samsung

Although Windows Phone 8 is not quite yet here, the ever-dynamic smartphone industry is once again churning and there are some big changes coming.

Today we’ve seen two stories that will both have an impact on Windows Phone--one about Samsung, the other about HTC--and we’ll see what that will mean for consumers this fall.

We knew a while back about the proposed Odyssey and Marco handsets from Samsung. Well it looks like some more detailed specs and pricing has emerged. With Windows Phone 8 only a whisper away from being launched it seems as if the leaks just keeps on coming.

Samsung are one of Microsoft’s launch partners and it looks like we can expect some impressive hardware for this round of devices. One device is reported to have a 4” screen and the other a whopping 4.8” HD AMOLED display.. Rumour caution is advised in lieu of an official announcement.

Say what you will about Microsoft and Apple but the two companies either appear to be the only adults in the room or alternatively, they have formed an alliance against Android. Or maybe both.

Evidence has come forth in the Apple-Samsung trial that the former has licensed so-called ‘design patents’ to Microsoft, which indemnify them against lawsuits from Apple over their Windows Phone and Surface tablets. This may partially explain why Apple was trying to collect patent royalties from Samsung in their late 2010 offer to the company.

In the ongoing saga between Samsung and Apple, documents came out late last night from the court case that detailed a proposal by Apple to charge Samsung for royalties on their smartphones.

It’s interesting for a few reasons. For one, Apple almost never enters into cross-platform patent royalty deals with other companies, specifically if it is tied to any of their “product differentiating” technologies. Back in 2010 though, Apple was willing to make an exception to this with Samsung because they are a major parts supplier for Cupertino and they wanted to preserve that relationship. Apple was also “shocked” at just how much Samsung was willing to allegedly copy the iPhone.

In the documents, Apple spells out some license terms it was willing to offer Samsung back in October 2010—just a few weeks before Windows Phone 7 became available.  Although Android was offered a $24-per-device royalty fee, which yes, is extremely high, Apple evidently also wanted $9 per ‘Windows Mobile 7’ device as well.

Boring phone with outrageous price?

We’ve reported on Samsung’s Omnia M phone in the past noting that their latest phone is a low-end, borderline Tango entry meant for new and developing markets. That translates into ho-hum specs (4” display, 1GHz CPU, 4GB storage, 5MP camera) and in theory, a low-entry price.

For whatever reason though, we’re not seeing Samsung place nice with local markets with their pricing of the Omnia M borderline unreasonably high for such a mediocre device...

UK mobile phone retailer Phones 4u has announced today that it will be launching the Samsung Omnia M exclusively. The Windows Phone is said to be arriving into the UK on August 1st when Phones 4u will exclusively stock the device for two months until it opens up for other retailers.

The Omnia M sports a 1Ghz chip, 4" S-AMOLED display, and 4GB of storage, perfect for those who don't require a powerful device and who don't particularly want to splash out on a shiny new Lumia 900. Phones 4u has been able to bag a handful of exclusives on the Windows Phone platform, including the white Lumia 800 / 900.

Freshmen at Seton Hall University are receiving free Lumia 900s and Windows 8 tablets, thanks to collaboration between Nokia, AT&T, Microsoft and the University itself. The entire class of 2016 will receive the Samsung tablet and Lumia 900 to support the University's mission of providing state of the art technology tools to enhance the student's college experience.

Last month we reported on the announcement and in the above video you can see the rollout commence. Stephen Landry, Chief Information Officer at Seton Hall, explains that the university had a large pileup of Android tablets and iPads, which proved to be unproductive for students. He notes that they require the functionality of Microsoft Office - something both Windows 8 and Windows Phone supports out the box.

Students with the new Windows devices will be able to make use of a SHUmobile app, which provides access to campus news feeds, directories, maps and other University resources.

Source: YouTube; thanks, Daniel, for the tip!

It’s about time we start hearing about actual Windows Phone 8 hardware—or at least the bit of bread crumbs hinting at their existence.

Such is the case with the Samsung SGH-i687 which showed up on Sammy’s site under the User Agent Profile. Not too much is revealed and the only hint at Windows Phone 8 is the mention of Internet Explorer 10 as the browser. It’s been speculated and somewhat confirmed that current Windows Phone 7 devices won’t be getting that browser update and even if they were, we can’t see Samsung prepping a Windows Phone 7 device so late in the game.

The other interesting if not somewhat disappointing figure is the 480x800 (WVGA) screen. Windows Phone 8 of course brings two higher resolutions—720x1280 and 768x1280—to the fold and many of us are hoping to get our hands on a device with such a high pixel density.

From Samsung's site on the i687 IE10 listed as a supported browser

So why the WVGA display resolution? We can think of two options—either this is an entry level phone, meant to keep costs down or Samsung will upgrade the screen as soon as the hardware is available. That last point refers to the shortage of getting displays at such high resolutions, even if Samsung makes its own.

Back in April, it was widely rumored that Samsung would reuse their new Galaxy SIII design for Windows Phone 8. We're not expecting this to be that device but one never knows when we're so far out.

Either way, it’s still early in the game and we should take this info with a grain of salt as much can change between now and November. As far as carriers, if we're talking about the U.S. we're looking at AT&T of course.

Related - HTC Windows Phone 8 specs leaked for three new phones

Source:  Samsung; via Blog of Mobile, Pocketnow

WPCentral's Photosynth Contest - your chance to win a Samsung Focus 2

Photosynth is a great Windows Phone app for capturing panoramic images and we want to see what you with the photography app. For motivation, we've got two Samsung Focus 2s to giveaway courtesy of AT&T.

Just go out and capture panorama images using Photosynth and post your best work here in the WPCentral discussion forums. You'll have until 5:00pm PST on Saturday, July 14th to submit your entries and from there, we'll pick the best two images to receive the AT&T Samsung Focus 2.

Now for the fine print.

• Entries must be captured by Photosynth
• Entries must be captured by a Windows Phone or iPhone
• Only one entry per person
• While you can edit the entry, do not crop the image (much like the sample above)

You'll need to register to participate and you can do that here. Once the entry period closes, we'll announce the winners as soon as we can. The last photo contest had so many fantastic entries it took a while to sort things out.

Good luck everyone and if you haven't installed Photosynth, it's a free app for your Windows Phone and you can find it here at the Windows Phone Marketplace.