I hope this comes to iOS soon. While Android is on Path 3.2.4, iOS is still on version 3.2.2.
Qualcomm introduces 64-bit chips with integrated LTE
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When Apple unveiled its 64-bit A7 processor, Qualcomm’s Chief Marketing Officer gave its PR team a huge headache by saying that 64-bit on mobile was a marketing gimmick and offered no benefit to the end user. Unsurprisingly, he was removed from the leadership team and reassigned.
Of course, there is a certain amount of truth to his claims. As of now, most apps haven’t been designed to take advantage of the 64-bit architecture, and as mobile phones generally don’t have 4 gigabytes of RAM, the benefits of a 64-bit isn’t immediately noticeable. But things change very quickly in the mobile scene and app developers out there are already updating their apps to take advantage of the new chips.
That brief backstory is probably going to accompany every article out there covering the fact that Qualcomm has just introduced its Snapdragon 410 64-bit chip that has integrated LTE. Without going into details of 64-bit chips, it’ll be the integrated LTE that will be tempting for me. Most of the top end phones currently support LTE connectivity, but once LTE support is available in more chips, I hope to see even budget phones offer LTE support. You can expect to see this chip surface in devices in the second half od 2014.
Qualcomm has just announced the Snapdragon 410 chipset series, which is Qualcomm’s first announced processor with 64-bit support, but it’s actually more interesting because it aims to make integrated 4G LTE support a lot more affordable for device manufacturers. They plan to launch the 410 as a manufacturing sample by the first half of next year, which means it could be in shipping phones by this time in 2014.
Samsung viral ad fumbles when Franz Beckenbauer tweets from iPhone
It is not the first time that celebrities who endorse Samsung actually use an iPhone.
John Legere:
Sending promotional tweets about other products from Apple’s iOS devices seems to be quite popular. In October, T-Mobile chief executive John Legere intended to use Twitter to direct attention to Samsung Mobile’s latest Note 3 phablet, but inadvertently did so via his new iPhone 5s.
David Ferrer:
Shortly afterward in April, Spanish tennis player David Ferrer tweeted his satisfaction with his #GalaxyS4 and that he was “configuring S Health on my new #GalaxyS4 to help with training @SamsungMobile,” all via Twitter from his que contento estoy con mi iPhone.
Oprah Winfrey:
Last year, Oprah Winfrey used an iPad to send out tweets endorsing Microsoft’s Surface, using the hashtag “#FavoriteThings” to say she had bought a dozen of them for Christmas gifts.
The program, called tailored audiences, rolled out in a smaller scale in July. Using tailored audiences, advertisers can target users who have either visited their website or “shown an interest” in your brand’s category on and outside of Twitter. For advertisers, that means it’s now possible to identify people who are in the market for a product.
Why are people complaining when Google has been doing this all these while with Google AdSense?
Viber Out to challenge Skype Out
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Viber introduced its Viber Out during the recent typhoon disaster in the Philippines and now the feature has gone official, allowing Android, iOS, and dekstop users of its service to make cheap international phone calls to traditional phone numbers. Windows Phone users should be receiving support for this feature soon too.
According to a price comparison table, the company touts that Skype Out calls can cost up to 486% more than Viber Out, though that would depend on the country that you’re calling to. Following its launch of stickers, the launch of Viber Out allows the company continues its march towards successful monetization.
Based on my experiences with both apps, I still feel that Skype has better call quality, but having to constantly sign into Skype in order to use it is always an inconvenience, as opposed to the “always on” operation method of modern messaging/calling apps. Whether this difference will be a deciding factor or not remains to be seen.
The service — which was first opened in the Philippines last month in the aftermath of a devastating typhoon — is available for all users of Android and iOS smartphones and the desktop app. Viber says it will roll out to Windows Phone customers soon.
BlackBerry refused Justin Bieber’s offer to be brand ambassador
One thing we missed out on was that Justin Bieber wanted to rep BlackBerry. He said, “Give me $200,000 and 20 devices, and I’m your brand ambassador,” basically. And we pitched that to marketing: Here’s a Canadian kid, he grew up here, all the teeny-boppers will love that. They basically threw us out of the room. They said, “This kid is a fad. He’s not going to last.” I said at the meeting: “This kid might outlive RIM.” Everyone laughed.
That was a golden opportunity to reach out to the younger generation.