Android Authority |
- Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update now rolling out to international Samsung Galaxy S2
- Google had revenues of $14.42 billion during Q4 2012, 94% of which came from advertising
- Google’s Larry Page: Improving Nexus 4 supply is top priority
- Rumor: HTC M7 heading to Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, but not T-Mobile
- Samsung’s 2013 roadmap: Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Xcover 2, and others confirmed
- Attention smartphone users: your Internet connection is just about to crawl to a halt
- Verizon Galaxy Note 2 available on Wirefly and Amazon for $199
- Xiaomi MI-2 headed for CDMA carrier China Telecom on January 26th
- Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich web browser engagement surpasses the iPhone
- Microsoft’s Surface Pro releases on February 9th in the U.S. and Canada
| Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean update now rolling out to international Samsung Galaxy S2 Posted: 23 Jan 2013 02:31 AM PST
People can't be too happy with Samsung's software updating "efforts" since the still very popular Galaxy S2 was supposed to get the Jelly Bean bump back in November 2012 and ended up being left to ICS dust until now, but at long last things are moving forward. According to Sam Mobile, the Android 4.1.2 upgrade is being pushed out to international versions of the GS2 as we speak, starting with devices in Spain. Though we were expecting the new software package to be made available only via Kies, numerous users are reporting they're able to pull the update OTA (over-the-air) as well, which is always good news. Even better news is the massive changelog, which might just make this the biggest update ever to hit an Android device. As you probably know, the S2 came out with good old 2.3 Gingerbread on board, being later bumped to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
However, the ICS leap didn't tweak the original UI, leaving it all to Jelly Bean. That said, expect a drastic makeover of your GS2 now, starting with the welcomed addition of the TouchWiz Nature UX that brings this oldie on-par with the S3 and Note 2 goldies. Besides the interface revamp, the already traditional Project Butter enhancements should up the phone's performance a notch or two, not to mention all those new features that'll be added like Google Now, Direct Call, Smart Stay and Pop-up Play. On top of it all, you'll get some new previously GS3-exclusive widgets, a new lockscreen with customization options, an overhauled notification bar and two home screen modes. The entire upgrade should rip you off of around 1 GB of storage, but trust us, it's worth every effort or sacrifice, so don't get shy on us now.
While Spanish folks should be already kicking it back with their newly reformed S2s, don't panic if you can't update your phone just yet. As usual, these things come out in waves, so depending on your carrier you might have to wait a couple of days or so. Meanwhile, the updating process should start in other European countries any minute now, as well as in Asia. As for North America, it might still be a while there, though people can certainly start dreaming. Before wrapping it up, we want to say one last thing to all the haters that are ready to jump at Samsung’s throat for the delayed upgrade. What other two-year olds released with Android 2.3 have got a taste of Jelly Bean until now? Exactly. Related Posts |
| Google had revenues of $14.42 billion during Q4 2012, 94% of which came from advertising Posted: 23 Jan 2013 02:14 AM PST
For Android this means that the custodian of the OS is healthy and making money. However there is another side to the story. Google makes 96% of its money from sites which it runs (like Google Search, YouTube and Gmail) together with the advertising money from all those web sites which carry Google ads. Only 6% of Google’s money comes from “other” activities. The Google Play store is likely to be included in the $8.64 billion of Q4 revenues but how much money the store makes wasn’t published. In terms of money which Google directly makes from Android, that is probably very small. Google’s long term aim is to dominate the mobile operating system market and so capture the precious advertising clicks on which it makes money. However it won’t be easy, advertisers pay about half as much for an ad on a mobile device than a desktop, partly because the effectiveness of mobile ads isn’t yet consider high especially when compared to web site adverts. As for Motorola Mobile, its revenues were $1.51 billion for the quarter and the wholly owned subsidiary employs 11,113 people. What Google can fully do with Motorola hasn’t yet been seen. There are clearly a lot of engineers at Motorola and Google really needs to put them to work to make Android shine even more. Other than making more money from Android, the only concern for Google is that the average cost-per-click (which determines how much money Google gets after it has shared a percentage with the site carrying the ad) decreased approximately 6% when compared to the same quarter of 2011, however it was up 2% when compared to the third quarter of 2012. For those in the UK it is nice to see that Google had $1.30 billion of revenue from the island, that represents 10% of Google’s revenues in the fourth quarter. Google recently completed a £1 billion ($1.5 billion) property deal in London. The company said it will build a new office complex on 2.4 acres of disused land behind King's Cross Station for use as its UK HQ. Do you have any Google shares? Related Posts |
| Google’s Larry Page: Improving Nexus 4 supply is top priority Posted: 23 Jan 2013 01:51 AM PST
The scarcity of the latest flagship Nexus smartphone has given way to some bizarre reports from popping up, most of which have since been debunked. While we may never get the full account of the story behind the Nexus 4 shortages, it looks like Google is done pointing its fingers. During Google's quarterly earnings call, the company's CEO Larry Page acknowledged that there's a huge backlog of the Nexus 4. He said that there is "work to be done managing our supply better" and that solving the phone shortage problem will be "priority for the teams". Combined this with LG's assurance that it'll be pumping out more N4 handsets starting in February, we can but hope that customers will be able to buy and get the phone soon without the shipment delay drama — among other annoyances — that's been plaguing its release. For all its logistical flaws, the Nexus 4 is still the Android phone to get for many. Are you still looking to grab one as soon as possible? Or have you been turned off by the supply fiasco and are now eyeing on something else instead? Related Posts |
| Rumor: HTC M7 heading to Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, but not T-Mobile Posted: 23 Jan 2013 01:19 AM PST
Despite the much awaited launch of the Sony Xperia Z happening soon and rumors about Samsung's Galaxy S4 increasing in intensity, another upcoming top-tier Android phone seems to be the star of the most headlines these days. We're talking about HTC's M7, the big guy that's been rendered a bunch of times in the past week and that's had numerous specs and details spilled all around the web. The M7 puzzle is still far from completion, but fortunately we're all set to put a big piece in place today – US availability. According to @evleaks (who else?), HTC's upcoming spearhead will be landing on at least three of the four major carriers in America – AT&T, Verizon and Sprint. The number four, T-Mobile, is left out at this time, but our always reliable source of rumors only tells us that TMO is "lacking concrete evidence", so Magenta could still be in the mix.
If you ask us, T-Mobile absolutely needs a piece of HTC's high-end smartphone pie, even if the OEM's game might have seemed a bit off lately. At this time, there are only four HTC devices sold by T-Mo, two of which run Windows Phone. Out of the other two, the One S is the only half decent Android, so it's time for something new and hip, don't you think? As for the three US carriers supposedly "confirmed" to sell the M7, we have to say we're a bit surprised of Verizon. Big Red has always been tight with HTC, but do the carrier's customers really need a sized down version of the Droid DNA with just a few extra muscles? After all, the 5-incher has only started selling last November. But how about AT&T and Sprint? Well, the former has both the One X and X+ up for grabs, but we don't think the M7 will cannibalize the sales of the two, while the latter is more or less in the same position as T-Mobile – it only has two HTC phones on sale, including a very old and dusty Hero, so a new one is definitely needed. Of course, we still have no words on M7 pricing or an exact ETA, but we’re ready to bet we’ll find out more on that during next month’s MWC in Barcelona. In the meantime, we’ll just have to find ways to cope with the waiting and anxiety, won’t we? Related Posts |
| Samsung’s 2013 roadmap: Galaxy Note 8.0, Galaxy Xcover 2, and others confirmed Posted: 22 Jan 2013 11:31 PM PST
Wondering what army of devices Samsung will deploy in the first half of the year to accompany the flagship Galaxy S4? The leaked slides from Samsung’s 2013 roadmap — as attained by Techno Buffalo — should help provide clues to devices that customers can look forward to in H1 2013. Some are already on our radar, but the roadmap offers more juicy details. Let's start with the Galaxy Note 8.0, whose alleged pictures have made headlines before. Specs-wise, the 8-inch Galaxy Note tablet will boast a quad-core 1.6GHz processor (most likely Exynos), a 4,600mAh battery, and Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. According to the list, the latest addition to the Note series will be available in March, so maybe we'll see it being introduced alongside the Galaxy S4 at the company’s Mobile Unpacked event.
As for the Galaxy Xcover 2, news about the rugged smartphone first surfaced last week. But now, we got more specs of the phone and its expected availability.
The Galaxy Young is about to get a reboot. Among other things, it'll come with dual SIM support.
Lastly, there's the Galaxy Pocket Plus, whose images and specs have also leaked online about a week ago. It looks like the phone will have a better screen resolution than previously reported.
Save for the Galaxy Note 8.0, they’re not exactly the most exciting of devices. But as per usual, Samsung offers a little bit of something for everyone. Related Posts |
| Attention smartphone users: your Internet connection is just about to crawl to a halt Posted: 22 Jan 2013 05:36 PM PST
For many smartphone users, fourth-generation technologies like LTE have ushered in an era of fast mobile broadband, with practical speeds reaching 62 Mbps in some areas and even a theoretical 162 Mbps with LTE-A (even higher with multiplexing). But these network speeds might amount to nothing if there is no network capacity to support the data transfers. Analysts estimate that the upward trend in mobile data use among smartphone users will eventually outpace network capacity in the next three years, and speeds will slow down to a crawl. A recent report by Deloitte says that smartphones — mostly comprising Android, iOS and Windows Phone — consume 35 times more data traffic than typical non-smartphones. As such, this means a 50-fold growth by 2016. But since carriers’ network capacities are not expected to drastically improve by this time, Deloitte likened it to rush hour traffic. Networks will suffer congestion just as physical roads do during rush hours. “In the worst situations, download speeds may be under 1Mbps for lengthy periods of time, making video streaming impossible and even web browsing difficult,” said the report. Given these situations, it might take two or three attempts before successfully loading a webpage. Sites might freeze, and even voice calls might not go through on the first try. Major metropolitan areas will bear most of the brunt, given demand in these areas. While governments are trying to grant new spectrum allocations to mobile carriers, these are often meant for rural areas, or to de-congest traffic in high-use areas such as big cities. The study said the use of 4th generation technologies will help ease the burden for carriers, given that these are more efficient in using the available bandwidth. However, “[d]emand for wireless bandwidth will likely attempt to outstrip these improvements in supply for at least several years.” As such, it might be a worry for smartphone users that the quality of service you are enjoying right now might not be a long-term benefit of smartphone use. As more and more users get onboard the smartphone bandwagon, and as online content becomes richer and richer (videos vs. text, for instance), mobile traffic will continue to become congested. Are you worried that your LTE plan might crawl to a 1Mbps pace in a few years’ time? Or are you confident that new breakthroughs in mobile technology will eventually result in more efficient use of what bandwidth we are already using right now? Perhaps it’s a matter of perspective. For instance, mobile users in emerging economies don’t always get to enjoy 4G or even 3.5G speeds, and can make do with 2Mbps or less. And then there are always traffic optimization techniques employed by Opera Mini, Onavo and the like, which can help reduce network traffic for both a user and the carrier’s network itself. Should we begin to look into more efficient means of using our mobile network resources? Or is this perhaps another argument against net neutrality? Related Posts |
| Verizon Galaxy Note 2 available on Wirefly and Amazon for $199 Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:19 PM PST
Quite frankly, $199 is a great price for the Galaxy Note 2. It still goes for over $300 on Sprint and T-Mobile even with contract discounts. So despite the $199 being touted as an on sale price, it’s still quite a good deal. With it’s quad core processor, 2GB RAM, and 5.5″ 720p screen, the specs also promise the phone will be relevant for at least another year if not longer. Currently, the deal seems to only apply at Wirefly and Amazon Wireless. Both sites advertise it for the same price. However, as Android Police’s David Ruddock observed, Wirefly does not have the white variant at this time. With the Galaxy Note 2 being arguably one of the best smart phones in the world, it’s hard to pass up a deal like this. However, with the myriad of devices announced at CES 2013 and plenty more scheduled for MWC 2013, is it worth grabbing this now? Or is it time to put the cash away and save it for a newer device? If you want to check out the deals, there are links below! Related Posts |
| Xiaomi MI-2 headed for CDMA carrier China Telecom on January 26th Posted: 22 Jan 2013 02:01 PM PST
Xiaomi’s MI-2 smartphone has been out for some time now. It hasn’t been made available for China Telecom though. China Telecom is the country’s smallest carrier. Not only that, but it is the only carrier using a CDMA network. You could think of China Telecom as Sprint here in the US. Xiaomi has announced on its website that China Telecom will be receiving a variant of the MI-2 compatible with the CDMA carrier. It will launch later this week on January 26th for 1,999 yuan. That is the equivalent of $322 US dollars. The only difference potential customers will find in the MI-2 from other variants is that it now supports China Telecom’s CDMA network. The Xiaomi MI-2 sports a 4.3-inch 720p high definition display. Under the hood is a quad core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 CPU and 2GB of internal storage. Camera wise you have your 8-megapixel rear shooter and a 2-megapixel front facing shooter. The MI-2 is also running Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. A mouthful of Jelly Bean goodness right out of the box! What more could you want? No doubt customers on China Telecom will be happy to see this bad boy. Related Posts |
| Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich web browser engagement surpasses the iPhone Posted: 22 Jan 2013 01:07 PM PST
It’s important to precipice this by stating that this is just smartphones. The tablet engagement is an entirely different animal and one that has very different results. So, for the purposes of this study, tablet stats were not included. The study shows that as of November, there is more web browser engagement in Android Ice Cream Sandwich than on all iPhones. This is pretty significant because this is only for one variant of Android. This doesn’t factor in the others. The point of the study is to show that users on Ice Cream Sandwich interact with content in browsers more than iPhone users do. Ice Cream Sandwich has better engagement. What does this mean exactly?In order to understand what’s going on, let’s take a look at what’s being said. Eric Peterson defines web browser engagement as, “an estimate of the degree and depth of visitor interaction on the site against a clearly defined set of goals.” In layman’s terms, it’s essentially a measure of how much people interact with websites in a browser. For instance, if you just go to Twitter’s home page and leave, your browser engagement is low. If you go to Twitter, send a few tweets, then follow some people, then your engagement is significantly higher. So just opening the web browser isn’t what is driving these numbers. Essentially, this means that Ice Cream Sandwich phone owners browse the web with more depth than iPhone owners do. This is significant because this is a statistic that the iPhone has owned for a long time. Now, preliminary results show Ice Cream Sandwich alone pulling ahead of iPhones. With more in depth analysis, it can be said for sure that, at least, the gap between the two platforms is now non-existent. To see the full study, you can find it here. While it is rather technical, it’s definitely interesting. Is this yet another piece of evidence that the iPhone is on its way out, or is it just Android browsers improving? Related Posts |
| Microsoft’s Surface Pro releases on February 9th in the U.S. and Canada Posted: 22 Jan 2013 12:33 PM PST
Microsoft was allegedly going to launch the Surface Pro in January. That did not work out as planned. Microsoft announced today that the Surface Pro will release on February 9th. Very few countries will be seeing the tablet launch on February 9th though. The company still plans on releasing the tablet in other markets. ”It will be available initially in the US and Canada with additional markets to follow in the coming weeks and months,” says a spokesperson. While the wait is unfortunate this is could be a smart move. The original Surface had confusing shipping delays thanks to misinformed representatives. Customers in the U.K. were informed that their Surface would arrive on Oct. 26th, 2012. That date was the shipping date and not the delivery date, a supervisor told ZDNet’s Matt Reynolds. Microsoft gave out free £50 gift cards to those affected. That was enough to snag a copy of Windows 8. No doubt Microsoft is looking to avoid another PR storm. Microsoft Surface Pro pricingMicrosoft will offer a 64GB and a 128GB model at $899 and $999, respectively. Both models will feature a 10.6-inch high definition screen and an Intel Core i5 processor. This makes the Surface Pro’s hardware significantly better than the Surface’s. Additionally, both Surface Pro’s have support for Touch and Type covers. The Surface Pro will run a full version of Windows 8 unlike its predecessor. This means that the tablet will be able to support existing desktop applications. Not just applications based around Windows 8. Microsoft will make available three new Touch Covers for the Surface Pro. These new Touch Covers are available for a limited time. Microsoft will also be making available a special Wedge Touch Mouse for the Surface Pro. Will anyone be picking up the Surface Pro on launch day or is everyone keen on sticking with their Android tablets? Related Posts |
Google has released its financial results for the last three months of 2012 and the company is looking healthy but not without a few minor concerns. First the numbers. Google had revenues of $14.42 billion during Q4 2012, up by 36% when compared to the fourth quarter of 2011. For the whole of 2012 over $50 billion flowed into Google. However, running all those data centeres isn’t cheap and of the $14 billion Google spent nearly 5 billion in the fourth quarter (33% of its revenue) in operating expenses. However once all the calculations are done Google made a profit of $2.89 billion in Q4.
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