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Feb

Nokia Finally Announces Strategic Partnership With Microsoft Over Windows Phone OS; Android Towers Over Both

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in Android OS, News

After many weeks of speculations, Nokia and Microsoft finally announced minutes ago that the 2 companies are entering a strategic partnership "to build a new global mobile ecosystem."

Nokia has been struggling to keep up with the exploding smartphone market in the past years, and it was clear that something needed to be done.

MeeGo, Nokia's latest bet at replacing its aging Symbian system with a new, open sourced, Linux-based OS, has been in development since 2010, but no phones running this OS have been released by the company yet.

In an effort to regain market share, Nokia had to pick - either join forces with Android, a giant growing at incredible speeds, or side with the newcomer - Windows Phone 7 from Microsoft, a company Nokia can trust (their current CEO, Stephen Elop, spent almost 3 years as a Microsoft VP of BizDev).

Jan

Samsung Galaxy S 4G, Android-Powered Sidekick 4G "Coming Soon" To T-Mobile

Posted by Jaroslav Stekl in Galaxy S 4G, News, Samsung, Sidekick 4G, T-Mobile

So it's true: Samsung and T-Mobile have indeed built an HSPA+ version of the Galaxy S, although it didn't cause the Android 2.2 update for their current offering, the Vibrant, to be held back (contrary to what some had assumed).

Unfortunately, we don't know much about the phone yet - in fact, all we've been told so far is that:

It'll be called the "Galaxy S 4G" (not the "Vibrant 4G," mind you).
It will feature full HSPA+ connectivity, meaning that it will be able to reach theoretical download speeds of up to 21 Mbps. Up until now, T-Mobile's HSPA+ devices (the G2 and the myTouch 4G) have been limited to 14.4 Mbps.

Jan

Sony Ericsson Has Sold Over 9 Million Android Phones, Despite Fewer Sales Overall

Posted by Abhiroop Basu in News, Sony Ericsson

Sony Ericsson posted profits of 35 million euros ($47.14 million) in Q4 of 2010, due largely to major downsizing combined with a shift towards Android-based smartphones. Although Sony Ericsson sold fewer phones overall, Android enthusiasts will be happy to hear that they managed to sell over 9 million Android-based Xperia phones, including the X10, X10 Mini, X10 Pro, and X8, since their launch.

In the last year, Sony has made significant changes after reporting losses of 836 million euros in 2009 ($1.13 billion). A total of 4,000 employees were laid off and annual operating costs were reduced by over 880 million euros ($1.19 million).

Oct

Android Absolutely Destroys Apple, Microsoft, Palm, And Blackberry In WSJ's "Who Makes The Best Mobile OS" Poll

Posted by Artem Russakovskii in News, Off-Topic

Last week, the Wall Street Journal posted a public poll asking its readers to pick the best mobile operating system maker. Apple, Google, Microsoft, Palm, RIM/Blackberry, and Other were valid options, with Apple leading at about 55% at the time. Noticing this, Android Police along with reddit and other media publications issued a call to action:

The next day, Android and Apple traded places, and the former started leading by a small margin.

Fast forward a week, and I decided to check back with the poll to see how it is doing... I will just leave the following here without any commentary - the results speak for themselves*:

What can I say?!

Jul

Android On The Move: Google Now Controls 13% Of The Smartphone Operating System Market

Posted by David Ruddock in News

Today, comScore released its mobile phone market share figures today for May 2010 (the figures take a while to compile), and the results bode very well for Google. Among smartphone operating systems, Google’s Android now holds a 13% share. While this may not sound huge, keep in mind that only 3 months prior in February Android controlled only 9% of the market. The figures and changes, below:

Mobile OS	Feb. 2010	May 2010	Change
RIM	42.1%	41.7%	-0.4
Apple	25.4%	24.4%	-1.0
Microsoft	15.1%	13.2%	-1.9
Google	9.0%	13.0%	+4.0
Palm	5.4%	4.8%	-0.6

Meanwhile, every other smart phone operating system has lost ground.

Apr

Microsoft Introduces ‘Kin’, Shows That They, Like, Totally Get Kids

Posted by Chris Dehghanpoor in Devices By Manufacturer, News

Earlier this morning Microsoft finally unveiled the fruits of their not-so-secret Project Pink, and it looks… interesting. The new project is called ‘Kin’, and it’s very clear that you and I are not the target audience. They appear to be going after the lucrative market of hyper-connected kids and teens who would rather text and share content online via Facebook or MySpace than type out an email and manage their agendas.

So What Is Kin?

Kin is a series of phones running a skinned, trimmed down version of Windows 7 Phone Series. Initially, Microsoft will be announcing two phones that run the operating system, both of which had pictures leaked very early on.