VimpelCom, which sells phones under its Beeline label, has finally joined its main competitors MTS and MegaFon in dropping the iPhone from its line-up. It will instead be offering the Samsung Galaxy S4 to its customers, citing “draconian contracts” and “harsh conditions… especially in the marketing department” with Apple. Together, the three companies combine for nearly 80 percent of...
Nokia’s next big flagship device is the Lumia 1020, previously codenamed EOS, and it comes equipped with that fabled 41-megapixel sensor we’ve been hearing so much about. All those rumors were true. It’s here, and it’ll be an AT&T exclusive beginning July 26, available in matte black (my personal fave), matte white and matte yellow. Did we mention the device will cost $299 with two-...
The smartphone market is cutthroat: it’s overrun by dozens of competitors all trying to grab a piece of the pie, usually from Apple or Samsung these days. That hasn’t always been the case, of course. Motorola once had a market lead in the mobile market. And once upon a time Palm made some of the most popular smartphones. There are several companies trying to get their feet wet with new...
Nokia’s Lumia smartphones have excellent low-light performance. What happens when you use a flash to counteract the lower lighting? Well, you run into issues with people in your photos with the redeye effect. Nokia’s in on the fun with a new commercial for its Lumia 925, which suggests that owners of the iPhone who rely on LED flash, instead of a camera sensor that’s very capable in the...
Microsoft unveiled Windows Phone 8 and the first batch of devices that ran the new platform back in September. That included the HTC Windows Phone 8X, the Windows Phone 8S, the Samsung ATIV S and the Nokia Lumia 920. Since then, however, Nokia has been the only company to push forward with new Windows Phone devices, and the Finnish phone maker is doing so at a steady rate. No surprise...
In collaboration with Microsoft, Google is developing a new YouTube application for Windows Phone that will, among other things, enable ads. According to a report from TheVerge, the two have resolved their differences after publicly fighting over Microsoft's unauthorized YouTube app, which Google attempted to get pulled from the Windows Phone Store. Microsoft instead addressed the app...
Microsoft certainly wasn’t short on announcements earlier this week when it unveiled the Xbox One. It did, however, hold short of explaining deeper integration with its Windows Phone platform. While we were told that there will be continued Xbox SmartGlass support, Microsoft didn’t really expand on how it’s going to change. But it has to, SmartGlass is super limited right now and aside...
Will Microsoft’s new YouTube app update for Windows Phone appease Google and end the bickering between the two tech companies? Well, let’s just say it’s a start. Google issued a cease and desist letter earlier this month, calling for Microsoft to pull its YouTube Windows Phone app because it allowed downloads and blocked ads. The deadline was today, and so an update was pushed out...
Android and iOS, if you aren’t already well aware, are dominating the global smartphone market. Research firm IDC recently found that the two operating systems accounted for 92.3 percent of all global smartphone shipments during the first quarter of this year. Combined, 199.5 million units shipped during the first quarter running those operating systems, up 59.1 percent from the same...
Google versus Apple is so over. It's all about Google versus Microsoft now. Yes, I know that Google CEO Larry Page told I/O attendees that companies shouldn't be pitted against each together in the press, but it's sort of tough not to when those companies do it themselves in real life. His, for example, has issued a cease and desist letter to Redmond over its Windows Phone YouTube...