Mobile Forward

Thursday Assorted Links

1. Samsung Galaxy S7 to have versions with curved and flat displays  I wouldn’t be surprised if this happens. Usually, when Samsung sees a fork in the road, they take it.

2. Xiaomi fast expanding ecosystem raises concerns, say sources  Concerns about Xiaomi, that is. Jingyue Hsiao, Monica Chen, and Steve Shen, for DigiTimes:

Market watchers have become more conservative about Xiaomi’s development potential because the vendor will constantly need more funds and resources for tapping new markets or product segments, commented the sources.

3. Pebble Is Trying to Run Circles Around Apple

4. The gen-two Moto 360—a beautiful, compact design without much new tech  Ron Amadeo, for Ars Technica:

It doesn’t move the needle much, but design is what really matters in wearables.

5. Bosch invents new electric car battery to double mileage  Always take claims of battery advances with two grains of salt, but FYI.

Tuesday Assorted Links

1. Samsung Takes Smartwatch Fight to Apple Considering that there’s no release date, price, or launch market specified, I think this headline is 2X the overstatement that it would be anyway. It runs Tizen, by the way. A variant will have a 3G modem. In terms of the modem and call functionality, I’m sincerely looking forward to seeing how that performs and what consumers think.

2. ‘It’s time’: Lenovo sends out invites for a Moto 360 2 unveiling on September 8th

3. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 820 uses machine learning to fight malware

Instead of relying on a static list of threats to protect you, it’ll actually watch out for suspicious app behavior. […]

“Snapdragon Smart Protect is engineered to look at the actual behavior of device applications in real time and almost instantly detect and classify any application behavior that is considered suspicious or anomalous,” Qualcomm wrote in a blog post. “Suspicious applications are classified into severity levels of malware […].

4. Apple partners with Cisco to boost enterprise business I get uneasy when I read things like this. There’s no meaningful consumer problem to solve here. And for Apple, what’s the worst down-side to *not* doing this? To me, it means X fewer people working on new products or helping existing customers have a meaningfully better experience.

One big problem, Messrs. Cook and Chambers said, is ensuring employees get adequate networking performance in the workplace. Apple and Cisco said they aim to establish a “fast lane” for iOS devices in the corporate world, prioritizing wireless and Web connections so critical business applications aren’t compromised by a streaming cat videos and other nonbusiness fare.

5. Xiaomi said to release notebook in 2016 with help from Inventec and Foxconn Will it use Windows? First Windows device of more to come?

Motorola Mobility to Take Over Lenovo’s Mobile Business

Amina Elahi, for The Chicago Tribune:

Chicago-based Motorola Mobility will absorb the mobile unit of Lenovo, the Beijing-based technology giant, with Rick Osterloh,⇒ president and COO of Motorola Mobility, leading the global smartphone business.

I’m biased, but I think this is the right move.

Lenovo has many commendable attributes: decent market share in China, well-spec’d products, timely response to select component trends, and reasonable industrial design. Lenovo has proficiency.

But Motorola has a more clear, more cohesive portfolio. It has a better product in the high mid-tier (Moto X / Style). The Motorola brand is better known, more widely, when it comes to smartphones. And it has more experience in markets beyond China. Motorola has traces of its past success, and renewed product focus.

And Motorola also has Rick Osterloh. I’ve worked with Rick; he has an excellent mix of product, technology, and operations knowledge. He’s superb at articulating the strengths and challenges in a situation, and what action to take to move forward. Plus, he’s a super nice guy. Rare.

So, net-net, folding Lenovo’s smartphone operation under Motorola – and Rick – makes sense.

Now, does this help the combined entity overcome some of its disadvantages? – low installed base, little in-house technology development, small scale, limited distribution, and limited marketing spend. – No. Motorola/Lenovo, like most Android OEMs, will still need to dig itself out of this situation.

But this operational adjustment makes it easier to maneuver and to focus the global product line, R&D, and sales and marketing.

The New Moto X

David Pierce, for Wired:

What’s most powerful about this phone is that it’s being sold unlocked, for $399, and will work on any carrier in the United States. It supports every band of LTE, so all you have to do is pop in whatever SIM card you want. This is how phones work in the rest of the world, and a much better system. […]

In most other ways, the X is the same phone as always. It uses a nearly untouched version of Android, save for a couple of genuinely great additions like the always-on Moto Display and the touch-free Moto Actions. […] You can customize it with Moto Maker, which offers options like bamboo and leather. Unless something catastrophic and strange has happened, the Style is going to be a very good phone.

If you’re looking to buy a new Android smartphone, I recommend the Moto X Pure Edition (known as the Moto X Style outside the US).

Moto G (2015) to Offer MotoMaker Customization

Interesting Tweet from Evan Blass, here. Below is a screenshot, to make sure readers can also see it in RSS or email.

Mobile Forward 00342 2015-07-15

Letting consumers pick the color, finish, or material of their device is cool – that’s MotoMaker. And now it’s coming to a very budget-friendly product.

I have great respect for the mobile phone makers that make affordable devices for billions of people who, otherwise, might not have one. To echo the title of this site, they move mobile forward in a big way. Motorola, and the Moto G product, are great examples of companies and products that do this. And the thing about a product like the Moto G is that you don’t need a case. It’s very durable.

Tip of the hat to Andy Ihnatko, for voicing a similar sentiment – about making affordable devices – on one of my favorite podcasts.

Mobile Forward

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