Report: The Galaxy S IV Is Definitely Being Announced on March 14th

It should come as no surprise the Samsung Galaxy IV is coming. The only question was whether or not it would rear its head at the upcoming Mobile World Congress alongside competitors like the HTC one. Apparently not. According to The Verge, sources say it is definitely coming on March 14th at a Samsung event.

The rumors started with a vague-but-not-too-vague tweet by mobile-review's Eldar Murtazin that implied something was going down on the 14th and that it would negatively affect sales of the upcoming HTC One. Unnamed sources have now confirmed to The Verge that there is such an event, and that it's a Samsung shindig in New York City where the successor to the Samsung throne, the Galaxy S IV will be revealed.

The announcement is said to focus heavily on features over pure specs, apparently the jump from the S III to the S IV will be "larger" than that of the II to the III. So far we've only manage to see a crappy photo, allegedly of the new Samsung handset, and nothing else. Expect to learn a whole lot more come March 14th. [The Verge]

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Samsung Galaxy S lll Guide: Tips, Tricks, Beginner’s Guide, Shortcuts & more! Reviews

Samsung Galaxy S lll Guide: Tips, Tricks, Beginner’s Guide, Shortcuts & more!

Welcome to the Ultimate Guide to your Samsung Galaxy S lll.
The Samsung Galaxy S III is a powerful smartphone with tons of innovative features. It boasts a relatively large screen and the battery lifespan is above average. Not to mention, it is chock-full of features that would make purchasing any other smartphone seem like a bad choice. The S III was named “Phone of the Year” at the T3 Gadget Awards. It beat other phones including the HTC One X and iPhone 4S.

The Messier You Are, the Harder This Dust-Detecting Samsung Vacuum Sucks

Dyson's not the only company capable of vacuum innovation these days. Samsung shows it's still in the housecleaning game with a trio of new stealthy vacs, including the champagne-tinted SC96 which uses a multi-chamber design that's promised to deliver longer suction while being a lot quieter than its predecessors.

The sound dampening is made possible through a customized airflow design which keeps the rushing wind to a dull roar, but the vacuum is also able to automatically adjust its suction level on the fly thanks to sensors that detect the amount of dust and dirt that's being drawn in. So if you're a neat freak, you'll be rewarded with a whisper-quiet cleaning routine. And if you're a real-life version of pig pen, the $450 SC96 will ramp up the suction in an attempt to tackle your mess.

[Samsung via Appliancist]

Apple agrees to drop patent claims against new Samsung phone after Samsung said it was not for sale in U.S.

“Apple Inc has agreed to withdraw patent claims against a new Samsung phone with a high-end display after Samsung said it was not offering to sell the product in the crucial U.S. market,” Dan Levine reports for Reuters. “Apple disclosed the agreement in a filing on Friday in U.S. District Court in San Jose, California.”

“Last month Apple asked to add the Galaxy S III Mini and other Samsung products, including several tablet models, to its wide-ranging patent litigation against Samsung,” Levine reports. “In response, Samsung said the Galaxy S III Mini was not available for sale in the United States and should not be included in the case.”

Read more in the full article here.

Despite frigid temps, Apple’s iPhone 5 launches to enthusiastic reception in South Korea

“Apple’s newest smartphone, the iPhone 5, became available in Korea as of midnight on Thursday, almost three months after it was first released overseas,” The Chosun Ilbo reports.

“Mobile providers such as SK Telecom and KT, which had been taking pre-orders online for the past week, held massive launch events to attract subscribers,” The Chosun Ilbo reports. “‘Online pre-orders ended just two hours after we received reservations on Dec. 1, as we immediately racked up 50,000 requests,’ an SK executive staffer said. KT has attracted more subscribers, with a whopping 250,000 pre-orders.”

The Chosun Ilbo reports, “The number of iPhone 5 subscribers [in South Korea] will reach up to 2 million by the end of this month, industry sources speculate.”

Read more in the full article here.

“Despite the below-zero temperatures and light snow, subscribers eagerly queued for the event, chatting with other iPhone fans while drinking coffee and munching on sandwiches provided by the No. 2 mobile carrier,” Lee Minji and Kim You Jin report for Yonhap.

“KT said earlier that pre-orders for the iPhone 5 in the first two hours topped the record the iPhone 4S logged on its first day of pre-orders in November 2011,” Lee and Kim report. “‘The arrival of the iPhone 5 will give both KT and SKT a distinct advantage over the third major mobile operator in Korea, LG Uplus, whose LTE service has successfully lured customers from KT and SKT,’ Moody’s Investors Service analyst Serena Won wrote in a note.”

Lee and Kim report, “As of October, iPhone users claimed roughly 11 percent of the country’s 31.4 million smartphone population, according to the note.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Apple’s having a party right smack dab in Samsungorea’s front yard. Enjoy the view, thieves.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader "Jake" for the heads up.]

Samsung stops supplying Apple with batteries for iPad/MacBook

Apple may be the company taking most of the legal action against Samsung, but it looks as though Samsung is the one making business decisions to move away from supplying Apple.

Back in October, Samsung terminated its LCD contract with Apple. That was significant because Samsung is Apple’s largest supplier of displays, shipping tens of millions to the company every year. Now, the contract termination seems to be extending, as Samsung has stopped supplying Apple with batteries for the iPad and MacBook laptops.

The details are limited, but it seems Samsung stopped the supply rather than Apple initiating this. Apple has now called upon other manufacturing partners, including Amperex Technology Limited and Tianjin Lishen Battery, to make up the difference–a difference that must account for millions of batteries.

There was also a rumor, and one some in Samsung has denied, that it had raised Apple chip production prices 20 percent. But whether that is true or not, it is very clear that both Apple and Samsung are breaking away from each other as the lawsuits continue.

Who does this hurt more? I’d say Apple. Samsung will obviously miss the revenue gained from large Apple orders, but you could argue it no longer needs them due to the growing success of the company’s Galaxy range of devices. There’s also not going to be a shortage of other brand devices needing displays, batteries, and chips manufactured.

Apple on the other hand needs to secure availability of its very popular devices to avoid a shortage and missed sales opportunities. And Samsung was capable of meeting most of that demand. The supply chain for Apple is weaker without having them as a supplier in the short term at least.

BrightWire, via AppAdvice

Apple Tells Samsung How Much Its 10-year HTC License Is Paying

Gary Cutlack - Gizmodo UK

Apple has been ordered to help Samsung's legal battles a little, with a court telling it to share full details of the 10-year settlement it struck with HTC recently. Only it's not going to be made public.

Apple has already sort of complied, providing Samsung with a heavily redacted version of the deal's terms that removes 33 words from the agreement. This cropped version of the text fails to show the financial details of the agreement between Apple and HTC, which is presumably the most critical part of it as far as Samsung is concerned.

Apple claims Samsung already agreed to accept this redacted version of the text, but Samsung's now won the right for the full text to be released to its lawyers ahead of a December 6th hearing in its ongoing case with Apple.

HTC recently denied it was paying Apple $8 every time it sells an Android model, claiming the estimates were "outrageous." Samsung's lawyers will soon know the real number. [Guardian]

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Our newest offspring Gizmodo UK is gobbling up the news in a different timezone, so check them out if you need another Giz fix.

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Apple Adds Link to Samsung Website and Acknowledges Company Didn’t Copy iPad Design

Despite their best efforts to prove otherwise (including patents that have been filed), the UK didn’t agree that Apple invented the concept of a tablet that has a “rectangular shape and rounded corners.” As a result, Apple lost their recent appeal against Samsung asserting that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 did not infringe Apple's iPad designs. Part of the judgement is the judge’s decision that Apple must run advertisements in local newspapers as well as on the company's website (which has now been done).

The apology itself is exactly what you would expect from Apple: minimalistic, professional and delivered without an ounce of emotion or warm-fuzzy feelings. In fact, in many ways it barely reads like an apology at all with content that reads moreso like an advertisement with Apple describing their own iPad:

“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It
is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”

Of course, they do give an ounce of credit to Samsung where it is (legally) due by saying that “the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back,” and finishing with the note stating that the Galaxy Tab 10.1 does not have “the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design.” In case you missed the part where that is a compliment, Apple is acknowledging that they really couldn’t have copied the iPad design (or at least they didn’t do so well enough to make a truly competitive product).

On second thought, there really isn’t an apology at all in the text of this… apology. There is a distinct admission of their loss in this particular legal battle though, which may be all Samsung could have (should have) hoped to get from this exercise.

If you ask Apple, the Samsung tablets are “not as cool.” Do you agree?

Full Letter posted on Apple’s website:

Samsung / Apple UK judgment

On 9th July 2012 the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung Electronic(UK) Limited's Galaxy Tablet Computer, namely the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Tab 8.9 and Tab 7.7 do notinfringe Apple's registered design No. 0000181607-0001. A copy of the full judgment of the Highcourt is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWHC/Patents/2012/1882.html.

In the ruling, the judge made several important points comparing the designs of the Apple and Samsung products:

“The extreme simplicity of the Apple design is striking. Overall it has undecorated flat surfaces with a plate of glass on the front all the way out to a very thin rim and a blank back. There is a crisp edge around the rim and a combination of curves, both at the corners and the sides. The design looks like an object the informed user would want to pick up and hold. It is an understated, smooth and simple product. It is a cool design.”

“The informed user’s overall impression of each of the Samsung Galaxy Tablets is the following. From the front they belong to the family which includes the Apple design; but the Samsung products are very thin, almost insubstantial members of that family with unusual details on the back. They do not have the same understated and extreme simplicity which is possessed by the Apple design. They are not as cool.”

That Judgment has effect throughout the European Union and was upheld by the Court of Appeal on 18 October 2012. A copy of the Court of Appeal's judgment is available on the following link www.bailii.org/ew/cases/EWCA/Civ/2012/1339.html. There is no injunction in respect of the registered design in force anywhere in Europe.

However, in a case tried in Germany regarding the same patent, the court found that Samsung engaged in unfair competition by copying the iPad design. A U.S. jury also found Samsung guilty of infringing on Apple’s design and utility patents, awarding over one billion U.S. dollars in damages to Apple Inc. So while the U.K. court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts have recognized that in the course of creating its Galaxy tablet, Samsung willfully copied Apple’s far more popular iPad.

Why Apple’s Steve Jobs turned Apple into a patent warrior

“Almost every major technology company is involved in ongoing patent battles, but the most significant player is Apple, industry executives say, because of its influence and the size of its claims: in August in California, the company won a $1 billion patent infringement judgment against Samsung,” Charles Duhigg and Steve Lohr report for The New York Times. “Former Apple employees say senior executives made a deliberate decision over the last decade, after Apple was a victim of patent attacks, to use patents as leverage against competitors to the iPhone, the company's biggest source of profits.”

“Apple has filed multiple suits against three companies - HTC, Samsung and Motorola Mobility, now part of Google - that today are responsible for more than half of all smartphone sales in the United States,” Duhigg and Lohr report. “If Apple's claims - which include ownership of minor elements like rounded square icons and of more fundamental smartphone technologies - prevail, it will most likely force competitors to overhaul how they design phones, industry experts say.”

MacDailyNews Take: Read “force competitors to overhaul how they design phones” as “force competitors to stop stealing Apple’s trade dress and patented intellectual property.”

Duhigg and Lohr report, “‘Apple has always stood for innovation,’ the company wrote in a statement in response to questions from The New York Times. ‘To protect our inventions, we have patented many of the new technologies in these groundbreaking and category-defining products. In the rare cases when we take legal action over a patent dispute, it's only as a last resort. We think companies should dream up their own products rather than willfully copying ours, and in August a jury in California reached the same conclusion.’”

“The evolution of Apple into one of the industry's patent warriors gained momentum, like many things within the company, with a terse order from its chief executive, Steven P. Jobs,” Duhigg and Lohr report. “It was 2006, and Apple was preparing to unveil the first iPhone... Mr. Jobs gathered his senior managers. While Apple had long been adept at filing patents, when it came to the new iPhone, ‘we're going to patent it all,’ he declared, according to a former executive who, like other former employees, requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements.”

Tons more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: The article goes deeply into how the patent system is “broken.” Yadda, yadda, yadda. Yes, some changes are needed, but protection is also required. Obviously (see below). Steve sounds like he was past tired of getting ripped off – and rightfully so.

If you can’t see why Apple needs legal protection from theft, you really need to see an eye doctor.

Apple’s products came first, then Samsung’s:

Here’s what Google's Android looked like before and after Apple’s iPhone:

Samsung accused of ‘serious legal violations and labor abuses’ in China

“‘Serious legal violations and labor abuses’ have been found at Samsung factories, according to a U.S.-based labor group,” Charlie Osborne reports for CNET.

“The organization, China Labor Watch, released a report today detailing its investigations into eight factories in China, six of which were directly operated by Samsung [bold emphasis added. - MDN Ed. (Thanks, mossman)], two of which made products for the electronics company but were run by suppliers,” Osborne reports. “Among the abuses found by China Labor Watch (CLW) at the factories were staff being ‘forced’ to work 100 hours of overtime a month, unpaid hours and unsafe conditions.”

Osborne reports, “The report says that workers at the eight factories also have to endure ‘standing for 11 to 12 hours while working, underage workers, severe age and gender discrimination, abuse of student and labor dispatch workers, a lack of worker safety, and verbal and physical abuse.’ ‘This sort of illegal and inhumane treatment is rampant among Samsung’s factories and supply chain. We demand that Samsung immediately begin the process of rectifying these abuses. With profits of over $12 billion in 2011, we are confident that Samsung has the wherewithal to systematically improve labor conditions for its network of factories and supplier factories in China,’ the organization said in its report.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Take: Unfortunately, the one thing Samsung should be copying from Apple – diligent dedication to improving worker conditions at supplier factories – they aren’t copying. Guess Samsung only copies Apple when they think it will generate cash.

Extensive information regarding Apple’s Supplier Code of Conduct can be found here.

MacDailyNews Take: We await the Change.org petitions, traveling monologues by morbidly obese liars, other assorted bullshit/faux outrage with bated breath.

Related articles:
Foxconn makes 284 changes including trimming hours, boosting safety following FLA audits – August 21, 2012
Samsung supplier employs child workers, forces excessive hours under harsh conditions in China, group says – August 7, 2012

Liar Mike Daisey blasts Mossberg, Swisher over Tim Cook interview – May 31, 2012
Foxconn workers talk about jobs, working conditions assembling iPhones and iPads – May 5, 2012
Apple Foxconn petition maker Mark Shields a D.C.-based professional activist – May 3, 2012
Marketplace goes inside Foxconn, posts exclusive look at how an iPad is made (with video) – April 12, 2012
Liar Mike Daisey dumped as Cornish College commencement speaker, will not receive honorary degree – April 9, 2012
Apple supplier Foxconn cuts working hours; workers worry, question why – March 30, 2012
Fair Labor Association releases Foxconn report; looks to correct overtime, safety issues – March 29, 2012
Change.org petition calls for Change.org to retract petition against Apple; says based on Mike Daisey's lies – March 21, 2012
Foxconn won't take legal action against 'This American Life' after retraction of Mike Daisey lies – March 19, 2012
Foxconn glad Mike Daisey's lies exposed; says media hasn't gone far enough in reporting truth – March 19, 2012
Apple and the Daisey affair: Why did the company keep its silence, when it knew a year ago what we know now? – March 18, 2012
Apple firestorm leads Mike Daisey to change his 'agony and ecstasy of Steve Jobs' show – March 17, 2012
'This American Life' retracts story, says it can't vouch for the truth of Mike Daisey's monologue about Apple in China – March 16, 2012
Foxconn: The fire that wasn't – March 15, 2012
Apple supplier Foxconn again lifts pay for China workers; 16-25 percent increase – February 17, 2012
FLA President: Foxconn factories 'first-class; way, way above average' – February 15, 2012
'Slacktivism' groups claim credit for Apple supplier audits over a month after Apple originally announced its plans – February 14, 2012
Thousands line up for iPhone assembly jobs at Foxconn's Zhengzhou, China plant – January 30, 2012
Apple CEO Tim Cook calls New York Times supplier report 'patently false and offensive' – January 27, 2012
Apple audit led by COO Tim Cook prompted improvements at Foxconn – February 14, 2011
Media blows it: Foxconn employees face significantly lower suicide risk – May 28, 2010

Apple iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3 “Comparison” (Full HD – 3D)

Apple iPhone 5 vs Samsung Galaxy S3: Display: iPhone 5: 4.0-inch Retina display (1136 640). Galaxy S3: 4.8 inch HD Super AMOLED (1280 720) display. OS: iPhone 5: iOS 6.0 Galaxy S3: Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) Camera & Video: iPhone 5: 12 MP, Autofocus, Tap to focus, Face detection, LED flash, Video recording, HD (1080p) @30fps, Video stabilization, Front camera: VGA-quality, Photo and video geotagging. Galaxy S3: 8 MP Auto Focus camera with Flash, (Front): 1.9 Mega pixel camera, HD recording @30fps, HDR. Playback: Full HD (1080p) Network / Wireless Connectivity: iPhone 5: 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE), 3G (HSPA+), 4G LTE. Galaxy S3: 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE), 3G (HSPA+), 4G LTE. Connectivity: iPhone 5: WiFi a/b/g/n, GPS/GLONASS, NFC & Bluetooth 4.0 Galaxy S3: WiFi a/b/g/n, GPS/GLONASS, NFC & Bluetooth 4.0 Sensors: iPhone 5: Accelerometer, Digital compass, Proximity, Three-axis Gyro, Ambient light. Galaxy S3: Accelerometer, RGB light, Digital compass, Proximity, Gyro, Barometer. Memory: iPhone 5: 16 / 32GB / 64 GB User memory. Galaxy S3: 16 / 32GB User memory (64GB available soon) microSD slot (up to 64GB) Services: iPhone 5: iTunes Store, Siri, iCloud, FaceTime, AirPlay. Galaxy S3: Google Play, S Voice, AllShare Play. Battery: iPhone 5: 2300 mAh Galaxy S3: 2100 mAh Colour: iPhone 5: White and Black Galaxy S3: Pebble Blue and Marble White Price: iPhone 5: 16GB: $199, 32GB: $299, 64GB: $399. Galaxy S3: 16GB: $199, 32GB: $249.

iPhone 5 to use Exynos quad-core processor architecture

Many of the hypothesis around the iPhone 5 has actually been dedicated to the outside of typically the phone. More specifically, its anticipated Piece of fruit will raise the dimensions of all the touchscreen technology to 4-inches, which inturn could quite possibly signify a wider phone, or possibly a cellular having incredibly slender frame throughout the even bigger display screen.A more substantial tv screen will even necessarily mean a higher quality if you want to retain in which more efficient internet marketing time period: Retina Screen. For those that occur Piece of fruit will surely have to up grade all of the processer turning all of the iPhone 5, and additionally obviously the particular structure and design has recently recently been decided.It can be predicted that the iPhone 5 are going to deliver by using a quad-core ARM snack making use of Samsung’s Exynos 3 structure. Samsung’s already present Exynos Check out Quad processor chip (4412) can be described as Cortex-A9 maintaining at A single.4GHz as well as some Mali-400 quad-core Graphics processing unit. Apple mackintosh will certainly plainly modify which will in order to suit it is must have.Moving to make sure you Several cores will probably be first of all regarding Apple, as being the cutting edge apple company ipad caught to the dual-core pattern in addition to beefed down the on-board GPU. A new quad-core microprocessor in your iPhone 5 would probably as well likely have a similar GPU upgrade, meaning the handset intentions to turn out to be a very easily gadget.Not surprisingly, Iphone may make sure that iOS takes complete advantage all four cores, however software package makers may need to improve their particular iphone to make usage of the added ability at your disposal. It can bode remarkably for game titles despite the fact that, not to mention would certainly repeatedly indicate how fast smartphones are making up ground that will specific igaming handhelds just like the 3DS together with Playstation Vita.A mobile phone that’s Five.9mm thick, posesses a 4-inch Of sixteen:In search of display, as well as driven by just a quad-core cpu and even updated Graphics processing unit appears like an awfully fascinating smartphone. And then that’s before you decide to adhere all of the iPhone brand name on it.