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Wireless Archive

Jolla Sailfish OS: software tour

"Originally stemming from MeeGo, birthed under Nokia's watch, Sailfish has since gone its own way and is maturing into a mobile platform getting ready for launch. This week at the Mobile World Congress, we tracked down Jolla and Mosconi again, getting the opportunity in the process to check out a live Sailfish demo. We check out how notifications work, look at the Sailfish take on a status bar, and get to see the media player with all its gesture support." By far the most unique and interesting of the alternative mobile platforms. Very fancy.

Hands-on with Tizen 2.0 on Samsung’s developer handset

"Huge swathes of the interface are remarkable only by their familiarity: a home screen with a grid of apps; a single navigation button to take you back to this screen or alternatively to a multi-tasking screen by way of a long press; and a top-to-bottom pull-down for notifications and quick access to settings. It's basic, but it represents pretty much what all these new operating systems are supposed to be: ways of getting functionality that is at least close to Android but without all the licensing costs associated with running Google services." A lobotomised iOS/Android mashup. This is completely void of personality. Still, it looks like this is Samsung's future (guess who was wrong).

HP announces 7″ budget Android tablet

"It's officially true: Hewlett-Packard is back in the mobile race. Today, HP is announcing its first Android product: the HP Slate 7. But it looks like the company won't be making a splash right away: Starting at $169.99, the new device will launch this April with a fairly unimpressive set of specs." As I've been working my behind off on a huge Palm article, HP turns around and slaps this thing in my face. You had one job, HP.

HP to embrace Android, forgets webOS ever happened

"Having failed to carve out a place for itself in the post-PC era, Hewlett-Packard is now taking drastic measures - by adopting Google's Android operating system to run a series of upcoming mobile devices. It's a bit of a Hail Mary pass for HP, which has fallen years behind its rivals in the mobile space. It's also a big win for Google, which adds another powerful partner to the Android ecosystem." Ugh.

Samsung Galaxy Discover

"Experience mobile life without carrier or Samsung overlays. Android 4.0, Ice Cream Sandwich lets you customize your screen for faster access to the widgets you use most. Multitasking is no longer a chore with quicker access to notifications and recently used apps. Blazing web browsing and voice-controlled search lets you find what you are looking for, faster." Yes, this is Samsung advertising against its own TouchWiz nonsense. No words.

Battle of the Androids: Google Android vs. Samsung Android

Many people think that all Androids are equal and it's a race to the bottom where the cheapest vendor wins. This could not be farther from the truth. For me, it all began half-a-year ago, when I bought the Samsung Galaxy S III and was absolutely stunned by it, then exploring and comparing it with other Androids. Now that Google has fired a shot across the bow with its low pricing for the unlocked Nexus 4, where does that leave Samsung and its flagship handset?

Blackberry 10, new devices officially launched

And so, today, RIM announced its Hail Mary - a brand new mobile operating system (well, sort-of new), as well as two new devices. In addition, the Canadian company also officially changed its name from Research In Motion to Blackberry. The first few reviews of Blackberry 10 are already out, and it's not bad. The problem, however, is that in the case of Blackberry, 'not bad' could easily mean 'not good enough'.

Samsung adds multi-window to its Android devices

"Samsung's recent Android 4.1.2 upgrade for the Galaxy Note 10.1 adds power and flexibility to the company's unique offering of Android multiwindowing features. With this update, the Galaxy Note 10.1 can run up to 16 multiwindow-enabled Android apps at once, Windows/Mac-like, on a single screen. Apps endowed with Samsung's multiwindow technology are usable in three viewing modes: full screen, dual view, and cascade view." There are already some complaining this represents a dangerous fork of Android. I thinks it's a step in the right direction.

BlackBerry 10 screenshot walkthrough

"With BlackBerry 10's official launch just around the corner, we happened upon a few photos of the final gold master version of the operating system running on a BlackBerry Z10 handset. Well, thanks to a close source at BlackBerry, we actually can show you about 100 photos of the phone's operating system in full detail. Every screen, every option menu, every app - let's take a ride together." Eh. Let's hope using it is a better experience than looking at it.

What is BB10’s identity?

The smartphone world is, at this point, a two-horse race. Android has the numbers, Apple's iOS has the figures. Everything else - Symbian, Windows Phone, BlackBerry, etc. - are also-rans. Irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. Even though, say, Windows Phone not making any serious headway into the market, despite boatloads of money poured into the platform, RIM still thinks it can do better with BB10. Austrian website Telekom-Presse has a pretty detailed video hands-on with a BB10 device - the Z10 - and it left me with one burning question: what is BB10's identity?

Nokia sold 4.4 million Lumias in Q4 2012

Nokia has just sent out a few preliminary comments about the company's performance during the fourth quarter of 2012. Nokia's figures are a good indicator for how well Windows Phone 8 is doing, and, in all honesty, I'm not exactly blown away. Apparently, neither was Nokia itself, since the company decided to redefine their Asha phones from feature phone to smartphone to prop up their smartphone sales figures.

ZTE planning to sell Mozilla-powered phone in Europe

ZTE will launch a Firefox OS smartphone this year. "ZTE is seeking partnerships to offer devices with the new operating system to reduce its reliance on Google's Android, which dominates the smartphone market with a 75 percent share of shipments, according to IDC. ZTE is expanding in mobile devices and cloud computing, where sales growth is faster than its traditional equipment business." The Google-reliance thing seems to be a common theme these days. It's also partly why Samsung is looking at Tizen.

Why Codeworkx ceased cm10 development for the Galaxy S3

Daniel 'Codeworkx' Hillenbrand on why he's not going to work on cm10 for the Galaxy SIII anymore: "Before the release of the Samsung Galaxy S II we were promised support and devices. We received the S2 and the whole community was praising Samsung. To me, that was nothing but a good PR stunt, because there has not been even the slightest bit of support ever since. Actually Samsung vehemently refuses to hand out any information or even a single line of code to us. Our contact at Samsung seems to be willing to support us, but gets blocked by his superiors." His advice to prospective Android buyers is clear. "All manufacturers have an equally bad update policy, so if you like a Samsung device, just buy it. If you want to use AOSP or CyanogenMod on the other hand, you should stay away from Exynos devices, because they just don't meet the requirements. Instead I recommend you to buy Nexus or Qualcomm/OMAP devices that haven't been completely botched by the manufacturer."

Samsung to sell Tizen-based handsets

"Samsung, the world's largest seller of mobile phones, said it will start selling smartphones this year featuring the Tizen operating system backed by Intel. 'We plan to release new, competitive Tizen devices within this year and will keep expanding the lineup depending on market conditions', Suwon, South Korea-based Samsung said in an e-mailed statement today. The company didn't elaborate on model specifications, prices or timeframe for their debut." The odds for Ubuntu on phones just got worse. Great news for competition, though.