Facebook has 50% of the social media active user market. Did you know Google+ is second with 25%. YouTube and twitter are next up with the others all trailing behind.
There is growth in all these areas too. Google has managed to slip into second place by its integration with your gmail and other google services.
Rather clever strategy if you ask me.
Now that both of these companies are offering search and Facebook is teaming up with Bing, Facebook is deciding to not allow Google access to its data.
No surprises here and as this battle for search intensifies I reckon more conflict will arise. And what happens if Facebook bring out their own mobile phone in competition with android.
This could be one interesting battle.
At the moment there are two operating systems in the lead, iOS and android. The iPhone is a 4 inch pocketable powerhouse. The size appeals to the vast the majority. What it isn’t is a compromise.
On android the top android manufacturer is Samsung. Their strategy is large screens. Take the Note and Note 2. The S3 is huge. But then they make the S3 Mini and scale down the components. Why can’t android make a top flight phone that isn’t around the 5 inch mark.
So if Google went hell for leather and made a state of the art 4 inch android phone, then Apple might have a real nightmare.
I hear some of you say, what about the new Blackberry Z10 or HTC Windows 8S. These are both around the 4 inch mark and probably are helping draw crowds in to them because they are not Goliath phones but manageable handsets. Actually I like both of these for the comfort and fit in the hand.
What do you think? Should there be a top end 4 inch android or should everything top end be around 5 inches?
If you thought the last case was extreme, let me introduce you to the Lunatik Taktik Extreme case.
This features protection from impact, drops and screen damage as well as water and dust ingression. Featuring an industry-first Corning® Gorilla® Glass Impact Lens For Screen Protection, High Impact Ballistic Bezels, 9mm Patent-Pending Impact Truss, Water + Dust Resistant Membranes, Sealed Audio & Charging Ports, Secure Screw Closure, Direct Access To All iPhone 5 Ports & Features and a neat Ringer Silencer Switch.
To give you an idea of the protection, check out the photos below. All this for $125.
So you think you have seen the case of all cases. Well check out the Lifeproof fre iPhone 5 case with the optional lifejacket.
The Lifeproof case without the lifejacket claims to be the thinnest Lifeproof case. The design of the case boosts the sound through the case’s ports. The full specs are –
Dimensions: 5.4” x 2.6” x 0.5” / 137.5 mm x 67.1 mm x 12.2 mm*
Weight: 1.05 oz / 29.8 g
Water Proof: Fully submergible to 6.6’ / 2 m for 30 minutes
Dirt Proof: Sealed from dirt & dust particles – meets or exceeds IP-68 Ingress Protection Rating
Snow Proof: Sealed from snow & ice – meets or exceeds IP-68 Ingress Protection Rating
Shock Proof:Withstands drops from 6.6’ / 2 m – meets or exceeds MIL STD 810F-516
And if that’s not enough, just add the lifejacket as shown below.
Uswitch has just released data for January showing that the iPhone 5 ranked 7th in the UK.
In first place was the Samsung Galaxy S3, then the mid-range Samsung Galaxy Ace and thenSamsung Galaxy S2, all outselling Apple’s flagship handset.
In a surprising turn, Nokia’s Symbian-based Nokia 100 and C2-01 were in fourth and fifth place, ahead of the Windows Phone-running Lumia 800 and 610 – which were eighth and ninth respectively.
LG’s Google Nexus 4 phone also topped the iPhone by taking finishing sixth in overall sales, according to uSwitch.
Maybe the iPhone 5’s high price is damaging sales, in other words price does count especially as the S3 is cheaper and does more in some ways. In addition, UK shops and pushing Samsung as the better phone over the iPhone.
Whichever way the cookie crumbles, competition is healthy.
So yesterday I was out looking to see the new Z10. Every single mobile phone shop had a demo out on display. All the network shops and all the independents. I have even seen it in white. That’s a great colour for the Z10.
So in preparation I watched a number of YouTube videos so I knew how to use the phone. And then there is the big but. Every single Z10 in every store was locked in some demo retail mode. The demo retail mode was limited and didn’t allow you to flow between screens and applications as you would in the real world. You were forced to do what it wanted you to do, and that was really sluggish.
So what can I tell you. It looked good. The screen was excellent. The keyboard was clever. There is a learning curve with the predictions but I quickly picked it up. The Hub looked good, and everything else seemed clever in concept as I didn’t get to use it properly.
What I did observe was people trying to use it, and walking away, commenting it is too difficult to use.
To add insult to injury, none of the stores had the password to exit the demo mode.
Why would you buy something brand new if you can’t road test it properly?
The Bowers & Wilkins AM-1 is the latest speaker which is able to weather rain and snow and other conditions. Apparently it is also rust proof and is mountable.
It should cost around £250. This seems like the perfect speaker for gale force winds and rain on Dartmoor.
Marco Arment, the developer of Instapaper, has drawn up a mock image of what a 5 inch iphone would look like, more specifically it would be 4.94 inches.
Marco Arment used the resolutions of the iPad and iPhone to arrive at 4.94 inch screen. The photo below shows how a larger iPhone would compare to other devices. The bezel would be thinner.
I am not sure Apple will release a large iPhone this year, but whether they do is anyone’s guess, until it actually happens.
I really hope they do produce something larger, and with iOS 7 offering something fresher on the look of notifications and the status bar. A new home screen look too.
Following a discussion with my twitter friends Trevor and Donald, I learnt something new about the iPad keyboard.
I knew you can split the keyboard by pulling your thumbs apart from the middle, but you can, float or dock the keyboard too. Press and hold on the bottom right keyboard key and you will get a few more options.
As per screen shot below.
