A win for Sprint: FCC approves 3G and 4G on iDEN spectrum

The FCC has just approved an order amending the rules to the ESMR 800MHz spectrum that allows for 3G and 4G network technologies to be deployed on the band. For Sprint, this means that its subscribers will experience massive improvements in coverage, soon.

Strictly speaking, the FCC did not just say that Sprint could deploy CDMA2000 or LTE on ESMR 800, but instead, it developed an amendment to the general rules that govern ESMR 800 spectrum. These rules are known as the “FCC Part 90″, which govern “private land mobile radio services.” The actual amendment to the rules removes the restriction that forces ESMR 800 license holders to use network technologies that were narrowbanded. These services used less than 25kHz of spectral bandwidth, which is even less than 2G GSM (which uses 200kHz). There are also additional amendments regarding the notification of the change in services and such, especially in regards to border interference (since both the Canadian and Mexican borders have ESMR stations in place and active iDEN networks). The companies affected by the amendment of the rules are Sprint-Nextel Corporation and SouthernLINC Wireless (a regional iDEN provider situated in the Gulf coast).

While common convention indicates that perhaps technologies that use 1MHz or more of spectrum would be considered wideband, officially all radio technologies using more than 25kHz are wideband technologies. The FCC has amended the rules to reorganize ESMR 800 and allow for large slices to be used for network deployment, given that the licensee has enough chunks of spectrum to do that.

For Sprint, it means that it can offer massive coverage improvements through its Network Vision upgrade. Part of the upgrade mandates that the older iDEN network will be shut down cell by cell as a new Network Vision cell is installed and activated. When an iDEN cell goes offline, Sprint can go back to a Network Vision cell site and turn on CDMA2000 1X Advanced and LTE services on the frequency band previously occupied by the iDEN cell. This refarming process is similar to what T-Mobile is doing to deploy LTE.

By deploying CDMA2000 and LTE on ESMR 800 spectrum, Sprint will gain an advantage that has principally been held by AT&T and Verizon Wireless: low-band broadband wireless service. Low-band wireless services can cover larger ranges with fewer towers and provide far better indoor coverage than high-band wireless services (like the current PCS CDMA2000 service Sprint offers now). Sprint customers will truly appreciate this upgrade once new CDMA2000/LTE handsets that support the low band frequency is rolled out. The spectrum has already been approved for use with LTE as band class 26, so it is just a matter of Sprint revising its requirements to ODMs and getting the devices out there.

There is a catch, though. Sprint iPhone users will not get anything out of this. The Apple iPhone has absolutely no support for ESMR 800 for CDMA2000, and so it will not benefit from CDMA2000 services on that band at all. Since Network Vision will not improve coverage very much for PCS CDMA2000, iPhone users stand to gain virtually nothing from this. Hopefully the next iPhone will include support for the band, because Sprint users desperately need the coverage boost.

Read more from the FCC

Source

Google Wallet: A year of failure, and how to fix it

In early 2011, the rumors were hard to ignore and it seemed inevitable that Google was going to get into the mobile payments business. It was one year ago that we got all the details. Google announced Google Wallet with much fanfare, but right from the start things looked bleak; problems included limited device and card support, a slow city-by-city rollout, and carrier tie-ins.

What followed was essentially a comedy of errors as Google seemed alternatively disinterested and desperate to get Wallet off the ground. Why has it gone so badly, and is there any chance of a turn around? Let’s take a long, hard look at Google’s foray into mobile payments to find out.

The failures

The May announcement was really the high point for Google Wallet. It seemed like a cool idea, and the free $10 credit was nothing to sneeze at. The first hints of problems arose when the app simply failed to appear. Other than a limited beta test, it took months for users to get access to Wallet.

When Wallet finally showed itself in September, it was restricted to a single phone: the Nexus S 4G on Sprint. This was a fine device, but it never sold particularly well — it was based on a six month old design when it came out. None of the unlocked GSM Nexus S versions were permitted to access the Wallet app.

It was just a few months later when the Verizon Galaxy Nexus brought Android 4.0 the the US, but something was amiss. Google had failed to insist that Verizon give the new Nexus access to Google Wallet. So the flagship Android device in the US was lacking Google’s contactless payment solution. It truly painted Google as uninterested in Wallet, or unable to deal with the hurdles that were presented.

It’s unclear why Google wouldn’t have jumped at the chance to get Wallet on the Galaxy Nexus — it’s not like there were many other phones compatible with the service. Google Wallet relies on near field communication (NFC) chips. In late 2011, almost no phones had NFC. There were the Nexus phones and a few variants of the Samsung Galaxy S2, but that was it. Google’s entire strategy for breaking into payments relied on NFC, and it was unable to convince its OEM partners to put out phones with the technology.

Perhaps, in some ways, it was a good thing that Wallet didn’t take off in late 2011. If it had, there would have been many more users to be outraged about the security holes. The modding community found two exploits in Google Wallet that could allow someone to steal your money. The first hack relied on a user being rooted. An attacker could copy important Wallet files from a phone, then brute-force crack the passcode, which was a simple 4-digit number.

The second hack was easier, and that made it more startling that Google missed it. All you needed to do was clear the data from the Wallet app, choose a new PIN, and you had access to whatever ballance was on the Google prepaid card beforehand. It took Google weeks to work out a solution, and in the interim it disabled all new prepaid cards. It was bad PR, bad engineering, and bad customer service.

For all these reasons, Google Wallet isn’t taking off, and Sprint is still the only carrier with official Wallet phones. Google Wallet is currently a failure almost on the level of Buzz or Wave, and Google needs to pivot fast.

Why is this happening?

If the Wallet debacle has taught us anything, it’s that Google has very little power over how Android works at the consumer end. Google codes Android, creates great backend services, and manages the Play Store. But they don’t make or sell the phones, and that’s why Wallet is failing.

Google needs OEMs to design devices, and carriers to market and sell them. Before Google Wallet was announced, AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon all signed on to work with an NFC payment system called Isis. The carriers didn’t need Google, so what little leverage the search giant had with them was gone.

Google’s business is search and the ads that go along with that. Android, in addition to being the dominant mobile operating system, is a platform for delivering ads. Google needs Android to exist for future advertising revenue security. Google doesn’t have the clout to force OEMs to make NFC phones, or to make carriers allow an app on their networks. To do so could endanger Android’s favored status among Google’s partners.

NFC payments seem like such a good idea in the abstract, and it has been a success in Japan. Why not here? Much of this goes back to the poor state of public transit in the US. Contactless payments using Japan’s FeliCa system gained popularity when it was used first used for train and subway tickets.

Millions of Japanese consumers make use of public transit, and thus were acclimated to using NFC in phones and other devices. In the US, we don’t really have this kind of driving force behind the new contactless systems, and you can’t really blame Google for that.

How to fix it

It might not be too late to save Wallet, but Google has to work fast. Google I/O is coming up in a few weeks, and there is no better time to announce how it will fix Wallet. Waiting any longer is foolhardy in the extreme. Apple will be refreshing the iPhone before long, and Google could be in a world of trouble if that device has NFC and Apple decides to back a different payment system.

Before it can hope to stand up to any challenger, Google needs to fix the phone situation so people can actually use Wallet. A few weeks ago, Google sent out an email notification that there were four new Google Wallet phones, bringing the total to just six if you count the older ones. It’s telling that three of the four are on Sprint, and the other is an unlocked device.

Google should stop asking for permission to load its apps on phones, because it’s never going to get it with these entrenched interests. If a phone has an NFC chip, the Wallet app should show up in the Play Store. Like they say, it’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission. Would Verizon or T-Mobile wrestle Google Wallet away from its customers after the fact? Probably not.

While Google can’t make an OEM build phones with NFC, it can provide incentives. Maybe NFC phones could get additional ads in the Play Store to promote the service, or they could be featured prominently in emails like that sad 4-phone announcement above. NFC-equipped phones could also be added to the Google Play phone store with the lonely unlocked Galaxy Nexus.

Even if Google can manage to get Google Wallet on more phones, how can it make people use it? Like so much else in life, the answer is probably money. Some Sprint phones are now coming with a total of $50 in prepaid Google Wallet money. That’s a start, but the bonus should be expanded to anyone that uses Wallet. It’s not like Google is hurting for cash.

There should also be more credit card support, and maybe that will require more payouts. The MasterCard tie-in was useful to get access to the PayPass readers, but Citi cards only? That won’t do. If more types of cards were compatible, that could only improve matters.

It is up to Google to decide if it wants to be in the payments business. Google has had the playing field almost entirely to itself for a year. Isis has yet to launch, Apple is silent, and PayPal is actively discouraging the use of NFC. This is the time for Google to use its lead and reform Wallet into something people will be able to use. If not, Google will have somehow managed to lose to competitors that aren’t even in the market yet.

Source

Analyzing screen-to-body size ratios of top Android handsets

It’s a well known fact that there’s nothing like a bit of graphing to brighten up a geek’s day. This seems to be well understood by a Reddit user that goes by the name of “Thare” who, after embarking on a search for a new Android phone that had the largest screen while maintaining the smallest possible size, decided to share the wealth of information that he had gathered.

It will come as no surprise that of the phones he compared the Samsung Galaxy Note ended up at the top of the heap having 66.9% of its body area made up of touch-screen real estate. Of course, no one can really call the Note a small device, unless they possess Shaquille O’Neal-sized hands.

While this isn’t a comprehensive study of all the available Android devices on the market, Thare did a good job including a range of the most popular devices across the four US carriers. Samsung also garnered the second spot on the list with its yet to be releasedGalaxy S3 (which of course is made for humans) which has 66.1% of its svelte design available for touch interactions. HTC rounds out the top three with its EVO 4G LTE phone running on Sprint. Its 4.7-inch screen gives owners 66% of real estate to play with.

iPhone owners won’t be surprised to see the 4S coming in next to last place, with the trade-off being of course those beautiful Retina displays that Apple is installing in the world’s most popular smartphone. Which leads to an interesting thing to point out. While the Galaxy Note certainly has a large screen, it also has the distinction of having one of the lowest pixel density’s in the chart. While it’s the first Android device to sport a higher resolution than the 4S, the iPhone still takes better advantage of the space it has to work with by having a pixel density of 326 ppi compared to the Note’s 285.

While the comparison of different devices is certainly interesting, probably the real gem that is visualized is the slow progression we are seeing in the mobile industry towards larger screens installed in consumer devices. With rumors abounding that Samsung has retooled many of its assembly lines to mass-produce its flexible OLED screens, it’s conceivable that we could, sometime in the near future, see bezel-less devices to hit retail stores. While market analysts say that it won’t be until 2017 before we see the market dominated by flexible display devices, it’s certainly interesting to think about the possibility because bezel-less handset will totally change this list.

via Reddit

Source

Verizon LTE devices are going global, bringing US carrier interoperability with them

One of the particularly annoying pain points for travelers who want to use Verizon Wireless’ 4G LTE service is that none of the handsets offered by the carrier include global GSM and WCDMA (UMTS HSPA+) support. Even devices that manufacturers had tested with GSM and WCDMA support by the FCC (who must authorize radio equipment to be sold in the United States) wound up on the shelves without the ability to use the built-in support.

Needless to say, this made people who wanted LTE world phones rather upset. However, Verizon Wireless likely did it for a single reason: carrier lock-in. It all ties into the rules that the FCC placed on the 700MHz C block spectrum that Verizon Wireless bought to run its network on. According to the regulations, Verizon Wireless is prohibited from disabling features on devices it provides to its customers. This is explicitly extended to include enabling features and crippling them.

In the past, Verizon Wireless offered special “world phones” with GSM, WCDMA, and CDMA2000 support. However, the radio firmware always had a built-in block for the United States’ mobile country code. This ensured that the GSM and WCDMA radios would not permit the device to work on US carriers (other than Verizon). It did not have to worry about the CDMA2000 radio, since that is always custom programmed for the carrier network it is intended for, and is not likely to work well on other networks. This is absolutely not allowed for any device Verizon Wireless wishes to offer that supports its 4G LTE network.

The regulations also seem to forbid SIM subsidy locks (also known as network locks). With that in mind, Verizon Wireless would be extremely hesitant to offer global GSM and WCDMA support on its 4G LTE phones. The main reason no one takes his/her 4G LTE device to another carrier is because no other carrier has a 4G LTE network that is compatible with the device. That impediment doesn’t even require a SIM subsidy lock, but with an unlocked device that has GSM and WCDMA support, consumers would be free to purchase Verizon Wireless 4G LTE global devices and actually pick which carrier to use them on. That is a bit too much power in the hands of the consumer, which Verizon does not want. US carriers thrive on the ability to impede consumers from getting the device they want and using it on a carrier of their choosing.

Something must have happened at Verizon Wireless, because it has changed its tune about global GSM and WCDMA support on 4G LTE devices. In February, Verizon Wireless enabled full global roaming capabilities in the Motorola Xyboard 8.2 and 10.1 tablets. In a statementVerizon Wireless announced that the following devices will get full global roaming capabilities this summer:

• Motorola Droid Razr
• Motorola Droid Razr Maxx
• Motorola Droid 4
• HTC Rezound

Aside from the HTC Rezound (which only has quad band GSM and dual band WCDMA for European 3G networks), all of these devices support quad band GSM and WCDMA for global roaming all over the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Additionally, these devices will not have the mobile country code block. That means that they will operate on AT&T’s HSPA network. And of course, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network will support them too after it refarms its spectrum to launch PCS HSPA+ and AWS LTE. The phones will work on both carriers’ GSM networks, too.

There is one more device in Verizon’s current lineup that is also due for an update that brings full global roaming support. Back at CES, Verizon Wireless announced that the LG Spectrum would also get its GSM and WCDMA radios enabled in a future update. The timing for that update has not yet been announced. The LG Spectrum has a quad band GSM radio and a tri band WCDMA radio for full roaming in Europe and limited roaming in the Americas and Asia. This device will partially work on AT&T’s HSPA network in certain areas, but it will work with T-Mobile’s HSPA+ network after refarming. And it will work on both carriers’ GSM networks, too.

When any of these devices are used on T-Mobile’s network, they will be able to use the carrier’s new nationwide IPv6 network.

It is quite likely that someone may have investigated and reported to the FCC that Verizon Wireless violated the terms of the network spectrum license when these devices rolled out without full global roaming. This would have forced Verizon’s hand and made it enable those radios for everyone. Otherwise, we would probably have not seen 4G LTE world phones for quite some time (probably only after Europe rolls out LTE).

Source

Testing out Axis, Yahoo’s search-centric browser

Yahoo is taking a baby step into the browser wars with the release of its own search-centric browser. Known as Axis, it comes in the form of a plugin for HTML5compliant browsers on the desktop and a full-fledged browser for the iPhone and iPad.

Two concepts take center stage in Axis: instant responses and visual search. As you type in a search term, Axis returns results instantaneously based on what it thinks you may be searching for. The results appear as thumbnails across the top of your screen in iOS, and across the bottom on the desktop. You can scroll back and forth through these results to find the result you are looking for.

Visual search done right

On iOS, swiping across the page takes you from one result to the next. This is a nice shortcut for those of us who like to quickly search through multiple sources. There is a similar shortcut on the desktop: move your mouse to the sides of the browser windows and navigation arrows will appear. The visual search component of Axis is its most compelling feature, and is much nicer to look at (and usually tells you more) than looking through a list of links and text.

Given that Axis is multi-platform, Yahoo baked in a feature that allows you to continue browsing between devices. The last page you access on a device is sent up into the cloud, and then displayed on the Axis home page. Click on it on the other device, and you can continue where you left off.

This is a great feature for those of us that move from device to device frequently, although some may not like the fact that Yahoo is inherently tracking our every move.

The visual search and multi-device browsing are the two most compelling reasons to give Axis a shot, but also consider here is that Axis really isn’t a browser in the true sense of the word: it’s built upon pre-existing ones. This is important because pages will render as you expect them to, and only affect how your interact with your browser and not the way it works.

On iOS, Axis is more like a browser, but is really Safari within a skin due to Apple’s stringent controls on apps. That said, based of the time I spent testing I’d argue Axis is a better browser for iOS users than Safari due to its extra features.

Microsoft wins too

While Yahoo might have scored a win here with Axis, it was a big day for Microsoft as well. Remember that Bing powers Yahoo’s search results. If Axis takes off on mobile, it will be cutting into a fairly sizable chunk of Google’s search share.

One of the reasons that Google has been able to maintain dominance is its near stranglehold on mobile search. The two major mobile platforms — iOS and Android — both default to Google when it comes to search. If these folks now turn to Yahoo’s Axis, obviously that traffic’s going somewhere else.

It’s going to be interesting to watch — Axis is already 23rd on the top apps in the App Store in just its first day of release with not much in the way of promotion.

Source

4 reasons why the Samsung Galaxy S3 will succeed

As the unveiling of the Samsung Galaxy S3grew nearer, the internet was swirling with unfounded rumors. Next-generation specs were being thrown out, and hopes were as high as could be. When the device was finally announced, it didn’t live up to the hype. Although, there’s probably nothing that could.

There might be an urge to dismiss the Galaxy S3 as a mediocre, somewhat unattractive device, but that’s not going to stop Samsung from selling a huge number of phones — 9 million have already been pre-ordered. The Galaxy S3 has success written all over it, but not for the reasons you expect.

The Galaxy S2 legacy

The first thing you should consider before getting too down on the Galaxy S3 is that it’s the successor to a wildly successful phone. The Galaxy S2 took the Android world by storm, eventually passing the 20 million unit mark in February 2012. Samsung even overtook Apple in smartphone sales in late 2011, largely on the strength of the Galaxy S2.

This rousing success has made Samsung the premier Android OEM, and that encourages trust. There are consumers that will buy Samsung phones out of loyalty. Even those that haven’t had a Samsung Android phone before have seen them around. You’re likely to spot more Galaxy S2 variants floating around than any other brand.

If someone shows you their Android phone, it’s probably a Samsung. That goes a long way to building brand image, and leading people to try the Galaxy S3 when the time comes for an upgrade. The Galaxy brand, especially after its fusion with the Nexus line, is perhaps as well known as the Droid branding from Verizon.

Software with a good first impression

There are probably reasons to dislike the new TouchWiz Nature UX skin on the Galaxy S3 when it’s compared to stock Android 4.0. However, these are aesthetic concerns and not everyone will agree. What will be clear when people pick up a Galaxy S3 is that the phone has some genuinely useful features.

People are going to be impressed with Smart Stay, the eye-tracking feature that keeps the display on while you’re looking at the phone. That will probably demo very well in a retail environment and get people interested in the phone. Likewise, Samsung’s foray into the voice-enabled future with S Voice is going to be a killer way to get noticed.

In testing the leaked S Voice app, I found it gets the job done. Samsung has built in some witty banter, though not to the same degree Apple has with Siri. Still, when people stand in the store and ask the phone questions and get real responses, that makes the phone more attractive. It doesn’t really matter if S Voice sits unused after that.

Even Apple has to deal with constant complaints from users that don’t much care for Siri after the honeymoon period. Features like Smart Stay and S Voice are just good selling points — a way to get phones out the door — and Samsung knows that.

The screen

When Android phones first started scaling up in the screen department with the 4.3-inch HTC Evo 4G and the original 4-inch Galaxy, there have been naysayers that claimed these phones were too big to succeed. Well, after a few years people are still falling all over themselves to buy these “hummer phones.” Even the Galaxy Note with its comical-sounding 5.3-inch panel has been selling very well. People like larger screens more than anyone could have guessed. That’s why the Galaxy S3 is going to appeal to the mass market.

With a 4.8-inch display, it will have the luxury of ample screen real estate. At the same time, the thin bezel keeps it from feeling outlandishly large. Reading, typing, playing games, and browsing the web will be better on this screen. The impression people have of a phone tends to be better when the screen is larger because they are just easier to use.

The display has taken a lot of heat for having aPenTile subpixel arrangement like past phones. While this is not as desirable as a true RGB panel, most consumers aren’t going to notice or care. The battle over PenTile is being waged among the tech-savvy minority. When someone looks at the Galaxy S3, most of the time they won’t be scanning it from 2-inches away to check for PenTile fringing.

Samsung is betting on the high contrast and vibrant colors of Super AMOLED to grab people’s attention — and they probably will. AMOLED screens are great looking, especially in retail environments with harsh fluorescent lighting. People might not be as happy with the screen when they get it out in the daylight, but AMOLED looks phenomenal indoors.

A phone for all carriers

Samsung has a good relationship with carriers in the US, and that’s probably going to mean a variant of the Galaxy S3 for all of them. When each carrier gets the chance to customize a Galaxy S3, they’re going to promote it like there’s no tomorrow. Commercials and in-store advertising coming from all of the big four networks will all contribute to Samsung’s total sales.

If you don’t care for the smooth lines and unusual proportions of the Galaxy S3, that’s no problem. The same multi-carrier approach will provide concerned Android fans with some options. If you look at the various takes on the Galaxy S2, there are a variety of form factors. Some have slightly bigger screens, some are a bit thinner, and some come in different colors.

The Samsung Galaxy S3 might not have the kind of specs hardware nerds were hoping for, but it hits all the checkboxes. Consumers will see a list of features that sound as good as the phone next to it. The Galaxy S3 will have the Samsung name behind it, and that means something these days. Combine that with a good first impression, and the Galaxy S3 is going to sell like hotcakes.

IBM concerned about Siri’s loose lips

IBM is worried about Siri and will prevent iPhones from accessing the virtual assistant while connected to the company’s internal network. Chief Technical Officer Jeanette Horan says IBM blocks the servers that power the software, fearing a security risk or information disclosure of corporate data.

When asking Siri a question, recordings of the question are sent to Apple’s servers where it is analyzed. Apple has not been too forthcoming on what is done with these files, if those files are stored ,and for how long if they are. This makes IBM uncomfortable, enough that it decided to ban the app.

“We’re just extraordinarily conservative. It’s the nature of our business,” Horan explains.

While the company’s move seems extreme, it stems from a legitimate concern. Companies big and small are struggling with employees’ desire to use their own devices in the workplace. The reasons for doing so vary: some prefer to use a platform they’re familiar with — say OS X over Windows, or Windows over Linux — or they want personal freedom, such as the right to access social networks or instant messaging clients while at work.

This presents a security problem for IT administrators. Admins can’t control what we’re doing on these devices quite like they can on company owned equipment, so it results in actions like the one IBM has taken.

Is Siri truly a threat to corporate security? That’s questionable. It’s hard to imagine what IBM employees would be asking or telling their phones that would truly put the company at risk. It seems more an issue of employee discipline than anything that Apple would do.

Above and beyond that, what would Apple truly gain from spying in on the actions of IBM employees? Probably not much. The moral of the story here seems to be that if you value your job, and are working on some pretty secret stuff, it’s your own responsibility to make sure it doesn’t slip out.

Source

Nvidia aims for quad-core, Kal-El tablets at $199

At CES 2012, Nvidia and Asus demo’d a $249 Kal-El quad-core tablet dubbed the Asus ME370T. Neither company has talked about that specific product since, but Nvidia is now showing off its quad-core “Kai” reference platform — and it’s identical to the Asus device it showcased earlier this year.

What’s new about Kai is the price, down to $199 from $249. According to Nvidia VP Rob Csongor, the company is putting together a two-pronged strategy between Android ICS at the low end, with Windows RT anchoring high end products. Speaking at the company’s investor meeting, Congor said: “Our strategy on Android is simply to enable quad-core tablets running Android Ice Cream Sandwich to be developed and brought out to market at the $199 price point… So this uses a lot of the secret sauce that’s inside Tegra 3 to allow you to develop a tablet at a much lower cost, by using a lot of innovation that we’ve developed to reduce the power that’s used by the display and use lower cost components within the tablet.”

What sort of secret sauce? We suspect Nvidia’s DirectTouch will make an appearance. As we’vepreviously discussed, DirectTouch is a technology that integrates the functions of discrete chips into the Tegra processor and handles touch computation on the Companion Core.

Nvidia claims that DT offers improved power consumption as well as better fidelity, and while touch sensors aren’t known for high power usage, they require independent circuitry and typically operate in an “Always On” mode, even when the device is in standby. Improved integration and lower power consumption are two factors vitally important to pushing the cutting edge of low-cost design; DT offers advantages on both fronts.

Nvidia’s decision to build a reference platform isn’t surprising; the company has done something similar for GPUs for years. The $199 price point, however, could definitely shake things up. Amazon’sKindle Fire has an estimated Bill of Materials (BOM) between $150 and $199, and Kindle Fire sales have been high enough for the company to leverage economies of scale. Tegra 3 is significantly more powerful than the dual-core OMAP 4430 that powers the Fire, and unlike Amazon, the OEMs that might build such tablets don’t have anything like Amazon’s multimedia storehouse. If Nvidia can offer a reference design that still preserves some room for an actual profit, that’s a significant feat.

Source

Samsung Galaxy S3 S Voice app tested: The first worthy Siri competitor?

It didn’t take long for Samsung to block the leaked version of S Voice from theGalaxy S3 over the weekend, but now we’ve got a new version of that Android APK file to play with. Seeing as the app is running on the Samsung Galaxy Nexus with stock Android, there are a few functions, like note taking and voice recording, that don’t work because the Samsung TouchWiz apps are missing. Everything that is not connected directly to a TouchWiz app seems to work correctly, though.

From voice dialing, to inane requests for information, to hardware control… Samsung’s S Voice software has some serious skills. There are times I can see the foibles of the Vlingo technology that backs S Voice peeking through but it seems fairly polished, even in its current pre-release state.

What we see in the video is probably a fair estimation of what S Voice will be able to do at launch. It hits most of the points, but misses the occasional word. More complicated queries are more likely to be misinterpreted as well. I quite like the ability to toggle hardware features on and off, and launching apps by voice is handy too. There are apps in Google’s Play Store that claim to do this, but I have always found them to be sub-standard.

Because I was not running this app on a Galaxy S3, S Voice can’t be called up from any screen via the voice command, “Hi Galaxy.” I believe this is what’s going to make the service useful in some situations. If you want to do a Twitter update, for instance, you don’t even have to touch the phone. You can also start and stop timers, or change hardware settings without lifting a finger — just start talking to your phone like a crazy person.

I was more impressed with S Voice than I thought I would be. Most of the queries I tried work, and it is integrated well with core Android services. I would like a little more of the witty banter that madeSiri famous, but that’s just for the immediate entertainment value. You shouldn’t be too broken up that S Voice won’t tell you where to hide a dead body — it’s good at things that matter.

Source

Can cable companies keep the dream of municipal WiFi alive?

Municipal WiFi may be a dream yet realized thanks to a new deal between the nation’s five biggest cable operators. Comcast, Bright House Networks, Cablevision, Cox Communications, and Time Warner Cable have agreed to let customers roam on about 50,000 hotspots owned by the respective companies nationwide.

Comcast, Cablevision, and Time Warner have made a deal that shares hotspots in an area spanning from southwestern Connecticut through the New York City and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, including portions of the Jersey Shore. Today’s announcement expands that same concept nationwide, and should start appearing later this year.

Users will connect to the network “CableWiFi,” and be asked to enter their respective ISP usernames and passwords. There are plans to allow for automatic connections, which may use a platform like WiFi Alliance’s Passpoint.  That uses device identification features — like SIM cards — to automatically connect and authenticate compatible devices.

While the initial rollout includes the 50,000 hotspots currently in existence, it appears the cable companies plan to aggressively roll-out WiFi connectivity nationwide. They hit on a sore subject for the wireless carriers in the announcement — bandwidth and capacity — as a reason for the partnership. In other words if your cellular carrier isn’t cutting it, “come on over to our network, we can handle it!”

It does work quite well: using Comcast’s network here in the Philadelphia metropolitan area, I can say that service is generally quite good, and you can find a connection in just about every public place in the city. While its not a replacement for the cell phone, it’s good enough for most tasks. Don’t try to stream high quality movies over it, but you’re golden on just about everything else.

I do see privately owned municipal WiFi as the only way to make the vision of the urban-jungle-as-a-hotspot a reality. Many cities — Philadelphia included — hatched plans in the middle of the last decade to offer residents WiFi connectivity. As the US economy tanked, so did these plans. They hemorrhaged money, and since most were built on the concept of “free,” politicians balked. With the cable companies, offering WiFi is a value-add: all the money is made on the cable services, and it is not a primary business. Plus, they don’t have taxpayers to worry about, just shareholders (sometimes equally as bad).

It is a shame that municipal WiFi and its core concept of “internet access for all” was never realized, but it was an idea doomed from the start. Nothing’s worse to some American’s than government waste. At least the cable companies are trying to bring it back in some form, even if those most underserved (who don’t have a cable account) may be locked out.

[Photo credit]

Source