Reuters last month reported that Google has been bolstering its self-driving car team as of late, and now as April rolls in, we’ve uncovered some more information on new hires as the team continues to expand. In one case, Google has added an ex-Apple global supply manager for the iPhone and the Apple Watch to the self-driving car supply management team…
Yesterday morning, at a relatively low key event without much fanfare and following the almost ritual avalanche of leaked schematics and what have you, Apple officially announced the iPhone SE. With a chassis virtually identical to that of the iPhone 5s – and 5 before it, for that matter – the smaller-sized iPhone came back in all of its four-inch glory, and not without raising eyebrows.
According to the company’s claims, however, about thirty million people bought a 4-inch iPhone last year, amounting to almost 8% of all Apple phones sold. Considering the massive marketing push made to advertise the four bigger-screened iPhones introduced in the past couple of years, that certainly is no small feat, indicating that there indeed still is interest for smaller devices, a market the Cupertino giant would be naive to ignore.
Sure, the much more variegated Android landscape has offered a few notable options in years past, but those were either afterthoughts, less powerful ‘mini’ versions of established flagships, or devices explicitly designed to be sub-par when compared to their siblings. The iPhone SE may lack 3D Touch and newer-generation Touch ID, but the rest of the package is clearly inspired by the iPhone 6s’ spec-sheet, and nothing says that this smaller sibling isn’t here to stay.
And that begs the question of how this is going to impact the Android landscape. Are Android manufacturers going to follow suit the coming years, or instead pray for the SE to be a one hit wonder (or a complete dud) – and thus something less to worry about?
The never-ending battle between Apple and Samsung over an alleged design patent violation is going all the way to the Supreme Court. Apple previously formally requested that the Supreme Court not grant the case a hearing, but the decision to hear the case was issued this morning.
Update: Samsung got in touch to say they’d read the article, and to assure me that steps are in place to improve its returns/exchange process for customers.
In respect of the other points raised we do empathise with your frustrations and can assure you that actions are underway and, in some cases, in place (the Samsung Shop is now able to offer exchange products for failures within the returns period) to ensure that we improve our service and support moving forward
It’s hard to imagine there was once a day when Android flagship phones performed noticeably worse than an iPhone. A few years ago, if there’s one thing Android OEMs were known for, it was pushing the most specced-out plastic phones possible. Most of the time, the specifications didn’t translate to a much better experience.
Despite more impressive-sounding specs, the Android flagships were noticeably slower than iPhones, their cameras were terrible and the fit and finish, or build quality was — quite frankly — woeful. It wasn’t true for every phone, but it was a prevailing theme.
A lot has changed over the past 4-5 years. Android phones have caught up with, and arguably, surpassed the iPhone. They have the best cameras, they’re fast, have useful tech like fast/wireless charging, big batteries, SD Card slots, waterproofing, crazy high def OLED displays and are somehow more affordable. What’s more, Apple’s cloud services which underpin its hardware leaves a lot to be desired, especially in staples like photo management, maps and messaging.
But there’s still one major area that Android manufacturers need to get their act together on: Customer Service.
IDC’s latest report is out today with new estimates based on worldwide wearable shipments, and in it is a prediction that Apple Watch will hold the market lead this year and through 2020 as Android Wear begins to close the gap.
While the report shows estimates based on overall wearable shipments, which IDC says will go from 72.2 million last year to 100 million in 2016 for watch and wristband products, it also shows a breakdown of estimates for leading smartwatch platforms by operating system…
According to CRN and other sources, iCloud will soon be partially powered by the Google Cloud Platform by way of a deal that could also be used as leverage to cut its cloud costs with Amazon and Microsoft. Such a move is a big win for Google’s burgeoning cloud enterprise business.
Eric Schmidt is in South Korea this week to witness Google’s AlphaGo AI system completely destroy the world Go champion at his own game. Sedol lost the first game yesterday, saying then that he was “very surprised”. Today he lost again. “It was a clear loss on my part,” he said. He had predicted before the matchups began that he would win the five-game series 5-0 or 4-1 “at worst.”
But while the Alphabet Executive Chairman is in South Korea to witness the monumental battle, the Korean press (OSEN, in this case) is clearly focusing on something else. As you can see in the pictures below, Schmidt was caught at a press event this week taking pictures with an iPhone…
Google today has joined over twenty other tech companies and filed a joint amicus brief with the U.S. federal court, expressing support for Apple in its battle with the FBI over unlocking an iPhone used by one of the gunmen in the San Bernardino terrorist attack. Google filed a joint brief with companies such as Facebook, Microsoft, and Snapchat. Another joint brief was also filed today by Twitter, Airbnb, and others. Google explained its motives in a blog post, curiously never mentioning Apple by name…
Cyanogen has today announced a new platform called “MOD,” giving developers deeper access to the Android operating system and allowing them to take advantage of platform APIs that are otherwise out of reach. Microsoft, for example, has built a Skype mod that allows users to add VoIP calling functionality directly to the Android dialer, as well as a Cortana mod that replaces Google Now on an OS level…
Update: A new hands-on video shows the $4 iPhone clone in all its glory (embedded below).
We told you earlier today about the insane $4 Freedom 251 phone, and now at least one publication has managed to get their hands on the device. Initial impressions aren’t great, and it looks like this phone — unsurprisingly — is just a mess of copyright infringement. Not unlike many other low-end offerings from dozens of overseas manufacturers, the phone pulls a lot of “inspiration” from the Cupertino company’s smashing successes…
Google has today uploaded its latest “Be together. Not the same.” ad to YouTube, and it’s a profound statement of how the company views its mobile platform, as well as how it views competitors. In the ad, dubbed “Monotune,” an unnamed pianist plays a tune in two versions: one using all the piano’s normal variety of keys, and the other on a special piano Google rigged to play the same note on all its keys…
In what Bloombergdescribes as ‘a 90-minute interview peppered with expletives,’ Russia’s new Internet advisor has said that he wants to force Google and Apple to pay more taxes.
German Klimenko is pushing to raise taxes on U.S. companies to help level the playing field for Russian competitors such as Yandex and Mail.ru […]
Bloomberg says that he has an interesting ally in this aim …
A report today is saying that Google wants to become more like Apple in its Nexus lineup of phones and tablets – that is to say it wants more control over the marketing and building of its products. But can Google build up its hardware engineering at the same time without alienating its hardware/carrier partners and even Apple? … Expand Expanding Close
According to a report from ETNews in Korea, Samsung is planning to launch a new purchase scheme similar to Apple’s iPhone upgrade program when it releases the Galaxy S7/S7 Edge this Spring. A rumor from months ago suggested Samsung was planning the move, but wasn’t clear when the company was thinking of launching it.
Although the report doesn’t specify exact prices or details of the upgrade scheme, it does say the consumers will be able to pay a monthly rental fee and hand the phone back in after 12 months, swapping it out for the next model…
Earlier this week, Apple launched its very first official battery case for the iPhone 6/6s. It’d be an understatement to say that it got some attention on social media, mostly from people who couldn’t believe the design-focused company released something so hideous. In fact, you’ll be hard pushed to find someone who has something good to say about the way the case looks.
Not to miss a good marketing opportunity, ASUS and LG were among those mocking the battery case and using it to sell the benefits of its own products. ASUS was keen to point out that, even with the battery case attached, the iPhone 6 is still no match for the ZenFone Max. ASUS claims its 5000mAh battery-powered smartphone can handle 2 hours more video playback, 2 hour more internet use and 12 hours more talk time than a case-equipped iPhone.
Meanwhile, LG took a slightly different line with the V10, ribbing the Apple case’s ‘bumpy’ design. Incidentally, LG’s V10 has a 3,000mAh battery which you can fast-charge up to 50% in just 40mins. :
It’s no surprise to see the companies exploiting a weakness in Apple’s armor to fuel their own marketing efforts, and the Cupertino-based company could certainly have tried to make it a little harder. Right now, the humped battery case is an easy target.
One thing no company has mocked is perhaps the one thing that has impressed all of us: iOS integration. When an iPhone has a Smart Battery Case attached, it displays both the phone and case’s battery levels in the notification drawer’s ‘Today’ view. What’s more, it charges the iPhone automatically and charges via Lightning cable. Those are some convenient features, for sure. Whether or not you’d want a ‘bumpy’ case in your hand to gain those features is another matter entirely.
According to a post today on the Google Search Help Forum, Google will soon push a fix for a long standing search bug that falsely shows iTunes App Store listings as having 1 star ratings (via MacRumors). The problem was first reported by several iOS app developers in late October, and it seems Google has finally acknowledged the issue…
Today, a Community Manager on the forum said that a fix is scheduled for the next release:
Hi everyone, thanks for your continued reports here. As Spencer mentioned, he’s been following up thoroughly with us regarding this and I’m happy to share that we’ve been working hard on providing a solution, and a new fix has been scheduled for the next release, which should be rolling out early next week. Appreciate your patience here.
At the beginning, OEM partners were vital in order to spread Android. Google would handle the hard work of creating the operating system, while OEMs would manufacture and deal with carriers. This approach worked and Android is now the most used mobile OS and Samsung is the largest smartphone vendor in terms of shipped devices. But how is Google going to keep Android growing into the future?.. Expand Expanding Close
Google has quietly launched a Chrome beta for iOS through TestFlight, the beta distribution service Apple acquired last year and integrated into its own developer services. Google has yet to make an official announcement for the beta release, but users can already sign-up and download the beta when visiting Google’s Chrome beta download page on iOS. Expand Expanding Close
Apple Music is finally available to download for Android, so I wanted to give you a quick setup tour and first impressions of Apple’s second app for Google’s mobile platform. It’s free to download and offers almost all of the same features and services found in the iOS and OS X apps, including the option to sign up for a free three-month trial… Expand Expanding Close
After first being announced and previewed in screenshots at WWDC in June, Apple has officially brought its subscription music service Apple Music to Google’s Android platform. Apple Music joins the iPhone maker’s other Android apps Move to iOS and the Beats Pill+ companion app on the Google Play Store.
Apple Music offers access to a large catalog of streaming music and music recommendations. Music and music videos can be saved for offline listening as well. Memberships costs $9.99/month for individuals, the same as Beats Music subscriptions which Apple Music replaces, after a three-month free trial period. Apple Music family plans for up to five different accounts is available through Family Sharing on iOS and Mac for $14.99/month. Expand Expanding Close
