Omio News Blog

Flipboard App Leaks: Flipping Great News Available To All Android Users

We were pleasantly surprised at the recent Samsung Mobile Unpacked 2012 event to see the innovative newsreader app Flipboard running on the Samsung Galaxy S3. 

Flipboard allows you to add RSS, Facebook and Twitter feeds into a bright tiled layout, and flick up and down to ‘flip’ rather than scroll through pages, making navigation a breeze.  It also looks great, folding the page in half as it flips, and especially making Twitter posts with images more visually presentable.

It was a great app to show off the S3′s huge 4.8″ HD Super AMOLED screen, and something of a talking point. Up until now this has been exclusive to, and an office favourite on our iOS devices. Whilst an Android release was rumoured as imminent, it was announced as a Galaxy S3 exclusive at the event, at least initially.

Now a version of the app has turned up online via the forum XDADevelopers.com after user Falcho reported that he had simply extracted the program file from a review handset using AirDroid.

The app is currently working perfectly on a number of Android handsets, not just the latest ones, even the original Samsung Galaxy S gets some love,  meaning that you don’t have to upgrade just yet, to get a piece of the flipping pie.

Installation is as easy as dropping the .apk file into the handset’s internal memory (it won’t work fully from the SD card) and in the phone’s security settings, enabling the ‘Allow installation of non-Market apps’.

In addition to this, the same user has managed to upload the S Voice app, so Samsung Android users will also have a chance to try the Galaxy S3′s voice control functionality.  We’re not nearly as excited about this as Flipboard though, an app that actually improves the user experience rather than frustrates it.

If you’re feeling a little adventurous and wonder what all the fuss is about, head over to XDAdevelopers for more details.

For more details on Android handsets, including the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S3, check out Omio’s deals page.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Launch: UK Release Date Set For May 30th

Samsung finally revealed the hotly anticipated Galaxy S3 yesterday evening, in a multi million pound launch event at London’s Earls Court Exhibition Centre.

The handset runs the latest version of Android 4.0.4 on its 1.4 GHz quad-core Exynos processor with 1GB of RAM. 

The screen is an impressive 4.8-inch 720p Super HD AMOLED screen, which, whilst big has a thin bezel around it, so is perfectly holdable.

Figures like that would usually have us reaching for the charger, but the new processor is said to be much more power efficient, and the battery is a whopping 2100mAh, which is roughly 30% more powerful than the rival quad-core HTC One X.

The rear camera is 8MP and super-fast, taking 3.3 still shots per second, and 1080p video. 

The front camera is a surprise at 1.9MP, which is larger than expected, but maybe necessary for facial tracking. The S3 will be able to tell if you are looking at it and stay on if you are reading something, rather than dim the screen on a timer as is the norm.

The Galaxy S3 was given a more rounded appearence than the S2, opting for natural curves and soft edges.

Samsung have said they were inspired by nature when desiging the handset, which explains why we were serenaded by whale noises and birdsong during the build up.  The handset was demoed in two colours, pebble blue and ceramic white, for business and pleasure respectively.

Samsung also described the phone as being ‘designed for humans’ focussing on the social sharing features of the handset.  ‘S Beam’ is a close proximity file sharing feature that uses NFC and wifi to send files between handsets.

Facial recognition software will also allow users to instantly share photo’s with people in their contact list immediately. 

‘S Voice’ brings an air of Siri to the precedings, allowing users to look insane whilst talking to no-one.

You may be able to wake the phone from sleep with a voice command, but we always found the wake button much quicker. Hopefully local search facilities will be enabled upon release, (something Apple have still failed to do here in Europe) and bring this functionality out of novelty status.

The S3 will be available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities, with this expandable upto a further 64GB with the addition of a micro SDXC card.

Users will also be given 50GB of Dropbox cloud storage free for two years, which should see through a 24month contract.

The Galaxy S3 will be released as a 3G HDSPA+ version on May 29th in Europe, with a 4G LTE version following in countries lucky enough to have super-fast mobile broadband, in June of this year.

The Korean tech giants were keen to play down the numbers and the launch focussed on what the phone could do rather than boast about specifications or previous succeses. Of course, they could have boasted had they wished…

Figures released recently by London firm Strategy Analytics revealed that Samsung held 30% of the smartphone market, beating Apple’s 24%.

Samsung also accounted for 24.5% of the global mobile handset market, passing Nokia, who have been on a downward slide of late.

UK Retailers are currently rubbing their hands in anticipation of the May 29th launch, as the Galaxy S2 sold like hotcakes.

Some information lacking from the launch event was any solid details on pricing. However, retailers will be keen to start pre-sales so expect full details soon.

We expect the handset to be offered on contract from the £35 per month mark, with the upfront cost varying depending on which model you plump for. Those who wish to buy the phone outright rather than tie into a lengthy contract should expect prices starting around £500.

We will of course be sure to bring you any deatils of availability and pricing as soon as we find out.  Sign up for alerts about the Samsung Galaxy S3 on our deals page, or keep tuned to Omio for more news.

Samsung Galaxy S3 on Vodafone – specs leak as network shouts first?

With the Samsung Galaxy S3 less than ten days away from an official ‘Mobile Unpacked 2012′ launch event on May 3rd, the Koreans are struggling to keep the proverbial cat in the bag after a flurry of tantalising leaks recently.

Vodafone have also anounced via website that they will be stocking the follow up to the Galaxy S2.

Samsung have been stoking the PR flames with a website and video at its site www.thenextgalaxy.com.

The teaser trailer for the May 3rd event is all orchestral swells and ‘nudge-nudge, wink-wink’ statements about fitting the ‘entire galaxy in your hand’.

The vid also takes a massive swipe at the competition, claiming that their new handset will ‘make you stand out from everybody else’ and showing a field of bleating sheep.

Vodafone are the first UK carrier to announce the upcoming availability of the ‘Next Galaxy handset’, which is quite clearly the S3 and are letting customers register interest, and sign up for updates on availability here.

Meanwhile the German Amazon site put a page up for the Galaxy S3 that, whilst having no images for the handset, does give a sim-free price of €599 alongside a few technical specifications.

The site, which has tellingly not been taken down, reveals a 4.7″ Super AMOLED screen, a 12MP camera and the Android’s latest ‘Ice Cream Sandwich’ flavoured OS.

Previously last Friday, Vietnamese tech site and reputable leakers Tinhte posted a video showing off a phone that purported to be a leaked Galaxy S3. A scan of the system profile showed that it was running a quad-core 1.4Ghz processor.

The handset did appear to be contained in a fairly generic case, so could have either been disguised to keep the final looks under wraps, as is common practice, or an earlier prototype model, a possibility as it appears to only have an 8MP camera.

Whilst the video was soon removed at Samsung’s request, Engadget did manage to salvage a copy of the video before the takedown, which is viewable here.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 was notably absent from the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona earlier this year.

There were rumours of a production delay, but with increasing suggestions of an iPhone 5 being readied for July release, and the ongoing feud between the two companies, it could be that the two mobile heavyweights are gearing up for a serious head to head battle this summer.

The first match up saw Apple’s iPhone 4S beaten by the Galaxy S2, in the UK at least.

The follow up battle will be hotly anticipated and will no doubt rise to levels of hype that would make Don King blush.

Stay tuned for upcoming information on the Samsung Galaxy S3 via Omio deals page.

Apple & Samsung Ordered By Judge to Sit Down And Sort It Out Like Grown Ups

It could be that an end is in sight to the ongoing ugly legal fight between Apple and Samsung, a messy high profile battle that is part of the a wider ‘patent wars’ in the tech industry.  The tech world has resembled something like pub brawl at kicking out time of late, with patent rights being bought and sold as weapons for the courtrooms.  The Apple vs Samsung match up even saw Samsung’s flagship Galaxy Tab banned for a while in Europe after accusations of similarities with the iPad, and influenced a hardware re-design to the American version of the Samsung Galaxy S2.

Now Samsung and Apple representatives have been ordered to the office of Judge Joseph C Spero, who will no doubt to sit them down and give them a jolly good piece of his mind.  Both Apple CEO Tim Cook and Samsung CEO will be attending, probably both looking at the floor, shuffling their feet nervously.

Twitter have even waved a white flag, calling for a patent truce and telling everyone to ‘just get along’. The Innovators Patent Agreement is a call for a non aggression pact, that would effectively mean that patents could only be invoked legally for defensive purposes.   

But why the beef? Despite the bitter slug fest in the courts, Apple and Samsung do a remarkable amount of business together.  Samsung not only provide the New Ipad’s high resolution ‘Retina Display’ but also the custom A4 and A5 microprocessors in the iPhone 4S and iPad.  Most see this as being more to do with Steve Job’s vow to destroy Google’s Android mobile operating system. 

Google and Apple used to be quite pally, but Google’s entry into the mobile market was seen as an arch betrayal by Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who had simultaneously sat on the Apple board of directors as Android was being developed in secret.  Jobs afterwards vowed he was ‘willing to go thermonuclear war’ in order to sink Android, and his company since targeted high profile Android devices, such as Samsung’s also exceptionally popular handsets and tablets.

The court meeting, to be held within the next 90 days, should give us an idea about how much this vendetta lives on in the Post-Jobs Apple organisation, and hopefully draw to a close a messy chapter in the patent wars.

Samsung Announce Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ Handset, Should Nokia Be Nervous?

Samsung have confirmed that a Windows Phone 8 ‘Apollo’ handset is in the pipeline and set for release later in the year.  The Korean manufacturers have previously dallied with Microsoft’s OS.  The Omnia W and Omnia 7 were previously made for Windows Phone 7.

Samsung have had a fruitful relationship with Google’s Android OS, that has brought us the current (still) UK number 1 handset: the Samsung Galaxy S2.  Samsung are clearly married to Google’s OS but they are clearly not afraid to taste a bit of Metro UI on the side.

Recent analysis has shown Samsung eating into Nokia’s sales, so Samsung’s and also HTC’s modest, yet continued support for Microsoft could make the beleaguered Finns uneasy.  Analyst Ian Fogg of IHS highlighted the precarious position that Nokia was in, as Samsung threatened its standing as the world’s number one phone manufacturer.  Nokia meanwhile, are still occupied by the release of the new Nokia Lumia 900 handset, so will probably hold back for a while before lifting the lid on future Windows Phone 8 models.

Nothing other than the mysterious Samsung handset’s existence has been confirmed, but with Windows Phone 8 development keeping Redmond’s UI workers busy until its release in the autumn, the rumor mill is pointing towards a possible launch release in October at the earliest.  We will post with any more details as and when they become available, but on our wishlist is definitely multi-core for premium app support, as well as a vastly improved resolution from the standard 800×480 available to Windows Phone 7.

Could it be that the sharks are circling for Nokia already?  Or will a multi-manufacturer melee spur on healthy competition in the market.  Either way, Microsoft will be happy for Samsung’s continued support of its OS, whose survival will be made or broken on the volume of users.

Samsung Galaxy S3 Launch Date Confirmed For May 3rd

It’s official. The biggest phone on the block – the Samsung Galaxy S2 - is set to see its sequel launch in London on May 3rd. 

Invites were given out to mobile industry movers and shakers (ourselves excluded), with the tagline ‘Come and Meet the Next Galaxy’.

With the Galaxy S2 ruling the smartphone roost for the best part of a year, all eyes are on the Korean manufacturer to see oif they can hold onto the smartphone crown in 2012.

Check out everything worth knowing about the Samsung Galaxy S3 so far on uSwitch!

Mobile Phone Review Round Up: Samsung Galaxy Note, Nokia Lumia 710, BlackBerry Bold 9790

Want to know the general tech consensus of some of the latest mobile phones? Check out  a pick of the top reviews, right here!

Samsung Galaxy Note Reviews

CNET -

The huge size of the Galaxy Note is the main reason to buy it: no other smartphone has such a big, beautiful screen.

However, the size also creates a number of issues, short battery life and sheer unwieldiness being chief among them. If you can live with these drawbacks, you’ll find that this is one of the most powerful Android smart phones around, tackling apps and media with aplomb.

Techradar -

There are very few things we can complain about with the Samsung Galaxy Note. Samsung has taken what is already a brilliant handset and built on it to make an even better one.

The problem is – is it a handset or is it a tablet? In our mind, forget the ‘S-Pen’ and just concentrate on this being a large phone and PMP and you can’t go wrong. And then, the only choice you have to make is “is it too big for me?”

T3 -

Large in size, humongous in potential, the Samsung Galaxy Note might not be a first smartphone for the masses, what it is however, is a device that will enhance the experience of many a business user.

The Note’s only downfall in popularity is in how much it has limited its prospective target audience.

- Check out all Samsung Galaxy Note deals at OMIO today!

BlackBerry Bold 9790 Reviews

CNET-

With its weighty price tag and corporate looks, the Bold 9790 is unlikely to be the BlackBerry you buy yourself…even BlackBerry’s faithful teenage army will either be priced out or put off by its steely feel.

For all other smart phone users, BlackBerry 7 OS on the Bold 9790 doesn’t offer anything show-stopping enough to make this handset worth considering over the vastly surperior Android and Apple operating systems — thanks to its paucity of apps and the dated, text-heavy interface lurking beneath its shiny surface.

Techradar -

If you were to take the BlackBerry Bold 9900 out of the equation and judge the BlackBerry Bold 9790 on its own merits, you could quite confidently say it’s a cracking little phone.

We’re not massively excited by it but, geek-speak aside, just the specs alone make it worthy of a £350/$450 SIM-free price tag.

- Check out all BlackBerry Bold 9790 deals at OMIO today!

Nokia Lumia 710 Reviews

CNET -

From £15 per month on a two-year contract, the Nokia Lumia 710 is a very respectable mid-range smart phone, with a beefy 1.4GHz chip and a slick OS. We welcome high-end features such as Nokia’s free streaming music and sat-nav apps, and Microsoft’s suite of Office and cloud storage services.

If you’re a huge fan of Facebook and are particularly partial to Windows Phone, the 710 is a decent mid-range choice. For everyone else, your money will go further if you buy into iOS’ or Android’s much more mature app markets.

Techradar -

Although we would buy the Nokia Lumia 710 over the HTC Radar, it’s overshadowed by the Nokia Lumia 800, which impressed us a lot more and makes the Nokia Lumia 710 feel more like its cheaper relative than we would have liked. We know that the phone costs less, but the cost savings feel too apparent.

T3 -

Don’t view the Nokia Lumia 710 as the poor man’s Lumia 800. This is a cracking budget smartphone in its own right: it feels more reliable and much faster than the average budget Android phone, and the tile-based Windows Phone 7 user interface is a joy to poke around.

- Check out all Nokia Lumia 710 deals at OMIO today!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 Unveiled, Tweaks Tablet Formula With Ice Cream Sandwich

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 has been announced in Prague, at the Korean manufacturer’s annual showcase of all things glossy and gadgety.

A 7-inch LCD display with a 1Ghz dual-core processor and refreshed multimedia capabilities, it is interesting to note the release states the Galaxy Tab 2 is ‘the first addition to [Samsung's] 2012 tablet line-up’.

Slimmer, slicker and stylistically more in keeping with its Galaxy stablemates, the Tab 2 feels like a more considered device than the original, which always felt as an effort to head-off the iPad as the first tablet on the block.

A 3-megapixel on the rear and front-facing image capture suggest that it’s still very much a device for the go, a thought borne out by the confirmation of both 3G and Wi-Fi enabled models as well as improved communication capabilities.

The TouchWiz user interface sees a revamp, and access to movie downloads, music stores and app suggestions shows that Samsung are acutely aware of what people want from their tablets – pretty much everything.

‘AllShare Play’ enables the Galaxy Tab 2 free reign to chat to PCs and other Samsung devices with aplomb, meaning wireless streaming of music and media all over the place.

A Sammy spokesperson said: “We have actively worked to enhance and extend our tablet offering since the launch of the original Galaxy Tab 18 months ago, to put us in the position we are in today of being able to offer our customers a portfolio of devices of varying sizes relative to their different needs.

We are delighted to be offering our customers even more choice with our latest tablet which is our first to feature Android 4.0.”

Samsung’s decision to reveal their tablet update at their annual European Forum as opposed to the impending Mobile World Congress in Barcelona speaks volumes…and it is certainly benefiting from uncontested column inches ahead of the event.

A revamp as opposed to an all-out assault on the iPad’s dominance, the Galaxy Tab 2 feels every bit the box-ticker, an able device ready to run Android’s latest Ice Cream Sandwich update with some welcome aesthetic tweaks.

Those expecting a tablet challenger to the throne may be disappointed, but a highly competent alternative can certainly be as effective – if not more so – than a head-on opposition to the front runner.

The runaway success story of the Samsung Galaxy S II is certainly testament to finding the right place in the market…and with a myriad of reasons posited as to why the S III isn’t making an MWC appearance, all eyes will be on the manufacturer to see what they’ve held back for Barca.

The Galaxy Tab 2 is currently earmarked for a March 2012 release.

Samsung Galaxy Y Pink Now Available From Carphone Warehouse, Free From £9.99 Per Month

Those looking for an affordable Valentine’s Day gift are in luck, as the Samsung Galaxy Y is now available in a fetching pink hue from the Carphone Warehouse.

Free from just £9.99 with 50 minutes, 100 texts and 250MB of data as well just as a shade under £80 on prepay, the Galaxy Y Pink brings Gingerbread to bear on a cute casual handset.

Very much a ‘starter for ten’ in terms of smartphone specs, the Galaxy Y Pink has a 3-inch touchscreen, 2 megapixel camera as well as 3G and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Perks include swift texting and typing via Swype, as well as Samsung’s brand of customisation with the TouchWiz interface.

Cheaper than two dozen red roses, the Galaxy Y Pink is a Valentine’s gift that keeps on giving…well, in terms of free Android apps at least.

Samsung Go Dual-SIM Route With Galaxy Y Duos, Galaxy Y Pro Duos

Whilst proving popular with folks in emerging markets, the dual-SIM phone has historically failed to fan flames in the hearts of European consumers…nevertheless Samsung is aiming to change this with an Android powered duo scheduled for 2012.

The Samsung Galaxy Y Duos and Galaxy Y Pro Duos are a pair of mobiles with a nice line in dual-SIM functionality.

The Y Duos is a Ginerbread-powered device, packing a 3.14-inch touch display as well as all of the slick Samsung software acoutrements we’ve become used to seeing in their mid-range Android line-up, from the TouchWiz user interface to all sorts of media player love.

As for the Y Pro Duos – if the name didn’t give it away – packs a physical keyboard in its BlackBerry-aping slender form, as well as the modified Android OS.

So, what’s the point of a dual SIM device? Well, it stops you looking like an extra in The Wire for one, wandering around with a pair of handsets if you need two separate phone numbers – for ‘business’ and ‘pleasure’ as it were. These enable you to put both SIMs in one phone, switching between the two at will.

The reason that they’re so popular on other parts of the globe is the ability to have easy access to a dedicated SIM for international calling and the like. Avoic costly calls, texts and data charges, all the while looking cool with a single versatile device.

Russia is the first to receive the Duos…duo in January of 2012, likely followed by a global release soon after. Will the UK finally come around to the idea of doubling down in the SIM stakes? Perhaps these might be enough to change our mind.