The company created the accessory featuring a full backlit keyboard, battery indicator, smart typing, dedicated lock key  and more. The design and aesthetics of the device does resemble the physical keyboard found on old BlackBerry phones.

The Canadian smartphone manufacturer was quick to notice the similarities and sued Typo. BlackBerry won an injunction however, in response the keyboard maker launched second-gen model called Typo 2 which they believe does not infringe on BlackBerry’s patents.

According to a new report published by The Hollywood Reporter, BlackBerry has filed a second lawsuit against Typo alleging that Typo 2 continues to infringe on BlackBerry’s intellectual property.

The court announced an award of $860,000 to BlackBerry as Typo continued selling its original keyboard despite the injunction. BlackBerry has now demanded for for “enhanced and exemplary” damages for Typo’s continued infringement.

Since iPhones’ introduction in 2007 now every smartphone features touchscreen keyboards. Some device makers initially did try to differentiate their offering from the iPhone by offering a physical keyboard however, that strategy hasn’t worked too well as such phones have clearly not become a huge success.

Typo and Typo 2 caters to a niche segment that still prefers the old-school physical keyboard typing experience. Typo 2 design features flat keys that reduces its resemblance to BlackBerry’s keyboards however, it blocks the home button / Touch ID sensor on the iPhone 6.

Are you a fan of Typo 2 for iPhone? What do you think about BlackBerry suing Typo Innovations LLC? Let us know in the comments below.

Last month BlackBerry (formerly known as RIM) announced that it will release a multi-platform version of BlackBerry Messenger, adding support for iOS and Android. BBM has been hugely successful messaging service with over 10 billion messages sent per day with 60 million monthly active users.

BBM on iPhone will compete with Apple’s own iMessage and other popular instant messaging services like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. The release date for BBM for iPhone hasn’t been announced yet and it’s availability is likely scheduled for later this summer.

BBM set the standard for mobile instant messaging with fast and reliable service and an added layer of engagement with delivered and read statuses. You’ve shared with us your stories about how BBM has kept you connected when it mattered most to you. Upon release of the multi-platform BBM service, you can broaden that real-time connection to friends and colleagues on other supported mobile platforms.

Yesterday, Salshgear was first to spot a tweet from T-Mobile’s twitter account that announced “Great news – BlackBerry Messenger will be available to download on iOS and Android from June 27th!”. That tweet was later deleted and when BlackBerry PR was contacted by Mashable they confirmed that the release date was incorrect.

While there have been reports that BBM will be available to iOS and Android on June 27, this is not accurate,

A multi-platform BBM client on iOS and Android will fuel the growth for the instant chat messaging service. The first version of BBM on iPhone will include the following features:

– The immediacy of BBM chats
– Multi-person chats
– Voice note sharing
– BlackBerry Groups, where BBM users are able to set up groups of up to 30 people and share calendar, photos, files and more

Since, Apple allows messaging services other than iMessage to be available on the App Store, the approval process shouldn’t be an issue for BlackBerry.

According to a report from Electronista, Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) will be supplying iOS devices to the United States Department of Defense, replacing all of the 470,000 BlackBerry devices currently in use by employees. Until this year, the DOD handed out a Blackberry to each of its employees for answering emails, business calls etc. However, with Blackberry upheaving its old system with the new Blackberry 10 OS, the DOD can no longer use the older devices.

The DOD also experienced a cut in the funding for the new software as the result of the sequester. Now, they will be replacing the older technology with the purchase of 120,000 iPads, 100,000 iPad minis, 200,000 iPod touches, and 210,000 iPhones.

The iPhones will vary, likely depending on each employee’s usage and need for certain features. According to the report, “more than half are headed to the battlefield, afloat, and to associated support commands. Most of the rest will stay [at the Pentagon].”

Late last year, the U.S government said that RIM (now Blackberry), would no longer have an exclusive contract for smartphone devices. This is great news for Apple, with its products currently being used to run businesses such as Salesforce, by pilots as electronic flight bags, and now the U.S government.

It is not surprising that the DOD is making the move to Apple products, however, it does mean that Apple would need to make sure their iOS devices are extremely secure, especially with soldiers using them overseas.

Update – The original source of this news published new information stating, “The initial telephone conversation claims that the information obtained “is not from an official DoD source” and notes that the BlackBerry platform is not being dumped.” However, the publication emphasized on the fact that “the report of the purchase order is accurate, but emphasized that the purchase awaits rectification of the government’s financial situation, as previously reported.”

{Via TechCrunch}

According to the latest Nielsen report, Android and iPhone make up majority of the U.S smartphone market. Both Android phones and iPhone did not exist or were not popular about 5 years ago, and were introduced into a Nokia and Blackberry dominated market. Since then Google and Apple have become fierce competitors and the data proves that they are in fact, at the top of the smartphone market. According to the report, Android’s increase in market share was a whopping 53% from January to October, up from a solid 42%. Apple’s iOS, although trailing behind Android also experienced an increase, from 21% to 29%.

With Android and Apple leading the pack, Blackberry’s RIM has been seeing a steady decline in shares, holding on to only 11.6 percent of the smartphone market, which is substantially less than both Android and Apple. Other smartphone companies, such as Motorola once held over 36% of the smartphone market but have since dropped to below 1%, as of March 2009. This is due in large part to Apple’s massive success with the iPhone’s adoption, selling more of the device each quarter and the widespread adoption of Android OS in a number of smartphones, including Motorola’s Droid line.

Nielsen’s report also mentioned new smartphone purchases, where 48 percent of users surveyed in February said they purchased an Android phone and 43% said they purchased an iPhone. These are staggering numbers, especially since both of these companies have not faltered with their takeover of the U.S smartphone market and have increased their annual revenue with each passing year.

CNET on Wednesday reported that Verizon is looking to make 4G LTE compatibility a requirement on all smartphones released in the future. Verizon’s 4G LTE provides faster data speeds and would be a major step up from 2G and 3G speeds currently operating on many smartphones.

This report has led to speculations about Apple releasing a 4G LTE compatible iPhone 5 in order to comply with Verizon’s network standards. Verizon’s proposal of “a hard requirement” to make all phones 4G LTE does have some exceptions, with the company noting that their Push to Talk network will remain operating on 3G speeds until further notice.

From now on, nearly every smartphone, wireless hot spot, tablet, and Netbook that Verizon offers will come with LTE guns a-blazing. Yes, Virginia, that includes Windows Phone and BlackBerry devices, too.

There will be the occasional exception, however. For instance, phones on Verizon’s push-to-talk network are 3G-only for now, and will remain that way until further notice.

Verizon’s clear, unyielding stance on 4G–“a hard requirement,” according to Verizon–may partially explain why it has picked up only one Windows Phone so far.

The report also goes on to mention that Verizon is leading the market with deployment of 4G LTE, with over 200 million people in 190 markets. Verizon plans to complete its LTE roll out by late next year, and is now pushing its slow roll-out by forcing users to 4G LTE enabled smartphones. AT&T has also announced plans for a 4G LTE network but has not set any specific goals for smartphone plans and accessibility’s with the network.

By late 2013, 4G LTE may become the standard on many US carriers including Verizon, AT&T and Sprint, making 3G the current 2G. As smartphones demand more speed and reliability, 4G LTE is definitely the next big step in cellular data.

{via MacRumors}

A report from The Financial Times today mentioned that Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) has surpassed Nokia to claim the spot for world’s top smartphone vendor. Apple Inc. experienced rapid growth with the introduction of it’s iPhone 4 while Nokia experienced a sharp decrease in manufacturing and production.

AAPL had the ability to close out a 5.5 million unit deficit during the first quarter and turn it into a 3.6 million unit lead in the second quarter. Apple’s 3rd quarter also produced sufficient results and suggests that Apple may be holding this spot for a long time.

Shipments of Nokia smartphones declined by 34 per cent to 16.7m units, compared with the 20.3m iPhones shipped by Apple in its second quarter.

Apple was already the biggest smartphone maker by revenue and profits, but the April-June period marked the first time it had surpassed Nokia in volume.

Nokia and Research in Motion used to be two of the biggest cell phone manufacturers in the world, but failed to hold out after Apple topped RIM in Global shipments during the 3rd quarter of 2010. With this news coming at the beginning of the 4th quarter of 2011 and the introduction of Mac OS X Lion, Apple can expect huge growth in sales of shipments.

Apple has faced competition from Android and HTC, although Apple still remains number one due to Android phones being shipped by more than one manufacturer. Both Android and HTC have shipped about half the number of phones globally when compared with Apple. Android has experienced major growth over the last year, but is still behind in terms of shipment volumes. Apple has yet to formally announce this new achievement.

Older generation Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) devices, such as the iPhone 3GS and the first-generation iPad, still outsell their latest Android competition according to analyst Michael Walkley with Canaccord Genuity. In a note to investors today, Walkley noted that while Apple’s iPhone 4 is the top-selling smartphone for both AT&T and Verizon in the U.S., the iPhone 3GS still outsells new Android smartphone offerings from AT&T, and the first-generation iPad still outsells non-iOS tablets offered by Verizon.

Interestingly, our April checks indicated continued strong demand for the iPhone 3GS at AT&T and iPad 1 at Verizon, as these older generation products with reduced prices often outsold new Android products. We believe this highlights Apple’s significant competitive advantage, and these older products help Apple offer a tiered pricing strategy at key channels.

Since the release of the iPhone 4 and the iPad 2, predecessors to the two devices have continued to sell at discounted prices. The iPhone 3GS currently sells at $49 at AT&T stores and outsells newer Android smartphones such as the HTC Inspire and the Motorola Atrix.

Walkley found that the iPad is by far the best selling tablet, with competition such as the BlackBerry PlayBook and Motorola Xoom only achieving “modest sales.” 16GB and 32GB models of the iPad 1 sold out in less than two weeks after the debut of the iPad 2 thanks to the price reduction.

The fact that older generation Apple devices continue to sell better than new Android, Windows Phone 7 and BlackBerry releases is a clear sign of the success of the iOS platform. It used to be the case that people would buy second-hand Macs to get their hands on the Mac OS operating system, and now it seems people will settle for older Apple devices just to get their hands on iOS.

The BlackBerry PlayBook is RIM’s answer to Apple’s iPad – a 7.6-inch tablet that boasts a 1GHz dual-core processor, 1GB of RAM, and two high-resolution cameras. It’s received bucket loads of hype since it was announced, with the tech world dying to get their hands on the device and establish whether it gives the iPad 2 anything to worry about. Well, the initial reviews are now in from some of the biggest names in tech, and it doesn’t look good for RIM’s PlayBook.

In short, most are saying that the PlayBook is a device which feels as though it has been rushed – like RIM were desperate to get it to market, and that as it stands the BlackBerry tablet isn’t worth your hard earned cash.

David Pogue of the New York Times said that the PlayBook’s software is buggy, and that it is missing simple, yet important features, such as the ability to view email attachments, or even open URL links within an email. These are features that have made iOS so useful since the day it launched on the iPhone, and you’d expect one of its rivals to include the same functionality.

Summing up his review, Pogue wrote:

The PlayBook, then, is convenient, fast and coherently designed. But in its current half-baked form, it seems almost silly to try to assess it, let alone buy it.

Remember, the primary competition is an iPad — the same price, but much thinner, much bigger screen and a library of 300,000 apps. In that light, does it make sense to buy a fledgling tablet with no built-in e-mail or calendar, no cellular connection, no videochat, Skype, no Notes app, no GPS app, no videochat, no Pandora radio and no Angry Birds?

Walt Mossberg of the New York Times also got his hands on the device, and – like Pogue – believes the device just isn’t ready for market yet. Though its cameras are better than those in the iPad 2:

The screen is beautiful, even though it has a lower resolution than the iPad’s. And the cameras are better than the iPad’s.

Still, unless you are constantly glued to a BlackBerry phone, or do all your email, contacts and calendar tasks via a browser, I recommend waiting on the PlayBook until more independently usable versions with the promised additions are available.

Wired believes that while the PlayBook’s hardware is solid, it’s the software that lets the device down:

It’s a well-constructed device with great media-viewing capabilities, solid hardware specs and a price on par with the current tablet market. But with serious gaps in key areas like app selection and Flash stability, you may want to think twice before picking one up.

There are plenty of other reviews online, from all of the big tech publications – and all seem to deliver the same message: while the PlayBook looks good, packs some decent hardware, and comes from a reputable manufacturer, its software just doesn’t cut it in today’s market. Until RIM go back to basics and give the PlayBook’s software a complete overhaul, it will never be an iPad killer, let alone compete with the top tablets.

Taiwanese site DigiTimes claims Apple bought up so many touch panels that its Canadian competitor just couldn’t get its tablet built in time. Having originally been slated for a release in the first quarter of 2011 PlayBook is now going on sale on April 19th.

due to a delay in software testing as well as shortage of touch panels because Apple already booked up most of the available capacity.

The 7 inch PlayBook is expected to be one the iPad’s main competitors once launched due to RIM’s strong foothold in Enterprise. With so many IT departments already running BlackBerry systems adding PlayBooks to the infrastructure could make more sense than iPads.

Apple currently holds huge cash reserves which clearly helped the company pay over the odds in order to ensure as many iPad 2’s made their way into stores as possible. The Cupertino outfit used similar tactics in the past, buying up much of the world’s supply of NAND memory for its iPods, iPads and iPhones. When Apple buys parts, they do it in bulk!

Whether RIM’s PlayBook proves to be a real challenger to the iPad 2’s crown remains to be seen, but any competition is good competition in our book so good luck to them!

{via DigiTimes}

Kodaks stock rose by 22% after news that the US International Trade Commission will review a judge’s view that ruled against the company in January.

Kodak claims both Apple and BlackBerry maker Research In Motion violated a patent relating to the previewing of digital photos on a smartphone. Unsurprisingly the two smartphone manufacturers disagree.

Apple and RIM aren’t the first Kodak has gone after – Samsung and LG felt the patent hurt back in 2008, with the pair settling for a combined $964 million. While Apple has more cash on-hand than they know what to do with, RIM won’t want to spend the money if they don’t have to.

Patents are proving a lucrative business for Kodak, with the company raking in $838 million last year alone. With that kind of money coming through the courts, who needs to make cameras!?

{Source: NYDailyNews}

US pricing is in line with the ‘below $500′ price-point tablets seem to be aiming for these days, after the huge popularity of the iPad and iPad 2. The base 16GB WiFi model comes in at $499, with 32GB and 64GB variations coming in at $599 and $699 respectively. Canadian pricing is the same $499 for 16GB while the 32GB is $599. 64GB will set Canadians back $699 – priced obviously in Canadian Dollars. Hopefully the same conversion won’t be true outside the Americas. No Dolla to Pound conversion in the UK please Mr RIM!

No pricing yet for anything other than the WiFi model, with pre-orders starting to go live in the States and Canada through Best Buy and a few more retail partners, all listed in the press release below. The release date? April 19th.

Press release:

RIM Announces Retail Channels for BlackBerry PlayBook

BlackBerry PlayBook to be available in over 20,000 Retail Outlets in the U.S. and Canada

Waterloo, ON – Research In Motion (RIM) (NASDAQ: RIMM; TSX: RIM) today announced plans to make the highly-anticipated BlackBerry® PlayBook™ tablet available in more than 20,000 retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

“The BlackBerry PlayBook is an amazing tablet that is already being widely praised as a multi-tasking powerhouse with an uncompromised web experience and an ultra-portable design,” said Mike Lazaridis, President & Co-CEO, Research In Motion. “Given the high level of customer interest in the BlackBerry PlayBook, we are particularly pleased to be working with such an amazing lineup of retail partners.”

The BlackBerry PlayBook delivers professional-grade, consumer-friendly experiences that redefine the possibilities of mobile computing. This ultra-portable tablet looks and feels great, measuring less than half an inch thick and weighing less than a pound. It features a vivid 7-inch high-resolution display that is highly-responsive with a fluid touch screen experience. It also offers industry leading performance, uncompromised web browsing with support for Adobe® Flash® Player 10.1, true multitasking, HD multimedia, advanced security features, out-of-the-box enterprise support and a robust development environment.

The BlackBerry PlayBook with Wi-Fi will be available in three models and will feature a Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) starting at $499 in the United States and Canada. The lineup of retailers and wireless carriers currently expected to carry the BlackBerry PlayBook in the United States and Canada includes the following companies*:

United States

AT&T
Best Buy
Cbeyond
Cellular South
Cincinnati Bell
Office Depot
RadioShack
ShopBlackBerry.com
Staples
Sprint
Verizon
BlackBerry from Wireless Giant

Canada

Bell
Best Buy
Chapters / Indigo
Costco
Future Shop
Mobilicity
MTS Allstream
Rogers
Sasktel
Sears
ShopBlackBerry.com
Staples
Telus
Tbooth Wireless
The Source
Videotron
Walmart
WIND Mobile
WIRELESS etc.
WIRELESSWAVE

BlackBerry PlayBook Specifications

7″ 1024×600 WSVGA capacitive LCD touch screen
Ultra-portable at less than a pound and less than one-half inch thick: 0.9 lbs (425g) and 5.1″ x 7.6″ x 0.4″ (130mm x 194mm x 10mm)
1 GHz dual-core processor
BlackBerry® Tablet OS with support for symmetric multiprocessing
MP3, AAC and WMA audio playback
Support for high resolution video playback (H.264, MPEG4, WMV)
1080p HDMI output
Dual 1080p HD cameras for video conferencing and video capture (3MP front and 5MP rear)
1 GB RAM memory
Up to 64 GB internal storage (16, 32 and 64 GB models)
GPS, Orientation Sensor (Accelerometer), 6-Axis Motion Sensor (Gyroscope), Digital Compass (Magnetometer)
Stereo speakers and stereo microphones
Wi-Fi® (802.11 a/b/g/n) connectivity
Bluetooth® 2.1+EDR support

{Source: Engadget}

As a standalone tablet machine, the PlayBook won’t have access to PIM functions such as email, calendaring and contacts. All these features requite a smartphone in order to function – a limitation sure to put some potential purchasers off.

But fear not PlayBook fans, for BlackBerry’s Senior Product Manager Ryan Bidan says the device is still a capable machine ‘in its own right’ while going on to say, “This is not a device that is reliant on a BlackBerry.”

Interestingly however, Bidan did stop short of addressing the issue of the missing apps directly but he did say that PIM functions “will come as the platform evolves’.

That’s no good now though is it, Ryan?!

As soon as I saw the hardware specification of Research in Motion’s BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, the first question off my lips was ‘what’s the battery life going to be like?’. With its dual-core 1GHz CPU and 1GB of RAM, it’s safe to say RIM’s iPad competitor will take some powering. Thankfully, according to senior product lead Ryan Bidan at least, we need not worry about battery life.

Speaking during a business presentation in Boston, Bidan told attendees that battery life should not be a concern for perspective purchasers while stating their goal was still to get 8 bourse, or a ‘full day’ of use out of a single charge. That compares well with Apple’s iPad and its 10 hour life when you remember the powerful hardware inside the PlayBook. Those dual-core CPUs don’t run on rainbows and unicorn tears!

In order to get the desired 8 hours out of a PlayBook, RIM is including a generous 5,300maH battery which will be incased in a sealed body which is unusual for the Canadian smartphone manufacturer. RIM usually favours a replaceable battery in its hardware but clearly sees a need to squeeze as big a battery into the shell as possible and will take the Apple approach of using a sealed unit.

One thing that the iPad has shown is that the tablet form factor thrives when it can be left untouched for days at a time and used as an appliance, without users needing to manage battery life like they do their smartphones.

Hopefully RIM’s PlayBook will be blessed with iPad-like battery-life while upping the processing ante.

{via electronista}

However, AppleInsider are quoting a report from StatCounter which shows that Blackberry is ahead of the iPhone, for the first time ever, in internet usage.

RIM’s Blackberry OS had 34.3% of web browsing share in November, and Apple had 33.3%. Whilst Android increased its overall web browsing share from 8.2% last year to 23.8% this year. By comparison Apple was at 51.9% last year. Which is a rather large drop for them in 2010. Or is it? It is after all only a percentage. So in actual fact the amount of iPhones browsing the web has still increased, just not as dramatically as that of Android.

Globally Nokia still has the largest browser share, which is not surprising as it has mobile phone all over the world which have been selling for years. So its installed base alone still buoys its user base. But similarly to Apple in the US its overall share has dropped, and it now shares that with Apple at 21.9%, RIM at 19.3% and Android at 11.6%.

So the market is growing for all, as well as levelling off for the leaders.

The answer to the title of this piece? It’s too close to call. Apple and RIM are neck and neck in the US. What do you think? Have your say in the comments below.

This is the first time Apple (AAPL) have ever outdone the BlackBerry on a quarterly basis, and it only adds insult to injury for RIM following Steve Jobs’ recent boast during last week’s conference call when he announced that his company was on top.

We’ve now passed RIM. And I don’t see them catching up with us in the foreseeable future. They must move beyond their area of strength and comfort, into the unfamiliar territory of trying to become a software platform company. I think it’s going to be a challenge for them to create a competitive platform and to convince developers to create apps for yet a third software platform after iOS and Android. With 300,000 apps on Apple’s App Store, RIM has a high mountain ahead of them to climb

The top spot when it comes to shipments was stolen by Nokia, however, who shipped an outstanding 26.5 million smartphones in the quarter.

Despite this news, RIM are still very much a contender in the smartphone market, and with their new Bold 9780 and Style 9670 devices coming soon, they may soon receive a much needed boost in popularity.

During the six months leading up to August of this year smartphone handset sales break down like this:

Android : 32%
iPhone : 25%
Blackberry : 26%

While Apple’s iPhone market share has held steady, Android’s has grown. Overall the iPhone’s install base has actually grown slightly to 29%, and RIM’s Blackberry share has dropped. But the real winner is Android. Who’s user base has grown to 19%.

Of course these figures are hugely subjective. Android is available on multiple carriers, and in multiple flavors of handsets. Not to mention in many flavors of bargain basement deals.

The iPhone is just one type of device. Perhaps two if you really want to push the definition and is only available on one carrier in the US .

Yes, these figures are US only. If you take a look at the European market, where the iPhone is available on multiple carriers, the figures are very very different.

Both Apple and the myriad of Android handset manufacturers have pushed out new models in this period. So have Blackberry, for that matter. Apple with it’s iPhone 4, and Samsung, HTC, RIM and Motorola with their various gizmos. So new device halo effects can be discounted to some degree on all formats.

Is the iPhone doomed? Or is the market just finding its natural level? Have your say in the comments…

This has some concerned that the much rumored CDMA iPhone 4 that Apple is rumored to be making are going elsewhere. In other comments Seidbenberg said that he didn’t feel his company had an “iPhone defecit”, and that they’d “love to carry it when we get there, but we have to earn it.”

Which doesn’t sound like a company gearing up to sell Apple’s flagship iPhone in a few months. Verizon has recently been pushing their own App Store for Android and Blackberry which may be complicating relations with Apple.

So at the moment the Verizon / Apple situation is anybodies guess.

What’s your take no it? Have your say in the comments…

A Facebook thread from SaudiMac has noted that all references to Facetime have been removed from Apple’s regional sites.

This is a rumor at the moment but, sounds pretty plausible based on what has happened recently with RIMs Blackberry in Qatar and Yemen, as well as India. In the Blackberry’s case the governments of some countries objected to data being sent by those devices in an encrypted form that they were unable to intercept and decipher “if the need arose for security reasons”.

The complaint is not that unreasonable when one considers that countries like the US and UK already unofficially have access to Blackberry’s data in a not-so-secret, but oft denied agreement with RIM.

Underlying the possible “security” reasons for wanting to monitor mobile communications, there was actually in many cases a far more simple social issue at play. Blackberry’s were being used by the young, most irritatingly to some, young women, to send messages of a personal nature to their partners! Something that doesn’t play well in some cultures, where the freedom of the youth of today seem to be accelerating beyond that which the older generation deem acceptable.

Imagine those same people’s horror when they discovered that Apple’s latest mobile phone will allow unfettered, network free video calling! Of course that reason for the objection to Facetime is just one possibility.

Many of these countries also have much stricter restrictions on the flavor of traffic that is allowed to be used over public networks. The communication protocols behind Facetime are one of those that are explicitly banned by certain governments and their mobile network providers.

Is this a government conspiracy, Telcos protecting their profits, or a culture clash with Apple’s new Facetime technology?

Time will tell…

What do you think? Have your say in the comments…

[TUAW] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/iphone-4-facetime-middle-eastern-users/feed/ 0 https://touchreviews.net/vonage-lets-call-facebook-friends-free/ https://touchreviews.net/vonage-lets-call-facebook-friends-free/#comments Thu, 05 Aug 2010 18:12:51 +0000 https://touchreviews.net/?p=8486 Read More]]> Vonage, famous for providing easy to use voice-over-ip solutions, released a new iOS 4 app today that allows facebook users to call each other for free.

The app, called Vonage Mobile for Facebook, connects with facebook using Facebook Connect and then displays a list of all of your friends. The friend list is grouped into two groups, those who have the app installed on their iPhone and those who do not. For the users who do not have the app installed, you are able to chat with them using a SMS like user interface. The real power of this app, however, is for friends who do have the app installed.

Friends who have the app installed on their iPhone can be called without using their airtime minutes or incurring additional charges (data charges not withstanding). To call, simply choose the friend to call and the app will make the call. If your friend does not have the app running, they will get a notification that they have a call waiting for them and when they view the notification, the app will start and ring. The App emulates the iPhone’s phone app user interface and even supports bluetooth audio.

In my initial testing of the app, the call quality was very good (if not perfect at times). I was able to hold lengthy conversations without experiencing any drop offs. It remains to be seen whether or not this app will be able to survive against the likes of Skype, Fring, and the several other providers of VOIP calling including Vonage’s other apps themselves which provide some of the same functionalities. When Vonage will be releasing the same type of app for the Android, Blackberry, and Windows Mobile platforms, this app will allow for easy, VOIP communication using a social platform that many are already using as a contact list.

Vonage has hinted that there is going to be an iPad app coming soon (the name of the current app has the words iPhone and iPod in the title.) Hopefully, the app will also be updated to support background running (such as Skype) which would make it more user friendly and streamlined.

Overall, this is a great solution for those who do not want to maintain yet another contact list and require yet another set of invites and acceptances. For those who have never used the likes of Skype and Fring, but are active Facebook users, this app will be a welcomed option. To make this app infrastructure complete, Vonage should release a facebook app that can accept calls via a browser. Only time will tell how far Vonage will take this app and its infrastructure.

Vonage Mobile for Facebook – iPhone and iPod touch [App Store] ]]> https://touchreviews.net/vonage-lets-call-facebook-friends-free/feed/ 0 https://touchreviews.net/iphone-4-antennagate-conference-htc-response/ https://touchreviews.net/iphone-4-antennagate-conference-htc-response/#comments Sun, 18 Jul 2010 20:21:12 +0000 https://touchreviews.net/?p=7896 Read More]]> iPhone 4 press conference on July 16th has lead to Apple’s competitors responding to the antennagagte issue. During the conference Steve Jobs showed videos of HTC Droid Eris, Samsung Onmia II & BlackBerry Bold 9700 dropping the signal strength bars when held in a way that attenuates the signal.

RIM & Nokia were quick to respond and now Eric Lin, Global PR and Online Community Manager for HTC told Pocket-lint that “we have had very few complaints about signal or antenna problems on the Eris.” and approximately .016% of customers reported any reception issues.

Apple believes that phones are not perfect and almost all smartphones have weak spots. Even if you might be able to get the signal strength bars to drop when touching the black strip in the lower left corner of the iPhone 4 stainless band you should only worry if you are experiencing an increase in the number of dropped calls during daily usage.

It is interesting to note that the user manual of Nokia 2320 advises you to avoid “touching the antenna area unnecessarily while the antenna is transmitting or receiving.”

Apple has also posted a video of iPhone 3GS dropping the signal bars when held in way which attenuates the signal but it never became a big issue. The black strip in iPhone 4 stainless steel band does make it very easy for customer to identify the weak spot and get the bars to drop. Consumer Reports iPhone 4 tests and video show their engineer placing his finger on the weak spot and recording low signal strength but I really wonder if any customer actually holds the iPhone 4 that way to make calls.

According to Flurry’s numbers, iPad development has accounted for 22% of new development starts over the past 60 days. That’s more than the 10% that accounted for new Android starts and is only eclipsed by the 67% of new iPhone starts. Combined, Apple platforms accounted for an astounding 89% of new application starts. Flurry is already tracking over 2000 iPad applications listed in the App Store and that was before it opened to public iPad app purchases yesterday. The number is certain to skyrocket with the official iPad launch tomorrow.

I’ve contended in the past the iPad’s success or failure can’t be counted strictly in the number of units sold. Units shipped is a nice, easy number for the shareholders to understand but the real indicators are elsewhere. Apps sold and developer support are where real success is found these days. Take RIM as an example of the opposite. RIM’s BlackBerry platform used to dominate the mobile market. If you wanted e-mail on the go, the BlackBerry was your only option. Once the app revolution took over the mobile market, RIM lagged and suffered for it. When most people talk about RIM now, it’s in relation to whether Microsoft or Google will be the first one to buy it. Palm, with its otherwise excellent Palm Pre handset, is on a deathwatch because it failed to gain developer support and buy-in for the device. Well those commercials with the creepy, Cylon-esque girl didn’t help either.

So if the iPad can go from 0 to 22% of the new application development in the 60 days of its public existence, while competing platforms go in the opposite direction, I’d say this is another indicator of the long term success of the platform. The iPad, after all, isn’t just about another platform amongst an ocean of them. This is a shift, a whole new sideways movement into a new era of computing. It’s a baby step to be sure, the iPad isn’t the be all and end all of mobile computing, but it’s the beginning of something totally new and different. The people that understand that understand it and those that don’t will. Sure, there will be people who don’t understand in the same way John C. Dvorak very famously didn’t get the mouse, but they will understand as they see more and more people adopt the device. And when the late adopters come on to the scene, they’ll find a rich and diverse App Store full of applications supported by a strong developer base.

Do these numbers indicate the long term success of the iPad? Will these numbers continue to rise as the platform goes public? Are these developers just opportunistic bandwagon jumpers looking for some easy money? Let us know your thoughts.

Asked specifically if they’d swap their present phone for Google’s new Android-based Nexus One, 32% of Blackberry users said “yes,” compared with just 9% of iPhone users. This figure zoomed to 60% for users of smartphones not made by Blackberry or Apple.

“These results show that the restlessness of Blackberry users with their current brand hasn’t just been driven by the allure of iPhone,” said John Martin, CEO of Crowd Science. “Rather, Blackberry as a brand just isn’t garnering the loyalty seen with other mobile operating systems.

Other results included,

Android users skew younger and less affluent than iPhone and Blackberry users. Users of all types of smartphones had downloaded more free applications than paid ones during the preceding seven days, with iPhone users significantly more likely to pay for apps, Android users leading in free apps, and Blackberry users far behind on both fronts. Both Android users and iPhone users were found much more likely than Blackberry users to use their phones only for personal use (32%, 28% and 16% respectively). On the other hand, 7% of Blackberry users use their phone only for business, with that category of user minimal with iPhone (1%) and non-existent in the Android base.

More good news in the report for Apple followed, around 90% of their users said they would quite happily stick to the iPhone when they bought their next phone. Apple Insider stated that the study also showed 97% of iPhone users would recommend the product to their friends and 52% of Blackberry users would also recommend the iPhone to friends.

For the survey Crowd Science used 1,140 respondents recruited randomly by the Crowd Science Sample Beta Program. The majority (44%) of the respondents used a regular phone and not a smart phone, other users represented 17% iPhone users, 15% Blackberry, 10% Nokia, 4% Windows Mobile, 3% Android and 2% Palm.
These results must be a great pleasure for Apple to read and Im sure they will be very satisfied with this survey that confirms that they are indeed going the right way in dominating the mobile world.

What phone would you switch to next and why?