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Tag: apple

  • Microsoft Compels You to Update – Windows Phone 7.5 Will No Longer Be Optional

    Microsoft makes final preparations prior to compel its users to switch from Windows Phone 7 to Windows Phone 7.5.

    Shortly, Windows Phone 7.5 will not be optional. If you have a smartphone running WP 7 and refuse to make the update to WP 7.5, you will lose the possibility to buy new apps from the Marketplace. Moreover, you will risk being unable to update the ones that you already have. Although this information has been circulated in the past, a new blog post on WindowsTeam confirms the proximity of the event.

    The update does not come without problems. Although some users have had the opportunity to update the operating system for the smartphones with WP, many users have knowingly avoided the upgrade to Windows Phone 7.5. The reason?

    Many of those who have installed the update complained that their virtual keyboard disappears. A user said on one of the Microsoft forums that the problem with the keyboard that disappears is absurd.

    Microsoft partners are also guilty for this issue. After being notified for the first time about the virtual keyboard problem, Microsoft has tried to be operative and worked on an update. Unfortunately, the 8107 update from Microsoft had to go through the mobile operators before reaching the terminal, which is why there have been recorded terrible delays. The AT&T users of Windows Phone 7.5 – the most important mobile operator partner with Microsoft in the U.S. – even today, after 3-4 months after the event have not received the patch.

    On Apple’s terminals this thing would not happen, thanks to the centralized system of updates, which is delivered to the iOS users on the entire planet in one day.

    Ultimately, is worth to note that there will be a prior notice a few days before the “D-Day”, announced on the same WindowsTeamBlog.

  • Samsung Expects 1st Quarter 2012 Profits to Double

    Samsung, now the world’s biggest-selling smartphone maker, says it expects to see its profits double for the first three months of the year.

    Online investments experts told BBC Monday that Samsung Electronics apparently has been able to hang on to its lead as the market leader in the heated smartphone niche, with its 1st quarter 2012 profit expected to hit $5.1 billion.

    BBC said analysts from the LIG Investment & Securities and Kiwoom Securities in Seoul see Samsung’s increasingly popular Galaxy range of smartphones as the engine for the Korean company’s continuing profit growth, despite great competition from the active smartphone market led by Apple’s iPhones, RIM’s Blackberry and Nokia’s Symbian OS models. 

    Samsung’s high-end Galaxy S and Galaxy Note editions have been the year’s best sellers, having overtaken the Apple iPhone last year.

    The company’s efforts to keep its profit margins healthy despite sharp competition from its giant smartphone rivals have been cited as the key to the double profit figures set to be released in detail in a formal quarterly report on April 27. Profit margins for the company’s fast-selling handsets have been higher than 20%, accounting for the 4 trillion-won profit for the smart phone division. 

    The analysts noted that despite Samsung’s current difficulties in its other products, notably in memory chips which are suffering from a glut in worldwide supply, the company could still rev up its overall profit margin as the global economy improves later this year, as predicted, and as parts suppliers such as Japan and Thailand recover from various economic and political problems.

  • Blackberry Maker Says It Plans to Release New Model First Before Disclosing Financial Figures

    RIM, the maker of the popular BlackBerry smartphone today said it was postponing its earlier scheduled disclosure of the latest company financial figures, preferring to go ahead first with the release of its awaited new BlackBerry 10 models.

    In a report by Reuters, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion said it was delaying its scheduled disclosure of financial figures to analysts set for May this year, instead setting the business meeting for later in 2012. RIM had typically released its financial report for analysts during the Blackberry World conference, usually held in the summer.

    RIM spokeswoman Tenille Kennedy told Reuters the company is deciding to focus instead on its worldwide customers, developers and partners as the Canada-based technology firm goes into the final stages of the impending public release of its new generation of smartphones to be led by the popular BlackBerry.

    Kennedy confirmed that the company is planning to set up a session separate from the product-oriented BlackBerry World conference in May that would target the interests of investors looking to RIM as an alternative investment focal point, at a point level with such smartphone leaders as Apple, Samsung, Nokia and LG. 

    Research In Motion had earlier announced its impending release of the new BlackBerry 10 editions which will use the same operating system of the company’s PlayBook tablet.  The PlayBook itself has not made a successful sales impact on the strictly competitive tablet market, led by Apple’s top selling iPads.

    The new RIM schedule, both for the postponement of the public release of its financial position as well as the marketing of the BlackBerry 10 models, has been interpreted by industry observers as the firm’s redoubling of efforts to come out with a competitive smartphone that would make use of powerful chipsets it said were set for delivery to its factories sometime early this year.

  • Your Smartphone Cameras Can Give Digital Cams A Run For Their Money

    In these need-to-feel-better times, you should feel good knowing that your smartphone cameras can save you a lot of money if you want to do a good photo-taking job and have lots of fun without having to buy yourself one of those expensive, high- end digital cameras.

    A new report by the online tech observer Appolicious said over the weekend that your smartphone cameras have one absolutely unassailable advantage over any digital camera, if you own one, and that is– your smartphone is always with you while your digital camera typically isn’t.

    In a pretty detailed analysis of the smartphone cam versus a digital camera, Appolicious pointed out what every camera bug knows by heart: the best shots in the world were those taken at exactly the right moment, that fleeting and unrepeatable moment. Only smartphones and their cameras are this poised for that moment.

    Going into details, the study said the latest smartphone camera technology are equal to that of digital systems, plus the ready availability of smart phone applications that allow the editing and sharing of photos, rendering  the need for a separate digital camera rather minimal.

    Citing just one example, the study described Apple’s latest iPhone model, the iPhone 4S as setting the standard for the best smartphone photography today.

    It noted the 4S model’s f/2.4 lens which allows a good depth of field and capable of low-light performance and the iPhone’s backside-illuminated sensor or BSI which together give the Apple smartphone its color accuracy and face-detection superiority equal to any digital camera.

    The latest iPhone likewise is fitted with greater HDR capabilities, fast performance and 1080p HD video capture.

    New photo-taking apps for the iPhone 4S from Apple’s Camera Awesome applications library further allow users, for instance, to set both exposure and focus readings from different areas  plus a selection of filters for every occasion.

  • Samsung and Apple Hasten the Launch of their New Smartphones

    Initially the two companies were placing the releases of their new smartphones in the second half of the year. Meanwhile the things have changed and the new Apple and Samsung smartphones are expected to be launched in the first part of 2012.

    Both companies seemed, at the end of last year and earlier this year, quite convinced that the best time to launch new smartphones will be in autumn. Apple released all the iPhone generations, every time, towards the end of summer, early fall. Meanwhile, the people at Samsung have returned to last year's strategy of beating their overseas rivals, meaning that will launch their smartphone much earlier.

    Latest information circulating about the release date of the new Galaxy S3 shows May 22 as the earliest date for the phone to be available to the public. Now, the Cupertino company seems to also have reconsidered its earlier decision to launch the next iPhone – iPhone 5 – this fall and, according to South Korean media, its launch could take place before summer. iPhone 5 is promising a new display similar to the iPad 3, the next generation of Apple's A5 processors and better camera.

    Displays in both phones are the same quality as both are produced by Samsung. We know that on Galaxy S3 will be mounted a Super AMOLED Plus HD, which could be on the iPhone 5 too. If the iPhone comes with next generation A5 processor, Galaxy has a 1.5 GHz quad-core processor, 1GB RAM and a 12-megapixel camera, compared to Apple’s 8-megapixel camera. Galaxy S3 will also be somewhat larger: while the iPhone 5 is rumored to have 4.6 inches, Galaxy S3 will measure 4.7 inches.

  • iPhone Is Shattered In China: Apple Fails To Win The Chinese Market

    Apple’s strategy of aligning the iPhone to a single mobile operator seems to have failed in China, where Samsung has achieved impressive market share. According to Bloomberg, iPhone has a 7.5% share of smartphones sales in China, while Samsung has 24.3% market share.

    This percentage makes Apple the fifth smartphone seller in the country, while Samsung ranks first. Samsung has sold phones through the three largest mobile operators even since 2009: China Unicom (about 200 million subscribers), China Telecom (129 million subscribers) and China Mobile (655 million subscribers).

    Apple, on the other hand, has sold exclusively through China Unicom, but two weeks ago began to sell its iPhone through China Telecom as well, which should increase the company’s market share. But China Telecom, although huge considering the Western standards, is the smallest of the three Chinese mobile operators.

    The “Father” of mobile communications in China, China Mobile, expects to start selling Apple’s iPhone only after the Cupertino company will release the LTE version, expected by the Chinese company later this year. About 15 million “decoded” iPhones are already in use in China Mobile’s network, without the operator to sell one.

    The reason why the market share is so important is that the smartphones have become a marketing platform, on which developers are building applications running on different operating systems. As for Windows, if a platform reaches a dominant market share, developers tend to “gravitate” around it. Thus, a risk for Apple in China (and worldwide as well) is that Android could become the dominant platform for application development.

    The operating system developed by Google, which supports the smartphones produced by Samsung, is the market leader in China with a share of almost 50%, even though Apple has regained an important part in the previous quarter thanks to the sales of iPhone 4S.

    It is likely that Apple’s sales through China Telecom to help reduce the difference between the Cupertino company and Samsung in China, but until will sell the smartphone through China Mobile, Samsung will remain the leading smartphone manufacturer in China.

  • The 2012 Global Mobile Awards Nominations

    The GSMA announced nominees for the 17th annual Global Mobile Awards. The winners will be presented on Tuesday, 28th February at the GSMA Mobile World Congress. In total, 158 nominees have been shortlisted.

    For 2012, the GSMA introduced 18 new awards, with notable developments in categories such as ‘Apps of the Year’, ‘Mobile Innovation’, ‘Mobile Marketing and Advertising’, and ‘Social and Economic Development’. In addition, the ‘Best New Mobile Handset, Device or Tablet at the Mobile World Congress’ will be selected from those on show at the annual mobile event.

    Here are the nominees:

    Best smartphone
    Apple iPhone 4S
    HTC Desire S
    Nokia Lumia 800
    Samsung Galaxy Nexus
    Samsung Galaxy S II

    Best Feature or Entry Level Phone
    Nokia C2-03
    Nokia C3-00
    Nokia C3-01
    Samsung Ch@t 335 (Samsung S3350)

    Best Mobile Tablet
    Acer Iconia Tab A500/501
    Amazon Kindle Fire
    Apple iPad 2
    Asus Eee Pad Transformer
    Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1

    Best Consumer Application
    Facebook Messenger
    Talking Tom Cat 2
    Angry Birds Rio
    Blast Monkeys
    Hanging With Friends

    Best Enterprise Application
    Cisco AnyConnect
    GoToMeeting
    Citrix Receiver
    Share Plus: SharePoint Mobile Client
    Forsquare

    Best Application – jury selection
    Evernote
    FlipBoard
    Google Maps
    LinkedIn
    WhatsApp

    Most Innovative Application
    biNu
    Divide
    Google Wallet
    Thrutu (TM)
    Shazam App
    SwiftKey X

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  • Apple iPhone, Partly Built By 13-Year-Olders for 70 Cents per Hour

    Not many people know that the popular iPhone and iPad are made in unbelievable working conditions. According to a report conducted by NPR, some of those working in production are 12, 13 or 14 years old.

    Foxconn, the factory where parts of Apple terminals are made, is located in the Chinese city of Shenzhen, with a population that exceeds New York – over 13 million people. Factory workers are more than 430,000.

    What surprised NPR reporters is that they met many children at the entrance. Apparently, Foxconn employers ignore age when hiring, even when they have less than 14 years old. The reporters  estimated that 5% of Chinese people working in manufacturing are minors. They suspect that Apple's U.S. representatives must know this or, if they don't, it's because they don't want to know being concerned about the price of production to remain as low as possible.

    According to NPR, at the Foxconn factory as well as other factories in Shenzhen, employees are working in halls with a capacity of 30,000 people. Work is done exclusively by hand, and the room is always quiet, because people are not allowed to speak. Workers are watched by cameras and have no right to create trade unions.

    On the move, reporters saw a former employee of Foxconn factory. He has broken his hand in a metal press, but has not been provided with medical care. Moreover, when he got back to work he did not have the same dexterity, so the man was fired. One reporter showed an iPad to the former employee and despite the fact that he worked for years in production the man had never seen such a device.

    NPR reporters claim that Foxconn employees earn about $250 per month. According to Reuters, their salary is $298 per month. Considering the fact that they are working over 15 hours a day, they are paid with less than 1 dollar per hour.

    You may also want to read:
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    LG Optimus 3D and Nokia X7: The Battle Continues!

  • LG Optimus 3D and Nokia X7: The Battle Continues!

    Apple, HTC and Samsung are very popular brands among users, but LG, Nokia and even Sony Ericsson do not even think to give up the fight to attract customers. In terms of smartphones, some would say that Apple is the benchmark, the most successful competitors being Samsung and HTC. But, as past experience shows, this classification does not remain the same forever.

    Four years ago mobile phones were the latest fashion, and one of the producers which is now criticized by analysts, was then the absolute leader of the mobile phones market. It is about Nokia. Finns have not yet given up the pursuit of success in the touchscreen segment, which are coming up with the X7 model, a smartphone described as a powerful and aesthetic smartphone, running the latest version of Symbian 3, namely Anna.

    LG wants to succeed too and tries through innovative powers to emphasize: LG P920 Optimus 3D is the first mobile phone that can capture images and record video in 3D and play it on display without requiring special glasses. This is definitely a premiere.

    But are they offering enough novelties in order to come closer to the success recorded by the renowned producers?

    LG Optimus 3D

    If there would have been any competition, then LG would have won: South Koreans were able to release the first 3D mobile on the market. The technical benchmark P920 Optimus 3D is available on the market for around $ 800. In addition, in exchange for that price, the customer is offered more than a standard smartphone with 3D functions. Optimus is part of the new upper class mobile telecom.

    Nokia X7

    With the X7, Nokia enters a scene where are already several candidates. Only HTC has five smartphones with 4-inch or larger screens. Large displays’ charm is revealed very quickly in practice. Whether it’s about games, movies or surfing the Internet, those who held in hand a smartphone with a 4-inch display will hardly like a smaller display. Not only playing multimedia content is more pleasant but also writing and editing text with a virtual keyboard takes advantage of the large surface.

    You may also want to read:
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    The Year in Which the World Divided Between Samsung and Apple

  • Apple’s New iPad to be Launched in January Rumors Say

    If two weeks ago a probable launch date was set for March 2012, we are now hearing that Apple has scheduled the launch of its next-generation iPad, in two versions, in January, according to sources close to the matter..

    More precisely, during the iWorld event that will take place on January 26, the new tablets will be launched  and will be put up for sale along with he current line of iPad 2 – which will be cheapened and will continue to compete directly with Amazon’s Kindle Fire (currently sold at a price of $199).

    In contrast, the two new models will target mid-range and high-end segments. Sources believe that both tablets will offer the same 9.7-inched dual-LED screen and QXGA resolution of 1536×2084 pixels – contrary to previous rumors that were aiming a smaller format version of only 7.85 inches.

    Sharp will be the main supplier of panels for the next-generation Apple iPad series, while Samsung and LG will also be responsible for a part of the order. In the supply chain was also included Minebea, a manufacturer from which Sharp gets the backlight units (BLUs), sources stressed.

    Apple continues its contract with Samsung for the production of quad-core A6 processors, which will be used in the next-generation iPad – unlike the current iPad 2 based on dual-core A5 processors.

    Samsung is also among the suppliers for the CMOS image sensor used in the first of the new versions of iPad, which comes with a 5-megapixel lens. Another Apple supplier for image sensors will be Sony, namely for the model with an 8-megapixel lens.

    Finally, Simplo Technology and Dynapack International Technology will supply batteries for the new tablets – with a double capacity than those used in iPad 2.