The Apple versus Samsung trial in San Jose has been grabbing all of the media attention in recent weeks, but now that the verdict is in and the judgment has been made, we can claw our attention back to what really matters, which in my opinion is the fantastic devices that both companies manufacture. Apple are looking to re-energize the smartphone industry with the announcement and release of the sixth-generation iPhone in the coming weeks, but until then our attention sits firmly with the gorgeous and very popular Samsung Galaxy S III smartphone.
A new report claims that both iOS and Android smartphones are currently outpacing any previous consumer technology, with worldwide sales driving huge user adoption. A quick glance at any social network, technology blog or even the man in the street will show that smartphones are big business and gaining traction rapidly. Everyone seems to have either an iPhone or an Android phone these days, and mobile analytic firm Flurry has done what it does best - take a lot of numbers and extrapolate them into an interesting collection of facts.
It’s all over the (technology-focused) news! The jury in San Jose, California has passed the verdict for the Apple vs. Samsung case, with a ruling that goes completely in Apple’s favor: Samsung is guilty of multiple patent infringements in most of its smartphone lineup and is to pay over 1 billion dollars to Apple in damages; Apple is to pay absolutely nothing to Samsung because they are innocent (at least in thee eyes of the courts).
Smartphone cameras are getting better. In fact, on Flickr, they hold their own against some of the very best standalones in terms of numbers of images posted. While many users opt to use their smartphones to take the majority of their snaps, though, in terms of performance and quality, they aren't even in the same league, and if you ever find yourself appreciating the camera of your S III or iPhone 4S just a little too much, a quick look at the proper DSLR will soon bring you back down to earth.
Referred to as coffee table computers because of just how easy it is for anyone and everyone to start using them, smartphones (and tablets in particular) need a User Accounts feature quick and fast. People living alone don’t have to face this problem, but when you’re like me or the millions of other tablet owners who live with multiple people under the same roof, privacy of personal data - social networks, email accounts, browser history etc. - is of great importance.
The guys over at Facebook could be forgiven for going into the weekend expecting to have a nice relaxing time, considering the amount of effort that has been expended by the company in the last couple of days by pushing out updates to their mobile software. Both Android and iOS users have benefitted from the world's largest social network, eventually getting themselves into gear with a spree of updates, beginning with a new version of Facebook for Android that brought more efficient image handling and closer control of the creation of events through mobile.
A soon-to-be-finished Kickstarter project promises to make tangled, broken charging cables a thing of that past, and we can't wait for that to happen!
After what seemed like an endless toil, Facebook finally put a decent app together for those frequenting the social networking site. Unfortunately for the Android users out there, Apple's iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users have once again gotten first dibs, but Facebook's Director of Mobile Engineering has assured those running Google's flagship OS that the company will be releasing an Android iteration in the near future.
Considering Facebook is the world’s largest social network and their mobile apps for iOS and Android are probably two of the most downloaded apps on their respective platforms, you would be forgiven for thinking that they provide an extremely positive user-experience, especially considering Facebook's own statistics show that an enormous percentage of their user-base regularly access their accounts through mobile devices. Unfortunately, the Facebook apps have been the center of a lot of criticism due to the internal decision to build the app primarily using HTML5 for cross-platform distribution.
Android was known in the past for looking terrible compared to the more elegant looks of iOS and the now dead webOS. Things have indeed improved significantly over the past few months, thanks to a UI overhaul in Ice Cream Sandwich and a significant boost in smoothness with Project Butter in Jelly Bean.
