The Stagefright exploit is definitely not a minor problem, and it potentially affects basically any device going back to the early years of Android. But thankfully, Sprint has been pretty on top of pushing out fixes for as many devices as possible. Today, the carrier is pushing out Stagefright fixes, labeled simply as “Google Security Patch (Stagefright),” to a couple Nexus handsets and several of Samsung’s Galaxy-branded phones.
Here’s the full list of devices receiving the patch today, with links to Sprint’s support pages:
As usual, you should expect to see these updates roll out over-the-air over the course of the next few days. “Software updates may be released in stages and can take several days for delivery,” Sprint says. If you want to manually check to see if the update is available for your device, head into the system Settings app. But while Stagefright is not “no big deal” by any means, you’ll probably be fine until your device is updated.
We’ve been following the rumor of Samsung launching a larger Galaxy S6 Edge on-and-off for some time now with heavy doses of skepticism, and today we got another peak at what’s purporting to be what is being called the Galaxy S6 Edge Plus — and it looks exactly like a stock image of regular the Galaxy S6 Edge sans a speaker hole.
It’s no secret that Samsung has been struggling recently, even going so far as to freeze salaries for all of its employees. In the wake of these issues, Business Insider has just published an extensive profile of the company and its struggles. The profile, which comes in at 3,000 words, details all of the highs and lows for the company, as well as its performance against companies like Apple and Xiaomi.
The Galaxy Note has, since its inception, sported an ‘S Pen’ stylus for interacting with its larger, phablet-sized screen. But a new patent published by Samsung in South Korea suggests that this little accessory may be moving away from using a digitizer and toward being ultrasound-powered (via SamMobile).
As expected, last night during game 5 of the NBA Finals Samsung confirmed its partnership with media mogul Jay-Z by running a 3-minute commercial. The video showed Jay working on a new album and closed with Samsung’s “The Next Big Thing is Here” slogan and directing fans to MagnaCartaHolyGrail.com.
The website features a countdown to July 4th, when Jay-Z’s new album will be released, alongside images on him working on the album and they even sneaked a close-up of a Galaxy next to Jay’z signature gold chains. The first million Galaxy S 3/4 and Note II owners to download the customized Magna Carta app on June 24th will receive a free copy of the new album when it is released on July 4th.
Samsung reportedly paid upwards of $20 million to launch this partnership with Jay-Z. Exact details of the deal are unknown, but at that price-tag we’re assuming there is more to come from this partnership.
Spint and T-Mobile showed their hand earlier this week. Verizon’s isn’t looking good but they do have more LTE than everyone else combined so good things come to those who wait.
Samsung is not very good at keeping secrets it seems, as a new leak of yet another device has slipped into the wild. The Samsung Galaxy S IV hasn’t even launched yet, but its Mini counterpart is already prepared and presumably ready for an imminent launch.
The pictures, found by SamMobile, show the device to look just like a shrunken down version of its bigger brother, with the exception of some lower quality components. You will not find an 8-core Exynos processor inside the Mini but rather a dual-core 1.6GHz. Of course, the main difference between the S IV and the Mini is the screen size. You’ll find a 4.3-inch inch display at 256PPI on the Mini—much smaller than the 5-inch inch 1080P at 443PPI found on the S4.
The Mini is expected to launch sometime in June at an unspecified price point. It’s also unknown what carriers it’ll be available on or if it’ll launch in the United States at all.
A full picture gallery courtesy SanMobile is available below.
Samsung’s Galaxy-branded smartphones are poised to become the fastest-selling alternative to the Apple’s iPhone family of devices. The latest Galaxy S II had gotten off to a great start, shipping three million units in the first 55 days of availability and five million units in 85 days. It shipped a total of ten million units in the first five months on the marketplace, beating the company-imposed end-of-2011 target by a significant margin. Today, Samsung announced (viaCellular-news.com) that the Galaxy S and Galaxy SII smartphones have achieved a combined total of 30 million global sales. The publication quoted president and head of Samsung’s mobile communications business JK Shin:
Since its launch only five months ago, Galaxy SII has seen tremendous sales success and garnered enthusiastic reviews from consumers and mobile industry watchers across the globe. This is in addition to the continued sales momentum behind Galaxy S, which we launched at Mobile World Congress 2010 as continues to be a run-away success with consumers
It is important to remember that these aren’t your bargain basement Androids, but really nice high-end devices comparable to Apple’s iPhone with their advanced features, the pleasing and slim design and price points. Considering the aforementioned 10 million Galaxy S II milestone was made public September 25, after which the handset hit the U.S. shores, it’s safe to assume that the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II shipped roughly 15 million units each to this date. In addition to positively impacting Samsung’s bottom line (even though they no longer detail sales of phones and tablets in quarterly earnings reports), the Android patent protection Samsung signed with Microsoft could bring the Windows maker a cool $300 million in licensing revenues on the combined sales of 30 million Galaxy S and S II phones.
The second day of a two-day hearing between Apple and Samsung has brought resolution to a user interface-related patent claim by the iPhone maker. Webwerld editor Andreas Udo de Haes, who covers the hearing from a Dutch court room, wrote on Twitter that carriers are currently testing a firmware update for Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones. It is said to tweak the user interface of the photo gallery program so it doesn’t infringe anymore:
Meanwhile, Samsung can get around this with an update for Android that changes the UI of the photo gallery, so is doesn’t infringe anymore
Some people are reporting that today’s 2.3.4 firmware update lost the bounce effect on whole Android and replaced it with the blue fading effect. For more intricacies of the legalities, knock yourself out here.
According to a report from Dutch publication Webwereld (via Computerworld), Apple has once again submitted doctored evidence related to their claims of design patent-related infringement by Samsung, this time to a court in Netherlands. This further supports claims by Bas Berghuis of Simmons and Simmons (Samsung’s lawyer) that Apple has been “manipulating visual evidence, making Samsung’s devices appear more similar to Apple’s.”
“It surprises me that for the second time incorrect presentations of a Samsung product emerge in photographic evidence filed in litigation,” said Mark Krul, lawyer and IP law specialist at Dutch firm WiseMen. “This is not appropriate and undermines Apple’s credibility both inside and outside the court room.”
If you aren’t up to speed with the legal disputes between Apple and Samsung in Europe… a court in Germany already granted a preliminary injunction halting sales of Samsung’s Galaxy tab 10.1 tablet in the EU (which has been since lifted pending an appeal). We already heard about Apple manipulating images in that case related to the iPad and Galaxy tab. This time, however, the report claims Apple doctored images of the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone in comparison to the iPhone 3G.
Apparently the changes made the Galaxy S appear smaller than it actually is to closer resemble the dimensions of the 3G, which is odd given the fact Computerworld reports Apple has confirmed the Galaxy S does include “some non-identical elements, such as the slightly larger dimensions.” This supports the idea that Apple isn’t trying to secretly submit this evidence to the courts. Many have noted a German court’s decision to grant Apple with the original preliminary injunction on the Galaxy tab didn’t take the doctored images into account. In fact, patent expert Florian Mueller noted “the court’s decision was based on both Apple’s motion and Samsung’s pre-emptive opposition pleading” and also stated “Samsung is in a legally weak position against Apple. If Samsung wants to inspire confidence, it has to understand that half the truth is sometimes tantamount to a whole lie.”
While the cases in Europe are receiving the majority of media attention, there are also lawsuits pending between the two companies here in the U.S. A report from EdibleApple outlines the case in which Samsung appears to be trying to stall, while Apple pushes for a mid 2012 trial for patent related claims filed by both companies.
Apple has already tried to ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in most of Europe (injunction lifted), but today they are going even farther with their legal proceedings, asking a Netherlands court to ban all Galaxy series devices. The ban includes the widely popular Galaxy S II, which has seen some success in Europe. On top of trying to ban sales, Apple is trying to push the thought of Samsung sending a letter to all of their partnered retailers within 14 days to end sales. Stated strongly:
“For the record we would like to mention the fact that by storing, offering and/or selling of the above mentioned Galaxy smartphones [and tablets], you commit infringement of the intellectual property rights of Apple Inc.,”
The trial will take place in The Hague, Netherlands September 15th, and the judge said if he grants any injunctions, they would take effect no sooner than Oct. 13. (Webwereledvia Computerworld)
If you deemed the nearly 20 million smartphones Samsung shipped in the June quarter an impressive figure, brace yourself for even more extraordinary achievement in the second half of 2011 as DigiTimesreports that Samsung “has placed orders for 30 million touch sensors used to make four-inch AMOLED screens”. Suppliers Chunghwa Picture Tubes and others are said to be the prime beneficiaries of Samsung’s booming smartphone business. Of course, Samsung sources touch sensors from other suppliers so their final order may well exceed the quoted figure. As evident in the below chart fromAsymco’s Horace Dediu, the Korean company’s been growing at an exponential rate, eclipsing Apple’s 142 percent annual growth in iPhone shipments.
The company, however, all but displaced Apple, which just toppled Nokia to become the world’s leading smartphone vendor. Being the leading Android backer, Samsung’s success has helped the Google operating system reach more than 50 percent platform share of all smartphones, more than double the iOS share of 19 percent, per latest Canalys survey. That said, it’s entirely plausible that this year Samsung could overtake Apple and become both the world’s leading smartphone vendor, while Apple remains the industry’s leading player in terms of revenues and profit. Also notable, a gap between Samsung and market leader Nokia is narrowing fast…
Due to their wide variety of popular Android devices, Samsung “may have” surpassed Apple in smartphone sales according to Boston-based Strategy Analytics. In Q2 2011 Samsung is estimated to have sold between 18 – 21 million smartphones, while Apple sold 20.3 million iPhones, and Nokia sold 16.7 million. Certainly, they are at least #2.
Much of Samsung’s success is credited to sales of the Galaxy S II which has been booming overseas.
It’s far from official that Samsung has surpassed Apple, but at any rate they’re becoming a close competitor. We can’t wait to look at these numbers again when the Galaxy S II hits U.S. shores, but then again, the iPhone 5 is reportedly on its way too.
