Samsung has finally released confirmed dates as to when the Samsung Galaxy S4 / S IV will be released in the United Kingdom with these dates being 25 and 26 April 2013. UK retailers have since opened up Pre-order registration for the Samsung Galaxy S4 / S IV starting from £629.95 (RM2962.44) without any SIM (meaning there isn't any data plan or service contract). The smartphone is available in both 'Black Mist' and 'White Frost'.

If you've been watching the Samsung ads and stumbled upon a group of hip and trendy modern women checking themselves out in what appears to be Samsung Galaxy phones then you wouldn't be far off. In actuality these are Samsung's collection for hip and trendy young modern women called the La'Fleur Collection. Consisting of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 in Garnet red, the Samsung Galaxy S III mini in white with floral design and the Samsung Galaxy Y with a similar white casing and floral motif, the La'Fleur Collection is Samsung's range of phones designed for modern women.

While there have been plenty of rumours about the Samsung Galaxy S4 / S IV Mini going about, we finally have confirmation that it will actually be produced. From Lee Keon Hyok, Senior Vice President at Samsung Electronics who talked to BusinessWeek recently, the quote goes like this, “the Galaxy S 4 doesn’t come out until late April. It’s fast, has a big, bright screen, and will probably be another huge hit for Samsung, as will the S4 mini that will go on sale soon after”.

With Samsung churning out new models almost daily, it was bound to happen eventually and therefore DiGi has announced the Samsung Galaxy Note II at a very much decreased price with their new DG Smart Plan 88. When the Samsung Galaxy Note II first came out it retailed at a pretty high RM2299 so this price drop is a little bit more than RM1000 but according to DiGi you save about RM740 on the Galaxy Note II based on the retail price of RM1999. This savings is based on the DG Smart Plan 88 for a contract of 24 months.

Previously we reported on the early benchmarks done using the Snapdragon 600-powered Samsung Galaxy S4 / S IV or I9505 which were done using Geekbench 2. Now, benchmarks using the Exynos-powered Samsung Galaxy S4 / S IV or I9500 have come up and blown practically every other device out of the water. The benchmark tests were done using AnTuTu and Quadrant. Check them out below:

AnTuTu (Higher is better)

In line with the rather meteoric rise of tablets in the PC market, DiGi has released a bunch new tablet-only postpaid plans. Initially these tablet-only plans started from RM15 a month for 500MB of data up to 2GB. However, now DiGi is offering plans up to 6GB a month from RM89 a month. They have even tossed in an extra incentive by offering 3 months worth of Evernote Premium access for free.

When Samsung's Galaxy S III smartphone first came out, the goal was nothing less than world domination and the result was an awesome final quarter for Samsung in 2012. Based on this and other factors, analyst are now predicting that Samsung will reach a record breaking high of about 70+ million sales for Q1 2013. These analysts have noted that Samsung sold an estimated 25 million phones each month for 2013, which is also one of the factors predicting the 70+ million sales estimate.

While most reviews cover most of the feature tests and performance tests, testing battery life can take quite some time so it is only just now that we have the battery life tests fo the Samsung Galaxy S4. While the Samsung Galaxy S4 looks and feels about the same weight and size as the Samsung Galaxy S III, it has a bigger screen, more powerful processors and about 500 mAh more with its 2600 mAh battery. Bear in mind that these tests were done with the Snapdragon 600 quad core enabled Samsung Galaxy S4 and cover 3 tests which include talk time, web browsing and video playback.

Rumours surrounding Samsung's upcoming product line are coming fast and hard now, and this time around are rumours regarding Samsung's Galaxy Note III. The first rumour is that the phablet will have a much larger 5.9" display. While we're still skeptical, some main parts suppliers have confirmed this to be very likely. However, some other sharp-eyed people have spotted a Samsung device marked as the GT-19200 that will feature CDMA, GSM and more importantly, a 6.3-inch screen. This claim on the other hand is also based on the recent launch of the Samsung Galaxy S4 gaming pad accessory which showed a device much like the Samsung Galaxy Note III that has similar measurements.

Topping off our earlier news on the Galaxy S4 Mini are several new rumors including the fact that it may come in 4 different versions and that it will be using a new Samsung Exynos Chipset. For the first rumour about versions, this one seems more than likely as eagle-eyed Twitter user st7761 found the Samsung Galaxy S4 mini's I9190 model number on the Samsung Support page. Alongside this model number he also found three other I919X devices. While these links don't actually bring you to anywhere, based on the previous model numbering it is surmised that the I9192 will be the dual SIM version while the I9195 is the LTE version. The I9198 is to be the China-only version. Official announcement of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is expected to be around June or July this year.