alcatel one touch hero

Alcatel One Touch Hero review: Compare notes  

Alcatel found a new life with Android and has continuously improved its offerings over time. The One Touch Hero is one of the latest - a 6" phablet that throws down a price challenge to the Galaxy Note 3, with a rich feature set of its own.

The Hero has captured the essence of the Note - a large, 1080p screen, a stylus to go with it and split-screen multitasking to boost productivity. The screen is actually bigger - 6 inches - and the bezels are impressively thin.
That said, Alcatel kept its feet on the ground and went for a Cortex-A7-based MediaTek chipset. The amount of inbuilt storage is economical but expandable and there's a dual-SIM version right out of the gate. This keeps the price in check and makes the phablet suitable for emerging markets (where the lack of LTE isn't a huge deal).
There's a place for the Alcatel One Touch Hero in established markets too - we're seeing a shift towards affordable, capable devices in the mobile world with devices like the Moto G and $200 tablets.
The One Touch Hero has the build quality wouldn't be out of place in the lineup of better known makers and Alcatel did well to avoid gimmicky tweaks. Where the company stepped outside the box is the attachable accessories, while split-screen multitasking and especially the stylus are right out of the Note rulebook.

New HTC One allegedly coming with larger screen, better dual-sensor camera in March

HTC Said to Plan New One Phone With Larger Screen, Better Camera 

HTC Corp. (2498) plans a March release for the latest version of its HTC One smartphone featuring a larger screen and twin-sensor rear camera, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans.

Carrying the HTC One name, the new model will use Qualcomm Inc.’s later Snapdragon processor and have a screen size of at least 5 inches, said the person, who asked not to be identified because the details aren’t public. The design will be little changed from last year’s version of the One series, the person said.
A larger model called One Max and the start of sales to China Mobile Ltd. failed to stop HTC from posting its second consecutive quarterly operating loss. The new model, scheduled for release at the end of March, will be bigger than the One’s 4.7-inch display and smaller than the One Max’s 5.9-inch screen.
HTC, based in Taoyuan, Taiwan, declined to comment in an e-mail today.
Twin sensors on the rear of the new handset will provide better focus, depth of field and image quality, the person said. An improved version of HTC’s Ultrapixel camera will be featured in the device, the person said.




SOURCE:bloomberg

Obama ending U.S. phone data collection inside the government 

 

One of the first things we ever heard that put the NSA on the radar of anyone with a cell phone was that the government organization was collecting metadata from various wireless carriers, including records from U.S. citizens. There has been quite a lot more info to come out since then, and a lot of uproar about the overreaching of the NSA, but today President Obama has said that he is going to overhaul what happens. 

The president said today that the government will no longer collect American phone data, and that the current stores of information collected would be moved out of the government. It is unclear where the data will be housed though. Under the new directive, individual searches will be limited, and any governmental intelligence officials will need to obtain an order from a secret national-security court in order to search phone data.  

 

President Obama said: 

''The reforms I'm proposing today should give the American people greater confidence that their rights are being protected, even as our intelligence and law-enforcement agencies maintain the tools they need to keep us safe. I recognize that there are additional issues that require further debate. 

 

 

As far as non-American phone data, not much will change, except that there will no longer be any spying on the heads of state of close U.S. allies. Although, it should be noted that even the staff members of those heads of state are not immune from spying. The new directive makes pretty wide-reaching changes, but seems focused on phone data collection at first. Several government agencies are will feel the changes, but none more so than the NSA.  

 

 

source: WSJ

RUMORS

Rumors: Apple's large 12.9-inch iPad could be released in late Q3, Samsung has more Lite tablets in the pipeline 

Earlier this month, Samsung went all PRO at CES and unveiled two new 12.2-inch tablets called Galaxy TabPRO 12.2 and Galaxy NotePRO - thus putting a fruitful end to the flurry of rumors regarding its oversized tablets. Will Apple follow with a larger-than-usual tablet? It appears that it will, as rumors about this have also flooded news feeds recently. 

The latest rumor comes from Taiwan’s DigiTimes and has it that, according to “market sources”, Apple “is likely” to launch a 12.9-inch iPad “by the end of the third quarter at the earliest.” Assuming that this is correct, we could see the new iPad before the end of September. 

The 12.9-inch iPad might be targeted at enterprise and education markets rather than regular users. That’s pretty much all we know about it at this point.   

It’s said that Apple may sell a total of 80 to 90 million tablets throughout 2014 - obviously including the new iPad Air and iPad Mini models which are expected to replace the current versions in the second half of the year. 

Samsung will likely also sell a high number of tablets before the end of 2014, possibly up to 60 - 70 million units (compared to 40 million in 2013). DigiTimes claims that the South Korean company has more Galaxy Lite tablets prepared for this year - to complement the allegedly cheap Tab3 Lite announced earlier this week. 

Of course, since the details above do not come from official sources, we should remain skeptical and wait for some form of confirmation before actually believing them. 

 

 

source: DigiTimes

Report: Nokia Network and Solutions' Suri is being considered for Nokia's CEO post 

With Microsoft closing in on its purchase of Nokia's Devices and Services division, the Finnish based OEM is in the market for a new CEO. According to those with knowledge of the process, the CEO of Nokia Network and Solutions, Rajeev Suri, is now being considered for the post. Former CEO Stephen Elop is moving to Microsoft to run the acquired Nokia pieces for Microsoft. 

Nokia will probably name its new Chief Executive once the deal with Microsoft is completed. The company will be left with a networking gear division, a digital mapping business and a division focused on its patents. According to analyst Richard Windsor from Radio Free Mobile, Nokia Chairman Risto Siilasmaa will have to determine how important each of the three groups is to the company. If Siilasmaa decides to focus on the networks business, Suri will probably be given the nod to replace Elop. The Network and Solutions group was responsible for 94% of Nokia's Q3 revenues after subtracting the phone business, which might give Suri a leg up on the competition. 

 

"Nokia selling its phone business is a historic move and crafting its future strategy and picking its next leader will be critical for its future success. The board has one chance to get this right."-said Mika Heikkinen, money manager, FIM Asset Management 

 

Siilasmaa might feel less inclined to go outside Nokia to fill the position, considering what happened during Elop's reign. The latter joined Nokia from Microsoft and over the three years that he ran the company, Nokia's stock was cut in half while the handset business was just beginning to gain some traction with the momentum that Windows Phone picked up last year. Another insider being considered for the CEO position is Nokia's current Finance chief Finance Chief Timo Ihamuotila. 

 

 

 

 source: Bloomberg

Microsoft/Nokia

Microsoft/Nokia deal could be finalized soon 

Microsoft agreed to purchase Nokia's Devices and Services business back in September, and has been working its way through various regulatory systems on the way to finalizing the deal. Yesterday, Nokia sent out a notice that it would be reporting its Q4 2013 earnings next week on January 23rd; and, the notice makes it sound like the Microsoft deal will be finalized

The key information here is that "Nokia is reporting substantially all of its Devices & Services business as discontinued operations in its fourth quarter 2013 and full year 2013 results report." The three "continuing" businesses are Nokia Solutions & Networks (NSN), HERE, and Advanced Technologies. Labeling the Devices and Services business as "discontinued" at the very least implies that Nokia expects the deal to be finalized before it makes its Q1 2014 earnings report, which will likely happen in April, but presumably much sooner if that division's earnings are being listed separately.  

It's hard to say exactly when the deal will officially close, but Microsoft has said in the past that it expected the deal to be finalized in early 2014. In September, Microsoft agreed to purchase Nokia's Devices and Services business for $7.17 billion, and in the process Microsoft would transfer 32,000 Nokia employees into its own ranks.

China launches its own, Linux-based mobile OS 

China has unveiled a new, government-blessed mobile operating system. Dubbed China Operating System, or COS, the platform is based on Linux and is being developed by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with Liantong Network Communications Technology - a Shanghai-based company. The open-source operating system is intended to break the existing monopolistic hold of giants like Apple and Google on China's mobile market. 

According to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, foreign operating systems pose great risks and issues, but "COS will simultaneously solve both security and usability aspects". COS is built "completely independent"-ly, upon a security-enhanced Linux kernel, which supports multiple runtime environments, as well as multitasking. The platform will come with a user-friendly interface and will be used in various devices, such as smartphones, tablets, personal computers, smart handheld terminals, and even set-top boxes. 

According to Chen Feili, the deputy general manager of Liantong Network, China Mobile and China Telecom have been testing COS for three months now. Feili has also stated that, at the moment, four already-released Chinese smartphones run COS, but he hasn't revealed the names of the manufacturers who have launched them. According to some sources, HTC is one of the companies that support COS, which might confirm the rumors we heard back in August. The deputy manager of Liantong Network has also said that the goal of the new mobile platform is to become one of the most used operating systems in China. 

The China Operating System supports both JAVA and HTML5 web applications, and is currently compatible with over 100,000 different apps. It seems like a unified app store for the new platform is being developed, too.

Huawei posts 8%

Huawei announces 2013 financial results, revenue grows by 8% 

Huawei has revealed today its annual financial report on the past year. The company has had another great year and has ended 2013 with 8% higher global revenue compared to 2012.
The total global revenue reported by Huawei is CNY 238 billion ($39.6 billion) - that's 8% increase over 2012 when the global sales went as high as CNY 220.2 billion.
The operating profit is expected to range between CNY 28.6 billion ($4.72 billion) and CNY 29.4 billion ($4.85 billion). There is still no info on the net profit, but it should be higher than it was in 2012 too.
More than 75% of the revenue in 2013 (5% more than 2012) came from provided services to 50 of the world's top telecommunication operators. Meanwhile Huawei has invested in R&D more than $5.4 billion and has committed to invest further $600 million to 5G network development by 2018.
Huawei has already launches its global expansion and in 2012 year 66% of Huawei's revenue came from outside its homeland China. This year Huawei is expected to popularize its name with new octa-core processor, flagship and mid-range lineups and more Windows Phone handsets.

Apple leading samsung in US

NPD: Apple holds 42% of US market, Samsung 26% 

The smartphone adoption in the US market is growing and two companies are coming out the big winners out of it – Apple and Samsung together hold over 60% of the market in the last quarter of last year, up from 52% in the final quarter of 2012.
It's a one sided matchup, however, as Apple alone holds 42% market share, a large increase from the 35% share it had in Q4 2012. Samsung is doing well for itself too, going from 22% in Q4 '12 to 26% in Q4 '13.

LG saw a small increase in its share but still controls under 10% of the market. The NPD Group, which prepared the market share report, doesn’t go into details of how much this is due to the company's Nexus involvement (LG build both the Nexus 4 and 5).
While the Google-branded Nexus may have helped LG, the Google ownership of Motorola did not and the company went from over 10% market share to about equal with LG. All other companies declined.
HTC experienced a sharp drop in a year, though not as sharp as BlackBerry, which got its share almost completely evaporated. Even the makers collectively market as "Other" in the report have declined, which points to a homogenization of the market – Apple in front, with Samsung as a distant second.
What US users do with all those smartphones is use more and more data apparently. The average data usage per month went up to 6.6GB (from 5.5GB in Q4 2012). Half of smartphone owners now use some form of music streaming (up from around 40%).
Pandora was the most popular streaming service, with iHeart Radio coming in second. With growing adoption, it's no surprise that more and more companies are trying to get into the streaming market, like Beats Music.

about $400 for Ascend Mate 2

Huawei wants $445 for the Ascend Mate 2 

The Huawei Ascend Mate 2 saw the light of day a few days ago at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas and already has a price on its head. Courtesy of Huawei online shop Vmall the device can be had for CNY2,688, which is the equivalent of around $445.
The device packs a massive 6.1" display of 720p resolution, quad-core 1.6 GHz Hisilicon V9R1, 3G, 2 gigs of RAM, Emotion UI 2.0-ed Android Jelly Bean 4.3 and a 5 MP/13 MP front and back camera capabilities. There's also a quad-core 1.6 GHz Snapdragon 400 variant that packs LTE connectivity but it's for outside of China.
The built in memory is 16 GB but is expandable through an microSD card slot. The Ascend Mate 2 has a nifty trick up its sleeve - a 4,050 mAh battery that not only acts as a main power supply but can also charge external devices.
There's no world on global availability yet but word is Huawei intends to bring the Ascend Mate 2 stateside after it finds local carriers to collaborate with.

MediaPad 7 Youth2 official

Huawei makes the MediaPad 7 Youth2 official 

 

Today Huawei announced the successor to the affordable MediaPad 7 Youth tablet it launched last year. Predictably called the MediaPad 7 Youth2 (the lack of space is not a typo), the slate sports a metallic frame surrounding its 7″ display of 1024 x 600 pixels resolution.
Under the nice looking aluminum gold back, there’s a Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 chipset with quad-core 1.2GHzCPU and 1GB of RAM and 4GB of internal memory. Thankfully, there’s a microSD card slot on board. Additionally, the tablet sports a 4,100mAh Li-Po battery, which thanks to Huawei’s Dynamic Power Management system promises to last longer than usual.
At the back, there’s a 3MP camera, while at the back a front-facing VGA shooter is good for occasional video chats. The Youth2 runs Android 4.3 Jelly Bean and as you’d probably guessed it, Huawei has put its proprietary Emotion UI 1.6 on top.
Pricing and availability will be announced at a later date. However, Huawei seems keen to take the Samsung Galaxy Tab3 Lite with its latest Youth2 tablet. Samsung’s affordable offer stands at approximately $200, but we’re yet to see if Huawei will be able to match or beat this price.

LG G3 to launch in May with 5.5" QHD screen, G Pro 2 at MWC 

Rumors of various 2014 flagships have started and now LG is the target of gossip. Apparently the company is working on a Optimus G Pro successor, which will be unveiled at the MWC and pave the way for the LG G3.
LG unveiled the G2 relatively late last year – Sony, HTC and Samsung announced their flagships in Q1, while the G2 announcement came in August. The flagship launch timetable has been moved up this year, according to Korean publication Asiae.
According to its sources, the LG G3 will launch on May 17, compared to the G2, which was released in September. There's speculation that this is to counter the alleged Galaxy S5 launch in March.
The publication goes on to add that LG continues the one-upmanship by using a QHD (2,560 x 1,440) that's as big as 5.5". Both Samsung and Sony's upcoming flagships are rumored to have 5.2" QHD screens. To put things in perspective, 5.2" is the same size as the G2, while 5.5" is the screen size of the Galaxy Note II.
LG will allegedly unveil the Optimus G Pro 2 in late February at the MWC (the original was announced at the MWC too). The second generation phablet is said to have a 5.9" QHD screen.
Concrete details on other specs of either device are not known at the moment, but there's probably going to be a Snapdragon 80x chipset at their hearts (hopefully 805) and quite possibly an OIS camera. If the launches are indeed so close, we should be seeing leaks of near-final hardware soon, so we might not have to wait long.

Acer announces $254 million net loss for Q4 2013 

 

Acer announced today its last quarter financial results and they’ve turned up a lot worse than the company initially expected.
 
According to the financial report No.4 PC manufacturer based in Taiwan has accumulated $254 million (T$7.6 billion) net loss – twice the predicted $122.66 million (T$3.69 billion). 

Acer has also posted a significant loss for Q3 of $435.8 million (T$13.12 billion), while the Q3 loss for 2012 was T$3.37 billion (about $112 million).
It seems the company is in a bad shape and Acer has already acknowledged this in a press release:
“Acer acknowledges missteps in the past on resource allocation and the over expectation of ultrabooks and notebooks with touchpanel. Although the products were leading in design they did not accurately fulfill market needs.”
Acer already appointed a new CEO in December and will cut 7% of its workforce. Its executives are also expected to get a 30% pay cut. According to analysts the lack of proper strategy has brought Acer to this unenviable positions with the company spending many millions of dollars on unsuccessful campaigns. Here’s hoping that the new measures bring the desired effect and the company returns to the profitable ways.

Smartphone thefts rose in 2013 

Even with increased police presence in the streets of major cities, smartphone thefts rose in 2013. In New York City, 8465 Apple devices were stolen last year, a gain of 8% over 2012's figure. It was the second consecutive year that this stat increased. In San Francisco, the number of cellphones stolen was nearly 2400, a rise of 23% from 2012. More than half of the phones taken were Apple iPhones. San Francisco police spokesman Albie Esparza blames the increase on more people willing to report this crime, or because of the new iPhone models launched last September. As the latest full-featured model, the Apple iPhone 5s can command a higher price in the black market. 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio won election to the office, partially by promising to add more cops to the streets of the Big Apple. But he also has been asking smartphone manufacturers for a remote switch that would completely kill a phone, making it not worth stealing by criminals. New York City sees many thefts occur on public transportation, similar to Philadelphia. Last year, the City of Brotherly Love had 500 cell phones stolen on the trains, buses and platforms belonging to the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority. That was up 6% from 2012 and 44% from 2011. 

New York and San Francisco police are using undercover cops, pretending to sell iPhones on the street, to arrest buyers. In theory, that lowers demand for stolen phones. The cops hope it will lead to a drop in supply, and thus the crime. At another level, the Attorneys General of New York and San Francisco have started a "Secure Our Smartphones" initiative aimed at getting that elusive "kill switch" added to all smartphones. Apple and Samsung have added features that would indeed kill stolen handsets with a click. Carriers have blocked Samsung's new feature from rolling out. Why would mobile operators do that? Simple, it preserves the profits they make by selling equipment insurance to new buyers. 

Apple added an activation lock to iOS 7. This feature completely shuts down an iPhone in the event that someone tries to tamper with the "Find My iPhone" app. That is the app that can track a lost or stolen iPhone. When the lock is activated, the only way to get the affected iPhone working again, is to enter a username and password known only to the owner of the device. 

"While there have been important steps forward in the half a year since the Secure Our Smartphone Initiative was launched, we fully expect it will take time to ensure effective theft deterrents are a feature on all products so [we] can make smartphone theft a thing of the past."-Damien LaVera, New York City's Attorney General office

MoboMarket hands-on: Download free apps and games from this Google Play alternative 

For the great majority of Android users, Google Play is the only virtual marketplace where apps and games can be obtained from. And that should come as no surprise since Google's service is hardwired into every brand-name Android device. Few people know, however, that there is a number of alternatives to Google Play, and with this article, we'd like to introduce you to one of them. 

The third-party app store that we're bringing under the spotlight is called MoboMarket. Why should you even bother trying that instead of sticking with Google Play? Well, it does have a number of advantages over Google's marketplace. For starters, you can use MoboMarket without the need for a Google account (or any account, for that matter), you can download multiple apps simultaneously, and if you have the MoboMarket client's latest version, you will be allowed to save downloaded apps in APK form. But what the service truly aims to stand out with is its app curation skills – its ability to pick apps that are really worth trying, or apps that the user is likely to be interested in. That was enough of a reason for us to take MoboMarket for a spin on our Android smartphone.  

MoboMarket is a third-party Android app store with lots of free apps and games

MoboMarket is available as a free download from the company's website, but it can also be downloaded for free from the Google Play store. After downloading it from the latter source, we chose to let it update to the latest version in order to get its full set of features. Strangely, we had to enable the installation of apps from unknown sources in order to update the MoboMarket client. Having this option enabled is also required for installing apps via MoboMarket, which might seem unsafe, but that's simply the way the service works. After the update was complete, we noticed that two MoboMarket apps were present in our app drawer. We just uninstalled the version downloaded from the Play Store and proceeded with using the updated version of MoboMarket. 

Soon after launching the app we realized that MoboMarket wasn't offering us any paid apps; only free and freemium software was available in its library. This doesn't mean, however, that there aren't enough apps and games of good quality to pick from. Quite the opposite – we see plenty of noteworthy titles there ready to be downloaded. The frequent presence of apps that are, how should we put it, inappropriate for a younger audience, is a bit disturbing, but it is not like such apps don't make their way into Google Play as well.  

As for the app's interface, browsing MoboMarket's selection of apps is a pretty straightforward process. Software is organised in sections, with tabs dedicated to apps, games, and device personalization. The Focus tab is where the newest, hottest, and most popular apps are listed. Apps and games are also grouped in collections and categories depending on their type and genre, which makes finding apps you're interested in much easier. We like how each app has a large "Download" button next to it for instant installation. If you happen to be not connected to a Wi-Fi network, the app will remind you that downloading an app will eat up your data, which is nice. 

All in all, MoboMarket and its client app are worth trying if you feel like Google Play and its app suggestions aren't exactly your cup of tea. Of course, this third-party service is not going to replace Google Play anytime soon, but that is not really its goal. MoboMarket exists to make it easier for users to find and download great apps and games that they can enjoy at no cost whatsoever. And yes, it does get its job done well, so feel free to give it a shot! MoboMarket can be downloaded from Google Play or from the company's web page.

Samsung unveils Galaxy Tab 3 Lite 7.0 

We're not saying that Samsung has announced the same tablet four times in a row but it's hard to deny that the new Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite 7.0 is almost the same as the regular Tab 3 7.0, which in turn was almost the same as the Tab 2 7.0, itself quite similar to the Tab 7.0 Plus.
Well, here go the specs. Again. The Galaxy Tab 3 Lite 7.0 has a 7" screen of WSVGA resolution (1,024 x 600 pixels) and a dual-core 1.2GHz processor (unknown chipset) with 1GB RAM. The tablet runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean, has 8GB of storage and a microSD card.
This is where things start to deviate a bit – the rear camera is a 2MP units instead of 3.15MP and there's no front-facing camera. The tablet is a bit thinner at 9.7mm (down from 9.9mm) but is taller and wider by 5mm. It's also a few grams heavier, despite the "lite" name.

 

More importantly, the battery capacity is down to 3,600mAh, which is phablet territory (the Huawei Ascend Mate has 4,050mAh battery). Samsung is promising up to 8 hours of video playback, but we'll believe it when we see it. 

At least the connectivity seems intact – there's optional 3G (HSPA+, 21Mbps down, 5.76Mbps up), Wi-Fi b/g/n, Wi-Fi Direct, Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 2.0. There's also a GPS + GLONASS receiver.
The Android OS version is getting a little old, but you do get Dropbox (no explicit mention of the 50GB bonus ,though) and Polaris Office.
Samsung's press release makes no mention of price, which would be the real reason for the Galaxy Tab 3 Lite 7.0 to exist alongside the regular Tab 3 7.0. There's no mention of a launch date either, just that the tablet will be available globally in black and white.
Update: Polish site X-kom is offering the Tab 3 Lite 7.0 on sale for PLN 800, which works out to $260 / €190 / £160. If that's the actual price of the tablet, there might be better, cheaper options (from the likes of Asus, Acer and HP). Via

iOS’ Chrome browser gets an update 

 

Google will be updating its Chrome browser for iOS devices. The latest iteration of the browser will bring a few new features: Safe Browsing, data compression, and auto-translation.

Here’s a snippet straight from big G about the new data compression feature: 

“In the U.S. alone, more than a fifth of adult smartphone users now do most of their online browsing on their mobile device.1 Around the world, we’re seeing a similar trend towards more mobile browsing. That’s why we’ll be rolling out a new feature on Chrome for Mobile to help you reduce data usage and save money on your mobile plan. When enabled, Chrome’s data compression and bandwidth management can reduce data usage by up to 50% while browsing the web on Chrome for Android and iOS.”

You can reduce the amount of data you use while browsing the web by going into Chrome’s settings, then hitting the bandwidth management option, and then finally selecting reduce data usage.
Safe Browsing for iOS is identical to the desktop version of chrome and offers users protection from harmful websites.
Google Translate’s been included as well:

“With this update, you can now translate webpages in Chrome with the click of a button on your iPhone and iPad, just as you’re used to on Chrome for desktop and Android. To translate a page into your phone or tablet’s native language, just look for the translation bar and select ‘Translate.’

Box app for iOS gets a major redesign, comes with 50GB of free storage 

 

The iOS app of the popular cloud storage service Box got treated to a full redesign. Completely re-written, version 3.0.0 of the app now comes with 50GB of free lifetime storage to anyone who downloads it in the next 30 days.

Available for iPhone and iPad, the latest release of Box for iOS now features a flat look in line with the user interface Apple’s mobile OS. New navigation, real-time search, enhanced preview experience, and better sharing and controls are also on board.

Intel’s Arizona factory launch gets delayed due to slowdown in the PC market 

 

Intel has revealed that it’s going to delay the opening of its completed chip facility in Chandler, Arizona. Called simply Fab 42, the facility lacks the robots and infrastructure to actually produce processors.

Instead of investing in Fab 42 right now, Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy has shared the company’s plans to upgrade three of is other factories. The reason behind the decision is that Intel will be able to use the existing equipment that is already present. 

Mulloy says the delay will not have any effect on Intel’s chip output. It seems the rise of the smartphones and tablets market, which was at the expense of PCs and laptops, has made Intel rethink its factory strategy. We are yet to see whether the slowdown in PC production will have noticeable mark on Intel’s financial results for Q1 of this year.

Apple reaches settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission 

Apple employees received a note from the man in charge, Tim Cook, that the company has settled with the US Federal Trade Commission over the issue with in-app purchases. The dispute came about when parents complained that it was too easy for children to click on in-app purchases and unknowingly spend money.

 
In the email, Cook stressed that one of Apple's primary concerns is the security and privacy of customers who use the app store. He also pointed that Apple has gone out of its way to assist customers who have suffered from unintentional in-app purchases. Check out a snippet of his staff email below:
Team,
I want to let you know that Apple has entered into a consent decree with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. We have been negotiating with the FTC for several months over disclosures about the in-app purchase feature of the App Store, because younger customers have sometimes been able to make purchases without their parents’ consent. I know this announcement will come as a surprise to many of you since Apple has led the industry by making the App Store a safe place for customers of all ages.
From the very beginning, protecting children has been a top priority for the App Store team and everyone at Apple. The store is thoughtfully curated, and we hold app developers to Apple’s own high standards of security, privacy, usefulness and decency, among others. The parental controls in iOS are strong, intuitive and customizable, and we’ve continued to add ways for parents to protect their children. These controls go far beyond the features of other mobile device and OS makers, most of whom don’t even review the apps they sell to children.

Bing Tell Me voice assistant beta coming to WP handsets this April 

 

According to latest online gossip, Microsoft’s Bing Tell Me voice assistant, also known by its codename Cortana, should debut this April at the annual’s BUILD conference. As previously suggested, Bing Tell Me will be voiced by Halo’s Cortana actress – Jen Taylor.

Just like Google Now, the Windows Phone voice assistant can be activated by a voice command (in this case “Bing Tell Me”) and it will understand commands such as “… will it rain today?”, “.. when’s my next meeting?” and “.. how do I get to the American Airlines Arena?”. 

Bing Tell Me beta is expected to launch this April on various Lumia devices, probably with Windows Phone 8.1 update.
According to the tipster, Bing Tell Me will premiere on Windows Phone first with support for US English. Then this fall the service should hit iOS via a dedicated Bing app as well. Its endgame is reportedly Windows 9, scheduled for the next spring, where the service is expected to graduate from beta and gain support for lots of additional languages.
As usual, raising your hopes based on rumors with no official confirmation is not advisable.

Samsung has sold 10 million Galaxy Note units in Korea  

Samsung has just passed a milestone in its domestic market - South Korea. The manufacturer has achieved 10 million Samsung Galaxy Note units sold in its home country.
The milestone was achieved in just three years since the inception of the pen-equipped Galaxy Note in September 2011 at the IFA show in Berlin. Back then the device was met with a lot of criticism over its huge size, but also gained a lot of fans and started the phablet boom that took the market by storm.

It was followed by the much improved in terms of raw power Samsung Galaxy Note II and finally the phablet to beat today - the Galaxy Note 3. There are many phablets available in the market, the exclusive S Pen and highly functional TouchWiz still make the Note 3 king of the hill.
Globally things are even more impressive - just the first two generations of the Galaxy Note were enough for the sales to reach the 38 million mark and now the number sits at well above 50 million.
In celebration of the 10 million sold units in South Korea Samsung is holding a special event spanning from January 17 through February 7 where domestic customers can win some cool prizes - check the source link for more details.

Nokia's 2014 flagships claimed to be Lumia 1820 and Lumia 1525, great specs in tow 

For what it's worth, one new and yet unproven leaker account on Twitter claims to have more information on the rumored Nokia Lumia 1820 and Lumia 1525 flagships for the year. 

As you can see in the tweets, the handsets are said to be loaded, with the Lumia 1820 sporting a 5.2" 2K display, Snapdragon 805, 3 GB of RAM, 32 GB of internal memory, and large 3400 mAh battery, as well as a camera with Nokia's post-shot focusing technology and Xenon flash. The design is said to be similar to the Lumia 928, which is certainly slimmer than the current flagships Lumia 1020. 

The other one seems to be an upgrade to Nokia's first phablet, the Lumia 1520, dubbed Lumia 1525, and will feature the same hardware specs and 2K screen resolution, but come with a 6" panel and 25 or 30 MP camera on the back, offering some sort of solar charging display panel, too. 

 

Now, this is just one random tweet, allegedly from a new insider setting up shop, or wishful thinking from a fan. It may or may not materialize this way, but we've heard already back in the fall about a potential Lumia 1820 that will have Lytro-style camera and metal unibody design. The leak doesn't rehash the design part, only fails to list a microSD slot, whereas the Lumia 1525 is said to have one, so we can assume a unibody design for the 1820 indeed, especially if this huge battery pack pans out. A Nokia phablet upgrade has also been bandied about, though not in the level of detail that the leak above reveals about the Lumia 1525.  

The question, besides the obvious dubious nature of the tweet, unconfirmed by a second source, is whether these weren't only plans in play before Microsoft swooped in and acquired Nokia. Now that even the Lumia name is up in the air, nothing can be speculated about the future Nokia flagships until something is actually announced, whether at MWC, as rumored for the 1820, or in the fall, as claimed for the Lumia 1525.  

Moreover, Windows Phone supports up to 1080p displays now, so 2K panels could mean another version is in store to be released soon, or perhaps just an update to the existing WP 8 edition, not to mention the Snapdragon 805 part, which won't be in devices before May. Microsoft, however, is said to be fronting extra Windows Phone manufactures with up to $2.6 billion to go towards the development of their own handsets, so eventually it has big plans for the mobile OS this year. Nokia seems to still be pivotal to them, though, if those leaked specs come even partially true. 

source @NextLeaks (Twitter) via TheUnwired

Report: 52% of Windows Phone users rely on Bing searches, the rest is "quickly switching" to Google 

Windows Phone’s default search engine is, of course, Microsoft’s Bing, and yet almost half of customers who own a WP handset don’t seem to use it. 

According to market research firm Kantar Worldpanel, only 52% of Windows Phone users relied on Bing for their mobile searches in he fourth quarter of 2013. Reportedly, the rest of the users are “quickly switching” to Google, using either the official Google search app for WP, or in-browser search, thus “actively avoiding” Bing. That says a lot about Bing’s success as a search app for smartphones. Although we probably shouldn’t be surprised about this, since Google is comfortably leading the search engine wars on non-mobile devices. 

Just like Google is offering an official search app for Windows Phone, Microsoft has a Bing app for Android, too. But this is far from being popular - for comparison, the Google Search Android app has 558,146 reviews in Google Play, while the Bing Android app only has 8,807 reviews.

Apple to refund $32.5 million for app purchases made by kids 

 

Apple has agreed to refund $32.5 million dollars to consumers to settle a number of complaints made by customers. These are parents of young children who were billed for mobile apps purchased by their kids without parental approval. The settlement with the Federal Trade Commission was announced on Wednesday and requires Apple to change its billing practices so that consent is obtained from customers before charging them for mobile app purchases. 

Apple CEO Tim Cook said in an internal memo to employees that Apple decided to settle with the FTC rather than face a long, drawn out legal battle. He also said that the changes demanded by the FTC to settle the case, happened to be the same changes that Apple was planning on doing anyway. 

Many of the charges rung up by kids include in-app purchases made by these children after a free app is downloaded. Not understanding the financial aspects of the purchase, young children were buying extra lives, super powers and other high priced content. Many of the parents allowed their kids to download a freemium game, not thinking that the children could end up spending thousands of dollars after the game was downloaded for free. 

source: Reuters

Seacrest has the Midas touch; Typo sells out pre-order inventory 

On the same date that American Idol makes its 13th season debut, host Ryan Seacrest has something else to celebrate. The company he founded, Typo, has sold out of its pre-order inventory. The $99 snap-on QWERTY keyboard for the Apple iPhone 5s and Apple iPhone 5 has received generally positive reviews. The initial pre-orders (those made before January 12th) will be shipped at the end of this month, while a new batch of inventory will arrive by the end of February. 

There still is a little matter of the lawsuit filed by BlackBerry. The Canadian OEM says that the Typo keyboard is a copy of its physical QWERTY keyboards like the one employed on the BlackBerry Q10, right down to the frets. Typo responded by saying that the suit "lacks merit." 

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"We’re excited about all of the positive feedback Typo has generated and we’re working hard to ensure that we get as many keyboards in consumers hands as soon as possible."-Laurence Hallier, CEO, Typo 

 

Meanwhile, it looks like Typo just might have some traction after all. The company claims that the product improves typing speeds by 50% on the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5. 

source: Typo via Bloomberg