Hasta La Gadget!

Hardware companies are in the business of convincing you to buy the hottest new item. And save for Apple, it looks like smartphone makers aren’t doing a good job of it.

Four of the top five best-selling consumer smartphones of the second quarter were all made over a year or more ago, according to a recent report.

The iPhone 4 was the best selling smartphone among non-corporate consumer purchases from April through June, according to research firm NPD, with the iPhone 3GS coming in at a close second. Representing the Android operating system, HTC’s EVO 4G ranked as the third most purchased smartphone in Q2. And finally, the lesser-known Samsung Intensity 2 (released in June of 2010) came in fifth place. Samsung’s Inspire 4G ranked fourth, the only phone released in 2011 to make the top five.

To some extent, the increased iPhone sales make a certain amount of sense. The price of the 3GS dropped after Apple debuted its iPhone 4, attracting the bargain hunting demographic. To boot, the iPhone 4 saw a surge of new buyers after the release of a CDMA version on Verizon’s 3G network. Most recently, Apple released its white iPhone 4, resulting in another spike of sales.

With the slew of new Android phones released this year, sales have spread across the myriad Android-powered options consumers face. As a result, no one particular Android model has emerged as a true victor.

Instead, Android continues to dominate in operating system market share, as 52 percent of new smartphone purchases run Google’s operating system. Apple’s iOS emerges in a not-too-distance second place, with 29 percent of the OS market share. And of course, much of this growth is at RIM’s expense; the Canadian company bled out over half its share of sales compared to the same period last year. As usual, Windows Phone 7, Windows Mobile, and webOS each held less than 5% of the market.

Image courtesy of NPD Group

[via SplatF]

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It may not have live TV streaming yet, but Comcast has been at the forefront of expanding the cable TV experience to phones and tablets with its Xfinity app and pushed further recently, updating the iOS version and releasing an edition for Blackberry phones. On Blackberry it brings the usual set of features, including Comcast.net email access, remote DVR scheduling and trailers for VOD selections. On iOS, v1.60 adds a “previously played” button that can return the TV to previously watched channels, or start playing VOD content on the mobile devices right where you last left off. Check the official blog for more details or just download from iTunes or Blackberry App World.

Comcast’s Xfinity app debuts on Blackberry, updated on iOS originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 22 Aug 2011 06:30:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hang tight just a second — let me preface all of this with a quick reminder that I’m speaking on a personal level, and I’m absolutely certain that slates have a place in this world somewhere. We could go back and forth for hours with use-case scenarios (and the same could be done with cars, time machines or your luxury good of choice), but this isn’t about proving that a tablet can do one or two things; it’s about the limitations and awkwardness of using one that no one seems to talk about.

After years of watching the masses fawn over the iPad (and every other PC maker scramble to come out with something that serves a similar purpose), I still can’t ever imagine myself investing in one, let alone actually using one in place of a smartphone or laptop. I’ve met quite a few folks in my line of work that all ask me the same thing: “Should I buy an iPad?” It’s worth noting that no one actually asks if “they should buy a tablet,” but that’s speaking more about Apple’s absurdly enviable mind (and in turn, market) share than anything else. My response is always the same: “If you can’t think of a reason you’d need it, you don’t need it.”

Tablets, for whatever reason, seem to defy logic when it comes to purchase rationalization in the consumer electronics realm. I’ve yet to meet a bloke who purchased an ultraportable without knowing full-well that they would take advantage of enhanced battery life and a highly mobile chassis. Everyone I’ve know that invested in a high-end gaming rig knew why they were shelling out on that $500 GPU (read: frames-per-second). And all of my movie cuttin’ pals knew precisely why they just had to have a Thunderbolt RAID setup. But tablets? People are just buying these things in a fit of hysteria — does anyone actually know why this “third device” is such a necessity? Let’s dive a little deeper, shall we?

Continue reading Editorial: tablets aren’t the ‘third device’ I’d hoped for… from a productivity standpoint, anyway

Editorial: tablets aren’t the ‘third device’ I’d hoped for… from a productivity standpoint, anyway originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 21 Aug 2011 12:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Well, it’s been less than two weeks, and Apple’s already pumping out another iOS 5 beta build. Those of you holding Apple developer credentials can now mosey on over to the source link below, and get your hands on iOS 5 beta 6. As you might expect, this slice of Apple pie brings with it new betas for iTunes, XCode, and Apple TV. As per usual, we’ll keep our eyes out for anything noteworthy, but if you’ve already got the new build going, give us a holler in the comments below.

[Thanks, Michael]

iOS 5 beta 6 fresh out of the oven for your downloading pleasure originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Aug 2011 13:36:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It popped up in private beta earlier this summer, but Slide’s Photovine is now open to the public, available as a free download on Apple’s iOS App Store. Surprisingly there’s no Android app yet — a curious move considering Google (Slide’s parent company) isn’t known to exclude its own mobile platform with new product rollouts. Huff Post went hands-on with the app, summing it up as “Instagram meets Piictu,” also noting the bizarre exclusion of an option to add your Gmail contacts — though you can import your friends from Twitter and Facebook. It’s probably safe to say that an Android app will be coming soon — or perhaps some other indication that Google and Slide do in fact share the same roof — but for now, iPhone owners can slide on down to the source link to get their photo sharing fix.

Photovine grows out of private beta, begins sprouting on iPhones everywhere originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 17 Aug 2011 14:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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