| MWC 2014: A smartphone battery that lasts a week? Never gonna happen, says Qualcomm Feb 26th 2014, 14:43, by John McCann 
We're waiting for the day when our smartphone battery will last a week on a single charge, but sadly that day will probably never come. TechRadar spoke to Laurent Fournier, Qualcomm's Senior Director for Business Development, at MWC 2014 who revealed the technology isn't heading towards a smartphone battery that can last days, but rather one that can be charged quickly. "It's too optimistic" to hope for a smartphone battery that lasts a week, explained Fournier. "The batteries in the old GSM phones that could effectively last an entire week are not something current technology can deliver to smartphones." "This is because the number of applications and demands a user has of their smartphone does not allow for that kind of performance from the battery." The classic one day"Today's smartphone batteries are generally expected to last a day and we are investing more in speeding up the charge, rather than effectively extending the lifetime of the battery beyond the classic one day." When it comes to actually charging your phone, Qualcomm is pushing the wireless option which already features in some handsets. "We've announced our version 2.0 of our wireless charging technology and that's definitely the trend we're pursuing," Fournier told us. So perhaps the nightly charging ritual is going to get easier for more of us, but you won't be waving it goodbye anytime soon.        |  | Analysis: Tigerish Motorola shows its claws at MWC Feb 26th 2014, 14:31, by Patrick Goss 
You could have forgiven Motorola for cancelling its MWC press event: after all you would assume that most of the planning was done before the company's sale to Lenovo and the announcement that its CEO was leaving. But Motorola's decision to come out all guns blazing sent a clear message to the rest of the market: The Moto brand is here to stay. This was a tigerish conference that saw Moto variously hitting out at ugly wearable tech, announcing that a Motowatch was on the way, insisting that leaving Google behind was a good thing and laughing off questions of Motorola's demise. Assuming that a trio of VPs were not likely to say anything too fascinating, much of the media chose to skip the conference and the inevitable trek across Barcelona - but those who did make were rewarded with one of the most exciting conferences of the show. Throwing caution to the Easterly windCompanies going through tough times tend to err on the side of caution, waiting to see where the chips fall before making statements that could come back to haunt them - or, worse, force the hand of new owners. But the triumvirate of Steve Horowitz, Mark Randall and Rick Osterloh, drafted in to take over from the departing CEO Dennis Woodside for the conference, were not content to stonewall and even took on a difficult Q&A. Randall explained his confidence to TechRadar later, saying: "The thing is, the development cycle is pretty long so we know all of our plans for 2014 and we've spent the whole of this week sharing those plans with our carrier partners and they are like 'wow - this is an amazing portfolio' so we do feel confident. "Today the consumers are seeing the tip of the iceberg and there's lots of stuff just under the surface which we will announce later on in the year. We've also presented it to Lenovo and they love it as well." But what about beyond 2014? Will Lenovo keep the Moto brand going or discard it like an opened Trojan horse after getting a foot in Western doors? "We believe Lenovo will back us beyond the year as well," added Randall. "From their perspective, most Chinese manufacturers have tried to break in to [Western markets] have had limited success, virtually none in the US, so we believe for them it makes a lot of sense. "I would say they will leverage the brand for more than the coming year. Lenovo has said publicly one of the reasons to buy the company is because of the brand." Brand newFrankly, this confident and open approach is exactly what Motorola needs, especially with the waters as muddy as they are. A cancellation or even a subdued event would have screamed of a rudderless ship, under new management and with a panicking crew. Instead we got a bit of bite from Moto, and that - more than any proclamation made by the execs - gives me hope for the future of an old favourite phone brand as it sails boldly into Chinese waters.        | | MWC 2014: Webroot and Cellebrite offer mobile malware protection to telcos and retailers Feb 26th 2014, 13:44, by Nick Farrell 
Security specialist Webroot and mobile data expert Cellebrite have teamed up to launch what they claim is the first anti-malware detection and removal service for mobile operators and retailers. Announced at MWC 2014, the service, which will be marketed as a product, will see Cellebrite placing Webroot's Mobile App Reputation Service and URL Classification Service under the bonnet of its diagnostics product range. Malware epidemicScott Merkle, vice president of Enterprise and OEM Sales at Webroot, said that there is a demand for such a service, as companies have to cope with the rapidly spreading mobile malware epidemic. He said that contributing to the spread of the epidemic is the rapidly increasing amount of downloads of unknown or untrusted apps and the growing popularity of mobile payments. Merging the Webroot and Cellebrite software will mean that service suppliers can proactively identify and fix security threats and performance problems on their customer's mobile device. First of its typeNot only can they test dodgy files against Webroot's Malware database, the service can use Cellebrite's mobile device diagnostics solution to discover phone problems being caused by malware. Merkle said that the Webroot and Cellebrite service is the first multi-channel phone diagnostics solution provider to offer anti-malware detection and removal to mobile carriers and retailers.        | | MWC 2014: Samsung Galaxy S5 takes Best In Show in TechRadar's MWC 2014 Awards Feb 26th 2014, 12:37, by TechRadar 
Competition for the biggest honours at MWC 2014 has been fierce, but our dauntless team of phone experts have scoured the show floor for the biggest and best tech of the year. What will be crowned best tablet? At a phone show, which handset could possibly take best phone? And what's the tech that's got tongues wagging both at MWC and on the internet? Meet the winners of TechRadar's MWC 2014 Awards: Best phone: Samsung Galaxy S5Commended: Sony Xperia Z2, HTC Desire 816 
While some were left underwhelmed by Samsung's latest flagship, we judged the Samsung Galaxy S5 to be the best phone on show as well as the most improved. Phones and tablets editor Gareth Beavis explains, "This was easily the hardest category to judge, as there were a lot of great choices on show. Both Sony and Samsung's phones have lots of really great features and will be big hitters this year, while HTC managed to offer something impressive at a mid range price point. "But the overall combination of power and features users actually want over the useless, gimmicky 'innovation' seen on S4, swung it for us." 
Best tablet: Sony Xperia Z2 Tablet
It's Best Tablet two years on the trot for the Xperia range - will Sony ever let another company have a look in? Beavis said, "Last year's winner made a lot better, with beefed up internals and a greatly enhanced screen. The iPad Air has set a high bar to beat, but the technology on the Xperia Z2 Tablet, like powerful front facing speakers, means it has a great chance." Best in show: Samsung Galaxy S5Commended: Samsung Gear 2 Neo
No other device managed to beat the S5 in terms of desirability. It's the best of the best. As Gareth puts it: "It's only fitting a phone should win Best in Show at MWC, and the Galaxy S5 is a phone that a lot of people will be proud to own. "The need for a standout feature on a new smartphone has diminished in recent times, and now users are getting phones that actually do what they need them to, which the S5 embodies well." Commiserations to the runner-up, which shows that smartwatches are on the up but still have a way to go. Gareth says, "The other big story this year was wearables, as we expected. The Gear 2 Neo is the best of the bunch simply because it's last year's Galaxy Gear made much more usable. 
"It should be cheaper and is lighter than the main Gear 2, plus still has all the excellent fitness features we're looking forward to testing out." People's choice: Nokia XCommended: Samsung Gear Fit 
Cinderella story. Out of nowhere. A former Windows Phone fixture, now about to become an Android champion. It looks like a mirac... Nokia X is the people's choice! It's the people's choice! It's the people's choice! "The Nokia X is getting people interested in the low end again," Gareth told us, explaining the buzz. "Sure, the story is Android being used, but really it's Nokia looking to penetrate the budget market with whatever OS works best, so it's great to see this is a hot topic." And on the runner-up: "The Gear Fit is a strong device too, as it's got a beautiful curved OLED as it's display and focuses just on fitness, while also pushing well into the smartwatch territory by showing off notifications." Congratulations to all the winners - see you again, same time next year! - Keep up to date with all the goings on at MWC 2014
       | | In Depth: Storage wars: do we really need microSD cards in our phones? Feb 26th 2014, 11:45, by James Rogerson 
Why the microSD may have had its dayMicroSD cards are serious business, or at least that's the impression given by the uproar surrounding any major Android handset that doesn't include a slot for one. But are they really necessary? There's no denying that they can be appealing. Regardless of how much storage a handset has a microSD card can boost it - and with the launch of SanDisk's 128GB card it can be expanded massively. That can certainly be useful for anyone who wants to jam their phone full of media, but even if you don't it's comforting to have that safety net, knowing that the storage is there if you need it. But do you need it? Really? You might argue that there's no downside to having a microSD card slot even if it's not likely to get used, but that's not entirely true. For one thing they simply don't fit with the design ethos of some handsets. 
Phones of a certain design, such as the unibody HTC One, can't easily support a microSD card slot and the design is one of its biggest selling points. To compromise that would be to compromise the whole handset. Slow storageEven on phones which can easily fit one in it's not necessarily desirable. Because while microSD cards sound good on paper in reality they can hugely impact a phones performance. According to a study carried out by Hyojun Kim at the Georgia Institute of technology, using a microSD card in your phone can cause it to become sluggish, with even basic tasks like web browsing suffering as a result. Overall performance can often drop by between 100% and 300% and in one case the study found that there was an incredible 2000% decrease in performance. Even at the lower end that's a massive loss in performance and is an unacceptable trade off for some extra storage, particularly on higher end handsets where you're paying hundreds of pounds extra for a boost in specs. The reason for the performance loss is simple, microSD cards themselves aren't fast enough. They can't keep up with the power and speed packed into modern smartphones. Though some are better at this than others and the brand and class of card you choose will have a big impact. 
Bad memorySpeed isn't the only issue either. In late December, hardware hacker Andrew Huang gave a talk at Chaos Compute Club Congress, where he explained that "flash memory is really cheap. So cheap, in fact, that it's too good to be true. In reality, all flash memory is riddled with defects - without exception." The illusion of a contiguous, reliable storage media is crafted through sophisticated error correction and bad block management functions. This is the result of a constant arms race between the engineers and mother nature; with every fabrication process shrink, memory becomes cheaper but more unreliable. Likewise, with every generation, the engineers come up with more sophisticated and complicated algorithms to compensate for mother nature's propensity for entropy and randomness at the atomic scale." Cheap, but not so cheerfulWhich brings us to another key issue in the appeal of microSD cards, the fact that they're cheap. On the face of it the price can be appealing, particularly in comparison to paying through the nose for increased built in storage on a phone. 
Take the iPhone 5S for example. The 16GB model already retails for a whopping AU$869, but for a 32GB model you're looking at AU$999. That's AU$130 more for just 16GB of extra storage, while the 64GB model is yet another AU$130 more expensive. Admittedly Apple products tend to be expensive anyway, but even a 32GB Nexus 5 costs AU$50 more than a 16GB one and other companies have similar price differences. Compare that to on average just AU$20 for a 16GB microSD card, AU$45 for a 32GB one or AU$70 for a 64GB one and the pricing does seem quite steep. You could argue that you're paying the extra for a product which isn't 'riddled with defects' but it still seems like a substantial difference, particularly when you can get a 1TB external hard drive for around AU$120. Robert Leedham, writer for Which? Tech Daily agrees, saying "microSD cards aren't essential in phones, but they're a cheap way to get added storage. Spending AU$20 for 32GB extra space on your mobile is a good deal in anyone's book." An argument could certainly be made that manufacturers should charge less for extra storage then, but given how slow and unreliable microSD cards are it's still often worth paying the extra to avoid them. Upping the limitOf course sometimes even paying for a high-capacity handset isn't enough, as you're still not going to be getting more than 64GB of storage, which should be more than enough for most people but it's still easy to fill. Smartphone storage can be even more limited than it initially appears to be too, as some of the advertised memory is taken up by the operating system and often by apps which can't be uninstalled. Leedham sees this as a major problem, arguing that: "Manufacturers will begin to offer more storage space if they think it will make more people buy their phones. Realistically, they need to ensure operating systems don't eat up too much existing storage space. Our recent storage test found only 8.56GB (or 54%) of a Samsung Galaxy S4 was actually available for you to use." Sometimes the hit is only a few gigabytes, as on the 16GB iPhone 5S and Nexus 5, which give you 12.20GB and 12.28GB of usable storage respectively, but other times you can be left with only around half the advertised amount, as in Leedham's example, making a microSD card all but essential. The good news is that phone storage is increasing. The iPhone 3G had a choice of 8 or 16GB of storage, the iPhone 4 brought the potential storage up to 32GB and the iPhone 5 boosted it to 64GB. If Apple continues that pattern then the next iPhone will have 128GB of storage. You can see a similar increase among other manufacturers. HTC for example put just 512MB of storage in the Hero, but that went up to 1GB in the Sensation, 16 or 32GB in the One X and 32GB in the HTC One. 
That trend is likely to continue, as tablets like the iPad Air now offer 128GB of storage and there's even a smartphone with that amount of capacity, unfortunately it's only available in China, but it's surely only a matter of time before 128GB of storage and beyond become common in phones. Given the rate that storage has increased so far that's likely to happen sooner rather than later and when it does microSD cards will become a lot less desirable. MicroSD: the alternativesUp in the airIn the meantime there's at least one viable alternative to microSD cards and in many ways it's a far more attractive option. We're talking of course about cloud storage. After all why have your files stored on one device when you could access them from every device you own by uploading them to the cloud. 
The pricing compares favourably to microSD cards too, with most providers giving a certain amount of storage away for free, right up to 50GB in the case of Mega. But even subscriptions don't have to break the bank. Box is one company offering 100GB of storage for not much money at all. Cloud storage does have its limitations, as uploading large files can take a while and as Leedham points out "your phone won't always be connected to wireless internet, so internal storage is still important. The interesting thing will be whether apps continue to grow in size, just as flash storage does." But it's increasingly rare to be without some form of internet connection on phones and with most major storage providers offering smartphone apps the whole process is normally very easy, while your data is safer than it could ever be on something as unreliable as a microSD card. Streaming services are another alternative and while they're even more dependent on an internet connection they take storage out of the equation entirely. 
With a Netflix subscription you have instant access to thousands of films, while Spotify gives you access to millions of songs, far more than could ever fit on even the biggest hard drives and you have access to them across all of your devices. But if you're particularly attached to your own music collection or don't want to pay a subscription then there's always Google Play Music, which allows you to store up to 20,000 of your own songs in the cloud for free and stream them to your devices. Rob Hodges from Mobiles.co.uk believes that phones will be heading even more towards cloud storage in the future, saying that "with all the leading operating systems moving towards cloud storage (Google Drive, SkyDrive, iCloud) content is going to be more off your phone, and more accessible from anywhere. Cloud accounts can be quite generous for storage meaning you have plenty of space for your major content. Whether apps will have the functionality to be accessed remotely without using memory on your device is the next challenge, but it will be something smartphone manufacturers are trying to conquer." Right now you can't store apps in the cloud or stream them, but then you're increasingly unable to move apps to microSD cards anyway, so that's not such a factor. Separation anxietyEven if the phone and apps you have do allow for it you might want to reconsider, as above and beyond the issues with microSD cards highlighted earlier there's also the fact that separating an app from OS features on the phones internal storage can cause problems of its own. Hodges explains it like this: "Downloaded apps need access across a range of the pre-installed OS features. Even the little things like WhatsApp accessing your phone contacts list, or Skype accessing your camera. Building a partition between app memory and OS memory would only slow things down, meaning a more disruptive user experience." MicroSD cards aren't all bad of course. Hodges argues that they're "great for your disposable media files such as music, movies and camera content. Definitely recommended as a way to access your library and can easily be taken out the phone and plugged into business/personal devices.
Should your phone break down, the microSD card is that sigh of relief that your valuable photos and multimedia are safe, easily accessible and can be uploaded to your computer via SD card adaptor or another smartphone." 
On the way outBut with phone storage increasing in size and cloud storage taking off they're increasingly unnecessary. Indeed the HTC product team revealed to us that "external memory such as microSD can add flexibility, however HTC has found customers are using external memory less and less." As the demand for them goes down we're likely to see their support go down too. Many smartphones still have microSD card slots right now, but HTC has already abandoned them in its last couple of Android flagships (though the HTC One Max does include one) and if customers really are using them less then other manufacturers are likely to follow suit. Particularly given that both Google and Apple shun them. Frankly that's no bad thing. On balance the extra storage space and peace of mind that they give you is not enough to compensate for the damage they can do to your phones performance, while as the internal storage of handsets gets bigger and cloud storage takes off they're hardly needed anyway.        | | In Depth: Could your smartphone actually survive in space? Feb 26th 2014, 11:30, by James Rogerson 
It's an age old question, one which has troubled scholars almost as much as the issue of whether cats can count. But it's a question which we finally aim to answer: can a smartphone survive a trip into orbit? Firstly, let's get the obvious out of the way: no, a smartphone can't make or receive calls in space, as it's reliant on ground based antennas. So you can't use it as a phone, but what we want to know is whether a smartphone would still work after being left floating in space or whether that harsh, alien environment would prove too much for a device which in many cases can't survive a little water or a fall off a table. 
Satellite phoneYou may be surprised to learn that it's already been put to the test, sort of. Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL) launched a Nexus One into space last year as part of a nano-satellite called STRaND-1. The nano-satellite doesn't just consist of a Nexus One, but the phone has been mounted to one of the satellites panels and sent into space in its entirety. While in space a number of apps have been run from the phone, both to collect data and for fun, and the handset's camera has been used to take pictures. NASA has a similar ongoing project called PhoneSat, which first involved launching a satellite which used a Nexus One as its onboard computer and then later launching a second satellite which used a Nexus S. 
You might think that answers the question but it's a bit more complicated than that as the satellites contained precautions to protect the phones. For example the onboard computer on STRaND-1 would monitor the temperature of the battery and if it started getting too cold it would trigger a processor intensive program to warm it up. Not to mention the fact that the phones were largely enclosed by the satellites they were a part of, giving them a certain amount of protection. It's a good start but it still doesn't tell us whether a smartphone could survive unassisted. Hot and coldSpace can get as cold as -270.4 degrees Celsius, while simply being in direct sunlight in high Earth orbit can lead to temperatures of around 120 degrees Celsius. Those are some extreme temperatures and a smartphone could potentially experience both extremes while in space. Phones just aren't built to withstand that, which is understandable, since short of diving into a volcano followed by a trek across the Arctic to cool off those aren't temperatures that you're likely to encounter on Earth. 
Though even within comparatively normal temperatures many smartphones don't fare brilliantly. The iPhone 5S for example can, according to Apple, withstand temperatures of between 0 and 35 degrees Celsius when turned on and between -20 and 45 degrees Celsius when off, which is nowhere near the extremes you'd potentially encounter in space. Some phones are more resilient, but in a temperature resilience test of 15 of the most popular smartphones carried out by TechHive in 2012, all of them had shut down by -35 degrees Celsius. 
Even a phone designed specifically to be durable and withstand the elements, like the Cat B15, can only be operated at between -20 and 55 degrees Celsius. Smartphone screens may also malfunction in extreme temperatures, while if it's cold enough there's even a chance the screen could shatter. Gorilla Glass has made our screens stronger but they're still not immune to the elements. 
The bigger problem though is a phone's battery. If it gets too hot it will degrade faster and at extreme temperatures like those found in space the electrolyte in the battery could even ignite, while cold temperatures can cause the battery to drain rapidly. So whether hot or cold, both coniditions can potentially cause a phone to shut down or break altogether. Random radiation eventsBut it's not as simple as the phone just being hot or cold, as rather than being at a fixed orientation it's likely to be tumbling, exposing each side both to the heat of the sun and the cold reaches of space, in which case it may actually fare rather better, as it wouldn't have time to reach either temperature extreme. As Dr Malcolm Macdonald, Associate Director of the Advanced Space Concepts Laboratory at the University of Strathclyde explained: "The temperature of the phone would depend on a range of factors including its construction (emissivity and absorption) and whether it was turned on. "I think we can assume the phone is slightly more emissive than absorptive and if you assumed the phone is tumbling, rather than in a fixed orientation with respect to the Sun, then I'd expect the temperature to be close to the lower ends of any quoted operational temperature range, but probably above the survival limit so it would probably work once it had warmed up again. "The battery would be the primary concern as this will likely get too cold, certainly for 'optimal' performance and may even cause a leak or burst but it might work once the phone had warmed up. "If the phone is operating then that might be enough to keep everything warm enough. But then of course you have the increased chance of failure from random radiation events." Risk of raysSpeaking of radiation events, cosmic rays can wreak havoc on electronic integrated circuits by altering the states of the elements in them. This can lead to errors, corrupted data and incorrect performance of CPU's. Cosmic rays can occasionally cause problems for electronics on Earth, but out in space they're a very real threat, so a phone would ideally need shielding from them if turned on. Of course a simple solution is just to turn the phone off. Macdonald explained that "leaving electronics turned off makes them 'harder' against the space environment, i.e. single event upsets, bit-flips, latch-up, etc. "Failure rates are as much as 80% reduced to when they are turned on, so the electronics is more likely to work if it is switched off, but it will be subject to lower temperatures as the on-board power consumption will, in-effect, provide an on-board heater." Assisted livingSo could a phone survive in space? Sure, but it might need some help. Inside the International Space Station or a shuttle where it's not subject to the harshness of space it would have no problem and indeed astronauts have been known to take phones with them. A smartphone can even fare pretty well as part of a satellite if STRaND-1 and PhoneSat are anything to go by. But without certain protections and precautions it would be subject to a lot of hazards and leaving it turned off would probably give it its best chance overall. Still, while you're never likely to find astronauts using smartphones to take photos of a quick game of space cricket they may have a real future as the brains of satellites. 
The STRaND-1 and PhoneSat tests were in large part carried out to see if smartphones could function in that capacity, because in many cases they have faster CPU's and more memory than conventional satellites, yet because they're mass produced they're also a lot cheaper than a typical satellite computer, making them an appealing alternative. If projects like this continue then smartphones may soon be giving us an eye on the solar system and beyond, but even in their current, fragile form, smartphones could potentially fare far better in space than you might imagine. The temperatures and radiation would likely stop the phone from working properly while actually in space, but if the phone was then retrieved and returned to a normal temperature back on Earth or in a shuttle it might still work - although sending up a rocket to just reclaim the HTC One you forgot probably isn't worth the cost.        | | Industry voice: Enterprise Mobility: the promise vs the reality Feb 26th 2014, 09:21, by Nigel Bramwell 
The promise of enterprise mobility is an attractive one for many businesses. Travelling tends to amount to wasted time. Despite promises of working on trains, planes and automobiles, there are typically delayed flights, lengthy hotel check-ins, and the unavoidable hanging-around that makes business travel unavoidably inefficient. The technology that meant the office comes with us in a laptop bag, or even our pocket, came with a promise that we could work from anywhere. But the mobile devices that workforces are equipped with are in fact often seen as corporate ticking timebombs: they're purportedly insecure, or expensive to maintain, and they're outdated as soon as you've bought them. But the other lesser-known pitfall is that as soon as these devices are taken abroad, they can rack up inordinate data costs, even when apparently inactive. If you've ever switched off your phone when you arrive in a new country, you understand the issue. When employees travel abroad and use data roaming services, the costs they incur are often far higher than any mobile phone contract budget. But the main problem is that the degree by which they are higher is impossible to predict. Costs can spiral out of control with little or no warning – or employee knowledge - at an eye-watering rate. Restricting Data UsageThe only alternative option open to them is to restrict data usage when employees are abroad, or demand they stick to wi-fi. Both of these "solutions" are far from ideal – and far from the promise of enterprise mobility. While the image of modern business might be the relaxed businessman sending a sales report while sipping a tiny espresso in a chic café, the reality is more like stumbling into an uncomfortable, harshly-lit fast food restaurant to grab some free wi-fi. If employees do have a roaming allowance, how do they know what too high a cost is? Data size limits are too opaque – how big is a typical email? Does sending a 4MB attachment account for 4MB of the allowance, or more? When is the end of the month and when does an employee's "data ration" start again? Even if allowances and data use can be tracked, planning the finances is more than tricky. We are frequently told that we are an important part of a wider global economy - that business cannot be parochial if the UK is to thrive. Businesses must have a global outlook and reach to be successful. But for this to be true, businesses need to be able to communicate freely without constantly checking the meter, or switching off altogether. Debates over data roaming are rumbling on in the EU parliament. But while these seemingly endless political efforts continue, UK business needs a multi-national mobile data solution now. Businesses need alternative wireless internet solutions that combat the current inadequacies in domestic and global mobile data provision and that provide predictable, low costs and reliable connection. This will mean far greater employee productivity while on the move – the original promise of enterprise mobility. - Nigel Bramwell is the CEO of Voiamo, an MVNO that specialises in cost-effective domestic and international mobile broadband solutions. Nigel previously launched International Communications, was appointed CEO of Cellphones Direct and later set up Mobile Innovations in Australia for Vodafone
       | | Explained: Wi-Fi Direct: what it is and why you should care Feb 25th 2014, 23:37, by Thomas Thorn 
Its 2014 and the world that we all know, the one is connected by miles and miles of cabling, is all changing. The world of Wi-Fi has taken over to spread internet love without wires and is proving immensely popular - but that doesn't make it the best way to connect devices. Wouldn't it be great if you could effortlessly connect your Wi-Fi-enabled devices without messing around with access points and lengthy passphrases? That's what Wi-Fi Direct promises. Here we explain just what Wi-Fi Direct is and why you should be paying attention to it; it does an awful lot today that maybe you just didn't realise. Wi-Fi Direct doesn't need a wireless access pointWi-Fi Direct devices can connect to each other without having to go through an access point, that is to say you don't need to use your router. This is because Wi-Fi Direct devices establish their own ad-hoc networks as and when required, letting you see which devices are available and choose which one you want to connect to. 
If you think that sounds very like Bluetooth, that's because it is... only a lot faster. Wi-Fi Direct is an official standardIt comes via the Wi-Fi Alliance, the global industry association in charge of certifying Wi-Fi kit. This means that you can be sure that any Wi-Fi Direct enabled technology has been set to work with all the others without the need for special hardware. Wi-Fi Direct is Wi-Fi without the internet bitThe idea behind Wi-Fi Direct is that simple tasks need simple connections. Lets sat you want to print from your laptop or smartphone to a wireless printer, share images with someone sat across the room, or even send your holiday video from your phone to your TV. None of these things require an active internet connection, or an internet connection at all, but they do need to connect - to the printer, or to the other person's hardware, or to the TV. With Wi-Fi Direct, that bit's easy. Wi-Fi Direct uses Wi-Fi Protected SetupMuch like you have password protection on your home network, you don't want any Thomas, Richard or Henry to be able to connect to your stuff. You won't want to see what the neighbours are beaming to their TV on your TV nor do you want them being able to use your printer. In order to prevent this, Wi-Fi Direct uses Wi-Fi Protected Setup [PDF] and WPA2 to prevent unauthorised connections thus keeping your communications private. Pairing devices can be done in multiple ways; physical buttons - "press the button on gadget X and then the same one on gadget Y", with PIN codes, QR Codes or even NFC. Wi-Fi Direct knows what's nearbyWi-Fi Direct includes two potentially useful things: Wi-Fi Direct Device Discovery and Service Discovery. Devices won't just know there are devices available; if developers have enabled it, your device will know what kind of devices are nearby and what's on offer. This means that if you're trying to display an image, you'll only see devices that you can beam images to; if you want to print, you'll only see devices that are or that are connected to printers. Crucially this can happen before you connect, so you don't waste any time trying to connect so something that doesn't do what you want it to do. Wi-Fi Direct uses the same siliconManufacturers don't need to add extra radios to their kit: the idea is to have Wi-Fi Direct as part of the standard Wi-Fi radio. It's backwards compatible too, so you don't need to throw out your old Wi-Fi-enabled kit. The Wi-Fi alliance currently claims that more than 1,100 devices have been certified since October 2010, including televisions, smartphones, printers, PCs and tablets. Wi-Fi Direct is in DLNA, iOS, Android and BB OS and even your new XboxIn November 2011, the Digital Living Network Alliance (DLNA) announced that it was including Wi-Fi Direct in its interoperability guidelines. Since then Google has added Wi-Fi Direct support to all versions of Android since Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich. 
Samsung has included Wi-Fi Direct since Android 2.3 on the Galaxy S2, although required to only connect to other Samsung devices. DLNA streaming is now common in every modern flagship including the HTC One, LG G2 and Sony Xperia Z1. Wi-Fi Direct is even found inside the iPhone 5S having been baked into iOS7 in the form of Air Drop. Not keen on missing out, BlackBerry has updated its OS BB10.2.1 to include Wi-Fi Direct and even screen mirroring through Miracast has Wi-Fi Direct running underneath. Even the new Xbox One comes equipped with the Wi-Fi Direct allowing it to connect to your smartphone or tablet allowing apps like SmartGlass to work a little quicker and a lot easier. YouTube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=je2lWjfpywQ       | | Apple's new iBeacon standards could pave the way for the iWatch Feb 25th 2014, 23:24, by Michael Rougeau 
Apple has formalized its standards for iBeacon, specifying the required specs for devices and apps with the Bluetooth tracking technology to be added to the ranks of other "Made for iPhone" (MFi) devices. In short that means that future iBeacon products and services will carry the MFi stamp of approval and will be guaranteed to be up to Apple's standards. iBeacon is a technology new to iOS 7 that lets iOS devices communicate among themselves via Bluetooth signals. Apple began using iBeacon in December 2013 to track users in its retail stores and offer them alerts and notifications. Paving the wayOther companies have already begun using iBeacon for their own uses, and Apple is no doubt hoping adoption will spread even further. The feature is a perfect way for iOS devices to communicate with one another, provided they have Bluetooth capabilities. That's led to speculation that Apple could be pushing iBeacon forward in order to pave the way for the iWatch, which could potentially take advantage of the tech. If we learned anything from Samsung's Unpacked keynote at MWC 2014, it's that wearable tech is not going anywhere, and it would be very surprising if Apple let this trend pass it by. - Here's what TechRadar thought of the iPhone 5C!
       | | Analysis: Gears are slowly turning at Samsung with Gear Fit, subdued Galaxy S5 Feb 25th 2014, 22:00, by Matt Swider 
Gear Fit perfection and the art of lureThe Barcelona Opera House Chamber Orchestra that performed a seemingly never-ending opener made the Samsung MWC 2014 press conference's 50 minutes feel short and subdued. However, the South Korean electronics giant still hit a lot more right notes Monday than it did last year at its widely panned Broadway-inspired product unveiling. There was no song-and-dance routine to distract from the Samsung Galaxy S5 and the company's new wearables. Reflecting its stripped-down and refocused talking points, Samsung insisted that it had gauged customer feedback worldwide and opted against delivering an all-encompassing device. Instead of eye-popping technology with bloated software, it has chosen more practical hardware upgrades in its phone and wearables. Gear Fit is almost a perfect fitSamsung already unveiled its follow-up to the Android-based Galaxy Gear smartwatch prior to MWC. Little did we know it was teasin' more than just a Tizen operating system for the minimally changed Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo. 
The Gear Fit turns wearables on their head by turning the display 90 degrees and stretching out the high-resolution display. In this way, it checks off another "world's first" for Samsung thanks to its incredibly rich curved Super AMOLED display. Consumers, still perplexed by Samsung's flexible TVs and curved smartphones, can make sense of this new technology within wrist-mounted wearables. The Gear Fit is part-smartwatch, part-fitness tracker and fully fashionable. It can receive instant notifications, reject calls, control alarms and keep track of your wellness through S-Health 3.0. Its functions completely eliminate the need to dig your phone out of your pocket in a number of cases. It also does away with the drudgery of foolishly running to your phone that's charging in another room, only to realize it's just a menial text reply of someone saying, "K." Always on-wrist, this accessory, at just 27 grams, solves these first-world problems. And unlike the Fitbit Force, Nike FuelBand SE and Jawbone Up, it includes a heart-rate monitor, a sought-after feature among quantified self-fitness enthusiasts. Samsung still hasn't mastered the art of 'lure'Gear Fit is being supported by an impressive 20 Galaxy devices. Contrast that to the Galaxy Gear, which initially worked with just one phone, the launching-in-tandem Galaxy Note 3. No one owned this phablet prior to their simultaneous day-one launch. You had to shell out cash for both if you wanted the first Gear. On top of that, Samsung announced that it has sold more than 200 million Galaxy S phones worldwide. That translates into a lot of Galaxy Fit-compatible devices. 
However, Samsung has failed to learn the art of the lure. It finally has an impressive new device that is expected to be cheaper than a smartphone and without a contract. That's why the Samsung Gear Fit should work with iOS and all Android devices. Without such interoperability, iPhone 5S owners, for example, won't be tempted to own a Samsung phone. Apple pulled this off when introducing its iPod and later the iPhone, turning millions of PC consumers into Apple-loving Mac users. At the right price, The Galaxy Fit can act as that same "gateway drug" device that gets people to really appreciate and rely on the Samsung brand. It hasn't learned that tact just yet. What the Galaxy S5 got right5 features for Galaxy S5More than software, the Samsung Galaxy S5 boasts a hardware specs bump that stays the needless Smart Stay, Smart Scroll and Smart Pause updates. 
The company laid out its upgrades in five categories based on consumer feedback: design, camera, connectivity, stay fit and life. With that, we get a perforated, dimple-backed Galaxy S5 rear that's a more pleasing alternative to the faux-leather of the Galaxy S4 and Note 3. On the front is a slightly bigger 5.1-inch screen, and a 16MP camera occupies the space where a 13MP version sat on last year's model. Those looking for LTE Advanced speeds should be happy that the Samsung Galaxy S5 did promise that smart bonding Wi-Fi and LTE for the fastest and most stable connection is possible. For staying fit, the S5 isn't letting the Gear Fit get all of the glory. It has a heart-rate monitor of its own - where LG G2 puts its odd volume rocker - on the back. It's also good for staying out of trouble. It's water-resistant, though not quite waterproof like the Sony Xperia Z2, and has a fingerprint sensor that rivals the iPhone 5S security feature. Better battery life all-aroundThere's no bigger consumer want than better battery life and the Galaxy S5 and Gear wearables deliver that through different means. 
The S5 phone features a slightly larger battery at 2800mAh compared to the S4's 2600mAh size. Combined with a new "Ultra Power Savings Mode," Samsung is doing everything possible to squeeze a couple extra minutes from its new devices. Gear 2 actually has a smaller battery than its predecessor, but Samsung promises to extend battery life while dropping Android in the process. The Tizen devices are said to be good for two or three days, negating the daily charge endured by original Galaxy Gear owners. The Galaxy Fit should achieve an even better three to four days of battery life. Everything comes down to priceSamsung showed us that it could do something practical with its curved screen technology with the introduction of its Gear Fit wearable. It also proved that Tizen is more than an also-ran operating system. In the case of the Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo smartwatches, it offers better battery life over the company's prior Android model. Most importantly, the Galaxy S5 had only one world's first - the heart-rate monitor - that proved that Samsung doesn't need to pack in every single function into its latest flagship smartphone. All of these innovative-within-reason upgrades should enable Samsung to deliver a just as reasonable price, a key advantage the company has had over Apple's iPhone 5S and its Android rivals in the 12 months.        | | MWC 2014: The Samsung Galaxy: a history of the S series Feb 25th 2014, 12:00, by David Nield 
Galaxy i7500 to Galaxy S2When Samsung unveiled the Galaxy S5, the world sat up and took notice, simply because it's one of the most anticipated phones for 2014. But how did the South Korean giant become so influential in the mobile phone market? Lest we forget, it was a no-hoper just a few years ago, spraying out demi-smartphones that were met with shrugs and derision in equal measure. Then Android emerged, Samsung decided that enough was enough, and it decided to take the plunge and become a fish in Google's pond. The Galaxy i7500 - where our journey begins - was by no means a smash hit, and the Galaxy S did little to improve the situation. It was with the S2 that Samsung really began to get its act together, and even though last year's S4 fell a little flat, the buzz that remains is proof that Samsung is still the only major player that can take on Apple in terms of overall mobile handset sales, and that it's truly become a shark in the Android lake. Galaxy i7500
The month is April, the year is 2009, and Samsung debuts an Android 1.5 Cupcake phone that we described at the time as "run of the mill". The key specs
Screen: 3.2-inch OLED, 320 x 480 pixels
Battery: 1500mAh
CPU: 528MHz, 128MB RAM
Key features: One of the early phones to run Android
Internal storage: 8GB
OS: Android 1.5
Price at launch: $749 Packing a 5-megapixel camera, the i7500 sported an OLED 3.2-inch screen that offered a resolution of 320 x 480 pixels, and made use of a conventional D-pad — how mobile technology can change in the space of five years. The device weighed in at 116g, which is a little lighter than today's Nexus 5. Under the hood the handset had a 528MHz Qualcomm MSM7200A CPU and an Adreno 130 GPU powering the display, a setup which we found to be laggy on occasion. The i7500 had 8GB of built-in storage and 128MB of RAM (absolutely paltry by today's standards but not so bad for 2009). Despite a relatively large 1500mAh battery, battery life was disappointing: during heavy use it only lasted 3-4 hours, and the handset had to be charged at least once a day. An underwhelming start for the Galaxy range then, and definitely room for improvement. Android was still in its infancy, and Samsung was still finding its feet: in October 2009, HTC was the only other manufacturer making mobiles running Android. Galaxy S
The next Galaxy handset appeared a little over a year later, in June 2010. The D-pad was gone, and the Galaxy S had a far more recognisable shape and style to it, with the now ubiquitous back, home and menu buttons in place. The key specs
Screen: 4-inch Super AMOLED, 480 x 800 pixels
Battery: 1500mAh
CPU: 1GHz Cortex-A8, 512MB RAM
Key features: Stronger TouchWiz overlay, front-facing camera
Internal storage: 8GB / 16GB
OS: Android 2.1
Price at launch: $849 The display was bigger (spot the emerging trend), offering a 480 x 800 pixel resolution across 4 inches of Super AMOLED screen real estate. The S originally appeared with Android 2.1 Eclair and bowed out with 2.3 Gingerbread. The RAM was boosted to 512MB, 8GB and 16GB storage options were available, and a 1GHz Cortex-A8 processor kept everything running. A PowerVR SGX540 GPU was in charge of graphics, and the handset tipped the scales at 119g. Android had added support for a forward-facing camera, so the Galaxy S included one, as well as a 5-megapixel shooter around the back. The battery was again a Li-Ion 1500mAh model, and again the phone struggled to get through a working day without a recharge. The 2.3 Gingerbread update did wonders in this department though, almost doubling its lifespan. "There are a few faults, but on the whole it's a cracking bit of kit, and you really could do a lot worse," concluded our review at the time, and Samsung now had a foundation it could build on. Galaxy S2
The S2 was the first Galaxy phone to cause a significant splash in the mobile handset pond. The key specs
Screen: 4.3-inch Super AMOLED Plus, 480 x 800 pixels
Battery: 1650mAh
CPU: dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9, 1GB RAM
Key features: Blazing fast internals, strong camera, brilliant screen
Internal storage: 16GB / 32GB
OS: Android 2.3.4
Price at launch: $840 It brought along with it an improved Super AMOLED Plus screen that was expanded to 4.3 inches, a faster dual-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, 1GB of RAM and a superior Mali-400MP GPU. The Galaxy S2 debuted in April 2011 with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread and would eventually get as far as 4.1 Jelly Bean, a sign of its prowess and longevity. In terms of storage space, 16GB and 32GB models were available. In our review of the phone, its thinness and lightness (116g) came in for praise, as did the display, responsiveness and 1080p video recording capabilities. The camera had been bumped up to 8 megapixels and now had a flash, while the 1650mAh battery was good for almost two days of average use — a target that many of today's phones would love to be able to stretch to. After the moderate college radio success of the Galaxy S, Samsung finally had a chart-topping hit on its hands: within five months, it would shift 10 million of its S2 phones. Here's what we thought at the time: "If you're after a one-word summary of the Samsung Galaxy S2: awesome. We've were waiting for a phone to set a benchmark among the dual-core breed, and we found it in the Samsung Galaxy S2." Galaxy S3 to Galaxy S5Galaxy S3
After a brief Google-sponsored detour to make the Galaxy Nexus, Samsung returned to its own flagship phone in the shape of the Galaxy S3 in May 2012. The key specs- Screen 4.8-inch Super AMOLED, 720 x 1280 pixels
- Battery 2100mAh
- CPU quad-core 1.4GHz Cortex-A9, 1GB RAM
- Key features Smart Stay, Android Beam, Pop up Play - all about the software and screen
- Internal storage 16GB / 32GB / 64GB
- OS Android 4.0.4
- Price at launch: $899
It was the second home run for Samsung in a row: the S3 arrived to almost universal acclaim, and we called it "the best smartphone around right now" in our original review. Again, the screen was bigger: the Super AMOLED display grew to 4.8 inches at a resolution of 720 x 1280 pixels, and the weight grew to 133g as well. The heavy lifting was done by a quad-core 1.4GHz Cortex-A9 CPU, while the Mali-400MP GPU showed up again alongside 1GB of RAM. The S3 originally came with Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich. As on the S2, an 8-megapixel camera was around the back, though various software optimisations helped to create slightly better photos. In terms of storage, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB options were available. Not even battery life could spoil the S3 party: the 2100mAh battery was good for eight hours or so of heavy use, which placed it very favourably amongst the other handsets of 2012. Speed, design, battery life, display, responsiveness, bundled features... the phone scored highly in every department. Galaxy S4
And so to Samsung's current flagship phone until the S5 replaces it this April. The key specs- Screen 5-inch Super AMOLED HD, 1080 x 1920 pixels
- Battery 2600mAh
- CPU quad-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A15, 2GB RAM
- Key features Air gestures, Smart Scroll, Smart Pause, Drama Shot, Infra red remote, humidity sensor
- Internal storage 16GB / 32GB / 64GB
- OS Android 4.2.2
- Price at launch: $899
The Galaxy S4 arrived in the world in April 2013, offering users a whopping 5-inch 1080 x 1920 pixel Super AMOLED screen, an upgraded 13-megapixel camera, Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean and a 2600mAh battery that typically lasts at least the length of a day. The specs of last year's model remain impressive: a quad-core 1.6GHz Cortex-A15 CPU, a PowerVR SGX 544MP3 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB, 32GB or 64GB of built-in storage. It weighs in at 130g and offers a slew of sensors to track your eyes, measure humidity and more besides. Despite a high TechRadar review score, and sales of 40 million units in the first six months, Samsung is reportedly disappointed with the S4's impact on the market. As far as we're concerned though, the phone was a success, if not on the same level as the S2 and the S3. Galaxy S5So, onto the latest iteration of the Samsung Galaxy family: the S5, and it's powerful while remaining a little underwhelming. The key specs- Screen 5.1-inch Super AMOLED HD, 1080 x 1920 pixels
- Battery 2800mAh
- CPU Quad-core 2.5GHz Snapdragon 801, 2GB RAM
- Key features Waterproof, Super fast autofocus, heart rate monitor, fingerprint scanner
- Internal storage 16GB / 32GB / 64GB
- OS Android 4.4.2
- Price at launch: TBC
In February 2014 the Galaxy S5 was launched unto the baying public, and delivered in a number of stable ways. Gone were the theatrics and the pointless sensors, to be replaced by a heart rate monitor, a blazing fast autofocus and a fingerprint scanner. The main specs were up again: the CPU was faster at 2.5GHz, the screen was larger as a 5.1-inch Super AMOLED HD option, the camera boosted to 16MP and the battery now rocking up at 2800mAh. On top of that Android 4.4.2 was included to make things look a lot slicker and the overall interface was overhauled to make things like the lock screen much clearer and generally improve the flow through the device. The fitness elements were boosted through S Health 3.0, which brings the most holistic tracking app ever for your fitness, according to Samsung, while most other elements stayed the same - although the rubberised back is a lot a grippier. We're still awaiting a price, but chances are it will be the same as before, hovering around the $800-$900 mark depending on your spec choice. Our hands on: Samsung Galaxy S5 review found that the "Galaxy S5 has a great camera, strong screen, impressive packaging, a waterproof casing and a blazingly fast engine pumping things along. "But it doesn't have an amazing camera, incredibly battery life, stunning design or genuinely innovative feature, and that cause a few people to wait and see what the competition brings." ...and so there you have it: a complete walk down the Samsung Galaxy memory lane. Are there any particular handsets that you have fond memories of? Or are there specific innovations that you'd like to see Samsung offer next time around? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.   | | BlackBerry lifts lid on BES12, goes big on security and reliability Feb 25th 2014, 12:00, by Stu Robarts 
Blackberry has used MWC 2014 to announce the latest version of its BlackBerry Enterprise Service, called BES12. Part of its "secure and private mobility solutions for enterprises", BES12 will allow organisations to create "enterprise-grade applications" for use on Blackberry devices. The company's new EZ Pass program will provide free migration to BES10 for customers. The Canada-based mobile maker is hoping that a renewed focus on security, productivity, communications and collaboration will help to rejuvenate its fortunes, in particular within its traditional business market. Two tiersBES pricing and licensing has been updated to offer just two tiers - Silver and Gold. Silver, at US$19 (around AU$24) per user per month, provides device, application, email and security management for BlackBerry, iOS and Android devices. Gold, at $60 (around AU$72) per user per month, offers a higher level of security for organisations in regulated industries, like government, financial services and healthcare. Subscriptions will be available on an annual or rolling basis. The firm has also announced the eBBM Suite, an enterprise-class solution aimed at providing secure and reliable real-time mobile messaging for regulated industries. New strategy"We have engineered a new strategy to stabilize the company and restore our customers' confidence in BlackBerry," said John Chen, Executive Chairman and CEO at BlackBerry. "The announcements made during Mobile World Congress demonstrate that BlackBerry is looking to the future and bringing solutions to market that matter most to our customers." Elsewhere, the firm has launched two new smartphones. The BlackBerry Z3 smartphone is an all-touch version of the BlackBerry 10 aimed at the Indonesian market and the Q20 is a device featuring a QWERTY keyboard.   | |
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