This device has a total of 1080 pixels by 1920 pixels across its 5-inch display, this showing a lovely 441 PPI, one of the highest pixel densities in a smartphone on the market today. Depending on the market this device is released in, it’ll be working with one of two processors. One of these processor possibilities is the Samsung Exynos “Octa” SoC clocked at 1.6GHz per core – there’ll also be a Samsung GALAXY S 4 with a Qualcomm Snapdragon quad-core processor clocked at 1.9GHz.

The front-facing camera on this device is 2 megapixels strong while the back-facing camera clocks in at 13 megapixels. Both of these cameras work with a collection of features that are outlined in a set of four user experience pillars that Samsung has set up for this device. In the Enjoyment pillar you’ll find the camera outlined in full.

The Samsung GALAXY S 4 works with a body that’s 136.6 x 69.8 x 7.9 mm small and just 130g in weight – again, smaller than the GALAXY S III in thinness and lightness. Samsung says it’s stronger than the Galaxy S III as well. Inside you’ll find a 2,600 mAh battery and one of three different internal storage sizes: 16, 32, or 64GB of space. This device also has a microSD card slot that’s able to work with a 64GB card.

Have a peek at the timeline below to see everything – this timeline will expand as our details posts and hands-on experiences are revealed. Stick around all night long to see more!

SamMobile say that the internal codename for the device is “Fraser”, and features a model number of GT-i9500. They speculate that the reason that Samsung doesn’t use Plus panels in phones like the Galaxy S III is due to the difficult production process, instead testing the displays in developer devices such as the Tizen.

The use of PenTile panels has been a source of contention for tech reviewers and consumers. The reduced number of subpixels can lead to fringing on colors and text, and can be noticed depending on eyesight and viewing distance. Samsung say that PenTile panels have reduced power requirements, and that the last longer than other AMOLED counterparts. That didn’t stop the company from using a full RGB matrix in the Galaxy S II, and one of the vicious rumors surround the Galaxy S III was the use of a Super AMOLED HD Plus display.

Those rumors didn’t pan out, and the Galaxy S III features a PenTile matrix like the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Note. The screen size sees a bump over the Galaxy Nexus panel, coming in at 4.8-inches with a 720p resolution compared to 4.65-inches. Samsung also says that it managed to slim down the bezel surrounding the display.

I’ve been carrying both the original international and the new AT&T versions of the Galaxy Note for some time now, and they’re certainly relatively unique in the mobile space. Samsung believes that we’re moving towards a two-handed society, though my own experience is that we’re not there yet. As Samsung sees it, most BlackBerry users are two-handed typers, though I’d argue that the difference there is that RIM’s phones are small enough to still type with one hand, or at least securely grip it without fear of dropping a very expensive device.

Differences between the two models are small. The AT&T Note drops the physical home key and uses the space to accommodate four capacitive buttons, which I’m assuming will be still in play even after the phone gets its Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade. Cosmetic differences include the lock screen: you no longer slide to unlock, but instead touch anywhere on the display and slide it in any direction.

A useful improvement is the ability to set a timer delay on PIN/pattern security being enabled. When you press the power button to turn off the display, you can have a grace period – say, five minutes – within which time you won’t need to re-enter the PIN/pattern. AT&T isn’t supplying a memory card with its version of the Note, though it does come with 16GB of integrated storage.

Inside, there are some minor changes. The AT&T Galaxy Note has a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, while the international version is clocked at 1.4GHz instead. Nonetheless, the bump in speed is negligible: about 400 points delta according to the new version of benchmarking tool Quadrant (which takes into account the dualcore chipset). What’s more interesting is the memory Samsung and AT&T use on the US LTE version, versus the international version. Quadrant shows a delta of around 1000-1200 points, with the international Note scoring nearly 6000 points versus the AT&T’s 4800. Memory throughput is key to saving files and faster recall of data, so the higher the better. Still, the AT&T Note does feel a little faster in rotating from portrait to landscape orientation and vice-versa.

As for LTE, it’s very much dependent on what network you’re connected to. While I was in San Francisco, despite using AT&T’s LTE, I saw generally the same data speeds between the HSPA+ and LTE versions. Nonetheless there were pockets within San Francisco and Phoenix where LTE spiked to 6 or 7Mbps. Your experiences of 4G speeds are always going to vary based on how AT&T’s roll-out is progressing.

The first generation of LTE Android phones have earned a reputation for poor battery life, though there’s little to write home about in-between the AT&T Note and the HSPA+ model. Over a six hour period, the LTE version dropped to 84-percent while the HSPA+ international version remained at 90-percent. Bear in mind that’s with little usage; when I started actively using the AT&T model the battery gage dropped more readily. The LTE Note did seem more capable of keeping hold of a signal, however, reporting 0-percent of time without service while the international version had 4-percent of time without service.

The big story with the Note, beyond the stylus, is the screen real-estate. It’s certainly amazing: the combination of Samsung’s excellent Super AMOLED HD panel and the 1280 x 800 resolution add up to a tablet-style browsing experience but on a device that will fit into many pockets. Sites frustratingly default to their mobile versions initially, more often than not, and we wish Google had released its Chrome for Android browser for more than just Ice Cream Sandwich devices. The main downside is that, when using it as a phone, you simply look silly; still, you also look pretty foolish when using a bluetooth headset, and in the end it doesn’t really matter as long as the call quality is good. Thankfully, the Galaxy Note delivered on really good quality calls.

Once the novelty of the stylus wore off, shortly after getting the Note, I haven’t even pulled it out. I just don’t feel the need for it. As for the size, while Samsung believes that we’re migrating towards a two-handed typing society, the bottom line is that it’s not just about typing: it’s about using the Note in a way that doesn’t risk dropping it.

Samsung wants people to buy this as a primary all-day, everyday devices. I fear that’s not going to happen. It’s too big and the risk of dropping it is way higher than with a regularly-sized phone. Samsung also thinks that once we use the Note long enough we’ll get use to it. I’m afraid the jury is still out on this, though I’ll keep carrying it to see if my experience changes. As a parent, I constantly have a child in one hand or, if my wife has her, I’m carrying something for her. Or, when I’m traveling, I’m either pushing a stroller, holding a cup of coffee or a bag. It’s possible to use the 4.65-inch Galaxy Nexus one-handed, and it’s doable with the 5.3-inch Note, but you run a high risk of dropping it.

Galaxy Note for AT&T (LTE) Hands-on

Bottom line: the Galaxy Note is either a very large “super” phone or a pocketable tablet that happens to make phone calls. That’s great, but if you buy the Note you need to know that there will be roughly 20-percent of the time when you won’t be able to use it. The scale of the device demands a two-handed grip or, if you attempt to go one-handed while walking, driving or otherwise distracted, it will slip through your fingers, I guarantee it. The AT&T Galaxy Note LTE does what it does very well, but those who can handle it are likely few and far between.

Currently, Samsung Mobile Display is jointly owned by Samsung Electroncs, with 64.4-percent, and Samsung SDI, holding the minority 35.6-percent. The joint-venture is unlisted on the stock exchange, but operates semi-independently, supplying not only Samsung Electronics but other companies with AMOLED displays.

That could change, at least partly, if Samsung Electronics decides to bring the display business in-house. Such a move with give the company even more choice for the first-pick of new panel technologies, and allow it to better control the access of rivals to the screens.

As the smartphone and tablet markets heat up, that advantage could see Samsung extend its lead in the Android segment, as well as better challenge high-profile rivals like the iPhone. Apple has already shown how tight control over the supply-chain can work to a firm’s advantage; now Samsung looks to be following in those footsteps.

[via OLED-Info]

That still sounds on the high side to us, especially since you only get a 3-megapixel main camera and VGA-resolution front camera. Still, a DMB TV tuner is onboard, along with 4GB of storage and a 1,650 mAh battery, while Android 2.3 Gingerbread is running on a 1GHz single-core processor.

Variants for SK Telekom, Korea Telekom and LG U+ will be offered, with Samsung’s own download store providing a choice of videos, photos and games. Samsung will be offering the 122.5 x 63 x 9.9 mm smartphone in silver, black and pink, though there’s no word on a launch outside of Korea at this stage.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Baidu-Yi was developed especially by Baidu for domestic Chinese smartphones, built on top of Android but replacing much of the original Google software with the network’s own alternatives. There’s Ting music, Baidu Maps instead of Google Maps, the Baidu Yue ereader, and – perhaps most importantly – Google search has been stripped out and replaced with Baidu search.

That adds up to a device that’s far more focused and suited to the sort of use Chinese customers might be intending, even though it’s not – in its current form at least – ready for primetime outside of the country. Still, slapping a regular version of Android onto the smartphone shouldn’t present Dell with too many difficulties.

The Dell Streak Pro will go on sale “soon” on China Unicom, pricing yet to be confirmed.

Thanks to FlatPanelsHD we have the image you see below showing the difference between Super AMOLED PLUS (on the left) with its single RGB structure and Super AMOLED without the PLUS (on the right) which shares sub-pixels, this in the most immediate sense making text and sharp edges appear slightly fuzzy when you get in close. The clear advantage is in the “PLUS” which has appeared on a few Samsung devices thus far but does not appear on the Galaxy Note nor does it appear on the Nexus.

Pixel density also counts for a lot when you’re considering sharpness, with the following approximate values being true without considering subpixels: Galaxy Nexus has 315 ppi, Galaxy Note has 300 ppi, iPhone 4 and 4S have 326 ppi. But given these numbers, also calculated by FlatPanelsHD, you’ll find some contrary results to all you know and hold dear:

Galaxy Note: 1280x800x2 = 2.048.000 subpixels
Galaxy S II: 800x480x3 = 1.152.000 subpixels
Galaxy Nexus: 1280x720x2 = 1.843.200 subpixels
iPhone 4/4S: 960x640x3 = 1.843.200 subpixels

That brings the Galaxy Nexus down to something more like 200 ppi, and it’s not called what some might classify as a Retina Display because in reality, not all of those pixels count towards a total. Of course none of this matters when you consider the fact that the Galaxy Nexus will be the first device to incorporate Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and will be Google’s device of choice for hero status on Ice Cream Sandwich as well, so toss it all out in the garbage! Or Samsung, keep going with RGB, it’s hotter!

NOTE: We definitely encourage you to take apart this math piece by piece and argue your point in the comments if you wish, but note also that the Galaxy Nexus is running a 720p display and looks MIGHTILY impressive in-hand. Bear that in mind.

Galaxy Nexus Hands-on:

Ice Cream Sandwich hands-on demo

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

There’ll be 32GB of integrated storage, the tipster continues, along with WiFi a/b/g/n and NFC. Apparently the camera will only muster 5-megapixels – with a 1.3-megapixel camera up front for video recording – though will still be capable of 1080p Full HD video recording. Connectivity is said to be LTE or HSPA depending on carrier, though seeing as the Nexus Prime is said to be a Verizon exclusive in the US that will mean LTE. Versions abroad will presumably have HSPA (or HSPA+) instead, where LTE networks aren’t available.

Finally there’s NFC support, as Google continues to push its Google Wallet wireless payments service, and a 1,750 mAh battery. OS is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, with no third-party modifications since this is a pure Nexus device. Interestingly, one addition to ICS is said to be a granular data monitor, which will show how much data is being used on a per-app basis.

Could this be the phone that puts the iPhone 4S resolutely in the shade? We’ll be at Samsung’s event at CTIA next week and will bring back all the details from there.

[via Android Community]

There’s also 512MB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a 5-megapixel main camera with autofocus and an LED flash. Like other recent Windows Phone 7 Mango devices we’ve seen, Samsung has slotted a front-facing camera – running at mere VGA resolution – into the bezel to support video calling. Connectivity includes dualband 900/2100 HSPA and quadband GSM/EDGE, along with WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 2.1.

As well as the various improvements in Mango itself – more on which in our technical preview - Samsung has spent some time working over its software. There’s the company’s own AllShare DLNA support for media streaming, a 3G-compatible video calling app, the Mini Diary we’ve seen on Android devices and an ebook reader, among other things.

Unfortunately, while the speed boost is welcome, this isn’t the “Galaxy S II running Windows Phone” we were hoping for. Samsung’s focus looks still to be on its Android line-up, where interesting devices like the Galaxy Note make the Omnia W look, frankly, mundane.

[via Crave - thanks Yutaka!]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7

Here’s where the real fire came into play, with Samsung revealing two outstanding Android devices that are sure to set the tablet world on fire – only the second and most superstar-classification-worthy of which Samsung doesn’t define as a tablet at all. We’ll get to that in a moment, but first there’s the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the next in a line of successful Samsung Android tablets to feature Android 3.x Honeycomb with TouchWiz UX, a custom tablet interface for Android devices, working on top of it. What’s perhaps most impressive about this tablet (beyond the fact that it’s got a wholly metal chassis) is the fact that it’s got the largest (7.7-inch) Super AMOLED Plus display on an Android device thus far on Earth. Brightness! Check out our [original announcement thread] or head straight to our [Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on post] for a video exploration of the tablet in full brilliance.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 hands-on:

Also take a look at the already massively popular post by the name of [Will carriers kill the Galaxy Tab 7.7?] for all your discussion needs.

Samsung Galaxy Note

Samsung this week announced what they’re calling a whole new category in the mobile environment, that being what they’ve found to be the perfect blend of large screen size and small portability, all with a brand new “HD Super AMOLED” display for the brightest and sharpest look at Android yet. If there’s one device Samsung has chosen this week to be its hero device, this is it.

Check out our [original announcement post] or head straight to our [Galaxy Note hands-on] post complete with, again, brilliant video with hands-on pro Chris Davies.

Samsung Galaxy Note hands-on:

Cameras

Samsung has introduced several cameras this week, the first of which being the NX200, a single 20.3 megapixel camera with the ability to shoot continuous photos at 7 frames per second, an APS-C CMOS sensor, and 100ms Advanced auto focus. This device also has a gigantic amount of interchangeable lenses to go with it, looking like an explorer in the lens jungle in its first press shots. [announcement post]

Next there’s the Samsung WB750, a ultra-zoom capable Schneider Kreuznach device with 18x optical zoom and 24x Smart Zoom inside. This device is also capable of shooting 10 megapixel photos at the same time it’s recording 1080p video, and 12.5 megapixel resolution photos at 10 frames per second in high-speed continuous mode. [announcement post]

Finally there’s the Samsung MV800, a point-and-shoot camera with a giant flip-out and swivel LCD display so that you’ll be able to snap photos with preview in any way shape or form. This camera is rated at 16.2 megapixels, the LCD flip-out display is a 3-inch LCD, and a slew of special effects in-camera for all your odd editing needs. [announcement post]

Notebooks

There’s a single notebook to be had this week from Samsung as far as the IFA Unpacked event went, that being the Samsung Series 7 CHRONOS, a device which we spoke about earlier this week then were treated to a slight more formal look at later in the week.

Smart TV

As far as new announcements on the Samsung front this week, one news bit stood out from the rest: Samsung’s YouTube 3D partnership. How apt would you be to purchase a Samsung Smart TV with 3D capabilities if you had an infinite free library of content on your hands as opposed to the scant selection of 3D Blu-ray disks out there today? [original announcement post]

Wave Smartphones

Samsung brought some fire to their very own mobile operating system with three new bada 2.0-based devices, the first and most impressive of which was the Wave 3, a lovely 4-inch display having 1.4GHz toting smartphone with all your favorite bada amenities. The other two bada 2.0 devices announced this week were the Wave Y and the Wave M, all three of these devices set to be released soon. [original announcement post]

We were also given the opportunity land a hands-on with the Wave 3, this being an experience you can share with us in our Samsung Wave 3 hands-on post featuring Chris Davies on the handling, complete with video. Look like a winner compared to Samsung’s Android offerings?

Samsung Wave 3 hands-on:

Windows Tablets

If there’s one thing we did NOT expect to come out of the Samsung labs this week, it was the Samsung Series 7 Slate, a tablet PC running Windows 7. Luckily it won’t be stuck on the near-dead Windows 7 platform for long, as it comes ready to update to Windows 8 nearly right out of the gate. [original announcement post]

Amazing offering this week Samsung, keep it up!

I remember a few years ago when Apple really started cranking up the brightness and the clarity with which one was able to see content on a laptop or desktop computer. I swore I’d always take the average mid-range device at the time because I was working in web publishing from a site designer perspective and I always wanted to be able to see things through the average viewer’s eyes. Since then I’ve come to know the glory of the truth: the biggest and the best is indeed the biggest and the best. I’m currently using a newest-generation MacBook Pro with non-glare cover and WOW we are living in the future. Just a glimpse over at any of my family member’s computers from just a couple years ago and the yellowness of reality brings me back out of the cloud of bright, happy wonderfulness.

The same is true about using the Samsung Infuse 4G, the smartphone with the largest and brightest display on the planet right this moment. The Infuse 4G utilizes a 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display right now at 480 x 800 pixels resolution. The amount of pixels per inch is therefor smaller than the Galaxy S II, but since we’re talking about big screens at the moment, let’s stay on topic with the Infuse.

What Samsung is talking about doing now, according to OLED-Info which we also quoted this morning in the Samsung Competitiveness post, is 720p 1280 x 720 resolution displays jammed into tiny 5- to 7-inch displays. The same “industry insiders” responsible for that info, one of them supposedly a Samsung supplier, say that 720p displays are possible at that size because of new PenTile matrix technologies and “a refinement in the production process that has also seen Super AMOLED HD become cheaper than previous versions.” Numbers they’re presenting show the cost of a Super AMOLED HD panel to be around 20 percent less than a comparative S-LCD screen.

The original source for the Super Amoled HD screen says thusly:

We can expect 5″ to 6″ smartphones in fall 2011 (the first will probably be the GT-I9220 with a 5.3″ display) and 7″ tablets by the end of 2011.

We’ve heard of the GT-I9220 before, once on a leaked Samsung roadmap which was later claimed inaccurate by Samsung and once again in our dreams.

But then there’s some decent. There are those of the public that maintain 4-inches to be the maximum size for a smartphone device to be optimum, that anything larger should be called a tablet. I’ve got an old college buddy named Frank who says that any device with a display larger than 4 inches shouldn’t ever have a cellular bands. I certainly disagree as I’ve used the Infuse 4G more than once in my travels to different events to see new phones because it’s big enough to watch a movie on whilst flying home in the night on the plane. Coupled with some nice earbuds, this phone is utterly optimum for such an activity.

On the other hand, there’s the pocket space factor, and the fact that if you bring such a giant phone out in public while you’re traveling, you run the chance of getting mugged for it because you cannot hide the brightness. You decide! The war rages on!

It’s not just backlight units, either. Samsung’s new 5.5G AMOLED production line may have opened early but its potential output still falls well short of the sort of quantities Apple would require for the iPad 3. Initially, the first production stage will produce 24,000 substrates monthly, and while second and third lines are expected to increase that figure, it would still be an insurmountable bottleneck.

Nonetheless, while the iPad 3 – which is now expected to arrive in early 2012 – may not get Super AMOLED, that doesn’t mean Apple isn’t looking ahead to possibly using the technology down the line. The company is rumored to have made a $3.9bn investment in securing display supplies for the future, as part of its attempt to keep incoming Apple hardware competitively priced.

At that meeting, the sources suggest, Cook offered Samsung Display an advance to secure AMOLED panels for the third-gen iPad. If true, that would mark a transition for the tablet from LCD panels – with LG Display the primary supplier – to the rival technology.

However, it’s not all clear cut. A Samsung Mobile Display spokesperson said “he had not heard of such discussions with Apple” while the company is believed to have seen its AMOLED production timetable set back by the Japanese earthquake. Samsung has previously said that it has no plans to use its Super AMOLED or Super AMOLED Plus displays in tablets of its own this year.

Production at Samsung’s 5.5Gen facility is expected to hit 48,000 substrates per month, rising to 100,000 in the first half of 2012. If the rumors regarding Apple’s intent are true, that suggests it won’t be until next year that Samsung could likely meet the demand for the iPad 3. Supplies of the iPad 2 have been constrained since its commercial release, with LG Display’s inability to meet panel demand cited as a key cause, and only now is the situation believed to be alleviating.

Earlier this week, a judge ruled that Samsung must hand over various Galaxy tablets and phones – some of which unreleased – to Apple’s legal team for examination. It seems they might not be the only samples the company is providing Cupertino, though under far more agreeable circumstances.

[via OLED-Info]

The new plant was expected to come on line this year, producing 7-inch and larger AMOLED panels as well as smaller screens for PMPs and smartphones. However, component delays resulting from the Japanese earthquake added what Samsung estimated could be up to three months to the roadmap; similar shortages have impacted Samsung’s chip production.

Samsung demonstrated a 7-inch Super AMOLED tablet prototype back in November 2010, only weeks after the original model – with an LCD display – went on sale through US carriers. The company initially expected production in 2011 to be 10x that of the previous year.

[via OLED-Info]

“If the situation lasts long, operation schedules would have to be changed. Analysts say operations of Japanese equipment plants could be suspended for one month at the shortest to three months at the longest, if the quake effects remain longer” Samsung Mobile Display spokesperson

The problems are also impacting chip production at Samsung Electronics, who have seen vital components in the manufacturing process – such as CVD (chemical vapor deposition) hardware used to produce thin films – become unavailable since they are produced in Japan. As well as infrastructure issues, Japanese manufacturers are also dealing with temperamental power supplies.

No exact Samsung chips have been named as affected by the delays, though the Giheung plant is known to provide large numbers of Apple A4 processors along with Samsung’s own Hummingbird variant. 50-percent of the Giheung plant’s 40,000 chip-sheets per month are believed to go direct to Apple.

[via OLED-Display]

There’s also 8GB of internal storage, HD video recording and playback, and a bigger, 1,650 mAh battery with a new metal back panel to cover it. The Galaxy S Plus i9001 runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, with Samsung’s own TouchWiz 3.0 on top.

The new version will be priced at 23,990 rubles ($844) when it lands on Russian shores at the end of next month. No word on broader availability, but we’re guessing this new 2011 edition will be slotting in as the single-core mid-range device in Samsung’s range in a number of markets.

[via Android Community]

The Galaxy S 4G will feature a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display, just as we’ve seen on all the other Galaxy S-branded Android-powered handsets from Samsung over the last few months. And yes, the Galaxy S 4G will run Android 2.2 under the hood, better known as Froyo. It will be able to take advantage of T-Mobile’s (theoretical) speeds up to 21 Mbps.

Further details about the handset, like how fast the processor will be, or how much RAM and memory will be thrown in to the package, remain to be seen. Pricing and a release date are missing, too. However, T-Mobile says they are coming in a few weeks, so stay tuned. Full press release below.

Press Release

T-Mobile to Deliver Fastest Smartphone Running on America’s Largest 4G Network

Galaxy S 4G Offers Rich Entertainment Experience at Lightning-Fast Speeds

BELLEVUE, Wash., and DALLAS — Jan. 20, 2011 — T-Mobile USA, Inc. and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the U.S.1, today revealed the Galaxy S™ 4G, exclusively from T-Mobile.

According to T-Mobile, the Galaxy S 4G will be the fastest smartphone running on America’s Largest 4G Network™. Powered by Android™ 2.2 (Froyo), the Galaxy S 4G is T-Mobile’s first smartphone capable of delivering theoretical peak download speeds of up to 21 Mbps, delivering rich entertainment experiences at even faster speeds through its brilliant Super AMOLED touch screen display.

T-Mobile’s 4G network, America’s largest 4G network, is currently available in 100 major metropolitan areas, reaching approximately 200 million people nationwide. With aggressive plans to expand and double the speed of its 4G network in 2011, T-Mobile expects that 140 million Americans in 25 major metropolitan areas will have access to these increased 4G speeds by midyear.

“With Galaxy S 4G, T-Mobile will deliver its fastest smartphone yet on America’s largest 4G network, providing rich entertainment virtually whenever and wherever consumers want,” said Cole Brodman, chief marketing officer, T-Mobile USA. “And with 4G data plans from $10 per month, we’re making blazing-fast 4G speeds and super smartphone experiences easily accessible to the millions who crave them.”

More information on the Galaxy S 4G from T-Mobile will be available in the coming weeks.

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 4G network not available everywhere. See coverage details at T-Mobile.com. 4G used in connection with the Galaxy S™ 4G product name refers to the fact that the Galaxy S™ 4G is designed with HSPA+ technology.

# # #

About T-Mobile USA, Inc.

Based in Bellevue, Wash., T-Mobile USA, Inc. is the U.S. wireless operation of Deutsche Telekom AG. By the end of the third quarter of 2010, approximately 130 million mobile customers were served by the mobile communication segments of the Deutsche Telekom group — 33.8 million by T-Mobile USA — all via a common technology platform based on GSM and UMTS, the world’s most widely-used digital wireless standards. Today, T-Mobile operates America’s largest 4G network, and is delivering a compelling 4G experience across a broad lineup of leading devices in more places than competing 4G services. T-Mobile USA’s innovative wireless products and services help empower people to connect to those who matter most. Multiple independent research studies continue to rank T-Mobile USA among the highest in numerous regions throughout the U.S. in wireless customer care and call quality. For more information, please visit http://www.T-Mobile.com. T-Mobile is a federally registered trademark of Deutsche Telekom AG. For further information on Deutsche Telekom, please visit www.telekom.de/investor-relations.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that reflect the current views of Deutsche Telekom management with respect to future events. The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project” and “should” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current plans, estimates, and projections, and therefore you should not place too much reliance on them. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, most of which are difficult to predict and are generally beyond Deutsche Telekom’s control, including, without limitation, those factors set forth in “Forward-Looking Statements” and “Risk Factors” contained in Deutsche Telekom’s annual report on Form 20-F filed on February 28, 2010. If these or other risks and uncertainties materialize, or if the assumptions underlying any of these statements prove incorrect, Deutsche Telekom’s actual results may be materially different from those expressed or implied by such statements. Deutsche Telekom does not intend or assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

About Samsung Electronics
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2009 consolidated sales of US$116.8 billion. Employing approximately 174,000 people in 193 offices across 66 countries, the company consists of eight independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Semiconductor and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

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Vulkano unveils Flow for streaming TV to smartphones and more
Freecom debuts thinnest mobile hard drive in the world just for Macs
Sony taking legal action over Geohot PS3 hack
Sony 3D Bloggie Touch up for $250 pre-order
Samsung Vibrant 4G headed to T-Mobile with HSPA+ 21+Mbps
Microsoft seek App Store trademark block over generic term claims
Acer Aspire One 522 up for pre-order at $330
ASUS P8P67 WS Revolution quad-GPU motherboard outed
Kinect hack motion-controls Flash UIs [Video]
ASUS Eee Slate EP121 hands-on
World IPv6 Day will see Google go all-IPv6 on June 8 2011
Verizon fire up 16 new New York 3G sites ahead of iPhone 4 release

To see more Daily Slash posts, click here: [The Daily Slash] or here: [SlashGear Morning Wrap-Up]

The hardware is otherwise identical, so you get a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen, 5-megapixel rear camera, NFC for contactless payments and UMTS/HSPA. More on the Google Nexus S in our hands-on preview.

[via Android Community]

The Samsung DNA is hard to miss in the Nexus S, what with the glossy black plastic housing, touch-sensitive buttons and general hand-feel being so similar to what we’re used to from the Galaxy S. Still, the curved screen is new and surprisingly usable, a tactile swoop that follows the arc of your thumb as you move it down the display. Unlike the top-placement of microUSB and 3.5mm headphones socket on the Galaxy S, the Nexus S shifts them to the bottom of the handset. There’s also no microSD card slot, only 16GB of internal storage that pretends to be a memory card for those apps which demand it. Samsung’s Super AMOLED is, as usual, mightily impressive.

Google Nexus S hands-on:

While the physical design is eye-catching, it’s the speed which really impresses with the Nexus S. When it was confirmed that the smartphone would use the same 1GHz Hummingbird CPU as previous Samsung devices, rather than an all-new dual-core chip, we wondered if Google had pushed the handset out earlier than was advisable. Happily, a few minutes with Android 2.3 Gingerbread is enough to convince us that’s not the case.

Menus, homescreen panes and apps whip about with no delay, and the Nexus S feels leagues ahead of Froyo-based phones even with the same processor. Thankfully not all of the work has been under the hood, however, with a new color scheme and UI making its debut on the Samsung. It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary, but combines to make for a more responsive, usable device. The retro CRT TV animation when you turn the screen off feels a little gimmicky, but the new keyboard and tweaked cut/copy/paste functionality are excellent. The Nexus S lacks a trackball or similar control, but for once that’s no great omission thanks to the improved navigation in Gingerbread.

The Nexus S’ NFC is a tricky one to judge at this stage; Google is obviously betting big on the technology, including hard-baked support for the short-range wireless system in Gingerbread and, by putting it into their new flagship, pressuring other Android manufacturers to do the same. Assuming it makes inroads into the mainstream it could well make cardless payments, information transfer and other exchanges far more straightforward, though for the moment it’s likely to be the least-used of the Nexus S’ new features.

What will give the Nexus S its wow-factor to consumers is the sheer turn of speed Gingerbread and Hummingbird achieve together, and by putting the smartphone into retail stores rather than solely selling it online, Google will be well placed to convince customers that Android 2.3 is the way forward. What remains to be seen is how much of a punch existing 1GHz handsets, such as the Nexus One, manage when they get Gingerbread ROM updates. Until then, the Google Nexus S is the slickest Android smartphone around.

Both displays run at WVGA – we’re guessing it’s the same panel as on the bada-powered Wave S8500 – and there’s a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording on the back. Connectivity includes CDMA/EVDO and GSM for international roaming, along with WiFi and mobile hotspot functionality; you also get GPS and a microSD card slot.

The whole thing measures a slightly-thick 57.4 x 107.5 x 17.55 mm and weighs 183g. There’s plenty to be said for the convenience of having a device you can use opened or closed, depending on what information you want at the time, but we’d still prefer a commercial version of Fujitsu’s handset. The Samsung SCH-W899 is available on China Telecom; no word on a North American or European launch.

[via OLED-Display and via Android Community]

At that point, Samsung’s current output of around 3m small-size AMOLED displays per month will increase exponentially to 30m such panels, vastly increasing supply and hopefully preventing the sort of shortages we saw earlier in 2010. Then, manufacturers like HTC were forced to switch to alternative technologies for their smartphone screens, such as Sony’s Super LCD, when AMOLED was scarce.

Samsung is crediting the Galaxy S and its stable of US variants for helping drive Super AMOLED demand and awareness. The company recently showed off a new, 7-inch panel using the technology, and which is expected to make it inside a refreshed Galaxy Tab in 2011.

[via OLED-Display]

For instance, the Continuum is running Android 2.1 Eclair, rather than Froyo, and while battery life could get through a couple of days of only sporadic use, under more regular conditions it still needs an overnight charge. The camera is underwhelming, despite its 5-megapixels.

However, you do get Samsung’s usual spec-sheet busting hardware list, including WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0 and a 1GHz Hummingbird CPU, and if more people pick up on the Ticker concept then hopefully a greater number of apps will end up supporting it. Full details over at the Android Community review, and a preview of the Ticker functionality in the video below.

That display, for instance. While there’s plenty of speculation that Samsung would continue using the same display size, and display type, as they’ve issued with previous Galaxy S devices, what if Google asked them to push the envelope a bit? Just as the company did with the Nexus One, everyone is expecting to see the Nexus S feature plenty of hardware improvements, as well as software additions, that makes the device stand out. One way to make sure that it stands out, even well into 2011, would be for Samsung to include their brand new 4.5-inch flexible AMOLED display. We showed it to you only two days ago, and it certainly would make for an interesting design choice for the Nexus S. At 4.5-inches, it would be the biggest smartphone on T-Mobile’s network, and with the flexibility and color offered by the flexible AMOLED display, it would easily be one of the best selling points of the device.

If you’ve been following the developments of the Nexus S over the last few weeks, then you know that there was also a rumor going around that the device was being delayed due to hardware manufacturing issues. We can probably safely say at this point that Samsung has manufacturing of their Galaxy S devices down pat, even with shortages in the Super AMOLED stockpile. This could strengthen the idea that Samsung is using a new display type in the Nexus S, or it may just mean that Samsung ran into a roadblock. We’d like to keep our fingers crossed that we’ll find a brand new, entirely way too attractive display waiting for us on the Nexus S.

Not surprising, though, is the time frame we’ve found ourselves in. If you’ll recall, when the Nexus One was about to be announced, it was around this time that we started hearing more and more about that particular device. Leak after leak, rumor after rumor, that by the time the superphone was officially launched in January, it felt like everyone knew everything about it. Of course, Google had plenty of secrets up their sleeve, so that the device still felt new and fresh when it reached official channels.

We can’t forget that the device is (apparently) launching on T-Mobile. While that would have been a good guess, it wasn’t until Best Buy leaked the Nexus S name, and which carrier they’d be selling it for, that we got as much confirmation to that fact as we can expect at this point. With that being said, here’s what we can already expect from the device: HSPA+. With T-Mobile rocking the 4G label on their network, with two devices already available on the network which can access the faster speeds, there’d be no shock whatsoever if the Nexus S was able to tap into it as well.

All in all, the Nexus S is growing in stature, well before the device has been officially announced. And, if we can expect the same treatment from Google that we received with the Nexus One, then it may be several more weeks before we get anything official to look at, or talk about. Until then, though, we should still receive plenty of more leaks, rumors, and speculation to keep us entertained, and the rumor mill going strong.

If you’re interested in the Nexus S, and you have a few ideas for what you might like to see on the device, whether it be hardware or software related, head on over to AndroidCommunity, and join in the discussion. Let us know what you’d like to see in Android 2.3, or what stand-out hardware features you think the Nexus S should have.

Samsung Display didn’t have an estimate on when the new Super AMOLED might be available, though previous reports have suggested mid-2011. While it seems the new panel won’t add any extra pixels to the second-generation Galaxy Tab, it should be brighter and have more saturated colors, as well as hopefully allowing a little extra battery life.

We do wonder whether Samsung is shooting itself in the foot by demonstrating the new display in such an obvious form-factor, however, with the Galaxy Tab only just going on sale in North America this month. Showing potential customers – who might already be wary about early adopting in the tablet segment – the replacement model seems slightly short-sighted.

[via OLED-Display]

The Continuum features a 1GHz Hummingbird processor under the hood, and a 3.4-inch capacitive touchscreen WVGA Super AMOLED display. That display is above the 1.8-inch display called the Ticker, where all the notifications are shown. Not only notifications, but also RSS feeds of your choice, too. The Continuum is another Samsung Galaxy S device, so the branding is certainly still present. You’ll also find Samsung’s proprietary TouchWiz 3.0 User Interface, as well as pre-installed Bing. There’s an 8MP camera on the back.

There’s 512MB of ROM and 384MB of RAM, and the device will run Android 2.1 out of the box. You’ll get the standard integrated WiFi, GPS, and Bluetooth connectivity. And, while the Ticker will primarily be used for your notifications, as we said above it can be used for RSS feeds, as well as weather information, sports scores, music information, and caller info. Basically, it’s just an extra screen for more usability. The device will be available on November 11th, but pricing is still up in the air. We’re at the Samsung event, so stay tuned. The price is $199, after a $100 mail-in rebate, and after you sign a new, two-year agreement. So, exactly what we thought would happen. Check out the full press release below for more information.

[via Android Community]

Press Release

VERIZON WIRELESS AND SAMSUNG MOBILE DEBUT WORLD’S FIRST DEDICATED MOBILE PHONE TICKER DISPLAY ON THE SAMSUNG CONTINUUM™, A GALAXY S™ SMARTPHONE

BASKING RIDGE, N.J., and DALLAS – Verizon Wireless, the nation’s largest and most reliable wireless voice and 3G data network, and Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the number one mobile phone provider in the United States(1), today announced the upcoming availability of the Samsung Continuum™, a Galaxy S™ smartphone. The Continuum is the world’s first smartphone designed with a dedicated ticker display, which provides users with up-to-the-minute news, sports, finance and social networking updates for maximized multitasking.

The Continuum features two separate but integrated displays: a 3.4-inch touch screen Super AMOLED™ main display and a customizable 1.8-inch Super AMOLED dedicated ticker display that streams customized information in real time. Additionally, the Continuum is powered by Android™ 2.1, with support for Google Mobile Services, including Gmail™, YouTube™, Android Market™ and more. The Continuum also includes a 1GHz Hummingbird Application Processor, 5-megapixel camera, and multiple entertainment and social networking features.

Color: Mirror Black

Key features and specifications:
· 3.4-inch Super AMOLED Main Touch Screen Display – Main display provides user-customizable homescreens and widgets in a brilliant screen display

· 1.8-inch Interactive Super AMOLED Ticker Display – Dedicated ticker display enables zero-click access to news, social networking, sports and entertainment feeds; users can select what content they want on the ticker by selecting from menu on display

· Grip Sensor – By touching the bottom sides of the device, the ticker display lights up to give users real-time weather, social networking services (SNS), message, IM and e-mail notification updates

· Super AMOLED Screen Technology – Brilliant screen makes watching movies, viewing videos and playing games come to life like never before, even in bright light and outdoor environments

· Android 2.1 platform – With support for Google Mobile Services, including Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk and Android Market

· Preloaded with Bing Maps and Bing Search

· Full HTML Web browsing capabilities

· 3G Mobile HotSpot capabilities – Allows customers to transform their phone into a wireless modem for up to five compatible Wi-Fi-enabled devices

· Advanced touchscreen gestures capabilities, including multi-touch pinch to zoom, double tap to zoom and horizontal swiping, which provides easier and quicker access to many applications, including location-based services, Web browsing and digital photos or videos

· Multiple file formats supported, including DivX and Xvid support

· Samsung 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Application Processor – Produces amazing graphics, faster upload and download times, and HD-like multimedia content

· Six-axis sensor that works with the smartphone’s accelerometer to provide a smooth, fluid gaming experience when the user is tilting the device up or down or panning the phone to the left or right

· Virtual QWERTY Keyboard Featuring Swype Technology – Input text faster and in a more intuitive way with one continuous finger motion across the screen keyboard

· Full suite of messaging options – Text, picture, video and voice messaging; corporate and personal e-mail accounts supported

· 5.0-megapixel camera/camcorder – Auto-focus and LED flash with HD video recording and playback capabilities to capture photos and videos for playback on your HD television; playback (720p) on the screen display

· Wi-Fi Connectivity (802.11 b/g/n)

· Stereo Bluetooth® Technology – Support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access, and object push for vCard and vCalendar

· Corporate Email – Supports Android Éclair Exchange ActiveSync e-mail to synchronize corporate e-mail, contacts and calendars from office e-mail accounts

· Music player features lock screen, ticker display and quick side panel controls and 3.5-millimeter headphone jack

· 8 GB microSD™ card preinstalled expandable up to 32 GB

Lifestyle features:
· V CAST Music with Rhapsody®, V CAST Video on Demand, V CAST Song ID, Visual Voice Mail, V CAST Tones, VZ Navigator®, Mobile IM, City ID, Bing Search and Maps, and Blockbuster Application

· Dedicated ticker displays up-to-the minute news, weather and SNS updates, as well as music player controls and incoming e-mail, IM, and text messages without interrupting the activity on the main display

· Samsung’s Social Hub – Built around messaging, contacts and calendar sync, which allows users to send and receive information, whether it is e-mail, social network updates or SMS messages

o Integrated Calendar information from portal calendars, on Exchange, Google Calendar™ and SNS, including Facebook®

o Integrated Contacts syncs with Exchange, Google, Twitter and Facebook – Facebook contacts display in four categories, including Info, History (previous calls and messages), Activities (status updates and notifications on social networking sites), and Media (Facebook profile photos and photo gallery)

· AllShare™ – Enables inter-device connectivity through Digital Living Network Alliance® (DLNA®), so users can send multimedia content wirelessly to other DLNA Certified®-enabled devices such as TVs and laptops

· Daily Briefing – Instant access to weather, news, stocks and schedules

· Write and Go – Quickly jot down an idea and later decide on a format, such as SMS/ MMS, e-mail, calendar or memo, to send or post to popular SNS sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace

· Smart Alarm – Natural alarm sound and display automatically illuminates

· Weather Clock – Displays current time and weather of the selected city (ability to add and select other cities)

Pricing and availability:
· The Samsung Continuum will be available for order starting Nov. 11 in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $199.99 after a $100 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement and data package. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted. The device will be available for purchase in stores beginning Nov. 18.

· For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Media can access high-resolution images of the Samsung Continuum in the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.)

About Verizon Wireless
Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s most reliable and largest wireless voice and 3G data network, serving more than 93 million customers. Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with more than 79,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD). For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

About Samsung Telecommunications America
Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungwireless.com.

There’s also a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, Bluetooth and WiFi, along with an LED flash for the camera.  Interestingly, the Focus is one of the few Windows Phone 7 devices where it’s possible to upgrade the internal storage, though it’s nowhere near as straightforward as a regular microSD card slot.

Still, it’s one of our favorite Windows Phone 7 devices, not least because of that excellent display.  For more on the AT&T Samsung Focus, check out our full review.

Samsung’s Super AMOLED displays are some of the smartest panels around these days, and we were disappointed to see the Galaxy Tab didn’t use the technology.  Instead it has a nonetheless-impressive LCD TFT screen – check out our Galaxy Tab review for more details – which is good but still falls short of, say, a Galaxy S smartphone display.

The Korean company has previously confirmed that the 7-inch Galaxy Tab is only the first of several models, including larger and smaller slates, which it expects to release through 2011.

[via OLED-Display]

Hardware

Microsoft’s restriction on hardware and software has left the company’s opening range looking pretty homogenized, and manufacturers have struggled to stand out of the crowd. Samsung’s attempt is perhaps the most eye-catching: the Focus uses the same 4-inch WVGA Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen display as on the Galaxy S family of devices, and it remains an incredible panel. Inside, though, where the Galaxy S use Samsung’s own 1GHz Hummingbird processor, Microsoft has mandated Windows Phone 7 devices should use rival Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon QSD8250.

Otherwise features are much as we’ve seen on other Windows Phone 7 devices, so you get HSDPA, a 5-megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, Bluetooth, WiFi, GPS and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Onboard storage is 8GB, but Samsung has also added a user-accessible microSD card slot. Unlike memory card readers on other platforms, the Focus doesn’t support hot-swapping; in fact, once you put the card in and hard-reset the handset, Windows Phone 7 incorporates its capacity into the core of the device. For that reason, an engineer told us to only use fast microSD cards, so as to avoid speed bottlenecks. Nonetheless, it’s one way to get 40GB of storage in a Windows Phone 7 device.

Unlike the metal of some of HTC’s line-up, the Focus is mostly plastic; however it’s creak-free and feels solid. It’s also subtle in its design, without the stylized moldings of, say, the Mozart. The usual array of controls are present, with volume on the left-hand side and a camera shortcut on the right, power/standby on top and three touch-sensitive buttons – back, Start and search – running underneath the display. A microUSB port handles recharging and synchronizing.

Software

We’ve covered Windows Phone 7′s core functionality at depth in our Technical Preview, so won’t retread too much old ground; we’d recommend reading that for a better understanding of the Microsoft OS as a software experience. We’ve also reviewed the AT&T HTC Surround and Orange HTC 7 Mozart, and we’d also recommend reading those reviews for other Windows Phone 7 details.

In use, the Focus is swift and satisfying, with menus, dialogs and apps all loading and transitioning quickly. Microsoft has made good use of animation, with menus bouncing and compressing slightly as they reach the end of lists, and text pivots in and out of focus beautifully. It’s distinctive and fresh, and makes rival platforms look positively over-worked, but the transitions never get in the way of actual usability.

Similarly, Microsoft is taking a hardline approach to consistency; the top four tiles – phone, people, messaging and email – are standard, followed by four carrier/OEM tiles, then IE and Xbox Live. OEMs and operators are limited to six preinstalled apps, which can be removed but which will return after a hard-reset, and users can pin playlists, people and other shortcuts to the homescreen. Each tile has some sort of notification built in, whether unread message counts, missed calls or previewing Facebook/Twitter updates for individuals. Third-party app notifications are up to the developer themselves. Meanwhile the default on-screen keyboards – with full QWERTY available in portrait and landscape orientation – are locked, with no third-party keyboard support at present. Auto-correction and prediction is good but not quite to the levels of prescience Apple manage on the iPhone.

Since it’s a very visual approach, we’ve broken down the main functionality – browser, email, media, Windows Phone Market, third-party apps and more – into two comprehensive overview videos, which you can see below.

Samsung Focus Windows Phone 7 Walkthrough Part 1

Samsung Focus Windows Phone 7 Walkthrough Part 2

Camera

The Focus’ 5-megapixel cameras isn’t the highest resolution on a Windows Phone 7 device, and nor does it have the Xenon flash of the HTC 7 Mozart, but it’s still a decent performer. As well as stills it records 720p HD video; our biggest complaint, though, is the absence of any way to share those video clips beyond synchronizing them with the desktop. Unlike photos, which have a Share option in the contextual menu, and which can be attached to emails or MMS messages, at present videos are stuck on the Focus until you’re next home.

Sample video

LIke other cellphone cameras we’ve tested, the Focus’ video abilities can show some judder when filming fast-moving objects or during sharp pans, but otherwise detail and color balance is reasonable. Still shots, meanwhile, have a good amount of detail for a 5-megapixel camera, and best the results from the HTC Windows Phone 7 devices we’ve been testing. There are a range of settings including multiple shooting modes – Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Sports, Beach, Backlight, Candlelight and Macro – together with various effects – Grayscale, Negative, Sepia and Solarize – plus flicker adjustment, a choice of metering – center, average or spot – and flash on/off/auto.

Browser

The Windows Phone 7 browser is built on the IE7 engine and javascript/performance work done for IE8. The end result is quick to render but also handles navigation mid-download well; if you zoom in – using pinch-zoom or double-tapping, the latter also offering text-reflowing – and click on a link, the page-load will abort and prioritize loading the next link. There’s no in-page Flash support, at this stage at least, though Microsoft has said it’s on the roadmap. We had no problems loading even complex pages without crashes.

Messaging and Social Networking

Messaging on Windows Phone 7 includes SMS, MMS and email, with a wide variety of the latter supported. Obviously there’s Windows Live and Exchange (with push email support) and you can register your accounts during setup or skip it and return to them later. A Windows Live ID is only required for certain functionality, too; if you don’t want to use the Windows Phone Marketplace, for instance, you don’t need a Live ID. On top of those options there’s Google and Yahoo! mail, together with Facebook, and then generic POP and IMAP accounts.

Each email account gets its own homescreen tile with a separate inbox count, though you can also view a combined inbox pulling together messages from each. The messaging app is one of the best experiences in Windows Phone 7, and a significant improvement on Windows Mobile 6.x. HTML messages are supported, and multi-message deletion is easy: simply tap to the left of a message and check-boxes slide into view. Emails open quickly, and the simple black and white color scheme – with orange subject lines to show unread messages – is reasonably easy to read outdoors.

Register a Facebook account, and the People tile will pull in information from your friends on the social networking site and flag up any recent updates in a timeline. You can comment on or “like” those updates, or post your own update by tapping on the profile photo that Windows Phone 7 pulls down. We’ve also been trying a beta of Twitter app Seesmic, which works well and handles multiple accounts, but – like we’ve found with RSS readers on Windows Phone 7 – seems to lack caching and, as such, needs to pull in all old messages on every load. It’s time-consuming and frustrating when you want to quickly check for any new updates.

Maps and Navigation

Google Maps unsurprisingly has no place in Windows Phone 7, with Microsoft’s own Bing Maps taking center stage. The app can show you regular or aerial photo views, together with driving or pedestrian navigation instructions. Turn-by-turn spoken guidance – as you’d get on Android – is absent, and the directions themselves are simple, step-by-step prompts with no recalculation if you sway off course. AT&T preload their own Navigation service on the Focus, but there’s no integration between Bing Maps and their app, and it refuses to run in the background. It’s also worth noting that there’s no landscape orientation support in the mapping app, only portrait. Since the OS currently lacks copy/paste functionality, Microsoft has been making much of its deep hyperlinking of things like addresses; that works well in contacts, but you’re out of luck if someone emails you their location since the Focus proved unable to pull that information out and link you to Bing Maps.

Copy and Paste

We did have an opportunity to see Microsoft’s intentions for copy/paste, with hyperlinks selected by press-and-hold, while tapping an individual word triggers selection handles and a small palette of controls. If there is content in the clipboard then tapping a text entry field automatically offers paste. When Microsoft does eventually roll it out, it will be on offer for third-party apps as well as all core Windows Phone 7 software.

Windows Phone Marketplace and Zune

Those third-party apps will come via the Windows Phone Marketplace, unsurprisingly in a fledgling state at present given the relative youth of the OS. Microsoft will be initially limiting access to 2,000 or so developers it has worked with previously, at least for the first few weeks, though they’ve seen half a million downloads of their Windows Phone 7 developer toolkit. Retail apps will be available from October 21st – the European Windows Phone 7 launch – with pre-purchase trials available. Subsequent purchases of trials will unlock the existing download, too, rather than users be required to re-download the app. All Xbox games will be available as trials; there’s more detail on the Marketplace in the video overview further up the page.

As well as software, the Marketplace will include music and videos, and indeed Microsoft are placing a far stronger focus on multimedia in Windows Phone 7 than they ever did in Windows Mobile. The company is using its Zune desktop manager app to manage the new smartphones, just as it does the company’s Zune range of PMPs. Currently it’s PC-only, but we’ve been testing a beta version of the Mac Zune client and it works well, being most reminiscent of iTunes on the Mac. You can sync one Windows Phone 7 handset with more than one computer, too.

The Zune app is used for multimedia organization – including Zune Pass control, if you subscribe to Microsoft’s all-you-can-eat music service – as well as software updates. Notifications of updates are sent as OTA messages, but the update itself is installed via a direct USB connection (after an automatic device backup is made). There’s also WiFi sync, something iPhone owners have been asking for repeatedly; after the first USB sync, you can choose to update the Focus’ content wirelessly, with the Zune app automatically loading if it isn’t already running.

Phone and Battery

The abilities of the OS wouldn’t really matter much if the Focus didn’t hold its own as a phone, but happily that’s not a problem. Voice calls were clear and crisp, with the speakerphone being reasonably loud and Bluetooth supporting mono and stereo headset use. As for battery life, with some serious use – push email turned on, both WiFi and Bluetooth active, multiple calls and plenty of GPS and browsing – we managed to drain the Focus in a little over 6 hours. That’s atypical use, however; normal users shouldn’t have a problem getting through a regular day on a single charge.

Wrap-Up

There are obviously some features still missing, more from Windows Phone 7 than from Samsung’s Focus. Copy/Paste is an obvious one, which Microsoft has already committed to changing, and the inability to share recorded video beyond synchronizing it with the desktop Zune client. Perhaps more controversial is the absence of universal search, something Microsoft tells us they don’t believe people actually want or use. There’s also no local sync of contacts and email, only via the cloud, nor native DLNA streaming support.

Still, it’s early days for the platform, and the overall impression is very good – both of Windows Phone 7 and of the AT&T Samsung Focus. Microsoft has come in for criticism over its newly strict controls for OEMs and developers, but it’s allowed them to create a tightly-integrated, elegant and distinctive OS that offers a legitimate alternative to iOS and Android. The target audience, in the platform’s current form, seems to be average users perhaps looking to make their first upgrade from a feature-phone. The simple homescreen structure and general consistency are at odds, in many ways, with Android’s geeky appeal to tech-savvy consumers, while Windows Phone 7 obviously lags behind iPhone 4 in terms of features. Give it three or four more iterations, though, and we’d expect Microsoft to have caught up; still, there’s no telling where iOS will be by that point.

As for the Focus itself, that stands out as one of the more noteworthy models in the first wave of devices, with the Super AMOLED display making daily use – especially for media playback – significantly more pleasant than on regular LCD alternatives. The coming months will deliver a greater choice of form-factors and, we’re guessing, firmware updates that tighten up the inevitable launch bugs, but for the moment the Samsung Focus might well be the best Windows Phone 7 device in the North American market.

Underneath that 4-inch WVGA capacitive touchscreen display, you’ll find Qualcomm’s 1GHz Snapdragon processor. The camera on the back is highlighted with a LED flash, and the back of the device is slightly curved. Overall, the Focus feels a lot like the Samsung Vibrant, in that there’s an obviously plastic look-and-feel to the device. But, it does still feel solid in the hand, and even if AT&T is saying that it’s the slimmest Windows Phone 7 device, it still feels good in the hand. Check out the video below to see the device in action, and listen to the Samsung representative give you a quick run through.

For more information and discussion about Windows Phone 7, check out Windows Phone Forums.

As for the genera hands on, this is just an early preview of the device, of course. Without having time to spend on a full review, we can just give you what we think of the device so far. And, with it’s 4-inch Super AMOLED display, this really is the Galaxy S device for Windows Phone 7 (much in the same way that the Samsung Focus, here in the States, warrants the same accolades). The 1 GHz processor under the hood keeps everything snappy and smooth, even if it is obvious that Microsoft really, really loves animated transitions. The hardware is solid, too — it doesn’t feel like it’ll break after a month of usage.

The overall system is speedy, and despite all of the flair on the software side of the device, it’s more than obvious it should be able to keep up with you through day to day usage. The Samsung Omnia 7 will be landing in Europe on October 21st, so if you’re looking for a pristine display, and Microsoft’s newest effort in the mobile smartphone game, then the Omnia 7 is a contender for your money. More images in the gallery below.

For more information and discussion about Windows Phone 7, check out Windows Phone Forums.

There’s also WiFi b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 and A-GPS, along with USB 2.0 and triband UMTS/HSPA (900/1900/2100).  The Omnia 7 (GT-I8700) can also record 720p HD video and the phone has an FM radio as well.

Battery life is tipped at up to 520 minutes talktime or 390 hours standby from the 1,500mAh Li-Ion pack.  Full specs in the gallery below.  No word on pricing or availability, but we’ll likely find that out later on today.

[via SamsungHub - Thanks Kunal!]

No hard specs for the phone have leaked, but they estimate the main touchscreen at around 3.5-inches and to be Super AMOLED.  Of course, Samsung already have the 3.3-inch WVGA Super AMOLED screen used on the Wave S8500, so it could be a return of that panel.  The Ticker offers shortcuts and media playback controls, as well as alerts, RSS feeds and notifications.

On the back there’s a 5-megapixel camera and the microSD card is accessible from the side of the handset, rather than requiring the battery cover be removed.  Unfortunately, Verizon look to have stripped out Google and replaced it all with Bing.  No word on launch date or pricing at this stage.

[via Android Community]

$199.99 – after a $100 online discount – gets you a 4-inch WVGA display, Android 2.1, Samsung’s TouchWiz 3.0 UI, EVDO Rev.A and WiFi b/g/n, along with Bluetooth 3.0, 3G mobile hotspot functionality and a battery we found was good for fourteen hours of solid use.  For more on the Fascinate, check out our full review from yesterday.

The shortage of AMOLED displays is something that hit manufacturer HTC pretty hard. Not only have they been unable to keep up with demand from customers due to production, but also due to shortages in supplies. Smasung Mobile Display expects that the new plant will help in the overall production amounts, making it possible for other companies to take advantage of the coveted displays.

Truth be told, many believed that the shortages for other companies, like HTC (which lead them to use Super LCD displays from Sony in devices like the HTC Incredible (for Verizon)), meant that Samsung was reaping the rewards (so to speak) in the fact that their plants were manufacturing the AMOLED/Super AMOLED panels that so many people wanted. Woo-Jong finally came forward on that belief, and said that the shortage not only affected other companies, but also Samsung. The high demand for the displays made it hard for Samsung to produce their own handsets, too. Which is good news — it means that Samsung wasn’t hording their own product. If the plant does come into play next year as Samsung intends, then it will certainly be a good year for devices and their manufacturers.

[via OLED-Display.net; thanks, Erik!]

It looks like the still officially unannounced Samsung Galaxy Tab, the tablet manufactured by Samsung, is heading to Verizon. The screenshot above clearly shows that the tablet is sitting pretty in their inventory list. It doesn’t tell us when it’s launching, of course (that would be too easy), but we can probably expect it any time before the end of this year.

The Tab will run Android 2.2, features a 7-inch display, and a 1.3GHz processor under the hood. There’s still some debate on whether or not the display is Super AMOLED, but it would be like Samsung to promote the technology. We’ll have to wait a bit longer (maybe tomorrow) to hear more details about the device and the Verizon launch, if there is indeed one. Hopefully here soon we’ll have all of the juicy information we’d ever want.

[via Android Community]

The DROID X lasted the longest, at almost 8hrs solid, while the DROID 2 came in third place at just over 7hrs.  Despite its 5-inch display, the Dell Streak slotted into second place, at 7.5hrs.  Down at the lower end of the chart was the HTC Incredible, with an AMOLED panel and 4.5hrs of runtime, and Samsung’s Captivate and Vibrant (both Galaxy S family phones) with 4.75hrs.

Of course, this isn’t really scientific in purist terms: the phones use different batteries (as you can see listed in the results chart below), different processors and are running various versions of Android.  Google has made power saving and performance tweaks between software iterations.  They also tested the handsets in the web-browser, but because of the way the display technology works, AMOLED/Super AMOLED is more frugal showing black or darker colors than it is white (i.e. most webpage backgrounds).  Still, if you’re a web addict and you’re looking for a long-legged Android phone on which to surf while mobile, it seems LCD may still be the way to go.

As for specs, last we heard Samsung were using a 4-inch AMOLED display – potentially one of their Super AMOLEDs as on the Galaxy S and Epic 4G – together with WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, GPS, an FM radio and twin cameras, one for video calling at the front and another, 5-megapixel one on the back.  Obviously there’d be AT&T 3G in there too, together with some amount of internal storage since Microsoft aren’t allowing hardware partners to fit microSD card slots.

At 4.90 x 2.54 x 0.56 inches the Epic 4G can’t really be called discrete. It’s a hefty chunk of matte and gloss finish black and silver plastic, wider than the DROID X, and with Samsung eschewing metal but still opting for premium materials that feel suitably high-end. We’d generally prefer metal construction, but the weight impact on the Epic 4G would likely have been significant (already it’s 5.46oz). Up top there’s a 3.5mm headphone socket together with a microUSB port covered with a sliding door; on the left edge is the volume rocker and on the right the power/lock key and a camera shortcut. Under the Teflon-coated bowed back panel is a microSD slot, with Samsung including a 16GB card in the box and the Epic 4G supporting up to 32GB cards. There’s also the sizeable 1,500mAh battery.

Most eye-catching is the Epic 4G’s display, with Samsung still keeping their latest breed of Super AMOLED displays to themselves. Measuring 4-inches and running at WVGA resolution, it’s a bigger panel but with fewer pixels than you’d find fronting the iPhone 4. Still, while it’s no Retina Display, it’s altogether an enjoyable experience in daily use. Colors and contrast are both amazing, viewing angles are broad and, unlike regular AMOLED panels, the Epic 4G can be used outdoors without demanding you shade it entirely.

Under the touchscreen is a row of touch-sensitive keys – menu, home, back and search – as on the Vibrant and Captivate, though no D-pad or optical joystick. We most miss that sort of control when trying to edit text, but of course with a flick the Epic 4G reveals its full QWERTY keyboard (complete with dedicated arrow keys). The scale of the smartphone means there’s plenty of room for buttons, and Samsung hasn’t held back: the five-row ‘board (with dedicated number row) is flanked by menu and back buttons on the left, and home and search buttons on the right. The keys themselves offer a very good typing experience, being tactile and providing just the right resistance, and they’re well spaced too. Our sole frustration is the spacebar, a double-key width that feels like it should be wider; we wish Samsung had left off the dedicated emoticon button and made the spacebar 50-percent broader again.

As the name suggests, the Epic 4G not only makes use of Sprint’s EVDO Rev.A 3G network but the 4G (WiMAX) coverage found in a growing number of US cities. The second Android device to make use of this – after the perpetually out-of-stock HTC EVO 4G – and the first to pair 4G with a hardware keyboard, the Samsung is left with something of an advantage in a market where data connections are key. As well as cellular data there’s also WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0, along with GPS, a digital compass and a 6-axis accelerometer.

On the software side, the Epic 4G is generally reminiscent of the Galaxy S. Samsung has used Android 2.1, as before, complete with their TouchWiz 3.0 interface that changes the UI, adds in social networking, news and media widgets, and generally tweaks the regular Android experience. As with the Galaxy S family of devices, TouchWiz remains an acquired taste, and it’s one we’re generally not keen on. The iconography feels like it’s aping iOS, while many of the changes seem done not to improve the user experience but simply to make it distinctly Samsung. When you consider that updates to the core OS will be delayed thanks to the work involved in bringing TouchWiz up to date accordingly, that seems like a fair amount of compromise for negligible benefit. Samsung has committed to bringing Android 2.2 Froyo to the Epic 4G, though there’s no definitive timescale for its release; by the time it arrives, 3.0 Gingerbread might be on the cards too. The company also preloads the Swype virtual keyboard app, for times when you don’t want to pop out the hardware ‘board.

Happily, while use of the Galaxy S series was punctuated with freezes and pauses, anecdotally blamed upon the handsets’ use of an internal microSD card for their onboard storage, the Epic 4G seems generally free of such lag. Indeed, the 1GHz Hummingbird processor – a relative of Qualcomm’s broadly-adopted Snapdragon – paired with 512MB of RAM and 1GB of ROM shifts between applications slickly, with minimal delay in loading media content or other smartphone trouble-spots such as booting up the camera.

As for that camera, image quality is very strong. At 5-megapixels it’s on-a-par spec-sheet wise with its main rivals, with an LED flash, autofocus and the ability to record 720p HD video clips. Still pictures are nicely detailed with decent color balance and little in the way of fuzz when at reasonable levels of zoom. Meanwhile, videos are relatively blur-free and don’t suffer from over-compression. The LED flash, while limited in its range, is handy all the same when faced with the right circumstances. Up front is a VGA-quality webcam intended for video calls; they’re not supported natively in Android yet, but apps like the preloaded Qik can make use of them (and over 3G and WiFi connections, rather than the iPhone 4′s WiFi-only FaceTime).

Samsung is carving something of a niche for itself for media playback, with the Galaxy S range setting out a broad stall of supported audio and video codecs. The Epic 4G follows in those footsteps, with MP4, DivX, WMV, H.263 and H.264 video support and MP4, WAV, eAAC+, AC3 and FLAC audio support. Samsung’s AllShare app is also preloaded, turning the Epic 4G into a DLNA media streamer. That way, DLNA-compliant TVs, WiFi radios or other devices can wirelessly play back content stored on the smartphone, useful for showing off photos and video clips you’ve recorded. If your TV doesn’t have DLNA support integrated, Samsung will also sell you the “WMG160 WiFi HD streaming device”, a standalone wireless streamer for A/V and document files.

The company also remains one of the few doing ActiveSync correctly, with the Epic 4G’s Exchange support giving us none of the headaches as we’ve had on, say, Motorola’s recent Android phones. There’s also a simple task manager, making killing runaway apps simple. Best of all, the GPS issues which many have reported affecting Galaxy S family devices aren’t apparent on the Epic 4G, with our review unit proving capable of quickly establishing a fix and tracking it accordingly.

Samsung’s last push to distinguish functionality is their Media Hub, a multimedia store set for imminent launch. Offering movies, TV episodes, music and more, it’s Samsung’s attempt to take on iTunes. Sprint gave us a demonstration of the incoming system, which you can watch below:

The Epic 4G may be asked to perform more than its fair share of duties, but voice calls can’t be ignored. Happily performance here is also strong, with a loud speakerphone and crisp audio for both parties. Thanks to the 4G you’ll be spending more time looking at the signal meter to see if you’re accessing the WiMAX network; we’d like the see the carrier add a 4G-specific layer to Google Maps, so you can more easily track where you’ll get access to the fastest data.

The flip-side to 4G is its demands on the battery, and Samsung has sensible equipped the Epic 4G with a sizeable 1,500mAh pack. That, they estimate, is good for up to 6hrs talktime or over 216hrs standby; of course, typical use is more likely a combination of data services, messaging and voice calls, and harder to pin down. As with the EVO 4G, sharing a WiMAX connection using the Epic 4G’s mobile hotspot app can drain the battery in four hours or so, but more casual browsing and push email allows the Samsung to last a day of use. For better or for worse, Android has plenty of areas where you can tweak settings to prolong runtime, if you choose to sacrifice unwanted functionality; not everyone will want the Epic 4G’s automatically-updating news widgets, or the social networking integration, or photo-geotagging, and spending some time in the settings pages is, as on any device, a good way to maximize use.

Sprint Epic hands-on demo

Tastes differ, but we feel pretty confident in calling the Samsung Epic 4G the best smartphone on the Sprint network today. That success is primarily the sum of the brilliant Super AMOLED display, excellent keyboard and speedy WiMAX connectivity. The compromise is TouchWiz, and we wish Samsung would concede that not everyone appreciates its skin and offer a way to return to the native Android UI. If you can live with it, you’ll have a highly capable, flexible and media-rich handset, albeit one slightly on the back foot when it comes to the latest build of Google’s OS. Still, that’s a common complaint among the variously modified devices on the market right now. Out of the box, Sprint’s Epic 4G does everything we could ask of it, with the growing space to keep up with whatever Android – and the legion of third-party developers – might have round the corner. Place your pre-order now, people; the Epic 4G is likely to be just as popular as it deserves to be.

Make sure to read our Galaxy S review and follow our twitter feed at @Androids or visit Android Community for everything Android!

Unboxing Sprint Epic 4G

Sprint Epic 4G Accessories

Sprint has officially come forward and announced that the Epic will be made available on August 31st, 2010. However, instead of doing the standard pre-order, they are doing something completely original: allowing you to reserve your handset. Instead of just hoping that your pre-order sticks, you’ll be able to actually make sure that you get a device when launch date comes around. Sprint stores, Best Buys, RadioShacks, and Walmarts are all going to be opening up early (at 8:00am your local time) to make sure that you have plenty of time in the morning to get your 4G handset, before you have to go to work and put it in your pocket. You can begin reserving the device on August 13th, which is in just a couple of days. Price wise, you’re looking at $249.99 after you sign a new, two-year contract and you send in that $100 mail-in rebate. So, that’s $350+ you’ll be dropping in the store, but hey, to get your hands on that sweet four inch display and 4G connectivity, wouldn’t you be willing to drop all of your hard earned money?

Press Release

Where to Get It
Samsung Epic 4G will be available beginningTuesday, Aug. 31, in all Sprint retail channels, including Sprint.com, Telesales (1-800-SPRINT1) and national retail partners, RadioShack, Best Buy and Walmart, with Sprint Stores opening at 8 a.m.local time. It will cost $249.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement, after a $100 mail-in rebate (taxes excluded).

A New Reservation Process
For the first time ever, Sprint is offering customers a unique opportunity to reserve Samsung Epic 4G for purchase. Customers can reserve their smartphone for purchase at www.sprint.com/epic4gbeginning Friday, Aug. 13., while supplies last. Customers who reserve Samsung Epic 4G will be able to complete their purchase beginning Tuesday, Aug. 31, and must complete their purchase no later than 6 p.m. local time on Wednesday, Sept. 1. Through the reservation process, customers will be able to reserve their devices online, pick them up in a Sprint Store, and receive the full retail experience, including Sprint’s Ready Now service.

Please see the attached news release and fact sheet.