Thanks to GLBenchmark 2.0’s OpenGL ES 2.0 test, we now know that the fastest mobile chipset, when it comes to graphics, belongs to the widely-used Samsung Hummingbird, which blew out the competition from many other devices featuring different processors.

The two devices that stood far ahead of the pack were the Samsung Fascinate with Android 2.1 and the newly released Samsung Nexus S which is the first phone to run Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Both devices use the same exact chipset, the 1GHz Hummingbird, featuring the PowerVR SGX540 GPU. The Fascinate registered a score of 21.5 in the tests, while the Nexus S wasn’t too far behind at 20.9.

Other phones to throw down were the Apple iPhone 4 and 3GS (the iPad as well), the T-Mobile HTC G2, the HTC EVO 4G, the Motorola DROID, the HTC Nexus One and the Nokia N900 to name a few.

Using the older PowerVR SGX535 GPU, the Apple iPhone 3GS actually finished in a pretty respectable position. It should not come as a surprise that its result is considerably better than the one of the iPhone 4, since both pack the same GPU, but the 3GS has a lower resolution screen, enabling it to achieve a better framerate. The same trend is seen with the results of the iPad, which are even lower than those of the iPhone 4, because of the iPad’s higher-resolution display. Keep in mind though that this benchmark measures exclusively the graphics performance of these handsets and should not be considered an all-around system performance measure.

Check out the picture down below to see the rest of the results from GLBenchmark 2.0. Tell us what you think in the comments below!

source: Into Mobile

Dual-core is all the rage these days, with mainly Tegra 2, Orion and OMAP feeding the rumor mill. However, the world needs a humbler version of those mighty 1GHz+ chipsets, rightfully concluded Broadcom, and introduced its dual-core BCM2157 Android chipset.

Instead of 1GHz and above, the two ARM-based cores are running at 500MHz, but the chipset is complete with its own 3G, Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth connectivity suite. The SoC also supports multitouch on screens with HVGA resolution, and cameras up to 5MP. All low- to mid-range features nowadays, but we’d imagine Android phones with it might break the $150 barrier downwards.

Besides the low price point, the features that set it apart from the pack, are that the chipset supports dual SIM/dual standby mode, and has a low-power NFC chip embedded, so your affordable phone won’t be left out of the mobile payment revolution. The NFC chip is Broadcom’s own creation, it can store data locally in its own memory, and draws power only when activated by an NFC reader at POS terminals. Sounds good, moreover the chipset is already sampling with select customers, and will be commercially available in the next quarter.

source: Broadcom

We all know that the big smartphone manufacturers are suing each other quite often because of patents. Now, however, we have the rarest of things – a massive company that filled for bankruptcy and its patents (among other assets) are up for sale.

The company in question is Nortel Networks and one bidding round for its patents has already passed. It’s strongly rumoured that Google and Apple (among others) participated in the auction, since both companies want to form “patent war chests” against the old boys in the game like Nokia and saw this as a too good an opportunity to miss. Nortel, one of the fallen giants of the last economic recession, which once had a market capitalization of more than $250 billion, is estimated to have more than 4000 patents worth more than $1 billion. The rumour is that they are divided into six “buckets” of related technology, cited as “wireless handsets and infrastructure, as well as optical and data networking, Internet, Internet advertising, voice and personal computers.” Ericsson already took a piece of the pie back in 2009 and it seems likely that Apple (among others, named as RIM, Motorola and Google) are targeting patents concerned with 3G and 4G technologies, particularly LTE.

Alexander Poltorak, CEO of General Patent Corp, which advises companies on intellectual property valuation, said that:

“It is certainly a very significant stockpile of potent weaponry, and whoever lays their hands on it is going to gain significant advantage.”

His words were only confirmed by InterDigital’s CEO William Merritt:

“It’s unusual for an asset like that to come to market. Incumbents are using all tools in their disposal to battle the newcomers. You need a strong mobile portfolio. You cannot design around core inventions.”
It’s important to note that only one round of bidding has passed and all concerned parties were either unavailable for comment or refused to do so, citing that “it’s confidential”. As of now, there are 105 patent families that are expected to be vital for 4G technologies, of which Nortel owns seven, just like Qualcomm and Sony Corp, while Ericsson has 14 and Nokia possesses the stunning 57 of these “essential patent families”.

source: Reuters

Ever since the launch of the Motorola DROID in November 2009, Verizon has been focusing on selling handsets powered by the Android operating system. With the popularity of Android, this has proven to be a wise decision by Big Red’s executives. In fact, Android phones dominate the sales charts for the carrier with 8 out of 10 smartphone models sold being Android devices according to data from ITG Investment Research. In October 2009, 93% of the mobile operator’s smartphone sales were BlackBerry devices. But Verizon weathered the Storm so to speak, and 2 months later BlackBerry was down to a 48% share while Motorola’s piece of Verizon’s sales soared from 3% to 36% , all thanks to the Motorola DROID.

Right now, 57% of Verizon’s line-up is Android with 30% belonging to BlackBerry. The sales numbers show that RIM’s products have slipped from that 93% peak to 19% as of last month. Motorola branded phones lead with 38% and HTC is third with 18%. In fourth place is Samsung with a 10% slice and Palm, with a meager 1% share, is fifth. Take a look at the graph below to see the impact that the Motorola DROID has had on BlackBerry sales at Verizon.

Once Windows Phone 7 handsets make their way to the carrier, it should be interesting to see what happens to this dynamic. And, if Shaw Wu is finally right and Verizon finally gets the Apple iPhone, the statistics will get shaken up some more.

source: InformationWeek

Graph courtesy of ITG Research

Google is expanding their Hotpot and Places marketing services with an exciting pilot program in Portland, Oregon. They will distribute Places kits to local businesses, that will include tips on boosting their online presence, as well as NFC (near-field communication) decals that say “Recommended on Google.”

These NFC decals will be able to communicate with the new Google Nexus S device, taking customers to that business’ Places page on their device. This program should offer us a taste of what it will be like to have NFC capability with businesses and advertisements (among other things).

Locals are encouraged to stop by the Voodoo Doughnut this Saturday at 10 a.m. for a special treat of some kind. We imagine it will be a demo of the Nexus S, or perhaps special discounts to the recommended Places in Portland.

In step with the launch of the Nexus S (December 16), Google is hosting a Hotpot/Places competition. The five people that rate the most Google-recommended businesses in Portland will receive a free dinner for 10 to any local restaurant. NFC is already exciting, but free food is icing on the Gingerbread cake.

source: Electronista

It seems that the European carriers got pretty stirred up by Apple’s intent to get even more influential, solder a SIM card into the next iPhone, and allow people to flash it for use with any carrier they want via a simple app download. First, it was threatening to cut subsidies, and, rumor has it, actually diminishing the grand total they dole out to Apple for each iPhone, as well as taking the Apple promos off their home pages in a short-lived retaliation.

Then the European telcos obviously sat down, thought long and hard where this smartphone craze that makes the phone more important for users than the carrier will lead them to, and concluded that they are at the losing side of the equation. Therefore, France Telecom, Telecom Italia, Telefonica and Vodafone, are now demanding payments from Google, Apple and Facebook, among others, for the fact that they are generating too much traffic on their wimpy networks, and force them to invest in upgrading, or lose customers. It is basically the same guys that threatened to cut the iPhone’s subsidies, if Steve Jobs makes them just “dumb pipes” for zeros and ones flowing to his superphone and “magical” tablet. Only T-Mobile is missing from the gang involved in the latest intimidation effort, but we are sure they will gladly take the money too.

AT&T and Verizon’s CEOs have made comments before that they need to extract money from popular web services simply because they are popular, otherwise they will have to make do with the role of the aforementioned “dumb pipes”. It didn’t work then, it probably won’t work now, but the net neutrality rules in the EU are stricter and encourage more competition among sites, so we’ll see how this pans out. Basically Google, Apple, Facebook and the rest, can just say – “If you want money from us because we have invented services everybody wants, how about we share some of the monthly subscription fee people are paying you for your cable broadband or wireless, isn’t that what’s supposed to ensure your profits? Get a grip!”.

source: Arstechnica & Barron’s

Arieso, a network management company, has released a revealing look at the data use of different devices. They took a number of popular devices, and compared them to the iPhone 3G as a benchmark.

Their study overall showed that users of the iPhone 4 and Android-powered handsets spend up to 250% more time on data calls than their iPhone 3G counterparts. Those same users also log as many as 130% more individual data calls.

The iPhone 4 was demonstrated to be one of the most data-hungry devices, making 44% more data calls, downloading 41% more data, and staying connected for 67% more time than iPhone 3G devices.

Android devices showed the highest amount of downlink and uplink data. Users of Samsung Galaxy devices upload 126% more data than iPhone 3G users. HTC Desire users download 41% more data than iPhone 3G users.

An important, but perhaps unsurprising, finding was that actual phone calls remain constant. Michael Flanagan, CTO of Arieso, points out the pitfalls of an unevenly growing demand: “They are risking rising operational costs, and delivering a sub-par quality of service to customers. They must adopt a new, more precise approach to monitoring and optimizing their networks.”

We’re hardly surprised by the study’s results. It’s important to note that the increased usage from the iPhone 3G to the iPhone 4 et al might be an issue of demographics, rather than a changing market. More data-hungry users are often early adopters, who would have switched to these newer, even more data-centric devices.

source: Arieso via eWeek

Texas Instruments has announced that production will start in the second half of 2011 on a dual-core processor clocked at 1.5GHz. The OMAP 4440, when compared to the OMAP 4430 previous model, presents an increase of 1.25 X in graphics speed, lowers the time to load up a web page by 30% and doubles the speed in 1080p video playback capabilities.

Unfortunately for TI, one of its biggest customers, Motorola, has already decided to go with NVIDIA’s Tegra 2 dual-core processor for its Android based tablet and for its flagship smartphones (Motorola Olympus on AT&T and the Motorola Etna for Verizon). So the question is, who will be purchasing these chips and for what product? Because production is not starting until the second half of 2011, any phone or tablet using TI’s new processor won’t be coming to market until about a year from now.

The new OMAP 4440 will be able to support 1080p stereoscopic 3D playback (meaning 3D with no glasses) and will support two 12MP cameras in parallel which means it offers the ability to shoot pictures in 3D. Add this to the improvements in browser and graphic speed, and you can see why we are anxious to learn if any handsets are being developed with this new chip set.

source: AndroidandMe

The mobile ad space is rapidly becoming the venue of choice for advertisers. With affordable placement, and the coveted attention of consumers, it’s no wonder that $877 million were spent on mobile advertising in 2010. Of that, Google was responsible for 59% of mobile ads, while Apple held a mere 8.4%.

The mobile display ad space is a subset of mobile ads in general, and Google is on its way to dominating there as well. In display ads, Google holds 19%, while Apple holds 18.8%. A milieu of smaller companies hold 20.5% of the mobile ad market.

The IDC anticipates that Google will pull ahead of its Cupertino rival in 2011, thanks to the Android OS: “Even if display was decisive for the war, I expect Google to outgrow Apple there in the coming year, primarily because Android devices will outsell Apple’s iOS devices,” said Karsten Weide of the IDC.

Weide explains that although both have expanded and refined their advertising capabilities, it might just come down to their device sales: “More devices means more mobile Internet traffic, means more ad inventory that can be sold to advertisers, means more revenue.”

With Google’s recent acquisition of AdMob, and industry-leading mobile display ad provider, they are positioned to expand their client base, and advertising menu even further.

source: All Things Digital and Daily Mobile

Nokia, the world’s biggest phone maker, had to step back in Australia where Apple took the lead with a market share reaching 36.5 per cent. The Finnish company ranks second with a market share of nearly 30.5 per cent, according to data by market intelligence firm IDC Australia. This marks an important threshold since Nokia was in the lead since 2002, when the company outgrew Palm.

It seems that the OS wars are raging at full speed and Nokia’s coming short in delivering what the market needs. But even though the Finns are still number one as a global producer, IDC analyst Mark Novosel ignored Symbian in the long-run and predicted that the domination in smartphones will be disputed between Apple and its iOS on one hand and Android on the other:

“It’s looking like next year it’s going to be close between Android and Apple but I would be inclined to say that Apple will keep its lead, although we have been under pretty much every quarter with our Android forecast so anything really is possible at this stage.”

How are things going in the US? Except for the fact that Nokia has a very narrow margin of recognition and that RIM plays the part of the Finnish company, everything else is pretty much the same. Android has reached a market share of 23.5 per cent in October and is getting ever so close to iOS. What would you put your chips on?

source: The Sydney Morning Herald via IntoMobile