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by Taylor Martin | March 14, 2013 4:25 PMRead OnToday is the big day. Samsung will have the attention of the entire tech world and hundreds of thousands – possibly millions – of consumers around the world. The successor to the one of the most successful smartphones ever will be unveiled shortly after 7:00 PM EDT today. And there is a ton of pre-announcement buzz leading up to the event. A mad rush of leaks and rumors broke out this week, some as recent as this morning. But the reception of these rumors and leaks has been surprisingly mixed. Judging from the increasing number of pictures that show off the purported Galaxy S IV in ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 14, 2013 3:55 PMRead OnBy now, you've no doubt seen all the very compelling Galaxy S IV leaks out of China, and while they give us a great look at a handset, it's still not entirely clear if this is precisely how the GS4 will arrive later today, or if we might be looking at a prototype design; after all, we had heard that Samsung was considering a number of different Galaxy S IV options, with their own hardware make-ups, and what we see here might differ from what's finally announced. Still, keeping that in mind, we can get a look at what might be possible, at least, and an in-depth review of that Chinese Galaxy ...
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by Joe Levi | March 14, 2013 1:36 PMRead OnSamsung doesn't need to do anything amazing with the Galaxy S IV to have another amazing product that people will flock to buy. I'm completely confident that Samsung could even take the Galaxy S III, upgrade the processor and battery just a smidgen and call it good. And it would sell. Like hotcakes. And I wouldn't mind one bit. Why? The Galaxy S III is already an amazing phone, and it's not really starting to show its age. Not yet anyway. I'm not normally one to put the brakes on the constant march of technology, but there comes a point where processor speed, quantity of RAM and storage ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 14, 2013 11:51 AMRead OnIs Apple worried about the Galaxy S IV? We've already seen LG take aim at the Samsung handset, trying to draw potential customers over to its currently available Optimus G, but now we hear about Apple trying to downplay the relevance of the GS4's launch, with company exec Phil Schiller decrying Samsung for releasing the phone with out-of-date software. Schiller brings up "...the news we are hearing this week that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is being rumored to ship with an OS that is nearly a year old," noting, "customers will have to wait to get an update." That just sounds all kinds of wrong. ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 14, 2013 11:00 AMRead OnWith just hours to go until Samsung's Unpacked event tonight, it seems like the cat's already out of the bag when it comes to the Galaxy S IV, and videos of its Chinese variant, model GT-I9502, have given up many of the handset's secrets. Still, we don't know simply everything at this point, and one of the last minute rumors to spring up has suggested that Samsung could end up branding the Galaxy S IV's screen as its Hyper Bright Display; we're not so sure. These claims have stemmed from the discovery of a US trademark application Samsung filed for Hyper Bright Display. Now, if this ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 14, 2013 8:47 AMRead OnJust hours ahead of Samsung's official unveiling of the Galaxy S IV there's an avalanche of leaks being unleashed upon us, all demonstrated on the Chinese GT-I9502 -- which according to some reports will not be the real deal. But let's cut to the chase: the lock screen on the S III and Note II (and pretty much all other Galaxy phones) had a nature theme to it (inherited from TouchWiz Nature UX) and they mimicked water droplets. This year it looks like Samsung stuck with the nature theme but the lock screen appears to be a rainbow. Much more interesting than that is the floating touch, ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 14, 2013 5:30 AMRead OnNot only did LG announce an eye-tracking / eye recognition feature to land on the Optimus G Pro before Samsung could make its official announcement of the S IV, rumored to have such capabilities, but it is now bringing the battle right to Samsung's heart with its latest move. Trolling? Maybe! Not more than Samsung's Apple-related commercials (and others) for that matter. Marketing? For sure! Times Square is where a huge gathering is expected today for the Galaxy S IV unveiling -- and where our own Adam Lein will be, joining us live from the crowd for our hangout -- and it's filled with ...
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Read OnUpdate: According to recent reports based on more "sources", this is just one of the prototypes which are out there, and not the real deal. More "R" category, but exciting, nonetheless. We've seen images and even videos claiming to depict the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV (granted, the Chinese dual-SIM version) and the specs have be subject to speculation for quite some time now. However, today we have some new, alleged, pictures, representing a purported representation of the upcoming Android flagship. Will it be the real deal? Make sure to follow our exhaustive coverage of the launch ...
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Read OnProbably the most important Android phone release of the year is nearly upon us. Samsung is going to unveil the highly anticipated follow up to last year's successful Galaxy S III, the Galaxy S IV. It will happen today in New York and we'll be here, there, and all over, to tell you everything about it. We've done it with the occasion of HTC's One launch and we're doing it again. We're sitting down in a public, live but closed hangout -- meaning you can watch us in real time but you can't talk to us -- to tell you all about the Galaxy S IV, as it happens, and bring you our unique ...
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by Taylor Martin | March 13, 2013 8:35 PMRead OnDespite a handful of high-end flagship smartphones currently on the market and just over the horizon, all eyes are on two companies this week. HTC and Samsung. The rivalry between these two monster Android manufacturers is unparalleled. HTC was once a well-known, thriving brand in Androidland. And while the name has hardly lost any importance, the company's finances and standings in market share have slipped over the last two years, largely thanks to the booming success of Samsung and its popular Galaxy brands. In February last year, while Samsung was polishing off the final refinements ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 13, 2013 8:21 PMRead OnTomorrow's the big day. March 14. Now sure, if you're a math fan you're already excited about the opportunity to celebrate your favorite irrational constant, but this year in particular, the rest of us have reason to look forward to the fourteenth as well, with Samsung running its big Unpacked event. Short of out and saying it, the company's done pretty much everything it can to confirm that this will be the grand unveiling of the Galaxy S IV, the company's 2013 Android flagship. That's going to be great to hear, and we're itching for the opportunity to confirm the oh, so many details ...
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by Michael Fisher | March 13, 2013 1:00 PMRead OnSometimes ya ain't got time for dilly-dallyin', spit-swappin', or tall-tale-tellin'. Sometimes even dropping in a few time codes is too much to ask. Because sometimes the meat just needs to get out to the masses. This is one of those special times, and the meat we're putting on the market is our jawing. Our opinions. Our stories. And the subject this week is the two biggest Android smartphone launches of the year, coming from the two biggest sworn enemies of the entire Android landscape. That's right: this is the episode where we talk HTC One vs Galaxy S IV. We've had the One for just a ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 13, 2013 4:35 AMRead OnTomorrow is the big day for all Android fans around the world as Samsung, whether you're a fan of the brand or not, is announcing this year's flagship phone, the Galaxy S IV. There were countless rumors and leaks in the past few weeks but we're sure the South Korean company has a couple of aces left up its sleeve. The latest rumor tries to confirm previous hear-say about the processor which will power the Galaxy S IV. Despite Samsung went with a standardized choice last year, with the Note II (same CPU across regions), this latest rumor seems to revisit the information according to which ...
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by Jaime Rivera | March 12, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the latest Phone unlocking bill, and why we've just become underwhelmed. Then we move to Nokia as we've got some new rumors of a metallic Nokia Lumia 928 for Verizon. Then we move to the iPhone 5S and some weird rumors of the device supporting fingerprint scanning and NFC. We later talk about our unboxing of the HTC One, along with some issues that retailers are already reporting. We then end today's show talking about the leaked Samsung Galaxy S 4 and also Samsung's probable move away from AMOLED technology. All this and more after the break. ...
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by Jaime Rivera | March 12, 2013 11:07 AMRead OnYes it's that time of year once again. The moment most smartphone OEMs dread as Samsung prepares to un-pack their new Galaxy S 4. Whether this is your favorite or not, there's no denying that this is the best selling Android smartphone of all time, and there fore, we're sure lots of you are waiting. Now what to expect from this new Galaxy? At times when companies like HTC and Apple are revamping their smartphones dramatically, some predict that Samsung will play it safe. We've seen cases where things have happened the other way around, but it's clear that Samsung dominates enough market ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 12, 2013 7:07 AMRead OnThe Galaxy S IV is nearly upon us, and in under three days we'll finally learn just what Samsung's managed to cook up for its 2013 Android heavyweight. As you're no doubt aware, dozens upon dozens of rumors have attempted to divine the GS4's feature set over the past – well, pretty much since the GS3 first arrived. One of those that has managed to come up a few times recently is the idea that the GS4 could support floating touch interactions: using a touchscreen that's sensitive enough to detect the presence of a finger as it hovers above the screen, before making actual contact. Of all ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 12, 2013 6:05 AMRead OnNFC is about standard on all high-end Android smartphones nowadays and the Samsung Galaxy S III has it, and so does the Note II. However, Samsung implemented the functionality differently on the S III than on the Note II. While the Galaxy S III has the antenna inside the battery itself the Note II has it on the battery cover touching the phone via two contacts. The Samsung Galaxy S IV appears to follow the Galaxy S III route, if the battery on the leaked Chinese version is any indication. We've just learned that said battery is rated at 2,600mAh and the Near Field Communication call-out on ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 12, 2013 5:48 AMRead OnWhat does this mean? The international or global variant might or might not feature the same battery as the one powering the device we've recently seen leaked in pictures and a video. However, if it will, it will be powered by a 2,600mAh battery. According to the image above, the battery inside the GT-I9502 is one of 9.88Wh (watt-hour). Thanks to a neat formula (mAh = Wh x 1000 / V or milliamp-hour = watt-hour x 1000 / V) we find out that the battery is rated at 2,600mAh (9.88 x 1000 / 3.8). This is a step-up from the 2,100mAh battery on the Galaxy S III but let's not forget that about ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 12, 2013 4:39 AMRead OnYesterday an alleged Samsung Galaxy S IV leak was making the rounds in the internet and the device was a dual-SIM phone destined for the Chinese market, dubbed the GT-I9502. Now that same device has popped up in a YouTube video just as Samsung started to officially tease the phone with its own render. Yesterday's device is being handled in today's video, with clear naming: Galaxy S IV, probably a Duos phone, headed to China Unicom, according to the title of the video. We can see the dual-SIM construction once the battery cover is removed as well as the battery (but no rating can be read ...
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by Anton D. Nagy | March 12, 2013 3:34 AMRead OnThis maybe part of the planned marketing hype for the March 14 special New York Unpacked event or it might just be some damage control after seeing the Samsung Galaxy S IV leaks yesterday. Either way, today's image, an official one at that, nicely complements the leaked images we've seen the other day. The official Samsung Twitter account has posted the above image and there's no doubt we're looking at the Galaxy S IV. It is also matching the device we're recently seen, however, Samsung's image, on purpose or not, doesn't seem to show off the texture we've already seen (regardless of how ...
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by Jaime Rivera | March 11, 2013 7:00 PMRead OnWatch today's Pocketnow Daily as we talk about the launch of the BlackBerry Z10 on AT&T. We later move to some Nokia news as internal documents show us a worried company on the future of their choice for mobile OS. Then it's Motorola X Phone rumors as NXT rings a bell as a possible name for their next smartphone. Then we talk about the Google patents we discovered recently that allow you to use the back of a phone for navigation purposes. We end today's news talking about the Samsung Galaxy S 4 leaked photos and our thoughts on their possibility. All this and more after the break. ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 11, 2013 10:35 AMRead OnIt's been one week since Samsung released its first teaser video for the Galaxy S IV, and a lot's happened since then. A couple days later, we saw some screenshots leak, attempting to confirm new GS4 features, and earlier today we got what might be the first real looks at the hardware itself. We knew from that first video that Samsung would be planning a follow-up, and today, with only three days to go until the company's launch event, Samsung follows up with the next installment. Once again, we don't get much in the way of info on the phone itself, besides some commentary from young ...
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Read OnUpdate: Looking at the texture on the front and back of the device (visible on most pictures but especially on the last two images below), it appears to be the exact same pattern used by Samsung in its press invite for the event, lending more credence to these images. Update 2: According to the comments below it appears that some people have actually seen the alleged Galaxy S IV in the wild and confirm the looks are the same as depicted in the images. One of the things that many people expect from the next Samsung Galaxy S IV is a new design. Samsung overused the aspect of the S III ...
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by Michael Fisher | March 8, 2013 3:30 PMRead OnDespite my calendar telling me we're supposed to be entering the Spring season, outside my office window Nature has deposited a thick, dense layer of snow atop all of Greater Boston. As my BlackBerry will tell you, I've already had quite enough of the frozen menace this year, and the constant exposure to its numbing cold has me thinking morbid thoughts this Friday afternoon. Specifically, I'm thinking about death, and how it relates to the Samsung Galaxy S III. Every time a new smartphone comes up for announcement, the media's focus -and the consumers'- swings instantly to the hip, new, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | March 8, 2013 12:20 PMRead OnAs Samsung's first 1080p smartphone, so many of the rumors surrounding the Galaxy S IV have concerned themselves with the handset's display. We've heard both that it might be an AMOLED or LCD component, as well as about the possibility for some enhanced touch sensitivity. We return to both of those today, as we move into the last week before the phone's launch with updates on display rumors. Once again, we're back to the idea that the GS4 will use an AMOLED screen, though not just any AMOLED panel. Supposedly, the display will use new green PHOLED technology, which uses phosphorescence ...
