo had redesigned the
main system -- the box at the center of the patents looks like the existing
Wii -- but it does show the nitty-gritty of things we only saw at last year's
Nintendo E3 keynote, such as the gun attachment or playing golf with a combination of the Wii U controller and the traditional Wiimote. Nintendo also gave itself some wiggle room on the controller's screen size: although the LCD is officially 6.2 inches across, the
patent allows that it might be "5 inches or larger." We're wondering how much of the overall look and technology will survive through to the finished Wii U design's unveiling at this year's
E3. For now, though, you can explore the patents yourself at the links below.
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PlayThru hopes to kill text captchas with game-based authentication
At their worst,
captchas are impossible to decipher; at their best, they're... fun? A startup called Are You a Human has developed PlayThru, an alternative to text-based authentication. Instead of requiring the user to type some blurry, nonsensical word, PlayThru has them play a mini-game, such as dragging and dropping a car into an open parking spot. The startup says this method is more secure than word captchas -- since automated bots have a harder time solving these image-based puzzles -- and more fun, because users generally have a better time when their ability to identify letters isn't called into question. PlayThru has been in beta for several months and is currently available as a free download. On May 21st, the solution will officially launch on both PCs and smartphones. Click through to the source link to try out the captcha alternative for yourself.
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MasterCard gives PayPass blessings to HTC One X, 16 other NFC phones
MasterCard is widening the universe of phones that officially support
PayPass in a big way, with a new MasterCard PayPass Ready program certifying that devices with
NFC will play nicely with its mobile payment system. A total of 17 phones are part of the first wave getting the official A-OK. Some of these are known quantities already using PayPass, like the
LG Viper 4G LTE and the
Samsung Galaxy Nexus HSPA+, but others are new to the PayPass ways. Among the picks are the
HTC One X, Intel's
smartphone reference device and the
Nokia Lumia 610 NFC. A raft of
BlackBerrys and lower-end Samsung Galaxy phones are likewise in the fray. While only a handful of these might ever work with
Google Wallet or other US-focused NFC payment methods, you can check out the full roster in the release after the break.
Continue reading MasterCard gives PayPass blessings to HTC One X, 16 other NFC phones
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CFC backtracks on Slim's near-billion dollar fine in Mexico, lays out other terms and conditions
The
ongoing kerfuffle between Mexico's Federal Competition Commission and
Carlos Slim's America Movil (Telcel's parent company) took a drastic turn earlier today. According to the CFC, a deal has been reached with Slim's telecom outfit that, among other things, will revoke the 11,989,000,000 pesos fine (about $1 billion dollars) imposed back in 2011. That being said, the
wealthiest man on the globe isn't completely off the hook, as America Movil's been given five new demands that must be adhered to. Among these are reducing the current per-minute interconnection rates from .95 to .36 pesos, sharing the
Telcel waves with other companies in the country and routinely providing the CFC with extensive details to prove the aforementioned requirements are being followed. Should America Movil not live up to its end of the deal, the Mexican regulator could hit Carlos Slim & Co. with a fine of up to eight percent of Telcel's annual revenue -- which, needless to say, is a heck of a lot of cash.
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iPhone 4 named latest recipient of untethered iOS 5.1 jailbreak, exploit remains MIA
Apple's not gonna like this one, but news of the perpetual
cat-and-mouse game between it and the hacking community continues with the announcement of an untethered jailbreak for iOS 5.1, which is now alive and kicking on the
iPhone 4. The good news went out in the form of a tweet from
pod2g, and while the naughty bit of software isn't yet available for public download, we can only hope that it'll soon be ready for mass consumption. As you'll recall, we last saw hints of an untethered jailbreak for
the latest iPad (also iOS 5.1), which similarly remains elusive to the public. At any rate, we welcome the progress -- now bring on the exploits.
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Samsung Galaxy S III US sign-up page goes live
So enthused with the
Galaxy S III that you want to know exactly when
in the summer Americans can buy one? You can
follow us, of course, but Samsung has you covered with a sign-up page that will take your vitals with promises that you'll "get the latest on the Next Galaxy." We wouldn't read too much into seeing AT&T, Sprint, Verizon and others in the list of carriers to choose from, though. Samsung has run identical sign-up campaigns in the US before, and it focused the initial
Galaxy S II launch on
three major carriers rather than carpet bombing every network at once.
[Thanks, Michael]
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Bowers & Wilkins kicks out P3 headphones, brings upscale sound to the commoners
Were you eying
Bowers & Wilkins' P5 headphones, but put off by the initial $300 (now $250) sticker price and not so inclined to the
in-ear C5? Someone at the company heard you, as we're now getting the P3 for a more affordable $200. What changes when you pocket the extra cash? You'll get aluminum and other hallmarks of buying the British outlet's audiophile gear, but the cost trimming brings a special "ultra-light acoustic fabric" instead of sheepskin leather and a more portable folding design instead of the pivoting earcups found on the P5.
Bowers & Wilkins is light on performance details, but it promises that the design will be comfortable for long listening sessions, and there are both universal and Apple-friendly in-line remotes to make your phone calls and skip tracks. Black- and white-hued versions of the P3 should be hitting American shops in June.
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Microsoft breaks down Windows 8's Media Center upgrade path, Dolby codec support
Many in the Windows Media Center community were afraid that Windows 8 would mark the end of
Media Center, while others thought it would be like Notepad -- present, but unchanged. In the end both were wrong as
Microsoft announced Media Center would be available as an
add-on to Windows 8. Until now though, we didn't know exactly how that process would work. Steven Sinofsky outlined on the
Building Windows 8 blog how users will be able to use
Add Features to Windows 8 in Control Panel and purchase the same great Media Center experience that was included in Windows 7 Premium and Pro. The price is still unannounced but is expect to be "in line with marginal costs" -- whatever that means. The price paid will cover the royalties for the required codecs to support broadcast TV and DVD playback (DVDs still won't play in Media Player). One codec that will be supported in all version of Windows 8, but will require the computer maker to license the codec directly, is Dolby Digital Plus. So yeah, something else
that was included in Windows 7 for free. We're glad it's there, but wish we'd get something new for the new premium price. Like most, we'll probably hold on to our Windows 7 HTPC a little bit longer.
Continue reading Microsoft breaks down Windows 8's Media Center upgrade path, Dolby codec support
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HTC launches kickstand-tastic One S cases, we go hands-on
Kickstand lovers rejoice! Not content with
jazzing up its One X flagship, HTC just sent us a set of cases made specifically for its
lovely One S. These come in four colors -- gray, granita (red), navy blue and black -- the latter featuring a tweaked design with an integrated kickstand. Unlike most third-party products, build quality is top-notch -- the accessories use a precision-molded flexible plastic shell covered in a soft touch finish. The kickstand is made of a metal alloy and is spring-loaded, but blocks access to the micro-USB port when in use. While the cases protect the back and sides of the One S, the front remains exposed to potential damage. Availability is slated as "soon", but pricing is $24.99 for the plain model and $39.99 for the kickstand version. Enjoy the gallery below.
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LG announces Optimus LTE2, coming to Korea mid-May with True HD IPS and 2GB RAM
Unlike today's other
phone announcement, we can't say we were expecting to see LG come out with something of its own -- and it's a bit of a doozy, at that. Samsung's
Korean rival decided not to let the Galaxy S III have the full spotlight for long, officially unleashing the Optimus LTE2. The mind-blowing portion of the spec sheet is its inclusion of 2GB RAM, a milestone we haven't yet seen in a smartphone. Additionally, the LTE2 will feature the company's "
True HD IPS" display, WPC-backed wireless charging capabilities, Android 4.0 and a 2,150mAh battery that LG claims will increase the battery life by an astounding 40 percent. We haven't received word on which CPU will be used, though we're hopeful that a quad-core beast (or Krait, perhaps?) will complement the astounding amount of RAM. The LTE2 is due to land on at least three carriers in Korea sometime in mid-May, but we haven't heard any pricing or additional country availability at this time. We'll keep you posted as we learn more. In the meantime, check out LG's Flickr page down below for more images, and start thinking of ways to take advantage of the extra horsepower.
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Patent application highlights Apple's continued flirtation with haptic feedback
We could all use a little feedback, right? Even Apple. The company has been toying around with the concept of haptic feedback for a while now, at least so far as patent applications are concerned. Another application filed in November or 2010 has surfaced. Of course, what
we told you back in 2009 about the tenuous connection between an application and an actual product is as relevant as ever. Still, Apple's concept for a "tiered haptic system" which "may use one or more arrays of shape change elements to provide a wide range of tactile feedback" demonstrates that, at least as of late 2010, Cupertino was still working to rethink the way it sees touchscreens.
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Samsung Galaxy S III wrap-up
So, it's time to take down the decorations, remove that party hat and sweep up the confetti (you can clear the unfinished drinks in the morning). As
Earl's Court in London echoes with the hollow sound of empty plastic champagne flutes and half-eaten canapes, the rest of the tech world gives a sigh of relief. The Samsung Galaxy S III is here. Was it what you expected? If you haven't yet decided, don't worry, we've got you covered. After all the months of anticipation,
cryptic clues and
teasing it's understandable that you might be feel a little bit spent. That's why we're going to carry you over the finish line, by providing you with a fireman's lift of all things GS3. We've collected together all the links to tonight's main stories, along with a little reminder of the route we took to get here. So forget about the post-party hangover for now, and do the walk of shame past the break for the round-up.
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III wrap-up
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Beam-switching endows electron microscopes with 3D, added gross-out
Having haunted our curtailed childhoods with tiny, disgusting horrors, the scanning electron microscope is about to get a new lease of life in 3D. Researchers in Japan have figured out how to deflect the electron beam rapidly to give two
slightly shifted views, so real-time 3D images can now been scoped on a monitor without even the need for eye-wear.
Current gear can only muster flat images, so it's always been painfully slow for scientists to extract convexity and other details from objects. Though the 3D-version is lower-res than the old way, at least now all those slimy mandibles and egg sacs will be right there in your face. Nice.
Permalink The Verge |
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Samsung Game Hub, Video Hub hands-on (video)
Sad that Samsung's rumored
S-Cloud didn't appear on the scene? Well the arrival of the company's new
Video, Game and Music hubs might heal the wounds. Rather than a unified service, the
Galaxy S III will have access to three separate stores that will offer an alternative to
Google Play. We spent a few minutes having a play, and you can see what it's like after the break.
Continue reading Samsung Game Hub, Video Hub hands-on (video)
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Insert Coin: Hand Stylus for touch devices
In Insert Coin, we look at an exciting new tech project that requires funding before it can hit production. If you'd like to pitch a project, please send us a tip with "Insert Coin" as the subject line.
Inventive scribbler Steve King -- no, not
that one -- is working his fingers raw trying to raise $25,000 on Kickstarter. His project, the colorfully-named Hand Stylus, works with all your capacitive touchscreens, sports a retractable nib that rotates to avoid uneven wear, and even sticks to the magnet on an iPad. While it can't replace the need for natural digits, it could potentially come in handy while taking notes, sketching, cooking, or experiencing
frostbite. Skip down below the break for a video if you need more convincing, or you already lost the one that came with your
Galaxy Note.
Continue reading Insert Coin: Hand Stylus for touch devices
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Samsung Galaxy S III gets benchmarked, shows plenty of promise
We're here on the floor at the
Samsung Galaxy S III launch and we've just managed to get some alone time with the unit to get some benchmarks. Now, let's stress that the handset is a pre-production model, so we can't take these as gospel truth, but it's a good indication of how powerful that
Quad-Core Exynos really is. The only thing that isn't working is SunSpider, since our results just didn't tally with the other tests available, so hopefully it's just a quirk. Head on past the break for a dose of nitty and a sprinkling of gritty.
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III gets benchmarked, shows plenty of promise
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The E382 Aerial Mapping Airplane touts unmanned cartography, ready-to-fly drone kit starting at $600
Find yourself needing custom aerial maps on the regular? Is
Google just not doing the trick when it comes to resolution? Well, the folks at Event 38 have got you covered. The outfit's model E382 photomapping
UAV kit is now available for $600. Included in that price tag is a pre-assembled Skywalker airframe, 1250 kV brushless motor, motor speed controller, 4x servos, all the requisite cables and the ArduPilot Mega 2.0 autopilot system -- which handles GPS, flight data logs and pressure monitoring. In terms of performance, the drone cruises at a speed of 25MPH with a flight time of around an hour on a 5000mAh battery. The E382 makes use of a point and shoot camera to handle the cartography duties. You can use your own, or
Canon A2200s are available for adding on to the kit at checkout. However, you
will need to throw down some extra coin for the aforementioned flight battery and a controller. If you've got some extra cash burning a hole in your pocket, hit the source link below to snag one.
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AllShare Cast wireless streaming dongle for Samsung Galaxy S III -- hands-on (video)
If you're looking to pair up a brand new GS III with a bigger screen, but you're not yet part of the Smart TV generation, then this little accessory could get you out of a fix. It's palm-sized with a single blue LED light indicating a connection, but honestly you don't ever need to look at it: it doesn't need line-of-sight to your handset because it uses a wireless protocol called WiFi Display, which means you can happily leave it dangling out of the way behind your TV. The unit has two cables: one for power and the other for the HDMI connection to your TV, which can transmit up to 1080p video and audio. As you'll see in the hands-on video after the break, it works for direct mirroring, so you can watch movies, play games or reel off holiday slideshows. But it also has a more enterprise-focused feature, in the form of a slideshow function in cahoots with the Polaris Office app, which means you can use your GS III as a controller for a presentation. It's a simple idea, but it all seemed to work smoothly and we can imagine it coming in pretty handy.
Continue reading AllShare Cast wireless streaming dongle for Samsung Galaxy S III -- hands-on (video)
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Samsung Galaxy S III launching on Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Three in the UK
While we
wait for the LTE version of the
Samsung Galaxy S III to arrive in the US this summer, UK punters will have opportunities to preorder the new flagship device starting right away on these carriers: Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Three. Although details and specific availability vary from carrier to carrier, retailer Carphone Warehouse currently lists a SIM-free preorder price of £499.95. While Orange didn't mention any other details than that it will offer the phone, Vodafone has revealed that beyond the 16GB edition, it has a timed month long exclusive on the 32GB version. On Three, preorders open tomorrow, May 4th, with the all-you-can-eat data One plan for £34 monthly. The phone will launch May 30th in the UK, a day after the May 29th global release date. There's a few UK / Ireland specific press releases included after the break and links below, check those out for all details, preregistration and information on preorder bonuses some are offering.
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III launching on Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile and Three in the UK
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Amazon tablet update brings parental controls, lets kids play with Fire
So you've got yourself
Kindle Fire and a house full of young, impressionable children. What to do? Have no fear, update 6.3.1 is on its way, bringing with it parental controls like password protection for purchases, content disabling in the library and the ability to block access to the device's Silk browser. The world will be a safer place once the update starts rolling out over the air in the next few days.
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Samsung S-Pebble MP3 player / accessory hands-on
We're here on the floor at Samsung's "
next galaxy" event taking a look at the company's new S-Pebble MP3 player / accessory. Curious about how it works? Head on past the break for our initial impressions.
Continue reading Samsung S-Pebble MP3 player / accessory hands-on
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Samsung Galaxy S III to be sold in Mobile Pin pop-up stores (updated with video)
At the very tail end of its
Galaxy S III event, Samsung promised one more surprise -- and what it gave us was a special retail strategy. The company will be opening Mobile Pin locations, or glass-housed pop-up stores, to help showcase its
new flagship phone. We had a chance to look at examples of the stores first-hand. Those not at the launch event will get a look in the near future, with Mobile Pins appearing at several locations throughout London. The first Pins will open on May 29th, with the Pin 5 (a 5-by-5 meter indoor location) making temporary appearances at Spitalfields Market, Westfield and White City, while the 7-by-7 outdoor version (Pin 7) will pop up in the Olympic Park along with Hyde Park at a later date this year. Samsung is also planning to introduce the Pin concept abroad, with plans for two US cities currently in the works, along with a yet-unnamed country in Asia -- Korea would be our guess. We've got a gallery and video walkthrough below to explore the locations in more detail.
Continue reading Samsung Galaxy S III to be sold in Mobile Pin pop-up stores (updated with video)
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Samsung launches new services for the Galaxy S III: Music Hub, S Health and more
Samsung has just
taken the wraps off of its highly anticipated
Galaxy S III and, in a move similar to Nokia's efforts with the Lumia line, decided to package extra services and features to further differentiate itself from the competition. Mentioned onstage were the S Health "personal wellness app" and an enhanced Music Hub cloud service with access to over 17 million tracks and an
iTunes Match-sounding "Scan and Match" feature. Music Hub will launch in seven countries, while the matching feature is supported in six of those. There's also a hub for Games that promises quick tie ins to social gaming and a Video Hub with TV and movies. One other new feature is support for
MirrorLink enabled headunits that should bring access to all of these things even while you're driving your car. Finally, there's NFC-based mobile payment support that should get some use among visitors to the Olympic games this summer.
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Samsung's Galaxy S III now has a commercial to call its own (video)
Sure, Samsung gave us all the hard sell during today's Mobile Unpacked event, but how do you really know if you want the new
Ice Cream Sandwich handset until you cast your eyes on a real live commercial for the thing? Fear not, we've got one after the break, so you can finally know once and for all just how life-changey this phone is.
Continue reading Samsung's Galaxy S III now has a commercial to call its own (video)
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Samsung unveils Galaxy S III accessories: wireless charger, S-pebble MP3, AllCast wireless dongle in tow
While the star of today's
Unpacked event is certainly
Samsung's Galaxy S III, every hero can benefit from a few good sidekicks -- or in the case of this Android superphone, accessories. Up for offer will be a variety of goods including a flip cover, battery-charging stand, spare battery, car dock, "metallic docking stand" and HDMI adapter. Perhaps most interesting pieces, however, are the AllCast wireless dongle (which appears to be direct competition to
HTC's Media Link HD video-mirroring device), a Wireless Charging Kit and an
S-pebble MP3 player that plays nice with the scan and match feature in the
Music Hub app. We're gathering all the details we can, so in the meantime grab a look at the gallery below.
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Samsung announces buddy share feature, automatically sends photos to friends and family for you
Whenever we take a group photo, it's always a pain to have to go and email a copy to everyone afterwards. Good thing Samsung's rolled out a new buddy photo share feature on its new
Galaxy S III to save us those precious post-photo seconds. It works using facial recognition tech to identify each of your subjects, then shoots the picture to them automatically via email or text message. Fantastic, now our mother won't be pestering us for weeks to get copies of all those family reunion photos next year.
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Samsung Galaxy S III gets an early exclusive on Flipboard, headed to other Android phones in 'coming months'
It looks like you can now add one more popular iOS app to the Android ranks -- sort of. Samsung has managed to get an exclusive version of
Flipboard for its just-announced
Galaxy S III smartphone, and the folks at
SlashGear have already taken it for a quick spin. The short version: it's a lot like the iOS app, with the notable exception of some widgets that you can add to the phone's home screen. As for when it will head to other Android phones, Flipboard is only saying that it will be available for "select" phones in the "coming months." You can find
SlashGear's hands-on at the link below.
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Samsung Galaxy S III HSPA+ arriving in May, 4G version hitting North America this summer
Okay, okay,
it's here -- but when can you actually get your hands on Samsung's Galaxy S III? Well, if you're in Europe, you're looking at a May 29th release for the HSPA+ version. Those of us in North America, Japan and Korea will have to wait a bit longer for speed -- the LTE version of the handset will be hitting those areas in the summer. Specifically, it'll be arriving in the US in June. In all, the phone will be available on some 296 mobile operators in 145 countries, according to the company.
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Samsung announces SmartStay and S Voice features for the Galaxy S III
In addition to announcing its newest flagship, the
Galaxy S III, along with some nifty
photo-sharing features, Samsung has just revealed two more human-friendly features that aim to
further differentiate the phone on the software side. These include SmartStay, which cleverly keeps the display from timing out by using the front-facing camera to detect when you're looking at the screen. Meanwhile, S Voice ushers in voice commands, and is the closest thing we've seen to a Siri competitor since Apple introduced that feature on the iPhone 4S. And we have to say, though Android users have long been reveling in voice-activated dialing and Google searches, the list of possible use cases here is quite impressive. In addition to initiating calls, you can wake the phone, request songs, send emails and text messages, use the calendar app, adjust the volume, capture photos, snooze the alarm and inquire about the weather. For now, Samsung says this feature will support eight languages, including, among others, Spanish, German, Korean and American / British English. Still, we wouldn't put it past Samsung to teach the GS III a few more languages once it gets that whole "launching in 145 countries" thing out of the way.
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Samsung and Dropbox offer Galaxy S III users up to 50GB of extra storage
Samsung has partnered with
Dropbox to offer extra storage for
Galaxy S III owners. Once you've registered the newly minted handset, your current
allocation will be topped up to a maximum of 50GB, not matching but
doubling HTC's allowance. And just like Sense 4's offering, the free storage will remain valid for two years but there's no indication if there will be discounts for those who've become hooked on all that online real estate -- we hear it's very
moreish.
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Samsung Galaxy S III vs Galaxy S II and Galaxy S: meet the family
If you don't know where you came from, you won't know where you're going. That's why we're stacking up
Samsung's Galaxy S III against the
S II and the
Galaxy S to see how the range has come on in the three years it's existed. If you fancy a trip down memory lane to the heady days of 2010, then join us after the break.
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Samsung Galaxy S III software impressions (video)
So, you nodded agreeably when all those
hardware specs were listed, but are a bit more intrigued by what Samsung's done to the Android 4.0 interface. In short, TouchWiz is still here, but there are some noticeable differences between it and the legacy version seen on the Galaxy S II that bring the GSIII closer to a stock Android experience. But, there are also some things that are a rehash of what we saw on last year's Gingerbread-powered hardware. We've delved into this latest interpretation, and tried out Sammy's S Voice and S Beam features along the way. Our deeper impressions are after the break, where you'll also find a quick video rundown and can see the new software in action.
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Samsung Galaxy S III vs. rival flagships: iPhone 4S, HTC One X, Lumia 900
Oh yes, it's a good time to go shopping for a smartphone, particularly if you've acquired a taste for an abundance of pixels and silicon cores. But which phones ought to be considered flagships worthy of comparison with the shiny new GS III? Yes, we're including the
Lumia 900 in this context, for the sake of platform neutrality and also in recognition of the fact that raw specs don't count for everything -- but we can't overlook that this handset is sorely lacking in terms of ppi and some other areas. The next two choices are more obvious: the eternal (or infernal)
iPhone 4S and AT&T's version of the
HTC One X. So here it is: one table to rule them all, right after the break.
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