If you have been paying any kind of attention to the technology industry over the last week or so then you should be well aware about what is going on right now in the state of California. Two of the world’s largest technology companies, and the world's largest smartphone vendors, are involved in a legal wrangle that involves the alleged infringement of certain design patents, though which Apple is attempting to prove that they are due more than $2 billion in damages.
If we can manage to pull our eyes and attention away from the ongoing legal battle that is currently being disputed between Apple and Samsung, then it is worth noting that both companies have some new and exciting going on behind the scenes. Both companies are continually pumping their resources into the design and development of new products, and considering Samsung is currently the world’s largest smartphone vendor, with Apple in a close second, they are battling it out in the marketplace as well as the court rooms.
Apple and Samsung may be currently locked in a rather ugly trial centered around various alleged patent and design infringements, but that doesn't mean the owners of either company’s products needs to needlessly suffer. Samsung's Galaxy Tab 10.1 is one of the products that finds itself right in the middle of the ongoing dispute between the two technology giants, but even in the midst of all the legal wrangling, it still manages to find itself receiving a nice new software update which brings new and improved Android features.
We should all know by now that Apple and Samsung are locked in a trial centered around a patent infringement case that has been bubbling away for the better part of the last eighteen months. With various allegations being made from either side, the dispute is primarily focused on the alleged patent and design infringements, with Apple said to be looking for $2 billion in compensation from the Korean electronics giants. As is usually the case with trials that center around this kind of thing, nothing is ever straight forward with Samsung vehemently disputing the claims and making their own accusations aimed at Apple.
The fabulous Nexus 7 has only been released for a very short time and already it has managed to win over most of the doubters with its impressive specification and overall pleasurable user experience. The device itself feels like a premium build product, and the integration of Android 4.1.1 Jelly Bean provides the perfect companion quad-core Tegra 3 processor which Google and ASUS have packed under the hood.
Google paints its Wallet services as the future of shopping transactions, and using the power of NFC, or Near Field Communication, it has certainly shown much promise. The lack of a few important features is largely attributable to its infant state, but today, the Big G has given Wallet a pretty big update, offering support for all major credit and debit cards.
If you happened to walk into a store and saw the Nexus Q sitting on the shelf for sale, you might want to consult a salesperson to actually find out what the elegant black orb does. Unlike smartphones or tablets that lend their visuals to their functionality, or the Apple TV unit that gives away its function in the name, the Nexus Q is a visual enigma that hasn't really gotten the consumer technology world convinced.
The smartphone industry is one of the most fiercely contested in tech space, and although Windows Phone 8 will bring Microsoft well and truly into the fold, the battle is currently fought between Google's Android and Apple's iOS platforms.
Google means business with Android these days. That's not to say it didn't before, but since the company's Google I/O conference recently it has become clear that the people at Google are beginning to understand what it takes to make a premium smartphone. It's not apps, and it's not handsets. It's the feel of the operating system.
One of the great things about having devices like smartphones and tablets is the ability to constantly update the standard functionality of the gadget by downloading and installing additional apps which are available through marketplaces like the iOS App Store and Google's own software market, the Google Play Store. In some instances it is possible to acquire installations from other sources, but for the mainstream user, the official app hubs prove more than sufficient with over 1.2 million combined apps available on the two largest sales platforms.
