www.m2cmobile.com carries all top brands unlocked cell phones and cell phone accessories, such as Nokia, Motorola, Sony Ericsson, Samsung, LG, BlackBerry, Acer, Alcatel, ASUS, GIGABYTE, Philips, SHARP, Sony Ericsson Toshiba, HTC, Palm, iphone in discount price, and global shipping
We’ve been seeing some smartphones with amazing cameras lately and I’ve been saying for a while that these can definitely replace point-and-shoot cameras and it looks like the market agrees. A new report from NPD found that people are increasingly using smartphones to take pictures instead of cameras.
The report found that the percentage of photos taken with a smartphone rose to 27 percent this year, while those taken with a camera have fallen to 44 percent. While that doesn’t show that cameras are fully in the grave, the trend is definitely in favor of mobile photography.
This makes a lot of sense because these handsets are getting better lenses all the time and it’s much easier to use the device that’s already in your pocket/purse than carrying around a standalone camera. It’s similar to how mobile gaming is also overtaking the portable gaming market.
“There is no doubt that the smartphone is becoming ‘good enough’ much of the time; but thanks to mobile phones, more pictures are being taken than ever before,” said Liz Cutting, executive director and senior imaging analyst at NPD, in a prepared statement. “Consumers who use their mobile phones to take pictures and video were more likely to do so instead of their camera when capturing spontaneous moments, but for important events, single purpose cameras or camcorders are still largely the device of choice.”
The interesting part of the report is that it also found that there is growth in the high-end of photography, as the detachable lens market grew. I also still think that smartphone cameras can’t get the zooming right because handset makers want to keep a thin form factor.
For the most part, I’m fine with only using a smartphone as my main camera for trips. What about you?
The Apple iPhone 4S has already broken a couple of sales records. First day sales were through the roof and on the first weekend of sales alone it broke the 4 million unit barrier. The latest iPhone has fueled Apple’s growth in the States and the UK, but research firm Kantar Worldpanel ComTech published a report saying that the situation is not like that everywhere. Europe for once has become more price sensitive then ever and the iPhone has lost much of its traction there.
"In Great Britain, the U.S. and Australia, Apple's new iPhone continues to fly off the shelf in the run-up to Christmas. However, this trend is far from universal," global consumer insight director Dominic Sunnebo said.
In the US Apple’s share grew to 36% from only 25%, while in the UK it rose to 31% from 21% in the 12 weeks to end-November.
However in Europe’s biggest markets - Germany and France - the iPhone has lost some ground. In Germany the drop was from 27% to 22% and in France it was even bigger - Apple’s share slipped to 20% from 29%.
This could also be partly due to the eurozone crisis, so people seem to have flocked to more option-rich Android. Google’s platform had a share of between 46% and 61% across the Old Continent.
The Samsung Galaxy S II drove Android’s growth in Europe’s biggest economy Germany. There Android’s market share stood at 61% at the end of the 12-week period the analysts measured.
It had been assumed that although AT&T has fielded a faster network compared to Verizon for years that LTE would bring parity between the carriers, but a new study has found that AT&T's fledgling LTE network is upwards of 30% faster than Verizon's.
The study was conducted by Metrico Wireless in the 5 markets where AT&T has LTE built up and compared with Verizon's LTE network in those same markets. The devices used were the HTC Vivid and Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket on AT&T and the HTC Thunderbolt, Samsung DROID Charge and Motorola DROID Bionic on Verizon.
Metrico found that stationary HTTP download and upload speeds were comparable, but that AT&T had a mean download speed 30% higher. This only comes out to a difference of 10.2 Mbps on Verizon compared to 13.8 Mbps on AT&T, which for most activities isn't really that noticeable of a difference. Metrico found that both networks had average speeds over 10 Mbps and peaks above 30 Mbps.
Metrico did make it clear that it should be kept in mind that Verizon has been building its network for about a year and there are far more subscribers on it than on AT&T's network, so that could have affected the results. This is possible, but LTE networks are designed for heavy workloads, and AT&T has always prided itself on being faster than Verizon, so it certainly wouldn't be surprising to see these numbers hold true moving forward.
I tested out the Nokia N9 MeeGo device a few weeks ago and liked it so much I bought my own cyan (blue) one from an Canadian seller on www.m2cmobile.com. The hardware is fantastic (just read every online review) and thus I was pleased to see Nokia use virtually the same hardware in the Nokia Lumia 800 that I just received for evaluation for a few weeks. You can check out several photos of the N9 and Lumia 800 in my image gallery along with a hands-on video and some initial thoughts below.
In the box and first impressions
The Nokia Lumia 800 comes in the same retail box as the Nokia N9 with the Lumia 800, USB cable, USB A/C charger, stereo headset, case, and Quick Start Guide. The case/cover matches the color of the device, black in this case, and offers some protection of the hardware. Then again, it is so sleek that it is tough to wrap it in anything.
It’s great to see so many people finally understanding how good Windows Phone can be now that they have the Lumia 800 in hand. The hardware is top notch and extremely pocketable and caressable.
Specifications
Specifications for the Nokia Lumia 800 include the following:
Windows Phone 7.5 operating system
Quad-band 3G radio and quad-band GSM radio (no support for T-Mobile USA)
1.4 GHz Qualcomm processor
3.7 inch 800×480 pixels AMOLED display
Antiglare polarizer and Gorilla Glass integration
Preinstalled 16GB internal storage
512 MB RAM
8 megapixel camera with dual-LED flash and Carl Zeiss optics
Proximity sensor, light sensor and digital compass
Integrated A-GPS
Wi-Fi (802.11 b/g/n)
Bluetooth 2.1
3.5 mm headset jack
1450 mAh lithium-ion battery
Dimensions: 116.5 x 61.2 x 12.1 mm and 142 grams
The differences between the Lumia 800 and Nokia N9 include the processor (1.4 GHz vs 1 GHz), screen size (3.7 vs 3.9 inches), RAM (512 MB vs 1 GB), NFC (not included in the Lumia 800), wireless radios (Lumia 800 is quad-band and N9 is pentaband), internal storage (Lumia 800 is 16GB only while N9 has a 64GB option), and front facing camera (Lumia 800 doesn’t have one). So as you can see the N9 best the Lumia 800 in most every specification difference.
Walk around the hardware
The Nokia Lumia 800 external hardware is the same as the N9 with the exception of the camera capture button, touch capacitive buttons (reduces the viewable display size), and front facing camera. They both have the door for the microUSB port and the funky slider tray for the microSIM card.
Quick thoughts on the software and performance
As regular readers know, I am a major Windows Phone fan and Mango flies on the Lumia 800. I definitely see a difference in going from a 4.3 inch display down to a 3.7 inch display though and am not sure I could live with it full time. I think I would rather see the 900 series of Nokia Windows Phone devices that are rumored to have a 4.3 inch display.
Nokia includes their Nokia Maps software with Nokia Drive on the Lumia 800 and it offers an excellent navigation experience. The Nokia Music found on the Lumia 800 in the U.S. does not include the Mix experience that I detailed sets it apart from other Windows Phone devices. Thus, you will not find a free music experience and I imagine it has to do with the fact that U.S. consumers get a full Zune experience. I am not sure if it will be this way in 2012 when we officially get Nokia WP device, but that remains to be seen.
Can I get either the Lumia 800 or N9?
The Nokia N9 is not officially coming to the U.S. from Nokia, but you can find them on ebay, Amazon, and through other importers. The Nokia N9 is a pentaband device so it will work with 3G on T-Mobile and AT&T. The Nokia Lumia 800 is available outside the U.S. and does not support 3G data on T-Mobile.
These are excellent devices for the smartphone enthusiast, but the average consumer will want to wait until 2012 when Nokia announces their U.S. devices.
After using the Lumia 800 for a day, I am happy to say that it makes my Nokia N9 purchase even more valid and justifiable. Here is why I personally prefer the N9 over the Lumia 800 for use in the U.S. on T-Mobile:
3G data on T-Mobile, AT&T, and around the world (a true Nokia world phone)
Double tap to turn on display without needing to ever press the on/off button
Multi-tasking beast where I have had over 27 apps running at once with a slick display to switch between them
Time shown on black screen when locked (sometimes the simple things mean a lot)
Awesome swipe to go to a notification (starting to get bothered by no real meaningful notifications in Windows Phone)
Integrated services and ability to interact with them (WP has many of these too, but MeeGo still does it better)
Swype keyboard is coming soon, along with other great updates not delayed by carriers
Being part of a very enthusiastic community of a device that the community refuses to let die out
You might already know that today is a big day for Apple fanboys, creatives and baristas included - the biggest Apple store is opening doors in New York’s Grand Central station and the huge line is already forming. No better time for the next hilarious punch at fanboyism from Samsung, right? Samsung probably agrees as it has released the next commercial in its series showing how much better the Samsung Galaxy S II is than the iPhone. Or at least trying to convince us in that and when it comes to waiting in line it definitely has a viable argument.
But on the flipside of things, there is the counter argument: “36 hours is a small price to pay to keep all of my music,” Samsung makes a point by depicting three fanboys waiting in front of an Apple store.
At the end, the ad shows the Samsung Galaxy S II and T-Mobile’s logo, and for T-Mobile - the only major US carrier not offering the iPhone - that funny rhetoric could be life saving. In either case, check out the full commercial below.
Panasonic is expanding its smartphone business into Europe and the U.S., as the ailing company looks to reverse its fortunes in a competitive mobile market.
The Japan-based company plans to launch a new smartphone with an "ultra-slim design" in Europe in March 2012. The device will reportedly target business users in their 30s and 40s and feature a 4.3-inch OLED display and a waterproof and dustproof design.
The phone will run on Google's Android OS and eventually release in the U.S. and Asia. The manufacturer hopes to sell 9 million devices outside of Japan by March 2016.
"We are well aware of our powerful competitors," said head of Panasonic's mobile communications division Toshinori Hoshi. "However, markets shares are changing dramatically and if we launch into this fast-changing market, we believe we have a chance of a hit."
Panasonic is optimistic, but it enters the smartphone business outside its home market at a time when the overall health of the company is in steep decline. The manufacturer, which is about to post a $5.5 billion loss, is hedging all its bets on having success in a mobile market where it has struggled to perform in the past.
The company pulled its feature phones out of the U.S. and European markets six years ago after failing to gain any traction.
Now, Panasonic will enter into a market that is more competitive than ever before as it slashes its TV division and refocuses on smartphones to stay afloat. Apple, Samsung, HTC and Motorola are all major players in the markets Panasonic is hoping to step foot in, and each company has an established following of its products.
Meanwhile, Sony is planning to increases its smartphone business moving forward after buying out the mobile portion of it joint venture partner Ericsson, and the China based ZTE is also looking to bring high-end smartphones to the U.S. next year.
Both companies are entering the market in far better shape than Panasonic, and they face an uphill battle to enjoy sustained success.
Panasonic believes entering new markets with a high-end smartphone is a good way to jump start falling revenues, but the high-risk/high-reward plan may prove too formidable to a company already losing billions.
