Windows Phone is the third popular mobile OS

For th first time Windows Phone has become the third-largest supplier to the world market of mobile OSes. This it owes the company Nokia, which has agreed to move to a new operating system by Microsoft in 2011.

According to analysts from IDC, in the I quarter of 2013 7 million smartphones were delivered based on Windows Phone to the world market and 6.3 million smartphone platform BlackBerry, share platforms accounted for 3.2% and 2.9%, respectively.

A year earlier, BlackBerry had the undisputed superiority: in the I quarter of 2012, smartphone shipments reached 9.7 million units, compared to 3 million smartphones on the Windows Phone platform.

However, over the past year the number of outgoing channels of BlackBerry smartphones dropped by 36.1%, whereas Windows Phone devices showed an increase 133.3%, which allowed them to get on the line above.

It is noteworthy that, commenting on the transition to Windows Phone in 2011, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop said that from now on the smartphone market is the battlefield of the three platforms: Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Today, Windows Phone has finally become the third most popular platform

Analysts have repeatedly stressed their belief that over time Windows Phone overtake supply BlackBerry and even iOS. According to IDC from 2011 to 2015 platform, Microsoft will take the second place after Android with a share of 20.9%. Commenting on the new report, IDC analyst Ramon Llamas explained that their success of Windows Phone they to Nokia.

Microsoft and Nokia made the right decision, having been engaged in a joint promotion of Windows Phone, senior analyst at IDC concludes Kevin Restivo, referring to the new data. In his opinion, the Windows Phone is poised to become a serious alternative to Android and iOS in the event of further active support platform by the manufacturers and developers.

Gartner has recently published a similar report, but there are no calculations separately for Windows Phone. Moreover, the combined share of the platforms Microsoft, according to the company, was slightly lower than that of BlackBerry.

Smartphones sell better than regular mobile phones

In the first quarter of 2013, shipments of smart phones in the world for the first time exceeded the supply of “regular” mobile phones, according to a report of the research company IDC.

In the first three months of the year manufacturers shipped a total of 418.6 million mobile devices, which is four percent more than a year ago. Of these smartphones devices made 51.6%, or 261.2 million units.

For comparison, in the first quarter of 2012, shipments of mobile devices totaled 402.4 million units, of which smart phone were only 38% of the devices.

Samsung continues to be a leading supplier of mobile devices. The share of the South Korean company accounted 32.7% of the total shipped in the first quarter and 27.5 percent of smartphones shipped all the “regular” mobile phones.

Apple in the smartphone market has lagged behind Samsung almost twice – the company took second place with a share of 17.3%. The five largest manufacturers also includes LG and Chinese companies Huawei and ZTE.

Samsung’s leading role  is due, in particular, to a wide range of devices: in addition to “regular” phones and devices on Android, the company offers mobile operating systems Windows Phone and Bada. In March, Samsung unveiled its new “flagship” device – Galaxy S4.

Also, the release of a new Samsung Galaxy Tab is expected to be soon.

Top 10 fault-prone smartphones

According to the number of calls to the insurance company, Samsung Galaxy S III is the most problematic smartphone. iPhone 3GS owners also are exemplary customer – they are less likely to apply for insurance of all. British website Mobile Insurance published a list of devices, established to sell insurance policies to mobile devices. The data is based on the number of customer requests this site.

The source doesn’t report, what exactly is the problem when the phone owner asks for insurance. However, mention of the word “failure” is the most popular one. The site also states that customers get insurance from theft and loss of the device and that “Mobile Insurance services start to operate where manufacturer’s warranty ends.”

In most cases, the treatment received by the fault of the owners of phones, said Jason Brockman, director of Mobile Insurance.

iPhone 3GS was named the most “reliable” mobile phone, as the owners of the insurance comes with the least number of complaints. Second place for “security” has taken BlackBerry Torch 9800.
Top 10 most problematic smartphones

1. Samsung Galaxy S III
2. HTC Desire S
3. Nokia Lumia 610
4. iPhone 4
5. BlackBerry Bold 9900
6. iPhone 4S
7. Sony Xperia S
8. BlackBerry Curve 9220
9. Samsung Tocco Lite 2
10. LG Nexus 4

“Failures and a fault is often impossible to avoid. For this reason, we decided to compile a list of smartphones from which problems are most often to buyers could get around their side,” – said Brockman. “If you want to use a reliable phone, you have no choice but to buy any old machine, like the iPhone 3GS”, – he added, explaining that with the newer machines are much more trouble.

Mobile Insurance experts said another interesting fact: the owners of white devices turn to the insurance company more often than owners of vehicles in either black or silver. But there’s no explanation what is the reason for such a conclusion.

In February 2013 the company released a similar report FixYa. The manufacturer of the most reliable smartphone has been recognized by Apple, which gained 3.47 points. Samsung Electronics has gained half as much score, 1.21, and took second place. In the third and fourth places were Nokia (0,68) and Motorola (0,13). The study also laid complaints owners. Most iPhone owners have complained about the battery, and Samsung users complained about the problems with the microphone.

Google Search can replace Siri

Voice assistant Siri, presented by Apple in 2011, acquires all the new features. However, Siri does not work on older models of the iPhone and iPad, which afflicts millions of iPhone and iPad users worldwide. Interestingly, these restrictions are due to the software, not hardware, and they are of primarily concern for the marketing strategy of Apple.

As usual, other companies do not have to wait long and started to produce their own voice assistants. Probably, the most important competitor to Apple here is Google, which created Google Now for Android and significantly improved its voice search. Now on the iPhone and iPad, we can use some features Google Now, that may partly compensate the lack of Siri on older Apple devices. Let’s see how this can be done with the help of Google Search app for iOS.

As the name implies, Google Search is primarily a search program, equipped with voice search feature, and it’s not a full-fledged assistant. If we talk about the application, in this context, it turned out very good and even have occupied place on the dock of my desktop. In my opinion, it is much more convenient to look for something on the Internet with Google Search, rather than Spotlight. Especially given the constant bugs with Spotlight on my iPhone 4.

The application allows you to find information all over the internet as well as in separate categories: images, places, news, video, blogs, comments, and books. Almost all as on the desktop which is very convenient.

More focus on the voice search. I must say that it supports a lot of languages, which is very good. In search of the English language on specific requests appear “cards” with information, just like in Google Now.

However, Google Search is not integrated with the iOS operating system and can not, for example, set an alarm or reminder. It works exclusively with search functions and can not be a complete substitute for Siri. But given the fact that on the iPhone 3GS/4, iPad 1/2 there is no Siri, Google voice search capabilities will help in part to provide a functional voice assistant Apple.

How to encrypt your cloud data

Cloud data storages have become a part of our reality, and many users store more and more information out there, including sometimes very private data. On the one hand it is very easy – you can always access your important data you need anywhere. On the other, no one will ever give you an absolute guarantee that your data will not appear in the clouds as a result of theft or an unfortunate mistake in the wrong hands. Therefore, it never hurts to take extra security measures in advance. One of such measure is the program Cloudfogger.

Cloudfogger is a free tool that is used to ensure the safe storage of your files in SkyDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive and so on. This program produces fast secure data encryption and works as a protective shield between you and your cloud storage. It automatically encrypts data before uploading to the server and instantly decrypts them when you want to view or share your files.

The setup program will ask to create a new account, and then select the folder cloud services that you want to encrypt. The files will be encrypted and copied to your cloud storage. For you to use them will be completely transparent, because Cloudfogger handling decrypts them in real time, but for any foreign person who may try to access them on the network, they will not be able to open.

Cloudfogger is a very useful tool for all users who are worried about the privacy of their important data in cloud storages. It provides another level of privacy and security, which you can safely store your secrets in the clouds and be sure they are safe even if the service is compromised or your passwords are stolen.

Facebook Home: apps for Android

Yesterday at the presentation of the U.S. company announced a Facebook application called line Home for the operating system Android. The presentation was conducted personally director general social network, Mark Zuckerberg, by which event was even more meaningful. What awaits Facebook users in the near future – it is on.

Facebook Home line includes a number of very interesting and unusual applications to work with the world’s most popular social network. The first of these applications, which we want to introduce you – it’s Cover Feed. This program allows you to change your homepage Android-smartphone on the tape updates Facebook. The user can always monitor the activity of your friends without having to go with the base of the screen in the application. Double-clicking on the screen allows you to like a photo or message each other.

The second application – Chat Heads. It allows you to exchange messages with your friends from any running application. When one of your friends to send the user a message, round icon Chat Heads with his picture pops up on the screen. Clicking on the icon will respond, but you can move the icons by dragging them off the screen or combine them to save space. How it works, you can see in the video.

Official Facebook Home yield on 12 April. Initially, access to the range of applications will be the most popular Android-smartphones such as the Samsung Galaxy S4, S III, Note II and HTC One. It is expected that very soon will release Facebook Home and Tablet PCs.

Will there be any smartwatch by Apple at all?

For as much as three months of Apple community in all online thumb topic iWatch – revolutionary smartwatch from Apple, which are actively being developed and is essentially the … watch. Against the background of a strong desire and the expected joy and happiness from the ownership of such a stylish gadget lost the basis, that would be a determining factor in the success and, in fact, would give way to such a device to market. The idea that the alleged leak of iWatch – in fact, a duck, originated long ago. In fact, from the very first hours of the hearing, some thought about the simple thing: what meaning and prospects will have such a highly specialized and, well, not very wealthy in terms of market penetration of the product?

It’s cool!

Remember the first post «Apple will release a branded watch.” Initially the clock is an attempt to correct the failure to iPod nano, which became quite popular among buyers because of the absence of any interaction with the iPhone or iPad. Idea: iWatch should be like iPod, but it should be able to interact with something larger and more functional device that is as remote.

Is it cool?

Then to the general delight and anticipation adds a healthy skepticism. The arguments used in the post “Why Apple will not release your own hours” is hard to dispute: watch market is not growing, and in general it is not a new one. In addition, there has long been a tendency for the noticeable increasing demand for luxury expensive watches. Such watches are not produced on a large scale. And the hours do not change every year or two. Now note: Apple is not a luxury brand. Apple is committed to the status of premium brand (this is when products become part of the style of life, and buyers with more repetitive). At the same time even more clearly outlines the possible true purpose of the new development of the apple: it should be something like the same remote control for other devices, and possibly with some specific tasks (such as a sports accessory Nike FuelBand?).

Self-sustaining reaction

Then everything went on the rise: Bloomberg added fuel to the fire, saying that over 100 employees work on the iWatch. Even The New York Times could not resist and stuff the weight portion of rumors. Some have suggested that despite the irrelevance, Apple is still doing this project as a sort of hobby.

For general hysteria connected designers, flip own layouts possible hours. Especially zamorochennye unearthed some old patents Apple, which said on wrist device.

Meaning there is still no

Again Bloomberg undertakes analyst, trying to prove how good it is Apple in a new market, which they, of course, will blow their development. But again, everything comes down to simple human curiosity, people will come to the Apple Store, look at the clock, some even buy it, and then what? Hours are also available on smartphones and tablets, and laptops, and everywhere. There must be something else.
Competitors do not sleep!

That’s where the fun begins. Samsung does own a watch! The development is seen as a remote control for the anticipated smartphone. Yeah, on the background of these events begin to believe that Samsung theft in the genes.

What’s next? That’s right, Google is also doing its own watch! It is unclear how and what they continue to do so, but in conjunction with Google Glass spectacle is sure to be spectacular.

Total

What does all of this text? Om Malik in his blog announced the idea that iWatch – it is nothing more than a red herring, a trick Apple, to Samsungi with Google began frantically copying their supposed future product, and meanwhile, apple company will most likely create much more than that in functional terms, rather than clock-control. It is possible that this is an accessory with sports features. The same thought expressed on Twitter and Jean-Louis Gasse, a former executive director of Apple Computer.

In fact, we now have with you, there is no accurate information, and we’ll just have to wait. Apple still did not show anything and nothing is announced. There is only one obvious: the authority of Apple, among other producers is so strong that the mere rumor that came from someone unknown, is able to make the two giants of the industry to urgently develop a “competitors” apple product, which may be in fact not. You have it.

Apple needs to make another revolution

On the calendar in March 2013, there’s almost found life on Mars, but the struggle continues between Android and iOS developers, although it’s clear that they had already won. At least for the next 2 years. But is their position really firm?

One day, I asked 20 of my friends – “what is your operating system installed on your phone/smartphone?”. Most said it was Android, one found iPhone 5, and still there were a few little old Symbian-smartphones. The sample may not reflect the essence of the situation, but the trend is obvious.

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iPhone 5 release was to fix Apple’s position as a leader, but it had the opposite effect. Scandals with maps, flaking paint, removing Google Maps does not add customer loyalty. Yes, everything went back to buy a beautiful box, but more out of habit, not as passionately as it was before. Everyone expected innovation, and got a small screen, a new processor, nano-sim and … everything.

All March headlines are full of titles like “Apple shares fell to a minimum of a year”, “Falling of Apple stock». And sometimes it seems to me that this is not a temporary phenomenon. A week ago, was presented to Samsung Galaxy S4 (Android) – the main competitor of iPhone. And where is presented – in New York, in the main market of Apple. The device comes in April, and you can be sure that the volume of sales will be really high. iPhone 5S will be presented in August. Apple just does not have time. More precisely, it is catching up. She needs to increase the screen, add NFC, common micro-USB, increase the capacity of the battery, and finally, to redraw the entire interface iOS 6 because it is too out of date to 2013.

Not surprisingly, users are increasingly looking to the side of Android-based smartphones, of which big set. They are often cheaper, open, there is no way I write – open to the user, and provide a very flexible and ergonomic interface. Closeness of the OS – it’s bad taste to 2013, but that Apple does not want to understand. It has created a sandbox for its users and it was surrounded by barbed wire. And do not cease to reap the dividends. Now Apple in the smartphone market is slowly, but still losing ground. On the tablet market is not all that bad, and pulls their IPad. And, of course, there is still Itunes store (App store) with hundreds of thousands of applications. Ecosystem is still holding Apple afloat. For how long?

Apple’s all waiting for innovation, all waiting for a breakthrough and the response “Wow” by which all so bored. Flexible displays, holographic projection or retinal scanner – something should surprise and flip views. Otherwise – falling stocks and shouts of “I think I saw it in the smartphone X 2012 …” she assured.

A failed launch IPad mini, the situation with the cards in iOS, no announcements and permanent losses in PR suggests that Apple is looking for the path. How not to lose your fans like to catch up with South Korean rivals as not to lose the image is just to stay afloat. While it turns out. But what will happen at the end of 2013? AAPL NASDAQ index on us to answer.

New Runbo X3 with high-tensile body

Today I was shown a very unusual smartphone Runbo X3. Unlike other manufacturers, the designers did not chase the perfect e-filling – they are more interested in its functionality. As a result, they turned one-piece, on the characteristics of the corresponding middle class smartphones, but attracts much more attention than the pathos of the flagship. All because of – the original design of the case, which, Plus, enhanced.

Runbo X3 – this is a really smartphone for really men, it will not fit beautiful girls. Heavy as the legendary Nokia 3310 (MobileDevice never tired of reminding all that famous phone), skillfully ignores rain, dust, temperature, and even the water pressure at a depth of one meter. Calm and he survived the fall from the hands of careless owner and will continue to operate as if nothing had happened. Of course, the “scars” of contact with the solid earth will be on his muscular body, but they are also decorated with a man, and thus its smartphone.

Be sure to know what is required in Runbo X3 comes with an antenna – the gadget can work as a radio and transmit a signal to 10 kilometers. Useful where there is no cellular networks. And your tiny “Ayfonchik” capable shatter and scratch at any time, can you? And one more feature: on the front panel of the unit is QWERTY-keyboard. Next to him is a 3.5-inch screen with a resolution of 480×800 pixels. Runbo X3 features include 1 GB of RAM, 2-core CPU at 1 GHz, 8-megapixel camera front VGA-camera. This smartphone is worth only $ 350. It is running Google Android 4.0., and I’m not sure whether there will be any software updates for it.

DryWired will make your iPhone water-resistant

Modern gadgets from Apple are all good from any side, except one: as the products of many other companies, they require very careful treatment. Accidentally poured coffee or MacBook or iPhone dropped into the water with an almost one hundred percent probability will fail forever. But thanks to a development presented at CeBIT this problem may soon cease to worry happy users of Apple devices.

Located in Los Angeles, the company has licensed DryWired developed earlier in Europe, the revolutionary technology of protective nano cover and now plans to deliver it to people from 50 countries. It is reported that the technology was developed and tested for over 16 years, during which time the creators have 9 international patents and numerous awards.

Process of making the gadget water resistance is as follows: first, the unit is disassembled, then placed in a special chamber where the monomeric material when heated into gas, which envelops all the details of the device, and subsequent cooling is waterproof sealant. On assurances of developers of technology, then the device meets the standard IPX7, and liquids are no longer a danger for it. At least, after brief plunging to a depth of one meter. The company also states that the application with such coating, the thickness of which is about 1600 times thinner than a human hair, clean, not visible to the human eye, does not change the use of haptic devices and not only protects almost any surface from the water, but also prevents corrosion and bacterial growth.

Rumor has it that Apple is very interested in this technology. Who knows, maybe that future products of the company can be safe to take with you to the bathroom or to the beach. In any case, it’s just rumors and speculation. In the meantime, representatives DryWired officially announced that the company plans to make all possible efforts for the development of strategic partnerships not only with producers, but also to retailers in licensed territories: “Our centers will provide distributors, manufacturers and retailers of portable electronics to protect some of their inventory this nano so that they can offer customers more reliable products. “

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