A Country Divided: Yankees Love IPhone, Southerners Use Android

new Civil War may be brewing in the U.S., this time over mobile operating systems, as a study indicates Android and iOS preferences run along state lines.

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Mobile ad firm JumpTap collected data from 83 million smartphones users in each of the 50 states, discovering northerners tend to use iPhones while southerners stick to Android phones. The same division apparently runs east-west, with Android users on the Pacific coast and iOS diehards to the east.

Of course there are some states on the outskirts, with Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey leaning toward Android while Louisiana and Hawaii fly Apple flags.

BlackBerry, too, still claims several business-oriented states like New York and Virginia, along with the slow-to-change Dakotas. Neutral states include Nevada, New Mexico and a southeastern chunk of states including the Carolinas.

Sadly for Microsoft, its home state of Washington prefers Android phones over anything else, including its Windows Phone. Of course, Microsoft does not yet have a large market share, but may see sales climb once it puts the Windows mobile OS on Nokia smartphones.

JumpTap's survey also reveals Android remains first in the market share race, with the caveat that more people click on iOS ads. This is in keeping with other statistics that list Android as claiming more than one-third of the smartphone market, with Apple close behind at just under one-third.

While it's unlikely average users will take up physical arms to defend either blue Apple or red Google states, the war between these companies will surely continue in the market and in the courts, with the increasing rise of patent-related lawsuits.

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We’ve only recieved an inkling of what RIM’s latest BlackBerrry smartphones will cost, but Rogers has just gone on the record with how much they’ll be charging for the Bold 9900, Torch 9810, and Torch 9860. Like T-Mobile, Rogers will be offering the Bold 9900 for a little more than expected: $249.99 on a three-year contract. The other two are going for $199.99, and although there’s no mention of release dates, August 9 is a safe bet.

The common thread across all three are magnetic compasses, 5 megapixel cameras with 720p video recording, 1.2 GHz processors, 14.4 Mbps HSPA+ connectivity, and sharper screens. The 9860 has the biggest one of the lot, measuring 3.7 inches and clocking in at 800 x 480, with the Torch 9810 not far behind with a 3.2 inch 640 x 480 screen, while the Bold 9900 candybar gets just as many pixels in a more compact 2.8 inch screen. Besides NFC on the Bold 9900, they’re all otherwise pretty identical under the hood.

Compared to T-Mobile’s Bold 9900 price, I’m not sure if I would trade a year of exclusivity for a paltry fifty bucks, but three years is just the way we painfully roll in Canada. On a relative basis with the other OS 7 BlackBerry devices on Rogers, I would say NFC is worth the added cost over the other models, if only for futureproofing. That said, I’m leaning towards picking up the 9900 out of the whole lot, but what about you guys? Is the Bold 9900 priced somewhere where you would consider getting it, or does it need to drop to $199 like the others to be worth picking up?

Nokia Introduces Voice-to-Text Messaging on Windows Phones

Nokia unveiled plans to install a voice-to-text feature on its upcoming Windows Phones, as the company looks to brighten its fortunes by catching up in the smartphone market.

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The voice-recognition feature will allow Nokia users with new Microsoft phones to read and send texts verbally, according to Chris Weber, president of Nokia USA. It's unclear whether the first Nokia Windows phone, which may be unveiled at an August 17 Nokia-Microsoft event, will contain the technology.

He demonstrated the new technology to attendees at the Center for Automotive Research's Management Briefing Seminars, calling it "a game changer" that may help prevent unsafe driving.

Weber said he used the feature as he drove his son to school in Seattle, adding, "I ended up doing 17 text messages and I never touched the phone."

A self-confessed, erstwhile texter while driving, Weber says he appreciates the benefits of technology that lets him read, compose, send or ignore messages by voice while he drives.

Besides making the roads safer, Nokia's voice-to-text feature may improve the company's standing in the mobile market. According to Weber, about 35 percent of users and growing are buying smartphones in the U.S., and Nokia must edge its way into this crowd if it wants to remain a powerful player in the field.

Nokia was slow to adopt smartphone technology as consumers shifted to app-centric touch screen devices, but its partnership with Microsoft aims to reverse that trend. Nokia's future phones are set to contain Windows' Mango-updated software, which features the voice-to-text technology, among other features.

As both Nokia and Microsoft strain to get ahead in the smartphone race, features like verbal texting could give them a much-needed energy boost.

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Syrian Protestors Scared to Use Facebook, Twitter

Syrian protestors are scared to use Facebook and Twitter, saying the government tracks their posts, as officials in that region attempt to prevent another Arab Spring uprising.

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Anti-government activists accuse authorities of watching Twitter feeds and Facebook in order to learn of planned protests and arrest those who show up. In fact, activists believe the government reopened the previously blocked social media sites earlier this year explicitly to monitor citizens' behavior.

"The government reopened Facebook because they realized that it was more useful for them to allow activists to communicate on the site, and then track us down using their team of loyalists who search the Internet," said one protester going by the name Rana.

Rather than tweeting or posting, therefore, they have taken to spreading protest news via word of mouth and slightly safer IRC chat rooms. But these methods are slower and tend not to draw large crowds.

Perhaps because they fear to post any revolutionary thoughts online, Syrians have not seen large-scale uprisings like those during Egypt and Tunisia's revolutions. Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarakmust pay a $91 million fine for shutting down digital communications during the winter protests, with the aim of preventing people from rallying against him on Facebook and in the streets.

After Egypt exploded into revolution, news of the uprisings instantly reached Tunisia, Libya, Sudan and others via Twitter and Facebook, aiding those countries' people in orchestrating rebellions as well. Even Yemen had 100,000 people turn out to protest President Ali Abdulla Saleh's rule.

In an effort to prevent the overthrow of its President Bashar al-Assad, Syria blocked social media and other websites since 2000. Some even accuse Iran of aiding in Syria's online restrictions, saying Tehran sent tracking equipment to al-Assad to help it spy on its citizens. Both countries deny this accusation.

Neither Syria nor Iran desires a large-scale uproar like the movements in Egypt, Libya, Bahrain and other countries this past year. Iran is planning to create an airtight internal Internet within two years in order to dampen any anti-government sentiment.

Syria also requires people to show ID and take thumbprints when they buy SIM cards for their phones, leading some protestors to use SIM cards from the deceased to avoid government tracking.

It's difficult, however, to gauge the level of Syria's governmental control over the Internet and mobile communications. In a country that forbids foreign journalists and pressures local media to censor their stories, most non-official news about Syria comes from underground bloggers, YouTube videos and exiled activists.

And sometimes no news comes at all. "On days when a lot of people are killed, the government will just shut down the Internet," said an activist going by the name of Ammar. "Then nobody knows."

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BlackBerry Torch 9810 and Torch 9850/60 get official

RIM has announced two of their long-leaked devices this morning: the BlackBerry Torch 9810 and the BlackBerry Torch 9850/60. Both are confirmed to have 1.2 GHz processors and 768 MB of RAM. As expected, the Torch 9810 will beat out the 9850/60 on local storage with 8 GB versus 4 GB, but that’s more or less evened out when you put microSD cards into the mix.   The screen sizes and resolutions are also confirmed to be 3.7 inches and 800 x 480 for the 9850/60, and 3.2 inches at 640 x 480 for the Torch 9810. A nice little surprise for the BlackBerry 9810 is that it will be UMA-capable, allowing for calls over Wi-Fi if the carrier supports it. They’ll both have magnetic compasses, enabling augmented reality apps. They’ll also both be running the new OS 7 software, which has a handful of user experience improvements, like voice-activated universal search, and a new rendering engine that should make navigation and web browsing much more smooth. RIM is being coy with some of the specifics however; the Bold 9900/30, which was announced a few months ago as the first OS 7 device, is the only one mentioned to have NFC capabilities.

With all of that being said, the only real discernible difference between the two devices is the form factor. The 9850/60 will have the added flexibility of both CDMA and GSM models being available, but all of the important features are consistent across both smartphones. NFC remains the wild card, and may very well be the one thing that puts the Bold 9900/30 ahead of the whole bunch, but that remains to be seen. As far as marketing goes, I’m still not entirely sold on naming the 9850/60 a Torch. I get that RIM wanted to get away from the negative stigma of the Storm brand, and the Torch was already well established, but it feels like the character of the name is watered-down when it’s shared by two devices that really look nothing alike. How well will they do in the long run? I think that’s up in the air. BlackBerry as a whole has been getting knocked on pretty hard by the competition lately, but if these OS 7 devices can at least stay within arm’s reach of the current Android and iOS alternatives, RIM should be able to buy enough time before their dual-core QNX-powered handsets launch early next year.

We’re still expecting a few more OS 7 devices from RIM, including the Curve 9360, Bold 9790, and the BlackBerry Orlando, but if leaked release dates are any indication, those should be coming before the end of the year. No dates were given for the launch of the phones announced today, though RIM says this is their widest product launch to date, spanning 225 carriers which will include AT&T, Rogers, Telus, Bell, Sprint, and U.S. Cellular. I’ll be getting some hands-on time tonight with the two new devices tonight, so stick around for some video. In the meantime, you can check out the official features of the BlackBerry Torch 9810 andTorch 9850/60 at their respective landing pages.

Nokia N8 is used to shoot at the world's biggest stop-motion animation set

The Nokia N8 is still the reigning king in smartphone cameras with its 12-megapixel Carl Zeiss lens. But is it fit enough to shoot at the world's largest stop-motion animation set spreading on over 11,000 square feet? The answer is yes, but it took not one, but three Nokia N8s to produce this breath-taking minute and a half production called Gulp. The marine-themed stop-motion film Gulp narrates the story of a fisherman going out in the sea only to meet adventure and get eaten by a huge fish, but we won't spoil the whole thing. 

Interestingly, when shooting the film the three Nokia N8s were used only for capturing stills, not video. The numerous images were then stitched together giving the illusion of motion in a 25fps video. Aardman and Nokia, which are behind this film, have previously broken the record for the world's smallest stop-motion animation with the movie Dot. Check out both of them below and don't forget to take a look at the massive making of Gulp.

Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 vs Apple iPad 2: Internet and Data Speeds

Yesterday we took our first look at the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 for Verizon Wireless. Now we are going to see how it stacks up next to the Apple iPad 2 while using data and internet.

The clear advantage in raw data speed goes to the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1since it is utilizing Verizon's fast 4G LTE network. We ran the SpeedTest.net app and got around 7-8 Mbps downloads and 3-4 Mbps uploads, which is also in the same range that we get on the HTC ThunderBolt smartphone. When using the same app on the Apple iPad 2, which uses Verizon's 3G EVDO Rev A network, we got on average 1 Mbps for downloads and 0.4 Mbps for uploads.


Up next, we wanted to see how fast their web browsers would be while loading the same sites. Since the Apple iPad 2 does not support Adobe Flash, we disabled the Flash plug-in on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, so both phones would only load the same web site data. When going to the PhoneArena.com site, theSamsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 completely loaded it 12 seconds faster than the iPad 2. Then when we loaded the NY Times site, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was only about 2 seconds faster, and the National Geographic site was loaded in the same amount of time on both devices. Based upon this, it does appear that the web site's content does make a difference on if there is a noticeable difference on their load times. Since the PhoneArena site has a lot of graphics, it loaded faster on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 with 4G than the iPad 2 with 3G, but since the NY Times site is mostly text, both phones loaded them in about the same amount of time.

We then re-enabled the Adobe Flash on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 and did the same web site tests again. This time around, the iPad 2 was able to completely load the main PhoneArena site 20 seconds faster than the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, and loaded the Motorola DROID 3 review page 7 seconds faster. This is because when Flash is enabled, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 naturally has to download all the embedded Flash content, and then process and run it on the page. This is why it is taking longer to load than when having Flash turned off. But when going to the NY Times site, both devices loaded it in the same time since there was no Flash content to download, and there was only a 3 second difference when loading the National Geographic site.


It is clear that the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is capable of much faster download and upload speedsthan the Apple iPad 2. Again, due to the differences in the Verizon 4G and 3G network. But when downloading and viewing web sites, it is a bit of a mixed bag. When Adobe Flash is not used on either device, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was faster on loading the PhoneArena site, but both tablets were almost the same speed when loading the NY Times and National Geographic sites. Then when we re-enabled Flash on the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, it took longer to load the PhoneArena site than the iPad 2, but again both took about the same time for loading the NY Tines and National Geographic sites.

At this point, if you are in the market for a tablet to be used with Verizon's data service, the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 is going to have the advantage of using the 4G network, which will also allow forfaster email and app downloads as well, while the iPad 2 is still using the 3G network. But if you are using mostly a Wi-Fi connection at home or at work, then both tablets would be equal in their data speeds.

Missouri Bans Students, Teachers from Being Facebook "Friends"

Missouri's government has passed a law that cracks down on teachers who use social networking sites to be social with their students.

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After Aug. 28, teachers in the "Show Me" state will not be allowed to create Facebook or other social network accounts that allow them to connect privately with former and current students. Teachers will still be able to create Facebook "fan" pages, so students can have access to them in public.

State officials say the new law, passed on July 14, is part of an effort to "more clearly define teacher-student boundaries" and is part of a larger bill that helps protect children from possible teacher sexual misconduct.

Critics have complained the new law paints all teachers as potential sexual predators, and does not take into account those teachers who see social networking as a valuable educational tool. Others have complained the new law could violate the privacy of both students and teachers.

The law was discussed for some time, but was on hold after the Joplin, Mo. tornado, when teachers used their social networking sites to help track down some missing students. Some teachers have said they are concerned the law will keep them from getting vital information out to students and parents.

"The hundreds of teachers across the state who have effectively used Facebook and other social networking sites to communicate with students, and I am one of those, will have to trash years' worth of work," wrote blogger Randy Turner, a communication arts teacher for Joplin East Middle School.

She said the law might also keep students from communicating with adults who may be a stabilizing force in their lives, which, for example, they needed after the tornado.

Missouri's law may add to rules already on the books that show privacy isn't really private when it comes to social media. Facebook posts and photos shared only with friends can be used against people in court. The new law forbids, however, that initial communication being made to begin with.

The line between private and public on Facebook and other forms of social media is one constantly being negotiated and regulated. Debt collectors, for instance, are not allowed to contact debtors through Facebook, according to a recent ruling, although collectors may use the service to gather information.

Missouri is the first state to pass a "Facebook" law, but others may follow if state legislators believe teachers use social networking to communicate inappropriately with their students. However, the law could face constitutionality challenges because some believe it violates freedom of speech concerns. Other states may well let the laws already on their books handle how teachers interact with students.

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Smartphone camera comparison: you choose the winner (Results)

Judging the quality of the camera on a smartphone is no easy task – you got to step in our shoes over the course of last two weeks when we gave you outdoor and indoor blind tests of three high-end smartphones and a digital camera, and finally the results are in. You already know the terms of the polls – we stripped down all data about the images to get rid of bias and judge solely the quality. The devices we chose aren't necessarily the best cameraphones out there, but our goal here was to give you an impression about the photo capture quality on some of the most popular ones. 

We picked some of the hottest Android phones out there: the Samsung Galaxy S II (appearing as Device 4in the outdoor test and Device A indoors), the iPhone 4 (dubbed Device 2 and Device D), and the HTC Sensation (known as Device 1 and Device B). The digital camera we used was the Canon PowerShot SD870 IS (Device 3 and Device C), an 8.0-megapixel point-and-shooter released in 2007.

Galaxy S II	iPhone 4	Sensation	PowerShot SD870 IS

Outdoor test results:

Overall picture quality test	100% crop detail test

The first question we wanted to answer was: “Can a contemporary high-end smartphone perform on par with a common point-and-shoot camera?” The results give a negative answer – the digicam swiped competition away in outdoor tests, but the advantage was most obvious indoors with artificial light or nearly no light at all. We'd like to give props to our user emmarbee who was the only one who managed to approximate the used devices in the first test.

With that said, though, there are three smartphones left fighting for the second spot. In our outdoor test,you ranked the iPhone 4 first among them with a combined total of 1975 votes. The HTC Sensation was a close runner-up, while the Samsung Galaxy S II ended up last.

You can check out the images from our outdoor test again here.


Indoor test results:

Overall picture quality test	100% crop detail test

When it comes to our indoor blind test, things looked very differently. An unanimous decision pin-pointed the digital camera as the best performer again, but this time nearly equally eloquent was the people's vote against the iPhone 4. The handset failed to capture adequate images in some of the cases with colors looking unnatural when the LED flash fired. Although the HTC Sensation easily grabbed the second place here, there was a close fight in the strictly detail-centric department, where it managed to slightly edge the Galaxy S II.

With a nearly forensic fever, jiezel91 rationalized about the devices we've used in the second test and deserved a special mention for the way they reached the conclusion that device C is a digital camera. This is just one example of your brilliant analysis, and we were particularly happy with your comments, so we extend our humble thanks to all of you who chimed in the discussion.

You can check out the images from our indoor test again here.

Conclusion:

So, it turns out most of you did find the iPhone 4 a better cameraphone compared to Android powerhouses such as the Galaxy S II and Sensation in the daylight test. Not once have there been negative comments with regards to how the iPhone performs, but it has now come out on top of this comparison, thanks to your votes.

We give credit where it's due. That's why we should note the excellence demonstrated by the Sensation when it comes to shots taken in low-lit, indoor conditions. HTC's offering proved that it's a much better solution for such scenarios, compared to the iPhone 4 and Galaxy S II. Actually, if we have to average all the results from the outdoor and indoor tests, it appears that the HTC Sensation performs best from all three phones, being a relatively close runner-up outdoors, and an undisputed leader indoors.

Finally, it has become clear from your votes that even one of the hottest smartphones out there are still pretty far from being as capable as dedicated point-and-shoots are. We can compromise to an extent of course, that's why some of us are already willing to leave their cameras at home, but if we have to judge pure quality, it's evident that cell phone manufacturers still have a long road ahead of them.