The iPod Shuffle: Would you miss it?

It’s cute, it’s tiny, and it’s the cheapest iPod you can buy, Yahoo News reports. But if Apple were to squeeze the $59 iPod Shuffle out of its iPod lineup in favor of, say, a new (and smaller) iPod Nano, as one Wall Street analyst is suggesting … would you miss it? Apple’s annual (though not yet announced) music event is probably just a month away, and naturally we’re expecting a series of revisions to Apple’s iconic (if commercially stagnant, compared with skyrocketing iPhone and iPad sales) iPod line. Among the predicted unveilings: a revamped iPod Touch, plus various tweaks to the Nano, Shuffle and Classic players. There’s also a fair amount of buzz surrounding a leaked squarish touch display that’s just 1.7 inches across the diagonal (and you thought 3.5-inch touchscreens were small!), possibly signaling the arrival of a new little brother for the Touch…

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RIM unveils new BlackBerry to counter Apple iPhone

Research In Motion has unveiled a new BlackBerry aimed at wooing consumers away from Apple’s iPhone and other rivals, Reuters reports—but analysts said the handset won’t blow away the competition. Even though the main features of the BlackBerry Torch, including a touch screen and slide-out keyboard, were well-known within the industry, investors registered their disappointment, driving RIM’s Toronto-listed shares down 4 percent. The Torch will go on sale in the United States on August 12 for $199.99 with a two-year contract—about the same price as an iPhone. The new BlackBerry uses a revamped operating system and has a faster and easier-to-use web browser. Analysts said the Torch does not represent a major advance, but its consumer-friendly features were enough to help RIM to catch up to rivals. While the BlackBerry has long been the gold standard for corporate and government customers because of its speedy, secure eMail service, critics said it needs a big overhaul to expand its popularity beyond business customers. One of the new features RIM touted is the ability to search any application, media content, or contact by typing a word on in Torch’s “universal search” function. The device also comes with a 5-megapixel camera with a flash and a built-in GPS for location-based applications…

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Android sales outpacing iPhone

For the first time ever, sales of Android handsets have outpaced those of the Apple iPhone, reports Yahoo News. According to Nielsen, Google Android phones now account for 27 percent of U.S. smart-phone sales among new phone buyers, eclipsing the 23 percent share held by the iPhone. The numbers cover a rolling six-month period and are reported quarterly. Android popularity reportedly has skyrocketed in the last year, from a mere 6 percent share in the fourth quarter of 2009 (when it was half of even Windows Mobile’s small market share) to 27 percent today. The iPhone slipped from 34 percent in that quarter to 23 percent. That said, the top spot remains—as it has been for over a year—occupied by Research in Motion and its BlackBerry, which holds a 33-percent share of smart-phone buys. As GigaOm notes, the phenomenal rise of Android—up 886 percent worldwide since a year ago—is a rare occurrence in the tech business, because the platform is now two years old and reaching a maturity level that should actually indicate a period of slowing growth…

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Apple: Free cases to alleviate iPhone 4 problems

Apple Inc. will give free protective cases to buyers of its latest iPhone to alleviate the so-called “death grip” problem in which holding the phone with a bare hand can muffle the wireless signal, reports the Associated Press. Apple CEO Steve Jobs announced the giveaway July 16 during a news conference at the company’s headquarters, even as the company denied that the iPhone 4 has an antenna problem that needs fixing. The more than 3 million people who have already bought the iPhone 4 and new buyers through Sept. 30 will all be eligible. People who already purchased the $29 “Bumper” cases will be refunded. Jobs began the event by saying, “We’re not perfect,” but was quick to point out that no cell phone is perfect. He played a video showing competing smart phones, including a BlackBerry from Research in Motion Ltd., losing signal strength when held in certain ways. Phones usually have an antenna inside the body. In designing the iPhone 4, Apple took a gamble on a new design, using parts of the phone’s outer casing as the antenna. That saved space inside the tightly packed body of the phone, but means that covering a spot on the lower left edge of the case blocks wireless signal. Consumer Reports magazine said covering the spot with a case or even a piece of duct tape alleviates the problem. It refused to give the iPhone 4 its “recommended” stamp of approval for this reason, and it had called on Apple to compensate buyers…

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Apple to address iPhone troubles on July 16

Apple Inc. said it will hold a press conference on July 16 to discuss the latest iPhone model, which has been beset by complaints about its antenna, reports the Associated Press. On July 12, Consumer Reports said careful testing has confirmed user reports that holding the phone over a particular spot drastically reduces the signal strength it receives. Covering the spot with duct tape or a case alleviates the problem. Apple hasn’t commented on Consumer Reports’ finding yet. Company watchers are speculating that the company might give iPhone buyers its “Bumper” case, which normally costs $29. The phone went on sale three weeks ago and outsold previous iPhone launches in its first three days, with 1.7 million units sold. Complaints about the signal strength soon followed. In an early response, Apple acknowledged that holding the phone in a certain way impeded the wireless signal somewhat, but said this happens with many other phones; Consumer Reports said it tested other phones, and said none of them had significant loss of signal strength when held…

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iPhone 4 contains a design flaw, testers say

Consumer Reports, America’s trusted source of product reviews, said it would not recommend the iPhone 4 because of a hardware flaw with its antenna that sometimes resulted in dropped calls, reports the New York Times. The independent consumer magazine also cast doubt on Apple’s recent explanation that a software bug had caused the widely reported problem. Apple did not return requests for comment. Consumer Reports did not slap the iPhone 4 with a “don’t buy” warning, which it sometimes issues for shoddy or unsafe products. But it said that because of the design flaw, it would not recommend it as it did the previous version of the iPhone, the 3GS. The next question is, Will any of Apple’s customers even care? The various versions of the iPhone have been panned a number of times for myriad problems, real or perceived: slow network, cracked screens, dropped calls, and no support for the popular web video format Flash. But iPhone sales have surpassed even the most optimistic forecasts and helped make Apple the most valuable company in the technology industry. And despite early reports of problems with the iPhone 4 antenna, Apple sold 1.7 million units in just three days, making it the best-selling new technology gadget in Apple’s history. Still, analysts say Apple eventually could suffer from the bad publicity it had received over the antenna problems and for its seemingly contradictory responses…

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Patent holder sues smart-phone makers over patents

The patent-holding company that won a settlement of more than $600 million from the maker of the BlackBerry has sued six other companies in the smart-phone industry, reports the Associated Press. Patent company NTP Inc. is suing Apple, Google, Microsoft, HTC, Motorola, and LG Electronics, claiming infringement of the same patents that were at issue in its case against BlackBerry maker Research In Motion. The lawsuit against RIM ended with a $612.5 million settlement in 2006. However, changes in court practices have reduced NTP’s power to win large settlements, and if NTP prevails, it’s likely to receive much less from each defendant this time. Microsoft and Apple said they had no comment; the other targets did not respond to requests for comment. NTP was founded by Thomas Campana, an inventor, and Don Stout, a lawyer. Campana worked on wireless eMail technology in the early 1990s, but never commercialized the technology. He died in 2004. In the aftermath of the RIM settlement, NTP’s patents have been re-examined by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, and many of their claims have been thrown out. But the office upheld three of the 10 patent claims that RIM was found to have infringed, said Stout, NTP’s president. In 2006 and 2007, NTP sued the nation’s four largest wireless carriers—AT&T, Deutsche Telekom AG’s T-Mobile USA, Sprint Nextel Corp., and Verizon Wireless—and phone maker Palm Inc. over the same patents; those lawsuits are still pending…

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First projector-equipped Android smart phone to ship

Video chat is all the rage when it comes to new smart phones like the HTC Evo 4G and the iPhone 4, but Samsung’s latest Android smart phone comes to the fore with a different would-be killer feature, Yahoo News reports: a tiny “pico” projector, good for throwing an image up to 50 inches across on a nearby wall. The Samsung Galaxy Beam, code-named Halo when it was first unveiled at this year’s Mobile World Congress, is set to go on sale next week—but not in the United States. StarHub subscribers in Singapore will be getting first dibs starting July 17, according to a Samsung press release, followed by other territories in Asia and Europe later this year. As for North America, that’s still up in the air, apparently…

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AT&T network glitch limits iPhone 4 upload speeds

In the latest snag for the iPhone 4, AT&T Inc. said on July 7 that a software defect in its network is limiting data uploads from the phone in some areas, reports the Associated Press. That means it takes longer for users to send pictures, video, and other content from the phone. Apple Inc.’s new iPhone 4 went on sale in the U.S. and a few other countries two weeks ago. Last week, Apple acknowledged that holding the phone in a certain way might reduce its wireless performance, and that all iPhones show the wrong signal strength in some situations. Dallas-based AT&T said a software glitch in network equipment made by Alcatel-Lucent is to blame for limiting the upload speeds of the iPhone 4 and said a fix is in the works. Because Alcatel-Lucent isn’t the only supplier of base station equipment to AT&T, the problem only affects customers in some areas. AT&T spokesman Mark Siegel said the flaw affects 2 percent of the phone company’s customer base…

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Apple says iPhones overstate signal strength

Apple Inc. said its iPhones overstate wireless network signal strength and promised to fix the glitch in the coming weeks, Reuters reports. Its admission follows customer complaints about the design of its phone antenna. Apple apologized to customers in an open letter on July 2 and said it was “stunned to find that the formula” it uses to calculate network strength “is totally wrong” and that the error has existed since its first iPhone. Apple, which has sold iPhones since 2007, said it would update its software in coming weeks using a formula recommended by AT&T Inc., the exclusive U.S. provider for iPhone. “Users observing a drop of several bars when they grip their iPhone in a certain way are most likely in an area with very weak signal strength, but they don’t know it because we are erroneously displaying 4 or 5 bars,” according to the letter. The company already has had to apologize for delays in online orders of its iPhone 4 and for a supply shortage in its stores since the device hit shelves June 24…

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