Dec 12

Don’t want to shell out the cash for an iPhone 4S? Lease one on O2

Posted in: Apple, iPhone, iphone 4s, mobilepostmini, o2, smartphone, Today's Chili, uk
If you can lease a vehicle, why not a smartphone? That’s O2’s line of thinking, anyways, as the UK carrier has begun piloting a rental scheme — called O2 Lease — with the iPhone 4S in the driver’s seat. For a 12-month lease period and £55 per month, you’ll be able to rent the 16GB version and get 750 minutes, unlimited messaging, 500MB of data and insurance. Want a 32GB model? That’ll be an extra £10 per month. Since it’s a rental, you’ll be required to give the phone back after your year is up, but at that point you’re free to grab a new device — a great idea for anyone embarrassed to still be holding onto a primitive year-old phone. As O2 puts it: “this is the first tariff model available to all O2 customers that reflects the lifestyle of the smartphone industry.” If the pilot’s successful, the company will consider expanding its selection to more devices; since not everyone wishing to lease a smartphone wants an iPhone, we’d say the more handsets the merrier.

Don’t want to shell out the cash for an iPhone 4S? Lease one on O2 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 11:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Dec 12

Android Market web store update adds user review filters, changes lives

Posted in: Android, android market, AndroidMarket, application, apps, Google, minipost, refresh, review, smartphone, Software, Today's Chili, update

It looks like Google has rolled out yet another update to its Android Market web store, bringing a slew of new filtering features for especially investigative users. In particular, the refresh allows consumers to filter user reviews by a handful of parameters, including star ratings, app version and device model. Best of all, you can use any or all of these filters simultaneously, thereby allowing you to isolate, for example, all five-star reviews of a specific app from users of a specific handset. It certainly sounds like a useful addition, and one you can check out for yourself, at the source link below.

Android Market web store update adds user review filters, changes lives originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:33:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 02

Sony posts $350 million loss in Q2 earnings report, forecasts full-year loss

Posted in: business, earnings, financials, hdpostcross, industry, Japan, minipost, mobilepostcross, money, sales, smartphone, sony, Sony Ericsson, SonyEricsson, Today's Chili, TV
Sony‘s Q2 earnings have just come in and, as you might guess, they’re not particularly glowing. A few days after announcing plans to buy out Ericsson’s stake in Sony Ericsson, the manufacturer posted a quarterly loss of ¥27 billion ($346 million) today, compared with a net income of ¥31.1 billion during the same quarter last year. Last quarter, the firm posted a net loss of ¥15.5 billion, or about $200 million. Sony attributed much of this decline to a stronger yen, lower TV sales and recent flooding in Thailand, which has disrupted its supply chain. On this basis, the company lowered its full year forecast, predicting a net loss of ¥90 billion ($1.2 billion), compared with a net profit of ¥60 billion that it had previously expected. It appears, then, that Sony’s TV division is primed to post an annual loss for the 8th straight year, which would certainly explain those plans for a forthcoming shakeup. Find the full report at the source link, below.

Sony posts $350 million loss in Q2 earnings report, forecasts full-year loss originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 02 Nov 2011 04:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Nov 01

Lumia 800 to hit the UK on November 16th, Nokia confirms

Posted in: availability, launch, mobilepostcross, nokia, samsung, smartphone, Today's Chili, uk, united kingdom, UnitedKingdom, windows phone 7, WindowsPhone7

We knew that the Lumia 800 would be making its way to the UK sometime in November, but today, that timeline has become slightly more specific. We’ve just received confirmation that Nokia’s “first real Windows Phone” will indeed be available within the UK on November 16th, just a day before Samsung unleashes its Galaxy Nexus handset to British users. Last month, the company confirmed that the device would be priced at €420, though there’s no word yet on what that price tag may look like in sterling. As always, we’ll let you know as soon as we hear more.

Lumia 800 to hit the UK on November 16th, Nokia confirms originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 31

Canalys: HTC nips Apple, Samsung to become top smartphone vendor in US for Q3 2011

Posted in: Android, business, Google, GoogleAndroid, HTC, htc sense, HtcSense, industry, market, market share, marketshare, mobilepostcross, sense, smartphone, Today's Chili

Boo! No, that’s not your doorbell ringing again, that’s HTC popping out of nowhere in order to toss a Nah-nah-nah-boo-boo in the direction of Samsung and Apple. Just days after Strategy Analytics published a global smartphone shipment report for Q3 2011, Canalys — another formidable name in the sector — has pushed out a report of its own. Not surprisingly, the global figures line up almost precisely with what we’d already heard, with Samsung’s Q3 numbers rising above those from Apple, Nokia and the rest of the industry. The difference here, however, is the focal point on the US of A. Here in the States, Taiwan’s own HTC is pulling rank; the aforesaid handset maker edged out Apple and Samsung by shipping 5.7 million smartphones.

All told, it owned “around a quarter of the market,” with Samsung (4.9 million) claiming the second spot and Apple (4.6 million) pulling in for the bronze. Conspicuously absent from the leader board? RIM, which saw its volume decline 58 percent from a year ago and its US market share sink from 24 percent in Q3 2010 to just 9 percent this quarter. Our take? HTC (and Samsung, from a global perspective) best enjoy it while the quarter lasts — as soon as the iPhone 4S and Nokia’s spate of Windows Phone devices start figuring in, we’re guessing that the top spots will be completely up for grabs all over again.

Continue reading Canalys: HTC nips Apple, Samsung to become top smartphone vendor in US for Q3 2011

Canalys: HTC nips Apple, Samsung to become top smartphone vendor in US for Q3 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:14:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 31

‘Invisible glass’ could reduce display glare, fails as food-in-teeth mirror

Posted in: cellphone, light, smartphone, Smartphones, Today's Chili

There’s nothing worse (seriously, it’s scientifically proven) than catching some serious glare on your smartphone, unless you’re checking for spinach in your teeth — but thanks to Nippon Electric Glass’ new “invisible glass,” an overly reflective surface may be a problem of the past. According to our friends at Tech-On, the company has developed a new type of vitrine that reduces glare by using a special film on each side of the substrate, which allows more light to pass through the layers rather than bounce off the surface. Normal glass reflects around eight percent of light, while the new variety only rebounds 0.5 percent, dramatically reducing the luminous reflectance to around 0.1 percent or lower. Looks like your yearning to purchase this thing is finally justified.

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‘Invisible glass’ could reduce display glare, fails as food-in-teeth mirror originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 14:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 31

HTC releases Q3 earnings report: profit up 68 percent, shipments soar 93 percent

Posted in: business, earnings, financials, HTC, mobilepostcross, smartphone, Today's Chili
It’s been another stellar quarter for the folks over at HTC. According to the company’s Q3 earnings report, released today, net income rose to NT$18.68 billion (about $624.6 million) this quarter — a 68 percent increase over Q3 2010 and a seven percent bump over last quarter, when HTC reported record profits. Revenue, meanwhile, rose by 79 percent on the year to NT$135.8 billion (around $4.54 billion), which the manufacturer attributed to “strong brand recognition, leading product portfolio and expanded distribution channels.” On a regional level, HTC saw the strongest growth in China, where sales increased by a factor of nine over the past year. This undoubtedly helped the company boost handset shipments, which increased by a whopping 93 percent over the year, to 13.2 million units. For more details and crunchy numbers, hit up the source links, below.

HTC releases Q3 earnings report: profit up 68 percent, shipments soar 93 percent originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 31 Oct 2011 04:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 30

How would you change RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9930?

Posted in: BlackBerry, HowWouldYouChange, HWYC, mobilepostcross, research in motion, ResearchInMotion, RIM, smartphone, Today's Chili

There’s no QNX (or BBX, we should say) here, but the Bold 9930 is still taking baby steps towards the future with BlackBerry OS 7. Now that you’ve had a few months to tinker with your latest and greatest, we’re interested to hear how you’d tweak things if given the keys to Waterloo. Would you make it look a bit more like this? Change up the screen? Toss that chrome ring around the edge? Chunk it to another carrier? Go on and get creative in comments below, but keep it civil, cool?

How would you change RIM’s BlackBerry Bold 9930? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 29

Nokia World 2011 wrap-up

Posted in: cellphone, cellphones, london, Microsoft, mobilepostcross, nokia, phone, Phones, smartphone, Smartphones, Today's Chili, uk

Nokia had something to prove at its annual event, and an eight-month turnaround of its smartphone arm is certainly nothing to be sniffed at. While Nokia’s first Windows Phone devices were undoubtably the stars of the two-day expo, there was plenty more to investigate — Nokia’s legion of development labs certainly didn’t let us down. Check out a veritable world of coverage neatly arranged below the break for everything Nokia World had to show us, and few more tidbits we found for ourselves.

Gallery: Nokia World 2011 wrap-up gallery

Continue reading Nokia World 2011 wrap-up

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Nokia World 2011 wrap-up originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 29 Oct 2011 15:19:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Oct 28

IDC: Samsung, ZTE see jump in mobile shipments, Apple slides to fifth place

Posted in: Apple, business, LG, market, market share, marketshare, mobile, mobilepostcross, money, nokia, research, samsung, smartphone, statistics, Today's Chili
Q3 earnings reports have been pouring in over the past few days, which means it’s time to check in with IDC on the state of the mobile market. The research firm’s latest report, released today, is something of a mixed bag. On the one hand, Q3 global shipments increased by 12.8 percent year-over-year — higher than the 9.3 percent that IDC had predicted for the quarter and the 9.8 percent growth observed last quarter. At the same time, however, the market grew at the second slowest pace in two years and shipments to Western Europe and the US actually declined over the year, something the company attributes to more restrained consumer spending and more widespread economic uncertainty.

On the company level, both Samsung and ZTE came away as the biggest winners this quarter; Sammy’s shipments increased by 23 percent over the year, good for second place, while ZTE’s shot up by a whopping 57.9 percent, launching the company into fourth place. Apple, meanwhile, saw 26.2 percent growth in its shipments and a slight bump in market share, but still couldn’t avoid getting leapfrogged by ZTE and dropping down to fifth place. And then there’s LG, which had by far the worst quarter, relative to Q3 2010. The manufacturer saw shipments decline by nearly 26 percent over the year, while its market share slipped to 5.4 percent. All these horses, however, are still chasing Nokia, which saw a small drop in shipments, but managed to hang on to the top spot, with over 106 million shipments during the quarter — good for 27 percent of the market. For more numbers and insight, check out the full PR after the break.

Continue reading IDC: Samsung, ZTE see jump in mobile shipments, Apple slides to fifth place

IDC: Samsung, ZTE see jump in mobile shipments, Apple slides to fifth place originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Oct 2011 21:44:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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