The Samsung brand of mobile phones is getting more and more popular around the Metro. The “gadgets generation” really took storm and hit record breaking sales, and Samsung is one of the leading brand when it comes to gadgets.

Samsung Group, or informally what we know as simply Samsung, is a South Korean multinational conglomerate company that is headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul. It comprises of multiple businesses like appliances and electronics. But Samsung really became known today for their electronic gadgets like tablets and of course mobile phones.

Samsung’s flagship device is the Samsung Galaxy Series of phones. The series started with the first Galaxy S, then there came the dual core Galaxy S II. In this article, we will dive into the soon to come quad core Galaxy S III device which is scheduled to hit stores this end of May.

What is unique and special about this phone that it comes equipped with a quad core processor? To understand how powerful this device is, let us discuss briefly about processors.

Processors and the Quad Core

The Central Processing Unit (CPU) or processors is basically the brain of an electronic device. This is the part of the device that carries out the instructions of a computer program, like to perform basic mathematical or logical input/output operations of the system. Speeds of processors are measured in Hertz or Hz, and it is the measure of how many cycles a processor can execute in a second or cycles per second.

The number of cores is basically the number of working units in the processor. Imagine a faucet that rains down water, a single core system has only one bucket to contain the water, while dual has two, and quad has four. More buckets mean more water you can hold and use, right? This analogy is a good example of how multi core processors work.

Once a single core is busy processing something, another core may come in the rescue to process the remaining information. So a quad core can have twice the processing capacity than a dual core type. A dual core can process twice the computing load of a single core, therefore offering faster speed, and a quad core is four times as fast.

Review of Samsung Galaxy S III

To understand how great a device this is, let us look at its basic specifications and capabilities that are new to the Galaxy S family:

Basic Specifications:

Network : 4G Display : Super Amoled Capacitive Screen, 16 Million colors, 720×1280 pixels, 4.8 inches, 306 ppi pixel density Memory : Card slot up to 64GB, Internal 16/32/64GB RAM : 1GB Camera : 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash Video : 1080p@30fps CPU : Quad-core 1.4 GHz Cortex-A9 OS : Android OS, v4.0.4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

What are Galaxy S III’s New Capabilities Compared to S II?

Galaxy S II is steps short of its sequel in terms of specs. The most major improvement of S III over its predecessor is its quad core processor VS the S II’s dual core. S III offers options for more internal memory, better camera in terms of simultaneous HD picture and video recording, bigger and better pixel density of screen, faster processor speed, and off the box comes with the newest OS from Android, the Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS). How is that for a comparison against the S II?

But let us set aside the obvious and focus on the new features that S II and other phones can only dream about:

• Voice natural language commands and dictation:

This is similar to Apple’s iPhone 4/4S Siri application. Use your voice to execute commands for your phone.

• Smart Stay eye tracking

This is entirely new concept gives the user capabilities to turn on the screen as long as the user looks into the screen, and then turns it off when you are not looking.

• Active noise cancellation

Unlike the S II, S III offers active noise cancellation in its headphones sound output just like those advanced high tech headphones out there to eliminate outside noise.

• TV-out

The S III can output video to a TV set to enjoy those picture or movies on the big screen in high quality.

Price Range of the Galaxy S III

There is still no official price range for the phone but it is anticipated to have a similar or a little bit higher in range compared to the S II which is around 35,000 PHP. The phone is really expected to be expensive but it makes up for its monster quad core processor, specs, and new capabilities.

So there you go! This is great overall sneak peak of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S III, so stay tuned for its release this month of May! Just prepare the bucks as for sure this will not be the cheapest of phones.

Nicole So is a freelance writer, regular runner and a former backpacker. Her hobbies are writing, photography and travelling. Follow her escapades in google +.

Happy Mother’s Day to my mom, my mother-in-law, and to my wife! And of course, Happy Mother’s Day to all you moms and your moms too.

Here’s a practical “virtual” gift that you can give your mom, a short guide on HOW TO OPERATE A WINDOWS-BASED PERSONAL COMPUTER. It will only take a single click to share this either on your own Facebook wall or just send my article’s link/URL to her via chat or email.

Oh, if your mom wants to use a Mac, don’t fret, lead here here.

Thanks!

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Last week, Samsung launched the Galaxy S3 in London. It’s obvious that the Korean firm’s strat is to assault the  the iPhone head on. Is the Galaxy up to the challenge? Let’s see how they stack up against each other.

In terms of marketing, the Galaxy S3 has the tagline “Designed for Humans”, taking a jab at Apple (perhaps). So, does it go without saying the the iPhone is designed for monkeys? Oh well.

At any rate, let’s examine the “versus chart” and see both units mano y mano:

• Display: The Galaxy wins with a bigger screen and resolution
• Speed: Galaxy wins here with a faster proc and bigger RAM
• Connectivity: Again, the Galaxy is ready with LTE while the 4S is not
• Storage: the option for expandable storage is a welcome feature. Apple forces you to cram your media and shiznits into the built-in storage
• Voice Recog: S Voice (is their answer to Siri). It’s a tie here
• Other features: The S3 has facial recognition, which allows you to just pick up your phone and bring it to your ears to call. Apple doesn’t have this feature.
• Price:Yuga has predictions on the price, the Galaxy S3 16GB might go for Php29,990 while the 64GB could go forPhp35,990. Currently, the 4S is priced at Php33,200 (16GB) and Php43,200 (64GB)  as per the Smart Store here

The winner, obviously, of this fight is the Galaxy S3. 

For those who are in the market for a smart phone or an upgrade, the S3 is definitely a good buy. But, the Android OS, for me, does require a bit of tech-savvy know-how. If you an want hassle-free and intuitive OS, the iOS is still a considerable option. The added features of the S3 may not be enough of a “come on” for those who want a simple, easy-to-use phone like the iPhone 4S.

I may be a bit biased since I’m an iPhone user. But once I get my hands on the Galaxy S3, it would only be fair to do another review and see what happens from there.

Peace!

Comparative data source

He’s either a Android fan or simply confused. An 11-year old boy in the US urinated on a gaggle of Apple Macbooks in his school causing them to be “damaged beyond repair”

According to this news report, this incident happened at the Upper Allen Elementary school. Total damage is projected at $36,000.

Police “charged the boy with institutional vandalism and criminal mischief and are turning him over to the Cumberland County Juvenile Probation Department.”

Sigh.

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It was just a matter of time. Samsung has finally surpassed the mammoth that was once Nokia. Recently Nokia fired its Sales Chief due to lackluster sales performance.

Samsung is now hot on the heels of Apple, its closest rival.

Nokia has to do a lot of catching up. I really think that their reluctance to embrace new technology (still sticking to the old Java OS) was their downfall. Now, they have a gamble: partner with Microsoft and try to make a comeback using the Windows platform for mobile.

Exactly what I said when I posted my top 2012 tech predictions last January.

The battle is heating up.

Where are you placing your money on?

So, it’s NOT called the “iPad 3″ nor “iPad HD”. Tim Cook, Apple CEO, just finished his keynote for the launch of the “New Ipad” in San Francisco today. There are 6 main new features of the new tablet which created much anxiety in the tech world. I just finished watching the live feed and live tweets of the launch event (no video livestream though).

New iPad Features

• Retina Display: 2048 x 1536, 3.1Million pixels, 44% better color saturation
• A5X Quad-Core processor: Twice the speed
• 5 MP camera: Similar as the iPhone 4S
• HD 1080P video recording
• Microphone: for note dictation. Siri (TBC)
• 4G LTE: for awesome, blazing fast speeds.

It’s priced the same as the iPad 2! Expect the price of the iPad 2 to be lower and a lot of second-hand iPad 2′s to be sold now.

How much?

Here you go:

It’s going to be sold March 16.

Pre-orders starting today.

The only downside? It’s a bit heavier, said Tim Cook.

*Images via Engadget

Apple is good at keeping secrets. All we can do is speculate on what changes the iPad 3 will bring. But it’s only a day away and here’s the rundown so far…

What are the major changes you may ask? Let’s go through it one by one

• Resolution: Almost all rumors are consistent. The iPad 3 will have sharper images on-screen. Doubling the resolution from 1024 x 768 to 2046 x 1536. This means that there are FOUR (4) more pixels on the same amount of space than before. This will make the retina display sharper than ever and more HD games will look awesome! The “cons” here is that you’ll have to live with bigger file-sized apps since the amount of data to run those kinds of apps and games will blow-out.
• Speed: With faster resolution, you need faster chips. This means a faster processor. That’s for sure
• Memory: That goes hand in hand with the processor
• Battery: Rumors from leaked photos of the internals of the iPad 3 hinted at a battery bigger than the iPad 2. This will translate to a longer battery life! Wohoo! That’s good news indeed.
• Price: They say that the iPad 3 will be priced the same as the iPad 2. This means that we can expect a lot of low-priced sales and promos for the old iPad 2 after the announcement. When the iPad 2 was launched, prices for the original iPad dropped to $100 (approximately P4,500 to P5,000) less. It’s a safe bet to assume that this will be the case for the iPad 2. If the basic 16GB model retails in Greenhills for around P22,000 to P24,000 maybe we can expect it to retail at around P17,000 to P21,000 after the announcement. That’s good news for those with a budget and are not ready to shell out big bucks for an awesome tablet.

Lastly, the web is rife with debates on how Apple will “NAME” the iPad 3. Some tech writers are betting that it will be named similarly to the iPhone 4S since the new features are not that radical from the iPad 2. Hence, names such as “iPad HD” are in the grape vine.

But, it’s only a couple of days ’til CEO Tim Cook finally proves who’s right or wrong. All eyes are on San Francisco on that day.

I can’t wait!

USB flash drives are cheap. Dirt cheap in fact. For a couple of years, it has evolved from being a techy gadget to a normal device that’s prevalent in society… and (almost) everyone has one. But, is it the end for the USB stick pretty soon?

Kit Eaton’s article says yes. The USB will soon be a thing of the past.

He writes:

To understand why, you’ve only got to look at how ubiquitous they are now. They’re a handful of dollars at your convenience store, novelty designs compete with austere ones, and they’re thrown around like confetti as promos at tradeshows. Any tech that’s got to this level of commodity is due to be banished to the history books. It’s just the way of things.

The author then cites two reasons which may lead to the USB stick’s demise

1. The growth of mobile technology
2. Cloud storage (in this case, Dropbox).

It’s more convenient to just drop a file into Dropbox and then have it in the “cloud”. You may then retrieve that same file from any PC.

I started to use Dropbox around a year-and-a-half ago and I can say that it really helped and lessened my need to lug my USB drive with me.

But I think that USB drives will still be used as storage media. Until everyone has blazing fast mobile connections and the ability to put bigger files on mobile devices, then the common USB flash drive may be with us for quite some time.

Keen on seeing how cloud computing and Dropbox upgrade their systems and services in the near future, though.

If you want to try DropBox, you can GET A FREE ACCOUNT HERE.

Cheers!

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What’s better than owning a digital camera, a notebook and a tablet? It’s owning ONE DEVICE that transforms into all three! Introducing the Fujitsu Lifebook 2013. Click below for details.

Fujitsu Lifebook 2013

Debuting at the recent CES, here’s what pcauthority.com.au wrote about the device:

Taking convergence to extreme levels, the Lifebook 2013 offers up four devices in one. More specifically, four devices in a single laptop shell. So, in place of a keyboard sits a removable tablet that transforms into a full-sized touch-sensitive QWERTY keyboard for getting your type on.

Next, you’ll find a detachable digital camera, which acts as the laptop’s rear facing snapper when not on the move. Finally, a slot in the bottom of the machine is home to a mobile phone that’ll allow you to easily sync contents with the laptop without the need for fiddly wires. The fourth device is obviously the laptop itself.

Each individual component rockhas s its own CPU and interestingly, when all devices are back in their rightful places they share the processing graft between them, suggesting all devices could run on the same OS.

Seems that we will see this launched by next year. In the meantime, drool over more pics of the Lifebook below;

The first time I got my iPhone 4s, I was quite happy with the data plan speeds (Smart). I was reaching up to a maximum of 4.6MBPS on certain areas (like Makati, at work). Recently, the past week has been slow as hell. I thought it was due to me capping the speeds because of my MB consumption.

This started around a week ago. I continuously did troubleshooting, restarted the device and even read up on possible causes on the web. Speedtests indicate that now I get only about 0.03 MBPS on the average. That’s like a dial-up speed on a supposedly 4G network. Sheesh!

My iPhone plan allowed me 1.5 Gig per month consumption when using cellular data. The iPhone can track your consumption (Settings > General > Usage > Cellular Usage). My phone clocked in at only 280MB of usage for the first 30 days. So I called up Smart Customer Support for assistance. The agent told me that there was no network interruption or problem. I told him that it could be that the system cannot cope up with the demand. For me, that was the only logical explanation once I tried to eliminate the other possibilities. The agent then replied that he’d get back to me in 24 hours after escalating my concern with their IT guys. I asked if I already capped my 1GB consumption. He said “unlikely”.

Fast forward 4 days, still no response.

This is really frustrating. Especially for a customer’s perspective. I’m paying P2,000 per month just to have the convenience of having unlimited data – to be able to check email anytime, browse my social networks, search the web, use the GPS and do all the fun things that a Smartphone user can – upload photos, share anything, keep in touch with family and friends.

But if the network cannot handle the sheer volume of users after spending top dollar to market the iPhone, then this may be a success story that can easily backfire for Smart.

I just posted my problems at their Smart Facebook page and hopefully I get an answer soon.

So, calling the attention of the top honchos of Smart; here’s an unsolicited advice – please look into this problem and find solutions ASAP. I know I’m not the only one having this problem, some officemates and friends with the similar Smart iPhone plan have also experienced it.

Please fix this soon. Otherwise, you’ll be facing the ire of Unli-Data subscribers all over the country.

Thanks!

 Turtle image c/o GettyImages (Royalty-Free) http://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/turtle-on-meadow-royalty-free-image/91273911