Although Apple [AAPL] didn’t impress some people with the launch of the iPhone 4S (a lot were expecting a different design and a new name of the iPhone 5), it seems that this hasn’t caused problems for sales in any noticeable way as the company has now announced that 4 million units were sold within the first weekend of launch.
Archives for October 2011
30 Million Samsung Galaxy S Smartphones Sold Around the World
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Samsung has done well with the Galaxy S smartphone range. When the Samsung Galaxy S first launched it was one of the best smartphones on the market. It was powerful, had a great screen and was a great leap forwards for Android devices. The Galaxy S II has also done well for the company.
Samsung has announced today that the Galaxy S range of smartphones have seen 30 million sales since the original launch. This number represents both the Galaxy S and Galaxy S II sales.
$8.5bn Purchase of Skype Completed
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Microsoft [MSFT] has announced that it completed the $8.5bn purchase of Skype.
“Skype is a phenomenal product and brand that is loved by hundreds of millions of people around the world,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “We look forward to working with the Skype team to create new ways for people to stay connected to family, friends, clients and colleagues — anytime, anywhere.”
Canon to Launch new DSLR Tomorrow
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Rumours are showing that Canon will be launching a new digital SLR camera tomorrow. What that camera will be is the main unknown at the moment. Canon Rumors is hinting that the camera could be new in the 1D series of DSLRs.
Google Translate for Android Now in 14 Languages – Speech to Speech
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Google [GOOG] has released an update for Google Translate that allows Android smartphone users to communicate with people in 14 different languages. The new update works using speech-to-speech in conversation mode where you can select your language and then specify the language of another person. You can then speak and Google translates your text. You can then hit a button and have the other person speak in their language and it then converts it back in to your language so you can think of a reply to speak back.
Maps and Local Search for Siri Coming in 2012
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
One of the big let downs of the iPhone 4S launch was that for those of you out of the US, Siri has even more limited capabilities. In our Siri Review we noted that Apple [AAPL] had pulled out support for maps, directions and business searches. Although we have been told it’s coming, we hadn’t been told if that would be weeks or months. It turns out that it’s still several months away:
Maps and local search support will be available in additional countries in 2012.
Google Has 190M Android Smartphone Devices in Circulation
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Google [GOOG] has officially announced that there are now 190 million Android smartphones. This number also accounts for $2.25bn in extra ad revenue for Google.
Back in July Google also made an announcement but that time there were 130 million devices active which means there’s been 60 million more added since then.
Siri Ported to the iPhone 4 – Doesn’t Quite Work Yet
October 17, 2011 by Leave a Comment
A lot of iPhone 4 users want to get Siri but unfortunately Apple [AAPL] has decided against offering it and has instead made it iPhone 4S only. We don’t know the reason for this as it could be related to the iPhone 4 not quite having enough power or that it’s some other hardware tweak that we don’t know about. It could also be a sales thing so that the 4S has another slight edge against the older versions.
Anyway, a developer has managed to port the Siri interface on to the iPhone 4. The downside is that it doesn’t quite work yet as the interface isn’t talking with the Apple servers yet. Siri requires a connection to the servers at Apple so that your voice records can be stored and used to improve the service. It appears that Apple isn’t authenticating the use of Siri on the iPhone 4 and hence, not allowing it to function fully.
iPhone 4S Siri Review
October 14, 2011 by 2 Comments
We’ve been busy testing Siri for the iPhone 4S today to see if it works as advertised and also look at how it can be improved. What we wont touch on in this review is iOS 5 or the hardware in general. We’ll get on to those in the next few days after having more time testing the device and OS. On to the review…
Siri is a personal assistant for the iPhone 4S that goes beyond responding to simple commands. Siri understands context and allows you to speak in natural language to ask your phone to do things such as read my text message, remind me to do this, email this person, check the weather amongst several other things. When first getting the iPhone 4S you need to enable Siri and preferably allow it to use your current location as this comes in handy with some of the options you can set. On the settings screen there are just a handful of options which allow you to select who you are, which country you are from (currently 5 options available) and if you want Siri to activate when holding the phone to your ear. When these are set, you’re ready to go.
Windows 8 Task Manager Improvements Detailed
October 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Windows 8 received quite a warm welcome when it was first announced. The new metro layout along with how it functions on the desktop and tablet was one of the many interesting new features about the operating. Today though, we’re taking a quick look at the task manager and although the task manager is a place that’s rather boring to visit for most users, Microsoft has made a number of improvements to make it more user friendly.
iOS 5 Camera Can Use Earphone Volume Control to Capture Pics
October 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
With the launch of iOS 5 there’s a bunch of features that are being discovered as more users update their iPhones. One of those is the new camera functionality. We already know of the double tap on the lock screen to get to launch the camera. We also know that the up volume button can also act as the shutter button. What we learn today is that the headphone volume control can also be used as a shutter button.
MP3 Store Could be Opened by Google Music
October 14, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Google could be getting more closely involved in music from what we have read today. From what we understand, Google [GOOG] is currently signing deals with major record labels and when the contracts are complete, an MP3 store could be opened to compete with the likes of the iTunes store as well as Amazon store.
