Analyzing news consumption on mobile devices, a recent Pew study looks at education, income level and gender as it relates to watching or reading news.
Detailed within a new study conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, the group asked questions related to how average Americans consumed news on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. After asking a series of questions to approximately 9,500 U.S. adults, the researchers discovered that men were more likely to consume news on mobile devices when compared to women. Specifically, more than forty percent of men consume news on smartphones and tablets while less than a third of women use mobile devices to read or watch news.
In addition, men are more likely to watch news videos on mobile devices as well as read traditional, lengthy news articles. Alternatively, women are more likely to discover news stories on social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
When it comes to sharing news stories, users between the age of 18 to 49 are much more likely to share news stories with their friends compared to anyone over the age of fifty. Anyone under the age of fifty is vastly more likely to watch news videos over reading an in-depth article.
On the topic of the effectiveness of digital advertising, the youngest generation is the most likely to tap on an advertisement. Approximately one fourth of users between the age of 18 to 29 said they touch ad placements on tablets. However, only 12 percent of people between the age of 30 to 49 and seven percent of people over the age of 50 claimed to to the same. However, older users are much more likely to pay for a premium subscription to a news service.
Regarding education, people with a college degree are more likely to consume news on a smartphone or tablet when compared to people that did not complete college. In addition, education levels also show an interesting link to how a person consumes news on a mobile device.
People that have completed college are more likely to use a dedicated news application while people that didn’t complete college are more likely to find news through a Web browser on a tablet or smartphone. As news consumption relates to income levels, people making more than $30,000 a year are more likely to consume news using smartphones and people making more than $75,000 a year are more likely to do the same using a tablet.
Beyond news, people between the age of 18 to 29 are the most likely to play games, use a social network or read a book on a smartphone. That age group is also the most likely to read a book or magazine on a tablet. When comparing tablet usage between iPads and Android devices, iPad users are significantly more likely to use the tablet multiple times a day compared to Android tablet owners. In addition, iPad owners are more likely to consume news on the tablet as well as use social networks and check email. When comparing tablet ownership versus education and income level, people that have graduated from college and make more than $75,000 per year are more likely to own an iPad. Amazon’s Kindle Fire line was included within the Android tablets group.
Barely a day after we caught a glimpse of it in a teaser image on RIM's website, the upcoming BlackBerry L-Series smartphone emerged once again. A rather extensive photo session of the device has made the rounds, this time leaving nothing to imagination as far as hardware goes.
The live images of the previously seen, likely BlackBerry 10 flagship reveal what appears to be a well-built handset with a massive touchscreen. Connectivity looks to be well-covered with microHDMI port and NFC antenna present on the device. We also get to have a peak under the back cover of the device, which reveals a removable 1800mAh battery, microSD card slot, and the microSIM compartment.
With the hardware on the photos looking expectedly solid, it is up to the OS to deliver the goods and meet all the high expectations. We will likely find out on January 30, 2013, when BlackBerry 10 is scheduled to go official.
Google's Nexus (ten points to anyone who can tell us if Nexi is the correct plural) smartphones have always set the standard when it comes to a pure Google experience.
The first Nexus One was a true geek device. Sold only through Google directly (apart from a brief flirtation with Vodafone), it never achieved massive sales. But it gave the world the true raw power of Android without the bloatware of other variants. As of January 2010, the ball was well and truly rolling.
We've had several now – and everyone, it seems, had a go: HTC, Samsung, Asus and LG – though strangely, not Motorola, which is now part of Google itself.
Some handsets we look forward to with much anticipation – only to feel deflated when we actually use them. Others, we wait for with little expectation – and they absolutely blow our socks off.
A stealth surprise. We'll lay our proverbial cards on the table here from the outset. The Nexus 4 is one of those rare devices.
LG's not had the best track record of late. Sure, we thought the Optimus 4X HD was a pretty decent offering, but too little, too late compared to what was already out there by the time LG got it to market.
And whereas LG did have good form when it came to innovation back in the day (who remembers the Chocolate, the Shine – and even the dubious widescreen BL40?), the mojo seemed to have passed.
That's not a dig at the South Koreans – far from it. But just to set the scene to show why we weren't expecting much from the Nexus 4.
Perhaps the worst kept secret since the iPhone 5, the Nexus 4 even got left in a bar in true cliché style. And from the pictures, we weren't alone in thinking it looked like a copy of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
The difference is, when we took the Samsung model out of its box this time last year, we thought it was nice. When we took the Nexus 4 out of its box last week, we thought it was beautiful.
Size wise, the Nexus 4 comes in at 133.9 x 68.7 x 9.1 mm – which means it is similar to its predecessor. But it is far more stunning to look at and hold.
The front is all glass in piano black. Extra tough too thanks to the Corning Gorilla Glass 2. Think iPhone 4 territory, but just a little nicer looking (we are aware that is a matter of opinion, iFans!)
The whole front is set within a dull chrome bezel and the shininess even extends to the rear of the handset, which has an attractive, though unusual sparkly pattern adorning it.
Think the glittery kind of jacket that you could see Cilla Black, Joan Rivers or Shirley Bassey in at an awards ceremony, and you catch our drift.
At 139g, the Nexus 4 isn't the lightest handset in school – but it's just about solid enough to get away with carrying that extra weight and puts those who say Android devices look like toys firmly in their place.
The screen is invisible when off – but when it lights up, you're treated to 4.7-inches of True HD IPS Plus beauty. That's 768 x 1280 pixels with a pixel density of 318. It is razor sharp – blowing Retina out of the water and we'll venture it is one of the best we've seen on a handset.
Another reason for this is because there is such little space between the glass and the display. So where we berated the Optimus 4X HD for leaving enough room here to park a small car, the Nexus 4 leaves no gap at all.
It exudes a clarity that has to be seen to be believed. Colours look beautiful, icons and text are razor sharp and everything floats perfectly.
We find it hard to see how this could be beaten. When you're looking at icons on a black background (like in the app drawer), you can't even see the black, if that makes sense. It is so deep, that icons just float. Beneath the screen, in the centre, but hidden until needed, lies a pulsating notification light.
Another element worth pointing out here is the way the phone curves at the sides, from the main panel into the bezel. It seems to make the screen look even more realistic and beautiful. It's one of those things you really have to experience to appreciate.
Round the edges, you'll find the usual adornments. A 3.5mm headphone jack on top, volume rocker and micro SIM tray on the left, micro USB port plus a few dubious screws on the bottom, and a perfectly placed lock/unlock/power button on the upper right hand side.
It's just in that sweet spot where it's easy to press with the thumb if you're right handed and not impossible if you're a leftie.
There's no way of getting the back off – so you know what that means, peeps. No removable battery and no expandable storage. The former doesn't faze us too much since the 2,100mAh battery pack is no slouch but the lack of memory card allowance is annoying.
Yes, we know that ever since the Nexus S, expandable memory is out. Google's said that it doesn't offer it because it's confusing. But for those with lots of content who can't or don't want to stream, it's a real pain. We don't quite buy Google's argument.
As for the innards, LG has cut no corners here. Make no mistake, this is a premium handset. DC-HSDPA, the very latest iteration of Jelly Bean 4.2, a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, quad-core 1.5GHz processor, A-GPS with GLONASS, NFC and so forth.
But what makes this so sweet is the price. Let's just point out that sim-free, a HTC One X with similar specs will set you back around £399 (around $637/AU$611) – even the 18-month old Samsung Galaxy S2 retails at £329 (around $525/AU$503).
And while last year's Galaxy Nexus will leave your wallet £299 (around $477/AU$458) lighter, this brand new model, the Nexus 4 is priced – almost unbelievably – at £239 ($299/AU$349) for the 8GB version and £279 ($349/AU$480) for 16GB. Yes, the newer Nexus is cheaper than the year old Nexus. Word!
We can't overestimate just how revolutionary this is and it leaves us open-mouthed at how Google is doing this. Either it's selling the Nexus 4 at a loss – or the mark-up on handsets is now shown up as being ridiculously high. Whichever it is, it means the Nexus 4 has a distinct advantage over the competition.
Bizarrely, in the UK Google has promised O2 that it can sell the Nexus 4 as an exclusive for the first month. We can't understand why – especially because you could end up paying £800 for the device over the course of the contract.
Most people with sense (and a bit of spare cash) will buy the Nexus sim-free and get themselves a cheap as chips sim-only plan.
But anyway, with an early November release, that means there'll still be plenty of networks marketing this heavily pre-Christmas once that month-long deal with O2 expires. And we can see the Nexus 4 being on a lot of Christmas lists.
Three of Nokia's Windows Phone 8 Lumia handsets are now available for pre-order in China.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform continues to grow, as the company has started rolling out pre-orders for three of its new Nokia-branded Windows Phone 8 devices in China.
The Lumia 920, Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone 8 handset, and its sibling devices the 820 and the 620, will now be available for Microsoft fans in China. Pricing is as follows, according to Windows blog WMPowerUser: the Lumia 920 will cost RMB 4599 ($736), the 820 will be priced at RMB 3499 ($560) and the Lumia 620 will sell for RMB 1999 ($318). The handsets are expected to be sold through major retailers in the region.
This difference in pricing could give Nokia and Microsoft the chance to cater to various demographics throughout China. The news comes as no surprise, seeing as China Mobile confirmed that it would carry Nokia’s brand of Windows Phone smartphones back in October. Nokia also previously promised that the Lumia 920 would be available in China before the end of the year, and the company appears to have upheld its pledge.
These Windows Phone 8 handsets come days after Nokia announced the newest edition of its Lumia family set to launch exclusively in China: the Lumia 920T. Some sources are referring to the device that just launched in China simply as the Lumia 920, but WMPowerUser calls it the 920T.
The Lumia 920T is a TD-SCDMA version of Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone 8 device. This basically means that it supports both circuit-switched data and packet-switch data, allowing network operators to move from a second-generation wireless network (2G) to a third generation wireless network (3G). In short, the Lumia 920T will operate on China’s speediest network and is the first smartphone in the country to do so.
Otherwise, the device’s specs are entirely identical to the versions available in other countries. The Lumia 920T comes with the same 4.5-inch display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor and other components found in other devices around the globe.
China Mobile currently boasts more than 75 million 3G customers, and if Nokia can manage to flourish in that market it will give the company a much-needed boost. Nokia lost $754 million last quarter, as The Next Web reports, and its partnership with China Mobile could be crucial. A successful Windows Phone 8 launch in China could also give Microsoft the aggressive entrance into 2013 that the company needs, especially after reporting lackluster sales of its Surface tablet.
Check out the video below to get a glimpse of what Windows Phone 8 fans in China can expect.
Google's not playing favorites when it comes to the Nexus brand
When Google's purchase of Motorola was finalized this past May, may expected Moto to take the reins on the next Nexus device.
This was despite repeated statements from Google explaining that Motorola would not receive preferential treatment over partners like Samsung, LG, or Asus when it came to developing a new Nexus smartphone or tablet.
In an interview with Fortune, Google CEO Larry Page again explained the company's plans for Motorola and its partners, and played it rather close to the vest in regards to a new Nexus.
Stopping short of reiterating the company line, Page stated Google's focus was on strong relationships with its partners, and introducing new innovations to the marketplace.
No Moto Nexus, yet
Despite just releasing the Nexus 4 and Nexus 10 in October, industry eyes are looking ahead to what Google will do next with its Nexus brand.
When discussing how Google would approach releasing a Motorola Nexus device, and why there hasn't been one announced yet, Page revealed he thought it was too soon.
"First of all, I don't think there's any physical way we could have released a Nexus Motorola device in that sense," Page said. "I mean, we haven't owned the company long enough."
Since taking control of Motorola Mobility in May, the manufacturer has released several Android smartphones including the Razr HD and Razr Maxx.
Why Google's own Nexus brand hasn't been developed by Moto remains a secret, but as the line's history shows, Google has taken its time with Nexus releases.
The four Nexus phones have all been released at least 12 months apart from one another, though both the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 tablets were released within months of each other.
Page admits the Nexus development has evolved since HTC introduced the Nexus One back in 2010.
"Exactly what we do, which devices we do, what the timing is, how we release the software with them, all those things have been changing," Page said.
Partners in innovation
According to Page, a large part of the Nexus strategy boils down to innovation and quality, and how Google's partners can help bring that about.
"Every day we kind of evaluate how do we help our partners out the right way," Page divulged. "How do we produce amazing innovative devices... and how do we keep our partners happy."
"I think we've done a pretty good job of that so far."
Page was careful to not discuss whether or not one of Google's partners or Motorola would be leading the charge on a new Nexus device, but did explain that the company's plans revolved around the user.
Getting the most efficient and high-quality product into consumer hands is a key point in Google's strategy, and Page hopes the rest of the industry takes note.
Google's CEO has become disparaged with the "island-like" approach the tech industry has taken, with Apple, Google, and Amazon each running their own economic eco-systems.
"I think it would be nice if everybody would get along better and the users didn't suffer as a result of other people's activities," Page explained.
"I try to model that. We try pretty hard to make our products be available as widely as we can. That's our philosophy. I think sometimes we're allowed to do that. Sometimes we're not."
Google's plans for Motorola may still be well under wraps, and the company is clearly not playing favorites, but one has to expect Google will take advantage of Motorola Mobilities capabilities in the coming months.
Yahoo Mail has a new look, faster speed, and new iOS and Windows 8 apps. Can CEO Marissa Mayer's first big release push Yahoo back to the top of the worldwide email food chain?
Yahoo Mail is no longer quite as ancient-looking as it used to be. The tenacious Internet giant announced today an all-new look for its Web mail client, as well as updates to Yahoo Mail for Google’s Android mobile operating system, plus new native apps for Apple’s iOS and Microsoft’s Windows 8.
“You’ve told us loud and clear that you want fewer distractions when it comes to email. You want to quickly login, communicate, and get on with your day,” wrote Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer in an announcement. “And we’ve listened. Starting today, the new Yahoo! Mail is fast, easy, and available anywhere you go.”
Mayer says the new Yahoo Mail has received a noticeable boost in speed, and is “more intuitive and easier to navigate, allowing you to focus on what matters most: your messages.” The company has also designed all versions of Yahoo Mail to have a “consistent look and feel across devices” – an important feature for users who jump back and forth from computer to smartphone and back again.
The Android app, while not entirely new, has also been optimized to use between 20 and 40 percent less battery than the earlier version, according to Yahoo. And of course, the Windows 8 version supports Live Tiles. The only thing missing from the lineup is an iPad app; the iOS version now available is only made for the smaller screens of the iPhone and iPod touch.
The new Yahoo Mail is the first major product launch from Yahoo under Mayer, who was appointed President and CEO of the company in July of this year. Mayer made a name for herself as a successful executive at Google, which she joined in 1999 as employee number 20.
Yahoo Mail remains the number one email client in the U.S., and has 105 million daily users worldwide. Gmail holds the top slot worldwide, however, having stolen Hotmail’s crown in November.
The Web version of the new Yahoo Mail will be rolling out to customers over the next few days, according to Yahoo. If you already have the Android app, it will update automatically. Otherwise, you can download it here. The iPhone app is available here, and the Windows 8 app here.
The HTC Windows Phone 8X was the first device to receive the update
The first update to Microsoft's Windows Phone 8 OS hit the HTC Windows Phone 8X on Monday, and with it came some unexpected features.
The Windows Phone 8 "Portico" update brought the OS from version 9905 to 10211 and was delivered to HTC's flagship Windows Phone 8 device over-the-air.
In addition to the expected improvements to Wi-Fi functionality and fixes for a bug that caused the device to spontaneously reboot, Windows Phone 8 Portico included at least three unexpected SMS features, according to enthusiast blog Windows Phone Central.
Those features make using text messages on the Windows Phone 8X all the easier.
SMS improvements
The Windows Phone 8 10211 Portico update added three SMS features to the HTC Windows Phone 8X that were reportedly not in the update's release notes.
First, users can now save drafts of text messages that can be viewed and sent later.
Windows Phone 8X users can also use a new "select all" option when deleting messages, making the process significantly faster than selecting each message one-by-one.
Finally, a text-back option for rejecting calls has been added, allowing users to compose and select pre-determined responses or type in custom ones on the fly when rejecting a call.
More updates to come
The Windows Phone 8 Portico update arrived first on the HTC 8X on Monday, but its exact release schedule is unclear.
Will Portico arrive on other Windows Phone 8 devices? Will Windows Phone 8 handsets on all carriers receive the update? Are there any other undocumented functions or features that have yet to be discovered?
TechRadar has reached out to Microsoft to get some answers, but the company has not yet responded.
Microsoft and Apple are butting heads over iOS revenue sharing
The SkyDrive app may not have much of a future on iOS according to a new report detailing Microsoft's unwillingness to share revenue with Apple.
Microsoft recently introduced the ability to purchase more cloud storage for SkyDrive in-app, and has balked at sharing that revenue with Apple.
The App Store's clearly explained policy dictates Apple will receive 30 percent of all app sales, as well as 30 percent of all revenue generated by in-app purchases.
Apple would continue to earn 30 percent of the SkyDrive subscription fees even if a consumer no longer used an iOS device, which caused Microsoft to rethink its stance of profit-sharing.
As a result, Apple is now blocking Microsoft's latest update to SkyDrive, despite repeated tries from Microsoft to work out some kind of arrangement.
Third-party problems
Sources familiar with the issue told The Next Web Microsoft has been trying to work out a compromise with Apple, but hasn't had much success.
Microsoft reportedly even said it would remove all subscription options from the app, and thus removing the SkyDrive app's ability to generate revenue, but Apple rebuffed the offer.
Since neither party has been able to resolve the issue, an update fixing a bug that crashes SkyDrive on iOS hasn't been pushed to consumers.
Even more disconcerting are the ramifications being felt by developers who have third-party apps that work in conjunction with SkyDrive.
Several of the apps in question require users to sign in to SkyDrive, but Apple's review team has denied such access claiming "the log in interface must be native and not a link or a web view."
In other words, since users won't have to log-in through Apple, and would instead be able to log-in through Microsoft, the apps are being cut off until Microsoft agrees to pay.
The whole story?
Though The Next Web's sources indicated the primary issue between Apple and Microsoft lied within the SkyDrive commissions, there may be another twist.
According to AllThingsD, the squeeze is being put on SkyDrive due to Microsoft wanting to renegotiate the 70/30 revenue split with Apple over Office 365 subscriptions.
The sources close to the matter didn't divulge just what kind of split Microsoft was instead seeking, but did say Apple reticent to change its policies, even for a massive money maker like Office.
Office Mobile for iOS isn't due to arrive until sometime next year, which gives Microsoft some time to continue negotiations with Apple, even if those talks come at the cost of SkyDrive's users.
Apple's policies shouldn't be new information for anyone involved in developing apps for iOS, so it will be interesting to see just how much flexibility will be given to Microsoft as the discussions progress.
TechRadar has reached out to Microsoft for comment, and will update this article when and if they respond.
Starting December 13, you can head to Verizon's online store and place your order for the Samsung Galaxy Camera. The 4G LTE connected camera will run for $550 and cost $5 to add to your monthly data plan. The device will also be available an in exclusive cobalt black color.
Been wanting to snap some pictures and upload them immediately via Verizon’s 4G LTE network? Well your wishes are oddly specific, but also granted. The Samsung Galaxy Camera will be available for purchase online through Verizon starting December 13, just in time to make it a last minute gift to a loved one – even if that loved one is yourself.
Already available through AT&T, the Samsung Galaxy Camera is making its debut with Verizon with a price tag of $550. That’s $50 more than the asking price at AT&T, but it does come with a couple trade-offs. The internet-accessible camera comes in white or a Verizon exclusive cobalt black casing. It also will only cost $5 to add the camera to your Verizon Share Everything data plan, making it the least expensive device to connect with. This monthly fee is also half the price of AT&T, which charges $10 a month. So if that $50 up front cost looks like a deal breaker, you’ll break even in under a year of use.
Powered by Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the Samsung Galaxy Camera offers 4G LTE connectivity to make it easy to upload every shot you capture through the 21x optical zoom lens. All 16 megapixels of picture will show up on the device’s 4.8 inch HD Super Clear LCD screen. You can read our full review of the device here.
Yahoo! has a bold vision for email: simple and fast
Yahoo! introduced a new Yahoo! Mail experience on Tuesday that purports to bring email back to the basics.
The new Yahoo! Mail includes a redesigned web client, a new Windows 8 desktop app, and mobile apps for iOS and Android, all of which are available starting today.
"The underlying premise of email is pretty simple … yet, somewhere along the way, email got a little complex," Yahoo! Mail and Messenger General Manager Vivek Sharma wrote on the Yahoo! Mail blog on Tuesday morning.
"Today, we're taking a step towards bringing email back to its roots," Sharma continued.
Making email simple again
The reimagined new Yahoo! Mail aims for three bullet points: to be fast, easy and available everywhere.
The new Yahoo! Mail apps have reportedly been "built for speed," while the redesigned web client takes users directly to their inboxes and allows messages to be composed and read more quickly. Improved search functions help as well.
Overall, Sharma wrote on the Yahoo! Mail blog, the changes will save Yahoo! Mail users an average of 36 million minutes every day.
To make the Yahoo! Mail experience easier, Sharma explained, every aspect of the web client has been simplified so users will only see the options that they need.
On the apps side, each version (iOS, Android and Windows 8) reportedly takes advantage of its respective platform's unique functions to make things easier on users.
Yahoo! Mail anywhere
Yahoo! CEO Marissa Mayer emphasized the improvements to the Yahoo! Mail experience in a separate post on the Yahoo! corporate blog.
"We've redesigned the new version of Yahoo! Mail with speed in mind," Mayer wrote on Tuesday morning. "Getting through your emails is faster than ever before.
"We've also made your inbox more intuitive and easier to navigate, allowing you to focus on what matters most: your messages. And, because mobile is everything these days, Yahoo! Mail now has a consistent look and feel across devices."
Mayer wrote that the new Yahoo! Mail web client should roll out to users "over the next few days," while the Windows 8, iOS and Android apps are available now.
The great email wars
Earlier this year, VentureBeat reported that Gmail had pulled ahead in the email wars, with 425 million monthly active users.
That number came straight from Google, while Yahoo! user numbers could only be estimated using third-party data from comScore. But those numbers had Yahoo! at under 300 million users (and Hotmail at 325 million).
TechRadar has reached out to Yahoo! to get more up-to-date user statistics, but the company has yet to respond.
The UK's mobile giants are battling for 4G spectrum
Companies hoping to secure a portion of the 4G airwaves in next year's spectrum auction have today submitted their bids to Ofcom.
The long-delayed auction, now scheduled for March 2013, will divide up the available spectrum and allow mobile networks to press ahead with plans for UK-wide 4G LTE connectivity.
The UK's biggest mobile operators - O2, Vodafone, EE and Three - may face competition from international rivals, private equity firms and other industries for ownership of the all-important airwaves.
All interested parties were required to submit proposals by 4pm on Tuesday, alongside a hefty deposit of £100,000, which Ofcom requested to fend off time wasters.
Ofcom, which has been heavily criticised for delaying the auction process, played up the bidding process, claiming to have 'fired the starting gun' on the path to a full 4G roll out.
Fired the starting gun
Ofcom said the list of bidders will not be made public for a few weeks, while Ofcom assesses the suitability of each proposal and decides whether the company moves onto the next stage of the process.
The respective companies are bidding for access to two bands. The 800MHz spectrum freed up by the analogue TV switch-off and the 2.6MHz spectrum, which will likely be used in dense urban areas.
The 4GEE network was able to launch this autumn on the 1800MHz band it converted from 2G to 4G.
"We have fired the starting gun on the 4G auction process," said Ofcom CEO Ed Richards.
"In the past year alone, mobile internet usage has doubled. The 4G auction will release crucial capacity to support future growth, helping to boost UK productivity, innovation and drive significant improvements to mobile broadband availability across the UK."
Kaptur collects photos into albums of memorable moments shared on yours' and your friend's Facebook Timeline, and the app has gained enough popularity it's hit the one million user milestone.
Sometimes a night or an event isn’t quite memorable enough without a complete photo album to go along with it. And odds are, your friends and family all have a set of images from the same event floating around on their respective Facebook accounts – and some of these photos might be out of your reach. Kaptur, a social photo discovery platform, makes it possible to collect all of your and your friend’s photographs from an event and port them into your own album, collectively all of the image memories you want and need from a single night or event.
It’s not hard to see why Kaptur is embraced by its users. Photo-sharing has exploded, and it doesn’t hurt that the app itself is free. But while the user experience of the site and mobile app isn’t anything to brag about, Kaptur is doing something right to hit the user milestone it recently did.
Kaptur has one million users and has helped collect photos from over 10 million different events. Kaptur founder Tejapaul Bhatia announced that Kaptur, formerly exclusive to the Web, and recently for iPhones and iPads, has been recently picking up steam in the last six months with traffic doubling. The iPhone and iPad app have collectively garnered 250,000 downloads so far.
The company’s core feature is its patent pending technology that’s able to aggregate and organize friend’s photographs from social networks. Once the photographs have been collected into an album, users can share it with friends and family through a customized URL. Kaptur avoids tooling the app with bells and whistles so it’s incredibly foolproof. While the results might be simple enough, the process is one of the more awkward we’ve put ourselves through.
From the get go, you should know that the iPhone is a limiting experience – opt for the desktop or iPad if possible. For now, users are required to sign up and sign in with Facebook, which is the only social network integrated into Kaptur for now. Then they’re introduced to a page with Kaptur’s motto and a menu labeled “Get Started.” This box is where all the navigation happens. You can create new albums by selecting new events based on a date or an album that’s housed on your own Facebook profile, and Kaptur will then give you the option to pull in albums from specific friends or cull your friends’ pictures to find relevant albums. If you’d like friends to contribute to the album, you can invite them to collaborate.
The technology is admittedly powerful enough that it’s able to recognize and suggest similar events no matter how far back the event took place. If you’re feeling adventurous, Kaptur offers an option to collect and display a random event. To view images in succession, there’s an option to view photos in a slideshow. And you can also download the albums should you wish to keep a digital copy on your computer.
The app on the iPhone has kinks to work out. For one, because the desktop app has been ported to fit the smaller screens of the iPhone and iPad devices, Kaptur been shrunk to fit the smaller screens. It’s a chore to navigate or even use for that matter. For the best experience with Kaptur on the iPhone, hold your phone horizontally since this zooms into the app. Sharing, while a feature on the iPhone, doesn’t really work as intended. This is because the custom URL that Kaptur provides is meant to be copy and pasted, but unfortunately the screen size is too small for my fingers to be able to select the URL and copy it in the first place. And viewing the photos by swiping on the iPhone isn’t smooth like flipping through pages on Flipboard.
While there’s room for improvement, Kaptur is undoubtedly growing with $2 million raised from investors, and has inked partnerships with names and brands including Beyoncé, Red Bull, EMI, Sony, Vera Wang and others. And one million users is nothing to shrug at - hopefully it translates into money spent on refining the user experience, and more fingers crossed, we’ll soon be able to pull in photos from apps like Flickr and Instagram in a future iteration.
Now this is as unofficial as it gets folks, so get those saltshakers ready. According to the latest bit of online gossip the next Xiaomi smartphone, presumably named MI-3, will sport the next-gen NVIDIA Tegra 4 chipset, LTE radio and an improved 4.5" screen and will launch in the middle of next year.
The Tegra 4 CPU will offer a quad-core Cortex-A15 CPU with clock speeds between 1.8 GHz and 2 GHz with around 2.5 GB worth of RAM.
The display on the alleged MI-3 is rumored to be a product of JDI (Japan Display Corporation) and should sport a higher ppi count (perhaps 1080p).
Finally, the camera have a 12 megapixel sensor.
All of this sounds really exciting and knowing the kind of competitive pricing Xiaomi normally does, we just hope the company brings the smartphone (if it's real of course) outside of its home market.
Intel has confirmed its next generation systems-on-a-chip will go into production in 2013, ready to take on the might of ARM once again, as its Medfield processors have failed to take hold of the market so far.
Intel has spoken of its near-future plans to tackle the mobile processor market, where it’s currently being soundly beaten by ARM, whose architecture is used on more than 90-percent of the world’s smartphones. While Intel has already had a go at grabbing some of the market for itself with the Medfield Atom chip, its limited adoption has seen it become largely forgotten.
So what’s next for Intel? Its plan is to forge ahead with the creation of much smaller and more efficient mobile systems-on-a-chip, this time built using a 22nm manufacturing process, which it currently uses for its Ivy Bridge PC processors amongst others. Intel’s current crop of mobile chips are built using 32nm technology, and by shrinking them down to 22nm, they would become the smallest of their type in the world.
All this was announced at the International Electron Devices Meeting which took place in San Francisco earlier this week. Reuters reports that the presentation used at the conference promises the 22nm Intel SoCs, “will be ready for high volume manufacturing in 2013.”
Drawing on experience
This makes it all sound very easy, and while Intel has a certain advantage over its competitors by already building 22nm chips – Qualcomm’s at 28nm and Nvidia’s at 40nm – it’s quite different to try and squeeze all the components not usually associated with PC processors, such as the memory and the radios, onto a single, tiny chip. Intel says its going to overcome this problem by employing the same 3D Tri-Gate transistors it uses in the production of its Ivy Bridge chips.
According to a report by Bit-Tech this would, “provide a significant boost in efficiency,” while an Intel spokesperson said 22nm Tri-Gate chips could offer hardware manufacturers with the option of increased performance from the same amount of power, or to keep the performance the same as 32nm chips while lowering power usage. As standby times and battery performance are becoming more important to us, this could be seen as a considerable benefit.
However, for all Intel’s noise, no other date except for 2013 was offered for when the next generation chips would arrive. Because it has taken nearly a year to launch a handful of phones using its Medfield chip, it’s hard to imagine anything much happening at a consumer level before 2014. Earlier this year, Intel Mobile VP Mike Bell said the Merrifield 22nm smartphone SoC would be out in 2013, saying, “This is a really big deal for us,” and that it would, “change the game for Intel in the smartphone world.”
Adding to its expansive collection of Galaxy-branded, Android-filled smartphones, Samsung has reignited its Galaxy Ace sub-franchise with the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 tackling the space between the collection of dedicated entry-level and mid-market handsets.
With a price point that is neither overtly friendly on the wallet or aspirationally expensive, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 bridges the defined boundaries of the smartphone market, featuring a number of notable improvements over its predecessor whilst failing to match the collection of ground-breaking and genre defining specs as its Galaxy S3 branded sibling.
Joining the likes of the Orange San Diego, HTC One V and Nokia Lumia 710 in this no-mans-land of the mobile market, the Galaxy Ace 2 has got a lot to do if it's to stand out from the crowd. It's now available for £160 on a number of PAYG deals, making it an attractive proposition for many.
However, it's still facing competition from its ultra-cheap predecessor, so is there enough technology on offer here?
A well rounded, impressive little handset, the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 plays host to a largely appealing 3.8-inch WVGA TFT capacitive touchscreen display with an 800 x 480 image resolution that is pleasant on the eye despite failing to set the device apart from a number of its upper-end competitors.
Slotting this display into an aesthetically pleasing, albeit largely plastic, design, the second-generation Galaxy Ace has slimmed down with a strong construction that makes the device as impressive in the hand as it is on the eye.
Disappointingly, despite being unveiled and coming to market long after the arrival of Android 4.0, Samsung has opted to omit the use of Google's Ice Cream Sandwich OS in favour of the heavily tried and repeatedly tested Android 2.3 Gingerbread offering that featured on the handset's now dated prelude, the original Samsung Galaxy Ace.
Whilst the use of a repeatedly replaced operating system shows that the Galaxy Ace 2 is far from the perfect smartphone offering, the compact device plays host to a number of spec updates that help it on the road to redemption and which give it an edge over a number of devices that sport far loftier price tags.
And here's some even better news: the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 is going to be one of the range of phones that the Korean brand is going to be updating to Android 4.1.2, or Android Jelly Bean to you and me.
This means an improved camera, faster innards and an improved user interface are all on the way, and will placate those hoards of users that took umbrage at being told they were never going to get their hands on the Ice Cream Sandwich update.
The new version of Android won't be launching until at least Q1 2013, and we'll fully update this review when we get our hands on the new version of the software... but at least you can buy it confident in the knowledge it's not going to be left out in the cold.
Coming for a general all-round overhaul, the Galaxy Ace 2 has been bumped to an 800MHz dual-core processor from a similar speed single-core offering whilst the handset's RAM offering has made the jump from 278MB to a far more respectable 768MB.
As fun as it is functional, the Ace 2 is far from bereft of redeeming qualities on an entertainment front as the handset sees Samsung pair a 5-megapixel rear-mounted camera with autofocus capabilities and integrated LED flash features.
On top of this, the device plays host to improved, 720p HD video recording capabilities that see the handset settled firmly in the mid-market sector. A second, VGA, snapper also feature's on the device's fore.
Lining up at a comfortable 122g in weight and just 10.5mm thick, the latest addition to the Galaxy range of Samsung smartphones sees 4GB of internal storage expanded via microSD compatibility, whilst the standard collection of 3G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity options are further bolstered by GPS and HSDPA offerings.
As impressive in reality as it is on paper, those looking to make use of the Ace 2 will be further pleased by the device's appealing price tag with the handset available now for free on a selection of pay monthly contracts.
Those looking to pick the handset up on a SIM-free pay-as-you-go basis will be able to do so for a now-fair-whack-under the £200 marker, a price that sees the Ace 2 easy trump a number of its rivals on the cost front.
Despite the Samsung Galaxy Ace 2 increasing in screen size over the first-generation model, making the jump from 3.5-inches to 3.8-inches, the Ace 2 is impressively 1mm slimmer than its counterpart, dropping down to a relatively svelte 10.5mm at its thickest point.
Although the handset features a largely plastic construct, the Galaxy Ace 2 is a surprising sturdy and well put together device, offering little unwanted flex or creaking when placed under considerable amounts of stress.
As pleasing as the Ace 2's design is, it is far from unique, sharing a number of characteristics with many of Samsung's most recent Android powered devices with a large, rectangular home button dominating the device's face.
These familiarities aren't necessarily a bad thing; however, with the Ace 2's smoothly curved edges and slim form factor creating a device that is extremely comfortable in the hand as well as remaining of an eye-catching nature.
One design feature that has unfortunately made the jump to the Ace 2 is the Samsung Galaxy standard flimsy and fragile back panel. Offering little reassurance when being removed, the scarily thin component leaves you nervous of snapping when being removed to access the SIM, microSD and battery.
As well as increasing in size, the Galaxy Ace 2 has added weight when compared to its predecessor, although only marginally. Despite adding 9g of weight compared with the original Galaxy Ace model, the Ace 2, which weighs a reasonable 122g, is a reassuring device to hold, not so heavy as to feel uncomfortable but sturdy enough to act as a confidence boosting weight in the hand.
With a rounded-edged finish, the Ace 2 is ergonomically designed to fit comfortably in the hand with the slightly textured back panel offering a small, but hugely reassuring amount of additional grip that will stave off accidental drops and slips.
With little to take away from the handset's seamless and curvaceous form factor, the near mid-market device features just three physical controls with the standard sleep turn power button lining up alongside the equally familiar volume up and volume down options.
Although the volume controls are located in an area prone to accidental presses from errant fingers and thumbs when held in either a standard right and left handed manner, the buttons are reassuringly stiff enough so as not to cause concern.
Further maintaining the handset's untarnished form, the essential microUSB charging dock connector and 3.5mm audio jack port are the only blemishes on an otherwise impeccable finish.
HTC announced the Android 4.0-running One SV last month and now we learn the smartphone will be making its way to Europe.
The first countries to get the device are the UK and Germany and it will even have 4G LTE on select carriers like EE in the UK and Vodafone D2, Telekom, and Telefonica in Germany.
HTC One SV
The HTC One SV will come with a polycarbonate unibody in two colors - Pyrenees blue and Glacier white. It will sport a 4.3" Super LCD 2 of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels), 5 MP camera with bright (F/2.0) wideangle (28mm) lens and 1080p video recording. Among other key specs are the dual-core Krait processor, clocked at 1.2 GHz, 1 GB worth of RAM and the Beats Audio built-in amplifier.
The HTC One SV will become available in the UK and Germany in the coming weeks.
