Posts tagged iPhone
Verizon iPhone most popular US mobile phone in February
Apr 1st
By Daniel Eran Dilger
Published: 06:00 PM EST
Apple’s CDMA iPhone sold by Verizon Wireless in the US was the nation’s top mobile phone sold during the month of February, according to market research firm comScore.
The firm reported that of the top five phone makers, Apple grew its share of mobile subscribers the most in the last quarter, edging up 0.9 percentage points to hit a 7.5 percent share of the American mobile phone market (not just smartphones).
While four makers are ahead of Apple in the US mobile market, only first place Samsung was able to similarly increase its its share of the market, by 0.3 percentage points, to 24.8 percent.
LG remained flat at 20.9 percent, while Motorola shrunk by 0.9 percentage points to a 16.1 percent share, and RIM fell by 0.2 points to achieve an 8.6 percent share of all mobiles sold during the three month period ending in February.
In terms of smartphone platforms, Android was up 7 percentage points to take 33 percent of the smartphone market, while Apple’s iOS was the only other smartphone platform to register growth, up 0.2 points to a 25.2 percent share of smartphones.
RIM remained ahead of Apple, with 28.9 percent share, but was down 4.6 points compared to three months ago. Microsoft slipped another 1.3 points despite the release of Windows Phone 7, setting down to a 7.7 share, while HP’s Palm webOS platform shrank by 1.1 points to take 2.8 percent share of the smartphone market.
The popularity of Apple’s Verizon iPhone, which comScore called “the most acquired handset in the month of February,” refutes anecdotal figures advertised by BTIG Research analyst Walter Piecyk, who recently claimed that Verizon was selling more HTC Thunderbolt phones than Apple iPhones, based on conversations with retail staff.
Verizon itself claimed the iPhone was its biggest phone launch ever, but has made no similar claim about the Android-based HTC Thunderbolt, which boasts 4G data service via Verizon’s new LTE network.
From www.appleinsider.com
Study: Android tops smartphone market – Windows 7 to pass iPhone
Mar 29th
San Francisco – Global smartphone sales will soar 50 per cent this year compared to 2010, with Google’s Android set to extend its lead as the world’s most popular operating system for the devices, according to a study released Tuesday by research group IDC.
The study estimated that the number of smartphones in use this year will reach roughly 450 million, some 147 million more than in 2010.
Devices running Google’s Android OS will dominate with a 39.5-per- cent market share, rising to 45.4 per cent by 2015. Apple’s iOS devices will decline slightly from 15.7 per cent this year to 15.3 per cent in 2015.
Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 will gain the benefits of an alliance with Nokia to jump from a market share of just 5.5 per cent this year to 20.9 per cent in 2015, making it the number two mobile OS in the world after Android, the study predicted.
Most of that gain will come at the expense of Nokia’s Symbian OS, which is predicted to go from 20.9 per cent to just 0.2 per cent in 2015. Blackberry’s share will decline from 14.9 per cent in 2011 to 13.7 per cent by mid-decade.
‘Overall market growth in 2010 was exceptional,’ said Kevin Restivo, senior research analyst with IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker. ‘Last year’s high market growth was due in part to pent-up demand from a challenging 2009, when many buyers held off on mobile phone purchases. The expected market growth for 2011, while still notable, will taper off somewhat from what we saw in 2010.’
From www.monstersandcritics.com
Apple iPhone Ranks the Most Satisfying for The User
Mar 20th
Apple iPhone Ranks the Most Satisfying for The User
The report released by JD Power and Associates cliams that the users served by the social media are more satisfied with the smartphones . Among all the smartphones, iPhone is the most satisfying for the users while Sanyo the most satisfying traditional mobilephone manufacturer.
The report also signifies that the average price of the traditional mobilephones has fallen to 73 dollars and the users are downloading the applications more and more. While the users of recently- purchased traditional mobilephones or smartphones are more satisfied.
In the report of JD Power, Apple has ranked the first in “smartphone manufacturer satisfaction” for 5 successive times, and 795 points this time. Apple products get high points mainly in operation, operating system, function and appearance design. While MOTO and HTC rank the second and the third with 763 and 762 points respectively.
Among all traditional mobilephone manufacturers, Sanyo ranks the first with 715 points. Sanyo’s products has advantages mainly in three aspects, including appearance design, battery performance and operation. While LG and Sumsung ranks the second and the third with 711 points and 703 points respectively.
Other study results are:
-The average sales price is still falling, 73 dollars in 2011 equally, lower than 81 dollars in 2009.
- 46% users report that they have got free phones while enjoying the mobile service, the proportion sets the historic record.
- The service time of the mobilephones affect the user’s satisfaction. If the service time of one mobilephone is lower than one year, the user will be more satisfied with such a phone. The new mobilephones will provide more functions and services and they have higher quality compared with the old ones.
-2/3 users express they have downloaded games or social network application to the phones.
- More than a half of the phone users say they have downloaded travel software such as maps and whether application. However, 53% users express they have downloaded entertainment applications.
The average satisfaction of the users who enter the social network by smartphones are 783 points, 22 points higher than that of the smartphone users. At present, more than half of the smartphone users enter social network by phones.
From www.phbeta.com
iPhone software loses speed test to Google’s Android
Mar 17th
Ottawa: Apple’s iPhone worked slower loading websites 84 per cent of the time in a test than phones using Google’s Android operating system, according to a Canadian software company.
The iPhone 4 was pitted against Google’s Nexus S smartphone over the same WiFi connection, so any differences in mobile-carrier speeds didn’t affect the outcome, Ottawa-based Blaze Software said in releasing the research.
The Android phone operated 52 per cent faster on average after more than 45,000 page loads from 1,000 websites, Blaze said.
Users don’t always notice the speed gap because websites are sometimes tailored to mobile phones, Blaze said.
The difference will become more obvious as users demand richer experiences and move to tablet computers with larger screens, said Guy Podjarny, chief technology officer of Blaze, whose business is helping companies increase website download times.
“It’s not that Apple doesn’t care about speed, but Google is fanatical about it,” Podjarny said in an interview.
Apple fell $15.42, or 4.5 per cent, to close at $330.01 in Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, and has risen 47 per cent in 12 months.
Two-to-one
Google declined $12.46, or 2.2 per cent, to close at $557.10, and has retreated 1.4 per cent in 12 months.
Android became the world’s best-selling smartphone operating system in the fourth quarter, outselling the iPhone two-to-one, according to Canalys, a research company based in the UK.
Web pages took an average of 2.14 seconds to load on Android compared with 3.25 seconds on iPhone, Blaze said.
When loading lighter websites — those that are optimal for mobile phones because the pages have fewer features, such as pictures, to be downloaded — the difference between the two systems was less noticeable, according to the report.
That’s probably because there were fewer page elements, making a download more efficient, Podjarny said.
Google’s browser is probably faster because of the way it organises the download, Podjarny said.
Google’s software finds more efficient ways of getting different elements of a page, such as pictures or text, he said.
The difference in download speeds may be the result of corporate philosophies, Podjarny said.
Design for speed
Google, based in Mountain View, California, has a team devoted to making its browser and websites faster, employing tools such as downloading things in parallel and accessing page elements before they are needed, Podjarny said.
The company’s platform is also newer, allowing Google to design for speed from the beginning, he said.
Apple has concentrated its resources on design, while “retrofitting” speed into a product line developed before download times were a priority, he said. The first iPhones appeared in 2007.
“The appreciation of speed has grown in the last year or two,” Podjarny said.
“Before, people weren’t really expecting a fast browser on a mobile device. Google has the advantage of coming in a little later and seeing what matters.”
Natalie Kerris, a spokeswoman for Cupertino, California- based Apple, didn’t immediately respond to a telephone call or an e-mail seeking comment on the Blaze study.
A Google spokeswoman, Gina Weakley, declined to comment.
Apple more than doubled the reach of its latest smartphone, the iPhone 4, in the US this year, offering the device to customers using Verizon Wireless, the largest mobile carrier.
Blaze said it ran more than its tests, primarily on the iPhone 4 and Google Nexus S, on websites of the Fortune 1000 companies.
The pages were loaded multiple times on different days, according to the report.
The results may have flaws, according to Blaze.
“We know there’s no such thing as a perfect web page load measurement,” the report authors wrote.
The number of variables involved in loading a single page “is astonishing,” according to the report.
From gulfnews.com
iPhone Personal Hotspot: another excuse for the networks to rip us off
Mar 10th
There’s something admirable about genuinely miserable people, the kind of people that greet the dawning of a new day by asking, “how can I really ruin this day for everybody?”
The kind of people who see everyone as money sponges they can squeeze to get a bit more cash.
The kind of people who run mobile phone networks.
iOS 4.3 is here, and that means Personal Hotspots: the ability to turn your iPhone 4 into a Wi-Fi access point for devices such as your computer or your iPad. It’s just like sticking a Wi-Fi router on your home broadband, and it’s a feature Android already offers.
Now, you’d think that since iPhone data plans are so ridiculously, ruinously expensive, and since almost all of them have a cap on the amount of data you can use each month, the personal hotspot feature would be free.
You’d be wrong.
With the honourable exception of Three, it seems that if you want to use your iPhone as a hotspot and you’re not on a million quid per month data plan, you’ll pay extra for it.
Why?
Data is data
I’ve seen suggestions that the networks are worried about data hogs: people will connect their laptops to their iPhones and immediately download Windows Service Packs, AV updates and Blu-Ray rips.
If only there was a way of penalising such customers, for example by setting a limit on how much data they could download in a month. The networks could mess with them while we’re at it by calling it “unlimited data” when it’s really half-a-gig.
Deterring data hogs is the only reasonable explanation for making you pay extra for tethering on an iPhone, but we already have a deterrent in the form of data caps – and you don’t pay for personal hotspots on Android devices. So what’s different here?
There are only two possible explanations.
One, iPhone data is a different shape from Android data. It’s triangular, or maybe octagonal, and it gets stuck in the internet tubes.
Or two, the networks are bastards.
I know, I know. It’s a tough one.
Imagine if ISPs behaved like this. On a typical day my broadband connection is used by a MacBook Pro, an Acer Aspire, a PC I made out of old bits of wood and string, an iPhone 3GS, an iPhone 4, an iPad, an Apple TV, an Xbox 360 and quite possibly my next-door neighbours, the postie and the milkman. By phone firm logic I should be paying a surcharge for that, or several surcharges.
By phone firm logic I should be paying extra if I put a call on speakerphone.
Data is data. Provided you don’t exceed your data limit or bring down the network, what you do with that data when it leaves the mobile phone network is none of the operator’s damn business. Charging for tethering on a capped data plan is profiteering, plain and simple.
Maybe the networks realise that. O2 told us earlier that their new tariffs, which will be announced in the next few weeks, will include tethering as part of your data allowance – and that existing customers would be able to get those tariffs. The cynic in me says “yeah, provided you sign up for another 24 months”. I hope I’m wrong.
If you want a personal hotspot, don’t pay for it. Wait and see what new tariffs emerge, whether the operators will let you move to them without signing away your eternal soul, and whether the various networks realise how greedy they’re being when they ask you to pay twice for your data.
And if they still expect you to pay extra for tethering?
Jailbreak your iPhone.
——————————————————————————————————
Liked this? Then check out iPhone Wi-Fi hotspot: which networks make you pay?
Sign up for TechRadar’s free Weird Week in Tech newsletter
Get the oddest tech stories of the week, plus the most popular news and reviews delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up at http://www.techradar.com/register
Follow TechRadar on Twitter * Find us on Facebook
From www.techradar.com
Android Leads US Market, BlackBerry and iPhone Not Far Behind
Mar 7th
Corroborating Nielsen’s survey, comScore has released a study showing the progress of mobile platforms in the U.S. in the three months leading up to January. Android grew 7.7% since October, and captured 31.2% of the market share, followed by BlackBerry, which was down 5.4% to 30.4%, and the iPhone which stayed steady at 24.7%. As far as manufacturers go, Samsung is the top dog, claiming 24.9% mobile phone owners, followed by LG with 20.8%, Motorola at 16.5%, RIM at 8.6%, and Apple at 7%.
The survey also ran down mobile content usage, and as you might imagine, the majority (68.1%) used their phones for sending text messages, while 37% used the browser, 35% used apps, 25% accessed social networks, 23% played games, and only 16% listened to music. I would have thought for sure music would have been higher on the list, what with decent-sized microSD memory cards available and lots of palatable mobile music apps and services available.
Overall, not many surprises in this data. Android’s lead is only set to grow as manufacturers invest more and more into the platform and software developers want their apps on the widest array of handsets possible. It’s sad for me to see BlackBerry losing ground, and with iPhone not far behind, it’ll be a close race over the next couple of months.
[via comScore]
From www.intomobile.com
HANDS ON: Foldable Bluetooth Keyboard Made For iPhone, iPad [VIDEO]
Mar 5th
Here’s a foldable portable keyboard from Verbatim that’s specifically designed for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. How well does it work, and what must be sacrificed for this amount of portability?
I took this little Verbatim Bluetooth Mobile Keyboard out of its swanky leather case, and with the push of a button, it opened with a satisfying click. Locking the keyboard into a flat position with a sliding tab, soon it was paired up with my iPhone 4 without incident.
Sliding out the built-in stand for the iPhone (the stand’s too small for an iPad), I first tried propping the phone onto it in a vertical position. No dice. The iPhone was too top-heavy for that, and constantly slipped off its perch. Moving the phone to the horizontal position, it stayed put, and made more sense for typing documents, anyway.
Looking at the keyboard, it reminds me of the old favorite Palm 3245WW folding Bluetooth keyboard that some people still like so much they’re willing to pay upwards of $200 for it. But this Verbatim model goes one step further with a feature that differentiates it from all others: its transport controls let you tend to your music on iPod, iPad or iPhone. It even works with Pandora Radio. You can start/pause, skip to the next or previous track, and control volume from the bank of buttons along the left side. This proved to be a handy feature indeed.
The keyboard’s typing action is like most laptop keyboards — rather shallow, but still usable. Touch typists might not like the varied size of the keys, where, for example, the “G” key is slightly smaller, while on the other hand, the “V” key is larger. It’s also strange to have two small space bars, but I got used to it quickly. Still, you’ll have to make slight compromises for this portability.
Its Bluetooth capability works with other mobile phones, but it really shines with Apple devices, with its full set of keyboard shortcuts that worked well with my iPhone.
Although this keyboard is slightly larger than some other portable keyboards, I think it’s a solid piece of kit for those who need portability and would rather type on physical keys than an on-screen keyboard.
So what must be sacrificed? Very little, unless you can’t get used to the varied size of the keys, which I found easy to do. The one sticking point for me was its offputting $104 price on the Verbatim website. For that price, it’s not worth it, but then I was relieved to find it for $53 on Amazon. For that, it’s a good deal, deserving of a place in your carry-on bag.
Take a look at the Verbatim keyboard in action in the video above, and get some close-up looks in the gallery below:
From mashable.com
5 Best Mobile Security Apps For The iPhone
Feb 19th
The iPhone has come to dominate the smartphone market. Huge amounts of energy was devoted to creating the infrastructure to support one of the most advanced mobile phones that have ever been developed for private use and nearly every developer and coder in the industry has set their sights on the iPhone to get their own piece of the smartphone pie.
This also includes attention from less than reputable sources who are attempting to find ways to hack into and abuse this amazing infrastructure. Security apps are being developed and perfected for personal and business security for iPhones and iPhone programs. Here are 5 security apps for the iPhone, which every owner should take a look at.
1. iPortScan Pro
Whiteside Solutions, a company oddly enough known for paintball training tools, developed a security app that could be a lifesaver for every system admin. iPortScan Pro allows for admins to check if any services are listening on a known system that are not authorized. It is a quick and useful tool to scan ports on the fly and then forward automatically forward to URL’s or e-mail databases.
2. AVG Mobile Security
For personal security on the phone. AVG is well known for its cult-like following in the PC and Mac protection sector and is using this reputation to develop one of the best real time, anti-malware, mobile protection apps. This is great news for every iPhone user as AVG has a large team of dedicated programmers updating and perfecting this app almost daily.
3. Mobile Malwarebytes
Where AVG mobile security ends, Malwarebytes begins. This program comes in two styles, a free version and paid version. The goal of each is to target Trojans, viruses, rootkits, and other malicious worms and code. The difference between the two versions comes down to real-time protection. The free version does not allow for real time protection and instead relies on routine sweeps of the phone and downloads.
4. Snap
While these other programs help with malicious software and intruders, Snap provides useful information to the user of the phone. Snap sweeps nearby devices, hotspots, wifi, and other networks to discover which nearby ports are open, which local networks are secure, and what other users are on each network.
5. Splash ID
People have dozens of user names and passwords for emails, bank accounts, and credit cards. With all these complex numbers and words, this sensitive data is many times written down, forgotten, and lost. Splash ID provides a secure program in which the iPhone can save and protect hundreds of passwords and screen names with a 256-bit Blowfish Encryption and backup syncing to all authorized PC’s.
Britney Baker is a freelance blogger who normally ranks prepaid phones for PrepaidCellphones.net. Her latest review covered the Tracphone.
From www.phonesreview.co.uk
‘Night Fishing’ Short Made Entirely on iPhone (Berlin)
Feb 13th
SEOUL — When a Cannes award-winning filmmaker Park Chan-wook and his younger brother Chan-kyong held a test screening of their first collaboration of the film Night Fishing they knew right away the film would be in black and white.
•Berlin International Film…
A 30-minute film shot entirely on iPhone, the coarseness of the image quality on the big screen reminded them of a restored black and white film. The two brothers, instead of trying to improve the picture quality by sharpening the fuzzy spots, exaggerated the coarseness even further. They reduced the amount of lighting in outdoor shooting, obscured details of the landscape and mounted a DSLR lens to give it a film-like look.
“It worked out because in the film you can’t really see what’s beyond the river (where the film takes place) and that creates a strange sense of fear,” the 48-year old director says. “It was a choice due to budget constraint because we had limited access to lighting but it made sense artistically and also visually.”
The result is a delirious fantasy-horror film unique to Park’s style, based on the story of a man who catches a young shaman while fishing in a night river. For Korea Telecom, a local mobile phone carrier for iPhone who commissioned Park and funded 150 million won (130,000 USD), the film turned out to be a publicity stunt well worth the investment. Night Fishing was invited to Berlin’s competition for shorts, where it screens at the CinemaxX 3, and also attracted 30,000 admissions in local multiplex theaters in January.
Park isn’t the only filmmaker to venture into the new genre. In South Korea, the world’s most wired country with more than 40 million mobile phone subscribers — among which 7 million are smart phone users — mobile phone companies are fiercely competing with each other to attract the attention of young, tech-savvy subscribers. One of their recent strategies had been to collaborate with high-profile filmmakers like Park and promote their movie-making apps.
Galaxy S, Samsung’s ambitious attempt to move into a smart phone business, recently commissioned the director Kim Dae-woo of last year’s box office hit The Servant to shoot a 20-minute short film. Age of Milk is a romantic comedy starring two TV idols — Min Hyo-rin and Choi Daniel – which has had more than 3.5 million downloads since it opened in December on the company’s micro-site, according to Samsung Electronics. The film also played on major cablers like OCN and Super Action.
The film slips in scenes featuring the company’s product like when the male lead shoots her lover underwater with his Galaxy S zipped in a plastic bag in a swimming pool. But overall it is a nifty short film that feels like an extended music video. Samsung explained in a press release that Age of Milk reflects the needs and trends of consumers in the age of smart phones.
“The question of finding the right story for a mobile phone is still baffling to me,” said Kim, whose films are known for putting spin on classic Korean tales as in his screenplay for Scandal (2003), his adaptation of Dangerous Liaisons. “I am not an early adopter. I was terrified of how the film would look on a larger screen. But I was very impressed with the overall picture quality.”
Other filmmakers see potentials in phone cameras and their apps as an alternative to professional equipment. The camera size is a big asset. Park’s crew installed ten iPhone cameras for the filming of Night Fishing. This saved time and allowed access to more diverse angles without having to reshoot. He also discovered that actors performed more naturally, because phone cameras are un-intrusive.
“It really has changed the perspective of a film,” says Hong Gyeong-po, a director of photography for Mother and Taeguki. “It’s hard to believe that I’m making a film in an age where people shoot, edit and watch their films on their mobile phone.”
A local survey also presents a dizzying future of the country’s mobile technology. Korea Information Society Development Institute, a think-tank for mobile and wireless technology, said more than 20 million people, which is one-third of South Korean population, will become smart phone subscribers by the end of the year.
Already companies are offering carefully crafted marketing plans to reach their potential consumers.
A new app by a local developer features a program that shows Korean indie films on the iPhone. Korea Telecom is also collaborating with Lotte Entertainment, the country’s second largest distributor next to CJ Entertainment, to host a smart phone festival later this month. The festival’s jury is led by a veteran director Lee Joon-ik (The King and the Clown), and the winning films will be screened at Lotte Cinema, a local multiplex chain.
Ham Bo-ram, a 21-year old fine art student is one of the contestants who submitted a 9-minute film titled True Christmas. The film took him a month to shoot and edit.
“I want to be a filmmaker and iPhone 4 is a great tool because it has iMovie (an application that allows the user to edit),” he says. “I eat, sleep and work. The rest of the time I play with my iPhone.”
From www.hollywoodreporter.com
DealExtreme Shopping App For iPhone and Android Arrives!
Feb 12th
Shopping is as easy as it is at home 
Download image
HONG KONG, Feb. 12, 2011 /PRNewswire-Asia/ — Introducing the DX Mobile App for your iPhone and Android based mobile phones! This easy to use mobile app makes shopping at your favorite electronic retailer available anytime, anywhere. Just connect to the internet and enjoy perusing thousands of high quality products literally right at your fingertips.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20101229/CN22302LOGO )
Check out these impressive features:
- Gadgets of the Week. Always stay up to date on our hot and recommended deals!
- New Arrivals. Application automatically notifies you when products have been updated.
- Product Search. To quickly locate the item you want; fast and convenient!
- Product Browsing. Gives you instant access to all of DealExtreme.com’s product categories.
- Product Details. Full detailed product listing, the same as you would see on the web site. SKUs, technical specifications, as well as comments and reviews!
- Image Gallery. An image gallery for every product the same as the full-sized site.
- Account Access and Creation. App allows you to log in to your existing DX account to see your orders, manage forum subscriptions, change account preferences, etc. No account? No problem! You can use the mobile app to create an account with us and start ordering right away.
- Wish List. Create and manage a full product wish list – how cool is that?
- Order Tracking. Track all of your DealExtreme.com orders right on your mobile phone!
- Special Android feature: On the Android platform you can be alerted of new arrivals by having them pushed right to your phone, making staying up to date very easy and convenient.
Did we mention the app is free? Just like our world-wide shipping, our app is 100% free to download, 100% free to use, and 100% free of hassle, too. So what are you waiting for? go grab it from the Apple iTunes app page or the Android PIT now!
With DX app’s great convenience, awesome features, and ease of use, you can order a GPS on your car, buy the latest game machine when you are hiking, and even pick the case you like when you are on the way to get your iPhone. That all makes for one great mobile app no smartphone should be without.
Links:
http://e.dealextreme.com/albums/shopping/
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shopping-at-dealextreme/id412678504#
http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.epro.dx/Shopping-at-DealExtreme
SOURCE DealExtreme
Back to top
RELATED LINKS
http://e.dealextreme.com/albums/shopping
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/shopping-at-dealextreme/id412678504#
http://www.androidpit.com/en/android/market/apps/app/com.epro.dx/Shopping-at-DealExtreme
From www.prnewswire.com
