Samsung to test the waters with Tizen OS in 2013

Samsung and Android go together like peanut butter and jelly. Android wouldn’t have gained so much market dominance without Samsung’s Galaxy line, and that Galaxy lineup wouldn’t exist without Android. Surely these two would enjoy a long, peaceful relationship for the foreseeable future, right? Maybe not. Samsung is reportedly looking at launching several phones running Tizen instead of Android in 2013. Now, this isn’t weird for Samsung, as they do have other phones running Bada, although they don’t have the success Android does, but if Tizen does well enough in its initial Eastern launch, don’t be surprised to see Samsung slowly bring a few devices across the sea.
Samsung is understandably in a position where it really needs to make sure it isn’t too dependent on another partner, like Google. If Google were to take Android down a path that Samsung didn’t agree with, for instance, it wouldn’t hurt to have a backup plan. This is obviously speculation for something that won’t happen for another several years, so no one should worry about the Galaxy S IV running something other than our beloved Android. But if Samsung did launch a competing OS and app ecosystem, would any of you give it a chance?



source: BGR

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Samsung Galaxy S IV tipped for May release

While we all know Samsung is preparing their next generation smartphone, today the folks from Samsung Lebanon posted to their Facebook Page and revealed some information — of sorts. During some discussion the release date of the upcoming device was brought up, and was clearly detailed as May of 2013. For those expecting a CES reveal, sorry to let you down.


We probably won’t see it at MWC either as Samsung will hold their own event for the Galaxy S IV specifically, just as they did with their new flagship Galaxy S III. They want their own stage, and the smartphone rightfully deserves one. The actual comment on Facebook was “The Galaxy SIV won’t be released before May 2013.” Which not only confirms the name, but also confirms its existence — even though we all know it’s coming.
Their yearly release schedule shouldn’t really be a surprise to anyone. Samsung released the Galaxy S II around the same April date, followed by the exact same thing with their Galaxy S III. Just like many others, they will release a new flagship each year around the same time. So this only makes sense and is no way anything extremely exciting.

“Hello guys,
What we said is only trivial since all Galaxy S series are released between late April and Early May, yet there’s no way for anyone to know the exact release date ” – Samsung Lebanon

Then after a few blogs went wild with the news, Samsung’s Facebook page updated with the comment you see above. Basically stating exactly what we all thought. That the comment wasn’t trivial and we should all relax. With that news, we’ll just let you check out the multiple links, details, and leaks below that we’ve gathered on Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S IV smartphone. Hopefully we see a few leaks soon and can all get excited.

source

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Samsung Korea posts Galaxy S II Jelly Bean update details, but not the release date

Samsung Galaxy S II owners waiting for an update that adds features (instead of taking them away) may not have long to wait, now that support pages for the official Android 4.1 Jelly Bean update -- announced months ago -- have been found on the company's Korean website. Listing details for all three local carriers, the update will arrive via KIES and change the amount of available internal memory from 12GB to 11GB. Other than the usual list of Android 4.1 features, it will also preload the Google+ and some additional Play apps while adding Samsung features like Smart Stay. There's no word yet on exactly when the official update will arrive (or a schedule for rollout on US carrier editions), but once it's out in Korea it shouldn't take much for owners of the GT-I9100 international version to try it out as well.


Source: Samsung Korea, XDA-Developers

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