By Stephanie Mlot

The Samsung Galaxy S family continues to grow, with today’s addition of the Galaxy S Relay 4G to T-Mobile’s lineup.

The Relay 4G, which runs Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and features a 4-inch Super AMOLED display, will hit retail and Web stores in the coming weeks.

The new phone sports a full QWERTY keyboard, as well as a 1.5-GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S3 processor. Additionally, the phone comes with Wi-Fi calling and Mobile HotSpot support for up to five devices.
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By Adam Satariano, Olga Kharif and Jun Yang

Following last month’s verdict saying Samsung Electronics Co. (005930) infringed Apple Inc. (AAPL) mobile-phone patents, the Korean electronics company faces pressure to copy another attribute of the iPhone maker: its focus on design.

The California jury ruling reinforced Samsung’s image as a follower rather than a trendsetter. The prospect of a ban on eight phones in the U.S. and a damages bill of more than $3 billion ratchets up pressure on Samsung to overhaul how it crafts handsets and give its design team freer rein to take risks. Yet creating the conditions for such a fundamental culture shift won’t be easy and any payoff uncertain in an industry whose creative standard was set by the late Steve Jobs.
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The date is set and expectations are high. What will emerge from next week’s event? Here’s what is likely, and what isn’t, about the new iPhone.

by Scott Stein

The wait is almost over.

Apple has officially announced a September 12 press event in San Francisco, confirming months of rumors. And the invitation (reproduced above) leaves little doubt that the event will be the rollout of the iPhone 5 (or whatever name Apple chooses for its sixth-generation iPhone).

Rarely has a product ever been so analyzed, so rumored, and so leaked as Apple’s next-gen phone. Not a day, or even an hour, goes by without a new picture of the rumored case, screen, connector jack, even headphones. Has all the excitement already been spilled, or is there something completely different yet to come? Here’s a rundown, all rumors aside, of what to expect.

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US software giant Oracle is appealing a $306 million settlement in its marathon copyright infringement lawsuit against German rival SAP, court documents show.

The current settlement amount, set on August 3, is less than a quarter of the $1.3 billion SAP had been originally ordered to pay the Silicon Valley giant by a jury in November 2010.

But US District Court Judge Phyllis Hamilton slashed the amount last year to $272 million, saying the jury’s award was “grossly excessive”.

Oracle rejected the amount and made its case through the courts.

The case dates back to 2007, when Oracle accused SAP subsidiary TomorrowNow of a massive scheme to download and copy its software.

Last month, the two firms agreed to the $306 million figure — but with the understanding that it was simply a maneuver to end the case in the lower courts and allow an appeal to proceed.

The latest appeal was made to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

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By Marc Saltzman

While no one outside of Apple’s inner circles know what it will be called — iPhone 5, new iPhone or something else altogether — all signs point to a new device on the market by the third week of September.

Between leaked photos out of Asia, patent filings, Foxconn CEO comments (the Chinese manufacturer responsible for building Apple’s products), cellular carriers clearing stock of the iPhone 4S (and telling employees not to take a vacation between Sept. 21 through 30), it’s pretty certain the iPhone 5 — let’s just call it that for the time being — will be available in a month’s time.

The new phone is expected to be officially announced on September 12, when preorders would also start, and available about a week later.
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – Seeking to capitalize on a major legal victory over its rival Samsung Electronics Ltd, Apple Inc has asked a federal court in a separate case to find that four additional Samsung products, including the Galaxy S III, infringe Apple’s patents.

In February, Apple alleged that at least 17 Samsung products infringe its patents. In a court filing made in San Jose federal court on Friday, Apple added four more products to the list of allegedly infringing products that have been released beginning in August 2011 and continuing through this month.

Apple won a major victory over Samsung last Friday in a separate case when a jury found that the South Korean company had copied critical features of the hugely popular iPhone and iPad and awarded the U.S. company $1.05 billion in damages.

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A Hong Kong iPhone 5 look-alike is positioned to beat Apple to market, minus one very important feature: iOS.

by Amanda Kooser

ou can wait around like everybody else, languishing in a long line at the Apple Store, or you can zip over to Hong Kong and pick up an iPhone 5 well before everybody else. Sounds great, right? There’s a catch.

The iPhone 5 you’re getting may look like it matches all the leaked information of Apple’s upcoming smartphone, but dig a little deeper and you’ll notice some differences. Like Android. In a bizarre mixture of technology rivals, the phone is called the Goophone I5.

Details are sketchy on this look-alike, but it definitely cops the two-tone back look expected for the iPhone 5. Despite hints that the iPhone 5 could grow in screen size, the Goophone version comes with a 3.5-inch display.

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Samsung, Nokia, Sony and Motorola to debut new devices for fall

By Dan Gallagher

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The next few weeks will feature an array of announcements for new smartphone devices, as manufacturers work to get their latest and best devices in place to compete with the juggernaut expected from Apple Inc.’s next iPhone.

The new devices are expected to boost smartphone sales to a record quarter in the final three months of the year, though analysts wonder if upstarts like Microsoft Corp.’s MSFT +0.07% Windows Phone will be able to make headway against the powerful dual-block of Apple AAPL -0.20% and Google Inc. GOOG +1.59% , the latter of which owns the Android operating system that has become the top-selling smartphone platform in the world.

“At this point, we’re looking at iPhone as the big volume mover,” said Ramon Llamas of IDC, who added “it’s hard to bet against that.”
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Samsung says it will immediately appeal a US court verdict awarding Apple a massive victory over it on Friday.

A jury in San Jose, California has awarded $US1.049 billion ($A1.01 billion) to the US tech giant, according to court documents.

But analysts say the damages could be tripled because jurors found Samsung “wilfully” infringed on patents.

The jury rejected the South Korean electronics firm’s counterclaims its iconic iPhone and iPad were illegally copied.

Samsung reacted by saying it will contest the US verdict.

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