Good Deal - Motorola Atrix 2 - Update $199 at The Warehouse

Motorola Atrix 2

UPDATE: News just in - The Motorola Atrix 2 will be available at The Warehouse (NZ equivalent of Walmart) for $199 NZD on Boxing Day December 26th. This is also for the Telecom NZ model which has an upgrade to Android 4.04 Ice Cream Sandwich available. 


If you're looking for a great Christmas deal to get a new Android smartphone for yourself or a loved one then look no further!

Harvey Norman currently have the Motorola Atrix 2 for Telecom NZ priced at only $268 NZD. This device has a powerful dual core processor, 8MP camera and a nicely sized 4.3" qHD display. While some might feel sorry for Motorola having their device relegated to the bargain bin, you certainly can't complain paying such a low price for such a great phone. If you're the type that needs reviews - check out this one over at The Verge.

If you're keen to grab this bargain, either head to your closest Harvey Norman store or go here to purchase online

While the device comes with Android 2.3 it should be upgradeable to 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich according to a quick search on Google. If you get stuck upgrading after purchase then check out the Atrix 2 forums over at XDA Forums. Be aware that all Motorola devices have locked bootloaders so this might be trickier than flashing a Samsung Galaxy device.

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.

Android's growth stalling?

Android's Andy Rubin has blogged his update to the platform's status, and it's more of the same really. Maybe...

It's difficult to imagine the sheer scale of Android's growth even when the numbers are presented - there are now more than 850,000 new activations each day, up from 700,000 announced on December 20 last year. Yet that doesn't include those thousands of Android powered devices that don't use Google Services and make no mistake, that's a lot of uncounted phones and tablets. Like the Kindle Fire, for example, the best selling Android tablet with nearly 10% of the tablet market. Or basically any Android device sold in China, a bigger mobile market than the US now. Which could mean in reality that the daily total is a massive 15% larger than reported, or North of 970,000.

Samsung's Mobile Products Fuel Record-Setting Earnings...

Helping fuel Samsung's current
mobile domination!

Samsung, Asia's most valuable technology company and the world's biggest technology firm by revenue, has hit an all-time high in earnings based on the success of its smartphone business.

Shipments are expected to reach a record 35 million in Q4, 22% better than the previous three months when it powered past Apple as the top smartphone maker on the planet. Yet despite this record setting exploit, during 2012 Samsung will likely ship 170 million smartphones, up from 95 million in 2011.

A truly spectacular achievement by a company which only began making smartphones in 2010, and a performance that dwarfs even Apple's much-lauded smartphone accomplishment.

Samsung's new Galaxy Note phablet has had a very successful launch in Europe and Asia during the holiday season which raises expectations for the upcoming US launch. A success in the world's second largest smartphone market (China has overtaken the US) will extend Samsung's lead over all its rivals in the mobile field, none of the competition having an equivalent device and Apple unlikely to follow its Korean rival into the phablet space.

As Kim Yun-sang, fund manager at IBK Asset Management notes... "As expectations for Apple to continue its innovation trail [are] receding a bit, this will be the year when Samsung solidifies its commanding lead in the smartphone market".*

So far though, Samsung's entry into the emerging tablet market has been tempered by ongoing patent battles with arch-nemesis Apple, the iPad maker attempting to have sales of Samsung's tablets banned in various major markets across the globe.

However, Apple has only succeeded in slowing Samsung's process thus far. It's widely expected that new Samsung models will circumvent future patent suit attempts by its Cupertino based foe and Apple will be forced to switch tactics to attacks on the Android OS instead.

*Caveat - IBK Asset Management owns Samsung stock. It's not known if they own any Apple stock.

Source: Reuters

Spectacular Android Mobile Device Growth Continues…

For the whole of 2011, Android nearly doubled its global share of the smartphone market versus 2010, according to Canaccord Genuity, with the Little Green Robot taking 43% compared to 22.6% previously. That compares extremely well with Apple's iOS, Android's main competitor. The Cupertino-based iPhone maker's unit sales performance showed only a weak two percentage point increase over the previous 12 month period.

EU-wide sales ban on 3G iPhone and iPad awarded by German Court

In another reversal for litigation-happy Apple, Motorola Mobility has succeeded in obtaining a ruling banning 3G enabled iOS powered devices across the EU. The preliminary injunction, awarded Friday in the Mannheim regional court, is subject to appeal - something that Apple is certain to do.

Their first act will be to request a stay of the injunction in order to prepare their appeal, an act which will allow the iPhones and iPads affected to remain on the market until the results of the appeal are heard. However, the findings by the court are such that a stay is not automatic and should the preliminary injunction be enforced, Motorola Mobility will be required to pay a 100 million Euro bond as a hedge against harm to Apple should their appeal succeed later. Apple's request for the bond to be set at €2 billion was rejected by the court as manifestly excessive.

Apple fails to re-establish Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban in Oz

The contenders face off in the stores for a change

Despite Apple gaining a further week's continuance of the injunction against the Galaxy Tab 10.1 to plead their case for an appeal hearing, the Australian Federal Court has today denied that plea. As a result, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 will be on sale in time for Christmas. A week ago, the Court found that in granting the temporary ban in the first place, the original judge hadn't properly considered the evidence, however Apple's lawyers used the legal system to extend the injunction for a further week, supposedly seeking "special leave" to appeal the appeal, and in doing so surely caused more financial harm to Samsung in the lead up to Christmas.

Apple fails to halt Samsung Galaxy sales in US

A District Court judge in the US on Friday refused a preliminary injunction request by Apple to halt sales of three Galaxy S based smartphones and its Tab 10.1 tablet, stating that the Cupertino gadgeteer had failed to convince her that it was likely to succeed in achieving a permanent ban.

Without such likelihood, the judge found that there was a possibility that a wrongful market withdrawal would result. The upshot is that Samsung would be disadvantaged in the market, something she was apparently reluctant to countenance. She also found that Apple had failed to convince her that it would be “irreparably harmed” if a preliminary injunction were not granted. 

The iPad patents she believed to be such that they were likely to be found obvious, and Samsung's case that the patents were invalid, had merit.

Adding weight to the increasing realisation that lawsuits are now a defacto part of Apple's standard marketing operation, self-styled IP guru Florian Mueller was moved to pronounce “If Apple wants to defend market share against Samsung... it really needs to focus on solid technical patents instead”, something that will be less attractive than the “look and feel” suits the iPhone maker has preferred up to now.

It's said that there would be less likelihood of Apple achieving preliminary injunction bans on its competitors without the "irreparable harm" claim being accepted, a hard row for Apple to hoe when technical infringement is the point of argument. Apple might have to resort to actual advertising. Quelle horreur!


The full case between Apple and Samsung is docketed to begin July 30 2012.

Source: PC World

Aussie court overturns Galaxy Tab 10.1 ban...

The Australian Federal Court today reversed Justice Annabelle Bennett's decision to block sales of Samsung's flagship Android-powered tablet. While the court decision has gone Samsung's way, Apple has, as expected, requested leave to appeal the decision. Invoking something called a "stay of orders", the court has decided to retain the original injunction until Apple presents its appeal on Friday afternoon.

The reversed decision announced today effectively found errors in fact or in law that Justice Bennett made during the original case, and will mean that Samsung will be able to sell the Tab 10.1 in spite of Apple's attempt to prevent it. Had the injunction not been overturned, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 would have been dead in the water, missing the Christmas shopping season and its best opportunity to garner sales prior to being replaced in the new year by its successor.

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

iOS demand pips UK Android sales in October

As anybody paying attention could (and did) predict, Apple's latest iGadget has helped iOS to take top honours in the smartphone segment in the UK. Reported by obscure market tracker, the intriguingly-named Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, iOS totted up 42.8% market share for the week ending october 30, while the UK's Android sales for that week managed a relatively lacklustre 35%.

So, as expected, the much-speculated mega-hit generated by the iP4S's pent-up demand arrived in the UK at least, and for a week the Cupertino phone maker got to bask in some good market share news for a change. The fly in the ointment is that across the quarter ending on that same October 30, Android devices still sold to the smartphone-buying Brits faster than than iOS iDevices did - Android scoring 46% to Apple's 27.8%.

But the iPhone maker will be sighing with relief at the cessation, however temporary, of its continually poor showing versus Google's efforts.

Note also that this result is for the UK only, and covered the week of the iPhone 4S's launch. It also occurred in a climate where Apple has finally made its phones available to any carrier that can afford the meaty subsidy the company demands for the priviledge of becoming an iPhone reseller, and the new gizmo is a world phone which means it's able to run on any network on the good Earth.

Still, expect the news to be trumpeted from the rooftops in Cupertino for the next 30 days.

Graphic courtesy of Kantar Worldpanel ComTech - note the comparitive growth figures...

Android's Growth Continues Unabated

Gartner's figures are in and the news is all good for Android - not so good for most everybody else. The little green robot's share of the smartphone market has rocketed to 52.2% and I use the word "rocketed" without hint of exaggeration. Just one paltry year ago, its market share stood at 25.3%. That, for the mathematically-challenged among us, is a more than doubling of market share, something that even the most critical of pundits can but regard with something approaching awe.

[Announcement] HTC Rezound coming to Verizon

Image courtesy of GSMArena.com

Earlier today in New York, HTC announced the imminent release of the HTC Rezound handset. Previously known as the HTC Vigor; the HTC Rezound comes with Beats Audio, a promising 4.3" 720p display (that's 342ppi!) and LTE 4G support in the US.

Unfortunately HTC are still using the outdated Qualcomm MSM 8660 Snapdragon core processor (albeit at 1.5GHz) so I think it's pixel pushing powers may be a little lacking - especially without the hardware acceleration of Android 4.0 ICS. It is also very thick, weighing in at 13.65mm, more than 1.5 times the thickness of a Galaxy SII.

Despite any apparent shortcomings this may turn out to be quite a decent handset with such a high res display.Unfortunately it's going to have to compete with the Samsung Galaxy Nexus which is being released at around the same time.

If you're interested in getting one and live here in little ol' New Zealand you're out of luck; however if you live in the USA then check out Verizon and Best Buy stores from 14th November onwards.


Over at The Verge you can find full coverage including a hands-on and if you're interested in the technical specs, over at GSMArena they have the full list.

A Brief History Of Android - Part 2: Just Desserts

SDK emulator for Android 1.0

The beta version of Android saw the light of day at the beginning of November 2007, followed a week later by a software development kit (SDK), marking the first faltering steps of the fledgling OS out into the world of smartphones. The lack of dedicated hardware on which to run the OS meant that the release was only suited to hardware manufacturers and software developers, ensuring a somewhat lackluster reception in the media and most everywhere else.

But it was a significant beginning nonetheless, albeit following the release of Apple's first proper smartphone effort, the predictably-named iPhone with its stripped-down version of the Mac's OS X. Handset manufacturers took an immediate interest in the early Android effort, especially given that the price was right. It's hard to improve on “free”. However, although significant progress was being made behind the scenes, Android remained an obscure sideshow to the main event; the pent-up demand for the much-hyped iPhone resulting in it becoming an immediate media and consumer success.