Wireless Archive

Facebook Home is now available on the Google Play Store, for the Samsung Galaxy SII, SII, HTC One, One X, and One X+, with support for the HTC One and Galaxy S4 coming in the future. No need to download it, though; Home's single interesting feature, Chat Heads, is available in the regular Facebook Messenger for Android as well.

"A recent poll by MKM Partners reveals that an overwhelming 83% of Americans do not know that BlackBerry has launched their new BlackBerry Z10 smartphone or new Blackberry 10 platform. The company's trouble does not just include marketing woes. The Wall Street Journal reports that over 50% of customers have returned their BlackBerry smartphones after trying out the platform. That is not to say that BlackBerry hasn't reached the top of any list. We learned today that BlackBerry is the most undesirable smart phone, learning that 71% of people would not consider the BlackBerry under any circumstances." BlackBerry denies the return rate figures, but that still leaves the others. This is devastating.

The reviews are universally positive, and virtually everyone seems to agree: the HTC One is one heck of an Android device, and quite possibly the best phone currently on the market. Outstanding build quality, great design, fast - and just like the One X before it, it looks like to me it's a far better phone than its Galaxy counterparts. Why, then, is no one buying HTC phones?

Jolla, the company behind SailfishOS, has released the SailfishOS SDK for Windows, OS X and Linux. Developers've got everything they need to develop now - let's hope this picks up enough steam.

"Already a bit of a legend in China, the 40-year-old serial entrepreneur announced last April that he had formed Smartisan Co., Ltd. to work on a smartphone OS, and that it would shame all manufacturers with its revolutionary user experience. Having missed the December target that he promised, Luo eventually took the stage in Beijing last week to spend well over three - yes, three - hours going through the thought process behind his Smartisan OS, so bear with us here." The icons are nice, and there's certainly some nice touches in there, but calling this an 'operating system' is stretching the definition beyond its breaking point.

Ian G. Clifton: "Early on, iOS did a lot to push mobile devices forward and helped set bars in a lot of areas for other platforms to meet. Unfortunately, iOS has not changed much lately and in some ways hurts Android when used as the 'golden standard' due to its limitations. A lot of the harm isn't realized by consumers, but Android developers encounter it constantly when something has to be done 'the iOS way' or an Android feature is not even considered because iOS cannot do the same."

"Android and iPhone users will also experience BlackBerry's ad content in the form of mobile takeovers starting the week of March 25. Those mobile takeovers will fill your screen with what looks like a BlackBerry 10's, demoing a specific feature like its photo 'Time Shift' capability that allows you to scroll through several captured options for each face in a picture." Yes. BlackBerry is going to run ads that hijack your entire smartphone's display. Sigh.

Time for a correction - unlike what we linked to earlier, there's no official CyanogenMod position on whether or not they're going to support the Galaxy S4. "This morning, a comment from a CM collaborator on XDA was taken to be as an 'absolute' in regards to support of the S4. He offered the opinion of four TeamHacksung maintainers, their frustrations and lack of interest in supporting the S4. What's seemingly lost on those reading this is that his comments as an individual do not speak for CyanogenMod as an organization. As for the team's stance on the S4, there isn't one at this time, and most definitely won't be one before the device is sold at retail."

"The Minuum keyboard, through its simplicity, improves your touchscreen typing. Existing keyboards leave you barely enough screen to interact with your apps, and you can't enjoy typing on them. Minuum eliminates the visual clutter of archaic mobile keyboards by adapting the keyboard to a single dimension." You have to watch the video. This is yet another example of a strength of more open platforms - like Android - that often gets overlooked: the ability to experiment with core aspects of the operating system. Whenever someone says there are no Android-exclusive applications, they conveniently overlook things like this. No other platform has stuff like this, and I certainly miss this experimentation on my 8X.

Thorsten Heins, BlackBerry's CEO: "Apple did a fantastic job in bringing touch devices to market ... They did a fantastic job with the user interface, they are a design icon. There is a reason why they were so successful, and we actually have to admit this and respect that. History repeats itself again I guess ... the rate of innovation is so high in our industry that if you don't innovate at that speed you can be replaced pretty quickly. The user interface on the iPhone, with all due respect for what this invention was all about is now five years old." Ironic, perhaps, that this comes from a BlackBerry CEO, but that doesn't make him wrong - although I'm sure the usual suspects will claim that it does.

Dianne Hackborn has written two detailed comments in reply to the Palm article, mostly dealing with Cobalt, but also touching upon Palm OS' influence on Android. Hackborn worked at Be, Inc. for a few years, before moving to PalmSource, and has been working at Google on Android for the past seven years. "I would like to say the design of Android actually took a lot of inspiration from Palm. Many of the core engineers on Android came from PalmSource (most having arrived there from Be), and saw Android as an opportunity to do what PalmSource was trying to accomplish in an environment that was more likely to succeed."

After a few months of planning, several weeks of work, and possibly a few kilometres of aimless pacing through the living room, I'm happy to present "Palm: I'm ready to wallow now". This massive article (22,000 words) covers countless aspects of Palm, its devices, its operating system, and the company's importance to the mobile industry. I start with a detailed look at the history of handwriting recognition, after which I move on to the four hardware products I believe are crucial in understanding Palm as a company. Of course, I also dive into Palm OS, covering the kernel, its filesystem (or lack thereof), 'multitasking' capabilities, user experience, and much more. Important Palm OS licensees like Sony and Handspring make an appearance, and I cover the failed attempt at modernising the Palm OS: Palm OS 6 Cobalt. Finally, the conclusion ties it all together. For the first time in OSNews' history, you can also buy this article to support OSNews and make more articles like this possible in the future (don't worry - the regular online version is free, as always!). I suggest you grab a coffee, sit back, and enjoy.

"The White House agrees with the 114.000+ of you who believe that consumers should be able to unlock their cell phones without risking criminal or other penalties. In fact, we believe the same principle should also apply to tablets, which are increasingly similar to smart phones. And if you have paid for your mobile device, and aren't bound by a service agreement or other obligation, you should be able to use it on another network. It's common sense, crucial for protecting consumer choice, and important for ensuring we continue to have the vibrant, competitive wireless market that delivers innovative products and solid service to meet consumers' needs."

At TechCrunch, Jolla's CEO Marc Dillon explains why his company will focus on China, Finland, and the rest of Europe first, ignoring the US. "The US market is not on the radar as yet, as he says the patent landscape there 'raises a barrier' of entry to newcomers (he's especially critical of overly aggressive use of design patents)." Considering the patent mess in the US is only getting worse, expect to see more of this in the future. Jolla is making a wise decision by ignoring the US - as a young technology company, you're far better off focusing your attention elsewhere.