Android

Apple’s chief counsel is ‘field marshal’ in Android battle

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

If Apple's "thermonuclear war" on Android had a leader, it would be Noreen Krall, chief litigator for the Cupertino, Calif. iPhone maker. Indeed, Bloomberg's profile of Krall describes her as Apple's legal "field marshall."

"Krall has become a familiar sight in courtrooms around the world as Apple’s chief litigation counsel," Bloomberg writes. Even before Apple won a $1.05 billion patent-infringement decision (now being appealed) against Samsung, Krall thanked junior members of the legal team for all the hard work...

Report: Malware targeting Russian smartphones 40 times more than US

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated February 22, 2018

All smartphones are not created equal -- at least in the eyes of malware authors. A smartphone in Russia is 40 times as likely to be infected by malware than the same iPhone or Android handset in the U.S., according to security researchers.

Product manager Derek Halliday of mobile security expert Lookout tells All Things Digital the 40-to-1 difference represents "a pretty massive gulf."

Insiders say Amazon could unveil smartphone tomorrow

Cody Lee ∙ September 5, 2012

We're nearing the end of the two-week run of product announcements leading up to Apple's iPhone event. Last week, Samsung unveiled its Galaxy Note 2. And today, both Nokia and Motorola showed off new hardware.

Tomorrow, Amazon will play the final opening act with a media event in Los Angeles, where it's expected to unveil a handful of new Kindle tablets. But according to a new report, it may have a few surprises up its sleeves...

Android marches: 480M devices, 1.3M daily activations, 70,000 tablets per day

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 5, 2012

Google chairman Eric Schmidt shared some headline-grabbing updates related to the Android platform during today's unveiling of the refreshed Razr family by Motorola Mobility, now a Google division. Most notably, we learned that Google now counts a whopping 480 million Android devices in the wild.

That's a cool 80 million units improvement over a total of 400 million activations announced at Google I/O on June 27-28 of this year. Yes, Android smartphones and tablets collectively outsell all iOS devices combined. Afraid? Don't be, Google actually beat Apple on that metric back in June.

Daily activations surged from a million Android devices back in June to today's number of 1.3 million daily activations. No matter how you look at it, that's a very, very impressive figure, one proving there's no shelter from the Android carpet bombing. But what about tablets?

Motorola unveils new flagship handset: the Droid Razr HD

Cody Lee ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Motorola just wrapped up its "On Display" event in New York City, and as expected, it had some new hardware to show off. The company unveiled the Droid Razr HD, the Droid Razr Maxx HD, and the Droid Razr M.

With a subsidized price of $99, the Razr M is the cheaper of the three handsets. It has a 4.3-inch display and runs on Verizon's LTE network. Then there were the stars of the show: the Razr HD and Razr Maxx HD...

New survey shows 1 in 3 US smartphone owners have an iPhone

Cody Lee ∙ September 4, 2012

Android handsets started really picking up steam in late 2009 with the release of the Motorola Droid. Shortly after that, Google's mobile platform took over the smartphone industry and it has since controlled around 50% of the US market.

But Apple hasn't taken the challenge lying down. Thanks to its iPhone 3GS-4-4S lineup covering all price points, and its new partnerships with several smaller carriers, Apple's handsets now account for a healthy 30% of the same US market...

Angry Birds spinoff Bad Piggies arrives September 27 for iOS, Android and Mac

Christian Zibreg ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

Two months ago, we learned that Finnish developer Rovio is working on a new Angry Birds pig game said to be focused on the piggies and slated for release just in time for the pre-holiday rush. Then last week, Rovio posted a teaser that offered a few glimpses into the upcoming game that turns the formula on its head by challenging you to to protect the eggs you’ve grabbed from the birds. Today, Rovio released a few more details and confirmed that Bad Piggies (that's the official title) will be released for iOS, Android and the Mac on September 27...

Can a bigger iPhone stop the march of jumbo-sized Androids?

Christian Zibreg ∙ September 3, 2012

Unless you've been sleeping under a rock for months, you're aware that Android handsets have been gobbling up market share just about everywhere.

Everywhere except in the United States, that is, where Android phones declined by 4.5 percent as iOS grew by nearly nine percent year-to-year, per latest data from market research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, the WPP-owned market analysts.

Android is big in Europe and has been growing its share steadily in other markets over the past three months, mostly exceeding the fifty percent share mark and in some countries even approaching total domination.

This surge in Android's popularity has been seemingly led by jumbo-sized devices with screens sizes measuring four and a half inches diagonally and up. Considering that market share appears to favor the trend toward bigger smartphones, Apple has no doubt chosen the right time to release an iPhone with a bigger screen. Or has it?

Report: Apple using MacBook supplier AU Optronics and LG Display for iPad mini display

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

As we get closer to the expected October launch of Apple's "iPad mini," details are emerging about how the Cupertino, Calif. company is reshaping its supplier base in the face of growing demand for handheld devices. AU Optronics, which made MacBook displays, is now building parts for the smaller iPad, Bloomberg reports Friday.

LG Display is also among the suppliers for the smaller tablet, according to Bloomberg.

Amazon: Kindle Fire owns 22% of US tablet sales

Ed Sutherland ∙ Updated April 10, 2018

Amazon's Kindle Fire owns 22 percent of the US tablet market, the online retail giant announced Thursday. The figure comes as Amazon preps to likely announce a new tablet next week, along with girding to take-on Google's $199 Nexus 7 device.

According to Amazon, "in just nine months, Kindle Fire has captured 22 percent of sales in the US," PaidContent reports. Accustomed to being fed amorphous Kindle marketing stats like "a lot" and "most in our history," the concreteness of the announcement was surprising. However, after the initial shock, there began questions, like 22 percent of what?

Apple victory already seen affecting Samsung devices resale value

Cody Lee ∙ Updated January 25, 2016

While everyone is trying to figure out how Apple's recent court victory over Samsung will affect the smartphone market, the ruling is already making a fairly significant impact in the resell space.

The folks over at Gazelle, a popular gadget reseller, say they've noticed a a 50% increase in Samsung handsets since the ruling. And the surge in availability has negatively affected their resell price....

Samsung unveils new Galaxy Note 2 phablet, Android camera

Cody Lee ∙ Updated March 19, 2019

Samsung took the stage today at the annual IFA show in Berlin, Germany to unveil a slew of new devices. The keynote was the first in a long line of scheduled product announcements leading up to Apple's September 12 iPhone event.

Among the new gadgets Samsung debuted this morning was the long-rumored Galaxy Note II. The device follows up a fairly successful Galaxy Note, which had the internals of a smartphone and the form factor of a mini tablet.

And now, it's even bigger...