Dear Nokia, Please Reboot Your Phone Designs

Posted on by admin

Oh no! Just how many variations on the same design can the market take? I guess the fair answer to that is different from person to person and there’s always the good old saying according to which you shouldn’t fix something that is not broken (or, in this case, that still sells). Apple’s iPhones look fairly the same; of course there are differences from one major iteration to the other (3, 4, 5) but the design principle is alike. Before Samsung launched its Galaxy S 4 I was praying for a new design because the current pebble-like aspect has been used and abused like a ...

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AT&T Updates Its Galaxy S 4 Pricing Details

Posted on by admin

AT&T announced last week that it would start accepting pre-orders for the Galaxy S 4 on April 16, costing just about $250 on a two-year contract. Being so used to phones going for $200 under subsidies, that news had us fearful that the tide could be turning, and flagship models could regularly start demanding such premium prices. As it turns out, our concerns were a little premature, as AT&T has now updated its announcement to clarify the details of just how the GS4 will be priced. Yes, AT&T will sell the 32GB GS4 ...

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Galaxy S 4 Shipping Schedule Rumored

Posted on by admin

What do we know about the Galaxy S 4′s arrival? We’ve heard “late April” for certain international availability, while carriers in the US have been looking to early May. Can we do a little better than that, though? Some newly-leaked info hopes to identify just which versions of the GS4 might arrive, and when. This info pertains specifically to Eastern Europe nations, and while some of these dates could be unique to that region, there’s also a chance that this data could reflect upon ...

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Samsung Confirms Exynos 5 Octa Supports 20 LTE Bands; So Why a Snapdragon in the LTE GS4?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Sometimes there are good technical reasons for why one version of a smartphone runs one chipset, and another version of the very same phone is powered by different silicon. A lot of times, that has to do with wireless connectivity, and especially with the rise of LTE over the past few years, that could mean that LTE-supporting hardware had to be put together with alternate chipsets. You might think that was the same case with the Galaxy S 4 and the Exynos 5 Octa, since the LTE version of the phone, model GT-I9505, runs a ...

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Galaxy S 4 Demanding Premium Subsidized Price

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

The gold-standard pricing for smartphone launches has been about $200. Sure, we see the occasional flagship model that arrives with a lower price tag, like the Lumia 920 did, and there’s a phone every once in a while that demands a premium price, like the Galaxy Note II. As we learn about the start of pre-orders for Samsung’s Galaxy S 4, it’s looking like the handset will fall into that latter category, as AT&T has confirmed plans to sell the phone for $250, on-contract. AT&T will open pre-orders for the GS4 on April 16, though it hasn’t yet confirmed ...

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Galaxy S 4 Battery Tests Deliver Impressive Results

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

By moving from the Galaxy S III’s 2100mAh battery up to 2600mAh for the Galaxy S 4, Samsung assured that we’d be paying close attention to just how long the GS4 would function on a single charge; will there be improvements as substantial as those numbers imply? We’ve got some new battery torture-test figures to check out, and from the looks of things, the GS4 really will deliver on those promises of a longer battery life. While the results are generally quite good overall, it’s not a slam dunk; no matter what test ...

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Galaxy S 4 ROM Dump Reveals System Wallpapers, Ringtones, and S-Voice App

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Can’t wait until the Galaxy S 4 gets here? T-Mobile, for one, has revealed that it intends to offer the GS4 beginning May 1, but that’s still a whole month you’ll need to wait. To help you pass the time, you might want to check out some of the latest GS4 files to become available, pulled from a GS4 system dump. The Galaxy S 4 ringtones and wallpapers aren’t the most exciting things to get your hands on, we realize, but if playing dress-up with your ...

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Why You Shouldn’t Be Upset About the Galaxy S 4

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

I’ll admit it: covering the Galaxy S 4 launch last Thursday, I found myself a little underwhelmed. Maybe it was Samsung spending so much time focused on software features that felt like they’d be just as at home on the Galaxy S III. Maybe it was how little the phone seemed to offer over other just-announced 1080p models. Ultimately, the GS4 just seemed “fine.” Not earth-shattering, but good enough. After all was said and done, and I had the luxury of sitting back and reading what some other minds had ...

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Galaxy S 4 Manufacturing Cost Estimated, Retail Price Uncovered

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

The Galaxy S 4 sure has a lot of nice hardware, and as some pretty state-of-the-art components, they’re bound to cost us a pretty penny. Just how much will you end up shelling-out for the GS4? It’s too early for us to see what the carriers are planning to charge you with their subsidized rates, but we do have a little information for you, upon estimates arriving of the cost to manufacture the handset, as well as Samsung itself sharing the phone’s approximate retail value. First up, what does it cost Samsung to make the ...

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Uncertainty Hits Galaxy S 4 CyanogenMod Outlook

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Samsung’s had a rocky relationship with Android developers. Sometimes it seems like the company is a strong proponent of the custom ROM community, while other times its actions (or lack thereof) make life a headache for developers trying to maintain software for its products. Last fall, the company had to practically be dragged kicking and screaming in order to consider releasing needed Exynos documentation, and it doesn’t look like the community has forgotten just how difficult Samsung can be. Now, with the

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Samsung Tried To Do Something Great, But Failed

Posted on by Adam Doud

Most technology demos start off by a well spoken executive talking about how great in general his new device is, because it’s going to give him that much bigger boat/jet/whatever. Then, a photogenic engineer comes on and tells you about some stuff, followed by another photogenic engineer, etc. Samsung brought actual actors to the stage to not only tell you what their new phone did, but also to show you what their new phone did. Actors reenacted little scenes on a stage where Samsung’s new and innovative software rode in to save the day during a tap dance recital, a backpacking ...

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Samsung Android Update Plans Rumored; Who’s Getting Android 5.0?

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Last week, following the introduction of the Galaxy S 4, we talked a little about Samsung’s promises to bring some of the GS4′s features to existing Samsung models. Today, we’re back to looking at what the future holds for updates to a number of Samsung devices, this time concerning the possibility of them seeing get Android 5.0. This info is supposedly a “pre-list” from a Samsung insider, and the data may change between now and when Samsung makes its final decisions. Basically, ...

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Samsung Galaxy S 4 First Impressions

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Samsung has finally gone official with its next Android flagship, the Galaxy S 4, and went all-out for a launch extravaganza the likes of which we haven’t seen before. Whether you think Samsung didn’t go far enough with the phone’s design and features, or if it was everything you were hoping for, it’s hard to deny that the company debuted a handset that just screams “Samsung.” On the whole, early reactions to the phone seem quite positive, and even if it wasn’t quite what you wanted, ...

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Samsung Exec Discusses Galaxy S 4 Software Features for Existing Galaxy Models

Posted on by Stephen Schenck

Samsung sure spent a lot of time at last night’s Galaxy S 4 launch event talking about the phone’s software; indeed, by comparison, hardware was esentially glossed right over, and we weren’t able to confirm several key specs until getting to see the company’s press release. For owners of existing Samsung phones, that may have gotten you a little hopeful, wondering if you might see some of these same features migrate to your older hardware. While the full picture isn’t yet available, some early ...

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Are the Galaxy S 4′s Software Features a Gimmick?

Posted on by Taylor Martin

Software, for the time being, is the biggest differentiation between the Galaxy S III and Galaxy S 4 by Samsung. Sure, as it’s been explained countless times now, the specifications are different. The S4 has a larger, much more dense display, a faster processor (on both models) with more cores, the battery has 500 more milliamp-hours and the camera is a 13-megapixel sensor, versus 8-megapixels in the older model. But as I explained earlier today, the real world performance advantages between the Galaxy ...

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