comScore's Q1 2012 data shows that Samsung and Android are still sitting pretty

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

comScore just took the wraps off its data for the first quarter of 2012, and it confirms what we’ve been seeing over the past few months: in the U.S., Samsung and Android are the manufacturer and mobile OS to beat. Samsung maintains its lead with 26% of the total mobile headset market share, up from 25.3% in Q4 2011. That 0.7 of a percentage point might have been taken directly from LG, who at 19.3% of the market share is down from 20% last year. Rounding out the top five are Apple, Motorola, and HTC at 14%, 12.8%, and 6% respectively, with only Apple seeing a gain from last quarter. This is the first time in a few quarters that HTC appears in the data, as Q1 marks its surpassing RIM in total market share. It should be noted that comScore measures all mobile handsets, including "dumb" phones.

On the OS side, not much has changed in terms of ranking. Android has gained 3.7 percentage points, up to 51% of total smartphone market share. iOS gained too, up to 30.7%, with RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian at 12.3%, 3.9%, and 1.4% respectively. This quarter marks yet another loss for the Blackberry manufacturer, down 3.7 points from Q4 2011.

As for usage, 74.3% of U.S. smartphone owners sent text messages on their devices, while 50% downloaded apps and 49.3% browsed the web. Social networking is used by 36.1% of total users, while games and music are used by 32.6% and 25.3% respectively. A full breakdown of all the data can be found at the source.

Source: comScore

Tripit shows update trips now that you have taken

I ' ve long praised the merits of Tripit for those of us who travel frequently. He ' s essential to keep track of flights, hotels, car rental - all, basically. (And that it ' s available in free form or paying, which is an asset.) But until now he ' s only really kept track of upcoming trips. And that ' thing to track certainly the largest s. But there are many times when I ' d like to look back on past travel and where I stayed and how I arrived.

TripIt ' s supported in its last update. You can now see travel and all attached routes. Therefore, if you stayed in a great hotel but can ' t do not forget the name, you ' t have have sort by emails. Or perhaps you want to give praise for a particularly good flight. (Or maybe you can just ' t remember what city your in.) (It is located.)

Me? I ' m is totally the use to boast. But I hope that your use will be a little more humble.

More: Tripit Blog

HTC Golf press shot shows off HTC’s upcoming entry-level Android 4.0 phone

The HTC One V may be the value proposition of the HTC One family, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to be HTC’s entry-level handset for 2012. A press shot of the HTC Golf (rumored to launch as the HTC Wildfire C later this quarter) has surfaced, revealing a design very similar to the HTC One X.

While the HTC One X and HTC Golf may look alike, their specifications are polar opposites. The HTC Golf is rumored to have a 3.5-inch 480 x 320 pixel display, 512MB of RAM, 4GB of internal storage, microSD card slot, 5 megapixel camera, Bluetooth 3.0 and 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi. The software setup should include Android 4.0, HTC sense 4.0, Beats Audio and 25GB of cloud storage through DropBox. The processor on the HTC Golf is still unknown, but we hope it’ll pack a little more punch than the 600 MHz processor included in last year’s HTC Wildfire S.

With the price of the HTC One V coming in at less than $350, we can’t see HTC charging more than $300 for the HTC Golf. We doubt any of you are planning to purchase the HTC Golf, but it could be a huge seller for consumers who want to jump on the Android bandwagon for the same price it would cost them to buy a feature phone.

Do you think the entry-level HTC Golf fits into HTC’s new strategy for 2012?

HTC One V video shows off unboxing and benchmark scores

The HTC One X and One S have been getting a lot of attention lately, but that doesn’t mean the entry-level HTC One V has been completely forgotten. Even though the HTC One V isn’t expected to go on sale in Europe for a few more weeks, that doesn’t mean we have to wait that long to get a closer look at the device.

Netbook news managed to buy the HTC One V in Taiwan, and were kind enough to share a pretty lengthy unboxing video which also covers a few benchmarks and shows the handset running some of the latest games featured on Google Play. The HTC One V may be running on a Snapdragon S2 SoC with the Adreno 205 GPU, but you’ll notice that the benchmark numbers and gaming performance is definitely a step or two ahead of last year’s phone running on the same chip. Combine the handset’s performance with HTC’s new ImageSense camera technology and a $325 price tag and you have the ingredients for an instant success.

We’re expecting several regional carriers in the U.S. market to sell the HTC One V within the next month or two. We don’t know what the handset’s final price will be on this side of the Atlantic, but the One V would be impossible to pass up if someone prices it at $300.

Is the HTC One V the right combination of value and performance with phones like the HTC One X on the market?

1GHz single-core Qualcomm processor3.7-inch TFT capacitive display (480 x 800)HTC Sense 4.0Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)512MB RAM4GB built-in storage5-megapixel camera w/ LED flash and AFMicroSD card slot (up to 32GB)Bluetooth v4.0 w/ A2DPMicroUSBDimensions: 120.3 x 59.7 x 9.2mmWeight: 115g

Google Drive shows the developers Android device Google + Hangout

Now the existence of Google Drive isn't ' t really a question. There is no, it ' s there and now connect Android was confirmed for all those who may still have doubts.

In a Google + Hangout highlighting Android developers, an employee of Google with a link of the Galaxy inadvertently showed off the coast of the option "Share the drive" on his camera as you can see just in the above screen Cap.

Google has since drawn to the bottom of the video Google + Hangout, but many have already taken a blow of eye to the icon just sitting there in the sharing options, waiting to be unveiled to the masses.

Source: the point

Sprint is done with WiMAX devices, shows us their LTE map for 2014

Sprint is gearing up to release their first 4G LTE device as soon as next month, so it’s no surprise to find out today that the carrier is done releasing new 4G WiMAX devices. Sue Marek of Fierce Wireless reports that Bob Azzi, SVP of networks at Sprint, said “While the company experienced success with its WiMAX handsets, including the HTC Evo, Sprint will not launch any additional WiMAX devices.”

The upgrade to 4G LTE is part of Sprint’s multi-billion overall network strategy, also known as Network Vision. Sprint plans to finish building it’s LTE network by the end of 2013, but we think the buildout could even be extended til 2014.

“Within the first half of 2012, Sprint customers should experience first-hand the wide-reaching improvements we have made in terms of boosting voice and data quality,” said Bob Azzi, Sprint. “With advanced smartphones and sophisticated wireless modems, our customers are using more and more mobile data, and one of our top priorities is to provide the best technology possible to improve our customers’ experience.”

We don’t have an exact launch date, but Sprint already announced the first major markets to receive LTE coverage. Sometime during the first half of 2012, Sprint customers will see 4G LTE and improved 3G coverage in:

DallasAtlantaHoustonSan Antonio

Coverage will then expand to 10 markets by the end of June, but specific cities have not been named.

Today tech reporter Sascha Segan tweeted a picture of Sprint’s LTE coverage map for 2014. Areas in green represent LTE coverage while areas in blue will be covered by roaming agreements with other carriers.

Looking forward, the upcoming 4G LTE devices coming to Sprint that we know about include:

At this point most Sprint customers are kind of stuck in the middle. The best Android phones on Sprint are all WiMAX, but that will slowly be phased out this year. New subscribers will be encouraged to get a phone with LTE, but Sprint’s coverage will be sparse until next year.

If you are in the market for a new Sprint phone, let us know what you plan to do.

Account Activity shows where and how you use Google services

Google today introduced "Account Activity", a feature that will track account holders' monthly usage of Google services. Each month, Google will send you a password-protected report that will statistics on your email usage, search history, and latitude check ins and plot the data against your usage during the previous month. The service incorporates your usage across all devices, including Android products, and allows you to see where, when, and on which device your account was accessed.

Right now the report works with your Gmail, web, and latitude usage, though Google says it will add more of its services in the coming months, which presumably leaves room for tracking Android-specific stats. You can opt in through "Account Settings" in your Google account, and opt out at any time. For more information, visit Google's official blog at the source link.

Source: Google Blog

Verizon Motorola Fighter shows its big ol' self

The Motorola RAZR isn't exactly a small phone. Thin, yes. Small? No. It's definitely got some square footage to it. Then there's this new behemoth. That, friends, is said to be the Motorola Fighter on the left here. And that unmistakable Verizon logo sure points to a U.S. launch at some point. That's supposed to be a 4.6-inch display, and the lack of physical buttons suggests it'll have Ice Cream Sandwich. (Which it damn well better have.) We've got feeling that the angle of this pic is making the Fighter look a little bigger than it actually is, but it's certainly going to put a crimp in your one-handed style.

Source: Mfunz (translate); via PhoneHK, Engadget

Texas Instruments shows off ultrasonic stylus that can work in three dimensions

At Mobile World Congress 2012, Texas Instruments was demonstrating a stylus that communicates its distance from a tablet over ultrasonic frequencies. The tablet in this demo has a microphone in each of its four corners, which can pinpoint exactly where the stylus is pointing at the screen, even if you're not touching it. Of course, the stylus also works perfectly well along the two standard planes, but it's particularly cool when you pull back and the model correspondingly zooms out. 

Acer CloudMobile shows itself on video before MWC

We're almost there -- at MWC in Barcelona that is. But, as ever before we get to a big show the leaks continue to trickle out ahead of time. We're already expecting to see the Acer Cloud Mobile unveiled in Spain -- and naturally we'll be there to play with it if/when it appears.

The Italians are already one step ahead of the game though. At a recent press event in Milan, the guys from Celluare Magazine managed to get their hands on one. Better still they managed to shoot a quick hands on video with the device too. Before you click play though, remember that they're Italian. They're speaking Italian. But the video gives you a pretty good first look at the device. All in all, it doesn't look half bad.  

Remember to keep it locked to Android Central over the course of the next week for all the best of the goings on from MWC.

via Unwired View

HTC sends greetings from Barcelona, shows a box of goodies

On their new official blog, HTC has posted a short greeting from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona post from Director of digital marketing John Starkweather. While it's nice of him to say hello to all of us here on the Internet, and we certainly wish him well, we're more interested in the picture he attached. 54 pieces of "something amazing" are in that box (we counted), covered teasingly in pink bubble wrap. 

We don't have much to go on, but I have One good guess. We'll know more when we see HTC on Sunday. 

Source: HTC Blog

HTC sends greetings from Barcelona, shows a box of goodies

On their new official blog, HTC has posted a short greeting from Mobile World Congress in Barcelona post from Director of digital marketing John Starkweather. While it's nice of him to say hello to all of us here on the Internet, and we certainly wish him well, we're more interested in the picture he attached. 54 pieces of "something amazing" are in that box (we counted), covered teasingly in pink bubble wrap. 

We don't have much to go on, but I have One good guess. We'll know more when we see HTC on Sunday. 

Source: HTC Blog