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Oculus VR has revealed plans to bring its virtual reality headset to the mobile gaming market, specifically on the Android operating system.

The post Oculus Rift to cross over to mobile gaming via Android appeared first on VR-Zone.

Apple has confirmed that some iPhone 5s units are suffering from poor battery life owing to a manufacturing error. Battery issues are quite common on new releases of iOS, but the iPhone 5s situation is hardware related and cause reduced battery life and long charging times. Apple issued a statement to The New York Times acknowledging that [...]

The post Battery issues on some iPhone 5s units confirmed by Apple, blamed on manufacturing defect appeared first on VR-Zone.

We know Samsung is on fire, having managed to gain and retain the world’s largest phone maker title. As I’m writing this, the Korean company is selling whopping 1 million mobile device per day. These include both phones and tablets!

Going forward, Samsung hope to get all of these devices talking to each other.

“We know many of these devices and screens are connected,” said Samsung’s executive vice president David Eun. “This is largely due to the fact that some 40 percent of the population connects to the internet. We hope to build along with you one of the largest platforms in the world for content, services, apps and ads. We call this the connoted home, and the connected life.”

And we’ve no doubts they’ll keep ruling our world as long as they keep investing heavily in R&D…

[Via: AndroidCentral]

The post Samsung selling 1 million mobile devices per day! appeared first on IntoMobile.

Samsung selling 1 million mobile devices per day! originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2013-10-29T09:54:09Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j

Apple has posted its financial report for Q4 of 2013 (that's the quarter ending in September as the company has a shifter fiscal year). The company managed to exceed its own guidance of $34-37 billion in revenue, scoring $37.5 billion in total sales. Net profit stood at $7.5 billion. The numbers don't compare particularly favorably to the same period of last year when Apple profited $8.2 billion...

Phonebloks was a campaign that focused upon attracting the interest of OEMs by showing that there was an incredible amount of interest for a modular phone. This was mostly for reasons of reducing electronics waste, the potential for incredible customization, and the potential for reduced upgrade costs associated with the 1-2 year upgrade cycle. As the current model requires the purchase of an entire phone, upgrading a single “module”, or a set of modules that would update the device would reduce the cost of upgrading to the consumer, much like the current desktop PC system of upgrading individual components.

However, at the time it seemed unlikely that such a campaign would ever produce a meaningful result in the industry. Now, it might be less so as Motorola announced Project Ara, a platform that promises the same modularity that the Phonebloks campaign was promoting, and has also partnered with the creator of the Phonebloks campaign for this project.The concept is largely the same, with an endoskeleton and modules that make up the phone. The display, following the Phonebloks concept, is also likely to be its own module. While actual details of the concept are effectively nil, there are still an enormous number of challenges that such a design would face.

The first would be from a purely hardware perspective, as there is an unavoidable tradeoff between volumetric efficiency and modularity in such a design. While modern smartphones are effectively a tight stack of PCB, battery, and display, this adds in an entire interface for each module that connects them together. This means that the memory module would effectively go from the size of an average eMMC chip to around a full-size SD card due to the need for a durable interface that would connect it to the rest of the phone. This is most readily seen by the differences between the international and Korean LG G2, as the international variant has a ~15% larger battery by virtue of the sealed design that allowed for LG Chemicon’s curved battery pack with thinner walls to allow for more battery capacity.

The second issue in this case would be regulatory, as the FCC only tests single configurations for approval. Such a design would be incredibly challenging to get approval for as there could easily be unpredictable RF behavior from unexpected behavior from a specific setup of modules, or issues with the endoskeleton portion because the modules aren't all part of a single PCB that is unlikely to suffer issues with short circuits or other connection issues, while a modular design would face such challenges.

The final major issue is that of history, as the failure of Intel’s Whitebook initiative from 2006 makes it much harder to see a similar initiative succeeding in the smartphone space. As the Whitebook initiative promised a DIY, modular laptop, much like Phonebloks and Project Ara, and failed due to the rise of completely integrated laptop designs such as the Apple rMBP line, it seems unlikely that such a project would succeed without significant compromise, either in modularity or in competitiveness with the more integrated smartphones. While laptops like the rMBP are effectively impossible for the user to repair, much less open, they have become incredibly popular, and the PC OEMs have followed Apple’s lead in this regard, with consumer demand generally tending towards thinner and lighter laptops, just as the same demand seems to occur in the smartphone space, it is difficult to see such an initiative succeeding. While such initiatives are sure to garner widespread enthusiast support, enthusiasts generally lose their ability to influence the market once a market segment becomes popular with general consumers, as can be seen by the PC industry. However, it remains to be seen whether there is mass-market appeal for such a phone, and it may well be that Motorola is tapping a niche with enormous potential.

A Twitter és a Blogger társalapítója, Evan Williams egy új rendszerrel állt elő a blogolni vágyók számára. A Medium nevű közösségi csatorna lényegében egy puritán blog felület, melyhez - meglepő módon - Twitter fiókkal lehet belépni. Az oldalon minimalista stílusban lehet bejegyzéseket közzé tenni, éppen emiatt viszont a lehetőségek is szűkre szabottak. A szerkesztői felületen címet és alcímet, borítóképet adhatunk egy-egy bejegyzéshez, az alapszinten formázható szöveget szintén tarkíthatjuk képekkel, illetve linkeket is hozzá adhatunk, de ennél többet nem érdemes várni az oldaltól. A végeredményt megoszthatjuk nyilvánosa, illetve másokat is meghívhatunk az egyes művek szerkesztésére. Saját bejegyzések mellett lehetőségünk van saját gyűjteményeket is létrehozni, ezekhez szerkesztőket adni és a megtekintés is korlátozható meghívásos alapon.

Bár a Mediumot sokan dicsérik egyszerűsége miatt, igazából már korábban is láthattunk ilyesm Wordfaire néven, bár ez a szolgáltatás mára már megszűnt. A rendszer legnagyobb hiányosságának - a Wordfaire-hez hasonlóan - a mobilos kliensek hiánya tűnik, remélhetőleg ezt a közeljövőben pótolják. Addig viszont be kell érnünk a böngészőben történő szerkesztéssel, melyhez jelenleg a Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox és Safari alkalmazásokon keresztül van biztos lehetőségünk, a hivatalosan sem más asztali, sem mobilos böngészőket nem támogat - bár az nem kizárt, hogy másik programmal is működik.

With the launch of AMD’s new flagship Radeon R9 290X only a couple of days behind us, NVIDIA has wasted surprisingly little time in responding the latest salvo in the unending GPU wars. Intended to coincide with the launch of NVIDIA’s holiday GeForce game bundle, the launch of ShadowPlay (more on that later today), and the final (non-beta) release of GameStream, NVIDIA has rounded out their Monday by announcing a pair of price cuts for their high-end consumer video cards, and set a launch date and a launch price for their recently announced GTX 780 Ti.

First and foremost, both GeForce GTX 780 and GeForce GTX 770 are getting price cuts, effective tomorrow (October 29^th). GTX 780 will be reduced by $150 to $499, and meanwhile GTX 770 will be getting smaller $70 trim, bringing the price of that card down to $329.

For the GTX 770 this is something of a delayed price cut – AMD launched their competitive Radeon R9 280X just shy of 3 weeks ago – but as the saying goes it’s never too late. Between the two GTX 770 is about 5% faster while 280X has the 3GB memory advantage, so $329 won’t significantly threaten the 280X but it is where we would have expected NVIDIA to place it given their performance advantage.

For the GTX 780 on the other hand, this is a rapid response for NVIDIA, coming just days after the launch of the Radeon R9 290X. The 290X, its $550 price tag, and its superior performance unquestionably left NVIDIA with little choice but to cut prices. But we had not been expecting NVIDA to drop the GTX 780 below $500, even with 290X’s performance advantage. The end result is that now 290X is the more expensive part by 10% (or $50), which coincidentally is also the 290X’s performance advantage. This puts the two cards on equal footing on the price/performance continuum with NVIDIA’s kicker – their superior build quality and cooling performance – remaining. Furthermore we were also able to confirm with NVIDIA that the metal reference cooler will still be available even after the price cut, so alongside the collection of custom designs we’ve seen the high performance reference blower will still be an option for buyers seeking a quiet blower.

Meanwhile, as previously mentioned today’s announcement also coincides with the launch of NVIDIA’s “The Way It’s Meant to Be Played Holiday Bundle with SHIELD” promotion, which for both the GTX 780 and GTX 770 will consist of Assassins’ Creed IV, Batman: Arkham Origins, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and the $100 SHIELD discount. So on top of NVIDIA’s price cuts they will also be offering an unusually strong bundle in direct opposition to AMD’s price premium 290X Battlefield 4 bundle. The true value/meaningfulness of a bundle will as always ultimately depend on the buyer, but it’s very unusual to see such a significant bundle attached to what’s already a competitively priced card. So come tomorrow when these price cuts hit, NVIDIA is going to be in a very good position to counter 280X and 290X.

Finally, along with the announcement of tomorrow’s price cuts NVIDIA has also announced the launch date for the previously announced GeForce GTX 780 Ti: November 7^th (next Thursday). Furthermore NVIDIA has also announced that it will be priced at $699, placing it $200 above the GTX 780 and $150 above the 290X. We still don’t have the specs for the GTX 780 Ti, but the fact that NVIDIA is pricing it so far above the 290X indicates that they have a lot of confidence that they will be able to beat 290X’s performance, and will do so by enough of a margin to justify the price. This isn’t wholly unexpected – after all, GTX 780 wasn’t a fully enabled GK110 consumer part – so it should be interesting to see just what NVIDIA has prepared to carry on as their new gamer flagship card.

Az informatika hajnalába vágyóknak készített weboldalt egy Jeff Par nevű fejlesztő. Par legújabb alkotása a Windows első kiadásának - pontosabban az 1.01-es változatnak - böngészőben futó emulátora. Az eredetileg 1985-ben kiadott rendszer mellé több alkalmazás is jár, adott például a jegyzettömb, óra, Reversi és a Paint is. A böngészőben futó Windowst egy James Friend nevű ausztrál blogger fedezte fel, aki már olyan alkotásokat tudhat magának, mint a Mac System 7 Demo és a Windows 3.0 Demo, melyek szintén böngészős emulátorok. A régi időkbe vágyódóknak ezeket is érdemes megszemlélni.

A Samsung Galaxy Gear bemutatása pillanatában csak a Galaxy Note 3-mal volt kompatibilis, azóta azonban a Galaxy S4 Android 4.3 frissítésének köszönhetően már a 40 milliós eladást maga mögött tudó csúcsmodellen is elérhető. A Samsung továbbra is dolgozik azon, hogy más készülékeken is elérhető legyen.

A Geek.com információi szerint azonban a Samsung első okos órája nem úgy startolt, ahogy azt a gyártója várta az Egyesült Államokban. A népszerű Best Buy üzletekben is elérhető a tengeren túlon a Galaxy Gear, ráadásul a Samsung külön oktatásban részesíti az alkalmazottakat, hogy segítsenek kiválasztani a vevőknek a nekik megfelelő eszközöket, többek között a Geart is. Azonban egy kiszivárgott belső információ alapján a Best Buy által eladott Samsung okos órák jelentős részét később vissza is viszik a felhasználók. A dokumentum szerint az eladott mennyiség 30%-a az, amelyet utána vissza ad a vásárló az üzletláncnak. A Best Buy vezetése kérte is a Samsung segítségét, hogy megtalálják az okát, hogy miért viszik vissza ilyen magas számban a Galaxy Geart az üzletekbe.

A probléma talán az is lehet, hogy nincs kellő hangsúllyal kommunikálva az, hogy mely készülékekkel használható a Galaxy Gear és a felhasználók csak otthon jönnek rá arra, hogy valójában az ő készülékükkel használhatatlan a kiegészítő. A Samsung dolgozik azon, hogy a Galaxy Note 2, S3, S4 mini, S4 Active, Mega 5.8 és Mega 6.8 is még az idei évben megkapja az Android 4.3 frissítést, amelyben már megtalálható lesz a Galaxy Gear támogatás.

The Japanese console-maker has delivered the finalized spec sheet for their next-gen PlayStation 4 console, detailing the inner workings of the system itself.

The post Sony details PS4′s finalized specs appeared first on VR-Zone.

A Samsung Galaxy Note 3 magyarországi debütálásakor az első 20 vásárló számára a gyártó ajándék Galaxy Gear okos órát adott. Hogy ez mennyire nagy érték? Mostmár ezt is tudhatjuk, hiszen a 239.900 forintba kerülő Note 3 mellé adott kiegészítőt, az okos órát a Samsung bruttó 99.900 forintért kínálja Magyarországon.

Azonban aki esetleg együtt választaná a két, IFA 2013-on bemutatott Galaxy készüléket, a Note 3-at és Geart, az kedvezményesen teheti meg továbbra is. Igaz, ezúttal nem ajándékba adja a phablet mellé az órát a Samsung, de azzal, hogy a bundle akcióban 299.900 forintba kerül a két készülék együtt, így 40 ezer forintot lehet spórolni, ha amúgy is megvettük volna mind a kettőt.

Ez nem kevés pénz természetesen, de a felhasználó ezért megkapja az új 5,7”-os FullHD Super AMOLED kijelzővel, Snapdragon 800-zal és 3 GB RAM-mal felszerelt Galaxy Note 3-at, amely 13 megapixeles kamerája már 4K videót is képes rögzíteni, valamint ott van még a Galaxy Gear, az eddigi talán legjobb okos óra, amely beépített kamerával és számos extra funkcióval rendelkezik.

How much do you think a mid-range Android 4.2 Jelly Bean smartphone with 4.3” 720p screen, 1.3GHz quad-core CPU, 1GB of RAM, 4GB of built-in memory, micro-SD memory card slot, 8 megapixel main and 2 megapixel front camera, and 2200 mAh battery should cost?

$200, $150?

How about $82 or 499 Yuan? That’s the price one Chinese OEM will offer their new G2F smartphone for:

Granted, the phone will only be available in China. But if they are able to get to $80 price level for a perfectly capable mid-range Android smartphone over there, how long until similar $120-$150 smartphones make it to Europe and the rest of the world?

Xiaomi already sells similar Red Rice smartphone for $130, and will soon start an aggressive international expansion. At this rate of improvement, in a year or two we will have Nexus 4/Samsung Galaxy S3 level devices available for $100-150, unsubsidized.

And given that Galaxy S3 is already good enough to start negatively affecting SGS4 sales, I wonder what will happen to the high end Android devices then.

LG has officially unveiled the G Flex – its first smartphone to feature a curved display. The handset was announced in South Korea today, and will be commercially available there starting November, via all (three) mobile carriers.

The smartphone’s curved display is a 6 inch OLED one with 1280 x 720 pixels. That’s right, it’s not a Full HD screen, but an HD one. Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean is on board, joined by features like LTE-Advanced, NFC, 13MP rear camera, volume buttons on the back, quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor (MSM 8974), 2GB of RAM, 32GB of internal memory, and MicroSD card support. The G Flex is 7.9mm to 8.7mm thick, 160.5mm tall, and 81.6mm wide. It weighs 177 grams, including a 3,500 mAh curved battery.

Interestingly, the new handset comes with a “self-healing” feature (possibly using a special nano-coating) that will keep scratches away.

Just like Samsung’s Galaxy Round (which also sports a curved display, but a 5.7 inch Full HD one that’s curved on a different axis), the LG G Flex is likely going to be a Korea-only device for the beginning. There is no official word on how much the G Flex will cost.

LG hopes to gain 10% of the smartphone market share next year. It remains to be seen if handsets like the G Flex will help it reach this goal.

Later this week, LG should announce another new smartphone: the Nexus 5, which is, of course, made in collaboration with Google.

Via NewsWire (in Korean), The Verge

The Opera Mobile Store, which is apparently the fifth-largest mobile app store in the world, has tripled the size of its catalog in the last 12 months, currently offering more than 140,000 apps. The Store provides more than 75 million monthly visitors, an increase of 63%, with mobile apps and games across many platforms, including Android, Java, BlackBerry, Symbian and iOS.

Users from India remain the top users in the Store, while Indonesia has moved to no. 3, continuing to reflect the Opera Mobile Store’s strength and popularity in Southeast Asia. When it comes to the United States, it jumped five positions to take second place in terms of Opera Mobile Store visitors since last year.

Across all countries, total downloads of Android apps from the Opera Mobile Store grew 18.5% to 38.4% of total app downloads in a year, Java apps downloads have decreased from 67.8% to 43.9%, Symbian has gone from 10.3% to 9.9% and Windows Mobile has shifted from 1.9% to 0.4%. Gaming apps based on the recently-introduced HTML5 online-gaming platform has had 2.6% of downloads on the Opera Mobile Store.

The top 10 downloaded apps to date in the Opera Mobile Store include:

1. Facebook app by Facebook (Java)
2. TubeMate YouTube Downloader by Devian Studio (Android)
3. Download Manager for Android by FDDM
4. Chat for Facebook PRO by Mail-Bit LTD (multi-platform)
5. NewsHunt by Eterno Infotech (Java)
6. Frim by Ardetiel Services Limited (multi-platform)
7. Angry Birds Rio by Rovio Entertainment Ltd (Android)
8. eBuddy Messenger by eBuddy (multi-platform)
9. WeChat by Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited (multi-platform)
10. Overdrive by Zapak.com (multi-platform)

Users can access the Opera Mobile Store via Opera’s flagship Opera Mini, Mobile Classic and Opera for Android mobile browsers. In addition, there’s an option to access the Store by visiting apps.opera.com from any browser.

The post Opera Mobile Store hits 140,000 apps, 75 million monthly visitors appeared first on IntoMobile.

Opera Mobile Store hits 140,000 apps, 75 million monthly visitors originally appeared on IntoMobile.com on 2013-10-27T19:21:08Z. FV1gMYsz9b5j