Tag: Android

Technologies on Smartphones That You Should Look For

jamesg Leave a comment

NFC

Near Field Communication has always been regarded as a cutting edge technology. You can’t throw a stone now without hitting an Android device with NFC technology. It is a secure way that devices can connect by simply bringing them together. Right now, NFC has yet to find applications in the current smartphone market. The technology is not new, although it has yet to have any big applications. However, NFC has its importance. It simply has to be present in your smartphone if you are buying it for the long run.

2. Appropriately Large Screen

You don’t need an ultra-large screen such as the one with Galaxy Mega. You don’t even need a 5.5 inch screen as in Optimus G Pro. All you need is a 5 inch screen that fits well in your pocket, such as the one Galaxy S4 has. Anything between 4.5 and 5.2 inches is perfect for a smartphone. Anything above that goes into the phablet family and should be considered a different kind of device.

If you are buying a phablet, be prepared to use it with a little bit of difficulty than a regular smartphone. Due to this reason, Asus’s PadFone and FonePad are not quite there with the customers. For a perfect combination of devices, you could have a regular smartphone, 5 inches; a tablet, 8-10 inches; and optionally a small tablet, 7 inches. A phablet is neither there nor here, and it is difficult to get by.

As we talk about large screens, so should we about smaller screens. iPhone’s 4 inch screen and BlackBerry Z10‘s 4.2 inch screen are not quite there in terms of user experience. I am not saying they are bad. They are not as perfect as HTC One‘s or Galaxy S4‘s. For such smaller screens, a smaller price is appropriate, but that is apparently not going to happen.

3. Battery That Lasts

Right now, LG G2 comes with a 3000 mAh battery that can last days even with that huge screen.

LG G2

Apple iPhone 5S’s battery is only around 1500 mAh, and it is nothing compared to those on the Android devices we have. The battery is not going to give more than a day of usage, and it is just inconvenient to have such a puny battery, even with a device as light and thin as iPhone.

Apple could make iPhone a little heavier by including a larger battery and still it would be one of the thinnest and lightest smartphones out there. They obviously chose not to do that. In your upcoming phone, look for a large battery that can give you more than enough backup.

4. Fingerprint Scanner

As Apple has pioneered this, fingerprint sensors should be available on all other devices in the very near future. That is the trend. It is one thing that anyone could admire about iPhone 5S. The fingerprint scanner allows perfect security, and it is also appropriately placed for the most ergonomic use.

5. Optical Image Stabilization

This is something great on your smartphone cameras. As of now, only a few devices come with it, including HTC One, Lumia 920. Other phones, such as the iPhone provide a technology to stabilize the images, but that is not built into the camera hardware itself, and hence it is not that perfect. If you are looking for a perfect anti-shake smartphone camera, OIS is worth waiting for.

Also, if you are not quite looking for front-facing camera quality, start looking. Here is the table containing the best front-facing camera smartphones.

front-facing cameras on smartphones

 

6. Large Pixel Cameras

Once we spoke about the camera technologies, where we mentioned the race for megapixel count has ended for good. Right now, Apple has also acknowledged the fact that the larger pixels, not the larger number of pixels create better images. HTC One was the first ever phone to revolutionize the large pixel size through its HTC One. One has a pixel size of nearly 2 microns each, called UltraPixels. With only 4 UltraPixels, HTC One camera gives us better images than the 8 MP cameras most other phones have.

With iPhone 5S, Apple has also gone with slightly larger pixels of 1.5 microns. That size is still not quite effective though. We want really large pixels. One of the upcoming phones that will have this is HTC One Max which will sport 5 UltraPixel camera.

Conclusion

If you are looking for amazing smartphones, there are a number of things that you need to have on them. A few technologies were discussed in our previous article here. Some of them are discussed here as well. Unless you are getting a perfect smartphone, there is no point in spending too much money.

[Image: Time]

What Apple Really Needs to Do With iPhone 5S and 5C?

jamesg Leave a comment

We have news that iPhone 5S and a possible mid-range version, iPhone 5C will be launched by the tenth of this month. There have been numerous rumors of these devices already. It’s Apple, and iPhone’s the most prestigious smartphone ever made; hence, there definitely will be rumors floating around year round. However, we know pretty well how Apple has been losing its market to competitors, Samsung, LG, and others in the last two or three years.

smartphone market share 2Q2013

 

In the tablet market, Apple still has its strong hold. iPad 4 and Mini are still at the top of tablet market, but the competition is growing strong as we speak. iPad Mini has not been impressive for us.

tablet market share Q2, 2013

 

In such a market, the most important and most prestigious product of Apple, iPhone has to come with some improvements in order to help the company stay on top of the competition. Let’s analyze.

iPhone 5S and 5C

 

Here’s what we have in news about these devices.

  • It’s possible that the devices will be released by 10th of this month.
  • It’s expected that there will be three variants of iPhone 5S, light golden color, graphite, and black.
  • The iPhone 5C will be coming with a plastic back with various colors.
  • Hardware specifications of iPhone 5S: dual-core CPU, quad-core GPU, 2GB RAM, IGZO screen (a Sharp technology that helps in power consumption), possible 12 MP camera, NFC and fingerprint scanners are also expected.
  • iPhone 5C will be a replacement for iPhone 5, and it will be priced low.
  • Both phones will come with iOS 7, the latest version of iOS.

 

What is IGZO technology that we are talking about? It’s a display technology, quite similar to others like AMOLED, TFT, etc. IGZO is expected to give quite a bit of power saving. Check it out here.

The image shows power saving of LCD vs. IGZO when displaying the same image.

IGZO power consumption

 

What Should Apple Do?

 

As you can see, the information that we already have doesn’t point to anything spectacular. Already, Android phones come with all kinds of technology. Samsung has given S4 that comes packed with features. HTC has One, which is amazing too. LG has G2 with super-packed features and a really fast processor, Snapdragon 800.

Android phones have revolutionized the mobile technology already, by driving the processing power to over 2 GHz, display sizes to over five and six inches, and lots and lots of technological innovations. Apple is still in 2010’s, which is kind of like saying ‘a person’s fashion is still in the seventies’.

Their best product that competes with Galaxy S4 and HTC One is iPhone 5, and its specifications are: 1.3 GHz CPU as opposed to 1.9 GHz of S4 and 2.26 GHz of LG G2; 8 MP camera as opposed to 12 MP and 13 MP ones found in the Android market; 1 GB RAM only; 4 inch screen as opposed to 5 inch, 5.2 inch, 6 inch, 6.3 inch etc., in Android market. iPhone 5 has a Retina display, whose allure is long gone; it is not even HD. iPhone’s battery is 1440 mAh only, while S4 has 2600 mAh battery and LG G2 has a whopping 3000 mAh battery, which is more than twice that of iPhone 5. iOS has a million apps and it still leads the app market, but Android is very close behind.

It does indeed seem that the Android phones best iPhone in every way possible. Still, Apple is hell-bent on insisting iPhone is the best smartphone out there. I say iPhone is the most productive still, due to the fact that it has so many apps, and so many gadget manufacturers make iPhone accessories and gadgets. The phone’s technology is still outdated and is in dire need for a definitive upgrade.

Upgrades Suggested

 

Apple has been slacking off in iPhone department for quite some time. They are overwhelmed by the developments happening in the Android world, but they are steadfast in not admitting that. Apple’s top management seems to have lost those innovative capabilities, and they are now struggling more than ever. You can actually see that in action when you watch any Apple top executive speaking.

I used to have utmost respect for Apple as a company, but now it really needs some kind of smart move for damage control. Here’s Apple’s stock performance since the time it has been adjudged as the highest valued company in the history of the world.

Apple stock, click to enlarge

 

Apple stock has fallen from its top of nearly 700 dollars by more than 200 dollars.

Let me suggest a few things that Apple do in order to continue as a highly profitable company.

  • First of all, Apple needs to innovate and become that company that first introduced iPhone in 2007. Come up with an innovative edition that is simply better than any other smartphone in the market. If Apple wants to be the company that makes the best device, it simply has to make the best device.
  • Display: Upgrade and come up with a larger, full HD IGZO panel that consumes less power.
  • Battery: We know iPhone is well optimized to last for a day of heavy usage with the battery it is coming with, but let’s say people need ‘a week’ of heavy usage. Optimize the battery for that.
  • Processing power: People need quad-core processing power, and Apple app store has apps that require better processing power and memory.
  • Support MicroSD
  • Give support for outside technologies and standards. One of the most important one is Near Field Communication (NFC).

     

  • Design and develop interfaces that supports data transfer between all other operating systems, through generic standards, such as Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.
  • If Apple is not willing to do any of these, reduce the price of the device, so that it is reasonable.

These are only some of the things that Apple can do to make the device better. The only thing that prevents Apple from coming up with a good product in this market is that their ego doesn’t allow them to incorporate technologies from other companies and organizations, even if those technologies are open source, easily licensable, and better than Apple’s own technologies.

Apple has had a stronghold for a long time, but the market has changed drastically now. Without innovative ideas, Apple’s future is doomed. BlackBerry once was very big in smartphone marketplace. It no longer is. It’s a lesson. General public aren’t stupid and they do not stick with a company that makes substandard products. If Apple’s trademark is innovation, they have to continue doing that. If it’s not happening, the company’s future will be at risk without question.

Conclusion

 

These are only a few things I mentioned about iPhone. There are other major things to discuss about other products—iPad, iPad Mini, etc. These products also need a drastic upgrade, not an iterative one. The time has long gone for iterative upgrades. Now, only significant product launches can help Apple.

New Upcoming Devices Worth Waiting For!

jamesg Leave a comment

Let me start with an apology for little or no updates in the past few days. It has been quite a mess here in the Blue Bugle planet. It took me a while to get myself updated on what is happening in our industry. Today, I have been looking through my news resources, and one of the upcoming devices that is expected to make an impact is Samsung’s Galaxy Note III—the third installment of the very popular Note series.

Samsung Galaxy Note III

Exactly how popular the Note family has been, one might wonder. Initial update on Samsung website pointed us in this direction: Galaxy Note, the original, did sell about a million units each month to reach a target of five million in March last year. Later on, Korean news source, MK News did report this success continued in the exact fashion—ten million in ten months. The core of that article talks about how Note II, the successor to Note, reached a million sales in South Korea.

Although not close enough to compete with the success of iPhone or Galaxy S family, Note has been and continues to be the most successful of all phablets. Probably this is the reason why Samsung wants to develop Note as a family of products (we had Note 8.0 and real 10 inch tablets in Note family). They are also interested in building phablets larger than Note, for instance. Remember our short look at Galaxy Mega a few days back?

Hence, Note III is well worth waiting for. Although we were not quite impressed with Note II, in which some things could have been better, we are quite confident about Note III, which will probably feature anti-shake camera technology (aka optical image stabilization) as in HTC One or Nokia Lumia 920. ETNews’s article also suggests the camera will probably feature 3x optical zoom.

Although we don’t have an idea of the technical specs of this phablet, over the last few days the Web got all kinds of pictures supposedly of the device. It seems Note is no different from other major Galaxy devices. Check out a few pictures.

Galaxy Note leaked image 1

 

Galaxy Note leaked image 2

 

Galaxy Note leaked image 3

 

Galaxy Note leaked image 4

 

Galaxy Note III with other smartphones

 

Galaxy Note III leaked image

Note III’s screen is another aspect. It could in fact be bigger than that of Note II with 5.5 inch Super AMOLED panel. Supposedly, the new Note will include Android 4.3, which is rumored to be under testing. Check out this image, the device codenamed N7200 is recognized to be Note III.

Galaxy Note III benchmark

This makes Note III an awesome smartphone worth waiting for.

Motorola X-Phone (Moto X)

Over the last few days, there have been plenty of rumors regarding this smartphone. Motorola X-Phone is one device that Motorola is depending on this year. Since Motorola is under Google now, the X-Phone will be running the latest of Android, and it is supposed to get all the software updates earlier.

There have been quite a bit of speculation regarding this device and its capabilities. A number of rumors, leaked pictures, and FCC filing sketches have cropped up recently. It is not yet clear to us what the device looks like. Evleaks’s image here may give you some idea:

Motorola XPhone leaked

Also, this filing sketch, submitted to the FCC (Federal Communications Commission) gives a bit of an idea of how the device may look like:

Motorola X Phone

As you can see, the serial number given to the device is XT1058. Also, there are a few beautiful designs from artists speculating how X-Phone will look.

[Update]

Motorola has released an official PR stating the status of the X Phone, which will be named actually, ‘MOTO X’. It will be the first smartphone to be assembled in the United States. Motorola also created this tweet with an image of the map of the location, where Moto X will be assembled. It is in Fort Worth, Texas. Check it out:


Whether or not the devices manufactured in the US will cost you extra money needs to be seen. We know about the Google Glass, made in USA, costing 1500 dollars.

 

Apple iPhone 5S

The ubiquitous iPhone will probably get an update by the last quarter of this year. We don’t know how it will be named yet, but we have an idea: iPhone 3GS followed by iPhone 3G; 4S followed by 4; and now probably 5S followed by 5. What is this ‘S’? Well, Apple says it is for ‘Speed’. With that ideology, 3GS was a slightly improved version of 3G; 4S, slightly improved from 4; and we should probably expect a slightly improved 5, right? Probably!

Also, with this ideology, one should either look for the more advanced ‘S’ family of iPhones or the regular updated iPhones. One need not buy iPhone 4S if one already owns iPhone 4.

If 5S is only a slight improvement over 5, I, as many people, will be disappointed. iPhone 5 did not include the hardware that could compete with the other phones in the Android market. iPhone 5S cannot be a simple upgrade that includes a few new features. With the leadership change in Cupertino after the last year’s Apple Maps fiasco, design chief Jony Ive now also supervises software design. A significant revamp is expected in iOS 7 that will ship with iPhone 5S. This update is very important for Apple’s strategy this year.

There was one rumor in the last couple of days from WeiPhone.com that talks about iPhone 5S’s resolution. They believe they got some information stating the iPhone will have double the resolution of iPhone 5. Now, if you read our article here, without a significant screen size increase, this resolution will only have a ridiculous overkill effect. For this reason, we believe either this is a false news or iPhone 5S will include a much larger screen, probably closer to 5 inches.

People have designed their own iPhone 5S, but I will not bore you with these inspiring fake designs. But if the iPhone comes with certain key enhancements, such as NFC, a more powerful processor, more RAM, and a radical improvement to the iOS operating system, then it will be the first iPhone in years to be able to stand out well. Sir Ive’s tactics on hardware design have been enormously successful for Apple. If the new iOS under his aegis also turns out to be mind-blowing, the new iPhone will awe us.

To Be Concluded

Most of the devices that we have been awaiting have reached the market—HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, Sony Xperia Z, among others. One other improvement that we will get to see is Nokia Lumia 928, the slightly improved Verizon phone. We will publish detailed reviews once these devices come to the market. In the meanwhile, we can only speculate.

Why Google Glass Is Actually Not Going to Change Your World?

jamesg Leave a comment

Google GlassA few days ago, you may have read our post regarding the new product from Google, Glass. It has come and we got to see it in action. The real question here is, whether anyone should really be excited about this augmented reality goggles from Google. Let’s find out.Google Glass has been the focus of attention in the technology world for the last couple of months. One of the first things that anyone would ask about Glass is whether it is stylish enough to be worn outside or would it make you look dorky? This is difficult to find out as the product has not reached our hands yet. Only a few people have had the opportunity to wear Glass and get out. EIC of Engadget, Tim Stevens was one of the first to experience Google Glass, and he has written in detail about it. His review points out a heads-up display seems like a natural fit.

In comparison to your smartphones, Google Glass does seem easier to use. It does look stylish upon your regular eyeglasses. You may have noticed the spoof picture of the duke of Cambridge, Prince William and his better half Kate Middleton wearing Google Glass, in our earlier review.

Person wearing Google Glass

 

Person wearing Google Glass

The first of the explorers of Google Glass project included a few celebrities, including How I Met Your Mother star, Neil Patrick Harris. If you remember, Neil did post a tweet mentioning he would show the world the sets of HIMYM if he had Glass. He has been given an opportunity. Check this out:

Other celebrities that got the opportunity include actor and singer Brandy Norwood, actor Kevin Smith, rapper Soulja Boy, singer Imogen Heap, O’Reilly founder Tim O’Reilly, etc. Get an extensive list here (people selected via Twitter).

One point that I wish to discuss with you is why Google Glass gets so much media attention. A factor behind this is the enormous popularity of the search giant. Anything that comes from Google is gold for the media. That explains the extreme media coverage of Google Glass. On the other hand, have there not been any other augmented reality eyeglasses in the past? There have, of course. One of them is EyeTap, which was also talked about in our article on Glass. But those other inventions are more cumbersome-looking than Glass, and hence they have not been quite popular.

In fact, these wearable computing products have been around since the 80’s.

Just as any other product, Google Glass also has its own advantages and disadvantages. The success of a product depends on whether it has more advantages than disadvantages, of course. Let’s analyze this.

1. Google Glass and the Usability Factor

Whether or not Glass is an easy-to-use device is subjective at best. Many reviews that I went through talked about how easy to use this particular product is. Many others talked about the difficulty of using it. You just wear it and simply give orders to it to take pictures, search the Internet, etc. If you are familiar with Google’s and Apple’s voice command systems, you should be able to use Glass comfortably.

With that said, the voice recognition system is still far from perfect. If you are in a crowd and you are trying to use the voice command system, it more or less doesn’t recognize what you speak. Also, the system has big trouble with non-native speakers. Since voice is the prime way of entering input, you will either get the hang of it or will get bored with its ineptitude.

2. The Battery

Google Glass is notorious in the battery department. Many people have found out it has a terrible battery. No smartphone has a battery that runs for only three or four hours as in the case of Google Glass. If you think deep, this is a huge disadvantage of Glass.

3. The Screen

The tiny screen of Glass is integrated to a thick glass block that goes on top of the device. The problem is the display is more or less transparent and difficult to see in bright daylight. Yet, the device is meant to be used outside where there is bright daylight almost always: another disappointing aspect of Glass.

4. The Specifications

Google Glass specs are out. The details of the display are not available although it has been verified to be equivalent to a 25 inch HD screen about 8 feet away.

Camera: 5 MP 720p; Storage: 16 GB with 12 GB available; RAM: 1 GB (developers get 682 MB); Wi-Fi: 802.11 b/g and BlueTooth; OS: requires Android ICS 4.0.3 for MyGlass app. In essence, its specs do not compare to a product of the current era. Wi-Fi could have been b/g/n in order to have better speed.

4. The Price

Although it was mentioned in the initial stages of development of Glass that the product would be priced like a regular smartphone, it is not. For such a low-spec device that has to be paired with a smartphone to even work outside, Glass is priced too high. 1500 dollars for Glass is asking too much.

Google uses Foxconn’s facilities in Santa Clara, California to manufacture Glass. Just as Apple is investing over 100 million in manufacturing products in the US, Google is also moving that way. The higher manufacturing cost in the United States is another reason why Google Glass is priced so high.

Google Glass’s production in California will only be a few thousand units, and that will be rolled out to the first few people to use Glass including the Glass Explorers.

In the future, when Glass will be made available to the general population, we expect the price to come down drastically.

Banning the Glassholes

As soon as Glass became a household topic of conversation, the term Glasshole started to appear to describe the people wearing Glass and encroaching on others’s privacy. The Urban Dictionary also provides the definition as a person who constantly talks to his Google Glass.

image banning Google Glass

Glass has been banned in a number of places, including casinos, strip clubs, movie theaters, 5 Point Cafe in Seattle Washington, while driving in West Virginia, etc. There are a number of reasons behind banning Google Glass in these scenarios. For instance, security is absolutely necessary in casinos and movie theaters due to such issues as game rigging and bootlegging. Strip clubs probably don’t want you to create videos of performances! These wearable computers may also be banned on certain government buildings including courts.

Conclusion

In essence, Google Glass is yet another wearable product that works with your smartphone. It doesn’t have any major technical specifications to command a high price. Also, there is a good chance that people will forget about Glass after the initial buzz dies down. Google has done a great marketing technique to promote this product, but it all comes down to the usability factor.

It is very much possible that you will get bored with Glass after a few days’ use. If the use of a product is difficult, it is bound to fail. In our opinion, the only way any voice-activated product can become popular is by making the voice recognition system perfect. Since that is not the case, we expect Google Glass not to make any big impact in our lives.

[Image: TechRadar, DigitalTrends]

Remembering the Past: Samsung Galaxy S Series Phones

jamesg Leave a comment

After Apple introduced us to the world of iPhone in 2007, it became kind of a household name and grew to be the most popular smartphone in the history of smartphones. Other companies like Nokia, BlackBerry, and Samsung were struggling to come up with an innovation that could shake the iPhone empire. Android came forth and started a revolution as we know it. Android’s diversity in the form of an open source mobile operating system, licensable to OEMs made it a huge success. The Google Play app store helped a lot.

When OEMs like Sony, HTC, and Samsung came up with all kinds of amazing hardware and software innovations to work with the Android operating system, a multi-tasking PC-like platform was possible outside Apple. This did really popularize the smartphones. One important milestone in the smartphone revolution is the Galaxy series of phones introduced by Samsung, especially Galaxy S series, introduced back in 2010.

On Oct 26, 2011, Samsung announced that the Galaxy S phones—S and S II have sold over 30 million units. iPhone’s success should be read along with this. iPhone did sell far more units than Galaxy S and S II did. In the most recent quarter ended in , Apple did report 47.8 million iPhones were sold. We looked through the press releases made by Apple over time, and a total of 318.945 million iPhones were sold since its beginning in 2007.

That is the total number of iPhones sold, and it is ten times the sales of Galaxy S and S II combined.

Then came along, Galaxy S III. With one of the largest screens and quad-core processing power, Galaxy S III did achieve a monster sales record. It was in that Samsung made this announcement. Galaxy S III had made 30 million sales. In one of the recent press releases, Samsung announced S series phones have sold over 100 million units. By September and November last year, Samsung Galaxy S III was confirmed to be the highest selling smartphone in the market, surpassing iPhone as well.

There is no other smartphone in the history of smartphones that have come anywhere near the sales record of these two smartphone families, iPhone and Galaxy S.

Those Old Galaxy Devices

 

Galaxy S Series started off with the first device, back in 2010, known by that name, Galaxy S. Here it is.

Samsung Galaxy S

 

Briefly, the technical specifications were as follows: 4 inch Super AMOLED display, WVGA resolution (800×480 px), Samsung Exynos 3 processor (1 GHz single-core), 512 MB RAM, up to 16 GB storage, and running Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread operating system.

The phone is not powerful by today’s standards. In 2010, it was one of the smartphones with the highest configuration. The competition was iPhone 3GS, HTC Evo 4G, Droid Incredible (also from HTC), Nokia N8, etc. Although there were devices like Evo 4G with slightly superior hardware specifications, Galaxy S did make it to the top.

Then came Samsung Galaxy S II, in May 2011. The device sort of looks like iPhone (as do several other Samsung devices), and it spawned a long-lasting legal battle with Apple. Oddly enough, Galaxy S II was not regarded by Apple to be one of the infringing devices. Here is the S II for you to look at:

Samsung Galaxy S II

 

The tech specs were a major improvement over Galaxy S. S II in fact was the highest-specification device at the time of release, and became an instant hit. It is worth mentioning that Galaxy S II started the most prolific smartphone growth that Samsung is experiencing today. It had 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display (it is Super AMOLED Plus, as opposed to Super AMOLED on S III, and Plus is definitely better) 480×800 px, Exynos 4 dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, Android Gingerbread (upgradable to 4.1 Jelly Bean), 1 GB RAM, 16/32 GB storage, 8 MP camera, etc.

It did have competition in the form of iPhone 4, Motorola Droid Bionic (Verizon’s Droid), HTC Evo 3D, Sony Xperia Play, LG Nitro HD, Motorola Atrix 4G, etc., to name a few. A few devices released after S II’s launch, such as iPhone 4S and 2012’s release of Nokia Lumia 900 also came with amazing technical specifications.

About time when Samsung started to feel that Galaxy S II was losing out on technical specs, they made a slightly modified version available, in the form of Galaxy S II Skyrocket on the AT&T network. It did have slightly modified features like a 4.5 inch screen and Snapdragon 1.2 GHz processor (that supports LTE better). Another recent modification to the S II was released very recently in the form of Galaxy S II Plus.

Through fierce competition, Galaxy S II emerged as a highly popular device, and has sold 40 million units as of . These amazing achievements do set the Galaxy S family apart.

Galaxy S III

 

Samsung Galaxy S III

 

Samsung Galaxy S II’s amazing success paved way for Samsung to come up with a better, more advanced, faster challenger, known as Galaxy S III. Before the launch of S III, Samsung did launch another of its most successful products—Samsung Galaxy Note. Galaxy S III had a smaller screen than Note, and did not come with an S-pen. Still, Galaxy S III, just as supposed, broke all sales records.

One or two very important aspects behind Samsung’s success are its high-end configuration with Galaxy S II at the time of availability, and its strong hold on the Super AMOLED display technology, regarded to be one of the best of mobile display technologies. Things that don’t favor Samsung are its build quality and battery life (which I suppose you could rectify with an updated firmware and other steps).

Galaxy S III was unveiled on , more than one year after S II was released. Galaxy S IV’s launch of today is relatively early, you should know. It was released with one of the greatest technical specifications of all smartphones in the industry. It is almost a phablet with its 4.8 inch screen.

While the edge design is not personally appealing to me, the smartphone excels in more factors than any other smartphone in the industry to date. Briefly, the technical specifications are Exynos 4 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4 GHz (or Snapdragon S4 1.5 GHz dual-core), 4.8 inch Super AMOLED HD (720p), 8 MP camera, up to 32 GB storage and 64 GB SDXC, 1/2 GB RAM, Android 4.0.4 ICS (upgradable to Jelly Bean), NFC, 4G LTE, etc.

The phone is available in all major carriers, and in 145 countries, two important factors behind its immense success. In some countries, the phone has 2 GB of RAM as well. It built on the platform provided by Galaxy S II and became so popular. By , the smartphone has sold over 40 million units. We don’t have the most recent sales figures from Cupertino, but it is safe to assume Galaxy S III has become the most feared competitor of Apple.

In Conclusion

 

Galaxy S series is continuing. Within a few hours from now, at 7 pm Eastern Daylight time, in the Times Square, New York City, Samsung is unveiling the next Galaxy S smartphone. The unveiling is a little early as compared to S III’s release. It is an exciting time for smartphone buffs around the world. We have a lot of information as to what is expected of the device.

You can watch the unveiling live through Samsung’s YouTube channel.

In the last few days, we have been hearing a lot about 4.99 inch Super AMOLED Plus display (yes Plus is coming back), eye-tracking feature, 13 MP camera, 8-core processor, and a few others, on S IV. Everything that we have been hearing about will be clear within a few hours. You can follow me on Twitter @bluebugletech to know the latest about Galaxy S IV.

To get the Galaxy devices, go to: Galaxy S Phones from Amazon Wireless.