In year 2016 it will be sold over 1.4 billion smart phones. Mobile is the new central ecosystem of tech. The smartphone is the single most important product, which will determine the development of the semiconductor market. Smart phone centre of innovation and investment in hardware, software and company creation. The smart phone market is huge. Today, there are well over 2bn smartphones in use, and there are between 3.5 and 4.5bn people with a mobile phone of some kind, out of only a little over 5bn adults on earth. With billions of people buying a device every two years, on average, the phone business dwarfs the PC business, which has an install base of 1.5-1.6bn devices replaced every 4-5 years
Smart phone market is no longer fast gowing market. Expect single-digit worldwide smartphone growth in 2016. According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC ) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker , 2015 will be the first full year of single-digit worldwide smartphone growth. IDC predicts worldwide smartphone shipments will grow 9.8% in 2015 to a total of 1.43 billion units. The main driver has been and will continue to be the success of low-cost smartphones in emerging markets. China has been the focal point of the smartphone market – now China has largely become a replacement market and there is economic slowdown in China.
Apple & Google both won, but it’s complicated – both Apple and Google won, in different ways. Android won the handset market outside of Apple, but it’s not quite clear what that means. Microsoft missed the shift to the new platform so Windows Mobile is on life support.
We will continue to see a globalization of the mobile landscape in 2016, as new China brands shake up the smartphone markets with new designs and business models. Expect continuing growth from China brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei. Huawei says it sent in 2015 to more than 100 million smartphones and its now firmly among the world’s three largest suppliers. Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, but it looks that it’s production volumes are shrinking because of cheaper Android phones coming from China.
Last year’s CES had a conspicuous lack of killer smartphones, and O’Donnell expects this year to be very challenging for handset vendors – Apple included. It is getting really hard to differentiate from a phone perspective. In the smartphone market changes happen slowly, and for the challengers it is difficult to penetrate the market.
Apple’s position in smart phones is not currently a threat really none. The volumes of the iPhone does not come close to the Android camp in the unit sales figures, but it is clearly not Apple’s target at all – it targets to high-end phones. Apple made record sales in 2015 holiday season, but it is possible that Apple is going to have a tough year in 2016. Some Wall Street analysts predict an end of iPhone sales growth, shrinking iPad sales, and a tough year ahead for Apple. The high cost and the markets getting full are met weigh the Apple iPhone phone sales.Wall Street expects iPhone sales for the fiscal year ending in September will barely budge — and might even decline — from last year. That would be the worst year for iPhone sales since the device was introduced in 2007. If realized, the forecast significantly affect Apple’s value. Despite recent reports of cuts by iPhone suppliers, Apple remains most profitable company in S&P 500. Fortunately for Apple, most of its smartphone competitors are struggling.
Microsoft got the third mobile ecosystem market position, but it’s market share is pretty low: Microsoft’s market share was only 1.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2015. It is very possible that Microsoft will cut Lumia production significantly in 2016. Microsoft’s long-rumored Surface Phone is coming in the second half of next year, reports Windows Central. Windows 10 phones are not dead yet even from other manufacturers as Acer, Alcatel OneTouch just made some new ones. The key feature in the Jade Primo is support for Microsoft’s Continuum feature, allowing you to use the phone like a PC when connected to a larger display – though limited to apps that run on the device’s ARM processor. The idea, claims Acer, is that you can leave your laptop at home, but what’s the demand for PC phones? It is hard to get winning much traction in a market dominated by Android.
Microsoft says the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will begin early 2016 to select existing Windows 8 and 8.1 phones. Microsoft could not update the smart phones in 2015 despite the fact that the operating system had originally been set to launch alongside the desktop version of the software in July. Microsoft has had a longstanding “chicken and egg” problem: Too few people have Windows phones for developers to care about making apps for the platform, and customers don’t want to buy Windows phones because they don’t have enough apps. Microsoft tries to help his problem With Windows 10, apps that developers write for the PC will also work on Microsoft’s phones. It could have some positive effect, but is no silver bullet. Microsoft’s biggest problem: The 10 most-used apps of the year in the U.S. were all made by three companies — Facebook, Google, and Apple.
It’s only been 15 years since the first camera phone came out. Today smartphones are giving consumers enhanced photo and video capabilities with 8-16 megapixel class. Smartphone cameras are great, or at least close enough to great that you don’t notice the difference. We’ve reached the point where you’ve got to work pretty hard to find a phone with a mediocre camera. Compared to a DSLR, smart phone cameras are lousy because they use tiny sensors, but still the camera in your pocket is crazy good considering the limitations manufacturers work under. The vast majority of top-tier smartphones use Sony sensors for their main cameras. The molded plastic lens elements in many cameras have reached the point where they’re essentially perfect.
For new smart phone camera technologies you could see array of lenses to enable Lytro-like refocusing, create 3-D depth maps, and improve image quality in low light. Some manufacturers are also exploring new areas, such as 3D cameras, massive megapixels (80MB), cameras that can take 360 degree panoramic images and video and cameras that can shoot 1,000 frames a second. 4K Ultra HD for mobile is another move to watch in 2016 as it becomes more common feature. Smartphones have decimated the point-and-shoot camera segment.
Smart phones are increasingly used to shoot videos. Smart phones are already deployed in many newsrooms for mobile journalism video shooting as it is easier (and cheaper) to learn how to film and edit on your phone than it is to use a big camera.(check for example step-by-step guide to shooting iPhone video). Live streaming video from smart phone becomes mainstream. Periscope was one of the first apps to really make live streaming events simple and easy enough that people wanted to do it. Many other apps are following the trend. Facebook begins testing live video streaming for all users.
Smart phones have already replaced many separate technical gadgets already, and this trend will continue. Smartphone have increased screen sizes and have finally become mobile TVs: Smartphones have overtaken the tablets as the most popular mobile device for viewing videos. The most watched content were targeted at teenagers videos and animation series for children.
Mobile display will be more accurate than eye in 2016 in high-end smart phones. Few enjoys a 4K-quality image even in his living room, but by the end of 2016, the same accuracy can be your smartphone. ETSI is preparing for development at ETSI CCM working group (Compound Content Management). Scalable 4K signal requires a very high dynamics (HDR, high dynamic range), as well as the WCG wider color space (Coloc Wider gamut). Such HDR / WCG techniques has only slowly been add to TV broadcasting. One can of course ask whether UltraHD- or 4K image are planting a cell phone make any sense, but they are coming (Sharp already announced that it would launch 4K-level mobile phone).
So device manufacturers need to support user expectations for downloading larger files for apps, movies, photos, videos and other materials, more frequently and more quickly. Networking speed is an area where we will see companies start to push the envelope in 2016, such as new creative strategies for caching, spectrum hopping and managing the Internet of Things.
The quality of LTE modem can make or break your smart phone product. Smartphones consist of two main components: Modems and application processors. Application processor performances of several smartphone brands are widely published, but LTE modem performance measures are much more difficult for the average purchaser to assess. Consumers have generally ignored the importance of connectivity in smartphone purchases, but device performance and positive user experiences are driven by best-in-class connectivity. There are 5 LTE smartphone modem chip makers currently shipping in mobile devices and besides U.S.-based Qualcomm, they include: HiSilicon (China), Intel (U.S.), Leadcore (China), MediaTek (Taiwan), Samsung (Korea), and Spreadtrum (China).
5G will be talked a lot enven though standardization is not ready yet. Just five years after the first 4G smartphone hit the market, the wireless industry is already preparing for 5G: cell phone carriers, smartphone chip makers and the major network equipment companies are working on developing 5G network technology for their customers.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that a smartphone is also a telephone. Nearly half of all phone users today employ their mobile phones as their primary voice connection (a number sure to grow). That the voice features in cell phones also advance. Very early on, the standard for human voice transmission was set as the “voice band” located between 300 Hz and 3.3 kHz (to put this in perspective, the natural frequency span of human voice during speech ranges from about 50 Hz to nearly 10 kHz). These standards were carried over for cellphone audio quality. Now that there are about about as many cellphone subscriptions as there are people on earth, one would think that there really shouldn’t be any more technological excuses for poor voice quality. New standards branded as HD Voice and VoLTE promise the eventual extension of voice transmission frequency range up to 7 kHz. There are also other major challenge preventing great sounding calls – especially noise challenges facing cellphone users. To get good sound quality we need to develop algorithms that isolate the person speaking from all other sources of noise.
Financial Services needs to get over its reluctance and go mobile in 2016, but it might not happen in large scale this year. Compliance concerns have long prevented financial services businesses from adopting mobile capabilities as quickly as other industries. Yvette Jackson of Thomson Reuters argues that technology advancements have made compliance worries of the past now obsolete.
Mobile payments are finally taking the momentum in North America, Japan and some European countries in 2016. Every second consumer is expected to smartphone or wearable device purchases to pay in few years. There are now types of mobile payment technologies in use. Some of them will turn to be interim techniques.
Despite many tools available mobile application development is still hard work in 2016. Mobile developer report shows growing back-end challenge: 33.9 per cent spent more than half their development effort on back-end integration. This effort includes creating and debugging APIs, finding documentation for existing APIs, and orchestrating data from multiple sources. iOS and Android dominate as target platforms. The disappointment for Microsoft is that all its hoopla about the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) does not seem to resonate here. What about making money? Only just over 60 per cent of those surveyed are primarily out to make money from apps themselves, with others aiming for goals such as customer loyalty and brand awareness. In-app purchases are the most effective method, followed by advertising and app purchase. Application landscape is changing: Single-function applications no longer meet the everyday life needs on mobile devices.
Web standards are becoming promising for mobile use but they are still far from making mobile apps obsolete in 2016. There’s a litany of problems with apps. There is the platform lock-in and the space the apps take up on the device. Updating apps is a pain that users often ignore, leaving broken or vulnerable versions in use long after they’ve been allegedly patched. Apps are also a lot of work for developers. Use the Web and the Web browser can sometimes help in solving some of those problems while creating other different set of problems. For example updates to HTML apps happen entirely on the server, so users get them immediately. Also HTML-based platform and a well-designed program that makes good use of CSS, one site could support phones, tablets, PCs, and just about anything else with one site. Currently HTML5 standards are advancing rapidly in the area of mobile Web applications. Web standards make mobile apps obsolete? I don’t think that it will happen immediately, even though many big tech companies are throwing weight behind a browser-based world (backed strongly by Google and Mozilla). So app or web question will still very relevant for mobile developer in 2016.
Google appears to be lining up OpenJDK – an open-source implementation of the Java platform – for future Android builds. Android runs apps written in Java on its Dalvik engine, and lately, its Android Runtime virtual machine. These apps require a Java class library, as well as various Android-specific bits and pieces, to work. Now it seems the next big releases of Android will use not the heavily customized Harmony-derived library but instead OpenJDK’s core libraries.
Android, which is controlled by Google, is one of Facebook’s biggest markets. Facebook has a contingency plan in case the company falls out with Google, according to The Information: a way to deliver app updates without going through the Google Play Store — currently the only way to update apps — and has a way of handling in-app payments. Amazon, which makes Android-based tablets, has a similar system: The app acts as a new store front from which other apps can be downloaded and updated, without Google Play.
There will be fascinating conversation in tech about smartphone apps and the web – what can each do, how discovery works, how they interplay, what Google plans with Chrome, whether the web will take over as the dominant form and so on. Ask the question: Do people want to put your icon on their home screen?
Mobile Internet continues to be important also in 2016. There is place for both Internet pages and apps. The internet makes it possible to get anything you’ve ever heard of but also makes it impossible to have heard of everything. We started with browsing, and that didn’t scale to the internet, and then we moved to search, but search can only give you what you already knew you wanted. In the past, print and retail showed us what there was but also gave us a filter – now both the filter and the demand generation are gone.
There is hunt for a new runtime, and a new discovery layer. Could it be messaging, Facobook or something else? Facebook and Google try to make mobile publishing platforms faster. Facebook has Instant Articles platform that aims to make articles loading fast on mobile devices. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is Google’s plan to make pages appear super-fast for those using mobile devices. Fast-loading pages may also mean fast-loading ads, with advertising platform support for AMP that’s been announced. I expect that first those plaforms will make loading the articles faster than traditinal pages, but over years those systems, if they catch, will be bloated to be slow again.
Maybe in 2016 we should stop talking about ‘mobile’ internet and ‘desktop’ internet - it’s like talking about ‘colour’ TV, as opposed to black and white TV. We have a mental model, left over from feature phones, that ‘mobile’ means limited devices that are only used walking around. Get over it. For 15 years the internet was a monolith: web browser + mouse + keyboard. The smartphone broke that apart, but we haven’t settled on a new model. Mobile’ isn’t about the screen size or keyboard or location or use. Rather, the ecosystem of ARM, iOS and Android, that has bigger scale than ‘Wintel’.
Dick Tracy had it right. Wearable devices are becoming more of any every day item as they proliferate across markets. Wearable market is still immature and growing in 2016. While many new fitness bands, smartwatches, and other wearable devices have entered the market, most have under-whelmed prospects and users. It is quite clear the wearable industry is in its infancy and fraught with growing pains. You can expect the top five vendors will not only shift places, but come in and drop out on a quarterly basis. Wearables grew 197.6% in Q3 2015 when mobile companies shipped a total of 21.0 million wearables worldwide.
Whereas the smartphone is the ultimate convergence product, we are learning that wearables are inherently divergent products. It seems that super-duper smartwatches loaded with full-blown phone/email/camera/voice assistant capabilities together with all other bells and whistles are not necessarily winning recipe like it was for smart phones. Many consumers want instead simplicity, ease of use, and instant actionable feedback. As an embedded developer of wearables, not only do you have the challenge of addressing battery life issues, but also architecting and developing a system that takes full advantage of the underlying hardware. Heartbeat monitoring has become the must-have feature for fitness trackers. China has quickly emerged as the fastest-growing wearables market, attracting companies eager to compete on price and feature sets.
The newest wearable technology, smart watvches and other smart devices corresponding to the voice commands and interpret the data we produce - it learns from its users, and generate as responses in real time appropriate, “micro-moments” tied to experience.
Links to some other mobile predictions articles worth to check out:
16 mobile theses by Benedict Evans
Mobile 2016 Predictions from EE Times
2015 Appcelerator / IDC Mobile Trends Report: Leaders, Laggards and the Data Problem
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s new PhotoScan app makes it easy to digitize old prints
Google Photos is also getting a host of more advanced image-editing tools.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/11/15/google-photos-photoscan-app-editing-tools/
On the surface, Google Photos has a simple mission: to store all your pictures. Specifically, Google says it wants the service to be a home for all of your photos, and today that mission expanded to encompass the old photos you took on a point-and-shoot back in the ’90s. The company just released an app called PhotoScan for iOS and Android, and it promises to make preserving the memories in your old printed photos much easier.
PhotoScan is definitely the star of the show, though. According to engineers from Google who showed the app to the press today, PhotoScan improves on the old “photo of a photo” technique that many now use to quickly get a digital copy of old prints. It’s also a lot cheaper than sending pictures out to be scanned by a professional, not to mention faster and more convenient than using a flatbed scanner.
When you open up the PhotoScan app, you’re prompted to line up your picture within a border. Once you have the picture aligned, pressing the scan button will activate your phone’s flash and start the process of getting a high-quality representation of the photo. Four white circles will appear in different quadrants of the image. You’ll be prompted to move your phone over each dot until it turns blue; once all four dots are scanned, the app pulls together the final image.
When moving the phone to scan each dot, the app is taking multiple images of the picture from different angles to effectively eliminate light glare — something Google cited as the biggest culprit in ruining digital pictures of photo prints.
The app also lets you adjust the crop to remove any hint of the background surface peeking into the photo, but it’s otherwise a pretty minimal experience.
PhotoScan
https://www.google.com/photos/scan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
These are 5 tricks with your cell phone contaminates
Android is the world’s most popular operating system, and the devices that use is really a lot. Therefore, the cyber criminal will see a lot of effort to find ways in which malicious code can be forced its devices.
Camouflage: A security solution, such as a Google Play Apps Store guarding Bouncer, going fooled when a malicious program part is converted to ciphertext
Drip: Malicious introduced through the Google Play store dropping. The app store is loaded harmless application, but when the user downloads the app to their phones, it can connect to the attacker’s server and download malicious code from the component to the user’s device.
Blocks: The malware may include separate parts. If one block harmless – combine two and get nasty results.
Longevity: The application icon may be hidden or malicious activity can be programmed to start until weeks or months later.
Extended rights: to obtain extensive access to malware are a number of ways. They can ask the user, or can take advantage of software vulnerabilities.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/nama-ovat-5-kikkaa-joilla-kannykkasi-saastutetaan-6599847
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows smartphone collapsed, only the Chinese grow
In the third quarter, according to Gartner sold 373.3 million smartphone. According to the Institute among the top five, only three Chinese producers managed to increase their sales. During the year, a Windows smartphone sales volume slumped to one quarter.
According to Gartner, Samsung sold 71.7 million smart phone in the third quarter.
Apple sold in July-September, 43 million iPhone, or over three million units in less than a year earlier.
Huawei sold 32.5 million smart phone and have already reached the 8.7 per cent share of the market.
Oppo smartphone sales more than doubled during the year to 24.9 million devices.
Windows smart phones sold in fewer than 1.5 million in the third quarter. The platform’s market share is now recorded as 0.4 per cent on average.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5420:windows-alypuhelin-romahti-vain-kiinalaiset-kasvavat&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm’s new fast charge is in accordance with Google’s requirements
Smart phone battery fast charge is literally a hot topic. Google already had time to inform, not to accept non-standard USB quick charge standards. Now, Qualcomm says that its new technology supports these specifications.
Qualcomm introduced a new Quick Charge 4.0 technology is introduced in the next generation of Snapdragon 835 chipset. Technology makes it possible to get to your smartphone even more than five hours usage time with five minutes of charging. Snapdragon 835-based devices are coming by next summer.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5422&via=n&datum=2016-11-17_15:01:14&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone NVMe Chip Reversed with Custom Breakout Boards
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/18/iphone-nvme-chip-reversed-with-custom-breakout-boards/
Ever so slowly, the main storage in our computers has been moving from spinning disks, to SSDs over SATA, to Flash drives connected to a PCI something or other. The lastest technology is NVMe — Non-Volitile Memory Express — a horribly named technology that puts a memory controller right on the chip. Intel has a PCI-based NVMe drive out, Samsung recently released an M.2 NVMe drive, and the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are built around this storage technology.
New chips demand a reverse engineering session, and that’s exactly what [Ramtin Amin] did. He took a few of these chips out of an iPhone, created a board that will read them, and managed to analize the firmware.
Demystifying the i-Device NVMe NAND
(New storage used by Apple)
http://ramtin-amin.fr/#nvmepcie
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple reportedly considering building iPhones in the US instead of China
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/11/17/apple-reportedly-considering-building-iphones-us-instead-china/
Despite the proud ‘designed in California’ tag on most of Apple’s products, they are generally made in China. But if a report by the Nikkei Asian Review is true, Apple might start to shift iPhone production to the US.
The report suggests Apple asked its manufacturer, Foxconn, to study the feasibility of assembling its devices in the US instead of China back in June. It is apparently an ongoing process, though Foxconn chairman Terry Gou is apparently not overly enthusiastic due to cost concerns. Building iPhones in the US would “more than double” the cost.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The crazy reason nearly every phone in Japan is waterproof
http://mashable.com/2016/11/17/waterproof-phones-japan/?utm_cid=hp-h-1-pix#6FR7Iwd4KOqq
Waterproof phones may be all the rage now, but people in Japan have been used to their devices being able to take a swim for over a decade already.
Users in the country got used to having smartphones years before Western counterparts. Manufacturers had to make phones waterproof because Japanese women were so attached to their phones they brought them into shower.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
Experts say in-car smartphone use and dashboard apps are partly to blame for alarming rise in highway fatalities in the US in the past two years
Biggest Spike in Traffic Deaths in 50 Years? Blame Apps
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/16/business/tech-distractions-blamed-for-rise-in-traffic-fatalities.html
The messaging app Snapchat allows motorists to post photos that record the speed of the vehicle. The navigation app Waze rewards drivers with points when they report traffic jams and accidents. Even the game Pokémon Go has drivers searching for virtual creatures on the nation’s highways.
When distracted driving entered the national consciousness a decade ago, the problem was mainly people who made calls or sent texts from their cellphones. The solution then was to introduce new technologies to keep drivers’ hands on the wheel. Innovations since then — car Wi-Fi and a host of new apps — have led to a boom in internet use in vehicles that safety experts say is contributing to a surge in highway deaths.
After steady declines over the last four decades, highway fatalities last year recorded the largest annual percentage increase in 50 years. And the numbers so far this year are even worse. In the first six months of 2016, highway deaths jumped 10.4 percent, to 17,775
Alarmed by the statistics, the Department of Transportation in October outlined a plan to work with the National Safety Council and other advocacy groups to devise a “Road to Zero” strategy, with the ambitious goal of eliminating roadway fatalities within 30 years.
One concern so far, though, is that current generations of automated driver-assistance systems, like the Autopilot feature offered by Tesla Motors, may be lulling some drivers into a false sense of security that can contribute to distracted driving.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Sources: Intel planning large number of layoffs in New Devices Group, its wearables division — Update 11/19: Intel is denying that the company is stepping back from wearables, though has not directly commented on the layoff news. Here is the company’s statement in full,
Intel is laying off a major portion of its wearables group
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/18/intel-layoffs/
According to sources close to the company, Intel is about to step back from wearables in a big way.
In 2014, the company purchased Basis, a little-known producer of some truly excellent fitness watches. The acquisition was clearly a piece of a much larger puzzle for Intel, as it folded the brand into NDG — the New Devices Group — a new wing designed to make a big play for the booming wearables market, while hitting back against rival chipmaker, Qualcomm.
Update 11/19: Intel is denying that the company is stepping back from wearables, though has not directly commented on the layoff news. Here is the company’s statement in full,
Intel is in no way stepping back from the wearables business. In fact, we have several products in the works that we are very excited about, as well as prior launches that highlight our wearable technology such as the TAG Heuer Connected watch and recent Oakley Radar Pace smart eyewear.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Galaxy Note 7 recall did not damage Samsung brand in U.S.: Reuters/Ipsos poll
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-recall-brand-idUSKBN13F146
A global recall of fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphones did not appear to hurt U.S. consumers’ willingness to buy Samsung Electronics (005930.KS) phones, a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll released on Sunday showed.
The survey conducted Oct. 26 to Nov. 9 found that current Samsung smartphone users were as loyal to their brand as Apple Inc (AAPL.O) iPhone customers. It also found that people who knew about the recall were as interested in Samsung phones as those who did not.
Among those aware of the recall, 27 percent would first consider a Samsung smartphone if they were to shop for a phone, the poll showed.
The poll found that Samsung’s customers were fiercely loyal to their brand. Some 91 percent of current Samsung users would likely purchase another Samsung smartphone, and 92 percent of current users would probably buy another Samsung product in general.
That was similar to the brand loyalty among current iPhone owners: 92 percent would likely buy another iPhone and 89 percent would likely buy another Apple product.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone OS Market Share, 2016 Q2
http://www.idc.com/prodserv/smartphone-os-market-share.jsp
Tomi Engdahl says:
If You Don’t Have Facebook App In your Phone You Are Saving almost 20% of Your Android Battery Life
http://techworldzone.com/2016/11/20/facebook-app-consumes-almost-20-android-battery-life/
The official Facebook app for Android continues to get improvements with every update. Facebook does not have the best reputation with its Android application. Clients have since quite a while ago griped about execution issues and it sucking up battery and a year ago Facebook’s central item officer, Chris Cox, made the surprising stride of making his staff dump their iPhones and move to Android until they dealt with the issues.
Be that as it may, the issues have remained, and as of late they drove the Android blogger Russell Holly to dump the application, beginning a chain response which uncovered something somewhat fascinating about the application’s execution. Incited by Holly’s disclosure that life on Android was better without Facebook’s application
They found that when the Facebook and Facebook Messenger apps were uninstalled, other apps on the smartphone launched 15% faster.
uninstalling the Facebook application spares both battery and accelerates Android phones, it appears.
Delete Facebook App On Android To Save 20% Battery: Report
http://www.ibtimes.com/delete-facebook-app-android-save-20-battery-report-2448987
The Facebook app for Android has been a cause of complaint for many users. As the company integrates more functioning into the app, such as Instagram access, it gets heavier and uses more battery, causing inconvenience to users.
In fact, Chris Cox, central item officer, Facebook, made his entire team switch from iPhones to Android phones in October 2015 in a bid to tackle battery problems. A recent independent test by Techworldzone, however, found that the app was far from being battery-efficient even after this step.
Techworldzone found that ditching the official Facebook app could easily save around 20 percent battery on an Android device.
Even the company’s Facebook Lite app, which was launched in 2015, is a good option since it reportedly consumes just 2 percent battery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Not fake news: Facebook reinvents SVG
Keyframes lets mobile devs slim their Adobe After Effects animations for apps
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/23/facebook_keyframes_slims_after_effects_animation/
Thanks to Facebook, you too can festoon your mobile applications with high-quality, low-overhead vector animations.
The social media and data-harvesting giant on Tuesday released its Keyframes library for exporting Adobe After Effects animations so they can be rendered in Android and iOS apps.
Facebook developed Keyframes for Reactions, an extension of its Like button launched in February that added Love, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry emoticons to the range of touch- or click-driven responses supported by the site.
“Since the first iteration, we’ve learned more about developing animations, worked to improve the library, and applied it to other products at Facebook,” said Mark Peng, a software engineer at Facebook, in a blog post. “Today, we’re excited to open-source and share this library more broadly, so that others can work together to build more delightful products.”
A library for converting Adobe AE shape based animations to a data format and play it back on Android and iOS devices.
https://github.com/facebookincubator/Keyframes
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s Next iPhone Is Shaping Up to Be a Big Update
http://fortune.com/2016/11/23/apple-iphone-8/
Wireless charging, new design, and more.
Rumors surrounding the next iPhone keep coming.
Apple will be transitioning its iPhone design to an all-glass casing in next year’s new iPhones, KGI Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo wrote to investors this week, according to Apple-tracking site Macrumors, which obtained a copy of the research note.
But Kuo isn’t alone. Other analysts and market researchers have also predicted a big iPhone update from Apple next year, which could include a curved screen and larger display.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Linda Sui / Strategy Analytics:
Strategy Analytics: smartphone profits hit $9B in Q3 2016 as Apple captures 91% share of global profits and Huawei takes second place with 2.4%
Strategy Analytics: Apple Captures Record 91 Percent Share of Global Smartphone Profits in Q3 2016
https://www.strategyanalytics.com/strategy-analytics/news/strategy-analytics-press-releases/strategy-analytics-press-release/2016/11/22/strategy-analytics-apple-captures-record-91-percent-share-of-global-smartphone-profits-in-q3-2016#.WDd8Plw2Xc4
Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, said, “We estimate the global smartphone industry realized total operating profits of US$9.4 billion during Q3 2016. Apple dominated and captured a record 91 percent share of all smartphone profits worldwide. Apple’s ability to maximize pricing and minimize production cost is hugely impressive and the iPhone continues to generate monster profits. Huawei, Vivo and OPPO are the next three most profitable smartphone vendors globally this quarter, but they are still a long way behind Apple.”
Linda Sui, Director at Strategy Analytics, added, “Three of the world’s top four most profitable smartphone vendors are currently Chinese. Huawei, Vivo and OPPO have not only improved their smartphone product lineups this year, they have also enhanced their operational abilities and kept a tight lid on expanding distribution costs.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Happy Thanksgiving: Apple to face “decade-long malaise”
http://thenextweb.com/apple/2016/11/24/happy-thanksgiving-apple-face-decade-long-malaise/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNextWeb+%28The+Next+Web+All+Stories%29
It’s hard to imagine modern-day Apple ever struggling. The company is the most valuable one in the world, and it sits upon a veritable Mount Everest of cash. But one industry analyst thinks that the good times are about to come to an end, with the company will soon enter a “decade-long malaise.” Oh dear.
Models created by Oppenheimer analyst Andrew Uerkwitz suggest that sales of the iPhone (which accounts for an astronomical share of Apple’s profits) are going to peak with next year’s 10th anniversary model.
While it’s expected that Apple will sell 245 million iPhones in the 2018 fiscal year, which runs from October 2017 to September 2018, representing a sales increase of 9%, Uerkwitz believes that this will be “one last growth hurrah.” After that, sales will start to stagnate, or even drop.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Snap Inc.’s ‘Spectacles’ have a hidden augmented reality feature
http://thenextweb.com/augmented-reality/2016/11/23/snap-inc-s-spectacles-have-a-hidden-augmented-reality-feature/
It’s nothing particularly mind-blowing, but it does detail the future implications of Snap Inc. hardware in the augmented reality space. Besides, we all love a good Easter egg from time-to-time.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Trump may not be able to get the production of the iPhone to the United States
<The next president of the United States, Donald Trump intends to pull your socks up. along with the construction of the Mexican border in the wall of a project he plans to bring Apple's iPhone handsets manufacturing home country. There are many reasons why this will never happen.
Trump says already discussed with Apple CEO Tim Cook's big factory or the construction of a number of factories to the United States. Apple has not received comments Trumpi NYTimes magazine interview, review the allegations.
Syracuse University already estimated last summer, how much iPhone transfer of production to the United States een increasing the prices of the equipment. Prices would rise to $ 30-40, and although many iPhone user to pay any device whatever, could the price increase reflected sales volumes.
the composition of one of the iPhone costs about $ 4-5. Yankee employee's salary is higher
Price increase due to the components for mobile phones produced in all Asia, usually in Taiwan and China. The chartering of these components to the United States would be the largest single additional expenditure.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5468:trump-ei-saa-iphonen-valmistusta-yhdysvaltoihin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
US government: iPhones, Galaxys and other smartphones shouldn’t allow you to text and drive
https://www.neowin.net/news/us-government-iphones-galaxys-and-other-smartphones-shouldnt-allow-you-to-text-and-drive
Smartphones, like Apple’s iPhones or Samsung’s Galaxy devices, should be able to detect when they’re being used by a vehicle’s driver and limit functionality, according to suggestions put out on Wednesday by US federal authorities.
The regulators have been keeping a close eye on our modern communication devices and the increasing number of potential distractions that are being found inside cars. A spike in the number of traffic accidents, most of which are caused by inattentive drivers, has authorities worried as to how smartphones and similar devices are being used.
Just like all of our devices have an Airplane Mode, regulators suggest, so should they have Driving Mode that would limit a phone’s capabilities and present simplified options for drivers. Keyboard texting, complicated apps, the constant deluge of notifications, all of these should be off-limits when a driver is using his or her mobile device.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration doesn’t have the power to enforce specific rules but it does put out guidelines, which are generally followed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What your choice of smartphone says about you
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161121144206.htm
Summary:
Android users are more honest than iPhone users say psychologists, in a study published this week which is the first to find a link between personality and smartphone type.
A comparison of both Android and iPhone users revealed that iPhone users are more likely to be:
Younger
More than twice as likely to be women
More likely to see their phone as a status object
More extraverted
Less concerned about owning devices favoured by most people
In contrast, Android users were more likely to be:
Male
Older
More honest
More agreeable
Less likely to break rules for personal gain
Less interested in wealth and status
Tomi Engdahl says:
Neal E. Boudette / New York Times:
In a first, NHTSA proposes voluntary guidelines for phone makers to design software that limits functionality while vehicle is in motion — Apple iPhones and other hand-held devices have long had an airplane mode that shuts off wireless communications to prevent interference …
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/22/business/auto-safety-regulators-seek-a-driver-mode-to-block-apps.html?mtrref=www.techmeme.com&gwh=74DE84609A012CF915974092B4CC7231&gwt=pay
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Is Working With LG On Next-Gen 3D Camera For 2017 iPhone, Says Report
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/16/11/26/0340226/apple-is-working-with-lg-on-next-gen-3d-camera-for-2017-iphone-says-report
A brief report in The Korea Economic Daily claims that Apple is working with LG on a new dual camera module “which enables 3D photographing.” LG already supplies the dual-camera module used in the iPhone 7 Plus. The LG Innotek system is said to be destined for one or more of next year’s iPhone models, but the report is unclear what 3D applications Apple might have in mind. Apple has patents for 3D object and gesture recognition going back many years.
Apple reportedly working with LG on next-gen 3D camera for 2017 iPhone
https://9to5mac.com/2016/11/24/iphone-8-3d-camera-lg-innotek/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Controlling This Smartwatch is All in the Wrist
http://hackaday.com/2016/11/26/controlling-this-smartwatch-is-all-in-the-wrist/
Smartwatches are pretty great. In theory, you’ll never miss a notification or a phone call. Plus, they can do all kinds of bio-metric tracking since they’re strapped to one of your body’s pulse points. But there are downsides. One of the major ones is that you end up needing two hands to do things that are easily one-handed on a phone. Now, you could use the tip of your nose like I do in the winter when I have mittens on, but that’s not good for your eyes. It seems that the future of smartwatch input is not in available appendages, but in gesture detection.
Enter WristWhirl, the brain-child of Dartmouth and University of Manitoba students [Jun Gong], [Xing-Dong Yang], and [Pourang Irani]. They have built a prototype smartwatch that uses continuous wrist movements detected by IR proximity sensors to control popular off-the-shelf applications. Twelve pairs of dirt-cheap IR sensors connected to an Arduino Due detect any of eight simple gestures made by the wearer to do tasks like opening the calendar, controlling a music player, panning and zooming a map, and playing games like Tetris and Fruit Ninja
Dartmouth-Led Team Develops WristWhirl, A Smartwatch Prototype Using Wrist As A Joystick
http://www.dartmouth.edu/press-releases/wristwhirl-joystick-101416.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook Messenger launches Instant Games
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/29/messenger-instant-games/
Bored while you wait for friends to text back? Now you can challenge friends for high scores on Facebook Messenger’s new Instant Games, like Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Words With Friends Frenzy. Available right from your message threads, they load in seconds since they’re built on the HTML5 mobile web standard, rather than having to be downloaded like clunky native apps.
Facebook hopes some friendly competition will get you to spend even more time in Messenger. You compete asynchronously via high scores instead of directly at the same time, so its convenient to try you luck any time. And eventually, Instant Games could earn Facebook ad dollars from developers promoting their games, or a cut of payments, though there are no in-game purchases allowed yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia will return, but the task is impossible
Yesterday was a happy day in many ways a Finnish point of view, when the HMD Global officially announced the start of operations of Nokia phones manufacturer. However, you should rejoice in moderation, because the smartphone market conquest is very difficult, if not impossible, task.
HMD does not start from scratch. Already purchased from Microsoft Nokia-branded phones based grind to the company’s turnover. The station is particularly good in many so-called. emerging markets such as India, China and Africa.
The company speaks of the entire mobile phone industry revolutionary. However, the truth is that the business model does not have anything very revolutionary.
The vast majority of phones manufactured in China. The vast majority of smartphones from the manufacturer does not produce much of anything. 87 percent of the smartphones are Android devices, such as HMD Global temp – but they will be covered by the manufacturer is marginal.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5518:nokia-palaa-mutta-tehtava-on-mahdoton&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Julia Love / Reuters:
Tim Cook says Apple Watch set a new sales record during first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product — Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track …
Apple Watch sales to consumers set record in holiday week, says Apple’s Cook
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-watch-idUSKBN13V0BT
Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product, Apple Inc (AAPL.O) Chief Executive Tim Cook told Reuters.
Responding to an email from Reuters, Cook said the gadget’s sell-through – a measure of how many units are sold to consumers, rather than simply stocked on retailers’ shelves – reached a new high.
Cook’s comments followed a report on Monday from technology research firm IDC estimating that the tech giant sold 1.1 million units of the Apple Watch during the third quarter of 2016, down 71 percent from the year-ago quarter. The comments offer a glimpse of the gadget’s performance during the holiday quarter, which is typically Apple’s strongest.
Cook did not respond to a request for specific sales figures for the gadget.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jessica Dolcourt / CNET:
Lenovo execs say the company is planning at least 12 new Moto Mods, the magnetic snap-on accessories that enhance Moto Z smartphones, per year — Those snap-on accessories for the Moto Z phones aren’t going anywhere. In fact, Lenovo Moto phones will soon see many more.
Mounds of Moto Mods: We’ll see at least 12 per year
https://www.cnet.com/news/lenovo-release-12-moto-mods-per-year/
Those snap-on accessories for the Moto Z phones aren’t going anywhere. In fact, Lenovo Moto phones will soon see many more.
mobile app developing says:
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Tomi Engdahl says:
No, The Sky Is Not Falling
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1330922&
If Apple is slashing semiconductor orders, TSMC would bear the most impact. Is this what’s happening?
TAIPEI — It’s comforting to know that the sky is not falling yet.
Early this morning, I became alarmed when I saw a headline scrolling across my TV screen saying ‘Chipmakers Tumble Most Since June on Report Apple Cut Orders’. As a diligent reporter, I of course was skeptical and checked immediately with my sources.
If Apple is slashing semiconductor orders, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) would bear the most impact. The world’s biggest foundry has Apple as its largest customer and is probably the sole supplier of Apple’s latest A10 processor.
“Apple will no longer be a driver,” Lu said in a phone conversation with me. “There hasn’t been anything new coming from Apple since Steve Jobs passed away.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Virtual Reality Group to Define APIs
Specs could bridge fragmenting products
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330937&
A dozen key stakeholders announced an effort to define cross-vendor, royalty-free, open application programming interfaces for virtual reality. It aims to reduce fragmentation and make it easier to write applications that run well across a growing range of VR products.
The Khronos Group announced a call for participation in the effort it will host to specify application- and driver-level APIs. The full scope of the effort has yet to be defined. However, the work is expected to include APIs for tracking headsets, controllers, and other objects, as well as rendering content on range of displays.
“As well as providing application portability, a goal of the standard is to enable new and innovative sensors and devices to implement up to a standard driver interface to be used easily by VR runtimes,” said Neil Trevett, president of Khronos, in an email exchange with EE Times.
So far, the group includes VR chip and system vendors such as AMD, ARM, Google, Intel, Nvidia, Oculus, and Valve. The group also includes the developers of the open-source VR products, software developer Epic Games, and eye-tracking specialist Tobii.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Kantar: iPhone market share up 7 percentage points to 40.5% in US, likely due to Samsung Galaxy Note7 troubles
iPhone grabs a bigger slice of US phone market in wake of Note 7 debacle
Missing headphone jack is apparently a ‘non-issue’ for Americans
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13866646/kantar-worldpanel-iphone-7-galaxy-note-7-sales
The US smartphone market is dominated by two big brands, Apple and Samsung, and when one of them flubs its lines, the other one stands to benefit in a substantial way. To wit, the latest quarterly data from Kantar Worldpanel, which breaks sales down on a country-by-country basis, shows Apple’s iOS rising to a 40.5 percent share of US smartphone sales. That’s up 7 percentage points, or more than a fifth, on the same quarter (ending in October) last year, and appears to be explained in large part by Samsung’s disastrous Galaxy Note 7 release and subsequent recall.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Phone sudden shutdown problem expands as Apple reacts to Chinese watchdog
Company to include diagnostic tools in next week’s iOS 10.2 update in attempt to figure out cause
http://www.computerworld.com/article/3148329/apple-ios/iphone-sudden-shutdown-problem-expands-as-apple-reacts-to-chinese-watchdog.html#tk.rss_news
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google, HTC, Oculus, Samsung, Sony Join Forces To Create Global VR Association
https://games.slashdot.org/story/16/12/07/1918233/google-htc-oculus-samsung-sony-join-forces-to-create-global-vr-association
Google, HTC, Oculus, Samsung, Sony and Acer have teamed up to form the Global Virtual Reality Association (GVRA) in an effort to reduce fragmentation and failure in the industry. GVRA aims to “unlock and maximize VR’s potential,” but there are little details as to what this may mean for consumers
Google, HTC, Oculus, Samsung, Sony join forces to create Global VR Association
https://techcrunch.com/2016/12/07/google-htc-oculus-samsung-sony-join-forces-to-create-global-vr-association/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sources: Samsung to release Galaxy S8 next year with bezel-less wraparound OLED display and a virtual home button that will be buried under the display — March release said to face potential delay on testing — Company needs a hit product after exploding Note 7 debacle
Samsung Plans All-Screen Design in New Galaxy S8 Phones
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-08/samsung-said-to-plan-all-screen-design-in-new-galaxy-s8-phones-iwfyts38
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Microsoft will use emulation tech to allow Windows 10 on ARM to run x86 Win32 apps through partnership with Qualcomm — Microsoft will again seek to expand the reach of its Windows PC operating system to devices running mobile-oriented ARM processors, through a partnership with Qualcomm announced tonight
Microsoft bringing full Windows 10 to ARM devices with Qualcomm partnership
http://www.geekwire.com/2016/microsoft-bringing-full-windows-10-arm-devices-qualcomm-partnership/
Microsoft will again seek to expand the reach of its Windows PC operating system to devices running mobile-oriented ARM processors, through a partnership with Qualcomm announced tonight at the Windows Hardware Engineering Community event (WinHEC) in China.
The company has tried this before, through a version of Windows 8 called Windows RT that was designed for ARM processors. But that version flopped due in large part to the inability to run traditional Windows apps on those devices. This time, Microsoft will use emulation technology to allow Windows 10 on ARM to run x86 Win32 apps such including Adobe Photoshop, Microsoft Office, among many others.
“For the first time ever, our customers will be able to experience the Windows they know with all the apps, peripherals and enterprise capabilities they require, on a truly mobile, power efficient, always-connected cellular PC,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lauren Goode / The Verge:
Fitbit confirms Pebble software assets acquisition; Pebble is shutting down, cancels Pebble Time 2 and Core, and will issue Kickstarter refunds
Fitbit formally announces that it is buying smartwatch maker Pebble
The acquisition excludes Pebble’s hardware products
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/7/13867158/fitbit-buys-pebble-smartwatch-acquisition-deal
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who killed Pebble? Easy: The vulture capitalists
DIY hero made Faustian pact. Now his company is dead
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/08/the_vulture_capitalists_killed_pebble/
We just didn’t know it at the time, but Pebble’s fate was sealed in May 2013 when it surrendered control to outsiders who saddled it with debt.
Yesterday Pebble’s new owner Fitbit lost no time in closing down the operation, not merely snuffing out any prospect of new products, but warning Pebble owners that they’re not going to get any more love or updates.
Fairly soon, even the Pebble you have will stop working. What a way to treat your customers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm Announces Real Windows for ARM
http://www.pcmag.com/news/350136/qualcomm-announces-real-windows-for-arm
“Wintel” is over. Today Qualcomm and Microsoft announced they’re going to be able to run real Windows 10, including Win32 emulation for older desktop applications, on Qualcomm’s ARM-based Snapdragon processors in the second half of 2017.
Windows 10 Bug ArtThis means that for the first time in about 15 years, full Windows will run on non-Intel-compatible processors.
“Bringing Windows 10 to life with a range of thin, light, power-efficient and always-connected devices, powered by the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform, is the next step in delivering the innovations our customers love—touch, pen, Windows Hello, and more—anytime, anywhere,” Terry Meyerson, executive VP of Windows at Microsoft, said in a press release.
This doesn’t spell the end of Windows 10 Mobile, although the phone-centric version of the OS is on life support with very low sales. Full Windows 10 will probably require the most powerful Qualcomm processors, leaving room at the low end for a pared-down mobile experience, if Microsoft chooses to keep supporting that.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Farhad Manjoo / New York Times:
Gadget companies like Pebble, Jawbone, and Nest are struggling as budget manufactures in Asia undercut prices and smartphones dominate most people’s lives
The Gadget Apocalypse Is Upon Us
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/07/technology/personaltech/the-gadget-apocalypse-is-upon-us.html?_r=0
Remember gadgets?
They were little electronic things that did stuff for you. They would play music or record videos or give you directions or let you play games on the go. They were fun. Everyone had them. Everyone wanted them. There were whole magazines and websites and even TV shows devoted to them.
For 30 or 40 years, through recessions and war, through stability and revolutions, they were always there, one gadget after another, from transistor radios to TRS-80s to Walkmen and Gameboys, then iPods and Flips, GoPros and Fitbits. We were sure gadgets would always be with us, because they had always been with us, and it was good.
But no. Winter is coming for gadgets. Or maybe winter has already come for gadgets. Everywhere you look, these days, gadgets seem on the rocks. Pebble, which makes smartwatches, has been purchased by Fitbit, which has had its own problems. GoPro may be going bust, while Jawbone, Nest and other members of the gentry of gadget pageantry look just about ready to stick a fork into.
What happened to gadgets? It’s a fascinating story about tech progress, international manufacturing and shifting consumer preferences, and it all ends in a sad punch line: Great gadget companies are now having a harder time than ever getting off the ground. The gadget age is over — and even if that’s a kind of progress, because software now fills many of our needs, the great gadgetapocalypse is bound to make the tech world, and your life, a little less fun.
Things were never easy for gadgets. The lives of gadgets have always been nasty, brutish and short.
Must Have of the Year, and the next year it would be old news.
Then things got even worse. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the Thing That Does Everything emerged from Cupertino, Calif. That was almost 10 years ago now. You know what I’m talking about: the iPhone.
For a while, it even looked as if we would have a gadget renaissance. “Gadgets are back,” said The Verge. People created websites where customers would pay to get gadgets that hadn’t even been made yet. They called it Kickstarter. You want a gadget? Pay for someone to make it! What a world.
People started making gadgets that you could wear. They started making gadgets for your house, gadgets to control your heating and cooling, gadgets to help you sleep. Imagine that! A gadget, for when you weren’t even awake. What a world. There were even gadgets that would make other gadgets. And that’s not even getting to the gadgets that could fly!
But now the companies making flying gadgets are crashing back to earth.
The gadgets that make other gadgets aren’t making other gadgets anymore, either: MakerBot, a much-buzzed-about start-up that aimed to spark a 3D-consumer revolution, failed spectacularly to get people printing at home.
The gadgets that were Kickstarted have been Kickstopped, too. Pebble, whose first smartwatch earned a record amount on the crowdfunding site, failed to find long-term success in a category that would soon be overrun by big companies like Apple and Samsung.
Much of this isn’t a surprise. “Hardware is hard” is an actual phrase that people in Silicon Valley say to pass for wise. What they mean is, starting a company that makes physical stuff has always been more perilous than starting a company that just makes code.
For start-ups, even in these days of easy contract manufacturing in China, gadgets involve a lot of costs — you need money for parts and a factory, and shipping and distribution, and you need virtually everything to go perfectly, because if your first gadget is a bust or has some fatal bug, you won’t have a lot of money to make a second one.
And once you get a hit, you’ll get hit by cheap knockoffs.
This is the mixed blessing of cheaper manufacturing.
There is something sad about this. The gadget marketplace is the great laboratory of new tech. Gadget start-ups feed the entire tech ecosystem with new ideas.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pebble Is Dead, and Its Customers Are Completely Screwed
http://gizmodo.com/pebble-is-dead-and-its-customers-are-completely-screwe-1789775408
Pebble, one of the best-known smartwatch brands, is dead. Rumors about the company’s demise have been swirling since The Information reported a potential Fitbit buyout last week. Today in a post on Kickstarter, Pebble confirmed that Fitbit was acquiring “key Pebble assets” and that Pebble would “no longer be operating as in independent company.”
This is completely in line with a Bloomberg report last night that claimed only chunks of Pebble were being sold to Fitbit, namely its intellectual property, software engineers, and testers. Designers and other staff will be let go and current products (and all other assets) are, according to Bloomberg, expected to be sold to pay the shuttering company’s debt.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Jaap Haartsen on how he invented Bluetooth back in 1994, the protocol’s future, the state of wireless audio now that Apple killed iPhone’s headphone jack, more
The inventor of Bluetooth on where wireless is going next
Twenty-two years after designing Bluetooth 1.0, Jaap Haartsen is still working to push the standard forward.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/12/09/bluetooth-inventor-jaap-haartsen-interview/
Bluetooth has come a long way. It’s gone from being a frustrating standard that only businesspeople used for mobile headsets to something that millions rely on daily for wireless speakers and headphones, syncing with wearables and more. And now, with Apple and other companies pushing consumers toward wireless headphones (and away from the tried-and-true 3.5 headphone jack), Bluetooth finally has a chance to shine.
Jaap Haartsen, who spearheaded the design of the standard in 1994 while working at Ericsson and currently serves as a wireless expert at Plantronics, was recently inducted into the Consumer Technology Association Hall of Fame.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lauren Goode / The Verge:
With Pebble acquisition, Fitbit now has a software platform to build a smartwatch; CEO doesn’t think any current offering has right feature-set and battery life — All signs point to an upcoming smartwatch from Fitbit — Following Fitbit’s acquisition of smartwatch maker Pebble …
Fitbit CEO says buying Pebble could help it crack the code on smartwatches
All signs point to an upcoming smartwatch from Fitbit
http://www.theverge.com/2016/12/9/13876950/fitbit-ceo-james-park-why-fitbit-bought-pebble-new-smartwatch
Following Fitbit’s acquisition of smartwatch maker Pebble, it seems obvious that Fitbit is considering a deeper dive into the smartwatch market. The more important question is whether that’s a smart move or not, with a recent report suggesting smartwatches will likely continue to struggle in the near term.
But just because the smartwatch category isn’t working now doesn’t mean it can’t in the future with a “different approach,” according to co-founder and CEO James Park in an interview with The Verge earlier today.
“I draw an analogy with our own history at Fitbit,” Park said. “The closest device you could draw a comparison to [when we started] was a pedometer. And we came up with a radical new concept around activity trackers and really transformed that market, and grew it into something of a size that people couldn’t imagine.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
https://asteroidos.org/
Alpha 1.0 Released
Four types of smartwatches are already supported by AsteroidOS Alpha 1.0. Check if your watch is compatible !
We believe that when it comes to wearable devices, users should have full control over their machines and data. AsteroidOS has been created from the ground-up with modularity and freedom in mind. For this reason, it is a free and open-source project.
AsteroidOS is built upon a rock-solid base system. Qt 5.6 and QML are used for fast and easy app development. OpenEmbedded provides a full GNU/Linux distribution and libhybris allows easy porting to most Android and Android Wear watches.
Since its creation in 2015, AsteroidOS has been led by Florent Revest
Tomi Engdahl says:
John Callaham / Android Authority:
Google acquires Cronologics and its smartwatch OS to help improve Android Wear — Google is still looking to improve its standing in the smartwatch industry with Android Wear . Today, it was revealed that a smartwatch startup, founded in part by former Google employees, will now be working on Android Wear directly.
Google acquires Cronologics and its smartwatch OS to help improve Android Wear
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-cronologics-android-wear-735633/
Google is still looking to improve its standing in the smartwatch industry with Android Wear . Today, it was revealed that a smartwatch startup, founded in part by former Google employees, will now be working on Android Wear directly. That startup, Cronologics, announced that its team has been acquired by Google. The company formed in 2014 and had been developing its own smartwatch OS, alongside its own device, the CoWatch.
The CoWatch launched just a few months ago in September, and its biggest feature is that it supported Amazon’s Alexa digital assistant. It allowed users to use voice commands to do things like order a pizza or get the latest weather reports. Now that Cronologics is officially part of Google, the fate of the CoWatch is unknown, although we cannot imagine it will be available for sale for much longer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google acquires Cronologics and its smartwatch OS to help improve Android Wear
http://www.androidauthority.com/google-cronologics-android-wear-735633/
Tomi Engdahl says:
EU dings Sony, Panasonic over rechargeable battery cartel
Supergrass Samsung walks free
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/12/13/eu_fines_sony_panasonic_over_battery/
The great battery scam has reached a milestone in Europe. The European Commission this week imposed a settlement fine of €166m on a trio of Japanese manufacturers for operating the price-fixing cartel.
Sony, Panasonic and Sanyo used an increase in the price of cobalt as a pretext to collude to fix prices, Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said yesterday. Samsung was spared a fine (put at €57.7m) as it had turned evidence over “reveal[ing] the existence of the cartel to the Commission”. The price-fixing agreement covered lithium iron batteries used in mobile phones, computers and other portable electronic devices between 2004 and 2007.
Tomi Engdahl says:
I2C-bus is familiar to almost all the designers, but now a new I3C is about to start the assault on devices. The bus can povata big success in many application, as compared to its predecessor, it uses only one eighth of the power, but that a hundred times the bandwidth.
MIPI organization presented the I3C-interface earlier this year. Very many of the components it is not yet discover. Lattice new ICE 40 Ultra Plus family is first FPGA chip, where the new bus is utilized.
I3C bus is revolutionary in the sense that it integrates I2C, SPI and UART best features of buses and is still backward compatible with most I2C design. Along the bus must exercise data from 108 megabits per second, so it can be moved along the graphic micro-controller.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5576:uusi-vayla-tulee-alypuhelimiin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
AirPods Launch on Apple Store for $159 With December 21 Delivery
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/13/airpods-now-available-to-order/
Apple’s AirPods are now available to order from the company’s online store for $159.00, following weeks of speculation on exactly when the wireless headphones would launch. Originally, the AirPods were going to debut in “late October,” but Apple delayed the launch for unspecified reasons.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nat Levy / GeekWire:
New Microsoft Translator feature enables real-time, in-person, multi-language translations for conversations across multiple devices — Microsoft this morning announced a new feature for its Translator program that will let people use their smartphones to have conversations in several languages at the same time.
New Microsoft Translator feature enables real-time translations for conversations across multiple languages
http://www.geekwire.com/2016/microsoft-translator-app-now-enables-real-time-translations-conversations-across-multiple-languages/
Microsoft this morning announced a new feature for its Translator program that will let people use their smartphones to have conversations in several languages at the same time.
The update works with one-on-one conversations or in a situation where a multitude of languages are being used; for example, one person speaking English, another Spanish, and a third person Chinese. Microsoft is pitching the new tool as a great option for tour guides talking to people all over the world, to taxi drivers and hotels that get a lot of international guests.
“At the end of the day, our goal is breaking the language barrier,”
Microsoft Translator
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/translator/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple temporarily pulls 3.1.1 watchOS update after reports of it bricking some Series 2 Watch models — Following complaints that the new watchOS 3.1.1 update is bricking some Series 2 Apple Watch models, Apple has temporarily pulled the update. — watchOS 3.1.1 is no longer available …
Apple Pulls watchOS 3.1.1 Update After Bricking Complaints
http://www.macrumors.com/2016/12/13/watchos-3-1-1-pulled-bricking-complaints/
Following complaints that the new watchOS 3.1.1 update is bricking some Series 2 Apple Watch models, Apple has temporarily pulled the update.
watchOS 3.1.1 is no longer available for download from the Watch app on the iPhone, with watchOS 3.1 listed as the most recent update for those who had not already downloaded and installed 3.1.1.