Samsung Countersues Apple in Australia

  A month after Apple sued Samsung Australia for copying the look and feel of the Apple iPad in the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, Samsung has countersued with its own claims of patent infringement. "To defend our intellectual property, Samsung filed a cross claim for Apple's violation of Samsung's wireless technology patents," Samsung Electronics spokesman Nam Ki-yung told the Wall Street Journal.
Samsung is temporarily banned from selling the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia due to the patent lawsuit Apple filed in early August. In late August, Samsung said it volunteered not to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 any earlier than September 30, even though it was scheduled to launch on September 12. A hearing has been scheduled on September 26 and 29 to determine whether or not Samsung should be allowed to sell the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia, according to the FOSS patent blog.
Unfortunately, it is unclear which patents are at the heart of Samsung Australia's lawsuit. Two weeks ago, HTC countersued Apple in the U.S., using patents transferred from Google; four of the patents originated from Google's August acquisition of Motorola.
Currently, Apple and Samsung are fighting patent battles in at least 12 courts, nine countries, and four continents. For the full list of countries and patent disputes where Apple and Samsung are at each other's throats, see Every Place Samsung and Apple Are Suing Each Other.
Most believe that in the end of all these patent lawsuits, the guilty party will simply end up paying a licensing fee to use the patents. However it is entirely possible that the triumphant party chooses not to license its technology. For more, see What If Android Lost the Patent War?

The world in my Pocket

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music arrived at last.  The Nokia's tardy entry into the (modern) touch screen phone space, and we've gotten some quality face time with the device. Appropriately nicknamed the Tube, the device has a number of Nokia peculiarities that could appeal to certain sensibilities, but probably won't be taking a big bite out of existing touch phone market share -- at least in the S60-phobic United States. Let's dig in.

Hardware

Resistive touch screen, huh Nokia? But certainly wouldn't say impressed. Nokia claims the decision was made to appeal to the world market, particularly Asian countries that prefer handwriting recognition to keyboards. Hence the stylus input option. It doesn't ruin everything for those of us that would rather tap with our thumbs, but means pushing that much harder on the screen, and using the tips of your fingers when you type instead of the flat -- knocking off a good 5 wpm or so in the process -- we'll talk more about software keyboards in the next section. There's also a plectrum (guitar pick) included that can hang from a wrist strap if you don't want to smudge the screen and don't feel like sliding out the stylus.

The LCD itself is certainly impressive, at 640 x 360, but colors and brightness aren't complete knockouts. Purists will enjoy the dull screen surface, which certainly cuts down on glare, but casual users often prefer glossy screens for watching movies, something this aspect ratio is very well suited to.

There's a very, very loud speaker in the back. It's not the clearest thing in the world, but if you want to share a song or something with a friend, they'll certainly hear it.

The 3.2 mega pixel camera focuses well and takes great pictures in daylight -- indoors is likely a different story, as with most camera phones, but there's a rather powerful dual LED flash to help out with that.

All of this -- in addition to things like GPS, WiFi and a side-loading microSD slot (there's a free 8GB card included) -- are wrapped up into an elongated, chubby package, hence the Tube moniker. We'd hate to have something of its shape and thickness in a tight jeans front pocket on a regular basis, but we must admit that it's very comfortable to hold and use with a single hand, something that can't be said for all touch screen phones.

Software

It's S60, so if you were hoping for something else you'll be sorely disappointed. Nokia's done "just enough" to turn the traditional interface into a touchable one with version 5.0, sizing up icons, adding finger-friendly buttons in lieu of traditional menu items and so forth. What Nokia hasn't quite figured out is consistency, requiring double taps in some places, single taps in others. Scrolling through most lists requires dragging a scroll bar, pulling down as the list flies up, but the browser has touch and drag scrolling. Nothing's too frustrating or unreasonable, but this is no seamless experience.

What's new is a touch-sensitive button above the screen that drops down the Media Bar for access to music, movies, photos, the browser and sharing. Not life changing, but quite convenient. There's also a new home screen with a "Favorite Four" of sorts across the top and little else. Tap that friend, and you can get a quick look at recent calls, messages and even related RSS feeds. Luckily, the traditional S60 home screen is also available.

For text input you have four options: handwriting, mini QWERTY keyboard, full screen QWERTY and alphanumeric keypad. The first two are stylus-based (that mini QWERTY is truly mini), while the other two are only available in landscape and portrait modes, respectively. Like we said in the hardware end of things, the resistive touch means using the tips of your fingers instead of the pads, which we find a tad frustrating, but the keyboard in landscape mode is truly amazing. The handwriting recognition looks good enough, but we revert to a 2nd grade writing level whenever we pick up a pen, so that stylus is staying firmly in its holster.

Now coming to the touchable browser is a step up over existing WebKit implementations on Nokia's other handsets, since the tap to zoom function is slow and unreliable -- and no, you can't select text from web pages to copy and paste. Panning around the page is also jittery, perhaps a tad worse than the G1 -- nobody has managed to pull off iPhone smooth yet in this department. We were using a slightly early software build, so some of these problems might be fixed in the final version, but it wasn't encouraging. Still, there's no denying the advantages of viewing the web on a 640 x 360 LCD.

By testing accelerometer-based driving game, but it was overly sensitive and no-fun-at-all -- though they are trying but that wouldn't be a hard fix. The graphics looked pretty good, though. Movies are potentially this phone's killer app, but you'll have to do the conversion just right to get smooth playback at full resolution.

Conclusion

If you haven't picked it up by now, Nokia isn't going after the power users here. The phone will be marketed under Nokia's "Live" banner, and really concentrates on the most basic communications -- calling and texting -- with a whole bunch of multimedia piled on top. Nokia's Comes with Music helps on that end of things, and the screen certainly helps with video, but this is no iPhone when it comes to solid media integration or full-featured media player applications. On the communication side, we're sad to see Nokia almost burying some of its S60 advantages. Everything's still there, but Nokia didn't put the grunt work in necessary to really take advantage a next-generation interface as it relates to keeping track of emails, social networking, IM and the correspondences of more than four people. For those tech-junkies who want the world in their pocket this is the phone to go for.

4 Ways Apple’s iCloud Could Be Huge for College Students

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 With a population of over 250,000 students, there’s no denying that Boston is a college town.  And just one look at almost any article here on BostInno will tell you that Boston’s home to a pretty tech savvy crowd, too.  With that in mind, it’s worth taking a look at how iCloud, Apple’s (AAPL) “next big thing,” may make the lives of Boston’s tech-obsessed college students just a little easier.  iCloud is Apple’s attempt to make taking advantage of all the benefits of cloud computing as effortless and automatic as possible.  The service is slated to make its debut next month alongside the release of the much-anticipated iPhone 5.  With more college students than ever toting around MacBooks, iPhones, and iPads, iCloud has the potential to tie everything together and be a drop-dead simple way to keep students’ crazily busy digital lives in sync.

Everything, Everywhere, Automatically
When your schedule is chock full of everything from classes and internships to club meetings and parties, you can’t afford to miss a beat.  Your phone’s contacts hold info ranging from your professor’s email address to the number of that girl you met Thursday night at the bar.  Your calendar, contacts, and email are important, and you want to be able to access them whether you’re on your phone, your laptop, or even your iPad.  This is where iCloud could be huge.  The instant you add a meeting with your professor to the calendar on your Mac, it’s pushed up into the “cloud” and automatically sent down to your iPhone and your iPad.  Same goes for contacts: you meet a potential employer at a networking event and put their contact information into your iPhone right away.  Even if you lose your phone on the way back to campus, you’ll still have that vital information since it was instantly synced online back to your Mac and iPad you left in your room.  Of course, your email is always available everywhere too, so with iCloud you’ll never be out of sync.
Calling for Backup
Backing up your information is kind of like doing your laundry: you know you should really do it before things get too messy, but you put it off and put it off until you’ve got a crisis on your hands.  Apple seems to understand the problem and has included a simple solution in iCloud.  When you activate iCloud on your iPhone or iPad, you’ll never have to worry about backup again.  Why?  Because it’s automatic.  Once per day when you’re connected to WiFi, iCloud will silently back up your entire iPhone and iPad to the cloud.  Your music, photos, videos, calendar, contacts, emails, texts, apps, and settings are saved securely online every night without you having to do a thing.  So not only will you never again have to spam all your Facebook friends with an annoying “Lost Phone – Need Numbers!” group invitation, but any time you get a new iDevice, you can use iCloud’s automatic backups to instantly restore everything to how it was before.  No longer does having an entire beer spilled on your iPhone mean you have to start from scratch—iCloud’s got your back.
Documents in the Cloud
Apple’s iCloud promises to be all about making it effortless for users to tap into the benefits of cloud computing.  One major iCloud feature that could be huge for students is called Documents in the Cloud.  All college students have to write papers and create presentations, and if you use Apple’s iWork productivity suite, then iCloud could change the way you work.  Consider this: you’re working on a Keynote presentation on your Mac for a class the night before it’s due.  The next day you head to class ready to give your presentation, but then you realize that *gasp* you forgot your laptop.  iCloud to the rescue.  You pull out your iPhone, fire up the Keynote app, open your presentation (from the cloud), make a few last minute edits, hook up your phone to the projector, and end up acing your final presentation.  iCloud’s Documents in the Cloud feature keeps your documents, spreadsheets, and presentations in sync across your Mac, iPad, and iPhone.  Apple promises that it will be easy for app makers to put this same sort of iCoud integration into their own apps, so you can enjoy the benefits in non-Apple apps as well.
Music: Your “Get Out of Jail Free” Card
Odds are that every student in Boston has a huge music collection in iTunes.  And everyone wants to be able to listen to their music whenever, wherever they want.  This is where the “iTunes in the Cloud” feature of iCloud steps in.  When you buy a song from iTunes on your Mac, iPhone, or iPad, that track is immediately and automatically loaded onto all of your other devices so you have it everywhere right away.  For songs you’ve already purchased on iTunes, you can use iCloud to download them wirelessly on any device with one click.  Sounds easy, but what about all the songs you didn’t buy from iTunes?  Maybe you ripped some from CDs or somehow otherwise—ahem—“acquired” them online.  Apple’s introducing a sort of “get out of jail free/for $24.99” card so you can have the same sort of instant anywhere access to all of your songs you didn’t buy on iTunes.  iTunes Match, which will cost $24.99 per year (that’s just around 2 cases of beer, kids), will scan your library and give you one-click access to your songs on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad.  Apple will even give you higher bit-rate versions of those questionably acquired songs, so the horrible quality tracks you may have pulled from YouTube will suddenly sound like actual music.  iTunes Match, which is completely optional, is the only portion of iCloud that costs money.  But for students with thousands of tracks, $25 may be worth it for an instant library of 100% legitimized music.
Cloud Computing that “Just Works”
When Steve Jobs first introduced iCloud back in June, he repeated one expression over and over again: “it just works.”  The potential power in iCloud is that in order for students (and anyone, really) to take advantage of all its features, they don’t have to know a thing about “the cloud.”  Features like calendar sync, wireless backups, Documents in the Cloud, and even Photo Stream (basically Documents in the Cloud, but for photos) all happen invisibly in the background.  It just works because there’s no way you can mess it up.  Sure services like Google Calendar, Dropbox, and even Spotify can provide similar feature sets, but the thing is that people need to know to seek out these services.  By virtue of the fact that iCloud will be built into any iPhone or iPad running iOS 5, millions of people will be using it without even knowing it.  Of course it remains to be seen how iCloud will hold up once it’s released next month, but if the huge popularity of Apple gadgets on this city’s college campuses is any indication, iCloud should prove to be a welcome new feature for students all around Boston.

The iPhone 5 has new antenna, but same RAM and look of the iPhone 4

The iPhone 5 is set to be available in the tens of millions before the end of the 2011. It’s also thought to look almost exactly the same as the iPhone 4. Both those bits of information have come via Concord Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo.
While the phone may look the same with its Gorilla glass front and back, inside there is expected to be an improved antenna design to stop the dropped calls (death grip) everyone complained about with the iPhone 4. What you may be surprised to hear is that the RAM in the iPhone 5 is expected to remain the same at 512MB.
Even so, an iPhone 5 that is the same dimensions as the iPhone 4 could still house a number of improvements beyond the antenna. A 4-inch edge-to-edge display is possible, and there’s expected to be improved performance from the inclusion of an A5 processor. As for keeping the RAM the same, there’s always a desire for more from developers, but does the iPhone 5 really need it?
Even though the iPhone 5 is set to fly off the shelves whenever it launches, it seems Apple is prepared for demand. Kuo believes there will be 30 million of the smartphones in the sales channel before we reach 2012. 40% of those devices are expected to be white, meaning from day one you’ll have a choice of picking up a black or white iPhone 5. You could argue that just shifts the problem to one of a shortage of the most desirable color rather than a shortage of phones.
We still don’t know the release date of the iPhone 5, but if Apple intend to have 30 million in stores before 2012, it means there’s already millions of the devices sitting in a warehouse somewhere. It’s got to happen soon, right? Maybe on the iPod’s 10th birthday?

iPhone 5 To Have 512MB RAM, Similar Design, Improved Antenna

An analyst by the name Ming-Chi Kuo has given some details about the iPhone 5. According to Kuo, Apple is preparing as many as 30 million iPhones before year end and that would mean a jump of 10 million in sales given that the last quarter saw just over 20 million iPhones being sold. Earlier this year, Apple had commented that they believed that they could have sold more iPhones in the holiday season had they been able to produce them.

 Now whenever a new iPhone comes in, there is sure a spike in sales. Particularly for the iPhone 5 the spike can be higher as a) the 5th generation of the Jesus phone is delayed, given a June launch schedule for the past 4 years b) Apple has ended all exclusive deals with carriers in US and abroad for selling iPhone, thus much more carriers would now sell the iPhone 5.

Kuo goes on to say that Apple is sticking to the iPhone 4 design for the iPhone 5, so out goes the Aluminum rumors and in comes the gorilla glass. Apple had antenna problems with the current iPhone 4 and Kuo suggests that they have fixed the antenna and retained the glass body for the iPhone 5. We aren’t sure if he found a prototype lost in bar, but he also claims that the iPhone 5 would have 512MB RAM, an argument that we find hard to digest. 1GB is the minimum standard for a top end smartphone today and Apple wont release a iPhone 5, months after the Samsung SGS2 with half the RAM. Kuo also fails to address the rumor of multiple iPhones or a low cost iPhone.

Coming down to the camera, Kuo talks about 8MP lens on the iPhone 5, that is supplied by Sony and Omnivision. While a 8 megapixel camera is much expected, rumors in the past have suggest different suppliers for the lens.

No matter what, Apple is churning out millions of iPhones as we speak and only time would tell what is in store.

No redesign for the iPhone 5

The great Apple rumour-windmills of Holland are spinning wildly once again with a new iPhone 5-based nugget of info. This time it's on the product design of the handset itself - or supposed lack of it.
According to MacRumours, the new iPhone is going to look very much the same as the previous release. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo suggested the lack of design change, along with pointing to a September shipping to manufacturers of the golden master version of iOS 5.
It turns out the new Apple phone might not be so different after all. Kuo says that inside will be 512MB of RAM, the same as on the iPad 2's A5 chip. He also points to an "almost same" camera module height as the last iPhone, 3.5-inch display and a glass front and back.
These specifications are very much the same as the long rumoured N94 prototype, suggesting that it may in fact be how we see the final iPhone 5 materialise.
Big sad face if there isn't much excitement to be had on the new iPhone design front. Then again, given how rumour-filled the Apple rumour mill likes to be, we can't believe much until we have one of the handsets appear in our hands.

iPhone 5 to keep iPhone 4 design and sport only 512MB of RAM? (Rumor)

 
If you are one of the people who have been hoping that the iPhone 5 will see a redesign, you may be in for bad news, assuming of course you choose to believe the rumors. According to AppleInsider who was told by an analyst, Ming-Chi Kuo, the iPhone 5 will not be seeing a redesign, at least one that isn’t too obvious, and there will be little change to its internals as well.
The iPhone 5 has been speculated to sport a dual-core A5 processor chip much like the iPad 2, and it has also been said to sport an 8MP camera. Apart from those and a rumored redesign, not much else has been known about the device thanks to Apple’s trademarked silence. However according to Kuo, it seems that the next-generation iPhone will not be seeing a major redesign and will instead end up looking similar to the iPhone 4.
It will feature a glass front and Gorilla glass backing much like the iPhone 4, and will be sporting a measly 512MB of RAM, and once again very similar to the iPhone 4. However it has been said that the next-generation iPhone will be sporting a redesign antenna which is supposed to fix the “death grip” issue that plagued the iPhone 4 during its early release. Supposedly the changes are so minimal that non-discerning users will not be able to tell the difference.
This isn’t exactly news as it has been reported before that the iPhone 5 will merely be a refresh of the iPhone 4, but with conflicting reports of a redesign, it’s starting to get a bit tricky trying to figure out which reports are more credible.

Samsung Galaxy Pro Deals – A winner smartphones

Samsung is a globally accepted brand and leading the SOUK by making power packed handsets. of its latest released handset is Samsung Galaxy Pro that is drawing the attentions of mobile lovers with its beautiful looks and fantastic lay out.
It is a touchscreen smartphone with QWERTY keyboard in sweet bar form factor. Get the fast web browsing experience with this glorious handset as it is fully fledged with 3G connectivity. Samsung Galaxy Pro Deals runs Android v2.2 Froyo & is powered by a processor of 800 MHz. It thrills you with its stunning TFT capacitive touchscreen display of two.8 inches that supports 320 x 240 pixels resolution.
It gives you the crystal clear vision in 256 K colors. Dimension of this fabulous handset is 108.6 x 66.7 x ten.7 mm that makes this gadget handset handy & straightforward to hold in hands for long time. You feel free in terms of weight as it light & weighs 103.4 g. If you like instant messaging then this Android smartphone suits you the most. You can basically type the text & in a fast manner on its QWERTY keyboard.
To make the work experience more thrilling this handset is embedded with some special display features like Accelerometer sensor for UI auto-rotate & Propinquity sensor for auto turn-off. It’s a loudspeaker & an audio jack of 3.5 mm that increase your entertainment level. That is not all, this astonishing smartphone also features other impressive technical specs that sweeps you off your feet. It offers an inbuilt memory space of 512 MB storage that is expendable by virtue of micro SD card slot. Moreover, you can also click crispy photographs with an inbuilt three.
15 MP autofocus camera that comes with picture resolution of 2048×1536 pixels. This high-end entertainment widget make your life filled with joy & happiness. To serve this purpose it includes various features such as Stereo FM radio with RDS, splendid audio & video players & games. If you are missing your friends, relatives, colleagues, lover and others than no worries it’s access to various social networking sites that gives a brand spanking new shape to your relationships.
So cease worrying about your loneliness and get connected along with your loved ones with this pretty device. Major network drivers of UK such as Orange,, T-mobile, Virgin, Vodafone, Tesco and O2 are providing cost-effective Samsung Galaxy Pro Contract . The deals provided on all these popular networks are mouthwatering and offering pricey free gifts with lots of other benefits. Samsung Galaxy Pro Deals
Author is an expert in Telecommunication industry and contributes his valuable thoughts for telecom industry readers. Get Latest Updates on Blackberry Bold Deals and Other Offers HTC Desire S Deals in UK at samsunggalaxys2deals.co.uk

Sony Ericsson Proudly Launched Xperia X8

June 2011, Sony Ericsson has officially addressed that they are about to launch a new phone from Xperia family which they named X8. Previously, Sony Ericsson changed the criteria of the consumer by their other smart touch phones. Xperia X8 have also brief features like never before seen. I have collected some pure content for you that will describe qualities of this new phone.

Sony Ericsson Xperia X8 is a phone that has 3.2 Mega pixels camera with lots of built-in features that have captured from old phones of Xperia family. Camera of Xperia X8 allows you to capture images with High Definition results and you can also avail the needs of video recording with perfect zoom feature. Xperia X8 basically a smart touch phone that is made after the perfect observation of market and consumer.

Smart touch screen phone lets you to the world of android operating system that allows you to run multiple applications at a time. That phone has built-in memory of 128MB and also supports Micro SD card up to 16GB. 3 inch capacitive touch screen makes your typing bright and finger impressions too smart.

Full media phone will entertain you with your favorite music audios and videos. Phone makes it easy to play games on touch screen mobile phones because it also has accelerometer. Weight of the phone is very light as compared to other phones of the family. As estimated by manufacturer it is 104gm phone.

Additionally, you can feel the speed of browsing by high speed Wifi. Auto Power Off and Integrated GPS will cheer the users to the edges of fun. So, what are you waiting for? Grab your piece as soon as possible. Its estimated price is 300 US dollars.