Samsung Galaxy S4 Launching April With S Pen

We caught a glimpse of a Samsung Galaxy S4 concept video earlier this morning, but let’s return from the land of make-believe for a minute to take care of some real Samsung business, shall we? We know many of you, like us, are highly anticipating the reveal and release of the next Samsung Galaxy S device, which may be coming in nearly four months from now and may pack a little surprise if a recent rumor turns out to be true.

According to Korean website Enuri, Samsung plans to launch its Galaxy S4 in April 2013 that sports a 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display, a quad-core Exynos 5440 chip, 13-megapixel rear auto-focus camera and an S Pen, which previously was only made available for Samsung’s Galaxy Note line of smartphones and tablet.

Seeing how Samsung is going to be a total buzzkill and not announce the Galaxy S4 at CES next week, we’ll just need to sit back and wait until they decide to officially unveil their next Galaxy S phone, which if it’s launching in April, may be sometime next Spring.

Source-ubergizmo.com

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Facebook For Android 2.0 Aims For Speed

Facebook has just announced its Facebook for Android 2.0 app which is landing in Google Play later today. The new app is now using native code, just like it does on the iOS version which brought a huge speed boost, especially on the new iPhone 5 hardware. This is the same kind of performance increase that we expect for Android devices this afternoon when the update cycle starts.

Although the app should look the same on the surface, there was a lot of coding work and performance analysis that led to this new version 2.0 (more info on that). This is the biggest change in Facebook for Android since it was first released, and the good news is that Facebook should be able to rely on this foundation for a while, so expect the next release to be more about functionality than performance.

This is great news for Android users who may have grown frustrated by the slow performance of the Facebook app for Android. This was the #1 issue with this app from what I can tell. We’ll see if the release lives up to the expectations, but I’m pretty optimistic, and we’ll know for sure in a few hours. My Galaxy Note 2 cannot wait one more second to get this one.

Source-ubergizmo.com

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RIM announces Android Port-A-Thon for January 2013

We know that RIM’s CMO promised that Blackberry 10 would launch with at least 70,000 apps, although with RIM recently announcing their Android Port-A-Thon, we’re guessing that some of those 70,000 apps will be apps ported over from Google’s Android platform. That’s not a bad thing though because Android numbers more than half a million apps the last time we checked, and if more popular Android apps get ported onto Blackberry 10, the more people might be willing to check out RIM’s latest mobile operating system.

RIM has announced that the Android Port-A-Thon will be taking place on the 11th of January 2013, and it seems that they are eager to reward developers with make successful ports. According to their website (source link below), a successfully ported and approved app will net the developer $100 with a maximum of 20 apps per vendor. Developers who submit apps will also be eligible to participate in drawing in which they will be able to win a Dev Alpha device. For interested developers, hit up the source link below for the details, and for the layman what this means is that (hopefully) by the time Blackberry 10 launches, there will be a ton of cool apps you will be able to check out.

Source-ubergizmo.com

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Google Names Its Best Android Apps For 2012

Not to be outdone with Apple’s list of best iTunes apps for the year 2012, Google is also flashing its own list of this year’s best Android apps. Topping the list is the Zappos app, which is basically an app for shopping shoes, clothes, housewares, and more. Second in line is the insanely popular note-taking app, Evernote. Landing at the third spot is Pinterest and bagging the fourth place is Grimm’s Snow White.

The list goes on with the offline reader Pocket taking the fifth spot. Expedia took the sixth place while the full-featured genealogy app Ancestry sits at the seventh. Fancy is Google’s eight best Android app in 2012 and money-managing app Mint lands at the ninth. The list also includes SeriesGuide Show Manager, Pixlr Express, and our favorite TED Conferences app. They are Google’s tenth, eleventh, and twelfth best apps, respectively. You can check out the full list on Google Play.

Source-ubergizmo.com

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Christmas Day 2012 Becomes Record-Breaking For Tablet, Smartphone Activations

It shouldn’t be a surprise by now that mobile devices, including tablets, have been seen as the perfect gift to give to family, friends and loved ones during the holiday season. Every year, there’s an increase in iOS and Android devices activated on Christmas Day, but this year broke records as there were more iOS and Android devices activated in history.

A report published by analytics firm Flurry took iOS and Android device activations from December 1st to the 20th and compared that data to activations of those devices on Christmas Day. Between December 1st and December 20th, four million iOS and Android devices were activated a day. On December 25th, a whopping 17.4 million devices were activated, which is a 332% increase. The previous record was set last year at 6.8 million activations, which was easily doubled this year.

Tablets also seems to have been the gift of choice this year as 51% of iOS and Android activations were tablets with the other 49% giving smartphones for Christmas. It’s good to know the tablet my grandmother received this Christmas Day has influenced Flurry’s statistics, even though she’s currently only using the thing to play Slotomania.

Source-bergizmo.com

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Apple drops Galaxy S III mini from patent case

More news today from the ongoing legal tussle between Apple and Samsung. Reuters reports that 1 Infinite Loop's lawyers have withdrawn the Galaxy S III mini handset from the company's ongoing patent infringement case against Samsung. The device was added to the lawsuitjust last month.

The decision stemmed from the fact that the Galaxy S III mini isn't available in the US and isn't likely to be sold here. Samsung had previously argued as much in asking that the phone be kept out of the lawsuit. It was initially added along with the Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet and Android Jelly Bean OS. Although it wasn't officially available in the US, Apple's lawyers argued that the Galaxy S III mini should be included because they were able to purchase one through Amazon and have it delivered here.

source-TUAW

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Production lines running through Chinese New Year to meet iPad mini demand

As you celebrate this holiday season with a game of Angry Birds Star Wars on that new iPad mini, take a moment to consider the workers in China who are about to forego their traditional two-week Chinese New Year break. According to United Daily, at least two of Apple's suppliers in the country are planning to run their production lines right through the holiday to meet Chinese demand for the iPhone 5 and iPad mini.

Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. Ltd. will run at least some of its lines, while Flexium Interconnect, which makes Apple's printed circuit boards, is keeping its factory in Kunshan, Jiangsu Province open with the help of students.

While it appears that iPhone 5 supply has finally met demand in the US, the iPad mini continues to be hard to find here despite ship times from Apple's online store shrinking to one week earlier this month.

Source-TUAW

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New tablet owners share Christmas tweets, iPad on top

Anecdotal evidence from Twitter suggests there were a lot of new iPads under the Christmas tree. According to a graphic spotted by Andy Baio, the number of people proclaiming this is my "First tweet from my iPad" eclipses those tweeting for the first time from their Kindle Fire, Nexus 7 or Surface tablet. There's no source for the data, so we can't confirm that its accurate. If it is true, the iPad was the gift to give and receive this holiday season.

source-TUAW

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