كيف تمسك ب16 مليون لون في راحة يدك؟ مع هاتف Xperia ion و شاشة 4،6 " ذات العرض الواقعى مع خاصية HD، هذه هي الطريقة!

How do you fit 16 million colors in the palm of your hand? With Xperia ion's 4.6″ HD Reality Display, that's how

يمكنك مشاركة كل شيء تريده مع الجميع
استمتع بمشاهدة فيلم مع أصدقائك أو الاستماع لأحدث أغاني مطربك المفضل. قم بتوصيل هاتف Xperia acro S الذي يعمل بنظام Android بتلفاز عالي الجودة من خلال تقنية DLNA أو كابل HDMI وشاهد ما تريد. هل تريد أن ينضم المزيد من الأشخاص؟ يمكنك نشر هذا المحتوى على موقع الوسائط الاجتماعية المفضل لديك بلمسة واحدة. 


Share everything with everyone
Enjoy a movie evening with your friends, or dance the night away to party music. Connect the Xperia acro S Android phone to your HD TV via DLNA or an HDMI cable and watch what’s on. Want more people to join? Just post it on your favourite social media site with just one touchيمكنك مشاركة كل شيء تريده مع عاطفية
استمتع بمشاهدة فيلم مع أصدقائك أو الاستماع لأحدث أغاني مطربك المفضل. قم بتوصيل هاتف إريكسون acro S يقول يعمل بنظام اندرويد بتلفاز عالي الجودة من خلال الوزراة DLNA أو كابل هدمي وشاهد طريفة تريد. تريد أن ينضم المزيد من الأشخاص؟ يمكنك نشر هذا المحتوى على موقع الوسائط الاجتماعية المفضل لديك بلمسة واحدة. 


حصة كل شيء مع الجميع
استمتع بأمسية فيلم مع أصدقائك، أو الرقص طوال الليل بعيداً إلى الموسيقى الطرف. قم بتوصيل الهاتف الروبوت S acro إريكسون الخاص بك "التلفزيون عالية الدقة" عبر DLNA أو كابل هدمي ومشاهدة ما هو. نريد المزيد من الناس الانضمام إلى؟ بعد ذلك فقط على الموقع الخاص بك وسائل الإعلام الاجتماعية المفضلة لديك بمجرد لمسة واحدة

صُنع ليجعل الحياة سهلة
استمتع بالترفيه. هاتف Xperia tipo سهل جدًا في الاستخدام. يمكنك الوصول إلى أحدث التطبيقات وملفات الموسيقي بلمسة واحدة فقط من شاشتك الرئيسية. التشغيل على أحدث نظام أساسي من هاتف Android، يجعل مستعرض ويب هاتف Xperia tipo أسرع وأسهل أيضًا.


Made to make life easy
Enjoy the entertainment. Xperia tipo is so easy to use. The latest apps and music are just a click away from your home screen. Running on the latest Android platform, the Xperia tipo makes web browsing quicker and easier tooصُنع ليجعل الحياة سهلة
استمتع بالترفيه. هاتف إريكسون تيبو سهل جدًا في الاستخدام. يمكنك الوصول إلى أحدث التطبيقات وملفات الموسيقى بلمسة واحدة فقط من شاشتك الرئيسية. التشغيل على أحدث نظام أساسي من هاتف Android، يجعل مستعرض ويب هاتف إريكسون تيبو أسرع وأسهل أيضًا.


لجعل الحياة سهلة
استمتع الترفيه. تيبو إريكسون سهل جداً للاستخدام. أحدث تطبيقات والموسيقى مجرد انقر بعيداً عن الشاشة الرئيسية. تعمل على منصة الروبوت أحدث، تيبو إريكسون يجعل تصفح الإنترنت أسهل وأسرع أيضا

تحديث جديد لتطبيق Google Play Music يضيف عدداً من الميزات : 

قامت جوجل بتحديث تطبيقها الرسمي لتشغيل الموسيقى على أندرويد Google Play Music. ويأتي التحديث بعدد من الميزات التي لا يمكن اعتبارها ميزات ضخمة، لكنها إضافات ضرورية ومرحب بها بكل تأكيد.

يضيف التحديث الجديد ميزة Gapless playback التي تقوم تلقائياً بإلغاء المسافات الفارغة بين نهاية المسار الصوتي، وبداية المسار الصوتي الجديد، بحيث تبدأ الأغنية التالية فورَ انتهاء التي قبلها دون تأخير. كما أضاف التطبيق ميزة إنشاء قوائم التشغيل تلقائياً اعتماداً على أغنية أعجبتك، كما تمت إضافة ميزة حفظ الأغاني التي تعجبك Thumbs Up، وتلك التي أضفتها مؤخراً، وقوائم التشغيل على الجهاز لتشغيلها دون اتصال بالانترنت.

تستطيع تحميل التطبيق من متجر جوجل بلاي
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.music

Given the design philosophy of Apple, and the thinness of new Samsung tablets, we pretty much already knew that the iPad 3 would be thinner and lighter than the iPad 2, but now we're seeing some actual proof to that fact. Unfortunately, it may also drive up the price of the tablet as well. 

A report from the Taiwan Economic News says that Apple has tapped Simplo Technology Co. and Dynapack International Technology Corp. for the iPad batteries. The word is that the batteries will be thinner and lighter than previous models, but also about 20-30% more expensive. Couple that with the new retina displays expected for the iPad 3 and the costs for parts alone will pile up fairly quickly for Apple.

Of course, we also know that Apple is extremely strict about hitting price points for its products, so it seems unlikely that these costs would push the end price of the iPad. But, thinner, lighter, and a retina screen? Seems like a winner to us. 

Apple’s iOS App Store is the world’s most popular on-device mobile app portal by leaps and bounds, but that doesn’t necessarily make it the best opportunity for developers according to Berlin, Germany-based market research firm research2guidance. Apple has a wide lead over competitors in terms of overall downloads and the number of applications in its App Store, but individual apps seemingly have a greater chance of success in rival offerings from Nokia, Microsoft and RIM. ”The ‘average app’ has a better chance to generate downloads on ‘non-hyped’ platforms,” the firm said in a press release on Wednesday. In the second quarter of 2011, the average application in Nokia’s Ovi Store generated 160% more daily downloads than the average iOS app in Apple’s App Store. Individual apps were downloaded from Microsoft’s Windows Marketplace 80% more often each day than from the App Store on average, and apps in RIM’s BlackBerry App World generated 43% more daily downloads than Apple’s offering. Software titles in Google’s Android Market were downloaded 5% less often each day compared to the iOS App Store, and Apple had HP’s webOS App Catalog beat by 95% last quarter. Research2guidance’s full press release follows below along with a chart outlining the firm’s second-quarter data.

    Apps On Nokia’s OVI Store Had 2.5 Times Higher Download Numbers In Q2 2011 Compared To Apps on Apple App Store 

    The “average app” has a better chance to generate downloads on “non-hyped” platforms. 

    Despite all the hype around the major platforms Android and iOS, publishers are still overlooking the hidden potentials of the niche players. The Q2 2011 results of our smartphone application monitoring report indicate that those applications published on the less popular platforms, such as WP7 marketplace or Blackberry’s AppWorld, generate significantly more downloads compared to the Apple App Store. 

    Significantly lower competition, yet a sufficiently large user base that desires apps, are the major reasons for this.  Symbian still retains, by far, the highest potential user base. Even though its users are incomparably less active than iOS’s heavy downloaders, it still generates significant download volumes to Symbian publishers.  This is largely because whilst Apple boasts of its 400,000 apps, the OVI store contains less than a tenth of that number. 

    Looking into average numbers, the Android Market stands not far behind the Apple App Store.  This quarter, the average Android App attracted just 5% less users than iOS.  Competition is harsh. 

    However, going in for very small niche platforms may not be the best idea either. LG World! and Samsung’s App Store are struggling to generate user attention.  Although LG has less than 3,000 apps and as a result it is much easier to be discovered there, its user base is just too low. 

    Although the Symbian platform is seen by some developers to be clumsy and outdated, as well as Nokia’s transition to WP7 which has fuelled discussions as to when Nokia will give up its platform completely, the current status seems to be promising.  Recently, Nokia reported the launch of three new Symbian Smartphones and confirmed that these will not be the last of the products, nor updates, to be delivered on Symbian. 

    Find other important Q2 2011 market developments in the new volume of the research2guidance Smartphone App Market Monitor. The third volume of the report includes a special interest chapter on mobile retail market.

We've known since June that Facebook has been working on an official app for the iPad, and a "feature-complete" albeit buggy version of the app leaked for jailbroken iPads back in July. Now, it seems we are finally going to have the official Facebook iPad app available in the App Store, and the launch will come at the Apple iPhone event on October 4th. 

Mashable has learned about the launch and has details about the app itself. The launch was decided to be part of the Apple event, because Facebook didn't want to take away from its own announcements at the recent f8 conference. The app looks like an extremely rich experience with a nice paneled layout, and access to most of the major features you'd expect. Although in the screenshots from Mashable, there doesn't seem to be integration for Facebook's new Timeline feature, and while there is built in chat, there doesn't seem to be any video chat. 

Facebook and Apple haven't had the best relationship recently, so it may be a step in the right direction for the two that this announcement will happen at the Apple iPhone event. There are also rumors that Facebook will also unveil its "Project Spartan" at the same event. Spartan is the Facebook project to use HTML5 to allow developers to bring their Facebook apps to mobile devices. It seems we'll get all that information next week. 

Introduction 

A fresh dose of oxygen or a new torchbearer? It doesn’t matter which one you think RIM needed to keep the flame alive. They got both in the new BlackBerry Torch 9810. Double the processing power, the new sped-up and brushed-up BlackBerry OS 7 and higher resolution displays, RIM know giving users what they need is no longer enough.

   

The new BlackBerry generation is encouraging users to want more. It’s not about suddenly waking the typical BlackBerry customer up to the business benefits of HD video. Nor is a bump in screen resolution and processing power enough to convince the masses to ditch their droids and iPhones and come flocking to BlackBerry. 

We ended our review of the original BlackBerry Torch 9800 by calling it a step in the right direction. Good to see, RIM have not lost momentum or changed direction. Quite the contrary. The BlackBerry Torch 9810 may as well be a manual on how to make a good sequel. 

Key features: 
• Enhanced email and data security 
• 3.2" 16M-color TFT touchscreen of VGA resolution (480 x 640 pixels) 
• QWERTY slider 
• Quad-band GSM support and tri-band 3G with HSDPA 
• Wi-Fi b/g/n connectivity 
• GPS receiver and BlackBerry maps preloaded, digital compass 
• 5 megapixel camera with autofocus and a LED flash 
• HD video recording, 720p@30fps 
• Single-core 1.2GHz processor 
• 768MB RAM 
• 8GB of inbuilt storage 
• BlackBerry OS v7 
• Fast boot functionality (if you don't remove the battery) 
• Optical trackpad 
• Hot-swappable microSD card slot (up to 16GB) 
• DivX and Xvid video support 
• Office document editor 
• 3.5 mm audio jack 
• Smart dialing

Main disadvantages: 
• BlackBerry Internet Service account is a must to enjoy all phone features 
• No Flash support for the web browser 
• No NFC 
• No video-call camera 
• No FM radio 
• No haptic feedback 
• All-plastic body 
• Poor loudspeaker performance 
There’s almost nothing on the outside to suggest the amount of progress made inside. It’s the same phone, down to the last millimeter and gram. But it’s a major leap forward to a 1GHz+ CPU, a VGA screen, HD video and a more compelling touchscreen experience. 

Things look good for the BlackBerry Torch 9810 and some of it is down to the fact that, out of all the new generation Berries, it has the most comfortable starting position. The Torch 9860 drew the shortest straw we guess, no keyboard and all. What’s the point of a BlackBerry phone that can’t give you the blackberry thumb? The Bold Touch 9900, being the flagship, will inevitably be held to higher standards. 

The strength of the Torch 9810 on the other hand is in its power to surprise without being unpredictable. It may keep a low profile but won’t escape the attention of anyone after a solid smart messenger. And we don’t mean the brand-loyal only. It’s the right phone to offer to long-term customers, no doubt about that. Hopefully, the added speed and skill puts it on the radar for a wider range of users too. 

OK, then. What we have here is a minor facelilft and a major software upgrade. There’s supposed to be a better phone on the other end of the equation and we’re about to start discovering it. Join us after the break for the hardware examination. 

The iPhone 4S comes with an improved backside illuminated, 8-megapixel camera and it’s not just the sheer pixels that Apple has worked on - the overall quality looks much better. This is partly thanks to a larger f/2.4 aperture allowing more light in for the densely packed pixels, but also because of a fifth lens element included. One of the not so obvious improvements is the addition of video stabilization. 

You’d think, it wouldn’t be such a big deal as the iPhone 4 should be doing a decent job shooting video. But wait until you see the comparison below, which outlines a world of a difference. Sure, the iPhone 4S is no replacement for a video camera but the reality is that it’s much more convenient to shoot with your phone and that’s where a big part of online footage comes from. 

The stabilization you see on the 4S is digital and that means that quality will get degraded. You won’t notice it too much given the fact that you have 1080p video recording but still. 

Should camera makers start getting worried about their most affordable point-and-shoots getting replaced by a smartphone? Feel free to chime in with your impressions about how has your smartphone replaced your camera (if it has).

They say music soothes even the savage beast. In the case of the HTC Sensation XL, it just makes it cooler. The Sensation XL shares its design and mammoth 4.7" screen with the Titan, but the XL is part of the Android squad and packs a lyrical iBeats headset.

   

The Sensation XL uses almost exactly the same hardware as the Titan - the major difference is that the XL packs four Android capacitive keys and there's no hardware shutter key, but that's about it. 

The single Scorpion core in the Snapdragon chipset runs at 1.5GHz again and the camera is an 8MP unit that records 720p video. Even the screen is the same 4.7" WVGA S-LCD unit, not the qHD resolution of the Sensation XE. 

Here's the list of pros and cons to sum up how well the merging of Titan hardware and Sensation software went 

Key features 

- Quad-band GSM and dual-band 3G support 
- 14.4 Mbps HSDPA and 5.76 Mbps HSUPA 
- 4.7" 16M-color capacitive S-LCD touchscreen of WVGA resolution (480 x 800 pixels) 
- Android OS v2.3 Gingerbread with HTC Sense 3.5 
- 1.5 GHz single Scorpion CPUs, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm Snapdragon MSM8255 chipset 
- 768 MB RAM; 16 GB storage (~12.5GB user accessible) 
- Beats audio enhancement and premium Monster iBeats headset 
- 8 MP autofocus camera with dual-LED flash; face detection, geotagging, HDR mode, image autoupload 
- 720p video recording @ 30fps, slo-mo videos (2x at WVGA) 
- Wi-Fi b/g/n and DLNA 
- GPS with A-GPS 
- Stereo FM radio with RDS 
- Accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensor 
- Front facing camera with video calls 
- Standard 3.5 mm audio jack 
- microUSB port (charging) and stereo Bluetooth v3.0 
- Smart dialing, voice dialing 
- Office document editor 
- DivX/XviD video support 
- HTC Locations app 
- HTCSense.com integration 
- HTC Portable Hotspot 
- Ultra-fast boot times (if you don’t remove battery) 

Main disadvantages 

- WVGA resolution is low for a 4.7" screen 
- Screen's outdoor performance isn't so good 
- No dedicated camera key 
- No microSD card slot 
- No TV-Out 
One major addition to the Sensation XL that the Titan lacks is the Beats setup. It includes a Monster iBeats headset in the box (those are rather pricy if you have to buy them separately) and special audio processing done on the inside tuned by none other than Dr. Dre. 

Compared to the other Androids by HTC (or in fact most other phones), the bigger screen of the XL is more accommodating to web browsing, watching videos and reading ebooks. The more screen real estate should be better for games too - if the Adreno 205 GPU is up to it (it's getting old, but should still be OK with most games)

Back in November, Google released a Gmail app for the Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad. After pulling it for a short period while Google fixed a nasty bug, the Gmail app was returned to the App Store. Now, Gmail for iOS has received its first update from Google that not only fixes some bugs, but also improves the UI and adds some new features. 

One of the new features for the Gmail for iOS app is called "Scribbles". Using different colors, brush sizes, erasers, lines and spray paint, the user can sketch out an illustration and have it attached to an email as a .png file. Another new feature will allow the artist to include a custom signature to messages sent from a mobile device and also adds a way to send out a vacation responder. These new features can be accessed by clicking on the gear icon at the top of the menu. 

Google is tryhing hard to make the mobile Gmail app for iOS as close as it can be to the desktop version. This includes the addition of nested labels with the inbox. Another change, for devices running iOS 5 only, is a new notification sound that alerts users that they have new Gmail. The Mountain View based company is working on some requested additions to the app such as banner notifications, support for multiple logins and "send-as" functionality. 

Gmail for iOS is available for free in the App Store for those devices running iOS 4 and higher.

Usage of Amazon’s Kindle Fire has exploded since the tablet launched last month, but its rapid adoption wasn’t enough to keep Android from seeing its biggest share drop this year in November. Mobile ad network Millennial Media on Tuesday released its monthly Mobile Mix report for November, during which it saw Android’s share drop significantly while iOS and RIM’s BlackBerry platform showed gains. The firm reports that impressions served to Amazon’s Kindle Fire have grown at an average daily rate of 19% since the tablet launched last month, outpacing Apple’s iPad when it first launched in early 2010. As a whole, however, Android still lost six points compared to Millennial’s October numbers, falling to 50% in November. Read on for more. 
Millennial shows that Apple’s iOS platform showed slight gains between October and November, growing its share from 28% to 30%, and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry operating system grew from 13% to 17% during the same period — the biggest gain seen among all mobile platforms last month. 

Samsung reclaimed the No.2 spot on Millennial’s list of handset vendors, growing its share from 17.24% in October to 17.47% while the former No.2, HTC, dropped from 18.11% in October to just 12.64% in November. Apple retained its position as top vendor in November as its share grew to 25.66% from 23.50% in October. Despite its rough quarter, RIM’s share increased to 14.57% from 10.86% in October to move the Waterloo, Ontario-based company past HTC and into the No.3 spot. 

  
Apple’s iPhone remained the top device in Millennial’s November report, growing its share from 12.53% in October to 13.54% last month. RIM’s BlackBerry Curve line jumped up to the No.2 position with 5.87% and Motorola’s DROID X inched down one spot with 5.27%. 

The ball has fallen in Times Square and around the world, everyone is celebrating the arrival of 2012. But that doesn't mean we can't take a look back at the year just past to put 2011 in perspective. And that, of course, means breaking out "Top Ten" lists from 2011. Opera Software is the producer of one of the most popular mobile browsers, Opera Mini. And the company has compiled a list of the ten most visited sites by users of the browser. The company claims 144 million users of Opera Mini and notes that sites featuring user-created content like Wikipedia were among those showing the biggest increase in unique visitors last year. Social and video sites also did very well in 2011. And with that in mind, here is the Top Ten Mobile Websites viewed last year on Opera Mini. 

Number ten, up 2 places from last year is Twitter.com. Anybody who is anybody has a number of followers just waiting for the latest tweet. Down 2 places from 2010's list is Yahoo.com at number 9 followed by My.Opera.com at number 8. The 7th most viewed mobile website last year on Opera Mini was everyone's favorite internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia.org. Used by everyone from students to businessmen alike, the site is one of the top user-created content sites on the internet and shot up from number 11 last year. Yandex.ru, a Russian search engine site, comes in at number 6. 

The second half of the Top Ten begins with Odnoklassniki.ru, a Russian social networking site that allows old friends and classmates in Russia and the former Soviet Republics, get together to re-unite. Down a spot from last year, at number 4 is Vkontakte.ru. This is a Russian social networking site with 90 million registered users and averages over 2.5 billion daily pageviews and 21m visitors daily. Last year's 4th most visited site on Opera Mini is now number 3. That spot belongs to video site YouTube.com. An oddity when the site was included on the first-gen Apple iPhone, now just about every smartphone released has a YouTube client or a button that re-directs a phone to the mobile version of the site. Number two is Facebook.com. With a recent update of the Android app allowing green robot users to match the iOS app, Facebook.com is THE social networking site around the world with more than 800 million active users as of this summer. 

And now, drum roll please...the number one mobile site visited by Opera Mini users in 2011 is Google.com. The search engine also has the advantage of being the default site that millions of Android users automatically get sent to when opening their browser (unless they change it, of course). 

And there is the Top Ten mobile websites visited by Opera Minbi users last year. What will be the new trends for 2012? You will just have to hold on for 365 days when Opera Software releases this year's new list. 

Adobe on Monday announced the latest addition to its iOS software lineup. The company’s Photoshop Touch app for the iPad hit Apple’s iOS App Store a little early over the weekend before being pulled, but now Adobe’s highly anticipated image editing software is back for good. While the iPad version of the app isn’t nearly as robust as Photoshop for Windows and OS X, Photoshop Touch does feature a number of advanced capabilities similar to those found in Adobe’s desktop software, including layer support, a variety of editing tools and even the ability to extract objects from within an image. ”People will be amazed with what they can create on the iPad using Photoshop Touch,” David Wadhwani, SVP of Adobe’s Digital Media Business Unit, said in a statement. “Photoshop Touch combines the magic of Photoshop and its core features with the convenience of a tablet, bringing image-editing power to the fingertips of millions of people.” Photoshop Touch for the iPad is available in Apple’s App Store immediately for $9.99. Adobe’s full press release follows below 

Adobe Photoshop Touch Now Available for iPad 

Highly Anticipated App Brings Image-editing Power of Photoshop to Apple iPad 2 

BARCELONA, Spain — Feb. 27, 2012 — At Mobile World Congress, Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq: ADBE) today announced that Adobe® Photoshop® Touch is now available for iPad 2, via the iTunes App Store*. Adobe Photoshop Touch offers core Photoshop features, as well as new capabilities for creating and sharing in an app custom-built for tablets. The app is a central component of Adobe Touch Apps, a family of six intuitive touch screen applications, inspired by Adobe Creative Suite® software. iPad versions of the other Adobe Touch Apps are expected later this year. 

Photoshop Touch gives users the ability to combine multiple photos into layered images, make essential edits and apply professional effects to create beautiful artwork, touch up photos, paint, lay out ideas, and much more. The Scribble Selection Tool allows users to easily extract objects in an image by simply scribbling on what to keep and, then, what to remove. With Refine Edge technology from Photoshop, even hard-to-select areas with soft edges are easily captured when making selections. Photoshop Touch helps users quickly find images and share creations through integration with Facebook and Google Image Search. 

“People will be amazed with what they can create on the iPad using Photoshop Touch,” said David Wadhwani, senior vice president and general manager, Digital Media Business Unit, Adobe. “Photoshop Touch combines the magic of Photoshop and its core features with the convenience of a tablet, bringing image-editing power to the fingertips of millions of people.” 

“Adobe Photoshop Touch offers a huge convenience factor and funnels cool Photoshop features tailored for the iPad,” said Brian Yap, creative director at Boxing Clever. “Nearly all of the features I imagined being in Photoshop Touch are there, including the depth in layers, the extraction tools, and fade tool.” 

“I love the organic process of working on the tablet. With Adobe Photoshop Touch, I have a new form of image creation with familiar tools but in a more relaxed work space, allowing me to rediscover image making through play rather than production,” Dan Marcolino, owner of Marcolina Design & MarcolinaSlate. 

In addition to Photoshop Touch, Adobe expect to release the following touch apps for the iPad in the coming months: Adobe Collage for moodboards; Adobe Debut for presenting and reviewing creative work; Adobe Ideas for sketching; Adobe Kuler® for exploring color themes; and Adobe Proto for website and mobile app prototyping. 

Pricing and Availability 

Adobe Photoshop Touch is available today in the iTunes App Store for US$9.99. Photoshop Touch is available in most geographies with English language support. The app will run on iPad 2 running on iOS5. Visit http://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop-touch.html for more information on Photoshop Touch.

Good news for the RIM users in India. RIM announced the BlackBerry Curve 9220 – a cheap smartphone running on the latest 7.1 OS version. 

It has a four-row QWERTY keyboard and a 2.44-inch QVGA display. Other notable features are the 2MP camera, Wi-Fi connectivity, Bluetooth, FM radio, the microSD card slot and 512MB of RAM. The headset does not support 3G networks, just GSM/EDGE ones. 

­ 


The users who purchase the BlackBerry Curve 9220 will be able to download a selection of apps worth INR2500 (€37) for free until June 30. 

The Curve 9220 will become available on April 19 in India, while the global release should follow a few weeks later. The retail price should be around INR11000 (€160). 

Microsoft’s mobile platform has not been the blockbuster success the Redmond, Washington-based technology giant was hoping for thus far. Google’s Android OS and Apple’s iPhone are still dominating the smartphone space by a huge margin in the United States and abroad, while Microsoft’s share of the global smartphone market has continued to decline. According to a new report from market research firm Kantar WorldPanel, however, Windows Phone is finally showing signs of life in several key markets.

Kantar WorldPanel on Tuesday issued its report on smartphone market share in the U.S. and a number of large markets around the world, Reuters reported. According to the firm’s research, Android showed solid gains during the three month period ending in mid-April in nearly every major market Kantar covers, more than doubling its share to 62% in Germany and nearly doubling its share in both Spain and Italy. 

Apple’s iPhone gained market share in the U.S. and United Kingdom thanks to strong iPhone 4S shipments according to Kantar, though Apple’s position did slip in Europe. 

As Apple and Google continue to battle atop the smartphone charts, however, some good news has emerged for Microsoft. According to Kantar, Nokia’s Lumia phone launches have doubled Windows Phone’s market share to 6% in Germany, and boosted the platform’s share in the U.S., U.K., France and Italy to between 3% and 4%. 

Nokia’s Symbian OS and Research In Motion’s BlackBerry platform were the biggest losers in Kantar’s report, with RIM’s share of the U.S. market plummeting to 3% from 9% in the same period a year ago.

Love what Nokia has done with the camera on the 808 PureView? Well, then there is a lot more where that came from. Nokia's Head of Product Marketing, Vesa Jutila confirmed to Engadget that a lot more of such devices are in the pipeline.

 


These upcoming phones will have high resolution sensors, quality Carl Zeiss optics and the PureView wizardry but in a slimmer form-factor. Obviously then the phones won't have the same 41 megapixel resolution because you can't have the best of both worlds, yet. 

Unfortunately, he did not say anything about a PureView Lumia phone but we wouldn't be surprised if some of these phones that Jutila mentioned are running Windows Phone. 

Google has silently launched an update to Jelly Bean AOSP bringing Android to version 4.1.2. 

The update is currently slowly making its way to the Google Nexus 7 units around the globe, but it shouldn't be long until it reaches the Galaxy Nexus, the Nexus S and the Motorola XOOM. 

Following the footsteps of the Google Nexus 7, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus and Nexus S got their own treatment of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean. The 15.1MB update is currently seeding to GSM/HSPA versions of both smartphones over the air. 

The update is a minor improvement over its predecessor. It includes the usual performance and stability fixes. Landscape mode however, will remain reserved for the Google Nexus 7. 

Google Maps has gone berserk with updates in the last few days and weeks, and coincidental or not all those updates help us realize just how much effort Google is putting in creating one of the best maps applications on the market. Google Maps last week got updated with thousands of miles of roads added in Street View, and now both the mobile and desktop version of Maps get 25 million new building footprints. 

25 million sounds impressive and it indeed is. Most of those footprints are for large U.S. cities and metros. Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area are some of the areas where the changes will be most obvious. The additions however will also touch on the whole United States. 

But how did Google manage to add so many new footprints? It is, of course, using aerial images and combines this raw data with computer vision processing to come up with dimensions and shapes for buildings. 

“This process enables us to provide more building footprints and a more comprehensive and detailed map than ever before,” Google said. 

Actually, this is the same core process used in Google 3D Maps. In the meantime, if you're still wondering whether Google Maps is being developed for iOS and the iPhone 5 the answer is not clear. It's all under consideration, and lastly Google CEO Larry Page said that while he would like Google to serve Maps to all platforms, the walled-garden approach (like the one in the App Store) stops or at least slows that down.