Intel Says Android 4.0 for Smartphones, Tablets Ready

Intel on Friday said it has readied Android 4.0 for smartphones and tablets based on its upcoming Atom processor code-named Medfield, raising the possibility of Intel-inside handheld devices being released next year with the new OS.

The company had a version of Android 4.0 for Medfield up and running within a day of Google open sourcing the OS, and now packages for smartphones and tablets with Medfield drivers are available to device makers, said Alec Gefrides, head of the Google Program Office at Intel.

Intel is working with device makers to optimize and fine-tune the OS for specific platforms and products based on Medfield chips. While the OS is expected to be ready in time for the product releases, it will be up to the device makers to decide whether they want to implement the OS in smartphones or tablets.

"We'll see products next year on Gingerbread, Ice Cream Sandwich and Honeycomb," Gefrides said, referring to Android versions 2.3, 4.0 and 3.x. "Every OEM has to put a stake in the ground to get a product delivered."

Intel in September said that the first Intel-inside smartphones would reach the market in the first half next year. Intel also said it was working closely with Google to optimize Android to work on upcoming smartphones and tablets with Medfield chips. The chipmaker showed off a Medfield smartphone running on Android 2.3 and a tablet running on Android 3.x at the Intel Developer Forum trade show in San Francisco that month.

The ability to run Android 4.0 on mobile devices is important for Intel, which has no presence in the smartphone market and a minor presence in the tablet market. Intel is trying to establish a beachhead in a market dominated by ARM, whose processors are found in most smartphones and tablets.

Intel's efforts to bring Android 4.0 to future Atom-based handheld devices is parallel to other efforts to port the OS to the x86 architecture. Earlier this week, volunteer developers of theAndroid-X86 open-source project ported the OS to work on a tablet with x86 processors from Advanced Micro Devices. AMD supported the project with engineering support and donated devices, said Chih-Wei Huang, an open-source developer, in an email.

"Intel continues ignoring us. I've tried to contact Intel many times, but they are not interested in helping us," Huang said.

Intel is grateful that developers are working on Android 4.0 for x86, but Gefrides said drivers will be released to the open-source community only with device releases. Intel wants to ensure the OS works properly on Intel-based devices, and wants to try and prevent Android from getting fragmented.

"Intel has to focus resources on building products, not experiments," Gefrides said.

Complaints about lack of early access to Intel code is reminiscent of the open-source community complaining about Google not releasing Honeycomb code, which was made available only to certain vendors, said Jack Gold, principal analyst at J. Gold Associates.

If Intel did release the drivers prematurely, the user experience on smartphones and tablets could be inconsistent, Gold said. Intel wants to ensure a consistent and functional Android OS on devices, which is critical given the chipmaker is just starting off in the tablet and smartphone markets.

Intel usually optimizes code for its chipset, bus systems and other components to ensure applications take full advantage of hardware for tasks like multimedia, Web browsing or multicore processing. Those capabilities could go awry on faulty code and hurt the user experience, so Intel is trying to standardize the drivers ahead of a wider open-source release.

"Intel wants to avoid people doing weird things in weird ways that makes their platform look bad," Gold said.

But the open-source community is vocal and wants to commence development as soon as possible, for which they need Intel's cooperation.

"It's damned if you do, damned if you don't," Gold said. "I'd have to weigh in on Intel on getting the user experience right."

Intel submits x86 code to the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), which is run by Google. Intel has already been an active participant in Android development for the past two years, submitting more than 200 core patches to AOSP, which have carried over to Ice Cream Sandwich.

Minus Ericsson, Sony to only make smartphones

Sony Corp is all set to rebrand its mobile phones post the acquisition of Ericsson's share in the ten-year-old joint venture-Sony Ericsson. 

Asenior executive from the Japanese conglomerate, which also makes PlayStation video game consoles and Bravia TVs, said by mid next year, the Sony Ericsson brand will be phased out even as it looks to become a complete smartphone company. It would then sell its smartphones under the Sony brand. 

The mobile handset maker, famous for its Walkman series phones, has been left behind in the race for market share in the last few years but is now banking on the Android-based smartphone segment to give it anew lease of life. Indian operations of Sony Ericsson will also follow the global strategy and by next year become a pure play smartphone brand as its line of feature phones makes an exit, said Kristian Tear, executive VP & head of sales & marketing, Sony Ericsson , while talking exclusively to TOI. 

"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," Tear added. 

Sony Ericsson, which currently has about a 2% market share globally of the mobile handset market, underwent a management change about two years ago, got rid off the Symbian operating system in lieu of Google's Android and made the decision to focus only on the smartphone segment as losses mounted for the company . The Android platform, dominated by Samsung, now accounts for more than 50% of the overall smartphone market , according to Gartner, while Apple's iPhone has been the other big non-Android player in the overall smartphone category. 

With full control of the company, the mobile phone maker is now looking to leverage more from its parent to help it bounce back. "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," he added. 

The euro 6.2 billion Sony Ericsson will also integrate in some way at the sales and marketing level with its $86 billion parent company, although, with the acquisition still to get final approval, the process will only start next year, Tear said. Besides, gaining brand equity and assets of its parent, Sony Ericsson, which has 19% and 12% share of the Indian and global Android smartphone market, respectively, will increasingly focus on the valueend of the market. 

Some industry watchers said this could mean foregoing a big chunk of the Rs 30,000 crore Indian handset market, still dominated by sub- Rs 3,500 phones. "Smartphone's still account for only about 6% of the overall market as low-cost devices rule majority of the Indian market. Although, the growth is happening rapidly at 30-40 % in the smartphone category it will be a while before we get to the adoption rate of the mature markets," said Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst, Gartner, a global information technology research and advisory firm. 

The company is banking on the huge growth potential in the smartphone category to also push its profitability. "Last eight quarters have been good for us and we are proud of that. We went from focusing only on volumes to value but the big setback was what happened in Japan with the Tsunami, which put us back for this year quite a bit. But we are going in the right direction," Tear said. The target is to become the number one Android player in the smartphone segment, he added. 

Microsoft to reveal details on its Windows 8 app store next week

Microsoft will share more information about its Windows 8 app store at a special event Tuesday.

Slated to take place in San Francisco, the two-hour Windows Store preview event should provide the latest details about the Windows Store to the invited developers and members of the press.

Microsoft has been mum about the Windows Store lately, but it did reveal some facts at its Build conference in mid-September.

Trying to outdo Apple's Mac App store, the Windows Store will let users download free trial copies of Metro-style apps to check out for a limited time. So developers won't have to cook up both paid and "lite" versions of their applications. Beyond that, both free and paid apps would be available. Microsoft will also run security checks and other tests to certify each app.

Traditional Windows desktop and Metro-style apps would both be accessible through the Windows Store, according to Mary Jo Foley of CNET sister site ZDNet. However, Windows desktop apps will not be directly downloadable but instead would be offered through a link to the third-party developer. Microsoft's demo at Build showed a link to download Quicken, as one example. Metro-style apps would be available only through the Windows Store.

Developers will also be able to promote their Windows 8 Metro apps via their own Web site, according to WinRumors. From the developer's site, users could click on a download button that will bring them to the Windows Store where they can grab the application directly.

Foley also posed the question of whether there might be any tie-in between the Windows Store and Microsoft's Xbox 360because Tuesday is the day that Xbox users will see a new dashboard.

In July, CNET sister site GameSpot cited a rumor claiming that Windows 8 users would be able to play Xbox 360 games directly from their PCs and other Windows devices.

CNET will cover Microsoft's event Tuesday, so we'll be able to share more about the Windows Store at that point.

Sony Ericsson Attempting To Impress Users

Sony Ericsson has succeeded to impress a majority of people who enjoys tampering with all latest technology with the launch of an array of Xperia devices. And now, the company is looking forward to receive huge appreciation with the introduction of an aesthetic device empowered with a blend of good looks and appealing attributes.

The phone is expected to come with a 4.3 inch display along with capabilities to support a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm mobile processor. In addition, sources have confirmed that one of the most awaited products, Sony Ericsson Nozomi, from the company will be advertised as one of the latest Xperia smartphones.

The aesthetic phone is expected to impress its users with the help of its attractive features such as ability to support 1280x720 pixel resolution natively as well as housing of Bravia Engine HD. In addition, newly developed type of PlayStation Certified HD games, especially drafted for the Xperia Android smartphones, will be employed to flaunt its native 720p HD touchscreen display.

Housing of a dual-core 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8660 mobile processor along with 1 GB RAM can be considered as another striking features to add a spark in its properties. Sources have confirmed that Sony Ericsson Nozomi will ship with Android 2.3. x Gingerbread update, initially. However, they assured that the company has outlined all plans to introduce some improvements in it. It is already designed upgradable for Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

The device is enabled with a 12 megapixel camera along with Exmor R CMOS sensor that will permit the user to capture high quality images. Besides still photography, the Exmor R sensor empowered camera is also efficient to assist a video recording of 1080p full HD. The smartphone comes with a 1750mAh battery.

Nokia lose huge market share in their homeland

There's a state of unease within Nokia at the moment and unsurprisingly so. With the first Nokia-Microsoft lovechild now out in the market (the Lumia 800, you might have heard of it) and an aggressive marketing strategy in place to drum up interest in Windows Phone-laden Nokia's coming fresh out of the factory, the Finnish company have been waiting with bated breath to see how consumers will receive this new-era Nokia.

They've shown a resilience to the tough times they've faced already and since the partnership announcement in February, many wondered just how this shift would affect the company's image. By bringing Microsoft in, they've inherently changed the way they operate and the way fans of the brand expect them to operate. Sure they brought the Asha lineup to maintain support for their Symbian products and the N9 is taking point in markets where the Lumia 800 isn't, but now Windows Phone is Nokia and as Stephen Elop so boldly said at Nokia World, the Lumia 800 is "the first real Windows Phone device."

Not only could a statement like that upset the likes of HTC, LG and Samsung, all of whom license Windows Phone from Microsoft, but the hardcore fans of what we could call the 'old' Nokia also might not welcome the change, and that is a notion that has the potential to hold water in this case.

The Finns have been proud of the globally recognized giant that is Nokia and it's probably one of the key things those from outside of the country associate with it, but a recent report from Helsinki's Taloussanomat shows that pride only takes support so far. In the last 12 months, Nokia have lost 45% of the market share taking their dominance from 76% right down to 31%.

Of course they still have the top spot, but the gap has dramatically narrowed, with the majority of their sales now in the possession of Samsung who have risen sharply from a mere 3% to 25% in the same amount of time. Apple then take third place with 16% in Q3 2011, with Sony Ericsson and Huawei sharing 11% each, leaving the remaining 6% of the market currently to ZTE.

This doesn't automatically spell the end for Nokia of course, far from it, but it still must be unnerving for them. The financial quarter in question actually precedes the announcement of the Lumia and Asha handsets, but as such, it does indicate that the change was necessary. It makes more sense for Nokia to have changed tack altogether, than continue along the road they were currently on and let's not forget the Finnish market is important for Nokia, but relatively speaking, it's a small one, with Finland's entire population around the 5 million mark.

Once the holiday season and the final financial quarter conclude we should get at least an initial indication of the impact the Lumia 800 is making. Until then however it's a case of crossing fingers and seeing if Nokia are able to reassure the old fans, as well as attracting new ones

AT&T launches the LG Nitro HD

The Nitro HD aims to be the carrier's most impressive Android device to date and AT&T is so proud of it that it threw a party to celebrate its landing on its LTE network. We were on site and we got to meet the Nitro HD in person.

To kick things off, this is the first smartphone in AT&T's line-up to feature a 4.5-inch True HD AH-IPS screen with 1280x720 resolution and is looking to challenge Verizon's two HD monsters - the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the HTC Rezound. The oomph comes from a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and 1GB of RAM, a combination which will be able to handle pretty much everything thrown its way.

At the back of the Nitro HD sits a 8MP 1080p video-recording camera with LED flash, while video chatting is covered by a 1.3MP front-facing snapper. On-board storage is 4GB, but you can expand that by up to 32GB thanks to the microSD card slot (there's a 16GB card included in the retail package, too).

The size of the Nitro HD is much more tolerable than that of the Rezound. It measures 133.9 x 67.8 x 10.4 mm and weighs 127 grams, which we found to be quite pocketable.

The LG Nitro HD will hit AT&T's stores both online and offline on December 4 with a pricetag of $249,99 on a two-year contract.

New nVidia 'Kal-El' Chip Promises Superfast Future for Tablets, Smartphones

It's a superchip for superphones. 

Chipmaker nVidia, rushing to stake out more territory in tablets and smartphones, said its new Tegra 3 processor delivers up to three times the graphics performance of its predecessor and uses 61 percent less power.

Previously code-named "Project Kal-El" -- after Superman's boyhood name -- the new quad-core chip is in production and is nVidia's latest bet to expand into the fast-growing mobile market as tablets like Apple's iPad eat into sales of personal computers.

Santa Clara, California-based nVidia, which started out making graphics chips for PCs and still makes most of its revenue that way, expects devices using the new processors to be on sale by the end of the year, Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang told analysts on a conference call in September.

Early in 2011, nVidia's Tegra 2 mobile chip, which is based on architecture licensed from Britain's ARM Holdings, was included in several new gadgets from Samsung Electronics, Asustek Computer and LG Electronics, raising nVidia's profile with investors as well as its stock price.

The first tablet to use the Tegra 3 chip will be Asustek's Eee Pad Transformer Prime, nVidia said in a statement.

ARM's power-sipping chip architecture is widely favored for mobile devices that depend on batteries and is also used by Qualcomm and Texas Instruments.

Intel so far has failed to find a foot hold in the mobile market and is hurrying to adapt its chip architecture, originally designed to make powerful PCs, to work efficiently in smartphones and tablets.

Adobe cuts Flash development, conceding to Apple

Adobe Systems Inc is halting development of its popular Flash Player for use in mobile browsers, essentially admitting defeat to rival Apple Inc in a long-running battle over Web standards. 

The decision by the software maker, whose shares fell nearly 12 percent, means that Web developers will probably stop using its Flash tools to produce video, websites and applications for delivery over mobile browsers. That would be a relief for tens of millions of iPhones and iPad users whose browsers are not capable of viewing content built in Flash, but it could hurt sales of Adobe's tools for developing websites. 

Instead, Adobe said it will focus on selling tools for website developers that use an emerging set of Internet standards known as HTML5, which Apple has long promoted. 

Shares of Adobe were down 11.7 percent at $26.88 in morning trading.

Facebook acquires app developer co Strobe

With an aim to expand its services on smartphones, social networking giantFacebook has acquired mobile application developer Strobe for an undisclosed amount. 

Strobe develops technology which help developers create and distribute applications that work on devices like smartphones and tablet PCs. 

The deal will help Facebook, which has over 800 million user globally, to further shore up its offerings on mobile devices. 

"We are happy to announce that, as of this week, the Strobe team is joining Facebook," Strobe Founder and CEO Charles Jolley said in a blog post. 

However, financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Some reports suggested that the Strobe acquisition was a talent hire, as Facebook was mainly interested in the company's founder Charles Jolley. 

He is also the creator of the SproutCore open source framework. Before founding Strobe, Charles was responsible for mobile application development at technology giant Apple Inc. 

"Now we are joining the talented people at Facebook to help develop innovative mobile experiences for their users around the world," Jolley added. 

For now, the Strobe service would continue to be available to existing users in its existing beta form and SproutCore would continue as an independent project. 

The US-based Strobe website lists 15 employees including management, while Facebook has more than 3,000 employees.

Amazon Touts Apps Coming to Kindle Fire

When Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet ships next week, users will be able to instantly download popular apps that the company has specifically tested on the new tablet like Pandora, Facebook, Twitter, Netflix, and more via one-click payment in the Amazon Appstore.

"We started talking to app developers everywhere the day we introduced Kindle Fire, and the response has been overwhelming," vice president of Amazon Kindle, Dave Limp, said in a statement. "In addition to over 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, gooks, and magazines from Amazon, we are excited to offer customers thousands of apps and games to choose from on Kindle Fire–from Pandora and Rhapsody to Facebook and Twitter to Netflix, as well as popular games from EA, Zynga, and many other top game developers. And this is only the beginning–we're adding more apps and games every day across all categories. "

Amazon said it will offer "several thousand" apps in an array of categories including games, social networking, entertainment, news, sports, and more. Once an app is downloaded, it will be available on the Kindle Fire, as well as other Android-based gadgets the user owns.

The $199 Kindle Fire will ship Nov. 15. Amazon said last month that it's ramping up production on the tablet because demand for the device has exceeded its original expectations.

Your Android device can now be a universal remote

Griffin and Dijit jointly announced Android support for the Beacon remote on Tuesday, allowing any Android tablet or smartphone to become a universal remote control for home theater equipment. The Beacon Universal Remote Control System already worked with Apple iOS devices through a free application; the Android version is also free, although the Beacon costs $69.99.

This universal remote solution is a combination of both hardware and software. Unlike old remotes that require infrared (IR) sensors, the Dijit application on a phone or tablet communicates with Griffin’s Beacon hardware through a standard Bluetooth connection. The Beacon unit then converts commands from the remote control software into an IR signal, which it beams to a television, Blu-ray player, DVR, or any other IR-compatible media component.

The Android app is freely available in the Android Market, but does require Android 2.3.3 or better to run. An older handset then may not be compatible, but nearly all Android tablets should work with the software.

Ironically, I remember when all of my mobile devices had IR sensors, because Bluetooth was still up-and-coming; Windows Phone handsets and old PDAs, for example, mostly carried the tech built-in. Now these sensors have generally gone away, although I noticed this morning that Samsung’s newest Galaxy Tab includes an infrared port. I guess everything old is new again, after all.

Google Offers makes bid for L.A. market

The Web giant's first local bargain is a discount package for Grauman's Chinese Theatre, and it plans to beat competitors in the crowded deals market with offers tailored to subscribers' profiles.

Google Offers, the search engine giant's daily deals site, launched in Los Angeles and four other markets Wednesday.

For its first deal in Los Angeles, Google is offering two movie tickets and a large popcorn at Grauman's Chinese Theatre or Chinese 6 Theatres in Hollywood — up to a $39 value — for $14.

Google Offers launched in June in Portland, Ore., and has since expanded to markets such as San Francisco, San Diego, New York City, Boston and Washington, D.C.

Like other daily deals sites, Google Offers will target users with limited-time-only deals based on their stated interests, with discounts of 50% or more. 

The daily deals market is crowded, with services such asGroupon, LivingSocial and AmazonLocal bombarding users' inboxes with discounts for yoga classes, sushi dinners, teeth-whitening treatments and spa packages.

Despite the competition, which some analysts have said is already too stiff, Google Offers plans to outperform its rivals by integrating deals throughout its products, said Eric Rosenblum, director of product management for Google Offers. The company also seeks to improve personalization of the offers it sends to subscribers, increasing the chances that they will accept the deals.

"Consumers want more relevant deals; it's certainly obvious, but it's hard to do," Rosenblum said. "We think we're going to have a lot more deal density and more relevance."

Wednesday's movie tickets and popcorn offer is the first daily deal ever made for Grauman's Chinese Theatre and Chinese 6 Theatres, said Alwyn Hight Kushner, director of operations for Chinese Theatres.

She said the company had discussed the possibility of doing a daily deal with other services, but ultimately chose to go with Google because it's "a big trusted brand and big household name."

"We like the idea of being the first in Los Angeles with Google as opposed to being one of 100 deals this week" with a rival site, she said. "It's great exposure for our business."

In addition to Los Angeles, Google Offers became available Wednesday in Atlanta, Brooklyn, N.Y., Chicago and Houston.

Operating a 30-megawatt solar farm from one PC

MOSCA, Colo.--Within a few days, Nick Thiel will take control of about 110,000 high-end solar panels pumping 30 megawatts of power onto the grid from a former potato and carrot farm.

Thiel is operations manager of the San Luis Solar Ranch, a 300-acre facility in the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado, a high-desert area considered ideal for solar power generation. I visited the solar ranch during a week-long expedition of energy-related locations in New Mexico and southern Colorado organized by the Institutes for Journalism & Natural Resources.

The SunPower solar panels, which cover 220 acres themselves, are expected to be "energized" this week and the plant officially commissioned by operator Iberdrola Renewables next month. Utility Xcel Energy, which is purchasing the power from the farm, estimates it will supply about 7,500 homes during peak times.

Bringing the plant online is a significant change for the San Luis Valley since the Iberdola plant is substantially larger than the two other plants in the basin, which are both under 10 megawatts. Area officials are eager to bring in more solar power because it can bring badly needed income, but at least one project was defeated by local activists due to concerns over water and land use.

For Thiel individually, though, the $100 million plant comes with a heavy responsibility as only he and one technician will operate the plant from a small office a few hundreds yards from the panels. His main tool in monitoring the entire system is a computer back in the office hooked up to a network of sensors in the field.

All of the hardware is instrumented, including the transformers, inverters, and motors that tilt the panels to face the sun over the course of the day. Those thousands of sensors create a flow of information back to a custom application used to monitor and troubleshoot problems.

If one row of panels isn't producing the same amount of power as another, it could be a sign that there's a broken piece of equipment or disconnected cable. The software also tracks the temperature of transformers to ensure they're not overheating or help schedule maintenance.

Having worked on wind turbines, which have many more moving parts, Thiel expects monitoring the solar farm to be relatively quiet. But if there is a technical problem, he'll automatically receive an e-mail or text alert.

"My biggest concern is the weather, but we're taking precautions with the [meteorological] tower and our national control center," he said, adding that lighting and high winds can create hazards. At his former job, a tornado came within a few miles of a giant wind farm, which could have caused substantial damage.

If a storm with high winds kicks into the valley, the panels' tracking system is supposed to set the panels in a safer, horizontal position. But the solar farm also has a meteorological station to monitor wind speed and other weather data to give plant operators early warnings.

Iberdrola Renewables operates a national control center where technicians can remotely monitor wind and solar farms, including the potential impact of weather. In his previous job, the national center warned wind turbine technicians of the potential lighting strikes while technicians were working inside a turbine.

For Thiel, though, his best chance at spotting a problem will be keeping an eye on the software, which provides a graphical view of the plant and lets him drill down to troubleshoot. Given that taking the panels offline costs his company money, he expects to be making most of his maintenance repairs at night.

Sony Ericsson Experia Arc HD incoming?

There's a new Sony Ericsson handset incoming, and it's sporting an HD screen, according to rumours. Fittingly, it's currently known as the Sony Ericsson Xperia Arc HD, or Nozomi, though either could be a working title.

GSM Arena received an anonymous tip about an upcoming flagship handset that'll have a 720p HD screen (similar to that seen on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and the US-bound HTC Rezound), and support FullHD video recording. Bring the HD goodness.

It'll also be able to capture full resolution stills while recording video, so you won't have to interrupt your vids to capture great moments, according to the tipster.

This squares with previous rumours Sony Ericsson is preparing a dual-core handset for the beginning of 2012. A dual-core processor would be needed to handle stills and video at the same time.

That 720p screen will be 4.3-inches across, according to the rumours.

Other details are scarce, but seeing as 720p is the native resolution for Android Ice Cream Sandwich, it would make sense for the Arc HD to come packing that version of Android. According to The Inquirer, the Xperia Arc HD (or Nozomi) will come with Android Gingerbread that'll be upgradeable to ICS soon after. The site also claims the phone has an ARMv7 processor, along with 691MB of RAM.

Sony recently bought out the Ericsson part, giving it greater control of its mobile division and helping mount a more staunch challenge to the iPhone. The Samsung Galaxy Nexus also sports a 720p screen, but it's a mammoth 4.65-inches. The HTC Rezound is also 720p, but isn't bound for these shores.

Motorola Says China Unicom to Start Razr Sales This Month

Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the mobile-phone maker that’s being bought by Google Inc., said China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd. will start sales of its new Android-based Razr smartphone in China this month.

The Razr smartphone, which was unveiled last month in New York, will be sold for more than 4,000 yuan ($631), Frank Meng, president of Greater China for Motorola Mobility, said in an interview in Beijing today. He declined to forecast sales for the device in China.

China, the world’s largest mobile phone market with 952 million users, is a key battleground for Motorola Mobility as it brings back the Razr years after the slim flip phone lost its spot as the top-selling U.S. handset to devices that allow users to surf the Web to download games or videos. The company is betting the revival of a brand that sold more than 100 million units can challenge Apple Inc.’s iPhone.

“We’re clearly competing against iPhone in this class of device,” said Shen Bin, Asia Pacific vice president of portfolio and device product management at the mobile device business of Motorola Mobility. “That’s our target and we are confident in this product.”

Exceeding 2010 Sales

Motorola sold more smartphones in China in the first half of this year than it did in all of last year, according to Meng. The company introduced 40 smartphone models in the Asian nation in the past two years.

The original Razr was introduced in 2004. Apple shook up the industry with its iPhone in 2007.

Samsung Electronics Co. became the world’s biggest smartphone maker last quarter, pushing Apple into second place, as its phone shipments more than tripled owing to the popularity of devices built on Google’s Android software, including the Galaxy S II, according to the market research firm IDC.

The new version of Motorola’s Razr, which has a 4.3-inch touch screen and is 7.1 millimeters (a quarter-inch) thick, was unveiled by Motorola Mobility CEO Sanjay Jha at a press conference in New York Oct. 18. The Razr runs on Google’s Android Gingerbread operating system and is upgradeable to the next version of the program, called Ice Cream Sandwich.

In August, Google, the biggest maker of smartphone software, agreed to buy Motorola Mobility for $12.5 billion in its largest acquisition, gaining mobile patents and expanding in the hardware business.

Barnes & Noble launches new Nook tablet

 Barnes & Noble Inc introduced its first ever tablet to compete with Amazon.com Inc and Apple Inc for holiday sales. 

Barnes & Noble will charge $249 for the Nook tablet, which is expected to hit the shelves late next week. That compares to the $199 price tag on Amazon's new Kindle Fire, which ships Nov 15. 

The Nook tablet has a 7-inch screen, comes with 16 gigabytes of storage, weighs less than one pound, offers nine hours of video viewing and is tightly integrated with Netflix Inc video libraries, Barnes & Noble Chief Executive William Lynch said on Monday. 

Lynch also said that the 8 gigabytes of storage offered by Amazon's Kindle Fire tablet was "deficient." 

Barnes & Noble has faced years of shrinking book sales, so it has invested tens of millions of dollars to develop the Nook to reinvent itself as readers move to digital formats. It claims to now have about a quarter of the digital books market. 

The company's shares were down 7 cents at $11.54 on the New York Stock Exchange.

Sony Ericsson Xperia arc S review

Features

• Quad-band GSM /GPRS/EDGE support
• 3G with 7.2 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA
• 4.2" 16M-color capacitive LED-backlit LCD touchscreen of FWVGA resolution (480 x 854 pixels) with Sony Mobile BRAVIA engine
• Android OS v2.3.4 Gingerbread
• 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset
• 512 MB RAM
• 8 MP autofocus camera with LED flash and geotagging, 3D Sweep Panorama
• 720p video recording @ 30fps with continuous autofocus and stereo sound
• Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA
• GPS with A-GPS
• microSD slot up to 32GB (8GB card included)
• Accelerometer and proximity sensor
• Standard 3.5 mm audio jack
• Stereo FM radio with RDS
• microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v2.1
• Voice dialing
• Adobe Flash 11 support
• Deep Facebook integration
• microHDMI port
• Ultra slim (8.7mm at its thinnest point)

Disadvantages

• The competition has dual-core CPUs and better GPUs
• Display has poor viewing angles
• No front-facing camera
• No smart dialing
• Non hot-swappable microSD card slot
• Shutter key isn’t particularly comfortable