IPhone

Last week (ending today), Amazon had a pretty incredible Penny Pincher sale where it offered just about every Android and otherwise phone (except Apple’s iPhone) for a penny with a two year plan.  That’s what we call a game-changing, evening of the field.  Sure, carriers and the plans matter, but if every phone is free, you can get a pretty good idea which are the most sought after phones in the “price not being an option” category.

From our Amazon Affiliate account we can see just how many of each phone our readers picked up, thereby getting a pretty good sample of what are the hot phones out there.  Here are some stats:

• – >90% of phones were Android (not surprising from a Google site)
• – Motorola Droid RAZR and Sprint’s Galaxy SII were the big winners (well done readers!)
• – Verizon was the dominant carrier with the top selling (RAZR), and 3 of the top 5 phones.
• – Samsung Galaxy SII was 3 of the top 6 and the number one seller overall across all carriers
• – We’re aren’t sure why*, but 9 of you bought Motorola Bionic’s giving Motorola the second place prize (*We love the RAZR and aren’t sure why one would pick a Bionic over a RAZR).
• – HTC was #3 with the Rezound having an impressive showing  and the Thunderbolt getting picked up 5 times (again, not sure why you’d pick a Thunderbolt over a Rezound at the same price). HTC on AT&T was a poor showing with none of the new Amaze 4Gs showing up.  In fact, with the Titan, HTC sold more Windows phones on AT&T than it did Android.  The EVO wasn’t as popular as you’d expect on Sprint with the Galaxy S II selling a whopping 9 times as many units on the carrier
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Overall, no huge surprises, especially at the top, though we’re somewhat surprised that Sprint’s Galaxy SII beat both of AT&T’s combined.  Toward the bottom, we started seeing some unlocked Nokias (5 C6’s) Windows Phones (3 HTC Titans, 3 Samsung Focus Ss) and a few BlackBerry Bolds.

The big question is: How will the Galaxy Nexus on Verizon upset the line?  Whatever the outcome, Verizon is already the clear winner with the RAZR and Rezound (and Bionic) already topping many granted  holiday wish lists.

Fuller results below:
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeDZ4Trn_jk]

Calling Cluzee a Siri competitor would be inaccurate as any Siri challenger would have to be built right into the bowels of the operating system, as is the case with Apple’s personal digital assistant. With that off our back, Cluzee looks like an interesting addition to Android’s already strong voice and search features. Developed by Tronton, Cluzee is billed as a new type of virtual assistant specialized in finance and information management.

It sports built-in calendar, reminders, filters, advanced search capabilities, voice recognition, voice synthesis and personal analytics, among other features. Tronton partnered with about 50 service providers that help Cluzee provide personalized services.

You can say stuff like “Cluzee, I’m looking to buy this or that in the next few weeks” and it’ll apply your criteria to filter the incoming deals and advertisers. It also does social filtering so you can say “if I get messages from these people, notify me immediately” or “include them in my daily brief”, which is basically your entire summary for any given day.

Just like Siri, Cluzee too employes machine learning, conversational interface and third-party data sources on the web to deliver the results. Cluzee is available on Android Market and will be coming to iPhone soon and just about any platform via an HTML5 web app. More information is available at the Cluzee web site. Go past the break for SocialTechPop’s interview with Cluzee’s Ashish Patwa from TechWeek in Chicago in July of 2011.

[slideshow]

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We’re not exactly sure how this happens, but the ZTE Score, which we covered last week when it was at a “hefty” $80, just dropped to $49.99 at Amazon.  Seriously, how do they do this?

You can buy the score as an ‘iPod touch” type of device and be on your way with a nice little music, video, wifi player with an older iPhone like 480-320 3.5 inch display.  or you can sign up for Cricket’s very capable service.

Seriously, at $50, you’ve got little to lose.
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Mobile advertising and data company Millennial Media is out with a new MobileMix report based on ad impressions across their network. The results are admittedly surprising considering Android’s seemingly unstoppable march: Google’s operating system did not grow in October compared to the summer period. All Android devices combined in October logged twice the ad requests of iOS gadgets, 56 percent versus 28 percent.

Both operating systems recorded same respective shares during the summer, although Android actually fell two percentage points in August before returning to its 56 percent share in October. As for the other players, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry OS did 13 percent ad requests while Symbian, Windows and Other each logged just one percent. In fact, the entire pie chart above is exactly the same as the summer 2011 chart. Also, relative data pitting Android vs. iOS echoes recent surveys by Nielsen and Gartner.

Of the top 15 device vendors, Samsung grew seven percent month-over-month and had six of the top 20 phones on the Millennial Media network. Interestingly, the Samsung Freeform, a feature phone, made the list of top 20 phones led by iPhone (it’s the first feature phone on their list since May 2011). Android devices represented 14 of the top 20 cell phones in October (15 devices in the summer period), with a combined impression share of 24 percent.

Apple remained the leading manufacturer on their platform and Android remained the top OS when combining Smartphone & Connected Device impressions. More surprising than that, nearly three-quarters of ad requests, or 71 percent, came from smartphones. The remaining 15 and 14 percent came from feature phones and connected devices. Other interesting takeaways right after the break…

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Samsung and Verizon just sent out a press release announcing the Samsung Illusion, an Android 2.3-powered entry-level handset dropping online tomorrow and in stores in January. While it’s far from a competitor for high-end Android devices, when we start to take a look at the specs, sleek design, and price, it looks like a great option for anyone that might have been considering Apple’s iPhone 3GS.

As for specs, the Illusion doesn’t disappoint for a low-end Android and iPhone 3GS competitor. Included is a 1GHz Hummingbird processor, 3.0-megapixel camera, 6-axis accelerometer with compass, Bluetooth 3.0, built-in Wifi, and a microSD card for up to 32 GB. Perhaps most impressive is the design itself, which appears to be much nicer than your typical cheapo Android handset. We know the display will most likely the be the 3.5-inch 320×480 capacitive touchscreen spotted previously, but the press release only mentions a “curved glass display”.

It will officially become available for $79.99, but starting tomorrow you’ll be able to get it for free on a two-year contract as a special online-only promotion from November 24 to November 28. Full press release below, if you’re interested. 
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The first Ice Cream Sandwich handset, the Galaxy Nexus, hit the UK this week (US launch coming soon) and AnandTech has benchmarked the ICS/Galaxy Nexus combo vs. the iPhone 4S/iOS 5 combo.  The Galaxy Nexus processor/GPU isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but the new software inside is certainly packing a punch beating iOS in a few key areas. As seen in the graph to the right, the Galaxy Nexus has a slightly faster tested browser than the iPhone 4S — a crucial day-to-day necessity for users.

The Galaxy Nexus also comes up with the win in JavaScript loading, bringing faster load times than the Droid RAZR and iPhone 4S. Don’t think the Galaxy Nexus is going to come away with everything, however. Both Apple’s iPhone 4S and iPad 2 outperform the Galaxy Nexus in GPU loading — which is limited by its slower SGX 540 underneath.  That’s an important consideration for gaming.

The Galaxy Nexus’s hardware has been dubbed very smooth compared to older versions of Android. Google is activating 550,000 Android devices a day and is still behind iOS in total Activations at 200 million total.   Head after the break for more graphs.

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7ridjtcza7E]
Motorola Ad

I’ve been enamored with the Droid RAZR since the unveiling event last month.  It is everything about the “anti-iPhone” Droid message multiplied by 100.  From the excellent commercials to the handsome styling to the robot-y motif.  Where Samsung and to a lesser extent HTC make efforts to assimilate to the smartphone (read: iPhone) norms, Motorola’s Droids try to differentiate.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yj9yisLa4ao]

On hardware alone, this is probably my favorite Android device so far.  It is incredibly thin but also much more sturdy than the typical Galaxy handset.  Somehow, however, it manages to be just as light.  Compared to HTC’s latest offerings (including the monstrous Beats Rezound that I am also testing now – see pictures) and frankly Motorola’s previous Droid Bionic, Droid X, this thing is in a totally different class.

Droid Bionic (right) is thicker at its thinnest point than the RAZR at its thickest

And about that Bionic.  Pity the people who bought that device in the previous months knowing that Amazon sells the Droid RAZR for $111 on launch with $100 gift card for tethering.  Effectively, that is the best Android phone you can have for $11…
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According to the Associated Press (via Winnipeg Free Press), Google’s Eric Schmidt attended a press conference during his first visit to South Korea since 2007 on Tuesday where, among other things, he was asked his opinion on Steve Jobs’ claims that Android is a “stolen product”. While calling Jobs a “fantastic human being” and saying he is still “very sad and recovering from the sense of loss”, he had this to say regarding claims that Google ripped off key features of the iPhone for Android:

“I decided not to comment on comments that are written in the book after his death. I don’t think it’s right…Most people would agree that Google is a great innovator, and I would also point out that the Android efforts started before the iPhone efforts. And that’s all I have to say.” 

It was revealed prior to the release of the authorized Steve Jobs bio penned by author Walter Isaacson that Jobs shared with Isaacson his opinions on Android’s blatant copying of innovations Apple first debuted in the iPhone. Here’s the full quote from the book:

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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2uF3cMCjNAQ]

Remember when AT&T Wireless CEO Ralph de la Vega said that they’d bring tethering to the iPhone “soon” in 2008?  Yes, it was 2010 before it arrived.  So take the above video with a grain of salt.

AT&T SVP Larry Solomon told the Mashable audience that NYC would be getting AT&T’s LTE “sometime soon” (at 3:30).

Even with the background being sketchy, the math is in your favor NYCers.  AT&T says it will cover 70 million customers in LTE by the end of the year.  It is going to be hard to get there with their 15 markets if NYC isn’t one of them.

For good measure, AT&T was in NYC last week handing out to reviewers their impressive LTE smartphones the 4.5 inch HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy II Skyrocket.  We’ve got both phones in hand but won’t be able to offer up a comprehensive review until NYC LTE is lit up (or I visit Silicon Valley for the holidays – whichever comes first)

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Verizon has about the sickest lineup of phones we’ve ever seen for the holidays. While it is carrying the iPhone like almost everyone else, it has not one, not two, but three *incredible* flagship Android devices that are all incredible in their own way. We’ve already seen the Droid RAZR and we just got a close look at the Droid Rezound. We know, and Verizon verifies above, that the buttonless Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be showing up before the holidays.

We talked to Verizon at the Rezound event and they told us there wouldn’t be an event for the Galaxy Nexus, at least from Verizon. They said Google would he handing them out to reviewers shortly. From the paperwork above, it looks like Verizon will be the only carrier doling out Nexi for the holidays with the others following in the new year.  The new Android comparison matrix below (via TheDroidGuy):

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Up above here you have the graphic heading around the Internet today made by Michael DeGusta at the Understatement.com.  While some of it is unfair/sloppy –  He says the Nexus One was hanging back because it didn’t have Android 2.2 when it was announced, but that was a beta period before the final version was released – that’s like saying no iPhones had iOS 5 for 4 months back when iOS 5 was announced in June, Also the Samsung behold isn’t the most expensive Android phone offered ever on T-Mobile – the point is still valid

Overall it does serve to demonstrate the major problem with the Android ecosystem.  The motivations of the carriers and manufacturers are short term gains and keeping customers by locking them into proprietary overlays.  As DeGusta says:
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From 9to5toys.com:

Buy.com via eBay Daily Deal has the Samsung Galaxy SII unlocked phone for $489.99 with free shipping.  That’s the lowest price we could find by about $100.  This 4.3″ screen, dual core Android 2.3.5 smartphone will work on just about any GSM network in the worldwith a SIM card.
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Trevor Prideaux, pictured above, was born without his left arm, but that doesn’t stop him from enjoying his smartphone, perhaps more than most. Rather than despair, Mr. Prideaux, who works as catering manager, decided to think different. He arranged with his medical team to contact Nokia and float an interesting idea calling for a specially designed prosthetic arm with a phone-shaped cradle carved out. That way, Mr. Prideaux can use his Nokia C7 touchscreen phone comfortably rather than juggle with it.

He told The Telegraph:

I think this is the first time this has ever been done in the world – and it is brilliant.

We think it’s exciting that some companies out there are willing to go extra mile and adapt their tech in order to help disabled individuals get thins done. Kudos to Mr. Prideaux for having the guts and willingness to fight bureaucracy and push his idea. Here’s to the hoping that other vendors will pay notice and provide phone accessories that can be used comfortably with artificial limbs.

Also, maybe while they are in there, they could throw in extended life batteries and some dope speakers with a decent sub.

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Ice Cream Sandwich, the latest version of Google’s mobile operating system meant for both smartphones and tablets, will support the previous-generation Nexus S smartphone in addition to the forthcoming Galaxy Nexus device manufactured by Samsung for Google, the search giant confirmed. However, owners of the original Nexus One smartphone, which had been manufactured by Taiwan’s HTC Corporation as Google’s showcase Android phone in January 2010, will be left out in the cold because that device is not powerful enough to run the latest Android software, The Telegraph reported today.

Google’s Hugo Barra told the paper that Ice Cream Sandwich will drop as a free software update for the existing Nexus S handset “within weeks”, shortly after the latest Galaxy Nexus device lands on store shelves in November. Realistically, there are some limits as to which software can perform well in a satisfactory manner on older devices. MG Siegler pointed out that the iPhone 3GS is seven months older than the Nexus One and yet it runs the iOS 5 software. However, it should be points out that Apple is routinely leaving out older-generation devices with its mobile operating system revisions.

iOS 5, the latest version Apple released for public consumption earlier this month, does not run at all on the original iPhone or iPhone 3G. Even though it does run on iOS 5, it should be noted that some high-end features are not supported on that handset because the hardware is just not up to the task. Apple also intentionally limits some software features to the latest hardware for marketing purposes. Search assistant Siri, for example, is an iPhone 4S exclusive.

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According to research firm Strategy Analytics (via Bloomberg), Google’s Android-based tablets gained market share in the iPad dominated tablet market during the third quarter, specifically led by new models from Samsung (presumably referring to the same Galaxy Tab family that is currently the focus of patent related litigation between Apple and Samsung).

The report claims Android was up from just 2.3 percent from the same three month period last year, to a 27 percent share of worldwide sales during the third quarter in 2011. The iPad’s market share during the same period reportedly fell from 96 percent to 67 percent. The research firm notes that Samsung’s Galaxy tablets currently account for 9 percent of the total tablet market.

There is also reason to believe Android’s growth on tablets will continue to grow into 2012, as the introduction of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (the first Android OS specifically designed for both phones and tablets) could help tablet adoption among Android smartphone users. Strategy Analytics believes that Amazon’s Kindle Fire will also drive Android tablet sales, estimating the company will sell more than 15 million units by 2013.

In contrast to this obvious good news for the Android tablet market, which the WSJ’s Walt Mossberg recently described as having “flopped” in an interview with Google mobile chief Andy Rubin, there are conflicting stats for Android tabs in the enterprise. The recently released Good Technology Device Activations Report for Q3 2011 shows that when it comes to tablets in business, enterprise users are clearly choosing iPad over the alternatives, noting “iOS tablets represent over 96 percent of total tablet activations”. Their graphic (above) also speaks volumes.

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Apple has made its concerns official. The iPhone maker fears Samsung tablet will lure consumers away from the powerful iTunes ecosystem. Apple’s been successfully leveraging iTunes to tie people to the platform through app and entertainment content sales.

The heated Apple vs. Samsung legal battle over who’s copying who is really about the ecosystem rather than the hardware or the patents. That’s the gist of today’s hearing before the Federal Court in Sydney related to an Apple-requested ban on sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia. According to Smh.com.au, lawyers for Apple argued that the launch of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 could take away iPad 2 sales so quickly that buyers may be “seduced” from the iOS platform.

It’s all about the apps and the broader ecosystem, Apple’s legal team told Justice Annabelle Bennett, arguing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 “is vastly the one that is going to be targeting the iPad 2”. IDC numbers released today suggest that that tablet shipments to Australia and New Zealand doubled sequentially in the June quarter, which the research firm attributed to an influx of Android tablets recently released into those markets.

Apple’s lawyers then resorted to the “fire hose” metaphor to make their case:

This is going to be launched on the market with the velocity of a fire hose and it is going to just come in and take away iPad 2 sales so quickly that by the time we get to final hearing the full impact of the patent infringement will be to the detriment of Apple and to the benefit of Samsung.

And this bit about the battle of ecosystems:

They’ll then be Android people and the investment in the apps that they make to purchase on their Galaxy Tab will be something they can’t use on an Apple product.

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As noted on 9to5toys.com, Best Buy is selling the Virgin/Sprint LG Optimus V Android Smartphone for $100 without a plan. (Why?)  Yes, that means you can buy the Android 2.2 phone with 2GB of memory, GPS, Bluetooth and forgo the plan altogether.  Think of it as a cheap Galaxy Player for the kids.  But it is even better with Virgins simple, cheap all you can eat data plans.

I’ve used this phone and I like it a lot.  It doesn’t play Flash video, has a small 320×480 screen (Think iPhone 3GS), and doesn’t have a front side camera for video chatting, but it is very solid. It has a great GPS, makes calls well and Apps switch and open fast, in part because Virgin doesn’t do overlays.  I’ve recommended it to friends and family who have feature phones and want to step up to Smartphones without increasing their monthly costs.  In fact, many actually lower their costs by going on Virgin Mobile’s $25-$35/month all you can eat data/text and 300 minute plans.

But, at $99 without a plan, it is the first solid Android device in the US to break the $99 price point.  This trend may be more important than the next Galaxy or HTC 720P Androids or iPhones because it will get many more people on the mobile Internet.

Think about it. Where is the growth in the market? The latest Nielsen Data says that only 50-60% of Americans have Smartphones.  The other 40% could probably afford to get this device instead of their current feature phone without taking much of a hit on their monthly costs.  In fact, with the economy uncertain, a lot of post paid customers might want to chop their monthly bill in half with this little guy.
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From the Mobilize conference:

T-Mobile’s network is 75% smartphones and 90% of those are Android. That means more than 2/3rds of the devices sold by T-Mobile are Android. That is a big number.  Remember T-Mobile has a million iPhones on its network but those weren’t sold by T-Mobile.

Is it game over for everyone else?
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It’s litigation day as Apple and Samsung battle it out in courts the world over. In a two-day hearing which began this morning in Australia a judge asked for more time to study Apple’s claims, resulting in a brief Galaxy Tab 10.1 launch delay until the end of the month. Meanwhile, the first round of hearings is underway in The Hague over Samsung’s accusations that Apple’s iPad and iPhone infringe on Samsung’s wireless patents. The Korean company is seeking a ban on those products in The Netherlands.

Apple is represented by Rutger Kleemans (Freshfields) while Samsung’s legal counsels are headed by Bas Berghuis (Simmons & Simmons). Per information sourced from Webwerld editor Andreas Udo de Haes on Twitter and this Nu.nl report, Apple says Samsung is seeking a 2.4 percent charge of chip price for every patent. Apple has called those demands “simply excessive”. Sounds to us like Apple might have awoken the beast. Apple says because the two parties are still negotiating a licensing agreement of sorts, granting an injunction would be premature.

The Mac maker’s legal sharks stress Apple is buying its components from Intel and Infineon, hence no need for royalties to Samsung. Interestingly, Apple’s lawyers also explicitly stated that iOS devices sold in Europe do not use Qualcomm silicon found in CDMA versions of iPad and iPhone. Apple also said Samsung changed the license to Qualcomm to exclude Apple. In a nutshell, Apple’s argument is that Samsung’s technology and patents are already incorporated in Intel’s chipsets.

Samsung obviously disagrees and argues Apple has more than ten component suppliers and is obscuring them purposefully in order to make determining which components infringe on Samsung’s patents that much harder. Apple launched the iPhone in Holland back in 2008 without securing the necessary licenses, the lawyers for Samsung said. Apple denied Samsung’s claims and said Samsung, its parts supplier, wouldn’t demand a license until 2010 because Apple was an important customer. According to this Guardian article, the Apple account is worth fourth percent of Samsung’s total business…

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Spotify, a popular music streaming service from Sweden, arrived in the United States mid-July on an invite-only basis. Today, Spotify goes live for everyone nationwide, no invitation required. Users can now sign up for an account at Spotify.com and use a mobile app for Android or iPhone to stream music over wireless and cellular networks to their phones, tag songs for offline viewing, favorite tracks, share them with friends and more. What’s best, you needn’t sign up for a paid Spotify account. Thanks to a new partnership with Facebook that Mark Zuckerberg announced at the yesterday’s developer conference (more in the clip below), anyone signing up with their Facebook account gets six months of unlimited listening. What happens when the six-month free period expires?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FjAr5nGzjV8]

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The first mention of a social news app from Google came in a Google+ post yesterday by tech watcher Robert Scoble. He wrote:

I heard from someone working with Google that Google is working on a Flipboard competitor for both Android and iPad. My source says that the versions he’s seen so far are mind-blowing good. 

The news prompted AllThingsD’s Kara Swisher to dig for more clues. The service is code-named Propeller, Swisher learned:

Google is indeed working on rolling out the new product, which is currently called Propeller. Sources said Propeller is apparently one of a number of new socially focused announcements Google is prepping, including new apps.

The app should launch in the near future because Facebook is also unveiling a social publishing platform of its own next week. It was not immediately clear at the time of this writing how Propeller ties with Google+, if at all. Given the company’s strong social focus and the fact that Propeller is being described as a social news app, it would seem logical to incorporate at least Google+ sharing features.

9to5Google learned from people familiar with the project that Propeller will boast a prettified interface, as is a norm with its high-end rivals Flipboard and Pulse. Publishers will be able to package their content for distribution right within their web browser, using a dedicated web app. Layout options are said to include multiple layouts to target various tablet and phone brands, including iPhone and iPad. Navigation capabilities will include individual articles, table of contents, as well as browsing custom-made sections that curate multiple articles. Images, video and other rich media types are also at disposal.

Publishers will also be able to…

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