Mobile

Microsoft Corp. announced at the Build 2014 conference on Wednesday that it would waive licensing fees for special versions of Windows operating systems for select devices. Microsoft wants to enable partners to offer lower-cost systems in the highly competitive smartphone, tablet and PC categories. Microsoft Windows will be available for …

Although a number of PC makers are pretty vocal about the success of notebooks based on ChromeOS operating system, actual sales of such computers are pretty low, according to market analysts. Apparently, the global market share of Chromebooks in 2013 was about 0.6 per cent. ABI Research estimates that 2.1 …

Apple has quietly delayed mass availability of its premium desktop again. At present the company offers to pre-order the new Mac Pro and get it in five or six weeks from now, sometimes in May. It looks like more than four months after the official launch date, Apple still cannot …

Although the code-named “Blue” updates were supposed to modernize virtually all products and services offered by Microsoft Corp., the Windows Phone still has not received its updates nearly half a year after the launch of Windows 8.1 and Windows RT 8.1. However, the wait seems to be nearly over as, …

Although Qualcomm took part in the announcement of Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface, the company’s plans regarding support of the new API were not completely clear. Last week an executive of Qualcomm confirmed that the future Adreno graphics cores will fully support DirectX 12. The current Snapdragon 800 …

Toshiba Corp. has introduced its first application processor designed for wearable computing devices. The system-on-chip will be available later this year. The new ApP Lite TZ1001MBG chip will power such devices as activity monitors, smart watches, bracelet- and glasses. Toshiba ApP Lite TZ1001MBG integrates ARM Cortex-M4F processor (with 48MHz clock-rate) …

It seems that some phone makers are still cheating in Android benchmarks as HTC has admitted that it optimised the One (M8) to push itself harder than normal in order to get higher benchmark results. People began suspecting that this was the case when the new HTC phone began dominating …

Lenovo Group on Friday said it would recall as many as 150 thousand laptop batteries due to fire hazard. The batteries powered over ten different ThinkPad notebook models, which were on sale in the U.S., Canada and China. According to the U.S. consumer product safety commission, Lenovo has received two …

BlackBerry sales have taken another dive thanks to poor adoption of the BlackBerry 10 platform. The troubled phone maker posted a fiscal fourth quarter loss of $423 million down from a $98 million profit last year. Revenue also fell 64 per cent to $976 million. According to Thomson Reuters, analysts …

Dell and Microsoft this week announced a patent licensing agreement that covers a broad set of intellectual property and also causes a lot of questions. Under the terms of the deal, Dell will obtain licenses to use Microsoft IP that covers Google Android and Chrome platforms. Moreover, Dell may get …

Microsoft Corp. on Thursday made several announcements regarding Office suite applications for Apple iOS and Google Android mobile platforms. The company introduced Office for the iPad and free Office Mobile apps for iPhone and Android smartphones. While the applications are free to get, Microsoft requires Office 365 subscription to actually …

This quarter shipments of Apple iPhone have crossed the psychologically important milestone: 500 million units in life-to-date sales. Despite of the fact that Apple’s share is declining on the market of smartphones, the iPhone remains the most popular handset on the planet in terms of unit shipments. Steve Jobs demonstrated …

Cut the Rope developer, ZeptoLab is currently fighting King.com's controversial trademark of the word “Candy” on the grounds that the trademark hinders fair use of the word in the development community.  If ZeptoLab's push is successful, then King will lose the trademark in Europe and game developers can freely use …

Intel Corp. this week announced that it had finalised acquisition of Basis Science, a maker of wearable computing devices. The acquisition accelerates Intel's wearable products focus. It also brings access to new technology, and further expands the leadership team with new people who have a proven track record of innovation …

HTC has had a hard time keeping the new HTC One (M8) under wraps, over the last couple of months the device has been leaked in long, in depth videos and pictures but now the company has officially revealed its new flagship device- which is available to buy today. HTC …

Last week Google announced the Android Wear operating system along with two partner devices, one of those devices was the Moto 360 which is arguably the most stylish smartwatch to date. Motorola has become known for its customisation options on the Moto X and Moto G and it looks like …

While Apple MacBook Air family has probably been the most popular Apple laptops for quite some time now, they were not significantly updated in the last three years. A media report claims that Apple plans to introduce an all-new MacBook Air 12”, which will not only have larger display than …

Apple is thinking about releasing a version of iTunes music and content store for Google Android operating system, according to a media report. In addition, the consumer electronics giant is mulling to create an on-demand music service like Spotify in a bid to continue earning from selling music and digital …

Microsoft's $7.17 billion Nokia buyout deal was announced late last year, the deal was expected to finally close this month however, regulators have delayed the finalisation until April as a few more approvals need to be made. Microsoft's Executive Vice President, Brad Smith, announced the small delay in a blog …

Both analysts as well as developers of application processors for mobile devices are predicting the emergence of smartphones with ultra-high-definition displays in the foreseeable future. Even so, none smartphone makers have so far disclosed plans to launch such gadgets. A Sony executive this week was the first official for a …

Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy Gear smart-watch has not become popular due to many reasons, but the main one was its price of $299. With the Gear 2 series of watches as well as Gear Fit smart-band the company risks to repeat its central mistake: price the devices higher than customers are …

Motorola recently announced the Moto 360 smartwatch, one of two upcoming watches featuring the all new Android Wear operating system. Since Android is all about being open, the Moto 360 will be able to pair with all devices running Android 4.3 or higher, unlike Samsung's Gear line of smartwatches which …

Huawei, a top maker of smartphones, has denied plans to release a handset with two operating systems, Google Android and Microsoft Windows Phone. Instead, the China-based manufacturer intends to keep offering phones with Android and Windows Phone, but separately. Last week it turned out that Huawei was going to release …

Earlier this week KitGuru was invited to attend the launch event for MSI's new range of gaming notebooks. Star of the show was the debutant GS60 which is the lightest and thinnest 15.6″ gaming notebook on the market. But before gorging on the glamorous GS60, let's outline the key features …

Wireless hard disk drives are extremely convenient and easy to use. But their major problem is a rather high price which prevents many people from buying large wireless storage devices. Fortunately, it looks like Toshiba Corp. has found a solution for the problem. A U.S. division of Toshiba on Wednesday …

Imagination Technologies, a leading-designer of graphics processing technologies for mobile devices, has introduced its brand-new family of graphics IP cores that are designed to render graphics using real-time ray-tracing method. The latter allows to significantly increase realism of graphics on all types of devices. Moreover, Imagination claims that despite of …

Samsung Electronics is reportedly facing more issues with production of its new flagship smartphone, the Galaxy S5. In addition to a fire on a fab that produces printed-circuit boards for the device, there are problems with production of lenses for the Galaxy S5 cameras. Samsung is seemingly having trouble manufacturing …

Google on Tuesday introduced the world’s first operating system designed for wearable devices from the ground up. The new OS is expected to enable tens of intelligent wearable devices from tens of manufacturers in the coming quarters. Google Android Wear uses systems found in Android OS for mobile devices and …

Samsung Electronics’ Gear smart-watches seem to be rather promising solutions for those who want to have an additional mobile companion device that monitors things like heart-rate. Unfortunately, they only work with Samsung’s own Galaxy smartphones at present. However, that might change in the future. The Samsung Gear 2 and Gear …

Apple on Tuesday re-introduced the iPad 4 16GB at a new price-point of $399/£329. The old-new iPad with retina display will replace the iPad 2 and will significantly improve Apple’s competitive positions on the entry-level market segment. The fourth-generation iPad was originally introduced in 2012 and then discontinued in late …