Nielsen's Q3 numbers are out: Android's still atop the OS chain, Apple remains number one manufacturer - http://www.engadget.com

Nielsen's Q3 numbers are out: Android's still atop the OS chain, Apple remains number one manufacturer - http://www.engadget.com

By Brad Molen posted Nov 29th 2011 2:04PM

Another quarter has come and gone, and you know what that means: Nielsen ratings are out again. The latest batch of numbers don't reveal anything wildly new, but they're still just as telling nonetheless: 44 percent of mobile subscribers in the US use a smartphone in the US. Of those, 71 percent are in possession of an Android device or an iPhone. Additionally, 56 percent of all phone purchases during the third quarter were smartphones. And -- this probably won't come as a surprise to anyone -- at a decisive 42 percent, Android remains the number one smartphone OS while Apple is still perched firmly on top as the leading manufacturer (28 percent). Check out the source link below and graph above for more of the tiny details.

Samsung mobile division breaks records in Q3, total profit falls - GSMArena.com news

Samsung mobile division breaks records in Q3, total profit falls - GSMArena.com news

28 October, 2011

Samsung just posted its Q3 results and reported that its consolidated profits were lower compared to the previous quarter. The conglomerates division brought in a total of KRW 41.27 trillion in revenue ($37.3 billion) and KRW 3.44 trillion of profit ($3.11 billion).
The sales are up 3% YoY and 5% sequentially, but their net profit is down 23% compared to Q2 of 2010 and 2% sequentially.
However, things are much rosier if you focus on the Mobile phone division only. Samsung mobile phones sales rose "low 20%" on QoQ and "high 20%" YoY. The company become the world's leading smartphone manufacturer selling 27.8 million in the past three months, overtaking Apple, which only managed 17.1 million.

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, confirmed to be coming to Verizon before the end of 2011 - www.gsmarena.com

The Samsung Galaxy Nexus, confirmed to be coming to Verizon before the end of 2011 - www.gsmarena.com

October 22nd, 2011 byAlex

It would appear that newly announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus, with its Ice Cream Sandwich goodness will also be making an appearance in LTE form.

But just the other day, Samsung and Google’s Unpacked Event in Hong Kong brought the next evolutionary step of Android to the fore. Two key announcments of course came out of the event; the coming of Android 4.0, dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich, and a vessel with which to carry it into the market, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Want To See The Next Version Of Android? A Bevy Of Ice Cream Sandwich Screenshots Leaks - www.techcrunch.com

Greg Kumparak

Oh, what’s that Google/Samsung? You’ve canceled next week’s Ice Cream Sandwich/Nexus Prime event? That’s cool. I mean, sure: pretty much all of the tech press has non-refundable plane tickets and hotel rooms already… but hey: at least we all get to work from San Diego for a few days now!

Regardless, most of what they would’ve announced is leaking out now anyway. The latest leak to spring up: a series of beautiful screenshots capturing Ice Cream Sandwich in full detail.

As you might’ve expected from the constant chatter that Ice Cream Sandwich would bring the overhauled look and feel of Honeycomb’s tablet interface to phones, Ice Cream Sandwich… looks like Honeycomb running on a smaller screen. And it looks crazy beautiful.

What do you think? Do you prefer the original, vanilla Android, or the new, Tron-tastic look of ICS?

BBM for Android should be available by 2012, get your thumbs ready

BBM for Android should be available by 2012, get your thumbs ready - www.gsmarena.com

October 3rd, 2011 byAlex

You read correctly, we heard rumblings of such peculiar goings on for a little while prior to this post, and this is just adding to the rumor mill.

 

Purportedly the iPhone 4S is to play as guinea pig for the iOS build of BlackBerry’s Messenger service and now we are hearing through the grapevine that Android users might get in on some BBM action too.

We can’t avoid stoking the fires of speculation here, but of course following tomorrow’s iPhone-centric announcement in Cupertino, our guesses today might be carrying a little more weight.

PSA: The AT&T Galaxy S II Has A Pretty Terrible Security Flaw [Update: Confirmed By Samsung!] - www.techcrunch.com

Greg Kumparak

The AT&T Galaxy S II is a lot of things. It’s fast. It’s thin. It’s pretty damn nice to look at. But secure? Yeah, not really.

In what seems to be an almost inexcusable oversight, it appears that the pattern lock (the thing that keeps prying eyes from prying) on AT&T’s version of the Samsung Galaxy S II is… pretty much useless.

Galaxy S II global sales pass the 10 million mark - GSMArena.com news

Galaxy S II global sales pass the 10 million mark - GSMArena.com news

25 September, 2011

The hit smartphone Galaxy S II has surpassed the 10 million landmark in global sales. It managed to achieve this in just five months of going on sale.


The previous record holder in Samsung's fleet was the Samsung Star S5230, which managed to cross the 10 million mark in six months. The hot selling Galaxy S managed to achieve the same in about seven months. Being significantly more expensive than both, the fact that the Galaxy S II managed to reach the sales figure in a shorter period of time is quite an achievement.
Then again, this is not surprising. The Galaxy S II has struck a chord with the smartphone buyers thanks to its awesome features and performance and people are shoveling their money at Samsung just to get their hands on the best smartphone on the market right now. Now that the phone has started selling in the US as well, the next landmark will probably take even less time.

Windows 8 secure boot to make dual-booting difficult, Linux users grimace - www.gsmarena.com

Windows 8 secure boot to make dual-booting difficult, Linux users grimace - www.gsmarena.com

September 22nd, 2011 byPrasad

If you like to run your favorite Linux distribution alongside a copy of Windows on the same machine then you might want to stay away from Windows 8 computers. Thanks to a new secure boot in Windows 8, dual-booting might just become a thing of the past.

Now before I begin explaining, let me say that this will affect only those devices with a ‘Designed for Windows 8′ logo on them, so you can still install Windows 8 on your current computer and dual-boot it. The reason it won’t work on these branded computers is because of the UEFI or Unified Extensible Firmware Interface that these machines will be having instead of a traditional BIOS.

The UEFI requires a signing key installed on the firmware from the software maker or the OEM before booting into the OS. This makes it harder for malware to initiate when the system is booting. Unfortunately, this also means that an unsigned copy of Linux will not be able to run on a machine with such a firmware.

A workaround to this is to disable the secure boot option from within the firmware on the machine, but there is no guarantee that Microsoft will allow the hardware vendors to disable this option. Even if they do, hardware vendors may also choose to leave out the option in the interests of security. The other alternative is to use a signed version of the Linux or whichever other OS you plan to use (this also applies to older versions of Windows) but that’s not as easy as it sounds and comes with its own set of problems.

So basically Linux enthusiasts are advised to think twice before spending money on a Windows 8 branded machine. It would be better to assemble your own, which I’m sure is what most would do anyway.

Samsung is the top smartphone vendor in Western Europe in Q2 - GSMArena.com news

Samsung is the top smartphone vendor in Western Europe in Q2 - GSMArena.com news

09 September, 2011 

 

The premier market intelligence firm IDC released its Q2 2011 mobile phone shipment estimates in Western Europe today, marking a fundamental shift in the market for mobile phones. For the first time, the smartphone shipments outnumbered the feature phone ones on the Old Continent.

A quad-core Windows 8-running tablet from Samsung coming next week? - www.gsmarena.com

A quad-core Windows 8-running tablet from Samsung coming next week? - www.gsmarena.com

September 9th, 2011 byChip

As far as news from the electronics business go, it doesn’t get much more exciting than this. If the latest bit of online rumor is true (and given that it comes from Korea Economic Daily that’s quite probable) we are just a week away from seeing the first Windows 8-running tablet. And the first tablet with a quad-core CPU. And the first Windows device with an ARM processor. And the best bit is, those aren’t three different devices.

According to the industry source that went all chatty in front of the Korean newspaper, Samsung will manufacture the slate that will be given to developers at the upcoming Microsoft BUILD event next week. It will be running the software giant’s newest OS and will rely on NVIDIA’s Kal-El chipset.

How your phone betrays your location - www.techradar.com

Explained: Your phone transmits your location to anyone equipped to listen

Mobile phones News

By Julian Bucknall

The way cell towers work can give a fairly accurate idea of where you are, even if you're not making a call

"What's an azimuth?" my wife asked. For some reason, visions of naval battles came to mind. Cannons being aimed, orders shouted, shots fired, smoke and billowing sails.

Other than that, I couldn't come up with much. There was nothing for it but to check Wikipedia, where I learned that it's a direction for a projection of an object (usually a star) in 3D space onto a reference plane. So, in summary, a direction.

At this point, it's best to understand what my wife does for a living. She's a Deputy District Attorney, a prosecutor, in the Fourth Judicial District in Colorado. For a long while, she's headed up the Special Victims Unit (SVU, just like on the telly) in the office, prosecuting cases where the victims are the very young, very old, or those who need special help.

Samsung roadmap leaks again, adds a WP7 handset to the mix - GSMArena.com news

Samsung roadmap leaks again, adds a WP7 handset to the mix - GSMArena.com news

18 August, 2011

Last week a few bits and pieces of the Samsung smartphone roadmap leaked and now we add more pieces to the puzzle.
We just got the expected release dates for most of the smartphones and the two tablets as well as a whole new addition to the Samsung lineup that will, reportedly, be running on Windows Phone 7.
So obviously Samsung hasn't given up on Windows Phone 7 just yet and it will be releasing the I8350 Omnia W sometimes this year. It will probably be running WP7 Mango on a 1GHz CPU and will be built around a 3.7" display. The rest of the Omnia W features that we know at this stage include a 5 MP camera, WiFi and GPS.
Here's what the whole picture looks like, now that we've added the extra info. The numbers in brackets show the target release week for each of the handsets. Make note, we're currently in the 33rd week of 2011.

Android smartphones

Samsung I9250 (W48) - 4.65" SuperAMOLED of HD resolution (1280x720 pixels), Android Ice Cream sandwich, 5 MP camera.

Nokia shares jump over 10 percent on Motorola acquisition news, investors expect a move from Microsoft - www.gsmarena.com

Nokia shares jump over 10 percent on Motorola acquisition news, investors expect a move from Microsoft - www.gsmarena.com

August 15th, 2011

Nokia shares jumped over 10 percent today (from €3.70 up to €4.09) after the news about Google acquiring Motorola Mobility. All this boosted the speculations that Nokia is being once again targeted for a takeover.

Nokia hasn’t been doing all that well recently with their shares down by 45 percent just this year, due to the poor financial results of the Finnish company. This has reduced the price and has made Nokia easier to acquire by companies such as Microsoft and Samsung (as the rumors have it).

Google acquires Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion - GSMArena.com news

Google acquires Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion - GSMArena.com news

15 August, 2011 

 







Google has announced it's going to acquire Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion ($40 per share). The Mountain View-based company plans to use Motorola's rich patent portfolio to help its Android platform in the numerous legal battles it's currently fighting, while Motorola itself should continue to function as before.
The first thing that should be noted is Motorola Mobility is not the entire Motorola. You might remember that the company split in two in January 2010 - Motorola Solution (being the direct successor of Motorola) and Motorola Mobility (a spin-off company handling the mobile devices business).
So, Google is buying Motorola's mobile division responsible for smartphones and tablets. The reson for the move is quite simple - to defend Android in the ongoing patent war.

Gartner Q2 report: Nokia still top smartphone maker - GSMArena.com news

Gartner Q2 report: Nokia still top smartphone maker - GSMArena.com news

12 August, 2011 

Gartner released their report on the mobile phone world in the second quarter and have something very interesting in their numbers - Nokia is sill number one in smartphones, rather than third as other analysts have stated.
The difference comes from which numbers are taken into account - others counted the number of units shipped and not the number of units purchased by end users, which is exactly what Gartner was looking at.

Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules for T-Mobile poses for the camera - GSMArena.com news

Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules for T-Mobile poses for the camera - GSMArena.com news

07 August, 2011 

It has been a couple of exciting days for all the folks, waiting for the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II across the Atlantic. Barely a day after the 4.5" screen Samsung Galaxy S II Hercules got caught on camera in Canada, more pictures of it emerged, this time bearing the U.S. T-Mobile brand.

Apple largest smartphone manufacturer in the world - GSMArena.com news

Apple largest smartphone manufacturer in the world - GSMArena.com news

05 August, 2011 

According to the latest report by the International Data Corporation Apple is now the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer.

comScore reports on marker and OS marketshare in the US for Q2 - GSMArena.com news

comScore reports on marker and OS marketshare in the US for Q2 - GSMArena.com news

05 August, 2011

comScore released their report on the mobile phone market in the US for the second quarter of this year. They found that Android is pulling ahead of iOS and that those are the only two OSes that didn’t lose market share.
Samsung is solidifying its place as the top phone maker in the US (note: counting both feature phones and smartphones) with 25.3%, up 0.8% compared to the previous quarter. Apple overtook RIM in Q2 and now sits in 4th place. Apple also grew the most quarter-on-quarter (QoQ), a full percent, reaching 8.9% of market share.

Apple Takes Lead In Smartphone Shipments, But Samsung Is On Its Heels - www.techcrunch.com

Jordan Crook

According to a report from IDC, Apple shipped more smartphones than any other manufacturer in Q2, stealing bragging rights from a struggling Nokia. With 20.3 million units shipped, Apple managed to nab a 19.1 percent market share, representing year-over-year growth of 141.7 percent. Samsung and Nokia followed behind, with RIM and HTC bringing up the rear.

Samsung Q2 results: mobile division sees 45% increase in sales - GSMArena.com news

Samsung Q2 results: mobile division sees 45% increase in sales - GSMArena.com news

29 July, 2011 

Samsung turned in their financial results for the second quarter and they are positive, despite tough competition in some segments. As for the mobile department of Samsung, it was the best performer - it's revenue increased a massive 45% Year-on-Year (YoY).
The department's revenue was $11.55 billion with operating profit of $1.58 billion, which works out to 13.7% operating profit margin for the quarter. Shipments increased 10% YoY and "high single digit" percent quarter-on-quarter, with the Samsung Galaxy S II and other smartphones driving the demand up.