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Android phones overtake Symbian in Asia

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Smartphones, Google, Software,

android beats symbian asia

It's no secret that Android phones are growing in popularity at an amazing rate, with new phones being introduced all the time. In North America, it's already the most popular smartphone platform, beating out iOS and Blackberry. However, in the rest of the world, it's a different story. Phones based on the Symbian system rule the market, but Symbian marketshare has been going down steadily. This week, the research firm GfK reports that in the third quarter, Android overtook Symbian for the first time in Asia.

According to the firm: "Our Q3 report shows that Android has recently overtaken Symbian as the most popular smartphone OS in the context of Asia as a whole, in both value and unit sales. However, it is interesting to note the difference in OS trends when we look at findings in North and Southeast Asia separately."

Definitely nice to see that the mobile OS competition is heating up across the globe.

Skype for Android update fixes some issues, ignores others

Posted by Jazz English Categories: Smartphones, Handhelds, Software,

Skype for Android Skype update it's Android application today with version 1.0.1.

The first thing addressed is the support for screen resolutions common to more Android phones. Skype also announced that the hardware back key will now send the application to the background, while still allowing calls and IMs. Skype stated that this fix should also lesson battery consumption. Other fixes include:

Signing out from Skype now exits Skype.
Improved login stability and behavior.
Improved performance with large contact lists.
Reduced application size.

Problems having to do with the Galaxy S line of phones remain and Skype simply states that they "do not recommend installing Skype 1.0.1 for Android on this device with Android 2.1 and below."

Facebook introduces single sign-on for mobile

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Business Tools, News, Social Media,

This morning Facebook announced improvements to their iPhone and Android apps, as well as changes to how they handle their sign-on platform. First, the new Groups and Places features are now fully integrated into both apps, which also brings up the Android app to be on par with the iPhone one. This will allow you to take part of all those groups while on the go. Their mobile apps hadn't been updated in a while, so it's good to see the company commit themselves to the mobile space. As a side note, they did comment that Facebook had no plan to make a phone of their own, preferring to instead bring their platform to the devices that people use.

The second part of the announcement dealt with single sign-on. Mark Zuckerberg described the troubles and frustrations that entering usernames and passwords could be on a phone, and their approach to solving it. They are now providing developers with a way to integrate a single button that will log users to their services. Now, to log into any mobile site or service that supports this feature, all you'll have to do is click on the button "sign in with Facebook". No more username or password to remember. They showed the Groupon and Zynga apps which will support this feature soon, with many more on board.

3G service now available on Mount Everest

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: Smartphones, Wireless / WiFi,

This morning, Ncell, a subsidiary of cellular giant TeliaSonera, announced that 3G service is now available at the top of Mount Everest. While spotty, basic, 2G service was available before, thanks to an earlier network from China Mobile. Now people can make video calls, surf the web and post to Twitter from one of the most remote locations on Earth. This morning, the highest ever video call was placed from the Everest base camp. According to the spokesperson, "This is a great milestone for mobile communications as the 3G high speed internet will bring faster, more affordable telecommunication services from the world's tallest mountain."

Of course, this is more for publicity than anything else. There are still plenty of places with a significant population that still don't have coverage that would benefit from that kind of effort. Still, TeliaSonera did promise up to $100 Million to help reach the rest of the Himalayan nation's population, so hopefully this is a first step in a bigger effort.

Twitter announces app for Windows Phone 7

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: News, Social Media,

Twitter announced on their blog that the official Twitter App is now available on Windows Phone 7. This adds to the official mobile app offerings available on iOS and Android. Compared to some other apps Windows Phone 7 customers will be waiting on, Twitter seems to be ready out of the gate, with some popular apps still being "months away". Twitter has made the app consistent with the look and feel of the rest of the Windows Phone interface.

Google introduces Place Search

Posted by Patrick Lambert Categories: News, Social Media,

Today Google introduced a new service on their official blog, the Place Search tab on their home page. Not so much a completely new service, more like a merging of several offerings, this tab shows search results in a way that is more intuitive and useful for when you're looking for specific places.

When you enter search terms, such as "pizza Chicago", Google will try to guess when you're looking for a specific place instead of a website. When that's the case, the results page will be more optimized towards local search. Not only will you see a list of web sites, but now a map will be prominently shown, as if you had done the search inside of Google Maps, and it will also include reviews, links to specific business listings, images, and so on.

While it's being introduced as a new feature, I see it more as an extension of their current search, Maps, Images and location data. Still, it should make search more intuitive, and now that the company is competing with Facebook Places, Foursquare, and other such social sites, they need to keep innovating to stay relevant.

Windows Phone 7 review

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Features, Handhelds, Microsoft, Product Reviews, Software,

windows phone 7 review

When Apple announced the iPhone three years ago, the entire mobile industry started to play catch-up to what Apple was doing. It took a while, but slowly companies like Google, RIM, and Palm eventually released smartphone operating systems like webOS and Android that aimed to compete. However, not much was heard from Microsoft. Once heralded as a major player in the smartphone business with Windows Mobile, Microsoft took a hell of a long time to come up with anything that could compete against iOS, Android, webOS, and really anything else out there. Then, finally, they announced Windows Phone 7 Series, and smartly dropped the "Series" part when just about everyone made fun of them for coming up with a name that was more convoluted than necessary.

Microsoft wanted to tell the world that they were serious about competing, even going so far as to hold a funeral for the iPhone and BlackBerry. A bold (and ridiculous) statement for sure, but now Windows Phone 7 has arrived, launching tomorrow over in Europe, and arriving in the USA on November 8th. Has Microsoft actually learned anything by sitting back and observing the smartphone wars over the past few years, sitting on the sidelines while taking notes? We've been playing with Windows Phone 7 non-stop for a while now, and we're sharing our answers with you here in our Windows Phone 7 review.

Click to continue reading Windows Phone 7 review

Teens sending 3,339 texts per month on average

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Smartphones,

New reports from Nielsen show that teens are sending and/or receiving an average of 3,339 text messages every month, or 111 texts per day.

The statistic shows that girls are more prone to texting than males are, averaging 4,050 texts per month; while males averaged 2,539 texts a month. While text usage is rising, voice calls are declining rapidly. Teenagers spend 646 minutes per month talking on their cell phones on average. This is a 14% decrease from last year.

However, males take the lead when it comes to browsing the web, averaging 75 MB of mobile data per month. Females only averaged 53 MB in this category. Even so, both sexes have seen an extraordinary leap over last years stats of 11 MB and 17 MB of data per month.

WIndows Phone 7 ad is brilliant, really

Posted by Andru Edwards Categories: Smartphones, Handhelds, Microsoft, Videos,

Microsoft finally unleashed all their Windows Phone 7 news today, which we will be sharing in a bit. They also put out their first Windows Phone 7 ad, and we’ve gotta say, we think it’s a good one. It got a chuckle or two out of us, and seems apropos for this day and age. Give it a look!

Microsoft holds funeral for iPhone and BlackBerry

Posted by John Kilhefner Categories: Smartphones, Microsoft,

In light of their new Windows Phone 7 RTM being sent off for manufacturing, the folks at Microsoft jauntily gathered to pay their last respects to the iPhone and BlackBerry. The faux funeral was fully decked out with life sized mock iPhone and BlackBerry devices driven by hearse through Redmund campus.

Microsoft burying the iPhone and BlackBerry may seem a little far fetched at this juncture, but it sure is fun to watch when the big companies go head to head like this. No matter what side you are on, expect the competition to bring new levels of quality to everyone.

Windows Phone 7 was finished on September 1st, with a release date planned to be announced on October 11th in New York City.

Click to continue reading Microsoft holds funeral for iPhone and BlackBerry

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