The Apple and AT&T marriage has been a series of ups and downs. Wired’s Fred Vogelstein looks into it and provides some fascinating tidbits, like this one regarding the original iPhone:
They say — and Apple sources confirm — that the software running the iPhone’s main radio, known as the baseband, was full of bugs and contributed to the much-decried dropped calls. What’s more, Apple had chosen to source the radio from Infineon, whose hardware was used widely in Europe but rarely in the US, where cell towers are placed farther apart and reception is therefore less forgiving.
The full article at Wired.
Research In Motion (RIM) co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis and Jim Balsillie as quoted in CrackBerry:
RIM is a global leader in antenna design and has been successfully designing industry-leading wireless data products with efficient and effective radio performance for over 20 years. During that time, RIM has avoided designs like the one Apple used in the iPhone 4 and instead has used innovative designs which reduce the risk for dropped calls, especially in areas of lower coverage. One thing is for certain, RIM’s customers don’t need to use a case for their BlackBerry smartphone to maintain proper connectivity.
Here are just a few YouTube videos that test the BlackBerry Bold 9700 for signal attenuation:
Twenty years of antenna design…
If ‘Consumer Reports’ had existed in ancient Greece:…
Click through to Doghouse Diaries. It’s hilarious.
What is really holding back the availability of the white iPhone 4? Apple did announce back on June 23rd that there was some type of manufacturing difficulty:
White models of Apple’s new iPhone 4 have proven more challenging to manufacture than expected, and as a result they will not be available until the second half of July.
What exactly is that challenge? According to 21st Century Business Herald via Engadget the source of the problem is Lens Technology, a China-based company responsible for the custom hardened glass that covers the front and back of the iPhone 4. The factory is still in the process of determining the right mixture of paint thickness and opacity. I wonder why that’s so much more difficult than black.
Lens Technology’s CNC machines have the capacity to cut three iPhone 4 glass covers every hour. Even at full capacity I think we can reasonably expect the white iPhone 4 will be in short supply based on current demand. Steve Jobs announced that the white iPhone 4 will available at the end of July during the antennagate press event that was held on July 16th.
WP7 looks good.
Engadget’s Joshua Topolsky took a reference hardware Windows Phone 7 Samsung smartphone for a spin (source: Windows Phone 7 in-depth preview). The not-for-retail Samsung “Taylor” sports a 3.7-inch display with a 800×480 pixel format. Here’s the skinny.
Conclusion:
Seriously, if the WP7 team put their heads down and added a clipboard and some rudimentary multitasking, Microsoft could have an exceptionally solid version-one product in Windows Phone 7 — especially when coupled with the company’s fierce outreach to developers.
Pros
Metro UI: “Windows Phone 7 is easily the most unique UI in the smartphone race right now, and the real perk here is that it doesn’t just seem like an arbitrary decision to make things look different than other OSs — there is real purpose and utility to a lot of what Microsoft has come up with.”
Keyboard: “We’re talking nearly as good as the iPhone keyboard, and definitely better than the stock Android option. …we think Microsoft got this aspect of the phone’s UI pitch perfect.”
The Email App: “… is pretty terrific on the whole, providing a clean, clear layout and upfront options for your most-used functions.”
Browser: “… web browsing on Windows Phone 7 is actually a really pleasant experience. … Loading the desktop version of Engadget was just a hair slower than an iPhone 4…”
Office: “Tight Office integration, complete with an awesome on-phone document and viewing experience, stands to be one of the biggest differentiators for Windows Phone 7…”
Maps: “Though it’s not quite as full-featured as the latest renditions of Google Maps on Android have been, Microsoft’s Bing Maps implementation on Windows Phone 7 is pretty great…”
Search: “Microsoft has done a neat job translating Bing’s well-known home page layout to the small screen, complete with gorgeous rotating imagery and hotspots that reveal factoids when you tap them.”
Eh
Social: “Facebook just needs to be sandboxed a little bit more. Optimally, Microsoft would go with the Android philosophy…”
SMS: “… fairly barebones, but it definitely gets the job done, and looks pretty good while doing it.”
Zune: “… we love having almost limitless access to new music on a phone… though you’re adding another $14.95 on top of your existing phone bill…”
Camera: “… Windows Phone 7′s minimum specs should ensure that you’re getting at least moderately decent shots no matter what device you choose.”
Cons
No copy and paste. No third-party multitasking. No Twitter integration. No unified inbox, threaded messaging, server-side search for email. Browser doesn’t support Flash, Silverlight or HTML5.
Not Yet Fully Implemented: Marketplace, Xbox Live
Technology Review reports:
Researchers at HP are … developing new materials that use ambient light to create a more vibrant color for video-capable, low-power screens.
This reflective display will not require a backlight unit (BLU) and will not demand much power. However the majority of reflective displays lack color. Even color reflective displays like Qualcomm’s Mirasol display technology lack vibrancy; the colors are quite muted. HP is using brighter, luminescent materials:
The company has developed a composite material that converts blue and green light into red and another that converts blue light into green. It isn’t practical to make a blue luminescent pixel. A fast-switching liquid-crystal shutter sits above each pixel and lets light in and out; mirrors below also help light escape.
That’s confusing, but the main purpose of all this color-changing is to improve brightness. E Ink is also working a color version of its electronic paper display (EPD) that will be integrated into products by the end of the year. Bright colorful low-power reflective displays: now that I can get used to.
In June, a consortium of 11 railway companies launched a one-year pilot project called the Digital Signage Promotion Project (DSPP). DSPP includes 27 digital signage displays in subway commuter stations around Tokyo. These displays are equipped with cameras that feed information for gender and age analysis to generate targeted commercial messages. The person has to look at the digital signage display only for a second.
The goals is to improve advertisements based on sex and age. Privacy can be an issue but individuals are not identified and only demographic data are collected. Recorded images are not saved. Of course, the enhancement of such systems with recording capability and individual identification recognition is not too difficult. I wonder how effect sex- and age-based advertisements are… in a train station. Isn’t everyone busy trying to get somewhere or meet someone? Is this group the type that would be responsive to targeted advertisements? Maybe if it helped them get to where they want to be and meet the people they want to meet. Source: AFP
According to IDC’s Worldwide Quarterly PC Tracker (press release) the global PC market grew 22.4% Y/Y to 81.5 million units in the second quarter of 2010. Actual growth was slightly less than the forecasted growth 22.9% Y/Y. Desktop PC shipments exceeded expectations while portable PCs came less than forecasted.
IDC points this growth to a sign that commercial customers have started the upgrade cycle despite slowing demand from consumers. Bob O’Donnell, IDC vice president for Clients and Displays, expects consumer demand to continue slowing through the end of the year with stable growth in demand from the commercial market.
The United States: 12.6% Q/Q. Less than the almost 18% Q/Q growth expected. Due to a wait-and-see approach by the commercial sector. Lower-pricing based growth can be limited due to slow overall economic growth and rising costs.
Asia Pacific Excluding Japan: This is where growth came from as the region gained almost 15% Q/Q and 35% Y/Y in the second quarter. Desktop PC volume was strong while portable PC shipments came in less than expected, though still managed double-digit growth in nearly all countries in the region.
Globally, HP was #1 growing 12.2% Y/Y to 14.77 million PCs shipped in the second quarter and took a market share of 18.1%. Dell followed at #2 growing 19.1% Y/Y to 10.62 million and 13% share. Rounding out the top three was Acer up 20.8% Y/Y to 10.24 million and 12.6% share. The rankings for the top three in the US was the same. Interestingly Apple was at #4 in the US growing 15.4% Y/Y to 1.62 million units capturing a market share of 8.8%.
According to the Chinese-language Commercial Times and reported by Digitimes, HTC (TAIEX: 2498) is expected to launch six new smartphones in the US and Europe significantly impacting fourth quarter 2010 results. The image above is HTC’s Aria (similar to Wildfire) sporting a smaller 3.2-inch capacitive touch display and running Android 2.1 on AT&T (NYSE: T).
For Europe, HTC is planning to introduce its Vision dual-core Android-based smartphone in October. The company’s Mondrian, a Windows Phone 7 (WP7), in the fourth quarter.
There isn’t much information about HTC’s Vision, but there is some. Engadget has posted up a blurry shot of the QWERTY-equipped Android smartphone from HTC sporting a 3.7-inch display, 1 GHz CPU and Android 2.1 with Sense.
According to xda developers, the HTC Mondrian looks to sport a largish 4.3-inch 800×480 display from Optrex, a 1.3GHz Scorpion core QSD8650A/B Snapdragon from Qualcomm (NASDAQ: QCOM), a digital compass but with no built-in QWERTY keyboard.
HTC is targeting the US with two new Android-based smartphones for T-Mobile: the Vanguard and Emerald in addition to an as-yet-unnamed WP7 model. For AT&T, HTC has a WP7-based smartphone in the works and should be available in November.
The HTC Vanguard is probably a rebadged Vision according to AndroidGuys and sport 4G capabilities on T-Mobile. The Emerald should be a dual-core Android smartphone as well. Quite likely since Luis Pineda, SVP of product management at Qualcomm, revealed during CES that there will be at least two more iterations of the Snapdragon running up to 1.5GHz in 2010. True to his word, Qualcomm announced the first sampling of its first dual-core Snapdragon and Mobile Station Modem (MSM) chipsets on June 1st. Read the full press release for more info.
The Snapdragon QSD8x50A is based on a 45nm process and run at 1.3GHz sporting displays up to 1280×720 pixel format and 720p HD video playback. The dual-core QSD8672 also based on a 45nm process sports twin Scorpion cores running at 1.5GHz or faster and support displays with 1440×900 pixel formats, playback 1080p video, HSPA+ 28Mbps downloads / 11Mbps uploads, CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO Rev. 0/A/B, and 3D graphics with 80M triangles/sec. For more technical details check out Qualcomm. Will HTC best Apple’s Retina Display and sport a mobile display with 1280×720 or even 1440×900?
The company is on a role. HTC announced second quarter 2010 financial results on July 6th:
On July 13th, HTC announced its Wildfire will launch exclusively on Telstra’s Next G network in August. The Wildfire sports a 3.2-inch capacitive touch display, a 5 megapixel autofocus camera with LED flash, with strong social networking apps that tie caller ID to information from Facebook. Check out the full press release for more information.
China’s FPD TV shipments including LCD and plasma technologies increased 35% Y/Y to 10.5 million units in the first half of 2010. The growth is impressive but is quite a bit less than the 52% Y/Y increase experienced in the first half of 2009. This is according to the China Electronic Chamber of Commerce (CECC) and as reported by Digitimes.
The numbers coming out of the CECC seem to be on the conservative side. In China TV Market: 80% LCD TV, I quoted numbers reported by China-based All View Consulting that pegged just LCD TV shipments at 13.78 million units from January to May.
iSuppli has forecasted LCD TV shipments in China to be 36 million units for 2010, which would put the first half at 19.8 million units assuming a 55:45 split between the first and second halves for China, respectively. Typical in North America and Western Europe 60% of TV sales are in the second half. On the other hand, China because peak shopping seasons such as the country’s New Year and Golden Week are in the first half of the year I am assuming there is a 55:45 split favoring the first half in China. iSuppli’s forecast might be a bit too optimistic.
One thing is for sure: it is difficult if not impossible to accurately assess the rapidly-growing TV market in China. The CECC also noted LED-backlight LCD TV sales in China should reach six million units representing 40% of total LCD TV revenues in 2010. All companies connected to the LCD TV supply chain are chasing LED backlights because the technology provides an opportunity to increase profit margins. Unfortunately there are LED supply constraints.
Update: But wait a minute. What does these unit shipments mean? My four year old might think that having 12 coins is better than 10 coins but that isn’t always the case. Same goes for LCD TV shipments: twenty million isn’t necessarily better than 18. It is about the composition of those LCD TVs. If a whole bunch of really cheap low-margin LCD TVs make a large chunk of the twenty million the overall value could very well be less than the 18 million units. The entire LCD TV supply chain would be in trouble. Let’s stop counting units as if every unit was of equal value. Units without revenues are useless measurements. My four year old has started to value the different types of coins; shouldn’t the LCD market do that too?
DisplayBlog is written and produced by Jin Kim. Subscribe via RSS.