The platform wars is over: Apple and Google both won. Microsoft wanted to be the third mobile ecosystem, and it has got clear solid third position, but quite small market share of overall smart phone market. Apple now sells around 10% of all the 1.8bn (and growing) phones sold on Earth each year and Android the next 50%, split roughly between say 2/3 Google Android outside China and 1/3 non-Google Android inside China. So Apple and Google have both won, and both got what they wanted, more or less, and that’s not going to change imminently.
Wearables and phablets will be the big device stories of 2015. I think that the wearables will be the more interesting story of them, because I expect more innovation to happen there. The smart phone side seemed to already be a little bit boring during 2014 – lack of innovation from big players – and I can’t see how somewhat bigger screen size and higher resolution would change that considerably during 2015. CES 2015 debuts the future of smartphones coming from all places – maybe not very much new and exciting.
Say good-buy to to astronomical growth in smart phone sales in developed countries, as smartphone market is nearly saturated in certain regions. There will be still growth in east (China, India etc..), but most of this growth will be taken by the cheap Android phones made by companies that you might have not heard before because many of them don’t sell their products in western countries. The sales of “dumb phones” will decrease as cheap smart phone will take over. Over time this will expand such that smartphones take almost all phone sales (perhaps 400m or 500m units a quarter), with Apple taking the high-end and Android the rest.
The current biggest smart phone players (Samsung and Apple) will face challenges. Samsung’s steep Q3 profit decline shows ongoing struggles in mobile – Customers sought out lower priced older models and bought a higher percentage of mid-range smartphones, or bought from some other company making decent quality cheap phones. Samsung has long counted on its marketing and hardware prowess to attract customers seeking an alternative to Apple’s iPhone. But the company is now facing new competition from low-cost phone vendors such as China’s Xiaomi and India’s Micromax, which offer cheap devices with high-end specs in their local markets.
Apple has a very strong end of 2014 sales in USA: 51% of new devices activated during Christmas week were Apple, 18% were Samsung, 6% Nokia — Apple and Apps Dominated Christmas 2014 — Millions of people woke up and unwrapped a shiny new device under the Christmas tree. It is expected that Apple also will see slowing sales in 2015: Tech analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has predicted Apple will face a grim start to 2015 with iPhone sales plummeting by up to a third.
In few years there’ll be close to 4bn smartphones on earth. Ericsson’s annual mobility report forecasts increasing mobile subscriptions and connections through 2020.(9.5B Smartphone Subs by 2020 and eight-fold traffic increase). Ericsson’s annual mobility report expects that by 2020 90% of the world’s population over six years old will have a phone. It really talks about the connected world where everyone will have a connection one way or another.
What about the phone systems in use. Now majority of the world operates on GSM and HPSA (3G). Some countries are starting to have good 4G (LTE) coverage, but on average only 20% is covered by LTE. Ericsson expects that 85% of mobile subscriptions in the Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa will be 3G or 4G by 2020. 75%-80% of North America and Western Europe are expected to be using LTE by 2020. China is by far the biggest smartphone market by current users in the world, and it is rapidly moving into high-speed 4G technology.
It seems that we change our behavior when networks become better: In South Korea, one third of all people are doing this ‘place shifting’ over 4G networks. When faster networks are taken into use, the people will start to use applications that need more bandwidth, for example watch more streamed video on their smart phones.
We’re all spending more time with smartphones and tablets. So much so that the “second screen” may now be the “first screen,” depending on the data you read. Many of us use both TV and mobile simultaneously: quickly responding to email, texting with friends, or browsing Twitter and the news if I lose interest with the bigger screen. Whatever it is I’m watching, my smartphone is always close at hand. There is rapid increase of mobile device usage—especially when it comes to apps.
The use of digital ads on mobile devices is increasing. Digital ad spend is forecast to increase 15% in 2015, with research saying it will equal ad spending on television by 2019. Mobile and social media will drive 2015 spending on digital to $163 billion, with mobile ad spending expected to jump 45%. “Almost all the growth is from mobile”
Mobile virtual reality will be talked about. 3D goggles like Sony Morpheus and Facebook’s Optimus Rift will get some attention. We’ll see them refined for augmented reality apps. hopefully we see DIY virtual reality kits that use current handsets and don’t cost thousands.
Google glass consumer market interest was fading in the end of 2014, and I expect that fading to continue in 2015. It seems that developers already may be losing interest in the smart eyewear platform. Google glass is expected to be consumer sales sometime in 2015, some fear consumer demand for Glass isn’t there right now and may never materialize. “All of the consumer glass startups are either completely dead or have pivoted” Although Google continues to say it’s 100% committed to Glass and the development of the product, the market may not be.
The other big headliner of the wearables segment was Apple’s basic $350 Watch. Apple invest its time when it released the Apple Watch last quarter, going up against the likes of Google’s Android Wear and others in the burgeoning wearables area of design. Once Apple’s bitten into a market, it’s somewhat a given that there’s good growth ahead and that the market is, indeed, stable enough.
As we turn to 2015 and beyond wearables becomes an explosive hardware design opportunity — one that is closely tied to both consumer and healthcare markets. It could pick up steam in the way software did during the smartphone app explosion. It seems that the hardware becomes hot again as Wearables make hardware the new software. It’s an opportunity that is still anyone’s game. Wearables will be important end-points both for cloud and for messaging. The wearable computing market is one of the biggest growth areas in tech. BI Intelligence estimates that 148 million wearable devices like smartwatches and fitness trackers will ship in 2019.
I see that wearables will be big in 2015 mainly in the form of smart watch. According to a survey by UBS, 10% of consumers said they were very likely to buy a smartwatch in 2015, even though so far, no smartwatches have resonated with consumers. I expect the Sales of fitness wearables to plunge in 2015 owing to smartwatch takeover. In the future you need to look at exercise and fashion products as being in the same space. Samsung, Motorola, LG, and Apple debuted or announced smartwatches in 2014, so it’s no surprise that smartwatches are expected to be huge in Las Vegas at CES January’s show.
The third mobile ecosystem Windows phone has some new thing coming as Microsoft ready to show off Windows 10 mobile SKU on January 21. But it does not well motivating to me. After all, the vision of a unified Microsoft world extending across all screens is great, and it’s what Microsoft has needed all along to make Windows Phone a winner. The problem that hits me: if you fail enough times at the same thing, people stop believing you. It’s not just that Microsoft keeps failing to integrate its mobile, desktop, and console products. But Microsoft keeps claiming it will, which starts to loose credibility.
Mobile will change on-line sales in 2015: Phones have already radically altered both the way Americans shop and how retail goods move about the economy, but the transformation is just beginning — and it is far from guaranteed that Amazon will emerge victorious from the transition (this will also apply to other “traditional” players in that space).
Mobile payment technology reaching maybe finally reaching critical mass this year. Long predicted but always seeming to be “just around the corner,” mobile payments may finally have arrived. While Apple’s recent Apple Pay announcement may in retrospect be seen as launching the coming mobile payment revolution, the underlying technologies – and alternative solutions – have been emerging for some time. Maybe it isn’t going to replace the credit card but it’s going to replace the wallet — the actual physical thing crammed with cards, cash, photos and receipts. When you are out shopping, it’s the wallet, not the credit card, that is the annoyance.
Mobile money is hot also in developing countries: ordinary people in Africa using an SMS text-based currency called M-Pesa. M-Pesa was invented as a virtual currency by mobile network provider Vodafone after it was discovered that its airtime minutes were being used and traded in by people in Africa in lieu of actual money. In Kenya, a critical mass was quickly reached, and today, over 70% of the 40 million Kenyans use M-Pesa.
Mobile security will be talked about. Asian mobiles the DDOS threat of 2015, security mob says article tells that Vietnam, India and Indonesia will be the distributed denial of service volcanoes of next year due to the profieration of pwned mobiles.
Intel is heavily pushing to mobile and wearable markets. Intel is expected to expand its smartphone partnership with Lenovo: Intel will provide both its 64-bit Atom processor and LTE-Advanced modem chips for the Lenovo phones. The 4G phones follow Intel’s announcement in October of its first 4G smartphone in the US, the Asus PadFone X Mini. Now Intel remains well behind Qualcomm — which controls two-thirds of the global mobile modem market — and MediaTek as a supplier of chips for smartphones and tablets. Intel faces tough competition trying to fight its way into mobile — a market it ignored for years. Intel in early 2015 will introduce its first 4G system-on-a-chip under the new SoFIA name. Such chips include both a processor and modem together and are sought after by handset makers because they’re smaller in size than separate processor and radio chips, and use less power (matching Qualcomm’s Snapdragon).
Mobile chip leader Qualcomm will be going strong in 2015. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 810 is not only a killer part, it has raised the bar on what a mobile SoC has to be in 2015. It can power devices that drive 4K (3840 x 2160) TV, take 4K videos, run AAA games and connect to 5-inch HD display. There are finished, branded products just waiting to be released. I am convinced Qualcomm is on track to deliver commercial devices with Snapdragon 810 in mid-2015. I expect Qualcomm to be strong leader throughout 2015.
More material worth to check out:
New questions in mobile
http://ben-evans.com/benedictevans/2014/11/20/time-for-new-questions-in-mobile
What’s Next in Wireless: My 2015 Predictions
http://newsroom.t-mobile.com/issues-insights-blog/2015-predictions.htm
1,230 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Two large manufacturers seem to help take hits in mobile phones
Samsung’s smartphone sales difficulties persist. It has got a hill fall guy from another manufacturer top five, which had long been sailing with the wind.
According to Gartner, the slowdown in growth is largely due to China, which alone sold nearly a third of the world’s mobile phones. Stimulated the market will begin to show signs of saturation, so growth has been slower pace.
All the major manufacturers are not blessed with a lesser growth. Samsung’s difficulties has been talked about for a long time, and its sales goes badly. Smartphones, it got sold significantly less in the previous year and its market share shrank at the same time by almost five per cent.
Samsung in addition to another large manufacturer has clearly lost its position. Lenovo had long downwind, but now it has reached the same stable and Motorola combined market share of only 5 percent. Their volumes have fallen badly, so now almost reached the same chapters Xiaomi surpass Lenovo soon as possible.
For many of the familiar manufacturers HTC and LG have already disappeared Top5 list.
Microsoft’s achievements is not cheering – about 8 million copies of the operating system and the Windows share of the pie shrank even further
When one calculated basic and smart phones, Microsoft is still the third-largest manufacturer, but not for long.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/kaksi-isoa-valmistajaa-ottaa-kuonoonsa-kannykoissa-3328721
Tomi Engdahl says:
People bored of mobes, say magic quadrant wizards
Sales slowing as many markets, including China, reach saturation point
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/20/people_bored_of_mobes_says_magic_quadrant_wizards/
Global spend on smartphones rose at the slowest rate since 2013 for the second quarter of 2015, according to magic quadrant wizards Gartner.
Worldwide sales of smart mobes totalled 330 million, up 13.5 per cent from the second quarter of 2014.
In contrast sales for the whole of 2014 rose 28.4 per cent to 1.2 billion, compared with 2013. First-quarter sales in 2015 were also up 20 per cent to 336 million, compared with the first three months of 2014, according to Gartner.
During the second quarter of 2015, Samsung fought off high-end competition from Apple and retained the largest slice of the market, flogging 21 per cent of all phones sold. But that was down from its 26.2 per cent market share for the same period last year.
Huawei recorded the highest growth rate of 46.3 per cent. Total phones shifted by the Chinese communications giant reached 25.8 million – giving it a 7.8 per cent share of the global market.
Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, said demand is coming from lower-cost 3G and 4G smartphones in emerging markets, particularly Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Meanwhile, sales in China fell for the first time by 4 per cent.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi announces MIUI 7: here’s what’s new
http://www.androidauthority.com/xiaomi-announces-miui-7-635296/
Following its Chinese announcement the other day, Xiaomi has now lifted the lid on the global version its latest Android-based operating system – MIUI 7. While perhaps not as drastic of an update as some users were hoping for, there are a number of useful features to get to grips with. Let’s delve on in.
Moving on from customization, Xiaomi seems to have made a big effort to further optimize its customized Android OS, promising faster app loading times, a more responsive feel and longer battery life this time around.
The end result is that the system should respond around 30 percent faster than before, while battery life has been extended by around 10 percent for typical usage. Xiaomi says that this could make its phones last up to 3 hours longer before needing a charge.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IDF: Intel RealSense and Project Tango mash-up brings 3D depth-sensing to Android smartphones
To reach select developers by the end of the year
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2422747/idf-intel-s-real-sense-and-google-project-tango-mash-up-brings-3d-depth-sensing-to-android-smartphones
SAN FRANCISCO: INTEL REVEALED it is working with Google to bring a Project Tango developer kit for Android smartphones using its RealSense 3D cameras, in a bid to drive depth sensing in the mobile space.
Announced at Intel’s Developer Forum in San Francisco, the collaboration of Intel’s RealSense 3D camera tech alongside Google’s mapping 3D software will see a host of new experiences including indoor navigation and area learning, virtual reality gaming, 3D scanning, amongst other things.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung to give iPhone users a trial run with new Galaxy smartphones
http://www.cnet.com/news/samsung-to-give-iphone-users-a-trial-run-with-new-galaxy-smartphones/
Just weeks before the Galaxy Note 5 and Galaxy S6 Edge+ launches, Samsung is attempting to sway iPhone users.
Samsung is eager to get its new phones to a lot of people — especially iPhone users.
The Korean electronics conglomerate said on Friday that it would give iPhone users a chance to try its latest smartphones, the curved display-rocking Galaxy S6 Edge+ and jumbo-sized Galaxy Note 5. During the 30-day test drive, users will get to try out the phones with a free data plan. There are no obligations and the offer is not tied to a single carrier.
The program is an effort by Samsung to boost sales at a time when consumer excitement over smartphones has waned. At the same time, sales of the iPhone and a decline in premium pricing has kept people from purchasing phones from the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thomas Fox-Brewster / Forbes:
New Spotify privacy policy says it can collect data on location, sensors, and photos from your phone
Location, Sensors, Voice, Photos?! Spotify Just Got Real Creepy With The Data It Collects On You
http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/08/20/spotify-creepy-privacy-policy/
Music streaming market leader Spotify has decided that it wants to know a lot more about you. It wants to be able to access the sensor information on your phone so it can determine whether you’re walking, running or standing still. It wants to know your GPS coordinates, grab photos from your phone and look through your contacts too. And it may share that information with its partners, so a whole load of companies could know exactly where you are and what you’re up to.
This has all been made apparent by a rather significant update to the Spotify privacy policy, pushed out to users today. Upon opening the Spotify app up this morning, your reporter was greeted with a request to agree to the new conditions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Project Ara DIY Smartphone Delayed To 2016
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327467&
NEW YORK — Google’s DIY smartphone experiment — Project Ara — is getting pushed into next year because the phone is more modular than the company previously expected.
It can be hard to keep track of all of Google’s side projects, from Google Glass to self-driving cars, but there’s at least one endeavor that users won’t have to worry about for a while. This week, the company confirmed it is pushing back the launch of its highly modular smartphone platform, called Project Ara.
Google confirmed through the Ara project’s Twitter account that the smartphones would be headed to a few locations in the United States in 2016 instead of this year, due to more possible iterations of the smartphone than the company previously thought.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The Finnish company made automatic simultaneous interpretation – Download to your phone
Sunda Systems announce an Android smartphone application, which allows two people to chat next to each other in different languages.
The Finnish company’s application will translate more than 60 languages to another immediately. Language support is available in Finnish, English, Swedish, German, Spanish, Russian, Thai, Chinese and Japanese.
The application also translate entire documents and web pages while preserving the original formatting. Compiler supports most common document formats such as PDF or Word files
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/suomalaisyhtio-teki-automaattisen-simultaanitulkin-lataa-puhelimeesi-3328805
http://www.sunda.fi/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:
The Lenovo-Backed ZUK Z1 Will Be Sold Internationally With Cyanogen OS Starting Mid-October
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/20/the-lenovo-backed-zuk-z1-will-be-sold-internationally-with-cyanogen-os-starting-mid-october/
Lenovo’s ZUK smartphone brand got off to a great start in China when the recently announced Z1 managed over 2 million pre-orders in a week, but surprisingly, they aren’t stopping in China. An international version of the Z1 is planned, and it’s going to run Cyanogen OS (lens flair optional).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jerry Hildenbrand / Android Central:
Google no longer requires new Android devices to ship with Google+, Google Newsstand, Google Play Games, and Google Play Books Books apps pre-installed
Your new phone will have less Google bloatware, and that’s awesome
http://www.androidcentral.com/your-new-phone-will-have-less-google-bloatware-and-thats-awesome
You might have heard that the new Samsung Galaxy Note 5 comes without Google+ preinstalled. While some are using this as more “proof” that Google+ is dead (that’s another discussion for another time), in reality it’s just one of several Google applications that are no longer required to be included by the folks who make our phones.
Google writes and updates Android itself, but gives the source code away to anyone.
If a phone manufacturer wants to include the Google apps suite — things like the Play Store or Gmail (and more) — they need to conform to a few rules. Once they have done their thing to Android itself, they have to have their version tested for compatibility by Google. Once approved, they are given a package list of apps they must install.
In the past, we’ve seen all sorts of applications made by Google that many of us wish weren’t installed.
Samsung, or LG or HTC included them because they were part of the mandatory package list from Google. You either take them all, or you get none. That sounds pretty unfair, but Google never said they were fair. These apps aren’t open source, nor are they part of the AOSP.
Luckily, things are getting better. Recent changes to the rules phone makers need to follow to get a Google approved version of Android have allowed for certain apps to no longer be mandatory.
Of course, this doesn’t stop the folks building our phones from installing their own applications. Nor does it stop the carriers from pre-installing every app they think they can make a few pennies from installing
Tomi Engdahl says:
Static Electricity Aims To Power Wearable Devices
http://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/powersource/4440090/Static-Electricity-Aims-To-Power-Wearable-Devices?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20150821&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_review_20150821&&elq=c6c0ea11211c45b3a4e74a26f756e579&elqCampaignId=24477&elqaid=27654&elqat=1&elqTrackId=900b58e07090414a8ad996416e9d6bc1
Most people encounter the buildup and discharge of static electricity as an unwelcome shock when touching a metal doorknob after walking across a carpeted floor or sliding across a car seat. Those of us in the semiconductor industry, though, are very familiar with the havoc that can be caused by a stray ESD pulse. ESD causes more than one-third of integrated circuit field failures, showing up as leakage, short circuits, burnout, contact damage, gate oxide rupture, and resistor-metal interface damage. As feature sizes shrink, the problem is only getting worse.
Wearables and triboelectric nanogenerators
Wearable electronic devices such as fitness bands, medical monitoring systems, and watches have given rise to a number of techniques for supplementing their limited battery life. Energy harvesting is one such approach, converting ambient energy into electric energy utilizing such devices as onboard solar cells and piezoelectric generators. TENGs are another
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are developing TENGs with a goal of powering small electronics for wearable devices. Using four different modes of operation, they’ve harvested energy from a range of sources such as body motion, fabrics, vibrations from human walking, hand pressing, a shoe insole, vibration of a string or tree branch, machine vibration, elastic energy in a sponge structure, and sound waves in air and water.
Researchers in Korea have also reported on a fully flexible, foldable wearable TENG; both a silver-coated textile and polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) nanopatterns based on ZnO nanorod arrays on an silver-coated textile template were used as active triboelectric materials. With a four-layer stacked TENG, the team managed to obtain 170V and 120uA output. No significant difference in performance was observed over 12,000 compression cycles.
Practical applications
The Korean researchers used their technology to power LEDs, an LCD display, and a keyless vehicle entry system. But so-called “smart clothes” are already making their appearance, from Katy Perry’s LED-lit dress to smart soldier uniforms; according to Gartner, they’re predicted to surpass smartwatches and fitness bands to become the biggest wearables sector by next year, with 26 million smart garments expected to be shipped in 2016, up from 0.01 million in 2013.
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone 6S Carrier Leak Confirms Date Sales Begin
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonkelly/2015/08/23/iphone-6s-preorder-date/
Ewan was right. Following multiple reports that the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be announced on September 9th and released on September 18th, Forbes’ own Ewan Spence used historical data to predict pre-orders for the new iPhones would begin on September 11th – now a carrier has confirmed it…
Popular French website mac4ever has the scoop thanks to an internal leak from a major French carrier (whose name the site is protecting), which confirms iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus orders will indeed be taken from September 11th.
http://www.mac4ever.com/actu/103465_les-pre-reservations-pour-l-iphone-6s-ouvriront-le-11-septembre-prochain-en-france
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm Beefs up its DSP
Wide, fast Hexagon 680 serves many purposes
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327507&
The Hexagon 680 provides an expanded suite of digital signal processing capabilities Qualcomm will apply to multiple jobs in its Snapdragon 820 mobile SoC.
Qualcomm has been the leader in building truly heterogeneous SoCs, which include a 64-bit CPU, a powerful GPU, dual ISPs, and a few DSPs, which Qualcomm brands as Hexagon. Other SoC builders have DSPs in their chip, but use them primarily for audio or modem functions. Qualcomm does that too, and also dedicates one to video and image processing.
What’s new in the Snapdragon 820 is the extended Hexagon DSP, which Qualcomm has designated the 680.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Allison Linn / TechNet Blogs:
Microsoft Research unveils MobileFusion, a new technology that turns any mobile device into real-time 3D scanner
MobileFusion: Research project turns regular mobile phone into 3D scanner
http://blogs.technet.com/b/inside_microsoft_research/archive/2015/08/24/3d-scans-with-mobile-phones-mobilefusion-research-project.aspx
A new Microsoft Research project lets people to create high-quality 3D images in real time, using a regular mobile phone, with about the same effort it takes to snap a picture or capture a video.
“What this system effectively allows us to do is to take something similar to a picture, but it’s a full 3D object,”
The researchers say the system, called MobileFusion, is better than other methods for 3D scanning with a mobile device because it doesn’t need any extra hardware, or even an Internet connection, to work. That means scientists in remote locations or hikers deep in the woods can capture their surroundings using a regular cell phone without a Wi-Fi connection.
The scans are high-quality enough to be used for things like 3D printing and augmented reality video games.
The researchers will present MobileFusion in early October at the International Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality.
They found most mobile devices had become powerful enough that they could build a 3D-scanning system just using the computational power found on a regular mobile phone.
“The great starting point was to take a sensor that everyone has in their pocket, which is the camera you have on your mobile phone,” Izadi said.
The researchers then developed an algorithm that allowed the camera to act as a 3D scanner, using a technique of taking multiple images that is similar to how the human eye works, Izadi explained.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Susan Hendrich / Windows Blog:
Cortana Now Available on Android in Public Beta
http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/08/24/cortana-now-available-on-android-in-public-beta/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Gartner Says Worldwide Smartphone Sales Recorded Slowest Growth Rate Since 2013
Smartphone Sales Declined for the First Time in China
http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/3115517
Gartner, Inc. said worldwide smartphone sales recorded the slowest growth rate since 2013 in the second quarter of 2015. Worldwide sales of smartphones to end users totaled 330 million units, an increase of 13.5 percent over the same period in 2014 (see Table 1).
“While demand for lower-cost 3G and 4G smartphones continued to drive growth in emerging markets, overall smartphone sales remained mixed region by region in the second quarter of 2015,” said Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner. Emerging Asia/Pacific (excluding China), Eastern Europe and Middle East and Africa were the fastest-growing regions, driven by good performance from Chinese and local vendors. By contrast, smartphone sales in China fell for the first time year over year, recording a 4 percent decline.
“China is the biggest country for smartphone sales, representing 30 percent of total sales of smartphones in the second quarter of 2015. Its poor performance negatively affected the performance of the mobile phone market in the second quarter,”
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled 446 million units during the second quarter of 2015. The performance was flat (0.4 per cent) year over year (see Table 3). Vendors that are focused on the emerging markets, such as Huawei, ZTE, TCL Communication and Micromax, benefited from high demand in these markets, while global vendors such as Sony, Samsung and HTC struggled to achieve growth at the high end of the market.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vysor Puts Your Android Device’s Screen On Your Desktop
http://techcrunch.com/2015/08/24/vysor-puts-your-android-devices-screen-on-your-desktop/
If you’ve ever wanted to play games or use apps from your phone on your desktop — web versions of messaging apps prove how convenient desktops are — then Vysor is a new service for Android owners that might well be up your alley.
Created by Koushik Dutta, the prominent Android developer behind apps like AllCast, it is a Chrome extension that recreates a fully functioning version of your Android screen on your desktop, with mouse support for touch and hotkeys. It’s worth noting that the app is currently in beta — it leaked out via a Reddit thread — and it requires a USB cable for the connection.
This kind of functionality is possible on newer Samsung smartphones using the SideSync feature, but Vysor brings screen emulation to many more phones powered by Android.
Tomi Engdahl says:
BYOD? More like CYOD as companies still set the parameters
The agony of the appearance of superficial choice
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/25/byod_myth_cyod_choice_corporate/
Companies are rapidly expanding the volume of mobile devices used by their employees. The number of devices enrolled in business grew by 72 per cent during the whole of last year, compared with 2013.
Moreover, a Good Technology survey in the first quarter of 2015 found 72 per cent of those devices ran iOS, 26 per cent Android, and one per cent Windows.
Apple’s share among tablets is 81 per cent, and Android 15 per cent. Samsung dominates Android activations – so much so, that 28 or the top 30 devices in Q1 were Apple or Samsung.
Yes, the employee-driven device strategy seems to be here.
And yet … this is not the Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) nirvana vendors are trying to sell. Rather employees are being allowed to choose from a tight list of approved devices (Choose Your Own Device).
Devices making the CYOD list are those proven to work safely with the company’s security, mobile device management and mobile application management systems.
A survey (in US, Canada, UK, Germany and Australia) by Check Point from last year found that as many as 75 per cent of companies allow personal devices to connect to corporate networks, but a (considerably larger survey in UK, France and Germany) by IDC also from late last year suggests that only a minority of European companies have such a policy.
Firms might not be buying BOYD but employees are – perhaps they are the real target for tech vendors. It’s employees who want to use the best device for work and who are prepared to pay for it. Forrester reckons 73 per cent of employees are happy with the technology they have at home, while just 59 per cent were happy with the tech at work; 30 per cent said they were willing to invest their own money in a tablet, if given the choice.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IDC:
Worldwide Smartphone Growth Expected to Slow to 10.4% in 2015, Down From 27.5% Growth in 2014, According to IDC — According to a new mobile phone forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone shipments are expected to grow 10.4% in 2015 to 1.44 billion units.
Worldwide Smartphone Growth Expected to Slow to 10.4% in 2015, Down From 27.5% Growth in 2014, According to IDC
http://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS25860315
ccording to a new mobile phone forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone shipments are expected to grow 10.4% in 2015 to 1.44 billion units. This is lower than IDC’s previous smartphone forecast of 11.3% year-over-year growth in 2015. IDC expects to see a noticeable slowdown in smartphone shipments in 2015 as China joins North America and Western Europe in a more mature growth pattern. However, steadily falling average selling prices (ASPs) will fuel steady growth through the end of the forecast period, with global shipments reaching 1.9 billion units in 2019.
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Ruddock / Android Police:
Tests show it’s easy to insert Galaxy Note5′s S Pen backwards, which may damage device’s stylus detection mechanism; Samsung responds: “follow the instructions”
[Update: Samsung Responds] Probable Note 5 Design Flaw Can Cause S Pen To Break Pen Detection When Inserted Backward, Or Get Hopelessly Stuck
http://www.androidpolice.com/2015/08/24/video-probable-note-5-design-flaw-can-cause-s-pen-to-break-pen-detection-when-inserted-backward-or-get-hopelessly-stuck/
Tomi Engdahl says:
iPhone6 Powered by Hydrogen
Fuel cell has week-long battery life
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327517&
The world has been “waiting for an ‘unforeseen leap’ in battery technology. That leap may not be far off, but it isn’t the battery that will revolutionize power in consumer electronics,” said Intelligent Energy in a recent blog titled Always in the Red: The Life and Death of the Smartphone Battery. “We, at Intelligent Energy, believe that the development of embedded fuel cells in smartphones…could be refueled with hydrogen gas from a recyclable canister and power the phone on its own.”
“Advances in fuel cell technology have allowed it to be scaled for usage at the consumer, automobile and infrastructure levels,”
“What we have proven with our recent prototypes of embedded fuel cell technology, in both phones and laptops, is that just as smartphones, tablets, etc. have challenged the way we communicate, fuel cells are the challenger technology to existing power sources, and that’s what makes this so exciting. The consumer applications for a portable power source are endless,” Hughes told us.
“Hydrogen fuel-cell technologies are not confined by grids, battery life and range anxiety,” Hughes said. “And they can be integrated into many different technologies. Hydrogen fuel-cell power systems are field proven in the aerospace, automotive, consumer electronics and distributed power & generation markets.”
Intelligent Energy has accelerated a 2,000 strong patent portfolio over the last few years as it perfected the functioning and made the fuel cell affordable for use alone, or in combination with lithium-ion batteries to make sure they always stay charged. The company has already penetrated several market segments and is planning to supply fuel-cell solutions at every scale over the next few years.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Understanding Smartwatch Design
by Joshua Ho on August 26, 2015 8:00 AM EST
http://www.anandtech.com/show/9544/understanding-smartwatch-design
Although I mentioned this in passing in the Apple Watch review, I’ve increasingly realized that it is difficult for both manufacturers and consumers to really understand what makes a wearable well-designed. Manufacturers are still struggling to figure out what the real market is for smartwatches, and as a result what kind of designs they should be chasing. Meanwhile manufacturers have also done a so-so job communicating the purpose, use cases, and abilities of their devices with consumers, and as a result consumers are unsure what makes one product better or worse than the next.
After giving the matter some thought, I wanted to take a look at the subject of smartwatch design and by extension who manufacturers are designing for. Who is the real audience for smartwatches? Which features does that audience really need? How do those features mesh with consumer expectations? The market is broad – and that goes for both audiences and manufacturers – but there are several common threads across all smartwatches that can help everyone better understand who the primary audience is and what makes a good smartwatch for that audience.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Facebook introduced a new assistant: M works like Siri in Messenger
Facebook has launched M-virtuaaliassintentin limited trial. Functional messenger application in assistant skilled in the user’s questions and, for example, to tell weather or recommend a good place to eat nearby.
Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s way Corta also M can make a calendar entry or appointment reminders. M, there are no voice-controlled, such as competitors.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/facebook-esitteli-uuden-apulaisen-m-toimii-kuin-siri-messengerissa-3481294
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearable: ‘Hardware Ponzi Scheme’
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327531&
If “fitness bands are like hardware Ponzi schemes” where device suppliers must sell more and more new hardware while amusing bored users, can this be sustainable?
Consumer wearable devices are hitting the wall.
The market demand for body-worn gadgets has been declining all year, according to the latest report from by Argus Insights, a market research firm based in Los Gatos, Calif.
Are we surprised about this? Not really.
Argus Insights CEO and founder John Feland told EE Times, “Sixty percent of fitness band users stop using it within the first six months.” I think that rings true for most of us.
Let’s trace the enthusiasm curve. A consumer starts using his fitness band to count steps. One day, the thing tells him he isn’t walking enough. Really? he asks. I’m being judged by a device that doesn’t walk at all? So, when the fitness band’s battery dies, what’s the motivation for charging it again? So it can keep on nagging him? Better to just leave it in a drawer and forget about it.
“Fitness bands have a stickiness problem,” said Feland. “Designers put accelerometers around a wearable’s silicon. But for consumers, its novelty wears off quickly. They find there isn’t much else to do beyond counting steps.”
While many market research firms track sales and shipment numbers, Argus Insights is in the business of analyzing consumer reviews to predict demand
Using data compiled from approximately 328,000 consumer reviews since January 2014, Argus Insights reveals that after the holiday season of 2013, consumers briefly lost interest in wearables before steadily increasing demand reached its high point in January this year. At that point, demand reached four times the level of a year earlier. However, since then, demand has slowed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:
Sources: iPhone 6S gets 12 megapixel camera with 4K video recording and a flash-like white screen feature when front shutter is engaged for photos — iPhone 6S camera: 12 megapixel photos, 4K video recording, flash for selfies — One of the marquee upgrades to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus …
iPhone 6S camera: 12 megapixel photos, 4K video recording, flash for selfies
http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/27/iphone-6s-camera-12-megapixels-4k-selfies/
One of the marquee upgrades to the iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be a major revamp to the camera system. For the first time since the iPhone 4S launch in 2011, the iPhone camera’s megapixel count will be upgraded: Apple will be moving from an 8-megapixel sensor to a custom imager billed as 12-megapixels in both of the new iPhones, according to sources. The 12-megapixel camera will mean that the new iPhones will be able to take larger, higher-resolution photos than before. Because of an upgraded image signal processor that comes as part of the new A9 system-on-a-chip, the new sensor will not wash out or otherwise decrease the quality of photos, according to sources.
In addition to a much-upgraded rear still camera, Apple has decided to make a significant addition to the iPhone’s video recording capabilities: 4K video recording support. The iPhone 6S and iPhone 6S Plus will be the first iPhones capable of recording video in full 4K resolution and among the first phones on the market with such capabilities, though Samsung’s Galaxy S5 launched with 4K video recording support in early 2014.
Besides new camera hardware on the rear of the new iPhone, we are told that the front FaceTime camera will also see significant improvements. In addition to an upgraded sensor for higher quality video calls and selfies, Apple will indeed add front flash support.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google tells iOS 9 app devs: Switch off HTTPS if you want that sweet sweet ad money from us
Apple’s encrypt-everything rule gets in the way of plain HTTP
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/08/27/google_apple_ads/
Google has told iOS 9 app developers to disable Apple’s enforcement of HTTPS-only connections – or their in-app Google ads won’t show up on up-to-date iPhones and iPads.
Apple has added what it calls App Transport Security (ATS) to iOS 9 and OS X 10.11, which ensures software only uses encrypted connections when talking to servers and other systems over the network.
It’s supposed to make sure programmers always protect people from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle tampering: when an app sends someone’s personal data over the internet to the app maker’s backend servers, the information should be safeguarded by encryption. But this enforcement can be switched off on a per-application basis.
Apps can be built using the Google Mobile Ads software development kit to show adverts on-screen, and earn developers cash. By not showing these ads, the programmers lose out on vital revenue.
On Wednesday, Google admitted that it’s still shifting a ton of adverts over unencrypted HTTP connections
Tomi Engdahl says:
Three Little Words Could Transform E-Commerce
No.more.streetnames
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-08-27/three-little-words-could-transform-e-commerce
Have you ever struggled to explain to someone exactly where you are?
U.K. startup What3Words is trying to make that problem a thing of the past. It has divided up the entire world into a grid of 57 trillion small plots of land, each associated with a sequence of three random words.
So tourists in London can use “casino.coach.bikes” as shorthand for “meet me on the nose of the lion sculpture at the south-west side of Nelson’s Column in Trafalgar square.” The three words can be deciphered by anyone who uses the What3Words app.
While it’s handy to precisely locate friends at a landmark or in a festival field, the app’s real value lies in its ability to transform markets that lack the rigorous postcode system found in much of Europe and the U.S.
Inadequate Addressing
Some 75% of the world suffers from inadequate addressing. This makes receiving goods bought online an exercise in wishful thinking, which hinders e-commerce penetration even in thriving economies. Similarly it makes getting aid or emergency services to the right people very difficult.
What3Words can provide precise addressing without having to wait for a state-run system to be developed. All users do is place a pin where they are on a map – online or on a mobile app – and it will deliver a three-word code that can be then used by the delivery company to locate that person precisely. It links, of course, to GPS coordinates, but uses an extremely simple and memorable mechanism to communicate them.
Festivals and Favelas
In many parts of Europe Navmii will be pushing What3Words’ capabilities at festivals, says Atalla, but it will have a much bigger impact in countries without addresses, such as parts of West Africa and Latin America.
“Where addressing is really poor, it’s a really nice alternative,” Atalla adds.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Alexander Martin / Wall Street Journal:
Japanese mobile game and Internet company DeNA launches Mirrativ for Android to let users livestream anything on their screen — DeNA Goes Live Streaming With Mirrativ — Japanese mobile game and Internet company DeNA Co. is joining the global live streaming race with a new app …
DeNA Goes Live Streaming With Mirrativ
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2015/08/27/dena-goes-lives-streaming-with-mirrativ/
Japanese mobile game and Internet company DeNA Co. is joining the global live streaming race with a new app that allows users to share literally anything happening on their smartphone screens – be it videos, games, or users simply browsing the Web.
The app, unveiled Friday, is called Mirrativ and is the brainchild of Junichi Akagawa, a producer at DeNA who hopes it will create a unique, intimate streaming experience unlike anything that came before.
DeNA, which made headlines earlier this year when it struck a partnership with Nintendo Co. to develop its video games for smartphones, will enter an increasingly competitive market where live streaming apps like Meerkat and Twitter’s recently-acquired Periscope vie for users. But unlike streaming apps released so far, which were basically specialized in livestreaming video or mobile games, Mirrativ streams anything happening on the user’s screen, without the need to register with other services or devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Galaxy Note 5 Design Flaw Examined In Teardown
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ianmorris/2015/08/28/samsung-galaxy-note-5-design-flaw-examined-in-teardown/
It’s now become a major news story that the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 can be permanently ruined by having its S Pen inserted the wrong way around. To those of us in the tech industry such a design flaw is a source of complete eye rolling. How was this allowed to happen, was it never picked up in testing?
Well, according to 9to5Google it was picked up, because the manual makes it clear that if you insert the pen the wrong way around it will get stuck. This is a worry, because it means Samsung knew about the problem but opted not to fix it.
In their article, 9to5Google point out that when you remove the wrongly-inserted S Pen you’ll likely destroy this second lever, and that means you lose a lot of the great functionality that the pen offers with the Note 5.
So what will Samsung do? Really there’s probably not a lot it could do. Perhaps if the company brings the Note 5 to the UK and Europe – it hasn’t said if that’s happening yet – then it could do some hardware tweaking to make this impossible. Perhaps a plastic nub on the button of the S Pen could prevent you from inserting it the wrong way.
The problem is, humans get tired, they make mistakes. Will Samsung help in repairing phones damaged in this way? Perhaps. There’s also a chance that they’ll get hit by a class action lawsuit.
Explained: Here’s exactly what happens when the Note 5’s S Pen is put in backwards [Teardown]
http://9to5google.com/2015/08/25/explained-heres-exactly-what-happens-when-the-note-5s-s-pen-is-put-in-backwards-teardown/
I’m sure by now, you’ve all heard about Samsung’s “design flaw” with the Galaxy Note 5. If you stick the S Pen in backwards, which you should obviously NOT DO, it will get stuck and in most cases damage the S Pen detection mechanism. Please don’t do this. It’s not a fun experiment and you will likely ruin your $800+ smartphone to a point where it’s not fixable. Seriously. Just don’t do it.
I won’t even mention Sylusgate, SPengate, Pengate, or any other ridiculous term the media has dubbed this issue. It’s an unfortunate design flaw, but in the end it comes down to being a user problem. Of course, there are circumstances where a backwards S Pen insertion may accidentally happen, but aside from those random (and likely minimal) instances your S Pen and Galaxy Note 5 will be fine. JUST DON’T STICK THE DAMN PEN IN BACKWARDS. Are we clear?
It’s also important to note that this issue is mentioned in the Note 5 user manual, but it’s not something we’re used to even thinking about/dealing with. It also would probably have been a very simple fix/redesign in the Samsung labs to prevent this problem altogether. But here we are and this is a thing.
Inside of the Galaxy Note 5, there’s a small little plastic lever (about 3/4 of the way) that is triggered by the S Pen which then tells the phone whether or not it’s securely in the hole
That little lever is important to the S Pen detection, which in turn controls features on the Note 5: Screen-off memo and the Air Command menu.
Above that first level/switch is another plastic lever (we’ll call this Lever 2) that lines up with two little notches (shown above) on either side of the S Pen which holds it in place. So when you slide in the S Pen the right way, it will stay in. This is a good thing, but as you can see in the image below, sticking the S Pen in backwards will cause the top end of the pen’s “clicky side” to get caught behind that second lever. Due to how much space is available in the S Pen’s hole, you can imagine that removing it from this situation can be quite difficult and you would be correct.
Once Lever 2’s situation is dealt with, you’re faced with another set of issues. Remember Lever 1? Yeah, that little lever is gonna be problematic now.
Pulling out the S Pen out at this point will likely damage this lever. It’s plastic and housed inside of a component that’s soldered to the main board of the phone.
Anyway, if you happen to tug hard enough (which isn’t very hard at all) on the S Pen once you’re past Lever 2, because it’s a thin little piece of plastic it will probably break as it did in the case of the Note 5 in the image above. Once that little lever is broken, there’s no restoring the S Pen detection functionality.
Again, Lever 1 controls the S Pen detection functionality. Once it is broken, you’re essentially screwed out of this functionality.
So what have we learned here? First up, avoid doing this at all costs. Don’t even test it. I realize that all of these articles explaining the issue could make it hard to resist, but just be smarter than that.
The fact still stands that this is just as much of a user issue as it is a design issue. The blame gets placed on both sides, but accidents will happen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
‘Ultrasecure’ metal phone to launch December 18
http://www.cnet.com/news/ultrasecure-metal-phone-to-launch-december-18/
The Turing phone, which promises total hacker protection, goes on pre-order in September and ships in time for the holidays.
Turing Robotic Industries isn’t the first company to attempt to build a super secure smartphone that will keep even the most agile hackers out, but it’s determined to try.
On Thursday, the California-based company announced that three variations of its Turing Phone will ship on December 18, with pre-orders beginning September 24 for two special-edition models.
Turing has named Foxconn, which also makes Apple’s iPhones among other brands, as its manufacturer.
Turing Robotic Industries is just one phone brand of many new upstarts that are trying to break into the punishing world of smartphone sales, amid a general slowdown in the industry. Focusing on security is one way the brand hopes to differentiate itself from better-known mainstream companies like Samsung and LG, and in doing so gain a community following.
http://www.turingphone.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Rachel King / ZDNet:
Facebook engineers talk about React.js and problems the company faced going mobile first
Facebook engineers: Going mobile-first is not as easy as it looks
http://www.zdnet.com/article/facebook-engineers-offer-peek-behind-the-scenes-at-racer-mobile-development/
Going mobile-first is not as easy as making such a declaration to the world. It requires a lot of organizational changes (and money), according to Facebook engineers.
If developers are given tools that are frustrating and difficult to use, they’ll make software that is just as frustrating and hard to use, suggested Facebook senior engineer Adam Wolff.
“Making software work the way exactly we want it to work, we can make the company work the way we want it to work,” said Wolff while speaking during a whiteboard session about the social network’s product infrastructure on Wednesday.
Making software run better in order to make an entire organization successful was one of the mantras behind Facebook’s major shift toward operating as a mobile-first platform a few years ago.
Although it has proven to be Facebook’s strongest revenue stream (and arguably the saving grace following a disastrous IPO), going mobile-first wasn’t as easy as CEO Mark Zuckerberg declaring that direction to the world.
Such a plan required going back to the drafting board for every major product line from Photos to Events, requiring new code and massive organizational structures so that each product team would build for both desktop and mobile platforms alike.
“The scale of the product was not what these tools were originally built for,” Occhino reflected.
Farther down the mobile rabbit hole, problems compounded. Wolff highlighted the diversity of the Android platform as well as higher expectations upon delivery among iOS users.
“Most of the time you’re doing tedious crap,” Wolff said frankly. “Developers never want to admit that, but it’s true.”
Even when doing “more fun stuff” like animation, the amount of time and effort put in can be “painful” for developers, Wolff lamented.
“If you want to make it so you can move faster and easier to develop, you’re going to have to use more resources to do that,” Wolff explained. But those resources on mobile devices – such as CPU, memory and battery power – are precious, he stipulated.
“Building the user interface is really hard to do,” Occhino stressed, insisting React makes building UIs easier for Web and mobile because essentially makes the code “dumb” by optimizing input data and removing the logic.
Occhino compared React to Legos building blocks, explaining if you want to alter a component, you only have to change one piece rather than the entire structure.
Tomi Engdahl says:
IFS designs Siri-like ERP tool
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=145764
Global enterprise applications company, IFS is bringing voice capabilities to enterprise resource planning (ERP).
The company has designed the Intelligent Personal Assistant (IPA), a mobile app that lets the user control IFS Applications by their voice, via a smartphone or tablet.
Martin Gunnarsson, director of IFS Labs, IFS’s in-house think tank, says having looked closely at Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana, IFS Labs has now designed the IPA for people who want to search for data and update data in IFS Applications by only using their voice.
The app is prototype that is being evaluated and may become a standard product in the coming version of IFS Applications.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xperia Blog:
Video of Sony Xperia Z5 with 4K display leaks, confirms Xperia Z5 and Xperia Z5 Compact too — Three minute video shows off the Xperia Z5 family in all its glory [Update] — All of the Sony Xperia Z5 information leaked earlier today came from a French hands-on video …
Three minute video shows off the Xperia Z5 family in all its glory [Update]
http://www.xperiablog.net/2015/08/30/three-minute-video-shows-off-the-xperia-z5-family-in-all-its-glory/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Joins Pentagon Alliance to Develop Wearable Tech
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327560&
The Pentagon has announced a Silicon Valley-based manufacturing institute and partnership with a consortium of over 160 companies, universities, and non-profit organizations — including Apple and Boeing — to develop high-tech military wearables and ultimately “an end-to-end stretchable electronics ‘ecosystem’ in the U.S.”
Called the FlexTech Alliance, and including organizations such as Apple, Boeing and Harvard University, the partnership’s goal is to advance the manufacturing of flexible hybrid electronics using high-end printing technologies. The new technology is aimed at creating stretchable electronics with embedded sensors that can be worn by soldiers or even molded onto the outside of ships or warplanes.
The resulting products could be used to monitor a soldier’s health or even the structural integrity of a vehicle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sam Byford / The Verge:
Sony using its crowdsourcing platform for Wena smartwatch; has analog face with electronics in wristband, available in Japan for iOS March 2016 from ¥34,800
Sony is crowdfunding this premium smartwatch
http://www.theverge.com/2015/8/30/9230217/sony-wena-wrist-smartwatch-crowdfunding
The latest product to hit First Flight, Sony’s own crowdfunding platform in Japan, is a smartwatch called the “Wena Wrist.” What’s a Wena? It stands for “wear electronics naturally,” apparently, and takes the form of a fairly traditional-looking watch. The Wena Wrist focuses on three main features — an NFC wallet compatible with the Japanese Felica standard; notifications through vibration and a customizable LED light on the band; and activity tracking, which seems to work the way you’d expect except that the app is only for iOS.
The “Chronograph” model tells time with three separate hands and dials for hours, minutes, and seconds, while the “Three Hands” model just has a regular watch face. Both models are 42mm across; the Three Hands watch itself is expected to run for three years, while Chronograph should last for five. The band, however, is rated for a week before it needs to be charged via a cradle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kellex / Droid Life:
Samsung announces Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic smartwatches with round 1.2-inch Super AMOLED displays, 1.0GHz dual-core processors, running Tizen OS
Samsung Officially Announces Gear S2 and Gear S2 Classic, With NFC Mobile Payments, and More
http://www.droid-life.com/2015/08/31/samsung-gear-s2-and-gear-s2-classic/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nick Summers / Engadget:
Samsung creating its own curated news app, UPDAY, for Galaxy devices, as it partners with Axel Springer for mobile media content — Samsung’s creating its own curated news app for Galaxy devices — Apple isn’t the only one developing an exclusive news service for its mobile customers.
Samsung’s creating its own curated news app for Galaxy devices
http://www.engadget.com/2015/09/01/samsung-axel-springer-upday/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Erin Griffith / Fortune:
Google Here project enabling third parties to send proximity based Maps alerts via beacons was killed due to privacy concerns, doubts about demand
Google shut down a secret Google Maps project called ‘Google Here’
http://fortune.com/2015/08/31/google-here-google-maps/
It would have used beacons and Google Maps to reach smartphone users based on their location.
Google GOOG -3.31% was set to launch a new product that added context to one of its most successful apps, Google Maps. But earlier this year, it was shut down by Alphabet CEO Larry Page, according to people familiar with the project.
But people familiar with the project say it was shut down for two reasons: Google Here was potentially too invasive, and the company wasn’t sure if many retailers would want it. (Not helping matters, Nokia has used the name “Here” for its own mapping service.) A Google spokesman declined to comment.
Google Here worked by sending a notification to a smartphone user’s lock screen within five seconds of their entering a partner’s location. If the user clicked on the notification, a full screen HTLM5 “app” experience would launch. Google Here would know when to send the notification via Google Maps and beacons placed in the stores of participating partners. Google planned to supply the beacons to partners for the launch, according to the document. The experience could also be found by going to the Google Maps app.
The idea was to allow businesses to communicate with people based on their location, even if those people had not downloaded a specific app for that location. Some developers have called this “app-less distribution.”
Developers want app-less distribution because it’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach people on their mobile phones. Smartphone users spend 90% of their mobile time using apps, but they’re not downloading new apps.
Google already monetizes its Maps app with sponsored results that show up in searches.
The problem is, despite prolonged hype around beacons and in-store advertising, only the largest, most tech-savvy retailers have poured resources into making mobile advertising, mobile commerce, and beacons work.
Even though Google Here did not ship, Google has not given up on location-based advertising. The company recently launched Eddystone, a developer project for Bluetooth low energy beacons that competes with Apple’s iBeacon. The company will find a way into location-based advertising because it’s the best way to “close the loop” between online ads and offline purchases.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Choc Factory sends website app pluggers to page two mobile cesspit
But it’s 2015 and nobody cares about Web apps
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/02/choc_factory_sends_website_app_pluggers_to_page_two_mobile_cesspit/
Google is demoting mobile websites with full screen app advertisements possibly consigning it to the cesspit of the internet that is search result page 2.
The move will target websites that splash large ads plugging an app with little close buttons that are hard to tap with fat fingers.
Choc Factory engineer Daniel Bathgate says the offensive sites that continue to host the interstitials will be demoted from November 1.
“After November 1, mobile web pages that show an app install interstitial that hides a significant amount of content on the transition from the search result page will no longer be considered mobile-friendly,” Bathgate says.
“This does not affect other types of interstitials.
“As an alternative to app install interstitials, browsers provide ways to promote an app that are more user-friendly.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
How Secure are Smartwatches? Not Very.
HP Fortify finds 100 percent of tested smartwatches exhibit security flaws
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327588&
New analysis indicates that all the smartwatches tested contain significant vulnerabilities, including insufficient authentication, lack of encryption, and privacy problems.
Mobile phone companies have been pushing smartwatches as a way to pump up a saturated and declining market, but there are good reasons to resist the marketing hype and not buy one. According to a report titled “Internet of Things Security Study: Smartwatches”just released by HP Fortify, as serious as security vulnerabilities have been on smartphones, they may be worse on smartwatches.
The Fortify team tested 10 Android- and Apple iOS-based devices and found that all contained significant vulnerabilities, including insufficient authentication, lack of encryption, and privacy concerns. Included in the testing were Android, iOS cloud, and mobile application components. As result of these findings, Jason Schmitt, general manager, HP Security, Fortify, questions whether smartwatches are designed adequately to store and protect the sensitive data and tasks they are built to process.
Insufficient user authentication/authorization
Every smartwatch tested was paired with a mobile interface that lacked two-factor authentication and the ability to lock out accounts after failed password attempts. Thirty percent of the units tested were vulnerable to account harvesting, meaning an attacker could gain access to the device and data due to a combination of weak password policy, lack of account lockout, and user enumeration.
Lack of transport encryption
While 100 percent of the test products implemented transport encryption using SSL/TLS, 40 percent of the cloud connections make use of weak security cyphers and are vulnerable to open source secure sockets layer-based POODLE attacks due to their continued use of SSL v2.
Insecure software/firmware
70 percent of the smartwatches had problems with protection of firmware updates, including transmitting firmware updates without encryption.
http://go.saas.hp.com/l/28912/2015-07-20/325lbm/28912/69038/IoT_Research_Series_Smartwatches.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart Mouth Guard Monitors Health Markers in Real Time
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1327580&
Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have built a prototype mouth guard designed to monitor various health markers in saliva and then transmit the data wirelessly to a mobile device.
The mouth guard sensor can continuously monitor levels of lactate, cortisol and uric acid non-invasively in patients, athletes, or even soldiers to assess health, performance and stress levels. In the current study, the researchers focused on uric acid, which can be associated with conditions like diabetes and gout.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony Unveils Smartphone With 4K Screen
http://mobile.slashdot.org/story/15/09/02/1615252/sony-unveils-smartphone-with-4k-screen
Sony has taken the wraps off its new Xperia Z5 Premium smartphone, which has a 5.5″ display that operates at 4k resolution. “The company acknowledged that there was still a limited amount of professional content available in 4K — which provides about four times the number of pixels as 1080p high definition video. But it said the Z5 Premium would upscale videos streamed from YouTube and Netflix to take advantage of the display.”
Sony smartphone has 4K screen and new camera module
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34117115
It means the Xperia Z5 Premium can both capture video in “ultra-high definition” quality and then play it back on its 5.5in (14cm) display without downgrading the footage.
Sony’s mobile division loses money, but its camera components are profitable.
Apple, Samsung, Xiaomi and Huawei are among rival handset-makers to have used earlier generations of the Japanese company’s photo-capture technologies.
Sony said the 23 megapixel sensor involved was being kept as an “exclusive” to its own devices for the time being.
Sony unveiled its new Android-powered handsets at Berlin’s Ifa tech show.
The company acknowledged that there was still a limited amount of professional content available in 4K – which provides about four times the number of pixels as 1080p high definition video.
But it said the Z5 Premium would upscale videos streamed from YouTube and Netflix to take advantage of the display.
One of the big concerns about high-definition screens is that they run down batteries more quickly.
Sony says its use of a “high capacity” 3,430 mAh battery and memory-on-display tech – which allows a static image to remain on show without requiring extra processing power – should mean the handset lasts for “up to two days” between charges.
But one expert still had concerns.
“I really doubt it will last two days if you watch a 4K movie on the device,” said Francisco Jeronimo from the tech research company IDC.
“There’s not really a need for a 4K display from a consumers point-of-view.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Greg Sterling / Marketing Land:
Comscore: US smartphone penetration reaches 77% in July 2015, Facebook Messenger displaces YouTube as second most popular app
Comscore: Smartphone Penetration Above 77 Percent In US
Facebook Messenger now the second most popular app, displacing YouTube.
http://marketingland.com/comscore-smartphone-penetration-now-above-77-percent-in-us-141422
The July smartphone numbers are out this afternoon from comScore. According to the measurement firm smartphone penetration has reached 77 percent in the US market. While there are some modest shifts in share (i.e., Android slightly down) the relative positions of Apple, Google and Microsoft’s operating systems are mostly unchanged from last month.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Digital Health
Take a Deep Breath, Then Check Your Smartphone
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/bringing-the-stethoscope-into-the-smartphone-era/
The stethoscope, that iconic tool of doctors, has been upgraded several times since it was invented two centuries ago. Eko Devices, a start-up led by three recent graduates of the University of California, Berkeley, is betting that it is time for another innovative overhaul.
Last Friday, the fledgling company received approval from the Food and Drug Administration to market its Eko Core, a digital device that attaches to a conventional stethoscope and allows it to record, amplify and wirelessly send audio and sound wave images to an iPhone application. Its software meets federal standards for privacy and security, the founders say, and it can transmit its heart sounds and waveforms to the electronic health records used in hospitals and clinics. An Android app is scheduled to be released early next year.
The Eko Core device goes on sale on Wednesday, priced at $199, and a complete stethoscope with the same capabilities will sell for $299.
“This is probably one of the most important innovations in the plain old stethoscope in recent years,” said Dr. Charanjit Rihal, chairman of the division of cardiovascular diseases at the Mayo Clinic.
There are cardiologists who regard the stethoscope as a relic that should be jettisoned, given the scientific precision of ultrasound technology and echocardiograms. At first, members of the Eko team thought they would reimagine heart sound detection in a way that would be less costly than ultrasound but would look very different from a traditional stethoscope. An early prototype resembled a hockey puck, Mr. Landgraf recalled.
When they took their idea to doctors, they learned a lesson. “Physicians love their stethoscopes,” Mr. Landgraf said. “It was shocking to us, but really important.”
After seven months, in early 2014, the Eko team had a prototype that resembled its current product.
Beyond its devices and mobile app, the company is developing a decision support software algorithm that compares a patient’s heart rhythms with a cloud-based data library of heart sounds. The smartphone app then classifies the patient’s result as normal or abnormal.
https://ekodevices.com/index
Tomi Engdahl says:
More sensors to smart phones:
Huawei just weighed an orange on stage with its new smartphone
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/2/9244651/huawei-mate-s-force-touch
The idea of weighing something with your smartphone used to be the stuff of joke apps and broken screens, but Huawei has proved it’s possible. On stage at IFA in Berlin, the company used the pressure-sensitive Force Touch technology in its new Mate S smartphone to weigh an orange. It might sound slightly surreal (and it was), but the demonstration got by far the biggest cheer of the event from the crowd. Perhaps in part because Huawei might have just stolen a march on Apple, which introduced Force Touch on the Apple Watch and is rumored to be incorporating it into the next iPhone. Huawei didn’t weigh any apples on stage though.
There are still a lot of questions about Huawei’s Force Touch technology, namely, how accurate is it and what is the maximum weight? The orange weighed in the demonstration came out as 280 grams, which sounds a little on the heavy side to us, but it’s clear that Huawei has big ambitions when it comes to moving beyond basic touchscreen interactions.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Charles Arthur / The Overspill:
High-end Android OEMs like Samsung, LG struggle in Q2 as cheaper phones take Chinese business, appetite for upgrades in the west wanes — Premium Android hits the wall: the Q2 2015 smartphone scorecard — Premium Android phones went off track in the second quarter.
Premium Android hits the wall: the Q2 2015 smartphone scorecard
https://theoverspill.wordpress.com/2015/09/01/premium-android-hits-the-wall-the-q2-2015-smartphone-scorecard/
A year back, in the second quarter of 2014, the combination of Samsung, HTC, LG, Sony, Motorola and Lenovo together shipped a total of 129.4m smartphones. (Samsung shipped 74.9m of them, or 58% of them.) The whole smartphone market constituted 301.4m devices, so that group had 43% of it.
In the second quarter of 2015, the combination of that same group (with Motorola now owned by Lenovo) shipped a total of 114.7 devices. Samsung shipped (an estimated, as always) 73.2m, or 64% of them. The whole smartphone market was 337.2m, so that group had 34% of it.
Note:
• None of the Android OEMs shipped more handsets than in the year-ago period.
• None made more operating profit than in the year-ago period. Quite a few lost money, including Sony and HTC – in the latter’s case, enough that its future as an independent company is in serious doubt.
Profit or loss, that’s a lot of handsets. It’s easy to underestimate how complex the process of designing, making and distributing millions – that’s millions – of handsets across the globe is. All of these companies is doing a remarkable job in making and getting hardware out there. The problem is that it’s a job which only two companies are doing with any great success.
The point of no return?
I don’t think the crash in premium Android sales is a one-off. The competition from low- and mid-priced devices is fierce now, and yet these companies don’t seem to be putting any clear blue water between them; they’re not offering anything better than they did a year ago.
More than ever, the smartphone business is turning into one where only two companies make money from handsets – and increasingly, only one gets the top-end business. For the rest, they need something new to come along that they can get into and make some profit. Android Wear smartwatches don’t seem to be setting the world alight; will VR be the next big thing? Or IoT? Or self-driving cars? At this point, anyone that isn’t Apple or Samsung seems to be praying for a miracle.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bruce Einhorn / Bloomberg Business:
ZTE nearly doubles its US smartphone marketshare to 8% in the past 15 months through low-cost offerings, ranking it as the fourth largest smartphone maker in US — The Cheap Phones Quietly Winning the U.S. — China’s once-embattled ZTE almost doubled its share in 15 months
The Cheap Phones Quietly Winning the U.S.
China’s once-embattled ZTE almost doubled its share in 15 months
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-03/zte-s-cheap-phones-quietly-winning-the-u-s-
In most AT&T, Sprint, or T-Mobile stores, it takes a while to find the ZTE phones, buried in the back, past the latest from Apple and Samsung. But they’re there. In AT&T stores it’s the ZTE Maven, which has a screen, speakers, and a processor with capabilities somewhere between the iPhone 5 and 6. As Tony Greco, ZTE’s head of U.S. retail marketing, puts it, “These were state-of-the-art features two years ago.” The Maven’s draw, really, is price. Without any subsidies from a wireless carrier, the phone costs just $60. And it’s not even one of the company’s cheaper models.
ZTE is quietly becoming a force in the U.S. by selling good enough phones at low prices—smaller prepaid smartphones for $30, basic phones with QWERTY keyboards for about the same, and so on.
The Chinese company’s products are among the cheap phones of choice at three of the big four U.S. carriers.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung launches SleepSense, a smart sleep-tracker that connects to your home appliances
http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/03/samsung-launches-sleepsense-a-smart-sleep-tracker-that-connects-to-your-home-appliances/
Samsung has launched a new “Internet of Things” (IoT) healthcare device designed to improve your sleep.
At the IFA consumer technology event in Berlin, Samsung unveiled the cylindrical device that connects with your TV, air conditioning, music system, and other home appliances — all managed through a mobile app. “It’s connected to your life,” the company says. The Korean tech titan also launched a SmartThings Hub to manage home IoT systems today, which ties into these individual product rollouts.
The SleepSense is basically a contactless sensor that’s placed under your pillow at night to analyze your sleep patterns. It can also turn off your TV when it senses you’re asleep, or turn your coffee machine on when it reckons you’re awake in the morning.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tampere ear examined with the iPhone device
Laid a children’s and young people’s clinic has started an ear infection study, which examines whether the parents by the smart phone photos or videos of adequate quality ear infection diagnostics.
Families participating in Mobile Ear research will have access to the iPhone connected device. The phone works as a camera and a light source. OTO-called American-made device makes the combination replaced the lamp, for affixing the ear cones. Through a combination of the tympanic membrane can take a photo or video.
Parents can compare lapseltaan tärykalvokuvia made by research website on the comparison of the images and on this basis decide skeptical of the children acute otitis media. Parents send their images to the researcher. They decide themselves, do they bring their children to the doctor’s office
The researcher is not involved in the treatment of children and not let the pictures feedback. The study examines the diagnostic parents the images picked and video quality.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/tampereella-korvatulehduksia-tutkitaan-kotona-iphone-laitteella-3482353
Tomi Engdahl says:
You shouldn’t be paying for mobile ads (please buy our software)
Ad-blocking company selflessly campaigns for the blocking of ads
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/07/you_should_not_be_paying_for_ads_please_buy_our_software/
Israeli ad-blocking company Shine has climbed on to the moral high ground, taking out an advertisement in the Financial Times calling on the mobile industry to block mobile ads.
Roi Carthy, Shine’s chief marketing officer told El Reg: “Any rational person can agree that we should not be subsidising Google, Facebook and so on.” He calls the presence of ads on mobes “pollution” and that his company believes that “The right to block ads is a consumer right”.
“We believe that the consumer not only has the right to block ads, but they should not be paying for it,” he added.