This morning, Google’s CEO Larry Page, announced that Andy Rubin will no longer lead the Android team. Andy has been the head of the Android project since the beginning and has watched as it has grown to running on more than 750 million devices worldwide. Taking the lead on the project going forward is Google vet, Sundar Pichai, who currently leads Chrome as well. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Page did not got into detail as to why exactly Rubin is leaving the team, but did mention that he is going to start a new chapter at Google. At least we know this is not a bad split or anything of that nature. This could be Rubin saying he has basically created the world’s most popular mobile OS and it’s time to conquer something else. We shall see.

Below is the full post from Larry Page.

Sergey and I first heard about Android back in 2004, when Andy Rubin came to visit us at Google. He believed that aligning standards around an open-source operating system would drive innovation across the mobile industry. Most people thought he was nuts. But his insight immediately struck a chord because at the time it was extremely painful developing services for mobile devices. We had a closet full of more than 100 phones and were building our software pretty much device by device. It was nearly impossible for us to make truly great mobile experiences.

Fast forward to today. The pace of innovation has never been greater, and Android is the most used mobile operating system in the world: we have a global partnership of over 60 manufacturers; more than 750 million devices have been activated globally; and 25 billion apps have now been downloaded from Google Play. Pretty extraordinary progress for a decade’s work. Having exceeded even the crazy ambitious goals we dreamed of for Android—and with a really strong leadership team in place—Andy’s decided it’s time to hand over the reins and start a new chapter at Google. Andy, more moonshots please!

Going forward, Sundar Pichai will lead Android, in addition to his existing work with Chrome and Apps. Sundar has a talent for creating products that are technically excellent yet easy to use—and he loves a big bet. Take Chrome, for example. In 2008, people asked whether the world really needed another browser. Today Chrome has hundreds of millions of happy users and is growing fast thanks to its speed, simplicity and security. So while Andy’s a really hard act to follow, I know Sundar will do a tremendous job doubling down on Android as we work to push the ecosystem forward.

Today we’re living in a new computing environment. People are really excited about technology and spending a lot of money on devices. This is driving faster adoption than we have ever seen before. The Nexus program—developed in conjunction with our partners Asus, HTC, LG and Samsung—has become a beacon of innovation for the industry, and services such as Google Now have the potential to really improve your life. We’re getting closer to a world where technology takes care of the hard work—discovery, organization, communication—so that you can get on with what makes you happiest… living and loving. It’s an exciting time to be at Google.

Posted by Larry Page, CEO

Via: Google

Andy Rubin Steps Away From Android Team, Sundar Pichai to Take Charge is a post from: Droid Life

Double check your calendars – is it April 1st? It’s not? Then there’s been a massive rip in the space time continuum as Motorola has officially published the new “Unlock My Device” page. On the site, Motorola device owners can finally unlock their device’s bootloaders and install 3rd party software. Naturally, there are about one million warnings and hoops to jump through, but it has finally come. 

To unlock your device, you will need the Android SDK and Motorola’s Drivers. Once you have those things set up on your computer, it’s merely a “follow the instrcutions” type of deal. Interestingly enough, when trying to find out which devices are supported by the Unlock Tool, it took us to an “Access Denied” page here.

Fantastic news going into the weekend. We’ll keep checking to see if we can get any more information regarding which devices can now be unlocked using the tool.

Update: Motorola has updated their list of supported devices. There is two phones and two tablets that are currently able to have their bootloaders unlocked.

• Photon Q
• RAZR developer edition
• XOOM – Verizon
• XOOM WiFi

We will continue to wait for Motorola to expand on this list.

Via: Motorola

Cheers Kixofmyg0t!

Motorola Launches “Unlock My Device” Site – Bootloader Freedom Has Come At Last (Update) is a post from: Droid Life

I have no idea what the hell is going on in Australia, but Verizon just posted the support docs for the DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX Ice Cream Sandwich update. This almost always indicates that the update is days away from rolling out. I’d say that the June 22 and 27 dates we heard are definitely in play. The build number is 6.16.211 which leaked out 3 days ago.

Global roaming is included, a new video calling feature, new Smart Actions app, and a whole bunch of other goodies. Mostly though, it’s all about Android 4.0.4 and the complete makeover that Motorola’s Blur has received. It’s much less intrusive, but with enough add-ons to make it semi-appetizing. This is it, the update you have been waiting 7 months for.

The update is 354MB in size. More.

Update:  Motorola updated their DROID RAZR page as well. It includes a whole bunch of Ice Cream Sandwich tutorial videos that you may want to take a look at. We have a bunch of them posted here as well.

Cheers Mark!

DROID RAZR and RAZR MAXX Ice Cream Sandwich Update Build 6.16.211 Approved by Verizon, It’s Update Time! is a post from: Droid Life

Here they are, folks, shared data plans or as Verizon is referring to them – Share Everything Plans. They just came across the wire and are definitely an interesting approach to wireless plans. This new plan structure will debut on June 28. Let’s try to talk through exactly what we have here. 

Verizon is offering unlimited minutes and texting and then adding on set amounts of data at an account level. The fees start with a monthly access fee which is basically where you choose the amount of data that you think your family will use:  1GB for $50, 2GB for $60, 4GB for $70, 6GB for $80, 8GB for $90, and 10GB for $100. Then, you start adding on devices (up to 10) which each come with their own fee:  smartphones for $40 each, feature phones for $30, Jetpacks/USB dongles/Notebooks/Netbooks for $20, and tablets for $10.

For example, if your family has 2 smartphone lines and 1 feature phone ($40 per smartphone and $30 for the feature phone) and you want 6GB of data shared between all of you, add on $80 to the $110 for the devices and your bill is roughly $190 (or a tad more with fees and taxes). If you have a 4G LTE tablet, you can add that to the account for $10. You can also add a hotspot plan on for free (or they are simply included), but just remember, that it pulls from that 6GB of data that you are all sharing.

Here is an an example of what my current plan looks like – 2 smartphones and 1 feature phone on a 700 minute plan with 2 unlimited data packages. We pay $10 per line ($30 total) plus $30 for each unlimited data package and $80 for the 700 minute plan. My bill is roughly $170 each month.

If you go over your data limit, you pay $15 per 1GB. If you need more than 10GB per month to start, you can add on an additional 2GB for $10.

As you can tell, and probably could have guessed long ago, this is a monumental switch off of caring about minutes and texting and focusing everything on data. The minutes and texting are never a worry with these plans since they are unlimited, but you now have to start monitoring how much data your family is using. There is no longer an unlimited option at all and the highest amount of data you can buy per month is 10GB for $100 (unless you add more for an additional $10). If you have the full 10 devices attached to an account, that gives you 1GB per device per month, which as you can imagine, is not a lot.

*We broke this whole situation down into a “basics” type of post that you may want to check out.

*Don’t forget, there are ways to keep your unlimited data plan.

*Be sure to vote in our poll and tell us if these new plans would save your money or cost you more.

*We now have info on corporate employee discounts here.

Here is Verizon’s site that details everything.

VERIZON WIRELESS UNVEILS NEW SHARE EVERYTHING PLANS FOR BASIC PHONES, SMARTPHONES, TABLETS AND MORE

Share Data with up to 10 Verizon Wireless Devices; Unlimited Minutes, Unlimited Messages and Mobile Hotspot Included in All Smartphone Plans

 BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless today announced Share Everything Plans that will forever change the way customers purchase wireless services.  Share Everything Plans include unlimited voice minutes, unlimited text, video and picture messaging and a single data allowance for up to 10 Verizon Wireless devices.  In addition, the Mobile Hotspot service on all the devices is included in the Share Everything Plans at no additional charge.  The groundbreaking Share Everything Plans debut on June 28 and will be available to new, as well as existing, customers who may wish to move to the new plans.

“Customers asked, and today Verizon Wireless delivered an industry first,” said Tami Erwin, vice president and chief marketing officer for Verizon Wireless.  “Share Everything Plans are the new standard for wireless service.  They are simple; customers no longer have to think about their voice and message plans, because both are unlimited.  Share Everything Plans are convenient; customers purchase one data plan and they share it with up to 10 mobile devices.  And, they are worry-free; customers can connect their 3G or 4G devices wherever and whenever they want on America’s most reliable network.”

How Share Everything Plans Work

To get started on a Share Everything Plan, customers first select the devices they want on their accounts.  The next step is to choose a plan that includes unlimited minutes, unlimited messages and a shared data allowance that begins at 1 GB for $50.  Customers adding a tablet on their Share Everything Plans can do so for an additional $10, with no long-term contract requirement. The following matrix shows pricing for an account with several different devices, such as a smartphone, a tablet and a basic phone, billed to the same individual.

Step 1	Step 2
Monthly Line Access (per device)	Shared Minutes	Shared Messages	Shared Data	Monthly Account Access (shared with up to   10 devices)
Smartphones – $40Basic Phone -30Jetpacks/USBs/Notebooks/Netbooks – $20Tablets – $10	Unlimited	Unlimited	1 GB	$50
	Unlimited	Unlimited	2 GB	$60
	Unlimited	Unlimited	4 GB	$70
	Unlimited	Unlimited	6 GB	$80
	Unlimited	Unlimited	8 GB	$90
	Unlimited	Unlimited	10 GB	$100

There are separate plans for accounts with only basic phones, or data only devices such as USB modems or Jetpack Mobile Hotspots at www.verizonwireless.com/ShareEverything.

“When developing these plans, we first asked customers what they wanted in a wireless service plan.  We also looked at the technology and how customers were using it to manage their lives.  And last, we took into consideration the evolution of the technology and how customers would use wireless in the future,” Erwin added.  “Share Everything Plans are the outcome of that research.  They cover every device Verizon Wireless offers, from basic phones to smartphones, from tablets to Jetpacks and more.  Share Everything Plans represent a tremendous shift in how customers think about wireless service.”

Switch to a Share Everything Plan

Customers are free to keep their existing plans, but there is no fee or contract extension to move to the new Share Everything Plans.  To help customers determine the best Share Everything Plan option, Verizon Wireless has created an easy to use online tool at www.verizonwireless.com/ShareEverything. 

About Verizon Wireless

Verizon Wireless operates the nation’s largest 4G LTE network and largest, most reliable 3G network. The company serves 93.0 million retail customers, including 88.0 million retail postpaid customers.  Headquartered in Basking Ridge, N.J., with 80,000 employees nationwide, Verizon Wireless is a joint venture of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ) and Vodafone (LSE, NASDAQ: VOD).  For more information, visit www.verizonwireless.com. To preview and request broadcast-quality video footage and high-resolution stills of Verizon Wireless operations, log on to the Verizon Wireless Multimedia Library at www.verizonwireless.com/multimedia.

Verizon Announces Share Everything Plans, Starting at $50 for 1GB of Data and Unlimited Talk/Text is a post from: Droid Life

Samsung just dropped news of U.S. availability for their brand new Galaxy SIII and yep, it’s coming to all 5 carriers – Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint and U.S. Cellular. They said that the we will start seeing them in June, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they will all arrive in June. That could mean that AT&T’s will launch first and that Verizon’s will launch in July for all we know. But we do have a “June” time frame to start looking forward to. Big Red’s version did just cruise through the FCC, so we at least have that as a good sign as well.

Prices will start at $199, but again, we could see T-Mobile’s at $199 and Verizon’s at $299 or so. Samsung has said that each carrier will announce their own variant individually over the coming weeks. Pricing will then be confirmed everywhere, so for now, we’ll just have to speculate. 

One thing we do now have confirmed (assuming these are final), is that the physical appearance of the device will mimic that of the international version with the full-blown hardware home button with menu and back keys along side it.

We also now know the official specs which match that of the Canadian variants. We have a dual-core 1.5GHz Snapdragon S4 processor (no quad-core), 2GB of RAM, 2 colors (white and blue), 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED display, 8MP camera, 16GB and 32GB models, expandable storage, and Ice Cream Sandwich.

Update:  Sprint is hosting a party on 6/12 which has to do with Samsung, so you can guess the topic. AT&T’s landing page is already up, confirming the look of the phone. Verizon seems to have a page ready, but it’s blank at this time.

And, please feel free to share your thoughts on this fine Sunday evening.

Samsung Galaxy S III Coming To Five Major Carriers Beginning in June 

In an industry first, Samsung delivers the same iconic smartphone design and premium content sharing experience with customized AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular services starting from $199 

DALLAS — June 4, 2012 — U.S. consumers on five major service providers will now be able to own the highly anticipated Samsung Galaxy S® III. Galaxy S III, optimized for peak performance on the nation’s fastest 4G LTE and HSPA+ 42 networks, will be launching with AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless and U.S. Cellular starting in June. Exact pricing and retail availability will be announced by each of the five carriers in the coming weeks.

“The U.S. launch of the Galaxy S III is the most anticipated launch of the year. As promised, we are delivering the ‘next big thing’ for U.S. customers and across all major carriers,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Telecommunications America. “Galaxy S III introduces new technological innovation and takes sharing to the next level.”

With the Galaxy S III, Samsung is setting a new standard for smartphones. This device was designed to be lightweight, durable and powerful. The Galaxy S III weighs 4.7 ounces and is 8.6 millimeters thin, making it lighter and sleeker than other leading smartphones, including several competitor models with smaller displays. The brilliant 4.8 inch display extends to an ultra-thin bezel to maximize the viewing area. The Galaxy S III delivers impressive processing power to allow more applications to be accessible simultaneously.

The Galaxy S III goes far beyond content consumption to content sharing. Continuing its history of innovation, Samsung has simplified how consumers share content and control the device with a single touch, through enhanced gesture technology or the simple movement of the eyes.

Sharing Made Simple

 The content sharing experience on the Galaxy S III addresses the sharing needs of consumers, whether it’s sharing and editing a presentation with a large group in real-time, sending digital images to several other smartphones at the same time or transferring large files within seconds from one phone to another. Further, these sharing experiences are simple and require little, if any, set-up.

Sharing With Multiple Devices

-      The Galaxy S III introduces the next evolution of Samsung’s content sharing service with AllShare® Play. This service automatically notifies the Galaxy S III to Samsung HDTVs, mobile tablets, laptops and other consumer electronic devices on the same network that are ready to receive video files. Users can also remotely access files from devices on other networks.

Sharing with Groups

-      With AllShare Group Cast on the Galaxy S III and a Wi-Fi network, users can share and collaborate on documents, presentations or images in real-time with multiple friends or co-workers’ without loading the file separately.

-      With Share Shot, become the official photographer for a group of friends. There’s no need to send photos and video via email, MMS or a USB drive. Users can quickly and seamlessly share pictures taken with the Galaxy S III’s 8 megapixel camera to other phones from up to 200 feet away. Once the Galaxy S III is synched with chosen devices, the pictures are automatically shared.

Sharing Smartphone to Smartphone

-      S-Beam is an industry first, providing fast, easy transfer of large files, such as videos and documents, with a single touch of the Galaxy S III without needing a Wi-Fi connection or cell signal. A 1GB movie file can be shared as quickly as three minutes and a 10MB music file can be transferred in seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone.

Smartphone Simplicity

-      The S-Voice™ feature on the Galaxy S III offers much more than just asking and answering questions.  S-Voice allows users to control the applications and services used most with words instead of touch. Use S-Voice to turn the volume up or down on the music player, answer or reject incoming calls, shut off or choose to snooze the alarm clock, or take a picture by saying “smile” or “cheese.”

-      Smart Stay puts the “smart” in smartphones. With Smart Stay, the Galaxy S III tracks the user’s eye to ensure the device screen is always on while you’re looking at it. By knowing when you are looking at the screen, it doesn’t dim the backlight or timeout to an idle screen.

-      Motion simplifies and short cuts many common functions including converting a text message to a call by simply raising the phone to the ear, tapping the top of the phone to go to the top of an email and list of emails or contacts, and alerting to missed call or text message.

-      The capabilities of the Galaxy S III’s 8 megapixel camera are far beyond point and shoot. Burst Shot captures still pictures at a rapid-fire pace at three images per second with zero shutter lag; and Best Shot recommends the best picture to keep based on colors, lighting and clarity. The Galaxy S III shoots and plays back 1080p HD quality video with a backside illuminated sensor that improves performance in low light environments, and provides the ability to capture a photo during videoing

-      Watching video while downloading a large file or service is seamless with Pop Up Play. Pop Up Play allows you to watch any side-loaded video content while operating any application in full-screen, background view at the same time. Video running on Pop Up Play can be moved anywhere on top of the full screen, much like picture-in-picture capabilities on large screen TVs.

Powerful Performance 

The Galaxy S III includes Android^™ 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) with TouchWiz enhancements, a Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 1.5 GHz dual core CPU and 2GB of internal RAM to provide high-speed performance enabling efficient and seamless multi-tasking. The dual-core processor offers competitive speeds and performance as leading quad-core processors without sacrificing valuable battery life. The brilliant 4.8-inch HD Super AMOLED™ touchscreen display brings content to life, without compromising the device’s true pocketability. The expansive display is protected by Gorilla Glass 2.0 to guard against cracks and scratches and provide enhanced touchscreen responsiveness.

The Galaxy S III, which comes in Marble White and Pebble Blue, is powered by a removable 2100 mAh battery for extended use on a single charge. Users can store large libraries of photos, videos and music onboard the Galaxy S III with expandable memory to compliment the standard 16GB or 32GB of onboard storage.

“The Galaxy S III is the most innovative smartphone on the market today. It is an industry first to see five major carriers align behind the launch of a single device virtually simultaneously,” said Todd Pendleton, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Telecommunications America. “To support the immense excitement for the Galaxy S III we will execute our biggest marketing campaign ever. Consumers won’t be able to miss why this device is the must-have smartphone.”

For more information:

• Visit us at www.facebook.com/samsungmobileusa

 ¹ Number one mobile phone provider in the U.S. and global claim for Samsung Mobile based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics, Q1 2012 U.S. Market Share and Global Market Share Handset Shipment Reports.

Samsung, Galaxy, AllShare, S Voice and Super AMOLED are all trademarks of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. 

About Samsung Mobile

Samsung Mobile (Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC), a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visit www.samsungwireless.com.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2011 consolidated sales of US$143.1 billion. Employing approximately 206,000 people in 197 offices across 72 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LED. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

Samsung: Galaxy SIII Coming to 5 U.S. Carriers Starting in June is a post from: Droid Life

Seriously, I do not even know what to say. But yes, the IMM76K Android 4.0.4 update for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Verizon has been approved. The support doc is live and that usually means that update will hit devices within a few days.

This is the same update that leaked in early May, was then pulled briefly by Google, and then resurfaced last week. We were told that the update would finally start to rollout in small batches last week on the 22nd, but it appears now as if it will start at any moment. As a refresher, this update comes directly from Google, however, Verizon clearly was taking their sweet time signing off on it. 

As you can see from the changelog, they fixed a bunch of email and text issues, some calendar stuff, and hopefully, those pesky in-call audio bugs.

If you would like to manually update today, you can check out this instructional post. The update is approximately 39MB in size. More info.

Be sure to let us know the minute it pops up on your device!

Galaxy Nexus Update IMM76K Approved by Verizon and Ready to Rollout, No This is Not a Joke is a post from: Droid Life

It’s official! The Samsung Galaxy SIII has been announced and will be available in Europe at the end of May. The 4G version that the U.S. will get won’t be until “this summer” some time. A lot of the predictions were right in that it has a 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED display (not the Plus), 8MP rear camera, 2MP front camera, 2100mAh battery, NFC, 16/32GB on-board storage, up to 64GB of expandable storage, and is only 8.6mm thick. As you can see from the pictures, it indeed does have a physical home button. No mention of processor, but that makes sense since the processor will differ depending on the region. We know from previous announcements that at least one variation of it will have the Exynos quad-core 4412 chipset.

The live stream of the unveiling event is going on now, but we get the feeling that the focus is on the UI and software and how this phone can make your life easier. The specs are nice, but this appears to be so much more. Developing…

We have the full specs, gallery and press release for you below. 

Gallery:

Specs:

Press release:

Samsung Introduces the GALAXY S III, the Smartphone Designed for Humans and Inspired by Nature

Effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, Samsung GALAXY S III reveals a new concept of smartphone

London, UK—May 4, 2012—Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a global leader in digital media and digital convergence technologies, announced today the third generation GALAXY S, the GALAXY S III. Designed for humans and inspired by nature, the GALAXY S III is a smartphone that recognizes your voice, understands your intention, and lets you share a moment instantly and easily.

This sleek and innovative smartphone has the enhanced intelligence to make everyday life easier. With Samsung GALAXY S III, you can view the content like never before on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED display. An 8MP camera and a 1.9MP front camera offer users a variety of intelligent camera features and face recognition related options that ensure all moments are captured easily and instantly. Samsung GALAXY S III is powered by Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, with greatly enhanced usability and practicality to make life easier. Packed with intuitive technology, the GALAXY S III delivers a uniquely personalized mobile experience that refuses to be compromised.

“With the GALAXY S III, Samsung has maximized the consumer benefits by integrating superior hardware with enhanced smartphone usability,” said JK Shin, President and Head of IT & Mobile Communications Division at Samsung. “Designed to be both effortlessly smart and intuitively simple, the GALAXY S III has been created with our human needs and capabilities in mind. What makes me most proud is that it enables one of the most seamless, natural and human-centric mobile experiences, opening up a new horizon that allows you to live a life extraordinary.”
Introducing Natural Interaction

The GALAXY S III enhances the interaction experience between the device and user. Smart enough to detect your face, voice and motions, the GALAXY S III adapts to the individual user to provide a more convenient and natural experience. With the innovative ‘Smart stay’ feature, the GALAXY S III recognizes how you are using your phone – reading an e-book or browsing the web for instance – by having the front camera identify your eyes; the phone maintains a bright display for continued viewing pleasure.

The GALAXY S III features ‘S Voice,’ the advanced natural language user interface, to listen and respond to your words. In addition to allowing information search and basic device-user communication, S Voice presents powerful functions in regards to device control and commands. When your phone alarm goes off but you need a little extra rest, just tell the GALAXY S III “snooze.” You can also use S Voice to play your favorite songs, turn the volume up or down, send text messages and emails, organize your schedules, or automatically launch the camera and capture a photo.

In addition to recognizing your face and voice, the GALAXY S III understands your motions to offer maximized usability. If you are messaging someone but decide to call them instead, simply lift your phone to your ear and ‘Direct call’ will dial their number. With ‘Smart alert,’ the GALAXY S III will also save you from trouble by catching any missed messages or calls; your phone will vibrate to notify missed statuses when picked up after being idle.
Easy and Instant Sharing

The Samsung GALAXY S III is more than a personal device that can be enjoyed by one user – it wants you to share and experience smartphone benefits with family and friends, regardless of where you are. With the new ‘S Beam,’ the GALAXY S III expands upon Android™ Beam™, allowing a 1GB movie file to be shared within three minutes and a 10MB music file within two seconds by simply touching another GALAXY S III phone, even without a Wi-Fi or cellular signal. The ‘Buddy photo share’ function also allows photos to be easily and simultaneously shared with all your friends pictured in an image directly from the camera or the photo gallery.

With ‘AllShare Cast’, users can wirelessly connect their GALAXY S III to their television to immediately transfer smartphone content onto a larger display. ‘AllShare Play’ can be also used to instantly share any forms of files between GALAXY S III and your tablet, PC, and televisions regardless of the distance between the devices. Under AllShare Play is also the ‘Group Cast’ feature that allows you to share your screen among multiple friends on the same Wi-Fi network; you can make comments and draw changes at the same time with your co-workers, witnessing real-time sharing on your individual device.
Human-centric Design with Uncompromised Performance

The GALAXY S III not only presents features with enhanced usability, but also provides an ergonomic and comfortable experience through its human-centric design. Its comfortable grip, gentle curves, and organic form deliver a rich human-centric feel and design. Inspired by nature, its design concept is the flow and movement of nature. The elements of wind, water and light are all evoked in the physical construct of the GALAXY S III. In its essence, the minimal organic design identity is reflected in the smooth and non-linear lines of the device. Available in Pebble Blue and Marble White at launch, Samsung will introduce a variety of additional color options.

With a 4.8” HD Super AMOLED display, the GALAXY S III offers a large and vivid viewing experience. Samsung Mobile’s heritage Super AMOLED display even enhances to HD and 16:9 wider viewing angles. To ensure faster content sharing and connectivity, the GALAXY S III offers Wi-Fi Channel Bonding which doubles the Wi-Fi bandwidth.

The GALAXY S III also sports a range of additional features that boost performance and the overall user experience in entirely new ways. It introduces ‘Pop up play,’ a feature that allows you to play a video anywhere on your screen while simultaneously running other tasks, eliminating the need to close and restart videos when checking new emails or surfing the Web. Its 8MP camera features a zero-lag shutter speed that lets you capture moving objects easily without delay – the image you see is the picture you take. With the ‘Burst shot’ function that instantly captures twenty continuous shots, and the ‘Best photo’ feature that selects the best of eight photographs for you, the GALAXY S III ensures users a more enhanced and memorable camera experience. HD video can be recorded even with the 1.9MP front-facing camera, which you can use to capture a video of yourself. Improved backside illumination further helps to eliminate blur in photos that result from shaking, even under low lights.

Mobile payment is also accessible with the device through advanced Near Field Communication (NFC) technology. The gaming experience is enhanced through ‘Game Hub,’ providing access to numerous social games, while Video Hub brings users high quality TV and movies. Furthermore, Samsung Music Hub will offer a personal music streaming service. Game Hub, Video Hub and Music Hub will be introduced in select countries initially and soon rolled out to global markets.

The Samsung GALAXY S III will be available from the end of May in Europe before rolling out to other markets globally.

Samsung Announces the Galaxy SIII – 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED Display, 2100mAh Battery, 8.6mm Thick, and More is a post from: Droid Life

We no longer have to rely on the rumors, folks. Samsung has officially announced that their brand new quad-core Exynos processor, clocked at a hefty 1.4GHz, will power the new Galaxy SIII that is to be unveiled next month in London. Samsung states that the new chip can deliver twice the computing power at 20% lower power consumption over their already battery-efficient dual-core chip. Samsung’s VP of System LSI marketing had this to say about the new Exynos processor:

The quad-core processor offers phenomenal multitasking abilities surpassing any single or dual application processor. Since all the cores must share a single battery, the power management and efficiency in the limited battery capacity are indispensable for mobile computing devices. Given the diverse functionalities consumers are demanding from their mobile devices today, the Exynos 4 Quad meets those high-performance needs while keeping power consumption very low.

Now that the new quad-core Exynos is official and we know that it will power the upcoming SGSIII, who here can’t wait for this thing to come to the States? Read the full press release down below. 

Samsung’s New Quad-Core Application Processor Drives Advanced Feature Sets in Smartphones and Tablets 

Designed on 32nm HKMG process, new energy-efficient chip exceeds 1.4GHz per core.

SEOUL, Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced the industry’s first quad-core application processor built on the High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process technology. With unprecedented performance capabilities exceeding 1.4GHz based on the ARM® CORTEXTM A9 quad-core, the powerful, yet energy-efficient Exynos 4 Quad, allows system-level architects to integrate maximized power efficiencies into smartphones and tablets which enables double the processing power at a 20 percent lower power bill over its predecessor, the 45nm process-based Exynos 4 Dual.

“The quad-core processor offers phenomenal multitasking abilities surpassing any single or dual application processor. Since all the cores must share a single battery, the power management and efficiency in the limited battery capacity are indispensable for mobile computing devices,” said Taehoon Kim, vice president of System LSI marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. “Given the diverse functionalities consumers are demanding from their mobile devices today, the Exynos 4 Quad meets those high-performance needs while keeping power consumption very low.”

Multi-core processing delivers enhanced performance, enabling users to accomplish more tasks in a shorter period of time. For example, a task such as streaming video can run on one core while the other cores update applications in the background, connecting to the web and scanning virus-check simultaneously.

Benefitting from a use case where the parallel processing and workload sharing among the four cores is necessary, the Exynos 4 Quad is particularly well-suited for heavy-load applications such as 3D games, video editing, and calculation-intensive simulation.

Due to its 32nm HKMG low-power process and power-saving design, the Exynos 4 Quad has two times the processing capability over the 45nm process based Exynos 4 Dual while consuming 20-percent less power. To improve power efficiency, Samsung adopted hot-plug functionality to support on-off switching for each core as well as the per-core dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), which offers a dramatic reduction in power consumption by adapting different levels of voltage and frequency when changing workloads.

Having identical form factor measurements (12mm X 12mm X 1.37 mm), the Exynos 4 Quad is pin-to-pin compatible with the 32nm process based Exynos 4 Dual, allowing mobile device designers to immediately adopt the new solution without additional cost, engineering or design efforts.

In addition, the new processor incorporates a full HD 30 frame per second video hardware codec engine for high resolution 1080p video recording and play-back, an embedded image signal processor interface for high-quality camera functionality and an HDMI 1.4 interface for sharp and crisp multimedia content transmission.

Samsung developed a power management IC (PMIC), the S5M8767, as a companion chip to power the Exynos 4 Quad processor. By integrating various circuitry such as nine highly efficient and programmable buck converters and 28 low-dropout regulators (LDOs) into the small package of 5.0 mm x 5.0mm x 0.4mm, the S5M8767 is designed to scale up or down the dynamic voltage depending on the clock speed in 6.25mV step for managing power delivery and maximizing battery life at the system level.

Already in production, the Exynos 4 Quad is scheduled to be adopted first into Samsung’s next Galaxy smartphone that will officially be announced in May. Samsung’s Exynos 4 Quad is also sampling to other major handset makers.

“The application processor is a crucial element in providing our customers with a PC-like experience on mobile devices. Samsung’s next Galaxy device, which will be officially announced soon, offers uncompromised performance and ground breaking multi-tasking features, thanks to Exynos 4 Quad’s powerful performance and efficient energy management technology,” said Hankil Yoon, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy Team, Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.

Last year, Samsung introduced a new online hub dedicated to its Exynos processor. Designed to facilitate easy communication with industry partners and end users, the new micro-site takes you a step closer to the ultimate experience Exynos delivers; product information, user experience and information on promotion events. More information can be found at http://www.samsung.com/exynos.

Samsung Announces 1.4GHz Quad-Core Exynos Processor, Will Come Equipped in New Galaxy SIII is a post from: Droid Life

That headline is not a joke, folks. Motorola, through their community blog, has announced the RAZR “Developer Edition” which has an unlockable bootloader. No release date was given in the post, but from the sound of it, the device should be here very soon. A pre-order page is in the works here.

In even better news though, they also announced that a U.S. version would be available in the “coming months.” Now, we have heard fine promises like this in the past from Moto, but will try our hardest to take their word for it seeing as they are pushing an actual device to Europe. We have no idea if it will have Verizon radios or not. Since the European version is GSM, you could easily come to the conclusion that the U.S. will see an unlockable GSM version too. That’s unconfirmed, of course.

Info on the unlocking and relocking process will be available at the MotoDev site.

*Note – It looks like they posted this news a little prematurely. Proof after the break.

Thoughts?  

Breaking: Motorola Announces RAZR “Developer Edition” With Unlockable Bootloader for Europe, U.S. Variant Too is a post from: Droid Life

In somewhat shocking fashion, Verizon has announced that they will not institute their single payment $2 convenience fee that we first reported on just 2 days ago. Here is the statement that just came across the wire:

Verizon Wireless Will Not Institute Single Payment Fee

December 30, 2011

Verizon Wireless has decided it will not institute the fee for online or telephone single payments that was announced earlier this week.

The company made the decision in response to customer feedback about the plan, which was designed to improve the efficiency of those transactions. The company continues to encourage customers to take advantage of the numerous simple and convenient payment methods it provides.

“At Verizon, we take great care to listen to our customers.  Based on their input, we believe the best path forward is to encourage customers to take advantage of the best and most efficient options, eliminating the need to institute the fee at this time,” said Dan Mead, president and chief executive officer of Verizon Wireless.

+1 to Verizon for listening to their customers, and +1 to all of you for speaking your minds.

Breaking: Verizon Cancels $2 Convenience Fee for Online and Telephone Single Payments is a post from: Droid Life

Time to set up “auto pay” through your Verizon Wireless account. According to our sources, Big Red will start charging you a $2 fee both over the phone and online for your monthly bill transaction unless you have your account set up to pay automatically. I know this news won’t excite most of you, but know that there are still plenty of options to get you out of having to pay this “convenience ” charge. We have all of your options listed below. This new $2 fee will allow Big Red to “continue to support these bill payment options.”  Mmmhmm.  

Below is the confirmation that has been released by Verizon.

Customers Encouraged to Use Options to Avoid Single Payment Fee That Starts Jan. 15

Verizon Wireless offers customers numerous free and simple payment options and we encourage customers to use those options. Starting January 15, a new $2 payment convenience fee will be instituted for customers who make single bill payments online or by telephone. There are a couple of exceptions. See below. The fee will help allow us to continue to support these single bill payment options in these channels and is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments in alternate payment channels (online, mobile, telephone). It is waived for those who pay by electronic check or enroll in AutoPay — we encourage customers to use those or other payment options that incur no fees. [See complete list below.] The telephone and online single payment fee, which takes effect January 15, will be disclosed up-front and throughout the transaction.

There are numerous payment options available to our customers where the fee is waived or where no fee applies. They include:

1. Electronic check online (My Verizon Online, My Verizon Mobile/Handset). Fee waived.
2. Electronic check via telephone. Fee waived.
3. Enrollment in AutoPay using credit/debit/ATM card or electronic check; fee does not apply
4. Online from the customer’s home-banking service provider website; fee does not apply.
5. Credit/debit/ATM card, electronic check or cash at a Bill Payment Kiosk, Panel or with a representative at a Verizon Wireless Communications Store; fee does not apply.
6. Use of a Verizon Wireless Gift Card or Verizon Wireless device Rebate Card to pay a bill in-store, online or by telephone; fee does not apply
7. Paper check or money order mailed to the VZW remit address on customer’s bill; fee does not apply.

Update:  They gave into customer complaints and have now decided not to institute this fee.

Cheers ___ and  ___!

Verizon to Charge Customers $2 Fee When Paying Bills Online or Over the Phone Starting January 15 is a post from: Droid Life

Yep, it’s official – word just came out from Verizon. The Galaxy Nexus will be available online and in stores for $299 on contract starting tomorrow, December 15.

Online sales will begin at 1AM EST. All stores will have them as well though in case you don’t want to wait that extra day for it to ship.

/pops the bubbly.

Press release below. 

GALAXY™ NEXUS™ BY SAMSUNG NOW AVAILABLE ON THE VERIZON WIRELESS 4G LTE NETWORK

First Smartphone to Combine Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the Power of America’s Fastest, Most Reliable 4G Network

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon Wireless, Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile) and Google™ announced Galaxy™ Nexus™ is available starting today in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.

Customers can browse the Web, stream music and more at blazing speeds using the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network. Galaxy Nexus customers can enjoy access to the 4G LTE network in 190 markets covering over 200 million people across the United States, and fly through the Web with fast download speeds of 5 to 12 megabits per second (Mbps) and upload speeds of 2 to 5 Mbps within the 4G LTE Mobile Broadband coverage area.

Galaxy Nexus runs Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, which brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. Galaxy Nexus offers customers a redesigned user experience with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Near Field Communications (NFC) sharing with Android Beam™ and a full Web-browsing experience. The lock screen, home screen, phone app and everything in between have been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful and useful. Galaxy Nexus also features an ultra-thin 9.47mm design with a 4.65-inch HD Super AMOLED™ Contour Display to watch movies, view pictures and play games that come to life in 720p (1280×720) resolution.

Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) features:

• Redesigned user interface – software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones, and a dedicated recent apps button to make multi-tasking easy
• Face Unlock – use state-of-the-art facial recognition to unlock Galaxy Nexus
• Android Beam™ – quickly share Web pages, apps, contacts and YouTube™ videos with friends by simply tapping two compatible phones together
• Redesigned Camera – introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, and effects such as silly faces and background replacement
• People Application – browse friends, family and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution and check their latest status updates from Google+ and other social networks
• Cloud Services – keep email, contacts, photos, music, browser bookmarks and other data synced to the cloud, available across multiple devices so customers never lose important data
• Google Music – upload up to 20,000 songs to the cloud, discover and buy new music from Android Market™, and stream it instantly on Galaxy Nexus and from the Web for free
• Google+ – Create a Google+ account right from the phone and check status updates, manage circles, quickly share updates and photos, video chat with up to ten friends with Mobile Hangouts, and chat with groups of friends with Google+ Messenger
• Support for Google Mobile™ Services – Gmail™, Google Maps™ with 3D maps and free turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube, syncing with Google Calendar™, a redesigned Google+ app and access to more than 300,000 apps, millions of eBooks, thousands of movies to rent, and millions of songs available to download from Android Market

Additional features:

• Dual-core 1.2 GHz application processor and HTML5 Web browser – optimized dual-core processing with Android 4.0 combined with lightning fast 4G LTE connectivity for fast downloading of graphics, applications processing and Web browsing
• Mobile Hotspot capability – share 4G LTE or 3G connection with up to 10 Wi-Fi-enabled devices
• 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with zero-shutter lag for instant photo capturing, autofocus and LED flash with full 1080p recording
• Front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera for video chat
• Textured soft-touch back cover – enhances the ergonomic feel and makes the phone slip-resistant
• Bluetooth® 3.0 technology – support for headset, hands-free, stereo, phonebook access, human interface device (HID) and object push for vCard and vCalendar
• 1 GB RAM and 32 GB on-board memory (actual formatted capacity will be less)

Pricing and data packages:

• Galaxy Nexus is available now in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com for $299.99 with a new two-year customer agreement.
• Customers that purchase a Galaxy Nexus by Samsung will need to subscribe to a Verizon Wireless Nationwide Talk plan beginning at $39.99 monthly access and a smartphone data package starting at $30 monthly access for 2 GB of data.

Customers can visit www.verizonwireless.com/galaxynexus for more information on the Galaxy Nexus. For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.

Official: Galaxy Nexus on Verizon Launches Tomorrow for $299 is a post from: Droid Life

Here it is DROID Bionic owners. The massive bug fixer that we have been expecting is finally ready for prime time. In it, you will find improved stability to avoid power cycles, a faster auto focus in the camera, and better 4G/3G connectivity to name a few. The phone can somehow magically support 8 devices while on hotspot now, something we were previously told was limited to 5 due to hardware limitations. If you power the phone off, it won’t power back on by itself and SIM cards should activate much quicker. The list is extensive and goes much deeper, so be sure to click both images that we have attached to get the full list.

No word on a release, but when support documents are made available, we usually see something within 1-2 weeks. The update is 54.5MB and will leave your phone at Blur build 5.5.893.

*Note – Received word that this update could start rolling out as early as tomorrow. As you all know, that doesn’t mean everyone will get it tomorrow, but it should hit a small test group.

Page two after the break.  

More info.

Cheers Matt!

DROID Bionic Update Finally on the Way, Here is Your Massive Bug Fixer is a post from: Droid Life

Yep, there you go. Just like we said last Friday.

Rest of the official specs below. 

Cheers __!

Verizon’s Equipment Guide Updated, Galaxy Nexus Release Date of December 9 is “Official” is a post from: Droid Life

Could the DROID 4 find its way into stores on December 8 alongside the Galaxy Nexus? According to the latest info from our friends at Verizon, that’s exactly what the plan is. Well, the Nexus is still up in the air to our knowledge, so let’s just talk about the D4 for a second.

We gave you the first photos of the newest DROID slider almost a month ago now, followed by a mention in Big Red’s device management system. The idea that it could be released before X-mas was talked about, but we’re not sure that we truly believed it could happen that fast. After all, the RAZR hasn’t even been around long enough to accumulate dust. Motorola, puttin’ in work.  

Specs from our sources are as follows:

• 4″ Super AMOLED Advanced display
• Full 5-row “illuminated” keyboard
• RAZR styling
• 4G LTE
• Non-removable battery (maybe)
• Android 2.3.5
• 1080p video recording (assuming 8MP)
• Front camera
• HDMI out
• MotoACTV syncing

Ready for the world’s first DROID 4G LTE slider?

Cheers ___!

DROID 4 Scheduled to Launch December 8, Same Day as the Galaxy Nexus? is a post from: Droid Life