The main focus for Samsung today has been it’s Galaxy Tab announcement at the IFA conference, but on the sidelines two other interesting pieces of information were announced.

1. That Samsung is prioritizing it’s phones as follows: Android > Bada >Windows Phone 7

We’ve gotten word from several different blogs today that Samsung’s YH Lee, Head of marketing for their Mobile Division, is prioritizing Android first, then their Bada OS, and then WP7.  Seeing as how the Galaxy Tab was one fo the most leaked and talked about items of the year up to its release, next to the iPhone and EVO, this makes sense.  What’s confusing is putting WP7 in the back of the bus. Microsoft is really doing an over the top push for WP7, so being on board for that as much as they can would be a smart move in my eyes, because unless they have a giant overhall in the works for Bada, I don’t think it will come close to the upcoming redesigned platform.  Why don’t we hear from some of you though, what are your thoughts on this ranking?

2. That Samsung is currently finalizing a USB standard utilizing UWB

The 65nm chip in question is a two way communication chip that is 10 times more power efficient that Wifi g and consumes 30% less power than current wireless USB standards.  It has a 200Mbps data transfer throughput and 128-bit AES encryption.  Plans are to start mass producing this in Q4 of this year.  What this means for you is that once these chips find their way into cameras, TVs, and mobile devices you will be able to transfer files faster, stream larger and more HiDef videos, as well as having it use less battery than the standards mentioned above.  This is following closely along with the new trend of cell phones: lighter, faster, more power efficient.  Now that cell phones are for the most part as thin and lightweight as technology can provide, manufacturer’s are beginning to focus on the innards of the devices more to bring them to the next step: foldable displays.  Just as the Desktop computer before phones, once the insides got small enough, fast enough, and power efficient enough laptops came around which then led to the smart phones we have today.  Obviously size is of the device is now irrelevant so the next obvious step would be to create a bigger size in a smaller package while maintaining a similar weight.  The future is around the corner as seen above from a Samsung Prototype lab, and frankly I can’t wait!  Pics of the chip below.

The Samsung Galaxy Player 50 is essentially an iPod Touch competitor.  This PMP is their attempt at capturing some of the market, but as you’ll see later on, they aren’t off to a good start.  The device is still fairly unknown as far as specifications go, and while a reasonably priced android PMP would be interesting to see stacked up against Apple’s dominating line of products, this will never fit into those shoes.  Its price points are already way too high and unless this thing prints money, I’m doubtful I will ever see anybody using one.  On top of this Apple just announced the new iPod Touch 4G which nukes what little specifications have been announced concerning this device so far.  See below for a comparison chart between the two products, and Samsung Fans…prepare to sniffle a little.

It’s an exciting day here at CareAce.net, we’re happy to bring you another comparison article along with some invites to the currently closed Swype Beta.  This is the second comparison piece we’ve done (check out our Android browser battle from a couple days ago).  We’ve partnered with Gizmodo, GSM Arena, and Swype on this project to bring you the best review possible.  Both Gizmodo and GSM Arena have their own set of invites to give away, so if you’d like to increase your odds, make sure you visit their articles here and here respectively to have a shot at getting an invite from them as well (there will however be a limit of one invite per email across all 3 sites). We have 50 invites to giveaway and we’ve decided to randomly draw those 50 from people who leave comments starting at 11AM PST today and ending at 11AM PST tomorrow September 3rd.  If the invites go fast enough and all three sites are depleted we will be in talks with Swype tomorrow to hopefully secure some more to throw your way.  Below you’ll find all 6 keyboard reviews with screenshots and accompanying video walkthroughs as well as our recommendations.

Remember if you want a shot at winning one of those invites make sure to register for an account at the top of this page and then leave a comment below between 11AM PST September 2nd and 11AM PST September 3rd for your chance to join the 150,000 or so people already loving this great new product.  We will also be giving away about 10 invites on Twitter during the same 24 hour window, so make sure to follow us for an even better chance to win.  We hope you enjoy and as always please give us feedback on what you like, don’t like, or what we should add in the future, thanks!

**UPDATE we have been asked to add SlideIT and Smart Keyboard Pro to the list, so expect those reviews to be added soon!

1. Stock Android 2.1 Keyboard

2. Better Keyboard

3. Swype

4. TouchPal

5. SwiftKey Beta

6. ThickButtons

(1/6) Stock Android 2.1 Keyboard  

With all versions of Android 2.1 no matter the carrier’s or manufacturer’s skin, you will have this keyboard to use.  It gets the job done for the most part, has the user dictionary to learn based on your typing so it knows what words to suggest, and has the usual trick of pressing a space or punctuation symbol when a word is highlighted to insert that word plus the space or punctuation symbol pressed.  I won’t go in to a great amount of detail about this keyboard because of how standard it is, but I would recommend using it for a couple of days before jumping in to one of these other options if you’re new to android or smart phones in general.  Every one is different and you need to get used to how to press keys on the screen before jumping in to more intermediate/advanced options.

Recommended Types of Users for this Keyboard: People new to the Android OS or smart phones in general (only use this for a couple of days though, once you’re comfortable typing, take a look at one of the options below).

If the developers of this keyboard are reading this, we would like to see these features added in the next release: Swiping features to get to your numbers, long press on letters to input numbers, and color themed keys/layout/background.

(2/6) Better Keyboard  

If you’re looking for a standard keyboard with a nice face-lift and some convenient features, Better Keyboard is the one for you.  It is the only keyboard in this review that isn’t free. It is currently listed at $2.99USD in the market and in my opinion isn’t necessarily worth it, but having said that there are some great features to the app that if you love them, three bucks is not that bad to shell out for this piece of software.  It has some nice swiping features being able to go to your number pad or an entirely different keyboard very smoothly and easily.  It also has the Speech-to-Text feature that’s convenient when you only have one hand to type out a message.  One kind of advanced feature is being able to see dots on the keys signaling where you press each time.  This would be convenient to train yourself how to and what it feels like to press a key in the center.  Watch the video below for more examples of this keyboard in action.

Recommended Types of Users for this Keyboard: People who want a black background to their keyboard, people looking to train their fingers to type more accurately, people who are in love with LEET style keyboard (this keyboard is the only one that offers this style at the moment), or for anybody who really loves the swiping actions to change keyboards.

If the developers of this keyboard are reading this, we would like to see these features added in the next release: Different color schemes, statistics when it comes to the finger tracking dots, swipe up for capitals, swipe down for symbols, add more keyboards to swipe around to, make the keyboards you can swipe to connected on the ends so you can swipe around a circle, and suggestions for improving your typing skills based on the tracking dot reports.

(3/6) Swype   

Swype is a revolutionary take on how typing should be done on a soft keyboard.  Instead of picking up your finger and touching each individual key you drag it between letters to input the word.  A short demonstration video can be seen right below made by Swype Inc. to explain this concept visually.  It currently holds the world texting record through Guinness at about 34 seconds and a British Woman just recently broke that record on a Galaxy S with about 24 seconds.  Think you can do better? Read our contest rules below for your chance to get an invite to the closed beta.  We’ve also included a video walkthrough of our own to give you an idea of what Swype is like to use based on past messages and day-to-day use.

As of right now the keyboard is still in Beta and you need an invitation to get the software working.  As you may have read above we’ve partnered with Swype Inc, Gizmodo, and GSM Arena to bring you some more invites to the closed beta.  You can visit Gizmodo or GSM Arena to see their contest rules, and here on CareAce.net we’re going to be selecting 50 names at random from any registered users posting a comment below between 11AM PST on September 2nd to 11AM PST on September 3rd.  We will be manually inputting the winners so please be patient in receiving your invite.  You’ll know you won if you receive an email from us letting you know that we’ve submitted you’re name to the closed beta.  Not a registered user?  It’s free! Just click in the top right of the screen, enter some details, then comment below for your chance to win.

**UPDATE: Swype has also released a Beta program for Symbian users through Nokia Labs. Currently only the following phones are supported: Nokia 5800, Nokia 5230, Nokia X6, Nokia N97, Nokia N97mini, and C6-00. Whats nice is it is an open beta for these devices so download it now before they close it off!!

Recommended Types of Users for this Keyboard: People who text more than they call, intermediate users looking for a more engaging keyboard, people who hate using two hands to type, and anyone wanting a brand new take on smart phone typing.

If the developers of this keyboard are reading this, we would like to see these features added in the next release: Please please please add a speech to text key on the keyboard, different color layouts and swype trails, if the user changes the capitalization of a word then record that rather than recording the lowercase version every time, and if you have time integrate some kind of next word prediction based on the word you just typed as seen in SwiftKey and TouchPal.

**UPDATE:  User Tim was kind enough to point out three flaws in our Swype Review

1. That you don’t have to press shift to Swype a word starting with a capital letter, you can instead start with your finger on the first letter, Swype up past the keyboard, and then back down to your next set of letters to finish the word to accomplish this same task.  A very hand trick!
2. Another handy trick he pointed out is that when you press the Swype help/info button in the bottom left of the screen after entering a word (normally it would give you other words that you might have meant to Swype) and then the shift key, it will give you three options for the word you just typed: lowercase, the first letter capitalized, and the whole word capitalized.
3. He also pointed out the current version of Swype his phone has reminding me that I didn’t post what version the beta invites will be.  They will be the following version: v1.56.30.7625 (or at least that is what version my EVO is showing, it could vary by phone).  Thanks for the comment Tim!

(4/6) TouchPal  

TouchPal isn’t the most widely used/known soft keyboard ever, but it brings some heavy hitting features to the table.  It has multiple keyboards, english to chinese instant translations, emoticon database, ability to update the dictionary based on trend words in their online database, and it can scan your contacts and sms messages for people with obscure names or slang you type often.  It also offers a limited prediction feature similar to SwiftKey.  Finally instead of long pressing for symbols or pressing the shift button for uppercase letters, you can just touch a letter/key and swipe up or down for those options, which is very quick and convenient. Watch the tutorial video below to see this bad boy in action.

Recommended Types of Users for this Keyboard: People who are trying to learn to read and write in Chinese whose native language is English, people who read/write in both Chinese and English and want the option to type in both, and anyone who wants word prediction based on previous word and multiple keyboards unlike SwiftKey that only has the former.

If the developers of this keyboard are reading this, we would like to see these features added in the next release: Sometimes there isn’t a capital letter when we start to type a message, support adding hyphenated words to the dictionary, if it’s even possible have a chinese text keyboard that suggests english words based on what you’re typing and finally a speech to text option (the other keyboards are going to murder you unless you add this).

(5/6) SwiftKey Beta  

SwiftKey Beta is the best prediction keyboard I’ve ever used hands down.  It’s general prediction feature works about 40% of the time in guessing the word you’ll type next and it features a speech-to-text key which I think no keyboard should be without.  Everything is really easy to use with this app and I would imagine it would be on the same wavelength as you if you get it a couple weeks to analyze your texting style.  As always watch the walkthrough video below to see it in action.

Recommended Types of Users for this Keyboard: People who text the same phrase a lot but don’t want to bother with templates, users who like the idea of your keyboard predicting your next word based on your previous word, and anyone who wants to upgrade from the stock keyboard.

If the developers of this keyboard are reading this, we would like to see these features added in the next release: Multiple keyboards perhaps that predict stuff like o’clcok or am/pm after inputting times etc, emoticon prediction if used a lot in txt messages, display more than 3 prediction words in that bar for greater accuracy, and different color layouts.

(6/6) ThickButtons  

ThickButtons is one of the most interesting approaches to a soft keyboard I’ve ever had the chance to use.  I have fingers that are sometime difficult to use with the normal spaced keyboards and so using this particular plug-in was a blessing at times.  You can change how much the next predicted letter will expand by (has small, medium, and large settings) in the settings options and this keyboard also has word correction along with most of the other standard options talked about above built in.  It would have been more of a winner if it had a speech-to-text key on it, but this keyboard does fulfill a niche market’s dreams of keys their fingers can press comfortably.

Recommended Types of Users for this Keyboard: People who have trouble typing on touch screens, users who have fingers that are larger than average, and anyone who wants to switch from the stock keyboard.

If the developers of this keyboard are reading this, we would like to see these features added in the next release: Faster response from pressing space/punctuation key when a word is highlighted orange, faster response when selecting the correct word from the bar above, maybe have a mode where if the user never types any slang then you black out all the keys you don’t think they will use next instead of greying them out and fill the screen with the other letters, and finally a speech to text option (the other keyboards are going to murder you unless you add this).

So that’s our review on what we feel are the top 6 soft keyboards you can use with the Android OS.  If you have a suggestion for another one we should review, mention it in the comments below or send us an email and we’ll look into reviewing it and adding it to this article.  Let us know what you think in the comments and good luck winning a Swype Beta Invitation!!

Better Keyboard

TouchPal

SwitftKey Beta

ThickButtons

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

Man has this device had the internet buzzing the last couple of weeks.  But there it is in all its glory.  The device is expected to show up at Vodafone in Europe first with an October worldwide launch afterward.  See below for more data, pictures, and videos than you could possibly know what to do with.

Official Specifications:

• 7″ TFT-LCD WVGA Touch Screen supporting up to 1024×600 resolution
• Cortex A8 1Ghz Processor
• Either 16GB or 32GB on-board memory with a MicroSD slot expansion capable of up to an additional 32Gb
• Android 2.2 (Froyo)
• Backside camera is 3MP with Auto Focus and LED Flash
• Frontside camera is 1.3 MP
• WiFi b/g/n support
• 2.5G (GSM/ GPRS/ EDGE) : 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 MHz
• 3G (HSUPA 5.76Mbps, HSDPA 7.2Mbps) : 900 / 1900 / 2100 MHz
• GSM compatibility (850/900/1800/1900MHz)
• Bluetooth 3.0
• 30-pin connector port on the bottom
• Voice and Video call capable
• Supports Adobe Flash 10.1
• HD video playback supported
• PowerVR SGX540 graphics chip
• Gyroscope sensor, Geo-magnetic sensor, Accelerometer, Light sensor
• 512MB of RAM
• Size: 190.09 x 120.45 x 11.98mm
• Weight: 380g
• Battery: 4,000mAh ~ 7 hour movie play

Future Plans for the Galaxy Tab and its successor

• At the Q&A session after the announcement Samsung Mobile’s President, JK Shin, said that Android 3.0 aka Gingerbread will indeed be coming to this handset in the future.  He went even further in saying that Samsung will have a “full tablet portfolio” for the 2011 year and that some of them will contain the “tablet-friendly” Honeycomb Android OS.  They also leaked the fact that Honeycomb will be version 3.5!!

• WP Hong, head of Product Planning at Samsung, as also quoted in saying that “Honeycomb is specifically optimized for a different type of tablet” [via TechRadar].

• Samsung Product Executive Hankil Yoon also mentioned that this device will retail between $200-$300 and vary depending on the carrier and its subsidies. He also expects to ship 10 million units to try and capture 1/3 of the tablet market [via The WSJ].
• Also refresh yourself with the screenshot below that this sucker is defintely coming to Verizon, all that is left to be announced is pricing and a release date

First Official Samsung Galaxy Tab Commercial

Hands-On Demo of the Apps and Games Available at launch on the Galaxy Tab (provided by Android Central)

Samsung Galaxy Tab Gallery [via Gizmodo, Slashgear, Engadget, TechRadar, and Android Central]

Hands-on Videos from other sites/blogs:

Engadget’s Hands-On Video can be found here.

Handy Galaxy Tab vs. Apple iPad chart (created by Android Central)

So exciting news everyone.  We got our hands on a couple of invites to the Swype Beta Program!  Now while this doesn’t affect anyone who owns a newer Samsung, because it comes pre-installed, its still great news for everyone else.  We’ll have more details tomorrow when we finish our review on the top 6 Android keyboards: Stock, Better Keyboard, SwiftKey Beta, Swype Beta, ThickButtons, and TouchPal.  It should be a great review with videos/walkthroughs as well as what kind of user should use each kind.  We’ve already posted our Browser review, so make sure you check it out and stay tuned tomorrow.  We will also be giving away a couple exclusively over Twitter, so make sure you follow us there to get one, see you tomorrow!

Engadget has gotten their hands on an internal O2 document which seeems to suggest that Windows Phone 7 will be released on October 18th on O2’s network.  Another interesting detail is the fact that the next generation HD handset from HTC that should be named the HD2 is conveniently shown here as a launch device sporting the name HD7.  This is probably due to the fact that it’s running WP7, but all of this is pure speculation and hope on our part.  What features are you most excited about in the upcoming platform from Microsoft?

September 8th is only a week away, but some lucky person got their hands on a model before the release and was kind enough to run some tests on it.  As you can see in the picture of the benchmark test done below it beats out the HTC Desire, Nexus One sporting 2.1, and surprisingly the Samsung Galaxy S.  It comes in third overall with the Nexus One sporting 2.2 and the Motorola Droid X finishing ahead of it.  You can go to Android Central to see more pictures of the device and scrolling to the bottom of this article will get you to the first TV spot for the device.

Most sites seem to be advertising that Samsung has sold 1 million Galaxy S phones in the US, but this is a misconception.  They have shipped 1 million phones to the US and actual figures on how many they’ve sold have yet to be released.  They have reported that they have sold more than 1,000,000 units in South Korea though.  With the arrival of the Epic 4G at Sprint store today for $250 ( or less ) and the Verizon Fascinate expected to be in consumer’s hands on September 8th (and is also available right now for pre-order through Best Buy), they may just move those million units from shelves to homes by the holiday season.  Still debating on whether you want a Samsung Epic 4G or an HTC EVO?  You can check out a side by side review here.  In addition to this we have 2 separate Epic 4G reviews from Boy Genius Report and Mobile Burn as well as the Epic 4G manual for your browsing pleasure.  We also just posted articles concerning new accessories for the Galaxy Tab and the possibility that it’s going to Verizon in a CDMA flavor.  Check out the article for more details.

So the last couple of days have brought some potential accessories to the Galaxy Tab, a possibility of coming to Verizon in a CDMA flavor, and a potential additional mystery announcement for the Galaxy Tab on September 16th in New York City.

First up we have the accessory lineup that will potentially release along side the device.  This includes:

• A leather carrrying case priced at about $60
• A desktop dock that adds an HDMI and audio port to the device with an estimated price of $80
• A full sized 83 key keyboard estimated at $125
• Car charger
• TV-out cable
• White and black  headsets with mics
• USB Port Adapter
• Screen Protector (similar to mobile screen protectors)
• Bluetooth Stylus
• A few different protective cases including: G-Switch Impact Case, G-Band Mesh, and regular G-Band case.

There have also been multiple sites including: BGR, Android Central, PocketNow, Engadget, and many more blogs reporting on a screen shot of a Verizon inventory system showing the Galaxy Tab.  There have also been screenshots taken of the CDMA device in the wild (as seen below), but no official announcement has come from Samsung yet.  All these details will most likely be confirmed this Thursday at the IFA, but then again they might have some surprises up their sleeves.

Finally wee conclude today’s rumor-fest with a Samsung Mobile event announced for the 16th of September.  The event will take place in New York City and rumor has it that Samsung will be showing off their “latest Android-powered device” and officially unveil the Media Hub.  The device unveiling will most likely be the Galaxy Tab for all who couldn’t make it in person to the IFA conference in Germany.  The Media Hub is Samsung’s proprietary software that will bring TV show and Movie rental/purchasing options to your Samsung phones running Android.  Invitation can be seen conveniently blurred out below.

We have our first of many comparison articles here on Careace.net.  Below you will find our video reviews of each browser as well as recommendations for what type of Android user you are.  If you want to try them out right away you can find the QR Codes at the bottom of the article (just make sure for Fennec Alpha that you have your browser’s user agent set to Android, if you don’t know what that is don’t pay attention to this).  We hope you enjoy and since this is our first one, please give us feedback on what you like, don’t like, or what we should add in the future, thanks!

1. Stock Android Browser

2. Dolphin Browser HD

3. Fennec Alpha Browser

4. Opera Mini 5.1 Browser

5. Skyfire Browser

(1/5) Stock Android Browser

I won’t go into too much detail regarding this browser, because every one has used it at some point and should be fairly familiar with its layout.  We do have a video review which you can find below detailing all the options you can set within the browser, but for even the most basic user, I would recommend one of the other 4 browsers to use.

Recommended Types of Users for this Browser: People who have just purchased an Android phone and have never used a Touchscreen Smart Phone Browser before. (You only need to use it for 5 or so minutes before upgrading to one of the other choices mentioned in this article)

(2/5) Dolphin Browser HD

The Dolphin Browser is my personal favorite for Android, although Skyfire is very alluring.  It’s extremely intuitive to use, has the most plug-ins available out of all browsers reviewed in this article, and has a strong set of features.  The browser supports what I like to call hard-swiping, gesture support, and pinch-zooming.  You can scroll web pages with your phone’s volume key and have up to 8 tabs open at a time.  This browser supports flash and multi-touch zooming with Android 2.0 and above. Out of all the browsers featured in this article this one contains the most advanced features and customization options.  For the user who wants a browsing experience as individual as them, this browser is for you.

Recommended Types of Users for this Browser: Fans of gesture based extensions, fans of extensions in general, intermediate users, advanced users wanting more control and customization options in their browsing experience, and fans of Chrome.

(3/5) Fennec Alpha

Mozilla is a little slow to the browser game with Fennec, but it’s looking like it will be a main contender once a stable version is released.  With it still being in Alpha there are some bugs, and I personally had it crash on me a few times, but I would have to say that Fennec is the most polished browser in this review.  Everything has Chrome-like simplicity in its buttons and toggle switches, but has Mozilla’s great platform at its core.  The application takes up 30MB of space on your phone (to keep this in perspective Google Maps is only 7MB and almost all applications are under 10MB) so I would not recommend this to any phone running 2.1 or below.  I would also not recommend this to early devices such as the G1 or original MyTouch as it seemed to slow down my Samsung Captivate that I was using to test it.  While at the moment I wouldn’t recommend this to anybody other than die hard Firefox fans or advanced users, in the end this will definitely have the polish and features to be used by the most novice of user.  This also features syncing with your desktop/laptop Firefox browser.

Recommended Types of Users for this Browser: Advanced Smartphone users, advanced Android users, people with custom Android Roms configured for speed and performance, and die hard Firefox fans.

(4/5) Opera Mini 5.1 Browser

The Opera browsing platform has been around for a long time, and while I have never personally used it on any platform of any kind, the mobile version has some great streamlining features that make for a great experience.  Through this browser you get their rendering engine plus a server-side compression when viewing pages which makes Opera load web pages faster than other mobile phone browsers (I couldn’t find a speed test to know exactly how fast, post one in the comments if you find one and I’ll update this part).  It also claims you’ll save money with your data service by only using a tenth of the bandwidth that other browsers use.  Turning on the Turbo options further compresses data, but doesn’t view web pages in full desktop mode with this option turned on.  Opera offers tabs so you can multi-task when you browse and isn’t limited to having only 8 open at a time like Skyfire and Dolphin.  The startup page as you can see above features “Speed Dial” which allows quick access to your favorite or bookmarks webpages in a nice, visually appealing way.  Other features include: URL auto-completion, syncing with other Opera browsers across platforms, Save Pages for offline viewing, kinetic scrolling, download manager, and accelerometer support.

Recommended Types of Users for this Browser: Current Opera users who want to sync their bookmarks, Safari users should feel at home with this browser, and people who only want to read text on pages (so they can browse faster).

(5/5) Skyfire Browser

From using Skyfire for a couple days, I would recommend this to anyone wanting a more simplified and socially centered experience when browsing.  It offers some of the same options as Dolphin, but does so in a more easy to use way without the “customize everything” attitude that Dolphin has.  The addition of the explore button on the bottom will search multiple types of sources (trends, news, pictures, videos, and social feeds) and sorts them into an easy to use interface.  The video option use to be more convenient before 2.2 arrived because it supported flash, but it also makes it easier to watch the content you’re looking for rather than having to go all over a web page and clicking everywhere.  Having said that, for phones that don’t have flash yet or haven’t received a 2.1/2.2 update this would be your best bet for viewing flash videos in your browser.  Tab management is really easy on this app, and again this browser is going to be geared to more of your intermediate users who want more features than the stock browser contains, but doesn’t need all the advanced options that Dolphin/Opera/Fennec offer.

Recommended Types of Users for this Browser: Intermediate users, Novice/Beginning users, and users who want a more “social feed” like experience on the web.

Dolphin HD

Dolphin Browser Bookmarks to SD

Skyfire Beta

Opera Mini

Fennec Alpha

Layar

We reported a few weeks back of official Galaxy S accessories slowly being launched for the device, but it seems another one was added yesterday: the Samsung Power Pack!  What is interesting about this accessory is the fact that Samsung has an easily replaceable battery that pretty much anybody who has used a cell phone before can replace on their own.  We normally see beasts of this nature for devices like the iPhone since you need to mine for its battery, but Samsung has weirdly decided us too!  The battery will add 8.5 hours of extra talk time but will also replace your back cover and act as a semi case for the device.  This is one of the weirdest accessories I’ve ever seen, and maybe since there’s no word on availability or price yet this is just a joke thought up by the marketing department…funny Samsung….very funny.

**UPDATE: Okay so the accessory seems to be available at the end of September in Germany for 70 Euros.  Also I’ve found out that it doesn’t replace your battery and back cover, it instead uses that ghastly hump in the upper left corner to plug into your USB slot providing the power through there, meaning you can’t transfer files over USB or charge the device while using the case.  It also adds 70 grams to the weight of the phone.  More pics below and now that I know its not a joke I have no comment for this add-on.

**UPDATE:  So we now have 2 videos to add to this post.  The first one just shows the device in use, while the second video shows what the device looks like next to the iPad and the Samsung Galaxy S phone. Enjoy!

So today there were about 6 live pictures of the device leaked online as well as a teaser site going live this morning showing a short video pointing out certain features that will be available on the device upon its release.  Both sources still indicate an announcement at IFA on September 2nd in Germany, and neither has said anything about final specs, release date, or pricing.  At this point it is believed that it will be released in Europe to start with, and then move to the US shortly after followed by more countries as time goes on.

So on to the supposed specs of the device. The final name is the Galaxy Tab, it is only so far confirmed that there is a 7″ model, although a 10″ has been rumored as well, and it will have the standard 4 buttons on the bottom.  Other speculated specs include:

• Froyo 2.2
• GPS
• WiFi b/g/n
• 3G
• 1 GHZ processor
• 16GB on board memory
• 4000 mAh battery
• PowerVR SGX540 gpu(graphics card)
• Screen resolution of 1024×600
• Dual cameras 3.2mp in back and QVGA in front
• Swype pre-loaded
• Built in E-Book app
• Expandable MicroSD card slot

Now that we’ve covered all the speculation, lets dive into something more concrete: the teaser video, which you can watch here.  The video is pretty quick so I’ve given you teh courtesy of taking screenshots of all the screen glimpses and also typed up all the words I could discern that float around the tablet at the end, first the words.

• E-reading
• Navigation
• Flash Support
• Augmented Reality
• Hd Movie Play
• PC link web
• Video call
• Full web browsing
• Android 2.2

That list looks pretty standard.  Most likely the video calling will be done with Qik and eventually Skype when Verizon’s exclusivity ends this holiday season.  The E-reading feature is supposedly the best android e-book experience some users have had as reported in the original Engadget post.  I’m assuming “PC link web” refers to tethering and augmented reality could be anything, so it’ll be interesting to see what direction they take that.

Now we’ve included all the screen grabs from the teaser video below, so lets take a look at what we see there.

• The first is of the standard homescreen making a focus of the all share app, which we see in a later screenshot with the app looking like an ftp file transfer screen.  It shows a server selection side and then a screen selection side.  Now I haven’t had much experience with DLNA, but being able to just pick different displays at random would be a pretty cool experience, provided that they are all DLNA compatible of course.  Can anyone comment below on how easy it is to setup a DLNA adapter for a screen or do you have to buy one that is already compatible?

• Next are 2 different G-Mail screens showing a new format that I haven’t seen before: displaying the message context and your inbox side by side.  Now maybe there just haven’t been android devices with large enough screens to pull this off in the past, but I am definitely already in love with the idea.

• There are also 2 Google Maps screens just showing the standard view and satellite views of the application.

• We grabbed a screen of their calendar app that looks pretty iCal-esque.

• The messaging client is the same setup as G-Mail with conversations on the right and your buddy list on the left and the Swype preview looks to be sporting a lighter blue theme to the application than seen in the past.

• Last but not least we have to screens that seem to coincide that seem to show an app surrounding places nearby your location.  It seems to have a compass at the top of the screen with icons to show in what direction things like hotels, nightclubs, ATMs, restaurants, retail shops, and parking lots are, with their corresponding distances and summaries in a traditional list view below.  Taking a closer look at the picture with the location summaries and all the Samsung logos we see that above each location it says “Samsung ARound Me“.  This might be a no app they have been developing and doing a quick Google search only finds an AroundMe app produced by Amelia Media for Flickr/YouTube videos taken around your location.

All in all a pretty good find for digging deeper. Look below for everything I’ve mentioned above and again most every detail concerning this device should be globally known no later than September 8th when the IFA show closes and enjoy the gallery below!

PocketNow has another exclusive video comparing the email clients between the 2 biggest, and hopefully soon to be 3rd biggest, cell phone operating systems.  Its about 7 minutes long and just showcases the unique features of the WP7 platform in comparison to iOS and a Nexus One with Froyo.  While the WP7 client lacks HTML support, unified inbox, and advanced display setting it has a very snappy feel to it from what I saw and has some nice features that deal with multiple message handling.  Keep in mind this isn’t a final build and is still in the pre-release phase.  Enjoy the video below and let us know what you would like to see in the final release of WP7.

It seems, via Android Central, that the Samsung Fascinate will begin shipping September 6th with a launch date of September 9th.  They managed to grab the screenshot you can see below of an employee notice talking about the device and the BEST program.  Any Verizon employees or customers out there care to fill me in on what this program is?  From the leaked memo it would seem that people can either trade in their KIN for a Samsung Fascinate or trade it in for a better price on the Samsung Fascinate, but that is pure speculation.  Check it out for yourself below and would you grab this Android device out of Verizon’s huge portfolio of Android devices?  Let us know in the comments below.

The test was performed using two HTC Desires and an HTC HD2.  While the black is definitely better on the Super-AMOLED screen, the original blog who did the test, Ai.Rs, says that the Super-LCD had more natural/better colors.  I would have to agree, but it was only noticeable when you watch the video in 720P.  The comparison is almost like that of Plasma vs LED backlit LCD TVs.  Now that is only in reference to the colors not all the other business that goes on between those two types, so don’t get all crazy on me in the comments.  All in all a very good look at what the present and near future of Mobile Phones quality is like, and it seems like HTC at the very least made a comparable move from the Super-AMOLED screens to Super-LCD.