Android Dose

US Cellular and Samsung announced today that they will be delivering a Galaxy Tab to their customers, No official release date or pricing information was given however this is definitely another step in the right direction for this partnership between Samsung and US Cellular. Obviously for Samsung its another outlet for their hardware and will get it into more customers hands, with over 6 million potential customers through the carrier Samsung will be able to cut costs based on volume production, even though each carrier has specific variations they all start with almost identical hardware that vary rarely diverges (radios to talk to specific carriers cell networks) making this an easy choice. For US Cellular they are able to offer top of the line hardware and products that are cutting edge and depending on how they price it may even be able to cut into the sales of some of the big 4 carriers where US Cellular is popular. All in all I think its a great decision to carry the Galaxy Tab and its a winner for everyone involved. Check out the full press release after the break.

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Today Samsung and Verizon announced the pricing and availability of the Samsung Galaxy Tab on Verizon. Pricing is curiously noted as $599 with no mention of a contract requirement or any possible subsidized pricing… I’m waiting to hear back for more details regarding the pricing and contract requirements. November 11th is when they will be available just in time for the holiday shopping rush! I know I can’t wait to get my hands on one to review for an extended time, My hands on experience at the Galaxy Tab launch event in September was incredible. Check out the full press release after the break.

Continue reading “Verizon Galaxy Tab Launch Date and Pricing Announced” »

Today is a big day for Android OTA updates. Samsung, HTC and Motorola all roll out OTA updates for some of their premier handsets.

Samsung and AT&T have announced an OTA update to correct GPS issues as well as media scanning and including a full version of Quick Office as well as correcting some Microsoft Exchange 2003 policy support issues. Verizon announced that it would begin rolling out the official Android 2.2 (FroYo) update to Droid X customers today at Noon (12pm) EST though it has been available to pull and install OTA since Midnight. As far as the HTC Evo 4G update, The update is said to fix a few minor bugs including issues not allowing multiple Gmail accounts to sync properly as well as Calender event editing issues.

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Media Hub launch event at the Samsung Experience in New York City. I will post the keynote video I took sometime this weekend as I’m flying today.

The event was outstanding, The 4 major US carriers AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon are all getting a version of the Galaxy Tab, they will all have slight software variations based on carrier request. I would say this will be very similar to what we have seen on the Galaxy S Phones, small UI and

other enhancements. Featuring Android 2.2, Flash Support, Video chat, Full HTML 5 browser and unprecedented mobility the Galaxy Tab should become a great mobile device. I was lucky enough to get some hands-on time with the Galaxy Tab last night, though it was the international version and not one of the US versions the interface is smooth and responsive, I was able to download several apps from the market to test out market access. I have been extremely impressed with the Tab from the beginning seeing it launched now after having some hands on time I am totally sold, I will most certainly getting a  Galaxy Tab on launch, Which carrier? That is still up in the air at this point.

Now on to Media Hub, This is Samsung’s content solution partnering with Time Warner, NBC and others to bring first run movies and TV shows the day after air to your mobile experience. There are both purchase and rental models and they both allow you to download and play your content on up to 5 devices connected to your media hub registered device, be it an Android Phone, Smart TV, Computer etc. The update was just released on the Epic 4G which is now able to access the content currently available, look for a video on Media Hub this weekend as I get to spend some more time with it.