Items tagged with feature phones
Smartphones like Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy handsets enjoy the lion's share of attention when it comes to cellular devices, but feature phones are not dead. They are cheaper to produce and purchase, making them ideally suited for emerging markets, though obviously they are not as robust as smartphones. To help lessen the gap, Google is pouring $22 million into KaiOS Technologies, which is the developer of KaiOS, an emerging mobile operating system for smart feature phones. KaiOS has working relationships with phone makers such as TCL, HMD Global, and Micromax. It also has partnerships with various wireless carriers, including AT&T, T-Mobile, Sprint, and Reliance Jio. The end result...
Read more...
You can have our smartphone when you pry it from our cold, dead hands. Yes, we're well aware that some people feel the exact same way about feature phones, but for the first time ever, those of us who prefer a full-fledged smartphone finally outnumber our feature phone touting brethren, according to data released by International Data Corporation (IDC). Mobile phone shipments as a whole grew 4 percent year-over-year in the seasonally slow first quarter of 2013, which saw vendors ship a total of 418.6 million units. Out of those shipments, IDC counted 216.2 million smartphones, marking the first time that smartphone devices accounted for more than half. "Phone users want computers in their pockets....
Read more...
Google's always had a fetish for free or low-cost Internet access, and continuing that philosophy is a new service the sultan of search is experimenting with. It's called "Free Zone" and it's intended to offer users in emerging markets access to several online Google products, including Google Search, on their feature phones. "Free Zone is a bundle offered by mobile operators in association with Google that allows you to use Google+, Gmail, and Google Search for free. It's available for most Internet-enabled mobile phones," Google explains. "When you use these Google products through Free Zone on your mobile phone, you won't be charged for data. You can use Free Zone even if you haven't subscribed...
Read more...
