Tag Archives: mobile phones

Flash did turn out to be Adobe’s Achilles’ Heel

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Adobe’s decision to halt the development of Flash Player on the Mobile came as a blow to the company’s 2+ year long commitment. They almost went to war with Apple to protect it. And now this. Adobe’s shift in focus from Flash to HTML5 for Mobile Browsers was taken keeping most developers out of focus. It has left them stranded.

What happens now? Adobe says despite discontinuing development they will continue to release bugs and security updates. That’s all for the show. They will drop support for all future device upgrades. This is a rash decision and disrupts the developer ecosystem who were dependent on Flash for mobile integration.

Adobe tried hard implementing Flash into mobiles but performance reports showed poor results. It almost led to diverging of the mobile development, which either for-sided flash or not. This was yet again, not in anyone’s favor. Flash, as Jobs said, was made for the PC-Era. It couldn’t  adapt to the newer standards. It altogether needed a replacement and a gradual shift but continuous upgrades to same old thing wouldn’t do the trick. Adobe failed to understand it and the reason too is clear, it was and is (On Desktops) its cash cow.

They decide to channelize their advancements onto HTML5, the newest open standard for web development. As the market changed, media consumption habits altered and as everything moved to faster performance – Adobe slogged. The Cost was high. Today, the entire brand identity is at stake. Obviously, by letting mobile phones go away, it’s already running a race to lose. Who would want to develop applications for Flash despite its great features if it offers no reliability. Who would want to waste their hardwork?

This would shake any developer’s faith in Flash on ANY platform. How can you suddenly stop supporting a widely distributed client for the newer devices with one blog post? The last two decades, when closed standards were treated with respect, Flash rose to power. Now it’s time that industry moves to Open Standards like HTML5, CSS and Javascript which offer more reliability and if not provide features like Flash but at least turn out to viable alternatives (for now).

There are several reasons why Flash failed.

  • It didn’t garner support from Apple. They hold a lot of Mobile Market Share. A lot of.
  • It really wasn’t that good. Performance sucked and it didn’t go with the concept of newer devices.
  • It had a premium tag for its developer tools. Premium tag for making something while you could run the same trick with Open Standards turned out a price too high to pay for Adobe.
With Flash going, the industry that suffers the most is Gaming. Zynga built an entire platform on Flash, it is now going to have a tough time. Even the newer standards don’t support something that advanced as of yet. What’s the only option left to developers is to start focusing on making native apps for the Mobile OS’s. This step will of course be readily be welcomed by phone companies who desperately want to expand their App Stores.
Conclusion is that this move is going to cost Adobe everything. ABI Research data suggests that HTML5 adoption on mobile devices will be 2.1 Billion in 2016. Flash could have been there but now it will not.

Top 25 rumors for iPhone 5 : A Comprehensive rumor list for the next iPhone

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iPhone 5

All Possible Rumors for the upcoming iPhone 5, the successor to the current iPhone 4.

  1. Better Camera – iPhone 4 had a camera of 5 megapixel while iPhone 5 is expected to have about 8 megapixel camera.
  2. Home Button – Home Button is set to disappear? (What? – That means some innovation could be expected to replace it)
  3. Screen – Screen of iPhone 5 is set to have a diagonal length of 5 inches.
  4. Resolution – The wider screen means Resolution of course is better.
  5. Design – The Design is somewhat the same but the metal brush finish at the back could be replaced by glass and maybe inspired by iPad 2?
  6. Model – A white model maybe launched (Would it really make a difference?)
  7. Physical Keyboard – Physical Keyboard can be expected (99% chances are no, but you never know it’s Apple you’re dealing with!)
  8. High Storage – A 64 GB model can be introduced (Stands a higher probability because a prototype was leaked before)
  9. Video Recording – It may have a facility of HD recording.
  10. Cost Factor-A low cost model may be introduced (That’s what we’re waiting for)
  11. 3D Display – With the rise of 3D era, 3D camera’s 3D screens already on some android devices, iPhone could also get 3D
  12. Better Battery – The battery life of this phone can be long lasting (Like always).
  13. CDMA Model- It may have a CDMA facility.
  14. 2 Sim Card Slots – It may have a Dual Sim facility like many other Samsung’s (I don’t think this could rather be happening)
  15. NFC Technology – It may have Near Field Communication technology. If you don’t know what it is, head on here.
  16. A5 processor- As iPad 2 has A5 processor so iPhone 5 is most likely to have it. (Like what happened with iPad and iPhone 4)
  17. RAM – It will rock a 1GB ram, upgrading from it predecessor iPhone 4 which has 512 Mb ram.
  18. HDMI Output – New HDMI output with 1080p HD support (Which is unlikely again because of few business reasons)
  19. 4G/LTE-   iPhone 5 can be compatible with 4G/LTE technology that Verizon brought in.
  20. Enhanced Voice Control – With new IOS 5 the existing controls could be enhanced and new ones added.
  21. Availability - It can be available in June,July or September (September being more likely)
  22. iTunes Cloud – This could be launched with maybe Mobile Me revamp or something like that.
  23. Airsync – The ability to sync with iTunes without wires i.e over the air. Could use a jumble of NFC technology?
  24. Voice Recognition – It may have support for Voice Recognition technology (somewhat like that on Microsoft’s Kinect?)
  25. iOS 5 – iOS being launched with the iPhone 5 with many new features and improvements.
  26. Stay tuned to Etiole.com or subscribe our blog’s RSS or Email to stay updated on iPhone 5!

Inspired by NoWhereElse.

Sony’s Rumored PlayStation Phone nears reality : Gaming gone wrong

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If Engadget is to be believed and the rumors blowing are true, this is what the upcoming PlayStation Phone is going to look like.

Immediate reaction : Don’t buy. The design is ridiculous, a bulky perhaps massive compared to its sleek competitors in the market. It is rumored to sport a 3.7 – 4.4 inch screen with multitouch, which is good. The sliding keyboard does more bad than good to the design.

What you see up, is exactly where gaming is going the wrong. The ancient Playstation buttons the X,O ones and the arrows are complete mismatch in this generation. The whole device appeals to me that it’s another chinese handset running on android and has got couple of games. Or perhaps, an Experia with a sliding keyboard.

I would rather buy HTC’s Desire HD which is faster than this phone (786 Mb Ram) while having almost the same config as this phone. Plus, the Desire looks way better than the one we’re talking about here. 1 Ghz SnapDragon (2nd Gen) Processor, 1 GB ROM, 5 MegaPixel Camera. The PS phone has got a addition touchpad in between and will showcase a custom Sony Game Store.

It’s speculated to run Android 2.2 for now but will hopefully launch with 2.3 (Gingerbread) version of Android. I can’t imagine carrying this phone with me and sliding the “stylish” device and playing games. I would rather play paper toss on iPhone. This phone somehow reminds me of Nintendo’s GameBoy, Yes a revised version of GameBoy with tons of open source and software layering and a neat price tag.

It’s quite disappointing to see this phone. We could have got something more sleeker, faster and something unique. This phone is not worthy of being bought, it doesn’t do justice to it’s grandfathers, the PlayStations.

What I finally make out of this is : Either this is a fake representation of the model as Sony can’t possibly go so bad or else, this will be the first and last Playstation phone if it enters market.

Nokia N8 : Was it too l8?

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Nokia’s shining with it’s latest device, N8 which managed to reach upto the expectations of Bloggers. It’s got awful lot of features trapped inside that shady looking device.

I think the only reason why i would ever buy the device would be the camera. It’s got 12 Megapixel (though it does not affect the quality much) and a much larger sensor compared to the rest of the mobile camera lineups. It’s got 720p HD recording, Xenon Flash and has awesome set of image editing tools. It has a 3.5 inch capacitive touchscreen with complete support for mulitouch, the pinch and zoom feature permitted in the browser and image galleries too.

Symbian^3 is not some great deal of innovation with 3 home screens with organizable widgets but the only factor that makes it a winner is the speed unless stuffed with data on the flash chips which later turn menu’s sluggish. The battery life is “way” better than the rest of the Nokia lineup and supports music playback upto two days!

It’s got a HDMI adapter too which attaches itself to your home theatre to provide a jolly experience while watching videos. The phone is also the first to support Dolby Digital Plus which makes it a rockstar if you are looking for a media phone. N8 pulls television content from providers like CNN, Paramount or National Geographic and the quality is decent enough. It’s running on 680MHz with 256 mb of Ram. Few Videos with Nokia N8 below.

The infamous N8 Commercial

Microsoft : Kin is the new Kid

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Microsoft’s latest shot on cellphones, the Kin One and Two. These phones are targeted to those social networking savvy kids, who don’t spend an hour without updating their Facebook or Twitter status (includes me, sort of).

First let’s talk about the hardware which has been prepared by SHARP. Kin One is a compact slider which has a 5 MegaPixel camera with LED flash, shoots SD video, Mono Speaker, Slide out compact keyboard, Multitouch, 4 GB inbuilt memory. Kin Two is slightly larger in size than Kin One but resembles most of it, it’s equipped with a 8 megapixel camera with LED Flash, shoots HD video, Stereo Speaker, a slide out keyboard (can be used  for two handed texting) and it’s got 8 GB of inbuilt memory. Wifi, Bluetooth and 3G cellular radios come packed with the Phone.

The hardware is not of much talk over here because the main game changer is the software. Both the phones are Windows Phones, and are based on the Windows Phone 7 core but the most striking thing here is how it has been modified. You might find traces of the OS on the Kin’s in Zune too. The Kin’s are packed with three prominent features which will surely excite a lot of Social Media crazy teens, Kin Spot, Kin Loop and Kin Studio.

Kin Spot is a dot in the lower portion of the screen. You go to any web page, or check any photo or video, maps, statuses, contacts or anything. Just drag it into the Spot, and the spot will do the work of sharing it with your friends. Just drag it and drop it in the spot, then select the method to share – MMS or Email. Done! Quickest way to get share the stuff you want to.

This is something that resembles the Moto-Blur feature, Kin Loop drags all the content from your friends timeline from Facebook. Myspace, Windows Live and all other social networks into one single stream. You can make a favorites too to stay updated with what your favorites are doing. The Interface resembles a lot of Zune.

The stupendous feature that could be a major factor for Kin’s sale could be Kin Studio. All content on the phone can be synced with the cloud, all photos, videos, contacts, messages are crazily connected to the cloud. It’s like your phone’s online version which can be accessed from any browser and the online interface seriously rocks! You have a whole timeline of your phone online and you can scroll across the timeline to see your phone’s content exactly how it was on the selected date.

The Media player is zune powered, and so you can easily sync your library on your Windows with your Phone. Along with that we have also been promised that there will be a Mac Compatible software out too soon which will allow you to access and sync your iTunes library. The devices also support over the air updates for firmware like most other devices these days. The Worse part, no support for third party apps.

The thing to love about the device is the cloud storage. You don’t need to worry about storage on your cellphone because whatever you do, goes to the cloud which with the vast storage is a true game changer. Also the stylish interface for accessing the data is just ne plus ultra.

The devices will be available in May in US with Verizon and in UK with Vodafone. Regarding the pricing, we would be disappointed if they are priced above $150.

Symbian^4 makes a debut : Seriously, not what we expected

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Symbian^3 was shown up at the Mobile World Congress at Barcelona and here we are greeted with demo videos for Symbian^4 which surely leave us disappointed a lot.

It’s been hyped a lot, and especially after Windows Phone 7 Series, we expect a lot from the newer and upcoming operating systems. It did not live upto expectations. We were expecting a breakthrough in mobile OS with some unique innovation but guess what we got? Three home screens which are widget ready. They have kept the touch sensitiveness very high and this OS revolves all around it.

What is surprising is that after so much hype and time, we get this? We were expecting something better. Nokia, you’ve got to work real hard! The videos we’ve got are extremely short, like about 30 seconds but enough to give a glimpse of what’s going to be out there. This comes into production in early 2011.

HTC Desire : Makes more SENSE than Nexus one?

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HTC today at the Mobile World Congress, threw many Android phones into the wild and one of them being Desire. It’s not something revolutionary but it is a promising device though.

Desire is a “smart” looking smartphone and it is possible that you could have read these features earlier in the Google Nexus One review too. This gadget is equipped with Android 2.1, a 3.7 inch AMOLED Screen (480×800 pixel resolution), 1 GHz SnapDragon chips, 512MB ROM and 576MB of RAM, GPS, WiFi and tons of other same features as Nexus One. It carries a 5 Megapixel camera with Autofocus and Flash too. This device also brings native flash support 10.1.

The one most distinguishing feature in Desire which sets it apart from Nexus One is lack of trackball in the front and Desire features a Sense UI. The Sense UI gives the existing Android a WebOS like feel. It divides the screen into widgets and Multiple side-scrolling homescreen panes and draws live contents from Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.

Nokia makes mobile navigation completely free with 180 countries supported!

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Nokia is coming after Google Maps with the latest announcement of making Ovi Maps completely free to provide step by step and driving directions and they promise you, to expect No Additional Charges!

This is a strategic move that will be the game-changer for the industry

says D Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India. This truly could be? I mean remember the time when they added camera’s to Nokia phones and they soon became the largest producers of camera’s in the world!

Nokia’s Ovi Maps has got a unique hybrid technology and essential features required for navigation. With this step, they make Navigation available to over 50 Million cellphones. Currently there are about 27 Million devices using navigation systems on their cellphones.

They would support Voice navigation for 76 countries in over 46 languages and maps for 180+ countries currently and expanding!

This would be a massive gear up against Google Maps as Nokia would have a advantage providing inbuilt systems for their navigation then Google maps as Nokia is selling more cellphones then Google.

Five key features that sets Ovi Maps apart:

1.      No hidden costs
Everything is free! Only data charges apply!

2.      Best global coverage
You take your mobile with you wherever you go in the world so, as standard, voice guided navigation for both pedestrians and drivers is available for 74 countries in 46 different languages and there are maps for over 180 countries. This gives you the best maps with the largest global coverage for free.

3. No network connection required when navigating
Avoid expensive, battery-draining network connections with Nokia’s unique hybrid technology. Maps can be pre-loaded on to your Nokia smartphone so you can set Ovi Maps to offline mode, saving battery power, and the navigation system will still work. This is particularly useful for those worried about data connection costs when travelling abroad or when you are travelling through areas with little or no network coverage. 

4.      Unique hybrid technology
Ovi Maps is built on an advanced technology called hybrid vector maps. Vector maps are high quality but less data intensive and allow you to continue to navigate even if you lose your network connection. This means that maps downloaded or updated across a network connection are about half the size of bulky bitmaps used by other mobile map providers. The hybrid technology ensures that, unlike other providers, any downloaded map data is stored on the device for future use.

Currently 10 smartphones are supported which include Nokia N97 mini, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic, Nokia E72. They will be adding more phones to the list. If your device is supported then you can get the maps here.

Press Release after break.

Nokia makes worldwide walk and drive navigation free on smartphones

ESPOO, FINLAND: Nokia today announced plans to make walk and drive navigation free on its smartphones as part of a new version of Ovi Maps, available for download at www.nokia.com/maps. Nokia’s mapping and navigation software has been specifically designed for mobile use and is based on unique hybrid technology. The new version of Ovi Maps will include all essential car and pedestrian navigation features, such as turn-by-turn voice guidance for 74 countries in 46 languages, and traffic information for over 10 countries, as well as detailed maps for over 180 countries.

“We want to make using your mobile for navigation as familiar as using it to send a text or take a picture. We believe that making the best maps with voice guided navigation available for free will be the catalyst to do this,” explained Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Nokia. “Why have multiple devices that work in only one country or region?  Put it all together, make it free, make it global and you have something that is truly useful and can help you get round almost any city in the world whether you’re on foot or driving.”

According to D Shivakumar, Managing Director, Nokia India, “This is a strategic move that will be the game-changer for the industry. We believe that offering the world’s best maps with full navigation features and premium content at no extra cost will be the catalyst that drives mass market and penetration of mobile maps in India.”

This move has the potential to nearly double the size of the current mobile navigation market. For Nokia, removing the costs associated with navigation for drivers and pedestrians allows the company to quickly activate a massive user base to which it can offer new location features, content and services. This is part of Nokia’s strategy to lead the market in mobile maps, navigation and location-based services. The move is also in line with Nokia’s vision that the next wave of growth will be centered on the location-aware, social internet — as the ‘where’ people are doing things becomes as important as the ‘what’ they are doing.

According to research firm Canalys, the number of people worldwide using GPS navigation on their mobile phones was approximately 27 million at the end of 2009. With this announcement Nokia potentially grows the size of this installed user base to about 50 million by enabling smartphone owners, with compatible devices and devices that will be made compatible shortly to activate free drive and walk navigation through a simple download of the new Ovi Maps. Nokia will further grow this base as it quickly adds more smartphones to the compatible devices list. Canalys also estimated in 2009 that the installed base of smartphones with integrated GPS was 163 million units worldwide, of which Nokia accounted for more than half (51%) having shipped  cumulatively  83 million GPS devices.

“This is a game changing move.  By leveraging our NAVTEQ acquisition, and our context sensitive service offering, we can now put a complete navigation system in the palm of your hand, wherever in the world you are, whenever you need it – and at no extra cost,” continued Anssi Vanjoki. “By adding cameras at no extra cost to our phones we quickly became the biggest camera manufacturer in the world. The aim of the new Ovi Maps is to enable us to do the same for navigation.”

Image Credit : Nokia Latino

Your mobile phone could have a 14.6 megapixel camera soon

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Here’s some great news for people who have always cried over their poor cellphone photo quality. OmniVision, who provides image sensors for current iPhones and is rumored to provide sensors for iPhone 4G has recently unveiled a 14.6 megapixel image sensor.

OmniVision announced OV14825 (weird and a difficult name) ,the image sensor which would shoot 1080p video at a whooping 60 frames per second!

This sensor would go low on battery life and is prepared to consume the least of energy. This would go for mass production mostly quarter two this year. Lets see which phone gets it first!

Image Credit – 3G phones and thanks Giz!

iPhone 4g with 5MP camera or Apple tablet with a 7 inch screen?

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Everything buzzing up. Rumours suggest that Apple is working on something. It maybe a larger, better iPhone with higher resolution or perhaps a Apple Tablet with 7″ Screen.

Let’s have a look over the possibilities,

iPhone 4G

Motorola’s Droid has a large screen along with Google’s Android 2.1. Lots of new features, especially the extra search features. Whoever said that, “Apple won’t ever add new features until it is forced by it’s competitors to do so” and so that goes true here.

iPhone OS 4.0

iPhone OS 4.0

Reports also confirm that OS 4.0 for iPhone also has been found in the wild by App developers under their statistics as in the case Pinch Media’s app.

5 Megapixel story stands true here because Apple had placed a huge order (40-50 Million) for Megapixel CMOS Image Sensors from Omnivision, the current provider for iPhone 3GS’s 3.2 Megapixel sensors.

iPhone 4G

iPhone 4G?

News is out that this new generation iPhone would be only shown at the January event but it will be finally kept on sale sometime later.

iPhone 4G is going to get a high resolution screen and a larger screen and as i said earlier, this is much needed or Apple will go BooHoo against the other competitors. Apple is selling large number of iPhone 3GS which is around 10 Million but this may halt down with competitors coming up with kickass phones, Palm Pre, Motorola Droid, HTC’s Droid Eris and many more!

Apple Tablet

Apple Tablet?

Apple Tablet?

This one may be near to reality than anything as BoyGeniusReport claims it that it has maximum chances to appear at the January Event.

This is supported by multiple rumours. First of all, Apple asking all it’s premium app developers to provide them with apps of higher resolution although this could also be the case of iPhone 4G.

While the rumors of a 10″ tablet was floating around, now it’s being said that its a 7″ tablet.

The tablet will be having a similar OS to that of iPhone and will be functioning exactly like it but with extended features along with better screen resolution obviously and few better apps, and maybe a front camera too which might bring Video conferencing finally to the device.

Finally

No one knows what maybe true. But i really want both of them to be true! Waiting…

Image Credits : iPhoneFreakz and InnovationinNewspapers

Sources : Mashable, Engadget, BoyGeniusReport, Onlygizmos, Gizmodo.