Upcoming Phones: 5

Showing posts with label 5. Show all posts

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Microsoft Acquires Skype for 8 5 Billion

After rumors Microsoft has acquired the VoIP giant Skype for $8.5 billion in cash.The company has pledged to continue supporting and developing Skype clients on non-Microsoft platforms as well.Skype will become a new business division within Microsoft, and its current chief executive Tony Bates will assume the title of president of the Microsoft Skype Division, reporting directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

Hope Microsoft and Skype together will enable more people to connect in more waysbringing innovative technology to friends, families and colleagues everywhere.

Via@ Mashable

Friday, May 10, 2013

With the Arrival of LTE on the iPhone 5 the LTE Era Has Began

LTE arrives on the iPhone. With Apple making LTE available for iPhone 5s in the Philippines, I think it is safe to say that the LTE age has arrived. Getting LTE on your postpaid smart iPhone is as easy as applying the latest iOS 6.1 update. Your unlimited data plan, become a unlimited LTE data plan. No word from Globe, but I was told during Globe iPhone launch that Globe iPhone data plans would also automatically become LTE data plans.

With the Apple iPhone now having LTE, this now gives you a wider choice on LTE handsets since you now have both iOS and Android options. The Apple iPhone 5 joins the Huawei Ascent P1, Sony Ericsson Xperia V and ZTE T82 as the Philippines first LTE capable phones.

Why place so much emphasize on LTE support for the iPhone 5? When it comes down to the mobile handsets that have the consumers mind share, it really comes down to three models: the Apple iPhone 5, Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II. For so long as all three handsets in the Philippines did not have LTE, phones with LTE were largely ignored.

Now that the Apple iPhone 5 has LTE active, it truly becomes a cutting edge handset, which will have an incremental upgrade later this year. No matter how much you like the large beautiful Super AMOLED displays and quad core processors on the Samsung Galaxy S III and Samsung Galaxy Note II, they feel like last years handsets soon to be replaced by a LTE capable model, or by a whole new model all-together.

0.4-inches from greatness. The other beneficiary of LTE arriving on the is the Sony Xperia V, which is an excellent smartphone. The problem with the Xperia V is that it came with a 4.3-inch display when the Android standard for a flagship phone was a 4.7-inch or larger screen. With the Apple iPhone 5 toting LTE, the Sony Xperia V becomes its only equivalent competitor. LTE will allow the Sony Xperia V to arise from the large shadow cast by Samsungs Galaxys.

Carrier wars. The Apple iPhone 5 will bring greater public awareness of what LTE is, than all of the marketing that Smart and Globe have poured in for the past one and a half years. With greater public awareness, the fight for which is the best network will focus on which network has the wider LTE coverage.

Rappler has a updated list of Globe Telecom LTE locations and has confirmed download speeds as fast as 35 Mbps:

Manila Golf and Country Club, Forbes Park
The Residences, Greenbelt 1
Rockwell Nestle; Palanan Avenue; Rockwell Condominiums
Along Ayala Ave. Ext. going to Kamagong St., Along Ayala Ave. Ext. going to Gil Puyat Ave.
Towards Ayala Ave. going to Buendia; towards Ayala Avenue going to Edsa; towards Dela Rosa
EDSA; South Luzon Expressway (SLEx); A. Arnaiz Ave.; Bangkal
Jupiter St.; Kalayaan; Bel-Air 1 Village; Bel-Air 2 Village
Gil Puyat Ave.; Bel-Air 2 Village; Salcedo Village
Pasong Tamo Extension; Dasmarinas Village
H.V. dela Costa St.; Valero St.; Salcedo Village
Indoor coverage - Manila Peninsula Hotel, Makati
McKinley Road; Forbes Park; Dasmarinas Village
Indoor coverage - Makati Medical Center

Smart LTE is now available in eleven cities. Displaying a list would be too long, and it would be easier to simply display them on maps.

For more details on Smart LTE, click this link (Smart Communications).

With the LTE era having began, it looks like Globe and Samsung are caught playing catchup.

Thursday, May 9, 2013

The Apple iPhone 5 What the iPhone 4S should have been

Apple has just announced the new iPhone 5. Unlike last years launched where all the rumors were wrong, this time around, all the rumors were dead on:

4-inch, 640 x 1136 display resolution - The new iPhone has a larger 4-inch display which migrates to the 16:9 aspect ration, the same as aspect ration as HD (720 x 1280) and Full HD (1080 x 1920), which makes the new iPhone display more optimized for playing video content.

The display is a sharp 326 ppi, altough Apple did not focus on this too much as it is not as sharp as the 4.3-inch 720p (720 x 1280) display with a 354 ppi on the Sony Xperia S. But I doubt anyone can tell which of the two is sharper.

Apple has confirmed that App will have to be updated to run on the new display, and we are pretty confident that App Developers will do so shortly. This result in all older versions of the iPhone as obsolete.

7.6 mm thin and 112 grams in weight - Following current trends the new iPhone is thinner, at 7.6 mm, which is pretty impressive being 0.2 mm thinner than the HTC One S. While the iPhone 5 is a lot thinner than the 9.3 mm iPhone 4S, I do not think users will notice that much.

The really welcome change is in the weight now at just 112 grams. The older iPhone 4 and 4S were heavy for their size at 140 grams. The iPhone 5 now has a larger display at a much lighter weight.

The appearance is similar to the iPhone 4/4S, but the phone is now taller with an aluminum back instead of glass.

HSPDA+ 21.1 Mbps, DC-HSDPA and LTE. One area where the iPhone 4S disappointed was the 14.4 Mbps radio. This was fine is the US where no US carriers were running faster than HSDPA 14.4 and LTE. Philippine carriers do use HSDPA+ 21.1 towers.

LTE has also finally come to the iPhone. No surprises, but no disappointments either.

1 GB of RAM and new A6 chip. The 1 GB of RAM is double of the 512 MB of the iPhone 4/4S. Not too many details on the new processor but is has migrated to the 28 nm or 32 nm process as expected~~, which should result in improved battery life~~. Apple specifications place the battery life at the same level as the iPhone 4S. The processor is supposed to be twice as fast as that one found on the iPhone 4S.

Improved faster 8MP camera - The new 8 MP camera has a faster f/2.4 lens and also focuses and takes shots faster. Best to wait for the comparisons, but it does now add new features like Panorama mode.

Well, that is what I know of the new hardware for now. Nothing earth shattering but nothing disappointing. Whatever version of iPhone you current own, the iPhone 5 is a worthwhile upgrade. Once Apps are ported over to the iPhone 5, they probably wont be optimized for the older 2:3 displays on the iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4/4S.

Android owners will see nothing innovative in the Apple iPhone 5. Like I said, it is what the 4S should have been,

Lenovo A800 A good value for money 4 5 inch Android phone

Yesterday I took a look at the newly released Lenovo S720, which feels a tab bit expensive, but Lenovo has released another 4.5-inch Android, the Lenovo A800, and this one hits all the right cords. The Lenovo A800 is priced at Php6,999, or 3K less than Lenovo S720.

For the lower price, the A800 gets a downgraded display, a 4.5-inch FWVGA (480 x 854) display instead of the qHD (540 x 960) display on the S720. The camera on the A800 is a 5 MP unit, instead of the 8 MP unit in the S720. You also loose the front camera. The A800 is also a bit thicker and heavier than the S720.

The rest of the specifications are the same, with Android 4.0.4 on board, dual SIM capability, 512 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, a MicroSD card slot and a 2000 mAh battery. As a "bonus" the A800 has a faster 1.2 GHz dual core processor than the 1.0 GHz processor on the A720. Both phones use MediaTek chipsets.

At the lower price point, it is Php500 cheaper than the MyPhone A888. The MyPhone has a higher resolution qHD display, but the a A800 has a larger battery (2000 mAh versus 1700 mAh). It is a though choice between these two.

The A800 costs Php700 more than a Cherry Mobile Flame, but the A800 has a a larger battery and a more powerful processor and graphics.

Competition also comes from the Cherry Mobile Blaze and SkyFire, but the 1500 mAh battery in those phones, combined with large 4.7-inch displays means poor battery life. The A800 would be well worth the additional Php500 to Php1,000 as compared to these two.

It not a clear win, but with a 7K budget, the Cherry Mobile Flame, MyPhone A888 and the Lenovo A800 are the best three choices.

Key Lime Pice Top 5 Key Features For Android 5 0

As we wait for Googles yearly I/O developer’s conference, its exciting to think of what new discoveries will be brought to the table. Since Google with Android 4.1 came out last year, its very probable that this year they will be delivering Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Weve made our own predictions about five different features that this update just might be boasting.

1. More Project Butter for even fluider animations

Google first released Project Butter with Android 4.1, which really made a difference in the system performance. Since then, the entire system has been working a lot more smoothly, coincidently just like butter. Android 4.2 brought further improvements, but personally I think it could get even better. Im absolutely positive that with its version 5, Android will be further polished and will get rid of the remaining annoying stutters.

2. More control over the user profiles

Ever since Android 4.2 came about, you can now set up more than one user account on your tablet. On the downside, it lacks important setting options. This doesnt allow you to determine one user profile specifically for certain apps. A clear split between private and work profiles Blackberry-style would be a positive step for Android.

3. Consistent news with Google Babble

Google Talk, SMS, Google+, Google Voice....The list of Googles various news services is very long. Thankfully, the company is already working on Google Babble, which will centralized all news feeds and notifications. It looks like Google Babble could be presented along side Android 5.0 and then later on, it might be offered to older Android versions as an app.

4. Improved widgets for the lockscreen

Ever since Android 4.2 came to be, you can now put widgets on your lockscreen. However, you cant just use any widget and are restricted to using only the lockscreen-developped ones, like the popular DashClock for example. Switching between widget pages is also not set up that well. This could possibly change with Android 5.0, where Google could provide widgets with more functions. This would allow for all important information to be placed in direct view, without first having to unlock your device or swiping your lockscreen.

5. A brighter user interface

With its current versions, Android has retained its usual design. On the other hand, with Google Now and even Play Store getting a cleaned-up facelift and I think that Android 5.0 will follow suit. It might just drift away from dark colors and adopt a brighter and friendlier look that appears more complete, giving the system a more homogeneous feel. Im actually quite happy with how Android looks at the moment, but this is just a logical step forward. What’s more, the brighter look will most likely appeal to more users than the present black and blue variation.

Source: androidpit

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Top 5 Mobile Data Tracking Apps for Android 2013

Onavo Count

Onavo Count is the most popular data tracking app that existed even before data usage was implemented in the Android operating system. It is an impressive user interface which aims at saving money by keeping an active check on data consumption. The application will provide users with alerts and warnings when they cross or are about to reach the predefined data limits. Users can also set data usage limits at any time and let the app track usage. The app provides with an overview of the individual apps consuming data. Users can keep a track and also predict whether you are close to hitting the pre-defined usage limit. Onavo Count allows users to restrict data hungry apps and force them to be active over WiFi networks. It is a fantastic user interface and nice set of options makes this a very important mobile data tracking app.

My Data Manager

It is a simple app for those who seek only options and are not much into the looks of an app. The app is easy to setup, and the app starts checking all the apps to highlight the ones consuming a lot of data. My Data Manager also tracks the run times of the other apps along with the amount of data consumed which are presented in graphics. It has only one limitation that one has to keep it on the phone storage for it acts sporadic if moved to the SD card storage. My Data Manager shows clear consumption of data on the cellular connection and WiFi network. Users can also set their data usage limits and the app gives an alarm whenever closing in to that limit.

NetCounter

NetCounter is not a fancy user interface and don’t have mind-boggling features. It is mainly a native appearing easy data tracking app. It presents noticeably classified utilization of data over the cellular and WiFi networks. The user can choose the time range as daily, weekly or monthly. Users can also modify the plan’s cycle date. It gives a break out in numbers as no data is consumed at the end of the month and this is what that matters the most. Users can find this NetCounter app from the Google Play Store.

Dodol Phone

Dodol Phone has a clean interface. It allows user to keep track of the data and examine it in real time. This app tracks call and message traffic from the Smartphone apart from the network data. Dodol is capable of providing a complete usage report on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. Like some of the other apps, users can position their custom limit for the data usage threshold.The best part of Dodol Phone is that it is optimized for full HD devices and also supports 4G LTE network. The app offers usage data in numerical as well as bar graph format so that user can examine data utilization.

Traffic Monitor

It is an app that combines data monitoring, consistency measurement and a Task Manager in one single package. The app provides a data traffic counter for cellular and wireless network usage with clear bifurcation of uploads and downloads. To give a fair thought about the strength of the available data network services, there is a quality service measure (ping duration test) which is in built. To ensure a summary of the traffic at regular time’s user can set daily, weekly or monthly usage limits. User can check the traffic statistics per app for the said period and for previous month. With the in-built task manager, user can kill the data hungry apps and check the memory usage. The app available for free from the Google Play Store enables to get battery level status, signal strength, GPS status and more information.

Source: gm.kochar