Samsung Galaxy Nexus injunction overturned in appeals court

A US appeals court has lifted the ban on the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone that went into effect late last month. A similar ruling fell short for the Galaxy Tab 10.1 which still remains on the ban list but the ball is now in Apple’s court (no pun intended) on whether or not they want to object the ruling from appeals court.

Google was able to get the Galaxy Nexus reinstated by promising that the phone would soon ship with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. This OS revision is said to contain tweaks that address the patents in question. Furthermore, Google will also be updating Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich with similar workarounds that don’t infringe on the Apple patents in question.

US District Court Judge Lucy Koh banned the Samsung smartphone and tablet on June 30 in a rare pre-trial injunction. She ruled that Samsung infringed on four Apple patents and that Cupertino would see more harm if the injunction wasn’t put in place than Samsung would if it was.

Apple has until July 12 to file an objection to the appeal. Meanwhile, barring any appeals, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will have to remain off store shelves until the trial begins on July 30.

The Galaxy Nexus is back on sale in the Google Play Store for $349 with a note that it will be shipping soon with Jelly Bean. The phone has an estimated ship time of 1-2 weeks as of writing.

Samsung fails to lift U.S. sales ban on Galaxy Tab 10.1

Samsung’s attempt to lift a ban on the sale of theirGalaxy Tab 10.1 in America fell short on Monday as US District Judge Lucy Koh declined the South Korean giant’s request. The rejection comes ahead of a planned patent trial later this month, according to Mercury News.

Koh originally declined Apple’s request for injunction but Cupertino took the case to Federal Appeals Court. The court instructed the judge to reconsider her initial ruling and late last month, Koh banned the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 in the US until a patent dispute between the two companies had been resolved.

"Samsung is disappointed with the court's decision that denied our motion to stay. We believe today's ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior technological features to consumers in the United States," Samsung said in a statement.

An Apple spokesperson stood by their claim that some Samsung products look very similar to the iPhone and iPad.

"Although Samsung has a right to compete, it does not have a right to compete unfairly, by flooding the market with infringing products," Koh noted during the ruling. Furthermore, she imposed a pre-trial ban on the sale or import of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the US late last week, dealing yet another blow to Samsung.

The news is the latest in an ongoing patent battle between the world’s two largest electronics makers. The duo have been at odds for years, winding up in courtrooms in at least 10 countries as they aim to capitalize on the emerging and lucrative mobile device market. The latest battle is scheduled to take place on July 30 in a US courtroom.

Samsung starts rolling out Android 2.3 for Galaxy Tab, Galaxy S

Samsung has announced that the Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) upgrade to its Galaxy S, Galaxy Tab, and Galaxy Ace/Gio/Fit/mini devices has begun to roll out on Kies, the company's device management software. The upgrade will start with the Galaxy S in the UK and Nordic countries from mid-May, and gradually roll out to other European markets, North America, Southeast Asia, the Middle East Asia, Africa, and the rest of the world, according to the regional plan.

Samsung touts that the upgrade from Android 2.2 (codenamed Froyo) to Android 2.3 will give users a better user experience thanks to enhanced performance and an improved user interface:

• Faster Performance – Multimedia content now has a lower CPU consumption rate, while support for more powerful 3D Graphics enables an enhanced mobile gaming experience.
• Upgraded Usability – The user interface has been improved, enabling faster access and control and a more intuitive user experience. Users will also benefit from improved copy-and-paste functionality.

The Galaxy Tab features a TFT-LCD capacitive touch screen with a 1024 x 600 resolution, a 1GHz Cortex A8 Hummingbird Application processor, 512MB of RAM, 802.11n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 3.0, 3G, and dual cameras for capturing still images, videos, or making video calls. It also has a robust HTML Web browsing experience with Adobe Flash 10.1, as well as support for a number of different formats, including DivX, Xvid, WMV, and MPEG-4.

The Galaxy S is available on all major US carriers; though on each it sports a slightly different name (but the Galaxy S moniker is present on each) and set of features. All of them still boast a 4-inch AMOLED touch screen display, 1Ghz Cortex A8 Hummingbird processor, 5-megapixel camera with LED flash and 720p video capture, six-axis sensor for gaming, up to 16GB of internal storage, Bluetooth, GPS, and Wi-Fi.

Although Samsung has already announced the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy Tab 8.9, and the Galaxy S II, it still supporting the older models. While the upgrade could have definitely come much sooner, it's still great to see that Samsung takes care of customers that buy the first version of its products