Apple says no to Samsung settlement offer

Yesterday Samsung offered up a deal that it hoped would allow it to get back into the Australian tablet market. We don’t know exactly what the offer from Samsung was, but what we don’t know is that at least for now Apple is having none of the offer. Apple has reportedly declined the offer and the two firms are said to be “a considerable distance apart.”

Apple says that it didn’t turn the offer down flat, but wanted more information and details on the offer form Samsung. One Samsung lawyer, Stephen Burley, said that the offer from Samsung was “no more than a tactic to maximize the chances of launching what we would contend is an infringing product.” The judge presiding over the case said, “It’s going to take me a little time” to work through the arguments that each side have offered when Samsung tried to push to get the arguments heard in court tomorrow.
Samsung has argued that if the courts ban the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in Australia until 2012 that the tablet would be commercially dead. Samsung has stated in the past that it would remove the zoom-bounce system from the tablet, which is one of the features at the heart of the case. Samsung could remove the feature and have a new version of the tablet on the market a week after a ruling.
[via SlashGear]

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HTC promises OTA privacy patch in pipeline

HTC has confirmed that a fix for the recently uncovered security vulnerability in its Android smartphones is in the pipeline, addressing what some security experts suggested was a “massive” privacy issue. “In our ongoing investigation into this recent claim,” the company told Engadget, ”we have concluded that while this HTC software itself does no harm to customers’ data, there is a vulnerability that could potentially be exploited by a malicious third-party application”

However, HTC also insists that it has seen no reports of the loophole actually being taken advantage of, with the potential for harm seemingly more theoretical than practical at this stage. Nonetheless, a security update is being worked on now, and which – after some carrier testing – will be delivered OTA to HTC Android phones.
There’s no timeline for its release – HTC says the carrier testing period will be “short” though that’s presumably up to the networks themselves to deliver on – so until then the company points out that people should “use caution when downloading, using, installing and updating applications from untrusted sources.” That’s pretty sensible advice no matter what the situation.
Full HTC Statement:

HTC takes claims related to the security of our products very seriously. In our ongoing investigation into this recent claim, we have concluded that while this HTC software itself does no harm to customers’ data, there is a vulnerability that could potentially be exploited by a malicious third-party application. A third party malware app exploiting this or any other vulnerability would potentially be acting in violation of civil and criminal laws. So far, we have not learned of any customers being affected in this way and would like to prevent it by making sure all customers are aware of this potential vulnerability.
HTC is working very diligently to quickly release a security update that will resolve the issue on affected devices. Following a short testing period by our carrier partners, the patch will be sent over-the-air to customers, who will be notified to download and install it. We urge all users to install the update promptly. During this time, as always, we strongly urge customers to use caution when downloading, using, installing and updating applications from untrusted sources.

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LG Optimus LTE delivers dual-core 4G

LG has officially announced the LG Optimus LTE, the handset previously known as the LU6200, packing a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 resolution display and 4G LTE connectivity. The high-speed smartphone – set to go on sale on South Korea’s SK Telecom tomorrow, October 5 – has an 8-megapixel camera with an LED flash and HD video recording.

There’s also DLNA support and an HDMI output, for getting your multimedia off the smartphone either wired or wirelessly. LG is hoping you’ll watch some of it on the Optimus LTE’s display itself, however: the phone uses one of the company’s “IPS True HD” panels which, it claims, will beat the Samsung Galaxy S II HD LTE to the market and be the first such resolution panel on offer. 326ppi is not to be sniffed at, after all.
What’s still up in the air is availability outside of South Korea. After all, LG knows there are LTE networks in the US and elsewhere, and so we wouldn’t be surprised to see broader sales after the initial roll-out this week.
[via SlashGear]

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HTC shows off Explorer with new video

We’ve barely gotten a glimpse at HTC’s budget-conscious Explorer, but the manufacturer seems keen on giving us a few more. They posted a new preview video on their YouTube channel yesterday, utilizing the “quietly brilliant” branding they’ve been employing for quite some time. The breezy video shows off the value smartphone’s assets, and will probably be appearing on American commercial blocks sometime soon.

The Explorer isn’t going to end up at the top of any superphone lists any time soon, but then it isn’t meant to. Sharing a lot of physical traits with the HTC Wildfire S and other budget phones, this little guy features a 3.2-inch screen with a diminutive 320 x 480 resolution and a depth of half an inch. The CPU is clocked at 600MHz, and even the 3 megapixel camera could fill up the 512 MB of internal memory quickly.
Check out the official ad below:



What HTC’s target customers are likely to care about is the software/interface, and on that front, the Explorer delivers. As shown in the video, the phone has the latest version of HTC Sense, 3.5, with all the spiffy widgets and animations that come with it. Underneath it’s thankfully running Android 2.3 Gingerbread. For a more complete rundown of the specifications, check HTC’s product page.
HTC hasn’t offered any availability or carrier info on the Explorer yet, though its 3G wireless bands match up with AT&T. Stay tuned.

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Android might reach 1 million activations a day by October 20th

When last we hear Google speak on the number of Android devices activated per day, Larry Page declared the number at 550,000. That way way back on July 14th. Now analyst Michael DeGusta predicts that the number could reach as high as one million devices worldwide every day before the end of October. That’s a growth of nearly double in less than ninety days.

Even conservative estimates put the number of worldwide activations at at least 1,000,000 a day by December. Any way you slice it, it’s an incredible milestone for an operating system that’s about to pass its third birthday (if you go by retail hardware). And of course, it’s a heck of a statistic to come out the day before a certain big announcement.
The number of Android activations, i.e. the number of smartphones, tablets and other devices that sign in to Google for the first time on any given day, isn’t exactly, well, exact. There’s a significant number of Android devices that eschew the Android Market and other Google services, not to mention older phones that are hard reset or loaded up with new software. But as a metric of growth, it lines up with other statistics nicely, including the all-important market share reports.

At last count, Android had a whopping 54% of the market share among “connected devices” (smartphones and tablets combined). The next closest was Apple’s iOS with 28%, followed by Blackberry at 13%. Windows Mobile and Symbian were each rated at just 1%. Both Android and iOS are expanding, while all other competitors are in decline. Apple still leads the individual device race with the iPhone’s 13% share and the tablet market with the iPad winning over 80%.

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Official Hotmail Android app available now

Like peanut butter and pickles, Microsoft and Android are an odd combination, but not (necessarily) an unwelcome one. Today Microsoft unveiled its new Hotmail Android app, available right now in the Market. Be sure to call you grandmother friends and family members and let them know about it.

In all seriousness, Hotmail still has a surprisingly large userbase – in fact, according to a comScore estimate in 2010, it’s the world’s largest with over 350 million users. While it was previously possible to use the native Email app or the browser to check Hotmail, the new app is much easier, and to Microsoft’s credit, it looks pretty feature-complete as well. Various unofficial apps and widgets have been available on Android for years, but Microsoft seems to be making a solid effort to push itself to its rightful spot at the top of the list.
Hotmail supports true push email, an absolute godsend for busy professionals, and allows you to use multiple accounts at once. Also included are advanced spam and blocking filters, attachment support and folders. If you’re the rare, rare Android user who’s still attached to Hotmail or Windows Live Mail, go ahead and download the app now – you’ll be glad you did. Just don’t expect a Gmail app in Windows Phone 7 any time soon.
[via SlashGear]

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Eric Schmidt: Motorola acquisition “Won’t screw up the ecosystem”

Many industry insiders, not the least of whom being Motorola’s competitors, have worried that Google’s acquisition of Motorola Mobility might make the hardware company the “golden child” of the Android universe. Google chairman Eric Schmidt gave an interview this weekend, assuaging fears and assuring investors that the stability of Android is paramount. Google, he said, is committed to Android as a whole, and will not play favorites – sort of.

Schmidt was quoted as saying the following:

The Android ecosystem is the No. 1 priority, and that we won’t do anything with Motorola, or anybody else by the way, that would screw up the dynamics of that industry. We need strong, hard competition among all the Android players. We won’t play favorites in the way people are concerned about.

That last clause, “in the way people are concerned about,” may indeed be cause for concern. Samsung certainly thinks so – they gave a statement earlier last week saying that they “can’t rely on Google” for patent protection. Not surprising, given that Samsung has been the hardest hit by Apple’s worldwide lawsuits. Microsoft, which has licensing agreements with both HTC and Samsung, rakes in an estimated $444 million a year off of the “free” Android OS. Schmidt mentioned the 17,000 mobile patents that Google received from the Motorola purchase in the interview.
It’s important to note that flagship “pure” Android devices have come from all three of the biggest Android manufacturers thus far – HTC had the Nexus One, Motorola had the XOOM and Samsung has the Nexus S (and if rumors can be believed, the Nexus Prime as well). Google’s strategy for its intellectual property going forward is a “rough truce”. “From our perspective, we will end up having enough patents that we can end up with a rough truce with everybody else, which is how it’s done,” said Schmidt. The executive said that he does not know when such a truce might be achieved.

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Adobe unveils more powerful Photoshop Touch

Let’s face it: Photoshop Mobile is a joke. It’s not really an image editor as much as it’s a tweaker, an app that’s just about worth its free price tag and doesn’t really live up to the Photoshop name. Now that tablets with the screen real estate and horsepower to take advantage of more traditional photo editing exist, Adobe wants to take advantage of them with Photoshop Touch for Honeycomb.

The app features a full-screen interface that mimics the tools of the desktop version of Photoshop, while still staying relatively finger-friendly. Basic functions like rotation, crop and various color corrections are easy with advanced warps and modifications also possible. Most exciting is that Photoshop’s robust selection and layer tools seem to have made the mobile transition intact, making truly useful image manipulation possible. The app also takes advantage of tablet hardware for live video layers.
Perhaps the most exiting part of Adobe’s announcement is that the Android app will cost just $9.99 in the Market. Considering that you’re getting a solid chunk of the functionality found in Photoshop Elements on a relatively new platform, that’s a downright steal. Couple Photoshop Touch with a cheap capacitive stylus, and all of a sudden you’ve got a full-on digital drawing tablet at a fraction of the cost (and to be fair, a fraction of the functionality) of hardware like the Wacom Cintiq.
Adobe demo video
Photoshop Touch will release sometime in November for Android, with an iOS version to follow. How often do you get to hear that, Android fans? It’s part of a small suite of apps including Collage, Debut ( a presentation manager), Proto (simple website designer), Kuler (color manager) and Ideas (vector editor – why not just call it Illustrator Touch?). All six apps will work with Adobe’s Creative Cloud system, so you don’t have to keep local files on your tablet.
[via SlashGear]

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Adobe Flash Player 11 and AIR 3 available tonight for download

Today Adobe is rocking the news with their MAX conference. They have just announced the much anticipated Adobe Flash Player 11 will be available starting tonight for multiple platforms, including Android. Same rules apply for Air 3.0 and they will be available tonight at 9:00 PM PT or early morning for you East Coast folks. The latest Flash updates will bring significant changes that were detailed in-depth back in September.

Sadly for mobile and Android this initial release wont see the new Stage 3D codenamed “Molehill”. Although both flash and air will eventually bring major improvements to mobile that will help to stabilize and revolutionize the way we game and consume content on the web and our mobile devices. Stage 3D was one of the most exciting aspects of the new Flash 11 and while it is coming soon, its sad that we can’t see it today on Android.
More details can be found over on the Adobe blog and the downloads for both Flash 11 and Air 3.0 should go live tonight around 9:00 PM PST. For now until everything gets incorporated into Android we’ll just have to wait and watch. Soon we’ll be experiencing amazing 2D and 3D graphics at upwards of 60 FPS on our Honeycomb tablets for some true console-style gaming. Stay tuned for more details regarding Android as the Adobe event continues, below is one example of what we can expect to see coming soon.



[via Adobe]

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