One of the best games for smartphones and tablets is back, Angry Birds by Rovio, this time in space. The idea for Angry Birds Space actually originated in a challenge NASA made to Rovio nearly a year ago on Twitter:
Hey @RovioMobile, our computers are a bit better than they were in ’69. We might be able to help you launch birds if you find pigs in space.
but except the excellent new game, have a look at their marketing campaign. This time Rovio attached a giant Angry Birds slingshot to the Seattle Space Needle!
After a giant claw kidnaps their eggs, the Angry Birds chase it into a wormhole and find themselves floating in a strange new galaxy – surrounded by space pigs! Luckily the Angry Birds have super powers of their own…
You can try new game, now with "space" physics, that even involved NASA consultants. Angry Birds Space is available for Android devices at Google Play
According to Citi analyst Walter Pritchard, who released a big report on Microsoft this morning, Microsoft gets $5 for every HTC phone running Android
Microsoft is getting that money thanks to a patent settlement with HTC over intellectual property infringement.
Microsoft is suing other Android phone makers, and it's looking for $7.50 to $12.50 per device, says Pritchard.
We knew hardware companies were paying Microsoft, we just didn't know how much. (In October Steve Ballmer said, "Android has a patent fee. It's not like Android's free.")
HTC has just presented 5 new phones, two of them with Facebook experience, and a tablet.
Wildfire S now has HVGA Super LCD screen and alu-case, Desire S packs Desire HD features in Desire sized body. Incredible S does not look too impressive.
HTC Flyer is the first tablet from HTC. Among interesting stuff, capacitive stylus and improved user experience. We'll have to test it out and check out all the software enhancements.
One day before the official start of Mobile World Congres 2011 in Barcelona, both Samsung and Sony Ericsson are organizing press conferences. The topic of SE conference is Xperia family of phones. We know that one of them is Xperia arc, but is Sony Ericsson going to surprise us with another one ? Check out our previous post on details about Xperia arc. We will be there, so expect more info on 13. Feb.
According to IDC, ZTE has taken fourth place in global cellphone rankings, jumping ahead of Apple and moving RIM into "Others" category.
ZTE has improved annual shipments to 94% ! We are waiting for their press conference at Mobile World Congres 2011 in Barcelona, scheduled for 10:00AM CET, Monday 14th of February…
The Wholesale Applications Community has been established to increase the overall market for mobile applications. Since 2010, operators and manufacturers have been defining the standard and communicating with developers. At the upcoming Mobile World Congress 2011, WAC is organizing a developers' event on Monday 14th of February. The official statement says:
…Listen to presentations from WAC experts and many of our 59 member companies and watch demonstrations of how you can use WAC device APIs to create great widgets. Hear about the commercial opportunities offered when you can upload your application once, have it distributed worldwide across many application stores and have a single point of settlement. Learn about the plans for WAC enabled devices being launched throughout 2011 and experiences of your peers in the development of WAC widgets….
Check out WAC website for more details and info on how to register for the event…
One of the best selling Android phones will get a successor. Samsung Galaxy S will soon be acompanied with a new Galaxy member called S2 or "Seine". The unveiling will take place at Mobile World Congress 2011 in Barcelona (14-17. February). One day before the official start of the congress Samsung will present this phone, rumored to have following specs:
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
4.3 inch Super AMOLED Plus display with 800 x 480 pixels
NFC
8MP photo camera
Full HD (1080) video recording
1GB RAM
Dual core Samsung Orion processor
Less than 9mm in thickness
The real question, when will it become available at operators and retail stores. We are looking forward to MWC, we'll be there and keep you up to date!
Just recently at CES 2011, Sony Ericsson revealed a new high-end Android phone XPERIA arc. Besides very thin case, it will come with Gingerbread Android 2.3 OS. Some of the specs include:
Android 2.3 Gingerbread
Camera 8.1MP, HDMI connector
Screen 854x480 pixels on 4.2" 16,777,216 colour TFT, LED backlit
Memory microSD™ (supported to 32GB) + -- Phone memory Up to 512MB
Size 125.0 x 63.0 x 8.7 mm / 117g
We must recall the moment X10 was announced, SE failed to deliver the final product to the market, and then it became outdated, with old Android version. This could be big for Sony Ericsson. The device looks great, and it was even noticed with Android 2.4 at CES, which was later dismissed. The guys at Engadget and Swedroid got a chance to play with it and we have official videos as well. We have to wait a bit and see ourselves are the screen and camera that great as they say…
And for the end, courtesy of Swedroid, side by side photo near Google Nexus S.
Based on the displayed ads on mobile devices, Millenial Media has presented the charts for the December of 2010. The interesting part is the smartphone pie showing dominance of Android. Wide array of manufacturers, with plenty entry level devices had helped this OS presented in late 2008 to gain this significant market share.
The most popular device maker is Apple, with Samsung and HTC at the next two spots. Windows based devices barely made it with only 1% of the smartphone market. Will the upcoming update for WP7 and more devices change anything ? Source: SlashGear
The guys at Swedroid did an awesome job testing Google Nexus S.
During the in-depth test we can see the curved SuperAMOLED display and side by side outdoor video test versus HTC Desire HD. The build quality is on the DHD side, but SuperAMOLED outperforms any other display on the smartphone market today. Check out the video below and the excellent review at Swedroid.
Hey @RovioMobile, our computers are a bit better than they were in ’69. We might be able to help you launch birds if you find pigs in space.
