Samsung Galaxy S3: AT&T Customers Still Waiting for Preorder to Arrive

Samsung Galaxy S3 has turned out to be one smartphone that every Android lover is talking about. Packing groundbreaking hardware and software technology, the device is receiving preorders like a bonanza sales item. On the other hand, network carriers are not able to fulfill the demand for Samsung's latest flagship model resulting in increasing frustration among customers.

Most AT&T customers who have preordered the 16GB model of Galaxy S3 before June 21, have received the smartphone, but some customers are still waiting for their preorders to arrive. On the other hand, there is no particular release date for 32GB version of Galaxy S3 on AT&T.

AT&T was originally believed to deliver preordered handsets "on or before June 21". However, on June 21, AT&T released a statement that the preordered devices should not be expected before June 25. The Galaxy S3 preorders arrived on June 25, but for some users only.

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Earlier in June, the carrier had also announced that Samsung Galaxy S3 will be available through its stores on June 28, but the date came and went without Galaxy S3 hitting the shelves.

It is no longer a secret that Samsung is unable to handle the demand of Galaxy S3. According to a previous report, the delay in shipments have cost Samsung at least 2 million Galaxy S3's in sales. Among all the U.S. network carriers, T-Mobile is the only one to have in-store availability of the Galaxy S3, albeit, in select cities only.

Verizon Wireless appears to be the only major network carrier in U.S. to pre-estimate the supply crisis vis-a-vis demand for Galaxy S3. According to various sources, the Big Red will launch both 16GB and 32GB variants of Galaxy S3 on July 11.

Sprint is also facing the same supply crisis as other U.S. network carrier. Sprint has stated that the 16GB version of Galaxy S3 will be available for in-store purchase starting June 1.

U.S. Cellular will also carry the Galaxy S3, but the carrier hasn't announced any release date so far.

Source:http://www.newsamachar.com/news/samachar.aspx?st=5&sub=2

Apple Products See the Unpolished Side of Chrome

Mac owners have been having more than a few headaches with Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) Chrome browser.

Owners of new Macbook Airs have been complaining for several days that their devices have been freezing or crashing when they use the Chrome browser.

Google has confirmed to Gizmodo that the problem is a leak of graphics resources in the Chrome browser related to the drawing of plugins on Mac OS X and that it's working to find and fix the root cause.

"This is not good news for Google's reputation with Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) users," Al Hilwa, a program director at IDC, told MacNewsWorld.

Separately, Google on Thursday unveiled Chrome for the iPhone and iPad at its Google I/O developers' conference in San Francisco.

It's possible, though, that Chrome could run more slowly on iOS than the default Mobile Safari browser because the latter uses the Nitro JavaScript engine, which other browsers are barred from using.

"This will likely be the same kind of problem folks will complain about when running in the new Metro sandboxed environment from Microsoft," Rob Enderle, principal analyst at the Enderle Group, told MacNewsWorld. "These are intentionally closed systems to better assure the customer experience and protect against hostile hacking."


The MacBook Air Stink

New Macbook Airs used by staffers at Gizmodo froze and crashed when the Chrome browser was used, according to the tech blog. Switching to Apple's Safari browser solved the problem, it reported.

A graphics resource leak in Chrome is causing a kernel panic on Macs with Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) HD 4000 graphics processing units (GPUs), Google said. That includes new Macbook Airs. Google has filed radar bug number 11762608 with Apple about the kernel panics because it shouldn't be possible for an application to trigger such behavior.

Google sent out an auto update for Chrome on Thursday that temporarily disables some of its GPU acceleration features on new MacBook Airs. It expects to send out further fixes to re-enable many or all of those features.

Many of the new notebooks Apple unveiled earlier this month are susceptible, as several use the Intel HD 4000 GPU.
Steve Strikes Again

Apple's products "are making significant gains as Web browsing devices," IDC's Hilwa said. The issues Chrome is suffering on MacBook Airs "could undermine Google's ability to reach this growing number of users."

Apple "is the power player in the consumer space, and right now consumers are driving end points," Enderle stated. "As they force Google off their platforms, Google is being diminished, showcasing the massive opportunity cost of Google's betrayal of Apple by creating Android in the first place."
iOS Cripples Chrome

Chrome and other third-party browsers can sometimes run more slowly on iOS than Apple's Safari browser does because they aren't allowed to use the faster Nitro JavaScript engine, which Safari uses.

"Chrome for iOS provides the same fast, secure and stable Web browsing experience you've come to enjoy when using Chrome on your desktop or Android device, while also adapting to platform specific technical specifications," Google spokesperson Jessica Kositz told MacNewsWorld. "Rendering and the JavaScript engine are provided by iOS through UIWebView, as are all third-party browsers on iOS, so Chrome for iOS does not use Chrome v8 JS engine."

Apple introduced Nitro into iOS 4.3 in March 2011 and also uses Nitro in Mac OS X.

Nitro evolved from JavaScriptCore, a framework that provides a JavaScript engine for WebKit implementations. The WebKit project rewrote JavaScriptCore as "SquirrelFish," a bytecode interpreter. SquirrelFish evolved into SquirrelFish Extreme, which was marketed as "Nitro" and announced in September of 2008. Nitro compiles JavaScript into native machine mode.

Apple is blocking access to Nitro for other vendors' browsers on iOS because this is "deemed too risky by Apple," Enderle suggested. "Whether this is to protect against a competitive threat more than a security exploit isn't clear.

Source:http://www.technewsworld.com/rsstory/75520.html

1M Android NFC Devices Shipping Each Week, And Prototypes Show iPhone 5 Is Next

Google I/O is in full swing, and stories have been pouring out at a fairly steady pace: Tony Stark Sergey finally demoed Google Glass, Google Drive passed 10 million users and is available on iOS, and we all got a look at Jelly Bean — to name a few.

Yet, overshadowed and buried in lengthy liveblogs is one piece of news that deserves some more attention — and it’s all about NFC. During yesterday’s keynote, Hugo Barra, the director of Android product management, revealed that Google is now shipping 1 million NFC-enabled Android devices every week. That’s pretty significant.

For some context, the company said that 400 million Android devices have now been activated, with activations currently flying in at a rate of 1 million per day. This means that phones with NFC built in represent nearly 15 percent of all new Android devices.

As a result, Android Beam, which was introduced with Ice Cream Sandwich, is getting some cool new features, including the ability to share video by way of NFC as well as the chance to pair phones to other devices just by tapping it. That’s pretty big, as it seems that, in spite of the arguments against NFC, the technology seems to be making it into a not-so-insignificant number of devices people buy every day.

On the flip side, as Jay (and many other experts) remind us that, media chatter notwithstanding, NFC technology likely isn’t on the brink of ubiquity — that in fact it’s still four or five years from reaching critical mass.

This has been the general consensus for awhile now, and probably still holds. Unfortunately, despite great effort to the contrary, I can’t see into the future. However, it’s probably safe to say that Google’s disclosure is a prime indication that things could be changing far more rapidly than many had expected.

After all, Nokia recently launched its first Windows-based NFC phone, along with Orange, and Foursquare added NFC support to its Android app, to name a few recent examples.

But the tipping point for NFC may be on an accelerated timeline if, on top of Google’s NFC Android shipments, the recent rumors swirling around Apple’s plans for the iPhone 5 prove to be true. 9To5Mac reported earlier this week that it had managed to get its hands on some iPhone 5 prototypes, which apparently reveal that the new phone will include an NFC chip and antenna.

Obviously, as 9To5 points out, the implications of this would be pretty huge, setting Apple up to launch its own mobile payment competitor to Google Wallet and Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 feature and give iOS users an easy way to share files between devices.

If come October, when Apple is expected to reveal the new iPhone 5, it has NFC built-in, and Google continues shipping NFC-enabled Android phones at its current rate, that means that the major phones consumers will be buying will have this technology. As Jim Peters told 9To5, retailers might want to get ready.

Source:http://techcrunch.com/2012/06/28/nfc-cometh-1m-android-nfc-devices-shipping-each-week-and-prototypes-show-iphone-5-is-next/