The folks at Samsung must be feeling pretty good right now. Not only did they win in the latest patent challenge from Apple in a Japanese court, but they're making a big splash at the giant IFA technology trade show that's going on now in Berlin.
The courtroom victory over Apple doesn't undo their stunning loss in a San Jose court room a week earlier, but it's a bit of a moral victory to have a Japanese judge say "it's hard to believe the products belong to the range of technologies of the claimant."
Here in Berlin, where I'm covering the IFA show, Samsung has made headlines with several innovative products, including a camera powered by Android that has a built-in cellular modem enabling users to immediately upload or email pictures from anywhere. The 16 megapixel Samsung Galaxy Camera has a 21x optical zoom and a 23 mm wide angel view. It's the opposite of camera phones. Instead of being a good phone with a crappy camera it's a good camera with a cellular data connection. Samsung didn't mention the price or what cell companies will charge people to use the 3G/4G modem but the technology is very cool.
The company also announced the successor to its giant screen Galaxy Note. The Galaxy Note 2 has an even larger (5.5) screen, causing some to call it a "phablet," as in a hybrid between a phone and a tablet.
The Galaxy Note and the camera show that Samsung is committed to Android, despite the Apple victory in the U.S. but the company also introduced the first Windows 8 phone. The ATIV S will give Nokia a bit of competition in the Windows phone market. Windows phone is way behind Apple's iOS and Android in terms of sales but that could change as Microsoft roles out its new Windows 8 operating system(s) for its phone, PCs and tablets later this year.
And speaking of Windows 8, Samsung used IFA to announce its Series 5 Ultra -- a touch screen laptop optimized for Windows 8.