Samsung’s Galaxy S4 is a nice phone hindered by one glaring fault: Samsung’s TouchWiz interface. Where stock Android is refined and sensible, TouchWiz is tasteless and glaring. It’s not a great experience.

Google, however, is offering a fix. During its keynote at Google I/O today, Google announced a version of the Galaxy S4 that’s stripped of Samsung’s often-intrusive software skin. It’s a Samsung phone with all the best features of Google’s Nexus devices.

“What you’re seeing here is real: this is a Samsung Galaxy S4 with the same software experience we ship on our Nexus devices. It’s Google’s take on Android and it feels awesome on the S4,” Android VP Hugo Barra said today.

The unlocked 16GB LTE version, which works on T-Mobile and AT&T, will sell for $649 via Google Play next month. Best of all, the device will receive prompts to update with each new version of Android, which is one of the best things about owning a device with stock Android.

Google’s Nexus-ified Galaxy S4 may just be the best Android phone yet.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

South Korean electronics titan Samsung expects to take in an enormous $7.7 billion (8.7 trillion won) operating profit for the first quarter of 2013, the company said in its latest earnings guidance.

Samsung is one of the most formidable and popular electronics companies on the planet, and we’ve seen it post stunning quarterly earnings before. Just last quarter, the company posted a net profit of $6.6 billion. The company has a tremendous hold in the mobile market and also sells popular TVs, laptops, and appliances.

Not surprisingly, Samsung’s mobile unit is the biggest driver of its revenue. More than 60 percent of its revenue last quarter was generated from sales of smartphones including the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II. This next quarter will likely be no different.

The company has another huge release on its plate for this quarter as well — the Galaxy S IV, which should hit stores at the very end of the earnings period. That phone is sure to be a massive seller, just like the Galaxy S III has been.

Samsung will post its full quarterly results on April 26. We’ll be sure to let you know if the company was able to meet — or maybe even beat — its guidance.

Photo via Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

Apple’s iPhone 3G was released on July 11, 2008, and followed a little more than a year later by the faster 3GS on June 19, 2009. The iPhone 4 was released on June 24, 2010, and followed by the 4S sixteen months later on October 14, 2011. The iPhone 5 was launched on September 21, 2012, and if a rumor from Japan is correct, it will also be followed by a 5S model, to be released on June 20.

That is just an eight-month gap.

According to MacFan, a Japanese Apple fanzine that is celebrating its 20th anniversary, June 20 is the announce date of the newest iPhone, which will then ship in volume in July. How exactly a Japanese fanzine would be in possession of that privileged information is difficult to determine, but the timetable does square with analyst expectations. As CNet notes, Gene Munster and other Apple followers have identified June as the most likely launch window for the 5S.

If accurate, that’s a lot quicker than Apple has brought out upgrades in the past. But the pace of innovation has quickened, and the competition is getting hotter.

Samsung just recently unveiled its Galaxy S IV, the successor to its best-selling Galaxy S III, and the Korean manufacturer’s flagship phone against which Apple’s current iPhone 5 and next models will be compared. Samsung had released the S III in May of 2012, so the IV came out just ten months after — a much quicker model succession than Apple has traditionally managed. In addition, Galaxy IV pre-orders were 446 percent higher than III, at least for some carriers, and iPhone trade-ins doubled in the month leading up to the IV’s launch.

In other words, the Galaxy S IV is a major competitive threat, and Apple needs to address it. Which makes the June-July timeframe credible, even if the actual launch date is not June 20.

The only question, really, is whether Apple is prepared to run a quarterback sneak and maybe, just maybe, release multiple iPhone models simultaneously for the first time. With one that is just a bit cheaper for emerging markets – the cheaper iPhone that is supposed to come out in the latter half of 2013.

Now that would be interesting.

photo credit: Mez Love via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It looks like Samsung’s Galaxy S4 roll-out will start with AT&T in the U.S.

The carrier announced this morning that it will offer the Galaxy S IV for $250 with a two-year contract. Pre-orders begin on April 16 — unfortunately there’s no further information when you’ll actually get your hands on it.

Given that T-Mobile plans to offer the Galaxy S IV on May 1, I expect AT&T will make its version available on or before then.

The Galaxy S IV packs in the usual upgrades — a faster processor, more RAM, better camera — while sharing much of the Galaxy S III’s design. I found it incredibly comfortable for a 5-inch phone during my hands-on, though it’s a shame that Samsung just can’t get away from cheap plastic cases.

SellCell.com reports that iPhone trade-ins were up 194 percent in the month preceding last week’s Samsung Galaxy S IV launch, compared to the month before its predecessor, the Samsung Galaxy S III, was launched in 2012.

This is bad news for Apple, and it’s not just due to increased volume in the market either. Galaxy S III trade-ins actually declined in the same period, sagging 4.8 percent. And in the day following the S IV launch, iPhone trade-ins were up 42.2 precent compared to the already relatively high preceding two Fridays.

“Based on feedback from our partners and the news of several big product launches from HTC, BlackBerry and now Samsung, we get the feeling that the luster of the iPhone line for Apple fans may be waning a bit,” SellCell’s managing director Colin White said in a statement. “Our data bears this out as more people trade-in and search for iPhone quotes on the site than other product lines, an effect that we believe is from the introduction of new smartphones and features that iPhones don’t have.”

Apple occupies the entire top five spots in SellCell’s trade-in list right now, with the low-end iPhone 3G fetching only $40, while the much more recent iPhone 4 16GB brings in almost $190. And while iPhones, like Apple laptops and desktops, have traditionally held their value very well, Samsung devices are starting to do so as well.

“In particular, the growing, fierce rivalry between Samsung and Apple extends to the trade-in world as the GALAXY line of phones is beginning to hold value like the iPhone, which has traditionally been the best smartphone investment as it depreciates the least,” White said.

Although the Galaxy S IV price has not yet been revealed, SellCell has already assigned it a trade-in value of $550.

That new Android-based smartphone from the biggest phone manufacturer in the world with the big New York launch, the massive screen, and the 13-megapixel camera? Looks like it’s pre-selling like proverbial hotcakes.

Carphone Warehouse, a big UK mobile distributor, says the Samsung Galaxy S IV is pre-selling at more than four times the rate of its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. Which was already a best-ever launch for Carphone.

“The record breaking launch of the Galaxy SIII last year was always going to be a tough one to beat,” said Carphone Warehouse COO Graham Stapleton. “But Samsung have pulled out all the stops with a dazzling new device that’s sure to inspire many people to make the switch to Android from other operating systems.”

The phones aren’t scheduled to be available until April 26, and pricing hasn’t been announced yet. Even so, with pre-orders at 446 percent of S III levels, it looks like Samsung has impressed enough of the Android faithful to deliver another best-seller.

The SII sold 10 million units in its first two months and 30 million in five months, so beating those numbers won’t be easy. But Samsung did ship 57 million smartphones in Q3 last year as part of over 400 million phones shipped in all of 2012, so anything seems to be possible.

The question will be: Can Samsung top Apple’s iPhone 5, which was the top-selling phone in the last quarter of 2012?

Perhaps.

“We’re anticipating a massive amount of customer interest in this handset and are expecting our stores to be busier than at the height of the Christmas period,” Stapleton said. “We are planning to extend opening hours at our larger sites to cope with the increased demand.”

None of which changes my contention that the Samsung Galaxy S IV will mark the beginning of the end of Samsung’s smartphone dominance.

Smoked by Windows is Microsoft’s fun, social, and viral YouTube campaign targeting iPhone and Android users. But now it’s moving offline and going to network TV — ESPN and CBS — just in time for March Madness.

And Microsoft is taking specific aim at Samsung:

The ads feature Microsoft’s top Windows Phone marketing manager, Ben Rudolph, who told us that he has the best job in Microsoft when we chatted a couple of months ago. It’s his job as director of Windows Phone evangelism to convince hundreds of millions of Android and iPhone users to switch to Windows phone … and he’s pretty persuasive.

But this particular tactic won’t work for long — the new Samsung Galaxy S IV sports a 13-megapixel camera which is bound to be better than the S III’s eight megapixel effort. And likely to best the Nokia 920′s 8.7 megapixel camera too, in spite of the built-in image stabilization that does give the 920 great night-time photos.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

LG can’t beat Samsung in smartphones, so it’s turning to something else: patents.

The new Samsung Optimus G Pro.

The Korean electronics maker is going after Samsung over the eye-tracking technology found in their phones, according to Yonyap News. Samsung’s Galaxy S IV offers a feature called Smart Pause, which allows users to pause videos simply by looking away from the screen. That looks conspicuously like the Optimus G Pro’s Smart Video, LG says, which does just about the same thing.

Samsung has denied LG’s claims, arguing that its eye-tracking tech works differently from LG’s own. So no infringement done.

It’s a funny situation for both parties because, while LG says it has the patent to the technology, it’s Samsung that’s made the biggest effort to tell the world about it. (The move is also funny considering the overwhelming similarities between the Galaxy S III and Optimus G Pro, which could easily be confused as something Samsung itself created.)

Samsung, of course, is no stranger to being accused to coping its competitors — and neither is LG. The companies’ are just coming off an extended patent spat over the technologies in their displays. That feud ended relatively peacefully, but it’s clear that neither party has much interest in making a permanent truce.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

But massive globe-trotting success wasn’t instant: The SI sold 20 million, and the SII sold 28 million. It wasn’t until the SIII that the really big numbers came out — Samsung has sold 50 million as of March of this year.

And while I have my doubts about the long-term success of Samsung as it is veering away from a clean, true Android experience, there’s no doubt that the newly-released Galaxy S IV is going to be wildly successful as well in terms of units sold.

TopTienMobiel, a Dutch site, tracked the history of the Galaxies in visual form:

photo credit: thebadastronomer via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

I’m going way out on a limb here, and cutting it off behind me.

But I have a theory. The more Samsung “adds value” to Android by customizing a version of it for the Galaxy line of phones, as it’s doing with its new Galaxy S IV, the more it will suck.

This is, of course, the company that sold 400 million freaking phones last year. And 57 million smartphones in just one quarter of 2012. Samsung seems, more than any other, to be the company that has shaved a few hundred billion off Apple’s share price.

But companies, like people, do best when they stick to what they’re good at. Better yet, what they’re great at.

And let me tell you, there’s no way that Samsung is great at machine language translation. And facial/eye recognition to drive smart document scrolling. And building app stores for hundreds of millions of global users. And tying Kinect-style hand gestures to phone functionality navigation. And building a personal health/self quantification system. And programming a voice-controlled smart personal assistant. And implementing a ticket-and-card aggregating Apple Passbook clone. And any of a thousand other software-based features Samsung is adding to its phones and laying at the pagan feet of the ruthless god called product differentiation.

No bloody way.

Not as good as Google, for the features that Google chooses to build, and are amenable to machine learning and improvement. Not as good as Fitbit or Up or other companies whose livelihood is self-quantification and health. Not as good as Kinect, or Leap Motion, which are focused on gesture control.

“Some of the features definitely didn’t seem to work all that well,” analyst Avi Greengart, who Samsung pre-briefed about its phone, told me today. “For the hover feature … you have pick the exact right distance from the screen for it to activate, and you select things you weren’t intending to select.”

Other features worked better, like a camera app that puts you in the picture while you take the picture, Greengart said, though he was most concerned about the sheer quantity of new features overwhelming consumers.

“A lot of it will drive people crazy,” he said. “But at the same time people will buy the phone so they can check it out.”

There are a bunch of reasons for that. One is that Samsung is not a software company, in much the same way that Intel, though it employs thousands of software engineers, is not a software company. Another is that ancillary features added by a company that is primarily focused on using those features to sell more of that product are seldom as good as the features created by companies that focus on those things exclusively.

But the big one is that Google is getting frightfully good at software. Partly because it learns a million times a minute as customers interact with its solutions, and data drives its decisions, but also partly because it gets mobile in a way that few other companies do. Google currently has five of the top six apps in North America on any platform.

Do you really think Samsung can build a better mobile user experience than Google?

I haven’t yet handled, played with, or slept beside a Galaxy S IV. But the early reviews on that cool eye-tracking technology that auto-scrolls documents for you? It works “better in theory than they did in practice,” according to CNet. And that neat gesture phone control technology? It seems to “work intermittently.”

ZDnet wonders if this is innovation or gimmicks, and Gizmodo hits the nail on the smartphone head:

Truthfully, there are too many modifications to go into, and most of them aren’t things you’ll ever use. Which is really the S IV’s biggest problem.

In other words, Samsung’s over-the-top Broadway launch for the Galaxy S IV might be the perfect metaphor for a phone that has everything you don’t need: A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer in your pants.

Now, we’re talking about unreleased hardware and software, and there are bound to be improvements before Samsung ships the Galaxy S IV to customers. But putting together a coherent, excellent operating system with well-integrated features is hard. Google went through multiple iterations before finally starting to get it really right perhaps a couple of years ago. Microsoft went through hell for years, trying to find its way in mobile operating systems.

Is it likely that Samsung, which is building on the Android foundation but chipping away at every piece of Google’s fingerprints it can while doing so, can get it right?

I think not.

“Look at the Samsung Galaxy S III,” ABI Research analyst Aapo Markkanen told me. “Everything that was good about the software came from Google, and everything that was annoying came from Samsung.”

Others that I’ve talked to agree, but still see a role for Samsung’s innovation.

“I agree that some of the software is buggy,” Rocky Agrawal, an analyst and mobile consultant who also writes for VentureBeat, told me. “If they would stick to the non-core things that they’re adding it could make sense … but to go in and mess up core stuff like keyboards and error correction, that’s just innovation for the sake of innovation. You should differentiate on things that matter.”

We have seen this movie before, during the 90s and 2000s, in a different industry: the PC market. Much as Android is to iOS what Windows was to Macintosh, Android vendors are to each other what HP was to Dell was to Compaq was to every other faceless PC manufacturer: a clone trying to be an individual.

And with every vendor trying to deliver unique value, a unique product, and a unique brand in a by-nature commoditized market, they get desperate. The result: software that adds a line item in the product comparison chart and a bullet point in the marketing blurb, but is really just crapware.

I’ve been there. I’ve done that. I’ve been that crapware vendor, sad to say, bundling a solution into HP’s, Asus’s, and even Intel’s offerings.

And my money’s on something similar happening here.

(Oh, and these user interface issues will be at the heart of our discussion at the Mobile Summit in Sausalito on April 1 and 2, where we’ve invited the mobile industry’s leading players. We’re hosting a wide cross-section of ecosystem from Google, Samsung, Facebook across the major carriers like AT&T and Verizon, to Cisco, Intel and the major analytics folks, like Flurry — along with the top 60 or so publishers and disruptive private companies.)

photo credit: Great Beyond via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

With the new Galaxy S4, Samsung is moving farther and farther away from Google. In fact, you have to wonder, will Samsung turn into the new Amazon?

Just look at the new Galaxy S IV, unveiled yesterday.

It has AirView to control your phone as if it was an Xbox and the camera was Kinect; facial recognition technology to pause video when you glance away or scroll a document based on your gaze; S Translator to translate text, as if there was no Google Translate; Galaxy S Voice Drive, which emulates Apple’s Siri; and if you want to get apps on your Samsung Android phone, Samsung’s pushing its own Hub app store, with nary a mention of Google Play.

The reality is that Samsung’s position as the premier Android device developer in the world gives it a ton of clout. And it seems to be using that power to ween users from Google.

We have seen this movie before.

Amazon almost certainly owns the Android tablet market, except its tablet doesn’t really run Android. Or, at least not the version of Android that Google produces. And, instead of connecting to Google services and the Google app store, Amazon’s Android products link into Amazon’s media ecosystem and Amazon’s private app store. Which is a brilliant if somewhat parasitic business model.

Samsung may very well be moving down this road.

The Korean company has made at least two attempts to create its own smartphone operating system: the now-abandoned Bada mobile OS, and Tizen, an effort with Intel to create a Linux-based OS for smartphones that is ongoing. But a simpler and cheaper solution might be the Amazon model: Accept the Android OS from Google with a smile and a nod, strip out as much Google as you can, load up as much proprietary software as you can, and ship, ship, ship.

Wham, bam, thank you ma’am!

“All signs are pointing to Samsung trying to pull off a Great OS Escape within the next year or two,” analyst Aapo Markkanen wrote this morning. “Doing it with an Android fork would be far too risky … so the hero’s role is now reserved for Tizen.”

That’s one reason, according to Google’s just-former Android head Andy Rubin, Google acquired Motorola: a hedge against any one Android partner getting too big, too powerful.

The big question now as we come off a year in which Samsung sold 400 million phones globally is this: Is that hedge big enough?

You can bet Google execs are asking that question. And you have have to start wondering when investors will start to factor that risk into Google stock, which is currently near a five-year high.

photo credit: Louish Pixel via photopin cc

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

I’ll admit, I’m no fan of big phones. But with the Galaxy S4, which Samsung announced tonight in New York City, the company shows you can make a large screen fit into a surprisingly thin and light device.

After having a chance to use the Galaxy S4 tonight, I was surprised how much more polished it felt than the Galaxy S III. It’s made of the same plastic, but it’s lighter and rests in your hand more snugly. The polycarbonate trim along the sides of the phone gives it a nice accent — even though it’s not as attractive as metal. I still prefer the more elegant metal design of the HTC One, but Samsung’s design certainly won’t disappoint its fans.

As you can see in the video below, the screen is the real star of the Galaxy S4. At five inches with a 1080p display, it’s incredibly sharp and vibrant. It even bested the Galaxy S III’s already-bright screen.

Even though it has a bigger screen than the Galaxy S III, the Galaxy S4 is actually thinner. When placed alongside its predecessor and the Galaxy Note II, it’s easy to see how Samsung’s design sense has become more refined over the past year.

Check out the video below for more impressions:

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

How do you continue to stand out in the increasingly crowded Android smartphone market? For Samsung’s Galaxy S IV, it’s by focusing on some intriguing exclusive software.

Samsung officially unveiled the phone tonight at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, following plenty of leaked photos and videos (which proved accurate). But even though we basically knew what to expect, Samsung still managed to impress.

Check out our hands-on with the Galaxy S IV, as well as a detailed play-by-play of Samsung’s wacky launch event and our coverage of how this phone shows Samsung may be building out its own Android sub-ecosystem like Amazon has done.

The Galaxy S IV sports a sharp 5-inch Super AMOLED display with a 1080p resolution and 440 pixels-per-inch. When put next to the Galaxy S III, which has a 4.8-inch display, 720p resolution, and 306 PPI, it appears brighter and significantly sharper. It’s powered by an 8-core Samsung Exynos processor, 2GB of RAM, and Android 4.2.2. Jelly Bean. It also packs in a 2,700 mAh battery — significantly larger than the Galaxy S III’s 2,100 battery.

The phone looks very similar to the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II (check out some comparison shots below), but Samsung says it’s lighter and more solid than its predecessors. Even though Samsung is still relying on glossy plastic, the Galaxy S IV’s polycarbonate trim around the side of the phone looks like it has a more premium feel.

Forget the fancy specs, software is king

While it’s certainly a hardware powerhouse, the real focus for Samsung this time around is clearly in software. With a new feature called AirView, the Galaxy S IV lets you simply hover your finger over an item on the screen for more information, like previewing an email or photo. It’s an evolution of the hover feature Samsung previously had in its Note tablet and smartphone, but that required a stylus to activate. Samsung isn’t divulging how exactly your fingers can perform the same sort of magic.

You can also wave your hand in front of the screen to control certain apps, which could be a particularly important feature while driving, or if you need to do something as simple as switch to a new tab in a web browser. The Galaxy S IV accomplishes this with its proximity and motion sensors (it’s similar to the hands-free option in Waze).

Just like the HTC One, the Galaxy S IV is a sign that hardware design has somewhat plateaued when it comes to smartphone design. Most smartphones end up running similar hardware, and they’re all moving to sharp and large screens (which isn’t necessarily a good thing). But to truly stand out and make consumers pay attention, you need interesting software.

Take the Galaxy S IV’s 13-megapixel camera, for instance. That’s a decent resolution, but what’s more interesting is how it’s buoyed by an array of new (and surprisingly useful) camera software. Thanks to its powerful processor, the Galaxy S IV can actually use both its front and rear cameras at the same time, allowing you to take photos and videos without actually getting left out. You can appear as a goofy floating head, or split-screen.

There are also a few new camera modes: Sound and Shot, which lets you take nine seconds of audio with a photo; Drama Shot, which combines a burst of pictures into a single image (think a series of shots featuring someone diving into a pool); and Cinema Photo, which lets you animate portions of the image and turn it into an animated GIF (you can practically hear Cinemagram gearing up its lawyers). And to keep photobombers at bay, there’s a an Eraser Shot mode that can instantly remove unwanted people from an image.

As previously rumored, the Galaxy S IV also has new features that automatically pause videos when you look away from the screen (SmartPause) and automatically scroll up or down depending on how you’re looking at and tilting the phone (SmartScroll). Both are followup features to the Galaxy S III’s SmartStay, which keeps the display awake while you look at it.

A Samsung representative noted that the SmartScroll feature doesn’t depend entirely on your eyes, contrary to previous reports. Instead, it uses a combination of your head placement and how you’re holding the phone.

Other features: Health and a nifty universal remote

Samsung is also focusing on health in a big way with the Galaxy S IV. The phone has a pedometer built-in that can track your steps and stairs climbed, and it also has a humidity and temperature sensor. You can also keep track of your eating habits with the phone, which it will use to spit back some guilt-inducing caloric data. Samsung is also getting into the fitness accessory arena: A new S-band activity monitor, body scale, and heart monitor will be able to keep track of your health. All of the accessories connect to the Galaxy S IV over Bluetooth.

Rounding out the features, there’s a new S Translator app that will be able to translate text, which will support 10 languages at launch. There’s also an IR blaster built into the Galaxy S IV, which lets you use it as a universal remote together with some built-in software. Samsung has included similar functionality in its most recent tablets, and it definitely looks like the company is going to focus even more on making its devices useful second-screen companions this year.

Availability

So when can you actually get your hands on this beauty? Samsung isn’t talking pricing yet, and so far the company is only giving us a vague availability time-frame of “sometime in the second quarter.” It’ll be available in the U.S. on AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, U.S. Cellular, and Cricket.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

NEW YORK CITY — There’s been a lot of hype and a lot of leaks, but tonight is finally the moment we get to see what Samsung has up its sleeve with its new flagship Android smartphone — the Galaxy S IV.

[Read our full Galaxy S IV announcement and hands on with the Galaxy S IV.]

VentureBeat National Editor Devindra Hardawar and I showed up the iconic Radio City Music Hall in New York City for the event.

Here’s our play-by-play (and pictures!) of what went down tonight:

–

7:58 p.m.: The Galaxy S IV launch event is coming to a close. The host has thanked us for coming, and we honestly can’t wait to get out of here.

Be sure to read our full announcement post on the Galaxy S IV and our hands-on report for more on the device and all the things it can do.

Good night folks!

7:56 p.m.: Talking health. “S Health” is ideal as a “supplement” to your doctor and it can help you track your calorie counts. There’s also a pedometer built-in that can track your steps and stairs climbed.

7:54 p.m.: “Air Gesture” lets you wave at your S IV to answer your call.

“Smart Scroll/Pause” uses eye-tracking so when you are watching a video and turn your head, it will automatically pause the video. When your eyes are back on the screen, the video turns back on.

7:53 p.m.: Video call time. There’s a feature called “Dual Video Call” so two different people can be on your call at the same time. So… a three-way video call instead of a two-way video call.

7:50 p.m.: Now we’ve got a bunch of women on stage dancing together, all holding Galaxy S IV phones in their hands. The ladies are using a new “Group Play” feature where you can all listen to the same song being streaming from one Galaxy S IV. There’s also the ability to share photos between several phones instantaneously.

7:45 p.m.: Still more features being talked about. The “Samsung Hub” is a place where you can find all of your media. The “Samsung Knox” feature secures your phone and promises better security that’s based on the same tech used by I.T. managers in the United States government. (Security is a pretty big deal these days with all that Android malware floating around…)

7:45 p.m.: The Galaxy S IV is apparently “glove friendly.” We’ll see…

7:42 p.m.: And now we’re hearing about the “S Voice Drive” feature. It makes it easy to do tasks while you are driving. There’s a navigator and hands-free access for calls, messages, music, weather, and more.

7:37 p.m.: Now we’re getting a talk about the “Story Album” feature. The S IV will recommend that you make a Story Album when you are in a location you don’t spend a lot of time in (on vacation) and taking photos. There’s also the ability to send your photos in a digital album to a service to create a physical photo album and have it sent to you. (It costs $10 to $30 bucks.)

7:35 p.m.: Samsung is hyping up the Galaxy S IV’s “S Translation.” It can translate several languages in real time and there’s even the ability to translate off a piece of paper with the camera on back.

7:31 p.m.: The kid from the terrible Galaxy S IV teaser trailers is now tap dancing for us. The kid isn’t a good actor, but he’s a really talented dancer. I’m not sure what this has to do with phones.

7:30 p.m.: Samsung is using the Radio City Music Hall stage as if we are watching a Broadway show. A really crappy Broadway show. The people on stage are showing ways to use the Galaxy S IV camera and sharing features.

7:24 p.m.: Samsung marketing exec Ryan Bidan is now on stage, laying down the phone’s specs:

Android 4.2.2 (Jelly Bean)
5-inch HD Super AMOLED screen (441 pixels-per-inch)
13-megapixel camera on back
2-megapixel camera on front
2GB of RAM
16/32/64GB internal storage + MicroSD slot
Polycarbonate case
New, upgraded user experience
4G LTE
Wi-Fi a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth 4.0
IR LED (remote control)
Temperature and humidity sensors

7:21 p.m.: Shin continues to tease all the things the Galaxy S IV can do and how it will “enrich” our lives.

7:18 p.m.: Shin has announced the phone — “the Galaxy S IV!” On the screen behind him, Samsung is calling it a “life companion.”

7:18 p.m.: Shin continues to tell us all things that we “imagine” a smartphone should do — translation, playing games with friends at the same time, living room interactions, and health care help.

“What we will show you tonight is innovation … the way that people aspire to live,” Shin said. “A device that helps us. A life companion that will help you live a simpler life.”

7:15 p.m.: Samsung mobile head JK Shin is here welcoming us.

“We will imagine the possibilities, the bold new directions … for how a smartphone will change our lives,” Shin said.

7:12 p.m.: Samsung has opened the show with that kid from the terrible teasers running out on stage and welcoming us to the show. There is a full orchestra here to add to the pomp.

7:09 p.m.: We’re all in our seats waiting for the event to start. The event was supposed to begin at 7 p.m., but since we are in such a massive venue for this sort of thing, a late start is not terribly surprising.

Photos by Devindra Hardawar and Sean Ludwig

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

We’re only a few hours away from the second-biggest phone launch of the year.

Samsung is set to launch its next flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S IV, tonight at 7 p.m. Eastern in New York City. We’ll be reporting on the ground from the event, but you can also catch a Ustream broadcast of the festivities here, courtesy of the folks at IDG News.

Even though it looks like the Galaxy S IV’s design and core features have already leaked online, Samsung may still have some surprises in store.

Follow our Galaxy S IV coverage:

• Samsung Galaxy S IV revealed at Radio City Music Hall (live blog)
• Galaxy S IV: The new Android standard is all about killer software
• Hands-on with the Galaxy S IV: The most comfortable 5-inch phone yet

Photo via IT168

Phil Schiller thinks Android and Samsung have got smartphones all wrong — and he really, really, wants you to know it.

As a part of his anti-Samsung, pre-Galaxy S IV launch media tour, the Apple marketing chief is making clear his preemptive distaste for what Samsung is cooking up. His first jab? The Galaxy S IV may be the latest-and-greatest-thing, but it’s running a year-old OS — and that’s a problem with Android itself.

“With their own data, only 16 percent of Android users are on a year-old version of the operating system. Over 50 percent are still on software that is two years old. A really big difference,” he told Reuters.

This is the worst phone Phil Schiller has’t seen yet!

Apple’s numbers, in comparison, look a lot better: More than half of iOS users are using the latest version of the software, he says.

More defensive, somewhat, are Schiller’s views on Android device sales, which recently overtook those of the iPhone, according to data from Kantar. Schiller doesn’t seem to be fazed by this reality.

“At Apple we know that it’s not just enough to have products pumped out in large numbers. You have to love and use them. There is a lot of data showing a big disparity there,” he said.

Basically, lots of people are buying Android phones, but not too many people are actually using Android phones, Schiller says.

While it’s a rare move for Apple, Schiller’s anti-Samsung media tour isn’t the biggest surprise. The Galaxy S IV launch will be the  global Galaxy launch on American soil. Samsung, it seems, is putting lots more of its ad dollars into targeting Apple’s audience, and Apple’s taking note.

Samsung, for its part, hasn’t responded to Schiller’s remarks, and it will probably just let the Galaxy S IV do the talking later today.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Whatever surprises Samsung had in store for the launch of the Galaxy S IV later today have likely been spoiled by this latest round of leaked pictures and videos.

We got a glimpse of what could be the Galaxy S IV earlier this week, along with  a short low-resolution video showing off the phone, but this morning leakers have bestowed upon us a bounty of gifts: high-resolution shots of the Galaxy S IV and videos showing off some of its most interesting features.

The latest photos show a device that looks a lot like the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note 2, something Samsung has already hinted at. It’s a shame that Samsung didn’t change up its plastic design in any significant way — as it simply makes the Galaxy series feel cheaper than the iPhone or HTC’s new lineup. Still, Samsung fans certainly won’t be disappointed by the lack of a bold new style.

A Bloomberg report from yesterday revealed the phone would come with a 13-megapixel camera, a 5-inch screen (which has been expected for some time), and a quad-core Qualcomm processor. The photos below also show the phone running an eight-core Samsung Exynos CPU. Rumors say international versions of the phone will get the Exynos CPU, while the U.S. will get the Qualcomm chip (which comes integrated with LTE).

While we previously heard that the phone would ship with eye-tracking to help scroll through text, more recent rumors dismissed that notion. One of the videos below shows off a feature that could be related: SmartPause, which pauses videos when you stop looking at the screen. (I wonder if this is a significant problem for smartphone users or if Samsung’s just trying really hard to differentiate itself.)

Far more interesting than SmartPause is a video showing off a new floating touch feature, allowing you to hover your finger over the screen to interact with it. Samsung originally debuted this feature with the Galaxy Note 10.1 and Note 2, though it required a stylus. It lets you do things like preview photos and videos without actually opening them, or take advantage of “hover” design elements on websites (which normally require a mouse). Being able to hover with just your finger would be a significant smartphone interaction leap for Samsung. Also, it just looks freaking cool.

Check back later today for live coverage of the Galaxy S IV’s launch.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung’s highly hyped Galaxy S IV smartphone will debut tomorrow, but will the device have any surprises left to show?

The Galaxy S IV will be Samsung’s new flagship Android phone and will no doubt help Samsung to further challenge Apple’s position in the smartphone market. On top of potentially cutting into iPhone 5 sales, the Galaxy S IV will also attract people away from HTC’s beautiful new top-of-the-line Android phone, the HTC One. And now we likely know just what specs Samsung will be using to sway people away from these phones.

A new Bloomberg report today lists some of the most important specs expected on the new phone, including a 5-inch display, a Qualcomm quad-core processor, and a 13-megapixel camera. These specs have been rumored elsewhere, but it’s promising to see them being touted the day before the reveal.

Bloomberg also disputes a recent New York Times story that said the Galaxy S IV would include eye-tracking technology that would let apps follow your eye movement for scrolling. Bloomberg says no such tech will be included on this phone, but later versions of the device might include eye tracking.

Other supposed leaks have occurred recently showing off Galaxy S IV models in China. First there was a gallery of shots released to a Chinese forum online (see the gallery below), and later a 3-minute video leaked.

The Galaxy S IV will likely get a huge dose of marketing soon, and a new report today says Samsung spent $401 million on promotional efforts in the U.S alone last year. That’s $68 million more than Apple spent.

VentureBeat will be at Samsung’s big reveal event tomorrow evening in New York City, so keep your eyes here for the latest.

Galaxy S 4 leak photo via 52Samsung forum

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Yesterday, we saw some alleged photos from Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone, and now it looks like that same sly gadget hound has created a video showing off the new phone.

It’s still unclear if we’re actually looking at the Galaxy S IV, as the phone differs slightly from the official teaser image Samsung released yesterday for the S IV. (Keep an eye on the bezel thickness.) But it definitely looks like a 5-inch Samsung phone running the company’s TouchWiz interface.

As the The Verge points out, this could be one of Samsung’s Duos phones, which are slightly thicker than typical Galaxy phones and feature two SIM card slots. Dual-SIM phones are popular in Europe and Asia, but not so much in North America.

Samsung will officially announce the Galaxy S IV this Thursday in New York City. Stay tuned for more!

Here’s Samsung’s official Galaxy S IV teaser, which doesn’t look much different from the Galaxy S III.

Via SammyHub

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

With Samsung’s Galaxy S IV scheduled to debut later this week in New York City, the leaks are coming full force.

Images posted to a Chinese forum show a phone that could be Samsung’s latest flagship device, reports Sammy Hub. Design-wise it looks very similar to the Galaxy S III and Samsung’s most recent phone, the Galaxy Note II, but the hardware specifications show that it’s something very powerful and new.

The phone, model number GT-I9502, features the same plastic case design as Samsung’s previous devices. It’s powered by a quad-core 1.8 gigahertz processor and features 2 gigabytes of RAM and a 1080p display, according to screenshots from the Antutu hardware test app.

It could be that this is just one of many hardware prototypes Samsung is testing for the Galaxy S IV. Last year Samsung went to great lengths to keep the Galaxy S III’s design a secret, which included secure test labs and multiple prototypes. Recent case leaks from the Galaxy S IV have also pointed to a slightly squarer design, which doesn’t quite match this leak. Personally, I’m hoping this leak is false — mostly because I’d like to see Samsung wow us with a hardware design for once. I’m getting a bit tired of the company’s over-reliance on cheap plastic cases, especially as competitors like HTC focus on stronger case materials.

Check back Thursday, March 14, as we’ll be covering the launch of the Galaxy S IV live.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

While Samsung’s Galaxy S III kept an eye on you to keep its screen from dimming, the company’s next smartphone will look at you even more closely.

The Galaxy S IV will track your eyes to scroll its screen, reports the New York Times’ Brian Chen. So instead of obsessively swiping the screen or relying on finicky tilt scrolling functionality (a cheesy feature that scrolls text based on how you hold the phone), the S IV will be “smart” enough to show you new text as your eyes reach the bottom of the screen.

Chen’s sources couldn’t confirm how the phone tracks eye movements or if Samsung should show it at its March 14 launch event. But given that Samsung made a pretty big deal over the Galaxy S III’s capability to watch you, I imagine this eye-tracking feature will get center stage. Chen notes that Samsung has filed for an “Eye Scroll” trademark in Europe and the U.S.

If it’s real, the feature would be yet another way for Samsung to differentiate itself from a crowd of increasingly similar Android phones. Rumors peg the Galaxy S IV as sporting a 5-inch screen with a high-resolution display, but we’re already seeing similar specs from HTC’s One series.

If done correctly, the S IV’s eye-based scrolling could turn heads. It would also solve the problem of navigating text when holding a big-screen phone with one hand. And hey, it’s a lot more interesting than the terrible teaser campaign Samsung kicked off for the phone this morning.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Mix one part Pulp Fiction with one part The Toy and you’ll approach something close to Samsung’s baffling Galaxy S IV teaser.

Released today, the teaser ad features a young boy who will serve as the “secret messenger” for Samsung’s Unpacked 2013 event on March 14, where the company will unveil its latest flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S IV.

Samsung has a history of terrible teasers, so this ad doesn’t come as a huge surprise. But I do wonder if the company will ever figure out how to leverage the organic excitement for its devices into effective marketing. The Galaxy S IV is the most anticipated Android phone of the year, and Samsung is one of the biggest smartphone makers in the world. It can do better.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S IV, the most hyped-up Android smartphone of the year, in just a few weeks.

Samsung mobile chief JK Shin confirmed today that the Galaxy S IV will debut in New York City on March 14, Reuters reports (based on an earlier report from the Korean site Edaily). This confirms a rumor we heard last week marking the same date and location.

“We introduced the Galaxy S III in London last year, and this time we changed the venue (to New York) … as we were bombarded with requests from U.S. mobile carriers to unveil the Galaxy S IV in the country,” Samsung’s mobile head Shin said today at Mobile World Congress, according to a quote from Edaily.

Samsung originally introduced its flagship Galaxy S smartphones at a New York City event in 2010, so it’s nice to see the next model make its first appearance here as well.

Expect more features like the creepy “Smart Stay” eye-tracking in the Galaxy S IV instead of a focus on specifications, according to the most recent rumors. The phone’s design may also be reminiscent of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet, which features a simpler and more elegant design than Samsung’s most recent tablets. Samsung can’t really go much beyond the Galaxy III’s 4.8-inch screen without approaching Galaxy Note territory, though some rumors are hinting that the IV’s screen may creep up to 5 inches.

We’ll be at the Galaxy S IV unveiling in a few weeks, so check back for more!

Update: Samsung just sent out invites to the evening event, which will take place at Radio City Music Hall.

Photo: Galaxy S III by Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Mark your calendars Android fans, as multiple sites are pointing to March 14 as the announcement date for Samsung’s Galaxy S IV.

A tweet earlier today from Mobile-review’s Eldar Murtazin noted that there will be a “big announcement” on that date and that it’ll be bad news for HTC (below). Samsung fansite SamMobile followed up, noting that the tweet was a reference to the launch of the Galaxy S IV in New York City. Now the Verge is reporting that March 14 is “definitely” the date for Samsung’s next flagship debut.

Save the date for a big announcement – March 14 And keep silence HTC will miss HTC One sales again Like it was in 2012.—
Eldar Murtazin (@eldarmurtazin) February 18, 2013

The timing makes sense for Samsung, as it comes two weeks after Mobile World Congress, which begins next week in Barcelona. HTC is also hosting a huge event in New York City tomorrow, where we’re pretty certain it will unveil the next version in its flagship One line. Now instead of focusing on HTC’s phones or whatever will be announced at MWC, the media and gadget geeks will be focused on Samsung.

As the Verge tells it, Samsung is once again keeping the design of the Galaxy S IV a “tightly-guarded secret.” Last year Samsung revealed it went to great lengths to keep the Galaxy S III’s design a secret — the team designing the phone worked in a isolated lab with its own security, and they couldn’t even describe details of the Galaxy S III to other Samsung employees.

Expect more features like the creepy “Smart Stay” eye-tracking in the Galaxy S IV, instead of a focus on specifications, according to the Verge’s sources. The phone’s design may also be reminiscent of Samsung’s Galaxy Note 8.0 tablet, which is rumored to be debuting at Mobile World Congress next week.

Samsung can’t really go much beyond the Galaxy III’s 4.8-inch screen without approaching Galaxy Note territory, so I hope the company spends more time refining its materials. In particular, I hope to see more metal than plastic this time around.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung’s on a roll with news tonight. It has put up a teaser for a new device to be launched at CES next month, as well a further look at its upcoming Premium Suite Upgrade for the Galaxy S III.

A clip on the Samsung Tomorrow website promises “something new” at CES — though it’s short on details and heavy on marketing jargon (Innovation! Ideas! Design! Dreams! Wonder! THE FUTURE!). It’s only been seven months since Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S III, but there’s still a crazy chance it may divulge some details on its successor the Galaxy S IV. Otherwise, I have no idea what Samsung is getting so worked up over.

Samsung isn’t holding back with the Galaxy S III’s Premium Suite Upgrade — a fancy name for a bunch of new Samsung-only features coming alongside an upcoming Android Jelly Bean update. Among the new features, Samsung’s flagship smartphone will get a new low light camera shot option and the ability to choose the best face for people in a group shot. The latter feature originally appeared on the Galaxy Note II, as will some previously announced Premium Suite features, including the ability to open two apps at the same time.

Unfortunately, availability of the Premium Suite upgrade hasn’t been announced yet (because it’s mostly up to the carriers).

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat