After months of rumors and speculation, and one rather awkward press event, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is now an official smartphone. Indeed, we still have a month or more before it actually arrives, but Samsung has again changed the game for Android.

Or has it? What does the Samsung Galaxy S4 mean for other Android players and how should they react in the wake of the big reveal? As I see it, there are three important lessons to be learned from Samsung and the Galaxy S4.

Go big or go home Watching last night's press event unfold, I came … Read more

In a big show of marketing force, Samsung announces its latest mega smartphone, the Galaxy S4, will hit six U.S. cellular networks beginning in April 2013. Indeed, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, Cricket, U.S. Cellular, and Verizon plan to sell Samsung's latest creation starting next month. … Read more

Samsung offered up a Galaxy S4 voice command feature today that connects drivers to their cars via Bluetooth.

The Galaxy S Voice Drive kicks in when you get into your car, according to Ryan Bidan, Samsung's director of product marketing. The company unveiled the feature during the launch of its Galaxy S4 smartphone in New York today.

The feature, similar to Apple's Siri digital assistant for cars, uses the Galaxy S4's built-in navigation system and lets drivers make calls, send messages, and check the weather.

When a message comes in, S Voice Drive alerts the drivers. Then, … Read more

Samsung's next flagship smartphone is here.

Samsung took the wraps off the Galaxy S4, the much awaited successor to the S3, at an event in New York tonight.

The handset, which has a 5-inch display, will be available on 327 carriers in 55 countries, starting in April. The company did not provide a price.

It packs new features like simultaneous shooting from dual cameras, "smart" scrolling and pausing that works by tracking eyeballs, health tracking, and a built-in language translator.

The phone will come in both black and white, which the company is calling "black mist" and "white frost."

As expected, the S4 has got an onslaught of new hardware and software features. Here's a quick rundown:… Read more

No matter whether you're deciding if you should wait and get the Samsung Galaxy S4 next week, making sure you don't have buyer's remorse from just having purchased your Galaxy S3, or perhaps just plain curious, CNET makes it easy to compare the two sibling handsets with this chart.

Physically, the GS4 didn't get any bigger. In fact, it even sports a thinner build and weighs a hair lighter. But with a slimmer bezel, its 5-inch full HD Super AMOLED touch screen had room to expand, and the display now sports a higher pixel density.

Also new is its quad- or octo-core processor. Similar to the situation when the GS3 debuted, which CPU is available will depend on where you live. The U.S. will receive the 1.9GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600.… Read more

LG this week announced that Smart Video eye recognition will be coming to the LG Optimus G Pro. As part of an upcoming "Value Pack" software update, the feature will be made available for select future LG premium smartphones.

The Smart Video technology utilizes the front-facing camera to track the viewer's eyes to automatically control playback of videos. For example, looking away from the phone will cause the video to pause and returning your gaze will resume the clip.

In addition to the Smart Video feature, LG has introduced a dual-camera function that simultaneously snaps photos from … Read more

BlackBerry issued invitations this morning for a March 21 event in New York to launch its new Z10 smartphone and BlackBerry 10 OS.

That timing would place the event the day before the Z10 is scheduled to land in AT&T stores and be available to the carrier's customers. AT&T, which started preorders this week, is the first U.S. carrier to release the device, which runs on the new BlackBerry 10 OS.

With promised performances by Janelle Monae, Young the Giant, and DJ Z-Trip, the event should be more party than press conference. BlackBerry Global … Read more

We're still 24 hours from knowing if the Samsung Galaxy S4 even exists, but that hasn't stopped one wireless carrier from bragging about the device to customers.

Earlier today, Ting, a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) that resells Sprint's network, posted a blog on its site where it promised that not only would it snag the long-awaited Galaxy S4 but also the recently-announced HTC One, and the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini.

"In … Read more

Cricket Wireless this week announced a new Android smartphone with the Engage LT. Manufactured by ZTE, the handset is now on sale for $179.99 at the no-contract carrier.

You'd be forgiven if you thought this new model sounded similar to a current offering; it's nearly identical to the ZTE Engage announced in late 2012. In fact, it's hard to imagine how Cricket plans to position the two devices considering just how closely they resemble each other.

The Engage LT runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and features a 4-inch display, a single-core 1GHz processor, 1GB … Read more