06
Jul
2012
Electronista: New quarterly data indicates little change in the US cellphone market, according to research firm ComScore. Android devices continue to dominate as a platform, up 0.8 percent to account for 50.9 percent of smartphones. Apple’s iPhone, meanwhile, has grown 1.7 percent to claim a 31.9 percent share. (more…)
14
Jan
2011
Cnet UK: Until last year, we all agreed that a computer without a keyboard was as useful as a wicker soup bowl. But this year the touchscreen wonder-windows poured out of CES like ants from an overturned log. Never fear, though — we won’t let you flail around with the fails. Here’s our pick of the best tablets from Las Vegas.
Motorola Xoom
The Motorola Xoom could be the 10.1-inch iPad-smasher that Android fans have been waiting for. This sleek but heavy tablet sports a dual-core processor, cameras front and back, and a mini-HDMI port for hooking it up to your telly.
It’s also the device that Google used to show off the tablet-centric version of its Android software, Android 3.0 Honeycomb. Android’s user interface has received a refresh that means it should take full advantage of the Xoom’s big screen. We loved the Samsung Galaxy Tab, a 7-inch tablet that runs on Android 2.2, so the Xoom should be even better.
The Xoom could prove something of a shock to the wallet, though. It’s early days, but a listing on UK site Handtec offered the Xoom at the eye-watering price of £720, although the price has since been removed from the listing.
Check out the hands-on photos in our Xoom preview, which we’ll be updating with a full review just as soon as the tablet zooms into our office.
Asus Eee Pad MeMo
The Asus Eee Pad MeMo runs Android 2.3 Honeycomb and is a more portable package than the Xoom. This 7-inch tablet looks classy and elegant, and, at 389g, the MeMo is considerably lighter than the 730g Xoom too.
Its 1,024×768-pixel resolution makes the MeMo’s relatively small screen as sharp as the edge of an oatcake, and we found we could use the tablet with one hand. But, despite its diminutive dimensions, the MeMo is still packed with features, including a stylus that works with the capacitive touchscreen to allow pressure-sensitive writing and drawing.
Hold your mitts up to the screen against our hands-on photos to see how the MeMo could look in your hands, and read our Memo preview to get all the gory details on this upcoming gadget.
BlackBerry PlayBook
RIM has ducked out of the Android and Windows 7 tablet battle, instead chucking its own operating system onto its first tablet, the BlackBerry PlayBook. This could prove especially handy if you also use a BlackBerry phone, but we’re reserving judgement on the fledgling software until we can put it through its paces properly.
The PlayBook’s dual-core processor is all about multi-tasking. An all-new browser that supports Flash and HTML5 should help repair BlackBerry’s reputation for supplying out-of-date surfing software.
Like the Xoom, the PlayBook eschews buttons on its face — there’s no big home button, as there is on the iPad, or multiple menu buttons, like on most Android tablets. Instead, there’s a power button on the top, along with some media-control buttons.
Take a look at our hands-on photos of this bloated ‘Berry and read our extensive PlayBook preview for all the details you can stomach.
Samsung TX100
Windows tablets haven’t exactly set the world on fire, and now the world’s biggest OS is running scared, what with the rise of Android and iOS on big screens. But, for some people, staring through Windows is the only way they can get any work done.
The Samsung TX100 could be the solution for Windows fans who aren’t ready to abandon the Land of a Thousand Menus in favour of a mobile phone on steroids. This 10.1-inch tablet packs a cunning surprise — it has a slide-out keyboard that transforms it into a touchscreen netbook.
When we copped a feel of the TX100, we found it felt slim, despite its Qwerty keyboard, and its USB and HDMI ports should help it compete for bag space with your laptop. With a claimed 9 hours of battery life and an Intel Atom CPU, we’ve got high hopes that the TX100 will represent the best of both worlds, rather than the horrific result of a cross-breeding exercise that should have been exposed at birth on an ice flow.
28
Nov
2008
PC World: Economic woes slashed cell-phone sales growth in the third quarter of this year as consumers waited longer to replace their handsets, and the market is likely to contract next year, according to Gartner.
The global slowdown affected sales in both rich and poor countries, though results varied around the world. Western Europe and Japan were hit hardest, with unit sales below those of a year earlier. Handset sales worldwide grew 6 percent in the third quarter, less than half the 16 percent growth that took place in the third quarter of 2007, according to Gartner. Unit shipments of phones grew to more than 308.5 million in the quarter from 291.1 million in the third quarter of 2007.
The news will be yet more grim in 2009, when Gartner expects worldwide unit sales to decline between 1 percent and 4 percent from 2008. New users still flocked to cell phones in the third quarter, but sales of replacement phones were hit hard, the company said.
Emerging-market gains drove up sales in Eastern Europe but sales in Western Europe were down, from 47.2 million to 43.5 million. Motorola suffered most among the major manufacturers, seeing its sales fall from nearly 38 million units to less than 25 million, and its market share drop to 8 percent from 13 percent.
18
Oct
2008
ITProPortal: Motorola has apparently updated its legendary Startac range as it debuts the Krave ZN4 touchscreen clam-shell smartphone which eerily resembles Star Trek’s own Communicator range.
The Krave ZN4 however is an impressive phone on its own. It’s upper flip is transparent and touchscreen which means that you don’t need to open your phone to read your texts or see who is calling you while the “M” logo on the shell is actually used as a speaker.
Other than having an aesthetic feature, the cover itself does not perform any other tasks. Otherwise, the ZN4 comes with a 2.8-inch capable of displaying 240×400 pixels coupled with a virtual “haptic” keyboard that falls short of the Blackberry Storm’s feedback one.
The phone also comes with a 2 megapixel camera as well as a microSD slot and a welcomed 3.5mm standard headphone jack.
16
Oct
2008
IntoMobile: Awhile back it became clear that with plans to bump their Android team up to 350 people, Motorola was serious about working with Google’s mobile OS.
Well, a fresh job description shows that this team will be working on a “new Android Social Networking SmartPhone”, giving us a little more insight as to what Moto’s up to.
It sounds like a cool idea to base a handset on – after all, social networking tends to be a third-party afterthought rather than the core of new products.
Sharing text, voice, pictures, video and even location are all becoming bigger parts of the mobile lifestyle.
30
Sep
2008
PC World: Motorola is hoping to stem its recent financial bloodletting by throwing its might behind the popular Android operating system. It’s betting that Android is the mobile OS of the future and has reportedly begun to assemble a 350 team of Android developers to transform its mobile business.
Motorola’s weak point has always been the software interface. While phones like the hugely popular RAZR V3 sold in millions across the world, users were never particularly impressed with the software capabilities of the devices. In a bid to turn its luck around, Motorola is now set to adopt Google’s Android mobile operating system, bridging the gaps between hardware and software.
Also Nokia is said to already have an Android team mingling around. Though Nokia is determined to keep Symbian going as long as possible, if Android really takes off, we might see substantial changes in the company’s strategy as well.
20
Sep
2008
T3: Motorola has two Bluetooth headsets vying for your attention, the H15 and the H780.
The H15 boasts Motorola exclusive flip design, which is a new way of saving battery life if you’re constantly on the blower. RapidConnect, which lets you answer calls immediately by flipping the headset open, and closing it again will curtail the battery drain.
To keep everything clear, the H15 employs a pair of microphones, located in the top and bottom of the device. An internal processor compares the two and isolates the sound of your voice from the background hum.
The H780 is the cheaper option. It sports the same CrystalTalk sound enhancement. You don’t get any special power saving abilities but because it’s still good for seven hours of talk time.
13
Sep
2008
T3: A new report from ABI Research claims that the touch screen industry in the mobile device market will be worth $5 billion (3.5 billion euro) in 2009.
ABI says that shipments of touch screen devices in 2007 increased by 91% over 2006. The report figures in touch screens used in mobile phones, MIDs, UMPCs and navigation devices.
ABI says that Samsung and Motorola command the bulk of the touch screen mobile phone market with 33% and 30% of the market respectively. This is based on strong presence in Asian markets where 80% of the world’s touch screen phones are produced. Sony Ericsson has 24% of the touch screen market.
05
Sep
2008
T3: Motorola’s new MOTOJEWEL could be the perfect piece of gadget candy, so much so it even comes with a little cute purse to keep your make-up in.
The mirrored clamshell phone is an exclusive to Carphone Warehouse and runs off a responsive Linux based OS, with touch sensitive keys and Bluetooth connectivity.
There’s also a cool hidden external display which only shows up on demand, and a 2.0-megapixel camera with 8x zoom. All this for £99 (121 Euro).
15
Aug
2008
Electronista: Motorola chose Thursday to quietly release three phones, all of which are targeted at a world audience and with music in mind.
The ZN200 has dedicated MP3 software with drag-and-drop support as well as a 2-megapixel camera with video support, but is now known to distinguish itself through a trick slider design. It supports 850MHz GSM plus GPRS data, hinting a possible North American launch.
The W396 has a more economic focus; although it drops to a VGA camera, the clamshell still supports MP3 playback and has both a dedicated music key to jump to the music player and a microSD slot to hold 2GB of data. It ships both in a dual-band version for North America as well as an international model.
The W388 takes the same features but adapts them to a bar design.
09
Aug
2008
ITProPortal: Fate can sometimes be cruel. Motorola was a long while ago the darling of the mobile segment, a place it has now lost to Apple, one of its once-closest allies, and its iPhone.
Boy Genius Report has a picture of a Motorola Slider called Alexander which looks like a Blackberry twin and comes with a full QWERTY keyboard; could that be the smartphone that will save Motorola from Oblivion and restore faith into the company that once came up with the Razr range?
Well, Alexander as BGR calls it comes with Windows Mobile 6.1 or 7, complete with a top range camera (5MP to 8MP), assisted GPS, an Nvidia graphics chip and what appears to be a 4:3 screen.
06
Aug
2008
Engadget: Moving just a tad downmarket from the mighty morphin’ E8, Motorola has rolled out three new members of its music-centric ROKR series: the EM25 slider, EM28 flip, and EM30 candybar.
The EM30 probably feels the most familiar, aping the E8′s design language but trashing the touch-sensitive wheel for a plain ol’ d-pad.
It does, however, carry over the E8′s so-called ModeShift morphing keypad and features an FM radio with RDS, 3.5mm headphone jack, and Windows Media compatibility.
The EM28 brings the same style to a clamshell, while the EM25 reps the slider form factor.