Hasta La Gadget!

Motorola abused its dominance in wireless patents when it tried to block Apple’s iPhone in Germany, the European Commission has judged, potentially paving the way to official antitrust penalties against the Google-owned smartphone firm. The EU had been investigating Motorola’s use of standards-essential GSM patents to spar with Apple in Europe, citing the company’s intention to chase sales injunctions over use of technologies that had been agreed as core to the GSM standard, despite Apple suggesting it was willing to license them.

The so-called FRAND patents – patents which must be licensed under “fair, reasonable, and non-discriminatory” terms, as they are standard-essential – were intended to make a level playing field on which all mobile device manufacturers would begin. However, Motorola Mobility took a more aggressive stance, with reports that the company was demanding around 2.25-percent royalties, a figure Apple insisted was nowhere near fair.

The EC apparently feels the same way, at least according to these preliminary findings. The Commission will send a Statement of Objects to Motorola Mobility, laying out its concerns as well as highlighting the fact that it believes Motorola acted in a way that led to less consumer choice.

“The protection of intellectual property is a cornerstone of innovation and growth. But so is competition. I think that companies should spend their time innovating and competing on the merits of the products they offer – not misusing their intellectual property rights to hold up competitors to the detriment of innovation and consumer choice” Joaquín Almunia, Commission Vice President in charge of competition policy, EC

However, it’s not to say that the final outcome of the investigation will rule in the same way as the Statement does. Motorola – and new owners Google – will now have to demonstrate to the Commission that, by pushing ahead with a request for injunctions when Apple had already said it would license the patents and allow for a third-party to negotiate the terms, it did not commit antitrust-style behavior.

Even if the company’s lawyers can do that, there still remain other complaints leveled against Motorola. Microsoft also accused the company of antitrust, claiming that Motorola insisted on 1,125x the going rate in royalty payments, when it came to licensing video playback and wireless connectivity technology in PCs and Xbox consoles.

[via NYTimes]

EU sees Motorola’s anti-Apple patent ploy as antitrust, Commission warns is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This week the fabled Motorola hero device called “X Phone” before this week has resurged in the tip lines at the Motorola XFON, complete with Qualcomm hardware compatibility with 4G LTE across all major carriers in the USA. This device has appeared several times in the recent past in both front and back hands-on photos with what appears to be a soft plastic back, a relatively large back-facing camera, and a palm-sized body. It’s been tipped most recently that this XFON device will be ready for both AT&T and Verizon this July.

The codename for this device has been tipped as “Ghost”, this attaching itself well to the many times we’ve seen it in half-views and rumor mills thus far. The most recent source to come forth with information about this device has hit up PhoneArena with word that the device leaked earlier this week was, indeed, a masked in-case edition of the XFON being prepped for final release this summer. It’s also clear, according to this most recent set of suggestions, that the device isn’t a Google Nexus handset.

The Qualcomm RF360 radio will likely be inside this device complete with global 4G LTE compatibility, this radio having been introduced back in February to do such a thing. The release window for this radio fits well with that of the XFON, with the first products suggested for integration pushing out in the first half of 2013.

This device is tipped to be coming in a diverse array of case colors and makeups, with at least two versions popping up in leaked photos in the last few weeks. One was black, this one bringing on a durable polycarbonate shell instead of Motorola’s recent must-have Kevlar backing – this seen in the DROID RAZR series from start to finish. The second does indeed have what appears to be a Kevlar-like backing that spans the casing from top to bottom – across the back, that is.

This smartphone has been suggested to be being tested in a slightly different configuration than its final release, with a 720p resolution display being utilized as the form factor – the rest of the hardware, that is – is solidified. The final release is said to be coming in at 4.7-inches and 1080p, ringing in at a rather HTC One-like setup. Inside it’s said this device will work with a nearly-stock version of Android with minor Motorola modifications.

While past Google I/O developer conferences have been home to Nexus device reveals in a large way, it’s possible that this device will pop its head out for Google greatness at the keynote on the first day. Check it out as SlashGear heads to Google I/O 2013 starting on the 15th of May – coming up quick!

Motorola XFON skirts Nexus 5 rumors, pushes for cross-carrier US release is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

LG will make Google’s fifth Nexus smartphone, Korean reports suggest, following the Nexus 4 with a second Google-branded smartphone. Timing for the release of the smartphone, which The Korea Times says is part of LG’s attempt to further develop its relationship with the search giant, is unknown, though given the Nexus 4 was only revealed in November last year, it’s perhaps unlikely that any “Nexus 5″ would be shown off at Google I/O later this month.

Google’s more recent Nexus releases have stuck to a roughly yearly refresh cycle, though given the fast pace of the smartphone market, there’s no guarantee that the Nexus timetable will stay the same. Nonetheless, demand for the Nexus 4 remains strong, with Google and LG struggling at times over the past months to produce sufficient stock to meet orders.

If the collaboration rumors are true, it means LG would become the second firm to have two successive Nexus projects. While HTC worked with Google on the first device, the Nexus One, it was replaced in that role by Samsung, who developed the Nexus S and then the Galaxy Nexus.

LG then took Samsung’s position for the Nexus 4, creating a device – built mainly to the pattern of the existing LG Optimus G – that was sold at an ambitious $299 off-contract, as Google attempted to ween smartphone users off of their carrier dependence. Samsung instead contributed the Nexus 10 tablet.

One possibility is that the new Nexus could follow LG’s even larger new smartphone, the Optimus G Pro, though with that handset’s sizable 5.5-inch display, it’s possible some would-be buyers might find it simply too large. Specifications for the device are yet to leak.

Meanwhile, LG is also believed to be talking with Google about the potential for an OLED Google TV, as well as more “futuristic projects as part of the big picture” in consumer electronics. That could include wearables like Google Glass, sources suggest.

[via AndroidBeat]

LG “Nexus 5″ tipped as Google reportedly renews deal is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

Intel‘s 4th-gen Core processors will also debut a brand new Iris graphics system, with the chip company splitting its new line-up into multiple tiers for ultrabooks, thin-and-lights, and mainstream PCs. Ultrabooks powered by the most frugal of Intel’s 4th-generation Haswell chips, the U-Series, will get Intel HD, HD Graphics 4600, or HD Graphics 5000, but those machines that can stand a little extra power consumption will get either Iris (for thin-and-lights) or Iris Pro (for mainstream) for at least a doubling in 3D processing performance.

Ultrabooks, where minimal power draw is still king, will get a range of 15W U-Series processors for prolonging runtimes. The onboard HD, HD 4600, and HD 5000 GPUs won’t be labeled Iris, but they will offer a bump over the HD 4000 graphics of the 3rd-gen range, with Intel claiming improvements across the board in the usual 3D graphics testing. Power consumption will also drop, thanks to 15W TDP chips where previously 17W was pretty much the lower limit.

It’s when you get to Iris and Iris Pro that things get really interesting, however. They’ll need at least 28W TDP to shine, but given that can up to double 3D graphics performance with the Iris GPU onboard.

Iris Pro sees the biggest leap, however. Intel has multiple ranges of Haswell processors in mind – to suit desktops, mainstream laptops, and various other iterations – but roughly the 65W TDP 4th-gen chips are good for up to twice the performance of their 77W TDP 3rd-gen counterparts. The difference gets even more pronounced when you slot in Intel’s 4th-gen 84W TDP processors, which deliver up to a 3x performance improvement over the last generation.

The GPUs each support OpenGL 4, DirectX 11.1, and OpenCL 1.2, along with enhanced 4K video support and the Display Port 1.2 standard for double the bandwidth. There’s also “Collage Display” for easier multi-screen setups, spreading the desktop across up to three panels. Haswell 4th-gen chips are expected to arrive in PCs later this year.

[via AnandTech]

Intel Iris graphics detailed for 4th-Gen Core “Haswell” chips is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

HTC put its faith in the One to restore its position in high-end smartphones; now, leaks suggest, the company may be sticking closely to the same pattern with the HTC M4 for the midrange. Expected to be visually near-identical to the HTC One, according to phoneArena‘s sources, the M4 (a codename, of course; the One was codenamed HTC M7) is expected to have a 4.3-inch 720p display and an UltraPixel camera.

If that all sounds familiar, we’re not surprised. Chatter around the M4 began in early April, meshing in with this latest leak with talk of a dualcore processor, 16GB of onboard storage versus the 32GB+ of the HTC One, and 2GB of RAM.

However, those rumors pegged the M4 as more of a Facebook-free HTC First, rather than a mini-One. The Facebook Home phone has a 4.3-inch, 720p display after all, along with a dualcore processor, leading to suggestions that the HTC M4 would effectively be a rebadge of the predominantly plastic handset.

Instead, this new batch of rumor pegs a far closer aesthetic to the HTC One for the M4, though it’s unclear how much this is a speculative render from evleaks above, rather than a leak of the actual device. Although similar in design, it’s also expected to shelve some of the One’s rock-solid materials so as to hit a lower price point; whether that means metal-effect plastic rather than the sturdy unibody aluminum we’re so fond of on the One remains to be seen.

Otherwise, the M4 is expected to have LTE, a fixed 1,700 mAh battery – 600 mAh less than the One, not to mention 300 mAh less than the HTC First – and run Android 4.2 Jelly Bean when it arrives near the end of Q2 2013. The biggest difference from the First, beyond software, of course, is the inclusion of UltraPixel technology: HTC’s oversized pixels which trade sheer resolution for improvements in low-light performance.

As a strategy, it’s something we’ve seen work well in the Samsung Galaxy S III mini, borrowing halo branding and design to push a far cheaper model to those with less cash and less ambitious expectations. Whether it’s enough for HTC to continue turning around its 2013 remains to be seen.

HTC M4 to be mini-One not Facebook-free First rumors claim is written by Chris Davies & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.