Apr 14
With each version of Windows Phone, Microsoft’s mobile OS gets better. The 8.1 update is no exception.
Aug 28
HTC Reportedly Building New Mobile OS Specifically For China Market, In Partnership With Chinese Government
Posted in: Today's Chili
HTC’s Hail Mary play might not take the form of another new smartphone: The Taiwanese company is reportedly working with Chinese government officials to build a mobile OS that includes “deep integration” with China-specific services like Weibo, aimed specifically at the Chinese market. The project could see the new mobile OS launch before year’s end, according to the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news.
The report said it wasn’t clear whether HTC’s China OS would be forked from or based upon Android in some way, and a source speaking to the paper said that in fact the company has changed plans throughout the year regarding whether it would be something completely new, or just a new user interface based atop Google’s mobile OS. Already HTC has some devices using the OS in active testing, and prototypes are in the hands of Chinese government officials.
Attempting to partner with a company to build a partially homegrown OS solution isn’t a new move for China. The Chinese government recently partnered with UK-based Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu, to build a China-specific version of its own OS that likewise favored integrations with China-made apps and services. In general, the Chinese government has been actively trying to lessen reliance on foreign-made software. A white paper from China’s tech ministry released in March criticized its country’s over-reliance on the Google-made Android OS.
A strategic alliance with the Chinese government could help HTC secure some good lasting power even as it faces challenges in terms of worldwide market share and sales of its Android-based smartphones. It’s unlikely that its own China-specific OS will pose any major threat to the dominance of Android and iOS, especially in the short-term, but if China’s government is serious about putting lasting investment in home-grown alternatives that favor Chinese software and services, building significant market share early might not be a necessary component of its survival.
In other words, making yourself integral to a long-term China government plan for technological independence is probably a wise move for HTC in uncertain times, which isn’t to say it wouldn’t be better served by also improving its fortunes elsewhere in the world, too.
Aug 28
Cracking the Chinese mobile-nut is kind of a big deal if you’re in the business of selling phones. So, rumors that HTC could be looking to increase the bottom line with a China-specific mobile OS won’t see too many eyebrows heading north. The Wall Street Journal claims that Cher Wang herself is closely overseeing the project and is working directly with the state authorities to see it meets approval. This might suggest that the operating system would be entirely bespoke, rather than an Android fork, which would also provide HTC with a plan B, similar to Samsung’s efforts with Tizen. The OS is believed to be tightly integrated with China specific services (Weibo etc) and could see the light of day before the end of the year. So is it actually Hello To China?
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, HTC
Source: The Wall Street Journal
Mar 14
Mozilla unveils Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 with Push to Device, rotation simulation
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Mozilla launched its first Firefox OS Simulator late last year, letting developers test out apps on the new platform even though the software was still very much in development. It only makes sense, then, that a new version would surface following the mobile operating system’s official unveiling at Mobile World Congress 2013. Like versions 1.0 and 2.0, Firefox OS Simulator 3.0 runs as an extension in Mozilla’s browser and is available on Linux, Windows and OS X. The new preview adds several features, including Push to Device, which brings over apps installed on the OS Simulator to a Firefox OS device provided it’s connected via USB. Rotation simulation and an updated version of the software’s Gaia interface are also on board. To give the Simulator a go, head to Mozilla’s FTP server, where you’ll find it under the working name r2d2b2g. Click through to source links for the full installation directions.
Via: CNET
Source: Hacks.Mozilla.org, Mozilla FTP Server
Feb 07
According to the Wall Street Journal, Canonical is claiming that its new Ubuntu OS will be with developers by late February—ready for phones to launch in “two geographically large markets” this October. More »
Jan 30
BlackBerry 10 OS Features Overview
Posted in: Today's Chili
RIM, now officially called BlackBerry, has officially announced BlackBerry 10. And it definitely has some pretty nifty features that made us say “wow.” The best new features are the new navigation called “BlackBerry Flow“, BlackBerry Balance for switching from work to personal mode, the new BBM with video calls and screenshare and the great camera application with Timeshift . We are pretty excited to get our hands on the new BlackBerry Z10 to fully review the new operating system and the hardware, for now, check the complete article with the detailed description of each new feature.
By Ubergizmo. Related articles: BlackBerry Z10 Hands-On, BlackBerry Z10 Review Sentiment, 
Oct 29
Windows Phone 8 review
Posted in: Today's Chili 
More Info
Two years ago, the mobile landscape was quite different than what it is today. Android flagship phones sported 1GHz single-core CPUs and were in the process of upgrading to Froyo, the iPhone 4 was the Apple phone of choice and the word “phablet” was sure to be followed by a “Gesundheit.” (It still is, arguably.) This is just a brief glimpse at the world in which Microsoft’s Windows Phone 7 was born. Destined to be the replacement solution for an obsolete Windows Mobile 6.x platform, WP7 did its best to disrupt the industry by offering its unique Metro user interface and slick performance across the board.
There was one growing problem, however; the mobile industry was rapidly changing, and the Windows Phone honeymoon didn’t last as long as Microsoft would’ve liked. Today, the company enjoys less than 5 percent of the world’s smartphone market share as it prepares to launch its next major revision, Windows Phone 8. The new firmware promises to resolve concerns surrounding hardware limitations and the platform’s ecosystem, add a plethora of long-awaited features and integrate the OS with Windows 8. It’s a hefty task for Microsoft to undertake, to say the least, but we’re hoping that two revolutions around the sun were enough for the software giant to impress us with its struggling mobile platform. Did it pull it off? Take a look at what makes Windows Phone 8 tick after the break.
Continue reading Windows Phone 8 review
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Microsoft
Windows Phone 8 review originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:20:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 25
Huawei’s building its own mobile operating system ‘just in case’ there’s trouble ahead
Posted in: Today's Chili 
Huawei’s boss must have been a Boy Scout, since he’s taken its “be prepared’ motto deeply to his heart. CEO Wan Biao has told Reuters that his company is working on its own mobile OS just in case its partners “won’t let us use their system[s] one day.” We don’t expect to ever see the software, but given the fractious nature of the business, it’s more likely to be a barbed hint at Google and Microsoft to keep sending flowers and chocolates to Shenzhen. That said, given that local rival ZTE is building phones with Firefox’s OS, we’d politely suggest that it rescues another beloved OS from the clutches of HP’s indifference.
Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile
Huawei’s building its own mobile operating system ‘just in case’ there’s trouble ahead originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 25 Sep 2012 07:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
Sep 23
There’s nothing quite like having your birthday on a weekend. And while we’re sure that Android was out late last night, dining on sweets with its fellow mobile operating systems, we’d like to wish Google’s OS a very happy birthday. It was this day in 2008 that the Android team unveiled its 1.0 SDK, release 1 — a milestone that coincided with the announcement of T-Mobile’s G1, which would get the new OS into consumer hands around a month or so later, finally delivering the promise of a long rumored “Googlephone.” Android was a bit of a late bloomer, but now, toward the end of 2012 with 4.1 Jelly Bean beginning to bloom, it’s hard to remember a time when it wasn’t a dominate player in the ever more crowded mobile space. With that in mind, we’re raising a glass to you, Android — a glass of something sweet, naturally.
Android turns four, enthusiasm for dessert foods unabated originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 23 Sep 2012 12:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Sep 19
ZTE just can’t get enough mobile OS’s. The manufacturer is all over Android, it’s got Windows Phone 8 coming out of leaky pores, and now it’s revealed plans to launch phones based on the Firefox OS (formerly “Boot to Gecko“) as early as the the first quarter of next year. That’s not so surprising, perhaps, given that Mozilla already told us it was working with ZTE to bring its HTML-5 powered platform to life, but it further emphasizes the fact that Chinese smartphone giants are casting about for a viable alternative to Google.
Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile
ZTE to launch Mozilla-based smartphones early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 05:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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