Following a successful launch in India earlier this week, Samsung has announced that the scaled-down variant of its flagship phablet, the Galaxy Note 3 Neo, is now available to purchase in its home market. However, unlike the other Neo variants, this Korean exclusive model sports the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 chipset.
A dark cloud hangs over the future of mobile communication: the spectre of Facebook controlling it all.
It’s not likely, actually. But Facebook’s intention to purchase WhatsApp for $16 billion or $19 billion dollars (depending on whether you factor in the stock-based bonuses for WhatsApp employees) involved some scary-big numbers.
The biggest of these numbers happens when you add Facebook’s current user count plus WhatsApp’s projected user count (how many users Facebook believes the service will have if current growth rates continue). The number is: 2.3 billion users.
Of course, the number is pure B.S.
WhatsApp’s current growth probably won’t continue. Facebook’s current numbers are padded with duplicate users, fake users and non-active users. And there’s always going to be big overlap between WhatsApp and Facebook users — a dude who uses both is still just one dude.
Still, when I ponder the number of people likely to be using Facebook-owned services (WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger) for messaging compared to those using Google-owned Hangouts, I find myself astonished and confused. How did this happen? And what can be done about it?
Going into Mobile World Congress this year, the one device everyone was waiting to see was Samsung’s new Galaxy S5. We knew it was coming — the South Korean company made that pretty clear with all of its teasers beforehand — and we couldn’t wait to see what the 2014 flagship would bring.
The Galaxy S5 wasn’t the only smartphone on show that was worth getting excited about, either. Sony brought its new Xperia Z2, HTC unveiled the impressive midrange Desire 816, there were some nice new additions from LG and ZTE, and of course, we also saw the first Android-powered handsets from Nokia.
Smartphones certainly stole the show for another year, then, but there was another product category we couldn’t help but take note of. No, I’m not talking about tablets — which were just as disappointing this year as they were in 2013; I’m talking about wearables.
We covered Mobile World Congress a little differently this year; rather than writing up single posts for every interesting thing we came across, we threw everything together in a live blog where it would be easier to find. This meant we could get the news out quicker from the show floor, and make things a little more casual and entertaining.
It certainly worked well for us, but we want to know what you thought about it. Was it good to see more frequent updates and get an insight into what it’s really like at MWC, or would you have preferred to see more traditional news posts? Take our poll below and let us know.
The “All New HTC One” won’t get its official unveiling until March 25, but HTC is having a terrible time trying to keep its design and details under wraps. We already know what the handset will look like, we have a good idea of its internals — and now thanks to British retailer MobileFun.co.uk, we know how much it’s going to cost.
