October is not far from now but folks who are drawn to open-source devices are already rejoicing with the news that Ubuntu smartphones are going to be introduced that month. Moreover, this February, there will be a sort of a "test drive" using Ubuntu operating system on a Google Nexus phone. Along with Samsung, these two tech giants are inviting developers and enthusiasts to beta, tweaking and experimenting with an open source smartphone before the formal unveiling of the said Ubuntu phones.

Ubuntu's introduction as a potential competitor to Apple's IOS and Google's Android is somewhat polarizing. Furthermore, there is Microsoft Windows to take its share in the smartphone market. Many open-source patrons are naturally waiting for October to come, but it remains to be seen if much of the other smartphone enthusiasts will shift from their current operating systems and are willing to actually try Ubuntu smartphones. One thing is sure; Ubuntu phones will surely be promising when it comes to modification and the potential results of collaboration between talented developers and devotees.

Source: cnet

LG Electronics Inc. said Friday it has sold more than 1 million Optimus G smartphones worldwide since the flagship device's launch last year.

The milestone comes roughly four months after the South Korean handset manufacturer unveiled the 4.7-inch display phone that runs on Qualcomm Inc's Snapdragon S4 processor introduced two premium smartphones, the LG Optimus G and the LG Optimus Vu.

The company has released the Optimus G in Canada, Japan, South Korea and the United States and plans to release the device in China and in several European countries in the first quarter of this year.

In the third quarter, LG sold a record of 7 million smartphones globally, compared with its previous high of 6.2 million. Of the total, roughly 2.1 million were long-term evolution smartphones, according to the company.

Congrats to LG for the milestone.

Earlier this week there were rumors that the Samsung Galaxy S4 will not be unveiled at MWC 2013 next month in Spain. However, same rumors went around that it will arrive at a special media event that could take place in the U.S. in March, with pre-orders taken place around April 15th.

Current flagship model, Samsung Galaxy S3 passed 40 million sales recently, while the Galaxy S2 also topped 40 million units, but in a much longer period of time.

According to Money Today, a South Korean publication called Money Today, Samsung has plans to sell about 10 million Samsung Galaxy S4 units in each month following the release. It's not specified for how many months this is going to continue, though. Money Today claims it has obtained information that Samsung has ordered its subcontractors to produce about 10 million GS IV components each month.

The Galaxy S IV is rumored to be equipped with a high-end 4.99-inch 1080p full HD display, 1.8GHz 8-core Exynos 5 Octa processor and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The smartphone is also expected to include 4G LTE connectivity, 2GB of RAM, a microSD slot, wireless charging capabilities and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.

Source: MoneyToday

According to uSwitch, the Samsung Galaxy S III continued its reign on top of the best-selling smartphone charts, topping iPhone 5, LG Nexus 4 and other highly-rated smart devices. Last month, it also held its number 1 position on its ninth consecutive month and it does not show signs of stopping. Quite possibly, this will carry on until the Samsung Galaxy S IV gets launched in the market.

However, what's more surprising is that Samsung Galaxy Ace, which is a favorite among mid-range customers and is one of the longest-living in the Galaxy series, is at number 2. This just goes to show that a smartphone need not have super stellar specs to gain a top sales spot and is the reason why Samsung continues to improve this unit.

Samsung is truly making its waves in the smartphone market-something that other players such as Apple, Google, LG, HTC, and Sony should definitely watch out for.

Sprint's top five smartphones surprisingly does not include iPhone 5. Galaxy Note II is takes the lead on thebest-rated smartphones among customers. It received a score of 4.7 out of 5.0 and beat out other devices from other makers such as HTC and Motorola, among others.

Interestingly, the Galaxy Note II is also on top of Verizon's list for "most appreciated". Sprint offers the Note II on contract for $299.99, which can be quite expensive for some.

Others that made the top-5 list are the LG Optimus G and another Samsung product, the Galaxy S III, the iPhone 4S and the HTC Evo 4G LTE.

Time and again, Samsung has proven that they can beat out other brands of smartphones, despite the slew of lawsuits that it has weathered in the past few years and the allegations of other bigwigs that it has a penchant for stealing designs of components and devices.

Source: unwiredview

Apple might also be planning to create an iPhone that is capable of charging without contraptions. The next iPhone (5S or 6) is possibly due to come out on August this year, while the Samsung Galaxy S IV will be formally launched on the 14th in Times Square New York.

According to SamMobile, Samsung will use Qi technology for wireless charging on the Galaxy S IV. On the other hand, Apple will not use this wireless technology, which Samsung helps develop. Instead, they will rely on an in-house technology that they have developed for wireless charging.

Other mobile companies that have taken to wireless charging are LG, HTC and also Nokia, among others. This new feature will be quite useful for people who do not have time to put down their phones for a moment to charge or those who do not like bringing wires and contraptions.

Source: digitimes

The India smartphones market during 2H 2012 saw a rise in shipments by 75.2% over and above the 1H 2012 number, taking the overall contribution of smartphones to 6.8% for the full year. In fact, during 2H 2012, smartphone shipments stood at 8.1% of the country's total mobile handset shipments. While BlackBerry was at third spot during 1H 2012, Sony Mobiles displaced the former if we examine numbers for the full CY 2012.

Table 3. India Mobile Handsets Market: Leading Smartphone Players, CY 2012
(in terms of % of unit shipments)

The Galaxy Mega name should give you some hints already, yes you've guessed it right, Samsung will be launching smartphones with display even larger than the current Samsung Galaxy Note II.  That's only if the report by Sam Mobile is true. it claims Samsung will initially launch two devices - one with a 5.8-inch display (GT-I9152) and other with a 6.3-inch display (GT-I9200), branded under Galaxy Mega. These devices will cater to the mid-range crowd and will even launch a dual-SIM version in some regions.

Rest of the specs are unknown at this point, but I9152's GLBenchmark test reveals the device to have qHD resolution (960×540) support and a 1.2GHz processor (probably dual-core).

Samsung Galaxy Mega devices are expected sometime after May.  Now the question is, do we even need that humongous sized phone?

Source: sammobile and sammyhub

Samsung announces two new affordable smartphones on a press release that will feature 4.1 Jelly Bean firmware: the Galaxy Star and the Pocket Neo. It can be recalled that the company has already showcased these two entry-level gadgets in Africa. There is no news as to the exact prices of each but these will surely cater to the low-end market. It is not clear when these will be available either.

The Pocket Neo comes with an 850 MWz processor, 512 MB RAM, expandable memory, 3-inch display and can support two SIMs, GPS and a 2MP rear camera. On the other hand, the Galaxy Star have almost the same features but it will come with a faster processor that clocks in at 1GHz.

Although Samsung has plenty of devices to announce this year, the most anticipated after the S 4 launch is the Galaxy Note 3 and possibly the S 4 Mini, which will all be unveiled hopefully sooner than later.

Source: Samsung

A Samsung Electronics executive said Wednesday the firm will expand its smartphone business in China to better compete with Apple in the world's largest smartphone market.

"Samsung understands that Apple intends to boost its mobile business in China, as well as in Japan, meaning that we should try harder in these countries," Samsung's mobile business chief Shin Jong-kyun said.

This announcement follows hot on the heels of Apple's recent event that brought us the iPhone 5S with a 64-bit CPU. But while Apple did optimize the iOS 7 for 64-bit processors, Android OS is yet to support such thing.

The 64-bit CPUs are a must-have for devices with 4GB or more RAM and there is a chance Android 4.4 KitKat brings 64-bit support. There is also a probability Samsung unveils a flagship with 4GB of RAM next year, since the Note 3 already has 3GB.

Source: korea times

Ubuntu Smartphones are set to be shipped on October this year, which will definitely tickle the fancies of people who love open source gadgets. This type of OS makes these smart phones' UI and whatnot highly customizable at will.

Presently, open source smartphones are either discontinued or are only available to a few developers. Furthermore, the market for Ubuntu Smartphones is highly specific, being North America as well as other geographic markets that prefer open source systems, according to a report by Wall Street Journal.

The source further states that Ubuntu has captured the interest of popular mobile carriers, but no word is given yet as to who and what companies were drawn to developing Ubuntu smart phones.

Developers and enthusiasts will definitely want October to come and a select few will also have access to this Linux-based OS as a pilot ROM for the Galaxy Nexus late February.

Could every leak that is "reported" be just a marketing ploy meant to stir market interest? Recently, information was intentionally leaked that March 27 will be a big day for T-Mo. According to the report, on that day, it will release the Samsung Galaxy SII LTE Exhibit and the Blackberry Z10 as well as the T-Mobile mobile hotspot that also supports LTE. 

Samsung Galaxy S III Exhibit is a faster version of its predecessor and it also features 4G capability and a better memory. Expect it to be released, possibly on the 27th or the following week. Nonetheless, fans of T-Mobile will surely be happy to hear that their carrier will support LTE-enabled devices and it will not happen in the FAR future.

There is also some talk about an iPhone launching on the last week of March but no additional information is available to support the speculations. Fans must further wait with bated breath...

To summarize, March 27th will be a big day for T-Mobile for phone releases

• T-Mobile Sonic 2.0 Mobile HotSpot LTE - March 27th
• Samsung T599 Galaxy Exhibit "Codina" Prepaid Pebble Gray - March 27th
• Samsung T999L Galaxy S III LTE - March 27th or April 3rd
• Samsung T599 Galaxy Exhibit "Codina" Postpaid - March 27th
• BlackBerry Z10 - March 27th

Source: Tmonews

According to the NY Times, NYPD officers are armed with guns and Android smartphones in combatting crime and promoting public safety. Over 400 phones have been distributed to help them access pertinent police data using these phones while they are on duty.

However, these phones will not be used for calling but will be used to take advantage of data connections instead. Police officers can now look up a potential suspect's information and access vehicle registrations using a smartphone application. The police app might even eventually replace police car computers because it is quicker to retrieve data using the application.

Naturally, these phones will need data plans, which will be taken out of the City's funds so that officers can now take advantage of real-time info and data to identify criminals, apprehend them and bring them to justice-all thanks to an Android police application.

Source: NYTimes

Samsung USA today has decided to make things official and has announced which of its phones and tablets will be getting the KitKat update, and according to SamMobile, here's the full list of devices that will be getting KitKat:

• Galaxy Note 3
• Galaxy Note II
• Galaxy S4
• Galaxy S4 mini
• Galaxy S4 Active
• Galaxy S4 zoom
• Galaxy S III
• Galaxy S III mini
• Galaxy Mega
• Galaxy Light
• Galaxy Note 8.0
• Galaxy Tab 3
• Galaxy Note 10.1
• Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition

Press Release:

Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) announced today that a number of Samsung Galaxy® devices will receive the Android 4.4.2 (KitKat) software update, enriching the Galaxy experience.

The upgrade provides a number of innovative, easy-to-use features that enhance the user experience, including a more intuitive user interface, enhanced messaging capabilities and updated applications:

Location Menu: An integrated location menu enables users to easily activate GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile networks, while simultaneously checking the battery usage of apps running location service capabilities.

Enhanced Messaging: Enables users to choose between Messages or Hangouts as their preferred default messaging application, and select from a larger assortment of updated Emoji icons.

Upgraded Google Mobile Service^TM (GMS) apps: Users can automatically back up photos and video and can open, view, rename and share Google Docs and files.

Samsung Galaxy U.S. devices currently scheduled to receive the KitKat update include select carrier variants of the Galaxy Note® 3, Galaxy Note® II, Galaxy S® 4, Galaxy S® 4 mini^TM, Galaxy S® 4 Active^TM, Galaxy S® 4 zoom^TM, Galaxy S® III, Galaxy S® III mini^TM, Galaxy Mega®, Galaxy Light, Galaxy Note® 8.0, Galaxy Tab® 3, Galaxy Note® 10.1, Galaxy Note® 10.1 2014 Edition.

Availability varies by carrier and product, with updates beginning today and continuing throughout the coming months.

According the latest leaked document, these following 5 Samsung smartphones are likely to get Android 4.4 kitkat.  They include the Galaxy S4 Mini, the Galaxy Grand 2 Duos, the Galaxy Mega 5.8 Duos, the Galaxy Mega 6.3, and the Galaxy Note 3 Neo.

These updates have been finalized already, and now the only thing that's left to happen is when they will be starting the rollouts.  The information comes from the image you can see above, reportedly via a reputable insider.

And once again, the fact that the internationally-sold Samsung Galaxy S III (GT-I9300) won't ever receive an official update to KitKat has been confirmed.

New features of the Android 4.4.2 KitKat update will looking like something below.

• White Status Bar Icons
• Camera Shortcut on Lock-Screen
• Wireless Printing
• Album Art on Lock-Screen during Music Playback
• NFC tap-to-pay support
• Options to set default messaging and launcher apps
• Transparent status bar
• Better stability
• Improved Ram usage
• Smoother Interface Overall
• Samsung Wallet
• Emoji for Keyboard

In an interview with DigiTimes, Mozilla's Asia Operations President said that the company doesn't plan to collaborate with ODMs for making and selling own-branded Firefox OS smarthpones. If there will be Mozilla-branded smartphones, these "would be primarily used as reference models rather than for large-scale sale."

Q: Can Firefox OS smartphones be regarded as Mozilla's own-brand products, or are they joint branded with vendors?

A: No. Mozilla just provides an operating system and online store of Firefox OS-based applications. China-based ZTE, TCL and Huawei as well as LG and Sony Mobile will launch Firefox OS smartphones for sale under their brands through cooperation with mobile telecom carriers.

Read rest of the questions and answers at the link below:

https://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130619PD202.html