last100 » Samsung

Samsung Blu-ray players to support YouTube and Blu-ray rips!

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 12:25:44 +0000

This is one of those press releases that made me chuckle. Samsung today announced that it has added support for YouTube, along with video formats that utilize the Matroska (MKV) container. While just about every media player — from set-top boxes to mobile phones — can access the Google-owned video sharing site these days, MKV support is less common and, perhaps, for a good reason too.

The open source format is fast becoming the standard for Blu-ray rips and, like DivX/Xvid before it, the main choice for sharing pirated movies via the Internet. Only in this case they are in full HD. That’s something that Samsung, understandably, doesn’t quite say.

Instead, Robert Shaw, the company’s General Manager CTV & Home Platforms, offers quotes such as “we know our consumers want access to multi-platform content…” and that “adding MKV file support and YouTube to our range of Blu-ray players is the latest step… in providing an unparalleled home-cinema experience for our customers.”

Those who have already purchased a Samsung Blu-ray player can upgrade their device to the new YouTube and pirate-friendly edition via a fimware update from Samsung.com.

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First ‘powered by Chumby’ device to be a digital picture frame, Internet-connected TVs to follow

Steve O'Hear — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:23:52 +0000

When Chumby, makers of the boutique gadget of the same name (a sort of cross between an alarm clock radio and digital picture frame, housed in a leather ‘bean bag-esque’ casing), announced that is was porting its widget-based platform to third-party hardware, the emphasis was on Internet-connected TVs, Blu-ray players and set-top boxes. Now it seems that the first ‘powered by Chumby’ device will be something much closer to the company’s own hardware: a digital picture frame, to be released in time for the holidays, reports Forbes.

Chumby, along with an unnamed device maker, thinks it can help re-invent the digital picture frame category with its combination of content-driven widgets and social networking.

Steve Tomlin, Chumby CEO, is quoting as saying: “Selling someone an LCD in a plastic frame with a memory card is not a compelling product… The challenge is to reinvent how to share photos and media.”

The first Chumby-powered photo frame will be able to display content from photo sites Flickr and Photobucket, along with accessing social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as news feeds, Internet radio and weather forecasts. Content can be be pushed to other ‘powered by Chumby’ devices so that, for example, users can share photos with other members of their Chumby social network.

Forbes rightfully points out that the Google-led Android OS is also being adopted by manufacturers of similar products to deliver the same set of features (and more), although Tomlin argues that Chumby offers a better User Interface for such devices. “Chumby is much more of a media device… There will be no browser or desktop full of icons that need to be clicked to launch.”

Internet-connected TVs still remain next on the road map, according to the report, with Samsung and Broadcom said to be partnering with Chumby.

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Samsung opens up its TouchWhiz homescreen; widgets let developers target all three screens

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 11:42:26 +0000

When I reviewed Samsung’s touch screen feature phone, the Tocco SGH-F480, I described the home screen widgets, part of the company’s “TouchWhiz” user interface, as “a fun but under developed feature”. At the time, the Tocco only offered seven widgets, including a clock, calendar, birthday reminder, photo browser and music player, and I bemoaned the fact that third-party developers were unable to create more.

That was almost a year ago, and today Samsung announced that it’s finally opening up the TouchWhiz widget platform, which exists across many of the company’s touch screen phones running Symbian, Windows Mobile, and the handset maker’s proprietary operating system. Third party developers will be able to build their own home screen widgets using familiar web standards – HTML, JavaScript and CSS – similar to Nokia’s WRT or, on a more ambitious scale, the Palm Pre’s WebOS, or indeed any widget platform whether it be targeting mobile, the PC or the television.

Indeed, widgets built using common web standards are fast becoming the lowest common denominator for application development across all three screens, something that Samsung is keen to highlight in a bid to attract developers to its TouchWhiz platform.

Unlike complex native languages widget development utilises the comparably simple web authoring technologies HTML, JavaScript and CSS. Once developed they can be run on any Samsung device running the TouchWiz UI, and indeed, with some minor adjustments any platform or device featuring a web run-time engine. This could be a mobile device from another manufacturer, a PC or even an appliance such as a Samsung Series-7 television.

Samsung says that developers will have the choice of whether to charge for their TouchWhiz widgets or offer them for free, although all offerings will need to be certified by the company first.

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Palm Pre to launch on O2 in the UK, just don’t mention the competition

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:45:34 +0000

It’s now official: The Palm Pre will launch exclusively on Telefonica-owned O2 here in the UK.

When?

“In time for the holidays”, say Palm and O2, with no word yet on pricing. My guess is that we’re talking early October, enough time to ramp up for Christmas spending.

Either way, it’s a pretty long time to wait, especially since O2 will have been busy pimping its other flagship exclusive. Apple’s newly launched iPhone 3GS.

And then there’s the rest of the competition.

Handsets already on the market in the UK that will/are to varying degrees going head-to-head with the Pre and iPhone include Nokia’s N97 (see my review), which is already getting its own TV and other advertising blitz, Vodafone’s Android debut, the HTC Magic (reviewed here), and Samsung’s HD video capable touch screen monster, the i8910 HD.

But perhaps more significant are the growing number of handsets, announced or known to exist, that will debut closer to the Palm Pre’s UK release.

First out of the gate is HTC’s newest Android phone, the Hero, with its Palm Pre-esque custom User Interface. We also know of Samsung’s Android-powered I7500 (another O2 offering), Sony Ericsson’s Satio (previously known as Idou), another touch screen device but one with a headline grabbing 12 megapixel camera. There’s also the expected BlackBerry Storm 2, Sony Ericsson’s own Android debut, and likely another flagship from Nokia.

That’s one crowded smartphone market, and knowing the competitive nature of the mobile phone space here in the UK, most, if not all of these Palm Pre competitors will come highly subsidized (or made to look that way), with pricing closer to “free” with a 18-24 month contract.

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Samsung’s first Google phone: Android 1.5, OLED screen, thinner than iPhone

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 13:34:48 +0000

Samsung's Android-based i7500

At last there’s some real competition among phones running Google’s Android OS, with Samsung announcing its first “Gphone”, the unimaginatively named i7500, which should see a European release in June (no word yet on U.S. availability).

Despite Samsung being one of the first major handset makers to join the Google-led Open Handset Alliance, it was left to Taiwanese HTC, working closely with T-Mobile and Google itself, to release the first Android phone called the G1 (see our review). And although the Android OS impressed, particularly its fast and elegant web browser, the G1’s hardware was disappointing to say the least. The device is chunky, has a sub-par camera, and the phone’s battery life doesn’t tally with Android’s always-on connectivity. HTC’s follow-up, the Magic, looks to be an improvement over the G1, although I’ve yet to have a hands-on with the device so can’t say for sure. Enter Samsung’s i7500, which on paper at least, has a number of things going for it.

Sporting a 3.2 inch OLED 320×480 resolution screen, and a larger battery than the G1 (1500mAh), not only will images look superb but power consumption should be less of an issue. And in the style department, the i7500 is even thinner than the iPhone 3G, and like Apple’s iconic device, features metal in the casing. There’s no slide-out keyboard, unlike the G1 and similar to the Magic, instead user’s will need to utilize the on-screen ‘virtual’ keyboard courtesy of Android 1.5. Other key specs include 7.2Mbps HSDPA and WiFi connectivity, along with 8GB of storage, expandable up to 40GB via a 32GB microSD card.

As usual, I hope to source a review unit soon. I’m particularly interested to see how much Samsung have or have not tweaked Android’s UI, something they routinely do with other mobile OSes.

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Yahoo’s Widget Channel debuts on new Samsung Internet-connected TVs

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 18:20:30 +0000

Unveiled at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Yahoo’s “Widget Channel” for Internet-connected televisions has debuted on high end sets from Samsung, reports CNet.

Re-branded by Samsung as “Internet@TV”, the feature enables users to install mini-apps referred to as “widgets” that offer access to a range of Yahoo services — news, stock quotes, Flickr photos, weather — along with those from third-party services, such as Twitter and eBay.

Compatible Samsung TVs start at $3,000 for a 46-inch screen, up to $3,800 for a 55 incher. That’s quite a lot of money to spend during the downturn but these are high end models and, along with Internet-connectivity and other media center functionality, feature cutting edge LED screen technology. I wouldn’t upgrade for widgets alone, but if the OLED screen on Nokia’s N85 mobile phone is anything to go by, and I could afford it, I’d certainly be tempted.

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MWC: Five handsets that caught my eye

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:00:32 +0000

This week’s Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona has seen a flurry of handset announcements boasting, amongst other features, more megapixels, support for HD video, OLED screens and touchscreen UIs. Here’s five handsets that caught my eye.

Samsung Omnia HD

Not content with competing on megapixels alone, the Omnia HD, as the name suggests, is the first smartphone to both record and playback High Definition video. And that’s proper High Def (720p) unlike the slightly misleadingly named Touch HD from HTC. However, there’s much, much more to like about the Omnia HD, not least its 3.7″ AM OLED touch screen, which if the screen on Nokia’s N85 is anything to go by (I have one on loan right now), will be absolutely stunning. The device also has full DLNA certification, meaning that it’s possible to share media shot or stored on the handset with other UPnP AV devices, such as a PlayStation 3 connected to a High Definition TV.

OS-wise, the Omnia HD uses the latest Symbian OS and the touch-friendly version of S60, although Samsung have customized the home screen quite a bit, including various widgets as first seen on the Tocco.

Nokia N86

The successor to the N85, Nokia’s N86 bumps up the phone’s camera specs to 8 megapixels and features a wide-angle Carl Zeiss Tessar lens, with claims to SLR-like quality. There’s the usual N-series goodness too, such as access to all of Nokia’s Ovi web services (share on Ovi, Nokia Maps, Nokia Music Store, Contacts), along with support for the company’s N-Gage gaming platform, including dedicated gaming keys. As well as being a general upgrade from the N85 – utilizing the same 2.6 inch AM OLED screen – a welcome addition is the kick stand, a feature borrowed from the flagship N96 (see my BBC iPlayer on N96 review).

HTC Touch Diamond 2

With the successor to the Touch Diamond (see our review), HTC’s Touch Diamond 2 continues in its attempt to put a finger-friendly UI on top of the aging Windows Mobile 6.1. This time round, however, HTC claims that its TouchFlo 3D UI goes a little deeper and that users should be able reach a lot more of the phone’s software features before being dropped into the standard and non-finger friendly Windows Mobile. To assist in its finger-friendly-ness, the size of the touch screen has been increased from 2.8 to 3.2 inches with WVGA (480 X 800 pixel) resolution. A neat looking feature is the new ‘zoom bar’, a touch sensitive area below the screen that can be swiped in order to zoom in and out of web pages and other documents, similar to the Palm Pre’s gesture bar. Additionally, the camera has been upgraded to 5 megapixels.

HTC Magic

Another new device from HTC, this time the Magic runs the Google-led Android OS and is the second phone of its kind following the G1. The HTC Magic differs from the G1 in a number of ways, most notably ditching the slide out keyboard for an onscreen virtual QWERTY a la iPhone. T-Mobile has been replaced in favor of Vodafone as the time-limited exclusive carrier, and the phone’s camera software has been upgraded to include video recording capability. The HTC Magic is also a lot thinner than the G1 and overall looks quite stylish in comparison.

Sony Ericsson Idou

Even though this one wreaks of vaporware – even the Idou name isn’t final – Sony Ericsson’s latest handset announcement has some headline grabbing specs.

First up is the phone’s 12.1 megapixel camera. And while megapixels alone don’t guarantee good photos, it carries the Cybershot branding, so it’s likely to be decent enough. The Idou is another touchscreen affair — see the trend? — and when finished will utlize the new open source version of Symbian. From the looks of things, Sony Ericsson have put their own eye candy (and there’s plenty of it) on top of Symbian/S60, and from early hands-on videos the UI is both pretty and responsive. Hardware-wise, the handset is unsurprisingly thin, as you’d expect from a flagship SE device.

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Review: Samsung Tocco SGH-F480

Steve O'Hear — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 19:36:28 +0000

Tocco is the Italian word for touch, and as you may have guessed, the Tocco SGH-F480 is Samsung’s latest touchscreen phone to hit the market. Once again, comparisons to the iPhone are inevitable, and although the Tocco is no iPhone killer – not that such a thing exists – it does sport at least a couple of features – haptic feedback and a 5 megapixel camera – that better Apple’s iconic device.

The Tocco is also smaller than the iPhone, measuring 98.4 x 55 x 11.6 mm compared to Apple’s 115.5 x 62.1 x 12.3 mm. It’s lighter too, shaving off just over 25 grams. Of course, what you gain in pocketability, you lose in screen real estate (particularly important for a touchscreen device), although we think that for those who find the iPhone to be on the bulky side, especially when used as a phone, the trade off could be worth it. If you’ve ever wondered what an iPhone nano might look like, the Tocco gives you a pretty good idea.

Physical keys are kept to a minimum, with just call start/end sitting left and right of the home button. Down the right hand side of the device are volume up and down controls and a microSD card slot. The left hand side houses the dreaded multipurpose port for headphones, USB cable and charger, as well as a dedicated camera shutter key. On top is a hold switch for locking the screen.

Spec-wise, Samsung has packed a lot in for what really is a feature phone, including tri-band support (900/1800/1900), along with GPRS, EDGE and 3G (HSDPA) for data. The touchscreen is ‘capacitive‘, meaning that it’s truly intended to be finger rather than stylus friendly, measuring 2.8 inches and displaying 262,000 colors (QVGA). There’s also bluetooth, a front facing camera for video calls, and a 5 megapixel stills camera also capable of video recording. The only real omissions being WiFi, which is a shame, and GPS.

TouchWhiz UI

Although there’s plenty of “touch”, there’s not that much “whiz” to the Tocco’s TouchWhiz user interface. Having said that, it’s simple enough to use and proved to be fairly intuitive during most tasks, even if it isn’t as aesthetically pleasing as the iPhone’s UI. The home screen displays the usual grid of applications which you tap on with your finger to launch. In most cases you’re then presented with a list view of information, such as contacts in address book or tracks in the music player, which can be scrolled through with a flick of the finger, although we found this to be a bit of a hit and miss affair at times. Further settings are accessed through a series of finger-friendly drop down menus, and at the bottom of the screen are contextual buttons, such as ‘back’ or ‘options’, which remain fixed on the screen as you scroll.

The Tocco’s touchscreen offers haptic feedback, meaning that it vibrates slightly when you tap on any of the on-screen buttons. This is a feature that the iPhone lacks, for example, and one that we found particularly useful when clicking on hyperlinks in the mobile web browser or typing on the Tocco’s virtual keyboard. Talking of which, Samsung have made the slightly controversial decision to provide a traditional numeric keyboard, albeit a virtual one, that utilizes predictive text rather than an on-screen QWERTY. We can only presume that this is due to the Tocco’s smaller sized screen compared to other touchscreen phones.

Widgets

A fun but under developed feature of the Tocco is the standby screen’s use of widgets, similar to those found in Vista (gadgets) or the Mac’s dashboard. Users can customize which of the seven widgets to have on display by dragging them from the widget sidebar. Choices include a clock, calendar, birthday reminder, photo browser and music player. It’s just a pity that Samsung doesn’t provide a way for third-party developers to write their own widgets, so you’re limited, at least for now, to those that come pre-installed.

Camera, media playback, web browser, and verdict >>

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Mobile OS wars heat up as Verizon joins LiMo Foundation, a Google-Android rival

Daniel Langendorf — Thu, 15 May 2008 04:37:48 +0000

Here’s an interesting jab at Google and its mobile operating system Android: Verizon, the No. 2 U.S. carrier, is joining the LiMo Foundation because it has software and phones available, Google does not.

The LiMo Foundation, representing Linux Mobile, is the lesser known of the mobile operating systems. There’s Microsoft’s Windows Mobile, supplying many makers of smart phones; Symbian, supplier mostly to Nokia; Qualcomm, supplier mostly to Verizon; upstart Google, and Apple. Then there’s Linux Mobile, slowly creeping along by adding devices mostly in Europe and Asia.

The LiMo (Linux Mobile) Foundation is a consortium of companies well vested in the mobile industry: Motorola, Samsung, LG Electronics, Vodaphone, NTT DoCoMo, and many others. Verizon is the first U.S. carrier to join the LiMo initiative, which now has 40 members worldwide.

The idea behind LiMo is to build a standardized, Linux-based mobile platform, which members can customize to meet their needs. For the most part, Linux Mobile is a competitor to Android, which is not yet available on any handsets. Linux Mobile is showing up on phones from Motorola, NEC, Panasonic, Samsung, and LG.

Kyle Malady, vice president of network for Verizon, said in a conference call today that he expects Verizon to sell both regular devices and smart phones using mobile Linux next year.

“We expect that Linux Mobile will rapidly become our preferred operating system,” Malady said to The Associated Press [via The New York Times] . “As the development community looks at how best to bring new applications to the marketplace, they should check out LiMo and Linux Mobile first.”

Verizon’s move isn’t so much a slap in the face as a poke in the side to Google, which has somewhat of a rocky relationship with Verizon. The two companies were locked in a bidding war for the 700 MHz spectrum recently auction in the U.S.

Once a reserve was met in the auction, an open network clause was triggered, and Google ended its bidding. Verizon was left holding the goods, so to speak. The winner must build a new network open to any device and any application. Verizon has whined publicly that maybe Google didn’t play fair.

Verizon’s involvement with the LiMo Foundation does not preclude it from joining Google’s Open Handset Alliance and supplying Android phones in the future — it most likely will. But Verizon is sending a message that Google’s mobile OS isn’t ready and won’t be until devices start showing up at the end of 2008 and into 2009. Verizon isn’t going to be waiting around, twiddling its thumbs.

Maneuverings like Verizon joining LiMo never register on the consumer mobile radar because, after all, they’ve been buying phones mostly on size and looks for years.

But with the success of the iPhone and BlackBerry products and the coming of the smart information device, mobile operating systems are becoming more important and a hotly contested battleground.

[For more information on LiMo, see GigaOm’s recent coverage.]

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HTC launches first true iPhone competitor just as Apple is about to take its phone to next level

Daniel Langendorf — Wed, 07 May 2008 03:02:20 +0000

It’s about time. Well, sort of.

Taiwanese smart phone manufacturer HTC launched the Touch Diamond today and, as expected, it’s small, sleek, sexy, very iPhone-esque, and promising.

Unfortunately for those of us in the U.S. or Latin America, the Diamond will not be available until the second half of 2008. If you’re in European markets, the phone begins shipping in June, followed by Asia and the Middle East.

As you know, much has been said about the iPhone since its launch last June. Ever since then, any phone released by any manufacturer is compared with the iPhone.

But so far, no one has come close to the iPhone’s design, interface, usability, user experience, and overall satisfaction, although Nokia’s offerings are popular. One “phone” promised to take on the iPhone, but the so-called Gphone, running Google’s mobile operating system Android, hasn’t been released by any manufacturer yet, it isn’t expected until the fourth quarter, and is completely untested in the market.

The Touch Diamond certainly has impressive specs — a 2.8-inch, 680×480 VGA display, quad-band, 3G, integrated Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, GPS, HSDPA support, a 3.2-megapixel camera, 4GB internal storage, 256MB flash memory, 192MB RAM, and SD external storage. It runs Windows Mobile 6.1 and a full Web browser in Opera. And, as previously stated, its darn attractive.

But without having one to play with, it’s impossible to say how the Touch Diamond stacks up to the iPhone experience. For sake of argument, let’s hope HTC’s new phone is compelling and scares the pants off Apple in the name of competition.

Chances of that happening, however, are slim as Apple is about to move into the next phase of the iPhone’s life — as evidenced by all the rumors of the coming 3G phone, expected to be announced in early June with availability following shortly thereafter.

If Apple has played its hand right, the iPhone is poised to enter 2.0-land far ahead of everybody else, especially with a 3G offering, enterprise support, and third-party applications coming soon. HTC, Nokia, Gphone makers, Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Motorola, and BlackBerry have yet to even hit with successful 1.0 products.

Apple also has a marketing and publicity advantage in the U.S., where Nokia is well known but doesn’t sell as many phones as it does worldwide. HTC has almost no name recognition, although it is slowly gaining in prominence.

While the HTC Touch Diamond appears to be a compelling product worthy of challenging the iPhone, we’ll have to wait and see it in action here in the States. And by then, iPhone 2.0 will be out. Will anybody even remember HTC?

Additional coverage: engadget, gizmodo, Cnet.

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Nokia, start your photocopiers (iPhone-envy)

Steve O'Hear — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:06:15 +0000

When Apple first unveiled the latest iteration of its Mac OSX operating system, codenamed ‘Leopard’, the marketing slogan read: “Redmond, start your photocopiers“. The suggestion being that Microsoft would, shortly thereafter, attempt to replicate all of Apple’s innovations. In 2008, the same charge might also apply to any number of cellphone makers as they scramble to respond to the iconic iPhone. This week it was Nokia’s turn, reports InfoWorld.

During a presentation at the Evans Data Developer Relations Conference in Redwood City, California, Nokia’s Tom Libretto showed a slide that portrayed a new device similar in looks to Apple’s iPhone, codenamed “Tube”. Featuring a touchscreen and graphic-heavy interface, Libretto said the “Tube” will support Java – a feature lacking on the iPhone – and will also be capable of uploading photos to the Web. Other details such as additional features or a launch date weren’t revealed.

Based on the devices codename, The Register speculates that the “Tube” will be pitched very much as a mobile video device and could include a digital television receiver. It’s also likely that the “Tube” will run the next generation version of the Symbian-based mobile operating system, S60, which Nokia has already said will include touchscreen support with the addition of “tactile feedback”.

Good artists copy. Great artists steal.

Of course, Nokia isn’t the only company to be readying an iPhone response. Last week Samsung announced its iPhone-like “Instinct” handset in conjunction with Sprint, and LG already has its own iPhone-esque offering. Perhaps more significantly, the Google-led Android mobile OS is shaping up to have a very iPhone looking User Interface, and in terms of rich Internet applications and a fully-fledged Web browser, stands a good chance of giving Apple’s own mobile OS a genuine run for its money. All of which isn’t a bad thing.

Looking back in a few years we’ll likely debate to what degree Apple’s entrance into the mobile arena has wrested control away from the carriers. But what there is little doubt: the iPhone is already awakening all of its competitors from a usability coma.

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What’s next? Madonna in my corn flakes?

Daniel Langendorf — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:31:37 +0000

Record labels sure seem desperate these days to get their music in your hands any way they can. What’s next? Free music in your corn flakes?

Samsung, the No. 2 mobile handset maker, has signed a deal with Warner Music that will put Madonna’s upcoming album “Hard Candy” and video for the single “4 Minutes” preloaded on its F400 music phone.

Granted, the F400 comes with Bang & Olufsen speakers, but come on. What will any of the players gain here?

Will Madonna sell more Samsung F400 phones?

Will Warner Music sell more Madonna (or music from its catalog) just because it’s on the latest Samsung music phone?

Will Madonna sell more albums and ancillary content because she’s so cutting-edge mobile?

What’s Madonna demographics these days anyway? Aging pop fans with disposable income willing to buy yet another cell phone? Do the world’s youth even care about the Material Girl, even if she does say this next album “will kick your ass?”

In case you are one who does care, Madonna’s “Hard Candy” will be released April 29 — and the F400 is already available in the U.S. The F400 will be released in “early June” in France.

In other markets, carrier Vodafone and Warner Music have an arrangement that will make the new music and other content from “Hard Candy” available exclusively to Vodafone mobile customers prior to its general release.

But don’t expect Madonna in your corn flakes. At least not yet.

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