Here is some aggregating of the data and then throwing out some predictions:
Mobile is eating the world also in 2017. As we pass 2.5bn smartphones on earth and head towards 5bn, and mobile moves from creation to deployment.
IHS research institute of the market next year will be 139 million a flexible screens, most of which are in smartphones. Vivo and Xiaomi have already released smart phones with flexible AMOLED screens. Progress has been slowed by the capacity of the display manufacturers, but Samsung Display and LG Display are already building new factories. It is expected that in 2020 the number of flexible screens will be 417 million.
Today’s smartphones utilize a wide array of sensors (accelerometers, gyroscopes and various other). New sensors will be added in 2017. Barometric pressure sensor, which measures air pressure, is currently being integrated into premium-grade smartphones and IoT applications. Air pressure sensors in smartphones are useful in navigation and fitness tracking applications but also in weather forecasting.
Rumors surrounding the next iPhone 8 keep coming in 2017. Analysts and market researchers have also predicted a big iPhone update from Apple. Let’s wait to see if this is evolution or revolution. A brief report in The Korea Economic Daily claims that Apple is working with LG on a new dual camera module “which enables 3D photographing. I would be surprised if Apple could come up with something that really revolutionary in 2017.
Virtual Reality Will Stay Hot in 2017. VR is the heaviest heterogeneous workload we encounter in mobile—there’s a lot going on. VR requires high refresh rates with new content every frame. It also needs to calculate data from multiple sensors and respond to it with updated visuals in less than 18 ms to keep up with the viewer’s head motions. To achieve these goals, the phone needs a fast-switching AMOLED display at nearly full brightness running constantly. The skyrocketing popularity of augmented reality (Pokemon Go) and virtual reality (Google VR) may be the boost microelecromechanical systems (MEMS) projectors into the mass market. Integrating micro-lidar (3-D imaging system using invisible infrared beams) to smart phone can become feasible.
Smart phone markets will be still almost completely be in the hands of Apple (iOS) and Google (Android) also in 2017. Microsoft’s Windows phone OS is practically dead in. But that does not stop other player trying to get their spot. For example Samsung wants developers to build apps for its homegrown Tizen mobile operating system, and it is offering cash prizes to do so. 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.
Mobile Video to Grow 50% a Year also n 2017. According to Ericsson’s Mobility Report, mobile data traffic continues to grow, driven both by increased smartphone subscriptions and a continued increase in average data volume per subscription, fueled primarily by more viewing of video content. Ericsson forecasts mobile video traffic to grow by around 50% annually through 2022.
Even though smart watch market has done much worse than expected in 2016, is not forgotter in 2017. Companies need to put effort to convince consumers that wearables — smartwatches specifically — are still in demand. For this Google says it will launch two flagship OEM-branded smartwatches and Android Wear 2.0 in early 2017. The new platform brings a number of new features.
Smartphone is already widely used mobile payment, a person identifying itself and a wide range of services in place, so it is only a matter of time until the driver’s license is transferred to smart phone. In fact, the trend is already on the move, as piloted by Gemalto digital driver’s license in Colorado, Idaho, Maryland and Washington. In the early stages of the digital card functions as a conventional physical card partner.
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Tomi Engdahl says:
Apple Under Investigation by ITC
Qualcomm complaint to be heard in U.S.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332142
The U.S. International Trade Commission said it will investigate Apple following allegations by Qualcomm that the iPhone maker is violating six of its non-standards-essential patents. The review is the latest move in an escalating legal battle between the world’s largest cellular chip vendor and one of its largest customers.
Qualcomm submitted to the ITC on July 7 a request to stop Apple from importing iPhone 7 handsets and other products infringing patents related to “envelope tracking, voltage shifter circuitry, flashless boot, power management circuitry, enhanced carrier aggregation, and graphics processing.”
The Qualcomm patents at issue are:
No. 8,633,936
No. 8,698,558
No. 8,487,658
No. 8,838,949
No. 9,535,490 and
No. 9,608,675
Qualcomm also filed suit against Apple over the same six patents in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California. It also sued Apple for patent infringement in Germany.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Már Másson Maack / The Next Web:
European org urges Apple to support Advanced Mobile Location on iPhones, which gives more accurate locations of emergency calls and is supported on Android
Apple refuses to enable iPhone emergency settings that could save countless lives
https://thenextweb.com/apple/2017/08/10/apple-refuses-enable-iphone-settings-save-countless-lives/#.tnw_yxAuku8k
Despite being relatively easy, Apple keeps ignoring requests to enable a feature called Advanced Mobile Location (AML) in iOS. Enabling AML would give emergency services extremely accurate locations of emergency calls made from iPhones, dramatically decreasing response time.
As TNW covered before, Google’s successful implementation of AML for Android is already saving lives. But where Android users have become safer, iPhone owners have been left behind.
The European Emergency Number Association (EENA), the organization behind implementing AML for emergency services, released a statement that pleads Apple to consider the safety of its customers and participate in the program:
“As AML is being deployed in more and more countries, iPhone users are put at a disadvantage compared to Android users in the scenario that matters most: An emergency. EENA calls on Apple to integrate Advanced Mobile Location in their smartphones for the safety of their customers.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
10/08/2017
Apple should integrate AML in iPhone for the safety of their customers
http://www.eena.org/press-releases/apple-aml#.WY3aJulLe70
In June 2016, Google updated all Android smartphones in the world with Advanced Mobile Location (AML), a technology that allows emergency services to accurately locate a caller in danger. Fast forward a year later, the service has been activated in many countries with many lives saved as a result
Tomi Engdahl says:
Wearables are still growing globally, thanks to Xiaomi
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/10/wearables-are-still-growing-globally-thanks-to-xiaomi/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
The burst of the wearable bubble may have been overstated — on a global scale, at least. The category has been struggling here in the U.S., but internationally, it’s still seeing growth. Wearables are up eight-percent year-over-year, according to new numbers from Canalys — not exactly exponential, but at least things are trending in the right direction.
It’ll come as no surprise to anyone who’s been following the space with any regularity that Xiaomi is leading the way here
Report: Xiaomi is world’s top wearable maker for first time as Fitbit sales slide
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/03/report-xiaomi-is-worlds-top-wearable-maker-for-first-time-as-fitbit-sales-slide/
Xiaomi’s good run has continued after a research firm found that the Chinese firm has ranked top for sales of wearable devices worldwide for the first. Sales of Fitbit devices, meanwhile, plunged by 40 percent
Tomi Engdahl says:
Martin Brinkmann / gHacks Technology News:
Opera discontinues Opera Max, the data-savings app it launched in 2013, says it had a “substantially different value proposition than our browser products”
Opera Software discontinues Opera Max
By Martin Brinkmann on August 14, 2017 in Opera – Last Update:August 14, 2017 6
https://www.ghacks.net/2017/08/14/opera-software-discontinues-opera-max/
Opera Software announced the decision to discontinue Opera Max, an application for Android designed to save bandwidth and improve privacy today.
The company launched Opera Max back in 2013; first in the US as a beta version, and then a couple months later in the European Union and other parts of the world.
Opera Max was a standalone version of the Opera browser’s Off-Road or Turbo mode. Basically, what it did was tunnel incoming traffic through Opera servers to compress the data before sending it to the user’s device.
The service was not limited to compressing websites to save bandwidth though, as it did the same for media streams.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Scott Scrivens / Android Police:
Google Assistant, Voice Search, Gboard, and the Cloud Speech API add support for 30 more languages
The Google app and Gboard can now understand 30 more languages
http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/08/14/google-app-gboard-can-now-understand-30-languages/
Speech recognition is one of the most powerful aspects of many Google products, particularly in the Google app where Voice Search relies on being able to understand what we’re saying. The same is true of Gboard, which is capable of typing up entire messages based on what you dictate to it. We may take it for granted somewhat these days, but it truly is a marvel. Now, this feature can now be enjoyed by many more around the globe as Google has added support for 30 further languages.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryne Hager / Android Police:
OnePlus’ head of product says Android O will be the last major Android update for the OnePlus 3 and 3T, despite the 3T being launched just nine months ago
http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/08/11/android-o-will-last-major-version-update-oneplus-3-3t-according-oneplus-head-product/
Tomi Engdahl says:
John Cook / GeekWire:
Sources: Google buys Senosis Health, maker of smartphone apps that monitor health metrics — Shwetak Patel has struck again. — The University of Washington computer scientist has sold his newest Seattle startup company, Senosis Health, to Google, according to sources familiar with the deal.
Exclusive: Google buys Seattle health monitoring startup Senosis, bolstering digital health push
https://www.geekwire.com/2017/exclusive-google-buys-seattle-health-monitoring-startup-senosis-bolstering-digital-health-push/
Shwetak Patel has struck again.
The University of Washington computer scientist has sold his newest Seattle startup company, Senosis Health, to Google, according to sources familiar with the deal.
It marks the latest acquisition for Patel, whose past startup ventures have landed in the hands of companies such as Belkin International and Sears.
Patel, who founded Senosis Health with four other clinicians, researchers and tech transfer experts from the University of Washington, won a MacArthur genius grant in 2011 and his past innovations have ranged from energy meters to air quality sensors.
With Senosis, Patel and his team of about a dozen engineers and physicians took on a bigger challenge: Turning smartphones into monitoring devices that collect health metrics to diagnose pulmonary function, hemoglobin counts and other critical health information.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Kerry Flynn / Mashable:
Snapchat debuts Crowd Surf feature, which stitches together Snaps from select live events by syncing audio, to create multi-perspective viewing experiences
Snapchat’s newest feature is a game changer for concerts
http://mashable.com/2017/08/14/snapchat-crowd-surf-concerts-our-stories/#TcNhKP3kRSqk
Having FOMO about not seeing Lorde at Outside Lands? Well, Snapchat just released a feature that could help alleviate your melodrama.
Called Crowd Surf, the feature connects snaps based on their audio and stitches them together in an attempt to give a near-seamless look at a live event from multiple perspectives.
The new feature is already live within select Our Stories curated by Snapchat, with Lorde’s recent performance as the prime example. Users can see different perspectives of the same footage by clicking a new button in the right corner of their mobile screen.
Because of the audio connection, which Mashable has learned is a proprietary machine learning technology built in-house by Snap’s Research team, Snapchat users can essentially change the camera angle without losing the context of what’s being shown.
Snapchat first showed Crowd Surf off Monday with footage from Lorde’s performance at Outside Lands.
Tomi Engdahl says:
AirDropping penis pics is the latest horrifying subway trend
http://nypost.com/2017/08/12/airdropping-dick-pics-is-the-latest-horrifying-subway-trend/
There’s a new iPhone craze on the subway, and it’s not the latest Candy Crush update.
New York women have discovered that creepy men are using the iPhone AirDrop app to send them photos of their privates while on the same train.
Since more straphangers using the MTA are carrying advanced iPhones and awareness of the AirDrop app has increased, local straphangers have started noticing a troubling trend first reported in London in 2015.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chinese stealth outfit reckons the smartwatch isn’t quite dead
Tic, tic, tic…
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/14/ticwatch/
With fitness gadgets fading fast, and the smartwatch category gathering flies, it’s strange to report a blazing success in wearables. Even stranger, it hasn’t come from an established consumer electronics brand or even a “wearable company”.
And it has sold tens of millions with few people noticing.
The latest pair of products in Mobvoi’s TicWatch line have gathered $2.5m in pledges on Kickstarter, with a few days still to go. It’s even stranger when you consider it’s actually a speech company.
Mobvoi describes itself as “the only firm in China equipped with its own Chinese voice recognition, semantic analytics, and search technologies.” Two Google engineers who had been working for Alphabet on speech recognition set up the company in Beijing, with the company injecting its engine into the WeChat platform in China.
The first Ticwatch was launched three years ago – in China initially – using a forked version of Android Wear (“TicOS”), with its own API. The latest models are fully Wear 2 compatible.
TicWatch 2 came (also with help from a Kickstarter drive) last year, landing with a $169 price tag – around half the price of rivals from Huawei and LG.
Mobvoi shuns Qualcomm for Mediatek’s MTK MT2601 chipset in its two new watches, and there’s no NFC. It’s claimed the 300mAh battery lasts two days. The display on each model is a 1.4inch OLED (287dpi), and they’re waterproof.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Financial Times:
Beijing’s public transport payments company Yikatong launches Android app for allowing commuters to pay for journeys by tapping their smartphones
https://t.co/yuV6COc4IQ
Tomi Engdahl says:
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
KGI: 3rd-generation Apple Watch will ship this year in LTE and non-LTE models, won’t have “obvious change” to form factor, will keep 38mm and 42mm sizes — Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities has released a new forecast on the next generation Apple Watch.
KGI: Apple Watch 3 to come in LTE and non-LTE models, no obvious form factor change
Zac Hall
- Aug. 14th 2017 1:48 pm PT
https://9to5mac.com/2017/08/14/kgi-apple-watch-3-lte-form-factor/
Reliable analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of KGI Securities has released a new forecast on the next generation Apple Watch. According to Kuo, the Apple Watch 3 will ship later this year with both LTE and non-LTE models offered. Kuo also expects the next Apple Watch will retain the same general design and not feature an obvious new form factor.
Kuo specifies that the Apple Watch will continue to ship in two size configurations: 38mm and 42mm cases.
KGI’s latest prediction comes 10 days after Bloomberg’s recent report which first mentioned the new Apple Watch with Intel modems for LTE connectivity.
Bloomberg’s report specifically mentions all four major U.S. carriers (AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, and Sprint) as being on board to support the cellular Apple Watch model. Pricing details are still unknown.
In terms of numbers, KGI predictions Apple will ship 17.5-18 million Apple Watches across this year with 8-9 million units being new models later this year. Kuo expects fewer than half to be LTE, however, at 35-40% of those units.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Allo arrives on the web via Chrome and currently only pairs with Android phones
Google Allo arrives on the web, only pairs with Android phones at launch
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/15/google-allo-arrives-on-web-only-pairs-with-android-phones-at-launch/
Google’s consumer-facing chat application Allo, a successor of sorts to Gchat, is today available on the web for desktop users. The service, which lets you chat with friends while taking advantage of features like stickers, “smart replies” for one-tap responses, and Google Assistant integration, among other things, has been in the works for some time.
In February 2017, Google VP of Communications Products Nick Fox had tweeted out a screenshot of the Allo web client, saying then that it was still in “early” development. In July, Google Allo’s Head of Product Amit Fulay said the Allo web version would be released in a “few more weeks.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Cherlynn Low / Engadget:
Qualcomm unveils new Spectra depth-sensing camera tech, expected to be part of the next flagship Snapdragon Mobile Platform — Dual cameras are so passé. Qualcomm is getting ready to define the next generation of cameras for the Android ecosystem.
Qualcomm’s new depth-sensing camera is surprisingly effective
The IR-based system could be the next dual camera.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/15/qualcomm-spectra-premium-computer-vision-depth-sensing-module/
Dual cameras are so passé. Qualcomm is getting ready to define the next generation of cameras for the Android ecosystem. It’s adding three new camera modules to its Spectra Module Program, which lets device manufacturers select readymade parts for their products. The additions are an iris-authentication front-facing option, an Entry-Level Computer Vision setup and a Premium Computer Vision kit. The latter two carry out passive and active depth sensing, respectively, using Qualcomm’s newly revamped image-signal-processing (ISP) architecture.
Of the three new modules, the most intriguing is the premium computer vision kit. That option is capable of active depth sensing, using an infrared illuminator, IR camera and a 16-megapixel RGB camera (or 20-MP, depending on the configuration). The illuminator fires a light that creates a dot pattern (using a filter), and the IR camera searches for and reads the pattern. By calculating how the dots warp over a subject and the distance between points, the system can tell how far away something is. And since this technology uses infrared light, it can also work in the dark.
We’ll have to wait and see it in action for ourselves before knowing if it’ll be effective in the real world, but so far the technology is impressive.
The module can get very detailed, since it uses more than 10,000 points of depth and can discern up to 0.125mm between the dots. This precision is important. “Depth sensing is going to be mission critical going forward,” Qualcomm’s product marketing lead for camera and computer vision, Philip-James Jacobowitz, told Engadget.
There are plenty of useful applications for depth sensing, one of the most widespread being creating artificial depth of field in images. It can also help in facial detection, recognition and authentication; 3D object reconstruction; and localization and mapping, according to Qualcomm.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook improves Camera with ability to go Live, shoot two-second GIFs, and make full screen text posts; all can be shared to Story, Messenger, and News Feed
Facebook boosts snubbed Stories Camera with Live, GIF & text sharing
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/15/facebook-camera-gifs-live/
Despite the tepid reception for Facebook Stories, the social network is doubling down on its full-screen Camera feature. Today Facebook added the ability to go Live, shoot two-second GIFs and share full-screen text posts on colored background from Facebook Camera, which lets you share to Facebook Stories, Direct messaging and the traditional News Feed.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Qualcomm to Android users: Apple’s iris scanning is NBD
https://www.cnet.com/news/qualcomm-depth-sensing-camera-android/#ftag=CAD590a51e
Apple, shmapple. The chipmaker reassures Android users its next generation of processors can match, if not outperform, its rivals.
Qualcomm is pumped up. The San Diego, California-based chipmaker, whose flagship Snapdragon 835 chipset is featured in the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S8, HTC U11 and OnePlus 5, is anticipating 2018 to be a big year for Android phones.
Though the company’s main launch for its next chipset (the successor to the 835) is scheduled for later this December, Qualcomm unveiled today a few tidbits of what its new chip technology will be capable of. Namely, it advanced its image signal processors (ISP) and improved the depth-sensing capabilities of camera phones.
Tomi Engdahl says:
App Developers Should Charge More If They Want People To Buy Subscriptions, Suggests Report
https://news.slashdot.org/story/17/08/15/211216/app-developers-should-charge-more-if-they-want-people-to-buy-subscriptions-suggests-report
A new report from Liftoff, a Silicon Valley-based mobile app marketing and retargeting firm, says that subscription-based apps may do better if developers charge a higher price for services, rather than setting prices too low to lure users in initially.
New report suggests app makers should charge more if they want people to buy subscriptions
Blame the sunk cost fallacy
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/15/16147954/liftoff-report-apple-ios-android-app-subscriptions-conversion-rate-2017
A new report from Liftoff, a Silicon Valley-based mobile app marketing and retargeting firm, says that subscription-based apps may do better if developers charge a higher price for services, rather than setting prices too low to lure users in initially.
The Liftoff report, which analyzed data gathered between June 2016 and June 2017, categorized app subscriptions into low-cost monthly subs ($0.99 to $7), medium ($7 to $20), and high-cost subs ($20 to $50), while also factoring the cost of acquisition per customer. The company found that apps in the medium price range had the highest conversion rate — 7.16 percent — and the lowest cost to acquire a subscriber, at just over $106 dollars. This was five times higher than the rate of people who subscribed to apps when the apps were in the low-cost category.
This may partly be because streaming media apps, like Netflix and Spotify, have already conditioned people to pay around $10 a month for services. But it also might be attributable to the sunk cost fallacy, Liftoff says: the “cognitive bias people have that makes them stay the course because they have already spent time or resources on it.”
The report also examines apps that fulfill “need states,” like dating apps or cloud services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia’s comeback is on: The flagship 8 emerges
Hopes rest on stock, OZO Audio
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/16/nokia_8_review/
To understand the appeal of the first “Nokia flagship” in three years, the Nokia 8, think of what Google was doing with the Nexus line until it caught “Pixelitis”*. Stock Android, monthly updates, decent imaging, and competitively priced. And really no other frills or gimmicks.
The phone does have some Nokia DNA, as it was designed largely in London with a team comprised of several ex-Nokia designers, and it shows.
a global average of €599 means it should be around £100 cheaper SIM-free than the HTC and LG rivals, and £150 cheaper than the Samsung Galaxy S8.
Nokia has gone for “as close to stock as possible” here. The Camera app is the only home-grown app on the device, although it’s not the only unique technology. The USP is a treat for audiophiles – the phone will capture 360 surround sound in the manner of the £50,000 stereoscopic OZO camera sold partner-not-parent Nokia. How “in the manner of” we’ll have to see.
The HMD-era Nokia describes “OZO Audio” as a successor to HAAC, which certainly invites high expectations.
HAAC used four custom microphones, while Nokia execs I spoke to merely pointed out that it had specified what mics hardware partner Foxconn should use.
Zeiss-certified lenses are back, and the phone will be able to live-stream from both main camera and front-facing camera simultaneously, while the camera shows social media updates. For DIY broadcasters this is great, but you wonder how many others care about taking split-screen (front and back) images or movies.
More practically, new Nokia claims to have worked hard to optimise battery life, with a liquid-cooling pipe.
What are you missing?
The Nokia 8 is only “splashproof” to a IP54 standard, rather than the more demanding IP67 standards met by the iPhone 7, and even more demanding IP68 tests passed by the Samsung Galaxy S8, LG G6 and HTC U11. There’s no wireless charging, something the former Nokia pioneered and used to differentiate itself in 2012, in its Lumias.
However, as readers have pointed out under our OnePlus 5 review, cheaper-than-flagship is an unforgiving place to be. If you’re going to be paying a lot for a phone, why not pay a bit more?
“Consumers simply aren’t interested in expensive but not top-end phones. If they want an expensive phone, they’re going to pay a little bit more to get all the bells and whistles available, while if they’re happy to compromise on features they simply don’t want to pay that much. There’s a good market for £250 or so and lower phones, and a smaller but profitable market for high-end phones,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
HMD Global debuts Nokia 8, a $705 Android device with 5.3″ display, Snapdragon 835, 4GB RAM, 64GB of storage, Zeiss optics, available early September in Europe
The Nokia 8 flagship keeps the bezels, adds a ‘bothie’ camera
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/16/16155588/nokia-8-phone-features-specs-photos-dual-cameras
HMD Global, the Finnish company that licensed the rights to produce Nokia phones, is revealing the company’s first Nokia-branded Android flagship phone today. The new Nokia 8 will be available in early September across Europe, priced at 599 euros ($705). As we saw with the leaks, the Nokia 8 has a 5.3-inch display (2560 x 1440), and is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 64GB of storage.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google acquires AIMatter, a startup that has built a neural network-based AI platform and SDK to detect and process images on mobile devices
Google acquires AIMatter, maker of the Fabby computer vision app
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/16/google-acquires-aimatter-maker-of-the-fabby-computer-vision-app/
Computer vision — the branch of artificial intelligence that lets computers “see” and process images like humans do (and, actually, often better than us), and then use those images to help run programs — is at the heart of how the next generation of tech is developing, and this week Google made an acquisition this week to help it along with its own efforts in this area.
The search and Android giant has acquired AIMatter, a startup founded in Belarus that has built both a neural network-based AI platform and SDK to detect and process images quickly on mobile devices, and a photo and video editing app that has served as a proof-of-concept of the tech called Fabby.
We’d had wind of the deal going down as far back as May, although it only officially closed today.
Fabby and Google have confirmed the deal to us and there should be a statement posted on AIMatter’s site about the news soon (update: it’s up). A Google spokesperson provided TC with a short statement: “We are excited to welcome the AIMatter team to Google.”
https://www.aimatter.com/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Nokia’s new flagship model 8 is based on Zeiss optics and Nokia’s 360 degree Ozo Spatial volume. Also special is the simultaneous video recording of two cameras.
The Nokia mobile phone manufacturer HMD Global announced its first phone in London yesterday with German Zeiss optics. Nokia 8 offers the ability to double-sided video and still images, and can live live on social media, Facebook, and YouTube.
Two-sided shooting takes advantage of the 13 megapixel front and rear camera of the phone. Images and videos recorded by both cameras are displayed simultaneously on the split screen of the phone.
Nokia 8 is also the first smartphone to use the 360-degree Ozo Audio developed by Nokia Technologies. It adds up to the 4K video experience of the phone.
he Nokia 8 features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 835 chipset MSM8998 (4x 2.45 GHz Qualcomm Kryo and 4x 1.8GHz Kryo) and Android Nougat 7.1.1.
Quick battery charging supports Qualcomm’s Quick ChargeTM 3.0 technology.
Source: https://www.uusiteknologia.fi/2017/08/17/nokian-ozo-aani-ja-zeiss-uutuuskannykkaan/
Tomi Engdahl says:
So, Nokia. What makes you think the world wants your phones?
HMD chiefs explain their cunning comeback plan
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/18/nokia_phones_hmd_interview/
Nokia’s comeback is on: The flagship 8 emerges
Hopes rest on stock, OZO Audio
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/16/nokia_8_review/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Motorola Patents a Display That Can Heal Its Own Cracked Screen With Heat
https://yro.slashdot.org/story/17/08/17/2110235/motorola-patents-a-display-that-can-heal-its-own-cracked-screen-with-heat
A patent published today explains how a phone could identify cracks on its touchscreen and then apply heat to the area in an effort to slightly repair the damage. The process relies on something called “shape memory polymer,” a material that can apparently become deformed and then recovered through thermal cycling.
http://pdfaiw.uspto.gov/.aiw?docid=20170228094&SectionNum=1&IDKey=40B199A622C8&HomeUrl=http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2%2526Sect2=HITOFF%2526p=1%2526u=%25252Fnetahtml%25252FPTO%25252Fsearch-bool.html%2526r=2%2526f=G%2526l=50%2526co1=AND%2526d=PG01%2526s1=motorola%2526s2=thermal%2526OS=motorola%252BAND%252Bthermal%2526RS=motorola%252BAND%252Bthermal
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ryne Hager / Android Police:
Google will livestream official Android O launch on August 21st; teaser file name suggests it will be called Oreo
http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/08/18/google-android-o-event-august-21st-coincide-eclipse/
Today it has been revealed that Android O, the next major version of Google’s operating system, will be “touching down” (and likely shown off) on August 21st at 2:40 PM ET via a livestreamed event from New York City. The wait is nearly over. In just a few more days those of us with supported devices might even be enjoying the latest and greatest release of Android. But at a minimum, we should know a lot more about it.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Jordan Palmer / Android Police:
Asus Tango-powered ZenFone AR review: good camera, nice screen, but annoyingly bad battery life and Tango disappoints with a pathetically small number of apps
ASUS ZenFone AR review: A decent phone, but Tango still fails to impress
http://www.androidpolice.com/2017/08/17/asus-zenfone-ar-review/
Google has partnered with another manufacturer to produce a phone with Tango on board, for better or for worse. Stepping up to the plate this time is Asus with the ZenFone AR. The first phone ever to support both Tango and Daydream VR comes in a much, much smaller package than last year’s Phab2 Pro from Lenovo, and accomplishes both things in an arguably better manner.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Keys has introduced a mini-sized wireless circuit, which provides high-speed wireless connectivity to smartphones
Both Samsung and Hon Hai, Foxconn, have invested in the company.
He calls his circles as Kiss. The latest verse is a 3×3-millimeter, very low power KSS104M chip that can replace USB connectivity on a smartphone. Additionally, the same KSS104-CW module based on the radio is sold to other devices.
It has been previously predicted that the now widespread USBC interface would be the last physical interface for smartphones. There is a lot of benefit from wireless. The 60 gigahertz link will quickly transfer data between devices, gigabit speed. In addition, the device will get rid of physical connectors that are susceptible to breakage, inconvenient to waterproofing, and also cause interference to the radio’s radio communications.
The key has been developing its 6-gigabit data-speed technology for nine years. In total, 250 patents have been granted for the protection of technology.
Technology is not called WiGig, also known as 60 gigahertz wifi technology under the name 802.11ad. According to the company, Kiss is faster, cheaper to implement and less streamlined than WiGig.
A completely wireless smartphone would of course also require wireless charging
Source: http://www.etn.fi/index.php/13-news/6692-pienella-sirulla-eroon-alypuhelimen-kaapeleista
Tomi Engdahl says:
HMD Global is preinstalling surveys on Nokia phones
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/17/hmd-global-is-pre-installing-surveys-on-nokia-phones/?utm_content=bufferac5c8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
f there’s one thing consumers don’t like, it’s being spammed with calls, instant messages, and texts involving promotions and other forms of marketing chicanery — especially when they haven’t given consent.
What may be even more annoying, however, is turning on your phone to find a survey has been baked directly into the software. Nevertheless, a number of mobile phone makers seem to be employing this tactic in recent times as they seek to garner “valuable feedback” from their users.
The latest culprit is HMD Global, the business vehicle established specifically to create and market Nokia-branded mobile devices. The Finnish company has unveiled a number of mobile phones over the past nine months or so, from cheap feature phones and mid-range smartphones all the way up to yesterday’s Nokia 8 flagship. Arguably — and, perhaps, sadly — HMD Global’s most notable achievement to date (until yesterday’s Nokia 8) was the excitement it generated by bringing back the classic Nokia 3310, slightly reimagined for the modern era with Bluetooth and a sleeker design.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Banking with your 4g phone. Is it safe?
http://www.electropages.com/2017/08/banking-with-your-4g-phone/?utm_campaign=&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=article&utm_content=Banking+with+your+4g+phone.++Is+it+safe%3F
Some of you film buffs out there may remember Laurence Olivier asking Dustin Hoffman that same question in the film Marathon Man. Now whereas the wrong answer from Hoffman resulted in considerable pain at the hands of Olivier’s mad dentist character, users of the smart phones for personal banking could find it an equally painful experience of a financial nature because of 4G security loopholes.
An interesting report about this landed on my desk which says 4G networks still retain some worrying vulnerabilities despite all the investment poured into implementing the Diameter communications security protocol which replaced the weaker RADIUS protocol. What this means in simple terms is hackers can intercept and divert SMS messages, eavesdrop on conversations and locate users via GPS. It could even help DoS attacks on operator equipment that would case network failures.
And when it comes to your money, one incidence that demonstrates this 4G cyber weakness was when money was stolen from bank accounts by hackers redirecting One Time Pass codes that had actually been sent out by the banks as text messages.
The report goes into some detail explaining the network vulnerabilities and was researched and produced by Positive Technologies, specialists in communication security.
One of the important aspects of 4G vulnerability pointed out by Positive Technologies at the start of its investigative report may surprise a lot of 4G smart phone owners who think theirs is a state-of-the-art-gizmo. In most respects they are right, but what many don’t know is their snazzy 4G handsets also use old-generation networks as well. It’s called CSF, (circuit-switched fallback). Here’s how that happens. While some mobile operators can provide data transfer over LTE, making phone calls and exchanging SMS messages may require a temporarily fall back to older networks, hence the term CSF.
What this means is 4G subscribers are still susceptible to tried-and-tested hacks associated with older generation networks.
The Positive Technology report goes into considerable detail regarding the fraudulent vulnerabilities of SMS messaging, particularly when it comes to financial transactions and also how fraudulent attacks can be made that facilitate the redirection of billing information to already hacked billing services.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google’s Android O is named Oreo, rolls out soon to Nexus/Pixel devices; update includes background activity limits, picture-in-picture, notification channels
Google reveals Android O is named Oreo, begins rollout to Nexus and Pixel devices
https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/21/google-reveals-android-o-is-named-oreo-begins-rollout-to-nexus-and-pixel-devices/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Microsoft closes its Lumia YouTube Channel
https://www.onmsft.com/news/microsoft-closes-its-lumia-youtube-channel
An eagle-eyed Reddit user has noticed that the official Microsoft Lumia YouTube channel has been shut down. It’s unclear when exactly this happened though the Web Archive shows it as having been active as of November last year.
This isn’t too surprising given the fact that Microsoft has shifted away from the Lumia brand while it focuses on its rumored Windows phone reboot (possibly called the “Surface Mobile”). Microsoft also shuttered several of its Lumia Twitter and Instagram accounts as well though this happened almost a year ago.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Lamborghini’s luxury Android phone is definitely not worth $2,450
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2017/8/22/16184644/lamborghini-alpha-one-smartphone-android-release
I understand people’s phone choices say something about their personalities, so what does the luxury Lamborghini phone say about the person who uses it? They’re glamorous? They enjoy leather? They value luxury, maybe? I can’t say, nor can I even guess, because I doubt I’ll ever see someone with Lamborghini’s new Alpha – One smartphone. The Android device, which the company debuted today features “Italian handmade black leather” with a custom Italian leather accompanying phone case. That’s about as luxury as it get.
In the UK, it’ll be sold exclusively at Harrod’s while in the UAE, it’ll be sold at multiple retailers,
It’ll cost $2,450.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Thuy Ong / The Verge:
Samsung’s Bixby launches in more than 200 countries including the UK, Canada, Australia, and South Africa, is currently available in US English and Korean
Samsung’s Bixby is now available in more than 200 countries including the UK and Canada
But it only recognizes English and Korean
https://www.theverge.com/2017/8/22/16182716/samsung-bixby-expand-countries-australia
Samsung’s voice assistant Bixby is now accessible in more than 200 countries worldwide, including the UK, Australia, Canada, and South Africa. It’s already available in South Korea and the US, where it rolled out in July after months of delays. The voice assistant is billed as “an intelligent interface to help get things done faster and easier,” but in our own tests we found that Bixby struggles with basic commands, and concluded that it’s easier to just use the touchscreen.
Bixby is available in US English and Korean, and Samsung claims the voice assistant learns over time, improving its function as it recognizes your way of speaking.
Samsung says Bixby will be made available in more countries, languages, devices, and third-party applications over time. Galaxy S8 and S8+ users can access Bixby by pressing the dedicated Bixby button on those phones, or by saying “Hi, Bixby.” The roll-out comes in a big week for Samsung, with the Galaxy Note 8 set to be officially unveiled tomorrow in New York City.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Hands-on with Galaxy Note8: excellent build, both 2x optical zoom and Live Focus for adding background blur work well, much improved S Pen functionality, more — After the nightmare that was the Galaxy Note 7, few people would’ve been surprised if Samsung killed the Note line entirely. But it didn’t.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/23/galaxy-note-8-hands-on-preview/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google and Walmart announce partnership to offer voice shopping through Assistant on Google Home; Google drops $95/year fee for Google Express — Walmart and Google are today announcing a new partnership that will enable voice shopping through Google Assistant, Google’s virtual assistant …
Walmart and Google partner on voice-based shopping
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/22/walmart-and-google-partner-on-voice-based-shopping/
Walmart and Google are today announcing a new partnership that will enable voice shopping through Google Assistant, Google’s virtual assistant that lives on devices like its smart speaker, Google Home. Specifically, consumers will now be able to take advantage of Walmart’s “Easy Reorder” feature through an integration with Google’s shopping service, Google Express. This will allow consumers to shop from hundreds of thousands of Walmart products just by speaking, the companies explain.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flash Memory Shortage Hits Smartphone Supply
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332190&
Global smartphone sales posted an annual increase in the second quarter, but a limited supply of components such as flash memory are expected to impact the smartphone supply in the second half of the year, according to market research Gartner Inc.
Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, said rising costs and reduced availability for NAND flash and OLED displays will affect premium smartphone sales in the remainder of the year.
“We’ve already seen Huawei’s P10 suffer from a flash memory shortage, and smaller, traditional brands, such as HTC, LG and Sony, are stuck between aggressive Chinese brands and the dominating market shares of Samsung and Apple in the premium smartphone segment,” Gupta said.
Tomi Engdahl says:
These Are the 10 Most Popular Mobile Apps in America
https://mobile.slashdot.org/story/17/08/24/1917207/these-are-the-10-most-popular-mobile-apps-in-america
Between smartphones and tablets, Americans spend more than half of their digital media consumption time — 57 percent — in apps
Facebook (81 percent), YouTube (71 percent), Facebook Messenger (68 percent), Google Search (61 percent), Google Maps (57 percent), Instagram (50 percent), Snapchat (50 percent), Google Play (47 percent), Gmail (44 percent), and Pandora (41 percent).
Tomi Engdahl says:
Analyst Warns the iPhone 8 Could Be Way Too Expensive for Most People
Only 18% of buyers expected to spend so much on an iPhone 8
http://news.softpedia.com/news/analyst-warns-the-iphone-8-could-be-way-too-expensive-for-most-people-517487.shtml
The iPhone 8 will be one pretty expensive piece of technology, with estimates pointing to a starting price tag of $999, and analysts warn that only a few people are actually going to spend so much on a new phone.
Barclays’ Mark Moskowitz explained in a note to investors that only 18 percent of the buyers looking into iPhones might be willing to pay the $1,000+ price for the new model, pointing out that there’s a chance that Samsung benefits from this thing and attracts customers looking for a flagship device at a more affordable price.
“For Apple, we are concerned that the company needs to meet momentous investor expectations following the expected launch of three new iPhone devices in September. This could be made more challenging when considering that only 18% of potential iPhone buyers are willing to spend $1,000+ for a new device (Wireless Subscriber Survey; 08/09/17), which is below the 30-35% figure investors seem to be expecting,”
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
South Korean court finds Samsung Vice Chairman Jay Y. Lee guilty of bribery, embezzlement, and perjury; Lee sentenced to five years in jail, will appeal — SEOUL, South Korea — A South Korean court on Friday convicted Lee Jae-yong, the heir to the Samsung business empire, of bribery and embezzlement …
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/business/samsung-bribery-embezzlement-conviction-jay-lee-south-korea.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
New York Times:
Apple, citing US sanctions, starts removing apps from Iranian developers in the App Store; Google allows Iranian developers to publish free apps to Play Store — TEHRAN — Officially, Apple has no presence in Iran. Because of American sanctions against the country, the company’s iPhones …
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/24/technology/apple-iran.html
Tomi Engdahl says:
Majority of U.S. consumers still download zero apps per month, says comScore
https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/25/majority-of-u-s-consumers-still-download-zero-apps-per-month-says-comscore/?ncid=rss&utm_source=tcfbpage&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Techcrunch+%28TechCrunch%29&utm_content=FaceBook&sr_share=facebook
Apps are dominating consumers’ digital media habits, but getting people to try new ones is still a tough sell. That’s the latest from comScore’s newly released 2017 U.S. Mobile Apps Report, which finds that 57 percent of consumers’ time spent using digital media is now taking place in mobile apps. Of that, 50 percent is occurring in smartphone apps versus only 7 percent for apps on tablets.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Ad blocking basically doesn’t exist on mobile
We have the technology, we just don’t use it
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/08/25/ad_blocking_doesnt_exist_on_mobile/
Ad blocking may prompt fearful publishers to seek help from consultancies, but it isn’t actually interfering with the delivery of ads on mobile devices.
According to Augustine Fou – a cybersecurity and ad fraud researcher who runs Marketing Science, an ad consultancy – the actual rate of ad blocking on mobile devices in the US and Canada is 0 per cent.
Basically, there’s not enough ad blocking on mobile devices to measure.
It’s a different story in Asia, where Alibaba’s UC Browser, which supports built-in ad blocking, is widely used. But in the US and Canada, mobile ad blocking is statistically irrelevant.
Tomi Engdahl says:
http://www.zdnet.com/pictures/iphone-8-what-we-think-we-know/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Smart code helps your phone browse the web twice as quickly
You wouldn’t have to rewrite the web to make it work, either.
https://www.engadget.com/2017/08/27/vroom-doubles-mobile-web-browsing-speed/
Many attempts at improving the speed of mobile web browsing involve some obvious sacrifices: Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages alter how you view the pages, while proxies introduce the risk of someone intercepting your sensitive data. Researchers have found a way to boost performance without those compromises, though. Their Vroom architecture loads mobile websites up to twice as quickly by optimizing how a site loads, no matter how that site is built — even an AMP page stands to load faster. It boils down to loading more of the site at once, rather than the back and forth that usually takes place.
Typically, your phone’s web browser has to process nearly 100 web links before you see an entire page. It has to make multiple requests and spend a lot of time idling. Vroom, however, bundles the info that a browser needs to load a page. When your browser requests info, the server also provides “hints” about other necessary resources and coordinates the delivery of that content to make the most of your phone’s processor.
The code does have a catch, as the name suggests: the web server has to know how to reshuffle data. Even if Vroom was ready right away (it isn’t), it’d take a while to propagate.
Accelerating the mobile web: ‘Vroom’ software could double its speed
http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/25026-accelerating-the-mobile-web-vroom-software-could-double-its-speed
ANN ARBOR—Despite that most web traffic today comes from smartphones and tablets, the mobile web remains inconveniently slow. Even on fast 4G networks, a page takes 14 seconds to load on average—an eternity in today’s connected world.
A team of computer science researchers at the University of Michigan and MIT has found a way to dramatically speed up the mobile web. Their new Vroom software prototype works by optimizing the end-to-end interaction between mobile devices and web servers. They tested the software on 100 popular news and sports websites, and they found that Vroom cut in half the median load time on landing pages—from 10 seconds to 5.
“Vroom dramatically improves upon solutions such as proxy servers, which come with security and privacy concerns. And it complements solutions such as Google’s Accelerated Mobile Pages project, which requires web pages to be rewritten. For any particular version of a web page, Vroom optimizes the process of loading that page,” said Harsha Madhyastha, U-M associate professor of computer science and engineering and one of Vroom’s developers.
Why the mobile web is slow
A key reason for the lag on mobile sites is that, even when a user visits a mobile-optimized page, the browser must incrementally discover, download and process close to 100 URLs—the resources that constitute the page—before that page fully reveals itself.
“A lot needs to be bound and assembled, especially on sports and news pages with live content and personalized ads,” said Vaspol Ruamviboonsuk, U-M doctoral student in computer science and engineering who led the development of Vroom. “When a browser begins to load a page, all it knows is the main URL. Everything else, it has to discover on its own through multiple rounds of parsing and executing code to determine all the assets it needs.”
The Vroom solution
In contrast, the new Vroom architecture bundles together resources that browsers will need to fully load pages. When a web server receives a request from a browser, in addition to returning the requested resource, the server also informs the browser about other dependent resources it will need to fetch.
Vroom takes a three-pronged approach to accomplishing this.
First, it augments HTTP responses with custom headers in order to push dependent resources. In the case of third-party content, which is common on web pages, Vroom doesn’t deliver the resources, but instead sends “dependency hints” in the form of URLs for resources that the browser should fetch.
Second, Vroom makes web servers capable of identifying what resources and dependency hints make sense for the server to pass on to the browser. Third, Vroom coordinates server-side pushes and browser-side fetches in a way that maximizes use of the mobile device’s CPU.
The researchers will present their findings at the ACM SIGCOMM conference Aug. 24 in a paper titled “Vroom: Accelerating the Mobile Web with Server-Aided Dependency Resolution.”
Tomi Engdahl says:
Using mmWave Tech to Redefine Connectors
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332197
Keyssa, a Campbell, Calif.-based tech company, unveiled last week an industry initiative called “Connected World.” The company lined up its big investors, including Foxconn and Samsung, to proclaim that momentum is building for Keyssa’s mmWave technology.
Keyssa’s technology is designed for extremely high-speed data transfer between mobile devices and connected devices.
Keyssa has developed a lower-cost low-power mmWave wireless chip, operating at speeds up to 6Gbps. More important, it has a tiny ready-to-use contactless connectivity module. Focused on manufacturability, Keyssa designed the module to meet all system-critical electromagnetic and mechanical requirements.
Can Keyssa’s technology stand a chance against the tried and tested connectors everyone is so accustomed to using today?
Keyssa sees its key in the industry’s insatiable appetite for speed. “Managing higher speed signals using copper, especially in smaller and smaller form factors, has become a significant engineering challenge,” said Keyssa. Systems engineers have begun seeking alternatives for device-to device connectivity, the company claims.
As Keyssa explained, Kiss Connectivity supports all modern wired protocols like USB 3.0, DisplayPort, SATA, PCIe. In short, Keyssa is opening the door for system OEMs to consider doing away with all the unsightly connectors currently integrated into their systems.
He sees what makes Keyssa’s technology commercially viable are:
• Keyssa’a product allows for the contactless transmission of high data volumes (up to 6 Gb/s).
• The product, used as an I/O, requires no physical hole in the outer housing (allowing the sealing of the device, such as a smartphone).
• The product is physically takes up less real-estate on the PCB than a standard connector.
• The product works agnostically with standard digital transmission protocols such as USB and HDMI.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Flash Memory Shortage Hits Smartphone Supply
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332190&
Global smartphone sales posted an annual increase in the second quarter, but a limited supply of components such as flash memory are expected to impact the smartphone supply in the second half of the year, according to market research Gartner Inc.
Anshul Gupta, research director at Gartner, said rising costs and reduced availability for NAND flash and OLED displays will affect premium smartphone sales in the remainder of the year.
Tomi Engdahl says:
MediaTek Rolls New Smartphone Chips
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1332201&
MediaTek, the second-ranked smartphone chip supplier after Qualcomm, is launching a pair of new SoCs for middle-tier handsets that the company expects to lead market growth as the high end loses momentum.
The focus for the MediaTek P23 and the P30 will be on dual-camera smartphones that narrow the gap separating mid-range smartphones from the high-end offerings of Apple and Samsung. Both of the octa-core MediaTek chips will deliver LTE carrier aggregation and performance up to 2.3 GHz.
As about a fifth of the world’s 7.5 billion people now own a smartphone, and feature enhancements are slowing with each new generation, MediaTek is aiming at steadily increasing middle-class consumers in emerging markets like India and China. While smartphone sales are moving away from telecommunications carriers and entering retail channels, the company anticipates a shift in market preferences.
Tomi Engdahl says:
Samsung Galaxy Note 8: Display tests reveal record-breaking brightness levels 22% better than Galaxy S8
https://9to5google.com/2017/08/28/samsung-galaxy-note-8-display-test-brightness/
Tomi Engdahl says:
Tina Moore / New York Post:
NYPD scrapping 36K Nokia-made Windows phones given to staff in last two years as part of $160M program, will replace with iPhones by end of year — The NYPD has to scrap the 36,000 smartphones it gave cops over the past two years because they’re already obsolete and can’t be upgraded, The Post has learned.
NYPD needs to replace 36K useless smartphones
http://nypost.com/2017/08/28/nypd-needs-to-replace-36k-useless-smartphones/
The NYPD has to scrap the 36,000 smartphones it gave cops over the past two years because they’re already obsolete and can’t be upgraded, The Post has learned.
The city bought Microsoft-based Nokia smartphones as part of a $160 million NYPD Mobility Initiative that Mayor Bill de Blasio touted as “a huge step into the 21st century.”
But just months after the last phone was handed out, officials plan to begin replacing them all with brand-new iPhones by the end of the year, sources said.
The move follows Microsoft’s recent decision to stop supporting the operating system that runs the NYPD’s devices and nearly a dozen custom-engineered apps.
“Nobody purchases 36,000 phones based on the judgment of one person,” a source said.
Technology experts had long questioned the NYPD’s decision to choose Microsoft-based phones over those that run on Google’s Android software or Apple’s iOS.
“The NYPD’s decision to go with Microsoft’s mobile operating system seems to confound more than a few, since Windows Phone’s 2.3 percent US market share is anemic when compared to Android’s 65.2 percent and iOS’s 30.9 percent,” read an article published on the tech news site Digital Trends in October.
“You read that right. Life and death situations rely on outdated phones running Microsoft’s Windows Phone software,”
Both of the NYPD phones — and their Microsoft-engineered apps — run on the Windows 8.1 operating system, which the company announced it would no longer support after July 11.
Tomi Engdahl says:
The first open linux smartphone
Last autumn, a Linux-based smartphone operating system AsteroidOS was introduced, which can also be installed on a few commercial smartphones.
Now the first fully intelligent smart watch is introduced to the market. It’s called Connect Watch.
The device has a quad-core Mediatek processor that operates at a clock rate of 1.39 gigahertz. Special features include a 3G modem and a 2-megapixel camera, which are still not found in smartphones.
The clock is controlled by a 1.39-inch AMOLED screen that separates 400 x 400 points.
AsteroidOS’s goal is simply said: the project offers a free embedded linux platform that gives the user more privacy and Android control over the features of the device.
Source: http://etn.fi/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=6739&via=n&datum=2017-08-29_15:18:07&mottagare=31202
More: https://asteroidos.org/