The platform wars is over: Apple and Google both won. Microsoft wanted to be the third mobile ecosystem, and it has got clear solid third position, but quite small market share of overall smart phone market. Apple now sells around 10% of all the 1.8bn (and growing) phones sold on Earth each year and Android the next 50%, split roughly between say 2/3 Google Android outside China and 1/3 non-Google Android inside China. So Apple and Google have both won, and both got what they wanted, more or less, and that’s not going to change imminently.
Wearables and phablets will be the big device stories of 2015. I think that the wearables will be the more interesting story of them, because I expect more innovation to happen there. The smart phone side seemed to already be a little bit boring during 2014 – lack of innovation from big players – and I can’t see how somewhat bigger screen size and higher resolution would change that considerably during 2015. CES 2015 debuts the future of smartphones coming from all places – maybe not very much new and exciting.
Say good-buy to to astronomical growth in smart phone sales in developed countries, as smartphone market is nearly saturated in certain regions. There will be still growth in east (China, India etc..), but most of this growth will be taken by the cheap Android phones made by companies that you might have not heard before because many of them don’t sell their products in western countries. The sales of “dumb phones” will decrease as cheap smart phone will take over. Over time this will expand such that smartphones take almost all phone sales (perhaps 400m or 500m units a quarter), with Apple taking the high-end and Android the rest.
The current biggest smart phone players (Samsung and Apple) will face challenges. Samsung’s steep Q3 profit decline shows ongoing struggles in mobile – Customers sought out lower priced older models and bought a higher percentage of mid-range smartphones, or bought from some other company making decent quality cheap phones. Samsung has long counted on its marketing and hardware prowess to attract customers seeking an alternative to Apple’s iPhone. But the company is now facing new competition from low-cost phone vendors such as China’s Xiaomi and India’s Micromax, which offer cheap devices with high-end specs in their local markets.
Apple has a very strong end of 2014 sales in USA: 51% of new devices activated during Christmas week were Apple, 18% were Samsung, 6% Nokia — Apple and Apps Dominated Christmas 2014 — Millions of people woke up and unwrapped a shiny new device under the Christmas tree. It is expected that Apple also will see slowing sales in 2015: Tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted Apple will face a grim start to 2015 with iPhone sales plummeting by up to a third.
In few years there’ll be close to 4bn smartphones on earth. Ericsson’s annual mobility report forecasts increasing mobile subscriptions and connections through 2020.(9.5B Smartphone Subs by 2020 and eight-fold traffic increase). Ericsson’s annual mobility report expects that by 2020 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a phone. It really talks about the connected world where everyone will have a connection one way or another.
What about the phone systems in use. Now majority of the world operates on GSM and HPSA (3G). Some countries are starting to have good 4G (LTE) coverage, but on average only 20% is covered by LTE. Ericsson expects that 85% of mobile subscriptions in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa will be 3G or 4G by 2020. 75%-80% of North America and Western Europe are expected to be using LTE by 2020. China is by far the biggest smartphone market by current users in the world, and it is rapidly moving into high-speed 4G technology.
It seems that we change our behavior when networks become better: In South Korea, one third of all people are doing this ‘place shifting’ over 4G networks. When faster networks are taken into use, the people will start to use applications that need more bandwidth, for example watch more streamed video on their smart phones.
We’re all spending more time with smartphones and tablets. So much so that the “second screen” may now be the “first screen,” depending on the data you read. Many of us use both TV and mobile simultaneously: quickly responding to email, texting with friends, or browsing Twitter and the news if I lose interest with the bigger screen. Whatever it is I’m watching, my smartphone is always close at hand. There is rapid increase of mobile device usage—especially when it comes to apps.
The use of digital ads on mobile devices is increasing. Digital ad spend is forecast to increase 15% in 2015, with research saying it will equal ad spending on television by 2019. Mobile and social media will drive 2015 spending on digital to $163 billion, with mobile ad spending expected to jump 45%. “Almost all the growth is from mobile”
Mobile virtual reality will be talked about. 3D goggles like Sony Morpheus and Facebook’s Optimus Rift will get some attention. We’ll see them refined for augmented reality apps. hopefully we see DIY virtual reality kits that use current handsets and don’t cost thousands.
Google glass consumer market interest was fading in the end of 2014, and I expect that fading to continue in 2015. It seems that developers already may be losing interest in the smart eyewear platform. Google glass is expected to be consumer sales sometime in 2015, some fear consumer demand for Glass isn’t there right now and may never materialize. “All of the consumer glass startups are either completely dead or have pivoted” Although Google continues to say it’s 100% committed to Glass and the development of the product, the market may not be.
The other big headliner of the wearables segment was Apple’s basic $350 Watch. Apple invest its time when it released the Apple Watch last quarter, going up against the likes of Google’s Android Wear and others in the burgeoning wearables area of design. Once Apple’s bitten into a market, it’s somewhat a given that there’s good growth ahead and that the market is, indeed, stable enough.
As we turn to 2015 and beyond wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity — one that is closely tied to both consumer and healthcare markets. It could pick up steam in the way software did during the smartphone app explosion. It seems that the hardware becomes hot again as Wearables make hardware the new software. It’s an opportunity that is still anyone’s game. Wearables will be important end-points both for cloud and for messaging. The wearable computing market is one of the biggest growth areas in tech. BI Intelligence estimates that 148 million wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers will ship in 2019.
I see that wearables will be big in 2015 mainly in the form of smart watch. According to a survey by UBS, 10% of consumers said they were very likely to buy a smartwatch in 2015, even though so far, no smartwatches have resonated with consumers. I expect the Sales of fitness wearables to plunge in 2015 owing to smartwatch takeover. In the future you need to look at exercise and fashion products as being in the same space. Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple debuted or announced smartwatches in 2014, so it’s no surprise that smartwatches are expected to be huge in Las Vegas at CES January’s show.
The third mobile ecosystem Windows phone has some new thing coming as Microsoft ready to show off Windows 10 mobile SKU on January 21. But it does not well motivating to me. After all, the vision of a unified Microsoft world extending across all screens is great, and it’s what Microsoft has needed all along to make Windows Phone a winner. The problem that hits me: if you fail enough times at the same thing, people stop believing you. It’s not just that Microsoft keeps failing to integrate its mobile, desktop, and console products. But Microsoft keeps claiming it will, which starts to loose credibility.
Mobile will change on-line sales in 2015: Phones have already radically altered both the way Americans shop and how retail goods move about the economy, but the transformation is just beginning — and it is far from guaranteed that Amazon will emerge victorious from the transition (this will also apply to other “traditional” players in that space).
Mobile payment technology reaching maybe finally reaching critical mass this year. Long predicted but always seeming to be “just around the corner,” mobile payments may finally have arrived. While Apple’s recent Apple Pay announcement may in retrospect be seen as launching the coming mobile payment revolution, the underlying technologies – and alternative solutions – have been emerging for some time. Maybe it isn’t going to replace the credit card but it’s going to replace the wallet — the actual physical thing crammed with cards, cash, photos and receipts. When you are out shopping, it’s the wallet, not the credit card, that is the annoyance.
Mobile money is hot also in developing countries: ordinary people in Africa using an SMS text-based currency called M-Pesa. M-Pesa was invented as a virtual currency by mobile network provider Vodafone after it was discovered that its airtime minutes were being used and traded in by people in Africa in lieu of actual money. In Kenya, a critical mass was quickly reached, and today, over 70% of the 40 million Kenyans use M-Pesa.
Mobile security will be talked about. Asian mobiles the DDOS threat of 2015, security mob says article tells that Vietnam, India and Indonesia will be the distributed denial of service volcanoes of next year due to the profieration of pwned mobiles.
Intel is heavily pushing to mobile and wearable markets. Intel is expected to expand its smartphone partnership with Lenovo: Intel will provide both its 64-bit Atom processor and LTE-Advanced modem chips for the Lenovo phones. The 4G phones follow Intel’s announcement in October of its first 4G smartphone in the US, the Asus PadFone X Mini. Now Intel remains well behind Qualcomm — which controls two-thirds of the global mobile modem market — and MediaTek as a supplier of chips for smartphones and tablets. Intel faces tough competition trying to fight its way into mobile — a market it ignored for years. Intel in early 2015 will introduce its first 4G system-on-a-chip under the new SoFIA name. Such chips include both a processor and modem together and are sought after by handset makers because they’re smaller in size than separate processor and radio chips, and use less power (matching Qualcomm’s Snapdragon).
Mobile chip leader Qualcomm will be going strong in 2015. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 is not only a killer part, it has raised the bar on what a mobile SoC has to be in 2015. It can power devices that drive 4K (3840 x 2160) TV, take 4K videos, run AAA games and connect to 5-inch HD display. There are finished, branded products just waiting to be released. I am convinced Qualcomm is on track to deliver commercial devices with Snapdragon 810 in mid-2015. I expect Qualcomm to be strong leader throughout 2015.
More material worth to check out:
New questions in mobile
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/11/20/time-for-new-questions-in-mobile
What’s Next in Wireless: My 2015 Predictions
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/issues-insights-blog/2015-predictions.htm
1,230 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
LG Replaces Android Wear: Adds LTE, GPS and NFC to the Watch Urbane
by Stephen Barrett on February 26, 2015 11:45 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9013/lg-replaces-android-wear-adds-lte-gps-and-nfc-to-the-watch-urbane
Today LG pre-announced significant additions to their high-end wearable, the LG Watch Urbane, via a new edition called the LG Watch Urbane LTE. Both devices will officially launch at Mobile World Congress next week. From a feature standpoint, the LG Watch Urbane LTE adds more wireless functionality via the inclusion of LTE, VoLTE (not 3G voice), GPS, and NFC.
These additions dramatically expand LG’s ability to cover the movement use case of wearables and places the Watch Urbane LTE alongside the Samsung Gear S as the only devices to include cellular functionality. This provides a safety net when making a fitness excursion, as emergency calls are now possible. LG had this use case in mind specifically as they included a single key press to initiate an emergency call.
Additionally, the inclusion of NFC enables mobile payments, although LG has not yet provided details on how this works. Finally, LG has dramatically increased the battery size from 410mAH to 700mAH, which will help immensely with powering the LTE radio. I should note this is the largest battery I have seen to date in a wearable.
Tomi Engdahl says:
HTC announces Grip, its first wearable fitness tracker
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/1/8128561/htc-grip-specs-features-release-date-price
The wait for HTC’s first wearable device has come to an end, however instead of the expected Android Wear smartwatch, we get a GPS-enabled fitness tracker by the name of Grip. This is also the first product of HTC’s partnership with Under Armour, whose UA Record system will be used to keep track of runs and other workouts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Hands-on with WebOS-based LG Watch Urbane LTE and Android Wear-based LG Watch Urbane
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/1/8128483/lg-watch-urbane-lte-hands-on
Our first look at LG’s new webOS and Android Wear smartwatches
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung’s new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge put design first
Will a refocus on design cure Samsung’s woes?
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/1/8128619/samsung-galaxy-s6-edge-announcement-mwc-2015
Following countless leaks and endless teasers, Samsung has officially announced the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones.
The S5 was largely considered a misstep by Samsung
So consider the S6 phones complete reboots of Samsung’s top-end Galaxy, a back to the drawing board approach that has resulted in the most visually stunning devices Samsung has ever produced. Where the 2014 S5 looked almost identical to 2013′s S4, the S6 and S6 Edge have all-new designs that look and feel significantly different than the older Galaxy devices.
Samsung is essentially splitting its flagship model into two distinct, but very similar designs. The Galaxy S6 has a flat display, metal frame, and glass front and back panels. Its counterpart, the S6 Edge, has all of the above, but throws in a curve to the sides of its front and rear glass, giving it a distinctive character. The curved glass is similar to the curved display and glass Samsung utilized on the Note Edge
Both of the new phones are made entirely of metal and glass: the cheesy and cheap-feeling plastics that have dominated Samsung’s products for years are no where to be found. This change can’t be overstated: Samsung finally has made flagship products that look and feel like they are worth the premium price tag they command.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s New Job: Selling a Smartwatch to an Uninterested Public
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/02/technology/apples-new-job-selling-a-smartwatch-to-an-uninterested-public.html?_r=0
For Apple, the hard part — making a smartwatch — is nearly over.
Soon it will be time for the harder part: selling the long-anticipated Apple Watch to consumers who, so far, are not very excited about the idea of wearing computers on their bodies.
The first batch of smartwatches from companies like Samsung Electronics, Motorola and LG did not sell well, nor were they particularly well reviewed. And wearable devices like the Google Glass eyewear that got mainstream attention — if not sales — were greeted with considerable skepticism.
But Apple has been in this situation before. Most consumers didn’t care about computer tablets before Apple released the iPad, nor did they generally think about buying smartphones before the release of the iPhone. In both cases, the company overcame initial skepticism.
The Apple Watch, which Apple introduced last September and is expected to be in stores in April, is a miniature computer worn around the wrist, with a touch screen and a crown for navigating the device. There are three different models sold at different prices and the bands are interchangeable.
Apple has marketed it as a device that can appeal to a range of customers like fitness buffs and luxury watch collectors. But it has limited its functions, making it more like a watch
“This is a brand-new category. Most people have no frame of reference with a smartwatch,” said Mr. Bajarin.
Apple will release the watch a bit later than it had hoped because of technology challenges.
Still, when Apple releases its watch in April, it will enter a market already flooded with smartwatches running Android Wear, a version of Google’s Android software system tailored for wearable computers.
The results so far for Android smartwatches have been disappointing. About 720,000 smartwatches with Android Wear were shipped in 2014, according to Canalys, the research firm.
Daniel Matte, an analyst for Canalys, said based on those numbers, it would be premature to call smartwatches a flop. He also predicts Apple’s watch will become the top-selling smartwatch next year.
He predicts that Apple will ship 7.5 million watches in the second half of Apple’s fiscal year.
That is peanuts compared with the tens of millions of iPhones that fly off the shelves every quarter.
Companies that make watch apps will probably play an important role in defining the purpose of the Apple Watch, similar to the app developers for the iPhone and the iPad.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MediaTek Sails Uncharted Waters With CrossMount
It’s ‘way more than DLNA,’ says CTO
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325865&
MediaTek, on the eve of the Mobile World Congress, has revealed a new cross-device sharing technology called “CrossMount.”
CrossMount, a “new industry standard” that’s royalty-free and open to all comers, makes sharing of multimedia content easy among multiple devices, said MediaTek. More important, it allows the hardware and software resources in devices — smartphones, tablets and TVs, for example — to be shared and combined to add features or improve performance, explained Kevin Jou, MediaTek’s chief technology officer.
“We aren’t just talking about Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) type of applications such as sharing content by pairing two devices. We are talking about connecting multiple devices (more than one) and enabling something way better than DLNA,” Jou told EE Times.
“It’s a new concept that no other chip companies — Qualcomm and Broadcom included — have ever talked about before,” Jou noted.
Just as DLNA leverages UPnP, CrossMount uses UPnP as its foundation for media management, discovery and control. CrossMount’s new wrinkle is the ability to share and combine resources among multiple devices.
With this technology, a hardware function available on one device, such as a microphone on a phone, can be added to another device, like a TV without a mic, when they’re connected, said Jou. CrossMount technology, in this instance, turns a TV into a voice-controlled device, by literally transferring microphone capability from a smartphone to a TV.
CrossMount, noted Jou, uses WiFi for connectivity among devices.
But putting two cellphones together — each with a 10-percent packet-error rate — via CrossMount, the combination of two PHY portions reduces errors to one percent, Jou said. At that rate, a voice call or even video conferencing, is possible, Jou explained.
“At a birthday party, for example, several people are using different smartphones, camera and video camcorders to capture the moment the candles are blown out,” said Jou. “With CrossMount, you can create a 360-degree movie by combining different footages.”
Licensing-free SDK
Asked if MediaTek is planning to license CrossMount, Jou said that’s not the plan. “The purpose is to drive its adoption and build a larger ecosystem.” MediaTek “will publish a license-free SDK,” he said.
At a time when most leading chip vendors have withdrawn from the TV-chip business, MediaTek today is virtually alone in actively pursuing the smartphone, tablet and TV chips markets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Phones Pack 14nm SoC
Eight-core Exynos drives handsets, says report
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325868&
Samsung will pack a handful of new technologies — including a 14nm Exynos applications processor — into its new Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones announced at the Mobile World Congress here. Analysts said the handsets will give Samsung a technical edge that could help it regain momentum, at least until Apple debuts next-generation iPhones later this year.
The Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge — which has a much-rumored curved display — include a 14nm Exynos application processor, a novel memory stack, a new fast-charging battery and new display and camera capabilities.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Just want a simple, low-power GPU for your smart-gumble? Try using your Imagination
Brains of your second wristputer
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/02/imagination_powervr_encodes/
Mobile World Congress Getting tired of chip designers bragging how their latest and greatest GPUs are stuffed full of transistors and can process a bazillion polygons a second? Well, Imagination has an antidote – the PowerVR G6020, which is aimed at smartwatches and embedded stuff where a slick 2D user interface is preferred over 3D might.
The 400MHz G6020 blueprints will be revealed at MWC 2015 today – and they are strictly blueprints; the designs aren’t expected to appear in silicon for another 12 to 18 months. It is the smallest Series 6XE PowerVR GPU, taking up 2.2mm2 of die space when fabricated in a 28nm process.
It’s aimed at gear that needs 60 frames-per-second on a 720p display or smaller: wearable gadgets, watches, internet-of-things with screens, and so on. It is fully OpenGL ES 3.0 compatible, we’re told, but the emphasis is on 2D rather than 3D acceleration.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qt: application is a way to stand out in the mobile
- It is true that a certain kind of a safe and familiar user interface to dominate the consumer market with regard to phones, says Qt’s technical product marketing for Tuukka Ahoniemi. According to him, the application of the specialization and the personality of application is, however, breaking this pattern.
- Increasingly, applications are made directly to the user interface independently. The goal is to get your own, distinctive user experience similar to each end user devices: phone, tablet, desktop and, for example, smart TVs, Ahoniemi says.
Mobiles controlled by touch and touch-paradigm has spread rapidly in embedded devices side, but what comes after contact?
- AR (augmented reality) has been talked about for years, but the technology and suitable innovations to mature has lasted for some time. Now we are in a situation where the AR-applications can be spread fairly rapid schedule, because everyone is already the camera, various types of sensors and enough processing power with them on the phone and do not have the basic applications such as Google Glass accessories, Ahoniemi image.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2491:qt-sovellus-on-tapa-erottua-mobiilissa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jolla announced plans for a new platform: this is the “Sailfish Secure”
Jolla said on Monday in Barcelona MWC event planning to the new, open and secure mobile platform. Sailfish Sailfish Secure is based on the previous platform. It has been developed in co-operation with SSH Communications Security.
The secure platform release is based on the lack of alternative European platform.
It gives Jollalle competitive advantage, the company expects a statement.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-03-02/Jolla-julkisti-uuden-alustan-suunnitelmat-t%C3%A4llainen-on-%E2%80%9DSailfish-Secure%E2%80%9D-3216559.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
AVG Reveals Invisibility Glasses at Pepcom Barcelona
http://now.avg.com/avg-reveals-invisibility-glasses-at-pepcom-barcelona/
This year, AVG will reveal a set of concept invisibility glasses at Pepcom in Barcelona before Mobile World Congress.
What are invisibility glasses?
Developed by AVG Innovation Labs, the glasses help protect your visual identity in the digital age.
Through a mixture of technology and specialist materials, privacy wearables such as invisibility glasses can make it difficult for cameras or other facial recognition technologies to get a clear view of your identity.
Why would they be useful?
There are a number of reasons why invisibility glasses could be a valuable privacy tool in the future:
The increasing use of smartphone cameras in public places means it’s more likely unsolicited images taken of us may end up online.
Big Data projects such as Google’s StreetView highlight the possibility for our faces and identities to appear in the public domain.
Advancements in facial-recognition technologies, such as Facebook’s DeepFace, could soon give a private corporations power to not only recognize us, but also cross-reference our faces to other data found online.
How do they work?
While the technology behind invisibility glasses is still in the prototype phase, there are generally two different methods of combatting unwanted facial recognition:
Infrared Light
The idea is to place infrared LEDs inserted around the eyes and the nose areas.
they are only detectable by cameras which are sensitive to the wavelengths of these LEDs. They claim to break face detection when the lights are on.
Retro-reflective Materials
While most surfaces reflect light by diffusing or scattering it in all directions, retro-reflective materials are specially designed to reflect light back at the same angle as it arrived.
If caught in flash photography, retro-reflective materials will send most of the light back to the sensor. This will result in an image that will put the Dynamic Range of the camera sensor to test.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Would you trust ‘spyproof’ mobes made in Putin’s Russia?
Android-based securomobe makes play against the West’s Blackphone
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/02/russian_blackphone_prototype_taigaphone/
A Russian firm is developing its own anti-surveillance enterprise smartphone prototype – the TaigaPhone.
The secure handset from Taiga Systems will bundle security software from sister security firm InfoWatch Group onto a hardened version of Android.
The smartphone is likely to be positioned against the Blackphone, which has been available since last July, and the recently launched Kaymera smartphone from Israel, which is built from the ground up with security in mind rather than with security apps added as an afterthought.
“The device is entirely our own – the design, the schematics and circuitry. The phone will be manufactured in China,” Nagorny told Izvestia, as Russia Today reports.
Details are so far scant but the smartphone will feature the ability to disable or enable select parts such as the camera and location services.
The device comes with the added privacy of being able to switch off its microphone.
Switching off phones does not disable built-in GPS functionality, a privacy shortcoming that Taiga Systems reportedly intends to address by partnering with Symantec. End-to-end encryption of voice and data ought to come as standard with secure smartphones worthy of the name but it’s as yet unknown how Taiga Systems intends to approach this challenge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Have it all: BlackBerry to port crown jewels to iPhone, Android
We’re still going to make hardware, insists CEO
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/02/have_our_hub_have_the_lot_blackberry_to_port_crown_jewels_to_iphone_android/
MWC 2015 At Mobile World Congress, BlackBerry said it will port key client platform features – like its soft keyboard, Universal Search and Hub – to iPhone and Android, and also throw them into its enterprise software bundles.
It marks a huge leap along BlackBerry’s transition to a software services company – but CEO John Chen denied the company was exiting the hardware business.
BlackBerry has already made some of its “crown jewels” cross-platform, such as BBM, and added others, such as its £12-per-seat BBM Meetings scheduling service. Now it’s throwing the unified messaging client Hub, Calendar, Documents to Go, Universal Search and the distinctive software keyboard into the mix.
BlackBerry will offer a menu of three bundles – Security Suite (which includes containers, authentication services and a VPN, Communication Suite (including BBM and Meetings) and a Productivity Suite. All require a BlackBerry server, and will only be consumer offerings if telcos and hosting companies begin to offer them. Which isn’t entirely implausible.
BlackBerry’s strategy of offering secure and mature software to businesses in a world dominated by consumer-focused iPhone and Android platforms makes sense. While the consumer hardware advances every year, the software doesn’t, and lacks the maturity and security enterprises need.
Tomi Engdahl says:
KDDI’s high-end Firefox OS phone, the Fx0
http://www.cnet.com/pictures/kddis-high-end-firefox-os-phone-the-fx0-pictures/
BARCELONA — The Fx0 from Japanese carrier KDDI is the top-end Firefox OS phone on the market
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Watch will replace your car keys, says Tim Cook
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/apple/watch/11439847/Apple-Watch-will-replace-your-car-keys-says-Tim-Cook.html
Exclusive interview: The Apple chief executive reveals to Allister Heath how the revolutionary features in the company’s smartwatch could forever alter our daily lives
Like millions of people, Tim Cook stopped wearing a watch a while back. The Apple boss no longer needed one: his iPhone told the time just fine. There was just one problem, as he readily acknowledges in his interview with The Telegraph: glancing at one’s wrist can be a very useful way to find out information. It is less rude and less intrusive.
So Apple now wants to pull off something that no company has ever managed before: it wants to reverse a cultural trend that it had created itself. It wants us to start wearing a watch again.
The big event on 9 March will showcase the Apple Watch; and it will be launched to consumers in April. Cook, needless to say, is already wearing his new Apple Watch. He couldn’t even contemplate living without it anymore, he says.
The first reason to buy the watch will be as a fashion statement and for its striking design, Cook believes. He is full of praise for Sir Jony Ive, Apple’s British creative genius. “He did such a great job with the design. It’s beautiful”.
Crucially, Cook believes that the Apple Watch will help create a new blockbuster product category. There are already smatwatches on the market, just as there were MP3 players before the iPod and smartphones before the iPhone. But he believes that the Apple Watch will revolutionise the market and become “the modern smartwatch” – the only one anybody wants to buy.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Watch time? Company sets March 9 ‘spring forward’ event
http://www.cnet.com/news/apple-invites-press-to-march-9-spring-forward-event/
Apple likely will show off its high-tech watch next month ahead of the wearable’s April release. Other possibilities? An updated Apple TV or an “iPad Pro.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Blackphone 2 Caters To the Enterprise, the Security-Minded and the Paranoid
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/15/03/02/1921232/blackphone-2-caters-to-the-enterprise-the-security-minded-and-the-paranoid
Following on from the security-focused Blackphone, Silent Circle used the Barcelona event to announce the follow-up — the Blackphone 2. The privacy-centric company has been working on the “world’s first enterprise privacy platform” for some time now
Blackphone 2 has a $600 price tag and will be unleashed in July.
Blackphone 2 caters to the enterprise, the security-minded and the paranoid
http://betanews.com/2015/03/02/blackphone-2-caters-to-the-enterprise-the-security-minded-and-the-paranoid/
While much of the news coming out of MWC 2015 has been dominated by Microsoft’s Lumia 640, the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, and tablets from Sony, there’s always room for something a little different. Following on from the security-focused Blackphone, Silent Circle used the Barcelona event to announce the follow-up — the Blackphone 2.
The privacy-centric company has been working on the “world’s first enterprise privacy platform” for some time now and the second generation Blackphone. As you would expect, there’s a faster processor than before — an 8-core beast — as well as an upgraded 3GB RAM, a larger 5.5 inch screen and a bigger battery than before. Blackphone 2 has a $600 price tag and will be unleashed in July.
Silent Circle is all about security, but security is about more than just a phone that features encryption. There is an entire ecosystem in place starting with the secure PrivatOS 1.1. The latest upgrade to the operating system introduces a feature called Spaces which allows for OS-level virtualization and the ability to keep work and personal apps and data completely separate from each other. These features are also due to rollout to first generation Blackphones through an upcoming update.
There’s secure access to the locked down Silent Store, and enterprise admins have an all-important remote lock and wipe option to fall back on.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What is now coming to tablets is soon on smaller mobiles…
News & Analysis
Intel Tablet SoCs Pack LTE
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1325861&
Intel announced a new family of SoCs and modems for mobile devices under its Atom brand, including what appear to be its first tablet chips with integrated LTE and entry-level chips using ARM Mali graphics cores. The chip giant focused much of its news on its laptop-class graphics now available for tablets.
“We’re in all technologies, licensed and unlicensed, and are marrying them to compute and graphics,” Aicha Evans, vice president and general manager of Intel’s wireless platform R&D group, said, adding that the company is “not backing down” from mobile competitors MediaTek and Qualcomm.
The 64-bit Atom X5 and X7 are designed to be media-rich, with a 50% improvement in 3D graphics over previous generations, using Intel’s Generation 8 graphics –- the same GPUs it uses in it laptop and desktop chips. Intel also added support for its RealSense 3D camera, Pro WiDi wireless streaming for enterprise, and True Key authentication programs.
A third generation LTE modem was announced alongside the new Atom line, with the first commercial devices expected in the second half of 2015. Intel’s XMM 7360 modem supports 29 LTE bands with CAT-9 and CAT-10 carrier aggregation, and is capable of up to 300 Mbits/second downlink and 50 Mbits/s uplink.
“The modem comes with [IEEE 802.11ac], GNSS/GPS, and NFC all integrated so customers can get to market very quickly,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vast Majority Of Us Would Prefer A Thicker Smartphone If It Meant A Better Battery
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/02/smartphone-battery-life-poll_n_6787236.html?ir=Technology&utm_campaign=030215&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Alert-technology&utm_content=Title&ncid=newsltushpmg00000003
Americans don’t want thinner phones. At least, not if that means shorter battery life.
A new HuffPost/YouGov poll finds that an overwhelming majority — 73 percent — of adults polled would prefer a thicker phone with longer battery life to a thinner one with shorter life.
Only 12 percent said they’d prefer a thin phone with less battery life, while 15 percent said they weren’t sure.
The results come one day after Samsung announced its new flagship Galaxy S6 phone, which is thinner and lighter than the Galaxy S5. It also has a smaller-capacity battery than the S5.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Announces New Galaxy S6 Phones, Opens Fire On Apple
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/01/samsung-galaxy-s6_n_6779340.html?utm_hp_ref=technology
iPhones might bend, but they sure don’t curve.
Samsung announced two new Galaxy S6 smartphones Sunday at the Mobile World Congress, an industry exhibition held in Barcelona, Spain.
There’s the Samsung Galaxy S6, the newest iteration of the company’s popular line of Android phones, and there’s the Galaxy S6 Edge, which features a curved screen not unlike the one seen on the Galaxy Note Edge phablet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kevin C. Tofel / Gigaom:
Amid new watches, Android Wear crosses 1M downloads
http://gigaom.com/2015/03/02/amid-new-watches-android-wear-crosses-1m-downloads/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jolla’s Sailfish OS reaches 2.0, embraces Intel, licensing
http://www.slashgear.com/jollas-sailfish-os-reaches-2-0-embraces-intel-licensing-02371529/
There comes a time when every child grows up and starts to leave home for his or her own adventures. For Jolla’s own Sailfish OS, that time has come. In preparation for the upcoming launch of the successfully crowdfunded Jolla Tablet next quarter, the Finnish startup is announcing the next major version of Sailfish 2.0. While details on what’s new for end users are still quite slim, the release is meant more to entice partners, particularly of the hardware kind, to join in on the fun
Sailfish OS was primarily designed to be used on Jolla’s ARM-powered first smartphone.
That tablet is expected to ship in the next few months, but while things are still cooking on the hardware front, Jolla apparently has a ready-made software meal. Sailfish OS 2.0, as it is dubbed, is the next evolution of the platform. It scales the OS from smartphones to tablets, from ARM to Intel. In particular, it is adding support for the Intel Atom x3 processor platform. This is Intel’s first processor to combine a 64-bit Atom CPU with 3G or 4G connectivity. In short, this opens the floodgates for more Sailfish-compatible devices in the future.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Pay vs. Apple Pay vs. Android Pay
https://www.yahoo.com/tech/samsung-pay-vs-apple-pay-vs-android-pay-112521513939.html
Samsung’s new mobile payment system, coming this summer, will work even at the millions of old-fashioned checkout terminals that don’t have a wireless connection. That solves one of the big limitations of Apple’s mobile pay system, which only works at the 200,000 or so newer terminals in the U.S. that have been upgraded with wireless chips.
But Samsung’s solution faces a very different problem. None of the major mobile phone carriers have announced that they will pre-install the software, meaning customers may have to add it on their own. Apple’s deals with the carriers give it greater control over hardware and software features, so it didn’t need their permission to offer Apple Pay.
And Google’s recent deal to partner with the carriers on a third mobile pay solution, formerly known as Softcard but is being wrapped into Google Wallet, adds further complications for Samsung.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ubuntu mobile phone may have a good idea in it
Meizu device corresponds to the current smart phone design, the desired trends, so the device can evaluate the kind of clean slate.
Then, attention is specifically usability. And the Finnish Qt has been developed for Ubuntu Touch indeed different from the moment the smartphone from the mainstream, which is reduced merely to time in the Android and iOS sovelluskeskeisyydeksi.
Meizussa rotating Ubuntu wants to reject app-centricity. It is raised to the surface of the “regions” (scopes). The higher-level control is borrowed from the Ubuntu Unity interface, in which the main settings and the areas highlighted on the left hand side of the slide.
The idea of Unity are not all laptops do not like, but it works on the screen of your smartphone.
Ubuntu is a huge challenge to try to prize the market for Android and iOS compression. Meizun device is pretty and powerful like all modern smart phones.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2500:ubuntu-kannykassa-voi-olla-ideaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
What now, Samsung? Apple drove past
Samsung’s smartphone sales to end the year was just as gloomy as it is spoken about. Market researcher Gartner, Apple drove the old lord catch up and immediately even passed.
Even a year ago Samsung’s superior was quite overwhelming. Its market share in smartphones, nearly 30 per cent, while second place was Apple was less than 20 per cent. In the fourth quarter, Apple had climbed to just over 20 per cent of the number one. Samsung, in turn, was the hair slightly less than 20 per cent.
In operating systems losers were Windows and BlackBerry.
Samsung spite of the difficulties of Android managed to increase its share slightly. When Apple’s iOS at the same time maintained its position, scanty growth pinched from the Windows and BlackBerry.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-03-03/Mit%C3%A4s-nyt-Samsung-Apple-ajoi-ohi-3216643.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Samsung won and then lost the smartphone war
http://uk.businessinsider.com/samsung-rise-and-fall-2015-2?op=1?r=US
In November 2011, Samsung released the first of a series of ads that would define the company for the next three years.
By the end of 2012, Samsung’s profits were up a whopping 76%, fueled by the growth of the mobile division, which suddenly became the most profitable part of Samsung. Samsung was the only company other than Apple making a profit in mobile, and it seemed to be closing in on Apple’s dominance, prompting The Wall Street Journal to publish its famous “Has Apple Lost Its Cool To Samsung?” headline in January 2013.
By the time the Galaxy S4 launched in March 2013, the anticipation surrounding Samsung’s products could only be rivaled by Apple. It was officially a two-horse race.
But it only took another year for things to come crashing down. Profits tumbled in 2014, even during the normally lucrative holiday season. Throughout the year, Samsung blamed increased competition in mobile for the downturn.
Now, Samsung is gearing up for its most important smartphone launch ever on March 1. The question is whether or not the Galaxy S6 will be enough to help Samsung recover from its slump, or if it will share the same fate as former kings of mobile like Nokia, BlackBerry, and Motorola.
How did Samsung get so big so fast and how did it all go so wrong?
Competition from new players like Xiaomi and a renewed Apple were central to the decline, but corporate turmoil at Samsung, including a rift between the company’s South Korean headquarters and its suddenly successful US group, also played a major role.
Missed opportunity
The success of Samsung’s Mobile in the US began a rift with the Korean headquarters. Sources say the more successful Samsung was in the US, the more complicated the relationship with headquarters got. Instead of getting credit, the US team felt they were being chastised for doing their jobs well. (Samsung declined to comment on this story.)
It got so bad, a source told us, that Samsung flew a plane full of executives to the mobile division’s office in Dallas for an unannounced audit that lasted three weeks in 2012. The Dallas-based employees had to go through all materials they used to sell and market Samsung’s mobile products. They were accused of falsifying sales, bribing the media, and a bunch of other damaging actions that hurt morale in the office. The same US-based office that helped turn Samsung into a brand as recognizable as Apple was suddenly being punished for its work.
After three weeks, the Korean auditors found nothing wrong with the way the US office had been operating and went home. But the damage had been done, and the perception remained at the Korean headquarters that despite its success, the US team was up to no good.
That all but killed any hope of translating what the US team pulled off to other regions. They were able to continue in North America, but Samsung’s global messaging remained disjointed.
Aside from the awkward unveiling, the Galaxy S4 also launched to mostly negative reviews.
Still, the phone was Samsung’s most successful ever, and 2013 was another very good year for the company.
But 2014 was going to be a wakeup call.
There were a lot of factors for Samsung’s major slip in 2014, but the biggest culprit appears to be Chinese smartphone manufacturers. Chinese companies like the startups OnePlus and Xiaomi appeared to have perfected the magic formula for making beautiful, high-quality smartphones that cost at least half as much as the iPhone or Samsung’s Galaxy S series.
Xiaomi was the biggest success story of the year. By some estimates, it was the top smartphone vendor in China
Xiaomi’s rise meant Samsung’s decline in China. Since Xiaomi phones are also Android phones, there was very little Samsung’s pricier models could do that Xiaomi’s phones couldn’t do. Plus, Xiaomi is a marketing success story.
But Xiaomi is just one factor. A lot of Samsung’s success came because it was able to get a head start and distribute its phones on a broader scale before the rest of the non-iPhone competition could
For example, the iPhone was only available on about a third as many carriers as Samsung phones were. In the US, Samsung phones were one of your best options unless you were an AT&T customer and had access to the iPhone.
It was the same story on China Mobile
“I think it’s always dangerous when you don’t know why you’ve won,” Thompson said in an interview. “One of the reasons Samsung succeeded is they pivoted in ways Nokia and others didn’t. They were able to leverage everything they already had, but weren’t able to sustain it because there wasn’t anything special about their phones. Samsung got crushed on the high end by Apple and the low end by Xiaomi in China.”
Thompson continued, “At the end of the day, there’s nothing to differentiate a Samsung phone, so they’ll have to compete on price.”
However, that doesn’t seem to be Samsung’s plan.
Unless Samsung has a special trick up its sleeve on the software side, it’s unlikely that its new phones will be enough to justify the extra cost over similar Android devices. And if that happens, Samsung is almost certainly up for another messy year. The glow surrounding Samsung’s smartphone business has almost certainly faded for good. Time to find something new.
That doesn’t mean the company is hosed. Samsung is a massive organization that makes everything from dishwashers to air purifiers.
Plus, its chip business is already very profitable, and is due to get a nice boost thanks to a reported agreement with Apple
One key area Samsung is focusing on in the near term is the “internet of things” (IoT) trend
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stratos’ Bluetooth connected payment card works everywhere, available this April
http://thenextweb.com/gadgets/2015/03/03/stratos-bluetooth-connected-payment-card-works-everywhere-available-this-april/
Everyone wants a piece of the payments space and if the excitement for Coin proved anything, people want a single card that replaces all the separate ones they’ve already carrying around.
Stratos, launching today, is a new payments card that exists to replace every single plastic card in your wallet. The card features Bluetooth connectivity and can be used everywhere you’d expect, like at ATMs, restaurants and gas stations.
Using the companion mobile app, you can switch between cards and track your spending. The company is working to add further features like location based recommendations based on your spending history, virtual card downloads (think gift cards or pre-paid cards) and more.
The amazing thing about Stratos is that the company says you can load basically anything that features a magnetic strip onto it like credit, debit, loyalty, membership or even gift cards.
What’s cool about Stratos’ approach versus a solution like Apple Pay or even Samsung Pay is that it says it’ll work on day one with 100 percent of merchants in the US, since it uses technology that already exists.
Instead of requiring a one-time purchase, Stratos is a recurring yearly membership of $95 per year or $145 for two years. The idea behind this is simple; the company wants you to get the most “complete” experience, with a new card every year that features the latest technology or a replacement if you lose it, similar to how your bank works.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony Mobile head says division is not being sold: Le Figaro
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/02/us-sony-mobile-idUSKBN0LY2D520150302
“At the beginning of February there was speculation about a sale of Sony Mobile,” division head Hiroki Totoki was quoted as saying by the newspaper in an interview published on its website late on Monday. “It’s completely untrue.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Audi will outfit all 2016 cars with AT&T’s LTE service
http://www.fiercewireless.com/story/audi-will-outfit-all-2016-cars-atts-lte-service/2015-03-03?utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_campaign=rss
BARCELONA, Spain–Audi of America will equip all its 2016 vehicles with AT&T’s (NYSE:T) LTE service. The deal is an expansion of AT&T’s previous arrangement with Audi in which the operator provided LTE connectivity to all Audi A3 cars released in 2014. AT&T will offer Audi drivers the option of adding their car to their Mobile Share data plan for the $10 per month access fee.
AT&T is also adding a new capability to its AT&T Drive connected car platform that will allow the car to connect to the company’s Digital Life home security and automation platform. This means that car makers will be able to embed the Digital Life feature into cars so drivers can control their home from their car dashboard.
The global SIM is also being used in AT&T’s deal with heavy equipment maker Sany America to help it manage and protect its heavy equipment assets remotely.
AT&T and Audi to Wirelessly Connect all 2016 Model Year Vehicles
http://about.att.com/story/att_and_audi_to_wirelessly_connect_all_2016_model_year_vehicles.html
BARCELONA, March 3, 2015 – AT&T* and Audi of America today announced an agreement in which all 2016 model-year Audi vehicles equipped with Audi connect® will come with AT&T 4G LTE or 3G coverage**. AT&T and Audi enabled the first-ever in-vehicle 4G LTE data connection in North America with the all-new Audi A3 models released in 2014.
Under the agreement, all 2016 models with Audi connect will be delivered to customers with an AT&T SIM card providing connectivity to AT&T’s wireless network.
The new A6, A7, and TT models coming this year will feature the most advanced version of Audi connect including up-to-the-minute traffic information, semi-dynamic route guidance, over the air map updates, and internet radio, in addition to picture navigation, social media, personalized RSS news feeds with read-aloud functionality, and more.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel is now trying to mobiles with Atom X
Intel is not satisfied with the success that its Atom processors in mobile phones are enjoyed, or rather, been not consuming. More tours of the company is applying the Barcelona Mobile World Congress presented the Atom x3 circuit.
According to the company formerly known by the code name Sofia Atom x3 is the first affordable tablets, and smartphones phablet designed circuit substrate. It is a 64-bit processor, which in addition to the same system chip implanted 3G and LTE modems. For example, Jollalle Intel has already committed to provide new Atom x3
Atom x3 becomes three versions, of which 3G modem a version deliveries have already begun. The second version of the Intel manufactures with the Chinese partner Rockchip.
Intel’s mobile dreams, the most important x3 circuit is LTE modem containing X3C3440.
LTE version will be the supply of “in the second half,” which is Intel’s bad news. Deliveries late, it gives all the time ahead of Qualcomm and other competitors.
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2504:intel-yrittaa-nyt-kannykoihin-atom-x-lla&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
SanDisk Ultra® microSDXC™ UHS-I Card
World’s Highest Capacity microSD™ Card
http://www.sandisk.com/products/memory-cards/microsd/ultra-premium-edition/
Breakthrough capacity of 200GB** means you never have to stop shooting, saving, and sharing. This durable microSDXC™ UHS-I card can hold up to 20 hours of Full HD video** before you even have to think about moving anything to your PC. And with premium card-to-PC transfer speeds, you can transfer up to 1200 photos a minute
Tomi Engdahl says:
Eric Johnson / Re/code:
Oculus VR Will Go ‘Full Consumer’ With Samsung by Year’s End
http://recode.net/2015/03/04/oculus-vr-will-go-full-consumer-with-samsung-by-years-end/
Oculus VR’s mobile virtual reality headset, the Samsung Gear VR, will get a full-on consumer push by the end of the year, CTO John Carmack said today at the Game Developers Conference.
Carmack’s talk, titled “The Dawn of Mobile VR,” covered the current state of the Gear VR, which is aimed at developers and early adopters, and is officially dubbed an “innovator edition.” It was originally made to work only with Samsung’s Galaxy Note 4, but Oculus recently announced that it will release another innovator edition soon that works on Samsung’s Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge smartphones, too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:NEW
Glympse for Autos released, lets drivers share location information from a connected vehicle
Glympse Launches A New App To Help Drivers Share Their Locations
http://techcrunch.com/2015/03/03/glympse-launches-a-new-app-to-help-drivers-share-their-locations/
Glympse was one of the earliest smartphone-based location services, but the company’s focus on utility kept it out of the hype cycle. Today, it’s back with a new Android app that makes it easier for drivers to share their location. Glympse for Autos is meant to allow drivers to share their locations with their families without being distracted.
All a driver has to do is turn on the app, select with whom they want to share their location, set a timer and start driving. The app runs in the background, and contacts can follow the driver’s progress from anywhere without having to install the app themselves.
The company also announced today that the service is now integrated with the dashboards of 10 major car brands
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samantha Murphy Kelly / Mashable:
The Runcible circular Firefox OS smartphone resembles a pocket watch, limits notifications
Runcible circular phone is a quirky and delightful pocket watch
http://mashable.com/2015/03/04/runcible-smart-pocket-watch/
BARCELONA — Just when we thought smartphones were losing creativity, a small circular device the size of a pocket watch has the potential to be one of the most innovative gadgets we’ve seen in quite awhile.
The Runcible phone by San Francisco-based startup Monohm is on display at Mobile World Congress this week and generating significant buzz for its unique form factor.
While it looks more like a pocket watch than anything else, the Runcible wants to be a more imaginative version of your phone.
It can be synced with a Bluetooth earpiece and take calls directly. But like many things with the Runcible, there are limitations, which are part of a greater effort to not have too much information thrown at you.
Although the pricing hasn’t yet been announced, the company told Mashable it will likely be the price of an unlocked smartphone — so likely in the $600 range.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FireEye Integrates With Samsung KNOX-enabled Devices
http://www.securityweek.com/fireeye-integrates-samsung-knox-enabled-devices
FireEye this week announced a new product integration with Samsung to enhance the security of mobile devices running Samsung’s KNOX enterprise security platform.
According to the security firm, the integrated offering is capable of intercepting mobile apps before they are installed on a device by leveraging FireEye’s Mobile Threat Prevention platform. The technology is able to determine risk status, analyze, detect and block high-risk apps, as well as notify users of behaviors consistent with malware activity.
The FireEye and Samsung integrated solution will help discover potentially harmful apps and proactively mitigate risk on Samsung KNOX-enabled devices, FireEye said. The integration leverages Samsung’s secure APIs to enable FireEye to suspend an app from running on supported Samsung devices until it has analyzed the application for security risks.
“Mobile devices in a BYOD environment are the central point where business and personal information is located in one location and includes rich details such as contact, location and calendars to go along with email and files,” Manish Gupta senior vice president of products at FireEye, said in a statement. “This creates a highly valuable target for bad actors and apps are a perfect delivery method as they open the device up to a wide variety of malicious activity.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Ubuntu phones are an audacious attempt to take on Android
Actual devices from Canonical finally take the stage at MWC 2015
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/4/8146925/ubuntu-phones-are-taking-on-android
The mobile journey of Linux-based OS Ubuntu has felt like an eternity. Canonical, the company that leads development on the platform, first announced the smartphone OS back in 2013; after an unsuccessful dalliance with crowdfunding, Canonical said over a year ago that phones from BQ and Meizu would launch with the platform in 2014. That goal was missed, but the BQ device was made available a few weeks ago, and it’s on show at Mobile World Congress alongside a Meizu counterpart.
Ubuntu is late to the smartphone party, and not in a way that could be described as fashionable. But Canonical remains bullish on the future of the platform. “We’re taking on Android,” says mobile VP Cristian Parrino with a confident grin.
Android, of course, has a considerable head start, with over a billion devices shipped and over a million apps in the Google Play Store. But instead of attempting to build an app store and ecosystem from scratch, Ubuntu is taking a different approach to how software works on a phone. The primary OS interface is underpinned by what Canonical calls “scopes”; essentially, a series of categorized homescreens that developers can plug into.
The interface is entirely driven by gestures and turns out to be very intuitive, but Canonical has its work cut out.
The devices Canonical is showing off at MWC are both based on existing Android hardware, and neither is intended to be a big seller just yet. The first, the Aquaris E4.5 UE from Spanish manufacturer BQ (below), is a mid- to low-end device that keeps up with the OS well enough, but doesn’t impress in build quality. That’s to be expected given its €169.90 (about $190) price point, which even then only applies if you can actually secure a device in a flash sale — there’s no retail availability
The second Ubuntu phone (top) is a more appealing proposition. It comes by way of Meizu, a Chinese company that has been making high-spec phones at low prices for years, and is based on the current MX4. The phone has a 5.36-inch 1920 x 1152 display, a 20-megapixel camera, and an eight-core MediaTek 6595 processor, all wrapped up in a reasonably attractive design with ultra-thin bezels. The MX4 Ubuntu is set to hit Europe soon, with a release in China coming later.
Canonical is still pushing the concept of convergence, too. At MWC, the company is showing how devices running an early tablet version of the OS can switch to desktop Ubuntu when a USB keyboard is plugged in. The long-term plan is for Ubuntu phones to act as a PC once connected to a larger display.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sam Byford / The Verge:
How Huawei Watch, with its minimalist design and quality build, became a surprise hit at MWC
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/3/8140837/huawei-watch-design-interview-mwc-2015
Tomi Engdahl says:
I wore the Vive VR headset and didn’t want to take it off
http://www.theverge.com/2015/3/4/8146523/htc-vive-valve-vr-headset-hands-on-preview
HTC’s Very Immersive Visual Experience is more impressive for its motion tracking than its display technology
If the point of virtual reality headsets is to transport their wearer into another world, then HTC’s Vive VR is already a success. I strapped myself in for one of HTC’s demos at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week, and I did indeed feel like I had stepped into the 3D worlds rendered around me. But that standard has already been met by the excellent Oculus Rift, the headset that got the world excited about VR all over again. Where the Vive VR looks to set itself apart is by expanding the scope and scale of motions that I can perform while inside its simulated realms.
Without motion tracking, VR headsets have a natural ceiling to what they can do. The Vive VR lifts that by using a laser-based motion tracking system — all the weird little glass plates scattered across the front of the headset are laser receptors — to know the exact position and orientation of my head at all times. Valve’s Steam VR software platform makes sense of that data, in combination with information about what I’m doing with the controllers, to generate a highly precise picture of what I’m doing and where I’m doing it in three-dimensional space. The next step is to simply (simply!) generate a 3D environment that reacts appropriately to my gestures and movements.
Though they have a very reasonable 1200 x 1080 resolution each, I could detect the red, green, and blue subpixels
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brazilian Cell Phone to encrypt all traffic
Edward Snowden revelations are actually launched a completely new device type, the maximum security offer smartphones. Brazilian Sikur presents a mobile trade show in Barcelona its own version of the device, where all the data traffic between users is protected.
Endives Granitephone based viriteltyyn version of Android. The trick is to chicory own software, which encrypts calls, text messaging, instant messaging and file on two Granitephonen user.
The market has many software are based security mobile phones. Their shortcoming is often much slower than the normal operation of mobile phones. Sikur promises that the device is completely normal for Android mobile phone way, if the hardware encryption feature is not desired.
Granitephonen security is based on the fact that inside the device has its own protected “sandbox”. It is isolated from the environment in which the safety application and the data stored will be installed. Other applications can not access this insulated compartment.
Currently Sikur looking for their device manufacturing partner. The final device will be the Qualcomm Snapdragon processor
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2515:brassikannykka-salaa-kaiken-liikenteen&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jolla got MWC’s the best tablet Award
The prize is awarded mobile technology association GSMA.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-03-05/Jollalle-MWCn-parhaan-tabletin-palkinto-3216865.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone, Samsung in Trouble
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1325927&
With its Galaxy S6 announcement at MWC, Samsung and smartphones in general look to be in trouble and that’s bad news for the electronics industry.
It feels like trouble ahead for smartphones in general and Samsung specifically.
The view from Barcelona showed Samsung looking like king of the hill. It announced at the Mobile World Congress its Galaxy S6 handsets, the first in the world run on chips built in a 14nm FinFET process. So how can a company leapfrogging Apple in smartphones and TSMC in process technology be in trouble?
Analyst Robert Maire says the new Samsung phones don’t have enough panache to shift momentum away from the red-hot iPhone 6. What’s worse, he suspects Samsung’s 14nm yields are low, making the process in which rival Apple is said to be making its A9 SoC for its upcoming iPhone 7 unprofitable for many months to come
About the same time Samsung showed the Galaxy S6 to great fanfare in Spain, Gartner released the latest market share figures on smartphones. Samsung lost the top spot to Apple for the first time since 2012, and China suppliers Lenovo, Huawei and Xiaomi are nipping at Samsung’s heels.
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Bélanger / MSDN Blogs:
Remote Desktop app for Windows Phone 8.1 leaves preview, now available in Windows Phone Store
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/rds/archive/2015/03/04/remote-desktop-app-for-windows-phone-now-supports-gateway-and-remote-resources.aspx
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft makes big push in emerging smartphone markets
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/microsoft-makes-big-push-in-emerging-smartphone-markets/
After a dismal showing for the Windows Phone, Microsoft is making a big push in emerging markets, hoping that low-priced phones will appeal to first-time buyers in those countries.
Seven months after shelling out $7.5 billion for Nokia’s mobile- phone unit, Microsoft put its stamp on the business, releasing the first phone to bear the Microsoft name in years.
Where did Microsoft, the Redmond giant that makes most of its money in the U.S. and Europe, start its post-Nokia era?
At a media event in New Delhi, India.
In acquiring Nokia last year, former Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer arranged the marriage of two companies that badly lost in the race to sell the first billion smartphones.
Windows Phone, the Microsoft mobile operating system used almost exclusively in Nokia-produced phones, ran just 2.7 percent of the smartphones shipped worldwide in 2014, according to data tracker IDC. In developed economies, consumers have largely committed to Apple- or Google-powered devices, analysts say.
“Any growth left in the market will come from emerging markets that are in the midst of the smartphone transition,” said Peter Richardson, an analyst with Counterpoint Research and a former head of market intelligence at Nokia. In those markets, “there’s still some possibility of Windows Phone finding traction.”
The company is waging its comeback battle with a leaner crew.
Microsoft has nearly halved the workforce acquired with Nokia, cutting 12,500 jobs and closing plants and engineering facilities in locations from Hungary to China. Executives said the cuts were needed to shift the company’s footprint toward the phones of the future and, ultimately, push the money-losing business to profitability.
“These are people who sold hundreds of millions of features phones for years in Africa, the Middle East,” Reith said. “These guys are familiar with that. If you can do enough volume, you can make money.”
India and China, widely targeted consumer markets that together are home to more than a third of the world’s population, represent the promise and the challenge of Microsoft’s approach.
China is the world’s largest smartphone buyer, ahead of the U.S.
In India, now the third-largest market, consumers buy more devices each year than the U.K., France and Spain combined. Some analysts project the country will overtake the U.S. as economic growth accelerates.
India was also one of Nokia’s stronger markets, and home to what was for years the company’s largest manufacturing plant.
But Microsoft, which its executives now acknowledge is playing the insurgent role in the smartphone universe, is hedging its bets.
The company under CEO Satya Nadella dropped its longstanding preference for pushing users toward Windows at all costs, releasing free mobile versions of Office software for Google and Apple smartphones and buying popular app makers for those platforms.
Microsoft is also trying to replicate the success of Google’s free-to-use Android in attracting Asian manufacturers by dropping the licensing fee on copies of Windows Phone.
Company executives at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona this week said Microsoft is waiting for the release of the Windows 10 operating system later this year to showcase its high-powered hardware.
Redmond hopes Windows 10, with its promises of smoother developer adaptation of desktop programs to smartphones and tablets, opens a backdoor to greater share of the smartphone market. In Microsoft’s vision, vibrant developer and consumer interest will spur other hardware builders to make phones for the operating system.
“They’ve thrown a lot out there that just hasn’t worked over the last couple of years,” IDC’s Reith said.. “I think they’re going to have to hedge their bets with Windows 10 and ask ‘Why are we really out there?’ ”
Tomi Engdahl says:
This is a mobile exhibition 7 hot stuff
Smart watches indeed come, as more phone manufacturers already have their own. Yet no one yet knows when to consumers gripping. Or gripping?
Smart bracelets are worth mentioning separately because they are different than watches.
A little different mobile phones. In particular, the Android phone manufacturers is really hard to distinguish from one another, and not all want to compete on price. As a means of separation are mostly active in the design or software.
Virtual Glasses are coming.
The Internet of Things is a phrase that has been lurking for many years. Industry and transport use has already been, and soon gets to the usual multitude of access.
5g standard will be completed next year, and test networks are beginning to rise in 2018. Telecom operators left the MWC’s a list of the characteristics of the requirement that they want to see in the standard. The major issues is security.
Big Data is one of the last few years necklace phrases. The word means a couple of the most diverse bodies of data collected by the masses that it is possible to translate the evocative services.
An example of this is Nokia’s telecom operators launched predictive marketing services : Nokia makes money, the fact that it develops the operator customer a new way to make money.
Another example could be that the network built in intelligence to identify the mass event such as a concert or a big football game, and the operator to send offer their customers a temporary video and image upload bandwidth to sell. Users want to have pictures available in social media right away.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/mobiili/2015/03/06/tassa-on-mobiilimessujen-7-kovaa-juttua/20152863/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google hires engineers to run Android OS on virtual reality gear – report
Facebook face-off?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/07/google_android_os_for_virtual_reality_says_report/
Google has padded out a team of engineers to beaver away at an Android operating system to power virtual reality devices, it has been reported.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the ad giant plans to follow its well-worn OS smartphone path, by releasing a VR version of its platform that will be freely available online.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MWC 2015 roundup: Strap on a wearable and cover your face in sickly VR goo
Get all El Reg’s Barcelona action here
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/03/08/mwc_roundup/
Yes, it’s time for our Mobile World Congress 2015 linkfest! Here’s The Register’s full coverage of what was hot and plain old rot in Barcelona this year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Announces Android 5.1
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/15/03/09/2233214/google-announces-android-51
Google has officially announced Android Lollipop 5.1. This is a small update to the mobile operating system, and focuses on stability and performance. The main new features include support for multiple SIM cards, high definition voice calls on supported devices, and the ability to join Wi-Fi networks and manage Bluetooth pairings through Quick Settings. The biggest new feature is “Device Protection.”
Android 5.1: Unwrapping a new Lollipop update
http://officialandroid.blogspot.fi/2015/03/android-51-unwrapping-new-lollipop.html
Today we are rolling out Android 5.1 – an update to Lollipop that improves stability and performance and offers a few new features like support for multiple SIM cards, Device Protection and high definition (HD) voice on compatible phones.
With Device Protection, your lost or stolen device will remain locked until you sign in with your Google account – even if someone resets your device to factory settings. This feature will be available on most Android phones and tablets shipped with Android 5.1 in addition to Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Russia To Pay Local Devs To Migrate Apps To Tizen, Sailfish
http://techcrunch.com/2015/02/09/from-russia-with-love-for-open-source/
The U.S. mobile ecosystem duopoly has been the big story of tech for the past six-plus years. And continues to be mobile’s unshakeable reality — with Android and iOS collectively cutting themselves a 96 per cent share of the device market (per Gartner figures for Q3 2014).
Not everyone is happy about this lack of geopolitical diversity in the mobile space, though. Russia for one wants to see less U.S.-centricity, at least domestically — and is apparently willing to dip into its pockets to encourage developers to migrate apps to other mobile platforms.
Specifically Russia wants to support the Samsung-led Tizen open source effort, and also Jolla’s Sailfish OS — which has been developed in Europe (Finland), and is an extension of the open source MeeGo project (although notably Sailfish is not (yet) itself open sourced).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Research: The smart devices spoil the hand joints
Hours and hours of durable tablet PC may stiffen your neck. A lot of the smart phone text writer can get Strain Injury his thumb move the muscles according to German researchers at the University of Saarbrücken.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-03-10/Tutkimus-%C3%84lylaitteet-pilaavat-k%C3%A4den-nivelet-3217033.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple officially released CarPlayn, HomeKit ja Health yesterday.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/2015-03-09/Yll%C3%A4tysjulkistus-Apple-kertoi-autouutisia-3217050.html