Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Online newspaper publicly shames bad drivers with mobile app

parking on sidewalk

Harnessing the power of mobile smartphones to bring about public humiliation, a digital newspaper in Russia is going after poor drivers.

Created by an online newspaper in Moscow called The Village, people within Russia can use a mobile application called Parking Douche to inform the public about poor drivers that like to park on sidewalks or other areas that aren’t acceptable for parking a vehicle. After someone downloads the application to their Android smartphone, they can start taking pictures of a driver that’s parked their vehicle illegally. The application requires the person to take two pictures of the vehicle. The first picture should be a wide view to demonstrate the car owner’s poor parking skills and the second picture should be a close up photo of the driver’s registration plate.

parking douche appThe application automatically converts the picture of the registration plate to a text field and asks the smartphone owner to check the validity of the registration plate number. In addition, the user can select the exact color of the car using a color field on the touchscreen as well as the general body shape of the car. Using GPS within the smartphone, the exact location of the parked car is also noted by the application.

After uploading all the data to the newspaper, people that live in the immediate area will start to see pop-up advertisements on The Village and other partner sites. While reading an article, a pop-up advertisement shows a replica of the car’s design and color in addition to the exact registration number on the vehicle’s plate. The caption reads “This parking douche annoys you on this site like he does on ‘Street Name’.

The Village then encourages people to share the poorly parked car on Facebook to get rid of the advertisement. In order to avoid annoying readers of the newspaper that don’t live in the immediate area of the illegally parked car, the advertisements are specifically localized by IP address. Only people living in the immediate area will see the advertisement. Due to requests from people in countries like the United States, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom, management at The Village has made the application open-source software.


Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/newspaper-shames-bad-drivers/

How can the EU accuse Microsoft of stifling competition, but Apple gets a pass?

How can the EU accuse Microsoft of stifling competition, but Apple gets a pass?

Microsoft may be on the hook for up to $7.4 billion thanks to a glitch that stopped offering users a choice over which browser to use, but how come an increasingly dominant Apple has escaped antitrust allegations?

Guess what? Microsoft is the baddie again.

The European Commission has accused Microsoft of ignoring its legal obligations under a 2009 antitrust settlement agreement by failing to offer European users a “browser ballot.” The ballot is supposed to inform European computer users of multiple Web browsers available for the Windows platform and enable them to set a default browser that’s not Internet Explorer. But from February 2011 to July 2012, millions of European users probably did not see the required ballot, meaning Microsoft could potentially be on the hook for many billions of dollars.

What’s the big deal here? Surely most computer users are aware they can download and install any browser they like on their PC? And why is Microsoft required to present a browser ballot and un-bundle Internet Explorer, but Apple can bake its Safari browser (and WebKit) deep into both iOS and OS X without any government scrutiny? What does any of this mean for Microsoft’s tablet-centric Windows RT?

EU browser ballot

EU Browser Ballot

Windows users in Europe have been confronted with a browser choice ballot since 2009 as part of the Microsoft broader antitrust settlement with the European Union. Among other things, Microsoft was accused of abusing Window’s dominant status in the desktop operating system market to give Internet Explorer a major advantage in the browser wars. Microsoft argued bundling IE with Windows was just innovation, and it was no longer meaningful to think of Internet Explorer and Windows as separate things, but European authorities disagreed. Microsoft was required to let PC makers pre-install and ship any browser they liked with Windows (although most stuck with IE), let users uninstall IE if they liked, and offer Windows users a ballot with a choice between a wide variety of other browsers they can download and install. The browser ballot does include IE, but presents browsers randomly to avoid fights over placement. The settlement agreement requires the ballot to be offered through 2014.

Just one problem: When Microsoft released Windows 7 Service Pack 1 in February 2011, Windows stopped showing the browser ballot to many European users. Microsoft has admitted that the browser choice ballot was not displayed, blaming the trouble on a technical error that it corrected within a single business day of hearing about the problem. (However, Microsoft somehow avoided hearing about the problem for almost 18 months.) Microsoft estimated some 28 million Windows 7 PCs that should have seen the browser ballot did not, but the glitch also impacted an unstated number of systems running versions of Windows XP and Vista.

The browser ballot wasn’t the full scope of Microsoft’s settlement with the European Union, and has generally been derided as a weak solution to the larger issue of Microsoft stifling browser competition by bundling Internet Explorer with Windows. However, it is the most public example of changes Microsoft has had to make to avoid antitrust scrutiny, and it may have had an impact: according to StatCounter, Internet Explorer has been eclipsed by both Firefox and Google Chrome in Europe since the browser ballot went into effect.

Microsoft’s settlement with the EU is legally binding. If Microsoft is found to have violated the terms of that settlement, the company could be on the hook for as much as 10 percent of its global annual revenue. For Microsoft’s 2012 fiscal year, that would total up to almost $7.4 billion. The EU could also decide to impose additional requirements on how Microsoft operates within the European Union. For Microsoft, the stakes are high. Microsoft has four weeks to respond and can request an oral hearing. However, the EU will almost certainly see calls to give Microsoft more than a slap on the wrist.

“If companies enter into commitments, they must do what they have committed to do or face the consequences,” noted European Commission President Joaquín Almunia, in a statement. “Companies should be deterred from any temptation to renege on their promises or even to neglect their duties.”

What about Apple?

Whenever we cover news about Microsoft’s legal obligations and what regulatory agencies like the Justice Department and the European Commission have to say about Windows, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, and other products, we always get questions about Apple. Why doesn’t Apple have to serve up a browser ballot in OS X? How can Apple bake its Safari browser into iOS (and make it perform better than any third-party browser) without antitrust authorities crying foul? Basically: Why does Microsoft get a hard time while Apple gets a free ride?

Apple CEO Tim Cook Mac Market Growth Oct 2012

It’s easy to understand why folks ask these questions. After all, at Apple’s high-profile media event yesterday, Apple CEO Tim Cook lauded Apple’s performance in the PC market, noting that Apple not only makes the number one desktop and notebook computers in the U.S. market, but also is seeing its computer business grow about seven times faster than the rest of the PC industry — where the PC world will be lucky to see 2 percent growth for 2012, Apple is looking at 15 percent.

Apple CEO Tim Cook Tablet Web Traffic Oct 2012

And what about Apple’s dominance in other markets? Firms like ABI Research and IHS iSuppli put the iPad’s share of the tablet market at nearly 70 percent for the second quarter of 2012. And since the EU is so concerned about Web browsers, Apple’s CEO Tim Cook trumpeted that iPads are responsible for more than 90 percent of Web browsing traffic from tablets. Why aren’t regulators crying foul over Apple baking Safari so deeply into iOS? Apple even makes it more difficult for third-party iOS browser to compete by consistently rating competing browsers 17+ in the App Store and barring them from using the souped-up Nitro JavaScript engine Safari relies on.

Isn’t Apple’s curated approach to Macs and the iOS ecosystem just another way of saying Apple locks out competition?

Why Apple isn’t getting scrutiny

The reasons Apple skates clear of antitrust scrutiny for its Mac and iOS lines have to do with market share and how the company conducts business.

On the desktop and notebook computer side, Apple may be seeing its computer business grow at a faster rate than the overall PC market, but Apple is not a dominant player. Recent figures from IDC and Gartner don’t even put Apple in the top five PC makers worldwide, and Gartner places Apple third in the U.S. market with a 13.6 percent share. Apple may have the number one desktop and notebook computers in the U.S. market, but it shipped fewer than half the number of computers as HP. What’s more, these figures represent near-historic highs for Apple; it’s tough to argue Apple has somehow been abusing a dominant position in the PC market and needs to be reined in by governments. Moreover, since Apple doesn’t license its operating system, Apple’s computer sales are also representative of OS X’s share of the desktop market. The vast majority of all computers sold from other manufacturers are running Windows — so Microsoft remains the dominant player in the operating systems market.

On the mobile side, the success of the iPhone and the iPad means Apple has a much stronger presence…but guess what? Apple isn’t the market leader in mobile either — that’s Android. According to IDC, in the second quarter of 2012 Android accounted for 68.1 percent of the worldwide smartphone market; Kantar Worldpanel Comtech recently found Android accounted for more than 60 percent of the global smartphone market, and two-thirds of the European mobile market. The iPad does currently account for 70 percent of the tablet market, but remember the iPad got there first, and the market is new enough that being first still carries weight. Amazon, Google, and Samsung are all aggressively marketing Android-based tablets, and Microsoft is about to enter the market with its Surface products.

iPad mini ad

But even if the iPad continues to be the dominant tablet line for years to come — and regulators eventually decide smartphones and tablets are separate markets — Apple likely will still not be subject to the kind of antitrust scrutiny visited on Microsoft over the years. Microsoft drew the ire of regulators not just for having a dominant position in the desktop operating system market (that’s not illegal, and neither is a monopoly), but for abusing that position. Among other things, Microsoft cut deals with computer makers to dictate what software could and could not be included on new systems, fiddled with its APIs so Internet Explorer and other Microsoft applications would have an inherent advantage over competitors, and used its Windows monopoly as a distribution channel for Internet Explorer with the intention of wiping out competitors like Netscape.

With one possible exception, Apple isn’t capable of committing these abuses. Apple doesn’t license its operating system, so it can’t strong arm partners who make iOS devices — there aren’t any. Similarly, with Android the dominant mobile operating system, it’s difficult to argue Apple deciding to bundle capabilities into iOS — like Photo Stream and iCloud, for instance — constitutes an abuse. Competitors can (and are) offering similar services for iOS (Dropbox, Instagram, anyone?) and are free to develop for Android, Windows Phone, Windows RT, or even BlackBerry or Symbian if they like.

The one antitrust concern in iOS might be the built-in Safari Web browser. Apple does permit third-party browsers for iOS — Google Chrome Opera Mini, Atomic, Dolphin, and (heck!) iCab are available for iPhone and iPad, although Mozilla recently “retired” Firefox Home. But Safari outperforms the competition by being able to tap into the high-performance just-in-time (JIT) compiler in the Nitro Javascript engine. Although Web apps got the same capability in iOS 5, third-party Web browsers have to rely on a slower JavaScript engine or (in Opera’s case) outsource Javascript to a remote service. Apple also won’t approve a browser that includes a JIT compiler of its own. Apple claims these restrictions are all about security — iOS is more secure than Windows, OS X, and Android in this regard — and Apple gives Safari a pass because Apple can perform rigorous QA on it as part of iOS. However, is does mean that Safari has an inherent advantage on iOS that competitors can’t match. That’s eerily reminiscent of the API adjustments Microsoft made to favor Internet Explorer on Windows.

What might happen to Microsoft?

Steve Ballmer Microsoft

Although Microsoft is undoubtedly in hot water for breaking the browser ballots (and thus the terms of its settlement with the European Commission), few expect the company will be on the hook for billions of dollars over the issue.

Microsoft doesn’t seem to be slithering out of its mistake. “Although this was the result of a technical error, we take responsibility for what happened, and we are strengthening our internal procedures to help ensure something like this cannot happen again,” the company said in a statement. Microsoft has suggested it be required to display the browser choice ballot for an additional 15 months, which would mean European Windows users would see a browser choice screen through at least 2015. The European Commission hasn’t commented on that suggestion, or any possible sanctions against Microsoft.

Looking forward, Microsoft might face difficulties with Windows RT. When Microsoft ships its ARM operating system this week, it will support one and only one Web browser: Internet Explorer 10. Microsoft is denying third-party developers access to components that would be necessary to create a competitive browser on the platform: not just a JIT Javascript compiler, but lots of other internals that just aren’t accessible to Windows RT apps. Microsoft’s reasons for this decision are very similar to Apple’s reasons for denying access to the Nitro engine: stability and security.

However, Microsoft is also unlikely to see any antitrust action over browsers in Windows RT — at least, not anytime soon. Right now, Windows RT accounts for essentially zero percent of the mobile or tablet market, so Microsoft can’t possibly be abusing a dominant position. Competitors might argue Microsoft’s existing antitrust settlements in the United States and the European Union should be extended to Windows RT, but that’s also difficult. In the United States, federal oversight of Microsoft formally concluded in mid-2011. Oversight in the EU is still ongoing — hence the scuffle over the browser ballot — and terms of the settlement could conceivably be applied to ARM-based devices running Windows RT. However, regulators will probably wait to see if Windows RT goes anywhere. After all, Windows Phone has been out for two years, and nobody is worried about Microsoft abusing its monopoly power there.


Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/how-can-the-eu-come-after-microsoft-for-anticompetiveness-but-apple-gets-a-pass/

EE defends lack of unlimited 4G data plan, claims it would be abused

EE defends lack of unlimited 4G data plan, claims it would be abused
No unlimited plans? Blame network abusers, says EE

EE has defended its decision not to offer unlimited data plans on its new 4G LTE network.

The network announced its tariffs earlier this week with 500MB, 1GB, 3GB, 5GB and 8GB two-year plans available ranging from £36 all the way upto £56 a month.

Pippa Dunn, EE's consumer CMO, told TechCrunch that they didn't feel it was necessary to take the step as only "super techies" want unlimited data and catering to them would have forced the prices up further.

She said: "You've got your super techie people… who would love nothing more than for us to have given unlimited data packages but for the vast majority of the 27 million who are our customers they don't need it.

"If we'd had to price for allowing all of those techie users to be able to use as much data as they'd want your average consumer would really have suffered."

Network abusers

Dunn said, on average, Orange and T-Mobile customers are falling way below their allocations and by offering unlimited data the company would have attracted people who would abuse the network.

She added: "We've looked at what customers are using at the moment and on average an Orange customer on a £36 plan uses less than 500MB a month and those customers who are on unlimited plans on T-Mobile Full Monty on average use 1.5GB.

"We don't think [unlimited data is] necessary [for 4GEE]. The only thing that happens when you get an unlimited data plan is you attract the people who cane the network and that's not great for any consumer.

"There will be customers on our network who are using 50GB of data a month… so you end up with customers who are basically making the service worse for all other consumers."

EE's 4G network goes live on October 30 and will, initially, offer LTE connectivity on the iPhone 5 with more handsets incoming by the end of 2012.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ee-defends-lack-of-unlimited-4g-data-plan-claims-it-would-be-abused-1107066

EE defends lack of unlimited 4G data plans, claims it would be abused

EE defends lack of unlimited 4G data plans, claims it would be abused
No unlimited plans? Blame network abusers, says EE

EE has defended its decision not to offer unlimited data plans on its new 4G LTE network.

The network announced its tariffs earlier this week with 500MB, 1GB, 3GB, 5GB and 8GB two-year plans available ranging from £36 all the way upto £56 a month.

Pippa Dunn, EE's consumer CMO, told TechCrunch that they didn't feel it was necessary to take the step as only "super techies" want unlimited data and catering to them would have forced the prices up further.

She said: "You've got your super techie people… who would love nothing more than for us to have given unlimited data packages but for the vast majority of the 27 million who are our customers they don't need it.

"If we'd had to price for allowing all of those techie users to be able to use as much data as they'd want your average consumer would really have suffered."

Network abusers

Dunn said, on average, Orange and T-Mobile customers are falling way below their allocations and by offering unlimited data the company would have attracted people who would abuse the network.

She added: "We've looked at what customers are using at the moment and on average an Orange customer on a £36 plan uses less than 500MB a month and those customers who are on unlimited plans on T-Mobile Full Monty on average use 1.5GB.

"We don't think [unlimited data is] necessary [for 4GEE]. The only thing that happens when you get an unlimited data plan is you attract the people who cane the network and that's not great for any consumer.

"There will be customers on our network who are using 50GB of data a month… so you end up with customers who are basically making the service worse for all other consumers."

EE's 4G network goes live on October 30 and will, initially, offer LTE connectivity on the iPhone 5 with more handsets incoming by the end of 2012.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ee-defends-lack-of-unlimited-4g-data-plans-claims-it-would-be-abused-1107066

EE defends lack of unlimited 4G data plans

EE defends lack of unlimited 4G data plans
No unlimited plans? Blame network abusers, says EE

EE has defended its decision not to offer unlimited data plans on its new 4G LTE network.

The network announced its tariffs earlier this week with 500MB, 1GB, 3GB, 5GB and 8GB two-year plans available ranging from £36 all the way upto £56 a month.

Pippa Dunn, EE's consumer CMO, told TechCrunch that they didn't feel it was necessary to take the step as only "super techies" want unlimited data and catering to them would have forced the prices up further.

She said: "You've got your super techie people… who would love nothing more than for us to have given unlimited data packages but for the vast majority of the 27 million who are our customers they don't need it.

"If we'd had to price for allowing all of those techie users to be able to use as much data as they'd want your average consumer would really have suffered."

Network abusers

Dunn said, on average, Orange and T-Mobile customers are falling way below their allocations and by offering unlimited data the company would have attracted people who would abuse the network.

She added: "We've looked at what customers are using at the moment and on average an Orange customer on a £36 plan uses less than 500MB a month and those customers who are on unlimited plans on T-Mobile Full Monty on average use 1.5GB.

"We don't think [unlimited data is] necessary [for 4GEE]. The only thing that happens when you get an unlimited data plan is you attract the people who cane the network and that's not great for any consumer.

"There will be customers on our network who are using 50GB of data a month… so you end up with customers who are basically making the service worse for all other consumers."

EE's 4G network goes live on October 30 and will, initially, offer LTE connectivity on the iPhone 5 with more handsets incoming by the end of 2012.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/ee-defends-lack-of-unlimited-4g-data-plans-1107066

Rumored Samsung Galaxy Premier photographed in the wild

Rumored Samsung Galaxy Premier photographed in the wild
Ready for its premier? (credit: @evleaks)

A new photo of the rumored Samsung Galaxy Premier appeared online Wednesday, thanks to serial tipsters @evleaks.

The photo was tweeted from the @evleaks account with the message, "Samsung GT-I9260 (Galaxy Premier?) in the wild."

If the device pictured really is the Galaxy Premier, then it does indeed bear a striking resemblance to the popular Galaxy S3, matching previous rumors.

Overall, the Galaxy Premier is believed to lie somewhere between the Galaxy Nexus and the Galaxy S3, a notion that's supported by all the details that have leaked so far.

Inside the Samsung Galaxy Premier

Previous and current reports agree that the Samsung Galaxy Premier will fall somewhere between the Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy S3 in pricing and power.

The original Galaxy Premier report, which stemmed from a German website shortly after the official announcement of the Galaxy S3 Mini, claimed the Premier would sport a 1.5GHz dual core processor, a 4.6-inch 180x720 Super AMOLED display, an 8-megapixel camera, Bluetooth 4.0, NFC and DLNA.

That report also said the Premier would run Android 4.1: Jelly Bean out of the box.

Later rumors mentioned a 2-megapixel front camera and changed the display size to a possible 4.65 inches, while Wednesday's report adds 1GB of RAM, a microSD slot for up to 32GB of extra storage, an LED flash and Samsung's TouchWiz UI.

@evleaks has the goods

This isn't the first time the Twitter account @evleaks has outed pictures of an unreleased and unannounced device.

Most recently, the serial tipsters behind the account tweeted photos of the under-wraps LG Nexus 4 - on two separate occasions.

Photos of the Nokia Lumia 920 and Lumia 820 were also leaked by the account, as well as some images of the HTC One X+.

Unfortunately, those leaks don't come with many specifics, such as when the Galaxy Premier might actually be announced by Google or Samsung. Stay tuned for that.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/rumored-samsung-galaxy-premier-photographed-in-the-wild-1106989

News.me blames Twitter and withdraws iOS app from App Store to focus on Digg

news me

News.me's team - which is part of Betworks - is shifting its focus to Digg now that the Twitter restrictions have forced the startup to rethink its priorities.

Social news curation app News.me is bowing out and you’ll no longer find it up in the App Store as of today, although existing users who have downloaded the app will receive continued support.

News.me announced today that Twitter is to blame for the decision. Twitter had been silently building out its own platform discovery features, which were recently introduced. “This move did not come as much of a surprise to us, but it put Twitter squarely in the category of ‘competitor’ to News.me,” News.me General Manager Jake Levine said in a statement. News.me was then faced with a dilemma after the new Twitter API restrictions were in place. The app was violating Twitter’s updated Display Requirements and sticking around would mean sinkng more resources into News.me to keep Twitter and the curation app’s users content. Instead the team chose to turn its focus elsewhere. Levine boiled it down the decision to one point: “We don’t want to invest time and energy into an application that competes with a platform on which it relies.”

You can still receive the latest news shared by your friends in News.me’s email digest, and all current users of the News.me app will be supported by the team. This just means that if you’ve wanted to download the app to your iOS device but never got around to it, you’re out of luck. The next best option is to sign up for News.me’s email digest, which will send your friends’ shared news straight to your inbox.

It’s unknown how long current user support will last. After all, the mark of a successful news reader app is the number of users it’s able to attract.

As the Betaworks-incubated startup winds down its attention on News.me, they’re shifting focus to the recently acquired and relaunched Digg, where they’ve already invested their efforts. Digg iself is a social news curation site in many respects so the team will continue working together. Levine explains that the News.me team will “take what we learned from News.me to build the Internet’s best social news applications.”

He posted some promising numbers about Digg’s relaunch that seem to suggest the site has a good chance of being resurrected from near death. According to Levine over one million people have visited the new Digg and only three months after Digg’s iPad and iPhone apps were released, its mobile app user numbers are nearing those of desktop app users. Levine then pointed out a chart from The Atlantic, indicating that Digg appears to send more referral traffic than StumbleUpon.

If you’re bummed about the stats of News.me, Digg is a viable substitute with the same team and technology behind it. Of course the bigger takeaway from the shuttering of News.me is that yet another Twitter app has had to shut down or switch tactics since the API restrictions were handed down. 


Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/news-me-withdraws-ios-app/

Google: Video games take up more tablet time than social networking, video

ipad mini

A new study on tablet usage from Google found that people use their tablets to check their email more than anything else. After that, they spend more time playing video games than anything else.

Players are not playing on video game consoles quite as much as they once did. Handhelds are hurting as well. Now even social gaming, the segment that was eating into console and handheld time just a few years ago, is transforming into something else, losing players that once stayed glued to their desktop screens to other activities. Where is everyone going? According to Google, tablets are the machines people play video games on these days.

A new study called “Understanding Tablet Use: A Multi-Method Exploration,” compiled by Hendrik Muller, John Webb, and Jennifer Gove of Google found, unsurprisingly, that video games are a central activity for tablet owners. “[Our] goals were to provide a detailed picture of how people are using tablets today. We investigated when, where, why, and how people interact with content on their tablets,” reads the study, “We explored activities including, but not limited to, media consumption, shopping, cooking, and productivity.”

What did the 33 participants in Google’s study do the most with their tablets? Check their email. After that, though, Google found that the most common activity other than checking email on a tablet is playing video games. More than 51 percent of those surveyed used their tablet for gaming, and almost 11 percent of all time spent using the tablet was for playing games.

Email use came first by a wide margin, with more than 84 percent of respondents using tablets for checking mail and nearly 19 percent of all time on the device spent doing so. What’s significant about Google’s findings in regard to gaming though is that it found people spent significantly more time playing games than they did on social networks, watching videos, shopping, or even web surfing. Even in those cases when a larger percentage of participants used their tablet for those activities—more than 57 percent of users used their devices for social networking for example—they spent just over 6 percent of their tablet time checking the networks, far less than on games.

Similar studies have been conducted in the past couple of years, as Google’s own says, but this study differs significantly. Nielsen, for example, found that social networking and video watching were took up more time than game playing. User habits are changing and fast.

What does that mean for game developers? Hard to say. Making money on tablets, even Apple’s hyper-popular iPad, is difficult. The average revenue from an iOS game is just $2400. People may be playing on tablets, but they’re still not spending what they do on consoles.


Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/google-video-games-tablet-time/

Nexus 4 benchmarked, Android 4.2 confirmed

The LG Nexus 4, under the codename Mako, has surfaced in the GLBenchmark scoreboard, securing itself a top 4 place, just behind the Pantech Vega IM-A850, Asus PadFone 2 and the Xiaomi MI-2. All of these, like the Nexus 4, are rocking a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with the Adreno 320 GPU.

The published information on the GLBenchmark website cites Android 4.2 as the OS running on the Nexus 4, which all but confirms the next Nexus will come with it out of box.

There's also a new picture of the LG-made Nexus device courtesy of @evleaks on Twitter.


Click for larger image

The Nexus 4 got 30.4 frames per second in the offscreen 1080p Egypt test, which coincides with what we achieved on the Optimus G in our review.

Thanks for the tip, r4yN!

Source 1 | Source 2


Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/nexus_4_benchmarked_android_42_confirmed-news-4994.php

LG Nexus 4 leaks in official press shot

LG Nexus 4 leaks in official press shot
That Nexus branding on the back is new (credit: @evleaks)

Yet another picture of the LG Nexus 4 has leaked, and this one looks like an official press shot.

The device looks like it's changed since we saw it last as well, with some new Nexus branding on the back.

Otherwise it's the same as we've seen previously, with the familiar three icons below the screen.

The image comes courtesy of the Twitter account @evleaks.

Monday's launch

LG's first Nexus-branded smartphone is turning out to be the worst-kept secret in tech. One of LG's own execs has reportedly even told reporters the handset will be unveiled at Monday's event.

Amit Gujral, LG's head of mobile product planning in India, told IBNLive that the LG Nexus 4 will launch at Google's Android event on October 29. Though an LG spokesperson later said Gujral had been misquoted.

We've also seen a slew of leaked snaps over the last few weeks.

The LG Nexus 4 is expected to have a 4.7-inch screen. Inside we're looking at a 1.5GHz quad-core chip, and it'll have the latest version of Android. That's Jelly Bean 4.2.

Other reports also said the Nexus 4 would come in two versions, one with an 8-megapixel camera, the other a 13-megapixel. It should have 2GB of memory, either 8GB or 16GB storage, and the screen resolution is predicted to be 1,280x768 pixels.

Google is also expected to open up the Nexus family at Monday's event. That'll mean anyone can make Nexus-branded devices, so long as they meet Google minimum spec requirements.

Via SlashGear


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/lg-nexus-4-leaks-in-official-press-shot-1106898

Dell XPS 10 Windows tablet up for pre-order, priced to match Microsoft’s Surface

Dell has placed its 10.1-inch Windows RT tablet, the XPS 10, up for pre-order through its website, where the price matches that of the Microsoft Surface. Anyone hoping to get one at the end of this month could be disappointed though.

Dell’s wide range of Windows 8 tablets and computers is baffling enough, without the company compounding the confusion by trickling out details on each one over an extended period of time, to the point where nobody knows what’s new and what’s already been announced.

The XPS 10 tablet seems to be a new model, but it has certainly been spotted before, as it’s included in our roundup of interesting Windows 8 tablets, however with a few key details missing. Dell has now filled in the blanks with a complete spec list and provided the all-important price tag too.

It’s an ARM-based tablet that uses a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor, meaning it runs Windows RT, and has a 10.1-inch touchscreen with a 1366 x 768 pixel resolution. The basic model comes with 32GB of internal memory, but you can pay more to take this to 64GB.

On the rear of the tablet is a 5-megapixel autofocus camera, while a 2-megapixel camera with 720p video sits above the screen, plus other features include dual-band Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and a microSD card slot. The XPS 10 is compatible with Dell’s keyboard dock, which offers an almost full-size keyboard and a trackpad, plus another battery to keep things going.

Dell offers either a 32GB or 64GB XPS 10 tablet, and it will provide an option for 3G/4G connectivity later in the year or early next. The basic 32GB with Wi-Fi model costs $499 and it’ll be $599 for the 64GB version, although if you want the keyboard dock you’ll have to splash out $679 and $779 respectively.

The headline $499 price tag is the same as Microsoft will charge for its Windows RT Surface tablet, although Dell’s proper keyboard dock is slightly more expensive than the Touch Cover keyboard accessory.

You can pre-order the XPS 10 from Dell right now, and although some reports are saying the tablets have an October 26 release, Dell’s website is quoting a December 11 shipping date.


Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/dell-xps-10-windows-rt-tablet-priced-at-499/

Xperia E and E Dual leak, marked as Sony's new entry-level droids

Sony is preparing to refresh its entry-level Android line-up, as Indonesian site Postel has leaked the Xperia E and Xperia E Dual model names.

Codenamed NanHu DS (dual SIM) and NanHu SS, both the Sony Xperia E Dual and Xperia E will feature Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7227A chipsets with Adreno 200 graphics. The two will run Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich on a 320 x 480 resolution display.

As of yet there aren't any photos, but Xperia E sholdn't be any larger than the Xperia tipo, nor more expensive. Still, we are yet to get more detailed information on the two handsets in the coming weeks.

Source | Via


Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/the_xperia_e_and_e_dual_leak_marked_as_sonys_new_entrylevel_droids-news-4993.php

Samsung Galaxy Premier live picture appear on Twitter

A live picture of the Samsung Galaxy Premier has popped up on Twitter courtesy of @evleaks. The device follows the design scheme of the Samsung Galaxy S III mini although the sensors above the display are on the right of the speaker, instead of on the left.

The Samsung Galaxy Premier is rumored to feature a 4.65" Super AMOLED Plus of 720 x 1280 pixel resolution but Sammobile has recovered a PDF file that points to a WVGA screen.


Click for larger image

The Premier will also feature a dual-core TI OMAP 4470 chipset with two cores clocked at 1.5 GHz and a PowerVR SGX 544 graphics processor. There will also be an 8 MP camera, and 8GB/16GB built-in memory with microSD card expansion on board.

Source | Via


Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_premier_live_picture_leaked_on_twitter-news-4991.php

Samsung Galaxy Note II pricing on T-Mobile and AT&T revealed

The Samsung Galaxy Note II has been priced by AT&T and T-Mobile in the US and we also got availability info.

The phone will set back AT&T users $299.99 on a two-year commitment and the device will come with LTE on tap. T-Mobile is offering the device in Marble White and Titanium Grey but slightly overpriced at $369.99, and that's including a $50 mail-in rebate.



Pre-orders for the Note II on AT&T start tomorrow while the device will be available in stores from November 9. The T-Mobile website says that the smartphone is already available.

The Galaxy Note II is about to complete its global tour. It features an improved 5.5" Super AMOLED display, a quad-core Exynos processor, 8 MP snapper and a new S-Pen.

If you're not sure about a Note II you could always check out our in-depth review of the phablet.

Source 1 | Source 2 | Source 3 | Via 1 | Via 2


Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/samsung_galaxy_note_ii_pricing_on_tmobile_and_at_t_revealed-news-4990.php

LG reports $139 million Q3 net profit, looks pretty healthy

LG reports $139 million Q3 net profit, looks pretty healthy
Will it boost LG's profits?

LG has posted its financial results for the third quarter of the year, and it's the third period in a row it's turned a profit.

The Korean company made 157 billion won ($138.57 million, £87 million) - not a staggering amount, and it's actually down on last year. But in these uncertain economic times, any profit is good news.

LG describes its home theatre and mobile businesses as giving "solid" performances. Its mobile side made an operating profit of $19.42 million (£12.13 million), which was up a little on the second quarter. And expect this to get even better, when it reveals its Nexus-branded handset next week.

Sales of LG LCD TVs, 3D and LED sets were also on the rise from last quarter. Again, expect sales to improve in the winter months as more people shun the bad weather to stay in with the gogglebox.

LG also claims it'll increase sales of LCD TVs in this quarter by pushing its CINEMA 3D Smart TVs and its new Ultra HD TV.

Nexus 4

LG is widely expected to announce its Nexus 4 handset next week at a Google event. It's one of the worst-kept secrets in tech, with photos aplenty leaking, and even an exec confirming Monday's launch.

The device is expected to look like the Galaxy Nexus, with a screen around 4.7-inches in size. Inside will be a quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, and it's expected to run the latest version of Android.

Google is also expected to open up the Nexus family, so anyone can make devices under the umbrella, as long as they meet the spec requirements.

Via Engadget


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/lg-reports-139-million-q3-net-profit-looks-pretty-healthy-1106810

HTC Desire X review

HTC Desire X review

You may have been mistaken for thinking that there wasn't really a gap between the HTC One V and the HTC Desire C, but you'd be wrong, as the HTC Desire X forces its way between the two handsets.

On paper there's very little to separate the Desire X from the One V, as this new smartphone appears to be an almost carbon copy of its One series brother.

You can pick up the Desire X for around £215 SIM-free, while it's also available for free on contracts starting from £20.50 per month.

HTC Desire X review

This isn't too similar to the One V, which is actually available of cheaper monthly contracts (starting at £15.50), while SIM-free it's a little dearer at £230.

As well as the in-fighting with the One V, the HTC Desire X also has the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S Advance, Galaxy Ace 2, Sony Xperia P and Orange San Diego to contend with in the now crowded middle market of the smartphone world.

The main difference from the One V it seems is the design, with the HTC Desire X sporting a look and feel which owners of the flagship HTC One X will be familiar with, however the polycarbonate unibody is out, in favour of a rubberised plastic back which you can peel off.

HTC Desire X review

On the front of the Desire X you find the 4-inch, Super LCD display with three touch buttons below it, back, home and multi-tasking, which tells you this handset is packing Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich – but you won't find a front-facing camera here.

The case slightly juts out below the capacitive buttons, and while not as obvious as the "chin" on the One V and the old school HTC Hero, the lip is noticeable when you run your finger down the phone.

HTC Desire X review

The diminutive size of the Desire X - it measures 118.5 x 62.3 x 9.3 mm - means it fits comfortably in the hand, with the rubber coated rear providing a high level of grip, allowing you to keep hold of the phone.

Build quality appears solid, but the Desire X weighs just 114g, meaning it's deceptively light, which certainly isn't a bad thing and means you can slip it into a pocket without issue.

There's not many physical buttons on the Desire X, with a volume rocker switch located towards the top of the right side and a power/lock setting in a central position on top of the phone.

HTC Desire X review

The centralised position of the lock button means reaching it with your thumb is out of the question - your index finger is the digit required to manipulate this key.

While easy to hit, those who may be switching from a Samsung device, which have the power/lock key located on the right side for easy thumbing (when held in the right hand), may find this new movement a little alien at first – but you'll quickly get used to it.

Also up top is a 3.5mm audio jack, while on the left hand side is a microUSB port for charging and connecting the Desire X to other devices.

HTC Desire X review

On the back the 5MP camera and single LED flash are housed in their own oval zone, which evokes the Evo 3D language from a year ago, but fits more slickly into the architecture of the HTC Desire X.

Underneath the back cover there's a relatively average 1,650mAh battery, standard size SIM card slot and a microSD slot which supports cards up to 32GB in size, allowing you to build on the 4GB of internal storage.

Getting the rear cover off however is a little challenging, as there's no obvious indentation which encourages you to slip a finger nail in and peel it off.

HTC Desire X review

Instead you're left trying to prise your nail between the front and back of the Desire X, and we found the best place is you work your way in at the top.

Once you're in you can pull the wafer thin cover off, be careful as it hugs the chin at the bottom of the Desire X, and you'll notice that it feels slightly flimsy.

HTC Desire X review

The power/lock button and volume rocker are attached to the rear case and the construction doesn't fill you with confidence once you've taken the cover off, as the thin plastic feels like it could break very easily.

We'd advise against taking the back cover off the HTC Desire X too much, but apart from that it's a smart, if uninspired handset which should be able to stand up for itself in the middle of the mobile market.

Thanks to Unlocked-Mobiles.com for getting the HTC Desire X to us in super quick time!


Source : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/phones/mobile-phones/htc-desire-x-1093689/review

TomTom for Android review

TomTom for Android review

For several years you had a choice when it came to in-car navigation. Factory-fit or dedicated device.

But now there's a third option: Full-function, turn-by-turn sat nav apps for smartphones. TomTom's just added to the party with its somewhat belated app for Android.

In theory you get all the advantages of a dedicated nav device, but without the need to buy an extra device or pay for an additional data plan and all that jazz that comes with a high end sat nav device. It's got to be a win, surely?

TomTom Android

The proposition only gets stronger when you consider that TomTom is one of the very best nav specialists and Android the most popular smartphone platform. And with the app you get free map updates... for life. What's not to like?

For one thing, there are plenty of alternative navigation apps for the Android platform. Oh, yeah, and lest you have forgotten, Google Maps for Android does the turn-by-turn thing for free. So TomTom for Android needs to be a bit special.

Google Maps Navigation

Death to navigation devices?

Indeed, this app could be important as the nav industry is in a critical transitional phase. Dedicated devices, otherwise known as personal navigation devices or PNDs look like an endangered species. So it's quality of mapping and associated services that really matter.

TomTom knows this and is very progressive. But partnership with Apple with iOS has hardly started how they hoped. Anyway, interesting times. let's have a look at what tomtom's new app for android actually delivers. First the theoreticals.

TomTom Android

Available to buy now from Google Play (Android App Store on devices with older versions of Android), a wide range of map packs are available. We tested the pan-European map pack.

You pays your money...

Yours for £30.99 it's a big old download, clocking in over 3GB, so you'll need plenty of available storage on your device. Note also we couldn't find any options for choosing the storage location, which could be a problem if you've maxed out your internal memory and we're hoping to stick TomTom onto a storage card.

That said, the download is a one-time hit and critically means you have those maps stored locally. You're not dependent on an internet connection for basic navigation, in other words, though you'll need one for some of the live services, including HD Traffic.

TomTom Android

Also, for the record the UK-only map is under 400MB in size, so if you're not planning on a Euro tour, storage needs are far from excessive, and it's cheaper to buy that option compared to the full UK & Europe version.

Screen test

As it happens, it's at this installation stage that the TomTom app's biggest problem appears. At launch it only works with 800 x 480 and 854 x 540 screen resolutions. So the latest generation of 720p HD handsets with 1,280 x 720 screens are totally incompatible.

That rules out pretty much all of the hot handsets out there at the moment. Hmmm.

Anyway, beyond simple mapping, the app delivers TomTom's funky connected features. For starters, this means HD Traffic that's miles better than the RDS-TMC data that most built-in navigation devices rely on.

TomTom Android

Then there's TomTom IQ routes, which takes into account things like historical data for traffic flows to work out the best possible routes, rather than just relying of theoretical information like posted speed limits and simple distances.

Rounding the feature set out are usual TomTom suspects like Google-powered Local Search, an offline POI database and of course seven-digit postcode support. The latter is something you may be surprised to learn still isn't supported by some factory-fit navigation systems.

Performance

First up, the TomTom app benefits from smartphone installation straight away thanks to the capacitive touch screens and responsive interfaces on Android devices. It makes for a much slicker, less frustrating experience than the resistive screens users of TomTom's own devices know all too well.

As for the actual graphics and mapping quality, that's never been a TomTom strength if you're looking for Hollywood style 3D visuals. But what matters here is clarity and legibility and just like TomTom's dedicated devices, the app absolutely delivers.

TomTom for Android

It's not absolutely identical to TomTom's own devices. But where it differs, it's usually better, with a drop shadow here or a transparency there giving the app a slightly more contemporary feel.

Fully functional

Critically, however, the stuff you really need, things like time to destination, distance to destination, your speed and the local speed limit remain available to be overlaid on the map.

TomTom's familiar prompts and cues for upcoming exits and junctions, too. They're probably the best in the business. Certainly, you're much less likely to misinterpret and TomTom guidance cue than that of most built-in navigation solutions.

TomTom Android

As with TomTom devices, the POI and Local Search setup is a bit confusing. It's not immediately obvious to new users why you'd use one over the other and can be tricky to use to find things that ought to be easy, like train stations and major airports.

A better search solution

TomTom Android

We'd like to see all this unified in a much cleverer single context-aware search function. Elsewhere, extras like the speed camera database and HD Traffic work just like they do on TomTom devices, which is to say pretty well.

Problem is, you have to pay extra for both. HD Traffic is £3.99 a month or £26.99. The numbers for the camera database are £1.49 and £16.99 respectively.

That said, we're happy to report it runs pretty smoothly on a rather stately, two-year old Samsung Galaxy S. In fact, even on such an ancient handset it calculate routes pretty niftily.

TomTom Android

Verdict

Exactly how it runs on the latest HD uber phones, we'll have to wait and see. As we mentioned, that's because the app is not currently compatible with 720p HD screens. When it is, it'll be a much more popular option and we'll take another look at it.

We can imagine the route calculation tearing along at quite a lick on the latest dual and quad-core CPUs. Still, it's a very odd oversight from TomTom to launch without HD handset support.

Oh, and don't forget you'll need some kind of cradle and charger to use the app properly, which will add to the cost. But assuming your handset is compatible, you can now have the full TomTom experience without a standalone device.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/reviews/car-tech/tom-tom-gps-and-sat-nav/tomtom-for-android-review-1093909/review

Microsoft still focusing on Touch Cover – new video explains how it was made

Just a couple of days before Microsoft's new Surface tablet begins landing in the hands of expectant consumers, the Redmond-based company posted a video explaining a little bit about the development of the tablet's optional keyboard/cover, the Touch Cover. The company has been highlighting the attachment almost as much as the tablet itself.

So as not to leave consumers in any doubt that it’s the Touch Cover that makes the Surface special, Microsoft has posted a video on the Web telling us a little bit about how it came together.

The 100-second production features a bunch of Microsoft developers sitting around a table in a workshop, fiddling about with old Touch Cover models and prototypes while poring over notes and diagrams scrawled on a whiteboard

“We spent months and months with our designers and engineers to perfect how this attachment works,” one of the video’s participants says, adding, “We’ve been able to create a pressure sensitive keyboard 3mm in thickness that has the performance of a laptop keyboard, and that’s incredible.” The first coming-together-of-tablet-and-Touch-Cover occurs at the 30-second mark, producing that now familiar ‘click’ sound. Yes, familiar – that’s pretty amazing considering the Surface and Touch Cover haven’t even launched yet, but hey, that’s marketing for you.

In fact, Microsoft is singing the praises of the Touch Cover to such an extent that you could be forgiven for thinking it’s the tablet part which is the add-on.

In a recent interview with Microsoft’s Next blog, company co-founder and chairman Bill Gates was beside himself with unbridled joy when it came to the subject of the Touch Cover. “When you show people that hinge….you can’t appreciate it without seeing it,” he enthused, before insisting that people “get to a store and play around with this thing….the way you put that keyboard on and off…”

In addition, newly released ads from Microsoft appear to focus as much on the Touch Cover as the tablet, with the clicking noise forming a key part of one of the ads in particular.

Despite Microsoft doing its best to get consumers excited about the Touch Cover, the purchase page for the Surface RT, which launches this Friday, appears to indicate that at this stage consumers are going for the $499 32GB tablet-only option, with shipping time listed at three weeks. The $599 32GB version with the Touch Cover, and the $699 64GB version also with the Touch Cover, currently have shipping times listed at between one and two weeks.

If you purchase a Surface without the Touch Cover, and the Microsoft marketing machine later works its magic, you can pick one up for $120. Alternatively, you can also get a Type Cover, offering a slightly more conventional typing experience, for $130.

[via TNW]


Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/microsoft-still-focusing-on-touch-cover-new-video-explains-how-it-was-made/

Xiaomi Mi-Two goes on sale this Friday, Mi-One S still selling well

Xiaomi is the underdog that's showing up the big players. Its Xiaomi Mi-Two phone was the first smartphone to with a Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset to be announced (though the LG Optimus G beat it to market) and it went into production about a month ago. As expected, the Mi-Two showed very good performance in early benchmarks.

It seems that the company has built up enough supply and it's ready to kick-off sales. As you might now Xiaomi sells its phones in a rather unorthodox way - the Chinese build a batch of about 300,000 units or so and sell it, then stop sales until another batch is ready.

While we don't know how big the first batch of Mi-Twos is (probably 200K-300K) we do know it will go fast. The first batch of the Xiaomi Mi-One S (a refresh of their first phone), 200,000 phones, went in under 30 minutes and things only sped up from there.

The second batch (300,000 units) was sold out in just 4 minutes and 12 seconds. Then there was another batch of Mi-One S Young Edition (350,000) that sold in 4 minutes and 15 seconds this Monday. The Young Edition has brightly colored back covers, but is otherwise the same as the other Mi-One S.

Anyway, our point is that when the Xiaomi Mi-Two goes on sale this Friday at 6pm GMT, the whole batch will probably be gone by 6:05pm GMT. If you want one (unfortunately, they're selling in China only for now), you'll have to be very quick.

In case you're wondering what the big deal is, here's a refresher - the Mi-Two offers (skinned) Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 4.3" 720p IPS LCD screen, Snapdragon S4 Pro, 16GB storage and 2000mAh battery for RMB 1,999 ($315, €225).

Thanks to Thiago Almeida Muniz for the tip!

Source


Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/xiaomi_mitwo_goes_on_sale_this_friday_mione_s_still_selling_well-news-4989.php

Nokia Lumia 510 officially announced – another budget marvel?

Nokia Lumia 510 officially announced – another budget marvel?
The Lumia 510 - don't get too attached

Nokia has unveiled its next super-cheap Windows Phone for the emerging markets – but it's stuck on last season's platform.

The new phone will be launched with Windows Phone 7.5, but at least there will be a choice of five colours at launch.

The expectation was that the new phone would at least be popping out with the 7.8 iteration of Microsoft's platform, but it seems Tango will be sticking around for a while in the absence of Windows Phone 8.

Core power

In terms of specs, we're looking at a device that's running an 800MHz single-core CPU, a WVGA touchscreen (that's curiously coming in at 4-inches, making it larger than the Lumia 610) but here's the bad news: only 4GB of storage, of which apparently only 2.2GB is actually usable, although you do get 7GB of SkyDrive storage from Microsoft.

The rest of the specs are as you'd imagine on a Windows Phone handset, meaning 3G, GPS and Wi-Fi are all present and correct, along with a 1,300mAh battery.

The new phone will initially be going to the emerging markets, such as South America, India and China, but sadly we've had confirmation from Nokia that this phone won't be launching in the UK, with no word on launches for the US or Australia.

We've also got no word on price, as you'd expect for something seemingly not destined for these shores – but given that the Lumia 610 is a much more attractive proposition when it comes to spec (the screen size aside) we wouldn't recommend you lose too much sleep over this one.


Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/nokia-lumia-510-officially-announced-another-budget-marvel-1106774