There’s good evidence that the US-bound Super AMOLED Plus screen will be stretched from 4.3″ up to 4.5″.

It seems it’s the FCC that suggest the dimensions of the Sprint version of the Galaxy S II will have a larger screen than that of the European version. If the screen-to-bezel ratio is preserved (and we don’t see a reason for it to change) the Epic Touch as the devices is reportedly called will come with the 4.5″ Super AMOLED Plus. Now we’ve seen a screen just like that on the AT&T-bound Infuse 4G, which was the first Super AMOLED Plus device ever, so the technology is obviously there.

Yesterday we saw a spyshot of a reportedly unannounced device, while Samsung is also planing a juicy Unpacked event on September 1st at the annual IFA in Berlin. So we guess, we should be hearing more news from the South Korean company.

The next Google phone is believed to be made by Samsung and should be announced soon as Nexus Prime. The Nexus Prime is supposed to pack similar or even better specs as the Galaxy S II and run on Android Ice Cream Sandwich, so the Verizon’s users won’t be disappointed.

The rumored model name is SCH-i515 DROID Prime and the targeted launch is somewhere in October.

According to BGR the info comes from a trusted to Verizon Wireless source, but there is no harm to take all this with a pinch of salt. It’s also interesting this spicy piece of intel leaks just before the Galaxy S II launch in the USA, but we guess everything will start making sense soon.

The front plate has EVT1 posted on it, which translates as Engineering Verification Testing 1 and has a March 03rd, 2011 date stamped on as well.

According to DigiTimes.com sources the next generation iPhone will have a sub-4″display and it will drop the glass back panel design and go with metal (probably aluminum to save on weight). The same sources claim that the 4.0-4.2″ rumor is more of a market-assumption than real fact. The display of the iPhone 5 (or 4S) will probably offer a slightly edged-out bezel but still be no more than 3.5-3.7 inches.

Back to the front panel that leaked – it looks so similar to the one on the iPhone 4 that it could end up being the new lower-cost iPhone 4 8GB that should emerge as soon as the next iPhone hits the shelves.

Also some rumors point out that the 4S will come out alongside the 5, sporting a dual-core chip and nothing more. The iPhone 5 on the other hand will offer a faster processor, an 8MP snapper, larger display and maybe a redesigned body. We won’t be betting on two iPhone announcement this September (or October).

UBREAKIFIX.com has leaked a couple of images of components, they claim to belong to the iPhone 5 – including a larger-looking camera sensor, slightly larger-capacity battery and different-looking earpiece speaker than the iPhone 4′s.

It’s all a big mess of a rumor and it’s already hard to keep up and choose who to trust. But the truth is probably hiding somewhere in there and they are almost impossible to be all wrong. With a little bit of luck, we’ll learn the whole truth in a week or so (September 6th is the rumored announcement date).

Samsung Wave 3 official photos

The screen felt instantly familiar when we picked up the Samsung Wave 3 – no surprise, since it’s the 4″ WVGA SuperAMOLED of the I9000 Galaxy S, one of our all-time favorites. It beats the smaller SAMOLED of the first one and the SC-LCD screen of the second one too – score one for Wave 3.

Tapping on the metal back of the Wave 3 also made us realize what the Galaxy S and S II missed out on – it’s possible to be both thin and all-metal.

The Samsung Wave 3 borrows more than the screen from the Galaxy S, here’s the spec overview:

Samsung S8600 Wave 3 at a glance

General: GSM 850/900/1800/1900 MHz, UMTS 900/2100 MHz, EDGE, HSDPA 14.4 Mbps and HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
Form factor: Touchscreen bar
Dimensions: 125.9 x 64.2 x 9.9mm, 122g
Display: 4″ 16M-color SuperAMOLED capacitive touchscreen with 480 x 800 pixels resolution, scratch-resistant glass surface
Platform: Bada OS 2.0
CPU: 1.4 GHz processor
Memory: 2GB user accessible internal memory, microSD card slot
Camera: 5-megapixels auto-focus camera with LED flash, 720p video recording @30fps; VGA video-call camera
Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n with WPS support and Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, standard microUSB port, GPS receiver with A-GPS, Glonass (region specific), 3.5mm audio jack
Misc: NFC support, accelerometer for screen auto rotate and motion controls, proximity sensor, ambient light sensor, FM radio with RDS, DivX/XviD support, multi-touch input and pinch-zooming gestures
Battery: 1500 mAh battery

The S8600 Wave 3 bets on proven specs and stylish looks – not a bad strategy, we think. As good as the I9000 Galaxy S was, it did lose points on being all-plastic.

The Wave 3 has solid multitasking chops and the Bada app store has been building up content. The 1.4GHz CPU will deliver top-notch performance if the Galaxy S Plus is any indication.

Samsung S8600 Wave 3 in our office

The information comes from Nikkei, Japan’s biggest business daily newspaper, so it seems quite trustworthy. Unfortunately there’s no exact time frame given, but since the NEC-Casio-Hitachi consortium is looking to double its US sales this year, the Medias N-04C shouldn’t take too long to arrive.

After all if an ultra-light (105g) phone with a 4″ FWVGA LCD, running on Android 2.3 can’t boost their sales we doubt anything else will do. According to the source the specs sheet of the device will be slightly modified with the digital TV tuner and infrared port likely to be axed. Those aren’t of much use in the US so you can see the reasons behind such move.

The 5 megapixel camera, the microSD card slot and the pretty good connectivity (everything up to an including HSDPA plus Wi-Fi and GPS) will be left intact, though.

And while there is no guarantee that the NEC Medias N-04C will ever make it to Europe we will certainly be keeping an eye on this one.

Motorola Pro+

The Motorola Pro+ is powered by a 1GHz single-core CPU and offers a combination of a 3.1″ VGA touchscreen and a hardware QWERTY keyboard. There are 512 MB of RAM and 4 GB worth of storage on board and you can add some more app space through the microSD card slot.

There’s a 5 megapixel autofocus camera at the back of the Motorola Pro+, while Wi-Fi, GPS, quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band 3G/HSDPA radios are hiding inside its body. An ample 1600 mAh battery is providing the juice for the Android 2.3 Gingerbread-running Pro+.

And, as Motorola unveiled its second Plus smartphone, the first one is getting ready to hit the UK shelves. According to the latest Motorola statement, the IP67-certified Motorola Defy+ will become available sometime next month, which starts in just two days.

The specifications of “Runnymede” are as follows.

4.7-inch, 800×480 display

1.5GHz single-core Qualcomm MSM8255

768MB RAM, 16GB internal storage

8 megapixel rear camera with LED flash, backlit sensor, 28mm wide-angle lens and f/2.2 focal length

720p video recording at 60fps

1.3 megapixel front camera

DLNA

Less then 10mm thick

Android 2.3.4, Sense 3.5

Bundled Beats by Dr. Dre headphones

The specs of the device puts it a notch below the likes of the HTC Sensation and Galaxy S II. Only interesting bits are the massive 4.7-inch display, camera specs and the Beats Audio technology, along with the bundled headphones.

The HTC “Runnymede” is expected in time for the holidays.

.bglight td {
background: #C5C5C5 !important;

The marketing research company comScore has just published its report on the US mobile phone market for the three months ending in July. The numbers confirm that Android continues to increase its share at a staggering rate, while Samsung maintains its position as the US largest cell phone manufacturer.

With the iPhone missing on its usual July refresh cycle, Android didn’t even need the Galaxy S II help in the US to gain the huge 5.4 percent points in the past three months alone. The share of the Google OS now sits at 41.8%, which is nearly 15 percent points more than that of the second most popular platform.

That second most popular platform would, of course, be iOS, which claimed a market share of 27.0%. That’s a 1 percent point increase over the past three months, despite the fact that no new handset entered the Apple OS ranks – impressive indeed.

The other smartphone platforms on the US market are still unable to match the growth rates of the two behemoths. The once leading BlackBerry OS has lost 4 whole percent points in the past three months alone and now holds just 21.7% of 82.2 million smartphones in the US – putting it at a distant third place.

WP7 is also still unable to make a difference with Microsoft’s share slipping a percent point to a market share of 5.7%. Symbian is not doing particularly well either (even by its own low standards in the US) and now powers less than one in twenty-five American smartphones.

Top Smartphone Platforms
3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Apr. 2011
Total U.S. Smartphone Subscribers Ages 13+Source: comScore MobiLens

Share (%) of Smartphone Subscribers

Apr-11

Jul-11

Point Change

Total Smartphone Subscribers

100.0%

100.0%

N/A

Google

36.4%

41.8%

5.4

Apple

26.0%

27.0%

1.0

RIM

25.7%

21.7%

-4.0

Microsoft

6.7%

5.7%

-1.0

Symbian

2.3%

1.9%

-0.4

And here’s how the overall (that’s smartphones and feature phones) manufacturer leaderboard in the US stands: Samsung gains a percent point and leads with a share of 25.5%, while LG is second with an unchanged 20.9%. Motorola continues its way down, losing 1.5 percent points, but its 14.1% share is enough to secure the third spot.

Top Mobile OEMs
3 Month Avg. Ending Jul. 2011 vs. 3 Month Avg. Ending Apr. 2011
Total U.S. Mobile Subscribers (Smartphone & Non-Smartphone) Ages 13+Source: comScore MobiLens

Share (%) of Mobile Subscribers

Apr-11

Jul-11

Point Change

Total Mobile Subscribers

100.0%

100.0%

N/A

Samsung

24.5%

25.5%

1.0

LG

20.9%

20.9%

0.0

Motorola

15.6%

14.1%

-1.5

Apple

8.3%

9.5%

1.2

RIM

8.2%

7.6%

-0.6

Apple, however, is quickly closing the gap with their market share adding an extra 1.2 percent points to a total of 9.5%. RIM comes last of the major US manufacturers, holding 7.6% of the 234-million unit market.

Samsung Galaxy W official photo

Bottom line is the Galaxy W is a Galaxy S Plus in disguise: it looks good but doesn’t come with any SuperAMOLED awesomeness. It’s a modern and understated Android to offer some high-end services on a midrange budget.

Samsung Galaxy W I8150 at a glance:

General: GSM , HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps
Form factor: Touchscreen bar phone
Dimensions: 115.5 x 59.8 x 11.5 mm, 109.9 g
Display: 3.7″ 16M-color WVGA (480 x 800 pixels) LCD capacitive touchscreen
Platform: 1.4 GHz Scorpion processor, Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, Adreno 205 GPU, 512MB RAM
OS: Android 2.3 (Gingerbread)
Storage: 2GB built-in, microSD card slot
Camera: 5 megapixel auto-focus camera with face detection, touch focus and image
stabilization; HD (720p) video recording at 30fps, LED flash, front facing camera, video-calls
Connectivity: Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, Bluetooth 3.0 with A2DP, standard microUSB port,GPS receiver with A-GPS, 3.5mm audio jack, Stereo FM radio
Misc: TouchWiz 4.0 UI, built-in accelerometer, multi-touch input, proximity sensor, Swype text input

Samsung Galaxy W live pictures

While this is not the first take of the company on a mobile phone, it surely is its first touchscreen smartphone. We are not exactly familiar about the Android version which the device is running, but we believe that, on this occasion, it is not the phone’s most important feature.

Only 99 pieces of the Dior Phone Touch are made, using the finest materials possible such as sapphire crystal, steel, gold, diamond and mother-of-pearl. The device reportedly features a unibody design and supreme levels of craftsmanship.

As far as specs go, there is a 3.2″ screen with 854×480 pixels resolution, a 5MP camera, microSD card slot, and full connectivity suite on board. There is no info on the CPU of the device. The luxury phone’s battery has the lowly capacity of 900 mAh but, we figure, the charger of the device will be great looking as well, so you won’t have to worry about using it often. All this luxury goodness comes in a small package which measures at 103.1×50.3×12.8 mm, and weighs 137 grams.

Like we already mentioned above, we are not certain about the Android version of the Dior Phone Touch. We do however, know that it has been heavily Dior themed, including the device’s sounds.

Interested? You can try and snag an “entry level” Dior Phone Touch right here for EUR3900. In case you are out of luck in this online store, you can check for availability directly from Dior. We found a diamond encrusted example of the phone for GBP 85000 here.