MWC 2012: Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 With Android 4.0 ICS, And Galaxy S Player WiFi 4.2 Unveiled

Another rumor which became true at the Mobile World Congress 2012 is the launch of the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1. This new tablet will not have any phone capabilities so you won’t be able to hold it to your ear. Anyway, it looks pretty cool, it doesn’t look like the iPad, and it’s packing some impressive specs that you can find below!

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 features a dual-core 1.4GHz processor, 1GB RAM, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with TouchWiz user interface, 10.1-inch 1280 x 800 touchscreen, 3-megapixel camera on the back, 2-megapixel camera in the front for video calls, internal 16GB / 32GB / 64GB memory with a microSD card slot of up to 32GB, HSPA, Bluetooth 3.0, WiFi, GPS, Glonass, and a S-Pen.

The stylus will be used for the same purposes that it’s used on the 5.3-inch Galaxy Note as users will be able to take notes in the S Pen application, or solve images and mathematical formulas using Shape Match and Formula Match applications.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 will also come packed with two new Adobe applications called Photoshop Touch and Adobe Ideas. The South Korean company said that users can edit photos just like they’re doing on their PC, or even combine photos, apply effects, while the Ideas app allow users to draw, sketch their ideas thansk to the S-Pen stylus.

Samsung also confirmed that all tablets with a touchscreen will be a part of the Tab series, while all devices with a stylus will be a part of the Note series. The release date and price details of this devices remain unknown for the time being though we expect to learn more in the following weeks.

Another handheld announced by Samsung at MWC is the Galaxy S Player WiFi 4.2. It’s a more high-end Galaxy Player which features a 4.2-inch 800 x 480 touchscreen with Android 2.3 Gingerbread, TouchWiz, 2-megapixel camera on the back, secondary VGA camera for video conferences, WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, USB 2.0, 8GB / 16GB internal memory, expandable 32GB microSD card slot, and pre-installed Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit.

The Samsung Galaxy S WiFi 4.2 release date is Q2 2012 for a price around $250. There’s a 1,500mAh battery on-board which will be enough for the time you spend at the gym or while jogging.

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Windows Phone 7.5 Explained

Windows® Phone 7.5, Mango, is the newest update to the mobile platform from Microsoft®, and it's wowing users with its clean design and impressive functionality. Here’s a quick overview of some of its coolest features, shortcuts and innovations.

If you’re not familiar with the Windows Phone platform, you’ll first be impressed by its overall look and tidy user interface. The Home Page features large, simple tiles that help you quickly navigate where you need to go.. With Hubs that group common tasks and features together, Mango is fast, intuitive and easy to use.

Mango now includes threaded email conversations so you can more easily find and locate key messages, rather than hunting through a long list of subject lines.

Mango also lets you pick and choose which email accounts to group together. You can now see all your messages in one handy inbox, or keep your work email separate from your personal accounts.

Rather than checking all of your social networking apps (Facebook®, Twitter™, LinkedIn®) to see what’s going on with your friends and family, Mango gives you People Hub—which collects all of their updates together in one convenient place.

Within People Hub, you can also organize groups, such as College Buddies, Family and Work Colleagues, so you can focus on the right people at the right time (which can come in handy when you don’t want everyone at the office to see those photos from last weekend, for example.)

Mango also gives you application Hub called “Me” where you can post status updates to any of your subscribed social network sites, read your latest profile notifications and check into a location.

One of the most asked for features is Mango’s new ability to multitask. Now you can easily switch between apps without having to restart each and every time. So, if you have to interrupt that game to take an important phone call, when you hang up you can just hold the ‘Back’ button and jump back into the action exactly where you left off.

You now have the ability to view, edit and even create Microsoft Office files right from your smartphone, making it an essential feature for on-the-go professionals. Office Hub integrates the actual Microsoft Office applications, such as Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so you can connect seamlessly with the data you have stored on Microsoft's SkyDrive.

The Calendar function in Mango is one of the most impressive features. Alongside your scheduled meetings, you can embed your tasks within the calendar for a more integrated agenda. This allows you to plan your day around one itemized schedule, rather than having your planned appointments in one place and your “to-do” list in another.

The Web Marketplace for Mango gives you access to thousands of apps, and you can shop apps and songs online. With the Web Marketplace, it’s remarkably easy to transfer apps from your computer to your phone. Rather than having to sync your device to your PC, Web Marketplace will send your purchases directly to your Mango-outfitted phone.

The Camera app in Mango is improved to let you tap the screen to focus, then tap again to take the photo. Mango also includes a handy Auto Fix feature to help your photos look their best. When you want to upload your photos, Mango lets you tag your friends, then uploads those tags to your favorite social network.

Mango comes outfitted with Local Scout. Local Scout uses your location to find places nearby to eat and drink, places to shop, and things to see and do. Mango also features improved Maps, now with spoken directions.

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Dell XPS 14z

Design
The Dell XPS 14z shares much of its design with its desktop replacement predecessor, the Dell XPS 15z (Microsoft). It has the same streamlined curves, sheathed in aluminum and reinforced with magnesium alloy. The chassis measures 0.9 inches thick, and even with the addition of four chunky shock-absorbing feet the laptop sits less than 1-inch high when closed. Though it sports a 14-inch display, the surrounding bezel is so slim that the dimensions (0.9 by 13.19 by 9.21-inches, HWD) put it closer to a 13-inch laptop. That's roughly the same size as the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Thunderbolt) . The whole package weighs 4.36 pounds, which is lighter than the MacBook and the Dell Inspiron 14z (Core i5) , both of which weigh 4.5 pounds.

The Dell XPS 14z has inherited one of the finest keyboards found in current laptops, the same full-sized chiclet keyboard on the Dell XPS 15z. The sculpted keys curve comfortably beneath your fingertips, and an automatic backlight provides illumination as needed, sensing the ambient light and adjusting the keyboard brightness accordingly. The accompanying touchpad is large—4.5-inches from corner to corner—and the separate right and left mouse buttons are quiet and comfortable when clicked. 

The 14-inch display is nearly edge-to-edge, thanks to a slim bezel that measures less than 0.5 inch. The widescreen layout looks good with standard 1366-by-768 resolution, and a glass layer helps it look even sharper. Just above the screen you will also find a 1.3 megapixel webcam, with dual-microphones for clearer sound while video chatting or recording video. On either side of the keyboard, you'll find two stylized speaker grills with the same eye-catching design found on the XPS 15z. The upward facing speakers pump out superb audio, enhanced with Waves MaxxAudio 3 software. The sound quality is strong and clear, and even provides relatively good bass, though, any decent speakers with a subwoofer will outclass it. If you want better audio while watching a movie, the XPS 14z also puts out 5.1 surround sound through its HDMI output.

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Gateway ID47H07u

Design
Instead of chintzy plastic, the 9 by 13 by 1.1-inch (HWD) ID47H07u flaunts a handsome aluminum-alloy lid and keyboard deck, the latter setting off the metallic chiclet-style keys. You won't find the backlit keyboard seen on our Editors' Choice Dell Inspiron 14z (Core i5) ($750 direct, 4 stars), but you'll appreciate the smooth, precise typing feel. One odd design choice: There's a rightmost column of full-sized keys just screaming to be Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn, but Gateway opted to make them volume control, mute, and social network—a button that launches Facebook, YouTube, and Flickr—keys instead. Home, End, PgUp, and PgDn are doubled up on the cursor arrows.

Similarly, the ID47H07u's plus-size touchpad has integrated (lower left and right corners) rather than dedicated mouse buttons. Normally a turnoff for yours truly, they worked well enough, but the pad's plastic surface puts up a little more friction or resistance than I'm used to. Of course, touchpads that glide too smoothly can lead to accidental cursor movements, but subjectively I felt the ID47H07u's went a bit too far in the opposite direction.

The laptop's 14-inch display offers the 1,366 by 768 resolution that's familiar in this size and price class; it's not dazzlingly bright but delivers crisp text and vivid colors. The "Professionally Tuned" (according to an inscription above the keyboard) speakers work with Dolby Home Theater software to pump out pretty good sound, if not a ton of bass.

Featu

The optical drive on the ID47H07u's right side is a dual-layer DVD burner, not the Blu-ray drive found in the pricier Sony VAIO VPC-EG27FM/W ($779.99 list, 3.5 stars) or Toshiba Satellite P745-S4320 ($869.99 list, 3.5 stars). It's joined on that side by a USB 3.0 port, along with an Ethernet port. At the left are two USB 2.0 ports, headphone and microphone jacks, and VGA and HDMI video ports. A memory-card slot occupies the front edge.

In addition to the Wi twins (WiFi and WiDi), the ID47H07u offers Bluetooth, but not the Wi triplet WiMAX—as seen in the Toshiba P745-S4320, Sony VPC-EG27FM/W, and Asus U46E-BAL5 ($699.99 list, 4.5 stars)—or other mobile broadband. In addition to a one-year parts-and-labor warranty, Gateway provides a modest software bundle led by Microsoft Office Starter 2010 and a 60-day trial of Norton Internet Security.

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Apple iPad 2 Wi-Fi + 3G 16 GB - Apple iOS 5 1 GHz - White

Once you pick up iPad 2, it'll be hard to put down. It's thinner and lighter, so it feels even more comfortable in your hands. And it makes surfing the web, checking email, watching movies, and reading books so natural, you might forget there's incredible technology under your fingers. Two powerful cores in one A5 chip mean iPad can do twice the work at once. You'll notice the difference when you're surfing the web, watching movies, making FaceTime video calls, gaming, and going from app to app to app. Multitasking is smoother, apps load faster, and everything just works better. With up to nine times the graphics performance, gameplay on iPad is even smoother and more realistic. And faster graphics help apps perform better - especially those with video. You'll see it when you're scrolling through your photo library, editing video with iMovie, and viewing animations in Keynote. Even with this thinner and lighter design, iPad has the same amazing battery life. The power-efficient A5 chip and iOS keep battery life from fading away, so you can get carried away. You'll see two cameras on iPad - one on the front and one on the back. They may be tiny, but they're a big deal. They're designed for FaceTime video calling, and they work together so you can talk to your favorite people and see them smile and laugh back at you. The front camera puts you and your friend face-to-face. Switch to the back camera during your video call to share where you are, who you're with, or what's going on around you. When you're not using FaceTime, let the back camera roll if you see something movie-worthy. It's HD, so whatever you shoot is a mini-masterpiece. And you can take wacky snapshots in Photo Booth. It's the most fun a face can have. iPad is one big, beautiful display - 9.7 inches of high-resolution photos, movies, web pages, books, and more. LED backlighting makes everything you see remarkably crisp, vivid, and bright. Even in places with low light, like an airplane. And there's no wrong way to hold iPad. It's designed to show off everything in portrait and landscape, so with every turn (even upside down), the display adjusts to fit. Because it uses a display technology called IPS (in-plane switching), it has a wide, 178° viewing angle. Hold it up to someone across the room, or share it with someone sitting next to you, and everyone gets a brilliant view. Technology is at its best when it feels completely natural, almost like there's no technology at all. That's multi-touch on iPad. You use your fingers to do everything, so everything you do - surfing the web, typing email, reading books, and swiping through photos - is easier and a lot more fun. How does it work? When your fingers touch the display, it senses them using electrical fields. Then it instantly transforms your taps, swipes, pinches, and flicks into lifelike actions. The fun starts fast. Pick up your iPad, press the Home button and it wakes from sleep instantly. That's because iPad features fast, efficient, and reliable flash storage that lets you access data quickly. So everything effortlessly springs to life. iPad with Wi-Fi + 3G includes Wi-Fi connectivity as well as 3G connectivity. 3G uses cellular signals - the same signals your cell phone uses - to connect to the Internet. So if you're somewhere without Wi-Fi, such as outdoors on a camping trip or on the road, you can still surf the web, check email, or get directions. With the built-in accelerometer, you can rotate iPad to portrait or landscape, or even upside down, and whatever you're watching, reading, or seeing adjusts to fit the display. And now the accelerometer, three-axis gyroscope, and compass all work together. They sense which direction iPad is heading and how it's moving. So games, maps, and other apps know your every twist, turn, tilt, and 360. It's an epic win for gaming. And it's just the beginning of better-than-ever iPad apps.

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SAMSUNG Series 3 NP300E5A-A02DX 15.6" Laptop

The Samsung Series 3 NP300E5A-A02DX 15.6" Laptop is portable yet powerful, ideal for work and play. Computing speed and performance Working quickly is the name of the game with the 2nd generation Intel CoreTM i5 i5-2430 processor at the heart of this laptop. Running multiple applications will be a walk in the park with an impressive 4GB of RAM ensuring smooth functions. Entertain yourself This 15.6" laptop is great for watching films and listening to music. With an HD LED screen, it will give you bright colours and crisp definition when watching films. Speakers and Intel HD Audio are perfect for enjoying music at home, while if you're on the train you can stick your headphones on and submerse yourself in a private musical heaven. Sociable communication Whether you need a conference call for work or just want to catch up with some friends and family, it's always good to get your beautiful face out there. You will never be out of reach with this laptop's 1.3 megapixel webcam and microphone that lets you keep in touch with the world. Lightweight, mobile and ideal for travelling All this technology is packed into a beautifully designed lightweight laptop. Easy to carry, the Samsung Series 3 NP300E5A-A02DX 15.6" Laptop can be taken anywhere. You can work or play on long journeys, with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and a battery life of up to 5.6 hours! The Samsung Series 3 NP300E5A-A02DX 15.6" Laptop offers everything you could possibly need in a laptop!

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