Samsung and Apple are ready to adopt e-SIM technology

The electronic SIM is likely the future for GSM-based smartphones. The ability to immediately transfer service from one handset to another without having to carry a SIM card, which may or may not fit in another device properly, is one of the selling points for the upcoming technology. The tech won't likely be available for another year, but both Samsung and Apple have agreed to implement the tech in future products.

The GSMA, the group responsible for supporting the GSM standard, are confident e-SIM will catch on with the industry as a whole.

"We have got everyone back on one point, with Apple and Samsung agreeing to be part of that specification. We have been working with them and others to create an industry solution for machines and will agree a solution for consumer electronics."

The e-SIM functions similar to Apple's SIM tech used in the iPad Air 2, where you can switch data carriers while keeping your current iPad. Using e-SIM will also remove the SIM slots in phones, creating just a little extra space in devices for other components.

If you're wondering what devices might carry e-SIM, it won't be in the upcoming Samsung Galaxy A8or the next iPhone, given the timeline required to complete the technology. The GSMA's inclusion of other OEMs in its statement gives reason to believe that Windows 10 Mobile devices could also one day adopt the new standard.

Via: Android Central

Microsoft has released a minor security and bugfix update for Windows 10

Microsoft has nearly finalized Windows 10 for its release on July 29 with Build 10240 and has already released it to OEM and manufacturing partners. The work is not all done, however, as Microsoft's Gabe Aul announced today that a small update with some bug fixes and security patches will be coming to all Insiders:

We're releasing an update package on WU for PC build 10240 today. It will install automatically or you can check for updates to grab it.
It will be described as a security update, but that's just because it's cumulative and includes the last package's security fix.
It is a package of fixes based on reported issues in 10240.

The update is now live and you can grab it from Windows Update in the Settings app.

The company had recently announced that, moving forward, it would adopt a Windows as a Service model, with updates continually being pushed out to the final product; this is our first example. The company is still looking to test its delivery systems to ensure a smooth upgrade experience for all the users of Windows 7 and 8.1 who will be availing themselves of the free upgrade on July 29.

Source: Gabriel Aul

Introducing the 1MORE Piston: a pair of in-ear monitors we can't fault

Following my review of the Xiaomi Piston 3.0 in-ear monitors, the acoustics company behind the design and development -- 1MORE -- reached out and offered me their own variation for review.

1MORE is an acoustics and design company based in China, and while they may not immediately be as familiar as a company like Sony, they still have an impressive acoustics footprint in Asia. 1MORE was the company who researched, designed and developed the Xiaomi Piston 3.0 IEMs that we reviewed not too long ago, and they reached out to me offering some of their other products for review. The product that instantly caught my attention was the 1MORE Piston, which not only shares a similar name to the Xiaomi line of headphones but also shared a number of different visual characteristics. Naturally, I assumed that one was based on the other, and I decided to check it out. Encouraging my view was that these in-ear monitors appear to be the official set of headphones for "The Voice of China," which is a localized Chinese version of the "The Voice" TV franchise. They also have a super cheap pricetag attached to them -- just $20.

Design

Immediately after opening the box it feels like the Xiaomi Piston 3.0, all the way down to the container they're encased in and the stylized rubber travel case they're wrapped around. The headphones themselves also share a similar design; from the gold-plated 3.5mm jack the headphones meet a familiar purple aluminum cradle. From there, there is a small rubber nozzle to prevent cracking at the base of the plug, and it continues onto the red braided Kevlar wiring. Again, similar to the Xiaomi Piston 3.0 headphones, we meet another familiar purple Y-splitter where the individual lines will diverge. From this point the braided kevlar stops, and in it's place is red rubber coating for the wiring of the left and right channels of the headphones. Although the left wire continues on to the left monitor, the right wire stops for the remote. This remote is a completely different design to the Xiaomi headphones, abandoning the CNC-machined aluminum in exchange for a plastic casing. You find the standard three-button headphone remote cluster on one side of the remote, and on the other side is a small hole for the microphone. The remote is positioned in such a way that -- provided the correct monitors are in the correct ear -- the microphone will be positioned in the direction of the wearer's mouth.



Continuing onwards we reach the monitors. Right where the wire meets the monitors is a soft rubbery plastic - similar to the coating you find on some smartphones. This turns into a shiny plastic until we reach the back of the monitors, where the plastic becomes matte. The rubber tips for the monitors are a transparent grey with red inner lining -- fitting in with the red and black theme of the monitors. On the sides of each of the monitors there is a silk-screened "R" and "L" specifying which channel of the headphones is which. On the far side of the left monitor housing is a tiny "The Voice of China" logo, and on the right channel is a similarly small "1MORE" logo.
Performance

The headphones sound extremely similar to the Xiaomi Piston 3.0's, and I wouldn't be surprised if they have the same insides. I spent a few weeks with the 1MORE pistons and I wouldn't have been able to tell them apart from some of the more expensive products on the market. The lows, mids and highs were all well balanced, although the highs felt lacking at times. Songs with heavy bass didn't disappoint, and female vocal was still extremely enjoyable.



The sound stage was extremely similar to that of the Xiaomi Piston 3.0, which is emphasized by the better balancing of the IEMs compared to some of the more common V-shaped headphones that exaggerate the highs and lows at the cost of lackluster mids.

The audio on the microphone was crystal clear and was a pleasure to use. While I usually have difficulty with some headphones and are sometimes forced to hold the microphone in the right position and closer to my mouth, I didn't experience that at all with the 1MORE Piston, and I was able to talk into them naturally without any issues.

It's worth mentioning that unlike the Xiaomi Piston 3.0, the remote on these is fully compatible with Apple products, which is a huge bonus.

Noise isolation

They're in-ear monitors so they typically have better noise isolation than other types of headphones, but it's worth mentioning that I found they shared the same qualities as the Xiaomi Piston 3.0's - they didn't leak very much and would be fine in an office environment, and they also effectively block out a lot of outside noise which makes them suitable for noisy environments like public transportation.

Accessories

In the same fashion as most of this review, they share the same accessories as the Xiaomi Piston 3.0's. This includes the rubber travel case which you wrap the headphones around, and the replacement extra small, small and large tips for the monitors. Those are in addition to the set of tips that are already on the headphones.

Conclusion

The 1MORE Pistons appear to be a worthy replacement, successor or side-grade to the Xiaomi variation. If it doesn't attract you for the louder color scheme, then for the bonus of iPhone compatibility. The sound signature is pretty much exactly the same as the Xiaomi Piston 3.0s, and I couldn't speak highly enough of them. The 1MORE-branded variation is everything that they were and, with the iPhone compatibility, a little more as well.

The Apple compatibility actually addresses the only issue I had with the Xiaomi Piston 3.0s, meaning I can't find any flaws with these at all. I've looked, and I've tried, but I can't fault them. The sound quality is superb, the build quality is wonderful and the design is top notch too. Based on this, I'm going to award these IEMs a straight 10/10. These are priced at around USD $20 within China, but some resellers are selling them at a reduced rate -- as low as $16 including shipping.

It's the best $20 you'll ever spend, and quite possibly the last time you'll fork out money for the under-$150 IEM range. These might not be what the pure bass heads are after, but I don't believe there is another pair of in-ear monitors that are so well balanced at anywhere near this price.

Xbox One sales rose 51% in June YOY

Sales of both the PS4 and Xbox One have been strong since their release but Microsoft has had tocontend with second place as far as overall sales go, a result of poor pricing and marketing decisions early on. The company has made amends, however, by improving its policies and even undercutting the price of the PS4 through a permanent discount on the console. These measures seem to have paid off.

Aaron Greenberg, Head of Marketing for Xbox Games, today tweeted that sales of the Xbox One in June rose 51% compared to last year and even outshone the PS4 during the week of E3:

This was no doubt as a result of the Xbox's lineup for E3 being the most awarded in its history, with 242 nominations and 110 wins. Overall, though, strong sales of the Arkham Knight PS4 bundles gave the edge to Sony for total sales in June.

Microsoft has been making strides toward rectifying its earlier mistakes, and supporting its gaming community better, with various improvements such as making Kinect an optional add-on, reducing the price of the Xbox One, churning out a strong lineup of first party and exclusive games and now allowing for native backward compatibility for Xbox 360 games on its current generation console.

Source: Aaron Greenberg (Twitter)

Have smartphones lost their appeal?

The mobile market is one of the biggest today but if a recent report by industry watchdog Argus Insights is to be believed, the market has reached its saturation point and smartphones no longer provoke consumers' imaginations like they used to.

Case in point: Samsung. Argus argues that the (relatively) low sales of the company's latest flagships, the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, despite rave reviews, prove that smartphones have now lost their allure and the industry as a whole is approaching its saturation point. The watchdog believes that the incremental upgrades in smartphone hardware no longer excite existing owners of smartphones enough to spur them toward the purchase of a newer model:

Consumers are losing interest in the smartphone market, and Samsung's flashy flagship phones could not reverse the trend. New phones are typically a vague improvement on old ones, with better cameras, memory, etc., but these small improvements are failing to create urgency for consumers to upgrade right away. The holiday season of 2014 saw extreme smartphone demand, and it will take something truly interesting in a handset to inspire those consumers to ditch their holiday gifts and upgrade early. Samsung managed to gain back mindshare in the US market with the release of their flagship Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge handsets in April 2015, but even this high profile release did not boost market demand.

While the low sales of Samsung's phone do indicate a fall in the demand for Samsung phones, they do not necessarily represent the entire industry, as Apple is still enjoying rapid growth and it may simply be the case that Samsung customers are now buying Apple's phones. Samsung's hastening the launch of the Note 5 may just be an indication of this trend. This is further supported by Argus' own data, which shows consumer interest in the iPhone increasing as they paid less interest to Samsung's offerings:

The company does, however, provide another interesting piece of information to prove its point:

According to this graph, smartphone demand at the start of the year was doubling month over month but not only has the rate of growth declined sharply in recent months, smartphone demand in June actually decreased by 8% compared to May.

All industries decline eventually and while the smartphone industry has seen exceptional growth over the last few years, Argus' predictions may come to fruition soon enough, as smartphone updates become more and more monotonous, both in their software and their hardware. I don't believe that the time is now, though, as smartphone penetration worldwide is still at a meager 30% and companies like Samsung and Apple are still looking to push all boundaries.

Source and Image: Argus Insights via Zdnet

HTCs Grip fitness band, developed by Under Armour, wont be shipping to consumers

HTC has officially said that its Grip fitness band accessory, developed in partnership with Under Armour, will not be shipping to consumers as originally promised.

You most likely don’t remember this, but HTC had been rumored for a while to be working on a fitness wearable. Back in March the struggling company even unveiled the device, called the Grip, at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Back then the Grip was slated for a spring launch, but months later there’s still no sign of it.

Now the struggling Taiwanese company has confirmed to Engadget that the Grip as we know it, will never see the light of day. The reason seems to have a lot to do with customer feedback and testing, which likely wasn’t good enough to get the product launched.

But that’s not to say that the company won’t be launching a wearable fitness band. One such item just passed Bluetooth certification recently, and while many were assuming it was the original Grip, it now seems more likely it’s some sort of v2 of the product, one that incorporates the user feedback.

There’s no word on when this new device might launch, though HTC did say that it’s aligning its entire product portfolio for health and fitness launching later this year. Does that mean there will be more than one device on the market? Seems like it, but we can’t be sure until HTC decided to announce something officially.

Source: Engadget

Oculus wants to get into movies and the wider entertainment market

Virtual reality has often been touted as a sort of logical conclusion for computer gamers, but

VR tech in general has a lot more to offer than that. That’s why Oculus is now talking a bit about its plans to get into the movie business and the company is partnering with Felix & Paul Studios.

Even though the Oculus Rift still has a while to go before it’s finally released to consumers, the company behind it is explaining that it sees a bright future for VR in the wider entertainment field. To that end Oculus is partnering with Felix & Paul studios, which has created a number of 3D experiences, including Jurassic World.

The collaboration is being described as the “largest live-action VR deal to date” and cements the Facebook-owned Oculus, as a player in the wider entertainment industry.

With exciting partnerships left and right, the Oculus Rift, once it launches, seems poised to disrupt things in a bunch of fields. And we’re very excited about that.

Source: Engadget

Microsoft is looking at bringing the Surface lineup to India

They say third time's the charm and, boy, was it true for Microsoft. The first two iterations of the Surface failed to gain much traction among customers but the launch of the Surface Pro 3 in April of last year changed things, making Surface the legitimate next billion dollar business for Microsoft. Following that success, Microsoft is now looking to introduce its wares in India.

The tablet, destined to replace your laptop, was only available in 28 markets till now but Microsoft's Director of Windows Business Group in India has, in a recent conversation with The Times of India, revealed that the tech giant is looking to make an entry into the Indian market. While the company had previously refrained from competing in the volatile and extremely price sensitive region, it now believes that the Surface line may find a home in the subcontinent after all:

We feel there's a market in India for all devices including high-end convertibles and the Surface is the perfect device to showcase Windows 10, which adapts to 2-in-1s easily with seamless switching between PC and tablet UIs

He did not, however, commit to any timeline for when this might come to fruition - or reveal any pricing details.

Source: The Times of India

Nokia is having a mystery press event on July 28

After being out of the public eye for quite some time following the sale of its hardware division to Microsoft, Nokia is coming back into focus again, with first the release of the N1 tablet and, now, another mystery announcement to come in the following weeks.

The following teaser image was sent to members of the media:

The teaser did not include any other details, except an extreme close-up of what might be the purpose of Nokia's announcement. Not much can be made out of it but, to me, two lenses can be made out, leading me to believe that the company might be making a play into the virtual reality market. Another possibility, of course, is that the inclusion of the word 'here' is a play on the name of its mapping service, HERE Maps. There have been reports that the company is looking to sell the division, with several German automakers and Uber already having made bids (Uber might not have gained much traction, though, as Nokia was said to have rejected its offer).

While Nokia has already moved on to focusing on its research on mobile networks, the company has said that it does want to get back into the smartphone business and Nokia fans will be pinning their hopes on an announcement along those lines. Their contract with Microsoft prevents such a move right now, however, so its likely to be mere speculation that we will see something in the short term.

Source: PhoneArena via Windows Central