Samsung Mandel 4G LTE Windows Phone Confirmed by UAProf?

The Samsung Mandel, as hinted at the end of last year, was supposed to be part of the AT&T 4G LTE Windows Phone trio, together with the Nokia Lumia 900 and the HTC Titan II. While Nokia and HTC both announced their first 4G LTE Windows Phones for the carrier, Samsung's rumored device was nowhere to be seen at CES.

According to a UAProf document, a certain Samsung SGH-i667 exists. The "SGH-i" prefix hints an AT&T device and, together with bits from the UAProf, we can almost certainly conclude that we're seeing the Mandel. The screen resolution is WVGA and the browser is Internet Explorer, which confirm Windows Phone. As far as networking is concerned, the LTE reference should make it clear that we're probably looking at Mandel.

The fact that Samsung didn't introduce the phone at CES doesn't mean that it's lost. There are still a couple of months until the Lumia 900 and the Titan II show up on AT&T's shelves so we can hope for an MWC announcement

T-Mobile Galaxy S Blaze 4G announced

The folks at T-Mobile and Samsung have announced today their newest collaborative effort, the Galaxy S Blaze 4G, a 1.5GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 chip toting Super AMOLED having beast of a 4G device for the pink network. This device is extremely scant on details, it having the ability to work with the Samsung suite of applications and having a form factor ever so slightly different from that of the Galaxy S II line also already released on T-Mobile as well as the other major networks in the USA.


This device will be released very soon as the Lumia 710 has been launched today (today being the 11th of January, 2012,) and will be taking on the mid-tier of devices currently dominating those users new to the smartphone game. Android being versatile enough to work on essentially any quality device, we’re glad to see that such lovely beast as this to take on the market with one of the least expensive dual-core chips on the market.
That said, pricing has not yet been made available, and no details on if this device will be running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich have been given. Samsung has dedicated itself to bringing one whole heck of a lot of their devices to the newest version of Android, this certainly not one to miss out on the party come early this spring or summer.

Samsung Galaxy Note may have successor in GT-N8000

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The Samsung Galaxy Note has just made its way to the US through AT&T, but rumors are already brewing around possible successors or even larger variants. Tipping off this speculation are WiFi certifications for two new Samsung devices with the model numbers GT-N8000 and GT-N8013.


The two model numbers fall in line with that of the Galaxy Note, which has model number GT-N7000. This suggests that the GT-N8000 could be a larger sequel to the Galaxy Note and that the GT-N8013 could be a variant of that device. Recently, another model GT-N8010 had also passed WiFi certification, suggesting three variants of this upcoming handset.
All this is speculation, but what we do know from the WiFi certification docs is that the device will support dual-band WiFi a/b/g/n and that it is a smartphone and not a tablet. With the Galaxy Note already sporting a massive 5.3-inch screen, it’ll be interesting to see what these new devices have in store. Perhaps we’ll find out more at Mobile World Congress next month.

Samsung 55-inch Super OLED TV hands-on

Without a doubt, the flagship of Samsung’s CES presentation this year is its stunning OLED TV, which they’ve cranked up to 55 inches. The company is calling its spin on organic light-emitting diodes “Super OLED”, and after seeing the results with our own eyes, we won’t argue. The pictures from the CES floor don’t do it justice, but we took them anyway for those of you drooling at home.

Bumping OLED up to a much larger size hasn’t diminished its quality: the colors are brighter and more saturated than any other television I’ve seen… with the possible exception of LG’s 55-inch unit. Black levels are downright unbelievable – when the screen displays a centered image on a black background, it’s impossible to spot the bezel. Movement is fluid and graceful, even when the entire screen is filled with motion and eye-searing color.

Of course the picture isn’t the only thing that amazes about OLED, and Samsung hasn’t neglected the styling on their new flagship TV. We weren’t able to take measurements, but the bezel looks like about three quarters of an inch. The mirrored brushed aluminum back tapers to a point on the top of the unit, and manages to be shockingly thin right down to the AV connections and stand – look at it from the side and it’s honestly hard to spot.
Samsung hasn’t mentioned any pricing information for the 55-inch Super OLED TV, but assures us that it will be available at retail by the end of the year. Start saving your pennies now, videophiles.

Samsung Series 3 ChromeBox Desktop hands-on

Google’s OS version of the Chrome browser hasn’t been seeing a lot of action lately, but Samsung seems to have rekindled its interest here at CES. As one of the original hardware partners for the Chromebooks, Samsung knows what it’s doing when it comes to the low-power, high-connectivity hardware. We took a look at the new Samsung Series 3 ChromeBox at their booth, with impressions below.

The ChromeBox is smaller than most of the “ultra-small” Windows desktops, probably because it doesn’t need any serious storage or power requirements. The demonstration unit was connected to a monitor, keyboard and mouse, with full connectivity via Ethernet. On the front you’ll find just one power button, a headphone jack and a pair of USB ports, with the back populated by four more USB ports, a DVI port, Ethernet port, two Display Link ports and a power jack. We assume that two DL ports means this little guy can output to a dual monitor setup.
Chrome has remained the same: the browser user interface with a few extra bells and whistles. If you’ve used the Chrome browser, odds are pretty good you know how the Chrome OS interface goes – just subtract Windows or OS X. Quick boot times and web-friendly features are countered by a reliance on Google’s services and cloud storage.
It’s hard not to think of the Mac Mini when loooking at this diminutive hardware (the footprint is just 7.5 inches square), but the Chromebook doesn’t really compete there. We expect the Series 3 to come out sometime this year at around $200-$300 – unfortunately, Samsung didn’t have ant official price or availability information on hand.

Samsung 60-inch Smart TV hands-on

Just about every major TV manufacturer at CES is showing off web-connected televisions, and as one of the original makers of “Smart TVs”, Samsung is no exception. They’ve revealed new models and designs for 2012, with the most notable additions being a built-in webcam and a new double arch base design. We took an in-depth look at the 60-inch version on the CES show floor.

The most visually interesting part of the display (besides, you know, the display) is the arched base. It’s a unique implementation that manages to be just as pretty as the silvery TV it supports. The bezel above the screen has to be extended to about twice its slim width to accommodate a webcam and microphone, which is used for both video chatting and gesture/voice controls. Samsung’s typically excellent LED display was as sharp and vivid as expected, though obviously it doesn’t hold a candle to the bleeding-edge OLED TVs.
The most important thing that Samsung announced in its new line of Smart TVs was that they could be augmented with an upgrade module, which the company plans to bring out once a year to update the software and features. This system on a chip plugs into a specialized port on the back of the television. 2012 sets will get the capability for the hardware upgrade, with 2013 being the first year that upgrade modules will be sold alongside the newer Smart TV models. Samsung calls this TV “futureproof” – we’ll see.
Unfortunately the floor display didn’t go into Samsung’s new Smart TV interface or applications, so we couldn’t test out the gesture control. Samsung plans to make its Smart TV line available in a range of sizes in 2012. Pricing and precise availability details are not available.

Samsung SMART Hub streams DVD content over WiFi

There’s a decent selection of WiFi gadgets here at CES, and Samsung seems to be combining a little of the old and the new. Their new SMART Hub combines an external DVD disc drive and a conventional WiFi router, allowing connected devices to stream DVD movies and CD music across the local network. In a time when more and more Ultrabooks, netbooks and the like are making do without an optical drive, this could be an extremely useful addition.

CDs and DVDs with data stored on them should be accessible as well, though installing a program from a disc might not. You can also connect a USB hard drive for network attached storage, which becomes accessible to anyone accessing the WiFi signal. The usual collection of security and in-browser management options are included with the SMART Hub, though unfortunately it lacks a battery, so you’ll have to position it near a power outlet. There is no Blu-ray support.
Streaming to smartphones and tablets is possible through an app that connects with Samsung’s AllShare service, and automates the backup of photos and other data. The app will be available for both Android and iOS, according to a Samsung representative. No pricing or availability details were available at CES.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.0N Plus revealed

There’s a brand new Galaxy Tab in town, this one created in Germany with a new form factor that does a bit of sidestepping like the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N did late last year. Regardless of this, it does have the long awaited (by me) forward-facing speaker upgrade, this being the biggest change between it and its 7.0 non-N edition. Inside you’ll be getting Android 3.2 Honeycomb right out of the box with Ice Cream Sandwich update in the pipeline.


This device has a 7-inch PLS-LCD display at WSVGA resolution, that being 1024 x 600 pixels – that being 169.6 pixels per inch. The Galaxy Tab 7.0N weighs in at 345g, has 16GB of internal memory, and has a microSDHC slot to expand memory by up to 32GB. The battery inside this device is a massive 4000mAh, Bluetooth 3.0, and GPS, and the whole thing works with GSM and HSPA, so we’ll more than likely see this device coming in on AT&T and/or T-Mobile if it ever gets to the states.
Likely though this tablet is going to stay in Germany for the long run, this being clearly a device made for the Euro market where the tablet is still being contested by Apple as a copy of the iPad, no matter its size or shape. This version of the 7.0 is set to be released later this month for a suggested retail price of an absolutely undeniably insane price of 600 Euro. That’s so much cash it should make your head spin.

Samsung OEM SSDs used in MacBook Air get faster

When it comes to the SSDs that Apple crams inside the MacBook Air notebooks the SSDs come from one of two sources – Samsung or Toshiba. Apparently, both brands of SSDs are used inside the machines depending on what is on hand. The thing that consumers take note of when shopping is that the Samsung model SSDs are considerably faster than the Toshiba brand.


That difference in speed between the two SSD brands commonly used inside the Air may be even more noticeable this year. According to 9to5Mac, Samsung has discontinued the SSD that it was providing Apple in large quantities. The SSD was the 470, the new SSD that will take its place is called the 830, and it is considerably faster than the old 470 series. The 830 SSDs have typical speeds of 400MB/s write and 500MB/s read.
The Toshiba model that is in the Air is according to 9to5Mac capable of only a bit over 200MB/s read and 175MB/s write. That is a huge performance gap. Samsung apparently didn’t confirm that it was shipping the 830 series to Apple, but if the old drives are no more and Apple keeps buying from Samsung; it will have to go with the new parts once stocks expire. Granted Apple could be sitting on a huge stockpile of 470 SSDs and could simply opt to change providers.

Samsung crams 4,894 patents in its trolling quiver in 2011

I guess it’s a sign of the technology times when a report surfaces about the patents landed by the biggest tech firms in the world and the first thing that jumps to mind is how much patent trolling that will allow. Data from IFI Claims Patent Services has been published that shows which firms in the tech world landed the most patents in 2011. IBM held the top place spot for 2011, for the 19th year in a row.


IBM landed 6,180 patents over they year, a gain of 5% from 2010 when it had 5,896 patents the second place firm for landing patents was a bit of a surprise to me, Samsung took that spot with 4,894. I wonder how many of those will be used to beat Apple up in court. Canon took the third spot with 2,821 patents, Panasonic landed 2,559, and Toshiba had 2,483.
The firms I expected to be in the top of the list are surprisingly far down. Microsoft was in sixth spot with 2,311 patents, Sony took 7th with 2,286, and Seiko Epson had 1,533 patents. One of the larger makers of computers for a variety of firms – Hon Hai Precision – had 1,514 patents. Hitachi had 1,465 patents to round out the top ten. I really thought Intel would be way up the list, but the company was in 16th with 1,244 patents.

Verizon FiOS TV app heading to Samsung Smart TVs and Blu-ray players

Samsung has announced that its 2012 lineup of Smart TVs and Smart Blu-ray players will be getting Verizon’s FiOS TV app. This means that if you’re a FiOS TV subscriber, you will be able to access the service directly from your new Samsung connected device. There’s no need for the additional set-top box.


With your FiOS TV subscription and your 2012 Samsung Smart TV or Smart Blu-ray player, you’ll get instant access to 26 live TV channels, including HD channels. You’ll also be able to access more than 10,000 video-on-demand titles through Verizon’s Flex View service, which delivers on-demand content to TVs, PCs, tablets, and smartphones.
For the full lineup of Samsung Smart TVs as well as those from competing manufacturers that turned up at this week’s CES show in Las Vegas, make sure to check out our Smart TV Roundup. In particular, Samsung has a 60-inch model packed with Kinect-style motion and voice control. Samsung has also announced integrating DIRECTV, once again eliminating the need for additional set-top boxes.

Android 4.0.2 resumes Galaxy Nexus GSM rollout

Android 4.0.2 for the GSM variant of the Galaxy Nexus has been released, with Google pushing the update out OTA (over-the-air) today. Promising a number of “important bug fixes” the new firmware weighs in at a humble 8.8MB, and does not appear to introduce any noticeable app changes to the Ice Cream Sandwich smartphone.


Although the GSM Galaxy Nexus – which we reviewed back in November - has proved generally solid, we have experienced a few issues over the past month or so. A few spontaneous restarts have occurred, and we’ve had a couple of incoming voice calls suddenly drop despite having near full signal strength indicated.
It’s too early to tell whether this update addresses those problems, though there are also tweaks to Google Navigation audio volume and WiFi improvements believed to be included. The update first began rolling out back in December, but Google then froze its distribution and has only resumed the OTA process today.

Samsung weighing Olympus partnership

Samsung may swoop in and rescue ailing manufacturer Olympus, though its superhero moves will be in the shape of a partnership not an acquisition. “We are open to the possibility of an alliance with Olympus” an internal source at Samsung tells Reuters, though the interest is not in the company’s camera business but its healthcare division. The Korean company joins other rumored curious parties Sony and Panasonic, who are also believed to be sniffing around.


Olympus is in need of $1.7bn in capital, having been rocked by an accounting scandal that has seen half of its board of directors actually being sued by the company itself. The board plans to dissolve and make room for a fresh batch of execs by the end of April, but still remains under investigation for its part in hiding over a decade’s worth of losses.
According to previous leaks, Olympus had already drawn up a shortlist of possible minority stakeholders that management believed would be a good fit. The list – believed to consist of Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Terumo Corp (a medical equipment firm and an existing minority stakeholder) and Fujifilm Holdings.
Samsung has already revealed it has a new taste for healthcare specialists, with the Korean firm looking to diversify its footprint beyond its existing segments – the company has said a similar thing about its software competitiveness in IT - though a company spokesperson has said no formal offer from Olympus has been received. What might happen to the Olympus camera business, which launched several new models including superzooms and point-and-shoots this past week at CES, is unclear.

TELUS Galaxy Nexus only $99, available today

The new flagship Android 4.0 device we all know quite well, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus is all set and has been given the green light over on TELUS. One big difference compared to the many other carriers offering the new device, is the price. TELUS is handing out this new 4.65″ Super AMOLED HD packing smartphone for only $99.


The awesome and low price of only $99 is only available on a 3-year contract, with the next option being 2-year for a whopping $549. If you ask me it appears they are trying really hard to lock in those 3-year contracts. This $99 dollar offer is an introductory price and will only be available starting today January 13th — and will end come January 26th.
If you haven’t got a taste of Google’s new pure Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich you’ll want to run out and give it a try. Hopefully if you are interested then you already know what this phone is all about. If not, we have a few different reviews and hands-on below to take care of those wandering readers that can’t make up their mind. If you haven’t picked one up from Bell or any other Canadian carriers now is a good time to head over to TELUS.

Samsung Transparent Smart Window floats Twitter over your garden

Samsung had plenty of smart TVs that it hoped people would stare eagerly at last week at CES 2012, but it was a display you can gaze right through that was arguably the most exciting. Samsung’s Transparent Smart Window, the 22-inch LCD panel can not only show you everything your regular computer display does, but is also clear so that you can look through at what’s outside your home.


Samsung actually showed off the transparent display technology back in March 2011, suggesting at the time that it could be used for advertising. Unfortunately that application proved too mundane to catch the public’s attention in quite the way Samsung hoped for, hence the return of the tech last week and the far more exciting prospect of your double-glazing telling you your latest Tweets, Facebook friend requests and Google+ Hangouts.
As well as giving internet updates and letting you work on your latest report for work while simultaneously keeping an eye on the kids in the garden, the smart window can create its own virtual privacy shades. Although during the day, it’s ambient light that works as the backlight, two traditional edge-lighting sources are also fitted for nighttime use.
Tech-wise, the 22-inch panel runs at 1680 x 1050 resolution and has a 500:1 contrast ratio. Regular LCDs are only 5-percent transparent, whereas Samsung’s new panels increase that to 15-20-percent. Unfortunately there’s still no word on pricing or domestic availability.

CES Live AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note LTE in white hands-on

There’s certainly no big amount of difference on the inside of this device when you compare it to the black version of the Galaxy Note, also coming to AT&T soon, but the obsession with the white chassis continues, and the white note looks so good, your humble narrator says, that it deserves its own separate hands-on. I say separate because we did get a hands-on earlier this week with the other color for this device, that being a lovely charcoal black front and back, but now it’s time to get pearly with a white that accents not only the monster scale of this device, but it’s USA-only set of four capacitive buttons below the display.


As you’ll notice right away, the capacitive buttons do light up as they do with many Android devices, but here with the white casing it creates an effect to be envied – glowtastic! Then there’s the same awesome specifications you’ve all heard and know: a 5.3-inch Super AMOLED HS display at 1280 x 800 pixels, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 1.5GHz dual-core processor inside, and LTE speeds on AT&T. This device carries its own stylus which works marvelously with the device’s own S-Memo application or for whatever other set of pen-positive apps you might desire to use.

Then there’s the fact that we’ve already reviewed this device – or the international edition, that is, as it was released in a slightly different iteration in late 2011. We’ve been waiting patiently for the device to drop here in the states since it was first revealed several months ago, and the moment of truth is nearly here – just ever so close that it’s difficult not to head down to AT&T right now to camp out. If only I didn’t live in the tundra up here in Minnesota. I need that snow-colored Note!