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Dell, Baidu enter partnership to produce “Yi” smartphones

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China is one of the great untapped markets on earth and any company who does not set their eyes on the Chinese market will only be left behind.
At least that is the common belief that has been passed on for the last few years. There is truth to this because China is an exploding market with consumers that are fast to latch on to trends and have the buying power to follow those trends.

American computer manufacturer Dell is making additional inroads to the Chinese market by partnering with Baidu, one of China’s biggest companies. The agreement is for the manufacturing of smartphones and tablets that will use Baidu’s own Android-based operating system, Yi. [Read more…]

Originally posted on September 8, 2011 @ 11:17 am

Google Maps 5.7 is now more useful with new features

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Google Maps is one of the most useful products in Google’s lineups, and one that has truly brought high quality electronic maps to the masses. Google Maps is so widely used – not just by individuals looking to find directions to a place they’re not familiar with but also by companies that provide added services like GPS navigation. Google has recently added new functionalities to the latest version of Google Maps that makes it more useful than ever.

Google Maps 5.7, which is now available at the Android Market, now incorporates turn-by-turn GPS transit navigation and this feature can be used in almost 400 cities worldwide, with more cities to be added soon. Another useful feature is the ability to download offline maps, which is going to be a killer feature for Android phone users who are concerned about how much data charges when accessing Google Maps.

The Transit navigation feature will use your phone’s GPS to find out your location as you traverse the routes that Google gets from local transit companies or from the government. Google Maps will then notify you have reached your destination by vibrating. The notification will kick in even if you’re doing something else with your phone.

The other new feature in Google Maps is the ability to download parts of the map and save it to your device. You just need to select an address and you can download 10 square miles of the map surrounding that location. You can download a whole city or region but you will have to do this in square batches of map data. This is a great feature for basic navigation that will save you money in data charges.
I love the new features. These are additions that make Google Maps more useful for consumers and are changes that are geared towards functionality and not on superficiality. Way to go Google.

Originally posted on September 5, 2011 @ 10:05 pm

HTC Phones Found to be Logging Data

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A few days ago we reported about the class action suit filed against Microsoft for the Windows Mobile Phone 7’s data logging feature that continues to record data even if the user turns it off. Similar problems were encountered by Apple and the Android OS but these were eventually resolved and fixed with future patches, as in the case of the Apple iOS.

These problems with data logging should serve as a lesson for other tech manufacturers but, sadly, privacy issues are still happening with various devices. One example is HTC. The mobile phone manufacturer is a strong player in the market and has a number of strongly performing products. But according to some HTC users the new updates for the HTC Evo 3D and Sensation (both are Android OS phones) now log all of the user actions made on the phone. The culprit is an HTC app called CIQ that was given an additional feature with the new update. The new feature is called User Behavior Logging and what is does is record all of the things that a user does with his HTC phone – from pressing the home button to opening an app. The logs are then uploaded to HTC’s servers.

HTC has addressed the issue by explaining what the whole process is for. According to the company the data is collected only for error logging and that it is an opt-in feature. But users have reported that it is not so.
HTC should be making a savvier move to address the issue and assuage the fears of HTC phone users. If they don’t, they’ll surely face a bigger problem in the horizon.

Originally posted on September 6, 2011 @ 8:57 am