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Samsung to pay royalty to Microsoft on Android Use

With Android infringing several of Microsoft’s patents, Microsoft  has a huge leverage in the mobile space. HTC had agreed to pay Microsoft $5 on every device it sells with Android. The price was low after HTC agreed to release as many Microsoft Windows 7 based devices eauivalent to its Android devices.

Now Microsoft is after the bigger target i.e Samsung, in the last few months Samsung has clearly emerged as a leader in Android Devices and Microsoft is demanding Samsung to pay $15 per device sold. But after negotiations figure might be quite lower. Unlike Apple who is suing Samsung, Microsoft can benefit a lot by Samsung.

In the past Microsoft’s major weakness has been the hardware its mobile operating system runs,  it had very few options like Motorola and HTC , but Samsung will be a great addition to the list along with Nokia. Microsoft is expected to settle for a lower fee if Samsung accepts on releasing more Windows 7 devices and using some of its services as default in Android based device.

Linked to the negotiations are licensing for Windows 7 as well. Within a few days we will know the outcome.

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Samsung Attain Review aka Galaxy S2 Review

Apple is  going after Samsung for many reasons, but according to many experts the trigger is the new device Samsung released in April 2011. It is not the Galaxy Tab but the Samsung Galaxy S2 also know Samsung Attain or Samsung within in US.

Android has been evolving fast and with Nexus series everyone was expecting the device can match , the market leader Apple. But it appears finally it was up to Samsung to bring the real iPhone competitor , in many ways a real iPhone beater. It will be really harsh to compare iPhone 4 with Samsung Attain,  the Galaxy S2 is more of a competitor for the next generation iPhone be it iPhone 4S or iPhone 5.  But while going over the comparison we will compare the device with iPhone 4, Motorola Atrix, Google Nexus S , Nokia N9 and Samsung Infuse 4G.

We will also use the names Samsung Galaxy S2, ATT Attain , Samsung Attain 4G, Samsung Within 4G (CDMA)  interchangeably. All the names refer to the one and only Samsung I9100 Galaxy S2 (SII) , the main difference would be Network frequencies if at all they exist.

Processing Power / RAM –

Samsung Attain probably defines the class of 2011 cellphones. It is the first major Cellphone to have a Dual Core processor and individual cores breaching 1GHz (clocked at 1.2GHz), but it appears Samsung has limited the clock frequencies to 1GHz only. It runs on the Samsung 1.2GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor (Dual Core) on the exynos (Samsung Orion) chipset. The Phone also boasts a 1GB RAM and  Mali-400MP GPU.  These specs alone would beat many mainstream computers few years ago. The Phone has 16GB/32GB memory option for storage.

Compare this to iPhone 4’s spec, it has 1GHZ Single Core Processor, 512 MB RAM and PowerVR SGX535GPU which are definitely one generation behind. And the Specs of  Samsung Attain (Samsung Within) most probably will also be the specs for next Gen iPhone.

Camera –

Samsung Attain is also the first phone which would bring Full HD Video Recording  ie 1080p @ 30fps. It also has 8MP camera with Auto focus and Geo tagging etc.  Samsung has also increased the front camera to a 2MP one from the VGA camera found on most models. Most of the current models have 720p video recording including the iPhone 4 , Samsung Infuse, Nokia N9 and Motorola Atrix (1080p with software update). Nokia N9 has fancy Carl Zeiss lens in place of the standard lens.

Samsung Attain (Samsung Galaxy S2)  –  8MP , 1080p Video
Samsung Infuse 4G – 8MP , 720p Video
Nokia N9 – 8MP , 720p Video (Carl Zeiss Lens)
iPhone 4 – 5MP , 720p Video
Motorola Atrix – 5MP , 1080p (with update)

Dimensions and Weight –

Samsung Galaxy S2 probably gets the sweet spot of the dimensions, little larger screen but thinner and lighter. This is not as large as the ATT Samsung Infuse 4G and not heavy like iPhone 4. It is definitely bigger than iPhone 4 due to bigger screen.

Samsung Galaxy S2 (Attain) – 125.3 X 66.1 X 8.49 mm
Nokia N9 – 116.45 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm
Samsung Infuse 4G – 132 x 71 x 9 mm
Iphone 4 – 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm
Motorola Atrix – 117.8 x 63.5 x 11 mm
Blackberry Torch – 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm

Weight comparison
Samsung Galaxy S2 (Attain) – 116 g
Nokia N9 – 135 g
Samsung Infuse 4G – 139 g
Iphone 4 – 137 g
Motorola Atrix – 135 g

Screen –
Samsung Galaxy S2 has 4.3 inch (480 x 800 pixels) Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen 16M colors. This is not upto iPhone’s pixel density but you cant really make it out either. The phone has capacitive touchscreen and is super responsive due to the Processing Power. Also sports the Corning Gorilla Glass found on other high end devices, the Gorilla glass much stronger and scratch resistant.

It also runs on Android 2.3, has a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. Uses A-GPS.
Supports
Audio formats
MP3, OGG, AAC, AAC+, eAAC+, AMR-NB , AMR-WB, WMA, WAV, MID, AC3, IMY, FLAC, XMF
Video formats
MPEG4, H.264, H.263, WMV, DivX, Xvid, VC-1
Image formats
JPEG, PNG, GIF, WBMP, BMP, AGIF

The phone has a large 1650mAH battery, which seems to be drained easily. But it is expected, that this issue should be fixed with software updates.

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Nokia N9 (Meego) Review and comparison

Nokia N9 is Nokia’s new smartphone, with 3G network of High Speed Uplink Packet Access of 5.7 Mbps and High Speed Downlink Packet Access of 14.4 Mbps, its dimensions are 116.45 * 61.2 * 12.1 mm, with a screen size of 3.9 inches, 16:9 FWVGA (854 * 480) pixels AMOLED display, capacitive touch screen, gorilla glass display, 16.7 million colors, and weighs 135 g. Its OS is MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan with 1 GHz Cortex A8 Processor.

Though much has been talked about the Meego OS, the phone itself is designed to perfection. Probably a Elop let Nokia team take one last gasp for the open source world. But if Meego does become more successful, there is always a chance Meego might appear in some of Nokia’s future devices.

The phone has 8 MP camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, wide angle lens, dual LED flash, digital shutter, continuous auto focus, 4x digital zoom and video camera with 720 pixels resolution at 30 frames per second, stereo sound recording, and etc., The internal memory is of 16 or 64 GB, 1 GB RAM and no external card slot.The 8 MP camera is comparable to 2011 top notch smartphones and on the lines of Samsung Galaxy S2 and Apple’s soon to be released iPhone 5.

Its other features include NFC (Near Field Communication – for easy pairing and sharing), Wi-Fi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR, GPRS, EDGE, High Speed USB 2.0 with micro USB connector for data transfer and charging, 3.5 mm Audio Video connector, messaging through SMS, MMS, IM, Push, Email, HTML 5 support for web applications and fast video playback, RSS reader, TCP/IP support, Live multitasking view, Java Script support, Share photos online through Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa, Video and photo editor, Document editor’s, MP3 and MP4 player, Key Applications like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Ovi store, Maps, Track and Protect, Nokia Link for easy synchronization of photos, videos, and music, Preloaded games like Angry Birds Magic with NFC support, Galaxy on Fire 2, Real Golf 2011, and etc., The phone has 1450 mAh Li-Ion standard battery with talk time power of 7 h and standby time of 450 h, 4.5 h of video playback time and 50 h of music playback time. It comes in three colors such as Cyan, Black and Magenta

Nokia N9 Specifications :

3G Network :  High Speed Uplink Packet Access of 5.7 Mbps and High Speed Downlink Packet Access of 14.4 Mbps

Dimensions :

When compared to other top phones here is the dimension comparison

Nokia N9 – 116.45 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm
Iphone 4 – 115.2 x 58.6 x 9.3 mm
Samsung Galaxy S2 – 125.3 X 66.1 X 8.49 mm
Blackberry Torch – 111 x 62 x 14.6 mm

Display Screen : screen size is of 3.9 inches, 16:9 FWVGA (854 * 480) pixels AMOLED display, capacitive touch screen, gorilla glass display which also adorns iPhone 4 and Galaxy S2, 16.7 million colors

Weight : 135 g
The phone is much lighter than iPhone 4 which is 161 g and comparable to Galaxy S2.

OS and Processor : MeeGo 1.2 Harmattan with 1 GHz Cortex A8 Processor. Nokia might  have missed a trick by not going dual core here, but 1 GHZ is more than enough any of current Generation phone.

Camera : 8 MP camera with Carl Zeiss Optics, wide angle lens, dual LED flash, digital shutter, continuous auto focus, 4x digital zoom and video camera with 720 pixels resolution at 30 frames per second, stereo sound recording, and etc.,

Memory : 16 or 64 GB, 1 GB RAM and no external card slot

Other Features : NFC (Near Field Communication – for easy pairing and sharing), Wi-Fi WLAN 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with EDR, GPRS, EDGE, High Speed USB 2.0 with micro USB connector for data transfer and charging, 3.5 mm Audio Video connector, messaging through SMS, MMS, IM, Push, Email, HTML 5 support for web applications and fast video playback, RSS reader, TCP/IP support, Live multitasking view, Java Script support, Share photos online through Facebook, Flickr, and Picasa, Video and photo editor, Document editor’s, MP3 and MP4 player, Key Applications like Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Ovi store, Maps, Track and Protect, Nokia Link for easy synchronization of photos, videos, and music, Preloaded games like Angry Birds Magic with NFC support, Galaxy on Fire 2, Real Golf 2011, and etc.,

Battery : 1450 mAh Li-Ion standard battery with talk time power of 7 h and standby time of 450 h, 4.5 h of video playback time and 50 h of music playback time

Colors : Cyan, Black and Magenta. May not be the best choice in terms of colors other than black. But this also makes the phone unique among competition.