Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Press Release: Huawei Ascend P6

Elegant and edgy, the new HUAWEI Ascend P6 is the world’s slimmest smartphone

At 6.18mm slim, the HUAWEI Ascend P6 is impossibly beautiful and always intuitive

[London, United Kingdom, June 18, 2013]: Huawei, a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider, today unveiled the HUAWEI Ascend P6, the world’s slimmest smartphone measuring 6.18mm. The smartphone features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and a sleek metallic body. With its 4.7-inch high definition in-cell display, industry-leading 5MP front-facing camera, and outstanding software, the HUAWEI Ascend P6 is the embodiment of elegance with an edge.
“The HUAWEI Ascend P6 is a star among smartphones with its industry-leading design, high-quality camera, and intuitive user interface, Huawei’s proprietary Emotion UI,” said Richard Yu, Chief Executive Officer, Huawei Consumer Business Group. “Building on the success of our Ascend P series of fashion smartphones, the HUAWEI Ascend P6 provides unsurpassed technology and a design that is simply stunning.”
HUAWEI Ascend P6 is ultra slim at 6.18mm and weighs just about 120g. While it is small enough to slip into the tiniest of pockets or clutch bags, the stylish HUAWEI Ascend P6 is designed to be seen and coveted! It features a 1.5GHz quad-core processor, Android 4.2.2 operating system, 2000mAh battery, 4.7-inch HD in-cell LCD screen technology, and ‘MagicTouch’ for enhanced screen responsiveness even when wearing gloves.
As the flagship smartphone of the Huawei Ascend P series, the HUAWEI Ascend P6 embodies a cutting edge design for the fashion conscious. The smartphone’s brushed metallic look with a naturally curved base is both elegant and intuitive. Impossibly beautiful, the Ascend P6 balances fashionable features and user-friendly functions.

Perfect for ‘selfies’, the HUAWEI Ascend P6’s industry-leading 5MP front-facing camera and auto facial-enhancing capabilities create model-gorgeous shots you’ll want to share. Its 8MP rear-facing BSI camera with F2.0 aperture and 4cm macro view also enables 1080P full HD video recording and playback. With Huawei’s proprietary IMAGESmart software, the HUAWEI Ascend P6 turns even the most novice photographer into a professional, with contrast and color enhancement, auto scene recognition, object tracing focus, and instant facial beauty support.
The HUAWEI Ascend P6 is even more intuitive and able to be customized with Huawei’s Emotion UI. Inspired by people, for device users worldwide, Huawei has gathered input from over 5 million consumers to help us optimize the latest version of Emotion UI. The proprietary user interface includes updates to Uni-Home including enhanced security, Huawei’s Me Widget, MagicTouch, and SmartReading. New to Huawei’s Emotion UI are the panoramic shoot and facial recognition photography functions.
Huawei’s unique Automated Discontinuous Reception (ADRX) and Quick Power Control (QPC) battery optimization and power saving technology improves performance by more than 30%, compared with smartphone batteries of equal size. With its multi-screen AirSharing capability, you can connect to a range of devices to boost your productivity at work or play by easily sharing documents or enhance your gaming experience with minimal lag time.
The HUAWEI Ascend P6 is available in black, white and pink with matching color cases. It will begin shipping to China from June and to Western Europe from July through Vodafone, Telefonica, Orange, H3G, O2, Carphone Warehouse, TalkTalk, Media Markt & Saturn, TIM and online via Amazon and CDiscount with other markets to follow.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Just how robust is your smartphone?

Have you ever wondered just how robust that expensive smartphone in your pocket is? Well, Protect Your Bubble ran a test with an Apple iPhone 5 and a Samsung Galaxy S 4 to see just how well they coped with being dropped onto a hard surface or immersed in water.. enjoy!


Krusell's TOP-10 selling phones for May




Krusell International AB

Krusell's TOP-10 selling phones for May

Krusell International AB - Jun 10, 2013 12:31 BST
1. (2) Samsung I9500 Galaxy S4
2. (1) Sony Xperia Z 
3. (3) Apple iPhone 5
4. (4) HTC ONE
5. (5) Apple iPhone 4 
6. (6) Sony Xperia ZL
7. (8) Samsung I8190 Galaxy S III 
8. (7) Samsung Galaxy i9300 SIII Mini
9. (-) Samsung GT-B2710 / Xcover 271
10. (10) Sony Xperia V
() = Last month's position.
Samsung beats Apple on Krusell's Top Seller list for May. 4 out of 10 positions is Samsung against 2 for Apple. Samsung who is aggressively investing in taking market shares is no secret to anyone in the mobile industry, says Ulf Sandberg CEO at Krusell.
- Though two things worth highlighting in May statistics is the fact that we see three Sony devices on the list. This is well achieved by Sony considering their global market share. The second thing is that we can see Samsung's Xcover 271 at 9th place and is a niche device that obviously needs good cases, which we are grateful for he ends.
The Swedish manufacturer of carrying cases for portable electronics, Krusell, releases its Top 10-list for May 2013. The list is based on number of pieces custom made mobile- and smartphone cases ordered from Krusell during May 2013. The list of Krusell is unique due to the fact that it reflects the sales of phones in six continents and in more than 70 countries around the globe.

Krusell Group with 200 million SEK in turnover, and more than 500 employees around the globe is a Swedish lifestyle-house in which several consumer electronic brands reside such as Motörheadphönes, Krusell and the ecofriendly BioSerie. After more than 20 years in the mobile phone industry, Krusell is established as one of the leading brands in its niche. Besides cases for smart phones, Krusell also sell, develop and manufacture laptop-, tablet cases and audio products. Moreover, Krusell is a subcontractor to Sony, Samsung, Sanyo, Honda, Toyota and LG.









Monday, June 10, 2013

Ovum comments: Apple announcement

Apple today announced new MacBook Air and Mac Pro computers, a new Mac operating system, and the new version of its iOS operating system, iOS 7. "iOS 7 is easily the biggest news...," believes Jan Dawson, chief telecoms analyst at Ovum "...because it represents a massive overhaul of the look and feel of the operating system, which has remained largely unchanged visually since the original version."

He continues: “The new version is almost unrecognizable, which will make it polarizing. Some people will love that their phone feels new and different, while others will be disoriented by the newness. Finding your Settings app is hard when the icon has totally changed, and the many people who easily get disoriented by their gadgets may well have a negative experience. On the other hand, this is a clear statement from Apple that it acknowledges the need to refresh the user interface and is willing to do something pretty dramatic. Many of the new features Apple added to iOS 7 are fixes to problems rather than dramatic or clever new ideas – Notifications, Siri, and Multitasking enhancements and the introduction of Control Center all deal with deficiencies rather than providing surprising new features no-one would have thought of. The fact that neither iOS 7 isn't coming until the fall is a disappointment from a user perspective, but the delay is necessary to give developers time to rework their apps to take advantage of the new operating system and fit in visually.

“The Mavericks desktop OS is a good upgrade, which continues with the iOS-ification of the Mac OS. The addition of Maps and iBooks and iOS integration for Notifications, Maps and other features are signs that Apple sees iOS as the future paradigm for all its operating systems, and it is driving a slow convergence towards that reality.

“The new MacBook Airs are further evidence that for all that competitors copy the look of Apple's computers, Apple itself is still ahead in terms of performance. The battery life improvements put it way ahead of other players in this space, and even when competitors start to adopt Intel's Haswell hardware, they will struggle to match the overall performance.

“The new Mac Pro feels like another sign that Apple is abandoning its hardcore creative users in favor of mainstream users. Even though the new Mac Pro looks very different and stylish, the smaller size means that additional hard drives and other hardware will have to sit outside the enclosure. This feels like a poor tradeoff considering that most of these computers sit under, rather than on, desks in video editing and advertising firms around the world.

"iTunes Radio as a Pandora clone is a lot less disruptive than a Spotify clone would have been. This is a nice free feature that lots of people will probably try out, but existing Pandora users won't have much reason to switch, especially as the service is still ad-supported unless you have an iTunes Match subscription. What would be really disruptive is a service that allowed you to call up specific songs on demand as you can with Spotify, but that would likely have disrupted Apple's existing iTunes business, and the music industry as a whole, too much. ”

Press Release: Apple Unveils iOS 7

Apple Unveils iOS 7

Completely Redesigned With Stunning User Interface & Great New Features

SAN FRANCISCO―June 10, 2013―Apple® today unveiled iOS 7, the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone®, featuring a stunning new user interface. iOS 7 is completely redesigned with subtle motion, an elegant color palette and distinct, functional layers that make it feel more alive. The typography has been refined for a cleaner, simpler look, and the use of translucency and motion makes even simple tasks more engaging. iOS 7 has hundreds of great new features, including Control Center, Notification Center, improved Multitasking, AirDrop®, enhanced Photos, Safari®, Siri® and introduces iTunes Radio™, a free Internet radio service based on the music you listen to on iTunes®.

“iOS 7 is the most significant iOS update since the original iPhone,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “To create it, we brought together a team with a broad range of expertise from design to engineering. With what we’ve been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as an exciting new beginning.”

“There is a profound and enduring beauty in simplicity, in clarity, in efficiency. True simplicity is derived from so much more than just the absence of clutter and ornamentation—it’s about bringing order to complexity,” said Jony Ive, Apple’s senior vice president of Design. “iOS 7 is a clear representation of these goals. It has a whole new structure that is coherent and applied across the entire system.”

iOS 7 is completely redesigned with an entirely new user interface, but will be instantly familiar to the hundreds of millions of iPhone, iPad® and iPod touch® users around the world. The new interface actually makes your phone appear bigger because everything is designed to take advantage of the entire screen. The redesigned fonts look amazing on the Retina® display, creating even sharper text.

iOS 7 introduces Control Center. Now the controls you want to access quickly are all in one convenient place. With just one swipe from the bottom of your screen, you have access to controls for Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth or Do Not Disturb, and the ability to adjust screen brightness, pause or play a song, jump to the next track and stream your music with AirPlay®. Control Center also gives you instant access to apps such as Clock, Camera, Calculator and the Flashlight.

With iOS 7, Notification Center is now available from the Lock screen so you can see all your notifications with a simple swipe, and the new Today feature in Notification Center gives you an at-a-glance view of your day with a summary of the important details such as weather, traffic, meetings and events.

With improved Multitasking in iOS 7, developers have the ability to enable any app to multitask in the background with a new API. Users have the ability to switch between their apps in a more visual and intuitive way, and iOS 7 pays attention to which apps you use most and automatically keeps your content up to date in the background.

AirDrop is an entirely new way to quickly and easily share content with people nearby. When you’ve got something you want to share, AirDrop shows you your contacts close by. Just select who you want to share with and AirDrop does the rest. AirDrop transfers are peer-to-peer so you can use it anywhere, without any network or set up required, and transfers are fully encrypted so your content is protected and private.

iPhones are used to take more photos around the world every day than any other camera, and with iOS 7 the new Camera app features filters so you can add real-time photo effects. The Camera app now includes a square camera option, and you can quickly and easily switch between your four cameras—video, photo, square and panorama—with just a swipe.

iOS 7 includes a redesigned Photos app that introduces Moments, a new way to automatically organize your photos and videos based on time and location. You can zoom out to see all your photos organized by Moments, Collections of Moments and Years. iOS 7 includes iCloud Photo Sharing, the easiest way to share just the photos you want with just the people you want. With iCloud® Photo Sharing, family and friends can contribute their own photos and videos to your shared photo streams, and the new Activity view displays updates from your shared streams all in one place.

Safari’s redesigned user interface lets you see more of your content—starting with full-screen browsing. The new smart search field helps simplify searching, and there’s a new view for your bookmarks and your Safari tabs. With iCloud Keychain®, your passwords and credit card information are securely stored and available on all your devices, so navigating password protected sites or autofilling during transactions is simple and secure. Enhanced Parental Controls allow you to automatically block access to adult websites or only allow access to a specific set of permitted websites.

Siri sounds better than ever with new male and female voices and includes Twitter search integration, so you can ask Siri what people are saying on Twitter*. Siri also now has Wikipedia integration, providing access to the world’s most popular Internet reference site. Siri offers Bing web search within the app and the ability to change device settings and play back voicemail.

The Music app has a beautiful new design and includes the new iTunes Radio, a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations and an incredible catalog of music from the iTunes Store®, combined with features only iTunes can deliver. iTunes Radio is the best way to discover new music. When you tune into iTunes Radio on your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Mac®, PC or Apple TV®, you’ll have access to stations inspired by the music you already listen to, Featured Stations curated by Apple and genre-focused stations that are personalized just for you. iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. The more you use iTunes Radio and iTunes, the more it knows what you like to listen to and the more personalized your experience becomes. iTunes Radio also gives you access to exclusive “first listen” premieres from top selling artists, Siri integration plus the ability to buy anything you hear with just one tap.

With over 900,000 apps, the App Store℠ is the world’s largest app marketplace. iOS 7 now features Popular Apps Near Me, a new way to find apps based on your current location, and iOS 7 will automatically keep your apps up to date. The App Store also comes with a new Kids category, allowing teachers and parents to easily discover apps for children by age.

Additional new iOS 7 features include:
  • a new Find My iPhone Activation Lock feature that requires your Apple ID and password before you can turn off Find My iPhone, erase data or re-activate a device after it’s been remotely erased;
  • Night Mode in Maps that responds to ambient light when you use it in the dark;
  • FaceTime® audio for high quality calls over a data network;
  • Notification sync, so when you dismiss a notification on one device it is dismissed on all of your devices;
  • Phone, FaceTime and Messages blocking to prevent specific people from being able to contact you;
  • Tencent Weibo support for users in China, a Chinese-English bilingual dictionary, and improved Chinese input including handwriting recognition for multiple Chinese characters;
  • the ability for businesses to more efficiently deploy and manage iPhones and iPads; and
  • enhanced in-car integration, bringing an Apple designed experience into the car for the first time.
The iOS 7 beta software and SDK are available immediately for iOS Developer Program members at developer.apple.com. iOS 7 will be available as a free software update for iPhone 4 and later, iPad 2 and later, iPad mini and iPod touch (fifth generation) this fall. Some features may not be available on all products.

*US English, French and German will be available with the launch of iOS 7. Additional languages will be added over time.