Samsungs plan for the S5

As many of the public who is up to date with smartphone technology may already know, Samsung has been known to release a new smartphone every year. This time, Samsung plans to release S5 as a direct competitor to the Apple’s iPhone. In an interview with Bloomberg, it’s been stated that the S5 will be paired with a new wearable device that will be an evolution of the Galaxy Gear smart-watch by Lee Young Hee the executive vice president of the company’s mobile business. Samsung said they will also solve the bulky design of its flagship phones that have been prevalent over the previous years.

On the hardware side of things, Samsung has made it no secret that it intends to introduce Iris technology to compete with Apple’s new fingerprint technology on the iPhone 5S. There are indications that Samsung will not stick with plastic this time and instead go for something more premium in a effort to compete with competitors such as HTC. There is even talk of three sided displays, the type of displays you see on 3D renders floating around the internet.

An example of a three sided display

Samsung is even venturing with revamping the prior software land and reportedly experimenting with new ideas. In order to compete with other smartphone companies, it’s important to feature technologies that normal people would like to use. It’s actually quite a good idea Samsung pioneered multiple services on their platforms, the majority of the services may not have been perfect, but it gives them somewhere to improve on in order to enhance the experience.

In a effort to reclaim lost momentum from the launch of the S3, Samsung has it’s work cut out for them and must continue to innovate to thrive in this business.

NVIDIA adds LTE-Advanced to Tegra 4i

NVIDIA has been aggressively upgrading it’s Tegra 4 processor line in order to compete with Qualcomm and Samsung,  NVIDIA annouced on Tuesday that the Tegra 4i processor has been updates to support up to 150Mpbs. This would mean that alongside the 4+1 configuration that is currently being used with the A15 architecture, due to the fact that NVIDIA has hardware with superior software, it can support new technology by merely adding them in a software update. This could mean trouble for Samsung, who has indicated that they are looking into 5G technology but it levels the playing field on how competitive NVIDIA can be with it’s contemporaries in the same field.

NVIDIA Press Release

NVIDIA’s mobile processor for mainstream smartphones – Tegra 4i, which includes an integrated NVIDIA i500 LTE modem, chewed through 150Mbps of LTE data in a demo this week at CTIA 2013 in Las Vegas.
First shown at Mobile World Congress in February at Cat 3 100mbps, this Tegra 4i demo is fully based on a software update – no new hardware, no new processor. This showcases the adaptability and flexibility of NVIDIA’s software-defined radio technology.
Speed to Burn: Tegra 4i chewed through 150 Mbps of data in a demo at CTIA this week.
An additional advantage of the technology is its tiny size. Because the modem is designed with general purpose Deep Execution Processors (DXP), it’s 40 percent the size of a conventional LTE modem. The benefit is a fast, high performance, adaptable modem in a tiny footprint.
Tegra 4i’s modem is also multi-mode. It delivers 4G LTE Advanced and is backward compatible so it can offer LTE Cat 3, 3G, and 2G. That means it will work even where LTE networks aren’t available. Other LTE Advanced features will be coming soon in software.
The CTIA demo used a tester which emulates an LTE Cat 4 network because live local LTE Cat 4 networks don’t exist yet. In this demo Phoenix – the Tegra 4i reference smartphone – is connected to the tester and shows 150 Mbps.
We also demonstrated Phoenix running on a live AT&T LTE network – showing video streaming over LTE and voice calls. It’s a great proof point of our strong progress in Tegra 4i modem stability and performance.

 

Samsung Galaxy S4/ Google S4 with Stock Android – Google I/O 2013

Good news for Android enthusiasts who have been waiting for something worthy to be shown at Google I/O 2013. Although this has been a rather disappointing year, it only means that we can get more and more excited for what Google is cooking. Plus it gives more time to mature the Android ecosystem, something that was touted to be an issue with Android phones.   Under the moniker of the Google S4, Samsung has agreed to Google running its stock software on the highly sought after smartphone which effectively expands the lineup of available Nexus devices with a relatively cheap price of $649 compared to other  devices on the Market.

HTC One – King of Android Smartphones in 2013

HTC has been trying to recover from its most recent slumps in the marketplace with an array of different devices, the HTC One represents their latest effort for control of the Android world, right now it’s about to be released in the UK  and is expected to cost £520 if you want to buy it on pay-as-you-go, Phones-4-u is getting a head-start in showcasing the device to the British public and they are also waiting in line for the black version to show up in its stores, HTC’s supply issues are certainly not helping the situation but good things come to those who wait, right?

At first glance, the HTC One looks absolutely beautiful compared to some of its competitors such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 although some may prefer plastic’s benefits for their phone. The HTC One comes in Black and Silver and my personal opinion deems it to look better in Black but the Silver version is just as good as well, a minimalist approach was undertaken when designing the device and we can see some evidence of this in the phone’s choice of buttons. Gorilla Glass is boasted as the armour protecting the phone’s screen and aluminium surrounds the device to give it a premium feel.

It’s impossible to access the battery by conventional means and there is no microSD slot on the device as well, which is a bit of a let down considering the fact that these or some of Samsung’s unique selling points when it comes to marketing their smartphones. The screen boasts a 1080p resolution display with Super LCD 3 technology to augment the experience, it has a PPI of 468 which is way ahead of what other competitors can offer their customers. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 Series processor is also included in the phone as well which puts it in a comfortable lead in front of the competition in terms of benchmarks and will be put under further investigation in a thorough review between the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. HTC has also provided a 2300mAh battery to power this beastly phone and should suffice to put the phone throughout the whole day with regular use.

Sense has seen an overhaul unlike the kind that any Android manufacturer has ever seen and stimulates what is left of innovation in the smartphone industry. Sense 5.0 introduces a new feature called Blinkfeed which uses widgets to give social updates to the user in a tile like experience, something that may be familiar with Windows devices.  The device runs on top of Android 4.1.2 but HTC says it will soon be updated to 4.2 to keep with the rest of the pack. What remains to be seen is whether Samsung can compete with what HTC and Sony has to offer, the phrase that actions speak louder than words is ever so present in this situation although one might substitute the choice of “actions” with “sales” since this is the phone that is supposed to put HTC back on the Android map.

Samsung Galaxy S4 Livestream and Launch

Samsung is planning to release the latest release in their Galaxy line up today in New York at 7PM EST which is 11PM in the UK. The Galaxy S4 is supposed to challenge Apple’s dominance around the globe and is expected to feature a 1080p display, advanced eye tracking features and an 8 core processor.

Samsung will also have a live stream page for Unpacked 2013, which features a live-updating comments system and Instagram feed. There has been some concern that the Galaxy S VI is practically the same as the S3 with a few technical enhancements, having a 8 core processor is quite good but many people including myself would Samsung to take a more adventurous approach with the design of the phone, this is a area where many people agree Samsung needs to work on.

Come back to this post to have an embedded video link to the event and have to look at regular updates as the event progresses!

Photographs taken by my Samsung Galaxy S3