News for Mobile Phone

Huawei MediaPad 7-inch Tablet

2011-07-14T03:29:00.001-07:00

Huawei introduced the MediaPad 7-inch, dual-core, Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet. The MediaPad is powered by the Qualcomm dual-core 1.2GHz processor, supported by Huawei Device's Hispace cloud solution and Google Android Market. The MediaPad provides a nice user experience in a stylish, high-performing and ultra-portable package.

The MediaPad is Huawei Device's smartest, slimmest and lightest tablet yet, measuring just 10.5mm (0.4 inches) deep and weighing approximately 390g (0.86 pounds). It supports 1080p full HD video playback and features a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 5 megapixel auto focus rear facing camera with HD video recording capabilities. With HSPA+ 14.4Mbps and high-speed WiFi 802.11n Internet connectivity, the MediaPad doesn't just entertain -- it keeps you connected.

"With the Huawei MediaPad, we are demonstrating yet again that design, functionality and performance is within anyone' s reach. 7-inch tablet remains the preferred ID for portability and Honeycomb Android 3.2 is dedicated to enhance the full potential of 7-inch tablets. Huawei is very pleased to be the first to offer this package to consumers globally." said Victor Xu, Chief Marketing Officer of Huawei Device. "The MediaPad opens up new worlds of entertainment for consumers by removing the barriers to tablet ownership, enabling access to a truly high-quality mobile entertainment experience fully integrated with cloud-based internet content."

The MediaPad supports HSPA+ data services, Flash 10.3 videos and comes preinstalled with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let's Golf and Documents to Go. With the 7-inch IPS touch screen, the MediaPad offers a standout visual experience for photos, movies and applications. Entertainment and gaming experience are taken to the next level with the MediaPad's 1.2GHz Dual-Core processor, HD playback and HDMI port.

No pricing or availabilitly at this time.

Report: Nokia CEO Will Kill MeeGo Even if N9 Succeeds

2011-06-27T01:17:00.001-07:00

Not long after "leaking" Nokia's first Windows smartphone, codenamed "Sea Ray," CEO Stephen Elop told a Finnish newspaper that even if the new MeeGo-based N9, launched the day before, succeeds, it will be Nokia's last device on the Meego operating system.

"In Elop's words, there is no returning to MeeGo, even if the N9 turns out to be a hit," wrote the Finnish daily, the Helsingin Sanomat.

On Thursday, Elop stirred the blogosphere when he teased what he called the first Nokia Windows device, which is rumored to be launching this fall.

Unfortunately it left a sour taste in the mouths of MeeGo fans, most of whom are passionate, long-time Nokia users and developers. In February Elop, who joined Nokia from Microsoft in 2008, announced a billion-dollar agreement with Microsoft that puts the Windows Phone 7 operating system in Nokia handsets; Nokia's own Symbian and MeeGo operating systems would be relegated to "science projects."

"I have taken part in the conversations with the teleoperators and I have been part of the consumer test groups. The feedback has been extremely positive and I am sure that the Windows Phone system will be a great success", Elop says of the strategic partnership announced with microsoft in February of this year.

Elop desperately needs Nokia's recent partnership with Microsoft, which fills Nokia handsets with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, to succeed. He faces lowered sales targets for the rest of the year, rumors of a Nokia selloff, layoffs in the thousands, and alienation by Nokia's most loyal followers.

In the same interview Elop said he was "sure" upcoming Nokia Windows phones would be a "great success."

"I understand completely that the investors want to see the results of our new strategy in their full glory. This will take some time, but once we are in a position to introduce the results of our strategy, I am sure the doubts will disperse," he said.

Huawei unveils 7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb dual-core tablet, MediaPad news

2011-06-27T01:15:00.001-07:00

Chinese network equipment manufacturer Huawei has announced the launch of the Huawei MediaPad, the world's first 7-inch Android 3.2 Honeycomb tablet.

The MediaPad is a complete entertainment powerhouse driven by Qualcomm's dual-core 1.2GHz processor, supported by Huawei Device's Hi-Space cloud solution and Google Android Market. The MediaPad provides a fabulous user-experience in a stylish, high-performing and ultra-portable package.

The MediaPad is Huawei Device's smartest, slimmest and lightest tablet yet, measuring just 10.5mm (0.4 inches) deep and weighing approximately 390g (0.86 pounds). It supports 1080P full HD video playback and features a 1.3 megapixel front facing camera and 5 megapixel auto focus rear facing camera with HD video recording capabilities. With HSPA+ 14.4Mbps and high-speed WiFi 802.11n Internet connectivity, the MediaPad doesn't just entertain – it keeps you connected.

"With the Huawei MediaPad, we are demonstrating yet again that design, functionality and performance is within anyone's reach," says Victor Xu, chief marketing officer, Huawei Device.

"The 7-inch tablet remains the preferred size for portability and Android Honeycomb 3.2 is dedicated to enhance the full potential of 7-inch tablets," Xu said and added the MediaPad opened up new worlds of entertainment for consumers by removing the barriers to tablet ownership and thus enabling access to high-quality mobile entertainment experience fully integrated with cloud-based internet content."

The MediaPad supports HSPA+ data services, Flash 10.3 videos and comes preinstalled with applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Let's Golf and Documents to Go. With the 7-inch IPS touch screen, the MediaPad offers a standout visual experience for photos, movies and applications. Entertainment and gaming experience are taken to the next level with the MediaPad's 1.2GHz Dual-Core processor, HD playback and HDMI port.

Huawei announcing Honeycomb Android 3.2 tablet?

2011-06-20T22:05:00.001-07:00

We know that Huawei will be announcing details about their MediaPad at an event that's happening in about an hour, but we now know what this 7-inch tablet will be running on--Android 3.2 (Honeycomb), based on information available at their booth in CommunicAsia 2011.

We don't yet know what new features the OS will introduce, but we will be updating once we get more information at their event.

Stay tuned.

Lenovo's MeeGo Netbook: Hands On

2011-06-16T03:02:00.000-07:00

It hasn't been exactly smooth sailing for MeeGo, Intel's Linux-based operating system that was developed to go up against offerings from Google and Apple. But there have been signs of life here at Computex 2011, beginning with Asus's launch of the EeePC X101. And now there's the Lenovo Ideapad S100, which was spotted in the wild running a version of MeeGo that's actually usable. Let's take a closer look.

The Ideapad S100 looks like your average netbook from the outside: Its black plastic construction is topped off with a bit of texture that does an exceptional job warding off finger prints and smudge marks. Obviously, black doesn't grab the attention quite as well as the multiple color offerings available on the EeePC X101, but it's a well-designed netbook nonetheless.

The tiled keyboard is full size and arguably the S100's best asset, as the keys are slightly scalloped and elevated to an ideal height. The clickpad, with its mouse buttons integrated into the touchpad, is roomy and clicks with ease. I didn't experience any weird cursor movements or miltitouch gestures kicking in when they shouldn't.

The MeeGo experience is the main attraction here, and this particular skin is very similar to the one found in the EeePC X101. Everything is laid out in "Panels". For instance, a "People" panel gives you access to social networks and chat-clients like Facebook, AIM, Twitter, and Flickr. There's a "Status" panel that all these social networks feed into. The "Internet" panel makes use of the Chromium browser to surf the internet, and there's a "Media" panel that handles all your photos and videos. For the most part, working with all these panels was smooth and very pleasant. None of them crashed or took a tremendously long time to load or respond. The Wi-Fi signal was very spotty in the convention center, so I couldn't get the browser to load any of my favorite websites.

What I did get to work (but couldn't on the EeePC X101) is Intel's AppUP store, which is intended to go up against Google's Marketplace and Apple's App store. The selection of paid and free apps isn't worth writing home about, but it's a start.

The S100 comes with the usual netbook features that include three USB ports, Ethernet, and VGA (the X101 doesn't have VGA and Ethernet). It runs on an Intel Atom N455 processor and 1GB of memory.

Lenovo hasn't officially announced that a MeeGo-running Ideapad S100 is U.S. bound, but if the pricing in mind is anywhere near Asus's ballpark (less than $200), there might be some potential here.

Nokia to announce 'next disruption' 21st June: MeeGo rumoured to make an appearance

2011-06-16T03:01:00.001-07:00

Nokia looks set to unveil a 'new market disrupting device' on June 21 as part of the Nokia Connection 2011 event in Singapore. Rumours are already flying with the first MeeGo device being favourite.

Invites for the event have been going out with very little information but it's been made clear this will simply be a product demonstration and that any questions should regard the hardware and features of the new device.

Back in February Stephen Elop, Nokia CEO, spelt out that the company would be working around three pillars of operation: smartphones, which are based on Windows Phone, the Next Billion, which are low cost devices aimed at connecting the world, and 'the next disruption' of which MeeGo was purported to be the first from the gate.

Nokia Connection 2011 is an annual event held in conjunction with CommunicAsia 2011. This year, Nokia Connection takes place on 21 June at the Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. The event is a showcase of the latest devices and services to customers, operators, media and analysts from the region. http://www.nokiaconnection.net/

Asus Padfone and MeeGo-Based Eee PC Expand Choices

2011-06-01T14:29:00.001-07:00

The product announcements are coming fast and furious from the trade show floor at Computex in Taipei, including a virtual sea of tablets. There are a number of interesting contenders in there, to be sure, but two new offerings from Asus--my favorite hardware maker--strike me as being particularly rich with possibilities.

First, of course, is the widely anticipated Padfone, a convergent device that combines Android smartphone and tablet computer, giving consumers a choice of screen sizes for each situation or computing task without having to worry about data transfer hassles or multiple SIM cards.

With the Padfone, the smartphone docks inside the tablet. While it's there, it can recharge from the tablet's larger battery and the tablet can make use of the smartphone's 3G internet connection. With dual interfaces for both the pad and phone, layout is automatically adjusted for all activities, including videoconferencing, Web browsing and emailing.

Read more: http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/229019/asus_padfone_and_meegobased_eee_pc_expand_choices.html

Computex 2011: Intel's plan to tackle tablets

2011-06-01T14:27:00.001-07:00

The rise of the tablet is part of a broader movement toward what Intel call companion computing, a category that includes all sort of personal and mobile devices from smartphones to netbooks to convertibles and sliders. In an event at Computex today Intel executives said companion computing was still in the early stages and discussed the strategy for getting Atom chips into these devices.

Intel believes that no one companion computing device will work for everyone and that there will be a lot of innovation in the hardware and software as companies developer different user experiences over the next 10 years. But it all “starts with the silicon,” said Doug Davis, VP and GM of Netbook and Tablet Group.

Intel introduced Atom three year ago and it will ship its 100 millionth Atom SoC this month. But most of those have gone into netbooks and the vast majority of mobile devices use processors based on the ARM microarchitecture designed by companies such as Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, Texas Instruments and Nvidia and manufactured by semiconductor foundries. Intel’s strategy to break into tablets and smartphones is to leverage its lead in process technology and manufacturing.

Davis reiterated that for the next several years, Atom would scale at a faster rate than Moore’s Law until it catches up with Intel’s Core processors for PCs and servers. The first 32nm Atom SoCs will begin shipping in volume production later this year followed by 22nm Ivy Bridge versions in 2013. By 2014, Atom and Core will be aligned on 14nm.

“Intel gets this and we’re investing in this space,” Davis said. “We’re accelerating our process technology roadmap.”

But today Intel is still shipping several 45nm Atom SoCs. This includes the N series for netbooks. Intel demonstrated the Asus Eee PC X101, a 10-inch netbooks announced at Computex which uses an Atom processor and the MeeGo operating system and costs about $200. One of the first laptops to use Google’s OS, Samsung’s 12-inch Chromebook Series 5, has an Atom N570 dual-core processor.

Another 45nm SoC, the Atom Z670, or Oak Trail, was designed specifically for tablets. It has a smaller footprint and uses less power, but still has the performance for tasks such as 1080p video playback (as well as HDMI). At the Computex event, Intel showed a number of ODM (Original Device Manufacturer) designs-both “shipping systems and development platforms”-running Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Intel also demonstrated an interesting Fujitsu LifeBook slider and a Fujitsu Stylistic Windows slate for business.

Read more: http://www.zdnet.com/blog/computers/computex-2011-intels-plan-to-tackle-tablets/6043

Acer shows off Windows Phone Mango handset, MeeGo tablet

2011-06-01T14:26:00.000-07:00

Taiwanese PC maker Acer took a rather sudden hit last April when Gianfranco Lanci resigned as CEO of the company, saying it should have been focused on competing with HTC and Apple in the mobile space instead of with HP in the PC space.

At the Computex trade show in Taipei, Acer this week has shown off its scattershot approach to covering the mobile device market, which will include, among other things, a 10" tablet running Intel's MeeGo operating system, and a Snapdragon-powered smartphone running Windows Phone 7 "Mango."

Acer was one of the new Windows Phone hardware partners Microsoft announced last week, and the company has been showing off a device running Mango tentatively called the Acer W4. It has a 3.6" (480 x 800) touchscreen, is powered by a 1GHz Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon processor, has "up to" 8GB of onboard storage, a 5 megapixel camera, and Quad-band GSM and HSPA 800/1900 or 900/2100 connectivity.

Pricing and regional availability have not been announced for this device yet. However, it will join Fujitsu, ZTE, and Nokia in the first crop of Mango-powered smartphones which are expected to arrive around October 2011.

Acer's first public spin with MeeGo was back at Mobile World Congress 2011 in February, when Intel announced the MeeGo Tablet UX, and mentioned Toshiba, Fujitsu, Asus, and Acer would all be participating in the project. In May, when Intel officially launched its Oak Trail chip for tablets, the company promised MeeGo tablets as early as May.

The M Series Acer showed off at Computex, however, runs on a Moorestown Atom processor. Aside from that, it has a 10" (1280x800) touch display and chassis very similar to the Iconia Android prototype that made its way around the trade shows earlier this year. That particular model, however, launched at retail very shortly after being officially announced, so there is a distinct possibility that Acer could bring this MeeGo tablet to market in an expedient fashion.

MeeGo, meanwhile, is a big topic of discussion at Computex this year, and in addition to Acer's tablet, the Linux-based mobile OS was shown off on notebook computers by Lenovo, Samsung, and Asus. The official MeeGo site, however, has been down for most of the day.

Next MeeGo TV Platform May Boost Connected Sets

2011-05-28T03:28:00.002-07:00

A software platform developed for TVs by the Meego open-source community, expected next month, will allow service providers to combine pay TV, app stores and consumer home content in one set-top box.

The platform, called MeeGo Smart TV 1.2, is based on the MeeGo 1.2 release that came out last week. It is being reviewed now by the task group for Meego TV and should be released by the end of next month, though final tweaks might push it back a few weeks, said MeeGo TV Architect Dominique Le Foll.

MeeGo TV may succeed where earlier fusions of TV and the Web have failed, because it is open to applications from a wide variety of developers, which won't even need to be certified by the service provider, Le Foll said in an interview at the MeeGo Conference in San Francisco on Monday.

Some older TV-Web hybrids took the wrong path, Le Foll said.

"What people don't want is a browser on their TV," Le Foll said. Instead, just as on a mobile phone, consumers prefer to use apps that are optimized for the device, he said.

The MeeGo team is not alone in recognizing this. Even TV manufacturers, including Sony and Vizio, are trying to build up stores of apps and widgets that can be used on their sets. But MeeGo's openness gives it advantages over other options for connected TVs, Le Foll said. Previous TV-Web systems have been based on set-top boxes with traditional embedded operating systems, which are difficult and expensive for service providers to update and maintain. By contrast, MeeGo TV is maintained by a community of developers, organized on the model of the Linux community and managed by the Linux Foundation.

MeeGo TV already exists in the form of a platform based on MeeGo 1.0, which Telecom Italia has used for a service that combines traditional broadcast and Web-based TV, Le Foll said. MeeGo TV 1.2 will extend those capabilities. It is designed to let service providers deliver their own paid, protected TV programming along with third-party apps and online video through a single set-top box. Service providers won't have to worry about qualifying the apps, nor about the security of the OS or their own content, Le Foll said. The MeeGo Smart TV Working Group will maintain the software, including security patches, and provide continual updates that are easy to implement, Le Foll said.

An open application store for MeeGo TV might let service providers tap into a broad community of developers, he said. In addition, service providers can place their own brand and customized "feel" on a MeeGo TV system, because like Linux, the platform has no defined user interface.

So far, MeeGo TV's reach is limited to devices based on silicon from Intel, because that is the only company that has ported the software to its chip architecture, Le Foll said. But other chip vendors, including MIPS and Sigma Designs, are involved in the TV working group, he added.

Though several TV-Web hybrids have flopped in the past, analyst Kurt Scherf of Parks Communications thinks specific interactive TV features, such as apps for news, weather and traffic that viewers can customize, will eventually catch on. But adopting MeeGo would be a significant departure for most broadband providers and cable operators, because they overwhelmingly use in-house software development for their set-top boxes, he said.

"It seems like it could be advantageous to allow the operators to more quickly take advantage of extremely rapid development in deploying their video services, as well as the interactive features that we know are going to be a part of their TV services," Scherf said. "But if I'm an operator, I would be very concerned about how my apps get developed."

However, the free software and community-based support might appeal to smaller providers such as SuddenLink or Frontier Communications, Scherf said.

This week's conference focused on a broader range of uses for MeeGo beyond mobile phones, after Nokia's decision to drop the platform it co-developed with Intel in favor of Windows Phone 7. MeeGo is suited to more types of devices than is Google's Android, because it isn't an operating system so much as a set of coordinated modules, said Le Foll, who has been guiding the MeeGo TV architecture for some time and recently joined Intel's payroll. Whereas Android has certain defined user interfaces that can only be adapted to a certain extent for new types of hardware, MeeGo is as flexible as Linux, he said. And like Linux, MeeGo soon may be sold in the form of distributions, with free software and a contract for ongoing support, he said.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com

Nokia's MeeGo Device Still Coming Out Soon

2011-05-28T03:28:00.000-07:00

Nokia is passionate about Windows Phone 7, but it's still flirting with MeeGo.

"You're going to see the first MeeGo device soon," Nokia's executive vice president of smart devices, Jo Harlow said in an interview on Wednesday.

Intel's MeeGo OS, which was developed as a joint project between Intel and Nokia's previous administration, was one of the losers when new Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said the company was switching to Windows Phone 7 in February. But, at the time, Elop said the company would use MeeGo for some cutting edge devices.

Since then, rumors about Nokia's MeeGo device have been flying around the Internet; it might be called the N9 or the N950, it might run an Intel Atom processor, and it might or might not have a QWERTY keyboard. There are even YouTube videos purporting to show the device, but none of them are verifiable.

"I'm not going to comment on what's been floating around the Internet," Harlow said. "It'll be more of a high-end device that certainly will attract the early-adopter geek. I think there's some innovation there that we believe captures the imagination."

Without Nokia, MeeGo has been drifting in the market. I was unimpressed with MeeGo tablets and laptops I saw at Mobile World Congress in February. Recent announcements by Red Flag and other Chinese software companies, though, show that the OS may have a chance in that market.

Windows Phone 7 is triumphant at Nokia, but Harlow had some kind words for the platform that could have been, and left the door open to more MeeGo devices in the future.

"We made the decision not to continue to develop the MeeGo platform simply because it wasn't mature enough yet to build a whole portfolio around," she said.

Battle of the Mobile Tech Titans: Apple, Nokia and Research In Motion

2011-05-28T03:27:00.000-07:00

Apple (AAPL), Nokia (NOK) and Research In Motion (RIMM) are among the largest technology and telecommunication companies in the world. Their business areas are well-diversified and segmented into different sectors. However, they are best-known for their primary focus: Manufacturing mobile communication and media devices. These mobile device producers are among the biggest rivals in the smart phone market. Apple’s flagship iPhone, Nokia’s smart phones, and Research in Motion’s BlackBerry dominate 56.9% of the Western smart phone market as of first quarter 2011. From an investment perspective, it is essential to look at the key ratios and fundamentals of the big three. Here is a brief analysis of three mobile communication giants: (Data from finviz.com)

Apple is the largest high tech company in earth, manufacturing and selling computer software, personal computers and computer electronics. Apple’s best known hardware products can be listed as Mac Book, iPod, iPhone and iPad. In addition to the hardware business, Apple is the developer of the Mac OS operating system. Apple is famous with products having aesthetic design and distinctive advertising campaigns led by CEO Steve Jobs. In the smart phone market, Apple replaced Nokia as the worldwide market leader by the first quarter of 2011. iPhone has a market share above 20% worldwide. However, until 2011, the iPhone was second to RIM’s BlackBerry. Looking at the key ratios of Apple, the first notable thing is the outstanding market cap. Apple has a market cap of $307.19 billion. This market cap makes Apple the biggest technology company in the world. In the last five years, EPS growth was 57.78%, and for the following five years, analysts estimate an EPS growth of 20.50%. The trailing P/E ratio is 15.83, while forward P/E ratio decreases to 11.67. Apple has a beta value of 1.34. Insiders own 0.04% of the company. On May 25, 2011 Wedbush upgraded Apple with a target price of $450. Apple does not pay dividends, yet. Current price of $336 is way below the analyst average target price of $448.78.

Nokia is a Finnish multinational telecommunications company established in Espoo, Finland. Nokia is the world's largest manufacturer of mobile phones: its global device market share was 31% in the fourth quarter 2010. Nokia has the second place position in the smart phone market share with 19.8%, recently topped by Apple’s iPhone. However, in the U.S. market, Nokia has a relatively low market share of 8% in smart phones. This makes Nokia the fifth biggest smart phone producer in the U.S. market. On 11 February 2011, Nokia announced a new alliance with Microsoft (MSFT). The company will replace Symbian with Windows Mobile Phone 7. Soon after this announcement, Nokia's share price decreased by 14%; its biggest drop since July 2009. Nokia has a market cap of $30.89 billion. It's trading with a low P/E ratio of 11.61, and forward P/E ratio is 10.84. Nokia also has a high beta value of 1.58. EPS decreased by 9.64% annually, in the previous five years. However, in the next five years, Nokia is estimated to have an EPS growth of 5.63%. Nokia is an outstanding dividend payer in the market. Current dividend yield is 6.71%. On April 1, 2011, RBC Capital Mkts downgraded Nokia shares to $12, still keeping the outperform status. However, the stock is a screaming buy with an average target price of $9.86. Current price level of $8.14 is 26% below the 52-week high.

Research in Motion is an Ontario, Canada, based telecommunications and wireless device company. RIMM’s best known product is the BlackBerry smart phone. BlackBerry has a market share of 16.5% in the worldwide smart phone sector. That makes RIMM the third biggest smart phone producer worldwide. However, in the U.S. market, RIMM is the leading smart phone supplier with a market share of more than 30%. In 2009, soon after the financial crisis, Fortune named RIM fastest growing company in the world, with an EPS growth of 84%. Research in Motion has the smallest market cap among these three companies with a market cap of $22.5 billion. However, its P/E ratio is the lowest of all. Its trailing P/E ratio is 6.79, and forward P/E ratio is estimated to be 6.25. RIM experienced an EPS growth of 58.34% in the past five years. Furthermore, in the next five years, EPS growth is expected to be 10.25%. RIMM’s beta of 1.88 is the highest among others. Insiders own 10.62% of shares, which is incredibly high compared to Apple. On May 24, Wunderlich downgraded RIM shares dramatically, from $76 to $46. According to Wunderlich, RIMM will not be able to recover and participate in mainstream smart phone industry growth. When looking at the chart from a technical perspective, I observe significant downward gaps, which is expected to be filled sooner or later in the first upward movement.

Mark Zuckerberg: children should be allowed to use Facebook

2011-05-28T03:25:00.002-07:00

The under-13s should be allowed to use Facebook, the social network’s founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said.

Speaking at a summit on innovation in schools and teaching in Newark, New Jersey, Mr Zuckerberg said that the current age limit would be challenged “at some point”.

Claire Perry, Conservative MP for Devizes, who has campaigned for online safety, said that ““I would be very uncomfortable about extending this and I think it’s very, very irresponsible of Facebook to be suggesting it.”

“With close parental supervision all of these social networking sites can be interesting and enjoyable. But I know from my own experience it is all too easy for a young child to get involved in situations that I think are really uncomfortable,” she said.

Facebook’s usual 13-and over age limit elsewhere is dictated by the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA), which became Federal Law in America in 1998. Current UK legislation does not, however, preclude Facebook from being used by under-13s but the site’s own terms and conditions do. The US is currently reviewing its COPPA legislation. In Spain, only those children 14-and-over are permitted to use Facebook because of national legislation.

Data Breach at Security Firm Linked to Attack on Lockheed

2011-05-28T03:25:00.000-07:00

Lockheed Martin, the nation’s largest military contractor, has battled disruptions in its computer networks this week that might be tied to a hacking attack on a vendor that supplies coded security tokens to millions of users, security officials said on Friday.

The SecurID electronic tokens, which are used to gain access to computer networks by corporate employees and government officials from outside their offices, are supplied by the RSA Security division of the EMC Corporation.

RSA acknowledged in March that it had sustained a data breach that could have compromised some of its security products. Executives in the military industry said Friday that Lockheed’s problems appeared to stem from that data breach and could be the first public signs of damage from it.

The March intrusion reverberated through the computer security community. The RSA technology is used by most Fortune 500 companies and federal agencies to provide an extra layer of security when employees use their networks from customer offices, hotels or their homes.

Many of RSA’s customers have taken extra measures since the intrusion was discovered, either by adding security measures, finding alternative solutions or simply shutting off remote access. Security experts said it was possible that companies other than Lockheed had faced attacks, whether they realized it or not.

“The issue is whether all of the security controls are compromised,” said James A. Lewis, a senior fellow and a specialist in computer security issues at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy group in Washington. “That’s the assumption people are making.”

Neither RSA, which is based in Bedford, Mass., nor Lockheed would discuss the problems on Friday.

Officials in the military industry, who spoke only on the condition of anonymity given the sensitivity of the matter, said Lockheed had detected an intruder trying to break into its networks last Sunday. It shut down much of its remote access and has been providing new tokens and passwords to many workers, company employees said.

Lockheed makes fighter planes, spy satellites and other confidential equipment. It also sells cybersecurity services to military and intelligence agencies, and some experts said its failure to take greater precautions with its own systems could be embarrassing.

“We don’t know what they went after at Lockheed,” Mr. Lewis said, referring to the hackers behind the intrusion attempt. “One possibility is that it’s a state actor, but it could also be criminals who are trying to exploit the company’s customers.”

Industry officials said military contractors, who are bombarded daily by hacking attempts, typically do not keep classified data on computers that can be entered remotely. Federal authorities have said that China, Russia and other countries sponsor hackers trying to ferret out American military and corporate secrets.

Raytheon, another large military contractor, issued a statement on Friday saying that it took “immediate companywide actions” when the RSA breach was disclosed in March. “As a result of these actions,” the company said, “we prevented a widespread disruption of our network.”

General Dynamics said it had not had any problems related to the breach. Other giant military contractors, like Northrop Grumman and Boeing, declined to comment.

Jeffery Adams, a spokesman for Lockheed, said the company would not publicly discuss specific threats or its responses.

“However, to counter any threats, we regularly take actions to increase the security of our systems and to protect our employee, customer and program data,” he said in a statement. “We have policies and procedures in place to mitigate the cyberthreats to our business, and we remain confident in the integrity of our robust, multilayered information systems security.”

Security experts said companies in many industries had increased network monitoring or changed passwords and PINs for the tokens since the RSA breach.

But some of the specialists said that until more details were known, it remained possible that the attempted intrusion at Lockheed was not tied to the RSA breach.

The RSA tokens provide security beyond a user name or password by requiring users to append a unique number generated by the token each time they connect to their corporate or government networks.

Soon after the breach in March, RSA’s chairman, Art Coviello, said the company’s investigation had revealed that the intruder successfully stole digital information from the company that was related to RSA’s SecurID products.

He did not give precise details about the nature of the information but said it could potentially reduce the effectiveness of the system in the face of a “broader attack.” The company said then that there was no indication that the information had been used to attack its customers.

Some computer security specialists said at the time that the compromised information was a file of master keys — long numbers — that are a part of the RSA encryption system. If the intruder did gain those numbers, it would make it possible to fashion an attack based on independently generating the keys used by individual customers.

RSA officials have said that the intrusion was only partly successful.

Mr. Lewis, the security specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the intruders had been detected as they were trying to transfer data by security software provided by the NetWitness Corporation, a company that provides network monitoring software. In April, NetWitness was acquired by RSA’s parent company, EMC.

Google to Unveil Mobile Payments Platform

2011-05-28T03:23:00.001-07:00

Google Inc. is expected to disclose details about how consumers will be able to make store purchases, redeem coupons, and get loyalty points by waving smartphones in front of a small reader at the checkout counter, said people familiar with the matter.

At an event Thursday in New York, the Web-search company is planning to show off the technology, called near field communication, which is embedded in newer smartphones powered by Google's Android software and that can help turn the devices into a kind of electronic wallet, these people said.

Read more: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576343613260587314.html#ixzz1NdpNdcqc

iPhone 5 will be smaller and bigger

2011-05-24T20:02:00.001-07:00

Fresh Apple [AAPL] iPhone 5 rumors: the iPhone 3GS won't be supported by iOS 5; the fifth-generation model will be smaller, lighter and thinner, and that 8-megapixel camera seems certain, as Apple begins agreeing component supply deals for its next smartphone, expected for introduction in September.

Smaller, lighter, bigger

Speaking to AllThingsD, Orange CEO Stephane Richard (49) talked about the smaller-sized SIM card Apple and its carriers are developing for future mobile devices. Apple had wanted to get rid of the SIM, but bowed to carriers who told the firm it was a "critical piece of the security and authentication process."

[This story is from Computerworld's Apple Holic blog. Follow on Twitter or subscribe via RSS to make sure you don't miss a beat.]

That small SIM means the new iPhone will be smaller and thinner, Richard revealed, it will also be lighter and equipped with an edge-to-edge touchscreen, which makes it bigger (in a way). I think Apple may dispense with the physical Home button in favor of a synaptic version to increase display size.

Richard also said good things about Apple, "They just created smartphones with the iPhone. Everybody should be grateful to them to have put such a product in our market."

Yandex IPO Biggest For Internet Company Since Google

2011-05-24T20:00:00.002-07:00

Russian search engine Yandex went public today, opening at $25 and closing at $38.84 giving the company over $1.3 billion from their IPO, setting the record for the biggest IPO for an internet company since Google (who raised $1.67 billion in 2004).

Yandex is one of the few search engines that controls a larger share of a country's search market than Google - in this case Russia. Yandex has a dominant share of the Russian market - about 64% of all searches done in Russia - similar to Google's dominance in the USA and most other contries. Google has about 22% of the Russian market - like Yahoo did before their partnership with Microsoft.

In this year's first quarter, Yandex's "net income rose 62% to $29 million, and in 2010 it increased 90% to $134 million," the Wall Street Journal reported. The stock is trading on NASDAQ under the terms YNDX.

Yandex CEO and main founder sold about $96 million from his over 40 million shares - at close his stock were worth over $1.5 billion.

Founded in 1997, Yandex is slightly older then Google. The company had announced earlier it was expanding into other markets and languages.

"Yandex has picked a great time for an initial public offering for a tech company," said Anthony Moro at Bank of New York Mellon. "For the longer term, they're in the right spot. They're the Google of Russia."

NASA picks Orion-type capsule for deep space missions

2011-05-24T20:00:00.000-07:00

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla.--A version of the Bush administration's Orion moon capsule, written off by the Obama administration and then resurrected as a space station lifeboat, will be developed instead for use in future manned flights to deep space targets beyond Earth orbit, the agency announced today.

Douglas Cooke, associate administrator of NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, told reporters the Orion concept, described by former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin as "Apollo on steroids," is the most capable spacecraft currently on the drawing board for meeting the Obama administration's "flexible path" approach to deep space exploration.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-19514_3-20065857-239.html#ixzz1NKU6aNkV

Google Expected to Introduce a Wireless Payment System

2011-05-24T19:59:00.000-07:00

Google is expected to introduce on Thursday a mobile payment system that will let shoppers wave their phones to pay instead of pulling out a credit card, according to people briefed on the announcement.

Google will offer mobile payments with MasterCard and Citibank, according to one of the people, as well as with cellphone carriers, hardware manufacturers and retailers.

Initially, the mobile wallets will be available only on Google’s Nexus S phone and will use a Citibank-issued MasterCard credit card number and a virtual Google MasterCard prepaid card. Consumers will be able to make payments at any of the 124,000 merchants that have MasterCard’s PayPass terminals, which accept contactless payments, a person briefed on the deal said.

The people familiar with the deal were not authorized to speak until the deal was publicly announced. The news of the announcement was first reported by Bloomberg News.

The three companies have also teamed up with a few retailers — Macy’s, American Eagle Outfitters and Subway, a person familiar with the deal said. After these retailers upgrade their terminals — at first, only retailers in New York and San Francisco will participate — consumers will also be able to redeem discounts and participate in loyalty programs.

While several companies have been working on mobile wallets for years, they have not yet been widely adopted because all of those involved need to agree on how the wallets will take shape and how the various stakeholders will get paid. Mobile phone carriers, banks, credit card issuers payment networks and technology companies have been battling over their roles.

“Google is dipping their toe into the water and it will accelerate other efforts from other providers,” said Rick Oglesby, a senior analyst at the Aite Group, a research and advisory firm focused on the financial services industry.

Google plans to use a technology called near-field communication, or N.F.C., which is incorporated into a chip in mobile phones to make payments, redeem coupons, earn loyalty points and receive special offers. When a phone is waved in front of a credit card reader, it wirelessly sends an encrypted signal with a person’s credit card information. After that, the transaction is processed like a normal credit card transaction at a store.

Google’s announcement has been expected since it introduced the latest version of its Android mobile phone software, which has the capacity for N.F.C., and its Nexus S phone, which includes an N.F.C. chip.

Representatives for Google, MasterCard, Citigroup and Sprint, a carrier for Google’s Nexus phones, declined to comment.

Apple admits Mac scareware infections, promises cleaning tool

2011-05-24T19:56:00.001-07:00

Computerworld - Apple on Tuesday promised an update for Mac OS X that will find and delete the MacDefender fake security software, and warn still-unaffected users when they download the bogus program.

The announcement -- part of a new support document that the company posted late Tuesday -- was the company's first public recognition of the threat posed by what security experts call "scareware" or "rogueware."

"In the coming days, Apple will deliver a Mac OS X software update that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants," Apple said in the document. "The update will also help protect users by providing an explicit warning if they download this malware."

Apple also outlined steps that users with infected Macs can take to remove the scareware.

Andrew Storms, director of security operations with nCircle Security, was surprised that Apple said it would embed a malware cleaning tool in Mac OS X.

"That's new ground for Apple," Storms said, pointing out that the move is a first for the company, which until now has only offered a bare-bones malware detection mechanism in Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, and then only populated it with a handful of signatures.

"Not only is Apple going to help customers remove [Mac Defender], but by doing so, they're also admitting that there are security problems with Mac OS," Storms said.

MacDefender -- which also goes by names such as MacProtector and MacSecurity -- first popped up earlier this month when French security company Intego said it had found the scareware in the wild.

Scareware and rogueware are terms for bogus security software that claims a personal computer is heavily infected with worms, viruses and other malware. Once installed, such software nags users with pervasive pop-ups and fake alerts until they fork over a fee to purchase the worthless program.

MacDefender was the first piece of professional-looking scareware to target Macs.

Last week, Microsoft said it had found evidence in MacDefender that the fake program was created by the same group responsible for a fast-growing scareware family aimed at Windows users.

"That shouldn't have surprised anyone," Storms said today. "Why should the hackers reinvent the wheel?"

Apple has taken criticism for not publicly responding to the MacDefender threat.

In several posts over the last week, ZDNet blogger Ed Bott -- who usually covers Microsoft and Windows topics -- laid out information he had received from insiders at Apple support.

Those tech support representatives told Bott, and provided documents, that said Apple had told them not to help Mac users who had been duped into downloading and installing MacDefender.

Both Intego and U.K.-based Sophos have used the information Bott has published and his estimates of the number of Macs infected to also take Apple to task.

"Apple's famous PR savvy apparently doesn't apply to handling security incidents," Chet Wisniewski, a Sophos security researcher, said in a post on his company's blog on Tuesday. "It is genuinely tragic that such a large number of OS X users are falling victim to this scam, and Apple's response is less than helpful."

Intego sells Mac-specific security software, and Sophos offers a free Mac antivirus program.

"What this shows is that nobody is safe," Storms said. "The truth is that the vast majority of malware isn't on the Mac, it's not on the iPhone, it's specifically on Windows."

"I say that's because of Windows market share, but Mac users have long claimed that it's because Mac OS is more secure, or Mac users are more intelligent and don't fall for these ruses," he said. "Well, guess what, this proves the point that it doesn't matter what OS you're using. In the end, it all depends on the user to understand what's malware and what's not."

Gregg Keizer covers Microsoft, security issues, Apple, Web browsers and general technology breaking news for Computerworld. Follow Gregg on Twitter at Twitter @gkeizer or subscribe to Gregg's RSS feed Keizer RSS. His e-mail address is gkeizer@computerworld.com.

Microsoft's Windows Phone update smooth move

2011-05-24T19:55:00.002-07:00

NEW YORK — If Microsoft delivers on the major Windows Phone update it showed off Tuesday, the mobile operating system may finally realize the promise of Microsoft itself, bringing together all the company's brands and products in one coherent whole.

A phone that tries to do everything Microsoft does could have ended up feeling like a multipurpose tool that slices, dices and sits unused in the kitchen drawer. Instead, demonstrations Tuesday of an updated Windows Phone code-named Mango seemed to work together like organs in a body.

"It's not just about the app, it's about integration," said Will Stofega, an analyst at Framingham, Mass., research firm IDC. He was intrigued by how the phone breaks down the wall between search and what's inside the apps.

Andy Lees, president of Microsoft's Mobile Communications business, said at the Tuesday news event the update to the Windows Phone was designed with the user in mind.

"We set about on a new mission to redefine smartphones to make it smarter, and easier, so that people could do more and have more fun," he said at the event, at the Tribeca Grand Hotel.

The update was designed "to put the consumer at the center, and not the operating system, by delivering a set of complete experiences for what people want to do most on their phones, with a delightful interface that required fewer steps, and that was designed to be easier to use. We wanted to provide the customer with less clutter and more clarity," Lees said.

For a long time, Microsoft has attempted to bring together its major products, such as Windows, Office and Xbox. But integrating Microsoft's software and services sometimes seemed like a mirage, so much so that last year some analysts suggested the company should be broken apart into different businesses.

Now, Windows Phone is managing to combine the experiences of Internet Explorer, Bing, Office and Xbox in a phone.

Windows Mobile, the predecessor to Windows Phone, tried for many years to do the same, but critics said it felt like a PC squished into the hand.

In the Mango update Microsoft described Tuesday, the search engine Bing and Web browser Internet Explorer are meshed together with mobile apps themselves. A Bing search results for a book, for instance, can connect to the phone's Kindle app to download the book to be read on the phone.

The contacts directory in the phone blends together Facebook chats, Twitter, LinkedIn, Windows Live instant messaging, voice mail and email. Grouped contacts can be sent group Facebook messages or group work emails.

Bing searches can be done visually with the phone's camera, by voice or by musical sound.

Nongaming apps can use the same 3-D graphics in Xbox games for the phone.

Even for app developers, the tools stem from ones Microsoft developers already know, based on Silverlight and Xbox.

It also seems like the phone may bridge the divide between consumer and business customers.

Microsoft had said for several months it was focused solely on the consumer market with the phone, but Tuesday it began talking up features that could appeal to business customers, such as an Outlook feature that forbids designated email from being forwarded or printed.

The Mango update will be ready in the fall, Microsoft said Tuesday, on new phones and via a software upgrade.

Some Windows Phone users feel burned by Microsoft's earlier NoDo update this year, a small revision that provided basic features such as copy and paste. Many users complained the update was late.

The Mango update is considerably bigger, with more than 500 new features, Microsoft said, although it talked of only a handful Tuesday.

Michael Cherry, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft in Kirkland, said: "I would have to think the bigger thing that is hurting them is all this discussion about updating and problems. ... If they can roll out the next incremental improvement — well, if they can do it smoothly — it's the thing people are asking for that could have a driving factor" in sales.

Microsoft General Manager Stephanie Ferguson said phone owners should feel "absolutely" confident that the update will arrive in the fall.

It's not clear how many people have bought Windows Phones, and Microsoft offered no clarity Tuesday.

The last time Microsoft gave a sales report was four months ago, when it said phone makers bought 2 million copies of the Windows Phone software in January. That number is a step removed from how many phones people have bought and are using.

In contrast, Google said last week that 100 million people use smartphones and tablets that run its Android operating system.

The biggest opportunity Microsoft has is through a partnership with Nokia to have Windows Phone as the primary smartphone platform for the world's largest mobile phone maker.

"What's really going to be the big question is how it integrates with Nokia," Stofega said. "Without seeing it and feeling it, it's just a great demo."

Mango will be the release installed on the first Windows Phone devices from Nokia, Microsoft said Tuesday, giving no indication when they'll hit the market.

Sharon Pian Chan: 206-464-2958 or schan@seattletimes.com

Amazon and Barnes & Noble battle for e-book lovers

2011-05-24T19:55:00.000-07:00

NEW YORK — Online retail titan Amazon.com and bookselling giant Barnes & Noble dueled Tuesday for the devotion of digital book lovers with bargain-priced versions of their popular electronic readers.

Barnes & Noble unveiled a lean new Simple Touch Reader boasting a touch screen, months-long battery life and a price of $139.

The Simple Touch Reader featuring a six-inch, black-and-white touch screen was available for order online at nook.com and was to begin shipping on June 10.

Within hours of the Nook announcement, Amazon released a version of its Kindle 3G e-reader discounted to $164 with the price subsidized by on-screen ads.

Kindle 3G with Special Offers was intended to build on the success of a Wi-Fi only model that has become the hottest-selling Amazon e-reader in the five weeks since it was made available with a $114 price tag.

"In response to customer requests, we're now making these money-saving special offers available for Kindle 3G," said Amazon Kindle director Jay Marine. "Kindle is the bestselling e-reader in the world."

Electronic readers with 3G capabilities can download digital content from anywhere a signal is available, the same way smartphones connect to online data, instead of relying on Internet connections at Wi-Fi hot spots.

The new Nook and the original Kindle with Special Offers feature Wi-Fi connections to get digital material.

"Touch makes it simple to use, and the beautifully compact design makes it the most portable eReader in its class," Barnes & Noble chief executive William Lynch said in a release.

"Add to that an unmatched battery life, the most advanced paper-like touch display on the market and wireless access to the world's largest digital bookstore."

The Nook and Kindle were tailored for readers and not touted as challenges to tablet computers such as iPads, which are platforms for Web browsing, games, videos and more as well as electronic books.

Barnes & Noble claimed to have captured 25 percent of the digital book market since launching the first Nook model about 18 months ago.

Simple Touch Reader weighed in at 7.48 ounces (212 grams), lighter than a typical paperback novel, and was described as easy to fit in a jacket pocket or handbag while being able to hold as many as 1,000 digital books.

The new Nook's debut came five days after the struggling US bookseller said Liberty Media had presented a cash offer to buy the company for $17 a share, valuing the retailer at around $1 billion.

The bid would give the media conglomerate controlled by tycoon John Malone a new business to go with its Starz film channel, QVC shopping network and stakes in the Expedia travel website and other media assets.

Barnes & Noble calls itself the world's largest bookseller, with 705 bookstores in 50 states.

But the book business has been hammered by a shift to electronic books as well as Internet sales.

Borders, the second-largest US bookstore chain, filed for bankruptcy in February, and is still undergoing restructuring.

The Seattle, Washington-based Amazon said it was selling 105 Kindle e-books for every 100 print books, hardcover and paperback combined since April 1.

The company said it had sold more than three times as many Kindle books so far in 2011 as it did during the same period last year.

Amazon began selling print books in July 1995 and introduced the Kindle in November 2007.

The US Kindle store offers more than 950,000 books, including 109 of the 111 New York Times best sellers.

Amazon does not release sales figures for the Kindle e-reader.

MeeGo-Powered Nokia N9 to Be Called Nokia N950

2011-05-24T02:50:00.001-07:00

The tweet mentions that the N950 is a touchscreen smartphone, making no reference to the keyboard design that was a hallmark of past rumors surrounding Nokia’s first MeeGo smartphone. The initial rumors suggest that the Nokia N9, or Nokia N950 according to Arguelles, would sport a landscape-oriented keyboard mechanism with a sliding/tilting screen, but since then there were rumors that the hardware wasn’t right and that Nokia may have eliminated the Nokia E7 Communicator-styled keyboard for the final model. If true, then the Arguelles message on Twitter would confirm that with no mention of a keyboard in describing the 4G touchscreen smartphone.

The device is now at the FCC awaiting U.S. regulatory approval. The phone is expected for a summer launch and earlier leaks from a tipster suggests that Nokia may debut the phone to developers first in June, followed by a commercial release.

The last developer-centric smartphone released by Nokia was the Nokia N900, which ran the Maemo 5 operating system. The device offers more power than Symbian^3 and was promoted as being more open than Android. However, after Maemo, Nokia decided to roll that operating system together with Intel’s Moblin OS in the hopes of creating momentum behind the co-developed MeeGo.

The company has since switched strategy again since new CEO Stephen Elop took reigns. Nokia had announced a few months ago that it would choose instead to focus on developing for Windows Phone 7 and wind down Symbian development while evaluating the prospect behind MeeGo.

Windows Phone 7 To Hit the Verizon Network This Week

2011-05-24T02:49:00.000-07:00

Windows Phone 7 this week will come to Verizon, the largest mobile operator in the United States with 104 million "wireless connections," which include 88 million retail customers. (AT&T would be larger if the T-Mobile acquisition goes through.)

Verizon will start selling the HTC Trophy as its first Windows Phone 7 device online on May 26. The device will hit Verizon stores on June 2, according to a post on Microsoft's Windows Phone Blog by Michael Stroh.

The price of the HTC Trophy with a new two-year contract will be $149.99 after a $50 rebate. To highlight Windows Phone 7's unique ability to play mobile games with Xbox Live and sync with Xbox avatars, profiles and scores, Verizon will give away a free Xbox 360 console game to anyone who buys the device before July 15. Available games include Halo: Reach, Kinect Sports and Lode Runner, with a retail value of up to $60. Given the Xbox aspect, and the fact that it doesn't matter to Verizon whether customers buy a Windows Phone 7 device versus an Apple iPhone or Google Android device, I'm guessing Microsoft is chipping in the Xbox game promotion to try to drive some device sales.

According to Verizon's news release, the key features of the HTC Trophy are a WVGA 3.8-inch touchscreen, surround sound through SRS WOW HD, a 5-megapixel camera, 720p HD video capture, 16 GB of on-board storage, Wi-Fi connectivity and that the phone is global-ready.

Verizon also notes that users can "view and edit Microsoft Office documents, including Excel, Word and PowerPoint with the Office Hub and data access on SharePoint servers."

The Trophy has been available in other countries for several months. It joins a stable of about half-a-dozen Windows Phone 7 devices available in the United States on the AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile networks. (See the May in-depth article comparing all the devices.)

The move should lead to an improvement in Microsoft's overall market share. Verizon commands about a third of the U.S. mobile market (although Apple did well enough even when the iPhone was exclusive to AT&T). Getting Windows Phone 7 onto the Verizon network is one more critical piece in Microsoft's long game in the smartphone market.

Apple iPhone 5 to be smaller and thinner with new SIM

2011-05-24T02:47:00.002-07:00

By IBTimes Staff Reporter | May 23, 2011 11:33 PM EDT

Technology giant Apple has agreed to make the next-generation iPhone even smaller and thinner by using smaller SIM cards instead of an e-SIM, 9TO5Mac reported quoting France Telecom/Orange CEO Stephane Richard.

"All of us told [Apple] it was a bad idea because the SIM card is a critical piece of the security and authentication process," Richard said. "It would be very difficult for a telco or carrier to manage the customer relationship. I think that they understood this point. We had a very constructive exchange and dialogue with them," he said.

According to Richard, a compromise has been reached between Apple and the carriers, resulting in a new SIM card standard even smaller than the micro-SIM used in the iPhone 4. Last week, another executive at Orange indicated that Apple had submitted a new SIM form factor to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute, writes Apple Insider.

The person who saw the prototype of the new iPhone said the device was significantly lighter than the iPhone 4 and had an edge-to-edge screen that could be manipulated by touch, as well as a virtual keyboard and voice-based navigation, the report said.