There are two things I’ve learned about Android users in my three years covering the platform: they love to customize, and they often like to show-off their affinity for the little green robot. Here’s an interesting way for those Android fans with a Galaxy Nexus to do both.

Omar Trujillo is starting a project in which he laser etches custom designs onto the battery door of the Galaxy Nexus. So instead of your phone just showing the generic logos for Google and Samsung, it can show the Superuser icon to showcase your adventurous spirit. Anything that isn’t a copyright image and fits in the design area will be lasered onto the rear door of the Galaxy Nexus to declare your Android love.

Interested? Well, head over to the Indiegogo page to claim your perk. Trujillo is using the Kickstarter-like website to crowdsource the test run of his customized Galaxy Nexus doors. The project requires $1,250 to pay for material expenses, but anyone who contributes $30 or more to a succesfully-funded project will receive a battery door with a custom image. There are multiple levels of contributions and different perks, including just donating a $1 to see this project get going. Depending on the success of the test run, more phone models may be supported.

I first caught wind of this idea last Friday and a few of our Google+ followers expressed interest in it. Well, now’s your chance to show it. Get a look at a few designs or more info on Omar’s Google+ page.

[Indiegogo]

We heard about a week ago that Samsung decided it was not appropriate timing to announce the Samsung Galaxy S III at Mobile World Congress 2012  – an announcement that came as a disappointment to many.  The primary motive for doing so was that Samsung wanted the product to be available for launch shortly after an announcement and not suffer long delays in key markets (i.e. Galaxy S II in America).

Today, we learned that Samsung will not even host a press conference during MWC, which certainly comes as a surprise since Samsung usually has emphatic press conferences.  However, it does make sense because Samsung does not want to waste everyone’s time announcing products that will not appeal to the majority of consumers.  Without having a flagship device of the Galaxy S III’s magnitude, Samsung will not host a press conference, but instead introduce products at the trade show.

Since MWC 2012 will not see the announcement of the Galaxy S III or another flagship worthy device from Samsung, chances are most people will be interested in future Samsung dedicated events, but we will cover any and all products Samsung does announce at MWC 2012.

[PCMag]

Samsung Mobile promised that it would go big with its first ever Super Bowl campaign, and boy did they. In a 90-second commercial that played in the fourth quarter of the game, Samsung introduced the AT&T Galaxy Note to the millions watching the Super Bowl.

Directed by the Farrely Brothers of There’s Something About Mary fame, the Galaxy Note ad continued Samsung’s trend of “The Next Big Thing is Already Here” ad series. Only, it took a bit of twist to make the message a bit more in-your-face about not waiting for a new phone. And it still found a way to dig at the infamous barista.

A Super Bowl commercial isn’t cheap – it costs $3.5 million per 30 seconds according to some estimates – so Samsung opened up the checkbook on its campaign. The Galaxy Note already has a screen large enough to stand out in stores, but this ad may be an expensive nudge to get consumers buying. The Note is available for pre-order now from AT&T or Best Buy. Here’s a look at what $10 million gets you.

What did you think? Let us know in the poll below.

Samsung disappointed some and pleased others when it said that the successor to its Galaxy S II device would not be unveiled at Mobile World Congress later this month. But what’s this? A mystery device showing a Samsung phone that looks to have a customized version of Android 4.0. Could this be the Galaxy S III? Or maybe the Galaxy S 2 Plus?

Probably neither.

Before you get too excited, this is just a Photoshop job – and a poor one at that – supposedly of a press photo leaked. It was posted a short while ago by Eldar Murtazin, a mobile phone blogger and insider who is sometimes very right and other times very wrong. It was attached to a tweet that simply said “Barcelona. Samsung. Press photo leaked” and a round of coy smiles when asked if this is the GS III or GS II Plus.

I doubt this is a press photo at all because of the poor quality of the graphic. Looking at the bottom and left sides of the image, you can see what’s clearly a hack job of trying to resize, merge, and align different images pieced together in Photoshop. There’s also a terrible job of blending and the widgets don’t look right, which leads me to believe that this isn’t a “press photo.” Samsung would never have something this crappy sent to the press. It’s more than likely just an image someone crafted regarding how they think the next Samsung phone will look.

It would be nice if elements of this concept really do appear in a Samsung device. The nice rectangular shape, large screen, Android 4.0, and slim build are all excellent qualities. We’ll know soon enough. Maybe.

[Twitter]

Samsung earlier this morning confirmed to TechRadar.com that the Galaxy S III will not be launching at Mobile World Congress later this month. Many expected Samsung to unveil its next hero device at MWC following the successful unveiling of the Galaxy S II at the 2011 MWC; however, there was a problem with the GS II announcement last year – it debuted more than half a year before Samsung was ever able to deliver it in the U.S.

The Galaxy S II was announced in mid February 2011 but didn’t arrive in the U.S. until late September/early October of the same year. That seven-month stretch was far too long to have users knowing that a product exists, seeing that buyers in Asia and Europe were able to purchase it months earlier, and then delivering a different product when it finally arrived. It was frustrating for consumers to be kept away from the phone, especially when Samsung’s rivals were able to actually deliver their flagship phones much sooner.

Samsung is taking a different approach this time around, and I’m all for it. There’s definitely a chance that smartphone buyers will opt for HTC, LG, Motorola, or Sony if those companies have tipped their hands and shown what will be available soon. But as we saw with the Droid Bionic fiasco, putting all your cards on the table before you’re truly ready to play isn’t always the best move. If Samsung is still working on perfecting the GS III or still keeping certain details hidden until it can be closer to delivering a product into consumers’ hands and not just hands-on videos from press, that might be a wiser strategy.

When will Samsung unveil its next flagship phone? No telling exactly, but it will be no later than June according to an unnamed Samsung rep’s comments to Tech Radar.

“Samsung is looking forward to introducing and demonstrating exciting new mobile products at Mobile World Congress 2012. The successor to the Galaxy S2 smartphone will be unveiled at a separate Samsung-hosted event in the first half of the year, closer to commercial availability of the product.”

Samsung is announcing something “big” during Super Bowl XLVI. The Korean giant could mean big literally, as in the size of its device, or figuratively, as in the reception the company hopes to receive. Whichever kind of big Samsung meant, the just-announced for AT&T Galaxy Note will be advertised during Sunday’s big game.

On its Google+ page, Samsung Mobile revealed that the company will run its first ever Super Bowl advertisement. Sammy’s out to impress with a 90-second advertisement, the longest commercial to air during Super Bowl XLVI. Considering that a 30-second ad costs an estimated $3.5 million, it’s safe to say that this will be quite the expensive coming-out party for the Galaxy Note (sidenote: Super Bowl ad rates for longer commercials like this might cost less because networks don’t typically charge full rates when a company buys so much time in a broadcast. See AdWeek for more.)

It’s surprising to hear that Samsung would make such an aggressive push for the Galaxy Note. While the device is certainly interesting and sure to please, I never thought that Samsung had enough faith in its U.S. chances to spend what might be more than $10 million in less than two minutes . Then again, the company has plenty of money to throw behind its Android products, and you never get as many eye balls glued to the television in the U.S. as you do on Super Bowl Sunday.

There’s no word yet on what direction the ad will take, but we can only hope Samsung hired whoever is behind those “Dude, You’re A Barista” and “We Got Samsung’d” commercials. The last thing we need is another repeat of the dreadful Sony Xperia Play and Motorola Xoom ads that appeared during last year’s Super Bowl.

Keep an eye out for the ad. I’ll be watching as I cheer on my New York Giants, and I’m sure staff writer Ben Crawford will be doing the same for his New England Patriots.

UPDATE:

Samsung has let us know that the commercial will be directed by the Farrely brothers, the men behind classic comedies like There’s Something About Mary, Dumb and Dumber, Kingpin and Fever Pitch. The ad will run in the 4th quarter of the game.

[Google+ Samsung Mobile]

Samsung’s “Is it a phone or a tablet or both?” device is coming to the United States next month. Samsung has just announced the official release date and price for the Galaxy Note, the 5.3-inch hybrid device that straddles the line between really large phone and kind of small tablet.

AT&T will release the Galaxy Note beginning February 19, selling the phone for $299 on a two-year agreement. Buyers can choose a color that is carbon blue or ceramic white, and a range of accessories will be available to purchase separately on launch day. Those accessories include a Desktop Dock for charging and propping the phone up, a spare battery and charger system, and a S Pen holder kit. There’s also a flip cover case that acts as a folio, available in black, blue, pink, red, tan, and white.

We’ve already run down the specs of the note on many occasions, but the key takeaways from the device are it’s big Super AMOLED screen with 1280×800 resolution, S Pen system for stylus input and use, 4G LTE support, a 1.5 GHz dual core processor, and an 8 MP / 2 MP rear/front-facing camera combo. You can get more information on the device from our hands-on video recorded at the AT&T Developer Summit at CES.

Pre-orders for the Galaxy Note begin February 5. Any order processed before February 15 will be arrive at a buyer’s home February 17, two days prior to in-store availability.

While HTC has just announced that it’s planning to change its marketing strategy and only come up with a few smartphones this year, Samsung is following the same approach as the past couple of years. Lots of different models, lots of options and just a few tweaks here and there from phone to phone.

The Galaxy S Advance is the latest Samsung handset and, even though it’s not special or groundbreaking, it looks pretty nice for a mid-ranger. Sporting a 4-inch Super AMOLED display with 480 x 800 pixels resolution, the Advance does come up with a technical innovation. It is therefore set to be Samsung’s first effort with the new 1 GHZ dual-core NovaThor processor from ST-Ericsson.

Other than that, the tech specs and features are pretty much what you would expect and include 768 MB of RAM, 8 or 16 GB of internal storage space, as well as dual cameras (a 5 MPx rear-facing shooter with LED flash and 720p video recording and a 1.3 MPx front-facing webcam).

The OS of choice is, once again in a predictable fashion, the Android 2.3 Gingerbread, but of course Samsung has thrown in the TouchWiz user interface as well. As for the connectivity options, you get WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n, USB 2.0, GPS and Bluetooth 3.0.

In terms of design, the Galaxy S Advance certainly doesn’t stand out from the crowd, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Weighing 120 grams (4.23 ounces) and measuring 9.69 mm (0.38 inches) thick, the latest 4-incher from Samsung has the potential to be a crowd pleaser with an elegant, classic and classy overall look.

No words on pricing and availability just yet, but one thing is certain nevertheless. The smartphone will hit Asia and Europe gradually during the next month and will only come to the US if it performs well in those markets.

So, what do you think? Will this be made available in the US of A anytime soon or does it stand no chance to be successful in such a demanding and pretentious market these days? Hit us with a comment and tell us your view!

Via SamsungMobilePress.com

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus is going to be the inaugural smartphone for Sprint’s up and coming 4G LTE network.  The Galaxy Nexus represents an enticing smartphone option for die-hard Android enthusiasts as well as casual smartphone users looking for a top-notch device.

Initially, information about the Samsung Galaxy Nexus on Sprint leaked when Sprint published an ad for the Ice Cream Sandwich device on a CNET blogpost.  At CES 2012, the wireless carrier confirmed the device’s existence and its launch later this year when its 4G LTE is running in multiple markets.  The specs are mainly going to stay the same as the Verizon Wireless model, but there are rumblings of a possible faster processor (dual-core 1.5GHz vs dual-core 1.2GHz) and a bigger battery.  However, we will have to wait for Sprint’s confirmation on the exact specs when it launches in the coming months.

As of a few days ago, Google decided it was appropriate to launch a “Coming Soon” teaser page in which interested consumers can leave their information to be notified when Sprint is going to launch the Galaxy Nexus.  Typically, carriers do not post coming soon pages until the device launch is right around the corner, so hopefully Sprint has good news for its loyal customers in the near future.

Again, if you are interested in learning more about the Galaxy Nexus on Sprint, then you can leave your information at the link below.

[Google Galaxy Nexus Teaser Page]

Does anyone remember the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G, announced by MetroPCS only a few weeks back? If yes, we have some interesting news today, coming straight from BestBuy’s (virtual) shelves.

The mid-range smartphone was spotted on BestBuy.com and sells for only 274.99 dollars with no contract. That’s a pretty nice deal, if you ask me, considering that the 3.5-incher was initially announced as going for 199 bucks with contract. Also, the guys at MetroPCS insisted that the $199 price tag was only going to be available for a limited time, which we all thought meant that it was going to sell for even more.

The Galaxy Attain 4G sports a 3.5 inch screen with 320 x 480 pixels resolution (far from ideal, I know), but looks pretty sleek and elegant and only weighs 4.2 ounces. Powered by a 1 GHz single-core processor (still an unspecified model) and featuring 512 MB of RAM, Samsung’s new smartphone is clearly not a groundbreaking device, but then again, for 275 bucks what would you expect?

Other features include a pretty poor 3 megapixels rear-facing camera, a surprisingly nice 1.3 MPx front-facing webcam, as well as WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth, Flash support and, of course, 4G connectivity. As for the software, the smartphone runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is decent for its price range, at least as far as I’m concerned.

All in all, you probably won’t be envied by anyone for the raw power and performance of your new smartphone if you decide to buy the Samsung Galaxy Attain 4G with no contract via BestBuy, but you will have enough money in your pockets to get your girlfriends or boyfriends something nice for Valentine’s.

How about it? Are you tempted to take this affordable 4G smartphone for a ride with no operators’ restrictions or are you holding out for something snappier and stronger (yes, I mean the Galaxy S III)?