| Healthy Xperia sales give Sony's bank account a boost Aug 1st 2013, 10:07, by Kate Solomon 
A bit of good financial news for Sony: the company confounded expectations with its latest results, with smartphones leading the charge and a bucket of hope riding on the PS4. Sony reported operating profit of $396.68m for April to June 2013 after analysts predicted a mere $256.4m for the quarter. It's even better news when you look at the operating profit compared to this time last year - income is up by 30 billion yen - that's around $300m - after restructuring came into place and the global exchange rates swung in Sony's favour. XperianceSony says the big bucks are all thanks to the strong smartphone sales boosted by products like the Xperia Z on top of those thrilling favourable exchange rates. Sony's mobile division saw a huge 36.2% uptick compared to last year and Sony notes the fact its phones sell for more than they used to has also helped. Champagne corks might not be popping over at Sony HQ just yet though - the gaming division saw a bigger loss than in previous results, which Sony attributes to a drop in PS3, PSP and PS2 sales coupled with the cost of developing the PS4. The PS4, of course, should further revitalise Sony's coffers when it launches in time for Christmas.     |  | Apple patents a three-sensor camera for the iPhone and iPad Aug 1st 2013, 07:15, by Farrha Khan 
The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Apple a new patent that indicates the tech giant may be developing a new camera for the iPhone and iPad that uses three separate sensors, each with their own lens. The US patent No. 8,497,897 is for "Image capture using luminance and chrominance sensors" on mobile devices. The system would use two chrominance sensors and one luminous sensor with a lens sitting in front, allowing the capture of three separate images that collect colour, light and other data. The raw data can then be combined to create a higher quality composite image, which would be particularly handy for photos taken in low-light. That camera effectThough we probably won't be seeing the new camera tech in any upcoming iPhones this year, smartphone camera quality seems to be the new "go to" frontier for device dominance, what with Nokia claiming that its Lumia 1020 is "the first smartphone to put the camera first" and Samsung releasing the Galaxy S4 Zoom. The focus on cameras in smartphones has been around for ages, only increasing because of apps like Instagram, Snapchat and Vine, so this new patent could be a boom for Apple as it faces dropping market share. But while the USPTO granted this camera patent to Apple, it also invalidated Apple's "pinch-to-zoom" patent earlier this week, which could cause more troubles for the tech giant in its court cases against Samsung. Via: AppleInsider     | | Optus testing Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 Mini on its dual-mode network Aug 1st 2013, 03:17, by Farrha Khan 
4G is all the rage this year, with Optus, Vodafone and Telstra all launching, expanding or updates their 4G LTE networks across the country. While Vodafone has been battling it out with Telstra over Australia's first Category 4 devices with the Huawei Ascend P2 and Huawei MediaPad 10 Link 4G, Optus has landed a major coup for its TD-LTE network. Today the telco announced that Samsung has been testing dual mode Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S4 Mini on Optus' 4G TD-LTE. "These new smartphones will open up access to significantly more 4G capacity, allowing Optus customers to do more on their phone in more places," said Rohan Ganeson, managing director of sales at Optus. Officially switched on in Canberra in May, the only devices that Optus currently has available for its TD-LTE network is a modem and USB modem, both of which were launched in June. 4G, but fasterTD-LTE is a variation of the current LTE technology that is available in Australia. It uses the same frequency band for uploads and downloads, but does each at separate times. The current and more widely used FD-LTE technology uses two separate frequency channels for uploads and downloads. While Optus' TD-LTE network is currently only available in Canberra, Samsung's two dual mode devices will be able to switch between each technology, depending on where you are and which is available in your location. "We are proud to be the first telecommunications carrier in the world to support Samsung's devices with seamless TD/FD-LTE handover technology on our network, giving quicker access to leading technology for those who choose Optus," Ganeson said. Samsung's dual mode Galaxy S4 will be available from September, while Optus has only said that availability for the Galaxy S4 Mini will be announced "shortly".     | | Police can track your cell phone location history without a warrant Jul 31st 2013, 21:20, by Matt Swider 
You don't really need that cell phone or own the location data that comes with using such a device, reasoned a federal appeals court this week. This resulted in a 2-1 decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Texas which found that law enforcement isn't required to obtain search warrant to access your cell phone records, noted the AP. Instead, police need a less stringent court order in which they only need to demonstrate "reasonable grounds" to access cell site tower location information. It overturns a previous ruling out of Houston in which a federal judge maintained that this form of cell phone data is constitutionally protected from search and seizure under the Fourth Amendment. The reasoning behind the rulingDigging into the district court's decision, the concurring opinion held that "cell site information is clearly a business record." "[A] cell service provider collects and stores historical cell site data for its own business purposes, perhaps to monitor or optimize service on its network or to accurately bill its customers for the segments of its network that they use." Since the government doesn't require or hasn't pursued service providers to store this historical data, ipso facto, law enforcement is off the hook when it comes to Fourth Amendment violations. "In the case of such historical cell site information, the government merely comes in after the fact and asks a provider to turn over records the provider has already created." Then there's the line in the full text of the ruling that customers "use of their phones, moreover, is entirely voluntary," business records and all.     | | SMS SOS: BlackBerry 10 users reporting message issues after latest update Jul 31st 2013, 19:40, by Lbrown 
As if BlackBerry hasn't had a difficult enough time re-establishing itself in the Android/iOS dominated market, the latest BlackBerry 10 update has certainly caused a few more brows to furrow. According to N4BB, a maintenance release for BlackBerry 10.1 has stymied the messaging attempts of a decent portion of the BB10 userbase. Users have reported an inability to use messaging, while others claimed the update has erased their message history, leaving them unable to see what people said in the past, or are even texting them today. While it's not uncommon for OS updates to cause issues for some users regardless of the device, accidentally removing functionality like the ability to send SMS texts is an bad omen for the re-emerging BlackBerry. Missed messagesSince launching its new line of phones and the BB10 OS, BlackBerry has struggled to gain the marketshare it lost to the likes of Android, iOS and, yes, Windows Phone 8. It's put the Z10 and Q10 up against the likes of the the Galaxy S4 and iPhone 5, but BlackBerry hasn't gained much ground (if any) these past few months. Now, even if only a minority of BB10 users are feeling the effects of the message-eating update, the company is making life difficult for those who adopted the fledgling OS. The update hasn't yet hit U.S. consumers (it's due later this summer), but others around the globe in places like Canada, Europe and some Asian markets are feeling the burn. BlackBerry is looking into the issue, but these types of growing pains won't win the company any favors from those thinking about making a switch any time soon.     | | Moto X to follow in iPhone 5's nano-SIM footsteps? Jul 31st 2013, 19:05, by Michael Rougeau 
Motorola's Moto X could be the next device to sport the new nano-SIM cards, judging by a photo that reportedly leaked out of Hong Kong this week. Engadget today published this photo, which appears to show the Moto X with its nano-SIM tray ejected. The nano-SIM is 40 percent smaller than the micro-SIM currently used in most devices, so it's easily recognizable, and the phone in the image appears to match up with some previous Moto X leaks. Image credit: Engadget If so, the Moto X will be the third handset, after the iPhone 5 and Asus Padfone Infinity, to adopt nano-SIM. Casualties of the SIM warThe Padfone Infinity phablet's use of nano-SIM proves that you don't have to be as small as the iPhone 5 to utilize the new, smaller SIM standard. But it's unclear why Motorola would choose to switch to nano-SIM, especially given its opposition to the technology. A coalition formed of Motorola, BlackBerry (still RIM then) and Nokia dueled with Apple over what the next generation of SIM cards would look like, and Apple emerged victorious last year. Nokia said in a statement at the time that Apple's nano-SIM was "technically inferior" to its own tech and even to the existing micro-SIM, and that "the existing micro-SIM (3FF) will continue to be a preferred option for many manufacturers." But if today's leak turns out to be the real deal then it would seem Nokia's former SIM wartime bedfellow, Motorola, disagrees.     | | Office Mobile shuffles onto Android phones, tablets left out Jul 31st 2013, 16:20, by Hugh Langley 
After its launch on iPhone last month, Office Mobile is now rolling over to Android starting today. Making the announcement on its blog, Microsoft declared that phones supporting Android 4.0 or higher will be able to get the app allowing access to Word, Excel and Powerpoint, although Android tablets won't be getting in on the action for now. Of course, you'll also have to have bought Office 365 Home Premium and ProPlus service. They ain't giving that stuff away for free, you know? Keep rollingThe app itself, however, is free of charge. And when you've downloaded it (and subscribed) you'll be able to keep working on documents on your phone when you leave your PC, with all files stored in Microsoft's SkyDrive. Office Mobile is more for editing than actual document creation though, so don't expect to be getting the full 365 experience. Office Mobile is available in the Google Play store today for US Android users. Microsoft says it will then be "gradually" expanding the software to 33 other languages.     | |
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