Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 10.1 review

One thing Samsung did tweak this time around was the speaker placement: here, you'll find them on the front side, flanking the display. Now that they're not tucked on the underside, you won't have to suffer through muffled noise when you lay the tablet flat, or set it down in bed next to you. Indeed, the volume gets respectably loud, though we wouldn't recommend cranking it all the way up: the sound quality is constrained at best, and gets increasingly distorted as you raise the decibels. At some point during testing, this reviewer went on an early '90s REM kick, and though Michael Stipe's voice sounds soothing enough, his voice and certain lower-pitched instruments like the piano get lost amid the shrill violins. To unlock poor, lovelorn Michael and his trapped vocals, you'll probably want to plug in headphones.

Last thing we want to point out on the front face: a 2-megapixel camera, identical to the one planted on the OG 10.1. Flip the tablet over and you'll see the same 3-megapixel shooter, except this time it's been robbed of its LED flash. Finishing our tour around the device, there's the same ol' proprietary charging connector on the bottom landscape edge, while the two portrait sides are both devoid of ports and buttons. Up top is where you'll find the power / lock button, volume rocker, microSD slot, 3.5mm headphone jack and an IR blaster, which was missing from the first-gen 10.1.

Galaxy Nexus for Verizon Wireless receives Android 4.0.4 update

Owners of the Galaxy Nexus for Verizon Wireless are now joining the proud ranks of Android 4.0.4 users. As a common practice, it seems the rollout is gradual, and many of the devices receiving the update appear to be the property of corporate stores. Nonetheless, the 39.8MB download carries a build number IMM76K and similarly brings an update to the baseband software -- which is reason to hope that the (resolved) connectivity issues reported by Android 4.0.4 users of the HSPA+ and Sprint variants will be a non-issue. Are you one of the proud and few to receive the refresh? Let us know in the comments below

Tizen 1.0 Larkspur arrives, fuels your open-source phone dreams

The unveiling of Tizen left many mobile open-source aficionados wondering when the OS would reach its all-important 1.0 status. The answer is now: the coalition between Intel, Panasonic, Samsung and a raft of carriers has posted the first non-beta release in both source code and software development kit forms. The finished versions of either carry new features to reward developers for the wait: SDK users get a new browser-based simulator and a faster emulator, while those scouring the source code will find new point-of-interest and route searching features in location-aware apps as well as WiFi Direct and more HTML5 support. About the only wait left is for an actual Tizen phone to ship.

Alleged Galaxy S III pops up again, with rounded glass and GT-I9300 branding

Well, the leaks and rumors just won't stop coming and, while we were initially pretty dismissive of the rounded glass design it just keeps cropping back up. We're still note entirely convinced this is, in fact, theGalaxy S III (or the Next Galaxy) but the consistency of the leaks is making us slightly (but only slightly) less skeptical. SamMobile scored a pair of shots from Mr. Blurrycam's cousin, Sir Softfocus, that look quite similar to the photos we've seen circulating for the past few weeks. What's more, the site has an image of the settings page which labels this rather interesting looking handset as the GT-I9300. We've still got some concerns, though, that lead us to believe this is, most likely, a prototype device. Chief among those issues is the physical home button, flanked by a capacitive menu and back key. We'd say it's a pretty safe bet that we're looking at three entirely software-based buttons in the final product, just like the version spotted in the Vietnamese video. One more image after the break.