Pocketables

Samsung Galaxy Note to come to Sprint, too?

Oh, would you look at that. It's a Sprint-branded Samsung Galaxy Note! I know that there's an AT&T variant headed our way, but a CDMA Galaxy Note would be a treat for many of you, too. 

Unlike the AT&T version, however, the Sprint model won't come with 4G LTE. But other than that slight difference, there aren't any other changes that Samsung made between the two variants. 

If the Note came to the US with two options, a GSM model and a CDMA one, it would obviously give users two options to choose from and that would mean that there's a better possibility of having a lower price, which gives Samsung a better chance of getting the 5.3-inch device into the hands of a lot of consumers. 

Personally, I think the Galaxy Note will be appealing to a variety of US customers. It's not just a phone: it's a big phone, and it could be used as a geekiness symbol, as well as a very functional piece of equipment for businesspeople. Having two choices for US carriers just sweetens the deal for those people.

[SprintFeed]

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus review

When Android 3.0 Honeycomb first came out, it was an OS made only for large tablets. This resulted in devices such as the HTC Flyer shipping with the phone version of Android, and it wasn't until this fall that Android 3.2 came along with support for smaller screens. The Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0 Plus is among the first 7-inch tablets to benefit from this, and it's also the true successor to the original Galaxy Tab, with the same screen size and resolution as the original. With updated hardware that puts not only the original Tab but also the more recent 10.1 and 8.9 Tabs to shame, the 7.0 Plus is proof that the 7-inchers are back. Read on for the review. 

Samsung sells one million Galaxy Notes worldwide, will start selling in US soon

If Samsung's Galaxy Nexus didn't exactly hit your techy sweet tooth, but you still wanted a Samsung device, I've got some great news for you: the Galaxy Note is headed to the US. The decision to bring the 5.3-inch phoneblet to the US has been a long time coming, as the FCC published a filing for the AT&T variant a few months ago.

But more importantly than the sales to come are the sales that have already happened. Samsung announced that it has sold one million Galaxy Notes over the past two months. While that isn't quite a record number, it still shows that even massive phones can be popular with the masses. 

There hasn't been an official release date for the US just yet, but I think there's a good possibility that we could see a launch (or at least an official date) in two weeks at CES. Price also hasn't been announced yet, but if the device is going to launch on AT&T with a contract, I wouldn't be surprised to get it into your hands for just $200. 

[Samsung Tomorrow Flickr]

Manufacturers, please update your updating beliefs

Contrary to popular belief, I love Android. I really do. I want to watch it continue to gain market share and give the other big players a run for their money. And even after what happened today with Samsung and some of its customers, I still love Android the operating system.

What I don't love, however, are the manufacturers that use Android to their advantage. Android is an open platform, and I think that the fact that I can customize it to my liking is phenomenal. But that's also Android's biggest downfall, as manufacturers have the same thought process as me. 

If there was any doubt that fragmentation exists, I think Samsung's move today squashed it. I know that all of you that are reading this article just root your devices anyway, but think about the average consumer, and even the slightly above-average ones, too. I doubt any of those people root and flash custom ROMs, but I don't doubt that they know about software updates. If they follow gadget sites (like this one) they've probably heard of the newest iteration of Android, too, and wonder when they'll get it. 

When it doesn't come, what happens to those consumers' mindsets about Android as a whole? Samsung's move could potentially hurt HTC and Motorola handset sales, and eventually, those 20 million Galaxy S owners leave for another platform. Read on to find out what could possibly happen to the green guy if manufacturers don't get their stuff together.

Original Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S phones not getting Ice Cream Sandwich, Samsung explains why

Sometimes, carriers and manufacturers just don't pull through for their customers. And when they don't, it's very disappointing and even a bit mean to those customers who purchased products from them. Today, the culprit is Samsung, and the victims are the owners of any phone from the original Galaxy S line and of the original Galaxy Tab.

The worst part of this isn't even the fact that owners of any of the aforementioned devices won't be getting an official ICS ROM. The worst part is Samsung's explanation. The company posted a post on its Korean Samsung Tomorrow blog that details its decision. 

The gist of the post is that the original Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S phones simply cannot run Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz efficiently enough to warrant an official update. And yes, you read that right: TouchWiz is bogging down the phones. 

The phones are certainly capable of running stock ICS, but Samsung obviously can't bring itself to push an update for any of its phones without slapping on TouchWiz. Oh, and by the way, the Nexus S has practically the same insides as the Galaxy S phones. The hardware can handle stock software; Samsung just has an ego issue and won't do it. 

If you're a serious Android fan, you probably don't care. You'll simply root your device and flash an ICS ROM, anyway. But it just goes to show you that manufacturers are contributing to Android fragmentation: the Galaxy S line is only a little over one year old.

[Samsung Tomorrow (Korean)]

Verizon Samsung Galaxy Nexus is $650 off contract

Happy Verizon Galaxy Nexus day, everyone! I know that a lot of you have been waiting so long for this day to come; quite honestly, I have been too. Even as a relatively die-hard iPhone user, I still love other operating systems and plenty of other phones. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is just the one I desire the most. 

If you've waited this long for the newest Nexus, you probably did it because you wanted to be on Verizon. But even though you chose the device and the carrier, there's one last thing you've gotta think about: on-contract or off? 

If you choose to sign a contract with Verizon, you'll get the Nexus into your hands for $299. If you don't sign one, though, you'll be paying $650 for the device, but you won't be locked down to any contract and you'll be able to leave Verizon whenever you want. 

Of course, the whole reason for waiting for a Verizon-compatible Galaxy Nexus is to use the device on Verizon. In my opinion, just going for the subsidized handset is better. Of course, people always have their own opinions on this issue; I'd like to know what you're going to do. Let me know in the comments!

[GottaBeMobile]

Samsung demos TouchWiz on Android 4.0, wasn't impressed by Google's UI efforts

When it was announced, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich was supposed to solve the widespread issue of fragmentation, first by standardizing upgrades and then by eliminating confusing custom UIs. Unfortunately, even though Samsung's devices have yet to see an update, the company has already taken the source code and built their proprietary TouchWiz interface into Ice Cream Sandwich.

As you can see in the video, TouchWiz doesn't necessarily look bad by itself, and it does work just fine. Still, it covers up the awesome new interface of Ice Cream Sandwich, which was one of the release's major features. Now, instead of getting a completely refreshed (and much better UI) when they update, Samsung users will be greeted by the same bubbly and colorful icons Samsung has been using for years.

Of course, there was really no way for Google to prevent this. The open nature of Android means that no matter how much Google says they don't want custom UIs on Android, manufacturers can just get the source code and do what they want. All Google can do is threaten to deny official approval (which wouldn't be a good decision when dealing with the top manufacturer of Android devices), or just try to make a new UI that is so good that it doesn't need any skinning.

This is what they attempted to do with Ice Cream Sandwich, and in my opinion they succeeded. It is the best and most refined version of Android yet, and fit to be distributed as is across all Android devices. I understand Samsung's need to differentiate themselves from the crowd, but I just wish that they could find a way other than covering up Ice Cream Sandwich with their less than perfect software.

[IntoMobile]

Verizon Galaxy Nexus still showing up in stores, isn't completely abandoned yet [Updated]

Last week Monday, it seemed like the Verizon edition of the Galaxy Nexus was just about ready to be sold to many hungry Android fans. In fact, we'd even heard that the release date was going to be the 9th of December, or last Friday. 

Of course, now that it's the Wednesday of the following week, we know that didn't happen at all. And because of that, a lot of prospective customers are worried that the device will never make it to the market. 

Thankfully, I get to call bologna on that, as even more pictures of Big Red's fabled device have started to pop up. The one you see to the right comes courtesy of yet another anxious Verizon employee who was the chosen one to open the package.

The newest release date to come out of the rumor mill is December 15th, which is tomorrow. I'm hoping that's true, because I'm certainly interested in the Galaxy Nexus; after my dismal experiences with the iPhone 4S' battery life, I might be ready to go somewhere else (unless iOS 5.1 fixes it). 

In any case, this is welcome news to a lot of people and I just hope that the next time a pure Googlephone comes to it, Verizon won't be so hesitant to put it out.

Update: Verizon has finally, officially announced the Galaxy Nexus for its network. It'll be available tomorrow for $299.99 on contract. Thanks a ton, Verizon! 

[Phandroid | Engadget]

AT&T-flavored Samsung Galaxy Note stops by FCC

Is there a hotter phoneblet on the market today? A few could probably argue that the Lenovo LePad S2005 is looking pretty tight, but the majority of people interested in a large phone are probably setting their crosshairs right on the Galaxy Note's 5-inch display. 

It's already been available in Korea for a week and a half now, which is probably why this news is so exciting. I would think that if an AT&T variant of the Galaxy Note is hitting the FCC's tables, the real-deal won't be too far behind.

Although I'm an iPhone user, I seriously would've considered getting the Note if it was released earlier. Android is great, but I don't like it at all on small screens. Since it is capable of running on a multitude of different resolutions and screen sizes, I find that smaller screens are pretty darn cramped, which certainly distracts from some of the awesome live wallpapers on the Android Market. The Note's 5-inch display, as well as the useful stylus recognition and elegant hardware, will probably make it a serious contender in the smartphone race even here in the States. 

[FCC via Engadget]

Verizon Galaxy Nexus almost undoubtedly coming December 9th

Just yesterday, I reported on a leak of photos of the Verizon-bound Samsung Galaxy Nexus. In that post, I came to the conclusion that the rumored December 9th release date didn't sound too ridiculous. 

Today, it seems that a lot of people, including myself, were correct. The above picture is a leaked internal document from Verizon, detailing basically everything about the phone, from the release date to the nitty-gritty internals. We already knew that the Galaxy Nexus comes with a dual-core 1.2GHz processor and 1GB of RAM, not to mention Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

What we didn't know for sure, however, was the for-real and official release date. According to this leaked document, that date is, in fact, going to be the 9th of December, this Friday.

Verizon has a great network with some decent plans, but I'm still a little weary recommending the carrier to anyone after one of my terrible experiences. Its service and support could've gotten better between then and now, but I think buying an unlocked device is better, anway.

[Droid-Life]