Cranking out news for the geeks, music buffs and gossip junkies, my way. -Greg

Samsung brought their own OLED and I have to say it looked real sharp and real thin. The picture was great and the  physical appearance of the TV looked great as well. Of all the TV’s I saw today Samsung had the most impressive picture with their 4k technology TVs (not pictured). I would have uploaded pics of these TV’s, but it just would not do them any justice.

Looks like Samsung was not kidding around when they said they would be updating the Galaxy S II to Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0) early 2012. SAMMOBILE has just leaked 2 Official ROMs based on the much anticipated latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich. These are actually builds for the international Galaxy S II (I9100); of course this was expected as the international version was released far before it came to theUS. I’m pretty excited to see that Samsung is moving right along and will be really excited to see when the first build for the I777 (US version) is leaked. –Greg

SAMMOBILE

ROMs via SAMMOBILE

Beginning today AT&T will begin rolling out an update to the Samsung Captivate Glide to support Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS). The update will be simliar to the update recently released for the Samsung Galaxy SII that I just posted recently. This will bring the Captivate Glide to Android 2.3.6 and will include fixes for Exchange Active Sync as well. The roll out will begin in NYC and Washington, D.C. first and the rest of the US to follow. Here is an excerpt from AT&T:

Effective December 21, 2011 AT&T will release new software for the Samsung Captivate™ Glide that supports Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS). CMAS is a new public safety system that allows customers who own an enabled mobile device to receive geographically-targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. Consumers will receive only three types of alerts through CMAS:

• Presidential Alerts (automatic alerts that cannot be disabled by the customer)
• Imminent Threat Alerts (FEMA type alerts – customers can opt out of messages – see screen shots below)
• Amber Alerts (e.g., child abduction alerts – customers can opt out of messages – see screen shots below)

Note: While the emergency alerts are free, customers may opt out of receiving the “Imminent Threat” and/or “Amber Alerts” but they may NOT opt-out of receiving the “Presidential Alerts”. To opt-out go to; Messaging application > Menu > Settings > Notifications settings > Emergency Alerts and uncheck the box for each type of alert you do not wish to receive; a) Extreme alerts, b) Severe alerts, and/or c) Amber alerts. (See screen shots below)

The initial AT&T roll out is to its customers with compatible handsets in New York City and Washington, D.C. The CMAS software update for the Samsung Captivate™ Glide will enable the device to be Wireless Emergency Alert Capable (WEAC). The update also supports a Google security patch which upgrades the Samsung Captivate Glide operating system to 2.3.6 and a fix for Exchange Active Sync (EAS). This is an OTA update (no side load option is available).

 

Looks like we will continue to see this hit more phones as time goes on and will likely be included on future phones from the factory as they are released. I’m curious how soon and often we will begin to see the types of alerts and if there will be any type of user interaction requested. I’m sure with the Presidential Election next year it could be interesting to see how much electoral spam we receive. -Greg

Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS) is a service that provides safety alerts based on the geographical location of a mobile user. You know the “This is a test and only a test, should this be a real emergency…” that you get on your TV now and then. Well its basically the same idea, but for mobile devices. CMAS is not new and in fact was first introduced in the U.S. by Sprint back in November. Now AT&T is currently underway pushing this out to the new Samsung Galaxy S II™ (SGH-i777). According to AT&T this was to begin on December 16 with the release of new software. It’s not clear if this will be an update to Android or a carrier side update. The update will allow Presidential, Imminent threat, and Amber alerts directly to the mobile device. Here is some of the official info:

Beginning December 16, 2011 AT&T will release new software on Samsung Galaxy S II™ (SGH-i777) to support Commercial Mobile Alert Service (CMAS).
CMAS is a new public safety system that allows customers who own an enabled mobile device to receive geographically-targeted, text-like messages alerting them of imminent threats to safety in their area. Consumers will receive only three types of alerts through CMAS:
Presidential Alerts (automatic alerts that cannot be disabled by the customer) Imminent Threat Alerts (FEMA type alerts – customers can opt out of receiving these messages) Amber Alerts (e.g., child abduction alerts – customers can opt out of receiving these messages)

I’m an owner of this exact phone and I myself haven’t received any type of update or notification about this specifically. We should hear more about this in coming days I’m sure. Presidential Alerts are not optional, hopefully this doesn’t include anything of less than National Security as I myself don’t want to hear about Obama’s new health plan via forced mobile messaging. If you have received this update or maybe know more about it I’d love to hear what you have to say. -Greg

**Update – Looks like a number of users have started receiving the update to Android version 2.3.6 on December 16th as note above. Some of these users had failed attempts, so maybe the update as been slowed or pulled temporarily. Either way looks like this is definitely underway.

The SGP Neo Hyrbrid has to be one of the best aftermarket purchases I have ever made for any cellular device. I know that is a pretty strong statement considering I have had numerous cell phones and endless accessories to accompany them. I have not been so excited about my previous cases as I like the fact the new phones are slim, sleek, and light. Most cases change all of that simply by adding one. Cases range from cheap silicone jellies to the massive and heavy Otter-box. I’ve had them all and to be perfectly honest, they suck. Enter the Neo Hybrid case from SGP. It’s lightweight, durable, and almost adds nothing to the phones mass in anyway.

SGP Neo Hybrid Case not only protects the Galaxy S2 efficiently, but also perserves the original design of the Galaxy S2. The Body part of the case is high polymer coated Premium silicone case, and the Frame part is UV coated Polycarbonate frame

• Slim and form fitted to show the perfect shape of your device.
• Easy access to all control and ports.
• Available in 8 Colors.
• Ultra Crystal screen Protector included (1PC)

I have it for my Galaxy S2 for AT&T and it’s almost unnoticeable to everyone who has touched my phone. It’s design is a hybrid similar to most, it has the soft silicone with a more solid frame around it. Again, what makes it better is the fact that it can do all this with out losing the original size, shape, and weight of the phone itself. It protects the phone from everyday scratches and drops with out sacrificing the sleek design of the phone. This thing still fits in my pocket and doesn’t feel like I’m carrying a military issue phone in a crate. If you’re looking to protect you phone from the average abuse and still want your the original design of your phone, then the Neo Hybrid is perfect for you. Yes, they make it for the iPhone. -Greg

The Samsung Galaxy S2 has actually been around for a while, but hadn’t quite made its way to the US until more recently. I have upgraded from my Captivate, the Galaxy S, recently and I’m very happy with my decision. I’ll be the first to admit that the first generation had 2 major flaws. The first being poor if any GPS performance and the second was the ridiculous delay in receiving the official Froyo ( Android 2.2) update. Both of those issues have since been resolved and the phone is still in my opinion a fantastic device. That being said choosing to replace it with the newest Galaxy S2 was fairly easy, with the exception of the choosing between the 2 versions, Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy S2 LTE or “Skyrocket“. Both these phones have 4G and are very similar with the main differences being the obvious LTE, as well as the Skyrocket has a larger screen (4.5″ vs 4.3″) and faster processor (1.5GHz vs 1.2GHz). Key factor to note is LTE is still unavailable in the Saint Louis, MO area and I am not a fan of anything larger that 4″ screens. So, you can see why my choice wasn’t the LTE version of the Galaxy S2.

Enough about my decision, the phone itself is outstanding. I see NO lag at all when opening apps, swiping pages, taking pictures, or anything that doesn’t require Internet. The 4G HSPA+ is no slouch either as I flip through web pages with ease. I have seen pretty good speed tests around a consistent 3Mb down and 1.5 up. This is comical in comparison to the LTE network, but I’m also not downloading uncompressed 1080P movies onto my phone either. The phone comes with Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) and is very good looking in itself. The phone included “AllShare“, as in the previous Galaxy S, which I was happy to see. Samsung’s AllShare makes its a cake walk to share media across DLNA supported networks and devices. The physical attributes of the phone leave it one of the thinnest and lightest phones made to date. It has a 4.3″ Super AMOLED screen made with none other than Gorilla Glass. The upgraded 8MP camera includes an LED flash this time around and supports 1080P video. They also included a 2MP front facing camera which has worked well video chatting using the included video app Qik. Some other features new to the GS2 worth mentioning are Samsung’s Kies Air and Voice Talk by Vlingo.

Kies Air lets you manage your phones content and more when it’s connected to a WiFi network by using a web browser.

Voice Talk from Vlingo takes voice control a step forward and using your phone using voice commands only pretty easy.

Overall I think they have really made a great phone even better. It’s going to be interesting to see what they will have in store for the GS3. I’m sure it will have a faster processor, but as you can see they add a lot more than voice apps and faster CPU’s when they create their next gen phones. When designing their phones Samsung takes it Siri-ously. -Greg

Just when I had finally given up, the word “Craptivate” was on the tip of my tongue. I was ready to join the mob of angry Captivate owners. Samsung and AT&T deliver. It was officially announced via the Galaxy S twitter account and the AT&T Facebook page that Captivate would be getting the long awaited update to Android 2.2, Froyo beginning tomorrow. This is of great excitement to anyone who has made there way to using custom ROMs. I’ve been running an unofficial official version of Froyo on my Captivate for quite some time, only recently have I started using fully custom ROMs. The most exciting thing to me is whether they have fixed the GPS issue 100%. Well I can safely say that this was long overdue and had me finally throwing my arms up at Samsung. Let’s just hope its bug free. -Greg