Hasta La Gadget!

Yes, we know Android is holding steady at about 52 percent of US smartphone market share. What’s interesting is just who’s driving growth as a whole. According to Nielsen, 58 percent of American teens between 13 and 17 now have a smartphone — that’s a big jump from 36 percent a year earlier and a sign that the youngest owners have a significant sway over where the market is going. Not that young adults don’t have an impact. Although the 25-to-34 crowd isn’t making as big a comparative leap, its smartphone ownership has climbed from 59 percent to a dominating 74 percent in the same space of time.

No matter how much youth set the pace, it’s clear Android is still having an effect. Among the US smartphone buyers Nielsen tracked in the three months leading up to July, 58.6 percent went Google’s direction. Most of that gain came from BlackBerry owners switching allegiances, which doesn’t bode well when RIM is counting on existing owners to fuel BlackBerry 10 demand. We’d be careful about citing a one-point shrink in iPhone sales as a shift in the balance of power, however — while it could be part of a trend, it could also represent the habitual lull in Apple’s sales during the weeks before a major iPhone introduction.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

Nielsen: more than half of US teens now own smartphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 10 Sep 2012 17:28:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Both Apple and Google have reasons to break out the champagne in the wake of ComScore’s latest market share figures. Android is still sitting prettier than ever and just reached a new high of 52.2 percent for US smartphone share as of this past July, no doubt in part through at least a few Galaxy S III sales. Not that Apple is worrying about its US stake just yet, as the iPhone just passed the one-third mark to hit 33.4 percent — it gained share faster than Android in the space of the preceding three months. We don’t have much good news elsewhere, though, as the BlackBerry lost its hold on two-digit market share at the same time as Windows and Symbian continued to cede ground.

As for the overall cellphone space? The familiar pecking order of Samsung, LG, Apple, Motorola and HTC remains intact, although only Apple and HTC gained any traction with their respective 16.3 percent and 6.4 percent slices of the pie. LG has dropped quickly enough that it’s now within Apple’s crosshairs at 18.4 percent. As significant as the shifts can be, we’re most interested in what happens two months down the line, when ComScore can report September share: a certain phone’s launch is likely to skew the numbers, regardless of what HTC and Motorola bring to the table. Just be advised that US market share isn’t everything.

Continue reading ComScore: Android tops 52 percent of US smartphone share, iPhone cracks the 33 percent mark

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

ComScore: Android tops 52 percent of US smartphone share, iPhone cracks the 33 percent mark originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 04 Sep 2012 22:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it’s easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don’t escape without notice, we’ve gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Continue reading Refresh Roundup: week of August 20th, 2012

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

Refresh Roundup: week of August 20th, 2012 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 26 Aug 2012 20:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Corporate server managers everywhere were given a jolt this week when rumors emerged that RIM might implement a hard cutoff for BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10: any devices based on BlackBerry 7 and earlier might not connect at all, leaving IT leads with the uncomfortable choice of either running a BlackBerry server platform that’s supposedly without a future (BES 5) or having to upgrade both the servers and phones all at once. RIM is putting minds at ease — more or less. The company’s Kim Geiger has confirmed in a statement to the media that BES 10 will support legacy devices when it ships in the first quarter of 2013, and that existing server customers will get an upgrade for smooth sailing around when BlackBerry 10 arrives. That’s no doubt a comfort, but there are lingering doubts. Rumor source BGR maintains that companies will have to run both the old and new servers side-by-side to address everyone, which could make a truly harmonious environment complex, expensive or both. We’ve reached out to RIM for a more definitive explanation to hopefully settle the matter. In the meantime, we wouldn’t panic; no one is being pushed to adopt BES 10 right away, and those that want to upgrade don’t have to give up their legacy hardware.

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM says BlackBerry Enterprise Server 10 users will get legacy device support, IT admins (may) rest easy originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 22 Aug 2012 19:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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RIM took some time out from its worldwide tour to confirm that it’s standardizing screen resolutions for BB10. Tim Neil took to the company’s developer blog to say that forthcoming full-touch devices will ship with 1,280 x 720 displays, while keyboard-style phones would pack 720 x 720 screens. The only handset that won’t play by these rules is the first (presumably flagship) BB10 handset, since it’s too late to change its 1,280 x 768 screen. The company’s urging developers to get tweaking to ensure apps run properly on the new gear — or add letterboxing to offer a Sergio Leone feel to your mobile gaming.

Filed under: Cellphones

RIM confirms BB10 standard screen resolutions for touch and keyboard devices originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 16 Aug 2012 04:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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