Posts tagged Samsung
Bell Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant Unlocked!
Aug 21st
Finally! After almost a month of turmoil, Canada’s “best” Android phone has finally been unlocked, and it isn’t through one of those expensive third-party providers. In fact, you can unlock the device yourself. All you need is root access, a tiny .exe file, and a little Command Prompt knowledge.
See, the unlock code is in fact embedded in the device; all that needed to happen was someone to decode the hex values. So, over the last 24 hours, Galaxy S owners the world over have paraded around in their large underwears, dancing the jig of the carrier-free man.
I can confirm that procedure works, and I am currently using a Rogers SIM on the Bell Galaxy S Vibrant.
Hit up XDA-Developers for more information, and thank the original poster for his hard work!
This Week In Android 8/1-8/7
Aug 8th
Even though this week was BlackBerry Torch week, that doesn’t mean Android didn’t have its fair share of news. Multiple numbers came in this week showing tremendous growth in the market share and mind share of Android handsets, the Nexus One isn’t completely dead, and there were various other Android phone release rumors and announcements. Check in after the break to see the week’s Android News.
Android is the best. Or, at least, it’s the most popular. Up 886% year over year.
Half of BlackBerry Users are Ready to Jump Ship to Android and iPhone
Froyo Hitting More Devices. Onto the next one!
Bell Samsung Vibrant launching August 6 for $149.95
Motorola Flipout Now Available From Rogers for $29.99
Android OS Takes the Lead from BlackBerry in Q2
Google Keeps the Nexus One Alive as an Official Developer Phone
Samsung Gem – a Wave with Android for Verizon?
Droid X Froyo Update Coming in “Early September”
HTC Desire Available From Telus for $79.99! Whoa!<Rumour: Bell Samsung Vibrant not unlockable
WIND Mobile Getting High End Motorola Milestone XT720 Android Device?
Rumour: Bell Samsung Vibrant not unlockable
Aug 7th
Now this won’t really be news to anyone except Canadians who want to unlock their newly-minted Bell Vibrant to be used on another provider, but it turns out that the device for whatever reason is not unlockable. There is a thread going on at Howardforums where the consensus seems to be that no company can seem to find a suitable unlock algorithm for the phone, and for most new Samsung devices. Bell will, after 30 days and for $75 dollars, sell you an unlock code for the device, but the price seems exorbitant.
Besides the iPhone, which is either factory or software unlocked, this Samsung device is the first I’ve heard that is hard to crack.
Remember, BlackBerry devices are always going to be easy to crack, and they can be obtained from our store should you need one. This goes for the Torch 9800 when it is released, too.
Samsung Gem - a Wave with Android for Verizon?
Aug 5th
Verizon peeps have all the luck. According to a leak by IntoMobile, the Samsung Gem will be a lower-cost version of the Fascinate, running Android 2.1, when it is released sometime soon. The Gem looks not-so-vaguely like the newly-released bada phone, the Samsung Wave, on which the company installed their own awful software onto some beautiful metallic hardware. Honestly, 800×480 Super AMOLED on a 3.2″ screen is GORGEOUS. That the UI and apps are wholly unusable is infuriating.
So Samsung must have taken a cue from their manufacturing process; they know they’re not selling a ton of Wave devices, so why not take the hardware as is, or close enough, and slap some Android love on it. Makes perfect sense to me. Heck, I’d buy one if the price was right.
Along with the Gem, the Fascinate will be coming to Verizon in the next few weeks as well. This is their Galaxy S variant and shows little difference to the already-released Captivate and Vibrant, on AT&T and T-Mobile respectively. Rogers will also soon be getting the Captivate, and Bell the Vibrant even sooner, this week in fact.
(IntoMobile)
Bell Samsung Vibrant launching August 6 for $149.95
Aug 4th
This wasn’t unexpected, but the news is here, and it’s officially official. The Samsung Galaxy S variant that we’ve seen floating around the US in T-Mobile bands is now in Canada, and will be priced at a fairly expensive $149.95 on a 3-year term, $499.95 without one. While cheaper than the 16GB iPhone 4 by $10, it doesn’t exactly scream “alternative!” to me. That’s because, for all it’s beautiful specs, the phone runs Android 2.1 underneath Samsung’s less-than-ideal TouchWiz3 interface.
I will be getting a demo to try as soon as it’s released, and a full review will be forthcoming, but until then, hold tight.
In the meantime, try to win one yourself at Bell’s contest page.
This Week In Android 7/25-7/31
Aug 1st
It’s been a scant week as far as Android news goes. We had word of Samsung’s Galaxy Spica receiving its taste of Eclair goodness, Google’s plan to make $10 billion per year with their Android platform, and yesterday GuruDaniel did an excellent review on the Otterbox Commuter case for the Nexus One. Join us after the break to see this week’s Android news.
Google aiming at 1 billion Android users, $10 billion yearly mobile revenue
Galaxy Spica To Get 2.1?
Accessory Review: Otterbox Commuter Case for Nexus One
Galaxy Spica To Get 2.1?
Jul 28th
File this as a rumor because of the amount of delays thus far, but one of our solid Rogers connects just informed us that Rogers is planning to release the 2.1 update for the Galaxy Spica within the next month.
We will keep you posted as we know more.
This Week In Android 7/18-7/24
Jul 25th
It’s been a rough week for Android with the largest (and saddest) story being that the famous Google Nexus One is no longer available for sale from Google. GuruDaniel wrote a heart-wrenching salute to the handset, explaining how the Nexus One helped push Android hardware into the next generation, and how it is the ultimate slate for developers and hackers to build on. Other than that, we have a few Android handsets hitting the Canadian carriers Bell and Telus as well as an extra blurry shot of a Droid slider device hopefully headed to Verizon. Check in after the break to see what Android news you may have missed this week.
Google’s Nexus One Discontinued. Wherefore Art Thou, Open Android?
Bell To Get HTC Wildfire? Say It Ain’t So!
If A Droid and Palm Pre Had An Affair…This Would Be The Result
Android 2.1 clears half of all Android devices, Froyo creeps up
Bell Samsung Vibrant Hitting Early August
Jul 23rd
If the rumours are true, Bell will attempt to counter Telus’ HTC Desire with its own superphone at the beginning of August, with the Samsung Vibrant. The build is the same as that of the T-Mobile Vibrant, sans extra apps and Avatar, but the hardware still screams quality. Electronista is calling for August 6th, though that’s still rumour.
When this comes out it will be the most powerful Android device available in Canada. While the Desire and the Vibrant each have 1GHZ processors, the latter’s Hummingbird processor is much more powerful than the Desire’s Snapdragon (though they both have equally awesome names). In 3D tests, especially, the Vibrant’s graphics processing power blows the Desire out of the water.
The Vibrant ships with Android 2.1, a 4″ 800×480 Super AMOLED screen, 5MP camera that can shoot 720p video, 16GB built-in flash memory, WiFi, GPS, etc. Should be a killer phone.
(via Electronista)
Samsung Developing Flexible, “Unbreakable” AMOLED Displays
Jul 20th
It looks like Samsung is taking to task the problem of broken screens in mobile devices with the development of flexible AMOLED screens. They have given one of these screens a beating (literally) and it seems to hold up quite well, especially when compared to a “normal” screen. The biggest problem with the idea of a flexible display is that unless the digitizer—the component which overlays the screen and actually registers touch input—is flexible, it will still be easily broken if the device takes a hard fall. The worst thing is, the digitizer is what makes Samsung’s SuperAMOLED displays so super. Who knows if the same results could even be achieved if the digitizer were flexible. We’ve got the screen-smashing footage queued up for you after the break.
[Via OLED-Display.net]
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