Samsung Epic 4G Touch, the first SII model offered at a subsidized cost!

September 15, 2011 — tdroid

Samsung Epic 4G Touch, A Galaxy for All!

If you haven’t heard about the Samsung Galaxy S II by now, you’re definitely tardy to the party. But as the proverbial saying goes, it’s better late than never, right? The Galaxy S, its predecessor with myriad chassis selections and carrier variants, is still selling like hotcakes all over the world, and the sequel is no lightweight (figuratively) either — selling three million units in 55 days only seems to be rivaled by a company based out of Cupertino — and for good reason. We gave the unlocked version high marks for its excellent performance, gorgeous display and top-of-the-line camera, so it was only natural that we’d spend the next four months wondering when we’d see the powerhouse make it Stateside.

Don’t get us wrong — we’ve seen our fair share of unlocked Galaxy S II devices proudly shown off in the US (most of them from our own editors, admittedly) because it’s already available at full retail (roughly $650-700) from multiple vendors. However, the Samsung Epic 4G Touch is the first to be offered at a subsidized cost in return for a two-year commitment, and it won’t be the last as AT&T and T-Mobile pull up the rear with their own styles of the same handset. So how does the landmark phone stand up to not only the test of time but several carrier-specific design changes? Are Sprint customers getting a “tainted” version of Sammy’s flagship Android device? These questions have been pondered for months, and we finally have the answers if you keep on reading.

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Galaxy S2, so far holding the Crown of Best Android Smartphone of 2011

June 6, 2011 — tdroid

At present, Samsung’s Galaxy SII is the Android phone to beat.

The crown of best Android smartphone of 2011 is shaping as a battle royal between Samsung’s Galaxy S II and one of a fleet of new HTC phones.
Two of HTC’s offerings, the Desire S and Incredible S, are on the Australian market while the Galaxy SII is being progressively rolled out at telcos this month.

At present, Samsung’s Galaxy S2 is the phone to beat. Its 4.3-inch (10.9cm), 480 by 800 pixel screen, 1.2 GHz dual-core processor and 16GB of internal memory place it ahead of the Desire S and Incredible S, which have single-core processors and, sadly, just one gigabyte of internal memory.
MicroSD and microUSB ports on the HTCs allows memory to be augmented, but be ready to load your music on microSD if you opt for them.
Having said this, the eventual battle for Android smartphone champion may be between the Galaxy SII, which will remain Samsung’s flagship phone throughout this year, and another HTC contender, the HTC Sensation, a dual-core offering with an eight-megapixel camera, 1080p HD video recording and DLNA streaming.

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Samsung Exhibit 4G – The Cheaper, Faster Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ Phone

June 3, 2011 — tdroid

An affordable 4G Android Gingerbread phone with 1Ghz processor and 3MP Camera


On the heels of yesterday’s heady HTC Sensation 4G announcement, T-Mobile announced Thursday that it is coming out with its second Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread, device this month, the Samsung T-Mobile’s Cheaper, Faster Android 2.3 ‘Gingerbread’ Phone, the Samsung Exhibit 4G.

Samsung Excite 4g Not only does it cost half the price of the HTC Sensation, it actually runs on 4G speed, which T-Mobile defines as HSPA+ 21. The Sensation, meanwhile, is stuck on HSPA+ 14.4.

For a modest $79.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate and two-year contract, the Samsung Exhibit 4G comes with a 1-GHz processor, touch screen keyboard, 3-megapixel rear-facing camera, front-facing photo camera with pre-installed video chat, Flash-supported Web browsing, microSD slot, and best of all, theoretical speeds of 21 Mbps, which T-Mobile defines as 4G. Or perhaps this is the best part: the phone also comes pre-loaded with Bejeweled 2, Hasbro’s Scrabble, and Doodle Jump.

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Samsung Infuse 4G

April 22, 2011 — tdroid

4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display and crazy thin…

The Samsung Infuse 4G has yet to make its way to market, but when it does, you might be able to find it at Walmart. Rumor has it that the retail giant has been sending around circulars indicating that the Infuse and its 4.5-inch Super AMOLED Plus display will hit shelves sometime next month. The notices also mention that the device will be sold for $178.88, which would likely be bundled with a two-year AT&T contract.

First introduced just last year on the Wave, it feels like Super AMOLED was just starting to get its sea legs… but here we go again: Samsung’s latest handset — announced today in collaboration with AT&T at CES — is the first to tout “Super AMOLED Plus” technology that features a 50 percent boost in sub-pixel count, promising improvements both in contrast and outdoor readability. Maybe more importantly, the display clocks in at a whopping 4.5 inches, besting HTC’s 4.3-inch range (the EVO 4G, Desire HD, and likely the Thunderbolt) without getting dangerously close to Dell Streak territory. It’s got an 8 megapixel camera on back paired with a 1.3 megapixel shooter up front, a 1.2GHz single-core Hummingbird processor, and still somehow promises to be the thinnest smartphone on AT&T when it launches at a to-be-determined date. Now, the controversy: despite the name, the Infuse 4G apparently doesn’t have a hint of LTE — it’s HSPA+, which means AT&T’s now playing the same game as T-Mobile.

We’ve had a brief chance to play with an early Infuse 4G dummy unit, so we weren’t able to turn it on, but we got a pretty good impression of how it feels. Basically, we came away encouraged that 4.5 inches isn’t going to feel too big for practical use — if you’re accustomed to something like an EVO, you probably won’t skip a beat (that’s undoubtedly due in part to the fact that the Infuse seems to be quite a bit thinner). We’re told the tastefully textured matte rear cover that we saw wasn’t final, but we’re crossing our fingers that the retail unit doesn’t diverge far from what they’ve done here, because it felt exceptionally high-quality and looked a whole lot better than the typical glossy plastic on the existing Galaxy S series. Speaking of Galaxy S, the Infuse is described as “a Galaxy S phone” — so yeah, that brand isn’t going away any time soon. Software-wise, we obviously weren’t able to get a feel for speed on the non-functional model, but you can expect the usual TouchWiz skin atop Android 2.2; sure, Gingerbread would’ve been nice at launch, but you can dry your tears on that 1.2GHz silicon.

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Sidekick 4G – The Best Android Phone for Text

April 19, 2011 — tdroid

The perfect Android Phone for heavy SMS users, top marks as a favored deck for the younger set…

The T-Mobile Sidekick as we once knew it may be gone forever, but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of the franchise. Far from it actually.
T-Mobile dished out fresh details about the upcoming Sidekick 4G this evening, and the smartphone mixes a bit of the old with the new to offer something that’s both familiar to Sidekick fans and modern enough to keep it relevant in today’s competitive smartphone market.

Right off the bat, you’ll notice that the design doesn’t stray far from its roots. You get the five-row keyboard and even the navigation buttons are still located on the corners of the phone.
However, don’t think the Sidekick 4G is just a rehash of the previous design. Manufactured by Samsung instead of Sharp this time around, the smartphone is the first Sidekick to have a touch screen (a 3.5-inch WVGA touch screen, to be exact) with a spring-loaded hinge, a front-facing VGA camera for video calls, and a 1GHz Hummingbird processor.
The Sidekick 4G is also 4G capable and can hit theoretical download speeds of 21Mbps, which puts it on par with the Samsung Galaxy S 4G and potentially faster than T-Mobile’s other 4G smartphones, the T-Mobile G2 and MyTouch 4G.

Hardware aside, the Sidekick 4G was really more about taking the product to the next level, and T-Mobile approached that in a couple of ways. First, it enhanced the messaging capabilities of the smartphone by adding Group Text and Cloud Text features.

Don’t think the Sidekick 4G is just a rehash of the previous design. Manufactured by Samsung instead of Sharp this time around, the smartphone is the first Sidekick to have a touch screen (a 3.5-inch WVGA touch screen, to be exact) with a spring-loaded hinge, a front-facing VGA camera for video calls, and a 1GHz Hummingbird processor.

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Samsung Captivate

July 10, 2010 — tdroid

“The Samsung Captivate, a superphone running Android…”
Samsung Captivate
The Samsung Captivate, AT&T’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S (T-Mobile’s is called the Samsung Vibrant), is priced the same as the iPhone 4 and currently requires no fiddly mail-in rebates and annoying Visa debit cards: nice. You get a lot for your money and a lot to show off to your gadget loving buddies: there’s a 1GHz Samsung Hummingbird processor with the PowerVR graphics chip (this is basically the same as the iPhone’s CPU and GPU), an outstanding 4” Super AMOLED display, a sharp 5 megapixel camera, gyroscope, GPS, WiFi and Bluetooth. The phone has 16 gigs of internal storage and a microSD card slot under the back cover (no card is included). AT&T and Samsung throw in a decent set of stereo earbuds, a USB cable and compact charger. The Captivate runs Android OS 2.1 Eclair and Samsung’s tasteful TouchWiz 3.0 software on top of Android.

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