In year 2016 it will be sold over 1.4 billion smart phones. Mobile is the new central ecosystem of tech. The smartphone is the single most important product, which will determine the development of the semiconductor market. Smart phone centre of innovation and investment in hardware, software and company creation. The smart phone market is huge. Today, there are well over 2bn smartphones in use, and there are between 3.5 and 4.5bn people with a mobile phone of some kind, out of only a little over 5bn adults on earth. With billions of people buying a device every two years, on average, the phone business dwarfs the PC business, which has an install base of 1.5-1.6bn devices replaced every 4-5 years
Smart phone market is no longer fast gowing market. Expect single-digit worldwide smartphone growth in 2016. According to a new forecast from the International Data Corporation (IDC ) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker , 2015 will be the first full year of single-digit worldwide smartphone growth. IDC predicts worldwide smartphone shipments will grow 9.8% in 2015 to a total of 1.43 billion units. The main driver has been and will continue to be the success of low-cost smartphones in emerging markets. China has been the focal point of the smartphone market – now China has largely become a replacement market and there is economic slowdown in China.
Apple & Google both won, but it’s complicated – both Apple and Google won, in different ways. Android won the handset market outside of Apple, but it’s not quite clear what that means. Microsoft missed the shift to the new platform so Windows Mobile is on life support.
We will continue to see a globalization of the mobile landscape in 2016, as new China brands shake up the smartphone markets with new designs and business models. Expect continuing growth from China brands like Xiaomi, Lenovo and Huawei. Huawei says it sent in 2015 to more than 100 million smartphones and its now firmly among the world’s three largest suppliers. Samsung is the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer, but it looks that it’s production volumes are shrinking because of cheaper Android phones coming from China.
Last year’s CES had a conspicuous lack of killer smartphones, and O’Donnell expects this year to be very challenging for handset vendors – Apple included. It is getting really hard to differentiate from a phone perspective. In the smartphone market changes happen slowly, and for the challengers it is difficult to penetrate the market.
Apple’s position in smart phones is not currently a threat really none. The volumes of the iPhone does not come close to the Android camp in the unit sales figures, but it is clearly not Apple’s target at all – it targets to high-end phones. Apple made record sales in 2015 holiday season, but it is possible that Apple is going to have a tough year in 2016. Some Wall Street analysts predict an end of iPhone sales growth, shrinking iPad sales, and a tough year ahead for Apple. The high cost and the markets getting full are met weigh the Apple iPhone phone sales.Wall Street expects iPhone sales for the fiscal year ending in September will barely budge — and might even decline — from last year. That would be the worst year for iPhone sales since the device was introduced in 2007. If realized, the forecast significantly affect Apple’s value. Despite recent reports of cuts by iPhone suppliers, Apple remains most profitable company in S&P 500. Fortunately for Apple, most of its smartphone competitors are struggling.
Microsoft got the third mobile ecosystem market position, but it’s market share is pretty low: Microsoft’s market share was only 1.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2015. It is very possible that Microsoft will cut Lumia production significantly in 2016. Microsoft’s long-rumored Surface Phone is coming in the second half of next year, reports Windows Central. Windows 10 phones are not dead yet even from other manufacturers as Acer, Alcatel OneTouch just made some new ones. The key feature in the Jade Primo is support for Microsoft’s Continuum feature, allowing you to use the phone like a PC when connected to a larger display – though limited to apps that run on the device’s ARM processor. The idea, claims Acer, is that you can leave your laptop at home, but what’s the demand for PC phones? It is hard to get winning much traction in a market dominated by Android.
Microsoft says the Windows 10 Mobile upgrade will begin early 2016 to select existing Windows 8 and 8.1 phones. Microsoft could not update the smart phones in 2015 despite the fact that the operating system had originally been set to launch alongside the desktop version of the software in July. Microsoft has had a longstanding “chicken and egg” problem: Too few people have Windows phones for developers to care about making apps for the platform, and customers don’t want to buy Windows phones because they don’t have enough apps. Microsoft tries to help his problem With Windows 10, apps that developers write for the PC will also work on Microsoft’s phones. It could have some positive effect, but is no silver bullet. Microsoft’s biggest problem: The 10 most-used apps of the year in the U.S. were all made by three companies — Facebook, Google, and Apple.
It’s only been 15 years since the first camera phone came out. Today smartphones are giving consumers enhanced photo and video capabilities with 8-16 megapixel class. Smartphone cameras are great, or at least close enough to great that you don’t notice the difference. We’ve reached the point where you’ve got to work pretty hard to find a phone with a mediocre camera. Compared to a DSLR, smart phone cameras are lousy because they use tiny sensors, but still the camera in your pocket is crazy good considering the limitations manufacturers work under. The vast majority of top-tier smartphones use Sony sensors for their main cameras. The molded plastic lens elements in many cameras have reached the point where they’re essentially perfect.
For new smart phone camera technologies you could see array of lenses to enable Lytro-like refocusing, create 3-D depth maps, and improve image quality in low light. Some manufacturers are also exploring new areas, such as 3D cameras, massive megapixels (80MB), cameras that can take 360 degree panoramic images and video and cameras that can shoot 1,000 frames a second. 4K Ultra HD for mobile is another move to watch in 2016 as it becomes more common feature. Smartphones have decimated the point-and-shoot camera segment.
Smart phones are increasingly used to shoot videos. Smart phones are already deployed in many newsrooms for mobile journalism video shooting as it is easier (and cheaper) to learn how to film and edit on your phone than it is to use a big camera.(check for example step-by-step guide to shooting iPhone video). Live streaming video from smart phone becomes mainstream. Periscope was one of the first apps to really make live streaming events simple and easy enough that people wanted to do it. Many other apps are following the trend. Facebook begins testing live video streaming for all users.
Smart phones have already replaced many separate technical gadgets already, and this trend will continue. Smartphone have increased screen sizes and have finally become mobile TVs: Smartphones have overtaken the tablets as the most popular mobile device for viewing videos. The most watched content were targeted at teenagers videos and animation series for children.
Mobile display will be more accurate than eye in 2016 in high-end smart phones. Few enjoys a 4K-quality image even in his living room, but by the end of 2016, the same accuracy can be your smartphone. ETSI is preparing for development at ETSI CCM working group (Compound Content Management). Scalable 4K signal requires a very high dynamics (HDR, high dynamic range), as well as the WCG wider color space (Coloc Wider gamut). Such HDR / WCG techniques has only slowly been add to TV broadcasting. One can of course ask whether UltraHD- or 4K image are planting a cell phone make any sense, but they are coming (Sharp already announced that it would launch 4K-level mobile phone).
So device manufacturers need to support user expectations for downloading larger files for apps, movies, photos, videos and other materials, more frequently and more quickly. Networking speed is an area where we will see companies start to push the envelope in 2016, such as new creative strategies for caching, spectrum hopping and managing the Internet of Things.
The quality of LTE modem can make or break your smart phone product. Smartphones consist of two main components: Modems and application processors. Application processor performances of several smartphone brands are widely published, but LTE modem performance measures are much more difficult for the average purchaser to assess. Consumers have generally ignored the importance of connectivity in smartphone purchases, but device performance and positive user experiences are driven by best-in-class connectivity. There are 5 LTE smartphone modem chip makers currently shipping in mobile devices and besides U.S.-based Qualcomm, they include: HiSilicon (China), Intel (U.S.), Leadcore (China), MediaTek (Taiwan), Samsung (Korea), and Spreadtrum (China).
5G will be talked a lot enven though standardization is not ready yet. Just five years after the first 4G smartphone hit the market, the wireless industry is already preparing for 5G: cell phone carriers, smartphone chip makers and the major network equipment companies are working on developing 5G network technology for their customers.
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that a smartphone is also a telephone. Nearly half of all phone users today employ their mobile phones as their primary voice connection (a number sure to grow). That the voice features in cell phones also advance. Very early on, the standard for human voice transmission was set as the “voice band” located between 300 Hz and 3.3 kHz (to put this in perspective, the natural frequency span of human voice during speech ranges from about 50 Hz to nearly 10 kHz). These standards were carried over for cellphone audio quality. Now that there are about about as many cellphone subscriptions as there are people on earth, one would think that there really shouldn’t be any more technological excuses for poor voice quality. New standards branded as HD Voice and VoLTE promise the eventual extension of voice transmission frequency range up to 7 kHz. There are also other major challenge preventing great sounding calls – especially noise challenges facing cellphone users. To get good sound quality we need to develop algorithms that isolate the person speaking from all other sources of noise.
Financial Services needs to get over its reluctance and go mobile in 2016, but it might not happen in large scale this year. Compliance concerns have long prevented financial services businesses from adopting mobile capabilities as quickly as other industries. Yvette Jackson of Thomson Reuters argues that technology advancements have made compliance worries of the past now obsolete.
Mobile payments are finally taking the momentum in North America, Japan and some European countries in 2016. Every second consumer is expected to smartphone or wearable device purchases to pay in few years. There are now types of mobile payment technologies in use. Some of them will turn to be interim techniques.
Despite many tools available mobile application development is still hard work in 2016. Mobile developer report shows growing back-end challenge: 33.9 per cent spent more than half their development effort on back-end integration. This effort includes creating and debugging APIs, finding documentation for existing APIs, and orchestrating data from multiple sources. iOS and Android dominate as target platforms. The disappointment for Microsoft is that all its hoopla about the Universal Windows Platform (UWP) does not seem to resonate here. What about making money? Only just over 60 per cent of those surveyed are primarily out to make money from apps themselves, with others aiming for goals such as customer loyalty and brand awareness. In-app purchases are the most effective method, followed by advertising and app purchase. Application landscape is changing: Single-function applications no longer meet the everyday life needs on mobile devices.
Web standards are becoming promising for mobile use but they are still far from making mobile apps obsolete in 2016. There’s a litany of problems with apps. There is the platform lock-in and the space the apps take up on the device. Updating apps is a pain that users often ignore, leaving broken or vulnerable versions in use long after they’ve been allegedly patched. Apps are also a lot of work for developers. Use the Web and the Web browser can sometimes help in solving some of those problems while creating other different set of problems. For example updates to HTML apps happen entirely on the server, so users get them immediately. Also HTML-based platform and a well-designed program that makes good use of CSS, one site could support phones, tablets, PCs, and just about anything else with one site. Currently HTML5 standards are advancing rapidly in the area of mobile Web applications. Web standards make mobile apps obsolete? I don’t think that it will happen immediately, even though many big tech companies are throwing weight behind a browser-based world (backed strongly by Google and Mozilla). So app or web question will still very relevant for mobile developer in 2016.
Google appears to be lining up OpenJDK – an open-source implementation of the Java platform – for future Android builds. Android runs apps written in Java on its Dalvik engine, and lately, its Android Runtime virtual machine. These apps require a Java class library, as well as various Android-specific bits and pieces, to work. Now it seems the next big releases of Android will use not the heavily customized Harmony-derived library but instead OpenJDK’s core libraries.
Android, which is controlled by Google, is one of Facebook’s biggest markets. Facebook has a contingency plan in case the company falls out with Google, according to The Information: a way to deliver app updates without going through the Google Play Store — currently the only way to update apps — and has a way of handling in-app payments. Amazon, which makes Android-based tablets, has a similar system: The app acts as a new store front from which other apps can be downloaded and updated, without Google Play.
There will be fascinating conversation in tech about smartphone apps and the web – what can each do, how discovery works, how they interplay, what Google plans with Chrome, whether the web will take over as the dominant form and so on. Ask the question: Do people want to put your icon on their home screen?
Mobile Internet continues to be important also in 2016. There is place for both Internet pages and apps. The internet makes it possible to get anything you’ve ever heard of but also makes it impossible to have heard of everything. We started with browsing, and that didn’t scale to the internet, and then we moved to search, but search can only give you what you already knew you wanted. In the past, print and retail showed us what there was but also gave us a filter – now both the filter and the demand generation are gone.
There is hunt for a new runtime, and a new discovery layer. Could it be messaging, Facobook or something else? Facebook and Google try to make mobile publishing platforms faster. Facebook has Instant Articles platform that aims to make articles loading fast on mobile devices. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) is Google’s plan to make pages appear super-fast for those using mobile devices. Fast-loading pages may also mean fast-loading ads, with advertising platform support for AMP that’s been announced. I expect that first those plaforms will make loading the articles faster than traditinal pages, but over years those systems, if they catch, will be bloated to be slow again.
Maybe in 2016 we should stop talking about ‘mobile’ internet and ‘desktop’ internet - it’s like talking about ‘colour’ TV, as opposed to black and white TV. We have a mental model, left over from feature phones, that ‘mobile’ means limited devices that are only used walking around. Get over it. For 15 years the internet was a monolith: web browser + mouse + keyboard. The smartphone broke that apart, but we haven’t settled on a new model. Mobile’ isn’t about the screen size or keyboard or location or use. Rather, the ecosystem of ARM, iOS and Android, that has bigger scale than ‘Wintel’.
Dick Tracy had it right. Wearable devices are becoming more of any every day item as they proliferate across markets. Wearable market is still immature and growing in 2016. While many new fitness bands, smartwatches, and other wearable devices have entered the market, most have under-whelmed prospects and users. It is quite clear the wearable industry is in its infancy and fraught with growing pains. You can expect the top five vendors will not only shift places, but come in and drop out on a quarterly basis. Wearables grew 197.6% in Q3 2015 when mobile companies shipped a total of 21.0 million wearables worldwide.
Whereas the smartphone is the ultimate convergence product, we are learning that wearables are inherently divergent products. It seems that super-duper smartwatches loaded with full-blown phone/email/camera/voice assistant capabilities together with all other bells and whistles are not necessarily winning recipe like it was for smart phones. Many consumers want instead simplicity, ease of use, and instant actionable feedback. As an embedded developer of wearables, not only do you have the challenge of addressing battery life issues, but also architecting and developing a system that takes full advantage of the underlying hardware. Heartbeat monitoring has become the must-have feature for fitness trackers. China has quickly emerged as the fastest-growing wearables market, attracting companies eager to compete on price and feature sets.
The newest wearable technology, smart watvches and other smart devices corresponding to the voice commands and interpret the data we produce - it learns from its users, and generate as responses in real time appropriate, “micro-moments” tied to experience.
Links to some other mobile predictions articles worth to check out:
16 mobile theses by Benedict Evans
Mobile 2016 Predictions from EE Times
2015 Appcelerator / IDC Mobile Trends Report: Leaders, Laggards and the Data Problem
702 Comments
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kif Leswing / Business Insider:
Apple has hired several high-level employees, including the COO, from GPU maker Imagination Technologies since July, after backing out of an acquisition — Apple is hiring a lot of talent from British chip designer Imagination Technologies, the company that provides the graphics processor for the iPhone 7.
One of Apple’s most important technology partners is suffering a brain drain — to Apple
http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-poaches-imagination-technologies-coo-2016-10?op=1%3fr=US&IR=T&IR=T
Apple is hiring a lot of talent from British chip designer Imagination Technologies, the company that provides the graphics processor for the iPhone 7.
Apple confirmed in March through the London Stock Exchange that it had discussions to buy Imagination Technologies but that it ultimately did not make an offer for the chip company.
Tomi Engdahl says:
As the Note 7 dies, Oculus loses face(s)
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/11/as-the-note-7-dies-oculus-loses-faces/?ncid=rss
The Note 7 debacle hasn’t been good for anyone — not for Samsung, not for Android, not for consumers, not for airlines, not for fire departments, not for stylus-lovers and certainly not for Oculus.
The Facebook-owned virtual reality powerhouse currently has its entire mobile VR future pinned on the successes of Samsung’s handsets and the discontinuation of Note 7 production is likely going to stunt Oculus’s Gear VR sales (and brand) in a pretty damning way.
Today, shortly before Samsung issued a recommendation that all Note 7 users shut off their devices, Oculus disabled Note 7 support for the Gear VR. Users on Reddit discovered the message this morning.
Exploding phones admittedly do not seem ideal for a peripheral that straps the phone to your face, so the real surprise is that it took this long.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Hands-on: Apple Watch Nike+ special features in action ahead of October 28 release [Video]
https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/14/hands-on-apple-watch-nike-video/
Apple has teamed up with Nike to create the running-focused Apple Watch Nike+. The special version of the new Series 2 models includes extra benefits like unique band designs and colors, Nike watch faces, and integration with Nike’s specialized running app. The new models begin shipping on October 28, and 9to5Mac had the chance to check out some of the special features that make Apple Watch Nike+ unique.
Apple Watch Nike+ includes the same benefits as all Apple Watch Series 2 models including a built-in GPS for outdoor run and cycling tracking without carrying an iPhone, stronger water resistance that enables new swim workouts, and a much brighter display for higher visibility in outdoor lighting.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Barry Schwartz / Search Engine Land:
Google to launch new mobile-only search index within months, says it will eventually become primary index, but a separate desktop index will still be maintained
http://searchengineland.com/google-divide-index-giving-mobile-users-better-fresher-content-261037
Within months, Google to divide its index, giving mobile users better & fresher content
Currently, Google has a single index of documents for search. Google’s Gary Illyes announced they plan on releasing a separate mobile search index, which will become the primary one.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Steve Dent / Engadget:
Samsung announces Exynos 7 Dual 7270, a 14nm SoC with integrated LTE modem for wearables — Samsung’s mobile division is in crisis mode right now, so of course the company is happy to talk about one division that is doing well: chips. It just unveiled the Exynos 7 Dual 7270
Samsung crams LTE into a tiny smartwatch chip
A lot more wearables could soon have calling and data.
https://www.engadget.com/2016/10/11/samsung-crams-lte-into-a-tiny-smartwatch-chip/
Samsung’s mobile division is in crisis mode right now, so of course the company is happy to talk about one division that is doing well: chips. It just unveiled the Exynos 7 Dual 7270, which is not only the first 14-nanometer wearable processor, but the first in its class to have a built-in LTE modem. That means your next smartwatch could connect to a cell network and let you tether your laptop without a smartphone — a trick that’s reserved for the LG Urbane LTE and just a few other wearables right now.
The chip uses several different fabrication technologies, namely system-in-package and package-in-package, with the fun acronym SiP-ePoP. That helped engineers squeeze in the DRAM, NAND flash and power management chips, while reducing the total height, to boot. It also jammed WiFi, Bluetooth, an FM radio and a GPS (GNSS) receiver into the 100 millimeter square (0.155 square inch) device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Pixel review: fast and powerful, long battery life, great camera though it lacks optical image stabilization, but dull design, and software needs polish — Android by Google — Every Android phone has always been a little compromised, and everybody knows it.
Google Pixel review: Home run
Android by Google
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13304090/google-pixel-phone-review-pixel-xl
Every Android phone has always been a little compromised, and everybody knows it. There’s been a veil of bullshit between you and what Google intended on all of them.
Sometimes that veil looks like ugly, bad, and usually unnecessary extra software. Sometimes it looks like a carrier failing to send out timely software updates. Other times it means getting something inexpensive, but fundamentally flawed in some way. Even the Nexus phones were behind the veil, little more than reference designs with hardware that was mostly determined by a third party before Google made tweaks here and there.
A pessimist would call this situation “fragmentation,” an optimist would call it “diversity.” Either way, it hasn’t really been a huge problem for Google yet. Google wanted people to use its services, and the Android platform was flexible and ubiquitous enough to thrive and take over the planet, achieving dominant marketshare.
Just because Android is everywhere doesn’t mean that Google is everywhere on mobile.
Someday is today: Google is making a phone for the first time. It’s called the Pixel and it’s a Google phone inside and out, sold directly by the company to a mass audience for the first time. With Pixel, we finally get to see behind the veil and get an unmediated experience of Google’s very best shot at a phone.
Walt Mossberg / The Verge:
Google Pixel review: best premium Android phone, worth buying just for the impressive Assistant, but not water resistant
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13310942/walt-mossberg-pixel-phone-by-google
Tomi Engdahl says:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Google Pixel camera review: fast and takes impressive photos, video stabilization works very well, though it has some quirks like choppy focal length adjustment
The Pixel’s camera proves Google is a smartphone imaging leader
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/18/the-pixels-camera-proves-google-is-a-smartphone-imaging-leader/
Google’s new Pixel is an attempt by the Android maker to showcase the very best of Google, and that includes its imaging chops. Both on the hardware and software side, the Pixel has some neat photographic tricks up its sleeve. But is it enough to satisfy your inner shutterbug?
The short answer is yes – Google has delivered a terrific photo and video experience on the Pixel (I tested the XL, but both contain the same camera hardware and software). Pixel snaps photos quickly and easily, and its automatically-enabled HDR+ smarts ensure even exposure throughout the frame in most conditions.
Video stabilization works astonishingly well, with the caveat that it’s a tool you have to learn to use in order to get the maximum benefit (just like a gimbal for a DSLR or mirrorless camera, in fact). Basically, the average Pixel owner will be more than satisfied with camera performance (and if you’re curious about the rest of the phone, check out Brian’s full review) and won’t have to think about settings or what’s happening on the software side.
You can see from the gallery below that the Pixel camera has no problems at all with street shooting, in either bright sunlight or overcast conditions. These are all taken with the stock settings, which includes the HDR+ feature enabled by default. Colors are rich and balanced, without being oversaturated (to my eye, at least) and even in direct sunlight it manages fairly
Likewise with close-up, macro-style shots, the camera does well.
Another place where the Pixel does well in bright light is freezing action
Indoors, the Pixel still performs pretty well in most settings
In very low light, I find that it leans too heavily on software to try to salvage an image, resulting in a final picture that has lower noise than you might get from other smartphones, but that also looks very heavily processed.
Stills vs. the competition
On their own, the Pixel and Pixel XL are definitely impressive cameras. Prospective buyers might want to see how they stack up against the competition
Pixel XL, a Samsung Galaxy S7 and an Apple iPhone 7 Plus
Outdoors, you can see that while all three are very capable cameras, there are some differences that might sway personal opinion regarding which is “best.”
Indoors, the differences between the three cameras are more pronounced, especially in very low light. Here, the Galaxy S7 appears to have the edge when it comes to color balance, as well as noise and even possibly detail. The iPhone 7 Plus does appear to be more accurate in terms of its color capture, but it’s still tough to pick an outright favorite. The Pixel XL, to its credit, does very well in the portrait under adequate, but not bright, indoor lighting.
Ultimately, numbered ratings from third-party analyst sites aside, this is a race so close that it’s impossible to call, except by personal preference. Each of these smartphone cameras excels in some regard, but the best end result is in the eye of the beholder since none exhibits any serious flaws.
Video is another area where the Pixel claims a significant edge on the competition, owing mostly to its software-based stabilization effect.
The software stabilization is not without its quirks, however. Google’s artificial camera smarts seem to identify a central focal point around which it centers the view, but if you move the camera around, it shifts that focal center somewhat abruptly, leading to a kind of staccato effect of punctuated panning as you point the device at different places. This even triggers if you aren’t careful about keeping the smartphone pointed in a fixed direction.
While it isn’t perfect, it still allows a shooter to capture really great, stabilized video provided they’re aware of these quirks in the software and learn how to work around them. This is actually super similar to working with a gimbal, so a learning curve here is acceptable in exchange for what you get in return. In portrait, stabilization works equally well.
In terms of completion, Apple’s video stabilization on the iPhone 7 Plus, which includes optical stabilization using the physical camera module itself, also offers a smooth final product, while the Galaxy S7 is the rockiest of the bunch.
No more excuses for bad photos
In today’s smartphone market, if your camera can’t cut it, you’re basically dead in the water. The Google Pixel runs no risk of falling into that category
Tomi Engdahl says:
James Vincent / The Verge:
Samsung is setting up Note7 exchange booths at high traffic terminals in select airports around the world
Samsung is setting up Note 7 exchange booths at airports around the world
They’ll give you a new phone and swap over your data
http://www.theverge.com/2016/10/18/13314864/samsung-note-7-flying-safe-airport-exchanges
Samsung is setting up Galaxy Note 7 exchange booths in airports around the world, hoping to stop customers taking the dangerous device onto flights at the last minute. The first of these new “customer service points” appear to have been introduced in South Korean airports, but Samsung has confirmed the booths are opening in airports across Australia, with reports of the desks appearing in the US as well.
The booths are located in “high-traffic terminals” before security screening, says Samsung, and allow Note 7 owners to swap their phone for an unspecified exchange device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft’s Continuum: Game changer or novelty?
We have a look at the latest cut
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/08/19/continuum_game_changer_or_novelty/
Microsoft’s Continuum is one of the spookiest computing experiences you can have. Either plug a phone into a dock, or turn on a nearby wireless display and keyboard, and the phone doubles up as an ersatz Windows PC. No more lugging a laptop around.
Back in January, we described Continuum reviewers as sharing the surprise and disdain that Samuel Johnson had for women preachers. So has much changed? Is Continuum still a limited use novelty or a transformative feature, allowing you to shed multiple devices for one very powerful, pocketable one?
HP is betting on the latter. HP has put a lot of thought and work into making Continuum usable, and so finding a profitable business niche. It’s about to debut not just a powerful Continuum-capable phone, but a static and mobile dock and a streaming app service that plugs the gaps left by lack of native x86 support.
The Wrap
Continuum is clearly a work in progress, and I reckon it has leaped over the first hurdle. If the goal is to allow users to carry only one device, then I’d like to see much more focus on the UX – starting with multiple window support.
To recap, HP has a beast of a phone – the Elite x3 – with two docks. One is a static desk stand, the other a kind of “hollowed out laptop” – the “Lap Dock”. This looks like a 12.5 inch laptop, and has a HD display and battery. The x3 phone is the “CPU and motherboard”.
So, Continuum. A dog walking on its hind legs? An expensive way to turn your phone into a slow netbook? There’s a grain of truth to this criticism, but the potential is there, for sure.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Who killed Cyanogen?
Well, it’s hanging on in there, but why didn’t it conquer the world?
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/10/19/cyanogen_and_monopolies/
Tomi Engdahl says:
The processor, which is Apple’s powerful circuit A10
Huawei subsidiary HiSilocon has introduced a new processor manufacturer for the following smartphones. Kirin 960 chip has been able to design, on the basis of Huawei presented by the benchmark tests, it is a multi-core calculating the effective than found in the inside of the new iPhone devices A10 processor.
Kirin 960 with four 2.4 GHz clock the ARM Cortex-A74 cores and four 1.8 GHz A53 cores. Alongside these ARM Mali graphics
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5254:prosessori-joka-on-applen-a10-piiria-tehokkaampi&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
The next generation of smart phones performance is captured in enhancing the working memory.
Samsung has introduced a new 8-gigabyte LPDDR4-type mobile DRAM, the performance of which will reach already clearly better than basic PC (typically DDR4 memory operates up to 2133 Mbps data rate).
In practice, the new memory means that the smartphone can connect without problems to 4K display. In the tablet, it means that the panel can grow in 4K resolution, and the picture jerk, at least not because of the slowness of memory.
The memory has a size of 15×15-millimeter and one millimeter thick.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5261:kannykan-tyomuisti-jo-pc-luokkaa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
App helps save Seattle cardiac patient
goo.gl/tW15xS
If your heart is going to stop, right outside a hospital is not a bad place for it.
And if 41 people within a 330-yard radius have a cellphone app alerting them to your distress, so much the better.
While a medical student rushed over and began chest compressions, a cardiac nurse just getting off her shift at the hospital was alerted by her phone, sprinted outside and assisted until paramedics arrived.
Five days later, DeMont, 60, is walking, smiling and talking about how the PulsePoint app helped save his life.
Seattle officials say the rescue shows the potential the free download has for connecting CPR-trained citizens with patients who urgently need their help. It’s being used in 2,000 U.S. cities in 28 states.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google releases Android 7.1 developer preview to beta testers with Nexus 5X, 6P, and Pixel C devices — No major surprises here: Earlier this month, Google announced that the Android 7.1 Nougat Developer Preview and its SDK tools would roll out to developers sometime later this month …
Google’s Android 7.1 Developer Preview starts rolling out to beta testers
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/19/here-comes-the-android-nougat-71-beta/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Camera manufacturer Kodak made its own smartphone
martphone manufacturers have for years taken the market for camera manufacturers, so Kodak decided to strike back. It is presented Ektra smart phone, which is designed for photographers. The device has both a 21-megapixel rear and 13-megapixel front camera.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5270:kameravalmistaja-kodak-teki-oman-alypuhelimen&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kevin Marks / Backchannel:
How a design trend to reduce the contrast between text and its background, driven by Apple’s and Google’s guidelines, is making text harder to read online — I thought my eyesight was beginning to go. It turns out, I’m suffering from design. — It’s been getting harder for me to read things on my phone and my laptop.
How the Web Became Unreadable
I thought my eyesight was beginning to go. It turns out, I’m suffering from design.
https://backchannel.com/how-the-web-became-unreadable-a781ddc711b6#.ymtjqlg9k
It’s been getting harder for me to read things on my phone and my laptop. I’ve caught myself squinting and holding the screen closer to my face. I’ve worried that my eyesight is starting to go.
These hurdles have made me grumpier over time, but what pushed me over the edge was when Google’s App Engine console — a page that, as a developer, I use daily — changed its text from legible to illegible. Text that was once crisp and dark was suddenly lightened to a pallid gray. Though age has indeed taken its toll on my eyesight, it turns out that I was suffering from a design trend.
There’s a widespread movement in design circles to reduce the contrast between text and background, making type harder to read. Apple is guilty. Google is, too. So is Twitter.
Typography may not seem like a crucial design element, but it is. One of the reasons the web has become the default way that we access information is that it makes that information broadly available to everyone. “The power of the Web is in its universality,” wrote Tim Berners-Lee, director of the World Wide Web consortium. “Access by everyone regardless of disability is an essential aspect.”
But if the web is relayed through text that’s difficult to read, it curtails that open access by excluding large swaths of people, such as the elderly, the visually impaired, or those retrieving websites through low-quality screens.
We should be able to build a baseline structure of text in a way that works for most users, regardless of their eyesight
It wasn’t hard to isolate the biggest obstacle to legible text: contrast, the difference between the foreground and background colors on a page.
To translate contrast, it uses a numerical model. If the text and background of a website are the same color, the ratio is 1:1. For black text on white background (or vice versa), the ratio is 21:1. The Initiative set 4.5:1 as the minimum ratio for clear type, while recommending a contrast of at least 7:1, to aid readers with impaired vision.
Google’s guidelines suggest an identical preferred ratio of 7:1. But then they recommend 54 percent opacity for display and caption type, a style guideline that translates to a ratio of 4.6:1.
The typography choices of companies like Apple and Google set the default design of the web. And these two drivers of design are already dancing on the boundaries of legibility.
It wasn’t always like this. At first, text on the web was designed to be clear. The original web browser, built by Berners-Lee in 1989, used crisp black type on a white background, with links in a deep blue.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
IDC: Q3 smartwatch shipments down 51.6% YoY to 2.7M with Apple Watch down 72% YoY to 1.1M units, but the impact of new Apple Watch models remains to be seen — Maybe not everyone is convinced they need a smartwatch? According to a new industry report from IDC out this morning …
Smartwatch sales are tanking
https://techcrunch.com/2016/10/24/smartwatch-sales-are-tanking/
Maybe not everyone is convinced they need a smartwatch? According to a new industry report from IDC out this morning, smartwatch shipments experienced “significant” declines in the third quarter, as total shipments were down 51.6 percent from the same time last year. Just 2.7 million units were shipped in Q3 2016 versus 5.6 million in Q3 2015. While IDC offers several explanations as to why sales are dropping – including issues related to launch timings, Android Wear delays, and more – the numbers still indicate how smartwatches are having a hard time finding traction among a majority of consumers.
Of course, we need to keep in mind that Apple Watch is the market leader among smartwatches – its Series One device accounted for the majority of shipments in the quarter (1.1 million units shipped, a 72 percent year-over-year decline). That means its ups and downs will have an outsize impact on the industry’s numbers at large.
Google’s decision to hold back on Android Wear 2.0 has also come into play here. Vendors are having to decide between launching new devices for the holidays, or trying to satisfy consumers with those running the older OS. IDC also points out that Samsung’s Gear S3, announced in September, hasn’t yet been released.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Intel LTE modem is bad
Apple has been using the new iPhone 7 manufactured by Qualcomm, as well as that of Intel’s modem circuits. Cellular Insights has done an interesting analysis of the radio modem performance, and it is not Intel’s in terms of fun to read.
Cellular Insights According to Intel modem is on average 30 percent worse than that of Qualcomm.
The final conclusion is that, for example, T-Mobile iPhone all 7 phones is the Intel modem that is in the coverage will be significantly lower than that of Qualcomm modems.
Cellular Insights Analysis: http://cellularinsights.com/iphone7/
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5271:intelin-lte-modeemi-on-huono&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smartwatch Market Declines 51.6% in the Third Quarter as Platforms and Vendors Realign, IDC Finds
https://www.idc.com/getdoc.jsp?containerId=prUS41875116
The worldwide smartwatch market experienced a round of growing pains in the third quarter of 2016 (3Q16), resulting in a year-over-year decline in shipment volumes. According to data from the International Data Corporation, (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Wearable Device Tracker, total smartwatch volumes reached 2.7 million units shipped in 3Q16, a decrease of 51.6% from the 5.6 million units shipped in 3Q15. Although the decline is significant, it is worth noting that 3Q15 was the first time Apple’s Watch had widespread retail availablity after a limited online launch. Meanwhile, the second generation Apple Watch was only available in the last two weeks of 3Q16.
“The sharp decline in smartwatch shipment volumes reflects the way platforms and vendors are realigning,” noted Ramon Llamas, research manager for IDC’s Wearables team. “Apple revealed a new look and feel to watchOS that did not arrive until the launch of the second generation watch at the end of September. Google’s decision to hold back Android Wear 2.0 has repercussions for its OEM partners as to whether to launch devices before or after the holidays. Samsung’s Gear S3, announced at IFA in September, has yet to be released. Collectively, this left vendors relying on older, aging devices to satisfy customers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple CEO Tim Cook got testy after an analyst asked him if Apple has a ‘grand strategy’
http://nordic.businessinsider.com/apple-ceo-tim-cook-response-grand-strategy-2016-10?r=US&IR=T
Apple hit its targets in its fiscal fourth quarter, but the stock fell as investors seemed unimpressed with the company.
Apple’s unit shipments in all its major products – iPhones, iPads and Macs – shrank in the fiscal fourth quarter.
But the moment that best defined the company’s current predicament came during the conference call on Tuesday, when Apple CEO Tim Cook fielded a remarkable question from an analyst and reacted in what can best be described as a defensive manner.
The analyst started by pointing out that Apple hasn’t released a major new product in a while, and then asked: “Does Apple have a grand strategy for the next 3-5 years? I know you’re not going to tell us, but do you have one?”
Cook responded by saying: “We have the strongest pipeline that we’ve ever had and we’re really confident about the things in it but as usual we’re not going to talk about what’s in it”
The analyst followed up by pressing on whether Apple has a grip on its strategy or if it simply reacts to changes to the market.
“We have a strong sense of where things go and we’re very agile to shift it,” Cook said tersely.
It was a striking sign of how much Apple’s reputation has changed from even just a few years ago, as the company experiences three quarters of declining revenue and struggles to unveil a new, game-changing gadget.
Apple is the maker of the iPhone. It doesn’t react to others. It sets the agenda.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://mms.businesswire.com/media/20161025005559/en/551538/5/GooglePixelTeardown.jpg
Tomi Engdahl says:
IDC Survey Looks to Assess Damage to Samsung Brand After Note 7 Recall
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20161028005698/en/IDC-Survey-Assess-Damage-Samsung-Brand-Note
Results from a recent International Data Corporation (IDC) survey, U.S. Smartphone Owners’ Reaction to Samsung Galaxy Note 7 Recall (Doc #US41878416), show that Samsung faces some short-term challenges but nothing that will darken its long-term prospects.
“As challenging as the Note 7 recall has been for Samsung, the data in this survey indicate that most consumers are unaffected by this, which should be good news for Samsung,” said Ramon T. Llamas, research manager, Wearables and Mobile Phones. “For the minority of Samsung customers who are unlikely to purchase a Samsung smartphone in the future, the company has to win back consumer trust. Thus far Samsung has offered monetary incentives but, at the heart of the matter, consumers want to learn the root causes of the problem and how Samsung intends to fix them.”
“The Note 7 recall along with all its repercussions, represents a significant event in the world of consumer electronics,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
IDC survey says half of exploding Samsung Galaxy Note 7 users switching to iPhone following recall
https://9to5mac.com/2016/10/28/idc-survey-galaxy-note-switchers-iphone-apple/
In a new report from IDC aiming to determine the impact of Samsung’s recall of its defective Galaxy Note 7, a survey shows around half of those affected plan to switch to an iPhone.
While the report from IDC concludes that Apple is at least in some way benefiting from the exploding recalled device, Apple said during its recent Q4 earnings call that it currently wasn’t a factor as it’s already shipping as many phones as it can make.
Apple reported sales of 45.5 million iPhones during the quarter, down from 48 million iPhones in same quarter a year ago. When asked if the iPhone supply would catch up with demand by the end of the year, CEO Tim Cook confirmed that the iPhone 7 Plus model would but not the iPhone 7 should.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Reuters:
How OPPO became number one smartphone vendor in China and number four worldwide via savvy marketing and sales tactics
OPPO leapfrogs smartphone rivals with ad blitz and sales force
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-oppo-asia-idUSKCN12R06X
Chinese smart phone company OPPO doesn’t believe in subtle marketing.
It has built a massive network of 320,000 retail outlets across China and other parts of Asia, its sales representatives earn commissions on every phone they sell, and it has filled the airwaves and covered thousands of billboards with advertising based on the endorsement of some of the hottest Asian pop stars.
The company also keeps total control of just about everything, from design to distribution, and making the phones itself rather than farming production out to contract manufacturers. OPPO also sells a lot of devices through its own stores, deals directly with any retail partners rather than through layers of middlemen, and provides them with sales reps and generous incentives.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Sony’s mobile unit reports Q2 profit of $37M, a huge gain on the $172M loss a year ago, as phone sales fall 40% YoY to 3.5M
Sony’s profit down 86% but its costly mobile business has been shored up
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/01/sony-q2-2016/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google Security Engineer Claims Android Is Now As Secure As the iPhone
https://apple.slashdot.org/story/16/11/01/2256211/google-security-engineer-claims-android-is-now-as-secure-as-the-iphone
It’s a common assumption among tech geeks, and even cybersecurity experts, that if you are really paranoid, you should probably use an iPhone, and not Android. But the man responsible for securing the more than one billion Android users on the planet vehemently disagrees — but of course he would. “For almost all threat models,” Adrian Ludwig
Ludwig said that, “for sure,” there’s no doubt that a Google Pixel and an iPhone are pretty much equal when it comes to security. Android, he added, will soon be better though. ”
Android’s built-in security product called “Safety Net” scans 400 million devices per day and checks a stunning 6 billions apps per day.”
Google Security Engineer Claims Android Is Now As Secure as the iPhone
https://motherboard.vice.com/en_uk/read/google-security-engineer-claims-android-is-now-as-secure-as-the-iphone
It’s a common assumption among tech geeks, and even cybersecurity experts, that if you are really paranoid, you should probably use an iPhone, and not Android. But the man responsible for securing the more than one billion Android users on the planet vehemently disagrees—but of course he would.
“For almost all threat models,” Adrian Ludwig, the director of security at Android, referring to the level of security needed by most people, “they are nearly identical in terms of their platform-level capabilities.”
The result of these security checks, coupled with the exploit mitigation measures baked into Android, mean that a really small number of Android devices has malware or, as Google calls it, “Potentially Harmful Applications” or PHAs, according to Ludwig. In fact, Ludwig said showing a graph, less than 1% of Android smartphone contain malware.
As an example of Android’s misunderstood security, Ludwig used the infamous series of critical bugs known as Stagefright, which were found last year. Ludwig noted that despite the alarm and the potential danger to practically all Android users, they have yet to see a real-life hack on an Android phone done exploiting Stagefright.
“At this point we still don’t have any confirmed instances of exploitation in the wild,” he said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google launches Tango AR smartphone system
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/01/google-finally-launches-tango/
After more than two years of tinkering and finessing, today Google finally officially launched its Tango smartphone augmented reality system to the masses.
Right now, it’s only available on Lenovo’s $499 Phab2 Pro, which arrives in stores in the US today, but you can expect to see this in a bunch of Android phones in the next year or so.
About 35 applications are launching with Tango support at launch.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Android apps will soon be able to offer cheaper, introductory subscription prices
All in hopes you won’t cancel when the normal rate kicks in
http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/3/13511622/google-play-android-introductory-subscriptions
At its Playtime event for Android developers today, Google announced that apps on the Play Store will soon gain a new option that could have huge implications for subscriptions: temporary promotional pricing. “Coming soon, you’ll be able to create an introductory price for new subscribers for a set period of time,” Google’s Larissa Fontaine wrote in a blog post. “For example, you can offer a subscription for $1 per month for the first three months before the normal subscription price kicks in.”
There are many app categories where this could make a big difference. Music and video are certainly on that list; maybe cheaper introductory pricing could boost Google’s own struggling YouTube Red service, or help Spotify maintain its lead over Apple Music and other rivals.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Applications will no longer be downloaded as usual
widespread network services businesses across the board urgently developed its own mobile app to the iPad than smartphones. This is now clearly changing, websites are increasingly mobile-optimized applications is loaded with caution.
These are demonstrated in a recent Deloitte Global Mobile Consumer Survey. It adds that only 15 percent of Finnish has been downloaded by more than 20 app on your smartphone.
More and more websites are mobile-optimized, which is why a separate application is no longer necessarily required. – Companies should evaluate the need for customer applications or mobile-optimized websites to meet customer requirements. We see that, for example, shopping and travel booking when consumers prefer a web browser, says Deloitte’s technology, media and telecommunications business segment leader Jukka-Petteri Suortti.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5346:sovelluksia-ei-enaa-ladata-entiseen-malliin&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Standing out from the crowd with an Android phone? You and 90 per cent of the market
Meanwhile, analysts say Blackberry and Windows Phone aren’t even worth measuring
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/03/android_market_share_new_high/
Android smartphones currently account for nine tenths of what analysts say is now strictly a two-brand market.
Strategy Analytics estimates that over the third quarter of 2016, Android handsets claimed precisely 87.5 per cent of all shipments, the highest market share ever for the Google-backed operating system.
Apple was second, with iOS staking a 12.1 per cent cut of the market. All other platforms combined to account for the remaining 0.3 per cent.
“Android’s gain came at the expense of every major rival platform. Apple iOS lost ground to Android and dipped to 12 percent share worldwide in Q3 2016, due to a lackluster performance in China and Africa,” said Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston.
“BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Phone have all but disappeared due to strategic shifts, while Tizen and other emerging platforms softened as a result of limited product portfolios and modest developer support.”
The huge market share was the result of Android being the only smartphone OS to see its shipments grow over Q3 2016, ballooning from 298 million to 328.6 million – a 10.3 per cent gain.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple took 103 percent of the smart phone profits!
Apple is known can Download lion’s share of smartphone industry profits, but this year’s third quarter, its share of the profits rose by BMO Capital Markets, the 103 per cent! Samsung’s share of the profits shrank as a result of Note 7 problems less than one per cent.
103 percent sounds like a bad mathematics, but of course the number is based on the fact that very many manufactures smart phones at a loss: LG and HTC made some big losses, many Chinese companies do not tell their results
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5357&via=n&datum=2016-11-04_14:15:19&mottagare=30929
Tomi Engdahl says:
Bloomberg:
Steve Ballmer says he and Bill Gates “drifted apart” after Gates disagreed with his decision that Microsoft make its own mobile hardware
Steve Ballmer Says Smartphones Strained His Relationship With Bill Gates
The former CEO says Microsoft got into the mobile device market too late
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-04/steve-ballmer-says-smartphones-broke-his-relationship-with-bill-gates
Steve Ballmer said his decision to push Microsoft Corp. into the hardware business contributed to the breakdown of his relationship with longtime friend and company co-founder Bill Gates. Ballmer’s only regret: not doing it sooner.
Ballmer, who was chief executive officer of Microsoft for 14 years, told Bloomberg Television that if he could do it all again, he would have entered the mobile device market years earlier. When he finally did, Gates and other members of the board disagreed, he said.
“It was definitely not a simple thing for either one of us,” he said. There was a “little bit of a difference in opinion on the strategic direction of the company.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Is Facebook secretly building a phone?
https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-building-8-hires-phone-experts-nascent-objects/#ftag=COS-05-10aaa0i
Analysis: Facebook’s top-secret hardware division is assembling a team of top phone designers and engineers, including a number of ex-Googlers. What are they working on?
Ara, a Lego-like phone with modular parts, would let buyers snap on a better camera, additional batteries or any other creative hardware a developer might dream up. It was set to be the first phone entirely designed by Google, the three men claimed.
Then the Ara project was abruptly shelved.
But now, all three of those men work for Building 8 — a secretive new division of Facebook. There, they’ve been joined by an impressive list of heavy hitters that reads like a who’s who of the tech world: Motorola, Tesla, Apple and Amazon, in addition to that contingent of Google ex-pats.
So what, exactly, is this superteam of designers, engineers and manufacturing experts working on? Nobody outside of Menlo Park knows for sure, but the hires — and at least one under-the-radar acquisition — seem to indicate two things: it’s mobile, and it may be modular.
Phone experts wanted
CNET analyzed nearly 50 Facebook job postings, past and present, and dug through dozens of employee profiles on LinkedIn to see the big picture. It soon became clear: Facebook isn’t just building a lab in hopes of spinning out a few new startup companies.
Only two of Facebook’s new department heads are devoted to “skunkworks” and “partnerships,” respectively, and few of the job postings ask for experience across the wide range of disciplines you might expect for a research lab.
But many of them ask for people with mobile experience — Android in particular.
Will Google’s modular phone live on?
Even if Facebook just hired four key members of the Google Ara team to lead its manufacturing and supply chain efforts, and even if it has a number of other mobile experts on the payroll, we can’t say for sure they’ll be working on a phone.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Matt Hamblen / Network World:
Contradicting IDC, Canalys says smartwatch shipments grew 60% YoY to 6.1M units in Q3 16, while Apple shipped 2.8M Watches
Is the smartwatch market tanking or on a long, slow climb?
Two analyst firms are far apart on Apple Watch shipments in Q3
http://www.networkworld.com/article/3138498/mobile-wireless/is-the-smartwatch-market-tanking-or-on-a-long-slow-climb.html
Analysts disagree drastically over the health of the smartwatch market. Some say the market is tanking. Others say there are favorable signs and predict healthy smartwatch shipments and sales in coming years.
In late October, market research firm IDC said smartwatch shipments in the third quarter declined by 51% from the same quarter of 2015. The total shipped in the third quarter was 2.7 million, IDC said.
By comparison, research firm Canalys on Thursday said smartwatch shipments were up 60% for the third quarter of 2016 compared with the same quarter a year ago. That resulted in 6.1 million units shipped in the latest quarter, Canalys said.
Both companies define a smartwatch as a wearable that has the ability to run third-party apps, so there doesn’t seem to be a drastic difference in the kinds of devices that either party includes in its counts.
Tomi Engdahl says:
David Ruddock / Android Police:
Google is rolling out RCS advanced messaging to Android devices on Sprint, but Google’s RCS doesn’t work with RCS on AT&T, T-Mobile, and other carriers — There has been much noise made about Google’s launch of its RCS messaging platform via the Messenger app on Sprint today.
The RCS Mirage: “Advanced Messaging” is a mess in the US, and Google’s “standard” is just one more
http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/11/04/the-rcs-mirage-advanced-messaging-is-a-mess-in-the-us-and-googles-standard-is-just-one-more/
There has been much noise made about Google’s launch of its RCS messaging platform via the Messenger app on Sprint today. Sprint announced it would support Google’s RCS platform, formerly known as Jibe, back in February, though, and remains the only US provider to do so.
But T-Mobile and AT&T have launched RCS messaging, right? Yes. But their versions don’t work with Google’s (Sprint’s) RCS. And AT&T’s RCS messaging doesn’t work with T-Mobile’s, and vice versa. And there’s no indication that this will change any time soon. While both T-Mobile and AT&T have signed on to the GSMA’s soon-to-be-published intercompatible RCS messaging standard, carriers seem much more interested in making “advanced messaging” a carrier feature rather than the universal SMS replacement it was developed to be.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The next smartphone will examine food security
Smartphones will soon be coming to a spectroscope, at least if the Osram Opto Semiconductors is to be believed. The company has introduced a small size, but the infrared light over a wide band emitting LEDs, which can be in the near future to integrate into the bowels of the smartphone.
SFH 4735 status diode emits light over a wide range 650-1050 nm region, the so-called near infrared. The wavelength can be utilized in the spectrometer, which will be reviewed and analyzed, for example, food space. Osram sensor is compact, measuring 3.75 x 3.75 millimeter circuit. Depending on the wavelength of the radiated power consumption is 30-60 micro watts.
When the wavelength is directed to the sample well defined, the wavelengths reflected from the distribution it is possible to determine the concentrations and amounts of certain ingredients.
Food can be measured by the amount of water, fat, carbohydrates, sugars, or proteins. The resulting information will tell a lot of freshness, quality and quantity of the food calories.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5361:seuraava-alypuhelimesi-tutkii-ruoan-turvallisuuden&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung to launch AI digital assistant service for Galaxy S8
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-samsung-elec-smartphones-idUSKBN13101Q
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd said on Sunday it would launch an artificial intelligence digital assistant service for its upcoming Galaxy S8 smartphone, seeking to rebound from the Galaxy Note 7′s collapse and differentiate its devices.
The world’s top smartphone maker in October announced the acquisition of Viv Labs Inc, a firm run by a co-creator of Apple Inc’s Siri voice assistant program. Samsung plans to integrate the San Jose-based company’s AI platform, called Viv, into the Galaxy smartphones and expand voice-assistant services to home appliances and wearable technology devices.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google to prevent the proprietary rapid charging on Android with USB-C?
Android device manufacturers have developed a variety of new protocols, with the USB charging can be accelerated.
Google says the update of Android-compatible document defining the C-type devices recommended “strongly” not to use of charging techniques that modify the bus voltage default. This can lead to problems of compatibility with the USB standard power transmission method (PD, Power Delivery).
Possibly in the future Google will completely prohibit the use of various types of customized quick charging technology with USB C-chargers. This would apply, for example, Qualcomm’s Quick CHARGE and Media Czech Pump Express techniques.
PD is a USB-C’s own fast charge technology, specifically PD, namely Power Delivery.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5375:google-estaa-pikalatauksen-androidissa&catid=13&Itemid=101
More: ttps://static.googleusercontent.com/media/source.android.com/en//compatibility/7.0/android-7.0-cdd.pdf
Tomi Engdahl says:
Making Mobile Payments Simple – Part 1: The Current Landscape
https://www.rambus.com/make-mobile-payments-simple-the-current-landscape/
Plastic may have replaced paper, yet fundamentally, the brick-and-mortar experience has remained static for hundreds of years. Fortunately, mobile payments are allowing retailers to positively disrupt an outdated paradigm and bolster their engagement with shoppers.
To be sure, mobile payments offer a plethora of benefits for consumers, retailers and financial institutions. For consumers, mobile wallets provide a convenient, “tap and go” frictionless commerce experience that seamlessly integrates loyalty cards, boarding passes, ID cards, coupons, event tickets, alerts and notifications. For retailers, mobile wallets offer businesses the ability to engage users with an immersive, in-app experience that starts at the beginning of a retail journey and continues indefinitely with notifications, reminders of upcoming expiration dates, archived digital receipts and a real-time tally of current loyalty bonus points. For banks, digital wallets, which are far more secure than credit or debit cards, have fast become a strategic focus as consumer interest ramps up.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AWS: We’re gonna make mobile apps great again with Lambda functions
The best apps will come from America, using Amazon, which will be paying all that tax
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/10/aws_mobile_apps_serverless/
Amazon Web Services is rolling out new Mobile Hub features aimed at simplifying the development of secure mobile apps.
The cloud giant says that its Cloud Logic feature will now let developers create Lambda functions specifically for mobile apps and integrate them with AWS’s API Gateways. This, Amazon claims, should allow for serverless mobile apps to be easily created and tested. Obviously, there will be a server or two involved in the backend but mobile app devs don’t have to worry about setting one up and running it – their code just talks to the API gateway to perform cloud-based processing.
“With Mobile Hub, you don’t have to be an AWS expert to begin using its powerful backend features in your app,” blogged Amazon’s Vyom Nagrani.
“Mobile Hub then provisions and configures the necessary AWS services on your behalf and creates a working quickstart app for you.”
This speeds up the process of developing mobile apps that make use of both serverless functions and APIs, in theory.
Additionally, AWS says it is adding support for an email and password login system on mobile apps with the Cognito account management tool as well as integration with SAML login supporters.
When used together, Amazon believes that the Cloud Logic, email and password login, and SAML support will allow developers to add support for secure mobile logins to their cloud apps – either those hosted in public cloud or a virtual private cloud – with the ability to choose what sign-in method (such as Google or Facebook login) will be offered to end users.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Google’s Mobile VR Still a Wild West
Daydream both a delight and nightmare
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1330808&
I took an extended stroll through Daydream, Google’s low cost, consumer version of virtual reality, and found it by turns exhilarating, inspiring, disorienting and downright painful.
What I saw told me VR is a digital Wild West still being settled.
All these experiences were in reasonably high quality, 360-degree images or video. Each one was created by producers from whom I’d welcome more content.
Unfortunately, the valleys of my experiences were as deep as the peaks were high.
I got a raging headache that lasted an hour after my first use of Daydream. I bear at least part of the fault. In the 30-minute session, I was so excited I clicked through many demos too quickly including several 360-degree photos that I craned my head left and right to view.
The system itself has several shortcomings. As someone who wears glasses, I found I had a fairly narrow window of view to keep images crisply in focus. I typically had to adjust the headset multiple times in a 30-minute session to maintain a crisp focus.
A bigger problem was that images seen in the headset tend to drift to the left or right as you move your head looking at stuff.
The controller also frustrated me when I tried to play a Mario Kart-like driving game.
To its credit, the Daydream controller (pictured right) is simple and flexible.
I had trouble finding find Daydream apps in Google Play. Searches on the phone brought up huge lists of boring utilities like wallpaper motifs and clocks. When I found what seemed like a good app, it wasn’t always clearly marked if it was for Google’s Cardboard viewer or Daydream or not really for VR at all.
Many of what I thought were third-party apps I purchased on the Pixel phone never actually showed up in the Daydream home screen.
Clearly VR pushes the limits of today’s mobile graphics processors like the Qualcomm Snapdragon 821 used in the Pixel phone. Thus units like the Oculus Rift will provide superior visuals if you pay their higher cost and don’t mind being tethered to a PC with a beefy Nvidia GPU. Players like Intel hope to find a middle ground with integrated units still in prototype stage.
Creating a great VR experience takes skilled videographers, animators, programmers and producers. Developers must split their efforts between at least four or five major competing platforms we know about today and probably many more in the works.
While Daydream is a huge focus for Google, even in the Android world Samsung has its own GearVR platform as does China’s LeEco. Facebook has its Oculus, Microsoft its HoloLens and I imagine we will see a VR headset from Amazon. I assume China’s Web giants Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent will roll out their own platforms, too.
Google’s approach is clearly VR for the masses.
Smartphone platforms like Daydream will always trail in quality and lack interactivity compared to purpose-built systems connected to a PC or with built-in electronics.
Someday, VR will be a rich, stable environment rivalling the TV, PC and cinema. I look forward to that day.
Today, it’s a fascinating and somewhat scary Wild West where a lot of companies big and small are racing to claim a parcel. You can get hurt in the stampede. Be careful out there.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Considers Wearables Expansion With Digital Glasses
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-14/apple-explores-smart-glasses-in-wearables-push
Early product testing comes as company searches for next hit
Similar Google Glass project flopped as a consumer product
Apple Inc. is weighing an expansion into digital glasses, a risky but potentially lucrative area of wearable computing, according to people familiar with the matter.
While still in an exploration phase, the device would connect wirelessly to iPhones, show images and other information in the wearer’s field of vision, and may use augmented reality, the people said.
Apple has talked about its glasses project with potential suppliers
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Really, Really Wants Developers To Build Tizen Apps
https://tech.slashdot.org/story/16/11/14/1547244/samsung-really-really-wants-developers-to-build-tizen-apps
Samsung wants developers to build apps for its homegrown Tizen mobile operating system, and it is offering cash prizes to do so.
The firm has launched the Tizen Mobile App Incentive Programme, which offers devs whose apps feature in the top 100 most downloaded rankings (can’t be that hard, surely) a $10,000 reward.
Samsung really, really wants developers to build Tizen apps
Launch of incentive programme hints at post-Pixel shift to homegrown OS
http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2477150/samsung-really-really-wants-developers-to-build-tizen-apps
SAMSUNG REALLY, REALLY wants developers to build apps for its Tizen mobile operating system, and is offering cash prizes to do so.
The firm has launched the Tizen Mobile App Incentive Programme, which offers devs whose apps feature in the top 100 most downloaded rankings (can’t be that hard, surely) a $10,000 reward.
The firm will pay up to $1m a month from February to September 2017, Samsung said, making a total of $9m up for grabs.
Developers will be able to sign up for the Tizen incentive programme from January 2017, and the firm explained that applications must be developed using the Tizen SDK and aimed at the Tizen-powered Samsung Z1, Z2 and Z3.
Samsung will launch further Tizen-powered smartphones in 2017, but the company is unlikely to swap Android for its home-grown software on high-end devices such as the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy Note 8.
Tomi Engdahl says:
47 percent of smartphones that is, almost every one without security protection, says Kaspersky Lab. Tablets are protected by 57 per cent. Information is based on interviews of 12 thousand users in 21 different countries. The company launched last week a new security software for Android smartphones.
Kaspersky Lab announced the launch of its investigation as part of the European Cyber Security campaign, which takes place during November. Its goal is to increase people’s awareness of online threats, as well as knowledge of the different ways to protect yourself against these threats.
Users protect the already relatively well-PC from the PC, with 88 percent of those protected by one of the software. Instead, the mobile security devices to collapse. Tablet only 57 per cent is protected.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5404:joka-toinen-alypuhelin-on-vaarassa&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
A convenient connection to your mobile platform
Farnell Moto Modsit is intended as part of the new Motorola Moto Z -älypuhelinta. It is attached with a magnet in back of the phone. It provides an electronic link to the phone, where developers access to the phone’s power and data paths.
A new kind of development platform allows the system allows anyone to create intelligent control solutions. Moto Mods Development Kit contains everything you need to engage the applier Moto Z smartphone. There’s a perforated card that can be soldered components.
Farnell element14 also provides Motorola HAT Adapter Reference Card to expand Moto Modin also Raspberry Pi-small card HAT scopes and Motorola Personality cards. There is also a freely accessible electronic and mechanical solutions charts, Moto Mods hardware and software for Android Apps suite as examples.
Source: http://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2016/11/15/kateva-kytkentaalusta-kannykkaan/
More: https://www.element14.com/community/groups/moto-mods
Tomi Engdahl says:
A typical way to launch new smartphone models is a big release schedule and keep it loud noise. This is called. Apple’s model. Chinese OnePlus does not try to compete on the same model, but it will do things differently. Until now, the most popular model is pulled out of the market when the new trimmed version to come in.
The new device is called OnePlus 3T.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=5407:oneplus-toimii-eri-tavalla&catid=13&Itemid=101
Tomi Engdahl says:
Farnell element14 – Development kit enables users to create a prototype and refine concepts efficiently
http://www.electropages.com/2016/11/farnell-element14-development-kit-enables-users-create-prototype-refine-concepts-efficiently/?utm_campaign=2016-11-16-Electropages&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Farnell+element14+-+Development+kit+enables+users+to+create+a+prototype+and+…
Stocked by Farnell element14, the Moto Mod development kit (MDK) abstracts complex areas of the Moto Mod architecture so users can focus on design, create a prototype and refine concepts quickly and efficiently.
To get projects up and running quickly, the MDK includes a Reference Moto Mod that attaches to a Moto Z device along with a perforated board that users can use to solder custom components and create a first prototype.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google joins the .NET Foundation while Samsung adds .NET support on its Tizen platform — Microsoft is hosting its annual Connect(); developer event in New York today. With .NET being at the core of many of its efforts, including on the open-source side, it’s no surprise that the event …
Google signs on to the .NET Foundation as Samsung brings .NET support to Tizen
https://techcrunch.com/2016/11/16/google-signs-on-to-the-net-foundation-and-samsung-brings-net-support-to-tizen/
Microsoft is hosting its annual Connect(); developer event in New York today. With .NET being at the core of many of its efforts, including on the open-source side, it’s no surprise that the event also featured a few .NET-centric announcements, as well. For the most part, these center around the .NET Foundation, the open-source organization Microsoft established to guide the future development of the .NET Core project.
As the company announced today, Google is now a member of the .NET Foundation, where it joins the likes of Red Hat, Unity, Samsung JetBrains and (of course) Microsoft in the Technical Steering Group.
Google already allows developers on its Cloud Platform to deploy .NET applications thanks to its support for Windows Server, and offers .NET libraries for more than 200 of its cloud services. The company is also an active .NET contributor already.
Samsung, too, is deepening its commitment to .NET by launching support for it on its Tizen platform. As Samsung’s Hong-Seok Kim told me, Samsung was looking for a framework in addition to the web framework and C API that Tizen developers currently use to write their applications. “We looked into alternatives but .NET was superior,”
Given .NET’s existing ecosystem, Samsung surely hopes that this move will also broaden its own Tizen developer ecosystem.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung’s new acquisition will make your texts more interesting
https://www.cnet.com/news/samsungs-latest-acquisition-will-make-your-texts-more-interesting/
The company buys a provider of Rich Communications Services, which add more features to SMS text messaging.
The texts you send from your Galaxy phone may soon look a lot like Apple’s iMessages.
Samsung said Tuesday it has acquired a Canada-based Rich Communications Services business from NewNet Communication Technologies. Called NewNet Canada, it will continue to operate independently as a unit of Samsung Electronics Canada.
RCS essentially is the standard for the next generation of SMS text messaging. It makes regular text messages behave a lot like chat messaging apps, such as Facebook Messenger, iMessage and WhatsApp. But this new standard brings similar functionality to the basic SMS service already integrated into your phone. Samsung said users will be able to communicate on any network, with an RCS-enabled device or an SMS-only device.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm asks for US ban on ‘infringing’ smartmobes
Cheap-and-cheerful Chinese vendors aren’t paying their dues
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/11/17/qualcomm_asks_itc_to_ban_infringing_smartmobes_from_us/
Qualcomm’s trade troubles have taken a new twist, with the company launching a trade complaint to get some Chinese vendors banned from the USA.
In an action filed with the US International Trade Commission (ITC), the chip company takes issue with two companies operating under smartphone maker Zhuhai Meizu’s banner, along with Dest Technology and LYGD in China and Chicago-based Overseas Electronics (as importer).
The core of the complaint is whether the Zhuhai Meizu smartphones infringe on Qualcomm’s patents.
To get to the bottom of it, the ITC’s put together a panel to comb through ICs, cameras, and system-on-chip technology the Chinese manufacturers are using.
Qualcomm is hoping the ITC will ban allegedly-infringing devices from America.