Cult of Android - page 47

This isn’t a review of the Nexux 5. Rather, it’s a review of Google’s new strategy of integration as displayed in the KitKat-running Nexus 5.

You’ll find a gazillion reviews on the Nexus 5 over the next month, some detailing every feature and function. In general, these reviews will tell you that the Nexus 5 is a great phone with a great form-factor and exterior design, incredible screen, good battery life and excellent general performance. They’ll also point out that nothing even comes close to the Nexus 5’s value for money ($349 unlocked). And Nexus5/KitKat has little surprises (such as LTE tethering, even on AT&T).

I’m here not to add yet another review to the mix, but to zero in on what really matters: How Googley is this phone, exactly?

The short answer is: pretty Googley but not Googley enough.

To the extent that Nexus 5 succeeds (is better than other phones), it succeeds with integration. To the extent that Nexus 5 fails, it fails to integrate.

Here’s what I’m talking about.

He may have been misquoted about disliking the new iPads, but Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak recently had something else to say which might prove even more controversial: that Apple and Google should work together.

“Sometimes I say ‘Go to Joe’s Diner’ and [Siri] doesn’t know where Joe’s Diner is,” Woz told the BBC’s UK technology program Click — adding that, “Usually I find out that Android does.”

North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un might be an Apple user, but that doesn’t mean that North Korea’s state-run computer agency doesn’t see the value of launching a tablet of its own.

Costing around $250, the Korea Computer Center’s Samjiyon SA-70 has a 7-inch screen with a resolution of 800 x 480 pixels, 1 GHz CPU, 1 GB RAM, 4 GB internal memory, and a card slot equipped with an 8 GB micro SD memory card. There is also a 2 mega pixel camera, microphone, gyro sensor. Currently there’s no way to connect to the Internet, although there is an extendable antenna for receiving state television signals.

Worldwide smartphones shipments reached a whopping 251.4 million units during the third quarter of 2013, up 45% from the 172.8 million units sold during the same quarter last year, and 81.3% of them were running Android. The iPhone’s share fell to 13.4%, while Microsoft’s Windows Phone platform reached 4.1% — an improvement over last year’s 2.1% share.

The FAA has today announced that it will finally allow the use of certain electronic devices during all phases of flight — including takeoff and landing. We’ve long been able to use devices while the plane is in the air, but you’ll no longer be forced to turn them off and put them away at certain times.

Following on from the news that Samsung shipped 2.6x the number of smartphones that Apple did last quarter, new figures released by research firm IDC show that Samsung tablet shipments grew by 123% to 9.7 million tablets over the same period. While Apple still leads the way with 29.6% of the tablet market, this is down considerably from the 40.2% share the company captured during this same quarter last year. Samsung meanwhile holds a company record 20.4% of the market, while Asus holds 7.4% (representing a 53% year on year increase). The two biggest growth companies for tablets are Acer and Lenovo — with their shipments increasing 346% and 420% respectively to represent 0.9% and 1.1% of the overall market.

You might wonder how you would live without your smartphone, but one gas station clerk in Florida could literally be dead without his. His HTC EVO 3D stopped a bullet that was fired at his abdomen during an early morning robbery, ensuring the injuries he sustained were only minor.

A Google Glass user in California may have become the first to get a ticket for using the wearable while driving. Cecilia Adabie was stopped by a Highway Patrol officer last night then summoned to the superior court for “driving with monitor visible to driver.”

The ticket has sparked debate over whether or not it should be legal to use Google Glass while behind the wheel.

If you thought BBM was going to be a massive flop on Android and iOS, then you thought wrong. BlackBerry has today announced that the service has added 20 million active users since making its debut on the two rival platforms, taking its total number of monthly active users across Android, iOS, and BlackBerry to 80 million.

A Google smartwatch powered by Android with built-in Google Now is in the late stages of development, according to people familiar with the matter, who have been speaking to The Wall Street Journal. Google is now in talks with Asian suppliers, which could begin mass producing the device “within months.”

Although Apple is still (very) profitably plugging along with the iPhone, there’s a new king of smartphones, and it’s Samsung. The Korean gadget maker continued to dominate smartphone sales in the third quarter, shipping over 88 million smartphones this quarter compared to just 33.8 million iPhones shipped. And it gets worse for Apple.

Samsung has struck a $100 million deal with the NBA that will see its tablets and televisions used courtside during games. The deal is seen as a strategic move that could expand the global reach of both parties, shoving Samsung’s logo and devices into the faces of NBA fans, and putting NBA content into the hands of Samsung’s customers.

BlackBerry has now done away with its waiting list for BBM on Android and iOS, allowing new users to begin using the messaging service right after they’ve signed up. The Canadian company has also promised new features in future updates, including Channels, BBM Voice, and BBM Video.

Dead Trigger 2, the sequel to heavily-downloaded hit zombie game, Dead Trigger, burst onto Google Play and the App Store late Wednesday night, bringing next-level graphics and gameplay to devices in your very pocket.

This first-person shooter has an all new touch control scheme that was created, says the developer, Madfinger Games, specifically for casual gamers. You’ll be able to use the virtual joystick, of course, and Android players can use supported game controllers. What’s interesting, however, is the new casual-gamer-style touch control scheme.

You’ll immerse yourself into a world where the humans are fighting the zombies, like you do. The game itself, however, is played out in real time on a global scale.

O2 U.K. has partnered with Evernote to give all of its customers a one-year Evernote Premium subscription for free. The offer applies to all business, pay monthly, pay-as-you-go, and mobile broadband customers, and it’s available starting today.

Samsung has been fined $340,000 by Taiwan’s Fair Trade Commission for an Internet campaign against HTC that violated fair trade rules. The South Korean company paid students to praise its own smartphones in online reviews while slamming those of rival HTC.

The BAFTA-nominated games studio behind award-winning Great Big War Game, Rubicon Development, just released its latest mobile game: Combat Monsters. It’s available now on Google Play, the App Store, Windows, and will be coming soon to the Mac.

BlackBerry finally brought BBM to Android and iOS earlier this week, but in an effort to prevent the server problems that halted its initial debut, the Canadian company decided to implement a waiting list that allows it to control how many users gain access.

But if you were late to the party and you’re stuck at the back of the line, you’ll be pleased to know there’s a quick and easy way to bypass that waiting list. Just follow the simple steps below.

Forgetting the disaster that was Battlefield 3: Aftershock, I’ve always thought EA’s other Battlefield titles for iOS were pretty good. But the company has promised a new “high-end” and “high-performance” Battlefield title for mobile that could come a little closer to its console counterpart — and may even be able to “inter-operate” with it.

Who cares?

That’s the question I was asked time and time again when I told people that BBM was coming to Android and iOS. But it seems a lot of people care. In fact, when BBM finally made its cross-platform debut yesterday, the app was downloaded over 5 million times in just eight hours.

When you’re the head of one of the nation’s four largest mobile carriers, you’ve got access to a lot of phones. You’ve probably got to try them out all the time. But do you ever have access to so many phones that you forget which is which, or that the iPhone in your hand is not, in fact, a Samsung Galaxy phablet?

SEGA has today announced its mobile games lineup for the coming months, with a number of notable new titles heading to Android and iOS.

Highlights include a revamped Sonic the Hedgehog 2 — which will be available on Android for the first time; Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing Transformed, and a rhythm franchise that originally made its debut on the Nintendo DS.

Samsung looks to be preparing its own extended warranty plans that will provide additional coverage for its smartphones, tablets, and other consumer electronics, according to a new trademark registered with the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office.

Called “Protection Plus,” the service is expected to offer the same kind of protection that is available to iPhone, iPad, and iPod users with AppleCare+.

Google is in the smartphone business, obviously. But are they in it to win it, or just f**king around?

Sometimes I wonder.

Google is obviously a visionary company with incredible technology and the capacity to build some of the greatest stuff out there.

In fact, Google already has created all the elements of a monster, iPhone-killing super-phone. Yet some invisible, internal company flaw seems to be stopping the company from putting all those elements into an actual phone.

The iPhone-killing elements are scattered all over different phones that Google sells, and some of the elements aren’t in the phones at all.

As a result, Google’s fans are faced with an artificial choice between this feature or that feature — or just giving up and buying either a non-Google Android phone or an iPhone for a more compelling mobile experience.

What’s stopping Google from integrating all its best stuff into a single phone that would thrill everybody and dominate the market?

Is it Microsoft-style company politics, where internal power struggles among VPs and product managers create a hyperpluralism that paralyzes the company?

I don’t know. But what I do know is that Google could completely transform the market by simply using what it’s already got.

Here are the four actions Google needs to take to use what it’s got to create the ultimate iPhone killer super-phone.

Google stock has risen 13% today, surpassing $1,000 for the first time ever. It comes a day after the search giant announced its earnings for last quarter, which beat Wall Street expectations thanks to a surge in mobile and video advertising that helped increase quarterly revenue by 23%.