Thanks to the release of the iPhone 5 back in September, Apple has captured a 53 percent of the smartphone market in the United States - the very first time it has passed the 50 percent barrier. The number crunching was carried out by Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, and its most recent sales data figures show the Cupertino company's market share has increased dramatically on the 37 percent recorded at the same period of last year, and takes into consideration the 12-week period ending on November 25th.
Just as we are approaching the final run-in to the wonderful festive season where everything should be all about smiles and joyful memories, it seems that a mysterious illness has started affecting Samsung's wonderful Android powered Galaxy S III smartphone. We all know how great the S III is, with it widely being regarded as the best Android device currently available on the market, but a rising number of users are reporting that their beloved Samsung smartphones are starting to give up and die with no prior warning or reason given for their digital suicide.
A MacBook Pro, Air or iMac may come pre-installed with the latest version of OS X, but it hasn't always been the case. Once upon a time, when buying a new Macintosh computer, users would have been opting to let their computing needs be handled by the old Macintosh operating system that may have served its purpose at the time and formed the foundation for what we have today. But it was in no way as functional or as aesthetically pleasing as OS X Lion or Mountain Lion. We have seen in the past that some people do love that nostalgic trip down memory lane and now that is possible with the Mini vMac emulator software for Android on the Play Store.
If you cast your minds back to the month of June, you may remember the news of Google's decision to acquire the powerful mobile productivity suite Quickoffice for an undisclosed fee. All told, things have been pretty quiet since then, but today, Google has made Quickoffice for iPad free to Apps for Business customers. In addition, the search giant also stated that free Android and iPhone versions would be coming soon, which although promising, all but wipes out any possibility of Quickoffice hitting the comparatively less-used BlackBerry and Windows Phone platforms.
A couple of days ago, we learned a new software vulnerability within Samsung's hardware courtesy of a member of the thriving XDA-Developer forums, and at the time, it was classed as a kernel level exploit providing the perfect breeding ground for malicious apps to access physical memory of devices affected. Today, Samsung has stepped out and confirmed the existence of the vulnerability, stating its intent to address the situation as a matter of urgency.
A Brazilian electronics company by the name of IGB Electronica SA has revealed its intention to release a fleet of Android smartphones under brand "IPHONE", a trademark the company originally applied for all the way back in 2000 in Brazil.
The Samsung Galaxy S III takes pride of place as the biggest selling Android device this year, like the Galaxy S II did last year, and similarly to the manner in which we expect the Galaxy S IV to next year. With that said, it's quite an expensive gadget, and those with slightly less in the way of disposable cash will be looking for alternative products. The Galaxy S III Mini is a good option for those with expenditure constraints, but if your main attraction to the S III is its sheer size, you'll likely have overlooked the smaller alternative version. If you want a cheaper S III that doesn't compromise on the size, you'll be enthused to learn of the Samsung Galaxy Grand, which while less-powered than its flagship cousin, looks almost identical, and packs a healthy 5-inch display.
CyanogenMod 10.1 is really gaining traction, and in its quest to bring Android 4.2 to as many Android-based devices as possible, has now made nightlies available to the Galaxy S and Galaxy S III. Great news for those in ownership of either Samsung device it most certainly is, although it's important to note that the nightly builds only cover the AT&T and T-Mobile variants of the S III.
What’s better than a powerhouse of a tablet that’s running on Android? The same tab running on CyanogenMod 10.1, which entails Android 4.2 goodness for all that support it. Why, you ask me? Because CM 10.1, or any AOSP ROM, for that matter, brings with it a freedom that you are very unlikely to find anywhere else. For most power users of Google’s smartphone and tablet operating system, trying different ROMs is almost a weekly affair, if not more frequent. Following suit, I have tried a lot of ROMs on my Android tablets, from Stock to ROM ports to AOSP builds like CyanogenMod and Android Open Kang Project (AOKP), but I have always kept coming back to CM because of the ‘balance’ that it offers, between features and stability, and because it carries with it a sense of reliability.
If you prefer your mobile operating experience to be of the Android variety and always opt to let Korean based Samsung handle your hardware requirements then the discovery of a new exploit within certain Samsung devices should be more than enough to peak your interest. The vulnerability in the Samsung hardware has been discovered by a keen-eyed developer over at the XDA Developer forums and has been classified as being at the kernel level that allows malicious applications to gain access to all physical memory on the affected device.
