Mobile data increased very much last year. I expect the growth to continue. If operators do not invest enough to their network and/or find suitable charging schemes the network can become more congested than before.
4G mobile device speeds becomes the new standard. As competition move to that end, there will be fast growth there. Shipments of ’4G’ LTE devices, that is handsets, dongles and tablets, reached almost 103 million units in 2012, according to figures published by ABI Research. It interesting that almost 95% of the devices shipped went to North America and the Asia-Pacific.
3G will become the low-cost option for those who think 4G option is too expensive. What is interesting to note is that not everyone who upgraded to an LTE-capable device last year took out an LTE subscription; in fact, only around half of LTE device owners also have an LTE subscription.
The shift to 4G can take many more than year to fully happen even in USA. ABI expects the rate at which 3G subscribers with LTE handsets upgrade to LTE connections will gather pace over the next two years. And even longer in Europe. Carriers should not be panicking. And 3G will live and expand besides 4G for quite a long time. For many of those living outside cities, 3G internet connections are still hard to come by.
Apple and Samsung will continue to make money this year as well as people rate Apple and Samsung more highly than ever. Accountant Deloitte predicts that Smartphone sales to hit 1bn a year for first time in 2013.
Samsung is currently the world’s leading seller of phones and televisions. Those leaders should be careful because competition is getting harder all the time. Samsung boss has given warning on this to employees. Remember what what happened to Nokia.
Android will dominate smart phone market even stronger than before. Digitimes Research: Android phones to account for 70% of global smartphone market in 2013.
Windows Phone 8 situation is a question mark. Digitimes predicts that Shipments of Windows Phones, including 7.x and 8.x models, will grow 150% on year to 52.5 million units in 2013 for a 6.1% share. There is one big force against Windows Phone: Google does not bother doing services for Windows Phone 8, Google’s sync changes are going to screw Gmail users on Windows Phone and there are issues with YouTube. Does Windows Phone even have a chance without Google? For active Google service users the changes are pretty that they get this phone.
Competition on smart phones gets harder. It seems that smart phone business have evolved to point where even relatively small companies can start to make their own phones. Forbes sees that Amazon, Microsoft, Google, will all introduce branded mobile phones.
Patent battles are far from over. We will see many new patent fights on smart phones and tablets.
Mobile phones still cause other devices to become redundant. Tietoviikko tells that last year mobile phone made redundant the following devices: small screen smart phones (4 inch or more now), music buying as individual tracks or discs, navigators (smart phone can do that) and a separate pocket size camera. Let’s see what becomes redundant this year.
Many things happens on Linux on mobile devices. Ubuntu now fits in your phone. Firefox OS phones from ZTE will come to some markets. ZTE plans to make Open webOS phone. Meego is not dead, it resurrects with new names: Samsung will release Tizen based phones. Jolla will release Sailfish phones.
Cars become more and more mobile communications devices. Car of the future is M2M-ready. Think a future car as a big smart phone moving on wheels.
Nokia seemed to be getting better on the end of 2012, but 2013 does not look too good for Nokia. Especially on smart phones if you believe Tomi T Ahonen analysis Picture Tells it Better – first in series of Nokia Strategy Analysis diagrams, how Nokia smartphone sales collapsed. Even if shipment of Windows Phone 8 devices increase as Digitimes predicts the year will be hard for Nokia. Tristan Louis expects in Forbes magazine that Nokia abandons the mobile business in 2013. I think that will happen this year, at least for whole mobile business. I have understood that basic phone and feature phone phone business part of Nokia is quite good condition. The problems are on smart phones. I expect that Windows Phone 8 will not sell as well as Nokia hopes.
Because Nokia is reducing number of workers in Finland, there are other companies that try to use the situation: Two new Finnish mobile startups and Samsung opens a research center in Espoo Finland.
Finnish mobile gaming industry has been doing well on 2012. Rovio has been growing for years on the success of Angry Birds that does not show slowing down. Supercell had also huge success. I expect those businesses to grow this year. Maybe some new Finnish mobiel game company finds their own recipe for success.
Late addition: Wireless charging of mobile devices is get getting some popularity. Wireless charging for Qi technology is becoming the industry standard as Nokia, HTC and some other companies use that. There is a competing AW4P wireless charging standard pushed by Samsung ja Qualcomm. Toyota’s car will get wireless mobile phone charger, and other car manufacturers might follow that if buyers start to want them. Wireless charge option has already been surprisingly common variety of devices: Nokia Lumia 920, Nexus 4, HT, etc. We have to wait for some time for situation to stabilize before we see public charging points in cafeterias.
1,261 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android and iOS Combine for 91.1% of the Worldwide Smartphone OS Market in 4Q12 and 87.6% for the Year, According to IDC
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS23946013#.UR4CJ2dsUim
“The dominance of Android and Apple reached a new watermark in the fourth quarter,”
Android continued its overall upward trajectory, reaching triple-digit growth for the year. Samsung was the biggest contributor to Android’s success, amassing 42.0% of all Android smartphone shipments during the year. Following Samsung was a long list of vendors with single digit market share, and an even longer list of vendors with market share less than one percent.
Windows Phone/Windows Mobile made market-beating progress in 4Q12 and 2012. The addition of Nokia’s strong commitment behind the platform was the key driver in Microsoft’s success. At the same time, the relationship has benefited Nokia, which amassed 76.0% of all Windows Phone/Windows Mobile smartphone shipments.
Linux will bear close observation in 2013 as new smartphones from SailFish, Tizen, and Ubuntu are all scheduled to launch this year. Still, these new Linux-powered operating systems will require time and investment to gain momentum in the market, making for a slowly growing trajectory.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Internet of things: Should you worry if your jeans go smart?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15004063
What if those new jeans you’ve just bought start tweeting about your location as you cross London Bridge?
It sounds far-fetched, but it’s possible – if one of your garments is equipped with a tiny radio-frequency identification device (RFID), your location could be revealed without you knowing about it.
This technology is just one of the current ways of allowing physical objects to go online – a concept dubbed the “internet of things”, which industry insiders have shortened to IoT.
“A typical city of the future in a full IoT situation could be a matrix-like place with smart cameras everywhere, detectors and non-invasive neurosensors scanning your brain for over-activity in every street,” says Rob van Kranenburg, a member of the European Commission’s IoT expert group.
“The IoT challenge is likely to grow both in scale and complexity as seven billion humans are expected to coexist with 70 billion machines and perhaps 70,000 billion ‘smart things’, with numbers infiltrating the last redoubts of personal life,” says Gerald Santucci, head of the networked enterprise and RFID unit at the European Commission.
“In such a new context, the ethical worries are manifold: to what extent can surveillance of people be accepted? Which principles should govern the deployment of the IoT?”
Another way to make things smarter is by embedding sensors in them and sending data online via a wireless low-power technology called Zigbee.
IBM is doing just that – its project that remotely monitors the environment that could affect the health of elderly people in Bolzano, Italy, extended caretaker supervision with sensors embedded all over the patients’ homes, providing round-the-clock peace of mind not only for the patients but for their families too.
Cars are rapidly becoming smart, too.
Toyota, for instance, has always been one of the frontrunners in telematics – and now it has decided to team up with Salesforce.com to allow cars to chat to their drivers on a private social network.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bill Gates: Windows Phone strategy was ‘a mistake’
‘Not satisfied’ that Microsoft isn’t leading in phones
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/18/bill_gates_microsoft_phone_mistake/
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates may be devoting more time to running his philanthropic foundation than to day-to-day operations in Redmond these days, but that doesn’t mean he’s satisfied with how things are going at the company he founded, particularly where mobility is concerned.
In an interview with CBS This Morning’s Charlie Rose on Monday, Gates admitted he wasn’t pleased with Microsoft’s performance in the mobile market, going as far as to characterize the company’s smartphone strategy as “a mistake.”
Mind you, to say that Microsoft isn’t leading with Windows Phone is a bit of an understatement. According to recent research from comScore, Microsoft’s share of the smartphone market actually shrunk during the three months ending December 2012, leaving it with a paltry 2.9 per cent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
China Is Now The World’s Top Smartphone And Tablet Market
China has overtaken the US as the world’s top market for smart devices—tablets and smartphones running Apple’s iOS or Google’s Android operating system.
In January, the US had 222 million active smartphones and tablets, versus 221 million in China. By Flurry’s estimates, China should finish the month well ahead, at 246 million devices versus 230 million in the US.
China and the US are the two markets that really matter in smartphones; the third largest is the UK at 43 million devices.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/china-smart-devices-market-2013-2#ixzz2LQ37PWxT
Tomi Engdahl says:
BII REPORT: The Mobile Advertising Ecosystem Explained
http://www.businessinsider.com/bii-report-the-mobile-advertising-ecosystem-explained-2013-2
We are in the post-PC era, and soon billions of consumers will be carrying around Internet-connected mobile devices for up to 16 hours a day. Mobile audiences have exploded as a result.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BII REPORT: Why The “Second Screen” Industry Is Set To Explode
Watching television while also using a smartphone or tablet is one of the most popular leisure activities of the mobile era.
The mobile industry is working hard to create mobile apps and sites that relate to what’s on TV, in order to capitalize on this behavior.
This approach is often referred to as the “second screen,” the idea being that the tablet or smartphone becomes a TV companion device, allowing for added levels of interactivity— whether on social networks or dedicated second screen apps and sites that complement on-air content.
Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/bii-report-why-the-second-screen-industry-is-set-to-explode-2013-2#ixzz2LQ3ngDr8
Tomi Engdahl says:
WTF is… Miracast?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/21/feature_wtf_is_miracast/
The AirPlay alternative for streaming video, games from your Android to your telly
Miracast was formally launched in September 2012, but it was Google’s announcement a month and a half later that the system would be integrated into Android 4.2 Jelly Bean which gave the technology all its momentum of late.
Miracast is essentially a brandname for the Wi-Fi Alliance’s Wi-Fi Display specification, itself derived from Intel’s Wireless Display (WiDi) technology, which can be used to stream the output of one of the company’s integrated graphics cores to a compatible TV – or to a TV with a suitable adaptor hooked up to one of its HDMI ports.
Both WiDi and AirPlay were designed on the back of the notion that users had content on mobile devices that they would quite like to watch on a large screen.
About four years ago, a number of firms began offering plug in devices to create ad hoc wireless links between laptops and TVs
Tomi Engdahl says:
IBM rolls out MobileFirst, eyes role as enterprise mobility enabler
http://www.zdnet.com/ibm-rolls-out-mobilefirst-eyes-role-as-enterprise-mobility-enabler-7000011385/
Summary: Big Blue increasingly sees the mobile enterprise as the equivalent of its e-business, analytics and smarter planet efforts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile Industry Faces $9.2 Billion Shortfall in Backhaul Investment
http://www.cellular-news.com/story/58605.php?source=rss&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=linkedin
Operators are investing in radio network upgrades and migrating to LTE to meet surging user demand for mobile data.
But a report unveiled today predicts that operators will face a new mobile capacity crunch by 2017. The Strategy Analytics study reveals that operators may not be planning sufficient investment in backhaul to meet anticipated demand over the next 5 years.
Global mobile data traffic has increased 13 times in the last 5 years and Strategy Analytics forecasts it to grow by 5 to 6 times more by 2017. The Tellabs-commissioned study predicts a $9.2 billion global backhaul funding gap with a 16 petabyte shortfall in backhaul capacity by 2017.
Investment and capacity shortfalls vary by region
Inadequate backhaul will cost confidence and customers
When mobile data usage first surged in the late 2000s, backhaul investment was an afterthought. But as smartphones took off, the unexpected traffic produced network congestion and outages that created major customer dissatisfaction. As much as 50% of the problems were attributable to inadequate backhaul.
Over the next 5 years, mobile backhaul will become increasingly complex. Operators will struggle to support multi-frequency heterogeneous networks and new bursty usage patterns. Current operator forecasts allocate an average of 17.5% of total cost of operations to backhaul investment, but investment at that level simply cannot meet user demand.
“As many as 40% of mobile users list poor network performance as a reason for leaving an operator,”
Tomi says:
Mobile phones ‘to replace debit and credit cards’
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21504319
The use of debit and credit cards could be in decline within eight years, according to the UK Payments Council.
It is predicting that more and more of us will use mobile phones to make payments and that by 2021, fewer of us will be using plastic.
“The 2000s were the decade of the debit card,” said Adrian Kamellard, chief executive of the Payments Council.
“The 2010s are likely to be the decade of the mobile phone.”
Payment by mobile phone is still at an embryonic stage, but the technology is being developed so that most bank account holders will be able to pay by phone within a year or so.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart device shipments grew 29.1% to 1.2 billion in 2012, driven by tablets and smartphones: IDC
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/02/21/smart-device-shipments-grew-29-1-to-1-2-billion-in-2012-driven-by-tablets-and-smartphones/
This should comes as a surprise to absolutely no one, but IDC says the market for ‘smart connected devices’ is growing fast, driven by massive global consumer interest in smartphones and tablet computers.
Under the umbrella term ‘smart connected devices’, IDC also counts desktop and portable PCs, which both declined in the fourth quarter of 2012 (shipments were down 4.1 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively).
But overall, vendors shipped 367.7 million ‘smart devices’ in Q4 2012,
Tomi Engdahl says:
Petition to make unlocking phones legal again passes 100,000 signatures; White House now required to respond
http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/02/21/petition-to-make-unlocking-phones-legal-again-passes-100000-signatures-white-house-is-required-to-respond/
Back in late January, a new US federal policy stating certain mobile phones could not be unlocked legally went into effect. Citizens doing so would be in violation of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act (DMCA).
The US Copyright Office says only owners of the software, which in almost all cases means the companies that make mobile operating systems like Apple, Google, and Microsoft, can unlock handsets. Many consumers disagree as they believe once they buy a phone they should be able to do whatever they want with the device, including unlocking it in order to switch carriers.
A petition was quickly launched in response.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel Acquires AppMobi’s HTML5 Developer Tools And Staff
http://readwrite.com/2013/02/21/intel-acquires-appmobis-html5-developer-tools-and-staff
Intel has gutted the HTML5 mobile-app development firm appMobi, acquiring its tools and related staff – but not the startup itself. The move is part of Intel’s bid to build out its own suite of developer tools for mobile applications.
ReadWrite named appMobi “the most promising company of 2012” for its work on creating HTML5 solutions for mobile application developers. The company aimed to rethink how developers can use HTML5 for audio and video as well as accelerating performance for Android and iOS. It created Mobius, a mobile video standard that aimed to kill Flash (which ended up dying in mobile anyway) and helped create innovative ways for HTML5 developers to monetize their products.
appMobi’s most innovative (and controversial) product came in the form of jqMobi, a HTML5/JavaScript framework designed to give mobile developers a mobile-ready JQuery.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gaming spending on iOS and Android surpassed dedicated gaming handhelds in Q4 2012: Report
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2013/02/21/gaming-spending-on-ios-and-android-surpassed-dedicated-gaming-handhelds-in-q4-2012-report/
Nintendo and Sony once held a lock on the mobile gaming industry, but Google and Apple have cracked that wide open with their respective mobile operating systems. A new joint report from IDC and App Annie claims that combined spending on games in the App Store and Google Play in the fourth quarter 2012 was higher than the amount spent on dedicated handheld devices.
It’s also worth noting that ad revenue wasn’t included. iOS and Android publishers tend to rely more on advertising than those on traditional handheld gaming devices, so smartphones would likely have the advantage there as well.
North America accounted for about 40% of spending on iOS, with Asia Pacific in a close second. European gamers represented about 25% of revenue for handheld systems, a larger percentage than for iOS and Google Play.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm’s latest chip could end iPhone LTE band fragmentation by putting 40 bands into one chipset
http://9to5mac.com/2013/02/21/qualcomms-latest-chip-could-end-iphone-lte-band-fragmentation-by-putting-40-bands-into-one-chipset/
Apple’s LTE chip supplier Qualcomm announced on Thursday that it hopes to tackle cellular radio frequency band fragmentation with the first “single, global 4G LTE design” for mobile devices.
With over 40 cellular bands worldwide, many companies, such as Apple, need to release a slew of cellular models specific to certain carriers. Apple made the iPhone 5 compatible with LTE networks, but due to 4G LTE and legacy radio fragmentation, in which carriers use different radio bands, the company made two separate GSM models and one CDMA model.
“By combining the new RF front end chipsets with Qualcomm Snapdragon all-in-one mobile processors and Gobi LTE modems, Qualcomm Technologies can supply OEMs with a comprehensive, optimized, system-level LTE solution that is truly global,” explained Qualcomm in a press release.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jolla: We have five million fans
The smartphone application development is too closed, and existing application stores business model is based on the manufacturer’s own position to protect. These are the existing Apple and Google dominated the smart phone market weaknesses, says Finnish Jolla CEO Marc Dillon.
“It seems to me that we have in Finland for five million fans. There is still a very strong and enthusiastic MeeGo community.”
Dillon gets excited and says that, if successful Jolla and Sailfish can bring Finnish mobile development companies a lot more work to do.
“Before, you were able to go to any computer and did you get access to your files from anywhere. Smartphones of this was lost. We want to bring it back. ”
Marc Dillon refers to the 1990s, and terminal-based machine time.
“We want to offer a modern cloud-based environment where the user can select the best applications for several platforms selections.”
“These so-called eco-systems are based on a number of players in a closed environment.”
Source: http://www.3t.fi/artikkeli/uutiset/talous/jolla_meilla_on_viisi_miljoonaa_fania
Tomi Engdahl says:
18 Carriers Sign Up for Firefox OS Phones
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/13/02/24/210221/18-carriers-sign-up-for-firefox-os-phones
“Several readers sent word of a Mozilla announcement that 18 carriers have committed to launching phones running Firefox OS. The carriers are primarily from markets in South America and Europe.”
Meet the ZTE Open, The First Official Firefox OS Phone
http://gizmodo.com/5986525
There have been a few Firefox OS developer phones floating around but now, Mozilla has announced the first official Firefox OS handset at Mobile World Congress: The ZTE Open.
It’s not a high-powered guy, packing a Cortex A5 processor, and a 3.5-inch display. It’s like a glance into Android’s past.
The ZTE Open isn’t alone though. Acatel also has a phone coming out for the new OS, the One Touch Fire. Like the Open, the One Touch Fire is a pretty basic phone with 3.5-inch screen
Mozilla Unlocks the Power of the Web on Mobile with Firefox OS
https://blog.mozilla.org/blog/2013/02/24/mozilla-unlocks-the-power-of-the-web-on-mobile-with-firefox-os/
Mozilla is excited to share that today 18 operators at Mobile World Congress 2013 in Barcelona announced their commitment to Firefox OS, which will power the world’s first Open Web Devices.
These operators include: América Móvil, China Unicom, Deutsche Telekom, Etisalat, Hutchison Three Group, KDDI, KT, MegaFon, Qtel, SingTel, Smart, Sprint, Telecom Italia Group, Telefónica, Telenor, TMN and VimpelCom.
Firefox OS is an extension of the Firefox experience you know and love so you can expect all the security, privacy, customization and user control Firefox has always delivered.
Firefox OS Hits The Ground Running With Phones From Telefonica, T-Mobile, Firefox Marketplace For Apps; 18 Carriers In All Signed Up For Mozilla’s Open Web Effort
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/24/firefox-os-smartphones-marketplace/
Mozilla CEO expects Firefox OS phones for US in 2014
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/24/4024768/mozilla-ceo-expects-firefox-os-phones-for-us-in-2014
Tomi Engdahl says:
Four new phone models from Nokia
http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/tassa+ovat+nokian+uutuudet++faktat+ja+kuvat/a881795?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-25022013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel talks new chips, partners at Mobile World Congress
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57570825-78/intel-talks-new-chips-partners-at-mobile-world-congress/
The chip giant said its Clover Trail+ chip has double the performance and triple the graphics capabilities of its predecessor. And it reveals Asus to be a new customer for a couple of its mobile chips.
Intel has made big strides in making more efficient chips, and it has said it believes its chips are on par with those based on ARM.
Intel noted that Clover Trail+ comes in three variations: 2.0 gigahertz, 1.6GHz, and 1.2GHz. The processors come with an Intel graphics media accelerator engine with a graphics core supporting up to 533MHz with boost mode.
Clover Trail+ likely will be a short-lived chip, though, as it’s manufactured at 32 nanometers
Intel has said its Atom line would transition to 22 nanometers and a new architecture later this year.
The processor, dubbed Bay Trail, is Intel’s first quad-core Atom chip, and it doubles the performance of the company’s current-generation tablet chip. Bay Trail should be available in time for this year’s holiday season.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile phone manufacturer Nokia to provide a map and download navigation application also competing Windows Phone devices.
Nokia today unveiled a mobile exhibition in Barcelona that its Nokia.maps mapping is called Here. The company also announced that the Maps Here, Here and Here Transit Drive-applications will be available in selected markets from other manufacturers Windows Phone platform smartphones.
- Here are the best apps Lumia phones, but because we want to strengthen the entire Windows Phone ecosystem, we bring with Microsoft applications to other Windows Phone 8 phones, Nokia says in it’s blog.
Source: http://www.digitoday.fi/mobiili/2013/02/25/nokian-kartoista-tulee-vapaata-windows-riistaa/20133005/66?rss=6
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla, AT&T And Ericsson Team Up To Demo Seamless Web-To-Mobile WebRTC Integration At MWC
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/24/mozilla-att-and-ericsson-team-up-to-demo-seamless-web-to-mobile-webrtc-integration/
What if your browser could know when you are getting a call on your mobile phone? Earlier this month, Google and Mozilla demonstrated how their browsers’ WebRTC implementations could interoperate. Today, at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Mozilla is going a step further. The organization has teamed up with AT&T and Ericsson to show a proof-of-concept called WebPhone, which demonstrates how its Firefox browser can use Mozilla’s Social API, AT&T’s API Platform and Ericsson’s Web Communication Gateway to let Firefox users sync with a user’s existing phone number and provide calling services without the need to install any plugins or special apps.
WebPhone, which isn’t currently available to the public, demonstrates how users can receive calls and texts on their desktops. The system was built on top of WebRTC
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung announces SAFE with Knox, details plans to secure the enterprise Galaxy (hands-on)
http://www.engadget.com/2013/02/25/samsung-safe-with-knox/
So what will you find within the Fort Knox of the smartphone world? It’s an IT manager’s pipe dream, of sorts. A comprehensive collection of features that include Security Enhanced (SE) Android, secure boot, TrustZone-based Integrity Monitoring (TIMA) for protecting the kernel, Single Sign On (SSO) and that application container concept made famous by BlackBerry, just to name a few. Best of all, Knox will ship preinstalled on select devices, all sold as one SKU — in other words, consumers and enterprise customers alike will be taking home identical handsets, simplifying the process significantly for BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) businesses.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung finally folding Bada OS into Tizen
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/25/4026848/bada-and-tizen-to-merge
Samsung has announced plans to kill off its Bada operating system and merge it with Tizen, the open source project formed from the ashes of Nokia and Intel’s MeeGo.
Tizen phones will be able to run apps designed for Bada devices, but it won’t be possible to upgrade a Bada phone to Tizen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Asus Debuts New 5-inch, 1080p, Snapdragon 600-Powered PadFone Infinity Smartphone-Tablet Hybrid, Coming April 2013 For €999
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/25/asus-debuts-new-5-inch-1080p-snapdragon-600-powered-padfone-infinity-smartphone-tablet-hybrid/
Asus introduced the new Padfone Infinity today at MWC in Barcelona. The successor to the company’s hybrid tablet/smartphone has a redesign with an aluminum back and edge-to-edge glass display, a 5-inch display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 441 PPI. The LTE phone can plug into a 10-inch tablet dock, which itself offers 1920 x 1200 resolution.
The PadFone Infinity boasts a 13-megapixel camera with an f/2.0 aperture camera, with a dedicated image sensor to boost low-light capture
Asus’ latest single-sim tablet/smartphone combo is coming to European markets in Apri 2013
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wikipedia to deliver articles via text messages in coming months
http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/22/4017716/wikipedia-articles-via-text-messages-coming-months
Wikipedia has been working on new ways to bring its 25 million articles to more users in developing markets, where smartphones and internet connectivity are still sporadic. The latest plan is let users request specific articles from Wikipedia by having them send text messages to the website through SMS or another standard called USSD. Wikipedia via text is due out in the next few months and is being funded by a $600,000 grant from the Knight Foundation, the nonprofit media and journalism support organization.
The new effort joins another program at Wikimedia to offer free, low-bandwidth access of Wikipedia to feature phone owners, called “Wikipedia Zero,” which is a text-only version of the full website.
Tomi Engdahl says:
ZTE dreams of 8-core smartphone
“Speed means that in the future we have two-, four-and eight-core platforms,” revealed the mobile device division He Shiyou Chinese company’s release on Monday.
ZTE’s plans by this summer to bring the Chinese market “super phones” with Nvidia’s quad-core Tegra 4-chip.
Source: http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/zte+haaveilee+8ytimisesta+alypuhelimesta/a882031?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-25022013&
Tomi Engdahl says:
WebOS lives! LG to resurrect it for smart TVs
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57570990-94/webos-lives-lg-to-resurrect-it-for-smart-tvs/
WebOS gets another shot at life thanks to LG Electronics.
LG acquires the troubled mobile operating system from Hewlett-Packard, getting software, engineering talent, and HP licenses acquired from Palm.
The acquisition marks the end of a sad chapter of WebOS, an operating system that many saw promise in, but was badly mismanaged by HP. Initially hailed as the potential savior of Palm, it was seemingly bailed out by HP before it quickly pulled the plug on its mobile initiative last year. Its mobile products, including a revamped Pre and the infamous TouchPad tablet.
LG has no intent to use WebOS for its smartphones, with the company largely focused on Android as its mobile operating system of choice. Indeed, much of the WebOS team members that work on the various mobile products at HP has already left, according to a person familiar with the deal.
LG will use WebOS to power its future televisions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
European mobile companies vow to break Google and Apple monopolies
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2013/feb/25/european-mobile-consolidation-apple-google-mwc
Mobile World Congress: Vodafone, Telefónica and Telecom Italia urge regulators to allow consolidation
European mobile companies have vowed to “break the monopolies” enjoyed by Google and Apple in smartphones and urged regulators to allow consolidation among rival operators.
Hit by economic recession and the cost of subsidising expensive handsets, want to redraw the network map of Europe by consolidating down to two or three players per country.
“This is not a level playing field. It is not sustainable that we invest more in handset purchases than in the development of networks,” said the Telefónica chief executive and chairman, César Alierta.
In a belligerent call to arms, he said European telecoms companies have invested €225bn (£197bn) over the last five years but seen little return. Telefónica is challenging Google’s Android software and Apple by backing an alternative smartphone operating system designed by Mozilla, maker of the popular Firefox web browser.
Firefox OS will reach consumers in the spring
“This internet is dominated by a small number of players that restrict customers’ choice,” said Alierta. “We support open ecosystems to break monopolies and give greater choice and flexibility to consumers. Firefox represents a way to bring balance back to the sector.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mozilla CEO: Android, iOS leave lots of room for Firefox OS
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571256-78/mozilla-ceo-android-ios-leave-lots-of-room-for-firefox-os/
Mozilla’s browser-based OS can win a place among the next 2 billion people arriving on the Net, Gary Kovacs argues. And about attracting app developers, he quipped, “There’s a Web for that.”
With another 2 billion people hooking up to the Internet in the next five years, there’s plenty of room for another mobile operating system, Mozilla Chief Executive Gary Kovacs said today in a sales pitch for his new Firefox OSFirefox OS.
“I find it impossible to understand how 3, 4, 5, or 6 billion people are going to get their diverse needs satisfied by one or two or five companies, no matter how delicious those companies are,” Kovacs said. “Is the farmer in the Indian countryside going to have the same needs and requirements as a lawyer sitting in New York?”
Mozilla has a mammoth challenge, though. Working in its favor is the fact that Firefox is a browser-based operating system, meaning that Web applications such as Facebook already work for it without the need for Mozilla to marshal an army of programmers to write apps.
But even that running start has its limits: even many static Web pages don’t work well on mobile browsers, and making dynamic Web apps is a lot harder. New technologies such as camera-phone interfaces and hardware-accelerated 3D graphics help, and Mozilla is pushing hard to advance those standards and spread them to other mobile browsers.
‘This is the Web. We’re just taking it to mobile,” Kovacs said. “Incumbent with that is 10 million developers already ready to go.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia Asha phones will stay on Nokia’s own S40 operating system according to the company’s CEO Stephen Elop. Nokia will NOT try to turn Asha phones to use Microsoft Windows Phone.
- We want to do people move to more advanced products, but we believe that, for reasons of cost should not be so in this case the visit. And it suits us well, Elop said in Barcelona at Mobile World Congress trade show on Tuesday.
The current Asha phone operating S40 is not designed for high-volume data transmission. Users of those phones do pretty much similar things than with more advanced phones. Use of data compression better will help in that.
Nokia has been successful cheap smart phones and basic phones in the market fairly well. Its trump card is the whole product, as well as the physical device and the software design of self. This way the company is able to control the way the production better.
In Smartphones, Nokia does not have this tremendous advantage, because it is tied to Microsoft’s Windows Phone operating system.
Source: http://www.taloussanomat.fi/informaatioteknologia/2013/02/26/elop-ashat-pysyvat-kokonaan-nokialaisina/20133081/12
Tomi Engdahl says:
Looking at active installed base: Symbian easily third, WP to overtake by 2014?
http://www.allaboutsymbian.com/features/item/16863_Symbian_still_easily_the_third.php
The trendy thing to talk about in the smartphone world is ‘market share’, of course. Thinking about the industry as ‘business’, its’ all about current sales, how many units were shipped in the last few months, how much profit was made, and so on. Flip this on its head, looking at smartphone platforms from the user’s point of view though, and a slightly different picture emerges. What I consider below is the ‘active installed base’ of each platform, i.e. the numbers of compatible handsets being used on a daily basis around the world.
In the meantime, raise a glass to the venerable Symbian OS, now in its 15th year and still, by some way, no matter what other tech commentators might write, the third most used smartphone OS on the planet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
That Firefox OS mobe: The sorta phone left behind after a mugging
Why do they bother? asks our man in Barcelona in his conference sketch
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/26/mwc_andrew_day_one/
I did give it a try. My puppyish enthusiasm lasted far less than five minutes. It is exactly what you’d expect from an iPhone clone in 2009 – you’re dying to say “Android”, aren’t you? But Android eventually got a bit of design polish and some decent hardware. This desperately unimaginative product won’t be bought as much as left behind after a mugging.
Tomi says:
New Windows 8 PC phone revealed, plus tablet and desktop
http://blogs.seattletimes.com/brierdudley/2013/02/25/new-windows-8-pc-phone-revealed-plus-tablet-and-desktop/
One of the most intriguing new phones being unveiled at this week’s big wireless show in Barcelona, Spain, may be a sleek new Windows model developed in Redmond.
t looks similar to the latest jumbo, slab phones, but it’s a more potent machine inside. The phone runs on Intel’s “Clover Trail” hardware and Windows 8 Pro, so it’s a full-blown PC capable of running most desktop software.
Called the Intelegent, the device could go on sale this summer for $750, which is less than the price of an unlocked iPhone 5 with the same amount of storage capacity.
The phone is more powerful than most tablets. It has an Atom processor, 2 gigabytes of RAM and 64 gigabytes of storage. It’s designed to work with HSPA+ and LTE 4G wireless networks and have up to 10 hours of talk time.
I-mate will sell the phone alone or as part of a $1,600 desktop hardware suite including a docking station, called the “hub.”
Morrison also sees an opportunity to sell corporate users a reasonably priced desktop suite — including a PC, tablet and phone — all powered by the phone.
Morrison said i-mate will manufacture the phones in the U.S., using screens from South Korea, touch panels from Miami and hardware boards made in Japan.
A facility in California is ready to assemble 10,000 units a week, he said.
The company also is benefiting from Intel’s big push to become a player in mobile devices, beyond the laptop. After years of trying, it gained a legitimate toehold in phones last year.
Atom-based Android phones went on sale in India, Europe and other overseas markets, with producers such as Motorola, Lenovo and Acer on board.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Now a Bit Easier to Deal With, and Other Observations From France Telecom’s Straight-Talking CEO
“Apple has [become] more flexible, paying more attention to everyone else, probably a little less arrogant than they used to be,”
And while carriers are rooting for Mozilla, Microsoft, BlackBerry and mobile Linux to emerge as rivals to Android and the iPhone, there’s no way the market is large enough to support that many competitors.
“There is probably not room for everyone,” Richard said. “But all of us hope that among those initiatives, at least one will be able to emerge as a third ecosystem.”
Richard compared the near-monopolies of Facebook and Google and the Apple-Samsung duopoly to the highly competitive wireless carrier market in Europe, which he said features more than 100 companies. “We are living through incredible competition; they are not living through competition. That’s it,” he said. He implored regulators to prevent further companies from entering the crowded market.
As for the ecosystem battle, Richard said that Windows Phone has a “very difficult” road to truly compete with iOS and Android.
“The Nokia family in my opinion is nice, but there is no ‘wow’ effect,” Richard said. “When you have a market with very steady players like Apple and Samsung, you need to have a ‘wow’ effect.”
See more at: http://allthingsd.com/20130225/apple-now-a-bit-easier-to-deal-with-and-other-observations-from-france-telecoms-straight-talking-ceo/#sthash.i2ubqb1E.dpuf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Future iPhones could anticipate user needs with ‘situational awareness module’
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/02/26/future-iphones-could-anticipate-user-needs-with-situational-awareness-module
A system outlined in an Apple patent on Tuesday takes data from a number of sensors deployed throughout a handheld device and feeds the information into a “situational awareness module,” which then triggers a number of functions, including vibration settings, music playback and sleep mode.
Tomi Engdahl says:
New Document Sheds Light on Government’s Ability to Search iPhones
http://www.aclu.org/blog/technology-and-liberty-criminal-law-reform-immigrants-rights/new-document-sheds-light
Cell phone searches are a common law enforcement tool, but up until now, the public has largely been in the dark regarding how much sensitive information the government can get with this invasive surveillance technique.
Last fall, officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) seized an iPhone from the bedroom of a suspect in a drug investigation. In a single data extraction session, ICE collected a huge array of personal data from the phone. Among other information, ICE obtained:
call activity
phone book directory information
stored voicemails and text messages
photos and videos
apps
eight different passwords
659 geolocation points, including 227 cell towers and 403 WiFi networks with which the cell phone had previously connected.
Before the age of smartphones, it was impossible for police to gather this much private information about a person’s communications, historical movements, and private life during an arrest. Our pockets and bags simply aren’t big enough to carry paper records revealing that much data. We would have never carried around several years’ worth of correspondence, for example—but today, five-year-old emails are just a few clicks away using the smartphone in your pocket. The fact that we now carry this much private, sensitive information around with us means that the government is able to get this information, too.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ubuntu smartphones coming to two regions in October
http://www.zdnet.com/ubuntu-smartphones-coming-to-two-regions-in-october-7000010969/
Summary: Canonical says its Ubuntu smartphone will be available before the end of the year, but is remaining coy on where the handsets will be launched first.
Besides the two former smartphone leaders Nokia and BlackBerry, a host of would-be challengers with Linux roots are emerging, including Tizen, which has found support in Samsung; Jolla Mobile’s Sailfish OS, which is eyeing a future in China; and Firefox OS.
Like Tizen and Jolla, Canonical is also pushing the idea of a converged OS that spans phone, PC and TVs.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understand and perform testing for MIPI M-PHY compliance
http://www.edn.com/design/test-and-measurement/4407197/Understand-and-perform-testing-for-MIPI-M-PHY-compliance
As MIPI Alliance standards gain increasing acceptance in the world of mobile device design, engineers need to become proficient at electrical PHY layer compliance testing for the higher speed M-PHY serial interconnects. A full set of tests spanning both the transmitter and the receiver are required to validate designs – a task that is made tougher as speeds and complexity increase. Understanding how to setup and perform critical verification and debug tests is critical to any successful M-PHY development effort.
MIPI Technologies Overview
MIPI provides specifications for standard hardware and software interfaces within a mobile device. MIPI specifications improve interoperability between components from different component vendors, reduce the effort of integration and speed up the time-to-market for mobile devices.
One of the primary roles of MIPI standards is to convert legacy parallel interfaces into modern serial data interfaces for scalable, more efficient mobile device designs. As a result, all MIPI standards are serial data and follow a set of protocol stacks.
M-PHY has different data rates depending on operating mode. In HS mode, the data rate ranges from 1,248 Mbps to 5,830.4 Mbps. In LS mode, the data rate ranges from 10 kbps to 576 Mbps.
In an M-PHY transmitter, 8b/10b is a line code used to achieve DC-balance and bounded disparity.
Decode software allows software, design, and test engineers to accurately decode multi-lane M-PHY traffic acquired by an oscilloscope. The software acquires up to four lanes of M-PHY data traffic at a time, and offers triggers, filters and search on the decoded traffic to help speed validation and debug efforts.
Designers working on MIPI M-PHY technology face a number of difficult test challenges.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartphone barcodes now readable by all POS laser scanners
http://www.edn.com/electronics-products/electronic-product-reviews/other/4407719/Smartphone-barcodes-now-readable-by-all-POS-laser-scanners
ams and Mobeam partnership brings integrated 1D barcode transmit solution to smartphone makers, ends paper-coupon processing nightmare for retailers
ams AG and Mobeam announced that they have formed a strategic partnership that will accelerate the ability of smartphones to transmit barcoded content that can be read by all point-of-sale (POS) laser scanners. The partnership will provide an integrated solution consisting of ams’ industry-leading light sensors and Mobeam’s light-based beaming technology.
With this partnership, handset makers will be able to fully support mobile commerce applications that use barcodes such as: coupon redemption, loyalty cards, gift cards and tickets. For retailers, this will mean the end of manually sorting printed coupons, and waiting months for reimbursement.
The ams TMD3990 module utilizes the same type of proximity IR LED that is already used in smartphones today to disable the touch-screen display. This simplified approach will give handset makers the ability to capture all of the new opportunities taking root in mobile coupons and mobile commerce.
Mobeam® solves current high failure readings of barcode scanning from a TFT display. Existing red-laser scanners cannot “see” barcodes displayed on a phone screen due to random polarization of the laser beam and the screen. The technology solves the problem that has limited the advancement of mobile couponing, namely that smartphones utilize emissive displays from which a common POS barcode reader cannot capture barcode data.
Mobeam® provides a patented light based communications (LBC) technology and software that enables mobile phones to interact with existing POS retail technology. This is realized by transforming a barcode into a beam of light that is readable by the laser scanner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
E Ink Android Phone Lasts a Week, Weighs Next to Nothing
http://blog.laptopmag.com/eink-android-phone-lasts-a-week-weighs-next-to-nothing
Who would want a smartphone with a grayscale E Ink screen? Anyone who want days of battery life, superior outdoor readability and low cost should be interested in using the technology in a phone. Today at Mobile World Congress, we got our hands on a prototype Android smartphone with an e-Ink screen and were blown away by just how light it was about how sharp text looked on its screen and how long it could last.
The device we used has no official name, because it’s one of only a handful of prototypes made by eInk
The device is designed to last at least a week on a charge and cost cost as little as 150 euros unsubsidized, he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Momentum grows for alternative phone system Tizen
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_TEC_WIRELESS_SHOW_TIZEN?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-02-26-17-24-19
Phones from yet another contender – Tizen – will go on sale this year with a view to eventually competing with the industry leaders, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
For now, Tizen will compete with another newcomer, Firefox OS, as well as Microsoft’s Windows Phone and a revamped BlackBerry operating system.
Most of the impetus behind Tizen comes from cellphone carriers, which want a successful counterweight to the clout of Google and Apple.
Tizen has a powerful backer in Samsung Electronics Co. Spokesman Michael Lin confirmed Tuesday that the Korean company is ditching its own, homebrew operating system Bada in favor of Tizen. Samsung will also continue to make Android phones.
Both Firefox and Tizen are “open source” projects, managed by nonprofit associations. That means the software is freely available to customize, giving phone carriers control over how the software works on the phones they sell.
The idea to create an “open” phone operating system is not new. In fact, Android is an open-source project run by Google. However, one controlled by a nonprofit has never been successful. Tizen is based on two failed attempts, MeeGo and LiMo.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sergey Brin: Smartphones are ‘emasculating’
http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57571612-94/sergey-brin-smartphones-are-emasculating/
During a talk at TED, the Google co-founder says Glass improves on the smartphone experience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hollywood targets “rogue” mobile apps in war on pirated content
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/01/net-us-hollywood-apps-idUSBRE92003Y20130301
Hollywood studios, which for years have waged a war against online piracy, are now going after so-called “rogue” mobile apps that use images from movies and television shows without their permission.
Google responded to Warner’s notice and removed the app within days, in the latest example of how Hollywood is stepping up its efforts to protect its intellectual property in the quickly expanding app market, which is pegged at $20 billion in 2013.
Tomi Engdahl says:
FCC To Investigate Cell Phone Unlocking Ban
http://techcrunch.com/2013/02/28/fcc-to-investigate-cell-phone-unlocking-ban/
Following an online uproar over a law banning the unlocking of cell phones, the Federal Communications Commission will investigate whether the ban is harmful to economic competitiveness and if the executive branch has any authority to change the law.
The “ban raises competition concerns; it raises innovation concerns,” FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski told
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brin sees Google glasses hitting market this year
http://www.france24.com/en/20130227-brin-sees-google-glasses-hitting-market-year-0
Sergey Brin envisions Google’s Internet glasses hitting the market this year with an eye toward freeing people from unsocial habits engendered by “emasculating” smartphones.
Brin spoke of inspiration behind Google Glass eyewear during a brief appearance Wednesday on stage at a TED Conference known for an inspiring mix of influential big thinkers and “ideas worth spreading.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Why you want a dual-SIM phone
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571878-78/why-you-want-a-dual-sim-phone/
Phones that take two SIM cards were a small trend at Mobile World Congress. Here’s why that’s a good thing.
Now I know that dual-SIM phones have been around for years, but the biggest OEMs in wireless haven’t put put a lot of resources behind them. Smaller manufacturers, particularly from China, have made up the slack, but those devices can be hard to find outside of Asia
That’s why the mini-rush of dual-SIM handsets at Mobile World Congress was so refreshing. Indeed, the devices that CNET handled were a diverse bunch.
So, as you’d expect, a phone with two SIM cards can hold two numbers and two identities at once. You can make or receive calls and send or receive texts on either number and give each number only to the people that you chose. Imagine these scenarios.
Getting a local SIM is great
With a dual-SIM phone, however, you don’t have to select one or the other. Anyone at home can reach you immediately and cheaply (not vice versa, though) and you can chat with local friends without incurring roaming fees. It’s convenient, it saves money, and you don’t have to carry around two handsets.
A dual-SIM phone also is a great way to carry one device while keeping your personal and work lives separate.
The good news is that you can buy a dual-SIM phone now. There are are a growing number available online
So if you really want a dual-SIM phone, screw your carrier and go buy one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Coming to an e-book or car near you: the Web
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-57571954-78/coming-to-an-e-book-or-car-near-you-the-web/
Marrying the broad reach of the Web with two narrow domains, members of the World Wide Web Consortium now have groups adapting Web technology for the automotive and publishing industries.
You’re used to the Web on your PC. You’re getting used to it on your smartphone. So what’s next?
Publishing and automobile industry players have just begun spinning up efforts at the World Wide Web Consortium, said W3C Chief Executive Jeff Jaffe in an interview at Mobile World Congress here. So don’t be surprised to see proprietary technology for e-book readers and in-dash computer systems slowly disappear in favor of software based on Web technology.
Books are perhaps an obvious area for Web technology, given that in electronic form they’re just formatted documents and the Web began its life as a way to share formatted documents. But the two domains have taken years to reach today’s level of convergence.
“The Web equals publishing,” Jaffe said. “There’s really no difference anymore.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia wants to build the Google of human behaviour – and share it
Really, really, really Big Data to work out who’s doing what, when and why
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/02/27/nokiareal_world_search/
Nokia has a radical strategy to outflank some of the world’s biggest technology companies, including Google, and it shared some of the details with El Reg in Barcelona this week.
According to Michael Halbherr, a key member of Nokia’s top executive team and arguably number two to CEO Stephen Elop, location-based human behaviour information is the new Google search results – instead of web pages, it’s “search results for the real world”.
This is Nokia’s plan. To make intelligent inferences, it needs lots of data: Really, Really Big Data. What certain kinds of people do at a given time, on a given day, in a particular place. And the system needs to scale. So Nokia is licensing its location-finding services to rival phone manufacturers in order to achieve this.
Technology still doesn’t provide the right information people need when they need it – and still makes things really complicated for a mobile user, thinks Halbherr. “Licensing Frommer’s Travel Guide or Lonely Planet isn’t enough anymore,” he says.
“We think this is the next Google, only it’s indexing the real world,” said Halbherr. The platform learns about the individual and adds it to aggregate datasets, such as “what is there to do in Boston at 10pm after a football game”.
“It’s a large-scale machine-learning problem,” he said.
In 2007 Nokia acquired US electronic navigation company Navteq for $8.1bn, and thus grabbed a profitable intellectual property licensing business.
So how could Nokia realise some value from an asset that was becoming destroyed by commoditisation? By going horizontal. Halbherr sketches out a 3×3 grid for the HERE platform as it’s now called – there’s no Nokia branding anywhere on the technology.
The platform will be OS-neutral, and firms making an Android or Mozilla OS phone will be able to use the same features. And they’ll get the goodies that are Nokia’s exclusives today – such as vector maps and offline data: “There is a price for the data and a price for the SDK [software development kit]”, we’re told.
Nokia Lumia owner will get access to all the world’s offline maps, but an OEM gets just a country licence, Halbherr explained.
The mapping business at Nokia is doing very well today – bringing in €400m in the last quarter – making it a significant company in its own right, and growingly rapidly. But with “real world search”, Europe’s biggest tech company is launching the next epic industry battle
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Supplier Corning Sees 3-Year Wait on Flexible Glass
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-28/apple-supplier-corning-sees-three-year-wait-for-flexible-display.html
Corning Inc. (GLW), the maker of glass for Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhones, said it will probably take at least three years before companies start making flexible displays using its new Willow material.
Companies are yet to come up with products that can take full advantage of Willow glass, which can be made in a roll similar to newsprint, James Clappin, president of Corning Glass Technologies, said in an interview in Beijing yesterday. The product will let companies make curved or flexible displays.
“People are not accustomed to glass you roll up,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rightware new test to reveal the power of mobile phones differences
BARCELONA – smartphone operating systems to compare the performance achieved at last in earnest. The first cross-platform speed test will be published in a few weeks.
The first step is coming out BaseMark X, which measures the 3D graphics performance in games such as Android, iOS and Windows Phone 8 devices. It is published 21 March.
Source: http://www.tietokone.fi/uutiset/rightwaren_uusi_testi_paljastaa_kannykoiden_tehoerot