New Features for Samsung ChatON

Mobile Instant Messaging has come a long way since it first swept the globe with Blackberry Messenger. iPhone offerings advanced the communication options, but Android, the fastest growing operating system today, is leading the way with the ChatON app from Samsung.

Leading the future of IM interaction, the ChatON app takes IM to the next level with animated messages for more creative freedom, calendar interaction to manage your busy schedule, group chat and chat rooms, and an interactive profile page. The “Trunk” feature allows you to store contents in a sharing box, and post comments to other sites including Facebook. 

Samsung ChatON app features:

Enhanced Group Chat, where broadcast messages can be sent to several buddies at once

“Trunk” - a ChatON Contents Sharing Box, where users can leave comments and share contents to other sites including Facebook

Animation Message, users can create their own animated messages with original drawings, texts, audio content and changing background images

Anicon (Animated Emoticon), users can download various animated emoticons from chaton.com

Buddies say, users can post comments directly to buddies’ profile at any time

Interaction Rank, users can check how often then chat with their buddies on the progress bar

Micro SNS Community (Social Network Service)

Now available in 120 countries in 66 languages, Samsung’s ChatON is usable across iOS, BlackBerry and Android devices. Download ChatON for free at https://web.samsungchaton.com

Google Goggles update brings support for devices without autofocus

If you thought Google's perspicacious searching application was clever before, prepare for a shock. Google Goggles version 1.9 adds support for devices without autofocusing optics, giving those on budget gear a chance to use the real world as a search box. Point it at a QR code containing a URL, and it'll show you a thumbnail of the page and check its credentials against its blacklist of malicious sites. If it comes up short when searching for a product, it'll even search for similar-looking items to help you find what you're looking for, and it's available from the Play store for free -- so you don't really have any excuse.

[Source: Engadget]

Samsung reveals the design story highlights for the Galaxy S III

Samsung was very keen to let us know that its latest flagship phone was designed for humans. Now, the latest in the revealing series from the firm gives a little more insight into how the team went about that. For example, product designer Hangil Song explains how the rounded edges were inspired by pebbles in a stream, while sound engineer Joongsam Yun describes how they wanted to make the phone sound like a stroll in the forest. So, next time you're barging your way down Mainstreet with four ounces of synthetic material blaring out Carly Rae Jepsen, remember, you're doing it wrong.

[Source: Engadget]

LG phone with quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro arriving this fall

Qualcomm is announcing a partnership with LG to deliver a new quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro-based phone this fall, launching first in Korea in September. While LG hasn’t officially announced anything, this is almost certainly the rumored Optimus G; a device said to have 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel camera, and a 4.7-inch 720p IPS LCD display. Interestingly, LG is said to be leveraging its own subsidiaries to build a quad-core phone exactly to company chairman Koo Bon-Moo's specficiations; a phone with the same early fall release window. Judging by what we've seen from the company's recent Optimus 4X HD, our interest is definitely piqued.

AnandTech confirms that LG's as-yet-unnamed device will contain Qualcomm’s benchmark-crushing APQ8064 quad-core SoC including the Adreno 320 GPU, combined with an MDM9615 baseband chip, pointing out that this is the same combination going into Xiamoi’s China-only Mi2 smartphone. If Xiamoi sticks to its October release window, odds are good that LG's new device will be the world's first phone with the APQ8064.

[Source: The Verge]

Samsung Galaxy S Duos goes official: launches in Europe next month

Aside from that minor labeling at the top, the Galaxy S Duos appears to be trading heavily on the looks of Samsung's latest flagship. That said, it does have its own trick; space for two SIMs. The phone will be able to keep both SIMs running concurrently, with the ability to chat on Carrier A while still fielding incoming calls on Carrier B. The rest of the hardware is less likely to wow, with a now pretty humble 1GHz processor, 1,500mAh battery, 4GB of built-in storage and a five-megapixel camera on the back. The screen seems big enough, with a 4-inch 480 x 800 TFT housed within the 120g frame, happily running Android 4.0. A European launch is pitched for September, with an unspecified roll-out "across other territories" following soon after.

[Source: Engadget]

LG Optimus Vu in September with Tegra 3

LG has announced that its newest flagship phone, the Optimus Vu (see our review), will be available globally in September. It has been available in only Japan and Korea thus far and will see a release next month in the Middle East, Africa, Europe, Asia, Latin America and then the U.S. sometime this quarter. This news comes on the heels of LG's announcement that they have sold more than 500,000 worldwide already, which is quite impressive. That number will likely see a big increase once it hits more markets this fall.  The Optimus Vu sports a beautiful 5-inch screen, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), 8MP rear-camera, a 1.3MP front-facing camera and 32GB of memory. Also notable is the fact that the international Optimus Vu will run a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 CPU, rather than the dual-core Snapdragon S3 found in the Korean and Japanese variants. It's also likely the international Vu will lose some of its quirkier features, like the slide-out antenna for watching digital TV broadcasts.

[Source: To read the full article visit Android Central]

Xiaomi Phone 2 now official: 4.3-inch 720p IPS, quad core and Jelly Bean for just $310

At last, no more secrets. Announced in Beijing just now is the Xiaomi Phone 2, and with the exception of the appearance, most of the specs match the many leaks we've come across: 4.3-inch 720p IPS display by Sharp, Qualcomm's Snapdragon S4 Pro APQ8064 quad-core chip, 2GB RAM and 16GB memory. To power this beast, Xiaomi's throwing in a 2,000mAh cell, but you can also purchase a 3,000mAh version if you don't mind the extra 2mm thickness on the phone. As for photography, you get a 28mm two-megapixel imager at the front along with a 27mm F2.0 eight-megapixel BSI camera on the back -- we saw some stunning untouched shots from the latter at the launch event.

The good news doesn't stop there. On the software front Xiaomi's decided to jump straight to Android Jelly Bean for the phone's MIUI ROM, which itself packs several new features as well. Just to name a few: enhanced security, phone finder, Chinese voice assistant (apparently with 85 percent comprehension accuracy), more interactive themes and 5GB of cloud storage service with online client.

As you can already see, all of this will cost just ¥1,999 (about $310) -- the same as the original Xiaomi Phone announced this time last year -- when it launches in October, and local carriers China Unicom plus China Telecom will also be offering the DC-HSPA+ handset at subsidized prices. Interestingly, Xiaomi co-founder Lei Jun even admitted on the stage that the phone's raw cost is ¥2,350 ($370) per unit, so hopefully it'll go down sooner than later for his sake. But if ¥1,999 is still too much, there's also the¥1,499 ($235) Xiaomi Phone 1S which, as we've already seen, is very much just the original Xiaomi but bumped up from 1.5GHz to 1.7GHz, along with a front-facing camera.

[Source: Engadget - Read the full story]

Potential Samsung Galaxy Note 2 bezel gets snapped, measured at 5.5 inches

Here's an image purporting to be of the Galaxy Note 2's bezel, and if it's a fake, it's a very good one. Taken by a (sharper-than-usual) blurrycam snapper wearing factory-style dust booties, the hardware suggests a chunky, squared-off design for the second-generation phablet that rejects the Galaxy S III'smore curvaceous body. The ruler draped from corner-to-corner jibes with earlier rumors that it would have a slightly expanded 5.5-inch canvas for your S-Pen fun. We just have one question: does that photo make it look curved along the horizontal axis, or is the loose component just bendy?

[Source: Engadget]

Gartner: worldwide mobile phone sales dipped 2.3 percent while users wait for next iPhone

Gartner is reporting that worldwide mobile phone sales this quarter dropped 2.3 percent as buyers postponed upgrades and held out for the next big thing. Of the 419 million units sold in the last three months, Samsung, Nokia and Apple unsurprisingly took the lion's share of the sales, while ZTE and LG rounded out the top five. Overall, Android's the most popular phone operating system, running 64.1 percent of all new handsets, while iOS phones came in second with 18.8 percent. If you feel like you need some more spreadsheets in your life, then read on for the full breakdown.

[Source: Engadget - Read the full story]

Google gives mobile search a makeover for quick-answer queries

If you're looking for flight times, currency conversions, word definitions and more, you'll notice that Google has dressed up the responses in new, Now card type clothing. On top of being prettier, the look is designed to make the data easier to parse and also adds an interactive element -- letting you change a distance or unit when doing metric conversions, for example. Currently the refresh is limited to smartphone and tablet searches, but Google has promised to roll it out soon to desktop searches and international users. The change is part of an ever-evolving list of tweaks and updates to Mountain View's venerable search engine -- check the source for more info.

[Source: Engadget]

So… Samsung DID copy Apple

This is the biggest news story I have read in a long time (very important link below). According to an article from AllThingsD new documentation has been submitted in the Apple vs Samsung case.

"As part of its case against Samsung, Apple has shown snippets of an internal Samsung document comparing the original Galaxy S phone with the iPhone.

On Tuesday, Apple managed to get the whole 132-page document admitted into evidence. And it’s a doozy.

The 2010 report, translated from Korean, goes feature by feature, evaluating how Samsung’s phone stacks up against the iPhone.

Authored by Samsung’s product engineering team, the document evaluates everything from the home screen to the browser to the built in apps on both devices. In each case, it comes up with a recommendation on what Samsung should do going forward and in most cases its answer is simple: Make it work more like the iPhone."

You can read through the whole document here … it makes for a very interesting read, with direct comparisons all the way through, including comments on how Samsung should copy, but make subtle changes too their UI.

[Source: AllThingsD]

Samsung offering new Galaxy customers up to $300 for old handsets

Samsung is offering new Galaxy S III, Galaxy S II, and Galaxy Note customers up to $300 cashback in exchange for trading in old handsets. Dubbed Samsung Upgrade, the deal is currently available via the company's US Facebook page, where users are able to get an automatic quote for devices from every major manufacturer before submitting proof of purchase to Samsung. After receiving and verifying the old handset, Samsung will send out a check for its agreed value.

[Source: To read the full article visit The Verge]