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:
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Fitbit becomes HIPAA compliant, signs up Target to offer device to 335k workers in enterprise push
Fitbit becomes HIPAA compliant as it eyes more business customers
http://www.zdnet.com/article/fitbit-becomes-hipaa-compliant-as-it-eyes-more-business-customers/
Fitbit Wellness is a business-to-business unit that could diversify the wearable device maker and protect it from price wars. HIPAA compliance checks off a key enterprise concern.
Fitbit said Wednesday that its wellness programs for corporations will be HIPAA compliant. That move is a key hurdle for Fitbit as it aims to grow its business via enterprises, health plans and benefits providers.
HIPAA refers to the U.S. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which governs privacy for patient data.
The news comes amid reports that Fitbit will work with Target to offer trackers, health competition and wellness programs to employees. Target, which has 335,000 employees, would be Fitbit’s largest wellness customer.
The wearables market faces stiff competition, pricing wars and smartwatches such as the Apple’s Watch. For a health-focused wearable device maker like Fitbit, enterprise accounts can provide a moat around the business. Fitbit’s corporate services business is only about 10 percent of sales, but the profit margins over time are likely to be more secure.
Fitbit won’t see a huge business-to-business bump from being HIPAA compliant. However, HIPAA compliance does check off one key hurdle for enterprises.
According to Fitbit, its wellness unit can use HIPAA compliance to work better with health plans, hospitals and other entities that are regulated.
Tomi Engdahl says:
End of glass hole-jokes – Google is now talking about smart glassed with a different name
Google ended January Glass smart glasses sales, but the project is not completely dead.
The glasses were evaluated compared to the costly that they really find viable applications
Now the company talks about Glass instead of Project Aura.
Business Insider spotted the search giant that employs the Aura team three consumer products experts in the Amazon Lab126 to. Started in June, the project is described in LinkedIn profiles are replaced by ‘Google Glass and beyound “.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/loppu-glasshole-vitseille-google-puhuu-nyt-eri-nimella-alylaseistaan-3483564
Google has hired a bunch of engineers from Amazon’s Lab126 for a new wearable tech initiative called ‘Project Aura’
http://uk.businessinsider.com/google-project-aura-revealed-2015-9?r=US&IR=T
Project Aura appears to have gotten started in June and is focused on reviving Google’s troubled Glass computer eyeglasses, as well as accelerating Google’s efforts to develop related wearable technology.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella just used an iPhone to demo Outlook
http://uk.businessinsider.com/microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-used-iphone-2015-9?r=US&IR=T
During the keynote speech at Dreamforce Wednesday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was put in a situation where he had to use Apple’s iPhone to do a demo — a sight that would’ve been unimaginable just a few years back.
“I’m going to first start on this iPhone, and it’s not my phone, but it is an iPhone,” said Nadella, smiling, as he walked to the podium to show Microsoft’s email app Outlook on mobile.
“It’s a pretty unique iPhone. In fact, I’d like to call it the ‘iPhone Pro’ because it’s got all of the Microsoft software and applications on it,”
“Outlook is, of course, an email client, but here is the fascinating thing — it’s the best email client on iOS for Gmail and Exchange,” Nadella said.
Nadella went on to show how Outlook can connect to other third-party apps, like Salesforce, to show data stored in those apps and enable the user to get work done on the Outlook platform.
Tomi Engdahl says:
A Swiss health insurer is testing fitness trackers that could penalize inactive people
http://qz.com/504474/a-swiss-health-insurer-is-testing-fitness-trackers-that-could-penalize-inactive-people/
With healthcare costs rising across the developed world, many argue that the rise of wearable technology as a way to determine health insurance premiums is inevitable–and one company in Switzerland is putting the idea to the test.
CSS, one of the country’s biggest health insurers, launched a pilot project in July, in which the company tracks the movements of 2,000 volunteers on a daily basis using digital pedometers. The program “should reveal whether and how insurance companies can introduce an appropriate offer tailored to customers’ needs,” Volker Schmidt, the company’s head of technology, told The Local.
The other goals of the project are to determine whether people are willing to disclose their personal data, and whether the monitoring pushes them to achieve the goal of 10,000 steps a day.
Currently, the monitoring can only legally be used on supplementary insurance, but Schmidt would like to see it as a part of mandatory, basic coverage.
Überwachung auf Schritt und Tritt
http://www.blick.ch/news/wirtschaft/die-krankenkassen-wollen-unsere-gesundheitsdaten-ueberwachung-auf-schritt-und-tritt-id4140380.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ask Slashdot: What To Do About Android Malware?
http://ask.slashdot.org/story/15/09/19/1944236/ask-slashdot-what-to-do-about-android-malware
What’s your approach to detecting and dealing with Android malware? I have a fairly new, fairly fancy phone running Android Lollipop, the recently degraded performance of which leads me to believe that it’s infected with malware. That, and a friend who noticed a lot of strange activity coming from my phone’s IP — sorry,
Comments:
Wipe it. Flash a new ROM; don’t install any other app stores, don’t download sketchy apps.
If you have malware, that’s cause you (or someone with access to your phone) installed it. Don’t do that.
In other words voluntarily lock yourself into a walled garden? But isn’t one of the biggest advantages of Android the freedom to install anything you want from any place you want?
Unlike iOS Android allows you to side load apps *officially* but in this case all bets are off and you MUST understand what you’re doing. With Apple there’s no such freedom (unless you root your phone which is unsafe and voids your warranty) at all.
So, Google’s walled garden is at your full discretion. If you like the feeling of safety you stay in it. If you want freedom, you can leave it any time you want. Most Android phones even allow you to have root if you’re hellbent on having total freedom [to destroy your device].
Flag as Inappropriate
The Amazon and F-Droid app stores are fine. Just avoid the less reputable ones until you learn the basics of computer use, like not installing dodgy cracked apps or “free” virus scans etc.
The difference with a PC is that when a security vulnerability is found on a Dell running Windoes and Microsoft releases a patch, you don’t have to wait for Dell and Best Buy to hopefully allow you to update your PC.
When Google releases a patch for Android, you have to hope that you phone manufacturer and your carrier push the patch to you.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Casey Newton / The Verge:
How Slack connected conference-goers and changed the experience at Portland’s XOXO Festival
Why Slack could be the future of conferences
How a social app broke out at Portland’s XOXO Festival
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/18/9349425/slack-future-of-conferences-xoxo-festival
We go to conferences to meet people, whether for business or personal reasons, and yet often I meet far fewer than I hope to. Inside a crowded convention space, things can turn cliquish in a hurry. Come lunch time, I’m right back to being the new kid at school, sheepishly hunting for a table that will accept me. Want to know anything about the strangers around you? Just read the fine print on their name badge, and do it before they notice and think you’re staring at their chest.
Little about this experience has changed in the last 50 years, and technological efforts to reinvent it have largely stalled out.
But at the XOXO Festival in Portland this weekend, I saw a new app remaking the conference experience in more ways than I could count. And the app, strangely enough, is Slack.
Slack, of course, is the team collaboration app that rocketed to 1 million daily users and a $2.8 billion valuation in barely a year and a half. At its simplest, it’s a chat room that lives on your laptop and mobile devices. But once Slack is connected to all the other apps and services used by your team, it becomes the central communication hub for your entire organization.
By the time XOXO got underway, attendees had created more than 150 channels to discuss and organize around nearly every topic imaginable
The result was that by the time many attendees arrived in Portland, there was already a subset of their fellow festival-goers waiting to greet them. And throughout the three days of XOXO, Slack was a thriving hub of conversation, offering a place for attendees to encourage and congratulate speakers, ask questions about the event’s code of conduct, and find like-minded souls with whom to sneak out and grab a beer, or a bite, or whatever.
Conference-goers who want to connect have many options, but the people I spoke with said they found Slack more fun to use. “It’s just much easier to use and less noisy than Facebook, Twitter or custom apps,” attendee Clay Smith told me. “The really useful thing was being able to join channels that I was interested in (say #cocktails) and be connected with people who shared the same interests.” But uses got much more creative — during a delayed flight from San Francisco to Portland, some XOXO attendees set up a channel for the delayed flight and entertained one another while they waited for it to take off.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Danny Sullivan / Search Engine Land:
How Google Now, Siri & Cortana Predict What You Want — Google, Apple and Microsoft all have agents that want to be your personal assistant. But how well Google Now, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana can predict your needs depends on how much you want to share, how wedded to particular platforms …
How Google Now, Siri & Cortana Predict What You Want
http://searchengineland.com/how-google-now-siri-cortana-predict-what-you-want-229799
It’s like magic when your digital assistant has an answer before you think to search. Here’s how they understand your needs.
Google, Apple and Microsoft all have agents that want to be your personal assistant. But how well Google Now, Apple’s Siri and Microsoft’s Cortana can predict your needs depends on how much you want to share, how wedded to particular platforms you want to be and, in some cases, how much you actively want to help make those predictions happen.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile Diagnostics Fall Short
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327731&
If mobile carriers and OEMs aren’t equipped to troubleshoot and repair faulty devices and don’t have qualified staff to make sure that happens, they’re more than likely going to see a drop in both sales and customer loyalty, according to a recent study conducted by a mobile services company.
Without our mobile devices, we’re often rendered helpless, inaccessible and somehow incomplete – or at least it feels that way. As much as people love how mobile devices make life more productive, efficient and entertaining, they equally hate when those devices don’t function the way they expect them to.
It’s frustrating when you can barely get halfway through the day without completely draining your battery power or having the apps you use everyday crash or freeze. It turns out that these are two of the biggest gripes consumers have with their mobile devices. Thirty eight percent of respondents surveyed in our global study cited short battery life as the most common type of device shortcoming they experience, while another 13 percent complain of frozen or crashing apps.
From what I’ve seen in working with carriers and OEMs in the US, Asia, Latin America and Europe, I can tell you that it’s becoming less and less frequent for mobile device faults to be associated with hardware issues. Instead, many of these supposed device faults tend to be caused by consumers’ media consumption habits.
This is where the big problem arises for mobile carriers and device manufacturers. They often put a lot of their focus – and marketing budgets – into creating massive ad campaigns to highlight their low prices, luring customers away from competitors by offering to pay their contract termination fees or showcasing their device inventory. But that’s not what really matters to most users. Customer service after the saleis what matters most, and that has a lot to do with making sure customers will be able to get their devices diagnosed and repaired quickly and effectively.
Because consumers’ tolerance with mobile device functionality issues is continuing to decrease, it’s more important than ever for both the carriers and the manufacturers to have a better grasp on the issues at-hand and more effective tools to identify and deal with them in a timely manner. Best-in-class technology solutions combined with highly skilled, competent customer service and repair specialists are needed to improve the customer experience not only at the time of selling mobile devices, but also in the post-sales stage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This trick would reduce the required web data usage by 50%, says programmers arriving in Finland – Scott Hanselman
Hansel Man of the network using a considerable ill-advantage of the computing power, for example, smartphones offered. By moving the processing to the data terminal in his judgment, to drop back and forth movable amount of data up to 50 per cent.
Network traffic is minimized Hansel Man austerity agenda anyway. The use of the Internet could melt to win in many different ways, if the services optimize content.
As an example he take up Google’s new, simplified logo, the size of which is at best only 305 bytes: the former logo while the size up to 14 000 bytes. Thousands and thousands of users in the network use even a small change is repeated.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/tama-kikka-vahentaisi-nettikayton-vaatimaa-datamaaraa-50-sanoo-suomeen-saapuva-koodari-3483840
Tomi Engdahl says:
The touch screen does not always obey – the fault may be in the fingers
The fault may be in you, if the phone’s touch screen does not work
Many smart phones with touch screens only work if the right conditions. In particular, the fingers humidity is worth paying attention to, says Yle.
“If your fingers are too damp, or perhaps a dry, they do not conduct electricity as desired. In this case, the screen does not respond as it should”
Toni Kekola has come across several cases where the fingers of the moisture has disturbed the functioning of the smartphone. Dry fingers cases he has not been directly presented, but they still carry the users are talking about.
- If the phone does not respond to your fingers, I recommend the use of, for example, on the purpose designed pen.
Sources:
http://www.tivi.fi/Kaikki_uutiset/yle-vika-voi-olla-sinussa-jos-puhelimen-kosketusnaytto-ei-toimi-3483884
http://yle.fi/uutiset/kosketusnaytto_ei_aina_tottele__vika_voi_olla_sormissa/8315753
Tomi Engdahl says:
Pico Cassettes are retro game cartridges for your phone
http://www.theverge.com/2015/9/21/9363839/pico-cassette-phone-game-cartridge
Smartphones now come with vast amounts of storage — if you’re willing to pay extra, at least — and the thought of using physical media with one sounds anachronistic in the extreme. But Japanese startup Beatrobo thinks that we’ve lost something in the transition, and has produced the Pico Cassette to fill in the blank: it’s a video game cartridge that you can plug into your phone’s headphone jack.
The cassettes, which look like mini Nintendo Famicom carts, are an extension of Beatrobo’s PlugAir technology, which has been used to sell physical music and video content at Lawson HMV stores in Japan. The cartridges don’t actually store any software themselves; instead, each acts as an authentication key by sending out inaudible sound. You’ll still be interfacing with an app to download your content, then.
But the physical nature of the cartridges has more to offer than just retro appeal. Since each device has a unique identifier and can communicate with Beatrobo’s servers, you’ll be able to keep save games and play each title on multiple devices; the easy portability could make you feel more like the game really belongs to you than with digital titles. If nothing else, it’d probably be more reliable than iCloud game backups.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zero to Market in Under 6 Months!
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327741&
Chinese smartphone vendors are setting a record pace in fast decision-making and enabling new features.
China is a unique balance of pragmatism, speed and high tech. I am continually impressed by the unparalleled pace at which Chinese manufacturers move from concept to production of highly complex products, which was the focus of my last EE Times blog, “On the High-speed Train to Handset Innovation” (September 4, 2015).
Other than China, I cannot think of another country where a new smartphone could reach consumers in just a few months. But that is exactly what happened when PNI Sensor began working with Hisense, the world’s fourth largest maker of TVs and an emerging player in smartphones, primarily for the massive Chinese market.
Amazingly, within 24 hours of first presenting to Hisense, we learned that we had a new design win in the next Hisense smartphone. Needless to say, it was a very stressful few hours for our traveling team.
The resulting product, HS-E622M, is a large-screen, thin, light and attractive smartphone running Android 4.4 KitKat on a 1.2 GHz quad core processor. The phone began shipping in March 2015 — a mere five months after our first meeting.
I now know why we feel like we can barely keep up in the electronics industry: China is setting a new record pace.
Tomi Engdahl says:
It’s 2015 and a text file can hack your Apple Watch. IS THIS THE FUTURE YOU WANTED?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/21/apple_kicks_out_watchos_2_update/
Five days after delaying the release of watchOS 2, Apple has posted an update for its smartwatch operating system.
The watchOS 2 update brings the introduction of native apps for the Apple Watch, a new set of privileges that will allow developers previously limited to iOS applications the ability to access the Watch’s microphone, speaker, and both the HealthKit and HomeKit APIs.
The update also brings the addition of new Watch faces, including a set of time-lapse images set to change throughout the day, and a new “nightstand” mode to display a clock face while the Watch is charging at night.
The watchOS 2 update also brings a hefty load of security fixes, addressing 37 CVE-listed flaws in total. Among the flaws Apple patched are remote-code execution flaws that could be exploited by a malicious web page, text file, or audio file.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Visualize Your Visceral Fat
Kyocera’s new IoT service measures health
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327766
Kyocera’s new IoT service called “Daily Support” measures individual’s activity, diet, sleep conditions and visceral fat through the combination of a smartphone and a new wearable device.
Call it beer belly or muffin top.
In a country whose government’s health, labor and welfare ministry and healthcare providers are obsessed with “metabolic syndrome,” Japan believes that visceral fat is the number one reason for rising healthcare costs in its aging population. The Japanese government and medical community see high visceral fat as a danger correlated with cholesterol, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and other conditions.
Against this backdrop, it was perhaps inevitable for a high-tech company — in this case, Kyocera — to brainstorm a new service called “Daily Support,” designed to enable the measurement of an individual’s activity, diet, sleep conditions and visceral fat through the combination of a smartphone and a new wearable device.
The amount of data and analytics provided by “Daily Support” appears versatile and comprehensive. To non-Japanese consumers, it might even seem a little invasive, given the fact that the data will be provided directly to healthcare providers.
What to measure
Kyocera’s new wearable device called TSUC (pronounced “tsukku,” not “suck”) is as small as a document clip. Integrated with tri-axial acceleration and air pressure sensors, it measures “step count, calorie consumption, and status detection differentiations,” said Kyocera. The company also boasts that it’s smart enough to detect such differences as: “walking / running / riding vehicles such as bicycles vs cars /going up and down elevators vs escalators / climbing up and down steps vs slopes.”
The data is wirelessly transferred to a smartphone via TSUC’s integrated Bluetooth 4.0 chip. It supports both Android 4.4 and iOS 8.
The strength of Kyocera’s Daily Support service, however, resides in its smartphone app, which visualizes the user’s health condition by monitoring everything from sleep and visceral fat to diet and activities.
The app, for example, records the amount of time spent on meals and analyzes pictures of the meals to calculate calorie consumption.
The app also analyzes sleep quality. According to Kyocera, by placing the smartphone next to the pillow, users can use the app to detect body movement and collect data on the quality of sleep in addition to hours slept.
But then, how do you measure visceral fat?
“By simply tracing the smartphone halfway around their abdomen, users can obtain an estimate of visceral fat levels and see a cross-section image on their smartphones,” said Kyocera in a statement.
IoT as a service business
The most telling aspect of Kyocera’s announcement is not so much the wearable device hardware itself. Rather, it squarely positions its IoT devices as a tool for its own service to generate recurring monthly revenue.
Kyocera’s wearable device TSUC is priced at 7,000 yen ($58), with a standard monthly cost of service at 600 yen ($5) per month.
The device will be distributed by the Association for Preventive Medicine of Japan, according to Kyocera.
The service appears to be arriving in an extremely “trusting” environment in Japan. Kyocera states that Japan’s healthcare professionals can “privately check the activities and data of the service users on the Web site and send messages individually to promote better habits.”
Kyocera’s Daily Support can also integrate blood data analysis, according to the company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Xiaomi plans ‘mini-mi’ mobile network
Chinese mobe vendor to Cupertino: ‘You snooze, you lose’
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/24/xiaomi_plans_minimi_mobile_network/
China’s leading phone maker plans to capitalise on its success flogging mobes to the masses by operating its own-brand mobile network.
Xiaomi has launched Mi Mobile, a wireless MVNO (mobile virtual network operator) that will compete against China’s stodgy state-owned mobile carriers.
According to Reuters, the company is keeping things simple for now, offering just two low-cost pre-paid plans for voice and data. A 3GB data bundle costs around US$10 while voice calls work out at less than 2 cents a minute. Customers will be able to buy these services through the company’s online store.
It’s a bold move. To date MVNOs have failed to fire in China where the market is dominated state-owned carriers. Xiaomi is banking on its brand’s high visibility to get punters through the door. Chinese regulators are keen to use MVNOs to inject much-needed competition into the nation’s mobile market.
China’s Xiaomi announces telecom carrier service, new flagship handset
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/22/us-xiaomi-telecoms-idUSKCN0RM13620150922
Xiaomi Inc, China’s leading smartphone maker, announced on Tuesday two prepaid wireless plans to mark its debut as a mobile virtual network operator (MVNO) competing against China’s national carriers.
Xiaomi’s new wireless business, called Mi Mobile, will offer voice and data services and utilize either the China Unicom or China Telecom networks.
The launch comes less than six months after Google Inc announced it would launch an MVNO service in the United States called “Fi” that piggybacks off Sprint and T-Mobile’s networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
EEVblog #514 – $5 Mobile Phone Teardown – LG800G
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoNRiHWOnqM
What’s inside a modern bare bones $5 mobile phone?
The LG800G available from Tracphone for $5
the reason these are so cheap: they sell them at a loss with the intention of selling you service
Tomi Engdahl says:
Managing Untethered Mobile/Wireless Batteries
http://www.eetimes.com/author.asp?section_id=36&doc_id=1327739&
The MIPI Battery Interface (BIF) is a robust, scalable, single-wire communication interface for use in the management and monitoring of battery operation, designed to replace existing proprietary solutions.
The convenience of an untethered world of mobile phones, personal wearable devices, and the many wireless sensors and controllers in our homes comes at a price: constant attention to and management of the rechargeable batteries that power them.
Dependent as we have been on rechargeable batteries for more than a decade, it has always puzzled me that a common device- and protocol- independent standard has not emerged.
There are many so-called smart battery management schemes available. But they are either company, industry, or application specific, despite the fact that they all use the same battery types, sizes, and chemistry.
My candidate for a standard cross-platform battery management is the Battery Inferface (BIF) specification developed by the MIPI Alliance.
But because it deals with only the hardware and software aspects of the communications interface and nothing particularly device specific, it looks like a good candidate for more power constrained wireless platforms such as wearables and other consumer IoT devices.
But even with such a scheme available, there are a lot of low cost “dumb” analog batteries out there that have to be taken into account and identified. The BIF working group has taken that into account by incorporating a pull down resistor connected between the BCL and GND, allowing a BIF based battery subsystem to identify whether the battery is a smart or low cost type, as well as identify the electrical characteristics for a low cost battery.
Battery Interface Specification
http://mipi.org/specifications/battery-interface?utm_source=General%20Distribution&utm_medium=News%20Wire&utm_campaign=MIPI%20Alliance%20Enhances%20its%20Battery%20Interface%20Specification
Tomi Engdahl says:
I don’t have a mobile performance problem, I have a CDN
http://www.twinprime.com/i-dont-have-a-mobile-performance-problem-i-have-a-cdn/
“I don’t have mobile performance problem; I have a CDN” is something I hear from prospective customers frequently. My answer to this is always a two part question, “So what apps do you think are slow on your phone, or what apps have you heard your friends complain about?” And then I hear them list a bunch of apps. Almost every app gets mentioned – from slow image loading on Facebook and Instagram, to links to articles not loading on Twitter, or how long Amazon or Walmart took to display a product search query–the list never ends!. The second question I ask is “And don’t you think all of these apps use a CDN?” The response is always one of surprise!
Something is different about mobile. The same app will work flawlessly and fast sometimes, and it will be slow at other times.
Today, almost every app uses a CDN, yet the inconsistent mobile performance problem persists because 70% of the latency in mobile occurs in the wireless last mile. CDNs were built for solving the “first mile” origin server to network edge latency problem, and they do a good job. The mobile performance problem is in the last mile, so only using CDNs is not going to be of much help. That’s why apps using CDNs (like Facebook, and your app) are still slow and inconsistent.
Mobile is the most diverse computing medium we have encountered. CDNs are ill-equipped to deal with this diversity because they mainly rely on using the same optimizations for all operating conditions
Network
In the wired Internet, the edge of the network is usually tens of miles away from us. When we access the New York Times from our laptops, the content is being pulled from the closest CDN data center, usually a few miles away. In the mobile cellular network, the edge of the network is usually the core of the Internet. The cellular connection from our device is tunneled (over GTP) to centralized locations in AT&T or Verizon’s network. The tunnels are then terminated, and the traffic becomes IP and enters the Internet. All cellular operators have only a handful of these centralized locations (GGSN, P-Gateway)–rarely over a dozen. This means that mobile networks are more centralized, and the notion that we are going to our closest CDN doesn’t hold true.
Summary
With the growth of mobile, there has been a fundamental shift in network architecture, content consumption, and the physics of the network. CDNs were not built to solve these challenges
CDNs are great at solving some complex engineering challenges like scaling, content distributions, providing geo footprint, etc, but they do not solve mobile performance challenges
Tomi Engdahl says:
David McLaughlin / Bloomberg Business:
FTC has launched an inquiry into Google’s Android business over antitrust concerns — Google Said to Be Under U.S. Antitrust Scrutiny Over Android — New FTC inquiry comes years after it closed search-engine case — Lingering skepticism meets probe over access to phone platform
Google Said to Be Under U.S. Antitrust Scrutiny Over Android
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-09-25/google-said-to-be-under-u-s-antitrust-scrutiny-over-android-iezf41sg
Google Inc. is back under U.S. antitrust scrutiny as officials ask whether the tech giant stifled competitors’ access to its Android mobile-operating system, said two people familiar with the matter.
The Federal Trade Commission reached an agreement with the Justice Department to spearhead an investigation of Google’s Android business, the people said. FTC officials have met with technology company representatives who say Google gives priority to its own services on the Android platform, while restricting others, added the people, who asked for anonymity because the matter is confidential.
The inquiry is in its early stages, and it could end without a case against the company.
The latest FTC scrutiny comes after Europe’s antitrust chief challenged Mountain View, California-based Google earlier this year over its dominance of Internet search. The European Union has also started its own investigation into Google’s Android platform following complaints, including from a group representing Microsoft Corp., Expedia Inc. and Nokia Oyj. It isn’t clear to what extent EU and U.S. antitrust investigators are cooperating.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Google has dominant position in EU and US mobile OS markets, but doesn’t hold monopoly power — Is Android a monopoly? — A report from Bloomberg this morning suggests that US antitrust regulators are looking into whether Google has engaged in anticompetitive practices with its Android operating system.
Is Android a monopoly?
http://www.theverge.com/google/2015/9/25/9397505/is-android-a-monopoly
A report from Bloomberg this morning suggests that US antitrust regulators are looking into whether Google has engaged in anticompetitive practices with its Android operating system. It seems a preposterous question to ask, but might Android constitute an actual monopoly?
Google doesn’t make any phones, and it doesn’t force Android on anyone — phone makers choose to ship devices with that software on board. Google also isn’t fully in control of Android, as evidenced by the hundreds of millions of Android smartphones being sold in China without Google’s apps or blessing. Android is famed as the open-source alternative to Apple’s closed iOS, and the two are locked in a healthy and balanced competition in the United States, with Google’s software claiming 59 percent of the market and Apple taking 38 percent. From a consumer perspective, it’s a fair fight with no monopoly in sight.
The main thing that Google has any say over is which devices get to carry its Google apps and services. And if that’s a monopoly, then it seems like a just one: if you invest the time and money to develop sophisticated apps like Gmail, Chrome, Maps, and YouTube, then you should have the right to decide who gets to use them.
There are currently just three options for any smartphone company without its own operating system. The option Google would like everyone to choose is Android with the Play Store and Google Play Services, which are increasingly integrating more and more of the core Android functionality. That comes with a measure of Google’s influence, but is generally preferable to option number two: a stripped-down Android without an app ecosystem and deprived of Google’s latest security updates. Anyone familiar with the US (or European, for that matter) smartphone market will instinctively know that Android without the Play Store is essentially not Android for the majority of consumers. Windows Phone, soon to become simply Windows 10, is the distant third option, though no one outside of Microsoft is convinced by it yet.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dropbox releases its chat app Zulip under an open-source license
http://thenextweb.com/dd/2015/09/26/dropbox-releases-its-chat-app-zulip-under-an-open-source-license/
Dropbox has released its recently acquired chat app, Zulip under an open-source Apache license.
According to a blog post by Zulip co-founder Tim Abbott announcing the move, Dropbox has released everything, including the server, Android and iOS mobile apps, desktop apps for Mac, Linux and Windows, and the Puppet configuration necessary for running the Zulip server in production.
Dropbox open-sources Zulip, the group chat app it acquired last year
http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/25/dropbox-open-sources-zulip-the-group-chat-app-it-acquired-last-year/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Vindu Goel / New York Times:
India Replaces China as Next Big Frontier for U.S. Tech Companies — BANGALORE, India — American technology companies desperately want to win over people like Rakesh Padachuri and his family. — Mr. Padachuri, who runs a construction business in this city, the center of India’s technology industry …
India Replaces China as Next Big Frontier for U.S. Tech Companies
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/28/technology/india-replaces-china-as-next-big-frontier-for-us-tech-companies.html?_r=0
Mr. Padachuri said last month during an interview at his home, which is next to a Best Western hotel. There’s barely a need to leave the house — groceries, a birthday cake, even a hairdresser can be summoned via an app.
The Padachuri family’s love of technology helps explain why India and its 1.25 billion residents have become the hottest growth opportunity — the new China — for American Internet companies. Blocked from China itself or frustrated by the onerous demands of its government, companies like Facebook, Google and Twitter, as well as start-ups and investors, see India as the next best thing.
The increasing appeal of India, now the world’s fastest growing major economy, was underscored in recent days.
Two years ago, India’s rise as a digital nation was hard to imagine. Internet penetration was modest, mobile phone networks were glacially slow, and smartphones were a blip in a sea of basic phones.
Since 2013, however, the number of smartphone users in India has ballooned and will reach 168 million this year, the research firm eMarketer predicts, with 277 million Internet users in India expected over all.
India already conducts more mobile searches on Google than any country besides the United States. Yet “we are barely scratching the surface of availability of Internet to the masses,” said Amit Singhal, Google’s senior vice president in charge of search, who emigrated from India to the United States 25 years ago.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Atavist Insider:
The Atavist abandons native apps to focus on web, saying apps have poor discovery, slow approval, tech limitations, smaller readership
Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
Why Atavist is betting on the web
Evan Ratliff & Jefferson Rabb
https://atavistinsider.atavist.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Goodbye, Native Mobile Apps
https://atavistinsider.atavist.com/goodbye-native-mobile-apps
Why Atavist is betting on the web
Tomi Engdahl says:
iFixit: New iPhones have smaller batteries, LPDDR4, are fairly easy to repair
Battery life stays about the same despite the decreased capacity.
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/09/ifixit-new-iphones-have-smaller-batteries-lpddr4-are-fairly-easy-to-repair/
Part of the fun of any new gadget is the painstakingly detailed iFixit teardowns, which often tell us things about the devices we couldn’t otherwise find out. The new teardowns of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus are no exception.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Megan Geuss / Ars Technica:
Samsung Pay launches in US, only on 2015 Galaxy flagships, no Verizon support, works with major credit cards issued by Bank of America, Citi, Amex, U.S. Bank
Samsung Pay launches in the US today—can it challenge Apple and Android?
Tap-to-pay service will be a year late to the game, but it has a secret weapon.
http://arstechnica.com/business/2015/09/samsung-pay-launches-in-the-us-today-can-it-challenge-apple-and-android/
It’s been a little over a month since Samsung Pay’s launch in South Korea, and today the mobile payment service is available to owners of select Samsung phones in the US. But a year after Apple Pay launched, and without the broad reach of Android Pay, which launched earlier this month, does Samsung have a product that anyone will use?
First, let’s start with the restrictions: at launch, Samsung Pay will only be available on Galaxy S6 edge+ and Galaxy Note 5 devices, as well as Galaxy S6 and S6 edge devices. In addition, Samsung still hasn’t brokered a deal with Verizon to allow compatibility on that network, so it will only work if your select Samsung device operates on AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or US Cellular. When it comes to card networks, Samsung Pay is at least playing with a full deck here: both MasterCard and Visa, the two biggest card networks in the US, are on board. But Samsung Pay needs the approval from card issuers as well, and so far only people with cards at US Bank, Citi, Bank of America, and American Express will be able to use Samsung Pay.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google increases Android app size limit on the Play store from 50MB to 100MB
http://venturebeat.com/2015/09/28/google-increases-app-size-limit-on-the-play-store-from-50mb-to-100mb/
Google today announced a change that should help Android developers who are building more complex apps and games: The size limit allowed on Google Play has been increased from 50MB to 100MB. While it’s possible to build an Android app or game of any size, the Play store has a cap.
This limit serves two purposes. First, it ensures developers write code efficiently and keep an eye on the overall size of their project. Secondly, it ensures users don’t have to wait too long to download the app or game, install it, and open it. As Google explained, it’s a tight balance between taking advantage of the available hardware, targeting diverse audiences around the world, and offering a speedy experience.
The file size limit is now 50MB for APKs that target Android 3.2 and lower (API level 13 or lower). For APKs that target Android 4.0 and higher (API level 14 or higher), it’s now 100MB.
If a developer can’t support all devices with a single APK, he or she can upload multiple APKs using the same app listing. Each file will simply target different device configurations.
Still, Google noted, “Even though you can make your app bigger, it doesn’t always mean you should.”
The default update setting is still auto-updating apps over Wi-Fi only.
Like Apple, Google lets developers use expansion files to exceed the limit to 4GB. Microsoft goes further; the Windows Store has a cap of 150GB.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sherry Turkle / New York Times:
How smartphones change what we talk about and the connection we feel in in-person conversations
Stop Googling. Let’s Talk.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/27/opinion/sunday/stop-googling-lets-talk.html?_r=0
COLLEGE students tell me they know how to look someone in the eye and type on their phones at the same time, their split attention undetected. They say it’s a skill they mastered in middle school when they wanted to text in class without getting caught. Now they use it when they want to be both with their friends and, as some put it, “elsewhere.”
These days, we feel less of a need to hide the fact that we are dividing our attention. In a 2015 study by the Pew Research Center, 89 percent of cellphone owners said they had used their phones during the last social gathering they attended. But they weren’t happy about it; 82 percent of adults felt that the way they used their phones in social settings hurt the conversation.
What has happened to face-to-face conversation in a world where so many people say they would rather text than talk?
When college students explain to me how dividing their attention plays out in the dining hall, some refer to a “rule of three.” In a conversation among five or six people at dinner, you have to check that three people are paying attention — heads up — before you give yourself permission to look down at your phone. So conversation proceeds, but with different people having their heads up at different times. The effect is what you would expect: Conversation is kept relatively light, on topics where people feel they can drop in and out.
Young people spoke to me enthusiastically about the good things that flow from a life lived by the rule of three, which you can follow not only during meals but all the time. First of all, there is the magic of the always available elsewhere. You can put your attention wherever you want it to be. You can always be heard. You never have to be bored. When you sense that a lull in the conversation is coming, you can shift your attention from the people in the room to the world you can find on your phone. But the students also described a sense of loss.
Studies of conversation both in the laboratory and in natural settings show that when two people are talking, the mere presence of a phone on a table between them or in the periphery of their vision changes both what they talk about and the degree of connection they feel. People keep the conversation on topics where they won’t mind being interrupted. They don’t feel as invested in each other. Even a silent phone disconnects us.
The psychologist Yalda T. Uhls was the lead author on a 2014 study of children at a device-free outdoor camp. After five days without phones or tablets, these campers were able to read facial emotions and correctly identify the emotions of actors in videotaped scenes significantly better than a control group. What fostered these new empathic responses? They talked to one another. In conversation, things go best if you pay close attention and learn how to put yourself in someone else’s shoes. This is easier to do without your phone in hand. Conversation is the most human and humanizing thing that we do.
In solitude we find ourselves; we prepare ourselves to come to conversation with something to say that is authentic, ours. If we can’t gather ourselves, we can’t recognize other people for who they are.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lynne Marek / Chicago Business:
Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin says mobile devices are used mainly as search tools, are not suitable replacements for newspapers — Trib Publishing’s Griffin plays digital catch-up … For a man leading a digital revolution, Tribune Publishing CEO Jack Griffin is surprisingly sanguine about the enduring value of newspapers.
Trib Publishing’s Griffin plays digital catch-up
http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20150925/NEWS06/150929889/trib-publishings-griffin-plays-digital-catch-up
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brad Sams / Thurrott.com:
Microsoft Has A Google Cardboard Competitor Called VR Kit
https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/6335/microsoft-has-a-google-cardboard-competitor-called-vr-kit
When it comes to virtual reality and Microsoft, most people think of HoloLens, even though that device is what the company calls “mixed reality”. But, it looks like Microsoft is set to take on Google’s Cardboard with their own virtual reality box called VR Kit.
Spotted on a website to promote a hackathon in Russia, Microsoft is trying to attract developers to an upcoming hackathon that will use the company’s VR-Kits. As you can see in the image at the top of this post, the kit works by inserting your Lumia into a cardboard box and then holding it to your face.
The event is being held on October 17th and Microsoft is promoting the event by saying that ideas that are “successful”, according to the translation, the team will be given a VR-Kit so they can keep building their application.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The iPhone 6s Might Be Surprisingly Waterproof
http://gizmodo.com/the-iphone-6s-might-be-surprisingly-waterproof-1733302791
Apple certainly doesn’t market its phones as being waterproof, but drop your shiny new iPhone down the toilet, and all might not be lost (apart from your dignity): one intrepid and wealthy YouTuber has found the 6s can stand a full hour of submersion.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google voice search now faster and works in noisy places
http://www.zdnet.com/article/google-voice-search-now-faster-and-works-in-noisy-places/
If you’ve recently noticed that Google’s voice search is faster and more accurate, it’s thanks to the search-to-advertising giant’s work on recurrent neural networks.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mobile first? Microsoft decides to kneecap its Android users instead
And the man responsible for doing it is now in charge of Outlook
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/29/mobile_first_microsoft_kneecaps_its_android_users/
Microsoft can often resemble a heavily armed octopus trying to shoot itself in the head. But even after 25 years of watching Redmond’s finest, it still has the capacity to astonish us with the imaginative ways it can screw things up. It gave us another example last week.
Mobile platforms are vital to Microsoft, but it doesn’t own the mobile platforms, with Windows bumping along at well under five per cent market share globally.
So, incoming CEO Satya Nadella made a brave decision: all Microsoft’s software would run on iPhone and Android, and it would be a first-class citizen.
We now have excellent versions of Office and Skype on Apple and Google platforms, but not-so-great versions on Windows. Even Cortana is here on Android and will come to the iPhone.
Garage projects like Send appear on iOS or Android first, not Microsoft’s own platforms. The justification was that if consumers were using Microsoft’s cloud services, it would remain relevant.
However, what about Microsoft’s mobile lifeline to its consumer users?
To see what SatNad’s “Mobile First” really means in practice, have a look at the other user voice suggestions.
Business users don’t get Tasks support, despite very rich Task support in Exchange. After Evernote became a hit, OneNote became the preferred Tasks “experience”, winning out the internal turf war. (Tasks isn’t even supported in the Outlook.com consumer service).
Window Phone dumps Exchange Tasks as a huge alphabetical list. The mobile clients don’t support them at all. Exchange users can find excellent third-party PIM tools on iOS and Android to access Exchange PIM services, but none from Microsoft.
At the rate Microsoft is going, there won’t be a lot of Outlook left to “engineer”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Feds want a phone smart enough to burn itself if it falls into the wrong hands
Walk this way – ’cause if you don’t, the phone will die
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/29/feds_want_self_destructing_phone/
It won’t surprise you at all to know that the US government is keenly interested in the idea of self-destructing electronics.
What it wants, apparently, is to give a phone the ability to detect whether the person carrying it is the right person – for example, by walking style.
Since phones are crawling with sensors, there are plenty of opportunities to use sensor data to build up a pretty comprehensive profile of a user’s normal behavior.
The aim is to develop smartphones, initially based on Boeing’s Black Smartphone, suitable for the top-secret community – a world which has become increasingly paranoid post-Snowden.
The Black Smartphone was a joint Boeing-Blackberry project, based on (as the company says) Android “with enhanced security policy” (meaning, we suppose, “a security policy rather than almost none”).
It’s designed to self-destruct if it’s tampered with, and the new project would presumably integrate with that capability if it makes it into production.
Tomi Engdahl says:
“Strongest Glass on any Smartphone”? SquareTrade Tests the New iPhone 6s and iPhone 6s Plus
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kAOCVKPV9A
After dunking, dropping, bending and freezing the new iPhones, as well as the new Samsung Galaxy Note5, SquareTrade got its answer.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hack Anything into a Phone
http://hackaday.com/2015/09/29/hack-anything-into-a-phone/
If you’ve spent much time tinkering with electronics, you’ve probably heard of [Seeedstudio] from their development boards, tools, and their PCB fabrication service. Their latest Kickstarter venture is the RePhone, an open source and modular cell phone that will allow hackers to put together a phone by blending GSM modules, batteries, screens, and other stock units, including an Arduino-based processing core, GPS, NFC, and other building blocks.
RePhone Kit – World’s First Open Source and Modular Phone
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seeed/rephone-kit-worlds-first-open-source-and-modular-p
Create a phone yourself in minutes and hack a new way to communicate with things.
RePhone GSM + BLE features the world’s smallest System-on-Chip (SOC) for Wearables and Internet Of Things. It offers a wide range of communication protocols including GSM, GPRS and Bluetooth (4.0 and 2.1 Dual mode). It supports quad-band 850/900/1800/1900MHz, connecting onto any global GSM network.
RePhone Core Module 3G
Powerful microcontroller
Standard xadow interface, USB, 20*GPIO(I2C\SPI\UART\EINT)
Support analog audio interface(1*speaker, 2*mic, 1*headset)
Compatible with all xadow modules
Nano SIM, button, LED, antenna
HSPA/WCDMA:850/1900
GPRS/EDGE:850/1900
Voltage:3.3-4.2V
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tinder fights STD ad campaign in US
http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-34390795
Tinder is calling for the removal of an advertising campaign by an Aids awareness group, which linked the dating app with sexually transmitted diseases.
The Aids Healthcare Foundation also named gay dating app Grindr in a series of posters in the US.
It said that location-based dating apps had become a “digital bath house” for sexually transmitted infections because they facilitated casual sex.
“Mobile dating apps are rapidly altering the sexual landscape by making casual sex as easily available as ordering a pizza,” said Whitney Engeran-Cordova, a senior director at the AHF.
“In many ways, location-based mobile dating apps are becoming a digital bath house for millennials wherein the next sexual encounter can literally just be a few feet away—as well as the next STD.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Panasonic seems to be coming back to mobile phone market:
Panasonic targets $2 billion revenue from smartphone by 2018
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/hardware/panasonic-targets-2-billion-revenue-from-smartphone-by-2018/articleshow/49131994.cms
Panasonic is targeting almost $2 billion (Rs 13,200 crore) in revenue from smartphones by 2018 as it makes a comeback in the business globally, with India as the key sales driver.
The Japanese electronics maker’s optimism stems from the initial success it tasted in the country and the recent decision to make India its base for expanding business in south Asia and India, Middle East and Africa, Panasonic India MD Manish Sharma said.
The company expects local sales to increase more than three-fold by 2018 and account for about half its smartphone revenue target.
Read more at:
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/49131994.cms?utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple’s iPhone 6s Plus Costs an Estimated $236 to Make — $749 to Purchase
http://recode.net/2015/09/29/apples-iphone-6s-plus-costs-an-estimated-236-to-make-749-to-purchase/
It costs Apple an estimated $236 to make and assemble its new iPhone 6s Plus, roughly one-third the $749 retail price of the smartphone, according to a teardown analysis by IHS Technology.
The research firm pulled apart Apple’s newest device to get a closer look at its components and analyze the likely cost of materials and manufacturing, drawing from its knowledge of the electronic component industry.
Though IHS did not have time to conduct a similar teardown of the iPhone 6s, it estimates the cost of materials to be $211.50 — roughly $20 less than the bigger iPhone 6s Plus.
Rassweiler said Apple’s decision to offer an enhanced, 12-megapixel camera serves two purposes — it differentiates the “s” generation of iPhones from last year’s model, with its 8-megapixel camera. But the larger images also push consumers to buy smartphones with more memory — and that’s pure profit for Apple.
IHS estimates that flash memory is incredibly cheap — about 35 cents a gigabyte. So coaxing consumers to upgrade from, say, a smartphone with 16 gigabytes of memory to 64 gigs costs Apple about $17 more in component costs. But at retail, consumers pay an additional $100 for the extra storage — a tidy windfall.
Tomi Engdahl says:
This autumn has been the joy of the feast of mobile devices. Apple introduced already in early autumn new versions iPhoneistaan. Google’s response was received from the camp this week, when the search engine company to pass on to the market built with partners of the reference model.
Neither the manufacturer’s new models are offered the industry to the next consumer wau phenomena. Instead of new disasters mobile manufacturers have moved way PC manufacturers to compete in the technological adjusted and tested: processor speed, and amount of, the camera places and storage on the farm.
While Microsoft is still in the smartphone market, the practice race kingship taking place between Apple and the Android camp.
Apple rise continues, but very interesting new iPhone launches are not. However, increasing the speed, the camera’s focus and the addition of small improvements seem sufficient market better as well.
If Apple can not be accused of unnecessary risks creating iPhone models, the same is true for the Nexus models.
Apple and Google’s new devices are the best and the wider ecosystem of technically cutting edge of its components in terms of what the mobile consumer could wish for. In spite of this sector for a long time now followed disappointed with each new release. Manufacturers frequently update their models in risk free and iteratively: new upheaval matured in the mobile market has been a vain hope.
Internal little son still hopes that future models were inspiring revolutions – now we have to to settle for the first-class quality devices that do not cause any deeper passions.
Source: http://www.tivi.fi/blogit/tassa-puhelimet-missa-wau-6001352
Tomi Engdahl says:
A tunable duplexer is essential for the future smartphone
http://www.edn.com/design/analog/4440470/A-tunable-duplexer-is-essential-for-the-future-smartphone?_mc=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20151001&cid=NL_EDN_EDT_EDN_analog_20151001&elq=5d2ade6ff2d14ebbb74e1282939cbd1b&elqCampaignId=25008&elqaid=28395&elqat=1&elqTrackId=e4b60263a6f44de89310cafb7478d07a
Open up a smartphone, and you’ll find hundreds of components and chips, each with their own function and task. Among them are also many passive components, such as the filters that are responsible for a reliable communication with the network’s base stations. Today, for every frequency band that the smartphone may use, specific passive components are needed. So in the future when more frequency bands will be used to support higher data rates, just adding more components will become a blocking factor for both the size and cost of next-generation mobile devices. Unless we come up with a technical innovation. Imec is working on a tunable version for one of the most challenging passive components: the duplexer.
“Smartphones contain a number of building blocks that enable the phone to communicate with the base station of the 2G, 3G, 4G, or LTE network,” Joris Van Driessche, program manager reconfigurable radios, explains. ”These are the baseband processor, the RF transceiver (transmitter/receiver), and the front-end module. This front-end module includes passive components such as duplexers, switches, and SAW filters, as well as active components such as power amplifiers.”
Smartphone manufacturers are rightfully worried by the front-end module because it takes up too much space. If we want smaller smartphones, or smartphones integrated in wristbands or glasses (smart watches and smart glasses), then a solution must be found soon. “Various companies are developing solutions to make the front-end modules more compact,” said Driessche. “One possibility is to integrate a number of passive components into one small package. And other companies managed to integrate several components on one chip using SOI (silicon-on-insulator) technology.”
The most challenging component in the front-end module is without doubt the duplexer. It’s the component that ensures the transmitter and receiver are isolated from one another, so that their function is not disturbed.
According to Driessche, “Today’s duplexers operate at a specific frequency band, so in a wireless application that uses 7 to 9 frequency bands, you’ll also need 7 to 9 duplexers.”
At ISSCC and the Mobile World Congress, imec researchers unveiled their first reconfigurable duplexer. “The solution is indeed to use tunable components that support the many frequency bands,” said Driessche. “Our prototype tunable duplexer – Hi-FEM1 – is a clear step in that direction.”
In maybe three years’ time, these reconfigurable components will be available for use in smartphones. But in the meantime, there is still a lot of work.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steven Musil / CNET:
LG announces Watch Urbane with LTE, the first Android wear device with cellular, and the V10 smartphone with secondary display and dual front-facing cameras — LG unveils new V10 smartphone, Urbane smartwatch — The new smartphone features an independent second screen …
LG unveils new V10 smartphone, Urbane smartwatch
http://www.cnet.com/news/lg-unveils-new-v10-smartphone-urbane-smartwatch/
The new smartphone features an independent second screen, while the smartwatch can be used as a phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Five things that doomed the big and brilliant BlackBerry 10
So long, and thanks for all the emails
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/02/bb10_five_reasons_why_it_failed/
Cash-happy BlackBerry slurps one-time rival Good for $425m
Mobe-maker formerly known as RIM finds bundle of notes behind the sofa
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/04/blackberry_buys_one_time_adversary_good_for_425m/
BlackBerry has dug deep into its lint-filled pockets to buy its one-time legal adversary Good Technology for a cash sum of $425m (£280m).
BlackBerry hopes the deal will allow it to beef up its presence in the enterprise mobile management space.
John Chen, BlackBerry chief exec, said the acquisition will expand its offering in “securely managing devices across any platform”.
Many will also be surprised that BlackBerry had $425m in spare cash. Although the former phone giant appears to be having some success in turning its fortunes around, it’s still not exactly flush with readies.
According to its first-quarter results this year, it made $73m in profit before tax, up from a $6m loss in the same period last year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
ASUS signs patent licensing deal with Microsoft, will pre-install Office suite on its Android devices — Microsoft, ASUS sign combined Android patent, Office bundling deal — Is Microsoft making Office software and services part of its Android-patent-licensing negotiation terms?
Microsoft, ASUS sign combined Android patent, Office bundling deal
http://www.zdnet.com/article/microsoft-asus-sign-combined-android-patent-office-bundling-deal/
Is Microsoft making Office software and services part of its Android-patent-licensing negotiation terms? A new deal between Microsoft and ASUS makes it seem like it might be.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Brian X. Chen / New York Times:
Tests of top 50 news sites with three ad-blockers on iPhone show significant decrease in load times for many sites, modest increase in battery life
Putting Mobile Ad Blockers to the Test
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/01/technology/personaltech/ad-blockers-mobile-iphone-browsers.html?_r=0
To block ads or not to block ads on your mobile device? That’s the philosophical dilemma facing consumers since Apple added support for ad blockers to its iPhone operating system a couple of weeks ago.
To help answer the question, we decided to put multiple ad blockers to the test. Over the course of four days, we used several ad-blocking apps on our iPhones and measured how much the programs cut down on web page data sizes and improved loading times, and also how much they increased the smartphone’s battery life.
We will get to the results in a minute, after a quick primer on the ethical debate surrounding ad blocking. While such technology has existed for years — it has long been available on PC browsers — ad blockers are new for iPhones and iPads. Using the blockers is easy: You download one of the programs from the App Store and then set your Safari web browser to enable the blocking. Ads are choked off inside the browser when you load mobile websites, but the blockers do not stop ads from appearing in apps.
If anything, ad blockers increase transparency into the different paths that publishers take when integrating ads into their websites. Some publishers appear to carefully consider how ads affect the performance of your device, while others either do not care or lack the resources to do so.
As for me, the test results spurred me to keep Purify enabled on my iPhone. While I’m browsing, the app lets me easily denote a website whose ads I want to allow to be shown, an action known as “whitelisting.”
That means the websites I enjoy visiting that have slimmer ads — like TheGuardian.com, and, ahem, NYTimes.com — will be whitelisted. But sites saddled with ads that belong in digital fat camp will remain blocked for the sake of my data plan.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ben R. / PhoneArena:
Sony further clarifies why Xperia Z5 Premium mostly runs at 1080p despite 4K display — The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is the first handset in the world to include a 4K display, and as we told in our hands-on coverage, it’s a real joy to behold. But despite boasting an unholy number of pixels …
Sony further clarifies why Xperia Z5 Premium mostly runs at 1080p despite 4K display
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-further-clarifies-why-Xperia-Z5-Premium-mostly-runs-at-1080p-despite-4K-display_id74289
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is the first handset in the world to include a 4K display, and as we told in our hands-on coverage, it’s a real joy to behold. But despite boasting an unholy number of pixels that comfortably trumps any other smartphone for density, there are quite a few caveats. As Sony mentioned shortly after the announcement of the Z5 Premium, the device only renders media in 4K, with the vast majority of the smartphone’s experience set at a less extravagant 1080p. Noted at the time as a battery-saving measure, the Japanese firm has further clarified its stance on why the Xperia Z5 Premium’s 4K display, for the most part, does not run at its native resolution.
With a new 23-megapixel camera capable of 4K video, having a 4K display for viewing them can only enhance the user experience. However, Sony knows well that pushing an interface at 2160 x 3840 is going to wreak havoc with battery retention. While some may feel shortchanged that the 4K smartphone isn’t always as sharp as it should be, Sony’s explanation is a legitimate one:
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is the first handset in the world to include a 4K display, and as we told in our hands-on coverage, it’s a real joy to behold. But despite boasting an unholy number of pixels that comfortably trumps any other smartphone for density, there are quite a few caveats. As Sony mentioned shortly after the announcement of the Z5 Premium, the device only renders media in 4K, with the vast majority of the smartphone’s experience set at a less extravagant 1080p. Noted at the time as a battery-saving measure, the Japanese firm has further clarified its stance on why the Xperia Z5 Premium’s 4K display, for the most part, does not run at its native resolution.
With a new 23-megapixel camera capable of 4K video, having a 4K display for viewing them can only enhance the user experience. However, Sony knows well that pushing an interface at 2160 x 3840 is going to wreak havoc with battery retention. While some may feel shortchanged that the 4K smartphone isn’t always as sharp as it should be, Sony’s explanation is a legitimate one:
Many third-party apps are not designed or capable of running at 4K resolution (yet), but as Xperia Z5 Premium’s display hardware has a 3840×2160 resolution (4K SID standard) with 806ppi, we feel we’ve created a future-proof device for the imaginations, developers and apps of the future
Many third-party apps are not designed or capable of running at 4K resolution (yet), but as Xperia Z5 Premium’s display hardware has a 3840×2160 resolution (4K SID standard) with 806ppi, we feel we’ve created a future-proof device for the imaginations, developers and apps of the future
Lue lisää: http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-further-clarifies-why-Xperia-Z5-Premium-mostly-runs-at-1080p-despite-4K-display_id74289#wb4HuAeEcxulsQ19.99
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sony further clarifies why Xperia Z5 Premium mostly runs at 1080p despite 4K display
http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-further-clarifies-why-Xperia-Z5-Premium-mostly-runs-at-1080p-despite-4K-display_id74289
The Sony Xperia Z5 Premium is the first handset in the world to include a 4K display, and as we told in our hands-on coverage, it’s a real joy to behold. But despite boasting an unholy number of pixels that comfortably trumps any other smartphone for density, there are quite a few caveats. As Sony mentioned shortly after the announcement of the Z5 Premium, the device only renders media in 4K, with the vast majority of the smartphone’s experience set at a less extravagant 1080p.
With a new 23-megapixel camera capable of 4K video, having a 4K display for viewing them can only enhance the user experience. However, Sony knows well that pushing an interface at 2160 x 3840 is going to wreak havoc with battery retention
Since most apps aren’t built for 4K displays as yet, rendering applications and games in 4K mode would be a profligate use of resources
Read more at http://www.phonearena.com/news/Sony-further-clarifies-why-Xperia-Z5-Premium-mostly-runs-at-1080p-despite-4K-display_id74289#JUxdqgfIMTIb1LIv.99
Tomi Engdahl says:
Phone thieves to face harsher penalties for data theft
Pictures and texts worth more than a mobe
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/10/06/phone_thieves_to_face_harsher_penalties_for_data_theft/
The Sentencing Council for England and Wales has issued new guidelines for judges ruling in theft cases and in the section on “general theft”
The guidelines say that harm is assessed by reference to the financial loss that results from the theft and any significant additional harm suffered by the victim.
The council believes that the loss of a phone that contains irreplaceable photographs or email, text or voice messages will come under the remit of emotional harm, and this will be reflected in tougher – albeit unspecified – sentences for those who steal phones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Creative Lab launches Meter, a live wallpaper that shows battery, WiFi, and notification info
http://9to5google.com/2015/10/06/google-creative-lab-launches-meter-a-live-wallpaper-that-shows-battery-wifi-and-notification-info/
Google Creative Lab, the same group responsible for a few quirky photo and location-based apps that we told you about earlier this year, has released a new live wallpaper for your Android phone that shows you some useful info about your device. There are three different status indicators shown with this wallpaper: Battery, WiFi, and Notifications…
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.androidexperiments.meter
Tomi Engdahl says:
BBC:
Samsung third quarter profit forecast up nearly 80%
Samsung surprises with third-quarter profit forecast
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-34461696
South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics expects its third-quarter operating profit to beat market forecasts on the back of strong semiconductor sales.
It forecasts that operating profit jumped nearly 80% from a year ago to 7.3 trillion won ($6.29bn; £4.13bn).
The guidance figures for the three months to September exceeded analysts’ expectations of about 6.8tn won.
The amount would mark the firm’s first quarterly profit growth in two years.
Samsung is also the world’s biggest maker of memory chips and its semiconductor unit is expected to be its top earner for the fifth consecutive quarter.