The iPhone 5 was a landmark release by Apple for a variety of reasons, and as well as finally breaking the mold of a 3.5-inch display, it was also the very first time in which the Cupertino included 4G LTE into one of its handsets. The iPad 3, which launched back in March of this year, was the very first Apple device to offer the next-gen cellular chip, and with the release of the sixth-gen smartphone just a couple of months ago, Apple's LTE market share has gathered a little more steam - climbing to an impressive 27 percent.
It has been around 7 months since Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S III to the world, but it still remains one of the most popular and powerful Android devices on the market and has managed to do a fantastic job in succeeding Samsung's previous S II device which is still a firm favorite in the Android community. We all know by now that companies like Samsung and Apple don't rest on their laurels when it comes to manufacturing and launching their next big product, and it looks like Samsung could be set to make a Galaxy S4 announcement early next year during the CES trade show that is being held from January 8th - 11th.
New and exclusive features are aplenty in the swiftly-evolving world of Android, but thankfully for those don't have the latest device and / or firmware version, the modding community is on hand to deliver those new niceties to those rocking an older device or software. For example, the Galaxy Note II has brought with it a very exciting, infinitely useful multi-window feature, but unless you happen to be in ownership of the phablet sequel (or an S III running the currently OTA-ing Android Jelly Bean 4.1.2), there's no way for you to enjoy this multitasking marvel; or at least there wasn't until today.
It may not have happened to you personally, but everybody has seen the what happens when a mobile device meets gravity. Such is the toughness of displays today, that many survive an accidental drop without so much as a crack, but when they do succumb and shatter, they become a hazard unto their owner, with shards and slivers aplenty. Recognizing this, rumor has it that Samsung is planning to release an "unbreakable" screen with the upcoming Galaxy S III smartphone.
One of the biggest hindrances with buying a top-of-the-line smartphone, is the premium price that you have to pay for it. There are usually two ways of how high-end phones are sold; either you pay the full price to the manufacturer and get an unlocked device, whereby getting the freedom to go with whatever network fancies you. Or, you may opt to buy the phone through a wireless carrier, where you pay a much subsidized rate for a big trade-off: getting stuck with that carrier for the term of your contract. In the latter case, the carrier pays the full price to the manufacturer but sells you the device at a much lower rate, and in turn, locks down the smartphone to their network, so you cannot use a SIM card from another network just like that. That’s a generally agreeable rule for most users.
Apple and Samsung are two great rivals in the world of modern technology, and it's only natural that when one of them brings a shiny new smartphone to the table, the other won't want you to have it. Samsung made its feelings known on the release of the iPhone 5 back in September by compiling the ‘iSheep’ (The Next Best Thing is Already Here) ad, a reference to those Apple evangelists that queue for hours to grab the next Cupertino iDevice. As well as poking fun at some of the iPhone's features, on-looking spectators were left fascinated instead by the S III, as its perceived superiority was showcased amid an awestruck ensemble of would-be iPhone buyers. Today, that ad has been named as the top tech ad of 2012.
In light of Apple and HTC's licensing agreement earlier this month, Samsung took the opportunity to express its desire to never settle with the Cupertino company in such a manner. In light of a recent Dutch court's decision, however, the Korean outfit may be forced to retract that statement, for failure to comply with a sales ban on All Galaxy devices running Android 2.2.1 and higher will leave the LCD specialist forced to pay fines of up to €100,000 ($129,000) per day.
The Samsung Galaxy Note was something of a revelation when it first released last year, and with a ludicrously large display pushing on the kind of diameters we'd only seen with tablet devices, the term "phablet" was subsequently phrased. The surprisingly successful niche product has since evolved into the Galaxy Note II, and as with all of the Korean company's Note products, it has been marketed as a device for the creative mind. Some took the S-Pen stylus and drew some of the most fantastic drawings and sketches ever seen on a mobile device, but others - such as the artists and designers at Steak Studio - have put their heads together and come up with something truly spectacular.
The Samsung Galaxy S III may only have released in the middle of this year, but it's certainly been out long enough for us to justify turning our attentions to its eventual successor. Naturally, it's presumed to be called the Galaxy S IV, and accompanying a stash of recent rumors, comes the apparent insight into the S VI's hardware thanks to leaked benchmark results.
Those who regularly keep abreast of what is going on in the smartphone industry will be more than aware that Samsung and Apple are constantly battling it out for sales supremacy, with Samsung managing to come out on top thanks to their array of extremely popular Android powered devices. Samsung have relied on their Galaxy S II and S III smartphones to bring in the big sales numbers, but it was only the start of this month that they announced the Galaxy Note II had been received extremely well with three million units sold. Less than four weeks later, the statistics are back with Samsung announcing that an additional two million second-generation Notes have flown off the shelves in November.
