Android

Apple Gives Samsung List of Workarounds for Design Patents

Cody Lee ∙ December 2, 2011

Unless you've been living under a rock for the last 6 months, chances are you're aware of the ongoing feud between Samsung and Apple. It all started with Apple filing a patent infringement suit against the Korean company for copying its product designs.

The lawsuits have turned out to be a nightmare for Samsung, as the company has been banned from selling its Galaxy tablet in multiple countries, including Germany and Australia. Apparently, Samsung could have avoided all of this with a few, simple design changes...

War for Market Share vs. War for Profits

Sébastien Page ∙ December 1, 2011

Business Insider's Dan Frommer published an interesting article this morning titled "Why the iPhone's market share war with Android actually matters." In his piece, Frommer is spot on when he explains that gaining market share is important because this is what will build the dominant mobile platform for the next decade.

Historically, Apple never cared much about market share. Sure, it's happy when it's gaining slices of a market, but Apple is all about profitability and brand value. When Google makes $10/year from each Android user, Apple makes about $300 per iPhone sold. At this rate, it's not surprising that even though Apple may have a small share of the smartphone market, it's still owning about 50% of the entire industry's profits...

Carrier IQ’s Creepy User-Tracking Software Found in iOS, Here’s How to Turn it Off

Cody Lee ∙ Updated December 28, 2016

Over the last couple of days, there has been a lot of talk around the web regarding Carrier IQ. The company makes user-tracking software for Android, BlackBerry, and Symbian handsets that secretly logs keystrokes, text messages, and other data.

Initially, the program was thought to be exclusive to the above-mentioned operating systems, so we didn't feel the need to report on it. But chpwn, a well-known developer of jailbreak apps, has recently found Carrier IQ's software hidden within iOS...

Meet Siri’s Competition on Android: Cluzee

Alex Heath ∙ Updated August 24, 2016

Android has its own Siri, at least that is what the creators of Cluzee would like you to believe. The new app is even called your "intelligent personal assistant," and Cluzee tries to mimic many features that Siri users will recognize, including the ability to dictate text in emails and set up appointments using natural, everyday language.

Cluzee is a third party service for Android, meaning that it isn't backed by Google. The service looks to work exactly like Siri, but the voice commands that Cluzee recognizes are much more limited than Apple's technology.

RIM to Offer Enterprise Tools for iPhone and Android

Oliver Haslam ∙ Updated March 9, 2016

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. That's the approach BlackBerry maker Research In Motion is taking with its ailing smartphone market. The company has announced that it will be offering an easy way to get iPhones and Android users plugged into its enterprise tools.

The move by the once-dominant force in the business smartphone industry illustrates the relevance that Apple and Google have made in a sector that was almost entirely owned by RIM not that long ago.

Perhaps more importantly, this may well be the first sign of RIM trying to move away from offering hardware, in an attempt to concentrate on the software and security their past successes were built on.

HTC Loses Money Thanks to Struggling Economy and Competition From Apple and Samsung

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Out of all of the Android manufacturers, perhaps no other company has benefited from Google's mobile operating system more than HTC. The Taiwanese handset-maker created some of the world's first smartphones, and the company has really taken off since Android hit.

In fact, HTC has been nearly unstoppable since it launched the first Android handset back in 2008, experiencing a sales growth streak that spanned nearly two years. But in the face of stiff competition and an ailing economy, its streak has finally come to an end...

iPhone Owners Are More Loyal Than Android Owners

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 25, 2011

We love our iPhones here at iDB, and even if we do play with an Android or Windows Phone 7 device here and there, we always come back to our iDevices without fail.

According to a new study by research firm GfK, we're not the only ones captivated by our fruity phones. The report claims that of the survey's 4,500 participants across Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Brazil, China, the United States, and Japan, 84% of current iPhone owners said they would buy another iPhone in the next twelve months.

That number drops to a comparatively low 60% for Android users...

Buffy, the Facebook Phone

Sébastien Page ∙ November 21, 2011

This is not the first time we've heard rumors of Facebook working on a Facebook phone, but it seems that things are now starting to take shape.

After years of considering how to best get into the phone business, Facebook has tapped Taiwanese cellphone maker HTC to build a smartphone that has the social network integrated at the core of its being.

Code-named “Buffy,” after the television vampire slayer, the phone is planned to run on a modified version of Android that Facebook has tweaked heavily to deeply integrate its services, as well as to support HTML5 as a platform for applications, according to sources familiar with the project.

Read the full article at AllThingsD.

90% of the Money Spent on Mobile Apps Comes From the App Store

Oliver Haslam ∙ November 21, 2011

With the iPad coming under scrutiny as the competition begins its latest assault on Apple's tablet dominance, new figures suggest that the iPad may still be the best bet for those looking to make a living out of making tablet-based apps.

Piper Jaffray Senior Research Analyst Gene Munster has written in a research note released Monday that Apple's iPad still accounts for between 85% and 90% of the money spent on mobile applications.

The news comes as Android moves into a new era thanks to the release of Ice Cream Sandwich, the release which Google hopes will combine the tablet and smartphone software in a way similar to the iPad and iPhone. Munster's claims show that Android may still be suffering from an old issue: Android users just don't seem to buy apps as much as iOS users...

Apple Claims it Could Lose $2.7 Billion in Motorola Lawsuit

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

Earlier this month, a German court awarded Motorola Mobility a temporary injunction against Apple for infringing on its intellectual property. An injunction, in this sense, can prevent a company from selling its products in the area in which it's granted.

But the decision was made against Apple Inc., which doesn't actually sell products in Germany. Motorola also filed a lawsuit against Apple Germany. And the outcome of this case could cost the company some serious financial losses...

Ask Jeff: Episode X

Jeff Benjamin ∙ November 21, 2011

In the 10th episode of Ask Jeff, I tackle questions pertaining to iPhone theming, iPhone 4S battery solutions, Android tablets, how to attach items to emails, and much, much more.

It's hard to believe it's already been 10 episodes, but time flys when you have tons of interesting questions to mull over. Check inside to tune in to episode 10, and be sure to think of some good questions for the next episode...

How the iPhone 4S Stacks Up Against Competition

Cody Lee ∙ November 19, 2011

For those of you who are in the market for a new smartphone, or recently bought one and want to know how yours stacks up against the competition, you'll be happy to hear that the folks over at AnandTech have done some research that you might find useful.

They've performed a series of benchmarks with all of the latest smartphones, including the new Google Galaxy Nexus, to see which handset is the fastest of them all. The tests include JavaScript loading, GPU loading, and browser speed. And the results may surprise you...