Hasta La Gadget!

The argument used to be that carriers’ higher pricing for smartphone data plans were what kept them out of the low end, regardless of the upfront on-contract cost — but now that T-Mobile has rolled out a 200MB / $10 package, phones like the Comet — a T-Mobile branded version of the Huawei Ideos announced at IFA — might actually pose a serious threat to the livelihoods of dumbphones everywhere. Why’s that? Well, the carrier will be charging a ridiculously low $9.99 on contract after $50 rebate for it, featuring 7.2Mbps HSPA, FM radio, integrated Swype, microSD expansion up to 32GB, and 802.11b / g / n atop Froyo; in fact, the only immediately-obvious downside to it is that it’s got just a 2.8-inch QVGA display. As you might recall, Huawei worked closely with Google to design the Ideos as an Android device for the masses, and we came away with a pretty positive impression with it when we checked it out at IFA — so we’re bullish that this thing is going to make some waves in its Comet guise. It launches on November 3 — and you’ll be able to get it in prepaid guise through some third-party retailers for “less than $200.”

T-Mobile Comet sends $9.99 shot across the bow of dumbphones originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:54:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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The Canalys numbers are out, and with Android coming off an 886 percent jump reported at the end of the second quarter we were expecting something big. So, here it is: Android is up 1,309 percent worldwide from this time last year, taking over 43.6 percent of the US smartphone market in the third quarter. In terms of mobile operating systems that makes it the dominant player in America, but with Apple capturing 26.2 percent it now jumps into the lead when it comes to hardware, beating out RIM’s 24.2 percent. That’s a swap from last quarter, where BlackBerries beat iPhones 32 to 21.7 percent, and worldwide things are looking the same: Apple at 17 percent compared to RIM’s 15. However around the globe it’s Nokia and the Symbian Foundation still dominating the stage as the leading smart phone OS vendor, owning 33 percent of the market compared to 38 last quarter, while Microsoft sits at a lowly 3 percent. With WP7 ready to rock the world, and Ballmer ready to release the advertising hounds, that’s a figure we’ll be keeping a close eye on for the next few quarters.

Update: NPD has posted its third quarter smartphone market share and Mobile Phone Track reports; they basically back up Canalys’ report, though NPD gives both Apple and RIM slightly less market share. Interestingly, RIM’s BlackBerry Curve 8500 series is identified as the second-best selling phone in the US in the quarter, while the lowly LG Cosmos for Verizon takes third. Weird, huh?

Canalys: iPhone becomes most popular smartphone in the US, Android continues as most popular OS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 08:29:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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While Steve Jobs doesn’t like the form factor and Google thinks that Froyo is less than ideal for tablets, we were pretty impressed by the 7-inch Samsung Galaxy Tab’s ability to run Android 2.2. Today it’s officially on sale in UK shops as previously announced. It’s supposed to be coming to all the major UK carriers in addition to Carphone Warehouse, Dixons, and T-Mobile shops. At the moment, we’re seeing it in stock at the Carphone Warehouse under a variety of plans ranging from a £499.99 with a £10 pay monthly plan on Talk Mobile that includes 1GB of data. On the other extreme is a £99.99 deal that requires a £40 per month two year contract that includes 5GB of data on Three. It’s also offered for a standalone price of £529.99. And please, whatever you do don’t call it a UMPC, that was so 5 years ago.

Update: We’ve just heard that Orange is also launching the Tab at similar price points, starting from £499. Similarly, Vodafone’s offering the same tablet for £499 across all of its monthly contracts. On the other hand, O2’s slapped a staggering £599 tag onto the device for all of its plans — a very odd move, we’d say (link only works within the UK).

Samsung Galaxy Tab on sale now in UK originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 01 Nov 2010 04:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still trying to understand why Entourage has chosen the Home Shopping Network of all places to reveal its new Pocket Edge, but at least we now know that the previously spied dualscreen tablet / e-reader lives! Although the 1.35-pound device has been shrunken down with smaller displays — a 6-inch “Wacom Penabled” e-ink panel and 7-inch LCD — it actually doesn’t appear like much else has been changed from the original. Unfortunately, that means our biggest complaints about the device are very much present — it’s got a resistive touchscreen and appears to run an older version of Android. If it’s any consolation, the trackball on the right edge has been replaced with an optical touchpad and there are now red and black color options. Spec-wise, it still boasts 4GB of storage, a 2 megapixel camera (hopefully there’s software now that takes advantage of it), 802.11 b/g, a USB port, and micro-SD slot. It is, however, more affordable — though it’s originally priced at $499, HSN has a sale running that puts it at $399. Of course, no word on if a 3G version will be arriving at Verizon as we’ve previously heard, but we’re sure this thing will get its official unveil sometime soon. Until then feel free to keep yourself preoccupied with the gallery below and at the source link — just don’t get lost in the cookware section.

Entourage Pocket Edge reveals itself on the Home Shopping Network originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 18:37:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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What, you didn’t think Apple was just going to sit around and take it after Motorola first sued for patent infringement and then asked to court to declare some 20 of Cupertino’s patents weren’t applicable to its products, did you? Apple’s fired back with two lawsuits claiming that Motorola’s Android phones, including but not limited to the Droid, Droid 2, Droid X, Cliq, Cliq XT, BackFlip, Devour A555, Devour i1, and Charm, infringe a total of six multitouch and OS patents. That would be pretty much par for the course — you sue me, I sue you — but there are a couple interesting strategic wrinkles to note:

• We’ve only seen Apple litigate one of these patents before: #7,479,949, Touch Screen Device, Method, and Graphical User Interface for Determining Commands by Applying Heuristics. You should remember it well — it’s the patent covering scroll behavior on multitouch screens that was hyped as “the iPhone patent” and triggered a press frenzy over a possible Apple / Palm lawsuit. As we predicted at the time, that hasn’t yet materialized, but old ‘949’s gotten pretty popular: Apple’s asserting it against Nokia and HTC as well.
• Apple might be suing over six patents in these two cases, but ultimately Apple will claiming Motorola’s devices infringe a total of 26 patents — part of Apple’s defense to Motorola’s 20-patent lawsuit will be to claim that Moto’s in fact infringing each of those patents. That’s a lot of patents across a lot of devices, and it’ll just take one finding of infringement to cause a lot of pain.
• Apple’s filed its two cases in the Western District of Wisconsin, a patent “rocket docket” that tries cases quickly and are often perceived as being plaintiff-friendly. (Part of the Apple / Nokia lawsuit is happening in this same court.) Moto’s obvious next move will be to try and consolidate all these cases into a single proceeding at one court, a procedural tactic that will take likely take months. And that’s just the first step. Don’t expect these cases to be decided for at least a year — probably many years — unless Apple and Motorola decide to settle, which is always possible.
• Apple’s now seriously engaged in litigation with the two largest Android handset makers (HTC and Motorola), largely over OS-level patents. At some point Google has to get involved, if only to indemnify its partners against further liability for using Android, and we can’t help but think Apple and Google are eventually bound to face off directly. Or perhaps not — by suing Android handset makers, Apple’s essentially putting a tax on Android without having to further muddy up its complex competitor / partner relationship with Google by adding in a major lawsuit.

We’ve added in a list of the patents after the break, if you’re interested — and we know you’re interested, right? It’s not like it’s a beautiful Saturday afternoon or anything.

Continue reading Apple sues Motorola right back over six patents

Apple sues Motorola right back over six patents originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 30 Oct 2010 15:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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