Samsung ATIV S & Galaxy Note 2 Windows 8 Powered Smartphone

Samsung announced two new smartphones, the Galaxy Note 2 and the ATIV S, during its press conference at IFA in Berlin Wednesday. The Galaxy Note 2 is a second take on its massive phablet and the ATIV S bears the distinction of being the first Windows Phone 8 device announced.

The original Galaxy Note may have shipped more than 10 million units worldwide, but it was far from a success in the U.S. Perhaps the Galaxy Note 2 will change that. It's superior in just about every way.

The most important element of the Note 2 is that Samsung updated the design to match that of its sexy Galaxy S III. The GSIII is one of the best phones Samsung has produced, and the Note 2 looks like it may be as attractive. The original Note was a bit utilitarian in appearance.

Samsung chose to alter the screen dimensions in a positive way. The diagonal measurement has been bumped from 5.3 inches to 5.5, but the pixels have been changed to 1280 x 720, giving it a 16:9 aspect ratio. This let Samsung make the Note 2 a bit narrower than it otherwise might have been. Narrower phones are easier to hold.

Other speeds and feeds have been improved as well. The Note 2 has a quad-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, more storage options, and better radio configurations. Samsung also updated the S Pen software to make it more useful. The S Pen, after all, is the most unique feature of the device.

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All these improvements make for a much better device. Samsung said the device will reach the U.S later this year (probably from AT&T or T-Mobile). Those looking for something altogether different from the iPhone 5 will have a good option with the Note 2.

Samsung surprised everyone by announcing the first Windows Phone 8 device. Nokia was expected to earn that distinction next week during a press conference it is holding with Microsoft. Samsung beat it to the punch, though it may not matter.

From a spec perspective, the ATIV S is a winner. It adds a number of features that previous generations of Windows Phones weren't able to offer. These include a dual-core processor, an HD display, removable memory, and so on. The design is gorgeous, it's made out of brushed aluminum. Metallic materials are something that many Samsung devices lack. Metal adds an element of quality and class that simply can't be achieved with plastics.

Samsung didn't say whether the ATIV S might reach the U.S., and more importantly, Samsung didn't say anything about what Windows Phone 8 can do.

Nokia and Microsoft will surely give us a very good look at everything Windows Phone 8 has to offer during their event scheduled for September 5. Without knowing how the ATIV S can put all those specs to use, it's somewhat of a hollow announcement. Nokia has already taken to the Web to call the ATIV S a "warm up" for next week's event.

Until then, the ATIV S is the only Windows Phone 8 device to talk about.

Source: http://www.informationweek.com

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Release date and features of Windows phone 8

Looks like Microsoft is enjoying giving out surprises of late and the latest one comes barely within three days of announcing the Surface line of tablets. The Redmond giant announced details of the Windows Phone 8 at the Microsoft Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco this Wednesday.

The Windows Phone 8 shares the same core as that of the Windows 8, the same one that runs the Windows RT and Windows 8 Pro tablets. The bar is set high for the partners of Microsoft who are also coming up with tablets and laptops based on the Windows 8 platform, the bulk of which will launch later this year.

Microsoft has left enough room for developers to build apps for both Windows 8 and the Windows Phone 8 with the functionality to port apps from each other. Microsoft has made it clear that the phone will support multi-core chips and that testing has been done with devices up to 64 cores – this means hardware should be no constrain at all.
Under the hood

The Windows Phone 8 will be launched with a dual-core processor and will support 720p and WXGA display resolutions. With more power, the greater the battery drain, but we guess Microsoft must have taken care of this – because the norm today and the selling proposition for many is the number of cores.

The microSD card slot will finally be introduced to the Windows smartphones.

Gaming and Graphics
Graphics and media playback will be similar to the regular Windows versions, and that should ensure the arrival of more powerful games and entertainment-based apps. Most of the current lot of games and apps might have to be upgraded to make full use of the new Windows 8 platform.

Given the hardware capability of the platform and the onboard GPU power, the Windows Phone 8 could see a lot of incoming 3D games from developers.

Incoming features
Windows Phone 8 will come with NFC support, with the addition of a new mobile wallet feature. The feature will be similar to Google Wallet, but with added elements borrowed from Apple’s Passbook app that will support tickets and passes as well. These features are also there in the latest Microsoft Surface tablets.

The latest smartphone from Microsoft will replace the existing Bing maps with Nokia Maps. The new mapping system will offer offline maps and turn-by-turn navigation for free.

With the Windows Phone 8, Microsoft will also target the enterprise segment – with secure boot and disk encryption.

Partial upgrade for current Windows Phone owners
This one’s quite a blow! Windows Phone 7 and 7.5 won’t update to Windows Phone 8. Microsoft will, however, release an update, Windows Phone 7.8, that will include the new Start screen of the Windows Phone 8 and a few more features.

With the update, users will be add more “live tiles” and also resize them, giving them more screen real-estate.

Release date for Windows Phone 8
Microsoft hasn’t given a clear indication of any specific launch date, but we can expect it sometime this fall. We might see a lot of things from Microsoft getting launched at around the same time. Manufacturers for the Windows Phone 8 include Samsung, Nokia, Huawei, and HTC.

The Windows Phone 8 is a giant leap for Microsoft, with which we can see Microsoft getting back to its earlier form. This smartphone is an example of Microsoft sticking to its roots and offering users better encryption, security, support, and the ability to manage them pretty well.

With a sure footing and multitude of features loaded, Windows Phone 8 should emerge as a strong competitor in the smartphone market dominated by Apple and Google.

Source: Nvonews

Tags: Windows 8, Microsoft, Windows phone 8, Smartphone

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