Mobile Devices - Page 147

RSA 2014 - RSA chairman Art Coviello wants increased global cooperation and governance for the security industry, especially after widespread NSA spying was revealed by Edward Snowden.

EMC-owned RSA also was accused of receiving a $10 million payment to create a backdoor into its software for use by the US government - though Coveillo also expressed anger over the accusations - and said the RSA-NSA relationship was a matter of public record.

Coviello hopes additional governance will give security experts the chance to develop next-generation platforms with less worry the tools will be used for inappropriate purposes.

HTC is continuing its campaign to hype up its next-generation flagship the HTC M8 before its launch next month on March 25th, and today the company has posted a new video teasing us about the next-generation of Boom Sound, the audio system featured on the HTC one. Alongside this video's launch new images have surfaced online that give us more conformation on what the new HTC One will look like.

The video does allude to the M8 as the "New HTC One" and says that the audio quality will be even better and more rich than its predecessor which featured "Beats Audio" technology. As an owner of the current HTC One, I can not imagine how they will be able to stuff any more audio quality into the new device, but I can not wait to see if it truly is any better than before. The video is the first in a new series called "HTC Technical Translations" and should see more episodes launch before the March 25th unveil.

Website, Phandroid has managed to get its hands-on some new leaked images of the HTC M8, which seem to confirm that the phone will look almost identical to the HTC One that is on retail shelves now, and that the device will in fact feature the dual camera setup we have seen in previous rumors and leaks.

With a slew of new phones announced at Mobile World Congress 2014 this week, new rumors about the iPhone 6 have surfaced. Apple is rumored to unleash the new, bigger iPhone 6 in July, much earlier than expected.

Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba delivered some research to clients yesterday, which said that the iPhone 6, as well as a new phablet, will be launched by Apple in July, instead of September or October, like usual. Lamba says that he has checked with Apple's suppliers in Japan and throughout Asia, who suggest things are ramping up much earlier than expected.

Lamba said in his note: "Recently, the company has been introducing new lineup in September time frame whereas the next generation phones could come out in July this year. The earlier launch will be helpful for Apple as it will ensure significant availability and distribution of the new device during the holiday season".

Back when Google owned Motorola, it talked about a modular smartphone that it was working on, known as Project Ara. Well, the company has just announced it is hosting the first Ara Developers' Conference in April.

It will be the first of three conferences where the Mountain View-based giant will show developers what they'll be able to do with Ara. The first conference will be held over the Internet through a live webstream, with an interactive Q&A session hosted to a select few people able to attend in person at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.

The conference itself will be focused around an alpha release of the Ara Module Developers' Kit, which will provide developers with all of the information requires to make an "Ara module". The company will also walk through the existing and future features for the Ara platform, with prize challenges for module developers.

Today the US House of Representatives passed a bill that makes it legal for consumers to unlock their cell phones if they wish to take it to another carrier. The bill passed with a vote of 295 to 114, and is now headed to the Senate where it is also expected to pass. If the bill does make it through congress, then it will let consumers unlock their phones without fear of legal ramifications, something that has been illegal since a supreme court ruling in 2012.

The practice was deemed illegal based on wording in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act that prevents circumventing of content protection systems, something that was intended to protect DRM on music, video games, and other digital media. Unfortunately the supreme court and lawmakers twisted these words around to include cellular phones under the DMCA's "protection." If passed, this bill could set precedence on who legally owns the cellphone, and if subsidization of devices can legally ban the use of that phone on a network it was not subsidized for.

Unfortunately this bill, even if passed and signed into law, will have to be reexamined in just two years, and it also includes an add-on bill that would limit the bulk reselling of any smartphones that have been unlocked. This makes it hard for aging smartphones to be recycled back into the market as cheaper alternatives to those who want a phone but not necessarily an expensive flagship.

It's only been two days since Samsung's Galaxy S5 was unveiled at the 2014 Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, but that has not stopped the phone from being ripped off by the infamous copycat smartphone manufacturer, Goophone. The device appeared on the company's website this morning bearing the overly obvious name Goophone S5.

The Goophone S5 copies the Galaxy S5 ascetically down to the last dimple on the rear and even appears to include a similar heart rate monitor to the one featured on the new Samsung flagship except this one is just a LED flash for the camera with no heart rate monitoring functionality. Hardware wise, the two phones are world's apart with the Goophone featuring a 5-inch 1080p display, 13MP rear camera, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean on-board. A 2GHz MTK MT6592 octa-core processor, and 2GB of RAM are featured as is 32GB of on-board storage. No fingerprint scanner is present either, making this purely a look-alike copy and not a full on duplication.

This is not the first smartphone that Goophone has copied either, the company has knocked off everything from the iPhone 5S and 5C all the way down to the Galaxy S4, and the Galaxy Note 3. Tablets are not immune either with Goophone making a iPad mini knock off, as well as the Galaxy Gear and another smartwatch / fitness band. The Goophone S5 is out of stock at the moment, but will retail for $299.99.

MWC 2014 - SlimPort is one of those technologies that change up the game in a very good way, and now Analogix has raised the bar even more. At the 2014 Mobile World Congress, Analogix demoed its new SlimPort 4K line of devices that lets you take a 4K enabled phone like the Google Nexus 7 and stream the display onto a 4K TV in real-time with no apparent latency at all. This makes for a seamless gaming experience, something no one else has been able to do until now.

Johannes Knapp was on hand today to take a first hand look at the new SlimPort 4K technology, and as you can tell from the video above, SlimPort 4K is no joke. Over the years, many have tried to bring a latency free smartphone gaming experience to the big screen, but no one has managed to nail it as perfectly as Analogix has.

This also allows users to stream 4K video from their phone or tablet directly to their 4K TV, a handy feature for someone without a 4K streaming device. This video marks the end of our on-site MWC 2014 coverage, but Johannes will be back in a few weeks with live coverage from CeBIT, so stay tuned to TweakTown for that!

Broadcom introduces BCM435 SOC which is the first 5G Wi-Fi (802.11ac) 2x2 Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) SOC for smartphones. This will allow manufacturers to provide twice the Wi-Fi performance of a single MIMO enabled devices while improving the power efficiency of up to 25% while using wireless applications.

This chip also supports Rezence wireless technology which is developed by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP). This chip will work for Android, Windows and Chrome based systems. It was reported earlier that Dell recently joined the alliance to get the wireless charging technology for its devices.

"Smartphones have become the epicenter of today's digital life and consumers are demanding ever increasing levels of performance and sophistication," said Dino Bekis, Broadcom Vice President, Marketing, Wireless Connectivity Combos. "As a leader in wireless connectivity solutions, Broadcom continues to deliver unprecedented features and capabilities to this demanding and rapidly growing market."

Apple quietly provided iOS 7.0.6 update to fix a vulnerability issue in an SSL connection verification. Many security experts concluded that there's a major security flaw found in the OS.

End users should update their Apple devices with the latest iOS patch. Such users who do not do so could be to open to attacks or or have data being viewed, altered or downloaded via the SSL. The security patch document specified that iOS Secure Transport 'failed to validate the authenticity of the connection'.

It was also reported that banks have contacted their customers and advised them to update to iOS 7.0.6 immediately.

While the general conscious is that the Galaxy S5 is nothing to get terribly excited about, the phone does bring a few new features to the market and it can now lay claim to being the fastest gaming smartphone in the world. Today Rightware announced that the Samsung Galaxy S5 scored high enough in its Basemark X benchmark to claim the number one spot on its fastest smartphones list.

Featuring a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor clocked to 2.5GHz and an Adreno 330 GPU, the Galaxy S5 was able to obtain a Basemark X score of 23501.52 which is 1155.36 points higher than its closest competitor the ASUS Padfone Infinity 2 which runs the Qualcomm MSM8974, a quad-core processor clocked to 2.1GHz. The Galaxy S5 also beat out the Sony Xperia Z Ultra, and both variants of the Xperia Z1.

To download basemark X for your device visit the source links below.

MWC 2014 - The quest for a $25 smartphone has been at the forefront of Mozilla and Canonnical's minds for sometime and now it appears that those dreams just might be coming true for Mozilla. Today Mozilla and Spreadtrum announced that they have teamed up to create a few turnkey FireFox OS powered reference design smartphones based on Spreadtrum's entry-level smartphone chipset.

Spreadtrum and Mozilla have completed several devices running Firefox OS and Spreadtrum's WCDMA and EDGE chip-sets, reference designs that will allow OEMs to bring the first $25 smartphones to market. "Spreadtrum's turnkey reference design brings together this highly cost-effective chipset platform with the intuitive, easy-to-use experience and Web/HTML5 application ecosystem of Firefox OS," said the company in a release. "Firefox OS smartphones are the first devices powered completely by Web technologies to deliver the performance, personalization and price users want in a smartphone with a beautiful, intuitive and easy-to-use experience that is unmatched by other phones."

"The combination of Firefox OS with Spreadtrum's entry-level smartphone platforms has the potential to dramatically extend the reach of smartphones and the Web globally," said Dr. Li Gong, Mozilla Senior Vice President of Mobile Devices and President of Asia Operations. "Firefox OS delivers a customized, fun and intuitive experience for first-time smartphone buyers and our collaboration with Spreadtrum enables the industry to offer customers an extremely affordable way to get a smartphone and connect with Web apps."

MWC 2014 is underway meaning that there is lots of news in the smartphone realm today. One of the new devices that was unveiled today at the show is the ZTE Grand Memo II LTE. As the name of the smartphone suggests, the device operates on 4G LTE networks.

The smartphone runs the Android 4.4 KitKat OS and measures 161.5 x 83 x 7.2mm. The screen is a bit 6-inch HD TFT unit that supports 16 million colors and multi touch. The rear camera of the smartphone is a 13MP unit and it uses a Sony BSI image sensor.

The rear camera also has flash and auto focus. The front camera is a 5MP unit that has fixed focus. The battery that powers the device is a 3200 mAh unit. The Grand Memo II LTE uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 processor with 2GB of RAM and 16 GB of storage. The smartphone also has GPS with AGPS, integrated Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.0.

MWC 2014 - In front of a packed house and more than 1/4 of a million live stream viewers, Samsung's CEO, JK Shin, took the stage at the company's Unpacked 5 event to unveil the long awaited successor to the unimaginably popular Galaxy S4 smartphone, the Galaxy S5. Samsung says the Galaxy S5 has been built to help enhance our daily lives, and to make every day task easier.

The Galaxy S5 is not the full redesigned smartphone everyone had asked for, but the new flagship smartphone is definitely an update from the Galaxy S4. The S5 features a larger 5.1-inch 1080p, Super AMOLED display that is on par with the Galaxy S4's image quality. The Galaxy S5 also still retains the familiar plastic frame, but does feature a waterproof IP7 rating, as well as an integrated fingerprint scanner.

The Galaxy S5's smooth back has been replaced by a new dimpled texture which is available in several different colors including Electric Blue, a new color designed to make the phone look more modern. The camera has also been updated with a faster auto focus, a new HDR mode, and selective focus that is bases on a larger imaging sensor that is designed for faster auto-focusing, and making your images more clear and vibrant.

Last year the first YotaPhone debuted. The device was the first dual screen smartphone to feature a normal LCD on one side and an electronic paper display (EPD) on the other. That LCD screen is perfect for playing games and watching videos that need full color.

On the other side, the EPD is perfect for reading in direct sunlight and saving battery power when viewing documents. At MWC 2014, the next generation YotaPhone has been unveiled and it has some nice updates from the original.

The updates include an electronic paper display that has full touch control. The electronic paper display is always-on and is very power miserly for long battery life. The new YotaPhone allows people to respond to messages, social networks, emails, and calls without having to wake up the color LCD and consume more power. The EPD is 4.7-inches and the LCD on the other side is a 5-inch AMOLED unit.

Fujitsu is showing off a cool prototype tablet at MWC 2014 that has haptic feedback tech inside. The tablet is able to allow the user to feel smooth and rough surfaces on the screen with their finger. That means if a picture has smooth and rough parts, you can actually feel them. Fujitsu is showing off a demo of this tech with an image of an alligator that lets you feel the bumps on its hide.

Another of the demos Fujitsu has is of a harp that lets the user feel the strings as they pluck them. The way the tablet is able to create the haptic feedback is by using ultrasonic vibrations. The vibrations produce a high-pressure layer of air above the screen that acts as a cushion for the finger.

When that cushion of air is there, the screen feels very smooth. By alternating the air cushion quickly, Fujitsu is able to produce the feel of a rough surface. The technology has been miniaturized to the point where it can fit inside a tablet and run off the amount of power available to mobile devices.

Nokia is one of the many companies at Mobile World Congress 2014 that are showing off new smartphones and tablets. One of the new smartphones that Nokia is showing off is the XL dual SIM device. That smartphone is part of the Nokia X series.

The smartphone runs Nokia X platform for the OS and has a 5-inch display. That screen is large, but its specs show that it is a device designed for budget shoppers. The screen has a resolution of 800 x 480, many screens of that size on smartphones are full HD. The Nokia XL does support 24-bit color, and the screen has 187ppi.

The smartphone measures 141.4mm tall x 77.7mm wide x 10.9mm thick with a weight of 190g. The Nokia XL has integrated Bluetooth 3.0 + HS. The smartphone has integrated Wi-Fi and charges via a USB port. The device operates on 2G and 3G networks.

Broadcom introduced a new lineup of near field communication (NFC) BCM20795 controllers to provide connectivity for the mass market smartphones and wearables.

To do so, the chipmaker assured that these new controllers will reduce the total cost by 35% for OEMs by enabling antenna design for smartphones and wearable devices. It also reduces power consumption by 60% extended battery life. Along with the promise to reduce more than 60% power consumption and usage of less than 30%, the newer chip requires 35% lesser PCB area compared to its previous generations. The chips are compatible with Wireless Internet Connectivity for Embedded Devices (WICED) platforms, so it should enable majority of the lower cost smartphones and other devices for WICED.

Broadcom also assures that their NFC technology is certified for payment schemes and supports the latest specifications from NFC forum. Dino Bekis Vice President, Mobile Wireless Connectivity at Broadcom said,"With mobile payments gaining momentum and consumers using their devices more frequently to tap and share information, there is an increased demand for a premium NFC experience on affordable smartphones. Broadcom's new NFC controllers offer an innovative architecture that radically reduces costs for our customers so they can deliver simplified connectivity to a broader audience."

MWC 2014 - We knew it was coming, but Sony has just unveiled its new Xperia X2 in Barcelona, Spain, during Mobile World Congress 2014. The new Sony flagship handset features the same footprint as the Z1, but has internal upgrades which should impress.

First off, we have a new IPS display, something that Sony calls Live Color LEDs. This is a technology unique to Sony that has provided it with the widest color gamut on the market, beating out even Apple with its iPhone and iPad. We have a 1920x1080-pixel 5.2-inch display, but inside, we have a new 3200mAh battery which is impressive to hear.

As for horsepower, we have a 2.3GHz quad-core processor, 3GB of RAM, a new set of stereo speakers, the same all-glass front and back, as well as the IP58-certified waterproofing, and the same dedicated camera key. The rear-snapper on the Xperia Z2 is capable of shooting 4K video, but it also features something from Sony's Handycam line of camera: SteadyShot.

Alcatel is launching quite the number of smartphones this week, starting with the new Idol 2 smartphone. The Alcatel Idol 2 is a 5-inch smartphone, but it is also joined by its 4.5-inch brother, the Idol 2 Mini. Each of the new smartphones will arrive with 3G support, but will be joined by an "S"-branded LTE version.

The Idol 2 Mini is just 8.5mm thick, and will arrive to the market first, most likely in the first week of next month. Both smartphones will feature qHD displays, a quad-core processor clocked at 1.2GHz, Android 4.3 which is upgradeable to 4.4, NFC, an 8-megapixel rear-camera, backed up by a 2-megapixel front shooter.

The 3G-capable Idol 2 Mini will start at 169 euros (or $232) while the 4G version will be priced at 209 euros (or $287). The 3G model will arrive with a plastic build, while the 4G version arrives with a metal back and plastic at the top and bottom. There will be four colors on offer, too.

Just 23 percent of international B2B (business-to-business) marketing and sales teams are using tablets to help close deals out in the field.

Using a tablet is a good way to present during in-person sales meetings, while also able to demonstrate solutions in front of customers.

"Maybe if they talked to a lot international and smaller companies you get a high number, but there's no question that in the U.S. the majority of sales organizations are using tablets," said Tim Bajarin, President of Creative Strategies, in a statement to TabTimes.