Hong Kong – October 19, 2011 – Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd, a leading mobile device provider, and Google, today announced GALAXY Nexus™, the world’s first smartphone running Android™ 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest release of the Android platform. GALAXY Nexus features a 4.65” HD Super AMOLED display technology at 720p resolution and a 1.2GHz dual core processor.

“Samsung and Google have closely collaborated to push the mobile experience forward. We are pleased to deliver the best Android smartphone experience for customers with GALAXY Nexus. We will continue to move forward with Android to provide the compelling consumer experience in mobile world,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.

“Ice Cream Sandwich demonstrates the Android platform’s continued innovation with one release that works on phones and tablets and everything in between. Features like Android Beam and Face Unlock show the innovative work our team is doing, and GALAXY Nexus showcases the power behind Ice Cream Sandwich,” said Andy Rubin, Senior Vice President of Mobile for Google.

Update: We just found this video showing a quick overview of new Android 4.0 features!

Click here to view the embedded video.

 Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience. GALAXY Nexus features software navigation buttons, a first for Android smartphones. The lock screen, home screen, phone app, and everything in between has been rethought and redesigned to make Android simple, beautiful, and useful.

Ice Cream Sandwich also features a new People app, which lets you, browse friends, family, and coworkers, see their photos in high-resolution, and check their latest status updates from Google＋ and other social networks. GALAXY Nexus features a redesigned camera which introduces panorama mode, 1080p video capture, zero-shutter lag, and effects like silly faces and background replacement.

GALAXY Nexus is also connected to the cloud, keeping your email, contacts, and all other data synced across your devices. You have access to more than 300,000 apps and games from Android Market™, or, in certain countries, you can buy and read books, or rent movies and stream them instantly from your phone. In the U.S., you can also upload your music to the cloud with Music Beta by Google and listen anywhere, even when offline.

Ice Cream Sandwich introduces innovations such as Face Unlock which uses facial recognition to unlock your phone. Using NFC technology, Android Beam allows you to quickly share web pages, apps, and YouTube™ videos with your friends by simply tapping your phones together. You can even use fun effects while shooting video or video chatting with Google Talk™.

Google Experience

 GALAXY Nexus is designed to provide a “pure Google,” experience, and with it, you will be the first to receive software upgrades and new applications as they become available.

It also features a number of Google Mobile services, including: Android Market, Gmail™, Google Maps™ 5.0 with 3D maps and turn-by-turn navigation, Google Earth™, Movie Studio, YouTube™, syncing with Google Calendar™, and a redesigned Google＋ app.

Best-in-class hardware meets the most advanced software

GALAXY Nexus is the first smartphone to feature a 4.65’’ display with a market-leading resolution of 720p (1280×720), ensuring you can enjoy GALAXY Nexus’ immersive entertainment capabilities and fast web browsing in superior clarity.

Succeeding the original Contour Display of Nexus S, GALAXY Nexus comes with a rounded shape that fits perfectly within your palm or to your face for phone calling. Hyper-skin backing on the battery cover improves the ergonomic feel of the device and makes the phone slip-resistant. At just 8.94mm thick, with a minimal 4.29mm bezel, GALAXY Nexus provides superb portability alongside an expansive screen.

GALAXY Nexus also features an ultra-fast 1.2GHz dual core processor, providing superior power and speed, ensuring you can take full advantage of GALAXY Nexus’ enhanced multitasking capabilities with ease, or enjoy the large, vivid display to its full capacity with high-definition gaming or video streaming. LTE or HSPA＋ connectivity combined with a dual core processor delivers high-speed web browsing which ensures you always have the web at your fingertips, wherever you are.

GALAXY Nexus will be available in the U.S., Europe, and Asia beginning in November and gradually rolled out to other global markets.

For multimedia content and more detailed information, please visit www.samsungmobilepress.com/
Note to Editors:

GALAXY Nexus Product Specifications

＊ Specifications above may differ on the LTE version.
＊ All functionality, features, specifications and other product information provided in this document including, but not limited to, the benefits, design, pricing, components, performance, availability, and capabilities of the product are subject to change without notice or obligation.
About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company consists of nine independently operated business units: Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, Digital Imaging, Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, semiconductor chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com

Google, Nexus, Android, Android Market, YouTube, Google Talk, Gmail, Google Maps, Google Earth, and Google Calendar are trademarks of Google, Inc.

As most people must know by now Amazon has made eBooks available on their Kindle models for the last several years. There’s a new kid in town: “Kindle Fire” and it’s only $199. How is it different?

Add those ebooks and eMagazines to Amazon’s 18 Million Movies, TV Shows, Songs, Apps, and Games in a one tablet. Bang! Kindle Fire!

Over 100,000 movies and TV shows from Amazon Instant Video, including thousands of new releases and popular TV shows, available to stream or download, purchase or rent – all just one tap away. Amazon Prime Members enjoy instant, unlimited, commercial-free streaming of over 11,000 movies and TV shows at no additional cost. Kindle Fire comes with one free month of Amazon Prime.
Over 17,000,000 songs from Amazon MP3, including new and bestselling albums from just $7.99 and individual songs from $0.69.
Over 1,000,000 Kindle books, including thousands of bestsellers, children’s books, comic books and cookbooks in rich color.
100 exclusive graphic novels, including Watchmen, the bestselling – and considered by many to be the greatest – graphic novel of all time, which has never before been available in digital format, as well as Batman: Arkham City, Superman: Earth OneGreen Lantern: Secret Origin and 96 others from DC Entertainment.
Hundreds of magazines and newspapers – including The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, USA Today, Wired, Elle, The New Yorker, Cosmopolitan and Martha Stewart Living – with full-color layouts, photographs, illustrations, built-in video, audio and other interactive features are available from the new Kindle Fire “Newsstand.” Kindle Fire customers will enjoy an exclusive free three-month trial to 17 Condé Nast magazines, including Vanity Fair, GQ and Glamour.
All the most popular Android apps and games, such as Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, Cut the Rope and more. All apps are Amazon-tested on Kindle Fire to ensure quality and Amazon offers a new free paid app every day.

Cloud-Accelerated Web Browser – “Amazon Silk”

The Kindle Fire web browser Amazon Silk introduces a radical new paradigm – a “split browser” architecture that accelerates the power of the mobile device hardware by using the computing speed and power of the Amazon Web Services Cloud. The Silk browser software resides both on Kindle Fire and on the massive server fleet that comprises the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2). With each page request, Silk dynamically determines a division of labor between the mobile hardware and Amazon EC2 (i.e. which browser sub-components run where) that takes into consideration factors like network conditions, page complexity, and cached content. The result is a faster web browsing experience, and it’s available exclusively on Kindle Fire.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Simple and Easy-To-Use

Amazon designed the Kindle Fire user interface from the ground up to make it easier than ever to purchase, manage, and enjoy your digital content. Just like with Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fire comes automatically pre-registered to your Amazon.com account so you can immediately start enjoying your digital content purchased from Amazon or shop for new content. All of your digital content is instantly available to enjoy and manage with a simple, consistent experience across all content types.

Free Cloud Storage

Just like Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fire offers free storage for all your Amazon digital content in the Amazon Cloud. Amazon digital content is automatically backed up for free in the Amazon Cloud’s Worry-Free Archive where it’s available for re-downloading anytime.

Amazon Whispersync Now for Movies & TV Too

Just like Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fire uses Amazon’s popular Whispersync technology to automatically synchronize your Kindle library, last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across the widest range of devices and platforms. With the introduction of Kindle Fire, Amazon is expanding this technology to include video. Start streaming a movie on your Kindle Fire, and when you get home, you can resume streaming right where you left off on your TV – avoid the frustration of needing to find your spot.

Easy to Hold in One Hand

Just like Kindle e-readers, Kindle Fire was designed to disappear so you can lose yourself in the content. Weighing in at just 14.6 ounces, Kindle Fire is small and light enough to hold in just one hand and carry everywhere you go. The lightweight, compact design makes Kindle Fire perfect for web browsing, playing games, reading and shopping on-the-go.

Brilliant Color Touchscreen

Content comes alive in rich color on a 7-inch full color LCD touchscreen that delivers 16 million colors in high resolution and 169 pixels per inch. Kindle Fire uses IPS (in-plane switching) technology – similar technology as used on the iPad, for an extra-wide viewing angle – perfect for sharing your screen with others. In addition, the Kindle Fire display is chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, which means it is incredibly durable and will stand up to accidental bumps and scrapes.

Fast, Powerful Dual-Core Processor

Kindle Fire features a state-of-the-art dual-core processor for fast, powerful performance. Stream music while browsing the web or read books while downloading videos.

Free Month of Amazon Prime

Right out of the box, Kindle Fire users will experience the benefits that millions of Amazon Prime members already enjoy – unlimited, commercial-free, instant streaming of over 11,000 movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Video and the convenience of Free Two-Day Shipping on millions of items from Amazon.com.

Only $199

The all-new Kindle Fire – with all the content, Amazon’s revolutionary cloud-accelerated browser, free storage in the Amazon Cloud, Whispersync, 14.6 ounce design that’s easy to hold with one hand, brilliant color touchscreen, and a fast and powerful dual core processor – is only $199. Customers in the U.S. can pre-order Kindle Fire starting today at www.amazon.com/kindlefire and it ships November 15.

The tablet is running a modified Gingerbread with a Honeycomb-like menu bar across the top of the home screen. It comes with a full copy of Quick Office and the Amazon Appstore.

The tablet has has the bezel surrounding the screen reduced to under 1/2 an inch except on the bottom edge which is about the one inch standard. In practical purposes this means the overall size seems far far smaller than other 10 in tablets. When held in the hand it’s quite comfortable and easy to hold for longer periods of time.

The rear of the tablet is rubberized and easy to hold. There are little modest angles that add a nice style to the design without over-doing it.

The tablet has a MiniUSB connector, we would have preferred a MicroUSB connection, on/off and volume buttons, and a MicroSD card slot so you can expand from the included, internal, 4gb of memory.

Here’s our video!

The GALAXY Note is a new category of product, developed through Samsung’s deep consumer understanding and insight. It combines core on-the-go benefits of various mobile devices while maintaining smartphone portability, to create a whole new user experience.

The GALAXY Note has a 5.3” display which is the largest screen size with smartphone portability. It features the world’s first and the largest 5.3” HD Super AMOLED display, an expansive high-resolution screen that provides an immersive viewing experience. Taking full advantage of the large display, users will be able to do more tasks to create and consume more, with minimum scrolling and screen transitions, while on the go. An advanced pen-input technology, called the S Pen, is combined with the GALAXY Note’s full touch screen to introduce a new type of user-experience. Through this, consumers are able to freely capture and create ideas while on the go.

“The GALAXY Note is a device borne of our insight and innovation. We examined the fundamental elements of mobile culture, entertainment and communication in order to bring together the best experiences in a single, elegant device,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business. “The huge, 5.3” HD Super AMOLED screen is the largest, highest quality display available in any phone; the touch screen and S Pen combine to produce a uniquely accurate level of control and finesse, along with rich expressions across the GALAXY Note experience, enabling the introduction of new smartphone experiences.”

“The artistic freedom of a paper notebook is coupled with the benefits of Samsung’s smartphone technology and services, allowing users to create, edit and share with more style than ever before,” Shin added.

State-of-the-art Display

The GALAXY Note features Samsung’s own 5.3” HD Super AMOLED display providing vivid clarity that is superior to conventional HD displays. This ensures the best viewing experience for video, photo, document and web on the go with deep blacks and bright colors. The superior screen also offers a 180 degree viewing angle, allowing contents to be shared comfortably.

At 5.3” the best-in-class display is the largest ever included in a primary mobile device; measuring just 9.65mm thick, the GALAXY Note fits comfortably in a pocket to offer true portability.

Full Screen Utilization

The high resolution display ensures that PowerPoint presentations, web-pages, news apps and e-books can be viewed comfortably with minimal scrolling or zooming. Minimizing the need to switch between applications, the GALAXY Note’s HD super AMOLED screen is large enough to allow meaningful split-screen operation in the most frequently used native apps.

Samsung has also included S Planner, a smart professional planning tool that makes full use of the device’s large screen. The management planner integrates the phone’s To-Do list and schedule; control and navigation is intuitive, helping users to comprehensively organize their lives.

Free Capture & Creation 

The GALAXY Note’s advanced pen input functionality is combined with the full touch screen to create a new input experience. The incorporated digital S Pen can be used for accurate sketching and artwork, and instantly capturing ideas freely before they float away.

The GALAXY Note features S Memo, a multimedia application designed to record all forms of user-created content. Pictures, voice recordings, typed text, handwritten notes or drawings can all be captured via a single application and converted to a ‘memo’, to be edited, annotated and shared as desired.

A one-step screen-capture function also allows users to instantly capture any screen; captured images can also be freely and accurately annotated using the S Pen before being filed or shared.

The S Pen functionality has been deeply integrated into the GALAXY Note’s native applications to provide a richer interactive experience. Users will benefit from increased accuracy and control when editing or personalizing captured videos or photographs; and users will be able to draw and send handwritten images and notes via text message, email, and Samsung’s ChatON communication service.

Broadening the opportunity to create new user experiences, Samsung plans to release the S Pen SDK allowing app developers to create fundamentally new applications and services incorporating the pen functionality.

Superior Usability, Powerful Performance

The 1.4GHz dual-core processor ensures the device is incredibly fast and a smooth user interface ensures seamless usability. Lightning fast network speeds are enabled through the HSPA+ and LTE-enabled device’s super-fast connection, ensuring a quick and seamless browsing experience. This means that users can stream videos in real-time or engage with their friends through online gaming platforms.

Samsung is enhancing enterprise capabilities of the GALAXY Note through its partnership with Juniper Networks. Juniper’s Junos Pulse SSL VPN provides secure remote access to corporate network resources. The SSL VPN enables large enterprise and service providers to meet high-volume secure access and authorization requirements, protecting corporate data with centralizes control and supporting employees’ personal device efficiently.

Samsung GALAXY Note Product Specifications

• Network
  HSPA+ 21Mbps 850/900/1900/2100
  EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• Processor
  1.4GHz Dual Core Processor
• Display
  5.3” WXGA(1280×800, 285ppi) HD Super AMOLED
• OS
  Android 2.3(Gingerbread)
• Camera
  Main(Rear) : 8 MP with LED Flash
  Front : 2 MP
  Action Shot, Beauty, Panorama Shot, Smile Shot, Share Shot
• Video
  Video : MPEG4, H.264, H.263, WMV, DivX, Xvid, VC-1
  Recording 1080p@24~30fps, Playing 1080p@30fps
• Audio
  Codec : MP3, AAC, AMR, WMA, WAV, FLAC, OGG
  Music Player with SoundAlive
  3.5mm Ear Jack, Stereo FM Radio with RDS
• Value-added Features
  Samsung AppsSamsung Kies 2.0/ Samsung Kies airSamsung ChatON mobile messenger service
  (Downloadable via Samsung Apps)

  Samsung TouchWiz/ Samsung L!ve Panel UX

  Smart Note Apps

  S Pen / Pen UX

  Social Hub
  - Integrated Messaging(Email, SNS), Contacts/ Calendar Sync
  - Basic: POP3/IMAP Email

  Social Hub, Readers Hub , Music Hub

  GoogleTM Mobile Services
  - GmailTM, Google TalkTM, Google SearchTM, YouTubeTM, Android Market TM,
  - Google MapsTM with Google Places and Google Latitude

  A-GPS

  Enterprise Solutions
  - ODE, EAS, CCX, MDM, VPN, WebEx

  NFC (optional)

• Connectivity
  Bluetooth® technology v 3.0 + HS
  USB 2.0 HOST
  Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct
• Sensor
  Accelerometer, Light, Digital compass, Proximity, Barometer
• Memory
  16/32GB Internal Memory + microSD (up to 32GB)
• Size
  146.85 x 82.95 x 9.65 mm
• Battery
  Standard battery, Li-on 2,500 mAh

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a leading provider and innovator of award-winning consumer electronics, today announced the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7, the world’s first tablet to feature the brilliant Super AMOLED Plus display. The powerful Galaxy Tab 7.7 with a 1.4GHz dual core processor measures just 7.89 millimeters thin and weighs only 335 grams (12 ounces), making this tablet one of the most portable devices in the market.

“The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 demonstrates Samsung’s commitment to offering consumers the most choice in the mobile tablet market,” said JK Shin, President and Head of Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business. “The Galaxy Tab 7.7’s ultra-thin design and WXGA Super AMOLED Plus display are impressive differentiators in the tablet marketplace and pillars of our ultimate goal of meeting a wide variety of consumer needs.”

 

Brilliant Super AMOLED Plus display
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the first tablet that incorporates Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display technology, delivering brilliant, high-contrast colors and a beautiful, crisp viewing experience. The Super AMOLED Plus display allows for a wider range of colors with greater separation between lights and darks, making images incredibly vivid.

Sleek Design with Ultimate Portability
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 provides ultimate portability and viewing quality within the Galaxy Tab portfolio, featuring a brighter display combined with a thinner and lighter design that easily fits in your jacket pocket or purse. The elegant, linear design features a stylish metal casing and rounded edges for a sleek look that’s comfortable to hold while you’re sitting or walking.

Impressive Speed, Power & Battery Life
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 features HSPA+ 21 Mbps network for faster uploads and downloads. It also supports Wi-Fi Channel Bonding, bonding two channels into one for improved network connection and data transfer at up to twice the speed. The device is powered by a 1.4 GHz dual core application processor for fast web-loading, seamless multitasking and superior multimedia performance. Thanks to a 5,100 mAh battery providing up to 10 hours of video playback time[1], the Galaxy Tab 7.7 does not sacrifice battery life for its ultra-thin design.

Latest 3.2 Honeycomb OS with “Samsung TouchWiz UX”
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is powered by Android™ 3.2 Honeycomb, Android 3.2 has been optimized for a 7-inch tablet with a new compatibility zoom mode. This optimizes applications that are not designed to run on larger screen sizes, so they fit on the entire screen without distortion. In addition, the tablet supports MicroSD cards of up to 32 GB for direct media files transfer.

Samsung’s TouchWiz user experience is designed with a Live Panel menu for customizing the home screen of the Galaxy Tab 7.7 with digital pictures, favorite Web sites and social network feeds.
In addition, the TouchWiz UX includes a “Mini Apps” tray of commonly used features such as task manager, calendar and music player which can be launched while other major applications are already in use. The clipboard feature allows users to copy and paste texts and images.

Powerful Multimedia
Galaxy Tab 7.7 lets you enjoy video clips without limitation, featuring 1080p full HD playback, DivX included multi codec and Micro SD. The device also includes Universal Remote Control functionality, allowing control of the entire home entertainment system – TV, Set top box, DVD, Blu-ray player, AV audio system – from one device.

Samsung Hub Services [AVAILABILITY DEPENDS ON MARKET]
Samsung’s Hub Services offers easy access to content including games, eBooks, music and more. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is the first mobile tablet to include a pre-loaded Game Hub, complete with easy social games, all delivered with lightning fast graphics. The Galaxy Tab 7.7 also features access to Samsung’s Music Hub service, which offers 15 million songs for preview, download and play. The Readers Hub service features a robust library filled with more than 2.3 million books, 2,000 newspapers and 3,000 magazines in up to 49 languages, and Samsung’s Social Hub service aggregates email, contacts, calendar and social network connections into a single interface.

Voice and Video Support for Better Communication
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 offers both voice and video calls for better communication. There is no need to bring a headset and BT for voice calls. In addition, it is possible to call privately in public places with Receiver Mode.

Google™ Mobile Services
The Galaxy Tab 7.7 is preloaded with the full suite of Google Mobile Services including access to more than 250,000 applications on Android Market™, Gmail™, Google Search™, Google Maps™ 5.7 with 3D maps, and Google Talk™ with video and voice chat.

Specifications

• Display
  7.7” [2] 1280×800 (WXGA) Super AMOLED Plus
• Processor
  1.4GHz Dual Core application processor
• Network
  HSPA+ 21Mbps 850/900/1900/2100
  EDGE/GPRS 850/900/1800/1900
• Memory
  8Gb LPDDR2 (RAM),
  16/32/64GB movi NAND + microSD (up to 32GB)
• Camera / Flash
  3MP AF LED (Main) + 2MP FF (Front)
• Wireless Connectivity
  WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz & 5GHz), 802.11n WiFi Ch. Bonding, WiFi Direct,
  BT v3.0, USB 2.0 Host
• Audio
  MP3, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, WMA
• Video
  MPEG4, H.263, H.264, WMV, DivX, Xvid (1080p FullHD video @ 30fps)
• GPS
  A-GPS
• Dimension, Weight
  196.7x 133 x 7.89mm, 335g
• Battery capacity
  5,100 mAh
• OS
  Android Honeycomb 3.2v
• Messaging & SNS
  Social Hub (Integrated phonebook with SNS, IM, E-mail)
• LBS
  Google Maps (Turn-by-turn Navi.)
• Enterprise Solutions
  EAS IT Policy, MDM (Sybase Afaria), VPN (Cisco/F5), ODE (On device encryption), Cisco WebEx
• Other Services & Applications
  Android Market/ Samsung Apps
  Readers/Music/Game/Social Hub (Availability differs by region)
  Universal Remote Control
• PC Applications
  Samsung Kies, Kies Air

The last time I attended an Event at Samsung at Columbus Circle there was a tornado in NY. This Event (August 30) had been postponed one day because of Hurricane Irene. Are they trying to say their phones Blow the Competition Away? I don’t know, but I’m afraid I may end up having to wear a Hazmat suit at the next Event. Fortunately, yesterday was perfectly beautiful out. The walk from the subway to Columbus Circle passing the southern end of Central Park was refreshing.
Once inside the building one of the floors had larger than life size pictures of people who were part of September 11, including firefighters, the chef from Windows on the World, the mayor…..”Faces of Ground Zero: 10 Years Later”

Once inside the Samsung store we waited for the introduction of the Galaxy S™ II. The dance music was filling all the corners of the rooms while the digital reporters sat quietly attending their own devices. Still, the anticipation was palpable. Several Samsung executives, including Todd Penleton (Chief of Marketing) came out to lay out the details. Samsung wants you to know that they are incredibly proud of their Galaxy S™ II. They call it the Smartest Smart phone. Especially as it’s Samsung’s fastest selling smartphone with 5 million consumers in 85 days in Europe and Korea.

“The unveiling of the Galaxy S II is a landmark achievement for Samsung, our carrier customers and consumers,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile. “Five million Galaxy S II smartphones have been sold around the world and that number increases every day. We believe the cutting-edge design, features and user experience of this innovative device will share the same level of success in the U.S.”

 

 

The Galaxy S™ II will be available from AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile starting this fall. This device is an ultra-thin form factor and brilliant Super AMOLED Plus touch screen display. Recent independent studies showed that Samsung’s Super AMOLED Plus display technology was preferred two to one over any competing display technology in the market today, thanks to touchscreen’s ability to deliver brilliant colors with the most contrast, providing a vivid and crisp viewing experience.

We are promised Dual Core Processors and 4G service, so I am anticipating a VERY fast phone. Samsung just love their Media Hub movie and TV content service. What is interesting to me is playing Media Hub content on a TV through an HDMI cable connected to a Galaxy S II dock or HDTV Smart adapter accessory. Users can share their purchased film or TV content across up to five devices enabled with Media Hub at no additional cost. Buy once, see media in any way you wish. Alternate premium video options include Android Movies, Netflix, and others available to download from Android Market™.

Optimal Enterprise Solutions
Are you using your phone for business? There’s on-device encryption of user data. What is new is the hardware based encryption rather than just software handling the security. There’s also full support for Exchange ActiveSync® version 14, Cisco VPN (Virtual Private Network), Sybase MDM (Mobile Device Management), and Cisco WebEx mobile conference solution.

Samsung TouchWiz user interface
When the discussion turned to how they have designed their interface my ears perked up. I knew this was something I had to try out when we were let loose on the devices. On this Android Gingerbread platform they have made the widgets easier to access. The many screens can be scrolled through with one finger touch. They ended the talking part of the event so the crowd could roam around the rest of the room playing with the phones and noshing on interesting foods.

Click here to view the embedded video.

As soon as I could grab the phone I tried out the promised TouchWiz feature. Here is my finger easily finding the ‘sweet spot’ on the UI so I can move from screen one to screen seven instead of just tapping on the ‘circle’ for each screen. It didn’t take me very long to figure it out. I could easily control the speed and stop at the screen I needed. The interface really is quite responsive.
The speed of the Galaxy S II was instantaneous looking around on Google Maps.

Each of the Galaxy S II devices feature six-axis motion sensing using an accelerometer and gyroscope that support advanced touch screen gestures, including motion to zoom in on images, silence a ringing phone, and even move widgets on the menu screens.

Additional features of the Galaxy S portfolio include:

• 8-megapixel Rear-Facing Camera with Autofocus & Flash & 1080p HD Video Recording/2-megapixel Front-Facing Camera: The Galaxy S II portfolio features an 8 megapixel camera with flash and can record video in 1080p HD high profile offering the richest video content on a smartphone. Plus, the front-facing 2 megapixel camera provides video chat capabilities for personal and business communication on-the-go. Galaxy S II supports popular video conferencing services like Skype, Fring, Qik and Tango.
• Voice Talk: The Galaxy S II Voice Talk feature allows users to give their Galaxy S II device voice commands, including voice dial, text message, navigation, music, Web browsing and search. When docked into the car dock, the Galaxy S II automatically defaults into Voice Talk mode. Users can instantly activate the Voice Talk application by a long press on the search key.
• Task Manager: View and close the applications users have active, what items have been downloaded and check on memory usage via the Task Manager widget.
• Screen Capture Feature: Users can easily take a screen grab of the phone screen by pressing the power button and the home key simultaneously.
• Memory: All three Galaxy S II devices offer 16GB of on-board memory, as well as a microSD card slot that supports up to a 32GB memory card.

Finally! A built-in screen grabber! And it’s about time! I was playing around with the camera and it looks darn good. How can you go wrong with 8 megapixels? Orson Wells predicted that someday cameras would basically be a lens that you held up to your eye. As usual, he was right and that time in now.

I love the Task Manager. No matter how much memory an Android device may be packed with, if you run every App you have and don’t shut off the ones you are no longer using, eventually you will run out of memory and run down your battery. Plus, it’s very untidy not knowing what is running and not easily being able to shut off programs. At least it’s one of the things that annoy me. With many Android devices I have tested it’s something I have to go In Search of. With the Galaxy S™ II the Task Manager was just Right There.

All running tasks are listed and you can “Exit” out of any or all.

Check out your memory and storage. I love it when my device is nice and tidy.

Premium Accessories Portfolio
A host of premium Galaxy S II accessories, including convenient solutions for docking, convergence, and backup battery charging will be available for each smartphone, providing users with an enhanced mobile experience.  A multimedia dock is the perfect smart accessory, allowing users to transform their Galaxy S II into a home stereo by connecting speakers or plugging it into a home entertainment system via the 3.5mm stereo connector. Its ability to orient with the phone while docked makes it easy to view content in portrait and landscape mode, while the auto-launch of its Desk Dock UI makes for easy access to music, video and other applications.

Additional accessory solutions include:

• Vehicle dock: The dock charges the phone while docked to ensure uninterrupted GPS usage on long car rides. The dock is windshield or dashboard mountable and includes the sophisticated Vlingo Voice Talk, allowing users to enjoy hands-free control of their Galaxy S II.
• Battery charging stand with spare battery: This charging solution ensures a backup battery is always on hand, while providing a convenient kick stand for the Galaxy S II.
• HDTV Adapter: The HDMI adapter supports HD video up to 1080p from the phone to an HDTV, projector, or monitor. Use on the go to connect the Galaxy S II to a TV, monitor, or projector to view purchased Media Hub content, videos, presentations, games, or internet on a big HD screen, or listen to downloaded music from the phone on a home entertainment system.

The weather may have threatened to make this Event a washout, but I was happy to have attended. This looks to be a really nice device. They even made a drink and named it after the phone. It was vodka with Triple Sec, cranberry juice, orange juice and maybe something else…..magic. It was refreshing.

What makes this special is that you go on their website and decide what your case will look like. Is your Laptop in need of a neoprene Case? Is your Kindle desperately needing a COOL cover? Fear not!

Once you choose your device, you are on the road to deciding the cover colors and images. You can upload your own image, in fact. Or choose from several available on line. Add some text in any color, and a variety of font faces. For the laptop case you can add a strap and / or a handle.
How snazzy is that snakeskin design? Imagine walking around with your laptop or iPad in that?
iPad-case.png

The possibilities are endless. If you happen to be a business owner a large number of cases can be customized for employees or clients by ordering in bulk

Technology sometimes makes people feel as if the world has become rather “cookie-cutter”, but Caseable, LLC has brought back the personal element. And we all need to feel Special. Because we all are. Flaunt it!

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Barnes & Noble Invites Customers to See for Themselves Why Critics Call NOOK™ Devices the Best Reading Devices on the Market

Barnes & Noble, Inc., the world’s largest bookseller, is inviting customers to experience what the critics and millions of customers are raving about: the company’s award-winning, bestselling line of NOOK reading devices. Beginning July 1, bring any eReader into a Barnes & Noble bookstore to compare and upgrade to a NOOK device and receive an instant NOOK Book collection – 30 free digital titles valued at $315. The limited-time NOOK upgrade program is offered with purchase of any popular NOOK device including The All-New NOOK and NOOK Color Reader’s Tablet™.

Beginning Friday, while supplies last, customers will receive a free, 2GB microSD card loaded with 30 NOOK Books – from cooking and lifestyle to classics and reference – when they show a bookseller their old device and purchase the NOOK reader that best suits them. Book lovers of all ages will love The All-New NOOK, The Simple Touch Reader™, which dozens of leading reviewers have praised as the best dedicated reading device on the market. The easy-to-use, ultra-light, portable 6-inch eReader features a simple, immersive experience with a full-touchscreen and the most-advanced E Ink® Pearl display, the longest battery life in the industry with an incredible two months on a single charge and the most social reading experience ever with NOOK Friends™ – all for just $139.

For customers who love to read everything in color with the added convenience of key tablet features, NOOK Color Reader’s Tablet offers what critics have proclaimed the best value on the tablet market at just $249. The award-winning device is sleek and portable, and features a stunning 7-inch color touchscreen ideal for reading a wide variety of content including books (some enhanced with in-page video), immersive children’s picture books with the exclusive AliveTouch™ technology, an expansive collection of full-color, interactive magazines plus newspapers, and more. NOOK Color now delivers customers’ most-requested tablet features with a wide selection of high-quality NOOK Apps™ to play, learn, organize and explore, built-in e-mail to stay connected, and an enhanced Web experience. Both NOOK devices connect via Wi-Fi® to Barnes & Noble’s expansive collection of more than two million digital books, periodicals and more, and offer customers access to even more free and exclusive content while visiting any of Barnes & Noble’s more than 700 bookstores.

“Both the All-New NOOK and NOOK Color Reader’s Tablet are best-in-class according to the industry’s leading reviewers and millions of devoted NOOK customers. We are confident that side-by-side comparisons with other eReaders will show NOOK products to be the superior choice,” said Jamie Iannone, President of Digital Products, Barnes & Noble. “We invite reading lovers to visit their neighborhood Barnes & Noble bookstore to see, hold and touch our innovative NOOK products and encourage them to upgrade their reading experience while kicking off their collection with a limited-time bonus of 30 free NOOK Books.”

 

The 30 digital books represent a variety of genres including Cooking, Kids, Classics, Humor, Lifestyle, Fiction, Sports, History, True Crime and Reference. Some of the free titles include: The Good Housekeeping Cookbook, Cristina Ferrare’s Big Bowl of Love, Creating Your Best Life, Glory in the Fall: The Greatest Moments in World Series History, 21st Century Crossword Puzzle Dictionary, My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me and timeless favorites including Secret Garden and Robinson Crusoe. Learn more about this program at nook.com/thebest.

About NOOK™ from Barnes & Noble
Barnes & Noble’s NOOK brand of eReading products makes it easy to read what you love, anywhere you like™ with a fun, easy-to-use and immersive digital reading experience. With NOOK, customers gain access to Barnes & Noble’s expansive NOOK Bookstore™ of more than two million digital titles, and the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices. The award-winning NOOK Color™ Reader’s Tablet™, the best-value on the tablet market ($249), features a stunning 7-inch VividView™ Color Touchscreen to read all of the content you love, shop popular apps, connect via e-mail, browse the Web and more. The All-New NOOK ($139), the Simple Touch Reader™, is the easiest-to-use 6-inch touch reader, with the longest battery life of any eReader. In Barnes & Noble stores, NOOK owners can access free Wi-Fi connectivity, enjoy the Read In Store™ feature to read NOOK Books™ for free, and the More In Store™ program, which offers free, exclusive content and special promotions. Barnes & Noble was the first company to offer digital lending for a wide selection of books through its LendMe® technology, available through NOOK eReading products. Find NOOK devices in Barnes & Noble stores and online at BN.com, as well as at Best Buy, Walmart, Staples and Books-A-Million.

In addition to NOOK devices, Barnes & Noble makes it easy for customers to enjoy any book, anytime, anywhere with its free line of NOOK software, available at bn.com/freenookapps. Customers can use Barnes & Noble’s free eReading software to access and read books from their personal Barnes & Noble digital library on devices including iPad™, iPhone®, iPod touch®, Android™ smartphones and tablets BlackBerry®, PC and Mac®. Lifetime Library™ helps ensure that Barnes & Noble customers will always be able to access their digital libraries on NOOK products and software-enabled devices and BN.com. Barnes & Noble also offers NOOK Study™ (nookstudy.com), an innovative study platform and software solution for higher education, NOOK Kids™ (nookkids.com), a collection of digital picture and chapter books for children, and NOOK Books en español™ (barnesandnoble.com/ebooksenespanol), the first-ever Spanish language digital bookstore in the United States.

For more information on NOOK devices and eReading software, updates, new NOOK Book releases, Free Friday™ NOOK Books and more, follow us on twitter.com/ebooksbn and facebook.com/nookbn.

Nintendo introduced a new paradigm for video games and home entertainment: Wii U^™, a new console that includes a controller with a 6.2-inch screen. Adding a second screen to the living room creates a multitude of new video game experiences while offering families a variety of options to customize their entertainment.

Previously, video games played on a home console have been confined to the TV and offered identical viewpoints to each player in a multiplayer environment. Furthermore, watching TV and playing console games have been completely separate experiences. The new controller removes these boundaries, creating a more dynamic and fluid gaming and entertainment experience. Visitors to the E³ Expo will see firsthand the type of gaming experiences made possible by Wii U and the new controller such as:

• In single-player games:
  • The new controller can display information on its screen that does not appear on the TV.
  • The information and viewpoint can also change in the new controller based on the orientation of its gyroscope.
• In multiplayer games:
  • The player using the new controller can have a different experience than those looking at the TV. This will offer a wide variety of competitive and cooperative opportunities.

In addition to the 6.2-inch screen, the new controller also features an accelerometer and a gyroscope, a rumble feature, an inward-facing camera, a microphone and speakers. Adding these features to the Classic Controller^™ button scheme – two analog Circle Pads, +Control Pad, A/B/X/Y buttons, L/R buttons and ZL/ZR buttons – will enable a breadth of game-play experiences while appealing to both casual and dedicated video game players.

Wii U combines motion-sensing game play with the ability to support full HD graphics. Each Wii U console will be partnered with a new controller and can also use up to four additional Wii Remote^™ or Wii Remote Plus controllers. The system is also backward compatible and can play all Wii games and use all Wii accessories. The Wii console has sold more than 86 million units globally and greatly expanded the overall audience for video games. Wii U aims to expand that audience even further. Developers worldwide are already working on new games and experiences for the console.

“Wii U redefines the structure of home entertainment by fundamentally changing how the TV, the game console and the Internet function and interact together,” said Nintendo President Satoru Iwata. “The experience enabled by Wii U and the new controller takes players deeper into their games, while reaching out wider than ever before to be inviting to all kinds of gamers.”

I’ve introduced the gadget geeks to The Aphrodite Project a long time ago. They have continued and flourished. And here’s the latest news! Re/working the Map is about to launch!

Combining science (data mining) and art, these projects try to show how sex workers live in the Bronx and how they integrate into the economy of their neighborhood. And all the information is used to help these people live better, safer lives.

Born Again: A Lebanese-Dominican Dominican York is born again as a Bronxite and Eight Artists Respond to Born Again

Curated by Nicolas Dumit Estevez

June 1 – August 3, 2011
Longwood Art Gallery
450 Grand Concourse (at 149th Street)
Opening Reception and Bronx Culture Trolley, Wednesday, June 1, 2011, 5-9 pm
Closing Reception and Bronx Culture Trolley, Wednesday, August 3, 2011, 5-9 pm
bronxarts.org
718-518-6728

Following Estevez’ baptism as a Bronxite in the Bronx River, he invites eight artists to engage Bronx residents, by way of visits, discussions, hands-on workshops and artistic experiences, in a reflection of what it might mean to them to be a Bronxite. The exchanges are preserved in an exhibition comprised of videos, photographs, digital arts, logos, props and documents highlighting the day-to-day of the borough of New York City with, perhaps, the most defined persona.

Artists and projects:

Michael Paul Britto
Kathleena Howie-García (Lady K-Fever)
Nancy Hwang and wowe
Norene Leddy and Melissa Gira Grant
Ivan Monforte
Linda Mary Montano and Nicolas Dumit Estevez

As I reported a few days ago “iSnooze” is a new feature of the aXbo clock which gives you a window of snooze-sleep around 30 minutes of your normal wakeup time.

In order to enjoy the features of “iSnooze” you need to upgrade the firmware of your aXbo clock.

This can be a bit complicated so I’ll list the steps.
Go to www.axbo.com to login and download all the files you need. I’ll go over the Windows install because that is what I have. I’m going to guess that MAC is not too different and probably easier because it’s one file. Please let me know if that is not the case.

If you have an early version of the aXbo software installed on your Windows computer, UN-installed it.

download “aXbo_windows_2_0_18.exe”
Install it.
download “aXbo_up2date_V121_Win.zip”
extract and install

Once the installation is completed it told me I needed to restart my computer and as windows tends to misbehave when it doesn’t get it’s way it’s best to let it restart

Once your computer has booted up, go to your Start Menu/programs/aXbo/aXbo up2date and start that program

You should see this window come up

Plug in your clock with the USB cable and the window will look like this:

Click UPDATE and don’t touch anything while it does it’s magic. When it’s done, click OK:

I looked at my clock and it showed the new firmware right on the face

Start up the aXbo research program and now when I check my Firmware Version

as compared to what it WAS I see it all new and ready to go.

Now your clock is ready for the iSnooze feature. Set up your wake up time and when you next wake up and don’t QUITE like getting out of bed just push the button on your wrist sensor. The clock will know when to nudge you within the next half hour.

This new Firmware replaces the function “PowerNap”. Once the the new Firmware has been installed it can not be reversed. On the aXbo site there are various PDF’s with explanations of what to do to install and use iSnooze.

For more information, read Verizon’s press release below:

BASKING RIDGE, NJ — Verizon Wireless, the company with the largest and most reliable wireless voice and 3G data network, announced today that the Pre 2 smartphone by HP will be available in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores and online at www.verizonwireless.com on Feb. 17. Pre 2 is the first device to run on HP webOS 2.0, allowing quick and easy multitasking of e-mail, games, music and more.

HP's Pre 2 smartphone debuts on Verizon's 4G network

Key features:

* 3.1-inch glass multi-touch screen with a vibrant 24-bit color, 320 x 480 resolution HVGA display
* Slide-out physical QWERTY keyboard
* Support for Microsoft® Exchange e-mail, as well as personal e-mail support (Google Gmail™ push, Yahoo!®, POP3, IMAP)
* Integrated IM, SMS and MMS
* VZ Navigator® capable – Receive audible turn-by-turn directions to millions of points of interest and share the directions with others
* TI OMAP 1GHz processor with 512 RAM
* 5-megapixel camera with LED flash, extended depth of field, geo-tagging and video capture
* Wi-Fi connectivity (802.11 b/g/)
* Bluetooth® wireless technology 2.1+ EDR with A2DP stereo Bluetooth support
* 3G Mobile Hotspot capability
* Dimensions: 2.34 inches (w) x 0.66 inches (d) x 3.96 inches (h)
* Weight: 5.1 ounces

Lifestyle features:

* Contact Integration via HP Synergy – Customers can keep contacts and calendars up to date automatically with built-in integration for Facebook®, Google, LinkedIn®, Yahoo! and Microsoft Exchange.
* Customized Inbox – Customers can view all of their accounts together or separately to access work e-mail alone or combined in a favorites folder with personal e-mail from places like Gmail or Yahoo! Mail.
* Full HTML Browsing – Customers have access to full websites just like on their Macs or PCs. They can play video, upload photos, access online banking and much more. webOS also now integrates a beta of Adobe Flash Player 10.1 in the browser, which provides access to rich, Flash-based Web content.
* With Just Type in webOS, customers can start an e-mail, create a message, update their status and search their favorite websites – all before they even open an app.
* Mobile Music Store – Customers can buy and download music right from their webOS smartphones using the Amazon MP3 app when on a Wi-Fi hotspot.
* Skype mobile™ – webOS 2.0 supports Skype-to-Skype calls and messaging while in the United States to anywhere in the world, and low-rate calls to international landlines and cell phones.

Pricing and availability:

* Pre 2 will be available from Verizon Wireless for $149.99 after a $50 mail-in Verizon Wireless rebate with a new two-year customer agreement. Pre 2 customers will need to subscribe to a data plan. Unlimited data plans are available to customers starting at $29.99 monthly access. Customers will receive the rebate in the form of a debit card; upon receipt, customers may use the card as cash anywhere debit cards are accepted.
* For additional information on Verizon Wireless products and services, visit a Verizon Wireless Communications Store, call 1-800-2 JOIN IN or go to www.verizonwireless.com.