MobileTech Pundit

Siri alternatives for Android

2012-03-26T15:15:00.000+05:30

You all know about Siri — the cool iPhone 4S feature which acts as a virtual assistant and responds to voice queries? And you want to do the same on Android but don't know how to?

While Siri is unlikely to be ever ported to Android, there are various alternatives which try to mimic Siri, with some of them very powerful. The major feature that they lack currently is the integration with the Android OS, which will hopefully come as the apps mature.

All of these apps require Google's voice recognition system to function, for which an Internet connection is required, so none of them work offline.

Some of the major Siri alternatives for android include:

Evi (free for Android, $0.99 for IOS): Available on both Android and IOS (yes IOS!). Verge reported that Apple is working with True Knowledge to change the UI, so that the consumer does not mistake it to be Siri.Features include:

Voice or Text input
Local information for UK and the US
Built in browser - but no integration with Android or other browsers
Probably more accurate on IOS as it uses Nuance Speech recognition engine, which it does not on Android
Summarises key info which is good... but sometimes not very accurate. For ex. asking about Arsenal fan club took me to a page with summary of Arsenal, which is not to bad except that a lot of info was wrong. For ex. William Gallas was listed as the captain.

Iris (free): A well known Siri alternative, currently at the alpha testing stage. Features include:

Only voice input
Integration with ChaCha database
Funny, but needs to work on accuracy
Adding lots of features, hopefully will become quite good once it enters “beta” or “release” stage

Check the app review at Eyes4Tech and The Review Preview, and here’s the link to the official website.

Speaktoit Assistant (free): Potentially the best overall Siri alternative currently for android. Features include:

Both text and voice input
Nice overall touches, for ex. Ask for hotels near a specific place takes to a Google map with the hotels marked
Nice touches including avatar customization
Very rich set of features including opening of apps, note taking for reminders, translating, email handling etc
Potential to be very good; already functional beta version

Overall, I liked Speaktoit Assistant the most. Here is a detailed review at Eyes4Tech.

Skyvi (free): Another good Siri alternative. Features include:

Posting on Twitter and Facebook
Call, text, SMS
Local features including weather and time
Fun and witty chats with the assistant

Google Majel (likely to be bundled with Android): Expected to launch sometimes "early 2012" and is named after Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, the actress and wife of Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. If it is even half as good as what Star Trek was, it will beat Siri hands down.

According to an article by Fast Company Majel will be tightly integrated with Android but functionality could suffer if it is limited to Google services.

Other Siri alternatives include Alice(free), Vlingo (free) and Dragon Go (Free).

Recommendation

Remember that most of these apps (like Siri) are at an initial stage of development and hence some features are absent, some just don't work and especially for non-American getting relevant local results is a problem.

With that in mind, If I have to recommend only one Siri alternative, I will strongly recommend to try Speaktoit Assistant. But, depending upon the location, some apps will be better than others. As all the apps mentioned above are free, I will strongly recommend you to try all of them and then select one which you are most comfortable with and gives you the features you require. We will do a detailed review when these apps mature, but for now, enjoy all of them!

Apple to spend cash on dividends and share repurchases

2012-03-19T19:35:00.002+05:30

The speculation is over. Apple has announced that it will give a quarterly dividend of US$2.65/share starting from fourth quarter of 2012 (September quarter). The company will also use US$10bn for share repurchases.

Combined the dividend and the share buyback will involve an expenditure of US$22.4bn till Sep 2013.

Let consider what impact this will have on Apple by Sep 2013.

Current cash position

As we can see in exhibit 1, Apple currently has US$97.6bn of cash and cash equivalents and generated a phenomenal US$9.5bn per quarter in CY 2011. We will use this average for the next 7 quarters, which is in line with equity research analysts estimates.

For ex. Wedbush expects Apple to generate US$79.2bn in the next 7 quarters, J.P.Morgan US$64.7bn and Barclays US$63.8bn against our estimate of US$66.3bn.

Dividends impact

US$2.65 per share implies a quarterly dividend of US$2.5bn. This means that till Sep 2013 Apple will incur an expenditure of US$12.4bn.

Share repurchase

Apple has also said that it will spend US$10bn to buyback shares starting from 2013.

So, including dividends and share repurchase Apple will spend US$22.4bn till FY13.

Estimated cash position in FY13 (Sep 2013)

By now you would have realised that potential cash generated in the next 7 quarters is three times the proposed expenditure. So in spite of the announced dividends and share buyback, Apple's net cash position will increase by US$46.4bn by Sep 2013.

Conclusion

The measures announced today are a good start but they are insufficient. While Apple has every right to continue holding cash, returns on cash is going to be low and will drag down ROE.

We think that Apple can do the following to further improve cash utilisation:

Dividend: Eventually increase the dividends per share; Potential to change interested shareholder class
Buyback: A good tool, improve ROE while not giving a long term commitment like in the case of dividends
Acquisitions: This is an area where Apple will need to tread carefully. There are not too many opportunities available where Apple can get as high margins with as much customer loyalty as it is currently enjoying. Apple will need to weigh returns versus long term potential and strategic benefits
Patents: Acquiring patents (like that of Nortel) will help Apple in the long term, even if the benefits are not evident immediately

Still Apple should be proud of having this headache, after once coming very close to bankruptcy. A great turnaround indeed!

Apple scores crucial patent victory against Samsung; FRAND patent counter strategy of Google at risk

2012-03-15T18:57:00.001+05:30

Photo credit: Wikipedia

As reported by Foss Patents, The dutch court has ruled that Samsung has to offer fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) licensing terms to Apple for patents essential to 3G/UMTS standard. The ruling will also prevent Samsung from seeking injunctions against Apple's products, using these standards.

This is a crucial victory for Apple which could have major impact not just on Samsung, but also on Google and Android as it limits the use of standards essential patents (SEP) as legal tools against competitors.

Netherlands court ruling

The court has ruled that Samsung is obligated to offer FRAND licensing terms to Apple for the standards essential 3G/UMTS patents. The court said that Samsung cannot pursue injunctions against Apple as it appears inclined to discuss licensing terms — Apple has only objected to the royalty rate, terming it high.

The court also said that Samsung cannot assert 3G/UMTS patent on iPhone 4S due to "patent exhaustion". Apple had purchased baseband chips from Qualcomm which already had licenses to 3G/UMTS patents which Samsung is asserting, which logically means that they should be covered by the said patents.

To pursue case against Apple, Samsung wanted to terminate its agreement with Qualcomm, but the court ruled otherwise saying that Samsung cannot do so due to the commitments made to ETSI to grant irrevocable licenses for its 3G/UMTS patents. ETSI is the standards body in charge of 3G.

This means that there will be no extra royalty on iPhone 4S, as it is already paid by Qualcomm.

The only piece of moderately positive news for Samsung was that it can pursue cases against Apple for phones which used Infineon chips until January 2011 as well as Intel baseband chips (Intel acquired Infineon's mobile baseband chip division). Though, Apple has a chance to apply for patent exhaustion till March 28.

Impact on Samsung

The dutch courts decision effectively means that Samsung's, and indeed Google's, main counter strategy against Apple of using SEP's is not working. Samsung has already lost similar cases in France and Italy and had withdrawn a case in Germany, albeit with an option to sue later.

The verdict on patent exhaustion means that Samsung cannot bring out cases against some devices like will iPhone 4S, which use parts already covered by the patents. In our opinion, this was a very aggressive stand taken by Samsung, where chances of victory where anyway small, hence the verdict is not a surprise.

Though, Samsung can negotiate for royalty on devices using Infineon and Intel basebands, the royalty rate will likely be low as they will not only infringe indirectly but will also involve SEPs.

So far Samsung has not won a single offensive claim against Apple anywhere in the world and this latest verdict is in line with the other verdicts, albeit much bigger. Samsung may have to eventually opt to settle with Apple and pay a royalty, just like it is currently paying Microsoft. As earlier reported, Apple had offered licensing deal to Samsung, with some important caveats to maintain product differentiation.

Impact on Google and Android ecosystem

This ruling also increases the pressure on Google. Google's primary strategy against both Apple and Microsoft is to leverage SEPs for cross-licensing without paying additional royalties or ask for a high royalty rate like 2.25% with Microsoft.

This ruling, and all previous ruling, indicates that this is not an effective strategy as the courts are not warming to the idea of suing based on SEPs, effectively removing the biggest weapon in Google's arsenal. Google and its OEMs will also not be able to command a high royalty rate which could be as low as 2 cents (depends on the patent though).

Apple and Microsoft now have the upper hand as a lot of their patents are not SEPs and hence they are free to charge a higher rate. Many Android OEMs are already rumoured to be paying Microsoft between US$5-$15 per device as royalty for patents and may now have to pay Apple a royalty.

Microsoft and Apple will succeed in moving Android from a free OS to one with a high patent risk and hidden costs, reducing its lucrativeness to Android developers. This could move the lower end market from Android to Windows and other proprietary OS'.

But this outcome depends on a lot of other issues and, unless a settlement occurs, we are a long way away from resolution, even though victory in the current round goes to Apple and Microsoft.

Ahh... It seems I have been posting only legal and patent related issues recently. Sigh... I don't expect this to reduce any time soon :(

Yahoo takes Facebook to court: Start of the software/internet patent wars?

2012-03-14T23:31:00.002+05:30

After threatening Facebook with a lawsuit last month, Yahoo has now acted upon the threat filing a case and accusing Facebook of infringing on 10 of its patents. The alleged infringed patents include those relating to messaging, news feeds, advertising, preventing click frauds and privacy controls.

Yahoo had contacted Facebook recently asking for royalties, but filed the case after Facebook refused to pay them.

Yahoo had earlier sued Google in 2004 for patent infringement related to "pay per click advertising method", which Google settled for ~US$230 million.

Yahoo background — Great past, Faltering future

Yahoo, one off the early Internet giant, has been on the downward trend for some time. It lost its premier search position to Google before surrendering it to Microsoft.

Yahoo has also been unsuccessful in building up a social networking property and tried to acquire Facebook in 2006, but failed.

Similar to handing search to Microsoft, Yahoo made a blunder by integrating Facebook across its sites from 2008. This significantly increased the reach of Facebook, while the importance of Yahoo diminished.

Combined, this means that Yahoo is not a major player in its two most important business areas, which is reflected in its continuing declining value post-Microsoft offer to purchase Yahoo was rejected by its board.

Currently majority of Yahoo's value comes from its 35% stake in Yahoo Japan and 40% stake in China's Alibaba. According to a recent note by J.P.Morgan, Yahoo's US assets were valued at an enterprise value of US$6.9bn, stake in Yahoo Japan at US$5.7bn and that in Alibaba at US$9.9bn. Yahoo also has cash of , along with a cash of ~US$2bn. This means that the core operations contribute less than one-third to the total value, a clear sign of a dying company.

Yahoo — claims and potential settlement terms

According to Yahoo, nearly all the technology that Facebook uses is based upon its patents. Yahoo states that before Facebook incorporated its social networking technology, it was one of the worst performing advertising sites on the Internet.

Yahoo has not attached any value to its patents but has instead left to the courts or a future settlement with Facebook to decide.

In the filing, Yahoo also say "Even if Facebook were to subsequently pay past due royalties, it would still enjoy a market share it has developed during its period of 'free riding' on Yahoo!'s intellectual property. Yahoo! would likewise lose its portion of the market share for this period. Due to the difficulty in predicting whether, if at all, such market share can be recovered, Yahoo!'s harm cannot be compensated by payment of past due royalties alone." Clearly Yahoo is trying to attack Facebook before its IPO.

It should be noted that according to USPTO Yahoo has 1,029 patents while Facebook has only 21. Though this does not include the patents bought by both of them have including the important patent #6,269,361 Yahoo bought from Overture, which so far has not been included in the case against Facebook, but could be added later.

Yahoo's patent case against Google

Before filing the case against Facebook, Yahoo had file a patent lawsuit only once, in 2004 against Google. At that time Yahoo had settled for 2.7 million shares of Google indicating a value of US$230 million (at IPO price of US$85/share), but the case was only limited to one Overture patent #6,269,361.

At that time, it appeared that Yahoo settled for a very low amount as it had purchased Overture for US$1.6bn, whose only asset was the said patent.

Merit in Yahoo's position?

While Yahoo may appear to be a 'patent troll' to some and most of the blogosphere is certainly against it, Yahoo has a rich treasure trove of patents.

It had earlier sued and forced Google into a settlement, though it can be argued that Yahoo didn't gain much as compared to its investment.

IEEE had earlier given Yahoo the highest score in its 2011 Patent Power Scorecard in the Communication/Internet services category. While that itself is not an indication of the merits of this particular case, it does indicate that Yahoo has a high quality patent portfolio which it has not utilised, aggressively, so far.

One of the argument being used against Yahoo is that most of its patents are common and obvious today. But that could well work in Yahoo's favour as they were not generic when they were filed and hence their becoming generic today indicates good innovation. Though it remains to be seen how this argument holds up in court.

Another argument being used is that software and related patent should not be used for litigation. While this was largely practiced by the major companies till now, the law doesn't stop companies from enforcing them.

But the major sore point in this case, as well as in the case against Google, is that Yahoo has acted very opportunistically. Yahoo filed a case against Google when it was about to go for an IPO, similarly it has filed a case against Facebook when it is in the process of an IPO — Both, not the best times for a company to fight a legal case.

What next

Like other big software/Internet companies, Yahoo had not sued companies for patent infringement and it was more interested in improving its operations rather than generating revenues through litigation's.

This time the situation with Yahoo is different. Yahoo is on a decline and is looking to sell off its once crown jewels, Yahoo Japan and Alibaba, after which it will be left only with the under performing assets.

The big danger of Yahoo winning a swift or significant judgment against Facebook is that it might become a patent troll either directly after selling of its other assets or selling the patents to a third part who will carry out its dirty work.

This will open a Pandora's box, and may drag the entire software industry harming all the players and what was once a (relatively) safer segment in terms of litigation's might turn a minefield.

Additional sources: Ars Technica

Apple v/s Google: Motorola tried to bully Apple in patent negotiations

2012-03-14T10:56:00.000+05:30

We had earlier reported that Apple had offered cross-licensing deals to Motorola and Samsung, but the talks failed due to unknown reasons and the patent wars escalated.

Now, in a document filed by the European Commissions (EC) on the proposed merger of Google and Motorola, it has appeared that the licensing deal didn't happen as Motorola/Google tried to intimidate Apple into licensing ALL of its patents, something unacceptable to Apple.

The EC document does not go into much detail on the licensing deals, but there are two interesting points. One relates to Android cross-licensing and the other relates Apple's patents and potential carve outs.

Android cross-licensing

Even before the Google-Motorola acquisition has closed, the negotiations between Motorola and Apple involved cross-licensing benefits for all Android OEMs, so that the deal will be acceptable to Google. Google apparently tried using the standards essential patents (SEP) of Motorola to benefit its entire Android ecosystem, across all OEMs.According to the EC document,

"In the context of Motorola Mobility's negotiations with Apple in late 2011 concerning a potential cross-licensing settlement, the parties discussed the scope of any potential settlement in the event that the Google/Motorola Mobility transaction is closed. From the information available to the Commission, this option envisaged a cross-licence possibly to the benefit of all Android OEMs but also with mutual carve-outs."

At the same time, Google also claimed that “it does not control Android and therefore Android's market share should not be attributed to Google but to each of the various OEMs building Android based phones.”

Now, if the market share needs to be attributed to individual Android OEM’s they should be the ones striking deals with Apple, rather Google trying to use Motorola’s essential patents in forcing Apple to do so. Clear double speaking by Google.

Recently Apple had convinced the court to direct Motorola to ask Google to hand over documents related to Android development, which was opposed by Motorola on grounds that both the companies are different. But if they can jointly negotiate cross licensing, I think the documents can also be handed over.

Licensing of Apple's patents
The other major, and more important piece of information, was that Motorola and Google wanted all the Apple's patents to come under cross licensing, so that any future litigation could be avoided. As the EC document says,

"For instance, according to Apple, Motorola Mobility has insisted that Apple cross-licenses its full non-SEP portfolio in exchange for Motorola Mobility's SEPs. Apple also argues that its refusal to accede to this demand led Motorola Mobility to sue Apple in an attempt to exclude Apple's products from the market. On the terms of Apple's own argument, Motorola Mobility's allegedly anti-competitive behavior in this regard well precedes the merger at issue in the present decision."

This was not acceptable to Apple as it wanted "carve outs" which would exclude some of the patents from the licensing as well as limit use restrictions, to keep Android and Google under control. Apple has preferred to use patents as strategic tools rather than as revenue generator and this strategy is in line with that.

On the other hand, Google and Motorola tried to use their standards essential patents to bypass all the licensing problems for all the Android devices and OEMs.

This approach was not acceptable to Apple and something we don't think will be acceptable to Microsoft.

Google and Motorola equally responsible as Apple

This interesting piece of news highlights that while Apple and Microsoft may be considered as "patent trolls" by many wanting to either see Android dead (Apple) or make it as an important source of revenue (Microsoft), Google and Motorola are also to blame for the escalation of the patent wars.

The fate of the patent cases would likely be decided on the approach the regulators and courts take to licensing FRAND patents. If the regulators/courts allow Google to earn a high royalty fee, then it will have a huge impact, on both current licensing costs as well as future standards.

Current licensing cost will increase significantly as the other standards patent holders also increase the royalty rate. For ex. Google wants 2.25% royalty for 2% of patents as part of a standard where Microsoft currently pays currently 2 cents for the other 98% patents.

It will also massively increase the value of the future standards essentially patents, as they can be use to cripple competitions, something which will not be appreciated by the regulators.

While I am not a patent expert, I expect the essential patents to be eventually licensed at far lower terms than what Google wants. Apple has an excellent chance of enforcing carve outs and may extract significant royalty fee from the Android OEMs. This combined with Microsoft’s current royalty, will make Android infinitely less attractive than other options like Windows mobile.

Oracle could drop three more patents against Google; Case could become copyright infringement

2012-03-12T21:09:00.000+05:30

Oracle has offered to withdraw three more patents in the case against Google/Android in exchange for a spring trial, albeit with a few caveats. If this happens Oracle will be left with only 2 of the initial 7 patent infringement filed against Oracle and the case could largely become a copyright case rather than a patent infringement one. This will come as a big boost to Google and Android.

Case history

In August 2010, Oracle sued Google citing patent and copyright infringement over the use of Java in Android. The suit alleged that Android, Android SDK and the Dalvik cache violated seven patents and contained copies of the original java code.

According to Oracle, Google used part of the Apache Harmony Java implementation in Android without a license to java patents and copyrights

In January 2011, Florian Muller (of Foss Patents) published an article claiming that Google copied 37 files directly from Java without license. But it later emerged that they were likely test files. Still, from a legal angle, it increased the risk on Google.

In June 2011, Google filed a document stating that Oracle wanted between US$1.4 and US$6.1 billion as settlement charges. It later appeared that Oracle wanted US$2.6 billion.

Later in the same month, USPTO rejected 17 of 21 claims in one of the patents, though 4 of the claims remained along with 118 contained in the other 6 patents which were not contested.

In July 2011, Judge asked Oracle to rethink about the US$2.6 billion value and suggested a starting point of ~US$100 million.

Oracle narrowed it down to US$2 billion but in January 2012 the judge refused to proceed with the trial asking Oracle to file more appropriate claim value.

At this time, Oracle wanted to separate the patent claims from copyright to accelerate the case, but the judge declined the request

Later in February, Oracle dropped the patent of which 17 of the 21 claims where earlier reject by USPTO.

Current status

Oracle is interested in an early start to the case claiming that delay of every day is harming Oracle irreparably by diverting the Java developer ecosystem to Android.

Oracle has now again stated that it wants the trial to start in mid-April and hence could withdraw 3 of the remaining 5 patents (2 have already been withdrawn). The remaining 2 include patent 520 and RE104 - the Gosling patent, which will expire in December.

Oracle though do put in a caveat that only the rejected claims of the patent will be withdrawn and if the claims on the other patents are accepted than they will come back into play.

Based on Oracle's interest for a quick trial and the judge's insistence on conducting both the patent and the copyright trials simultaneously, Oracle might have to make further concessions.

Any further concession will further hit Oracle in the case, and it might eventually end up becoming a copyright case or even a 1 patent case, severely undercutting Oracle's initial assertion of massive infringement by Oracle.

At this stage it appears that the liability on Google could be severely limited, even Oracle manages to win, as the case is turning into a copyright infringement rather than a patent cum copyright infringement case.

Source: Foss Patents

Rotation Locker: Run Android apps in any orientation — Portrait or Landscape; Straight or Reverse

2012-03-12T10:41:00.000+05:30

One of the things that really irritates me on my Android Xoom tablet is that orientation of a lot of apps, especially games, is fixed. Sometimes its understandable, when the app has been setup specifically for landscape or portrait. But many times an app capable of running in landscape mode, for ex, refuses to run in reverse landscape mode, when it should be perfectly capable of doing so.

This is probably due to the focus of the developer on phones, which are rarely, if ever, held in the reverse direction. Still, being on a tablet, this is incredibly frustrating, especially when the device is connected to the charger or the PC and I want to hold it in a particular way.

Fortunately, there is an app which can help add this functionality to Android and the best part is that almost all the apps are compatible!

Rotation locker

Rotation Locker is a simple, but very effective app developed by an XDA member, madmack. It does only one thing, without too many options, but does it very well.

The app allows the current screen orientation to be locked, whether it is landscape or portrait. After that any app which is launched will be forced to accept the current screen orientation and run in that mode. So one can force to app to run in reverse landscape or even the unsupported modes which may be either portrait or landscape, depending upon the app.

Some apps designed for portrait wont look great on landscape and vice-versa, but they will still run.

Let's look at the app options. I have never been able to reliably run the Portrait and Landscape mode properly, but the auto mode works great on my Xoom. Once you select Auto, the app will run in whatever orientation the screen currently is in, which is exactly what I want.

One can also make the app run as a service, by long pressing any of the the option. So, long pressing Auto will make Rotation Locker run in the background, which is what I would recommend.

Have a look at the screenshots below of Dungeon Raider, a game which works in only one portrait mode, and not even in reverse portrait. Using Rotation Locker the game can be run in Landscape, Reverse Landscape as well as Reverse Portrait, which mean I can hold the tablet the way I want. Fantastic!

Download:Rotation Locker

January 2012 US smartphone market share: Google's Android wins; RIM, Microsoft Windows lose

2012-03-11T02:10:00.002+05:30

According to the latest data released by Comscore, US smartphone subscribers grew by 3.5% QoQ to reach 101.3 million units in January 2012.

In terms of smartphone platforms, Android and IOS (Apple) continue to gain market share, while Microsoft's share declined in spite of the initial launch of Lumia 710 by Nokia. RIM's market share also declined.

Google's Android and Apple's IOS continue their strong performance

Android's impressive run continued and it gained 1.3% share in Jan 2012 to reach 48.6% market share.

IOS registered a small decline by 0.1% after gaining an impressive 2.2% in the last three months.

Both the platforms now combined account for an impressive 78.1% of the total subscribers.

Microsoft's Windows continues to lose market share

Windows share declined by 0.3% in January, in spite of the launch of Lumia 710, which also ranked very high in the initial customer delight rankings.

But, both Microsoft and Nokia would be hoping that this trend will reverse in the coming months, as Lumia 800 and 900 sales number are incorporated.

Nokia has never been able to crack the US market, even in the old days of global domination, and would be hoping that Lumia finally gives it a strong foothold in the US.

For Microsoft also, this will the last big chance, because if Nokia fails, then the Windows platform will be dead and revenues from the the mobile segment will be limited to royalties from Android.

Globally, Nokia's Windows based handsets have done well in 4Q 2011 selling 0.9 million handsets and becoming the largest Windows smartphone vendor with a market share of 33%.

RIM - decline continues

RIM's market share continued to decline, with a loss of 0.8% share in the month of January. Overall, in the last 12 months, RIM's share has halved - from 30.4% in Jan 2011 to 15.2% in Jan 2012. There doesn't seem any near term catalyst for RIM, so expect its share to further decline

US smartphone market share historical trend

Nokia's Windows Phone: Success or failure?

2012-03-10T15:30:00.001+05:30

T-Mobile customer satisfaction

About a week ago Argus Insights said, in a blog post, that Nokia Lumia 710's customers are delighted, in fact far more delighted than iPhone 4S users. While that may appear so at first glance, a detailed analysis shows that it might not be the correct picture. But first, let see what Argus Insight says.

Argus Insights' view
As can be seen from the bubble chart, it appears that the early Lumia customers are delighted with the new Nokia/Microsoft handset Lumia 710, which still records higher satisfaction rate than other devices, especially iPhone 4S.

Lumia 710 is a budget phone targeted at the lower to mid end market, available for ~Rs15,500 (~US$300) in India and US$249+ tax in the US (US$199 for phone + US$50 for activation unlocked at T-Mobile).

Argus Insight says that this has attracted people sitting on the fence waiting for a cheaper smartphone.

Argus then compares the customer satisfaction across categories and that is very impressive for Lumia 710. There are overwhelmingly positive feelers.

All this is great - the last data point shows that Nokia Lumia 710 customers are more delighted than iPhone 4S and they are overwhelmingly positive across categories. Fantastic right? Maybe...Maybe not!

Trend is your friend

While the above bubble chart rightly indicated that the Lumia 710 users are more satisfied than iPhone 4S currently, it will be a lot more insightful to look at the trend.

So let's reconsider the bubble chart with the trend lines (trend lines are approximate since I only have the chart, not the underlying data). We will also extend the analysis from iPhone and Lumia to Galaxy Nexus.

iPhone 4S: Absolutely amazing. Consistent delight, for the entire period under consideration. No wonder it gets rave reviews and continues to sell well.

Galaxy Nexus: Well, look at the trend here. The first data point had much higher satisfaction rate, higher than even iPhone 4S, but after that the satisfaction index has fallen sharply and continues to go down.

Maybe, as the users got to know the phone better, their satisfaction with the phone went down. We don't have the breakup for individual areas, that would have helped us understand the situation better, so let's stop here saying that Samsung may want to look at this in more detail.

Nokia Lumia 710: Lets ignore the first data point of Jan 08, 2012 as its a clear outlier. Beyond that the trend shows that the satisfaction is declining, and rate of decline increased in the last week of Feb 26. So while the satisfaction is still higher, the trend line is going dangerously down. We can only speculate as to the reasons behind the decline.

One way to think of it is that Windows Phone is a very different OS, its UI is unique. Possible most people when they used it for the first time felt the freshness of the new UI and hence the very high ratings. So different was good initially. As time went on and people tried to do common things, some were left frustrated resulting in a decline in satisfaction. If this is the case than it is not very good for Microsoft and Nokia.

Lets try to see if we can gain some insight from the individual categories, even though we don't have individual trends.

The top 2 negatives for the phone are Quality/Reliability and Connectivity followed by battery and apps.

Since the Lumia 710 is targeted at the lower to mid end smartphone segment, the negatives for Quality/Reliability could well be a case of expectations mismatch.

But what is surprising is that Connectivity, for a Nokia phone, is the second most negative. I have always considered this as Nokia's strongest point, and I am surprised by this. Nokia may want to delve deeper here.

The next two are battery and apps. Apps are not going to magically increase immediately and increasing battery life is not easy either. More than anywhere else, if the trend has turned negative here, it would be a problem, for Nokia/Microsoft.

When we look at the usage chart, what stands out is that the most talked about feature is web browsing. Important categories like social media are not really being talked about, even though a lot of focus of have been on them and how quick Windows can be used to connect to social sites like Facebook. Other categories like Movies and Work are completely absent. Not at all a healthy sign.

If Lumia 710 is not a success than is it a failure?

The above analysis might give a feeling that Lumia 710 is not a success among the early adopters, but that's not true. All it says is that from the available data it is difficult to say if Lumia 710 was a success or not. Mathematically speaking, the null hypothesis of Lumia 710 a success being proven false does not mean that it is a failure.

There are many key things missing from the analysis. For one, Apple do not have many phone variants, while Nokia has too many. Even the Lumia range includes Lumia 710, 800 and 900, so comparing iPhone 4S to just Lumia 710 is not the best thing to do.

Lumia 710 is also a budget phone, so 800 and 900 would have been better comparisons. On the flip side, a lot of the factors relate to the software, which would have been equally valid for the other versions.

Nokia's strategy

Nokia has started off well on the Windows front and has already become the largest Windows smartphone seller in the US with a 33% share, which will only increase in the next quarter.

What Nokia now needs is an complete and single smartphone strategy. Releasing dead end smartphones like PureView 808, no matter how great they are, may not be the best thing to do. Nokia is at an advance stage of closing down Ovi services, and with no alternatives, it will lead to dissatisfaction.

There are rumours that Nokia is developing a budget smartphone OS Meltemi. Nokia might want to steer away from such things as Meltemi will not become a smartphone OS if there is no app support (unless they can have a Windows or an Android app emulator). And if Nokia really needs a different low end smartphone OS, then Symbian and Meego could well be better.

Nokia may want to focus on Windows, even for lower end phones. Microsoft has released Tango update, which will allow the OS to run on lower spec affordable phones.

In our opinion, Nokia should concentrate all its energy now on Windows as the fates of the two are linked together.

Best anti virus and anti malware app for Android

2012-03-10T10:22:00.001+05:30

Malware have always been a concern on Android and, by some estimates, the number of malware apps on the Android Market (now rebranded as Play) is increasing, as we covered in a recent post AV-Test reviews anti-malware apps: avast! on top. Today we review some of the best antivirus apps available for Android, which hopefully will add another layer of defense.

It should be noted though, that the jury is out on how effective the anti virus apps on Android really are. Some people consider them useless, but a lot of people like me consider them a necessary evil.

Recommendation
After testing some of the anti virus suites, the free suites, especially avast!, appear at least as good as, if not better, than the paid suites. We strongly recommend staying with a free antivirus suite.

If you want only one security suite which not only is free with good scanning ability, along with a host of useful features, then choose avast!. Most of the other apps do not come even close to the feature set which avast! has for free. avast! also comes with a good anti-theft support, which alone makes it worth to install it.

I also prefer to use Lookout, but only for the anti-virus features. For anti-theft I still prefer avast! as I dont see the point for spending US$29.99 per year for that.

You can also refer to the handy comparison of major antivirus suites complied by Android Police.

Image credit: Android Police

Source: AV-TEST

avast! Mobile Security (free)
Easily the best security software suite on Android. Complete security manager which includes an excellent anti-theft feature. Also came first in the AV-TEST security software tests. Highly recommended.

Features include:

Anti virus - considered as the best by AV-TEST

Anti-theft

Firewall (root required)

Web shield - URL scanning but only works with the stock browser

SMS and call filter

Privacy report

Lookout (Basic version free, Premium US$29.99/year)

Probably the most popular security suite for Android. Has two versions, a free version with anti virus as well as a premium version with anti-theft support. Overall good suite but for the anti-theft features a premium version is required.

Features include:

Anti virus

Locate phone

Contacts Backup

Safe browsing - premium

Remote lock and wipe - premium

Anti theft - premium only

Other anti virus apps:

Kaspersky - Will likely become better as it is backed by Kaspersky
AVG anti virus
Dr Web Anti-virus Light
Norton
Eset - Like Kaspersky, will improve, currently only available for Android 2.x

Google & Asus teaming to launch a low cost tablet; Potential Jelly Bean device

2012-03-09T18:34:00.001+05:30

It appears the close relationship between Asus and Google, as touted by Benson Lin, Corporate VP at Asus, has just gone closer. According to Digitimes, Google is working with Asus to develop a new 7 inch tablet which could be launched as early as May this year.

This nicely ties in with rumours of Q2 2012 launch of Jelly Bean and Asus' assertion that they will be among the first to release Jelly Bean on their devices. Though, according to Slashgear, the device will have ICS — in which case one can expect a quick upgrade to Jelly Bean very soon after launching.

Rumoured device

The device is rumoured to be a low cost device targeting iPad and, more importantly, other rivals like Kindle Fire with a price tag of US$199-$249. Google has no control over Amazon, even though Amazon is using a derivative of Android, and in a short period has become the largest Android tablet maker, even though it may be more appropriate to call Kindle Fire an Amazon device rather than a tablet.

The device is also expected to have a 7 inch screen with a high resolution of 1280X800, higher than other low cost tablets.

The new device could also be the first to have the new unified gaming platform, which Google is developing on the lines of the recently launched Play which consolidated content across apps, music, video and books.

It could also be among the first device to get the new Jelly Bean updated.

Why Google choose Asus
According to the sources, Google began looking at Taiwanese co-partners to build a new tablet in end 2011. Presumably Google didn't want Motorola, to avoid sending a negative signal to other device manufacturers, who are already silently worried about Google-Motorola relationship.

Other Android device makers like HTC wanted more control and were also not willing for a low cost device due to the potential damage to their brands.

While Asus lacked in-house research and design capabilities, it was still selected as it was willing to play a second fiddle to Google, allowing it complete freedom in the design process. Acer is believed to be looking at this opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the Android platform while also making inroads in the US market.

Asus had sold 1.8 million tablets in 2011 and has projected minimum sales of 3.0 million tablets in 2012. But the company has set a very stiff internal target of 6.0 million units, more than triple the current sales level, which will see it overtake Samsung. It is with this in mind, that Asus seems to be going after a low cost device, when HTC seems to have clearly rejected it.

[Off Topic] Rahul Dravid retires from cricket

2012-03-09T14:47:00.000+05:30

Kolkata 2001 — The greatest test in history. Image credit: MSN

Rahul Dravid, one of the greatest ever cricketer, has announced his retirement from all forms of cricket. While this is not at all related to the blog, I have been a huge admirer of him over the years and want to take this opportunity to salute this great man — an absolute legend.

Selective links:

Wikipedia — Profile

Wikipedia — List of centuries

Retirement statement — Cricinfo

Not just and overseas hero — Cricinfo
Eight of his best — Cricinfo
Player reactions — Cricinfo

Career stats page — Cricinfo

No more Flash or Office on iPad/Android devices; Microsoft says OnLive violates license

2012-03-09T12:34:00.001+05:30

Credit: Xoomforums

OnLive, a company providing a cloud based gaming platform, had launched a virtual Windows 7 desktop service some time ago. The service offers access to Windows 7 desktop as well as MS Office, for free.

But in a blog post today, Microsoft has said that OnLive violates its licensing agreements and they are actively engaging with OnLive to resolve the situation.

Free — the real 'innovative' part of OnLive desktop

OnLive desktop was unique as compared to its competitors in that it offered free access to a desktop running Windows. Again, this wasn't just any other version of Windows, but a proper Windows 7 enterprise, as shown by Brian Madden, in an excellent post about OnLive.

Credit: Brian Madden

On top of that OnLive also offered, for free, a real version of Microsoft Office 2010 standard edition (including Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and not a program like LibreOffice which could only open office files.

Credit: Xoomforums

The service also included a paid package which, among other things, included access to Internet Explorer which made running flash apps possible on an unsupported mobile device like the iPad. The paid service was also cheaper than competitors at US$9.99 per month.

License handling

This was the biggest question when the details about OnLive were released, as offering a full version of Windows bundled with Office for free was a too-good-to-be-true deal. The company was never open about how the licensing part of the deal was handled, giving rise to various speculations.

At that time it was known that the company was using the desktops used for gaming. VirtualTal, a twitter user, also speculated that if a dedicated hardware was being used for every instance of Windows, it was probably legal.

This tied in with the company’s assertion that the usage timings of its gaming service and desktop service were completely different, which means that during office timings, Windows + Office would be used more, while after that games would be used more. This also partially explained that there were limited slots for free users.

But what it didn't explain was how Office 2010 standard edition was also offered for free.

This led to speculation that the company might even have been 'sponsored' by Microsoft or got a special license to test waters. Still that wouldn't have been in compliance with Microsoft' licensing terms and today's blog post by Microsoft clearly suggest the same thing.

Microsoft's licensing agreements

In a blog post discussing license agreement for providing desktop like functionalities, Microsoft has said that:

Windows 7 in virtual desktop solution can be provided if the end users have licensing agreements with Microsoft

Vendors hosting under the Services Provider License Agreement can provide desktop-like functionality as a service by using Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services. This can be provided to any customer, irrespective of whether they have a license or not. But, the SPLA does not support delivery of Windows 7 as a hosted client or provide the ability to access Office as a service through Windows 7. Office may only be provided as a service if it is hosted on Windows Server and Remote Desktop Services.

With regards to OnLive, Microsoft says that “Some inquiries about these scenarios have been raised as a result of recent media coverage related to OnLive’s Desktop and Desktop Plus services...We are actively engaged with OnLive with the hope of bringing them into a properly licensed scenario, and we are committed to seeing this issue is resolved.”

As we have stated before, OnLive used Windows 7 enterprise and Office 2010 standard, clearly indicating licensing violation.

Way forward for OnLive

As Microsoft has clearly said that it is a licensing violation and no special permission were given to OnLive, it seems likely that they will have to eventually agree on licensing terms with Microsoft — if they want to continue with the service.

This means that providing Windows 7 with Office bundled for free will no longer be possible. Also expect that the price of hosting to go up significantly from US$9.99 to more in line with other providers. Customers will have to pay for the license to access Windows desktop as well as Office, which would sharply increase the cost.

This will kill the only differentiator OnLive had, of providing the services for free or really cheap with the pro vision. And after this, we will probably treat OnLive as just another cloud solution, rather than a special one with unique features.

Apple to face antitrust investigation over ebooks

2012-03-08T17:45:00.001+05:30

Wall Street Journal has claimed that the DOJ has warned Apple along with five of the biggest US publishers that they could face an antitrust investigation for manipulating the prices of ebooks.

Amazon's wholesale model
Amazon, pioneer of selling ebooks, used to follow the wholesale model where it used to buy ebooks from publishers at a fixed price for larger quantities and then was free to set the price to be sold to the end users. To attract more users, Amazon has sold ebooks at very attractive prices, at times much lower than available at other sources.

This was disliked by the publishers as they feared that the customers will get accustomed to lower prices, drive other publishers who will not be able to compete with Amazon on pricing leading to a monopoly situation. This could also result in limiting the ability of the publishers to set prices.

In comes Apple with the agency model
When Apple was preparing to start its iBooks digital books store, ahead of the launch of the iPad, Apple offered to implement the agency model. Under this model the publishers were free to set the prices of books in return for a 30% cut on every book sold.

The publishers than used the agreement with Apple to push Amazon towards accepting the agency model with a threat that if it doesn't follow suit, it will not be allowed to sell any more books. Amazon had vociferously opposed the agency model as it cut deeply into its low margin and high volume strategy while playing to Apple's strength of better UI, but had to eventually agree.

Five publishers including Hachette, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan, HarperCollins and Penguin were supporting Apple, while Random House stayed away citing price concerns

Resulting in rise in prices of ebooks
As the prices are set by the book sellers and not by the retailers, there is an uniformity of price across all available outlets. This also means that Amazon can no longer sell books at cheaper prices.

After the agency model was implemented, it is estimated that the prices of ebooks increased as much as 30-50%, with Amazon no longer offering new titles at US$9.99. It also had the effect of reducing Amazon's market share from 80% to 60% in North America ebooks segment.

Causing regulators to worry
While the sales of ebooks were rising, the increasing prices of the books was a major concern. Eventually, a Seattle, USA based law firm, Hagens Berman, filed a class action lawsuit against Apple and its five supporting publishers.

Later in December 2011, both the European Commission (EC) and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced and investigation in this matter. The regulators were more concerned about the increase in ebooks prices rather than Amazon being a monopoly.

This antitrust lawsuit, is with regards to the investigations underway at the DOJ. WSJ also reported that the concerned parties (Apple and the five publishers) were aiming to settle the case to avoid a potentially far more damaging court battle.

If the DOJ has its way and enforces the choice of using wholesale model, than it will have major impact on the ebook industry. For one, the prices of ebooks will fall again, possibly back to their original levels which would be favourable for the users. Amazon could also gain market share which it lost after implementing agency model.

It will also make Apple's life more difficult, Even with agency model it has not been able to take significant share and is in third place behind Amazon and Barnes & Noble. If the wholesale model is adapted, Apple will not be able to compete on price and might even make a partial strategic retreat considering that it prefers businesses with high margins.

Overall the news is very positive for Amazon and negative for Apple.

iPad 3 launched, specs as expected

2012-03-08T00:48:00.001+05:30

Apple has just announced the launch of iPad 3. Most the features were as speculated. Following are the key features highlighted by Apple.

Resolution
The new IPA will have a resolution of 2048*1536 or 3.1mm pixels. This indicates a 264pixels per inch (poi), short of the 300 ppi Apple claimed for retina display, still a major improvement.

Many apps will need to be modified to take advantage of the new resolution. Apple indicated that apps like Safari have already been optimised. Expect other app developers to follow soon.

Processor
Improvement after moving to quad core graphics processor, though the main processor is a dual core SoC.
Apple has also claimed that the new A5X processor is four times as fast as the Tegra 3 from nVidia, which, sounds unbelievable. Expect new tablets specs to radically change after this.

Camera
A much improved 5MP camera has been included with iPad 3 with auto exposure, auto-focus, auto face detection, auto exposure lock and autofocus lock features.

iPad 3 can also record videos at 1080p resolution.

Network support
The new iPad 3 will support LTE and there will be two versions, one for AT&T and the other for Verizon. LTE will allow theoretical speeds of up to 73Mbps.

HSPA+ (21 Mbps) and DC-HSDPA (42Mbps) are also supported.

Pricing

Wifi models- 16GB: $499, 32GB: $599, 64GB: $699
4G models- 16GB: $629, 32GB: $729, 64GB: $829

Availability
Available for pre-ordering from today. Will hit retail stores on March 16.

LIVE: Key highlights from Apple conference

2012-03-07T23:48:00.000+05:30

172mn postpc devices (iPad, iPhone and iPod) were sold in 2011

Postpc devices made up 76% of sales in Q4 2011

Retial provide best buying experience

iOS is an important part of the total experience

One of the most popular feature of iOS is Siri

Siri will now be avialable in other parts of the world

Siri is going to be launched in Japanese

Apple TV, available next next at US$99

15.5mn iPads sold in last quarter, more than any PC manufacturer sold PC's

iPad is the favourite device for many things incuding reading and browsing

iPad 3 launches

Retina display - 2048*1536 pixels or 3.1mn

264 pixels per inch, enought o call it a retina display according to Apple

A5Xchip - Quad core graphics

Better camera: 5MP backside illuminated sensor, 5 element lens, hybrid IR filter

Camera also has auto exposure, auto-focus, auto face detection, auto exposure lock and autofocus lock

Full HD resolution, HD video recording now at 1080p resolution

iPad now supports English, British English, Australian English, French, German and Japanese languages

iPad 3 has LTE

iPad 2 supported EVDO, HSPA. iPad 3 supports HSPA+ and DC-HSDPA

iPad 3 priced at US$499
$499,$599,$699 for 16/32/64GB versions for wifi
Available from Mar 16 in stores, preordering today
10 hours of battery life, 9 hours on 4G
Safari updated to take care of retina display

That concludes the part of the event we were waiting for. The launch of iPad 3! Also check our previous speculation on iPad 3 in this post.

Thanks Ars Technica for the live coverage :)

Apple offered Motorola and Samsung licensing deals at US$15 per device

2012-03-07T22:03:00.000+05:30

Apple has been portrayed in the general media as a bully trying the stop Android from becoming competitive. This had been reinforced when Steve Jobs famously called Android a “stolen product” and said “I will spend my last dying breath if I need to, and I will spend every penny of Apple's $40 billion in the bank, to right this wrong... I'm going to destroy Android, because it's a stolen product. I'm willing to go thermonuclear war on this.”

But according to sources at Dow Jones Newswires, Apple, like Microsoft, had offered Motorola and Samsung a licensing deal, albeit at a high price ranging from US$5-$15 or ~1.0-2.5% per device.

Sources also claimed that Apple wanted to offer licenses only to select competitors and not all of them, in line with the generally thinking at Cupertino to use patents as a strategic advantage.

But there is more than what meets the eye

It might appear from first glance that Apple was ‘generous’ to give the Samsung and Motorola licensing deals, which they should have accepted. But a closer look gives a completely different picture.

For one, while Apple has had some success, it has been limited. It has not been able to get injunctions to stop competitor’s products like Galaxy phone and tablet from being sold. ‘Innovations’ in the mobile space is going at a breathtaking space; hence the window of opportunity is less. If, within that time frame, Apple is not able to stop competitor’s products, the opportunity is over. Also there is always a risk of new devices being launched, which makes the advantage of injunctions limited.

Another reason is that Android is now widely used, and it will be very difficult to stop it. It may be possible to do in the US, if everything went according to plan, but extremely difficult to enforce it across the globe.

Also, once some of the competitors accept the validity of patents; it can be used effectively against others. Validation of patent without spending anything would be a good for even Apple.

Offering licensing deals to competitors also have the added advantage that in the court the company does not appear very stubborn and might even look that Apple tried to do injunctions only as a last resort. The company had already told an Australian court last year that “Jobs had begun discussions with Samsung in the summer of 2010, in part because of the close relationship between the companies. But those talks broke down when Samsung released its first Android- based tablet, the Galaxy Tab, in the fall of 2010.”
But, probably, the most important reason was to substantially increase the cost of Android. Microsoft is already rumoured to charge between US$10-$15 per device and reportedly vendors selling 70% of the Android devices in the US have taken up the offer

Assuming US$10 for both Microsoft and Apple would mean an increase of US$20 per device, which would significantly cut the margins and might even make many of the low end devices impossible. This will not only be a new source of revenue for Apple (though arguable a small portion), but could also be used to effectively stop Android from becoming a dominant mobile OS platform.

It also had the added advantage of shielding Apple against royalty claims for standards essential patents, a win-win case for Apple.

Samsung – the big question
It remains unclear why Samsung didn’t even consider Apple’s offer, especially when it is rumoured to pay the same amount to Microsoft. Maybe Samsung thought that Apple’s patent weren’t credible enough to withstand in court. It also appears possible that Samsung assumed, wrongly, that Apple was so dependent on it that the threat of a legal challenge was minimal.

It should be note that Apple was once heavily dependent upon Samsung for some of the most important components including RAM and storage memory. The companies enjoyed excellent relationship, before Samsung’s rise in the mobile world and the patent war’s soured it. Since then Apple has made some efforts to diversify from Samsung, which means that if Samsung loses case against Apple it will not revenues from mobile devices will take a hit, but revenues from its component division will also be affected.

While the two companies might be able to eventually mend their relationship it seems difficult to believe that, in the near term, it will come anywhere near the level they enjoyed before.

AV-Test reviews anti-malware apps: avast! on top

2012-03-07T19:29:00.000+05:30

There have been several malware scares in Android in the past, with Google even resorting to remove some of them directly from the users devices. Google has been trying through various ways like Bouncer, testing apps in emulators and increasing app sizes, but these methods are only good as a first-line of defence. Another good way to protect from rogue apps would be to use anti-virus or, in Android’s case, anti-malware apps.

AV-TEST, an IT Security Institute, has come out with a detailed report on the anti-malware apps available for the market. According to the report malware are on the rise, which contrasts with what Google has claimed. AV-TEST has also tested various anti-malware products and its no surprise that avast! has come on top.

Malware on the rise
According to AV-TEST Android malwares have been rising significantly on the Android platform, after a dip in Dec 2011.

Test conditions

AV-TEST has used an emulator for testing the apps, wherever possible. In cases where it was not possible to do so, a real device was used. AV-TEST also says that the emulator results were cross-checked by using a real device, but I think that the real device tests will not be exhaustive as it defeats the purpose of using the emulator in the first place.

The emulated environment was based on Android 2.3 (Gingerbread), while the non-emulated environment testing was done on a Galaxy Tab (Android 2.2, Froyo), Galaxy Nexus (Android 4, ICS).

Final results
In the final results, avast! has clearly come on top, and remains one of the best product on the market. We will write another blog post detailing about the major anti-malware products.

Samsung targets iPad/iPhone again, this time in Korea

2012-03-07T17:41:00.003+05:30

While Apple is looking to launch its much anticipated iPad 3 today, Samsung is playing the role of the spoisport by launching a new lawsuit in South Korea claiming that iPad 2/iPhone 4S infringers on three of its patents. It can be expected that after iPad 3 is launched, Samsung will add it to the list.

What do the latest lawsuit cover
According to a Reuters news article, the three patents involves methods of displaying data, the user interface, and short text messages.

Interestingly, while all the patents are important for the devices, none of them related to standards essential patents. But this also means, that Apple may be able to work around them, if necessary, though the user interface might suffer.

Finally...Korea in the fray!
So far, while Samsung has filed various cases against Apple in countries including Japan, Germany, UK, Netherlands, France, Italy, Austrlia and the US, it hadn't been very agressive in Korea and had dropped a suit in November against Apple.

But Samsung, is currently under immense pressure, and has not made any head away against Apple. This might have forced them to seek some confort in their home market, even if it gives them negative publicity.

According to Foss Patents, Samsung cotribute 10% directly to Korea GDP and maybe as much as 20% indirectly, and hence will have huge influence. It has also been rumoured that when a German court banned sales of Galaxy Tab 10.1, a Korean ambassador contacted the German governemnt and expressed concern.

We will update when we have more news.

Google Play replaces Android market; unifies content

2012-03-07T12:57:00.001+05:30

Google has replaced the Android market with a new service, Google Play. Google Play will replace Android Market, Google Music and the Google eBookstore and unify content across these services.

In line with Google's strategic direction, Play is a cloud based service - apps, music, books and movies will be stored online..

According to Google, Play includes:

Up to 20,000 songs for free and buy millions of new tracks
More than 450,000 Android apps and games
World's largest selection of eBooks
Movie renting

For the next 7 days, Google will be offering a different album, book, video rental and Android app for a special price every day. Also collections of hip-hop, rock and country albums will be sold at US$3.99, some movies at 99 cents as well as certain selected apps will be available starting from 49 cents, this week.

Android market on some of the phones have already started upgrading to Play, but some of the tablets like Xoom have still not been sent the upgrade.

Judge asks Google, Motorola to hand over sensitive documents to Apple

2012-03-06T19:50:00.000+05:30

According to a Bloomberg news report, Google and Motorola have been ordered by a US judge to handover documents related to development of the Android operating system to Google. The two companies have also been asked to handover documents relating to the merger of Google with Motorola.

Background

The fight has its root in the lawsuit filed by Apple against HTC in March 2010 claiming that HTC's products infringed on 10 of Apple's patents.

The fight between Apple and Motorola started when Motorola filed a lawsuit against Apple in October 2010 claiming that iPhones, iPads, iPod touches and even some Mac violated Motorola's patents. In total, Motorola's four complaints cited 18 patents, which according to it were infringed.

Later Motorola joined the Apple-HTC lawsuit asking the judge to invalidate 20 of Apple's patents on its products.

After this Apple turned its attention towards Motorola, and in the same month, October 2010, filed two lawsuits against Motorola claiming that its products violated six of Apple's multi-touch and OS patents.

This particular case relates to the October 2010 lawsuit filed by Apple.

Preliminary court judgment

In a March 2 filing, Apple's attorneys had asked for the documents stating “The Android/Motorola acquisition discovery is highly relevant to Apple’s claims and defenses."

The judge apparently agreed with the assertion, and has asked Motorola and its soon-to-be-parent Google to submit sensitive documents related to the development of Android as well as related to the merger between the two companies.

Google is so far not a party to the lawsuit but the judge expected that because of their relationship Motorola should submit those documents stating “Motorola shall be expected to obtain full and immediate compliance by Google with Apple’s liability discovery demands.”

Judge proposes...Motorola opposes

As expected Motorola has opposed the request arguing that Google and Motorola are two different companies saying “Google’s employees and documents are not within the ‘possession, custody, or control’ of Motorola, and Motorola cannot force Google to produce documents or witnesses over Google’s objections.” Google has so far not commented on the judgment.

The judge has next round of the case is scheduled to be held in June 2012, which will address the issue of six Apple patents and three Motorola patents, according to Bloomberg.

Source: Ars Technica, Bloomberg, Engadget

Nokia to shut down Ovi share on May 30; Nokia 808 PureView's users left in lurch

2012-03-06T14:17:00.000+05:30

Nokia has announced that its Ovi Share service will be discontinued. Users will have time till May 30 to retrieve their content but uploads will no longer be possible from March 13. This move not only signals a move towards Windows services, but could also signal Nokia's strategy in using Windows as the OS even for low end phones.
Move towards Windows services
Moves like this have been long expected as Nokia transitions towards having Windows as its major smartphone OS. Windows Live services are already included as part of Windows which includes Skydrive, a service heavily promoted by Microsoft.

With this closure, Nokia will further cut costs but will also increase its reliance on Microsoft.

Nokia 808 PureView — Any reason to buy?
We had earlier stated in an article on Nokia 808 PureView that while the phone is great, it is not a smartphone and only those looking for a camera phone should consider it. This news gives further credence to that.

Right now there is not a single native app supporting sharing on Symbian, who will have to resort to using web apps. Neither Nokia nor Microsoft has so far committed to release Skydrive or any other app for Symbian, leaving Symbian users in the lurch.

Also do not expect any major app release for PureView — If Nokia cannot support its own OS, no one else will.

Closing Ovi sharing also puts a huge question mark over future Symbian phones. Nokia had previously stated that lower end phones will continue to run on Symbian. But if the support from Nokia will get progressively lower, Symbian users will be limited to only web apps and some of the bundled apps, which will make Symbian even less exciting, if that's possible.

Way forward for Nokia

The closure Ovi share, while phones like Nokia 808 are still being launched, might point to the strategy Nokia wants to follow. Nokia could look to completely move towards Windows, even on lower end devices, a move which was made possible by Microsoft with the recently released Tango update.

We think that might be the best move for Nokia, to shift all its resources to one platform, design great Nokia quality hardware around the OS and once again become a force in the mobile world. Tall ask, but considering the brand value that Nokia still enjoys among loyal users like me, but doesn't effectively use, it is definitely possible. Here's hoping that Nokia's strategy of moving towards Windows pays off.

Google increases Android's apps size — tackles security loophole, improves refunds

2012-03-06T11:45:00.001+05:30

In a blog post titled Android Apps Break the 50MB Barrier, Google has said that the max app size has now been increased from 50MB to 4GB.

Currently apps get around the 50MB limit by forcing the users to download "sd data" outside the market which has security issues, as Google has no control over what data is downloaded.

The refunding policy has also been changed so that the refund will start only after the app has been completely downloaded — which is a welcome change.

Current limit of 50Mb is avoided through data download

Currently Android market only allows an app to be upto 50MB in size. This works for most applications like productivity suites, timers, video players etc.

But many games already have overshoot the 50MB mark and get around the android market limits by forcing users to update outside the market through wifi or 3G from the developers website.

Users also, are not able to see the total size of the app before buying, which is important on devices with limited storage memory.

What the update addresses

APK files still limited to 50MB
Every app to have up to 2 expansion files each limited to 2GB
So the total app size has been increase to 4.05GB
The total size, including the expansion files, will be seen before
downloading
Android market will be hosting the file
The 15-minute refund period won't start till the entire
app, including the expansion, is downloaded

Benefits

The current limit of 50MB was arbitrary and was easily bypassed by the app developers. What this update forces the developers is to use the Android market for the sd data also.

This has two main advantages:

Closing security loopholes
Better refunds

Closing security loopholes

Because the "sd data" was downloaded outside the market, Google had absolutely no control over it. So a rogue app developer, could make the apk harmless, but the data download could potentially have a malware code.

With this update, Google is closing this huge loophole as the entire data will be hosted in the market and only the approved data, checked by Google, will be downloaded by the users. This is in-line with recent Google initiatives like Bouncer and running apps in emulators to check for rogue behaviour.

Better refunds

Another issue previously was that, the refunds process started after the apk was downloaded. Many times the refund windows used to expire even before the sd data was downloaded, which made the refund process meaningless.

This welcome update tackles this issue also, as the windows will start only when the entire app including the data will be downloaded. So you can not actually test the app for 15 minutes to see whether or not you would like to keep it

Conclusion

Overall a very welcome update, which not only has the potential to make Android more secure but will also help many users frustrated with the 15 minute refund window for games which had a huge of data to be downloaded. Thumbs up!

Now hopefully Google will look to address more security concerns like stopping access of personal photos by rogue applications.

Asus confirms next Android version as Jelly Bean

2012-03-05T17:58:00.000+05:30

We had earlier reported that Jelly Bean is rumored to launch in Q2 with an aim to target Windows 8 tablets.

Now, according to TechRadar, Benson Lin, Asus’ Corporate VP, has said that “Asus is very close to Google, so once they have Android 5.0 I think there will be a high possibility that we will be the first wave to offer the Jelly Bean update.”

What the statement implies
For one, the candid admissions means that the next version of Android is indeed code named Jelly Bean and there is some substance to the rumours hinting that Jelly Bean will be launched soon, even if not in 2Q 2012.

Delight for Asus' users
This is good news for users of Asus devices, as they could me amongst the first to taste the new OS. Asus was also the first to release Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update on Transformer prime.

Android platform
If all these rumours are true, Google is releasing Jelly Bean even before ICS has gain any significant traction. According to an earlier Google data, less than 1% of the Android devices were running on ICS.

This means that, as we had earlier speculated, ICS could be skipped by majority of the Android devices and they could jump straight away to Jelly Bean from Android 2.x/3.x, assuming that the device manufacturer comes out with updates. Though devices will continue getting ICS updates, till there is a formal announcement by Google and also for devices were significant work to update them has been done.

Jelly Bean: Target Windows tablets
The early release of Jelly Bean probably has one major objective — to release a version compatible with Windows, before Windows 8 is launched. Microsoft plans to launch the next generation, metro interface Windows 8 OS before holiday season.

With the release, Google will be hoping that Android+Chrome gain a foothold on x86 based Windows netbooks/tablets. While there may be doubts about the Metro interface for full fledged desktops, Windows 8 could prove to be a success in the tablets market, and this is where Google wants to give the users and option to install Android alongside Windows.

This will significantly increase the reach of Android and give developers further incentives to develop on Android. Google will be hoping that previous Android users will be liking the interface and the apps enough to install them along with Windows, a strategy which might work as there will be no extra cost involved in installing Android. Plus, Windows 8 store could take some time to take off, and Google will like to attack Microsoft in that period.

With this strategy, pure Android tablet sales might suffer, but they haven't been very successful so far, especially when compared with iPad. And in spite of the acquisition of Motorola, Google is a "data" or "information" company and not a hardware company, hence more the users using Android, better is the business opportunity for Google.

Performing backups on unrooted Android devices

2012-03-05T12:26:00.003+05:30

Today we will see how to make backups on unrooted Android devices. I am using Xoom running ICS, but the methods will be valid across devices, but there could be app incompatibilities on some versions of Android.

I. Data types
There are three kinds of data, user data (photos, videos and documents), user app data (like game data) and system data. Without rooting it's possible to backup user data and parts of app data, but system data is generally off-limit as root access is required.

II. User data (root not required)
Common data like audio, video, pictures and documents can be backed up easily after connecting the android device to the PC. Suffice to say, backup files should be saved on your PC.

III. User app data (partly root required)

In HC and ICS (and maybe prior versions of Android), there are two locations where app data is stored: /data/* and android/data as well as individual folders in the internal storage. Unrooted, you cannot access /data but /android/data is accessible. You can backup the folder through your desktop.

Restoring is as simple as pasting the folder back in the appropriate place. Of course you will need to identify which app stores data in which folder for proper restoration or just restore the whole folder but do not overwrite anything.

If you are using this method after performing a factory reset, the trick is to install all the apk files, but to not open any of the apps. Restore everything from the backup and then start the apps.

IV. Software for backups

MyBackup Pro (30 day trial version): Similar to Titanium Backup, has many features which work unrooted. Can backup apps apk, contacts, call log, sms, mms, bookmarks etc. Worth checking.

App Backup & Restore (Free): Performs a single function which is to backup apk files. Has a dangerous permission requirement of Read Sensitive Log Data. So, if you are worried, install only when required.

App Backup & Reinstall: Another app to backup apk files. Some users have reported in the market that the backups got corrupted, so be careful.

Mobile Backup II (Free): Can backup calendar, contacts, SMS and call logs.

V. Using Android Debug Bridge (ADB)

copkay at XDA, has found out a great way to backup almost everything without having root access. This is useful when, for ex, you want to root which could wipe the entire data.

If you do not have ADB installed check this post: ADB Installation Guide.

Backup

Here are the steps to follow:

1. Connect your device via USB, and open a command prompt (In Windows Go to run and type cmd, press enter)

2. Type the command 'adb devices' to ensure that your device is properly recognized. There will be an alphanumeric string indicating the device has been identified. If the device is not identified, DO NOT proceed, rather troubleshoot why that is so.

3. We will use the ADB command backup. Here is the format

adb backup [-f <file>] [-apk|-noapk] [-shared|-noshared] [-all] [-system|nosystem] [<packages...>]

If you want to do a full backup simple enter:

adb backup -apk -all -f C:\backup_02292012.ab

Parameters discussion:

[-f <file>] — Backup to a particular file, always use this so you know where your backup is
[-apk|-noapk] — backup applications apk (installation files) or not. default is no apk
[-shared|-noshared] — backup shared data like pictures, does not work very well, so even if you do use this, please do a separate backup for your personal data, as mentioned before
[-all] — backup all apps, unless you want to manually backup each app
[-system|-nosystem] — Whether or not to backup system apps, I do not recommend backing system apps
<packages...> — If you want to backup specific apps

When you are ready, enter the command in the command prompt on Windows. Once you do that, adb will send the instruction to your device and you will see a prompt. Select a password if you wish and then proceed. if you do select a password, do not forget or else the backup will be useless.

After this wait for several minutes depending upon the size of the back up to be done. Once it's completed, you will get a prompt on your device indicating the process has been completed.

Restore

To restore use the following command in command prompt:

adb restore C:\backup_02292012.ab

Simply follow the onscreen prompts on the device and wait for the process to complete. Congrats you have just done a complete restore.

IMP: This method does not work 100% correctly, so not everything will be restored, especially files in /data/media (sdcard folder), so do that manually. Also does not backup sms.

VI. Conclusion
Hopefully this post has helped you in identifying how to and what to backup on your unrooted Android devices. Especially the full backup using ADB is very powerful in case one is rooting or doing a factory reset or sending the device to Motorola for repairs.

If you know of other good apps let us know!

Please note: I take no responsibility if you mess anything, delete your personal data or even brick your device. If you are not comfortable with anything do not proceed, especially when using ADB.

Previous coverage under Android for All, our special education and informative primers on Android, include Android Permissions Black Book, Syncing MTP devices (like Android based devices) with Windows, Reverse tethering on your Android: Use Windows Internet connection on your Android! and ADB Installation Guide.