In the second quarter of 2014 shipments of smartphones reached a new milestone: 300 million units per quarter for the first time in history, according to International Data Corp. When it comes to operating systems, then Apple and Google controlled 96.4 per cent of the market, whereas shares of BlackBerry, …
Read More »Security researchers turn smartphone gyroscope into a microphone
It turns out that an Android Smartphone's gyroscope can be transformed into a microphone capable of listening in on you without your express permission. The discovery was made by security researchers at Stanford University in conjunction with defense firm, Rafael, which developed a new app called ‘Gyrophone'. While apps have …
Read More »Sales of Chromebooks to reach 5.2 million this year – Gartner
Although there is a lot of buzz about Chromebooks – computers running Google’s Chrome operating system – actual sales of such systems are pretty low and will remain on that level going forward, according to Gartner. While shipments of Chromebooks do grow fast, the success of Chrome cannot be compared …
Read More »Samsung could launch Galaxy Alpha smartphone this week
Samsung could be planning a preemptive strike on Apple's still unannounced but heavily leaked iPhone 6 with a new smartphone, dubbed the Galaxy Alpha. Samsung's rumored, upcoming smartphone has been talked about for quite a while and has also been referred to as the Galaxy Prime and the Galaxy F. According …
Read More »EVLeaks is retiring from mobile leaks
After a very successful two year stint providing the Internet with reliable leaks of mobile devices and ruining launch event surprises, EVLeaks, AKA Evan Blass, is retiring from his Twitter handle and will no longer be leaking upcoming smartphone or tablet information. Blass earned quite the reputation thanks to the …
Read More »Sony is giving up on Playstation for Android
Sony has announced that it is officially giving up on Playstation for Android, the cross-platform Vita and Android indie gaming publishing scheme will no longer be supported in newer versions of Google's mobile operating system. The service will still run on older Sony certified devices. However, Sony can't guarantee that …
Read More »Microsoft sues Samsung over Android-related royalty payments
Microsoft Corp. has sued Samsung Electronics for not paying royalties related to Google Android operating system. Samsung stopped paying Microsoft after the world’s largest developer of software announced its intention to acquire Nokia Corp.’s devices and services division. “We don’t take lightly filing a legal action, especially against a company …
Read More »Dell gives free tablet with PC or electronics purchase
For a limited amount of time the Dell Venue 7 media tablet will cease to be a product and will become a competitive advantage of Dell. The PC maker on Wednesday kicked off a campaign that grants every U.S. student who purchases a personal computer, a large display, or a …
Read More »Nvidia officially reveals the Shield tablet
Last week, KitGuru was invited to a press event in London, where Nvidia showed off its Shield tablet and controller for the very first time. The Shield tablet has been designed to deliver a console experience through Nvidia's own technologies such as Shadow Play and Game-Stream. The device aims to deliver console …
Read More »Google not happy with Samsung’s wearables based on Tizen OS
Since Samsung Electronics is the largest maker of smartphones based on the Android operating system, it is a strategically important partner of Google. Since the search giant pins a lot of hopes on Samsung, it is naturally very frustrated that the South Korean company invests into Tizen operating system in …
Read More »Apple-IBM deal: good news for Apple and IBM, bad news for BlackBerry and Microsoft
The agreement between Apple and IBM will inevitably have a lot of effects on the industry of personal computers as well as mobile devices. For example, BlackBerry and Microsoft Corp. will clearly lose sales because of the new collaboration. Meanwhile, the partnership essentially brings IBM back to the personal computing …
Read More »Microsoft to phase-out Nokia X Android-based smartphones
As part of its major restructuring plan announced on Thursday, Microsoft Corp. will phase out its Google Android-based smartphones and will offer more affordable Lumia devices in order to address customers in budget as well as developing markets. Additionally, Microsoft announced plans to focus on higher-end smartphones and fight against …
Read More »Amazon may be developing its own smart eyewear
Amazon this week hired Babak Parviz, a former Google executive who led the development of the company's Glass wearable gadget. Several weeks ago Mr. Parviz was replaced from his position at Google, but remained at the company. Apparently, Amazon has offered the executive better opportunities than his former employee. Potentially, …
Read More »Google: Wearable computing devices should blend with people
Wearable computing devices are at their dawn. Early products are not very beautiful and lack a lot of functionality, but they will evolve and at present almost nobody knows anything about how they will evolve. However, Google, one of the pioneers of wearable computing gadgets, believes that they will miniaturize …
Read More »MediaTek readies system-on-chip for high-end smartphones, tablets
For many years MediaTek has been a supplier of affordable system-on-chip (SoC) solutions for smartphones and inexpensive tablets. However, starting this year the company will start to offer higher-performance application processors aimed at mainstream devices. But MediaTek does not want to stop there. A leaked roadmap shows that next year the Hsinchu, …
Read More »Nvidia may drop its Shield game console in favour of Shield tablet
Nvidia Corp.’s Shield gaming device has not become popular after about a year on the market. Apparently, neither Google Android games with dedicated controls nor streamed PC titles could attract attention of core gamers. While it was expected that the company would introduce a new, sleeker, version of Shield this …
Read More »Canon and Microsoft sign broad cross-licensing agreement
Microsoft Corp. and Canon on Wednesday said that they have signed a broad patent cross-licensing agreement. Thanks to the new pact the two companies gain licenses to each other’s highly valued and growing patent portfolios. Theoretically, Canon’s licensing of Microsoft patents may indicate that the company is preparing a family …
Read More »Android L confirmed for Nexus 4 and original Nexus 7
The list of devices set to receive Google's new Android L update has expanded to include all Nexus devices after the Nexus 4. This means that the update will roll out to the Original Nexus 7, Nexus 10 and the Nexus 4 handset. This is all thanks to Google releasing …
Read More »Less than 1/4 of Android devices compatible with Android Wear
While Google and its partners introduced several attractive smartwatches powered by the Android Wear operating system at Google IO this week, this does not mean that they are going to revolutionize the market shortly. Apparently, less than a quarter of all Android-based smartphones are compatible with Android Wear devices. Android …
Read More »Foxconn eyes robots, electric cars, wearables and cloud services
Foxconn Electronics, the world’s largest contract maker of consumer electronics and the main manufacturing partner of Apple, plans to make wearable computing devices, robots and even electric cars, the company’s chief executive officer said this week. Foxconn has been trying to expand and diversify its business for years and now …
Read More »Asus to launch affordable Android Wear smartwatch in September
Asustek Computer was expected to reveal its plans concerning wearable electronics at Computex 2014 earlier this month, but for some reason the company decided not to do that. This does not mean that Asus has decided not to enter the market, or significantly delay its products. According to unofficial information, …
Read More »Microsoft Mobile reveals Android-based Nokia X2 with new software
Microsoft Mobile on Thursday introduced Nokia X2, its new smartphone based on a modified version of Google Android operating system aimed at customers in budget. The new handset weds Windows Phone-like experience with Google Android applications. The device features numerous software and hardware enhancements compared to the original Nokia X1. …
Read More »Google: Android has one billion active users
Google’s Android operating system for mobile devices passed one billion of activations in September, 2013. While the number of activations is important, it does not indicate how many customers actually use a platform. On Wednesday Android and Chrome chief Sundar Pichai revealed that over a billion of people used Google’s …
Read More »Razer has announced plans to release an Android TV console
During Google's I/O conference today, it was announced that Razer would be releasing a gaming focused micro console powered by Android TV. Razer is best known for its gaming peripherals alongside its Blade gaming laptop but the company does like to expand with cool projects every so often. Android TV …
Read More »Google Glass is now available in the UK
The Google Glass was first made available in the US last year but the wearable is now making its way over to the UK for the first time. In addition to the UK launch, the Google Glass is getting a hardware upgrade too, bumping it up to 2GB of RAM …
Read More »Android and Windows Phone will add ability to remote brick device
The call for Google and Microsoft to offer a remote “kill switch,” on their smartphone handsets seems to have been heard, as both manufacturers have announced that future versions of their respective operating systems would include the ability to brick your device by choice, remotely, thereby rendering a stolen phone …
Read More »Samsung: Tizen will be an operating system for everything
The open-source Tizen operating system, which is jointly developed by Intel Corp., Samsung Electronics and a number of other hardware and software companies, yet has to prove that it can be competitive against Google’s Android and Microsoft Corp.’s Windows. Samsung appears to be a strong believer in the OS. The …
Read More »Amazon unveils Fire smartphone: an ultimate tool to sell you things
Amazon on Wednesday unveiled its long-awaited smartphone. The device is called Fire and it comes with free cloud storage for photos, an auto stereoscopic 3D screen, the Dynamic Perspective software that allows to control the smartphone without touching it as well as the Firefly application that recognizes everything the owner …
Read More »Samsung reportedly preps foldable media tablet
Samsung Electronics is reportedly working on a foldable media tablet that will be released already next year. In case the company really manages to launch such a product, it will get one step ahead of its rivals. However, the question is whether ability to fold a gadget will actually be …
Read More »Startup develops a cup that tracks calories, sugar, proteins, etc.
One of the toughest things about diets and healthy nutrition in general is tracking the number of calories, sugar and proteins you consume. While it is possible to manually log the food you eat, it is boring and not really precise. It gets even harder when it comes to drinks: …
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