The 808 Pureview would be a 'fitting' end for Symbian, Nokia says
Nokia will halt shipments of handsets bearing the self-built Symbian operating system sometime this summer, according to reports on Wednesday.
AllThingsD brings word from sources that the dying embers of the old faithful OS will be soon be extinguished and the remaining handsets will only be sold in emerging markets to deplete stockpiles.
While that might take a little while, there's still a demand for some of the low cost handsets in some parts of the world, where Nokia does good business.
The decision will bring to an end a slow painful death for the OS, which has been considered hugely dated by most observers (barring a section of hardcore Nokia fans) since the iOS and Android platforms took over years ago.
Fitting end
An end for Symbian would, of course, mean that Nokia's fate would be completely bound to that of Windows Phone.
The company has built some high quality handsets bearing Microsoft's mobile operating system, but sales have not reflected the critical acclaim devices like the Lumia 920 have received.
The company stopped short of confirming the reports, but did say the Nokia 808 Pureview handset, the last Symbian handset the company produced, would be a fitting end for the once-beloved system.
"We can't confirm when Symbian shipments come to an end, unfortunately," a Nokia spokesperson said.
"In general, though, regarding Symbian, the last Symbian phone we introduced was the Nokia 808 PureView, and that's fitting. This phone extended the platform's pioneering tradition, and acted as a bridge for the next wave of innovation now seen in our latest models, like the Lumia 925."
We know there's an HTC One Mini really in the works, thanks to a report from Bloomberg yesterday.
But today, Engadget claims a "trusted" source has given them an image of the HTC One Mini along with specs of the soon to be announced phone.
The image is blurry at best and possibly photoshopped, but so far this is all we have, and for now, we'll take it.
If it's the real deal, the slimmed down 4.3-inch screen version of the popular HTC One could become the next big hit.
The rest of the leak
The handset bears the similar metallic body of the HTC One and reportedly has Beats Audio branded on the back.
The Mini is running a "Sensed-up version of Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean" with Blinkfeed built and boasts a 1.4GHz dual-core, which may just be Snapdragon 400 from Qualcomm -similar to the less popular HTC First.
No word on when the UltraPixel camera was leaked, but the source claims the rear camera can shoot full HD video with Zoe share capture.
Of course, until the actual HTC One Mini is announced this all could very well be speculation. Though if true, these specs might change before its release later this summer.
While we’ve known about the HTC One Mini (aka M4) for a while now, we’ve yet to see a clear, credible image of the device – until today. A trusted source of Engadget has now supplied new information about the HTC M4(One Mini), alongside the image you see above.
As you can see, the phone clearly borrows from the design language of its bigger brother, to the point that you probably couldn’t even tell the difference at first glance.
So we know that the HTC One Mini is a smaller version of the HTC One, but what else do we know about it? The report suggests the phone will have a 4.3-inch display (likely 720p), a dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 processor, and will feature Android 4.2.2 with Sense 5.
Now we just have to wait for HTC to go ahead and make it official. As for when its coming, the HTC One Mini supposedly is scheduled for launch in Q3 of this year. That means it could be coming in just a few short months.
What do you think of the 4.3-inch Mini, would you consider it over its bigger brother or not?
Now without commercial interruption for paying customers
ITV has launched a subscription-based model for its ITV Player app for iOS devices, allowing users to skirt commercial interruption for the first time.
The £3.99 a month premium subscription will provide a substitute for the revenue the broadcaster makes from commercials on its catch-up service.
It gives users who complain about the ads (i.e. most of us) the chance to put-up-or-shut-up by handing over their monthly dues to enjoy Corrie and Emmerdale. without the Go Compare man ruining it.
Naturally, the scheme only applies to the catch up offerings on ITV1, 2, 3 and 4, and CITV and not to the live simulcasts also offered through the service.
Pay your money, take your choice
Users will be given the option to sign up for an ITV Player Premium subscription next time they update the app, but can continue enjoying catch-up content and live telly for free if they don't opt in.
Steven Power, Product Manager for ITV Player on Mobile, said: "As ITV Player on mobile devices continues to grow – over 7 million downloads on iOS to date – it is important we deliver innovative business models and adapt the product to the evolving market. I'm genuinely excited that we're the first commercial broadcaster to offer viewers the choice to watch content with or without advertising."
There's no news yet on whether ITV plans to roll the functionality out to the Android app or web-based player.
Don't expect to see this guy on a smartphone screen any time soon
Nintendo president Satoru Iwata has reaffirmed his staunch unwillingness to offer the company's most popular games on smartphone or tablet devices.
The gaming giant has continually resisted the clamour from fans (and even shareholders) for classic franchises like Mario and Zelda to arrive on iOS and Android platforms, despite the ongoing slump in console sales and ensuing financial losses.
However, Iwata said launching Super Mario Bros. and co. for the iPhone or iPad would only be a short-term money-spinner for Nintendo, while abstaining could ensure the company is still standing in 20 years.
He told the Wall Street Journal: "If I was only concerned about managing Nintendo for this year and next year - and not about what the company would be like in 10 or 20 years - then I'd probably say that my point of view is nonsense.
"But if we think 20 years down the line, we may look back at the decision not to supply Nintendo games to smartphones and think that is the reason why the company is still here."
Ploughing on
Instead the company will continue ploughing on with its attempts to engage gamers with its own handheld gaming device, the Nintendo 3DS and, of course, the struggling Nintendo Wii U console.
Symbian is dead. I know it, you know it. Nokia knows it.
Whether you loved Symbian or not, the OS has fallen behind over the years as Nokia has instead pushed hard into Windows Phone territory. While it has been obvious for a while now that Symbian wasn’t a priority, Nokia is now reportedly killing off the OS this summer.
Part of this change is because while Nokia still sold 500,000 Symbian smartphones in 1st quarter 2013, Windows Phone 8 is finally starting to outsell the aging platform. There has also been several high-quality Nokia handsets that are low enough in cost to compete in the developing space in the way Symbian previously has — the Lumia 520 series comes to mind.
While the days of Symbian might be winding down, we can’t help but applaud the OS for a good, long run. After all it was only around two years ago that Symbian still retained its position as the best-selling smartphone platform in the world.
Do you feel that Nokia made the right decision by pushing away from Symbian and moving over to Windows Phone? Anyone still clinging to Symbian OS, other than for possible financial reasons? Share your thoughts below.
It's like One Direction were re-cast as smartphones
Samsung has been churning out some interesting devices – but in doing so is ruining its flagship handset.
It's a conundrum many brands face: do you try to create loads of recognisable ranges of products, or do you get everything to revolve around one key product?
It's a strategy that works both ways: for every iPad, there's an HTC Desire. Sometimes moniker-linking products together can really help the sale of an otherwise anonymous device, and other times it can dilute the effect of the hero product.
That seems to be what Samsung is doing with the Galaxy S4. While we can see the logic in releasing a Galaxy S4 Mini (want the brand but can't afford the phone? Do we have a deal for you!) but doing it so soon after launching the main S4 means cannibalising sales; at least with the Galaxy S3 Mini many months had passed before Samsung got its shrink-ray out.
Too many cooks...
But now we've got not only the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini, but also the Samsung Galaxy S4 Active (for the rugged, athletic members of the human race) and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom (for, erm, those that like chunky phones and really, really need a decent camera around at all times). And we haven't even mentioned the S4 Nexus...
Imagine walking into your local phone emporium and being greeted with all of these options at once. You might be drawn instantly to the main S4, but then your eye will fall on the cheaper model. "Do I really need to spend all that money when I can get most of the features for less?" you might muse.
Then your hand will brush the rugged Galaxy S4 Active – instantly taken by its tough exterior, you'll think "Oh, is the 'normal' S4 not that strong then? Maybe I should go for this one just in case… even though it doesn't have that awesome AMOLED screen."
And you'll be confused once more. And then, in the middle of all the confusion and umming / ahhing, you'll notice the Galaxy S4 Zoom. Before dismissing it as you've realised you've already got a camera and that's one hefty beast.
More isn't always better
Sure, more options can be great. Samsung will obviously point to the fact it's always offered choice, and it's now the number one smartphone manufacturer, with robust sales in all segments of the market, and this is just a continuation of that policy.
But really, these should be products in their own segment. The Mini should be a W or an Ace, the Active an Xcover and the Zoom… well, just a camera. Using the Galaxy S4 name reduces the lustre of the main brand, and that's something you can't put a price on.
Well, you can: Samsung's stocks tumbled recently when analysts predicted that sales of the S4 were set to come in under estimates, pointing to the lower margin products obviously bringing in less cash, as well as the dilution of the brand caused by multiple S4 models.
I'm sure Samsung will still sell bucketloads of Galaxy S4 device, in the same way Apple is shifting record numbers of iPhone 5 units despite a general indifference from many Apple fans at the new device.
But long term, Samsung needs to make sure it preserves the hero status of its key products. Make them something consumers yearn for, not offering them halfway-house versions of the same thing.
The all-new Apple iOS 7 - launched at WWCD 2013 this week - features all sorts of goodies, including a shiny new interface, and - was this was inspired by one specific crisis, perchance? - easy, one-swipe access to the torch function.
But Apple notoriously giveth and taketh away (hello, Google Maps). So, with all these new improvements, what won't iOS 7 let you do?
1. Wriggle out of your responsibilities
Yeah, sorry. You won't be able to handily "forget" those pesky dental appointments, company away-days or haranguing text messages now that iOS 7 is on the horizon. The Today view summarises your daily schedule together with the weather forecast in friendly plain English - so you'll know exactly how much sleet to expect en route to your root canal session.
And Notification Center will list all your missed calls, emails, new texts and social networking requests, so you'll be able to keep track of all those emails from Nigerian princes and Google+ requests from outlandishly-named strangers, too.
2. Pursue a career in iPhone theft
If, like us, you've ever left your iPhone in a cab and tracked its progress using Find my iPhone only to have the signal blip out of existence after half an hour, you'll know that iPhones are notoriously easy to hack. Canny iBurglars can even bypass the locked screens just by wiping the handset.
However, a new iOS 7 feature called Activation Lock will render lost or stolen iPhones worthless until the owner inputs their Apple ID - even after being wiped. Take that, iBurglars!
3. Have a Memento-style memory breakdown
Ever stared blankly at a blurry shot of an unknown floor in your camera roll, and wondered where the hell you were at the time and what the hell you thought you were doing?
Well, no more. iOS 7 brings a host of new camera and photo features, including automatically grouping photos by date and location. You can even pinch a photoset closed to see a whole year's worth of photos, still showing all relevant location information.
Basically, if Guy Pearce had had iOS 7 instead of a Polaroid camera in the film Memento, the story would have been about Guy Pearce looking confused, looking at his phone for a minute, then looking quite sad. The end.
4. Escape the insidious Instagramming of all humanity
iPhone 5 users will be able to choose between nine Instagram-style photo filters (vintage, constrast, black-and-white, and presumably one calibrated for 'selfies') while lining up the shot in the camera app. Those with iPhone 4S or 4 are less lucky, but can apply filters to existing shots in the camera roll.
That's right. Not only can you organise your photos in such a way that Facebook and/or PRISM will have no doubt as to where you are and when, you can also Instagram your life before it happens.
Which, we're pretty sure, is how Skynet started.
5. Use iOS 7
Apple iOS 7 will only be available for iPhones 4, 4S, and 5; for the iPads 2, third and fourth generation, and mini; and for the iPod touch fifth generation.
Previous versions, like the iPhone 3GS, won't support the new system - so if you're an owner it's worth either upgrading, or storing your phone under your mattress along with your gas mask, rolls of cash and tins of gravy browning.
Android 4.3 leaks having been trickling through for the past few months and the latest one apparently reveals the updated OS running on a Samsung Galaxy Nexus.
Google is yet to unleash a new version of its Android operating system this year and while Key Lime Pie no longer seems to be next in line after Android 4.2 the search giant failed to announce the much talked about Android 4.3 Jelly Bean last month at its annual IO event.
A new report out of Bluetooth SIG now seems to suggest the Android 4.3 update is almost ready to roll out as the Galaxy Nexus has been put through its paces to ensure it still meets the various Bluetooth standards.
Ready yet?
Although the report doesn't specifically say which version of Android the Galaxy Nexus is running, the folks over at Android Geeks reckon it's being reassessed by Bluetooth SIG purely due to the fact it's about to receive the Android 4.3 upgrade.
The Google Nexus 7 has also recently been spotted passing through the same tests, which seems to suggest the search engine is tooling up its homegrown devices ahead of an impending launch.
In terms of an Android 4.3 release date it's still not clear, and with rumours suggesting Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie will be with us before the end of the year Google may want to get a shift on - unless, that is, it's decided against 4.3 and these devices are actually running version 5.
BBM on iOS and Android attracts celebrities like Lewis Hamilton to BBM Channels
When BlackBerry architect Gary Klassen first came up with the idea for what became BlackBerry Messenger, his colleagues at what was then Research In Motion didn't understand why anyone would need anything except mobile email. Even his wife wasn't impressed.
"The first time I brought BBM home, I put two devices down on the table and I said to my wife 'watch!'. I typed in a message on one phone and it showed up on the other and she just looked at me and said 'couldn't you do that before?' I said 'no, no, it's different this time!' She wasn't convinced - but now my whole family uses BBM."
There has been one recent defector, Klassen joked. "My nephew bought an iPhone and he was ostracised from his community." But he'll be able to come back into the fold in the summer when BBM comes to iOS and Android phones.
Mobile is different
Klassen has been behind plenty of BlackBerry successes. He's worked on a wide range of BlackBerry products, from the 'old-skool' software all the way to BlackBerry 10.
He helped build the first ever colour BlackBerry phone before working on IM integration with services such as Yahoo Messenger, then moving on to work on HTML email. He even created the first version of the famous BlackBerry 'splat' to tell you when you had new messages.
In 2005 he came up with the idea of creating a mobile-only instant messaging system - an idea that didn't make sense to everyone.
"BBM was a bit of an underdog when it started. Not everybody believed in it; how could we compete against the incumbents such as MSN and ICQ? When we were working with Yahoo we could only do what the other clients did, but with this we would control both ends of the connection, so we could do a lot more.
"We experimented with all kinds of stuff that we thought were good ideas and found out they weren't. In a mobile environment certainty and reliability have so much more importance, and a sense of presence is different on mobile."
Showing whether someone was available to read and reply to your messages turned out to be a whole new challenge, and one that initially presented a few hurdles:
"There was a study in a college where they gave the students mobile IM and at the end of the study they were surprised to find that the students were really distressed by it, they didn't want to have anything to do with it." Klassen says, "Appearing online and available, when I'm not, causes stress."
The BBM team solved that by marking when a message had been delivered to the other person, so you knew the system was reliable, and marking when a message was read so you know whether you could expect to get a reply.
"When we added those Ds and Rs, we changed the paradigm," Klassen told us. "If I know the end point is another mobile, I get the implications. It becomes socially acceptable if I don't reply because I'm busy or I'm on a bus. And it doesn't rely on me changing a setting or the network being able to decide whether I'm available."
Generally, BBM users do reply pretty quickly. VP of software product management and ecosystem Andrew Bocking told us that BBM users spend about 90 minutes a day in BBM "and around half of the users read messages that are sent to them within 20 seconds."
Klassen and the BBM team knew they had a hit on their hands when the service started spreading virally inside the company. Despite the doubters who pointed out that they already had instant email, when Klassen showed off BBM, people started using it - even though he thought it wasn't ready.
"I wrote down the URL and in three days there were hundreds of people using it. Half the parts that we thought were essential didn't work but they could still use it, and they did."
And once it became popular, other employees had to join in to stay connected. "If someone on a team didn't want to use it, they found they had to because the team had started planning their monthly lunches on it," Klassen remembers.
He doesn't claim to have had a grand vision for BBM from day one, and certainly not a cross-platform one. "With technology, often we look back and say 'that's why we built it, we built it for this or that' - but sometimes you don't. The way that BBM came about was that we built something and we listened carefully to what stuck with the users."
Giving in or spreading out?
BBM has always been one of the selling points for BlackBerry, so is bringing it to iOS and Android an admission of failure? CEO Thorsten Heins said repeatedly at BlackBerry Live that taking BBM cross-platform now is a vote of confidence in how good BlackBerry 10 is and how many features it has beyond BBM.
As Bocking pointed out to TechRadar, it could be an advert for BlackBerry. "Going cross-platform; think about what an opportunity that creates for people to experience BlackBerry Messenger and get a taste for BlackBerry. We can turn 60 million BBM users into advocates on social networks."
Klassen agrees that it's far easier for people to see the appeal of BBM once they've used it. "There are people, when I talk about Ds and Rs, who have stories about what that has meant to them. If I talk to someone who hasn't used it before, their eyes glaze over. They don't understand the benefit and it's hard to explain that you get addicted to looking for the R until you've experienced it.
"We're giving people the opportunity to experience it and then they can ask themselves 'what is it about this that I like?' And then maybe they'll ask 'why is somebody in my community [who's using a BlackBerry] able to communicate so much more effectively?'"
But there is another reason. With BBM Channels launching, BlackBerry needs to have as many users as possible for brands to sign up to their channels so BlackBerry can earn money from things like sponsored invitations.
As Bocking explains, "Extending [across other mobile platforms] grows the audience, and a large base is critical to have the mass to monetise any service.
"Going cross-platform is an acknowledgement this is a heterogeneous environment we are living in, and by supporting our services across those platforms we can support our customers, [something] they've asked for."
That means BBM has to be as good on iOS and Android devices as it is on BlackBerrys. It will start with text and images but voice and video chat will come later. "We want feature parity so we can build a highly engaged audience on the platform," says Bocking.
And Klassen told us that includes core features. "We can implement the same user interface and we can tell you when a message has been delivered. Those things will be built in, so we can give you the same confidence you're looking for when you send a message."
BBM isn't coming to Windows Phone this summer, but that's not because Microsoft is the competition, says Bocking. "Our users have been focused on asking for iOS and Android; we have not been hearing requests for Windows Phone.
"I won't say that will never happen. It's a matter of is there interest from our users, if they are asking for it. Equally, we don't have plans for a web-based client, but we'll be listening to what our users want."
Safari on OS X and iOS. Shared features but different interfaces that are optimised for each device
"A picture is worth a thousand words" is an overused phrase, but one with more than a kernel of truth.
With that in mind, how much can an entire visual language tell us about an object, or provide insight into its creators? In Apple's case, with its revisions to iOS and to OS X, plenty.
At WWDC's 2013 keynote, Apple unveiled the long-rumoured, radical iOS overhaul. Apple's mobile operating system retains links to its past, but the difference is stark: it is to iOS 6 what OS X was to Mac OS 9 - familiarity amidst sweeping change. Additionally, we saw peeks of the revamped OS X, changes to which were subtler.
iOS 7 looks wildly different from its predecessor
Aesthetics are subjective. Depending on who you talk to, Apple's revisions are the best or worst things they've ever seen, wildly daring or oddly conservative, innovative or derivative, or somewhere between those extremes.
Yet whatever you think of them from a subjective standpoint, they showcase how this version of Apple thinks, how it differs from its rivals, and how it's unafraid to break from its own past.
On both the Mac and mobile sides of things, textures were primarily notable by their absence. Jokes were made about having 'run out of felt' regarding the now relatively stark Game Center, and similarly about the lack of wood and leather textures in iBooks and Calendar.
Apple showed in both OS X and iOS a newfound desire for coherence across an entire operating system. This is something that's arguably been missing since at least the days of Mac OS 8, shortly before brushed metal reared its ugly head, leading to Apple's unhealthy obsession with using real-world analogues in its applications.
Boom. No more leather stitching. And potential coherence at last for OS X
But there was another major change that made Apple's revamps stand out: Apple is seemingly no longer trying to force the same visual language across OS X and iOS.
Calendar and Safari look radically different on each system, even if they share data and certain concepts, such as Safari's iCloud tabs and Reading List.
Perhaps this is a sign Apple recognises iOS doesn't need visual cues from the desktop in order for users to understand how to use certain apps; regardless, it points at Apple now valuing usability and appropriateness over unnecessary cross-platform visual consistency.
By contrast, Microsoft, despite having arguably led the way in terms of stripped-back touchscreen interfaces, continues to believe the best approach is to smash two disparate systems together - a situation Apple was perhaps in danger of heading towards itself.
Newfound confidence
Thinking freely, it's possible to consider Apple's new visual language as metaphor for the company's collective state of mind. There's Apple's existing care about fine details, but also a greater interest in efficiency and the aforementioned fixation on coherence, presumably driven by Jony Ive. There's also a playfulness and a desire for intrigue in iOS that had been lacking as the platform became - in many people's eyes - stale.
But mostly, there's a newfound confidence. This is an Apple that makes lighthearted jokes of its prior obsession with textures.
It's unafraid to make radical change, when it feels the time is right, trusting in the usability of the final product to retain users when some familiarity (be it textures on OS X or various interface elements on iOS) is lost.
It's arguable an ability for major change has always been within Apple, but of late the company had seemed tentative, cautious of stepping out from under the shadow of its founder and also the huge impact Scott Forstall made in terms of how its software appeared.
These updates, then, represent a company refresh, not just a splash of new paint on some operating systems. Apple feels new and reinvigorated, throwing off the shackles of its recent past. What's important now is Apple rapidly iterate, using this newfound momentum to push on to greater things, lest it again find itself charged with treading water.
Overt your eyes children, this could scare you for life
The Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom has been officially unveiled and while its existence is no surprise considering the amount of rumours which have been circulating, the sheer number of Galaxy S4 branded handsets Samsung seems to be forcing on the world is a little more alarming.
