Category: Samsung

HTC One Vs Samsung Galaxy S4 – Battle For Android Supremacy

We may only be three months into 2013 but it’s already been a big year for phones. One of the biggest stories so far is that of the HTC One – a no-compromise handset from the Taiwanese firm that aims to make amends for the last couple of years and bring HTC back to the top of the Android heap, where they once stood with the help of the HTC Legend.

It’s a remarkable phone in so many ways, but now it faces its biggest threat yet – the Samsung Galaxy S4, the latest flagship phone from the current king of Android.

How do these 2 fare against each other? Let’s find out!

1. Build Quality And Design

Do we even need to discuss this one? Even the most ardent Samsung fanboy would agree that the HTC One is much better in terms of design. On one hand, we have the light, plastic body of the Galaxy S4, and on the other – the heavy, metal one of the HTC One.

The disadvantage of this design, though, is not only that metal will get slightly hotter than plastic, but that the unibody design also prevents the handset’s battery from being removed.

Samsung took a step in the right direction by utilising a little bit of metal around the edge of the phone, but it’s still mostly plastic and still nowhere close to the quality of the HTC One’s build.

Verdict – HTC One

2. Display

This is a tough category, as both the Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One have excellent screens. The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 5″ HD 1080p Super AMOLED touchscreen, which on first impressions proved pretty impressive, while the HTC One features a 4.7″ HD 1080p Super LCD3 touchscreen.

Going purely on numbers, the HTC wins here since its pixel density is 469ppi against the Galaxy S4’s 441ppi. In real life this difference is not noticeable by the human eye.

Put simply, these are two of the best displays on the smartphone market. However, Samsung’s AMOLED displays have been criticized in the past for having a blueish tint on them, but the contrast and deep blacks on this display are amazing.

Another difference is that the Galaxy S4 uses Gorilla Glass 3 which its maker, Corning, says is up to three times more damage resistant than Gorilla Glass 2 which the HTC One offers.

Depending on how you plan to use each smartphone, there are clear advantages to some of the screen technology. It’s hard to pick an overall winner here, one has a slightly bigger screen the other has a slightly higher pixel density, but both are fantastic through and through so it’s a draw and really just comes down to a matter of personal preference.

Verdict – Draw

3. Software And UI

The Samsung Galaxy S4 and HTC One are pretty evenly matched when it comes to software too, with both running Google’s Android Jelly Bean operating system. Saying that, the Galaxy S4 has a later version, Android 4.2.2, while the HTC One has Android 4.1.2.

There is a vast difference between the custom user experiences found on both devices.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with the latest version of Samsung’s Touchwiz UI, giving a horde of custom features. As well as a barrage of software features such as Air Gesture and Smart Scroll, Samsung’s Touchwiz UI offers a fairly heavy custom skin, which is not good for those who are fans of the vanilla Android 4.x Jelly Bean.

The HTC One, on the other hand, offers a much simpler user interface skin. Blinkfeed is its standout feature – a unique take on Flipboard – and beyond that, the HTC Sense 5.0 UI is fairly stripped back and easy to use.

However, Samsung clearly wins this one with its onslaught of software tricks and custom features.

Verdict – Samsung Galaxy S4

4. Processor

The HTC One packs a lot of power under its shiny metallic shell, with a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor and 2 GB of RAM. But impressive as it is the Samsung Galaxy S4 goes one better with a 1.9 GHz quad-core processor, though it merely matches the HTC One for RAM. Both phones are true next generation handsets and both have more power than you’re likely to know what to do with.

Early benchmark results of these 2 smartphones reveal that they’re neck to neck in performance.

So it’s a draw for us!

Verdict – Draw

5. Memory And Storage

Memory is another win for the Galaxy S4, as while the HTC One comes with up to 64GB of on-board memory (a 32GB version also exists), there’s no micro SD card slot, so no way to expand on it. The Galaxy S4 meanwhile matches its on-board memory with 16, 32 and 64GB versions up for grabs, but also includes a micro SD card slot on top of that.

Their connectivity options are identical as both handsets provide Wi-Fi, 3G, 4G/LTE, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and an infrared port. It’s about as comprehensive set of options as you could hope to see.

Verdict – Samsung Galaxy S4

6. Camera

HTC has gone in new direction with the One’s camera. The Ultrapixel camera is only 4MP in resolution but captures 300 percent more light than a regular smartphone camera. The camera is good especially in low light situations.

HTC’s bold move makes it pretty difficult to compare with the Galaxy S4’s 13Mp camera which we expect to be a good camera. Each rear camera can record video in Full HD 1080p quality.

Things are almost identical in terms of front facing cameras between the Galaxy S4 and HTC One. They have 2MP and 2.1MP cameras which can each record video in Full HD.

HTC Zoe is the big camera feature that is grabbing the headlines when it comes to the HTC One. When you record a ‘Zoe’, the HTC One takes a 3 second video and 20 single frame shots. Not only do you then have the Zoe clip itself, but also the functionality for some very impressive features: remove unwanted people and objects from the background of a shot, make sure everyone is smiling and has their eyes open for group shots and combine several frames in a sequence shot to create a ‘slow-motion’ photo.

The S4 also has some nice camera features and some that are similar to the HTC One. Eraser also let’s you remove unwanted photo elements, sound and shot lets you record a sound clip with a photo and drama shot will take 100 photos in 4 seconds. There are plenty more features to talk about for both these handsets and you’ll have a great experience with either.

So while the HTC One is likely to fare better in low light conditions, the camera in the Samsung Galaxy S4 seems the better bet overall.

Verdict – Samsung Galaxy S4

7. Audio

When it comes to sound the HTC handset wins without doubt. You will have heard HTC BoomSound mentioned by now, which is the technology that makes the HTC One so loud. It’s the first handset to feature dual frontal stereo speakers, plus it has Beats Audio technology built in. This results in louder music playback, ringtones and notifications.

The S4 speaker is also of a good quality and is a close second to the HTC device.

Verdict – HTC One

Conclusion

Both of these handsets are truly remarkable and it’s a tough call picking one out as the best. They both have incredible displays, loads of connectivity options, great cameras and a lot of horsepower.

There is no real winner in this article, and it should only be used as a reference to how the devices perform in each of the sections discussed above.

This will be one of the most exciting fights in the premium segment this season.

Which one will you choose? Let us know below!

April 1, 2013
Apple Alleges $85 Million Error In Court Damages Order

Samsung can’t seem to shake Apple off its back and although damages of $599 million were awarded to Apple, the tech giant still isn’t satisfied. In documents filed by Apple, they claim Judge Lucy Koh made an $85 million error in calculating damages. Supposedly, Koh thought the jury had granted $44,792,974 for the Infuse 4G and $40,494,356 for the Galaxy S II on AT&T, Florian Mueller reports for FOSS Patents. However, according to Apple, Samsung’s own statements prove that “disgorgement of profits for design patent infringement”, were permissible.

“The number of products for which the damages award can stand would go up from 14 to 16, while the number of products for which a new determination is needed would go down from 14 to 12. The affirmed damages award would increase from $600 million to $685 million, almost two thirds of the $1.05 billion verdict”.

Apple now seeks the court’s permission to bring a motion for reconsideration, though the request to bring such a motion is, for the time being, conditional.

Apple’s conditional motion cites Civil Local Rule 7-9(b)(3). The related rule of the Northern District of California allows a motion for reconsideration in the event of “[a] manifest failure by the Court to consider material facts or dispositive legal arguments which were presented to the Court before such interlocutory order”.

This is getting interesting!

[FOSS Patents]

March 28, 2013
No CyanogenMOD For Galaxy S4, Devs Say Not Worth The Trouble

Recently, a member of the team that oversees CyanogenMOD on Samsung devices came out against building the software for the Galaxy S4. Citing many ongoing issues with the Galaxy S3 and Note 2 — specifically on Exynos hardware — longtime member XpLoDWilD spoke for Team Hacksung (whether authorized to or not) on his and others’ intentions for Samsung’s upcoming flagship.

Nobody at Team Hacksung (the team behind Galaxy S2, Note, S3, Note2, G Tabs… official CM ports) plans to buy it, neither develop for it. There are two variants which will be a pain to maintain, [and] the bugs we have on the S3 will probably be there on S4, too (camera), and we all know Samsung ability to release sources while staying in line with mainline. Yes Qualcomm releases sources, but Exynos sources we had were far from [working on] actual Galaxy products. I’m pretty sure the same will happen for this one.

That’s a uniform “no” from us.

Other established developers are taking a similar stance when it comes to the Galaxy S4, citing technical issues as well as Samsung’s history of not playing nice with independent devs. In other words, if you are hoping for a refined custom ROM experience on the GS4, you are out of luck for the time being.

Mainly from Samsung’s proclivity to keep essential drivers close to their chest, the members would rather focus on winnable battles. Essentially, they’re saying, Nexus devices are the only ones that will continue to work flawlessly on AOSP-based software.

The issue then gained momentum when Ricardo Cerqueira and Keyan Mobli, respected Android developers and members of CyanogenMOD’s sprawling community, pushed back against Android Central’s declarative title. Says Mobli: “Because of the open source nature of CyanogenMod, one developer saying no means there is just room for other developers to say yes. Saying that the Galaxy S4 won’t be supported by CyanogenMod is a bit premature. In other words, we currently don’t have anyone willing to work on it, but I am sure someone will step up.”

Cerqueira made a similar point: “Dear Android Central. Very few people have the authority to speak for CM as a whole, and none of them were asked about this. Individuals’ opinions are not, and can not, be portrayed as the project’s.”

The official word from CyanogenMOD was even more direct:

Let’s start with the simplest form of this: CyanogenMod does not pre-announce support or lack of support for devices. Ever. Even for the Nexus 4, we did not announce support until a nightly build was available. Further, any announcement regarding the ‘dropping’ of device support will be communicated via this Google+ page, Twitter, Facebook, our blog, or a combination of those; it will not be something buried in a forum post.

This morning, a comment from a CM collaborator on XDA was taken to be as an ‘absolute’ in regards to support of the S4. He offered the opinion of four TeamHacksung maintainers, their frustrations and lack of interest in supporting the S4. What’s seemingly lost on those reading this is that his comments as an individual do not speak for CyanogenMod as an organization.

As for the team’s stance on the S4, there isn’t one at this time, and most definitely won’t be one before the device is sold at retail.

– The CyanogenMod Team

[MobileSyrup, Android Central, XDA Developers]

March 20, 2013
iSuppli : Samsung Galaxy S4 Costs $236 To Make

Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is more expensive to make than the previous Galaxy S III. Not too hard to believe. According to the latest teardown by IHS iSuppli they state that the total Bill of Materials (BOM) is about 15% higher than the GSIII, specifically noting that the Galaxy S4 16GB HSPA+ model costs $236 (USD) and the LTE-enabled model is $233. The Galaxy S III reportedly has a BOM of $204. Of course, iSuppli says that these are only estimates as the device has yet to be released.

Samsung appears to have invested in major upgrades to its smartphone’s display, sensors and application processor and supporting memory. The S4’s full-HD AMOLED display had the biggest cost increase of all, carrying an estimated cost of $75, up from $65 for the S3.

Sensors on the new phone, recognizing both temperature and gestures, also pushed the cost of the user interface and sensor subsystem up to $16 for the S4, from $12.70 for the S3.

The S4’s processor, made by Samsung itself, also made a significant jump from a year ago. The S3’s Exynos 4 Quad processor cost $17.50 while the Exynos 5 Octa (5410), the eight-core chip that IHS believes is in the S4, cost an estimated $30.

Another interesting nugget was that “Samsung accounts for at least $149 worth of component content in the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy S4, representing 63 percent of the total BOM, based on the results of the virtual teardown.”

If only smartphones retailed for what they actually cost to make!

[Forbes, iSuppli]

March 20, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S3 & Note 2 To Get Android 5.0, Galaxy S2 & Note To Settle With 4.2.2

The Samsung Galaxy S2 and the Samsung Galaxy Note will not receive Google’s next Android update, according to a report.

SamMobile clams to have heard from an inside source that the previous-generation products will not be updated past Android Jelly Bean.

Samsung didn’t confirm this news but, it seems that this will be actually true and we will get to see Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean update released for Galaxy S2, Galaxy Note and for multiple other two-year old Samsung smartphones.

The Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OTA update will be the last upgrade that old Samsung devices will receive. As you know, the Galaxy S2 and Galaxy Note were launched with Android 2.3.6 Gingerbread and then they got the Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. Also, these were recently updated to Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean.

The Android 5.0 is yet to become official and is expected to be introduced at Google’s upcoming I/O conference. Google’s latest software version is believed to be a big update. The devices which will be getting the Android 5.0 update are the Galaxy S III, Galaxy S4, Note II, Note 8.0 and Note 10.1.

Also, some other Mid-range Android device that have been launched in 2012 and 2013 should get some Value Pack OTA Updates, so that all the owners of an Samsung device will be happy that some new features will be available for them.

Good going Samsung!

Below is the list of devices which is not confirmed by Samsung yet. But is confirmed by SamMobile’s insider.

* End at Android 4.2.2 update.
GT-I9080 – Galaxy Grand
GT-I9082 – Galaxy Grand DUOS
GT-I8160 – Galaxy Ace 2
GT-I8190 – Galaxy S III mini
GT-I8350 – Galaxy Beam
GT-I8730 – Galaxy Express
GT-I9070 – Galaxy S Advance
GT-I9100 – Galaxy S II
GT-I9105 – Galaxy S II Plus
GT-I9260 – Galaxy Premier
GT-N7000 – Galaxy Note
GT-S6310 – Galaxy Young
GT-S6312 – Galaxy Young DUOS
GT-S6810 – Galaxy Fame
GT-S7710 – Galaxy X Cover 2

To get Android 5.0.
GT-I9300 – Galaxy S III
GT-I9305 – Galaxy S III LTE
GT-I9500 – Galaxy S 4
GT-I9505 – Galaxy S 4 LTE
GT-N5100 – Galaxy Note 8.0
GT-N5105 – Galaxy Note 8.0 LTE
GT-N5110 – Galaxy Note 8.0 Wi-Fi
GT-N7100 – Galaxy Note II
GT-N7105 – Galaxy Note II LTE
GT-N8000 – Galaxy Note 10.1
GT-N8005 – Galaxy Note 10.1 LTE
GT-N8010 – Galaxy Note 10.1 Wi-Fi

[SamMobile]

March 20, 2013
Exclusive : Samsung Galaxy S4 Launch in India set at May 10, Price Rs. 44,999/-

Just like last year, our Samsung insider has told us that Samsung will launch the Samsung Galaxy S4 on May 10 for India available either the same day or soon after via the online Samsung Store. The company has decided to keep the price of their newest flagship at Rs. 44999/- for the 16GB variant.

Here is the best part of the news, the Samsung Galaxy S4 set for India is the Exynos based Octa-core variant and not the quad-core as most were expecting. Although Samsung might change over to a quad core variant if the sales are slow as they were for the S2 in India and the company then launched a cheaper ~~Single core~~ alternate chipset variant adding a G at the end of the model number.

Samsung has taken a similar strategy with the Samsung Galaxy S4 ( or plans to) with the company expecting good sales numbers based on the hype created by the launch. Post that they plan to shift to a quad core variant similar to the one in the US.

Apart from the chipset the Samsung Galaxy S4 also has a 5 inch 1920x1080p Super-Amoled display, 2 GB of RAM, 16 GB of storage for the Indian variant, along with a 13 MP camera at the rear capable of full hd 1080p video at 30fps.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 also has Android 4.2.2 along with the latest TouchWiz UI .

March 18, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 Polycarbonate Glaze Explained!

Since we already spoke about the use of plastics by Samsung, and their unwillingness to move to a different type of build for their most recent flagship the Galaxy S4. A lot of readers are confused about the one statement made by Samsung Executives who said, “The new Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with Polycarbonate Glaze”, in fact it appears Samsung’s use of the said statement has actually met with its purpose.

Lets lay down the details first, the Samsung Galaxy S4 is the Korean company’s latest flagship announced at an event held in New York on the 14th of March 2013. The smartphone just like any other from Samsung in the past and others this year, features top of the line specifications. The norm being full HD 1920 x 1080p display, a 13 MP camera, various storage capacities, an octa-core processor and a newer set of software tweaks to satisfy the user and to set them apart from others. The Samsung Galaxy S4 also has a large 2600 mAh battery and the very latest Android 4.2.2 with their new designed for life TouchWiz/ Nature/ Life UI.

But one major element of the latest smartphone that seems to not be catching the fancy of the eye is the lack of design change and the continued use of plastics in the so called natural form factor. We do understand that most companies follow the “if it sells then why change it?” policy, But the reason Samsung came into the limelight is because they changed the norms, with the S2, with the Note series and even with their tablets to some extent, which were unique in their own way and different from the herd of smartphones that were being built on Android.

But, before we start another battle, lets talk about the “Polycarbonate Glaze”. Polycarbonate Glazing (confused here), is used to replace glass in areas where extra strength is required, like greenhouses, security cars, safe rooms and even on some fighter jets. However the thinnest form of this polycarbonate glazing which can be used effectively is either 4mm or 5mm, and since most of us know that the Samsung Galaxy S4 is just short of the 8 mm thickness, Samsung did not fill half of that bulk with a polycarbonate sheet.

[pullquote_left] special poly-carbonate body [/pullquote_left]Polycarbonate Glaze, however, is what Samsung has actually done on this variant of the Galaxy, Glaze by definition of its use here is “a layer of paint, thinned with a medium, so as to become somewhat transparent” . The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a fully plastic shell/frame which does not use Polycarbonate anywhere. In-fact Samsung goes to say that the Galaxy S4’s bezel is wrapped in a “special polycarbonate body” which means that the plastic back panel has a coating of polycarbonate paint, generally used to provide added strength to RC boats, cars and toys. This particular “Polycarbonate Glaze” is also used on some other model novelty items to provide some added shine and strength.

In May 2012 Samsung responded to several users upset with the build quality of the galaxy S3, claiming that the back cover of the Galaxy S3 in-fact has polycarbonate, “Using three layers of high quality, pure and clear polycarbonate”, what they did not mention is that these three layers are by all intents and purposes laid on top (read: painted/coated) of the plastic back panel of the Galaxy S3, the Note 2 and in-fact the recently launched Galaxy Grand aswell. So, go ahead Grand owners celebrate your phone is made out of polycarbonate. The Lumia series of phones from Nokia, are the greatest example of the kind of feel a polycarbonate shell would give to the one holding it, some HTC phones also possess this type of build.

The fact remains Samsung may or may not change their design process, especially if they continue to sell the numbers they already do. We have reached out to Samsung for better clarification and will update this article, once they do respond.

March 18, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 Keyboard Is Powered By SwiftKey

Word has come from SwiftKey’s co-founder in an emailed statement to Forbes stating that Samsung has, indeed, utilized the predictive keyboard, adding onto the myriad of other features offered by it’s Galaxy S4 smartphone.

Dr. Ben Medlock, co-founder and CTO of SwiftKey, said from the New York launch: “Following our great success with the SwiftKey 4 launch last month, we are excited to confirm that Samsung has chosen SwiftKey’s innovative keyboard technology to be at the heart of its flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S4. This is fantastic progress for our vision of bringing the best touchscreen typing experience to as many people as possible.”

Despite not knowing the extent of the companies’ partnership as yet, we think the move looks like a solid one. Samsung gets some ultrapowerful typing technology to power its keyboard, while SwiftKey extends its reach with placement on a high-profile device. To be clear, though, the Galaxy S4 ‘s keyboard will not be branded as a SwiftKey product. It will just have the tech baked in.

The inclusion of such software shouldn’t really come as a surprise as Samsung is likely to throw everything but the kitchen sink into the new device.

The Samsung Galaxy S4 features a 5-inch 1920 x 1080 Super AMOLED display and houses a 1.6GHz octo-core processor and 2GB of RAM and yes, has the option for storage expansion via microSD.

SwiftKey was founded in late 2008 by two Cambridge graduates, who went on to launch their popular predictive keyboard in 2010. The app works by learning the words commonly used by the handset’s owner as he or she types. This allows SwiftKey to offer predictive functionality.

[Pocket-Lint]

March 15, 2013
Samsung Galaxy S4 Brings Along New Set Of “Smart Features”

The Galaxy S4 was officially unveiled tonight in New York City at the famed Radio City Music Hall. As widely expected, the new smartphone has some notable improvements on the hardware side, including a bigger display and a thinner body.

On the software side of things, the Samsung Galaxy S4 will come to market with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean running beneath Samsung’s TouchWiz UI. Unsurprisingly, Samsung will also be including several new features with its TouchWiz overlay.

Samsung has expanded its “Smart” set of features that debuted last year with Smart Stay on the Galaxy S III. The Galaxy S 4 will come to market with Smart Pause, which will pause a video when the phone detects that the user is no longer looking at the screen.

Smart Scroll will scroll the content of the browser or emails by monitoring a user’s face looking at the screen as well as his or her wrist movement.

Samsung has also ported its Air View feature from the Galaxy Note series to the Galaxy S4, allowing users to preview the content of emails, photos and videos by hovering their finger over the display.

Along with Air View, the Air Gesture functionality allows users to change a music track, scroll around a page or accept a call by waving their hands in front of the device’s display.

The list of new functionality doesn’t stop there, though, as Samsung also introduced a slate of S-branded features like S Voice Drive for voice control functionality while behind the wheel of a car, S Translator for translating either a voice or text and S Health, which utilizes the Galaxy S4’s sensors to monitor a user’s health. Rounding out the list of features is Samsung Optical Reader for scanning text and business cards and Group Play, which can beam content like music, photos/videos and games to others without needing a Wi-Fi or cellular signal.

The Galaxy S4 has shown that Samsung has decided that they can innovate a new beginning without just developing on old fortunes. Will the features demonstrated above be good enough to keep the market happy, and make the people want to buy the Galaxy S4?

March 15, 2013
Galaxy S4 SmartPause, eye tracking, and new lock screen Leaked in videos

Several videos higlighting the new features of the Galaxy S4 have gone online just before the launch of the proported super phone from the Korean manufacturer. The Samsung Galaxy S4 will be launched in less than an hour at an event being held in New York, USA.

SmartPause eye tracking and floating touch control features have been leaked, SmartPause automatically stops a playing video when you are not looking at it and floating touch control is a no pen implementation of the floating scroll feature from the Galaxy Note 2

The Galaxy S4 will decide for Samsung whether they can innovate a new beginning or just develop on old fortunes. Will the features demonstrated below be good enough to keep the market happy, and make the people want to buy the Galaxy S4.

[youtube id=”tN7o_AhIlTM” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”jCAtRNiYBmI” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”tH3XqqCVN5A” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

[youtube id=”m0uHy3SNfXQ” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

March 15, 2013
Samsung Unpacked 2013 for the Galaxy S4 Live Blog

[youtube id=”IDXILsX7_QI” width=”100%” height=”300px”]

We will be giving you step by step into the Galaxy S4 launch right here on iGyaan.

March 15, 2013
Leaked Samsung Galaxy S4 Screenshots Confirm 1080p Display, Quad-Core Processor

Leaked photos of what looks to be the Samsung’s upcoming flagship phone, the Galaxy S4, shows off a new TouchWIZ colour scheme, grey and blue, along with some interesting hardware specs.

The screenshots, released by GSM Israel, apparently shows the Quick System Info PRO app running on the Galaxy S4 – which revealing specifications such as a 5-inch 1080 x 1920 display with a 480ppi pixel density.

Unlike our previous estimation, it looks like even the North American version of the GS4 will sport Samsung’s own quad-core Exynos 5410 chipset at 1.8Ghz, replete with eight cores in a big.LITTLE configuration. The 5-inch 1080p display is also all but confirmed.

The images also give us a first proper glimpse at Samsung’s new TouchWiz Nature UX 2.0, slathered on top of Android Jelly Bean 4.2.1.

While the home screen appears virtually unchanged from what we’ve already seen on the Galaxy S3, the settings menu has been revamped with a tabbed interface and a lighter background.

We also see a checkbox and toggle for the much-hyped ‘Smart pause’ and ‘Smart scroll’ features that the Galaxy S4 is mooted to bring. The former is described as enabling you to pause videos “when it detects your head moving away from the screen”, while the latter will “start to scroll automatically if the device detects that you are looking at the screen”.

Looking forward to the unveiling of the phone!

March 8, 2013
Nokia Joins Apple In Bid For Samsung Ban

In a surprising twist, Windows Phone device manufacturer Nokia has filed a brief with US courts in support of Apple’s ongoing legal battle against Samsung.

Acting as an amicus curiae (friend of the court, a party who offers information to a case they are not directly involved with), Nokia has filed a brief on behalf of Apple to the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit this week.

In the brief, Nokia asked the court to permit permanent injunctions on the sale of Samsung phones that were found to infringe Apple’s patents.

As part of its ongoing legal battle with Samsung, Apple has repeatedly requested the courts to impose an injunction on the sale of Samsung products that have infringed on the iPhone maker’s patents.

As noted by Reuters, the brief itself is currently sealed, but an accompanying motion supplies an overview of Nokia’s argument. The company questions Judge Koh’s December ruling requiring a patent holder to first establish a “causal nexus” between a patented feature and customer demand before securing a permanent injunction against offending products. If such a precedent were set, Nokia asserts, the ability of patent holders to obtain sales bans would be crippled.

[quote]The “causal nexus” requirement as applied by the district court here, making the evidentiary standard for obtaining a permanent injunction so burdensome and strict that it may rarely, if ever, be met, will essentially lead to a compulsory-licensing system wherein patent holders are forced to license patented technology to competing firms, which could in turn harm incentives to innovate.[/quote]

In her ruling late last year, Judge Lucy Koh said that sales bans on Samsung products will not be given, and they can only be removed from sale if the feature deemed to infringe on a patent is one that is solely responsible for consumer demand for the product.

[Apple Insider]

March 7, 2013
Samsung Issues Public Apology For Fatal Gas Leak At Semiconductor Plant

Samsung has issued a public apology for a January 28 gas leakage at one of the company’s semiconductor plants that resulted in the death of a contractor.

The public apology, made by company vice chairman Kwon Oh-hyun, comes after Samsung co-president Jeon Dong Su apologized to families of the workers affected and confirmed a third-party investigation into the causes of the hydrofluoric acid gas leak.

Originally reported by Yon Hap, the publication said that roughly 2.6 gallons of acid leaked–mainly in gas form–from a 132-gallon tank of hydrofluoric acid twice in 24 hours, one leak apparently at 11 p.m. local time, and then a secondary leak at 5 a.m.

The problem was allegedly not reported to local Korean authorities until hours afterwards, and after calling in maintenance firm STI Service to fix the problem–something Samsung described as “minimal.”

Samsung was fined just one million won (about $1,000 USD) for not reporting the gas leak quickly enough.

Kwon said in his statement that Samsung will revoke its application to have its Hwaseong plants certified as “green” by the government for the next five years. The company’s plants in Hwaseong were first certified as green in 1998, which meant they could bypass regular inspections. An application for re-designation had been submitted to the government in late August.

Seven people, including three of Samsung’s officials, are being investigated on charges of negligence related to the hydrofluoric acid gas leak. Kwon said that the company is taking steps to prevent similar accidents from happening.

[Tech Crunch]

March 5, 2013
First Samsung Galaxy S4 Teaser Trailer Released

Samsung has unpacked a video teaser ahead of its big Galaxy S4 launch later this month, but it’s giving nothing away.

Samsung’s upcoming Samsung Unpacked event at March 14th in New York City looks set to see the Galaxy S4 released then, but just what the heck is the Samsung Galaxy S4 going to look like? Sure, we have seen alleged specifications of it leaked out via an Antutu benchmark earlier this morning, but how about its physical aspects? The Galaxy S4 teaser video would help you salivate more over the upcoming flagship smartphone by building up the overall anticipation, but it did not reveal nary a bit on how it would look like.

The trailer is titled ‘Be ready 4 the next Galaxy’ and features Jeremy, the secret messenger of Samsung Unpacked 2013.

Unfortunately, the video contains no new info on the Samsung Galaxy S4 or even the tiniest glimpse of the new handset. Essentially a small boy is given the huge job of keeping the Galaxy S4 secret until the launch on 14 March in New York’s Times Square.

There’s only one phone on show during the short clip but it’s too small to see what it is. It’s likely to just be a Galaxy Note 2 phablet. Jeremy’s driver says: “I know this is going to be one of the most amazing products to hit the market since TVs went colour.”

Rumors have been swirling around the Samsung Galaxy S4. Among the features that might come to the device is an eight-core Exynos processor, a separate eight-core graphics processing unit, a 4.99-inch Super Amoled display, 2GB of RAM, a 13-megapixel rear camera with 1080p video capability, a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and the latest version of Android, known as 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Check back in with iGyaan on March 14 for full coverage of Samsung’s event. Until then, here’s today’s teaser video:

March 4, 2013