Business News Holding

Tag: google

  • Google to Launch Nexus Prime in October

    The first official phone with Android was HTC Dream, also called T-Mobile G1. After over one year since the launch of HTC Dream, has appeared Nexus One, and after some time came Nexus S. These three terminals are the only Android devices branded Google, although they were produced by HTC and Samsung, respectively.

    Even if there were no significant differentiation from other Android smartphones, they were closer to the soul of giant Google, regardless of the producing company. Each brought a new version of the so popular operating system and along with the approaching of 4.0 version of Android, the company seems to prepare a new version of the popular Nexus series under the name of Nexus Prime.

    The next smartphone from Google will be produced by Samsung. South Korean corporation is going to put on the Nexus Prime impressive hardware: Super AMOLED screen of 4.5 inches with 1280 x 720 pixels resolution and dual-core processor at 1.5 GHz. The 8-megapixel camera will have capabilities of shooting Full HD 1080p as Samsung Galaxy S II. Internal storage capacity will be 16 GB.

    The great preview related to this terminal will be the operating system, rumors suggesting that it will be the first smartphone running on Android 4.0, codenamed “Ice Cream Sandwich". Samsung & Google's Nexus Prime could be officially presented during the IFA meeting (September 2-7, 2011), and a month later would hit the stores.

    A launch in October makes us think of one thing: the fierce competition with iPhone 5, which will reach the stores in the same period. It will be a race against time for the long-awaited Apple smartphone versus the new Nexus handset, though if Google follows its usual strategy we won’t see too many operators selling the dual-core handset.

    Latest related news:

  • Google Buys Motorola Mobility

    After everyone was watching Microsoft and Nokia (mobile unit) to see whether Steve Ballmer will buy the largest European manufacturer of phones or not, the bomb came even from the rival. $ 12.5 billion will pay Google on Motorola Mobility!

    Google officials are likely to know much more about the acquisition of Nokia, so they strengthened their position in the mobile phone market in order to counteract the effect of the possible competition offered by the new phones branded Microsoft.

    Today, Motorola is one of the 39 manufacturers that use Google's operating system, Android. Buying a hardware company is a very unusual move for Google, but it seems that by the end of 2011 or early 2012 we will witness to a big fight in the IT market.

    The confirmation of the acquisition was disclosed by Larry Page in a posting on the Internet saying that the U.S. Department of Justice had to intervene in the results of one of the auctions related to patents in order to protect the competition and the innovation in the free software community and, currently, is analyzing the results of the Nortel auction.

    The boss of Google has also said the acquisition of Motorola was made in order to increase the competition on the market and at the same time to improve Google's portfolio of patents, a fact which will allow Google to better protect their Android platform from the threats coming from Microsoft, Apple and other companies.

  • According to Nokia, Windows Phone 7 Excels Against the Android and iOS Popularity

    Nokia President Chris Weber has come up with a greatest insight into the Nokia’s latest strategy in an interview with VentureBeat. He made an astonishing comment saying that interfaces and app-based models such as Android and iOS will “outdate” soon.

    Nokia recently associated with Microsoft for its Windows Phone 7 mobile platform and coming up with some latest smartphone models pretty soon to regain its dominance like earlier. Nokia is seriously concentrating on a new strategy to gain upper hand over the currently popular Android and iOS. The new strategy of the upcoming smartphones from Nokia will be unique through arranging everything around the contacts unlike its competitors, which are based on the navigation among various apps.

    Windows Phone 7 coming up with a new interaction procedure known as “Live tiles and Hubs”. This feature offers all the key contacts along with mode of communication through dynamic tiles, which alters display as soon as a contact posts an update. Also, contacting someone is enabled through various options just through tapping, which will return back with various communication options including calling, Facebook, Twitter, email and many more. Definitely, this kind of approach is quite unique and away from the present popular mobile operating systems.

    The streamlined communication feature arranged in the Windows Phone 7 OS is quite novice and unlike apps based phones. Nokia thinking that this can gain back the throne like earlier. In fact, the mentioned feature success is mainly dependent on the mobile phone hardware. Perhaps, Nokia can succeed well to arrange require hardware for these feature through their devices, but other manufacturers such as LG, Samsung and HTC will think about this as they’re all already well associated with Android for their smartphones.

    Nokia is very well panning to make maximum out of Windows Phone 7 and planning for biggest marketing campaign for all their WP7 based upcoming smartphones. According to Weber’s latest interview, the upcoming smartphones will be available in the U.S. market “in volume” in 2012.

    You may also want to read:
    Mobile Internet Connections – Reliable Targets for Hackers
    Apple Launches New Lawsuit Against Motorola Regarding its Xoom Tablet
    Fujitsu-Toshiba Announced IS12T, the World’s First Windows Mango Phone

  • LG Optimus 3D Officially Launched in Europe

    Starting today, LG Optimus 3D, the 3D phone offered by LG, is available in the Old Continent’s markets. The much awaited gadget, which debuted in February at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, offers a fully 3D experience: recording, playback and the possibility to a video to all your friends.

    LG Optimus 3D also has a Tri-Dual architecture, about which, the President and CEO of LG Mobile Communications Company, Park Jong-Seok said the following: "We believe that the Tri-Dual architecture opens a new chapter in the performance of a smartphone”.

    What exactly the Tri-Dual technology is? The Korean company explains the unique architecture of their new smartphone during a press conference. "Unlike other smartphones – those with dual-core processors and of high speed – that are not using these technologies because of the inefficiency of the single-channel configurations, LG Optimus 3D has a dual-channel configuration, the transfer of the material can be made simultaneously between dual-core and dual-memory, resulting in a high performance.”

    In addition to the Tri-Dual architecture and the ability to record 3D videos in 720p at 30 frames per second, the smartphone has other attractive specifications: a 4.3 inch WVGA screen, HDMI 1.4 connection, a double 5-megapixel camera and will be running on Google’s Android 2.2 Froyo.

    Moreover, the owners of the tri-dimensional phone will be able to upload 3D content on the YouTube page dedicated to these types of videos.

    LG Optimus 3D has firstly been released in Europe, but it will be available in a few weeks in more than 60 other markets in the world.

    You may also want to read:
    What You Should Keep in Mind When Buying a Smartphone
    Windows Phone Will Dictate the Smartphone World Soon?
    New Mobile Malware Droid Dream Affected around 120,000 Android Users Badly

  • New Mobile Malware Droid Dream Affected around 120,000 Android Users Badly

    It is informed that approximately from 30,000 to 120,000 Android smartphone users are recently affected by a malware named as Droid Dream. It is believed that this malware is not a new thing and it is the same one that affected 50 applications earlier in March. According to Lookout Security, the latest malware was found in 25 and above mobile applications, which were removed earlier from Android Market by Google.

    Lookout Security also informed that this Droid Dream variant is a naked version of the original Droid Dream. This malware will be automatically active whenever user invokes the receipt of “android,intent.action.PHONE_STATE intent” like an incoming call. This is indicating that this variant doesn’t need any manual response in order get triggered into action. This malware is more malicious and requires no user actions to launch.

    The malware was seen light through a tip informed by a developer. This tip enabled security team of Lookout to verify instantly and found the malicious code which is almost as same earlier Droid Dream sample. It is identified that this malware was distributed from four different developers’ accounts. Some of apps that were affected due to this malware are below:

    Magic Photo Studio:
    • Sexy Girls: Hot Japanese.
    • Sexy Legs.
    • Hot Girls 4.
    • Beauty Breasts.
    • Sex Sound.
    • Sex Sound: Japanese.
    • HOT Girls 1.
    • HOT Girls 2.
    • HOT Girls 3.

    Mango Studio:
    • Floating Image Free
    • System Monitor
    • Super StopWatch and Timer
    • System Info Manager.

    E.T Tean:
    • Call End Vibrate.

    BeeGoo:
    • Quick Photo Grid.
    • Delete Contacts.
    • Quick Uninstaller.
    • Contact Master.
    • Brightness Settings.
    • Volume Manager.
    • Super Photo Enhance.
    • Super Color Flashlight.
    • Paint master.

    As a precautionary measure, it is suggested every Android smartphone user to consider installation of apps from trusted source and it is essential to verify the reviews and developer name. It is essential to give more concern towards the permissions that are prompted by the app during its installation process. It is also vital to observe the unusual behavior of the phone and keep the device well equipped with a mobile security app.

    The latest situations with Android Market is clearly informing all the Android smartphone users the necessity of a mobile security app. Definitely end user is suffering a lot though the situation is affecting badly the developers too. Developers are automatically kept at responsibility when their apps’ were ripped off and used for the malware distribution.

    You may also want to read:
    iOS 5 Launched at WWDC 2011, 200 New Features
    Apple Presented the iCloud Service
    Nokia E6 and X7 Ready for Delivery in Europe
    ASUS PadFone – a hybrid between smartphone and tablet

  • Google Wallet, Launch Followed by Trial

    Google faces a trial, just few hours after the launch of a free application designed to replace the classic credit cards and which turns a smartphone into an "electronic wallet".

    In the trial issued against Google in a Californian Court, the company was accused of using PayPal and eBay’s technology for the newly launched Google Wallet application. Google officials did not comment on these allegations.

    In the document filed in court states that PayPal specialists working for about three years at a technology that allows payments using smartphones with operating system and that the people at Google have mastered the technology illegally, hiring the Head of the project, Osama Bedier.

    Bedier has worked in online financial services unit owned by eBay as the Vice-President of the mobile platform until he was hired (in January) by Google. He played an important role at the official launch of Google Wallet, which took place Thursday in New York, during which he stated that the service is being tested and will be available this summer.

    What is Google Wallet?

    Google Wallet will be available initially only for Google Nexus S 4G terminals from Sprint and will be extended later to other phones equipped with Near Field Communication (NFC).

    The NFC chip embedded in mobile device allows a user, who previously entered his bank card details, to use his terminal to make purchases via the PayPass payment systems from Citi MasterCard.

    Customers can also use a Google prepaid card to pay for purchases, benefiting from Google Offers advantages – the online system of coupons of the American company, which claims that Google Wallet will be accepted by more than 124,000 U.S. merchants and more than 311,000 worldwide.

    The application will require a PIN for each transaction. Payment credentials will be encrypted and stored on a chip, the safety feature of the phone. The application itself will be free for the users.

    Stephanie Tilenius, Vice-President for Trade and Payments Division at Google, describes Google Wallet as "the next generation of mobile commerce”: “We are building an opened trading ecosystem that will bring, in premiere, the opportunity to pay with a NFC wallet and to announce the consumers all promotions – all of them with just a touch, while the user will make his shopping offline," said Tilenius, who added that the system will first expand in Europe and then Asia.

    Who and what betrayed

    PayPal says that Tilenius (who was also an employee of eBay, from 2001 until October 2009 as a consultant) helped Bedier’s recruitment by Google and quoted both company’s executives as defendants in a civil lawsuit based on the misuse of trading secrets.

    Bedier was accused that he would revealed Google certain secrets on PayPal projects. PayPal and Google have collaborated over the past three years to establish a technology developed on the PayPal platform that would serve as payment option using the mobile apps from the Android smartphones.

    NFC – the future wallet

    Mobile payments are already tested and used by several countries, notably France and Japan, but Google Wallet is the first service that brings NFC in U.S. stores. NFC technology uses short-range wireless communications action to allow the exchange of encrypted information between devices at short distance.

    Three of the largest providers of mobile communications in the U.S. – AT & T, T-Mobile and Verizon Wireless – have announced in November 2010 that have joined forces to establish a national network called "Isis" to allow the payments via mobile phones, the service being introduced in the next 18 months. Google executive, Eric Schmidt, said shortly before the launch of the Nexus S, in December 2010, that the NFC technology it’s expected to take the place of the classic credit cards.

  • Google Movies Blocked on Modified Versions of Android

    Google has decided to block the access to Google Movies for all devices running on any unofficial versions of the Android operating system, modified through the process known as Android root.

    This type of intervention provides users with administrative rights on the operating system installed on the phone, thus removing all the restrictions which protected the Android platform against any unauthorized interferences on system’s components.

    From the explanations given by Google Support results that the Google Movies is blocked for all unofficial versions of the Android operating system, due to restrictions imposed by the terms of copyright licensing for media content distribution. Thus, users who have modified their smartphone or tablet devices by installing an unsupported version of Android, will be welcomed by the error message "Failed to fetch license for [movie title] (error 49).", every time when trying to watch content distributed via Google Movies.

    The position taken by Google is somewhat ironic, considering the fact that Android is an open source, which, by definition, should have fewer restrictions than the alternatives of the competition. In contrast, Apple iPhone devices which passed through the jailbreak process can now easily download movies from iTunes.

    The users of Motorola Xoom tablet, running on the 3.1 version of the Android Honeycomb operating system, continue to have access to Google Movies as long as it does not interfere with the Android root process.

    Once the Google Movies service will also be released for the users of the Android 2.2 – 2.3 platform, during the coming weeks, the access will only be allowed for the devices running on the OEM version of the Android operating system, such as the one delivered when buying a smartphone or tablet.

  • Nokia, At the Lowest Rate in 14 Years, on a Growing Market

    Nokia mobile phone market share dropped from 30.6% to 25.1%, reaching its lowest level since 1997, selling in the first quarter of 2011 107.6 million units, according to a study made by the research firm Gartner.

    At the same time, Samsung’s sales increased from 64.9 to 68.8 million units, and the producer has a market share of 16.1%.

    The list is completed by LG, which has sold in the first quarter of 2011 27.2 million mobile phones, representing 7.6% of market.

    Apple is ranked four in the mobile phones top, but also in the operating system top, with 16.9 million iPhones sold worldwide, double value than in the first quarter of last year. The company’s market share, both in smartphones and operating systems, increased from 2.3% to 3.9%.

    The sales of the Canadians from Research In Motion, the Blackberry manufacturer, have increased in the same period from 10.8 to 13 million units, the company having a market share of 3%.

    In the operating systems, Android has become the most popular platform in the world, increasing its last year market share from 9.6% to 36%.

    The market share of Symbian, at which Nokia will renounce in favor of Windows Mobile, has decreased in the last year from 44.2% to 27.4%.

    In total, in the first quarter of 2011 were sold 427.9 million mobile phones, an increase with 19% over the number recorded in the first three months of 2010. Gartner says that, despite this 19-percent increase in sales, would have been sold even more smartphones, but several companies have announced the launch of new terminals for the current quarter, and many customers have waited them and haven’t bought any phone in the first three months of the year.

    Smartphone sales have doubled up in the period mentioned, to 100.8 million units, according to the source.

  • Information Leaks at 99.7% of Android Smartphones

    Researchers at the German University of Ulm have uncovered a vulnerability that exposes most of the Android mobile operating systems to attacks that may stole the personal data stored in the memory of the smartphone.

    The discovered vulnerability allows attackers to obtain authentication data needed to access the calendar function, the contacts and other information stored on Google servers.

    The blame for this security flaw is the poor implementation of an authentication protocol called ClientLogin used by all versions of the Android operating system, including the recently released Gingerbread 2.3.3.

    At each login, the relevant information to access Google Calendar and Contacts applications are sent in unencrypted format, with the possibility to be intercepted before reaching its destination, which can then be used to access the personal data of the targeted user for 14 days.

    Attacks carried out by stealing the authentication data are very easy, especially if the users targeted are connected to an unsecured wireless network, such as those found in public places. The systematic obtaining of the authentication data from multiple users is possible by creating a Wi-Fi access point with same SSID identification code as one of the nearest public network, where mobile visitors are already configured to connect automatically and the new entrants have no reason to doubt the security of the network.

    In most cases the applications installed on Android phones are configured to automatically synchronize with Google’s servers as soon as an Internet connection is available. While the syncing with such a hotspot phantom probably it would fail, the initiation of the operation being sufficient for attackers to obtain authentication data for any of the applications that have tried to contact Google’s servers.

    Given the facts that you probably are in the 99%-area of vulnerability, it’s good to know how you can protect:
    1. Temporarily disable the function of synchronizing contacts and calendar (Settings, Accounts & sync, choose the current account – and there uncheck Gmail or ActiveSync synchronization for contacts and calendar). Reactivate the sync when you’re confident that there aren’t any eyes that spies your traffic;
    2. Use as less as possible the free WiFi connections;
    3. Take a quick update to the newer version of Android;
    4. Even if more expensive, choose to synchronize via 3G.

  • Apple Gaining Control over Android’s Dominant Features Speech and Navigation

    Apple is nowadays concentrating high over the things that are really causing hindrances to overtake the acceleration of Android. Android’s major plus points are Speech and Navigation features that are really gaining upper hand over the Apple’s iPhone. These two features are always successful at keeping intact their customer base and helping to improve further too.

    Most of the major features on Android such as SMS, email, search box and many more are speech-enabled. Here, iPhone successfully enabled their devices with “voice control commands” which allows user to perform few functions such as making call, playing music etc. In fact, this narrower facility on iPhone is failing to result as a match for the facilities that are available with Android. Here, it is essential to recognize that the voice search facility on iPhone over Google and Bing is supported through Microsoft and Google technologies and nothing to do with Apple.

    Recently some rumors and news floating all around mentioning that Apple is under talks with popular speech firm Nuance in this aspect. Nuance was the front-end speech facility provider for Siri, which was recently acquired by Apple. Also, Nuance provided speech-enabled keyboard in FlexT9 for Android and Dragon Search apps for the iPhone. This is clearly indicating that the Apple is moving its cards safely towards the “speech enablement”, which has been a competitive weakness for the iPhone since very long. Pretty soon Apple is going to conclude a deal with Nuance in this aspect.

    Smartphones mapping and directions is another vital factor that is ruling the market currently. Currently, Apple is using Google maps for this purpose. Here, the Google maps and direction experience over the iPhone is quite anemic when compared with Maps and Navigation with Android. Also, Google withheld releasing a latest Navigation version for iPhone keeping in mind the prevailing competition.

    Apple is calmly witnessing every development in the Maps and Navigation spectrum and slowly moving its steps towards the right direction. Recently, apple bought Placebase, which is a Google maps current competitor. In June 2010, Apple bought Poly 9 which is almost similar type as Google-Earth and offers 3D mapping successfully. Recently, Apple announced its interest for “locationgate”, which is mainly emphasizes over “crowd sourced traffic database…and will be available within coming two years.

    So, the current scenario is clearly indicating the major interest of Apple and perhaps intended to announce these specialities along with upcoming iPhone 5. It is definitely indicating that the Apple is intended to achieve upper hand over the lacking Maps and navigation aspects and trying to achieve the next level in it.