Qualcomm: Snapdragon processor gaining traction

BY MIKE FREEMAN, UNION-TRIBUNE
Resourse: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/31/qualcomm-snapdragon-processor-gaining-traction/

Qualcomm said this week that its Snapdragon application processors are gaining traction with tablet and smartphone makers, with 125 announced devices either on the market or planned, and another 250 devices in development.

That’s up from the San Diego wireless giant’s previous market estimates for Snapdragon, which pegged penetration at 150 devices that were either launched or under development.

Snapdragon is Qualcomm mobile applications processor — the brains powering smartphones and tablets. It gives the company a bigger piece of the smartphone chip market beyond its core baseband modems to connecting the phone to wireless networks.

Qualcomm said its penetration has been especially good for tablet computers, with about 40 tablets in development using Snapdragon processors.

The company said Snapdragon is being used on multiple operating systems, including Android; Android 3.0 Honeycomb, which targets tablets; BlackBerry; Google’s Chrome; Hewlett-Packard’s webOS; Windows Phone 7 and the next version of Windows, which Microsoft has said is being tailored to work on processors based on ARM Holdings architecture. Qualcomm licenses the chip architecture for Snapdragon from ARM, then adds its own technology.

“We are very pleased with the tremendous Snapdragon traction we have been getting with a variety of companies,” said Luis Pineda, senior vice president of product management, computing and consumer products at Qualcomm.

At the Computex conference in Taipei, Qualcomm is showing off Snapdragon processors in devices from HTC, HP, ASUS and others.

In addition, Qualcomm new Atheros subsidiary, which it acquired last month for $3.1 billion, is unveiling a range of Wi-Fi chips the use both the 2.4 gigahertz and 5 gigahertz frequency bands, enabling consumers to access cleaner spectrum for more reliable wireless media streaming that requires interference-free bandwidth and minimal latency. Qualcomm Atheros also will be introducing power line and Ethernet connectivity chips.

From luxury to need

The invention of the telephone was the first landmark in the history of communication technology and soon came the second, the introduction of mobile phones. The inventor of the telephone, Alexander Graham Bell, may never have thought in his wildest dreams that telephone technology would become so easily available to the common man in such a short span of time. The continuous efforts and never say die spirit of scientists and engineers have really paid true homage to Alexander Graham Bell. Mobile phones have made our lives so much easier that it now seems strange to imagine modern life with the use of a Touch Phone.

As the saying goes ‘the luxury of today is the need of the tomorrow’. This saying is especially true when applied to Touch Phones. Cell phones have become part and parcel of our modern lifestyle. In earlier times, it was difficult to imagine that such a type of revolution will take place in the field of communication technology. Mobile phones are the most convenient way to communicate with people instantly regardless of their location on the planet. Each of the handsets produced by mobile phone manufacturers is extremely portable which has contributed to their popularity.

The costs of using Touch Screen Phones are reducing constantly because the number of users is continuously rising. Mobile phones have played a vital role in increasing the productivity of the individual, as they provide the ability to connect the internet through the handset. The rate of evolution in the field of mobile technology is extremely fast. As soon as any new product is launched on the market, it is not long before another company is releasing a phone that is superior and possesses more advanced features.

Cell Phones that were used in the end of the twentieth century were used only for two-way verbal communication. In 2011, cell phones are used in a completely different way. The market is flooded with Tablet which is well equipped to handle the cutting edge technology of internet and different multimedia application all through a few touches of the screen. Smartphone has become a must-have product as they have improved, and this rapid rate of development shows no signs of slowing down.

Tablet Computers Are Becoming Popular

Three years ago Tablet Computers were only rumored to exist, because nobody has actually seen them on the market. Microsoft and Apple were apparently introducing a new and unique device that would capture the market. Many releases on the Web discussed these projects, but did not know what these devices would be called. Would they be called Tablets, Tablet PCs or Tablet Computers?

Way back in 2002, tablet computers were powered by batteries that became hot and drained rapidly. Today, Tablet computers can easily run for a day with only a single charge. Also, during the earlier period, Tablet computers had two choices for display - the color LCD, or monochrome. The display was very thin due to the fluorescent back-lighting. They were also thick as regular laptops that made them difficult to handle. Today, tablet computers are thinner and have LED back-lighting that provides bright displays.

The earlier tablet computers similar to some early cell phones had problems with digitizing. The tablets today offer superb performance in terms of their function and applications. Tablet computers are good for eBooks and the next generation of tablets will surely promise more than being eBook readers. Similar to PDA phones, tablet PCs also began as pen-based devices. Today, both gadgets can function as Web browsers and as personal organizers. The function of being an eBook reader largely became popular during late 2010 for its convenience and storage. Many concerned citizens are even proposing to use Tablet computers for all students in public schools.

When the tablet PCs emerged in 2002, Wi-Fi was becoming the trend for use in offices and at home. However, broadband wireless was not yet that popular and, unlike today, most tablet PCs and laptops had broadband wireless capabilities similar to smart phones such as BlackBerry. You will notice that most restaurants, cafes and other establishments offer free Wi-Fi access to their customers as incentives. Better connectivity means that a person using any device - including tablets - can easily connect to office, home and files wherever he may be.

We can safely say that the new tablet computers will be better than the earlier versions, because they look better and perform better, with better connectivity and battery life. They will serve as efficient portable computing gadgets, because they can run on a light operating system. The browser, of course, is easy to use. With all of those beneficial features, you still have access to cloud-based apps to get actual work done. Best of all, you may have access to entertainment, articles, music, books and HD movies. What else can you ask for?

Truly, Tablet computers are becoming popular and before you are left behind, start browsing the net for a unit that you may want to purchase.

Shanghai Int'l Film Festival Reveals Shortlist for First Mobile Phone Film Competition

Recourse from:http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shanghai-intl-film-festival-reveals-191557

CHENGDU – The short films shortlisted for the first mobile phone film competition held by an A-list cinema event were revealed on Tuesday by organizers of the 14th Shanghai International Film Festival, which takes place June 11-19.

Fifty films shot on smart phones in 27 countries will compete for the SIFF MOBILE awards for best short film, best director, best creative, best drama, best action film, best animation and best documentary and an Audience Award judged by most mobile phone clicks. Roughly 10,000 yuan ($1,500) in prize money will go to each winner.

Collection of entries began last November and quickly got busy, finally gathering nearly 10,000 films made on mobile phones of various types and styles, some showing “unrestrained imagination,” organizers said in a statement.

The mobile phone film directors come from all walks of life, but also include masters of the film and television crafts, including South Korean director Park Chan-Yu with an iPhone film called Lofty Waves, and Hong Kong director Pang Ho-cheung.

Many of the short films were shot on an iPhone4, a device wildly popular in China and bound to become more so as Apple unveils its largest retail store in the country in Shanghai this summer.

“The Shanghai Film Festival has always been a platform to hatch the new,” said Tang Lijun, SIFF managing director. “With the influence of new media growing, we believe mobile phones are bound to change the future pattern of the film industry.”

With plans to run SIFF MOBILE for five years in conjunction with China Mobile, the world’s largest telecommunications provider with 600 million mobile phone subscriptions, SIFF will announce the first winners on June 18.

China Mobile users can access the mobile phone film finalists at wap.mobile-siff.com.

Smartphone Applications Setting Trends Worldwide

When it comes to our thinking of how things should work in the world, they do not always pan out. When it comes to inventing new ways in which we can try to make everything so much better also does not work out, we are disappointed. Going back to the drawing board when it comes to the invention of smartphones does not often go well with the big mobile phone companies.

The truth is that today not everyone is going to have a life of luxury and be able to go out and travel to work and still have time to fit their life around their families and have everything that we would like and that is why the smartphone was invented. When these handy little cell phones came into use, we could all see why they were so great. We did not want to have to carry around our computers everywhere we went - no-one does - and with smart phones and PDA phones we do not need to any more.

With these Smartphones however, you get much more than just a cell phone that looks pretty. They may just be touch screen phones, but they can be fantastic. Touch phones do not just look pretty, because they are a tablet PC right in your pocket. It does not matter if it is a BlackBerry or any other smart phone; these mobile phones are more than just a phone.

With a touch phone you can actually find thousands of different applications which can handle anything that you need in your life. With these apps, you can actually connect to the world in record time, as there are no waiting times or expensive prices that go with them; and they can actually be a far better way of setting a trend in the world of today.

You can watch BlackBerry Videos with one of the Smartphone applications by viewing the music videos, or even find out what news bulletins are being broadcast all over the world. This can be on anything that you want to find out about – finance, sports, politics, breaking news - anything is possible. You could be in one country half way across the world and still find out what is happening in your local area.
Apps are the new way the world works. They have been made so that no matter what we are doing, we can connect to others anywhere. You do not just need to go online and read what is on there, you can actually blog, read and share your feelings.
We all know that apps are fun for our phones, but they can be a new way in which you can link to a person from one country while you are in another. Business meetings and really any type of business is actually made that much simpler today because of the use of Smartphone apps.

Difference between Mobile Phones and PDA – Make a Smart Choice

We all love to have a great cell phone in our hands and we want to be able to show our cell phones off to our friends and say we have the latest smartphone available. We want to make them very jealous if we have the best smartphone; as mobile phones are always something that we show off. We parade our mobile phone as though it was fashion week in New York, but smart phones are something much more than just a phone. The truth is that we do not actually know if these are the best or not. Everyone can say they are, but are they really? Everyone is now talking about PDA Phones and how they are so different from any other mobile phone.

The truth is that PDA phones and cell phones all have different methods as to how they work and what they are used for. Yes, of course, they are phones - but each is unique and special, as we would not all want a phone that did the same as every other phone out there as that would be boring.

These PDA phones do work in their own way from the way every other mobile works. There have always been comparisons over these two things and there always will be, as long as these two exist. This is like saying a tablet Android phone is better than a touch screen phone; and that the touch phones are great in their own way, but so is the tablet phone and, just like the BlackBerry, there are a lot of similar features in many of the phones today.

When it comes to the PDA and some of its business features, it can be quite similar to the BlackBerry Videos and other mobile phones. There is still the possibility of having a QWERTY keypad and you will have everything from emailing and a high level of support should anything go wrong; and, of course, video conferencing. These are very important to many of us, especially if we are travelling all the time while still trying to be at the office when we are running later or working from home.

With mobile phones their speeds are usually fast, but with the PDA the speeds have all got the fastest processors available to date. These speeds are actually quite impressive and not something that we would normally see every day but, then again, if you are not a tech wizard you will not be bothered about its speeds.

With PDA’s you are only getting one choice; however, with a Smartphone you will have an endless choice. Honestly, you can find Smartphones almost anywhere. Picking between these two is really hard, because if you want honestly then both are fantastic, but more people lean towards the trusted Smartphone.

BlackBerry to Match Apple on the Price of Its Tablet

Resource from:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/23/technology/23rim.html?scp=9&sq=BlackBerry&st=nyt

By IAN AUSTEN

OTTAWA — Research In Motion challenged Apple on Tuesday by announcing that its BlackBerry PlayBook would be sold at the same price as the iPad 2.

But the success or failure of the BlackBerry tablet, which will have a base price of $499, is unlikely to be determined in the aisles of Best Buy, Staples, RadioShack or the other retailers that will begin offering it on April 19. Many analysts believe that the PlayBook’s main customer base, like that of the original BlackBerry smartphone, will be corporations and government buying in bulk at a discounted price.

“Maybe ‘PlayBook’ is a misnomer,” said Tony Cripps, an analyst with Ovum, a unit of Datamonitor, who is based in London. “R.I.M. would be crazy not to maximize its advantages in the enterprise market.”

The PlayBook will be the first tablet that is directly price-competitive with Apple’s offering. By comparison, both the Motorola Xoom and the Samsung Galaxy Tab cost more than the iPad 2. Hewlett-Packard, which is also expected to sell its TouchPad tablet to corporations, has not yet announced the price of its device.

While Best Buy began accepting advance orders for the PlayBook on its Web site on Tuesday, the primary buyers of the PlayBook are unlikely to be paying retail. From the first days of the BlackBerry hand-held, R.I.M. carefully cultivated relationships with the information technology departments within corporations and governments. Its products have long included security and control features that are of more interest to people who run computer systems than to the employees using the BlackBerrys.

Jeff Orr, an analyst with ABI Research, said that R.I.M. had been consulting with its large customers about the PlayBook for several months. “They’re playing to a market where they definitely have a closer relationship than Apple,” Mr. Orr said.

That has produced some initial corporate interest. Sun Life Financial, a large insurance and financial services company in Toronto, has agreed to buy about 1,000 PlayBooks and said that it had already developed an application for the devices.

But beyond the identical prices, R.I.M. and Apple have taken several different approaches to their tablets. The PlayBook, for example, has a 7-inch screen compared to the iPad 2’s 9.7-inch display. But unlike the iPad 2, the PlayBook can display Web pages that use Adobe Flash software. and it has a much higher resolution camera for video and still photography.

At first, the PlayBook will be available only in a version that connects to the Internet through Wi-Fi. R.I.M. has said that more advanced, and costly, models for use on wireless carriers’ networks will be available from Sprint this summer. Following Apple’s lead, R.I.M. said that in addition to the base model with 16 gigabytes of memory, the PlayBook will be offered as a 32-gigabyte version for $599 and a 64-gigabyte model for $699.

Despite the embrace of the iPad by consumers, the demand from businesses and governments for tablets remains, at best, unclear. “It’s still very, very early stages,” said Mike Abramsky, an equity analyst with RBC Capital Market, a unit of the Royal Bank of Canada, who said that small businesses currently accounted for most nonpersonal use of tablets.

Still, Mr. Abramsky expects that sales to corporations and governments will account for about 30 to 40 percent of all tablet sales by the end of 2012.

Mr. Abramsky said that many corporations would probably prefer the PlayBook because of their history with the BlackBerry smartphone. But at the same time, he said he also expected that companies would find ways to integrate iPads and tablets based on Google’s Android operating system, if for no other reason than to accommodate employees who bring their personal devices to work.

Mobile Phones – Use and Misuse

Almost all people today own a mobile phone. Elementary students have cell phones provided by parents for safety and quick monitoring. Teenagers use smart phones to communicate with friends, family and teachers. Smart phones such as BlackBerry and PDA Phones are popular with professionals and business people. Yes, mobile phones are widely used, but are all people using them correctly and for the right reason? We also know that mobile phones are also used for fraudulent acts and mischief. That, of course, is not the reason cell phones were created in the first place.

Proper Mobile Phone Etiquette

There are instances where mobile phones can turn people into rude and anti-social beings. It is a given fact that the text messaging, phone calls and e-mail access provided by cell phones are highly essential, but most people are not following the proper etiquette in using their smart phones.
• If somebody is waiting to talk to you, make sure that you do not stay long on the cell phone to the point of ignoring the person waiting for you.
• If you expect a call and you are with guests or in a conference, announce beforehand that you expect a call, in order not to interrupt the present conversations and to give you the option of answering the call if it comes. Doing this will show your professionalism in handling things.
• If you are around people, excuse yourself if you have to answer a call.
• Never talk on the phone and with somebody at the same time, as it is rude to both of the people you are talking to.
• Never use your cell phone for gossip. Mobile phones are created for convenience and not for unnecessary conversations.
Proper Care of Mobile Phones
If you want your mobile phone to last long, you must take care of it. Cell phones are now an essential device and not a luxury. However, there are some units that can be classified as luxury phones due to their price.
• When you purchase a mobile phone, make sure that you read all the instructions on its usage and maintenance. Smart phones like BlackBerry have many functions that you must become familiar with. Wrong use may result in damage.
• Determine a safe place to keep your cell phone when not in use. Good places for safekeeping are on top of a desk, inside a cabinet, or on a bookshelf. Avoid keeping your phone in a purse or other closed container for long periods, especially if it is turned on. Also, charge your phone in an open space. Charging it on a closed container is fire hazard.

These are just some of the ways you should use your cell phones. Read the instruction manual, as it is complete with all the information about your mobile phone.

Reverse Cell phone Lookup

The number of prank calls, malicious calls and plainly harmful calls that go out everyday around the world must number millions. Most of these are dismissed as being of no consequence, which is sensible in many cases, considering the time and effort – and, in some cases, the money, involved in tracing the call. But life, alas, is not always that easy. You sometimes may really require the information on who called you, like when a mysterious girl tells you on a smartphone in a conspiratorial tone that you had better show up at the disco now, or else. Only, the call was meant for your husband. Or, when you are told that a bomb is planted under your bed and will go off in 10 seconds. If in deed, there had been a device but it had not gone off, you would die to know who it was who planted it.

This is when you need to seek the help of something called reverse mobile phone lookup. It is an easy procedure, but may bring out some unpleasant truths. Be sure you want to do it first. This reverse cellphone look up may involve a two timing husband, a child getting lost, or just a pain in the neck prankster out to disturb your sleep.

The best way to find out the owner of the cell phone from which the irritating call came is reverse phone lookup. There are a number of websites that provide this service and some of them are free. You should not, however, take their word for it and seek the help of the first one that you came across. Also, free reverse cellphone hookups are good only for landline numbers, which are everywhere – in telephone directories, yellow pages and many other places; and you do not need a sleuth to tell you that. The service providers need to spend money in order to get the information about the phone numbers and the woners. They also have to spend some tidy amount of money. That is one of the reasons that you have to pay up too. How else do you think you receive those telemarketing calls?

Cell phone numbers, on the other hand, are private and treated as such. There is no central database where you can find the numbers or their owners. Reverse lookup sites do, however, have a database that will serve the purpose.

Most sites allow a customer to search any number of times within a specified area. Phone numbers and their owners are the information that you will get, but you may also be able to collect personal data from them in some cases.

When you register, you must enter the code of the area and the telephone, smartphone or tablet number in question. Within seconds, you will be able to lay your hands on whatever information is available.

Review of Reviews: The BlackBerry PlayBook

Resource from:http://gadgetwise.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/review-of-reviews-the-blackberry-playbook/?scp=5&sq=blackberry&st=cse

By: Nick Bilton



After its long-awaited arrival, Research In Motion’s BlackBerry tablet is finally making its debut to the world. (You can find a wide selection of reviews and commentary here.) This slick new tablet, which is officially called the PlayBook, sports a seven-inch touch-screen, weighs 0.9 pounds and costs between $500 and $700, depending on memory capacity.

As the reviews have started to roll in, most technology critics seem to like the hardware of the new PlayBook, but are unimpressed with the software and apps on the new tablet. Whether consumers feel the same is yet to be decided, but R.I.M. is going to have some tough competition from the Apple iPad, which is currently estimated to own 87 percent of the embryonic tablet market.

Below are highlights from PlayBook reviews which hit the Internet on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal’s Walt Mossberg has a number of hesitations about the new tablet, saying it feels rushed to market:

This first edition of the PlayBook has no built-in cellular data connection and lacks such basic built-in apps as an e-mail program, a contacts program, a calendar, a memo pad and even R.I.M.’s popular BlackBerry Messenger chat system.

To get these features with your $500 PlayBook, you must use it with a nearby BlackBerry phone connected to it wirelessly over a short-range Bluetooth connection.

I got the strong impression R.I.M. is scrambling to get the product to market, and that it will be adding other features already offered on competing devices for months, through software patches.

Tim Stevens of Engadget is impressed by the design and hardware of the PlayBook, but says the software is lacking in a number of areas:

Writing this review has been a lot like trying to hit a moving target thanks to a series of software updates that have been dropping every few days. The PlayBook of today is considerably better than the PlayBook of yesterday, which also was a big step forward from the one we were reviewing two days before that. This is both encouraging and worrying — encouraging that R.I.M. is actively working to improve things, but worrying that things as critical as memory management are still being tweaked at the eleventh hour.

Right now, the BlackBerry PlayBook is a tablet that will come close to satisfying those users who gravitate toward the first word in its name: BlackBerry. Those who were more excited about the “play” part would be well advised to look elsewhere, at least until Android compatibility joins the party. Then, well, anything could happen.

Tony Bradley of PCWorld cites a number of PlayBook pros and cons, but ultimately sees the PlayBook as a business device:

The BlackBerry PlayBook has a meager 3,000 apps which will be unveiled next week when the tablet officially launches, and it is not capable of running apps developed for BlackBerry smartphones.

Other tablets have video, or even H.D.M.I. out ports that let the tablet be connected to a projector or monitor to deliver a presentation. The PlayBook, however, lets the presenter split screen– showing the actual slides on the main display for the audience, while letting the presenter see the slide notes and other details on the tablet.

Shortcomings aside, though, the tablet has a number of qualities that make it uniquely suited for business use.

The New York Times’ David Pogue, loves some of the PlayBook features, but warns that its lack of apps could hurt consumer adoption:

The PlayBook does two impressive things that its rivals — the iPad and the Android tablets — can only dream about.

The first cool feature has to do with loading the tablet with your music, photos and music. Unfortunately, there’s no iTunes-like software to do this automatically. You have to drag files manually from your computer into the PlayBook’s folders (Music, Photos and so on). But once you’ve set up this process using a USB cable, you can do it thereafter over Wi-Fi — wirelessly.

Second, there’s a wild, wireless Bluetooth connection feature called BlackBerry Bridge. In this setup, the PlayBook acts as a giant viewing window onto the contents of a BlackBerry phone.

Easy Guide Explaining How Smart Phones Work

There are a lot of issues going on about touch screen phones in the mobile technology world. This article will explain how the devices operate and what they are. There is a lot which is offered by the latest phones. In fact, they have the same functions as those of a computer. Smart phones usually combine communication services with other unique features. The features include email, text messaging, internet access, pager and fax. These devices have become essential in the business world. There are professionals whose jobs involve making several calls, as well as sending messages via emails and texts.

If you have not familiarized yourself with these devices, you may be probably wondering about their operation. The external part of the device is the same with the traditional mobile phones. The functioning is similar to standard phones. The main difference is that the latest devices have a keypad which is multifunctional. The keypad features letters and numbers. It resembles a personal digital assistant. The device allows you to play both audio and video files. They have several applications that you can choose from. Some of the applications include word processing software and video games. You can install and run various applications in these devices.

The devices are small and lightweight. This helps in enhancing easy portability, as well as comfort. The benefit of the phones is that they have the ability of installing, configuring and accessing custom designed content. There are various user friendly applications that are installed in the device. There are some applications that are very helpful, especially to those people who are in business. Some of the applications include accounting, word processing, desktop publishing and spreadsheets. It is possible to customize the device so that it can function just the way you like.

There are many features in smart cell phones. There is a camera that comes with high resolution. There is a feature which enables the sharing of music and media files to computers and other technological devices. One important thing which is crucial to the functionality of the device is the operating system. The operating system affects the number of applications that you can enjoy. There are two popular operating systems. The two are an android operating system and Apple IOS. You should decide on the operating system to go for when it comes to these devices. There are several programs that are used by these devices. The phones use an ARM processor which is power efficient. They have memory storage provided. The devices have slots provided into which a memory card can be inserted. This helps in increasing the storage space for the device.

The 3G technology and smart phone

The rate of the change of the communication technology is more or less similar that how fast it works. The other technologies may have taken many decades to reach at the advance stage but the common man has witnessed a rapid revolution in the field of cell phone technology in last 20 years. The pages of the print and electronic media are full with the news of the acquisition and merger of different corporations involved in the business of the mobile phone. The 2G and the 3G are buzzword in the field of communication technology. So the question knocks in the common man mind what the shit this 3G. The G stands for the generation or we can easily say that it is a set of technological standards. It has no connection et al with number of cameras or the available memory. The BlackBerry 9630 is the classical example of 3G cell phone.

The 3G is basically the wireless technology of the third generation. It is enhanced with earlier wireless technology like global roaming, access of multimedia application with advance features and transmission with very high speed. The 3G is basically used with handsets and smart phones to connect with network of internet to get the facility of uploading or downloading of data, surfing of the net and manage voice and video. The main advantage of the 3G technology over the 2.5 G technology is manifold higher data speed, fine audio and video streaming, browsing of web and warp at very high speed and the support of video conferencing. The modern day cell phones are well equipped with it.

It is the revolution of the 3G technology which has enabled the current generation smart phones rich in so many advance features. The components of the 3G standard make the mobile all in one tool ranging from verbal communication to browsing the internet game and the movie through the internet at the very high speed in any part of the world. The mind of the man which is the most fertile place in the world has no limitations. The smart phones supporting the 4G and 5G standards will be easily available in the hands of common man in few days.

Keeping Track with Your Cell Phone

Nowadays our cell phones have become an essential part of our lives; we are reluctant to go anywhere without this essential device. Everyday new functions are dreamed up and developed to make our lives easier and more enjoyable. Did you know that smart phones can even be used as a tracking device? This handy feature means that we can get all the information about our friends and relatives while we are apart. We can actually acquire this information without informing the other person or persons. Also, our mobile phone allows us to actually locate another person since their location appears on the screen when we call their number. For example, the BlackBerry has a mobile tracking device that determines the current location of your cell phone as well as the person you are trying to contact, which is especially useful in the case of emergency such as when you are lost or in a new area.

There are many useful apps that you can download to take advantage of this amazing technology. You can use the smart phone's on-board GPS to see maps to pin point your location, as well as let you know who else might be around to meet up with. Then you can check an app that will tell you all that is happening at that moment where ever you are like the closest restaurants and movie theaters or maybe live shows and specials. If there is an emergency the authorities can instantly locate your smart phone's position and send help. You can also use the GPS to give you street by street driving instructions to find your way and prevent you from ever get lost again.

Cell phones are changing with time

As alteration of technologies goes, there are lots of things that can be changed. If we talk about electronic gadgets or cell phones, we find today almost all of these become changed according to their features or overall services. With your smartphone, you can do lot of things. With the help of GPS software, you can easily navigate from place to place and get all the information about any unknown area.

With this facility you do not need to acquire any big maps, flags or other things when traveling somewhere. With your GPS software, you can get help at any time. When walking on a road, you get all the map information about the road on your phone. When flying or driving cars, you get all the further information about whole area or road maps.

The one good thing about GPS service is that it not gives maps, it give you whole detailed names of the entire area. As for naming the service, do not need to get information from other people. Nowadays, almost all smartphones come with GPS software. You can purchase it from many mobile shops. If you want to make your traveling experience much more comfortable, then smart phones can play a good role to inform you of any unknown place. The gps software is not only used individuals; it also used by government, non-profit organizations and business. Today, smartphones are used as handheld devices; they integrate a mobile phone with PDA Phones, cameras, mp3 players or video game devices.

In modern days, the cellphone are convert in smartphone, today cell phone is not use only for talking purpose, but with help latest mobile gadgets phone, you can do lots of things. Here you can use mobile device not only for talking view, but also for entertainment. Now, some mobiles are made that give you lots of entertaining things. Mobile companies are designing phones after surveying customers. They meet all the needs or requirement of what a customer may want out of his or her cellphone.

Why Smartphones Can See More Than We Can

By KATHERINE BOEHRET
Resource: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703922804576301153452838860.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

If you're tired of looking at the world through the same lens all the time, try adding a few virtual objects.

This week, rather than do my usual product testing, I decided to offer a peek into one of the most exciting trends in technology: augmented reality. AR, as it's commonly known, is about as close to magic as we can get without visiting Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Not to be confused with virtual reality, which substitutes a simulated world for the real thing, AR takes a live view of the real world and/or a real object and adds computer-generated graphics or sounds that appear as if they're right in the scene. The resulting visual can look convincing enough that people reach out and try to touch the AR object.
Built for AR

Most smartphones are now built with the technological requirements for AR—including a camera, accelerometer, compass and GPS—so developers are quickly building AR apps that take advantage of these devices. The technology started showing up in apps in 2009, and now hundreds of them use AR.

AR games add objects to real-life places and scenes, like ghosts in Ogmento Inc.'s Paranormal Activity: Sanctuary that appear as if they're on the actual street that people are on, viewed through the people's iPhones.

Viewdle's Social Camera uses AR for social networking as it identifies people in photos by comparing their images to tagged photos of friends in Facebook. Google Goggles uses image recognition to provide information about real-life objects including books, artwork, wine and menus, which can be translated into a language you can read.
AR: It's All Around You

You may not realize it, but basic forms of AR are at work in our everyday lives. Some cars, like the 7-series BMW, offer heads-up displays that impose data onto the windshield of the car so drivers don't have to glance down to read things like current speed.

Armchair quarterbacks appreciate AR every time they see the National Football League's first-down yellow line, visible only to the television audience. And some sporting events now include advertisements that appear on TV as if they're painted on a field or basketball court.
Physical Object Attraction

Each of the developers with whom I spoke about AR's future agreed: Computer vision is the central element to creating AR apps.

Computer vision describes a device's ability to see, meaning it can recognize an object, extract information from that object and do something with that information.

AR apps that rely mostly on GPS do more guesswork than object recognition. Google Goggles, for example, takes advantage of GPS for local search when someone uses an Android phone to pan around and see points of interest identified on the screen, like businesses. An app called Layar uses GPS and helps people with things like finding the closest drugstore or getting extra points in a game by walking to a certain place.

One example of a device that uses full-fledged object recognition is Nintendo's 3DS hand-held game, which comes with six AR Cards. With the naked eye, these cards look like small rectangles the size of playing cards with question marks printed on them. When viewed through the 3DS's two outward-facing cameras while playing AR Games, the cards come to life with things like boxes that unfold, a dragon that pops out of the box and bull's-eyes that must be shot using buttons on the 3DS.

Hallmark Cards Inc. is getting in on the AR action. Some of its greeting cards come with instructions to hold the card in front of a Mac or Windows PC webcam, which makes the characters drawn on the card appear animated on the computer screen.
Interactive Advertising

The AR Magic Mirror app uses the iPad 2's cameras to impose objects on images of one's face, including masks, hairstyles and marks. The app quickly analyzes the size of one's face and different objects can be selected to appear as if they're being worn in real life.

This app comes from Total Immersion, a company known for the way it incorporates AR into online and print ads. One online ad includes an interactive driving game that made users feel like they were driving the Volvo S60 through whatever their iPhone or Android camera displayed as AR obstacles fell into the road. In another campaign, people printed out a PDF of the Olympus PEN digital camera, held it to a webcam and saw animated demonstrations of the camera's features, as if the camera—not a piece of paper—was in their hands.
Effortless Socializing

The Viewdle Social Camera, a free app for Android devices, suggests names of people in photos taken by an Android smartphone by comparing their faces to a database of friends tagged in a person's Facebook account. Viewdle works completely on the smartphone so images don't need to be slowly uploaded to a remote server each time a face is identified. No one is automatically tagged in Viewdle photos; rather, it suggests who it thinks the person is, and the phone's owner approves this suggestion. The photos can then be shared from this app via Facebook, Flickr, email or MMS.

Viewdle's future plans sound exciting: Devices with enough processor power, including some that are out now, will be able to display photos captured on the smartphone with each person's most recent Facebook status update shown in bubbles above their heads.
Geek Alert

If you aren't too keen on walking around holding your device up in front of you so you can play AR games or use AR apps, Vusix Corp. designs glasses with AR-visualization capability. But if you wear these glasses, don't expect to get a date anytime soon.

From greeting cards to animated advertisements to mobile gaming, augmented reality is well suited for the smartphones people carry every day and we can expect to see much more of it in coming months and years.
—Watch a video with Katie Boehret on mobile apps that are adopting augmented reality technology at WSJ.com/PersonalTech. Write to her at katie.boehret@wsj.com.