LG is now the No. 3 smartphone maker, for the first time, as sales of its higher-end handsets lift it above HTC and other brands scrambling for the scraps left by Apple and Android. Although Samsung and Apple combined for 71.4 percent of the market, sales by the South Korean LG rose to 3.2 percent as HTC fell to fourth place on word of disappointing profits, according to research firm Strategy Analytics...
A German court ruled invalid Apple's patent for a sliding touchscreen unlocking image, marking another win for allies of Google's Android mobile operating. In its ruling in favor of the Google-owned Motorola, the country's Federal Patent Court slammed the iPhone maker's slide-to-unlock patent as devoid of "technological innovation." Still, a long-running patent dispute which began in 2011 may still live on as Apple's legal team prepares for a round of appeals, according to Friday reports...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lep_DSmSRwE
Facebook has found a new home on Android, so to speak, as the social networking giant at a news conference earlier today unveiled a Home launcher, a new feature for select Android devices which marries cherry-picked Facebook applications to a beautiful user interface described as putting "people first in an app first world."
Alongside the new software shell, Mark Zuckerberg and HTC's Peter Chou announced the HTC First, an Android smartphone born out of the collaboration between Facebook and HTC which runs the Home interface. Zuckerberg confirmed his company will be rolling out the new launcher to select Android devices beginning April 12, as a free app download from Google's Play Store.
But what about iOS? iPhone users are unfortunately shut out. Initially hiding behind 'Apple's walled-garden' argument, Zuckerberg in wide-ranging interviews with Forbes and Wired.com shed more light on the matter...
Facebook's media event just ended and as expected, most of what was talked about had to do with a new Facebook experience on Android. The social network unveiled a new 'people first' launcher, or shell if you will, for Android devices called Facebook Home.
But software wasn't the only topic of discussion today. Right before ending the press conference, Mark Zuckerberg pulled a Steve Jobs'-like 'one more thing,' and called HTC's CEO Peter Chou on stage to introduce the long-rumored HTC First smartphone...
A new image of what is purportedly the upcoming Facebook phone has been leaked on Twitter. The image, first posted by @evleaks, shows off a generic looking Android device made by HTC.
It's widely expected that Facebook will announce its first real foray into the hardware business on Thursday, this, by means of a partnership with handset manufacturer HTC. Last week, Facebook sent out invites that stated: "Come see our new home on Android." It looks like that was more than just an invitation, as it also reveals the purported name of the device: Facebook Home.
Just a little bit ago, Facebook sent out press invitations for a media event next week. The keynote will take place at 10:00am PST on Thursday, April 4, at the company's headquarters on 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park. What is it going to be talking about? Maybe its new smartphone.
Yes, I know. We've heard this rumor enough now that it's almost meaningless. But it sounds like it's for real this time. A new report says the handset, which is being built by HTC, has a 4.3-inch display, an iPhone-like Home button and is running a forked version of Android...
If you're HTC, I'd imagine you'd try anything at this point to drum up buyers for your new flagship handset. After suffering steep losses over the last several quarters, the Taiwanese electronics giant desperately needs the HTC One to be a hit.
And it's latest effort isn't a half-bad one. In an attempt to make it easier for iPhone users to make the switch to the One, HTC has enabled it to extract data from backup files. This will allow for automatic transfers of photos, videos and more...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9A8NnBbW_A
Earlier this morning, Taiwanese handset maker HTC at a high-profile media event in London introduced its latest flagship handset, the One. In terms of speeds and feeds, this Android LTE device seems a winner: it sports a 1.7GHz quad-core Snapdragon 600 processor with 2GB of RAM, has front-facing speakers complete with a dedicated amplifier that play Beats Audio and boasts a 4.7-inch 1080p display coated with Gorilla Glass 2.
Encased in an Apple-like aluminum-clad chassis, the phone is bound to turn heads with its sleek appearance measuring 0.37 inches thick and weighing in at 143 grams. On the software front, the One runs HTC's Sense 5 UI layer on top of Google's latest Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean operating system.
And borrowing from Windows Phone, there's a new feature called Blink Feed, basically a glorified Flipboard-like aggregator that turns your home screen into an endless stream of social updates, email messages and news articles. More tidbits and a few press shots right after the break...
HTC has sent out invitations for a huge media event tomorrow morning. How huge? Huge enough to spread across two continents. The handset-maker will be hosting simultaneous keynotes in both London and New York.
What's on the menu? Well, it's no secret that the company has a new flagship handset in the wings. And word has it that it's readying a new version of its 'Sense' Android shell. But the real question is: does anyone care?
We have often written how the handset market is essentially a duopoly of operating systems - iOS and Android - as well as brands: Apple and Samsung. Yesterday came even another way the two are dominating the mobile world - profits. Apple and Samsung accounted for 103 percent of handset profits in 2013, a figure made possible by the zero or negative growth by six of the eight leading handset makers. Apple held 69 percent of handset profits earned in all of 2012, more than double that of the South Korean Samsung, which hauled in 34 percent of phone profits last year, according to Canaccord Genuity...
What you're seeing here isn't one of the early iPhone 5 prototypes. Instead, that's apparently a leaked rendering of an upcoming HTC handset, called the M7. Recognize the familiar two-tone design with the distinct stripes alongside the top and bottom, with a large metal backplate in between?
Funny, we thought the ten-year Apple-HTC cross-licensing deal didn't include rights to the iPhone 5 design. Count us surprised!
For the second day, Samsung has been named the new leader. After Tuesday unseating Nokia as the top cellphone maker in 2012, the Galaxy vendor today topped HTC as the Android maker which gets most used to access mobile ads. According to ad firm Millennial, Samsung had 46 percent of Android app use, double the 26 percent of 2011.
HTC - which is bleeding money and is rumored to have cut in half shipments and delayed new devices - fell to #2, dropping 30 points behind Samsung. But for Apple, perhaps the best news is what the Millennial end-of-year report did not find...