BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Samsung continues to chip away at the iPod Touch market with a newer, bigger version of its Wi-Fi-only Galaxy S Wi-Fi 4.2. It’s a Gingerbread device, running on a 1GHz processor, and — surprisingly — it has a 4.2-inch screen. Obviously Samsung saw lucrative a gap in the market between the 4-inch and 4.5-inch sizes.
We all love a good fight around here and we even have a recurring Friday Night Fights where we pit features of iOS vs Android, but this latest video by Samsung is just so asinine that not even us Android fans will defend it. To further promote their Galaxy Note, Samsung has decided to embarrass themselves by “going to the streets” to try and convince people how awesome the S-pen functionality is by challenging an obviously clueless iPhone user to perform the same mundane tasks as a seasoned (trained & scripted) Note user.
Users of Google’s Flight Search will now be able to receive the same great desktop features on their mobile devices. Flight Search is now available for both Android and iOS users who search for a flight via their mobile browser. Just search for a flight departing from the US and watch as Google provides you with a table that shows available flights, including duration and prices. Benefits of Google’s Flight Search include:
Get ready to save Springfield from a horrific nuclear explosion caused by none other than the bumbling Homer Simpson in what Electronics Arts expects to be one of the biggest freemium hits of the year. Expected to be released in the coming weeks on iOS (and then later on Android – D’oh!), The Simpsons: Tapped Out will be a free download for users but will follow the success of other freemium apps by offering optional in-app purchases. This virtual currency will of course come in the form of doughnuts and while not necessary to complete the game, will give impatient users a way to speed things up.
Twitter has pushed out an update for both the Android and iOS mobile apps which brings back a few popular features as well as adding a couple new ones. Also, owners of the Kindle Fire will be happy to know that the Twitter app is now available via the Amazon App Store, and if you happen to own a Barnes & Noble NOOK Color or NOOK Tablet, you can expect to receive the app on February 23rd. So what’s new? According to the Twitter Blog, here’s what you can expect:
Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?
After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: What’s the better music-in-the-cloud service? Google Music or iTunes Match?
In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!
Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.
Today a German court ruled that most of Motorola’s products infringe on Apple’s slide-to-unlock image patent with the only exception being the slide-the-circle gesture used in the Motorola XOOM. This ruling allows Apple to enforce a permanent injunction against the Motorola products found in violation. Motorola can still appeal the decision therefore Apple would be taking a very big risk enforcing such an injunction at this time. Should the ruling be overturned, Apple would have to reimburse Motorola for any lost sales due to the injunction. Regardless of Apple’s decision, one thing is for sure: Motorola will now have to make changes to their UI.
When you’re snapping a tacky, cliched vacation photo, isn’t it annoying that all those other tourists are buzzing around and generally getting in the way of that monument/handsome plaza/amusing statue? Short of climbing up into a bell tower and, well, you know what, there’s little that you can do to remove these scampering human ants. You could take a sequence of photos and buy Photoshop just to paint out the milling hordes, or you could try Scalado’s Remove app. If you had an Android phone.
AT&T has been sending out text messages to those they consider to be among the top 5 percent of heaviest data users. These messages seem to only pertain to those still on the “unlimited” plan and warn them that they may be subjected to “reduced data speeds.” This throttling of data speeds is a direct attack against the “unlimited” plans and the users grandfathered into them. The worst part about it is most “unlimited” users have not changed the way they use their phones, yet they are now finding themselves to be alienated and penalized as being a part of the 5%. The whole thing is outrageous, and while many customers have been ranting about it for a while, you’re going to want to see what happens when Fox News anchor Shep Smith receives one of these AT&T messages. Let’s just say someone’s not happy.
Readability is a nice little app that turns virtually any web page into a clean, comfortable reading view, with syncing to allow for the reading of articles at a later date. While the web app has been available for some time now, the iOS app has been sitting in limbo for 4 month awaiting approval. In the meantime, Readability has managed to develop an Android app which is now almost ready for launch. As you can see from a tweet from a Readability developer, they’re simply waiting for Apple’s approval so they can go ahead and launch the apps:
Everyone’s favorite 8-bit world building game just got better thanks to an update. Minecraft Pocket Edition received its first Survival update, allowing users to choose between Survival and Creative mode when creating a map. Other great additions include:
Starting Sunday AT&T customers will be faced with a $36 fee for upgrading to a new device. This is a 100% increase from the current fee of $18! You ask yourself why, why would AT&T impose a 100% increase on a fee so outlandish that the majority of carriers wave? I say it’s to make up for the 4 billion dollar loss they took on the failed T-Mobile merger. They say it’s because:
Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?
After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: What’s Better For App Stores, Walled Garden Or Open? Apple vets every app released on the iOS and Mac App Stores, but Google lets anything in, removing apps only if they violate their terms. Which is better for developers and consumers?
In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!
Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.
Google has sent letters out to various standards organizations, including the IEEE, promising to honor MMI’s patent licensing policies after it completes its planned acquisition of the company. This includes honoring MMI’s maximum go-forward per-unit royalty rate of 2.25%. This is the same rate MMI is asking Apple to pay in order to lift the injunction on the iPhone and iPad 3G passed down in Germany. Apple has rejected this offer and is fighting it, claiming it’s unfair and contrary to the principles of FRAND licensing commitments. No matter the outcome of the Apple/Motorola dispute, Google will be honoring it once they take over.
It’s been quite some time since I heard anyone mention the name Vonage but it appears they are still alive and kicking. They’re looking to steal some of Skype’s mobile business by offering a new VOIP app for both Android and iOS that claims to offer international calling at 30% less the cost of Skype. Of course the biggest draw is the free app-to-app calling and texting as well as free calls to any Vonage number. Full features of the Vonage Mobile app include:
We often wonder about what the “woman behind the curtain” would look like when we use voice action apps such as Siri but for the Android alternative Iris, we now have a pretty good idea. Iris was an app created for Android by developers Dexetra and started as a tongue-in-cheek reply to iPhone’s Siri. It became immensely popular and currently has over 1 million installs. Things seemed to be going good for this Android Siri competitor until Gizmodo recently revealed the “woman behind the curtain.” It turns out ChaCha, the search engine behind the app, is a bigoted, religious zealot that may have some disturbing answers to some of your questions.
In what seems to be a match made in palette heaven, Redbox has found itself a red partner to help expand its video entertainment business into the digital world. Verizon and Redbox have announced a joint venture to combine the famous Redbox new release rentals with content-rich video on-demand streaming. This new venture will package all the services together for an undisclosed subscription price, with hopes of competing against other video subscription services like Nextflix.
A study by The NPD Group, a leading market research company, provided us with some interesting Q4 statistics. On the obvious side of things, the number of smartphones sold in Q4 were up, with Android and iPhone accounting for over 90% of those sales. While you probably didn’t need a study to tell you that iOS and Android lead the smartphone market, I bet you weren’t aware that Android was actually a favorite among first time buyers.
Google is working on a “secret project” that must need some product integrity as they’ve hired Apple senior director of product integrity Simon Prakash. Simon has worked for Apple for over eight years and is responsible for helping Apple remain top among product quality. This seems to be the first time Google has hired such a senior-level person directly from Apple, and this would certainly put the kibosh on any agreement Eric Schmidt and Steve Jobs may have had regarding poaching employees.
Crash analytics firm Crittercism released a new study this week, claiming that iOS applications crash more often than Android applications. After monitoring over 215 million apps across a wide range of different platforms, the report concluded that iOS 5.0.1 had the highest rate of application crashes. iOS in general also had more app crashes than its top competitor Android. These are interesting numbers that contradict the long held belief that iOS and the apps that run on it, are more stable than that of Android’s. So why such a large number of crashes on iOS?
Laaaaaaaaaaadies and Gentlemen, welcome to Friday Night Fights, a new series of weekly deathmatches between two no-mercy brawlers who will fight to the death — or at least agree to disagree — about which is better: Apple or Google, iOS or Android?
After this week’s topic, someone’s going to be spitting teeth. Our question: Is Siri Really A Revolutionary Feature? Android’s had voice actions and voice recognition for years, so what does Siri really bring to the table that’s new? Is it all just hype?
In one corner, we have the 900 pound gorilla, Cult of Mac; in the opposite corner, wearing the green trunks, we have the plucky upstart, Cult of Android!
Place your bets, gentlemen! This is going be a bloody one.
Our favorite cloud storage service has a nice little treat for anyone brave enough to beta test their latest app. Right now, Dropbox is offering up to an extra 5G of storage for testing out their new automatic upload feature. For every 500MB of photos and videos you automatically upload, Dropbox will reward you with a 500MB space bonus, up to 5GB. Automatic upload seems to be the primary feature added in this beta build, but here’s what they list as new on their site:
The Super Bowl is only a couple of days away and EA Sports has once again discounted their Madden NFL 12 to $0.99. If you missed out on the sale last time, you probably have until Sunday or Monday before this one expires so you’re going to want to act fast before it’s $4.99 again. If you didn’t see the features of the game the last time, here they are again:
Remember that impressive Liquipel waterproof coating for smartphones and mobile devices that was being shown off at CES? Well, according to a previously reliable source, it’ll soon be a feature present on Apple’s long-awaited iPhone 5, and Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy S III.
It’s been a of couple years since the social food finding photogasm app Foodspotting hit the scene, and now — thanks to many hours of hard work — the guys over at Foodspotting are proud to introduce Foodspotting 3.0. In what they’re calling “Pandora for food,” Foodspotting 3.0 has received a complete visual makeover with a Pandora-like interface for discovering and rating dishes. In version 3.0, user can:
