Daily Archives: October 20, 2011

mobile
October 20, 2011
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Nokia Sabre Windows Phone image leaked

By on October 20, 2011 at 11:45 PM.

Nokia Sabre Windows Phone image leaked

Nokia may be poised to unveil at least two new Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango) devices during its Nokia World conference next week. Pocketnow spilled an image of the Nokia “Sabre” on Thursday, which reportedly packs a 1.4GHz processor, a 3.5-inch WVGA display, a 5-megapixel camera and 1GB of storage. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said we can expect to see “a bunch” of Windows Phone handsets from Nokia during Nokia World, which kicks off on October 26th. We have already published plenty of purported details on the Nokia 800, also known as the Sea Ray, but perhaps Nokia still has a few surprises up its sleeve. The good news is we have just under a week until Nokia makes it all official.  More →

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mobile
October 20, 2011
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Sprint to offer Motorola ADMIRAL on October 23rd for $100

By on October 20, 2011 at 10:30 PM.

Sprint to offer Motorola ADMIRAL on October 23rd for $100

Sprint announced that it will offer the Motorola ADMIRAL, the first Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) PTT handset with support for its new CDMA-based Direct Connect network, on October 23rd. The phone will cost $99.99 with a new two-year contract and after a $50 mail-in rebate. The ADMIRAL meets Mil-Spec 810G ratings for dust, shock, vibration, solar radiation, low pressure and high and low temperatures. It is equipped with a 1.2GHz processor, a full QWERTY keyboard, a 5-megapixel camera capable of recording 720p video, support for sharing its 3G connection with other Wi-Fi devices with Mobile Hotspot, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi and 4GB of internal storage. Read on for the full press release.

More →

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General
October 20, 2011
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Nokia shocks the Street in Q3 on solid feature phone sales

By on October 20, 2011 at 9:25 PM.

Nokia shocks the Street in Q3 on solid feature phone sales

Nokia on Thursday posted better-than-expected results for the third quarter thanks to mobile device shipments that exceeded analysts’ expectations by a substantial margin. The Finnish phone vendor shipped 89.9 million feature phones, crushing expectations which were as low as 67 million units for the quarter, and revenue from its mobile devices group came in at €5.39 billion compared to the Street’s consensus of €5.06 billion. Total revenue fell 13% from the third quarter last year to €8.98 billion, also beating the Street’s €8.66 billion consensus, and EPS excluding some costs was €0.03 for the quarter. Wall Street was expecting earnings of €0.02 per share. Total mobile device shipments grew 20% sequentially to 106.6 million units, but average selling prices were down 18% quarter-over-quarter and 22% from the third quarter last year. Nokia’s net loss in the quarter was just €68 million while the Street was expecting a loss of €229 million. Nokia’s full earnings release follows below. More →

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Business
October 20, 2011
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iPad and iPad 2 dominate enterprise, represent 98% of tablet activations

By on October 20, 2011 at 8:20 PM.

iPad and iPad 2 dominate enterprise, represent 98% of tablet activations

Apple’s iPad and iPad 2 tablets continue to dominate in the enterprise market, according to the Good Technology Device Activations Report for the third quarter of 2011. 4% of all tablet activations in the enterprise were for Android tablets, while the iPad and iPad 2 were responsible for 96% of activations. The iPhone 4 was the most popular handset with 28.3% of all device activations during the quarter. It was followed by the iPad 2 (15.6% of all activations). Sprint’s EVO 4G was the most popular Android device with 1.6% of all enterprise smartphone activations. Read on for more. More →

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General
October 20, 2011
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Google Music Store may support song sharing

By on October 20, 2011 at 7:15 PM.

Google Music Store may support song sharing

On Wednesday, Android head Andy Rubin said that Google’s Music Store will offer a special “twist” that will separate it from its competitors. Speaking to Business Insider, an anonymous record industry source said the “twist” is that Google Music users will be able to share songs with other users “on a limited basis.” Reportedly, the catch is that users will need to purchase the song first and friends will only be able to listen to the track for a limited amount of time. The service reminds us a lot of Spotify, which allows users to share tracks with one another for free. However, the free version of Spotify requires a user to listen to an occasional advertisement unless they sign up for one of two monthly subscription options. It is unclear when Google will launch its Music Store, but rumors have suggested it could make its debut this quarter.  More →

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mobile
October 20, 2011
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Windows Phone boss ‘flattered’ by Android 4.0 copycat features

By on October 20, 2011 at 6:10 PM.

Windows Phone boss ‘flattered’ by Android 4.0 copycat features

Microsoft’s head of Windows Phone Andy Lees recently said he was flattered by parts of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich that appear to mimic features of Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango). “It’s always flattering when someone starts copying you ,” Lees told CNETAsia. Perhaps one of the most noticeable similarities is Android’s new ‘People’ feature, which provides a snapshot of any contact’s social network status — it is nearly identical to what Windows Phone 7.5 offers with “People Hub.” Read on for more. More →

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mobile
October 20, 2011
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Chitika: iOS 5 accounted for over 20% of iOS traffic within five days of launch

By on October 20, 2011 at 5:05 PM.

Chitika: iOS 5 accounted for over 20% of iOS traffic within five days of launch

Apple released the latest version of its iOS platform to the public last week on October 12th and within five days, the platform accounted for more than 20% of all iOS traffic on Chitika’s ad network. Chitika Insights, the network’s research arm, this week revealed the results of a seven-day study that monitored iOS 5 web traffic. On October 11th, the day before iOS 5 became available to the public, the new build was barely a blip on the radar. IOS 5 accounted for 10% of the impressions served to Apple’s mobile devices on the 14th and by the end of the day on October 17th, it claimed more than 20% of iOS impressions. “The sudden surge in iOS 5 adoption is likely due to the fact that that a large portion of Apple consumers fall under the category of “early adopter’, ” Chitika’s Ryan Cavanagh wrote on the company’s blog. Cavanagh also noted that iOS 4 is currently still the predominant version of the platform on its network, but he expects that to change soon. More →

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General
October 20, 2011
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Microsoft reports best-ever Q1 results; revenue hits $17.37 billion

By on October 20, 2011 at 4:20 PM.

Microsoft reports best-ever Q1 results; revenue hits $17.37 billion

Microsoft announced its fiscal first-quarter 2012 earnings on Thursday, the best first quarter the company has ever recorded. The Redmond-based software giant reported revenue of $17.37 billion, up 7% from the first quarter of 2011 and on a par with analyst estimates of $17.26 billion. Operating income for the quarter was $7.2 billion, up 1% from the same quarter last year and net income was $5.74 billion, or $0.68 per share, up 6% from the first quarter of 2011. “We saw customer demand across the breadth of our products, resulting in record first-quarter revenue and another quarter of solid EPS growth,” said Microsoft CFO Peter Klein. “Our product portfolio is performing well, and we’ve got an impressive pipeline of products and services that positions us well for future growth.” Microsoft’s Business division reported $5.62 billion in revenue, up 8% from the same period last year and above analyst estimates of $5.4 billion. The company’s Server & Tools team reported $4.25 billion in revenue, up 10% from last year’s first quarter and a hair below analyst expectations of $4.3 billion. Its Windows and Windows Live Division reported a revenue increase of 2% up to $4.87 billion. In addition, Microsoft said it has now sold 450 million Windows 7 licenses since the platform’s launch. Read on for the full press release from Microsoft.  More →

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mobile
October 20, 2011
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iPhone 4S ships with Siri-related security threat

By on October 20, 2011 at 3:15 PM.

iPhone 4S ships with Siri-related security threat

Siri, secure yourself. If only that command worked; as it turns out, the popular virtual assistant feature on the iPhone 4S that allows users to schedule appointments, search the web, check the weather and more, may be a security threat to users who want to keep private information away from prying eyes — and ears. CNET discovered that Siri’s default security setting allows users to access the iPhone 4S feature even when the phone is locked. That means if you leave your iPhone in a cab, for example, a thief could easily access your address book, appointments and other personal information. Thankfully, there is an easy way to turn the setting off. Simply visit Settings and click General, then click Passcode Lock and toggle the option for “Allow access to Siri when locked with a passcode” to Off. The iPhone 4S will now require the the phone to be unlocked before it allows access to Siri.  More →

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mobile
October 20, 2011
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Without LTE, iPhone 5 will be ‘run over by the others’ carrier exec says

By on October 20, 2011 at 2:30 PM.

Without LTE, iPhone 5 will be ‘run over by the others’ carrier exec says

Swedish carrier TeliaSonera SVP Tommy Ljunggren thinks the iPhone 5 may be outdone by the competition if it does not offer support for 4G LTE networks. Ljunggren even took jabs at the current iPhone 4S  and said that Apple may be losing its superiority in the mobile space as Android picks up its pace. “Apple [is] not unique enough and there is disappointment over the 4S — it was too small [of a] step for them,” he told Telecoms. “If you asked me two years ago I would have said Apple would be very important. But now it will be a bad mistake not to include LTE in the iPhone 5 as otherwise they will really be run over by the others.” TeliaSoneria does not yet offer LTE smartphones, and Ljunggren explains that is because the carrier wants devices with a single radio, not two, so that the battery doesn’t drain as quickly. Ljunggren thinks LTE smartphones will “mature” in the coming years and, until then, we won’t see large volumes of the devices. BGR exclusively reported in August that carriers were already testing 4G LTE versions of the iPhone, so it is possible we’ll still see the company’s next-generation iPhone packing support for LTE networks in the near future.  More →

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Tablets
October 20, 2011
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ASUS CEO reveals 10-inch Transformer Prime quad-core Tegra 3 tablet

By on October 20, 2011 at 1:45 PM.

ASUS CEO reveals 10-inch Transformer Prime quad-core Tegra 3 tablet

During the AsiaD conference in Hong Kong, ASUS CEO Jonney Shih took the wraps off of one of the first tablets to utilize NVIDIA’s new quad-core Tegra 3 processor. The Transformer Prime, which is just 8.3mm thick, is equipped with a 10-inch display, an SD card slot, a mini-HDMI port and support for up to 14.5 hours of battery life, Engadget said. It can also be docked to a full QWERTY keyboard, just like the original Eee Pad Transformer tablet. Details on the Transformer Prime are still slim and it is not clear if the tablet will ship with Android Honeycomb or Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich). Shih said Ice Cream Sandwich tablets should be on the market by the end of the year, and given the company’s plans to officially announce the tablet on November 9th, we’re keeping our fingers crossed this launches as one of the first Android 4.0 tablets. Shih did not discuss pricing, markets or a potential release date. More →

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Tablets
October 20, 2011
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Android 4.0 ‘still not strong enough’ to compete with iPad, vendors fear

By on October 20, 2011 at 1:00 PM.

Android 4.0 ‘still not strong enough’ to compete with iPad, vendors fear

Google unveiled Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich alongside the Galaxy Nexus earlier this week and while initial responses have been fairly positive, vendors reportedly believe Google’s new OS lacks the innovation needed to bolster Android tablet sales. According to a report from industry watcher DigiTimes, tablet vendors were put off by Google’s focus on the Galaxy Nexus and smartphones during the unveiling of Android 4.0, fearing that the tech giant’s balance of resource distribution between handsets and tablets may begin favoring the former. The site’s anonymous sources say Android 4.0 features several improvements but it is “still not  strong enough to help Android tablet PCs compete against iPad 2.” With Apple set to launch the iPad 3 as soon as March of next year according to the report, Google’s tablet-focused Android partners are said to be afraid “the technology gap between Android tablet PCs and iPad may expand further.” The report says several vendors are banking on Windows 8 rather than Android to help them gain consumer market share and mind share. More →

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mobile
October 20, 2011
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iPhone 4S giveaway!

By on October 20, 2011 at 12:05 PM.

iPhone 4S giveaway!

Have you been lusting after Apple’s latest device? They’re sold out everywhere across the globe, but we have one brand new iPhone 4S to giveaway! All you have to do to enter is just like us on Facebook and leave a comment below, and you’re on your way to winning. Here are the details:

  • To enter into the iPhone 4S giveaway, like us on Facebook.
  • Then leave a comment below and let us know why you want a brand new iPhone 4S.

It’s that easy. This giveaway will run for one week until 11:59 p.m. on October 27th, and it is open to anyone 18 and older worldwide. Winners will be notified directly via email, so please make sure you use a real email address when posting your entry in the comments section. One randomly selected winner will receive a brand new unlocked 16GB Apple iPhone 4S in black. Good luck!

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