We go hands-on with the Samsung Galaxy S III
With the fanfare including Jessica Mauboy, a live orchestra performance and a whole lot of hype, Samsung today officially launched its hotly-anticipated Galaxy S III smartphone in Australia.
At a lavish event at Sydney's Capitol Theatre, Samsung spent most of its time telling us all about the phone's new features, most of which we've known since it was officially unveiled in London. Features aside, just how much of a first impression does the Galaxy S III make? Thankfully, we've got our hands on arguably the most-hyped smartphone of 2012 so far to tell you!
A very positive first impression
Samsung officially announced the Galaxy S III in London earlier this month, but today was the first time we've been able to get our hands on it. Much has been said about the Galaxy S III's design, but we can assure you that in no way, shape or form does this feel like a cheap device. Despite its plastic construction, the Galaxy S III doesn't creak or rattle when pressed and the fit and finish is as good as most flagship smartphones on the market.
The Galaxy S III's rounded shape is in stark contrast to its predecessor, the Galaxy S II, which uses a much squarer design. Critics have said this makes the Galaxy S III look like a toy and harks back to the design of older phones. We disagree with both of these statements.
Firstly, the Galaxy S III feels very comfortable to hold in your hand and is much easier to use single-handedly than its major competitors, the HTC One X and the One XL. The slightly concave design and light weight only further add a comfortable feel. In our experience, the Galaxy S III's design makes it easy to reach most of the screen, though its long length means its still a slight stretch to tap near the top of the display. This will obviously depend on the size of your hands and fingers.
Speaking of the display, the Galaxy S III's Super AMOLED HD screen is one of the best on the market. It has a slightly less pixels per inch rating (ppi) compared to the HTC One X/XL, but it doesn't look inferior. We haven't had a chance to do any extensive testing, but text on Web pages is crisp and clear with no visible aberrations and images are bright and vivid with excellent colour reproduction.
One thing that hasn't changed in Samsung devices is the company's insistence on a flexible battery cover. As you can see in our image below, the Galaxy S III uses a similar manufactured cover as its predecessor did. Despite looking like a piece of flimsy plastic in photos, the flexible cover isn't a negative and clips on securely.
Blazing performance
From the moment you pick up the Galaxy S III one thing is very clear — this is a super fast phone. There is no evident lag in basic user operations, like swiping through home screens, scrolling through lists, opening Web pages in the browser and closing apps.
Samsung's latest version of TouchWIZ, the user interface layer that sits over the top of the Android UI, is impressive on first glance. We particularly noted that it scrolls through home screens with impressive speed, even if we filled the screens with as many widgets as possible.
One disappointment is Samsung's lock screen, which still lags on occasion. There's often a clear 1-2 second delay when pressing the power or home button to wake the screen from sleep, especially if you haven't unlocked the screen for a while. We've seen the same issue on both the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Note, so it appears Samsung still hasn't resolved this issue, even if it is a minor one.
We'll have a full review of the Galaxy S III in the coming days, along with a closer look at other issues, like battery life, Samsung's S-Voice software and a number of other exclusive Galaxy S III features. In the meantime, if there's anything you'd like to ask us about the Galaxy S III, let us know in the comments below!
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Vodafone Smart II – 3.2″ Android phone for £70 - Euro Droid
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Vodafone UK has just announced a new, own-brand Android model, in the form of the Vodafone Smart II. It’ll arrive running Android 2.3 on a 3.2″ display, with a 3.15 megapixel camera and, useful at this price point, an LED flash. It comes ...T-Mobile Challenges Verizon’s Spectrum Claims - NationalJournal.com
T-Mobile is challenging Verizon’s claim that it is the most efficient user of spectrum, pointing to a study it commissioned that found Verizon comes in last, when certain factors are included, compared to the three other biggest wireless providers.
The study is aimed at refuting Verizon’s claim that it is the most efficient user of the nation’s airwaves and, therefore, should be allowed to buy spectrum from a group of cable companies.
T-Mobile opposes Verizon’s deal to buy spectrum from a joint venture made up of Bright House Networks, Comcast and Time Warner Cable and, in a separate deal, from Cox Communications. The Federal Communications Commission is weighing whether to approve the spectrum transaction.
“Rather than being the most efficient carrier, which Verizon had claimed, we’ve found ... they are the least efficient of the four carriers,” Dennis Roberson, a research professor in computer science at Illinois Institute of Technology who also runs a wireless technology consulting firm, said during a conference call Thursday.
T-Mobile argues that Verizon, the No. 1 wireless provider, is stockpiling spectrum to keep it out of the hands of its smaller rivals such as T-Mobile.
The report examined how well Verizon, AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile use their airwaves based on the amount of spectrum they hold and the number of subscribers they serve with each megahertz of spectrum. Roberson said these are the same metrics Verizon has used to claim that it’s a thrifty user of spectrum. He noted that some of the data he used comes from Verizon’s own filings.
Roberson, however included some “correction” factors to arrive at his analysis. These include factoring in the number of smart phones on each provider’s network, which use 35 times as much bandwidth as a regular cell phone; how much subscribers use their phones; and the type of spectrum each carrier holds. Roberson noted that T-Mobile’s subscribers tend to use the most bandwidth compared with the other carriers’ customers, while AT&T’s subscribers used the least.
When all three "corrections" are factored in, Verizon emerged as the least efficient user of spectrum. Absent these correction factors, Verizon emerged as the most efficient user of spectrum, Roberson said.
Verizon dismissed the study. “T-Mobile’s efforts to manipulate the numbers by putting its thumb on the scale to make itself look better are meritless and simply an attempt to distract from the fact that it and its parents at [Deutsche Telekom] made a conscious effort to pursue other paths while we continued to invest," a Verizon spokesman said in a statement.
"T-Mobile cannot contest and has not even tried to contest our customers’ need for additional spectrum given their growing demand for and use of spectrum-intensive high speed broadband apps and services."
T-Mobile is part of a new coalition launched earlier this month to oppose or gain concessions on the spectrum deal and joint marketing agreements between Verizon and the cable companies. In an FCC filing Wednesday, the Alliance for Broadband Competition, which includes Sprint, Public Knowledge and groups representing small wireless operators, weighed in on the marketing deals between Verizon and the cable firms.
“These new relationships have changed market dynamics in significant ways by giving the parties strong incentives to cooperate rather than compete,” the alliance wrote. “Verizon’s decision to compromise its own broadband product just as it gains access to what had been the primary competing product demonstrates the potential these Commercial Agreements have to reshape competition in a variety of markets.”
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T-Mobile USA Readying HTC One S Software Update - Softpedia
The carrier already published the update’s changelog and announced it would start the rollout on June 4. Furthermore, the update will be pushed OTA (over the air) through July 7.
The new software version is 1.84.531.2 710RD and it resolves goodbye splash not appearing when powering off due to low battery and voicemail indicator not appearing while using Wi-Fi calling.
The update also improves Wi-Fi Calling feature and camera’s stability. Last but not least, it resolves signal fluctuation.
T-Mobile USA HTC One S owners who do not want to wait for the OTA can update immediately through the settings menu.
Samsung Galaxy S3 vs iPhone 4S: Smartphone showdown - T3.com
Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Apple iPhone 4S: Camera
Apple iPhone 4S
The camera's had a major overhaul, now capable of taking eight-megapixel stills and recording 1080p video. Apple claims upgrades to the optics allow for more light, better colours and improved white-balancing. We didn't dismantle the 4S to find out, but did take a range of shots in a variety of conditions to test the assertion.
Photos are crisper, no question, but it can't compete with traditional cameras with bigger lenses in low light. You can now choose to have a grid on the screen when taking shots, perform basic image-editing within the Camera Roll and jump straight to the camera function via a shortcut.
iOS 5 brings with it the option to use the '+' button as shutter when taking landscape shots. Face detection is also an upgrade and works well.
The 1080p, 30fps camera is impressive. Clarity and detail are excellent and the A5 processor allows for image stabilisation of the go. Shaky hand, be gone. We played back footage on our 47-inch TV and, even in full screen, video quality was great. We can hear the home camcorder industry wincing from here.
Samsung Galaxy S3
The rumoured 12MP camera sadly does not make an appearance. Instead the Galaxy S3 arrives with a perfectly reasonable 8MP/1080p camera, exactly the same as that on the HTC One X.
In burst mode, the camera takes contiunous shots at a rate of 6fps, then picks the best shot based on smile detection, blink detection, contrast and blurring. According to Samsung, the camera also has zero shutter lag along with an improved shot-to-shot time.
You'll be able to set up rules for photos to be automatically placed in groups based on faces, contacts or location. There's also Face Zoom which means that you can tap on a face when lining up a crowd shot and the camera will zoom in automatically. The lack of optical zoom means that this is going to be fairly limited, but we look forward to trying it out in the wild.
It also has a 1.9MP camera on the front, which suffices for profile pictures, video calls and the like. Curiously, that's actually smaller than the Galaxy S2's 2MP front camera sensor, but still a major improvement on the 4S' 0.3MP front-facing camera.
T3 Verdict: Samsung Galaxy S3
Samsung Galaxy S3 vs Apple iPhone 4S: Power
Apple iPhone 4S
The iPhone 4S is fired by a dual core A5 chip, which also has dual core graphics capabilities – that’s a x2 times faster CPU than the original iPhone 4 chip, according to Apple, and a whopping 7x faster graphics.
The faster A5 processor makes operating the device noticeably quicker when launching and re-launching apps and when using power-draining applications such as iMovie. Getting hands on with Notifications, Newsstand, iMessage and Reminders demonstrated to us just how much of a step up from iOS 4 it is.
The dual-core A5 is more than powerful enough to handle the components inside the iPhone 4S, but it doesn't stand up to the quad-core monsters being packed into Samsung and HTC's latest phones.
Samsung Galaxy S3
Samsung has put their own quad-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor into the Galaxy S3, and bolstered it with 1GB RAM. The quad-core processor certainly seemed to do the trick in the limited time that we had with the phone. There was barely any lag when switching between home screens and firing up apps.
Flash memory is available in 16, 32 and 64 GB versions, improving on the S2's 16GB offering, while there's also a micro SD card slot should you wish to expand the memory. There's also 50GB of free storage for your content on Dropbox for the next years, which is double what HTC is offering on its HTC One X.
T3 Verdict: Samsung Galaxy S3
The Best Large-Cap Income Opportunity I Can Recall - msnbc.com
LONDON -- Representing about 6% of the FTSE 100, Vodafone is one of the biggest and best dividend-payers in the blue-chip index -- and that payout is growing at an impressive rate. Throw in special dividends, and Vodafone could be the best income opportunity in years. For 2011, shareholders received 8.9 pence per share from Vodafone. For the year ending March 2012, this figure rocketed to a massive 13.52 pence.
There are two reasons for this large rise: growth in Vodafone's ordinary dividend and a 4 pence special dividend for 2012.
Dazzling dividend
For 2010, Vodafone's dividend was 8.31 pence per share. Around that time, the company announced its intention to grow the payout by 7% per annum for the next three years. If Vodafone can meet this target for 2013 (Vodafone has a March year-end, so we are in Vodafone's fiscal 2013 now), then the ordinary part of the dividend would hit 10.2 pence per share. At today's share price, that alone is nearly a 6% yield.
The kicker here is the possibility that the additional 4 pence special dividend may be repeated. The special dividend came from Verizon Wireless. Verizon Wireless is a U.S. mobile-network operator formed as a joint venture between Vodafone and Verizon Communications. Vodafone owns 45% of Verizon Wireless, and Verizon Communications owns the rest.
Verizon holds the key
Until recently, Verizon Wireless had been using the cash flows in its business to finance acquisitions and investments. This changed last year when the company announced it would pay its owners a dividend. Vodafone's share of this amounted to 2.8 billion pounds for 2012, which it then used to pay its own shareholders a 2 billion pound special dividend.
Vodafone is the junior partner in Verizon Wireless. Verizon Communications decides whether the joint venture pays a dividend or not. To ascertain the future income stream Vodafone represents, investors must get a measure of the probability and magnitude of dividends from Verizon Wireless.
I spoke with Tom Gidley-Kitchin, the Vodafone analyst at stockbroker Charles Stanley. Tom researches Vodafone and its industry day in, day out. So how does he assess the dividend situation at Vodafone? Tom says:
Verizon Wireless has a net cash position. The company is also enjoying large revenue growth. Consensus estimates of Vodafone's future dividends reveal that a number of analysts are expecting special dividends to be paid during the next two years.
If Verizon Wireless pays Vodafone again in 2012, the dividend to Vodafone shareholders could hit 14.2 pence (10.2 pence in an ordinary dividend and 4 pence in the special). At today's price, that's a massive 8.4% yield. Normally, when a company is paying that level of dividend, there are concerns on its sustainability. Of course, Verizon Wireless might not pay out. Even in this scenario, however, Vodafone could still pay the normal 10.2 pence dividend.
Currently, it seems investors are looking at Vodafone in a "glass half-empty" way. More bullish investors might think that, just as Vodafone has increased its normal dividend to shareholders, it might be possible for Verizon Wireless to increase its dividend to Vodafone as well. No doubt the effect of Verizon Wireless has crossed the mind of City dividend legend Neil Woodford, who counts Vodafone as one his largest income holdings. You can read more about Neil Woodford's market-beating dividend portfolio in this free report: "8 Shares Held By Britain's Super Investor."
Vodafone is a dominant player in its markets. This position brings high visibility of earnings -- something investors usually pay a premium for. With the normal dividend already substantial and more special dividends on the horizon, Vodafone looks the best large-cap income opportunity I can recall.
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Samsung Galaxy S3 vs LG Viper 4G LTE: War of LTE Smartphones - ibtimes.co.uk
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Check out how the smartphones stack up:
Display
Samsung's Galaxy S3 features a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 1280x720 pixels at 306 pixel per inch (ppi). Its 4.8in screen will be covered by Corning Gorilla Glass 2 - the second generation protective layer that is up to 20 percent thinner enabling better touch responsiveness. It runs the TouchWiz 4.0 UI which offers visual improvements and gesture-based functionality like panning, turn-over, tilt and double tap.
The LG's Viper 4G LTE comes with a 4.0in capacitive touchscreen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels at 233 ppi.
Both smartphones support multi-touch functionality.
Processor
The Galaxy S3 is powered by the quad-core Exynos 4212 processor, which was clocked at 1.4GHz.
In contrast, the Viper 4G LTE is powered by a 1.2GHz dual-core processor.
Both the Galaxy S3 and Viper 4G LTE ship 1GB of RAM.
Camera
The Galaxy S3 features an eight megapixel rear-facing camera with auto-focus and LED flash. It sports geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization and simultaneous HD video and image recording. It offers video recording of 1080p and a front-facing camera of 1.9 megapixels.
The Viper 4G LTE boasts of a rear-facing camera of five megapixels with auto-focus and geo-tagging. It features a secondary VGA camera.
Operating System
The Samsung smartphone runs on Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich) while the LG smartphone runs on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread).
Storage
The Galaxy S3 comes in three internal storage variants - 16/32/64GB (the 64GB is expected to be available at a later date), whereas the Viper 4G LTE has only 4GB.
The Galaxy S3 has a microSD card slot with additional memory space of 64GB, whereas the Viper 4G LTE contains a microSD card with additional memory of 32GB.
Connectivity
The Galaxy S3 features Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, DLNA, Wi-Fi hotspot and Wi-Fi Direct that allows W-Fi enabled devices to connect to each other without a wireless access point. It offers support to Bluetooth 4.0 with A2DP and EDR wireless technology. The Viper 4G LTE, on the other hand, comes with Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n and Wi-Fi hotspot. It provides Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP.
Both the Galaxy S3 and Viper 4G LTE feature Near Field Communication.
Battery
The Galaxy S3 packs a Li-Ion 2100mAh standard battery that allows for talk time of up to 21 hours 40 minutes on 2G and 11 hours 40 minutes on 3G networks.
In comparison, the Viper 4G LTE comes with a Li-Ion 1700mAh standard battery that provides for talk time of up to seven hours.
Samsung Chromebook and Chromebox show off new Chrome OS - Crave
Google's given Chrome OS a makeover, introducing two new Samsung devices to run its refreshed web-based OS. The Samsung Series 5 550 is a new Chromebook laptop, while the Samsung Series 3 Chromebox is a miniature desktop computer powered by Google's cloud-based operating system.
The Series 5 550 packs an Intel Celeron processor, 4GB of RAM, as well as a memory card slot, 12.1-inch, 1,280x800-pixel display and a promised 6 hours of battery life.
The Chromebox, meanwhile, plays host to five USB ports, two display ports, DVI, Ethernet, an Intel Celeron processor and 4GB of RAM. PC World, Currys, John Lewis and Amazon are expected to sell the new gear, though current online details are scant. This John Lewis page at least has a price -- listing the Series 5 550 at £380, even if it does show the computer bearing a big Windows 7 logo.
Hardware aside, the main reason to be interested in these gadgets is that they're powered by Chrome OS, which has been given a revamp that introduces a Windows and Mac-style desktop.
That desktop shows all your apps, also letting you split your browsing into multiple windows -- a feature sorely missing from earlier editions.
Despite some apps that work offline, you still need a web connection to make the most of Google's operating system, which in my experience has more downsides than you might first imagine. There's no installing programs like Photoshop, Spotify or Windows Live Messenger, and the file system is crude, making it tough to shift files around.
I'm not convinced Chrome OS is there yet, but there are signs of progress, notably Google's promise to bring Google Docs offline support in the next few weeks, and Chrome apps that work offline.
My instinct is still that you'd be better served by a cheap laptop with the Chrome browser installed. We're working on getting full reviews of the new kit, so stay tuned for our official verdict, and check out the video below of our US cousins putting the new Chromebook through its paces.
Are you a fan of Chrome OS? Or should Google stick to search? Let me know in the comments, or on our Facebook wall.
Orange and T-Mobile owner Everything Everywhere unveils £50m 'tuition' plan - menmedia.co.uk
The owner of Orange and T-Mobile unveiled a £50m investment plan that will help customers know their BlackBerries and their Apples.
A new development academy will train up to 12,000 staff, ensuring stores and call centres have experts dedicated to specific devices and their operating systems, such as Apple iOS, BlackBerry, Android and Windows phones.
Everything Everywhere, which has a combined customer base of 27 million, said the move represented a "fundamental shift" in how mobile phones are sold by redesigning its customer service around handset operating systems.
Its investment plan aims to make staff experts in "all aspects of customers' digital lives" and has been sparked by the explosion in demand for smartphones.
Customer service staff will also be trained to answer other enquiries, such as billing without having to transfer customers between departments.
Chief customer officer Jackie O'Leary said: "It is our goal to create the best customer experience in the UK, so that customers can trust us with their digital lives."
The company, formed in 2010 by the merger of T-Mobile and Orange, is also refreshing and modernising its high street store estate.
It has already announced it will start selling both T-Mobile and Orange products across all of its stores. Earlier this year it started selling pre-pay T-Mobile dongles in Orange stores, and Orange broadband will be available in T-Mobile stores from this week.
Everything is spending more than £1.5bn over the next three years in bringing faster and more reliable coverage to its customers amid the boom in smartphones.
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