Android blitzes iOS in Q2, Samsung rules...

IDC reports that Android has significantly increased its lead in smartphone OS share with a massive 68.1% of the Q2 ’12 market compared to its arch rival, Apple’s iOS, which lost share, posting a 16.9% figure for the second calendar quarter of 2012. In fact, Android was the only smartphone OS besides WinPhone to show any growth over Q1 and Android smartphones are currently outselling iPhones four to one.

The Galaxy S III "Real-user" Review: Part 2 - Entertainment and media - Music and video playback, gaming, browser

The combination to make you wax lyrical about sound?

Today we’re going to bite off a fairly sizeable chunk of the review, covering a lot of the entertainment aspects of the device – music, video, gaming and the browser. If you haven't read part 1 of the review which covered initial impressions, design/build quality, screen and benchmarks then check it out here.

OK, so to start things off, here is my “I’m no audiophile” disclaimer (italicized since AndroidNZ readers will have seen it before):

Like I seem to do quite often, I have to start here with a disclaimer of sorts - this time in terms of my own listening prowess. You see, in terms of evaluating the audio quality of the phone I have to set the appropriate context - that context being my own limitations as a listener. I think my ear is above average, nearly twenty years of playing guitar certainly helps there, but I am definitely no audiophile. While I’m in complete disclosure mode: I have some high frequency hearing loss from guitar and concert attendances over the years, and I don’t own a set of audiophile headphones. What does all that mean? Well, basically, audiophiles should move right along, my ear isn’t up to advising you about whether you’ll be happy with this phone. Most everyone who isn’t an audiophile will be happy enough with the Note's audio quality, and those same readers will likely find my take on the sound quality is pitched at the right level.

I purchased a few things audio-related since the Note review.

Having said of all that I must say that it’s no longer ringing entirely true. While I still wouldn’t label myself an audiophile, I have been on rather an audio voyage of discovery since I wrote that disclaimer and should probably adjust it accordingly.

You see, since the Note review I’ve purchased the ASUS Xonar Essence One USB DAC for my desktop, an E17 USB DAC for portable use, and several sets of headphones (the Grado GS1000i, Audeze LCD-2, Sennheiser HD-251 II, and ACS-T15, for those who like to know that sort of thing). That’s a reasonably serious outlay on audio equipment, so it’s a little disingenuous to completely downplay my ability to adjudicate sound quality. Readers should realize though that I’m still in my audio lovers infancy. I might be able to discern more than some people, simply on account of having better listening equipment, but I’m hardly a paragon of audio quality assessment and astute listeners will still need to seek their own S III audition from which to form their own opinion.

So, preamble over, what is my assessment of the S III’s audio playback chops?

Editorial: Android activations in perspective

Announced today at Android I/O, the official daily activations for Android powered devices have topped one million. Not that it was going to be a surprise as the numbers last quarter showed that the milestone would certainly have been reached even before that period ended as we pointed out in a previous analysis.

Now that the figures have been made public, we can measure how Android’s phone platform is doing compared to its arch rival, Apple’s iPhone. For those who haven’t been paying attention, Apple’s first 2012 calendar quarter saw a drop in iPhone sales from a high of 37.1 million in the final quarter of 2011 to 35.1 million.

Although the second quarter has yet to complete, Apple’s own guidance for the three months ending June 30 was for a further sequential drop in iPhone sales and many Wall Street analysts are expecting a number of 30 million (although some are suggesting that it could be as low as 27.5 million).

Android leads smartphone share in the US. Again...

In case you can't be bothered decoding the chart below, here's a summary of the third quarter US smartphone market action.

Hot on the heels of the report on the state of the UK smartphone platform market, comes Nielsen's take on Q3 in the good ol' You Ess of Eh. Unsurprisingly, Android continues to gain share with its 42.8% while its nearest competitor Apple scores 28.3%. For comparison, the figures for the previous quarter show Android with 39% OS share while iOS had 28.0%. In Q3, RIM managed a creditable 17.8%, WinMobile 7.3% (all versions combined), WebOS 2.2% and Symbian a quite appalling 1.7%.

The US market contains some interesting quirks with Nokia's presence being absent for all practical purposes and Apple enjoying the home team iFan advantage. Neither of those factors appears to have had much, if any, influence on Android's Q3 US market performance though.

Surprisingly perhaps, HTC is still the biggest Android handset seller in the US and second handset seller overall with 20.3%, followed by the ever-improving Samsung with a total of 11%. Local lads Motorola sold 10.6% and the rest ran last-ish. Apple still leads the handset manufacturer stakes in its home country with 28.3%, while RIM's Blackberry commands a decent 17.8% for third place still, despite the doom prognoses it gets in the blogosphere on an almost daily basis. Go figure...

While the US market continues trends seen over recent quarters, this report obviously cannot reflect the launch of the iPhone 4S so there will be a shift in relative share reported in Q4. Rest assured, we'll be covering that news when it appears in January.

 Source: Nielsen