samsung

Skype Lite landing on Android phone, others too

Skype announced on Thursday the forthcoming release of Skype Lite for Google Android and other Java-enabled phones. Skype Lite marks the communication company's first native VoIP client for Java.

Skype is submitting the app to Google's Android Market on Thursday morning, though it could take Google a few days to offer it for download.

In addition, Skype Lite will also be available on Thursday to about 100 models of Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Nokia, LG, and Samsung phones. The app has been available in beta form for a growing number of handsets on Skype.com, and isn't expected … Read more

Samsung slims PNB850 plasma TV series to an inch

LED-backlit LCDs are certainly winning the hype war at CES 2009, but home theater buffs know that plasma TVs often offer better performance for your dollar. Samsung's new top-of-the-line plasmas, the PNB850 series, feature a superslim, inch-thick design and offer the new Internet widgets available via the Internet@TV platform. Here are the important details.

Key features of the Samsung PNB850 series:

Slim design, about an inch thick Ultra FilterBright Plus antiglare screen Real Movie (24 frames per second) mode Wide color Enhancer Pro Built-in Ethernet Wi-Fi-ready, with purchase of additional adapter Energy Star 3.0 compatible

Pricing and … Read more

Samsung DVD-H1080: Portable-size DVD player for the home

Samsung has a nice little iPod Shuffle clone called the S2 Pebble. Well, the company must've liked that river-smoothed-stone look, because it's adapted it to the DVD-H1080 DVD player. Rather than a standard black box, the tapered wedge is little bigger than a portable CD player. Aside from the addition of a slot-loading disc drive and the red-accented Touch of Color design, the H1080 is otherwise just an update of 2008's DVD-F1080: an upscaling DVD player that also plays JPEG photos, MP3 music, and DivX video files from attached USB drives. Those who don't need Blu-ray … Read more

Samsung HT-BD1250: 5.1-channel home theater offers Blu-ray, Netflix, Pandora

Samsung's got three new all-in-one home theater systems for 2009, all of which are headlined with built-in Blu-ray and support for streaming online Netflix video and Pandora's free Internet music service. The HT-BD8200 and HT-BD7200 are both "lifestyle" systems with minimalist form factors, funky designs, and front-only virtual surround sound (the former is a speakerbar with wireless subwoofer and the latter sports a 2.1 design). But if you want real surround sound, you're going to need actual rear speakers--and that means the more traditional 5.1-channel design of the Samsung HT-BD1250.

Samsung, of course, … Read more

HT-BD7200: 2.1 Blu-ray home theater from Samsung

The HT-X710T was one of Samsung's funkier home theater products of 2008, a 2.1-style (two speakers plus subwoofer) home theater system with a tapered, wall-mountable DVD player head unit. While the 2009 follow-up shares a similar "Touch of Color" red-accented design and curved enclosures, the HT-BD7200 gets a Blu-ray upgrade (replete with BD-Live capability and Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding) and support for streaming Netflix online video and the Pandora music service. It's also Wi-Fi-ready, but you'll need to invest in a separate USB 802.11n dongle, or stick with wired Ethernet … Read more

Samsung unveils P3 touch-screen MP3 player

Samsung spilled the beans on the new P3 MP3 player at the company's CES 2009 press conference. As an update to Samsung's popular P2, the P3 shares many of its predecessor's features, including a 3-inch WQVGA touch screen, DNSe sound enhancement, audio and video playback, photo viewer, FM radio, voice recording, and Bluetooth capabilities such as phone pairing and stereo audio streaming.

Unlike the P2, the Samsung P3 uses a colorful new user interface dubbed "EmoTure" that emphasizes personalization. The body of the P3 is made from die-cast metal, available in black or silver, measuring … Read more

Samsung HT-BD8200 sound bar includes Blu-ray, Netflix, Pandora

The Samsung HT-X810T--which debuted at 2008's Consumer Electronics Show--wasn't the first sound bar home theater system with a built-in DVD player (that'd be the Philips HTS8100). When CNET eventually reviewed it, we praised the inclusion of the wireless subwoofer, but included this knock: "the [built-in] DVD player's nice, but a Blu-ray player would have been even better." Well, it seems Samsung took that criticism to heart. The 2009 version, known as the HT-BD8200, does indeed get the upgrade to a Blu-ray player. Like the other models in the Sammy's '09 line-up, it'… Read more

Samsung BD-P4600: Wall-mountable Blu-ray player with Wi-Fi add-on

Your flat-screen TV looks awfully lonely mounted on the wall by itself--why not give it a companion? That, we assume, is the rationale behind the Samsung BD-P4600 wall-mountable Blu-ray player. The BD-P4600 looks to include all the features of its step-down sibling, the BD-P3600: Profile 2.0/BD-Live, Netflix and Pandora streaming, 1GB onboard memory, built-in Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio decoding, "Touch of Color" style accents, and--the big upgrade for 2009--802.11n Wi-Fi via an included USB dongle. But unlike the 3600, this ultraslim 1.5-inch model has a slot-loading disc drive and can be mounted … Read more

Samsung BD-P3600 Blu-ray player includes Wi-Fi dongle

The BD-P3600 Blu-ray player includes much of the same basic feature list as the Samsung BD-P2550 released last fall: Profile 2.0 (BD-Live), built-in Netflix and Pandora streaming, and 1GB onboard memory. But the 2009 model includes a few niceties missing from the 2550: an included USB dongle adds 802.11n Wi-Fi (in addition to Ethernet) and the 3600 should support DTS-HD Master Audio decoding out of the box (no need to wait for a future firmware update, as with early purchasers of the 2550). On the design front, the BD-P3600 will also sport unusual topside button placement and Samsung'… Read more