Android 4.1.2 for Galaxy S3 with Multi-Window Support!

When the Jelly Bean update for the Galaxy S3 was first released, many were missing some of the features offered on the Galaxy Note 2. Thankfully, Samsung soon upgraded the Galaxy Note to 4.1.2. At XDA Developers, you can find a pre-release version of the build, which I have installed and tested. I especially like the new multi-window function, a real asset for any Galaxy S3 user.

I downloaded the update via Sammobile and installed it on Friday night using Odin. So far, I haven't been able to find any bugs – amazing for an unofficial pre-release version of the software. Besides the multi-window feature, Android 4.1.2 brings the look and feel of the Galaxy Note 2's picture gallery to the Galaxy S3. The 3D animations here look damn good.

Another nifty new feature is called "Intelligent Rotation." This allows your front-facing camera to recognize when your phone is lying on its side and will not rotate the the screen from portrait to landscape (helpful for reading in bed). Also, the update includes the app "Paper Artist," which allows you to colorize photos or transform your favorite pics into artful sketches. 

But the biggest star in this update is the multi-window function, which allows you to run two apps on your Galaxy S3 side-by-side. This works particularly well in landscape mode, where the 4.8-inch screen is large enough to fit two programs. The easiest way to begin multi-windowing is by pressing and holding the back button. Then, on the left edge of the screen pops a bar with all the apps that support this feature. These include essential applications like your browser, Google Maps and GMail. 

Starting a second app divides your screen into two equal halves, but the sizes of the two windows are actually scalable. If you want, you can temporarily leave an app and the other – still opened – app will fill the whole screen again. Pressing the back button again restores the first set up. 

As I've written, although this is a Beta version, it seems to be quite stable. Nevertheless, anyone who wants to flash it should be aware that it is not official firmware yet. If you don't know how to flash, you should wait for Sammy's official update.

Samsung Announce The Galaxy Premier; Finally

The Galaxy Premier

As with quite a lot of other devices, we’ve heard a lot about them before release and it seems like we all know what’s coming. This seems no more true than with the Galaxy Premier as we’ve had leaked benchmarks all the way to press images. Granted, it wasn’t as good as the leaks surrounding LG’s Nexus 4 but, we got more than enough. We’ve been hearing things surrounding the Galaxy Premier from as early as this past summer, rumors circled around the model number at first, being i9260 makes the device very close to the i9250 model number of the Galaxy Nexus, setting sparks alight of this being a successor to the Galaxy Nexus for a set of 5 phones. We didn’t see 5 phones and we didn’t see anything too similar to the Galaxy Nexus. It seems that Samsung has some stock left over from the Galaxy Nexus and can do something with it.

The Galaxy Premier is finally official and we can now confirm that it’s essentially a Galaxy Nexus dressed up as a Galaxy S III. Other than that, the device is confirmed to be packing the following specs:

• 4.65-inch screen, 720 x 1,280 Super AMOLED panel,
• Dual-core 1.5 GHz TI OMAP 4470 processor
• 8MP rear-facing camera with a 1.9MP front-facing camera
• 1GB of RAM
• Bluetooth 4.0, NFC, WiFi,
• Android 4.1 Jelly Bean
• 2100 mAh Battery

Okay so, maybe this is a little more than a Galaxy Nexus in fancy dress but, the concept is essentially the same, this is parts from the Galaxy Nexus put together with some new parts to make this strange device in the Galaxy S III line-up. It’s going to be available in the Ukraine soon, for roughly $680 but, that’s a straight conversion so don’t take out word for it. When it comes to it, I wonder what Samsung is doing with this device and what sort of market they’re selling it to, it’s essentially a smaller Galaxy S III but as small as the Mini, making it some strange device that is closer to the S III than the S III Mini. Samsung, I realize that you have a lot of screen stock floating around but, that doesn’t mean you have to sell devices that don’t immediately show a purpose.

Source: Engadget

Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini officially announced

Rumors of a smaller version of the Galaxy S3 have been floating around for a while now.