smartphones

566 'smartphones' stories May 2011 - July 2015

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Nostalgia overload: Commodore PET smartphone coming soon with V64 and Amiga emulators

Cam Bunton Jul 14 2015 - 11:01 am PT

Update: This article states that the upcoming Commodore PET smartphone is being made by Commodore. While this is true, it’s not the same corporation, nor is it under the same management, that created both the Commodore 64 and Amiga computer line. The company creating this smartphone was incorporated just this past March in the United Kingdom, while the original Commodore International was founded in Ontario, Canada and shut its doors in 1994. It’s an example of deceptive practices.

My first real taste of technology was as a kid. Myself and two of my siblings would huddle around the TV with a Commodore Amiga plugged in and sit playing Buggy Boy, Lemmings, Batman, ThunderCats and bunch of other titles for hours. If it wasn’t for my brother’s temper and his destruction of too many joysticks, I’m sure we’d have enjoyed many more hours. So I couldn’t just skip over Wired’s piece on the upcoming Commodore smartphone without writing about it.

You read that right: A smartphone made by Commodore is coming to market soon. Dubbed the Commodore PET, it’s coming with a couple of emulators built in out-of-box so you can play all your favorite Amiga and V64 titles.

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BLU Life One goes on sale July 17th, pre-order now for $99 unlocked

Cam Bunton Jul 13 2015 - 9:10 am PT

BLU has a growing reputation for admirable devices that cost very little, and its latest handset looks to continue that trend. The BLU Life One goes on sale at the end of this week, on July 17th and is currently available to pre-order for just $99 unlocked and SIM-free.

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New comScore U.S. data shows continuing decline in Android market share

Tom Maxwell Jul 2 2015 - 3:30 pm PT

comScore today released its report on United States smartphone subscriber market share for the three month period ending in May. The report, released monthly, tracks the rankings of the top smartphone OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and operating systems by consumer adoption. Month-to-month fluctuations in market share aren’t typically major, but they can provide a look at how companies’ new flagship smartphones are doing.

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Samsung breakthrough nearly doubles lithium-ion battery capacity

Stephen Hall Jun 26 2015 - 11:16 am PT

Samsung’s research team has found a way to effectively almost double the capacity of its lithium ion batteries, according to a report from Business Korea. Specifically, the research arm of the company has supposedly developed a technology to make a new “silicon cathode material” for coating the graphene of the battery’s silicon surface, which allows it to support new levels of energy density — up to twice that of currently-available batteries.

You can read the details of the technology at Nature.com:

The graphene layers anchored onto the silicon surface accommodate the volume expansion of silicon via a sliding process between adjacent graphene layers. When paired with a commercial lithium cobalt oxide cathode, the silicon carbide-free graphene coating allows the full cell to reach volumetric energy densities of 972 and 700 Wh l⁻¹ at first and 200th cycle, respectively, 1.8 and 1.5 times higher than those of current commercial lithium-ion batteries.

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E3 2015: Bethesda’s new real life Android Pip Boy for Fallout 4, more

Justin Kahn Jun 15 2015 - 12:09 pm PT

From 9to5Toys.com:

Last night, Bethesda held its very first E3 showcase. We got to see more of the highly anticipated Fallout 4, along with a new Fallout iOS title and details on the very cool F4 special edition. We caught a quick CG glimpse at Arkane’s next sequel to the stealth action title Dishonored and more details on the return of Doom.

Having, in many ways, already captured the game of show award before E3 even really kicked-off, Fallout 4 is one of the most highly anticipated games in recent memory. Game Director Todd Howard took to the stage to reveal more details about the game including its complete character customization suite (including female protagonists), a deep focus on dynamic item/shelter crafting and a November 10th release date!

But possibly even more exciting, and I can’t believe I’m about to say this, is the second screen mobile app for Fallout 4. Essentially just the new in-game Pip Boy running on your iPhone, the now available for pre-order Pip Boy Edition makes it so much more than that:

Pip Boy is real and it looks pretty cool. Bethesda is including a real sized Pip Boy that you can stick your iPhone in and run the companion app while playing. As Howard said during the press event, all of these special edition add-ons are a little gimmicky, but this happens to be one of the coolest gimmicks yet (barring that life size, talking Claptrap maybe). Both Best Buy and Amazon have the Pip Boy pre-order available, but they keep going in and out of stock.

You can check out the rest of Bethesda’s E3 announcements over on 9to5Toys.

Gartner: Android smartphone marketshare dropped 1.9% in early 2015

Tom Maxwell May 27 2015 - 10:33 am PT

Gartner today released the results of a report on worldwide smartphone marketshare in Q1 2015 (first three months) which most notably found that Android’s hold on the smartphone OS market dropped 1.9% while Apple’s iOS saw it’s third consecutive quarter of gains. The research firm attributed Android’s loss largely to Apple’s newfound success in China – where Android saw a 4% decline over its share of that market last year – on the back of the larger-screened iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, as well as increased differentiation and ecosystem lock-in through offerings like Apple Pay and Apple Watch.
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China approaches smartphone saturation point, shipments fall as penetration hits 90% – IDC

Ben Lovejoy May 11 2015 - 4:14 am PT

China – long viewed as one of the key growth markets for smartphones – is now approaching saturation point, according to data being released today by IDC. The WSJ reports that smartphone shipments fell for the first time in six years, 4.3% down year-on-year in the previous quarter. Other sources say sales are still growing, but at a much-reduced rate.

Experts say the slowdown is largely driven by the disappearance of China’s first-time buyers. Smartphones now have a more than 90% penetration rate in China, said Tom Kang, research director with market-research firm Counterpoint, meaning just about everybody in China who wants a smartphone already has one. “China is now a replacement market,” Mr. Kang said.

Even local brands like Xiaomi are finding it tougher to compete, say analysts, while Samsung fell from the best-selling brand in China a year ago to fourth place today. Samsung was, however, upbeat about its prospects in the country.

“While there are signs that the explosive growth of smartphones in China will slow this year, the vast majority of China’s 885 million mobile users are using low-end and mid-range smartphones,” Samsung said in a statement. “This leaves plenty of room for upgrades to high-end phones as China’s market matures.”

Android manufacturers are also facing increased competition in China from Apple, which recently hit 26% market share.

Photo: Darley Shen/Reuters

T-Mobile launches Smartphone Equality, expanding base of customers qualified for financing & special deals

Zac Hall Jan 22 2015 - 8:01 am PT

T-Mobile often rolls out “Un-carrier” initiatives that intend to challenge its competitors (which sometimes get copied), and John Legere’s latest announcement for the company is no different. The T-Mobile CEO shared today that the carrier soon start offering the same financing options to customers with weak credit as it provides for well qualified customers. The program is called Smartphone Equality, and here’s how it works…
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Sony to reduce its smartphone efforts in hopes of cutting costs

Mark Hearn Nov 25 2014 - 11:46 am PT

Sony’s diverse product portfolio is about to lose a little weight. Despite the company’s popularity and historical success the Japanese corporation is going to be cutting down its TV and mobile lineups to cut costs. Over the past few years Sony has steadily lost its wireless momentum to rival companies like Samsung, Apple and Xiaomi. The outfit’s new focus will be for its struggling TV and mobile divisions to simply turn a profit.

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AT&T introduces longer Next 24 monthly installment program for paying off your Android smartphone

9to5 Staff Nov 4 2014 - 6:30 am PT

AT&T on Tuesday announced that it will be introducing a longer Next 24 monthly installment program on November 9th alongside its Next 12 and Next 18 plans for financing an Android smartphone. AT&T customers on Next 24 will pay $0 down and make 30 equal monthly payments between $10 – $50 depending on the device purchased.
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Sony SVP Hiroki Totoki to take over mobile division as smartphone sales decline

9to5 Staff Oct 30 2014 - 7:38 am PT

Sony Corporation announced on Thursday that it will appoint senior vice president Hiroki Totoki as the new president of its Sony Mobile division on November 16th. Totoki, who currently serves as corporate planning director at the Japanese company, will replace outgoing Sony executive Kunimasa Suzuki to run the smartphone business.

The corporate mixup is largely unsurprising given that Sony has been faced with declining Xperia smartphone sales due to tough competition from rivals Apple, Samsung, LG and others. The company has been forecasted to once again report slowing smartphone sales when it announces its latest quarterly earnings results on Friday.

As of November 16, 2014
Kunimasa Suzuki
(New)
Group Executive, Sony Corporation
Executive Vice President, Sony Entertainment Inc.
(Current)
Corporate Executive Officer, Executive Vice President,
Officer in charge of Mobile Business, Sony Corporation
President & CEO, Sony Mobile Communications Inc.

Hiroki Totoki
(New)
Group Executive, Sony Corporation
President & CEO, Sony Mobile Communications Inc.
(Current)
Corporate Executive, Senior Vice President,
In charge of Corporate Planning, Finance and New Business Creation Department, Sony Corporation

Samsung reports 74% drop in mobile profits as Galaxy sales continue to decline

9to5 Staff Oct 29 2014 - 7:33 pm PT

After warning investors that its third-quarter financial results will once again miss analyst expectations, Samsung on Wednesday reported a 74% drop in mobile profits during the three-month period ending September. The reason behind the significant decline: not as many people are buying the latest Galaxy smartphones as they used to.
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T-Mobile guaranteeing best trade-in values on used smartphones and tablets

Mark Hearn Sep 8 2014 - 8:30 am PT

T-Mobile announced a new promotion today that vows to offer consumers the best trade-in value for their old mobile devices. Just in time for a new wave of smartphones and tablets, the magenta-colored carrier’s new marketing ploy guarantees the best trade-in values for your used wireless equipment compared to offerings from Sprint, Verizon and AT&T.

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Sony announces latest Xperia smartphones: Z3, Z3 Compact, & E3

Zac Hall Sep 3 2014 - 8:09 am PT

Taking stage at IFA 2014, Sony is showing off its latest Xperia gadgets with the new Z3, Z3 Compact, and E3 smartphones. The flagship Z3 is a 5.2-inch “dust-tight and waterproof” aluminum framed device that ships in black, copper, silver green, and white. Included is a feature called PS4 Remote Play allowing you to game on the device with the PS4 controller.

Next up is the Compact Z3, a 4.6-inch device (compact, huh?) that’s also dust-tight and water proof with options in black, green, orange, and white. The Xperia Compacy Z3 also enjoys PS4 Remote Play support (as does the tablet version). Last is the Xperia E3, a 4.5-inch device with a 5 megapixel camera available in black, copper, lime, and white. (Oh, and there were also wearables, of course.) Press releases for each follows…

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Samsung & Apple lose share to smaller Chinese OEMs in Q2 smartphone shipment numbers

Jordan Kahn Jul 29 2014 - 10:05 am PT

Following releasing its second quarter data for tablet shipments worldwide, IDC today released its Q2 2014 report for smartphone shipments during the three month period that ended in June. The numbers line up with Apple’s fiscal Q3 earnings call that took place earlier this month where the company reported iPhone sales of 35.1 million units for the quarter. With 295.3 million units shipped total during Q2, IDC notes that both Samsung and Apple lost share to the smaller Chinese manufacturers:
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Samsung begins selling smartphones directly through website in EU

Jordan Kahn Jul 29 2014 - 6:36 am PT

Samsung has launched a redesign of its website in Europe and with it has started selling its Android devices directly from the site. The company previously linked to other retailers and carriers, as it continues to do in the US, but now most EU countries also have the ability to add products to a cart and purchase directly from the website.

In the US, samsung.com continues to link to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint and websites of smaller carriers for its smartphones, but it does provide the ability to buy other devices direct from the website such as tablets.

The ability to purchase appears to be available in most EU countries, but you can visit samsung.com to check availability and prices in your country.

(via SamMobile)

AMC debuts trailer for ‘The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land’ mobile game arriving w/ season 5

Jordan Kahn Jul 22 2014 - 10:52 am PT

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aiRboM4fok]

AMC announced today that it will release a new mobile game for The Walking Dead early next year alongside season 5 of the hit TV show. The TV network is teaming up with Next Games to develop the title and today shared the first trailer for the game that it plans to show off at Comic Con International later this month.

The game, titled The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, will allow players to experience the world of the iconic show through gameplay exclusively developed for smartphones and tablet devices. Developed by Next Games in close collaboration with AMC, the game will feature themes familiar to the TV series, where characters fight for survival in a post-apocalyptic, walker-infested world. A recurring theme of choosing the right survival strategy and making the most human choices possible is at the heart of the first-of-its-kind game.

Telltale games already publishes a game for Android based on universe of The Walking Dead comic book series, but this is AMC’s first official game based on its TV show version of the franchise. It isn’t, however, sharing many details on what we can expect from gameplay other than the description above or specifics on platforms.

The Walking Dead Season 5 is coming this October and the game, The Walking Dead: No Man’s Land, will hit smartphones and tablets early next year when the mid-season premiere of Season 5 airs.

Make sure your electronic devices are charged-up before flying to the U.S. – TSA requirement

Ben Lovejoy Jul 7 2014 - 3:54 am PT

If you’re flying (back) to the U.S. from overseas, make sure that all your electronic devices have enough juice left to power-up when you reach airport security, otherwise you won’t be allowed to take them on board due to a new TSA requirement.

The Transportation Security Administration said yesterday that it was requiring certain overseas airports flying directly to U.S. airports to increase security checks on electronic items in response to concerns about new al-Qaida attempts to use them as disguise for bombs.

While the focus appears to be on smartphones, it’s also possible that passengers will be required to power-up tablets and laptops also. Devices that won’t power-up will not be allowed on board, and passengers carrying these devices may be subject to additional screening.

The TSA has not revealed which airports are subject to the new requirements, but London’s Heathrow is known to be one of them.

Report: Google planning to add smartphone kill switch in next Android version

Zac Hall Jun 19 2014 - 10:14 am PT

According to a report from PC World, both Google and Microsoft are planning to announce plans to add a smartphone kill switch to their mobile software in an effort to combat device theft. The feature would allow users with stolen devices to report their device as missing and disable it from being used without specific credentials in an incident of theft. This feature has already proven to deter theft of iPhones as iOS recently introduced a similar functionality.

The news comes after The New York Times released data from the city’s police pointing to a 19 percent decline in iPhone thefts in 2014 compared to the same period in 2013 which considers Apple’s Activation Lock feature introduced to the public last fall with iOS 7. The report from PC World notes that thefts of Samsung devices have risen by more than 40 percent.

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Samsung confirms 20 Galaxy devices now compatible w/ new Gear wearables

Jordan Kahn Apr 16 2014 - 6:10 am PT

While some of us have been able to get Samsung’s new Gear fitness tracking wearables working with non-Samsung Galaxy devices, Samsung is still only officially supporting 20 Galaxy devices after first launching the wearables with only compatibility for its flagship devices. Samsung today provided details on the exact lineup of compatible devices, which as of yesterday includes 12 Galaxy smartphones and 8 tablets.

As of yesterday, the devices you see in the images above are all compatible with the Samsung Gear 2, Gear 2 Neo, and Gear Fit. Those are the devices that are officially supported through the ‘Gear Manager’ or ‘Gear Fit Manager’ apps, but we managed to get the Gear Fit working with the new HTC One M8.

Lenovo on Moto aquisition: Our mission is to surpass Apple and Samsung

Mike Beasley Jan 30 2014 - 4:03 pm PT

Lenovo CEO Yuanqing Yang spoke to CNNMoney about his company’s recent acquisition of Motorola from Google today. In the interview, Yang was asked if his goal for Lenovo was to eventually catch up with more established competitors in the mobile space, such as Apple and Samsung.

With Motorola, Lenovo will be the No. 3 smartphone maker worldwide. Do you think your company can catch up with Apple or Samsung, who are still far ahead of you? And how long will it take?

Definitely, over time. Our mission is to surpass them.

Yang says that Lenovo’s smartphones will probably be released under the Motorola banner, a smart branding decision given Motorola’s existing name recognition and popularity in the U.S. and other countries.

The branding choice combined with the infrastructure and personnel from the Moto buyout could help propel the company to the top of the market, but it will be a hard road to the level of success that Yang is after—especially with Apple and Samsung already locked in a fierce, years-long battle for the top spot.

Throughout the interview, Yang continued to note that several decisions still need to be made with regards to how phones will be branded in certain countries and whether the Lenovo name will be associated with Motorola at all. It will certainly be interesting to see how Yang uses the Motorola brand to push Lenovo forward.

A billion smartphones were sold last year, says IDC

Ben Lovejoy Jan 28 2014 - 6:23 am PT

: Image: theguardian.com

A billion smartphones were sold in 2013, according to IDC data, the first time the milestone has been hit. The number represents one smartphone sale for every seventh man, woman and child on the planet.

IDC says that price has been the main driver for growth, putting yesterday’s market share stats into perspective.

Markets like China and India are quickly moving toward a point where sub-$150 smartphones are the majority of shipments

The iPhone forced Google to start over … or not, depending who you believe

Ben Lovejoy Dec 20 2013 - 5:49 am PT

: The HTC Dream: the first Android handset to go on sale, a year after the iPhone

A pithy quote from a Google engineer working on Android on the day the iPhone was launched has been doing the rounds today.

As a consumer I was blown away. I wanted one immediately. But as a Google engineer, I thought ‘We’re going to have to start over.

The quote, attributed to Google engineer Chris DeSalvo, appears in Chapter 2 of Fred Vogelstein’s Dogfight: How Apple and Google went to war and started a revolution. It suggests that Google had to abandon a Blackberry-style smartphone in favor of a touchscreen one in direct response to the iPhone. This is seemingly supported by Android boss Andy Rubin reportedly saying in response to the webcast of the iPhone launch: “Holy crap, I guess we’re not going to ship that phone.”

There’s just one small problem with this version of events – it may not be entirely accurate …
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Talking Schmidt: Drop smartphones, not bombs

Mike Beasley Nov 22 2013 - 7:57 pm PT

(Businessweek / Peg Korpinski)

Eric Schmidt revealed today that he has figured out how to end war and conflict across the globe. His solution? Drop millions of smartphones into other countries instead of going to war. Nope, really, that’s his plan.

According to the executive, raining down smartphones on Iraq or Afghanistan could have dramatically altered the course of history and prevented war in both countries. He suggests that the United States “could have airdropped a million into Afghanistan or Iraq as a thought experiment.”

We can only thank Eric Schmidt for selflessly suggesting a deep, thoughtful solution to global conflict, which could in no way financially benefit his company (which holds a smartphone OS marketshare majority). Yeah… we’re not really expecting the Department of Defense to offer Schmidt a job anytime soon.