Hasta La Gadget!

Well folks, after a brief break to celebrate the new year, we’re back with the first Evening Wrap-Up of 2013. We heard today that the iPhone 5S might come with a number of color selections similar to the iPod Touch along with a larger screen, while rumors are saying that HTC will unveil its new flagship device, the M7, during CES (which is next week!). There are new services floating around out there that let users install pirated iOS apps without jailbreaking first, and Apple has secured Android sales data from Samsung, despite Samsung requesting that this data remain a secret.

The first details for Black Ops II‘s incoming DLC have leaked out, while the Project Paperless patent trolls are at it again with new unnamed subsidiaries to help them do their dirty work. Apple has a rumored relationship with Broadcom for 802.11ac WiFi in 2013 Macs, we learned today that CTIA will consolidate its 2013 shows into one massive mobile event, and the GameStick portable gaming console is looking to do battle with OUYA for Android console supremacy.

Apple is said to be testing out its new 28nm A6X chips while preparing to cut Samsung out of the loop, and in a very surprising turn of events, Ubuntu mobile OS was announced today and should be hitting phones starting in 2014. A US district judge has ruled that Amazon’s Appstore is very different from Apple’s own App Store, while the Samsung Galaxy M Pro has been leaked, complete with a full QWERTY keyboard. Installious has been shut down (so no, you aren’t just experiencing an outage), and we learned that the Do Not Disturb bug in iOS 6 will be fixed come January 7.

We have a couple Xbox-related stories today, as a countdown timer on Major Nelson’s website seems to suggest that the next generation Xbox will be announced at E3, while new rumors said that production on the console’s processor has gotten underway, with a potential launch coming late this year or early in 2014. Elite: Dangerous reached its Kickstarter goal today, with California and Illinois both enacting laws that prevent employers from demanding their potential employees’ social media passwords. Google executive Eric Schmidt might be taking a trip to North Korea soon, Zynga has shut down its Japan studio, and finally tonight, Chris Burns delivers his review of AT&T MiFi Liberate mobile hotspot. That does it for tonight’s Evening Wrap-Up, we hope you enjoy the rest of your night everyone!

SlashGear Evening Wrap-Up: January 2, 2013 is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

There are some things in life you can count on year after year — like having to file taxes. For mobile journalists this includes an annual pilgrimage to CES, MWC, plus the spring and fall editions of CTIA. This year is no exception, with CTIA spring taking place May 21-23rd in Las Vegas and the fall show (re-baptized MobileCon in 2012) happening October 9-11th in San Jose. But things are going to be different next year — the Wireless Association announced today that it will be merging the spring and fall editions in 2014 and forming a single CTIA “super mobile show.” Considering how quiet CTIA and MobileCon were last year, this sounds like a great opportunity for both consumer and enterprise-centric vendors to mingle and bring some excitement back to the show. CTIA 2014 is scheduled for September 9-11th in Las Vegas and we’ll be there, of course. Full PR after the break.

Continue reading CTIA and MobileCon merging in 2014, forming ‘super mobile show’

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Last year, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union (ITU) told us there were five billion mobile subscriptions worldwide at the close of 2010, and now it’s reporting that at the end of 2011, that figure hit a staggering six billion. China and India account for one billion a piece, and it brings us ever closer to having the equivalent of one subscription for every person on the planet. (According to the CTIA, there are already more cellular plans in the US — around 322 million — than there are inhabitants.) In a stat-heavy release from the ITU, it also ranked the most advanced telecoms countries, with South Korea placing first, Japan eighth and countries in Europe filling the remaining spots.

Interestingly, the number of global mobile broadband subscriptions now outnumbers fixed ones by two to one, and mobile internet services showed the biggest growth rates in 2011: 40% worldwide and 78% in developing markets. The ITU attributes the latter figure to the relatively high price of fixed access in these countries, and the increasing availability of mobile alternatives. The CTIA also commented on mobile broadband use, reporting that from July 2011 to June this year, Americans consumed 104 percent more data — no doubt due, in part, to people taking advantage of expanding 4G coverage. As usual, we’ve given you the cheat sheet, so if you’d like the full reports and have got a thing for statistics, there’s plenty more in the source links below.

[Image credit: Chris Jordan]

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Wireless, Internet, Mobile

International Telecommunication Union: worldwide mobile subscriptions hit six billion in 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 12 Oct 2012 12:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We wondered why Zipcar CEO Scott Griffith was slated as a keynote presenter at CTIA’s MobileCon — after all, what does renting cars have to do with mobile? Apparently, quite a lot. Griffith stated in his keynote that Zipcar’s app and mobile services have taken a much more central role in the organization. The company is developing its own in-car device holder so that customers can hook up their phones for hands-free functions, and more importantly, the Zipcar smartphone app is due for a major update. The current version can be used to schedule rentals and remote unlock vehicles, but future iterations will transform it into more of an “in-car assistant.” It’ll let you know more information about the car, help you around town with a personal recommendation service, stream your iTunes playlist, and detailed trip feedback like fuel-levels and car conditions will be far easier to report. Zipcar hopes to add new members through the app as well — just take a photo of your driver’s license and get an approval “in minutes.” According to Griffith, the connected car will change our urban landscape, especially with the combination of services like Lyft, Uber, bike sharing, and public transit. It’s not quite the flying car, but the nerd in us is sufficiently pleased.

Filed under: Cellphones, Transportation, Mobile

Zipcar CEO talks mobile app improvements, predicts connected vehicle future originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 03:09:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Stop us if you’ve heard this one before, but we had the opportunity to get our hands on the LG Optimus G… again. This would make the excursion lucky number four for Engadget, but this one is a touch on the unique side since it’s heading directly to Sprint at some point in the not-too-distant future. Here’s what we knew up until today: like the Korean versions, this particular flavor of the G — also known as the LS970 — will feature a 13MP rear camera (AT&T’s will only sport an 8MP module), and otherwise carries the same set of features such as a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, 2GB RAM, 1.3MP front-facing camera, 32GB internal storage, 2,100mAh battery and 4.7-inch 1280×768 True HD IPS PLUS display. Much like it did on the Motorola Photon Q, Sprint has elected to keep its carrier-specific branding off of the device (it’s doing this so the handset can make its way to the network’s prepaid brands with relative ease), but we were disappointed to see that the SIM card is once again embedded and not accessible without taking the entire phone apart. Aside from these cosmetic differences there’s not much that sets it apart from the international models — something that is a pleasure to see, instead of the standard carrier practice of tweaking OEM designs to their own whimsy.

The performance expectations set by the Korean Optimus G seem to be met here, with the 1.5GHz quad-core Krait processor running the show. Despite the G using a custom build of Ice Cream Sandwich (which will be upgraded to Jelly Bean soon, according to Sprint), we were highly satisfied with how quick everything was during our time with the device — it truly acts and feels the same as its overseas counterpart. The downside that you’ll find with Sprint — as you might imagine — is Sprint’s infant LTE network; customers getting this phone in a city not blanketed by the next-gen network will find themselves frustrated with lackluster EVDO speeds. To get a closer look at the Now Network’s flavor of the Optimus G, go below to see a full gallery of images and then head past the break for a video tour.

Myriam Joire contributed to this report.

Continue reading LG Optimus G for Sprint hands-on (update: video)

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Sprint, LG

LG Optimus G for Sprint hands-on (update: video) originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 14:48:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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