With the Samsung Galaxy S3 due for release some time soon, though it now appears not to be unveiled at the MWC in Barcelona, news from Samsung still suggests that 2012 may well be another busy year for the South Korean technology giant.

With rumors emerging that a brand new Samsung Tab will be unveiled at MWC and on extended advert for this years Super Bowl XLVI.

The new Samsung S3 is expected to be a more powerful duel or quad core device with a massive 12 mp camera and a slightly larger 4.5 inch + screen, I am seeing this trend more and more for high end smartphones, where we are very much seeing the luxury end of the phone world go super size and what would basic science tell you that you needed to do to make a smartphone battery last longer?

Make the damn things bigger, and if you do that you can increase that lovely screen real estate, so this does appear to be the way forward.

Rather than slimmer we are going larger.

And if it helps Samsung’s promise that smartphone owners will get a full day on moderate to heavy use on one charge come true for 2012 devices then so be it, it seems like a win-win all round for me.

Back to the “Advance” the Ford of smartphones:

The new Samsung Galaxy Advance will be running on Gingerbread and will house a 1Ghz processor and a pretty sizable’s 4 inch Super AMOLED screen, capable 5Mpx camera with 1,3 MP facing option, and will come with ChatON, Samsung cross-platform communication service.

As is usual with these slightly cheaper options they are intended for markets that have a little less disposable income on average, but from what I can gather this device is pretty damn sweet if it is to be cut price.

Initial markets that will see the device include, Russia, in February of 2012, and then a global release will bring in other countries and territories such as China, Europe, African Middle East, Southeast and Southwest Asia.

According to a report in CNET and referencing a Russian blogger going by the name of Eldar Murtazin who runs mobile-review.com the Samsung S3 will make an appearance at MWC next month in Barcelona and will then appear on shelves in April.

Ok so it has gone away now, but for a brief period you could clearly see that a new model had arrived in Samsung’s inventory on their website.

The GT-I9300 was in that familiar drop down until rumours about this being the Samsung S3 obviously came flooding out.

So what was it and why would it possibly have been there for a short period?

Well my hunch is it was a tech issue, or in a more cynical plot it would have been done to stir up a little free press and start those huge rumour wheel mills up again, and here we are stoking that fire once more, how predictable we are..;)

Officially it would seem that Samsung have not got a release date and they are still in the process of sorting out the date details.

It will be interesting to see just how good the new battery will be on the Samsung S3 and I for one hope they give me one to test out as the Samsung S2 which I currently use was slated rather a lot due to the pi** poor battery life, and with Samsung telling the world that their 2012 range of smartphones will last a full day of moderate to heavy use, I am waiting to test this out.

Google once again chose Samsung to be the manufacturer of their latest Ice Cream Sandwich enabled device the Galaxy Nexus (Prime in the US). And while there have been some discussions of Galaxy Nexus signal issues initially with the device, it has by and large received a warm and welcome reception for its high end specs, design and functionality.

Do you love the Samsung galaxy range? And you are now in the market for a new Samsung Galaxy Nexus but do not want to look like the rest of the madding crowd, if so, what do you do?

Would you simply get the original Galaxy Nexus model that came out late last year and put a skin on it to make it look unique?

Or, would you prefer to wait for the arrival and release of the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus in white?

Well do not get too over excited just yet, as it looks like the arrival may not be until February and the actual colour maybe more half and half if this product shot is anything to go by, but it is coming and it looks pretty neat.

Clove the UK device retailer state:

First stock due week commencing February 6th

No US release date just yet:

US readers will know this device as the Samsung Galaxy Prime, and we are unsure if the white version is currently available for you, or indeed will ever be made an official release, but it does appear to be coming to UK shores on February.

I have to say that I really like this device having played around with it a few times of recent, I feel that ICS has one up on Gingerbread in terms of lag and general feel, it has that lovely responsiveness that you come to expect of high end phones and I actually feel is lacking on the Samsung S2.

What do you make of the design, is it a bit cheeky calling it white when the front seems so dark, and only the back and sides really have the signature white look applied?

According to a web source in South Korea going by the name of Duam, it appears the news that Samsung may be working on a fully blown ICS upgrade for the Galaxy S and Tab owners with only some functionality missing, may be slightly off the mark.

Value Pack not Full Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade:

A further update suggests that the upgrade could be more of a “value pack” that is not a fully blown Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 upgrade but incorporates better browsing functionality, improved widgets, improved multitasking, and a few other enhancements, meaning that the upgrade would skirt the issue of RAM and TouchWiz that seems to have been the main cause of the problems after the seemingly simple upgrade to Android 4.0 for the Galaxy S has proven more difficult than expected.

We shall keep you posted on further announcements as and when they occur.

We have already reported on the news that Samsung Galaxy S owners may not be getting the Ice Cream Sandwich update that is being rolled out for so many devices. The reasons originally cited were that the phone was simply not powerful enough to handle the demands of the TouchWiz UI.

So not only were Samsung Galaxy S owners seemingly going to be Ice Cream Sandwich bereft, but Galaxy tab 7.7 owners were also going to miss out on the upgrade for the same reason.

Ice Cream Sandwich may make an appearance:

According to an article in Phandroid, the ICS update that so many want to see on their relatively new Samsung devices may make an appearance after all.

Possibly since so many people were seen to be disappointed on forums and online.

As a result, Samsung are set to look into ways they can make Ice Cream Sandwich Android 4.0 work on the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab.

There are rumours that Samsung will look to take way the TouchWiz user interface, with arguably, not a great deal of loss to the upgrade. However others believe that this workaround will not be an option for Samsung and they will look to other areas to find cut backs on processor and ram requirements.

We have reported on the issues that many have faced when upgrading to the new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich O/S on the Nexus S after many owners were going stir crazy globally after their decidedly annoying upgrade issues were reported extensively on this site.

So what will Samsung scale back on, after they have admitted it looks a bit “touch and go” if these new devices can handle what appears to be quite simple functionality improvements?

Let us know what you would prefer to be omitted so you can get your Ice Cream Sandwich fix soon?

With the news that Verizon have teamed up with security experts Gemalto, the reason behind the delayed Samsung Galaxy Nexus seems to be down to the NFC capabilities of the phone and Google Wallet’s NFC technology being part of the new Galaxy range by default.

In relation to NFC issues, some say security was the problem, others say typical Verizon anti-competitiveness, either way the much anticipated arrival of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been tedious.

Verizon and the consortium behind Google Wallets rival Isis were seemingly not so pleased at Google Wallet being so ingrained in the device and this could be a valid reaosn for the delay.

Galaxy Nexus 15th December US release?

We had given a false hope that the new Galaxy Nexus would be released late last week, but this did not prove to hold true, however this picture seems to suggest that the 15th of December could finally be the actual US release date of the new Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Yes, it looks like good news at last, as the leaked pictures courtesy of Engadget, seem to show what looks like an image from a Costco store showing that the device is due to be released in the US finally on the 15th December, the stores already have the stock, so it is just a matter of time before Verizon gets a move on.

Lets us wait and see if this is another red herring in the long running saga of the official US release of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus in the US, you bored yet? I am.

2012 looks like being a good year for tablets as they come of age and become seriously powerful and functional, yes, Samsung are also releasing their new flagship Samsung Tab 11.6 in early 2012.

Samsung are such copycats!

News that the iPad 3 release date may be launched earlier than anticipated, has come as quite a revelation, mainly due to the fact that there seemed to be an issue with the manufacturing process for the new ultra high resolution retina display, that will be included as standard on the new iPad 3 devices.

Samsung’s new tablet to boast same retina display as iPad 3:

So, not content with stealing Apple’s design patents (allegedly) in the iPhone and iPad in general, Samsung have also copied Apple with their own exploding phone that exploded recently just like the infamous exploding Apple iPhone.

And now in typical “I wanna be like you” flattery, the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 11.6 will also, it is rumoured, feature a 2560 x 1600 high resolution display and a 16:10 aspect ratio.

With BGR citing a “trusted” resource for the news the article also goes on to suggest that Samsung will be unveiling the new tablet at the Mobile World Congress this coming Spring, which makes a lot of sense, as this is when they have historically displayed their new Galaxy 10.1 and 8.9 tablet devices.

The new Samsung Galaxy tab 11.6 will also boast Ice Cream Sandwich as the O/S of choice and also house a Dual Core Exynos 5250 Processor, clocked at 2GHz, similar to the A6 CPU fond in Apples new iPad 3.

I wonder if the new marketing campaign for the Galaxy tablet 11.6 will beat the utter dross that Samsung initially released as promos videos for the Samsung S2 which they now hide from Youtube viewers by “unlisting” them?

So are you looking forward to this new Android based device now that the Android market has come of age?

So you are in the market for a non Apple based media playing device that looks like a smartphone but costs less and does not come pre subscribed to a hefty contract?

Ok then, may I introduce you to the new Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0, a serious iPod rival and one that I particularly like….cheapest prices usually offered here:

So why is this gadget a real iPod contender?

The following list includes some areas that the Apple iPod does not offer:

[arrowlist]

Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0 Review

• FM radio
• GPS chip
• Larger screen – two options
• Better camera with flash
• Expandable memory slot for cheap SD Micro-SD Cards

[/arrowlist]

I think that comparing the Apple iPod and Galaxy Player 4 will leave you thinking that the Apple device seems that little bit easier to use but really it is just a matter of time before you are just as quick with the Samsung device and then you may think the same about the Apple product if you switch back.

Who is the Samsung Galaxy Player aimed at?

I am finding it quite tough to see how big this market is, but there has to be some merit to a device that does not have a monthly bill attached but can perform pretty much everything that a well specified smartphone can deliver.

Having access to the full Android marketplace will also be a bonus if you have invested in the Android ecosystem heavily so far.

The fact that you can use the full google application suite such as Gmail and various other communication and productivity tools offered in the Android marketplace, means that the device is more than just a portable games player and can perform as a cut down tablet in many ways, including price.

All in all, worth a look if you are seeking an alternative to a smartphone and want something a little smaller than a tablet, and particularly dislike Apple!

The trouble is what do you call it when Apple have laid claim to the term iPod!?…”player” sounds so naff!

I have put this article under a new category called Gadget Reviews for now!

It seems that Samsung are under fire from Apple in so may territories and countries that the South Korean smartphone and tablet manufacturer can not even begin to stand up before the Apple legal team come knocking!

10 countries and 4 continents:

Yes Samsung are currently at loggerheads with Apples legal team in 10 countries in 4 continents and this includes huge wealthy territories such as Germany, UK, US, France, Japan, Australia and South Korea.

Good news at last?

Are Samsung out of the legal mire?

Additionally to potentially good news for Samsung which we reported yesterday, where the Australian federal court had ruled that a prior ban on the sale of the galaxy tab was incorrect, it seems that Samsung may have won a benchmark ruling in the US also.

A court in California has ruled that the bid to block the Galaxy tab and Galaxy smartphone from being sold is not going to be upheld.

Judge Lucy Koh said:

“It is not clear that an injunction on Samsung’s accused devices would prevent Apple from being irreparably harmed. Indeed, given the evidence Samsung presented, it seems likely that a major beneficiary of an injunction would be other smartphone manufacturers.”

The preliminary injunction which would force Samsung to remove their Galaxy products from sale was deemed to be an excessive and extraordinary measure to take at this stage.

The lawsuit started in April and surrounds three design and one software patent that Apple disputed. This ruling may not see Samsung win the cases it is currently involved in, but may see a halt to the “guilty before verdict” precedents that seem to have been set in many areas.

If you have not been keeping up with Apple’s recent legal actions against Samsung et al then please do type “Samsung”, “Legal” or “Patent” into our search box to your right and read all about it.

In yet another blow to the South Korean device manufacturer, Australian courts have upheld a continued ban on the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab from stores in the country.

Prior to the recent ruling, a judge in Australia had deemed that Apple had:

“established a prima facie case for an entitlement to relief on the Heuristics Patent”.

And Samsung duly appealed and actually obtained some degree of success, though unfortunately for Samsung this did not mean that they could simply start selling their tablet again in the country. Apple was given until the end of the week to respond to the ruling that overturned Apple’s desire to block all sales of the Samsung Tab in Australia.

Apple take Samsung Galaxy Tab case to High Court:

Obviously Apple did this with gusto in a move designed to further delay any verdict by taking the case to the high court, so now the high court of Australia must come to a decision, but until this actually happens, the ban will remain. Giving Apple an extra few days or weeks to get back to their legal team and start working out further counter claims and plans of attack and defence.

Such are the stakes in the fast paced environment of tablet and smartphone technology that every day and month counts, especially coming up to Christmas.

Yes, Apple have been heavily gunning for rival manufacturers of smartphones and tablets over what they perceive are patent issues related to their own technology.

But out of all the companies that have been affected by recent litigation, Samsung seem to be the ones who have had it the toughest, with a current ban on sales of their Galaxy tablet in Germany which looks set to be lifted after Samsung have redesigned the tab to counteract claims of copying.

What do you think to Apple’s continued aggression related to patent issues? Are they pushing their weight around a bit too much or simply protecting their assets?

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus has been on sale for over 2 weeks in the UK, and the new Ice Cream Sandwich based device was met with great fanfare, however a pretty serious fault emerged relating to volume on the Samsung Nexus.

We are pleased to announce that this issue has been resolved.

The update and subsequent fix (which mainly affects users in Europe) who access network service using HSPA+ in rural areas over 2G will receive the update over the air.

The CDMA variety of the Nexus does not need this update as the problem was related to 2G networks, and in particular affected the 900Mhz GSM frequency.

Updates continue and US and Canada version should have no issue whatsoever related to this anomaly relating to volume.

I poked fun at Samsung’s really dire advert range for the S2, so poorly executed I assume that Samsung would not actually want anyone with any taste to ever see them.

In fact even more interestingly this is what they have done with this atrocious set of videos: Blocked them from the results in Youtube!

Samsung Unlist Initial Adverts For Samsung S2

“Wow! The video that Jim made got the most views on youtube”…not a chance!

That is an actual quote from this garbage video – so Samsung do know that they should try to sell a phone based on what YOU can do with it….mmmmm.

Youtube comment:

“Wow! The video that Jim made got the most views on youtube. Jim, you’re not Mr. Cold, you’re mister WARM!” – SOMEONE CALL BAFTA! We’ve got the short of the year!!!!”

Well it seems Samsung have a cheek in now deciding to be a bit more controversial and simply poke fun at iPhone users!…cheap shot again, easy target….but hey fair game!

Hilarious.

I love both devices for many reasons, but having the cheek to suggest that the iPhone has particular battery problems (which it does) makes me laugh when my article surrounding the Samsung S2’s dire battery life has got so much attention, and agreement.

However this is all bravado and I quite like the fact that Samsung are sounding off about Apple creatively, it is a bit of fun I suppose….Apple will likely let this run off there shoulders, which seem pretty wide.

But seems to have quite a pitiful 213,000 views since Nov 22nd….can you imagine how many views Apple would have got if they had released what essentially is a cutesy and pretty funny video.

Samsung still peddling the specs of their phone over functionality:

“Huge”, “speed” etc etc, when will Samsung realise that the people want to know what THEY can do with the phone and not what THE PHONE can do for itself….but with high quality adverts not dross!

Verdict!

Nearly there!..;)

With Europeans enjoying the new release of the seemingly much loved Samsung Galaxy Nexus, we wonder how much the lack of support for Flash mobile that is offered on Google’s new operating system: “Ice cream sandwich” is going to affect any new smartphone models adoption rate when users realise that things will be slightly limited for a period while various technology, manufacturers, publishers, advertisers and content creators catch up to the future of HTML5, and standards are widely adopted.

UPDATE – ICS Will get Flash Support, but last version

HTML 5 the future of the web experience:

We all know that anything that Flash can do HTML5 can do the same if not better. This currently however is not obvious to many people as most dynamic mobile content is currently only produced with flash players in mind, and HTML5 equivalents are arguably quite mediocre by and large at the moment.

I personally think it is great news that Samsung have gone the Apple route and forced some change rather than let outdated technology linger on ad-infinitum as the scourge of Internet Explorer did for many web designers, purely because that dratted Microsoft company refused to make a decent browser that supported a variety of standards, in that case it took Firefox, Safari, Opera and Chrome to make people realise an alternative was there that was much nicer and safer to use, oh yes and a legal landmark case that stopped said Microsoft from peddling every Windows based computer system on the face of the planet at purchase with the dreaded I.E family of “browsers”.

Could battery life be the reason to ditch Flash?

One of Apples big gripes with Flash was that it was a power hungry beast and with battery life issues pervading the smartphone and tablet market, I wonder if Samsung’s issues with battery life in the Samsung S2 may have quite a big sway to finally go full hog for the HTML5 option for dynamic content, which in theory should be easier on battery drain.

Google do not rule out Flash in the future for Ice cream sandwich:

According to a report in Slashgear:

”Flash hasn’t been released for ICS yet so as far as we know, Adobe will support Flash for ICS.”

So it seems a little murky as to what will and wont be released on ICS, but for now, buyers of the Galaxy Nexus will not be able to access Flash content as they may have expected. We just wonder if this is a decision maker for most users or only those who are a little more demanding on the technology that is contained within their beloved smartphones?

Do tell all people?

Samsung bowed down to a court ruling related to the sale of their popular tablet in Germany after a ruling many weeks ago declared that the tablet was rather too close to the Apple iPad, the result of which has meant that the South Korean firm have gone away and after withdrawing their tablet from this huge market, have now come back with a revised design that has an altered metal frame and a shift of speaker position to counteract copycat claims.

New Galaxy tab specifically for Germany:

The new design will be released to Germans on the 21st November just in time for Christmas and should allow Samsung a chance to gain a little more traction with their otherwise popular Galaxy tablet in the biggest European marketplace.

Samsung fight back:

The legal landscape between Apple and Samsung sees many cases being fought between the firms, it has all got really rather messy in the smartphone and tablet arena for the two tech giants.

Samsung have retaliated heavily with an attempt to ban the iPhone 4 from sale in France, Italy, Germany and Australia. A hearing in Paris due on the 18th of November will show if Samsung will have one up on Apple in time for the festive period after being shut out of Germany for so long with their Galaxy tab.

Apple involved with many lawsuits:

Samsung is not the only company involved in disputes with Apples legal team, though their are currently around 30 cases between the two firms globally.

Nokia, Microsoft, and HTC are also Involved in litigation with Samsung with Microsoft, Nokia and HTC challenging Apple over over the use of the term “app store”.

We expect a fair bit more of this type of tit for tat to occur as technology looks more and more similar month by month, any pressure put on manufacturers to delay release dates or recall already released models significantly affects a model’s chances of getting traction prior to a new release by a competitor, so this legal “game” is pretty much par for the course now in the fast moving mobile tech world.

o2 have just announced that they will be the first UK carrier to offer the Galaxy Note on a contract by the end of November, meaning that the giant smartphone.tablet hybrid will become an option for more people rather than having to stump up a large amount of cash for a SIM-free deal from the likes of Play, Amazon, or Clove.

£250 starting price?

It seems that o2 are offering the device on a monthly contract with an initial outlay of £250, this seems to expensive when you look at the Amazon Kindle Fire that has just been released and retails at the equivalent of around £130. Having said that the device does look pretty sweet and is better specified than the Amazon Kindle Fire.

Monthly fees and sweeteners:

According to Cnet, monthly fees will start from around £13.50 to £72 with early adopters getting £100 of free access to Samsung’s Hub which offers access to movies and music.

Galaxy Note Specs:

Arriving with a boastful 5.3 inch screen, and the first “smartphone” to go over 5 inches in screen size, the Galaxy note comes with the following goodies behind its exterior.

[arrowlist]

• Dual-core 1.4GHz ARM Cortex-A9
• 5.3 Inch Super AMOLED Display 1280×800, 285 PPI
• 8 Megapixel camera
• 1 GB Ram
• 16 GB Storage
• WiFi
• Bluetooth 3
• 1080p playback and recording
• USB 2.0
• Android 2.3
• HSPA+/4G LTE

[/arrowlist]

With a similar pedigree to the Samsung S2 before it, the Galaxy Note is a beast and in benchmark tests by AnTuTu, they gave it a massive score of 6394.2.
The Samsung Galaxy S2 scored 5334.3, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab scored 4782.6. So this is no slouch of a device.

Read our full review so the Samsung Galaxy Note here and for US Samsung lovers we will keep you posted on the arrival of the Samsung Galaxy Note for you guys also.