Pocketables

Microsoft now collects royalties on 70% of Android devices, gloats about it

Microsoft has been collecting royalties from Samsung and HTC devices for some time now, but today they achieved a new victory in the licensing arena. Through yet another patent lawsuit, they added LG to the list of manufacturers that pay them to use Android.

Not only is this a potential blow to future manufacturers trying to hold out against Microsoft's patent suits, but it also means that the company gathers cash from 70% of all Android devices sold. Now, I have nothing against legitimate and reasonable payouts for intellectual property use. However, as far as I know claims against Android, especially from Microsoft, have been anything but.

Take, for example, a Microsoft prompted ITC injunction against Motorola. It was based on a simple and negligible calendar patent, and until I find out otherwise, it doesn't seem like much of a stretch to assume that the patents involved in this current lawsuit were just as trivial.

As if it weren't enough that they now collect more royalties from Android, Microsoft's Frank Shaw taunted Google about the incident on Twitter saying, "Hey Google – we are the 70% #anotherandroidlicense" I can at least understand Microsoft trying to make money from Android in a business sense, but I think that this is simply unprofessional. 

I'm really getting tired of these endless patent lawsuits, and I think these kind of results are the perfect example of why they need to stop. I mean, doesn't it seem odd that while manufacturers don't have to pay Google to use Android, soon it looks like they will instead have to pay Microsoft for Google's operating system?

[Microsoft News Center]

Nokia Lumia 900 announced for AT&T

Before CES started today, I read through a bunch of rumors about what would end up being released today. There were tablets and TVs and a few other odd things that would make any geek scream, but the one rumor that pumped me up for CES the most was that of the Nokia Lumia 900 (also known as the Nokia Ace). 

The company held its keynote today, and has officially unveiled the Lumia 900 to the public. As far as Windows Phones go, this is the phone to buy. On top of a 1.4GHz CPU and 512MB of RAM, the phone touts a Carl Zeiss lens—a company that's one of the best lens manufacturers in the business. To view those stellar photos, it's also got a nice 4.3-inch AMOLED display.

Of course, a phone is nothing without its differentiating software, so Nokia has loaded it up with ESPN, CNN, and Nokia Drive. Plus, the newest Lumia also has a front-facing camera, so the phone can be used as a video-conferencing device with the built-in Tango app. 

Pricing is anyone's guess at the time of this writing, but Stephen Elop stated that it would be available exclusively on AT&T in the "coming months."

[The Verge]

5 trends to expect at CES 2012

Every year at CES, we are bombarded with a plethora of new devices and technologies, which are both exciting and confusing. Despite the confusion, though, there are usually a few new themes that present themselves each year. While there are sure to be plenty of innovative and surprising things as well, here are five things that I think will be prevalent throughout many of the announcements.

Nokia buys Smarterphone, going to steer away from Windows Phone a bit?

Although Nokia is telling the world that it's still 100% going forward with Microsoft's Windows Phone 7 operating system, what the former company is doing is starting to tell people otherwise. 

Smarterphone is a Norwegian company that develops a smartphone-esque operating system for non-smartphone phones. Nokia acquired this company in November of 2011, but the news is just coming out now. 

Since a large part of Nokia's business is and always will be dumbphones, I think it sounds like some of those phones will actually get this software via an over-the-air update, which will help Nokia gain some ground in the smartphone race. 

Of course, I highly doubt Smarterphone's software will end up on some of Nokia's higher-end phones, but I also think that it could give customers who aren't so tech-savvy a nice "gateway OS" to lead them to buy better and more advanced smartphones in the future. 

Hopefully Microsoft doesn't get too upset at its partner for trying to bridge the gap between the two categories of phones. In all actuality, it could lead to better sales for every platform, so Microsoft shouldn't be too worried.

[TechCrunch]

HTC announcing quad-core phones at Mobile World Congress in February, not CES?

I'm writing this post on a 2010 13-inch MacBook Pro. It's got a dual-core processor, clocked at 2.4GHz, along with an integrated NVIDIA GPU. It gets the job done, but I'm starting to feel a little bit of buyer's remorse since many of today's phones are now creeping awfully close to the power that my Mac has. 

HTC will be releasing the first quad-core phones this year, but unfortunately, we'll have to wait a little longer for the announcements. The Taiwanese phone manufacturer has allegedly decided to keep its high-performance handsets under wraps for about another month and unveil the lineup at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain. 

It shouldn't be a huge surprise, as these devices were originally slated for release sometime in Q2 of this year. And, honestly, I don't blame HTC for taking a little extra time for the release of these phones; CES is focused on a much more diverse set of electronics, and MWC (Mobile World Congress) is dedicated to just mobile tech. Plus, the extra time gives HTC a chance to tweak battery life and performance to be the perfect ratio to make the most people happy. 

[Digitimes]

Nokia Ace is the Lumia 900, gets shown off

Apparently, Nokia doesn't think the time you spent with your family opening gifts was enough holiday cheer for you. This bad boy right here is the Nokia Ace Windows Phone, or as Nokia would like you to call it, the Lumia 900.

The picture is a screenshot from a video Christmas card, obviously from Nokia, and the star of the show is the Lumia 900. It's an obvious flub-up from the Finnish company, but it also shows that there is plenty more to be coming to the US after the new year starts off.

What's unclear from the screenshot is if the device will be shipped with Tango or not; Tango has always been considered the OS update to bring Windows Phone to customers who don't want to shell out the big bucks for a good phone, but it could always end up on the higher end devices, too. 

The Lumia 900 is expected to launch in early 2012 alongside a few other LTE Windows Phones for AT&T, the carrier that will be carrying it. Price is unknown, but maybe we'll see a little peek of it at CES.

[Pocketnow]

Windows Phone Tango update coming Q2, Apollo coming Q4?

My favorite part of the whole Windows Phone experience is how efficiently updates are pushed out, and how that obviously keeps fragmentation to a minimum. Unfortunately, Microsoft is taking a slight step in the opposite direction with the next WP7 release, codenamed Tango. As the leaked roadmap above shows, Tango is going to focus on "products with the best prices." 

In other words, cheap smartphones. 

Tango will be rolled out to devices that should be more accessible to people. If I had to take a guess, I would say that those devices will be under $50. Then again, "accessible smartphone" can mean numerous price points. We'll just have to wait for Q2 of 2012 to see what actually pops up in stores. 

More importantly than Tango, however, is "Apollo." It will be the next-generation Windows Phone platform, so think of it as Windows Phone 8. Those devices (and the operating system itself) will roll out in Q4 of 2012; it makes sense, considering the iPhone 5 should be released sometime in the fall, as well. 

Given the success of WP7 already, I expect for Microsoft to pump even more resources and time into Tango and Apollo to make the platform even better. 2012 may be Microsoft's golden year to get back into the smartphone race.

[WMPoweruser]

Windows Phone Marketplace offers up more than 50,000 apps

Although it isn't quite the size of the App Store or the Android Market just yet, Microsoft's Windows Phone Marketplace has just passed the 50,000 apps mark. 

At the time of this post's publication, the Marketplace has 50,126 submitted apps. I say submitted because there are about 6,000 apps less than that currently available, possibly due to deletions by either Microsoft or the original publisher. 

Still, the average app additions per day has risen to 265. And in the past 90 days, there has been 17,276 new apps added. That's pretty impressive, but it wasn't to be unexpected; after all, WP7 has sold better in its first year than Android did, so the popularity and demand for Microsoft's mobile OS has been fairly high, resulting in the 50,000 apps that have been written for it.

I hope to see WP7 expand even further in 2012, before Windows Phone 8 "Apollo" is released. 

[All About Windows Phone]

Motorola gets hit by ITC ruling over Microsoft calendar patent

Following a recent decision to ban some of HTC's smartphones in the US, the International Trade Commission has now made a preliminary ruling in another Android related dispute. This time the belligerents are Microsoft and Motorola, but once again the department has ruled against the Android manufacturer in the case.

The commission's preliminary decision says that Motorola did in fact infringe on one of the six patents that Microsoft accused it of violating. The patent, which covers "a mobile device which provides the user with the ability to schedule a meeting request from the mobile device itself," is again a problem with Android and not Motorola specifically, but most other manufacturers like HTC and Samsung have already licensed this patent from Microsoft.

As a preliminary decision, this won't mean much until the entire panel reviews the decision and makes a final ruling. Also, if Microsoft wins the case they will probably simply license the patent to Motorola instead of trying to get their sales blocked or something more sinister.

Still, it is a little concerning that all kinds of basic functions for mobile devices have been patented. I have a hard time believing that Microsoft was the first to allow users to schedule a meeting from their mobile device (here's looking at you, Palm), and even if they were it shouldn't be a big enough "innovation" to warrant a patent. 

[DailyTech]

HTC Elite and LTE Windows Phone to launch on AT&T next year

Although the device you see above isn't a new HTC device, it's probably a good representation of one that you'll see in the near future. 

It will be called the HTC Congressional, and it will run on AT&T's network. The device will be based off of Ice Cream Sandwich, and will feature the same Beats Audio processing unit that you can find in the HTC Rezound. You can expect to see the Congressional appear sometime in the first half of April 2012. 

The next phone on HTC's Radar (pardon the pun) is an unnamed Windows Phone. While that in itself isn't big, what will be on the inside (and outside) of the phone is: it's going to be the first LTE Windows Phone, and it will measure at a massive 4.7-inches.

Unfortunately, that's all we know for now on both of the devices. I'm particularly excited about the Windows Phone; I'm in love with large screens and Windows Phone, so whatever this device is could be a match made in heaven for me when it comes around just after CES.

[SlashGear]