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Mobile World Congress Wrap-Phones Galore!

March 1, 2012 by 4 Comments

The Mobile World Congress which started earlier this week in Barcelona is finally wrapping up, with thousands of press releases, a dozen or so keynotes and lots of gossip, rumors and even a brief appearance by Occupy Wall Street Protesters.

We are only interested in a few categories of products of the many that were unveiled, primarily the smartphone and tablet platforms as well as some of the programs and apps that have been introduced, so we will only be giving a brief overview of all of this week’s action.

Tablets
Asus has kept its foot to the accelerator and has added another tablet to its growing lineup, this time the Transformer Pad Infinity. The highlight of the product is the 10-inch Super IPS+ touch screen display that has 1920 x 1200 pixel resolution and a 178 degree viewing angle.

It will be available with two different processors powering the Android 4 device- e available running Qualcomm’s 1.5GHz dual-core S4 processor for the 3G/4G configurations or NVIDIA’s 1.5GHz quad-core Tegra 3 CPU in the Wi-Fi only models. The company also added the Transformer Pad 300 to its lineup as well.

Samsung led off with a pair of tablets, the Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1 and the Tab 2 10.1. The Galaxy Note brings the company’s S Pen stylus to the big screen 10-inch display while the Tab 2 10.1 looks like it will be an entry level offering.

Huawei has delivered what it touts as the first 10-inch quad-core tablet, the MediaPad 10FHD Entertainment tablet that is powered by a Huawei 1.5GHz quad-core processor, runs Google Android 4.0 operating system and has a 10-inch, 1920 x 1200 IPS high definition display screen. It has an 8 megapixel rear automatic-focus camera and a 1.3 megapixel front-facing camera and memory storage of 2G RAM.

Smartphones
One of my favorite items is not even new. Introduced last year, but not delivered and now upgraded in regards to features is the Asus PadFone. I like it because it really seems to adequately serve as two different products, a smartphone and a 10-inch tablet/ small PC computer.


It comes with a 1.5GHz Snapdragon dual core processor, 1GB RAM and an 8 megapixel rear camera. It is its docking ability that separates it from the crowd. T can dock into a -10-inch tablet that resembles the company’s Transformer lineup of tablets, and the resulting tablet in turn can be docked with a keyboard. It seems to have it all. No pricing has been announced but it should be available in April.

Huawei has also moved its quad core processor into the smartphone field with the Ascend D Quad offering that features a 4.5-inch display also running Android 4.0 operating system and using the company’s proprietary power management technology to give it 30% longer battery life.

LG was of course present and making itself known with the quad core LG Optimus 4X HD. Using a Nvidia Tegra processor the phone features a 4.7-inch display (remember when smaller was better in phones?). The company also said that it will be delivering a stylus style phone that will compete with the Samsung Galaxy Note.

Want 3D without needing to wear glasses? Then LG has the phone for you in the Optimus 3D Max which has the ability to record video in 3D. It features a 4.3-inch display with a 1.2GHz dual core Snapdragon processor and a 5 megapixel camera.

Samsung also expanded its offering here with the Samsung Galaxy Beam. The highlight of this phone is in its ability to serve as a projection device, it has a nHD projector capable of projecting an image with a maximum of a 50-inch diagonal.

Intel has gained an ally in establishing its technology in the smartphone space with a partnership with Indian startup Lava. Lava has launched its first Intel-powered smartphone, the Xolo X900. The first two phones in this lineup will use lower end Intel chips including the Atom Z200.

The company, which entered the market as a budget phone provider will move to a higher tier later when it uses Intel’s 1.6GHz Z2460 processor in future offerings. Intel also revealed that Orange will be offering phones powered by Intel’s Atom processors to its United Kingdom and French customers.

Back in the thick of things is Sony, looking to reestablish itself as a player in this space with out its former partner. It had a pair of dual core offerings, the Xperia P and Xperia U. Both are running Android OS 2.3 but should be upgraded in the near future. They have the ability to connect to Sony’s Entertainment Network and are designed for power graphics.

Nokia has been all over the place at the show, with a total of five different phones. The two that we will mention are the Lumia 6100, a mid-market Windows Phone device and one running its soon to be cast off Symbian operating system, the PureView 808, that features a 41 megapixel camera sensor. Aside from the other three entry level phones the company also had a range of new apps for its handsets.

ZTE had a pair of phones, a Windows Phone in the ZTE Orbit and an Android powered ZTE Era.

Elsewhere at the show

In other news Microsoft has teamed with Good Technology have entered into a strategic partnership in an effort to move the Good for Enterprise app from Good onto Windows Phone devices. The program helps ensure security when accessing corporate data by encrypting email.

Nokia, a key Microsoft partner in the smartphone market has already said that it will support Good for Enterprise solution on its Lumia phones that run Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7.5 operating system.

Microsoft also released the consumer preview version of Windows 8, which is available now as a free download. There are plenty of new features including the ability to store settings and files in the cloud, has a feature to speed navigation and a new user interface. Microsoft has also opened its Window Store for apps.

Other security players were also present at the show. Symantec made a big push with a range of announcements including new versions of Symantec Mobile Management, Symantec Data Loss Prevention for Tablets and Symantec Data Managed PKI Services. The company is looking to enhance its position in the Windows Phone, Android and Apple iOS markets.

The show set a new attendance record with 67,000 visitors and 1,500 exhibitors and will be forced to move to new, larger quarters next year.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Apps, HTC, Samsung, Smartphone, Sony, Tablets Tagged With: , ,

Facebook makes Mobile Push at Mobile World Congress

February 29, 2012 by Leave a Comment

One of the interesting things about the discovery period for Facebook’s initial public offering was that the social media giant reported that it had literally no income from the mobile environment. Since mobile is the top form of access this is surprising.

It is obvious that this is one of the most important market segments for the company to monetize as the opportunities are huge. And it has started to lay out its plans during a public speech by Bret Taylor, Facebook’s chief technology officer at this week’s Mobile World Conference in Barcelona.

In its push it is also striking a blow against a number of companies such as Apple that have been able to cash in on the markets demand for apps. Apple reaps as much as 30% of the revenue from app sales.

Taylor laid out a series of moves the company is currently working on that could tremendously enhance its position in the mobile market, including an effort to partner with mobile carriers for billing on Facebook transactions and the establishment of cross platform standards.

In the mobile payments market it is working with carriers to fix a process that it calls broken and fragmented. It is talking with a number of players including Vodafone, AT&T, Deutsche Telekom, Orange, Telefónica, T-Mobile USA, Verizon, KDDI and Softbank.

It wants to streamline the process and reduce the number of steps needed to make mobile payments. App developers would sell their offerings from the carriers via Facebook, allowing carriers to garner some of the revenue for the apps that are often used on their networks and allow app developers to avoid paying Apple, Sony and others a portion of their revenue.

It seems to me that the issue here is that this is letting Facebook become a partner in this, how do you then later stop them from gaining a more controlling position and adding on revenue for themselves from the users and or carriers as well?

On the standards side Facebook is part of a workgroup called W3C Mobile Web Platform Core Community Group that is seeking to develop HTML5 standards for the mobile web. The recently formed group has 30 members that come from a wide spectrum of mobile players from carriers to web browser developers according to its web site.

The current members of the group have a very impressive lineup. Samsung, HTC, Sony Mobile Communications, Nokia, Huawei, ZTE, TCL Communication, AT&T, Verizon, Vodafone, Orange, Telefónica, KDDI, SOFTBANK MOBILE Corp., Qualcomm Innovation Center, Inc., NVIDIA, ST-Ericsson, Intel, Texas Instruments, Broadcom, Mozilla, Opera, Microsoft, Adobe, Netflix, VEVO, Zynga, @WalmartLabs, Electronic Arts, Sencha and Bocoup.

Of course a prestigious lineup is no guarantee of a successful solution but it seems that it is the interest of these players to have a more efficient mobile web and as long as there are no hidden agendas in the group hopefully we will see a stead stream of updates from the W3C showing progress.

Filed Under: Apple, Apps, AT&T, Facebook, Motorola, Samsung, Social Media Tagged With:

Friday Grab Bag: Digitized Swimsuit Issue-Where do I sign up?

February 17, 2012 by 4 Comments


Ford to show at Mobile World Congress
At the Mobile World Congress there will no doubt be an array of interesting products and technologies introduced, and there will be at list one show first- Ford plans to launch a car at the show. The B-MAX to be exact.

Ford has one of the keynote speeches at the show and it has been revealed that it will take the wraps off of the car that has what it calls Easy Access Door System, but it claims that as yet unrevealed technology in the car is what it will be touting at the show.

ESPN to increase soccer coverage?
After ESPN lost in its bid to broadcast the upcoming 2018 and 2022 World Cups it seemed that all of the progress the network had made in its coverage of soccer would all go down the drain. However the Big Lead reports that in an interview with the World Wide Leader major changes are in the works to improve its coverage.

It reported that after this summer’s European Championships there will be a major effort to massively overhaul ESPN’s presence online. It currently has two separate sites that cover the sport so simply consolidating them would be a positive step forwards.

BlackBerry takes a hit as Government agency moves to rivals
Research in Motion, reeling from a bad year just got more unpleasant news as the U.S. Government’s General Service Administration, its primary procurement agency, has started issuing smartphones that run both the Android and Apple iOS operating systems.

Until recently RIM’s BlackBerry had been the only option available from the GSA. However it is not all dire news as the BlackBerry is still the most widely used device among the RSA’s 17,000 employees and currently the rivals’ only account for approximately 5% in a trial program that is just now starting. However once the camel’s nose is in the tent watch out for the rest of the beast.

Apple seeking blood from a stone?
Apple has asked a bankruptcy court for permission to sue Kodak for infringement. That is just the tip of the iceberg according to Cnet, which reports that Apple is also seeking to file a patent infringement claim with the International Trade Commission and plans to file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Manhattan.

Apple is already a two time loser in regards to taking Kodak in front of the ITC, which has ruled that Kodak did not infringe on Apple’s patents. Kodak has returned fire and last month filed a suit against Apple saying it violated some of Kodak’s patents.

Apple wins round in Germany vs Motorola
Apple has won a major round in its ongoing patent disputes with Motorola Mobility when the Munich I Regional Court ruled in favor in regards to patent # EP1964022. Not familiar with that one, are you? Well it has to do with unlocking a device using a gesture on an unlock image.

Apple will now have the opportunity to defend the side and lock patent as Motorola has already appealed the decision. The court looked at three different implementations of the technology and Apple won on two, losing on the third, which is used by Xoom tablets.

Apple is also asserting the same patent against Samsung sop expect to hear more about this issue going forward.

Looking for a more digital Sports Illustrated? It is here.
One of the coming of age items for high school students was squirreling away the annual Sports Illustrated Swim Suit issue before the parental units could confiscate it. Well now you can view it, and all of the magazines content, in a growing array of digital formats.

The latest is available for iPads, with horizontal and vertical views available as well as for the iPhone for the Apple fans and then it’s also available for Android smartphone and tablet users. All for the low, low price of $6.99.

However there is also a range of video options as well including much that is exclusive to the tablet market. Then a user could simply also head over to SI.com for additional video, as well as YouTube and Facebook.

Google fixes Wallet Security Hole
Your digital pocket can no longer be picked, according to Google, which has issued a fix for the security flaw that was reported in its Google Wallet. While there are still threats to the security, the simply method that required almost no hacking skill has been resolved.

Along with putting in a fix for the security gap Google has made some additional enhancements to the Wallet, head over to Pocketnow for a run down.

Camping stove boils water and charges smartphones
Looking forward to the backpacking season but worried that your smartphone’s battery will not handle three days in the great outdoors? Well BioLite has just the tool for you, a stove that burns wood for cooking and can also generate electricity.

The CampStove does both by using the thermal energy created when a fire is kindled in it to run a thermoelectric module that is built into the side of the stove. The module runs a fan that blows air onto the fire to improve combustion but also has excess energy available.

That energy can be used to charge small electronics devices such as a mobile phone, a GPS or lights. Of course if you backpack with back to nature types the stove might not help you stave off attack from your friends for using your phone.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, ESPN, Facebook, iPad, iPhone, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Soccer, Sports Illustrated, Sports Photography, Tablets, The Big Lead, YouTube Tagged With: , , , ,

Mobile Sports Report TechWatch: Mobile World Congress is Coming!

February 13, 2012 by 3 Comments

LG is touting a new phone that it will debut at the Mobile World Congress as a “revolutionary smartphone.” According to Pocketnow there should be some very interesting features in the phone starting with the LG X3 which will be its flagship Android smartphone.

Another offering expected at the show from LG is the LG CX2, a follow-up product to its Optimus 3D. This phone is expected to feature a 1.2GHz dual-core CPU, NOVA autostereoscopic display for glasses-free 3D, 8GB storage standard as well as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth capabilities.

Acer preps CloudMobile for show
Acer is showing its CloudMobile smartphone in advance of the MWC trade show in Barcelona at the end of the month. The company is being very clever in its leak, giving base information but not enough details so that when it officially shows the phone for the first time the public will not already know the details, according to Pocket-lint.

What is expected is a smartphone that features a 4.3-inch HD display, Dolby sound and will be running Android 4.0 when it ships in the second half of this year. A key attribute of the phone will be the integration with AcerCloud technology that offers, among other things, unlimited web-based storage.

The Motorola/Google deal expected to get EU approval
Following on last week’s rumors that the $12.5B acquisition of Motorola Mobility by Google was going to get the thumbs up from the U.S. Justice Department comes word that it is expected to get the OK from EU authorities as well.

According to sources the deal should go through with little or no alterations despite the fact that there were a number of objections filed, including one by a US-based consumer protection group.

Can Google Wallet be picked?
Unfortunately the answer looks to be yes. While hacking the wallet is not easy it can be done according to researchers, who have outlined how to do it for those so inclined. What is frightening is that simultaneously with the researchers posting their findings another blog reported a much easier manner to get access.

The part that should make users nervous is that to hack the wallet might not require extra software, root access, or pretty much any deep-seated hacking skills. Head over to Cnet to see why you might need to be more than a tad concerned.
The Patent Wars

Apple tries new angle in latest suit
Apple has filed a lawsuit seeking to prevent Motorola Mobility from asserting patents against Apple in a lawsuit being heard in Germany. Apple claims that Motorola’s efforts violate its patent licensing agreement with Qualcomm.

The gist of the suit, reported by Reuters, is that Apple believes that as a Qualcomm customer it is a beneficiary of the third party agreement between Motorola and Qualcomm and that under that agreement Motorola cannot assert these patents against Apple.

Apple vs Samsung-The latest Round
Apple continues to go after Samsung and has now filed another injunction to halt sales of a Samsung product. The latest product to be targeted by Apple is Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone, as reported by PC Advisor.

In the suit, which was filed in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction that bans the sales of the phone in the US while its case that Samsung is violating four of Apple’s patents is heading through the court system.

Apple claims that “”The smartphone market is at a critical juncture, as the overwhelming majority of consumers move to smartphones, and the consumers’ long-term preferences and purchases may be determined to a great extent by the operating system on their first smartphone.”

This and that

Electronista is reporting that a leaked presentation from USA Todaybreaks down mobile downloads by platform and that iPad users dominate at a 7x rate over Android and other users. Apple’s download lead in smartphones is significantly smaller.

Kindle Fire to burn larger?
A report is now coming out that says to expect a 9-inch Kindle Fire by mid-year, a move that could drive sales from an estimated 12.7 million in 2012 to 14.9 million, according to the analyst.

Samsung and Apple own smartphone profits
Wealth management firm Canaccord Genuity has reported that between Apple and Samsung they garner 95% of all of the profits in the smartphone space with Apple owning a lion’s share of 80%.

New iPad in first week of March
A variety of sources have narrowed down the release date for the forthcoming Apple iPad 3 to the first week in March — we will see I guess.

The Air Force about to make one tablet maker very happy
US Air Force’s Air Mobility Command is planning on purchasing somewhere between 63 and 18,000 tablets of as of now unknown manufacturing origins. They are seeking to replace the pilot and navigator bags that can weigh as much as 40 pounds. Currently it looks as if the iPad 2 is in the lead for the deal.

Filed Under: Android, Apple, Kindle, Motorola, Samsung, Smartphone, Tablets Tagged With: , , ,

Friday Grab Bag: Microsoft talks Windows 8 Tablet

February 10, 2012 by 2 Comments

The top Windows exec at Microsoft, Steve Sinofsky, has published a huge blog entry that details Microsoft’s plans for Windows 8 on low-powered platforms driven by processors built around the ARM processor technology.

Since that is the primary chip technology driving most tablets, this blog entry shows how the company sees the space and what it believes it can bring to the market that its rivals cannot, or are not doing well.

A few of the key talking points are that versions of Windows for ARM platforms will carry a Windows for ARM branding; there will be a special version of Office for this platform and there will be a major effort to have the hardware and software tightly integrated, much like Apple does with the various iOS products.

Phoenix Suns latest to grab tablets as in-game tool
If you happen to watch closely the next time you are viewing a Phoenix Suns game expect to see branded products from Samsung and Verizon Wireless on the sidelines in place of the old school chalkboards.

The team has signed a deal that will provide the players, scouts and coaches with Samsung Galaxy 10.1 Tab tablets and Verizon 4G wireless service. The team plans to use them for a winde variety of tasks including in-game play calling by head coach Alvin Gentry.

While the NFL and Major League Baseball have been very aggressive in developing and deploying tablets as part of a training regime the NBA has lagged behind. This is probably going to be watched very closely and probably imitated by a number of other teams in the off season.

Asus admits bug in Transformer Prime
Asus has released a firmware update that will fix the random boot problem that has plagued some but not all owners of its Eee Pad Transformer Prime Tablets. The move comes after a flow of negative comments on line and at least one retailer, UK’s Clove to cease selling the product.

The tablet has had several flaws since it was debuted last year including simple lack of product available and a GPS accuracy issue. In the past the company has denied that there was a reboot issue but has now finally admitted it.

Patent Wars
Apple continues to battle and seems to be losing ground at a slow and steady rate. Its latest setback was a German court ruling that Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, called the Galaxy Tab10.1N in the German market does not appear to be a copycat version of the iPad.

Apple had won an initial ruling preventing Samsung from selling n the German market last September and the 10.1N is a work around that has been found acceptable by the court, reopening the market to the Apple rival.

Apple has been particularly aggressive pursuing Samsung in both the iPad but also iPhone space claiming that it carefully copied its devices. So far its success has been lackluster in courts but that does not seem to have changed Apple’s determined drive in the patent space.

Google’s bid for Motorola Mobility likely to be approved next week
Multiple sources are reporting that the $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility by Google will get antitrust approval from the United States Justice Department sometime next week. Among other assets that Google will acquire is a patent portfolio that is 17,000 strong in the mobile phone area.

This patent portfolio is likely to be used for both offensive and defensive purposes by the company. It is aggressively seeking huge payments from Apple over all iPhone and other iOS devices, but will likely also be used to simply be leverage in cross patent licensing agreements.

At the same time the Justice Department is likely to approve of the purchase of Nortel by a consortium of Apple, Microsoft Sony, Research in Motion, EMC, and Ericsson AB. This deal will include 6,000 wireless patents.

Filed Under: 4G LTE, Amazon, Android, Apple, Google, iPhone, Microsoft, Motorola, NBA, NFL, Samsung, Smartphone, Sony, Tablets, Verizon Wireless Tagged With: , , , ,

Apple Makes Big iPad Education Push — Sports, Social Media, Hardware Developers to Benefit

January 19, 2012 by Leave a Comment

Apple is returning to its roots with its new education push announced today, only this time there will be no floppy drive or large beige computers on students desks with a tangle of wires connecting everything, but rather tablets and wireless communications.

While this will most likely mean great news for education content developers as well as students, it will also be a boon for other markets as well, ranging from Wi-Fi equipment manufacturers and the entire world of sports and sport content development.

The news

Apple is back in the space, but this time as a supplier of educational material, primarily books. It has unveiled iBooks 2 for iPad, and claims that it will lead to a new type of textbook for students.

The key to iBooks 2, which is available in its own section at the iTune store, is that it will enable the creation of materials that will feature interactive animations, diagrams, photos, videos and will provide an easy to use navigational system.

The company has already enlisted several educational publishers including Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, McGraw-Hill and Pearson. Also teachers can create their own books for class using the iBooks Author tool.

For students the advantages are obvious, lighter backpacks since all of their text books can be carried in one small device. The cost, which Apple said will be in the $15 range for many books, will help with their expenses and they can be updated in real time to reflect current events or current ideas on a theme.

In addition to the iBooks 2 Apple has also released the iTunes U app that makes available a huge catalog of free educational materials, 20,000 educational apps as well as a wide variety of books that are used in school curriculum.

This is just the latest step from Apple in its effort to reestablish itself as one of the premier hardware and software players in the education market. It has been courting educators since it released the iPad. Apple has already seen a growing adoption of the iPad as a teaching tool in other areas including the NFL.

If Apple continues to gain share in the education field, as seems very likely at this point due to the poor showing by most of its rivals in the tablet business, this success will have far reaching implications for other companies as well.

Benefits for others

First and foremost it is most likely that the huge bulk of these iPads will only use Wi-Fi, since having two cellular bills is probably a bit much for the average student. I do not believe that most schools are prepared for a huge increase in the number of Wi-Fi users this will represent, as well as the huge increase in volume.

So hardware providers in a number of technologies from Wi-Fi hot spots to backhaul equipment providers will all see increased demand for their products

Secondly students will not just dedicate their time with the tablets to work. Aside from social media sports plays a huge role in many students’ lives. With ESPN, CBS Sports and others now streaming games a student can now be n the library and still watch the game.

The huge amount of options made available by the Australian Open for interaction with remote fans looks to be the wave of the future. Athletic, as well as theater and any other group on campus can now make interactive pitches to students as well as make video of past performances and streaming video of current games available on line.

This should lead to a demand for app and content developers to create interesting and informative programs that will grab and keep students attention. I expect that Amazon and Barnes & Noble to quickly follow suit since no one wants to leave such a huge and potentially lucrative market to Apple.

It will also spur the other Android tablet developers such as Samsung and Motorola to also develop solutions to get a piece of the pie. For customers this is great news because it will likely lead to price competition and a lowering of prices in an effort to grab market share.

Filed Under: Amazon, Android, Apple, Apps, BCS, CBS Sports, ESPN, iPad, Live sports via mobile, Motorola, NFL, Samsung, Tablets Tagged With: ,
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