Samsung revealed their Mobile PIN pop-up stores concept during the Galaxy S III launch and the first couple of stores will be opened on May 29, which is the launch day of Galaxy S III. Samsung says the stores will be opened at Westfield Shepherd’s Bush and Old Spitalfields Market and will allow consumers to try out and purchase the flagship devices.

Samsung is also planning to open the Mobile PIN stores in the Olympic Park and London’s Hyde Park.

Samsung today expanded its DUOS line-up with the new Galaxy Ace DUOS. Unlike the previous version, which was GSM+CDMA, the new Galaxy Ace DUOS is GSM only with up to 7.2Mbps HSDPA support. Galaxy Ace DUOS is equipped with ‘Dual SIM always on’ feature that enables calls on the SIM 2 to be forwarded automatically to the active SIM 1 so a user does not miss a call.

The phone runs Android 2.3 OS and comes with an 832MHz processor, 512MB RAM, 3.5-inch HVGA display, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, 3GB internal memory, microSD card slot up to 32GB, A-GPS, 5MP camera and 1300mAh battery. The phone runs Samsung’s TouchWiz UI and is pre-loaded with software like ChatON, Social Hub, Swype etc.

Samsung will launch the phone in June in Russia followed by Europe, CIS, Latin America, Southeast and Southwest Asia, Middle East, Africa, and China.

It seems Samsung’s collaboration with Dropbox is not limited to the Galaxy S III. Samsung’s promo page for Galaxy Tab 2 reveals that users purchasing the Samsung tablet will also receive 50GB Dropbox storage for free for one year.

Interestingly, after one year, users will be downgraded to the free storage (2GB + storage earned via referral) and will receive an additional 3GB for another year.

Product Page

Dropbox Promo T&C

Thanks, Michael!

Samsung released the Galaxy Ace 2 on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) but it seems Samsung will upgrade the device to Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich) in the near future. A demo video for the Galaxy Ace 2 claims the phone will be upgradable to ICS, however, the exact timeframe is unknown.

We learned yesterday that Galaxy Ace 2 sports an 800MHz dual-core NovaThor processor and since Galaxy Beam and Galaxy S Advance are powered by the same chip (and better specs), it’s safe to assume these devices will also be treated with ICS in the future.

Thanks, Jeonnk!

AT&T has announced a new Samsung device that will become the first smartphone to be offered on AT&T’s GoPhone prepaid service. Galaxy Appeal features an 800MHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor (MSM7225A), 512MB RAM and comes with Android 2.3 OS, a 3.2-inch HVGA (480×320) display, 3MP camera, 1.8GB internal memory, horizontal sliding QWERTY keyboard, microSD card slot and 1300mAh battery.

The phone will be available from June 5 in Walmart for $149.99.

Via

Samsung is now rolling out the Ice Cream Sandwich update for Galaxy Note users in India. Users can update their devices via Kies or over-the-air directly on the phone. It’s a 320MB-odd update so make sure you’re on a stable internet connection before proceeding.

In addition to Android 4.0, the upgrade will also add S Pen apps like S Note and My Story.

Via

Samsung has finally announced the Galaxy Tab 2 310 for the Indian market. Unlike US, Samsung will sell only the 3G variant in India which will come at a price of Rs. 23,250. Galaxy Tab 2 310 is the first Samsung tablet to run Android 4.0 out-of-the-box and comes with 7-inch WSVGA (1024×600) display, 3MP rear-facing camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS, 8GB internal memory, 4000mAh battery and variety of Samsung services like Game Hub, Readers Hub, ChatON, S Suggest, Allshare, Kies air and more.

Samsung has also teamed up with Tata Docomo to bundle 3GB of free data for a period of three months.

There’s no denying that Samsung took a different approach with Galaxy S III’s design and made them curvier than the previous Galaxy S iterations. The design change was even speculated to keep the phone safe from ongoing Apple lawsuits. However, Samsung’s design VP Chang Dong-hoon claims that is not the case.

At the 2012 Seoul Digital Forum, Chang confirmed that the change in the smartphone design “is a part of the five-year plan” and Galaxy S III’s design underwent “hundreds of iterations” before settling on the final design.

Source

Samsung on their Open Source website has released Galaxy Note’s Ice Cream Sandwich kernel source code. Release of the code means developers can use it to develop their custom ROM optimized for Galaxy Note.

Samsung Open Source

Via Thanks, Androidindian!

It seems retailers in Dubai have jumped the gun and are selling Samsung’s Galaxy S III a week early than the scheduled launch. The Verge says one of their readers managed to buy the handset for $680 (AED2,499) while a reddit user spotted the device on sale for $666.

Samsung is expected to roll out the handset in most regions by June-end. India is expected to get the phone in the first week of June.