Samsung announced on Flickr this evening that the company shipped 1 million Galaxy Note units. The Galaxy Note was announced at IFA 2011 and has seen explosion worldwide, despite not landing in the United States yet. In addition, as background, the Galaxy Note rocks a 5.3-inch form-factor that crosses between a phone and tablet. It is worth noting that Samsung is counting devices shipped to stores, as well as customers. The Galaxy Note should be landing in the U.S. sometime in 2012, and we may even hear more at CES. Check out Samsung’s official announcement after the break. (via The Verge)
Title says it all. Andy Rubin just tweeted some more Android numbers and they are pretty impressive. In the two day Christmas period, 3.7 million Android phones were activated. Compare that to 1.4 million on an average two day period.
Another comparison: After 16 months without releasing a phone, Apple sold 4 million iPhone 4S’s in the first week of release.
The iPhone 4S owner learns the hard way that its new camera can’t hold up to some of the killer camera features on the T-Mobile HTC Amaze 4G such as BurstShot, SmartShot panorama and SweepShot.
Cheap Android devices aren’t just for the Third World. The ZTE X500 Score, a prepaid handset available on Cricket, has become available for purchase on Amazon for $69.88 without a contract.
The Score packs a 3.5-inch display, 3.2-megapixel camera, 4GB of storage, and Android 2.3, Gingerbread. While we haven’t experienced Cricket firsthand, it is a subsidiary of Sprint so you should see some good speeds. This device seems ideal for youngsters or a new smartphone user with that low price tag and cheaper prepaid plan through Cricket. Or maybe you want to pick up a VoIP app and use that Wifi zone that you spend 98% of your life inside anyway.
Four days ago, Google released the source code for Ice Cream Sandwich, and it was inevitable hackers would get working on an ICS port for devices. One of the most popular Android handsets to date, the Galaxy S II, is one of the first outside of the Galaxy Nexus to receive Ice Cream Sandwich’s touch. The port is pretty stable, only missing Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and audio from the mix, but we expect bug fixes to be rolling out soon.
LG’s Optimus 3D is also among the first devices to receive the Ice Cream Sandwich port. The status of this port is unknown right now, but from the looks of it everything seems to be pretty smooth. Check it out after the break. (via Android and Me)
HTC and Verizon have just announced the rumored HTC Rezound (formerly Vigor) at their event in New York City. The HTC Rezound is available on Verizon for $299 with two year contract, featuring Android 2.3, Verizon LTE, a 720P 4.3-inch display, 1.5-GHz processor, and 1GB of RAM. You can notice the Beats Audio branding on the back of the device, in which headphones are includes. This device is sure to go head-to-head with Samsung’s Nexus Prime. Sadly, the Rezound won’t get Ice Cream Sandwich until early Q1 of 2012.
The HTC Rezound will be available at Best Buy and Verizon for $299 on November 14th.
We’ll have a hands-on of the device when the event ends in just a few minutes. In the mean time, check out the press shots of the device after the break:
Slashgear did just that. All of a sudden the 4.65 inch display of the Galaxy Nexus looks very svelte compared to the otherwise gargantuan 5.3 inch Galaxy Note. The Note coes on sale in Europe next week while the Nexus hits on November 17th.
As for us in the States, we’re expecting an announcement shortly on both.
Trevor Prideaux, pictured above, was born without his left arm, but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying his smartphone, perhaps more than most. Rather than despair, Mr. Prideaux, who works as catering manager, decided to think different. He arranged with his medical team to contact Nokia and float an interesting idea calling for a specially designed prosthetic arm with a phone-shaped cradle carved out. That way, Mr. Prideaux can use his Nokia C7 touchscreen phone comfortably rather than juggle with it.
I think this is the first time this has ever been done in the world – and it is brilliant.
We think it’s exciting that some companies out there are willing to go extra mile and adapt their tech in order to help disabled individuals get thins done. Kudos to Mr. Prideaux for having the guts and willingness to fight bureaucracy and push his idea. Here’s to the hoping that other vendors will pay notice and provide phone accessories that can be used comfortably with artificial limbs.
Also, maybe while they are in there, they could throw in extended life batteries and some dope speakers with a decent sub.
Sprint has announced the Motorola Admiral this afternoon, a 3.1-inch device running Android 2.3 with a design to withstand rugged environments. The device features a 3.1-inch VGA display (Gorilla Glass), full QWERTY keyboard, 1.2 GHz processor, 4GB of internal memory, 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, and Android 2.3. That Gorilla Glass and full QWERTY keyboard are definitely a selling point for some.
The Motorola Admiral launches October 23rd for $99. We’ll have a full review then, so stay tuned.
As noted on 9to5toys.com, Best Buy is selling the Virgin/Sprint LG Optimus V Android Smartphone for $100 without a plan. (Why?) Yes, that means you can buy the Android 2.2 phone with 2GB of memory, GPS, Bluetooth and forgo the plan altogether. Think of it as a cheap Galaxy Player for the kids. But it is even better with Virgins simple, cheap all you can eat data plans.
I’ve used this phone and I like it a lot. It doesn’t play Flash video, has a small 320×480 screen (Think iPhone 3GS), and doesn’t have a front side camera for video chatting, but it is very solid. It has a great GPS, makes calls well and Apps switch and open fast, in part because Virgin doesn’t do overlays. I’ve recommended it to friends and family who have feature phones and want to step up to Smartphones without increasing their monthly costs. In fact, many actually lower their costs by going on Virgin Mobile’s $25-$35/month all you can eat data/text and 300 minute plans.
But, at $99 without a plan, it is the first solid Android device in the US to break the $99 price point. This trend may be more important than the next Galaxy or HTC 720P Androids or iPhones because it will get many more people on the mobile Internet.
Think about it. Where is the growth in the market? The latest Nielsen Data says that only 50-60% of Americans have Smartphones. The other 40% could probably afford to get this device instead of their current feature phone without taking much of a hit on their monthly costs. In fact, with the economy uncertain, a lot of post paid customers might want to chop their monthly bill in half with this little guy. Expand Expanding Close
Over the weekend, many outlets reported that the Droid Bionic Twitter accounttweeted the official Droid Bionic release date was September 8th. Sadly, PC Mag has confirmed with both Motorola and Verizon that the account is a hoax. That’s not to say the Bionic launch date still couldn’t be September 8th, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Motorola has also taken down the official Store listing that they made Saturday. The store listing didn’t provide anymore details on the device specifically. The listing did however give us a glimpse at a few more press shots — which you can find after the break.
Today comScore posted their latest smartphone market share report showing Google’s Android as the top smartphone platform for the three-month reporting period ending in June 2011, up 5.4 percent from the previous March 2011 report.
78.5 million people in the U.S. owned smartphones during the three months ending in June 2011, up 8 percent from the preceding three month period. Google Android ranked as the top smartphone platform…
A close second to Android is, of course, Apple with 26.5 percent market share, up 1.1 percent, followed by RIM at 23.4% down 3.7 percentage points since March. ComSCore also posted the top mobile OEMs based on the same reporting period with Android manufacturers Samsung, LG, and Motorola topping the list, which also shows Android’s dominance in the current smartphone market. Expand Expanding Close
Verizon’s Xperia Play hit stores May 16th for $199, but in just two months the device is already seeing a $100 price cut. The Xperia Play is now available on Verizon for just a mere $99! While users like to game on their smartphones, perhaps a smartphone devoted to it just isn’t sitting right. If you’re interested, we suggest you take advantage of this now.
(Triumph on the left, Virgin Optimous Center and Samsung right)
Let’s get this out of the way first: I like Virgin Mobile. The Sprint prepaid subsidiary offers plans that work well for me because I don’t use a lot of voice minutes – specifically, their Unlimited Data/Text Minutes plan which just unfortunately went up from $25/month to $35/month for 300 minutes of talk. Virgin also doesn’t put too much trash on top of Android and the phones they sell don’t have manufacturer overlays on them either. You almost get a Google phone, though one here that is left back on Froyo.
If anything slows Virgin down, my major gripe has been their lack of diversity in phones and specifically at the high end in Virgin’s lineup. Until now, they’ve offered a small anemic Samsung Slider and a very solid but economical LG Optimus V (which I reviewed at Fortune).
That all changed today with the release of the Motorola Triumph (manual- PDF), a slim 4.1-inch screen candy bar with a 1-GHz Processor and front and back cameras. The device is handsome and coated with a soft rubber feel that certainly improves the grip. How does it perform?
If you are a mid/high-end Android lover in the US, but want unlimited data and don’t want to pay high monthly fees, it is hard to beat the Motorola Triumph. It hits a lot of sweetspots:
Front (5MP) and rear(.3MP) cameras which take 720P video, 4.1 inch 480×800 display and big 1400mA battery
Relatively untouched Android 2.2 (boo! bring on 2.3.4!)
Plans start at $35/month: 300 talk minutes, unlimited internet and SMS (gets throttled to 256k at 3.5GB in October)
What HiFi is reporting that Android has surpassed the iPhone as the top smartphone in the UK, coming from a market research group called Kantar Worldpanel. The growth is due in part to first time smartphone users, not necessarily those switching between platforms. In June alone, Android rose almost 35%, while the iPhone fell almost 12%. We’re assuming much of Android’s success is from the Galaxy S II, who has seen tremendous sales in Europe as well as Android’s numerous, cheap, offerings. Expand Expanding Close
I see these things from time to time on 9to5Toys and wonder how the heck they can make any type of tablet with a 7-inch screen $90.
The one review it does get on Amazon sums it up pretty well:
While the unit does work. It’s slow, and sometimes the touchscreen is unresponsive to touch commands. I basically have to press really hard on the screen for it to take commands.
It does a poor job streaming video from youtube.
My Samsung Captivate, cell phone is faster than this unit.
Overall:
Pros: Works, great for web surfing low media content sites, great to use as a picture frame,
Cons: Slow, Touch screen not accurate/responsive.
So, it would appear that you are pretty much buying a photoframe with a battery and a resistive touch screen (enclosed stylus). Still, for $90…
The first thing that strikes me is that the US is running out of names for Smartphones quicker than even IP addresses.
‘Within’?
Whatever.
The short of it is that the Samsung Galaxy S2, pretty much the most bad ass phone available today, is coming to Sprint, one of the most Android -friendly carriers and will be called the ‘Within’. They could call it the ‘Edsel’ and this would still be a sweet phone.
Top shelf specs include: 32GB internal storage with SD option. Dual Core processor, 4.27-inch display, 1GB RAM, Gingerbread and of course NFC which should make Google and its Wallet efforts pretty happy. Engadgetsaid of this device:
It’s the best Android smartphone yet, but more importantly, it might well be the best smartphone, period.
No timetable for launch exists but we know S2s are already running around Europe and Sprint users want to get their hands on this thing. It would surprise me if this wasn’t out by the end of Summer.
