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Rumor: Samsung Galaxy S III to be 7 mm thin, might launch around May

Edgar Cervantes — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 19:58:38 +0000

There is no doubt that the Samsung Galaxy S devices are among the most popular in the Android ecosystem. It is about to be that time of the year when the next in the series is revealed, and an announcement should be coming anytime. It might not be during Mobile World Congress, but rumors are already spreading. And today we have a flurry of rumored specs, as well as a possible announcement date for you.

According to ET News sources, the Galaxy S II successor will have a quad-core processor, LTE connectivity and Android 4.0. These rumored specs do not surprise us, though. These specs, along with a 12 MP rear-facing camera, a Super AMOLED HD display, and 2 GB of RAM are specifications that we are already expecting from this device.

What seems a bit more interesting is the Galaxy S III’s rumored thinness, which is suppossed to measure in at 7 mm. This is a bit thinner than the 8.49 mm Galaxy S II. This is to be expected, as well, since Samsung is known to boast the thinness of their devices. But it is surprising that manufacturers are able to fit such great specs into a 7 mm device. We certainly can’t wait to hear more details, and hope to see an announcement soon.

We were all bummed that we heard that this device would not be announced this month at Mobile World Congress, in Barcelona. But we might not have to wait that much more. Samsung has been recently sending invitations to an event that will be held in France.

Said event will take place on March 22nd. And while we have no idea what it could all be about, that is not stopping us from getting our hopes up. It just might be the Galaxy S III announcement or it could be something related to their many other products. However, popular French blog Frandroid was invited, making people believe that the announcement could very well be Android-related.

We will have to sit tight and wait to hear more about this. One thing we know for sure – Just like last year, and the year before that, the next Galaxy S smartphone will be among the creme de la creme of Android devices.

Sadly, it might be a while before we start seeing them hit stores. Hopefully we see it get to the US sooner than it did last year. Now, that was a pain. Are any of you saving your upgrades for this one?

Update: No Galaxy S III at French event

Most of us were praying to all our entities yesterday, in hopes that Samsung would announce the Galaxy S III at a French event they will be holding next March 22nd. Well, guys – luck is not in our side.

The guys from The Next Web have received word straight from Samsung, and the next successor to the Galaxy S family will not be making an appearance at this event, either. Instead, it will be focused on all current devices from Samsung. So let’s skip this one and wait to see when that announcement will show up.

Is this really the successor to the ASUS Transformer Prime?

Edgar Cervantes — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:14:15 +0000

The ASUS Transformer Prime may be the hottest Android tablet around, but that doesn’t stop manufacturers from moving forward. A couple of images have been making rounds through the interwebs, displaying a device that might be a successor to the ASUS Transformer tablets.

Its certification from Quietek names it as the TF300T. The first Transformer was the TF101, and the Transformer Prime, TF201 – so there’s definitely reason to believe this is next in line.

While that seems like exciting news, we do not yet know anything about this product. With ASUS announcing the TF700 during CES – which is basically a Transformer Prime with a better screen (1920x1200p) and front-facing camera (2 MP) – this makes us wonder if this is really the next iteration to the Transformer family, or just a slightly different ASUS Transformer Prime.

As Captain Obvious would say, 700 is a higher number than 300. Could it be a Transformer Prime without the GPS issues that have been reported (hence the different back), and a screen that is not as great as the TF700 but better than the TF201?

It might very well be the next Transformer, but since there are no details about the specs, let’s just wait for more details. If you are digging the new back, stay tuned for more as you can be sure we will be following this one.

What do you guys say? New Transformer? Better Prime?

Is a Samsung Galaxy S II Plus really in the works? And is it really needed?

Taylor Wimberly — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:46:06 +0000

Yesterday we learned that the Samsung Galaxy S III would be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, but the company is still looking forward to “introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products” at Mobile World Congress 2012. According to Anton Nagy of PocketNow, one of those products could be the Samsung Galaxy S II Plus.

Anton posted an An3DBenchXL result which listed a device with the name “Galaxy S 2+”, 1.5 GHz processor, Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, and a WVGA display. The low resolution display is a little puzzling, but it could have been altered for benchmarking purposes. Like most of these leaks, the results could have been easily spoofed, but it still raises some interesting questions.

Early this week we were discussing the possibility of a Galaxy Nexus Plus, so Samsung might have decided to refresh their current lineup as filler until the Galaxy S III is ready this summer.

Today my friend Kote from the Spanish blog Xataka sent me a picture of a new Samsung phone that appears to be this mysterious Galaxy S II Plus. You can see from the post image above that this device is running Android 4.0 and features three capacitive buttons that are similar to other Ice Cream Sandwich phones (Back, Home, Multitask). Again, this could totally be faked, but someone spent the extra time to add Mobile World Congress to the calendar widget and Barcelona to the weather widget on the desktop.

If Samsung were to release a Galaxy S II Plus with a 1.5 GHz processor, then it could feature the new dual-core 1.5 GHz Exynos 4212 that was announced last year. This chip is the first to market with Samsung’s advanced 32nm High-K Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process, which promises “30 percent lower power-level over the previous process generation.” It also features a faster clocked GPU that promises “50 percent higher 3D graphics performance over the previous processor generation from Samsung.”

We have already seen what feels like a dozen different variations of the Galaxy S II in the U.S., so it wouldn’t be a total shocker to see a couple more. The carriers run the wireless world, so if they requested an updated phone for the first half of 2012, I’m sure Samsung will deliver.

What are your thoughts on a possible Galaxy S II Plus? Would anyone buy this phone or would you just wait it out for the Galaxy S III?

Refreshed Galaxy Nexus Plus with faster CPU and improved camera on the way?

Taylor Wimberly — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 19:03:23 +0000

Could Google be working on a slightly updated version of the Galaxy Nexus? It wouldn’t be the first time a manufacturer refreshed a device just months after the initial release. A recent benchmark score spotted on the Nenamark site shows a Galaxy Nexus featuring a PowerVR SGX544 graphics processor.

The faster SGX544 GPU is included with Texas Instruments’ upcoming OMAP4470 processor. This is the successor to the original OMAP4460 found in the Galaxy Nexus, that includes the older SGX540 GPU.

While it’s true this result could have been spoofed, we have seen evidence of a Galaxy Nexus with a different processor speed before in a leaked ad for Sprint. Samsung underclocked the 1.5 GHz OMAP4460 to run at 1.2 GHz in the Galaxy Nexus, so it’s possible they could underclock the 1.8 GHz OMAP4470 to run at speeds around 1.5 GHz.

Nenamark2 benchmark: OMAP4460 on the left, OMAP4470 on the right.

Even though the two processors feature very similar model numbers, the OMAP4470 is advertised as offering 2.5x the graphics performance of the OMAP4430. We recently saw the OMAP4470 in action at CES, and witnessed a Nenamark2 score that was around 70% faster than the previous generation.

The Sprint version of the Galaxy Nexus is coming soon, but we still don’t know much about the official specs. Rumors have suggested it could feature an improved 8 MP camera (compared to 5 MP of the original), so it’s possible that Samsung and Google could update the processor as well if a faster one is available in time.

I’m sure a few owners of the original Galaxy Nexus will complain, but I’m happy to see a Galaxy Nexus refresh in the coming months, if these rumors turn out to be true.

Rumor: Samsung to announce 2 GHz Galaxy Tab at Mobile World Congress

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 16:32:46 +0000

Samsung might be holding their Galaxy S III from next month’s Mobile World Congress show, but that doesn’t mean this will be a quiet show for them. Thanks to a little digging around I did during CES and some other recent news, I now believe I know what Samsung will introduce in its place. Read on for the full rumor report.

The Rumor

Samsung will announce the next-generation of the Galaxy Tab at Mobile World Congress. It will feature a dual-core 2 GHz Exynos 5250 processor and feature a display larger than 10 inches with a WXQGA (2560×1600) resolution. The device will run the latest Android 4.0.x.

The Source

For once, I am the source of my own rumor report. I visited with Samsung System LSI during CES to discuss their upcoming Exynos processors and I saw one of their prototype tablets which was powered by Exynos 5250 and already running Android 4.0. I actually took pictures of the device (not really knowing what it was), but I was politely asked to delete them from my camera after the briefing was over.

One Android Insider’s take on the rumor

Last year at Mobile World Congress, Samsung unpacked the Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1. Many of us were focused on the Galaxy S III for this year’s show, but Samsung is still weighing their options and it’s not likely to be announced. However, that leaves open the possibility of them showing the next-generation Galaxy Tab.

Samsung already announced their dual-core 2 GHz Exynos 5250 processor last November, which is their first mobile processor to feature ARM’s latest Cortex-A15 CPU core. The chip is built on Samsung’s new 32nm High-K Metal Gate (HK/MG) low-power process and it also includes ARM’s next GPU, the Mali-T604.

Many competitors are also working on Cortex-A15 parts, but they were not expected to be widely available in products until late 2012 or early 2013 (see TI’s OMAP5). However, Samsung has been sampling their A15 part for quite some time and they just announced it will go into mass production in Q2.

I can’t say for sure how Samsung was able to deliver their A15 part so far ahead of the competition, but it could be because they chose the more mature 32nm process while others are using a 28nm process that is rumored to be having yield issues.

For those of you just joining us, I suggest heading over to ARM’s site and reading up on Cortex-A15 and Mali-T604 if you want to know why this is such a big deal. Basically we should see twice the compute power, insane memory bandwidth(12.8 GB/s), 5x the graphics horsepower, and all day battery life.

Even though Samsung’s Exynos 5250 will not hit mass production till next quarter, they still have enough of the chips laying around to pop them into some demo devices and put them on display at Mobile World Congress. The fact that Samsung already has Android 4.0 up and running on the Exynos 5250 shows me how serious they are about being first to market with an A15 part.

I realize there’s a chance I could be wrong about this rumor, but if Samsung was showing off this next-generation tablet behind closed doors at CES, then it should definitely be ready for show time at MWC. Given the fact that the Galaxy S III will be absent, it makes perfect sense that this tablet will be the star of the show for Samsung.

Update: As someone pointed out, my description is very similar to a device that Jonathan Geller of BGR reported on back in December. I guess this is confirmation that he was correct, since I saw a similar product with my own eyes.

Update 2: German site TabTech.de is reporting that Samsung will introduce the Galaxy Tab 11.6 at MWC. Their mockup is included below.

Update 3: Samsung Electronics demonstrated the industry’s first 10.1-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) format PenTile RGBW tablet display back in May 2011.

Samsung still reviewing several options when to launch their flagship Galaxy S III

Taylor Wimberly — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:27:24 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy S III truly is the next big thing in Android land right now, even though the device has not been officially announced. Many of us expected Samsung to unpack their next flagship phone during Mobile World Congress in late February, but the latest rumors suggest it will not make an appearance at that show.

This week during Samsung’s earnings call, a company executive named Mrs. Younghee Lee actually acknowledged the existence of the Galaxy S III. In response to an analyst question about the Galaxy S III launch date, Mrs. Lee responded, “We are still reviewing several options when to launch. We will let you know when it’s decided.”

Also discovered this morning on a Samsung support site was an upcoming model number GT-I9300. This is one of the highest model numbers we have seen yet (Galaxy Nexus was i9250), which leads some to believe this could be the model number of the Galaxy S III.

While most companies have already announced their MWC press events, Samsung has yet to send out an invitation to theirs. With every passing day, it looks more likely that Samsung will not be announcing their Galaxy S III next month.

Other recent rumors suggest there are multiple versions of the Galaxy S III in testing, so Samsung could still be debating which model to go with. It is widely believed that Samsung will use their own quad-core 1.5 GHz Exynos 4412 processor, but there’s also a small chance they could go with the next-generation dual-core 2.0 GHz Exynos 5250.

We already saw the Exynos 5250 in action at CES and Samsung revealed during their earnings call that mass production would begin in Q2. The chip is likely to appear in a tablet first, but it should also power smartphones later this year.

Personally, I’m rooting for Samsung to push back the release date of the Galaxy S III and go with the Exynos 5250. The chances of this are slim based on the availability of the chip, but Samsung could boast the first smartphone based on ARM’s Cortex-A15 CPU core.

Mobile World Congress is exactly one month away and I’ll be making the long trip to check it out, so hopefully we can uncover the true story soon.

Samsung Galaxy S III rumored to miss Mobile World Congress

Taylor Wimberly — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 23:45:33 +0000

Here’s an interesting rumor. Chris Ziegler of The Verge along with several other German sites are reporting that Samsung will not be announcing their flagship Galaxy S III smartphone at the upcoming Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

This comes as a surprise because Samsung unveiled their Galaxy S II and Galaxy Tab 10.1 last year at their Unpacked event, the day before MWC kicked off. Many were expecting a repeat performance at this year’s MWC show that starts February 27th.

Ziegler speculates that Samsung was “uncomfortable with another long lag between the global launch and US availability” of the Galaxy S III, which is an interesting theory.

The absence of the Galaxy S III from MWC could also support my own speculation that Samsung might delay the device until their next-generation Exynos 5250 is ready. It is widely believed that Samsung System LSI is already manufacturing Apple’s quad-core A6 processor (based on the Cortex-A9 CPU core), so Samsung might try to one up them with the first mobile processor to use ARM’s Cortex-A15 core.

Earlier this month at CES, I saw the Exynos 5250 in action and I believe it could arrive sooner than expected. Most were expecting the first Cortex-A15 parts at the end of 2012 or early 2013 (like OMAP5), but I think Samsung LSI could deliver the part by early Q3 2012.

At this point we have no real clue what the exact specs of the Galaxy S III will end up becoming, which makes it fun to speculate. MWC is only a month away and I’ll be traveling to Barcelona to dig a little deeper, so hopefully we will learn more soon.

AT&T’s rumored Q1 roadmap includes Galaxy Note, Skyrocket II HD, Sony Ion, more

Taylor Wimberly — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 20:13:25 +0000

AT&T announced six new Android devices earlier this month at their developers conference during CES, and now we are learning more details about specific release dates. Jonathan Geller of BGR is reporting that AT&T will launch at least seven Android devices in Q1 including the Samsung Galaxy Note, Samsung Rugby Smart, AT&T Fusion, Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD, Samsung Exhilarate, Sony Xperia Ion and Sony Crystal.

At the top of our wishlist is the Samsung Galaxy Note, which should launch February 18 for $299.99. This device has already sold over 1 million units overseas, and it’s one of the most anticipated releases for the first half of this year. Its 5.3-inch HD Super AMOLED display and unique S-Pen make it a compelling device for those who want some of the functionality of a tablet, but in a smaller package that can still fit in a pocket.

For those who think a 5.3-inch display might be too large, we have the Sony Xperia Ion. This high-end smartphone features a 4.65-inch 1280×720 HD Reality display, 1.5 GHz dual-core processor, 12MP Exmor-R and support for AT&T’s 4G LTE network. We originally thought the Ion would arrive in Q2, but Geller now says we can expect it in the latter half of Q1.

On the low-end smartphone side we have the Samsung Rugby Smart and the AT&T Fusion. Not many details are available about these phones, but both will launch on February 18 for $99.99 and $124.99, respectively. The Samsung Exhilarate will also launch in Q1, a $49 LTE phone with a 4-inch Super AMOLED display.

Also from Samsung, we have the Galaxy S II Skyrocket HD. This is AT&T’s 3rd Galaxy S II phone with only a minor tweak from the original Skyrocket – a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED display.

Finally we have the Sony Crystal. Not much is known about this tablet, but BGR claims it will support AT&T’s HSPA+ network and retail for $409.99.

Overall, it looks like a solid lineup for AT&T customers to choose from in the next couple months. My top pick would likely be the Samsung Galaxy Note, but I believe the Sony Ion will also be an excellent choice.

If you are an AT&T customer, which device are you looking forward to the most?

Samsung Galaxy S III specs confirmed by industry insider?

Taylor Wimberly — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:43:39 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy S III is the most anticipated next Android phone, so it’s no surprise the buzz is building up as we near an official announcement. To date we have seen an anonymous 4chan description of the device, an alleged leaked slide, a fake teaser video and now a supposed hands-on report from an industry insider.

Earlier today, Russian blogger Eldar Murtazin started tweeting that he had received a Samsung Galaxy S III. We have covered some of Eldar’s rumors before and found he sometimes gets things wrong, but he is spot on other times. For example, Eldar was one of the first to confirm that the Galaxy S II had a dual-core processor back in 2010.

HD resolution, 12 mpx camera, sw tweaks, android 4 – i like my new phone. Eager to see official announcement in Barcelona

— Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) January 24, 2012

This time Eldar is claiming the Galaxy S III will run Android 4.0 with software tweaks (TouchWiz anyone?), be powered by a 1.5-1.6 GHz quad-core processor (likely the Exynos 4412), feature a HD Super AMOLED Plus display and include a 12 MP camera. When it comes to design, Eldar says the SGSIII is the “same in most aspects” to the SGSII.

Overall these specs sound pretty believable and match up almost exactly with what I speculated last year.

One interesting thing to note is that Eldar claims there are two versions of the phone – a quad-core model and a dual-core model. The quad-core model is almost certainly the Exynos 4412 that has previously leaked, and it’s possible the dual-core model could be the next-generation Exynos 5250.

A quad-core 1.5 GHz Exynos 4412 would likely put the Galaxy S III on par with other quad-core phones based on the ARM Cortex-A9 CPU core (like all the upcoming Tegra 3 phones). However, the dual-core 2 GHz Exynos 5250 would offer next-generation performance with its ARM Cortex-A15 CPU core and ARM Mali-T604 GPU core.

I’ve already seen the Exynos 5250 in action at CES, and I’ve speculated that Samsung could use this chip for their flagship Galaxy S III smartphone. The only flaw with that theory is the timing of the release. Most insiders still expect the Galaxy S III will be announced next month at Mobile World Congress and then be released around April (similar to the SGS2 path). Samsung doesn’t expect the Exynos 5250 to be available until the second half of 2012.

Whatever specs Samsung decides to go with, I’m sure it will be one of the best selling phones of 2012. Knowing Samsung’s never-ending battle to compete with Apple’s iPhone, I suspect we will see the quad-core Galaxy S III model sometime in Q2. Hopefully the dual-core 2 GHz model arrives in time for Christmas.

What other features are on your wish-list for the Galaxy S III?

Rumor: Samsung Galaxy Note coming to Verizon and Sprint?

Edgar Cervantes — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 20:46:50 +0000

The Samsung Galaxy Note was a hit for Samsung and AT&T last week during CES. This device was advertised all over the city. While many would believe its 5.3-inch display to be overbearing, others see it as a great feature. Regardless, it would be great to see it placed on other carriers’ shelves. And according to a recent rumor, this bad boy is headed to both Verizon and Sprint.

According to Daryl Deino, Los Angeles Gadgets Examiner, an Industry Analyst confirms that this device will “certainly” come to both Sprint and Verizon. He goes on to mention that it will possibly be named the Samsung Galaxy Journal.

The Galaxy Note will very likely be offered by other carriers in the US, but we have to take this specific rumor with a grain of salt (or a spoon-full). Daryl’s source, Paul Mueller, has been wrong before. Mainly when Mueller mentioned last July that Verizon would be the first US carrier to offer the Samsung Galaxy S II (as the Samsung Function). That rumor proved to be wrong. In fact, Verizon was the only main carrier in the US to not see the Galaxy S II.

Taking the Industry Analyst’s past rumors into account, we will recommend that you don’t hold your breath on this one. This does not mean this device will not be coming to other carriers, though. In fact, we hope it does. The device may be a bit large, but it works great, and its bigger screen offers a lot of functionality. It definitely creates a great balance between a phone and a tablet. And while it looks uncomfortable, it actually feels surprisingly great in the hand. (Its weight and thinness definitely help).

There’s also the fact that there’s no CDMA version of the Galaxy Note. It is definitely not impossible to make one, though, and it has been done before. Verizon has mentioned that smartphones will only be released with 4G LTE connectivity from now on, though. If this rumor happens to be true, we might be able to rock the Galaxy Note on Verizon’s 4G LTE network. That would be quite the lure.

For now, let’s stay put and hope we get more information about the future of the Galaxy Note. Would you guys sign up for this bad boy if it hits carriers other than AT&T? I definitely would, if it happens soon enough.