| HTC looking to dominate wearables with three devices Feb 20th 2014, 11:54, by James Rogerson 
HTC has not one, not two, but three wearable devices in the works according to an unnamed person with 'direct knowledge of the plans'. One of the two smartwatches apparently in development is based on Qualcomm's Toq according to Bloomberg, which spoke to the anonymous source, and it could challenge the likes of the Galaxy Gear. It will feature Qualcomm's low-power Mirasol display technology, a music player, Bluetooth connectivity and will apparently be previewed to carriers at MWC, though it's not likely to be shown in public. Fighting fitThe second smartwatch is based around Google Now and will have an AMOLED screen, while a third wearable - a smart wristband - will have a thin touchscreen display, activity tracking features and a music player, so by the sounds of things it will be gunning for the Fitbit Force and the Nike FuelBand SE. Don't get too excited about seeing these things as HTC has yet to decide whether any of them will go into final production according to the source. HTC has previously confirmed that it plans to bring its first wearable out by Christmas, so with that in mind it seems likely that at least one of these will make it out the door.        |  | Gary Marshall: Facebook and WhatsApp: if you can't beat 'em, buy 'em Feb 20th 2014, 10:53, by Gary Marshall 
It's 1999 and Mark Zuckerberg is CEO of Microsoft, despite only being fifteen. Microsoft's board is rapt as they await his decision. "Buy it," he says. "Whatever it costs. Whatever they ask for. Buy it." He's talking about Google, a small company that's doing clever things with search. Like Hotmail, which Microsoft bought the previous year, it might be the shape of things to come - and if it is, it's a business Microsoft wants to be in. The Google sale wouldn't be the last time Microsoft appeared to pay over the odds for technology firms. Zuckerberg would go on to arrange the purchase of Android Inc and Flickr in 2005, YouTube in 2006 and Firefox - or at least most of its key engineers via financial offers they'd be mad to refuse - in 2008. It acquired Twitter in 2008, Instagram in 2012 and WhatsApp in 2014. The companies were very different, but the rationale for buying them was always the same. As Zuckerberg put it: "If you can't beat 'em, buy 'em." It's made Microsoft the most valuable company the world has ever seen. Back in the real world...None of that happened, of course, but if it had then today's technology industry would look very different - and that's because Facebook is a very different company to the tech giants of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Facebook has both enormous scale and huge paranoia, and that means it does interesting things such as buying WhatsApp. Facebook may have overpaid - although at around $40 per user what it's paying for WhatsApp is much the same as what Microsoft paid for Hotmail; most of the deal is in stock, so if we are indeed in a bubble then Facebook won't be too out of pocket if the market crashes - but it makes complete sense if you're absolutely loaded and worried about younger, smarter competitors eating your lunch. By buying WhatsApp Facebook isn't just making a fairly safe investment - WhatsApp's fee of $1 per user per year is serious money if its current explosive growth continues, and the $4bn of actual cash Facebook is shelling out will be recouped in a couple of years even if it doesn't - but neutralising and monetising a potential competitor. I've written before that Facebook cannot possibly be the best, most popular service in every sector. What it can do, though, is buy the best, most popular services in every sector: Instagram in photos, WhatsApp in messaging and so on. And if it's smart, it won't try to assimilate them, integrate them or otherwise mess them up as the previous generation of tech giants - *cough* Yahoo! *cough* - so loved to do. Mark Zuckerberg is trying very hard to make Facebook an unkillable business. It might not work - even Facebook can't buy everything, and it might not necessarily buy the right businesses; some pundits are already suggesting that instead of WhatsApp, LINE might have been a better buy - but the beat 'em or buy 'em strategy makes it very tough to compete with. Rivals don't just have to invent a better product and attract millions of users: they also need to be unbuyable at any price.        | | Samsung Galaxy S5 set to get serious about photography Feb 20th 2014, 10:41, by James Rogerson 
If everything pans out the Samsung Galaxy S5 could have a camera to be reckoned with as a new report suggests that for the first time, Samsung will apparently put a dedicated camera button on its new Galaxy flagship. But it's not just any button, there will be an invisible sensor built into the bottom right of the phone which you simply tap to take a picture, according to SamMobile. It's claimed to be called 'Side Touch' and removes the need to tap the screen to fire off snaps. There are some limitations though as supposedly it won't work in portrait mode or when shooting video. The report also claims the Samsung Galaxy S5 will have a 16MP sensor - which has long been rumored - as well as the ability to shoot 4K UHD video at 30fps and 1080p video at 60fps. Snap happyThe information doesn't end there, as SamMobile also kindly listed the camera modes we're likely to see on the Galaxy S5. These include old favorites like Sound & Shot, Panorama and HDR alongside new ones such as 3D Tour Shot, which can be used to create interactive virtual tours of your surroundings, Continuous Shot, which takes numerous photos in rapid succession, and Focus Select, which makes subjects stand out against the background by adjusting the depth of field. There will also be numerous camera effects, such as monochrome, sepia, vintage and cartoon. Just the other day we heard from Samsung itself that the Galaxy S5 will have an improved LED flash, so if all this other information is accurate it looks like the camera is going to be a key feature of Samsung's new flagship.        | | Virgin Mobile gives 4G to prepaid customers Feb 20th 2014, 01:03, by Farrha Khan 
It's been over a year since the telco began offering LTE services on postpaid plans, but Virgin Mobile is now giving prepaid customers a 4G option as well. Virgin Mobile has been a little late to the game, as though it operates on Optus' network, it began offering 4G services to post-paid customers late 2012 soon after Optus itself began offering services on the faster network. Optus on the other hand, has been offering 4G to prepaid customers since late 2012. Still, it's a welcome addition and should give Aussies more choice. Faster, but not much dataBut while it offers faster data downloads, Virgin Mobile's prepaid plans don't offer too much data to play with, so we recommend you keep an eye on your data usage. Virgin Mobile has three groups of plans, with Cap recharges offering the highest data inclusion - up to 1GB, except for the lowest recharge value, which includes 250MB. Recharges branded Simple all only offer 100MB, while it's Long Expiry charges include no data at all. New customers can sign up now to get 4G, while existing prepaid customers that have a compatible handset can activate 4G by dialling "275".        | | Windows Phone 8.1 wants your prints! Added feature tipped for next update Feb 20th 2014, 00:00, by Chris Smith 
Pieces of the Windows Phone 8.1 puzzle continue to fall into place with reports claiming the big mobile OS update will bring fingerprint scanning technology into play. WindowsPhoneLovers has been trawling through the latest Windows Phone 8.1 SDK and found evidence that Microsoft plans to match the iPhone 5S in the security stakes. Within the code, the site spotted a line reading: "To allow the app to access your private key, scan an enrolled finger on the fingerprint scanner." Whether that means an onscreen reading or, a la Apple's solution, a physical fingerprint scanner remains to be seen, but we're likely to find out for sure at Build 2014 in April when Microsoft unveils the new OS. Make or breakThe code also suggests there'll be better customisation options when it comes to start screen themes and improved messaging options for dual screen phones. Today's report is the latest in a long line of feature leaks, for the new OS, which is increasingly becoming make or break for Microsoft. We've already heard plenty about the Cortana personal voice assistant tech, as well as the new Action Centre, which promises to bring users more control over their notifications. Speaking of Action Centre, here it is ... erm ... in action, courtesy of UnleashThePhones.com. With the Centre, it appears customizing app interaction and choosing what goes in the toggles and notifications are the name of the game. YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8nmCGCeFmo       | | Facebook buys WhatsApp for $19 billion Feb 19th 2014, 22:12, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
Facebook has announced it's acquiring WhatsApp for approximately $16 billion (about £9.5b/AU$17.7b), bringing one of the most popular mobile messaging services into the fold of the most popular social media platform. The move "accelerates Facebook's ability to bring connectivity and utility to the world," Facebook said in announcing the acquisition. WhatsApp will continue to operate independently and will maintain its brand. Co-Founder and CEO Jan Koum is set to join Facebook's board of directors. Koum, fellow Co-Founder Brian Acton and WhatsApp employees will receive an extra $3 billion (about £1.79b, AU$3.3b) in restricted stock over the next four years. The deal is pending regulatory approval, but Facebook expects it to close before the end of the year. That's quite a while to wait for an acquisition that Zuckerberg said was hatched only 11 days ago. The WhatsApp prizeFacebook is no stranger to high-profile purchases; the company bought Instagram for $1 billion (about £599m, AU$1.1b) two years ago. WhatsApp has over 450 million people using the service every month, and 70% are active on any given day. According to Facebook's release, WhatsApp is on track to "connect one billion people," something aided by the fact that it's adding more than one million new registered users daily. WhatsApp's user figures have also eclipsed Facebook Messenger's in some international markets. During a call with investors, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the one-two punch of WhatsApp and Facebook "will allow us to deliver new and engaging mobile experiences." The purchase is clearly part of Facebook's "journey to become a mobile company." What this means for WhatsAppKoum said in a blog post that nothing will change for WhatsApp users, and they can continue to use the service as they have been. During the call, Zuckerberg and Koum repeatedly stressed that WhatsApp will remain autonomous. The world, Zuckerburg noted, needs both the informal email-style of Facebook Messenger and the SMS-replacing WhatsApp. The Facebook founder said there are mutual benefits to be had from the two companies being connected yet remaining independent. WhatsApp will maintain its Mountain View headquarters and the company's core messaging product will stay apart from Facebook Messenger. Messenger will continue to function as a standalone app. What's more, WhatsApp "exciting" product road map won't change, and Koum noted more features will arrive in the next 12 to 24 months. Monetization is not an area of focus for WhatsApp, Zuckerberg and Koum said. Instead, accelerating grow and connecting ever larger numbers of users are what the companies will focus on with WhatsApp. To that end, don't look for ads to crop up on WhatsApp anytime soon.        | | Google I/O 2014 slated for June 25 - June 26 Feb 19th 2014, 21:24, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
Google I/O 2014 will kick off June 25 and run through June 26, Google has announced. It may two seasons away, but as Sundar Pichai noted on Google+, it's only 126 days till the mega dev conference kicks off, days that are sure to fly by. This is the seventh Google I/O and as always, interested parties will be able to attend in person (if they successfully register) or follow along via broadcasts beaming from of San Francisco's Moscone Center. Google is doing something different this year for on-sight attendee registration by having folks submit their interest in attending I/O. Applicants who make the cut will then be randomly selected and notified of their admittance, essentially leaving the choice entirely out of hopefuls' hands. More details, including register information, are due next month. What to expect from Google IO 2014Though light on hardware, Google didn't leave consumers out in the cold during IO 2013. We saw a redesigned Google Maps take shape, Google Play Music All Access, and a full-court press on Google+ photos. We also went hands on with Google Glass and met the stock Android Samsung Galaxy S4. Though it's still early, some top contenders for Google IO 2014 include Android 5, an 8-inch Nexus 8 tablet, a Chromecast update and a deeper dive into the ear piece-wielding Google Glass 2. And with its recent pick-up of Nest, we'd put cold hard cash on Google spending some time talking about the home. Slightly more far flung but certainly within the realm of possibility, Mountain View may choose to unveil the rumored Google watch at the conference. As the company expands its focus to robotics and AI, we wouldn't be surprised if there's a distinct future-y flavor to this year's meet-up. You can be sure TechRadar will be on the ground at I/O 2014, so stay tuned for more.        | | Huawei Ascend P7 looks pretty in pink ahead of MWC 2014 Feb 19th 2014, 19:58, by JR Bookwalter 
What shines in gold, pink, white or black and looks ready to make a splash at Mobile World Congress next week? A pretty little Android smartphone that goes by the code name "Sophia," that's what. The persistent rumors of Huawei's latest Ascend P7 smartphone appear to have finally hit pay dirt, thanks to a leaked image that just popped up on Chinese social network Weibo. Nowhereelse.fr turned up the image of the Ascend P6's successor that will presumably be offered in black, white, gold and pink - which makes perfect sense for a smartphone whose code name is supposedly Sophia. Huawei is expected to formally announce the Ascend P7 at MWC 2014, although little else is known about the Chinese manufacturer's latest smartphone. Dazed and amazedThe rumor mill has been checking off all the requisite list of features in recent weeks, with the Ascend P7 expected to storm onto the scene with a display somewhere between 5- and 5.5-inches at 1080p HD resolution. Power users are also anticipating a 1.6GHz quad-core processor with Android 4.4 KitKat in tow as well as 2GB RAM and 16GB onboard storage. Last but not least, Huawei will reportedly infuse the handset with camera superpowers, including a 13-megapixel rear and 8-megapixel front-facing optics. Over the weekend, Huawei threw down the gauntlet against rivals Apple and Samsung with a cheeky YouTube video touting an "amazing" front camera for its upcoming smartphone, while throwing in a peek at a new tablet for good measure. We'll see what Huawei has in store in the coming days.        | | First Ubuntu phones on track for 2014 as handset makers jump on board Feb 19th 2014, 19:15, by klee 
Canonical has picked up its first pair of manufacturing partners, keeping to its schedule to roll out the first Ubuntu phones this year. The Linux-based OS company announced it's partnering with Meizu and BQ Readers to release its first Ubuntu Touch OS handsets. Although neither of these manufacturers carries a US large presence, Canonical Founder and CEO Mark Shuttleworth explained during a Town Hall Google Hangout that these will be key partnerships to reach underserved markets. Specficially, the Spain-based BQ Readers will help Ubuntu broach the European market, and Meizu's reputation in China will open up a pool of Linux phone users in Asia. "The mobile industry has long been looking for a viable alternative to those that reign today," Shuttleworth boasted in a release. "Ubuntu puts the control back into the hands of our partners and presents an exciting platform for consumers, delivering an experience which departs from the tired app icon grid of Android and iOS and provides a fluid, content-rich experience for all." Ubuntu Touch OS needs apps firstDetails about the actual smartphones and supporting carriers still remain a mystery, but Shuttleworth teased that two more manufacturers with "household names" should be coming on board in 2015. The company said its next challenge will be to bring app developers aboard their ecosystem. Shuttleworth aims to have the "top 50 mobile apps" on Ubuntu Touch by the end of the year. Although the company has attracted major name stays including Evernote, LastPass and Grooveshark, there's still a lot of work to do. Still getting thereUbuntu put forth some big, ambitious goals but there's only a slim chance we will see a major Ubuntu phone released on one of the major carriers in the States any time soon. Still, Canonical's strategy is right on track as its Community Manager Jono Bacon previously stated in a Reddit AMA. Earlier this year the open-source OS company laid out its plans to team up with smaller OEMs, which it's doing right now. Bacon also noted that we may not see Ubuntu phones from major manufacturers or carriers until next year.        | | Android handsets are a lot cheaper than iPhones? Shocking! Feb 19th 2014, 15:50, by Thomas Thorn 
While it might seem obvious that an Android phone is cheaper than Apple's iPhone range, the average price of a phone running Google's OS is now half the price of that from the Cupertino brand. According to statistics site Statista (where you can see the price differences rising over the years) that difference currently sits at $414, with iPhones selling at an average of $720, and Android's selling with a mean value of $305. That means in 2013 the average Android handset was only around 40% the cost of an iPhone. So what do these numbers actually mean? Global issueIn truth, the numbers are more indicative of a worldwide trend rather than that of the western world. While Android flagships like the HTC One or Galaxy S4 do generally come in cheaper than their Apple counterparts, the price issue is much wider. Android handsets have dominated the budget market for quite some time thanks in no small part to the open source nature of Android. No cost to license the OS has led to a proliferation of super-cheap device, and even using the 'full fat' Android OS means lower-cost handsets like the Huawei Ascend G510 or the Samsung Galaxy Fame still bringing a relatively premium experience. This has led to Android becoming the OS of choice in emerging markets such as India and Brazil, areas where the 16GB iPhone 5S currently retails at a high 53,500 Rupees (AU$950) and 2,799 Real ($1295) rather than the $869 in Australia. It has also meant that the average global Android handset price has dropped from $490 in the past 3 years to the $276 we see today. It doesn't mean that we can expect the 'All new HTC One' or the Samsung Galaxy S5 to come out half the price of the iPhone 6 though.   | | The All New HTC One reveals all in image leak Feb 19th 2014, 14:24, by John McCann 
Hot on the heels of the rumour the Taiwanese firm will launch its new smartphone under the title the "All New HTC One" on March 25 comes an image potentially revealing the entire device in a fetching gold hue. Perennial leaker @evleaks is at the heart of things once again, posting the render along with the message "The All New HTC One, 2014" - and the dual-lenses we've been hearing so much about on the rear of the handset are present once again, as is a dual LED flash. There doesn't appear to be any sign of a fingerprint scanner, and while we can see the SIM slot there's no depiction of any potential microSD port - although it could be on the side not shown in the picture. Of course there's no guaranteeing the render is the real deal as they can be quite easily created in editing suites, so let's not get totally carried away just yet. If the leak is legit then the HTC One 2 doesn't appear to stray too far from the design of 2013's One, which isn't a bad thing as we absolutely loved it.   | | Nokia's Treasure Tags will stop you leaving the house without your keys Feb 19th 2014, 12:37, by Kate Solomon 
Nokia's quite into treasure at the moment - first it teases us with a treasure map, now it's unveiled the Lumia-friendly Treasure Tag. Treasure Tags are NFC and Bluetooth-enabled gizmos that you attach to fiddly valuables like your keys or wallet. If you try to leave the house without them, your phone gives off a loud honk to remind you to go back and pick them up. That's assuming you haven't also forgotten your phone, of course. Fatal flawThe Treasure Tags work with Lumia phones rocking the Lumia Black update, with apps for iOS and Android in the works too. The Tags will come in blue, yellow, white and black, and will set you back US$29.90, which is around AU$33.23 each. They're also proof that sometimes, just sometimes, rumours do come true. It's not quite the booty we were expecting from Nokia's bizzarro pre-MWC treasure map teaser. We reckon there's more to come at MWC 2014. - We're more interested in Nokia X - Android on a Nokia phone? Whatever next
  | | In Depth: The future of Lync Feb 19th 2014, 11:18, by Mary Branscombe 
Microsoft made a lot of announcements at the Lync conference this week. First up, it's adding an Android tablet Lync client to the iOS, Windows Phone and Windows clients that are already available. It's also bringing voice calls and large meetings to Lync Online. Elsewhere it's letting businesses offer free Skype calls to customers, and letting you make HD video calls from Lync to Skype or to legacy video conferencing systems like Tandberg. 
They're all different ways to enable what Microsoft is calling not just unified but Universal Communications. Universal Comms"Universal is about enabling anybody to communicate with anyone else," Giovanni Mezgec, the general manager for both Skype and Lync told TechRadar. Some of those pieces arrive this year (the Android tablet client will be on Google Play by the end of June, and video calls between Skype and Lync come later this year). Others take longer, like adding voice to Office 365 or connecting up to social network conversations in Yammer, neither of which are likely to happen this year. 
Using what Lync knows about you to put the person you're about to have a meeting with at the top of your address book is going to take longer still, but partners like Plantronics are adding some clever features already. If you walk away from your PC, for example, your Plantronics Lync headset is smart enough to send an incoming call to your phone instead. Call me maybeThe original idea of Lync and its predecessor, Office Communications Server, was that you didn't have to think about whether you wanted to use a phone or a PC to talk to someone, you just used the software and let it figure out how to make the connection. In Office 365, Lync Online has only let you do that fully if you also paid for a service from a voice provider like BT. Those partner services will still work, and partners will be able to take Office 365 and Lync and add extra services and sell you that. But if you just want to make and receive landline calls through Lync Online, in future that will be built into Office 365. You'll be able to call a phone number from Lync or have people call a standard phone number and have the call come to you in Lync on whatever device you're using. "It fits right into universal communications," Mezgec points out. "We want to make sure people get access to communications on any device and when you connect with the cloud, you want to connect with as many people as possible." Businessman's Skype?If that sounds like Skype for business, it's not exactly. "We're leveraging a lot of learnings and technologies and products we have in Skype. It's a similar offering to what we have on the consumer front but it's not quite the same offering. It's the same team that builds both but one is for consumers and the other is for organisations, so there will be the differences between the two that you would expect given the different customer bases." In other words, voice calling for Lync Online isn't just bolting on Skype, and Skype and Lync will continue to be separate services, says Megzec, because there are some ways that home and business users are different. 
"There are two distinct services, Lync and Skype. One is for enterprise, the other is for consumer and they're connected, so people that are in one can communicate with the other. The consumer offering is free, the business model is ad-led. And it doesn't have a lot of requirements about how I connect it to my Active Directory or to my security and encryption system. For organisations, from an IT perspective all those requirements are super important." When you actually use Skype and Lync, they'll look more and more similar in terms of the interface, to make it easier for users who have both. "The user experience is going to be a lot more consistent between the two. If you're using Skype at home, when you come to work you know natively how to use Lync. We're taking the best of what we know, from Lync and Skype together, so we can enable people to communicate." One company, two servicesWhen Microsoft bought Skype, some people expected it to just become part of Lync. Instead, it's taking advantage of what the Skype team has learnt about making calls and connecting to phone networks, and building that into the Lync service. Parts of the underlying architecture will be the same, and the user experience will feel familiar for both, but the services that sit between the back end and the client you use stay distinct. And the Skype team is also learning from Lync for things like improving Skype messaging. "We've heard a lot of feedback from customers that this is something we need to get better at," admits Megzec, "and we're putting a high priority on that. Now that the architecture work on Skype is done, it becomes easier to make those improvements."   | |
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