samsung

LG to expand retail stores in emerging markets, WSJ says

Samsung's not the only Korean electronics company expanding its retail footprint. LG also plans to open more stores this year, according to a news report.

LG intends to increase the number of its retail stores in emerging markets to boost its market share in smartphones and build a bigger reach for its consumer electronics, according to The Wall Street Journal (subscription required). The publication, citing LG Global Marketing Officer Ki Wan Kim, said the company plans to grow the number of LG-branded shops by as much as 20 percent above the current level of more than 3,000 stores. … Read more

Samsung Galaxy Note 8: Lots of features, beautiful screen, high price

The Samsung Galaxy Note 8 is an 8-inch tablet that costs $399. In a world where the 7-inch Nexus 7 exists for $200 and even the 7.9-inch iPad Mini starts at $330 or lower, $399 is a tough sell. If you're looking for a simple small tablet, the Nexus 7 is still your best bet and the iPad Mini provides Apple's still unbeatable app ecosystem in a smaller, lighter, and cheaper package than the Note 8.

The Note 8 is arguably Samsung's best tablet yet, but depending on your experience with the company's offerings, the … Read more

Samsung prepping 5.8-inch, 6.3-inch Galaxy Mega, rumors say

Samsung could soon introduce a pair of large-screen Galaxy Mega smartphones, if recent chatter proves to be accurate.

Rumors surfacing this past week indicate that Samsung may be readying both a 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch Galaxy handset as part of a new line of phones. Early details for the so-called "Galaxy Mega" series point to a midrange Android experience. Both devices are reported to run Android Jelly Bean with Samsung's own TouchWiz Nature interface.

The Samsung Galaxy Mega 5.8 (GT-i9152) is expected to feature a 5.8-inch qHD (960×540-pixel) LCD display as well … Read more

ITC says Samsung text-selection feature infringes Apple patent

A U.S. trade agency judge has decided the text-selection feature Samsung has on its mobile devices infringes an Apple patent. If upheld, the ruling could stop Samsung from sending devices to the United States.

The International Trade Commission judge also decided that Samsung did not infringe on the Apple patent that covers how a device detects if a microphone or other device is plugged in to its microphone jack, Reuters reported.

If the commission agrees with the judge on the text-selection issue, the ITC can stop Samsung from importing the several infringing products, including the Galaxy, Transform, and Nexus … Read more

Samsung expects first-quarter profits of $7.7B, up 53 percent

Samsung Electronics expects to record an operating profit of 8.7 trillion won ($7.7 billion) for the first quarter of 2013, a 53 percent increase over the year-ago period.

The guidance, released today by the South Korean electronics giant ahead of full earnings later this month, is better than many analysts had forecast but a slight decline over the fourth quarter of 2012, when the company posted a record $8.3 billion in operating profit. The guidance means the company expects to break its string of five consecutive quarters of record profits.

Though strong sales of the Galaxy S … Read more

German court invalidates Apple slide-to-unlock patent

In a legal victory for Google and Samsung, a German court has reportedly invalidated all patent claims related to Apple's "slide to unlock" user interface.

Today's ruling by Bundespatentgericht, Germany's federal patent court, is a setback for Apple, which has pressed the patent against Google's Motorola and Samsung in courts across Europe in attempts to secure injunctions preventing the companies' devices from being sold. However, the decision is appealable, according to Foss Patents blogger Florian Mueller, a paid consultant for several tech companies who was first to report on today's ruling.

The ruling, … Read more

Facebook Home: Bold experiment or extreme bloatware?

Hard-core Facebook devotees may find Home to be the smartphone experience they've been looking for.

For everyone else, Facebook's new Android skin may be little better than bloatware (although, to be fair, it's not forced on people). In particular, Android purists will want to stay clear.

Facebook took a major step today toward staking its claim in the mobile field with Home, which is a family of apps wrapped up in a custom user interface. It's an ambitious step, and likely a smart one, given that the alternative would have been the boneheaded move of building … Read more

Facebook Home launches April 12 on HTC, Samsung phones

Facebook Home will be available for download on April 12, but only on select phones to start with.

Facebook today launched Home, a family of apps and a skin that runs over Android. The company said users will be able to download the user interface from the Google Play store, and that links would be found in its Facebook and messenger apps.

The HTC phones that will initially get access to the app are the upcoming HTC One and the One X and One X+.

On the Samsung side, the Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, and upcoming Galaxy S4 will … Read more

Apple stays on top in U.S. smartphone market, study says

When it comes to smartphones in the U.S., Apple remains on top, a new study from ComScore says.

During the three months ended in February, Apple held onto its title as the No. 1 smartphone vendor in the U.S. the market tracker said. The Cupertino, Calif., company controlled 39 percent of the market, up 3.9 percentage points from the three months ended in November. Samsung, in the No. 2 spot, held 21 percent of the market, up 1 percent point.

There's some bad news for the other Android rivals, however. HTC, Motorola, and LG all saw … Read more