The Samsung Galaxy S II is one of several handsets affected by the EU ruling.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Apple has won another major victory in its ongoing battle with Samsung.

A Dutch court in The Hague today issued a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II, and Ace smartphones, following a hearing on the matter earlier this month. The court said that the Android-based devices violate a software patent that iPhone maker Apple holds in the European Union and that Apple claims Samsung violated.

According to FOSS Patents, which first reported on the court decision, the ruling will ban the sale of those devices in a host of EU countries where Apple's patent is valid. However, FOSS Patents says that Apple did not complete the full registration for the patent in many European countries, including Italy, Spain, and Greece, which means Samsung's devices likely won't be banned from those areas.

The preliminary injunction against Samsung's phones is set to go into effect in mid-October. It is separate from an injunction that focuses on Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets.

Because the patent focuses on software, today's ruling could also extend beyond Samsung to the broader Android ecosystem. "It's a severe blow for Android," writes Mueller. "In all likelihood, the winning patent is infringed by Android itself--maybe not the operating system per se, but by one or more of the applications that ship with Android and without which the usefulness of Android would be impaired."

For its part, Samsung didn't seem too concerned by the ruling. In an e-mailed statement to CNET, a company spokesperson said that the single infraction it was hit with will be handled. And the company doesn't expect to be forced to halt sales of its smartphones across Europe.

"Today's ruling is an affirmation that the Galaxy range of products is innovative and distinctive," the Samsung spokesperson said in the statement. "With regard to the single infringement cited in the ruling, we will take all possible measures including legal action to ensure that there is no disruption in the availability of our Galaxy smartphones to Dutch consumers. This ruling is not expected to affect sales in other European markets."

Apple did not immediately respond to CNET's request for comment.

The two companies have been embroiled in a bitter contest spanning several continents as both sides allege that the other is violating patents they hold. So far, Apple has been getting the better of Samsung.

Earlier this month, Apple was awarded a preliminary injunction from a German court, banning the sale of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 across several countries in the European Union. Last week, that ban was lifted in all nations except Germany because the court's jurisdiction did not reach beyond its country's borders, so a ban on the sale of the device could not be imposed elsewhere around the continent.

Apple and Samsung are to meet in court tomorrow to discuss Galaxy Tab sales across Europe. If Apple succeeds, it could once again see Samsung's tablet banned for sale across much of Europe.

In Australia, meanwhile, Apple has already found some notable success. It has come to an agreement with Samsung that will allow it to get a first look at three Galaxy Tab 10.1 models before they're offered for sale in the country. The option that Apple chooses will then be sold in Australia.

Google's Android isn't only coming under attack from Apple. The operating system is also being targeted by Oracle, which is taking aim at Google over alleged violations in Android, while Microsoft has targeted several Android vendors, including Barnes & Noble.

Google earlier this month tried to bolster its mobile-patent portfolio, announg the planned acquisition of Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion. If the deal is approved, Google would likely have the patent backing it needs to fire off its own legal salvos.

"Google's acquisition of Motorola shifts the balance of power in the handset-patent conflict between Google and its operating system competitors," NPD executive director of industry analysis, Ross Rubin, said in a statement earlier this week.

The search giant has been especially outspoken about its concerns over the patent litigation. Writing in a recent blog post, Google's chief legal officer, David Drummond, chastised Apple, among other companies, that he believes are using "bogus patents" to stifle innovation in the mobile space.

"But Android's success has yielded something else: a hostile, organized campaign against Android by Microsoft, Oracle, Apple, and other companies, waged through bogus patents," Drummond wrote in the post. "Patents were meant to encourage innovation, but lately they are being used as a weapon to stop it."

Even though we've grown accustomed to onscreen keyboards on our touch-screen smartphones, many people still want the feel of physical keys. Fortunately, there are still many smartphones on the market with full QWERTY keyboards to cater to their needs.
The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 has one of the best slate QWERTY keyboards we've tried this year.

The Motorola Droid 3 has a roomy keyboard.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Even though we've grown accustomed to onscreen keyboards on our touch-screen smartphones, many people still want the feel of physical keys. Fortunately, there are still many smartphones on the market with full QWERTY keyboards to cater to their needs.

The BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930 has one of the best slate QWERTY keyboards we've tried this year.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Slider and flip models tend to be the more popular QWERTY designs, simply because they can accommodate larger displays and wider keyboards. The LG Genesis for U.S. Cellular has one of the roomiest keyboards we've seen, with five whole rows of keys, one of which is just for numbers. The same goes for the Motorola Droid 3; its keyboard has a nice nonslippery texture as well.

The T-Mobile MyTouch 4G Slide is one of T-Mobile's latest Android QWERTY handsets, and we think HTC was mostly successful in adding a whole keyboard to the original keyboardless MyTouch handset. It has only four rows and it does seem a little flat, but we still think it is spacious.

There are also those who prefer a vertical-style keyboard just so you don't have to rotate the phone every time you need to use it. Vertical keyboards do tend to be a bit more cramped, but we didn't find that to be too much of a problem with most BlackBerry handsets. The BlackBerry Torch 9810, for example, is a unique slider that incorporates both a vertical keyboard and a large touch-screen display. The keyboard is slightly wider than its predecessor, though it's not as spacious as the keyboard on other BlackBerrys, like the Bold 9930. Indeed, we think QWERTY keyboard on the Bold 9930 is one of the best mobile keyboards we've handled this year. It's roomy, with large angled keys that are a pleasure to use.

Last but not least, the HTC Status (also known as the Facebook phone) also has a pretty good keyboard. We like that it has a slight bend in the body for better texting ergonomics, and of course there's that iconic Facebook button for quick status updates.

All four of Samsung's upcoming smartphones will come with Android 2.3, aka Gingerbread, the company said today.

The upcoming Samsung Galaxy M Pro.

(Credit: Samsung

Samsung plans to show off four new smartphones--the Galaxy W, Galaxy M Pro, Galaxy Y, and the Galaxy Y Pro--at the IFA Conference in Berlin early next month. To whet customer appetites, the company today offered a few details on each phone--on top of them joining the growing number of rivals that feature the latest version of Google's mobile operating system.

The Samsung Galaxy W will boast a 1.4GHz processor and a 3.7-inch touch screen. It will support HSDPA 14.4 Mbps connectivity.

The Galaxy M Pro, designed for business customers, will offer a full physical QWERTY keyboard and support enterprise-oriented software, including Exchange Active Sync, Sybase Afaria, Cisco Mobile, and Cisco's WebEx platform.

The Galaxy Y will ship with a touch screen, a 832MHz processor, and multiple colors.

The Galaxy Y Pro will boast a QWERTY keyboard, but also include a touch screen. The business-focused handset will also come with ThinkFree mobile office, so users can edit Office documents from the device.


However, perhaps the question now is, what do all those designations after the "Galaxy" name mean? Samsung provided a quick guide today:

"S" (super smart). Devices at the top of Samsung's mobile lineup. This designation is used only for flagship devices such as the Samsung Galaxy S, which has sold 10 million units worldwide.
"R" (royal/refined). Premium category models.
"W" (wonder). For people seeking "style and performance."
"M" (magical). Budget friendly models.
"Y" (young). Models aimed at emerging markets or younger consumers.
"Pro" means the device includes a QWERTY keyboard.
"Plus" indicates the phone is an upgrade from an existing model.
"LTE" means the device is designed to use 4G Long-Term Evolution connectivity standards.

Conspicuously missing from Samsung's discussion on new smartphones is its Galaxy S II. That smartphone, which has been selling well outside the U.S. since its release in May, is expected to make its U.S. debut at a event Samsung is hosting Monday.

The Galaxy S II has scored high marks from reviewers who say the device might just be the top Android handset on the market. In its review of the Samsung Galaxy S II, CNET said the device is "Samsung's most advanced and successful smartphone to date."

Check back for CNET's coverage of the IFA Conference early next month when details on these Samsung smartphones, among other handsets, will be announced.

As promised, Nokia took the wraps off its latest update to the Symbian operating system today.

Dubbed Symbian Belle, the OS brings a number of interface improvements, new apps, and enhanced feature support. On the UI front, you now get six instead of three customizable home screens, and widgets can now be resized to your liking. In addition, the company has added Toggle widgets, so you can more easily complete tasks, such as turning on/off wireless connections and changing profiles.

In Belle, the status bar now incorporates a pull-down notifications tray, and the lock screen provides more information, such as missed calls and new messages. Nokia also promises better multitasking with larger views of open apps, so you can more easily see what's going on at a glance and quickly switch among tasks.

On the features front, NFC support is extended so you can share pictures, connect to accessories, and check in with a simple tap of a button. Finally, the new OS brings more robust business apps from Microsoft, including Exchange ActiveSync, Sharepoint, OneNote, PowerPoint Broadcaster, and Lync.

Symbian Belle will be available to existing Symbian 3 devices, such as the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7, and Nokia 500, and on new handsets in the coming months. To see the new improvements in action, check out the YouTube video above.

Sprint customers won't be the only ones to get their hands on the RIM BlackBerry Torch 9850, as U.S. Cellular revealed today that the all-touch-screen BlackBerry will be available starting August 26 for $199.99 with a purchase of a data plan and after a $100 mail-in rebate.
The Torch 9850 has a 3.7-inch, an 800x480-pixel touch screen, a 1.2GHz processor, and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p HD video capture. It's also running the latest BlackBerry OS 7 software, so you'll get such enhancements as better graphics, faster Web browser, and BBM 6.

The RIM BlackBerry Torch 9850 heads to U.S. Cellular August 26.

(Credit: U.S. Cellular)

Sony Ericsson has had a bit of a topsy turvy time with its Android phones over the years. Its first few attempts, including the Xperia X1 and Xperia X10, didn't quite get the balance right but the X10 mini and X10 mini pro both impressed us and were intriguing options if you were looking for a particularly small phone.

The company's latest attempt, then, is the Xperia X8. It sits somewhere between the X10 mini and full-size X10 in terms of size, making for a small-but-not-tiny Android smartphone. It's also relatively inexpensive at just £130, or free on £15pm contracts.

The X8's design is a tough one to nail down. It's clearly not the most elegant device going and its plastic construction certainly makes itself known. However, it feels solid and well put together, and has a certain charm. If colour's your thing, you'll be pleased to know the backplate is available in a variety of thereof, though the front remains pearlescent white whichever you choose.

Where perhaps the phone most prominently shows its budget orientation is the front and more specifically the screen. The markedly grey (rather than black) and plastic 3in rectangle is slightly recessed into the bezel, which slighty hampers usability. The bezel is also rather wide, making the screen appear smaller than it actually is.

Otherwise, the general hardware of the X8 is rather impressive. The three buttons under the screen are responsive and easily distinguished while the sides are home to more features than you might expect at this price.

Up top there's a microUSB socket (underneath a somewhat annoying plastic flap), the power/screen lock button, and headphone socket that is compatible with Sony Ericsson's inline headsets – thus the odd shape. A headset that provides reasonable quality audio and decent noise isolation comes in the box however it isn't actually of the aforementioned Sony Ericsson proprietary type.

The left and bottom edges are devoid of features but on the right is a volume rocker and, joy of joys, a shutter button for the camera. Finally, there's the camera itself that sits on the back, sadly without an LED flash to accompany it.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X12 Arc offers one of the most comprehensively functional handsets, that utilises advanced technology, within a stylish and eminently appealing mobile phone. The unit measures 125 mm high by 63 mm wide and is only 8 mm thick, within which it offers such delights as an 8.0 megapixel camera, fast Internet access as well as a multitude of entertainment options.

One of the key facets of this handset is its impressively large display screen which is an LED backlit LCD that offers capacitive functionality whilst also offering touch screen capability. The screen itself is 4.2 inches in size, within which it is able to display an impressive 16 million colour combinations, all of which are represented within a 480 x 854 pixel screen size. The display screen comes with a scratch resistant surface and utilises the Sony mobile Bravia engine, which is a name better known within the television arena. Accelerometer and proximity sensors are also provided, whilst navigation is provided by the popular Timescape user interface.

The handset comes with a multitude of connectivity options, which includes fast Internet access, by virtue of its HSDPA connection, offering speeds of up to 7.2 Mbps, or the alternative of Wi Fi in addition to micro-USB, Bluetooth, microSD as well as GPRS and EDGE connections. The unit comes with 8 GB of memory included, which can be significantly enhanced by utilising the aforementioned microSD card slot and relevant cards.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X12 Arc utilises a 1 GHz Scorpion processor as its central processing unit, whilst also utilising the Gingerbread version of the android operating system. Additional features include a NeoReader barcode scanner, twitter and Facebook integration as well as several Google related features. In addition a stereo FM radio is provided, with RDS, in addition to satellite navigation, and an MP4 multimedia player as well as an MP3 music player. For photographic purposes the handset provides an impressive 8.0 megapixel camera, which is also able to take effective video imagery. The camera comes with image stabilisation, face as well as smile detection and also includes both autofocus and touch focus.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia X12 Arc, like the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8, offers extensive technology, combined with an obvious aesthetic appeal. It offers almost every conceivable function and feature that is currently available within a mobile phone. For those who enjoy the latest gadgetry and functionality, this particular handset will be one that is not to be missed.