QuickPWN » Samsung

Samsung Epic 4G Release Date Likely On August 20

Hans — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 22:31:40 +0000

The Samsung Epic 4G release date is most likely on August 20. This has been indirectly confirmed on the Samsung Product Support website. If you go here, you will see a box which shows that the Samsung Epic 4G phone show is scheduled to be released on August 20.

Samsung released their previous Samsung Galaxy S phones on the same date that their other shows were released. You can check out our review of a Samsung Galaxy S phone on the Samsung Galaxy S review page.

The Samsung Epic 4G is the only Samsung Galaxy S phone with a slide out physical keyboard, and support for 4G from Sprint. If you’re on Sprint and love Android, this is the phone that you should get.

Samsung GALAXY S Review

Hans — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 02:46:14 +0000

As soon as I unboxed the Samsung GALAXY S which Samsung provided to me for reviewing, I noticed that the phone looked really thin. I held the phone in my hand and it felt incredibly light. The phone weighs 119g. Dimensions of this phone are 122.5 x 64.2 x 9.99mm. (Quick Note: I’m referring to the phone as Samsung with “GALAXY S” in all caps, because that’s how Samsung spells it on their official site and on the phone cover, manual, etc.)

THE KILLER FEATURE: AMOLED SCREEN

Make no mistake, despite being incredibly light-weight and thin, Samsung has packed really powerful technology in this mobile phone. The first thing you notice when you turn on this phone is it’s amazing 4-inch Super AMOLED (Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emitting Diode) display. With the Super AMOLED screen, the Samsung GALAXY S has 80% less reflection (according to Samsung), and I’d have to agree with that. I don’t even see any reflection when I’m using the Samsung GALAXY S indoors. The Samsung GALAXY S is also usable outside thanks to the AMOLED screen.

HARDWARE DESIGN

The hardware design of Samsung GALAXY S, reminds me of the iPhone 3GS. It looks similar in some ways. On the top you will find the USB charging port and a headphone jack. On the left you will find the volume slider. On the right you will find the power button. I didn’t like the fact that the power button was on the right rather than the bottom because I’m so used to reaching up to the top to turn on or turn off a phone. The front of the Samsung GALAXY S has a camera on the top, and three buttons on the bottom. The first button is the context menu button, the second button lets you select or exit an app, or multi-task, and the third button on the right is the back button.

KEYBOARD

Although there is no physical QWERTY keyboard on the Samsung Galaxy S, I still liked typing on the phone. I was able to dictate what I wanted to type using the voice to text feature. The virtual on screen keyboard was also really easy to use. The one feature I liked the most was the “Swype” feature. Swype is a very quick, and convenient new way to type. You can drag and type text with Swype.

OPERATING SYSTEM

The Samsung GALAXY S uses Google’s Android 2.1 (ECLAIR) operating system, with a polished and better looking user interface which Samsung calls Touchwiz. Samsung has also created it’s own set of widgets that can be added to the home screen. There are also animated “live wallpapers” that can be added to your home screen. Samsung has added their own live wallpapers as well in addition to the default ones that Google provided. I found the custom Touchwiz user interface more pleasing to use than the regular Android skin found on other Android phones.

With the 1 GHz processor, opening and closing apps on the Samsung GALAXY S was really fast. I tried the Asphalt 5 3D game, and found that the graphics and the speed of it was excellent. The Asphalt 5 3D game ran without any lags.

Samsung has also included what i calls the “Layar Reality Browser”. With the Layar Reality Browser allows you to use your camera to find places around you, whether they are restaurants, coffee shops, twitter followers, etc. This feature was fun to use, and it was accurate as well. I found that 5 people on Twitter live near me thanks to this app!

CAMERA

There is a web camera on the front of the phone and a 5 mega-pixel camera with 720p HD video recording on the back. The camera picture quality is good, but Samsung made a huge mistake. Samsung did not include flash on the camera. There are 10 different shooting modes: Single shot, Self shot, Beauty, Smile shot, Continuous, Panorama, Vintage, Action shot, Add me, and Cartoon. There are also 11 different scene modes: Portrait, Landscape, Night, Sports, Party/Indoor, Beach/Snow, Sunset, Dawn, Fall colour, Firework, and Text. There are three different focus modes: Auto focus, Macro, and Face Detection.

I was able to video chat with the Samsung GALAXY S camera using the Fring application.

PICTURE GALLERY

[Show as slideshow]

CONCLUSION

The Samsung GALAXY S is the best Android phone that I’ve tried to date. The AMOLED screen, the thin and light-weight hardware design, and the speedy 1 GHz processor are the three reasons I would go with this phone. If you are an iPhone user and looking to switch to another phone, this should be the first phone you should consider.

Samsung Rogue On Sale Now through Verizon

Doug — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 21:13:25 +0000

Well, at least according to Verizon’s ad on Yahoo and Google, the Samsung Rogue is on sale right now. The Samsung Rogue was rumored to be released yesterday but it wasn’t.

A search for “Samsung Rogue” on Google shows the following ad by Verizon:

As you can see the headline says The Samsung Rogue™ and the description says “With Touch Screen and Video Camera. Get Free Shipping. Official Site.“. I went ahead and clicked the link but that redirected me to a 404 error page on Verizon.

A search on Yahoo also brings up an ad for the Samsung Rogue.

The headline is the same but this time the description says “With Touch Screen and Video Camera. On Sale Now. Official Site.“.

I clicked the Yahoo link and it brings me to the same 404 error page as well. Either Verizon put up the ads too early or they will be releasing the Samsung Rogue and adding it to the website soon. I’ll make a post when the Samsung Rogue is really available.

Samsung Rogue, not available on Verizon Wireless today!

Doug — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 21:21:07 +0000

The Samsung Rogue replaces the Samsung Glyde 2. According to a leaked document that was sent to Phone Arena, the Samsung Rogue was supposed to launch today on Verizon wireless. Of course this is just a rumor, but I still decided to go ahead and check with my Verizon Wireless store. Unfortunately it was not available. I searched the Verizon Wireless website and it didn’t show up there either.

A lot of other Samsung fans were expecting to see the Samsung Rogue today, but it looks like we will need to wait. I’m sure it will launch some time this week. I’ll be keeping an eye on when this phone launches and will update here once it’s out. I’ll also post a Samsung Rogue review as well once it’s released.

For now you can see a picture of the Samsung Rogue below.

Samsung Rogue Specs

The Samsung Rogue has a full QWERTY keyboard, AMOLED screen, 3 megapixel camera, 3.5 mm headset jack, HTML browser, stereo Bluetooth, memory card slot that allows microSDHC cards up to 16 GB in size, and a TouchWiz interface.

Samsung Rogue Price

The price of the Samsung Rogue is not known yet.

[Image via Phone Arena]

Best Buy $9.99 Samsung LN52a650 HD TV

Hans — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 14:36:20 +0000

Did you notice the Best Buy $9.99 TV? Apparently Best Buy is listing a Samsung LN52a650 52″ HD TV for $9.99 on their online website.

Update: This was indeed an error, and Best Buy has now fixed the price. They will be refunding orders with this price. Here’s what Best Buy Rep, Jacob said in a tweet:

“I’m sorry to say but it was a mistake and is being corrected. Any orders with that price will be canceled and refunded.” – via @jacob_bby

We’re not sure if the $9.99 is a typo or not, but for $9.99 the LN52a650 HD TV does look like a good deal at first glance. Add this item to your cart and see what happens.

Yes, that’s right. There’s a $70 delivery charge! You have to pay at least $80 for this deal. $80 for a 52″ HD TV sounds like a good deal to me. If you want one, get it now! It looks like it’ll sell out fast.

Buy the Samsung LN52a650 HD TV

Best Buy $9.99 LN52A650 HD TV Specs

Height: 31-7/10″Width: 50-1/5″
Weight: 64.6 lbs.
Depth: 4-1/10″
Screen Size: 52″
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Display Type: Flat-panel LCD
Maximum Resolution: 1920 x 1080
Vertical Resolution: 1080p
Contrast Ratio: 50,000:1
Brightness: 550 cd/m
550 cd/m²
USB Port
4 HDMI Inports
1 S-Video Input
2 Component Video Inputs
2 Composite Inputs
1 PC input
2 RF Antenna Inputs
Headphone Jacks
Watts/Channel: 10
2 Speakers
Simulated Surround
Sound Leveler
V-Chip
Sleep/Alarm Timer
Remote Control Type
Energy Star Qualified
Screen Refresh Rate: 120 Hz

[via Best Buy]

Samsung Omnia 2 coming to Verizon August 23

Doug — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 01:38:17 +0000

The Samsung Omnia 2 is coming to Verizon on August 23, at least according to The Boy Genius Report who have a “trusted mole” at Best Buy mobile. A leaked document reveals other phones that will be launching on Verizon as well.

Samsung Omnia 2 Specs

65K WVGA AMOLED Display (3.7 inch, 480 x 800) — The largest AMOLED display in a phone!
Advanced R-type Touch Screen
Windows Mobile 6.1 Professional (upgradeable to Windows Mobile 6.5)
5-megapixel camera with autofocus, face-detection, and geotagging and a photo editor
Video recording at 30fps at 720 x 480, and video editor (allows you to trim videos, audio dubbing, live dubbing, add subtitle)
Supported Audio: MP3, AAC, WMA WMDRM, OMA DRM 2.1, and FM radio
Supported Video: DivX, XviD, H.263, H.264, WMV9, and MPEG4
A-GPS with Navigation (3D Map)/LBS
TouchWiz 2.0 UI with Mobile Widget/3D Media Gate
Multitask manager/3D Interactive Games
Bluetooth Setereo Headset (AD2P)
WiFi
2GB/8GB/16GB of internal memory (3 different models)
microSDHC expansion slot up to 32 GB
10 hours (3G) talk time
430 hours (3G) standby time
Samsung Omnia 2Dimensions: 4.65 x 2.36 x 0.47 inches (HWD)

Here is a list of other smartphones launching on Verizon on August 23rd as well, according to the leaked document:

Global Aircard (G2)
Samsung Rogue
LG Chocolate Touch
Samsung u450 Intensity

[via CNET and The Boy Genius Report]

Samsung Instinct s50 launching on September 3?

Doug — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 00:04:56 +0000

According to a document a tipster sent to Phone Arena, Sprint’s Samsung Instinct s50 smartphone will be launching on Thursday, September 3. Not much information has been revealed about the Instinct S50, but we’ll keep you updated as more details of the Instinct S50 emerge.

Samsung Instinct s50 in leaked document

Other phones in this document include Samsung M240, Samsung M330, HTC Touch Pro 2, and the LG Rumor (Orange).

[via Phone Arena]