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Two more of AT&T's phones will get Google's big 4.0 operating system refresh today, the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket (at long last) and the Samsung Galaxy Note.

The Skyrocket, which boasts a 4.5-inch screen, a dual-core processor, and an 8-megapixel camera, was one of AT&T's first LTE-ready handsets. The even larger Galaxy Note, a 5.3-inch behemoth with a stylus, is a more recent, yet somewhat quirky, addition to the Galaxy S II line.

Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is a pretty major reboot that remakes the interface and … Read more

Live concerts are louder than ever, but home audio systems that sound great turned up loud are increasingly rare. If you're into loud music and lucky enough to live in a place where maximum volume won't get you evicted or arrested, or earn the wrath of neighbors, treat yourself to a set of big speakers.

Sure, small satellite speakers with a powerful subwoofer can sound great, but not in the same league as large speakers. Big systems really do have huge performance advantages over even the best small ones. If you've got the space to accommodate a pair of Klipsch Reference RF-7 II speakers, they deserve an audition. The only downside to listening to the RF-7 IIs is you'll never be satisfied with a Bluetooth speaker ever again.… Read more

Your car's dashboard is probably home to a speedometer, a tachometer, a fuel gauge, and -- if you're lucky -- a coolant temperature gauge. However, your car's electronic brain (ECU) is actively monitoring dozens of parameters behind the scenes that you, the driver, could find useful. This is where diagnostics hardware and apps like Torque Pro and Lite for Android step in, putting all of that data at your fingertips.

Torque doesn't require anything more than the hardware already present on your Android phone to function. Without any external hardware, Torque can still pull sensor data … Read more

Starting tomorrow, the Samsung Galaxy S III won't be the only member of its family to use Google's Android 4.0 operating system on AT&T. The network will begin to roll out Ice Cream Sandwich updates to the Samsung Galaxy S II as well.

Unfortunately for AT&T customers, making the leap from Gingerbread to ICS will take a little more legwork than a simple over-the-air bump. You'll have to first visit Samsung's Web site from your computer, then download the Samsung Kies Upgrade Program to your desktop or laptop.

It seems a … Read more

Samsung Galaxy S II owners on T-Mobile can update to Android 4.0.3, but they may have to jump through a few hoops first.

The latest flavor of Ice Cream Sandwich launched as of yesterday evening for Samsung's Galaxy S II. Owners of the phone can learn how to install it via a T-Mobile support page. But be forewarned -- the update isn't available over the air (OTA), meaning you can't download it directly to your phone.

Instead, you have to install it via Samsung's Kies software, which requires you to download and install the … Read more

More than 50 million Samsung Galaxy S smartphones have been sold since the original phone debuted in 2010, according to the Korean handset maker.

Plugging its achievement in a news release today (English translation), Samsung said that 24 million units of the first Galaxy S phone have hit the sales market since June 2010, followed by 28 million Galaxy S II phones over the past year.

Samsung uses the term "sales." But it's important to note that the company is actually referring to shipments since the numbers point to how many units have been shipped to retail … Read more

Owners of Samsung's Galaxy S II LTE model can now expect to unwrap their Ice Cream Sandwich.

The company's Korean Samsung Tomorrow Web site (English translation) today published an upgrade guide confirming and explaining the path from Android 2.3 to Android 4.0.

Users will receive the typical update notice on their phones, according to Samsung, which also described what becomes of your data and applications after the latest version of Android is installed. The package will include the latest tweaks to Samsung's TouchWiz interface with some extra flavoring on top of Ice Cream Sandwich.

The … Read more

AT&T is making quite the name for itself as America's top Windows Phone promoter. However, with so many Windows phones out there, it's getting harder to tell which one you should get.

Fear not, friends. Brian Tong straps on his gloves for a prizefight throwdown between the top Windows Phone contenders: the HTC Titan II, with its giant screen and 16-megapixel camera, and the Nokia Lumia 900 with its standout design and AMOLED display.… Read more

Intel has a message for investors and the rest of the tech industry: We're dead serious about smartphone chips now. (Finally, wags might add.)

At its annual investor day on Thursday, Intel reiterated that its first dual-core smartphone processor, the "Medfield" Z2580, is coming later this year and will be offered with Intel-branded 4G LTE silicon.

And to drive home its commitment to phones, CEO Paul Otellini said that phone chip development will move ahead at "twice the rate of Moore's Law." Put another way, chip development that would ordinarily take six years will … Read more