Photo: Sony Ericsson

The Sony Ericsson team has used MWC 2011 as its platform to unveil a trio of smartphones, namely the Sony Xperia Pro, Play and Neo. While each phone has its strengths – and significantly bolsters the Android lineup – Sony clearly has its devices aimed at different market segments if specs and looks are anything to go by.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Pro is a bit of a surprise, in that no one knew much about it until its MWC 2011 reveal. The handset is reminiscent of the HTC Desire Z, in that it has a Qwerty keyboard revealed through a foldout design. It packs a 3.7-inch display, with expected talk time of six hours.

It will be available in three colours, black, silver and red, and runs on Android 2.3. Outside of an HDMI out port for watching content on your television, not much more is known about this Qwerty handset.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Play got its official release at MWC, but the world has known about and spoken about this device at length prior to the release. Once widely known as the Sony PSP phone, this Google Android 2.3 powered phone has a generous 4-inch display, and a slide out design, revealing a d-pad and face buttons commonly seen on traditional handheld consoles.

It packs a 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor and has an Adreno GPU that allows it to deliver 3D gaming at 60fps. It’s not quite what many expected the Sony PSP phone would be, but only once the games are available will be able to properly judge whether it is a worthwhile investment.

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo

The Sony Ericsson Xperia Neo is the final handset in the company’s trio of MWC 2011 devices, and like the other two handsets, runs on Android 2.3. What differentiates this handset from the other SE phones – and most other phones on the market – is its photographic capabilities, with an 8MP rear-facing camera, capable of photo snapping and HD video recording, as well as a 2MP front-facing camera for video conferencing.

With its 3.7-inch display packing a resolution of 852×480, this handset has a lot going for it.

All three handsets are scheduled to arrive in April, so it won’t be too long a wait before you can get your hands on the latest Google Android 2.3 phones from Sony Ericsson.

Photo: Guardian

Months ago rumours began swirling that a Facebook phone with deep integration of the social network’s social graph was being developed. While that may still be true, and under wraps, INQ is the first company to release major Facebook integration on a handset in the form of the INQ Cloud Touch.

What’s in the box?

Outside of integration with the world’s largest social network, the Cloud Touch also has automatic integration to streaming music kingpin, Spotify.

TheGoogle Android 2.2 powered device sports a 3.5-inch HVGA capacitive touchscreen, a 5-megapixel AF camera and a 4GB microSD card. On a more disappointing side, an underwhelming 600MHz Qualcomm processor powers the phone, with the device having a paltry 4MB of internal memory.

It’s not all that bad

In defense of the INQ Cloud Touch, the device is aimed at the young Facebook generation and is positioned as a budget handset, so its specs make sense.

It’s all about Facebook

However, uninspiring specs aside, and even to the discount of Google Android 2.2, this phone is all about the Facebook integration. Facebook Single Sign On is active across the handset, with people being able to check into their locations using Facebook Places, a feature that is active on the user’s homescreen.

Facebook Events is integrated into Google Calendar, too, with the INQ Cloud Touch looking to be the hub for all your Facebook-related tasks.

Furthermore the deep Facebook integration sees a large customizable widget built into the device, allowing you the ability to really stalk your five closest FB friends by leveraging the social network’s social graph.

Pricing and release

The INQ Cloud Touch has been given neither a price tag nor a release date. INQ has, however, given a release window, with the UK being the first region to get the handsets some time in April.

This may not be the Facebook phone we first suspected would be announced, but if it is a sign of what to come, Facebook is coming to the smartphone big time, and it isn’t afraid to use its biggest competitor’s Google Android 2.2 platform to do so, either.

Photo: izensun / Flickr

Smartphone darling HTC has reportedly bought equity in cloud gaming service OnLive. This further increases the number of partnerships, and growing influence, the gaming service has, while HTC will use the partnership as a means to bring gaming to mobile phones.

Put your money up

Digitimes reports that HTC has invested to the tune of $40 million to buy some equity in OnLive. Maggie Cheng, who is HTC’s spokesperson, said [via The Wall Street Journal] this investment will strengthen HTC’s gaming capabilities, as well as allow the mobile phone maker to tap into growing demand for smartphone games.

The Taiwanese company is apparently buying 5.3 million OnLive shares, valued at $7.50 each.

Content proliferation

The HTC association – and money – will likely be a gateway for the cloud gaming service to bring its offering to many smartphone platforms, with HTC likely not getting exclusivity, but still getting some value add from the investment.

All this attention

While enthusiast sites like our own and many others around the world have been sceptical about OnLive’s chances for success, the cloud gaming service has been partnering with formidable companies all across the globe. Chip giant Intel has a stake in OnLive, UK broadband giant BT has a stake in the company, the service will start shipping pre-installed on Vizio televisions, and now smartphone maker HTC is on board, too.

As for HTC, the company is looking to claw back its once unchallenged reputation as the number one Google Android handsets manufacturer, and Apple’s biggest smartphone competitor from a hardware perspective. 2010 saw a seismic shift in the Android landscape, with Samsung and its Galaxy S propelling the Korean consumer electronics giant into the smartphone limelight. It will be interesting to see what this unusual partnership results in the long run.

Photo: Apple

GigaOm has a fascinating article exploring whether Google is a one-trick pony, and if it is, whether this is a good or bad thing. It’s well worth reading, and we figured we’d give some commentary on the question.

Some background

Long story short, many people have been arguing that Google is a one-trick pony that has a fundamental issue with creating new business and new revenue lines. When posed with this question, outgoing CEO Eric Schmidt argued that that is one hell of a trick, given how colossal the market for search is. The thing is, is this trick alone sufficient? And if not, is Google sufficiently capable to build new lines of business that bring in the kind of revenue search does?

Eroding tricks

Google’s search business has been under threat from two fronts in recent months. The first being growing criticism of the quality of search results for the company, with some prominent tech critics individuals even calling for a new, better Google to be built.

The other problem is the way in which people conduct searches, and, more specifically, Facebook. A major topic in tech circles is whether social search can supplant keyword based search. More specifically, will people use Facebook to ask their friends for specific answers in lieu of using Google? If this happens, even if Google has 100 per cent of the search pie, and Google innovation in the space returns to acceptable levels, the revenue generated won’t be nearly what it is today. Hence Google needing to stop being a one-trick pony.

Can’t seriously be considered a one-trick pony

While search brings in by far the bulk of Google’s revenue, to continually consider it a one-trick pony would be somewhat unfair. Google Android alone, the company’s mobile OS platform, is disrupting one of the fastest growing industries in the world – smartphones and mobile devices. Sure, search is still how Google generates revenue on mobiles, but the fact that the company has managed to build a mobile OS platform this widely used proves they can build compelling platforms. They just need to figure out how to better monetize them.

One more thing on Android: with this many Android handset manufacturers on board, it isn’t outside the realm of possibility the search giant could figure out additional ways to exploit their platform for even more financial gain.

Food for thought

Google innovation aside, the fact that people are asking these questions about a company once considered untouchable is telling.

Photo: Robert Scoble / Flickr

Search giant Google, a longtime shining star in the technology space, both in terms of its products and the financial returns they garner, has had yet another impressive Google earnings report.

26 per cent revenue

The Google Q4 revenue numbers came in 26 per cent higher than they were last year, with the search giant posting revenue of $8.44 billion compared to the previous period’s $6.67 billion. Google Q4 net profit totaled $2.54 billion, which is a healthy 29 per cent jump over the $1.97 billion the company posted last year.

Paid clicks up

Given that Google’s an advertising company, whose primary product is search, the company spends a lot of time monitoring how users interact with their advertising platform. Paid clicks increased 18 per cent year on year, while the cost per click saw a 5 per cent year-on-year increase.

Advertising still makes up 96 per cent of Google’s earnings, yet the remaining 4 per cent, which is the non-advertising revenue, for the first time crossed $1 billion.

Search needs work

For the last few weeks, Google has been in an unusual spot – coming under heavy criticism for the quality of its once unquestioned search engine. And what’s worse is this criticism has been coming from very influential sources. Given that 96 per cent of Google’s business is reliant on the search/advertising combination, the company is almost certainly looking into the criticism to see if it is justified.

Android

To contrast with that, Google’s mobile OS platform, Google Android, is poised to become a massive part of the company’s future, something nobody could have predicted a little over three years ago.

With the mobile phone OS for Android phones looking set to be the most used OS in the world within the next 18 months, and the Google Android 3.0 tablet OS looking beautifully tailored for that experience, the company could spread its mobile influence.

Google earnings numbers show the company still knows how to make money. What will be interesting to watch in the coming months is its product strategy.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

2010 was a great year for all technology enthusiasts. Smartphones became a staple device in communications, while gamers managed to throw away their controllers and simulate the action with their own body parts. While not every invention in 2010 will stand the test of time, many are here to stay, so let’s take a look at the top five inventions seen in 2010.

5 – Android

The Android smartphone proved to be more than just a fly-by-night wonder, managing to be highly popular with smartphone consumers and offering an alternative to the seemingly invincible iPhone.

Backed by the powerful search engine Google, Android is an operating system for mobile phones with a great user interface, allowing users to alter the interface, as well as boasting over 10,000 Android applications.

4 – EnergyHub Dashboard

Highlighted by Time Magazine as one of the ‘best new gadgets’ and ‘breakthrough ideas of the year’, the EnergyHub Dashboard is a simple device that notifies the user of exactly how much electricity or gas is being used in the home and, more importantly, how much it’s costing you.

Not only that but it also switches appliances on or off and also alters the temperatures in your own. The EnergyHub Device became available mid-2010 and is set to change the way households are run in the future.

3 – Microsoft Kinect

The Nintendo Wii changed the way we play games, but everyone knew that, while the Wii is a great idea, it could be done better. And Microsoft did just that with the Xbox Kinect. Originally dubbed Project Natal, the console included and infrared emitter and sensor that gave it depth perception, as well as figure out where the user is. The software registers 48 points on the body and delivers perfectly smooth control of the game.

2 – Electric Eye

Researchers at MIT finalised the developments of an Electric Eye, a small microchip that will, believe it or not, allow blind people to recognise faces and move their way around a room without assistance. The user will be required to wear a unique set of glasses, which are fitted with a small camera that transmits images picked up by the microchip and uses it to stimulate the optic nerve, giving the impression of sight.

While the Electric Eye does not, of course, give blind people complete sight, this is clearly only the beginning.

1 – Teleportation

Lastly, while teleportation machines are still a long way from being made available at your local hardware store, the concept of teleportation is no longer unique to the world of sci-fi. Scientists at the Joint Quantum Institute, at the University of Maryland, successfully managed to teleport data found in one atom to another atom in a container, one meter away!

This of course has major implications for creating very fast and very secure computers and, from there, who knows.

Photo: eagleapex / Flickr

Two days ago, the long-awaited and oft-rumoured Verizon iPhone launched. This means two obvious things: The first is that there is now a CDMA iPhone available for the few networks around the world that don’t support GSM, meaning the Apple’s smartphone could have even more carriers next year. The second obvious thing is that, in the US at least, AT&T will no longer reap the huge benefits it’s gotten from exclusively carrying Apple’s smartphone in the US.

What isn’t examined enough, however, is what it could mean for the Apple vs. Google Android rivalry, especially the amount of sales they get in the US.

Verizon sorta is Anddroid

With the US being the biggest smartphone market in the world, doing well in this region is almost a prerequisite for long-term success. And the current top sellers, and media darlings in the region, are Apple’s smartphone and the many smartphones running the Google Android mobile OS platform.

Verizon, the carrier that has finally captured the CDMA iPhone, has been a key component in the meteoric rise of the Android mobile OS platform. With mobile phone users being loyal to their carriers – who wants the schlep of constantly changing networks? – one tends to take the best your carrier offers. With Verizon not offering iPhone, users have long settled for Android smartphones, or so say some analysts. Now that they have the option to buy the Apple smartphone, there may be a mass exodus to that platform.

The question, worth repeating, is how will Android be affected, if at all?

It could mean nothing

On the other hand, the CDMA iPhone could have very little impact on the Google Android mobile OS platform. Droid sales on the carrier have been weak in recent months, even though overall Android sales have not, suggesting that Android may not need Verizon as much as some have suggested.

Photo: Android

Google may not have a booth at CES, but that’s not stopping the company from making its presence felt at the show – Android software is pretty much everywhere.

Android much?

We’re not at all surprised that smartphones are big news at CES, but what is interesting is just how many of them run on Android. Every new 4G smartphone (and tablet) that has or will be announced by the major mobile carriers in the US at CES runs on Android. The Android phenomenon is so big that people aren’t paying as much attention to Microsoft and RIM’s offering as one would expect.

Verizon’s offerings

Four smartphones were showcased by Verizon Wireless on Thursday: the HTC Thunderbolt, the LG Revolution, the Motorola Droid Bionic and an as-yet-unnamed mobile from Samsung. Tablets Xoom by Motorola and Samsung’s Galaxy Tab were also on display. And all six devices, set for release in March, run on Android.

AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint Nextel

On Wednesday AT&T announced three new smartphones. Again, all three run on Android. They are the HTC Inspire 4G, the Motorola Atrix 4G and Samsung’s Infuse 4G.

While T-Mobile didn’t unveil any smartphones, the two tablets the company showed off – the Dell Streak 7 and the LG G-Slate – are Android devices, too. Sprint Nextel also announced a new phone, the HTC Evo Shift 4G. For the sake of avoiding repetition, we’ll leave it up to you to guess what this one runs on.

RIM busy on next Blackberry

Research in Motion, besides the PlayBook, don’t have that much going on at CES. The smartphones on display at their booth are already on the market. However, RIM co-CEO Mike Lazardis assured the press that he and his team are working hard on the next Blackberry, which will come with a fast dual-core processor.

Photo: Stock.Xchng

Google seems determined to ensure a smooth and fast user experience by requiring tablets that run their tablet-optimised software meet minimum hardware specs. What’s even more encouraging about this move is that virtually none of the tablets presently on the market meet these specifications, meaning that from a hardware perspective, Google Android Honeycomb is forcing a generational leap in capabilities, but rapidly ageing the Samsung Galaxy Tab as a side-effect.

Minimum requirements

If what Bobby Cha, who is the managing director of a Korean consumer electronics firm called Enspert, told PCmag is true, then Android tablets running Honeycomb require a dual-core Cortex A9 processor for proper operation. In addition to the required processor specs, a minimum screen resolution of 1280×720 will also be necessary, with tablet sizes starting at 7 inches.

Excludes Galaxy Tab

What this means, however, is that the most popular Google Android tablet by sales, the Samsung Galaxy Tab, will not be getting updated to Android Honeycomb. The Galaxy Tab has a single-core 1GHz Hummingbird processor, with a resolution of 1024×600 – both of which are below the supposed minimum requirements.

This means the early adopters who opted for Samsung’s tablet PC will have to come to terms with being capped at Google Android 2.3 – aka Gingerbread – with Android Honeycomb being reserved for the next wave of tablets using the search giant’s mobile OS platform.

What’s coming up?

With CES 2011 starting tomorrow, the Android tablets that meet Google’s minimum specs will finally be unveiled. The big-deal tablet is the one Motorola is shipping, but LG and Toshiba are also showing off new tablets running on the Honeycomb mobile OS platform.

Of these Android Honeycomb tablet PCs, it’s hard to say which will take the baton from The Samsung Galaxy Tab as the flagship Android tablet, but we’ll be on-hand at CES 2011 to let you know as soon as we do.

Photo: wstryder / Flickr

When the Samsung Galaxy S was launched seven months ago, reviewers world over quickly dubbed it the marquee Google Android smartphone. Yet having media praise translate to significant sales is not always the case. For Samsung, however, the just reward for a great product – good sales – has panned out. The Korean company has just announced that its flagship phone has moved over 10 million units worldwide. Yes, this is a very big deal.

The big December push

The Korean consumer electronics giant had set itself the goal of selling 10 million Galaxy S smartphone units before the year’s end. On 23 December, the company had reportedly moved 9.3 million units, meaning in the last week alone Sammy managed to move 700,000 units – double what it usually sells each week.

Strong, consistent sales run

Quick back of the envelope mathematics pegs the Samsung Galaxy S smartphone at selling an average of 1.4 million units per month, reports Samsung Hub. Taking the equations further, this places Galaxy S sales at a highly respectable 40,000 units per day every day since release. Given that there are now tons of Android handsets on the market with a reported daily activation of 300,000 units, 13.3 per cent of all those smartphones were Samsung’s.

Steps toward world domination

The global distribution of the Galaxy S smartphone sales also follows worldwide trends, though Samsung will no doubt be desperate to make a bigger impact in the rest of Asia, South America and Africa. Of the 10 million units sold, 4 million units were sold in North America, 2.5 million units in Europe and 2 million units in Samsung’s home country, South Korea. The remaining 1.5 million units were spread out across territories around the world.

The Samsung Galaxy S smartphone is a brilliant handset deserved of its high sales numbers. Now the pressure for Samsung to repeat its success is on.