Top 10 smartphone makers 2012

The third quarter of 2012 is now history, and as nearly all research agencies have published their numbers we have the top 10 smartphone makers ranking. There is a lot going on there with some companies rising, others falling, and yet other companies like Motorola flying off the top ten list.

The biggest move this quarter is without a doubt Nokia’s catastrophic drop to number 10. The company that until recently led the world with smartphone sales, and lastly ranked third, now sells less smartphones than Chinese Huawei, ZTE and even Lenovo. Nokia’s positions may or may not improve slightly in Q4 with the launch of its new Windows Phone 8 Lumia smartphones, but at present the company ranks last and it is not clear whether it can remain in the top 10 at all.

Samsung Galaxy S III = world's best-selling smartphone of Q3 2012

Well, well, well, it looks like the world has a new best-selling smartphone, at least for the third quarter of the year, and it's not an Apple! Now, that's a surprise... or maybe not?

According to some data by Strategy Analytics, Samsung's Galaxy S III has managed to grab the top spot by selling the whooping 18 million units during the three-month period, which accounts for a smartphone market share of 11%. The second place belongs to Apple, which has moved about 16.2 million units of the iPhone 4S. The success of the GS III is mainly attributed to its large touchscreen, global distribution and generous carrier subsidies, as well as customers holding off purchasing the 4S in anticipation of the iPhone 5.

However, Strategy Analytics believes that things are likely to change in the fourth quarter of the year, as the iPhone 5 has seen a solid start of its sales, and the GS III will probably not sell as much. Nonetheless, having a single phone model being such a competitive rival to the iPhone is very impressive and comes to show that Samsung is definitely on the right track.

Angry Birds Star Wars now available for download

After teasing it for over a month, Rovio has finally released Angry Birds Star Wars. The game is available for download on iOS, Android and OS X and although a Windows Phone and Windows 8 versions are promised neither are currently available for download. [Update: Now available for Windows Phone 8]

The game is priced at $0.99 on iOS for the iPhone version and $2.99 for the iPad version. Meanwhile, Android has two versions, one that is free but comes with ads and another ‘HD’ version, which despite the name looks identical to the standard version but costs $2.99 and does not include ads. The OS X version costs $4.99.
After playing it for a few minutes prior to writing this article, the game seems very similar to the standard Angry Birds, which means not all that exciting. Of course, I plan to play further and hopefully it gets better. You can expect a full review later this week.

Apple loses patent case related to FaceTime, asked to pay $368 million

Apple has lost a patent related case to VirnetX, a patent holding firm in the US, for infringing on four of the latter’s patents related to FaceTime. The four patents in the case deal with establishing VPSs and domain names.

Apple argued that it did not infringe upon any patents, that FaceTime was a free service with no revenue and that VirnetX does not have any products that use those patents but apparently it was not enough to please the judge and now Apple has been ordered to pay $368 million.
Apple doesn’t have to pay the amount just yet. The company has now filed a motion asking whether VirnetX has sufficient evidence to support its case and to reexamine each of the four patents in question with the US Patent Office.
VirnetX pulled a similar move on Microsoft earlier this year, winning $200 million in settlement from Microsoft for using its VPN-related patents in its Windows operating system and other products.

Samsung Galaxy Express to hit shelves November 16

The Samsung Galaxy Express midrange LTE-powered droid exclusive to AT&T is expected to become available for $99.99 with a two year contract starting Nov. 16.
The Samsung Galaxy Express will feature a 4.5 inch Super AMOLED Plus screen of 480 x 800 pixel resolution, dual-core 1.5 GHz processor, 5MP camera all powered by a 2000 mAh battery. It will ship with Android 4.0 ICS out of box.


If you'd like a closer look at the Samsung Galaxy Express, check out our hands-on from last month's release event in New York.
No word yet on when its (also AT&T exclusive) LTE sibling, the Galaxy Rugby Pro, will hit shelves, but we expect it to be sooner rather than later.

Samsung ATIV Tab Review (Our Rating-7/10)

Introduction:

As far as tablets go, we didn't really have that much of a variety until recently. One could either get an iPad from Apple, or go with an Android tablet that fits their budget and preferences. But now that Windows RT is here, things are seemingly bound to change. All of a sudden, we have a third platform entering the tablet race, and it is backed up by a pretty major player – Microsoft.

Today, we are reviewing one such tablet. The Samsung ATIV Tab is a 10.1-inch tablet that runs Windows RT and is meant to be an alternative to Microsoft's Surface RT. As such, it has been outfitted with some decent hardware, including a dual-core Snapdragon S4 processor paired with 2GB of RAM, a couple of cameras, the main one being of 5 megapixels, and a full-sized USB port.

But what is Windows RT exactly, you ask? Well, it looks like Windows 8 and it feels like Windows 8, but at the same time, it is quite different. RT is made for ARM-based devices, and the software available for Windows 8 or previous versions won't run on it. The only place one can get software from is Microsoft's own Marketplace, and in there, it still feels a bit lonely, with only about 10,000 apps across the entire catalog.

With that out of the way, it is time to fire up the Samsung ATIV Tab and see what it has to impress us with. First, let's take a close look at...

Best Buy corroborates $150 on-contract price for Nokia Lumia 920

We’ve already seen the PureView-laden Nokia Lumia 920 prematurely listed on Best Buy and eBay for $149.99, but while those listings have been removed, now we have an in-store picture that corroborates the $150 on-contract price for Nokia’s Windows Phone 8 flagship.

This makes the Lumia 920 $50 cheaper than most other high-end devices as Nokia is definitely trying to get you buying Windows Phone. Off contract, the device will sell for $600, which is again $50 less than the rumored $650 retail price for a rival device like the iPhone 5.

However when fared against the Samsung Galaxy S III, the Lumia 920 is around $50 more expensive.

Nokia is bringing its PureView camera technology with great low light performance, and the Lumia 920 also comes with wireless charging, but will this be enough for it to get traction? What do you think?

source: WP Central

Samsung ATIV S vs HTC Windows Phone 8X

Introduction

Microsoft has finally released the first batch of Windows Phone 8 handsets, and since we happen to be in possession of two of those, it seemed only natural to us to make a quick comparison between them. In the blue corner today we have the Samsung ATIV S, while in the red corner we have the HTC Windows Phone 8X – a smartphone that the guys from Redmond seem to be pushing really hard these days.

With both phones being almost identical to one another in terms of software, their biggest differentiating factor will now be their appearance, (screen) size, and whatever little exclusive content/apps they have managed to pack.

HTC J Review (Our Rating - 8/10)

Introduction:

The HTC J is an interesting device. But first, we have to make it clear - this is not the HTC J Butterfly, the 5-inch 1080p monster phone that you might have heard of. Rather, this is a more ordinary smartphone, but still one that can stand its ground.

With a 4.3-inch qHD screen and a dual-core Snapdragon S4, the HTC J looks much like the HTC One S. The similarity is no coincidence as the HTC J is a device targeted squarely at the Asian market with WiMAX connectivity, a feature the One S does not support. This makes it a kind of a niche product on one hand, made to please the quickly diminishing category of WiMAX users, but on the other hand it is also offered unlocked in other markets as simply a 3G phone.

With some level of water protection, larger battery and a funky red paint job among other colors, this device has plenty of reasons to exist on its own even as unlocked. Let’s see if all this actually could make it desirable for more people.