The New Samsung Galaxy Alpha

The new Samsung Galaxy Alpha has a new design, they are now shifting from plastic casing to a more sturdy looking metallic bodies. The smartphone also comes in different colors. The Galaxy Alpha is the best looking Samsung smartphone in the market today. It has an aluminum side and a very thin elegant look.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha is a bit smaller than the Samsung Galaxy S5, it is 6.7mm thick and just weigh 115g. The back panel is still made of plastic but it has a rubber feel for easy grip. The Alpha is also equipped with fingerprint reader that is located at the home button. The heart rate sensor is at the back of the phone.

Unlike the S5, Alpha is not designed for rugged use since it has no water and dust proofing. It also don't have a microSD card slot for storage expansion. The internal storage is 32GB, which I think is more than enough. The battery of the device is 1,860mAh that can go the whole day for regular usage like texting, calling, email, and surfing the net.

The screen size is 4.7" inches Super Amoled display with 1,280 x 720 resolution. Even though it doesn't have full HD resolution the display looked rich and very bright.

Samsung Galaxy Alpha is powered by Snapdragon 801 chipset, and it runs on Android 4.4.4 KitKat. The main camera that is located at the back of the phone is 12-megapixel. It has HDR (High Dynamic Range) mode that shows details that are usually lost in the shadows or blown out by bright light.

Galaxy Alpha Specs:

DISPLAY: 4.7" in Super Amoled (1,280 x 720 pixels) at 312ppi
PROCESSOR: Octa-Core processor (Quad-core 1.8Ghz Cortex -A15 and Quad-core 1.3GHz Cortex A7)
OPERATING SYSTEM: Android 4.4.4 KitKat
CAMERA: 12-megapixel autofocus rear camera, 2.1-megapixel front camera
MEMORY: 32GB internal memory, 2GB RAM
EXPANSION SLOT: None
NETWORK: 4G LTE, 3G HSPA+, GSM/WCDMA 850/900/1900/2100MHz
CONNECTIVITY: Micro USB
BATTERY: 1,800mAh
OTHER FEATURES: Heart rate monitor, Fingerprint reader
DIMENSIONS (W x D x H): 132.4 x 6.7 x 65.5mm
WEIGHT: 115g
Colors:     Charcoal Black, Sleek Silver, Dazzling White, Frosted Gold, Scuba Blue

Budget Phone: Samsung Galaxy S Duos 3

Samsung Galaxy S Duos 3 is the newest product in the line of Samsung’s Galaxy S Duos series. It runs on KitKat the latest OS from Android. It also has TouchWiz Essence user interface by Samsung.

Other specification are almost the same from the Samsung Galaxy S Duos 2 S7582. It is equiped with a 4 inches display, WVGA screen 480 x 800 pixels TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors. The processor of the smartphone is 1 GHz dual core Cortex-A7 with 512 MB of RAM. The phone storage is 4 GB of internal memory that is expandable with microSD card. The back camera is 5 MP shooter 2592 х 1944 pixels with autofocus, and LED flash. The front camera is VGA. Samsung Galaxy S Duos 3 is powered by Li-Ion 1500 mAh battery.

Samsung Rolls Out "Galaxy Apps"

Samsung wants get in the "Google Play" market and challenge their dominance by rebranding their app store with "Samsung Galaxy Apps." They have presented last Friday July 11, 2014 their new  Galaxy Apps store, it will be offered to over 130 million users in over 161 countries.

Here is their blog post message:

"Samsung Electronics launched Samsung Galaxy Apps, an app store that offers hundreds of apps exclusively available to users of Samsung Galaxy mobile devices. An improvement upon its predecessor, Samsung Apps, the new app store features apps that will allow greater customisation of mobile devices and will also function as a platform to offer various promotions and discounts."

The new Samsung Galaxy Apps store has an intuitive user interface and is composed of 3 sections:

Best Picks - this section allows the users to look for recommended apps and promotions with ease.

Top - this section shows the most popular apps, and they can be viewed and arranged according to their popularity, date, and price.

For Galaxy - this section is further divided in 4 sections.
    Galaxy Gifts - offers premium apps exclusively for Galaxy devices.
    Galaxy Essentials - delivers must-have apps for Galaxy devices.
    Apps for Professionals -it is the home of business focused apps and other services that fully utilize the features of Galaxy devices.
    Galaxy Specials - here users can download apps specifically created by using Samsung SDKs.

Samsung to unveil their "Smartwatch" on September

Biggest smartphone maker Samsung Electronics will unveil their new Galaxy Gear "smartwatch" early next month, ahead of Apple's iWatch, a report from Bloomberg news and sammobile.com said Saturday.

The Galaxy Gear, which will allow users to make calls, access email and even surf the Internet, will launch on September 4, according to sammobile.com site.

The world's top handset maker will also launch its new Galaxy Note 3 on that day, the site reported.

Bloomberg said the first version of the smart watch would not have a flexible screen.

Wearable computing, including Google's Glass eyewear, is considered as the next frontier in consumer electronics following smartphones.

In June, Sony unveiled the latest version of its SmartWatch, which links with smartphones to receive alerts about phone calls, emails and updates from social networks and also includes a music function.

Samsung's US rival Apple has long been rumoured to be working on introducing an "iWatch", which would represent the biggest gadget launch by the firm since the iPad mini last year.

Sony launches 6.4-inch phablet waterproof Xperia Z Ultra phone

Sony has been boasting that the Xperia Z Ultra is the slimmest large-screened handset on the market. The new Sony phablet is bigger than Samsung's Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3. The Z Ultra weighed in at 212g, while the Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3 weighs 198g, but its chassis is mostly made of plastic materials, which somehow doesn't quite have the same build quality as the Z Ultra.

As for the thinnest, it is still Huawei's Ascend P6 which is at 6.18mm. Xperia Z is at 6.5mm.

Features:

Sony Xperia Z Ultra phablet has an IP58 rating, which means it is water and dust-proof. It has full HD display (1920x1080p resolution) with 344ppi pixel density. The quad-core CPU of the handset is clocked at 2.2GHz and is supported by 2GB RAM.

It has the same design language as Xperia Z smartphone and features on-screen keys. It boast a scratch-resistant and shatterproof glass.

It runs on Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) with a customized UI to make better use of the extra screen size. Sony's custom UI keeps most of the default stock Android features.

It has LTE connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, 2G, 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi, microUSB 2.0, and screen mirroring. It comes with 2GB RAM, 16GB of onboard storage, and has a microSD card slot for expandability up to 64GB. A large embedded 3,000mAh battery completes the package.

The back has 8MP camera with LED flash, while the front camera is 2MP. It is expected to be available in Q3 2013 in black, white and purple colours.

Samsung accidentally leaked new mini version of Galaxy S4 handset on their website

Galaxy S4 mini (right) next to the full size S4

Samsung accidentally leaked details of the new 'mini' version of its Galaxy S4 handset. They have posted it on their own website showing the unannounced handset as an option in an online app store.

The handset is expected to be announced in July, and have a 4.3 inch screen. Galaxy S4, which has a 5 inch screen, is too big. It is also expected to have 8MP camera

The leak was spotted by tgspot an Israeli site.

Battle of the Smartwatches

There have been speculations that Apple is developing a smartwatch called "iWatch" though there have been no proof that they are really developing or producing one.

So not to be left behind, other electronic giants join the bandwagon and are also rumored to be developing smartwatches of their own. The companies are Samsung, Google, and LG.

As for me, I'm going to give it a pass. I just can't imagine myself wearing an oversized geeky watch that looks ridicolous.

Samsung UN32EH4000 LED-backlit LCD TV 720p $329

Features

    * Clear Motion Rate of 60
   
  Experience sharp picture quality, even when you are watching fast-moving images like sports or action movies. Clear Motion Rate was developed to accurately measure how well an LCD or LED TV can depict fast-moving images. Previously, motion-clarity was calculated by the frame refresh rate alone. But CMR offers a more complete measure by calculating 3 factors: frame refresh rate, image processor speed and backlight technology. LED TVs with a CMR of 60-120 can display action-packed movement with sharp detail and vivid contrast while eliminating image distortion.

    * Wide color enhancer plus

      Wide color enhancer plus allows you to see picture color the way the director originally intended. Witness the entire RGB spectrum brought to life on your screen to bring you exceptionally vibrant, yet natural-looking images faithful to the director's original intent.
 
  * ConnectShare movie

      ConnectShare movie lets you watch videos, play music or view photos from a USB connection without needing to use a PC or special equipment. Simply plug your USB directly into your Samsung TV's USB port and watch on the big screen with friends and family.
    * HDMI
    
 HDMI (High Definition Multimedia Interface) is a convenient high quality single cable digital audio/visual interface for connecting the TV to a digital cable box, satellite box, DVD and Blu-ray Disc player, PC computers, PC portable devices, tablets and devices featuring the HDMI output.



Pros: Outstanding picture quality, Reasonably Priced, Sound is excellent

Cons: Limited connectivity (Only two HDMI ports for input, the sound output is available only in digital no analog sound output), Hdmi slots are on the side of unit hard to access