Android Rooting: What You Should Know Before You Try It

Android Rooting:

What You Should Know Before You Try It

While putting together a list of the best Android apps, I asked dozens of Android devotees what were their favorites, and a few fired back a short list of apps

“for root users.” Rooting an Android phone is kind of like jailbreaking an iPhone. In laymen’s terms, it means you’re cracking open the hood to access parts of the operating system that were intentionally locked to prevent you from messing them up, or doing anything to your phone that the manufacturer or carrier doesn’t want you to do. A slightly more technical explanation is to say that rooting means giving yourself “root access,” or greater privileges, or administrator control, to the lowest level of Android’s Linux subsystem. Warning: If you didn’t pick up on the clues above, rooting isn’t for everyone and can have serious repercussions. While it’s perfect legal, it can void your phone’s warranty (more on that below). And if you don’t know what you’re doing or aren’t careful, you could potentially destroy your phone. Rooting also opens up more security risks because you can download apps that have

access to files that would normally be hidden from them.

                       So, if you’re perfectly happy with your Android phone as is, there is no reason to root it. If you’re a tinkerer and understand the possible ramifications, then there are several reasons you might want to root.

Why Root Android ?

The purpose of rooting is to make the most of the device that you own by getting

around the limitations that the manufacturer or carrier has put in place—and again, many of those barriers were put in place to prevent you from accidentally destroying your own device.

Here are some examples of what a root

user can do:

• Access the flash memory chip,

which you need to do if you want to

modify the Android OS or replace it

with a customized version

• Make the apps on your phone

run faster

• Remove pre-installed apps to free

up space

• Turn the phone into a 3G/4G WiFi

hotspot without paying an extra fee.

There are many other reasons to root, too, but the ones listed here are certainly among

the most popular.

Tips for Rooting

1.   Be phone-specific.

This tip comes first for a reason. It’s crucial that you look up

information for your phone, and not just for Android across the board. Look for tutorials that are specific to the make and model of your phone, as well as any common problems. The rooting process varies by phone, and following the wrong procedures

could cause irreparable damage. Just as important, not every rooted phone will be able to do what you might have been hoping it would. For example, not every rooted device has an unlocked bootloader (necessary to flash ROM s), so make sure you understand what you are getting into and exactly what you want the outcome to be if you root your phone.

Read or watch the how-to beforehand.

Make sure to read or watch the entire tutorial before you begin, because there are

often steps that are crucial that may appear out of order. For example, sometimes you

need to disable antivirus software on your computer at a certain step for the rooting

process to go smoothly.

2.  Learn how to un-root.

Rooting is reversible on most phones—again, check whether yours is before you even begin. So before you root, make sure you know how to undo it. Just as it’s important to

read the complete instructions before you start rooting, it’s a good idea to figure out how to reverse it before doing anything, as well. Because rooting may void your phone’s warranty, you’ll have to revoke the root access anytime you need to take your

phone in for service.

4.  Power up.

 Never tinker with anything less than a full battery. One of the most devastating

things that can go wrong while in root mode is running out of battery midway

through installing a custom OS or ROM (read-only memory, or the phone’s internal

memory where your apps are stored). If your Android dies before the new system

is installed fully, it’s extremely difficult to repair and restore the phone.

5   Stay away from extremes.

Root users will be enticed to push their phones past its previous limits for maximum performance— a phone that works faster. But remember, the phone makers put limits on your phone for a reason, in this case, to prevent the phone’s processor from overheating and burning out. root users who know what they’re doing bypass these limits, but should set new limits or other failsafe measures to keep the phone from overheating. If you don’t know how to manage these settings, don’t tempt fate by trying to turn your phone into a lightning-fast machine. It’s pretty fast already.

6   When in doubt, ask for help.

If at any point in rooting or unrooting you get stuck, search for help because you’re

likely to find it. Android root users have been known to hang around a few helpful

hacker forums, such as xda-developers. com and rootzwiki.com, where you can

find answers to your questions and solutions to your problems. While these online

resources will be invaluable, do bear in mind the other tips outlined in this article.

remember that even the most helpful guy on a forum isn’t necessarily a technical

writer, and his tutorial may be out of order or not specify which specific phone

model he has in hand, or take for granted some other assumption. Comb through

the advice you find meticulously before you decide to take it. If you’re looking for tutorials to walk you through rooting, try Lifehacker’s guide to rooting Android devices.

7 APPS fOr rOOT USErS

Deciding to root your phone shouldn’t be a split-second decision. But ultimately,

it’s your phone, you own it, and you can do what you want. So if you do root your

Android, here are seven starter apps you’ll want to download. You’ll need the

first and second apps immediately in order to actually do anything with your

root access, but the other apps are all optional and can be downloaded in any

order.

Super user

Lets you manage

superuser (root

user) permissions;

this is the first app

a newly rooted

phone needs

installed on it.

ROM Manager

Lets you manage

and install ROM s

from your SD card,

and organize and

perform backups

and restores.

Root Explorer

File Manager

($3.80)

Shows you the

files you can

now access as a

root user; this is

the second app

a newly rooted

phone needs on it.

Set CPU for Root User s

Changes the CPU settings for

overclocking (going faster than

the limit) and lets you set thresholds

(like a temperature) to tell it

when to stop; works only on select

phones

Wirele ss Tether

for Root User s

Turns your phone

into a mobile

hotspot.

Titani um

Backup root

Backs up all your

apps, removes

bloatware, and

otherwise helps

you manage apps.

AdFree Android

Removes most

ads from your

browser and apps.

   

PREVIEW: Windows Server 8

PREVIEW: Windows Server 8

Windows Server 8:

So Far, So Good....

Windows 8 may be grabbing all the headlines in the personal computing world, but a certain kind of IT staff is paying as much—if not more—attention to Microsoft’s latest announcements in the business world: the release of Windows Server 8. This latest release of Server arguably represents the most wide-sweeping

update to the OS since Server 2000 from NT 4.0. The changes are not in the overall

interface (except for in Server Manager and AD), but under-the-hood boosts and advancements in virtualization, clustering, Active Directory management, networking and just about every other capability in Windows Server. Of course, Windows Server 8, which many speculate will be released in 2012, is still in pre-beta developer code. Whether or not it gets the thumbs up depends on its addressing two major needs. The first: revamping the OS to meet the demands for cloud computing, virtualization and the continued “consumerization of IT.” The second is to make certain that sweeping changes won’t force longtime Windows server admins to re-learn administrative tasks or have to make changes to infrastructure to roll it out. So far, Windows Server 8 appears to achieve both goals. Here’s a rundown of some of the most impressive features we’ve

seen in our early peek at Server 8:

                    New Deployment Options: Server 8 can be deployed in three modes: Full GUI (the interface, on boot up, is not discernible from Server 2008 R2), Full Server without parts of the graphical shell (namely Explorer and IE removed), and Server Core—which is a bare-bones install in which PowerShell is used for management. While you could deploy server core in 2008 R2, Server 8 allows you to do something new: move back and forth from a full graphical interface to the core without having to reinstall.

                   PowerShell: Microsoft is strongly advocating using the greatly expanded Power- Shell over the GUI for many tasks in Server 8. Using PowerShell only requires a core installation, which make the OS very lightweight and able to run efficiently on lower

spec’ed machines.

                  Server Manager’s New Look: In a UI that is a bit reminiscent of Windows Phone 7—  and definitely influenced by Windows 8 client— Server Manager has a new tile-based design. A clean and modern dashboard allows admins to perform multi-machine management. Server 8 is looking to be a well-engineered, future-facing business OS that will be able to meet the tech needs of business for quite some time. How business technology responds to it will be interesting to witness.

Eight things you should know about windows 8

Eight things you should know about windows 8 …

The highly anticipated new Windows OS will

feature a number of radical improvements.

Here are eight features to look

forward to when it comes out this year.

Windows 8 represents the most radical change to Microsoft’s operating

system in quite a long time--perhaps ever. The OS features a number of new

additions and improvements, ranging from a fresh “Metro” interface that was

heavily inspired by Redmond’s Windows Phone 7 mobile operating system, to

one of the most talked about changes: Compatibility with non-Intel-powered

architectures. This change makes it capable of running on ARM-based computing

devices.

For the most part, Microsoft has been tight-lipped regarding when Windows

8 will ship, how much the operating system will cost, or if it will come in several

different editions similar to Windows 7. The general consensus, however,

is that Windows 8 will launch in fall 2012, which is a timeframe based on offthe-

cuff executive statements and leaked schedules. In addition, Windows 7

launched about a year after its 2008 PDC debut, so a fall 2012 timetable isn’t

Unreasonable.

At the BUILD convention in Anaheim, California, several weeks ago, we

were able to get our hands on Windows 8’s developer’s build, and unboxed a

Samsung Windows Developer Preview PC. Here are the eight most noteworthy

new additions to Windows in Windows 8.

1]It Runs On ARM Chips

Perhaps the biggest Windows change is word that Redmond’s new operating system will now also run on machines other than those using Intel-compatible processors. Windows 8 will be able to run on devices powered by ARM-based architectures. This will enable the OS to run on a wide range of computing devices from desktops to tablets.

2]it Has a New Interface

Windows comes with several design changes, the most notable being the new Metro interface, which co-exists with a more traditional Windows 7-like desktop design. You switch to Metro my clicking the “Start” button, and switch back by clicking the “Computer” tile. In a similar fashion as Mac OS X Lion borrowed heavily from Apple’s iOS, Windows 8 borrows heavily from Windows Phone 7. The new operating

system features “live tiles,” which lets users access apps and view updated live information (such as notifications). In addition, Windows 8 will offer both full and partial screen views of apps, a snap feature that puts one app in a sidebar, a Word-like ribbon comes to Windows Explorer, and the File Manager has been streamlined.

3] It Has a Tablet -

           Centric Multitouch Interface

Touch gestures have become a vital part of our day-to-day experiences—you bring a finger to the screens on your smart phones, tablets, monitors, and other devices. Microsoft has showcased touch navigation in Windows 8 with side-to-side swipes between apps (as you can in OS X Lion), a snap gesture that brings a running background app into a sidebar next to your main app, and a split-touch keyboard that makes for easier thumb input when you’re holding a tablet.

4]Its Developer’s Preview Is Available Now

Microsoft recently released a developer preview, which you can sample if you wish to get the early jump on Windows 8. (We did; see our hands-on look by clicking here.) The download, which includes a 64-bit (x64) build with development tools to build apps and a 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) build without development tools, is available in the Windows Dev Center. Warning: There’s no support hotline available should you

encounter a problem, but Microsoft will push out fixes for major issues that may arise.

5]It Has Xbox Live Support

Microsoft plans to unify its PC gaming and console gaming experience—hopefully—

by bringing Xbox Live to the desktop. Scarce details are know about what this

union entails, but Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb, the director of programming for Xbox, wrote in a blog post that “Bringing Xbox Live to Windows 8 is part of our vision to bring you all the entertainment you want, shared with

the people you care about, made easy.”

6]It Has Built -In

         Cloud Features

Windows 8 features tight integration with Microsoft’s cloud-based services. Every Windows 8 user will have a SkyDrive account (using either a previously created

account, or a new one), in which they can access files stored on Skydrive just as on the

local machine. Windows 8 will also let users connect to another system on which they’ve linked Skydrive, giving them access to files on that system—even across firewalls.

7]It Has an

        App Store

Similar to Mac OS X’s desktop Mac App Store, Microsoft has a Windows Store

in Windows 8. The Windows Store differs from the Mac App Store in that it allows users to sample software in trial periods. It includes a Spotlight section of curated apps

recommended by Microsoft, as well as several categories such as Games, Productivity,

and Photography (you can also search by name). Non-Metro style desktop apps will

also be sold in the Windows Apps Store.

8]It Has Enhanced

         Security

We know, we know....each version of Windows touts enhanced security. But Windows

8 ups the security ante by checking at boot time that only trusted components are

loaded, expanding Windows Defender to include full antivirus protection, and an App

Reputation protection that prevents you from installing dubious apps.

A Smartphone OS For Beginners

Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 “Mango”

A Smartphone OS

For Beginners  .....

Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5, otherwise known as “Mango,” is sweet. It’s full of people-centric features that make it easier to stay in touch with friends and family, to communicate, and to share ideas. It’s easier to use than Android, and in many ways slicker than Apple’s iOS. But since it doesn’t support most forms of 4G or the latest hardware, it may not get the phones or promotion it deserves.

                                  Mango brings dozens, if not hundreds, of new features to Windows Phone. It has a much better browser, limited multitasking, Twitter and LinkedIn integration, a terrific interface for creating ad-hoc groups of friends, better ways for apps to give you useful information, the option for Wi-Fi hotspot mode, and much more.

       Windows Phone 7 has always been activity- centered rather than app-centered. Its hubs let you focus on ideas like “people,” “pictures,” or “music” rather than about which particular app or service you need at the moment.

    

                My favorite new Mango feature is the new Groups option in the People hub. With Facebook and Twitter added to your phone book, you’re probably going to have a lot of contacts. Groups help you make sense of them. I don’t use Facebook because I find it overwhelming, but Mango makes me want to use it again. I set up a Family group and saw only the updates and photo albums from my family; a Work group showed only updates and photo albums from colleagues. We move in multiple circles, and Mango lets your phone reflect that.

              The new IE9 browser brings Windows Phone up to par with the latest browsers on other platforms. It still doesn’t support Flash, but it handles HTML5 and has solid performance, though its benchmarks fell below those of the latest Android 2.3 and BlackBerry 7 phones on our tests.

                                          What’s not so ripe about Mango? Unfortunately, Microsoft’s hardware spec is behind the times, which will prevent Mango from getting much traction. The OS doesn’t support LTE or WiMAX, which means that neither Verizon nor Sprint will promote it with enthusiasm. It doesn’t support dualcore processors, the current state of the art, or the latest GPUs. And it only allows an 800-by-480 screen resolution. Still, Mango is a world-class operating system, and I think many people, especially smartphone newcomers, would prefer it to market leader Android and to the declining BlackBerry OS. Now Microsoft needs to focus on the other aspects of the phone experience—hardware, marketing, and sales—to make sure that this Mango doesn’t rot on the shelf

What Most People Want in a Phone ....

What do you do with your phone? If you’re like most Americans, you make some calls, take some photos, and send some texts. Maybe you kill time with some games, check Facebook or Twitter, and look things up on the Web. If that’s you, then the iPhone 4S is your phone: it’s the best cameraphone in the U.S. and the fastest Web-browsing phone, and it has finally licked the iPhone’s calling problems. Apple has killed the “death grip,” at least on the Sprint model. The phone switches between its top and bottom antennas

               

depending on which one is receiving a better signal, which means it’ll ignore whichever

one you’re covering with your hands. Call quality on Sprint’s network through the phone’s earpiece was excellent in my tests. The earpiece goes loud, there’s a touch of

side tone, and I didn’t hear any distortion at high volumes. Pour some data into this baby, and wow, it’ll go. As long as Adobe Flash isn’t a key part of your life, the iPhone 4S is the fastest Web phone ever. It benchmarks faster than any Android Gingerbread phone and faster than any Windows Phone.

                             The great browsing speed comes in part from the new dual-core A5 processor (the same one used in the iPad 2), and in part from the new iOS 5. A standout feature of iOS 5 is Siri, which, on the surface, appears to be a voice-command app. Hold down the home button and ask it a question, tell it to look up a number, make a note or search for a business. But here’s the real story with Siri: it’s not an app, it’s a service. The intelligence is on the server side, and it will improve. No actual processing is done on your phone. That means Siri doesn’t work when you’re offline, but it also means it can be continually upgraded, minute by minute, without touching your individual device. Apple addresses the two biggest problems with camera phones: speed and dynamic range. The 4S has a larger sensor, a larger five-element lens, and a larger f/2.4 aperture than the iPhone 4, along with a backside illuminated sensor and an IR filter to improve colors. The camera app loads in under two seconds, and it takes most photos instantly. Outdoor shots are better than bright; they’re uniquely well-balanced. The iPhone 4S makes simple tasks easy and does them very well. It brings most people what they want, very elegantly. For that, it earns our Editors’ Choice for Sprint phones. The iPhone 4S is a no-brainer upgrade from the 3GS. For iPhone 4 owners, it really comes down to how much you need the improved camera.

Apple announce record quarter figures...

Apple has announced record figures for it's first fiscal quarter of 2012 which spanned 14 weeks and ended on December 31st, 2011.

During this period Apple sold 37.04 million iPhones, 15.43million iPads, 15.4 million iPods and 5.2million macs.

“We’re thrilled with our outstanding results and record-breaking sales of iPhones, iPads and Macs,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO in a press release.

“Apple’s momentum is incredibly strong, and we have some amazing new products in the pipeline.”

A record turnover for the quarter meant Apple amassed a net profit of $13.06 billion.

Story Source: http://www.apple.com/pr/library/2012/01/24Apple-Reports-First-Quarter-Results.html

Kids and Social Networks ........

From being just a fad, Facebook has grown

to the point where users are being afflicted

with FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder). And

children are as vulnerable as adults.

A standard nine student of a reputed city school had to miss a term because he was in

depression. He would make up excuses to miss school, grew listless and would spend a lot of time locked up in his room. Concerned by his behavior, his parents took him to a psychologist and that’s when he divulged the cause of his angst. They found out that his

depression was not due to academics, but because his friends from school had taken to teasing him about his weight on a social networking site. After sessions of counseling, coupled with intervention on the part of the school teachers, he finally came out of his depression. A matter of great concern was that he was targeted on a social networking

site, which is a public forum. This is not a one-off occurrence; many such incidents have come to light in recent years on social networking sites, and looking at the ever increasing number of kids signing up at social networking sites, it will be a serious issue in the coming years. The ‘The New Generations 2011 Study’ conducted by television channel Cartoon Network revealed that 22 percent the kids today have access to the computer and the Internet; more than ever before. The study further revealed that 45

percent of kids went online to search for information; 26 percent for email; 23 percent for homework; and 19 percent for social networking. Amongst those who visited social networks, Facebook topped the popularity list with 93 percent, followed by Orkut at 50 percent. What makes the results interesting is that the kids surveyed for the study were between ages 7 and 14, while the minimum required age for registration on most social networking sites is 13. This means that most of the 19 percent of kids accessing social networks are not supposed to be on these sites.

Facebook has a strict policy against underaged users. It was recently reported that it deletes nearly

 20,000user accounts each day because they are reported as being used by underaged user.

Kids and Social Networking

There are many reasons why teenagers may take to social networking sites, but Varkha Chulani, a prominent psychologist, says that there is an underlying emotional condition that you need to look at. She says, “What we need to look at is whether this is an escape that the child is using for the fear of being rejected in the real world, which makes him turn to the computer to be able to say what he wants to say. Many teenagers do not have the confidence to be able to go out in the real world and manage real affairs with real people. So the computer and the social network become a safe ground for them to target their enemies or people with whom they can’t get even

with or people they can’t talk back to in real life situations. So often this is an escape, and in a way a very protective mechanism, to help the person express

what he wants to. Some of us don’t have the courage to say what we want to say,

so through social networking sites, we get this false confidence to speak because

the ramifications are not face-to-face but in writing. This doesn’t carry the same impact as it would if somebody directly old you something in reaction to a comment you made.”

Cyber mum is a part of McAfee’s initiative to help parents deal with issues related to the cyber world. Anindita Mishra, a Cybermum, says that parents need to come to terms with this unfortunate reality with social networking becoming a way of life for most kids and teenagers. “Since social networking sites allow users to indulge in activities like link sharing, status updates and instant messaging, kids fi nd them more useful as they consume less time. While it is not recommended for kids under 13 to be on social networking sites, there are cases of many kids that even lie about their age to become active on such sites,” she says. The fact that parents are themselves hooked on to these sites and rarely supervise their kid’s online behavior only makes matters worse. Varkha says, “I think the computer and the Internet is being used to unhealthy disadvantages. It is not the Internet or the computer itself, but the lack of control that the parents exercise on their children that is to blame. There is just no supervision,

discipline or any sort of expectations that the parents voice to the kids. As a

result, kids are doing as they please and getting addicted to gaming sites, social networks, etc.”

Take Precautions

While there is no way to keep your children away from social networking sites, supervision is essential. Parents must supervise their children’s online activities and set a limit to their Internet time. More importantly, you have to set a good example for your children to follow. You cannot expect your kids to not spend time on the Internet when

they see you constantly texting or glued to a computer screen. Anindita says,

“Parents need to come to terms with this unfortunate reality with social networking

becoming a way of life for most kids and teenagers. However, the solution is not to forbid children from using the Internet because they can easily access it even in their parents’ absence through school computers, Internet cafes and friends’ mobile phones. Instead, parents must play a proactive role and ensure that their children are not made victims in cyberspace. They must note that an active cyber identity brings with it a host of dangers ranging from malware attacks to more grave ones such as cyber bullying, cyber stalking, sharing of unnecessary or confidential information with online strangers, etc.”

From Fad to FAD

It’s almost become imperative to have an account on social networking sites and Facebook is by far the most popular. While being on a social networking site in itself is not a bad thing, the growing obsession with it is. Children and teenagers are a vulnerable bunch as their actions are dictated by their peers. There is a need to fit in and belong. You will find that they obsess over their display pictures, status updates, number of friends, likes, groups, pages, etc. to the point where the virtual world may take precedence over the real one. American psychologists have coined the term FAD (Facebook Addiction Disorder) to explain such behavior. How does one identify FAD? Very simple; the first thing these people will do when given a computer is log on

to Facebook. They constantly update their status messages, often multiple times in a day, and sometimes even with inconsequential updates like ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Good Night’. When they are out, they will take pictures and will immediately upload them on to

Facebook. They will grow restless when they are not able to access their account.

What will also set them apart are the mood swings that are caused by negative or positive comments on their profiles. This addiction to social networking sites is similar to drug addiction, as it triggers the same response. Varkha says,

“The only difference is that drugs create a disadvantage to the body, whereas

the disadvantages that arise from social networks are mostly in terms of lack of sleep, attention deficit disorder, distractibility, etc. So the physiological

Manifestations don’t come in the way drugs would cause them, but there are different kinds of manifestations that would come from addiction to the social networking sites.” So if you fi nd that your child is addicted to social networking sites, then it’s important that you seek professional help. Therapy sessions educating them about better ways of

communication and interaction, and encouraging social activities will helpthem get rid of the addiction….

Google Chromium OS on Your Notebook ...

Google’s Chrome OS has been in  the lime light for a while now,but many of us have come to assume that the operating system is only available to those using Google’s

Chromebooks. Samsung and Acer are the two brands selling Chromebooks in international markets. So what do you do in such cases, where an operating system that’s deemed to be free isn’t really available on Google’s site? Well, you download it from a third party developer’s page. In this guide, we’ll show you how to download and

install a Chromium OS build on a USB drive. It’s quite simple really, and it doesn’t take more than five minutes once you have the 240-odd MB image downloaded. Here’s what you’ll need to get Chromium OS running.

·         The Chrome OS image. In this case, we shall use the Hexxeh’s Chromium OS build. You can download it from

            http://chromeos.hexxeh.net

·         A USB flash drive. We recommend using a 4 GB flash drive, at least.

·         A utility called Windows Image Writer, which can be downloaded from https://launchpad.net/win32- image-writer

Choose the download version for the Chromium OS and use the Win32 Disk Imager utility to create the bootable USB pen drive.

Hexxeh is the developer behind the Hexxeh Chromium builds. The site contains a bunch of builds and the ‘Flow’ build, though stable, is a little outdated. The newer builds can be found at http://chromeos.hexxeh.net/vanilla.php.  Remember that the Chromium builds aren’t official stable builds, so there are bound to be some issues and glitches that you’ll notice while using it. They might even offer better compatibility with your hardware. Find the build you need and download it. The download size of the archives is likely to be between 240 and 327 MB. The downloadable images are available as TAR or GZ files, which can be extracted using a compression tool such as 7zip or Winrar. The file within

the archive should be an IMG file. Extract it to your desktop. Now, we have to dump this IMG file on a USB flash drive. Before you write the Chromium OS image to the flash drive, ensure that you have saved all the data from it securely. Next, start the Windows

Image Writer utility and select the drive letter for the flash drive. Choose the IMG file you extracted and click on the ‘Write’ button. This process should take a few minutes. Chromium OS will then be installed on your flash drive. Next, boot your notebook or desktop PC using the flash drive. Ensure that you have enabled USB booting from the BIOS. Plug in the USB flash drive on your PC and power it on. The flash drive should automatically boot into Chromium OS. Once booted, simply login using your Google account and you should be able to install Web apps available on the Chrome store and use your own notebook as if it were a Chromebook.

Nielsen sums up Q4: iOS leaps forward, but Android still leads

The analysts from Nielsen just published their report on the US smartphone market in the last quarter of 2011 and the numbers that it contains are hardly shocking.
The iPhone 4S launch helped iOS gain a lot of ground and close the gap on Android. The two leading platforms were neck and neck in December, when most of the sales were generated. Windows Phone was the only other platform to improve its market position, but the Microsoft OS is still far from becoming a major factor in the US smartphone race.
Android accounted for 51.7% of all smartphone purchases in Q4, but its share in November and December dropped to 48.7% and 46.9%, due to the strong iPhone sales. The Apple platform had a market share of 44.5% in December, which is nearly double what it had in October (25.1%). The overall iOS share for the quarter stood at 37%.

The Nielsen Q4 report
Meanwhile, RIM continues its struggles and only managed a market share of 6% in the final quarter of the year. The Canadians had a share of 7.7% in October, but looking at the stats - it's all downhill from there.
Windows Phone powered 1.4% of the smartphones sold in the Holiday quarter, which is an improvement compared to the 1.3% overall market share that it has.
Another trend that Nielsen noticed is that more and more US citizens are switching to smartphones. While just 46% of all users have a smartphone, 60% of those that got a new phone in Q4 opted for one with a proper OS.


Source | Via

Nokia Lumia 900 expected to launch on March 19

When Nokia announced the new Lumia 900 at CES they only said it will be released in the next few months without giving a proper date. WMPoweruser has now learned that the phone will in fact be launched some time in March.

If that's too vague for you, then Windows bloggers Paul Thurrott has gone one step ahead and pinned March 18 has the actual date of launch. Considering Thurrott's track record with Microsoft-related news, we would take this news with far fewer grains of salt than we usually do.
So there you have it then. March 18 seems to be the day you would be able to get your hands on the Lumia 900 in the North America. If you think that's too long from now then Nokia has some new videos of the phone to keep you entertained till then.
Source