Lenovo blames smartphones for its first loss in six years
Lenovo had a nice run of profits thanks to its PC business, but like many others, it’s finding smartphones to be a tougher go. Thanks to charges related to its Motorola acquisition and $300 million worth of unsold phones, the company incurred a hefty $714 million net loss for the first time in six years. PC sales didn’t actually help much, with revenue in that division dropping 17 percent over last year (though still less than its rivals). Despite all that, Lenovo said overall sales were actually up over last year to $12.2 billion, and added that the changes it made will save $650 million this year alone.
Source: Lenovo
Runtastic Results wants to be the P90X of mobile apps
There are currently a total of 15 Runtastic apps available across iOS, Android and Windows Phone. But the Austrian startup, recently acquired by sportswear giant Adidas, doesn’t want to stop there. Today, it is introducing Results, an application that focuses solely on body training. This is Runtastic’s version of the popular P90X fitness program, designed for the mobile era and to complement its other fitness-friendly software. Even though the app’s available at no cost on iOS and Android, a premium, $50-per-year membership is going to unlock a dynamic 12-week workout plan. Here, you will get support from the Runtastic community, a personal nutrition guide and more than 120 exercise videos — those, by the way, have been shot at 6K resolution, making them easier on the eye.
Vending machine dispenses your new car like a soft drink
Believe it or not, there are already vending machines for cars. However, they typically require that you walk over to your new ride — it’s not much more than a cute take on what you’d see at a regular dealership. Carvana isn’t happy with this state of affairs, though. The retailer is launching an automated vending machine that delivers your car to you, much like a regular machine dispenses your foodstuff of choice. When you drop in a specially supplied coin (no, you’re not depositing real cash), the robotic system fetches your ride from a 20-car tower and brings it to one of three delivery bays. You only have to wait patiently on the ground. Slideshow-340114
Source: Carvana
Telefonica and BQ launch the Aquaris X5 – Europe’s first Cyanogen OS-powered phone
European carrier, Telefonica, has joined up with Spanish handset manufacturer, BQ, to offer Europe’s first handset running Cyanogen OS. The handset will be known as the Aquaris X5, and will run Cyanogen OS 12.1 which is based on Android 5.1.1 Lollipop.
The Cyanogen OS boasts features such as:
- Privacy Guard – Granular control over how data is shared with third-parties
- AudioFX -High-resolution sound with 24-bit uncut audio
- Boxer email – Including premium features such as calendar management
- Truecaller – Caller ID, detection and blocking of spam calls
- LiveDisplay – Automatically adjusts the screen brightness to lighting conditions
On the hardware side of things, the Aquaris X5 appears to be aimed at the Moto G segment. Let’s see what it brings to the table:
- Cyanogen OS 12.1 (Android 5.1.1 Lollipop)
- 5-Inch IPS display with 1280 x 720 resolution and DragonTrail glass protection
- Snapdragon 412 quad-core processor @ 1.4GHz
- Adreno 306 GPU @ 465MHz
- 2GB of RAM
- 16GB Internal storage
- MicroSD card support (up to 32GB)
- 13MP Rear camera with dual-LED flash,f/2.0 aperture, Sony IMX214 sensor
- 5MP Front-facing camera with flash, f/2.0 aperture
- Dual nano-SIMS
- 4G LTE/ 3G HSPA+
- WiFi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0
- 3.5mm Audio jack, FM stereo
- 2,900mAh battery
- Dimensions: 144.4 x 70.5 x 7.5mm
- Weight: 148 grams
The Aquaris X5 is rolling out in Spain today, with the UK and Germany scheduled in within a few weeks time. The Spanish carrier, Moviestar will allow its subscribers to take the Aquaris X5 on a 24-month finance package for as little as €8.7 ($9.33). The handset can also be purchased off-contract for €209 ($224).
Source: Telefonica
Via: Android Central
Come comment on this article: Telefonica and BQ launch the Aquaris X5 – Europe’s first Cyanogen OS-powered phone
Firefox finally comes to iOS
While Mozilla wants Firefox to be all things to all people, the browser has been noticeably missing from Apple’s App Store. The software company put that down to the iPhone maker’s software policy, namely that it’d have to use iOS’ default browser engine instead of its own. Mozilla slowly came around to the idea and announced it would bring Firefox to iOS at the end of last year and now, after performing some localized testing in New Zealand, the browser is now finally available to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users.
Via: Steve Troughton-Smith (Twitter)
Source: Mozilla Firefox (App Store)
Samsung unveils Exynos 8 Octa (8890), its 2016 flagship SoC
Samsung just officially launched its newest high-end SoC, the Exynos 8 Octa (8890). Featuring Samsung custom CPU cores and advanced LTE, the new Exynos will provide brainpower to the Galaxy S7 and other Samsung flagships from next year.
We will have a closer look at the new 8890 processor in a deep dive post, but here are the basics. Just like the Exynos 7420 before it, the 8890 is a processor built on a 14-nm process, meaning that the distance between the microscopic components of the chip is just 14 nanometers. The smaller the process, the lower the power consumption and heat generation. Qualcomm’s freshly announced Snapdragon 820 (also manufactured by Samsung) is also 14-nm.
Exynos 8890 is a 64-bit octa-core design, with four Cortex A53 chips and four of Samsung’s custom cores. This is the first chip from Samsung to feature in-house designed custom cores. Previously, Samsung used ARM’s ready-made Cortex designs. The four Cortex A53 cores are the power efficient cores, while the four Samsung cores provide the grunt needed for intense applications.
Watch: SoC showdown: Snapdragon 810 vs Exynos 7420 vs MediaTek Helio X10 vs Kirin 935
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Thanks to the usage of custom cores and other optimizations, Samsung claims the Exynos 8 Octa offers 30% more performance and 10% better efficiency compared to previous Samsung chips.
The graphics work is handled by the Mali-T880, ARM’s latest GPU design, which supports 4K and offers better performance with a 40% efficiency improvement compared to the GPU in Exynos 7420.
Another big feature of the Exynos 8890 is an integrated LTE Cat. 12/13 modem. Samsung has had integrated chips before, but they were mid-range, and Exynos 8890 is its first high-end chip with built-in LTE. That benefits performance, efficiency, cost, and product design. LTE Cat. 12 can, in theory, provide download speeds of up to 600Mbps, with the huge caveat that your carrier needs to actually support it.
Now read: Snapdragon 820 vs Exynos: the 2016 mobile SoC battle begins
There have been persistent rumors that Samsung will use both Exynos 8890 and Snapdragon 820 for the Galaxy S7, which is expected early next year. Samsung says that commercial production of the 8890 will begin by the end of the year; according to a Korean report, manufacturing is already underway.
Explore 4,500 British Museum artefacts with Google’s help
The British Museum in London holds an array of beautiful and historically significant artefacts including the Rosetta Stone, which helped historians to understand the ancient hieroglyphics used in Egypt. Today, the organisation is teaming up with Google to bring its various collections online as part of the Google Cultural Institute. The search giant has been developing this resource for years by continually visiting and archiving exhibits around the world. With the British Museum, an extra 4,500 objects and artworks are being added to its collection, complete with detailed photos and descriptions.
Source: Google Cultural Institute
Lenovo posts first loss in six years, looks to bounce back after Motorola purchase
The smartphone market has been a tough place to do business this year, with both high and low cost manufacturers feeling the pinch. Lenovo has released its Q2 financial results, revealing some equally mixed fortunes for the company.
Lenovo posted a net loss of $714 million from a revenue of £12.2 billion in Q2, it’s first loss in six years. The main reason is due to a major company restructuring following expensive acquisitions last year in both the server and smartphone markets. Most notable for us was the purchase of Motorola at a cost of $2.91 billion. Following falling profits, Lenovo incurred one-time restructuring costs, including staff lay-offs and clearing of inventory to focus on the Moto brand, setting the company back to the tune of $923 million.
Lenovo stated that the company would have been $166 million in the black for Q2, had it not had these one times costs. However, this would still be 50 percent lower than a year before. The company expects to complete its restructuring by the end of the financial year and estimates that the changes will save around $650 million during the second half of 2015 and approximately $1.3 billion annually.
Lenovo/Moto reviews:
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On the upside, total company revenue was up 16 percent year on year and up 15 percent on the previous quarter, indicating that sales are heading in the right direction. Looking specifically at smartphones, sales grew by 11 percent YoY and 16 percent QoQ, although the division still ended up making a loss of $217 million from a revenue of $1.4 billion.
“We significantly grew our smartphone business in the rest of the emerging markets, that’s our strategy … We know our China competition is too fierce, so we just shift our focus.” – Lenovo CEO Yang Yuanqing
Part of the problem is China, Lenovo’s largest single market, where company sales have dropped by 12 percent from a year earlier, as the region has quickly grown into one of the most competitive. Lenovo has been making strides to diversify away from this market this year and now sees 70 percent of its revenue come from overseas, up from 19 percent a year earlier.
The company is looking to boost its market share in the U.S. and Europe next year, which might help with its goal is to turn its smartphone business to a profit in the next one or two quarters.
Yahoo highlights image and video search results for Firefox users
Yahoo is adding more colors and visuals to its search results page, but only if you’re using Firefox on a computer. Now, when you search for a public figure’s name or a movie, you’ll see a banner made of images and videos across the top of the page. Desktop search in general has taken other features from the mobile version: it now surfaces the most important information first, such as movie details from IMDB, theater tickets (which you can buy) from Fandango, and even Yelp and TripAdvisor reviews. The search engine has recently started returning Flickr photos, including your own (see image above), when you do an image search, as well. The new image and video banner’s live for Windows, Mac and Linux users — if you’ve never changed your default search option, simply type what you want to look up in Firefox’s URL box — though you’d have to be in the US to be able to enjoy it.
Source: Yahoo (Tumblr)
LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE reaches the USA through Verizon and AT&T
We first laid eyes and put our geeky little hands all over the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE last October 1st, during the LG V10 announcement. We knew right away this thing was special. Not only does it inherit the great looks and superior performance we have previously seen in other LG wearables, but this one happened to be a first-of-a-kind.
It is currently the only Android Wear Smartwatch to feature cellular connectivity, something Google was very proud to talk about today. This means you don’t have to rely on Bluetooth or WiFi anymore. Just leave your phone at home and stay connected through your LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE.
So, when can you get it? LG has just shared the good news; those of us in the USA and Korea will not have to wait much longer. In fact, AT&T is starting to ship it tomorrow, with online availability now open. If you’d rather see it first-hand, you will have to wait until November 13th, when AT&T promises the device is to reach its stores. But then again, that is only a couple days away!
AT&T’s prices are set at $199.99 on a 2-year contract, while buying it off-contract will cost you $299. Which, by the way, just so happens to be better than Verizon‘s deal!
Big Red will start pre-orders on this smartwatch starting November 12th, and it will be reaching stores November 19th. It is the prices Verizon is setting that really have us scratching our heads, though. They are selling LG’s wearable for $449.99 on a 2-year contract or $499.99 without signing any documents. What a way to compete, Verizon.
But regardless of where you buy it, you can be sure the LG Watch Urbane 2nd Edition LTE (am I the only one who hates long device names?!) will be sure to satisfy your techie needs. It comes with a Snapdragon 400 processor, 768 MB of RAM, 4 GB of internal storage, a 1.38-inch 480x480p P-OLED screen and a 570 mAh battery.
Are you convinced?
AIVAnet 