Smart Phones : BlackBerry 10 vs. iPhone 5

It's no secret to anyone interested in smartphones. For the past couple of years, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion has had some issues keeping up with the likes of iOS and Android. Now though, it's the moment BlackBerry fans have been waiting for. Today marks the release of the all new BlackBerry 10 OS and to go along with it, the announcement of two brand new devices running that OS. The first device, a full touch screen experience called the BlackBerry Z10 will soon be hitting the market followed up later this year by a full QWERTY version dubbed the BlackBerry Q10.
The fearless leader of CrackBerry Nation, Kevin Michaluk, has had a BlackBerry 10 device in his hands for the past week and just attended the launch event in NYC, bringing iMore readers back a first look at the BlackBerry Z10 device. It's still too early to say if this will be a home run for RIM, but competition in this market is good and it helps keep things balanced.

 

Tech : Samsung Dominated Apple And Nokia With A Record 213M Smartphones Shipped In 2012

The battle’s been raging between Samsung and Apple for global smartphone domination, but according to the latest numbers out of Strategy Analytics, Samsung has extended its lead over rival manufacturers to capture a 30 percent marketshare worldwide.
According to the research firm, Samsung’s 213 million smartphones shipped over the course of 2012 sets a record for most units shipped by a smartphone vendor in a single year. The previous record holder was Nokia, which shipped 100.1 million units in 2010.
Samsung’s ability to deliver both on the high-end (with the Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II) and on the low-end with models like the Galaxy Y made the Korean firm nearly impossible to beat. In fact, Samsung sold more smartphones this year than Apple and Nokia combined.
Apple continued to see growth, despite rumors that iPhone 5 part production cutbacks were a sign of low demand, shipping 135.8 million smartphones worldwide, capturing a marketshare of 19 percent globally. That represents 46 percent annual growth in units shipped, however it doesn’t seem to have done much for Apple’s market share which was at a steady 19 percent in 2011, as well.
Samsung and Apple combined shipped over half of all smartphones that went out over the course of the year.
Nokia managed to hang on to its third place position, shipping 35 million smartphones in 2012. However, the Finnish phone giant’s market share dipped from 16 percent last year to a mere five percent this year. Hopefully the company’s partnership with Microsoft and the budding Lumia line can help in plugging up that leak.

Credit : Tech Crunch

BlackBerry Z10 Hardware Pictured In Verizon Promo Leak As Carriers Gear Up For Launch

BlackBerry 10 is nearing launch, and you have to wonder at this point whether there will be any secrets left by the time it makes its official debut on January 30. Today, noted mobile device leak master @evleaks shared what looks like a Verizon promotional image of a BlackBerry Z10, widely rumored to be the first shipping BB10 handset, with a white backplate and the front design we’ve seen in many previous leaks with two bars top and bottom framing a glass display.
White and black versions of the Z10 have been spotted in leaked shots before, and we’ve heard direct from Verizon’s CMO that it would be offering a BlackBerry 10 device at launch. This looks like it could be a Verizon-specific variant with a muted silver tone, depending on how you squint at the admittedly low-res image evleaks shared, though to my eye it could just as easily be white, too. Either way, it looks like Verizon is preparing for a big launch push of the new hardware and mobile OS.

Credit : Tech Crunch
 

Apps : Siri hacks control your car and media center

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The Siri proxy hack allows developers to catch custom phrases and act on them, expanding the functionality of Apple's voice-controlled personal assistant. This work is being employed by other developers, and a few exciting uses for the hack have already started to appear.
First up, Brandon Fiquett has written code that allows him to start, stop, open the trunk, and activate the alarm in his Acura using the kind of voice controls we've come to expect from Siri. The hack works alongside his Viper car automation and security system, with Siri communicating with his proxy server, which forwards commands on to the cellular-connected car.
Second, an Icelandic developer named Hjalti Jakobsson has created a plugin for Plex, allowing you to ask for "Seinfeld season five, episode one" — and returning either the episode title or an apology if it can't find the show you're after. The system is impressively fast, with no lag between sending the command and playback beginning.
While the source code for the car control is available for download now, the Plex controller still requires some work before it's ready for primetime. You'll still need to set up your own proxy server though, and we know that for some of you the thought of adding a modified root certificate to your iPhone is out of the question.

Cell Phones : HTC Titan arrives on AT&T: pocket-straining Windows Phone for $200 on contract

While Europeans have been filling their pockets with this dark, handsome smartphone for over a month, the HTC Titan has finally stepped across the Atlantic and is up for sale on AT&T. Windows Phone 7.5 is in attendance, spread across a 4.7-inch screen, the most display real estate it's ever had the pleasure to frolic upon. We made it pretty clear in our full review that you'll be getting a beautifully crafted slice of smartphone here -- if you can wrap your hands around it. It's priced pretty solidly at $200 on a two-year contract, or $550 for anyone not a fan of the pay-monthly schtick.

The phone towers over the rest of AT&T's Fall collection, also available now. This includes the Pantech Pocket and Samsung Doubletime, both marked up at $50 on contract, while shoppers looking for another QWERTY option might also be tempted by Samsung's Captivate Glide, which will set you back $150 plus a two-year sign-up.

Tech : iSpy software can read texts and steal passwords

We spy, with our bleary eye, a new piece of software that could make it dramatically easier to steal personal data. The program, known as iSpy, allows devious voyeurs to remotely identify and read text typed on touchscreen displays. That, in and of itself, isn't exactly new, but iSpy takes shoulder surfing to slightly terrifying new areas -- namely, those beyond the "shoulder." Developed by Jan-Michael Frahm and Fabian Monrose of the UNC-Chapel Hill, this program, like those before it, takes advantage of the magnified keys found on most touchscreens. All you'd have to do is point a camera at someone else's screen and iSpy will automatically record whatever he or she types by stabilizing the video footage and identifying the enlarged keys. If you're using a smartphone camera, you'll be able to eavesdrop from up to three meters away, but if you opt for a more heavy duty DSLR device, you could steal passwords from up to 60 meters away. The software can also recognize any words typed into a device, and, according to its architects, can identify letters with greater than 90 percent accuracy. When used with a DSLR camera, iSpy can even pick up on reflections of touchscreens in sunglasses or window panes from up to 12 meters away. To avoid this, Frahm and Monrose recommend disabling the magnified key function on your smartphone, or using some sort of screen shield.

Cell Phones : Check Out The Porsche Design BlackBerry P’9981

While BlackBerry smartphones have largely been eclipsed on the popularity front by the iPhone and the swarms of Android phones on the market, the ‘ol “CrackBerry” still has millions of addicts, er, fans. Why else would Porsche Design – the German sports car (and sedan, and SUV, and…) builder’s industrial design subsidiary – create a Teutonically chic new phone running the BlackBerry 7 operating system?

Sure, this isn’t Porsche Design’s first smartphone rodeo , but this latest communication Wündergizmo – called the P’9981 – is the most advanced smartphone to emerge from the firm’s Zell am See, Austria studio. So what else do you get besides BlackBerry OS 7 and all those shiny metal buttons?




The P’9981 features a 1.2 GHz processor, 24 bits of graphics processing power, and 8 gigabytes of built-in memory. The device’s storage capacity can be expanded to as much as 40 gigabytes via an SD card, which is a very good thing when you consider this baby can record HD video. There’s also a full QWERTY keyboard, though the Liquid Graphics display and Porsche Design -designed user interface mean you’ll probably only use it for texting and entering URLs and search terms.

Each P’9981 also has a special PIN number, so nearby P’9981 users will be super easy to find. Then you can meet up and discuss how much you love your phones’ forged stainless steel shell, genuine leather back, and approximately $2,000 MSRP. Okay, maybe you won’t love the two-grand price tag per se, but you’ll probably at least like the fact that that figure includes personal concierge service. Then again, you could buy an actual Porsche for $2,000. Granted, it would be a 924 or a 928 that has sun-baked paint, an interior that smells like a drug dealer’s armpit and leaks every kind of fluid you can buy at Pep Boys (and some you can’t), but an actual Porsche nonetheless. We know which we’d pick; how about you?