Google set to release Maps for iOS tonight

Those tired of Apple’s self-built mapping solution for iOS are in for a treat tonight. According to All Things D, Google is set to release the long awaited Google Maps for iOS as early as tonight. Representatives from Google and Apple have yet to confirm the news. Here’s hoping Google Maps for iOS will bring all the features we’ve come to expect with the Android version of Google Maps, including turn-by-turn guided navigation, as all mapping solutions for iOS 6 to date have been less than stellar.

Samsung Tells World to Get Ready For Something New at CES 2013

There have been a ton of rumors flying around lately about the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) happening in Las Vegas January 8th through 11th, 2013. Much speculation has been made about what Samsung intends to unveil during the show. The tech giant has recently added further fuel to the rumor fire with the release of a teaser trailer warning the world to “get ready” for “something new” at CES 2013.
Many reports will have you believe that Samsung plans to unveil their new flagship smartphone called the Samsung Galaxy S4. This is unlikely considering the Galaxy S3 was only released earlier this year and sales are still going strong with plans to update the phone to Android 4.2 in Q1 2013. What is possible is this rumor confused reports of Samsung’s intent to showcase their fully working 4.99 inch HD Super AMOLED 1080p display with 441 ppi which will make it among the best displays on the market. It is expected that this will be the display for the future Galaxy S4 phone for which Samsung will probably hold a separate reveal for in late spring, like it did for the S3.
Super AMOLED is the term Samsung uses to describe its AMOLED displays that include a touch digitizer and offers superior viewing in sunlight. Samsung especially uses these displays since they happen to be one of the main AMOLED panel manufacturers.
Samsung could also go a step further and introduce a device that takes advantage of their flexible AMOLED displays which is made on film instead of glass and which they claim is “thinner, lighter and unbreakable“. The device could be the rumored Gakaxy S4 but it could also be a whole new phone or tablet. The flexible displays were shown off as prototypes at last year’s CES but the tech manufacturer has yet to make full use of the technology.
Yet more reports have Samsung working with the same branding teams that helped develop the brands for Nike and Starbucks in an effort to reboot their entire brand and refresh their image. They are expected to their new branding strategy at CES 2013 also. This is possibly further evidence that a new phone from the existing Galaxy S line won’t be featured at the show this January. CES 2013 is still a month away, so until then it’s all just speculation and rumors.

Samsung’s Galaxy S IV Could Feature Unbreakable Display

It’s inevitable these days for rumors to emerge long before a product is announced, let alone released onto the market. Samsung have been no stranger to this and the Galaxy S III had a bajillion rumors attached to it before it finally arrived in May. Of course, the Galaxy S IV will be no different and the rumors are just now starting to get interesting. Earlier in the week we brought you news of “Project J” along with some other upcoming devices.
Thanks to Reuters we now know that Project J is definitely the internal name for the new Galaxy S phone, and is named as such in honor of JK Shin, mobile division chief at Samsung. We’ve heard a couple of things surrounding the Galaxy S IV and they keep on cropping up again and again. There’s of course the rumored 5.0″ Full HD Display (1920 x 1080), a quad-core Cortex A15 CPU and a 13MP Camera. It’s fairly obvious at this point that Samsung will be bringing a Full HD packing phone to market, after all HTC have already hit the US market with their Full HD beast with the Droid DNA.
“We believe preparations for volume manufacturing of unbreakable plastic substrate displays continue. All in all, we could see a strong products push in the high-end in the first half, followed by other releases.” says Nicholas Gaudois, an Analyst with a 5-star rating from Thomson Reuters. The main advantage that Samsung has over everybody else is that Samsung are the leading manufacturer of OLED displays, which can replace glass with plastic substrates. Making it a lot easier to produce more resilient displays. Add this to the fact that Samsung have been advancing development of their flexible OLED panels and they’re in a a good position to make some of the first unbreakable displays on the market.
While the Galaxy S IV is unlikely to catch the flexible display train it could well come with a new OLED screen that we’ve not seen before. After all, the Galaxy S III’s display was a stunner but, with its PenTile arrangement, it was more of the same. Samsung’s main differentiator between Apple is not only the sizes of their displays but also the high-resolution panels. At 441 ppi a 1080p Display at 5.0″ would blow the iPhone 5′s “retina” display out of the water that packs just 326 ppi.