Yahoo must be starting the summer with an acquisition spree: it bought Qwiki yesterday, and it’s buying Xobni today in a deal that AllThingsD estimates is worth $30 million to $40 million. The acquisition gives Yahoo a developer with experience in creating automatic, connected address books — a perfect fit for a web giant that has been revamping its email and social services. Neither of the new partners is talking about what they’ll create together, although Xobni is no longer accepting new customers for its paid services and has pulled downloads for both Smartr Contacts on Android and Xobni for BlackBerry. It’s a gentler transition than we’ve seen with other takeovers, although we wouldn’t get too comfy when most of Xobni’s services go dark after July 2nd of next year.
Update: Our colleagues at TechCrunchhear that the acquisition price may be over $60 million.
This afternoon several sources have come forth all at once speaking on how Motorola’s next hero device, the Moto X, will be able to be customized. The first and most visually interesting of the collection comes from an in-factory snapshot which shows three of the total 16 different colors set to be available for the device – green, pink, and purple, each of them in a bit of a pastel tone.
The photographer here delivers news through source NWE that additional tones will include blue, purple, green, and additional blues – amongst others, of course. This bit of customization will ride alongside additional choices of inner configurations based on the consumers “needs” – aka wants.
Meanwhile Motorola has silently launched a User Information Page along with the full-page-advertisement it had teased yesterday. As this launch will surely – according to the poster – be a patriotic one, we’ll be expecting more solid terms of connection by tomorrow.
The team at Motorola has also had a logo change-up in the past few days – shown a bit earlier than this campaign complete with its brand new color ring. This ring is obvious evidence of some of the additional colors users will be able to choose from with the launch of the Moto X, a device Motorola also promises will be assembled wholly inside the borders of the USA.
This release is the first that Motorola is suggesting will be one under the Google umbrella, the company having had several projects still in the works at the time of the big G’s acquisition of their company. Motorola continues to operate as a separate entity, but Google does, indeed, have quite a bit of influence over their future.
According to ABC News, further customizations will include color choices in not only the back cover, but the trim of the phone as well. Then as a bit of a bonus, users are said to be able to upload a photo to the website from whens the phone can be ordered and said photo will be delivered to the user as the machine’s background.
It would appear that this device will be delivered to some carriers with the name Moto X, but with Verizon specifically with a different name: DROID Ultra.
It’s not immediately clear if Verizon’s iteration of the device will have the same collection of customization abilities as the rest, but we’ll be looking forward to backside engraving, that’s for certain.
We’ve heard few details about Motorola’s upcoming flagship smartphone since the firm’s CEO teased the device at D11, but a full-page advertisement in several of the country’s top newspapers today hinted at customizability, which ABC News has now confirmed. According to an article on the broadcaster’s website, the device will be available in different colors, with an optional engraving. And, since it’s due to be manufactured in Texas, the customized device will reach American consumers within a few days of an order.
Customers will be able to select colors for both the back panel and the smartphone’s side trim. Additionally, you’ll be prompted to upload a photo that’ll be used as the device’s default wallpaper. Like traditional handsets, Moto X will also be available in retail stores, according to ABC‘s sources, though you’ll need to order online if you want a non-standard configuration. We’re still waiting on specification details, pricing and availability, but if today’s ads are any indication, we can expect a formal launch soon.
Update: Wednesday is turning out to be a good day for Moto X leaks. Following news of customizable colors, we’ve just come upon a snapshot that purports to show off three of these options: teal, red and fushia. You can take a peek after the break, and we have a feeling these might be just the first of many colorful leaks to come.
There’s a software suite out there existing under the name Samsung Smart Switch that, if we didn’t know any better, we’d think was a pitch from Microsoft for Windows Phone. It’s not that smaller sect of the smartphone universe that collection is aimed at, however, it’s Samsung’s implementation of Android – and it’s not a still-burgeoning operating system this campaign is aimed at, it’s one of the most popular lines of smartphones in the history of smartphones.
What you’ve got here is Samsung selling the world on their smartphones with a set of (free) software that makes switching from any smartphone to a Galaxy device easy. As easy as Samsung is able to make it, that is.
While at the moment this software suite works only to bring your previous smartphone experience over to the Samsung Galaxy S 4, and it only works in the USA, it’s a sure-shot for a wider hit once it takes off. And take off it very well might with a launch that works with desktop software for both Windows and Mac from the outset.
*UPDATE: As of July 1st, Samsung Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II are also supported – you can now switch TO them in addition to being able to swtich FROM them.
With the desktop-based transfer software you’re using with Samsung Smart Switch, you’ve got a flow from one smartphone to the other with a series of intuitive steps. The process is essentially the same on both Mac and Windows machines, and you’ll be switching from any of the following brands:
• Apple – iOS 4.2.1 or higher • BlackBerry – BlackBerry OS 6.0 or higher • LG – Android Gingerbread or higher • Nokia – Series version 40 or higher; Symbian version 6.0 or higher • Samsung – “The data that was backed up from Kies version 2.3.5 or higher”
So if you’ve got an HTC device, at the moment, you’re out of luck. But again: this is only the launch. It would also appear that those wishing to transfer from an older Samsung device are assumed to be familiar with Kies before they hit this process where iOS is simply the most basic of basics.
*NOTE: There’s also a “Smart Switch Mobile” app that makes switching from Galaxy to Galaxy devices extremely simple.
Meanwhile you’ll find Nokia devices to be only those from non-Windows Phone families and LG is ready for Android, BlackBerry for 6.0 and up.
The PC and Mac side of this transfer brings on the trade-over of the following bits and pieces:
• Contacts • Messages • Photos • DRM-free Music • Alarms • Wallpapers • Calendars • Memos • Videos (all those captured by your device’s camera, that is) • Podcasts • Call logs • Web bookmarks
The most interesting piece of this equation actually exists in the Android app “Samsung Smart Switch Migration.” This app is different from the Smart Switch Mobile app above, here acting as the final step between the PC and your new Samsung device. With this final step, the user works with “Smart App Matching and Reccomendation.”
This Smart App Matching works with iOS devices at launch, and also – importantly – works with the Google Play app store rather than Samsung’s own app portal. This makes a lot of sense given the more vast collection of apps in the Google Play app store, but it wouldn’t be surprising to eventually – someday – see this switch over to Samsung’s own “Samsung Apps” collection.
Have a peek and let us know how you’re finding the process. Is it as easy as you’d hope it could be? Or is it a bit too taxing to be worth the effort?
BONUS: A bit of an oddity here – when you make the switch you’ll find the wallpaper you were using on your old phone now placed as default on your new phone. Could be cool, could look rather out of place. All up to your perspective.
Sharing your location through Glympse has been a time-sensitive affair, with friends and family receiving links to maps that would plot your position for a few hours at most. Now, however, Glympse has partnered with Evernote to save records of your travels. Simply share your current location broadcast to Evernote and the complete trek will be saved to a “My Glympse Trails” folder. Android users are getting the first crack at the new feature starting today, but folks running the iOS app are set to receive the integration shortly. Check your handset for the update or click the bordering source link to grab ahold of the app.
A set of photos has appeared depicting a miniature version of the hero device created by HTC to lead their smart device family through 2013. This device has been code-named HTC One Mini until the company makes it official, here appearing in black where previous rumors and information leaks had only shown the machine in its original silver metal iteration. This device will likely be unveiled by HTC by the end of this summer.
What you’re seeing here is a palm-sized HTC device made to be the smaller version of the HTC One. This version has been suggested – multiple times, from several sources – to be carrying a 4.2-inch 720p display, that bringing its sharpness up to 342 PPI – well under the original’s industry-leading 468 PPI.
The HTC One Mini has also been suggested to work with a Qualcomm Snapdragon dual-core processor along with 2GB of RAM, the processor not quite ringing up to the Snapdragon 600′s quad-core power, but staying ahead of last year’s Snapdragon S4 model present in several HTC One models (HTC One S, HTC One X USA-edition).
This device will likely bring the same HTC BoomSound front-facing speaker set and UltraPixel camera technology as the original, and will be delivered with Android 4.2.2 or higher with the newest version of HTC’s own user interface Sense.
UPDATE: It would appear that the images shared of this machine posted to the original source, SmartNews, have now been taken down at the request of local PR. This source also mentioned – before it’s takedown – that the device would be delivered by the end of the third quarter of this year.
Samsung is shaking up its US mobile efforts: it just appointed Global Marketing Operations head Gregory Lee as the President of Samsung Telecommunications America, effective immediately. The company hasn’t explained why it’s making such an abrupt swap, but it’s bringing outgoing President Dale Sohn back to South Korea as an Executive Advisor to mobile division CEO JK Shin. This may amount to a promotion — when much of Samsung’s recent success in smartphones is based on its American presence, Sohn’s advice could carry a lot of weight.
It’s once again time to get heavy into the world of conjecture for the Samsung Galaxy Note series, this time for the third iteration of the handheld machine that started the series in the first place. What we’re seeing this week is a heavy-handed drop of a release date – September 4th – as well as a rolling-up of specification rumors from the past several weeks. This device may well be the largest (non-tablet) Note in the family yet, and it’ll likely appear right before IFA 2013.
While sources speaking with China Mobile News have suggested the accelerated production on the Samsung Galaxy Note III, a person “close to the matter” speaking with Android Geeks has pinpointed the event in question to September 4th. As in past years the machine has been dropped inside the Berlin-based technology convention IFA, this push for a pre-event reveal would follow instead the Samsung-only event trend of devices like the Samsung Galaxy S 4.
This release will likely be paired with a larger display than in the past, reaching up towards 6-inches instead of the measely 5.5-inch panel working with the Galaxy Note II. While the current-gen machine has an HD Super AMOLED display at 1280 x 720, it’s been suggested that the Galaxy Note III might work with IPS LCD instead, and the size 5.9-inches has popped up more than once.
Inside we’ll likely see specifications rather similar to that of the Samsung Galaxy S 4, as in past iterations. Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean will almost certainly be onboard with Samsung’s TouchWiz UI over the top, complete with a set of hover-friendly abilities like the Galaxy Note 8.0.
The big difference between the Galaxy S 4 and the Galaxy Note III (besides its size and addition of S Pen technology) may be the processor inside. As the Samsung Galaxy S III worked with a Qualcomm processor inside the USA and an Exynos processor abroad, so too has this situation arisen for the Galaxy S 4. It’s been suggested that, as with the Galaxy Note II, the Exynos processor included in the international edition of the Galaxy S device from this generation will be appearing in the USA release of the newest Note.
It all depends on how willing Samsung is to work with Qualcomm radios inside paired with their own “Octa” processor. We shall see!
Samsung has shipped 20m Galaxy S 4 smartphones, the company has told South Korean press, pegging demand 1.7x more than the Galaxy S III it replaced. The smartphone – which Samsung claimed “sold” 10m in its first month of availability – is on track to be the company’s first 100m unit smartphone, Yonhap News reports, supposedly the internal target.
However, as ever there is controversy over what counts as a “sale” and what’s a “shipped” device. Samsung counts its sales through to the channel – including retailers and carriers – whereas some rivals prefer to count actual sales to end users. The disparity has led some to accuse Samsung of inflating its count, including phones that are actually sitting in boxes in warehouses, rather than in the phones and bags of actual users.
Either way, compared to Samsung’s last flagship, the Galaxy S 4 is seemingly leaving the company’s factories at a greater rate. Samsung hasn’t stinted on variations, either, borrowing the Galaxy S 4 name for a range of different handsets to address different parts of the market.
For instance, the Galaxy S4 Active – which we reviewed last week – takes the phone and gives it a more sturdy, water- and dust-proof body. That means it can survive dips in the pool as well as trips to the beach, including being used for underwater photography, though Samsung also downgraded the camera slightly in the process.
Samsung Galaxy S4 Active water test:
Meanwhile, there’s also the Galaxy S4 Mini, which shrinks down the phone (and its specifications, for that matter) for those who want a smaller device overall. The Galaxy S4 Zoom throws in a larger-resolution sensor and a full 10x optical zoom, bridging the gap between a phone and a point-and-shoot camera.
The new sales stats come after Samsung has been hit with ongoing speculation that sales of the Galaxy S 4 were underwhelming. Various executives from the company have been forced to insist that demand for the handset was still high, despite suggestions that it was being seen as a mere evolutionary upgrade from its predecessor.
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