Samsung Infuse 4G SGH-i997 – A Stellar Multimedia Powerhouse

Amazingly thin and fast, the Samsung Infuse 4G (SGH-i997) is yet another solid Android offering from AT&T's portfolio. It is packed with a load of great hardware and software features, such as a 1.2 GHz processor, a 8-megapixel camera, Android 2.2 operating system and Samsung's TouchWiz user interface, making it an attractive smartphone that shines especially bright on the multimedia department.

Without a doubt, the main selling point of the Infuse 4G is its 4.5-inch Super-AMOLED Plus screen display, which offers 50 percent more sub-pixels than touchscreen using the previous-generation Super-AMOLED technology. The screen has a 480x800-pixel resolution and is equipped with multi-touch support. With such a big screen, the device is fairly large at 5.2" high by 2.8" wide. Still, measuring just 0.35" thick and weighing only 4.9 ounces, it is still manageable and pocketable.

As an Android 2.2-powered device, the Infuse 4G is loaded with an array of common Google goodies, namely Gmail, Google Talk, Google Search, Google Voice Search, Google Latitude, Google Maps with Navigation, Google Places and Android Market. Samsung has incorporated its own TouchWiz 4.0 UI in the device, bringing a number of handy features, like a total of seven customizable home screens and a thumbnail view of all panels.

As you would expect, the Infuse 4G is a media master that is full of entertainment goodies. To start with, the built-in music player supports MP3, WMA, and AAC/AAC+, while the video player is compatible with MPEG4, H.264 and H.263. There are two cameras: an 8-megapixel back-facing one with LED flash, auto focus and 720 HD video recording, and a 1.3-megapixel front-facing one with video chatting support. The phone is also preloaded with Media Hub, an online store where you can find an extensive range of movies and TV shows for rent and purchase. Some other prominent media features include HDMI-out ability, AT&T Mobile Hotspot capability, and an HTML web browser with Adobe Flash 10.1.

Like most Android smartphones, the Infuse 4G provides full email and messaging capabilities. You have access to both personal and corporate e-mail with support for Microsoft Exchange as well as personal accounts. Threaded text messaging, multimedia messaging and instant messaging are onboard as well.

In addition, the smartphone comes loaded with a lot of useful features, such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, GPS, a Swype keyboard, a 3.5mm headphone jack, 16GB of internal storage, plus an expansion slot for microSD card up to 32GB. You will also find a few pre-installed apps and services on the device, including Quickoffice, AT&T FamilyMap and AT&T U-verse Live TV.

The Samsung Infuse 4G (SGH-i997) proves itself an exceptional device for both communication and media consumption. If you are particularly fond of giant screens and don't mind its big size, this would be a great choice as your next upgrade.

Tags: Samsung Infuse 4G (SGH-i997) Accessories, Samsung SGH-i997 / Infuse 4G Cases, Screen Protector For Samsung Infuse 4G / i997, Car Charger For Samsung Infuse 4G / i997, Travel Charger For Samsung Infuse 4G / i997, USB Data Cable For Samsung Infuse 4G / i997
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Apple: iOS Device Sales Hit 200 Million Mark

During the WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) 2011, Apple has unveiled some impressive statistics for its iOS powered products – more than 200 million iOS devices, including iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch, have been sold across the world to date.

Taking the stage at the event, Apple's senior vice president Scott Forstall announced the sales figures while touting the brand-new iOS 5. Of those 200 million units shipped, 25 million were from the iPad tablets, which went into sales about 14 months ago. As for iPhone and iPod Touch, the sales figures were not revealed. According to Forstall, the company now owns 44 percent of the market in terms of installed base, way ahead of the likes of Google's Android OS, which accounts for 28 percent, and Research in Motion's BlackBerry OS, which holds 19 percent.

The company also revealed some of its app-related accomplishments. As of May this year, 130 million books were downloaded via the iBookstore, 15 billion songs were sold via the iTunes music store, and over 14 billion apps were distributed from the App Store. Launched three years ago, the App Store now has up to 425,000 apps available for downloads, with 90,000 apps of which made specifically for the iPad.

In addition, Apple said it has aggregated 225 million iTunes accounts with credit cards, and has paid out more than $2.5 billion to iOS developers thus far.

In other related news, the company has whipped the black sheet off its next-generation iOS 5 at the conference. The revamped software will bring over 200 new features to iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS, iPad 2, iPad, iPod touch (4th generation) and iPod touch (3rd generation) users. Scheduled for release this fall, it will likely boost the performance of the iOS based devices further.

Tags: Apple iPhone 4 (AT&T / GSM) Accessories, Apple iPhone 4 (Verizon / CDMA) Accessories, Apple iPhone 3G S Accessories, Apple iPad 2 Accessories, Apple iPad Accessories, Apple iPod Touch (4th generation) Accessories
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IDC: Apple, Samsung and HTC Drive Global Smartphone Growth

Market research firm IDC has released its latest report on the worldwide cell phone market for the first quarter of 2011, and once again, the smartphone segment saw strong growth in terms of shipments. Nokia maintained its lead with the largest global shipment volume. However, Apple, Samsung and HTC were the main driving forces behind the global increase.

During the first quarter of this year, a total of 99.6 million smartphones (out of 372 million overall cell phones) were shipped, up 79.7% from the 55.4 million units in the year-ago quarter. IDC attributed the fast growth to a few favorable conditions in the smartphone industry: vendors' increasing emphasize on smartphones, a wider selection of mid-range and entry-level offerings, the lowering prices of high-end devices, and last but not least, the continuously strong demand from customers.

According to IDC's report, Nokia is still the world's no.1 smartphone manufacturer, capturing a 24.3 percent market share by shipping 24.2 million units in the first quarter. However, the company has lost 14.5 percentage points of share to other vendors over the year, highlighting the growing threat it is facing. IDC noted that Nokia "may find itself in danger of ceding market share" as it moves from Symbian to Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 platform as its main smartphone platform.
 

Closing in on Nokia is Apple, who accounted for 18.7 percent of the market by selling 18.7 million iPhones during the three-month period, showing impressive growth when compared to the 8.7 million unit shipments in the same quarter a year ago. IDC believed that future growth will be mainly contributed by the CDMA version of the device.

With Apple climbing up the stairs, Research in Motion, the former runner-up, dropped to the third spot with a 14 percent market share. Although the BlackBerry maker saw steady increase in shipments from 10.6 million units to 13.9 million units, like Nokia, its share has declined over the past year.

Samsung and HTC, holding the fourth and the fifth positions respectively, are the two companies with the most momentum. Thanks to its Android-based Galaxy lineup, the Korean handset maker posted a tremendous gain in market share, jumping from 4.3 percent to 10.8 percent. Its smartphone sales amounted to 10.8 million units, up 350 percent from the 2.4 million units in the year-ago period. HTC, with 8.9 percent of market share, grew nearly 230% year-over-year in shipment volume from 2.7 million units to 8.9 million units.

As Android manufacturers, led by Samsung and HTC, as well as Apple continue to grow in leaps and bounds while Nokia is undergoing a tough transition period, the balance of power in the global smartphone field will very likely continue to shift in the next quarter.

Tags: iPhone / iPad Accessories, Samsung Accessories, HTC Accessories, BlackBerry Accessories, LG Accessories, Palm Treo Accessories
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