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Samsung’s S Beam teaches Android a new trick

In opening up its Android operating system, Google ensured one thing: that handset-makers would have the room they needed to dress up Google’s little green OS however they please. With S Beam on the Samsung Galaxy S III, Samsung took a good feature, Android Beam, and made it great. For the uninitiated, Android Beam uses …

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Google exec: “Surface is a very complicated strategy to pull off”

Sundar Pichai, senior vice president of Chrome, speaking at Google I/O in May 2011. Stephen Shankland/CNET Google’s senior vice president of Chrome and Apps, Sundar Pichai, gave Microsoft some credit for innovating with its new Surface platform. “I think form factors need a lot of innovation,” he said in reference to Surface. “It looks like they put serious effort into …

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Google ramping up development of Android Siri rival

Google is accelerating its efforts to beat Apple’s voice-controlled butler Siri, according to the Wall Street Journal. Citing “people familiar with the matter”, the Journal reckons Google is speeding up plans to launch an Android-based Siri competitor, rumoured to be called Google Assistant. Android has featured voice-control tech for ages, letting phone owners bark orders into their mobiles using Voice …

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Samsung Galaxy S III, HTC One X compared

If you’re a loyal AT&T subscriber, love Android, and need a new phone badly, you’ve got a tough choice ahead. Both of today’s hottest handsets, the Samsung Galaxy S III and HTC One X, are yours for the taking. The problem is figuring out which one is a better option. These two superphones are each winners in their own right, …

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Software company hopes to speed up mobile connections

Smith Micro Software, a company that normally stays behind the scenes of mobile service carriers, has released an iOS product that aims to let consumers connect to Wi-Fi in lieu of clogged networks. The company today announced its NetWise SmartSpot tool, which switches users to Wi-Fi when it’s available and switches back to networks when the Wi-Fi is out of …

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Windows Phone 8 upgrade catch may dash Nokia’s U.S. dreams

commentary Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 operating system looks great. Too bad anyone who actually cared enough to buy a Windows Phone over the past two years will be left out in the cold. Microsoft today unveiled Windows Phone 8 and confirmed old phones wouldn’t be able to upgrade to the new version. Chalk it up to another brilliant move by …

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Qualcomm confirms Snapdragon S4 processor for Windows Phone

Support for multi-core processors was one of the biggest pieces of news to come from Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 unveiling today. Qualcomm has just confirmed that it will supply its dual-core Snapdragon S4 Plus chipset to power future Windows phones. The Snapdragon S4 is Qualcomm’s fastest chip to date and goes up to clock speeds of 1.7GHz per core. It …

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Microsoft posts video of Windows Phone Summit

Microsoft took the wraps off Windows Phone 8, the next iteration of its mobile software for smartphones, during the Windows Phone Summit in San Francisco today. Windows Phone 8 promises to get people talking with its hardware implications, mobile payments, and tighter relations to the Windows platform. But if you weren’t one of the few in attendance or just want …

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