Samsung has reported its earnings for Q4 2014, in which the company has managed to make operating profit of 5.29 trillion won ($4.9 billion) for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, down 27% from 8.31 trillion won compared to the same quarter last year. It has reported net profit of 5.35 trillion won ($4.9 billion) on revenues of 52.73 trillion won ($48.6 billion), down 10% compared to the same quarter last year, up 11% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
In the mobile sector, it has reported revenues of 25.02 trillion won, up 6% compared to 23.52 trillion won in the previous quarter. Considering the whole financial year of 2014, sales in mobile sector is down by 21% and profits were down nearly 40% in IM compared to FY '13. Revenue in Device Solutions (DS) Division increased due to solid demand for memory products and an increase in 20-nanometer mobile application processor (AP) supply, said the company.
IT & Mobile Communications (IM) Division recovered some earning due to increased sales of high-end products, such as the Galaxy Note 4, and more efficient management of marketing expenditures said Samsung. In IM Division it will focus on the successful implementation of its new product line-up strategy. It will move ...
Samsung has reported its earnings for Q4 2014, in which the company has managed to make operating profit of 5.29 trillion won ($4.9 billion) for the quarter ended September 30, 2014, down 27% from 8.31 trillion won compared to the same quarter last year. It has reported net profit of 5.35 trillion won ($4.9 billion) on revenues of 52.73 trillion won ($48.6 billion), down 10% compared to the same quarter last year, up 11% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ).
In the mobile sector, it has reported revenues of 25.02 trillion won, up 6% compared to 23.52 trillion won in the previous quarter. Considering the whole financial year of 2014, sales in mobile sector is down by 21% and profits were down nearly 40% in IM compared to FY '13. Revenue in Device Solutions (DS) Division increased due to solid demand for memory products and an increase in 20-nanometer mobile application processor (AP) supply, said the company.
IT & Mobile Communications (IM) Division recovered some earning due to increased sales of high-end products, such as the Galaxy Note 4, and more efficient management of marketing expenditures said Samsung. In IM Division it will focus on the successful implementation of its new product line-up strategy. It will move ...
LG Electronics has reported revenues of 15.27 trillion won (US$ 14.06 billion) in Q4 2014 that ended December 31st, 2014, an increase of 4.9% compared to the same quarter last year with operating profit of 275.1 billion (US$ 253.31 million), an increase of 28 percent from the same period the previous year. Net profit for the fourth quarter showed a net loss of 205.7 billion won (US$ 189.41 million) primarily due to the write-off resulting from the closure of LG’s plasma TV operations, said the company.
For the complete financial year of 2014, LG reported a net profit of 501.40 billion won (US$ 474.81 million), a 125% increase compared to 2013. Operating profit was at 1.83 trillion won (US$ 1.73 billion), an increase of 46% YoY. Mobile Communications sector reported a quarterly revenue of 3.78 trillion won (US$ 3.48 billion) , a 5% increase compared to the same quarter in 2013 with annual revenues of 15.06 trillion won (US$ 14.26 billion), a 16% increase compared to 2013 due to increase in sales in North America region, which saw 5.7 million smartphone sales, a 78% increase YoY.
It shipped 15.6 million smartphones in the quarter, slightly less than 16.8 million in the previous ...
Renders of the second generation Moto E has surfaced online. Android Police has got hold of these images that shows a smartphone with a similar design of the Moto E that runs Android 5.0 (Lollipop). This doesn't have a front-facing speaker, but has a front-facing camera that was not present in the first generation Moto E. The rear camera doesn't have a flash, but the phone has a secondary microphone next to the camera.
According to earlier rumors, the new Moto E is expected to sport a 4.5-inch qHD (960×540 pixels) display, powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 400 processor and 1GB of RAM. Hope it comes with an auto focus camera since the first generation Moto E only had a fixed-focus camera. Other specifications are not available yet.
Since the renders are out, the second generation Moto E is expected to be announced officially in coming weeks.
Xiaomi is putting all its forces together towards being the leading smartphone maker in India. A latest report from PTI is stating that the Chinese smartphone maker will start selling smartphones from its own portal in the country.
The report said that Xiaomi will launch its website ‘Mi.com’ in India in the latter part of the year. At present, Xiaomi uses Flipkart to sell its devices in India and will continue its association with it. The company sells devices via its own websites in most of the countries where it operates except for India and Indonesia. Yesterday, another PTI report revealed that Xiaomi is looking forward to set up its first R&D unit in Bangalore, India.
"We are currently looking for warehousing and logistics partners in India, as well as deciding on a payment mechanisms like cash on delivery. It may take anywhere between three to nine months,"
Xiaomi India Head Manu Jain told PTI.
Xiaomi launched Mi4 smartphone in India yesterday for Rs 19,999. The Chinese company became the third largest smartphone maker in the world as its total shipment reached 17.3 million units, as per IDC report in October.
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YU today announced that it has sold 10,000 units of YU YURKA smartphones in just 3 seconds in the third flash sale on Amazon.in. It sold 15,000 units of Yureka smartphones in 4 seconds in its second flash sale last week. Next sale is scheduled for next Thursday, February 5th at 2PM. Registrations for the next sale will begin at 5PM today on Amazon. Users will have to register to participate in the weekly flash sale and registrations of previous sales will not be valid for future sales, said the company.
YU had already promised to increase the number of units gradually. It has announced that it will put almost double the amount of devices for sale in the month of February. We are yet to hear the the exact number of units that will go on sale on February 5th.
The website did not crash today, but most who tried did not even even get a chance to enter the waitlist since it was already full in seconds. Did you try to get the YU Yureka in today’s sale? How was your experience? Let us know in the comments sections below. Check out our YU YUREKA review, if you planning to buy one.
Motorola has announced that it has sold 3 million Motorola smartphones in India till date. This includes all the Motorola smartphones in Moto G and Moto X series and Moto E. Back in November 2014 Flipkart announced that it sold 2.5 million smartphones in India. It took about 2 months for the company to sell half a million smartphones.
Motorola shipped 6.5 million smartphones globally in Q1 2014. It sold 1 million smartphones in the first five months of launch and the number increased to 1.6 million in September. Last year Lenovo completed Motorola acquisition for $2.91 billion, which made Motorola Mobility officially a part of Lenovo. Motorola will co-exist with Lenovo in India, but both will remain independent of each other, said Amit Boni, General Manager, Motorola.
At the press event Motorola also announced that it will set up first exclusive Motorola customer experience zones in Bangalore that would offer the customers a hands-on feel of Motorola smartphones, but it would continue the sale on Flipkart. It also plans to open the experience zones in other metros later.
Sony and Spotify have teamed up to bring a new music streaming service that is dubbed as PlayStation Music. The latest service will replace the existing Sony Music Unlimited service.
The PlayStation Music service will roll out in 41 countries initially and will be available to users of PlayStation consoles and Sony Xperia smartphones and tablets. Unfortunately, as Spotify has not yet entered Inda, the PlayStation Music service will not be coming to the country. Users will be able to link their Spotify and PlayStation Network accounts, allowing them to pay for Spotify through your PSN wallet. It will work for the PlayStation 3 and PS4 consoles, and PS4 owners can listen to their Spotify music while playing games.
Spotify’s 30 million-track library and 1.5 billion playlists will then be available to PlayStation Music users. Sony said Music Unlimited will go offline March 29 in all 19 countries in which it is currently offered. Existing PlayStation Music subscribers who have an active subscription as of February 28, 2015, will get a free 30-day extension through to the closing date, and will also get a special Spotify Premium trial offer when the new service launch.
source | via
Meizu has announced Meizu m1, the company’s latest budget smartphone in China. It has a 5-inch (1280 x 768 pixels) IPS display, is powered by a 1.5 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6732 64-bit processor with ARM Cortex-A53 64-bit CPUs and Mali-T760 GPU and runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat-based Flyme OS. It has a 13-megapixel rear camera with LED flash and a 5-megapixel front-facing camera.
It does't have dual SIM support, but comes with 4G TD-LTE connectivity. It packs 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage with expansion slot and a 2610mAh battery.
Meizu m1 specifications
5-inch (1280 x 768 pixels) IPS display with 300ppi pixel density
1.5 GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6732 64-bit processor with 500 MHz Mali-T760 MP2 GPU
1GB RAM, 8GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 128GB via micro SD
Flyme OS based on Android 4.4 (KitKat)
13MP rear camera with LED flash, f/2.2 aperture
5MP front-facing camera with OmniVision OV560 sensor, f/2.0 aperture, 69-degree wide-angle lens
Dimensions: 140.2x 72.1 x 8.9mm; Weight 128g
4G TD-LTE / 3G HSPA+, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS
2610mAh built-in battery
The Meizu m1 comes in Peppermint Green, Yellow, Pink, Blue and White colors and is priced at 699 Yuan (US$112 / Rs. 6,880 approx.) in China. It will be available for pre-order from T mall in China starting February 5th. No word on the global roll out yet.
We have seen too many reports on the specs and features of the Galaxy S6. Now a latest one from SamMobile is stating that Galaxy S6 and S Edge will be compatible with Samsung Gear VR headset.
The report states that it has confirmed from it sources that both the devices will allow users to use the VR headset and enjoy the experience. At present the Samsung Gear VR works only with the Galaxy Note 4 and not the Note Edge but the report said that it will support the S Edge that is expected to have curved display on both the sides.
The Note 4 has a 5.7 inch display while the the upcoming Galaxy S6 and S Edge are expected to sport a 5.1 inch screen. Hence, it is speculated that either both the devices will have a larger screen or Samsung might release a VR adapter for the two handsets, or it could be readying a smaller variant of the headset. Currently, information about the matter is scarce.
When touchscreens happened, the keys disappeared, and suddenly, we had a lot of sleek devices, telling us science fiction-to-fruition is indeed possible. It was simple, you didn't need depth for even the thinnest of keyboards and it was just a screen and glass on top of other complicated electronics. So, then thinning of the other parts and refinement of the glass (did you know, Gorilla Glass 2 had a 20% reduction in thickness vs 1?) were the subsequent steps to get the slimmest device possible, and it seems the Chinese have broken new ground.
The Oppo R5 was overshadowed by the flagship N3 at its launch event, yet it managed to stand out, primarily because of breaking new ground in thinness. It was, at launch, the world's slimmest smartphone, an engineering achievement. Vivo might have quickly leapfrogged Oppo with a thinner (4.75mm vs 4.85mm) X5 max, which had a 3.5mm headphone jack, to much of everyone's surprise. Even then, the R5 still remains one of the most shockingly thin devices ever made. Hence, it comes with a price tag that makes you wonder if the thinness, in an otherwise mid-range smartphone, is really worth the money.
The Oppo R5 is really thin, ...
Samsung has patented a new solution for saving and transferring your home-screen designs from one device to another. The company is aiming at making the transfer simple and easy.
The main aim of the solution is to save the users from the tedious process of installing the apps and setting them up as per your liking. Users can select from a number of saved home-screen setups and use them according to their needs. As the service will work on cloud, the two handsets do not need to be physically next to each other.
Home launcher apps like Nova launcher, Apex launcher and others offer the option of backing up your home screens in case of a change of the handset. The home screen sharing feature will mostly be restricted to Samsung devices but again there can be other possibilities as well.
source
Microsoft Office for Android tablet has come out of preview phase after three months. Word, Excel and Powerpoint can now be downloaded for Android tablets.
The Office apps will work on a Android 4.4 KitKat tablet with screen size of 7 to 10.1 inches, greater than 1GB RAM as well as an ARM CPU. The apps work similar to the iOS version and allows you to create and edit documents, presentations and spreadsheets that will sync with OneDrive so you can work from anywhere.
Microsoft first introduced the preview version of Office for Android tablets last November. The company has mentioned that the apps are not yet optimized for Lollipop, and that support for the latest version of the OS will be improved in future updates. Microsoft says the iPhone and iPad versions of Office have been downloaded more than 80 million times worldwide. Also, the preview generated more than 2,50,000 downloads of the Word, Excel and PowerPoint apps across 33 languages and more than 110 countries.
Play Link - Word, Excel and PowerPoint
Samsung launched the Galaxy E Series smartphones in India earlier this month. Priced at Rs. 19,300, the Galaxy E5 is a bit cheaper than the Galaxy E7 that costs Rs. 23,000. The design language of the E series is similar to the A series, including a uni-body design, but these don’t have all metal build. Check out the unboxing below.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfwZ8UvSqLQ
Box Contents
Samsung Galaxy E5 smartphone in White
In-ear earphone with microphone
SIM ejector tool
2-pin wall charger
micro USB cable
Quick Start Guide and warranty information
The Galaxy E5 has a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD Super AMOLED display. It is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 processor and runs on Android 4.4.4 (KitKat) out of the box, similar to other A and E series smartphones. There is a 5MP front-facing camera, again in all the A series and E series smartphones.
It features a 8-megapixel rear camera with LED flash, compared to a 13-megapixel camera on the Galaxy E7. It has the same uni-body design, but this has a slightly smaller 2400mAh battery. It 7.3mm thick, similar to the E7 and has 3G HSPA+ connectivity. It has 1.5GB RAM, 16GB internal storage that is expandable up to 64GB with microSD. It also has hybrid dual SIM feature that lets the secondary slot be ...
Samsung launched the Galaxy A5 smartphone with all metal build and 4G connectivity in India earlier this month for Rs. 25,550. We already brought you the unboxing, photo gallery, benchmarks and the battery test results, here we have the camera samples. The Galaxy A5 has a 13-megapixel sensor with f/2.0 aperture. It has several modes such as HDR, panorama, shot & more, Rear-cam selfie, beauty face and more.
Images were sharp with vibrant color output. Macro shots were good too, but low-light images had a lot of noise obviously. Check out the camera samples below (Click the image to view the full resolution sample).
Daylight
Macro
HDR
[caption id="attachment_129948" align="alignnone" width="574"] HDR OFF[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_129949" align="alignnone" width="574"] HDR ON[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_129950" align="alignnone" width="574"] HDR OFF[/caption]
[caption id="attachment_129951" align="alignnone" width="574"] HDR ON[/caption]
Low Light and Flash
It can record videos at 1080p resolution at 30fps, however it doesn't support slow motion support like the Galaxy Alpha. Check out the 1080p video sample.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfXhr3urLyI
We will be bringing you the complete review of the smartphone soon.
Samsung launched the Galaxy E5 smartphone in India for Rs 19,300 earlier this month. The phone has a uni-body design and is another device from company's E series of smartphone. We have already seen the unboxing of the phone, now lets take a look at the hardware of the phone in this photo gallery.
The Galaxy E5 has a 5-inch (1280 x 720 pixels) HD Super AMOLED display and is powered by a 1.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 410 64-bit processor. Running on Android KitKat 4.4.4, it has a 1.5GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage and expandable up to 64GB with microSD.
The phone has a 5MP front facing camera along with the proximity and ambient light sensors.
At the bottom, the phone has a the traditional home button that is seen on Samsung devices along with the capacitive touch buttons on either sides.
On the right side of the phone there are primary nano SIM slot, a hybrid SIM / microSD slot and a power button.
The volume rockers are present on the left side. The phone measures 141.6 x 70.2 x 7.3mm.
Micro USB port, 3.5mm audio jack and primary microphone are situated at the bottom.
At the back, the phone has 8MP camera with LED flash ...
The global smartphone shipments surpassed 1.3 billion units in the year 2014, as per a latest report from IDC. The research firm had predicted in 2013 that smartphone shipments will cross the 1 billion unit milestone.
According to the IDC report, smartphone vendors shipped a total of 375.2 million units during the fourth quarter of 2014 (4Q14), resulting in 28.2% growth when compared to the 292.7 million units shipped in 4Q13 and 11.9% sequential growth above the 335.3 million units shipped in 3Q14. For the full year, the worldwide smartphone market saw a total of 1,301.1 million units shipped, up 27.6% from the 1,019.4 million units shipped in 2013.
"That the worldwide smartphone market grew by 27.6% in 2014 is noteworthy, but it also represents a significant slowdown compared to 2013. Mature markets have become increasingly dependent on replacement purchases rather than first-time buyers, which has contributed to slower growth. In emerging markets, first-time buyers continue to provide a lot of market momentum, but the focus has shifted toward low-cost devices, creating a different dynamic for both global and local vendors. What remains to be seen is how the vendors beyond Samsung and Apple will assert themselves. With Lenovo acquiring Motorola, and Xiaomi having ...
Ever since its entry to the Indian market, Xiaomi and its products have been the talk of the town. The Chinese smartphone manufacturer couldn't have asked for a better start with the company managing to sell more than 1 million units in just a few months from the time they began their operations.
The latest war horse from Xiaomi is the Redmi Note 4G. As the name suggests the Note 4G is basically the LTE variant of the original Redmi Note. However, the company has changed the processor of the device and has gone with a Qualcomm chipset for the 4G variant. Since there’s a significant change under-the-hood, we decided to take the device for a spin and check if it’s any different from the original MediaTek model.
Unboxing
Just like most of the Xiaomi smartphones, the Redmi Note 4G also comes with an eco-friendly packaging. The retail box is very minimalistic and has a natural simple look.
Opening the package, you are welcomed by the phablet itself and if you dig deeper you will find some paperwork, A/C adapter, microUSB cable and a battery.
We had recorded the unboxing of the original Redmi Note and you can find ...
Videocon has launched Infinium Z40Q Star and Infinium Z50Q Star, two new budget Android smartphones in the Infinium series. The Infinium Z40Q Star has a 4-inch WVGA, while the Infinium Z50Q Star comes with a 5-inch FWVGA display. Both these smartphones are powered by a 1.2 GHz quad-core SoC and run on Android 4.4 (KitKat). The Z50Q Star appeared on the official website earlier this month.
Commenting on the launch, Jerold Pereira, CEO, Videocon Mobile Phones, said:
In line up to the ongoing Digital Revolution in the country, Videocon is determined to introduce consumer-focused devices which are high on style and cost-effectiveness. With our superb smartphone range, we ensure that the varied needs of new-age smartphone users are being fulfilled indigenously. Videocon Mobile Phones in support to the 'Digital India' campaign will continue to bring the latest software innovation at cost-effective pricing and provide smartphone technology to every hand in the country.
Videocon Infinium Z40Q Star
4-inch (800 x 480 pixels) capacitive touch screen display
1.2 GHz quad-core processor
512MB RAM, 4GB internal memory, expandable memory up to 32GB with microSD
Android 4.4 (KitKat)
Dual SIM
5MP rear camera with LED Flash
VGA front-facing camera
3.5mm audio jack, FM Radio
3G, WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth, GPS
1500mAh battery
Videocon Infinium Z50Q Star
5-inch (854 x 480 pixels) capacitive touch ...
OnePlus has announced that it will call its own ROM OxygenOS. The company has zeroed in the name after receiving thousands of suggestions from the fans. The OxygenOS will be open, customizable, and free of bloat and unnecessary features, said the company.
Few months back OnePlus announced that it would offer own builds for the OnePlus One smartphones in India and the first community build will be available starting December, with the final build ready by February 2015. It even released the Alpha version of the ROM based on Android 5.0 (Lollipop) few weeks back, as promised.
Regarding the upcoming ROM, OnePlus on their official forum, said:
When we designed the One, we went back to the drawing board, creating a smartphone that offers a bold, powerful, straight-forward experience. And, that’s exactly what we plan to do with our ROM.
OxygenOS ROM will be used in global markets, and H2OS will be used for the Chinese market, said the company. OnePlus has promised to reveal more information about the OxygenOS on February 12th.
Samsung will trim down TouchWiz by removing bloatware apps for its upcoming devices, according to a report from SamMobile. TouchWiz is Samsung's own software that is present over Android.
The report said that Samsung is removing most add-ons to TouchWiz that can be reconfigured as downloadable apps. It will only keep those stand-alone applications, which would normally be on the handset right out of the box and traditionally need to be updated. Samsung's aim is to offer these extra apps to customers who want them and not force them. Hence apps like Story Album, S Voice and others should see downloadable options.
The latest report comes at time when it is touted that Galaxy S6 will have a toned down version of TouchWiz. Yesterday, a report stated that Samsung Galaxy S6 and S Edge will be compatible with Gear VR support.
