Developages - Development and Technology Blog

Filed under: Storage

var digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/hardware/Samsung_s_128GB_SSDs_go_mass_production_on_the_cheap’; Good news on the SSD front. Samsung is now mass producing its 1.8- and 2.5-inch SSDs in both 64GB and 128GB capacities. And since these SATA II SSDs are based on MLC — 64 MLC NAND flash chips of 16 gigabits each in the 9.5-mm thick 128GB SSD — you can expect them to be cheap by comparison to SLC-based SSDs and faster by comparison to traditional laptop hard disk drives while lasting about 20 times longer than the expected 4-5 year life span of that mechanical spinner. We’re talking 70MB/s writes and 90MB/s reads and power consumption rated at just 0.2-watts idle or 0.5 watts when active — far less than any of the models (including the SSDs tested by LAPTOP) tested by Tom’s which should help put any battery consumption concerns to rest. Heaping happy on top of good, Samsung tells us to expect the 256GB SSD to go mass production by the end of the year. Clap clap clap.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Laptops

Montevina-based laptops are slowly but surely starting to trickle out, and Samsung’s the latest to joint the party with a new Aura machine and the entirely new Eclipse line. The new R510 Aura sports a 15.4-inch screen, 2.53GHz T9400 Core 2 Duo on Montevina’s 1066MHz bus with integrated X4500 graphics, 4GB of RAM, a dual-layer burner and a 320GB drive in a five-pound package, while the new Eclipse R710 17-inch desktop replacement sports a 2.53GHz P9500 Core 2 Duo and 512MB NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT graphics in a new case design with colorful accents. Rounding out the Eclipse line are the 12.1-inch Q210 and 13.3-inch Q310 (pictured), which are being billed as ultraportables. Both feature NVIDIA 256MB GeForce 9200M GS, 4GB of RAM, a320GB drives, and dual-layer burners in the new Eclipse case design, but the Q210 makes do with a 2.26GHz P8400 Core 2 Duo, while the larger Q310 gets a 2.4GHz chip. No pricing information is available yet, but scroll past the break for pictures of the other machines.

Read - Eclipse Q210 and Q310
Read - Eclipse R710
Read - Aura R510

Continue reading Samsung unveils Aura and Eclipse Montevina-based laptops

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Portable Audio

If you found yourself infatuated with Samsung’s YP-U3, you’re sure to love the U4… we think. There’s a complete dearth of information regarding the device itself, but given that it already has a placeholder and image on the outfit’s Korean Yepp site, we’d say there’s a pretty good chance it’ll be getting real soon enough. Hold tight, miniature DAP lovers, Sammy won’t keep you in the dark much longer.

[Via AnythingButiPod]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

At this point, neither the HTC Touch Diamond nor the Samsung i900 Omnia need any introduction, but we’re happy to announce that these two have stepped into the squared circle and faced off in an epic nine-page battle. Reviewers manhandled both phones for an extended time and broke down the UI, hardware, features and overall usability, so if that sounds like something you’d be interested in, cover your face and head on down to the read link. We’re warning you though, it gets ugly.

[Thanks, Chavdar]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

Fired up to capitalize on some of the hype Sprint has managed to drum up for the Instinct down in the States, Samsung’s taking its iPhone fighter north of the border for a promised intro later this summer. Bell Mobility is the lucky partner (seriously, Telus, you probably should’ve hustled Samsung a little harder for this one), launching at price points ranging from $149.95 up to $449.95 for a three-year contract all the way down to zero commitment. Features and software look like they’re all carrying over from their stateside cousin, although the UI’s looking just a little bit less Sprint-ified (read: no yellow tinge). Nice.

[Via MobileSyrup]

Update: There are rumors that Telus is slated to pick it up, too, but we haven’t seen anything solid just yet. We’ll let you know.

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

When Samsung Electronics named Yoon-Woo Lee as vice chairman and CEO a few months back, we were hoping that all that rioting and poster burning would subside. Although we haven’t heard of any more breakouts of late, things are apparently still rocky on the inside. Lee Soo-Bin, chairman of Samsung Life Insurance and current representative for the Samsung Group, admitted that “without a captain or rudder, Samsung now faces a complex crisis, with each unit meeting cut-throat competition independently.” He continued to say that the group “was able to ride out a previous crisis together thanks to former chairman Lee Kun-Hee’s strong leadership and the guidance of the Strategic Planning Office, [but] now it could not do so.” From the outside looking in, it’s a bit tough to really understand what he’s getting at, but whatever the case, those are most definitely not the words you want coming from the mouth a head exec.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio, Portable Video, Storage

Daaaamn, talk about clout. If DigiTimes‘ sources are correct, then Samsung, the world’s primary supplier of flash memory, just told its non-Apple customers to suck it in favor of a “large batch of orders” it received from Cupertino. The order is said to be for 50-million “8Gb-equivalent” (we assume they mean gigabyte, or GB) NAND chips “mainly for use in Apple’s iPhone.” This order follows a June procurement for 25 million of the same chips. In response, Samsung has reportedly told its lesser customers that it would “sharply cut supply” of NAND to them while the order is being fulfilled. The shortage is compounded by Samsung lowering its manufacturing output in April and May in an attempt to reduce oversupply. Still, if these numbers are true (they seem high and DigiTimes can be hit or miss with its Apple sources) then the world is about to be awash in iPhone 3Gs come July 11th.

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Original post by Thomas Ricker

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc. Gadgets

Not that charging stations are a total rarity at airports, but Samsung is giving a nod to the little guy by adding a new fleet of ‘em at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Unlike some alternatives, Sammy’s stations deliver juice to cellphones, laptops and all manners of other gadgets gratis, which — let’s be honest — is exactly how it should be. 22 new stations will be installed at MSP and ready for use prior to July 4th, so feel free to drain your lappie right on down prior to landing / connecting in the great state of Minnesota.

[Image courtesy of Really Sarah Syndication]

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

While most folks are understandably a little hesitant to pop anything more than the battery cover off of their phone, there are thankfully a brave few like those at Rapid Repair who are willing to throw caution (and their warranty) to the wind and tear things down to the bare essentials. As you may or may not be able to make out from the image above, their latest dissection involved the fast-selling Samsung Instinct and, as is their nature, they’ve included some step-by-step instructions in case you want to have a go at it yourself. Hit up the read link below for those, and plenty more pics.

[Thanks, Aaron]

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Original post by Donald Melanson

Filed under: Cellphones

Looks like Sprint’s gargantuan marketing blitz for the Instinct is in the process of paying off, because the carrier has announced that the Samsung device has become its best-selling EV-DO device ever in the first week of availability. Long-term popularity will depend largely on word of mouth as early adopters decide whether they made the right purchase, of course, but it’s a promising sign for a company that hasn’t had a ton of good news to report lately. They’re reporting that the overwhelming popularity has led to shortages in some areas, but go on to assure us that “Samsung has increased efforts to deliver new supplies of Instinct on a daily basis and manufacturing plants are operating at full capacity to keep up with the demand.” Here’s our question, though: Sprint makes a point of saying that it’s their best-selling EV-DO device, so what’s their best-selling device regardless of technology — the Sony Z-100, perhaps, also known as the baddest cellphone of all time?

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Original post by Chris Ziegler

Filed under: Cellphones

It looks like the folks at Samsung are keeping the fires burning with a batch of new handsets announced at the Singapore Telecommunications Exhibition. First on the block is the 3G, J800 Luxe slider, a mid-range phone with a 2.2-inch 176 x 200 display, two megapixel camera, FM tuner, A2DP support, and a slot for microSD cards. The electronics-maker is also offering the L700, a fairly unexciting candybar with a 2.1-inch screen, HSDPA, a choice of colors (pink, silver, and gold), and pretty much all the other features listed for the previous phone. The most interesting offering from this set is the Symbian-based L870 that we’ve seen previously, which the company claims is still on target for its August release. No word on pricing or release dates for the two new models, however.

[Thanks, Craig]

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Original post by Joshua Topolsky

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

When we asked you to list the things you’d change about Samsung’s YP-P2, a number of you yearned for mobile TV. Granted, you’d have to set up shop in South Korea for your dream to be fully fulfilled, but Samsung’s definitely making it possible. The YP-P2 DMB will arrive packing an obligatory T-DMB mobile TV tuner for youngsters and hipsters alike to find their favorite program when those hundreds of albums grow stale. We’re hearing that the unit will feature a 3-inch touchscreen along with Bluetooth 2.0 and your choice of black or white motifs. Price wise, you’ll be laying down ₩239,000 ($231), ₩309,000 ($299) or ₩389,000 ($377) for the 4GB, 8GB or 16GB version.

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We first heard of Typhoon Touch Technologies back in December when the company sued Dell and Motion Computing for infringing two of its patents on touchscreen computers, and armed with favorable settlements from Motion Computing and Electrovaya, Typhoon’s gone ahead and joined a host of other companies to the Dell suit. Roll call: would Apple, Fujitsu, Toshiba, Lenovo, Panasonic, HTC, Palm, Samsung, Nokia, and LG all report to Eastern District of Texas, please? Lunch will not be provided.

[Via iTWire]

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Original post by Nilay Patel

Filed under: Cellphones

Remember that not-entirely-innocent looking prehistoric creature that won your heart immediately upon viewing Samsung’s optical illusion promotional vid? Apparently quite a few folks demanded to see more of the Soul dinosaur, so Sammy hoisted him up onto a truck and proceeded to drive around a few English towns. Catch the sub-2 minute journey (reactions included) just after the break.

[Thanks, Claudio]

Continue reading Video: Samsung’s Soulful dinosaur takes tour around England

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Original post by Darren Murph

Filed under: Cellphones

A full fortnight is way too long to go without seeing a little more of Samsung’s Windows Mobile 6.1-powered i900 Omnia, so we were just tickled pink to find a new video showcasing the mobile’s user interface. More specifically, the web browsing function gets most of the attention, and while it doesn’t exactly look like a refined experience from here, why don’t you head on past the break and judge for yourself?

[Thanks, TUcow]

Continue reading Samsung’s i900 Omnia surfs web on video

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Original post by Darren Murph