Samsung has announced that with the backing of Intel Corporation, the company would launch Tizen based smartphones in 2013. At present, Samsung is the biggest seller of Android based mobile devices in the market which means that it is largely dependent on Google. If the interest of Samsung and Intel keeps growing on Tizen front, more companies are expected to follow.

Samsung has not given any official information about the exact release time tablet for these devices. However, a Japanese paper recently reported that Samsung would launch these devices before the end of this year. Samsung and other tech giants using Android started getting concerned after Google acquired Motorola Mobility and emerged as a direct rival to all those companies. Even though Google reassured them at the initial stages, eventually it went ahead and openly supported Droid RAZR MAXX HD by comparing its battery life with that of Samsung Galaxy S 3 and calling the former’s battery better than the later.

At present, the smartphone market is largely dominated by either Android or iOS. There are other operating systems such as BlackBerry 10 and Windows Phone 8, but their market share is significantly smaller. Besides, rumor also has it that Google is developing a smartphone called Xphone which it intends on launching as a direct rival of Galaxy S 3. When it comes to Windows 8 platform, Samsung is still behind HTC and Nokia, even though it has a partnership with Microsoft about Windows Phone 8 hardware.

Samsung previously worked on its own Bada OS for a while and also launched a few smartphones running that OS. However, it did not prove to be a very successful and viable alternative to Google’s Android OS. There are also rumors that Samsung might release Galaxy S 4 and Galaxy Note 3 with Tizen, but that seems highly unlikely. But we sure might see some other Tizen devices from Samsung in 2013.

This tablet, along with Nexus 4 smart phone, was to be announced during the Google event planned at the New York City. However, the event had to be postponed due to Hurricane Sandy, although it is expected to be rescheduled pretty soon. From the leaked images it is clear that the tablet would have metallic rear and the brand Nexus would be printed above the Samsung logo. The plastic used on the device is quite similar to that used on the 7 inch version of the tablet.

Among the reported technical specs of the new device, we have 1.7 GHz Samsung Exynos processor, a screen resolution of 2560×1600 pixels and 2 GB of RAM memory. The device would also have dual embedded speakers and support for NFC technology. There would be a 5 megapixels backend camera on board and finally, the tablet would have 16 GB of internal storage capacity. As per the sources, there would be no support for microSD card which shows that Google is relying on new Drive and Play Store used for Cloud storage.

The processer used in this 10 inch tablet is the same that has previously been used in the latest version of Google Chromebook. The dual core processor certainly seems better than Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro and Apple A6 SoCs.

2560×1600 pixels display resolution of the device tells that it would have a pixel density of about 298.9 ppi. This pixel density is higher than the new iPad which comes with a pixel density of 263.92. Overall, the technical specs of the device seem to be highly impressive and it would certainly make a difference in the market of 10 inch tablets. We might just have a fairly good competitor for iPad finally.

Recently, the CEO of Verizon, Lowell McAdam said that the carrier might be ready to support Bada based devices if Samsung devotes its due attention for the OS. In an interview, he said that “There’s a potential elephant in the room with Samsung.” However, it seems that Samsung has stopped seeing Google as a threat which is quite understandable since Google has not taken any measures to prove such a thing. Due to this reason, Samsung has restricted Bada OS to relatively cheap devices restricted to the Asian market.

The chief producer officer at Samsung, Kevin Packingham, recently informed that developing Bada OS as a third ecosystem is not a priority for Samsung. However, the company might increase its focus on Windows 8 based devices. This decision of Samsung would certainly be a source of concern for Nokia whose only honorable product in the market happens to be a Windows based smart phone. With Samsung increasing its attention on Windows based phones, Nokia would certainly face a tough competition and might even be driven out of the market by the colossal force of Samsung.

Bottom line is that Samsung seems to have no intention of pursuing Bada seriously and it is quite content with Android based phones, in addition to a few Windows based devices. Android has been competing very well with iOS and is constantly improving with each successive version. Bada, on the other hand, is only supported by a few users and is only found on a few mid range devices. It also lacks the proper ecosystem that can make it a worthy rival of iOS and Android. So its quite reasonable that Samsung would not waste its time and resources on making Bada a high end operating system. It would be restricted for the mid range devices and the option of Android would remain valid for the high end devices.

Technical specifications of the rumored model are quite similar to the rumored specs of Samsung Galaxy S3, or any other high end phone in the market. It would come with 4.7 inch display having a screen resolution of 1,280 x 720 pixels. It would also have a 12 mega pixel rare end and another 2 mega pixel frond end camera onboard. Other than having support for NFC and LTE, this phone would also be equipped with Samsung’s S-Cloud. It would certainly be great to use Windows 8 on a high end Samsung device since this would virtually couple great hardware with one of the best software platforms in the market.

According to the sources, this device would come to all the major carriers of  US such as AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. However, no information has been given out regarding the release date or price of the device. At present, Samsung is the tech giant that has been releasing more mobile devices than any other company in the market. Besides, Samsung has been releasing device based on three major platforms: Android, Windows 8 and its own Bada OS. Releasing devices with multiple platforms would also help Samsung reduce too much dependability on a single partner.

So far Samsung or Microsoft has not revealed any plans for any such collaboration. But considering that Microsoft is in need of new partners in the mobile phone industry and Samsung also wants to reduce dependability on Google, this is certainly a possibility. It would, on one hand, give boast to Windows 8 platform and on the other, would afford Samsung considerable market expansion and diversification.

Galaxy Nexus can impress the audience in a variety of ways. To start with, the phone has an enchanting look and design. Even with a big 4.65 inch screen, the phone looks smart and reasonably sized. The curved glass design and slim structure makes the device a delight to use. The unlocked Galaxy Nexus model is slimmer compared to the one that comes under contract with Verizon. The most important feature of Galaxy Nexus, without a doubt, is Ice Cream Sandwich. Needless to say, this is the best version of Android that has been released so far and is almsot equivalent to iOS 5. Best features of Honeycomb and Gingerbread have been combined in this version. The OS offers impressive multi-tasking facilities and highly organized social networking integration. The number of quality apps present in Android Market is less compared to those present in Apple App Store, but it is just a matter of time before this weakness is rectified.

Performance wise, the device is elite with its ability to play 720p HD video and high resolution display, even though iPhone’s Retina Display is still better. Talking about the hardware features, this phone runs on a 1.2 GHz dual-core processor which is sufficit for multitasking, 1 GB of RAM and 32 GB of internal memory. At these specs, the price of Galaxy Nexus from Verizon is $300, however it would’ve been a good idea to offer a 16 GB version as well. The battery life of the device is not very impresive, but that should be given considering the support for 4G LTE network of Verizon. The GSM version of the device has a pretty good battery life, however. Moving forward, the audio quality of Galaxy Nexus is not good at all since the sound, at times, is barely audible. Other than that, the indicator light at the bottom of the device is an impressive addition which gives different colored lights depending upon the kind of notification that has been received. Talking about the camera of this device, its pretty good and shoots 1080p video with 5 mega pixels but still there are devices with better 8 mega pixel camera. Other than several Android devices, iPhone 4S also comes with an 8 mega pixel camera.

Consdering all the impressive technical specifications of Samsung Galaxy Nexus, this is a highly recommended phone for any Android fan or otherwise.

After the immense success of the Honeycomb version of Android in tablets, Google now plans to release the next version of Android later this year, possible in October. The name of this version is Ice Cream Sandwich. Apparently this release is in response to the release of iPhone 4 which has considerably increased the worth and popularity of Apple’s smartphone. To retain the increasing popularity of Android, Google intends to release an updated and improved version of its operating system for mobile phones, and the possible release of Ice Cream Sandwich is one such effort. Several new and interesting features would accompany this new operating system, according to the resources.

Ice Cream sandwich would combine all the best features of its previous versions: Gingerbread and Honeycomb. Some of these interesting features include sliding widgets, holographic user interface, and the handy task launcher. The details of the news and specifications of the new version were not disclosed. At present, the issue of fragmentation is causing serious problems for Android developers since Android is running on so many devices with different structures and features. Google intends to rectify this problem with this new release by bringing the developers on a common platform to develop the Android apps for different devices. From the initial demos it appears that there would be a 3D holographic user interface which would be able to automatically detect where the user is looking and update things according to the possible perspective. This seems to be a pretty impressive enhancement which is not found in any previous version of Android as well as other operating systems. If implemented properly, this would certainly provide a clear edge to Android over the competitors. Another noteworthy feature that was displayed was Virtual Camera Operator. With the help of this software, during the video chat conference the speaking person could be automatically detected and focused upon. This software would be particularly useful for the business customers.

Currently, there are some 200,000 Android apps in the Android Market and these are constantly increasing. According to Google resources, about 100 million Android devices have been activated. With the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, issues like fragmentation would be resolved and this would provide further expansion opportunities for the Android platform. But to start using this innovative operating system with exciting new features, users would have to wait for a while.