If you're a fan of the trend that sees smartphone sizes seemingly increasing with every new major product release, then you're probably already a big fan of Samsung's Galaxy Note line of smartphones-cum-tablets. Weighing in with screens that most of us wouldn't want to carry around in our pockets, the Note family of smartphones has always been popular amongst those who want a device that's large enough to watch movies on without having to carry around a tablet.
They say there's no rest for the wicked, and that's never been more true for Apple's lawyers after the Cupertino firm set about another attempt to put Samsung out of business in the United Stated while simultaneously taking the Korean company for as much as it can in the process.
Some times things seem too good to be true. Equally, other times things seem so awful that they just can't be accurate. Thankfully, the latter is the case today.
We already know that Samsung isn't averse to launching multiple versions of the same phone, whether the differences be screen sizes, shock or water resistance or horsepower, but the rumored Galaxy S5 Prime still has us interested. What appears to be a Galaxy S5 on steroids, the unannounced product has been gathering some traction in the leak stakes of late, and now one appears to have popped up on YouTube.
The jury has finally reached a verdict in the round two of Apple vs Samsung trial and has found Samsung to have infringed on two out of five patents of Apple. As a result, Samsung has been ordered to pay Apple around 120 million dollars ($119,625,000 to be exact) in damages, a far cry from $2.2 billion which Apple asked for.
We don't know why this comes as a surprise but Samsung has announced that it will be holding an event on May 28th, with a focus on the health of mobile and technology users. The event itself has been schedule to take place in San Francisco and has been penciled in only a matter of days before the Apple steam train descends on The Moscone Center for its annual Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC 2014), which is widely expected to have a health related theme.
Over the past few weeks, I took my SIM card out of my trusty HTC One M8 that I've been enjoying so much, switched it to extreme power saving mode and entirely made the jump over to Samsung's newest flagship device, the Galaxy S5. This phone was a particularly interesting release, because it marked their definitive decision to adopt the 'iteration over iteration' strategy when it comes to their new devices. For Samsung, however, it's likely to be more of a 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it', type model.
Apple and Samsung are currently contesting a patent battle in a California court, with the Cupertino company convinced that its Korean counterpart has lifted certain copyrighted iOS features. Given that Samsung already lost in court versus Apple and was forced to pay over a billion dollars in compensation in a previous judgment - a decision that was later reduced on appeal - it's fair to say that the Galaxy maker has developed a bit of a reputation, and in its latest ad campaign, Apple seems to be reveling in it.
Historically, Samsung has been all too willing to slander Apple and its products with ads, but for a while a few years back, the Korean outfit took a back seat, preferring to let Google take control of the Apple-bashing. But while, as has been revealed during the unfolding of events in the current Apple vs. Samsung court case in California, the Galaxy maker did cease to attack Apple for a while, the company's marketing team saw the death former CEO and co-founder Steve Jobs as "the best opportunity" to re-ignite its smear campaign.
With Samsung's Galaxy S5 now available to buy for many, much of the talk in reviews has been about how the company's decision to stick with the tried and tested formula of its existing handsets has left the fifth generation Galaxy S lacking anything to get the pulse racing. That hasn't stopped people flocking to buy the new handset though, with reports coming out of Korea stating that the Galaxy S5 has seen strong sales in the region.
