Articles about Smartphone

European regulators could hit Google with large fines if the company does not stop offering financial incentives to smartphone manufacturers to pre-install its own apps on handsets. Documents obtained by Reuters show that a potential fine could be linked to the revenue Google makes from AdWords.

With advertising being Google's primary source of income, this has the potential to be a fine of unparalleled magnitude. The European Commission knows that it needs to hit Google where it hurts if anticompetitive practices are to be effectively discouraged. The Commission says it "intends to set the fine at a level which will be sufficient to ensure deterrence".

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Facebook may have the rather lofty goal of wanting to "empower people all over the world to stay connected", but for most people the social network is just about chatting. Facebook Messenger has proved massively popular, and to cater for people with slower internet connection, the company now has Facebook Lite.

As you would probably guess from the Lite tag, this is a slightly cut-down version of the messaging tool but it still offers all of the core features. As well as helping out those with slow internet connections, it's an app that will appeal to people with more basic Android smartphones.

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Lenovo is already a well-established brand in Western Europe thanks to its personal computer brand which counts the legendary ThinkPad range and German manufacturer, Medion, amongst its ranks. It also absorbed storage vendor Iomega, IBM’s Intel-based server business and NEC personal computer range.

The company has acquired phone manufacturer Motorola, inheriting yet another iconic brand whose name still carries a lot of value for a mainstream audience. But the latest move of the Chinese company, which is also the biggest PC vendor in the world, has been surprising.

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Consumer group Which? has conducted a series of battery life tests on the latest smartphones, and the news is not good for the iPhone 7. Pitted against the Samsung Galaxy S7, HTC 10 and LG G5, Apple's latest handset came in last place... and by some distance.

In terms of call time, the Samsung Galaxy S7 lasted for more than twice as long as the iPhone 7, while the HTC 10 had two and a half times the longevity. Things were not quite as bad for the iPhone 7 in internet usage tests... but it was still found bringing up the rear.

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Google Maps on an Android phone is a great way to get from A to B without getting lost, but if you need to check details of your route or want to make a change to settings, you'll need to pull over to do so. Or at least that used to be the case. Google has just added a load of voice commands to the app.

Of course, having to pull over is an inconvenience, and trying to fiddle with your phone while driving is dangerous. With this in mind, the addition of a series of voice commands triggered by saying 'OK Google', is not entirely surprising, but it is also very welcome.

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Now that Android 7.0 is officially available, OnePlus 3 users are starting to wonder when their "flagship killer" will receive a software update to Nougat. The smartphone has received frequent updates since its launch in June, but the latest version of OxygenOS that you can get today has yet to make the move from Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow.

OnePlus is committed to improving the software for its third flagship, as evidenced by the numerous updates released so far and the introduction of a community build, and, as such, it should not come as a surprise to hear that it is "actively working" on bringing Nougat to OnePlus 3.

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Israeli security firm Cellebrite -- the company said to have helped the FBI access the San Bernadino iPhone -- says that it has the power to break into, and extract data from, just about any phone out there. Speaking with the BBC, the company demonstrated how it can crack the password on a smartphone to access its data.

It said that it was able to extract data from the very latest handsets including Android 7 devices and the iPhone 7. Cellebrite says it works with law enforcement agencies around the world too, and stopped short of saying it refused to work with oppressive regimes. The interview raises some interesting questions.

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BlackBerry used to be an incredibly successful smartphone maker, but the iPhone and Android changed that. Now, the company formerly known as RIM cannot even manage to sell a measly one million units in a quarter, let alone compete against players like Apple and Samsung.

So, with a market share hovering around the 0.1 percent mark, BlackBerry has decided to take a big step back, announcing that it will stop developing its own smartphones. Instead, BlackBerry will focus on a more lucrative market -- enterprise software services.

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Looking to paint a more accurate picture of what mobile coverage is like across the country, UK communications regulator Ofcom has released an app that can pull in data from millions of Android users.

The app, called Ofcom Mobile Research, is only available for Android and has been designed to measure not only mobile broadband performance, but also voice call quality. While building up a mass of data from participating Android users, iPhone owners are locked out of contributing because of the way iOS works.

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Xiaomi has beefed up its flagship Android line, announcing an updated Mi 5 and introducing a Plus version at a launch event today in China. Its new smartphones should allow it to better compete against Apple's new iPhone 7 and Samsung's popular Galaxy S7.

The Mi 5s and Mi 5s Plus pack the latest and greatest mobile processor from Qualcomm, the Snapdragon 821, new cameras, different fingerprint sensor, bigger battery, and more. Prices start at $299, for the Mi 5s, and go up to $389, for the Mi 5s Plus, making them very competitive against their main rivals.

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Samsung can't seem to catch a break with the Galaxy Note7 recall. For a while it looked like the replacement devices would put the exploding battery concerns to bed, but now it appears that the saga may be far from over.

The new batteries may no longer be a fire hazard, but follow-up reports from customers who have received replacement Galaxy Note7 units in South Korea reveal that they come with their own set of issues.

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Another day, another development in the Galaxy Note7 recall. This time, Samsung indicates that it is making good progress getting US customers to turn in their affected units, after a report by Apteligent released earlier this month revealed consistent usage rates following the recall program's introduction.

Samsung says that it has exchanged "about half" of the Galaxy Note7 units that it has sold in the US. The company has already shipped 500,000 safe devices in the country, and is believed to have sold around one million units before the recall news broke.

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App marketers will lose up to $100 million in 2016 due to mobile app install and engagement advertising fraud according to a new study.

The research from mobile analytics company AppsFlyer shows that the losses come from fraudulent click data, paid installs from fraudulent devices, and fraudulent and simulated in-app events.

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We have heard lots of stories about exploding Galaxy Note7 devices, but how many of them are actually true? In another episode of the Galaxy Note7 recall saga, Samsung has revealed that it has received multiple false reports from consumers claiming that their new smartphone caught fire, suggesting that, perhaps, there are fewer destroyed units in the wild than we have been lead to believe.

Samsung says that it has dealt with 26 such reports from alleged Galaxy Note7 owners, and that in 12 cases it has been unable to find an issue with those devices. What about the rest of the claims?

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OnePlus has done a fantastic job with its latest "flagship killer". The OnePlus 3 is an awesome smartphone not just because of its impressive hardware but also its software, which has received constant attention since launch. OnePlus has released a significant number of updates so far, which have noticeably improved the user experience. The latest official build to see the light of day is OxygenOS 3.2.6.

The "sizable" OxygenOS 3.2.6 OTA update, which is rolling out now, addresses certain issues, improves different features of the Android distribution, and adds new options. It also packs the latest security patches from Google, released in September.

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