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iFixit Tears Down Microsoft Surface Pro - Worse Than iPad To Get Inside
Post-iOS 6.1.1 Launch, iOS 6 Users Generate 83.1% of all iOS Traffic in North America - Chitika Insights
Global Mobile Phone Sales Down 1.7 Percent in 2012, But Apple's Up 22.6 Percent - Gartner
Apple's 4.8-inch iPhone 6 Delayed Until June 2014 Due To Screen Yield Issues? - Rumor
Skip The Roses - iPad Is King Of Valentine's Day Gifts
Fix Auto-Brightness Issues On iPhone and iPad by Recalibrating Sensors
Open Source JavaFX Coming To The iOS
iFixit Tears Down Microsoft Surface Pro - Worse Than iPad To Get Inside
iFixit Chief Information Architect Miroslav Djuric says:
"It seems like just a couple of months ago we took apart the Microsoft Surface. Yet its more powerful sibling - the Surface Pro found its way onto our teardown table yesterday morning. Oh how time flies when you're having fun.
We expected the Surface RT and the Pro to share similar internals and disassembly procedures, but it turns out that the Pro is a completely different bag of beans. The display assembly is anchored down with the most adhesive we've ever seen on a small device; in fact, it took us well over an hour to figure out how to get inside - an iFixit first. The Surface Pro has some nifty features, like a removable SSD, but that upgradability is marred by non-accessibility to the internals. Adding salt to the wounds, the battery is buried behind the motherboard and glued down to the case. Because of this, the Surface Pro received a 1 out of 10 score on our repairability scale, the worst any tablet has ever received.
Teardown highlights:
(*) We tried every method we could think of to free the display, including cutting the adhesive to no avail. This Pro required a pro method, and thankfully we had the required heat gun and guitar picks ready.
(*) The black glue we found around the perimeter looks like tar, and is unbelievably close in function, appearance, and smell to its road-paving cousin (http://bit.ly/Y81EuP).
(*) There are over 90 screws inside this device. We're proponents of mechanical fasteners, but this number is a tad crazy.
(*) Strapped to the back of the LCD is a small PCB housing a Wacom W9002 chip, which we assume is responsible for driving the Wacom Electro Magnetic Resonance (EMR) digitizer system. In this Wacom-developed system, a grid of wires embedded in the screen generates magnetic fields that induces current in a coil in the tip of the tablet pen, both powering it and indicating its position over the grid. The pen then wirelessly returns that location data, along with pressure and click information.
(*) The removable Micron RealSSD C400 we found inside is responsible for the 64 GB of storage capacity. The tiny 1.8" form factor SSD can read at 500MB/s and write at 95 MB/s. Digging a little deeper, we found that a Marvell 88SS9174 SSD processor keeps all those Micron flash ICs running smoothly.
(*) This Surface Pro is all party in the front, business in the back cooling business that is. Two small fans help this Pro keep its cool. How small, you ask? Here's how a Surface Pro fan compares to a 2011 MacBook Pro fan and FDR's face:
http://bit.ly/11FxDuE
[Definitely worth a look - Ed.]
(*) Notable chips we found inside:
(*) Intel Mobile HM77 Express Chipset
(*) Intel Core i5-3317U Processor
(*) 8x Micron 2LEI2 D9PXV 4 Gb RAM for a total of 4GB RAM
(*) Marvell Avastar 88W8797 Wireless/Bluetooth/FM Radio Controller
(*) 3x Atmel MXT154E Touchscreen Controllers
(*) 2x Winbond 25X05CL Serial Flash
(*) Winbond 25Q64FV Serial Flash
(*) Integrated Technology Express IT8519G
(*) Atmel UC256l3U 256KB Flash, 32-bit AVR Microcontroller
(*) ON NCP6132A 3 Phase Controller
(*) Atmel MXT1386E Touchscreen Controller
(*) The plastic top-rear bezel also doubles as a vent for the Pro's laptop-worthy hardware. Two ports through the bezel act as venting ducts for the fans, directing hot air out the top. It appears that the Pro's fans draw ambient air in through the many vent holes spaced around the perimeter, then force that air over the heat sink's two radiators and out of the device, cooling the CPU and GPU.
(*) Microsoft spared no expense when it came to keeping the Surface Pro going. They sourced the Cadillac of batteries from LG: an Escalade 42 Wh unit. The battery is rated for 7.4 V and 5676 mAh. Impressive specs? Note that the iPad 4 has a 43 Wh battery, albeit at 3.7 V. Even with all this battery juice, the reported battery life of the Surface Pro is less than 5 hours.
In case you've missed the older non-Pro Surface teardown, you can find it here:
http://www.ifixit.com/Teardown/Microsoft+Surface+Teardown/11275/1
The Surface Pro teardown:
http://goo.gl/rpjB2
Post-iOS 6.1.1 Launch, iOS 6 Users Generate 83.1% of all iOS Traffic in North America - Chitika Insights
Chitika Insights, using the same data set of millions of mobile ad impressions from the Chitika network, has generated the below graph representing the iOS version distribution amongst North American iPhone Web traffic, in particular.
Chitika notes that Apple released iOS 6.1.1 as an over-the-air upgrade on February 11th, 2013 - a mere two weeks after the release of iOS 6.1. The quick turnaround for this latest release was due to problems encountered by some iPhone 4S users regarding cellular connectivity and accessing Microsoft Exchange over their devices. With the latest update only going out to those iPhone 4S users, Chitika Insights examined how iOS 6.1.1's release impacts the overall distribution of iOS traffic in North America.
To quantify this study, Chitika Insights took a sample of millions of iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch mobile ad impressions originating from the Chitika Ad Network. This data set is composed of 24-hours worth of impressions observed through February 12th, 2013, originating from the U.S. and Canada. A user agent analysis was conducted to identify the iOS version in use from each iOS device impression. A graph depicting the current North American iOS version distribution can be seen below:
As seen in the graph above, iOS 6.1.1 accounts for 1.4% of all North American iOS impressions slightly 24 hours following its debut. While the new operating system's limited scope of release narrows its impact on overall iOS distribution, all iOS 6 users (which include iOS 6.0, 6.1, and 6.1.1) now command 83.1% of all iOS Web traffic continentally. To give this number some perspective, consider that Google's own statistics show that, globally, 42.6% of Android users are on Android version 4.0 or above. As both mobile operating systems are able to migrate more of their respective users over to the latest OS version, online marketers are better able to confidently take advantage of more dynamic functionality on a much wider scale.
Via:
http://chitika.com/ios-version-distribution
Global Mobile Phone Sales Down 1.7 Percent in 2012, But Apple's Up 22.6 Percent - Gartner
Worldwide mobile phone sales to end users totaled 1.75 billion units in 2012, a 1.7 percent decline from 2011 sales, according to Gartner, Inc. However, smartphones continued to drive overall mobile phone sales, and the fourth quarter of 2012 saw record smartphone sales of 207.7 million units, up 38.3 percent from the same period last year.
"The last time the worldwide mobile phone market declined was in 2009," says Anshul Gupta, principal research analyst at Gartner. Tough economic conditions, shifting consumer preferences and intense market competition weakened the worldwide mobile phone market this year.
Demand for feature phones remained weak in 2012 and in the fourth quarter. Feature phone sales totaled 264.4 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, down 19.3 percent year-on-year. Gartner analysts expect feature phones sales to continue to fall in 2013. Gartner predicts that sales of worldwide smartphone sales to end users will be close to 1 billion units in 2013, and overall mobile phone sales to end users are estimated to reach 1.9 billion units.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, Apple and Samsung together raised their worldwide smartphone market share to 52 percent from 46.4 percent in the third quarter of 2012. Samsung ended the year in the No. 1 position, in both worldwide smartphone sales and overall mobile phone sales.
"There is no manufacturer that can firmly lay claim to the No. 3 spot in global smartphone sales," says Mr. Gupta. "The success of Apple and Samsung is based on the strength of their brands as much as their actual products. Their direct competitors, including those with comparable products, struggle to achieve the same brand appreciation among consumers, who, in a tough economic environment, go for cheaper products over brand."
Huawei had a good fourth quarter, which helped it reach the No. 3 position among smartphone vendors for the first time. In 2012, Huawei sold 27.2 million smartphones to end users, up 73.8 percent from 2011. Both, the Ascend D2 and Mate announced at this years Computer Electronics Show (CES) aim to grow the company's brand perception as a premium product and increase its mobile phone margins. Gartner analysts said international markets are key for Huawei's growth in 2013, as well as being able to improve its product mix to a higher tier.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, Samsung's overall smartphone sales continued to accelerate totaling 64.5 million units, up 85.3 percent from the fourth quarter of 2011. In 2012, Samsung totaled 384.6 million mobile phones sales, of which 53.5 percent (up from 28 percent in 2011) were smartphone sales.
"Samsung's resources and ability to build a broad market reach is an advantage that no other competitor can easily match. However, the competition will intensify in 2013 as players such as Sony and Nokia improve. With Samsung commanding over 42.5 percent of the Android market globally, and the next vendor at just 6 percent share, the Android brand is being overshadowed by Samsung's brand with the Galaxy name nearly a synonym for Android phones in consumers' mind share," Mr. Gupta notes.
Apple's sales reached 43.5 million units in the fourth quarter of 2012, up 22.6 percent year-on-year. In 2012, Apple totaled 130 million smartphone sales worldwide. While the demand for iPhones in the fourth quarter remained strong, consumers' demand favored the less expensive iPhone 4 and 4S models. The arrival of the iPad Mini also created a dilemma for some users when deciding if to upgrade an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to an iPhone 5, or buy the new tablet.
In the fourth quarter of 2012, Nokia's handset sales improved from a good response to its Asha mobile phones and the launch of the latest Lumia Windows Phone 8 models. It was not sufficient to stop Nokia to lose further market share, totaling 18 percent, the lowest it has ever been. In 2012, Nokia reached 39.3 million smartphone sales worldwide, down 53.6 percent from 2011. Analysts said that aside from the continued focus on Lumia, Nokia needs to build on momentum around Asha in 2013 by adding devices and apps to further enhance its overall value proposition and, in doing so, moving up the price point slightly to achieve better margins breaching the gap left by Symbian.
In the smartphone operating system (OS) market (see Table 3), Android captured more than 50 percent of the OS market, widening the gap with Apple's iOS. While Android grew 87.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2012, RIM declined 44.4 percent in the same period. Microsoft had a better fourth quarter, with its share growing 1.2 percentage points, and its smartphone sales increasing 124.2 percent year-on-year.
"2013 will be the year of the rise of the third ecosystem as the battle between the new BlackBerry10 and Windows Phone intensifies," says Mr. Gupta. "As carriers and vendors feel the pressure of the strong Android's growth, alternative operating systems such as Tizen, Firefox, Ubuntu and Jolla will try and carve out an opportunity by positioning themselves as profitable alternatives.
Additional information is in the Gartner report "Market Share Analysis: Mobile Phones, Worldwide, 4Q12 and 2012." The report is available on Gartner's website at:
http://www.gartner.com/resId=2334916
Apple's 4.8-inch iPhone 6 Delayed Until June 2014 Due To Screen Yield Issues? - Rumor
Appleinsider's Slash Lane reports that Apple plans to introduce an iPhone with a 4.8-inch display and additional processing cores to help stem market share losses, but has been stymied in accelerating the launch of an entry in the "phablet" product category the 2013 calendar year due to yield problems with the larger displays, acording to Jefferies analyst Peter Misek in a note to clients Wednesday.
Mr. Misek is also cited saying Apple CEO Tim Cook defended the iPhone 5's 4-inch screen in Apple's the last earnings call in order to avoid freezing iPhone shipments in the quarters before a 4.8-inch iPhone launch, but twice qualified his comments by saying he "[wasn't] going to talk about what we're going to do in the future."
For the full report visit here:
http://goo.gl/H9gYx
Skip The Roses - iPad Is King Of Valentine's Day Gifts
Computerworld blogger Jonny Evans says if you want to impress your sig.other this year you can skip the diamonds, chuck the flowers in the trash and cancel that 'Valentine's Day Lover's Set Meal' reservation at the local restaurant, because 2013's hot gift for lovers seems to be -- an iPad.
Evans cites data from latest MyDeals UK poll which asked 2,073 people in relationships to list what gifts they and their partners have requested from each other.
Sixty-two percent of respondents said they wanted an iPad - more than said lingerie (58 percent) or jewellery (54 percent), while flowers and chocolate were way back in eightth and tenth place respectively.
For the full commentary visit here:
http://goo.gl/vwf1q
Fix Auto-Brightness Issues On iPhone and iPad by Recalibrating Sensors
Lifehacker's Thorin Klosowski says if you've run into problems with the auto-brightness settings on an iOS device where your screen isn't adjusting properly (or at all), Tech blog Addictive Tips shows how to fix the issue with a simple recalibration.
You can check it out at:
http://goo.gl/Pjs71
Open Source JavaFX Coming To The iOS
Oracle Open Source blogger Richard Bair says they've been making progress in getting JavaFX open sourced, with open sourcing their iOS and Android implementations coming over the next couple of months, with the first bits and pieces for iOS slated to be out next week, with the rest of iOS and Android coming out at about the same time as the rest of prism. Both ports are based on an as-yet unreleased version of JavaSE Embedded for iOS/Android.
Bair notes that:
There have been some question about licensing on iOS as Apple doesnt allow for GPL licensed applications in their app store. OpenJFX and OpenJDK are both licensed with the same GPLv2 with Classpath Extension. My understanding (and I'm not a lawyer) is that this means that if you take OpenJFX + OpenJDK (minus any binary stubs released under a different license), then you can safely combine this with your application and release your application under your own license as a single application co-bundle. You can do the same with the GA release of JavaFX + JavaSE. The difference is that we do not yet have iOS / Android on our official release roadmap, so that for the time being, the only way to use JavaFX on iOS is via OpenJDK / OpenJFX. I can imagine this would make open source guys smile (open source goes where closed source does not!). This is also why weve been prioritizing open source so highly for the last little while when OpenJFX can be built without any binary stubs, then there is nothing stopping you from taking OpenJFX with iOS port + OpenJDK and creating commercial applications that can be sold in the iOS app store.
I am looking forward to seeing what you all will do with this contribution, and hope to be running many Java apps on my phone / iPad in the near future.
For more information, visit:
http://fxexperience.com/2013/02/february-open-source-update/
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