Microsoft Patents New Phone Concept

Microsoft is known for patenting anything that comes to mind, I'm sure they would've patented photosynthesis if they could, but the latest patent might be of interest to Android users. The new patent by Microsoft is this new mobile phone slider concept that allows your device's screen to slide out and flush with the keyboard. This new keyboard setup would allow full access to all the keys, rather than today's concept that might make the top keys hard to press.
This design might never come true, but this is sign that innovation isn't dead yet --Microsoft is still working on patenting that too.

Android Takes 20% of Tablet Market From iPad; The Real Reason Apple is Lawsuit Happy

Here's the wrinkle, the thrux of the matter, the real nitty gritty... Apple isn't suing Amazon, HTC, Samsung, and now Motorola because they genuinely believe their ideas are being copied. In fact, Apple's lawsuits have nothing to do with any of these companies. There is one singular pattern emerging from all this... there is only one common denominator: Android.

A new report from ABI Research indicates that in just 12 months time, Google's Android based tablets have taken a 20% chunk out of Apple's iPad marketshare. While it's true that no single manufacturer of a tablet has been able to mount any significant threat to the iPad... taken as a whole, the multiple Android manufacturers aren't just eroding Apple's marketshare in the tablet market, they are slicing through it aggressively. It's precisely because Android doesn't come from just one particular manufacturer that makes it such a monumental threat to Apple. It can attack from multiple angles.

It is very likely that Android's "meteoric" rise to dominance in the smartphone industry scared the crap out of Apple. Now, they are having a terrifying "deja vu" experience in the tablet industry, and see the exact same thing repeating itself with Android for tablets "ramping" up to crush the iPad.

Apple isn't confident that it can go after Google directly or beat it in the marketplace, so it has chosen instead to assault Android indirectly in the courts by going after the manufacturers that make Android products. This is a devious plan, and simply smacks of desperation.

In many ways, it is a very sad tale. Apple is actually a pretty amazing company and has always been a leader in innovation. I even consider myself to be a fan of Apple. They pioneered some of the greatest technological phases in human history, but for some reason they always choose to remain a "closed" system. This ultimately leads to their downfall, just like when Microsoft beat them in the past with PC's versus Macs. It may be true that for the longest time Macs were a better product than any PC (and it could be argued that they still are), but it is impossible to deny that when it comes to market proliferation, they got the "snot beat out of them." Windows based PCs control a vast majority of the world's home computer markets, and Mac OS computers hold maybe 15%.

History is repeating itself with Android vs. iOS, and unless Apple decides to become more "open-minded," their fate is already sealed; they will again be relegated to a "niche" market spot. Fighting their competitors by abusing the legal system will not stop it, and simply just smacks of "bad form."

Does anyone else see this same pattern? Isn't it obvious?

Samsung Plans to Appeal the Galaxy Tab 10.1 pan-European Ban on August 25

Last week the legal battles between Apple and Samsung took a turn for the worse in Europe. In all the European countries except the Netherlands, Apple won an injunction barring further sales of the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1. This news came out just before the newest report that Apple is now also suing Motorola over the Xoom, claiming they copied Apple's designs.

Although this was a blow to Samsung, they aren't going to take it lightly, and word is they plan to appeal the Regional Court of Düsseldorf's ruling on August 25th. Interestingly, if Samsung can win on the appeal, then "according to German law, if its [Apple's] case doesn't have enough merit in court, it will pay damages to Samsung for missed business."

Even though I really do not want to take sides for or against one company over another, the reality is that this legal onslaught from Apple is really bad for the legal system as a whole. If Apple continues to make headway against its competitors using "patent and IP wars" it will set legal precedence that will ultimately muck up the patent system even more. It will lead down a "slippery slope" to a legal quagmire that will ultimately stifle innovation.

Let's cross our fingers that the appeals process works out in Samsung's favor, or that at some point, Apple will simply come to their senses, and just work out a licensing deal. If not, the only "light at the end of the tunnel" may be anti-trust regulators investigating Apple for this whole legal tirade, but that is only a remote possibility.

[Rumor] HTC Vigor May be the First 'Beats by Dre' Branded Phone

There is a rumor floating around that the first "Beats by Dre" branded partner phone for HTC may be the HTC Vigor. Furthermore, a few more details leaked out about the device. The phone will come with the previously leaked specs:

• 4.3-inch 720p HD display
• 1.5GHz dual-core CPU
• 1GB of RAM.

Furthermore, it will supposedly resemble the HTC Thunderbolt without a kickstand, and it will come with Gingerbread and a next-gen HTC Sense UI. Additionally, it may feature the specialized bass speaker technology found in "Beats" headphones. If this turns out to be true, the Vigor could turn out to be a serious music-lovers phone. What do you think?

Galaxy SII Finally Coming to US; Samsung Mobile Press Event in NYC August 29

Samsung just shared that there mobile division will have a major announcement at a NYC press event on August 29th. The "major announcement" is that the Samsung Galaxy SII will finally arrive on U.S. soil! Samsung's CEO, Shin Jong-kyun, promised that the superphone would be "launched" in August, and it appears he will make good on his promise, just under the wire. The Samsung Galaxy SII has been the hottest selling Android smartphone of all time, and all before it even launched here in the USA. As reported before, it will be coming to multiple different carriers under different names, but regardless of its moniker, this superphone is a welcome addition to the Android family.

Motrola Photon 4G for Sprint Drops to $99 Dollars at Radio Shack

Radio Shack is having a blow-out sale on the brand new Motorola Photon 4G. The ultra-powerful, and well received, superphone can now be had for only $100 bucks on a new contract. Renewal contracts are still at the same level and go for $199.99. Still, if you know someone that needs a new phone and new Sprint service, this is an amazing deal. Here's a spec refresher for you:

• 4.3 Inch qHD PenTile display
• 1Ghz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
• 1GB RAM
• 16GB on-board storage
• 8MP rear camera, VGA front cam
• Webtop-enabled
• WiMax
• Android 2.3.4

Acer Iconia Smart Finally Shipping To Germany

During the CES show this year, Acer brought out this large 4.8 inch device with no information on when it'll be launched worldwide. Now they have. Acer's German offices posted on their Facebook page that the Gingerbread powered device should be seeing some shelves sometime in September. This seems a bit late considering we all hoped to see it come out before summer, but at least it'll come pre-loaded with Android 2.3. Just to give you a refresher; the device has a 4.8" screen with ultra-wide 19:9 aspect and 1024x480 pixels resolution. Android Gingerbread is pre-loaded on the device and it'll be running on a Snapdragon chipset with a 1GHz Scorpion CPU. The camera will be 8MP with LED flash, and so far, the price we're hearing is €499 ($710) for Exansys UK.

Death To The Dell Streak

The Dell Streak 5 never received the big break it needed to become the hit Dell hoped it would be. The problems started when the device was launched 'sim-locked' for AT&T only, then problems continued with the device running old software (Donut), and, lastly, it was priced to battle with the iPad ($529). Those three things, along with the fact that it obviously was not sure what it wanted to be, phone or tablet, made this day inevitable. Today, Dell put the hybrid device to rest without any funeral or fuss.
Anyone sad to see the little tablet go so young?

Motorola Readying For Patent Attacks

Patent battles seem to have become a norm in the smartphone world, with Microsoft and Apple doing most of the suing. Now, Motorola wants to join the battle with their own patents. In a recent conference, Motorola's mobile department CEO hinted the companies future hopes of using its patents to get a bit more out of Android. Microsoft really showed the industry by winning royalties with most of the people they sued, and it seems Motorola is now following their lead with hopes of winning a few battles using their patent collection.

This isn't great news because soon, we'll have no consumer electronics because they all "copied" each others' designs.

Acer Iconia A500 to Recieve 3.2 OTA Update on August 25th

Acer announced on their Malaysian Facebook page that they will be releasing the 3.2 OTA update for their Iconia Tab A500 on August 25ht. Apparently, there was a minor setback due to a few policy changes from Google and that’s the reason for the delay.

Dear Fans, due to some policy changes from Google where Acer has to comply, the A500 Honeycomb 3.2 OTA update will be postponed to 25th August, we apologize for the dissapointments and upsets but we will be bringing the final and stable update to all of our A500 fans asap! Please be patient guys

First time I’ve heard of Google crackin’ the whip. Hopefully this isn’t just limited for Asian markets and this OTA will be pushed out stateside as well. Either way, it doesn’t look like all you Iconia Tab users will have to wait much longer to get your taste of Android 3.2 Honeycomb.

T-Mobile G2x Gingerbread Updats Complete

The T-Mobile G2x was released months ago with the title of "world's first dual-core phone." That title came with a big price sadly, because LG rushed the phone to be released, it was plagued with bugs and random reboot issues. These issues were promptly reported by the users, and they were apparently fixed in the recent Gingerbread update that T-Mobile was pushing out to their users. Yesterday, T-Mobile confirmed that all G2x users should've received the update, and all future devices will ship with Gingerbread pre-installed.

If you missed the OTA update, you can still give it a shot at LG's website, otherwise, everyone should've seen the notification before the cut-off date of August 10th.

Google Video App For Android Phones Available

Google's movie rental service has been available for honeycomb tablets exclusively for months now, giving them the ability to rent and watch movies on the go, the application is now also available for phones. This application was launched yesterday to the normal Android market for devices running Froyo and above. It gives phones the ability to use Google Movie from anywhere they have a data connection. Using the app, you can rent any movie that's available with Google and watch it on your mobile phone. Another cool feature about the application is that it compiles all your other videos on your phone and puts it in another tab for easy access.