Huawei, Xiaomi, Nokia, others pile in to exploit Samsung weakness

Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Gionee are in hot pursuit, while BlackBerry, Nokia announced retro models

Latest Technologies : Phonemakers are piling in to fill a gap in the market left by Samsung, still licking its wounds from a costly recall of its flagship Note 7 and with no key device of its own to launch at the telecom industry's biggest annual fair.

China's Huawei, the most likely contender to fill the hole in the premium end of the market, took the wraps off a new phone in its quest to displace Samsung as the world's no. 2 smartphone maker after Apple, during a rush of new product releases on Sunday ahead of this week's World Mobile Congress.

Chinese challengers Xiaomi , Vivo, Oppo and Gionee are in hot pursuit, while BlackBerry and Nokia announced models exploiting their retro appeal.

Samsung itself presented two new tablets pending the launch of its next flagship device, the Galaxy S8, expected now at the end of March rather than at Mobile World Congress, its usual showcase.

"The past six months have undoubtedly been one of the most challenging periods of our history," Samsung's European marketing chief David Lowes told a news conference in Barcelona. "We're determined to learn every possible lesson."

Samsung withdrew the Galaxy Note 7 last October after faulty batteries led some devices to catch fire, leading to a loss of consumer trust, wiping out more than $5 billion of operating profit, and allowing the iPhone to overtake it in sales.

"The competition is feisty but I think we have a good chance," Richard Yu, chief executive of Huawei's consumer business group, told Reuters in an interview. (more)

IoT to overtake mobiles by 2018: Report

IoT to overtake mobiles by 2018: Report

The Internet of Things (IoT) is set to overtake mobile phones as the largest category of connected device by 2018, according to the latest edition of the Ericsson Mobility Report.

Between 2015 and 2021, the number of IoT connected devices is expected to grow 23 per cent annually, of which cellular IoT is forecast to have the highest growth rate. Of the 28 billion total devices that will be connected by 2021, nearly 16 bn will be IoT devices.

Western Europe will lead the way in adding IoT connections. The number of IoT devices in this market is projected to grow 400 per cent by 2021. This will principally be driven by regulatory requirements. The report said mobile data traffic in India would grow 15 times by 2021. India expanded the most in terms of net addition during the first quarter of 2016 (calendar year), adding 21 million, followed by Myanmar (5 mn) and Indonesia (5 mn).

For example, for intelligent utility meters, and a growing demand for connected cars including the European Union’s e-call directive to be implemented in 2018. E-call is an automatic emergency call system for motor vehicles.

Rima Qureshi, senior vice-president and chief strategy officer, Ericsson, says: “IoT is now accelerating as device costs fall and innovative applications emerge. From 2020, commercial deployment of 5G networks will provide additional capabilities that are critical for IoT, such as network slicing and the capacity to connect exponentially more devices than is possible today.”Read more.

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Great casual cricket

Great casual cricket

It's the T20 season. First the World Cup, now IPL. And when you see your chosen team slog it out in the field, your hands are bound to itch for a grip on the willow. Whether you manage to actually knock around a ball or not, you can always grip your smartphone and take a few bowlers for a ride if you have the right app handy. Circle of Cricket is a good option. In fact, if you have a powerful enough phone, spare memory and the battery on your side, this is a great option.

The 108MB game can be downloaded for free from the Google Play Store, while its in-app purchases range between Rs 60 and Rs 300. The game offers a Twenty20 tournament mode, quick match mode and a one-day mode. Its focus however is on the T20 format, wherein lies its best experience.

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First, do not go hunting for a Cricket Captain experience. You don't find one here, and you don't need one. Keeping that in mind, the graphics are good. Players look quite similar to their real-world counterparts. The range of shots is varied enough to keep the runs coming. Bowlers, are a tad bit prone to no-balls, but once you get the hang of it, wickets aren't a problem. Overall detailing is pleasing.

The Game, thankfully, lets you use swipe gestures to play the shots instead of complicated key combinations, making it easier to master. Drag longer for hits, and take small swipes for defence. However, the gameplay is challenging and tough enough to keep you glued for that hour-and-a-half-long Metro ride, and winning matches won't come easy.Read More.

WhatsApp rolls out end-to-end encryption for calls, messages

Messaging giant WhatsApp is rolling out end-to-end encryption, a move that will potentially protect texts and voice calls of its over one billion users from hackers and "regimes".

The announcement has come close on the heels of a legal battle between Apple and FBI over the US agency's demand that the iPhone maker help unlock its mobile phones. Many Silicon Valley players had supported Apple citing that user data privacy needs to be respected.

"WhatsApp has always prioritised making your data and communication as secure as possible. And today, we're proud to announce that we've completed a technological development that makes WhatsApp a leader in protecting your private communication: full end-to-end encryption," WhatsApp founder Jan Koum said on the company blogpost.

He added that the latest version of the app will encrypt every call, message, photo, video, file and voice message that is sent on the platform by default, including group chats.

"No one can see inside that message. Not cybercriminals. Not hackers. Not oppressive regimes. Not even us. End-to-end encryption helps make communication via WhatsApp private - sort of like a face-to-face conversation," he said.

The post by Koum, who grew up in Soviet-era USSR during the Communist rule, said the fact that people couldn't speak freely was one of the reasons his family moved to the US.

He added that end-to-end encryption will ultimately represent the future of personal communication.Read More.

#LoveTwitter: The big hits and misses of 10 years of Twitter

Micro-blogging site Twitter turns 10 on Monday.

With the hashtag "#LoveTwitter" trending and inviting people to celebrate Twitter's first decade, Twitter's official handle thanked all its users for "10 incredible years".

The site's official blog kicked off the celebration on Monday afternoon and said: "On March 21, ten years ago, it began with a single Tweet. Since then, every moment of every day, people connect about the things they care about most — all over the world."

The Tweet in question, posted by founder Jack Dorsey, said "just setting up my twttr" on March 21, 2006. 

Of course, since then, Twitter has come a long way. From amassing 300 million users to going public.

User growth:

According to online statistics portal Statista, as of the fourth quarter of 2015, the micro-blogging service averaged at 305 million monthly active users.

In the beginning of 2015, India alone had 22.2 million users on Twitter. According to a 2015 report by the Huffingtonpost, Twitter clocked double digit growth in India  with the site accounting for 17% of the total social network users in one of the world's largest Internet market. The article cited a report by market research firm eMarketer and said that India was only second to Japan (26 million) in terms of the size of its Twitter population.

However, according to a New York Times report, in February this year, after many quarters of slowing user growth, Twitter said its monthly visitors in the fourth quarter totalled 320 million. The figure had not budged from the one the company reported in the previous quarter.

Over the years the social networking site took its simple theory - express yourself in 140 characters or fewer - and took the cyber, and real, world by storm.