Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5 review: Corby with brains

Gsmarena have posted a review of the Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5. Here are the phone's key features, main disadvantages and their final impression.

Key features:

* Quad-band GSM/EDGE, UMTS 900/2100, HSDPA 7.2 Mbps
* 2.8" capacitive TFT touchscreen of QVGA resolution, 256K colors
* Android OS v2.1 Eclair
* 600 MHz processor
* 170 MB onboard storage, microSD card slot (up to 16GB), 1GB card included
* 2 megapixel camera with geotagging, QVGA video @ 15fps
* Wi-Fi connectivity
* Bluetooth 2.1 with A2DP
* microUSB slot
* Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
* Excellent audio
* FM radio with RDS
* TouchWiz UI v3.0
* Accelerometer for UI auto-rotate
* Social networking integration with direct file uploads
* SWYPE text input method

Main disadvantages:

* Small QVGA screen: not to good for browsing, limited choice of apps
* No multi-touch support
* Poor still imaging and video recording
* No DivX video support
* microSD slot under the battery cover
* No dedicated camera key
* No secondary video-call camera

The Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5 is the future. OK, now, take your time. Laugh it up. But it looks like the term smartphone is about to become meaningless. It won’t be too long before they are all just phones again – like in the good old times. The Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5 is the right sort of step – slow and cautious – into a world where every phone is a smartphone. And it seems pretty obvious that Android is the right OS.

But let’s not get carried away. What we have here is a no-frills entry-level package. It does make sense though in the proper context. You can look at the Galaxy 5 as merely a stage in the Corby evolution. And that’s exactly what works in its favor – a Corby smartphone sounds like a solid upgrade option for many Samsung users.

If you’re coming from a Corby and you’re not too keen to skip a few stages in your upgrade history, the Samsung I5500 Galaxy 5 is a perfect option. You’re not likely to fuss about so many things missing as long as you get a phone to put loads of apps on. And it’s a cheap option too – carriers will probably make you an offer you can’t refuse.

Then it’s up to you to weigh the pros and cons. The Galaxy 5 has a neat and friendly interface and runs pretty fast. The connectivity is all there and the social networking is duly covered. It’s not good at imaging though and the otherwise solid browsing is let down by the small screen. Just bear in mind that the low asking price is not the only explanation for the rather unimpressive specs.

The Galaxy 5 needs to distinguish itself from similar but slightly better equipped phones in the Samsung Android lineup. The Samsung I5800 Galaxy 3 (or Apollo), which we recently reviewed,has a 3.2-inch WQVGA screen and tops the Corby smartphone with a built-in GPS receiver and DivX/XviD video support.

Elsewhere, the Motorola QUENCH, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X8 and the LG GT540 Optimus are obviously better spec’d than the Galaxy 5 too but have one thing in common: the dated OS version (1.6 or earlier).

Nokia have quite a selection of affordable touchscreen smartphones too. The already proven worthy Nokia 5800 XpressMusic and its cheaper sibling, the 5530 XpressMusic, are still a solid option for budget-conscious smartphone buyers.

There’s enough choice already when it comes to smartphone action within budget. Android still has a bit of catching up to do with Symbian in terms of affordability. But it’s getting there with phones like the Galaxy 5. The Corby smartphone is as basic as it gets, but it looks like the right phone for the novice user. Just be warned – as soon as you get one, you’re in it for good. So you better start thinking about your next smartphone.

HTC Desire Z first look

Hands on video of the HTC Desire Z from the HTC event in London.

Samsung Wave smartphone sales top 1 mln in Europe

Sales of Samsung Electronic Co.'s Wave smartphone topped 1 million in the European market four months after its debut there, industry sources said Sunday.

The 3G smartphone based Samsung's Bada open platform was first introduced in May with the GfK consumer report placing the model as one of the top three best sellers in countries such as France, Germany and Austria.

Bada, meaning ocean in Korean, is one of the latest mobile operating systems (OS) being released into the market and is in direct competition with Apple's iPhone OS and the Android being marketed by Google.

The success of the handset has been attributed to the phone's design, capabilities and localized marketing efforts that encourage people to create compatible applications.

It has a 3.3-inch Super AMOLED screen, mobile digital natural image engine, super-fast central processing unit and 5 megapixel built-in camera.

Samsung, South Korea's largest business group and a dominant force in the global memory semiconductor market, said that it plans to launch Wave 2 and Wave 2 Pro versions of the smartphone. Both products were unveiled at the Communic Asia 2010 convention in Singapore in June.

The company said it wants to introduce the Wave to the South Korean market this year.

SOCIALISE IN AN INSTANT WITH THE LG TOWN C300

Slough, Berkshire - LG Electronics (LG) launched the LG Town C300, a colourful and vibrant phone, aimed at those on the go with busy lifestyles. With ease of social networking in mind, the phone has a full QWERTY keyboard, making it ideal for texting and typing.

The modern design has sleek curved sides and a 2.4 inch screen. Lightweight and the perfect palm fit, the phone is ideal for keeping in touch with friends.

With push email and onboard SNS, the new handset makes it possible for users to stay in touch with their social lives 24/7, with dedicated Facebook, Twitter and MSN clients. Social Networking System (SNS) widgets provide real-time status updates directly to the home screen, so users are constantly up-to-date.

The LG Town C300 features a 2 megapixel camera for those moments in life that need to be shared. The photos can be uploaded quickly onto Facebook and Twitter with the Social Networking System. The handset also contains a 3.5mm jack so you can listen to music with your own headphones.

The LG Town C300 is the latest addition to the LG Town family, highlighting the needs of the current generation. Paul Trueman, Marketing Director LG Electronics UK and Ireland says “We wanted to make social networking quick and easy for busy people on the go, and the LG C300 Town with integrated SNS widgets and a full QWERTY keyboard does just that.”

The key features of the LG C300 are:
• 2 megapixel camera
• Full QWERTY keypad
• Push email
• Instant messaging
• Facebook, Twitter and MSN clients
• Wireless FM radio and MP3 player

The phone will be available at Orange, Phones4U and Tesco shortly.

The Full Specs of the HTC Mozart revealed

The full specs of the Windows phone 7 HTC Mozart has been revealed.

T-Mobile G2 by HTC Quadrant Standard Benchmark Test

T-Mobile G2 by HTC Quadrant Standard Benchmark Test

Welcome to App Planet

Overview.

App Planet proved to be an overwhelming success at Mobile World Congress 2010 in Barcelona. App Planet provided incredible opportunities for the App Developer community. Whether the attendee was looking for technical knowledge or simply the best app-related networking available, App Planet had something for every type of attendee. The inaugural App Planet reported:

* More than 20,000 attendees came through the door at App Planet
* 150+ Exhibitors
* More than 6,000 developers at MWC
* 54% of developer community represent senior-level positions

Building on the success of App Planet at MWC10 we will again focus on the explosive growth in the mobile applications market while fostering direct communication between developers and platform owners. This year promises to be more exciting as we pull together the key players in one place, at one time, and make App Planet the Centre of the Apps Universe.

App Planet will feature:

App Focused Exhibition
Located in the Upper Village, App Planet is open to all pass holders and focuses on the latest technology from the fast-moving apps industry. With more than 200 app-specific exhibitors in 6,700 square metres of space, App Planet will deliver an abundance of opportunities for developers and mobile professionals to mingle and discover apps in action.

App Developer Conferences
App Developer Conferences (ADC) will be a central focus of App Planet and will be conducted by our partners and are open by invitation only. Each Application Developer Conference will take place in the App Planet auditorium and break-out rooms to accommodate special streams for each Developer Conference.

We are pleased to announce three App Developer Conferences for 2011:

* Research in Motion (RIM) will be hosting an ADC for 500 BlackBerry developers on Tuesday, 15 February, 2011
* Palm will hold a full-day ADC on Wednesday, 16 February, 2011
* IDG World Expo, organisers of Macworld, the world's premiere event focused exclusively on the Apple products platform, to produce Macworld Mobile, a mobile developer event for the Apple iPhone and iPad platforms. The Macworld Mobile iOS Developer Conference will provide full-day, in-depth training on this critical platform, with technical sessions, targeting tools and applications specifically designed for mobile application developers and engineers.

We are currently finalising agendas for RIM, Palm and IDG World Expo. More information will be available soon. To be alerted when these and new App Developer Conference opportunities are available, simply subscribe to 'App Planet Updates' on the right side of this page.

App Lounge
The App Lounge is a networking area within App Planet set up to provide a comfortable environment for developers and their fellow attendees to step out of the hustle and bustle of the conference, relax, make new connections and catch up on industry and daily news provided by our Media Partners.

App Garage
App Garage is the focal point of GSMA's Applications-related projects at Mobile World Congress. Featured projects include: OneAPI, RCS DevChallenge, RCS Project and PathFinder. Each day there will be demonstrations on all featured projects. Visit the stand, talk to the experts, and discover apps in action.

New Components for 2011!

Brand Challenge
The GSMA is creating a competition focused on mobile application developers creating "brand apps" for a select number of global consumer brands. Developers will compete by creating customised mobile apps for the participating brand sponsors based on the objectives and guidance provided by the individual brands. The primary goals of the Brand App Challenge are to create networking and business opportunities which benefit the brands, application developers and the broader mobile ecosystem, as well as tapping the creativity and mobile application developer community to address brand and industry challenges.

The competition starts late fall 2010 with the finalists being named approximately one month before Mobile World Congress 2011. The Brand App Challenge winners will be announced as part of the Mobile World Congress conference programme and will receive cash awards for their winning efforts. Complete detail will be announced soon. To be alerted when these and new App Developer Conference opportunities are available, simply subscribe to 'App Planet Updates' on the right side of this page.
Join the Planet!

App Planet will open during Mobile World Congress: Monday - Wednesday 9:00 to 19:00 and Thursday 9:00 to 16:00.

For more information on exhibition, sponsorship or advertising opportunities at App Planet, please view this PDF Document

To Contact GSMA regarding these opportunities, please fill out this enquiry form

For general information on App Planet contact: appplanet@mobileworldcongress.com
Free News Service – Stay Connected All Year!

Mobile Apps Briefing is the brand new online service from the GSMA's Mobile Business Briefing team, dedicated to bringing you the latest news, analysis and expert opinion from the booming mobile applications world. The service is the leading information portal for mobile apps news and essential reading for all those involved in the fast-moving mobile apps space; from app platform vendors to developers and operators. Sign up today.

XTREME XRUNCH KART | FREE iPhone Game from BabyCarrots.com

BabyCarrots.com presents The World's First Carrot-Crunch-Powered Game. Ever.

Grab your baby carrots and blast through five different levels strapped to your rocket kart in an iPhone game so XTREME, you need real baby carrots to play.

XRUNCH BIG OR GO HOME, BRO.

50 Mobile Youth Facts 2011 by mobileYouth.org

50 Mobile Youth Facts You Need to Know 2011. Download the Ebook of these stats head http://www.mobileYouth.org/download

50 Mobile Youth Facts 2011 by mobileYouth.org

50 Mobile Youth Facts You Need to Know 2011. Download the Ebook of these stats head http://www.mobileYouth.org/download

What Entertains Kids On Mobile

The majority of mobile entertainment devices used by parents and kids host less than 20 apps geared toward children, but about 7% host more than 60 apps for a child, according to The NPD Group Kids' Mobile Entertainment & Apps study released Monday.

Gaming is the most popular type of app downloaded, with the average mobile device used by a child containing approximately 10 game-related apps. Music ranked No. 2.

When it comes to overall downloads, however, music dominates and games moves to the No. 2 spot. Video steps in at No. 3.

Music makes up more than half of all downloads and about 61% of all child-related downloads to a mobile entertainment device. The remaining types of downloads, including ringtones, TV shows and movies, comprise less than 10% of all downloading activity.

Three top themes emerged in the study that keep kids coming back for more, and parents agreeing to allow the kids to download, listen to music and play games. Anita Frazier, industry analyst at The NPD Group, says these themes include the love of music, laughter to keep kids entertained, and fun and addicting applications. "Parents are more willing to pay for apps when they think their kids will use them a lot," she says.

Connecting with friends through social elements also attracts kids. "We all know you're supposed to be 13 and over to use Facebook, but all of us know plenty of kids under that age with Facebook accounts," she says. "The social aspects are appealing to many kids."

The ability to download content or listen to music at no charge continues to entice consumers, especially kids. Seventy-five percent of respondents say free is the highest motivating factor driving app downloads. Other motivators include recommendations by family and friends, the request from the child for the app, and the app's affiliation with a character or personality.

About 82% of all apps downloaded for children are free. Those who purchase apps for children say they're willing to spend almost twice as much as they do. And the willingness to spend more rises as the child increases in age.

Despite some prevailing notions that many apps are used once and then deleted or forgotten, most kids will reuse the same app many times. Only about 1% reported abandoning apps after one use. A child might spend on average slightly more than 20 minutes at a time, but this varies by gender and age, Frazier says.

Most kids use the app multiple times, rather than just once, or only a few times, Frazier says. "Parents told us their kids are using the apps 'over and over,'" she says.

Frazier says the study didn't measure whether the parent became a motivating factor to the child downloading and using the app, but NPD found that apps downloaded to devices owned by the child created more motivation compared with those downloaded to parent-owned devices.

"For devices owned by the parent, but that the child uses, 'it's educational' became a much more motivating factor" when trying to sell the kid on the application, Frazier says. Friends and family recommendations also help to motivate the child into using the application.

Final data includes 1,043 completed surveys from parents who have kids 0 to age 14 using either iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry or another smartphone. The survey was conducted between June 18 and July 28, 2010.

WHILE THE MAJORITY OF MOBILE DEVICES USED BY PARENTS AND KIDS HAVE FEWER THAN 20 APPS FOR CHILDREN, CLOSE TO 10 PERCENT HAVE MORE THAN 60

For Kids, Gaming Apps Dominate, Followed by Music.

PORT WASHINGTON, NEW YORK - According to Kids' Mobile Entertainment & Apps, the latest report from leading market research company, The NPD Group, the majority of mobile entertainment devices used by parents and kids have fewer than 20 apps that have been downloaded specifically for a child, with seven percent having more than 60 apps for a child.

While these devices have many features that appeal to consumers of all ages, for kids, games apps dominates usage, followed by music. Gaming is the most popular type of app downloaded, with the average device used by a child containing approximately 10 gaming-related apps.

Despite the popularity of games apps, music dominates when it comes to overall downloading, with games coming in at a distant second place, and video falling in third place. More than half of all downloads are music related, commanding 61 percent of all child-related downloads to a mobile entertainment device. The remaining types of downloads, which include ringtones, TV shows and movies, make up less than 10 percent of all downloading activity.

Paid vs. Free

According to the report, 82 percent of all apps downloaded for children were free. However, those who have purchased an app for their child are willing to spend almost twice as much as they are currently spending, with the willingness to pay for an app among device users increasing with the age of the child.

Free and inexpensive apps are big motivators for downloads, with 75 percent of respondents saying the free nature of many apps is the single highest motivating factor driving app acquisition. Other motivators include recommendations by family and friends, the childs' request/desire for the app, and the apps' affiliation with a character or personality.

"Free is key," said Anita Frazier, industry analyst, The NPD Group. "The most common place for kids to use these devices is in their own home and I do believe free content is cannibalizing sales in many entertainment related industries. While these type of gaming experiences aren't as immersive as those available for console or portable systems, they are competing for time and dollars spent among the much broader casual gaming audience, and for time spent involved in other categories of entertainment."

Despite some prevailing notions that many apps are used once and then deleted or forgotten, most kids will reuse the same app many times. Only about 1 percent reported abandoning apps after 1 use.

Methodology

An online survey was fielded to members of NPD's Online panel. The survey was sent to a pre-identified sample of parents who own the measured devices (iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BlackBerry, other Smartphone), as well as a pre-identified sample of households with kids who use one of the measured devices. Respondents were qualified for device ownership and for having a child age 0 to 14 who uses one of these devices. All surveys were conducted from June 18 through July 28, 2010. Final data includes 1043 completed surveys from kids that use one of the measured devices.

Big Surprise from Sony Ericsson

During a grand opening of the mobile phone maker's North American and Latin American headquarters in Atlanta, CEO Bert Nordberg discussed a big announcement planned in the new few months.

Big Surprise from Sony Ericsson

During a grand opening of the mobile phone maker's North American and Latin American headquarters in Atlanta, CEO Bert Nordberg discussed a big announcement planned in the new few months.

iPhone versus Windows Phone 7

This is a comparison of iPhone with Windows Phone 7. We talk about the interfaces of both and how they differ. Windows Phone 7 uses a Start screen as its launcher where you can place a variety of live tiles. The iPhone is very application-centric. We also talk about how Windows Phone 7 doesn't do fast app switching, while the iPhone does.

Samsung's $999 iPad challenger kicks off tablet war

The first real challenger to Apple's iPad, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, will launch in Australia in November for $999 for the 16GB version, the company has confirmed.

Meanwhile, BlackBerry maker Research in Motion is preparing to announce its tablet next week at the company's developer conference in San Francisco, The Wall Street Journal reported.

And Dell overnight unveiled its second tablet computer, which like its previously announced Streak also runs Android. It has a 7-inch touchscreen compared to the 5-inch screen on the Streak, but Dell has not yet announced when either of the models would launch in Australia.

Apple has cornered the tablet market since the launch of its iPad but starting from late this year there will be a raft of challengers from companies including Acer, Asus, Dell, RIM, Lenovo, Samsung and Cisco.

Smartphone maker HTC is also working on a tablet but says it will take its time to develop a unique selling point before putting one on the market.

Some commentators have predicted that Apple will unveil a second iPad version with a smaller 7-inch screen to compete directly against this new competition and cheaper reading devices like Amazon's Kindle.
Last night Samsung unveiled its Samsung Galaxy Tab. Click for more photos
Samsung's Galaxy Tab

The Galaxy Tab, which will be available from all carriers in November, features a 7-inch display and runs the latest version, 2.2, of Google's Android platform.

The 3G and Wi-Fi tablet, which can make phone calls, will offer 16GB of internal storage with the opportunity to expand this by a further 32GB through the microSD slot. There are also front and rear facing cameras and the device weighs 380 grams - half that of Apple's 9.7-inch iPad.

According to The Wall Street Journal, the BlackBerry tablet will also have a 7-inch touchscreen and contain one or two built-in cameras, but those who want to access the internet over 3G networks will have to do so through a BlackBerry smartphone.

Earlier this month at the IFA consumer electronics show in Germany, Toshiba revealed its Folio 100 tablet computer that offers a 10-inch screen, Wi-Fi + 3G, a built-in camera, a mini HDMI port for connection to a big screen TV and USB ports.

Nokia Developer Day

Join Nokia and special guest AT&T for Nokia Developer Day, an information- packed conference and hands-on workshop in San Francisco on October 5, 2010 during CTIA Enterprise and Applications show. You will take away concrete information on how to easily develop for the world’s largest community of app-purchasing mobile consumers and tap into their downloading appetite through Ovi Store where downloads in 180 countries –including the US -- now exceed 1.7 million daily.

Prepare for this intense developer day where you will learn:

1. How to use the new Nokia Qt SDK to create advanced native apps for the Nokia N8 and more new Nokia devices in the future
2. How to use Nokia Web Runtime and Flash to build rich web applications for the N8
3. The essentials of great UI design for N8 apps
4. How to publish your app to Ovi Store faster and without signing fees
5. About compelling new incentives for developers to publish to Ovi Store
6. Why your apps for Ovi Store are important to AT&T
7. How local developers have already achieved success on Ovi Store

Network with other mobile developers and meet your local Nokia technical, marketing, and business development representatives to get the information and make the contacts you need to make your application even more successful.

Nokia Developer Day is free of charge, but please register as soon as possible - seats are limited.** The workshop will be held on Tuesday, October 5, from 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. at Moscone West (San Francisco), with a networking cocktail reception at the close of the session. All registered attendees will receive a special Nokia N8 Developer Pack while supplies last.
Agenda

8:00 AM—9:00 AM


Registration, coffee and networking



Developer Business Opportunity Overview

9:00 AM—9:25 AM


The developer opportunity with Nokia in North America and globally


David Petts, Vice President and General Manager, AT&T Account, Nokia
Ovi Store / Nokia N8

9:25 AM—9:50 AM


Ovi Store news and update/ promoting your apps


George Linardos, Vice President, Product, Media, Nokia

9:50 AM—10:15 AM


Nokia N8 overview and consumer proposition


Chanse Arrington, Solution Priorities Manager, Nokia North America

10:15 AM—10:30 AM


Break



Technical Sessions

10:30 AM—11:30 AM


Nokia Qt SDK — Part I


Daniel Rocha, Forum Nokia Tech Expert

11:30 AM—12:00 PM


The developer opportunity with Ovi Store and AT&T


Edward Schmit, Director, AT&T Developer Program

12:00 PM—1:00 PM


Lunch




1:00 PM—1:30 PM


Nokia Qt SDK — Part II


Daniel Rocha, Forum Nokia Tech Expert and Guest Developer

1:30 PM—2:30 PM


Nokia WRT plug-ins and Flash Lite 4.0


Robert Burdick, Forum Nokia Tech Expert and Guest Developer

2:30 PM—2:45 PM


Break




2:45 PM—3:45 PM


UI design for N8 with Qt and WRT


Suvi Peltomäki, UI design expert, Digia PLC

3:45 PM—4:10 PM


Java SDK update and demos


Wai Seto, Forum Nokia Technical Marketing

4:10 PM—4:35 PM


Developing games for N8 — APIs, tools and resources


Ravi Belwal, Games Developer Relations, Forum Nokia
Ovi Publish/Nokia N8 Developer Pack

4:35 PM—5:00 PM


Ovi publisher workflow — examples and Q&A


Bill Perry, Forum Nokia Services Marketing

5:00 PM


Nokia N8 Developer Pack


Martin Barclay, AmericasDeveloper and Publisher Marketing, Forum Nokia

5:00 PM—6:00 PM


Cocktails and networking




About Forum Nokia
Nokia's global developer program, Forum Nokia connects developers to tools, technical information, support, and distribution channels they can use to build and market applications around the globe. From offices in the U.S., Europe, India, Japan, China, and Singapore, Forum Nokia provides technical and business development support to developers and operators to assist them in achieving their goal of successfully launching applications and services to consumers and enterprises. More information is available at www.forum.nokia.com.

About AT&T
AT&T Inc. is a global leader in communications and a recognized leader which consistently provides innovative, reliable, high-quality products and services and excellent customer care. Today, our mission is to connect people with their world, everywhere they live and work, and do it better than anyone else. We're fulfilling this vision by creating new solutions for consumers and businesses and by driving innovation in the communications and entertainment industry. Learn more at http://developer.att.com

T-Mobile Cell Site Now Powered by the Sun

T-Mobile is hoping the sun is shining down on one of its cell towers in Chalfont, Penn. That’s because the gear is T-Mobile’s first solar-powered cell site in the U.S., and enables T-Mobile to tap into the sun to power a selection of gear that provides wireless broadband services.

T-Mobile didn’t give more details on how much power the 12 solar panels attached to the site would generate, only saying the power was enough to take the cell site off-the-grid and then “at times” feed power back into the grid. T-Mobile can use the cell site for lowering its carbon footprint (and green marketing) as well as potentially saving on its energy bill, but savings on electricity costs via solar often times have a long pay back period. Solar can also be used as a backup power source for cells if power grid blackouts occur.

The T-Mobile solar-powered cell is somewhat unusual in that it wasn’t built in a developing country. Phone companies most often turn to solar-powered cells in countries like India, and parts of Africa, where the sites can be few and far between, and phone companies want to use solar to replace or augment diesel-powered back up generators (see our report How Mobile Networks Can Cut Carbon, GigaOM Pro, subscription required). According to Pike Research, 4.5 percent of the world’s cellular base stations will run off of solar and wind by 2014, up from 0.11 percent in 2010.

In certain developing regions, solar-powered base stations can be economical. Phone companies are increasingly factoring in diesel fuel costs over the life of the system compared to the free fuel that is solar. Mobile operators are also taking into account potential carbon legislation (that makes carbon-based power more expensive), as well as the likelihood that the cost of clean power will drop in the future. Connecting into the grid can also be quite expensive in certain regions: for example, it’s $8,000 per kilometer to connect into the grid in rural Namibia, according to Kuwait-based Mobile Telecommunications Co.

Chalfont is a small, several-thousand-person community, but well developed, so those typical developing-world economics aren’t likely at play for the U.S. solar cell site. Solar-powered cell sites generally cost two to three times more than grid power in many regions, according to the GigaOM Pro report. My guess is this first tower is mostly a way to test the technology and use it as a marketing tool. Phone companies have boosted their green efforts in recent months as a way to cut costs, and get some good PR.

But as we note in our How Mobile Networks Can Cut Carbon report: “the first, and most effective, strategy for reducing energy consumption in mobile networks is to improve the energy efficiency of network infrastructure equipment itself.” Base stations actually make up 70-to-80 percent of the energy consumption from cellular networks, so it’s really important to reduce their overall power draw, instead of just switching them over to clean power. Pike Research says that clean power technology, like solar and wind and fuel cells, combined with energy efficiency, could reduce the carbon emissions due to mobile infrastructure in 2013 by at least 101 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (MtCO2e), a decrease of 42 percent from business-as-usual trendlines.

source

[HD] Galaxy Tab Official Live Demo

This is the first official hands-on video that contains a demonstration of every key feature and benefit of the Samsung Galaxy Tab. It also contains information of the most frequently asked features from social networking sites.

Most importantly, it highlights the value proposition of the Galaxy Tab: Advanced Media, Productivity and Communication, and On the Go.

This video doesn't contain any graphic effects.

Hp Slate review

Got an early hp slate model. I'll show ya around.

World's Scariest Job

World's Scariest Job

Video Games on the Nokia N8 (S^3) - Asphalt, Avatar, GT Racing, Hero of Sparta...

First, for everyone saying "why didn't you close the other games you idiot ?!", you're right. But this videos shows that the N8 can run a few games at the same time.

Here's a quick presentation of a bunch of games that you'll be able to find on any Symbian^3 device. The demo is on a Nokia N8 and was filmed during Nokia World 2010.

Demo includes : Asphalt, Avatar, GT Racing, Hero of Sparta
but there will also be Need for Speed, Angry Birds, and more.

Web TV on the Nokia N8 (Symbian^3) at Nokia World 2010

Here's a demo of the Web TV on any Symbian^3 device. Here it's on the Nokia N8 but it will also be available on the C6, C7 and E7.

Samsung Epic 4G vs Apple iPhone 4 vs Motorola DROID X - the camera comparison

PhoneArena presents a thorough camera comparison of the Samsung Epic 4G, Apple iPhone 4 and Motorola DROID X.
We've taken the three best smartphones from this summer which we've seen take the best pictures and pit them against one another to see which one really can out gun the other. And to compare the images ...

Evo 4G update benchmarks

Quick graphics benchmarks on the Evo 4G after its update to fix the 30 frames per second cap.

Mozilla Seabird 2D

Mozilla Seabird 2D

Nokia World video roundup

LONDON, England – Nokia World may be done and dusted for this year, but that doesn’t mean it’s forgotten. Oh no. Luckily the Conversations crew were let loose with a video camera, and captured some amazing footage over the course of the two days. In-fact, we have too many to put into one post. So here, in our Nokia World video roundup, are our top five vids.

Nokia World 2010 Highlights – Sept 14-15, 2010

Nokia World 2010 – Nokia C7 hands-on

Ovi Store – a global phenomenon

Nokia World 2010 – Nokia E7 hands-on

36 hours of Make My App at Nokia World 2010 Hackathon

Plum gets the irkafirka treatment – Comment of the week

LONDON, England – Those of you following Nokia World last week will have spotted the new addition to the Conversations crew – irkafirka. They kept the show lively with regular tweet responses in cartoon form during the show (follow @nokiafirka for more) and now they’re rolling out a weekly cartoon for the comment of the week. Read on after the jump to find out more.

Last week we had a cacophony of comments from Nokia World, many revolving around the new devices announced. However, the irkafirka chaps picked something unique out for treatment, which asked if Plum was going to be integrated into Nokia devices. We don’t know the answer, yet, but we have asked the question.

Cycnus, the winning commenter, will be getting a framed copy of the original drawing in the post. The rest of you, meanwhile, will have a chance to have your own comment transformed into an amusing cartoon. The team will be picking comments out every Friday from the preceding week’s activities and immortalize them on (digital) paper for the following Monday. This week’s is below. Now, get commenting!

Friday’s Pick and Mix #18

GLOBAL - All hands together for Friday please, as not only does that mean it’s the start of the weekend, but also this is the day that we collect the best bits from other sites that we often ‘bump’ into that make us stop, look and listen. We like to listen as much as we like to talk here on Nokia Conversations. Read on for our favourites, from the rest of the Web.

* I know what you’re all thinking. “What would my Nokia phone look like, if it were invented in 19th century Victorian-era Britain?” That’s not what you were thinking? Well, it was the thought of designer and Steampunk fan, Ivan Mavrovic. Full story and photos of such a device can be found at Walyou.com
* Damon Darlin from the New York Times talks about how many pairs of pants (that’s trousers here in the UK) he owns, how many mobile phones he has, and also how people try to divert their data downloads from network operators to any WiFi connection available. Damon goes into some figures to show why operators are happy we’re all turning to texting.
* The Nokia E7 was announced earlier this week, with Anssi Vanjoki calling it the ‘New Communicator’. Steve Litchfield over at AllAboutSymbian.com places the old Nokia E90 alongside the new Nokia E7 to do some detailed comparisons.
* Aardman Animations have set a Guinness World Record for “Smallest stop-motion animation character in a film”, with their new short film: ‘Dot’. The movie was shot entirely with the upcoming Nokia N8, and again shows off the camera quality.
* CJ from ZOMGitsCj.com picked up on some news from Nokia World that it seems most people missed out on. Nokia Reserch Centre demonstrated a great piece of tech that could be a thing of the future. Think of GPS and Sat Nav, but for indoors. Sounds like a great idea. Watch the video of the Indoor Navigator.

That concludes our week of the Web’s best bits, and also our week from Nokia World 2010. Don’t forget you can share your thoughts with us on any of the links above, in the comments below.

Do you have the X Factor, app?

LONDON, England - With first auditions complete, and bootcamp only five days away, The X Factor finalists will be singing their hearts out, and you can follow their steps along every part of their journey. With the exclusive The X Factor app from Nokia, you can read the latest news, watch audition videos and catch up with what’s happening back-stage, all free of charge. Read on after the jump for the lowdown.

If you’re an X Factor fan, come Monday morning you’ll want to chat to your friends all about the latest gossip from the weekend’s show. The X Factor app has page after page of gossip and stories to look through, and the best place to start is with the Editor’s Picks; here you’ll find the best bits all rolled into one page with access to previous week’s videos and behind the scenes photos of the new bootcamp arrivals.

Video junkies will love the packed-to-the-gills video section, where you can catch up on bits from previous episodes, tune into some of the better performers and gawp at some of the worst. This, as it turns out, was one of my favourite bits of the app.

Sharing is caring though, even when it comes to The X Factor. There’s no point having a laugh at something if you can’t share it with your friends. Doing this is easy from within the app, with the option to share bits on Facebook and Twitter. You can also rate specific bits by giving them a thumbs up or thumbs down (the app equivalent of three “nos”).

The X Factor app is available, for free, for the Nokia 5228, 5230, 5530, C6, 5800, X6, N97, N97 Mini, and can be downloaded from the Ovi Store

Nokia N8 shipping update

ESPOO, Finland – There have been a few stories this morning about the N8 availability which we feel need clarification. As we have previously said, we still expect to start the shipments by the end of the third quarter. As with every global launch, when the device reaches the hand of the customer will vary by market and operator.

We have received a record number of online pre-orders for the Nokia N8. We had targeted our online pre-order customers to receive their N8s by the end of September. As it can take time from the beginning of shipment to arriving at their doorstep, in full transparency, we have advised our pre-order customers that they should expect their new Nokia N8 in October.

The Nokia Dragons pick their winner

LONDON, England – Back in January Nokia set a challenge to innovators worldwide to create the “best idea for a new mobile product or solution designed to improve the lives of people in the developing world.” Now, nine months later the question has been answered. Last week the winner of Nokia’s Growth Economy Venture Challenge walked on stage at Nokia World to pick up a cheque for one million dollars of venture capital investment. What’s more, Nokia’s new president and CEO Stephen Elop was there to hand it over.

The Growth Economy Venture Challenge was launched in January by asking for idea that could truly change the way people use Nokia devices, and demonstrate how that idea could dramatically improve the lives of people in growth economies.

The competition closed in late July, and by August the judges had whittled down the 300 entries to just ten finalists from all around the world.

The finalists were:

* Bionic Power – The Portable Power Solution (Canada) – A device that converts walking energy into power to power mobiles, lamps, laptops etc
* eVOTZ (United States) – An app and SMS-based trustworthy voting system
* FloCash Payment Network (United Kingdom) – A virtual bank that allows users without bank accounts to make remittances, make bill payments and pay for product and services across a network of agents.
* IDIFIED (United States) – An application to identify buried improvised explosive devices (IED) in the developing World and areas of conflict.
* m-Employment platform using SMS (Pakistan) – Connects job seekers to those looking for employees via SMS messages.
* mmatcher – your mobile, your marketplace (Slovenia) – Creates mobile markets by matching sellers to potential buyers via their mobile
* Mobile Distributor Solution (Kenya) – A solution to fix supply-chain problems for micro and small businesses.
* Mobile JobHunt (China) – set of employment information applications and services covering recruitment, rights and interests, and training
* Remote Diagnostics Kit (India) – A user-friendly remote medical diagnostic device that allows medical specialists to attend to patients sitting thousands of miles away.
* Transclick for Globalization of m-commerce (United States) Automatic translation system that translates SMS messages from sellers in one country into the language of the buyers in another country.

The ten finalists where then asked to compete in a “run-off” event where they were asked to present their ideas and business models to a “Dragons Den” style judging panel consisting of Nokia business people, private angel investors, and venture capitalists. After much deliberation by the judges, the winner was announced at the Nokia Developer Summit, and John Waibochi was on hand at Nokia World to pick up the one million dollar prize for the Mobile Distributor Solution from Kenyan start up, Virtual City.

The Mobile Distributor Solution is designed to improve the distribution efficiencies for small and micro enterprises in the Fast Moving Consumer Goods market. The solution aims to boost the profitability of small and micro businesses by increasing the number of transactions as well as improving inventory management, the accuracy of records, and reporting from the field.

This is a great opportunity for the folks from Virtual City and we’re looking forward to watching the service develop over the coming months. Hopefully we’ll be bringing you regular updates, too.

Check out more from the winners in the video below.

Stephen Elop, first day on the job

HELSINKI, Finland – Today is Stephen Elop’s first day as President and CEO of Nokia. Last week he surprised us all by unexpectedly walking on stage at Nokia World to deliver the closing remarks and put his marker in the sand when it comes to Nokia’s developer community, highlighting their importance and congratulating their efforts. His sentiment was timely and spot on.

Stephen’s first job when he jumped on board this morning was to send a note to every Nokia employee. Instantly saying he’s here, and he’s listening. And it didn’t take him long to prove it, either. When the communications team got in touch, he responded within the hour. He’s here, he’s on it and he’s very much engaged.

Nokia is going through a major transition right now. Some say it can’t be done, but as EVP of Services Tero Ojanperä pointed out recently, the last transition was from rubber boots to mobile phones. This transition is seeing Nokia shift from a hardware business to a software and services business. The shift has started and is already gathering pace, be it through the Ovi store’s rising success, Nokia money or the gargantuan potential of Ovi maps.

Stephen’s arrival is timely and in my view and the view of many, he is very much the man for the job. He gets it, that much is clear from hearing him speak last week. Making a successful transition is going to require a stern hand and a clear vision of where Nokia is going and how it’s going to get there.

Like many Finns, Elop is a big hockey fan. Hockey ace Wayne Gretzky had a line from his father which gave him the edge in his game and which kinda sums up where Nokia is going with Stephen Elop – “Skate to where the puck is going”. Makes sense, no?

Poll results: How many apps?

GLOBAL – A few weeks ago, we asked how many apps you had downloaded over the last three months in our ‘How many apps?’ poll. Plenty of you ticked the right boxes, and the polling station is now closed. The votes have now been counted, checked twice and we can now reveal the results. Check them out after the jump..

Over 32 per cent of you have downloaded between six and 15 apps to your device. This tallies with the results from a similar poll last year, with a similar number of apps per device being popular.

In second place was one to five apps. 25 per cent of you chose this option which shows us that more than almost 70 per cent of you have downloaded more than five apps in the last three months. The next biggest chunk though was pretty impressive with almost one in every five of you downloading between 16 and 30 apps. That was just three per cent more than those of you who had downloaded 30+ apps, with 16 per cent of the vote.

Only seven per cent of you have downloaded no apps in the last three months. What’s the deal, haven’t you been to Ovi Store recently? Judging by the comments on the original poll, it could well be that you’re happy with your device as it is. Alternatively, it could be that you haven’t seen the recent improvements to the Ovi Store, particularly when it comes to the quality and range of apps available.

Nokia N8 makes the world’s smallest stop motion animation – Dot

GLOBAL – The Nokia N8 is a rather wonderful thing, specially its imaging prowess. But I don’t think anyone would have expected it to be involved in the making of the world’s smallest stop motion character animation. Certified by the Book of Guinness World Records, the animation was created by the folks behind Wallace and Gromit, Aardman Animation. In an ambitious project, they combined the might of the Nokia N8′s image capture ability with the concept behind Professor Fletcher’s invention of the CellScope. Read on after the jump to see how it was done and watch the movie.

Shooting only four seconds of footage per day, the team worked painstakingly to produce the movie. Rather than create a model for the lead character which could be manipulated (a la Wallace and Gromit), the team instead created 50 versions of her. Each Dot model started life as a sketch on paper which was then turned into a 3D render before being printed on a 3D printer. The models were then attached to a metal rod before being painted – the artist involved in painting basically couldn’t speak or breath as he applied his brushstrokes to the 9mm high models of Dot.

Professor Fletcher’s invention of the Cellscope enables doctors in remote places to take pictures of blood samples with a mobile phone camera before sending them off for analysis. It is currently being tested in Uganda and has proven successful at helping to detect Malaria. Whilst the concept worked for Aardman, they had to come up with their own variant in order to get the required depth of field for the images. With a few thousand frames shot on the N8′s 12-megapixel camera, these were then stitched together to create the finished movie.

If you haven’t seen it already, check out Dot below. Further down you’ll find the making of video, which is well worth a watch too. Suggest any more potential entries for Nokia devices in the Book of Guiness World Records in the comments below.

Dot

The making of Dot

Nokia World 2010 – Reactions

LONDON, England – Last week, Nokia World 2010 came to town and stayed for a couple of days. With the venue full of developers, press and Nokia folk, four new devices were released into the wild. The Symbian^3 powered Nokia E7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia C7 and the new Touch and Type device, the Nokia C3, along with a new version of Ovi Maps. Now it’s time to look back and see what the reactions were – which devices caught people’s attention, which new features made the headlines. Read on after the jump to find out what the (virtual) papers had to say.

The Nokia E7 seemed to cause the most chatter among the audience when it was announced. These murmurs continued online, and NokiaUsers had this to say:

“Ok, the E7 don’t have a MicroSD slot, so what, it does better than that, and comes with what the N8 boasts, a true Plug and Play USB experience with thumb-drives, and external Hard-drives.

One of the demo E7′s at Nokia World was connected up to a 350GB HDD with no lag, no compromises in running times, nothing, impressive!”

Engadget took the time to write a two-part review on the E7. Part one talks about the Clear Black Display(CBD).

“The screen is simply gorgeous — ClearBlack may be a gimmicky trademark, but CBD’s black levels are no joke. We’re definitely talking Super AMOLED degrees of awesome, which means that Samsung’s stranglehold on badass mobile displays was pretty short-lived.”

Part two also comments on the new display, but this time compares it to another manufacturer in full sunlight conditions, with a video review.

“With both displays set to 100 percent brightness, we’d say that the EPD had a very very slight edge”

Everybody was thrilled to see new President and CEO Stephen Elop, as he made a surprise appearance at the end of day two, and Gizmodo offers some advice on what they think he should focus on, with their top ten tips.

“Nokia’s new CEO, former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, will bring a touch of Silicon Valley to the Finnish cellphone giant. But there’s a lot more Elop is going to have to do to get Nokia back on track.”

All About Symbian reflect on the top ten things they took away from Nokia World this year (and we don’t mean gifts), and also some words of advice for Nokia. It seems they enjoyed the fire and passion coming from Anssi Vanjoki.

“Anssi Vanjoki, clearly ready to hit one out of the park in his last keynote, continued the fire. For the last year, Nokia have been keeping their powder dry. Now was the time to light the fuse. And they certainly managed that.”

Over at GigaOM, they talk about the difficulties developers face when building apps, and how the new Symbian platform makes it easier and faster to develop these with its use of Qt.

“It’s almost a challenge for me to believe the many positives I heard, simply because Nokia and Ovi aren’t strong brands in the U.S. Looking from the perspective of developers that market their wares in 190 countries, however, provides a totally different picture.”

Nokia North America mobile app contest – $10million up for grabs

SAN FRANCISCO, USA – Build a killer app, walk away with a $250,000 cash prize. 17 runners up will walk away with $150,000 each in cash. It’s as simple as that. Today Nokia and AT&T announce the North America Calling All Innovators contest which calls for developers to create apps for North American consumers. Unprecedented in its size and scale, the contest is sure to see a wave of great new apps and games washing onto North American shores between now and when it closes at the end of January. Read on after the jump to find out more.
Open to developers across the globe, the competition is designed specifically to create apps for North American users. Every app submitted will be available to download exclusively through Ovi Store by Nokia and for the first time in Calling All Innovators, consumers will vote with their feet as winning apps will be selected partly through the number of downloads they receive.

Finalists for each of the 17 categories will be put forward to a judging panel from AT&T and Nokia who will then select three winners in each category. Category prize winners will walk away with $150,000 each whilst grand prize winners will pick up an additional $100,000. There will also be $6million worth of marketing promotion in place for winning developers.

Judges will be looking for new apps which take advantage of the new Symbian operating system, the Nokia N8 hardware and the APIs available. There will be six different gaming categories alongside 11 different application categories, including business, entertainment, video and imaging, social networks and location.

Purnima Kochikar, VP Forum Nokia said:

“Developers have the tools, the support from AT&T and the marketing power of Nokia to get visibility for their apps. Additionally, developers can make their Qt-based app available in Ovi Store to Nokia customers globally reaching tens of millions of customers.”

Whilst this is great news for developers, it’s even better news for us as consumers and Nokia users. We’ve already seen a big leap in the standard of apps and additional functionality available through Ovi Store and this trend looks set to continue over the coming months. We’re really excited to see what kind of apps will be available as a result of this latest Calling All Innovators contest.

Last week we saw the global Calling All Innovators winners announced at Nokia World and that, together with the Hackathon at the Nokia Developer summit saw some fresh innovation, and killer apps, coming through. And now there’s even more to come.

Update on Updates

I’ve seen all your questions around the planned Android 2.1 update of the current XPERIA range. I really hear your eagerness and thirst for more information – and of course the update itself.

We have earlier given some information on what to expect from this update and said that the roll-out was planned to start late Q3.

The plan for the added features and Android 2.1 step-up still holds but unfortunately we need a couple of more weeks before we are ready to start the roll-out.

The revised plan is to start the roll-out from end of October and onwards.

We are of course not happy about the change of launch timing but we have had to spend some additional time on the software to really makes sure we roll-out with the right quality and user experience.

When it comes to what to expect from the updated software all three X10 models will be updated to Android 2.1 and the Xperia X10 will also get HD video recording with continuous auto focus among many other things.

The key changes for the different products are the following:

Xperia X10:

* HD video recording with continuous auto-focus for high quality videos
* Upgrade of the Android platform to Android 2.1
* New back up and restore application, with extended content back up
* 5 homescreens for apps, widgets, shortcuts and folders
* Social phonebook which automatically syncs contact pictures from Facebook and shows when your friends are online

Xperia X10 mini and X10 mini pro:

* Improved Bluetooth functionality with support for sending and receiving pictures, contacts and more
* New backup and restore application with extended content back up
* Automatic synchronization of your contact pictures between Facebook and your phone book
* Improved ways of handling pictures, audio, text and numbers in your messages
* Upgrade of the Android platform to Android platform 2.1

Over the coming weeks we will here on the product blog keep you updated with visual and video examples on what your phone will look like and be able to do after the update!

I’d also like to highlight that the update will be made available in a phased roll-out which means that different “kits” get the update at different times. It will take some additional weeks from end of October before all different kits have the new software available.

What we mean by a “kit” is a different configuration, i.e. colour of the phone, bundled accessories but most importantly in this case different software configurations.

The difference in software between different kits is mainly related to included languages, settings, applications etc – all this to comply with different legal and operator requirements.

A software upgrade roll-out is similar to a normal product launch, i.e. we roll out the products in a phased manner as the kits are completed. This is due to global and local type approvals and network testing and the same apply for a software upgrade.

From the end of October you will be able to follow availability of the new software on a market by market basis here on the blog.

I will keep you posted with more information and details as we go along.

Core Silicon Semiconductor Market Set for Record Growth in 2010

Revenue increase to $103 billion is biggest rise since 2004.

Annual revenue for core silicon, the largest segment in the semiconductor industry, is set for unprecedented growth in 2010, wiping out the decline of the last year, according to market research firm iSuppli Corp.

At no time in the past decade has the core silicon industry enjoyed anything like the growth forecasted for 2010, with global revenue expected to hit $102.7 billion, up an outsized 21.2 percent from $84.8 billion in 2009. Revenue will continue to increase until the end of the forecast period in 2014, when the industry will be worth $127.2 billion, but growth rates will not exceed 8 percent after 2010.

Core silicon refers to the semiconductors that implement specific, individual functionality in an electronic system—for instance, the integrated circuit that makes a DVD player what it is and not some other type of system, such as a washing machine.

Growth projected this year for core silicon eclipses the previous high of 17.9 percent in 2004, and it also more than erases the contraction in 2009, iSuppli’s semiconductor market research shows. Moreover, revenue this year will exceed the $100 billion mark—previously thought to be unattainable until 2013 or 2014.

The strength of the industry was apparent right from the start of the year. While the first quarter of each year is usually the slowest period for the core silicon market, the first quarter of 2010 proved to be an exception to the usual semiconductor trend. And even though the first quarter grew by only the thinnest of margins—at 0.1 percent—when compared to the fourth quarter of 2009, the expansion, in bucking the historical pattern, was a telling indicator of the market’s surprising vigor.

PLD, ASSP and ASIC: Weighing Core Silicon’s Three Major Segments
Among the three major core silicon segments, Programmable Logic devices (PLD) will grow the fastest, finishing the year at $4.7 billion, up 43.0 percent from 2009 levels. Wired communications and industrial market applications will drive PLD sales, iSuppli’s semiconductor forecasts indicate.

Manufactured for no specific customer or application, and with users able to directly configure the generic part of the device for applications, PLDs are less vulnerable to the ups and downs of any single semiconductor market. By the same token, however, PLDs are unable to cash in on the tidal wave of growth that accompanies a blockbuster, next-big-thing type of application.

Unlike PLDs, Application-Specific Standard Products (ASSP) and Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs)—the two other core silicon segments—are designed for specific applications in mind, as their names suggest. ASICs are sold to individual customers, however, while ASSPs are intended for sale to multiple customers.

ASSPs will not share the booming growth of PLDs. Just the same, projected ASSP revenue for 2010, at $79.7 billion, is still 23.1 percent greater than 2009 levels and substantially higher than any year in history. ASSPs will be powered in the market by chips going to desktop and notebook PCs, mobile handsets, flat-panel TVs and set-top boxes.

ASICs will continue to lag behind the other devices, as they have done so for most of the past decade. Although the devices will grow 9.8 percent to $17.0 billion in 2010, anything less than a 20 percent increase must be considered sub-par growth, according to iSuppli’s semiconductor industry analysis. ASICs will be the only core silicon segment not to stage a full recovery from the economic slump, and an upturn is not expected until 2013 or 2014

Discrete Component Pricing Set to Decline in First Half 2011

But lead times will remain elongated.

The good news for buyers of discrete components is that prices—which have increased sequentially during every quarter for more than one year—will begin an inevitable decline beginning in the first quarter of 2011 as demand softens during the seasonally slow period. The bad news is that lead times for these discretes will continue to extend well beyond normal parameters, maybe by as much as 20 weeks or more in some cases, according to semiconductor market research firm iSuppli Corp.

Across the board, discrete components—including bipolar power, power MOSFETS, small signal and rectifiers—are forecasted to decline in price during the first quarter of 2011. While such drops—amounting to less than 1 percent for all discretes—won’t come close to offsetting the gradual increases that have happened since October 2009, the contractions at the very least will give buyers some relief from demand outpacing supply.

Additional bad news could come, however, for the remainder of 2010: Average Selling Prices (ASPs) for all discretes are expected to continue to move upward until supply can come into balance and realign with the heavy demand situation.

Discrete Component Pricing

Feeling Bipolar
The makers and buyers of bipolar power components are probably feeling a bit bipolar themselves after suffering through major sales declines in 2009—only to see demand go through the roof in 2010 as the products came more into vogue, in line with the macroeconomic recovery.

Prices for such parts have increased during the past 12 months—a trend that should continue through the remainder of 2010—and then level off for the first half of 2011.

Perhaps more of a concern, however, is that lead times will continue to extend into the third and fourth quarters of 2010, with some suppliers quoting as much as 26 weeks or more. While iSuppli predicts these lead times will fall in the first half of 2011, they remain bloated at about the 18-week range.

No Relief for MOSFETS in 2010
Mounting pressure from both the front and back ends of the supply chain is also continuing to stress the power MOSFET market, causing lead time extensions and the allocation of certain devices from a number of suppliers, including On Semiconductor, Fairchild Semiconductor, Infineon Technologies and International Rectifier.

While the need for more power MOSFETs began in the first quarter of 2010, demand has since grown quickly to outpace supply—a situation that iSuppli expects to continue throughout the current year. Altogether, such developments have had a noticeable effect on pricing, demonstrated by increases during the last 12 months.

And while pricing is expected to stabilize at some point in the first half of 2011, given the elevated prices and the state of high demand, one can expect to continue seeing bottlenecks in the power MOSFET market despite demand-driven production expansion efforts.

Small Gains
Much like other discrete components, small signal transistors and rectifiers will continue their price uptick for the remainder of 2010, with prices then falling early in 2011. And again, much like other components, small signal transistors are also experiencing larger-than-normal lead times with no relief in sight. Even in the first quarter of 2011, iSuppli sees small signal transistor lead times at levels 20 weeks or longer.

Rectifying 2009 Price Drops
For rectifiers, prices had come down hard in 2009, falling by as much as 20 percent due to a drop in demand. Since that time, however, the ASP has inched back up while also experiencing a 12-month sequential rise. For the first half of 2010, ASPs increased in the face of insufficient supply as well as continued demand for parts.

As iSuppli forecasted earlier, rectifier prices were expected to trend upward through the first half, with perhaps some relief in sight to come in the second. That isn’t happening, as iSuppli now forecasts prices to continue increasing for the remainder of 2010 until the first quarter of 2011. By then, prices will contract following the stabilization of supply and demand.

Lead times for rectifiers will continue to be unusually extended—lasting as much as 20 weeks or longer— owing to an increase in demand and to capacity constraints. Much like the rest of the discrete market, lead times at these levels will reamin an issue even after 2010.

Google Change on Trademarks is Bound to Drive CPC in Europe

Google has relaxed its rules on trademarked brands and terms in Europe in mid-September. Despite protests from international advertisers, we believe the move is bound to boost the amount spent on Google's paid search service in the short term. The long term effect may not be that strong, judging by UK precedents.

Since September 14, Google has stopped prohibiting bidding on keywords associated with third-party brands in continental Europe. Third-party bidding has already been allowed since 2008 in the UK and Ireland, and since 2004 in the US. In the British Isles, Google goes one step further in relaxing its trademark policy than in continental Europe: it now allows the use of trademarked terms in the ad copy. This was already possible in the US since 2009.

Google claims the move will make its search experience more efficient for users but advertisers and brand owners are publicly opposing the move. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), the British Association of Advertisers (ISBA) and the French 'Union des Annonceurs' (UDA) have all described the change as 'unilateral' and 'unhelpful'. UDA said Google is breaking a 'good practice' agreement, made with French advertisers in 2005.

Analysis
The frustration of many big advertisers will have little effect on Google's decision to align European trademark practices with North America.

One reason is that Google's near monopoly in paid search almost everywhere in Europe makes the service indispensable to marketing directors, whether they like it or not. Yahoo and Bing are still some way from providing the scale big brands seek when it comes to Search Engine Marketing (SEM) strategies. Google holds a market share that is between 85 and 98 per cent in almost every market (Russia being the only major exception). There is thus little risk that even a controversial decision from Google would trigger any significant SEM market share switch for the time being.

The second reason - which probably triggered the change in the first place - is the decision from the European Court of Justice (ECJ) earlier this year. In March 2010, the ECJ ruled against LVMH, the French luxury group, who was suing Google for letting online sellers of counterfeit goods use some of their trademarked brands such as Louis Vuitton as keywords. The court ruled that Google could not be held responsible for trademark infringement in such cases. Google is now confident that it is legally safe to stop monitoring bidding of third-party trademarks in Europe.

In the short term the move is therefore likely to increase the amount spent on Google AdWords in Europe. Big advertisers will feel more compelled to bid on their own brands to - sometimes pre-emptively - outbid competitive brands or retailers willing to make aggressive or opportunistic use of their brands. This is bound to generate inflation in cost-per-clicks (CPC) for brand names. Brand names, however, account for a relatively small proportion of paid search spending as big advertisers normally concentrate their bidding on generic terms, as natural search results normally guarantee high visibility.

Over time, however, search buyers believe the inflation will remain under control as the quality score (relevance index) will benefit genuine brand owners and help them keep prominent rankings at an acceptable cost. When third-party brand bidding was allowed by Google in the UK and Ireland in 2008, the change did not trigger a bidding war. After some initial rise, the volume of aggressive bidding went down to a relatively low noise level as big brands seem to apply tacit non-aggression. However we believe the mere possibility of aggressive bidding, possibly from outside the club of big mainstream brands, will permanently remain as a factor driving major advertisers to bid on their own brands, and bid more that would otherwise need to.

With this latest move, Google is making itself yet again more useful to users and indispensable for marketers, increasing its attractiveness and, potentially, its market share over competitors. Once again it comes at the risk of increasing big brand owners' exasperation. However, Google does not need to worry too much about big brands as the long tail of small and medium businesses at national and local levels is now far bigger than the spending of major international advertisers.

China Shipments of LED-Backlit LCD-TVs Soar in 2010

But short supplies and slow price declines cause some consumers to postpone purchases.

Chinese consumers are aggressively adopting LCD-TVs that use Light Emitting Diode (LED) backlighting, causing domestic shipments in 2010 to surge by a factor of nearly 14, according to the display market research firm iSuppli Corp.

Shipments of LED-backlit LCD-TVs in China are set to rise to 5.5 million units in 2010, up from just 406,000 in 2009.

China LCD-TV Forecast

With sales being driven by a government stimulus plan designed to promote LCD-TVs, demand in China is so robust that availability of LED-backlit sets has become constrained, causing some consumers to delay their purchases.

Nonetheless, China’s LED-backlit LCD-TV sales continue to pick up steam as the year progresses. Shipments amounted to 953,000 units in the second quarter of 2010 and then are forecasted to climb to a whopping 1.6 million units in the third quarter—a penetration rate of more than 18 percent of the entire LCD-TV market.

Penetration rates are expected to deepen to 23 percent in the fourth quarter, or even to more than 30 percent for premium brands such as Hisense, Skyworth and Samsung.

And this is only the beginning.

iSuppli predicts 40.1 million LED-TV units will be sold in China in 2014—a figure that translates into a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 150.6 percent when measured from 2009 to 2014.

Revenue growth likewise will be staggering, jumping to $24.8 billion by 2014, up from a mere $777 million in 2009. With revenue CAGR of 100 percent for the forecast period, it is no mystery why local and foreign OEMs are ramping up support for LED-TVs.

Just the same, given the short supply of LED-TVs in China, and with prices taking longer than expected to fall, consumers have become more cautious in their buying decisions, with some going as far as postponing an LCD-TV purchase until an LED-backlit set becomes available. Consumers, which previously bought whatever TV set could be found on the market regardless of technology trend or features, now have developed decidedly more discriminating tastes in their television purchases.

Other Advanced TV Features Off to a Slow Start
While LED technology is in high demand in China, other new features, such as Internet capability and 3-D, have met with less enthusiasm.

For its part, the Chinese government’s own policies are serving to inhibit the growth of Internet-Enabled Televisions (IETVs). A government crackdown on what content consumers can view is a bitter pill to swallow for some consumers, who can’t justify paying for an extra feature that cannot be used to full potential.

Still, the volume shipments of LCD IETVs China will continue to rise as local OEMs strive to make Internet connectivity in televisions a standard feature in their high-end products. Without abundant and attractive content support, IETV as a feature will not be one that fuels the China market, iSuppli believes.

In the case of 3-D LCD-TVs, such sets are still far from common, with consumers appearing to evince little interest. As a result, 3-D will do little to help boost overall LCD-TV shipments in this year, even though the feature has good potential and will become more popular when prices decrease and content becomes available.

Plasma Infusion
Overall, the slow retreat of LCD-TV prices in China during the second quarter made feature-rich plasma TVs more attractive than similarly sized LCD-TVs in the country, accounting for a rise in the shipments of plasma panel displays during the period.

Plasma’s advantage won’t last long, however: The continuing decline of LCD-TV prices in the third quarter is expected to squeeze shipments of plasma units, which once again will feel the pressure from their more popular rival technology.

Read More > TV Purchases Temporarily Impacted by Economic Conditions
iSuppli’s market intelligence helps technology companies achieve market leadership. iSuppli's compelling TV research, 3-D TV forecasts, touch screen displays analysis, etc can be used as essential tools for strategic planning and success in the electronic display market. Contact us on +1.310.524.4007 for more details.

One Cell Phone Subscription for Each Indian Predicted by 2014

Saturation will reach 97 percent in a country of nearly 1.3 billion.

Almost every person in India will own a mobile phone in 2014, with wireless subscriptions during that year expected to amount to more than 97 percent of the country’s population of 1.26 billion, according to the market research firm iSuppli Corp.

With about 19 million new subscribers added each month during the first four months of 2010 alone, India’s wireless subscription rate is going at a rapid clip. By the end of this year, total wireless subscriptions are projected to reach 766.0 million—45.9 percent higher than the 525.1 million subscribers counted at the end of 2009, iSuppli mobile industry forecasts show.

The pace of growth for the future shows little sign of slackening. Subscriber numbers will continue to increase during the next four years, topping the 1 billion mark by 2012. By 2014, mobile teledensity—a measure of cell phone availability—likely will reach 97.4 percent per 100 persons. Such a high level of mobile teledensity means that almost everyone—except children and the abjectly poor—will have a cell phone in India, with those having multiple mobiles counted as such and boosting total subscription rates. compensating for those without.

India Wireless Subscribers

All told, the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) for mobile handset subscribers in the world’s second most populous country after China will reach 18.6 percent from 2009 to 2014.

Driving the overall growth of wireless subscribers is the expansion of the rural Indian market, where entry-level handsets are most popular. A key trend in 2009 was the shift in focus of service providers and handset manufacturers toward the countryside, which continues to offer significant and untapped market opportunity.

In comparison, the urban market—which accounts for only 30 percent of the country’s population but represents almost 70 percent of telecom subscribers—is close to saturation.

Accompanying the surge in wireless subscriber numbers is an equal burst of activity in the country’s wireless infrastructure equipment market. With telecom operators upgrading and expanding existing networks, spending on India’s wireless infrastructure equipment market in 2010 will reach $10.8 billion, up 29.7 percent from $8.3 billion last year

By 2011, network infrastructure spend will rise to more than $11 billion, thanks to the rollout of WiMAX and 3G mobile technology services. The launch of 3G technology in the fourth quarter of 2010 is also expected to significantly boost the sales of smart phones in the country, iSuppli’s India telecom market research shows.

Not surprisingly, a supply chain for telecom manufacturing is emerging, with manufacturers establising local plants to save on importing costs. Local production capabilities will provide manufacturers with a distinct advantage in the price-sensitive rural Indian market, and various players already have announced their plans to further invest in the expansion of manufacturing and R&D facilities.

Read More > Wireless Communications Flourish in India despite Down Economy
iSuppli’s market intelligence helps technology companies achieve market leadership. After the macroeconomic events of 2009, mobile market research is more important than ever. The players in the mobile handset segment are challenged. iSuppli provides a clearer picture of the mobile industry, which is changing faster than ever with the advent of smart phones, 4G technology, and changes happening in the Asia Pacific market every day. Contact us on +1.310.524.4007 for more details.

Symbian Welcomes New Nokia Smartphones To Symbian^3 Family

Three new smartphones join the Nokia N8 in featuring the fully open source platform.

San Francisco and London: The Symbian Foundation welcomed Nokia’s unveiling of three new smartphones to be powered by the latest version of the Symbian platform, the world’s most popular smartphone operating system. Along with the previously announced Nokia N8, these four touch screen devices will be the first to implement the fully open source Symbian^3 platform, which incorporates over 250 feature updates and platform improvements that, combined, offer an all-new, intuitive and exciting user experience.

The latest smartphones announced by Nokia and powered by Symbian^3 include the Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7 and Nokia C6-01. Benefitting from an extensive set of advanced features, varying sizes and form factors as well as a range of price points, this new family of devices provides smartphones to suit everyone’s needs. Whether the device boasts a 12 MP camera or 4-inch display with a QWERTY slide-out keyboard, all four leverage the Symbian^3 platform to allow users to connect with their devices like never before. Some of the highlights of the platform that consumers can expect to experience on one or more of the smartphones are:
# HDMI support - Connect your Symbian^3 smartphone to your HD television to share HD videos or high resolution photos with friends as well as stream live TV, films and music over the Internet. Featured on the Nokia N8 and Nokia E7.
# Multiple personalized home screens - Create different home screens to fit each aspect of your life and place applications, multiple instances of widgets and shortcuts, not to mention all your different email accounts and social media channels, where you want them.
# Multipoint touch - Now you can swipe to scroll, pinch-to-zoom and tap once to open.
# Real multitasking - Improved memory management means you can now run even more applications at once, using a visual task manager to switch seamlessly between them with a swipe and a tap.
# Turbo charged graphics - The new, advanced 2D and 3D graphics architecture delivers a fast and responsive user interface, maximizing the visual enhancements and smooth transitions in Symbian^3. Personalize your phone to make it look the way you want.

Daniel Rubio, Leadership Team member for Technology and Delivery Management at Symbian, said: "We are thrilled that Nokia, the world’s leading smartphone manufacturer, continues to recognize the power of the Symbian platform and has chosen it to run on four of the company’s hottest new smartphones. It is very rewarding to see the Symbian^3 platform brought to life so faithfully on these devices, providing compelling experiences at a range of price points that will make them accessible and appealing to users around the world."

To learn more about the Symbian^3 platform, please visit www.symbian.org/symbian-platform. To learn more about Nokia’s new smartphones, please visit www.nokia.com/press/press-releases/showpressrelease?newsid=1444285.

Turbo browsing kicks into overdrive

One year of compression technology shows the need for browsing speed.

Results from the first year of the compression technology Opera Turbo show a universal demand from users for increased browsing speeds at lower costs.

More than 5.2 million users turbo charged their browsing in August, with more than one in 10 of Opera’s 50 million monthly desktop users activating Opera Turbo to unclog a slow Internet connection.

In the past year, Opera Turbo users have browsed 25.8 billion compressed pages in total, letting Opera Turbo do the heavy-lifting by serving more than 1697 terabytes of compressed data. In that time, Opera Turbo’s total compression has spared users data equal to the printed collection of the U.S. Library of Congress 191 times over, or 319 times the entire contents of Wikipedia.

Released in September last year as part of Opera 10 for PC/Mac/Linux, Opera Turbo is a unique compression technology that rescues users from the frustration of slow connections. If users are stuck on a dial-up connection, rely on 3G cards in their netbooks or get crowded out in a busy Wi-Fi area, activating Opera Turbo gives a browsing boost by reducing the size of webpages by up to 80 percent. This means faster surfing and lower browsing costs.

The top 20 countries taking advantage of faster surfing with Opera Turbo are (in order): Russian Federation, Ukraine, India, Germany, Indonesia, Poland, China, United States, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Brazil, Italy, United Kingdom, Turkey, France, Czech Republic, Iran, Slovakia, Romania and Spain.

These country results demonstrate that Opera Turbo works for anyone bound by a slow connection and that users across the globe are united by the goal to save time and money when browsing.

“Prior to the launch of Opera Turbo, we expected that this technology would be adopted first and foremost by those with dial-up connections and limited broadband,” said Lars Boilesen, CEO, Opera Software. “We are delighted to see Opera Turbo helping users to power-up in a wide variety of countries for a wide variety of needs. It is rewarding to celebrate the anniversary of Opera Turbo with such significant speed gains and cost savings for users across the globe.”
Countries in focus

We spoke to the Opera community to find out how people from the top 20 user countries are taking advantage of Opera Turbo.

Topping the list of Opera Turbo devotees is Russia. Russia has approximately 26 percent broadband penetration (according to AC&M, H1-2010), with territories outside Moscow, St. Petersburg and other large cities experiencing slower connection speeds. Smaller cities and business travelers access the Web through 3G USB modems, for GPRS/EDGE/3G connection to the Internet via mobile networks. Most Internet users have pre-paid traffic limits and must pay by megabyte beyond this limit; with Opera Turbo, both city and regional users get more data per megabyte and save money.

2G networks are predominant in India, and 3G has only recently become available in certain regions. As in Russia, India has solid broadband speeds in larger cities and workplaces, but speed suffers when Internet users rely on datacards for traveling to other areas. “I use Opera Turbo due to the unreliable broadband connections in India,” said user Abinash Bishoyi. “I use it as my proxy service, to compress unnecessary web media and save a lot of bandwidth.”
What Opera fans say

Stefan, software developer, Germany: “I use Opera Turbo on my netbook. When no Wi-Fi network is around I use the 3G modem and Opera Turbo allows me to save money and make the best of the slow connection.”

‘airiRin’, Indonesia: “I use Opera Turbo because my connection speed will go down from 1 mbps to 128 kbps after 3GB of usage. Opera Turbo is really essential when I pass the limit, and makes me feel like I have a 512 kbps connection speed when browsing.”

Ryan, student, United States: “The Wi-Fi at my college is a joke, but Opera Turbo bumps the dial-up connection speed to DSL levels and it makes it usable. It’s very handy!”

Daniel, student, United Kingdom: “When I get stuck on a slow connection, with Opera Turbo I can look smug while everyone else grinds to a halt.”

Mağruf, logistics manager, Turkey: “While on holiday last week with no Internet connection, I needed to connect to my company to check email and other work. I used my phone as a modem to connect. With a quota of just 150 megabytes, I enabled Opera Turbo... I surfed three times faster, and at the end of the holiday still had 60 megabytes to spare.”

The Opera Turbo report, published bi-monthly, provides information on the leading global trends generated by Opera Turbo users. The report for August was released today, available from www.opera.com/otr/ (English only). In addition to country snapshots, the report highlights issues affecting turbo browsing around the world.
What is Opera Turbo?

Opera Turbo is a unique compression technology available in both Opera 10 and Opera Mobile. Opera Turbo reduces the size of webpages by up to 80 percent, dramatically improving browsing speeds over slow networks and saving money on “pay as you go” connections. To activate Opera Turbo, simply click the Opera Turbo speedometer icon in the lower, left-hand corner of the Opera 10 browser. Then sit back and surf the Web at turbo speeds.

Learn more about Opera Turbo: www.opera.com/browser/turbo/.
About Opera Software ASA

Opera Software ASA has redefined web browsing for PCs, mobile phones and other networked devices. Opera’s cross-platform web-browser technology is renowned for its performance, standards compliance and small size, while giving users a faster, safer and more dynamic online experience. Opera Software is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, with offices around the world. The company is listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol OPERA. Learn more about Opera at http://www.opera.com/.

Aftermarket Mobile Phone Accessories to Surpass $50 Billion in 2015

Aftermarket mobile phone accessories – those purchased in addition to any included in the phone’s box – produced worldwide revenue of $26.5 billion last year. According to latest forecasts from ABI Research, that volume is expected to increase to slightly more than $50 billion in 2015. That represents a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.4% over the measured timeframe.
“Market growth in the aftermarket accessories segment is being driven by the explosive growth in smartphone sales,” says senior analyst Michael Morgan. “Smartphones are generally higher-value products than feature phones, so consumers are willing to spend more on the accessories for them. There is also a shift to higher-quality accessories, replacing the cheap, white-label products that characterized the market until recently.”

Retailers don’t see high margins on the phones or their associated plans, so accessories are powerful generators of revenue for them.
The most popular categories include carrying and protective cases for smartphones. Their popularity started with the iPhone 3G and 3GS: upwards of 70% of those phones have aftermarket cases. Now the fashion has also spread to high-end feature-phones such as some in the Samsung product line.

Scratch protectors are popular as well, stimulated by the proliferation of large-screen and touch-screen devices.

Bluetooth headsets have historically sold well; the research shows that attach rates for mid-low-end ($29-79) models are now dropping somewhat. However, higher-end headsets are still performing well, getting a lift from their association with smartphones.

Still popular are memory cards, but a shift in demand is also evident here: because wholesale prices are now so low, and handset makers are adding greater memory capabilities to handsets, they are including cards of 500MB to 2 GB in the box. The capacities of these included cards are rising fast. This is starting to suck oxygen out of the aftermarket memory card market, though shifting usage patterns will still help sustain moderate growth for some time.

Wired stereo headsets also doing well, driven by the more media-centric, music-capable phones.