Thursday 31 January 2013
Apple gets a trademark for their retail store design
Apple has been granted a trademark for the distinctive design
of their chain of retail stores. Although the claim was rejected twice
in the past, Apple managed to successfully convince the US Patent and
Trademark office the third time with a lengthy, 122-page document
detailing the reasons.
The trademark includes use of items such as a paneled facade of glass, recessed lighting units and lined rectangular tables, but as usual, the trademark is for the sum of parts rather than any individual item.
While it’s easy to look at this and scoff, it’s fairly common practice for companies to get a trademark on a distinctive design that they have come up with, with examples such as the shape of the Coca-Cola bottle or the Swiss Federal Railways watch face that Apple was recently found using in iOS. A trademark by definition is a ‘recognizable sign, design or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others’ and differs from a patent. But while other store designers can still use individual elements of Apple’s store (as many do), if the final result ends up looking exactly like an Apple Store, they better lawyer up.
Source
The trademark includes use of items such as a paneled facade of glass, recessed lighting units and lined rectangular tables, but as usual, the trademark is for the sum of parts rather than any individual item.
While it’s easy to look at this and scoff, it’s fairly common practice for companies to get a trademark on a distinctive design that they have come up with, with examples such as the shape of the Coca-Cola bottle or the Swiss Federal Railways watch face that Apple was recently found using in iOS. A trademark by definition is a ‘recognizable sign, design or expression which identifies products or services of a particular source from those of others’ and differs from a patent. But while other store designers can still use individual elements of Apple’s store (as many do), if the final result ends up looking exactly like an Apple Store, they better lawyer up.
Source
Skype will soon be available on BlackBerry 10 smartphones
Skype, the popular instant messenger is heading towards the BlackBerry OS. The application will soon be available on BlackBerry 10 OS, which was officially announced today.
BlackBerry has also announced a wide range of new applications and media partnerships for its revamped OS and this move should surely help the OS to compete against the likes of Android and iOS.
Unfortunately, there are no confirmations on the exact arrival and the availability of the app on the BlackBerry Store.
BlackBerry has also announced a wide range of new applications and media partnerships for its revamped OS and this move should surely help the OS to compete against the likes of Android and iOS.
Unfortunately, there are no confirmations on the exact arrival and the availability of the app on the BlackBerry Store.
Does the BlackBerry Z10 look like the Apple iPhone 5?
The BlackBerry Z10 is finally official and its announcement caused an
argument here in the office. Since we couldn’t reach an agreement, we
had to turn to you our readers and hope you would be kind enough to
settle it for us. Take a look at the picture below.
On the left, we have the newly unveiled BlackBerry Z10 and on the right we have the Apple iPhone 5. The question is simple – does the Z10 look like the iPhone 5? The GSMArena team is split in two on the matter.
Me, Chip and Peter think that the Z10′s design steers clear of the iPhone’s cold metallic look and involves some nice ideas of its own. Of course there aren’t too many ways to design a full touch smartphones and the Z10 does have rounded edges and flat sides, but the differences are more than the similarities.
On the other side we have Johnny, Kyle and Nick, who think that BlackBerry completely stole the iPhone 5′s styling and this is most obvious when you look at the picture above. The outlines of the two smartphones are similar and there are enough other similarities between the two so they look identical from a distance.
What do you guys think?
On the left, we have the newly unveiled BlackBerry Z10 and on the right we have the Apple iPhone 5. The question is simple – does the Z10 look like the iPhone 5? The GSMArena team is split in two on the matter.
Me, Chip and Peter think that the Z10′s design steers clear of the iPhone’s cold metallic look and involves some nice ideas of its own. Of course there aren’t too many ways to design a full touch smartphones and the Z10 does have rounded edges and flat sides, but the differences are more than the similarities.
On the other side we have Johnny, Kyle and Nick, who think that BlackBerry completely stole the iPhone 5′s styling and this is most obvious when you look at the picture above. The outlines of the two smartphones are similar and there are enough other similarities between the two so they look identical from a distance.
What do you guys think?
BlackBerry chief confirms BB10 update for all the existing PlayBooks
BlackBerry’s latest BlackBerry 10 OS will be available for all
the existing PlayBook tablets, confirmed Thorsten Heins, during the
Q&A session after the platform’s launch. The different variants of
the 7″ PlayBook tablets will soon be on the latest version of the OS.
According to Heins, BlackBerry is currently trying to figure a way to sell the tablet with services to bring in more cash as the company is not making sufficient profits by just selling the hardware.
BlackBerry’s goal is to quickly become the third biggest name in the smartphone market, but will it be able to achieve its goals anytime soon? Let’s wait and watch.
Source
According to Heins, BlackBerry is currently trying to figure a way to sell the tablet with services to bring in more cash as the company is not making sufficient profits by just selling the hardware.
BlackBerry’s goal is to quickly become the third biggest name in the smartphone market, but will it be able to achieve its goals anytime soon? Let’s wait and watch.
Source
ZTE's 5.7" Grand Memo teased before its launch at MWC
ZTE Grand Memo, which is all
set to be made official at the upcoming Mobile World Congress has been
teased by the company at an event held at Hong Kong.
The ZTE Grand Memo is said to sport a 5.7" 720p display, Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor as well as a 13 megapixel camera. The phablet runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and has an 8mm thick body. Furthermore, the phone is said to include a microSD card slot and features the "one-hand" T9 keyboard.
The folks at Engadget were able to get their hands on the device and they claim the device looks identical to the P945, with all of the changes happening under the hood.
ZTE will also be bringing another smartphone called Mozilla to the MWC. ZTE Mozilla as the name suggests, will be powered by the Firefox OS. ZTE's launch event has been scheduled for Monday, February 25 the official hash tags for the announcements have been declared as #ZTEGrandMemo and #ZTEMozilla.
Source
The ZTE Grand Memo is said to sport a 5.7" 720p display, Snapdragon S4 Pro chipset with a 1.7 GHz quad-core processor as well as a 13 megapixel camera. The phablet runs on Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and has an 8mm thick body. Furthermore, the phone is said to include a microSD card slot and features the "one-hand" T9 keyboard.
The folks at Engadget were able to get their hands on the device and they claim the device looks identical to the P945, with all of the changes happening under the hood.
ZTE will also be bringing another smartphone called Mozilla to the MWC. ZTE Mozilla as the name suggests, will be powered by the Firefox OS. ZTE's launch event has been scheduled for Monday, February 25 the official hash tags for the announcements have been declared as #ZTEGrandMemo and #ZTEMozilla.
Source
A look inside the new BlackBerry 10 mobile OS
The latest iteration of the
BlackBerry OS has been in the works for over two years before it went
official earlier today. With dropping market share and countless
unexciting QWERTY devices in recent years, the pressure was on for
BlackBerry to provide a capable smartphone experience that will get them
back in the game.
Now, direct from the BlackBerry 10 launch event, we've summarized all of the key features of the new OS, so you can see just what the formerly known as RIM company managed to cook up.
The biggest highlight is BlackBerry Flow, which the company hailed as featuring true multitasking, where your opened apps can run simultaneously and you get seamless transition between them. BlackBerry Peek allows you to drag the Hub in from the sides of the screen, so you can see what runs in the background, while the currently open app continues to run.
Contacts feature full BBM integration (for other BB10 users), and all sorts of social networking features.
The BlackBerry Hub represents the core of BB10, and has been redesigned to feature deep social integration, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It acts as a central location from where you can quickly switch between your active applications, contacts, and others.
The keyboard is BlackBerry's attempt at extreme optimization of the smartphone messaging experience, and it features some very nifty tricks such as the ability to "flick" words that show up on the keypad for quicker typing. You can also swipe left anywhere to delete the most recent word entered, while missed spaces are entered automatically. There's also seamless Multi-language support.
By swiping upwards on a homescreen, BlackBerry Balance allows users to quickly move between different user environments, such as one for work and one for leisure.
There are apps designed specifically for each environment, such as an app store specifically for business applications, and one for home. Opened business applications are denoted by a small briefcase icon in BlackBerry Hub.
BlackBerry Messenger has been upgraded to offer video calls and BBM Screenshare. The latter allows you to share either the phone's screen or what's shot by the primary camera, during the video call.
The BlackBerry camera features Timeshift, which allows you to take several photos and combine the best elements from each of them, similar to Nokia's Smart Shoot lens with Scalado technology.
There's also an integrated picture editor that lets you apply photo effects, and a Story Maker which lets you make a collage by combining multiple photos, video clips and music tracks. You just insert the multimedia content and the app will automatically compose a video clip complete with soundtrack.
Unfortunately, BlackBerry did not get into specifics regarding the browsing experience provided by BlackBerry 10 (although Alicia Keys was pretty psyched about it). What we do know is the BlackBerry 10 browser scored some truly impressive marks at the html5test.com, while still in beta.
For more on BlackBerry 10, you can check out our overview of the new BlackBerry flagships, the Z10 and Q10.
Now, direct from the BlackBerry 10 launch event, we've summarized all of the key features of the new OS, so you can see just what the formerly known as RIM company managed to cook up.
The biggest highlight is BlackBerry Flow, which the company hailed as featuring true multitasking, where your opened apps can run simultaneously and you get seamless transition between them. BlackBerry Peek allows you to drag the Hub in from the sides of the screen, so you can see what runs in the background, while the currently open app continues to run.
Contacts feature full BBM integration (for other BB10 users), and all sorts of social networking features.
The BlackBerry Hub represents the core of BB10, and has been redesigned to feature deep social integration, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. It acts as a central location from where you can quickly switch between your active applications, contacts, and others.
The keyboard is BlackBerry's attempt at extreme optimization of the smartphone messaging experience, and it features some very nifty tricks such as the ability to "flick" words that show up on the keypad for quicker typing. You can also swipe left anywhere to delete the most recent word entered, while missed spaces are entered automatically. There's also seamless Multi-language support.
By swiping upwards on a homescreen, BlackBerry Balance allows users to quickly move between different user environments, such as one for work and one for leisure.
There are apps designed specifically for each environment, such as an app store specifically for business applications, and one for home. Opened business applications are denoted by a small briefcase icon in BlackBerry Hub.
BlackBerry Messenger has been upgraded to offer video calls and BBM Screenshare. The latter allows you to share either the phone's screen or what's shot by the primary camera, during the video call.
The BlackBerry camera features Timeshift, which allows you to take several photos and combine the best elements from each of them, similar to Nokia's Smart Shoot lens with Scalado technology.
There's also an integrated picture editor that lets you apply photo effects, and a Story Maker which lets you make a collage by combining multiple photos, video clips and music tracks. You just insert the multimedia content and the app will automatically compose a video clip complete with soundtrack.
Unfortunately, BlackBerry did not get into specifics regarding the browsing experience provided by BlackBerry 10 (although Alicia Keys was pretty psyched about it). What we do know is the BlackBerry 10 browser scored some truly impressive marks at the html5test.com, while still in beta.
For more on BlackBerry 10, you can check out our overview of the new BlackBerry flagships, the Z10 and Q10.
RIM Becomes Blackberry, New OS Blackberry 10 Launched, Z10 and Q10 Smartphones Announced
Today is a big day at Blackberry, which is now a company than just a
smartphone brand. RIM today announced that it has renamed and rebranded
itself to become Blackberry company – the name it has been using for its
smartphones since the beginning.
The much anticipated Blackberry 10 Launch event is going to serve as a last hope for the company to revive back. Its a make or break situation. Apparently the chances are minimal but, there’s a hope.
Best chances the Blackberry has is with its newly launched OS, the Blackberry 10, which is already getting positive reviews. It is an entirely revamped OS with wonderful features. However, both newly announced phones – the Z10 and Q10 – aren’t the stunners.
Stock quotes for Blackberry are flying low and it is feared that it could hit the USD 6 mark, the lowest in the history. Analyst say that Blackberry’s strange decision of delaying the availability of Z10 and Q10 in US market is going to play rough with the market trend for the firm.
Blackberry has said that Z10 and Q10 will hit US market in March only while they are launching both the devices in UK tomorrow.
More details about the Blackberry 10 OS are covered in a separate post. Here we will rundown the specification for both the Z10 and Q10 devices.
Z10 – the flagship smartphone from Blackberry – is a high-end device to run on Blackberry 10.
Available in Black and White colours, the Z10 is a compact and solid built smartphone. Running on a 1.5 Ghz dual core processor – backed with 2GB RAM – the Z10 boosts a 4.2″ LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 768 x 1280 pixels, which puts it in HD category.
There is a 8MP camera on the rear supported by enhanced native app with filters and stabilization. Font facing 2MB camera can be used for MMB videos.
Early testers said that battery life for Z10 is disappointing, which is a shame.
Here are other specs for Blackberry Z10:
The Z10 is said to hit UAE on February 10 and will be available for an unsubsidized price of AED2,599 or Rs. 70,000.
Blackberry Q10 comes with physical QWERTY keyboard, a relief for many avid Blackberry users.
Q10 looks like typical Blackberry devices that will now run on Blackberry 10 OS, the Q10 on a 3.1 inch Super AMOLED display. There is a 2GM RAM support with more room with expandable MicroSD card.
Here are further specs for the Q10:
The much anticipated Blackberry 10 Launch event is going to serve as a last hope for the company to revive back. Its a make or break situation. Apparently the chances are minimal but, there’s a hope.
Best chances the Blackberry has is with its newly launched OS, the Blackberry 10, which is already getting positive reviews. It is an entirely revamped OS with wonderful features. However, both newly announced phones – the Z10 and Q10 – aren’t the stunners.
Stock quotes for Blackberry are flying low and it is feared that it could hit the USD 6 mark, the lowest in the history. Analyst say that Blackberry’s strange decision of delaying the availability of Z10 and Q10 in US market is going to play rough with the market trend for the firm.
Blackberry has said that Z10 and Q10 will hit US market in March only while they are launching both the devices in UK tomorrow.
More details about the Blackberry 10 OS are covered in a separate post. Here we will rundown the specification for both the Z10 and Q10 devices.
Blackberry Z10
Z10 – the flagship smartphone from Blackberry – is a high-end device to run on Blackberry 10.Available in Black and White colours, the Z10 is a compact and solid built smartphone. Running on a 1.5 Ghz dual core processor – backed with 2GB RAM – the Z10 boosts a 4.2″ LCD touchscreen with a resolution of 768 x 1280 pixels, which puts it in HD category.
There is a 8MP camera on the rear supported by enhanced native app with filters and stabilization. Font facing 2MB camera can be used for MMB videos.
Early testers said that battery life for Z10 is disappointing, which is a shame.
Here are other specs for Blackberry Z10:
- OS: BlackBerry 10 OS
- Chipset: Qualcomm MSM8960 Snapdragon
- CPU: Dual-core 1.5 GHz Krait
- GPU: Adreno 225
- Design:
- Dimensions: 130 x 65.6 x 9 mm
- Weight: 135 g
- Display:
- Type: Capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Size: 768 x 1280 pixels, 4.2 inches (~355 ppi pixel density)
- Memory:
- Card slot: microSD, up to 32 GB
- Internal: 16 GB storage, 2 GB RAM
- Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual band, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, NFC, USB
- Camera:
- Primary: 8 MP, 3264 x 2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash
- Secondary: 2 MP, 720p@30fps
- Battery: Li-Ion 1800 mAh battery
The Z10 is said to hit UAE on February 10 and will be available for an unsubsidized price of AED2,599 or Rs. 70,000.
Blackberry Q10
Blackberry Q10 comes with physical QWERTY keyboard, a relief for many avid Blackberry users.Q10 looks like typical Blackberry devices that will now run on Blackberry 10 OS, the Q10 on a 3.1 inch Super AMOLED display. There is a 2GM RAM support with more room with expandable MicroSD card.
Here are further specs for the Q10:
- OS: BlackBerry 10 OS
- Chipset: TI OMAP 4470
- CPU: Dual-core 1.5 GHz Cortex-A9
- GPU: PowerVR SGX544
- Design:
- Weight: 139 g
- Display:
- Type: Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors
- Size: 720 x 720 pixels, 3.1 inches (~328 ppi pixel density)
- Memory:
- Card slot: microSD, up to 32 GB
- Internal: 2 GB RAM
- Connectivity: GPRS, EDGE, HSDPA, HUSPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, dual band, WiFi Hotspot, Bluetooth v4.0 with A2DP, NFC, USB
- Camera:
- Primary and Front Facing Camera
- Battery: Li-Ion 1800 mAh battery
Wednesday 30 January 2013
Tuesday 29 January 2013
Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 gets special Garnet Red Edition, costs $220 with a bonus book cover
Samsung must really love the Garnet Red color – first the
Galaxy S III got that color option, then the Note II and the Galaxy S
III mini followed suit and now it’s turn for the Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0. It’s a special edition that will arrive just in time for a Valentine’s day gift.
The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Garnet Red Edition comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of box (the base model got it as an update) and Samsung is throwing in a matching Garnet Red book cover (those go for $50 if bought separately).
Other than that the device is unchanged – you still get a 7” 1024 x 600 PLS LCD screen (170ppi), dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU and PowerVR SGX540 GPU, microSD card slot and built-in IR remote.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Garnet Red Edition will be available at Amazon.com, Walmart, Office Depot, Fry’s, Tiger Direct, Toys”R”Us and other retailers for $220 (keep in mind the $50 cover that comes with it). It’s a limited edition, so it will be available while supplies last. The black and white versions are available as usual ($200, a red book cover is available for $50).
The hardware is a bit old, so before you decide to get one, you should take a look at the Nexus 7 ($200, 216ppi screen, quad-core CPU, no microSD card slot) and the Barnes & Noble Nook HD ($200, 243ppi screen, heavily customized UI). Neither of them is available in red though.
The Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Garnet Red Edition comes with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean out of box (the base model got it as an update) and Samsung is throwing in a matching Garnet Red book cover (those go for $50 if bought separately).
Other than that the device is unchanged – you still get a 7” 1024 x 600 PLS LCD screen (170ppi), dual-core Cortex-A9 CPU and PowerVR SGX540 GPU, microSD card slot and built-in IR remote.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 7.0 Garnet Red Edition will be available at Amazon.com, Walmart, Office Depot, Fry’s, Tiger Direct, Toys”R”Us and other retailers for $220 (keep in mind the $50 cover that comes with it). It’s a limited edition, so it will be available while supplies last. The black and white versions are available as usual ($200, a red book cover is available for $50).
The hardware is a bit old, so before you decide to get one, you should take a look at the Nexus 7 ($200, 216ppi screen, quad-core CPU, no microSD card slot) and the Barnes & Noble Nook HD ($200, 243ppi screen, heavily customized UI). Neither of them is available in red though.
ZTE announces the 8-inch V81 slate with a 4:3 display
ZTE has unveiled the V81 slate featuring an 8-inch 4:3 display with a resolution of 1024×768 pixels, which is ready to take on the Apple’s iPad mini and Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 8.0.
The ZTE V81 is powered by a dual-core 1.4GHz processor and comes with 1GB RAM.
The rest of the specs include 4GB of internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot, a 2MP rear and a 0.3MP front snappers, a 3.5mm audio jack, an HDMI port and a 3700 mAh battery. The connectivity package has 3G with HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and USB. There is no info on GSM connectivity and NFC, so we have to assume they won’t be available on the V81. Update: According to the official specs sheet, it will support GSM connectivity and most probably GSM telephony too.
ZTE V81 stands at 200x156x11.07 mm and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
There is no info on the pricing and availability though. I guess the slate will debut at the MWC next month in Barcelona as ZTE usually brings plenty of new devices to the capital of Catalonia .
Source
The ZTE V81 is powered by a dual-core 1.4GHz processor and comes with 1GB RAM.
The rest of the specs include 4GB of internal storage expandable via a microSD card slot, a 2MP rear and a 0.3MP front snappers, a 3.5mm audio jack, an HDMI port and a 3700 mAh battery. The connectivity package has 3G with HSPA, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and USB. There is no info on GSM connectivity and NFC, so we have to assume they won’t be available on the V81. Update: According to the official specs sheet, it will support GSM connectivity and most probably GSM telephony too.
ZTE V81 stands at 200x156x11.07 mm and runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
There is no info on the pricing and availability though. I guess the slate will debut at the MWC next month in Barcelona as ZTE usually brings plenty of new devices to the capital of Catalonia .
Source
NVIDIA allegedly to manufacture low-cost Android devices for other companies
Following the rather modest success of the Tegra platform in
the smartphone and tablet segment, it seems NVIDIA is now gunning for a
bigger share of the pie, so far dominated by the likes of Qualcomm and
Mediatek.
According to Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-review.com, NVIDIA is planning on manufacturing smartphones and tablets of its own and will be selling them to companies to be rebranded and sold under their brand.
The plan is to manufacture reference designs for smartphones and tablets, the way they do it for their computer graphic cards (or Intel does for their phones). Then, instead of selling these designs under their own brand name, NVIDIA will license it to companies, who will then rebrand them and sell it in markets around the world. We already see this happening a lot in markets such as Russia and India, where several companies are selling what are essentially cheap, China-made devices under their own brand name.
What this will do is help increase the penetration of the Tegra platform, especially into the budget handset market, which undeniably forms the major portion of all the Android device sales.
This plan is expected to go into action by May-June this year, with both budget as well as premium tablets being released under various brand names that may or may not have the NVIDIA logo on them.
Via • Source
According to Eldar Murtazin of Mobile-review.com, NVIDIA is planning on manufacturing smartphones and tablets of its own and will be selling them to companies to be rebranded and sold under their brand.
The plan is to manufacture reference designs for smartphones and tablets, the way they do it for their computer graphic cards (or Intel does for their phones). Then, instead of selling these designs under their own brand name, NVIDIA will license it to companies, who will then rebrand them and sell it in markets around the world. We already see this happening a lot in markets such as Russia and India, where several companies are selling what are essentially cheap, China-made devices under their own brand name.
What this will do is help increase the penetration of the Tegra platform, especially into the budget handset market, which undeniably forms the major portion of all the Android device sales.
This plan is expected to go into action by May-June this year, with both budget as well as premium tablets being released under various brand names that may or may not have the NVIDIA logo on them.
Via • Source
Monday 28 January 2013
808 Pureview Turns Out to be The Last Symbian Phone from Nokia
This is a bad news for the Symbian fans among us. After decades of
working with the OS — which lead the mobile phone race by distance —
Nokia has finally announced that it’s ditching Symbian for Windows Phone
OS.
Needless to say, the decision was expected given the success of Lumia and Asha series of phones.
Although the decision, I think, came quicker than it should’ve as the company still sold 2.2 million of Symbian devices in the last quarter, Nokia has finally decided to call it a day on the OS.
Compared to those 2.2M phones, 4.4 million phones of the lumia series were sold and an even more astonishing 9.3 million phones of the Asha series. The devices which contributed to those 2.2 million phones were unarguably the Nokia 808 Pureview and the N8.
This cuts the race down to 2 OS in the Nokia team and the smartphone race to 1. With no Symbian phones left, Nokia can now fully concentrate on the phones which sell the most. In case you don’t know, a Windows Phone with a better Pureview camera is expected to be released this year.
The Lumia 920, Nokia’s current flagship also boasts a Pureview camera but doesn’t yields quite nearly as good results.
So this is the end of Symbian. So long old fella. We hope you rest in peace. Long Live Lumia.
Needless to say, the decision was expected given the success of Lumia and Asha series of phones.
Although the decision, I think, came quicker than it should’ve as the company still sold 2.2 million of Symbian devices in the last quarter, Nokia has finally decided to call it a day on the OS.
Compared to those 2.2M phones, 4.4 million phones of the lumia series were sold and an even more astonishing 9.3 million phones of the Asha series. The devices which contributed to those 2.2 million phones were unarguably the Nokia 808 Pureview and the N8.
The Nokia 808 PureView, a device which showcases our imaging capabilities and which came to market in mid-2012, was the last Symbian device from Nokia.The last Symbian device, the 808 Pureview boasted the best camera among all its competitors with a 41 megapixel sensor with Carl Zeiss lens and Pureview camera technology, not to mention the special ‘looseless zoom’ feature. Most of this technology was built by Nokia themselves in house.
This cuts the race down to 2 OS in the Nokia team and the smartphone race to 1. With no Symbian phones left, Nokia can now fully concentrate on the phones which sell the most. In case you don’t know, a Windows Phone with a better Pureview camera is expected to be released this year.
The Lumia 920, Nokia’s current flagship also boasts a Pureview camera but doesn’t yields quite nearly as good results.
So this is the end of Symbian. So long old fella. We hope you rest in peace. Long Live Lumia.
Saturday 26 January 2013
Nokia updates its maps – supports more countries and roads
Nokia has updated the map data, which is used on its
navigation apps – such as Nokia Maps and Nokia Drive for Windows Phone,
as well as the here.com web service.
The update includes three new regions, more detailed coverage in some of the previously supported areas as well as new or amended roads in various countries worldwide.
The three new regions entering the services are Israel, Serbia and Kosovo. They got detailed road maps and satellite views like the others.
Russia, Norway and Sweden maps now offer higher detail levels in woods areas for better orientation. The pedestrian paths also got updated with more routes to include lesser known parks. Greece, France and Ireland maps now offer better detail in less populated areas too.
Finally, the maps various countries were updated with new roads. For example 133 000 km of new roads were added to the UK map.
So, if you are using a Nokia mapping solution and you are using offline maps, now is a good time to check for updates.
Source
The update includes three new regions, more detailed coverage in some of the previously supported areas as well as new or amended roads in various countries worldwide.
The three new regions entering the services are Israel, Serbia and Kosovo. They got detailed road maps and satellite views like the others.
Russia, Norway and Sweden maps now offer higher detail levels in woods areas for better orientation. The pedestrian paths also got updated with more routes to include lesser known parks. Greece, France and Ireland maps now offer better detail in less populated areas too.
Finally, the maps various countries were updated with new roads. For example 133 000 km of new roads were added to the UK map.
So, if you are using a Nokia mapping solution and you are using offline maps, now is a good time to check for updates.
Source
BitTorrent Sync joins the cloud storage race, hopes to use the BitTorrent network to beat Dropbox
Creators of the BitTorrent open source protocol have launched
their own cloud storage service called BitTorrent Sync and it is rather
unsurprisingly, based on the same protocol.
The service comes with its own application allowing users to store and sync folders to multiple devices. Interestingly, the service offers unlimited amount of storage making it a match made in heaven for large teams who collaborate on large files.
It works just as any cloud storage solution out there with the little detail that BitTorrent Sync omits the server part. This means that you’re essentially creating your own “cloud” between you and parties you choose using the help of the little app.
The advantage this gives you is that no third-party has access to your files and there aren’t any messed up privacy policies involved.
Currently, BitTorrent Sync is in pre-alpha development stage with the company gradually inviting users to give its latest service a test run. The app is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and you can apply for an invite from the source link below.
Source | Via
The service comes with its own application allowing users to store and sync folders to multiple devices. Interestingly, the service offers unlimited amount of storage making it a match made in heaven for large teams who collaborate on large files.
It works just as any cloud storage solution out there with the little detail that BitTorrent Sync omits the server part. This means that you’re essentially creating your own “cloud” between you and parties you choose using the help of the little app.
The advantage this gives you is that no third-party has access to your files and there aren’t any messed up privacy policies involved.
Currently, BitTorrent Sync is in pre-alpha development stage with the company gradually inviting users to give its latest service a test run. The app is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X and you can apply for an invite from the source link below.
Source | Via
Get $200 off current-gen MacBook Airs over at Best Buy this weekend
Starting today, BestBuy has a great deal on the current-gen
MacBook Airs. You can buy them for $200 off Apple’s regular retail
price.
I’ve never seen Apple products get such a deep discount – the prices are lower than those of Apple’s refurbished stock of MacBook Airs. I don’t know about you, but I had to double check that it’s not Black Friday all over again.
I am not implying in any way that there isn’t a more sensible ultrabook buy than the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Airs, but if you are on the market for one, this is a deal you just can’t pass on. Of course, the entry-level 11-inch notebook ($799.99) has some measly 64 gigs worth of storage, but I guess that both versions are acceptable in their respective 128GB flavors. Here are two quick links:
13-inch MacBook Air 128GB – $999.99
11-inch MacBook Air 128GB – $899.99
In case you are wondering, aside from the bigger display size, the 13-inch one has a higher resolution screen, a faster CPU and an SD card reader.
Then of course, we shouldn’t forget that come this summer, Apple will probably introduce a new-gen MacBook Airs and rumors say these would have Retina screens, among other things. But as we saw with the MacBook Pro with a Retina screen – this thing comes with a premium of up to $500, so I would guess a $200 discount on the current gen would still be a good score even 6 months from now.
The deal starts today and will run tomorrow, too, but stock is limited so if you are thinking of making a move, you better make it fast.
Via
I’ve never seen Apple products get such a deep discount – the prices are lower than those of Apple’s refurbished stock of MacBook Airs. I don’t know about you, but I had to double check that it’s not Black Friday all over again.
I am not implying in any way that there isn’t a more sensible ultrabook buy than the 11- and 13-inch MacBook Airs, but if you are on the market for one, this is a deal you just can’t pass on. Of course, the entry-level 11-inch notebook ($799.99) has some measly 64 gigs worth of storage, but I guess that both versions are acceptable in their respective 128GB flavors. Here are two quick links:
13-inch MacBook Air 128GB – $999.99
11-inch MacBook Air 128GB – $899.99
In case you are wondering, aside from the bigger display size, the 13-inch one has a higher resolution screen, a faster CPU and an SD card reader.
Then of course, we shouldn’t forget that come this summer, Apple will probably introduce a new-gen MacBook Airs and rumors say these would have Retina screens, among other things. But as we saw with the MacBook Pro with a Retina screen – this thing comes with a premium of up to $500, so I would guess a $200 discount on the current gen would still be a good score even 6 months from now.
The deal starts today and will run tomorrow, too, but stock is limited so if you are thinking of making a move, you better make it fast.
Via
Alpha version of the Jelly Bean ROM for Xperia T now available
Those first rumors of the update being released turned out to be a hoax, but Sony seems to be working hard on bringing Jelly Bean to its Xperia T
flagship (and probably other smartphones too). The company just
released alpha version of the ROM to any one who can't wait any more.
To install the ROM you'll need an unlocked Xperia T, and you'll have to unlock your boot loader and follow some instructions. Keep in mind that according to Sony, unlocking a bootloader will prevent you from getting the real update when it's released and is an irreversible action.
The alpha version of the ROM is quite poor though and is recommended only for developers. All connectivity services are NOT working as Sony is still waiting for an approval from the authorities - GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC and FM radio are a no-go.
Also, the UI is not yet updated to the final Jelly Bean looks and the Google Mobile Services are not pre-installed - so there are no Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, etc.).
Basically this ROM is impossible to use as a daily driver and only good for developers who need to test their apps.
To install the ROM you'll need an unlocked Xperia T, and you'll have to unlock your boot loader and follow some instructions. Keep in mind that according to Sony, unlocking a bootloader will prevent you from getting the real update when it's released and is an irreversible action.
The alpha version of the ROM is quite poor though and is recommended only for developers. All connectivity services are NOT working as Sony is still waiting for an approval from the authorities - GSM, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, NFC and FM radio are a no-go.
Also, the UI is not yet updated to the final Jelly Bean looks and the Google Mobile Services are not pre-installed - so there are no Play Store, Gmail, Google Maps, etc.).
Basically this ROM is impossible to use as a daily driver and only good for developers who need to test their apps.
Huawei now in top 3 smartphone makers as Samsung extends lead
Samsung and Apple have posted
strong Q4 numbers with smartphone shipments reaching tens of millions of
units, but as IDC points out in its latest report they were the only
winners in 2012. Two Chinese companies have now made it to the top 5 of
the smartphone manufacturers, overtaking makers like RIM, LG, HTC and
Nokia in the process.
Huawei's smartphone shipments grew by 89.5% year-over-year, allowing the company to capture 4.9% of the market. This makes the company in third place, even if some way off Apple with 21.8% and Samsung with 29.0% market share for Q4.
In fourth, Sony managed to ship 9.8 million smartphones for a market share of 4.5% in the previous quarter, scoring a nice 55.6% YoY growth. ZTE stands fifth, accounting for 4.3% of all smartphones in Q4.
For the full 2012, the picture is rather different, Samsung holding an even larger advantage over the second-placed Apple.
Nokia and HTC, RIM did enough work in the first three quarters to get third and fourth and fifth spots for the full year, respectively.
Samsung is also king as far as total number of phones sold in Q4 is concerned (smartphones and featurephones). Holding 23% of the market, the Koreans are followed by Nokia, which thanks to its Asha and cheap S30 series of phones managed to climb to the second spot with 19.6% market share. However, the Finns have allowed they shipments to slip 19.5% YoY.
Apple could only manage third here, as it only manufactures smartphones, while the final two top 5 spots are occupied by Huawei and ZTE. is still on top with a market share of 23.7 percent, which is 22.7 percent more over last year's results.
The final numbers released by IDC concern total phone sales in 2012. Samsung accounted for 23.7% of the 1.7 billion hadnsets shipped last year, having a comfortable lead at the top.
Nokia came in second with 19.6% of the market, while Apple was a very distant third with its 8% share. ZTE and LG completed the top 5 list with 3.8% and 3.3% of the shipments, respectively.
Source
Huawei's smartphone shipments grew by 89.5% year-over-year, allowing the company to capture 4.9% of the market. This makes the company in third place, even if some way off Apple with 21.8% and Samsung with 29.0% market share for Q4.
In fourth, Sony managed to ship 9.8 million smartphones for a market share of 4.5% in the previous quarter, scoring a nice 55.6% YoY growth. ZTE stands fifth, accounting for 4.3% of all smartphones in Q4.
For the full 2012, the picture is rather different, Samsung holding an even larger advantage over the second-placed Apple.
Nokia and HTC, RIM did enough work in the first three quarters to get third and fourth and fifth spots for the full year, respectively.
Samsung is also king as far as total number of phones sold in Q4 is concerned (smartphones and featurephones). Holding 23% of the market, the Koreans are followed by Nokia, which thanks to its Asha and cheap S30 series of phones managed to climb to the second spot with 19.6% market share. However, the Finns have allowed they shipments to slip 19.5% YoY.
Apple could only manage third here, as it only manufactures smartphones, while the final two top 5 spots are occupied by Huawei and ZTE. is still on top with a market share of 23.7 percent, which is 22.7 percent more over last year's results.
The final numbers released by IDC concern total phone sales in 2012. Samsung accounted for 23.7% of the 1.7 billion hadnsets shipped last year, having a comfortable lead at the top.
Nokia came in second with 19.6% of the market, while Apple was a very distant third with its 8% share. ZTE and LG completed the top 5 list with 3.8% and 3.3% of the shipments, respectively.
Source
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