Posts Tagged ‘Android’
Galaxy S II breaks Samsung’s records, sells 3 million in 55 days
Unless you were hanging out with the sherpas in the Himalayas you probably must have heard a lot about the Samsung Galaxy S II. To say it was well-received would be an understatement as almost everyone we knew had already got one or was planning on getting one. But now we have the official figures from Samsung and we know just how well they did. Unsurprisingly, they did very well.
The Galaxy S II went on to break Samsung’s own record and sold over three million units in the 55 days since launch. That’s approximately 50,000 phones a day. According to Samsung, most of these phones were consumed within the European markets.
If you think these figures aren’t all that impressive, you should know that the Galaxy S II is yet to go on sale in the US. Had it been an international launch, the figures would have been much higher. But even at the rate at which it is currently going, it won’t take long for it to break the 10 million record set by Galaxy S.
Motorola Milestone 3 reviewed, the 4-inch qHD screen is PenTile
The Motorola Milestone 3 is still unofficial but its first full review just went online. The review confirms some specs, has an interesting discovery about the screen and brings benchmarks, camera samples and hands-on impressions.
We’ve seen the Motorola Milestone 3 and the Droid 3 (those should be almost identical save for the GSM/CDMA radio differences) several times before.
Motorola Milestone 3
We’ve known for a while that the Motorola Milestone 3 / Droid 3 has a 4″ qHD LCD screen. The Chinese site that got their hands on the Milestone 3 however claims that it has a PenTile matrix and offer the following photos as proof. If that’s the case, then the screen should the same as the one used in the Atrix, which we didn’t like all that much.
Proof that the Milestone 3 display is a 4″ qHD LCD with PenTile Matrix
The Motorola Milestone 3 is running Android 2.3.3 Gingerbread with MOTOBLUR, uh sorry, we forgot Motorola didn’t like that name anymore. The CPU is a dual-core Cortex-A9 running at 1GHz with PowerVR SGX540 graphics, packaged in a TI OMAP 4430 chipset with 512MB RAM.
The Milestone 3 is running Android 2.3.3 on 1GHz dual-core CPU
Benchmarks put it behind the HTC Sensation, though that’s for a very early pre-release unit, so the results aren’t totally dependable.
Early performance results
The Milestone 3 packs a microHDMI port and an 8MP camera that can record FullHD video. The reviewers snapped a few photos, but unfortunately, they used the 16:9 option, which doesn’t use the full 8MP resolution of the camera. Anyway, here are the photos:
Sample shots from the Motorola Milestone 3
Alas there’s no video camera sample.
Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 review: Utility droid
Introduction
Samsung’s QWERTY messengers have not exactly been setting the world on fire. They have done well though to set the scene for this one. The Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 follows on the heels of Omnia and Corby. It puts Android in a time-tested form factor and is ready to entertain upgraders coming from dumbphones and PocketPCs alike.
Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 official pictures
The Galaxy Pro has a clear objective – deliver the full Android experience, a good social package and hassle-free messaging. What does it need to meet those tasks? Well, a comfortable QWERTY keyboard obviously, possibly a touchscreen, enough processing power and at least some basic shooting skills to capture the important moments. Of course, a messenger is nothing without a proper OS and this is where the Android Froyo comes in. But let’s see what else the Galaxy Pro has to offer.
Key features
- 2.8″ 256K-color TFT capacitive touchscreen of QVGA (240 x 320 pixels) resolution
- Full four-row QWERTY keyboard
- ARMv6 800MHz CPU, 270MB RAM, 180MB of user-available storage
- Android 2.2.2 (Froyo) with TouchWiz 3.0 UI
- Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support
- 7.2 Mbps HSDPA
- Wi-Fi 802.11 b, g, n with hotspot functionality
- GPS with A-GPS connectivity; digital compass
- 3.15 MP autofocus camera
- QVGA video recording @30fps
- microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0
- microSD slot (up to 32GB, 2GB in box)
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
- Accelerometer and proximity sensor
- Document viewer out of the box, paid editing
- Stereo FM radio with RDS
- Light and compact
- Smart dialing
Main disadvantages
- The QVGA screen looks bad and limits the choice of apps
- Portrait homescreen ported to landscape takes some time getting used to
- QVGA-only video recording
- No shutter key
- No Adobe Flash support in the browser
- No secondary video-call camera
- No ambient light sensor
- No dedicated video player app
- No multi-touch
- Android 2.2 Froyo, instead of latest Android 2.3 Gingerbread
It should be clear by now the Galaxy Pro B7510 isn’t your typical Android powerhouse for HD video, quality imaging or heavy-duty internet browsing. Gaming is out of the picture too. To be honest, the Galaxy Pro doesn’t quite make the grade as a BlackBerry competitor. To make up for it, it is social and friendly – and a great texter too. Virtual keyboards have been getting better but the Galaxy Pro’s superbly laid-out keypad is the prefect addition to Gmail.
Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 live shots
So the Samsung Galaxy Pro B7510 it is and, although this is not the typical Android package, let’s hope the experience is up to scratch. With a handful of Samsung Ch@ts, Corbies and Omnia messengers gone almost unnoticed, we’re about to see if our Galaxy Pro here has what it takes to leave a mark. Our traditional hardware check-up is due right after the break.