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Monday 21 March 2011

Survey Finds Android Users Love The Little Green Robot [ 21-03-2011 19:06 ]

Author: Irina Turina Source: PCWorld Translation by: Paul Smith

The world is awash with smartphone operating systems and whilst a lot of people don't care about them and are quite happy to use whatever is put in front of them there are equally a lot of people who very much do care about those differences. So much so that some users might be better described as 'fans' rather than users. Looking at this sort of behaviour British research firm ICM Research conducted a survey of 2,000 British adults using Android late last year and they have recently made their findings public.

One of the biggest questions to answer would be why people choose Android over other platforms. Answering that we have a wide range of responses from the 70% of people who said that Android offers better value for money than other platforms to the 48% who said Android is a better long term investment of their resources. 61% of those surveyed cited the wide range of handsets as a factor in choosing Android.

Interestingly though 45% said that they choose an Android handset because it used open source software. That figure is so interesting because it is so high. Open source has long been cited as a major benefit of Android, but many may have assumed that it was more of an esoteric point and that the bulk of Android users probably wouldn't care about it too much, with only hardcore geeks making it a selling point. The fact that 45% of those surveyed cite it as a reason to choose Android would suggest that it is in fact a pretty important factor.

Turning to apps, the bread and butter of the modern smartphone, 45% said the Market offers the widest range of apps and some 43% said that the apps available for Android were better than those found on other platforms. Both are significant figures since Android has tended to be viewed as playing second fiddle to iOS when it comes to apps. Mind you many responses also mentioned the need for better organisation of apps.

Crunch time came when those surveyed where asked if they would recommend Android with 67%, more than two thirds, saying yes they would. It makes for interesting, and for Google happy, reading seeing Android users, on the whole, seem to be pretty content with their lot

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AT&T and T-Mobile In $39 Billion Merger [ 21-03-2011 18:58 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: BBC Translation by: Paul Smith

The big news of the day is undoutedly the proposed merger between AT&T and T-Mobile USA, which Deutsche Telekom is selling for a reported $39 billion. If the merger goes ahead AT&T would become the single largest network in the United States with around a 43% share of the market.

Whilst Deutsche Telekom will gain cash and shares from AT&T, along with retaining an 8% share in the company, AT&T will gain access to T-Mobile USA's valuable spectrum capacity, a precious commodity as the American networks rush to 4G. That's an especially important point given that AT&T has repeatedly been compared unfavourably with its biggest rival Verizon in terms of the quality of its network.

It's far from a done deal though as regulators will almost certainly want to scrutinise the merger. One consumer rights group, Public Knowledge, has said that such a deal would mean "higher prices, fewer choices, less innovation". Another American network, Sprint, has also been voicing its concerns about the proposed merger, worrying about the size of the new company.

For its part AT&T is saying that the U.S. market is competitive and that prices have been falling in recent years. They are also suggesting that to approve the deal regulators might decide to force AT&T to sell some of its assets. Either way AT&T is hoping to have it all wrapped up within a year.

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Google Says China Blocking Gmail [ 21-03-2011 18:36 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: Reuters Translation by: Paul Smith

Google and China don't exactly have a great history together and in the latest twist Google has accused the Chinese government of blocking access to its Gmail email service. A Google spokesperson summed it up:

There is no issue on our side, we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.

Gmail users within China can apparently still login to their account, but they can't actually carry out tasks such as sending email or accessing contacts. In other words it's pretty much unusable.

The spat between Google and the Chinese government stretched back to early last year when Google drew a line in the sand by saying that it would no longer censor search results, a practice the Chinese government requires for terms it deems 'sensitive' such as 'democracy' or anything to do with HH The Dalai Lama. Then there was the alleged hack by the Chinese government of Gmail accounts used by human rights activists so it shouldn't really come as any surprise that Gmail is once again in the firing line.

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Samsung Focus Becomes Samsung Fricasee [ 21-03-2011 18:14 ]

Author: Ivanov Konstantin Source: BGR Translation by: Paul Smith

The Samsung Focus is under some scrutiny after one customer took to the AT&T forums armed with pictures showing his melted handset.

The man reported that his handset was constantly indicating that it was being charged and that to try and stop it he plugged it in to actually charge it. Within just 30 seconds of doing so he could smell the delightful aroma of burnt electronics and the charging port and the charger essentially melted.

Some might say that a power surge is to blame and that the handset itself was fine, but after having posted his story others then came forward saying they had seen similar issues with their own handsets albeit without the melting part. Either way the customer is probably not a happy bunny since AT&T have decided that the best way to handle this issue is to throw red tape at it and make the customer deal with some bureacracy before they will replace his handset.

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ZTE Not Making Windows Phones Any Time Soon [ 21-03-2011 18:05 ]

Author: Serge Novikov Source: IntoMobile Translation by: Paul Smith

ZTE may not be a name that you are familiar with, but they are in fact the 5th largest mobile phone manufacturer in the world. They mostly make handsets for other people who put their own branding on them though hence why may not have heard of them, but they are a big deal.

Being the world's 5th largest manufacturer it is important therefore when ZTE says that they have no plans to produce Windows Phone 7 handsets.Why the reticence? Well ZTE are saying that even though they do have some prototypes in the lab they feel there is simply no demand for Windows Phone 7 at the moment and that Microsoft has been less than successful in getting the message out about its new platform. Ouch!

Now that's not to say that ZTE won't release Windows Phone handsets at some point, but it does add to the chorus of naysayers who have been casting doubts on Microsoft's new platform. It wasn't all that long ago that LG were saying that the launch of Windows Phone hadn't been as successful as they had hoped for.

It's a blow for Windows Phone at the moment, but Microsoft can always console themselves with their recent Nokia partnership. After all who needs the 5th largest manufacturer when you have the 1st?

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