Galaxy Note for T-Mobile now listed as “coming soon”, August 8 still the most likely release date

There have been so many unconfirmed rumors, inaccurate speculations, and false leaks about T-Mobile’s Samsung Galaxy Note that many of you probably didn’t believe that Twitter official confirmation of the phablet’s existence from last week.

But if you needed additional proof that the gadget is in fact real and it’s getting very close to its release, we have today not one, but two pieces of evidence that leave very little to speculation. Both Samsung and T-Mobile have placed the new Galaxy Note on their official websites and the phone/tablet hybrid is listed as “coming soon”.

Unfortunately, both websites only house the device’s spec sheet, as well as a bunch of manuals, frequently asked questions and how-tos, without providing any insight on the Note’s exact release date and pricing.

However, we have a pretty good idea of when to expect the Note to start selling and for how much, and we’re doubtful Sammy and T-Mo can surprise us anymore. August 8 was the most likely ETA for Magenta’s Note for about three weeks now and we have no reason to think that the phablet won’t be seeing the light of day at or around that date. As far as pricing goes, we don’t think T-Mobile will afford to undercut AT&T, who’s currently selling the Galaxy Note for $249.99 with a two-year contract and $599.99 outright.

The phablet’s tech specs and features on T-Mo were pretty much all known for a while, but the official listing on the carrier’s website sets these in stone, which is why we are going to quickly recap them below:

5.3-inch SuperAMOLED Plus HD capacitive touchscreen with 1280 x 800 pixels resolution, 285 ppi pixel density and Corning Gorilla Glass1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor1 GB of RAM16 GB of on-board memoryMicroSD card slot for expanding the storage space to up to 32 GB8 MP rear-facing camera with LED and autofocus2 MP front-facing camera2,500 mAh battery capable of running for up to 10 hours in talk timeWiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0, NFC4G connectivityAndroid 4.0.3 ICS with Premium Suite, preloaded Dropbox, Evernote, LinkedIn, S Note, S MemoS Pen supportT-Mobile TV180 grams weight (6.35 ounces)147 x 83 x 9.65 mm dimensions

As you can see, T-Mo’s Samsung Galaxy Note will definitely not be a sloucher and could well go head-to-head with pretty much any Android smartphone around in terms of tech specs, software or good looks. Then again, we know that Sammy is planning to launch the GNote 2 sometime in September or October, which is why we wonder if there is enough time for Magenta to make the Note a hit. What do you guys think? Does the first-edition Note still pique your interest? Or are you definitely holding out for its successor?

SOURCES Tmo News (1) Tmo News (2)

TAGS SamsungSamsung Galaxy NoteT-Mobile

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Samsung to sell Olympics Flip Cover for Galaxy S3 in its London pop-up stores

SammyHub

With the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics about to officially kick off tomorrow, what better way to engross yourself in the quadrennial occasion than getting a matching Flip Cover for your Samsung Galaxy S3?

We have to say the specially designed back cover looks pretty smashing, as it’s adorned with neat drawings of London’s many landmarks, such as the Big Ben, the red telephone box, the newly constructed The Shard, and others. The special Olympics Flip Cover for the Galaxy S3 is your best bet to score some local memorabilia and celebrate the fine men and women who are competing for glory.

Your other option is to fly all the way to Taiwan to get the Olympic accessories pack for the Galaxy S3. But unless you’re actually competing in the summer games, you can kiss the special Olympic edition Galaxy S3 goodbye, because Samsung is only handing it out to athletes. It’s a different story if they decide to put it up on Ebay after the game finishes.

Back to the special edition olympic Flip Cover — you can snag this fine memorabilia when you purchase the Galaxy S3 from the Samsung Mobile PIN premium pop-up stores in Westfield Shepherd’s Bush, Old Spitalfields, Olympic Park, and the Hyde Park.

SOURCES Sammy Hub

TAGS OlympicOlympic GamesSamsungSamsung Galaxy S3

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Could the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 have two different unveilings, one for the US and one for Europe?

Although it hasn’t (yet) managed to raise the same amount of hype as the Galaxy S3, Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 2 is one of the most awaited and debated Android devices on our radar. Rumors have suggested different unveiling and release dates for the second-generation phablet, and while Samsung is still keeping the mystery intact, things seem to be shaping up for a busy August.

You might remember we talked about a mysterious invite Samsung sent our way last week for a “major announcement and unveiling of the newest Galaxy device”. The event was to take place on August 15, but that date didn’t make nice with earlier speculations, which almost guaranteed Sammy will unveil the Note 2 on August 30, right before IFA’s official start.

At the time, we assumed that only one of the two dates would prove to be the official unveiling event of the Galaxy Note 2. What we didn’t consider was the possibility for the new phone/tablet hybrid to be introduced on August 15 and on August 30.

That’s exactly what the guys over at Netzwelt.de speculate, without having any conclusive proof however. They claim that the new Note might be unveiled for the US public on the 15th and for the European tech fans on the 30th, which kind of makes sense.

Then again, if Sammy has in fact decided to hold two separate events to unveil the Galaxy Note 2, there’s a good possibility that we’ll be seeing some differences between the two versions of the device. That wouldn’t be so surprising, as we are already used to seeing high-end gadgets in the US coming with dual-core procs and their European counterparts sporting quad-core CPUs. We did hope that the second-edition Note would be an exception to that rule, and that Sammy will find a way to couple its quad-core Exynos platform with US LTE radio, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here after all.

What prevent us from taking today’s rumor for granted, though, is Samsung’s latest track record with US and European release dates. Basically, every Sammy high-end device that has come out in the last couple of years has enjoyed a European release before it has seen the light of day in the US. But if the Note 2 gets unveiled in America before it’s presented in Berlin, won’t it have to start selling stateside first?

No matter how the Note 2's introduction will go down, we promise to keep our eyes peeled on Samsung over the coming weeks and let you know when anything important will happen. In the meantime, you can check out our rumor roundup from a couple of weeks back to know what to expect from the Note 2. Don’t forget to drop us a comment, too, and let us know if you’re thinking of getting Sammy’s future phablet soon.

SOURCES Netzwelt Sam Mobile

TAGS Galaxy Note 2IFA 2012phabletSamsungSamsung Galaxy Note 2

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Galaxy S3’s inner beauty exposed thanks to intrepid X-Ray technician

Do you love teardowns? I do too, but the thought of losing a beautiful device in the process is always making me a bit sad. Call me sentimental, but I wished there was a more humane, non-invasive way to see what makes my Samsung Galaxy S3 tick… Well, there is.

Engadget reader alexcaron works with mammography machines, and, in his spare time, he likes to shoot bursts of X-rays at consumer devices, such as the iPad, Galaxy Tab 10.1, or the Nexus S. The results are beautiful, ethereal images of the innards of our beloved gadgets, which reveal many of their components.

Alex stuck a new Samsung Galaxy S3 in the X-Ray machine, obtaining the image you can see below. What strikes me is just how much of the space inside the Galaxy S3 is taken up by the battery. You can also spot the two cameras, speakers, the antenna, and various circuits.

Apparently, the X-rayed Galaxy S3 still works fine, so it’s not the same device that caught fire a few weeks back, apparently due to exposure to an external source of radiations.

SOURCES Engadget

TAGS SamsungSamsung Galaxy S3teardownX-Ray

I'm here to report on the latest, most breaking developments in mobile technology, all the latest and greatest Android news, and to dig deeper on where Android is headed. I'll tell you one thing - we're in for a wild ride!

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Galaxy S3 sales top 10 million in less than two months

Samsung’s 2012 flagship device, the Galaxy S3, is doing a lot better when it comes to overall sales than its predecessors – sure, the comparison is not necessarily fair since from year to year we’re seeing more and more people dumping regular cell phones and feature phones in favor of smartphones. Hence, it makes sense to see the Galaxy S3 sell better than the 2011 Galaxy S2, which itself did better than the original 2010 Galaxy S.

The smartphone environment is dominated by the iPhone and by the Galaxy S flagship devices – when it comes to single device sales – in that order. While no Android maker managed to match Apple’s sales of a single handset, the Galaxy S3 is probably the first smartphone that will attempt to do it.

A new report now reveals that Samsung has already sold over 10 million Galaxy S3 units, after less than two months since its launch – the handset was first released in the UK on May 29.

The news comes straight from Samsung’s president Shin Jong-kyun, who mentioned the sales mark to reporters. At this rate, Samsung is selling almost 200,000 Galaxy S3 units per day, and the company is expected to sell over 40 million Galaxy S3 units by the end of the year.

Comparatively, Samsung sold over 10 million Galaxy S units (as of January 2011) and a combined 30 million Galaxy S and Galaxy S2 units (as of October 2011), although these numbers are certainly higher by now. Samsung is not mentioning smartphone sales in its quarterly reports anymore but the company is expected to have sold 50 million smartphone units in total in the second quarter of the year.

Meanwhile, Apple is expected to announce somewhere around 30 million iPhone sales for Q2 2012, it’s third quarter of fiscal year 2012, and the company’s next-gen iOS smartphone should hit stores at some point in fall.

Have you purchased your Galaxy S3 yet?

SOURCES Yonhap News

TAGS Galaxy S3Samsung Galaxy S3

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Deal: $149.99 Galaxy S3 offered by RadioShack – $50 off smartphones priced $99.99 or higher promotion

In case you haven’t recently purchased a smartphone and you’re eligible to upgrade to a hot Android device for a subsidized device, then you shouldn’t hurry and get your handset from your chosen carrier. Instead, head on over to RadioShack and check out the retailer’s most recent promotion.

The company is ready to slash $50 off on any Android smartphone in its inventory that’s priced $99.99 or higher. The deal is available until July 28 in stores, while the RadioShack online store will keep offering the promotion through to the end of August.

The devices that are part of the promotion include hot smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint versions), the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx and Droid RAZR (both Verizon), the HTC EVO 4G LTE (Sprint), the HTC One X (AT&T), the Samsung Galaxy S2 (AT&T and Sprint versions) and others, so you’re surely going to get the right handset for you.

Of course, at the end of the day you still have to ink a new two-year deal with the mobile operator of your choice, but since you were going to do that anyway, why not pick a device from RadioShack that’s $50 cheaper than in the carrier’s stores?

Are you buying a smartphone from RadioShack this summer? Which one?

SOURCES RadioShack

TAGS AT&TDealHTC EVO 4G LTEHTC One XMotorola Droid RazrMotorola Droid Razr MaxxRadioShackSamsung Galaxy S2Samsung Galaxy S3SprintVerizon

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Deal: $149.99 Galaxy S3 offered by RadioShack – $50 off smartphones priced $99.99 or higher promotion

In case you haven’t recently purchased a smartphone and you’re eligible to upgrade to a hot Android device for a subsidized device, then you shouldn’t hurry and get your handset from your chosen carrier. Instead, head on over to RadioShack and check out the retailer’s most recent promotion.

The company is ready to slash $50 off on any Android smartphone in its inventory that’s priced $99.99 or higher. The deal is available until July 28 in stores, while the RadioShack online store will keep offering the promotion through to the end of August.

The devices that are part of the promotion include hot smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S3 (Verizon, AT&T and Sprint versions), the Motorola Droid RAZR Maxx and Droid RAZR (both Verizon), the HTC EVO 4G LTE (Sprint), the HTC One X (AT&T), the Samsung Galaxy S2 (AT&T and Sprint versions) and others, so you’re surely going to get the right handset for you.

Of course, at the end of the day you still have to ink a new two-year deal with the mobile operator of your choice, but since you were going to do that anyway, why not pick a device from RadioShack that’s $50 cheaper than in the carrier’s stores?

Are you buying a smartphone from RadioShack this summer? Which one?

SOURCES RadioShack

TAGS AT&TDealHTC EVO 4G LTEHTC One XMotorola Droid RazrMotorola Droid Razr MaxxRadioShackSamsung Galaxy S2Samsung Galaxy S3SprintVerizon

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Special Galaxy S3 2012 Summer Olympic Games edition available in Taiwan

We’re just a few days away from the official kick off of the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games, and sports enthusiasts will be happy to hear that they’ll be able to pick up certain Android devices dedicated to this major sporting event – at least in certain markets.

Such is the case with the Galaxy S3, which is available in a special Olympic Games edition to Taiwanese Android fans. While we’re looking at the same Galaxy S3 device – nothing inside the phone will change – you’ll appreciate the UK-based Galaxy S3 cases and the accessories you’ll find in the box.

Moreover, if you don’t like that much the available Galaxy S3 colors – Marble White, Pebble Blue and Garnet Red (in certain markets) – then you’ll certainly favor these special case skins designed for the Olympic games. There are two versions available, one showing the Union Jack while the other features the royal guard soldier.

As for the accessories available in the box, you’ll find a miniature royal guard soldier that can be plugged into the 3.5mm headset jack – although it has no actual purpose – and three figurines sporting the same UK flag and depicting three sports: cyclism, weightlifting and Tae Kwon Do.

In addition to all that, you’ll also get to download that British royal guard wallpaper on the device in the following days, for a complete Galaxy S3 Olympic Games experience.

Check out the gallery above to see all the perks available in this special Galaxy S3 package, and let us know whether you’d buy it too. At this time it’s not clear whether the special edition smartphone will be available in other markets too.

SOURCES Eprice

TAGS Galaxy S3Samsung Galaxy S3

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Brace yourselves, Verizon Galaxy S3 owners, “dumbed down” search update is imminent

The expected update has finally come to Verizon’s Samsung Galaxy S3. Following the dumbing down of the search feature on AT&T’s and Sprint’s variant of the phone – where you can only get search results from the web and nothing from internally placed apps, contacts, multimedia files and others – Big Red is the third major carrier to receive the not so desirable software update.

There’s no report yet that the update has been widely rolled out over-the-air (OTA) to the handset, but the new Galaxy S3 firmware for Verizon has already been spotted. If you, by chance, have had to replace your phone recently, you will likely receive a replacement Galaxy S3 running the new I535VRLG1 firmware, which comes with a new kernel and the dumbed down search feature among other things.

Samsung recently confirmed that it is taking the precautionary measure of removing universal search to ensure that the Galaxy S3 won’t be an easy injunction target for Apple and its lawyers in the USA. It would be quite a blow to have the flagship phone suffer the same sales ban fate as the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

With the imminent firmware update that will cripple the search function on Verizon’s Galaxy S3, this leaves T-Mobile as the last standing carrier whose variant still has the universal search feature intact. But we somehow think that won’t last too long.

Will you miss the universal search on your Galaxy S3? Anything else you’d like to share about the matter? Sound off in the comments below.

SOURCES Droid Life

TAGS AppleSamsungSamsung Galaxy S3Verizon

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