Google and Samsung Concerned over Microsoft’s Nokia Takeover

Microsoft is still waiting to get regulatory approval for the Nokia takeover in some large countries across the world, and the company might have to wait a little bit longer in China due to some recent comments made by Google and Samsung officials.

Representatives of the two companies are said to be discussing with the Chinese governments over their concerns that a potential deal between Nokia and Microsoft could lead to higher patent license fees, a report by Bloomberg reveals today. It turns out that officials have already contacted China’s Ministry of Commerce and asked for conditions on the deal to make sure that patents that remain with Nokia won’t be sold at a higher price, while Microsoft won’t abuse on the technologies it’s going to take over from the Finnish mobile phone maker. The $7.54 billion (€5.44 billion) deal between Microsoft and Nokia was announced in September 2013 and involves the hardware unit of the Finnish mobile phone maker, but most of the patents will remain with the company.

The EU cleared the deal in late December and the Chinese government is expected to do the same in the coming weeks, despite the concerns of Google, Samsung, and other local manufacturers. “We look forward to the date when our partners at Nokia will become members of the Microsoft family, and are pleased that the European Commission has cleared the deal without conditions,” the software giant said back in December when the EU approved the deal. Nokia is playing a key role in Microsoft’s mobile strategy, especially as the latter company continues the transition to a devices and services firm through its One Microsoft transformation plan launched by former CEO Steve Ballmer.

“We are excited and honored to be bringing Nokia’s incredible people, technologies and assets into our Microsoft family. Given our long partnership with Nokia and the many key Nokia leaders that are joining Microsoft, we anticipate a smooth transition and great execution,” Ballmer said in September when Microsoft officially announced the Nokia takeover. As part of the deal, former Nokia boss Stephen Elop is also joining Microsoft, with a recent report revealing that he’ll take over the Xbox division and will be in charge of all hardware products developed by the software giant, including the Surface tablet. Julie-Larson Green, who was until now in charge of the same unit, will become the new chief experience officer (CXO) of the Applications and Services Group.

Microsoft announced the Nokia takeover in September
Image credits to digithoughts.com

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BBM Will Get Photo Sharing in Multi Person Chats, Increased Size for Shared Files

Canadian mobile phone maker BlackBerry is getting ready to bring a nice range of enhancements to its BlackBerry Messenger (BBM), and it has already unveiled a series of details on the matter.

The company has announced that these changes are based on the feedback received from users and that they will make it to BBM in the near future, but it did not provide a specific released date for them. As for the upcoming enhancements themselves, the most important one will be the inclusion of support photo sharing in multi person chats. BBM has already provided users with a series of sharing capabilities when it comes to multi person chats, such as the possibility to send voice notes, files (from a Dropbox account), and location (powered by Glympse). Support for photo sharing in multi person chats will be available in the next BBM release, and will be accompanied by another great enhancement, namely the option to send files that are larger than the currently supported 6MB.

BBM will allow users to send files that are of up to 16MB in size, which translates into the possibility to easily share larger photos and documents, as well as longer videos. “For example, the 6MB transfer limit today allows you to send 6 seconds of 1080p HD video (recorded on a BlackBerry Z30 smartphone). With the increase to 16MB, you will be able to send 16 seconds of video using the same settings,” Jeff Gadway, head of product and brand marketing for BBM, explains in a blog post. The upcoming BBM release will also bring along an increase in the size of emoticons, also based on the feedback received from users. However, the increase will be only a small one, it seems.

“With millions of you depending on BBM to connect with your most important contacts, we want to provide the best messaging experience possible. So, we’re taking your feedback and we’re trying to knock it out of the park by bringing new features and improvements to BBM on a regular basis,” Jeff Gadway also said. BBM has seen a nice range of enhancements over the past several months, including some that are meant to provide owners of Android and iOS devices with a better experience than before.

Moving forth, the Canadian vendor is also planning the release of its messaging application on Windows Phone smartphones, as well as on Nokia X devices. However, these are only some of the changes that users will see in the not too distant future, as the company is also working on ensuring that more features and capabilities are available for them as well. In fact, only last week, BlackBerry also announced that stickers would be coming to BBM via the BBM shop, while unveiling eBBM Suite and BBM Protected earlier this week.

BBM with photo sharing in multi person chats
Image credits to BlackBerry

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Sony Xperia Z2 Media Apps and Live Wallpapers Now Available Online

One of the high-end smartphones that users out there will be able to purchase in the coming months is the Sony Xperia Z2, which went official on Monday at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

The mobile phone arrives on the market with a 5.2-inch 1920 x 1080 pixels screen, complemented by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon MSM8974AB processor, and with a 20.7-megapixel camera on the back. At the same time, the handset was announced with the Android 4.4.2 KitKat operating system loaded on top, as well as with various customizations coming from Sony Mobile themselves, including updated applications. Among these, we can count the Sony Album app, Movies, Walkman, and Video Unlimited, all of which have been extracted from the device and are now available for download for interested users. According to XperiaGuide, the Album app is available as version 5.4.A.0.22, Movies as 6.1.A.0.16 / 6.1.A.0.4, Walkman at 8.1.A.0.6, and Video Unlimited as version 10.0.A.0.3. Compared to the applications that have been included in the latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean release from Sony, only the Movies and Video Unlimited applications appear to have received major updates in KitKat.

We assume that the updated software will be delivered to users as part of the Android 4.4.2 updates that will arrive on the latest Xperia devices out there as well, though some will certainly want to get a taste of them before that happens. One thing that should be noted here is that users might need to root their smartphones in order to install the leaked applications. In addition to these apps, the Xperia Z2 Live wallpaper was also brought to the web, so as to enable users to further personalize their devices with it. The live wallpaper is said to be compatible with devices running under Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean and higher, though it will also require root in order to be installed, it seems. It comes with 6 color moving transitions, as can be seen in the screenshots below.

On top of that, you can also download the official Xperia Z2 lock screen wallpapers, also extracted from the Android 4.4.2 build destined for this device (from a final unit, not a prototype, it seems). They feature a resolution of 1080 x 1920 pixels, which is lower than the resolution of home screen wallpapers for the device (2160 x 1920 pixels). Owners of handsets in the Xperia Z family should have no issues when it comes to downloading and installing these wallpapers.

Sony Xperia Z2 live wallpapers
Image credits to XperiaGuide

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BlackBerry Says BBM May Arrive on Asha Smartphones

BlackBerry has recently announced that its most treasured mass market service BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) will be available on Windows Phone devices. Moreover, the Canadian company has confirmed that BBM will also come on Nokia X smartphones, which will soon be available on the market.

In fact, Nokia X can already be purchased in select markets, while the other two handsets in the series, Nokia X+ and Nokia XL will go on sale in early Q2. You may be wondering why BlackBerry announced that its BBM application would be available on Nokia X family, given the fact that these smartphones are powered by Android operating system. Well, it appears that some Android applications need some tweaking before they can be installed on Nokia X devices. This is probably the reason BlackBerry and Nokia have been working together to make BBM available on the X family as well. But what if BBM were available on Asha smartphones as well? The question has recently received a partial answer from David Proulx, BlackBerry’s senior director of BBM.

When asked by the folks over at Nokia Conversation whether BlackBerry would be willing to bring its instant messaging service on Asha phone, Prolux said: “We want BBM to be as broadly available as possible so in this context, I wouldn’t rule anything out, especially considering the great partnership we have forged with Nokia this week.” This is not a confirmation that BBM will arrive on Asha phones, but rather an acceptance of the idea that anything is possible in such a competitive market. For the moment, the chances that BBM will be available on Asha phones mostly depend on the partnership between Nokia and BlackBerry. As long as the companies continue to team up on various endeavors and benefit from each other’s work, we don’t see why BBM on Asha would not be a viable project.

The only thing that might stand in the way is Nokia’s recent acquisition by Microsoft, which will probably have some influence on the former’s partnership with BlackBerry. However, we’re not sure whether this would have a positive or negative influence on the Nokia / BlackBerry current partnership. Given the fact that BlackBerry has already some experience in working with Microsoft, since they are bringing BBM on Windows Phone, we believe that Nokia’s partnership with the Canadian company won’t end abruptly the moment the acquisition process is complete. Asha users should expect more surprises from Nokia and BBM might be one of them. Watch this space for more details on the matter.

BBM logo
Image credits to BlackBerry

David Proulx, BlackBerry’s senior director of BBM
Image credits to Nokia Conversations

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Dual-SIM Nokia Lumia 630 Emerges Online with 4.5-Inch Screen

One of the smartphones that mobile phone maker Nokia is expected to make official later this year is the Nokia Lumia 630, which should arrive on shelves in a dual-SIM version as well, according to a recent report.

A leaked image that emerged online courtesy of baidu shows that the upcoming smartphone will be similar to the Nokia Lumia 630, featuring on-screen keys, along with the aforementioned support for two SIM cards. Moreover, the smartphone, supposedly running under the latest version of Windows Phone 8, is said to land on shelves with a 4.5-inch touchscreen display capable of delivering an 854 x 480 pixels resolution, and should measure 129.5 x 66.7 mm. The newly leaked image also shows two live tiles for calls, as well as two of them for messaging, which supposedly confirms the phone’s dual-SIM capabilities. According to MyNokiaBlog, the handset could be launched as Nokia Lumia 635, though an official confirmation on the matter has yet to be provided.

A previously leaked image with the mobile phone also shows that it could be launched with a design similar to that of Nokia Lumia 620, but it will clearly be larger, given that the already available Windows Phone smartphone sports only a 3.8-inch screen.

Leaked Nokia Lumia 630 image
Images credits to Baidu via MyNokiaBlog

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HTC Preps Butterfly S Successor, Codenamed GLU2

Following the launch of new Desire smartphones at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, HTC Corporation might bring to the market a successor for the Butterfly S as well, to accompany the upcoming All New HTC One on shelves.

The smartphone has reportedly leaked only under the codename of GLU2, featuring support for CDMA2000 connectivity, and supposedly set to make an official appearance in Japan on the network of wireless carrier KDDI. What’s more interesting is the fact that this mobile phone is expected to land on shelves with about the same hardware specifications expected to be included inside the All New HTC One device, which was previously spotted online as HTC M8. Thus, users might be able to enjoy a 5.2-inch touchscreen display when buying the phone, capable of delivering a full HD resolution, at least this is what info coming from HTCSoku unveils. As gforgames notes, this will be a SHARP screen, most probably IGZO.

The upcoming Butterfly S successor is also said to be powered by a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 801 processor, paired with 2GB of RAM, which should provide users with appealing performance capabilities. The smartphone should be launched with 16GB or 32GB of internal memory, most probably paired with a microSD memory card slot that will allow for additional storage space to be included. One of the most interesting tidbits related to this smartphone is the fact that it is said to arrive on shelves with a 5MP UltraPixel dual-camera on the back, the same as the All New HTC One. Should this pan out, we’re wondering whether this HTC GLU2 handset won’t be, in fact, a custom version of the upcoming HTC One successor, specifically designed for KDDI. One thing that is certain, however, is the fact that the mysterious device will also sport a 5MP front camera for video calling.

A 3000 mAh battery is also said to be included inside the upcoming mobile phone, along with Android 4.4.x KitKat. Of course, HTC will also load its own Sense 6 UI on top of Google’s mobile operating system. All in all, it seems that HTC has some powerful, highly appealing smartphones in store for its users for this year, though it remains to be seen how much of the above mentioned details on this Butterfly S successor will pan out. Info on the device’s release date and pricing hasn’t been provided as of now, and we don’t expect for such info to emerge soon. Most probably, the phone will become official after the All New HTC One is formally announced.

HTC reportedly preps Butterfly S successor
Image credits to HTCSoku via GforGames

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Nexus 6 in H2 2014, Galaxy S6 Still on Android, Sundar Pichai Says

The long series of Nexus smartphones will receive a new member before the end of this year, Google’s Sundar Pichai has reportedly confirmed during a press event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain.

Five smartphones were launched as part of the Nexus family, and a new one is expected to become available this year, though not in the first half of the year, Sundar Pichai unveiled, Frandroid reports. Previously, Google and its partners launched Nexus phones in the Q4 timeframe (Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, and Nexus 5 were launched like this over the past three years), and Nexus 6 could have a similar fate, as BGR notes. Some of the previous reports on the matter suggested that the Nexus family of smartphones might be ended once Nexus 6 is released, yet no official confirmation on this has been provided as of now. However, there is a possibility that Google will continue the series without using the current numbering scheme (Nexus 7 does exist at the moment, but it is a tablet PC). However, keep in mind that this is only our supposition for the time being.

One other interesting thing that Sundar Pichai is said to have unveiled at MWC 2014 is the fact that the next flagship smartphone from Samsung, supposedly called Galaxy S6, will still be powered by Android. Some people expressed their concerns regarding the relationship between Google and Samsung, especially given the latter’s efforts to build its own mobile platform, the Tizen OS. According to Pichai, the two companies get along just fine and plan on continuing their collaboration in the future as well, despite the fact that Samsung has put Tizen on top of its latest smartwatch, the Gear 2. One thing that Pichai also stressed upon was the openness of Android, which has allowed for smartphones such as the new Nokia X, which is based on a forked flavor of the platform, without Google services on top, to be launched.

At the same time, he reportedly insisted that Android was meant to be open, not secure, responding to inquiries related to the increasing number of malware found on the platform lately. According to him, its popularity was expected to make it a magnet for malicious apps. On the other hand, we should note that Google did focus on improving the overall security of the Android platform over the past few years, and that it is expected to continue doing so in the future as well.

Sundar Pichai (Google)
Image credits to techwhack.co

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The All New HTC One Leaks in Live Photos

Taiwanese mobile phone maker HTC Corporation was present on the floor at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, but it did not announce the smartphone that everybody was looking for, namely the All New HTC One.

However, the handset was spotted online in newly leaked live photos, confirming once again the change in design that HTC is planning for it, when compared to last year’s HTC One smartphone. Available courtesy of HardForum.com, the leaked images show the phone both from the front and from the back, offering yet another view of the device that will supposedly go official on March 25. As phandroid notes, the leaker also claims that the phone feels thinner and lighter than HTC One, and that it is very fast, despite the fact that it featured some bugs. However, they did not get the chance to play with the twin cameras on the back of the device. Apparently, HTC also teased the inclusion of BoomSound technology inside the All New HTC One, as the video embedded below unveils. However, the smartphone itself cannot be seen in the clip, though we already know what it looks like.

HTC seems to have upgraded the BoomSound on the upcoming smartphone, so as to deliver a better experience to users, but specifics on the matter haven’t been provided either. Hopefully, all will be brought to light on March 25, so stay tuned to learn more details on the upcoming flagship. Previously leaked online as the HTC M8, the mobile phone was said to be a bit larger when compared to HTC One, courtesy of a 5-inch or larger touchscreen display, most probably a full HD one. Moreover, the phone was rumored to land on shelves with a latest-generation Snapdragon 800 processor from Qualcomm, paired with at least 2GB of RAM (though the general consensus appears to be that 3GB of RAM will be included inside it). HTC was also said to plan on packing the handset with a fingerprint sensor, the same as it did with the HTC One max last year, as well as with the aforementioned twin UltraPixels cameras on the back, for better imaging capabilities.

The latest version of Android (4.4.2 KitKat) should also be loaded on top of the forthcoming handset, along with a new set of customization features from HTC, also known as the Sense 6 user interface. Unfortunately, no official confirmation on any of these has been provided until now.

Leaked All New HTC One image
Image credits to hardforum via phandroid

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Google to Detail Project Ara Smartphone at Its April 15-16 Conference

Mountain View-based Internet giant Google has announced a new conference that will certainly stir the interest of mobile phone users out there, as it will bring to the spotlight the Project Ara handset.

The conference, set for April 15-16 in Mountain View, is meant to provide us with all the necessary info on the long-expected modular device. Project Ara is one of the smartphones that Motorola hasn't got the chance to unveil to the world until now, but it appears that we’ll be able to learn all about it in the not too distant future. At Ara Developers' Conference, Google is determined to showcase a smartphone that has been designed for all 6 billion potential mobile phone users out there, Project Ara’s official website unveils. As Google puts it, despite the fact that one billion people out there already have a smartphone, little is actually known on what such a device is capable of offering. Furthermore, the announcement posted on the aforementioned website stresses on the fact that 5 billion users don’t have such a device, and claims that there’s a way to ensure that each and every person on this planet could own a smartphone soon.

Unfortunately, no specific info on what Project Ara will have to offer has been provided as of now, and Google appears set to keep tight secrecy on the matter. Previous reports on this, however, did suggest that we’re looking at a device that will enable users to add a nice range of hardware customizations to the mix, in addition to the suite of software personalization options that are already available on today’s smartphones. As a modular device, it will allow people to easily replace various parts to modify capabilities, including memory, battery, processor, camera, and the like. The image embedded above speaks for itself, offering a better view of this idea.

Apparently, the basic Ara module will come with a very low price tag, at only around $50 (€36.6), but users will be able to add better components to it, thus also increasing its price, a recent article on Time reads. In addition to offering details on said device, Google will focus on the Ara Module Developers’ Kit (MDK), which will be released in an alpha version at the time of the conference, it seems. The MDK is expected to become available online sometime in early April, and it will arrive as a free and open platform specification and reference implementation, set to offer all the necessary info on what developers will need to start building an Ara module.

Project Ara
Image credits to Project Ara 

Project Ara
Image credits to Project Ara via Android Police

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Boeing Black Is a Secret Phone for Government Agencies and Companies Related to Homeland Security

We all know that Boeing is making aircraft, but what would you say if you were able to purchase a Boeing-made mobile phone? This may actually happen sooner than we think, as the company has already confirmed plans to launch a mysterious Android smartphone.

The official statement was evasive and did not include too many details, just the fact that Boeing may launch a smartphone sometime in 2014. Well, it appears that Boeing’s statement was pretty accurate given the recent details leaked online. The folks over at Myce have just spotted the rumored Boeing smartphone at Federal Communications Commission (FCC), along with its schematics. The mysterious device tipped by Boeing last year is called Black and, for the time being, little is known about its specs due to security reasons. The Boeing Black is meant to offer extra protection during communication, but the device is meant to offer that protection to only a few and probably at a high price. Apparently, Boeing’s Black phone will be sold “primarily to government agencies and companies engaged in contractual activities with those agencies that are related to defense and homeland security.”

Boeing has also stated in the documents filed at FCC that all the technical information about the Black smartphone won’t be made public. However, some technical details may be provided at various trade fairs, but that will be limited and those who receive it will have to sign non-disclosure agreements. There’s more to it as Boeing is clearly stating that its upcoming Black smartphone “is also protected by the Boeing Black Purchase Agreement (Purchase Agreement).” The “purchase agreement” is meant to protect as “proprietary information” all the components, hardware, software, applications and functionalities of the Black smartphone provided by Boeing.

Even though the FCC documents don’t reveal too much about the specs for the reasons explained earlier, there are some mentions of dual-SIM support on the smartphone’s schematics that were filed as PDF documents. Boeing also states that its Black smartphone will be compatible with GSM, WCDMA and LTE networks and microSIM cards, which shouldn’t be surprising if the company wishes to cover as many markets as possible. For the time being, it’s unclear whether or not the Black smartphone will be limited to the United States or it will be “secretly” made available worldwide. We also don’t know when it’s set for release, but this information may be “classified” as well. Don’t look for more info on this one, as the Black phone isn’t meant for end users.

Boeing Black phone
Image credits to FCC

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