Video Review: Tridea Tedoori Bumper Case for Samsung Galaxy S III

Bumper. What exactly does it mean? A quick dictionary search will lead you to something along these lines; a fixed metal bar used in a vehicle to reduce damage after a collision. Seems useful, huh? The folks at Tridea took the idea of a bumper and ported it to phones in order to have a similar effect, reducing damage during a drop or fall.

The result is the Tedoori Bumper case, made from a TPU material, it hugs the sides and corners of the Galaxy S III to provide a tight fit whilst adding a slight grip. The execution of the case is good for the most part, it is comfortable to hold while maintaing a minimalistic and simple design. The ports and cutouts are spot-on, so I have no problems with the manufacturing of the case.

The main issues come with the way the case is meant to be used, simply put: this case offers an extremely low amount of protection from scratches or drops. Bumper cases in general are to be used by consumers that are careful with their devices, the Tedoori being no exception. One drop and you can kiss your Galaxy S III goodbye. This isn't a knock on Tridea, but rather bumper cases in general.

Check out the video below for the full review:

Editorial: Android activations in perspective

Announced today at Android I/O, the official daily activations for Android powered devices have topped one million. Not that it was going to be a surprise as the numbers last quarter showed that the milestone would certainly have been reached even before that period ended as we pointed out in a previous analysis.

Now that the figures have been made public, we can measure how Android’s phone platform is doing compared to its arch rival, Apple’s iPhone. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Apple’s first 2012 calendar quarter saw a drop in iPhone sales from a high of 37.1 million in the final quarter of 2011 to 35.1 million.

Although the second quarter has yet to complete, Apple’s own guidance for the three months ending June 30 was for a further sequential drop in iPhone sales and many Wall Street analysts are expecting a number of 30 million (although some are suggesting that it could be as low as 27.5 million).

Apple wins temporary ban on Tab 10.1 in the US

Judge Lucy Koh has ruled in advance of the scheduled hearing over Apple’s request for a ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. 

Her decision, released in the last hour, has followed the appeals court determination that she revisit her previous finding that a temporary injunction was unjustified on the basis that the patent allegedly infringed upon was likely to be found valid, contradicting Judge Koh’s view of that same patent.

The patent in question is the “design” one that's commonly known as “black rectangle with rounded corners” in the blogosphere. Assuming that the patent’s validity would be upheld, the appeals court found that the District Court Judge, having acknowledged Samsung to have infringed it by marketing a device “virtually indistinguishable” from Apple’s iPad, should reconsider the case for injunctive relief.

Video Review: SGP Flex HD for Samsung Galaxy S III

The Galaxy S3 is finally amongst us! After a long 4 month wait (for me at least), I received my 16 GB Pebble Blue model late last week. Whenever I get my hands on a new device, I immediately start sourcing cases & accessories to keep my beloved well protected. In today's post, we'll be checking out the Spigen SGP Flex HD full coverage screen protector for the S3.

Back in December I installed and reviewed the same screen protector for the Galaxy Nexus and went on the use that screen protector for the following 7 months. Upon hearing SGP would remake this shield for the S3, I knew I wanted to check it out right away! A full coverage screenshield is one that covers the whole glass display, in the case of the S3, its slight curvature means some protectors can't cover the curved areas.

Visually, this screen protector won't provide the best clarity or feel, but where it excels is protection. A little thicker than most, the Flex HD provides unparalleled protection from drops and scratches. 

Check out the video below for the installation (very easy!) and review:

The Huawei Ascend G300 (U8815) "Real-user" review

Welcome to the "Real-user" review of the Huawei Ascend G300, otherwise known as the U8815

I don’t know why some phone models are given different numbers. The box says U8815 but the Internet and even Vodafone advertise this phone as a G300. The box says U8815, so that’s what I’m calling it throughout this article.

We were fortunate enough to be offered one of these to review here at AndroidNZ recently, and while we generally cover high-end devices, we’re always keeping an eye on the entry-level segment of the market too. Couple that interest with a chance to spend some hands-on time with a handset from up-and-coming Android device manufacturer Huawei, and naturally it was an opportunity we couldn’t pass up.

The review is going to go out in two parts, basically because I totally suck at games. At the point of determining what muscle this phone had in ability to play games, I handed the phone to Nik. So there will be my part, and then Nik’s part with some of his thoughts on the phone.

So here’s my review, continue reading after the jump

Apple loses big time in US patent battle

In a massive defeat for Apple and a mixed victory for Motorola, respected US jurist Richard Posner dismissed the attempted handset ban ‘with prejudice’.

Judge Richard Posner has dismissed Apple’s further legal attempt to ban numerous Motorola smartphones in the US market, labeling the action “against the public interest”. In a case that dates back to 2010, Apple had tried to ban its rival’s handsets, claiming the patents Motorola Mobile allegedly infringed upon were causing the iDevice vendor “harm”.

Apple unlikely to get Motorola banned in US

Stating that an order barring the sale of Motorola phones could have "catastrophic effects" for the mobile marketplace, Judge Richard Posner has given Apple his strongest hint yet that the iDevice maker’s attempt to have a ban enforced on a number of Motorola handsets is doomed.

Judge Posner had previously stated his view that such an injunction would not be in the public interest. In response to the jurist’s lack of empathy toward Apple’s case for injunctive relief, Apple’s attorney, in an apparent attempt to appear more conciliatory, resorted to the position that an injunction might alternatively force removal of the technologies that it alleges Motorola has infringed, within three months.

Longest Day Deals now on at the Play Store - don't miss out!

Quick heads-up about an unheralded sale that appears to be running in the Play Store right now called the "Longest Day Deals".

Quite a number of apps and games on sale with very reduced prices, for example quality games and apps like GTA III, Order and Chaos Online, FlightTrack and Jamie's 20 Minute Meals are up for grabs.

Catch the deals here.

While you're grabbing some bargains make sure to check out the unannounced EA Games sale that is also underway. Here's a link to Mass Effect Infiltrator for the bargainicious price of $1.25NZD, be sure and check the games description for links to their other sale items.

Enjoy!

[At Your Own Risk] Galaxy SIII video demo & guide for how to play NOVA 3 with a wireless PS3 controller

So, as promised here is that little video demonstration and guide for how to play NOVA 3 (or almost any game that doesn't natively support gamepads, for that matter) with a PS3 controller over bluetooth.

Naturally as this one comes with the [At Your Own Risk] moniker, Root privileges are required. If you haven't Rooted your Galaxy SIII yet, it's super-easy, and we even have a wonderfully easy to follow guide right here. Before you do that however, be sure to familiarise yourself with our standard weasel-words disclaimer at the beginning of this piece. If you can't be bothered reading the disclaimer, and want to foolishly plow into things without understanding what you're up to, be aware that our disclaimer is fairly dire, and we mean every word of it (even the bit about pointing and laughing at you, Nelson styles). That said we don't publish any guides requiring Root privileges here at AndroidNZ that we haven't personally road tested, so there is that.

If you happen to be making your first steps in the world of Rooting, modding, hacking and generally making your Android device truly yours, you should probably also check out our guide to backing up your shiny toy before getting any further.

Anyways, make the jump and join us after the break where we have the video demo and guide, and also a download link for the Sixaxis Controller touch emulation profile that I use in the video to put directly on your device if it all seems a bit much.

Apple vs Motorola patent case back on

Despite his earlier tentative decision to end the patent action in a Chicago court, Judge Posner changed his mind and has confirmed he will hear Apple’s plea for injunctive relief against several Motorola mobile phones.

The judge’s earlier pronouncement was that any injunction would be contrary to the public interest, effectively scuppering Apple’s attempt to have its competitor’s devices banned in the US. Apple immediately objected to that ruling, and after weighing up the options and consequences, Judge Posner has agreed to allow the two sides to make their case for injunctions.

Apple's attempt to ban US Galaxy S III launch fails

In an admission that it fears for its iPhone’s continued success in the marketplace, Apple pleaded with a Californian court to prevent the Samsung Galaxy S III launching in the US. Citing the well publicized nine million plus pre-orders for Samsung’s latest, Apple’s legal team requested leave to apply for TRO injunctive relief, a ban order that they hoped would be in place prior to the Galaxy S III’s simultaneous launch across virtually all the US carriers.

A Temporary Restraining Order seems to be an emergency procedure, able to be invoked where a formal injunction has already been sought and the object of that injunction is likely to go on sale despite the legal process in train. The Judge would then rule on whether it was reasonable for the party requesting the injunction to expect their action to succeed.

Editorial: In Defence of OEM Skins

The Gingerbread MotoBlur launcher
(No-one does fragmentation like Motorola) 

Android comes in many flavours. From community builds like

CyanogenMod, AOKP, and MIUI, to corporate flavours like Samsung’s Touchwiz, HTC’s Sense and Motorola’s MotoBlur, there’s no shortage of variants – ‘pure’ Android is a rare thing to find in the wild, generally restricted to Nexus devices and low-end handsets. Enthusiasts and power users praise the likes of CyanogenMod for their plethora of customisation options and hands-off approaches, while condemning Touchwiz and Sense et al for much the opposite. This criticism is not restricted to esoteric cliques that trawl XDA-Developers and Rootzwiki, however, as well-respected reviewers from the more mainstream side of tech journalism regularly denounce these manufacturer skins as well.

Curious why anyone would defend the likes of Touchwiz and Sense? Read on, after the jump.

Samsung Galaxy S III: Connectivity demo video

Hi everyone!

I know a number of you are getting impatient for the second part of my review (don't worry, it's coming very soon!). I thought by way of apology in the meantime you might like to check out a little video showing many of the awesome connectivity options available to the Galaxy S III.

In the video I demo USB OTG extensively, showing PS3 controllers and XBoX 360 controllers working with it, along with USB audio, external storage devices, USB hubs, USB keyboards and mice, and then move on to give you one of the very first looks at MHL for the Galaxy S III and some of the things you can do with that.

If you haven't seen one of our connectivity videos before you'd better brace yourself, as you're about to discover a world of things you may not have known you could do with your mobile phone...

PS: After I shot this one I installed NOVA 3 to my Galaxy S III and worked out how to play it with a PS3 controller wirelessly with bluetooth via MHL on my HDTV. Let me know in the comments if you'd like a video to show that, and perhaps even a guide for how to set that up.

(and that's it for me for now, I'm off to frag some hapless players using touch controls in online multiplayer)

[At Your Own Risk] How to Root your INTERNATIONAL Samsung Galaxy S III, and how to return it to stock if necessary! [Updated 08/06/2012 with new, easier Root method!]

This is the AndroidNZ guide to rooting the latest and greatest Samsung device; the Galaxy S3 [NOTE: this guide is for the INTERNATIONAL VERSION ONLY, you may brick your phone if you try and follow this on your American version].

Thankfully Samsung have not gotten into the habit of locking their bootloaders, so this should be a fairly straightforward and low risk proposition.

Firstly I'd like to thank Chainfire for doing all the hard work here. He not only developed a root method and customised CWM to work with the S3, but he also wrote a pretty easy to follow guide that you can find here at XDA Forums.

As usual everything detailed here is at your own risk, we can't be held responsible for anything you do to your device. You need to be aware that there is a real risk of bricking your device, especially if you do not follow instructions exactly.

You will possibly void the warranty on your device by increasing the flash counter, thankfully Chainfire is planning to update his TriangleAway app within the next few days to remedy this and we will likely be posting a guide on restoring your Samsung Galaxy S3 to stock. [UPDATE: Chainfire has now released an undated version of Triangle Away on the Play Store, so resetting your flash counter is now utterly simples - grab it from here].

Hit us up after the break for our detailed guide with lots of screen grabs to help you along the way (and look out for our video guide on the blogs YouTube channel tomorrow if you feel like you need even more hand-holding).

[If you don't presently own an S III, but have somehow found yourself here you might like to check out the first part of our AndroidNZ S III review here instead of clicking through to the guide]

Apple fined in Oz 4G iPad claim fiasco

The Australian Federal Court has ruled that Apple misled Aussie consumers about the iPad’s network capabilities and fined the iDevice maker AUD$2.2 million with a further AUD$300K in costs to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission who brought the case to trial.

The court found that Apple had deceived the Aussie public by advertising and promoting the cellular-equipped iPad as “4G” capable, something that is true in its native North American environment.

Apple attempts to have Galaxy S III banned in USA

Alarmed by reports of more than 9 million pre-orders of Samsung’s spectacularly popular and in-demand Galaxy S III, and by its imminent launch in the US, Apple has declared its intention to seek an injunction against the handset. Before the San Diego California court, Apple’s lawyers announced that the company would likely file for injunctive relief, in effect a ban on US sales of the S3, on Friday.

Judge cancels latest patent trial brought by Apple against Motorola

Judge Richard A Posner has cancelled the trial, originally set down for June 11, citing Apple’s inability to convince the court that it would be able to prove injury. The action was taken by Apple against one of its Android-using competitors, Motorola Mobility, accusing the cellphone pioneer of infringing four patents. Motorola in turn had been accusing Apple of infringing on its own patents.

Judge Posner’s decision means that today’s pre-trial hearing is the final one that pertains to the current action, and if either Apple or Motorola want the jurist’s decision overturned, then they will be forced to take their gripes to the US Court of Appeal. If neither can prevail there, then a totally new lawsuit would be required.

Apple fails to get US injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1

Having previously failed in a California district court to have Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 banned for alleged patent infringement, Apple applied to the US Court of Appeals in Washington to overturn the decision and thus obtain a permanent ban of the iPad competitor. The appeals court found that a single element of Apple’s case, that of patent “D889”, might warrant reconsideration and directed Judge Lucy Koh to do so.

Galaxy S III: USB audio, is it really working?

Could this be THE audio lovers Android handset? Your
gateway device to the world of hard audio?
(apologies in advance for your wallet)

I hope you guys don't mind hearing about my little hobby horse once again, but I have some news that I thought I'd share with you in relation to the back-and-forth saga of USB audio and the Galaxy S III.

If you want to know whether the S III can really be a portable player to satisfy the more demanding audio fans out there, then you'd better read on just over the break...

Top 10 standalone Apps for your new Samsung Galaxy S3

Got this baby and need some apps?

So you've just bought yourself a brand spanking new Samsung Galaxy S3 after reading part one of our brilliant review? well I don't blame you. Since you are now the owner of the best handset around you may want to start filling it with the best apps available. That's where we come in.

This is the first piece in a series recommending the best apps available for your Galaxy S3. This first part is about the top ten standalone apps that you should download to get the most out of your S3. Part two focuses on customisation apps and part three will introduce you to the world of root apps, meaning apps that require root access. [UPDATE: We've now done a second piece about the best apps for the Galaxy S3, this time around looking at apps for customising your Galaxy S3 and tweaking it to work just the way you want it to - check it out here].

If you're new to Android, or even if you aren't then keep reading to find out what we recommend!

The Samsung Galaxy S III "Real-user" Review: Part 1 - Initial impressions, Design/build quality, Screen and Benchmarks

One phone to rule them all?

The most anticipated Android handset in history: the Samsung Galaxy S III.

If I can confide in you, it's a little daunting sitting down to write a review for a device with such unprecedented interest surrounding it. A far cry from writing about a niche device like the Galaxy Note, that's for sure...

Anyway, you didn't come here to hear my musings on how difficult this is to write - make the jump to start immersing yourself in what will surely be the most complete and thorough review of the S III on the internet (or perhaps just the least succinct one).

[NOTE] If you've already made the leap and purchased an S III you might like to head to our guide for Rooting the S III so you can start making the most of your shiny new toy.

Editorial: Oracle loses big stakes gamble against Android

Following its recent patent infringement loss against Google in a Californian court action, Oracle has now followed that failure with loss of its copyright claims in the same suit as well.

Judge Alsup, arguably the most respected juror of his generation, has ruled that the Java APIs at issue are not copyrightable, effectively handing Oracle a legal black eye. The conclusion of this action, some two years after its commencement, raises the question as to the motives of Oracle in bringing it to court in the first place given that the trial proper became a switch in importance from the alleged infringement of dozens of patents, to a skirmish about copyright of API code in what is supposedly a "free to use" programming language.

The Android NZ Apps of the Week 01/06/2012 [AOTW]

Yikes, I came to writing this up this evening and realised its been two months since our last app of the week piece! If you missed that one make sure to check it out here - it's a super-sized 50 apps edition.

Anyways, schedules permitting this should once again become a regular occurrence for AndroidNZ, starting with today's fresh batch of hot apps. Make the jump to see what the editors are enjoying right now...

The Samsung Galaxy S III: USB audio confirmed!

Can it really be?

Readers will know that here at AndroidNZ we really care about audio quality, as in we really, really care.

We've written before about the sad lack of USB audio support for Android, so naturally you can understand that Supercurios analysis of the S III revealing the presence of USB audio drivers got our hopes up. When I got handsie with the S III a couple of weeks ago one of the first things I tried was connecting my E17 USB DAC to it, only to have my hopes dashed. 

Although that was pre-release software I honestly didn't expect a lot to change in relation to USB audio between then and the S III hitting retail, but happily I can report that I got this dead wrong.

If USB audio interests you, or you're just curious, hit us up after the break for more information on this development

(Oh, and please keep your expectations in check here, it's not all good news!)

The Samsung Galaxy S III, at AndroidNZ

Quick heads-up: several of the AndroidNZ editors now have their very own shiny Galaxy S IIIs (in fact yours truly was the first in New Zealand to get one after queuing for seven hours at the Vodafone midnight release sale).

Needless to say we're getting to grips with the device at a rate of knots and we'll have lots of content coming to you very soon - including the first part of our usual mammoth review later today. If you can't wait until then to learn some more about the S III, I've been giving my usual up-to-the-minute impressions and experiences on Twitter @NZtechfreak, and we've also written several pieces about it covering things that have been throughly neglected in the wider tech press.

Our S III content timeline to date has unfolded as follows:

• My thoughts about the S III announcement shortly before it dropped
• Our whole teams reaction to the announcement
• Our discovery of a few S III secrets - you heard them here first
• Further discoveries of hitherto unknown aspects of the S III
• Pre-release confirmation of the exFAT support we exposed by an actual user, to calm the nerves of folks who were unsettled by the manual saying only Fat32 was supported
• News that Root was available for the S III before it's release, courtesy of the ever-amazing Chainfire
• We were then lucky enough to actually secure some hands-on time of our own with one of the mythical Pebble Blue units a couple of weeks prior to retail, exclusively covering a lot of things not seen elsewhere and verifying our Secrets Revealed pieces
• Finally, we were the first to break the news that the aforementioned Pebble Blue handsets were going to be globally delayed

So, stay tuned for more, and don't forget that your questions are always welcome here at AndroidNZ - feel free to drop them in the comments here or hit us on Twitter.