Jelly Bean distribution increases, doubles over past month

Tags: Google, Android, Touch UI

The latest Android distribution have been released and things seem to be moving in the right direction. For starters, the Jelly Bean figures have nearly doubled since same time last month, from 6.7 percent to 10.1 percent this month. Unfortunately, it still remains a fairly small number.

Meanwhile, the now outdated Ice Cream Sandwich grew from 27.5 percent to 29.1 percent whereas the now thoroughly outdated Gingerbread dropped from 50.8 percent to 47.6 percent, which is still a massive number whichever way you look at it.

Hopefully, with more and more devices getting the latest update and new devices coming this year, we would see a greater drop in the pre-ICS versions of Android.

Source

Nokia outs performance update for the 808 PureView via PC Suite

Tags: Nokia, Symbian, Touch UI

It's been a while since Nokia last updated its 41MP 808 PureView, but today the Finns are making the cameraphone owners happy with a new firmware release.

Pushing the phone's software to version 113.010.1508, the update is 420MB in size and is available through PC Suite.

Despite its size, the update is described to only bring "improved performance and features". Some people might be disappointed, but the update still counts, as it would reportedly make the phone handle better in day to day use.

To check if your 808 PureView has the update waiting for it, hook it up to your PC, start PC Suite and check for updates.

Source | Via

Samsung acknowledges Galaxy S III sudden death, fix is on the way

Tags: Samsung, Android, Touch UI

Throughout the last two months we've received numerous reports of Galaxy S III smartphones dying unexpectedly, usually overnight. Luckily those users who have experienced this trouble got their Galaxy S III quickly repaired (with replaced motherboards) or replaced altogether by Samsung.

Samsung has now officially acknowledged the issue, confirming to the guys over at Tweekers that a fix is in the works and will be arriving soon.

As it turns out the "sudden death" issue is affecting very small number of Galaxy S III phones with 16GB storage and appears about half a year after the initial activation. The device usually dies overnight while charging or when on long stand-by, or after a reboot.

There is no official information on when exactly Samsung will be ready with the fix, but we guess it will be shortly after the rollout of the 4.1.2 update completes.

Source (in Dutch) | Via

Ubuntu for phones announced, arrives in early 2014

Tags: Canonical, Ubuntu, Touch UI

Canonical has unveiled the mobile version of their Linux-based Ubuntu operating system. Ubuntu for phones uses the same basic kernel and drivers as Android but has a brand new UI and navigation.

For starters, Ubuntu makes heavy use of gestures for navigating around. Each of the four corners of the screen can be used to perform a gesture. A short swipe from the left shows your favorite apps, a long swipe takes you to all your apps. A swipe from the right takes you to your last used app. Swipe from the bottom shows you the menu controls for the app you're in and a swipe down from the top shows you your notifications and messages.

Ubuntu places heavy emphasis on HTML5 web apps and gives them high priority, wherein they can show you notifications just like native apps. If you want an even better experience, you can also use the native apps written specifically for Ubuntu. Although it is based on the Android kernel, Ubuntu does not use the Dalvik Virtual Machine that Android does so apps are incompatible between the two. On the plus side, the lack of virtual machine and ability to run apps natively means the performance is likely going to be even better compared to Android.

As with the desktop version of Ubuntu, search has been given high priority. You can search by swiping down from the top of the screen and as you type the relevant content appears on the screen, which could be content stored on the device or even available online from various sources, such as Wikipedia, for example.

Canonical has also reinvented the lockscreen on Ubuntu for phones. They like to call it the welcome screen instead because all your side gestures are available from here, so there is no intermediate unlock gesture that you have to perform. The welcome screen also shows a beautiful circular pattern that displays important information from your installed apps.

Lastly, Ubuntu on phones will allow you to dock your phone and then connect it to a keyboard and mouse for a desktop-PC like experience, not dissimilar from what Motorola promised with the Webtop docks.

Canonical will soon be providing downloadable images of the operating system, which at present, only work on the Galaxy Nexus. As for devices shipping with Ubuntu pre-installed, that is expected to begin early next year.

GSMArena's top 10 most popular news and reviews in 2012

Tags: GSMArena

2012 was a busy year for the smartphone industry, which worked pretty hard to produce some pretty good products we’ve ever seen. As expert reviewers we also had our hands full, trying to cover as many of the phones as we could get our hands on to make picking your next smartphone as easy as possible.

Naturally, you enjoyed some articles more than others, giving us a hint what type of articles we should focus more on doing in 2013. Now, let’s dig right in and take a walk down memory lane and see the top 10 most read news and reviews of last year.

Top 10 reviews

Two of the rockstars of the Android scene were undoubtedly the Samsung Galaxy S III and the HTC One X. We did review them separately, but the article to generate the most interest was their direct battle.

The Samsung Galaxy S III was selling like hot cake last year and so did our review of the Korean flagship. With more than 3,6 million views, we sure got most of your questions answered and helped you get more familiar with the smartphone.

Not surprisingly, our Apple iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S III was the third most read article for last year. It would probably have been on top if the new Apple flagship had come out earlier. In fact, the Galaxy S III is so popular that it's involved in 5 of the 10 most popular review articles this year.

Here’s the full list of the most read articles on GSMArena for 2012.

Rank	Title	Pageviews
1.	Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III vs. HTC One X: Alien vs. Predator	3,936,598
2.	Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III review: S to the third	3,618,932
3.	Apple iPhone 5 vs. Samsung Galaxy S III: All rise	2,746,015
4.	Quad-core shootout: Four of a kind	2,638,259
5.	Samsung Galaxy S III vs. Galaxy S II: Intergalactic	2,564,979
6.	Sony Xperia S vs. Samsung Galaxy S II: S-hootout	2,345,009
7.	HTC One X review: eXtra special	2,221,434
8.	Sony Xperia S review: NXT of kin	2,056,649
9.	Sony Xperia U review: Fun united	1,728,299
10.	Samsung Galaxy S II ICS review: Sugar coated	1,692,688

Top 10 news

It was a busy year for both Apple and Samsung and naturally, they occupied our top 10 news list.

The most important piece of news for 2012, according to your, our readers, was the official announcement of the iPhone 5. Rather unexpectedly, amidst all the flagship smartphone craze, the launch of the Galaxy S Duos and Galaxy Y Duos Lite sneaks up as second most read piece of news for last year.

The third place is taken by the Samsung's announcement of the Galaxy S III flagship, which isn't surprising considering its success in our review and versus-kind of articles.

Notable additions to the list are the announcements of the Nokia's 41 MP camera-rocking PureView 808 and the first ever smartphone with a full HD, the HTC J Butterfly, taking 6th and 9th place, respectively.

Interested about the rest of the rankings? Check out the table below.

Rank	Title	Pageviews
1.	Apple iPhone 5 goes official with an A6 chipset and 4-inch screen	465,131
2.	Samsung launches Galaxy S Duos and Galaxy Y Duos Lite	366,479
3.	The beast released: Samsung Galaxy S III is official	340,357
4.	Apple iPhone 5 aluminum shell plagued by chipping issues	302,477
5.	Apple's iPhone 5 event live coverage	285,530
6.	Nokia announces PureView 808 with a 41 MP sensor	282,586
7.	Samsung Galaxy S3 will launch in Blue and White	253,258
8.	More images of the Apple iPhone 5 surface	243,338
9.	HTC J butterfly announced in Japan with 5-inch, 1080p display	236,735
10.	Samsung Galaxy S III alleged official photo and specs leak	235,034

We are hoping 2013 will be even more action packed with exciting smartphones generating even more fierce competition for the consumer's attention.

Now let's pass the ball to you. Feel free to tell us which was your favorite GSMArena article (review or news) for the past year.

Here are the 10 most popular phones in our database for 2012

Tags: GSMArena

Here at GSMArena we not only try to cover all the latest news and bring you detailed reviews with all sorts of tests, but we also maintain a large database of phones specifications.

We pride ourselves on having a huge audience - large enough to accurately reflect the trends in the smartphone world. That's why we believe being among the most popular handsets in our database is a strong indication that a device has become successful. So here are the top 10 most popular phones in our database that have been released in 2012.

First place goes to the Samsung Galaxy S III - the most popular phone among you, the GSMArena readers, this year. Sure it had more time than most, being launched in May, but its 20.1 million hits still make the margin of its victory quite impressive. These were also enough to make it the fourth most popular smartphone of all times in our database - it will likely be on top by the time its successor comes.

Samsung I9300 Galaxy S III

Second place is reserved for the Sony Xperia S - Sony's first international dual-core smartphone scored some 10.1 million hits.

Sony Xperia S

The HTC One X wasn't the best-selling phone of the year and it didn't manage to pull the Taiwanese-based manufacturer out of financial trouble but it was undoubtedly among the most high-quality and powerful smartphones to come out of 2012. It snatches third spot with 8.3 million views.

HTC One X

Nokia was highly acclaimed for producing the best cameraphone around. The 41 MP 808 PureView's only weakness is the fact that it served its amazing photo prowess alongside a bitter-tasting dish of Symbian OS, which clearly didn't do the smartphone justice. The 808 PureView scored 7.8 million views.

Nokia 808 PureView

Apple's iPhone has always been popular with our readers and here the iPhone 5 sits in, wait for it, fifth place - how bout' them apples. Apple's pride and joy got 7.4 million views in our database, despite only being announced in September.

Apple iPhone 5

The Galaxy Note II has made the list despite making it slightly late to the party (much like the iPhone). Its 7 million views secure it the sixth spot.

Samsung Galaxy Note II N7100

The heavyweights aren't the sole residents of the mountain, though, Samsung's dual-SIM Galaxy Y Duos comes in at number seven with 6.5 million hits. Maybe it was the mix of dual-SIM functionality, smartphone capabilities and attractive price tag.

Samsung Galaxy Y Duos S6102

The Sony Xperia U is still among the cheapest(and coolest) dual-core smartphones out there. And it's obviously enjoying great popularity among the GSMArena readers with 6.4 million hits and eight spot.

Sony Xperia U

The only feature phone in the top 10 list is the Nokia Asha 311. A 3" capacitive touchscreen at the front, 1 GHz processor, 3.15 MP snapper and a very wallet-friendly price earn it the 9th spot - 5.1 million views.

Nokia Asha 311

Side-loading apps on iOS without jailbreak - now possible

Tags: Apple, iOS, Touch UI

Whatever made the Hackulous team shut down Installous yesterday is surely giving a push to other even easier alternatives for side-loading (and, as is often the case pirating) iOS apps.

Two of them are getting quite a lot of attention since Installous shut down - Zeusmos and Kuaiyong. In fact the Zeusmos website is currently down and huge spike in interest could be one of the explanations.

Both services don’t require jailbreak and, of course, you can’t get them from the App Store. The installation process is reportedly quite easy, needing you to just visit a website and hit an Install button, though we cannot confirm that ourselves. Then your Installous replacement will appear on your home screen.

If anything happen to those two, surely another four will pop up in their place. It seems that even Apple will be unable to stop piracy, no matter how hard it tries and how tight a grip over the iOS ecosystem it holds.

Via • Picture source