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Android voice action feature launched

Andy Russell — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 09:02:27 +0000

Google’s Android phones now have a new voice action facility, which the search engine giants anticipate will boost sales and increase the popularity of their product. The voice action feature enables people to perform a series of tasks on smartphones without having to press any keys to initiate the commands.

Over the second quarter of this year, Google’s Android operating system was the fastest selling smartphone system in the United States. Currently, Google are activating over two hundred thousand Android devices daily. The new voice action service will no doubt maintain Google’s lead in the industry.

Product Manager for Google, Hugo Barra stated: “Before it was easy to search the web using voice but people do a lot more than just search the web. Now you can voice up text messages, e-mail a reminder to yourself, set your alarm clock, get directions, find music, open a map and call places. It really is about interacting with the device in the simplest of ways using the voice.”

“This represents the most significant progress Google has made in speech recognition ever since we launched voice search about two years ago. One in four searches done on Android is done using voice search.”

A spokesperson from the news blog Search Engine Land commented: “These improvements underline how seriously Google is taking its mobile strategy’. One of the amazing stories in all of this is that Android does feel like it has come out of nowhere. Since the beginning of this year there has been an explosion of Android-operated devices. People really thought it was going to be all about the iPhone but now it really does seem to be this two-player match.”

iPhone leads to swell of game development

Andre — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 08:43:41 +0000

Apple’s iPhone has created a surge of games development within the UK, a new report suggests. Tiga, the trade association, have discovered that British developers are all keen to capitalise on the popularity of the iPhone and its associated applications, so are seeking to create more virally-popular downloads for the device.

The mobile games market has been described by some industry experts as a ‘gold rush’. However, reports also suggest that tax issues are forcing a number of UK developers to move abroad to benefit from more lucrative pay deals.

Chris Byatte, from publishers Chillingo commented: “This is a golden era for games development. The carriers have been taken out of the equation by Apple, who make it really simple for people to get their titles into its App Store. Now, a bedroom programmer can get a number-one hit, competing against the likes to Electronic Arts. It’s very exciting.”

A spokesperson from Screen Digest cautioned against undue optimism about the recent popularity of games for the iPhone: “These good times will not last forever. At the moment, there is something of a gold rush and – over time – many of these firms are going to be weeded out. The opening of these channels and the development of direct channels to the consumer is making these markets considerably cheaper.”

“But, as the consumer expectation of games experience goes up and games become more refined, development costs will rise and it’s a safe bet that many of the games currently on the market won’t be financially successful. Adverts are a bonus for the games industry, but are very much a secondary business model. It’s nicely incremental and we expect it to grow, but it is not that significant at present.”

Security of smartphone proven to be lacklustre

Matt Thomas — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 09:22:11 +0000

The BBC have undertaken some research into the security of smartphones, following the recent debate in a number of countries, relating to the safety of the Blackberry device. The news giant found that within just a few weeks, they had developed an application which swept handsets for contact details, copied text messages and logged the location of the phone. All the data was then sent to an e-mail address set up by the BBC.

The application was downloaded on just one phone. The person behind the application has explained how easy it was to undertake the project:

“My thought was to learn programming first, then get started on building a malicious application. Then I had an epiphany. Just as people don’t have to be fluent in a foreign language to make themselves understood abroad, I didn’t have to know everything before getting started.”

“I realised it would be better to re-work existing code rather than start from scratch. So I did. That decision sped up the creation of the spyware, as did the guidance of senior developer Tyler Shields from Veracode who helped to get it working. The end result was a program that does not look great but gets the job done. The process has educated me about modern programming and put me on my guard about what goes on my phone.”

Phone owners are being advised to back up data on their handsets to a PC or net-based service to guard against problems. Large unexplained phone bills can be an indication of the phone being hacked, experts say.

A security analyst has published advice for smartphone users: “A very obvious tell-tale sign on the phone is all of a sudden your battery life is deteriorating. You wake up one morning and your battery has been drained then that might indicate that some of the data has been taken off your phone overnight. Look at your billing information every month and if there are strange numbers appearing on your phone bill that might indicate that there is some software on there that is dialling out to premium-rate lines, billing you for a service that you have not authorised.”

RiM backs down over Blackberry access

Matt Thomas — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 07:30:48 +0000

Following a lengthy argument over security fears, Research in Motion (RiM) have agreed to enable security agencies in India to monitor use of the Blackberry smartphone and its services. The decision comes after Indian officials voiced fears over the messaging technology on the Blackberry, suggesting that it was not secure.

The news comes after a debate in a number of countries including the United Arab Emirates, which led to them threatening to suspend use of the Blackberry, when authorities were not permitted to access encrypted data sent over the device. As a result of the ongoing debate, RiM have promised to appease governmental agencies, while maintaining customer service.

RiM’s change of policy for India relates to opening technical code up for scrutiny, giving access to consumer email, and developing software to enable chat monitoring. The company has pledged to present a full account of their agreed changes to the Telecoms Ministry of India, early this week. Although no representative from India has commented, the Indian Chief of Internal Security informed the media that the country was not planning an outright ban on Blackberry services and use.

Unlike India, the UAE have stated that they would prefer to ban the use of the Blackberry altogether. The concerns about Blackberry use focus in particular upon spyware, which the state telecoms regulator (TRA) is alleged to have attempted to install on the Blackberry headsets. As a result, the TRA have concluded that the gadgets are not safe for use within the UAE. In 2007, the TRA demanded access to encrypted networks in an attempt to monitor all data sent on Blackberry handsets.

RIM launches touchscreen mobile to rival iPhone

Jenny Sanderson — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:22:16 +0000

Research in Motion, the Canadian telecommunications company behind the Blackberry smartphone, has developed and launched a new touchscreen mobile, which is intended to strengthen the lead it currently has over Apple’s iPhone sales and Google software-based handsets.

The Torch 9800, the latest addition to the Blackberry smartphone range, is designed with a functional touchscreen and features a sliding keyboard, 4GB of memory and a camera with a five megapixel capability. The sliding keyboard is the first one to be featured on a Blackberry phone.

In an acknowledgement of the popularity of social networking, the Torch 9800 comes pre-loaded with access to MySpace, Twitter and Facebook. The operating system powering the Blackberry has been upgraded in line with its competitors, and the new phone looks set to become highly popular in the market.

The vice president of RIM commented: “This isn’t about competition, this is about making the Blackberry experience better. No doubt some people will draw comparisons but we think it is unique.”

However, industry experts have questioned the motivation behind the launch of the Torch: “This is RIM trying to close the gap on its rivals. The company has tremendous momentum in North America and the UK but there is no question RIM users are now ready for more. The browser has been the Achilles heel of the Blackberry. The new one supports multi-touch, tabbed browsing and HTML 5. It is all pretty standard stuff but RIM has taken some criticism from competitors and this addresses that.”

At the moment, RIM is leading the smartphone market, with one fifth of all sales. There are 100 million Blackberries in circulation, despite recent events in the United Arab Emirates where the phone will soon be banned amid security fears.

Government spending on iPhone applications revealed

Matt Thomas — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 10:08:25 +0000

A recent release of figures under the Freedom of Information act has revealed that the government is spending up to £40,000 on applications for the Apple iPhone. Information released suggests that tens of thousands have been spent on development for the gadget, to improve governmental procedures.

Applications which have been developed include a tool to assist jobseekers in finding work, and software developed for the Foreign office which provides travel advice. Just weeks after the government announced they would be slashing expenses incurred due to poor website management, the data revealed has surprised industry experts. The Central Office of Information recently announced that the government had spent over £100m on website development and maintenance last year.

When asked by the BBC to comment on the expenditure incurred by iPhone application development, the Home office refused to comment, saying that this would contravene security protocol by revealing too much information.

The DVLA have commissioned the most expensive application for the iPhone – a tool which shows people how to change a wheel. This has cost £40,000. The DVLA commented: “We want to make it as easy as possible for motorists to renew their car tax, tell us about a change of address or update their driving licence, meaning they stay safe and legal to drive. This would also bring benefits for DVLA, for example by reducing the number of reminders that need to be sent out. We considered how an application could help with this but no final decisions have been taken and the app, for now, is still in development.”

Other areas of mass expenditure include the NHS, who have developed a drink tracker and smoking cessation application. The Jobcentre have spent over £32,000 on application development.

The government have announced that any future spending on iPhone applications will be subject to strict controls.

Apology by Apple for iPhone malfunction

James Oliver — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 06:19:35 +0000

The debate surrounding the technical fault with Apple’s new iPhone 4 has taken a surprising turn this week, as global media saw Apple apologise to their consumers for a hiccup in their technology. The iPhone has been heavily criticized since it launched for losing signal strength when held in a certain way, and so far Apple has only been able to advise customers to hold the phone differently, to avoid the issue.

Apple’s latest gadget, released in June, has an antenna built in to the stainless steel casing which houses the handset, and it was previously thought that it was this design which led to a number of people reporting a loss of signal when the phone was grasped. Left-handed people appeared to be more susceptible to the signal loss, which prompted Apple to advise people not to hold the phone by the lower left corner. They also recommended that people purchase a rubber ‘bumper’ which shields the phone against loss of signal.

However, Apple has since announced that they believe it is an internal fault within the iPhone 4 which is causing it to incorrectly display the phone’s signal. They state that there is a technical error in the phone which affects how the signal bars are displayed, as opposed to a mechanical fault with the engineering design of the gadget. They are now promising to produce a patch fix for the issue, which will be available within a few weeks. Dissatisfied consumers are also able to take their phone back to a retail outlet and obtain a full refund within 30 days of purchase.

Apple stated: “Upon investigation, we were stunned to find that the formula we use to calculate how many bars of signal strength to display is totally wrong. Our formula, in many instances, mistakenly displays two more bars than it should for a given signal strength. For example, we sometimes display four bars when we should be displaying as few as two bars.”

“Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying four or five bars. Their big drop in bars is because their high bars were never real in the first place.”

Despite Apple’s surprising admission, industry experts fear that there may be a more deeply-rooted issue with the signal than a simple cosmetic flaw.

Three network head slams phone tariff marketing

Jen — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 09:33:30 +0000

Kevin Russell, the head of the Three mobile network has released a statement which takes issue with the way in which mobile phone tariffs are marketed in the UK media. A recent ruling by the ASA (Advertising Standards Agency) against the Orange mobile network has prompted him to comment.

The ASA penalized the Orange firm for making sweeping statements about their 3G network, which they claimed covered more people in the UK than any other operator. This was found to be false, leading to the press advert being withdrawn.
Hutchison 3G, who provide the T-Mobile and Three combined network, questioned the statement issued by Orange, and the ASA ruled in favour of Hutchison. They stated that the advert misled potential customers, as it did not make it clear how the coverage claim was calculated.

While Orange provide a higher level of coverage to UK consumers in terms of the number of the population using their network, Hutchison 3G actually provide coverage to a greater geographical area.
Russell admitted he felt regret about some of the advertising strategies his firm has used in the past: “As an industry our marketing standards are poor and it has led to cynicism. One of the dumbest things I’ve done is talk about ‘unlimited’ data when it’s not.”

In the wake of the ruling in Hutchison’s favour, the ASA have commented that they now intend to analyse the terms through which packages can be advertised, preventing the claim of unlimited downloads for data. Guy parker, Chief Executive of ASA stated: “The market has evolved quite a lot in the last few years particularly with the popularity of mobile broadband. We think it’s a good time to have a look at that policy, see if it’s fit for purpose.”

Smartphone data deals to be scrapped by phone companies

Admin — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 07:30:02 +0000

Many UK phone companies which currently offer unlimited data plans for smartphones are looking to cap data usage in the UK. O2, Vodafone and Three have all announced that they intend to limit data usage, in a move which coincides with the recent launch of the Apple iPhone.

O2, which operated as Apple’s exclusive partner in the UK for Apple’s iPhone, has just brought in a cap of 1GB each month for new contracts signing up for the service. Vodafone and Three are following suit, suggesting an agreement across the companies to reduce data use through devices. Rather than attempt to offer better deals in a competitive market, the decision has sparked a debate as to whether the phone companies have concerns about the possibility of networks being clogged by large data downloads.

Orange have had an imposed 750MB limit since they began to provide iPhones in 2009, which they term their ‘fair usage’ policy. Most of the providers offer variable data packages depending upon the type of contract which users sign up to when they purchase their smartphones, between 500MB and 1GB monthly. This is meant to cover up to 1,000 emails with attachments, or up to 300 MP3 downloads.

The launch of better, faster smartphones has led to rapid data consumption, with people streaming more and more information on their gadgets. This has created a ripple in the mobile industries, as companies rethink their original packages in an effort to reduce congestion from numerous users downloading data at the same time.

O2 currently lets users know when they are getting close to their limit, via text. Once a user has reached their personal limit, they are not allowed to surf, and functionality is limited to the sending and receipt of emails. They have provided a top-up service where users can purchase additional data allowance, at £5 for 500MB. While most people who own smartphones do not reach their monthly allowance of data, it seems that mobile phone companies will have to act quickly to ensure that their capabilities for provision of service can meet the demand created by enhanced smartphone functionality.

Microsoft confirm iPad rival…more or less

James Oliver — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 11:35:10 +0000

Online rumours have been rife for months regarding Microsoft’s imminent announcement of their iPad rival. The dual screen tablet named ‘Courier’ has not actually been spoken of directly by anyone at Microsoft until this week.

A blog post on the Microsoft Jobs website has specifically made reference to the rumoured tablet computer, much to Microsoft’s dislike.

The post read: “Do you already know everything about Project Natal and the Cloud?..Then check out some of the online chatter surrounding new releases of Windows Phone 7 Series handsets, Internet Explorer 9 and the forthcoming Courier digital journal.”

This leak comes in the same week that a Microsoft senior executive mentioned the Courier on his Twitter page. So it is safe to say that a rumour has now become a reality as the inevitable Microsoft answer to an Apple product comes to fruition.

Microsoft are being very “Apple-esque” in their refusing to comment on any rumours or speculation regarding the Courier. The rumour-mill has suggested that they have setup a secret group of experts to work on the device (presumably they are waiting for the release of the iPad so that they can produce a product that offers what Apple’s does not.)

Reports suggest that the Courier is likely to go on sale toward the end of this year and it will run the Tegra 2 operating system which is the same system that powers Microsoft’s Zune HD.

It would seem that no matter how hard Microsoft try to be like Apple it is proving a fruitless task as they cannot even keep a ‘secret’ product close to their chests.

Palm Pre release could be only a Month away

Matt Thomas — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 10:33:25 +0000

The release of the Palm Pre in the US may be as little as a month away, that’s according to sources and leaked documents that indicate that not only are Sprint employees being trained in the sale of the phone, but that the company is planning a May 17th release date. There are also indications that the company has put a ban of holidays for its employees in May which, if true, mirrors exactly what AT&T did before the release of the iPhone.

Other reports indicate that a release date of June the 29th has been set. This is being talked about as the fallback if Sprint cannot get their inventory in order for the May release. The 29th would appear to make sense since Palm have themselves said that the middle of the year will be the date of release, which would make the timing almost perfectly in line with their promises.

Another piece of evidence that points to an imminent release is the fact that photos of the device have started appearing around the Internet. Until now, Palm has been closely guarding access to its brainchild, the fact that at least one or two are out in the world now could be a sign that they are relaxing a little on this front.

Obama unwilling to relinquish Blackberry

Matt Thomas — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 18:15:43 +0000

With the SmartPhone war growing more brutal, companies are looking for anything they can to get an edge on their opponents through good publicity. In this respect, Blackberry received an unexpected shot in the arm this week after it emerged that president elect, Barack Obama wishes to retain his Blackberry once in office. The president to be has had a long-standing love affair with the device and was often spotted using one during the campaign.

As well as manna from marketing heaven for RIM (Research in Motion), the makers of the Blackberry, this issue is of some genuine importance. Communications from presidents can be subpoenaed by courts and congress under public records laws. For this reason, previous presidents have chosen not to use Blackberrys or any other personal phones, doing all their communication and organisation through armies of assistants. They’ve also traditionally shunned email – something else Obama intends to change.

Obama maintains that he only wants the phone so that he can keep in touch with old friends outside the administration and Washington. That may well be true, although the device may still end up being subject to the Presidential Records Act.

Reports indicate that despite all this and much advice to the contrary, Obama is determined to keep the phone.

RIM must be rubbing their hands with glee.