Comscore: Modest growth for Android and iOS in June, Samsung still top manufacturer

Analytics firm Comscore has just released its latest stats covering the U.S. smartphone market for the quarter ending in June 2012. Overall, the picture hasn't changed much since they released their last set of numbers. Samsung is still the largest smartphone manufacturer by market share, and Android still lays claim to a bigger chunk of the market than any other OS.

Apple's share of mobile subscribers grew 1.4 percent at the expense of all Android OEMs but HTC, which grew by 0.4 percent compared to the previous stats. In terms of OS share, Android continues to advance beyond half of the U.S. smartphone market, with a 51.6 percent share compared to 51 percent last time. Apple's growth was a little more aggressive, going from 30.7 percent to 32.4 percent. Lower down the table, RIM, Microsoft and Nokia's Symbian OS continue to slowly bleed market share to the big players.

We'll be interested to see how the numbers pan out for July, as we'd expect a fairly sizeable bump for Samsung and Android on account of the U.S. Galaxy S3 launch.

Source: Comscore

ComScore finds Android and Samsung still dominating mobile

ComScore has just released their latest quarterly mobile phone report, revealing the leaders in both platform and manufacturer market share in the US. Not much has changed since ComScore’s last report, which means Android and Samsung are still well in the lead.

According to ComScore, Android controls 50.9% of the smartphone [...]]]>

Android 4 now on 5% of Android devices, Gingerbread still dominant

No longer the platform of the 1%, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich is now found on nearly 5% (4.9%) of Android devices, according to the latest Android Platform Versions Chart. Android 2.3 Gingerbread is still found on the most devices by far, with 64.4% of Android devices running the previous version of Android. These charts are based on the number of devices that have accessed the Google Play Store over the past 14 days, giving a fairly good estimate of the breakdown of devices in the general population.

Still, with Ice Cream Sandwich now six months old, and Jelly Bean set to be unveiled later this year, we’re a bit disappointed that Android 4 is not available on more devices. The update to Android 4 is the greatest improvement yet in the Android OS, meaning it has taken OEMs significantly longer to push out updates to their devices.

With an update for the best selling Android device, the Galaxy S II, hitting the airwaves around the world recently (coming soon to the U.S.), we should see this number creep up and break the 10% mark shortly. Are you one of the lucky 5% to be on the latest and greatest version of Android? One of the 0.3% still on Cupcake?!

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

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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

CrApp of the Week: Samsung’s Pure Breeze is still a pure bust

Last September, I took a look at Samsung’s home screen replacement called Pure Breeze Launcher. At the time, I went easy on them. It was pretty bad when it first came out, but I praised Samsung nonetheless for “thinking outside the box” (ugh). But that was then. And this is now. Pure Breeze Launcher has been tweaked, updated to work with Android 4 and boasts a “new modern user experience.” Too bad it still sucks.

The theory behind Pure Breeze Launcher isn’t all that terrible. A minimal way to keep all your apps organized, giving you constant access to what you use the most. But the execution is so poor, I’m still scratching my head trying to figure out what the hell Samsung is really going for.

If I had to describe Pure Breeze Launcher in one sentence? It’s like Samsung took Apple’s always-open-app-drawer approach, added the ability to make folders into an entire page and color coded it all. If I had to elaborate? Actually, one sentence is fine. There’s nothing to this launcher. Some frosted glass accents, crazy names for everything (the Kite?!) and a whole lot of bugs.

Even though it says Pure Breeze Launcher was updated for Android 4, it barely works on my Nexus S. Icons keep disappearing. I can’t scroll between pages, err groups, err the Kite. No wait… it didn’t start me off in the Kite. It started me off in the all apps page. So how do I get to the Kite… OK, press home again. So then to get to my groups… No, that doesn’t make sense, maybe I… Well my groups are supposed to be here… What?! There’s no icons, but pressing this blank area takes me to my groups… Well then how do I… SCREW IT.

But hey! You can have wallpapers now! Samsung is kind enough to start you off with a wallaper of a guy wearing some Adidas jersey shorts and an athletic shirt (at least I think that’s the PC term for “wife-beater”) fishing off a pier. Now that’s art.

Look, I really wanted to like Pure Breeze Launcher. I swear I did. The idea of the Kite, an endlessly scrollable area where you can throw apps and widgets and shortcuts sounds kinda cool. But it just doesn’t work. If fact, it drove me partially insane. Which is why I probably shouldn’t do this, but if you want, you can download the Lite version of Pure Breeze below. Just remember, I can’t be held responsible for any medical expenses incurred from trying to remove the memory of this thing from your brain.

Breaking: We still have no idea what Samsung's 'next Galaxy' will bring

Unless you count any of the past months' fake renders and fan-made mock-ups (like the one above), Samsung's done a great job of  keeping the Galaxy S III next Galaxy under wraps. So much so that a sort of online news vacuum has developed, which, in the absence of any actual news, draws in unsubstantiated rumors and speculation. As the phone's May 3 unveiling draws near, we're seeing even more reports of what "might" be coming in Samsung's next flagship product.

Firstly, let's look at what we do know. Yesterday's press invite references the "next Galaxy" smartphone, and in an interview with BNN.ca, Samsung Canada's VP of Mobile Communications, Paul Brannen, says that it'll be a "flagship" phone, and the next evolution of the Galaxy line. Neither mentioned any specific branding, and Brannen in particular seemed to go out of his way to avoid doing so (for obvious reasons.)

Today's latest set of rumors comes from CNET's Crave blog, sources for which suggest that the "Galaxy S III" will be more of an incremental upgrade than a revolutionary product -- "like the iPhone 4S was to the 4." The problem with that is Samsung already has plenty of incremental updates to the Galaxy S II. In 4G LTE markets, there's the Galaxy S II LTE (aka Skyrocket), and in Asia, there's the Galaxy S II HD LTE. And then there's the Galaxy Note, which already offers a larger screen in addition to both LTE connectivity and an HD display.

Due in part to the lack of reliable leaked info, consumers' expectations are sky-high for Samsung's next flagship -- comment threads and forum discussions speculate on ridiculous features, like a 2GHz quad-core chip, 2GB of RAM and a 1080p display. With this in mind, it's possible that Samsung's merely trying to manage expectations going into a major product launch -- the old adage "under-promise and over-deliver" applies here.

CNET's source also suggested Samsung may do away with its current naming convention, saying "don't expect it to be called the S3." We'd be surprised if Samsung completely abandoned its Galaxy S branding, though. The manufacturer's sold 20 million Galaxy S II's worldwide, and in its native South Korea, more than 10% of the entire population owns one. With such a popular device, it'd make sense to have a clearly identified successor. In a world of Samsung Galaxy S II Epic 4G Touches and HTC EVO 4G LTE's, the "Galaxy S III" name is clear and succinct enough to do just that.

Spec-wise, reports have been circulating for months suggesting a quad-core phone with a 720p display. That's highly likely, but not even remotely surprising. The likes of HTC, LG and Huawei have already set the bar at this level for their 2012 flagships.

So the bottom line is we still have no idea what to expect on May 3. And that makes the event all the more exciting, considering how rare it is to go into a major smartphone announcement knowing absolutely nothing. Whatever form it ends up taking, we'll be on the ground in London on the day to bring you full coverage of Samsung's next flagships

Source: BNN.ca, CNET Crave

GSM Galaxy Nexus Gets a minor update to build IMM76I, still on Android 4.0.4

Some owners GSM Samsung Galaxy Nexus discover that they have a new update pending for them this morning, albeit minor. The last update for Google ' s flagship phone leaves the device on 4.0.4 Android, but ups the IMM76I build number, of the IMM76D older. For what ' really new s, some GNex owners report that this solves the problem of intermittent signal loss which ' d affecting some on IMM76D, as well as addressing small as occasional problems of locking screen lag when using automatic brightness. (Be sure to let us in the comments, if you notice other changes on your Nexus after you apply the update.)

And to keep them for any neckbeards track techniques stuff, it seems that the new software leaves the phone ' s band base as it was, while including a new kernel built last Friday.

The update should be pushed to the owners of GSM Galaxy Nexus in the coming weeks, if anything to go to patterns of previous version. If you manually update (and have the variant "yakju" Galaxy NEXUS), you can follow our usual instructions to do so, in replacement of the former OTA URL for this link here.

Thank you, Scott!

More: Galaxy Nexus Forums

White LG Optimus 4X HD surfaces, still has no release date

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A photo has surfaced of the LG Optimus 4X HD (see our hands-on) that shows that a white version of LG's first quad-core phone. It looks pretty sharp and will no doubt be in demand once this finally hits the shelves. It's too bad that we don't have a release date yet, since this was announced back at Mobile World Congress in February, and we're already starting to see quad-core flagships from other manufacturers.  Hopefully we'll get a release date sooner rather than later.

For the forgetful, here's the spec sheet for LG's upcoming flagship --

• 4.7-inch IPS display


• Android 4.0 (Ice Cream Sandwich)


• Tegra 3 quad-core processor


• 8MP rear camera


• 1.3 MP front-facing camera


• 2150 mAh battery

Once we hear anything further about color options or release dates, you'll be the first to know, so stay tuned.

Source: Unwired View

Samsung finally releases Galaxy S “Value Pack” update in Korea; US customers still in limbo

Back towards the tail-end of 2011, and up into the very beginning of 2012, there was a lot of back and forth on whether or not Samsung would update the original line of Galaxy S devices past Android 2.3, Gingerbread.

We first heard that Samsung would be releasing a “Value Pack,” or Android 4.0-lite, update for the Galaxy S with performance enhancements and certain features from ICS back-ported to Android 2.3. Just a few short days after the initial Value Pack announcement, a spokesperson with Samsung made it clear that no updates were going to be issued for the original Galaxy S.

Apparently that information wasn’t accurate, because Samsung has officially released their Samsung Galaxy S Value Pack update today in Korea.

Available now through Kies 2.0, the Samsung Galaxy S Value Pack update is exactly what it’s always been rumored as: a far cry from Android 4.0, but better than nothing. With the Value Pack update, Galaxy S users in Korea can expect performance enhancements and several features ported over from Android 4.0 like automatic font resizing, the ability to take pictures while filming video and face unlock (which Samsung has added blink detection to, making it somewhat more secure than Google’s version).

US Galaxy S owners may be out of luck on this one. There’s been no word of Samsung’s Value Pack reaching the States anytime soon, and there’s little reason to believe it will. If that situation changes, we’ll be sure to update you.

Any Galaxy S owners out there been waiting for this one? We’d love to know how the Value Pack update is, so be sure to share your experiences in the comments if you have access. We’d also like to know what you think of something like a “Value Pack” update. Is it nice to see Samsung is still working on software for older devices, or is a few back-ported features more like a slap in the face?

FYI: The Droid Charge is still the Droid Charge

Fear not, Samsung owners -- your Droid Charge is still a Droid Charge. An e-mail sent this afternoon and Verizon's own website seem to contradict that, calling it the "4G LTE CHARGE by Samsung." But Verizon has assured us that "there has been no change to the product's name."

Phew.

Google Wallet updated with core fixes, prepaid cards still borked

Google Wallet has been updated with a pretty extensive (and detailed) change log. You can now use a PO box in the address and be able to top up your prepaid card, and that address can be longer (good news for those living in Winchester-on-the-Severn, Maryland), reward card syncing has been fixed, "improvements" have been made to support more handsets, and fixes to the core wallet system have been applied.

One thing that hasn't been fixed is the prepaid cards. You can't add a new one, you can't retrieve your data for an existing one, and you'll get an error about system upgrades if you try. I know, because i tried both. I'm getting the feeling my $11.40 is gone forever.

All kidding aside, I'm sure some of you guys did drop a decent amount of cash in the prepaid card, have wiped your phone since, and can't get it back. I understand the need to change and fix a few things on the security side (Google Wallet is still very beta after all), but it would be nice to be able to access my fortune next time I wanna buy a cup of coffee. We can only hope Google gets it all figured out shortly.

There's a link after the break to the Market, but be warned -- it only will work if you've got a Sprint Nexus S 4G or an unlocked Galaxy Nexus with an AT&T SIM card in it. The rest of us will have to resort to hackery to get it installed. I'm sure the apk will be posted somewhere soon enough.

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The official Temple Run for Android still isn't out, anything else is just malware

A lot of excited Temple Run fans may have thought the day had finally arrived this morning. Despite having previously confirmed that an announcement would be made via their Facebook page, probably the most convincing fake of all showed up today in the Market. 

The 'developers' were shown as being Imangi Studios, the actual developers of the iOS smash hit. All seemed well, until you actually installed the app. Reports were flooding in suggesting that no levels would be available for another four days. Of course the alarm bells should at this point start ringing and anyone who had downloaded this should uninstall immediately. Imangi -- the real Imangi -- took to Twitter to try and get the word out. Thankfully the malicious app has been removed from the Market. 

To try and calm down the fever pitch that anticipation has reached for Temple Run, Imangi have offered some further information on the release -- you guessed it, on their Facebook page. Everything is a scam, until they say otherwise. They have promised to deliver at least a weeks notice prior to launching in the Market, which rules February out of the equation. The message is clear though folks, you might be excited for the game, but there are some horrible people out there who will stop at nothing to take advantage of that. However, hit the source link below to head over to the official Temple Run Facebook page. After all, that's where everything will be revealed. 

Source: Imangi (Facebook)