The ASUS PadFone 2

Device Singularity Updates: RIP Webtop, hello Padfone2

Steve Barnett | October 24, 2012
As I’ve outlined before, I believe the wireless world is converging into “device singularity.” The average consumer will have one device, a powerful smartphone, which will be the primary – if not sole – provider of computing power and connectivity. This smartphone will normally live in the consumer’s pocket or purse, but when more demanding tasks need to be processed, the phone will be popped into docking stations that extend the device’s hardware capabilities. Recently, there have been some interesting events on the path to device singularity. Motorola Ceases Webtop Motorola, now owned by Google, is ceasing development of its ... More >>
verifone_ipad-checkout

Brick & Mortar Retail Using iDevices to Speed Up Checkout

John Calian | September 19, 2012
A group of ‘Brick & Mortar’ retailers taking a page from Apple’s retail playbook and going the route of using Smartphones and Tablets to handle POS check outs, as Apple does today and a fare share of mom and pop stores do using iDevices with Square and its competitors.   More >>
FFOS2

Firefox Enters the Smartphone OS Arena

John Calian | September 17, 2012
The Mozilla Foundation is launching its first mobile operating system this year, Firefox Mobile OS. Billed as an effort to offer more choice and lower pricing (smartphones for $100, with no contract, hello?)  More >>
The MetroPCS Coolpad Quattro

Coolpad Arrives

Jon Gates | August 28, 2012
Ever heard of Chinese handset manufacturer Yulong?  MetroPCS certainly has.  They have just added the Coolpad Quattro to their device lineup at a “cool” introductory price of $99.  This Gingerbread Android sports a 4-inch capacitive multi-touch screen and a 1 GHz single-core processor.  It has both front and rear-facing cameras, 512 MB of RAM and a micro-SD that can take a 32 GB card.  So what’s new here?  Yulong and Metro are a perfect pair to continue undercutting the “cheap” device market. Coolpad may be new in the US, but in China it’s the No. 3 smartphone maker, beating out the iPhone (which ranks at No. 7) as well ... More >>

Apple working to blend fridge and toaster

Steve Barnett | August 7, 2012
Device singularity proceeds. Consumer electronics will continue to coalesce around ever smaller, ever more capable devices. Last week broke the news that Apple filed a patent in 2011 for a Smart Cover that doubles as keyboard, secondary screen, and other hardware extensions. Soon the iPad will do to the Macbook Air what the Macbook Air did to the Macbooks. Of course, Microsoft announced something like this first with their very clever Surface, which launches later this year.  More >>
google-wallet

Google Wallet updated to support all debit/credit cards

Steve Barnett | August 1, 2012
Today Google announced an update to their Google Wallet that greatly expands its reach: support for all credit/debit cards. As a Galaxy Nexus user, I’m one of the few in the world who could actually use Google Wallet. . .if I had a MasterCard PayPass card, which I don’t. Every user who signs up with Google Wallet also gets a $10 prepaid card courtesy of Google, but I haven’t gotten a chance to use it largely due to the tiny retail PoS footprint. This is a welcome update from Google and a necessary step if they’re going to get to ... More >>
Amazon Android App Store Test Drive

Test Drive Apps with Amazon Android Store

John Calian | May 22, 2012
Unlike the App store Apple runs (iTunes), nor the one Google operates (Google Play), the Amazon App store for Android has begun letting users ‘test drive’ apps right from their device. Test Drive was launched a year ago and initially allowed Android device owners to simulate the use of a mobile app right on their PCs/Macs, but did not allow mobile device test driving. As of today that has changed: users on select Android devices can now test drive Apps right from their handsets. The basic concept is to enhance the shopping experience and decrease the purchasing friction users experience. ... More >>

Will Intel have success in smartphone arena now?

Marcos Zart | May 17, 2012
Intel finally achieved its highest annual market share (15.6%) in over a decade in 2011. But according to the market research firm IHS iSuppli, Intel is uncomfortable with the nice 5 percentage points (pp) difference over the 2nd place (Samsung) and, since last month, is finally showing that they are working seriously to refocus chip design in the smartphone industry. Lava and Intel have created a special line of smartphones using the new brand Xolo (which I discovered means a rare, hairless breed of dog, also known as a Mexican hairless dog). The Lava XOLO X900 was launched in India at ... More >>

48 Hours with Android

John Calian | May 15, 2012
After four and a half years of using an iPhone exclusively, I swapped out for an Android phone for the weekend to finally see first hand what its all about. The device I have is the new Google Nexus Galaxy from Samsung. Immediate differences After getting my hands on a micro SIM adapter, I  removed the micro SIM from my iPhone, plugged it into the Nexus and started exploring. The device is bigger, feels lighter (iPhone feels heavier for its size, and its very solid), has a giant, bright screen, and was mostly friendly to a first time user. The quickest ... More >>

iPhone sales in China

Steve Barnett | May 7, 2012
Here’s an interesting opinion piece on iPhone sales in China. A tidbit: In its native U.S. ecosystem, the iPhone functions beautifully. But take it to China and the device just isn’t very happy. To start with, more than half of the 30 million iPhone users in China have unlocked their phones (a hint that something isn’t right) and are using them on an unauthorized network (China Mobile) that until recently limited them to 2G data speeds. . . . Chinese users are cobbling together an iPhone experience from a variety of sources, and the overall experience is not very good. ... More >>