NPD: Android users chew an average 870MB of cellular data per month, youngest gobble the most

NPD Android users chew an average 870MB of cellular data per month, youngest gobble the most

Ever wonder how much data you burn through every month on average? If you're an Android user within the US, odds are that it's quite a lot. The NPD Group estimates that Americans of the Google persuasion typically consume about 870MB of data on cellular networks every month. While it's not an extreme amount next to the 2.5GB of WiFi usage, it's enough to give anyone second thoughts about coasting on a basic data plan -- and a reflection of how both 4G and media apps have changed our behavior. Not surprisingly, it's a younger crowd more comfortable with smartphones that's the most aggressive: the 18-24 set races through 1.05GB a month where the 55-plus audience uses a more modest (if still healthy) 750MB. We don't yet know how iOS stacks up in current conditions, but the NPD is promising a comparable look soon. Something tells us the iPhone 5's LTE will lead to just as much voraciousness.

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NPD: Android users chew an average 870MB of cellular data per month, youngest gobble the most originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 28 Sep 2012 13:12:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneArena  |  sourceFierceWireless  | Email this | Comments

Onkyo DS-A5 grafts AirPlay on to existing home stereos, docks older iOS gear

Onkyo DSA5 grafts AirPlay on to existing home stereos, docks older iOS gear

Embracing AirPlay has usually involved a wholesale switch in hardware: years of speaker investment go out the window for the sake of skipping a wire. Onkyo doesn't have a problem if you bring your own equipment to the fray. Its new DS-A5 docking station brings Apple's WiFi media streaming to many home stereos, including those of rivals, as long as there's a wired or 802.11g-capable wireless router to feed the connection. Naturally, there's perks if you do live in an Onkyo universe -- any link using its Remote Interactive cable can both wake the stereo through AirPlay as well as control the dock from a traditional remote. About the only oddities are the vintage composite video output and a 30-pin dock for charging iPads, iPhones and iPods, neither of which will be much help if you live on the cutting edge. Onkyo brings the DS-A5 to American shores in October for $199; that's a lot to pay for playing songs from the couch, but it's a sight more affordable than replacing home audio equipment costing multiple times that amount.

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Onkyo DS-A5 grafts AirPlay on to existing home stereos, docks older iOS gear originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 24 Sep 2012 04:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink Akihabara News  |  sourceOnkyo (translated)  | Email this | Comments

iPhone 5 / iOS 6 app update roundup: new versions for a taller world

iPhone 5  iOS 6 app roundup what's big, what's new

Call it a hunch, but we suspect that at least a few of you picked up an iPhone 5 today, or at least made the leap to iOS 6. If you're in either position, you may be wondering just what apps to feed Apple's flagship (or that fresh new firmware) once it's ready to go. We've got a quick-hit list of titles that have been updated to take advantage of the tall display and new OS that go beyond Apple's own work. The biggest upgrades of the lot come from keynote darling CNN as well as Flipboard: both have done more than add extra columns on the iPhone 5, offering an interface you won't see on any mere 3.5-inch iPhone. Some bread-and-butter apps have made the launch week cut as well, such as Facebook and Twitter.

There's even more if you're willing to dig deep. Third-party Twitter client Tweetbot beat the official app to the punch by days, and we've likewise spotted updates to Evernote, its rival Remember the Milk and Yelp. We know some apps aren't fully iPhone 5- or iOS 6-native -- Instagram, for example, and most anything from Google -- but it's apparent that the holdouts are increasingly the exception, rather than the rule. Did you catch any other noteworthy apps that received a boost in recent hours? Let fellow owners know in the comments.

CNN - App Store
Evernote - App Store
Facebook - App Store
Flipboard - App Store
Kindle - App Store
Pulse - App Store
Remember the Milk - App Store
Tweetbot - App Store
Twitter - App Store
Yelp - App Store

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iPhone 5 / iOS 6 app update roundup: new versions for a taller world originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 19:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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German court rules that Motorola, Samsung don’t violate Apple touch event patent

Galaxy S III and iPhone 4S

Motorola and Samsung just caught a break from the law after a few hard knocks. A Mannheim, Germany court has ruled that neither company infringes on an Apple patent covering how an OS responds to and ignores touch events. While we don't yet know the full details, patent lawsuit guru Florian Mueller suggests that the German judge took the same point of view that thwarted Apple's claims in the Netherlands and the UK: the particular patent was just too broad to stick. It's a potentially important win, as a ruling of violation could have led to serious problems with keeping Android-based Motorola and Samsung devices in stores; other patents are more easily circumvented. However, it's still something of a Pyrrhic victory for a pair of companies that have lately been facing the threat of near-term bans and steep damages.

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German court rules that Motorola, Samsung don't violate Apple touch event patent originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceFOSS Patents  | Email this | Comments

Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple’s and Google’s, politely suggests it comes out on top

Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top

You might have noticed a brouhaha over map accuracy in iOS 6. Nokia undoubtedly did, as it's using the iPhone 5 launch to remind us that its strategy has been all about location lately. The crew in Espoo has pitted Nokia Maps from the Lumia 920 against both Apple's equivalent as well as Google Maps -- and to no one's surprise, Nokia's own platform comes out on top. In practice, it's a relatively frank comparison that doesn't try to win on every point. Nokia tends to use a liberal definition of the term "3D" that includes augmented reality, but it's otherwise willing to emphasize its advantages in offline mapping and the sheer scope of its mapping coverage. Apple's very young mapping effort struggles, while Nokia is willing to accept that it doesn't have as much traffic coverage as Google. There is, however, the slight problem of the Lumia 920 not yet shipping: unless you've been blessed with a prototype of the Windows Phone 8 device, Apple and Google are the only ones that have their latest navigation software on a phone you can actually buy. Hit the source for the full, very tall chart as well as a few sly jabs at Nokia's competitors.

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Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AllThingsD  |  sourceConversations by Nokia  | Email this | Comments

Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple’s and Google’s, politely suggests it comes out on top

Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top

You might have noticed a brouhaha over map accuracy in iOS 6. Nokia undoubtedly did, as it's using the iPhone 5 launch to remind us that its strategy has been all about location lately. The crew in Espoo has pitted Nokia Maps from the Lumia 920 against both Apple's equivalent as well as Google Maps -- and to no one's surprise, Nokia's own platform comes out on top. In practice, it's a relatively frank comparison that doesn't try to win on every point. Nokia tends to use a liberal definition of the term "3D" that includes augmented reality, but it's otherwise willing to emphasize its advantages in offline mapping and the sheer scope of its mapping coverage. Apple's very young mapping effort struggles, while Nokia is willing to accept that it doesn't have as much traffic coverage as Google. There is, however, the slight problem of the Lumia 920 not yet shipping: unless you've been blessed with a prototype of the Windows Phone 8 device, Apple and Google are the only ones that have their latest navigation software on a phone you can actually buy. Hit the source for the full, very tall chart as well as a few sly jabs at Nokia's competitors.

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Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AllThingsD  |  sourceConversations by Nokia  | Email this | Comments

Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple’s and Google’s, politely suggests it comes out on top

Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top

You might have noticed a brouhaha over map accuracy in iOS 6. Nokia undoubtedly did, as it's using the iPhone 5 launch to remind us that its strategy has been all about location lately. The crew in Espoo has pitted Nokia Maps from the Lumia 920 against both Apple's equivalent as well as Google Maps -- and to no one's surprise, Nokia's own platform comes out on top. In practice, it's a relatively frank comparison that doesn't try to win on every point. Nokia tends to use a liberal definition of the term "3D" that includes augmented reality, but it's otherwise willing to emphasize its advantages in offline mapping and the sheer scope of its mapping coverage. Apple's very young mapping effort struggles, while Nokia is willing to accept that it doesn't have as much traffic coverage as Google. There is, however, the slight problem of the Lumia 920 not yet shipping: unless you've been blessed with a prototype of the Windows Phone 8 device, Apple and Google are the only ones that have their latest navigation software on a phone you can actually buy. Hit the source for the full, very tall chart as well as a few sly jabs at Nokia's competitors.

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Nokia stacks up its maps next to Apple's and Google's, politely suggests it comes out on top originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 09:02:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AllThingsD  |  sourceConversations by Nokia  | Email this | Comments

iOS 6 becomes 15 percent of Apple mobile device traffic within 24 hours

iOS 6 becomes 15 percent of Apple mobile device traffic within 24 hours

There's been some trepidation among Apple device users over the upgrade to iOS 6 given that it takes away some components while adding others. You wouldn't guess it from the initial upgrade rate, however. Both ChartBoost and Chitika have determined that about 15 percent of iOS data traffic was already coming from Apple's latest release within its first 24 hours of availability -- not bad, considering that it took Android 4.0 roughly eight months to reach a similar ratio and iOS 5 about five days to hit 20 percent. ChartBoost adds that iPhone owners were the quickest to upgrade, which is only logical when the iPhone 4S gets the most new features. The contrast between Android and iOS was entirely expected, knowing Apple's limited hardware pool and reduced carrier oversight. We're more interested in the differences between iOS versions: they suggest that whatever advantages people see in iOS 6, as well as a widespread over-the-air update system, have been enough to spur on many early adopters.

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iOS 6 becomes 15 percent of Apple mobile device traffic within 24 hours originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 21 Sep 2012 05:06:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink TechCrunch  |  sourceChartBoost, Chitika  | Email this | Comments

Apple patent application has iPhones text when calls don’t reach spotty coverage areas

Apple patent application has iPhones text when calls don't reach spotty coverage areas

If you're already using Android 4.0 or iOS 6, you're likely familiar with the option to send a pre-made text reply to incoming calls you can't take. But what if it's your own call that won't go through, at no fault of your own? Apple may have that covered through a patent application that could keep the accusations to a minimum. If flaky reception at the destination prevents your call from connecting, the proposed idea has your iPhone automatically send a text message indicating that you've at least tried to get in touch. Recipients with Apple's hardware contribute to their own solution in this world: the message code is a cue to measure the signal strength and flag the location as a weak point in the carrier's network. Whether or not Apple acts on its concept is as much of a mystery as with most other patents, although we're hoping it becomes real. If anything's going to strain a relationship, it shouldn't be dodgy coverage.

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Apple patent application has iPhones text when calls don't reach spotty coverage areas originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 20 Sep 2012 14:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |  sourceUSPTO  | Email this | Comments

Apple updates nearly every app for iOS 6, sneaks in key GarageBand, iPhoto and Podcasts updates

Apple Podcasts app hands-on

If you didn't already know that iOS 6 was out in the wild, Apple just delivered a torrent of mobile app updates to make it perfectly clear. Virtually every app that isn't preloaded now has explicit iOS 6 support to keep it running smoothly, and some of the upgrades are thankfully more than just skin-deep compatibility tweaks. Among the highlights are Podcasts' new subscription list syncing through iCloud, ringtone creation with GarageBand and iPhoto support for 36.5-megapixel image editing on the latest devices -- you know, for that moment you need to tweak Nikon D800 photos on an iPhone 5. We're including direct links to a few of the juicier updates, but we'd recommend checking AppleInsider's comprehensive list to see everything that you're missing.

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Apple updates nearly every app for iOS 6, sneaks in key GarageBand, iPhoto and Podcasts updates originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 19 Sep 2012 18:43:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink AppleInsider  |  sourceApp Store (GarageBand), (iPhoto), (Podcasts)  | Email this | Comments