The Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 is the successor to the Galaxy S Duos, which was launched in September 2012 at a price of Rs. 17,900.
Samsung notes that the Galaxy S Duos 2 supports 10 regional languages, namely Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil and Telugu.
The Galaxy S Duos 2 comes with a 4-inch WVGA (480x800) TFT display and is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor (unspecified chipset). It is a dual-SIM (GSM+GSM) smartphone and runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI on top.
The Galaxy S Duos 2 sports a 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and also includes a VGA front-facing camera. The smartphone comes with 768MB of RAM and 4GB of inbuilt storage, which is further expandable up to 64GB via microSD card.
Connectivity features on the Galaxy S Duos 2 include Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EDGE, GPRS and 3G. There is a 1500mAh battery backing the device which the company claims can deliver up to 8 hours of talktime and up to 280 hours of standby time. The Galaxy S Duos 2 has dimensions of 121.5x63.1x10.57mm, and weighs 118 grams. The smartphone will be available in two colours - Black and White.
Recently, Samsung announced the successor to the Galaxy Grand, the Galaxy Grand 2. However, the South Korean handset maker has not revealed the price for Galaxy Grand 2, and has also not announced the availability details for the smartphone.
Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 key specifications
- 4-inch WVGA (480x800) TFT display
- 1.2GHz dual-core processor (unspecified chipset)
- 768MB of RAM
- 4GB inbuilt storage, expandable up to 64GB via microSD card
- 5-megapixel rear camera with LED flash
- VGA front-facing camera
- Dual-SIM (GSM+GSM)
- Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with TouchWiz UI
- Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, EDGE, GPRS and 3G
- 1500mAh battery
- 121.5x63.1x10.57mm
As per a report published by Japanese site, EMS One the alleged Galaxy S5 would sport an aluminium unibody chassis and that it would be manufactured by Taiwanese based company, Catcher. The report claims that Catcher would be manufacturing between 10 million and 30 million Galaxy S5 metal unibody cases.
Notably, Catcher has been the company manufacturing aluminium unibody for devices like HTC One, Apple iPad mini 2, notes Phonearena.
In addition, the RB Men blog has posted a purported image of the Galaxy S5 with metal chassis. The alleged image reveals an unnamed Samsung device's rear panel which features metal back, instead of the plastic we have seen in other Galaxy smartphones.
Prior to this, a set of images allegedly showing a structural component of Samsung's next flagship smartphone, the rumoured Galaxy S5, was spotted online.
Earlier a report suggested the South Korean manufacturer plans to release two versions of the alleged Galaxy S5. As per the report, there would be two variants of the Galaxy S5: a premium variant sporting a metal chassis and a flexible OLED, and a variant which would come with the usual plastic body, as found on other Galaxy smartphones.
Further, the report also speculated that Samsung would initially manufacture around 800,000 to 1 million units of the alleged Galaxy S5 in January, and would increase the number up to 6 million units in February. The report claimed that Samsung would likely release the Galaxy S5 in March or April 2014.
Rumoured specifications of the alleged Galaxy S5 include a 64-bit Exynos chipset or a Snapdragon chipset; 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera, a 4000mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI on top.
Remember when people used personal computers - desktops and laptops - to check email, view video and keep tabs on Facebook? Back in that far-away era, I'd have several windows open for Web browsers, a word processor, a photo editor and sometimes a reader for PDF documents.
I miss that capability on mobile devices, particularly on full-size tablets with a decent amount of display space. With iPads and Android tablets, I'm typically limited to one window displayed at a time; other apps run in the background, out of sight. With Windows 8 tablets, I can run two windows side by side, but I'm constrained in what I can do with them. It gets better with the Windows 8.1 update due out next week, but it's still not the free-for-all I had with PCs.
So I marveled at a pair of multitasking features that come with Samsung's new tablet, formally called Galaxy Note 10.1 - 2014 Edition. Sporting a 10.1-inch display, measured diagonally, the Note tablet goes on sale in the U.S. on Thursday at a starting price of $550.
The first of the multitasking features, called Multi-Window, has been available in Samsung devices for about a year, but it works with many more apps now. You can run two apps side by side, such as Facebook on one side and YouTube video on the other.
Like Windows 8 tablets, you're limited to just two apps. You can change how much of the screen each one takes, a capability coming with Windows 8.1, but you can't choose to have a window take up just the top left corner, the way you can on PCs. In addition, Multi-Window isn't a universal feature. Apps for Netflix and Hulu won't work, for instance. You currently have about 18 apps to choose from, including Facebook and a variety of Google and Samsung apps.
With that limitation, it's nice that Samsung Electronics Co. is supplementing Multi-Window with a feature called Pen Window.
With it, simply draw a box on the screen with the included stylus, and choose one of seven apps to open in a new window. Do it again and again until you open all seven apps, if you wish. That's nine in all, counting the two with Multi-Window. Each Pen Window app appears in a window that floats over your main app (or two apps if you use Multi-Window). You can move that window around on your screen and resize it, just as you can on PCs. Need a break from it? Just minimize it into a small dot and move it out of the way.
Like Multi-Window, you're restricted in what apps you can use with Pen Window, though I expect more to get added over time. For now, Pen Window on the tablet works with YouTube, the calculator, the alarm clock, your contacts list, the Web browser and two chat apps - Samsung's ChatOn and Google's Hangouts. I like the fact that you can open all of them and keep them out of the way in a minimized state. That way, it's just one click when you need the calculator and one click when you're done.
The iPad doesn't do that. Amazon's Kindle Fire doesn't do that. Other Android tablets don't do that. Windows 8.1 won't do that - at least not in the tablet-style viewing mode that Microsoft prefers you stick with. You'll have to go to the classic, desktop mode to resize windows, which defeats the purpose of having Windows 8 or 8.1. Windows 8.1 will go further than Multi-Window in letting you run up to four apps side by side, but that works only on larger screens, not portable tablets.
Beyond multitasking, the new Note tablet offers a My Magazine mode giving you personalized highlights, such as news topics of interest, content from your social media feeds and suggestions on things to do and see, based on your current location. It's a good concept, though Facebook isn't available through it yet.
The new tablet also gives you quick access to the tools you can accomplish with its stylus. Pen Window is one. Another feature lets you add notes to a screenshot of what you see. Another lets you clip a section of a Web page and store it with a Web link.
Unfortunately, not everything worked. Text recognition was poor. I'm supposed to be able to jot down an email address or a phone number with the stylus and have that handwriting converted into a contacts entry. But the device constantly confuses the letters "o" and "l" with the numerals "0" and "1."
Pen Window also is more difficult than necessary to set up. You need to take out the stylus for an Air Command tool to appear on the screen. You choose Pen Window, then draw a box on your screen with your stylus. Then you choose the app you want to open. Do all of that again to get additional apps, after figuring out how to get Air Command again with your stylus already out. It would have been simpler to have a button on the home screen that you can tap with your finger or stylus.
In addition, Samsung could have done more with the apps in minimized state. Google's chat app is reduced to a circular icon. It could have flashed or changed colors to notify me of a new chat message, rather than make me open and close it regularly to check.
The tablet's back is still made of plastic, but it feels like leather - an improvement over previous Samsung devices. The tablet does feel heavy, at 1.2 pounds, but that's still lighter than the 1.4 pounds for the full-size iPad. If you want light, wait until early November for the large-size version of Amazon's Kindle Fire HDX. It weighs just 0.83 pound.
Samsung's tablet is also pricey - the $550 starting price tops the iPad's $499 and the Fire's $379. Of course, neither the iPad nor the Fire includes a stylus.
One more complaint: Although the tablet uses the latest version of Android, 4.3, it doesn't offer that system's feature of letting multiple people share a device with separate profiles.
With the Note, it's clear some of the functionality we've long associated with PCs is coming to devices we're just getting to know. There's more to be done, including support for multiple users, but I'm glad Samsung is leading us in that direction.
Samsung's next flagship smartphone, expected to be called the Galaxy S5, might still be far from confirmed, but a new report suggests that the device will hit mass production in January 2014. The report also expects the speculated successor of Samsung Galaxy Gear to be launched alongside the rumoured Galaxy S5.
Korean publication, ET News reports that the South Korean manufacturer plans to release two versions of the alleged Galaxy S5. As per the report, there will be two variants of the Galaxy S5: a premium variant which will sport a metal chassis and a flexible OLED, and a variant which will come with the usual plastic body, as found on other Galaxy smartphones.
Earlier this week, a new set of images purportedly revealing the supposed metal frames of the rumoured Galaxy S5 was spotted online.
Further, the report speculates that Samsung will initially manufacture around 8,00,000 to 1 million units of the alleged Galaxy S5 in January, and will increase the number up to 6 million units in February. Samsung is likely to release the Galaxy S5 in March or April 2014, according to the report.
Sammobile has revealed some of the specifications of the alleged Galaxy S5, with two variants expected to be powered by 64-bit Exynos chipset and Snapdragon chipset (no word on this would be the new Snapdragon 805 chipset. Also expected on board is 3GB of RAM, a 16-megapixel camera, a 4000mAh battery and Android 4.4 KitKat with TouchWiz UI on top.
Earlier reports had suggested that Samsung's next-generation of high-end smartphones, including the rumoured Galaxy S5, would be equipped with a 16-megapixel camera, but didn't indicate the type of module.
In addition, the ET News also claims that Samsung is also busy developing the successor to the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, and that it might launch along with the alleged Galaxy S5. The next generation Samsung Galaxy Gear is said to be 15 to 20 percent thinner than the current smartwatch. As of now, there is no word on specifications of the rumoured Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
A recent report has suggested that sales figures Samsung's first wearable device, the Galaxy Gear smartwatch, had been disappointing. However, Samsung countered the claim immediately after, and said that it sold 800,000 smartwatch units in 2 months.
Sammobile has leaked an Android 4.3 test firmware with build number N7100XXUEMK4, allegedly for the Samsung Galaxy Note II phablet with model number GT-N7100. The site also speculates that the South Korean major will be rolling out the Android 4.3 Jelly Bean update for the phablet this week.
As per the site, Samsung has updated the core UI elements of the Galaxy Note II to match the Galaxy S4 and Note 3's interface. Further, the rumoured update for the phablet will add new features like Samsung KNOX and Samsung Wallet. The update also makes the Galaxy Note II phablet compatible with the Galaxy Gear smartwatch.
Earlier this month, a report indicated that the Galaxy Note II phablets are being updated to Android 4.3 Jelly Bean via service centres in India.
Recently a report suggested that some users in UK were encountering problems with their Galaxy S III smartphone after the Android 4.3 update.
As per the report, the Galaxy S III users were complaining of unresponsive handsets, particularly the lockscreen, after updating the smartphone. Other issues included erratic Wi-Fi connectivity, poor battery backup, and a system hanging problem that required the battery to be pulled out to restart the smartphone.
The report also speculated that the South Korean manufacturer might stop the Android 4.3 update for Galaxy S III, after the issue attracted attention. It also expected that this may result to delay in Android 4.3 update for the Galaxy Note 2 phablet.
However, the leaked test firmware for Galaxy Note II hints that it might be released soon.
Samsung recently launched the Galaxy Round with a curved display, but a new report reveals that the South Korean maker has more screen experiments up its sleeve.
Bloomberg reports that Samsung is working on a Galaxy smartphone that would sport three-sided display that would wrap around the edges of the smartphone. Further, the report quotes two people familiar with the Samsung plans and notes that each side of the display would operate separately and that the alleged wraparound display would work with company's Youm flexible display technology, first used for the curved display on the Galaxy Round.
As per the report, the Samsung's smartphone with wraparound display could be a device in the Galaxy S or Galaxy Note phablet series, or in a new smartphone lineup entirely. The report does not reveal an exact time frame for the release of the alleged Samsung Galaxy phone with wraparound display, but expects the alleged device to be out by the second half of 2014.
Unfortunately, the report did not shed any light on the innards of the alleged Galaxy smartphone with the wraparound display. The alleged Galaxy smartphone with a new display type might be an attempt to gauge consumers' reaction for phones with new form factors, though Samsung's first attempt with new display type, the Galaxy Round has been limited to selective markets only, and not been too popular.
Earlier this month, Samsung at its second analyst meeting in South Korea spilled the beans about its upcoming devices with newer technologies in coming years. Samsung's chief announced that company plans to release devices with folding displays, such as foldable phones - due in 2015.
Samsung also acknowledged room for improvement in its wearable tech device, the Galaxy Gear, and also revealed that the company has not been 100 percent satisfied by the product.
According to a Korean site, DDaily the South Korean handset maker is all set to launch a flip phone with numeric keypad running Android 4.2 Jelly Bean soon. Reportedly, the company will first introduce the device in its home market i.e. South Korea and would be a low-end device. The phone is dubbed as Samsung Galaxy Folder and comes with model numbers SHV-E400S/ SHV-E400K.
The DDaily quotes a Samsung Electronics official saying that the Samsung Galaxy Folder will be released in August and would also support LTE.
While a Japanese blogging site, Blog of Mobile, reveals some specifications of the Galaxy Folder. Allegedly the Galaxy Folder flip phone will be based on the Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and will be powered by a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. The screen resolution is expected to be 480x800 pixels and would be a WVGA display. This report also claims a August release date.
However, it's not clear if the Samsung Galaxy Folder will combine a touch screen with the physical keypad, or abandon touch-based input completely.
If the Samsung Galaxy Folder is launched globally, then we can expect flip phone lovers to get a credible option after a long time as now the market is dominated by touchscreen devices. In fact even phones with physical keyboards/ keypads have seen a decline in numbers with companies like BlackBerry launching Z10 and Nokia releasing Asha and Lumia range of devices with focus on full-touch support rather than physical keyboards. It will be interesting to see whether Samsung can revive the flip phone era or the device will be a victim to the dominant touchscreen segment.
The yet to be announced HTC Butterfly S smartphone has been listed on company's official website. However, there is no word when HTC may launch the device.
Earlier, HTC unveiled Butterfly S in Taiwan and it was speculated that the company would launch the device in developing markets soon that includes India.
HTC Butterfly S sports a 5.0-inch Super LCD 3 display with a pixel density of 440PPIs and the display also features Corning Gorilla Glass 3. On the hardware front, the device is powered by a 1.9GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 quad-core processor with 2GB RAM. It would run the Android 4.2 Jelly Bean with HTC Sense 5.0 UI on top. The HTC Butterfly S much like the HTC One, comes with a 4.0-megapixel UltraPixel camera with the Zoe camera software feature and the rear camera supports full-HD video recording. It also has a 2.1-megapixel front camera with an 88 degree wide-angle lens.
The device supports single SIM and would use a micro-SIM rather than the regular sized SIM. On music front, the device boasts off the HTC BoomSound feature with dual front stereo speakers with built-in amplifiers and Beats Audio.
Connectivity options include NFC support, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi. The company has included a 3,200mAh battery that the company claims would deliver 29 hours of talk time and 544 hours of standby time. HTC has added the tagline, "Impressive style meets long-lasting stamina" to its HTC Butterfly S smartphone on the official site, highlighting the battery strength of the device.
Earlier we reported about HTC allegedly working on a 6.0-inch device, the One Max. The company is said to be working to expand its One series of smartphone globally. If the rumours are true, this would be the smartphone with biggest display from HTC and would be up against Samsung's Galaxy Mega series and Sony's Xperia Z Ultra smartphone.
Samsung has launched the Galaxy S4 mini smartphone in the India for Rs. 27,990.Although the smartphone is positioned as the compact version of company's flagship phone, the Samsung Galaxy S4, it's essentially a premium mid-range phone just based on the same design language.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mini features a 4.3-inch qHD (540x960 pixels) Super AMOLED display, with a pixel density of 256ppi.
The smartphone is powered by a 1.7GHz dual-core processor along with 1.5GB of RAM. It offers 8GB of internal storage of which 5GB is user accessible. The internal storage can be further expanded by up to 64GB with the help of a microSD card. The phone runs Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean) with Samsung's TouchWiz Nature UX layer on top.
The Galaxy S4 mini features an 8-megapixel rear camera and a 1.9-megapixel HD front facing camera. The camera of the phone also supports additional features like Sound&Shot. Apart from this, the images clicked through the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini are automatically gathered and saved according to the user's timeline, geo-tagging information, or a specific event to create a photo album.
The S4 mini is powered by a 1,900mAh battery. Samsung will be offering the Galaxy S4 mini smartphone in two colour options - White Frost and Black Mist.
While the phone brings some of the premium software and hardware features of the Galaxy S4 including Group Play, S Translator and S Health, we're not sure if the phone has been priced right. One can buy quad-core processor phones with bigger screens, such as the HTC One X, LG Optimus G and even Samsung's own Galaxy SIII at around the same price point.
Samsung Galaxy S4 mini key specifications
- 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display
- 1.7GHz dual-core processor
- 1.5GB of RAM
- 8GB internal storage, can be expanded by up to 64GB via microSD card
- 8-megapixel rear-facing camera
- 1.9-megapixel HD front-facing camera
- 1900mAh battery
- Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
According to The Korea Economic Daily, Apple has signed a new deal with Samsung under which the latter will supply processors for Apple's iPhone, starting 2015. The report cites industry sources to inform that the agreement was signed on July 14, and that Samsung will produce the new chips deploying the 14 nano FinFET technology for Apple's iPhone 7 which is expected to release in the second half of 2015.
Samsung has produced chips for Apple's iPhone since it was first introduced in 2007. It still manufactures the Apple A6 processor that powers the iPhone 5. However, it was reported that Apple was cutting Samsung from A7 production as the two companies were at loggerheads after their rivalry in the smartphones segment and patent disputes across the world. Apple signing a new deal with Samsung comes as a surprise as it was believed that the former was cutting its reliance on the South Korean company.
In fact, the news comes shortly after it was reported that Apple had signed a three year agreement with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company(TSMC) and its partner Global UniChip to make its new A-series chips built through 20nm, 16nm and 10nm process nodes. The report had cited industry sources to inform that TSMC would commence production of the Cupertino giant's A8 processor in small quantities in July 2013, and increase production capacity after December. It also said that a part of the chip maker's capacity would be used for manufacturing new Apple A9 and A9X processors.
The Apple A8 processor is expected to power a new iPhone which is expected to release in early 2014, while the A9 and A9X chips are likely to power new iPhone and iPad products.
Another report by The Wall Street Journal had reiterated that Apple had indeed signed an agreement with TSMC, citing unidentified TSMC executives as source. It said that the move was the latest in a series of efforts by Apple to lessen its reliance on parts produced by Samsung, however, it added that Samsung would remain Apple's main supplier of high-resolution screens, memory chips and processors used in mobile devices through next year.
According to a new report by web analytics firm StatCounter, users accessing the Internet from Samsung phones account for 25.47 percent, overtaking iPhone users by a difference of less than 1 percent. Internet usage from iPhones was at 25.09 percent, followed by usage from Nokia users at 21.96 percent and from BlackBerry users at 3.62 percent.
It's worth pointing out that these figures are based on a sample methodology. The StatCounter code is installed on more than 3
million websites globally that allows them to track usage. According to the company these sites cover various activities and geographic locations and record over 15 billion page views to these sites, every month.
Last year, Nokia led the pack in terms of mobile Internet usage from its phones, registering a usage of 28.05 percent, followed by Apple which saw usage of 25.43 percent and Samsung on 19.46 percent.
This essentially indicates that Internet usage from Samsung phones witnessed a rise of almost 6 percent implying that more Samsung users are browsing the web from their devices. Most Samsung smartphones are powered by Google's Android operating system.
It's worth pointing out that in countries such as UK and US, Internet usage from iPhones is still more than usage from Samsung phones. While 54.84 percent of all mobile Internet usage in the US was from iPhones, only 18.3 percent was from Samsung phones. Even in the UK, Apple leads with a usage share of 47.97 percent while Samsung's share was 20.45 percent.
In terms of mobile browsers, Android leads with a share of 29.06 percent, followed by Safari (iPhone and iPod touch only) which had a share of 24.98 percent. Opera was in the third place registering a share of 16.06 percent. Chrome for Android's share was 3.23 percent.
Talking about mobile operating systems, the report reveals that Internet usage from Android was at 37.93 percent, followed by iOS which was at 25.09 percent and Nokia's Series 40 platform at 13.43 percent. Windows Phone's share was still pretty low at 1.4 percent, behind BlackBerry which was at 3.46 percent.