Samsung begins mass producing wireless charging components

Wireless charging is something that mobile phone makers have been trying to popularize for years. Palm tried it with the Pre back in 2009, and now Nokia is going to try it next month with the Lumia 920. What sort of problems come with making devices able to charge without wires? The most obvious issue is the high cost of the chargers themselves. Nokia’s Lumia 920, despite supporting wireless charging out of the box, is going to come with a wired charger in the retail packaging. The company’s cheapest wireless charger will run you approximately 70 EUR ($90) in Finland. Continue reading “Samsung begins mass producing wireless charging components”

MTS and Karbonn Mobiles partner to launch range of CDMA phones

MTS and Karbonn Mobiles has joined hands to launch Buzz X121, Turbo B121 and Rockstar V121 CDMA handsets. These are co-branded handsets wherein, Karbonn Mobiles will provide hardware logistics support and MTS India will provide the network backup. These phones come with several features including Facebook integration, MTS Movie Planet, My MTS Planet, FM Radio, WAP Support, Call & SMS Blacklist and Data Protection. These devices also come with one month free subscription to access Facebook and MTS Movie Planet. Continue reading “MTS and Karbonn Mobiles partner to launch range of CDMA phones”

There are now over 125,000 Windows Phone apps, growth seems to be slowing down

The guys over at All About Windows Phone are reporting that the number of applications in the Windows Phone Marketplace has surpassed 125,000. They keep track of this data using a tracking service that was developed in-house. Here are the specific numbers you should know: It took 20 months for 126,250 apps to be published. That’s faster than Android, which hit the same number in 26 months, but slower than iOS, which took 18.5 months. A total of 113,000+ apps are actually available for download, meaning some apps are either embargoed or have been pulled. Back in May, 8% of the apps in the UK Marketplace had 5 or more ratings. Today that number has dropped to 7.8%. In the US it’s the opposite, with 12% of apps getting 5 or more ratings in May, but now it’s 13.8%. How many developers have submitted apps to the Marketplace? Over 30,000. Continue reading “There are now over 125,000 Windows Phone apps, growth seems to be slowing down”

Videos: Samsung’s new Galaxy S III ads promote NFC and the phone’s large screen

Samsung’s Galaxy S III is arguably the best Android phone on the market right now. Some of you might disagree and say the Note II deserves to wear that crown, but whatever, either way Samsung is dominating. The South Korean handset vendor has just uploaded three new 30 second ads to YouTube that demo some of the GS3’s features. In the first video, dubbed “Game On”, an iPhone user and a GS3 user are sitting together on a bench playing a game. The iPhone owner is struggling because his screen makes it difficult to control the videogame. The GS3 owner on the other hand … you get the idea. Continue reading “Videos: Samsung’s new Galaxy S III ads promote NFC and the phone’s large screen”

LG Nexus 4 with Nexus branding shows up

LG Mobile’s upcoming Nexus  smartphone has been doing rounds on the internet a lot. And today we have a sweet looking picture of the phone with the iconic Nexus branding on the back thanks to @evleaks. The pictures of this phone had been leaked in the past as the LG E960 but the Nexus branding was missing in those images. Specs of the LG Nexus phone  have also surfaced hinting at Snapdragon S4 quad-core CPU, Android 4.2 and wireless charging. Continue reading “LG Nexus 4 with Nexus branding shows up”

New Apple Store Palo Alto Grand Opening on October 27th at 10 AM

Last year, the Mercury News reported that the construction of what is being called a “prototype” Apple Store was just days away from breaking ground in Palo Alto, CA.The store is planned to feature an open-space architecture. It is reportedly a $3.15M project for Apple. This new store is supposed to be  5,030 sq. ft. that will feature a glass roof and facade that will allow natural light to fill the open retail space, and will offer passers-by an unobstructed view of the store’s interior. A basement and rear mezzanine will serve as office and storage space.

Construction has been completed and this morning, Apple just sent out an email notifying people that the new Apple Store Palo Alto’s grand opening will be held on October 27th at 10 AM local time. The first 1,000 customers will receive a free commemorative t-shirt.

I’ll be there and will post pictures of the brand new store and grand opening this Saturday.

Apple iPad mini Prices Compared across the World

Apple unveiled the iPad mini with a 7.9-inch (1024 x 768 pixels) display yesterday. Apple announced that it would be available for Pre-order starting this Friday, October 26th in 33 countries. The iPad Mini WiFi version would go on sale on November 2nd, while the WiFi+Cellular models will go on sale in mid-November first in the US on AT&T , Verizon and Sprint. We decided to do a comparison of the price of the new iPad mini in the USA, UK, Hong Kong, Singapore, Hong Kong and Australia. We have even converted them to Indian Rupees INR for your ready reference. The iPad mini with WiFi is priced at $329, $429 and $529 for the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB versions respectively in the U.S., while the 16GB, 32GB and 64GB WiFi + Cellular versions would cost $459, $559 and $659 respectively. Continue reading “Apple iPad mini Prices Compared across the World”

Apple iPad mini Release Date and Launch Countries

Apple announced the iPad mini yesterday along with the 4th Generation iPad. Apple has announced that the iPad mini will be available for Pre-order starting this Friday October 26th in over 30 countries where the company plans to start selling the new iPad mini first.Do find the complete list of countries below. The release date for the WiFi only version of the iPad mini is set as November 2.

Continue reading “Apple iPad mini Release Date and Launch Countries”

Researchers at MIT use math to increase wireless data speeds by an order of magnitude

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology have figured out how to re-architecture IP networks in order to increase data speeds by at lest an order of magnitude. Details of how they did it exactly are still somewhat confidential thanks to a non disclosure agreement, but here’s the basic idea: Today’s networks, whether they’re wired or wireless, transmit data in what’s known as a packet. Not all packets gets sent successfully, so the network often has to resend those dropped packets. This is called packet loss and it causes network congestion. These kids said to themselves why are we sending packets in the first place? Why aren’t we sending formulas that describe a series of packets? Sending the mathematical representation of a bunch of packets is not only less intensive, but if one of these so called “coded TCP” packets is lost, then simple math can be done to figure out what was missing. Continue reading “Researchers at MIT use math to increase wireless data speeds by an order of magnitude”

Videos: Here are the ads Microsoft is going to run around the world for Windows 8

In case you haven’t heard, Microsoft is going to launch a brand new version of Windows on Friday called Windows 8. It doesn’t look anything like Windows 7, and that has some people scared, while others are jumping for joy that Microsoft is finally moving forward in terms of design. Regardless of what you think about the software giant, one thing is certain: Over the next few months you’re going to be absolutely flooded with advertising for this new operating system. Four videos were just posted to the official Windows Blog that give us a taste of what we can expect. Continue reading “Videos: Here are the ads Microsoft is going to run around the world for Windows 8”

Dutch court rules in Samsung’s favor regarding Apple’s multitouch patents

According to a breaking news report from Reuters, Samsung just won a court case in the Netherlands regarding multitouch patents that Apple says were being violated. The exact quote from the court ruling reads: “With these products Samsung does not infringe the claims that Apple has made.” Continue reading “Dutch court rules in Samsung’s favor regarding Apple’s multitouch patents”

LinkedIn for BlackBerry v2.0 update brings new UI and features

LinkedIn has updated the BlackBerry app to version 2.0 that gets a completely new interface with new areas such as Updates, Inbox, You and Network, support for 8 additional languages including Hindi and more new features. LinkedIn launched the first BlackBerry app in 2010. Continue reading “LinkedIn for BlackBerry v2.0 update brings new UI and features”

Video: ‘Shit Android fanatics say’ does a hilarious job at making fun of Android fanbois

Some people buy smartphones because they want to have a device that excels at a particular set of features. Other people buy smartphones because they’re a part of some cult. You know the kind of people we’re talking about. The iPhone fanbois, the Android fanatics, the Nokia people who will steal your first born child if you happen to say something even remotely negative about the Finnish handset maker. We don’t know why people go to such extremes to defend their smartphone purchase, but whatever, it’s not like we can do anything to fix their sick and demented minds. What we can do however is laugh at them. The video below is called “Shit Android fanatics say”. It runs through something you’ve likely heard from an individual who is more concerning about playing with their Android device than taking a shower. It’s funny, it’s short, it’s worth a watch. Continue reading “Video: ‘Shit Android fanatics say’ does a hilarious job at making fun of Android fanbois”

Foursquare for Android updated with new check-in screen, performance improvements

Foursquare for Android has been updated (v 2012.10.23) that brings new check-in screen with toggles to share check-ins on Facebook and Twitter, option to mention your friends easily while check-in by clicking a tiny button inside the text box and more.  The previous update brought New filter and Social history. Continue reading “Foursquare for Android updated with new check-in screen, performance improvements”

LG reports net profit of $138.57 million in Q3 2012, Mobile phone sales up by 5.4%

LG Electronics has announced their earnings for Q3 2012. They have reported net profit of 157 billion Won (US$ 138.57 million) with operating profits of 221 billion Won (US$ 195.06 million). The Mobile phone sales were 5.4 percent more compared to last quarter with operating profit of 22 billion Korean Won (US$ 19.42 million), but it is 11.4% less compared to Q3 2011. LG shipped 14 million units of mobile phones in Q3 2012, 9 percent increase compared to previous quarter. Continue reading “LG reports net profit of $138.57 million in Q3 2012, Mobile phone sales up by 5.4%”