U.S. Cellular confirms upcoming availability of Samsung Galaxy S5 and Gear devices
U.S. Cellular on Monday confirmed the upcoming availability of the Samsung Galaxy S 5, the Gear 2, the Gear 2 Neo and the Gear Fit. While the carrier did not offer any hard details (price, time frame) it did promise more information as soon as possible. Like the other carriers, U.S. Cellular plans to carry the smartphone in April
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Samsung Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo gallery
You’ve heard about the new Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo but you’d like to actually see what it’s all about. Here’s a sizable gallery of images of the two devices in multiple colors and different angles.
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Samsung Gear Fit gallery
You’ve learned about Samsung’s brand Galaxy Fit and now you’d like to actually see what it looks like. Behold the following gallery of images of the upcoming device in multiple colors and different angles.
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Samsung Galaxy S5 launching on April 11th in 150 countries
Samsung has just announced that the Galaxy S5 will be available starting April 11th in 150 countries. Over here in the US, it’ll be available on Sprint, AT&T, T-Mobile, Verizon Wireless, MetroPCS and U.S. Cellular. Ma Bell is going one step further, offering up the Gear 2 and the Gear Fit smartwatches as well. If you’d rather go elsewhere for your mobile needs, retailers such as Amazon, Best Buy, Costco, RadioShack, Sam’s Club, Target and Walmart will have the GS5 plus all three of Samsung’s newly announced wearables. As for our friends across the Atlantic, UK providers EE, Three and Vodafone UK have jumped aboard the GS5 bandwagon, as have retailers Phones4u and Carphone Warehouse. Though it hasn’t been announced, we expect other carriers such as O2 will support the phone too. No word on pricing just yet, but we expect we’ll find that out closer to the phone’s April launch date.
Samsung’s Galaxy S5 has an ‘ultra power saving’ mode to maximize battery life
Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 doesn’t skimp on battery power, with an expected 10 hours of web browsing and 12 hours of video playback on a single charge. When you’re on hour 11 of watching cat videos with no charger in site, the handsets new “ultra power-saving mode” will keep your handset purring along by making the screen black-and-white and turning off all the non-essential services on your phone. Even better, Samsung says if you put your phone in standby mode with only 10 percent of the battery left, it will still last “up to 24 hours” before running out of juice.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung
[MWC 2014] Samsung Announces the Gear Fit
To add to the wearable technology world, Samsung has announced the Gear Fit for you fitness bugs out there. According to Samsung, the Gear Fit is ”the most comprehensive fitness tools available,” so it is not like the slew of other fitness wearables out there apparently, and it certainly doesn’t look like it. You can also receive your notifications, so pretty much you got your choice on three different wearable devices to receive notifications. The Gear Fit is probably the better looking of the three.
The Gear Fit rocks a 1.84 inch 432×128 curved Super AMOLED display, IP67 dust and water resistance, accelerometer, gyroscope, heart monitor, Bluetooth 4.0, an interchangeable strap, and 210mAh battery.
No cost has been announced for the Gear Fit, but as soon as wee get that information we will let you know.
Meet Samsung’s new smartwatch family: the Gear 2, Neo and Fit
Samsung’s new crop of Gear smartwatches are no longer card-carrying members of its Android Galaxy. That’s because Tizen, the company’s open-sourced OS, has taken over the reins for the line begot by the barely five-month-old Galaxy Gear. And, in typical Samsung fashion, the company hasn’t released just one new Gear, but three with very specific areas of focus: the fashionable Gear 2, the functional Gear Neo and fitness-focused Gear Fit. The newly announced trio was on display here at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, giving us a chance to get acquainted with their particular quirks and let you know whether or not to free up some space on your wrist.
Based on looks alone, it’s obvious the Gear 2 is Samsung’s new smartwatch flagship. The device not only surpasses its stripped down sibling, the Neo, with the inclusion of a camera just above its 1.63-inch watchface, but it also boasts an all-metal enclosure and removable leather strap. This is in contrast to the Neo’s all-over colorful, plastic design — though it, too, features a swappable strap and even designer support from the likes of Moschino and Nicholas Kirkwood. Their spec differences aside, both the Gear 2 and Neo feature 4GB of internal storage, 300mAh battery, an inbuilt IR blaster (paired with Samsung’s WatchOn app) for controlling your TV, IP67 rating for water-resistance, Bluetooth 4.0 for connecting to a portable media player and heart rate monitor (located under the watch face) to aid with fitness-tracking. That latter health-focused bit even goes as far as “coaching” users, via haptic feedback, to increase or decrease their exercise rate.
So how do these two new Gears differ cosmetically from the original Galaxy Gear that inspired them? For starters, Samsung’s done away with the exposed metal screws of the Galaxy Gear’s front face in favor of a sleeker, seamless finish that gently blends into the band. The home button has been moved to a prominent position just at the base of the touchscreen, while the camera and/or IR blaster (depending on the Gear model) reside just above the top edge. The Gear 2 and Neo also sport a bit of user customization, as both now offer a multitude of wallpaper and font options. As for their charging cradle, Samsung didn’t have any on-hand to show off, but we’ve been told they’ll be different than that of the OG Galaxy Gear’s.
Then there’s the Gear Fit. In this trio of Samsung smartwatch amigos, it’s kind of the oddball, what with its 1.84-inch curved Super AMOLED display (432 x 128) and narrow focus on health and wellness. The Fit, like its Gear siblings, also features a swappable strap, Bluetooth 4.0 and an IP67 rating for water-resistance, except its battery is rated for longer use at up to four days. Of the bunch, it’s definitely the most physically attractive Gear option and the one we could really see users embracing.
There’ll be no shortage of apps for consumers that plunk down for any of these new Gears. Samsung has stated that it now counts over 100 dedicated apps for its Gear line and with the availability of its open SDK, that number is poised to expand even further. Of course, Samsung’s offering a means of getting to these third-party Gear apps easily via its own curated app store. As for its own pre-loaded selection, Samsung’s made it so that users will have access to the same stable of apps on Samsung’s Gear 2 and Neo: Notifications, Logs, Dialler, Contacts, Pedometer, Exercise, Heart Rate, S Voice, Media Controller, WatchOn Remote, Apps and Settings. While the Fit ditches the IR blaster- and phone-focused apps for the more narrow suite of Notifications, Media Controller, Pedometer, Exercise, Heart Rate, Timer, Stopwatch and Settings.
You’re probably wondering when we can expect to see these new Gears hit retail and just how much each is going to cost. Those are both good questions we, unfortunately, don’t have the answer to right now. Samsung would only go on record to say that the Gear 2, Neo and Fit would be available sometime in April, but that still leaves a giant question mark hovering over their respective prices. While that essential bit’s currently an unknown, we’d bet that, given the breadth of this new Gear line, you can expect there’ll be a range of affordability.
Sharif Sakr contributed to this report.
Live from Samsung’s ‘Unpacked 5’ MWC event!
Slow your roll there, eager beaver. We know you’re excited to Meet the next Galaxy S5, but the big ‘Unpacked 5′ event hasn’t started yet. If you’re worried about missing any of the news as it’s unveiled, just be sure to check back here at 2PM EST/ 8PM CET when Samsung’s Mobile World Congress festivities kick off. We’ll be reporting on all the action (and potentially amusing stage presentation) as it happens live. Until then, be nice to your Galaxy S 4, and say hi to your mother for us.
Filed under: Cellphones, Wearables, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung
Samsung has sold more than 200 million Galaxy S smartphones
Want to know how big a player Samsung is in the smartphone market? The company now says that it’s sold over 200 million Galaxy S phones since the line first went on the market in 2010. For reference, the Korean tech giant had notched up sales of 100 million Galaxy S devices as of slightly more than a year ago. Samsung isn’t breaking down the sales by model, although it had sold over 40 million Galaxy S 4s as of last fall — much of that 200 million clearly came from more recent customers. It’s difficult to compare the data against other manufacturers, since few of them break out sales by range. Apple, for example, said that it shipped 700 million iOS devices of all kinds as of October. However, it’s safe to say that Samsung remains a heavyweight at the high end of the smartphone market.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung
Samsung rolls out Galaxy S5 at Mobile World Congress
After what seems like more than a year’s worth of rumors and leaks, the Samsung Galaxy S5 is a reality. Arriving in April, the handset is more than a minor step up from its predecessor.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 is powered by Android 4.4.2 KitKat with Samsung’s custom UI.
Hardware specifications include 2GB RAM, and 16GB/32GB internal storage capacity. Cameras include a rear 16-megapixel and front-facing 2.0-megapixel duo. Rounding things out are the 2800mAh battery, 802.11 b/g/n/ac, NFC, LTE Cat 4 (150/50Mbps), and IR Remote.
That rear camera is not just your average 16-megapixel experience, mind you, but one with a number of new and fantastic features.
- Phase Detection Auto Focus: Advanced auto focus speeds for capturing a shot quickly – first smartphone with phase detection auto focus, a feature usually found in DSLR cameras
- Real-Time HDR: High Dynamic Range (HDR) preview mode makes it easier to choose when to use HDR – like trying to photograph a beautiful sunset. It also enables users to capture HDR photos or videos with no shutter lag or post-processing.
- Selective Focus Mode: Blur images near or far for a creative, one-of-a-kind shot
- Shot and More Mode: The camera chooses and recommends Drama Shot, Best Photo, Best Face or Eraser shot after the picture is taken to create the best photo
- Studio: Add effects to photos and edit movies with a complete suite of editing tools within the Gallery
In terms of processor, the Galaxy S5 employs a 2.5GHz quad-core mobile CPU. The 5.1-inch screen features a 1920×1080 Full HD Super AMOLED display.
Rather than going with the faux-leather that’s been Samsung’s choice for rear cases, the Galaxy S5 comes with a perforated pattern on the back cover. Color options in charcoal Black, shimmery White, electric Blue and copper Gold.
As far as software is concerned, the Galaxy S5 comes with a host of features and apps: Ultra Power Saving Mode, Download Booster, S Health 3.0, Quick Connect, Private Mode, Kids Mode.
Also worth pointing out, the Galaxy S5 is dust and water resistant. Oh, and yes, there’s a fingerprint scanner built into the home button however Samsung has downplayed it more than we expected. Its primary feature is for unlocking the phone with a swipe however it could also be used to authenticate PayPal.
Pricing and exact carrier availability is not yet known but we’ll be following up in short order. Look for your wireless provider of choice to issue press statements right away.
Developing…
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