IRL is a column about stuff we’re using in real life and yes, that sometimes includes neon-green charging cables. It also includes all manner of smartphones, as you know, and this week we’ve got a short-and-sweet write-up comparing the GS3 and GS4. Is the 4 worth an early upgrade? Not if you ask Jon Fingas, anyway, but that’s mostly because he’s happy with the camera, performance and LTE radio on last year’s model.

Filed under: Misc, Samsung

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IRL: TYLT cables and a standoff between two Galaxies

Samsung didn’t stray far from its comfort zone when designing the Galaxy S 4, and now a leaked build of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean for the S III makes it even harder to distinguish the older flagship from the newer one. The folks at SamMobile got their mitts on a test firmware build and, better yet, have combed through it to see what’s new. As you may know, the S 4 ships with 4.2.2 under a TouchWiz layer, so it’s not surprising to hear most of the features new to this S III build are on the S 4 already: an updated version of S Voice, more lock screen options / unlock effects, new display modes, a redesigned settings interface, voice control, and more. SamMobile has put together a video walkthrough of the build (embedded below), and you’ll find an expanded changelog and software screenshots at the source link. Apparently, the firmware “works perfectly,” so if you’d rather not wait through the (often lengthy) carrier approval process, you can download it for your S III right now (flashing required, of course).

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Samsung, Google

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Via: Sammy Hub

Source: SamMobile

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Galaxy S III Android 4.2.2 firmware leaked, adds several S 4 features (video)

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Refresh Roundup: week of May 13th, 2013

What you’re looking at above is a demo board carrying a next-gen Wolfson WM5110 audio chip for smartphones. This bit of silicon isn’t in any market-ready handsets just yet, hence the DIY setup, but given Wolfson’s well-cemented partnership with Samsung there’s every chance this’ll be the audio hub in the next Galaxy S, as well as potentially in other manufacturers’ phones coming out in 2014.

One of the WM5110′s headline features is the ability to handle high sample rate music tracks at 24-bit and 192KHz, aka “studio master” or “better than CD quality” sound. Such skills are generally reserved for pricey standalone DACs like iRiver’s AK100, which allows Wolfson to claim that this is the first implementation for inside a smartphone. We have an ears-on video for you after the break, but it’s not much use for judging audio quality — the event was too noisy even for us to attempt that, so we’ll just wait to do another audio round-up in more controlled conditions — but at least there’s some proof of principle. On the other hand, if you’re unconvinced as to whether 192KHz is even a worthwhile spec to have in smartphones, then read on to learn about some of the WM5110′s other abilities, which have a more practical bent.

Filed under: Cellphones, Portable Audio/Video, Mobile

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Wolfson WM5110 audio chip outputs ‘studio master’ sound, may appear in next Galaxy S (ears-on)

Ready for round two? Nokia is: it’s put the Galaxy S III and its own Lumia 928 back in the ring, challenging Samsung’s handset to an audio recording duel. The company’s latest video tasks both phones with capturing a musical performance in a New York subway. Naturally, Nokia uses the clip to promote the Lumia’s strengths, flipping back and forth between the 928′s clear, undistorted audio, and the much noisier recording captured on the Galaxy S III.

A graphic overlay jumps and dips with the volume, peaking into the red distortion threshold whenever the view switches to the Samsung phone’s perspective. “Nokia Lumia retains audio quality under high volume recording with no distortion,” it reads, and indeed the Lumia’s footage does sound clearer by comparison, if a bit muted. What Nokia’s handset lacks in volume, however, it makes up in balance — not only is the audio free of distortion, it also lacks the echo picked up by the Galaxy S III. Even so, the test should be taken with a grain of salt — the proctor has an interest in the Lumia coming out on top, and the GSIII isn’t Samsung’s latest, exactly. Smartphone audiophiles with a discerning ear can find the full video after the break.

[Thanks, Emmett]

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Source: Nokia

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Nokia pits Lumia 928 against Galaxy S III again, challenges Samsung to audio recording contest