Mobile Devices - Page 133

I bet you were excited at the first half of the title, with the second half feeling something like the love of your life telling you that she's marrying your best friend Jack. Google has announced their limited market pilot release of the much anticipated modular Ara smartphone and it's going to be the small United States island territory of Puerto Rico.

Why Puerto Rico, you ask. According to Google, its population is very diverse when it comes to the smartphone market, contains a lot of phone carriers and is a "gateway to the world" in regards to internet - due to it being a junction point for underwater cables. There are further small benefits like same-day shipping all over the island and some designated free trade zones.

When asked if the Ara launch will be coming to the rest of the globe soon, or at all, Google's ATAP director Regina Dugan simply stated "we don't know the answer to that question."

Reports have surfaced stating that Samsung have offered to buy BlackBerry for a pretty $7.5 billion US, although both companies deny talks taking place. Released by Reuters on Wednesday, their account of proceedings states that Samsung was looking toward this buyout in order to gather valuable BlackBerry patents during its never-ending battle with Apple.

The sources are unnamed due to legal reasons, however they have claimed that Samsung proposed an initial price range of $13.35 to $15.49 per share, representing a premium of 38 to 60 percent over BlackBerry's current trading price. It's claimed that executives from these two companies met last week, however a statement was soon after released saying that BlackBerry "has not engaged in discussions with Samsung with respect to any possible offer to purchase BlackBerry."

It has been noted that shares in BlackBerry skyrocketed after the original Reuters report by up to 30 percent, eventually falling back 15 percent following the denial from the company themselves.

After teasing their first high-end Tizen model in early 2013, then last year announcing a mid-range model for the Russian market and not delivering, the Tizen seemed like it was never going to surface. Media outlets were claiming that Samsung's OS may be kept solely for smartwatches and TVs while Samsung wasted their years away announcing and not releasing phones using their long-awaited Tizen platform.

Announced and available right now in India is the new Samsung Tizen smartphone - the Z1. For the price of $92 (5700 rupees) you can nab yourself a 4-inch WVGA screen, 3G data connectivity, a dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 768MB of RAM, a 1500mAh battery, a 3.1-megapixel rear-facing camera and 4GB of internal storage with microSD compatibility. I know exactly what you're thinking, this phone certainly isn't anything special - and you're right.

To back up their mediocre specifications, Samsung claim that the phone has a fast boot time, excellent web performance and great battery efficiency, further calming that this is due to their "lightweight Tizen platform." To help the phone move units, they've also including a bunch of entertainment content, giving their local market free music streaming and Bollywood movies.

One of the biggest downfalls of the Galaxy range of handsets and devices from Samsung is its user interface: TouchWiz. It's bloated, slow, and just complete crap (for me, and many others). There are fans, but they've probably never used a stock Android handset and come to appreciate the stock feel of Google's mobile OS... until the Galaxy S6, it seems.

According to the latest reports, it looks like Samsung is preparing to unveil the new Galaxy S6 smartphone at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2015 in Barcelona, Spain in March. An industry source has said "We are aiming to get rid of unnecessary functions and simplify our UI at the level of Google's Nexus 6". Since Samsung is running Android underneath, it won't be hard to remove (hopefully) most of the elements of TouchWiz UI and go give users a stock Android feel.

We should see more at MWC 2015, which kicks off in March.

Restaurant chain TGI Fridays is deploying tablets to restaurants nationwide, allowing customers to pay with their debit or credit card directly at their table. The Dell tablets run Microsoft Windows 8.1 and the Oracle MICROS system to help servers take orders in a fast, efficient manner.

Based on a six-city pilot trial of the tablets, average per-person orders increased, along with server tips, according to the company.

"We obviously believe it's fairly crucial," said Tripp Sessions, VP and CIO of TGI Fridays, in a statement made to CNBC. "Based on results we're getting in, we think it's going to make big improvement to our bottom line."

What seemed to be a clever idea backfired on a man from Hong Kong. Chinese customs officials intercepted a Hong Kong man at the border with 94 iPhones, valued at over $49,000 (300,000 yuan), strapped to his body with tape and plastic. The event unfolded at the Futian crossing into Shenzhen as the man walked with two shopping bags. His labored breathing indicated he was bearing a heavy load, but after a cursory inspection officials determined there wasn't anything significant in his bags. A quick pass through a metal detector and customs officials found the culprit.

The man had a total of 94 iPhone 6 and iPhone 5S models strapped across his thighs, crotch, and body. iPhones are undoubtedly popular, many wait in line for days and pay exorbitant amounts of money for hard-to-find models around the globe. In Mainland China they also enjoy robust sales, with over 1 million iPhone and iPhone 6 units sold in six hours during the launch. This leads one to wonder just why they would be smuggling them when they are publicly available. It all boils down to taxes. Higher import taxes in Mainland China have driven a bustling electronics smuggling trade from Hong Kong. Since December alone, over 18 phone mules have been intercepted with over 282 iPhones, among other electronic goods.

There is no word on the fate of the unidentified phone mule, but he is currently being detained for questioning. It is reported that he has several smuggling incidents 'under his belt' already, so he will likely face prison time.

It looks like Apple may have sold up to as many as 69 million new iPhones over the holidays, but when you compare this to the same period of last year, it is up 18 million - a nice spike.

TSMC has announced revenues of around $2.17 billion for December alone, while Foxconn has made $16.24 billion in the same period - both of which, are impressive, record-breaking numbers for the two companies. The sudden spike in revenues is mostly thanks to the massive surge in iPhone demand, which is seeing both companies manufacturer various technologies, pieces and parts of the new iPhones.

We should see official numbers from Apple on January 27 when it will kick off its quarterly results conference call.

Smartphone maker Xiaomi reportedly met with No. 1 social networking site Facebook about potential investment opportunities in late 2014. It appears a deal between Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun didn't happen, but reveals how serious Xiaomi is to expand into the United States and other lucrative western markets.

Xiaomi, the No. 3 smartphone manufacturer in the world, and Facebook showed initial interest - but political and commercial roadblocks would have occurred, as Facebook is banned inside of China. Since the deal couldn't be put together, Xiaomi collected $1.1 billion from Chinese investors - and the company's valuation is now estimated at $45 billion.

"Facebook wants to get into China, and Xiaomi is keen to expand outside, so they both recognize the importance of working together," an unnamed source told Reuters.

Eight years is a really long time in the technology world, because around this time in 2007, Steve Jobs was unveiling Apple's first addition to the smartphone market and little did we know what it would amount to today.

With Samsung and BlackBerry running rampant in the smartphone community and with many users still using their trusty flip phones, Apple came in with a bang, instantly winning over millions of devout fanatics and birthing Apple fanboys - but at the same time providing a decent product at a respectable price point.

On January the 9th at MacWorld 2007, the late Jobs unveiled his first addition to the smartphone community - aiming to steal the thunder from CES 2007, he certainly did a good job. Teasing the release by claiming that Apple had produced a "widescreen iPod with touch controls" and a "breakthrough Internet communication device," Jobs produced a 3.5-inch touch-screen offering - set to rock the technology world.

The tablet market will see its sales growth continue to shrink in 2015, with just eight percent market gain expected in 2015. There will be 233 million tablet units sold worldwide, and Google Android will continue to lead the way.

As expected by Gartner and other analyst groups, tablets weren't a significant draw during CES 2015 - while tablets will continue to sell, they've largely lost lost momentum gained over the past four years.

"The collapse of the tablet market in 2014 was alarming," said Ranjit Atwal, research director at Gartner, in a press statement. "In the last two years global sales of tablets were growing in double-digits. The steep drop can be explained by several factors. One is that the lifetime of tablets is being extended - they are shared out amongst family members and software upgrades, especially for iOS devices, keep the tablets current. Another factor includes the lack of innovation in hardware which refrains consumers from upgrading."

CES 2015 - We've released a few news articles on Rapoo's new gaming branch, VPRO, bringing out brand new PC gaming peripherals, but now it's time to take it back a notch.

Rapoo have just announced their first range of protective tablet cases, offering built-in Bluetooth keyboards into the mix. Suitable for a wide range of models including Samsung's 8", 8.4", 10.1", 10.5" and Tab Pro 12.2" models, these cases feature an ultra-slim design.

This line of keyboard cases is set for launch in Spring 2015 and will be listed at between $49.99 - $99.99 in major retail stores.

The quarter ending November 2014 saw drastic change thanks to the Apple iPhone 6 and 6 Plus launch, with iOS able to chomp into Google Android's lead. The iPhone 6 was the highest selling phone during that specific quarter, accounting for 19 percent of all US smartphone sales, according to the Kantar Worldpanel research group.

"A decline in Android market share does not necessarily translate into bad news for all the ecosystem's players," said Carolina Milanesi, Chief of Research at Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, in a statement. "The choice of brands and devices within the ecosystem empowers consumers to drive different fortunes for the players in it."

Apple iPhone sales racked up 47.4 of smartphone sales in the United States, 4.3 percent higher year-over-year - and iPhone 6, iPhone 6 Plus are reportedly still going strong. Android still controls 69.9 percent of the mobile OS lead in Europe, dropping 3.2 percent year-over-year.

CES 2015 - Chinese electronics company Lenovo has successfully led its PCs and laptops into the United States and Europe, hoping to mimic that success with its smartphones.

"The next step for Chinese smartphone makers is to go overseas," said Yang Yuanging, chairman and CEO for Lenovo, in an interview with Sina news at CES. "But whether they are able to compete in the global market remains an issue."

Based on global smartphone shipments alone, Lenovo was No. 4 in the world after shipping 16.9 million units during Q3 of 2014, according to IDC figures. However, its acquisition of Motorola will bump its market share from 5.2 percent in Q3 2014 up to 7.4 percent currently, leapfrogging Xiaomi and now trailing behind Samsung and Apple - though will face a tough road to try catch up to either company.

Storage Visions 2015 -Shawn DuBravac from the CEA stopped by the booth to discuss market trends and challenges facing the broader PC market. The emergence of mobile devices has challenged the PC market, but growth has returned as users are upgrading their computers to new operating systems. Tablets were projected to kill the PC market, but sales of tablets have actually began to decline.

CEA organizes CES, the world's largest tradeshow, but is also an ANSI accredited standards body. They also feature several policy groups and research firms. As the internet of things expands, CEA is tracking market trends. There are many theoretical uses for embedded sensors, and this will eventually result in over 50 billion devices connected to the internet. Shawn discusses some of the emerging trends.

CES 2015 - Our first official meeting of CES 2015 this year was with Analogix, who always have something to impress us. This year, they have the new Nano-Console, which is a tiny little device that connects your smart device (Android and iOS) to your TV. This little device has a smart touch pad that can be used as a remote, with hardware Android buttons for back, home, apps and much more.

As you can see, the Analogix Nano-Console is not a big device by any means.

Here we have the touch pad remote that is super useful, with a massive range. We tested this in the suite Analogix were staying in, at around 15-20 feet and it was still operational, even through a very thick wall. It started slowing down, but it was still working. Another impressive part of the Nano-Console.

CES 2015 - Fallen camera kingpin Kodak has publicly announced the IM5 smartphone, a device that could be popular among first-time Google Android smartphone users. Kodak partnered with mobile device maker Bullitt Group to manufacture Kodak's first effort in a competitive smartphone market.

The Kodak IM5 has an octo-core 1.7GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 13-megapixel rear-facing camera, 5-megapixel front-facing camera, and a 5" HD screen. The device will roll out starting in Europe at the end of Q1.

IM5 also has remote management software so phone owners can receive troubleshooting assistance.

CES 2015 - Smartphone case maker OtterBox has unveiled the Resurgence power case for the Apple iPhone 6.

Resurgence allows iPhone 6 owners to unplug their device and have two-times the battery life, along with increased protection against potential phone damage. The case is made of polycarbonate and has a simple two-piece snap design.

"Resurgence is one of the most innovative product lines we've ever released," said Pete Lindgren, president and CEO of OtterBox, in a press statement. "At CES, we'll preview the year ahead with fresh designs that incorporate new technology, all in line with our legacy of engineered confidence and trusted protection."

In this day-and-age, almost everyone will run out of juice before the day's end. Facebook notifications, Instagram updates, Messenger going off 24/7, Google Maps running and a myriad of quirky games to keep you satisfied all amount to the demise of your much-hated battery bar located at the top of any smart-device. When you've finally reached a USB port and you're exhausted from all the walking you've done around the shopping center, you thrust your charging cable in, only to find you've done it awkwardly and now broken your phones charging port and the expensive $30 Apple officially licensed cable.

"And my axe!" announces Patriot, rushing to your aide - given you own an iPhone 6. They've just announced the release of their new FUEL iON case for Apple's latest smartphone. In the past, this case supported only Apple's iPhone 5 and a range of Android offerings - the iPhone 6 compatible model is the only new part of this offering.

So what makes Patriot's product so special? Their press release states: "setting themselves apart from other competing charging technologies, Patriot has developed a way to conductivity charge a smartphone using neodymium magnets. The incredibly strong magnetic pad on both the FUEL iON phone cases and the charging bases create a direct connection between the two devices and snaps the phone into place; this allows for charging that is comparable to directly plugging into a wall outlet."

CES 2015 - LUXA2 is a sub-brand of the well-known case, cooler and power supply company Thermaltake. They're all about releasing highly-priced, high-quality mobile accessories and are often seen going the extra mile to offer users extra nice touches with their products like leather exteriors, plush carry bags and sleek finishes. We've rated their audio devices highly in the past, can they keep up the good work?

The new products on offer here are their 5,000 and 10,000 mAh EnerG Slim power banks, the Groovy Duo Live Wireless Speakers and the Clip Series Universal Car Mount Holder. I've had some personal experience with pre-release editions of the Groovy Duo wireless and its been quite promising - I'm interested to see what the final product can bring to the table. This speaker uses Bluetooth technology to connect your phone to one speaker, then push it from this to another satellite speaker - which can be placed a few meters away. This means that if you're taking it traveling, you can set up your sound experience as you see fit, allowing for a better experience.

LUXA2 are also pushing the wireless charging game strongly, providing their TX-100 ultra slim portable wireless charging pad to the public. This product uses NFC technology to charge your phone without the need for any messy cable connections. Unfortunately for some devices (like my Samsung Galaxy S4), NFC charging is very up and down - sometimes not working for no real reason. Maybe LUXA2 has fixed these issues, we will have to wait and see.

CES 2015 - After their 2012 launch in Asia, Nuu Mobile have been trying to break into the smartphone market by providing affordable unlocked Android smartphone offerings. In their latest press release, they've announced a release of their two new smartphones, the NU3S and XI, into the US market.

Featuring Android KitKat 4.4 and Qualcomm Snapdragon processors, these phones also contain noise-cancelling technology to help improve phone calls, high-quality front cameras with wide-angle lenses and rear cameras with BSI sensors to assist users in low-light situations.

Being released for $179.99, their NU3S includes the following features: