Huawei eyes Windows Phone 7 smartphones

Huawei would be the eighth original equipment manufacturer to join the WP7 league, besides HTC, LG, Nokia, Samsung, Acer, Fujitsu and ZTE.

In yet another boost for Windows Phone 7, Chinese smartphone maker Huawei has expressed its interest in the operating system.

"We are in discussions with Microsoft and will probably bring a Windows Phone to market next year," chief strategy and marketing officer of Huawei, Victor Xu was quoted as saying by a UK website.

New version of MeeGo OS unveiled

Another version of MeeGo, called the 1.2 developer edition, announced particularly for Nokia N900 devices. It is expected to aid in development of better apps for the upcoming N9 smartphone from Nokia.

A new version of the MeeGo operating system, which was ditched by Nokia in favour of Windows Phone 7, has been released. The new version 1.2, which was launched during the MeeGo conference in San Francisco (May 23-25), is available for Nokia N900 devices and provides advanced functionality to the users or developers to get creative. 

Just few days ago, Nokia has accidentally revealed its new smartphone based on the operating system. 

ASUS may unveil tablet-smartphone hybrid device

After the 10.1 inch Transformer tablet, ASUS might just have a smaller tablet under wraps, which it is set to unveil during Computex 2011.

Taiwan-based ASUS technologies may soon launch a device that would bridge the gap between the non pocket friendly bigger tablets and smaller sized smartphones. 

The company recently started a teaser campaign for the launch of the device during Computex 2011,which will start on May 31 and continue till June 4. The device has not yet been categorised in the advertisement, which asks "Is it a pad or a phone?" 

Nokia Windows phones to feature new processor

The upcoming and highly anticipated Windows Phone devices from Nokia will feature processor sourced from ST Ericsson.

The new league of Windows Phone based smartphones from Nokia will be feature the all new Novathor U8500 processor from ST Ericsson, according to the chief executive officer of STMicroelectronics Carlo Bozotti, who shared this information with Forbes.

St Ericsson is a joint venture between Geneva based STMicroelectronics and Swedish mobile equipment manufacturer.

Spice to launch tablet PCs in July

Spice had earlier announced that it plans to offer affordable Android devices to Indian consumers to surf the net, and Android handsets between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000.

To capitalise on the Android and tablet wave, Spice will launch three tablets based on Android 2.3 operating system in India in July this year.

Dilip Modi, managing director of Spice Mobility, told 'The Mobile Indian', "We will launch 7, 9 and 10 inch tablets based on Gingerbread in mid-July and they will be available for less than Rs 20,000."

The upcoming 7 inch tablet, to be called Spice Mi-700, will have dual cameras for video calling and will be powered by a Qualcomm chipset.

Now phones help moms in shopping

Greystripe, the research firm, studied more than 230 women who were using iPhone, iPod Touch or Android devices while making shopping decisions. The study also reported the women preferred free apps more.

The new age moms are turning to smartphones for help in shopping. Not that they are shopping from the phones itself, rather they are using the phones to find out where the stores are and also for comparing prices as well, says a research firm Greystripe. 

In a press release, the research firm says that close to half of the moms are using these devices to locate stores and 36 per cent of them are comparing prices using the smartphones. 

"Smartphones have become the super tool for moms on the go," said Dane Holewinski, director of marketing with Greystripe. "The majority of moms with smartphones are using those devices for their day to day tasks especially shopping, making them the ideal target for advertisers."

Android handsets beat iPhone in Japan

Handsets running Google Inc’s Android software captured 57 per cent of Japan’s smartphone market last fiscal year, cutting the share of Apple Inc’s iPhone, MM Research Institute Ltd. said.

Shipments of Android phones rose to 4.91 million units in the year ended March 31, Tokyo-based MM Research said in a statement. That compares with sales of 250,000 units, or 11 per cent of the market, a year earlier when devices running Google’s software started to be widely available in Japan.

Apple shipped 3.23 million iPhones in Japan in the last fiscal year, accounting for 38 per cent of the nation’s smartphone market, the report said. The company, whose mobile phones are offered exclusively by Softbank Corp in Japan, shipped 1.69 million of the devices for a 72 per cent share a year earlier, according to the report.

India registers triple-digit smart phone growth

A Canalys report revealed that Asia Pacific (APAC) became the largest smart phone market region, with y-o-y growth of 98 per cent to 3.73 crore units, putting it ahead of Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) for the first time since Q3 2007. On a country basis, mainland China, South Korea, and India delivered strong volumes and registered triple-digit growth.

Also, according to Canalys' worldwide country-level smart phone market data for Q1 2011, Android led the market for the second quarter running, and, with 3.57 crore units shipped, increased its share to 35 per cent.

Overall, worldwide smart phone shipments grew 83 per cent to 10.10 crore units. Though its market share shrank from 39 per cent a year ago to 24 per cent in Q1 2011, Nokia held onto its worldwide leadership position with 2.42 crore units shipped—a 13 per cent year-on-year rise—despite the current realignment of its platform strategy, staying ahead of RIM in EMEA and Apple in APAC. APAC became the largest region for Nokia, accounting for 53 per cent of its overall shipments, overtaking EMEA by more than 30 lakh units.

Upcoming Android Phones in India

If you are looking to buy a new Android phone, May and June have some goodies in store for you. From Samsung Galaxy S II to HTC Sensation, we are going to see some impressive Android smartphones reaching Indian shores in the next sixty days. Don’t worry, action is not limited to only high-end devices, some budget devices will as well grace the markets.

Upcoming Android Smartphones:


1. Samsung Galaxy S II:
Features: 1.2 Ghz Dual Core Exynos Processor, 4.27 inch Super AMOLED Plus Display, 8MP camera and Android 2.3 with TouchWiz 4.0.
Expected Availability: Third Week of May for around INR 32K

2. LG Optimus 2X:
Features: 1 Ghz Dual Core nVIDIA Tegra 2 Processor, 4 inch display, 8MP camera and Android 2.2 with LG UI
Expected Availability: Third Week of May for INR 30K

LG Optimus Black coming to Europe later June, followed by US, Asia

The LG Optimus Black, the stylishly slim and lightweight Android smartphone featuring the unique NOVA display, will make its international debut in Europe later this month.

Following successful unveilings at the Consumer Electronics Show and the Mobile World Congress, the LG Optimus Black has attracted pre-orders from 56 network carriers in 50 different countries. The phone will be available globally across six continents beginning in Europe before heading to North America and Asia.

“For smartphone users who appreciate both style and substance, the LG Optimus Black offers beauty, performance and mobility in one smart package,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “LG Optimus Black is a significant addition to our global Optimus portfolio and we think it’ll prove to be one of our most popular phones.”

Samsung gets three million Galaxy S2 preorders

Samsung Mobiles is claiming that company has received over three million preorders for Galaxy S II. These figures are of April end, so current count might have gone up.

Powered by Android 2.3 and 1.2 GHz Dual Core Exynos processor, SGS2 is generating a lot of interest in the consumers. Samsung has planned to release the smartphone in 120 countries and get 10 million units shipped this year.

Release dates surface for Moto Droid X2; Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

A little red birdie has passed on possible release dates for some of Verizon Wireless's most-anticipated smartphones. And since that birdie gave us reliable information before (mainly, the HTC Incredible 2's April 28 debut), we're inclined to believe that the following dates will hold up. So here's what we know.

The HTC Trophy is scheduled to arrive May 12. Verizon promised late least year that it was bringing Windows Phone 7 to its handset stable, but the carrier has yet to show us the goods despite earlier false alarms. Bonnie Cha has reviewed the unlocked GSM version of the Trophy so we at least have a taste of what's to come. Our tipster tells us, however, that Verizon's Trophy will be geared to users of Microsoft's Xbox Live Network.

Spice Mobility to focus on internet ready Android devices

Spice will launch devices in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 so that people from different strata of society can buy them.

At a time when 3G has just taken off and more and more handset players are focusing on internet enabled mobiles, Spice Mobility too has announced that it will focus on internet ready devices.

B.K. Modi, chairman, Spice Mobility, announcing the switch towards internet ready phones, said, "The Indian youth has moved away from the basics of roti, kapda and makaan. They now need mobile internet to be fully productive. It is our duty to support the Indian government in making the country internet literate and remove the digital divide."

Modi further said, "We will be focusing on devices running on Android (operating system) and supported by chipset from Media Tek."

He further elaborated Spice's plans to offer affordable Android devices to Indian consumers to surf the net. At present, around 27 per cent of total mobile users in India use the internet on their handsets and by 2015, the figures will have swollen to around 75 per cent.

However, this will happen only if mobile users have access to affordable internet-ready handsets.

On prices, Modi said, "We will launch devices in the range of Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 so that people from different strata of society can buy them."

Currently, Spice has two Android phones, Spice Mi-300 and Spice Mi-310.

Mi-300 is an Android 2.1 phone with an 8 cm capacitive touchscreen. It supports 3.5G and HSPA. The handset has a 5 mega pixel camera, Wifi, GPS and AGPS. It also has Google messaging service with push mail.

Spice Mi-310 is based on Android 2.2 (Froyo) operating system. It is a touchscreen phone with GPS, AGPS and Wifi hotspot functionality that allows users to connect five handsets to share their data connection.

Meanwhile, apart from North India where it has a good market share, Spice also plans to strengthen its position and improve its visibility in other regions of the country. To do so it will also create seven clusters in Delhi, Kolkata, Jaipur, Bhugneshwar, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

Can ZTE become a Top 5 Smartphone Manufacturer by year end?

That sounds pretty optimistic to me. Being in competition with the likes of HTC, Motorola, Samsung, Sony, LG, and Erricson, I say they have a long hard road ahead of them. Either way, why not shoot for the stars right? They take on this challenge, by showing their first quarter sales being up 51% over this time last year. And i like their new term “smart terminals”. Which would seem to refer to all devices, be it a smartphone, or a tablet. Hit the source for more on the story.