IFA 2012: Convergence
Samsung’s mobile unpacked event, ahead of the first official day of press conferences at IFA, was no let down. We had new Android phones, new Windows 8 phones; we had tablets, laptops, cameras running Android and a whole host of other goodies.
Samsung hasn’t stopped there though, at Europe’s largest consumer electronic show in Berlin, Germany. The next day they got up and did it all over again, but this time for white goods, making kitchen designers around the world gooey for the latest in microwave ovens and fridges. No, really.
Samsung Ativ S Windows Phone 8 smartphone
Samsung shocked the tech industry by beating Nokia to the punch in being the first manufacturer to launch the Samsung Ativ S is a Windows Phone 8 smartphone with a 4.8-inch display. It’s due out later this year, and although Nokia will have a bigger push and punch at its 5 Sept event in New York, the Finnish company isn’t going to be alone in the WP8 chatter for long.
Aside from it being on stage at the Samsung press conference, we’ve haven’t been able to track down the phone. But thankfully Microsoft’s own internal Windows Phone team has one and shared some pictures online of the Samsung ATIV S Windows Phone 8 smartphone for all to see, Yes, that casing is all metal.
Galaxy Note 2
Samsung’s IFA wasn’t just about Windows Phone 8 though. It has also announced a follow-up to the Galaxy Note launched last year. The Samsung Galaxy Note 2 has finally become official after months of rumours and looks to deliver on everything promised.
In our Samsung Galaxy Note 2 pictures and hands-on, Chris Hall, our Editor had this to say:?”We’re impressed with what we’ve seen of the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The 16:9 aspect of the display and the surfeit of inches would at one time have been intimidating, but the Note 2 feels exciting and feels right.”
Three in the UK has confirmed that it will be stocking the phone, but hasn’t given any details of when that will be. In the US, word on the street is that it will be available in October.
Samsung Galaxy Camera
Keeping things on the mobile front before we look at what tablets and laptops Samsung announced, Samsung surprised the audience (some of them, at least) by revealing that it was launching a camera powered by Android. The Samsung Galaxy Camera is set to capture us wherever we are, using Android and packs a 21x optical zoom, a 16-megapixel sensor all with the option to load your favourite Android apps or just surf Pocket-lint. Amazing.
The new Android camera fuses the best of Samsung Galaxy smartphones, with the best of Samsung’s cameras.
All in all, the Samsung Galaxy Camera is intriguing. There’s a wealth of functions, as well as full performance tests and the question of battery life to examine. All these things we’ll examine in a full review closer to launch.
Ativ
Moving away from things you can put in your pocket, Samsung has created the Ativ range. The eagle-eyed among you will notice that it is Vita spelt backwards, but we’ll worry about that another time.
To pack out the range we have the Ativ phones, Ativ laptops and Ativ tablets running variations of Microsoft’s new operating systems. Ativ means Windows in Samsung land and if you think that when you see the brand then you know you won’t have to worry about Google or Android
Ativ Smart PC tablets vs Ativ Tab
This is where things get kind of confusing. The Samsung Ativ Smart PC and Smart PC Pro tablets come with detachable keyboard while the Samsung Ativ Tab sees introduction of another Windows 8 RT tablet. The main difference is the processors they run. Basically one is a docking tablet PC with Windows 8; the other is a Windows 8 RT tablet.
Samsung 55-inch OLED and the 75-inch LCD TV
The television first announced at CES got a rolling-out at IFA as did the The 75-inch Samsung TV that costs ?11k, and that’s before you factor in costs to move house for a bigger lounge we saw in July.
Microwaves, fridges, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners
Yep, that’s right, in your kitchen. Samsung celebrated going big on white good this year by forcing most of the showgoers to walk through a giant washing machine to get to some of the stands. That aside, there are new advancements in how Samsung promises to store your food, cook your food, and then wash your clothes when you spill your food.
Highlights include the Samsung developed Europe’s largest bottom-mounted refrigerator unit that features a technology called Space Max, and on the washing machine side of things the introduction of Ecobubble, a system that mixes detergent with air and water to generate a large number of bubbles and greatly speed up the detergent activation in cool water, getting to the wash phase much faster.
Samsung also announced that the NaviBot robotic cleaner was being replaced by the NaviBot S, which has a better mapping system and is smaller than the previous version.
Tags:
Samsung IFA2012 Tablets Phones Windows Phone 8 Cameras Features
Samsung at IFA 2012: Galaxy Note 2, Windows 8, Galaxy Camera and more originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 13:51:00 +0100