Samsung Galaxy S4 to launch in India on April 26

NEW DELHI: Samsung will launch its flagship smartphone - Galaxy S4 - In India on April 26. The launch is part of the global rollout of the device. It will go on sale in other markets like the US and some European countries on the same day. 

For now, Samsung hasn't revealed any India price but the phone is expected to cost a little more than Rs 40,000. 

Samsung has two versions of Galaxy S4 - one powered by a Qualcomm S600 processor and another powered by Samsung's 8-core Exynos processor. In India, the Korean company is expected to launch the Exynos model. 

Galaxy S4, which is powered by Android operating system, is the successor to Galaxy S III. Samsung hopes to sell around 10 million units of its top smartphone within one month of launch. 

In India, the company is the top smartphone vendor. According to CyberMedia Research, Samsung had a share of 43% in Indian smartphone market at the end of 2012. 

Currently, Samsung and Apple are fighting a bitter war in Indian market. Last year Apple bolstered its operations in India. This year it has launched several aggressive schemes, including price cuts on older models of iPhones, to increase sale of its smartphones. Samsung has responded by introducing its own schemes, including cash back and zero interest EMIs for several models of Galaxy phones. 

The Korean company hopes Galaxy S4 will help it stay ahead of Apple as a new iPhone is not expected to launch anytime soon. 

When it hits the market, Galaxy S4 will also compete against HTC One, a phone that has garnered much praise among technology reviewers for its design, camera performance and a few unique features like Zoe. HTC One has been priced at Rs 42,990. It will be available in Indian market by the end of this month.

source-timesofindia

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iFone in Mexican stand-off against iPhone

Mexico’s Supreme Court has ruled that iFone, a local telecoms services company, is making proper use of its brand and that Apple has no grounds for complaint.
According to a Dow Jones report, the ruling could pave the way for iFone to claim damages against the Cupertino giant for brand infringement and perhaps local mobile operators as well.
The dispute between Apple and the Mexican firm dates back to 2009. That’s when Apple tried to register the iPhone brand in Mexico only to be rebuffed by the country’s Industrial Property Institute, saying the name had already been snapped up by iFone.
Apple, claiming that iFone’s right to the brand should be revoked because it was not in proper use, previously tried to sue the Mexican outfit. However, a federal court found that the local firm – registered as Ifone SA in 2003 – had legitimate claims on the brand.
This week’s Supreme Court ruling, reports Dow Jones, was a rejection of Apple’s appeal against the federal court’s decision.
iFone’s case against Apple is not entirely clear-cut, since the iFone brand covers telecoms services and not devices. Apple, says the report, is still believed to hold a valid trademark for the iPhone when applied to a device (rather than a service).
Nevertheless, the latest court ruling might increase the chances of a successful damages claim by iFone against Apple. Eduardo Gallastegui, iFone’s lawyer, reports Dow Jones, says compensation could be as much as 40 per cent of iPhone profits in Mexico.
The lawyer reportedly has Mexico’s three mobile operators – Telcel (owned by America Movil), Telefonica and Grupo Iusacell – also in his sights for compensation. For their part, Mexico’s operators maintain that the dispute is between iFone and Apple.

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Microsoft to end WP8, 7.8 support in H2 2014

Microsoft will stop supporting Windows Phone 7.8 and 8 by the second half of 2014.
The company posted a table on its site outlining its support plans for the different versions of its OS, with Windows Phone 8 support ending on 8 July 2014 and WP7.8 getting until 9 September of the same year.
The timetable means each OS gets 18 months of support from launch. In that timeframe, most users of phones with the OS will be eligible for a handset upgrade.
Microsoft launched a new SDK for Windows Phone 7.8 in January but has provided little detail on when the platform will be available to existing Windows Phone device owners.
The upgrade to the 7.5 Mango version of Windows Phone is aimed at making the OS more closely resemble Windows Phone 8 with the addition of Live Tiles. However, it is only available on new devices.

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Samsung to launch Tizen device in August/September 2013

Samsung plans to launch a high-end smartphone powered by the open source Tizen mobile platform in August or September this year, reportsBloomberg.

“The Tizen phone will be out in August or September, and this will be in the high-end category. The device will be the best product equipped with the best specifications,” said executive vice president of Samsung’s mobile business, Lee Young Hee, during an interview in Seoul.

Samsung is one of 12 companies developing Tizen as an alternative to Android. The South Korean tech giant, along with operators Orange and Docomo, said last month that they plan to “commercialise Tizen devices in the second half of 2013”.

The Tizen 2.0 Magnolia SDK and source code was released to developers, operators and OEMs last month.

The largest smartphone manufacturer in the world in terms of shipments, Samsung launched its current smartphone flagship, the Galaxy S4, in New York yesterday.

Google was not referred to at the unveiling, taken by some as a sign that the company is downplaying its reliance on Android ahead of the launch of a Tizen device.

Smartphones using Android made up 96 per cent of Samsung’s shipments in the third quarter of 2012, according data from Bloomberg Industries.

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Exploding BOM for Samsung Galaxy S4

The HSPA+ version of Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 smartphone carries a much higher bill of materials (BOM) than both its predecessor and Apple’s iPhone 5.

According to analytics company IHS iSuppli, the HSPA+ 16GB version of the new Samsung device has a BOM of $236. Add in the manufacturing costs and it rises to $244. That’s 15 per cent higher than the Galaxy Samsung III and 17 per cent more than the iPhone 5.

The higher BOM costs, say IHS, are due to major upgrades in the display, sensors and application processor, as well as the supporting memory.

The BOM conclusions are drawn from a virtual teardown conducted by the analytics company. They are based on a combination of information and device specifications released by Samsung, along with information regarding known components and suppliers.

“Although its hardware is not radically different from the Galaxy S III introduced in April 2012, the Samsung Galaxy S4 includes some critical component updates that enhance its functionality as well as its BOM cost,” said Vincent Leung, senior analyst for cost benchmarking at IHS.

“Among the upgrades are a larger, full high-definition (HD) display; a beefed-up Samsung processor; and a wealth of new sensors that set a record high for the number of such devices in a smartphone design. And despite the larger display and other changes, the Galaxy S4 has roughly the same width and the same ease of handling as the Galaxy S III.”

The S4’s HD display and touchscreen subsystem is estimated to carry a cost of $75, up from $65 for the S III. This represents the single largest area of cost increase for the S4 compared to the S III.

IHS estimates that Samsung accounts for at least $149 worth of component content in the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy S4, which represents 63 per cent of the total BOM.

Intel is believed to be the supplier of the baseband processor and RF transceiver in the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy S4 (as it was for Galaxy S III), while Broadcom, says IHS, is the likely source for the wireless LAN/Bluetooth/FM/GPS subsystem and the GPS/GLONASS section in the non-Qualcomm variant of the Galaxy S4.

IHS emphasised that the BOM estimates are preliminary until it does a physical teardown of the device.

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Samsung to bring Galaxy Tab 3 at IFA 2013

Today new information received from our insider confirms the Galaxy Tab 3 for the second half of 2013. Our insider even reported that Samsung may announce the Galaxy Tab 3 in IFA Berlin together with the Galaxy Note III. He couldn’t tell anything about the specifications yet but he even reported that Samsung will stop to update the first generation of the Galaxy Tab. The Galaxy Tab 2 will receive Android 4.2.2 but Samsung will stop here!

The Samsung Galaxy Tab is Samsung’s first generation of Galaxy tablets. The first tablets from Samsung were announced 2 years ago. The current Galaxy Tab 2 is still on sale.

This monday the same insider reported about the future updates of smartphones and Note devices by Samsung. Samsung’s high-range Android devices will receive Android 5.0

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Samsung Galaxy S 4 beats all Android smartphones in new benchmark test

Just last week Samsung announced the Galaxy S 4 and it has beaten every device on the market at the moment.
Samsung even doubled the speed compared to the Apple’s iPhone 5. Samsung scored in this benchmark test 3163 points. Where the HTC One has scored 2687 points and the iPhone 5 has scored 1596 points. We have to see the fight between all these devices in real life. The iPhone 5 uses a dual-core processor and the HTC One and Galaxy S 4 uses a quad-core processor. The processor of the Galaxy S 4 is clocked on 1.9Ghz which is 200MHz higher than the HTC one.

All on all be happy the testers didn’t use Samsung’s own EXYNOS Octa-Core processor. This processor is expected to beat all current processors in one time. Samsung will sell the Galaxy S 4 with the Octa-Core processor in a couple of countries.

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