Samsung Galaxy S5 may come with an Eyeball scanner and more

New rumours starting to roll out about new generation smartphones for the next year, specially aiming on Apple and Samsung that what they will introduce next.

We already witness how Samsung overcome on Apple since the launch of Galaxy S3 and Galaxy S4, but Apple once again emerge with iPhone 5S to take some market share and to break the smooth track of consecutive success of Android device.

Now things have changed since the launch of Apple iPhone 5S with finger scanner. Samsung once again try a bit different with its upcoming device Samsung Galaxy S5.

According to reports, Samsung is planning an Eyeball scanner instead of finger print scanner found in iPhone 5S and HTC One Max.

Samsung Galaxy S5 is in the rumors circle for months, but since the confirmation of its camera by the company it make it even interesting.

Samsung is eyeing to change the regular design and material of its Galaxy S series. According to reports the new device will feature a metallic body instead of regular plastic.

If Samsung introduce the handset with a metal body, smartphone will have solid base a more protected from inner and outer sides.

The processor of the device is even more interesting. Apple iPhone 5S is running on a quad core 64bit A7 processor. But Samsung have a different plan, according to report Samsung is working on a 14nm 64bit octa-core processor based on ARM.

In addition to 64-bit processors, the phones are also expected to ship with WQHD (2,560 by 1,440 pixel resolution) displays.

Samsung already confirms that company’s upcoming device likely Samsung Galaxy S5, will feature a 16 megapixel camera.

The Samsung Galaxy S5 will make its appearance in the first quarter of the next year, according to sources.

As far as the operating system is concerned Samsung have the two choices that whether it will go with recently launched Android 4.4 KitKat or look towards co-created Tizen. The time will tell Samsung chose Android or go with a new operating system Tizen.

Bill would require 'kill switch' for smartphones

SAN FRANCISCO: Two California officials have announced plans to introduce legislation requiring smartphones to have a "kill switch" that would render stolen or lost devices inoperable.

State Sen. Mark Leno and San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon announced Thursday that the bill they believe will be the first of its kind in the United States will be formally introduced in January at the start of the 2014 legislative session.

Leno, a San Francisco Democrat, joins Gascon, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and other law enforcement officials nationwide who have been demanding that manufacturers create kill switches to combat surging smartphone theft across the country.

"One of the top catalysts for street crime in many California cities is smartphone theft, and these crimes are becoming increasingly violent," Leno said. "We cannot continue to ignore our ability to utilize existing technology to stop cellphone thieves in their tracks. It is time to act on this serious public safety threat to our communities."

Almost 1 in 3 US robberies involve phone theft, according to the Federal Communications Commission. Lost and stolen mobile devices - mostly smartphones - cost consumers more than $30 billion last year, according to a study cited by Schneiderman in June.

In San Francisco alone, more than 50 percent of all robberies involve the theft of a mobile device, and in Los Angeles mobile phone thefts are up almost 12 percent in the last year, the San Francisco DA's office said.

Samsung Electronics, the world's largest mobile phone manufacturer, earlier this year proposed installing a kill switch in its devices. But the company told Gascon's office the nation's biggest carriers rejected the idea.

But the CTIA-The Wireless Association, a trade group for wireless providers, says a permanent kill switch has serious risks, including potential vulnerability to hackers who could disable mobile devices and lock out not only individuals' phones but also phones used by entities such as the Department of Defense, Homeland Security and law enforcement agencies.

The CTIA has been working with the FCC, law enforcement agencies and elected officials on a national stolen phone database that debuted last month.

Gascon and Schneiderman have given manufacturers a June 2014 deadline to come up with solutions to curb the theft of stolen smartphones.

"I appreciate the efforts that many of the manufacturers are making, but the deadline we agreed upon is rapidly approaching and most do not have a technological solution in place," Gascon said. "Californians continue to be victimized at an alarming rate, and this legislation will compel the industry to make the safety of their customers a priority."

موبائل کی بیٹری دیر تک چلے؟ چند مشورے

Nokia’s Tablet Gambit Will Drive Mobile Market Share For Microsoft If The Margins Hold Up

Yoogle: Nokia’s Lumia 2520 tablet will set you back $500 if you want to buy it flat out. AT&T is more than happy to sell you one at that price. Pick it up with a wireless contract, and AT&T will knock $100 off that sticker.

But pick up a Lumia 925, 1020, or 1520 at the same time, and the price of the Lumia 2520 drops to $200. That’s an incredible decline in cost. I confirmed with AT&T that the phone itself would be subsidized, but subject “to a second agreement,” or contract, so the deal only works if you are ready to pony up for two devices and requisite plans.

So, for the sum of $300 ($100 for the Lumia 925, $200 for the Lumia 2520), you can buy into the larger Windows ecosystem of Windows 8.x and Windows Phone. Why would Nokia do this? You can’t really view Nokia’s hardware choices as independent anymore, but for kicks, the reasons would be simple: Device volume is key to the health of the Windows (et al. form factors) platform.

This means that Nokia does more than help its short-term revenue when it moves devices, it sets up its future by supporting the platform that it needs to stand upon. But Nokia’s hardware division is now all but part of Microsoft’s hardware business, making the above all the more muddled in the best possible way. Let’s do this in pieces:

Nokia lashes its tablet and smartphone hardware together, using carrier subsidies for consumers to bear the brunt of its margin pressure, to sell more units and help launch it into new hardware categories.

Windows and Windows Phone benefit from larger unit volume, which brings more users, more downloads, and thus more developer satisfaction.

Developers then in theory build more applications, which leads to happier customers, and therefore more customers, creating a virtuous loop.

Microsoft buys Nokia’s hardware business, which it wants in order to sell more smartphones.

Its new smartphone business is being used to sell tablets that compete with its own Surface line of devices.

So that’s fun, but the real issue here is that Microsoft (Nokia) has compiled a hardware package that it can presumably vend not at a loss that brings consumers onto its platforms (platform, depending on how precise you want to be), in twos instead of ones.

This is only a good for Microsoft if the Lumia 2520 is worth a damn. Early prognostications appear to be in its favor, though I can’t see why I’d prefer one to a Surface 2.

But that doesn’t matter; Microsoft merely wants more RT devices sold, period. And that’s why the later points I think don’t matter to Microsoft: In the Game of Platforms, you either win or you become BlackBerry.

So to Microsoft, shaving Surface revenue in the short-term to bolster the somewhat tenuous Windows RT piece of the Windows empire probably makes sense.

Stepping back, moving units is Microsoft’s current problem, which is of course part of the same app problem that we endlessly discuss. The two are directly entertained. And Windows is bigger than Surface, meaning that it takes precedence.

Can Nokia (Microsoft) keep the deal up and not end up in a cold bath whilst ripping up hundred-dollar bills? (Margin pressure is a bitch). I don’t know, but I bet that Microsoft does. We’ll see if it keeps the gambit alive once the deal closes.

Samsung Galaxy Round briefly becomes available overseas

The Samsung Galaxy Round was the second announced and the first released curved smartphone on the market. Like its LG G Flex rival, the Galaxy Round was recently announced and released in Korea.

And while LG's curved phone will make its way to Europe, USA and China soon, Samsung has so far announced no plans to expand the Round availability outside of Korea.

Even though the Galaxy Round is hard to find even in Korea, Australian retailer MobiCity and US retailer Negri Electronics briefly listed the device unlocked at around $1130 (1200 AUD), although both are now backordered.

They are still accepting orders, so it's possible that new shipments will be available at some point in the future.

There's a chance Samsung to decide to go global with the Galaxy Round due to the obvious wow factor the device brings in overseas markets. More than likely, the Galaxy Round will be a precursor of a more capable international version built to take advantage of any momentum gained by this first generation flexible display device.
Source : Negri Electronics : MobiCity

Android Will Show You Google+ Photos For Incoming Calls Beginning In 2014

Google is making Android’s dialer smarter, and it already talked about KitKat features that add automatic caller ID for businesses that Google has in its places database.

Early next year, the basic phone dialing app will also pull in your Google+ profile pic to show a call recipient via caller ID, according to Android Central. It’s an option that’s on by default, too, so long as you’ve verified your phone number through your Google account.

Users who want to hide their image can pre-emptively disable access by going to their Google+ profile, clicking the image of your profile picture in the top right corner, hitting the “Account” link, and then navigating to the “Phone numbers” subsection. Click “View” and then Google provides an option to check a box for each phone number you have registered with its services, in order to allow/disallow the use of that information for finding your via Hangouts or other Google Services. It also makes it so that “people may be able to see your name and profile photo when you call them or they call you,” according to Google.

This is nowhere near as troubling as Google using your profile photo in its own ads, and in fact, I consider it a remarkably useful feature addition as someone who gets a lot of inbound calls from sources I’m not necessarily familiar with.

The fact that it’s opt-out versus opt-in probably isn’t ideal, and could surprise a lot of users who aren’t entirely up-to-date on what exactly Google is doing with the information they provide. If it is an issue, follow the steps above to either disable the option to find you via phone number, or remove them entirely.

Other Caller ID features already implemented in Android 4.4 include matching business and service numbers, as mentioned, and also looking up information from your Google Apps domain, should you organization use that, to let you know when someone from work is calling. KitKat is already available to Nexus 5 users right now, and will be rolling out to Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Google Play edition devices in the “coming weeks.”

BlackBerry Shares Sink After Ailing Smartphone Maker Reveals Its New Direction

It looks like BlackBerry’s oft-cited transition period isn’t over just yet. The company confirmed this morning in a statement that the Fairfax takeover isn’t happening and that CEO Thorsten Heins is being dismissed, and BlackBerry shareholders are not taking the news very well.

At time of writing the company’s stock price is hovering at about $6.90, down over 11 percent from its closing position on Friday not exactly a sign of shareholder confidence in the ailing smartphone maker.

Still, that’s small fries compared to what happened before the market even opened. The Globe and Mail broke the story about BlackBerry’s new direction early this morning and it wasn’t long at all before the company’s stock price took a serious drubbing it tanked to the tune of almost 19 percent before trading was halted just before 8:30 AM Eastern so BlackBerry could announce the specifics of the Fairfax deal itself, under which the company will accept $1 billion in investments from a slew of investors.

Even though things are apparently starting to flatten out, that’s not a pretty drop no matter how you slice it today’s was BlackBerry’s lowest open since September 2012 (the Monday after it announced service outage in the EMEA regions, no less) and the dip represents a nearly half billion dollar decline in BlackBerry’s market cap.

Naturally, while shareholders may be wary of the company’s future, BlackBerry chooses to look at its hefty investment as a sign of hope for its forthcoming endeavors.

“Today’s announcement represents a significant vote of confidence in BlackBerry and its future by this group of preeminent, long-term investors,” BlackBerry board chairwoman Barbara Stymiest in a statement. That’s great and all, but there’s little doubting that today’s BlackBerry isn’t surefooted in its mission as it once was.

For a long while there getting BlackBerry 10 (and the devices that ran it) out the door was the guiding star over Waterloo, an initiative spearheaded by soon-to-be-former CEO Heins himself. Of course, as the Globe and Mail pointed out previously, the push was met with consternation from other BlackBerry higher-ups included former co-CEO Mike Lazaridis.

Now with Heins nearly out the door, the search for his replacement begins, as does the search for a new philosophy. Despite its legion of rabid fans, BlackBerry 10 doesn’t seem to have charmed the masses in the way the company has hoped, and I don’t envy the person who ultimately gets tapped to try and fix that.