Samsung to release 7 new droids, 2 tablets and 2 new Bada phones

As far as leaks go, they don't get much bigger than this. We just found specs sheets of no less than 9 upcoming Samsung smartphones and two tablets. The scoop includes the 7 new Android devices, two 7" Honeycomb tablets and finally two new Bada smartphones, one of which will be packing a 4" SuperAMOLED.
We start with the numerous droids:
The Samsung I9250 is the most interesting of the bunch. Sitting on the fence between smartphones and tablets, it features a 4.65" SuperAMOLED of HD resolution 1280x720, a 5 MP camera and runs on Android Ice Cream.
This will probably be Samsung's first droid featuring the yet unreleased version of the Google OS.
Samsung I9220 will make do with Gingerbread 2.3.3 and a 4.3" SuperAMOLED with the rumored 1280x720 (that's HD again) resolution, a 1.4 Ghz dual-core processor and an 8 MP camera. It's certainly another one worth keeping an eye on.
Samsung I9210 comes next with its Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread OS, a 4.5" WVGA SuperAMOLED and 4G support. This is probably the Celox that leaked a couple of days ago.
The I9210 has 16 GB of internal storage, 8 MP snapper with a LED flash on the back and a 2 MP front-facing camera on the front. GPS and Wi-Fi are covered as well as Bluetooth 3.0 and finally a 1750 mAh battery.
After this trio the Samsung I8150 is looking quite uninspiring with its 3.7" WVGA (480x800) TFT display, HSDPA support, 4 gigs worth of internal storage and a 1.4 Ghz single-core processor (much like the Galaxy S Plus).
However, with its Android 2.3.3. Gingerbread OS, microSD card slot and a 5 MP snapper with 720p video recording it makes up for one decently looking mid-range device.
Then we move into low-end territory with the Samsung B5510. The smartphone will reportedly come with a 2.8" display, and will run Android 2.2.2 Froyo.
Its CPU will be clocked to 800 Mhz processor and heavy texters will appreciate it for its physical QWERTY keyboard. The rest of the Samsung B5510 specs that have been unveiled including a 3 MP snapper, FM-radio, Wi-Fi and GPS.
We are back on the Gingerbread train with the Samsung S5360 and Samsung S5610. The decidedly entry-level duo comes with QVGA (240x320 pixels) displays - the unit on the S5360 measures 3" in diagonal, while the S5610 only has a 2.4" screen.
However the S5610 leads in the camera department, where it offers 5 megapixel stills to the S5360's 2 megapixel shots. Connectivity-wise, though, both should be doing well with GPS, Wi-Fi and HSDPA on board.
The story of the leaked tablets is much shorter. First, we've got the Samsung P6200 7-incher with Android Honeycomb, a SuperAMOLED 1024x600 display, 3 MP and 2 MP cameras (back and front) and HSDPA support.
The other tablet is the Samsung P6210, which is basically the same kind of deal, but with Wi-Fi support only.
Finally we have a couple of Bada devices to tell you about.
The Bada 2.0-running Samsung S5380 has a 3.2" display, Bluetooth 3.0, a 2 MP snapper, while the Samsung S8600 Wave III will come with a 4" SuperAMOLED display, a 5 MP camera, Bluetooth 3.0 and 3 GB of internal storage.
Well this is it folks. It appears that Samsung will have quite a lot of new devices to throw our way over the next few months and looking at the specs of some of them we cannot wait for their announcements to come.

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Asus Eee Pad Slider to launch in September for €479, allures you with unlimited web storage

The Asus Eee Pad Slider was a cool Android tablet/netbook announced at CES 2011, along with the Transformer, but unlike its super-popular relative it’s nowhere to be seen just yet. However the latest bit of online rumor suggests that it might become available before the end of September for the tempting €479.

For that kind of cash you are getting a 10.1 IPS display of WXGA resolution (1280×800 pixels), covered under a layer of Gorilla Glass, an Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset, featuring a couple of 1GHz CPU cores, and a QWERTY keyboard for all that typing to be done on.
There’s also 16GB of onboard storage and one year unlimited web storage provided by Asus as well as a couple of cameras (5MP at the back and 1.3MP at the front) to sweeten the deal. The Asus Eee Pad Slider will also have a version with 32 GB of local storage, but that takes the price to €599, which doesn’t seem as such a good bargain.
If you like the idea of Honeycomb netbook that weighs just under a kilo – the Eee Pad Slider will come to Italy next month. There’s no saying what other countries will join in the first wave.

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New Android Market app starts rolling out, here’s a quick review

Google announced the updated version of the Android Market app a while back but there was one small problem, the update wasn’t available for download then. But now we are hearing Google has finally started rolling out the update to device with Android 2.2 and higher. And we couldn’t help ourselves and we went to see what it’s all about.
The version number for this latest update is 3.0.27 (the one that leaked before was 3.0.26). Apparently, if you were running the previously leaked version you will automatically be updated to the new version.
Personally, I didn’t receive the update automatically (and I have a Nexus S, for crying out loud) so I got impatient and sideloaded it. I have been using it for some time now and here are my quick impressions of it.
First of all, it definitely looks a lot better. Wasn’t a big fan of the previous version which looked like someone puked all over my screen after eating some radioactive waste. The new one uses green more subtly with a lot more black thrown in. Also, curved lines have been dumped in favor of straight lines. And there’s not so much space wasted.

The app categories are not in a hierarchical order any more but placed next to each other and you need to swipe horizontally on the screen to move between them. There are also a lot more categories, such as top grossing, top new paid, top new free, trending apps and staff picks. The app will also contain Google Music Beta and Google Books if you reside in the US.

The new square grid layout is definitely better. You see a lot more apps on screen at once and hence it is a lot more functional at the same time being better looking. Click on an app and you can see the screenshots prominently on the top above the description. You can scroll through the screenshots horizontally the way you can in the App Store app in iOS. Click on them to view them full screen. The full screen view is loaded along with the thumbnails so it displays the images immediately after you click on them. All the other things that were there before such as reviews, developer info and related apps are still there below in the same order.

The Download button remains on top with the app name even if you scroll down on the page. If the app is already installed you will get an Open button along with an uninstall button. You can also share the app now using any of the installed applications.
There is now also an option in the Market app to switch your Google account.
The Market icon has been slightly updated. Bit of green added to the inside of the shopping bag but you’ll hardly notice that.

The new UI gives you no reason to use the hardware back button on your Android phone. This is probably keeping in mind the next version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, which is likely to make hardware navigation buttons on phones obsolete. Even the new Android Music application does this.

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Nokia N9 not coming to the US and the UK

In a move that is going to break the hearts of a lot of people, Nokia has decided against launching the Nokia N9 in the US as well as the UK.

The company was contacted by Engadget and The Inquirer regarding the availability in the US and UK respectively and in both the cases they were met with a negative response. Although Nokia is delighted with the positive response the N9 has received from everyone they also made it clear that they currently have no plans for launching the N9 in these markets.
The carrier-centric nature of these markets could be the reason why Nokia doesn’t feel it is a good idea to launch the N9 there. Or they simply don’t want to take the focus away from their upcoming Windows Phone 7 devices. Whatever the reason is, we are disappointed to see Nokia take this move. After a such long time, when a Nokia phone had finally generated so much interest amongst the public with a lot of people were really looking forward to it, this is such a shame. We guess you will have to find other ways to get your hands on the phone now.

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European HTC Sensation gets Gingerbread 2.3.4 OTA update

The European HTC Sensation units have just started receiving their 2.3.4 update over-the-air. HTC didn't say anything about it, but reports from all ends of the continent started coming in, saying that the update is already rolling.
The update brings video-calling functionality via Google Talk and regular mobile video-calls. Some bug fixes and performance improvements are also promised, but nothing too major, as you could imagine.


So far only unlocked Sensation units have been getting the update, while carrier-locked handsets are still sitting on the sideline. Let's hope they won't be too late to the party, though.

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Samsung Mobile announcing new product on August 29

Samsung Mobile is holding an event in New York on Monday, August 29 for a product announcement, for which they have sent out invites for the media.

Although the invite does not specify which product will be launched all clues point to the fact that it will be the Galaxy S II. First is the fact that the invite image has Galaxy S II in the name and then there is the large “II” in the image as can be seen above. It’s possible that the phone will be launched on multiple carriers simultaneously. Whatever it is, we will keep you informed about it.

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