HTC prepping three wearables, including a Google Now smartwatch

HTC has been having a very rough go of it over the past year. The company has been on the decline and it hasn't been clear what the strategy is to bounce back. Now, we're getting more of an idea. HTC has finally realized that the growth potential in smartphones is in the low-end and will offer devices to those markets. It has also been rumored to be making a comeback in tablets with a Nexus device. Now, we're getting an idea of its plans for wearables.

Bloomberg is now reporting that HTC is getting ready to show off three new wearables at MWC in Barcelona next week. Two of the devices will be smartwatches and one is said to be "an electronic bracelet that plays music". One of the smartwatches is said to be a prototype based on the Qualcomm Toq, and the other smartwatch is said to be using Google Now, although it is unclear exactly what that means. Google Now is certainly a service that would translate very well to a smartwatch, both its voice commands and information cards, but that only gives a small idea of what the watch could do overall. 

This new Bloomberg report does say that HTC may not even be far enough along to demonstrate its wearables, so we may not get too much info come next week. Interestingly, this isn't the first time we've heard about a smartwatch featuring Google Now. Back in October of last year, The Wall Street Journal reported that Google in talks with Taiwanese suppliers to bring a smartwatch to market which would feature Google Now. The report said the watch could be ready for mass production "within months", but we haven't heard anything else since. 

 

 

 

source: Bloomberg

Samsung Galaxy TabPro UK release date is 6 March

The Samsung Galaxy TabPro hits shops on 6 March. Samsung is now taking orders for the new tablet in 8, 10 and 12-inch flavours.
The 8.4-inch model costs £349 and comes with a free 32GB memory card.

Each sizer tablet packs a 1,600x2,560 screen, with cutting-edge Android KitKat software.
The TabPro was unveiled alongside the almost-identical Samsung Galaxy NotePro at CES last month. There's only one size for the NotePro -- 12 inches -- and it comes with an S Pen stylus, like its phablet namesake the Galaxy Note 3.
The oversized NotePro ain't cheap: it costs a whopping £649. For your money you get a 1,600x2,560 screen and octa-core processor, made up of four 1.9GHz cores for intensive work and four 1.3GHz cores for everyday tasks.

Samsung Galaxy S5 will be waterproof, reports say

If this last couple of weeks has taught us anything, it's that we could all do with a bit of waterproofing. And with just a few days to go before it's announced, the latest rumours suggest the hotly-tipped Samsung Galaxy S5 will be waterproof and dust-proof.

Anyone who's ever sacrificed a phone on the altar of a toilet, drink or flooded county will appreciate the possibility of a waterproofed phone. The current Samsung flagship isn't waterproof but does have a drink-denying spin-off: the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active.

Recent leaks also point to an eye-melting screen for the S5, with a resolution of 1,440x2,560 pixels. With the phone repotted to measure 5.2 inches, that's a hugely detailed 560 pixels per inch.

Smartphone charging: Toward a faster fill-er-up

Big batteries help keep our phablets going, but filling them can mean a long wait at the electron pump. New standards promise to top our mobile devices off faster than ever. 

 

Here's what makes our mobile devices ever more spectacular: larger screens, higher resolutions, faster modems, and speedier processors. And here's the oft substantial cost of all that: big-time battery consumption.
Handset makers constantly strive to squeeze more milliamps per hour into a phone battery. The challenge of so while keeping a slim profile is clear to anyone who has used a charging case. But even here there is a tradeoff beyond potential girth. As batteries get larger and chargers send a fixed amount of juice using the microUSB specification, charging times can increase dramatically.
Some manufacturers, particularly those like Amazon that offer tablets or other devices with larger batteries, provide power chargers that can supply more juice. But since they look similar to other chargers on the market, it's easy to get things mixed up if you have multiple USB devices. Try charging a device with a charger not designed for it and you may get an error message that it's charging slowly, or not at all. Worse, you may be under the impression that your device is charging as you use it heavily, only to find out the battery meter hasn't made much progress at all (as recently seen on the new reality TV show "When Devices Deceive").
USB 3.0 provided some relief to the issue by raising the ceiling for power from its previous limit of 500 milliamps to 900. But a new version of the Quick Charge standard developed by Qualcomm (a client of my firm, Reticle Research) would enable charges up to 75 percent faster than conventional technology. In order to prevent lower-power devices from being blown out by receiving too much current, the company is working closely with mobile device makers and major battery and charger suppliers to help ensure that each device gets only as much juice as it can handle.
What needs to happen for device companies to implement Quick Charge 2.0? Support for the standard is already present in the high-end range of Qualcomm's ubiquitous mobile system-on-chip series; over 70 handsets supported version 1.0 of the standard. Handset companies would simply need to activate the technology, which would make sense mostly if if they opted to toss in a Quick Charge 2.0-compatible charger in the box. We should see these later this year.
Quick Charge 2.0 is not the only option coming to push more electricity via the microUSB connector. At CES, the group responsible for the USB standard showed off USB Power Delivery, which supports up to 100 watts. That's enough to power virtually any laptop on the market today as well as monitors and other devices. However, the standard requires new USB cables in order to deliver its higher payload and may also require larger power blocks for higher-power devices. But fear not, battle-scarred veterans of the standards wars. Qualcomm does not view the other standard as a competitor and is supportive of it.
Those who will most likely find the most value in the new Quick Charge are mobile users who pound on their battery. Nomadic types who get in bits of work at coffee shops can appreciate the value of being able to "top off" -- or get a lot closer to doing so -- with only 15 or 20 minutes of outlet access. Along with improvements in battery life longevity and conservation, faster charging will be a part of the total effort required to keep one's mobile life going.

The other side: Android on Windows Phone is a bad idea

Funny thing about fences. They have two sides, but they also have riders. Those who prefer the precarious perch as opposed to placing their feet squarely on terra firma. Some do it because they have no honest opinion, nor care. Some do it to avoid conflict. Some do it just to see how things look. All end up with a really nasty wedgie. I’m not riding a fence here. But I am hopping over to see how things look on the other side.
I’m talking about Android apps on Windows Phone. Recently some outlets reported that sources inside Microsoft were claiming that Microsoft was investigating the possibility of bringing Android apps to Windows Phone, instantly filling the app gap. This would bring, among other things, coveted Google services to a platform pretty much devoid of them. This is not, in and of itself a bad thing. 

The Blackberry beta test 

Bringing Android apps to a non-native platform didn’t help Blackberry one iota. Not long ago, Blackberry brought the promise of side-loaded Android apps in the hopes that it would assuage the hundreds of users clamoring for a new Blackberry phone, and an app store. Well, one out of two ain’t bad I guess. But Blackberry’s implementation of Android on Blackberry caused a very disjointed and not altogether pleasant experience. Apps were rarely smooth, and they didn’t run as expected on a Blackberry platform because, well, it wasn’t Android. There was no consistency with the Blackberry experience one wanted on a Blackberry platform.
But in Windows Phone’s case, this could be an even worse problem. The Modern UI is part of Windows Phone’s image and overall user experience. Getting rid of that is like putting side-opening doors on a Lamborghini. It’d be totes cray cray. It’d be like, oh I don’t know, getting rid of the Start button. You…just don’t do that. Unless you’re Microsoft. But an Android app running on Windows Phone would elicit that same disconnected feeling running them on Blackberry caused. Overall – not good mojo.
Plus Windows Phone is aching for developer support. Sure they’ve caught a few big fish recently, and sure Nokia’s grassroots efforts are bringing in the little fish, but there’s still a lot of work to do. Let’s try a new marketing slogan here: “Windows Phone – don’t bother.” Eh, not feeling it. Not sure it is really going to attract the right audience, or any audience for that matter.
One of the problems Windows Phone faces today is that developers who have the resources to code for multiple platforms are coding for iOS and Android first and second, and Windows Phone third, if at all. Smaller developers with limited resources are picking one and sticking to it. Sometimes that one is Windows Phone, most other times not so much. So to tell those developers, you can go ahead and run your Android apps on Windows Phone is not sending the proper message.
At best, the idea amounts to a short-term gain, but a long term loss. Sure you might attract over some hold outs from the platform because of the shiny new app selections that bring it to the same level as the fruits and bots. But in the long term you’ll be sending the wrong message and enticing only the staunchest coders and purists to develop for Windows Phone as opposed to Androws Phone. As for the users, you’ll be getting more of them and more phone sales, and maybe even some market share. But if users are buying into an Android ecosystem, that’s not exactly enticing them to stay once that two-year contract runs out or once the next Nexus hits the shelves.
Last but not least, there is the most obvious fault in strategy. By allowing Android apps onto Windows Phone, Microsoft would basically be declaring to a world full of potential customers, “We can’t get our own stuff done”. Putting Android apps onto Windows Phone is a tacit admission that not only is the App Marketplace lacking in some crucial titles, but Microsoft has no plan/ability to add those titles in a timely manner. Basically Microsoft would be admitting that its ecosystem is not up to par, but come buy our phones anyway. Speaking of poor marketing messages.

BlackBerry Z3 unmasked

BlackBerry could launch a budget smartphone at Mobile World Congress according to reports.
The BlackBerry Z3 Jakarta is rumoured to be a budget smartphone aimed at developing markets. The leaked renders suggest that BlackBerry will be aiming to style the phone along the lines of its high-end Z10 and Z30 phones. 
That is despite BlackBerry chief executive John Chen saying that the company will move away from touchscreen phone and return to producing smartphones with physical keyboards.
Current rumours put the Z3’s specifications at a 1.2GHz dual-core processor and 1.5GB RAM. Little is known about the phone’s screen of physical dimensions.
However, if the renders are genuine, the phone will come with the Canadian company’s BB10 OS, despite poor reviews and a lack of apps.
2014 is likely to be make or break for the once dominant smartphone maker. The company suffered from poor sales and low demand last year, resulting in it laying off thousands of workers and slashing forecasts.
The company hadn’t been expected to show off any new devices at Mobile World Congress.
The company had previously denied it would be showing off any new phones before the end of the current financial year. BlackBerry’s financial year end in April, so it’s by no means certain the phone will be making its debut in Barcelona next week.

Smartphone OSes and their app stores, an infographic

Instead, here’s how a more graphical way rundown of the top four smartphone platforms and their respective app stores stack up against each other. 

Interesting highlights of the infographic reveal that Android’s Play Store handles the most downloads of apps, but most users have never paid over $1 for an app. This leads to 2013 app revenue for Play Store to be fairly close to Windows Phone’s Marketplace revenue.