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Apple Wants to Sue Samsung Again Over Jelly Bean and Galaxy Note 10.1

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 11:15 am

In what appears to be a never ending legal battle, Bloomberg reports that Apple has told a judge that Samsung’s Galaxy Note 10.1 violates its patents. Moreover, the company added Samsung’s custom version of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean to its existing patent trial in California. These moves follow Samsung’s decision to add the iPhone 5 to this same case back on October 1st.

Apple previously won a $1.05 billion settlement from Samsung in this same very court back in August, but these companies are relentless and don’t appear to be backing down anytime soon. These latest claims won’t be heard until 2014, so we’re still at least a couple years away from resolving this legal mess.

[Bloomberg]

Nov

Judge Demands That Apple Pull Inaccurate Samsung Apology From UK Website

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 7:02 am

You may recall that Apple was forced to post a notice on its United Kingdom website, stating that Samsung did not infringe upon any of its patents based on a ruling in a British court. Apple eventually complied with the request, after an unsuccessful appeal, although the Cupertino-based company put a spin on the apology and made Samsung products sound unfavorable. In particular, they quoted the judge saying that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets are “not as cool.”

Apple has now been ordered by the U.K. Court of Appeal in London to remove this inaccurate apology from its website and replace it with a proper statement within the next 24 hours, according to Bloomberg. Apple was appalled that they were given such short notice to update the notice, but were denied the opportunity to have a full 14 days to make the change. Likewise, the court was shocked that Apple could not follow through with such a simple request.

The court’s initial order to post a notice was designed to correct the impression that the South Korean company was copying Apple’s product. Apple’s post, criticized by judges today, inserted four paragraphs including excerpts of the original “cool” ruling and details of similar German lawsuits that the court today said weren’t true.“I’m at a loss that a company such as Apple would do this,” Judge Robin Jacob said today. “That is a plain breach of the order.”

The new statement should appear live on Apple’s United Kingdom website later today if the company adheres to the 24 hours deadline.

[9to5Mac]

Samsung Airs Provocative TV Ad For Galaxy S III

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 11:00 am

Samsung has released a new TV advertisement for its flagship Galaxy S III that, like several other of its ads, promotes the handset’s S Beam feature. S Beam uses NFC technology to enable two Samsung devices to share videos and other files by tapping them against each other momentarily. However, this latest advertisement in particular is quite different than the rest. In fact, it’s quite provocative.

The ad starts out with a man saying goodbye to his wife and two young daughters as he gets into a taxi. The daughters stop their father before he leaves and tell him that they made a video that they would like him to watch on the airplane. The wife then adds that she has her own video that she would like to share with her husband, although she suggests that he not watch it on the airplane and raises an eyebrow at the same time. Sex sells, after all. Video is after the break. (more…)

Apple Posts Notice That Samsung Did Not Infringe Upon iPad on United Kingdom Website

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 8:30 am

As ordered by a British court, Apple has posted a legal notice to the bottom of its United Kingdom website to inform customers that the High Court of Justice of England and Wales ruled that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet did not infringe upon the iPad. Apple might have complied with posting this notice, but that didn’t stop it from being sarcastic in how it reads. In the text, Apple notes how the judge referred to the iPad as a simple and smooth product and how he thought the Galaxy Tab simply wasn’t as cool.

“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.”

Apple also notes that although this particular court did not find Samsung guilty of infringement, other courts in Germany and the United States recognized that Samsung wilfully copied the iPad in the creation of its Galaxy Tab tablet. Apple is required to leave this legal notice on its website for 30 days and is also required to run advertisements about the court ruling. The full text of the legal notice is available by following this link. Do you think it was fair for Apple to be forced to take these legal actions?

[MacRumors]

Don’t Forget: Important Week Ahead For Google, Microsoft, Samsung and T-Mobile

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 4:20 pm

Apple has had their moment to impress the public with its new lineup of Macs and iPads, but one must not forget that Google, Microsoft, Samsung and T-Mobile also have an important week ahead in the technological landscape. Samsung is set to launch its massive Galaxy Note II smartphone in the United States tomorrow alongside Kanye West in New York City, while the Microsoft Surface tablet is set to launch this Friday, October 26th.

Google too is set to host its own special event next Monday, October 29th with a tagline of “the playground is open,” which should be equally as exciting as the Apple event that unfolded today. Just hours after Google wraps up its event, T-Mobile will hit the stage on Monday afternoon to debut its new fall smartphone lineup. So if you thought the excitement was over after today, it’s actually just getting started.

Is the Galaxy Note II Simply Too Big?

Is the Galaxy Note II Simply Too Big?

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 6:17 pm

Posted by Joe Rossignol on Monday, October 22, 2012 at 6:15 pm.

As we told you earlier today, Samsung is set to launch its new Galaxy Note II in the United States on Wednesday. It’s going to be an exciting event, especially with the presence of Kanye West, and I have no doubt that many people will be interested in purchasing the device through AT&T, Verizon and the other carriers that will be selling the handset.

But with its gargantuan 5.55-inch display, is the Galaxy Note II simply too big for a smartphone? Perhaps you could find a use for the extra display space, but I feel that there is absolutely no reason for it and that is why I’m quite content with my 4-inch screen on the iPhone 5. Heck, even the 3.5-inch screen on previous iPhone models was suitable enough.

I already thought the predecessor Galaxy Note was large enough with a 5.3-inch screen, but Samsung somehow felt the need to increase the display size even further with the Galaxy Note II. I can only imagine how uncomfortable it must be to walk around with a Galaxy Note II in your pants or jean pockets — and oh boy, don’t even bring up skinny jeans. Realistically, I feel that no smartphone screen should ever be larger than 5-inches diagonally for it to be even considered a smartphone anymore. The Galaxy Note II is closer to being a miniature tablet than an oversized smartphone. It’s a “phablet,” as I so often hear it named.

Samsung Launching Galaxy Note II in NYC on Wednesday Alongside Kanye West

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 5:00 pm

Samsung is set to launch its new Galaxy Note II smartphone — although it’s almost a tablet, honestly — in the United States this Wednesday at a special event in New York City. The smartphone has a massive 5.55-inch display and packs a 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 2 GB of RAM and expandable storage up to 128 GB. The device comes preinstalled with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, becoming the first Samsung device to ship with that software update installed as standard.

While the Galaxy Note II has already been released in several markets worldwide, Samsung is looking to capitalize on the American launch of the smartphone in particular by teaming up with hip hop star Kanye West to deliver an exclusive performance to fans in New York City. Samsung confirmed the event on its Facebook page, but does not divulge any further information about the performance outside of noting that its New York City fans will have a chance to attend.

[9to5Google]

Android Activations Stall at 1.3 Million Per Day

Posted by Jonathan Kizer at 2:56 pm

During today’s conference call, Larry Page (Google’s CEO) stated that Android activations were still at 1.3 million per day – the same as what was announced earlier last month.

It’s hard to call this a failure, though: Android is currently on more than half a billion shipped devices, and 1.3 million are being added to that daily. A few factors may have contributed to this leveling of numbers, including the iPhone 5, and the potential that Android has hit an acceleration ceiling. Regardless, 1.3 million activations worldwide per day is still an impressive feat.

Android’s marketshare will likely fall slightly, given the refresh of Apple’s iDevices (particularly the iPhone 5) and the impending release of the iPad mini. Fall also typically represents a lull (if such a thing exists) in high profile Android devices, with the Nexus brand usually dominating the news cycle. While the Nexus models are popular amongst geeks, they are rarely marketed widely to general audiences and are only available on a limited basis, as compared to the mass rollouts of flagship devices such as the Galaxy S III and the One X.

[Android Central]

Samsung Rolling Out Android 4.1 Jelly Bean For Galaxy S III in the United States

Posted by Joe Rossignol at 12:13 pm

Good news for Galaxy S III owners, as Samsung has announced today that it will begin rolling out the Android 4.1 “Jelly Bean” update to owners of the flagship smartphone in the United States. American users have long awaited this update, as Samsung first seeded the latest Android software to international countries such as Poland last month. The specific timeframe in which U.S. carriers will be ready to offer the Android 4.1 update remains unknown, asides from Samsung’s general “in the coming months” comment.

The Android 4.1 update coupled with Samsung’s TouchWiz user interface will provide Galaxy S III users with a number of new and improved features, including Google Now, camera enhancements, rich notifications, automatic widget adjustment and NFC One Touch pairing support. The full press release is available after the break. (more…)