Fujitsu ARROWS ES IS12F to be the thinnest Android smartphone?

At the moment the title of the thinnest Android smartphone is currently held by the very sleek Motorola DROID RAZR. Well, it looks like that title is about to be claimed by another device. Fujitsu has just announced what is said to be the world’s thinnest Android smartphone. Arriving in Japan next month, the Fujitsu ARROWS ES IS12F is said to be only 6.7mm thick (the DROID RAZR is 7.1mm thick at its thinnest part).

However, unlike the RAZR, the ARROWS ES IS12F only features a 4″ 800 x 480 OLED display (with Gorilla Glass), a 1.4GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, a 5-megapixel camera, 512MB of RAM, 1GB of internal Storage, WiFi, Bluetooth, GPS, CDAM and GSM support, a 1,400mAh battery and runs on Android Gingerbread. So even if it might be the slimmest phone, consumers will probably overlook it due to its specs. No word on whether it’ll be arriving stateside, but it did hit the FCC not too long ago with the name ARROWS F-07D.

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Samsung shows off a concept transparent tablet

KOREAN HARDWARE GIANT Samsung has released a video showing what could be a device of the future, a transparent and flexible tablet.
Samsung is keen to whet our technology appetites with a short video touting an amazing looking device capable of what seems like anything. Of course, this isn't a gadget we're likely to see any time soon but it's good fun to see what might become a reality someday.
The video shows a user walking around the streets comfortably using a flexible and see through tablet that appears to able to increase in size, as well. We're shown the device performing various tasks including video calling and even displaying some holograms.
Somehow the wafer thin display has a camera and a microphone built in and can even display images on both sides at the same time. The technology used is an AMOLED display, as are in Samsung's products such as the Galaxy S II smartphone.
The company has been working on transparent screens like the ones we reported about earlier this year. We also saw something similar from Nokia recently called the Kinetic, which uses bending for navigation.
Of course we're hoping that this device or one like it will tip up sooner rather than later so we can get it in for review. µ

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Sony to drop Ericsson brand in mid-2012, focus only on smartphones

Sony has said that it will drop the Ericsson brand from smartphone devices in mid-2012 following its acquisition of Ericsson’s 50% stake in the Sony Ericsson joint venture for €1.05 billion in October.
Speaking to Times of India, a senior Sony executive noted that the Sony Ericsson brand would be phased out as the company looked to become a “complete smartphone company”, selling its new smartphones under the Sony label.
The move is aimed at galvanising Sony’s smartphone sales, which slowly picked up following Sony Ericsson’s decision to focus solely on developing smartphones that are powered by Google’s Android platform. With Sony Ericsson’s decision to phase-out its feature phone development, the new unit will invest significant amounts into its marketing and advertising channels – something that Sony Ericsson’s Kristian Tear, executive VP & head of sales & marketing, said was lacking in previous years:

“A lot of planning goes into getting the branding right but we will be done by middle of next year. It will also mean that the marketing and advertising investments will go up. We haven’t been as fierce as we were a few years back but we will step it up, refocus and invest more in brand-building in select markets and India is one of those markets.”

Times of India reports that the company as its stands holds around 2% of the global smartphone market. However, with Sony’s huge worldwide presence as the world’s biggest entertainment company, the company expects its mobile presence to gain from its assets:

“Sony is the world’s biggest entertainment company. We were earlier a 50-50 JV, but now that we are a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sony Corp. We expect to gain from its assets on the content , technology and brand side.”

Sony’s acquisition still requires approval, so changes aren’t expected to be implemented until next year, including the phasing out of the Sony Ericsson brand. Executives have said that Sony will continue to focus on the value-end of the smartphone market, targeting India where it has a 19% and 12% share of the Indian and global Android market respectively.

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Samsung denies collecting Galaxy smartphone user data in S. Korea

Samsung is the latest tech firm to be embroiled with accusations of data mismanagement in South Korea, after the manufacturer denied accusations that it is collecting user data on three of its smartphones, according to news agency Yonhap.
The company responded to research findings from the Graduate School of Information Security at Korea University which suggested that the Galaxy S, the Galaxy S2 and the Galaxy Note devices were all pre-loaded with data-collecting software.
According to the study, which looked only at devices in Korea, the software can collect and store information relating to each phone’s owner, such as contact numbers and location information. However a statement from Samsung denies the existence of the alleged software and any collection of data on its phones:

Samsung never collected or used private information of smartphone users. All applications provided by Samsung have no ability to collect private data.

The allegations come just one week after Apple and others faced widespread criticism over the inclusion of data collection software, Carrier IQ, in its mobile operating system. Smartphone giants Apple, HTC, Samsung and Motorola and US operators Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T were named in a class action lawsuit filed in Delaware Federal Court.
Carrier IQ launched a campaign to clear its name over complaints, stating that it acted on behalf of the carriers to monitor conditions when calls were dropped, and when SMS messages failed, so that engineers could assess what may have caused them to happen.
Also in Korea, last week, search engines Google and Daum were cleared of allegations of illegally collecting smartphone owners’ location data, bringing to an end a long-running investigation. However, Google is still being investigated over claims that it bans all Korean phone makers from including third-party search applications under its marketing contract.

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HTC: We haven’t been served in Carrier IQ class action lawsuit – yet

Taiwanese smartphone vendor HTC has yet to be served with a class action lawsuit over accusations that it included Carrier IQ analytical software on its handsets, the company has clarified in a recent media announcement.
However, the company fully expects to receive notification of the legal action, noting that it will enter “thorough negotiations with outside counsels when the official document from the Court is received”:

With respect to the class action lawsuits in relation to the Carrier IQ software application filed in the U.S. against HTC Corporation and HTC America Inc., a subsidiary of HTC Corporation, reported by the press on December 4th, HTC hereby clarifies that HTC has not been served in any of the cases officially. Regarding any substantive issue, HTC will enter into thorough discussions with outside counsels when the official document from the Court is received.

Last week, smartphone giants Apple, HTC, Samsung and Motorola and U.S operators Sprint, T-Mobile and AT&T were named in a class action lawsuit which was filed in Delaware Federal Court. The suit also named the company that makes the offending diagnostic software, Carrier IQ.
The suit claims that the use of the Carrier IQ software on mobile phones consists of a “breach of the digital privacy rights of 150 million cell phone users” and that the phone makers and carriers violated the Federal Wiretap Act, the Stored Electronic Communications Act and the Federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.
Carrier IQ launched a campaign to clear its name over complaints it was unlawfully tracking and storing information logged on mobile handsets. Despite reports to the contrary, Carrier IQ says that it acted on behalf of the carriers (and in some cases vendors) to monitor conditions when calls were dropped and when SMS messages failed so that engineers could assess what may have caused them to happen.
Users have been up in arms that instances of Carrier IQ’s software on handsets are not disclosed, something that has been noted in the class action lawsuit. The suit says that the carriers and manufacturers were caught “ wilfully violating customers’ privacy rights” by “secretly tracking personal and sensitive information of the cell phone users without the consent or knowledge of the users.”
Following discovery of Carrier IQ on various handset models, developers began releasing tools for Android devices in order to detect whether the software was present. However, tools that remove Carrier IQ code are currently in development.

Related articles

• Carrier IQ, Samsung and HTC Get Hit With Class Action Lawsuit That Could Cost Millions (goandroid.co.in)
• Motorola, Samsung, HTC leaving some Android handsets open to permissions-based attacks (tech-gadget.co.in)

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AT&T Has Original Motorola Lapdock for Atrix on Sale at $50

Though most agreed that Motorola’s Webtop technology was one of the cooler things to emerge out of last year’s CES, the high price of accessories such as a Lapdock priced close to $500 kept many consumers from buying in. With an expanded lineup of Webtop-enabled phones and a new Lapdock range and adapted pricing on the way from Motorola, the original has seen a steep discount to a reasonable $50 when purchased through AT&T. That is a price more in line with what everyone had expected when the Lapdock concept was first announced. The site lists only the Atrix as compatible with the older model, though it might be worth further investigation to see if the device will also work with other handsets such as the Photon 4G on Sprint.
[AT&T via AndroidForums]

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HTC update for Flyer tablet gets Honeycomb for Christmas

If you own an HTC Flyer tablet there is some good news coming out of France today. Apparently, the French are getting the update for the smartphone starting today. The new update brings the Flyer up to Android 3.2 Honeycomb. Flyer owners have been waiting for this update.

The update brings the software to 3.55.405.1. The update itself is 210MB and is coming OTA. Since the update is larger, do yourself a favor and grab it when available using WiFi. Apparently, this version of the update is for the 32GB version with WiFi and 3G connectivity.
There is no word on version of the update for other tablet models like the 16GB WiFi only version. If you are able to get the update in countries outside of France let us know. Also, let us know if they have the update for the WiFi version of the tablet.
[via HTC-Hub]

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Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime Sleeve spied on video

We have spent our share of hands on time with the Transformer Prime and really like the tablet. I am sure we aren’t the only ones looking forward to the tablet hitting the market. A video has surfaced on Facebook that shows off a new accessory for the Transformer Prime that is really interesting. The accessory is the Transformer Prime Sleeve.

The iPad has its smart cover that can turn the iPad 2 on and off when it opens and closes. The new Prime Sleeve for the Asus tablet has an even cooler trick up its sleeve. You can see the sleeve in action on the video below. When the sleeve flap is closed, you can see the lines on the surface where the thing folds.
You can fold it into two shapes with one of the shapes for standing the tablet upright for watching video and such. The other shape props the tablet up at a much lower angle that would be good for typing. It appears that the Sleeve plugs into two of the mount holes for the keyboard add-on. Pricing and availability for the Sleeve is unknown.

[via SlashGear- Thanks dy4me!]

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Dell kills Streak 7 tablet

The Dell Streak line of Android tablets haven’t been hugely popular with most folks choosing offerings from other makers. The sales of the smallest of the Streak offerings the Streak 5 were bad enough that Dell ended the tablet in August. Dell has now ended the larger sibling to the Streak 5, the Streak 7 reports StreakSmart.

We had heard back in September that T-Mobile would not be updating its 4G version of the Streak 7 to Honeycomb. I am sure we weren’t the only ones that thought that move didn’t bode well for the tablet. Dell didn’t issue a press release or any reasoning for ending the Streak 7 tablet’s run. It’s easy to assume that the tablet simply didn’t sell enough to justify making it though.
Dell pulled the listings for the Streak 7 from its website and left a note on the Streak 7 page saying it was no longer available online. That would seemingly hint that you might still be able to get a Streak 7 tablet in T-Mobile locations. The obvious downside to buying one at this point is that you will be stuck with whatever Android version is on the tablet when you get it. Perhaps they will be cheaper though since they are no longer being produced.
[via SlashGear]

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