Jan 28
This week app developer Steven Troughton-Smith has one-upped his comment-less release of a set of what very much appeared to be iOS in the Car screenshots with a full-on demonstration … Continue reading
Jan 28
In an effort to make BlackBerry 10 a bit easier to work with, the folks at BlackBerry have issued update 10.2.1, complete with a few gesture updates and oddities. Here … Continue reading
Jan 28
If you’ll be at MetLife Stadium for the Super Bowl, don’t expect to watch streaming replays on your
Posted in: Today's ChiliIf you’ll be at MetLife Stadium for the Super Bowl, don’t expect to watch streaming replays on your phone: the NFL and Fox Sports will block streaming video to folks inside the stadium on game day, to preserve capacity for all the other data-heavy social media bragging attendees will no doubt be doing. [Ars Technica via The Verge]
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Jan 28
Yesterday a rather quick-spreading report of Nintendo very possibly moving to mobile devices like the iPhone and Android smartphones of all sorts was initiated by Japan’s Nikkei and perpetuated by … Continue reading
Jan 28
Last week, app developer Steven Troughton-Smith showed some purported screen captures of what in-car iOS could look like
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Jan 28
A report yesterday caused Nintendo fans to sit at attention. According to the Nikkei, Nintendo was preparing an Android and iOS app to demo its games. While this app wouldn’t bring full versions of Mario to smartphones, it was widely viewed as a start of something big. Well, bad news. It’s not happening. Nintendo is apparently content living in the past.
The company released a statement to Engadget unequivocally denying the report.
“Nikkei’s article contains information previously stated by Mr Iwata during past press conferences, including statements which relate to Nintendo’s willingness to make use of smart devices to promote our products.
However during such past announcements Mr Iwata has also stated that Nintendo’s intention is not to make Nintendo software available on smart devices and as such, we can confirm that there are no plans to offer minigames on smartphone devices. “
Nintendo is quickly slipping. Just last week, the company confirmed that the Wii U was a flop and slashed its sales forecast by 70%. It said it’s expecting Wii U sales to number just 2.8 million units over that period. It also cut its sales forecast for its handheld 3DS console to 13.5 million units from 18 million.
Yet, apparently, Nintendo, for now, is willing to ignore the smartphone, the biggest shift in computing since the desktop computer. Protectionism is a quick way to fade into obscurity.
Jan 28
Great news for the dozens of remaining BlackBerry fans. The latest platform update adds a bunch of little tweaks to your Z30, Q10, and Q5 including an FM radio. Why wasn’t the FM radio enabled from the start, you ask? Great question, friend. Let me answer with this question: Why didn’t the Playbook launch with native email support? Because BlackBerry!
At this point it’s clear that BlackBerry isn’t exactly sunk, but rather is treading water as its boat sinks to the ocean floor.
Under new leadership, BlackBerry is quickly reorganizing to focus heavily on enterprise services. Updates to consumer products will likely quickly become a thing of the past as the company shifts engineering talent to new ventures.
Along with enabling the FM radio, update 10.2.1 also adds a new incoming call screen, picture passwords and an offline reading mode. Users can download the update here or through their phone.
Jan 28
New specs have appeared giving us a look inside the Nokia X Android model, suggesting it’ll be a very low-spec budget phone. Conspiracy theorists might even suggest Nokia’s making a rubbish Android phone on purpose, to make its WP models look better in comparison.
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Jan 28
Apple Patents Two Ways To Extend Mobile Device Camera Performance Via Hardware Add-Ons
Posted in: Today's Chili
Apple has been granted two patents relating to ways it might look to extend/augment the built in camera lenses on its mobile devices in future (via AppleInsider).
The two patents, granted to Cupertino by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, are: Patent No. 8,638,369 (pictured above) for a “Back panel for a portable electronic device with different camera lens options” and Patent No. 8,639,106 for a “Magnetic add-on lenses with alignment ridge” (pictured below).
The back panel patent was filed in December 2010, and credits Richard Tsai, now a senior camera engingeer at Apple, as its inventor.
The magnetic add-on lens patent was filed in December 2012, and credits Jeffrey Nathan Gleason and Misha Scepanovic as inventors — the latter now an optical engineer at Apple, according to LinkedIn.
The back panel patent describes a system for extending the camera on a portable electronic device by supporting replaceable lenses — using an imaging subsystem and a removable panel containing optical components.
So, in other words, a swappable back plate that lets the user choose a different type of hardware lens — such as a wide-angle lens — or to support image stablisation and zoom. The patent even talks about the possibility for adding a mechanical shutter or stroboscopic flash via the hardware add-on.
From the patent summary:
A portable electronic device includes a digital imaging subsystem with a lens having an optical axis. A case encloses and supports the digital imaging subsystem in a first defined positional relationship to the case. A removable panel is coupled to the case and held in a second defined positional relationship to the case that covers the digital imaging subsystem without the removable panel being directly connected to the digital imaging subsystem. An optical component is supported by the removable panel such that the optical component is aligned with the optical axis and alters optical characteristics of the digital imaging subsystem. The device may include a power supply and an electronic control system coupled to the digital imaging subsystem and the power supply enclosed in and supported by the case. Electrical connectors may couple the power supply and the electronic control system to an electrical component on the removable panel.
The second, more recent patent, also describes a way to extend the camera performance of a thin “multifunctional” portable electronics device (which, once again, in the patent drawings resembles an iPhone) via optical hardware add-ons — but this time utilising magnets as the mechanism for attaching and detaching additional speciality lenses.
Discussing the rational for extending the camera in this way, the patent notes:
The optics for providing a telephoto lens and other specialty lenses require a certain length for their optical path, which often is unavailable within a small device. Further, users generally want to use a specialty lens intermittently. Therefore it is desirable to be able to change the lenses that are in the optical path to provide specialty optics when desired.
Apple is not the first mobile maker to look at hardware add-ons for extending smartphone camera optics. Last fall Sony announced the QX10 and QX100 camera lenses, for instance, for clipping onto a smartphone so you can take higher quality pictures — which is exactly the sort of scenario this patent envisages. As better cameraphone optics have steadily eroded the need for the average person to carry a separate point and shoot camera, so the next wave of mobiles looks set on getting seriously pro — and attacking the USP of DLSR devices. So this looks like more bad news for camera makers.
Apple’s 106 patent includes several drawings mocking up potential add-on lenses — including a telephoto lens in a horizontally-configured arrangement to save space, and multi-lens configuration additions which could include moveable elements such as the one pictured below:
As for the magnetic angle, Apple is a long-standing fan of magnetic fixture, having used magnets to ease the plugging and unplugging of power cords on its portable laptops for years, for instance, and also using magnets on the iPad as an anchor for its smart cover cases.
The newly granted patent notes:
A plurality of magnets are arranged on the camera module adjacent to the alignment feature to retain a detachable lens on the housing and engage the alignment feature to align the detachable lens with the optical axis. The plurality of magnets may be further arranged to minimize interference with the voice coil motor and movement of the moveable element of the lens assembly.
Jan 27
Despite Record Sales Quarter, Apple’s iPhone 5c Likely Wasn’t Key To Growth
Posted in: Today's Chili
Apple’s iPhone sales for Q1 2014 have broken the company’s previous record, and they also mark the company’s ability to ship as many smartphones as Samsung, which was previously the only company in the world to move over 50 million units in a single quarter back in 2012. But the number represents only 3 million more devices sold than in the same quarter last year, or around 7 percent growth. That’s a far cry from previous years, and it’s already caught the attention of those watching the company.
@llsethj I think you are right.—
Ben Bajarin (@BenBajarin) January 27, 2014
This suspicion that the iPhone 5c is not selling quite as well as Apple might have expected is backed up by the average selling price (ASP) of devices. The ASP dropping would suggest that the more expensive iPhone 5s is far and away the stronger seller, which is also supported by Apple CFO Peter Oppenheimer’s assertion on the earnings call that the iPhone 5s faced supply constraints, while no mention was made of the iPhone 5c. They sold more iPhone 5s devices than expected in North America, CEO Tim Cook explained, which made it difficult for them to get the right “mix” and caused the North American market to actually contract year over year. Cook also suggested that changes in carrier upgrade policies negatively affected North American sales.
https://twitter.com/asymco/status/427923677271695360
There are a couple of potential takeaways which could suggest changes to Apple’s iPhone strategy: First, it could indicate that Apple needs to really deliver on the idea of a cheaper iPhone – the iPhone 5c was anticipated to be that, but in the end it was the same price as older devices bumped down the line in previous quarters. Second, it could provide the reasoning behind the recent report from the Wall Street Journal that Apple will ditch the plastic case for any upcoming iPhone devices to be released this year.
Refocusing on the top end and premium metal finishes is one way to address the iPhone 5c, but it’s unclear what effect that might have on growth plans. Emerging markets are still the prime target when it comes to driving continued smartphone growth, and that’s where cheaper devices are going to stand out. Apple may discuss iPhone 5c specifically during the conference call, so stay tuned to find out more.
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