Hasta La Gadget!

Apple, in its ongoing battle over an e-book price fixing scandal, has been dealt yet another setback. Last month, Judge Denise Cote ruled that Apple had violated antitrust laws in conspiring with publishers to raise e-book prices. Cupertino asked for a temporary suspension of her ruling while it sought to appeal the penalties leveled against it, but today Judge Cote refused that request. The company maintains its innocence, and its co-defendants have jumped to its defense in the wake of a strong restrictions handed down by the Justice Department. But, increasingly, it appears that Apple is fighting a losing battle. We’re sure that there are still tricks in its legal arsenal, but there is little indication that Cupertino will be able to avoid terminating its existing agreements with publishers and will be barred from engaging in agency pricing before the end of the DoJ’s five-year ban.

Filed under: Apple

Comments

Source: Associated Press

No non-Nexus Android phone is complete without a pile of obnoxious helpful unique software features. LG’s G2 is no different; it adds a bunch more customizations and apps to the company’s existing suite. Plug & Pop automatically suggests apps and tasks when you plug in headphones or a USB cable, while Slide Aside lets you quickly dismiss running apps with a simple three-finger swipe. KnockON isn’t exactly new, but it’s definitely one of the more intriguing and simple twists on the standard Android UI: instead of hitting a power button you simply tap twice on the display to wake the G2 from its sleep. It’s a nice convenience that goes hand-in-hand with Answer Me, which automatically answers calls when you put the phone to your ear, just like an old-school wired telephone. There’s even QuickRemote, which can not only control home entertainment systems, but a whole range of devices, thanks to its ability to “learn” from standard IR remotes. There’s also a guest mode, for when you want to hand the phone over to a friend or your child, though, Guest Mode does nothing to stop their sticky little fingers from leaving goo on your screen.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, LG

Comments

After months of leaks and rumors, it’s finally time for us to take a look at the real LG G2. The successor to last year’s Optimus G was just officially announced and, as you have come to expect from the usual flagships, it’s loaded with plenty of specs and clever features, not to mention some interesting new smartphone design approaches. The new device, which runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean, comes with a larger display than its predecessor, packing a 5.2-inch 1080p IPS panel. It also offers a 2.26GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 SoC. Additionally, you can expect to find a 13-megapixel camera with optical image stabilization (as well as a 2.1MP front-facing cam), 24 bit/192kHz HiFi playback, a non-removable 3,000mAh battery, 2GB of RAM and your choice of 16GB or 32GB internal storage. It’ll come in white and black, and LG tells us that the G2 will be rolling out to markets around the world over the next eight weeks, and we have confirmation that all four major US carriers have committed to adding the device to their lineup.

What about those unique design traits? As you may have already seen in the leaked images (or if you happened to look at the press image above), the backside of the phone is much busier than on most other handsets. LG opted to put the volume rocker and power button just below the rear camera rather than the edge of the phone. The idea for this, we’re told, is to make the handheld experience a little less awkward on such a large phone. Since the device is wider than smartphones of olden times, LG wanted to put more controls in a place that your fingers naturally rest. LG is also boasting thinner bezels — 0.1-inch thick, to be precise — thanks to a new dual-routing method in which the touch sensor uses two connectors.

On the software side, LG has done more than just throw in a few ringtones from the Vienna Boys’ Choir. It offers features like AnswerMe, which answers incoming calls when you put the phone up to your ear, and Slide Aside, which lets you do a three-finger gesture to “slide” open apps off the screen for multitasking. Text Link is another interesting idea, where the phone takes relevant text and inserts embeddable links to them in other apps — of course, this is similar to what we’ve seen on iOS previously. There’s also Guest Mode, which allows another user to access the phone (LG refers to this as a type of Kid Mode) by drawing a different gesture on the lock screen. We lay out the software in more detail here, so check it out for more info. If you’re interested in the full spec sheet and how it compares to other flagships, we’ve got that here. We also have our hands-on here for more impressions of the device, as well as a press release and gallery below.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, LG

Comments

Today Google unveiled a brand new Play Games app, that serves as a companion hub and portal for the Google Play Games Services, announced at I/O. The app serves as a front end for viewing leader boards and connecting with friends (from your Google+ circles, of course), simplifying the act of challenging them in head-to-head competitions. Play Games, in addition to serving as a place to track all of your achievements and other such gaming goodness, serves as a single repository for launching all your games. Think of it like Steam, but for your Android tablet or phone, and with a slightly less graphically-impressive library of titles. Asphalt 8 Airborne, Riptide GP2 and Prince of Persia The Shadow and the Flame are will be among the first to take advantage of the new Play Games App, with the latter hitting virtual shelves tomorrow.

Update: It’s now available on Google Play; hit the source link for your download.

Filed under: Google

Comments

Source: Google Play

It hasn’t been a particularly quiet quarter for Apple, at least in the announcement department. But, as far actually shipping new products, Q3 of 2013 has been relatively uneventful. Perhaps that’s why the company’s revenues are down to $35.3 billion, from $43.6 billion in Q2. Still, while its revenues are down significantly from the last two quarters, things are pretty stable year-over-year. In fact, it’s enjoyed a small increase over the $35 billion it raked in during Q3 of 2012. Still, while revenues are up, profits are down. $6.9 billion in net income is hardly anything to snub your nose at, but it does represent a notable drop from the $8.8 billion Apple pocketed in the same quarter last year. That’s at least partially attributable to a year-over-year drop in both iPad and Mac sales, though the 31.2 million iPhones sold is a record for the June quarter — up 20 percent from last year. The decline in iPad sales is particularly notable. After selling 17 million iOS tablets in Q3 of 2012 and 19.5 million just last quarter, Apple only managed to sell 14.6 slates in the three month period ending June 30th. Mac sales were down less dramatically, from 4 million to 3.8 million, year-over-year, though those numbers are roughly flat sequentially.

The iPod line continued its rather swift decline in Q3, with sales dropping 19 percent sequentially and 32 percent year-over-year. The impressive uptick in iPhone sales does help balance out the drop, but it appears the writing is on the wall for the product family that helped kick start the digital music revolution. All the blame for Apple’s declining profits can not be blamed on the iPod, however. Sales are down pretty much across the board, both sequentially and year-over-year, with the exception of the iPhone. All the while, Cupertino’s expenses keep increasing.

You’ll find updates and more numbers after the break from Apple’s earnings call.

Filed under: Cellphones, Misc, Mobile, Apple

Comments