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

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

If Samsung had any New Year’s resolutions, modesty certainly wasn’t one of them.

The Korean electronics giant announced today that shipments for its Galaxy S phones have reached a staggering 100 million. The news comes nearly three years after the release of the Galaxy S, which got this whole thing started.

While the Galaxy S II launched the Galaxy line into mainstream consciousness, it was the phone’s successor, the Galaxy S III, that took that popularity to an entirely new level. Samsung says that it sells roughly 190,000 of the phones per day, which explains how the device became the world’s best-selling phone last November.

Much of Samsung’s success can be pinned on marketing. The company spent roughly $11 million advertising its products last year, according to estimates from Asymco’s Horace Dediu. Those marketing efforts have clearly made a big difference, especially in comparison to relatively quiet companies like HTC.

It also helps that Samsung doesn’t shy away from creating Galaxy variants for just about every market, demographic, and price point. Samsung released 37 devices in 2012 alone, and while none of the devices sold nearly as well as the Galaxy S III, all of them together contribute to the sort of numbers that Samsung continues to brag about.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

With Samsung’s Galaxy S III barely out the door, rumors were already saying that the company would release its next its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S 4, at the Mobile World Congress next February.

Apparently, those rumors are completely untrue. In a tweet yesterday (translation), Samsung dismissed information from the Korea Times, which claimed to have spoken to both parts suppliers and unnamed Samsung officials about the Galaxy S 4 launch.

The rumors did, however, seem somewhat plausible, since Samsung is now fighting against the new iPhone 5. Also, unlike Apple, Samsung doesn’t limit their products to a one-year life cycle, as VentureBeat’s Ricardo Bilton previously pointed out.

My guess is that the recent Samsung/Apple IP legal battle probably upset all of Samsung’s future timeline for product releases. If Samsung was originally intending to release its new Galaxy S 4 phone in February 2013, it might be pushing it back a bit to make sure it won’t face future lawsuits from Apple.

Via TNW

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Following its decisive victory over Samsung on Friday, Apple today filed a notice (PDF link) with the Federal District Court in San Jose, Calif. detailing the Samsung devices it wants banned from sale in the U.S.

Apple is only focusing on eight Samsung for the injunction, according to the notice, even though the trial jury found that most of Samsung’s 28 devices presented in the case infringed on Apple’s patents. In particular, Samsung’s Galaxy S2 is being targeted.

Here are all the Samsung devices Apple is seeking an injunction for:

• Galaxy S 4G
• Galaxy S2 (AT&T)
• Galaxy S2 Skyrocket
• Galaxy S2 (T-Mobile)
• Galaxy S2 Epic 4g (Sprint)
• Galaxy S Showcase
• Droid Charge
• Galaxy Prevail

Many of the Samsung devices shown in court are no longer on sale in the U.S. anyway, so it wouldn’t have made sense for Apple to bring them up for its injunction request.

Judge Lucy Koh has scheduled the injunction hearing for the Apple v. Samsung trial for September 20. Samsung will have a chance to respond to Apple’s injunction request some time before then.

As you can see in the chart below, Apple has broken down exactly how each of these devices infringes on its patents or trade dress design. The Galaxy S 4G is the worst culprit, infringing on Apple’s D’677 and D’305 design patents (which cover the front of the iPhone and its icon grid), utility patents, and trade dress (which refers to the look and feel of Apple’s iPhone).

Even though this injunction request won’t affect Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S III smartphone if it’s approved, it could still be a pain for Samsung, as the Galaxy S II remains a good deal for bargain hunters. Boost Mobile recently announced the Galaxy S II for its prepaid network, and it could end up being the ideal prepaid phone for other carriers as well if Apple doesn’t get its wish.

Via The Verge

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

While we’re still waiting on the jury’s response to the Apple v. Samsung case in San Jose, a South Korean court has issued its own verdict, which finds that both companies infringed on the other’s patents.

The court granted small damages to both Apple and Samsung, and it also ordered them to stop sales of the infringing devices, the Wall Street Journal reports. Luckily for both companies, the sales ban only affects older products: the iPhone 4 and iPad 2 for Apple, and the Galaxy S (I and II), Galaxy Nexus, and Galaxy Tab (both the original and 10.1 model) for Samsung.

Notably, the court ruled against one of the most prominent arguments in the U.S. Apple v. Samsung case: It found that there was “no possibility” that consumers would confuse smartphones from the companies. Additionally, the three-judge panel said Samsung’s icons don’t infringe on Apple’s design patents, but they did say Samsung infringed on Apple’s “bounce back” technology, which occurs when a user reaches the end of a mobile screen.

As with the other court cases happening worldwide, Apple was arguing that Samsung copied its designs, while Samsung was arguing that Apple is infringing on its wireless technology. The particular case was started by Samsung in June 2012 to counter Apple’s lawsuits in other countries, which led Apple to countersue in South Korea.

While both Apple and Samsung were seeking damages of 100 million won (around $90,000), the court ordered Apple to pay up 20 million won (around $17,650) for each patent it violated. Samsung has to pay 25 million won (around $22,000) per infringed patent.

The judges ordered Apple to pay 20 million won, or $17,650 in damages, for each violated patent. Samsung was ordered to pay 25 million won, or $22,000. Both companies had sought damages of 100 million won, or about $90,000, from the other.

Apple and Samsung can appeal the decision, but thanks to the complexities of South Korean courts, that would an involve a rehearing of the entire case, according to the WSJ. While the damages weren’t too significant in this case, both companies will likely fight back to be able to sell their older products (the iPad 2 is still a great bargain for tablet buyers, and the Galaxy Nexus remains one of the best Android devices).

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

What’s Samsung’s best-selling phone in the US? Hint: It’s not one of the company’s flagship Galaxy S smartphones.

The Apple v. Samsung trial continues to reveal juicy details about both companies, with the latest public court filing breaking down just how many phones they sold over the past two years, AllThingsD first reported.

The biggest surprise? Samsung’s most popular phone in America has been the Galaxy Prevail, a mid-level phone on prepaid provider Boost Mobile. Samsung sold 2.25 million units of the Galaxy Prevail out of a total 21.21 million phones sold between June 2010 and June 2012, the filing shows.

In second place for Samsung was the Epic 4G on Sprint, which sold 1.89 million units and was also its biggest revenue generator, bringing in $855 million. The company sold 4.1 million of its Galaxy S II models in total.

The Galaxy Prevail’s success shouldn’t be that surprising: It’s Samsung’s cheapest mid-range smartphone, and since it’s on the prepaid carrier Boost Mobile, it doesn’t come with the same hefty monthly fees as contracted smartphones. The Prevail may be unsexy, but it’s a damn good deal for consumers.

The same documents also bring up questions about Samsung’s reported table sales, Fortune’s Philip Elmer-Dewitt points out. While Samsung boasted that it sold more than 2 million Galaxy Tabs in early 2011, the filing shows that the company sold only 262,000 tablets in the U.S. during the fourth quarter of 2010 and 77,000 during the first quarter of 2011. Those numbers don’t include overseas sales, but even counting those, Samsung’s numbers seem a bit inflated.

The filing unfortunately doesn’t break down Apple’s device sales beyond iPhone, iPod Touch, and iPad. Apple sold 85 million iPhones during the period (worth $50 billion in revenue) and 34 million iPads ($19 billion in revenue). The iPod Touch is no slouch either, with 46 million units sold earning $1o.3 billion.

Check out the court filing below (via CNet):

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Gearing up for its long-awaited patent trial with Samsung in California next week, Apple is planning to show that Samsung was aware of its very similar tablet and smartphone designs, based on warnings from Google, other designers, and even its own design team.

The new details come from Apple’s unredacted trial brief, unearthed by AllThingsD yesterday.

While intriguing, it’s not as if we didn’t see this coming. Ever since Apple accused Samsung of copying its designs last year, setting off some 50 lawsuits across the globe, Samsung has claimed ignorance. But the resemblance between some of the devices is unquestionable, like Samsung’s first Galaxy S smartphones and older iPhones (see right).

“Samsung’s documents show the similarity of Samsung’s products is no accident or, as Samsung would have it, a ‘natural evolution,’” Apple said in the brief. “Rather, it results from Samsung’s deliberate plan to free-ride on the iPhone’s and iPad’s extraordinary success by copying their iconic designs and intuitive user interface. Apple will rely on Samsung’s own documents, which tell an unambiguous story.”

Apple points to Google warning Samsung about the similarities of the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1 to the iPad, and Samsung’s design group saying it was “regrettable” about the Galaxy S and iPhone similarities.

Samsung, meanwhile, is prepared to argue that it had a mobile user interface like the iPhone’s in the works in 2006, AllThingsD reports. Samsung also has its hands on internal Apple emails that suggest Apple was similarly inspired by Sony’s device designs. The company has also put together a before and after chart of its phone designs, which really don’t show much of a change after the iPhone’s debut (see below).

While Samsung’s designs may seem achingly close to Apple’s, I suspect we’ll see an interesting exploration next week of just how much every company — even Apple — builds upon the designs of its predecessors.

Apple just recently won a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7 in Europe, and Reuters reports that the two companies failed to settle out of court because they couldn’t agree on the value of each other’s patents. Apple is now seeking $2.5 billion in damages from Samsung.

While the smartphone sales battle between Samsung and Apple has been a close one, Samsung may finally have gotten the upper hand.

That’s the story according to a recent Reuters poll, which asked over three dozen analysts which company they thought came out on top during the second quarter.

For most of them, the answer was Samsung, which is estimated to have moved 50 million phones in the past three months. Apple, in comparison, is projected to have moved just 30.2 million.

Much of Samsung’s success has been fueled by sales of its latest and greatest smartphone, the Galaxy S III, which it expected to sell 10 million of in July alone.

But what’s most surprising about Samsung’s 50 million number is that, only last month, the company announced an identical total for worldwide sales for its entire Galaxy S line. So either analysts are far too bullish, or Samsung has sold as many phones in the past three months as it has Galaxy S phones over the past two years.

Apple, on the other hand, is seen as being a bit too new-iPhone-dependent for its own good, a reliance that’s preventing its smartphone sales from reaching Samsung’s lofty heights. (We’ve speculated previously that a pre-paid iPhone would be smart move on Apple’s part.)

Samsung’s projected success comes as many investors brace for weak earnings from technology companies this quarter. So while the tech sector may be bracing for a slump, it’s doesn’t seem as if Samsung will contribute to it.

Photo: Devindra Hardawar/VentureBeat

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

If you are planning to preorder a new Samsung Galaxy S III from top two U.S. cellphone carriers, you should know that you won’t be able to take advantage of some third-party promotional opportunities.

Such is the case with Verizon and AT&T, both of which have opted out of an opportunity that would give their customers 50GB of free space on cloud storage service Dropbox, reports DroidLife. The promotion was originally announced along with the official debut of the Galaxy S III in early May, as VentureBeat previously reported. It mimics Dropbox’s prior decision to team up with HTC to give owners of the HTC One X 25GB of free storage.

Dropbox’s official customer support page confirms the unpopular decision by both carriers, but it doesn’t mention anything about why they’ve decided to do it. This seems especially odd since neither Verizon or AT&T offer an unlimited data plan to their smartphone customers. The constant transfer of files would actually make them more money, regardless of the service it’s happening on.

There are two logical explanations for why AT&T and Verizon are doing this. First, both carriers are worried about the strain on their network (less likely). The second motivation is that both carriers are currently prepping their own cloud storage services that could be bundled with monthly cell phone bills.

The new handset is currently available for preorder on AT&T and Verizon, and should launch by early July. If you’re upset about the Dropbox promotion denial, you can always wait until the Galaxy S III makes its way to Sprint and T-Mobile later this year.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple and Samsung may be selling the most smartphones, but it’s Samsung that has the most fun talking about it.

Samsung is updating its global sales numbers with some new milestones: The company says that its sold 24 million Galaxy S phones and 28 million Galaxy S IIs, bringing the total sales for the line to over 50 million units.

That’s bigger news for the Galaxy S II, which has sold better than the original Galaxy S in half the time.

The Galaxy Note story is also, er, notable. Like many people, I scoffed and wrote off the oddly-sized phone-tablet hybrid. But people have still been buying the thing — a lot of people in fact: Samsung says that it’s sold 7 million of the devices since its release last October. So maybe there’s a demand for absurdly large phones after all. (We couldn’t get over how dorky the Galaxy Note was in our review, despite being impressed overall.)

As with all announcements of this kind, its worth keeping in mind that for Samsung’s purposes, “sold” actually means “shipped to retail channels.” So when Samsung throws any number out, the consumer-level reality is probably slightly more subdued.

Technicalities aside, all of Samsung’s success comes as the Android smartphone market has become increasingly cutthroat and painfully homogenous. LG, HTC, Motorola have all attempted to carve out their own positions in the market, but it’s Samsung that’s coming out on top. There’s a reason why Samsung likes making these sorts of swaggering announcements: It has a lot to brag about, and modesty’s no fun.

The question now is whether Samsung can replicate this success with the third Galaxy S iteration, which will hit the U.S. in the next few weeks. Something tells me Samsungwon’t have a problem — and we’ll certainly hear a lot about it.

Design is determining the winners in everything mobile. The most successful players are focusing on one thing: How to make products, services, and devices as compelling and delightful as possible – visually, and experientially. MobileBeat 2012, July 10-11 in San Francisco , is assembling the most elite minds to debate how UI/UX is transforming every aspect of the mobile economy, and where the opportunities lie. Register here.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung, with some purposeful timing right before the iPad HD launch event today, announced it has filed another lawsuit against Apple in a South Korean court over the iPhone 4S and iPad 2.

The Korean company filed suit against Apple on Tuesday, saying that the Apple devices above infringed on three of its patents. Reuters reports that the suit “covers three utility patents and involves methods of displaying data, the user interface, and short text messages.”

Apple first sued Samsung last year over “slavishly” copying the iPhone and iPad’s design in the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S Android devices. Samsung called foul, and since then the two companies have been engaged in a seemingly endless legal back-and-forth that has spanned over 30 cases in 10 countries, including Australia and Germany.

Samsung certainly knew what it was doing by filing its latest lawsuit against Apple yesterday, but the move was likely a symbolic gesture, as Samsung hasn’t had the best track record in its litigation against Apple. All of Samsung’s adjudicated claims against Apple were dismissed, FOSS Patents points out, and it hasn’t been able to fight off all of Apple’s claims against it.

Foss Patents’ Florian Mueller notes that Samsung desperately needs to win some of its cases, otherwise its patent portfolio will seem weakened. Mueller also points out that it would be suspect if Samsung ends up winning this latest claim in its home country:

It would certainly be odd if Samsung lost all (or almost all) of its lawsuits in the other eight jurisdictions in which it is suing Apple (United States, Germany, UK, France, Italy, Netherlands, Japan, Australia) but then succeeded big-time in its own country. I heard that Samsung accounts for approximately 20 percent of South Korean GDP. Based on its revenues, I think the figure would be closer to 10 percent, but the 20 percent figure might include some indirect effects. Whether the right number is 10 percent or 20 percent, if a single company group is so pervasive in a given country, I wonder if it’s even possible to find a single judge who doesn’t have family members who work for such a company or other indirect relationships.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It looks like owners of Samsung’s first Galaxy S devices didn’t take too kindly to the news that Android 4.0 won’t be made available as an upgrade.

Thanks to the massive outcry from customers, Samsung is now apparently reconsidering making Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich available to the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab, reports Korea’s ajnews. As the Verge explains it (the original report is in Korean), Samsung is looking into ways to fit Android 4.0 on the devices, even though it previously said that its TouchWiz software made that impossible.

The news is a good sign for Galaxy S owners, but even if Samsung does manage to squeeze Android 4.0 on the devices, it will likely be much later than when the Galaxy S II family gets it early next year.

Additionally, but unrelated, the company expects a 15 percent uptick in handset sales next year, given the current popularity of its Android lineup.

Samsung is apparently aiming to sell 374 million handsets next year, up from projected sales of 325 million units this year, Reuters reports. 150 million of those devices are expected to be smartphones. The news comes from industry officials who divulged Samsung’s plans to the Korea Economic Daily, so there’s a chance Samsung’s actual plans could even be more ambitious.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Owners of Samsung’s first lineup of Galaxy S phones are in for some bitter news this morning, as the company has confirmed that the phones won’t be receiving an update to Android 4.0 “Ice Cream Sandwich.”

Samsung pointed to its TouchWiz interface on the phones as the main reason for the snub, saying that there isn’t enough RAM and storage to run both Android 4.0 and TouchWiz, the Verge reports.

The company recently announced that its newer Galaxy S II phones will receive an Ice Cream Sandwich update early next year.

Given that Samsung sold over 10 million Galaxy S units in 2010, there are certainly going to be a lot of customers angered by this news. It’s particularly surprising since the Nexus S, which is also built by Samsung and shares plenty of hardware with the Galaxy S series, will be getting an Android 4.0 upgrade. Samsung explains that away, saying the Nexus S doesn’t run TouchWiz, so there are more resources available for Ice Cream Sandwich to use.

The news shows yet another downside to custom Android skins, which have been criticized for slowing down phones without adding much additional functionality. While Samsung likely won’t ever let go of TouchWiz on the Galaxy S, some intrepid users could release a version of Ice Cream Sandwich for the phones with Samsung’s software stripped out.

Additionally, Samsung also said that its first tablet, the original 7-inch Galaxy Tab, won’t see an upgrade for similar reasons. That’s less of an issue, since that tablet didn’t win over many fans.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

A U.S. judge has declared that Samsung infringes on Apple’s patents with its Galaxy smartphones and tablets, but also said that Apple has to prove the validity of its patents, Reuters reports.

The news is a half-win for Apple. If it can prove its patents valid it will be able block the sale of Samsung’s infringing products in the U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh made the statements during a court hearing on Thursday.

Apple filed suit against Samsung in April, saying that the Korean company “slavishly” copied its designs with the Galaxy S smartphones and Galaxy Tab tablets. Apple later asked for an injunction barring the sale of Samsung’s products in the U.S.

“We think we’ve clearly raised substantial questions,” Samsung attorney Kathleen Sullivan said, referring to the validity of Apple’s patents. Apple attorney Harold McElhinny argued that Apple’s patents shouldn’t be invalidated by previous designs, since Apple’s product design is a leap beyond previous tablets.

According to Reuters, Judge Koh made several references to the design similarities between the tablets. During the hearing, she asked if the Samsung attorney could tell the difference between the two devices at one point, while holding both tablets above her head.

“Not at this distance your honor,” Sullivan said, who Reuters noted was standing around ten feet away. Koh asked again if any Samsung lawyer could tell the difference between the devices, and eventually one gave the right answer.

Koh also noted that she wouldn’t grant Apple’s injunction based on a single “utility” patent, though she noted that decision is just tentative at the moment.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The fighting just doesn’t let up. Apple has now filed a lawsuit in a Japanese court to ban some of Samsung’s popular Galaxy smartphones and tablets.

Apple and Samsung have been in a legal fist fight since April, when Apple sued Samsung in U.S. court for patent infringement, saying that its Galaxy S smartphones and tablets “slavishly” copied the designs of the iPhone and iPad. Extensions of the infringement case have thus far made it to courts in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Korea.

Now Japan can be added to that long list. Apple’s suit to ban sales of Galaxy S and S II smartphones and the Galaxy Tab 7 tablet was filed with the Tokyo District Court, according to Reuters. The first hearing was reportedly held on Wednesday.

Samsung filed its own suit against Apple in Japan in April, and Apple filed a countersuit on Aug. 23. Apple is also seeking $1.3 million in additional damages.

The global battle has taken a few interesting turns before now. Just last week, Apple used a court-ordered injunction to force Samsung to remove its new Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet from the floor of the IFA trade show in Berlin. And the week before that, a Dutch judge ruled that several Galaxy devices violated Apple’s patents and forced Samsung to take some of its products off shelves in Europe.

This is certainly not the last we’ve heard of the fight between these two tech titans. Keep your eyes on VentureBeat for the latest on the ongoing legal struggle.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Apple’s long-running patent war with Samsung has led to another casualty. A Netherlands judge has issued a Europe-wide preliminary injunction against Samsung’s Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Ace phones, which would effectively ban sales of the phones, reports FOSS Patents.

The judge found that Samsung’s phones violated Apple’s European software patent 2,059,868, which has to do with scrolling in mobile photo galleries. The sales ban will take effect on October 13, which gives Samsung time to update its software so that it’s no longer infringing on Apple’s patent.

FOSS Patents’ Florian Mueller points out that this particular victory is a major blow to Android: “In all likelihood, the winning patent is infringed by Android itself — probably not the operating system per se, but by one or more of the applications that ship with Android and without which the usefulness of Android would be impaired in one particular area (photo viewing),” he wrote. “Apple now has the first enforceable court decision in its hand (out of many lawsuits going on around the world) that finds Android to infringe an Apple patent.”

Even though the ruling is technically “Europe-wide”, it’s only enforceable in countries where the above patent is valid. Mueller notes that Apple failed to follow through with its patent application in a number of countries, including Italy, Greece, and Spain. Additionally, the ruling only affects three Samsung subsidiaries registered within the Netherlands. That could still cause a headache for Samsung though, since the company uses the Netherlands as its primary hub for European logistics.

The news follows earlier patent wins by Apple, including the halting of Galaxy Tab sales in Australia and Europe (the latter was eventually reversed). Apple’s legal squabbles with Samsung began in April with a U.S. lawsuit over the company’s Galaxy Android smartphones and tablets. Apple argued that Samsung’s devices “slavishly” imitated its iPhone and iPad. Samsung filed a counter-suit against Apple, but Apple escalated the dispute even further by filing a lawsuit in South Korea, Samsung’s home country.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung announced today that sales of its new flagship Android smartphone, the Galaxy S II, have reached 5 million units just 85 days after launching in Asia and Europe in April.

Last year’s Galaxy S phones, smashing successes in their own right, took 125 days to sell the same number of units. Samsung ended up selling 10 million Galaxy S phones last year, but it looks like the Galaxy S II is going to perform well beyond that this year, according to the projection chart below.

The sales milestone isn’t too surprising since GS2 sales reached 3 million units in its first two months. Right now the phone is only available in South Korea, Japan and Europe. Samsung said last week that the Galaxy S II will finally make its way to the U.S. in August, but there’s still no official release date. I expect it to be available across all four major U.S. carriers, just like its predecessor last year.

The Galaxy S II is currently the king of the hill when it comes to high-end Android phones. The phone sports a 4.3-inch Super AMOLED screen (though the resolution is lower than the iPhone 4 and some 4-inch competitors), a Samsung dual-core processor, and support for near-field communications (NFC) built-in. The latter feature, available only in certain models, makes it primed to take advantage of mobile-payment services like Google Wallet.

As I’ve written previously, the Galaxy S II’s biggest competitor, not surprisingly, will be the iPhone 5 (or whatever else Apple has up its sleeve). It’s certainly going to be an interesting battle over the next few months, but I can’t help but think that Samsung would have been better off delivering the GS2 to the US earlier.

Via GigaOm

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

The high-stakes patent battle between Samsung and Apple took yet another turn on Tuesday when Apple filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission that seeks to bar many Samsung mobile devices from the U.S., according to Bloomberg.

Watching the legal battle between these two companies is like watching a hot tin of popcorn that’s waiting to explode: Every day, there’s a new pop, and you wonder when the whole thing is going to go off. Earlier today, we found out that Microsoft was using its patents related to Android to coax Samsung into paying Microsoft $15 for each Google Android phone it makes.

Samsung’s ITC complaint mirrors Samsung’s own ITC complaint that was filed about a week ago, which asked for an import ban on all Apple mobile products, including the iPhone and iPad. Then, on Friday, it was revealed that Apple had filed an injunction against four Samsung products, asking for the immediate removal of four Samsung devices from the U.S. market.

Apple’s ITC complaint says Samsung is violating four technical patents and two design patents, which apply to six smartphones and two tablets. The smartphones include the Galaxy S 4G, Fascinate, Transform, Captivate, Intercept, and Infuse 4G. The two tablets are the original Galaxy Tab and the new Galaxy Tab 10.1.

Apple and Samsung have been sparring since April, when Apple first sued Samsung for violating its patents with the Galaxy series of phone and tablet devices.

“Samsung has followed each of Apple’s groundbreaking products with imitation products that incorporate Apple’s technology and distinctive design,” Apple wrote to the ITC.

Now that Samsung and Apple have both sued each other in federal courts and both filed ITC complaints to block the other’s imports, there are likely more chapters to go before this story concludes. Rest assured, we’ll be there with updates as they happen.

Samsung and Apple have been sparring since April when Apple sued Samsung for violating its patents with the Galaxy series of phone and tablet devices. Samsung then filed a counter-suit against Apple and even dragged the battle to South Korea.

Samsung’s latest complaint specifically calls out “Mobile Electronic Devices, Including Wireless Communication Devices, Portable Music and Data Processing Devices, and Tablet Computers.” Essentially, that’s Apple’s entire portfolio.

The request for an import ban is standard when a company files an ITC complaint. Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents says the complaint is likely to be investigated by the ITC and a decision will be reached in 16 to 18 months.

On top of the ongoing legal battles, there’s a rumor circulating that Apple has dropped Samsung as its chip manufacturer for iPhones and iPads in favor of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. This news would make sense in light of increasingly ugly public squabbles between the two tech behemoths.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

A U.S. judge late on Tuesday rejected Samsung’s request to take a look at the next version of iPhone and iPad products from Apple, according to FOSS Patents. The two companies have been fighting each other for months over patent infringement claims.

Apple has taken part in several high-profile lawsuits as of late over patent claims, and whichever company wins usually ends up with substantial gains. Most recently, Apple lost in a patent battle with Nokia, with Apple agreeing to license several Nokia patents.

In the case of Samsung, Apple sued the company in April, saying that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets infringed on many patents and trademarks. In typical big corporate fashion, Samsung counter-sued and said Apple was infringing on its patents.

In late May, Samsung requested that Apple give it unreleased versions of the iPhone and iPad because it would be “highly relevant” to its defense. Before this, a judge had ordered Samsung to hand over materials to Apple, but those were items that already had hit the market.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung Electronics has filed patent countersuits against Apple in South Korea, Japan and Germany, responding to last week’s lawsuit from Apple about how Samsung’s smartphones and tablets copied Apple’s products.

Samsung said that Apple infringes five patents, but didn’t specify the technologies involved. The stakes are high and the litigation is just one among a number of companies jockeying to become the ultimate power in smartphones. Other lawsuits involve Apple against Nokia and HTC, Microsoft against Motorola, and Google against Oracle.

“Samsung is responding actively to the legal action taken against us in order to protect our intellectual property and to ensure our continued innovation and growth in the mobile communications business,” the statement said.

Apple filed a lawsuit last Friday alleging Samsung violated patents and trademarks of its iPhone and iPad. Tim Cook, chief operating officer at Apple, said during Apple’s earnings call that Samsung’s mobile division “crossed a line.” He said Apple is Samsung’s biggest customer and will continue to be so. But the companies discussed the matter for some time and Apple decided to take it to the courts, Cook said.

Apple’s iPhone has taken off in a big way, with more than 18.65 million units sold in the first quarter. It’s not clear how many of the Galaxy S and Galaxy Tab devices Samsung has sold. But Samsung is one of the leaders in the market for devices based on Google’s Android operating system. It’s no accident that Apple is going after Samsung in that respect.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Opening a new front in a wider intellectual property war, Apple is suing Samsung, alleging that the Korean company’s Galaxy phones and tablets violate Apple patents and trademarks.

The suit was filed on Friday in the U.S. District Court in Northern California, alleging patent and trademarket infringement and unfair competition. Apple is seeking injunctions and damages. The lawsuit is one of many between different makers of smartphones and tablets.

Apple’s spokesperson told Mobilized, “It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Samsung said it would fight Apple in the courts to protect its own intellectual property.

The scary thing for Apple is that Samsung is a major contract manufacturer of chips for Apple’s devices. It makes the A4 and A5 series of chips that Apple designs for its iPhone products.

Apple is also locked in patent litigation with Nokia and HTC. Microsoft is suing Motorola, and  Oracle is suing Google. Apple says that Samsung’s Galaxy phone copied everything on the iPhone from the core technology to the screen icons and the hardware shape. Apple also said the Samsung Galaxy Tab computer tablet copies Apple’s iPad tablet, with a rectangular design, rounded corners, black border and icons.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung will unveil the next generation of its Galaxy S smartphone and Galaxy Tab tablet computer at Mobile World Congress, according to tech blog Engadget.

The Galaxy Tab II will be a 10.1-inch tablet running the latest build of Google’s latest build of its Android operating system, Honeycomb. The newest Android build is specifically designed for tablets and should make Android tablets as attractive as the iPad. The tablet has a 1,280 by 800 pixel resolution display and a clock speed of 1 Ghz, according to the site. Engadget couldn’t confirm whether the processor is single-core or dual-core. But based on the guts of recently announced tablet computers, it’s probably a dual-core processor.

The Galaxy S II features an 800 by 480 pixel resolution display on a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen. AMOLED screens use organic components that are designed to bring out more vibrant colors with lower power. The current version of the Galaxy S uses an AMOLED screen. The iPhone uses a retina display, which isn’t exactly like most AMOLED screen. The Galaxy S II also sports a 1 Ghz dual-core processor, according to Engadget.

Mobile World Congress, held in Barcelona, Spain, starts Monday and lasts throughout the week. The timing of Samsung’s announcement seems appropriate after Hewlett-Packard announced a new lineup of smartphones and a tablet running Palm’s WebOS mobile operating system on Wednesday. HP’s Pre 3 packs a 1.4 Ghz processor and a similar screen, and the TouchPad is comparable to the Galaxy Tab II in terms of raw specs. Samsung is also apparently working on a 3D display and devices running on 4G LTE networks.

Samsung can take the opportunity to get a first-mover advantage over HP’s TouchPad — which comes out this summer — and Apple’s looming iPad 2 (and possibly a third version of the iPad later this year). The launch will still be behind Motorla’s Xoom tablet, though, which comes out on February 24, but Motorola’s tablet is inexplicably priced at around $800.

[Photo: Engadget]

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

T-Mobile has finally come clean on its latest flagship devices, a 4G version of Samsung’s Galaxy S phone, and LG’s G-Slate Android tablet, which will try to differentiate itself from the crowd with 3D recording and playback capabilities.

The news comes only a few days before the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, where many competitors will also be touting their latest and greatest phone and tablet hardware.

The Galaxy S 4G is basically a suped up version of T-Mobile’s existing Samsung Vibrant phone. It supports T-Mobiles 4G HSPA+ network at speeds up to 21Mbps (around ten times faster than its 3G network), and it will feature a front-facing camera with Qik video chat software built-in. The battery also appears to be slightly larger than its predecessor, likely compensating for the more power hungry 4G connection.

In short, if you’ve been holding out for a new T-Mobile phone, the Galaxy S 4G looks to be your dream device.

As for LG’s Slate, this is the first time we’ve received any solid details on the device, other than its brief appearance at the Consumer Electronics Show last month. Like most tablets on the horizon, it sports a 1 gigahertz dual-core Nvidia Tegra 2 processor, but its real claim to fame is its 3D capabilities. The 8.9-inch G-Slate can record 3D video using its rear stereoscopic camera and users can play back the video using 3D glasses. It joins devices like Fujifilm’s 3D HD camera that can easily create 3D video, although I’m not convinced that this is something that consumers actually want.

T-Mobile says we can expect the Galaxy S 4G later this month and the LG G-Slate some time in Spring. Pricing for both devices has yet to be announced.

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Life is good for the reigning Android hardware king Samsung. The company released its record-breaking earnings report (PDF link) for the fourth quarter of 2010 yesterday, revealing that it sold 2 million Galaxy Tab tablets and 80 million phones.

Samsung announced in early December that it sold 1 million Galaxy Tabs in its first two months on the market. The 2 million number tells us that sales for the tablet just about doubled in December. The company says its phone sales were driven in large part by its successful high-end Galaxy S line, which sold 10 million units last year. Phone sales in the quarter were up 17 percent from a year ago, and they reached a total of 280 million units sold for 2010, a 23 percent increase.

The strong fourth quarter helped Samsung to surpass many of its previous fiscal records. For 2010, the company saw total revenue of $139 billion, $14 billion in net income $15.5 billion in operating profit ($2.7 billion of which came from the last quarter).

Samsung also shipped 12.72 million flat panel TVs in the fourth quarter, a 10 percent increase from the previous quarter.

The company came out of nowhere last year with its slick Galaxy S phones, which were released in the US across all major cellphone carriers. Now Samsung has to fight to keep its position as the top Android phone manufacturer as we begin to see an onslaught of 4G devices from competitors with powerful dual-core CPUs. Other Android device makers like Motorola and HTC have already unveiled their plans for next-generation smartphones, and Samsung reminded investors that it has a dual-core successor to the Galaxy S on the way in a few months.

We suspect many new devices to appear at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona in a few weeks.

Via Engadget, Electronista

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Sure, Samsung is now the king of Android phone manufacturers, but that doesn’t mean it plans to rest on the success of its current Galaxy S line of Android phones.

The company is gearing up to show off the “evolution” of the Galaxy S line (and give smartphone geeks an early Valentine’s gift in the process) on February 13 at the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona, according to a Samsung promotional site. Samsung will also tease the product on February 1, which will likely amount to shadowy screen shot or some sort of silhouette.

Undoubtedly, Samsung’s next major Galaxy S phone (or whatever it’s called) will feature LTE 4G technology. The company has already unveiled an LTE 4G phone with the Infuse 4G for AT&T, but there’s still room for more hardware upgrades that will make it competitive with some of the high-end Android phones coming out of CES, like the Motorola Atrix. In particular, we’ll likely see a dual-core version of Samsung’s powerful Hummingbird processor, as well as its “Super AMOLED Plus” display.

Samsung certainly won’t be the only company debuting blazing fast new hardware at Mobile World Congress, but given the success of its Galaxy S line so far, I suspect it also has a few surprises in store to one-up the competition.

Via Engadget

Samsung will show off its new Galaxy Player at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next week, the blog Samsung Hub reports.

The Android 2.2 device will sport much of the same hardware that graces all of the Galaxy S phones (as well as the Nexus S), including a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, a 1 gigahertz processor, and both rear and front-facing cameras (at 3.2 megapixels and lower-quality VGA resolution respectively). It will be available in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB storage capacities, and it will also support microSD cards for extra storage.

The new Galaxy Player is a major upgrade from the current Galaxy Player 50, which is limited by its 3.2-inch display and slower speed. The hardware updates will allow the device to compete head-on with Apple’s fourth-generation iPod Touch, and will give Google’s Android platform a way to tempt users who aren’t yet ready to jump on an Android phone. It has the potential to be a Trojan Horse leading people to buy Android phones, just like the iPod Touch does for the iPhone.

Like the Galaxy Player 50, Samsung’s new Galaxy Player will also have full access to the Android Market, which is something that Google has previously prevented in Android media players. Complete access to Android’s wide array of mobile apps will be important to marketing the device as an iPod Touch alternative.

We reported last week that Samsung was edging close to selling 10 million Galaxy S phones by the end of the year, making it the first Android handset to do so. Given that success, it makes sense for Samsung to find even more ways to utilize the hardware behind the Galaxy S.

Calling all developers: We want your apps for VentureBeat’s Mobile App Spotlight! If you have a cool mobile app that hasn’t been featured on VentureBeat yet, sign up!

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

Samsung said two months ago that it expects to sell 10 million Galaxy S Android phones in 2010, and now it looks like the company is set to reach that goal. The Korean phone manufacturer announced earlier this week that it has sold 9.3 million Galaxy S phones worldwide and that it will likely hit 10 million by the end of the month.

Hitting that key sales number would make the Galaxy S the first Android phone to reach 10 million sales worldwide. Of course, Samsung is cheating a bit — the Galaxy S is actually a family of Android phones built around the same basic specifications. For the most part, there are only minor differences between the Galaxy S family members — although the Epic 4G on Sprint is an exception with its slide-out keyboard and front-facing camera.

Samsung also announced that it has sold 2 million Galaxy S phones in Korea since it was released in late June — making it the first smartphone in Korea to reach that benchmark. The Galaxy S even surpassed Apple’s iPhone, which has sold 1.8 million units since it debuted in Korea in November 2009.

Samsung’s success is to be expected — the Galaxy S phones are among the best Android options right now. They’re so good that Google ended up using the phones as the basis for the Nexus S, which features the same 4-inch Super AMOLED display and 1-gigahertz Samsung Hummingbird processor.

Via Information Week

July 9-10, 2013
San Francisco, CA

Early Bird Tickets on Sale

It’s been a big year for mobile news. Android continued its strong growth in the smartphone market, Apple shook things up with the iPhone 4 and completely rejuvenated the tablet market with the iPad, and former mobile titans like RIM, Palm and Nokia struggled to maintain their relevancy.

I may be a little biased as VentureBeat’s lead mobile writer, but this year made it clear to me why mobile is one of the most exciting and vibrant areas in technology right now. The research firm IDC predicted in September that smartphone adoption will grow around 55 percent this year over last, and it doesn’t look like that will slow down anytime soon. Come next year, we can expect cheaper and more capable smartphones, and tablets that can finally stand up to the iPad.

But before we enter 2011, let’s take a look back at some of the best and worst stories in mobile news this year.

The Best

The iPad finally gets the tablet right, others follow suit

Apple’s wildly successful tablet was one of the worst kept secrets in the technology industry by the end of 2009, when multiple reports pointed to the fact that Apple was gearing up to introduce a tablet device. But not everybody was excited for yet another computing platform (myself included). But, Apple being Apple, it managed to defy expectations when the iPad was announced in January, and it continued to do so as the tablet sold like crazy, surpassing 7.5 million units sold in October.

Mere speculation of the iPad sparked an entirely new wave of tablets earlier this year, but most of those early entries failed, like the HP Slate and Microsoft Courier (more on the latter below). As it was becoming clearer that the iPad was a success, pretty much every major technology company threw their hats into the tablet arena, with the majority adopting Android as their tablet platform of choice. While Samsung’s Galaxy Tab is the only legitimate Android iPad competitor right now, we can expect even stronger competition next year. RIM also unveiled its BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, which looks cool, but didn’t do much to negate the company’s failure to innovate this year (see below).

Android adoption grows like wildfire thanks to killer devices

Google’s Android platform wasn’t truly successful until the release of the Motorola Droid in November 2009, which was buoyed by a strong anti-Apple marketing campaign. Verizon apparently spent $100 million advertising the Droid, an investment which went on to help the entire Android platform in 2011. Earlier this month, Google’s Andy Rubin said that 300,000 Android phones are now being activated every day (nearly 10 million a month), up from around 50,000 activations at the beginning of the year. In comparison, Apple recently revealed that it shipped 14.1 million iPhones in its last quarter.

We can also point to the slew of great Android devices this year as a driving force behind the platform’s success. The year started off with the first true “Google phone”, the Nexus One, which Google attempted to sell on its own through an online store. That plan didn’t work out so well for Google, but the Nexus One heralded other superpowered Android phones like the Evo 4G and Droid X. In the second half of the year, Samsung unveiled its ambitious Galaxy S line of phones across all major US carriers, which we’ll discuss further below.

Basically, if you were on the lookout for an Android phone this year, it was tough to be disappointed.

Apple’s iPhone 4: Its most polished entry yet

Despite the many great Android phones that hit the market this year, Apple held its own with the iPhone 4 — which brought a sexy new design, high-definition video recording, front facing camera and FaceTime for video conferencing, and a high-resolution “Retina Display.” Apple didn’t increase the iPhone’s screen size to compete with larger Android phones, but the iPhone 4’s display looks so good it didn’t seem to matter that it was still 3.5-inches.

But while the iPhone 4 is definitely one of the best phones to come out this year, it isn’t without it’s problems, as we’ll discuss below.

Samsung comes out of nowhere to become a major Android manufacturer

Samsung has been building mobile phones for years now, and it’s also released a couple of low-end Android phones. So you can imagine the surprise when, seemingly out of nowhere, Samsung unveiled an entire family of high-end Android smartphones featuring its droolworthy 4-inch Super AMOLED screens and its powerful 1-gigahertz Hummingbird processor. And the company didn’t just focus on hardware — Samsung also managed to bring its Galaxy S phones across all major U.S carriers.

The company’s ambition has seemed to pay off. Samsung announced in November that it shipped 3 million Galaxy S phones in the US, and earlier this month we reported that it stole the top Android manufacturer throne from Motorola. Much of the hardware in the Galaxy S phones went into Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet, which has sold 1 million units two months after it launched. And of course, Samsung’s Galaxy S experience led directly to the Nexus S, the second Google phone and Nexus One successor.

Front-facing cameras for mobile video chat

Before we knew the official specifications of the iPhone 4, it was widely known that it would pack a front-facing camera for mobile video conferencing. At the time, I argued that the iPhone 4 would spur on a wave of innovation in mobile video chat, something I believed would be the next killer feature in smartphones. When Apple finally unveiled the iPhone 4, its FaceTime mobile video chat software was one of the biggest announcements. Finally, we had a simple way to initiate mobile video chats from our phones as easily as making a standard phone call.

While FaceTime is certainly restricted by only working on WiFi networks, Apple made the technology even more useful by bringing the software to Macs and the most recent iPod Touch version (which also sports cameras).

Android phones like the Evo 4G, MyTouch 4G and Nexus S also feature front-facing cameras, and I suspect the feature will become even more common next year. The new wave of front cameras also opened the doors for mobile video chat startups like Tango, which has created mobile video chat apps that will work across the iPhone and Android.

Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 is surprisingly cool

Perhaps it was the low expectations going in, but count me as shocked that Microsoft was actually able to make a desirable smartphone platform in Windows Phone 7 — one that offered some key difference from its competitors, as well as an attractive and refreshing user interface.

Microsoft announced WP7 in February, but didn’t officially launch the phones until October. And by that point, it was obvious that Microsoft was going to do whatever it took to regain its relevancy in mobile devices. The company reportedly spent around $500 million marketing WP7, and racked up about 15,000 app developers a few weeks after the phones hit shelves. Microsoft announced yesterday that its partners have shipped 1.5 million phones to carriers and retailers, which doesn’t tell us much about actual users, but it’s a sign that consumers definitely want the phones.

Microsoft knew what it needed to succeed: Attractive high-end smartphones, a strong app community and a modern OS. With Windows Phone 7, it managed to put together all of the right pieces to deliver a platform that can just about match the iPhone and Android, even if it is several years too late.

Worst

Microsoft’s Kin: The phones nobody wanted

Kin. Need I say anything else? From the moment Microsoft announced the Kin phones, its misguided attempt at capturing the youth market, it was clear that Kin was an idea several years too late. They were severely restricted phones that had subscription plans just as expensive as real smartphones. So it was no surprise when Microsoft, surely with plenty of egg on its face, ended up killing the project several weeks after the phones hit stores.

At the time of the Kin’s death, I wrote:

What started as an ambitious attempt to justify Microsoft’s purchase of Danger, the company behind the popular Sidekick messaging phones, turned into a misguided attempt at trying to figure out what young people find cool. Never mind that many teenagers and twenty-somethings had already moved on to legitimate smartphone platforms.

The Kin phones lacked an application store and seemingly basic functionality like a calendar and instant messaging software — a glaring omission for something aimed at “connected” youth. Ultimately, the Kin’s failure is one Microsoft needs to remember: Instead of trying to force-feed a lackluster product to consumers, perhaps it should devote more time on creating something people actually want — like it did with the Xbox 360.

Microsoft kills the Courier dual-screen “digital journal”

At a time when every company seemed hell-bent on taking on the iPad with tablets of their own, Microsoft’s Courier was a breath of fresh air. Courier was a dual-screened “digital journal” that was touch-screen capable, but also featured a stylus pen for hand written text, diagrams and more. Video demonstrations of the product made it seem like the evolution of the digital planner, combined with a personal journal and web-enabled tablet.

It was an ambitious move for Microsoft — so of course the company killed it before the project even got off the ground.

iPhone 4 design issues: Antennagate, glassgate and the elusive white iPhone 4

As beautiful as Apple’s iPhone 4 may be, it became clear over the course of the year that Apple may have actually over-designed the phone to the point where its looks was interfering with its functionality.

The first big issue was antennagate: As soon as the iPhone 4 started getting into consumers’ hands, many began to notice that they could repeatedly kill their iPhone’s reception by holding the lower-left corner of the device. This time around, Apple made the device’s antenna an integral part of its design, and it appeared as if that allowed users to easily block reception. The issue became so widely known that Apple CEO Steve Jobs held an unprecedented press event to address the issue, where he mentioned that it’s fairly easy to block any phone’s reception in a similar manner. Jobs admitted that Apple isn’t perfect, and instituted a program to offer free cases to every iPhone 4 owner.

But the iPhone 4’s troubles didn’t stop there. Several gadget sites eventually reported on another phenomenon, dubbed “Glassgate”, where certain cases that slid onto the back of the iPhone could trap dirt and debris, eventually leading to scratches and cracks on its rear glass panel. Apple never admitted to the issue, but ended up removing sliding cases from its online stores and retail locations. The company is reportedly investigating just how widespread the issue is. It doesn’t appear to be affecting as many users as antennagate, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple is keen on avoiding any further controversy with the iPhone 4.

The iPhone 4’s design was also reportedly the reason we never saw a white version of the device. Apple showed off white iPhone 4s when it was first announced, but that version never found its way to stores. Apparently, the white iPhone 4’s glass back was leaking in light — to the point where it was washing out pictures taken by the device’s camera. The issue was apparently discovered at the last-minute by Apple. The company ended up delaying the release of the white iPhone 4 three times without explanation– now it’s expected to land some time in Spring 2011.

HP buys Palm … and does nothing with it

Following lackluster sales of the Palm Pre and Pixi, former mobile leader Palm was in a tough spot at the beginning of the year, and it quickly became obvious that the company was looking to sell. HP ended up snagging the company for a cool $1.2 billion after a frenzied bidding war from four other major companies. The acquisition showed that HP was serious about becoming a player in the smartphone business, and we argued it had the potential to completely reshape the mobile computing landscape.

That may still happen eventually, but for now it doesn’t look like HP has done much with Palm. In October, the company announced the next version of Palm’s innovative webOS operating system, but at the same time it revealed the Palm Pre 2, which was nothing more than a speed upgrade to the original Pre. At a time when killer Android phones were coming left and right, it seemed downright crazy that Palm still didn’t have a major new handset. At least HP seems interested in bringing webOS to tablets early next year with the “PalmPad.”

RIM and Nokia continue their downward spiral into irrelevancy

I suppose it was too much to ask to see some spark of innovation from either Research in Motion or Nokia this year. Both companies managed to release new flagship devices that somehow feel several years too late.

RIM unveiled the BlackBerry Torch in August, it’s first attempt at combining a multitouch screen with its beloved BlackBerry hardware keyboard, which ran its new BlackBerry 6 operating system. Unfortunately, the new OS wasn’t the major upgrade that RIM needed to compete with more modern competitors, and the Torch was hampered by a slow processor and low display resolution. In the end, it was a minor release when RIM needed something major. Next year RIM may release a phone featuring the next-generation OS on its PlayBook tablet, but who knows when that will actually happen.

Nokia faced similar software problems with its N8 smartphone. In my review, I found the N8’s hardware to be impressive, but it was ultimately hampered by its aging Symbian OS. Nokia too is gearing up to release a next-generation OS next year, dubbed Meego, together with Intel. But Meego has seen some serious delays, and unless it comes out early next year, it risks being too little, too late, for Nokia.

[Photo via Ed Yourdon]