samsung

Samsung not having a press conference at MWC 2012: Its exciting products not to be very exciting?

February 8, 2012 | By Surur

Samsung has confirmed to PCMag that while they will have a presence at Mobile World Congress 2012 they will not be hosting a press conference there.

In a statement last week however they still said:

"Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012."

The company has confirmed it will not be announcing its new Galaxy S III handset there, and there has been a rumour that they may announce a high end Windows Phone for Europe there.

Without a press conference this seems somewhat unlikely, but still not impossible.

Are our readers still holding out for a high end Samsung Windows Phone for Europe? Let us know below.

Thanks Arun for the tip.

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Samsung may concentrate on Windows Phone at MWC 2012

January 26, 2012 | By Surur

There is a rumour that Samsung will not unveil the successor to their flagship range, the Samsung Galaxy III, at Mobile World Congress 2012, out of deference for the US market, which tend to get handsets much later than Europe.

The Verge notes it is possible then will spend more time on tablets and also Windows Phones at the conference, possibly in conjunction with a Microsoft announcement.

There have been rumours of a high end Samsung Windows Phone coming to the European market, which so far has had to make do with the mid-range Samsung Omnia W. MWC 2012 would of course be the perfect place to announce this.

Either way it looks to be an interesting few days in Barcelona in a month or so.

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Something “wonderful” coming from Samsung to Europe, and it will not be the Samsung Focus S

January 14, 2012 | By Surur

starchild Professeur Thibault has tapped his sources in France and confirmed that the Samsung Focus S will never come to Europe.

Apparently this is due to carriers feeling the handsets bears too close a resemblance to the incredibly popular Samsung Galaxy S 2, and they did not need the same handset running Windows Phone 7 (heaven forbid they give us a choice of operating system).

All hope is however not lost. The same source said Samsung had other Windows Phones at it’s roadmap, with original design, and that these “should be wonderful".

I can hardly wait.

So it begins! Samsung SMART WIFI camera range will upload directly to SkyDrive

January 12, 2012 | By Surur

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Samsung has announced a new range of super-zoom cameras which come equipped with sensors such as GPS, digital compasses and connectivity via WIFI which enables a range of features, including automatic back-up of pictures taken.

The WB850F, WB150F and ST200F allows users from any Wi-Fi hotspot, to email photos or share them on social networks such as Facebook and Picasa or post videos to YouTube in a few simple steps.

The camera’s Digital Compass can also give users their location and tell them how far they are from certain locations, while the MapView function allows users to download maps and use their camera to help explore new cities.

To us the most interesting feature is the ability to upload pictures directly to SkyDrive. With Windows 8 featuring heavy SkyDrive integration, especially in the picture gallery, and of course similar with Windows Phone 7, any pictures taken will automatically show up on devices.

Bring along SkyDrive enabled electronic picture frames and the whole photo taking circle is complete. Hopefully we will see many more devices with such SkyDrive-based connectivity enabled.

Will this be a feature our readers will be looking for in their next camera? Let us know below.

Read Samsung’s press release here.

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Samsung adds Windows Phone 7 MOVL Smart TV support

January 9, 2012 | By Surur

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Samsung has its own Smart Connected TV platform for creating apps which work across mobile devices and TVs also.

The MOVL Connect Platform allows developers to build multi-screen, multi-user, cross-platform apps with tools like HTML, JavaScript, Java (Android), ObjectiveC (iOS), Flash (AS2, AS3). The Platform establishes the infrastructure between the TV and the mobile device controllers and enables one to easily transfer data between both the host and the controllers.

Until very recently the service only supported iOS, Android and web Apps, but it appears the company has recently added Windows Phone 7 support, if the icon on their page is anything to go by.

Hopefully we will soon see some Windows Phone 7 apps which communicate accross both the big and small screen which do not rely on Microsoft for its 3 screen functionality. I expect we will hear more at CES soon.

Read more about the technology at connect.movl.com.

Thanks Ahmad for the tip.

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Samsung’s ChatON app coming to Windows Phone 7 also. Update: Or maybe not

January 7, 2012 | By Surur

mzl.qqakdfnr It should never really have been a question, given that Samsung also manufactures Windows Phone 7 handsets, but at the time of its announcement Windows Phone 7 was conspicuous in its absence from the list of supported operating systems for Samsung’s proprietary cross-platform chat client.

According the TNW however Samsung, who has just released their iOS client for the service, will also soon release a version of Windows Phone 7 and Blackberry, and that the software is already in development.

The software already has between 100,000 and 500,000 installs on Android, and given the success Samsung has been having recently in the smartphone arena, selling around 35 million handsets in the last quarter, this number will likely just increase, which makes it important for Windows Phone 7 users not to be excluded from another growing network.

Update: or maybe not. Contrary to TNW’s report, ChatON on Facebook says they currently have no plans to develop for WP7.

ChatON’s FB team does not know what’s going on in the labs, but it seems we should not hold our breath.

Thanks Michael for the tip.

Via TNW.com

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Samsung Trying To Copy Nokia Lumia Taxi Marketing Program In India

December 28, 2011 | By Pradeep

Nokia is promoting its Lumia Windows Phone devices heavily in India. Starting from newspapers, magazines, Internet, shopping malls and some innovative marketing practices such as offering Lumia Taxi drives, Copter rides, etc,. The Nokia Lumia Taxis offer free ride for people to their destinations or they can choose to any other Nokia planned surprise places such as Helicopter rides, etc,. Now Samsung is following Nokia’s footsteps by introducing Samsung Omnia W Taxi’s in competition to Lumia Taxis. Let the marketing war between Nokia and Samsung begin ! !

FYI, Nokia Lumia 710 and Samsung Omnia W competes directly in their class of devices with both of them offered around Rs.17,000-Rs.20000.

Source: Fonearena

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Samsung mocks iPhone buyers

November 23, 2011 | By Surur

There is a very real war going on between Samsung and Apple; in the market, where Samsung recently overtook Apple as biggest smartphone shipper, and the courts, where Samsung is uniformly being hammered.

Samsung has now taken it to the airwaves, with a commercial mocking dedicated iPhone buyers who actually queue for each new iteration of the device, even if its only marginal, like the iPhone 4S.

While Samsung is not promoting anything Windows Phone in the ad, I think our readers can appreciate running into both Android and iPhone users who would never dream of trying a Windows Phone, despite the better experience, simply because of their allegiance to their current OS.

Do our readers think Microsoft should be running a similar campaign, or would it make Microsoft look bad? Let us know below.

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Microsoft poaches Samsung VP to lead Windows Phone 7 team

November 7, 2011 | By Surur

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Samsung has been killing it in the last few years, and Microsoft is hoping some of that goodness rubs off by acquiring their VP of of consumer and enterprise services Gavin Kim to head the Windows Phone as General Manager.

His remit: “I will be responsible to help set the future direction for the Windows Phone platform and to accelerate Microsoft’s trajectory to win the hearts and minds of consumers, carriers, device manufacturers, developers and partners,”

“In my experience, there is an already fervent base of Windows Phone supporters out there and they all get it. They are passionate, and already very vocal about it … so, it is really my new job to make sure we reflect that message clearly in our product and marketing collaborations with all of our partners to create more Windows Phone believers.”

Kim will work to make Windows Phone a top choice among consumers.

“Each time a consumer goes to buy a smartphone from a carrier or retail store, Windows Phone has to be on their short list. And, with the Windows Phone 7.5 release, I think Microsoft is closing the gap rapidly and removing all doubt about their place in mobile.”

Hopefully this will also involve some more goodies from the Samsung smartphone stable running Windows Phone.

“Samsung has a very bright future ahead of itself,” Kim said. “They have brought to market fantastic products, have a coveted technology innovation pipeline, and are committed to bringing these innovations to consumers across a vast consumer electronics portfolio. There is a tremendous amount of synergy between Microsoft and Samsung and the relationship between the companies will only continue to grow stronger and more collaborative over time.”

“I see this as an amazing opportunity to work with industry talents like Andy Lees, Chris Capossela, Terry Myerson, Joe Belfiore, Achim Berg, and others, to build on their incredible successes and continue to move the ball forward here in the US and globally,” he explained. “I anticipate I’m going to learn a lot from them, and I hope to equally contribute my experience back.”

“The fact that I’ve chosen to join the team means we get along well, we believe in each other’s capabilities, and we share a common vision, attitude, and belief about the products and partnerships that the team is creating. And, probably most importantly, we all want to win.”

Read the full interview at BGR here.

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Samsung Focus S Only For US And Samsung Omnia W Coming To Europe In December

October 31, 2011 | By Pradeep

Samsung Belgium has tweeted in reply the question on whether Focus S will come to Belgium(is in Europe) that Samsung Focus S is launched only in US. So probably we won’t see Samsung Focus S in Europe anytime soon. They also said that Samsung Omnia W device is coming to Europe in December. This may be a disappointing news for some Windows Phone fans who are waiting for this 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus device in Europe. I guess Nokia Lumia 800 may win some of them ! !

Source: Michael

Thanks Michael for the heads up.

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Samsung Focus S and Flash official product pages live, reveals that Flash is identical to Omnia W

October 27, 2011 | By andrewbares

The Official Samsung website was updated recently to include the Focus S and Focus Flash, two new upcoming Windows Phones.

Nothing extremely new is revealed from their website other than the complete dimmensions info and weight info for the two phones. However, the dimmensions for the Focus Flash match exactly with the Omnia W, which tells us that Samsung will finally be releasing the same device in both United States and Europe, rather than what they did with the original Focus and Omnia, where there were two different designs.

The Samsung website also has a new image gallery featuring the front, sides, and back of the phone. Visit Samsung’s Focus S or Focus Flash page to view the new images.

The Samsung Focus S is an upcoming Windows Phone with a 4.3” S-AMOLED Plus screen, HSPA+ data speeds, and a 1.4 GHz single-core processor. The phone has an 8-megapixel rear camera, a front-facing camera, gyro sensor, and is only 8.5 mm thick. Storage size and release date is currently unknown, but the phone will definitely be coming to the United States through AT&T. The Focus S currently does not have an Omnia sibling. Full specs…

The Samsung Focus Flash is an upcoming Windows Phone with a 3.7” S-AMOLED screen, HSPA+ data speeds, and a 1.4 GHz single-core processor. The phone has a 5-megapixel rear camera, a front-facing camera, gyro sensor, and 8 GB of storage. Release date is currently unknown, but the phone will definitely be coming to the United States through AT&T. The Focus Flash will be released as the “Omnia W” in other countries. Full specs…

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Samsung’s video call app can call other standard 3G video phones

September 29, 2011 | By Reloaded

Long before the iPhone 4 came out with video calling and changed the world again, forever, there were in fact phones that could make video calls, and their solution was completely cross-platform, using a certified standard.

Harkening back to those days, Samsung’s video calling app in fact uses the same 3G video calling standards as those days of old.

This is both good and bad. Good because you can call any 3G dumb phone which can make video calls, something the iPhone cant. Its however bad, as those calls tend to be charged more expensively, but prices have come down significantly over the last 5 years.

The app only works on Samsung’s new devices with front facing cameras.

Microsoft signs Samsung up as Android licensee, wins closer collaboration on Windows Phone

September 28, 2011 | By Surur

Brad Smith, Microsoft’s general counsel, has just tweeted the above rather celebratory message. It appears Microsoft has been successful in its patent negotiations with Samsung, which was rumoured to involve a license fee between $5 and $15 per Android handset.

Brad clearly sees this as the start of a chain reaction, tweeting:

Under today’s agreement, Microsoft will receive royalties for Samsung’s mobile phones and tablets running Android. Today’s agreement demonstrates we now have a clear path forward for resolving the industry’s mobile patent issues. #clearpathforward. While we haven’t yet reached the beginning of the end of mobile patent issues, perhaps we have now reached the end of the beginning.

With the largest Android OEMS, HTC and Samsung, both licensing Android, the rest of the industry, excluding Motorola, are very likely to fall in line, resulting in a handy revenue stream for Microsoft and an increased incentive for OEMs to user Windows Phone 7.

The interesting part of course is how this will affect the Samsung/Apple litigation, but Apple’s aggressive moves against Samsung were likely critical in giving the giant OEM the the final push to signing up.

It seems also this would put the nail in the coffin of the rumours that Samsung was ending Windows Phone 7 development (possibly spread by Samsung themselves as a negotiating tactic) and we can look forward to some great thin and light Windows Phones from the company in the future.

Update: See the official press release after the break:

Continue reading →

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