Amazon Reportedly Working on Android-based Smartphone

Amazon is now working on a smartphone, if a report from Bloomberg is to be believed.

The device is being built to directly compete with other Android-based phones and the iPhone. The phone is reportedly in production at Foxconn, the Chinese manufacturing company that builds hundreds of products. While Amazon currently produces several products, including the Kindle e-reader and Kindle Fire tablet, the company has made no indication of entering the smartphone arena.

If true, it stands to reason that Amazon’s smartphone will have deep integration with the Amazon Prime service, which gives subscribers not only free two-day shipping, but also free access to tens of thousands of TV shows and movies. Amazon will also likely offer a number of cloud services such as a music player similar to Google Play (formerly Google Music), and have its own Android-based app store and media marketplace to buy movies, TV shows, music, and games.

Amazon is certainly in a strong position to sell their own smartphone because of the company’s retail power as well as its connections to cellular carriers through Amazon Wireless, which sells hundreds of phones on all major US carriers.

Would you be interested in an Amazon smartphone? What would make it worth buying for you?

Source : ign[dot]com

Galaxy Nexus Pulled, Returning Next Week

After Apple won a patent dispute between Apple and Google regarding the search function, Google has ceased selling the smartphone on its Play store.

Google and Samsung were both barred from selling several devices, including the Galaxy Nexus smartphone and Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet, after a judge refused to lift the injunction against the Nexus earlier this week. Google, which sold the phone through its Google Play store, has since changed the phone's availability to "coming soon."

That update will remove on-device search functions. This will happen for all Galaxy Nexus devices sometime next week. An over the air update will remove the search feature, along with several others (already expected to be removed in the Jelly Bean Android 4.1 update).

Unfortunately for current Galaxy Nexus owners who aren’t using the developer build of Android 4.1, losing the search feature will be a required downgrade. The feature in question specifically allows you to find applications and documents  through a multi-search tool which searches both online and in the phone’s database.

It's not a groundbreaking loss, but it is a loss nonetheless.

Source : ign[dot]com

Rumor: Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Expanding to 5.5 Inches

While Android fans continue to debate whether the Samsung Galaxy Note is a big smartphone or a small tablet, the manufacturer appears ready to go in an even bigger (though not necessarily better) direction.

TechCrunch is reporting that a sequel to the Galaxy Note will be announced in Germany at the IFA 2012 trade show next month, and the display will take another step toward tablet size by expanding from 5.3 inches to 5.5 inches.

According to the Korean MK Business News, the improvements to the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 don't end there -- the handset is also expected to get juiced with a quad-core processor (most likely Sammy's own Exynos 4) and either a 12 or 13 megapixel rear camera, which would be a nice improvement to the existing model's mere eight megapixels.

And yes, the Galaxy Note 2 should come out of the box with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, although it's likely you'll even recognize it once Samsung applies their own UI touches to the software.

The real question is, what kind of super sized mortal will be able to hold a 5.5-inch smartphone in their hands -- and why would they want to when a fine seven-inch tablet like the Nexus 7 will soon be available?

Thankfully, we won't have long to find out, since IFA 2012 kicks off in August.

Source : ign[dot]com

Windows Phone Surpasses the iPhone in China

Microsoft has reached a milestone in one of the largest smartphone markets by passing up Apple's iPhone in China.

According to WMPoweruser, COO for the Greater China Region at Microsoft Michel van der Bel has stated that Windows Phone 7 has grabbed 7% of the market share just two months after the platform's regional launch, trumping Apple's 6% of the pie.

The big fish is still quite a distance away, with Android accounting for a commanding 69% of the market.

Source : http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/05/18/windows-phone-surpasses-the-iphone-in-china