Samsung is busy dishing out touchscreen phones one after the other, but it hasn’t exactly forgotten about those who can’t just do without a physical keyboard when typing on their handsets. To address the need of keyboard diehards, Samsung has released Captivate Glide for the AT&T network.
The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is the third incarnation of the Google Nexus series. The first two being the Nexus S and the Nexus One, neither of which sold very well.
The Galaxy Nexus hopes to change this though, being the first phone to run the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
The Samsung Galaxy S II is an update to the Galaxy S phone that is thinner, lighter and faster than the predecessor. It actually packs more pixels into the screen as well, while running the latest version of Android Gingerbread 2.3.3.
The Samsung Infuse 4G will be available from AT&T starting May 15th for $199 with a contract. It is the thinnest 4G phone yet at 0.35″, but it also has the largest screen ever (4.5″ Super AMOLED Plus). This is a monster screen, and even larger then the DroidX and Epic 4G which were the former record holders at 4.3″.
full specs:
The Nexus S is Google’s second attempt at selling an unlocked phone, the first being the ill-fated Nexus One. The hardware was nice but their online only selling method is probably what killed it. The Nexus S will be sold through Best Buy so everyone who wants one will actually get it.
The Nexus S is made by Samsung and features their Super AMOLED 4.0″ WVGA (480×800) screen. It’s probably the best display available now for a phone, and also features a new curved face that is supposed to be more comfortable to hold to your face when talking.
The processor is the 1GHz Cortex A8 Snapdragon processor, and there is 16GB of internal memory. The combination of the A8 processor and 16GB of internal memory make this phone very fast and capable of hd video playing and gaming.
Here are the full tech specs:
As you can see the phone is the first to feature Android 2.3 Gingerbread, and also has a front view camera (new to Android 2.3). The Google maps is updated also and has a 3D feature:
The new 3 axis gyroscope allowed by Android 2.3 should also make for more exciting gaming on the phone in combination with the accelerometer and compass.
The Nexus S is $529 unlocked, and will be $199 with a contract from T-Mobile.
The Samsung Focus is Samsung’s latest Windows 7 smartphone. It is currently available from AT&T for $199 with a new contract. Here are the full specs:
Samsung’s latest smartphone the Galaxy S is due out in about 2 months, and will be packing some pretty impressive features. It features the amazing S5PC110 1GHz processor (and dedicated SGX540 GPU), Android 2.1 OS, and a beautiful 4″ Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen. It also has an interface that looks almost identical to the iPhone, as does the phone.
Here are the full specs:
The Samsung Galaxy S GT-I9000 looks very similiar to the Samsung Beam, as well as another phone made by a company that is named after a piece of fruit.
It has a very snappy processor with the latest Android OS, and is very thin at 0.39 inches, due in part to no physical keyboard.
The phone features a nice voice search function and great HD video playback with its snappy processor, it even plays divx.
And of course browsing the web is not bad at all with its 4″ screen.
The hands on reviews are in and Engadget says if you put this thing beside an iPhone it makes the iPhone looks like a 1990’s Nokia. Well they didn’t actually say that but apparently the “Super” AMOLED screen is called super for a reason. Here is a hands-on video they took of it at CTIA:
Notice how amazingly smooth and fast the graphics are? Well that’s due to a little known fact that the Galaxy S uses a new S5PC110 application processor that combines an ARM Cortex-A8 core and a PowerVR SGX540 GPU. The setup is codenamed “Hummingbird” and has only been seen in 2 devices ever, the Galaxy and the S8500 Wave.
This combination can process 90 million triangles per second. This is a staggering number, but only when you can compare it to other systems.
As you can see the Galaxy is in good company in-between the Playstation 2 and Playstation 3, with no other phones in site. This is why HD video playback is no problem for this phone, as well as filming HD video with its 5MP camera at 30 frames per second.
It will be nice to see some gaming tests performed on this phone when it’s out in the wild. Look for it to be available within the next month or two for around $500 to $600, cheaper of course with a 2 year contract with AT&T.
*update* Samsung reps say that the Galaxy S will be simultaneously launched on all 4 major carriers for $199 with a contract. They should start shipping in late July or early August. Also interesting is that the Sprint model (the epic 4G) will have a slide out keyboard while the rest will not.
If you’re a big fan of a physical keyboard (like I am) then you’ll also be glad to hear that there’s a Pro model coming in a few months with a slide out keyboard for about $50 more.
via engadget
The Samsung Omnia 2 is one amazing smartphone. It is Samsung’s follow up to their Omnia 1 which was very nice in its own right. This phone is definitely in our top 5 list of best cellphones now, and this puts it in some great company. It features a very large 3.7″ AMOLED (Active Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) capacitive touchscreen and a fast 800MHz processor. Here are the specs for the Omnia 1 and 2:
| Samsung Omnia | Samsung Omnia II | |
| Processor | 624 Mhz | 800 MHz |
| Internal Memory | 16GB | 8GB |
| External Memory | supports MicroSD: up to 8GB | supports MicroSD: up to 32GB |
| Display size | 3.2-inch | 3.7-inch |
| Resolution (pixels) | 400 x 240 | 480 x 800 |
| Camera | 5.0-megapixels, | 5.0-megapixels, |
| VGA CMOS front camera | VGA CMOS front camera | |
| Optical/Digital zoom | 2x digital zoom | 4x digital zoom |
| Connectivity | Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, Wi-Fi | Bluetooth 2.0 with EDR, Wi-Fi |
| 802.11b/g, TV-out | 802.11b/g, TV-out | |
| OS | Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro | Windows Mobile 6.1 Pro |
| Dimension | 112.0 x 56.9 x 12.5mm | 118.0 x 59.6 x 11.9 mm |
| Weight | 122g | 129g |
Design
At the top right corner is a frontal camera for video conferencing. Below the display are the talk/speakerphone, menu and end call/power buttons which resembles that of the Samsung Jet.
The volume keys are on the left of the Omnia II, and they also double up as the digital zoom controls when you go into camera mode. However, in camera mode, you would be holding the Omnia II in a landscape position (with the left facing down), which means the zoom buttons are at the bottom instead.
On the right are the neatly laid phone lock key, back/cube launcher and camera mode buttons.
At the top are the 3.5mm audio jack and miniUSB connector. With the 3.5mm audio jack, you plug in your earphones/headphones conveniently, unlike other phones that require a special adapter or using their earphones.
And at the rear is the 5-megapixel camera with dual power LED flash. The rear cover is easy to open, and inside reveals the battery compartment as well as the SIM card and microSD card slots. The 3.7V 1500mAh Lithium-ion battery is included to power the Omnia II.
Multimedia
There are three customizable Home screens in which you can replace the wallpaper with your personal images. Samsung kept the widget toolbar on the left which allows you to drag the various widgets from the toolbar to the main screen including time, calendar, image gallery sound profile, music player, FM radio, network connection status, MySpace, FaceBook, Google Search, CNN news and even Yahoo! Finance.
Pressing the Cube button (or selecting the Cube launcher key) will activate the 3D Cube screen. Each of the face on the 3D Cube holds the shortcut to specific application such as Photo Album, Music Library, Video Library, Phonebook, Games and internet.
The onscreen keyboard can be challenging, but overall it’s better than most others and not far off of the iPhone’s mark.
Music playback is impressive and the audio comes from the speaker at the rear of the phone. It plays Divx and WMV formats flawlessly and supports up to 720×480 resolution which is sufficient for viewing your favorite movies clearly with good details.
The 5 megapixel camera is the same from the first Omnia, and is sufficient to take nice pictures with. It is around an 8.5 smartphone cameras, and has a dual led flash.
The Samsung site has an Omnia emulator that you can play with to see the functionality here:
http://omnia.samsungmobile.com/omnia2/
Overall this is a very nice phone with all of the functionality you could ask for. If you’re looking for a smartphone upgrade now is the time with the Omnia 2 available for only $239 with a 2 year contract.
review via vrzone.com
