Hasta La Gadget!

E Ink — the tech behind a large number of e-readers on the market today — is starting to make its way onto smartphones. We’ve seen it on reference phones as well as devices like the YotaPhone and even the iPhone and Galaxy Note II (in the form of a case), and now a largely unknown company is rather unexpectedly seeking to harness E Ink tech for its latest flagship. That manufacturer, interestingly enough, is Alcatel OneTouch. Taking advantage of the magnetic docking ports on the back of the brand new 6-inch Hero, the company has designed a prototype flip cover with an E Ink screen on top. This offers the obvious functionality of reading e-books in traditional fashion without having the display drain massive amounts of power, but as you can see in the image above, its engineers are exploring other use cases such as a full lock screen with a dynamically changing weather widget, and we figure the sky’s the limit. While press releases seemed to indicate that the accessory will see the light of day, company reps told us that it is still just a prototype and they’re not certain if it will make it out to the market. Whatever may happen down the road, it’s great to see E Ink coming alive on smartphones in different ways. Check out our gallery and a brief video below.

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Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Mobile ad platform Millennial Media has released their latest Mobile Mix report, covering Q2 2013, and the company is changing how things work this time around by changing its “Top 20 Phones” list to a “Top 20 Devices,” and adding tablets into the mix along with smartphones and feature phones. This resulted in Apple going from occupying just a single spot at the top of the chart, to taking three of the top four places, thanks to the presence of the iPod touch and iPad in addition to the iPhone.

Samsung still occupies the number two spot with its Galaxy S phones, which is unchanged from the pervious quarter, and gains some additional presence in the top ten thanks to the appearance of the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Note in the top 10 list. HTC and Motorola lose some representation on the list, however and Amazon debuts with the Kindle Fire ranking number eight overall for impressions.

Apart from the changes in the Top 20 Devices, the rest of Millennial’s methodology remains unchanged. So Apple taking home 39.3 percent of the overall impressions broken down by device manufacturer, with Samsung following up in second place with 26.1 percent, really does represent a nearly 3 percentage point increase for Apple, and a slight dip for Samsung. HTC falls below LG in fifth place, too so there has been some shift between the quarters, probably attributable to HTC One’s failure to truly do much to impress consumers. The Apple bump is harder to explain, since a refresh is imminent and no new iOS hardware was introduced between Q1 and Q2 2013.

Apple’s share of overall impressions as measured by mobile OS also jumped. The result is an 8 percentage point bump for Apple’s iOS in terms of OS share of overall ad impressions, compared to a 5 percentage point increase for Android. Millennial says tablet impressions continue to grow, so Apple leading that market could be what’s helping iOS increase its share. Android is still growing, however, with both the top dogs the big losers here were Windows and BlackBerry, both of which saw impression share dive. That is completely understandable given the increasing importance of tablets. BlackBerry shed over half its share, for instance, dropping from 15 percent to 7 percent of overall mobile ads served.

Tablets continue to be led by iOS devices, so the iPad is winning out. Android accounts for 44 percent of tablets seen by Millennial’s ads, but that’s actually down just slightly from the previous quarter’s report. Perhaps surprisingly, the Google Nexus 10 saw considerable growth (impressions climbed 51 percent sequentially from Q1) while the Nexus 7 held things steady at 7 percent of all Android tablet impressions. The new Nexus 7 might help that number rise in Millennial’s next reporting period.

Regional growth of specific manufacturers point to Samsung doing something right in specific market segments, with that manufacturer growing its share of impressions in the EMEA region by 13 percentage points from 18 to 31 percent. Apple raised its own impressions just one percentage point to 42 percent during the same time period, but iOS as a platform rose from 23 percent to 34 percent in the Asia-Pacific region year over year, while Android shed 4 percentage points (down to 60 percent overall) and BlackBerry did the same, with Windows falling off the map near completely.

The big change here is in terms of how Millennial presents and counts devices. Tablets now make up a far more important category than feature phones when it comes to mobile advertising, so it’s natural to see those included here alongside those older-style devices. Plus, it does a much better job of showing why Apple continues to dominate overall in ad impressions among mobile device makers than it did previously, when Millennial showed just the lonely iPhone atop the chart as the sole hardware from the Mac maker.

It’s no secret that European Commission regulators dislike roaming charges. However, The Guardian now hears from sources that the Commission may propose legislation next week that eliminates those charges altogether. Carriers would reportedly have to charge the same service rates in every European Union country, forming alliances in nations where they don’t operate. Networks that don’t scrap roaming fees by July 2014 would also have to give customers a choice of foreign providers. Subscribers wouldn’t even have to swap SIM cards or phone numbers, according to The Guardian. A spokesman for the Commission’s Neelie Kroes declined comment on the rumor, but noted that the agency wants roaming “out of the market” — clearly, the cellular status quo won’t last for long.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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Source: The Guardian

Not everyone needs a giant, higher-end smartphone like the One Touch Hero — many can get by with just the basics. For those users, Alcatel has unveiled four One Touch Pop models with smaller screens and entry-level performance. The Android 4.2-based range begins with the Pop C1, a starter phone with a 3.5-inch screen, a dual-core 1GHz processor and sprightly color options like neon green and pink. Need more? The Pop C3 jumps to a 4-inch screen and a dual-core 1.3GHz chip; the Pop C5 steps up to a 4.5-inch screen, and the Pop C7 carries both a 5-inch display as well as a quad-core 1.3GHz processor. If you’re interested, you can pick up the C1 or C3 as soon as October. The C5 ships in November, while the C7 arrives sometime during the last quarter of the year. %Gallery-slideshow79376%

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Source: Alcatel

Later this morning, Verizon will open its virtual doors to early Samsung Galaxy Note 3 adopters wanting to pre-order the new flagship device announced two days ago. AT&T wants to do one better, however, by flipping the switch right now. Starting at 12:01am ET, the GSM network will give you the opportunity to commit $300 of your hard-earned money and two years of your life — or $35 per month if you plan to use AT&T Next, which effectively translates into an off-contract cost of $700, by our calculations — to have the large smartphone shipped to your doorstep “around October 1st.” So yes, this means the final date is more of a flexible guideline than a rule at this point, though we’re holding out hope that this estimate is conservative and will actually arrive sooner rather than later, in the same manner in which the pizza place quotes you when you call for delivery.

The network also confirms that the Galaxy Gear is on its way as well, though it only gets as specific as “the coming weeks.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Samsung, Google, AT&T

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