If you are on Sprint and you love huge, beautiful screens on your smartphones, you can pretty much stop reading here and go get yourself the Galaxy S2 varient dubbed the Sprint Epic 4G Touch. The WiMAX candybar flagship phone is $199 on a 2 year 4G contract or $149 at Amazon.
But if you care about everything else an Android phone has to offer, keep reading, it mostly just keeps getting better…
Well looky here. After all of the commotion over who is getting the Galaxy S II first in the US (Sprint, really), a regional carrier shows up with a pretty incredible deal. GCI, who does the HSPA+ version of 4G in the Anchorage Alaska area is already fulfilling orders on the phone for $99 with plan as we wait for Sprint’s version to hit shelves later this week. Engadget tipsters already have them in hand in fact.
How did they do this? Well, it looks like they just snapped up some of the international S II version without any mods. Regional carriers, you win.
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. (Webwereled via Computerworld)
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Discovered by Android and Me, CyanogenMod’s founder Steve Kondik is joining Samsung as a Software Engineer according to a Facebook posting. Sadly, Steve says CyanogenMod won’t be affiliated with Samsung in any way, but Steve told Android and Me he will be working on making Android more awesome. Luckily, it doesn’t appear he will be shutting down CyanogenMod.
”I won’t be blogging about Samsung, especially not in relationship to CM. I will be working on making Android more awesome, though.”
This is an exciting development. Hopefully Samsung devices will get updated much quicker now.
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Samsung’s Galaxy S, arguably the most successful consumer smartphone powered by Google’s software, has outsold Apple’s baby for the first time in Japan where the iPhone has been a huge hit. The achievement has enabled Samsung to climb on the list of Japan’s top handset makers to the fourth slot, ahead of local vendors NEC, Casio and Kyocera. Furthermore, Android has flown by iOS in just three quarters and Android smartphones are now outselling iOS smartphones in the country. That’s the gist of a Strategy Analytics survey of Japan’s smartphone market based on first quarter shipments. Their director Neil Mawston explains in an InfoMobile story:
Strategy Analytics believes that the healthy demand for the Android-powered Galaxy S at NTT DoCoMo drove Samsung growth in Japan. Samsung is the main player behind surging Android smartphone sales, followed by Sharp. Japan had always had a unique competitive landscape, but is now looking more and more like any other advanced smartphone market in the world as Android has flown by iOS in just three quarters.