World's First Hybrid Smart Band

Chinese electronics giant Huawei has unveiled several new products, including what it called the "world's first hybrid smart band".

The Talkband includes a detachable headset that can be used to make and receive calls.

The firm also refreshed its smartphone line-up with the Ascend G6, and two new "phablets" it hopes can challenge Apple's iPad Mini.

Analysts said the firm would price its devices aggressively.

The company has not yet said how much the Ascend G6 smartphone will cost - but analysts predict it may go on sale for less than $200 (£120).

Huawei executive Shao Yang told the BBC that the company had spent the past four years "catching up with the industry", but now it was time to become "number one".

'Smart enough'
Key to this, the company said, were developments in wearable technology.

The Talkband - a black bracelet device that resembles Nike's Fuel Band product - comes with a detachable headset, as well as monitoring the state of the wearer's fitness.

It will cost 99 euros (£82, $136), the company said.

Huawei claims to have made a smartphone that allows people to take "more beautiful" selfies
Analyst Carolina Milanesi told the BBC that while Huawei's smartband may not be as sophisticated as other, more expensive offerings, its price could tempt people who have so far been unsure of paying for wearable technology.

"They're giving you something that isn't as smart [as others], but is smart enough, for 99 euros, why not?" she said.

"Huawei is not just jumping on the bandwagon - they're trying to think a little bit differently."

The market for smartbands is growing rapidly. Market research firm Canalys estimates that 17 million smart watches and fitness trackers will be sold this year. By 2017, that number is predicted to rise to more than 45 million

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$25 Dollar Smartphone

The company, which is famed mostly for its Firefox browser, has partnered with Chinese low-cost chip maker Spreadtrum.

While not as powerful as more expensive models, the device will run apps and make use of mobile internet.

It would appeal to the sorts of people who currently buy cheap "feature" phones, analysts said.

Feature phones are highly popular in the developing world as a halfway point between "dumb" phones - just voice calls and other basic functions - and fully-fledged smartphones.


Mozilla hopes that it will capture an early lead in a market that is now being targeted by mobile device manufacturers who see the developing world as the remaining area for massive growth.

It will face stern competition from bigger, more established brands, however - with more announcements of this kind expected over the course of the next couple of days at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

"These solutions expand the global accessibility of open web smartphones to first-time and entry-level smartphone buyers by reducing the time and cost required for handset makers to bring these devices to market," said Spreadtrum in a press statement.

Mozilla said the phone "redefines" the entry-level phone market.

The concept of a cheap smartphone may seem likely to appeal to consumers in developed countries, particularly those who locked into long contracts in order to subsidise the cost of the likes of the Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy range.

But analyst Carolina Milanesi, from Kantar Worldpanel, said it should not be seen as a competitor.


The phone runs Mozilla's own mobile operating system - something that could cause problems as competition in the cheap smartphone market steps up, Ms Milanesi added.

In addition to the $25 smartphone, Mozilla also launched several high-end models, including devices from Huawei and ZTE.

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China Seeks Global Smartphone Dominance

HuaWei was one of the first companies to invite press to preview its latest offerings at the Spanish mobile conference.

On show was a new mid-range smartphone, the Ascend G6, designed with a youth market in mind, plus two new phablets which will provide Apple's iPad Mini with competition.

But it was the electronic giant's wearable offering which was most talked-about. The Talkband is a smart bracelet that can monitor the user's fitness and it can also be separated from its base to work as a bluetooth ear-piece.

The Chinese companies ambition is evident but will innovation and engineering be enough to help it to establish itself as a main player in the European and American markets?

Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer at the GSMA (the organisation behind the Barcelona congress) said the global market is becoming less of a closed shop.

"Chinese companies have about 10% to 15% in the device market now but I think that's really going to take off over the next few years," he told Sky News.

"You need to get a certain level of sales to be able to afford the level of advertising that's required to really push commercial products and obviously there's a lot of scale, particularly in Apple and Samsung who have such a significant share of the market.

"It's hard to break in but i think the technology that we're seeing come out of China makes that a possibility."

Jim Powell, product director for Huawei in the UK, told Sky News the company believes the smartphone market will not remain dominated by the likes of Apple and Samsung.

"You lose momentum, we've seen lots of companies over the history of time start to fall away when they lose their innovative edge," he said.

"The future is there for everybody to grab and that's going to be just as much about innovation and engineering as it will be about brand."

Stuart Miles, editor of Pocket-Lint, says it will be interesting to see if consumers can be convinced.

"They're trying to just say, 'Look, we can produce something that's thin, that's fast, its good it works, get over the fact that you've never heard of the brand - or probably for most people - that you don't even know how to pronounce the brand'."

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Google May Be Planning A New 3D Smartphone

Google has just announced a new research project Thursday aimed at bringing 3D technology to smartphones, for potential applications such as indoor mapping, gaming and helping blind people navigate.

 

The California tech giant said its "Project Tango" would provide prototypes of its new smartphone to outside developers to encourage the writing of new applications.

So what is new with this 3D Smartphone? Well this new Smartphone could assist the blind by giving then verbal directions of any room or building anywhere in the world.

"What if directions to a new location didn't stop at the street address? What if you never again found yourself lost in a new building? What if the visually impaired could navigate unassisted in unfamiliar indoor places? What if you could search for a product and see where the exact shelf is located in a super-store?"

 

The technology could also be used for "playing hide-and-seek in your house with your favorite game character, or transforming the hallways into a tree-lined path."

 

Smartphones are equipped with sensors which make over 1.4 million measurements per second, updating the positon and rotation of the phone.

We hope to see this new 3D Smartphone very soon.

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Google Android eyes one billion mark

Google's Android mobile operating system will power one billion phones in 2014, a new survey has found.

According to research by industry tracker Gartner, Android increased its share in 2013 by 12% over 2012, but that translates into the OS powering more than 758 million smartphones, or 78% of the global market.

Apple's iOS that powers the iPhone saw a declining share, from 19.1% in 2012 to 15.6% last year. This is despite Apple selling a record number of iPhones.

Rising star OS Windows Phone from Microsoft has consolidated its third place position, pulling away from BlackBerry with 3.2% over 2.5% in 2012.

This is good news for Nokia as the company, now owned by Microsoft, looks to expand in developing markets.

Successful OS

The BlackBerry OS continues to decline, falling from 5% in 2012 to just 1.9% last year, Gartner found.

The company said that Android will approach the one billion mark in 2014, making it the most successful mobile OS ever.

Gartner though, warned that the days of high-priced high margin smartphone sales were numbered as more consumers were turning to lower priced devices that has similar functionality to the premium segment.

"Sales of high-end smartphones will slow as increasing sales of low- and mid-price smartphones in high-growth emerging markets will shift the product mix to lower-end devices. This will lead to a decline in average selling price and a slowdown in revenue growth," Gartner said.

This should be good news for manufactures like Huawei, ZTE and Hisense. Unlike the premium manufacturers, these players produce smartphones targeted at price conscious consumers mainly in developing markets.

In particular, Hisense has released its U970 in SA. It has a 12.7cm display, powered by a 1.2GHz quad core processor and runs Android 4.2 (Jelly Bean). The dual SIM device sells for R2 999, less than half the price of the Samsung Galaxy S4, for example.

The survey also shows that smartphones have overtaken feature phones for the first time, grabbing 53.6% of all mobiles sold, though Gartner warned that consumers are no longer prepared to pay high prices for mobile devices.

"While the top three mobile manufacturers are dominating the global mobile phone market, their share collectively fell in the fourth quarter of 2013 and yearly as Chinese and regional brands continue to raise their share," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner.

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Are iCars the future of Apple?

As iPhone and iPad growth has dwindled in recent months, Apple is dreaming bigger. And more diversified.

The storied tech giant's signature “i” moniker may soon appear before a broad and unexpected crop of new product categories extending far beyond its long-rumored watches -- including cars and medical devices, according to reports.

Not only did Apple executives meet with Tesla founder Elon Musk at its Cupertino headquarters last spring, confirms the San Francisco Chronicle, but the company is also said to be dipping its toes into the healthcare realm -- specifically in hopes of developing technology that can predict heart attacks.

Related: PHOTOS: This Is Supposedly the iPhone 6

While rumors have swirled for months that Apple might acquire the electric car-maker Tesla, the reported summit between Musk and the utmost echelons of Apple’s leadership -- including Adrian Perica, head of mergers and acquisitions, and Tim Cook, CEO -- suggests serious interest.

Both brands are famed for their trailblazing technology marked by sleek design, as well as a self-owned retail model. If an acquisition isn’t still in the cards given Tesla’s increasing Wall Street appeal, The Chronicle speculates that the partnership could result in an Apple touchscreen on Tesla dashboards.

Related: This Apple iWatch Concept Design Is Simply Incredible

In the medical realm, it would seem as though Apple’s senior vice president of operations, Jeff Williams, is leading the company’s charge into mobile medical apps. Williams met with Food and Drug Administration chiefs, and the company has also requested several patents in the field, including technology that could potentially unlock electronic devices by identifying unique signals from owners’ hearts.

Finally, Apple has tapped the renowned audio engineer Tomlinson Holman to study the noise related to blood flow so that the company may one day develop software and sensors to predict heart attacks, reports the Chonicle.

A tool that might identify the sound that blood makes as it moves through clogged arteries could mark a revolutionary foray into the medical device market.

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Brian Robinson

HTC Is To Make Cheaper Smartphones

HTC has just announced that is is to make cheaper low end Smartphone's after losses on high end phones that has been making a low back in 2013.

Amid falling revenue and minuscule profits, HTC announced that it will focus on low-end smartphones in hopes of boosting profits. The company plans to balance its low-end offerings with a strong flagship--the HTC One 2 a.k.a the HTC M8.

Last year, HTC announced its first quarterly loss. Since then, the company has been struggling to recoup its losses. HTC announced that it made $10 million in profit during the fourth quarter of 2013, but saw a huge drop in revenue to NT$42.9 billion ($1.42 billion US), from the NT$60 billion the company reported a year ago. 

HTC may have avoided another quarterly loss, but it hasn't solved its problems by any means. The company's current flagship, the HTC One, has failed to bring in the record-breaking sales that Samsung and Apple regularly report. Increased competition from growing rivals in China such as Xiaomi and Oppo has also thrown a wrench into HTC's plans to improve its situation. In a market filled with excellent high-end smartphones, HTC has simply lost its appeal.

In spite of indications that HTC won't be able to turn its fortunes around, the company remains optimistic. In fact, HTC has a whole new game plan. In addition to the much-rumored HTC One 2 flaghsip, the company is planning to release a series of low-end smartphones. In focusing on the low-end portion of the smartphone market.

HTC believes that it can decrease spending and increase profits, while simultaneously wooing lost customers back to the HTC brand.

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Facebook Launches New Smartphone News App



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Facebook (FB) has just launched Paper, a “social news” app, for its users on smartphones. Though the app’s debut has been limited to the iPhone, the launch is a sign of where the social media giant intends to be in the years to come. 

Given that 53% of the company’s ad revenue last quarter—FB posted a total revenue of $2.585 billion in the period—came from mobiles and that its shares have jumped, buoyed by the figures, a decisive move towards the platform would be smart. 

FB’s IPO got a lukewarm response precisely because there was no clear revenue strategy, a condition that the company remedied by sharpening its ad offerings. It combined insights,while guaranteeing privacy, from users’ FB posts with those from other data vendors to create detailed profiles of users—including their spends in brick-and-mortar stores—for the advertisers’ benefit. This is paying off big now, and overwhelmingly so, with the mobile platform.

Besides, Facebook has 945 million monthly active users on mobile—roughly equalling the number of smartphones shipped in 2013 (1.004 billion)—of which 59% use the social networking site on a daily basis. 

With China and India alone set to add another 500 million new smartphone users in 2014, according to a forecast by Mediacells, a consumer-insights firm, and given that nearly 76% of Indian smartphone users access social networking sites on their phones, Facebook’s future seems to be secure in the two Asian powerhouses at least. 

Therefore, the Menlo Park resident needs to focus on content, user-interface and revenue strategies for the mobile platform.

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