Samsung Nexus Prime to get UK launch 'within weeks'

Device will show off 'Ice Cream Sandwich' OS in launch by company now reckoned to be world's biggest handset vendor (updated)

Samsung and Google are to launch the Nexus Prime phone to showcase the latest version of the Android mobile operating system, "Ice Cream Sandwich", in Hong Kong late on Tuesday night.
The phone is expected to be released in the UK within the next four weeks, in time for Christmas.
The launch had been scheduled for Monday last week, but Google and Samsung postponed it following the death of Steve Jobs, Apple's co-founder and former chief executive.
As a flagship device, the phone will run the standard version of the new Android update, rather than having Samsung's G-Wiz Touch-Wiz system running on top of it. Engadget suggests that it will have a high-definition display, dual-core 1.5GHz processor and a screen size of up to 4.6in.
Like the Nexus S, the Samsung device which showcased Android 2.3 "Gingerbread", the previous major phone version, there won't be physical buttons for key on-screen functions.
Samsung and Apple are neck and neck, having both supplanted Finland's Nokia to ship more than 20m smartphone handsets per quarter in the three months to June. Analysts are still waiting for third-quarter figures from Samsung; Apple will announce figures at its quarterly results on Tuesday night.
Samsung is expected to have supplanted Nokia as the largest mobile company in terms of handset shipments when it finalises its third-quarter results through its sales of "feature phones" which don't have third-party app capabilities.
The Google chief executive, Larry Page, said at the company's earnings call last week that 190m Android devices have been activated since its inception. He also said that the mobile business was on an equivalent run rate to being a $2.5bn business.
However, he did not specify how much of that comes through mobile advertising and app sales on Android; testimony given by a Google executive to the US Congress that two-thirds of mobile search comes from devices running Apple's iOS software.
Ice Cream Sandwich, which is version 4.0 of Android, is intended to be a cross-platform offering that unites the 2.0 branch, devised for mobile phones, and the 3.0 branch for tablets which was first released earlier this year on Motorola's showcase Xoom tablet. That should mean that app developers can target all sizes of screen in a single package.
Samsung's UK press office did not have any information about the timing of the launch or any other details at the time of publication.
Update: Android Central says it has the specifications. Notable points include 1GB of RAM, Bluetooth 3.0, and the following:
• Display: AMOLED HD: 4.65 inches Resolution 720 x1280) Maximum number of simultaneous colors
• Main Display: 16,777,216 color touch screen: capacitive (multi-touch),
• Main camera: 5 megapixel CMOS camera with LED flash
• Video recording 1080pHD (1920 * 1080)
• Front camera: 1.3 million pixels CMOS
• GPS
• NFC
• Micro USB 2.0
For the full list, see the site.

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Samsung may hit Apple with iPhone 4S ban

Apple could face court injunctions to halt sale of new iPhone 4S as Samsung says it breaches patents it owns

Apple's new iPhone 4S faces the prospect of court injunctions in France and Italy from the Korean electronics firm Samsung, which says the phones breach patents it owns on wireless communications.
It is a new escalation in the struggle between Samsung and Apple, who are fighting a number of increasingly bitter court battles in various territories around the world. Samsung, which is challenging Apple for the title of the world's biggest maker of smartphones, says it plans to file preliminary injunctions in Paris and Milan on the basis that the iPhone 4S, announced in California on Tuesday night and expected in a number of countries including the UK from 14 October, infringes its patents on WCDMA technology.
The iPhone 4S combines both GSM and CDMA systems, the two principal methods of connecting to mobile networks, in a single phone, so that it can be used on almost any mobile network in the world without modification. Apple has been selling a CDMA version of the iPhone 4 since January, initially for use on the US Verizon network, though it is not sold in either France or Italy, which use GSM networks. Samsung filed a suit against Apple in the US in April claiming infringement of its WCDMA patents.
"Apple has continued to flagrantly violate our intellectual property rights and free ride on our technology, and we will steadfastly protect our intellectual property," Samsung said in a statement.
The South Korean company did not say when the French and Italian filings would take place, but did say it plans similar moves in other countries "after further review". Under the laws of France and Italy, companies can seek and courts can order a ban on sales of a product even before the product reaches markets, Samsung spokesman James Chung told the Reuters news agency.
Apple did not have any comment at the time of publication.
Samsung is set to report sharply lower quarterly earnings on Friday on persistent declines in chip prices, while investors look for signs its telecom business can sustain its booming growth. Samsung has been a supplier to Apple of parts including touchscreens and memory chips, but the two companies have also been at odds through the courts since April, when Apple took legal actions claiming Samsung's Galaxy line of smartphones and tablet computers, claiming that they copy its iPhone and iPad.
Samsung has responded by taking Apple to court over what it alleges are violations of its patents covering wireless communications.
Samsung said the technology it claims Apple infringes "is essential to the reliable functioning of telecom networks and devices" and that it sees the alleged violations as "too severe and that (the) iPhone 4S should be barred from sales".
Apple has won sales injunctions against Samsung products in the Netherlands and Germany and is seeking one in Australia. Samsung has asked a court in the Netherlands to stop Apple from selling iPhones and iPad tablets in that country.

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