What I learned about mobile in China

In China I met several entrepreneurs and others at the Bluetooth World conference there. China has a very different mobile culture, so thought I'd share what I learned here:

1. Facebook and Twitter and many other sites don't work. Neither do their mobile apps. Yes, you can use a VPN or a proxy server, but most sites are very slow compared to when I use those sites in the US. (The government blocks those sites. Most of the entrepreneurs I talked with said the government does that to protect local businesses and their own pocketbooks).

2. Almost every high-end user had an iPhone. Others had Android. I never saw Windows Phone or Blackberry's being used. Android is coming on strong, everyone admits.

3. Every iPhone was jailbroken. Why? Because using the Apple App Store is painful at best and totally unusable at worst. Why? The speed of downloading apps from Apple is horrid. So, everyone makes their phone have a Chinese app store so they can download apps fast. That means Apple will see lower revenue per device than it does in the states, where it can sell movies, music, and apps directly.

4. Every service has a Chinese copy. In the shot I took below there is a YouTube copy. Actually several copies. 

5. The Chinese hate the firewall too, but they say it just means you gotta be "entrepreneurial" to get around it. Either by using Chinese copies of services you like, or by using VPNs.

6. There isn't LTE in Shanghai yet. That I thought was totally shocking, given how modern and wealthy the city is. My phones, back in San Francisco, are dramatically faster on videos and things like Waze. Everyone says that LTE finally got approval from the government and should be showing up by the end of the year.

7. There is a strong mobile culture. It felt a lot like San Francisco, with lots of apps for local food, transit, etc. Plus, the people i met with knew exactly how the local apps compared with things like Yelp or OpenTable.

8. Many apps have "offline" features. Baidu maps, for instance, aren't as accurate as Google's maps, but they work offline, which matters because of lack of LTE and also pricing plans that charge you per megabyte downloaded.

9. There are lots of low-cost Android phones and systems coming out. Think about how Facebook's new Home App takes over app launching and you are close to how these new Chinese phones take over your notifications and app screens. They also strip out all Google stuff and add in their own apps and search. 

10. Everyone knows how to get their phones customized. You can pay people to root your phones for a few dollars and load you up with the apps you want. This lets people who buy very low-end phones get similar experiences you'll get on more expensive phones.

For those of you who have visited China, or who live there (Google+ was the only social network I could use directly -- the others I used through Flipboard just fine) what other things have you noticed about how Chinese use mobile phones vs. how people in US and Europe use them?

Author:- Robert Scoble

Read More

Google Drive Now Comes With More Options for Android Apps Storage and Sync

One of the advantages of Apple’s storage in the cloud service iCloud is that it allows the developers to user their available storage as a secure environment for synchronizing and backing up data and settings. Google’s Drive was inferior until now, as the options provided to the Android app developers were limited, but the Mountain View-based company announced the inclusion of new options that make Drive a more powerful service.

Until now, the Android app developers had two options. The first one was BackupManager, which allowed them to save a small amount of data and settings, but it didn’t come with sync between terminals, nor access on demand. The second option was the Google Drive storage itself, but it only allow the users to simply store data, which were easy to delete, just like any other personal file stored in the cloud.

Google has announced tat the Google Drive API options are now richer allowing the users to create special folders that will not be accessible directly. Therefore Google Drive will allow the devs to use generous and secure storage that can now be employed for backup and sync.

Source: .android.gs

Read More

Samsung Galaxy S4 Might Come with Quad-core Processor, Shows Benchmark Log

If you ask people on the street which phone they expect the most, many of them will give a straight answer, the Samsung Galaxy S4. The more people are interested in a device, the more related rumors appear. The company hasn’t announced the Galaxy S4 officially, but we know that it will launch the so-called “next big thing” pretty soon. 

 Now, the latest news is provided by the database of GLBenchmark. The benchmark displays a smartphone called Samsung SHV-E300S, which seems that has been put to a few tests. We’re not quite sure, but rumor has it that the Samsung E300S is, in fact, the Korean version of the Galaxy S4 (aka GT-I9500 or SGH-I337). In case it proves to actually be the Samsung Galaxy S4, the listing of GLBenchmark offers good news, bu also bad news. et’s start with the bad news. 

It seems that the Galaxy S4 is not going to sport the new Exynos 5 Octa processor (which includes eight cores), which is not such a big surprise in my opinion. The users who want this great CPU, will have to wait until the next Galaxy Note is launched because the phablet will surely come with the 8-core monster. Moving further, you should not be worried about the fact that the Galaxy S4 won’t sport a processor with eight cores because according to the benchmark results, Samsung will, one again, have the fastest smartphone on the planet (again, if in fact the results for the S4 are legit). 

Despite the fact that there are only two tests taken by the Galaxy S4, the showed results are quite awesome. In terms of offscreen and onscreen 3D performance, the S4 scored 41.3 fps and 39.4 fps, respectively. If the numbers are true, than the Galaxy S3 and the Galaxy Note 2 will seem as two “Davids” standing next to “Goliath”. Moreover, not even the HTC Butterfly (a device known for its high performances), can match the Samsung Galaxy S4, with a score of 29.7 fps and 28.1 fps. But there is a good reason why the results of the Galaxy S4 are so good, and up to breaking any existing performance record. It seems that the smartphone is powered by a 1.9 quad-core 1.9 GHz Snapdragon S4 Pro processor. 

Also, the GPU appears to be an Adreno 320, although it’s pretty hard to believe that Samsung will ditch its Exynos chip. The amount of RAM will probably be 2GB, or even more. Even though the side of the display is not mentioned (could be a 5-incher, according to some reports), the pixel resolution will reach the sky with 1,920 x 1080. Yeah, you heard me, the new Samsung Galaxy S4 will feature a Full HD Display. As for the operating system my money is on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, of course. 

It looks like this specific version that will be launched in South Korea will feature LTE connectivity and will be available at SK Telecom Korea. I must say that if the news is true, then the Samsung Galaxy S4 will blast all of its competition, and will become the nr 1 smartphone in the world, again. I wonder, what Apple will implement on its next iPhone 5S (or iPhone 6)? They will probably add another row of icons.

Read More