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Super-size me: Samsung Mega phone tops 6 inches in size

Kevin C. Tofel — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:04:36 +0000

Confirming leaks and rumors from last month, Samsung officially introduced two new Android smartphones on Thursday, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 and Galaxy Mega 6.3. The Galaxy brand tells you they’re going to look like most other Galaxy phones and the numbers actually indicate the screen sizes. I guess Samsung didn’t read how some people are leaving Android because the phones are getting too large!

Both devices share design cues with the new Samsung Galaxy S 4, so most of the differences are on the inside. Here’s a quick rundown of the specs on each:

The Galaxy Mega 5.8 uses a 960 x 540 display, 1.4 GHz dual-core chip, 8 GB of internal storage expandable up to another 64 GB, 1.5 GB of memory, a 2600 mAh battery and the typical assortment of wireless connectivity. Samsung’s Galaxy Mega 6.3 bumps the display to 720p resolution, uses a 1.7 GHz dual-core chip, 8 or 16 GB of internal storage plus the microSD slot, 1.5 GB of memory and a 3200 mAh battery. It also adds NFC and support for 802.11 a/c Wi-Fi, which the Mega 5.8 doesn’t have.

At this point, there are few screen sizes Samsung’s Galaxy brand doesn’t have covered. And while some disagree with the strategy of similar smartphones in a dizzying array of sizes, I can understand Samsung’s approach.

One of the appeals of the Android market as a whole is the choice of phone design and size. Samsung is not only taking over Android with its own TouchWiz interface, software and stores, but it mimics one of the best qualities of Android: a phone in the size that fits you best.

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Samsung Galaxy Grand: A big phone going after big markets

Kevin C. Tofel — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:13:57 +0000

Samsung introduced its new Galaxy Grand handset on Tuesday, which looks like a large Galaxy S III, the company’s best selling smartphone to date. Until you power the Grand on that is. That’s when you might notice the large 5-inch display has a relatively low 800 x 480 resolution. But if you’re a Galaxy S III owner, then the Grand isn’t the type of phone you’d be shopping for. Instead, expect Samsung to market the Grand in regions like China where lower-priced phones are found everywhere.

Two tip-offs tell me that the Grand won’t likely come to the U.S. or any other country where high-end, expensive smartphones are considered the norm. First, the first of the two Grand models to hit retail channels will offer dual-SIM capability. Support for multiple SIM cards is typically found in phones used in Africa and Asia, although they can be found in limited use outside of those regions.

Second, the Grand was actually spotted unofficially nearly a week ago on a Japanese site, which noted that the handset had “passed the authentication of the China Industry and Information Technology, effective December 07, 2012.” While this doesn’t guarantee the phone is destined for China, it certainly lends credence to the idea. Samsung is currently the top handset maker in China, but as Reuters pointed out last week, Huawei, ZTE and Lenovo are applying pressure to gain market share.

If the Grand is aimed at regions where inexpensive phones are desirable, it should provide a solid value. While the display resolution is low and the phone skips a high-performance quad-core chip with a 1.2 GHz dual core version, other specifications aren’t bad. An 8 megapixel rear camera is supplemented with a 2 megapixel sensor on the face of the Grand. A full gigabyte of memory, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, 21 Mbps HSPA+ support and Android Jelly Bean software round out the device, making for a balanced smartphone experience.

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Fueled by holidays, record 362M mobile devices expected to ship in Q4

Erica Ogg — Mon, 10 Dec 2012 17:47:20 +0000

After the dust of this holiday season settles, it’s very likely we’re going to be looking at yet another quarter for the mobile industry that was dominated by Galaxy and iDevices. In a new report, IDC says Samsung and Apple will continue to lead the way in smartphone and tablet sales this holiday quarter as part of an estimated 362 million mobile devices shipped worldwide, which will be worth $170 billion, both records for the industry.

The predictions, which also include estimates for PCs, are informed by the expectation that a lot of people are going to unwrap mobile device gifts this month: Tablet shipments are expected to increase 55.8 percent this holiday over last year’s; smartphone shipments are expected to jump 39.5 percent in the same time frame, according to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Smart Connected Device Tracker, published Monday. And yes, this all continues to happen at the expense of PCs, IDC says.

Total expected shipments this holiday quarter of 362 million devices would be a 26.5 percent increase over the same period a year ago. It would also be a big step up from the last quarter, which also broke records. The third quarter of 2012 saw 303.6 million mobile devices shipped worldwide, worth $140.4 billion.

As the above chart shows, worldwide connected mobile device shipments continue to be mostly a battle between Samsung and Apple. Samsung currently leads with about 22 percent of the worldwide market, and Apple is next with 15 percent. However, Apple continues to dominate in profits: IDC says Apple devices commanded an average selling price of $744; Samsung’s $430.

Together, the two account for close to 40 percent of all connected mobile device shipments. Lenovo, which is in third place, continues to see major growth in its shipments, but its market share is still half that of Apple’s and a third of Samsung’s.

Numbers like these helps explain why Apple and Samsung continue spending millions on court battles all over the world – no one else is remotely a threat to their dominance in sales or profits.

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Samsung Muse, the MP3 player that syncs with your phone

Kevin C. Tofel — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 19:54:10 +0000

Samsung introduced a new portable MP3 player with a twist on Friday: The Muse doesn’t get its music from a PC but instead syncs audio files from a smartphone. The small pebble-looking device sells for $49.99 direct from Samsung and is optimized to work with specific Samsung phones: the Galaxy Note II, Galaxy S III, Galaxy Note, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy S II Skyrocket.The small device includes a clip so you can carry it in a pocket or attach it to your clothing.

In what some call the “post PC” world, the lack of a needed PC is interesting here. A companion app found in the Google Play store moves music from smartphone to Muse over an included micro USB cable and manages the 4 GB of internal storage inside the digital audio player. With the Muse Sync app, you can sync by artist, album or playlist from your smartphone. The setup of getting music on the Muse without a PC shows another move away from full-blown computing platforms for what’s typically a core activity today.

Why even offer a companion MP3 player when any of the supported smartphones work perfectly fine for music? The Muse is intended for those who want to exercise while listening to music but don’t want to do so with a phone. I can personally relate as I’ve run nearly 1,500 miles since 2011 mostly when carrying a smartphone.

The bulk of those miles were with a Galaxy Nexus, but now that I use a Galaxy Note 2 with 5.5-inch display, I wouldn’t even think of running with my phone. I have solid alternatives already for tunes on the run, but if I didn’t, I’d probably drop the $50 for a Muse right away.

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On the heels of patent victory, Apple looks to ban 8 Samsung devices

Erica Ogg — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 19:00:58 +0000

Just days after winning a jury verdict over Samsung and $1.05 billion in damages for patent infringement, Apple is looking to get at least eight Samsung mobile products banned for sale in the U.S., according to a court filing on Monday. All of the Android devices Apple is targeting were found to have infringed on at least one Apple design patent, utility patent or Apple’s trade dress.

The devices at issue are:

Galaxy S 4G
Galaxy S2 AT&T
Galaxy S2 Skyrocket
Galaxy S2 T-Mobile
Galaxy S2 Epic 4G
Galaxy S Showcase
Droid Charge
Galaxy Prevail

Most of those devices on this list were found to infringe two or three Apple patents, according to the verdict reached Friday night in California. Apple’s decision to get these products pulled off of store shelves here in the U.S. looks to be a strategic move and not simply a symbolic one: all of them, with the exception of the Galaxy S 4G, are still for sale in the U.S. Before the trial, Apple successfully obtained an injunction on sales of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet and the Galaxy Nexus; though the Tab was already an out-of-date product when the injunction was placed.

There is still much more to come in this case, including the judge’s decision to allow Samsung to still sell these products. Apple can also ask for ongoing infringement damages if these offending devices remain on the market and Samsung does not obtain a license, my colleague Jeff Roberts wrote after the verdict was announced on Friday.

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Apple can hold off telling Brits that Samsung didn’t copy (for now)

Jeff John Roberts — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:58:43 +0000

In one of the stranger twists in the global legal battle over tablet computers, a U.K. judge this month ordered Apple to announce via newspapers and its website that Samsung didn’t copy the iPad.

Judge Colin Birss, who had recently decided that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets “are not as cool” as the iPad, ruled the order was necessary to correct prejudice against Samsung stemming from Apple’s lawsuit.

Apple balked at the order, which requires it to buy newspaper ads and put a notice on its website for six months, and argued that it amounted to giving its competitor free advertising. It appealed the order and asked for a stay.

On Thursday, Bloomberg reported that Apple got its wish — a London court has reportedly agreed to freeze the order until Apple has a chance to appeal the ruling in October.

The U.K. dust-up is just one of many ongoing court battles between the companies. Apple will confront its nemesis on its home turf next week in a long-awaited patent trial starting in San Jose, Calif.

Image courtesy of Thomas E Kinder via Shutterstock

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Apple must announce that ‘not as cool’ Samsung tablet not a copy

Jeff John Roberts — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 18:31:26 +0000

A British judge raised eyebrows last week when he ruled that Samsung’s tablets did not infringe Apple’s patents because they were not as “cool.” Now, the same judge has followed up with an unusual order that Apple must put a notice on its websites for six months and in U.K. newspapers that Samsung didn’t copy Apple’s iPad.

According to Bloomberg, Judge Colin Birss ruled that the announcements were required to correct prejudice against Samsung. The iPad maker has in the past said that Samsung decided to “slavishly copy” its product and is presently suing the Korean company in courts around the world.

A lawyer for Apple complained that Birss’ order forced it to provide free advertising for Samsung. The order came after a ruling last week in which Birss found that the Galaxy tablets 10.1, 8.9 and 7.7 did not breach Apple’s registered designs because “they do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design,” and “they are not as cool.”

The ruling was significant because it is the first final ruling on the iPad’s design. Other cases in Europe and the United States have turned instead on preliminary injunctions. This group of cases turn on what is known in Europe as “registered designs” and in the U.S. as “design patents” — both refer to a weaker species of patent that protects the way an invention combines function with ornamentation (learn more about Apple’s design patents here).

In a closely watched case near Apple’s Cupertino, Calif. home, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh found that Samsung’s 10.1 Galaxy tablet had infringed on the iPad, but concluded that didn’t matter because the design patents in question would be found invalid on the grounds the tablet design was obvious. An appeals court overturned that ruling, leading Koh to impose a preliminary injunction barring the sale of the tablets.

Ironically, the series of design rulings may not matter very much as the Samsung tablets in question are largely obsolete and have been replaced with newer models that look less like the iPad.

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The big theme of MWC: How to live in a connected world

Kevin Fitchard — Fri, 09 Mar 2012 16:55:38 +0000

It has been just over a week since the Fira de Barcelona gates closed on Mobile World Congress 2012, so now is a good time for a retrospective look at the event. The big thing at MWC wasn’t a phone or new network architecture but the much more subtle shift in focus on how we live in a hyperconnected world. This year the industry seemed to move beyond starry-eyed soothsaying about a world of 50 billion connected devices to start talking about how these mammoth networks of objects and appliances would actually work and how they would be managed.

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IDC: Apple sold most smartphones in Q4, but Samsung wins 2011

Erica Ogg — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 14:43:56 +0000

Updated. Both Apple and Samsung have sold a historic amount of smartphones in the past year, and coming up with a tally of who sold more is harder than you’d think. But IDC says they’ve done all the number crunching looking at company shipments and have determined the most popular smartphone maker.

Apple’s 37 million iPhones sold last quarter were good enough to just eke out a win in smartphones sold during the final three months of 2011. Meanwhile, Samsung shipped 36 million units during the same time frame, according to IDC.

But for all of 2011, Samsung actually shipped the most smartphones, to the tune of 94 million units, IDC says. That’s an increase in shipments of 310 percent for the company compared to 2010, when the company shipped just 22.9 million smartphones — a huge growth rate.

Apple was very close behind, with 93.2 million iPhones shipped during 2011, which, at 96 percent for the year, is also impressive growth but nowhere near Samsung’s amazing showing.

If you’ve been following along then it won’t be a surprise that the rest of the smartphone pack failed to keep pace with these two. Nokia was a distant third for the year with 77.3 million smartphones shipped, followed by RIM with 51.1 BlackBerrys shipped, and HTC with 43.5 million units.

The final tally for 2011 worldwide market share finds Samsung with a 19.1 percent share, and Apple with a 19 percent share. Some might say that’s too close to call. Whatever the exact numbers are, the real story is clearly how over the course of 2011 the smartphone market has coalesced around these two companies. I’d say 2012 is going to be a very interesting year in smartphones.

Note: This story originally misattributed the data to The NPD Group. The report is from IDC.

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Apple vs. Samsung and the reality of the Android ecosystem

Om Malik — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 13:22:56 +0000

A winter ago, I postulated that thanks to Samsung’s ability to build and source mobile components — from memory to processors to screens — the company would be able to become one of the leaders in the smartphone ecosystem. The battle, in fact, would be between Samsung and Apple, something that we have reported multiple times over the past year or so. Lately that battle is actually between the iPhone and the Galaxy brands.

Last week my colleague Erica Ogg wrote that Samsung sold an estimated 87.6 million to 94.6 million smartphones in 2011 (though it made a lot less money than Apple, which sold about 58 million iPhones during the first nine months of 2011).

Of course, people didn’t believe me when I pointed out that HTC was about to hit the skids — it eventually did — and that Motorola is going to become an albatross around Google’s neck. It will — and the missing profit targets are only a start.

“A Googorola vertically-integrated smartphone line could counterbalance Samsung’s influence,” said Jean-Louis Gassée, a former Apple employee and more recently an investor in technology companies. I don’t buy his argument. How is it that the company that was perpetually in trouble starts doing well because someone else bought it?

It may not seem obvious today, but in a few years, as the rest of the world moves away from feature phones to touch-enabled, Internet-connected phones, we will see Huawei and ZTE, two Chinese companies, go head-to-head with Samsung. And they are so dominant in Africa and parts of Asia that we are going to see them become major players in the low-to-medium end of the market.

With the emergence of Huawei (which launched a really thin and cool Android phone on Tuesday) and ZTE, which have their roots in the telecom equipment business, one should expect HTC and Motorola (and the rest of the wannabes like Sony and LG) to get squeezed out of the market. Samsung will become the high-end Android leader while the two Chinese companies will become low-end giants before they start their eventual march up the smartphone food chain.

Antonio Rodriguez, an entrepreneur turned VC (with Matrix Partners), writes on his blog:

What all of the talk of Android momentum and inevitability obscures though is that the dream of a common Android that developers can write/deploy apps to and users can become familiar with is burning. More specifically, three events in 2011 burned it and we’re now holding on to a charred corpse that is quite different: an Android so splintered that it will make the glass on your Galaxy Nexus S2 Prime Pie dropped on concrete look like an ice skating rink.

The three events: 1. Google buying Motorola and alienating all of the tier one handset makers (none of which to this day have the spine to state it publicly but all of which have now come up with their “plan B”), 2. Microsoft extracting licensing fees from these same handset makers in the form of IP indemnification and 3. Amazon shipping a wildly successful, yet unidentifiable, version of an old Android build over the holiday . . . and making it a wild success. Of the the [sic] three, #1 was completely avoidable but the other two may just have been the name of the game when there is so much at stake in the fight of who paints the interface for the next generation of computing.

These changes mean challenges for the developers who now need to make some tough choices. Over the holidays a developer friend asked me which Android his startup should focus its energies on. Since his company is making apps focused primarily on the U.S. and European market, it makes no sense for him to start obsessing about Huawei or ZTE, at least in the near term. Motorola and HTC are slip-sliding away.

My answer to him was to go for Amazon’s Kindle Fire for tablets and Samsung for the phones. Samsung and Amazon are both spending an incredible amount of advertising dollars to promote their platforms, and it makes perfect sense for small startups (depending on their regional focus) to tie their lot with them. Between those two platforms, he would be backing winners that would bring the highest return on investment for his little company.

That is, and will be, the reality of the Android ecosystem.

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