The Samsung Galaxy Core Advance has been officially announced, bringing a big screen to the budget end of the mobile market.
While the "Advance" extension to the handset's name may intrigue you, there's been little added to the original Galaxy Core which arrived in May 2013.
The main difference is the screen size, up from 4.3-inches to 4.7-inches on the Core Advance, although it still slums it with the same 480 x 800 resolution, which we can only assume will deliver an incredibly pixelated experience.
This puts the Galaxy Core Advance up against the Nokia Lumia 625, which has the same screen size and resolution as well as a low price tag.
More of the same
Inside the Galaxy Core Advance you'll find a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a microSD slot - exactly the same set up as the original.
Round the back the same 5MP camera resides and you do get a single LED flash, which is new.
The handset runs Android 4.2 Jelly Bean but don't hold out too much hope of an Android 4.4 KitKat update - Samsung has often overlooked its budget handsets in this respect in the past.
The Galaxy Core Advance does appear to be well connected however, with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 Low Engery, GPS and NFC all onboard - there's no 4G though.
Samsung has confirmed that the Galaxy Core Advance will be making it to the UK, although "availability (and price) will be announced in due course."
Once upon a time there was only one firm on the lips of any business' IT team when it came to company phones – BlackBerry (formerly known as Research In Motion or RIM).
BlackBerry is still a big player in the enterprise market but the rest of the pack is hot on its heels, with the likes of Apple, Samsung, Nokia and HTC all eager to get a piece of the business pie.
In no particular order, here are the top 10 smartphones for business use and business users:
BlackBerry Z30
We're kicking off our top 10 with the latest handset from the firm once synonymous with business handsets – the BlackBerry Z30.
BlackBerry has always been a firm favourite in the business arena, but recently people have begun switching en masse to Apple and Android offerings.
The Z30 builds on the BlackBerry Z10 which was used to launch the firm's BlackBerry 10 operating system, aimed at winning back the business market with an excellent messaging hub.
Offering up a larger, 5-inch fully touch display the Z30 is a more convenient size (compared to the Z10) for many, allowing you to get more information on screen at once. The big advantage with the BlackBerry Z30 is its excellent support for business users.
IT departments can take control of the handset using BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES 10), with security provided by BlackBerry itself ensuring all your emails and messages are fully encrypted.
The Z30 has a feature known as BlackBerry Balance which allows you to flip quickly between work and personal profiles on the handsets, allowing you to keep the two separate with work controlling the business side while you have full control over your own area.
More and more businesses are turning to Apple's smartphone offerings, and while it produces great looking, powerful devices, they certainly come at a price.
The iPhone 5S is the latest in Apple's line up, and while it only builds fractionally on the iPhone 5, it continues to turn heads in every circle.
Apple offers a wide range of enterprise resources on the iPhone 5S with support for SSL VPN and data protection APIs, enabling third party app makers to produce fully secure solutions.
There's even a fingerprint scanner hidden beneath the home key on the iPhone 5S, adding another layer of security to the handset.
On the topic of apps, the iPhone family is best placed when it comes to business focussed software, with thousands of applications available on the App Store aimed at making work easier - not to mention Apple's own suite of business software which is now available for free.
You also get Siri, your own personal digital assistant who listens to your voice and brings you whatever you need, from meeting reminders to the latest footy scores.
The iPhone 5S runs Apple's latest software, iOS 7, which features a fresh new look allowing it to keep pace with the rapidly evolving Android platform.
If your company has already upgraded to the iPhone 5, there really is now need to make the switch to the 5S, you're better off waiting for the iPhone 6 at least.
If you're looking for all round smartphone perfection look no further than the HTC One. It's only the third ever smartphone to pick up a coveted 5 star TechRadar rating, and it fuses superb design with excellent functionality.
It's not a business minded as the BlackBerry Z30, but the One's full metal body puts it up there with the iPhone 5S in terms of premium style and boardroom presence.
The full HD, 4.7-inch display is the most defined in this list and the punchy quad-core processor and 2GB of RAM ensures you'll never be short of power.
There are plentiful amounts of bells and whistles on the HTC One and the Android Jelly Bean operating system allows for a wealth of customisation - although HTC has heavily skinned it with its Sense overlay.
You may find that overlay gets in the way of core business functions, so it's worth checking out the HTC One before hand, but if the interface is manageable you'll be more than happy getting this out in meetings.
The Windows Phone 8 toting Nokia Lumia 925 turns up with Microsoft's backing, which will sound attractive to businesses that rely on the firm's Windows software for its computers.
Building on its predecessor, the Lumia 920, the Lumia 925 sports a premium metal chassis and slimmer design making it more manageable in hand and in your shirt pocket.
Unsurprisingly, Windows Phone 8 plays nicely with its computer-based brothers – although companies running Macs may want to opt for the iPhone instead.
The unfussy Live Tile display on the home screen keeps things simple, allowing you to access your emails, messages or call log quickly, and the intuitive interface makes it an easy system to learn.
The Lumia 925 has one of the largest screens in the current Windows Phone 8 line up at 4.5 inches, which comes in handy when viewing documents and long email chains.
Microsoft's fully functioning Office Suite for mobiles - something which is currently only available on Windows Phone – is installed on the handset, making last minute amendments on the way to a meeting easy.
It may not have the same wealth of apps as Android or iOS, but if you can cope with that you'll enjoy the Nokia Lumia 925's powerful offering.
Working on your smartphone can be problematic due to the restrictive screen size, but manufacturers are looking to ease the issues with supersized handsets.
The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 arrives with a huge 5.7-inch, full HD display and its very own S-Pen stylus, merging the line between smartphone and tablet.
If your business is creatively minded then you may find the accuracy of the S-Pen and the ability to draw a real advantage.
You can also annotate documents, emails and anything else on screen using the stylus, allowing you to provide instant feedback to colleagues.
Multitasking has always been tricky on smartphones, partly due to the screen size and the fact that it's not really possible to have two apps on screen at once.
Samsung has overcome this problem on the Galaxy Note 3 by allowing you to run two apps side by side on the screen, so you could be looking at the latest financials while tapping out a quick email to the shareholders.
Of course, the size of the handset may hamper some as it isn't the most pocket friendly of devices, nor is it the lightest.
Also, some of the applications, especially those designed for use with the S-Pen, are overly complicated in places so intensive training may be required for some staff.
Mobile operator O2 launched new 4G tariffs on Thursday for new and existing customers with specific packages for small businesses. The company also revealed that it had hit its LTE coverage ahead of schedule.
O2's 4G 'Refresh Airtime' tariffs start at £17 a month, coming with unlimited texts, minutes and 1GB of data. On top of this the mobile company has added £22 and £27 alternatives which offer 5GB and 8GB of data. The selection, which is available on pay monthly, lease and SIM only, does not include the price of the handset.
Small and medium-sized companies will have access to individual and shared 4G tariffs as well as 4G ready devices to help support their business and enable them to "do more on the move". O2 has also announced new 12 month SIM-only tariffs priced at £21, £26 and £31 respectively. What's more, existing 3G customers of O2 will be entitled to an upgrade to 4G at no extra cost.
"Unleash the possibilities"
General Manager of Marketing Phil Maple said, "We are committed to helping our customers unleash the possibilities of 4G, which is why we're introducing these new tariffs designed to give even more people the chance to experience the very best in mobile technology."
Following O2's launch of the 4G network on 29 August, the firm has reached its coverage target six weeks ahead of schedule. The service covers 14 cities and 130 surrounding towns, and now has more than 18 million users, almost a third of the UK population. "They can now experience the remarkable things O2 4G has to offer, thanks to the fastest network rollout in our history," said Maple.
O2's expansion of its 4G network sees it compete against rival operator Everything Everywhere, who launched the UK's first 4G mobile internet service in September last year.
New features for iPhone-toting drivers on the way?
The latest version iOS 7.1 Beta offers the biggest hint yet that Apple is preparing to roll out the anticipated iOS in the Car feature early next year.
Seeded to developers this weekend, the second beta for iOS 7.1, brings the option for users to turn on a 'Car Display' in the Restrictions panel of the Settings menu.
The iOS in the Car feature, according to reports, would allow iOS device owners to connect their device to the car's central console, in order to make use of the Maps, Messaging and Music.
The iOS interface would also appear on the car's built-in display, on compatible cars.
iPhone you can drive my car
The iOS 7.1 beta also features several other references to iOS in the Car, according to developers familiar with the update.
Other changes within the new beta release include more prominent positioning for Touch ID and Password settings, while the Command Centre now has a bounce animation.
There's no word yet on when Apple will roll out iOS 7.1 to users, but early 2014 would seem a safe bet.
Back in 2004, Linux was a considerably more technical world than it is today.
Even the more novice desktop flavours involved installation procedures, choosing tools, limited documentation and, at times, complex configuration. Though many of us dreamed of the power of Linux simplified for all, it was, by definition, a geeky domain.
Back in 2004 Canonical's distro came in one form: Ubuntu for the desktop. Nine years and 19 releases later, Ubuntu is overseeing a far more ambitious mission: to create a single converged operating system that runs across the desktop, phone, tablet and TV, as well as the cloud and the server. Of all of these platforms, right now the focus is very much on building the first version of the Ubuntu Phone.
Fortunately, due to the convergent nature of this business, the majority of this work benefits each of the other devices too. Ubuntu has always been a traditional Linux distro that pulled together a collection of open source projects and integrated them to make them work well together.
Although Ubuntu's core code was sourced in other projects - the Linux kernel, Gnome, X Window System and Libre Office - the integration work was complex. It involved bringing together all those disparate components, user interfaces, dependencies and more into a single consistent system.
Ubuntu quickly became the most popular desktop Linux distro and it attracted attention not just from the Ubuntu community, but from the mainstream media as well. The decisions Ubuntu made impacted on the wider Linux world almost as much as they did on the distro. The growth in Ubuntu also generated commercial interest. Before long, the four largest OEMs in the world were shipping Ubuntu pre-installed on their systems, and the introduction of Ubuntu Server was generating interest from server hardware manufacturers and service providers too.
Remember, this was back, largely, in the days when most hardware came in the form of desktops, laptops and servers. But then the market changed. With the arrival of increasingly powerful smartphones - largely driven by companies wanting a piece of Apple's pie - the hardware world started to evolve.
Before long, we had a new generation of netbooks, mobile internet devices and tablets. The mobile industry was hotting up and the hardware industry was exploring new avenues; it became obvious to Canonical that in order for Ubuntu to stay competitive, it needed to harness this new revolution, not merely dig its heels into the desktop and refuse to acknowledge change.
Promoting Unity
The start of Ubuntu's evolution into a new converged world was the introduction of the Unity desktop environment in late 2009. Shortly before it introduced Unity, Canonical had been exploring refinements and improvements to Ubuntu in the form of the messaging menu and new notifications. These changes were not merely engineering ideas promoted to shippable state, they were design-driven, user-tested features that solved many of the problems the developers had witnessed users experiencing.
These early refinements transitioned into a wider plan in the form of Unity, so named to deliver a unifying experience. Unity was intended to simplify the desktop, maximise screen real estate, and challenge many of the presumptions people had about the traditional Linux desktop world. Canonical continued to share work that contributed to the vision of one familiar interface that would work on multiple platforms.
Ubuntu for Android enabled a docked Android phone to boot a full Ubuntu desktop. Much of this work was possible due to Canonical's close relationship with Linaro, an organisation that consolidates and optimises open source Linux software, ensuring that the Ubuntu archive could run on ARM devices.
Ubuntu TV demonstrated the design principles of Unity applied to television, but the convergence story really kicked off in January, when Canonical announced Ubuntu for phones, quickly followed by Ubuntu for tablets. With Ubuntu available side-by-side for comparison on a desktop, phone, tablet and TV, the convergence was visible and intriguing for onlookers, particularly at the Mobile World Congress (MWC), where the entire vision was exhibited.
Phones 4 Ubuntu
One of the unique features of the Ubuntu phone is that it doesn't require any buttons on the front. Instead, you swipe the edge of the screen to access different features. After pressing the Power button, a swipe of the left edge of the screen brings up the familiar Unity launcher with a stacked collection of icons to load different applications. As with the desktop, these icons collapse as you slide up and down to provide space for as many of your favourite applications as you like.
At the bottom of the launcher is an Ubuntu button, which unlocks the phone and takes you to the Home view. In much the same way as the Dash works on the desktop, there are different views (called Master Scopes) for Home, Apps, Music and Video. Each of these scopes provides access to content either on your devices, in the cloud, or available to purchase. Sliding left and right jumps between these different content types and you can then slide up and down to browse, tap an item to view more information or view/buy/download.
This functionality is subtle but important: it integrates content right into the phone. You no longer need to load an application to access your music, videos or apps - they're all right there at the core of the phone. If you load an application, such as Gallery which shows your photos and videos, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen to access that app's functionality. For example, if you're viewing a photo, an upwards swipe will show options such as Edit or Share.
The HUD works in much the same way as it does on the desktop, except instead of pressing Alt, a long upwards slide brings up a small search icon that you can use to see the phone's equivalent HUD functionality. If you now open a variety of applications, such as the browser, gallery and camera app, the right edge comes into play.
Swiping from the right switches between the different open applications. This makes multitasking as simple as a swiping from the right to the left of the screen. On the tablet, sliding out from the right edge shows the side stage, which enables you to run phone applications within a smaller window and be able to easily interact with tablet applications (such as dragging content from the tablet web browser and saving it in the note-taking app in the side stage).
The top and final edge of the screen is where you configure the phone's most common parts. In much the same way as you have the indicators in the top bar on the Ubuntu desktop, you have the same indicators on the phone; sliding down from the top screen lets you navigate between them and view controls for configuring those items. As an example, you can select a wireless network, change the volume, adjust power settings, and more.
As with the Ubuntu desktop the messaging menu is also present. This little envelope icon lights up when you receive a text message, Facebook/Twitter direct message, missed call, or other content. All of your messages are in one place and when you select a message you can respond from within the messaging menu. This means that you can reply to messages without having to load a separate app or even exit an existing one.
Another dimension
The development of Ubuntu across these devices has not only involved producing a single and consistent design experience in Unity but also a great deal of convergence and unification at the software level too. Traditionally the Unity that has shipped on Ubuntu Desktop has been the Unity 7 codebase, written using Compiz and the Nux toolkit (the latter designed and built specifically for Unity).
The new converged Unity is being rewritten using the popular Qt QML framework. This codebase is known as Unity 8. Importantly though, there is not a different Unity for each device form-factor. Instead there's a single Unity codebase that displays the appropriate user interface depending on the screen size and configuration of the device. As an example, if you take Unity 8 and run it on a device with the dimensions of a phone, you will see the phone experience. If you then widen the same instance of Unity 8 to the dimensions of a tablet, you will see the tablet experience. Likewise, the same will happen for desktop dimensions.
This has a few notable benefits. Firstly, when a bug is fixed or performance is further improved in Unity 8 it instantly applies to all form-factors. Secondly, it means that Unity can easily and effectively switch between these user interfaces when required. As an example, you might want to take your Ubuntu phone and plug it into a monitor with an HDMI cable and then see the Ubuntu desktop experience. This means that although much of the work going on right now is getting Unity ready for the phone, all of that work ultimately benefits all of the different form-factors.
Another important piece in the stack is the Mir display server. Mir provides a next-generation replacement for the ageing X Window System that has been in commission for the past 25 years or so. Although some were disappointed that Unity didn't move to Wayland, the choice of building Mir was born out of creating something lighter than Wayland in terms of breadth of features and more orientated towards these multiple devices.
Taking it for a test drive
If you have a Galaxy Nexus or Nexus 4 phone and want to give Ubuntu for phones a whirl, you first need to understand that it is unfinished software. You should back up any data and applications you need as Ubuntu is going to replace it with a new operating system. Fortunately, you can revert to Android if you need to later (albeit, without your original data, hence the back-up!).
You now need to unlock the device (if your device is unlocked you can skip this). With the device powered off, power on the device by holding the Power button + volume up + volume down. The device will boot into the bootloader.
Now plug the device into your computer via the USB cable. On your computer, press Ctrl+Alt+T to start a terminal and type:
sudo fastboot oem unlock
Now on the device screen, accept the terms of unlocking. Your device is now unlocked!
Now boot the device by pressing the Power button (pointed by an arrow with Start on the screen). Next, you need to enable USB debugging. This varies depending on which version of Android you are running:
Ice Cream Sandwich (version 4.0): Go to Settings and turn on USB Debugging (Settings > System > Developer options > USB debugging).
Jelly Bean (versions 4.1 and 4.2): Enter Settings, About [Phone|Tablet] and tap the Build number 7 times to see the Developer Options.
On either Android version you must then enable USB debugging via Settings > Developer options > USB debugging. You should now accept a host key on the device. On the computer type:
adb kill-server adb start-server
Depending on the installed Android version, a pop-up will appear on the device with the host key that needs to be accepted for the device to communicate with the computer. Now save the version of the current image on the device as a reference to revert back to. The version can be found by going to Settings > About Phone > Build Number. Fortunately you only need to run through that unlocking process once.
Now you can install the Ubuntu phone image to the device easily by just running phablet-flash. The latest version of Ubuntu phone will now be downloaded and automatically installed to the device. When it is complete the phone will automatically boot into Ubuntu phone.
If you have your SIM card in the phone you should be able to make calls, receive text messages, and use the other features of the phone. As the engineering team works hard to have a first cut of Ubuntu for phones ready by October, this is a story you are sure to want to keep an eye on - you might even want to grab a spare phone so you can have a play about with it.
Although there is a long road ahead, the journey has already been rewarding... who knows what the future holds?
