Perhaps all the leaks lately from the Samsung camp has their PR team discombobulated. Despite the fact that they are about to have a big announcement event on June 20th, they just keep sharing press release for new devices, making us wonder if they will run out of things to surprise us with at the event. Their latest debut is the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Several leaks have already appeared about the device, including one that gave a press pic and full specs, here. At any rate, the final press pic and full press release are below, now with the full camera specs. Here's a quick breakdown,

• 16-megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom and image stabilization
• Xenon flash
• 4.3-inch qHD display
• 1.5GHz dual-core processor
• 8GB of internal storage
• A microSDXC card support for up to 64GB of removable storage
• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S4 zoom – the first smartphone to offer 10x optical zoom, for perfect picture taking

June 12, 2013

A revolutionary new device that converges the best of a high performance smartphone and camera, the GALAXY S4 zoom delivers the best of both worlds

LONDON, UK – June 12, 2013 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced the launch of the Samsung GALAXY S4 zoom, a powerful new device which combines the stylish heritage of the latest GALAXY S4 smartphone with advanced photographic capabilities.

Part of the GALAXY S4 family, the GALAXY S4 zoom is the realization of Samsung’s mission to create a single device that can fulfill the role of both an industry leading smartphone and a high-end compact camera. Combining 10x Optical Zoom, 16 Mega Pixel CMOS Sensor, OIS and Xenon Flash with the very latest Samsung GALAXY S4 technology, the GALAXY S4 zoom sets new standards for perfect mobile photography. It is the ultimate smartphone and camera experience in one, and the only device you’ll ever need.

“The Samsung GALAXY S4 zoom represents yet another step forward in the way Samsung is working to enhance the lives of our customers around the world,” said JK Shin, President and CEO, Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division, Samsung Electronics. “As communication continues to become increasingly visual in nature, people wish to capture and share their moments in the highest quality possible, but often do not have the space or inclination to carry a dedicated camera for this purpose. The GALAXY S4 zoom changes this forever, combining the industry leading functionality and connectivity of the GALAXY S4 with the high quality photographic experience you’d expect from a compact camera. The result is truly the best of both worlds, without compromise.”

Revolutionary new interface
Do it all and miss nothing thanks to the revolutionary new Zoom Ring, a simple and intuitive way to access the GALAXY S4 zoom’s key features. When you’re in the middle of a phone call and you see something you absolutely have to share, a quick twist of the Zoom Ring will activate the In-Call

... [Read More]

NVIDIA just showed off their Tegra 4i reference phone yesterday. It's effectively a NVIDIA branded smartphone using their Tegra 4i mobile chipset with on-board LTE. It's called the The Tegra 4i Phoenix reference and phones based upon the specs will be launched in Q1 of next year. Here's a quote with a few more interesting details,

The Tegra 4i Phoenix reference design is a very slim device measuring 7.9mm thin. Its width is 72mm and height is 138mm.

The handset carries the name ‘brand’ on the back, which will be replaced by manufacturers names in actual retail devices. It’s got a 4.8-inch 720p screen and a 13-megapixel camera, and the Tegra 4i is paired to 1GB of LPDDR2 RAM. The ‘brand’ phone comes in three models with 8GB, 16GB or 32GB of internal storage.

Best of all the Nvidia Tegra 4i ‘brand’ phone will cost less than today’s flagships coming in at around $300 to $400 without a carrier subsidy, and there will be an even cheaper Tegra 4i phones going as low as $200.

We these prices, in 2014 we could see the entire landscape change for what it means to have a smartphone. This aggressive technology push driving down prices reminds me of the PC industry. Pretty soon we will have ultra-powerful spec'ed phones at ultra-affordable prices.

Source: PhoneArena

Earlier in the week we shared breaking news about Verizon being forced to give up customer phone records to the NSA by a Top Secret Court order. A political and ethical firestorm erupted and it has dominated the mainstream news scene ever since.

More info has since come to light, and the whistleblower himself, a man named Edward Snowden, came forward admitting he was the one who leaked the documents. Snowden formerly worked for the CIA and also just recently worked as a contractor for the NSA. He is now hiding out in Hong Kong while the U.S. Government debates on how to get him back and possibly prosecute him as a traitor. Some are hailing him as a hero. He gave up a $200,000 dollar a year job, his family and his girlfriend, knowing that leaking the evidence would probably ruin his life. Of course, there are two sides to this debate and there are those who would argue he betrayed an important duty. Our Government is simply trying to do the impossible job of protecting us from possible terrorism by gathering as much data as possible to predict future events. It is perhaps the greatest balancing act a government can perform, trying to weigh safety and security versus freedom and liberty.

Regardless, this is not a political forum and the secret universal answers to this issue will probably not be discovered here. However, there is something that is specifically relevant to our forum that we would like to share with you today. One of the documents Snowden leaked also talked about a secret NSA program called PRISM which is basically a secret wiretapping of our biggest internet and technology companies like Google, Microsoft, Apple and many more. Supposedly, the network activity for these companies has been closely monitored by the NSA for some time. All of the big names came forward denying it. Google has been particularly vocal about this, and Larry Page even took the stage expressing disgust and assuring Google customers that their servers are 100% secure and none of their data has been given to the government unless a valid and non-secret legal request has been made.

Today, Google took things a step further and has called out the U.S. Government on this issue. Google sent a legal request to the U.S. Government requesting Google be given the ability to be more transparent and publicly publish even more national security related data. Here's a quote with the full blog post from Google,

Asking the U.S. government to allow Google to publish more national security request data

This morning we sent the following letter to the offices of the Attorney General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Read the full text below. -Ed.

Dear Attorney General Holder and Director Mueller

Google has worked tremendously hard over the past fifteen years to earn our users’ trust. For example, we offer encryption across our services; we have hired some of the best security engineers in the world; and we have consistently pushed back on overly broad government requests for our users’ data.

We have always made clear that we comply with valid legal requests. And last

... [Read More]

Yesterday was Apple's big software announcement at their WWDC event, and obviously the launch of iOS 7 stole the show. The new OS from Apple takes on a number of new features, enhancements and general tweaks. Across the web there has been a wave of hyperbole thrown at the new OS ranging from glowing praise to damning vitriol. The truth is, (as usual), somewhere in between, and we wanted to share an article across our own network of mobile phone websites which attempts to distill it down to as fair a comparison as possible. Below we will share the primary new features which debuted in iOS 7 and will compare them as closely as possible to their Android 4.2/Jelly Bean equivalent (if one exists yet). This breakdown is in no particular order.

First: The Control Center in iOS 7 vs. System Setting Quick Toggles in Android 4.2/Jelly Bean - Even though it took a while for this feature to show up in stock Android, it has been a standard feature already on Android for quite some time already. Apple's iOS 7 control center is definitely a great new feature and it has some added functionality which Android's version does not. For the most part though, most of the functions are the same, but the text included with the buttons makes the Android version a bit easier to use. One could argue this is subjective, but ultimately there are a great deal of average consumers out there who might have a problem memorizing the icons for the system settings buttons on iOS 7 whereas that is not a problem on Android.

Second: The iOS New Home Screen and Lock Screen vs. Android's version - the trademarked and patented Lockscreen for iOS is now gone. Apple is definitely focusing on a minimalist approach for this now. You still have some valuable info, like the time, date, day and charge icon of the battery. You also have the text "Slide to Unlock." We aren't sure why Apple abandoned their previous lockscreen, but their new approach definitely does hold to their minimalist design aesthetic. It's obvious they want you to be able to get to your home screen as quickly as possible. The lock screen on Android 4.2 can be customized and can have widgets added. It also depends a bit on which phone you have from which manufacturer. With Android, since several OEMs do their own custom Android UI skin, there is a greater range of customized options on the lock screen. Some of these features are relatively handy if you need a quick glance at information without having to go all the way into your home screen.

Speaking of the home screen, this is where Apple has brought several changes, although at a precursory glance, the differences are not readily apparent to a person who is inexperienced with iOS. Still, Apple has gone to great lengths to improve the UI by including parallax scrolling with a cool 3D effect underneath when you tilt the phone. The new look is very fresh. It is bright and colorful and includes more rounded and organic looking edges with flatter icons.

As far as how the UI for Android 4.2 compares, some of the same UI features could already be found on Android, like the 3D effect, and/or the flat rounded edges; however, this was only if you downloaded third party add-ons from the Google Play Store, like live wallpapers and MIUI. This means it isn't exactly a direct "apples to apples" comparison (forgive the accidental pun). Still,... [Read More]

Move over Samsung (4Gb LPDDR3), SK Hynix is about to run right by you with it's blazing fast 8Gb LPDDR3 memory chips. SK Hynix appears to be one-upping the smartphone giant, as the company has been working on its own 20nm eight gigabit (the equivalent of 1GB) memory chips, which can be stacked together to provide a whopping 4GB RAM in a single package.

SK Hynix’s new RAM will be built on high-density LPDDR3 which offers a higher data transfer rate, greater bandwidth, and improved power efficiency over older designs. In terms of raw performance this new RAM will have its data transmission speed sped up to 2,133Mbps, which is a fair bit faster than the 1,600Mbps offered by existing LPDDR3 handsets such as the new Samsung Galaxy S4, and doubles the speed of older LPDDR2 memory.

2014 should bring us some smartphones/tablets packing a monstrous 4GB of RAM, that will be able to handle anything that's thrown at it. For more details please read the full press release below:

SK Hynix Inc. (or ‘the Company', www.skhynix.com) announced that it has developed the world's first 8Gb(Gigabit) LPDDR3(Low Power DDR3) using its advanced 20nm class process technology. This product is a top-performance mobile memory solution which features high density, ultrahigh speed and low power consumption.
The new products can be stacked up and realize a high density of maximum 4GB(Gigabytes, 32Gb) solution in a single package. In addition, the height of this package becomes dramatically thinner than the existing 4Gb-based one. In terms of its high density and competitive package height, it is suitable for the newest trend of the mobile applications.

The product works at 2133Mbps which surpasses 1600Mbps of existing LPDDR3 in the aspect of its data transmission speed and is the world's fastest mobile DRAM. With a 32-bit I/O it processes up to 8.5GB of data per second in a single channel, and 17GB in a dual channel. It works at ultra low-voltage of 1.2V.

While this new LPDDR3 runs two times faster than LPDDR2, its standby power consumption decreases more than 10% compared to LPDDR2 products, therefore it satisfies both low power consumption and high performance which mobile applications highly demand.

It can be provided in various forms such as ‘PoP'(Package on Package) or being in a single package with ‘eMMC'(embedded Multi Media Card) which is installed in mobile gadgets as well as ‘On-board' type embedded in high-end ultrabooks and tablets.

“With the development of this high density LPDDR3 using 20nm class, SK Hynix is now able to supply a top-performance product suitable for mobile devices to the market”, Senior Vice President Richard Chin, the Head of Global Sales & Marketing said. “Especially, this development has its significance since the Company has secured top-level competitiveness in mobile products by developing it simultaneously with PC DRAM using the same 20nm class process technology” he added.

Samples of this new product have been shipped to customers and the Company plans to start mass

... [Read More]

When it comes to being safe against malware, most of us know to be careful with the "where, how, why and what" of downloading apps on our Android devices. Still, we would be remiss if we didn't share relevant news out there to help you guys stay informed about such things. Apparently malware on Android is at an all time high, and will likely hit the 1 million mark later this year. Also, there is a nasty new bug out there that is contributing to those numbers in a more insidious way. It's a trojan which attempts to spread itself through Bluetooth. Here are some quotes with some of the details,

A security researcher has found what he claims is the most sophisticated Android trojan yet, currently speading by SMS spam, which goes to great lengths to hide itself and tries to replicate on nearby Bluetooth-enabled devices.

Like other Android malware, the trojan is designed to earn its controllers money by forcing the infected device to send text messages to premium-rate numbers. But what's rare about Obad.a, according to Russian security vendor Kaspersky Lab, is that it exploits previously unknown vulnerabilities in Android to remain invisible.

The malware is not widespread and so far has relied on malware-laden SMS to spread, but it contains an impressive list of capabilities that puts it on par with the sophistication of Windows malware, according to Kaspersky Lab malware researcher Roman Unuchek.

"Backdoor.AndroidOS.Obad.a looks closer to Windows malware than to other Android Trojans, in terms of its complexity and the number of unpublished vulnerabilities it exploits," Unuchek notes in a blogpost. ~ ZDNet

The malware has even more unique and dastardly characteristics than just what is mentioned above so be sure to hit up the source link for more info. Here's a few important bullet-points to pay attention to regarding this rise of Android malware:

• Trend Micro detected 350,000 threats for Android, with a growth ratio of 14:3 for Android versus PC. In context, it took Android just three years to achieve the PC volume of malware threats within 14 years. By the end of this year, the volume of Android malware could reach as high as the 1 million mark.
• The number of Android malware detections spiked in the third quarter from 41,000 to 156,000 samples, according to the firm's research. 38 percent was adware, 25 percent stole data, while 22 percent included a malicious downloader. Leading the threat type, however, was a premium service abuser at more than 40 percent.
• Java-based threats helped lead Apple's OS X platform into the crosshairs of malware writers, hackers, and botnet controllers after the first widespread attack against the Mac.
• Social-media platforms became a greater target for cybercriminals as the security firm warns users to avoid "oversharing" on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and so on.
• Enterprises suffered from an "alarming rate" of data breaches and targeted attacks, the firm said. The widely reported Global Payments breach cost more than $94 million and is "still climbing," to give one

... [Read More]

Sony just dropped the price on their current version of Google TV. The reason they did that is because they also announced a new version of the device that will have one particularly cool advanced feature: voice search! The new Google TV NSZ-GS8 is basically just a revamped version of the previous model, but the new voice search functionality which works through the remote makes it stand out. Here's a quote with some additional detail,

The rest hasn't changed too much, as you can see if you compare the two devices side-by-side on Sony's website. As far as the price goes, the Sony NSZ-GS8 will cost $199, just like the NSZ-GS7, and, according to Sony's official blog post, will be available at the beginning of July.

If you can do without the new remote and voice search, you can now get the old Sony NSZ-GS7 for $169. You can also add the voice search functionality to the old version of Sony's Google TV by purchasing the new microphone-toting remote for $49.99, starting with June 17.

Source: GoogleTVForum.org via AndroidAuthority

HTC is raking in the awards with their HTC One smartphone. Earlier in the year, the HTC One got the “Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet” award at MWC 2013. Now HTC pulled a double whammy by winning the "Best Device" award at Computex 2013 from last week. Here's a quote from HTC regarding the award,

"For the new HTC One to win yet another international award, it demonstrates how HTC’s proven design capabilities, both in product design and user experience, is bringing a new perspective to the industry," HTC Chief Marketing Officer Ben Ho said. "We will continue to innovate and provide consumers with the highest quality products."

Even though HTC doesn't have the marketing budget to spend the ludicrous volumes of cash on advertising that Samsung does, they still knocked the ball out the park with a truly innovative and impressive device. Luckily, these design wins are also translating into strong sales for the manufacturer. Kudos to HTC for clawing their way forward!

Source: PhoneArena

If you are unafraid of refurbished products, and are looking for a solid Android tablet, then Woot! has a great deal for you. For one day only they are selling a refurbished version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 for just $299.99 + $5 shipping. This is the same tab with the Wacom digitizer and Stylus Pen included. Here's the link below to check out this deal.

Source: Woot! - Refurbished Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 With Stylus

The dimensions for the rumored HTC T6 phablet device recently leaked, and the folks at Mobileleaks used the info to create a Blueprint concept of the device. While the artist's drawing makes the phone seem like an enlarged HTC One, it still reveals an intriguing characteristic for the phablet. If the info is accurate, the phone will be smaller in total size than the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, yet will have a 5.9-inch display versus the 5.5-inch on the GNote2. Wonder how they worked that magic?

The usual spec-list was also included. It doesn't differ really from our previous stories on the subject, but here it is again,

• 5.9-inch full HD 1080p display
• 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 quad-core CPU
• Android 4.3 or higher
• 3,300mAh battery
• UltraPixel Camera
• BoomSound

What do you guys think? Any of the large phone fans out there looking to give this device a try?

Sprint just officially unveiled their own branded phone called the Vital. We shared rumors of the ZTE made device previously, but Sprint just made it official. It's coming June 14th for $99.99 on contract (after a $50 mail-in rebate). Its specs are pretty good for the price of the device, especially considering it is a pure Android phone with no UI overlays. We bolded the specs in the press statement below for a quick glance.

Great news for budget-conscious customers: Sprint is about to launch a powerful smartphone that doesn't sacrifice performance or high-end capabilities for less than $100. Sprint Vital™ packs many of today's must-have features, including the latest version of Android™.

Priced at just $99.99 with a new line or eligible upgrade, two-year service agreement and $50 mail-in rebate (excluding taxes), Sprint Vital comes with the high-end features ever customer wants. It is available beginning Friday, June 14th, in all Sprint sales channels, including Sprint Stores, 1-800-SPRINT1, Web Sales, and Business Sales.

Built on Android 4.1.2, Jelly Bean, Sprint Vital comes with a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash and video capture, 1-megapixel frontfacing camera and Sprint 4G LTE for surfing the Web at lightning-fast speeds.

Sprint Vital is also geared for gamers with a large 5-inch HD 1280 x 720 IPS display with break-resistant LCD and a 2,500 mAh removable lithium-ion battery that offers up to 15 hours talk time. To help take advantage of the built-in gaming capabilities, it comes preloaded with EA Mobile's Real Racing 3, offering trailblazing features, including officially licensed tracks, an expanded 22-car grid, and more than 45 meticulously detailed cars from makers like Porsche, Lamborghini, Dodge, Bugatti and Audi. Racing with friends gets kicked into another dimension with the reality-bending Time Shifted Multiplayer™ (TSM) technology.

Sprint Vital also keeps the Android experience closer to the way it was intended. This allows more freedom to customize your Android experience and enables enhanced performance with less clutter that could slow it down.

It is equipped with eco-friendly attributes, including Underwriters Laboratory Environment (ULE) Platinum Certification, the highest level of environmental performance recognized by sustainable requirements established by ULE and Sprint, and packaging that is 98 percent recyclable.

Samsung let everyone know a couple of weeks ago that they would be launching a new product on June 20th, and most of the industry intel suggested it will be the Galaxy S4 Zoom. The Zoom is basically a camera/phone hybrid with a greater focus on the camera side of things. Just yesterday the specs and a pic were leaked for the device ahead of the official launch. Here's what we now know (assuming the leak turns out to be accurate):

• 4.3-inch qHD display
• 1.6GHz (unspecified) processor
• 8GB of internal storage with micro SD card slot up to 64GB
• Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean

As you can see from the press shot, the device is more camera than phone, at least from a physical/size perspective. The pic reveals that a full zooming physical lens will be present. Sadly, the camera specs of the device were not leaked, or we would have more to share. This could be a great phone for folks who love to take pics and video. What do you guys think?

Source: SamMobile