Saturday 30 August 2014
Six Clicks: Top Android apps of the month, August 2014
For the hordes of parents frustrated with their children ignoring phone calls and text messages, the brainchild of one mother, the Ignore No More app, could be the ideal solution.
Perhaps genius in its simplicity, the mobile app allows parents to lock their child's smartphone from afar, should they choose to ignore parental efforts to stay in contact with them. On the app's website, it says:
"When you lock your child’s phone with Ignore No More your child has only two options – he or she can call you back, or call for an emergency responder. Now you have their attention. Ignore No More is an easy to install app that gives you control over your children’s phones."
You set a password which unlocks the phone, but children only gain access once they've called back.
Friday 29 August 2014
iPhone 5 & 5S trade-ins surge 2800% at Gazelle; AI readers get exclusive $10 bonus ahead of 'iPhone 6'
The first day of Gazelle's 53-day extended price lock on iPhone trade-in prices was Monday, and commitments to exchange the iPhone 5 and iPhone 5s subsequently surged 2,800 percent over the prior week. The iPhone 5 was the most popular on the cash paying site, representing 40 percent of all items traded in.
And for users planning to upgrade to Apple's latest and greatest, Gazelle is offering an exclusive deal for AppleInsider readers through Friday, Aug. 29th: when using this link (or the payout links below), Gazelle will pay out an additional $10 in cash over their standard value to anyone planning to trade in a current-generation iPhone 5s after the iPhone 6 is released.
Once the price is locked in, iPhones committed to Gazelle don't need to be shipped in a prepaid box until Oct. 10, which is a few weeks after Apple's next iPhone is expected to go on sale. Apple is widely believed to be planning a media event for Sept. 9, and if the company follows its typical release pattern, the "iPhone 6" would be in customers' hands beginning Friday, Sept. 19.
Customer excitement for the "iPhone 6" is expectedly high: Gazelle said it's seen nearly five times as many iPhones traded in over the last 10 days than compared to the 10 days before that. The iPhone 5 alone has seen its trade-ins spike 10 times over that same period.
Gazelle was handling nearly five offers per second at the height of traffic when the extended price lock took effect on Monday.
As can be seen in the AppleInsider Trade-In Price Guide (relevant portion below), Gazelle is currently offering lock-in values up to $340 for previous-generation iPhones in flawless condition. With no need to send in the iPhone until Oct. 10, users will likely be able to purchase and set up their "iPhone 6" before needing to drop their handset into one of Gazelle's prepaid shipping boxes.
Thursday 28 August 2014
MIX for Android Lets You Create And Save Custom Photo Filters
MIX for Android is the app for you if you often feel like Goldilocks when confronted with the filters in other photo-editing apps. Not only does MIX let you edit photos, but it also allows you to create custom filters, which you can then save to use again. MIX, now available for free on Google Play, is the latest product from Camera360, which has already gained 300 million users with its other apps, including its flagship product Camera360 Ultimate.
Camera360’s head of overseas public relations, Caroline Luo, says the company decided to create MIX after browsing through photos edited using Camera360 on Instagram and seeing that users applied a wide arrange of effects and filters. MIX was specifically created for Instagram users who want more customization.
“Through MIX we hope to remove any previous limitations placed on their creative process and open up unlimited possibilities,” she says.
There are already other Android apps that allow users to create custom filters and effects, like Litho and Adobe Photoshop Express, but Luo says MIX differentiates by being centered entirely on “the creation and propagation of DIY photo filters.”
Once you take or load a photo from your gallery into MIX, the app gives you a selection of nine series of filters (MIX has a total of 115 pre-made filters, including ones designed for portraits, HDR, or black and white photos) to choose from if you want to edit photos in a hurry. Alternatively, you can also add a filter and then start building on it by adding different effects.
If you skip the filters, MIX takes you to the rest of its features, which include 10 more filter series (including ones designed for portraits, HDR, or black and white photos), a comprehensive selection of editing tools, including a blur tool that allows you to replicate the depth-of-field in a photo taken with lens ranging from f1.0 to f3.2 in aperture size. Then you can add different textures (from a selection of 40), light effects, like lens flare, “stage” lights, and light leaks, and a rainbow of adjustable tints.
MIX allows you to save filters as “formulas” in the app. You can see how your photo looks before and after editing by tapping on it to see the original, which is a helpful feature, but one of MIX’s drawbacks is that you can’t undo each step. Hopefully Camera360 will add an undo feature to its next update, because with a total of 200 filters, textures, light leaks, and other effects, it’s a pain if your photo doesn’t quite look the way it should. The app does, however, allow you to save your edits at any point for future use.
The app will monetize by offering in-app purchases including, presumably, more filters and effects. For more examples of what MIX can do and formula guides, check out the app’s blog.
Wednesday 27 August 2014
Windows 9 on ARM could kill the desktop, merge Windows Phone and Windows RT
Surface 2 buyers and other Windows RT tablet owners may be left out of the fun when Microsoft reveals Windows Threshold (a.k.a. Windows 9) at the end of September, as the tipped release is said to be for PCs and tablets built around traditional x86 processors alone, according to a recent report. But when the next generation of Windows does make its way to ARM processor-powered devices, it could provide a startling—and welcome—glimpse at a post-desktop future for Microsoft's "Universal Windows" concept.
While the x86 version of Windows 9 is reported to dial back Windows 8's sweeping changes, introducing PC-friendly tweaks like the return of the Start menu and the death of the Charms bar, the ARM-based version will abandon the desktop entirely, according to separate reports from Winbeta, The Verge's Tom Warren, and ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley.
If true, the move makes sense, as Windows devices with ARM processors are limited to touchscreen-capable tablets and phones, not proper PCs. Microsoft began duplicating desktop functionality in the Metro interface en masse with the Windows 8.1 updatereleased in October 2013.
What's more, both sites report that Windows Threshold for ARM devices will run on tablets and Windows Phones alike, unifying Microsoft's mobile interfaces. Rumors about a potential merger for Windows RT and Windows Phone have been roaring for months, stoked by Microsoft actions such as the introduction of universal Windows apps and a declaration that "We are not going to have three" Windows platforms by former Windows chief Julie Larsen-Green.
Late last year, Microsoft was also tipped to be working to unify the Windows Store and the Windows Phone Store—an important step if the two operating systems are indeed going to merge.
According to WinBeta's anonymous sources, the ARM version of Threshold will also include the oh-so-sassy Cortana virtual assistant and a notification center, which are two of the 15 features we'd like to see in Windows 9. Both were recently introduced to smartphones in Windows Phone 8.1. Fingers crossed!
Two Windows, two paths
Assuming the reports prove accurate, the changes Microsoft appear poised to introduce in Windows 9 are heartening indeed. Windows 8's greatest flaw was its attempt to force a single interface across a wide range of devices with varied use cases; its successor appears well poised to let a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet, a process that was already kicked off by the recent (and superb) Windows 8.1 spring update. The spread-out Start screen is a burden when you're using a mouse and keyboard, while the desktop is a vestigial, difficult-to-use mess on touchscreen tablets.
Of course, Microsoft isn't ditching the apps on the desktop entirely. The reborn Start menu will include Metro apps, and those apps will be able to run in desktop windows, as Microsoft revealed at its Build conference this past spring. Again, that falls right in to Windows 9 letting a PC be a PC and a tablet be a tablet—an ideal Apple clearly understands.
Another bonus to these rumors: If Windows 9 truly ditches the desktop on ARM-powered devices, that indicates that we may see those Metro Office apps sooner rather than later. Because there's no way Microsoft would yank the desktop without making a touch-friendly version of Office available for Surface users, right? Of course, Microsoft launched touchy-feely Windows 8 two full years ago and there's still no Metro Office available.
The future of Windows on ARM should be revealed before long. Foley says the Windows Threshold preview for ARM devices is scheduled for next January or February, ahead of an anticipated general release for Windows 9 in the spring.
Tuesday 26 August 2014
HTC One M8 Android vs One M8 for Windows: Both devices are winners
I have been using the HTC One M8 for the past five months and the HTC One M8 for Windows for the past week. It has been a fun week to test out both side by side and discover the differences between the two since we have never had this opportunity with the same hardware on these two operating systems.
Regular readers know I enjoy using Windows Phone and was one of the first to get hands-on with the operating system back in 2007. The OS has come a long way since then, especially with the latest 8.1 update that brings Cortana, Action Center, and more.
HTC's Sense UI on Android has also evolved significantly over the last couple of years and the One M8 running Android is one of the best smartphones available today.
Let's take a closer look at how the two devices compare.
Why the Windows Phone version beats the Android version
- PIM: The calendar is much more functional on Windows Phone, the combined inbox is more efficient, and the integration of OneNote is much better.
- Voice control: Cortana blows away Google Now, and Siri, with very useful functions and consistent reliability.
- Battery life: While the Android M8 gets me through a full day, the Windows Phone model regularly showed about 20 percent more capacity. I imagine it is because there is a lot more going on in the background on Android than WP.
- Live tiles: I like the widgets on Android, but honestly I find the Live tiles to be more efficient at providing glanceable information.
Why the Android version beats the Windows Phone version
- Apps: Windows Phone has gotten better, but I need Android to connect to my UP24 and Pebble and use apps such as Pocket Casts, MLS Matchday, Chrome, Regal Cinemas, Runkeeper, and more. WP is getting better, but it is just not there yet.
- Sense 6 UI: HTC has put a lot of effort into Sense and it is nearly perfect on the M8. It is not an overwhelming experience, yet makes Android better for most users. BlinkFeed integration is actually helpful and I use it all the time, even though I consider myself a power user.
- Zoe: The new Zoe service just launched on Android and may come to Windows Phone. At this time, it is an advantage for the M8 with Android.
Both are excellent choices and if I was on Verizon I would personally pick up the Android model, primarily for the application selection and ability to connect to my accessories. However, the Windows Phone version is compelling because of better core support and Cortana integration.
Monday 25 August 2014
Expert Predicts Radical Resolution Solutions For Big Screen iPhone 6 And 6L Phablet
Leaked photos, back plates, bezels and case-maker “dummies” have given us confidence of dimensions and some of the design details of the next iPhones. As we move closer to September 9, it is an article of faith among Apple AAPL +0.73% watchers and the easily convinced general public that there will be two models, the 4.7″ iPhone 6 and the 5.5″ iPhone 6L phablet.
Information about exactly how many pixels those 4.7″ and 5.5″ screens will contain and how new and existing iOS apps will make use of the extra real estate has been far less certain. Two developments in that aspect of the story this week give us the most detailed answers yet to those questions. Along the way we have also discovered a possible bit of Apple misdirection designed to throw the faithful off course.
The first piece of the puzzle—and the source of the apparent head fake—emerged from deep in the bowels of the Xcode 6 Beta 6 release that third-party Apple developers, myself included, got access to last Monday. Hidden ten levels deep in the file hierarchy, 9to5Mac’s Mark Gurman discovered a file in the updated iOS Simulator called “DefaultIconState-414w-736h~iphone.plist.” Gurman understood that this was evidence of a new screen format. What exactly it specifies is a matter of debate. To understand the possible implications requires a little bit of geeky iPhone lore.
In the beginning was the iPhone, and it was small. The original iPhone, the iPhone 3G and 3GS possessed a mere 480 by 320 pixels. And then Jobs said, let it be retina! And it was, and it was good with twice as many pixels in the same 3.5″ screen size. The iPhone 4 and 4S had 960 by 640 pixels. Alas, Jobs passed on but, lo, the iPhone rose on high! The iPhone 5, 5S and 5C all have 1136 by 640 pixels. Stretching the iPhone 5 to a 16:9 proportion had a big impact on how app designers used the larger available space, but it was less of a conceptual leap than the pixel doubling of the iPhone 4. From that point on, Apple’s “retina” devices had 2x pixels multiplied by the base “points” of the native device. So up until September of 2012, all iPhones were designed on the basis of 480 by 320 point proportion, with graphics rendered at 2x resolution for the later models.
So in the lead up to the iPhone 6, many have wondered if the large screen 6 series would be the occasion of an historical tripling of the resolution based on the iPhone 5 proportions of 568 by 320 points. Gurman had based an earlier prediction on this premise and reported that Apple was testing iPhone 6 units with a resolution of 1704 by 960 pixels. Both of Gurman’s theories seemed to suggest that the two new iPhone sizes would have identical pixel counts, following the example of the iPad/iPad Mini lines.
Friday, a second puzzle piece clearly shows a different and more nuanced story thanks to John Gruber, the Apple blogger who writes under the moniker Daring Fireball. In his post, “Conjecture on Larger Screen iPhones,” Gruber wields some fearsome middle school math to show that Gurman’s own conjectures are either wrong or only partially true. My colleague Ewan Spence discussed Gruber’s conclusions in a post yesterday, so I won’t belabor the details. Bottom line, the Gruber conjecture is that the two devices will have both different pixel dimensions and different retinal multipliers. To quote Gruber:
- 4.7-inch display: 1334 × 750, 326 PPI @2x
- 5.5-inch display: 2208 × 1242, 461 PPI @3x
Yes, I know, Spence already brought this up in these pages, so what more is there to add? Actually quite a lot. Gruber may not be exactly right about the pixel counts, but the reasoning behind his calculations is knowing and on target. Gruber is a true Apple insider, but he goes out of his way to say that “No one who is truly ‘familiar with the situation’ has told me a damn thing about either device.” In the next breath, 0f course, he goes on to mention that, “I have heard second- and third-hand stories, though, that lead me to think I’m right.” Gruber is an engaging writer, but he is worth listening to because he has followed Apple so long and so deeply that knows what is “Apple-like” and what is not. He could rightly be called Apple’s Boswell .
Hardware specs aside, what is so right about the “Gruber Conjecture”? It obeys Apple’s first principles of user experience. Yes, keeping things simple for developers is nice, and yes, going from 640 pixels wide to 960 pixels wide has Pythagorean simplicity to it, but in the end the most important reference point is the physical fact of the user. Apple’s point proportions are based on the scale of the human finger and the minimum size of a touch point is defined as 44 points. On a retina 2x device that minimum will be 88 pixels, but it is still represented as 44 points. The second important human factor (as Apple’s design guidelines are known) has to do with the acuity of the human eye at the relevant distance at which a device will be viewed. Apple considers a device screen retina if the pixels are small enough at a normal viewing distance such that the individual pixels are not distinguishable by the naked eye. For the iPhone this was originally defined as >300 pixels per inch with a target of 326 pixels per inch. A device, like a desktop computer, that one may normally view from more than a foot away can have a lower density and still be technically retina, but 300 PPI is a widely respected standard.
First, it is worth saying that there are many people who really like the current form factor and will be curious to see if bigger really is better. But assuming you are actually interested in one of the larger iPhone models, one of the key questions has been how will the extra pixels most likely be used, to scale up touch targets or to add functionality? I asked this in another way last week in my post last week, “Will Big Battery In 5.5-inch iPhone 6L Buy Full HD Video Or Just Less Wall Hugging?” Gruber answers with a resounding BOTH! As devices get larger we expect larger touch targets but we also expect more content. And there is a ratio to these expectations that Apple strives to maintain as it has embraced three aspect ratios and two scaling multipliers among its growing fleet of iOS devices. Despite this apparent fragmentation, Gruber is adamant that what Apple has “ never done, and I believe never will do, is redefine the virtual point to something other than 1/44th the recommended minimum tap target size for every device.” All righty then!
But what about how the new larger devices will abandon the sacred Jobsian tenet of one-handed usage? Will this change cause a move away from top navigation in favor of bottom navigation, for instance? As a case in point, have a look at the way Internet Explorer 11 for Windows Phone renders websites with no top address bar. I asked designer Jeremy Olson at Tapity (maker of theHours time tracking app that I reviewed recently) what he thought about this possibility. “That is a huge question,” he replied. “Apple’s main navigation paradigm is built around a bar at the top. The iPhone 5 already made it a bit of a stretch to reach that top bar with your thumb when you used the device with one hand. I use my phone with one hand all the time and I can’t imagine how I would navigate a lot of current apps on a taller screen. Apple, however, has already been educating developers to use things like optional gestures to help users navigate between views without having to reach up for that nav bar at the top. So even now, instead of reaching for back button at the top, you can swipe to the right to navigate back. I don’t think Apple’s top-bar dominated design paradigm is going away but I think more and more developers will need to augment it with optional gestures or bottom navigation to accommodate one handed use.”
There are several important points within Olson’s response. With all of these changes, Apple has been trying to move developers in the direction of gesture support and flexible sizing now for years. This year’s World Wide Developers Conference placed a lot of emphasis on the use of vector graphics and auto layout to make universal iPhone apps regardless of scaling. Gruber writes that:
Apple has already started encouraging iOS developers to begin using adaptive layout techniques. See session 216 from WWDC 2014: Building Adaptive Apps with UIKit. What’s telling when you watch that session and read the documentation is that developers should clearly anticipate new aspect ratios (whether for new displays, or for a still-hypothetical but rumored split-screen multitasking on future iPads) and physical sizes…
Olson concurs that, “When talking to developers, it seems Apple has been going more and more for unification rather than fragmentation. I think marketing your app as ‘enhanced for iPhone x’ will be discouraged. Rather, I imagine that Apple would like to see developers use auto-layout (a tool that allows developers to make their apps mold to different screen sizes automatically) to ensure that their apps work really well on nearly any screen size. While Apple obviously didn’t confirm any rumors about new form factors during their latest World Wide Developers conference, they emphasized using auto-layout like never before.” Olson points out that this message, “was even more clear when developers opened up the latest version of Xcode to see that the default window for building interfaces is no longer a portrait iPhone, but a square. Apple no longer wants developers to stop thinking about designing apps at a particular screen size, and start to think how to make their interfaces size-agnostic. It even goes back to when Apple went away from rich, skeuomorphic interfaces and moved to a simpler design aesthetic. It is a lot easier to stretch a flat button than it is to stretch a button that looks like a physical object.” For a long time, iOS app developers had the luxury of fixed screen sizes, but now they find themselves in a world not dissimilar to their counterparts who make responsive designs for the web.
Another interesting point relating to number of pixels vs. battery size is relevant to Gruber’s proposal that Apple will handle the screen resolution of the iPhone 6L phablet in a radically different way than the now midsize iPhone 6. With the 6L Apple will buy both more-than-HD video and less battery-busting “wall hugging.” And all this at an “amazingly sharp” resolution of 461 pixels-per-inch. So there, Samsung! Gruber even says he’d wager that, “Apple comes up with a new marketing name for it: super-retina or something.” Meanwhile, the 4.7″ iPhone 6, which has a considerably smaller battery than the 6L, would maintain the current 326 PPI that has been Apple’s retina standard for the iPhone, but would add an extra 38% to the screen area of the current iPhone 5 line.
The 68% increase in screen real estate combined with a 41% increase in resolution—and maybe even a sapphire screen—should easily justify the rumored $100 up-charge that Apple is expected to levy on its iPhone phablet. The production demands of all that may mean that the 6L will be announced on September 9 with the 6, but the actual phones may not be delivered until later in the fall.
But wait, what about that devious misdirect that Apple may have foisted on developers in Xcode 6 beta 6? Well, you see, in the same iOS simulator directory that contains the 736 by 414 point format, there is also a file titled, “DefaultIconState-568h~iphone.plist.” This is the screen format for the existing 4″ iPhone 5 series phones. By placing the 736 by 414 pixel format in the iOS simulator, Apple would seem to be indicating that there will be only one additional format and that thus, somehow, the 4.7″ device will have a 2x resolution of 1472 by 818 pixels. Only half true according to Gruber! Yes, the 6 will be 2x, but based on a new 667 by 375 point format. And the 736 by 414 point format in the present Xcode release will be the basis of the 3x 6L, weighing in at 2208 by 1242 pixels. (We will be looking for evidence of that“DefaultIconState” file in the next release of Xcode!)
The reason why the 6L will not be, for instance, 1565 by 880 pixels, maintaining 326 PPI, is that on a larger device we want the touch targets to be bigger. The iPhone screen resolution equation is in fact a three-factor optimization, as Gruber lays it out here:
- Content area: showing more points on screen.
- Scaling factor: the number of points per inch.
- Sharpness/quality: the number of pixels per inch.
As such, a simple linear solution will never be optimal. So for app developers, the challenge is to make use of the larger screen area afforded by the new iPhone models but to continue to base designs on established human factors. Designers will want to make expanded use of gestures, particularly as alternatives to out-of-reach top navigation. The “DefaultIconState” files are merely lists of default icons, and that list is the same for the current iPhone (586h) as for the new format (414w-736h), but they don’t specify how those icons will be arrayed on the home page (aka the springboard) of the 6 or 6L. Following the iPad’s lead, It is possible that that Apple’s human factors engineers have determined that four icons across is optimal for a mobile device in portrait mode, no matter the screen size. Although, by Gruber’s logic, the 6L could make the springboard icons both larger and more numerous, in terms of usability, more may not be more. As I wrote in a very popular post back in February, “Will Apple’s iPhone 6 Phablet Push The Usability Of iOS To A Breaking Point?,” even the existing amount of icons per screen leads to more hunting around and swiping for deeper screens than is ideal.
Instead of adding more clutter, app designers and Apple itself should use the growing need for flexibility between screen sizes to introduce new organizational and navigational paradigms that are more about immediate intuitive gesture than about more elaborate hierarchies or more crowded arrays. Even though Gruber’s predicted iPhone 6 height surpasses the 2x retina iPads, Apple is indicating that the phone experience and the tablet experience are unique. The 6L will obviously be pushing that boundary, and it is now up to developers, both inside and outside of Apple, to make sure that the new kid doesn’t, in fact, break the usability of iOS 8.
Friday 22 August 2014
Microsoft hopes HTC's flagship Windows Phone will be the first of many
As part of the push toward hardware flexibility that Microsoft announced in February, seventeen third-party Windows Phones are now either in production or will be announced shortly, a senior Microsoft executive said late Wednesday.
And the hope is that more are on the way.
Microsoft and HTC unveiled the HTC One (M8) for Windows earlier this week, a carbon copy of the Android version of the phone that HTC announced in March. So far, it’s the most high-profile indication that Microsoft's getting any traction from its more open policy toward third-party hardware, which the company announced at Mobile World Congress in February.
“We think people like choice, and will appreciate having that choice,” said Greg Sullivan, the director of Windows Phone at Microsoft, in an interview this week.
“While this is the first flagship [phone], we’re open for business,” Sullivan added.
According to Sullivan, Microsoft’s thinking changed from Windows Phone 7, when the company felt it had to, in Sullivan’s words, “take responsibility for the end user experience”—all of it, including “strongly prescribed guidance” about how those partners could implement the Windows Phone hardware. That included a mandatory hardware camera button, for example.
Microsoft launched Windows Phone 7 in October, 2010. It’s hard to believe now, but the leading smartphone platform maker in the United States then was RIM (now BlackBerry), with 35.8 percent, according to comScore. Microsoft with Windows Phone was fourth, with just under 10 percent, in a smartphone market otherwise divided between RIM's BlackBerry, Apple's iOS, and Google's Android.
By February, 2014, Microsoft’s market share had fallen to 3.4 percent, and Android had risen to a commanding 52.1 percent of the market. With hardware makers snapping up the free Android OS while Microsoft’s market share fell further and further, Microsoft needed to make a change.
At MWC, Microsoft’s attitude shifted: Instead of asking hardware makers to design for Windows Phone, Microsoft would implement changes designed for them. Microsoft now supports three popular Qualcomm SoCs, as well as easy-to-build reference designs based upon them. Microsoft also said it would allow soft keys in place of dedicated hardware buttons, as well as dual-SIM designs to accommodate phones released overseas. And the first Windows Phone 8.1 update, now available via Microsoft’s developer program, supports “smart covers,” like the HTC Dot View cover for the One (M8).
All this had an effect on hardware makers like HTC, which planned to release a Windows Phone version of the One (M8) all along, according to Jeff Gordon, the worldwide communications manager for HTC. And both Microsoft and HTC were interested in making it happen. The delay, he said, was due to “engineering resources that were still ramping up”.
Microsoft’s Sullivan said those resources included several dedicated HTC engineers who worked onsite at Microsoft, directly with the engineering team. “And I think the onus was on us to enable our software to do what we need to do on this device,” he said.
“This is absolutely a change we’re embracing and encouraging,” Sullivan said of the new program to bring Android phones to Windows Phone. “It’s been interesting to see that of these 17 devices that have been announced or are available, most of them are for emerging markets or are lower-cost devices. But we’ve always known that there is this spectrum of devices that this would range from all the way from affordable devices up to the marquee and high-end devices like the HTC One. While this is the first flagship, we’re open for business.”
One particular aspect of Windows Phone, for now, remains sacrosanct: the user interface, which Sullivan called “one of the core things that sets us apart.” In other words, don’t expect a Windows Phone skinned in the style of HTC’s Sense interface.
For the last few years, however, the Windows Phone hardware ecosystem has been the Nokia Lumia line and not much else. A little variety, Microsoft hopes, could be the spice that livens up the moribund Windows Phone market.
Friday 15 August 2014
Low-cost smartphones boost Android
WASHINGTON - AFP - A surge in low-cost smartphone sales, notably in emerging markets, helped the Google Android platform extend its dominance in the second quarter, a survey showed Thursday.
The report by market tracker IDC said Android phone sales were up 33 per cent over the past year to 255 million units, and accounted for 84.7 per cent of all global smartphone sales in the March-June period.
The overall market grew 25 per cent to 301 million units, IDC said, with Apple, Microsoft Windows and BlackBerry failing to keep pace.
"With many of its (manufacturing) partners focusing on the sub-$200 segments, Android has been reaping huge gains within emerging markets," says Ramon Llamas, research manager with IDC.
"During the second quarter, 58.6 per cent of all Android smartphone shipments worldwide cost less than $200 off contract, making them very attractive compared to other devices."
Sales of the Apple iPhone rose to 35.2 million units in the quarter, but with growth slower than Android, Apple's market share fell to 11.7 per cent from 13 per cent last year in the same period.
Windows Phone sales meanwhile slipped more than nine per cent from a year ago to 7.4 million units, while its market share dropped to 2.5 per cent.
BlackBerry's woes deepened despite modest gains from the first quarter of 2014. On a year-to-year basis, sales fell 78 per cent and its market share dropped to 0.5 per cent.
The figures were largely in line with a similar survey last month from Strategy Analytics.
Friday 8 August 2014
Apple iPhone Privacy Changes Lead to Layoffs at Retail Tracking Startup Nomi
Apple giveth, and Apple taketh away.
When iOS8, Apple’s new mobile operating software, rolls out in the fall, a subtle change in how Wi-Fi networks identify nearby iPhones is set to upend how some retail stores are tracking repeat visits by shoppers. One of the companies helping retail stores do that tracking is already feeling the impact.
Nomi, a startup that has raised $13 million in venture capital, has laid off at least 20 of its 60 or so employees, in part because of these forthcoming changes, according to sources.
Nomi sold a service to retail stores that allows them to track how many shoppers visit their stores, where they spend time inside the stores and how frequently they return. Some of this tracking is done by installing video cameras in stores to count foot traffic. But repeat visitor information was mainly gathered by keeping track of an iPhone’s MAC address — the 12-character identifier that is broadcast when a phone is searching for nearby Wi-Fi networks.
The problem for Nomi, and others in the space, is that Apple will start randomizing that number in iOS8, as Digiday and others have reported in recent months. That means that an iPhone running iOS8 that enters a store one day with a certain MAC address, will end up broadcasting a different MAC address if it appears in the store a few days later. So say goodbye to being able to track repeat visits through Wi-Fi.
“On the Wi-Fi side, Apple has basically said that they don’t like this method of tracking,” Nomi CEO Marc Ferrentino said in an interview on Friday morning. “Apple is signaling to the market that beacons are the way that they want this to be done.”
Nomi previously announced that it was going to start selling beacons to retailers as part of its in-store tracking system. Beacons are tiny pieces of battery-powered hardware that can broadcast messages to nearby phones via Apple’s iBeacon technology.
Nomi is now doubling down on video and beacons, and not installing any new Wi-Fi systems. It will keep current Wi-Fi systems up and running, since they’ll continue to provide information about individual shopper visits, such as where in a store shoppers migrate and how quickly they leave the store after entering.
In the meantime, Nomi cut staff, including many salespeople, in early July in part because the company had a large backlog of store installations that needed to be completed. And, in part, because beacon installations don’t require as much time and resources as Wi-Fi installations did.
“We’re excited about this,” Ferrentino said of Apple’s promoting beacon technology. “It takes the privacy conversation off the table and puts it in the end users’ control.”
Tuesday 5 August 2014
Android 4.4 KitKat Update: CyanogenMod 11 M9 Snapshot Now Available
Software customization team CyanogenMod continues to develop its Android 4.4 KitKat-based CyanogenMod 11 ROM with its M9 version of the software, which became available Sunday.
The CyanogenMod team has been working with CyanogenMod 11 since December 2013. It releases “M” or “monthly” build versions every month to address vital bug fixes in addition to introducing new features. CyanogenMod has released nine monthly builds so far and they're considered more stable than “nightly” build versions that come out more frequently with the latest features but with little attention to bugs or other issues.
The CM 11 M9 snapshot is based on Android 4.4.4 KitKat, the latest software by Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), which became available in mid-June. Following last month’s M8 snapshot, which includes Heads Up notifications, a feature that will officially be introduced in the upcoming Android L software, the current update is a fairly standard in terms of addressing various bugs. However, many devices are receiving CyanogenMod’s more stable software for the first time, including the Xperia Z2, Z2 tablet and HTC One M8. The CM 11 M9 snapshot is currently available for about 50 devices.
CyanogenMod details a number of new and improved features found on this iteration of CM 11, in its change log, listed below:
Themes support for additional UI elementsHeads Up Notifications -- Bug FixesLockscreen -- Allow doubletap to sleep when using secure keyguardTorch -- Improve performance Safe Headset Volume -- prompt when interfering with 3rd party device (Jawbone, Square, etc.)Center clock supportQuick Settings -- respect locale changes on additional tilesProximity Wake-Up support -- prevent accidental wake-up of device by checking to see if proximity sensor is blocked (e.g. Device is in a bag or pocket).Spam notification filtering -- Set notifications to auto-ignore based on content (perfect for those pesky games that want you to ‘Save 20 percent on our new game’). Long-press offending notification to set as ignored; manage in Privacy settings.Settings Search -- Additional improvements and highlightingData Usage Info -- Add support for CDMA devices without sim cardsBluetooth -- Add additional A2DP profilesBluetooth -- Disable AVRCP 1.5 by default (fixes various car unit compatibility)Email -- Fix saving attachments to storage for POP3 accountsTranslations (Thanks CM Crowdin Team!)Account for Play Services induced wake-locksFix encryption on some LG DevicesDialer -- add support for Korean and Chinese to smart-dialer
As always, users should proceed with caution when installing custom firmware on their devices, keeping in mind their warranties may be voided. Backing up your device is recommended. CyanogenMod installation requires root access and custom recovery software.
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