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:
Jacob Pramuk / CNBC:
Carl Icahn announces he sold all of his Apple shares, says China’s attitude towards Apple affected his decision — Icahn: We’re out of Apple, and it’s China’s fault — Carl Icahn, Chairman of Icahn Enterprises, talks about his view on Apple. … Billionaire investor Carl Icahn has sold …
Icahn: We’re out of Apple, and it’s China’s fault
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/04/28/icahn-we-no-longer-have-a-position-in-apple.html
Billionaire investor Carl Icahn told CNBC on Thursday he has sold his Apple position as the tech giant’s stock continues to shed value after disappointing earnings.
“We no longer have a position in Apple,” Icahn told CNBC’s “Power Lunch,” noting Apple is a “great company” and CEO Tim Cook is “doing a great job.”
Icahn said China’s attitude toward Apple largely drove him to exit his position.
“You worry a little bit — and maybe more than a little — about China’s attitude,” Icahn said, later adding that China’s government could “come in and make it very difficult for Apple to sell there … you can do pretty much what you want there.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Play is now labelling which apps contain ads
http://techcrunch.com/2016/04/28/google-play-is-now-labelling-which-apps-contain-ads/
Google has just made a change to its mobile application storefront, Google Play, which will help customers make better decisions about the apps they want to download: it’s now displaying if an app contains advertisements. This label will now appear alongside the existing designation which indicates if an app offers in-app purchases, the company has confirmed to TechCrunch.
The change could impact existing developers who monetize with ads, as it will help customers avoid apps that use ad-supported business models.
The new label was first spotted by the blog Android Police, citing a Reddit posting.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Android/comments/4gjoww/contains_ads_designation_appearing_in_play_store/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gamer will never win with touch
True Players do not touch the touch screens, but these screens playing is clumsy and slow. Now Aalto University researchers have discovered why this is so. Johtopäätöskin is clear: the traditional physical buttons on the touch screen will never win.
Traditionally, the cause of touch screens clumsiness is considered the lack of a physical keyboard, but the Aalto University research group, a new theory suggests that the culprit can mask else.
- The lack of a traditional keypad, it is not a critical thing, because the touch-screen gives the user feedback through the sense of touch. Touch screens are also no longer a traditional slower, explains the Aalto University researcher Lee Byungjoo.
on the basis of the experiments scientists develop the theory that the touch screen response to the difficulty, there are three reasons for this. The first is that keeping your fingers with a suitable, uniform distance of the display is difficult, which makes rapid and correct response more difficult than a traditional keyboard, with the fingers resting on the right places.
Another challenge is that the human nervous system is difficult to predict when the device is registered with a finger touch. The third reason is the gaming complicating the variation in time that it takes the application to push the processing.
User scheduling is most accurate when the touch is registered finger contact area is at its greatest.
- We can finally explain why such games to play on the touch screen is so frustrating. Our model is able to predict how many points a player on the touch screen can be achieved.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4333:pelikaytossa-kosketus-ei-koskaan-voita&catid=13&Itemid=101
More:
Modelling Error Rates in Temporal Pointing
http://users.comnet.aalto.fi/oulasvir/pubs/modeling-errors-chi2016.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
JEDEC Adds UFS Card Spec
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1329554&
The JEDEC Solid State Technology Association recently published some updates to the Universal Flash Storage (UFS) family of standards, as well as an addition standard aimed at providing a new removable memory card option for the mobile device market.
The four updated standards — JESD220C UFS version 2.1, JESD223C UFSHCI version 2.1, JESD220-1A UFS UME version 1.1 and JESD223-1A UFSHCI UME version 1.1 — were developed for mobile applications and computing systems that need high performance with low power consumption, such as smartphones and tablets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone Shipments Flat For the First Time, Says IDC
https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/16/04/27/1722236/smartphone-shipments-flat-for-the-first-time-says-idc
Smartphone vendors shipped a total of 334.9 million smartphones worldwide last quarter. This figure is up just 0.2 percent from the 334.3 million units in Q1 2015, marking the smallest year-over-year growth on record.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The death of Intel’s Atom casts a dark shadow over the rumored Surface Phone
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3063672/windows/the-death-of-intels-atom-casts-a-dark-shadow-over-the-rumored-surface-phone.html
Microsoft still reportedly remains committed to Windows 10 Mobile running on ARM chips. And what about the HoloLens?
Intel’s plans to discontinue its Atom chips for phones and some tablets may not have killed the dream of a Microsoft Surface phone—just the piece of it that made it so enticing.
In the wake of a restructuring that relegated the PC to just another connected device, Intel confirmed Friday that it has cancelled its upcoming SoFIA and Broxton chips. That leaves Intel with just one Atom chip, Apollo Lake, which it had slated for convertible tablets.
Microsoft has never formally commented on its future phone plans, save for a leaked email that suggests that Microsoft is committed to the Windows 10 Mobile platform and phones running ARM processors. But fans of the platform have long hoped for a phone that could run native Win32 legacy apps as well as the new UWP platform that Microsoft has made a central platform of Windows 10. The assumption was that this would require a phone running on an Intel Atom processor. Intel’s decision eliminates that option.
Intel gives up on the smartphone
Intel’s decision was first reported by analyst Patrick Moorhead, and confirmed by IDG News Service and PCWorld. Intel told PCWorld that it plans to kill the “Broxton” Atom platform as well as all the flavors of its SoFIA chips, which combined Atom cores with 3G and LTE modems for smartphones. The company said it will continue to support tablets with a 3G derivative of the SoFIA chip, the older Bay Trail and Cherry Trail, as well as some upcoming Core chips.
Microsoft uses a Cherry Trail chip inside of the HoloLens, but it’s unclear whether or not that will be affected.
Intel cuts Atom chips, basically giving up on the smartphone and tablet markets
Intel is refocusing on ‘products that deliver higher returns.’
http://www.pcworld.com/article/3063508/components/intel-is-on-the-verge-of-exiting-the-smartphone-and-tablet-markets-after-cutting-atom-chips.html
Intel could be on the verge of exiting the market for smartphones and standalone tablets, wasting billions of dollars it spent trying to expand in those markets.
The company is immediately canceling Atom chips, code-named Sofia and Broxton, for mobile devices, an Intel spokeswoman confirmed.
These are the first products on the chopping block as part of Intel’s plan to reshape operations after announcing plans this month to cut 12,000 jobs.
The news of the chip cuts was first reported by analyst Patrick Moorhead in an article on Forbes’ website.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AnandTech:
Intel’s Changing Future: Smartphone SoCs Broxton & SoFIA Officially Cancelled — The past two weeks have been a busy – if not tumultuous – period for Intel. Driven by continued challenges in various semiconductor markets, culminating in weaker-than-desired earnings in the most recent quarter …
Intel’s Changing Future: Smartphone SoCs Broxton & SoFIA Officially Cancelled
by Ian Cutress & Ryan Smith on April 29, 2016 8:15 PM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/10288/intel-broxton-sofia-smartphone-socs-cancelled
The past two weeks have been a busy – if not tumultuous – period for Intel. Driven by continued challenges in various semiconductor markets, culminating in weaker-than-desired earnings in the most recent quarter, Intel has set out to change their direction and refocus the company towards what they see as more lucrative, higher growth opportunity markets such as data center/server markets and cellular (5G) connectivity. To get there, the company is making changes to both their product lines and their head count, with the goal in the case of the latter to cut 11% of their workforce by the middle of next year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Neil Mawston / Strategy Analytics:
Smartwatch shipments grew 223% year-over-year in Q1 2016; Apple had 52% marketshare, down from 63% in prior quarter
STRATEGY ANALYTICS: Apple Watch Slips to 52% Global Smartwatch Marketshare in Q1 2016
https://www.strategyanalytics.com/strategy-analytics/news/strategy-analytics-press-releases/strategy-analytics-press-release/2016/04/27/strategy-analytics-apple-watch-slips-to-52-global-smartwatch-marketshare-in-q1-2016#.VyTu1r42WA8
Boston, MA – April 27, 2016 – According to the latest research from Strategy Analytics, global smartwatch shipments grew 223 percent annually to reach 4.2 million units in the first quarter of 2016. Apple captured 52 percent global smartwatch marketshare, dipping from 63 percent share in the prior quarter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi takes aim at Apple, Qualcomm
Putting final polish on processor and smartwatch announcements
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/02/xiaomi_takes_aim_at_apple_qualcomm/
Apple and Qualcomm will be doing a bit of looking-over-their-shoulder competitive analylsis: rising Chinese Chinese electronics manufacturer Xiaomi is prepping a smartwatch and mobile processor.
The company’s Mi smartwatch has left the rumour-mill, with a launch schedule to be formally announced at a company event on May 10.
Cupertino is already starting to relinquish its dominant position in the Thing-on-your-wrist market, according to Strategy Analytics, with its share in Q1 2016 down from 63 per cent last year to 52 per cent this year.
The whole market more than tripled, however, from 1.3 million units in Q1 2015 to 4.2 million in Q1 2016, giving Apple a little over two million units in the quarter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Build the future of apps with Xamarin.
Xamarin SDK is now fully available under the MIT license
http://open.xamarin.com/
Xamarin brings open source .NET to mobile development, enabling every developer to build truly native apps for any device in C# and F#. We’re excited for your contributions in continuing our mission to make it fast, easy, and fun to build great mobile apps.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel confirmed: X86 circuits will be lost in smartphones
English ARM can finally declare a winner in the smart phone circuits battle. Intel President and CEO Bruce Krzanich has confirmed that the company will stop Smartphones with Atom processors in development. At the same time the decision to make sure that the X86 architecture will never take over the smart phones.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4343:intel-vahvisti-x86-piirit-haviavat-alypuhelimista&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone Shipments Down for First Time
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1329570&
Smartphone shipments fell for the first time in their nearly decade-long history during the first quarter this year, according to market research firm Strategy Analytics.
Global smartphone shipments fell 3% to 335 million units in the first three months of this year from the same period a year ago, the company said in an April 28 report.
“Smartphone growth is slowing due to increasing penetration maturity in major markets like China and consumer caution about the future of the world economy,” Strategy Analytics analyst Linda Sui said in the report. The world’s top-two smartphone makers, Samsung and Apple, face increasing competition from rivals in China, according to Strategy Analytics. The smartphone market, worth about $400 billion in 2015, has been a key leader of growth in the global electronics industry.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MediaTek Expects Increase in Smartphone Shipments
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1329575&
MediaTek, Qualcomm’s largest competitor in the smartphone silicon business, said it expects to increase shipments during the second quarter this year from the first quarter even as global growth in the segment has stalled for the first time.
MediaTek forecast that its second-quarter shipments of smartphone and tablet chips will fall in a range of 135 million to 145 million units compared with 110 million units during the first quarter, the company said during an April 29 conference call to announce its first-quarter results. Qualcomm on April 20 said it expects its chip shipments in the current quarter to be within in a range of 175–195 million units, about the same as in the previous quarter.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel to Exit Mobile SoC Business
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1329580&
As it proceeds with a massive restructuring plan announced earlier this month, Intel will exit the smartphone and tablet mobile SoC business by ending its struggling Atom chip product line. The discontinued products include those code-named SoFIA, Broxton and Cherry Trail.
As Intel CEO Brian Krzanich explained in his latest blog, the chip giant’s focus is now squarely on “Cloud, IoT, memory/programmable solutions, 5G and Moore’s Law.”
Out are mobile SoCs.
How Intel Missed the Smartphone Call
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1329581&
Its lack of expertise in SoCs, insistence on its x86 architecture and some bad luck kept Intel from enjoying the smartphone boom.
Back in the year 2000, a bright young reporter named Anthony Cataldo burst into our San Mateo bureau, his hair on fire with a story. There was going to be a new class of mobile chips people were calling applications processors.
“Intel, the most vocal evangelist for the application processor, rolled out its StrongARM-based XScale processor in Japan this past week as the archetype of the standalone application processor,” he wrote in the next week’s print version of EE Times.
NEC, Hitachi Ltd., Mitsubishi, Texas Instruments and STMicroelectronics were all getting into the act, Cataldo wrote. It was the days of flip phones, and Japan’s i-Mode service was pointing to a new mobile future.
By 2002, Intel was still in last place in the new market
Ultimately, Intel sold off the XScale to Marvell in a 2006 reorg, so it could focus on the booming notebook market where it sold more expensive and profitable chips.
By late 2007, Intel put one of its top engineers, Gadi Singer, on a tiger team to build the design and tool expertise it needed to make x86-based SoCs. A few months later, Apple debuted the iPhone with an ARM-based apps processor. A new industry was launched and Intel was paddling furiously after it with the wrong architecture.
By the time Intel started releasing competitive x86 apps processors, Apple and Samsung were well on the way to claiming the lion’s share of smartphone profits. They were already making their own ARM-based SoCs
Intel pulled off a bold last-ditch effort to co-design x86-based apps processors with China’s RockChip and Spreadtrum, They hoped to get into the handsets of up and coming China OEMs, the next Xaomi.
Tomi Engdahl says:
SkinTrack: Using the Body as an Electrical Waveguide for Continuous Finger Tracking on the Skin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hu8MNuvCHE&feature=youtu.be
SkinTrack is a wearable system that enables continuous touch tracking on the skin. It consists of a ring, which emits a continuous high frequency AC signal, and a sensing wristband with multiple electrodes. Due to the phase delay inherent in a high-frequency AC signal propagating through the body, a phase difference can be observed between pairs of electrodes. SkinTrack measures these phase differences to compute a 2D finger touch coordinate.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Forward Concepts fresh figures for market shares show a clear language reasons for that decision for Intel to throw in the towel on smart phone chips.
According to Forward Concepts smartphone baseband circuits were sold last year to 18.8 billion dollars. Qualcomm’s market share was 66 per cent and 19 per cent of the Czech media. The other was in practice only traces.
China’s Spreadtrum has managed to capture the baseband circuits of six per cent market share. HiSiliconilla and Samsung has a three per cent slice.
After that Leadcorella, Intel and Marvel Lilla was in possession of one percent of sales baseband circuits.
Marvell and Intel have already announced the resignation of play.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4372:syy-intelin-kannykkapaatokseen-varmistui&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Todd Shields / Bloomberg:
FCC and FTC ask smartphone makers and mobile carriers for information on phone patching process, express concern about long delays and unpatched older devices — FCC and FTC ask for information on process for issuing patches — Letters go to carriers AT&T, Verizon and to device makers
Apple, Google and Mobile Carriers Asked About Security Fixes
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-09/apple-google-and-wireless-carriers-asked-by-u-s-about-security
Smartphone makers such as Apple Inc. and Google and mobile carriers including AT&T Inc. and Verizon Communications Inc. face an inquiry by U.S. regulators into how they review and release security updates to combat cyberthieves and Internet vandals.
The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission both issued statements Monday saying they want to know more about how and when vulnerabilities are being patched as consumers and businesses face hacking threats related to their increased reliance on mobile broadband.
“We are concerned” that “there are significant delays in delivering patches to actual devices — and that older devices may never be patched,” the FCC said in a sample of letters sent to companies that the agency posted on its website.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Holoflex—World’s first holographic flexible smartphone (w/ Video)
http://techxplore.com/news/2016-05-holoflexworld-holographic-flexible-smartphone-video.html
Researchers at the Human Media Lab at Queen’s University have developed the world’s first holographic flexible smartphone. The device, dubbed HoloFlex, is capable of rendering 3D images with motion parallax and stereoscopy to multiple simultaneous users without head tracking or glasses.
“HoloFlex offers a completely new way of interacting with your smartphone. It allows for glasses-free interactions with 3D video and images in a way that does not encumber the user.” says Dr. Vertegaal.
HoloFlex features a 1920×1080 full high-definition Flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (FOLED) touchscreen display. Images are rendered into 12-pixel wide circular blocks rendering the full view of the 3D object from a particular viewpoint.
Building on the success of the ReFlex flexible smartphone, HoloFlex is also equipped with a bend sensor, which allows for the user to bend the phone as a means of moving objects along the z-axis of the display
Tomi Engdahl says:
U.S. investigates security of mobile devices
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-wireless-inquiry-regulators-idUSKCN0Y022E
The Federal Communications Commission and Federal Trade Commission have asked mobile phone carriers and manufacturers to explain how they release security updates amid mounting concerns over security vulnerabilities, the U.S. agencies said on Monday.
The FCC sent letters to six mobile phone carriers on security issues, while the FTC ordered eight mobile device manufacturers including BlackBerry Ltd, Microsoft Corp, LG Electronics USA Inc and Samsung Electronics America Inc [SMELA.UL] to disclose “the factors that they consider in deciding whether to patch a vulnerability on a particular mobile device.”
The FTC also seeks “detailed data on the specific mobile devices they have offered for sale to consumers since August 2013″ and “the vulnerabilities that have affected those devices; and whether and when the company patched such vulnerabilities.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jury is picked for $9 billion Oracle v. Google showdown
Only one juror worked with computers, and he was Oracle’s first strike.
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2016/05/jury-is-picked-for-9-billion-oracle-v-google-showdown/
A jury of ten men and women has been selected for the second Oracle v. Google copyright trial, and opening statements will be heard here tomorrow morning.
The trial is expected to last about a month. If Oracle wins, damages could be in the billions.
Most of the jurors were unaware of the case. All the jurors had used Google products, but they said their feelings about those products weren’t strong enough to influence their decision-making. Several of them use phones running on Android.
The upcoming trial is the second time Oracle has faced off in court with Google over copyrights and the Android mobile operating system. Oracle sued in 2010, saying that by using declaring code in 37 Java APIs, Google broke copyright law.
Only one potential juror had direct experience with computers, a networking manager at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory who holds a computer science degree from UC Berkeley.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Problems with App Store search reduced downloads by 10% for big-name apps, up to 50% for smaller titles, according to Tune report
Majority of apps lost over 10% of downloads due to last week’s App Store glitches
http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/10/majority-of-apps-lost-over-10-of-downloads-due-to-last-weeks-app-store-glitches/
Last week’s App Store issues caused headaches for users who, for several hours during the morning on May 5th, were unable to surface apps using keyword searches. This affected top apps like Uber, Spotify, Google, YouTube, Tumblr and many others, as well as apps from smaller developers. Now we know what sort of impact that outage had on the affected applications. According new analysis from Tune, the majority (65%) of all apps lost more than 10 percent of downloads because of the App Store glitches.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital payment services aren’t delivering on their promises
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/brians-brain/4442005/Digital-payment-services-aren-t-delivering-on-their-promises?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20160511&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_consumerelectronics_20160511&elqTrackId=d3c4685623e04010b8c14fb3308ce58f&elq=3d1104e54d68401580ba01d92284cd87&elqaid=32198&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=28116
One of the benefits of my recent migration to Android-based hardware is that it’s finally enabled me to try out smartphone-based digital payments, in the form of the Android Pay service. My iPhone 4s handsets hadn’t been Apple pay-compatible
After enabling NFC on my Moto X, I fired up the Android Pay app and began trying to enter credit cards. Since US Bank is listed as a supported financial institution, I tried my MasterCard supplied by them. Unfortunately, after entering the credit card number, PIN, expiration date and other details, I was told that my activation attempt was unsuccessful
Next, I tried my Citibank MasterCard, which was already active in my Google Play account profile as a valid payment method. But again, even though Citibank is supposedly an active Android Pay partner, my efforts to broaden the card’s payment reach to an additional Google service was nebulously for naught
Affiliate credit cards are apparently (in general, if at all) not yet supported by Android Pay (and potentially also by competitors’ services, I don’t know) because support for the post-purchase affiliate perks (a rebate percentage in the case of REI, or frequent flier miles for American Airlines) is not yet in place.
But after successfully entering my Amex data, I was informed that I’d need to password-protect the phone in order to continue using Android Pay
This makes sense, I suppose…you wouldn’t want to have your smartphone stolen and a bunch of invalid charges subsequently racked up on your account. However, I look forward to a time when an alternative validation approach, such as at-time-of-purchase biometric confirmation via fingerprint sensor or face recognition software is available.
Even if these implementation issues get solved, the market is (IMHO) currently too fragmented to achieve critical mass. There’s already-mentioned Apple Pay, of course. And, in typical Samsung fashion, the company “supplements” Android Pay with its own branded Samsung Pay service. This recent article compares the three approaches…Samsung Pay’s optional support for magnetic strip readers is admittedly pretty slick.
But that’s just the offerings from the hardware manufacturers
The perhaps-obvious tug-of-war here involves who gets (a cut, if not the entirety of) the traditional merchant processing fees incurred with conventional credit cards. And that’s too bad. It’s hard enough right now to find a merchant that will support ANY digital wallet service (not to mention support for EMV “chips” in conventional credit cards), far from the particular one that you’ve taken a chance on embracing.
Apple Pay vs Samsung Pay vs Android Pay: comparison
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Apple-Pay-vs-Samsung-Pay-vs-Android-Pay-comparison_id77632
Tomi Engdahl says:
Italians rattle little tin for smartmobe mini lenses
Your phone becomes a microscope down at Kickstarter
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/05/11/blips_smartphone_lenses/
An Italian “microscopy, consumer electronics and micro-optics” outfit is offering smartphone and tablet owners the chance to get up-close and personal with the world via “an ultra portable and very affordable set of 2 mini lenses which turns your smartphone or tablet into a digital microscope”
Working with the Istituto Italiano di Tecnologia (IIT), Genoa-based SmartMicroOptics (SMO) has cooked up “BLIPS” – a couple of plastic resin lenses of macro (~10x magnification) and micro (up to 100x magnification with digital zoom) capability which attach to your device via a handy, reusable sticky strip.
BLIPS is currently the subject of a comparatively modest, €15,000 target Kickstarter tin-rattle,
SMO can’t currently say exactly what the BLIPS lenses are made of, other than they’re hewn from “a plastic compound”,
BLIPS deals currently available down at Kickstarter include the “Basic Kit” with the two lenses (€20), a Basic Kit plus smartphone stand for €25, and a “Lab Kit”, equalling a Basic Kit plus smartphone/slide housing, light source and five sample slides (€35).
BLIPS:The World’s THINNEST Macro&Micro lenses for smartphone
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/blips/blips
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android is eating Apple’s iOS market share everywhere
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/11/android-is-eating-apples-ios-market-share-everywhere/
As if Apple wasn’t facing enough headwind this year, now comes word that Android smartphones are making big market share gains around the world.
According to the latest market share numbers for the first quarter of 2016 (from Kantar Worldpanel ComTech) Android grew significantly in the U.S., Europe, and China as Apple’s iOS lost ground.
In the top five European markets (U.K., France, Germany, Italy, and Spain), Android’s market share increased to 75.6 percent, up 7.1 percent compared to the same period a year ago.
Android grabbed 65.5 percent in the U.S, up 7.3 percent from the previous year. And in major Chinese urban areas, Android phones had 77 percent market share, up 6 percent from a year ago.
The numbers reflect the growing competition Apple is facing from the proliferation of smartphone brands that offer low-cost Android-based gadgets with a strong set of features.
“This is the strongest growth for Android across the EU5 in more than two years,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Barak Turovsky / Official Google Blog:
Google Translate now lets you translate with one tap inside any app on Android, brings offline mode to iOS — Of the 500 million+ people who use Google Translate, more than 9 in 10 live outside the U.S. We’ve talked with thousands of you in India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Thailand to learn …
Translate where you need it: in any app, offline, and wherever you see Chinese
https://googleblog.blogspot.fi/2016/05/translate-where-you-need-it-in-any-app.html
Of the 500 million+ people who use Google Translate, more than 9 in 10 live outside the U.S. We’ve talked with thousands of you in India, Indonesia, Brazil, and Thailand to learn what works and what doesn’t—and today we’re rolling out some big improvements. First, say hello to Tap to Translate on Android. We know millions of you painstakingly copy-paste text between Google Translate and other apps. Now, you can just copy the text of a chat, comment, song lyric, etc. in whichever app you’re using, and a translation will pop up right there—no need to switch apps
Next, Offline Mode now works on iOS, and joins Android in using small offline packages.
Offline Mode is easy to set up: Just tap the arrow next to the language name to download the package for that language, and then you’ll be ready to do text translations whether you’re online or not—and it works with Tap to Translate too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“The role of Java on Android null and void”
Oracle and Google controversy over Google’s use of Java should pay the license fees, has entered its final legal proceedings. Google’s lawyers, according argument for compensation is not, as the Android based Google’s developers grueling years of work. Java interfaces share of Android is Google, null and void.
The title is a quote from Google lawyer Robert Van Nest comment in yesterday’s court hearing in San Francisco. According to him, Google’s developers spent a number of years and hundreds of millions of dollars in developing its smartphone operating system, the like of which has previously been on the market.
According to Google, Java was open and the Sun’s “gift to the world”. However, Java was too weak platform for smartphones. The utilization of Google Android and Oracle admittedly held discussions, but they were discontinued.
Oracle and Google’s use of Java’s controversy has been going on for a long time. The probable outcome is that Google will pay Oracle some kind of amount of compensation
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4400:javan-rooli-androidissa-mitaton&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Shan Wang / Nieman Lab:
Knight Foundation report: users spend 5% of mobile time on news sites and apps, Reddit users spend five times as much time in Reddit app than any other news app — People read the news on their smartphones (duh). They will even read longform (to a certain extent).
We know people read news on their phones. But from what sources?
http://www.niemanlab.org/2016/05/we-know-people-read-news-on-their-phones-but-from-what-sources/
People read the news on their smartphones (duh). They will even read longform (to a certain extent). But do these smartphone users prefer getting their news from apps or news sites? What are their news-reading behaviors within different apps? And what else do we know about these news readers?
Some findings on usage:
— These monitored mobile users spend about five percent (more than two hours) of their mobile time each month on news. The time they spent within news apps and on news sites directly seems to have decreased over the past year.
— In contrast, 27 percent (more than 12 hours) of mobile time each month is spent on social networking sites. Additional survey data found that 70 percent of Facebook users use the platform for news every day.
— Reddit users are power users: They go to the app frequently and spend five times as much time within the Reddit app as other top news apps.
— Not surprisingly, the report found that the mobile news readers who use dedicated news apps spend a substantial amount of time within the apps. Those apps have much smaller audiences compared to mobile websites
https://medium.com/mobile-first-news-how-people-use-smartphones-to
Tomi Engdahl says:
Windows is a new Linux?
Finnish mobile phone pride of Nokia Stephen Elop took over under the leadership of a bold leap by replacing Microsoft’s operating system for smart phones.
Although the decision was the company’s previous problems, the practice necessary, the results have been catastrophic. Nokia was unable to compete with Apple and Android manufacturers, which resulted in the drop in the smartphone market vilttiketjuun.
Later, Nokia made Risto Siilasmaa under the leadership of bold twists and turns smartphones dismissed altogether. The decision was very successful, because with some muscle even making wild, Microsoft has not succeeded in improving the status of Windows smartphones.
At the outset, it should be noted that Windows 10 is an excellent mobile operating system, which corrects many previous versions of flaws, and itself not unfriendly features
Although the functionalities are in good condition – in some places up to above its competitors – Windows 10 under-performs. Reasons can find, for example software ecosystem, but it improves the real reason can be found in habit. accustomed to Android or Apple products for users of Windows different user interface and the replacement of familiar applications requires learning new things.
Habit strength should not be underestimated. Although the turn of the millennium desktops expected penguin invasion, GNU / Linux’s popularity has remained subdued. Recent data show that the world is still more for Windows Vista users than Linux desktop users.
In the world of Windows Mobile is a new Linux: a potential option, which eventually gets excited only a handful of users.
From the Finnish point of Windows lack of success is a tragedy.
The mobile world is such an important part of the data processing, the present and the future that Microsoft could afford to miss the train. However, continuing losses and due to the weak performance of the next few years we may see from the case of major decisions.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/blogit/windows-on-uusi-linux-6549989
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple falls below $90 as iPhone worries fester
http://in.reuters.com/article/apple-stocks-idINKCN0Y32J3
Shares of Apple (AAPL.O) dropped below $90 on Thursday for the first time since 2014 as Wall Street worried about slow demand ahead of the anticipated launch of a new iPhone later this year.
A mainstay of many Wall Street portfolios, Apple fell to as low as $89.47 before recovering slightly to end at $90.34, a 2.35 percent loss.
Component suppliers in Taiwan will receive fewer orders from Apple in the second half of 2016 than in the same period last year, the Nikkei Asia Review reported on Thursday, citing sources.
Confidence in Cupertino, California-based Apple was shaken after it posted its first-ever quarterly decline in iPhone sales and first revenue drop in 13 years in April. Wall Street is worried about demand for Apple’s next iPhone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Device makers, telecoms face competing government demands on privacy
http://in.reuters.com/article/usa-cyber-frankel-idINKCN0Y32P8
For tech companies, there was a confounding juxtaposition in the news this week.
On Monday, the Federal Trade Commission and the Federal Communications Commission announced a joint effort to assure that businesses are safeguarding their customers’ data. The FCC sent a letter to mobile carriers, citing “a growing number of vulnerabilities … that threaten the security and integrity of a user’s device and all the personal, sensitive data on it,” and asking how carriers address those vulnerabilities.
The FTC simultaneously ordered eight manufacturers of mobile devices to respond to a detailed set of questions about how they update the devices’ security protections and keep customers informed of those updates.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, as Julia Harte reported for Reuters, FBI Director James Comey said in press briefing that he expects to keep litigating to force companies like Apple to help investigators access their customers’ data.
Terrorist groups rely on encryption, Comey said, suggesting – as the government argued throughout its attempt to compel Apple to help crack security on an iPhone used by the San Bernardino shooter – that law enforcement agencies believe they are entitled to assistance from tech companies.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Three More Signs Smartphone Downturn Going From Bad to Worse
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-05-11/three-more-signs-smartphone-downturn-is-going-from-bad-to-worse
For investors contemplating prospects for the smartphone market after a shaky earnings report from Apple Inc., Asian suppliers just provided a few hints: It’s going to get worse before it gets better.
Three suppliers that seldom command much attention, working behind the scenes to make devices sold under the brands of better-known customers, put out back-to-back earnings reports Tuesday. They spell trouble ahead for smartphone makers and other companies that once thrived on mobile mania.
Pegatron Corp., which assembles iPhones, missed profit expectations
Minebea Co., which makes LED lights for mobiles, lagged its own forecasts
Japan Display Inc., which supplies screens to Apple and others, said profit has deteriorated so rapidly
Lenovo Group Ltd. tumbled to a four-year low as analysts warned of rising competition.
“The smartphone industry will continue to slow down this year,” said Richard Ko, a Taipei-based analyst at KGI Securities Co. “Competition will worsen and prices will likely continue to fall.”
Presaging Doom
Pegatron and its peers are merely the latest in a string of ill omens for a market facing its worst pace of expansion since Apple introduced the iPhone in 2007. Much of the gloom centers on China, the phenomenal growth engine that’s now headed for an epic shakeout. Smartphones are no longer a novelty and most domestic brands target the mid- and low-price ranges, where buyers don’t upgrade as frequently as those for high-end Apple and Samsung phones.
Silver Lining
To be sure, not all are predicting doom and gloom. Optimists point out that legions of users in developing markets — like India — have yet to adopt high-speed 4G technology, and that will drive sales. While acknowledging the malaise, TSMC expressed confidence last month that ever-more powerful and functional mid-end phones will bring out cost-conscious buyers in emerging countries.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Roll helps you find the best photos on your phone
http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/12/eyeem-the-roll/
Wondering which of the tens of thousands of photos on your phone are worth keeping or sharing may be a thing of the past, thanks to The Roll, a brand new app from EyeEm. The iOS app analyzes your camera roll and uses computer vision to tag your images and rank your photos by how good they are.
“The Roll is there to replace your phone’s camera roll,” said Florian Meissner, EyeEm’s CEO, as he showed me the technology in action on his own phone containing tens of thousands of photographs.
On The Roll, images are tagged and grouped by topics, location and events, with the best shot from each category highlighted. Visually similar photos are stacked, placing the image with the highest aesthetic score on top.
In the detailed view, you’ll see the score, automatically added keywords and camera information relevant to camera buffs, such as aperture, shutter speed and ISO information.
“When you first launch the app,” Meissner explains, “small thumbnails of the images are uploaded to our server. The images are then analyzed and tagged, and the information is downloaded to the app.”
http://theroll.eyeem.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lenovo and Apple are fastest growing among India’s top 10 smart phone vendors
- Indian smart phone market grows annually by 12% in Q1 2016
- See more at: http://www.canalys.com/newsroom/lenovo-and-apple-are-fastest-growing-among-india%E2%80%99s-top-10-smart-phone-vendors#sthash.M0GDeHSU.dpuf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Samsung’s $45 Charm fitness bracelet with color-coded LED alerts launches in South Korea, Italy, France, and Russia — Samsung has today officially launched its latest stab at the wearables market with the introduction of its new “Charm” activity band, available in a handful of markets.
Samsung’s $45 Charm fitness bracelet with color-coded LED alerts launches, but only in 4 markets for now
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/13/samsungs-45-charm-fitness-bracelet-with-color-coded-led-alerts-launches-but-only-in-4-markets-for-now/
Samsung has today officially launched its latest stab at the wearables market with the introduction of its new “Charm” activity band, available in a handful of markets.
While the Samsung Gear Fit is a full-featured device, which, in addition to tracking your health, has a screen for receiving alerts and notifications — the Charm is evidently designed more as a fashion bracelet-style accessory. It’s intended to look good while still tracking your steps, distance-traveled, and calories, as well as informing you of incoming calls, texts, and social media messages, all using color-coded LED notifications.
The Charm works in conjunction with the Samsung S Health app, which syncs via Bluetooth to your Android phone.
Powered by a rechargeable lithium-ion 17mAh battery, the Charm promises up to 14 days on a single charge.
The Korean tech titan is clearly convinced that fashionistas want technology to merge seamlessly into their everyday accessories. Fitbit launched its Alta wearable this year with similar aspirations, but it has a little screen
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearable adoption more than doubled in past two years
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/12/wearable-adoption-more-than-doubled-in-past-two-years/
The adoption of wearables has skyrocketed, rising from 21 percent of the U.S. population in 2014 to 49 percent in 2016, according to a report by consulting firm PwC.
And parents are significantly more likely to own not just one, but multiple wearable devices, the report said. About 36 percent of respondents own more than one wearable.
PwC’s report, “The Wearable Life: Connected Living in a Wearable World,” is an update to a report the company created in 2014. PwC created the report to better understand the wearable tech landscape and identify trends and opportunities.
https://www.pwc.com/us/en/industry/entertainment-media/publications/consumer-intelligence-series.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Dobie / Android Central:
Google I/O 2016 preview: Android N news, Android VR headset, Chromebook Play Store, progress update on project Tango, and more
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-io-2016-preview-android-n-android-vr-project-chirp-play-store-chromebooks-and-more
What to expect from the biggest Google conference ever.
It’s Google I/O time! The 2016 installment of Google’s annual developer conference kicks off Wednesday, May 18 in Mountain View, California with a two-hour opening keynote. With a new venue and the promise of announcements on the future of Android N, VR, Chrome OS and much more, it’s sure to be one of the highlights of the year in mobile tech.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft rumored to close feature phone business and sell the Nokia name to Foxconn; layoffs coming
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Microsoft-rumored-to-close-feature-phone-business-and-sell-the-Nokia-name-to-Foxconn-layoffs-coming_id81102
According to a rumor out of China, after selling only 15 million feature phones during the first quarter of this year, Microsoft is closing the division and will license the Nokia name to contract manufacturer Foxconn. Under the terms of its acquisition of Nokia Devices and Services a deal which closed in 2014, Microsoft owns the rights to use the Nokia name for smartphones until 2024.
If you’re looking for further hints that a Surface Phone is coming, the same rumor says that after closing its feature phone group, the remaining part of Microsoft Mobile (which produces Lumia handsets) will be folded into the Surface group. 50% of Microsoft Mobile employees will be laid off.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alex Dobie / Android Central:
Google I/O 2016 preview: Android N news, Android VR headset, Chromebook Play Store, progress update on project Tango, and more
http://www.androidcentral.com/google-io-2016-preview-android-n-android-vr-project-chirp-play-store-chromebooks-and-more
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Releases Spaces Group-Sharing App On Android, iOS, and Desktop
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/05/16/1549254/google-releases-spaces-group-sharing-app-on-android-ios-and-desktop
Google on Monday released Spaces, an app that is designed to make it easier to share links, videos and other things from the Web in group conversations. The app, which has been in private beta for a few months, is available for Android, iOS, desktop and mobile web.
With Spaces, it’s simple to find and share articles, videos and images without leaving the app, since Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome come built in.
Introducing Spaces, a tool for small group sharing
https://googleblog.blogspot.fi/2016/05/introducing-spaces-tool-for-small-group.html
Group sharing isn’t easy. From book clubs to house hunts to weekend trips and more, getting friends into the same app can be challenging. Sharing things typically involves hopping between apps to copy and paste links. Group conversations often don’t stay on topic, and things get lost in endless threads that you can’t easily get back to when you need them. We wanted to build a better group sharing experience, so we made a new app called Spaces that lets people get people together instantly to share around any topic. With Spaces, it’s simple to find and share articles, videos and images without leaving the app, since Google Search, YouTube, and Chrome come built in.
Spaces
Small group sharing for everything in life
https://get.google.com/spaces/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The researchers developed a deformable smartphone
Now British and American scientists have developed a mobile device, which has many uses like a bit of Rubik’s cube. The device consists of cubes, where each page has a touch screen. A hinge mechanism allows the whole cube can be rotated to the desired position for different applications.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4445:tutkijat-kehittivat-muotoaan-muuttavan-alypuhelimen&catid=13&Itemid=101
More:
Cubimorph: Designing Modular Interactive Devices
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhutb0k1WDM
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mid-air haptics open door to new interface applications
http://www.edn.com/design/sensors/4442013/Mid-air-haptics-open-door-to-new-interface-applications?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160517&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160517&elqTrackId=21ffedac8d4e4a89962df25e0bdefb8d&elq=c4dc288691804341ae6bedaac8baf779&elqaid=32280&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=28193
Software is the real breakthrough
Non-touch haptics have been tried already, using jets or vortices of air, but these are inefficient, noisy, inaccurate, and dissipate quickly. Instead, Ultrahaptics uses an array of Murata ultrasound transducers–of the type that might typically be used in a parking sensor–all controlled by an Xmos processor. Like electromagnetic waves, ultrasound too has frequencies of minimal absorption, which is why 40 kHz is used.
Tomi Engdahl says:
What level of smartphone should you buy?
http://www.edn.com/design/consumer/4442033/What-level-smartphone-should-you-buy-?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160517&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_today_20160517&elqTrackId=8d6deb08b2bf47919d2afac0cb996b78&elq=c4dc288691804341ae6bedaac8baf779&elqaid=32280&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=28193
Despite the slowing growth of the smartphone market, innovation in smartphones is not dead. Display resolutions, camera image resolutions, audio quality, and graphics processing all continue to improve the user experience, but the improvements tend to be more incremental, rather than the big leaps of previous generations. In addition, features once reserved for the premium smartphones just a few years ago are now available on the most basic entry level phone. As a result, the improvements are not always obvious to consumers. This begs the question: what level phone should you buy?
It is also becoming more difficult to compare phones because of multiple display sizes and a variety of chipsets with wide specification variations. For consumers, comparing phones often comes down to looking for features on a fact sheet or comparing cryptic benchmarking numbers. The result is that many reviewers are promoting mid-range phones over premium phones, similar to what happened in the PC segment where the general advice is to focus on obtaining the most memory and storage for the desired price, not the processor. To understand differences between phones and ranges of phones, I’ve compared a representative group of Android phones side-by-side.
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What level of smartphone should you buy?
Jim McGregor -May 16, 2016
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Beyond the benchmarks
The value of testing multiple phones is the opportunity to compare the features and observe the performance of the phones side-by-side. In this case, the GPU and the display had the greatest impact on the potential user experience. While the difference between GPU performance was minimal on some of the tests, it was dramatic when the GPU was put to the test with rich graphics and 4k video. And, the AMOLED displays on the Galaxy phones look much nicer than the LCD display on the Mate 8.
Another critical user experience issue is battery life. While there are no specific benchmarks to test battery life, I did try to get some feel for the anticipated battery life by matching the setting on the phones as much as possible and checking the battery level before and after the testing process.
Unfortunately, the other factor that can have a significant impact on the user experience, the network connection, I could not test. The network connection is greatly influenced by the carrier and infrastructure.
It would seem that the definition of a “premium phone” varies from vendor to vendor and not all flagship phones classify as premium phones. While all three smartphones tested support what are considered premium features, the actual performance is drastically different from what one might assume.
Personally, I tend to fall into the category of users that is lengthening out the time between phone upgrades. I have been disenchanted with the move to non-expandable storage and non-removable batteries, which is common with many of the recent flagship phones, because I would prefer to keep the phone longer and/or pass it on to another family member.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Android Pay Debuts in the UK, no need to unlock device when you tap for sales under £30
http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/18/android-pay-debuts-in-the-uk-no-need-to-unlock-device-when-you-tap-for-sales-under-30/
Ahead of Google’s annual I/O event kicking off later today in Mountain View, the company is unveiling its latest developments for Android Pay. The mobile wallet for Android-powered smartphones is opening for business in the UK — its first market outside the U.S. (where it launched in September 2015) — starting out on NFC-enabled Android devices running KitKat 4.4 or later.
Android Pay will let you make purchases of £30 (about $43) and under with a single tap after you upload a Visa- or MasterCard-based credit or debit card from one of the banks supporting the service (see below). No need to unlock the phone unless the price is higher.
This news also signals more developments on the international front: Google also said it will soon be turning Android Pay on soon in Singapore and Australia.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft is selling its feature phone business to Foxconn for $350 million
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/18/11699660/microsoft-foxconn-feature-phone-sale
Microsoft is selling its feature phone business to FIH Mobile, a subsidiary of Foxconn, for $350 million. The deal will see 4,500 employees transfer over to Foxconn’s subsidiary, and Microsoft handing over the rights to use the Nokia brand, feature phone software, services, and other contracts and supply agreements. Nokia is now planning to license its brand to a newly created company called HMD global, which will produce and sell a range of Android smartphones and tablets.
This deal will only affect Microsoft’s feature phone business, which is currently still using the Nokia brand for basic phones. Microsoft says it will continue to develop Windows 10 Mobile and support Lumia phones and Windows Phone devices from partners like Acer, Alcatel, HP, Trinity and VAIO.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia is coming back to phones and tablets
The brand will be revived through new licensing agreement
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/18/11699702/nokia-is-coming-back-to-phones-and-tablets
With Microsoft’s epic mishandling of Nokia’s mobile business coming to an end today, a new chapter for the storied Finnish brand is about to begin. Nokia has just announced that it will license its brand and intellectual property to a newly created company called HMD global, which will work to produce and sell a portfolio of Android smartphones and tablets.
HMD global is based in Finland and will be led by Arto Nummela, a Nokia veteran who moved to Microsoft when the latter company took over the former’s mobile business. The new company has agreed a conditional deal with Microsoft to acquire the rights to use the Nokia name on featurephones along with some related design rights. Nummela will be installed as CEO once that transaction is completed, which is expected to happen by the end of June.
Foxconn’s participation in this is also interesting. Its subsidiary FIH Mobile is the company that today picked up the remnants of Nokia’s former featurephone business from Microsoft for $350 million. HMD global and FIH already have a collaborative agreement in place “to support the building of a global business for Nokia-branded mobile phones and tablets.” The Nokia N1 tablet was built by Foxconn in partnership with Nokia and the new HMD venture, while claiming independence, appears to be a formalization of that budding relationship.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dan Seifert / The Verge:
Android Wear 2.0 hands-on: new interface is much improved and easier to use, third-party complications are useful, but the QWERTY keyboard is not impressive
A first look at Android Wear 2.0
http://www.theverge.com/2016/5/18/11699054/google-android-wear-2-0-hands-on-i-o
One of the surprise announcements from Google’s keynote session at I / O this year was Android Wear 2.0. Wear 2.0 is a major update to the platform — the biggest update yet, according to the company — and is designed to make Android Wear devices more functional and independent than they’ve ever been before.
There are three new highlights in the platform: a new, darker user interface with an all-new carousel app launcher; intelligent message replies that provide suggestions when you receive a message and a new handwriting and full-QWERTY keyboard; and new third-party app complications that can be used with both Google’s and third-party watch faces.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google brings Android Pay to ATMs, Chrome and more apps
http://techcrunch.com/2016/05/18/google-brings-android-pay-to-atms-chrome-and-more-apps/
After announcing the expansion of Android Pay in the U.K. earlier today, Google also made a few additional announcements around its mobile payments service at its I/O developer conference today.
Pali Bhat, Google’s senior director of product management for Android Pay, told me that one and a half million users in the U.S. now set up Android Pay on their phones every month. “We’re very excited with all the momentum we’ve seen since we launched,” he said.
To push this momentum forward, though, the company knows it has to figure out how to make using mobile payments as easy and convenient as using a credit card or cash.
For users, maybe the most interesting update today is that Android Pay will now work at some ATMs. For now, the company is only working with Bank of America on this project, but others will likely follow in the future. Thanks to this, you will soon be able to roll up to a Bank of America ATM, tap your phone and make a withdrawal (which is good news in case you forgot your wallet at home but not your phone, I guess).
The company previously only worked with a select group of developers to test its Android Pay integrations (think Uber, Yelp, Eat24 and Ticketmaster), but the service is now live for any developer who wants to integrate it into apps that sell physical goods and services (only in markets where Android Pay is available, of course).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Stephen Hall / 9to5Google:
Android apps and the Google Play Store are coming to Chrome OS — It looks like there’s a little tidbit of information that might have been originally planned for the keynote (pulled because of time restraints, maybe?). According to a session description now on the Google I/O website …
It’s official: Android apps and the Play Store are coming to Chrome
http://9to5google.com/2016/05/18/its-official-android-apps-and-the-play-store-are-coming-to-chrome/
It looks like there’s a little tidbit of information that might have been originally planned for the keynote (pulled because of time restraints, maybe?). According to a session description now on the Google I/O website, Google “announced” today that the Google Play Store is coming to Chrome…
Today we announced that we’re adding the best mobile app experiences in the world, Android apps and the Google Play store, to the best browser in the world, Chrome! Come to this session and test your Android apps for Chrome OS
This isn’t exactly surprising as we saw evidence that this was in the cards all the way back in April, but it’s cool nonetheless to see it become official.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google unveils Android Instant Apps that launch immediately, no installation required, also works on some older versions of Android
Google unveils Android Instant Apps that launch immediately, no installation required
http://venturebeat.com/2016/05/18/google-unveils-android-instant-apps-that-launch-immediately-no-installation-required/
Google today unveiled Android Instant Apps, a new project the company is experimenting with that offers users a subset of an existing app. The pitch is simple: Instant apps just launch, no installation required. Tapping a URL can open an Instant Android app even if the user doesn’t have the full app installed.
Google envisions use cases related to visiting a place infrequently, or even just once. An app could offer a superior experience to a mobile site, such as when you want to pay for parking, when you’re visiting a museum, or when you’re spending the day at an amusement park. But most people don’t want to download a full-blown app for such times, nor do they want it to stay on their phone after they’re done with it.
If you close an Instant App, it’s essentially gone. It technically lives on in your cache for a few hours, in case you want to open another such link again, but there’s no app on your home screen. Android can reclaim the space if it’s needed. And, if you do want to keep it around, you can install the full app using the Install button in the instant app’s top right corner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wall Street Journal:
Samsung and Alibaba announce that Samsung Pay will work with Alipay
Samsung, Alibaba’s Financial Affiliate to Cooperate on Mobile Payments
South Korean smartphone giant is desperate to revive its position in the Chinese market
http://www.wsj.com/article_email/samsung-alibaba-to-cooperate-on-mobile-payments-1463709639-lMyQjAxMTA2NjI0MDQyNzA1Wj
Samsung Electronics Co. agreed with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s financial-services affiliate to cooperate on mobile payments, as the world’s largest smartphone-maker looks to expand its presence in China, a market where it has struggled in recent years.
In a statement, the companies said Samsung’s mobile payment service, dubbed Samsung Pay, will work with Alibaba affiliate Ant Financial Services Group’s Alipay, which has more than 450 million active registered users.