samsung

Samsung plans a hard-core Galaxy S4, says report

Samsung wants you to be able to take a Galaxy device with you wherever you may roam... or swim, or sandboard.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, the Korean monolith plans to release a variant of the much anticipated Galaxy S4 Android smartphone dubbed the Galaxy S4 Active that will be waterproof and dust proof but still have the same look and feel as the flagship S4.

The report, which cites an anonymous source, also says Samsung plans a new 8-inch Galaxy tablet and a smaller, 4.3-inch version of the Galaxy S4.

All this, while unconfirmed, seems in … Read more

Even Wall Street is left impressed with the HTC One

Will the HTC One be HTC's savior? Some Wall Street analysts are starting to come around to the idea.

HSBC upgraded the company's investment rating on Friday, citing the impressive flagship phone, according to MarketWatch. The ratings change comes after another firm, Daiwa, also raised its ratings and recommended buying the stock.

HTC has had a tough go at it recently, with sales and profits sinking with each successive quarter. On a marketing and distribution basis, Samsung and Apple have it completely outgunned, and its market share position remains anemic, not even breaching the top five smartphone vendors. … Read more

Samsung recasts its Windows PC line as Ativ

Samsung is rebranding all of its Windows PCs as Ativ.

Ativ is Vita backward -- that's Samsung's reasoning -- and previously only applied to the Ativ Smart PC and Smart PC Pro, both Windows 8 tablets. (There was also the Ativ Tab, a Windows RT slate that never saw the light of day. And an Ativ S Windows Phone came out with little fanfare.)

"We hope our Ativ brand will see the same kind of traction and awareness that we have seen with our Galaxy brand, with consumers associating Ativ with Windows in the same way they … Read more

Samsung to block app store access in Iran, AP says

Iranian device users will lose access to Samsung's mobile app store as of May 22, according to a new report.

The Korean electronics giant said, via an e-mail sent to smartphone and tablet users, that it couldn't provide access to the store because of "legal barriers," the Associated Press reported. Many sanctions have been imposed on Iran over its controversial nuclear program, and Samsung's step is viewed as the latest such move.

Samsung declined to comment.

The AP noted that "unlike Apple, Microsoft and Adobe, Samsung has provided localized services to Iranians in their … Read more

Smartphones outpace feature phones for first time ever

It seemed inevitable, and now it has happened: for the first time ever, feature phones have taken a backseat to smartphones in terms of quantities shipped.

In the first quarter of 2013, device makers shipped 216.2 million smartphones worldwide, a volume that accounted for 51.6 percent of total global shipments and that marked the first time smartphones have claimed more than half of all quarterly shipments, according to market researcher IDC.

The smartphone market grew 41.6 percent compared with the first quarter of 2012, but declined 5.1 percent from the shipment tally for the fourth quarter … Read more

Friday Poll: Is the Galaxy S4 your top smartphone?

There's a newcomer hanging around town. It has 5 spacious inches of screen space. It flaunts a 13-megapixel camera. You can't deny the allure of its 2,600mAh battery. All those specs may put it one up on its competitors, at least on paper. But just because the Samsung Galaxy S4 wants to be top dog, doesn't mean the other guys aren't going to put up a fight.

The lead contenders to challenge the Galaxy S4 for the smartphone throne are the iPhone 5, the HTC One, and the BlackBerry Z10. They all have their claims … Read more

Samsung posts $6.4B Q1 profit, down slightly from Q4 2012

Samsung Electronics posted a first-quarter profit Thursday that beat estimates on strong sales of handsets in emerging markets.

Net income rose to 7.15 trillion won ($6.4 billion) in the three months ended March 31, an increase from the company's 5.05 trillion won ($4.55 billion) profit of a year earlier but a slight decline from the fourth-quarter's $6.6 billion net profit, the South Korean Electronics giant said in a statement.

Revenue rose to $47.4 billion, a 15 percent increase over the year-ago period but a 6 percent decline over the previous quarter. The … Read more

See the Samsung S Translator app in action

We put the S Translator app found on the new Samsung Galaxy S4 in action in the below video, and tested out two phrases in different languages. The first is, "Excuse me, where is the hospital?" and the second is, "Let's go to the mall."

Our verdict: It's not too bad, but you will need a data connection for this to work. Which means that if you're traveling, you will need to pay for a data roaming plan to make full use of this (or hope to get on free Wi-Fi networks).

In this scenario, it's probably better to use an offline-capable app such as Google Translate, which works just as well for the basic phrases we used and features an offline mode for when you need to travel overseas. … Read more

Set up Reading Mode on the Galaxy Note 8

Using a tablet as an e-reader can save you money and lighten your load while on the go. Unfortunately, a lot of tablets aren't optimized for reading text for long periods of time (like e-books, RSS feeds, or just long Web posts) and may cause mild eyestrain. Luckily, the Galaxy Note 8 comes with a feature to help solve this issue: Reading Mode.

However, Reading Mode isn't turned on for all of your apps by tapping on the icon in the notification panel. Why doesn't this mode work in all apps by default? No idea, but fixing … Read more