Blackberry passport receives 200, 000 orders

BlackBerry CEO John Chen on Friday confirmed that the
Waterloo-based handset maker received 200,000 orders
for its new Passport smartphone following its launch
earlier this week. The all-new BlackBerry 10 device is
catered towards business users in the enterprise,
featuring a square screen and physical keyboard that
doubles as a touchpad.
First and foremost, let’s get something out of the way:
the BlackBerry Passport is no iPhone. Apple
announced that it received 4 million pre-orders for the
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus after just 24 hours, and
later confirmed that it had a record-breaking 10 million
iPhone sales during the launch weekend for the two
smartphones.
But, at the same time, it is still respectable that
BlackBerry was able to move 200,000 of their new
Passport smartphone to customers. While it remains to
be seen if BlackBerry will ever rise to be as successful
as it was as an early pioneer of the smartphone
industry, that sales figure proves that BlackBerry could
still have a place in the enterprise.
That’s probably the company’s safest best, too, as
their latest attempt to enter the consumer market
arguably failed — big time. The consumer-facing
BlackBerry Z10, with a large touchscreen akin to
several flagship smartphones, was largely a flop and
significantly trailed behind the iPhone, Samsung
Galaxy S5 and other strong competitors.
The company will also release the BlackBerry Classic,
a successor to the Q10, in a few months.
[via Wall Street Journal ]

Employee headcount, Samsung has more than Google, Apple and Microsoft combined

At 275,000 employees, Samsung (just Samsung
Electronics) is the size of five Googles! This explains
Samsung's machine-gun-style device output; the
company has released around 46 smartphones and 27
tablets just in 2014.
If we wanted to, we could cut these numbers down
some more. Google is going to shed 3,894 employees
once it finally gets rid of Motorola. Over half of Apple's
headcount—42,800 employees—is from the retail division,
putting the non-retail part of the company at only
37,500 employees. The "Sony" on this chart only means
"Sony Electronics," the part of the company that is most
comparable to Samsung Electronics. Sony Group has a
massive media arm consisting of Sony Pictures
Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, and Sony
Financial Services.
Samsung Electronics and Sony Electronics are pretty
comparable in terms of product range. They both make
at least one of everything you would find in a Best Buy
(though Samsung has no game console) along with
big component divisions, and Samsung still dwarfs
Sony with a two-and-a-half times bigger employee
count.
What is Samsung doing with all those people? Well, for
starters, the company has a shocking number of
software engineers: 40,506 as of 2013. That's almost an
entire Google's-worth of people making software.
Actually, consider that Google's employee breakdown
only lists 18,593 people in "research and
development" (read: making software), and it seems
Samsung has twice as many software engineers as
Google. This army of software engineers is a fairly recent
development for Samsung. The software headcount has
grown 45 percent since 2011.
Enlarge / Samsung has lots and lots of software
engineers.
Everyone can name notable pieces of Google software,
but Samsung's "2x Google" software engineer headcount
hasn't created the same level of impact. There is, of
course, Touchwiz and Samsung's range of
redundant Android ecosystem apps . The company has to
port Android and Touchwiz to every new handset it
makes, and when you release 70-ish devices every year
and have to support everything for around two years,
that's a very big project.
Samsung Electronics also includes the display and SoC
portions of Samsung, so there is a lot of firmware and
driver writing going on. All of those TVs, cameras, and
other small electronics also need some kind of software,
and the company is exploring writing its own OS with
Tizen .
As for the non-software side, production makes up the
bulk of Samsung jobs, with 159,488 involved in mass
production efforts. It should also be no surprise that the
majority of jobs are in Korea (33.5%), followed by China
(21%), and Southeast Asia (20%). Only 3.9% of
Samsung's jobs are located in North America.
While Samsung Electronics is a huge company, it's part
of an even bigger conglomerate called "Samsung Group."
Whenever we say "Samsung" we're almost always
referring to "Samsung Electronics," but Samsung Group
is made up of about 80 companies most of which are
named "Samsung [thing]," Samsung Electronics being
one of them.
Besides the usual Samsung Electronics product roster of
phones, tablets, wearables, semiconductors, display
panels, TVs, laptops, printers, cameras, home theaters,
and home appliances, Samsung Group makes gigantic
container ships , arctic ice breakers, self-propelled
howitzers , credit cards , oil-refining plants , power
plants, wind turbines, water treatment facilities, steel
mills, life insurance , theme parks , ultrasound machines ,
X-ray scanners , Aperture Science-style robotic
machine-gun sentries , and the world's tallest
skyscrapers (like the Burj Khalifa).
Samsung's setup of companies within companies can
lead to crazy situations like one part of Samsung
Group buying another part of Samsung Group for billions
of dollars.
Samsung likes to cast a very wide net. You can see that
in the company's smartphone lineup, the makeup of
Samsung Electronics lineup in general, and in Samsung
Group. The hunt to offer every product in every category
has created a sprawling company, while Apple and
Google seem to want to pick and choose their hardware
battles with a more focused lineup.

Blackberry close to safety

According to BlackBerry's newest earnings report,
it looks as if CEO Jon Chen's plan to transform the
company into a software-and-services company might
actually be working. The company posted a quarterly
net loss of $207 million, pocket change compared to
the $950 million that the other guy lost in the same
period the year before. The reason for the healthier
spreadsheet is thanks to growth in the company's
services arm, which managed to sell 3.4 million
licenses of its BlackBerry Enterprise Service in three
months - nearly three times the amount sold during
the previous three months.
BlackBerry's quiet revolution comes at the expense of
its smartphone business, however, where sales dipped
down to 2.1 million for the quarter, down from 2.6
million in June . The way the business is split now, it's
a near 50-50 split between devices and services,
although we imagine that balance to tip in favor of the
latter over time. That is, unless the company's new
hip-to-be-square Passport phone rejuvenates
BlackBerry's standing with the business community.
There's even good news to be found in the corporate
piggy-bank, since the cash and investment balance
increased, albeit only by $11 million. Still, given that
investors were expecting BlackBerry to post a loss-
per-share of $0.16 , the fact that the actual figure was
$0.02 shows that some (small) celebration is in order.
It's also a sign that the company is still on course to
actually start making money at some point next year.
SOURCE: BlackBerry (MarketWatch)

Samsung devices banned from use by Chinnese officials

Huawei, a supplier of networking gear,
has for years fended off allegations from
the U.S. that it secretly spies for the
Chinese government. But last year the
dispute appeared turned on its head when
leaks alleged the U.S. had been secretly
spying on China. Not only had the U.S.
National Security Agency hacked into
Chinese telecommunication companies, but
also spied on the communications of
Huawei executives, according to
documents from former NSA contractor
Edward Snowden. - PCWorld
Now we can add Samsung to the banned list in China.
Samsung devices have been banned from use by
Chinese state officials. Much like the reasons that
Apple was added to the banned list, the Chinese
government is claiming that they have security
concerns with Samsung devices.
This means that Huawei, already one of the largest
smartphone makers in China (and world), is the new
official mobile device provider for Chinese officials
and state employees. Let’s not also forget that Chinese
officials were previously barred from
installing Windows 8 on their devices.
As PhoneArena points out , it is also likely that the
Chinese government added Samsung to the banned list
to try and boost the development of some local
manufacturers.
Speaking of a local Chinese manufacturer, Xiaomi, a
leading China smartphone company, is currently
under investigation by the Taiwanese government to
determine whether Xiaomi is a cyber security threat.
The government began performing
independent tests on Xiaomi phones after
reports in recent months that some
models automatically send user data back
to the firm’s servers in mainland China,
Gin-Shian Lou, a director at Taiwan’s
National Communications Commission,
said on Wednesday. - Reuters
This is not the first time that Xiaomi has faced
allegations of security leaks. In August, a Finnish
security company found proof that Xiaomi was
collecting address book data without permission.
Xiaomi has also been accused of sending copies of text
messages back to servers in China.
The sending of data back to servers in China is one of
the reason that companies such as Google have opted
not to situate servers in China. Apple, on the other
hand, began to store users’ personal data on servers in
China last month .
According to the Taiwan National Communications
Commission, the test results of Xiaomi phones should
be made public soon. Until then, Taiwan continues to
view Chinese technology with suspicion. Taiwan’s
police force has recently encouraged employees not to
use WeChat, the mobile messaging app developed by
Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings.
SOURCE: Reuters,

Android app assists in running APKs via Google Chrome on pcs and laptops.

A little over a week later and some clever folks have
already worked out a solution, and have even
developed an Android app that will let you port APKs
and apps over to be run from Google Chrome. It’s still
in early development, but this opens up a world of
possibilities.
The first half of this
processes starts with
a customized Android
Runtime for Google
Chrome called
ARChon, which was
created by Vlad
Filippov. This Chrome
add-on allows users to
run an unlimited
number of unpacked
Android apps natively
on all of the popular
operating systems –
Windows, Mac, Linux,
and Chrome OS. The
process of unpacking
apps is a bit fiddly,
which is where this
new Android app
comes in handy.
XDA Senior Member bpear98 has built an app which
creates ARChon packages right on your Android
device. You can then simply copy these over to your
computer and run them through your Chrome
Browser with the ARChon add-on installed. Although
still in early development, the app is simple to use.
Just pick an apk from the list and hit generate.
If you want to try it out for yourself you will need to
enable developer mode in Chrome, extract the
Runtime .zip file and load it as an extension to the
browser. You can grab the files for your specific
operating system from the Github page. You can then
install the Chrome APK Packager to your smartphone
and start packing up your favourite apps and games.

Apple releases 8.0.2 update

Apple has released iOS 8.0.2, a new OS update that
promises to fix some issues introduced in iOS 8.0 — but
more importantly, quite the mess it left behind with iOS
8.0.1. In a statement to The Verge , Apple says, "We
apologize for inconveniencing the iPhone 6 and iPhone
6 Plus users who were impacted by the bug in iOS
8.0.1." The buggy update went out earlier this week, and
was quickly yanked by the company after iPhone 6
owners discovered their phones no longer connected to
cellular networks, and that their Touch ID buttons no
longer scanned for fingerprints.
Workarounds let people revert back down to iOS 8.0, but
required access to a computer with iTunes, and a copy
of Apple's iOS firmware file, leaving many in a lurch.
According to a person familiar with the matter, fewer
than 40,000 people downloaded the iOS 8.0.1 update and
it was available for under an hour before Apple pulled it.
iOS 8.0.2. brings the same change list as the botched
update, including a fix for a bug that kept Apple from
releasing any HealthKit-compatible apps in the App
Store, as well as one that promises to make the iPhone 6
and 6 Plus' reachability feature more reliable. The full
list includes many others:
Fixes an issue in iOS 8.0.1 that impacted cellular
network connectivity and Touch ID on iPhone 6
and iPhone 6 Plus
Fixes a bug so HealthKit apps can now be made
available on the App Store
Addresses an issue where 3rd party keyboards
could become deselected when a user enters their
passcode
Fixes an issue that prevented some apps from
accessing photos from the Photo Library
Improves the reliability of the Reachability feature
on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Fixes an issue that could cause unexpected
cellular data usage when receiving SMS/MMS
messages
Better support of Ask To Buy for Family Sharing
for In-App Purchases
Fixes an issue where ringtones were sometimes
not restored from iCloud backups
Fixes a bug that prevented uploading photos and
videos from Safari
It remains unclear what exactly went wrong with iOS
8.0.1's release. Users proceeded to do an update
through iTunes (before Apple removed it) reported no
problems. However those who installed it using the over
the air update feature ran into the issues immediately.

Sony ready for possible Xperia Z3 announcements

Sony has sent out invites to select members of the
media to attend a press event in New York City on
October 9, where the company will likely have some US-
based announcements for their new Xperia Z3
smartphone family.
Sony first announced the Xperia Z3, along with the
Xperia Z3 Compact and the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact at
IFA 2014, However, the company has had little success
in recent times in getting major carriers in the USA to
sell their mobile devices. It's possible this press release
event will allow Sony to make some US wireless provider
announcements for its newest products.

Samsung to strengthen their “ software prowess ”

Samsung released a statement claiming that they are
looking to strengthen their “ software prowess ” and
that they will be focusing on enhancing their
“competitive edge in the Internet of Things (IoT)
industry and increase synergies for the Tizen
platform.”
Tizen is an operating system that Samsung has been
developing for years in the hope that the open-source
platform would one day be able to compete with an
operating system such as Android. Unfortuately, as
this site has discussed on a number of different
occasions, Tizen has been through a number of delays
and has yet to be featured on a smartphone, although
recent reports suggest that Samsung will be releasing a
smartphone with the Tizen platform in India by the
end of 2014. At the moment, Tizen has only been used
in several wearable devices, such as a camera and
smartwatch. The Tizen-powered Samsung Z , which
Samsung launched in Russia this summer, has yet to
go on sale, after several delays.
The Samsung Z was officially announced in June
2014, as the first phone to run Tizen
Mobile sales make up 97 percent of sales in Samsung’s
IT & Mobile Communications division, and sales in the
division were down 21 percent year-over-year and
down 12 percent from the first quarter.
“It sounds like (Samsung) doesn’t plan on
going big with Tizen on its smartphones,”
said Song Myung-sup, an analyst with HI
Investment & Securities in Seoul. “The
move will likely help resolve convergence
issues that arise when connecting network
devices like TVs and wearables with
smartphones, but this shows less
determination on Tizen smartphones,”
Song said. - Wall Street Journal
A move such as this may be a signal that Samsung
is easing up their desire to heavily compete with
Android. But it should be noted that Samsung had
roughly 40,506 software engineers last year. Therefore,
500 software engineers may not seem like much of a
loss. However, Samsung doesn’t reveal how their
software engineer numbers are spread across different
divisions so we are just not sure how much of a
specific loss this is for the mobile division.
   
SOURCE:
Wall Street Journal

Blackberry passport reviews

Large touch screen
The BlackBerry ® Passport has a large
square touch screen that provides an
amazing viewing and reading
experience, giving you wider vision
that unleashes your capabilities. It is
designed for a better web browsing,
reading, apps, editing and maps
experience.
Read more of an email without
scrolling to respond faster
See a full desktop web page on
your screen
View all details on a map to find
where you want to go faster
View and edit presentations and
documents on the spot
Compare screens to see the
difference
The new touch keyboard
The BlackBerry Passport takes our iconic keyboard to
the next level. The physical keyboard gives you more
typing accuracy and leaves you more screen space for
viewing. It is also touch-enabled, so you can perform
many functions right on the keyboard. It’s responsive to
touch so you can scroll web pages, flick to type or slide
along the keys to move the cursor. Only BlackBerry can
take a perfectly crafted keyboard and make it better.
Battery power to keep up with you
BlackBerry® is well known for amazing battery life. The
BlackBerry® Passport delivers our best battery
performance to date with an impressive 3450 mAh
battery and optimization of power consumption in
BlackBerry® 10. With up to 30 hours of battery life 1, you
can be confident your phone can keep going for as long
as you need it to.
Your personal assistant
BlackBerry® Assistant allows you to manage your email,
contacts, calendar and other BlackBerry 10 features
through voice and text commands. It helps you to
execute tasks quickly such as responding to important
emails, scheduling a meeting or getting directions.
BlackBerry Assistant is intelligent enough to respond to
you based on your situation. Speak freely to it and it
will respond in kind. Type a query and it will respond
simply with information on the screen. When you’re
connected to Bluetooth in the car, it knows you can’t
look at the screen and will interact with you completely
eyes and hands free.
Phone calls come to life
Phone calls on the BlackBerry® Passport are the next
best thing to an in-person conversation. It comes with
powerful speakers and a quad microphone system.
BlackBerry® Natural Sound Technology is built in to
adapt Wi-Fi ® and cellular call sound depending upon
phone position and background noise. The result is
unmatched sound quality that can make you feel like you
are in the same room even if you are worlds apart.
All your messages in one place
BlackBerry® Hub is the one place to manage all your
conversations – email, text, BBM™, phone calls, social
media and more. The all-new instant actions feature will
allow you to quickly organize and action your inbox
without having to go into each individual message. Plus,
BlackBerry Priority Hub will get to know you and how
you use your smartphone, curating a view of the most
important messages and notifications. And it’s always
available with a single swipe to help you stay organized,
in control and on top of all your conversations.
The BlackBerry® Browser on BlackBerry 10 has been
completely reinvented to help you quickly browse, read,
and share online content. And with the BlackBerry
Passport, you can see a full desktop web page on your
screen. Pages load incredibly fast and render beautifully,
making web pages easier to read.

Samsung Galaxy Edge a "Limited Concept" device.

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge , with its unique display
that curves on one side of the smartphone, may be
harder to purchase than previously thought. This week,
Samsung Electronics president D J Lee was quoted on
ZDNet Korea as saying that the Galaxy Note Edge will be
made as a "limited concept" product, rather than a mass
produced device like the Samsung Galaxy Note 4.
The Galaxy Note Edge was announced a few weeks ago
at IFA 2014 and in our hands-on impressions feature of
the device, we noted that it would be available in the US
via all four major US carriers (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile
and Verizon) sometime later this year. However, Lee said
this week that the phone will be rolling out to just a
select few markets around the world, beginning
sometime in October in Samsung's home country of
South Korea.

Motorola predicts the death of premium smartphones

When you look at the tremendous value offered by
smartphones like the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 or Xiaomi
Mi4, which undercut competitors by hundreds of
dollars, it’s hard to disagree with MR Osterloh’s
prediction, given enough time.
Of course brand loyalty and premium build qualities
still hold some sway at the moment. We are not
looking at a sudden KO for the top-tier manufacturers,
but rather a gradual decline. The poor support and
questionable build quality of the bargain OnePlus One
suggests that there’s still a little way to go before the
West succumbs to the value proposition, but high-end
tech is clearly reaching the point of diminishing
returns.
The smartphone market is more diverse these days,
putting downward pressure on prices.
We love to keep on top of
brilliant new technologies
that could improve our
smartphones. But further
display resolution bumps ,
MEMS camera lenses, IGZO
backplanes , slightly slimmer bezels , or bendy displays
aren’t going to rerevolutionizehe industry. Consumers
aren’t going to continue to pay higher prices for
technology that isn’t noticeably improved.
Furthermore, the trend towards pre-paid handsets is
only making value for money increasingly important,
and technology that enables cheaper manufacturing is
going to be more important than a few more pixels on
the screen.
With more consumers opting to buy devices off-
contract, price tags are becoming increasingly
noticeable.
Simon Hill also made an excellent observation about
smartphone companies attempting to force new
markets. The smartwatch trend is probably the best
example, as are curved displays, with customer
reactions remaining subdued despite the eagerness of
developers to trot out products.
Our various polls over the past year have also
expressed similar sentiments. Components of previous
interested are deemed more than good enough
already, and there is growing contempt for the lack of
innovation and high price tags.
From polls we can see that consumers still
want high-end hardware, that’s a market that isn’t
going anywhere, but raw specs alone aren’t the
driving force in consumer preferences that they were
before. Better battery life remains a key demand,
followed by pricing and atheistic features. A better
balance between price and performance ranked very
highly in our results too, echoing what we’ve seen in
recent market data.
It’s not a stretch to conclude that it’s just a matter of
time and resources until the trend towards more cost
effective manufacturers that we have observed in Asia
arrives in the US and Europe, and the healthier
competition is something that we should embrace.

Bendgate taunts Apple

Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.
It’s a wise saying that few in the tech industry seem to
live by. But it’s alright, we don’t mind. The big names’
desire to capitalize on a competitor’s misfortune is
often a source of hilarity.
Take #bendgate. By now, you probably know that
simply walking around with an iPhone 6 Plus in your
pocket could bend it , sometimes irremediably. In
typical Internet fashion, the issue spiraled into a storm
of 160-character quips, more or less witty memes, and
deep social commentary from everyone and their
grandma.
ADVERTISEMENT
Apple’s got its share of snark and derision over
#bendgate (or is it #bendghazi?). But you can count on
rivals in the Android camp to make it even harder for
the folks in Cupertino.
LG casually recommends users a phone that’s
supposed to be bent, like the G Flex.
Our phone doesn't bend, it flexes...on purpose.
#bendgate
4:43 PM - 24 Sep 2014
View image on Twitter
LG USA Mobile
@LGUSAMobile Follow
3,525 RETWEETS 1,650 FAVORITES
Samsung can’t miss the opportunity to highlight its
own curved phone, the Note Edge.
Curved. Not bent. #GALAXYNoteEdge
9:46 AM - 25 Sep 2014
View image on Twitter
Samsung Mobile
@SamsungMobile Follow
2,933 RETWEETS 1,817 FAVORITES
While HTC probably takes the cake with its own little
jab.
Designed to withstand the most demanding
environments. Like your pockets. #HTCOneM8
10:30 PM - 24 Sep 2014
HTC USA
@HTCUSA
Follow
210 RETWEETS 169 FAVORITES
We are actually surprised that Samsung doesn’t have a
video ad ( or six ) out by now. They’re probably on it,
though.
What’s your favorite #bendgate joke? Should we even
be making fun of Apple? I mean, problems with
Android devices come up all the time.

Bend to those who are worthy

Fix Apple's iOS 8.0.1 bug

Did Apple's iOS 8.0.1 update break your iPhone?
Here's a fix that works.
According to Apple's release notes, iOS 8.0.1 was
intended to fix numerous problems, including an issue
that held back HealthKit apps last week. iOS 8.0.1 also
patches up issues with third-party keyboards, a bug
that prevented some apps from getting at the photo
library, reliability around Apple's Reachability feature,
and more. The full changelog follows below. To install
the update on your iPhone or iPad, just head into
settings. This one shouldn't require as much space as
the original iOS 8 release.
Fixes a bug so HealthKit apps can now be made
available on the App Store
Addresses an issue where 3rd party keyboards could
become deselected when a user enters their passcode
Fixes an issue that prevented some apps from
accessing photos from the Photo Library
Improves the reliability of the Reachability feature on
iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Fixes an issue that could cause unexpected cellular
data usage when receiving SMS/MMS messages
Better support of Ask To Buy for Family Sharing for
In-App Purchases
Fixes an issue where ringtones were sometimes not
restored from iCloud backups
Fixes a bug that prevented uploading photos and
videos from Safari

Major problems with update of iOS 8.0.1 according to report

One week after the launch of iOS 8, Apple released its
first update for the new OS — iOS 8.0.1 — on Wednesday
afternoon. It was meant to fix a slew of bugs, but that's
not what happened. Immediately after the update hit,
reports began flooding in that iOS 8.0.1 was breaking
cellular reception and other features like Touch ID. Apple
eventually removed the faulty update, but not before an
untold number of users were able to install it. ""We have
received reports of an issue with the iOS 8.0.1 update," a
spokesperson told The Verge. "We are actively
investigating these reports and will provide information
as quickly as we can. In the meantime we have pulled
back the iOS 8.0.1 update."
Those affected report that "no service" is displayed after
iOS 8.0.1 has been installed, and toggling airplane mode
or powering the phone off and on again doesn't seem to
restore cellular reception. Both of Apple's latest iPhones
seem vulnerable to the massive problem, though older
models seem to handle the update just fine.
@jsnell @reubengoulart TouchID seems
broken too.
Oliver Hood @othood
Yep, my TouchID isn't working either. “ @othood :
TouchID seems broken too.”
5:22 PM - 24 Sep 2014
Jason Snell
@jsnell
Follow
17 RETWEETS 8 FAVORITES
16h
If you've fallen victim to these issues — and until Apple
comes up with its own fix — the best "solution" seems
to be downgrading back to the original version of iOS 8
released a week  ago.

Competition between Apple and Google is fierce than ever by Eric Schmidt

Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt and former
SVP of products, Jonathan Rosenberg, recently
published a new book entitled "How Google Works,
which explores topics like corporate culture, strategy,
talent, innovation, dealing with disruption, and more.
The duo have done an interview with Bloomberg to
promote the title, with Schmidt commenting on the
state of affairs between iOS and Google and Apple's
new larger-screened iPhones.
According to Schmidt, competition between Apple
and Google is more brutal than ever before, with
"enormous, enormous racing" going on between the
two companies, which ultimately has "enormous
benefits for consumers worldwide."
In fact I would say that this brutal competition
between Apple and Google over Android and iOS
has enormous benefits for consumers
worldwide. If you look at the innovation on the
Apple side and on the Google side, that
competition which I think is the defining fight of
the computer industry, it benefits global at the
billions of people level.
When questioned about how he feels driving past an
Apple Store and seeing people lined up around the
block to purchase an iPhone, Schmidt said "I'll tell
you what I think. Samsung had these products a year
ago." The interviewer further notes that nobody "had a
huge party" and Schmidt reiterated that Samsung had
larger phones first once again. "I think Samsung had
the products a year ago. That's what I think."
Re/code has also published a short excerpt from
"How Google Works," where Schmidt writes about a
meeting he had with former Apple CEO Steve Jobs in
2010. During the meeting, Jobs made it clear that he
believed Android was based on Apple's intellectual
property, and Schmidt worried that a dispute was
brewing.
The two had sat outside at the California-
cuisine-oriented cafe, discussing Google's
growing mobile operating system, Android.
Steve was convinced that the open-source
operating system was built on intellectual
property created by Apple. Eric responded that
we hadn't used Apple's IP and had in fact built
Android on our own. But his argument was to
no avail. "They are going to fight us," he
thought.
The excerpt goes on to detail the friendship between
Jobs and Schmidt and the release of the iPhone in
2007, which led to Schmidt stepping down from
Apple's board due to the similarities between iOS and
Android. It also covers the differences between
Apple's closed system compared to Google's open
system, and why both methods work.
Apple's control model works not just because of
Steve Jobs's excellence, but also because of
how he organized the company. At Apple — just
like Google — the leaders are product people
with technical backgrounds. When you build a
team of great, smart creatives, and put the
world’s uber-smart creative in charge, then you
have a good chance of being right most of the
time. And when you are right most of the time,
then a highly controlled model can yield
tremendous innovation.

Blackberry rethinks keyboard

BlackBerry
launched an unconventional new smartphone dubbed
the Passport on Wednesday as it embarked on what may
be the most critical phase of its long turnaround push.
At simultaneous events in Toronto, London and Dubai,
BlackBerry showed off the device, which is the size and
shape of a closed passport, with a large square
touchscreen as well as a keyboard. The Passport comes
to market as the phones of BlackBerry's rivals converge
on a single profile, with tall, rectangular screens and
smooth corners.
Users can type on the Passport's keyboard to enter text,
or swipe lightly across it to navigate through the phone.
BlackBerry recently concluded a three-year restructuring
process, and it is now up to Chief Executive John Chen
to prove that the company's new devices and services
are capable of generating sustainable new streams of
revenue and returning it to profit.
"BlackBerry is still fighting for survival. They still need
to turn around and develop a viable ongoing business
model," said Morningstar analyst Brian Colello.
"Their products are certainly pointing toward that and
the new strategy makes sense, but there is still a lot of
execution risk at this point in a very competitive
market."
At the Toronto event, Chen brought out retired National
Hockey League star Wayne Gretzky to talk up the
Passport's features.
The device is set to go on sale in some markets on
Wednesday, with a suggested introductory retail price of
C$699 ($629) in Canada and $599 in the United States.
BlackBerry said it expects the price on contract to be
about $249, depending on the carrier, and that the
phone should be available in more than 30 countries by
the end of the year. It will be carried by AT&T in the
United States.
Passport users will be able to download apps from
Amazon's app store, previously only available for
Android-based phones. BlackBerry announced the deal
that cleared the way for its customers to access
Amazon's store in June.
The launch kicks off a busy period for Waterloo, Ontario-
based BlackBerry. The company is set to report its
second-quarter results on Friday and within a couple of
months it is also expected to launch the long-awaited
BlackBerry Classic, which bears similarities to its once
wildly popular Bold smartphone.
"BlackBerry just needs one hit phone for now," Colello
said. "It doesn't quite matter whether it is the Passport,
the Classic or anything else, but they do need one
device to jump-start the hardware business again."
The company hopes the Classic and the launch of its
new mobile device management system - BlackBerry
Enterprise Service 12 (BES12) - will help it claw back
ground ceded to rivals in both the hardware and
services market.
The BES 12 platform will allow IT managers at large
companies and government agencies to not only manage
and secure BlackBerry devices, but also manage
Windows-based devices, and more easily administer
Android and iOS devices.
Chen, a well-regarded turnaround expert in the tech
sector, wants BlackBerry to remain a competitor in the
smartphone arena, but he is focused on reshaping the
company to build on its core strengths in areas such as
mobile data security and mobile device management.
BlackBerry is betting that the enhanced security features
on its BES 12 platform, coupled with a range of value-
added services, will help revive revenue growth and
stem its slide.
BlackBerry's shares rose 2.9 percent to $10.87 in early
trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday.

iphone 6 cases

The iPhone 6 cases are, on the whole, sleeker
and far less obtrusive than their Plus counterparts.
And though having a case in the first place might be
less than ideal, these maintain the integrity of your
phone's form as much as possible.

Ipad air 2coming in October, ipad mini with retina 2 some time later-Reports

The iPad Air 2 has more or less fallen out of the Rumor
Mill’s processing, but now that the iPhone, Watch and
Pay are official, Apple’s tablets are expected to be the
next devices to get all the attention.
A new report from Taiwan’s Commercial Times
[translated ] has surfaced, supporting earlier reports
that the iPad Air 2 will begin production sometime in
September (soon, then), and that it will start shipping
in October. The report goes on to add that the iPad
mini with Retina display 2 will not launch in the last
part of 2014, but may actually see the light of day in
early 2015.
The 12.9-inch iPad also saw a reference in the article,
corroborating several earlier reports that the device
will launch in the early part of 2015, as late as the
second quarter of 2015. Up to this point, there have
been rumors that the iPad Air 2 will launch in late
2014, and that the 12.9-inch rumored iPad would
launch in 2015. However, the report suggesting the
iPad Air 2 and iPad mini with Retina display 2
launching at separate times is relatively new. Whether
that means it’s actually happening, though, is
anyone’s guess at this point.
It was just a few days ago that it was reported Apple
would have another media event in the second part of
October, which is where it is likely the company would
announce these new devices — or device

Is the next version of windows called Windows 9" ?

Worried that Microsoft was going to keep the
“Threshold” codename on the next version of Windows?
Fret not, it probably won’t. In a speech to employees,
Alain Crozier, president of Microsoft France, called the
new operating system “Windows 9″ quite recently, and
there is tape of it .
Microsoft has followed up with a statement for the
ages: “On September 30, we will be providing an update
on what’s next for Windows and the enterprise.” The
comment provided to French media was more extensive,
adding something to the effect of “there is no name
yet!” (Spoiler: there is a name.)
So Microsoft says “Windows 9″ out loud, and then says
that its employee — a bigwig, to boot — was mostly
talking out of his ass. Microsoft is hedging here, and
that’s to be expected.
What’s the chance that it is called something else?

Samsung targets 140 countries at launch of Galaxy Note 4

Samsung isn't one to delay the launch of one of its
flagship products, and the manufacturer has announced
that its upcoming Galaxy Note 4 will be available in 140
countries by the end of October.
In its home country of South Korea, Samsung has
accelerated the release of the Galaxy Note 4, noting that
the device will be available from later this week rather
than its scheduled launch in the month of October. A
reason for the change in the launch window is mainly
due to the announcement of the iPhone 6 Plus, which
Samsung considers a threat in the phablet segment.
The launch of the new iPhones have already had a
detrimental effect on Samsung's share prices, which hit
a two-year low yesterday. By aggressively marketing the
Galaxy Note 4, Samsung is looking to stem the tide. The
initial sales target does seem ambitious at 15 million for
the first month of availability, but the Note 4 with its
quad-HD screen, 3 GB RAM and Snapdragon 805 CPU
should be a step up for users wanting to make the
switch from the Galaxy Note 3 or the Galaxy S5 .

Source: Samsung

Samsung ending sales of its laptops in Europe

Samsung will stop selling laptops in Europe due to
"market demands", according to a statement from the
company obtained by PC Advisor . As the Samsung
spokesman said: "We quickly adapt to market needs and
demands. In Europe, we will be discontinuing sales of
laptops including Chromebooks for now. This is specific
to the region – and is not necessarily reflective of
conditions in other markets."
The move follows several years' worth of declining PC
sales globally and Sony's sale of its own laptop
business. Yet it also comes after Samsung announced a
new Ativ Book laptop running Windows at CES 2014 and
a Chromebook 2 later in the year, and in spite of the fact
that Western Europe has been one of the better
performing markets for laptop sales worldwide over the
past decade. Market research firm Gartner also noted
that PC sales had recently stabilized and had projected
huge growth in Chromebook sales in the coming years,
so the timing of Samsung's exit from Europe may be
premature. Still, the company's statement leaves room
for it to resume laptop sales in the region should market
conditions change.

Samsung accelerate note 4 release in response to iphone 6 sales

NT
With the launch of the 5.5-inch iPhone, the Galaxy
Note 4 has a new and formidable opponent in its size
class. Apple announced that it sold a record 10 million
units of the new iPhones over the opening weekend,
though the 6 Plus’ share of this figure is unknown.
Samsung’s executives have taken notice, according to
an unnamed marketing official with the company cited
by the Korea Times :
The positive reaction from consumers to those two
Apple devices prompted us to launch the Note 4
earlier than previously scheduled. Samsung will be
aggressive in promoting the Note 4 as it’s true that
we are being challenged and pressured amid a
difficult situation.
Samsung has already opened pre-orders for the Note 4
in South Korea, and initial stock reportedly sold out in
a matter of hours. The device was initially scheduled
to go on sale in October, but now availability is set for
September 26. To spur sales, Samsung offers the Note 4
for just 957,000 won, 10 percent cheaper than the Note
3 and even less than the original Note from 2011.
According to a different source, Samsung’s internal
target for the Note 4 is to ship 15 million units in the
first month of availability. That’s ambitious,
considering that Samsung shipped 11 million Galaxy S5
units in about a month, and Galaxy S phones are
typically more popular than Notes.
With that said, the Note 4 is very competitive, with its
metal frame design, Quad HD screen, and powerful
specifications . That, and a strong marketing push,
could help Samsung blow past previous records, which
is exactly what the group needs right now, when share
prices are the lowest in two years.

Samsung shares plummeted to two-year low, as iphone 6 is launched

Samsung has experienced quite the downturn after
hitting lowest share prices since 2012. The Bloomberg
report details some factors leading to this drop,
including Apple's recent release of the iPhone 6 and
analysts lowering profit estimations.
The company lost 2.3 percent on the market, falling to
1,161,000 won. It doesn't sound like much of a turn,
until one considers the $30 billion being wiped from
Samsung's market value. The company has started to
face tough competition from other manufacturers, as well
as Apple, which recently announced over 10 million
iPhone 6 devices were sold during the launch weekend.
Samsung Securities Co. reduced its profit estimate to 4.7
trillion won, down from 5.7 trillion won, noting in a
report yesterday that "its smartphones have lost appeal
-- as evidenced by the solid performances of high-end
Chinese models and unexpectedly strong iPhone 6 pre-
orders."
It's no secret that Samsung already invests heavily in
marketing campaigns, but it will be interesting to see
how the company bolsters its defenses when it comes
to market share, especially with the Galaxy Alpha and
the Galaxy Note 4 making the rounds.
Source: BusinessWeek

A close look at iphone 6

Just got delivery of iphone 6 64GB. A beautiful gold and white device

Most Beautiful phone from samsung

The Galaxy Alpha is terrifically thin and light, though
that’s not the first thing you’ll notice about it. It
happens to be damn good looking too. The sheen from
those polished edges makes all the difference,
combining with the lustrous Super AMOLED display to
make a great first impression. Some devices look better
in press photos than reality — the LG G Watch R is a
recent example — but the Galaxy Alpha is exactly the
opposite. You have to see it in person to appreciate its
slick and refined look. Everything is appropriately
proportioned, the 4.7-inch screen size feels just right,
and ease of one-handed use is as good as you’ll get
from any device in that size class. Those who might
have felt let down by the new Moto X moving to a larger
5.2-inch screen may find solace in Samsung’s more
compact Alpha. Ergonomically, this phone is a delight. I
don’t want to call it perfect, but it kind of is.
I ACTUALLY LIKE A SAMSUNG PHONE BECAUSE OF ITS
DESIGN, NOT IN SPITE OF IT"
Like the iPhone 5S, the Galaxy Alpha feels almost lighter
than it should be. Scale up the iPhone’s height and
width to the size of a 4.7-inch display and you’d have a
device very similar to the Alpha. The chamfered metal
edging is the same — good looking but also prone to
scratching — and so is the comfortable fit in the hand.
Samsung’s handset seems to be anticipating the
rumored 4.7-inch iPhone coming next week, and doing
so in the best fashion possible. The Korean company
has produced a phone that’s attractive to the touch and
to the eye, raising its game in time to fend off Apple’s
latest assault. Whatever new iPhone emerges from
Cupertino on Tuesday will have to assert itself through
more than just good looks and a fine feel in the hand.
I'm not ready to crown the Galaxy Alpha as Samsung's
best overall phone — for one, the size of its 1,860mAh
battery worries me — but judged purely on its design
and the desire it's produced in me to have it, this phone
is a winner. It even manages to retain some of
Samsung's familiar personality with its patterned
surfaces and dimpled back. When paired with the iffy
plastic of the past, they felt like the hallmarks of design
failure, but here they add to the idiosyncratic appeal of
the device.

Best smartphone LCD-iphone 6 plus display

DisplayMate, which routinely performs thorough
testing of display quality on a variety of electronics,
has released its iPhone 6 Display Technology Shoot-
Out, taking a look at the performance of Apple's latest
handsets using new "Retina HD" technology. While
DisplayMate's Ray Soneira has not shied away from
criticizing Apple's displays on some recent devices,
he found the iPhone 6 Plus to have the "best
performing Smartphone LCD display that we have ever
tested" while the iPhone 6 also scored well in testing.
While the "best ever" designation includes the caveat
of applying to LED displays and DisplayMate
continues to rate the OLED display from the Samsung
Galaxy Note 4 as the best overall smartphone display,
the gains seen in the iPhone 6 and particularly the
iPhone 6 Plus are impressive.
Based on our extensive Lab tests and
measurements, the iPhone 6 Plus is the Best
performing Smartphone LCD display that we
have ever tested. It delivers uniformly
consistent all around Top Tier display
performance. The iPhone 6 Plus is only the
second Smartphone display (LCD or OLED) to
ever get all Green (Very Good to Excellent)
Ratings in all test and measurement categories
(except for Brightness variation with Viewing
Angle, which is the case for all LCDs) since we
started the Display Technology Shoot-Out
article series in 2006, an impressive
achievement for a display. The iPhone 6 Plus
has raised the bar for top LCD display
performance up by a notch.
In particular, the iPhone 6 Plus display sets new
records among LCD displays for peak brightness, low
reflectance, and several measures of contrast and
accuracy.
DisplayMate finds the iPhone 6 display to have many
of the same strong areas of performance as in the
iPhone 6 Plus, but the lower resolution and pixel
density hold the smaller model back somewhat.
Most rescaled images look noticeably better on
the iPhone 6 Plus with 2.1 Mega Pixels
compared to just 1.0 Mega Pixels on the iPhone
6. In addition, even at the native display
resolution, fine text and graphics look better on
the iPhone 6 Plus if you look carefully and
closely at the screen (because you may want to
or need to).
The display on the iPhone 6 is none-the-less
still a Very Good display, and most buyers will
be happy with its performance, but it’s
somewhat disappointing that Apple went for
satisfactory as opposed to the best.
DisplayMate's report includes a variety of charts and
tables comparing the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus to the
iPhone 5/5s that are worth a look, as well as some
discussion of how LCDs such as those found in the
latest iPhones compares with OLEDs favored by
Samsung.

Iphone 6 and 6 Plus top most benchmark

AnandTech spent the weekend benchmarking the
iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, comparing the duo to the
iPhone 5s and competing Android handsets. The test
results show that iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus models
are at the top of the charts in CPU benchmarks and
battery life, while the iPhone 6 Plus lags in graphics
performance due to the larger screen.
In in GPU benchmarks, we generally see a pretty
solid lead over the competition for the iPhone
6/A8. It's seems quite clear that there is a
significant impact to GPU performance in the
iPhone 6 Plus due to the 2208x1242 resolution
that all content is rendered at. It seems that
this is necessary though, as the rendering
system for iOS cannot easily adapt to arbitrary
resolutions and display sizes.
AnandTech also examined battery life, noting that
"Apple has managed to do something quite incredible
with battery life. " Even with a smaller 1810 mAh
battery, the iPhone 6 manages to beat out the iPhone
5s and most other Android phones on the market. Not
surprisingly with its 2910 mAH battery, the iPhone 6
Plus grabs second place behind the Huawei Ascend
Mate 2.
Apple introduced the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus during its
recent September press event and launched the
phones on September 19. The two handsets include
Apple's new A8 processor, M8 motion co-processor,
8-megapixel iSight camera, faster 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Wi‑Fi and NFC. Demand for the two phones was high
with Apple selling 10 million iPhone 6 and 6 Plus
units in the first weekend of sales.

Your public Google+ images might now show in Google Maps

Google recently started making some photos that you've
posted publicly to Google+ visible in Google Maps as
well, as evidenced by the notification we all got in
Google+. That's not in and of itself a bad thing, nor is it
an invasion of privacy. In order for an image to appear
automatically in Google Maps, it has to meet four criteria
as set by Google and enacted by you:
A photo must be public
A photo must have a location associated with it
A photo must be in a public album on your Google+,
with the "Show location" setting checked
A photo must adhere to Google's content policies
So Google Maps is only getting pics that you shared
publicly in the first place, with location attached. Not
evil, even if it does raise eyebrows for at least a few
seconds.
But it's also a good opportunity to remember that is
absolutely possible to post pictures to Google+ and
leave the location attached when you might otherwise
not want it made public. Say, pictures taken at home. Or
from someone else's home. And while it's easy to hide
locations of photos you've posted to Google+ from
website itself, currently there's no easy way to do it from
the Google+ app. (If there is and I'm just missing it,
please enlighten me.)
The good news is Google's actually made it sort-of easy
to see which pictures you've shared to Google+ have
locations attached to them, as well as which ones are
now shared on Google Maps. Go to g.co/views , then
click your name. (You'll need to be logged in,
obviously.) Then use the overflow menu on the right and
choose what you want to see. Click into the individual
picture, then hit the overflow menu again, and you can
mange the location sharing data.
OK, it's a few steps. And really, Google needs to make it
as easy to unshare your location as it is to share it in
the first place. But this is certainly better than nothing,
and it's worth taking a few minutes to audit what you're
sharing with whom.