Latest Samsung Galaxy S III photo still looks fake

Another day, another purported Galaxy S III photo. We’ve been tipped with this convincing shot of the upcoming Samsung superphone, which follows the bullet points of the latest rumors. There’s reason to doubt, though: the phone in question is presented a little too perfectly for our jaded blogger eyes to believe. In any case, we should find out what the real thing looks like in less than a week when Samsung reveals the Galaxy S III at its London event on May 3rd.

So what’s wrong with this picture? Let’s start with what looks right: the sides are parallel and follow the general look of this leaked diagram, as do the home, menu and back buttons. The general layout is very similar to the Galaxy S II, which makes sense, except it’s got a larger screen and the control buttons, speaker and camera are squeezed into less space on the front panel.
So what’s wrong? One, the screenshot is suspect. Why take a photo of the SpeedTest.net app instead of the Galaxy S III home screen, complete with TouchWiz? Why do the wireless, battery and clock icons look identical to stock Ice Cream Sandwich, when we know that Samsung likes to add its own flair? And why, if the cameraman is taking a photo, is there a screenshot icon in the status bar? The simplest answer is that this is a screenshot taken from a Galaxy Nexus or another stock Android 4.0 ROM.
Issues with JPEG artifacts around the bezel and where the screen edges meet the casing are also suspect, though these could just be from the relatively low resolution of the photo itself. No mention of screen size, Exynos processors, camera megapixels or what have you accompany the photo. We’re calling fake on this one, though we’d love to be wrong. Just six days left before we see the real McCoy.

Acer releases app to manually update A500 tablets to ICS

Now here’s what we like to see: a manufacturer that’s proactive in getting their customers upgraded to the latest software. Acer might have been somewhat behind the curve when it came to granting Android 4.0 to their Iconia Tab A500 model, but now that it’s out, they want to make sure those who want it right away can get it as quickly as possible. Their new ICONIA TAB update Enhancement app will help users to do just that

The free app is basically a more official way of doing ye olde manual update. Whereas advanced users usually load up a secondhand ZIP file into their stock or custom recovery, the Acer app sends a message to the company’s servers to send you the latest software quick, fast and in a hurry. While it’s clearly been implemented to get out this weeks Ice Cream Sandwich update, it should work for future security and feature patches as well.
At the moment only the Iconia Tab A500 is supported – more’s the pity for owners of the 7-inch A100. But odds are pretty good that Acer will release a similar app for the smaller tablet before too long. I wish more manufacturers would take Acer’s lead on this – it sure would save a lot of rebooting and awkward button combinations

HTC One X gets an early CyanogenMod 9 port

The HTC One X is rightly sitting on top of the Android world for the moment, and of course that means just one thing: the modders are coming out to play. Users of the international One X (with the Tegra 3 processor) can now get a taste of the ubiquitous CyanogenMod custom ROM. The unofficial port or “kang” comes from the TripNDroid Mobile Engineering developer team, who’ve posted their work over on the Modaco forums. Brave One X owners can flash a custom recovery and try out the ROM now.

As in the majority of custom ROMs and the CyanogenMod family in particular, the initial purpose of the port is to remove HTC’s Sense UI and other non-standard software. Of course, there’s plenty of changes to the stock Android code that CyangenMod adds in as well. Most of these have to do with interface tweaks, but there’s enough truly useful stuff in there for it to be worthy of consideration by any advanced Android user.
This version of CyanogenMod 9 Ice Cream Sandwich isn’t official, because it’s compiled from the public source code by an outside team. They’ve got most of the features working with the notable exception of both cameras and the WiFi hotspot (which you might be able to work around with a third-party option). For those of you wondering about ICS and HTC’s physical buttons on the One X, it’ll work much like HTC’s stock ROM with a menu key that appears when needed. The official CM9 team should get their own version out eventually. Remember to make a Nandroid backup, and happy flashing!

Micromax's Superfone A50 Ninja enters India with AISHA voice assistant, forgets its shuriken

Hoping to compete with the Siris of the world, Micromax has announced its new Superfone A50 Ninja alongside a novel feature dubbed AISHA -- which is short for Artificial Intelligence Speech Handset Assistant. Similar to Cupertino's personal secretary, AISHA vows to help folks with every-day elements such as making calls, setting up calendar events and even reporting what the weather looks like. Much to our disappointment, however, the A50 Ninja runs a not-so-new flavor of Android -- Gingerbread to be exact -- and Micromax left out any mention of Android 4.0. On the specs front, the dual-SIM Superfone sports a 3.1-inch display (mum's the word on the resolution), a two-megapixel shooter, Bluetooth 2.0 capabilities and an unspecified 650MHz processor. All in all, thanks to its 4,999 rupees (around $95) budget price, we can't imagine you'd complain too much. Be sure to hit up the Micromax link below if you're interested in grabbing one of these.

Sony Xperia ST21i with ICS leaks out, shows off its chunky physique

It may not be as sleek as its S kin, or even as powerful as that mid-level U, but this recently leaked Xperia ST21i might just have enough goodies to lure a handful of you in. According to Techblog, this thick, 3.2-inch unit packs some pretty run-of-the-mill features, including an 800MHz Qualcomm chip paired with 512MB of RAM, a 3-megapixel shooter to help with those Instagram shots and a low 480 x 320 screen res. Unlike a few of the other Xperias still waiting to be served, though, the ST21i has already been filled with a portion of Google's famous ICS.

ComScore pegs Kindle Fire at more than 50 percent of the US Android tablet market

We've seen some pretty clear indications that the Kindle Fire was rapidly gaining market share among Android tablets, and ComScore is now out with a new report that indicates it recently crossed a big milestone. According to the research firm, the Fire's market share in the US fully doubled from December to February, with it standing at 54.4 percent as of the end of the month. Counted together, the Galaxy Tab family sits in second at 15.4 percent, while the Motorola Xoom and Asus Transformer come in at 7 and 6.3 percent, respectively. Of course, the Kindle Fire isn't quite your ordinary Android tablet, so this is likely better news for Amazon than Google. In addition to that, ComScore also looked at the browsing habits of tablet users, and unsurprisingly found that larger screens tended to lead to more content consumption, with 10-inch tablets boasting a 39 percent higher consumption rate than 7-inch devices.

Sony Tablet S gets a wedge of Ice Cream Sandwich

We're not gonna act all surprised, or anything -- Sony's been talking up Android 4.0's arrival on its Tablet S for some time now. For those who have been waiting with bated breath for the Ice Cream Sandwich upgrade on their oddly-shaped tablet, however, that time is now. Connect your device to WiFi and a system upgrade should prompt you to join the wild world of 4.0. Video of the two in action after the break.

Twitter app update brings improved discover, search and notifications to iOS and Android

It's not like there's any shortage of alternatives, but those sticking with the ooh-ficial Twitter app on iOS and Android woke up to a rather pleasant update today. Briefly, the company's promising improvements to discover, search and notifications, with the new build allowing users to view "Activity" -- described as a "stream of updates that shows which tweets are favorited or retweeted by the people you follow and which accounts those people follow or add to lists." Search has also been made simpler in both programs, with the Connect tab allowing you to start typing the first or last name or username of the person you're looking for and watching autocomplete handle the rest. Finally (and perhaps most importantly), notifications for Interactions are in place, enabling busybodies to know right away when a tweet has been retweeted or favorited. Hit up your market of choice to get the new bytes, or just visit one of the source links below. Your call -- no pressure.

Some Iconia Tab A500s getting Ice Cream Sandwich early, Acer Ring is MIA

Last week, Acer announced that Ice Cream Sandwich would make its way to Iconia Tabs A100 and A500 in Canada and the US starting April 27th, but Phone Arena reports that some owners of the 10.1-inch A500 are getting the option to update a day ahead of schedule. If you're one of the lucky few to be in on the early upgrade, you should be ready to rock with Android 4.0.3 after a 30-minute install. The one potential downside to getting ICS ahead of time? You'll have to wait for the Acer Ring hub, which didn't make the cut for this update.

HTC One X arrives for Rogers Canada

The next couple of weeks will be all HTC with their new and impressive One series of smartphones. As expected, the 4G LTE HTC One X is available starting today in Canada on Rogers. You can get it online right this minute if you haven’t already. For those interested Rogers is offering the phone for CA$169.99 with a new, three year agreement starting today.

Rogers will be getting the same version as AT&T stateside with the Qualcomm S4 dual-core processor and 4G LTE, instead of the international quad-core model. Don’t worry though, the S4 is plenty powerful and you can see for yourself from our benchmark wars. Rogers One X is basically the same as the others and comes complete with a 4.7-inch beautiful display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the new and improved Sense UI 4.0 on board.
There’s been no word on whether Rogers will get the more compact, smaller 4.3-inch sized HTC One S so for now the X will be your only option on Rogers. As a reminder, the same phone will be landing here in the US on AT&T for $199 on May 6th. If you’re debating the purchase feel free to enjoy our HTC One X review linked to below, or possibly hold out until May 3rd when Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S III.

Rogers will be getting the same version as AT&T stateside with the Qualcomm S4 dual-core processor and 4G LTE, instead of the international quad-core model. Don’t worry though, the S4 is plenty powerful and you can see for yourself from our benchmark wars. Rogers One X is basically the same as the others and comes complete with a 4.7-inch beautiful display, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and the new and improved Sense UI 4.0 on board.
There’s been no word on whether Rogers will get the more compact, smaller 4.3-inch sized HTC One S so for now the X will be your only option on Rogers. As a reminder, the same phone will be landing here in the US on AT&T for $199 on May 6th. If you’re debating the purchase feel free to enjoy our HTC One X review linked to below, or possibly hold out until May 3rd when Samsung will unveil the Galaxy S III.


Device Info

Manufactuer : HTC
Carrier : AT&T
Announced Date : February 26, 2012
Release Date : TBA
Also Known As :
Display
Screen Size : 4.7 Inch
Resolution : 720x1280
Screen Type : S-LCD
Dimension & Weight
Height : 5.31 Inch
Width : 2.75 Inch
Depth : 0.36 Inch
Weight : 131 Grams
Battery & Power
Battery Type:
Lithium Ion
Battery Capacity : 1800 mAh
Talk Time : NA
Stand By Time : NA
Software
Android OS:
4.0.x
Audio Playback:
AAC
AAC+
AMR
MID
MP3
WAV
WMA
Video Playback:
h.263
h.264 / AVC
MPEG-4 (MP4)
Messaging:
SMS
MMS
Hardware
CPU : S4
CPU Clock Speed : 1500 Mhz
Core : 2
Ram : 1000 MB
Internal Storage : 16 GB
Front Facing Camera :
Camera Resolution : 8 MP
Camera Features:
Auto focus
Flash
1080p Video Recording
Sensors:
Accelerometer
Ambient light
Proximity
QWERTY :no
Cellular Network
Network Technology:
GSM
GSM Band:
850
900
1800
1900
CDMA Band:
850
1900
2100
Device Connectivity
Wi-Fi:
802.11b
802.11g
802.11n
Bluetooth:
Bluetooth 3.0
Location Features:
Compass
GPS
Cellular location
Wi-Fi location
FM Radio :no
NFC :no

Unlocked Galaxy S II in the US getting ICS update

The Samsung Galaxy S II may have seen the popular update to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich already in various markets in the world and the international version, but not the unlocked models here in the USA. By unlocked we mean the global (with the home button) international SGSII that some may have here in the US, are finally being updated this morning thanks to Samsung.

The update has already rolled out for many, and most recently for Vodafone UK, but today we are getting the same fate as the folks from Engadget got the update this morning. It appears to be a pretty hefty update coming in at 216MB in size, so might take a few minutes to download but will surely be worth it for the frozen Ice Cream Sandwich.

Almost all of the Galaxy S II phones have now been updated to Android 4.0 ICS, except for those carrier branded and tweaked models here in the US. Those rocking the T-Mobile SGSII, or the Epic 4G Touch will have to wait a little longer for something official. AT&T’s Galaxy S II Skyrocket recently received a second Gingerbread update earlier this month, so ICS for that phone still seems a few weeks off at best.
Hopefully the carrier branded SGSII’s get updated soon, but for now all of those with the international version should be enjoying the latest from Google.

LG Viper 4G LTE review

They said it wouldn't last. And they -- pundits, analysts, bloggers, GSM fanatics -- were right. WiMAX, that flavor of 4G found in the 2500MHz band, has proven to be more of a hindrance then help during Sprint's transition from underdog to reinvigorated titan. Then there are the kerfuffles it's endured standing on the sidelines -- namely, watching one-time LTE partner LightSquared squander its regulatory good graces. Beleaguered would be putting it mildly; Sprint faces a treacherous climb uphill to the mobile Olympus where Verizon, AT&T and now-spectrum-rich T-Mobile sit -- after all, it's hard to change the tide of public perception, overcome the limitations of a dreadful 3G CDMA network and move away from weak third-party 4G signals. Yet, with all of those negatives working against it, a planned rollover to LTE technology might just be the panacea Sprint has so badly needed.
Right now, at least, a wish and a hope are all Sprint can dole out to existing subscribers toying with the idea of switching carriers. Its nascent LTE network, currently in testing across six US cities, hasn't been cleared for launch, which makes its first 4G handset, the Viper 4G LTE, a dress rehearsal of sorts. And what a low-key affair it is: no cutting-edge aesthetics or kickstand here, just mid-range specs and a humble design made from recycled materials. But for anyone itching to surf those faster waves, LG's dual-core, NFC-enabled workhorse could be a tempting buy when it goes on sale Sunday for $100 (with a two-year contract). So will the dangling carrot of faster 4G persuade consumers to choose this over all those other mid-tier Android phones? Let's find out.

Google+ SMS support added in 41 countries

Who loves Google+ and thinks it’s the best social network? In case you guys didn’t know, you can post updates and respond to comments using SMS just like Facebook and others offer. The only problem here is this feature was limited to the US and parts of India. Today Google has announced this feature is now available in 41 new countries. You can now update your social status no matter where you are with a quick text message.

When Google+ was first announced this was only available in two countries, and this update makes it available for 43. Now almost everyone can enjoy this simple, yet much needed feature. Many of the new countries to get the feature are across the middle east and in Africe, but here’s the full list for those hoping for the service:
Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Bahrain, Benin, Cambodia, Cameroon, Congo (DRC), Cote D’Ivoire, Egypt, Ghana, Guinea, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Liberia, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Morocco, Mozambique, Niger, Nigeria, Pakistan, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Tunisia, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zambia.
Basically not everyone has mobile data everywhere, especially fast enough to update their status or fully use Google+ as it was intended. For those times where only SMS service is available, this makes things quick and simple. The option is easily made available by going into the Google+ settings page and you’ll be good to go in a matter of seconds. Enjoy!

T-Mobile HTC One S hits Costco April 25 for $189 with free gift card

The brand new and impressive HTC One S is about to take the T-Mobile network by storm. Being available for pre-order now, it will hit store shelves and be available nationwide starting April 25th for $199. As usual, Costco is looking to get a piece of the pie by offering a lower price and a free $25 dollar gift card too.

According to Droiddog Costco will start selling the One S on the exact same day as T-Mobile, April 25th, in their own warehouses and will be offering a better deal to attract buyers. Instead of $199 Costco will be offering the One S for $189 (no rebate) and they’ll throw in a free $25 dollar Costco gift card too. This can be used for cases or accessories, or throughout the warehouse on food and such.
It isn’t the best deal we’ve seen, and personally I think T-Mobile should be selling the phone for $149, instead of $199 with a $50 mail in rebate, but that’s just me. The phone is awesome and we urge you to check out our reviews of both the T-Mobile One S, and the international model review. You’ll want to quickly stop in at your nearest Costco Wednesday to snatch up your own, as they’ll probably sell out fast.

Panasonic Eluga now available unlocked in Europe, yours for £369 or €460

Wouldn't ya know it, but Panasonic was spot on with its announcement of the Eluga smartphone's European arrival this month. The elegant, waterproof handset is now available unlocked from Expansys, where it retails for £369 and approximately €460, with slight variations among countries. While the phone supports quadband GSM, its UMTS / HSPA connectivity is limited to the 2100MHz and 900MHz bands, which makes it less than ideal for North American use -- though, if you really want one, it seems safe to peg this one in the $600 territory.
Similarly available through NTT DoCoMo as the P-04D, we first managed to get a hands-on with the Eluga at Mobile World Congress. For those in need of a quick refresh, the phone features a TI OMAP 4430 SoC with a dual-core 1GHz CPU, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of built-in storage, a 4.3-inch qHD Super AMOLED display, an 8 megapixel rear camera and a rather paltry 1,150mAh battery. The Eluga includes a heavily-skinned version of Android 2.3.5, although an upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich has been pegged for release this summer. The phone represents Panasonic's return to the smartphone arena, and while it's a bit behind the curve, it's no doubt a fine starting point.

Samsung announces the winners for the Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge

If you remember, about two months ago, Samsung started the Galaxy Note S Pen App Challenge to get the development community to unlock the potential of the Galaxy Note. Samsung just announced the winners and handed out over $200,000. If you own a Galaxy Note, now is the time to try out some of these cool apps. Hit the break for the full rundown.

Best Overall App – Grand Prize – $100,000

• “Monkey Write * Learn Chinese” by Chiu-ki Chan (Square Island LLC): Learn to write Chinese with Monkey Write – a game that makes it fun to learn. Chinese characters are written in a specific order to give them structure. Follow the stroke numbers to learn to write each character.

Best Overall App – Second Prize – $50,000

• “Maze Racer” by Roger Peters (SmartyPantsGaming) and David McCanless: Maze Racer is a simple maze inspired game where you draw a line from start to finish. In Maze Racer, you get rewarded stars based on how quickly you reach the finish. Maze Racer is optimized for precision from the S-Pen over traditional finger input.

Best Overall App – Third Prize – $25,000

• “Drawing Pad” by Christopher Lott and Daren Murtha (Murtha Design): Drawing Pad is a mobile art studio with a beautiful user interface that puts the fun into creating art. Drawing Pad provides amazing realistic textured brushes with the pressure sensitivity data of the S Pen.

Popular Choice – $2,000 and a Galaxy Note

• “SignDoc Mobile” by Softpro North America: Professionally capture user handwritten signature using pressure sensitivity of the S Pen

Honorable Mention – $2,000 and a Galaxy Note

• Games – “Speed Draw” by Ferdouse Khaleque and Kabir Khaleque
• Productivity – “Papyrus” by Andrew Hughes (Steadfast Innovation)
• Media – “FlipaClip” by Visual Blasters team members Jonathan Meson and Tim Meson
• Sports – “Playcall” by Sargon Benjamin
• Entertainment – “Colors! For Galaxy Note” by Jens Andersson (Collecting Smiles)
• Travel – “Map Note” by Base 2 Applications, LLC
• Social – “Authorgraph” by Evan Jacobs (To the Reader, Inc)
• Lifestyle – “Makeup Paint” Modiface Inc.
• Education – “iAnatomy” by Anouk Stein, M.D.
• Other – “bConnected @ Ball State for Galaxy Note” by Ball State University team members Kyle Parker, Valerie Morris, Ryan Bitzegaio, Brandon Smith, Ian Gibson and Brice Brenneman

Full press release:

Samsung Mobile’s Developer Challenge Brings New Apps to Galaxy Note Users

Samsung awards Grand Prize to “Monkey Write * Learn Chinese” educational app optimized for the Galaxy Note’s S Pen

DALLAS – April 23, 2012 – Samsung Telecommunications America (Samsung Mobile), the No. 1 mobile phone provider in the United States¹, announced the winners of the Samsung Galaxy Note™ S Pen™ App Challenge.

“The goal of the Challenge was to tap the S Pen’s unlimited potential for content creation engagement with the ingenuity of the Android app developer community,” said Dale Sohn, president of Samsung Mobile. “The results exceeded our expectations, both in terms of quantity and quality. This challenge is just one example of our constant expansion of the S Pen integrated apps ecosystem.”

Entries were judged by a five-member panel of representatives from AndroidCentral.com, AT&T, BlueRun Ventures, Gameloft and Samsung Mobile. The judges evaluated the apps based on the quality of the idea, S Pen integration and overall user experience.  The challenge included a “Popular Choice” category, which invited the public to vote on submissions online.

The winning submissions include:

Best Overall App – Grand Prize – $100,000

• “Monkey Write * Learn Chinese” by Chiu-ki Chan (Square Island LLC): Learn to write Chinese with Monkey Write – a game that makes it fun to learn. Chinese characters are written in a specific order to give them structure. Follow the stroke numbers to learn to write each character.

Best Overall App – Second Prize – $50,000

• “Maze Racer” by Roger Peters (SmartyPantsGaming) and David McCanless: Maze Racer is a simple maze inspired game where you draw a line from start to finish. In Maze Racer, you get rewarded stars based on how quickly you reach the finish. Maze Racer is optimized for precision from the S-Pen over traditional finger input.

Best Overall App – Third Prize – $25,000

• “Drawing Pad” by Christopher Lott and Daren Murtha (Murtha Design): Drawing Pad is a mobile art studio with a beautiful user interface that puts the fun into creating art. Drawing Pad provides amazing realistic textured brushes with the pressure sensitivity data of the S Pen.

Popular Choice – $2,000 and a Galaxy Note

• “SignDoc Mobile” by Softpro North America: Professionally capture user handwritten signature using pressure sensitivity of the S Pen

Honorable Mention – $2,000 and a Galaxy Note

• Games – “Speed Draw” by Ferdouse Khaleque and Kabir Khaleque
• Productivity – “Papyrus” by Andrew Hughes (Steadfast Innovation)
• Media – “FlipaClip” by Visual Blasters team members Jonathan Meson and Tim Meson
• Sports – “Playcall” by Sargon Benjamin
• Entertainment – “Colors! For Galaxy Note” by Jens Andersson (Collecting Smiles)
• Travel – “Map Note” by Base 2 Applications, LLC
• Social – “Authorgraph” by Evan Jacobs (To the Reader, Inc)
• Lifestyle – “Makeup Paint” Modiface Inc.
• Education – “iAnatomy” by Anouk Stein, M.D.
• Other – “bConnected @ Ball State for Galaxy Note” by Ball State University team members Kyle Parker, Valerie Morris, Ryan Bitzegaio, Brandon Smith, Ian Gibson and Brice Brenneman

Developers used the Samsung S Pen SDK to integrate S Pen functionality. Winners, app entries and more information on the Challenge can be found at http://galaxynotespenchallenge.com/. More information on the Samsung Galaxy Note, an all-in-one device that allows users to communicate in a unique, personal way, can be found athttp://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-I717ZBAATT.

¹ Number one mobile phone provider in the U.S. claim for Samsung Mobile based upon reported shipment data, according to Strategy Analytics, Q4 2011 U.S. Market Share Handset Shipments Reports.

About Samsung Telecommunications America

Samsung Telecommunications America, LLC, a Dallas-based subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., researches, develops and markets wireless handsets and telecommunications products throughout North America. For more information, please visitwww.samsungwireless.com.

About Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2010 consolidated sales of US$135.8 billion. Employing approximately 190,500 people in 206 offices across 68 countries, the company operates two separate organizations to coordinate its nine independent business units: Digital Media & Communications, comprising Visual Display, Mobile Communications, Telecommunication Systems, Digital Appliances, IT Solutions, and Digital Imaging; and Device Solutions, consisting of Memory, System LSI and LCD. Recognized for its industry-leading performance across a range of economic, environmental and social criteria, Samsung Electronics was named the world’s most sustainable technology company in the 2011 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

Samsung GT-I9300 Galaxy S III Graphics Benchmark Shows Great Promise

Earlier we reported on the Samsung GT-I9300 benchmarks that were found onGLBenchmark.com and the prevailing opinion is that this is the Samsung Galaxy S III running a quad-core Exynos 4412. Clocked at 1.4GHz, this processor comes paired with an ARM Mali-400 GPU clocked at 400MHz, which is 50% faster than the current Galaxy S II.

The Exynos 5 series chipset, which is the tablet version, comes with a Mali T-604 GPU, which supposedly has 5 times the performance of the S II. So should we be worried that the Galaxy S III will be underpowered graphically? The folks at PhoneArena decided to do a little comparison to find out for sure.

The benchmarks of the GT-I9300, which is most likely still a prototype Galaxy S III unit, were compared to those of the Snapdragon S4, Tegra 3, iPhone 4S, and the new iPad. The S III easily beat the S4, trounced the Tegra 3, just edged out the iPhone 4S, and held its own against the new iPad’s PowerVR quad-core chip. This tells us that when the final version of the Galaxy S III is released, it will most likely be top dog performance-wise… at least for a little while.

Google Docs Free Storage Limit Gets Bumped From 1GB To 5GB Ahead Of Imminent Google Drive Announcement

 Google Drive is so close, we can practically taste it. Earlier today, Reuters broke the news of a possible Tuesday launch (that would be today), confirming earlier rumors of an initial free 5GB quota and throwing a new number, 100GB of upgradeable storage, into the mix.

It's quite possible that Reuters' sources were on the money this time, as around the same time, Google started bumping the usual free 1GB Docs storage limit all the way up to... you guessed it - 5GB. Check it out:

Additional pricing still remains at $0.25/GB, but this could change with the official announcement. Google Drive is expected to launch with desktop and Android sync clients and enhance the Google Docs experience, giving the likes of Dropbox, Box, and other cloud syncing services a run for their money.

I have a really good feeling about this - anyone taking bets on the official launch later on today? How about U.S.-only vs worldwide?

Hands on with the Spotify for Android update preview

For me, Spotify is how I listen to probably 75% of any music at the moment. While the service -- and for that matter price -- is superb, the Android application has definitely been lacking. There have been rumblings for a while about an update, and then just like that it dropped. The preview of the newest version is only available as a direct download from Spotify at present, and isn't the finished article. What is there though is pretty special, and a significant upgrade from the previous offering. We've had a couple of days to play around with it now, so if you haven't tried it out yet, stick around. A full hands on plus some tasty screenshots await you after the break. 

The most significant change is the UI. There isn't a single trace left of its predecessor. Design cues have been drawn from Ice Cream Sandwich, and that is in no way a bad thing. Once you sign in, you're still greeted with your playlists as before. But it looks so different, ordered in a distinctly ICS style list. At the top of the page, any playlists downloaded to your device are now highlighted in their own section. Good news for those with a lot of playlists for sure. 

      

The top left corner is where you'll find the menu button now, again taking its cues from ICS. All the same sub-menus are there, but it slides out from the left of the screen instead of popping up from the bottom. Along the bottom of the screen, is a quick-play bar, showing your currently playing track along with a play/pause button. 

   

Diving into the menus then, with settings first. The settings menu gives us a tasty little treat in this new version. A little dropdown box which determines the quality of the music when streaming -- and a new "extreme quality." That's right, 320Kbps quality streaming audio. The same feature has been open to our iOS cousins for a couple of months now, and finally it's our turn. 

Another section lying within the main dropdown menu is the "What's New" section. On the old app this was a pretty dull affair, but the new version looks a lot closer to the cover flow-esque desktop version. Nice big images of album artwork -- a shame one of them in this image is Bieber, sorry for that folks -- and lists of top playlists and top tracks. 

   

Each track, be it in a playlist or in the actual player, has a little tab next to the track name. This opens up a very nice quick menu bar. The links contained within differ slightly depending on where abouts in the app you are. Put simply, it provises links to the artists, album, adding to a playlist, queue, starring the track, and your sharing link. Some are covered within the "more" tab. 

   

Finally, what about the actual music player? Functionally it's the same basic player as in the old version of the app. The difference is in the appearance, and all the better it is for it too. Finally, Spotify have graced us with a good looking, easy to use Android application. So far -- for me at least -- this version hasn't crashed in two days of pretty constant use. The same couldn't be said for the previous version. 

There you have it. If this has whetted your appetite, hit the source link below where you can find the download link for yourselves. 

Source: Spotify