Articles about Mobile

The adoption of new Android distributions rises at a glacial pace so you should not expect the latest -- and, arguably, the greatest -- of the bunch to gain traction quickly. In fact, up until this month, the landscape was dominated by KitKat, which is now two and a half years old, and not Marshmallow, which Google introduced last October.

However, going into March, things have changed. KitKat no longer reigns supreme, as Google reveals that Lollipop is now finally running on more devices than its older brother. The usage share difference is relatively small, however, suggesting that it may take a while before KitKat will be as irrelevant as, say, Ice Cream Sandwich.

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One of my favorite things to do each year is go on a cruise. Since I am not wealthy, it is a great way to take a vacation without breaking the bank. While the trip itself is great, knowing that a holiday is on the horizon keeps me happy and motivated to work hard during the rest of the year -- a light at the end of a tunnel, if you will.

Planning a cruise can be simple, but more in-depth vacations can be much more difficult. Deciding on travel, hotels, rental cars, food, and more can be dizzying. Luckily, the always-helpful Google wants to make your vacation-planning easier. If you want to make your plans using a mobile device, the all-new 'Destinations on Google' should make you very happy.

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At the end of last month, Apple released a letter to its customers protesting about a US court order that could force the company to give the FBI a back door entry to individual iPhones. The case has brought the debate about government access to personal data and the protection of civil liberties to the fore once again. It has also made society and industry look more closely at the mechanics of data encryption and ask what makes the technology effective.

At its most basic, encryption provides a layer of protection for data at every stage of its journey from sender to recipient. If anyone tries to intercept or access the data without permission, they find themselves with a screen full of unintelligible gobbledygook. But encryption is only strong if there are no weak links in the chain. Apple argues that the FBI’s court order requesting a back door into its OS (Operating System) would force the company to create such a weak link in its encryption. This would undoubtedly speed up investigations of high profile crimes, but would come at high cost to the millions of law abiding iPhone users.

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Facebook's biggest news recently has been the global roll out of Reactions. But bubbling away in the background over recent weeks have been changes to the Instant Article program. Initially made available only to larger publishers, Facebook Instant Articles help to improve user-engagement by providing articles that load internally up to ten times faster than linking to external sites.

Facebook then announced that Instant Articles would be made available to publishers of all sizes, and today a WordPress plugin has been launched that means any blogger can take advantage of the feature. The partnership between Facebook and Automattic opens up Instant Articles to millions of users.

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Wireless charging is one of the nicest and most convenient features added on smartphones in the past couple of years. Increasingly seen on mid-range and high-end offerings, it enables devices to charge simply by resting on a small pad. After experiencing the benefits, you will not want to go back to using a wall charger and cable again.

It is not enough to have a smartphone that offers this feature, as you also need a compatible pad to wirelessly charge it. A very interesting proposition is Choetech's Choe Qi, which offers fast wireless charging at an attractive price point. I have been using it for a few weeks to find out whether it's worth buying, and here are my impressions.

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While the news about the dispute between Apple and the FBI rages on, security researchers continue to look for other ways into products, not just the iPhone. But as a prominent device it becomes a big target and deserves extra scrutiny.

The security experts from Israel and Australia decided to test out the electromagnetic radiation emitted by devices, in this case using an iPhone. The results were interesting, though they won't help in the case of phones in the custody of law enforcement.

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In the digital world it's increasingly APIs that hold everything together, allowing information to be easily shared between applications.

A new study from SmartBear Software gathered responses from over 2,300 software professionals around the world to paint a picture of the current state of the API industry.

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While the Windows 10 Mobile roll out has yet to finally kick off, new preview builds are frequently released for users enrolled in the Windows Insider program. Microsoft is working on ironing out the kinks before unleashing its latest smartphone operating system, while trying to improve the user experience for those who have already purchased Windows 10 Mobile handsets.

And, now, early adopters are treated to Windows 10 Mobile Insider Preview Build 10586.122. This "cumulative update", which is offered in the Slow and Release Preview rings, adds support for new smartphones, a significant number of improvements to existing features and some bug fixes. Here's everything that you need to know about it.

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Biometrics were the talk of the town last month in Barcelona. As the world’s mobile technology companies gathered for their largest annual event, Mobile World Congress 2016, talk centered firmly around authentication and identity.

Whilst MasterCard announced it will accept selfie photographs and fingerprints as an alternative to passwords when verifying IDs for online payments, security company Vkansee was demonstrating how easy it was to create a spoof finger with clay and a pot of Play-Doh.

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Ransomware was the biggest threat to Android users in the UK last year, a new report by security company Bitdefender says.

Even though it’s not as dangerous or prolific as its Windows counterpart, ransomware still played a major role in the overall mobile security landscape for last year.

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There have been a lot of attempts to kill the password and replace it with something more secure and easier to use. Biometric measures such as fingerprint and iris readers are increasingly common, but Yahoo is on a mission of its own with Yahoo Account Key.

Recognizing that "passwords suck", Yahoo launched the product back in October and since then there have been a few changes and additions. It's a simple system that uses your mobile as your access key and it's now available in more apps than ever.

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Researchers at the University of Washington have found a way to lower the power consumption of Wi-Fi significantly. They have dubbed the new form of low power wireless internet "passive W-Fi". It could be harnessed to power IoT devices or to help improve battery life in mobile phones.

Passive Wi-Fi will require just 59 microwatts to transmit data between devices which is 10,000 times less than the power used by traditional Wi-Fi chips in personal computers and mobile phones.

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If a few years back we were laughing off Microsoft's efforts in the mobile market, today we are looking at the software giant in a different light. That "mobile first, cloud first" mantra that Satya Nadella introduced us to when he became CEO now defines Microsoft, which has quickly evolved into one of the most important players in the mobile space afterwards.

Under Nadella, Microsoft has tackled mobile in a more meaningful way, refocusing its strategy so that it could become a major developer for more than Windows and Windows Phone. Today, the software giant's best services and products are also found on Android and iOS, the most important mobile platforms, and more have been added following high-profile acquisitions like Acompli and SwiftKey. Now, Microsoft adds Xamarin to its mobile portfolio, proving once again that it is dead serious about conquering mobile.

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Last year, I bought my first iPhone. Shockingly, the base model still came with a paltry 16GB of storage. Since this was my first-ever such Apple smartphone, I decided to go nuts and splurge on the massive 128GB. Since I store my photos in the cloud, and stream music and movies, I have come nowhere near filling it up. I should have bought the 64GB, but I digress.

Of course, my situation is not the same as everyone else -- some people truly need 128GB or more. Unfortunately, Apple does not offer more than 128GB -- yet. This may change, however, as Samsung announces crazy fast 256-Gigabyte Universal Flash Storage for mobile. The high performance should make these 256GB modules very popular with manufacturers. This will certainly show up in Android devices, but could Apple select it for the upcoming iPhone 7?

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Mobile enterprise security firm MobileIron has released its Q4 2015 Mobile Security and Risk Review, discussing the threats and risks that enterprises face in their mobile deployments.

The report reveals the worrying find that more than 50 percent of enterprises have at least one non-compliant device, creating a broader attack surface for malware and data theft.

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