As technology becomes ever more pervasive, Samsung takes on Apple with a new smaller device that's the same size as the iPhone 5

Samsung is not content with announcing a profit that nudges $8 billion in a quarter, or with making the most sought after mobile phones in their class. Or with trying to invent an entire new class of touchscreen, digital notebook that aims to replace the pen and paper. This week, for the first time, the Korean giant said it would take on Apple more on its home territory than ever before.

That means Samsung’s latest phone is a device that features all the popular bells and whistles of its flagship, the S3 – but it tweaks the nose of Apple by introducing a special new model, the S3 Mini. It has much of the appeal of the existing phone – and a screen that is now exactly the same size as Apple’s new iPhone 5.

That’s not to say, however, that Apple is likely to start suing Samsung again – the S3 Mini is slightly more mini than its bigger sibling in both specifications as well as screen size. It runs slightly newer software, but it also uses a slower processor. Initial reviews indicate the difference is marginally noticeable, and some have wondered whether it will dilute the brand associated with Samsung’s first device to really challenge the iPhone hegemony.

Those specifications, however, don’t matter that much: the really interesting thing about this new phone is its indication that there’s nothing Samsung doesn’t think it can do, and no aspect of the vitally important mobile phone market it doesn’t apparently think it can own or improve. Where HTC, for instance, must focus on top-end phones because it doesn't have the scale for a broader range and Apple chooses to, Samsung’s scale is now such it is prepared to look at a new range of audio docks – which incidentally, sound superb – as well as its traditional TVs, computers and phones. Most surprisingly, perhaps, all of these ranges feature at least some models that are now best in their league.

One explanation for that is simply because Samsung can – but another is the gradual, comprehensive move away from individual pieces of technology to a world where its integrated in every aspect of all the gadgets we use, in the broadest possible sense. So this week Audi announced that Nuance, the company behind the voice recognition software in Apple phones, would also be powering its cars; British audio company Meridian is making audio equipment for Range Rovers and trying to get interior designers to consider their equipment just as they might a sofa; Google, meanwhile, is making glasses; and Samsung’s TVs can be controlled by gesture.

In a couple of weeks time, Apple is likely to announce the iPad Mini. It’s a smaller version of its existing iPad or a bigger version of the iPod Touch, depending on who you believe. Perhaps for the first time, it looks like Apple is the company that is recreating existing ideas in its own unique way. In some ways, that’s a continuation of founder Steve Jobs’ great philosophy: “Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ We have always been shameless about stealing great ideas”. Now, however, technology looks like it goes wider than just a gadget. As it changes all our lives, the multinational conglomerate, be that Samsung or Panasonic, looks better placed than ever.

Read more...

Samsung announces Galaxy S3 Mini smartphone

The smartphone can track a user's eyes to remain illuminated when being looked at

Samsung has unveiled a smaller version of its Galaxy S3 smartphone, reducing the screen size by 0.8 of an inch to 4 inches, bringing it in line with Apple's iPhone 5.

The handset runs on Jelly Bean, the latest version of Google's Android operating system.

Samsung has not yet shared details of when the device will go on sale.

The announcement comes at a time Apple are expected to launch a 7-inch iPad, although that has yet to be confirmed.

The Galaxy S3 Mini, details of which had been widely leaked prior to Thursday's announcement, comes just six months after the launch of the well-received larger model.

The Mini has a five megapixel camera on its rear, with a lower quality VGA camera on its front.

It retains some key features of the larger model, such as an Near Field Communication (NFC) chip, which enables contactless payments.

Sacrificed in the downsize is some processing power - the model drops from the big S3's quad-core chip to a dual-core - and some screen clarity.

The S3 Mini's display offers fewer pixels - 800x480 - compared to the higher definition 720p display of the original.

While obviously smaller in size, the S3 Mini is a millimetre thicker.
'Just too big'
Stuart Miles, editor of UK gadget website Pocket-lint, told the BBC he thinks Samsung are playing a shrewd move to react to the demands of the market.

"I think from Samsung's point of view its about offering breadth and depth of choice.

"There's lots of people out there who think the Galaxy S3 is an amazing phone, but there's a lot who think it's just too big."

He said the impressive early sales of the iPhone 5 will have spurred the need for a smaller competing device.

"If you see that there's a massive demand for a 4-inch screen device, and you have the capability to make it, then you're going to make it, aren't you? I think it will do really well."

Simon Stanford, vice president of Samsung UK's telecommunications and networks division, said in a statement: "We will continue to develop smartphones to cater for a variety of customer needs and this latest release demonstrates our ongoing commitment to offering our customers more choice at every price point."

Flagship handsets compared
Device	Vital information	What the experts say
Apple iPhone 5	• Released: September 2012 • Screen size: 4" • Operating system: iOS 6 • Camera: 8MP • Cost: £529 for pay-as-you-go 16GB model from Apple •Full specification	"If you have an iPhone 4S the only real feature is the new screen, as most of iOS 6 will be available to you, and having to purchase new cables to go with the smaller dock will be a pain. If you have an iPhone 4 or older, however, then the new iPhone 5 offers a number of new features that you'll love. It's an incremental update, but looks like a great one nonetheless." Macworld
Samsung Galaxy S3	• Released: May 2012 • Screen size: 4.8" • Operating system: Android • Camera: 8MP • Cost: £450 for 16GB edition on pay-and-go via O2 •Full specification	"While neither the display nor the construction materials on the Galaxy S3 are the best possible, both represent acceptable compromises that help Samsung balance out the rest of its class-leading spec sheet." The Verge
Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini	• Released: TBC • Screen size: 4" • Operating system: Android • Camera: 5MP • Cost: TBC	"Those hoping for a more compact but equally powerful version of the almighty Galaxy S3 will need to keep looking, but if the price is right, the Mini could prove an impressive mid-range mobile." CNet
HTC One X	• Released: April 2012 • Screen size: 4.7" • Camera: 8MP • Operating system: Android • Cost: £420 for 32GB edition on pay-as-you-go via Vodafone •Full specification	"This handset looks and feels stunning...[but] battery life is by far our biggest concern... Buying a One X is a lot like getting a unicorn - it's wild, fast, white, beautiful, expensive and fickle." Engadget
Motorola DroidRazrMaxx HD (not available in UK)	• Release: "Before the [winter] holidays" • Screen size: 4.7" • Camera: 8MP • Operating system: Android • Cost: To be confirmed • Full specification	"Talk time is outlandishly long at 32 hours... If you want a phone that's deadly serious about staying charged all day, this is a great contender." Mobiledia
Nokia Lumia 920	• Release: To be confirmed • Screen size: 4.5" • Camera: 8.7MP • Operating system: Windows Phone 8 • Cost: To be confirmed •Full specification	"The Nokia Lumia 920 is a good phone from the outset, although it didn't really give us much to feel wowed by... we can't help but feel that this may not be enough of an evolution to really take Windows Phone to the next level." Techradar
LG Optimus G	• Release: September 2012 in S Korea • Screen size: 4.7" • Camera: 13MP • Operating system: Android • Cost: To be confirmed •Full specification	"Judging by its specs and LG's recent devices, it has plenty of superphone potential... [but] it won't be able to fit in front or back jean pockets, nor will it be easy to use with one hand." Cnet
Sony Xperia T	• Release: "Coming soon" • Screen size: 4.6" • Camera: 13MP • Operating system: Android • Cost: To be confirmed •Full specification	"The 13-megapixel camera... is as close to a compact as a smartphone has come. Couple this with a responsive enough performance and you have a phone that can take on the likes of the One X and the Samsung Galaxy S3." Pocket-lint
Blackberry Bold 9900	• Release: August 2011 • Screen size: 2.8" • Camera: 5MP • Operating system: Blackberry 7 • Cost: £380 pay-as-you-go on Orange •Full specification	"The Bold 9900 is a great phone IF your live gravitates around communication, but there's better choices out there for gaming and entertainment." Ubergizmo

Read more...

Tablets are becoming a great way to get your gaming on compared with dedicated portable gaming devices and even consoles. Here are the best five gaming tablets.

Horn is one of the only truly graphically impressive games available on both iOS and Android.

(Credit: Screenshot by Eric Franklin/CNET)

In the last month or so, I've taken to doing the majority of my gaming on the iPad as opposed to the Xbox 360. Yep, Hero Academy has me and so far, it has no plans to let go.
While I'm sure the pendulum will swing back in the console direction as the holidays approach, my habits speak to a larger trend of how tablets are slowly becoming great gaming devices. Thanks to their larger-than-a-phone's-but-way-smaller-than-a-TV's screens, tablets fill a unique and specific niche that no other device really can.
That, coupled with fact that processor speeds are fast as all get-out and are only getting faster, the gaming world may have been forever changed with the introduction of these devices.
If you're a gamer and interested in tablet gaming, you'll want to start here.

AMOLED and a faster-than-usual dual-core Exynos processor earns the Tab 7.7 a spot on the list.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Samsung Galaxy Tab 7.7
If you've never played a game like Dead Space or Riptide GP on a high-contrast, AMOLED screen, then you're missing out. Not to say that such an action should be at the top of your bucket list, but if portable gaming is a thing you're into (why else would you be reading this?), the Tab 7.7 makes for a great device to facilitate that. It's thin, light, and powerful, with the largest contrast ratio of any tablet on the list.

It's the quad-core processor, not the stylus, you should be excited about in this case.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Samsung Galaxy Note 10.1
Sure, the stylus is the reason most will even notice the Note 10.1 (well, the pen and perhaps James Franco's dreaminess), but it's the Exynos 4412 quad-core processor that makes this a gaming beast.

Small and cheap is sometimes a great gaming combination.

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Nexus 7
The cheapest way to get quad-core power on a tablet, the Nexus 7 houses a Tegra 3 processor that delivers fast performance as well as Tegra 3-specific graphical effects at a high pixel density. Also, playing on a 7-inch screen as opposed to a honking 10-incher may be preferable to the finger-length-challenged of you out there.

For the serious tablet gamer who wants to go beyond "awesome graphics, bro!"

(Credit: Josh Miller/CNET)

Asus Transformer Pad Infinity TF700
This is the most powerful Android tablet available and the only one to house a 1.7GHz Tegra 3 as opposed to the 1.3GHz CPU other Tegra 3 tablets use. It also supports Xbox 360 and PS3 controllers, sports a high-resolution screen, and HDMI-out if the 10.1-inch screen ever becomes too small for you.

Sure, the performance is stellar, but it's the breadth and depth of available apps that's truly impressive.

Apple iPad
The iPad is the top dog in tablet gaming thanks to its performance (quad-core PowerVR), games support (many of the best games launch first on iOS versus Android or are completely exclusive), and the highest resolution of any tablet on the list, with tons of games supporting that resolution.

Read more...

The tech titan been quietly providing support to several Android partners battling Apple patent suits

Google may have kept a low profile amid the legal clashing between Samsung Electronics and Apple, but the company hasn't abandoned its Android partners.
Rather, Google has been quietly lending support, coordinating with Samsung over legal strategies, providing advice, doing extra legwork, and searching for prior evidence, CNET has learned from people familiar with the situation. Last month, Google asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to intervene on HTC's behalf in its case against Nokia. In addition, many of the companies that rely on Google's Android operating system to power their handsets, coincidentally or not, have tapped Google's law firm of choice. The steps Google has taken to aid its allies illustrate the tenuous line the company walks as Apple wages war against many of them. Though Google and its Android platform have a vested interest in Google partners succeeding, the company has yet to directly take on Apple itself.
"Google will want to stay away from this trial as much as possible," said Neil Shah, an analyst at Strategy Analytics. "They don't want to directly confront Apple."
Apple filed a lawsuit last year accusing Samsung of violating patents involved in the creation of the iPhone and iPad. The trial, which has captivated the tech sector, began last week and is expected to last late into the month. The parties are due back in court this morning.
Apple's various lawsuits represent an attempt to slow the momentum that Android has enjoyed over the last few years. While the iPhone 4S remains a phenomenally successful single device, there are scores of Android phones constantly flooding the market, ever extending Google's reach with consumers. As of the second quarter, Android phones represented more than half of the smartphone market, compared with the one-third share for Apple, according to market research firm ComScore.
The squabble has centered on the look and feel of Samsung's phones, from the hardware to the software. The latter, of course, is Google's Android. Apple, however, hasn't accused Google of being a copycat in any litigation.
Instead Apple has hammered on Samsung for making changes to its software to make its products look more like the iPhone at a software level. And on the outside, Apple has accused Samsung of mimicking visual features like the metallic bezel and rounded corners. In turn, Samsung has responded by noting that the Android-specific buttons on the front of its phones offer ways to differentiate the companies' products from one another.
Other than that, Google's name hasn't come up much in the trial.
A curious link
Nonetheless, Google still has one important link to the case: Quinn Emanuel.
The firm representing Samsung has become Google's law firm of choice in matters of intellectual property. Quinn Emanuel lawyers have represented the search company in numerous patent and copyright cases.
It just so happens that Quinn Emanuel attorney Charles Verhoeven, one of the lead lawyers for Samsung, is also representing HTC and Motorola, two of Google's Android partners, in patent litigation brought against them by Apple. Quinn Emanuel also represented Barnes & Noble, which uses Android as the operating system for its Nook e-book readers, when Microsoft accused the book merchant of violating its patents.

Read more...

So we know there are three Samsung Galaxy S2 variants. One of which has already been released (Sprint’s Epic Touch 4g). AT&T’s SGS2 is going to be released very soon with T-Mobile’s Galaxy S II following shortly thereafter. But even though these phones are all made by Samsung and all carry the Galaxy S2 moniker, they have significant differences.
There are two major differences between these phones: The screen size and the processor. Both T-Mobile’s and Sprint’s version of the SGS2 have massive 4.5 inch displays, with AT&T’s sticking with the European SGS2′s 4.3 inch display. If you like a bigger screen, then you’d probably prefer Sprint’s or T-Mobile’s version. But if 4.5 inches is a little too big for you, you might want to opt for AT&T’s SGS2 which packs the same amount of pixels into the smaller screen giving it a bit of an advantage in clarity.
But screen size can come down to personal preference. One really can’t be proven superior to another. But that isn’t the case when it comes to the processors. T-Mobile Galaxy S2 is packing a 1.5 GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, while Sprint’s and AT&T’s has the 1.2 GHz dual-core Exynos processor. Just by looking at the clock speeds, you’d assume that T-Mobile’s processor is the best. But in reality, from a processor performance standpoint it is just the opposite.
While the Snapdragon processor gives T-Mobile users the ability to take advantage of the theoretical 42 Mbps speeds of T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network, it gives the phone worse processor performance overall. Sure, the clock speed is higher so the benchmarks you do may not reflect that big of a difference between the Snapdragon and the Exynos.
But even at 1.2 GHz, the Exynos outperforms the Snapdragon. This is especially true when you consider the GPU’s of the processors. The Snapdragon sports the Adreno 220 GPU, while the Exynos sports the Mali-4oo GPU. This means that the 3D performance with the Exynos will be far superior than that of the Snapdragon.
And remember, it won’t be long before the people at XDA Developers create a custom kernel that is capable of overclocking the Exynos up to 1.5 GHz (probably even higher). The Exynos processor clocked at 1.5 GHz will make the comparison between the Exynos and the Snapdragon just unfair. Now, let me emphasize that I am saying all this from a processor performance based standpoint. I am not considering the faster data speeds, and the better battery life the Snapdragon will offer.
So at the end, just like the screen size the processor can come down to personal preference. But our personal preference, and the one of most enthusiasts are about getting the best performance out of our phones. And the Sprint and AT&T variants give you the best performance. But don’t let that make you think that the T-Mobile SGS2 is a slouch. It is still going to be the fastest phone available on T-Mobile when it comes out.
1st place: Sprint’s Epic Touch 4G. I place Sprint’s variant at the top of the pack because the larger screen size, the 4G data speeds, and most importantly the Exynos processor.
2nd place: AT&T’s Samsung Galaxy S II. This is a close second to Sprint’s variant. The only thing that really kept this variant from being first is the lack of true 4G data speeds. Though the screen size is a tad bit smaller, it actually delivers the same amount of pixels in the smaller display making it look a bit better.
3rd place: It does this phone more justice saying it came in 3rd place than last place. Though this phone doesn’t pack the processing power of the other two, it does support T-Mobiles “4G” speeds and gives you better battery life.

Read more...

Qualcomm's smartphone chip shortage continues

Qualcomm's Snapdragon chips are used in Android, Windows Phone and Blackberry devices

Smartphone chip designer Qualcomm has confirmed it continues to be unable to meet demand for its latest generation of Snapdragon processors.

The US company's "28 nanometre" chips are used in bestselling Android devices including the Samsung Galaxy S3, HTC One X and Sony Xperia SX.

It first reported the shortfall in April, admitting it had underestimated appetite for the product.

The shortage is causing knock-on problems for manufacturers.

"It's slowing down production rates for a lot of the current Android models and is leading to a number of companies having to delay or scale down production of next generation models," Chris Green, principal technology analyst at Davies Murphy Group Europe, told the BBC.

"The problem is that if companies can't source enough of the chips they can't ramp up production lines to the speeds necessary to make them cost-productive."

"One company that I know has been affected is Asus and its Padfone."

The Taiwanese firm told the Verge tech site in May that it was experiencing shortages of Snapdragon S4 chips.

Qualcomm's disclosure coincided with its third quarter earnings. It reported $1.2bn of net income, 15% higher than the previous year.
Year end target
Qualcomm adapts processor designs by ARM Holdings and adds its own wireless data technologies, but outsources production to others.

After supplies from Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company fell short of demand, it sought alternative manufacturers and said it now had "four sources".

The Asus Padfone if one of the products affected by the Snapdragon chip shortage

"We continue to be supply constrained of our 28 nanometre products but are ramping supply with multiple foundries," said the company's chief operating officer, Steve Mollenkopf, in a transcript of an analyst briefing posted to the financial news site Seeking Alpha.

"We currently project that we'll be able to closely match supply with demand as we exit the calendar year".
Future threats
Analysts also questioned Qualcomm's executives about Samsung's recent takeover of two businesses specialising in connectivity technologies - the mobile phone division of the UK's CSR and Sweden's Nanoradio.

Samsung's mobile phone chips - used in both its Galaxy handsets and Apple's iPhones - currently incorporate Qualcomm-designed elements. But the move could cost the Qualcomm business if its South Korean customer developed its own alternatives.

"I think the key way to combat that, as we've done all along, is to continue to drive the technology hard," responded Qualcomm's chief executive Paul Jacobs.

"We're driving it very rapidly on a number of areas... it used to be just the radio, but now it's also processor and graphics technology.

"Do people for their own internal uses have enough scale to invest at the same rate we do? The answer is generally no."
Corruption investigation
The firm also provided an update on a continuing US investigation into its business after a whistleblower's claims.

"[We] have informed the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Department of Justice of instances in which special hiring considerations, gifts or other benefits were provided to several individuals associated with certain Chinese state-owned companies or agencies," said Qualcomm's vice president of investor relations, Warren Kneeshaw.

"Based on the facts currently known, we believe that the monetary value of these benefits in aggregate to be less than $250,000, excluding employment compensation.

"We're continuing to co-operated with these investigations, but are unable to predict their outcome."

Read more...

The device, which was first unveiled at Mobile World Congress in February, will be "available globally" this month, Samsung announced on Monday. Initially, the Galaxy Note 10.1 will be available in Wi-Fi-only or Wi-Fi plus 3G HSPA+ options, but Samsung promised to bring a Wi-Fi plus LTE version to market later this year.

The company did not specify an exact release date or how much it will cost. The Galaxy Note 10.1 is essentially a cross between Samsung's 10-inch tablet and its stylus-packing "phablet," the Galaxy Note. The tablet boasts a 10.1-inch screen and comes with Samsung's S Pen stylus, which lets users "write" on the screen. It will arrive running Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and packs a 1.4-GHz quad-core processor alongside 2GB of RAM. It has a 5-megapixel camera on the back as well as a 1.9-megapixel front-facing camera.

"The Galaxy Note 10.1 offers the functionality and precision of a pen and paper on a 10.1-inch large display, which will enable people to amplify their creativity, productivity, and learning ability," Samsung said in a news release.

To make use of the stylus, the tablet comes pre-loaded with Samsung's S Note app for note-taking and sketching, as well as Adobe Photoshop Touch, which lets users edit photos with the S Pen. On the multitasking front, the device lets users view two different apps side-by-side. It also boasts Smart Stay, a feature that tracks the owner's eyes to ensure the screen stays on while it's being looked at, and Pop Up Play, which allows video to be viewed anywhere on the screen while running other tasks.

Meanwhile, Samsung will release the next generation of its Galaxy Note smartphone on Aug. 29 at its "Unpacked" event at the IFA consumer electronics show in Berlin, a spokesperson confirmed to Reuters. The Galaxy Note II will feature a 5.5-inch Super AMOLED screen, as well as a design inspired by the Galaxy S III, Samsung insiders confirmed to GSMArena in Jun

Read more...

 Buckle up, Angry Birds fans. The barreling birds and sinister pigs are headed on a mission to Mars.

Days before the scheduled Mars Curiosity Rover landing, Finnish game maker Rovio announced it is gearing up to release a "red planet update" for Angry Birds Space this fall. To hype up the update, Rovio released a short teaser video (below) created in collaboration with NASA.

The 30-second spot begins with a notice about the upcoming landing of the Curiosity Rover on Mars, which is set to happen in just two days. The video then asks the question "what will it find?" before switching to footage of Mars, where a bird's shadow appears over what looks like a patch of ice.

Rovio last week released an update for Angry Birds Space, adding 20 more levels to the game. Also, the game maker just yesterday sent its beloved pig-popping game on a beach vacation with the launch of 15 new tropical level for the original Angry Birds.

Angry Birds Space was first released in March and has been a hit for Rovio, topping 50 million downloads in just 35 days.

Meanwhile, a real life mission to Mars is happening now with the Rover Curiosity scheduled to complete its 350 million-mile journey and touch down on the Red Planet at approximately 1:31 a.m. EDT on Monday. The goal of the mission is to investigate whether the planet could have previously supported life, study its climate and geology, and evaluate the potential for a manned mission.

Read more...

Google has released its latest Android distribution figures, detailing the approximate number of active devices running a given version of the Android OS.

The pie chart and table is based on the number of Android devices that have accessed Google Play store within a 14-day period ending on 1st August 2012.

From the chart, it is easy to infer that Android 2.3 Gingerbread is the most popular of the Android operating systems available in the market today.

Android 4.0 ICS, launched back in October 2011, is now active on almost 16% of devices available in the market, a growth of about 50% when compared to the past data that was released.

Google’s latest OS, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, launched in the end of June 2012, is active on mere 0.8% devices. Probably because third party manufacturers haven’t started rolling out the update to current ICS enabled devices. Currently, the only devices to run Android 4.1 Jelly Bean are the Google Nexus 7 tablet and Google’s flagship smartphone, the Galaxy Nexus, which has started receiving the Android 4.1 update globally. Officially, the Galaxy Nexus is not available in India. The recently announced Karbonn Smart Tab 1 tablet will also feature Jelly Bean, but no release date has been announced.

In the past, Asus, HTC and Samsung have confirmed that some of their devices will receive the Jelly Bean update in the near future.

A fun fact about the Google OS is that it is named alphabetically after popular deserts. The names and versions of Google’s Android OS are as follows.

1.5-Cupcake
1.6-Donut
2.1-Eclair
2.2-Froyo
2.3-Gingerbread
3.1-Honeycomb
4.0-Ice Cream Sandwich
4.1-Jelly Bean

 

Read more...

Samsung disables Galaxy S3 Google local search function

Samsung says it has sold more than 10m Galaxy S3 phones over the past two months

•  

Samsung has disabled an advanced search function in an update to the international version of its flagship Galaxy S3 smartphone, following a patent dispute with Apple.

Once the software is installed the phones no longer search contacts, apps and other on-device material using software developed by Google.

Android Central, which revealed the news, noted that users were not told the update would disable the service.

It follows a similar move in the US.

Apple claims the innovation infringes its patent to a single search interface which it uses in its Siri app to collate results from a range of sources.

The iPhone maker had already managed to enforce a brief sales ban on another Samsung handset - the Galaxy Nexus - in the US because of the patent.

That dispute will be considered again by a Washington-based court on 20 August - but whatever the ruling, it would not have applied to the GT-i9300 (S3) model sold in the UK and other places outside the US.

A spokeswoman for Samsung was unable to provide more detail.

"Samsung may be doing this as a precautionary measure to prevent it having to pay damages on devices sold outside the US in case Apple prevails in the States and then pursues a similar suit elsewhere," said Simon Clark, head of intellectual property at law firm Berwin Leighton Paisner.

"Generally speaking a multinational company like Apple will have patent protection in all its key countries, and the wording will be very similar in each area. Although patent law can vary across territories it's quite likely that a ruling in one country will lead to similar decisions in others."
California clash
The move marks the latest development in a long string of lawsuits between the two firms over the technologies and designs of their mobile devices.

Apple was defeated in a London court earlier this month when it tried to have Samsung's Galaxy Tab tablets banned in the UK after it failed to convince a judge that the South Korean firm had copied the look of its iPad.

The California-based company was ordered to publish the fact that its competitor had not infringed its registered design on its website and in magazines as a consequence.

However, it was more successful in Germany on Tuesday when an appeals court in Dusseldorf extended a preliminary injunction against Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 across the EU because of a related claim.

The two firms are set to clash again in the US on Monday when a jury will hear patent infringement suits filed by both companies against the other.

According to a court filing posted on the Foss Patents blog, Apple is seeking $2.5bn (£1.6bn) in lost profits and royalty fees but is offering a fraction of that amount - half a cent in damages for each handset it has sold that uses its rival's technologies - to settle Samsung's countersuit.

Samsung later responded with its own filing, alleging that Apple was trying "to stifle legitimate competition and limit consumer choice to maintain its historically exorbitant profits".

Read more...

Google Acquires the Popular iOS E-Mail Client Sparrow

by Macky Evangelista

Google’s G-mail app on Android is by far the best G-mail experience you can get on any mobile device. Sadly, the same can’t be said about Androids stock e-mail client. It seems as if that may change as Google has officially acquired Sparrow. If you’re not familiar with Sparrow, it’s arguably the most popular and best e-mail client available for iOS and Mac. Thus, I’m sure it would be welcomed with open arms by Android users if Google ever decides to incorporate it into their OS.

You can check out Sparrow’s official statement regarding the acquisition after the break.

Sparrow
We’re excited to announce that Sparrow has been acquired by Google!
We care a lot about how people communicate, and we did our best to provide you with the most intuitive and pleasurable mailing experience.
Now we’re joining the Gmail team to accomplish a bigger vision — one that we think we can better achieve with Google.
We’d like to extend a special thanks to all of our users who have supported us, advised us, given us priceless feedback and allowed us to build a better mail application. While we’ll be working on new things at Google, we will continue to make Sparrow available and provide support for our users.
We had an amazing ride and can’t thank you enough.
Full speed ahead!
Dom Leca
CEO
Sparrow
We also want to thank our advisors and investors — Loren Brichter, Dave Morin, John Maeda, Xavier Niel, Jérémie Berrebi — as well as our friends and family: Simon Istolainen, Jérémie Kanza, Sacha Cayre, Cedric Gepner, Laurent Merlinot, Didier Kuhn, Tariq Krim, Christophe Baillon, Laurent Cerveau, Christophe Giaume, Sebastien Maury, Manuel Colom, Bertrand Guiheneuf and all of you who have helped us along the way.

Read more...

How to unlock and root the Nexus 7

 

by Robert Nazarian

Those of you that pre-ordered your Nexus 7 should be receiving it in the next week or so. If you plan on unlocking and rooting it, you’ve come to the right place. We have all the instructions and download links to get your Nexus 7 primed and ready for customizing it to your delight. Just hit the break to get started

**These instructions are straight forward and easy, but things can go wrong so we don’t take any responsibility.
Requirements

1. You must have the sdk installed and able to access and use adb and fastboot.
2. You must have debugging enabled on your Nexus 7.

Unlocking the bootloader

1. Connect your Nexus 7 to your PC via USB cable.
2. Launch Terminal / Command Prompt
3. Navigate to the fastboot folder which will be inside the location where Android SDK is installed (On Windows, it should be in C:\)
4. Enter the following command: fastboot oem unlock
5. Once flashing is complete, enter: fastboot reboot
6. Download and place CWM in the fastboot folder and type in the following: fastboot flash recovery CWM-grouper-recovery.img
7. Reboot again by entering: fastboot reboot

Making ClockworkMod Recovery Permanent
Enter the following commands in terminal:

mount system
adb shell
cd /system
mv recovery-from-boot.p recovery-from-boot.bak

Gain Root Access

1. Download and place SU.zip directly under /sdcard on your device.
2. Enter ClockworkMod Recovery by shutting off your device, pressing and holding Volume Up, Volume Down and Power buttons until you see the screen flash with the iconic CWM logo.
3. From the main menu, navigate to install zip from sdcard > choose zip from sdcard > JB-SuperSU.zip
4. From main menu, select reboot system now

If you followed these instructions correctly, your Nexus 7 bootloader is now unlocked and you should have permanent root. Congratulations!!!
For more information please visit the source links.
sources: rootzwiki / xda / redmondpie

Read more...

We all know that Google’s Android mobile operating system has garnered a notorious reputation of being pretty easy to hack and Google not doing enough towards data security. However, according to a security expert’s recent revelation, Jelly Bean (Android 4.1) is the most difficult Android OS to exploit till date. It’s thanks to a proper implementation of a security technique known as ASLR in Jelly Bean, even though it was first introduced in Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0).

Jelly Bean’s improved security claim was made by security researcher Jon Oberheide on his security blog, Duo Security. According to his latest blog post, ASLR (or Address Space Layout Randomization) featured introduced in Android 4.0 ICS has been finally “implemented” in the latest Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release.

What’s the big deal about ASLR, we hear you ask? Here’s Oberheide’s explanation:

“ For the uninitiated, ASLR randomizes where various areas of memory (eg. stack, heap, libs, etc) are mapped in the address space of a process. Combined with complementary mitigation techniques such as non-executable memory protection (NX, XN, DEP, W^X, whatever you want to call it), ASLR makes the exploitation of traditional memory corruption vulnerabilities probabilistically difficult. ”

Although ASLR was introduced in ICS Android 4.0, “things weren’t in great shape,” claims Oberheide. But Jelly Bean’s proper implementation of ASLR is an important step towards securing future Android OS releases, and making it difficult for hackers to exploit vulnerabilities, opined Oberheide. ASLR when paired with another important security step known as data execution prevention or DEP and information leak prevention effectively fortifies Android 4.1 Jelly Bean’s security armour by several degree.

So yes, while we celebrate the increased security efficiency of Android’s Jelly Bean build, let’s not get carried away and think intrusions and hack attacks won’t happen. In Oberheide’s own words, Jelly Bean’s proper implementation of ASLR and DEP will make hackers’ job of exploiting memory corruption bugs more difficult, but not impossible.

Compared to Apple’s iOS, Google’s rival in the mobile OS war, Android still doesn’t supportcode signing -- a security step which authenticates the software author and the integrity of the executable code through a digital signature -- something that has been present in iOS since a long time.

Read more...

Samsung has unveiled a new Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich-based Galaxy smartphone called Galaxy Chat. The device is scheduled to release in Spain this month and will be gradually made available in other markets including Middle East, China, Southeast Asia, and Southwest Asia. Samsung has not yet revealed the price of the Galaxy Chat, but it is expected to be an entry-level one.

Speaking about specifications, the new Samsung Galaxy Chat has a 3-inch capacitive touchscreen with QVGA 240 x 320 pixels resolution as well as a QWERTY keyboard. As said before, the Galaxy Chat will run on Android 4.0 ICS OS straight out of the box. The device is powered by an 850MHz processor. It sports a 2MP camera, 4GB of built-in storage and a slot for a microSD card. Memory details are so far, not known.

For connectivity, the Samsung Galaxy Chat supports USB 2.0, Wi-Fi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0. The Galaxy Chat comes preloaded with various apps including Quick Office document editor and S Planner apps. It comes with a 1,200 mAh battery, which is rated to deliver up to 14 hours and 40 minutes of talktime, and up to 520 hours of standby time.

The new Galaxy Chat smartphone is said to have resemblance with BlackBerry phones (mainly due to the QWERTY keypad) and supposedly focusses on Samsung's cross-platform ChatON messaging app.

Read more...

A judge in California has blocked US sales of Samsung's Galaxy Nexus smartphones while the court decides on the firm's patent dispute with Apple.

US District Judge Lucy Koh said Apple "has shown a likelihood of establishing both infringement and validity".

Earlier this week, she barred sales of Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in the US until the case was resolved.

However, she said that Apple would have to post bonds of nearly $100m (£64m) to enforce the rare pre-trial injunctions.

The bonds serve to secure payment of damages sustained by Samsung should it win the cases.

Samsung, the South Korean electronics giant, said it was "disappointed" by Friday's decision.

"We will take all available measures, including legal action, to ensure the Galaxy Nexus remains available to consumers," it said in a statement.

California-based Apple and Samsung are involved in a variety of legal cases in various countries across the globe amid claims and counter claims of patent infringement.

While Apple had accused Samsung of "blatant copying" of its design and look, the South Korean firm has alleged that Apple infringed its patents relating to the way phones and tablet PCs connect to the internet.

Apple and Samsung are two of the biggest manufacturers of tablet PCs and smartphones in the world.

Sales of the iPad more than doubled to 15.43m for the three months to 31 December 2011.

And in the first quarter of 2012 it sold 13.6m, giving it about 63% of the global tablet market, according to research firm Display Search.

Samsung sold 1.6m tablets over the same period, giving it a 7.5% share.

The success of Apple's iPhone and iPad has seen the firm recently become the world's most valuable company.

Meanwhile, Samsung has enjoyed considerable success in the sectors with its Galaxy range of products.

The demand for tablet PCs and smartphones is likely to grow even further in the near term.

Analysts said that given the growth potential, the two firms were using every possible tactic to ensure that they capture a bigger share of the market.

	2011	2012	2013	2016
Source: Gartner
Apple	39,998,000	72,988,000	99,553,000	169,652,000
Android	17,292,000	37,878,000	61,684,000	137,657,000
Microsoft	0	4,873,000	14,547,000	43,648,000

Read more...

The Google I/O event brought with it a lot of new stuff, including the widely rumoured Asus Nexus 7, Android 4.1 codenamed Jelly Bean, the Nexus Q and a fantastic preview of Google Glass. Among these, the Google Play store also received a few updates, which should make life easier for both app developers and end users.

The biggest change in the Google Play store is probably the inclusion of more types of digital content. The Play store now allows users to download movies, TV shows and magazines, as opposed to merely renting them. By allowing users to maintain a complete digital library of music, books, magazines, movies, TV shows and games, Google is going head on with services like Netflix and Apple’s iTunes Store. However, these services are not available in India at the moment.

The Google Play store now supports ‘Smart App Updates’ which allows developers to push incremental updates to their apps instead of having users download the entire APK all over again. This can decrease the filesize to be downloaded by almost a third. In a bid to discourage app piracy, paid apps are now encrypted with a device specific key, making it harder for users to simply rip the apk and share it with others.

The Play store now includes improved app management features, letting users uninstall and update apps from the website itself. A new section called ‘My Android Apps’ gives users a dashboard from where they can preview all their installed apps, and choose to update or remove apps from the comfort of their computers. However, system apps (apps that come pre-installed by handset manufacturers or carriers) cannot be removed this way. A section called ‘Other Apps in My Library’ shows you apps that you’ve downloaded in the past, but aren’t present on your device any more, letting you return to an app to give it another try.

An indication of Android’s massive growth, Google revealed that Android’s user base has grown from 100 million to 400 million in just one year, with 1 million new Android devices being activated each day. Growth has been strong in developing markets like Brazil, India and European countries like France, where Android adoption has increased phenomenally. Google also reported that the Play Store now houses over 600,000 apps and games, and has crossed 20 billion app installs.

Read more...

Google IO is just about to start, but a product page for the new Nexus Q streaming media box is already online.

It's an orb-like streaming-media device with a $300 price tag, that looks to act as the bridge between Android tablets and smartphones, and your TV. The (currently unlisted) YouTube video shows off its ability to integrate with your Google Music account, as well as "push" videos to your TV, similar to Apple's AirPlay functionality.

While it's not entirely clear from the product shots currently available, the Nexus Q has a micro HDMI output (and includes an HDMI cable), in addition to an optical audio port, Ethernet jack, and banana jack speaker outputs. The Nexus Q also has a built-in 25-watt amp, which means you won't need a separate AV receiver to power speakers, similar to a Sonos Connect:Amp. There's also built-in Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and NFC support.

The Nexus Q runs a version of Android 4.0, with 16GB of onboard flash memory and 1GB of RAM. Unlike streaming media boxes like Roku or the Apple TV, the Nexus Q only supports a few Google-centric apps: Google Play Music, Google Play Movies and TV and YouTube. The "social" aspect of Nexus Q initially appears to be the ability for multiple Android devices to create a group playlist.

According to the product page, the Nexus Q should be shipping in 2-3 weeks. Also listed is a set of $400 bookshelf speakers, made by Triad Speakers, designed to be used with the Nexus Q.

Read more...

Apple's MacBook Air is one of the more popular of its laptop offerings, and in its recent hardware announcements Apple updated the Air with speed and storage bumps, in addition to including the faster Intel HD 4000 graphics capabilities. While these updates have been enticing to new buyers, a number of people who have been using the new systems are experiencing crashes.

After using the systems for a while, many users are noticing that they seem to randomly crash with a kernel panic, which fades the display and presents a message that states the user needs to press the power button to restart the system. This message indicates a core component of the system such as a driver or hardware component is not working properly.

While the crashes at first appeared to be random in nature, a number of users found that they were happening when using Google's Chrome browser, and have found evidence of this in the crash logs that are generated when the system goes into a kernel panic. The logs appear to describe an issue with how Chrome is handling the Intel HD 4000 graphics processors on the new MacBook Air, since the following common entries in users' crash logs suggest the Google Chrome process was the cause and last interacted with the driver for the Intel HD 4000 Graphics chip:

Kernel Extensions in backtrace:
  com.apple.driver.AppleIntelHD4000Graphics(7.2.8)[6B02D782-A79F-399C-81FD-353EBF F2AB81]@0xffffff7f81657000->0xffffff7f816bdfff
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOPCIFamily(2.7)[C0404427-3360-36B4-B483-3C9F0C54A3CA]@0xffffff 7f80829000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IONDRVSupport(2.3.4)[A004D087-8FB7-3630-AD65-18DC2A9B2EEA]@0xff ffff7f80cb8000
    dependency: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily(2.3.4)[2E0BAC50-C4B6-3353-BADA-0168305F3D06]@0 xffffff7f80c7f000

BSD process name corresponding to current thread: Google Chrome He

If you are experiencing these kernel panics on your new MacBook Air and are using Google's Chrome Web browser, then for now you might consider avoiding the browser, or at least its official release version. Google maintains a development build of Chrome called Canary that does not appear to show these crashes on the Air, so you can try this build if the official Chrome release is showing problems. Alternatively, you can use other browsers like Safari, Firefox, or Opera as a replacement for Chrome.

Read more...

Samsung's Galaxy S3 is expected to be a sales juggernaut, according to a new report.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview published yesterday, Samsung telecommunications chief JK Shin said he expects Galaxy S3 sales to reach 10 million units during July. Samsung typically calls devices it shipped "sales," since the products have been sold into the retail channel, so it's not immediately clear if Shin's Galaxy S3 figure is actual sales to consumers or simply units shipped.

Samsung's flagship handset is one of the most sought-after iPhone alternatives on the market. Just last week, in fact, Sprint announced that it was forced to delay the handset's June 21 launch because of "overwhelming demand." That followed a host of positive reviews that peg the handset as one of the top available now.

Read more...

People often “tether” their computers to their smartphones, sending their computer’s network traffic over the device’s cellular data connection. “Reverse tethering” is the opposite – tethering your Android smartphone or tablet to your PC to use your PC’s Internet connection.

This method requires a rooted Android and a Windows PC, but it’s very easy to use. If your computer has Wi-Fi, it may be easier to create a Wi-Fi hotspot using a utility like Connectify instead.

Prerequisites

Before using this utility, you’ll have to enable USB debugging on your Android phone or tablet – open the Settings screen, tap Applications, tap Development, and tap the USB Debugging checkbox.

You will probably also want to disable SuperUser access notifications, or you’ll constantly see the SuperUser notification. Launch the SuperUser app on your device, open its menu, tap Preferences, and uncheck the Notifications check box under Notifications. If you don’t see the SuperUser app on your Android, your device probably isn’t rooted.

You’ll also need your device’s USB driver installed on your computer. You can get this from your device’s manufacturer or try downloading a generic driver from Google.

Android Reverse Tethering Tool

Android Reverse Tethering is a Windows utility that uses ADB – also known as Android Debug Bridge – to share your computer’s Internet connection with your Android over USB. It includes its own copy of ADB, so you don’t even need the Android SDK installed on your computer. You can download it from here – scroll down and click the latest ReverseTethering .zip file in the Attached Files section.

Extract the downloaded .zip file and run the AndroidTool.exe application inside its folder.

Connecting

Plug your Android smartphone or tablet into your computer with its USB cable, select it from the Select a device drop-down box, and click the Connect button in the Android Reverse Tethering Tool application. It will connect to your Android and install the required software (Busybox and Redsocks) on it.

Tap the Allow button in the SuperUser prompt to allow the USB Tunnel tool on your device.

If you encounter a crash, close the Android Reverse Tethering Tool application and start again. You can also try clicking the Kill ADB button on the Tools tab to relaunch the ADB process. You’ll see a connection notification when the tool establishes a connection.

Usage

After the setup process is complete, you can open apps on your device and use the Internet. Your Android will forward network traffic over the USB cable to your computer, where it will take advantage of your computer’s Internet connection. The Windows application shows information about the forwarded connections.

Some applications may complain that you don’t have an Internet connection, although most (with the notable exception of Google Play app downloads) will work properly. You can work around this problem by connecting to a 3G or Wi-Fi connection before activating reverse tethering – Android will think you have a normal connection, although all data will be send through your USB cable and not over the air.

Read more...