tech news

Apple iPhone makes users happier than Android

noreply@blogger.com (tech news) — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 00:53:00 -0700

Nielsen survey claims ‘more UK consumers choose Android smartphones, but many still covet the iPhone’

Apple customers claimed to be happier, but Android users were more numerous

More UK consumers chose Google Android smartphones in the past six months than any other, according to new data from analysts Nielsen.

But Apple iPhone owners were much more likely to be “highly satisfied” with their device (86 per cent) than the average smartphone owner (72 per cent).

Additionally, users of Apple iOS phones have a much higher spend on voice and data usage than those with Android. Just 24 per cent of Android owners spent, on average, more than £30 a month, compared to 61 per cent of iPhone owners, Nielsen claimed. More than four in ten iPhone owners paid to download apps each month, compared to just 15 per cent of Android owners.

The latest information from the analytics company indicates that over the last six months, Android phones accounted for 44 per cent of purchases, compared to Blackberry at 25 per cent, Apple iOS at 18 per cent and Nokia’s Symbian (at seven per cent.

“The momentum is with Android at the moment,” claimed Nielsen European telecoms managing director David Gosen, “but to say which smartphone operating systems is ahead overall in the UK is statistically too close to call between Android and Apple iOS, with RIM and Symbian not far behind.”

HP and Apple face-off: EliteBook vs. MacBook

noreply@blogger.com (tech news) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:44:00 -0700

As Hewlett-Packard mulls the fate of its PC operations, this is a good opportunity to contrast HP's ultraportable workhorse with Apple's popular MacBook Air.
Just before the news broke about Hewlett-Packard considering a spin-off of its PC operations, I received an EliteBook 2560p from HP to try out. Call it uncanny. Or, better yet, call it an opportune time to take a high-end HP laptop for a spin and compare two competing design philosophies from two of the most successful--and biggest--computer companies in the world.

HP EliteBook 2560p in the foreground. MacBook Air (13.3-inch) and Dell Adamo in the background.

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

And, yes, I wondered for a moment if this was the last opportunity to handle a new HP-branded laptop. But that thought quickly vanished. HP Executive Chairman Ray Lane has said--as recently as Thursday--that the $40 billion PC operations will either be spun off as an "HP branded" company or kept inside.
With that preamble, let's get down to business. First, some quick notes about the EliteBook 2560p. Among the business models announced in the last six months or so, the 2560p is the closest that HP gets to the Air. (Some might argue that the ProBook 5330m or Pavilion dm1 are closer, but I'm sticking with the 2560p as the best point of comparison for reasons cited below--besides, that's all I've got to work with.)
(Note: this is not a formal review but general impressions of the 2560p after using it for about three weeks. And also note that I am not comparing it to the latest MacBook Air with Intel Sandy Bridge chips inside. I'm sure the MacBook faithful will cry foul on that account. My everyday machine is the MBA spec'd below.)

Again, the 2560p next to a second-generation 13-inch MacBook Air (which I use as my backup).

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

The 2560p is the most recent offering in a long line of high-end business ultraportables. Before the 2560p came the 2540p, 2530p, 2510p--and before that, models like the Compaq Armada m300. Previous models were actually lighter. For example, the 2510p was about 3.4 pounds. The 2560p weighs about 3.7 pounds. That said, it's HP's most portable business laptop (excluding Netbooks). And HP is all about business computers. That's its bread and butter: supplying laptops to Fortune 500 companies.
I've always thought that HP's business laptops were underexposed (if not underrated). They get relatively little media attention despite wide use. As I've said before, at airports, conferences, and hotels, the most widely used laptops I see are MacBooks, ThinkPads, and HP's business laptops. And it's obvious that HP ships a lot of these as it's the largest PC maker in the world.
So, let's get the spec comparison out the way.

Electric sports car sees speedy development

noreply@blogger.com (tech news) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:41:00 -0700

This concept sports car was built, from initial sketches to working prototype, in just nine months.

(Credit: Gordon Murray Design)

Creating a new car can take years of development, but Gordon Murray Design put together a running prototype electric sports car in just nine months. The Teewave AR.1 was commissioned by Toray Industries to show off its carbon fiber production.
Toray says that its process can make carbon fiber components in just 10 minutes. The Teewave AR.1 uses Toray carbon fiber for its chassis, crash structures, body, and interior. Other Toray materials make up interior surfaces and components of the car.

Gordon Murray Design opted for a modest electric powertrain in the Teewave AR.1, meaning sluggish acceleration.

(Credit: Gordon Murray Design)

Those light carbon fiber elements make the overall weight of the Teewave AR.1 just 1,874 pounds. The lithium ion battery pack for the car makes up 530 pounds of that weight.
Gordon Murray Design did not specify the supplier of the electric power train, but its specifications are fairly standard for new electric cars hitting the market. Range is listed as 116 miles using the New European Driving Cycle test procedure, and charging time is 6 hours.
The Teewave AR.1 does not push the boundaries of electric car performance. Its electric motor, driving the rear wheels, only produces 63 horsepower and 132 pound-feet of torque. That means acceleration of 11.4 seconds to 62 mph.
You won't be able to buy a Teewave AR.1 anytime soon. The car will be used by Toray to demonstrate its carbon fiber capabilities. But Toray says its carbon fiber components will scale from a car as small as the Teewave AR.1 to any other size of vehicle.
What this concept also demonstrates is how quickly a new car can, from sketches to a working prototype, can be built. Components such as the electric drive train and suspension are modular, while the carbon fiber can be formed from molds rather than the more time-consuming stamping process for steel, which involves more tooling.

Is the new iPhone wait nearly over? (Apple Talk Weekly)

noreply@blogger.com (tech news) — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 02:38:00 -0700

People are downright salivating for a new iPhone, and it looks like the wait is very nearly over.
A buzzy report from All Things Digital this week pointed to October 4 --which is now less than a week and a half away--as the day Apple plans to take the wraps off the next version of the device, with a release to follow a few weeks later.
There's one hiccup with that plan, however, which is that both the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the Moscone Center (which are Apple's usual places for product launches outside of its smaller campus space) are both booked that week as part of the OracleWorld conference, ZDNet notes.
As a frame of reference, Apple announced the current model at Moscone during last year's Worldwide Developers Conference in June, with photos and videos of the device having leaked out months ahead of the event.
On the topic of when consumers will actually get it, Ticonderoga Securities analyst Brian White (via Fortune) has put together a "days to launch" list for all the previous versions of the iPhone and iPad, which points out that the last two iterations of the iPhone were released 11 and 17 days after being announced, respectively.
Read on to get the rest of this week's Apple news, rumors, and answers to your questions.

News

Apple stock hits all time high
Apple started out the week on a high, literally. The company's stock hit an all-time high on Monday, peaking at $413.23 a share, finishing the day with a market value of $381.62 billion. The stock retreated by the end of the week, closing at $404.30.

Final Cut Pro X gets first big update, free trial
Apple this week rolled out the first big feature update to its Final Cut Pro X software, adding a handful of features it says users were asking for. It also added a free 30-day trial that users can grab through Apple's Web site.
China gets the iPad 3G
Apple this week began selling a version of its iPad 2 with built-in 3G networking in mainland China, some four months after the Wi-Fi only version made its debut there. Up until now, customers in the region have been able to buy only the Wi-Fi version of the device through Apple, leading some to pick up gray-market 3G models imported from other countries.
Apple tops two different customer satisfaction surveys
Apple ranked the highest in the results from two separate customer satisfaction surveys released this week. The first was The American Customer Satisfaction Index, which had Apple's Mac computers topping the charts. The next day, Beyond Philosophy released the results of its customer satisfaction survey, which listed Apple as having the "most admired customer experience."
Via, Samsung, S3 sue Apple
Apple was sued by a handful of companies this week. On Thursday, Via Technologies took aim at the tech giant for allegedly infringing on its patents. The same day, S3 filed a complaint against Apple for allegedly infringing on two of its patents, adding to the existing suits between the two companies with the International Trade Commission. Then there were the four suits aimed at Apple by Samsung in the Netherlands, reported yesterday by Bloomberg.
Another Thunderbolt-related firmware update
Apple on Monday released a firmware update to its Thunderbolt-equipped computers that "improves the stability of the Apple Thunderbolt Display." Apple started shipping out that hardware to customers last week.

Rumors

T-Mobile exec squashes iPhone 5 rumor
A purportedly leaked shot of T-Mobile's internal blog that was posted this week had the company's chief marketing officer saying that the iPhone 5 was not headed to the carrier--at least not this year. The statement, which T-Mobile officers declined to confirm, does not rule out the possibility of the carrier getting some other iPhone variant, which brings us to the next rumor of the week...

(Credit: Apple)

No iPad 3 this year, but two iPhones?
A note from J.P. Morgan analyst Mark Moskowitz this week made waves for two suggestions. The first was that we won't see a new iPad from Apple within the year, with Moskowitz saying the company is in "no rush" to release a follow-up while competitors are still working to get their act together. The second suggestion is that Apple plans to release two iPhones: an iPhone 5 and an iPhone 4S that will feature souped-up internals.
Al Gore mentions "new iPhones" at confab
While talking at the Discovery Invest Leadership Summit in South Africa this week, former U.S. Vice President and current Apple board member Al Gore mentioned that new iPhones would be arriving next month. While Gore could have just been talking about the device shipping out to people in multiple units, the mention was of note given the aforementioned rumor of there being two devices.
White iPod Touch rumor resurfaces
Along with the new iPhone next month, we could be getting a new color of the iPod Touch, Macrumors claimed this week. The outlet said this year's refresh is expected to be "minor" in nature. If you'll remember correctly it took Apple longer than expected to release the white iPhone 4, though it has offered white versions of the iPad 2 from the get-go, making this rumor not too much of a stretch.

Reader question

John J. asks:

I have had my iPhone for almost three years and am likely switching to an Android on Verizon's LTE network. The only thing that is really giving me hesitation is the music function. I complain about iTunes crashing on my PC, but overall it's a fantastic music manager (unlike Windows Media Player), and I love listening to music on my iPhone.
Is Android comparable to the iPhone? Does it depend on the carrier or manufacturer? Are there third-party apps that improve it and/or link to iTunes?
I've looked around but haven't found anything discussing this in the last year, and this never seems to crop up in phone reviews. Can you shed any light on the subject?

An iPhone next to an Android phone.

(Credit: CNET)

Hey, John,
To answer your first question, the stock music experience on Android is different from what you have on the iPhone, but Android arguably offers more flexibility in letting you shape the sync and music app experience you can ultimately end up with.
On the phone side, you can install jukebox apps like Winamp, Poweramp, and Playerpro to act as your primary music player. My colleague Joshua Goldman rounded up 10 of the best, which you can take a peek at here.
If you're looking for an iTunes-like experience that can transfer over your library--complete with things like playlists and settings--there's DoubleTwist. This doubles as a jukebox both on your phone and computer when it comes to actually listening to music. If you want to stick with iTunes, there's also iSyncr, which can ferry files between your phone and iTunes.
For everything else, my colleague Sharon Vaknin has a how-to guide on switching platforms here, including how to transfer things like photos, videos, SMS messages, and contacts over to your new device.