s3

Samsung Galaxy S3 price drops $100 Sunday only at Best Buy

And just like that, the Samsung Galaxy S3, which has reigned as king of the Android smartphone hill since the summer, seems to be on its way to being a has-been.

A release from Best Buy indicates that the retailer -- also not quite the big shot it used to be -- will be slashing $100 off the price of the Galaxy S3 for this Sunday, October 14, only.… Read more

Galaxy S3 Mini: Samsung's big new move

Samsung today unveiled a smaller version of its popular Galaxy S3 smartphone as the Korean electronics giant ramps up competition with Apple's iPhone.

The device, dubbed the Galaxy S3 Mini, features a 4-inch screen and the latest version of Google's Android operating system. By comparison, Samsung's flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone has a 4.8-inch screen.

The iPhone 5 also features a 4-inch screen, slightly bigger than earlier versions of Apple's device, but the two are in different leagues. The screen Galaxy S3 Mini display is 800x400 (233 pixels per inch), while the iPhone 5 display … Read more

eBay copies Pinterest in redesign

Wednesday's CNET Update is bent out of shape:

eBay is changing with the times, and these are Pinteresting times. In today's tech news roundup, we look at the the new eBay. The online auctioneer has a redesigned homepage features large images of products in a "feed." Much like Pinterest, there's plenty to scroll through that can catch your eye and suck you into a black hole of browsing. The new look is rolling out over the next 100 days, but you can activate it now by going to ebay.com/feed. Search results and profiles … Read more

Verizon Galaxy S3 'world phone' coming. But when?

Readers keep asking me for an update. When's Verizon going to make its Samsung Galaxy S3 phones capable of global roaming, as I wrote about in an earlier column. Bad news: Verizon's still not saying when, though it promises the capability will still come.

Let's go back to what I was told by Verizon in June, from my column about using the Galaxy S3 to roam both within and outside the U.S.:

The Verizon model of the Galaxy S3 will be global ready for GSM roaming after a software update that will … Read more

Samsung exec confirms Galaxy S3 'mini' is on the way

Samsung has confirmed that it will unveil a smaller version of the popular Galaxy S III smartphone tomorrow.

Speaking to Korean media this morning, Samsung mobile chief JK Shin said that Samsung will lift the lid on a 4-inch version of the Android-powered smartphone on Thursday, a week after the smartphone maker sent out invitations to a launch event.

Hinting at the device's name, Shin said: "There's a lot of demand for a 4-inch screen device in Europe. Some may call it an entry-level device, but we call it 'mini'."

Shin did not reveal any additional … Read more

Android 4.1 reaches Samsung Galaxy S3 owners in Korea

Samsung Galaxy S3 owners in Korea are finally getting a taste of Jelly Bean.

The rollout of Android 4.1 for the S3 starts today in Korea, a Samsung representative confirmed to CNET.

Reaching the 3G and LTE editions of the S3, the Jelly Bean update adds such features as Google Now and new widgets for the home screen.

Samsung has posted a page for Korean users on how to update their S3 phones to the latest Android version.

Android 4.1 landed in Europe late last month for Galaxy S3 owners. Samsung has so far been mum as to … Read more

So it looks like Samsung might not have tried to copy the iPhone

You remember the recent court case in which a vast amount of money was awarded to Apple?

Yes, the one in which Samsung was told to hand over $1.05 billion because quite a few of its products seemed to infringe on Apple's patents.

Well, those who like poring over these things have been spending long and, no doubt, sober nights examining the documents that were presented to the court -- documents that have now been unredacted.

What odd suggestions these documents make.

I am grateful to Groklaw for reading and reading and reading until its eyeballs were larger … Read more

How Nokia hobbled itself with an AT&T-exclusive Lumia 920

Nokia just shut its coolest phone out of more than half the U.S. market.

The Finnish handset manufacturer's decision to strike an exclusivity agreement with AT&T for its flagship Lumia 920 means much of its hopes of breaking into the U.S. market rides on just the one carrier, which isn't the smartest decision when said carrier has a huge wave of other smartphones coming out this holiday.

While exclusivity deals were in vogue a few years ago, they've grown increasingly passé as heavy hitters such as Apple and Samsung Electronics have opted … Read more

These LTE speeds will make you cry

If you want fast 4G, move to Australia.

After looking over recent LTE test results from San Francisco and New York where downloads speeds topped out at 23.6Mbps, I feel an uncontrollable urge to gloat. Our 4G speeds in Australia are up to four times faster, and here's why.

Signal strengths (and weaknesses) First, there are technological differences between the 4G networks in Australia and similar networks in the United States. Significantly, they operate on higher frequencies, with both Tesltra and Optus (two of our biggest carriers) repurposing (mostly) unused 1,800MHz spectrum to deliver 4G services, while … Read more