Smartphones outsell feature phones for the first time: Gartner

Smartphones took a majority of mobile phone sales worldwide for the first time in the April-June quarter, a survey showed Wednesday.

The report by the research firm Gartner found smartphone sales totaled 225 million in the second quarter, or 51.8 percent of all mobile phones sold in the period.

It was the first time smartphone sales exceeded those of feature phones, which are more basic phones with limited or no access to the Internet and applications.

The survey found Samsung remained the leading vendor of smartphones and all mobile phones, and that the Google Android solidified its position with a 79 percent share of smartphones sold.

Gartner said Windows Phone, the mobile operating system from Microsoft, moved into third place with a 3.3 percent share, ahead of troubled BlackBerry, whose share slid to 2.7 percent.

"While Microsoft has managed to increase share and volume in the quarter, Microsoft should continue to focus on growing interest from app developers to help grow its appeal among users," said Anshul Gupta, a Gartner analyst.

Apple's iOS, the operating system for the iPhone, remained second with a 14.2 percent share, down from 18.8 percent a year earlier.

Gartner said Apple's average prices dropped because many of its phones sold were older, discounted models of the iPhone. This "demonstrates the need for a new flagship model," Gupta said, but added that "it is risky for Apple to introduce a new lower-priced model too."

Gartner's data showed Samsung sold 71.3 million smartphones in the quarter, representing a market share of 31.7 percent. Apple was second with 31.9 million, followed by South Korea's LG, with 11.4 million and a share of 5.1 percent, and China's Lenovo and ZTE.

Samsung was also the top seller of all mobile phones, with a total of 107 million in the period, or 24.7 percent. Finland-based Nokia was second with a market share of 14 percent and 60.9 million phones sold, Gartner said.

Instagram deleting pictures uploaded via third-party clients, Windows Phone users impacted

Popular photo sharing service Instagram, has made some changes to its APIs, due to which photos uploaded by third party apps are being blocked and even deleted.

The change has hit Windows Phone users the most as Instagram does't offer an official app for the platform leaving users no other option other than using third-party apps to share photos through the service.

The issue was first reported by Daniel Gary, a developer who offers Instance, a Windows Phone app that allows users to upload photos to Instagram.

Following the post, a number of people started speculating that Instagram had specifically blocked access to Windows Phone apps offering access to the service. However, an Instagram spokesperson told online publication, The Verge that the service had updated its systems to fight spam.

"We recently made an update to the systems that we use to fight spam to help prevent future attacks and increase security," said Instagram.

The website now reports that the  Instagram API appears to have been updated as users of Instance are now able to successfully upload pictures to their accounts, but the pictures are being blocked from view to other users.  

A number of third-party apps, including Instance are using Instagram's private API, the use of which is against the service's terms and conditions. So it's not surprising that Instagram has blocked them through a change in the API.

Instagram offers an official API with restrictions that prohibit developers from using Instagram APIs for any application that replicates or attempts to replace the essential user experience of Instagram.com or the Instagram iPhone App, among others.

Recently, Hipstamatic  released the Hipstamatic Oggl app for Windows Phone users that lets them upload and share photos to Instagram, officially. However, it doesn't let users browse Instagram photos.

Nokia's 'Treasure Tag' will help locate keys or other objects through Lumia phones

Nokia is working on a proximity sensor accessory for its Lumia phones - interestingly named, Treasure Tag - that will allow users to track things through their phones, if a new report is to be believed.

According to a report by The Verge that cites sources familiar with company's plans, Nokia will soon launch the accessory that features Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC to track items through an app on the user's phone. The device will be able to stay 'always on' and it will come with a battery that will last six months.

As per the report, users will be able to pair the Treasure Tag accessory with their Nokia Lumia Phones through NFC, and the Finnish handset-maker will bundle a loop strap to attach the device to an object, say a bunch of keys. It further adds that Nokia has developed a Treasure Tag app for Windows Phone, through which users will be able to manage the sensor and locate the device when it gets out of sight. The app will also show the location of the device on a map, integrated with Nokia's LiveSight augmented reality view. Users will also be able to track a phone that's connected to the device through a button located on the device, as it will trigger a siren on the phone if it's in range.

It's worth pointing out that the device will work with Bluetooth 4.0 and Bluetooth Low Energy standards. The forthcoming Amber update for Nokia Windows Phones is expected to bring support for Bluetooth 4.0 and for Bluetooth Low energy devices (Bluetooth Smart) to Nokia Lumia 520, Nokia Lumia 620 andNokia Lumia 720 devices. Following the update, the phones will be able to connect and work with devices such as fitness monitors like Fitbit Flex and smart watches like Pebble. The Nokia Lumia 920already supports Bluetooth 4.0.

Nokia Lumia 625 with 4.7-inch display spotted online

Nokia is working on a new smartphone that would feature a big 4.7-inch screen, if a Chinese website is to be believed.

The Chinese official certification website, TENAA has revealed and the existence of a new Lumia smartphone, the Nokia Lumia 625. It is being said that it would be the most affordable Lumia phone and would come with the biggest screen ever, for a Nokia phone. The unibody design of the Lumia 625 looks very similar to that of the Lumia 620 and would likely be pegged as its successor for the global market.

The alleged specifications of the next Lumia 625 point to a 4.7-inch display with a resolution of 480x800 pixels. The screen resolution seems to be similar to some of the budget Lumia devices launched by Nokia.

The device is said to be powered by a 1.2GHz Snapdragon S4 processor along with 512MB RAM. It's expected to feature a 5.0-megapixel rear camera but it's not known if it will also feature a secondary camera. The listing mentions GPRS, WCDMA, HSPA support and the phone is also likely to includes LTE.

The Nokia Lumia 625 is likely to be launched in China first. At the moment, there is no news about when the Finnish handset maker would launch the handset, globally.

Meanwhile, after creating a lot of buzz, Nokia launched its new Windows Phone 8 device that sports a 41-megapixel, dubbed as the Nokia Lumia 1020, last week.

The device is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor. The highlight of the device ever since it got leaked has been the PureView 41-megapixel sensor which offers Optical Image Stabilization (OIS), backside-illuminated image sensor, 6 lens optics accompanied by a Xenon Flash. Nokia has also added some camera software such as the Nokia Pro Camera and Smart Camera Mode, while there is a 1.2-megapixel front camera. The phone comes with 32GB internal storage and 2GB of RAM.

Windows Phone 8 GDR 2 update rolling out to select non-Nokia phones

More than two months after Microsoft announced the GDR 2 update for Windows Phone 8, the software update appears to be finally rolling out to HTC 8X and Samsung Ativ S smartphones.

Various online reports including one by WP Central(http://www.wpcentral.com/htc-8x-getting-gdr2-os-update-today) and comments on online forums by several users have confirmed the development.

Users who own an HTC 8X phone can check for the availability of the update through the 'Phone Update' option in the phone's Settings menu. The update can be downloaded over the air or through Windows Phone desktop software. 

It's worth pointing out that the update has not yet hit Nokia's phones as the company is expected toroll out its own Amber update that also brings some additional functionality, in August.

However, the update is expected to reach other Non-Nokia phones later this month.

The update brings features like FM radio and adds CalDAV and CardDav support, which extend support for Gmail and other Google services. It activates FM radio in handsets that feature capable hardware. It's interesting to note that Windows Phone 7.x supported FM radio while Windows Phone 8 did not have this feature until this update. Nokia's new lineup of smartphones (barring the Lumia 620) sport FM hardware that will become functional after the update. The HTC 8X also features an FM tuner that gets activated after the update.

As we pointed out earlier, the update brings support for the protocols CalDAV (for Calendars) and CardDAV (for Contacts), which, when combined with IMAP (for Email, already in Windows Phone 8) will be able to fully replace the Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync protocol, to synchronise email, contacts, and calendar with Google and other services that support these protocols. The update's rollout was expected as Google had earlier announced that it would cease support for its Google Sync service for new users starting 30th January 2013, later extending the date to 31st July. This would've meant Windows Phone users won't have been able to setup their Google account on the OS beyond this 'sunset date'. 

The update also brings some changes to Xbox Music making it easier to select, download, and pin tunes in Xbox Music and improves the accuracy of song information and other metadata. It will also extend the Data Sense feature of Windows Phone 8 to more telecom operators.

Nokia CEO explains why they chose Windows Phone over Android

While Nokia has continued to innovate when it comes to developing new hardware and software, supporting the Windows Phone platform like a lone ranger, the apparent lack of interest from Microsoft, specially with updates being far and few has led to disappointing smartphone sales for the Finnish handset giant.

It goes back to early 2011 when Nokia CEO when Nokia realised that it needed something more than Symbian to march ahead in a world which was switching to Apple's iPhone and phones based on Google's Android operating system. Stephen Elop chose his former employer Microsoft as the company's saviour in a bid to become a competitive third alternative. That, unfortunately, hash't happened even after being in transition for the last two years. A number of technology evangelists and Nokia loyalists have questioned Elop's motive in choosing Windows Phone over Android, adding that the steady pace at which Nokia develops new hardware, it would have made perfect sense for the company to have adopted Android, adding its own apps on top and customising it to its own choice.

At a recent round table with journalists, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop responded to this question, saying that he still feels that the company made the right decision. Elop said at the time of making the switch, he was worried that a particular hardware manufacturer (read Samsung) could have dominated Android due to its resources, vertical integration and because Nokia would have been a late entrant in the Android space. The comment was first reported by The Guardian.

Elop said, "I'm very happy with the decision we made." 

"What we were worried about a couple of years ago was the very high risk that one hardware manufacturer could come to dominate Android. We had a suspicion of who it might be, because of the resources available, the vertical integration, and we were respectful of the fact that we were quite late in making that decision. Many others were in that space already."

"Now fast forward to today and examine the Android ecosystem, and there's a lot of good devices from many different companies, but one company has essentially now become the dominant player." 

He also cited operators like AT&T as a reason for choosing an alternative platform. He said that operators want to negotiate with different people and keep pressure on everybody to have the best range of options. So, being the third ecosystem helps the company. He even suggested that after Apple's iOS, it was Samsung and Android that comes to people's (and operator's) minds as the second best option, so other Android players have been marginalised.

"Now, it's hard - it's very difficult because we are starting as a challenger, we're having to build that credibility; but with partners like AT&T we're gaining that traction . But it was the right decision. You look at a number of other Android providers right now and they're in a tough spot," he added.

While Elop might defend the company's move by highlighting Samsung's current domination of the platform, Windows Phone is still not doing as well as the company expects. Nokia managed to sell 7.4 million Lumia devices in the last quarter, up 32 percent compared to the previous quarter but its revenues decreased inline with the Average Selling Price of its smartphones. Also, it's only budget devices like the Lumia 520 which are contributing to the surge in sales, which was recently confirmed as the most popular Windows Phone in the world.

ABCs of smartphone screens: 1080p and more (Smartphones Unlocked)

The Nokia Lumia 1020 features PureMotion HD+ technology, a ClearBlack display, and supersensitive screen. Beg pardon?

The smartphone industry tosses around a whole bucket of names and numbers to describe the viewing experience on your smartphone screen: ClearBlack, 1080p, Retina, AMOLED, supersensitive. And the list goes on.

Some designations are marketing monikers cooked up to give one company an edge; others are more scientific. That isn't to say that flashy names like Apple's Retina Display are worthless and empty. Sometimes the trademarked name masks a unique process too technical to quickly explain.

To make things simpler, here are some common terms you might see attached to smartphone screens, and some factors that actually go into making your screen a standout, like the physical screen materials, LCD versus OLED, brightness, color accuracy, and pixel resolution. Got all that? Good. Now let's dive in.

Common smartphone screens

The terms often used to describe smartphone screens aren't always so clear.

• Retina Display: Apple's proprietary name for its LCD screen, which serves up a 1,136x640 pixel resolution.
• HD Super AMOLED: Samsung's name for its high-definition smartphone displays, which use the OLED screen technology.
• 
  720p: The lower high-definition designation, 1,280 by 720 pixels.1080p: The highest common high-definition screen resolution, measuring 1,920 pixels by 1,080 pixels. Also called "full HD."
• Supersensitive or ultrasensitive: A new technology that lets you operate a touch screen with your fingernail or glove.
• PureMotion HD+: Nokia's name for its display with 1,280x768-pixel resolution and various properties.
• ClearBlack: Nokia's name for an antiglare filter applied to the screen. 
• Super LCD: A product name that also describes an LCD screen made in a certain way.
• IPS: A type of LCD screen technology known for producing clearer image quality and wider viewing angles, among other traits. It's used in many smartphones.

The anatomy of a smartphone screen

Before we dive in, it's helpful to understand the layout of a smartphone screen. The oversimplified version is that displays are composed of several layers of material, starting backing material and including a lighting element (like the backlight for LCD screens), which is then topped with a TFT (thin-film transistor) layer, which uses voltage-sipping transistors to keep the display's pixels shining until you refresh or change the image.

There's also the touch-sensitive panel; various films and filters that might reduce glare, for instance; and the cover glass, which is often bonded to the touch layer. Gorilla Glass is one designer brand of cover glass.

An AMOLED display comes together.

LCD versus OLED

There are warring schools of thought between the two types of display technologies: LCDs (which act as valves to allow varying amounts of the backlight through to the viewer) or AMOLED/OLEDs (a different approach that uses "active-matrix organic light-emitting diodes" to directly emit light).

There are complex ins and outs, but in a nutshell, you can think about LCDs and OLEDs as follows:

LCD screens start with an always-on backlight; this technology requires light to create black, white, and colors. High-end LCDs produce the most accurate colors, though their manufacturers sometimes intentionally calibrate LCDs to produce weaker red, blue, and purple shades in order to reduce the device's power consumption.

LCDs generally age slower, with their brightness and color balance holding up fairly well over thousands of hours of use.

OLED, on the other hand, doesn't require any light to produce black, only white and colors. Therefore, it's considered battery-saving (since it requires no energy to create black) and can produce inky blacks. OLEDs are often considered brighter as well, creating punchy hues. As a side effect, OLED screens tend to oversaturate the color green.

OLEDs also age more rapidly than LCDs, according to experts, which means that the red and blue colors deteriorate faster than green, which can further throw the color balance out of whack.

OLEDs can also be expensive to make, and in the past, limited production has caused some manufacturers, like HTC, to switch from AMOLED to LCD screens.

Samsung's Galaxy S4 uses an OLED screen; the HTC One rocks LCD.

What is IPS?

What makes the two differing technologies more confusing is that there are multiple versions of each. For instance, IPS (in-plane switching) is a type of premium LCD technology that's touted for its wide viewing angle and clearer picture. The iPhone 5 is a prime example of a phone using IPS panels.

So what about Super AMOLED?

Samsung makes most of the OLED smartphone screens, naming its line Super AMOLED.

These days we see mainly HD Super AMOLED phones with high-pixel resolutions, but Samsung has also made Super AMOLED and Super AMOLED Plus screens; the shift from Plus to HD Super AMOLED is a controversial one among pixel buffs, and one that quickly becomes technical.

PenTile matrix, RGBG

Each screen pixel is actually composed of red, green, and blue subpixels that can turn on and off in combination to create any supported color combination (turn them all on at full blast to shine white).

There are numerous ways to pattern the subpixels. Super AMOLED (and HD Super AMOLED) uses Samsung's PenTile layout and its pattern of red, green, blue, green (RG-BG) subpixels.

PenTile, in fact, uses fewer red and blue subpixels than it does green. As such, PenTile also has fewer subpixels than the typical RGB layout found in LCDs and in AMOLED screens used by other companies. Examine a PenTile screen closely and you might be able to detect a little more image granularity when you're looking at fine details and text. For the most part, though, your eyes fill in the blanks.

Some people preferred Samsung's Super AMOLED Plus pixel arrangement for creating a technically sharper image with three subpixels per pixel, rather than the two subpixels in the non-Plus version that Samsung's flagship phones like the Samsung Galaxy S4 have today.

(Credit: Samsung)

Although Samsung didn't comment for this piece, an employee of Samsung America (but not Samsung Display) has said elsewhere that PenTile is more durable. It's also cheaper to make than Super AMOLED Plus, and it has some battery-saving efficiencies, since there are fewer subpixels that the battery has to power.

Pixel density

Generally speaking, though, the more pixels you have per inch (ppi), the better your picture. So smaller screens should look crisper than larger screens when both have the same pixel density.

That said, Apple claims that the human eye can't really distinguish more than 326 pixels per inch. Screens with 1080p HD resolutions typically hover in the 5-inch range, delivering pixel densities in the high 300s to 400s.

	HTC One	Samsung Galaxy S4	iPhone 5
Screen size	4.7 in.	5 in.	4 in.
Resolution	1,920x1,080	1,920x1,080	1,136 x 640
Pixel density	468ppi	441ppi	326ppi

While pixel density is an important factor in the smoothness of the overall picture, it's just one facet of many. And when it comes to comparing smartphone pixel density with that of a tablet, you don't necessarily need the same high density. DisplayMate's Soneira explains here how fewer pixels can satisfy your eye when reading from a tablet you hold farther from your face than you would want from a smartphone, which has a smaller form factor and is often held closer.

Brightness and color

It's as true with smartphones as it is with HDTVs: people's eyes are often drawn to the brightest and punchiest of the pack, blue blues and green greens that are rich and saturated, but just not true to life.

Oversaturated color gets tiring, and just looks cheap or fake when you're viewing something so familiar that your eye knows it's being fooled -- a video or photo of something you just know isn't that candied.

Some OLED devices do contain settings to dial down the juice, but you'll have to go hunting in the sub-menus to find more realistic tones.

Reflection, the secret enemy

Ever take your phone outside and squint to read the screen? Phones with high reflectance can be a real setback, but some manufacturers are good at getting on top of it. Nokia applies its ClearBlack filter above the touch layer (but below the glass) on its high-end phones. It works on both AMOLED and LCD screens.

The ClearBlack filter uses "circular polarization," which forces light to travel in a clockwise direction, then blocks off all the light that bounces back to the screen in a counterclockwise direction. The end result is reduced reflectance overall, and improved legibility both indoors and outdoors.

Who's doing it best?

Nokia, Apple, Samsung, and HTC all produce high-end phones teeming with pixels, and the LCD versus OLED color reproduction question often comes down to a matter of personal preference.

When it comes to technical proficiency, which you can measure in a lab using calibrated instruments, CNET's lab test found that the Galaxy S4 screen edges the HTC One overall, but not in every category.

While all smartphones are harder to read in direct sunlight, I give Nokia a lot of credit for working on outdoor legibility. Of these four top phone-makers, I've personally had the most problems with Samsung's screens fighting the sun's rays.

Still, my ultimate buying advice is this: stare at the screen long and hard on automatic mode (the one you'll use most to save battery), and hold it up next to other rival devices in the store. If you can live with it, if you never notice overly dull or artificial colors, or a distracting reflection, and if you feel you can read small text without blurriness or eye strain, then there's no reason to let the specs determine your purchasing path.