httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGwY70jkdY4
With its Lumia 900 set to make its much-anticipated debut in the U.S. on April 8, Nokia has kicked off a new advertising campaign called Smartphone Beta Test, in which it mocks devices like the iPhone and Android-powered rivals. Its most noticeable stab is at the iPhone’s “Death Grip,” which can be seen in the clip above.
Some might think that a flexible display is something out of a Sci-Fi film, however, they’re actually real. Samsung has already shown off its OLED flexible display, and today, we’ve gotten word that LG has now put its flexible e-ink display into mass production. Are these leading the way for a larger flexible display to land on the next iPad?
Apple and Samsung have been duking it out in court for quite sometime now, with Apple claiming that the Korean electronics giant has been “slavishly” copying its iOS products to use in Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. In its case against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab, Apple has leaned heavily on two specific patents for its defense, both having to do with the exterior of the iPad.
As if to point out the absurdity of Apple patenting the exterior of a tablet, Judge Koh, presiding over the case, notably held up both the Galaxy Tab and iPad side-by-side and asked those in the court to tell which was which from a distance. It took lawyers on both sides of the aisles a few seconds to answer the question correctly.
The judge’s point seems simple. Sure, the Galaxy Tab may look like the iPad, but Apple can’t patent that appearance… and to prove her point, she made note that in 1994, a television network portrayed the look of a tablet much before the iPad or Galaxy Tab came on the scene. If true, this could seriously destroy Apple’s case.
Ever wonder who exactly Samsung hired to test out the Galaxy Note before shipping it out to retailers across the globe? It was no easy task finding a quality assurance team that measured up to the pure magnitude of the Galaxy Note, but after interviewing nearly a dozen teams, Samsung went with lead QA Engineer Peter the elephant and his expert team of mixed mammals.
Foxconn, the company that assembles almost all of Apple’s devices —- plus plenty more for the likes of Amazon, Dell, Microsoft, and Sony —- has confirmed today that it has secured a 46.5% stake in Sharp’s giant LCD plant in Sakai, Japan. The deal is expected to help Sharp improve its performance, and could make low-energy IGZO displays a possibility for future iPads
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Update: And just like that, Microsoft has decided to do the right thing and award Sahas his prize.
Microsoft concocted a brilliant marketing campaign where they challenge mobile users to complete various tasks faster than a Windows phone. Any contestant able to “smoke” a Windows phone with their current mobile phone will be awarded a Hunger Games Special Edition PC worth over $1000. Even if you lose the challenge (which Microsoft has made certain of), you will win the opportunity to trade-in your current phone for a free Windows phone (excluding the Nokia Lumia 800). The contest has been hit heavily with accusations of Microsoft rigging the contest via various methods including deliberately throttling Wi-Fi speeds for non-Windows Phones. Despite the many unfounded accusations, one challenger has come forward claiming Microsoft blatantly denied him his prize after legitimately “smoking” a Windows phone with his Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Apple and Samsung have battled in court over the design of a number of Samsung’s Galaxy products, which Apple believes were “slavishly” copied from the iPhone and iPad. However, the Korean company’s chief of mobile design maintains that the Galaxy is “original from the beginning,” and believes that one day, he will match Jony Ive by designing a truly iconic product.
If you thought that the new iPad would be the only tablet to sport a true Retina display, then think again. Microsoft is encouraging tablet makers to introduce high-resolution displays into their devices with support for resolutions up to 2560×1440.
If it’s not a smaller iPad, it’s a bigger iPhone, and today’s rumor sees the iPhone approaching the absurd size of Samsung’s phablet, the Galaxy Note. The Korean Maeil Business Newspaper cites unnamed sources who claim that Apple is already placing orders to its suppliers for 4.6-inch retina screens.
As we mentioned earlier, those Dr. Jests of the DIY repair movement, iFixIt, have gotten themselves one of the very first new iPads and are already busy hacking away at it. Their server is being crushed right now, but the teardown has already born some fruit, confirming that Samsung is indeed working with Apple to build the new iPad’s Retina Display.
In the latest patent war saga, a Dutch court ruled that Samsung cannot assert 3G patents against Apple products using Qualcomm’s baseband chips — as Samsung has a licensing deal with the U.S. chipmaker — thus denying their bid to ban the sales of the iPhone and iPad in the Netherlands. However, Samsung didn’t consider the ruling a complete loss as the Hague court also ruled that Samsung could seek damages over the use of Intel chips. While Apple doesn’t use Intel chips, this gives Samsung ammunition against those that do.
Not satisfied with your iPhone’s screen size? Want Apple to come out with an iPhone to rival the Galaxy Nexus’ screen? Maybe even the Samsung Galaxy Note?
Cartoonist Leslie Wood gives us a humorous take on what the future of smartphones holds for mankind:
Oh, Samsung. We know you have a complicated relationship with Apple, building components for them with the one hand, suing with the other. But can’t you stop mouthing off about the components you’re building them about Cupertino’s top-secret upcoming projects? Keep this up and you’re likely to find yourself wearing concrete shoes at the bottom of the local reservoir.
Apple has continually talked about the number of companies that have been testing or deploying iPads to its workers – and if you look around many workplaces today, you’re likely to see at least one or two iPads.
If you’re craving more than anecdotal evidence that the iPad is a serious business tool, however, a new ChangeWave study offers plenty of solid proof. The study shows that 84% of businesses looking to deploy tablets are planning to buy iPads within the next three months. That follows an earlier study that showed the iPad commands 96% of the business tablet market.
No technology company in the world has been more scrutinized than Apple when it comes to labor conditions. Over the past couple months everyone has been quick to point out how crappy the conditions are at Apple’s supplier factories – Foxconn. But what a lot of the tech press hasn’t done, is investigate the conditions at the other major tech companies in the world. Not only is Apple the only company talking about what they’re doing to fix the problem, but they are the only major tech company that is allowing independent audits of their factory conditions.
It’s a simple question, phrased politely, and sent to the right people. Does your company have any plans to let independent auditors check up on your suppliers’ factories?
Here’s what some of the world’s biggest electronics companies said in response:
In a move that would surely have Steve Jobs — the man willing to go thermonuclear war against Android — rolling over in his grave, Apple has apparently offered licensing deals to Samsung and Motorola in an attempt to settle ongoing and future patent suits. According to sources speaking with Dow Jones Newswires, Apple has offered licensing deals in the tune of $5 to $15 per device or the equivalent of 1% to 2.5% of net sales per device. Interestingly enough, these fees are on par with what Apple deemed “unreasonable” after attempts to license patents from Motorola.
The iPad 3 will be officially unveiled just days from now, but the rumor mill is always forward-looking, which means it’s already on its way to being yesterday’s news. What can we expect after the iPad 3? That’s what everyone wants to know now.
If a report from Apple’s best frenemy Samsung is anything to go by, it’ll be the long-rumored iPad mini.
The GSMA has announced the winners of the 17th Annual Global Mobile Awards which took place yesterday at Mobile World Congress. The top mobile products and services were showcased and there was even some entertainment with comedian/songwriter Tim Minchine as the host. Categories ranged from Best Consumer Mobile Service to Best Mobile Innovation for Publishing and while we love hearing about innovative products, it’s really the hardware categories that had us talking.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Samsung is serious about its Galaxy Note hardware, and has had a rare fit of intense product focus. The Notes are being pushed as artists’ devices. This much is obvious from the artists painting people’s portraits in the Samsung booth, and the caricatures covering every surface like a kid’s pre-school scrawlings plastered on a proud parent’s fridge door. But Samsung has also got some great developers on board.
Although Android has an overall lead over iOS in smartphone marketshare, there are IT departments that remain hesitant on the platform. Unlike the iPad and iPhone, which are beginning to be seen to be as business tools rather than consumer-oriented entertainment devices, most Android phones have yet to prove that they offer a business feature that can’t be found on other platforms. Samsung’s newly announced Galaxy Beam smartphone may be the first Android phone to solidly offer something powerful and unique for business users.
The Galaxy Beam is Samsung’s new handset that includes a 15-lumen pico projector. Although Samsung’s press release for the phone offering a lot of personal entertainment uses, this is a device that has clear business potential.
BARCELONA, MOBILE WORLD CONGRESS 2012 — Samsung seems to be obsessed with adding easy-to-break, easy-to-lose accessories to its “phones” and tablets. The two Notes come with tiny, disappearing styluses, and this monstrosity — the five-inch Wi-Fi-only Galaxy S — has an antenna. Yes, heft this slab in your palm and you’ll be whisked back to the early 1990s, when phones were the size of bricks, and you pulled the antenna out to make and receive calls.
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.
The year’s biggest phone expo is about to kick off in Barcelona, Spain. The Mobile World Congress always seems to have an unofficial theme. Last year it was non-Apple tablets and bad 3-D. In 2010 it was Windows Phone 7.
This year? This year looks set to be all about the Phablets. And Cult of Mac is going to be there first-hand to laugh at report on them.
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.
It’s hard to imagine a scenario where your SD cards would need to be “waterproof, shockproof and magnet proof,” but Samsung has gone and made some ruggedized cards anyway. Available in several speeds and sizes, the brushed metal cards will look as good out of your cameras as they will in it.