Hasta La Gadget!

Oh yes, things are really starting to kick off in the arcane world of smartphone benchmarking. First, there came clear evidence of phone makers manipulating scores in apps like AnTuTu and GFXBench, and now a more mainstream benchmarking company, Futuremark, has publicly delisted specific Samsung and HTC phones that it suspects of cheating. Futuremark says that the devices in question — including the Galaxy Note 3, HTC One and HTC One Mini — fail to adhere to the fairness policy, which requires that a device treats its 3DMark app just as it would treat any other app, with no tailor-made bursts of performance designed to achieve artificially high scores. Clearly, this bad behavior is just as endemic as we originally feared, so benchmark apps either need to toughen up, as Futuremark appears to be doing, or they need to find entirely new ways of measuring performance.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Samsung, HTC

Comments

Via: HotHardware, The Register

Source: Futuremark

Between social networks and a near infinite number of messaging apps, there are frankly too many ways us humans can keep in touch. With so many platforms competing for a slot in your app drawer, some are attempting to absorb SMS traffic and become your one-stop messaging shop. Google Hangouts was updated a month ago with SMS support (stock Android 4.4 KitKat does away with a pre-loaded SMS app altogether), and now Samsung’s ChatON for Android has followed suit. The latest version of the app allows you to set it as your SMS/MMS inbox, though the feature is only live in Germany and Brazil at the moment. Not that anyone uses ChatON, but it’s another mixture of cellular and data threads that’s a recipe for confusion. Facebook recently killed SMS integration from its messaging app due to poor uptake, probably because users still prefer the distinction. Everyone uses Snapchat exclusively now anyway, right?

Filed under: Cellphones, Internet, Software, Mobile, Samsung

Comments

Via: SamMobile

Source: Play store

Good news Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition owners, it looks like if you have a hankering for some Android 4.4 KitKat action, you’re in luck because according to the Android Google+ page, it looks like the update is being rolled out as we speak. This Android 4.4 KitKat update will be rolled out alongside the HTC One Google Play Edition and if these updates are anything like how Google rolls out Android updates for their Nexus devices, expect it to be pushed out in phases that could span days to even weeks before it is your turn.

If anything we suppose this is the benefit of having a Google Play Edition phone which is the next best thing after owning a Nexus device. For those who might have missed the news, the Google Play Editions of the Galaxy S4 and the HTC One are essentially the same devices as their normal counterparts, with the main exception being that they run stock versions of Android as opposed to the skinned versions, like TouchWiz for Samsung and Sense for HTC. While they might not necessarily get the latest updates as quick as Nexus phones, we reckon it’s still fast enough. If you own either device and have received the update, let us know in the comments below!

Android 4.4 For Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition Released original content from Ubergizmo.

It was only a few days ago that we got an early peek at what appears to be Huawei’s Ascend Mate 2. Now, according to our friends over at MyDrivers, it would appear the Chinese company also has a new Glory handset in the works — one which is said to be a planned competitor against the likes of Xiaomi’s Red Rice. Per the report, Huawei intends the Glory 4 to be a budget smartphone that packs a good amount of punch, with features such as MediaTek’s MT6592 chip (aka “the world’s first true octa-core”), 2GB RAM, 16GB of built-in storage and a 13-megapixel rear camera. The Huawei Glory 4, which could also be known as the Honor in some places, is expected to run Emotion UI 2.0 alongside Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean) when it becomes official. Unfortunately, there’s no word on the Glory 4’s screen size, though the recent leak does suggest it’ll be a 720p display onboard.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Comments

Via: UnwiredView

Source: MyDrivers

For those of us living in developed countries and cities, seeing a smartphone is not an uncommon sight. Instead, seeing something with a feature phone would be more of a surprise. However despite being exposed to smartphones, not everyone around the world has one due to a variety of reasons, such as availability and pricing and also the needs of the user, which is why some turn to feature phones which are not only cheap, but get the job done such as calling and messaging. In any case what about the future? With smartphones getting cheaper these days, will we start seeing more adoption in the future?

According to recent reports, it has been suggested that come 2017, it is possible that we will see smartphones account for 82% of all mobile phones sold, and that 30% of those sales will actually be coming from China where smartphones, such as Apple’s iPhone, has become increasingly popular. China also has companies such as Huawei, Oppo, and Meizu (just to name a few) who have also put out some impressive devices locally and have kept them at relatively affordable prices as well.

According to Tina Teng, an analyst at NPD DisplaySearch, “Smartphone market growth is being fueled by entry-level smartphones from international brands and white-box vendors in emerging markets […] We expect aggressive pricing moves to continue, prompting first-time smartphone buyers to upgrade earlier.”

Smartphones Expected To Account For 82% Of Cellphone Sales In 2017 original content from Ubergizmo.