If you’re like us, you just can’t wait to hear the U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s final ruling over Google’s antitrust case that has spanned more than two years. Recent reports tipped the ruling to come in as early as this week. However, Bloomberg reported this evening that the ruling has been delayed until next year. We presumed the settlement talks are continuing, resulting in a delay, as Google tries to skirt any formal settlement or lawsuit and rather provide “voluntary concessions.” The report earlier this week mentioned that the debacle, centered on antitrust litigation and allegations, is said to end with Google coming out relatively unaffected. Read more
Similar to iTunes Match, Google has updated its Google Music service in the United States with its new scan match feature that previously was only available in Europe. The feature is definitely welcomed, as it scans a user’s local library for songs and matches them in the cloud, doing away with any lengthy upload periods. Engadget reported that U.S. users who have already put their music library on to Google Music will begin seeing the process take place in the coming weeks, which means matched songs will be streamed at 320Kbps. Want to know the greatest thing about Google Music’s scan and match? It’s entirely free if you stay under 20,000 songs, unlike rival services. Read more
Today, iSuppli published the results of its preliminary forecast of the top five cellphone OEMs in 2012. Samsung will for the first time in 14 years pass Nokia as the top OEM for shipments worldwide, according to the report, as it grabs 29 percent of the market (up from 24 percent in 2011).
iSuppli estimated Nokia would see its 30 percent share in 2011 slip to 24 percent during 2012 on declining shipments of both Windows- and Symbian-based phones. Third-place Apple will increase its share to 10 percent of cellphone shipments worldwide, up from 7 percent last year, according to iSuppli’s predictions.
A dislodged Nokia will cause Samsung to rise to first place for the full year of 2012, up from the second rank in 2011, the first time the South Korean electronics titan will occupy the top on a yearly basis. Nokia will fall to the runner-up spot, the first time since 1998 it won’t be in peak position for overall cellphone shipments during a full calendar year…. Finnish-based Nokia is mired in transitioning its smartphone line to the Windows operating system, resulting in declining shipments for the company. Sales of the company’s older Symbian-based phones have plunged, while its new Microsoft Windows 7-based handsets haven’t been able to make up for the loss so far.
Samsung also tops iSuppli’s forecast for the top smartphone OEMs by worldwide shipments as the company continues to extend its slight lead over Apple. iSuppli is expecting Samsung to take in 28 percent of the global smartphone market in 2012 (up from 20 percent in 2011), while Apple’s gains are smaller at 20 percent—up from 19 percent last year: Read more
We have been hearing a lot of rumors about Sony’s unannounced “Yuga C6603″ smartphone, and today Russian site Mobile-review.com posted images of the 5-inch, Android 4.1.2 powered device. According to the report, which also includes a number of benchmark tests, the Sony Yuga’s packs in a full HD (1,920 x 1,080) 5-inch display with 440 ppi and Sony’s Mobile Bravia Engine. The display also features on-screen buttons running along the bottom. Other specs include 2GBs of RAM, LTE, a quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro CPU, Adreno 320 graphics, USB Host support, and micro HDMI and microSD for support up to 128GB. This could definitely be an interesting flagship device for Sony in 2013. It’s also sporting a 12 megapixel camera according to the site.
Head over to Mobile-review for more images and benchmarks. We’ll be keeping our eyes out for the device early next month at CES. Read more
Samsung today announced a new 5-inch, Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean-powered smartphone known as the “Galaxy Grand”. We don’t get any details on pricing or availability, and specs and design add up to your typical low to mid-range Galaxy variant, but the device is packing a 1.2 GHz dual for processor, 5-inch WVGA TFT LCD, 8-megapixel camera (2 megapixel front cam), Bluetooth 4.0, and 1 GB of RAM. Perhaps the most interesting part of the Grand is that initially Samsung will ship a dual SIM version (GT-I9082) only that will allow users to manage two numbers on one device:
For the dual SIM version, its innovative dual SIM feature provides total communication flexibility, allowing users to manage two phone numbers from a single phone. It is possible to receive calls on one SIM number while taking a call from the other, ensuring efficient management of personal and work commitments without ever missing a call. Dual SIM also offers the flexibility of selecting different billing plans for either SIM, switching between them to make the most of cheaper call and data plans. Read more
YouTube is once again doing its annual “YouTube Rewind” to shed some light on the top-trending videos of 2012. Google updated its YouTube Rewind Channel to include the last year’s worth of the most popular YouTube videos alongside some stats for each. For instance, Google noted the KONY 2012 30-minute documentary was the most shared video in the world during March, but PSYs’ Gangnam Style was able to top the majority of lists after approaching 1 billion views and becoming the most viewed YouTube video of all time in less than half the year.
YouTube’s top trending list globally is below, followed by the list for Canada, but you can head over to the YouTube Rewind Channel to see the top-trending videos for your country.
