Tag Archives | Samsung Galaxy S

Hoo Boy, Here We Go Yet Again: Apple Sues Samsung

Posted by Harry McCracken on April 18, 2011 at 2:44 pm

Do Samsung products such as its Galaxy S phones and Galaxy Tab tablets imitate Apple’s iPhone and iPad? Yes, of course they do. So, to greater and lesser extents, do nearly every smartphone and slate-type computing device on the market today. Is that legal? I guess we’ll find out: Apple is suing Samsung, saying that it’s violating multiple patents and trademarks.

I haven’t seen Apple’s suit, but it sounds like it relates to look-and-feel issues more than do most of the umpteen lawsuits that tech companies have filed against each other recently.  In a statement to All Things Digital’s Ina Fried, an Apple spokesperson even complained about the boxes that Samsung products come in being too Apple-esque:

It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.

If Apple has a case, you gotta wonder who else it’ll sue and where all this ends. HP’s upcoming TouchPad tablet, for instance, is promising–but it’s even more strikingly iPad-like than Samsung’s tablets to date. Is it vulnerable? And given that Archos is just about the only company that can honestly say it would be making tablets even if the iPad had never existed, does Apple have a legally-justified beef against the entire category?

I’ve always been made uneasy when one company unimaginatively cribs another’s designs–when I attended Mobile World Congress 2009 it felt like a blur of faux iPhones–but I don’t like the idea of one company essentially having a monopoly on a product category or a form factor. More thoughts to come as details emerge, but for now, what’s your take?

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Samsung Takes Flak for Leaving Androids Behind

Posted by Jared Newman on January 13, 2011 at 9:28 am

This rumor is about as shaky as they come, but Android Spin is accusing Samsung of deliberately withholding the Android 2.2 upgrade from T-Mobile’s Vibrant just to drum up sales of the Froyo-equipped Samsung Vibrant 4G. The report quotes an unnamed source, supposedly from within T-Mobile.

While I have my doubts about that report — at least, I don’t want to believe Samsung would stoop so low — AndroidDose points out one irrefutable fact: Samsung has not upgraded any of its Galaxy S phones to Android 2.2 in the United States (including T-Mobile’s Vibrant, Verizon’s Fascinate, AT&T’s Captivate, Sprint’s Epic 4G and U.S. Cellular’s Mesmerize). The company hasn’t even announced a timeline, six months after the first Galaxy S phones launched stateside on AT&T and T-Mobile.

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Wi-Fi Direct Hits Smartphones, Samsung Galaxy S

Posted by Mari Silbey on November 4, 2010 at 11:51 am

The Wi-Fi Alliance announced just over a week ago that it would begin certifying products under the new Wi-Fi Direct standard. Now, according to the organization’s own certification list, the first smartphone has qualified for new point-to-point Wi-Fi communications. The Samsung GT-I9000, aka the Galaxy S, received Wi-Fi Direct certification on November 1st. It’s eighth in a list of certified devices, but the first smartphone to make the cut. As a reminder, Wi-Fi Direct facilitates device-to-device wireless 802.11 communication without requiring a wireless access point or going out to the web. Best of all, only one device has to be Wi-Fi Direct certified to enable wireless networking with any other Wi-Fi gadget. That means Galaxy S owners will, in theory, be able to share photos, music, video, and other files over a localized network. It’s like Bluetooth, only you probably have a few more Wi-Fi devices lying around.

(This post republished from Zatz Not Funny.)

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Engadget Likes Sprint's Epic 4G

Posted by Harry McCracken on August 16, 2010 at 11:01 am

Engadget’s Chris Ziegler has reviewed Sprint’s Epic 4G, the second 4G phone, and the first with a physical keyboard. It’s based on Samsung’s Galaxy S platform, also available in various forms–but not with a keyboard–from other carriers. He pretty much raves about the thing. Engadget got close four hours of life using the Epic as a 4G hotspot, which sounds impressive; it hasn’t done traditional battery testing yet, though. (Iffy battery life is the biggest gotcha with Sprint’s EVO 4G, so it’s an important point.)

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Hands on With the Samsung Galaxy S

Posted by Dave Z on July 16, 2010 at 1:31 am

Samsung’s making a splash with their new, high-end line of Android ”Galaxy S” handsets. And while they’ve already launched overseas, the US variants with custom enclosures and functionality, started rolling out yesterday:

As part of the launch festivities, I was provided a stock Galaxy S to evaluate. Media outreach and spec sheet highlights have led with Samsung’s 4″ 800 x 480 Super AMOLED screen. And while I initially found it oversaturated, even garish (combined with Samsung’s Touchwiz skinning), I’ve landed somewhere else entirely. In fact, I’ve concluded that the Galaxy S utilizes the most pleasing mobile display I’ve encountered — striking an excellent balance of resolution, size, and vibrancy. The Galaxy S obviously isn’t as high res as Apple’s iPhone 4 pixel-dense “retina display” … but with uncorrected sub-20/20 vision, it’s not like I’ve been bothered by aliasing at 18″. So, ultimately, I find myself in the same camp as Harry:

if all other phone features were equal, I’d take more square inches over more pixels

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Samsung's Galaxy S Phone: Wireless Freedom of Choice

Posted by Jacqueline Emigh on July 5, 2010 at 9:47 am

Now that the proverbial dust is starting to settle around the Samsung Galaxy S and its six known variants for major US wireless networks, how does the latest smartphone stack up against its many Android rivals–and against Apple’s iPhone 4, for that matter?

It all depends on who you ask. With smartphones getting announced in such rapid-fire succession, it seems to take less time than ever for opinions to start flying. Samsung only officially launched the Galaxy last week, at a press event I attended in New York City. Granted, a lot of details had already leaked out even before the launch. Already, though, the phone is getting analyzed and compared across every conceivable dimension.

In a presentation at the start of the launch on Wednesday, J.K. Shin, president of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business, tried to keep things simple by citing three key differentiators for Samsung’s phone: screen, speed, and content. If onlookers were asked to put together the same list, they’d undoubtedly come up with all kinds of answers.

Personally, I’d keep the three factors Shin mentioned on my list, because the Galaxy S does have merits in all of these areas. But I’d also add two other factors–freedom of choice in wireless networks and smartphone form factors–and I’d place these two way above the other three.

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