Mobile Devices - Page 186

MeeGo's future is looking a little grim at this time with little to no takeup from partners which has resulted in Intel apparently putting its in-house OS on hold well into 2012, if not eventually choosing to bomb it entirely.

With Nokia choosing to stick to variants of Symbian (Belle being a newly launched revision) and setting its sights ahead on Windows Phone (apart from the N9, the only phone Nokia chose to use MeeGo on), and most other smartphone and tablet makers opting for Android or WP7, it's become a case of 'can't beat 'em? Then join 'em' for Intel which Digitimes reports is looking to transfer efforts into Android and WP work.

However, with that said, Windows Phone raises a question in that it currently only runs on ARM processors; even more specifically, due to chassis guidelines from Microsoft around what WP7 partners are allowed to use, a Qualcomm Snapdragon.

Sony is trying to push music players in a new direction with the introduction of a prototype, Android-based Walkman. The new Walkman prototype is designed "for music lovers by music lovers," said engineer Shinichiro Torii in an interview at the IFA electronics show. The new Walkman does have a few tricks up its sleeves, unlike normal Walkman's where they only played music, the new Android-based Walkman has the ability to run thousands of Android applications from the Android Market.

This new ability pushes into line with Apple's iPod Touch which has the ability to run apps, as well as the large market of smartphones which run Android or iOS. The prototype has been dubbed Walkman Mobile Entertainment Player (for now).

General manager of digital music player product planning (what a job title!), Toshimichi Nagashima says:

IFA 2011 - Sony just got done with one of the first major press conferences of IFA 2011 in Berlin, Germany where as expected they unveiled two Android tablets.

While few hardware specs were discussed during the announcement, the Sony tablet S will go on sale in September in Europe and cost 479 euros. And a little later on in November, Sony will bring out the Sony tablet P which will come in at 599 euros.

Some of the big featured discussed is that both tablets will come with full Playstation certfication. The big nosie being made by Sony during the announcement were that Sony tablets are "simple and beautiful to use". A feature called "Simple App" was mentioned brefiedly that is a new way by Sony to organise app which is said to "help users spend less time navigating the app store and more time to just use and play wat they want".

Think back before the iPod, could you have imagined how much it would change the industry? What about the iPhone? Could you have predicted that? Well, Makorakara, a Japanese site has published a rumor on what the next "absolutely different" Apple product could be. The rumor contains no detail at all, but here it is:

Now, they say it's a new "Mac line", and if it were up to my "expertise", I would be guessing a touchscreen Mac? Or maybe a touchscreen MacBook? But, personally... if I was in control of this, here is my idea - let me know what you think:

It seems Apple have shrunk the size of the Samsung Galaxy S to make it look more like a clone of the iPhone in their latest Dutch lawsuit filing. As you can see in the picture below, not only have Apple shrunk the physical size of the Galaxy S handset, but they've also gone into the App Drawer so it looks identical to the home screen of the iPhone. Android users will know, this is not how the phone looks like by default, as there is a desktop with widgets - not Apps like the iOS.

Apple have shrunk the Galaxy S by what seems around 10%, to look absolutely identical in physical size to the iPhone so they can cry fowl that Samsung are copying their design. It was only last week in which Apple submitted shrunken pictures of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet from Samsung, in which they filed a picture misrepresenting the Galaxy Tab 10.1 as an incorrect 4:3 aspect ratio, while the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is actually a 16:10 ratio.

Apple - are you scared? Well, you must be. How about instead of playing like spoilt bullies, you bring out something that changes the industry again, instead of being stagnant and attacking the competition with lies.

Kal-El has been slightly delayed, so we won't see a launch of the chip for a few months yet, but the first tablet based on the new quad-core 40nm Tegra 3 chip, codenamed Kal-El, is going to find it's way into the next-gen ASUS Transformer 2 tablet. The ASUS Transformer has been quite popular, it has near-invincible (almost Superman-like strength?), a keyboard dock with an extra battery and impressive performance all-round. I've been loving my Transformer since I bought it.

NVIDIA CEO, Jen Hsun Huang, said at the last conference call that despite having four cores, Kal-El consumes less power than it's dual-core brother, the Tegra 2. This is a big step for NVIDIA and Huang also said that there are many companies who are working with Kal-El-based designs.

We should see a launch of the Kal-El-based tablets and smartphones in Q1 2012.

One of the big features ASUS was pushing when it launched the Eee Pad Transformer TF101 not long ago is its durable, scratch-resistant, super tough glass. The screen is actually made out of chemically strengthened "Corning Gorilla Glass" that helps protect it from all the bumps and scratches tablets are prone to get.

A video has just been uploaded to YouTube from ASUS which really puts it to the test, with the ultimate goal being to see how much it can withstand before it reaches breaking point.

Normally the thought of rubbing car keys, coins or wood screws all over one of your shiny gadgets would have you cringing pretty quickly, but as you'll see in the video above, in the case of the ASUS Transformer TF101, all the aforementioned talk about the screen isn't just marketing and it really is quite the durable, protective piece of equipment.......... within reason of course (refer to the end of the video).

Google didn't just have news today of purchasing Motorola for $12.5 billion, Larry Page also announced that Android has a total of 150 million (that's 150,000,000!!) activated devices worldwide. That's up from the 130 million mark that they hit last month, and Google are continuing to activate over 550,000 new devices each and every day!

To compare this Oranges to... Apples... Apple have only sold a total of 222 million iOS-based devices to date, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad! If we look at the numbers between last month and this month, 130 to 150 million, that would edge closer to 650,000 activations per day... very nice Google. A pat on the green back for you, my friend. Now, release Android 4.x already!

Acer have today launched the industry's first 7-inch tablet powered by Google's Android 3.2 (Honeycomb) OS in the US and Canada. The A100 sports an incredibly portable sub-one pound design, a vibrant 7-inch multi-touch display and a sleek, thin design that is comfortable to use and take virtually anywhere. The A100 features a 7-inch TFT WSVGA screen that has a 1024x600 resolution and high-color contrast, with a 75-degree wide viewing angle.

The Iconia Tab A100 also has Adobe Flash Player 10.3 pre-installed so that Adobe Flash games and websites can be viewed and enjoyed right out of the box. The A100 also includes a HDMI port so that customers can share and enjoy their tablet on a TV in 1080p, the A100 also supports dual-display. If supported, a game can use the A100 as a controller, while watching and experiencing the game on the larger display thanks to its HDMI output.

Acer A100 also sports a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera with flash and records video at 720p at 30fps. It also includes a 2-megapixel front-facing camera that can be used as a webcam for video chat. Pricing on the A100 starts at just US$329.99 and is available in stores across the United States today. It will get it's Canada on next month.

The iPhone 5 is slowly getting more details leaked about it and it was only last month that the design specification which claimed to be for the iPhone 5 leaked out from Chinese case manufacturers. Now we're seeing some proper mock-ups from 3D modelling software and the iPhone 5 seems to be a slight change over the iPhone 4 and even features some Samsung Galaxy S II-esque designs.

As you can see from the above picture, the iPhone 5 could be thinner and have a larger display. It also sports a larger home button and dives away from its usual circular design to more of a rectangle shape, ala the Samsung Galaxy S II. For all the bitching Apple did with Samsung "copying their design", you would think they would not use a home button that resembles the second- most powerful smartphone maker in the world's phone. Tsk, tsk, Apple.

Rumor has it that the new, larger home button could be used for finger-gestures, that would allow users to quickly switch between multitasking apps. The bigger screen size will be welcome as iOS 5 features a "swipe-down" notification system that is strikingly similar to Google's Android notification bar. The extra screen space would be nice as it would allow a user to drag from top to bottom easier.

What's the best way to reach a friend quickly? Facebook message? Wall post? Text message? Well, it seems to be getting easier with the introduction of Messenger from Facebook, a new mobile app that is said to simplify how messaging works, giving you a faster way to message friends and small groups. Messenger is a separate app and only takes one click to get to your messages or send a new one.

Messages are delivered through notification and texts, so your friends should get them virtually instantly. Messenger is capable of reaching all of your friends, whether they're on your friends list on Facebook or part of your phone contacts, all that is required is for you to type their name. The new Messenger app is an extension of Facebook messages which means all of your conversations are in the single place, inclusive of texts, chats, emails and messages. So if you're on your phone or on the Web, you'll have a full history of your messages.

But, that's not all - Messenger also uses locational services to spice things up. If you're planning something or a last minute change to a trip, with Messenger, you can quickly start a group conversation and message everyone at once. If you choose to add your location, the people you're messaging can easily find each other on the map. Also included is the ability to attach photos so that everyone included in the message can see and comment on what you're looking at.

There are only a few tablets on the market where the operating system and the hardware are all made in house. The Apple iPad is the most famous, Blackberry has the Playbook and now we've got HP releasing the TouchPad. However, unlike the iPad, both the Playbook and the Touchpad launched with a somewhat beta-ish feeling.

The operating systems on both units are glitchy at launch, but I'm happy to say that the Playbook has matured nicely into a market ready tablet in just a few short months. HP's TouchPad seems to have a similar pattern, but has only been on the market a few weeks, so they've got a few major updates to go before they get there.

Having said that WebOS, the TouchPad's OS, is a great piece software. It seems naturally suited to the 9.7-inch screen size, with a card-based interface that makes multitasking easy and even fun. There's no rear-facing camera and the selection of native apps available for the device is minimal, but for basic browsing, emailing and reading, the device performs beautifully and the app selection should only get better in time.

Telstra have announced today that they are launching their 4G/LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology on August 29, ahead of the national launch of 4G-based services expected later this year. Telstra switched on its first 4G base stations back in May based on the LTE technology. 2000 Telstra USB 4G mobile broadband modems would be made available to business and enterprise customers who live in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane from August 29.

Thodey has been quoted:

Dates have been shifting around quite a bit lately, but the latest indication of when the Apple iPhone 5 will launch looks to be September 23. A little more concrete shows that either way, this is also the launch date for Nokia's MeeGo powered N9 smart phone, at least in Sweden it looks like it. A countdown page on Nokia's swedish webpage gives the hint, but it doesn't necessarily mean it applies to all the markets getting the N9, though it's becoming safer to assume most markets should have it by late September.

Running back over the N9, it is Nokia's first MeeGo device, featuring a 3.9-inch curved glass AMOLED display (running 854x480 res). It has a 1GHz TI OMAP 3630 processor, 1GB of RAM, between 16 and 64GB of built-in storage, rear facing 8MP Carl Zeiss equipped auto focus camera and dual LED flash allowing for 720 video recording, and front facing camera for video calling.

The phone has a built in GPS, NFC, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1 and a microUSB port with pentaband WCDMA, quad-band GSM and HSDPA 14.4Mbps support. The phone will be available in three color options; black, cyan and magenta.

It looks as though Apple might be merging its iOS and Mac OS X operating systems into a single unified platform for applications and cloud-based services as soon as 2012, starting with the MacBook Air. Peter Misek with Jefferies & Co said in a note to investors on Wednesday that he sees this transition possible with the next-gen MacBook Air's custom next-generation "A6" processor. This would mean the new iPad, iPhone and MacBook Air would be A6-powered by 2012.

Misek has been quoted:

Google's Android OS has taken an amazing 48% of the smartphone market in Q2 of 2011, which is an all-time high according to a report by market research firm Canalys. Android overtook Symbian in Q4 of 2010 to become to top smartphone platform representing 32.9% market share at the time. Smartphone shipments have increased exponentially also, seeing a total of 107.7 million units shipped in Q2 of 2011 which is a 73% year-on-year growth.

Android was also the biggest driver of smartphone shipments in Q2, with Android-based smartphone shipments being 379% year-over-year higher, coming in at 51.9 million total units shipped. This is thanks to Android being on so many different branded phones such as Samsung, HTC, LG, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, ZTE and Huawei.

Apple also did well, iOS taking Nokia's Symbian platform on and winning, rising from third to second place. 20.3 million iPhones were shipped and Apple took a 19% market share in the smartphone world. Apple also became the world's leading individual smartphone vendor, taking the throne that was previously owned by Nokia. Samsung also passed Nokia, with Nokia facing a rapid decline in demand across multiple markets.

Apple have just posted their third quarter results, giving them an all-time record revenue and earnings. Apple saw a quarterly revenue of $28.57 billion and record quarterly net profit of $7.31 billion or $7.79 per diluted share. To compare to the same quarter of last year, revenue was at $15.70 billion, net quarterly profits say at $3.25 billion or $3.51 per diluted share. International sales make up 62-percent of the quarter's revenue.

Apple sold 20.34 million iPhones in the quarter which is a 142-percent unit growth over the year-ago quarter. iPads flew out the doors with 9.25 million sold during the quarter resulting in a 183-percent unit increase over the year-ago quarter. 3.95 million Macs were sold which was a 14-percent increase over last year and 7.54 million iPods were sold which actually resulted in a 20-percent decline from the year-ago quarter.

Steve Jobs has been quoted saying "We're thrilled to deliver our best quarter ever, with revenue up 82-percent and profits up 125-percent. Right now, we're very focused and excited about bringing iOS 5 and iCloud to our users this fall."

Apple are finally catching up with my good old trusty Nokia 3310, custom text message alert sounds. Sarcasm aside, its about time Apple started offering custom text message alert sounds and iOS 5 beta 3 includes them. The new beta allowed users to fish for new features and one of the first ones was of course the custom alerts for SMS. Others weer subtle like a new icon for Reminders, a toggle for location/GPS settings added to the initial, iTunes-free setup and small tweaks to the wording of certain options.

The biggest thing was a "Buy More Tones" button sitting right in the Text Tone selection screen, where it has never been, ever. Scrolling down further and the custom ringtones people had made themselves or purchased are sitting there waiting to be used as an SMS tone.

WHAT! This is amazing, revolutionary almost... until you remember that Jailbroken iPhones have had this feature for eons and virtually every other handset on this planet allows this except the great Apple. But, finally, Apple are letting users use their phones in a way they want, and not in Apple's almost Nazi fashion.

Back in late December, I mentioned that a company called HEX had a cool silicone watchband in several colors that would turn your new iPod nano into a watch. The only downside to that is that geeks that like to use their nano for working out with the NIKE+ accessory couldn't use the HEX band. HEX has announced that in April it will have a new version of its cool watchband.

I hate fighting with wires to charge my gadgets. They always fall behind something or I lose them under all the boxes that migrate towards my office each week. It is compounded by the fact that I have a ton of gadgets to charge at any given time. If you charge lots of gear and are tired of having to find an outlet and cord for each one you need the Touch-n-go Multi-device charger.