Apple and Samsung made 55% of smartphone shipments in Q1 2012

It was only a month ago when we told you that Apple and Samsung share 99% of all profits in the market for mobile phones. Today we have a new report for you, which breaks down the smartphone segment in a similar fashion and, unsurprisingly, the numbers are again favorable for the two rivaling giants.

According to ABI Research, Apple and Samsung have captured 50% of the global smartphone market. What's even more impressive is the fact that the two companies share 90% of the generated profits in the segment for the same period.

The main question, which ABI Research report has posed is which manufacturer will sweep in and take the third place. Nokia and RIM seem to be neck and neck here, with important announcements in the pipeline for the second half of this year. Sony is also showing ambition with the recent string of budget friendly announcements, and so are the two Chinese giants, Huawei and ZTE.

All in all, it looks like the second half if this year will be more than interesting. Hit the source link for more curious numbers and feel free to tell us about your predictions in the comments section.

Source | Via

Motorola announces RAZR V XT889 for China

Motorola has announced a new version of the RAZR exclusively for the Chinese market. This version is called the RAZR V XT998 and has a completely new design compared to the current RAZR.

The front side gets new thin, long grilles on the top and bottom with the 4.3-inch display (probably the same unit as on the current RAZR) placed in between. You will also notice no physical keys on the front because the RAZR V XT889 runs on Android 4.0 and also uses the on-screen keys like the Galaxy Nexus.

On the back is the Kevlar coating that curves upward near the top where lies the 8 megapixel camera sensor with LED flash and the loudspeaker.

Underneath this phone is identical to the current RAZR, except for the CDMA/GSM dual-mode connectivity.

The RAZR V XT889 will go on sale in China on June 15.

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Samsung responds to Galaxy S II / Note eMMC bug problem

If you own a Samsung Galaxy S II or the Galaxy Note and are a regular member of the xda-developers forum, you may already be aware of a bug with some of these devices where erasing the eMMC could hard brick your phone.

This problem would surface if the user tried to flash a custom ROM or kernel that used MMC_CAP_ERASE. Thankfully, developer Chainfire came up with an app that would let you know if your device was shipped with a faulty eMMC.

Apparently, this issue has existed for a long time now and even though it was noticed a couple of months ago and was much talked about in the developer community Samsung did not respond to it, until now.

According to user Daniel Hillenbrand on Google+, Samsung has said that "Patches will be out in form of new official ROMs and also sourcecode releases after testing, which might take some time."

If you have a Galaxy S II or Galaxy Note, just use the Chainfire GotBrickbug app from here and see if the eMMC in your device is affected. If it is, refrain from any kind of ROM flashing (except for CM9 kernels, which are safe to flash) until the patch from Samsung starts rolling out.

Thanks to everyone who sent this in.

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GSMArena.com turns 12 today, happy birthday!

GSMArena.com turns 12 today and your greetings are more than welcome as we all celebrate.

As GSMArena.com is getting older, and hopefully more mature, we can't help but turn our eyes back at the year that passed. Usually, you fall in this mood around Christmas when the warm wine and the smell of cinnamon softens you, but each birthday of the website is a milestone that we pride ourselves on. So there's nothing wrong about having a look at all the exciting projects that we worked on. The memories are certainly sweet.

Back in July, shortly after GSMArena.com turned 11, we announced the most major redesign we've had for years. It's been a controversial step (as it usually is with these things) but the new homepage has so far stuck with us and we really like it.

Later on in the fall, November saw us introduce the industry's first non-professional real-life battery life test for mobile phones. We successfully managed to keep up with this time consuming task and we produced a standardized battery life score for most phones that we've reviewed ever since.

Following a really intensive reviewing period in late fall and early winter, we finally managed to catch our breath and in January we churned out the mobile version of the website. Shortly after, in February we launched the mobile version of our blog to go with it.

January also marked our first live coverage from the annual the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas.

In March we prepared a really nice video walkthrough of the website. If you are relatively new around these parts, it's of great help for discovering all the features hidden here and there. So make sure you don't miss it.

Following that, in April we unveiled our standardized sunlight legibility screen test, which allowed us to compare objectively the mobile screen qualities in direct light.

In May we made possible for webmasters to embed our website phone search tool wherever they pleased in a nice and sleek interface.

Also, you can bet we will be preparing even more new features and tests this summer while we chill out by the pool.

So, it was an exciting year to be around GSMArena.com. Happy birthday!

Nokia selling Vertu to EQT VI, it's sad seeing it go

Today Nokia announced that EQT VI (an investment fund that's part of a private equity group in Northern Europe) is ready to acquire Vertu for unannounced amount.

Founded by Nokia in 1998 and headquartered in the UK, Vertu currently employs around 1,000 people worldwide. It has steadily seen constant growth these past years and it's the undisputed leader in the luxury phone segment.

EQT VI will actually be acquiring 90% of the company's stock, with the other 10% remaining Nokia's. The transaction will happen in the second half of the current year.

For us Vertu has always been an integral part of Nokia, with the company sharing some of Nokia's best technology, software and hardware know-how. We're sure part of Vertu's success was mainly due to it being an offshoot of Nokia's phone production.

Rumors of the acquisition have been floating around for quite some time but this is the real deal. Obviously, Nokia didn't see Vertu as helping in its Windows Phone plans.

Our hope remains that we won't be seeing Vertu's shine fade away in the years to come.

Source

Nokia to acquire Scalado's imaging technology and staff

After announcing that Vertu is ready to go, Nokia re-confirmed that they are staking a lot on mobile imaging and photography by announcing their planned acquisition of everything imaging technology Scalado had to offer.

Founded in 2000 and based in Sweden, Scalado has been a close partner of Nokia for quite some time. Scalado doesn't have many end user products, but it develops some fascinating imaging technologies for manufacturers, such as Nokia.

Some of the technologies they've developed for OEMs include Scalado Remove and Scalado Rewind, which we've covered before. Scalado Rewind has actually been integrated in the HTC One X.

Scalado have some end-user apps as well, including Photobeamer for iOS and Scalado Album for Android.

So unlike the news about Vertu leaving Nokia, this one's actually making us optimistic about the future of Nokia's imaging products. Scalado's HQ in Lund, Sweden, is expected to become one of Nokia's key smartphone imaging development centers, along with the existing ones in Espoo and Tampere, Finland.

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Apple's attempt to ban the sales of the Galaxy S III get delayed

Last week we reported that Apple was attempting to block the sales of the new Galaxy S III in the US before the June 21 launch date. The reason for this, as usual, is that Apple thinks that Samsung is infringing on some of its patents with the Galaxy S III.

Well, there is a bit of bad news for Cupertino, as Judge Lucy Koh has denied a hearing before June 21 as it would effectively overload her calendar. Instead, Apple will now have to request for a second hearing some time after June 21, by which time the Galaxy S III would already be on sale in the US.

Apple is likely not going to give up on this despite the setback but their plans to block the sales of the Galaxy S III before June 21 have certainly been foiled.

Source

Nokia launches the 41 megapixel 808 PureView in India

Nokia has finally launched the highly anticipated Nokia 808 PureView in India, which as we already know, will be one of the first markets in the world to get the phone.

The phone is priced at '33,899, which is approximately 484.5 / $607, making it one of the most expensive Nokia phones in history. Of course, this is the M.R.P. (maximum retail price) and actual price should be a bit less.

Just to recap some of the feature of the phone, the Nokia 808 PureView has a 41 megapixel camera that uses Nokia's PureView technology to combine multiple pixels to create high quality images. It also uses that tech to provide you with up to 3x lossless digital zoom. The camera also has a xenon flash and can record videos in 1080p resolution.

Other features include a 4.0-inch, 640 x 360 resolution AMOLED display, 16GB internal memory with microSD card slot, Bluetooth, GPS, Wi-Fi, USB On-the-Go, NFC, HDMI-out, DLNA, Nokia Maps software and Nokia Belle operating system.

Vertu and Smile Train announce the Constellation Smile

Until now, every Vertu phone was about you. You, owning one of the most expensive and luxurious phone in the market. But this is where the Vertu Constellation Smile differs. Because it's not just about you any more but also about a child whose life you can improve by purchasing this phone.

That's what Vertu and Smile Train set out to do with the Constellation Smile. With every purchase of these special edition handsets, a child suffering from cleft lip or palate will receive free surgery from Smile Train.

Now speaking about the phone itself, it's basically a Nokia C7, so it has a 3.5-inch nHD AMOLED display with Sapphire Crystal coating, 8 megapixel camera with dual LED flash, 32GB memory, FM radio, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and 3G connectivity and exclusive ring tones and alerts played by the London Symphony Orchestra. It will be sold in four colors, Coral Red, Coral Blue, Pebble Grey and Anemone Purple.

No pricing or availability information is known at the moment but you can click on the source link to reserve your Constellation Smile.

Source

Sony Xperia tipo and tipo dual are entry-level ICS droids

Sony surprised everyone when they announced the Xperia miro and the surprises keep coming - the company also announced the entry-level ICS droids called Sony Xperia tipo and tipo dual. What's unique about the Xperia tipo dual is that it's the company's first dual-SIM device.

Sony Ericsson Xperia tipo

The Xperia tipo is a compact phone (103 x 57 x 13 mm, 99.4g) and features a 3.2" HVGA TFT screen with scratch-resistant mineral glass. It will run Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich at launch, and is powered by an 800MHz processor (Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM7225AA chipset).

The phone has the essentials - a 3.2MP camera, 2.9GB of built-in memory (expandable by a microSD card), 3.5mm audio jack, microUSB port and a 1500mAh battery. On the connectivity side, there's HSPA-enabled 3G, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi and GPS.

The Sony Xperia tipo will be available in a dual-SIM version too - called Xperia tipo dual. Both cards will not be active at the same time - it's not a dual standby deal. Instead, a special button on the side of the tipo dual would allow you to toggle the currently active SIM.

Sony Xperia tipo dual

Both versions will launch globally in Q3 of 2012 in Classic black, Classic white, Deep red and Navy blue. There's no pricing info available yet.

Source

iOS 6 goes official with new Maps and Facebook integration

Apple has just announced the next version of its iOS platform for the iPhone, iPod Touch and the iPad. iOS 6 has an updated Siri, Facebook integration and completely new Maps application with built-in turn-by-turn navigation as its key features.

The evolved Siri got the most stage time it now launches apps, can fetch you news and facts about sports, movies, people, read your notifications. Apple is working with BMW, GM, Mercedes, Land Rover, Jaguar, Audi, Toyota, Chrysler, Honda and others in an attempt to put a dedicated Siri button on the steering wheel on all cars throughout the next 12 months. This would enable completely hands-free operation of your iDevice when you are driving.

The updated Siri

Siri also got support for new languages Canadian English, Spanish (Spain, Mexico), Italian, Korean, Mandarin, Cantonese and Chinese.

The updated Siri

With iOS 6, Siri is finally landing on the iPad, but only if you have the latest Retina-packing version of the slate.

The iOS 6 also brings the long-awaited Facebook integration. It works throughout the whole platform, just like the already available Twitter one. You get an Android-style phonebook app, where your regular contacts are connected to their Facebook profiles and you get updates on their albums, messages and status updates right from the contact's screen.

iOS 6 Facebook integration

The Notifications Center has two new additions Update Twitter and Update Facebook status shortcut keys.

iOS 6 Facebook integration

The next new feature is Reply with Message when you cant answer a call. Okay, this one isn't really major and everyone else probably already has it, but it's still good that Apple finally enabled it. There's also another new button on the incoming call screen, which will mute the call and will remind you about it later so you can call back.

The new call options

The iOS 6 brings a new Do Not Disturb mode, which mutes all push notification, incomming calls and prevents the screen from lighting up, so it doesn't disturb your sleep or hard work. You can schedule your iDevice to automatically enter Do Not Disturb mode at a specific time every day.

The Do Not Disturb mode can be set to still let through messages and calls from your favorite contacts and groups as well as repeating calls, so your loved ones and those that need to contact you urgently can always reach you.

The new Do Not Disturb Mode

FaceTime also got updated with iOS 6. The video-call app now works over cellular networks, not just Wi-Fi. About time, we would add!

The FaceTime/iMessages ID is now unified and if someone is calling/texting you, you will be able to get the call from your iPhone, iPad or Mac whatever works for you.

The Safari browser has learned a few new tricks in iOS 6. It now has iCloud Tabs, which are synced with your desktop Safari in real time along with an offline reading list. Another cool extra is the ability to upload photos right from the browser to Facebook, Twitter, Picasa, etc.

The new features in Safari

Shared Photo Stream is another new feature with a social taste. It lets you select contacts and give them access to the photos you are uploading. Once you upload a new album said contacts will be notified and they will get the chance to check your shots and post comments on them.

Sharing photos in the Photo Stream

The next new feature is VIP contacts. You mark a contact as VIP and all the messages you get from that contact will be highlighted, so you'd know to check them out first.

The new Mailbox

The iOS 6 introduces a new preinstalled app called Passbook. It will collect all of your boarding passes, tickets, coupons, loyalty cards etc. and keep them neatly organized. QR codes scanning is supported, so you can easily get those on board.

The Passbook

As the main change brought by iOS 6 is a new Maps application, called... Maps. Apple has ditched Google Maps and is introducing its own service to replace it. The new maps have cool design and offer local search options with Apple claiming to have inserted more than a 100 million business listings already. The new Maps support 3D mode and satellite view.

The new Maps

As long as you are touting an iPhone 4S or an iPad 3 you get turn-by-turn navigation which works even on the lockscreen and a Flyover view mode just like the one Google announced the other day. Even more impressively, there is integration with Siri (search of gas stations, parking lots, etc.).

The new Maps

The final noteworthy features of iOS 6 include accessibility extras, better privacy controls, improved voiceover and dictionaries, redesigned apps and stores and improved camera HDR, etc.

The iOS 6 is compatible with iPhone 3GS and later, iPad 2nd and 3rd gen, iPod Touch 4th gen. This means the first-gen iPad is out of the game. Sorry, guys.

The iOS 6 beta is available as of today, while the final release will hit the supported iGadgets this fall. We can't wait to put the beta through it paces.

Image source