Nokia Closes Out 2013 With 92% Of The Windows Phone Market

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The fine folks at AdDuplex have provided Paul Thurrott with an early look at their final Windows Phone market data for 2013, giving us in the public a final look at the key statistics of Microsoft’s smartphone platform’s OEM and device makeup.

The figures are much as they have been all year, only more so. Nokia continues to control the lion’s share of Windows Phone hardware, ending the month up a few points at 92.1 percent (this is a calculation of usage share, tracked through AdDuplex’s network). And the Lumia 520 handset continues to dominate its brethren, with a new high of 39.3 percent share. And that Windows Phone 8 grew against the now-fading Windows 7.x system, with record relative market share of 78.3 percent.

Windows Phone’s 2013, if you had to put it into basic trends, would be that Nokia cleaned up, and its Lumia 520 was the weapon of choice.

Thurrott well describes the current low-ending of Windows Phone (bolding original):

Almost no high-end phones are popular. Worldwide, only the Lumia 920 makes the top 10 list for usage among all Windows Phone handsets, and if you look just at Windows Phone 8 handsets, only two high-end devices make the list: The Lumia 920 and the 925. In the US, there are three: The Lumia 920, 928, and 1020. All the rest are new low-end devices or old devices. The Lumia 1520 phablet doesn’t appear anywhere in this report.

What this means is that the sales momentum that Windows Phone has comes at the cost of per-unit revenue. Margin pressure increases at lower price points. The list of sacrifices that had to be made to produce the Lumia 520 is not small.

So, as we tally what could be the final month in which Nokia rules Windows Phone, it’s important to note that rising unit volume has come at a cost. The Lumia 1020 is a hit among a subset of the technology elite, but perhaps few else.

Can you build a mobile empire on predominantly low-end phones? Apple managed the opposite, so perhaps this, too, is possible.

Naughty Dog Says “We’ll See” For The Last Of Us Coming To The PS4

Naughty Dog Says Well See For The Last Of Us Coming To The PS4We’re sure some gamers might have been somewhat bummed when back in October, Naughty Dog community strategist, Eric Monacelli stated that the developer had no plans to bring The Last of Us to the new Sony PlayStation 4. Given the graphics of the game, we can only imagine the spectacular visuals that it would have if Naughty Dog were to bring it over to the PS4, but fret not gamers because not all hope is lost. In response to a question asked by a fan as to whether the company would bring the game onto the PS4, Naughty Dog’s latest response on the official PlayStation Blog revealed a somewhat optimistic “We’ll see,” which is admittedly a lot better than saying no outright.

According to Monacelli, “We’re just getting our Naughty Dog engine up and running on PS4 as we work on the next Uncharted project. We will see what the future brings! Naughty Dog Says Well See For The Last Of Us Coming To The PS4The Last of Us launched on the PS3 earlier this year in June after an initial delay with critical acclaim, with some voting the game as PS3 game of the year, and with the game having managed to ship about 3.4 million units to date, so we can only imagine those numbers climbing if they were to bring it onto the PS4 where gamers who did not have the PS3 might get it to see what all the fuss is about. In fact it wasn’t too long ago that Sony had registered a domain for a The Last of Us movie, although whether this was done just to protect the franchise or if a movie is in the works remains to be seen.

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  • Naughty Dog Says “We’ll See” For The Last Of Us Coming To The PS4 original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Alleged Oppo Find 7′s Metal Frame Leaked

    Alleged Oppo Find 7s Metal Frame LeakedOppo has been making the headlines recently and one of the Chinese company’s upcoming handsets is the Oppo Find 7, which we recently found out has been confirmed to feature a 5.5” display with a 2K resolution, making them the second company to release such a device behind the Vivo Xplay 3S. Oppo has been teasing the handset for a while now and while we’re still unsure when the handset will be officially revealed, a leaked photo has started to make its rounds on the internet where it shows off what appears to be the metal frame that will be making its way into the Find 7.

    While the specs of the Find 7 have been rumored for a while now, this is the first time we’re getting a glimpse at its metal frame, indicating that Oppo could be turning to more premium materials for the build of the phone, as opposed to using plastic which is common practice amongst most smartphone OEMs. The measurements of the phone confirm that the display is of the 5.5” variety, so at the very least it would seem as though this leaked component is the real deal. Based on what we know so far, the rest of the Find 7’s specs include a 2.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor with 3GB of RAM, and a 16MP Sony Exmor camera on the back, and might possibly come with CyanogenMod preinstalled, similar to the Oppo N1. Take it with a grain of salt for now, but with CES and MWC around the corner, perhaps Oppo will share more details with us then.

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  • Alleged Oppo Find 7′s Metal Frame Leaked original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Nail Polish Can Be Used To Tell If Your Computer Has Been Tampered With

    Nail Polish Can Be Used To Tell If Your Computer Has Been Tampered WithWhether you have sensitive information on your laptop or if you’re just simply a private person, having your laptop tampered with either by a nosey sibling or by a corporate spy is a big no-no on your list, and while there are ways for you to check if your computer has been messed around with, it seems that one cheap and reportedly effective way to do so is through the use of nail polish! This is according to security researchers, Eric Michaud and Ryan Lackey, both of whom gave a presentation at the Chaos Communication Congress (the same event in which Jacob Appelbaum presented his NSA findings as well) where they revealed that nail polish, along with a host of other cheap methods, could be used to see if your computer has been tampered with.

    While there are seals that one could use, they claim that these seals can be easily broken, not to mention if one takes their time, could replace it with a new seal in almost the same same spot, leaving you to think none the wiser. The idea behind nail polish is to create what seems like a random pattern which makes it harder for the tamperer to replicate. The use of glitter nail polish is similar to what astronomers use to detect changes in the night sky, called blink comparison. Because each application of nail polish seemingly creates a random pattern in the glitter, it would be almost impossible for the tamperer to reapply it in exactly the same way.

    Of course once the device has been tampered with, and with data possibly stolen or malware installed, it might be too late, but at the very least you know that it has been messed with and you can take the appropriate action, as opposed to finding out at the last minute.

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  • Nail Polish Can Be Used To Tell If Your Computer Has Been Tampered With original content from Ubergizmo.

        



    Dashboard Wars: Are iOS and Android Infotainment Cuckoos?

    Forget phones and tablets, the next big thing in mobility really can move. Audi, so the latest rumors claim, is readying an announcement that it will put Android on future … Continue reading

    Daily Roundup: Tech’s biggest misfires, Samsung’s 110-inch UHDTV, 2013 in review and more!

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    Nokia beats down HTC with long arm of German patent court

    HTC has lost another major battle in patent court, this time in Germany. Nokia prevailed in a quest to force HTC to stop selling Android-based smartphones in that country, including … Continue reading

    “Worlds’ Oldest Diamonds” Turned Out to Be Leftover Cleaning Supplies

    "Worlds' Oldest Diamonds" Turned Out to Be Leftover Cleaning Supplies

    Back in 2007, scientists found evidence of our planet’s first continents in the form of 4.3 billion-year-old diamonds—old as the very Earth itself. And these diamonds were finally going to give us the insight into the evolution of Earth’s crust that we’ve been searching for. Now, six years later, there’s just one little problem: Those tiny gems? Actually tiny leftover bits of polishing grit. Whoops.

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    Xbox One and PlayStation 4 availability jumps for new year

    Head to your local retail outlet this week and you may see an image of their video game and entertainment section a whole lot different from what it was a … Continue reading

    Research Finds That Freemium Apps Account For 98% Of Play Store Revenue

    Research Finds That Freemium Apps Account For 98% Of Play Store RevenueEverybody loves free stuff, but would you love it as much if there were ads splattered all across it? Or if you had to fork out more money to progress in a free app like a game? There are some, like myself, who would happily pay full price for an app and leave it at that, but it seems that we might be a minority because according to the latest figures, it would seem as though freemium apps are currently dominating the Google Play store, with a whopping 98% of revenue coming from freemium apps alone. The remaining two percent go to paid apps, and paid apps with in-app purchases.

    The numbers shared are worldwide as well and it appears that South Korea is currently leading the way as far as freemium apps are concerned. For those wondering what freemium apps are, they are basically apps that are free for download, but in order to unlock certain features or to remove the apps, the developers are asking users to pay a small fee. These in-app purchases can sometimes lead to the user spending more money on the app than they normally would had the app been a one-off purchase, which is why we suppose developers love the freemium model.

    Companies like EA have expressed their belief that freemium is the way of the future, but companies like Nintendo have in past stated that they have no interest in freemium games whatsoever. However with analysts predicting that freemium games could rack up as much as $10 million a day, we can certainly see the lure. What do you guys think? Are you pro-freemium or wold you rather pay a one-time fee and be done with it?

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  • Research Finds That Freemium Apps Account For 98% Of Play Store Revenue original content from Ubergizmo.