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- Huawei announces departure from U.S. market, then reverses course
- Smart glasses like Google Glass expected to ship 9 million units by 2016
- Next iteration of Google Glass may look like traditional sunglasses with two see-through displays
- HTC makes statement regarding injunction, will transition to improved microphones
- T-Mobile HTC One S gets Jelly Bean
- LG will show off a smartphone with a flexible OLED display this year
- HTC One heading to China with dual-sim and microSD card support
- TalkAndroid Daily Dose for April 24, 2013
- Fieldrunners 2 comes to Android platform
- Quad-core or Octa-core, it doesn’t matter says Samsung’s J.K. Shin
| Huawei announces departure from U.S. market, then reverses course Posted: 25 Apr 2013 09:33 AM PDT
The past two days have been interesting ones for Huawei and their efforts to break into the U.S. market. During a summit with analysts on Tuesday, Huawei’s Executive Vice President Eric Xu made some statements indicating Huawei was going to abandon the U.S. market. At least, that is how many people interpreted his comments. A day later Huawei issued a clarification to explain that Mr. Xu was commenting on growth in other developed countries, especially European markets. Huawei anticipates those markets will be much more important for them than the U.S. market, but they have no intention of abandoning the U.S. market. As the world’s second largest telecommunications equipment manufacturer, one would think Huawei could achieve a significant presence in the U.S. However, the company has been subject to claims that it is really a front for Chinese espionage efforts. The clearest and most explicit instance of this came last fall when the U.S. House of Representatives’ Intelligence Committee issued a report claiming Huawei and ZTE may pose a major risk to U.S. security. The House Committee also believes Huawei may be guilty of bribery, corruption, discriminatory behavior and copyright infringement. Huawei has struggled to gain a foothold in selling telecommunications gear in the U.S., no doubt thanks to the virtual blacklisting of the company. However, the mobile division is achieving some limited success. For 2012, Huawei made CNY 31 billion ($5.1 billion USD). More recently they have had to resort to measures like selling their phones through Amazon instead of directly by carriers. source: Beijing News
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| Smart glasses like Google Glass expected to ship 9 million units by 2016 Posted: 25 Apr 2013 08:52 AM PDT
Research firm IHS has released their predictions for shipments of wearable, high tech glasses, like Google Glass, and it’s definitely a positive outlook. According to the firm, they believe up to 9.4 million units could be shipped between 2012 and 2016. They only expect about 124,000 units of Glass to ship this year, but they see the demand for devices to accelerate by 250% next year, and if Google plays their cards right with development and advertising, they could ship over 6 million Glass units in 2016. The firm does warn, however, that price may be the Achilles Heel of Google Glass. Hit the press release below to check out the full details. Spurred by Google Glass, IHS Forecasts Nearly 10 Million Smart Glasses to Ship from 2012 to 2016 LONDON (April 24, 2013)—Initiated by the arrival of Google Glass and magnified by Google's efforts to promote application development for the product, the global market for smart glasses could amount to almost 10 million units from 2012 through 2016. Shipments of smart glasses may rise to as high 6.6 million units in 2016, up from just 50,000 in 2012, for a total of 9.4 million units for the five-year period, according to an upside forecast from IMS Research, now part of IHS Inc. (NYSE: IHS). Growth this year will climb 150 percent to 124,000 shipments, mostly driven by sales to developers, as presented in the high-end outlook in the attached figure. Expansion will really begin to accelerate in 2014 with the initial public availability of Google Glass, as shipment growth powers up to 250 percent, based on the optimistic forecast. Smart glass products like Google Glass are wearable computers with a head-mounted display. Google Glass this month began shipping to application developers who registered as early backers and paid the $1,500 price tag. This is expected to spur innovations in applications that should take Glass from early adopters to the mass market. As the developers get to work and Google encourages venture capitalists to back them, shipments will begin to surge to high volumes, according to the upside forecast. However, the success of Google Glass will depend primarily on the applications developed for it. If developers fail to produce compelling software and uses for the devices, shipments could be significantly lower during the next several years. "The applications are far more critical than the hardware when it comes to the success of Google Glass," said Theo Ahadome, senior analyst at IHS. "In fact, the hardware is much less relevant to the growth of Google Glass than for any other personal communications device in recent history. This is because the utility of Google Glass is not readily apparent, so everything will depend on the appeal of the apps. This is why the smart glass market makes sense for a software-oriented organization like Google, despite the company's limited previous success in developing hardware. Google is betting the house that developers will produce some compelling applications for Glass." The glass is half full According to the optimistic scenario, developers will succeed in producing augmented reality applications for smart glasses that provide the user with information that can be safely and conveniently be integrated into casual use. Such applications typically are known as augmented reality, which involves adding a layer of computer-generated data to real-world people, places and things. "The true success of Glass will be when it can provide some information to users not apparent when viewing people, places or things," Ahadome said. "This information may include live updates for travel, location reviews and recommendations, nutritional information and matching personal preferences, and previous encounters to aid decision making. The upside for smart glasses will arise when they become a powerful information platform. In many ways, this is exactly what Google already does via other mediums, and also is why the upside scenario seems more likely." Broken glass Under a more pessimistic scenario, IHS forecasts that only about 1 million smart glasses will be shipped through 2016. According to this outlook, applications for smart glasses will be limited to some of those already displayed by Google in its Glass marketing. These include scenarios where smart glasses become more of a wearable camera device than a true augmented reality system. In this case, smart glasses will be mainly used for recording sports and other non-casual events, like jumping out of a plane, as demonstrated at the Google I/O developer conference in 2012. However, Glass will face competition from alternative wearable camera devices already in the market, such as GoPro Hero or Recon MOD Live. While the wearable camera market was worth more than $200 million in 2012, it is not the multibillion-dollar market that smart glasses can achieve with wider applicability. "The less frequently consumers interact with any personal communications device, the less valuable it becomes," Ahadome observed. "If smart glasses become devices that are used only occasionally, rather than all the time, they become less attractive and desirable to consumers."
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| Next iteration of Google Glass may look like traditional sunglasses with two see-through displays Posted: 25 Apr 2013 08:39 AM PDT
Just because Google Glass hasn’t officially been released yet doesn’t mean we can’t speculate on what the next version will be like. According to a new patent filed by Google, the next generation of Glass will have a more traditional look, like what your sunglasses look like today. The patent describes a “near-to-eye display with diffraction grating that bends and focuses light," and it gets even more complex from there. However, it more or less describes a device that looks like normal sunglasses instead of the bulky Glass model Google is currently working with. Obviously this should be taken with a grain of salt, as this is just a patent for something Google can potentially work with. I don’t expect Google will want to obsolete their current version of Glass within six months, and I seriously doubt the necessary hardware is even there for them to do that if they wanted to. This stuff is years down the road, at least. But hey, a little speculation never hurts. source: US Patent Office via: Unwired View
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| HTC makes statement regarding injunction, will transition to improved microphones Posted: 25 Apr 2013 06:40 AM PDT
HTC is clearing the air in regards to the injunction that was ordered in the Netherlands on Nokia’s behalf. They want to make it clear the injunction wasn’t on the HTC one, but it was on STM, manufacturers of the microphone on the HTC One. Nokia had an exclusive arrangement with STM for these microphones and HTC bought them in good faith. In fact, HTC was found to be blameless in the case. Regardless, HTC can’t buy microphones from STM anymore, but HTC wanted to make it clear that they are still able to utilize the microphones they bought before the injunction was granted. HTC is already working on an improved design and will transition to it when the current STM supply runs out. Hit the break for HTC’s full statement.
In light of several misleading stories regarding a recent injunction obtained by Nokia against STM (a supplier of components to HTC in The Netherlands) HTC looks to clarify the following points:
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| T-Mobile HTC One S gets Jelly Bean Posted: 25 Apr 2013 06:23 AM PDT
I was actually wondering if it would ever happen, but it looks like the Jelly Bean update is officially rolling for the T-Mobile HTC One S. Of course it isn’t the latest version of Jelly Bean, but Android 4.1.1 still brings a lot of new features such as Google Now. The file size is pretty high at 675.49MB so you need to be connected to WiFI for this one. You should receive your update automatically, but you can always check to see if you can manually pull it by going to Settings/About/Software Updates. Let us know if you received your update yet. source: TmoNews
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| LG will show off a smartphone with a flexible OLED display this year Posted: 25 Apr 2013 06:10 AM PDT
A couple of weeks ago we heard that LG is ahead of Samsung in terms of bringing a flexible display to market. Now LG is saying they will unveil a smartphone with a flexible OLED display towards the end of the year according to LG’s vice president of mobile Yoon Bu-hyun. Samsung, on the other hand, hasn’t committed to when we will see their first offering. It will be interesting to see if either company will utilize these displays on one of their flagship devices at first or offer a completely different phone. I can’t imagine either company will have a tremendous supply at the beginning, so don’t expect to see them on popular models such as the Optimus G 2, Galaxy S 5, or Galaxy Note III. source: WSJ
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| HTC One heading to China with dual-sim and microSD card support Posted: 24 Apr 2013 10:06 PM PDT
The HTC One is launching on carriers all over the world, and now we’ve got the official announcement for China. As we’d previously heard, the Chinese variant of the HTC One is still packing dual sim slots and that coveted microSD card slot. The battery is still completely non-removable, but the SD card is a very, very nice addition. There’s no word on carrier subsidies, but you can expect the device to be available directly from HTC on April 26th. As we’d heard before, this customized version of the One is probably not going to hit any other parts of the world, so don’t hold your breath. source: Engadget
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| TalkAndroid Daily Dose for April 24, 2013 Posted: 24 Apr 2013 08:09 PM PDT
With hectic schedules, it can be hard to keep track of everything in your news feed. That’s why we created the TalkAndroid Daily Dose. This is where we recap the day’s hottest stories so you can get yourself up to speed in quick fashion. Happy reading!! Guides Samsung Galaxy S 4 initial setup and changes to TouchWiz How to set up and use Air View and Air Gestures on the Samsung Galaxy S 4 How to set up and use Smart Pause and Smart Scroll on the Samsung Galaxy S 4 For the beginner: How to set the Galaxy S 4 to Easy Mode Samsung Galaxy 4 camera overview and how to use the Dual Camera function How to take a Drama Shot and Erase unwanted objects with the Samsung Galaxy S 4 camera How to make Animated GIFs and add sound to pictures on the Galaxy S 4 Reviews Blood Runner [Arcade & Action]
Apps Swype officially out of beta and now available in the Play Store Update allows for offline viewing in Falcon Pro Remember The Milk gets major update to version 3.0, adds tablet support Fieldrunners 2 comes to Android platform Carriers MetroPCS shareholders give T-Mobile USA merger the green light Phones Acer adds the Liquid E2 to its smartphone lineup Google X device running Android 5.0.1 shows up in AnTuTu Benchmarks HTC One receives update to improve UltraPixel camera performance HTC One heading to China with dual-sim and microSD card support Lenovo Ideaphone K900 available May 6th in China Quad-core or Octa-core, it doesn't matter says Samsung's J.K. Shin Sprint and T-Mobile both delay Galaxy S 4 retail launch Verizon confirms Samsung Galaxy S 4 pre-orders will begin on April 25th Miscellaneous New study says market for phablets, "superphones" to reach 825 million units globally by 2018
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| Fieldrunners 2 comes to Android platform Posted: 24 Apr 2013 08:07 PM PDT
Tower defense fans will be happy to know that a sequel to one of the most popular tower defense games is now available in the Google Play Store. Fieldrunners 2 from Subatomic Studios gives players the opportunity to once again match wits with an enemy force while saving the world. The title boasts some of the best AI to be found in a Strategic-Action-Puzzle-Defense game to match the beautiful graphics. Subatomic Studios has packed some unique new features into the game, including a tower that shoots bee hives; trenches, bridges and tunnels; and a tower that will turn enemy combatants into barnyard animals. Subatomic estimates the game provides 20 or more hours of fun to complete the campaign against the invading fieldrunners. Fieldrunners 2 has over 20 new levels to challenge players who have additional options to try their hand at like Puzzle, Sudden Death, and Time Trial levels. Check out some screenshots and a launch video below. If you are ready to defend the world, hit the Google Play download link below and be ready to drop $2.99. Click here to view the embedded video.     
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| Quad-core or Octa-core, it doesn’t matter says Samsung’s J.K. Shin Posted: 24 Apr 2013 08:06 PM PDT
How many of you think it matters how many cores the processor in your phone has? It doesn’t matter, or at least that is what the head of IT and Mobile Communications and co-CEO of Samsung J.K. Shin would like you to believe. While Europe and the U.S. will get the quad-core Snapdragon version of the Samsung Galaxy S 4, other markets will see the Exynos 5 octa-core variant. This decision has ruffled some feathers with consumers hoping to get their hands on the Exynos version here in the states without having to import it. J.K. Shin believes this to be a moot point according to CNET, because the processors are similar enough that the average consumer wouldn’t be affected. If this doesn’t help you to understand Samsung’s decision, maybe this will: the real reason why Samsung chose to launch different specs in different markets was a supply issue. Most of us can probably agree that if you only have enough to supply your home market or an outside market, we would all chose the home market, and that’s what Samsung did. There you have it folks, the reason why your shiny new Samsung Galaxy S 4 doesn’t have a Exynos 5 octa-core processor is a supply issue, but it doesn’t matter anyways. He is probably right. I’m sure the average consumer could walk out of the store with either variant and never know the difference. However for developers and gamers, a processor can mean whether their game is better then the next guy’s by pushing the limits of mobile gaming. So do you guys agree with J.K. Shin? Do you think you could tell the difference? Source: Tech radar
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