ARM planning for ultra low-cost smartphones

Low cost smartphones are growing fast

ARM believes the real explosion in the smartphone market will be at the lower-end of the spec spectrum.

The strength of sales of phones like the HTC Wildfire and Orange San Francisco have shown the desire for cheaper smartphones in the west, but emerging markets across the globe would benefit from even cheaper fully functioned handsets, according to ARM.

The British company is making sure that it covers all bases in terms of the chip designs that it licences, and it believes that there is a growing need for entry level smartphones for emerging markets.

"Superphone capability increasingly gets all the headlines for the right reasons," said ARM's Laurence Bryant.

"But that means that developing a mass market entry-level smartphone is often overlooked."

European cut-downs

"In the European environment, entry level phones are $200, have 4-inch displays and capacitive screens – they are basically cut-down versions of superphones.

"But when you go into the emerging markets, then there is a desire for low cost smartphones."

Obviously ARM's most high-profile wares end up in flagship superphones like the Samsung Galaxy S3, but the company has covered its bases in terms of what it offers.

"We are successful when our partners are successful," added Bryant. "The royalty business means that we are dependent on their success.

"We'll continue to evolve and engineer new and better processors to take advantage of the newer and better handsets, but remember that as this market gets bigger you end up with a bigger spectrum of price points.

"There is a greater opportunity with more processors for phones at different price points."

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/arm-planning-for-ultra-low-cost-smartphones-1095175

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How Nokia missed a trick with its Lumia 920 launch event

Nokia's new Lumia looks great, but you can't buy it yet

Here's a thing I didn't expect to type: I'd seriously consider ditching my iPhone for one of the new Nokias.

I thought the first Lumia was less interesting than the man introducing it, but the Lumia 920 tickles the tickly bit that makes me want to buy a shiny new gadget.

It's partly the hardware - the 920 is a really nice bit of kit - but it's also because I'm at the end of an iPhone era. My iPhone 4's out of contract, my TomTom iPhone car kit is broken, my Griffin case has gone all baggy and the introduction of a new dock connector in the iPhone 5 means I'll have to shell out on a whole bunch of dock adapters for my various bits and bobs.

Apple's grip on me is looser than it's ever been. Could Nokia tempt me away?

The answer's a great big yes, followed by a great big no.

Promises, promises

Maybe it's overfamiliarity, but I'm not hugely wowed by the supposed design of the iPhone 5: while the iPhone 4/4S is a lovely looking thing, the iPhone 5 appears to be the same thing stretched out a bit. The Lumia design's really grown on me, and in the right colour it's the sort of thing that puts a smile on your face every time you see it.

Compatibility isn't really an issue - the only must-have app on my iPhone is TomTom, and the Lumia looks like it'll be a really good sat-nav device; the phone cradle I bought to replace my TomTom one fits anything - and that camera's a really big draw. I'm a sucker for anything that promises better low-light shooting.

If the Lumia 920 actually existed, I might have bought one.

I know, I know, it exists, but it doesn't exist in my world: I can't order one online, I can't play with one in a shop, and I can't get one on a stupidly long and expensive contract.

I'll be able to do all of those things with the iPhone 5, possibly as early as next week, and of course once you're in the Apple Store they've got you.

This week, Nokia did half an Apple: it made me look at my current phone and think "hmm, it's getting on a bit. Time for a new one". But it didn't do the other half, which is to actually close the sale: where Apple goes "Boom! This date! This price!" Nokia said "Hmmm! Not sure! We'll get back to you!"

The Nokia Lumia 920 may be a work of art, but as Steve Jobs said: "real artists ship". I want a phone, not a promise.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/how-nokia-missed-a-trick-with-its-lumia-920-launch-event-1095147

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Kobo pushes out new Mini and Glo e-readers, plus the Arc Android tablet

Online e-book retailer Kobo has announced the Kobo Arc Android tablet, plus the Kobo Glo and Kobo Mini e-readers.

Kobo, the online e-book retailer, has swooped in to steal some of Amazon’s thunder by announcing three new products — the Kobo Mini and Kobo Glo e-readers and the Kobo Arc Android tablet.

Let’s start with the Kobo Arc tablet. This isn’t the first tablet that Kobo has released, as the Kobo Vox came out late last year, but was eclipsed by the better specced, more exciting Kindle Fire. Not being Google Certified didn’t help the Vox either, but it appears Kobo has learned from its mistakes with the Arc.

Powering the 7-inch, 1280 x 800 pixel display is a 1.5Ghz, dual-core Texas Instruments processor, along with 1GB of RAM, while the operating system is built around Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

Kobo has included the Google Play store this time around too, but has also added its own user interface over the top of the Android OS, along with a new feature called Tapestries.

At first it sounds like a customizable homescreen really, as you can “pin” favorite books, pictures, videos and web links to your Tapestry, but it gets a little more interesting as the Arc will then offer content suggestions based on what you’ve pinned to the screen.

Kobo has also added features such as Wi-Fi, Wi-Fi Direct, a front-facing 1.3-megapixel camera, and a battery that should provide 10 hours of continuous reading. Two models will be made available, one with 8GB and the other with 16GB of internal memory, and they’ll be priced at $199/£169 and $249/£199 respectively when it’s released in November.

On to the Kobo Glo, then, which is a 6-inch e-reader. The E Ink touchscreen boasts an impressive 1024 x 768 resolution with 210 dots-per-inch, which at the moment, trumps the competition.

The clue as to what makes the Glo standout is in its name, as the screen has an adjustable front light, so it can be read in the dark. Naturally, this affects battery life, and with the light on you can expect 55 hours of reading time, but more than a month with both it and the built-in Wi-Fi switched off.

There’s 2GB of internal memory with a microSD card slot to boost this by 32GB, plus the Glo will accept .ePub books protected by Adobe DRM too. This is especially helpful, as unlike the Kindle, you won’t be restricted to a single store from which to buy your books. It’s set for release on October 1 for $129/£99.

Finally, we come to the Kobo Mini, the company’s basic e-reader. It features a stock 5-inch E Ink screen, 2GB of internal memory, Wi-Fi and a lightweight 134 gram chassis. It too will be out on October 1 at the bargain price of $79/£59.

Kobo’s new hardware range looks great, and is priced competitively, however it will still need to contend with whatever Amazon, Barnes & Noble and potentially even Apple have in store for us before the all-important Holiday season. Will these devices help put Kobo’s name on the map?

Source : http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/kobo-new-mini-glo-arc-tablet-ereaders/

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Nokia announces further upgrades for Windows Phone 7

Nokia sticking by older customers

Kevin Shields has confirmed that new functionality will be coming to the likes of the Lumia 900.

With the launch of the Nokia Lumia 920 came a number of technological enhancements, through both software and hardware.

Nokia's senior vice president Shields talked through the new apps, which include the ability to erase unwanted objects from photos, and then gave hope to those who shelled out for a Nokia earlier this year: "We'll be shipping versions of the technology to current devices."

But what will it be?

However, he didn't confirm which apps would be making it through to the older phones, though the likes of City Lens (which uses augmented reality to give info on restaurants and retail outlets) and the object removal tool are primed to make the move backwards through the range.

There might be a question mark over whether some phones will be able to handle such functionality though – in our interview with Nokia's Marko Argenti he confirmed that the dual core chip is necessary to handle tasks like erasing unwanted elements from photos.

But this does re-confirm Nokia's strategy to not leave any Windows Phone user behind – along with Windows Phone 7.8, this builds on Nokia's pledge to supply the likes of DLNA support to older phones and will undoubtedly go some way to placating those that bought into the Nokia/Windows Phone deal and then found they couldn't get an upgrade to the software.

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/nokia-announces-further-upgrades-for-windows-phone-7-1095078

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Jelly Bean user base now stands at 1.2 percent

Continuing their monthly tradition, Google has released the Android distribution figures, which lets us take a look at how the various versions of Android are doing.

Looking at the chart above we can see that Jelly Bean percentage has risen from 0.8% last month to 1.2%, disappointing but not surprising considering how few devices are running this right now. Ice Cream Sandwich has grown from 15.9% to 20.9%, which is pretty good.

Unfortunately, still a staggering 57.5% of Android users are on Gingerbread, down from 60.6% last month, and 18.3% users are on an even older version of Android.

Other stats show that a massive number of Android users still prefer devices that fall in the Normal display size, that is around the 4-inch mark, with hdpi resolution, that is between 200-300 ppi.

You can find the complete details in the link below.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/jelly_bean_user_base_now_stands_at_12_percent-news-4767.php

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Sony and Nokia should be 'applauded' for dual-core phones, says ARM

Sony Xperia T - dual-core and proud of it

Sony and Nokia's decision to push dual-core processors in its flagship phone should be applauded, according to ARM.

Although flagship 'superphones' from the likes of HTC and Samsung have made a big deal about their quad-core processors, Sony and Nokia have insisted that there are advantages to a dual-core instead.

That was clear from the marketing around the Sony's latest offering - the Sony Xperia T, which was unveiled at IFA 2012.

It is also a route Nokia is taking with its latest flagship, the Nokia Lumia 920.

ARM's chip designs obviously cater for any approach the manufacturers wish to take, and the British company believes that differing decisions are a great aid to innovation.

Different horses, same courses

"What you are seeing in the marketplace through these discussions is that system on a chip vendors are taking different approaches to delivering performance," ARM's director of mobile solutions, Laurence Bryant, explained to TechRadar.

"Some companies think that a dual core is the best solution, other companies are going with quad core or a four plus one as Nvidia has done with the Tegra.

"We applaud them all. That diversity is what gives you the innovation in the market place.

"We're not going to sit and judge - we work closely with the partners but it's up to them what IP to take from us to deliver compelling products into the marketplace."

Not tick boxes

Although the processor speed remains to the fore in the way phones are sold to consumers, Bryant believes that the focus on features and not specs is laudable.

"I like the way in which the smartphone market has emerged and that it's about features and what the device can do for you and not about the tick box of tech beneath it," he added.

TechRadar pointed out that ARM itself suffered from a lack of focus about what went into a phone, perhaps not getting the credit it is due for the sheer number of phones that its designs feature in.

"That's the inherent problem in terms of perception," said Bryant. "But ARM believes in its business model of offering great IP to the great vendors which create this innovation.

"ARM is proud of its position and the products and proud to be associated with the great success of its partners."

Source : http://www.techradar.com/news/phone-and-communications/mobile-phones/sony-and-nokia-should-be-applauded-for-dual-core-phones-says-arm-1094870

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Galaxy S III crosses the 20 million sales mark in 100 days

Samsung has announced that the Galaxy S III smartphone has crossed the 20 million sales mark worldwide. This feat is made more impressive by the fact that the phone managed to do so in 100 days or around three months.

In comparison, Samsung's previous popular smartphone, the Galaxy S II, managed to cross the same milestone in around nine months, taking three times as long as the Galaxy S III.

The last 10 million sales came rather rapidly, as it was only in July that we reported that the phone crossed the 10 million sales mark.

It will be interesting to see if the Galaxy S III can keep up the impressive sales growth in the coming months in lieu of competition from Apple, Nokia, Motorola, HTC and Samsung's own Galaxy Note II.

Source

Source : http://www.gsmarena.com/galaxy_s_iii_crosses_the_20_million_sales_mark_in_100_days-news-4766.php

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