Google throws stones from its glass house, calls Siri 'competitive threat'

Summary: Amid calls that Google is “anti-competitive”, the search giant sees Siri as a “significant development” in mobile search. Could Siri spark the end for Google’s dominance?

Eric Schmidt, in another round with U.S. senators to face questions over Google’s alleged anti-competitiveness, says Google is threatened by Apple’s latest player in the search market: Siri.
“Apple has launched an entirely new approach to search technology with Siri, its voice-activated search and task-completion service built into the iPhone 4S”, Schmidt wrote in response to written questions posed by antitrust subcommittee lawmakers on Friday.
While other challenges faced by the company include Facebook’s integration of Bing as its default search option, and losing its real-time search of Twitter and other up-to-the-minute results, Siri appears to make Google worry the most.

(Source: CBS News)

Apple and Google, seemingly up until recently, were married in the technology world. Though signs of fraying of the carefully crafted relationship had appeared over the past year, it has since become clear that Apple was to ‘divorce’ itself from the search giant.
Though Apple has no primary stake in the search engine market, instead leveraging the capabilities of Google, as the iPhone’s primary search engine, and Microsoft’s Bing as another choice for consumers, Schmidt nevertheless sees the Cupertino-based technology giant as a threat to its global marketshare statistics.
Schmidt, who currently serves as Google’s executive chairman, insisted however that Google was “not dominant” in web search, as lawmakers contended.

The search giant currently holds 65.3 percent of the U.S. search engine marketshare according to comScore, as both U.S. and European antitrust authorities investigate the company.

Schmidt has two problems to contend with:
Firstly, he needs to convince primarily the U.S. authorities, rather than the European authority underdogs, that Google is not anti-competitive. If anything, to come across as ‘wounded’ and ‘the victim’ in all of this will score Schmidt bonus points. Secondly, and crucially, it needs to remain as the industry leader in search and mobile spaces; while appearing not to call Siri anti-competitive in itself, to push others into thinking it is.
It’s a difficult balance to strike. But amid Schmidt’s hedging answers, as part of his repeat Senate hearing, Apple may do more damage to Google than U.S. and European antitrust authorities.
Apple seems to have designed Siri in such a way that it only uses Google when it really has to; in a part to appear as truly ‘intelligent’, whilst also striking a blow to Google, by performing the bare minimum as part of their ongoing ‘divorce’ proceedings.
When asking Siri a question, it searches the web only as a last resort, bypassing Google as its default search engine, instead to claim the best answer it can from Wolfram Alpha, Yelp or other web services. Naturally, Google sees this as a threat.
Knowing full well that though Google has 44 percent of the mobile marketshare, with Google as the default search on its Android devices, and Apple only has 27 percent of the U.S. mobile slice, the numbers are beginning to collide. Google is quietly panicking.
But Schmidt is not alone in his Siri suspicions.
I, for one, could not for a moment be sarcastic, cruel or tormenting to Siri, unlike the millions of users worldwide that badger the assistant with inane, sexually-explicit questions — just by the off chance it is more intelligent than Apple lets on, and texts my entire phonebook contact list my deepest, darkest secrets as I sleep.

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Android handsets top hardware failures list

Summary: Android device returns costing mobile operators a staggering $2 billion per year.

Android handsets are more likely to suffer from hardware faults than Windows Phone 7, iOS or BlackBerry handsets, according to research published by wireless experience management experts WDS.
WDS examined more than 600,000 support calls received over the past 12 months and found that Android handset hardware failures are twice as common as for iOS devices, with 14% of all Android support calls related to hardware failures. By comparison, only 11% of Windows Phone 7 calls were because of hardware failures. iOS did even better, with only 7% being down to problems with the hardware. BlackBerry handsets come out on top, with only 6% of the support calls being related to hardware failure.
Hardware-related support calls:

• Android: 14%
• Windows Phone 7: 11%
• iOS: 7%
• BlackBerry: 6%

WDS also offers a breakdown of hardware failures, which makes interesting reading:

Source: WDS

Source: WDS

WDS estimates that Android device returns alone is costing mobile operators a staggering $2 billion per year, with each handset return costing operators up to $130. While this might seem bad, Android does have a advantage over the competition, and that is that it is deployment across multiple hardware reference designs and component variants. This means that the Android brand itself is unlikely to be associated with a specific hardware issues.
The report also looks at the importance of handling hardware issues properly:

When hardware failures do occur, operators must take care to protect their consumers against potentially unbalanced and negative attention. Loyal consumers are both an asset to a brand and a threat to its competitors through the display of ‘oppositional loyalty’. This is the term used to describe the expression of unfavorable bias toward an opposing brand and its consumers (for example, Apple vs Android ‘fanboys’). The smartphone category has become a hypercompetitive environment and the prevalence of brand rivalry both within the industry and amongst consumers has formed a promising hook for media attention. Where an underlying theme of hardware failures can be linked to a specified brand, rival brands and consumer groups very quickly leverage this opportunity to launch an attack.

In other words, the ‘fanboys’ can make or break a handset.
On the subject of fragmentation, WDS believes that Android fragmentation ’has driven additional cost into many operators’ businesses, either through support costs or product returns’ and that ’the only way to truly combat both hardware and software version fragmentation would be to slow down the pace of development and/or mandate tighter deployment requirements.’

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Firefox 8 NOW available!

Download Firefox 8 today ahead of the official scheduled for November 8.

It’s normal for the new version of Firefox to be available on Mozilla’s FTP server ahead of the official release, and Firefox 8 is no exception.
The download is available here: ftp://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/firefox/releases/8.0/
Windows, Mac and Linux flavors are available.
New features include:

• Search Twitter messages from the address bar
• Load tabs on demand at startup
• Add-ons installed by third party programs are now disabled by default

Downloads here.

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Windows Phone 7 to allow phones with no cameras

A lot of noise is being made about Microsoft changing the minimum specifications for phones running Windows Phone 7 back in September, with critics wondering why it did it with nary an announcement, and if Microsoft is just trying to help Nokia get low-cost WP7 phones into the market.

In truth, do these minimum specifications really matter? Yes, they do – Android never had minimum specifications, resulting in some strange configurations that admittedly didn’t work too well. Microsoft’s stance was firm with manufacturers from the beginning however, and that is why we’ve yet to see a lagging Windows Phone 7 device.

While these standards or minimum specs do ensure that the platform and its devices never slip below a certain acceptable level of quality and performance, the only announced change here is the allowance for manufactures to include no camera, neither front or rear, built-in to the device.

How exactly does this “downgrade” the platform or hardware? It simply gives manufacturers the chance to produce lower-cost devices and meet stricter enterprise/governmental security requirements, and customers the chance to enjoy the lowered prices. Everyone wins!

So, some Windows Phone 7 phones in the future will not feature cameras - we assume those who are buying them know this lack, and don't expect to make video calls, or take photos with their devices.

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Survey: Many parents help kids lie to get on Facebook

In 1998, Congress passed the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) that requires Web sites to "obtain verifiable parental consent" before collecting personal information from children under 13.

This very well-intentioned law--enacted long before the advent of MySpace, Facebook, and other social networks--was designed to protect children from revealing information that could be used by companies to sell them products or by others to exploit them. Children under 13, according to the Federal Trade Commission, which enforces COPPA, are "particularly vulnerable to overreaching by marketers."

COPPA doesn't prevent companies like Facebook from admitting kids under 13, but it does present substantial and expensive roadblocks.

Companies with services aimed at younger kids, such as Disney's Club Penguin, have gone to considerable expense to comply with the law. But most companies, including Facebook, MySpace, and Google+, simply block pre-teens from the service. These rules are specified in the companies' terms of service, and companies generally require members to state their birth date. Any child whose date of birth indicates he or she is under 13 is blocked.

Other than requiring a birth date, very few services use any other type of age verification tools which, according to the Internet Safety Technical Task Force (which I was on), are largely impractical and can have unintended security and privacy consequences such as the risk of leaking the names and ages of children.

Millions of underage Facebook users
The FTC is currently reviewing COPPA and there is a lot debate, including from some who think it should be liberalized and others who want its protections extended to all teens under 18. But one thing is for sure: millions of children are lying about their age to get around COPPA-related rules. In 2010, I reported on a study commissioned by McAfee that found that 37 percent of 10-to-12-year olds are on Facebook. And this past May, Consumer Reports reported that "of the 20 million minors who actively used Facebook in the past year, 7.5 million were younger than 13" and more than 5 million were younger than 10.

It's not just happening in the United States. Even though COPPA is a U.S. law, most companies apply the restrictions globally. The EU Kids Online study from the London School of Economics found that, across Europe, 31 percent of 10-year-olds, 44 percent of 11-year-olds, and 55 percent of 12-year-olds said they used a social network site. Australia's Daily Telegraph quotes Facebook adviser and former FTC commissioner, Mozelle Thompson, that "Facebook removes 20,000 people a day, people who are underage."

Parents OK with kids lying to create account
As it turns out, most parents of kids who are lying about their age are aware of what their kids are doing and many parents are actually helping their kids lie to get on Facebook. A peer-reviewed study released today--"Why Parents Help Their Children Lie to Facebook About Age: Unintended Consequences of the 'Children's Online Privacy Protection Act'"--(available from FirstMonday.org) found that "many parents knowingly allow their children to lie about their age--in fact, often help them to do so--in order to gain access to age-restricted sites in violation of those sites' terms of service."

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive but the study was designed, supervised, and analyzed by its authors: Danah Boyd of Microsoft Research and NYU, Eszter Hargittai from Northwestern University, Jason Schultz from University of California, Berkeley, and John Palfrey from Harvard University. The study polled 1,007 U.S. parents who live with children between the ages of 10 and 14.

Nearby a fifth (19 percent) of the parents of 10-year-olds acknowledged that their child was on Facebook. About a third (32 percent) of parents of 11-year-olds knew their kid was on it. And the same was true for more than half (55 percent) of parents of 12-year-olds. Each of these kids had to lie to get an account.

For kids who were under 13 at the time they signed up, 68 percent of the parents "indicated that they helped their child create the account." Among 10-year-olds on Facebook, a whopping 95 percent of parents were aware their kids were using the service and 78 percent helped create the account.

Nearly 8 out of 10 parents of 10-year-olds on Facebook helped child create the account

(Credit: Boyd, Hargittai, Schultz and Palfrey)

Implications of data
In an interview (scroll down to listen), Boyd, one of the study's authors, reiterated that "very few kids are likely to be lying to their parents," and "many (parents) are helping them lie about their age." Boyd finds it "deeply problematic" that both kids and parents are lying. But, she added, "I think the solution for this is not to make it harder for them to lie. I think the solution is to say, what are they trying to achieve." Parents, said Boyd, "want their kids to have access to public life and, today, what public life means is participating even in commercial social media sites." These parents, Boyd added, "are not saying get on the sites and then walk away. These are parents who have their computers in the living room, are having conversations with their kids, they often helping them create their accounts to talk to grandma."

Ironically, she said, COPPA may be inadvertently accomplishing what it set out to do. "It was meant to empower parents to have these conversations with their kids. It was meant to encourage exactly what happens as a result of lying." Still, Boyd considers COPPA a flawed law because it creates undue burdens on companies that allow young people to use their services to communicate with one another.

The study also found that fewer than 20 percent of the parents polled feel that the "government should enact laws to protect children by requiring a minimum age," but nearly half support the idea of government requiring services to provide a recommended age level.

Most parents don't want the government dictating a minimum age, according to a survey.

(Credit: Boyd, Hargittai, Schultz and Palfrey)

The study's findings "call the efficacy of COPPA into serious question" and point to the "unintended consequences of COPPA." It concludes that "instead of providing more tools to help parents and their children make informed choices, industry responses to COPPA have neglected parental preferences and have altogether restricted what is available for children to access."

Kids could be safer if...
In May, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told an education conference that he favored changing COPPA so that kids under 13 would be allowed on Facebook, but he backed off a few days later saying "we're not working on it right now." That tracked with what he told me a year earlier--in May 2010--during an interview when I asked him about COPPA. "It's something we've talked about a little bit," he said, "but the restrictions and regulations around it make it very difficult so it's just never been the top of the list in terms of the things we want to do." (Click to hear 57-second clip.)

Considering the number of kids on Facebook and parental attitudes revealed in this study, it strikes me that Facebook ought to find a way to welcome pre-teens but only if it can do so in a way that ensures parental involvement, provides extra privacy protections, and shields kids from advertising and marketing pitches.

I would much rather see kids using Facebook in an age-appropriate way (with plenty of educational resources for kids and parents about safety and privacy) than the status quo in which millions of kid are using the service anyway without these protections. For this to happen, COPPA would have to be modified or Facebook would have to go through considerable expense to comply. I don't see either happening right now, but I do think kids under 13 would be better off if this could be accomplished.

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Gmail app for iOS getting closer, report says

Google is readying a dedicated Gmail app for Apple's iOS, says TechCrunch columnist MG Siegler.
Citing "multiple sources," Siegler revealed the effort on his Parislemon tech blog yesterday. The sources say that the app has already been submitted to Apple for review and should be out soon, assuming it gets approved, which Siegler sees as likely.
If true, it would mean that iOS users would join their Android counterparts in gaining access to a dedicated Gmail app with some handy bells and whistles.

As Siegler points out, Google already offers a Gmail Web page for mobile device users. And of course, iOS users can also set Gmail accounts through the Mail, Contacts, and Calendars feature on their devices. But a full app would presumably offer a variety of useful features in one single package.
One such feature could be push notifications. Another potential feature would be a priority inbox. Siegler further speculated that the app could offer icons for your contacts, better conversation threading, a more robust search functionality, and even integration with Google+.
Siegler does point out that Google doesn't have a great track record with iOS apps, which he believes can be buggy and don't always look pretty. But his sources have told him that the new Gmail app is "pretty fantastic."

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Top 10 smartphones of 2011 (Holiday Gift Guide)

Summary: Apple’s iOS and Google Android are the two clear leaders in the smartphone market here in the U.S. so it was easy to pick the top two devices from these platforms. The next eight were not as easy in such a competitive market.

The beginning of the year always starts with a bang with smartphones being revealed at CES, Mobile World Congress and CTIA. I created a preliminary top 10 smartphones list in March and now that we have all the major anticipated announcements for the year I thought it was fitting to post my top 10 smartphones for the year 2011. Many of the phones I had on that list are present in this new list, but now that I have had hands-on time with some my perspective has changed. Some have yet to be released, but should be coming before the holidays so I included them as well. There are some great devices coming in 2012, but since it is likely we won’t see them this year I couldn’t include them in this list.
Last year I posted my top 10 smartphones of 2010 article in May, but Apple pushed back their iPhone 4S announcement from the traditional summer time frame. Google and Microsoft also made major announcements just this month. It is getting a bit easier to pick top platforms as iOS and Android are the clear leaders with Windows Phone on the move up and BlackBerry on the way down. BlackBerry devices are still 3rd in U.S. market share, but their OS is getting dated and we won’t see much excitement for the platform until QNX-based devices hit the streets. webOS is non-existent and out of the picture while Symbian is rare to find here in the U.S.
I was at Nokia World last week and saw the solid Nokia 710 and 800 devices and initially had the 800 planned for 3rd place, but since we are unlikely to see either of them here in the U.S. until early 2012 I had to take them off the list.
You can check out several product photos of these top 10 devices in my image gallery, but I also highly recommend you visit your carrier store or local electronics retailer to get some hands-on time with a device before you make your purchase decision. Also, check out online reviews from multiple sites to get a good feel for the devices.
The prices you will see in this article are from the carrier, when available. If you are new to a carrier or adding another line you will find excellent prices on Amazon.com and other online vendors like Wirefly. Each carrier is different for all of us and performance is highly dependent on where you live, work, and play. I recommend you figure out which carrier works best for you before buying a device you won’t be happy with because of the carrier. There are many excellent smartphone options today and you honestly can’t really go wrong with any of the available choices. Like carriers, different smartphone operating systems work for different people because of their different strengths and weaknesses, 3rd party applications, and available form factors.
Enough about the disclaimers and warnings, let’s take a look at my list of Top 10 Smartphones of 2011. I hope you find this helpful as we head into the holiday buying season.

Number 1: Apple iPhone 4S

I participated in the ZDNet Great Debate for the Apple iPhone 4S, but readers overwhelmingly voted against it and many in the tech press stated it was not much of an upgrade. However, consumers responded in a big way and Apple had record opening weekend sales exceeding 4 million devices.
I became an iPhone owner again with the iPhone 4S on Verizon and am very happy with the device. The internals were bumped up with a dual-core processor, updated antenna design, and 8 megapixel camera. The Siri artificial intelligence utility is excellent and even in beta demonstrates a new way to interact with your device. I love that I can make appointments and set alarms with a few short words and the iPhone 4S is changing the way I use my smartphone. You can also SIM unlock the Verizon iPhone 4S for true world phone usage with Sprint and AT&T having slightly different policies. I used my iPhone 4S with my Truphone SIM in London and it worked very well.
The Apple iPhone 4S is available on AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint for $199 (16GB), $299 (32GB), and $399 (64GB) with a two-year contract. The unsubsidized, no-contract prices range from $649 (16GB) to $849 (64GB), depending on your carrier.

Number 2: Samsung Galaxy Nexus

Google rolled out the Nexus One back in January 2010 as their flagship device that supports the latest Android operating system. The Nexus S was released last year and just last week Google and Samsung announced the Galaxy Nexus that will be coming to the U.S. with Verizon confirmed to get the device first before the end of this year.
Unlike the previous Nexus devices, there is really nothing missing in this latest device, including the latest wireless radios. The Galaxy Nexus sports a 4.65 inch 1280×720 Super AMOLED HD display, LTE and HSPA+ pentaband support, Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich), NFC, barometer, 1080p HD video camera, 1750 mAh battery and more. I have regularly ranted on this blog about the lack of pentaband 3G data support that currently only Nokia provides in true world phone fashion with support for frequencies in all ranges. Thankfully, the new Galaxy Nexus is a pentaband phone, with support for the 21 Mbps HSPA+ data network so it is highly likely I will be picking one up to use with T-Mobile USA.
There is no pricing or availability yet and it sounds like it will roll out in Europe and other countries first with a Verizon LTE model coming before the end of 2011. It’s not clear if we will see one launching on AT&T or T-Mobile here in the U.S.

Number 3: HTC Titan

Readers know I am a major Windows Phone fan and I know it hasn’t yet been adopted by a large number of Americans, but it really is fantastic and everyone I know that tries it out likes it. I was going to put one of the new Nokia Windows Phone devices here in 3rd, but none are coming to the U.S. this year so I am throwing in the HTC Titan that is coming to AT&T soon, likely in November. I finally had a chance to try out the HTC Titan this week and even though the display is huge, it is quite thin and extremely well made.
The HTC Titan has a massive 4.7 inch Super LCD display at the same standard 800×480 resolution that still looks crisp and clear. It has a 1.5 GHz processor, 16GB integrated storage, 512MB RAM, 1600 mAh battery, HSPA+ radio (up to 14.4 Mbps downloads), and 8 megapixel camera. HTC had done work with their cameras and it is actually quite good.
There is no pricing yet for AT&T, but Microsoft recently showed it off and it is coming to the carrier soon.

Number 4: Motorola Droid RAZR

The Motorola RAZR was an iconic device that launched at quite a high price and still sold millions. Motorola’s original DROID put Android on the map and launched it to its current success. They decided to launch a new RAZR based on the Android OS and what sets it apart from their current offerings is that it is the thinnest LTE device, and one of the thinnest Android devices, available.
The Motorola Droid RAZR has all of the latest specifications, including LTE radio, Android 2.3.5 Gingerbread, 4.3 inch 540×960 Super AMOLED display, dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1780 mAh battery, Bluetooth 4.0, 8 megapixel camera, 16GB internal storage and microSD card slot.
The Motorola Droid RAZR will be available for $299.99 with a 2-year contract in November on Verizon Wireless.

Number 5: Nokia N9

The Nokia N9 is one of the saddest stories in the mobile world since the hardware and MeeGo operating system are fantastic and show a lot of promise, but the device is likely the last MeeGo device we will see from Nokia. If you check out all the other reviews online you will see that people love the Nokia N9. It is not available in very many countries and will not be sold by Nokia here in the U.S.
You can check out my <Nokia N9 first impressions and a follow-up article I posted on several tips, tricks, and FAQs. Specifications of the Nokia N9 include the MeeGo 1.2 (Harmattan) operating system, pentaband 3G radio, 1 GHz Cortex A8 processor, 3.9 inch FWVGA 854×480 pixels AMOLED display with anti-glare polarizer and Gorilla Glass integration, 1 GB RAM, 16 and 64 GB internal memory options, 8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and Carl Zeiss optics, NFC, and more.
The Nokia N9 is only available in select countries, but can be found through importers from about $750 to $900 for the 16GB and 64GB models, respectively. I purchased my own 16GB blue N9 from a reseller on ebay.

Number 6: HTC Amaze 4G

One of the complaints I have always had with HTC devices was the poor camera quality, but thankfully this area is being addressed by HTC in a big way. There is a lot of promotion and advertisement of the camera on the HTC Amaze 4G and as I posted in my camera roundup the Amaze 4G really is fantastic. In addition to the great camera, it is one of the best designed HTC smartphones I have ever held in my hand and feels like a very high quality device.
Specifications of the HTC Amaze 4G include Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread, HSPA+ on T-Mobile at 42.2 Mbps, 4.3 inch qHD 540×960 pixels Super LCD display, 8 megapixel camera with f/2.2 aperture lens and 1080p video recording capability, NFC, DLNA and HDMI, 1730 mAh battery, Bluetooth 3.0, and much more.
The HTC Amaze 4G is available now for $259.99 with a minimum voice and data plan with 2-year contract after a $50 mail-in rebate. The full retail price is $559.99 with no contract.

Number 7: LG Thrill

One of the features shown off this year that seemed to be more gimmicky than anything is the glasses-free 3D display found on a few new smartphones. While it may seem a bit silly for day-to-day usage, it is actually fun to use and when I tested out the EVO 3D my daughters had a blast recording videos in 3D. The LG Thrill is not only one of the best 3D devices, it is also a solid high end Android device that competes with the best of them.
Specifications for the LG Thrill include a 4.3 inch glasses free 3D display, 1 GHz dual core processor, dual 5 megapixel cameras, 8GB integrated storage and microSD card, and HSPA+ support.
The LG Thrill is available now on AT&T for $99.99 with a 2-year contract. It is priced at $449.99 with no contract.

Number 8: Motorola Droid Bionic

The Motorola Droid Bionic is one of the best LTE devices on Verizon Wireless and Jason Perlow made a great case for the device in comparison to the Apple iPhone 4S. The Droid Bionic sports a high resolution (540×960 pixels) 4.3 inch display, dual-core 1GHz processor, 8 megapixel camera, large capacity 1930 mAh battery, integrated 16GB of memory and microSD card slot, and support for the LTE network.
I put it down at number 8 since it is a fairly typical Android device and thought the devices higher in this list offer more that is unique. The Droid Bionic was shown off at the beginning of the year and was delayed for a few months, but is still a device to consider.
It is available now for $299.99 with 2-year plan on Verizon Wireless and $589.99 with no plan or subsidy.

Number 9: Samsung Galaxy S II

The Samsung Galaxy S II was released several months ago in various countries and is just now making its way to the U.S. carriers. It is a very successful device and I enjoyed my time with the T-Mobile version. The Galaxy S II sports an amazing 4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display (4.52 inches on T-Mobile and Sprint), dual-core 1 GHz processor, Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) OS, 8 megapixel camera, integrated memory and microSD card, 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, and more.
The Galaxy S II is a large device, but it is light and thin. The quality feels better than any previous Samsung Galaxy device I have used and I know people will be purchasing it in large numbers on the three U.S. carriers.
It is available on T-Mobile for $229.99 with a 2-year plan and $50 mail-in rebate ($529.99 with no contract) and on AT&T for Sprint’s model is known as Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touch (what a crazy name, huh?) and comes with WiMAX, a 4.52 inch display, and 1.2 GHz processor with a contract price of $199.99 or $499.99 with no contract.

Number 10: BlackBerry Bold 9900/9930

I jumped on the BlackBerry Bold 9930 at launch and was excited about it for a couple of weeks before jumping back off the bandwagon and think RIM needs to step it up in 2012 to be competitive with the other mobile platforms. I enjoyed using the BlackBerry PlayBook with QNX-based operating system and there is a lot of promise for smartphones running this OS in 2012.
Specifications for the BlackBerry Bold 9930 include a 2.8 inch touchscreen display, a 1.2 GHz single core processor, 5 megapixel camera with 720p HD video recording, 8GB onboard storage with microSD card support up to 32GB, 768 MB RAM (something like 256MB is used for GPU), optical trackpad, promixity sensor, accelerometer, compass, and BlackBerry OS 7 that provides voice-activated universal search, new web browser, huge collection of pre-installed apps, and much more.
The Bold 9900/9930 has the BEST QWERTY keyboard ever on a device and if you are a hardware keyboard fan then you will enjoy using this device. It is quite expensive for a BlackBerry smartphone though with a price of $299.99 with a $50 mail-in rebate on T-Mobile (full no contract price is $599.99), $199.99 with contract on Sprint ($499.99 full retail price), and $249.99 on Verizon with a contract ($509.99 full retail price).

Final thoughts on my top 10

There are plenty of other good Android and Windows Phone devices I didn’t include in my top 10 since I wanted to limit the list to just 10. I did include one BlackBerry device because it really is a great device as long as you are happy with the BlackBerry platform and need a QWERTY keyboard.
While RIM’s BlackBerry still holds a large market share in the U.S., Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms are the clear leaders in the modern smartphone era. It appears that these two are leveling out where they are no longer stealing customers from each other, but from other platforms. There will always be those who will never switch between these two platforms and there is room for both to be excellent and have a large number of customers. One will not kill off the other and they will co-exist and move forward.
It will be interesting to see what happens with Motorola, Samsung and HTC in the Android space now that Google owns Motorola. With Samsung making the new Galaxy Nexus I think all three will continue to compete for Android customers with some excellent devices.
I believe that Windows Phone 7 will become the third major player in the smartphone market with RIM BlackBerry in fourth eventually falling to fourth. Nokia has the chance to improve Windows Phone 7 in the long term, but Microsoft is going to have to promote the operating system more to gain substantial market share. RIM needs to move into the modern smartphone era and is planning to do this with their BBX platform, but that remains to be seen.

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Nokia launches free Wi-Fi service in central London

Summary: Nokia, only a week after it was in the British capital for its annual Nokia World 2011 conference, is to offer free Wi-Fi service to Londoners.

Nokia has switched on a trial of its new Wi-Fi service in central London, in a bid to increase its presence around the British capital, and contend with existing providers of wireless networking in the city.

The free Wi-Fi service launched this morning, and will be available until the end of year, where users can access the high-speed network free of charge. If deemed a success, the service could be provided on a permanent basis starting in early 2012.

(Location sources: The Next Web; Image: Google Maps)

Supported by 26 separate hotspots, the Wi-Fi service is spread across central London, focusing on the West End and shopping districts, along with places of tourist interest.

According to the BBC, the hotspots run at 20Mbps, but download speeds are limited to a maximum of 1Mbps per user, to allow a greater quality of service for those connected. Upload speeds are half that, running at around 500Kbps.

Nokia and Windows Phone smartphone users will be able to find hotspot locations using its Maps application, as part of the company’s move to publicize the service further.

Unlike existing services provided by mobile phone giant O2, and telecoms firm BT, Nokia’s service will be one-click-and-go, without the need to provide personal details or a paid subscription. Terms and conditions of the service will have to be accepted before users can access the free Wi-Fi, however.

Users will be able to connect through any wireless compatible device — from tablets such as iPads, smartphones, laptops or net books.

If the service is successful, Nokia revealed that it could roll out free Wi-Fi service to developing nations, like India and Africa, where mobile network coverage is rare and at best, poor.

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iPhone 4S hitting 15 more countries on November 11

The iPhone 4S will soon be traveling even further around the world.
Apple revealed today that its new iPhone will be available in 15 additional countries starting Friday, November 11. Consumers waiting for the new phone will be able to buy one in Albania, Armenia, Bulgaria, El Salvador, Greece, Guatemala, Hong Kong, Malta, Montenegro, New Zealand, Panama, Poland, Portugal, Romania, and South Korea.
Preorders in most of those countries will kick off this coming Friday, November 4. But Apple noted that preorders would not be an option in Albania, El Salvador, Guatemala, Malta, Montenegro, or Panama.
Launched on October 14, the iPhone 4S is currently selling across 29 different countries and will be available in a total of 70 countries by the end of the year. In just the opening weekend, Apple witnessed sales of 4 million units.
Available in black or white, the iPhone 4S sells in the U.S. for $199 for the 16GB model, $299 for the 32GB model, and $399 for the new 64GB model with a two-year contract. The new phone is also the first iPhone to be available from three major U.S. carriers--AT&T, Verizon Wireless, and Sprint.

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Vu1 enters $15 bulb in efficient-lighting race

The Vu1 flood light will be followed by a classic Edison-style bulb.

(Credit: Vu1)

Vu1 said today the first in its line of efficient light bulbs will be available at retailer Lowes, pitting one more technology against the aging incandescent bulb.
The company's first product is an R30 bulb designed to replace a 65-watt incandescent flood light, which uses about 19.5 watts of power. Vu1 (pronounced "view one") plans to introduce a classic Edison A19 shape bulb as well in Europe and the U.S.
The R30 is less efficient than a comparable compact fluorescent bulb, which uses about 13 watts, but it does not have mercury and has full light instantly. Priced at $14.95, it's less expensive than comparable LEDs. Compared to halogens, Vu1 says its bulbs are more energy efficient and will last longer--about 11,000 hours.The color rendering index, which is a measure of light quality, is 85 CRI and the color temperature is warm at 2800 Kelvin.
The company calls the technology behind the bulb electronically stimulated luminescence (ESL), a technique that produces the same light quality as traditional incandescent lamps. Like a cathode ray tube, electrons are fired at glass coated with phosphors that are excited to give off light. The technology has been around for years but never fully pursued for lighting, according to the company.
The company has received UL certification for its A-type bulb and R-30 flood light bulb.

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Smartphones with long battery life (roundup)

Smartphones are the Swiss Army Knives of the tech world. They're cell phones, music and video players, mobile Web browsers, and personal organizers, among other things. Not surprisingly, all this can take a toll on battery life, and when you depend on your smartphone for so much, the last thing you want is for it to run out of juice when you need it most.

Generally speaking, with moderate use, smartphones can give you a full day's performance before needing to be recharged, but not all gadgets are created equal--some simply run out of steam early, whereas others will hang in there for the long haul. Here are five smartphones that fall into the latter group; they scored some impressive numbers in our CNET Labs battery tests and also performed better than their competitors in real-world tests. So all you movers and shakers out there who don't have time to charge your smartphone's battery every few hours, give one of these devices a try.

 

Samsung Galaxy S II
When it came to testing the Galaxy S II, let's just say a certain editor was stuck at the office late waiting for the smartphone's battery to die. Read the full review.

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Motorola Droid Bionic
The Motorola Droid Bionic has a ton of features and power packed into it, so we were afraid that battery life would suffer, but the smartphone proved us wrong. Read the full review.

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HTC Rhyme
Perhaps purple isn't your favorite color, but if you like compact smartphones with good battery life and extra accessories, then the HTC Rhyme is worth a look. Read the full review.

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Motorola Photon 4G
The Photon 4G makes a great travel buddy not only because of its world-roaming capabilities, but also because of its long-lasting battery. Read the full review.

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LG Enlighten
One of the biggest adjustments when jumping from a feature phone to a smartphone is the difference in battery life, but the entry-level LG Enlighten does a pretty good job of softening that blow. Read the full review.

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Google opens Samsung Galaxy Nexus registration for India

First, it was Motorola that surprised with the announcement of an India launch for the brand-new Motorola RAZR, and now, Google has surprised with the news that India would be among the first 18 countries to get the spanking-new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, later this month.

Google has setup a Galaxy Nexus registration page for India, and you can check it out here. After registration, users will receive updates about the device, including, its exact availability status. The other 17 countries in the first phase of launch are Australia, Brazil, France, Holland, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Portugal, Taiwan, Thailand, United Kingdom and the U.S.A.

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If Siri is the key to an Apple TV, what will Google do about it?

All signs point to the cryptic comment recorded in the new Steve Jobs bio — that he “finally cracked” the right way to create an Apple television — referring to Siri as the key to a super-simple living room experience. The New York Times surmises that a voice-controlled TV is in Apple’s future, with potentially revolutionary ramifications.

It would be revolutionary, if it wasn’t already possible to do some of those things with Google TV — the original, much-derided one. The few Google TV owners out there can already download the Google TV Remote app for their Android phone or iPhone and use voice commands to search for content.

Likewise, Google has loaded voice search onto its Android phones long before Siri was added to the latest iPhone. But here’s where the Apple difference comes into play. Google Voice Search is a feature, whereas Siri is being promoted as an experience. With its new ads, Apple is showing you how Siri can change your life, and presumably it will try to do the same thing when and if a Siri-powered Apple TV does eventually emerge. You can almost see the ads now: one good-looking person after the next turning the TV on, changing channels, searching for movies, recording shows, all with Siri.

This is precisely the Apple m.o. used to dominate the market with the iPod and iPad, which were able to defeat competing products that out-featured them. The iPhone might have done the same thing if Apple didn’t roll it out with only a single carrier.

It doesn’t have to be the same result if Apple does indeed introduce a Siri-flavored TV. That’s because there aren’t any signs that an Apple television will be released in the immediate future. It gives Google time to promote the voice capabilities of Google TV as it launches version 2.0 of the platform, as well as to work with TV manufacturers to bake those features into new sets. In essence, it has to think like Apple in order to preempt Apple. It ultimately won’t matter to consumers that Google was first to let you use your voice to search for content through your TV, in the same way that it didn’t matter that there were MP3 players before Apple introduced the iPod.

Google was helped enormously when Apple tethered its iPhone initially to AT&T, as it gave a huge opening to Android to provide a similar smartphone experience if you were with another carrier. Otherwise, Google hasn’t done well when it’s involved itself with hardware. But it has the blueprint, the critical feature, and the headstart it needs to beat Apple to the punch in the TV game.

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How-to: Get emoticons in iMessage and iOS 5

Summary: Dozens of emoticons, right there on the keyboard!

I’ve been getting quite a few question along the lines of the following in my mailbox over the past few days:

Can I use emoticons in iMessage?
Can I use emoticons in iOS 5?

Yes you can. In fact, iOS 5 on the iPhone and iPad allows you to switch to a keyboard made up entirely of emoticons and allows you to use them all over the place!

Here’s how to activate them.

Click Settings > General > Keyboard

Click International Keyboards then select the Emoji keyboard.

With that done all that remains is for you to switch between the two keyboards. You do this using this button:

Doing that for the first time brings up this notification:

Then you get the keyboard … and it’s pretty cool!

 

There are a load of emoticons to choose from (click here to see them all). You can use these all over the place, but remember that they’ll only display properly on iOS devices, so if you use them in say the Twitter app, only other iOS users will be able to see them properly, so use them with care!

Enjoy!

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A Windows 8 smartphone could be coming next year

The XPPhone 2 is slated to run Windows 7 and 8.

A Chinese company says it will bring the yet-to-be-released Windows 8 to the small screen.
In Technology Group has seemingly dedicated itself to merging the Windows PC experience with the smartphone--something the company has dubbed the "post-smartphone." They started with phones running Windows XP a few years ago, and by earlier this year, ITG's XPPhone was available with Windows 7. Now it says a far slimmer, lighter, and energy efficient XPPhone 2 that will run both Windows 7 and the PC version of Windows 8 (once it's released) is in the works.
Though it seems doubtful to me that many consumers will find a need for so much Windows in their pocket, ITG has made sure to pack the XPPhone 2 with the meaty hardware to pull it off. This beast will boast a 1.6GHz processor and 2GB of RAM. ITG's Web site also mentions the possibility of an insane 2GHz model. There's also plenty of storage space to house Microsoft's notoriously bulky OSes, with 112GB on board.

ITG sees the XPPhone 2 as a desktop replacement.

ITG is billing the XPPhone 2 not just as a phone but as the "smallest notebook PC in the world," measuring 140mm X 73mm X 17.5mm. The pitch is basically that the phone is easily dockable and can stand in for a laptop, desktop and in-car navigation system. The success of this kind of a device will likely depend on it being at least more usable than the English translation of its press release, which requires several aspirin to navigate, with sentences like: "The Editor considers that, presently it forms three camps of smart phone in the way of tripartite confrontation--The Apple, Google & Moto, and Intel & Microsoft & xpPhone, of which stands for three complete different technical orientations."
Let's hope they took the money they saved on their translator and put it into engineering. Engadget reports that we could see an XPPhone 2 release as soon as January.

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HP reverses course, opts not to sell PC division

Is HP having a Netflix moment? Two months after announcing plans to sell off its PC division and one month after naming Meg Whitman as its new CEO, HP said today that its Personal Systems Group (PSG) will remain a part of the company.

"HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG. It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees," Whitman said in a statement. "HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger."

HP said it consulted with "subject matter experts" across its businesses and functions, which revealed a "depth of the integration" across its operations, as well as the significant contributions that PSG brings to HP.

After reviewing those results, "the decision was actually very straightforward," Whitman said during a Thursday afternoon conference call with analysts. "HP and PSG are better together."

Getting rid of PSG would not benefit shareholders, Whitman continued. Furthermore, it would be "very challenging for a new PC company to build such a strong brand," she said. "At the end of the day, the costs and risk of a separation are simply greater than any value we could create."

"As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry's broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more," said Todd Bradley, executive vice president of PSG. "We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better."

In announcing its decision to ditch PSG in late August, HP said it was looking to "fundamentally transform the company." It would refocus on products that "drive higher value solutions to enterprise, small and midsize business and public sector customers," HP said at the time. The announcement also included the $10.2 billion acquisition of U.K.-based Autonomy and the death of webOS development and devices like the HP TouchPad.

Whitman acknowledged that "we confused the market pretty dramatically on August 18." The top question she gets these days is, "What is HP?" and said the company needs to refocus. "We're on it," she said.

When asked about its tablet strategy and the future of webOS, Bradley said its "thinking hasn't changed."

"We're continuing to focus on a Microsoft-based tablet that we have and we'll develop on Windows 8," he said. "From a webOS perspective, that's kind of the next piece of work to complete." The whole team is working to "make the right decisions" on webOS.

"I think we need to be in the tablet business, and we're certainly going to be there with Windows 8," Whitman continued. "We're going to make a run at this business," and HP will likely have a decision on webOS in the next couple of months.

In late August, HP pushed the idea of spinning off its PC business, launching a series of ads that said HP "would be a $40 billion business with the agility and freedom of a start-up." One of those ads touted HP's status as the "number-one PC maker on the planet," which it said it achieved by staying focused on consumers. A spin-off, therefore, would create "a more agile organization to help us better anticipate change and quickly respond to customers."

One month later, however, Léo Apotheker was out as CEO and Whitman was in. After landing the gig, Whitman said she was "honored and excited to lead HP. I believe HP matters – it matters to Silicon Valley, California, the country and the world."

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iPhone battery drain--'Setting Time Zone' may be culprit

Having initially pointed out customer complaints about subpar battery life in the iPhone 4S, the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper has followed up with a report about a possible culprit and a possible temporary fix.

The Guardian said yesterday that some 4S users who had griped on Apple's support Web site about the power drain were being contacted by the company and sent diagnostic files that could be sent back to Apple for analysis. Numerous users have been saying their phones are lasting just a few hours, even with minimal use, the Guardian said.

Now the paper reports that a location-based feature in the phone that detects when you've physically moved to a different time zone and then resets the phone's clock accordingly may be the problem.

Apparently, the "Setting Time Zone" feature is polling cell phone towers constantly to determine the phone's location, rather than doing so only on occasion. The phone's location-tracking setup triangulates information on the power of cell tower signals in order to situate the device.

The Guardian quotes Oliver Haslam, of iDownloadBlog:

It appears that iOS 5?s GM release introduced a bug that causes the Setting Time Zone function to keep the location tracking circuitry running constantly, draining battery power considerably. Switching it off may mean that your iPhone will no longer set its own time zone when you travel, but that's a small price to pay for having your iPhone last more than 12 hours on a full charge...We have tested this method on 4 different iPhone 4S handsets, including an iPhone 4 and an iPhone 3GS. All have reported drastically improved battery life after switching "Setting Time Zone" off.

The Guardian reported that some users have seen little difference after switching off the feature and that Apple itself has not yet weighed in on what the specific issue might be. But Haslam's temporary fix seems worth a shot.

"Setting Time Zone" is found under Settings/Location Services/System Services.

The iPhone 4S launched two weeks ago in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and several other countries, and expanded to 22 additional countries yesterday. It boasts an extra hour of 3G talk time compared with the iPhone 4, while coming in at 100 hours less of standby time, based on Apple's own testing. CNET's own iPhone 4S battery testing with a model on Sprint's network yielded 9.2 hours of talk time on the carrier's 3G EV-DO Revision A network, coming in as the strongest iPhone battery test to date.

The phone continues the trend set by previous iterations, sealing the battery inside to allow for better use of space. As a side effect, users can't swap it out with another battery, as most other phones allow.

A teardown of the iPhone 4S earlier this month by iFixit revealed that the battery in the 4S is slightly more powerful than the one in the iPhone 4, but not by much. Users get an extra .05 WHrs of juice compared with the battery that was in the iPhone 4. The big difference, of course, is that the iPhone 4S sports a dual-core a5 processor.

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Microsoft: Android is standing 'on the shoulder of companies like Microsoft'

Summary: Microsoft: ‘Licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about.’

Google is standing ‘on the shoulder of companies like Microsoft who made all these billions of dollars in investments‘ with its Android mobile OS, claims Horacio Gutiérrez, deputy general counsel in charge of Microsoft’s intellectual property group.
Gutiérrez makes this claim in an interview with SFGate.
Speaking in relation to the huge amount of litigation currently going on between mobile device players, Gutiérrez said that ‘there is a period of unrest and a period of readjustment, until the claims on the ownership of different pieces of technology are well known’ and that licensing and cross-licensing is required to make these problems ‘disappear into the background.’
Gutiérrez also believes that ‘licensing is not some nefarious thing that people should be worried about’ but instead ‘the solution to the patent problem that people are reacting so negatively about.’
Gutiérrez goes on to defend the software patent system, claiming that ’many things that earlier were implemented in hardware …  are now implemented in software’ and that the ‘patent system has actually played a role in securing the leadership that the United States has in this field.’

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Zune 4.8 adds Mango support, 48-hour movie rentals

Microsoft has released an updated version of its Zune software that works as a companion utility for Windows Phone​ handsets and the company's media players. Version 4.8 is mostly focused on under-the-hood changes that bring support for the upcoming Windows Phone update, known as Mango. Users that have not kept up to date with their WP7 software will only need to click the update button once to install multiple updates.

The backup process has also been streamlined, with media separated from other phone content to help reduce backup times. The backup file is also more compact, while users have the choice to skip the phone backup step and update the phone if they do not have enough space on their computer drives.

Aside from the Windows Phone changes, the Zune software also brings support for 48-hour movie rentals and parental controls for M-rated content.

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China outraces the US to become largest PC market

New IDC research showed that China has just managed to outgrow the US to become the world's largest PC market. The US will hold on to the lead for all of 2011, but China this spring just pushed past the US to claim 22 percent of all PCs shipped, 18.5 million, to the 21 percent (17.7 million) going to Americans. In the long term, researches saw China getting 21.8 percent for all of 2012 where the US would slip to 19.6 percent.

The catch-up in the populous but poorer country may have come from government plans. Its 12th Five Year Plan was encouraging very large companies at the heart of China's foundations to keep spending at a time when the US was still struggling. China was also working to improve technology in poorer cities where the US was much more saturated and has less room to grow.

China did face problems as it was fighting to control inflation and minimize the ripple effect from problems created in the US. It was still enough of a sign that developing countries were getting enough momentum to outperform countries where individuals were wealthier but had less need to buy in.

The shift is likely to heavily favor China-native companies such as Lenovo and Hanvon that are already established in the country and know how to appeal to an audience with a lower income and different needs than in Europe or North America. American companies focusing on premium hardware may have an advantage, however. Apple is already making more money than Lenovo by a wide margin despite prices that mostly limit it to the upper-middle class and above in China.

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Facebook responds to Google+ with inline profile controls

Facebook has introduced new profile controls that appear to mimic Google's approach with Google+. Although Facebook users have had access to custom controls over post distribution to different groups, the options were buried in a series of settings pages. The site is introducing inline profile controls, enabling users to make global changes from the main page or choose individual privacy options for each post as it is entered.

The drop-down menus appear directly next to the Post button and in the Edit Profile interface. Users can quickly pick public or friends, while a custom choice leads to additional options. The updates bring functionality similar to Google+ circles, which provides direct control over post routing to various groups.

Facebook has also introduced an option to review and approve tagged photos taken and posted by other users. In the past, images that a user might not post themselves on a public profile, such as partying snapshots, would nonetheless arrive on their profile if they happened to be uploaded and tagged by friends. The site also now enables users to review and approve tags that other users try to add to their photos and posts.

To help users determine how their profile appears to others, Facebook has also moved the "View Profile As..." button to the top of a profile rather than deeper in the settings menus.

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