Samsung has recently announced its cross-platform free messaging service called ChatON. The service will be showcased at IFA this year and will bring separate apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry, and others. The service that will be available in 120 countries and in 62 languages will allow iOS users to text, share pictures and videos, and much more with other iOS users, as well as Android, and Blackberry users. Samsung also plans to launch a web client for this service so that PC users can also take advantage of it.

Apart from one-on-one chatting, users will be able to group chat with their friends using ChatON service. Group messaging is also supported by ChatON.

ChatON is a similar service to Apple’s iMessage that will become available in the fall. Samsung’s ChatON service obviously has advantage over iMessage because it is a cross platform service and will cover more of your contacts then iMessage. iMessage currently supports iOS devices running iOS 5.

You can see ChatON by Samsung in action in the video embedded below. We will let you know as soon as this service goes live for iOS users.

[SammyHub]

Thanks to Apple, following a preliminary injunction granted by a German court the sale of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 has been barred in the entire European Union expect Netherlands. Fines of up to $350,00 per violation have also been imposed on Samsung. This action has been taken following a lawsuit by Apple in which it has claimed that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringed on its patents and copied iPad 2.

The injunction was granted by the District Court of Düsseldorf, Germany. This ban by the court is effective in almost whole of European Union and stops Samsung from selling its Android powered tablet in the region.

Here’s a statement by an Apple spokesman on this issue:

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging. This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

As we reported before, Apple previously barred Samsung from selling the same tablet in Australia and forced it to postpone the launch of Galaxy Tab 10.1 in that country. A hearing is scheduled for August 29th for that case.

Update: Here is the Samsung’s official response by their Director of Public Relations Kim Titus on this issue

“Samsung is disappointed with the court’s decision and we intend to act immediately to defend our intellectual property rights through the ongoing legal proceedings in Germany and will continue to actively defend these rights throughout the world.

The request for injunction was filed with no notice to Samsung, and the order was issued without any hearing or presentation of evidence from Samsung.

We will take all necessary measures to ensure Samsung’s innovative mobile communications devices are available to customers in Europe and around the world.

This decision by the court in Germany in no way influences other legal proceedings filed with the courts in Europe and elsewhere.”

[TNW and TelegraphUK]

Thanks to a patent lawsuit, Apple has blocked Samsung from selling the newest version of Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until the patent issue is resolved. Samsung and Apple have agreed that Samsung won’t sell its tablet in Australia until the issue is resolved, but if Samsung wins the lawsuit Apple will have to pay all the damages to Samsung in cash.

According to Apple’s lawyer Steven Burley, Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 infringes 10 Apple patents and also copies the “look and feel” of the device, also the touchscreen technology used in Samsung’s tablet has been borrowed from Apple’s iPad tablet. Their lawyer also revealed that Apple also wants Samsung to stop selling the same tablets in other countries as well.

Samsung agrees to stop advertising and selling its Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia until the lawsuit is resolved. This whole lawsuit dispute was started by Apple in the US when it claimed that Samsung’s Galaxy line of products blatantly copy the look and feel of Apple’s iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad.

[Bloomberg]

Here you go, Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has recently sued Samsung for copying iPhone and iPad design on its Galaxy seriers products, including the Nexus S, Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G, other Galaxy S phones, and Samsung Galaxy Tab tablet device.

Apple’s stance in this case is that Samsung rather than innovate and develop their own unique style for their devices chose to copy user interface and technology, innovative style of the Apple products.

“The 38 page copy of lawsuit also shows side-by-side comparisons of the Apple iPhone 3GS model, released in June 2009, and the Galaxy S i9000 model, released in March 2010. In the lawsuit Apple has also showed photos and images that pointed out similarities in the two companies’ packaging and icons for software applications such as music, phone, texting, and contacts.” Read on

Outside of the court room, Apple and Samsung share a good business relationships, as they provide Apple with key internal hardwares for their devices. As WSJ reports

Apple accounted for 4% of Samsung’s 2010 revenue of 154.6 trillion won ($142 billion), according to regulatory filings in South Korea. Using current exchange rates, that meant Apple spent about $6 billion at Samsung last year, second only to Sony Corp., which buys chips and liquid crystal displays from Samsung.

AllThingsD’s Mobilized blog managed to get a response from an Apple rep, in which he said

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” an Apple representative told Mobilized. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Apple currently is in legal battles with a lot of huge corporations over patent infringement and other issues. These companies are HTC, Motorola, Nokia, Microsoft, Amazon and others.

In response to this lawsuit by Apple, Samsung has openly accepted the challenge. A Samsung rep told Yahoo! News

Samsung will respond actively to this legal action taken against us through appropriate legal measures to protect our intellectual property.

Via/ Source 1,2,3

While revealing the iPad 2 back in March this year, Steve Jobs called 2011 the year of copy cats. And here comes the first copy cat story. In February Samsung revealed Galaxy tab 10.1, but after the iPad 2 event they reviewed and found their tablet not strong enough to compete the iPad 2. Now Samsung has re-revealed the Galaxy tab 10.1 with a thinner design and a competitive price. Today’s Galaxy tab 10.1 is thinner than iPad 2 and starts at $499 same as iPad 2. For more difference between the both tablets checkout the specs comparison after the break.

Here is a specs comparison between recently announced Motorola Atrix 4G and Motorola Droid Bionic with iPhone 4 and Samsung Nexus S. Motorola Droid Bionic just like Motorola Atrix 4G sports very impressive specifications and if you are considering an Android phone on Verizon then this could be a good choice, by the way iPhone 4 is also expected to invade Verizon’s castle on 1.11.11…just telling. Have a look at the specs comparison after the break.

Motorola revealed its newest Android smartphone at the CES 2011 event to compete with iPhone 4 and other smartphones in the market. The phone sports incredible specifications that includes Dual Core processor, 1 GB Ram, 5 Megapixel camera and a monstrous 1930 mAh battery, it was hard to avoid this phone for me, so i decided to compare specifications of this phone with iPhone 4 and Android 2.3 powered Samsung Nexus S. Have a look

Android is competing with iOS in every arena, whether it is the smartphone fight with iPhone or tablet fight with iPad, Android has strong players in both the fields. But Android does not have any worthy competitor against iOS’s iPod touch but that scenario is going to change a bit.

Samsung Hub is reporting that Samsung will be announcing its Android 2.2 powered PMP. The PMP as can be seen in the image above is just like the Samsung’s Galaxy S phone but without cellular capabilities and with Samsung’s Touch Wiz UI layer over Android.

The device is said to have a 1GHz processor, a 4-inch WVGA touchscreen display (LCD, not AMOLED), T-DMB, SoundAlive audio enhancement technology, dual cameras (rear camera is 3.2Megapixel whereas front camera is VGA), HD video playback support, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0 and the Android 2.2 OS with Touch Wiz UI. Samsung Galaxy Player will come in 8GB, 16GB and 32GB storage capacities.

No pricing details have been revealed, but if it has to compete with Apple iPod touch then it should be priced lower than that, also Android will have to bring apps and games onto the table, as iPod touch is known for its gaming capabilities.

We will write more about it during the CES 2011 coverage, so stay tuned.

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Developers at XDA-Developers Forum have ported Android 2.3 Gingerbread on a Samsung Galaxy S i9000 phone. XDA Member supercurio managed to port GingerBread on his Galaxy S and made a video of it for us to see. The dev has ported the Nexus S kernel to the Samsung Galaxy S i9000 to make a booting Gingerbread ROM.

Here are some details from the OP:

Which filesystem ?
This early preview runs on Ext4. no RFS at all, the kernel don’t support RFS.

Does everything work ?
Nope, but I must admit I didn’t expect such a result.
Don’t work: GPS / Voice / Wifi / some Buttons / camera
Work: everything else: like sound, GL acceleration etc

Will it work ?
I think most of it will work after countless hours spent on it.

Is it flashable with Odin ?
That’s a good idea <Gregounech>, i think i’ll do that tomorrow.

Here is a link to the original discussion thread at the forums (Link)

Here is a specs comparison between Apple iPhone 4, Samsung Nexus S, and HTC HD7. All theses phones are powered by different Operating Systems and are the best devices on their platforms. Apple iPhone 4 is powered by Apple’s own iOS, Samsung Nexus S is powered by newly released Google Android 2.3 Gingerbread and HTC HD7 is powered by Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7. Check out the image after the break