Sony, Samsung end joint venture

Japan's Sony and South Korean rival Samsung are dissolving their joint venture in liquid crystal display panels as Sony tries to stanch years of losses in its TV business.
Samsung Electronics Co. will buy all of Sony's shares in the joint venture for about 1.08 trillion Korean won ($935 million) subject to a final agreement, Sony Corp. said Monday.
The joint venture called S-LCD was set up in 2004. Sony, which fell behind in flat panel TVs, invested in a Samsung panel factory to ensure a steady supply of panels for its LCD TVs.
Sony's TV operation has lost money for seven straight years and the company is straining to return that key business to profit.
Source
The prices of TVs as well as panels have been dropping so it makes more sense to buy panels at the market rate than to invest in production.

Samsung Pushes 'Green' Memory

Samsung's components division is pushing the eco-friendly angle at CeBIT this year (just as it did last year). The difference this time around is that the company believes its reduced-power-consumption 30nm DDR memory could hold the key to the future of cloud computing.

Following on neatly from the Cloud Computing Summit, at which a number of the panelists spoke of the infrastructure obstacles facing the concept, Samsung was today showing off its 30nm Green DDR3 2 gigabit (Gb) and 4Gb memory. The firm says this RAM will allow datacentres to handle the excessive workloads of fully fledged cloud computing.

Samsung had set up a working model with standard 50nm DDR3 memory on the left and its two flavors of 30nm Green DDR3 on the right. A readout showed that while the 50nm setup was burning 100W, the 2Gb and 4Gb models were using just 60W and 40W respectively, more than halving the energy usage.

As well as reducing power consumption, the 30nm memory keeps operating temperatures lower. While the 50nm memory ran at around 59 degrees Centigrade, the 30nm setups hovered around 53 and 50 degrees respectively.

All of which is good news for servers and data centers groaning in anticipation of the workload they will face as we all start living our lives in the cloud. And the word 'green' isn't really the key here: for me the selling point of this technology is clearly lowering energy bills rather than saving the planet.

Nevertheless it's hard to escape the impression (although perhaps this is being overly cynical) that for all its undoubted innovation, Samsung is somewhat prone to bobbing with the prevailing currents, marketing-wise; the theme of this year's CeBIT was always supposed to be the cloud, and so Samsung's memory is the saviour of cloud computing. Last year everyone was talking about the environment, so a distinctly similar concept (alongside a number of related initiatives, admittedly) was pressed into the service of planetary salvation.

Still, we're looking forward to living in the cloud, so anything that could help to make that dream a reality is alright by us. Samsung told us that its green memory is already being used in Fujitsu servers, and it will roll out further flavors over the course of this year. The company said it will reveal further details of its green memory plans in April.

See also:

More CeBIT news

CeBIT video reports

Source: pcworld

Microsoft to Resume Updating Samsung WP7 Phones

When you fail, try again.

Microsoft will soon resume pushing Windows Phone 7 updates on Samsung phones after the company has found the cause of problems it encountered when it first tried released update.

Late in February, an update which was supposed to enhance the update process of smartphones running the Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system inadvertently bricked some phones.

The update was in preparation for a big update to the mobile platform which will give WP7 devices some performance upgrades and new features like cut and paste.

However, up to 10 percent of users found their phones unusable after the update. Among those were Samsung Omnia 7 users.

Microsoft and various others posted workaround for the problem but the software giant itself halted the update process for affected phones.

Now, Microsoft is saying that it has “pinpointed and fixed problems preventing a small percentage of Windows Phones from installing the February software patch”.

“Starting today, we plan to resume rolling out the February update to Samsung phones,” revealed Microsoft in a blog yesterday.

Exclusive : Nvidia Confirms Samsung Tegra 2 Design Win

Semiconductor giant Nvidia has confirmed to ITProPortal that Samsung will use the Nvidia Tegra 2 system on chip on some of its smartphones but, strangely enough, will not apparently differentiate between the two variants.

Pocket-Lint and Anandtech both reported the presence of the Nvidia Tegra 2 in the Samsung Galaxy S II, which is the successor of the widely popular Galaxy S. Samsung 

A few hours earlier today, a spokesperson for Nvidia showed us a presentation slide that mentioned three smartphone design wins for the Tegra 2 SoC, two of which had been previously announced (the Atrix 4G and the LG Optimus 2X) with a Samsung smartphone being the surprise.

Samsung will use its own system on chip, the Exynos, in some of the of its forthcoming superphones and according to Pocket-lint, some territories will get the Tegra 2 instead; geographically separating both stock keeping units will go a long way towards eliminating confusion on the market.

The most likely scenario is that Samsung has yet to reach cruise speed when it comes to producing enough of its own system on chip and is likely to use the Tegra 2 as a (worthy) substitute until then.

Source

Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL to hit Germany (and India) in three days

The Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL is just about to hit the shelves in Germany and India. Pre-orders are already accepted and the most eager customers will be able to get their hands on one come Monday.
The Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL was announced a three weeks ago, but we guess its similarity to the Galaxy S helped it enter production so quickly. Plus with the Super Clear LCD replacing the Super AMOLED there's no screen supply shortages to worry about.
Now for the pricing. In Germany the 16GB (there's no 8GB version this time) Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL goes for €380, which is about €10 less than the 8GB I9000 Galaxy S. You should also remember that the I9003 is only now coming to the market. Its price will probably slide down even further making it a more attractive offer.
The Samsung I9003 Galaxy SL prospects in India seem even better - its asking price is just €315. Now that's starting to look like a real bargain!
If you still haven't made up your mind about the I9003 Galaxy SL, you have three days to check out our review. It should answer most of the questions you may have about this new Galaxy S smartphone.
Source:http://www.gsmarena.com

Samsung S5260 Star II review: In the making

From GSMArena team, 25 February 2011.

You must remember this one – maybe not by face but certainly by name. The Samsung S5260 Star II has some big shoes to fill: over 10 million units sold propelled the predecessor to Stardom. The original Samsung Star was one of the most popular handsets in the early days of affordable touch phones. For the sequel, the count-up to 10 million has begun but this time around customers are harder to please.
Maybe this is part of the reason why it took Samsung over two years to release the Star II. An upgrade is certainly in order and it’d better be worth it. Here’s what the Star II is bringing to the table in short:

 Key features

• GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, GPRS/EDGE class 12
• Dimensions: 107.5 x 54 x 12.4 mm, 94 g
• 3" capacitive TFT touchscreen, WQVGA resolution (240 x 400 pixels)
• TouchWiz 3.0 UI
• 30MB onboard storage
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB)
• 3.5mm audio jack
• 3 megapixel fixed focus camera with smile detection
• Wi-Fi
• Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP
• microUSB v2.0
• Document viewer
• Smart unlock
• Smart dialing
• Accelerometer sensor
• FM radio with RDS
• DNSe
• SNS integration
• Find Music recognition service
• Great battery life
• SMS spam filtering
• Decent audio quality

Main disadvantages

• No 3G
• Low-res display
• Basic fixed-focus camera with no flash
• Poor video recording – QVGA@15fps
• Poor web browser
• Laggy user interface

The changes aren’t too many but they should be significant enough for an entry-level handset. Does anyone really expect miracles from a €100 phone – 1080p video recording and big AMOLED screens are reserved for the expensive devices.

The Samsung S5260 Star II at ours
What the Samsung S5260 Star II should try and deliver is decent telephony, sleek design, long-lasting battery and the occasional bonus feature. A game or two would also be nice, but probably not mandatory – gaming has long since become a smartphone territory.
So let’s see how the new Star fits the bill. Join us after the break.

Source:  GSM Arena Team

Samsung Galaxy 2 Faces Droid Bionic In Smartphone Battle

By Elias Samuel | February 25, 2011 12:21 PM EST

The Samsung Galaxy 2 and Motorola Droid Bionic are smartphones both expected to be launched in the U.S. soon.
The Droid Bionic, designed by Motorola, will go to Verizon, and work on the 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network. Meanwhile, the Samsung Galaxy S2, which recently popped up on pre-order at a UK online retailer, is expected to go to T-Mobile, as confirmed by the company's official twitter feed. Although the Samsung Galaxy S2 is not branded as 4G, its predecessor Samsung Galaxy S on T-Mobile now runs on the company's 4G network. The Samsung Galaxy S2 may get 4G branding when it launches in US.

Both these smartphones have exceptional features to grab the attention of enthusiasts. Here are the highlights:
Size:
With a dimension of 125.9 x 66.9 x 13.3 mm Motorola Droid Bionic 4G smartphone is slightly bigger than Samsung Galaxy S2 with dimensions of 125.3 x 66.1 x 8.5 mm. The Droid smartphone weighs 158 g and the Galaxy S2 weighs 116 g.
Display:
The display in Bionic is 4.3-inch TFT capacitive touchscreen with 540 x 960 pixel resolution. Samsung's phone has 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 pixel resolution.
Input:
When it comes to input, Bionic offers the multi-touch input, an accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, a proximity sensor for auto turn-off, touch-sensitive controls and Swype input. The Galaxy S2 offers TouchWiz UI v4.0, multi-touch input, accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate, touch-sensitive controls, a proximity sensor for auto turn-off, gyroscope sensor and Swype text input options.

Memory:
The memory capacity of Bionic is 16 GB storage along with 512 MB RAM and 2 GB ROM. Meanwhile Galaxy S2 has 1 GB RAM with 16GB and 32 GB storage capacities. Both the smartphones have microSD support up to 32 GB.
3G:
Motorola's smartphone gives Rev. A up to 3.1 Mbps and LTE whereas Samsung's smartphone offers HSDPA up to 21 Mbps and HSUPA up to 5.76 Mbps.
WLAN/Bluetooth/ USB:
Both the smartphones  have Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n DLNA support but Galaxy S2 has an added Wi-Fi Direct feature. Samsung's phone uses advanced 3.0+HS version Bluetooth against Bionic's 2.1 versions with A2DP and EDR. Although USB version 2.0 is featured in these smartphones, Galaxy S2 has microUSB (MHL) and USB.
Camera:
The Motorola phone has an 8-megapixel 3264x2448 pixels camera with autofocus, dual-LED flash, geo-tagging, face detection and image stabilization. Samsung's Galaxy S2 has similar megapixel camera but comes with autofocus, LED flash, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection. There is secondary camera in both the smartphones. Bionic can capture video at 720 at 30 fps while Galaxy S2 captures video at 1080 at 30 fps.
Operating System:
Samsung Galaxy S2 features the Android version 2.3 (Gingerbread) operating system versus Droid Bionic's Android OS version 2.2 (Froyo).
Processor:
The processor featured in Bionic is 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 ULP GeForce GPU Tegra 2 chipset processor. Samsung comes with a 1GHz dual-core ARM Cortex-A9 Mali-400MP GPU Orion chipset processor.
Battery:
Galaxy S2 features a Li-Ion 1650 mAh battery but Motorola Droid Bionic betters it with a Li-Po 1930 mAh battery.
Other common features:
The other common features in both the smartphones include 3.5 mm jack, loudspeaker, SMS threaded view, MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, HTML browser, games, Java via third party application, digital compass, A-GPS support , SNS integration , Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Talk, Adobe Flash 10.1 support, voice-memo-dial-commands and predictive text input.
Other features found in Bionic are HDMI port and active noise cancellation with dedicated mic. Galaxy S2 extra features include stereo FM radio with RDS, optional NFC support and TV-out via MHL A/V link.
Price:
Samsung Galaxy S2 was spotted in UK retail stores with a price tag of £612 ($988) for the 16GB and £708 ($1,142) for the 32GB model whereas Droid Bionic will be available at $599.99 when purchased full retail without contract. Under Verizon, Bionic could cost $149.99 with a new two-year Verizon contract but Samsung Galaxy S2 price details are not yet available in US.

Source: http://www.ibtimes.com

First Windows Phone update bricks Samsung phones

By: Jeffrey Van Camp

Microsoft's first Windows Phone 7 update has bricked, or made inoperable, some Samsung Omnia 7 phones.

Windows Phone update is ‘bricking’ certain devices, reports WinRumors. Some users of Samsung’s Omnia 7 phone noticed that after the update their device no longer operates at all. The first Windows Phone 7 update was made available to all WP7 users on Monday. According to Microsoft, the update merely patched the updating process itself, making future updates smoother and easier.

“We have identified a technical issue with the Windows Phone update process that impacts a small number of phones,” said Microsoft in a statement. ”We have temporarily taken down the latest software update for Samsung phones in order to correct the issue and as soon as possible will redistribute the update.”

The problem seems to have stemmed from those whose update failed during a point where the device can be manually restarted. For a the Samsung phones, this process can corrupt the firmware of the phone, rendering it inoperable. So what do users do if the latest Windows Phone update bricks their phone? Well, carrier customer service, it seems. Microsoft has not issued any official plan on how it intends to deal with those who lose their phones during the update process and it is unknown exactly how many owners have been affected or bricked at this point.

Have you experienced any problems with the first Windows Phone update? If so, Microsoft’s Twitter support team has been fairly responsive.

Source: digitaltrends.com

 

Samsung Q45 Review

The Samsung Q45 is ordinarily a 12.1" ultraportable laptop computer is ordinarily a spending budget priced method that nevertheless manages to pack amazing all round performance and attributes in to a pretty tiny footprint. dependent near to Intel'sCore a few of Duo Santa Rosa program and featuring Intel X3100 artwork as well as a sizable difficult drive, the Q45 may just prove to acquire a extremely desirable ultraportable. Let's consider a look.

The all-black color plan offers the Q45 a sturdy business-like really feel and that is borne out with a rigid chassis. It doesn't flex below stress, so it must acquire in a placement to think about numerous knocks, and offered that it is only 1.9kg you'll possess the ability to think about it with you wherever you go. It'll effortlessly slip in to a briefcase or satchel many thanks to its tiny dimensions; however, the large battery extends an additional 19mm in the back.

The large 4,800mAh battery pack lasted for an amazing 4 several hours and nine mins within our brightness utilization test. that is definitely an amazing rating and will make the Q45 ideal for all-day use like a cellular computer. purchase a 2nd battery, and you also could obtain a complete operating evening out inside the pair. The supplied battery consists of a handy built-in cost indicator, too, so you'll regularly recognize how very much cost any spare batteries contain.

There are only two USB ports on this notebook. A memory space card reader can be supplied with help for SD, MS and xD cards, even although a FireWire port sits alongside the CardBus expansion slot. inside the chassis, there's a 160GB difficult disk, so there's lots of space for storing your files.

The display is ordinarily a gloss sort that is commonplace on customer notebooks these days; you possibly like them or loathe them. I choose the matte look, but accept the higher contrast is great in some conditions. The resolution is ordinarily a common 1280x800 that is ordinarily a great resolution on this sizing of display (though it could hold about some eyestrain because every little thing is so small). thankfully there are no lifeless pixels and I found out the display like a whole to acquire a activity up from people on Acer laptops. Like numerous screens, there is backlight bleed by means of the bottom inside the panel but practically nothing extraordinary.

The effortless element to look at right here could be the touchpad, which operates fine. It is exceptionally grainy which permits amazing reliability and tactile feedback. It also consists of a part in the facet and bottom for scrolling horizontally and vertically which operates well. it may be feasible to configure the corners inside the pad to hold out numerous actions for example center click, plan launch, quantity etc. The buttons are desirable and glossy, which to my ideas is preferable to painted plastic material which could place on apart easily. They possess a nice, quiet activity regardless of the actuality which they do need a firmer press than may properly be at first assumed.

The Samsung Q45 is effortlessly among one of the most cost-effective ultraportable pcs available, and pretty very much the only one comparable for much lower than $2,000. The specifications are perfect for that jobs it will perform, and complement the exceptionally amazing battery lifestyle and tiny sizing and weight. The method is perfect for individuals who proceed near to a great offer and choose an elegant, unobtrusive method - regardless of whether that is ordinarily a undergraduate or business man is along to man or ladies choice. The superb build level of quality at this sort of the reduced worth is ordinarily a credit rating to Samsung and I anticipate this to fulfil anybody's expectations.

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