Samsung has started rolling out the Android 4.0.4 update for the Galaxy Tab 8.9 in the US. The update is 313.96MB in size and brings with it a newer version of Samsung’s TouchWiz UI, along with the usual Android 4.0 features.

To download the update, either connect the device to your computer and download through Kies or just head over to the Settings app and download the update OTA. Read more »

Samsung started the IFA with a bang yesterday with a ton of new products. There was the highly anticipated Galaxy Note II announcement, some Windows based ATIV tablets and some surprises in the form of the Android based Galaxy Camera and the world’s first Windows Phone 8 device in the form of the ATIV S.

If somehow you missed the event while it was streaming live yesterday and would love to catch up with it now, we have you covered. Head past the break and catch the entire event in action. Read more »

We have to admit that when a tipster contacted us and told us about a Galaxy S III-based point-and-shoot camera, we were a little skeptical. Doubt has been replaced by excitement, however, as Samsung showed just that at its IFA event – meet the Android Jelly Bean-powered Samsung Galaxy Camera.

Our tipster hit the nail on the head on most specs – including the 4.8″ screen of HD resolution. However it turned out that the Galaxy Camera is rocking a Super Clear LCD, instead of a Super AMOLED screen. Read more »

The Samsung Galaxy Note II is arguably the biggest star of the IFA 2012 and many were wondering if the second-gen phoneblet will actually be worth the hype. And what better way to see if the Note II delivers than to compare it to the Galaxy S III best-seller. We’ve also thrown in the original Galaxy Note to give you an idea of the kind of progress Samsung has achieved over the past year.

The Galaxy Note II has undergone a complete redesign, and now looks like a proper bigger brother of the Galaxy S III. But is the bigger screen, the S Pen and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean be enough for the Galaxy Note II to steal the show from the company’s current Android flagship? Read more »

Sony announced its new Xperia droids just minutes ago and to get you better acquainted with them, it released three promo videos that highlight each phone’s strengths.

Check out the videos after the break. Read more »

Sony announced its second-generation tablet at its pre-IFA event – meet the new Sony Xperia Tablet S. It features the same 9.4″ screen (1280 x 800) and wedge design as its predecessor, but the has gotten both thinner and more powerful.

Where its predecessor was between 10.1mm and 20.6mm thick, the new one measures 8.8mm-11.9mm. The tablet is made from a Magnesium-Aluminum alloy and weighs 570g. Read more »

Microsoft has finally launched a SkyDrive app for Android. Up until now the company’s file sharing service mobile apps were only available on iOS and Windows Phone 7.

This is the second major step forward for the SkyDrive service recently, after the company recently redesigned the its website. Read more »

Archos has put Android to use into some unusual devices (e.g. a home phone and an alarm clock), but now it has turned its attention to mobile gaming with the Archos GamePad. The GamePad has a 7″ screen (though details like resolution are missing right now) and a set of hardware controls.

The tablet is powered by a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz and a quad-core Mali-400 GPU. The OS is Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which has built-in support for game controllers, but Archos has also included a technology that automatically maps the game inputs on the hardware controls and claim it supports over a thousand currently available games. Read more »

Few months ago, a Canadian Samsung fan Shane Bennett contacted Samsung Canada on their Facebook account and asking for a free Galaxy S III because he has been a loyal customer of the brand for the past few years. In return for the phone, he attached a drawing of a fire breathing dragon that he drew.

Of course, you can’t get free things in return for drawings, which is why Samsung Canada politely declined but returned the gesture with a drawing of their own, a kangaroo on a unicycle. This led to a lot of positive publicity for Samsung after the image was posted on reddit and so eventually, they decided to not just invite Bennett to an exclusive Galaxy S III launch party but eventually send him a customized version of the phone, too. Read more »

Mozilla has released yet another update for the Firefox browser for the desktop as well as for Android. The major change in the desktop browser is that it now supports silent, background updates, which means just like Chrome, Firefox will now download the latest updates in the background and install them without any user intervention.

The Android version, on the other hand, brings an optimized UI for tablets. Read more »

The Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX has been our battery life champ for a long time, but it’s time to retire. It’s GSM-loving twin, the Motorola RAZR MAXX has the advantage that we’re testing it with Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (and not Gingerbread which the DROID version ran back then).

ICS has shown a tendency to improve battery life, but the question is by how much? Well, a lot as it turns out. Read more »

With the slate’s availability expanding even further, Google has featured an ad for the Nexus 7 on its homepage. The ASUS made tablet joins the likes of the T-Mobile G1, Nexus 1, Nexus S, Motorola Droid, as well as the Google Chrome browser as part of the elite club of products, which have been advertised on Google.com.

The ad for the Google Nexus 7 is quite catchy. For about a second after you open Google’s main page, nothing happens. Read more »

Drive Link is a new in-car navigation app from Samsung which is centered around the most popular uses of smartphones while driving: playing music, turn-by-turn navigation, and hands-free calling.

The app also features the ability to sync with select vehicle head units, as well as integrate with TuneIn radio to offer more than 70,000 global radio stations. Read more »

Viber keeps expanding its reach and is about to welcome three new mobile platforms on board. Until recently the service was only available on Android, Apple iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry.

Now though we hear that three new platforms will be getting support for Viber – Nokia’s Symbian OS and the Series 40, as well as the Samsung’s Bada OS. Granted all three of those are almost dead, but there are still plenty of people out there using devices powered by them so kudos to Viber for taking care of them. Read more »

It’s no secret Samsung has been investing quite a lot of effort in the the Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update development recently. Numerous ROMs have already leaked online with the latest being having a build number of XXLH8.

So, what’s really happening inside Samsung’s labs and when we can expect to see the Galaxy S III Jelly Bean update going live? Read more »