Samsung Galaxy Note II now selling on Vodafone

The Samsung Galaxy Note II released on Monday, and right about now, it is out on Vodafone’s mart. The Galaxy Note is also available on Crimson Mobile Operator. You can pick the Samsung Galaxy Note II for free on £41 and £34 charging plan respectively, you will have to subscribe to a £47 per month Vodafone contract.
The contract covers unlimited texts, minutes and a 2 GB monthly data.
If you feel the two year contract will not be good for you, Samsung is offering the SIM free Samsung Galaxy Note II at the rate of £549.95.
The device a somehow expensive, but the features packaged there in is worthy of investing on, the Galaxy Note II comes with a giant 5.5 inches super AMOLED screen, along with a stylus for onscreen note taking and doodling. The device is powered by a quad core 1.6 GHz processor, empowered with a 3,100mAh battery, and running on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. The rear facing primary camera is 8 MP with 1080p HD video.
Orange and T-Mobile will make the Samsung Galaxy Note II available starting from October 15, and is provided for upgrade to the EE’s 4G network around October 30.

Lets take a few steps into the full specs of the Samsung Galaxy Note II

The 5.5 inches super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen on the Samsung Galaxy Note II has a 16M colors with a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels that has pixel density ~267 ppi protected with the Corning Gorilla Glass with TouchWiz UI.
The resolution of the 8MP rear facing primary camera of the Samsung Galaxy Note II is 3264 x 2448 pixels, and the camera features, autofocus, geo-tagging, touch focus, face and smile detection, image stabilization, shooting video at 1080p@30fps. The device also has a 1.9 MP front facing secondary camera for video chat.
The chipset on the Samsung Galaxy Note II is an Exynos4412 quad that runs a 1.6 GHz Cortex-A9 processor along with a Mali-400MP GPU. The Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean Operating system runs the programs on the Samsung Galaxy Note II.
Accelerometer, proximity, gyro, compass and barometer are the sensors packaged on the Samsung Galaxy Note II.
The device came with three internal memory option, 16, 32 and 64 GB option with a RAM of 2GB as well as a microSD card slot for storage extension up to 64 GB.

The network and connectivity features on the Samsung Galaxy Note II includes; 2G – GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900, 3G – HSDPA 850 / 900 / 1900 / 2100, 4G LTE 700 MHz Class 17 / 2100 – N7105, GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, 21 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps; LTE, Cat3, 50 Mbps UL, 100 Mbps DL, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual-band, DLNA, Wi-Fi Direct, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, LE, EDR, NFC, microUSB (MHL) v2.0, USB Host support, GPS with A-GPS support and GLONASS. 


The Samsung Galaxy Note II device has a touch sensitive control and Samsung also added the S Pen stylus.
The battery that powers the Samsung Galaxy Note II device is standard Li-Ion 3100mAh that boasts of standby time up to 980 hours on 2G, 890 hours on 3G, and talk time of 35 hours on 2G and 16 hours on 3G.
The weight of the Samsung Galaxy Note II device is 183g with a body dimension of 151.1 x 80.5 x 9.4 mm
Other features on the device includes; thread view SMS, MMS, Email, Push Mail, IM, RSS, HTML 5 browser, Java via Java MIDP emulator, SNS integration, Active noise cancellation with dedicated mic, Dropbox (50 GB storage), TV-out (via MHL A/V link, MP4/DivX/XviD/WMV/H.264/H.263 player, MP3/WAV/eAAC+/AC3/FLAC player.
More features on the Samsung Galaxy Note II device includes; Organizer, Image/video editor, Document editor (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, PDF, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Calendar, Google Talk, Picasa integration, Voice memo/dial/commands, Predictive text input (Swype)
The sound department of the Samsung Galaxy Note II is empowered with 3.5mm jack and a loudspeaker.

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Maluuba to Siri: Shhh!

 Maluuba's developers don't mince words (pun intended). They specifically call the app a "Siri alternative", although they also prefer to refer to Maluuba as a "do engine".

You can't help but compare the two; both Siri and Maluuba are 'personal virtual assistants' that interpret what you say to them, and provide you with all of the help and information that your Internet-connected smartphone can offer. Oddly enough, the more that I used Maluuba, I also thought about Google Now (the Android Jelly Bean Siri), and even Windows 8.

I dare you to NOT think of Metro or Windows Phone when you first bring up Maluuba's interface. The tiles are a dead ringer for Microsoft's mobile-generation UI design (which may be good or bad depending on your experiences with Windows 8). Personally, I find Maluuba to be exceptionally clean and user-friendly, and that's a big point in its favor even when you decide to forego voice interaction for a more traditional multi-touch experience.

Speaking of which: compared to Siri, the first drastic difference is that Maluuba won't talk back. This may be a deal-breaker if you're serious about keeping your eyes on the road, or simply like that virtual conversation, but for me it's a major benefit. Judging by the number of other people who love Siri's capacity for assistance but have grown tired of the sound of her voice, I'm not alone by any means.

What Maluuba does best is process your voice input and decide which of the many smartphone tasks you need it to do for you. Maluuba will access your contact list and immediately let you place calls, or compose hands-free texts and emails. Maluuba will integrate with all of your scheduling apps for everything from calendar events and reminders to alarm clocks and timers. Opening apps, playing songs, bringing up sites in your browser... all of this and more.

Yes, Siri does pretty much all of that, too. Where Maluuba pulls ahead is in its integration with web APIs -- 18 of them already, with an open SDK for developers to include more as time goes on. At the time of this writing, Maluuba can get the conditions from Weather Underground, look up Wikipedia, post status updates for you on Facebook and Twitter, access Wolfram Alpha's computational genius, cruise local places on Yelp and Foursquare, and mine the movie geek goodness of Rotten Tomatoes. All you have to do is ask, and you don't even have to be nice about it.

There's no doubt that the natural-language programming is more sophisticated than the vast majority of voice-control apps on the market (for any mobile OS). If you're the mischievous and

savvy type, you can trip up Maluuba on purpose... but when it comes to day-to-day commands and queries, you won't find yourself repeating your words very often. A few days with Maluuba doesn't really compare to the time that I've spent with Siri (over a year now), but my initial impression is that both have about an 80-90% chance of understanding me the first time.

As far as giving me the answers that I need, I'm going to say that Maluuba has an edge. Maluuba's contextual approach (incorporating user location and contact lists, among other factors) seems more likely to deliver personally useful results. It won't quite deliver the "predictive" recommendations that Google Now / Google Instant integration promises, but then again it won't weigh you down with unasked-for recommendations and notifications, either.

As I said before, you can get all of Maluuba's assistance without saying a word; typing (also with exceptional natural-language interpretation) and multi-touch control still gives you every bit of Maluuba's functions and access to APIs. Although both Siri and Maluuba can act as a flexible frontend for your smartphone's many functions, turning off voice takes a lot of Siri's luster away -- while Maluuba still improves upon most stock Android UIs for the majority of daily needs.

I won't even pretend that Maluuba is 'far better than Siri in every way.' There's a definite streamlined integration that you get with pretty much every Apple product, and Maluuba instead still feels like an Android app -- something that rides on top of other functions and features, and doesn't quite live there. Siri was designed to make iPhone users' lives easier and more productive, while Maluuba sometimes struggles to accommodate the more varied Android experience. Plus, it doesn't talk back -- which may be reason enough to prefer it or discard it. 

About the Author: 

 Porter is a tech geek. He loves staying up on all the new gadgets. When he isn’t looking into the new upcoming tech he is a writer on internet services and CenturyLinkQuote.

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Top 5 Galaxy S III Accessories worth buying

Samsung today have become one of the most well-known brands in mobile phone manufacturing industry. They are about to launch the latest version Smartphone in summer called Samsung Galaxy S III which is soon to hit the market. However, its accessories have already created an excellent impression in the market. So if you're waiting for the release of Samsung Galaxy SIII and have made up the mind that you are anyhow going to grab this phone then don't forget to get its accessories which would give you a unique experience while using this phone.

Confused about which accessory you should buy? Don't worry this article will help you in finding the best deal for the accessories for Samsung Galaxy SIII. Let's have a look at some of them:

C-Pen:  

              This is one of the most attractive accessories for the upcoming Samsun Galaxy SIII which has already started to attract the eyes of the customers. This C-pen has much similar features as S-Pen of Samsung Galaxy note. It comes with a shape of a normal pen with the same diameter.

Flip Cover: 

                     This accessory can be considered as an add-on which is exclusively designed for Samsung Galaxy SIII. It can be used as a replacement for battery cover of the handset. This flip cover is very flexible which can also be useful in inserting the front cover in original position. This flip cover is produced from a high quality plastic and acts as a scratch guard of your handset thus preventing it from looking old.

Mobile phone holder along with Battery charger: 

                                        This is one of the most essential accessories which you must keep on top of the priority list when you are purchasing accessories. With mobile phone holder you can place the mobile safely in it and connect the charger. It is considered as one of the most essential accessory because it keeps your mobile phone safe and you can also make use of various features present in your phone whenever required. The most unique feature of this charger is that battery automatically pops out when it requires charging.

Samsung Galaxy S III vehicle dock: 

                                Since you would be driving a car you don't want to put this amazing mobile phone in little place besides handbrake where all coins and other stuffs are placed thus damaging the screen. Get this accessory so that you could place your phone in it and drive with comfort without having to worry about things that can damage the screen or any part of this phone.

Plantronics BackBeat Go: 

This accessory has also grabbed attention of most of the customers. They are of very much comfort to your ears. These earphones are wireless along with Bluetooth feature which provides crystal clear sound quality for both voice call and music. The best feature of this earphone is its tangle free cord.

To conclude this article the above mentioned accessories are the best recommended accessories which can add flair when you are using this mobile phone. You could also get these add-ons in advance giving you the freedom to make maximum use of it. Samsun Galaxy III no doubt would make you the center of attraction amongst your friends but getting these accessories along with the phone would make your friends even more jealous of you. These accessories mentioned are few; you can also research on the internet to find more list of accessories which would match your requirements.

Authors Bio:  

                   Matthew Anton is a professional online marketer offering search engine optimization services through BackLinksVault

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Do you find Android Phones difficult to operate?

Android phones have become more popular amongst people today. Recent survey shows that Android phones have overshadowed iPhone and above all it is accessible with every mobile carrier. People who are new to Android Phones would often find it difficult to get along with it. There are critics who have often pointed out some defects but if the users would know how to make the most out of then they would find it to be more user friendly. Wondering how? Keep reading this article to understand certain tips and tricks which would make you realize that use of Android phones is not that difficult.

How to manage your battery life?

I have read in many reviews that Android phones have poor battery life. You can’t deny this fact but these were with old models or who knows it may be with newer models too. Luckily there are many tools available which would help you manage your battery life. Software’s like power saver would allow you get more battery life.

There are some features on the Android phones which are not required. Features like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPRS which would end up your battery getting low if they are used regularly. Keeping this in mind the company have manufactured Android v1.6 which contains tools that allows switching these features off when it’s not required in order to grow your battery life. You need to get a widget which you can store on your Android phone desktop which would allow you to turn off or on these features with just a touch of a finger. There are several other applications which allow you to toggle ON and OFF options so that incase if any application needs these features it can turn on.

There’s another annoying thing with regards to managing your battery life on Android phones is that the default battery meter only displays certain color: : green, yellow and red which is a battery life indicator. This makes it difficult for a user to know if it’s the application itself which is consuming the battery life. Battery Meter Lite software is a freeware which would help you know about how much battery is still remaining in your cell phone. When you enable this application an icon will appear which will show how much battery is remaining just like laptop. This helps the user keep informed about when his battery is going to get low.

How to manage tasks?

Just like a normal laptop freezes your android phone too freezes due to many tasks working in the background. A user would definitely want to know which tasks are operating and also know how to stop them if they are not to be used. An application called System Panel Lite provides information to the user as to which applications are running and which are inactive but are cached in the processor.

Tired of default messaging?

Some users like me would hate default messaging application. There is one application which I came across Handcent SMS which is also a freeware application replaces your default messaging application. This application allows you to visualize the history and the current conversation when you are sending SMS. It also allows you to send MMS and also allows saving of MMS attachments. All you need to do is set this application as default on your Android Phone.

Android phones are user friendly once you get to know how to operate them. Yes, for beginners it may be bit difficult but few applications would help you know Android phones. I have found little information which can be useful for you. There are more applications available which you can find out from your local shop or on the internet. Download your favorite application which would make your usage easier.

Author Bio:

"Matthew Anton" is a professional online marketer offering search engine optimization services through Backlinksindexer 

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Apple moves closer to totally ditching Google; does away with YouTube app

Image via: laihiu with Creative Commons

It’s no secret that Apple wants its users to move away from Google services. Siri works as hard as possible to give consumers information from anywhere but Google and Apple has released their own mapping solution to back away from Google Maps. Just today it was revealed in the latest beta release of iOS 6, there will no longer be a YouTube app pre-packaged with the iPhone, iPod and iPad.
Receiving mixed reactions from iOS users, the death of a native YouTube app for iOS was to be expected. Apple has been using Vimeo for product demos instead of YouTube, and the built-in share button found throughout Apple’s latest desktop update, OS X 10.8, lacks functionality with Google’s video service. Both blatant hints that Apple was moving away from YouTube.
Apple is portraying the move as nothing personal, releasing a statement saying, “Our license to include the YouTube app in iOS has ended.” Adding on, “Google is working on a new YouTube app to be on the App Store.” If you’re an avid YouTube user on iOS, you probably welcome this news.
YouTube for iOS has been seriously lacking for years now. Handing over control of the YouTube experience to Google should result in nothing but good changes for the app.
Of course, if you want the most robust Google experience possible, Android is the way to go. That much is a no-brainer. Still, don’t expect Google’s services like Maps and YouTube to leave the iOS arena without a fight.

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SwiftKey 3: out of beta, into awesome

Applications

Jun 21 AT 2:37 PM Dustin Earley 35 Comments

SwiftKey 3: out of beta, into awesome

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I’ve spent a healthy amount of time with just about every software keyboard imaginable. From dozens of alternatives on Android (some as good as Swype, and some as different as 8pen), to other operating systems like Windows Phone and iOS. And none of them come close to my absolute favorite, SwiftKey. Why bring this up now? Because SwiftKey 3 has just come out of it’s beta phase, and is available now on Google Play and the Amazon Appstore, where it’s half off for a limited time.
If you haven’t used SwiftKey in the past, the keyboard’s main selling point is that it not only predicts the text you’re currently typing, but what will come next. SwiftKey learns your typing habits from your Facebook, Gmail, Twitter, RSS and text messages to provide customized suggestions.
A lot of work has gone into making SwiftKey the best version yet. It’s faster, more refined, has a handful of new customization options and boasts a long list of new features, including several suggestions from users who were involved in the SwiftKey 3 beta:

• Smart Space – adding to SwiftKey’s already cutting edge correction, Smart Space detects mistyped or omitted spaces across strings of sloppily typed words in real-time.
• Two new themes – a new theme, ‘Cobalt’, to match SwiftKey’s new look and feel, and an Ice Cream Sandwich-styled ‘Holo’ theme, as voted for by you.
• An enhanced UI – a much larger space bar and smart punctuation key help improve accuracy and make it quick and easy to access common punctuation.
• Additional languages – SwiftKey 3 now offers support for an additional seven languages, bringing the total up to 42. The new languages are Korean, Estonian, Farsi, Icelandic, Latvian, Lithuanian and Serbian.
• A dedicated comma key, and the 123 key in the bottom-left corner.
• A refined Smart Punctuation pop-up for better, more consistent behavior.
• An improved Smart Space functionality for easier email addresses and URL entry.
• Reduced lag on some devices for a more responsive experience.
• A reintroduction of the long-press duration setting by popular request.
• Further improved prediction algorithms for even more accurate next word suggestions.
• Refined gestures for a smoother experience.

To try SwiftKey 3 for yourself, head on over to either Google Play or the Amazon Appstore (where the discount is not available yet) where you can buy it now for just $1.99.

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Rumor: HTC already working on quad-core Qualcomm S4 powered flagship device

The HTC One X may be old news now that the Samsung Galaxy S III is making its way across the globe, but that doesn’t mean HTC is simply going to sit back and accept defeat. The latest rumor would have us believe that a new HTC flagship device is already in the works which will eclipse Samsung’s current offering.
According to an anonymous source, HTC is working on a new device which is powered by a 1.6 quad-core Qualcomm S4 SoC (possibly the APQ8064) with 2GB of RAM, LTE integration, 4.7-inch 720p display, 8 megapixel rear camera and a 1.8 megapixel front-facing shooter. The majority of the specs line up with the current HTC One X, but the quad-core Qualcomm S4 chip could easily make this new HTC device one of the most sought-after handsets later this year.
Unfortunately, there’s an issue which throws the credibility of the anonymous source into question. The source claims the device will feature and Adreno 350 GPU while Qualcomm’s documents claims that the APQ8064 is paired with the Adreno 320. We suspect there’s a typo in there somewhere, but we suggest you digest this news with a grain of salt.
What are your thoughts on the new HTC rumor? Would you be willing to pass on the Samsung Galaxy S III if HTC has plans to release a quad-core Qualcomm S4 powered handset in the next 3-4 months?

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Contest: Beta test Atmo and win a Galaxy Tab 2 7.0

Those of you that have been around Android since the beginning will likely remember the Android Developer Challenges. They were app development contests sponsored by Google back in the early days when Android did not exactly have a bountiful supply of apps. Well one of the finalists in the second of those contests was Door 6 with their 3D space flight game Atmosphere: Trainer which they later refined into the tunnel racer Vacuum which is still available in Google Play and I will personally attest can be highly addictive.
Well the guys at Door 6 have continued to work in a similar vein since then and are now ready to take the wraps off their latest creation which they are calling simply “Atmo.” While you can see the fingerprints of those earlier titles on this one it is an enormous leap forward from either of those games and the team has even bigger plans for the title going forward. Door 6 sees the focus on pushing out tons of casual games to see what can grab users attention as an unfortunate trend in mobile gaming and prefers to concentrate on delivering higher quality titles with the kind of depth that a traditional gamer expects.
When it launches in Google Play early next week, their new game Atmo puts the player again in the cockpit of a spaceship (now armed with lasers) and pits them against other players in a real-time multiplayer game of capture the flag. You start on opposite ends and must raid the other side blowing up capsules hunting for their “flag” which must then be returned to your goal without getting yourself blown to bits. You receive 30 points for capturing the flag and 2 points for each kill.

As I said, this is just the beginning of what Door 6 has in mind for the game. The first features they will be looking to add on are a ranking system to allow players to level up, achievement rewards and easy game pairing with Facebook friends. Further down the line they will be opening up the world for players to explore and will be adding an economy to enable users to customize and enhance their ships with new features ranging from additional thrusters to autonomous drones and more.
Also worth noting, despite our natural Android leanings, is that the game will be available on both Android and iOS and players from either platform will be able to face off against one another. Door 6 developed the game engine that they are using in-house and may in fact look to license that out at some juncture.
I’m sure you are chomping at the bit to hear about the contest at this point so I’ll get to that already. The guys at Door 6 were interested in having some folks check out the game early and give them some feedback on it. To that goal we have the link to the apk for the full game below for you to download and try out.

Contest Info

To motivate you all a bit they are offering up a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 for the player with the highest score by 11:59 PM on Sunday night that has also left feedback on the game in the comments on this post. While we didn’t do our own review of the Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 it is an excellent smaller form factor tablet that delivers a full Android 4.0 experience in a package that is similar to the Kindle Fire and Nook Tablet.
Two final notes regarding the rules for the contest. The contest is for U.S. residents only and in order to keep your high score running from one game session to the next you will need to use the Facebook login that pops up at the initial screen.
Here’s a few links to the apk and if you have any questions the developers should be popping in and out of here all weekend to try to answer them for you as possible.
Download Link 1
Download Link 2
Good luck!
Update: I’ll be trying to keep the top 3 updated as possible so you guys aren’t completely flying blind. You can also look to the Door 6 blog as they of course are the official score keepers.
Leader Board – 6/15 – 5:30 p.m.

1. Richard L. – 4490
2. Evan M. – 1090
3. Juan D. – 968

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