Samsung Galaxy Note ICS source code released

Developers, rejoice! The Samsung Galaxy Note’s Android Ice Cream Sandwich kernel source code has been released by Samsung on their official Open Source website. This means that programmers can leverage the code and start developing their own custom ROMs, tailor made for the Galaxy Note.

Up until now, developers were working on ROMs with leaked code, and now that they have the full source, it will be easier for them to make better and safer custom ROMs.

As for the casual user, you probably shouldn’t care much at the moment. But check back a couple of weeks later, and you’d probably be looking at many interesting ROMs for your Galaxy Note. The code is below and you can share your experience with the handset in the comments section.

Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 now comes with quad-core Exynos processor ands slot for S Pen

During MWC 2012 in February, Samsung showed off the Samsung GALAXY Note 10.1 tablet. At the time, the device featured a dual-core 1.4GHz Exynos processor under the hood, a 1280 x 800 display, 3MP camera and lack of a place to store the S Pen that comes with the tablet. But last month, the Korean based manufacturer warned that changes might be coming to the tablet. And sure enough, when the tablet was displayed at an event in Europe on Tuesday, there were some changes made.

Chart compares smartphone screen-to-body size ratios, Samsung Galaxy Note holds the top spot

As any well-executed teardown reveals, there is a whole bunch of different components that go into the construction of a modern smartphone. The majority of these parts, however, reside on the inside. In most cases, all that users get to see is a body with a touch-sensitive display panel up front. That is why the display is often what a user's initial impressions revolve around when being introduced to a handset for the first time. 

Speaking of smartphone displays, here is a comparison chart that a Reddit member put together. However, what makes it special is that of all things, it compares screen-to-body ratios of a number of smartphones. Basically, the figure represents the ratio between the total area of the display and the total area of a smartphone's front side.

Samsung selling Galaxy Note Olympic Edition in UK

You must be aware by now that Samsung is the official sponsor of the 2012 Summer Olympics to be held later this year in July in London. Now we have come across a picture of this rather attractive special edition Galaxy Note being sold in the UK.

 

Samsung Galaxy Note in pink is in bound for the UK sometime in June

The last time we heard about the elusive “berry pink” version of the Samsung Galaxy Note, was back last month when it officially made its debut in Samsung’s home country of Korea. Of course, the new color added a little bit of flavor to the white and typical black versions of the larger than life smartphone, but word has it that it’s in bound for the UK as well.

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet to feature powerful ARM Mali T-604 graphics, adding to a quad-core processor

Whatever tablet Samsung was preparing with the Galaxy Note 10.1, it has gone back to the drawing board in terms of specs now, as a leaked Taiji graphics benchmark shows, and as Samsung itself hinted at us when we were doing the hands-on preview at MWC.

The score of 61.4 megapixels per second beats the second in line - Galaxy S III - by a huge margin, indicating a new graphics processor. Since the chipset in the Galaxy Note 10.1 is listed as the same Exynos 4412 we have in the latest Galaxy phone, then the graphics processor must be the next generation Mali T-604, not the Mali-400 in the Galaxy S II and S III.

Samsung Galaxy Note finally gets the official Ice Cream Sandwich

Now we've been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for this update to finally come. We even braved to try a leaked ROM to see how ICS would feel like on the Note. What can we say, even the Cyanogen team managed to produce a custom ICS ROM for the device before the manufacturer.

Never mind, the important thing is that the Ice Cream Sandwich update for the Samsung Galaxy Note is finally seeding to users across the world. So far there is no official statement by Samsung so the roll-out schedule is unclear. As usual with this sort of things, not everybody would get it at the same time, some regions and SIM-free devices will be first.

CyanogenMod 9 now available for Galaxy Note international version

For all you owners of the Samsung Galaxy Note who want some sweet custom ROM action, CyanogenMod now has a release based on its latest Android ICS build, Cyanogenmod 9, available for download.

 

If you’re willing to get along with the few known issues, the CyanogenMod ROM is a great way to get some added functionality out of your device.

The official thread, alongside all the steps you need to install it, is available at xda-developers.

In other Galaxy Note-related news, the highly popular tablet/smartphone has managed to sell 2 million units in its home country of South Korea since it was launched this past October, giving Samsung a whopping 64% handset market share in its backyard for the month of April.

Source via GSMArenaBlog