Mighty Gadget Blog: The latest technology news & reviews in the UK

We’ve spoken about the Galaxy S quite a lot recently mainly due to the fact it looked great before it came out and all we keep reading from other sources is how great it is since it’s release. Samsung phones in my opinion have always been just “alright” never exceeding the strengths of Nokia of old or the iPhone today, but I’d love to have a go with Samsung’s iPhone killer to see if the hype is worth believing, plus it runs Android and I do love Android. Well Samsung are taking it to what seems to be the new “next level”. Nokia did it with the N97, Sony have done it with the Xperia X10. Take their giant smartphones and well, make them smaller.

The Galaxy Q has pretty much all the same specs as the Galaxy S, bt as nothing is actually truly official we can only let you know what we know. a 3” AMOLED screen still powered with the 1GHz processor and 16GB of storage. the other difference rumour is that the Q will be a “candy bar” phone and operate a full QWERTY keyboard (I’m always a fan of these) plus as it’s not out for a few months on release should have had the Android 2.2 upgrade. Couple all this with an 8MP HD video capable camera and a 1MP camera on the front, it certainly looks to be a decent enough downsize.

Sadly it’s all just rumourage, so no price or exact release date but you’ll be looking towards Christmas for the Galaxy Q.

Acer, famous for laptops and computer parts has today launched it’s brand spanking new Android 2.1 phone and given the exclusive rights to online mobile seller Expansys. If the phone is half as good as it’s laptops you can bet it will do well once the mobile carriers get a hold of it although selling it online, SIM free at the moment might be a risk.

Acer have described its Stream as a “high-end multimedia smartphone” and it delivers in the specs field to compete with the other top smartphones. Underneath the 3.7” AMOLED display is a 1GHz Snapdragon processor and 512MB RAM, running Android 2.1 (2.2 update won’t be far off) Also sporting a 5MP camera capable of 720p video capture and GEO-Tagging, it has Wi-Fi and is only a tiny 11.2mm thin. Couple this with 2GB of internal storage and microSD support there’s plenty of room. Social networking is the theme for the phone with apps pre-installed but also Acer Spinlets. This is a streaming service whereby the user can listen to select songs and post their favourites onto their social networking pages. It also has mp3, AAC, OGG and FLAC support for your tunes and MP4, WMV, DivX and Xvid support for your videos.

Available today on Expansys SIM free for £399.99

The Samsung Galaxy S hasn’t been with us long but the super 5 star rated blower is apparently getting an update early next year, according to Russian “internets” types. Now rumours are exactly what they are, RUMOURS but apparently the Ruskies are very much on the ball when it comes to Samsung mobile rumours and have gotten it right before. The one thing making this a certified rumour is the specs look amazing, a bit too good to be true. We’ll give you the rundown of what they said anyway, we can certainly hope it’s true.

The Galaxy S certainly packed some great specs but the S2 takes it to the next level. A bigger 4.3” 1280x720 Super AMOLED screen (wow in itself) with 32GB of storage and the ability to add another 32GB from microSD. It will also pack A-GPS, Bluetooth 3.0 and N-standard WiFi. Camera wise you’re looking at 8MP but again the ability to shoot HD video. To tap into the iPhone 4 market it’ll have a similar style accelerometer/gyroscope feature. Now the rumour also states that by the time the phone’s due, next year, this mobile will be running Android OS 3 but also a massive 1GB of RAM.

Again the only thing with rumours is details, and we have none but I’m sure IF we get some more, we’ll pass them on

The Motorola Droid or Milestone as us Brits know it by had quite a good success in this country, but was even more successful in the States. Well the US phone company has now announced the first Milestone family follow up will be due July 15th in the US, in time to rival the now released iPhone 4. One of the main successes for the Milestone/Droid was its Android OS and its slide out keyboard which although wasn’t the most comfortable it worked pretty well. The rumour mill has ground out quite a few chunks of information or photos of dropped protoypes in gym’s etc well now we have an official update for sure.

The Droid/Milestone X doesn’t appear to have the keyboard last time opting for a total touchscreen experience. A 4.3” FWVGA 854×480 screen certainly makes the phone look large, like the Xperia X10 but the body itself is still pretty slim. Powered by a 1GHz processor running the brilliant Android 2.1 upgradeable to 2.2 Froyo later this summer for Flash support) with an all new MotoBlur running over the top. It will also have an 8MP camera with 720p video capture and further media support with an apparent DLNA app and HDMI out.

Unfortunately the release is US only for now but keep an eye out for a UK release.

Samsung have always been a major player in every corner of the electronics market with their good reliable products, whether it be the telly, the mobile phone or the computer. With the obvious popularity now of Apple’s iPad it was only a matter of time before Samsung entered that market too and with everyone trying to out-do Apple in whichever way they can, what will Samsung bring to the table.

We got our first sighting of it’s tablet from the official Samsung South Africa Twitter account, showing a 7” tablet PC next to it’s already well reviewed Galaxy S smartphone ( the obvious comparison to the iPhone/iPad relationship) So what’s it got? Available in 7”, 8” and 10” screen sizes the slate runs Android 2.2 (Froyo) and is powered with a “faster than iPad” 1.2GHz processor. It has 16GB of inbuilt storage which can be expanded to 48GB with a MicroSD slot.

With the obvious speed ability over Apple and Google’s popular OS with all it’s apps this could be a true contender for the market. We have no price details yet and no exact date but it should be available in September.

The Samsung Galaxy is S is receiving a lot of good press from it’s Super AMOLED screen, super fast processing abilities and above all its HD content. This week also saw the announcement of iPhone 4.0 and Samsung were quick to judge and slam the Cupertino’s baby’s screen, claiming it wasn’t a patch on their Galaxy S’s. Well now iPhone 4 is incoming, so to the Galaxy S, which you could essentially get in your hands by tomorrow (iPhone Pre-order starts tomorrow)

For a quick recap on the Galaxy S it has a 4” WVGA Super AMOLED touchscreen runing that wonderful Android OS. There’s also the usual suspects too, HSDPA and WiFi connectivity and a 5MP camera which is capable of shooting HD video. Couple all this with a 1GHz processor and a file extension support that will make your PC blush, this is some serious kit.

Vodafone are offering the phone on pretty much its standard new smartphone contracts. £35 a month for 24 months will get you the phone for nowt. If you only want an 18 month contract then you’re looking at £40 a month

The Tegra was the original powerhouse in the mobile world powering the soon to be Microsoft Kin Mobile phones and also that “not for Britain” PMP the Zune HD. With stiff competition from Qualcomm’s Snapdragon, mobile Intel chips and ARM, all good at what they do. TEGRA never failed to impress in its reviews and actions delivering application speed and HD video with ease.

Now Nvidia are planning to release the next TEGRA chip sometime this year, hoping to launch in conjunction with the 3rd generation of Android. Yes that’s right rather than sticking with Microsoft NVIDIA has obviously spotted the potential in Google’s OS and it’s rise in popularity in the mobile market. Co-Founder Jen-Hsun Huang has said that the future holds plenty of TEGRA powered Android phones and tablets to confirm this. He’s also gone on to point out that their main rival will be the iPad and it’s chipset the A4, currently the iPad’s chip and the planned next processor to be in the iPhone 4.0.

“The bar is pretty high for all the mobile players and they need a processor that can keep up with the A4. If not be much better than what the A4 can do because they have to take on the leader in the space.” – Huang on the Apple A4 processor

“I think the second generation Tegra has been doing incredibly well because Android is doing incredibly well. So we’re going to come to market with second-generation Tegra with the third generation Android.” Huang on Tegra and Android.

Certainly will make for a more interesting competition in the future for sure.

It was recently announced that Google wear about to update it’s fantastic Android OS to 2.2, codename Froyo, who’s release should be imminent. We’ve got some more word on its exciting new features to further expand what is not only a great OS but also one of the key players in the mobile and computing market.

Website Techcrunch had posted the details of the OS update giving an insight into what’s coming. The first thing to appear is USB tethering support. This will allow you to share yourAndroid running mobile’s 3G connection directly with your laptop(or desktop but that wouldn’t be very mobile) removing the need for a dongle or an upgrade to one with built in 3G. Secondly it will also have the ability to activate a WiFi hotspot sharing the connection wirelessly. Now on the Android market there’s apps that can do this for you but now it’s simple and easier and built straight into the OS.

With Android seemingly getting better and better with each incarnation, can Apple recreate some of it’s greatness in their next update. With the rise in Android use could the little green robot begin to take Apple’s customers. Lets wait and see.