|  |  |  | | | | | IntoMobile | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Obviously there’s something about bars that lead us to discover new phones. Could it be that handset testers get drunk enough to forget that the device is supposed to be incognito? Whatever the case, first it was an iPhone, but now it’s a prototype HTC phone that was left in a bar and now found. Droid-Life snatched this never-before-seen device up in San Francisco. It has that signature HTC look to it — metal case, large wide speaker at the very top, and front-facing camera positioned to the right — and seems similar to the Droid Incredible 2 more than anything else. Oddly though, it has a semi-transparent backing, allowing one to vaguely make out its internals. Hopefully that’s just part of the prototype and won’t make it to the final product because I’m afraid that design fad has come and gone. Upon booting the device, a screen came up that red “No System Software” and only provided access to the emergency dialer, suggesting that the phone had been remotely wiped after its owner realized it was lost. The volume rocker, and camera, are all in the same places found on the Droid Incredible 2. The design of the back, aforementioned semi-transparency, and volume rocker are different. The battery is non-removable, too. No logos are found anywhere on the device, so technically saying it’s made by HTC is just an assumption, but that’s almost certainly the case. It seems like we either have an old prototype of the Incredible 2 or possibly an Incredible 3 in the making. Head over to Droid-Life for the complete photo gallery. What do you think? [via Droid-Life] Deja-Vu: Prototype HTC phone left at bar originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T22:27:23Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  As we all await Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola to close, Motorola remains stern on the belief that nothing will change on its product strategy for the forseeable future. Well, in an interview conducted by FierceWireless, Alain Mutricy, Motorola’s senior vice president of portfolio and product management uttered those same sentiments. In the interview, the Moto exec went on to say the same old jazz we’ve all come accustomed to when both companies discuss life after the acquisition closes, such as, “Motorola will continue as a separate brand and a subsidiary of Google,” he said “I don’t see a very short-term, complete change of the product direction.” Also adding “I think that we have a business to run, and I think that there is continuity to be expected for 2012.” Some other noteworthy comments the Motorola exec mentioned was “how it’s in the company’s interest to keep Android open.” When it comes to collaborating on the software side of things, he believes the company can capitalize on Google’s popular social sites: Google+ and YouTube. Another interesting tidbit Mutricy spoke on was the company’s commitment to slow down production of devices, being “mindful on the frequency of product replacement.” In laymen terms, it’s like him saying: we finally understand the difference between consumer demand and making stuff just to make it. That said, I don’t understand why Motorola and Google continue to play this unnecessary game when it comes to them merging together, as both companies treat each other like each side has the cooties. A lot of Android evangelist scoffed at HP CEO Meg Whitman, when she said Motorola-Google deal will end Android’s open source nature. Okay, her comments may have been grossly exaggerated, but if you look at the deal as a whole there’s some real improvement that can be made if Google prioritizes Motorola. Just think, every OEM on the planet gets a version of Android and tweak it to their own satisfaction already, so if Google wanted to make all Nexus devices under Motorola it shouldn’t be a problem. This would be a super easy way to solve the search giant’s fragmentation issues, as it would effectively take a bit of power away from the wireless cell providers — who get to control when or if certain handsets receive updates. A union between hardware and software under the same tent is beautiful. If Google were to favor Motorola would it effect other OEMs? [via FierceWireless] Motorola: we’re going to stay the same after acquisition – but why? originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T21:31:59Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The Toshiba Excite 10 LE Android tablet first spotted at CES 2012 now has an official release date and price. It’ll start at $529 and land on March 6th. I’m sure it’s just a total coincidence that Apple is unveiling the iPad 3 the very next day. The Excite 10 LE appropriately features a 10.1-inch display with a 1280 x 800 resolution and Gorilla Glass on top. It ships with Android 3.2 Honeycomb, but Toshiba promises it will receive the Ice Cream Sandwich treatment later on in the year. As for dimensions, it’s only 7.7 mm thick and weighs 1.18 pounds — just a tiny bit thinner and lighter than the iPad 2 and the thinnest tablet on the market. There’s a 2MP camera on the front mainly for video calling and a higher quality 5MP camera on the back. The entire device is powered by a dual-core 1.2GHz Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 processor. One great feature the Excite 10 LE has that is somewhat of a weakness of the iPad is ports. Here you’ll find microUSB, microHDMI, and microSD slots. This helps it act as more of a standard personal computer than a post-PC device. Toshiba took this same approach with the Thrive tablet of yesteryear, which we gave quite a favorable review. That said, the Excite does have some drawbacks. The 25-watt-hour battery provides for about eight hours of usage — pretty good but not good enough to compete with the iPad’s ten hour battery life. Also, because it’s being released a day before the iPad 3 announcement, it’s hard not to pit it against the iPad 3, which is expected to be faster than the iPad 2 and set a new standard for tablet displays with the “retina” pixel density seen on the iPhone 4 and 4S. Overall, the Toshiba Excite 10 LE still does look like a good offering with a fair price point. It will come in two flavors: 16GB for $529 and 32GB for $599. [via LaptopMag] Toshiba Excite 10 LE to arrive March 6 for $529 in time for iPad 3 originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T21:21:32Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  With Apple announcing their press event on March 7th for the iPad 3, we’re sure many of you are planning to sell your current iPad, that is, if you’re not already one of the 120k+ that already traded in their device on eBay. If you’re not planning on handing down your current iPad to a family member or keeping it for nostalgic reasons, why not sell it to lower the cost of the iPad 3 we all know you’re going to buy? Here are some places you can get rid of the old to welcome the new: - eBay: Whether you decide to use eBay’s Instant Sale or spin the roulette wheel by selling it through eBay’s auction system, no one can deny eBay is a great place to sell your iPad. As of this writing, you’ll get $275.16 for an iPad 2 if you sell it through Instant Sale via PayPal, while a used iPad 2 is going for $391 by auction.
- Gazelle: I personally have used Gazelle in the past when I was selling my original iPad to get the iPad 2 and I have to say their service was great. Gazelle pays either through PayPal, Amazon Gift Card, or Check, giving sellers a good amount of options for their sale. As of this writing, an iPad 2 will get you $242 in flawless condition and you’ll also receive packaging to ship your iPad 2.
- Nextworth: Nextworth, just like Gazelle, will allow you to instantly sell your iPad 2 to their service with very little hassle. As of this writing, Nextworth is offering $286.49 for an iPad 2 in like-new condition. The site offers three payment options: PayPal, check, or Target gift card
- Glyde: Glyde is a somewhat different service as you don’t automatically put your iPad up for sale. Instead, you’ll be selling it to users of the website in hopes that someone will want to buy your iPad. As of this writing, a 16GB iPad 2 will sell for $288 with a few scratches. Glyde will ship out a package for you to ship out your iPad 2 and will pay by check for a $2.00 fee, or you can link your bank account to your Glyde account for an instant transfer in a couple of days.
- Craigslist: I’ve never been a fan of selling stuff on craigslist as I’ve always had a suspicion that I’d end up on the evening news for trying to do an honest thing like selling my high-priced tech gadgets to a less than honest person. But, if you’re the kind of person who enjoys the thrill of not knowing if you’ll get stabbed for your iPad or not, then craigslist is the site for you. Just keep in mind that you should probably schedule the meeting with your would-be buyer in a very public place. Maybe in front of a police station? Doing a quick search of craigslist in the NYC area shows there are people who are asking somewhere between $300-$400 for a 16GB iPad 2. Of course, with craigslist, you can ask for straight up cash instead of having to deal with checks.
- Friends and family: It doesn’t hurt to ask people within your family or social medias if they’re interested in purchasing your iPad from you. They can finally experience an iPad for themselves if they have yet to own one, while you deal with someone you know well and have money to help buy your new iPad. It’s a win/win for everyone.
- Donate your iPad: This one might not be the most popular angle, but if you have a heart of gold and want to help people who are less privileged, you can always donate your iPad to Computers with Causes. Of course, going down this road won’t get you any money for your iPad, but you will receive a tax deduction, which if you’re a freelancer can certainly help around tax time. Plus, you’ll hopefully feel a warm sensation in your heart knowing you helped someone with your iPad as you wait in line to buy your new iPad.
If you’re thinking about selling your iPad, I would highly recommend you do it before Apple’s announcement next week as the amount you’ll get for your iPad will most likely drop dramatically after the announcement. How-to: Plan to buy an iPad 3 by selling your iPad originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T20:59:22Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Well, what do you know, AT&T today announced that it’s making some changes to its smartphone data throttling policy, which stands to impact users who have grandfathered-in unlimited smartphone data plans. The second largest wireless provider in the United States stated in a press release that the top 5 percent of smartphone users would experience slowed data speeds until a new billing period began. Once the new policy is enacted, customers who dangerously flirt with the data limit set for their specific plan, will get a text message from the carrier before experiencing a change in speed. AT&T laid out the following information for customers who have chosen to retain the unlimited data plans: Customers with a 3G or 4G smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – will see speeds reduced if they use 3GB (gigabytes) of data or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle. For context, less than 5 percent of smartphone customers use more than 3GB per month. For customers with a 4G LTE smartphone – who also still have our unlimited data plan – data speeds will be reduced if usage is 5GB (gigabytes) or more in a billing cycle. Speeds will return to normal at the start of the next billing cycle.
Honestly, this new policy will surely piss off all the customers occupying that five percent, as it lowers the data cap when it comes to throttling high-speed. Let’s be real, this will be unpopular to only five percent of users, but the other 95 percent won’t care. To be fair, the new throttling policy is in line with what goes on with other carriers. For example, T-Mobile does this to its grandfathered in unlimited data customers, as it also throttles users after 5GB — trust me, I was one of them. [via BGR] AT&T’s new throttling policy, puts the squeeze on grandfathered unlimited data plans originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T19:56:16Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  I’ll admit it, when Nokia announced the PureView 808 the first thing that came to my mind was the word “bullshit”. How the hell could they possibly say that they made a camera phone with a 41 megapixel sensor? This industry may be fast moving, some might even call it exciting, but one thing it isn’t is random. Nearly every spec bump we’ve seen over the past few years has been predictable. Processors get a little bit quicker every year, radios give you an extra megabit or two per second, cameras get somewhat sharper, you get the idea. Seeing and hearing Stephen Elop announce a 41 megapixel camera phone activated every single skeptical neuron in my brain. At first I thought Nokia was doing something that Sigma has been doing with their Foveon image sensors for over a decade. Whereas normal cameras have a sensor with an array of pixels, each capturing a single color, Foveon’s sensors are radically different. Each individual pixel in their sensors capture how much red, blue, and green they’re seeing. So say a camera from Canon would have a 15 megapixel sensor. Sigma would say that their same 15 megapixel camera actually has 45 megapixels since each one of their pixels captured 3 separate colors. It’s a crude explanation, but I hope I got the point across. Watching the video above, reading Steve Litchfield’s fantastic articles on All About Symbian explaining the PureView, and talking to various folks on Skype and Twitter has made me realize that what Nokia has done is honest to goodness truly amazing. They called up Toshiba and asked them to make a custom image sensor. It has the same tiny 1.4 micron (one millionth of a meter!) sized pixels that most image sensors have, but there are a mind blowing 41 million of them instead of 8 million or 12 million. James Burland, who to many is a brilliant photographer that can push a camera phone to its limits, uploaded some photos taken with the PureView to Flickr that are actually 38 megapixels large. That’s something I didn’t know was possible. Let me repeat that, by default the PureView will capture 5 megapixel photos, but if you mess with the settings it will gladly give you a 38 megapixel image. Why 38 megapixels? That has to do with aspect ratios, which you can read about in Steve’s article. Anyway, mind bending numbers aside, I still think it’s not ready. First key point, no one wants a Symbian phone. Such a statement might upset a handful of you, but it’s true. If it really took Nokia 5 years to come up with “PureView Technology”, then why didn’t they wait an extra 6 months to unveil it along with the next version of Windows Phone? Second key point, the PureView 808 is 18 bloody millimeters thick. That’s twice what a phone should be. Motorola managed to make their 3,300 mAh battery packing RAZR Maxx less than 9 mm thick. Oh and by the way, it has a dual core processor and 4G LTE. Third key point, and the one that I’ve been internally obsessing over and over these past few days, is why couldn’t Nokia apply their PureView technology to existing sensors? Hear me out on this. If Nokia needs a 41 megapixel sensor to crank out a 5 megapixel image, that’s basically 8 pixels needed to make 1 pixel. So why didn’t Nokia make a phone with an 8 megapixel camera that produces some of the best 1 megapixel photos on the market? And before you scoff at 1 megapixel, that’s a resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels, which just so happens to be the resolution of most netbooks, low to mid range laptops, and the 11 inch MacBook Air. And if that’s not enough then Nokia could have used a 16 megapixel sensor, like the one HTC plans on putting in their Windows Phone running Titan II. Those 16 megapixels would enable a PureView processed 2 megapixel image, and that’s more than enough for uploading to Facebook or sharing via email. So with that I want to apologize for my first PureView 808 article, which was stupendously incorrect, but at the same time I want to say that Nokia’s strategy to bring this new technology to market is flat out dumb. Change of Tune: The Nokia PureView 808 isn’t a gimmick, it’s amazing, but it’s also too early originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T18:17:10Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Anyone remember Paul Amsellem? He’s the Nokia employee who a little over three months ago gave an interview to the French newspaper Les Échos and spilled the beans on two of the company’s upcoming devices. The first piece of hardware he leaked, and I’m using the term “leak” very loosely here, was the Nokia Lumia 900. Paul said something to the tune of “the Lumia 800 is a BMW 5 series, and we’ll have a BMW 7 series equivalent soon.” The second product he leaked though is far more interesting. Paul said that in June 2012 Nokia would unveil a tablet running Windows 8. Now Paul isn’t a piece of low hanging fruit, he was the Head of Nokia France, which is why today’s announcement that he’s left the company has caught my attention. According to the French website Business Mobile, which is a ZD|Net affiliate, Amsellem left Nokia in late January. In total he spent less than half a year with the company. Paul’s replacement is Philippe Baudrier, who according to his LinkedIn profile has been a Nokia employee since May 2004. Curiously, his employeer before Nokia was Microsoft. Baudrier spent five and a half years there as a “Key Account Manager”. Does any of this mean anything? Not really. The Business Mobile article suggests there was a power struggle between Nokia France and Nokia UK, which is kind of sad, but hey, corporate back stabbing is unfortunately how the inside of Nokia works. Take it from someone who has seen it first hand. People pour their heart and soul into a project, and then their boss has to fight to make sure that they get any credit for their work. Anyway, what really matters here is that Paul was right about the Lumia 900, so will he be right about the Windows 8 tablet? And June, seriously? That’s less than 100 days away! [Hat Tip to Thomas Husson] Head of Nokia France, the guy who leaked Nokia’s Windows 8 tablet, leaves after less than 6 months originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T16:14:43Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The GSMA announced the winners of the 17th Annual Global Mobile awards in a ceremony hosted by comedian and songwriter Tim Minchin. We don’t even want you to know his bad jokes, but we’ll rather go straight to the point. So the winners of the 2012 Global Mobile Awards are: - Best Mobile App for Consumers: Rovio Entertainment Ltd. – Angry Birds Rio
- Best Mobile App for Enterprise: Citrix Systems – Citrix Receiver
- Judges Choice – Best Overall Mobile App: WhatsApp Inc. – WhatsApp
- Most Innovative Mobile App: SwiftKey
- Best Mobile Advertising & Marketing Campaign: Brandtone – Carling Black Label “Be the Coach”
- Innovation in Mobile Advertising: Google – Google Wallet
- Mobile Marketing & Advertising Agency of the Year: [am.o.bee]
- Best Enterprise Mobile Service: Fiberlink – MaaS360
- Best Consumer Mobile Service: Google – Google Maps for Android
- Best Network Product or Solution for Serving Customers: Turkcell – Turkcell TiklaKonus
- Best Product, Initiative or Service for Underserved Segments: Safaricom – Grundfos
- mWomen Best Mobile Product or Service for Women in Emerging Markets: Etisalat, Qualcomm, D-Tree International and Great Connection Inc. – Etisalat Mobile Baby
- Best Use of Mobile in Emergency or Humanitarian Situations: UBL Omni – transparent and efficient Cash Disbursement service after the 2009 IDPs Crisis and the 2010 Flood Crisis
- The Green Mobile Award: Flexenclosure – E-site
- Best Mobile Health Innovation: Etisalat, Qualcomm, D-Tree International and Great Connection Inc. – Etisalat Mobile Baby
- Best Mobile Innovation for Education or Learning: OnPoint Digital – CellCast Solution
- Best Mobile Innovation for Automotive, Transport or Utilities: Ford Motor Company Ltd. – Ford SYNC with Emergency Assistance
- Best Mobile Money Innovation: Etisalat, MasterCard and Oberthur Technologies – Etisalat Commerce
- Best Mobile Innovation for Publishing: Financial Times and Assanka – The Financial Times Web App
- Best Smartphone: Samsung – Samsung Galaxy S II
- Best Feature Phone or Entry Level Phone: Nokia – Nokia C3-00
- Device Manufacturer of the Year: Samsung
- Best Mobile Tablet: Apple – Apple iPad 2
- Best Embedded Mobile Device (Non-Handsets): AT&T – Garmin GTU 10
- Best Mobile Broadband Technology: KT – KT’s Premium WiFi Solution
- Best Infrastructure Technology: Alcatel-Lucent – lightRadio Network
- Best Technology Breakthrough: Vodafone Group PLC – Quad Rate Technology: an evolved path doubling the efficiency of mobile voice
- Best Cloud Based Technology: Appcelerator – Titanium Integrated Development Platform
- Best Technology Product or Solution for Safeguarding and Empowering Customers: Cloudmark – Cloudmark Mobile Messaging Security Suite
- GSMA Chairman’s Award: Joint winners – KDDI, NTT DOCOMO, INC. and SOFTBANK MOBILE
- Government Leadership Award: Government of the Republic of Colombia
And in case you wonder, more than 170 independent analysts, journalists, academics and subject matter experts and 16 representatives from mobile operators throughout the world participated in the judging of the 2012 awards. The full list of winners and finalist is available from here. GSMA’s 17th annual Global Mobile Awards are here originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:53:07Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Orange and Visa announced that Orange Money customers in Africa and the Middle East will soon have access to Visa prepaid account features inside their Orange Money accounts. This update to the service will be introduced in select markets by the end of 2012. By doing so, Orange is connecting existing mobile money subscribers to Visa’s global payment network (VisaNet), which is utilized by 2.2 billion account holders, 30 million merchants and provides access to 1.9 million ATMs globally. Orange Money already offers person to person transfers, bill payments and agent-based cash-in and cash-out services for loading or withdrawing funds. Launched in cooperation with local bank partners, the service was first introduced in 2008 and is presently available in 8 countries. Visa introduce Mobile Prepaid in October 2011 to “enhance the security, scale and interoperability of mobile money programs,” by enabling account holders to make person-to-person payments, retail and e-commerce purchases at merchants where Visa is accepted, or withdraw funds at Visa ATMs. Orange Money customers in Africa and the Middle East to get Visa Mobile Prepaid accounts originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:49:46Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The GSMA released research into the opportunities that mobiles provide to underserved women in emerging markets. Entitled “Portraits: A Glimpse into the Lives of Women at the Base of the Pyramid”, the report shows the wants, needs, aspirations and mobile uses of women living at the base of the pyramid (BoP), which are those living on less than $2 a day. Conducted in partnership with the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), it brings the voices of BoP women to life through fictional, composite “portraits” of respondents. Here are the major findings: - 74% of married women who did not want a mobile phone said it was because their husbands would not allow it. Thus, efforts to communicate the benefits of mobile should focus on the benefits for the whole family;
- 73% of participants expressed interest in entrepreneurship to help support their families;
- 38% of BoP women live “off grid”, without easy access to electricity, indicating that alternative mobile charging solutions will be key for many BoP women to fully realize the potential benefits of mobile phone ownership;
- 77% of BoP women have made a mobile phone call, but only 37% have sent an SMS, regardless of literacy levels. Apparently they did not find the SMS useful; and
- 84% of women wanted better healthcare information, though only 39% expressed a specific interest in receiving general healthcare information through their mobile phone.
And in case you want to know more, you can check out a more detailed report entitled “Striving and Surviving – Exploring the Lives of Women at the Base of the Pyramid” which will be launched to mark International Women’s Day on March 8, 2012 through mwomen.org. GSMA: Married women living on less than $2 a day don’t want a mobile phone because their husbands would not allow it originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:47:52Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  I had a chance to speak with Fujitsu’s representatives in Barcelona and they seem pretty bullish on the prospects of selling Fujitsu smartphones and tablets outside of Japan. Let’s face it, Japan used to be a very different market and their phones had little to do with those sold elsewhere, but that’s no longer the case with most folks now using all-touchscreen devices a la iPhone — Fujitsu refers to this trend as “alignment in technology” and obviously plans to use it to get benefits of the scale and expand its reach. No specific markets were named, expect that they are looking to Europe, North America and China. Already, the Japanese company owns 20% of its domestic market, and is the number 1 phone supplier to NTT DoCoMo, Japan’s leading mobile operator, while also selling its products to KDDI and SoftBank. So what can Fujitsu bring to the world? All Fujitsu phones will still be made in Japan, assuring high quality production. That, however, comes with a caveat (higher-labor costs) and in that sense, the company won’t target low-end market. Rather, it plans to launch devices for the mid-tier and above segments. It’s also worth adding that all Fujitsu devices are waterproof and the inclusion of that “feature” is included in the production process (as opposed to nano-coating), having a little impact on manufacturing costs. Moreover, all of their products are NFC-enabled while some have biometric lock/unlock capability. Additionally, there’s advanced audio technology (some of which is Fujitsu’s IP) that provides for crystal-clear voice quality. Finally, Fujitsu has an impressive camera technology, relying on Sony’s Exmor sensor that is additionally beefed-up with its own Milbeaut image processing chip, fish-eye lens and custom software that enables a number of cool effects. What about software? We were pleasantly surprised to see that Fujitsu phones (at least those we had a chance to check out) don’t have a custom overlay running on top of Android. Fujitsu did make some changes as part of their NX UI, but we’re talking about tiny things, which don’t ruin the original Ice Cream Sandwich experience. For instance, there are custom airport-like icons in the status bar (for turning on/off Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, GPS and so on), and the option to hide and lock certain apps, which is a feature enterprises could use. Furthermore, they’ve been telling me about their so called human-centric engine, which packs a number of different audio and video technologies to improve end-user experience, automatically changing phone settings to adapt to the user’s current situation. So when will Fujitsu enter markets outside of Japan? All we have is “Q4,” plus a hint that they are negotiation with carriers and other distributers as we speak. We’ll most likely see three devices released in the first queue – two smartphones and a tablet. One of the smartphones they’ll be launching has already been described in our hands-on post and you can check it out from here. Final word It’s good to see another company entering the space, providing yet another option for the users. And while the smartphone market is getting increasingly crowded, there’s still a ton of room to grow, with more and more people buying their first smartphone (rather than feature phone). I do think Fujitsu has a chance to compete in the higher-end of the market, though they need some serious partnerships in place to succeed. We want them to do that cause we (or that’s just me) really like their phones.  Fujitsu Mobile: We’re going for the global market originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:44:38Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  The Nokia Lumia 900 is almost ready for the prime time in the U.S. with government paid engineers having an opportunity to play with the device before the rest of the nation. They dissected the device, exposing its guts to the general public as you can see from a photo above. If you happen to care about these sort of things and want to get more similar images, you can check out Lumia 900′s listing at FCC’s website from where you can also download the phone’s manual… you know to get yourself ready for this Windows Phone beast. Personally, I don’t care about it that much, but it’s always good to know when some cool device hits the Federal Communications Commission, hinting us the launch is imminent – or not, depending on the phone maker and model. This time, however, we (think we) know AT&T will launch Nokia Lumia 900 on March 18th… [Via: Engadget] Nokia Lumia 900 is almost ready for the U.S. market with FCC engineers getting it its seal of approval originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:40:25Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  To “celebrate” the leap year and get some media attention along the way, T-Mobile USA is sharing some cool stats to show how the user behavior has changed since the last time February 29 showed on the calendar. Without further ado, here’s what they got: - Americans are getting smarter – in 2008, less than 10% of Americans switched from feature phones to smartphones. Today, that number stands at 41.8% of Americans using smartphones, according to comScore. In fact, more than 90% of T-Mobile device sales in Q4 2011 were 3G and 4G smartphones.
- On leap day 2008, Android smartphones were still more than six months away, and Windows Phone was still two years away.
- The average daily SMS activity via T-Mobile’s network increased nearly 74%, while MMS saw an increase of more than 87%.
- Data traffic on T-Mobile’s network is surging as well and going forward more and more users will jump on board and start using various Internet services on their mobiles. Here the carrier reminded us they were the first in the U.S. to offer 4G services in 2010, and are now operating America’s largest 4G network.
So how do we expect the world to change look like on next February 29th? Unlimited data will come as given with a majority of users consuming HD videos on their mobiles and tablets, video chatting and relying on augmented reality technologies to interact with stuff around them… Do you have something to add to this? T-Mobile leap year stats: Americans are smarter than ever! originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:38:34Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Back in December of last year, on the 29th to be precise, Samsung announced that they just sold 1 million Galaxy Notes. It took them less than two months after launching the product to do that. Two days ago Forbes published a piece that said Samsung Galaxy Note sales have exceeded 2 million units. That’s 1 million units in the span of 60 days, which is kind of impressive when you think about how small the market is for a smartphone with a 5.3 inch screen. The good news doesn’t stop there though, Samsung also told Forbes that they want to sell an additional 10 million Notes by the end of 2012. So that would be a total of 12 million units, which honestly is a bit of a low ball estimate. If you’ve been reading IntoMobile for a while then you’ll know that I’ve consistently been shitting on smartphones that have a screen larger than 4 inches. This morning though, while shopping for groceries, I stumbled across a little pop-up store (see photo above) that Samsung put in the middle of downtown Helsinki. Said store had people showing off the Galaxy Note. After several minutes of using that massive beast of a device, and the salesman even letting me put it in my pocket, I can honestly say that 5.3 inches isn’t really that much of an inconvenience. Web surfing was actually pretty amazing on that thing. That being said, Samsung seriously needs to improve the build quality of their devices. The Note felt incredibly light in the hand, the plastic felt ridiculously cheap, and it looked no where near what I expect a 650 Euro smartphone to look like. If Samsung built a higher quality Note would I buy it? No. Going from a 3.5 inch iPhone 4 to a 5.3 inch Note would be too much of a jump for me. I’d probably buy something with a 4 to 4.6 inch screen first and live with that for a year or two before considering something 5+ inches. What about you? How do you feel about the Note? Samsung sells another million Galaxy Notes in just 2 months, plans to sell 10 million more this year originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:38:52Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Evernote keeps making its image annotating app Skitch better and better. They’ve just released version 1.4, introducing several new features, which we’ll briefly explore in the text that follows. First there’s support for Maps, so you can (for instance) easily show directions to anyone. Tap on the Maps icon in Skitch, then select some place on the map to drop a pin and mark a location. Now, mark it up with arrows, text and freehand lines, and once you’re done save it or share it with whomever you like. Then there’s the ability to save images to an SD card, which was apparently one of the most requested features. Not for me though, since my Galaxy S II has 16GB of built-in storage and that’s more than enough for my needs. The text tool has been improved as well and now when you start typing, the text will appear in place over the image. Moreover, you can drag the text to move it to a different location, pinch it to adjust its size — all without having to change to the finger tool. Finally, some of the bugs have been squashed, further improving the app’s stability… Skitch (FREE) [Android Market link] Skitch for Android gets maps, ability to save images to SD card, bug fixes originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:36:49Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Even though Nokia has seen better days, there are still millions of users all around the world using phones made by the Finnish company. That was seemingly one of the points they wanted to share while in Barcelona, promptly displaying some key figures across parts of the booth (rather than issuing a press release). Here’s what we’ve found out from there: - Nokia Store users download more than 13 million applications and other content every day.
- 90% of visitors access Nokia Store in their own language.
- Nokia Store is available in over 190 countries.
- It offers operator billing in 48 markets, integrating with 134 operators.
- 80% of Nokia Store traffic converts to a download.
That’s all cool, but will that actually help the once proud Finnish company get back to the high-end smartphone game? Microsoft will definitely want to keep such a partner in the game and will help it succeed with its vast resources, though I’m not sure that will be enough. We’ll see… Nokia Ovi Store now has more than 13 million downloads per day originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:35:15Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Google updated Application Statistics in the Developer Console, showing additional details to developers. There few important changes included, such as: - Installation metrics – which show installations measured by unique users, as well as by unique devices. For user installations, you can view active installs, total installs, and daily installs and uninstalls; and for devices – active installs and daily installs, uninstalls and upgrades.
- New data dimensions – Carrier and App Version, which help developers track their app’s installation trends across mobile operators or monitor the launch metrics of specific app updates.
- Timeline charts for all metrics and dimensions – highlighting app’s installation peaks and longer-term trends, providing a quick snapshot of all the information developers need to manage their app update cycles, marketing promotions and so on.
- CSV data export – for developers using some other software to measure their app’s performance.
Finally, there’s a brand new UI that is “faster, more compact and easier to use,” with each dimension getting its own dedicated tab to make it easier to click through stats. Google updates Android app stats for developers originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:32:40Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Sprint is doing a nice thing, offering a free Android application for users who are blind or have low vision. Developed by Code Factory, the Wireless Accessibility app can be downloaded at no charge through the Android Market to Sprint, Boost Mobile, and Virgin Mobile USA smartphones, allowing users to easily get around their phones with touch navigation with voice synthesis that reads the text located under their finger, and simple text input via voice or big on-screen keyboard. This in turn enables Sprint customers to use most phone functions, including take and make phone calls, read and respond to text messages, set alarm clocks, manage calendar and email, get information about their current location and so on. Finally, it’s important to emphasize the Code Factory application typically costs $99 on Android Market, making for that much better deal. It runs on smartphones running Android 2.1 and higher and is available in English and Spanish… Wireless Accessibility EN (FREE) [Android Market link]
Wireless Accessibility ES (FREE) [Android Market link] Sprint offers free accessibility app for blind and visually impaired originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:30:10Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Free-to-play time management games seem like they won’t be going away any time soon. I’m not sure if it’s because developers feel they can make a ton of money charging players to speed up processes, or if players love how easy free-to-play games are to play, or a combination of both. The Simpsons: Tapped Out places all of the characters, locales, and humor you’d expect from a Simpsons game, but puts a free-to-play spin on things by having you take control of rebuilding Springfield back to “normal.” Does Tapped Out bring a unique experience to the free-to-play model or is it just another free-to-play game in an already crowded genre?  The Simpsons: Tapped Out starts off with Homer enjoying a free-to-play game on his myPad while at work at the nuclear power plant. Thanks to his neglect, the power plant explodes and completely wipes Springfield off the map. The player is tasked to rebuild Springfield through a number of missions that involve various characters from The Simpsons cast.
One area of the game I was very pleased with was its execution of offering a genuine Simpsons experience as the voice actors, writers, and artists from the TV show have worked on the game. As I played the game, it felt like I was taking part of a very long episode of The Simpsons as everything in the game was true to its original source material. The further you progress through Tapped Out, the more Simpsons characters will be made available, which can be used to perform tasks that will reward the player with cash and experience points. Cash can be used to purchase various items like buildings, decorations, and other items. Experience points increases the player’s level, which then unlocks more content and buildings. 
As with almost all free-to-play time management games, players are given the option of speeding up the process of nearly everything that requires time to complete through the use of special donuts. Thankfully, EA has made it possible to acquire these special donuts without needing to spend real money through in-app purchases. You can easily spend your cash you’ve acquired through the game to purchase donuts, but if you need your donut fix asap, you can always opt-in to spend money on donuts. What would a free-to-play game be without any social aspects? Tapped Out allows you to add friends through EA’s Origin platform to a mini-map of other Springfields. When you visit a Springfield, you’re allowed to help your neighbor-eeno by completing tasks for them like collecting income tax on houses and businesses. If you’re feeling mischievous, you can spend your time raising hell in town like spray painting your neighbor’s school. FINAL THOUGHT: I was skeptical of The Simpsons: Tapped Out and was going to pass it off as another free-to-play cash cow, but after spending some time with the game, I was very pleased with the experience and how true it was to The Simpsons experience. Tapped Out is a treat for fans of free-to-play games and will certainly lure fans of The Simpsons into experiencing a free-to-play game with its humorous writing, original voice actors, and artists. The Simpsons: Tapped Out is now available for iOS with an Android release coming soon. The Simpsons: Tapped Out (FREE) – [iTunes Link] Review: The Simpsons: Tapped Out – Free-to-Play with a Simpsons spin originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T15:01:28Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j 
 | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Though I’ve only been to Austin once, in just a short time it has propelled itself to my short list of favorite American cities. On my bucket list this year was a trip down to Austin for the illustrious South by Southwest, the music, film, and recently startup and application launch/promotion conference which takes place March 9th through the 18th in Austin. Coincidentally, SXSW 2011 took place alongside the launch of Apple’s iPad 2, and Marin was live unboxing Apple’s latest tablet on the streets in Austin. With the iPad 3 launching in the same timeframe this year, perhaps we’ll see an iPad 3 unboxing in similar fashion. I sadly won’t be able to make this year’s SXSW, but we know many of you out there might, and we have some good news for you if you also happen to be a Verizon customer. While Verizon has arguably the biggest and fastest 4G network in America, its service sometimes struggles when events with multiple thousands of people all converging on a single location, such as the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, CTIA, GDC and many other large trade shows around the country. Verizon has worked to enhance coverage and increase capacity at the SXSW event so that Verizon customers can enjoy the shows and share pictures and video with friends without missing a beat. Verizon launched its 4G LTE network in Austin back in 2011, though with an estimated 5% of customers owning a 4G smartphone, we expect that LTE likely won’t be a problem for those who attend. If you have a 3G device on Verizon, here’s hoping they increased capacity on their towers enough (or brought in enough temporary towers) to meet the increased demand for services. [via Sacbee] Verizon Wireless Readies Network for South by Southwest Crowds originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T14:29:27Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Mid October 2011 is when we first heard rumblings that Apple was working on a 7.85 inch iPad. The report came from the Taiwanese news agency Economic Daily News, who said suppliers have sent Apple 7.85 inch LCD panels to play around with. Two months later, almost to the exact day, DigiTimes said the iPad mini was definitely going to come to life, and that it would be out on the market by the fourth quarter of this year. Another two months goes by, again almost to the day, and The Wall Street Journal files a report saying Apple’s suppliers have “shown them screen designs for a new device with a screen size of around 8-inches”. Today we have yet another report about this elusive 7.85 inch iPad, again from DigiTimes, who says: “Makers in Apple’s iPad supply chain have started delivering samples of 7.85-inch iPads for verification, with volume production likely to begin in the third quarter of 2012 at the earliest.” “The price of the 7.85-inch iPad is likely to be set at US$249-299, since Apple is also expected to release an 8GB iPad 2 for US$349-399, and has lowered the price of the 16GB iPad 2 to US$449, the sources noted.”
Now why would Apple release a smaller/cheaper tablet? Simple really, to compete with Amazon’s Kindle, which is the second most popular on the market, despite being on sale in only one country: the United States. When Amazon does eventually bring their Kindle Fire to international markets, and trust us when we say that it’s pretty much guaranteed that they will, then they’re going to severely undercut Apple and steal sales. At the end of the day though, the real competition for the iPad isn’t going to come from Google or Amazon. All eyes are on Microsoft, who will launch Windows 8 during the fourth quarter of this year. We haven’t seen how low an ARM based Windows 8 machine will be priced, but it’s a sure bet that Microsoft is tired of Apple eating their market share. Rumor: Apple to start mass producing 7.85 inch iPad in Q3 2012, will cost $300 originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T11:29:07Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  We’re just about wrapped up with Mobile World Congress 2012 and the largest mobile-focused conference was filled with major announcements from nearly every company. Not everything was a home run though, so let’s take a look at who really stood out from the crowd. Winners Android Google’s Android was the star of Mobile World Congress, as pretty much every lust-worthy device was running the Android operating system. Just think about it: the HTC One lineup, LG’s Optimus 4X HD and other top-tier devices had that little green robot powering it. Windows Phone had a little bit of a boost with the Tango version – which is just being referred to as a refresh for Mango – and having this platform able to run on low-cost devices will be good for emerging markets. Still, it’s not quite as exciting as all the devices we saw using Android. Apple’s presence at MWC is limited and Research In Motion had a very low-key presence coming off its PlayBook OS 2.0 release. It wasn’t all champagne and roses for Android though, as there were still too many devices that launched with Gingerbread and fans of stock Android may not like that we got multiple refreshed user interface skins on top of it. ZTE’s MiFavor, in particular, hasn’t got us too excited but we’ll give it some more time. It was a great show for Android and Google easily wins the “best booth” award. Check out some photos of its gigantic booth here and take a peek at the video below for a sense of how crazy it was. Huawei and ZTE Fair or not, Huawei and ZTE had the reputation for being able to crank out a ton of mediocre phones but MWC 2012 may be the turning point where these Chinese companies are put on the same level at Samsung, HTC and LG. Huawei in particular is insanely ambitious and it may just be able to pull it off. The Ascend phones look and feel great and one sports a quad-core processor that was built by Huawei. The Mediapad 10 looks to be a solid entry into the Android tablet space and it will be interesting to see how this winds up doing in the market. Huawei emphatically said it wants to become a top three cell phone maker over the next few years and it also plans to try and crack the U.S. market by producing high-end smartphones and tablets. One thing that I’ll keep an eye on is if the carriers in the states will let Huawei keep its branding on products. ZTE is already a top four cell phone maker and it also had a great show, even if we felt it didn’t achieve as much as Huawei. The ZTE Era packs a Tegra 3 quad-core processor and it has a top-notch look and feel to it (check out the video below). The Mimosa X and its Windows Phone Mango-powered Orbit didn’t wow us but both will likely sell well and are meant to be mass-market phones. HTC HTC has been in a little bit of slump over the last few months, as its fall lineup didn’t sell quite as well as it expected. Devices like the Rezound and xxx had some of us wondering if HTC had lost its fastball. With the One series, HTC is clear that it wants to reclaim its title as the maker of the best Android phones. The One X is a beautiful device that’s packed full of power: a quad-core processor, 4G LTE (in some models), 4.7-inch screen and a brand new image sensor which promises to deliver amazing photos. It runs the latest version of Android with the new Sense 4 and packs Beats audio. The One X just feels beautiful in the hand – the company spent a ton of time making this metallic backing feel soft yet sturdy. The One X will be landing on AT&T in the near future and it is already a contender for best smartphone of 2012. The One S is not quite as power-packed but it’s still a nice smartphone that will be landing on T-Mobile. The One V is the least impressive of the trio but it’s aimed at a mass market. This is all part of a strategy shift we heard rumblings about before. Not all of the IntoMobile team is impressed with what HTC has done, as Stefan believes that Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S III will blow the One X out of the water. That may be the case but for now, HTC had the best device of MWC 2012, so it clearly belongs in the “winners” category. Dusan’s feet We all really busted our behinds and hurt our feet trekking around the conference center but that doesn’t mean we don’t have time to look good. Our lovely Dusan bought two pairs of shoes during MWC 2012 and he was very proud that he got them at a good deal.
Losers Samsung Samsung’s a loser this time but it chose to not play the game because it didn’t have a press conference for its new devices. Those wanting the Galaxy S III will have to wait for a later date but the rumored specs suggest it will be worth the wait. The Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet, the Galaxy Beam and a handful of other devices were introduced at the show and these are solid devices but definitely not showstoppers. We get the feeling that Samsung could have really dominated this show if it wanted to, though. Sony and Research In Motion With Sony fully taking over Sony Ericsson, the rebranded Sony Mobile had an opportunity to really strut its stuff. The Xperia U, P and S are solid devices but these don’t seem to be generating much excitement. We dig the White Magic technology for viewing screens outdoors but we’re not sure how well these devices stack up against the competition. At least Sony released something new, as Research In Motion didn’t really have much to push besides the recently-released PlayBook OS 2.0. While we dig the new tablet software (look for a full review soon), we would have loved to see something, anything regarding BlackBerry 10 on its smartphones.
Middle of the road LG The LG Optimus 4X HD looks amazing with its quad-core processor and its beautiful screen but the rest of the devices it introduced seemed a bit bland. Maybe it was because the company pre-announced many of its devices but the Vu, L Series and Optimus 3D Max failed to inspire us. LG’s problem hasn’t really been its hardware, as we couldn’t stand its software on devices like the Nitro HD. There’s a new version of its software layer built on top of Ice Cream Sandwich and we have some hope for it. Nokia Nokia’s MWC 2012 lineup was kind of weird: we saw a 41-megapixel camera on a phone but it runs Symbian. It had a new version of Windows Phone but it’s meant for low-end devices. It’s probably still too early in the Nokia, Microsoft partnership to expect Nokia to roll out its ideal vision for what its Windows Phone should be but that doesn’t mean we couldn’t hope for another high-end device from it. The PureView could be a game-changer for all photography though. The [fill in] algorithms enable it to essentially have the detail and clarity of a 41-megapixel camera all in the size of a 5-megapixel camera. Even though it’s running Symbian, it’s packed with enough power to make some of us consider it. As for Windows Phone Tango, this software will make devices like the 610 available in emerging markets. That’s a necessary step for Microsoft and Nokia but not an exciting one. Mobile World Congress 2012: The winners and losers originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-03-01T09:30:56Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Don’t lie, Android fans. So far, sales of Android tablets suck. Apple is selling millions upon millions of iPads while Android hardware vendors scratching their heads wondering why their tablets aren’t selling even remotely as well. Sure the software was buggy at first and prices are often not where they should be, but things have been improving. So what’s the real reason? Contracts. "Honestly, we're not doing very well in the tablet market,” said Hankil Yoon, a product strategy executive for Samsung. Yeah, no kidding. It’s because Samsung, like nearly all other manufacturers shipping Android tablets, requires a carrier contract with most of its tablets. The new Galaxy Tab 7.7 goes on sale at Verizon Wireless for $499 on March 1st. That’s the same price as the entry-level iPad — not bad, right? Well this guy requires a two-year contract with Verizon and that means you’ll be paying $30 per month after that initial price for data. Total cost of ownership after two years? $1,220. Apple sells two types of iPads: WiFi and WiFi plus 3G. The former is for people who are completely positive they will not need 3G connectivity and/or don’t want to pay a monthly fee once they buy the tablet. The latter model is for people who do want the 3G, but the good news here is that there’s no contract involved. If you buy a 3G iPad, you can turn that functionality on or off as much as you damn well please and you’ll only be charged for the months you actually use it. That’s one conspicuous reason why Apple is winning and Android vendors are failing. Blake Stimac of IntoMobile wrote a great opinion piece earlier this month speculating that 2012 should be the year we see more “affordable, but capable” tablets. I suspect this will stand true for many new tablets this year, but for the devices that remain tied down by a contract, 2012 will continue to be a struggle. [via ZDNet] Contracts are killing Android tablet sales originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T23:39:23Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  T-Mobile announced that it will suspend all development of HSPA+ after 42 Mbps, as the company plans to focus on its LTE deployment instead. This plan to build a 4G LTE network using the AWS spectrum came about right after the United States government told AT&T to kick rocks. T-Mo decided to smartly use the spectrum gained from the botched acquisition, and roll out the new service in 2013. Before the change, the wireless provider said that it would be moving to 84Mbps on its HSPA+ network, which would’ve required some restructuring of the 2G spectrum in the 1900MHz PCS band — that is no longer the case. T-Mobile USA also noted that it wouldn’t be selling any more handsets that don’t support 3G; this means that the total 2G load on the network will cut over time. Don’t worry, this reduction in 2G capacity is a move that no one will notice. Bottom line is, it’s about time for the fourth largest phone carrier to move into LTE, as this represents the wave of the future when it comes to wireless. I like that the company is actually investing the billions of dollars it received from AT&T, rather than hoarding the cash for its executives and shareholders. It’ll be interesting to see what happens to T-Mo from here though, will it stay independent, or will it merge with another company. [via The Verge] T-Mobile to stop at 42 Mbps HSPA+, transition to LTE originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T22:10:28Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Chief financial officer of Verizon Communications, Fran Shammo, confirmed that Verizon Wireless would soon offer shared data plans for families and that the carrier’s offerings would be available some time around the middle of the year. “This is going to be a long-term migration into where we want to get data plan sharing, but this will be more of a 4G play for us and I think it will be critical for us. And you’ll see something launched–even Lowell alluded to it–you’ll see something launched mid-year this year from us,” he said. It’s interesting that Shammo chose to openly state that Verizon considers this a “4G play” perhaps meaning that families can only get access to a shared data pool if they are 4G LTE customers. The carrier has been trying to get subscribers to buy phones equipped with the faster technology so it can start investing more money into 4G and slowly end support for 3G. A number of promotions have been initiated to contribute to the effort, but so far the adoption rate is fairly slow. CEO Lowell McAdam previously hinted in December that these shared data plans would eventually arrive, which have been a top priority for many customers as more people move from feature phones to smartphones. AT&T and Sprint also gave the media a few signals, but so far did not officially announce anything. Walmart and T-Mobile teamed up in January to offer one of the first shared data plans, but you’ll have to buy into a talk and text bundle, too. [via FierceWireless] Verizon shared family data plans launching mid-2012 originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T21:46:37Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Finally, comic juggernaut Marvel has announced a partnership with Apple’s iBookstore that will bring over 80 graphic novels to iBookstore. Comic book junkies have been patiently waiting for Marvel to release digital copies for a few months now. The new deal will allow iOS users access to longer graphic novels directly through the bookstore, which is more convenient when compared to the shorter versions you’d find in the comic giant’s iPad app. Marvel will be releasing a slew of impressive collections, including Amazing Spider-Man, Avengers, Captain America and X-Men titles. The company claims that iBookstore customers can expect more titles added to the store every week. They offer the first full issue of New Avengers Vol. 1: Breakout as a teaser for what you can expect. That said, this move was really a no brainer, as Marvel and other comic book publishers simply have to be available on smartphones and tablets. Everything is going digital and in the cloud — just look at print magazines and newspapers. This conversion to digital is happening so rapidly that companies are forced to adapt, if not, they’ll die off. [via TNW] Marvel brings over 80 graphic novels to Apple’s iBookstore originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T21:17:46Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Nokia for the past year or so has been on a crusade to dig the company out of irrelevancy in today’s super competitive mobile business. The Finnish-based phone maker teamed up with Microsoft to jazz things up on the operating system, shifting attention slightly away from its own OS Symbian. Now the company has its sights set on acquiring some talent on the development side. On his blog this morning, Josh Marinacci, a developer/designer for Palm, announced that he would be leaving the troubled company after two years of service. He went on to explain himself as to why he came to the decision to leave, saying: I spent the last two years doing my best to make webOS a success. I'm proud of the work I've done and the platforms I've helped, but quite frankly I'm damn tired. It's a lot of fun to champion something you are passionate about, but also exhausting.
He also went on to suggest spending more time with his family and that he’d taken a research position at Nokia, which allows him to “play with cool future stuff and stay involved with the industry,” but at a much slower pace. Life changed drastically for many webOS workers, as parent company HP laid-off 270 workers who were key in the development of the maligned operating system. That said, I thought it was interesting that Marinacci felt compelled to mention that the failed TouchPad had more native tablet apps than Android had after six months. As I read between the lines, this suggested that webOS as a software wasn’t the issue, but instead, the hardware and marketing was the problem [duh]. The former Palm dev also noted that he planned to stay involved with the platform by offering his own apps in the App Catalog. He ended his blog post saying, “I love my TouchPad and will continue to use it until they pry it from my cold dead hands.” [Josh's blog] Nokia grabs well-known webOS, Java developer from Palm originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T19:53:01Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Just two short weeks ago, a big hullabaloo was made when Apple’s stock hit the illustrious $500 per share mark. As of 1:00 PM CST today, Apple is sitting right around $544 per share, sending the Cupertino company’s net worth north of $500 Billion dollars for the first time in its history. This from a company that was worth just $10 Billion a decade ago. Apple, already the most valuable company in the world, joins an elite club of companies who’ve been worth $500 Billion. Only Microsoft, ExxonMobil, Cisco, and General Electric are in the club, none of which are currently valued above $500 Billion. Of these five, ExxonMobile has the highest current net worth of $410 Billion. Putting the numbers in perspective, CNN Money notes that Apple’s valuation is higher than the Gross Domestic Product of Poland, Belgium, Sweden, Saudi Arabia, or Taiwan, and is still one of the fastest growing technology companies in existence. Apple’s 2011 sales were a whopping 73% higher than 2010 sales, with no signs of slowing down on the horizon. With the iPad 3 all set to be released next week, as well as a rumored Apple TV refresh coming on or around the same time, Apple’s prospects of becoming just the second company (Microsoft) to hit the $600 Billion valuation mark is brighter than ever. With the iPad 3 rumored to bring significant performance improvements over the iPad 2, coupled with the fact that more and more consumers are willing to adopt tablet computers, we have a hard time seeing the iPad 3 being anything short of a major success story for Apple. Unless Apple’s stock growth slows over the next 6 months, Apple could be well on the way to overtaking Microsoft as the highest valued company of all time. Whether you love or hate Apple, you have to appreciate the insane levels of success they’ve been able to achieve. [via KnowYourCell, CNN Money] Apple now worth over $500 billion, soon to become wealthiest company ever originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T19:43:48Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Dolphin Browser keeps getting better. Like it isn’t already straightforward to use, the company wants to make it even easier. Thanks to the new Dolphin Sonar capability, now you can browse the web and search for stuff on Internet using nothing but your voice. Simply tap the microphone icon at the bottom of the screen and say what you want to find. For instance, saying “Facebook Justin Bieber” will get you to the schmuck’s Facebook profile, while “eBay Nike shoes” will result in Dolphin searching directly in eBay and displaying a list of Nike shoes. Navigating the web is also similar – Dolphin can open a new tab, move you to the bottom or top of the page without you having to type a single word. Neat, don’t you think? Aside from Dolphin Sonar, Dolphin Browser for Android version 7.4 also comes with some other changes, including moving the Webzine feature from the browser to Dolphin’s Add-ons, reducing the app’s device fingerprint and making browsing speeds even faster. Yeah, you gotta try it out if you still haven’t. Dolphin Browser (FREE) [Android Market link] Dolphin Browser for Android updated with voice-control capabilities originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T17:51:23Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Microsoft took to the stage at MWC and unveiled the lastest pre-release version of Windows 8. The Consumer Preview version of the OS is available for public download and you can grab the ISO file from Microsoft’s website. Sadly, this build is for desktops and not tablets, so we will have a wait a bit before we can try it on a mobile device. Early reviews from people who have used the tablet version suggest Windows 8 provides a better tablet experience than Android or webOS. The UI is smooth and responsive and the Windows 8 store has some attractive apps. Windows 8 also has the advantage of being consistent across a variety of hardware so you’ll get that same look and feel on your desktop, tablet and phone. Several online writers got an early look at Windows 8 and have posted up full reviews of Microsoft’s next generation platform. You can read what they have to say about Windows 8 using the links below: If you’re downloading Windows 8, here are two guides to help you with a fresh install, a developer install and a dual-boot install. There’s also a short write-up of Windows 8 and its link to Xbox from Larry Hyrb (Major Nelson). Any Windows fans out there excited by the changes Microsoft is making to its desktop and mobile platform? Windows 8 consumer preview: review roundup originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T17:10:51Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Well, well, well – it looks like I’m not the only one who enjoyed their time with the Playstation Vita as Sony announced they’ve sold 1.2 million units worldwide in just two months, exceeding expectations. Not only that, but software sales for the Vita have exceeded 2 million units in both retail and on the Playstation Network. The Playstation Vita was first launched in Japan on December 17th, 2011, further launching in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea. Last week, the PS Vita was officially launched in North and Latin America and Europe, which is probably what gave the Vita’s rise to selling over a million units worldwide as Sony announced only 500k units of the Vita were sold at CES this year. Sony states they’re dedicated to the success of the Vita as there are currently over 70 titles in development for the system, guaranteeing their software lineup for the remainder of 2012 will have something for everyone. Before getting my hands on the Vita, I was skeptical of how well a dedicated gaming handheld would sell in light of recent reports of iOS & Android overtaking the portable gaming market. After spending some time with the Vita, I can say that I’m a believer there’s still enough space in the mobile gaming world for smartphones and dedicated gaming handhelds to co-exist. Both the 3DS and the Vita offer experiences that iOS and Android can’t currently, although with every year that passes, iPhones and Android devices are getting stronger and stronger. Sony sells 1.2 million Playstation Vita in 2 months; Software sales exceed 2 million originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T16:26:39Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  Windows Phone 8 is going dual-core, according to a report from The Verge. Qualcomm indicated that the Windows Phone development team is currently testing its Snapdragon S4 system on a chip in a device to be released later this year. As you may recall, Windows Phone 8 “Apollo” is rumored to add support for multi-core devices, paving the way for Windows Phone devices to see the same processing prowess we’ve come to expect from Android and iOS devices. The Snapdragon S4 will feature clock speeds of 1.5 GHz, and will tote the Adreno 225 GPU for enhanced graphical capabilities. This combination has been lethal when it comes to benchmarking scores, with results from devices running Qualcomm’s S4 doubling those from the Galaxy S2 and Droid 4 devices. Sprint is currently in the running for such a device, and has sent over its LTE specifications to Nokia. With Sprint currently working to roll out their LTE network starting next quarter and full-implementation of the network expected by Q4 2013, a powerful Sprint Windows Phone device could be what Sprint needs to turn the ship around and get people interested in their network once again. We won’t likely be seeing a Sprint Nokia S4 device until later this year, perhaps just in time for the ever-busy holiday season. Windows Phone 8 is not rumored to be available to consumers until the 4th quarter of 2012. This launch window will give Nokia time to prepare the Windows Phone device of our dreams, one that could take off on Srint’s further-reaching LTE network. Hopefully, we will hear much more about dual-core Windows Phone devices a bit later this year, though we almost assuredly will not see these devices launched before Windows Phone 8 is unveiled in Q4. By that time, quad-core phones running Apple’s A6, nVidia’s Tegra 3, or Qualcomm’s own quad-core S4 chipsets will be making their way into devices, potentially forcing Windows Phone to play catch up once more. Personally, I’m excited to see what Nokia and Sprint come up with for the first Windows 8 device. We’ll bring you the goods once we know more. [via The Verge] Rumor: Dual-Core, LTE Windows Phone 8 Nokia handset coming to Sprint originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2012-02-29T16:01:57Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |  | |  | |  |
No comments:
Post a Comment