Samsung Galaxy Premier review: A droid of stature (Our Rating-8/10)

Introduction

Spreading the Galaxy S III magic to as many market segments as possible is what Samsung is actively trying to achieve these days. After the power users were treated to the Note II and those looking for a premium experience in a compact shell got the mini, it's now time for the mid-range market to get some attention.

Samsung Galaxy Premier official photos

HTC One X+ vs iPhone 5

Introduction:

The HTC One X+ is shaping to be one of Android's battleships this season, thanks to its sped-up quad-core procesor and 64 GB of storage, so as always we are pitting it against the iOS flagship, Apple's iPhone 5.

Both handsets have sealed chassis, great LCD screens, and 8 MP cameras, but they target different categories of users from the onset with the size gap. What other differences are there between the two? Read on our comparison to find out...

Top 10 smartphone makers 2012

The third quarter of 2012 is now history, and as nearly all research agencies have published their numbers we have the top 10 smartphone makers ranking. There is a lot going on there with some companies rising, others falling, and yet other companies like Motorola flying off the top ten list.

The biggest move this quarter is without a doubt Nokia’s catastrophic drop to number 10. The company that until recently led the world with smartphone sales, and lastly ranked third, now sells less smartphones than Chinese Huawei, ZTE and even Lenovo. Nokia’s positions may or may not improve slightly in Q4 with the launch of its new Windows Phone 8 Lumia smartphones, but at present the company ranks last and it is not clear whether it can remain in the top 10 at all.

Samsung Galaxy S III = world's best-selling smartphone of Q3 2012

Well, well, well, it looks like the world has a new best-selling smartphone, at least for the third quarter of the year, and it's not an Apple! Now, that's a surprise... or maybe not?

According to some data by Strategy Analytics, Samsung's Galaxy S III has managed to grab the top spot by selling the whooping 18 million units during the three-month period, which accounts for a smartphone market share of 11%. The second place belongs to Apple, which has moved about 16.2 million units of the iPhone 4S. The success of the GS III is mainly attributed to its large touchscreen, global distribution and generous carrier subsidies, as well as customers holding off purchasing the 4S in anticipation of the iPhone 5.

However, Strategy Analytics believes that things are likely to change in the fourth quarter of the year, as the iPhone 5 has seen a solid start of its sales, and the GS III will probably not sell as much. Nonetheless, having a single phone model being such a competitive rival to the iPhone is very impressive and comes to show that Samsung is definitely on the right track.

Angry Birds Star Wars now available for download

After teasing it for over a month, Rovio has finally released Angry Birds Star Wars. The game is available for download on iOS, Android and OS X and although a Windows Phone and Windows 8 versions are promised neither are currently available for download. [Update: Now available for Windows Phone 8]

The game is priced at $0.99 on iOS for the iPhone version and $2.99 for the iPad version. Meanwhile, Android has two versions, one that is free but comes with ads and another ‘HD’ version, which despite the name looks identical to the standard version but costs $2.99 and does not include ads. The OS X version costs $4.99.
After playing it for a few minutes prior to writing this article, the game seems very similar to the standard Angry Birds, which means not all that exciting. Of course, I plan to play further and hopefully it gets better. You can expect a full review later this week.

Apple loses patent case related to FaceTime, asked to pay $368 million

Apple has lost a patent related case to VirnetX, a patent holding firm in the US, for infringing on four of the latter’s patents related to FaceTime. The four patents in the case deal with establishing VPSs and domain names.

Apple argued that it did not infringe upon any patents, that FaceTime was a free service with no revenue and that VirnetX does not have any products that use those patents but apparently it was not enough to please the judge and now Apple has been ordered to pay $368 million.
Apple doesn’t have to pay the amount just yet. The company has now filed a motion asking whether VirnetX has sufficient evidence to support its case and to reexamine each of the four patents in question with the US Patent Office.
VirnetX pulled a similar move on Microsoft earlier this year, winning $200 million in settlement from Microsoft for using its VPN-related patents in its Windows operating system and other products.

Samsung Galaxy Express to hit shelves November 16

The Samsung Galaxy Express midrange LTE-powered droid exclusive to AT&T is expected to become available for $99.99 with a two year contract starting Nov. 16.
The Samsung Galaxy Express will feature a 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution, dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 5MP camera all powered by a 2000 mAh battery. It will ship with Android 4.0 ICS out of box.


If you'd like a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy Express, check out our hands-on from last month's release event in New York.
No word yet on when its (also AT&T exclusive) LTE sibling, the Galaxy Rugby Pro, will hit shelves, but we expect it to be sooner rather than later.