Android Mobile Phone

IBM buys Worklight

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:23:00 +0000

IBM announced its own “bring your own device” manager today, as well as its most recent acquisition, Worklight, which helps companies focus on developing applications for multiple operating systems.

BYOB, or bring your own beer, used to be the simple way to get a party going. You’re at a party, you’re thirsty, but oh wait, you brought that six pack. Now you don’t have to awkwardly ask the hostess where the fridge is, wonder if you’ve had too much of her stock, or reach into your pocket to subsidize the party costs. Nope, it’s easy sailing because you brought your own beer, and you’re in control of it.

But it’s that personal control that is scaring IT departments in the bring your own device trend.

IT managers get concerned thinking about the thousands of wild devices roaming their networks. Different companies have come up with solutions to connect those devices and control them, and IBM is now one of them.

The company’s endpoint manager is a product of IBM’s acquisition of Big Fix. Big Fix was a management tool for a number of different devices including laptops and point of sale hardware. Under IBM, that reach now extends to mobile phones and tablets. The software can restrict e-mail access to phones acting oddly, or outside of its normal routine, wipe specific company information from a device that has been lost or stolen, and allows IT staffers to manage the system from one interface.

Apps are also a concern for the BYOD age. It’s hard to monitor apps across different operating systems as well as deploy your own internal applications. IBM’s newest purchase, Worklight, takes care of this by connecting devices’ applications to the respective company’s IT system for monitoring and deploying apps. It works across multiple operating systems including iOS and Android.

Devices image via Shutterstock

Samsung’s Galaxy Note headed to AT&T on Feb. 19 for $300

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:17:00 +0000

Skinny jeans wearers need not apply. AT&T announced Tuesday that Samsung’s massive 5.3-inch Galaxy Note — which was one of the most intriguing devices at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show — will be available in the U.S. on February 19 for $300 with contract.

The Galaxy Note occupies a weird space between a smartphones and a tablets, but for some it may just be the perfect balance of the two form factors. Pre-orders for the Galaxy Note will start on Super Bowl Sunday, February 5, and AT&T promises the devices will arrive by February 17 for early birds.

The device features a huge Super AMOLED screen with a 1280-by-800 resolution (so it can play 720p HD videos at full resolution), and it also packs in support for AT&T’s LTE 4G network. The Note comes with a stylus Samsung calls the S Pen, which takes advantage of the large screen space to scribble notes and draw.

Given that the stylus has gone out of fashion in tech (unless you’re Nintendo), it’ll be interesting to see if Samsung’s advanced take on the tool can attract buyers.

Under the hood, the Galaxy Note is similar to most other modern Android devices. It features a dual-core 1.5 gigahertz CPU, as well as an 8 megapixel rear camera and 2 megapixel front-facing camera.

Android app for social management on-the-go

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:14:00 +0000

Just a month and half after agreeing to be acquired by Salesforce, social performance management service Rypple has launched a native Android app to make sure managers and employees can connect no matter where they are.

Rypple’s software helps managers improve employee performance through “social goals” and consistent feedback and recognition. It’s in an increasingly competitive market for cloud-based human resource management services. Leading competitors include SuccessFactors, which enterprise giant SAP agreed to acquire for $3.4 billion, Workday, Taleo, Ultimate Software, and Cornerstone OnDemand.

The new Android app will join Rypple’s iPhone app in helping an increasingly mobile work force connect with daily feedback. The key features of the Android app include public recognition for colleague praise, real-time feedback and social goals for tracking priorities.

“The best feedback often comes on the taxi ride back to the office after an important meeting,” Rypple co-founder and co-CEO Daniel Debow told VentureBeat via e-mail. “Rypple’s investment in an Android app lets our users stay aligned with key priorities, get real-time updates, and recognize great work — away from the office.”

The Android app has three versions at different prices: free with basic capabilities; Premium for $5-per-user-per-month with real-time feedback, one-on-one coaching, and recognition applications; and Phenomenal for $9-per-user-per-month with performance review application, Loops, Social Goals 2.0, and integration into existing company work systems.

Before the Salesforce acquisition agreement, San Francisco-based Rypple had raised $13 million in three rounds of funding from Bridgescale Partners, Edgestone Capital Partners, Peter Thiel, and others. The deal with Salesforce is expected to close by the end of April 2012 and when it goes through, Rypple will be re-named as “Successforce.”

Android users

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 07:10:00 +0000

A recent survey by Match.com has revealed Android users need lovin’ a little quicker than iPhone and Blackberry users.

The survey was broken down by Match.com’s “Relationship Insider” Kimberly Moffit, who revealed that 75 percent of Canadian singles believe e-mail and texting have significantly improved their dating life. “More so than zodiac signs or astrology, smart phones are the new way Canadian singles can decode their dating style and determine if they’ve met their match,” wrote Moffit.

So, what does your smartphone say about your life love?

iPhone Users: The Office Romantic

iPhone addicts are the most likely to date someone in their workplace. Nearly a quarter of iPhone singles have had an office romance in the last five years.
After a first date, iPhone users wait just one day to reach out, while Android or BlackBerry users will wait until after 2-3 dates.

BlackBerry Users: The Drunk Dialer

If you’re dating a BlackBerry fan, prepare to imbibe. BlackBerry users are most likely to drink alcohol on a first date – 72 percent will have a boozy beverage on a first night out.
A whopping 67 percent of BlackBerry users say they have experienced love at first sight.

Android Users: The Seducer

Android users are most likely to be seduced on a first date. 62 percent of Android singles say they’ve done the deed after date number one, compared to 57 per cent of iPhone users and 48 percent of BlackBerry users.
Out of all smart phone users, Android fans are most likely to have a one-night stand (55 percent).
72 percent of Android fans have visited an online dating site, compared to 58 percent of iPhone users and 50 percent of Blackberry users.

Unfortunately Boost Mobile users did not factor in to the survey. We’ve reached out to Match.com to demand answers (not really).

Via The Canadian Press

Iphones

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:24:00 +0000

While the success of the iPhone 4S was a big deal for Apple last quarter, it was the free (with contract) iPhone 3GS that helped Apple truly dominate the smartphone market in Q4, according to Juniper Research.

Apple’s 37 million iPhones shipped accounted for almost one-quarter of the 149 million smartphones shipped globally in the last quarter, the research firm said in its latest report.

That’s on-par with Strategy Analytics’ figures, which counted 155 million smartphones shipped worldwide in Q4. Given the variances in the way different firms count total smartphone sales, it’s safe to say that somewhere around 150 million smartphones were pushed out last quarter.

As we noted previously, Apple stole the No. 1 spot from Samsung last quarter (Samsung reported that it shipped 36.5 million smartphones, compared to Apple’s 37 million), but Juniper also points out that Samsung’s market share jumped significantly in the last quarter, up to 21.7 percent from just 4.7 percent the year prior.

Without the bump of a new iPhone release and the holiday shopping frenzy, Apple will likely see a major decline in smartphone shipments for this quarter. That means Samsung has a good chance to snatch back the No. 1 smartphone maker spot. Expect this see-saw to continue for the foreseeable future.

The KING Android

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:15:00 +0000

It’s good to be the Android king: Samsung today announced its record fourth quarter earnings, in which it saw operating profits of 5.3 trillion won (around $4.7 billion) on revenues of 47.3 trillion won (around $42 billion).

That’s a decent jump over last year, when it reported earnings of 3 trillion won (about $2.6 billion) on 41.8 trillion won (about $36.5 billion) in revenue.

Samsung performance was in line with its guidance from earlier in the month, and the company attributed much of its success to the popularity of its Galaxy S II and Galaxy Note Android devices. Revenue from its telecommunications business was 17.82 trillion won (about $15.8 billion), up a whopping 52 percent from this time last year.

Given that it’s the top Android device maker, it’s not surprising to see Samsung’s huge numbers. Meanwhile, both Motorola and HTC announced losses in their latest earnings.

Shipments of Samsung’s smartphones jumped 30 percent compared to the previous quarter (not surprising since this was a holiday quarter). Looking forward, Samsung expects the demand for entry-level smartphones and LTE will grow the smartphone market by more than 30 percent over the year, and the company expects tablet demand to grow as well.

The company reported strong sales in its TV business and a 19 percent growth in display panels sales. Computers fared less well, thanks to slow sales and an oversupply of DRAM.

Motorola loses $80M in Q4, phone shipments down at 10.5M

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:11:00 +0000

Without any wildly successful Android devices this quarter, Motorola took a beating during the fourth quarter.

Motorola reported a loss of $80 million on revenue of $3.4 billion, compared to earnings of $80 million last year. The company’s mobile device shipments were down as well at 10.5 million, a slight dip from 11.3 million a year ago.

Motorola’s earnings show how difficult it is for Android phone makers to remain profitable in the face of massive competition from other Android manufacturers. HTC, formerly a smartphone titan, reported its first quarterly loss in two years last month (while Samsung, now the top Android device maker, is sitting pretty).

It’s funny how quickly things can change in the mobile market these days. Two years ago, Motorola saw its first profit in three years thanks to the wildly successful Droid. But then Samsung’s Galaxy lineup toppled Motorola from the Android throne, and now Moto is waiting for Google to finish snapping it up. Most recently, Motorola relaunched its Razr brand with the Droid Razr.

Motorola shipped 5.3 million smartphones during the quarter, and despite the drop in units, its mobile device revenue was up 5 percent from last year at $2.5 billion. The company shipped a shockingly low 200,000 tablets for the quarter (which goes to show that the Xyboard name was so terrible, consumers actively avoided it).

For the full year 2011, Motorola reported $13.1 billion in revenue (up 14 percent from the prior year) and it shipped 42.4 million mobile devices (including 18.7 million smartphones). The company now has $3.6 billion in cash on hand, as of the end of the quarter.

Top smart phone

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:08:00 +0000

In what will likely be a constant back and forth between Apple and Samsung, the iPhone maker has apparently reclaimed the title of the world’s largest smartphone vendor for the fourth quarter of 2011.

That’s according to research firm Strategy Analytics, which points out that Apple shipped 37 million iPhones during the quarter versus Samsung’s 36.5 million. Samsung still remains king for all of 2011 though, with 97.4 million smartphones shipped compared to Apple’s 93 million.

In October, the firm reported that Samsung had toppled Apple in smartphone sales for the first time ever. Now it appears that both companies will be seesawing for the top spot.

Overall, global smartphone shipments grew 54 percent in the quarter to reach 155 million units, according to Strategy Analytics.

But while Samsung and Apple duke it out, third-place Nokia is falling like a rock, dropping from 33 percent in smartphone market share last year to just 16 percent in the fourth quarter. Nokia is only now beginning to see the results of its Windows Phone experiment, but given the relative immaturity of that platform, the company likely won’t be able to hold on to the No. 3 position for much longer.

Android Apps

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:04:00 +0000

Symantec claims to have found a string of “malicious” applications in the Android app store that resemble botnets.
According to a blog post by the company, these applications are pushing out a type of malware called Android.Counterclank, which is said to be related to a botnet-like virus called Android.Tonclank. Botnets generally extend from a commanding device, which then takes control of other devices via spam messages. On mobile, this control can be achieved through malicious applications.
Symantec says that Android.Counterclank has already affected 1000′s and considers its damage level to be a “medium,” for stealing personal information off of the phone. Thus far the company has isolated 13 potentially harmful applications in the Android Marketplace. The majority of which seem to be gaming applications as well as porn or applications with explicit content.
Mobile security firm Lookout Mobile, however, does not believe these applications to be malicious or botnet-like.
“Some companies are calling this a botnet or malware. Lookout has some concerns about the functionality, however at this time, and as far as we can tell, it does not meet the standard to be classified as malware or a ‘bot,’” said a Lookout Mobile spokesperson in an e-mail. “Consumers should take these apps very seriously as they appear to tread on privacy lines, but they are not necessarily malicious.”
Mobile botnets recently made Lookout Mobile’s threat predictions for 2012. The tactic thankfully hasn’t been used to its full potential yet, but some small scale botnets have already been detected. In 2011, Lookout Mobile found a botnet string called Geinimi originating out of China. This malware was able to receive commands from a remote server, as well as extract information from your phone, and attempt to infect others using your phone.
The company also warns that most common carriers of mobile malware are gaming and porn applications, which make up Android.Counterclank’s roster. See Symantec’s list of infected apps below:

the best cell phone service provider at CES 2012

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 01:00:00 +0000

At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, everybody wanted to talk. And when they talked on their mobile phones, they put a great deal of stress on the mobile phone carriers. We tried to figure out who handled the load the best.

CES is the biggest technology convention in the US. This year it once again broke attendance records with 153,000 analysts, exhibitors, and journalists. Regardless of your place in the industry, having mobile service in Sin City during the week-long extravaganza is the single-most important thing everyone must have.

To do the testing, I brought along four phones (plus my personal phone), one on each carrier. Here are the phones I used for testing:

Verizon: Samsung Galaxy Nexus
AT&T: HTC Vivid
Sprint: Samsung Epic 4G Touch
T-Mobile: T-Mobile myTouch
Additional phone: iPhone 4S

All four tested devices work on 4G networks, and both the Galaxy Nexus and Vivid have access to LTE networks. Because I, along with Venturebeat staffers, also covered the show, testing on which cell provider worked best during CES was not purely scientific. It was all real-world testing using data and telephony when there was a need to use the phones. Of course, at CES, that was constantly.

The best overall coverage came from, in a word, Verizon.

Nearly every carrier provided similar call coverage and quality, but data speed and coverage varied wildly. Verizon was the only provider that consistently had solid performance, both over LTE and 3G. All three other cell carriers were in a constant state of flux, but for one specific reason: there was no upstream bandwidth. Sprint had waves of data coverage, where data speeds would fluctuate between 0-300kbps. AT&T and T-Mobile almost consistently had little to no upstream bandwidth.

Testing data speeds with Ookla’s Speedtest.net app, both on and off the show floor, AT&T and T-Mobile’s networks struggled to find any bandwidth. Download speeds ranged from 100-12,000kbps, but it almost never mattered because there was no upstream bandwidth. Suffice it to say, both GSM carriers’ tubes were clogged.

Verizon was the only carrier who almost never dropped a data signal and always had enough bandwidth to download new emails, upload photos and documents, and do so consistently. Sprint regularly received emails and push data faster than Verizon. For hotspot use Verizon had the most stable network, though transfer speeds even over LTE were fairly slow because of the high volume of users. It was enough for mobile and even minimal laptop use.

On the strip, my findings were the same. AT&T, which recently began providing LTE in Las Vegas, was mostly unusable because of so little upstream bandwidth. In tall hotels data speeds were significantly slower, and LTE and even 3G networks were completely dropped the higher up I went. This is an unfortunate problem, especially since most hotels do not have free Wi-Fi. Further off the strip data speeds increased, but not during the main show days.

While Sprint proved to be second best for data, because data fluctuated so much using GPS navigation was surprisingly difficult. Strangely AT&T and T-Mobile didn’t have this problem, and the tested Epic 4G Touch has no problems with the GPS in Los Angeles. Verizon proved to be the best for navigation.

Call quality, as mentioned earlier, was similar across all networks, likely because most communication was done over data during the show. I made calls across all carriers and dropped or could not connect only in poor connection areas, such as hotel parking lots or underground.

In short, here is how each cell provider fared:

Verizon: the best overall quality. Data was consistently fast enough for work, and was at times better than available Wi-Fi networks. Best hotspot functionality.
Sprint: poor GPS quality. Regularly had the fastest push notification. Data download and upload speeds were sporadic, but usable.
AT&T: Fastest potential data transfer, but no upstream bandwidth available the majority of the time. Push notifications work, but use as a hotspot during the show was impossible.
T-Mobile: Weakest overall quality. Regularly poor data both down and up. Hotspot was consistently too slow for use.

Because most of us enjoy, or attempt to take advantage of the best local cell provider, my recommendation for future attendees or at other conventions is to use a company Mi-Fi card from Verizon.

Get the Best of Kindle Fire Accessories

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 09:04:00 +0000

The market of hand handled tablets are growing really very well, there are several new players have arrived in the field during last few years. One can find a variety of features on new age tablets, as they serve the purpose of phone as well as of PC in a simultaneous period of time. So, it could be a great option to buy this tablet PC’s as they are truly awesome in multitasking and other value added services.

Thus, to avail all such quality features, Amazon has come up with its new launch tablet PC under the name Kindle. Amazon Kindle has been launched in the end of September 2011 and right from the day, it has done remarkably well in markets all around the world. Amazon Kindle Fire has made a new track record as they have sold around 90,000 units on the very first day of its launch. So, if you are also planning to go by new age tablet PC’s, then Amazon Kindle Fire should be the one stop solution.

Here at Firesit,you will find best of deal in all sorts of kindle fire accessories and kindle fire charger even at affordable rates. At Firesit, we take care about your gadgets, as we help you to buy best of accessories that goes well with your tablet PC’s. We allow you to buy fromAmazon 2.1 Amps ultra small size kindle fire charger that comes up with a LED power indicator and USB to USB connection cables.

Other than charger, we alsooffer you chance to buy from Amazon kindle fire accessories that include rubberized cover strips that is made by eco-friendly leather. Moreover, the kindle fireEco cover you find here have enough pockets to hold small items like ID’s, cash and other credit cards. So, now there is no need to carry wallet and other accessories, you only need to have Eco cover kindle with you.

At Firesit, we provide you detail information about kindle fire charger and many other kindle fire accessories.

For further details on kindle fire accessories feel free to visit at http://firesit.com .

Ericsson Application Award 2012

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:39:00 +0000

This competition is provided in cooperation with

Who can join the competition
The competition is global and open to both students and small & medium sized enterprises (< 100 employees). There are two categories: one for students and one for companies. For more details see Rules and Terms & Conditions.

Theme
The purpose of the theme "Apps for the Networked Society" is to promote innovations from a variety of environments, places and situations etc., as well as by connecting people, things and places to empower individuals and society.

The Network Society is an Ericsson vision targeting a combination of mobility, broadband, the cloud, applications and services for an empowered society.

Requirements
Develop an application based on the Android platform (Web or Native) that addresses the theme and makes use of at least one Ericsson Labs API (e.g. Mobile Location, Text To Speech, etc.).

Prizes
The awards for each category (Students and Companies) are as follows:
1st place: €15 000 and phones from Sony Ericsson
2nd place: €10 000 and phones from Sony Ericsson
3rd place: €5 000
4th and 5th place: Honorary Diplomas

The prize money will be shared equally among the registered team members. The winning teams will be contacted to ensure payment of prize. Winners will be announced on: www.ericssonapplicationawards.com

Deadlines 2011/2012
Click the image below to view a full-size version.

Main Competition
February 28, 2012: Last date for Application Submission
March 1, 2012: Evaluation of entries
March 16, 2012: Announcement of semi-finalists (top 5) in each category
March 20, 2012: Global evaluation of semi-finalist entries
April 25, 2012: Announcement of finalist teams (top 2) in each category

The 1st and 2nd place winners from each category will be awarded at the Ericsson Application Awards ceremony in May 2012.

Stages (Optional)
October 10, 2011: Stage 1 Submission
December 5, 2011, Stage 2 Submission

Details about the Stages will be posted on www.ericssonapplicationawards.com

Evaluation Process
The first evaluation phase results in the selection of the semi-finalist teams, the top 5 in each category. The second evaluation phase of the semi-finalist entries is conducted by 1000 people representing 4-5 countries globally and results in the selection of the finalist teams, the top 2 in each category. The third evaluation phase will be done at the Awards Ceremony by a jury (panel of experts), who will select the winners.

Evaluation Criteria
The submitted applications will be evaluated according to the following criteria:
- Application based on at least one Ericsson Labs API
- Addresses the theme "Apps for the Networked Society"
- Working application prototype
- Innovative solution
- Business potential

Ericsson Labs Highlights

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 00:36:00 +0000

It’s hard to believe that another year has gone by; 2011 was a great year for Labs. Looking back over the past 12 months, we have noticed some definite themes in our work.

Progress: The addition of 6 new APIs as well as a number of upgrades to both our APIs and back-end systems.
Interest: Due to increased interest in our APIs and in Ericsson Labs in general, we have been invited to speak and participate at various events in Europe, Asia and North America.
Commercialization: Our Pay-As-You-Grow program began small, providing purchasing power first to our European customers, then to our global customers and finally it gave our customers the ability to make high volume purchases.

Based on feedback from the survey we conducted in the first quarter, we were able to make advances in a few different areas. New APIs were created while others were put to rest. It’s this on-going dialogue that allows us to provide the services you really want. We hope that you have found something useful on our site and we look forward to even more improvements in the next year.

These are the APIs we currently have available at Ericsson Labs.

Figure: 27 Ericsson Labs APIs in 8 different categories

New Features on the Kindle for Android App

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:12:00 +0000


	Download Now from our Amazon Appstore for Android.		Capture the QR Code with your phone's barcode scanner Enlarge to scan

New Features on the Kindle for Android App

Localized app language in French, Spanish, Italian, and Brazilian Portuguese
Improved interface for Android phones including personalized recommendations direct from the Kindle for Android Home screen
Seamless integrated shopping experience tailored for tablets gives you quick access to personalized recommendations, customer reviews, and more
Refined newspaper and magazine layout including full color images on tablet devices
Kindle for Android is now available in German for customers purchasing content from the Amazon.de Kindle Store

View larger image

Read Kindle books on your Android phone

Get the best reading experience available on your Android phone. No Kindle required
Access your Kindle books even if you don't have your Kindle with you
Automatically synchronizes your last page read and annotations between devices with Whispersync
Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle, computer, or other Kindle-compatible device
Read in portrait or landscape mode
Tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages

View larger image

Shop for books and magazines in the Kindle Store

Search and browse more than one million books, including New York Times® bestsellers from $9.99. If you are a non-U.S. customer, book availability may vary
Read over 100 newspapers and magazines including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and Reader's Digest with high resolution color images.
Subscribe to a newspaper or magazine and have each edition automatically delivered, or purchase individual issues.
Customers who receive newspapers and magazines on Kindle can download recent editions to their Android devices from Archived Items. Many newspapers and magazines are supported, and more are on the way.

View larger image

Apple iPad 3 specs

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:33:00 +0000

It’s a new year and there isn’t going to be much to stop Apple from showing us new gadgets that we will crave until we have them. First up is the newest generation tablet, the iPad 3. Rumors have been circulating for a little bit and today we might have some concrete specs to finally report. News originally reported to Bloomberg today, suggested that production for the iPad 3 has started and will continue through next month up until the launch date, which is set sometime in March of this year. Earlier this month folks poking around in the iOS 5.1 beta found references to the possibility of quad-core support, leaving rumors to fly about the new iPad even more.

The sources that came to Bloomberg with the news claimed the new iPad would be powered by a quad-core A6 processor, have a “high-definition” display and come with support for LTE connectivity. With LTE networks expanding and reaching the farthest parts of the country, most would say this would be standard. Apple is typically one to pick up on new technology as soon as it is available so we’ll have to see where the LTE rumor goes. A larger battery is also rumored for the iPad 3, which could also point towards LTE connectivity as it would likely drain a battery faster than a traditional connection.

The new QXGA HD display is rumored to be about 9.7-inches and have a pixel resolution of 2048×1536. Apple is typically tight lipped with it comes to product specs before launch, although a couple of iPhones have been left in bars over the last couple of years. Other information from the sources pointed to things like the iPad 3 “having more pixels on its screen than some HD televisions” and that the new graphics processor will allow the iPad 3 to play video almost instantly.

Production started this month and will take a break for the Chinese New Year, otherwise the Foxxcon factory will be working 24 hours per day to complete the orders needed. Apple has a bad reputation when it comes to product shortages and if any of the specs catch the attention of new Apple fans, the company is going to need a lot more iPad’s than in they had in the past.

Asus Transformer Prime

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:29:00 +0000

The much awaited update for the Asus Transformer Prime that was to bring Ice Cream Sandwich on the popular tablet was released last Tuesday, well ahead of schedule, in the US and Taiwan. Most Transformer Prime owners were happy with the end result, but there were a number of devices that showed an error claiming an invalid serial number which caused the update process to be aborted. The XDA Developers forum was flooded with posts and queries regarding this situation. Asus acted quite promptly in response to the situation and posted in the forum saying that they were almost ready with a patch for fixing the issue. The company instilled further confidence in customers by repeating the message over the next two consecutive days.

While the problem was identified quite quickly, the solution isn’t as simple since these devices will not update by themselves in any way whatsoever and a manual upgrade is also out of the question. However, an unofficial workaround has been published which involves resetting the tablet to its factory settings and then allowing it to connect to a WiFi network for around 15 minutes, after which it will sync with the servers and download the firmware. If this semi-automatic method doesn’t work, a manual update can be attempted; failing which Asus has asked users to send their tablet’s serial numbers to the company who will then resolve the issue at the back end. An official fix should be out within a few days, according the company.

The trouble with the new firmware also extends to those who were able to update successfully upgrade to Ice Cream Sandwich. After updating, several users were faced with a situation in which the screen would get locked and then show a file corruption error. Asus has made a statement acknowledging the problem and has said that is going to provide at least two possible solutions and the process of informing customers has already begun.

The Transformer Prime is currently quite popular thanks to its superb performance and owners have been waiting for the ICS update quite eagerly. Though the start has been rather bumpy, the fact that Asus is actively trying to fix the issues as soon as possible should go down well with everyone. An Ice Cream Sandwich update for the original Transformer is also expected in the coming months.

Amazon Kindle Fire Tablet

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:23:00 +0000

It wasn’t long after the Kindle Fire was released as Amazon’s first tablet offering at $199 that the profitability of the device came into question. There were several online firms that did a piece by piece tear down of the tablet that revealed it cost more to make each unit than the $199 retail price. Of course, the Kindle Fire 7 inch tablet provides direct access to Amazon’s huge media library, therefore guaranteeing the purchase of high-margin and low cost e-books and applications, and that is a pricing model that Jeff Bezos and Amazon hopes will work out to their advantage.

And according to recent research released from RBC Capital, the $18 every Kindle loses immediately on purchase due to manufacturing costs and other issues will probably be easily overcome in short time. RBC analysts surveyed 216 Kindle Fire owners and estimated that over the course of approximately 3 years, each Kindle Fire tablet owner would spend at least $136 on Amazon e-Books, apps, newspapers and magazines.

They further went on to conclude that the Kindle Fire will give Amazon a breakeven point after less than five months of ownership. RBC found from their survey that each Amazon Kindle Fire owner purchases approximately 5 e-Books per quarter, and these purchases generate about $15 revenue per Kindle Fire owner per quarter. In that same study, only 19% of those responding to the survey claimed they had not yet purchased an e-Book for their Kindle Fire. However, a full 29% reported purchasing 3 to 5 e-Books, and 28% purchased six or more.

After all the results were processed concerning applications, Kindle Fire owners in this study on average showed a purchase of 3 paid apps per quarter, RBC estimates. They also discovered that a full 66% of those responding to the survey claim to have purchased at least 1 paid application, while the remaining 34% had not. And besides the digital content that Amazon offers, Kindle Fire owners could add revenue to Amazon by purchasing physical goods on their Kindle Fire tablet, and to promote this behavior, every Kindle Fire receives 30 free days of membership to Amazon Prime. Amazon Prime gives free and unlimited two-day shipping for the purchase of any product from the Amazon retail website.

Buy the Kindle Fire for $199

And on yet another positive note for Amazon, almost 80% of those surveyed were “extremely satisfied” or “very satisfied” with the Kindle Fire while only 5.9% claimed they were “somewhat satisfied” or “not satisfied” with the device. Learn more about this low priced tablet in our Amazon Kindle Fire Review.

Android Market

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 16:32:00 +0000

Android market

Free Android Appa 2012

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:13:00 +0000

Google+ sign-up

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:01:00 +0000

Google+: Whether you want it or not

Google's desperate attempts to push Google+ have reached new heights with the company now forcing new users to sign-up for the social network when they create a Google Account.

The search giant has changed the registration page so unaffiliated users who want to sign up for a Google Account will also be mandated to create a Google Profile.

This means they will be automatically registered for a Google+ account, although that isn't explicitly explained in the sign-up process.

'Use Google products'

Previously new users were only required to create a Gmail address to use those core services or to register an Android smartphone.

The new sign-up page says: "Your Google Account is more than just Search. Talk, chat, share, schedule, store, organize, collaborate, discover and create. Use Google products from Gmail to Google+ to YouTube, view your search history, all with one username and password, all backed up all the time and easy to find at (you guessed it) Google.com."

During this week's earnings call, which saw stocks drop by 10 per cent after missing Wall Street expectations, Google announced that G+ now has 90 million members, although usage remains underwhelming.

The company has caused controversy with its forceful desire to push its social site already this month by deciding to integrate Google+ into search results.

The new Search Plus Your World algorithm brings in results from your Google+ friends above those from more popular pages.

Amazon Kindle Fire review

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:55:00 +0000

Amazon's Kindle fire has sliced the price of buying a tablet in half

The Amazon Kindle Fire is what the tech world likes to coin a game-changer. A gadget with the potential to irrevocably alter a sector of the market to the point of no return.
A fully-fledged Android tablet with a top-level ecosystem of multimedia content for less than half the price of its competitors isn't just changing the game, it's changing the entire sport.
The long-awaited, 7-inch, Android 2.3 Gingerbread tablet, which Amazon has been diligently plotting for the last couple of years off the back of its Kindle e-reader successes, also arrives at the perfect time with the tablet arena at a crossroads.

Check out our Hands on: Kindle Fire review video. Warning it has actual (virtual) fire in it.

Despite a flood of Android Honeycomb tablets arriving throughout 2011 offering stiff critical competition to the iPad, nothing has really stuck with consumers who still, by-and-large, see Android tablets as poor-man's iPads for the rich-man's spending power.
£400+ for an undeniably luxury item is just too expensive for some, but the stunning demand for the largely mundane HP TouchPad fire sale proved people do really want affordable tablets.

Now, once Amazon decides to launch in the UK (at present there's no launch date or price in the works) everyone can own a tablet with real pedigree, minus the buyers remorse. It costs just $199 in the US, which works out to about £125.
From Amazon's point of view, the idea is simple. It believes it can replicate the success of its all-conquering Kindle reader devices by once again taking a hit on the hardware.
The built-in ecosystem of books, magazines, apps and movies Amazon has built allows it to do what LG, Samsung, Motorola can't, and what Apple has no reason to; abandon any thought of profitable hardware.

This is the first Kindle to boast a colour screen, a holy grail to some users of the device, and with a 7-inch, 1024x600 display it falls at the smaller end of the tablet sphere.
With Android 2.3 (not the newer tablet-centric Honeycomb 3.0 software) on board, it's also the the first to run anything other than the non-native software. However, Amazon's custom designed user interface takes precedence.
Since Amazon announced the Kindle Fire, and its price point, excitement has been at fever pitch, but it remained a gadget none of us had ever seen up-close or played with.
What would be the use of a $200 Android tablet that doesn't work, has a terrible touchscreen or buggy, unusable software? We flew over a device on launch day in the US, so it's time for the hype to subside and for the testing to begin.

Amazon Kindle Fire review: Features (Hardware)

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:49:00 +0000

Upon lifting the Kindle Fire from the extremely bland Amazon packaging, we felt like we'd seen this tablet before. The device bares a striking resemblance to RIM's BlackBerry Playbook, although Amazon will hope that's where the similarities end.

The glossy jet-black device has a 7-inch screen, just like the PlayBook, along with the same soft and comfortable rubberised, matte casing around the back and edges. At 0.45 inches, it's slightly thicker than the PlayBook (0.4-inches), but does have a thinner bezel.

Just like the PlayBook the device feels exceptionally well-built and it doesn't appear that Amazon has scrimped on this in order to keep costs low. This Kindle could probably take a kicking and keep on ticking.

There are no buttons on the face of the device, which gives the Kindle Fire a really clean look. In fact, the power button, nestled closely to the headphone jack and the MicroUSB charging port, is the only physical button to be found.

Both the power switch and the headphone jack feel like they're in the wrong place and would be better served on top of the Kindle Fire.

There's no volume switches or screen locks, but we understand Amazon's desire to keep the design smooth and minimalist. With that in mind two tiny speakers rest at the top of the device.

Tellingly, there are also no cameras - front or back - something which Amazon has obviously deemed expendable, but users hoping to video chat might see things differently.

You can add the lack of a GPS sensor to that list too, but Amazon has made it clear that the Kindle Fire is a media consumption device, not a means for communication (no microphone either) or navigation so it's difficult to criticise too much - especially at this price point.

Kindle fans will be pleased to know that intrinsically, this still feels like an Amazon Kindle device rather than a tablet PC. At 431g, it's far more comfortable to hold in one hand than the iPad.

We found the best grip saw the thumb rest against the side with the pinky finger resting along the bottom. Trying to hold between thumb and index finger proved a little more taxing.

On the inside of the device, the Kindle Fire boasts a 1GHz dual-core Texas Instruments OMAP processor, the same one that rests inside the PlayBook that, if you remember, bragged of a 'do everything all at the same time' prowess.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 offers a Tegra 2 chipset, but it remains 1GHz dual-core at its heart. The Kindle Fire, like the iPad, only has 512MB of RAM however, compared to the 1GB on the PlayBook and most of the Honeycomb tablets.

Another slight downer was the decision to pack in only 8GB of internal storage, which equates to just 6.54GB of usable memory.

There's no room for an external SD card slot here, so you're really not going to be able to cram much of your own music, videos and photos onto the Kindle Fire.

It's a very strange decision from Amazon. 6.5GB doesn't go very far with today's hi-res digital magazines, high bit-rate MP3s and, HD video. And that's before you start loading apps onto the device.

Amazon Kindle Fire review: Silk Browser

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 03:45:00 +0000

Aside from the price tag, one of the main talking points spawned from Amazon's announcement was the new, and revolutionary Silk browser, which promised a different approach to loading web-pages, meaning you'd get to your favourite content faster.
Here's how it works in theory. You see, Amazon isn't just the world's biggest retailer, it also owns most of the internet. It's servers host an astonishing amount of the web's content.
It's massive EC2 Cloud-based computers are hence able to do a huge amount of the heavy lifting when it comes to loading web content.
Those servers will store a lot of the information about websites in a cache, meaning the Kindle Fire itself has to do less of the work the next time it brings up that page. The browser will determine the best division of labour necessary to load the page in the fastest way.
The Silk's loading method isn't without controversy. As a lot of the information is handled by Amazon's own servers, there are privacy issues at stake. It means Amazon has a record of every site you've visited, exposing your browsing habits. There's a price to pay for that extra speed.
But how does it work in practice? Well, on pages we loaded regularly, the back-end loading functionality was able to predict regular content like the banner heads, while the rest of the content follows almost instantly. It's a very fluid experience.

In terms of the look and usability of the Silk browser, it's definitely more likable than the default Android smartphone and tablet browser, but not as smooth or intuitive as Safari for iOS 5.
We found that scrolling around web-pages was a simple task, and double-tapping to zoom-in on certain areas worked well, as did pinch to zoom. This didn't cause any negative effects on the resolution of text or images, but when video is present, any zooming can be very jerky.

Silk is flash enabled, meaning you'll have no problem using those sites still heavily reliant on Adobe's gaming and video platform, despite Adobe's vow to kill Flash on mobile devices. As they tend to, Flash banners do not always render in the correct place.
However how much you enjoy enjoy Silk will greatly depend on how you cope with the 7-inch screen as opposed to 8.9, 9.7 and 10.1 inch displays offered by rivals.
If you're using in portrait mode you'll not see the full width of the many pages, while landscape displays minimal information above the fold.

We had no problems with reading web articles on the 7-inch screen as text re-renders to fit your environment a la the Android browser.

Kindle Fire review: Interface, performance and battery life

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:49:00 +0000

Interface

The Amazon Kindle Fire runs Android 2.3 Gingerbread, which is primarily smartphone software, rather than the Android 3.2 OS used on tablets like the Sony S1 and S2.
However that's mostly irrelevant seeing as Amazon has covered up most traces of the Google's operating system with its own attractive and refreshing custom UI.
The skin brings a lot of the upsides of Android, iOS, WebOS and of course the original Kindle readers into one neat, tidy and functional experience.

Naturally, the homescreen takes the form of a book shelf. Your recent items appear on the top shelf; be they the book you're reading, the webpage you're browsing, apps you're using and games you're playing etc...
Each of which are represented by an icon or a WebOS-like card, and it also looks fabulous in landscape mode.

Flicking through them is a breeze, although the motion can be a little too quick on the trigger at times. We often caught ourselves swiping past our intended target.
From the homescreen, you can hit one of these icons at any time at any time and it'll return you the point of your previous visit, so it's a good hub for multitasking.
The lack of a physical home button on the device can get a little annoying at times, especially as the on-screen icon tends to disappear very quickly, but it's only a minor quibble.
Key settings like volume and connectivity can be accessed from a drop down menu in the navigational bar, which can also be pushed to receive notifications. In this area, you merely touch the top of the drop down notifications bar, rather than pull it down.
Some people might be frustrated that these controls are hidden behind a touch gesture, but we found it to be intuitive and easy to get used to.

On the shelves beneath the recent items sit your favourite apps, which can be placed wherever you desire, by pressing and holding the icon, a la iOS. There's no folders functionality though.

Hubs

The Kindle Fire is undoubtedly a straight-up media consumption device rather than a communications or navigational tool, hence the lack of cameras and GPS, so it makes sense that the top tab features all of the lovely media content Amazon wants you to by to offset its hardware losses.
There's Newsstand, Magazines, Booms, Music, Video, Docs and Apps, joining Web which is the only tabs that doesn't want your business.
All of these store-fronts are extremely well laid out and very user-friendly.
Beyond the UI, Android does shine through in some areas for example, word suggestions are omni-present when typing, but the bespoke Kindle keyboard is your only option.

The menus and settings will be familiar to Android phone and tablet owners, while learning to navigate around this device won't be too challenging for first time buyers or Kindle graduates.
It's a brilliantly thought out first-time effort from Amazon that helps push its primary goal of pushing its multimedia content.

Performance

On a $199 tablet (we'll come back to this argument many times throughout the review) it's asking a lot for everything to run as smoothly in the engine room as it does on the top line devices like the iPad 2.
After-all, even though a Ford Ka will get you from A to B, it won't do it with the same smoothness, style and speed as a Lamborghini.
In the main, the device and user-interface is slick and the pace is acceptable without ever being iOS-quick. However, a start-up time of 36 seconds is extremely pedestrian compared to the iPad 2 (22 seconds) and the other top-of-the-line Android tablets.
On occasions we did experience a little bit of a lag when opening apps, and selecting new items from within apps, but it wasn't something that was overly annoying or apparent. Other reviewers have made a much bigger deal of this than we feel is justified. It simply isn't that bad.
We certainly didn't experience any lag when turning book pages as some reviews have claimed. However, apps often quit on us during our tests, which will need to be sorted by software updates.

While the Amazon Kindle Fire only costs $200 (£125), you might want to set aside another £25 or so for a passable set of headphones, as the audio quality through the built-in speakers is one of the most disappointing aspects of this device.

Battery life

The Kindle Fire boasts a massive 4400mAh battery, which takes up most of the space under the bonnet.
Amazon advertises a lifespan of 8 hours of video playback and 7.5 hours of continuous reading, but that's with the Wi-Fi turned-off, something that's not possible when browsing the web or streaming video.
We found that within about five hours of constant use, which included listening to music, watching video, browsing the web, playing games and reading books, we had about 15 per cent of battery life left and so put the device on for another charge.
In our tests, the iPad 2's battery life gave us 9.5 hours of constant general use, while the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 clocked in at around nine hours.
Six hours, give or take, is not really enough is it especially if you're on a long journey, so we'd advice scrimping on connectivity when you don't need it, or turning down the brightness.

kindlefire7.info Kindle Fire spec and Kindle Fire review

noreply@blogger.com (feedsburner) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 02:41:00 +0000

Marware Eco-Vue Leather Cover for Kindle Fire Cover, Brown Feature

Certified Made for Kindle accessory (fits Kindle Fire)
Stands your Kindle Fire horizontally on a flat surface, with thin rubberized strips along the edge adding extra grip
Durable folio cover features RoHS compliant, eco-friendly leather exterior and soft microsuede interior for added protection
Interior hand strap improves one-handed reading/viewing
Thin interior pocket stores small items such as IDs, cash or credit cards

Marware Eco-Vue Leather Cover for Kindle Fire Cover, Brown Overview

One of the most popular Amazon Kindle cases returns for your new Kindle Fire. The Eco-Vue for your new Kindle tablet takes multifunctionality to another level – all while offering the same superior protection against scratches and impact. Its protective front cover includes a built-in hand strap to prevent you from dropping your device while you are on the go. The Eco-Vues elastic strap secures the lid open or closed, and a convenient pocket stores your small personal items such as ID, cash and credit cards. Made of special, eco-friendly (RoHS Compliant) leather that minimizes toxic waste and runoff used in standard production processes, the Eco-Vue for your new Kindle tablet helps preserve your investment and the environment, one case at a time.

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Amazon Kindle Fire review

Amazon Kindle Fire review: Features (Hardware)

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Kindle Fire review: Interface, performance and battery life

Interface

Hubs

Performance

Battery life

kindlefire7.info Kindle Fire spec and Kindle Fire review

Marware Eco-Vue Leather Cover for Kindle Fire Cover, Brown Feature

Marware Eco-Vue Leather Cover for Kindle Fire Cover, Brown Overview

Available at Amazon