Manufacturers of smartphones shipped an astonishing 157.8 million units in the fourth quarter 2011 as compared to 102 million units during the same period in the prior year. Apple held 23.5 percent of the share in the smartphone segment and Samsung were placed second with a 22.8 percent share.

Many analysts and industry experts firmly believe that 2012 is going to be a battle between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android platforms. Apple and Google’s android platforms will constantly take on each other with their line of products. Analysts point out that Nokia’s ambitions with Windows smartphones will be a futile battle.

Every manufacturer has had to deal with consumer’s manic craze for Apple products. And now, news that is making rounds on tech websites and social media is sending jitters down the spine of manufacturers. This time around tech analysts reveal Apple is soon going to start making the world’s favorite gadget, the TV.

Longtime Apple enthusiast and Tech analyst Gene Munster has revealed that major television component makers have been in continuous talks with Apple in regard with its future display components. The TV market is already established with a number of manufacturers offering high end products. However, knowing Apple’s reign over customers one can safely say that TV manufacturers have already begun biting their nails. Is Apple TV going to take the world by storm?

News about a highly tuned version of IE10Mobile that supports the newest web technologies and SkyDrive integration that makes it easy for users to backup data to cloud servers is garnering all the required hype and attention on various tech websites and social media networks.

Another feature in the Windows Phone 8 that is being talked about is DataSmart. New lens apps and filter improvements will make a user’s camera experience memorable.  The security features and sensors on the Windows Phone 8 Apollo are expected to be out of this world. Await the Windows Phone 8; it will change your world.

An item that is dumped in thrash by most Americans is the cell phone. If you have old cell phones laptops, tablets, desktops, or other devices lying around the best place to sell them is Gazelle.com. Individuals can get paid for various gadgets and electronic goods in accordance with the condition of the item. A number of individuals around the world dump old music, movies and games in trash bins. If you have music, games and movies lying around sell them on sites and get paid good money. Sites such as SecondSpin.com, CashForCds.com and Spun.com pay for used CDs and DVDs.

Although Apple has done exceedingly well in 2011, they cannot afford to rest on their laurels. Google’s Android yet holds a major share in the smartphone and tablet market and that should be a cause of concern for Apple in the future. It’s a known fact that more than half the smartphone customers in the U.S. prefer Android over Apple.

And the trend seems to be catching up in various parts of Europe and Asia as well. Although Apple and Google’s Android lead the pack in smartphone and tablet sales one cannot make pin point consumer preferences and market trends of the future. Although RIM and Microsoft’s Windows phone have taken a severe hammering you cannot rule them out in future market trends.

But as of now, for the first quarter  of 2012, Apple's iOS has beaten Google's Android. According to Good Technology, "Because there are so many different Android devices in the market today, there is no clear leader among them. However, Android OS devices did claim the last four slots on the Top 10 devices. In addition to the Motorola Droid, the Samsung Galaxy SII, Google Nexus, and Sprint Evo 4G rounded out the top 10 with 1.1, 0.9, and 0.8 percent of activations, respectively. The Sprint (NYSE:S) Evo 4G was the only device that showed up on past quarterly device activation reports. The long tail of Android devices made up the remaining 16.1 percent of device activations for the quarter."

Although the images that have surfaced on the web will make any high resolution sucker throw up in disgust, they are clear enough to indicate the soon-to-emerge Samsung smartphone may have a 4.7 inch display as disclosed earlier on various tech websites. The Verge throws in its bit of spice reporting the next Samsung offering may not be called Galaxy S III as mentioned on Samsung’s invite for May 3. All we can say is….huh!

Press Release

Samsung’s New Quad-Core Application Processor Drives Advanced Feature Sets in Smartphones and Tablets

Designed on 32nm HKMG process, new energy-efficient chip exceeds 1.4GHz per core

SEOUL, Korea–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., a world leader in advanced semiconductor solutions, today introduced the industry’s first quad-core application processor built on the High-k Metal Gate (HKMG) low-power process technology. With unprecedented performance capabilities exceeding 1.4GHz based on the ARM® CORTEXTM A9 quad-core, the powerful, yet energy-efficient Exynos 4 Quad, allows system-level architects to integrate maximized power efficiencies into smartphones and tablets which enables double the processing power at a 20 percent lower power bill over its predecessor, the 45nm process-based Exynos 4 Dual.

“The quad-core processor offers phenomenal multitasking abilities surpassing any single or dual application processor. Since all the cores must share a single battery, the power management and efficiency in the limited battery capacity are indispensable for mobile computing devices,” said Taehoon Kim, vice president of System LSI marketing, Device Solutions, Samsung Electronics. “Given the diverse functionalities consumers are demanding from their mobile devices today, the Exynos 4 Quad meets those high-performance needs while keeping power consumption very low.”

Multi-core processing delivers enhanced performance, enabling users to accomplish more tasks in a shorter period of time. For example, a task such as streaming video can run on one core while the other cores update applications in the background, connecting to the web and scanning virus-check simultaneously.

Benefitting from a use case where the parallel processing and workload sharing among the four cores is necessary, the Exynos 4 Quad is particularly well-suited for heavy-load applications such as 3D games, video editing, and calculation-intensive simulation.

Due to its 32nm HKMG low-power process and power-saving design, the Exynos 4 Quad has two times the processing capability over the 45nm process based Exynos 4 Dual while consuming 20-percent less power. To improve power efficiency, Samsung adopted hot-plug functionality to support on-off switching for each core as well as the per-core dynamic voltage and frequency scaling (DVFS), which offers a dramatic reduction in power consumption by adapting different levels of voltage and frequency when changing workloads.

Having identical form factor measurements (12mm X 12mm X 1.37 mm), the Exynos 4 Quad is pin-to-pin compatible with the 32nm process based Exynos 4 Dual, allowing mobile device designers to immediately adopt the new solution without additional cost, engineering or design efforts.

In addition, the new processor incorporates a full HD 30 frame per second video hardware codec engine for high resolution 1080p video recording and play-back, an embedded image signal processor interface for high-quality camera functionality and an HDMI 1.4 interface for sharp and crisp multimedia content transmission.

Samsung developed a power management IC (PMIC), the S5M8767, as a companion chip to power the Exynos 4 Quad processor. By integrating various circuitry such as nine highly efficient and programmable buck converters and 28 low-dropout regulators (LDOs) into the small package of 5.0 mm x 5.0mm x 0.4mm, the S5M8767 is designed to scale up or down the dynamic voltage depending on the clock speed in 6.25mV step for managing power delivery and maximizing battery life at the system level.

Already in production, the Exynos 4 Quad is scheduled to be adopted first into Samsung’s next Galaxy smartphone that will officially be announced in May. Samsung’s Exynos 4 Quad is also sampling to other major handset makers.

“The application processor is a crucial element in providing our customers with a PC-like experience on mobile devices. Samsung’s next Galaxy device, which will be officially announced soon, offers uncompromised performance and ground breaking multi-tasking features, thanks to Exynos 4 Quad’s powerful performance and efficient energy management technology,” said Hankil Yoon, Senior Vice President of Product Strategy Team, Samsung’s Mobile Communications Business.

Last year, Samsung introduced a new online hub dedicated to its Exynos processor. Designed to facilitate easy communication with industry partners and end users, the new micro-site takes you a step closer to the ultimate experience Exynos delivers; product information, user experience and information on promotion events. More information can be found at http://www.samsung.com/exynos.

Bamboo grows in a tropical environment and is extremely durable. The bamboo mouse and keyboard is aesthetically beautiful and complements both home and office décor. Users of plastic keyboards often complain about letters on keys being erased due to humidity.

Individuals do not have to face such a scenario with the bamboo keyboard. The rubber scroll between the bamboo mouse buttons has a natural bamboo color that blends beautifully with the structure of the mouse. Keyboard has 108 keys. This visually stunning bamboo keyboard and mouse is available at $83 at brando.com.

Finally the long wait is over for Europe. Few days back the Eluga smartphones were released in Germany, and are soon expected to be available all across Europe. This IP57 certified smartphone features Power VR SGX540 GPU with TI OMAP 4430 chipset technology featuring a 1 GHz dual core processor. It has an 8mp camera, a 4.3 inch OLED HD screen and 8GB storage that is not expandable. The device runs on Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

The Eluga is available for Euros 440. If you want to get your hands on the Eluga Power smartphone that has a 5 inch high- definition display, 1.5GHz Dual Core Krait, Adreno 225 and Android 4.0ICS, you will have to wait till end of May. Several sellers have already started taking pre orders at Euros 585.

Reports from China, Korea, U.S. and remote regions that dwell in the backdrop of guns and grenades suggest a 7.86 inch tablet from the Apple camp, dubbed the mini iPad is in the making. Apple does want to increase its market share in the tablet and smartphone segment but would they take a road less traveled.

It’s a known fact that Steve Jobs had a clear vision and mission for Apple. A year before he died Steve Jobs had publicly ridiculed with contemptuous mirth, the possibility of a mini iPad making it its way. Is all respect lost? Ideals, Principles, Ethics, seem in a flush to clean up competition. Morbid conformity to gain stronghold was certainly not Steve Job’s vision.

Adding to the enthusiasm is the fact that a free sim is being packed along with the new Xperia P. Every seller is also throwing in their free add-ons on purchase of this smartphone. The price does vary with every seller depending on the package offered. Individuals can pre- order the new Xperia P at Clove for 330 pounds.

At Mobile Fun this smartphone is being offered at a price of 379 pounds. Expansays too is accepting pre-order bookings. Here you can purchase the smartphone for 339 pounds. The new Xperia P has a 4 inch display with a 540 x 960 pixel resolution. It has an 8mp camera, Bluetooth, WI-FI, 16 GB storage space, 1 GB Ram, and is equipped with a 1GHz dual core processor. The aesthetic aluminum body has a smooth finish that complements the handset design.