Samsung to release its 64-bit processor later this year

Samsung is moving forward to join the 64-bit processor club this year, though they are still working on this technology.

"64-bit is very important ... in the sense that there's a real demand, whether you need it or not," Kyushik Hong, vice president of marketing for Samsung's system LSI business. "We are very actively working on it."

Though, The Korean electronics builds mobile devices and corresponding Exynos chips to power mobile devices, Samsung still lags in the latest 64-bit mobile processor.

The 64-bit processors are more faster and efficient then most of 32-bit processors, which are common in smartphones and tablet today, However, most mobile OS and apps doesn't support 64-bit processors.

In September 2013, Apple became the first company to develop ARM-based mobile processor using a 64-bit architecture. As Apple develops its own OS and design its own processor, It has achieved to launch, The first 64-bit mobile device.

In December 2013, Qualcomm came up with Snapdragon 410, followed by Snapdragon 610 and 615 in MWC(Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain this week.

Nvidia introduced its news K1 chip at Consumer Electronics Show last month. Intel also launced two new 64-bit mobile processors in Barcelona, Spain.

Samsung believes that their 64-bit processors will be ready when OS such as Android releases its 64-bit operating system. Samsung also believes that their processor will be ready by the end of this year.

"Our chip will be ready whenever the operating systems and ecosystem go 64-bit," Hong said. "We're pretty sure we're not going to be the bottleneck for that."

Samsung made a processor that integrate the applications processor with a cellular processor that increases battery life and can be used in less expensive devices.

Samsung Galaxy Win, already uses Samsung integrated processor, The company is looking at making integrated processors for the high-end devices also.

"Since we see more opportunity for the mid- and low-end segment where integrated makes more sense, we're already working on it," Hong said. "We have a whole product roadmap to address that space with different approaches."

Samsung also aims to be the top mobile processor maker, "There is some perception in the market, naturally, because it's the same Samsung name, but there's a clear division between Samsung Mobile and Samsung System LSI," Hong said. "Once we work with our customers, then they fully appreciate this separation between the different business units." Qualcomm currently leads the market with its Snapdragon processors.

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After Verizon and T-Mobile, AT&T offers free global texts and cheap international calling

AT&T announced for free text messages from U.S to the world who is signed up with a Mobile Share data plan. Current members will also gets the benefit. Also AT&T introduced a new World Connect Value plan that allows members to make phone calls at 1 cent per minute to more than 35 countries. The plan limits calls to only 1,000 minutes a month. This plan will be applied from February 28 onwards.

These plans is useful for the customer who want to communicate overseas. AT&T took this move after Verizon came with "More Everything" plan.

T-Mobile also introduced its $15 plan alike AT&T and Verizon plan earlier this month, that offered unlimited mobile to mobile calls to more then 30 countries and 1000 minutes to Mexico, along with an existing $10 plan that offers unlimited text messages to overseas numbers.

Verizon's "More Everything" plan also offered free texts messages from U.S to across the world and free global calling plan for the first three months. In Verizon's plan, 1 cent/min would cost to call Canada and Mexico and 5 cent/min for Latin America. The plan will costs $5 a month.

Under AT&T's World Connect plan, these are the countries that fall under the penny-a-minute category: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Bonaire, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Colombia, Costa Rica, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Grenada, Guadeloupe, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Martinique, Montserrat, Nicaragua, Panama, Saba, St. Barthelemy, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Maarten, St. Martin, St. Pierre and Miquelon, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Venezuela.

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Samsung launches Galaxy S5 and smartwatches

At the second day of MWC(Mobile World Congress)  in Barcelona, Spain. Samsung launches its new Galaxy S5 and Gear smartwatches.

Samsung Galaxy S5 comes with fingerprint scanner on the home button like Apple iPhone 5S. Samsung's scanner works by swiping the finger over the home button. In addition to the phone unlock, it also works as fingerprint-protect a private data locker.  Samsung also announced a partnership with PayPal which allows you to make online payments using the fingerprint method.

The new hardware feature in Samsung Galaxy S5 is the heart rate sensor, which is embedded in the back portion of the phone on the LED flash module. It is conjunction with S-Health 3.0. To monitor the pulse, hold the finger up to the sensor and wait till you see the reading. Samsung is planning to offer an open SDK for developers to incorporate this technology into their own apps.

"With the enhanced S Health 3.0, the Galaxy S5 offers more tools to help people stay fit and well. It provides a comprehensive personal fitness tracker to help users monitor and manage their behaviour, along with additional tools, including a pedometer, diet and exercise records, and a new, built-in heart rate monitor," said a Samsung spokesperson.

The first phone in Samsung to be IP67 water and dust-resistant.

Specifications of Samsung Galaxy S5

Dimension 142 x 72.5 x 8.1mm
Weight 145g
Cat 4 4G (LTE) with 150Mbps download and 50Mbps upload.
5.1 inches super AMOLED display with 1920x1080p
2.5 GHz quad-core Qualcomm Krait 801 processor
2GB RAM
16GB and 32GB internal storage, Expand upto 128 GB using  microSD card
16 megapixel rare camera, 2 megapixel front camera
4K video recording
2800 mAh battery, standby time of 390 hours and talk time of 21 hours
Android KitKat 4.4.2
USB 3.0
Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n and ac
Bluetooth 4.0 BLE/ANT+, NFC and InfraRed
accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass, barometer, RGB ambient light, Gesture (IR), and heart rate sensors
Available in charcoal black, shimmery white, electric blue and copper gold

"With the Galaxy S5, Samsung is going back to basics to focus on delivering the capabilities that matter most to our consumers," said JK Shin, president and head of IT & mobile communications division at Samsung. "Galaxy S5 represents an iconic design with essential and useful features to focus on delivering the ultimate smartphone in the market today through people inspired innovation."

Samsung included a feature called Ultra Power Saving Mode which turns the display becomes black and white and all 'unnecessary features' are disabled to reduce battery consumption. Calls and text messages are prioritised.

Along with Galaxy S5, the company also announced the Gear Fit, a new fitness band. David Park, a senior Samsung executive, said, "Gear Fit is for people who want the functionality of Gear 2 smartwatches, but in the size of a fitness band."

It counts steps with a watch and also measure pulse with the heart-rate sensor embedded inside.

Samsung also reveals Gear 2 and Gear 2 Neo which runs on Tizen. It is expected to have a better battery life than the Gear. The camera  of the Gear 2 is on the strap. Gear 2 Neo, being a cheaper model don't have camera.

"Galaxy S5 users can further customize their experience with an enriched third party app ecosystem and the ability to pair with next-generation Gear products for real-time fitness coaching," said by Samsung spokesperson.

Samsung Galaxy S5 and smartwatches will hit the market by April 11 in 150 countries.

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Tizen Association Chairman being cautious, says to launch smartphone with Tizen soon this year

In MWC(Mobile World Congress), Tizen Association Chairman and a director of product development at Japanese carrier NTT Docomo Ryoichi Roy Sugimara is very cautious of launching smartphone running on Tizen. Sugimara said the association and its carrier partners are carefully looking at the best market for a launch.

"You'll see a real commercial launch in some markets," he said in an interview following the Tizen Association's Mobile World Congress event here on Sunday.

Tizen talked up the 15 partners it had signed up to the group, as well as additional partners designed to help speed up the adoption of apps. Samsung's Gear 2 and Gear Neo smartwatches, the only mainstream products to run on Tizen were in display.

Sugimara pointed to a Tizen-powered phone that is a test unit from Samsung, as well as an R&D unit from ZTE. Sugimara said he wanted to find a market where the competition is less.

NTT Docomo was the first carriers to offer a Tizen phone but ended up canceling the plans because it thinks the market could not support more than two operating systems.

Sugimara is looking at markets where competitors are less and oppurtunities are more, that is Tizen is looking at the emerging markets and regions that would be interested in a lower end, but still powerful, smartphone.

Sugimara has to build relationship with both the vendors and carriers in China. When the carriers' move to more advanced wireless networks, there are opportunity for Tizen to take advantage of that shift as consumers change out their phones.

Sugimara have signed with ZTE and looking for more Chinese vendors, to help him create more competitive mid-range smartphones.

Sugimara announced that Tizen is expanding to wearables and TVs as well. The aspirations are higher, but Sugimara said he is trying to control expectations for Tizen. "In order to get into real-world devices, we need a step-by-step approach," he said.

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Huawei unveils five new products at MWC 2014

Huawei revealed five new products at MWC(Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain. Huawei claims to have ranked third in worldwide smartphone shipments in 2013.

Huawei unveils new products other then smartphones, these product includes two small tablets, a new smartphone, MiFi, and a new Net-connected watch/fitness tracker.

The slim 7-inch Huawei MediaPad X1 more as "phablet" than a tablet comes with a SIM card slot that provides 4G LTE data connectivity with calls and text messages facility, 1.6 GHz quad-core processor and a full HD display. The MediaPad X1 will be available in stores in the UK later this year. The MediaPad X1 is priced at 399 euros, or about $548.

Similar to Huawei MediaPad X1, the MediaTab M1 is an 8-inch Android tablet, has a SIM card slot with 4G LTE support with calls and text message facility. 1.6 GHz quad-core processor, 1280x920 pixel display. It runs Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS.

Huawei also announced a new 4G LTE smartphone, the Ascend G6 4G comes with 5-megapixel front facing camera, 8-megapixel rare camera, 540x960 display, 1.2 GHz quad-core processor, 2000mAH battery with Android 4.3 Jelly Bean.

Huawei also announced the world's fastest MiFi, the Huawei E5786 works on LTE networks providing downloading speed of 300Mbps and upload speed of 100Mbps. The MiFi supports WiFi 802.11a/b/g/n and 802.11ac and can connect upto 10 devices. It has 3000 mAH battery giving backup of 10 hours, It can also be used to charge tablets or smartphones. The MiFi is expected to be launched later this year.

Huawei also announced a wearable device, the TalkBand B1 which is a Bluetooth Headband and fitness tracker.

It uses Bluetooth 4.1 or NFC(Near Field Communication) for connectivity. The TalkBand B1 can pop out of the wristband to make a call and can pop back in to work as a fitness tracker. It is IP57 water and dust resistant. It tracks sleep patterns and other healh vitals. The strap can be used as a USB connector, which helps to charge the device. Its battery life is 7 hours of talk tome and two week standby capability. The 1.4 inch OLED screen controlled and managed by smartphone. The cost of this band is 99 euros or about $136.

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Microsoft is doubtful yet accepting Nokia with Android

In an ongoing event MWC(Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Things got awkward for short moment on stage when Microsoft executives were asked about the possibility of Nokia using Android.

Joe Belfiore, vice president of operating systems for Windows, looked to Nick Parker, who runs the world original equipment manufacturer group. Parker looked back, with both wanting to defer to the other.

Atlast Belfoire spoke, "Some things we're excited about, some things we're less excited about," Belfiore said during Microsoft's Mobile World Congress press conference on Sunday. Adding, "Whatever they do, we're very supportive of them."

"It's great to sit there and compete," Parker replied.

Nokia is expected to launch a smartphone running Android, breaking commitment with Microsoft and Windows Phone. Nolia and Microsoft have a strong relationship, particularly with devices head Stephen Elop, Nokia is responsible for a vast majority of sales of Windows Phone devices.

Nokia to launch Android suggest that Microsoft may keep Nokia independent. Microsoft has to show that it is support Nokia inorder to balance its relationship with its other partners.

"What they do is what they do," Belfiore said.

On Sunday, Microsoft announced a number of new companies supporting Windows Phone, including LG, ZTE, and Lenovo, as well as iPhone-manufacturer Foxconn.

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Mozilla looking forward in low-end smartphones, to bring $25 smartphone with Firefox OS.

In an ongoing event MWC(Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain. Mozilla focus on its bet that low-end smartphones will give Firefox OS a start in the crowded mobile market, announcing partnership that will bring $25 smartphones to large number of people who can't afford high-end models.

Mozilla stricked a deal with Chinese chip designer Spreadtrum Communications. This smartphones will arrive in India and Indonesia where the demand of low-budget phone is very high.

One company that plans to make and promote the phones is Indonesia-based Polytron. And Indian carriers Telkomsel and Indosat plan to sell the devices.

"We're working with them to break through the $50 barrier, which is a hard," Mozilla Chief Technology Officer Brendan Eich. "This is going to be for a set of [sales] channels in Asia that do not involve operators," the carriers that in other parts of the world dominate distribution.

The phone may have low-end configuration then most android and iOS smartphones. But Mitchell Baker, chair of the Mozilla Foundation, said at a press conference in MWC that the devices have to be judged by a different, lower-end standard.

"Imagine the phone in your pocket is a feature phone. Imagine, when you go buy one of these devices, that every euro is precious to you," Baker said. Looking at "the richness and power we're able to offer to this market, you'll be astonished. Then imagine where we can go from there."

Mozilla has found itself little less in the mobile OS market by pursuing its low-end strategy, with the first phones debuting in countries such as Hungary, Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and Greece. Mozilla, a nonprofit organization, hopes to use the browser-based operating system to lower the barriers that today keep people locked into ecosystems linking hardware, OS, app store, services, content, and apps. In the same show Mozilla also expanded parternship with Alcatel and ZTE. They debuted models with dual-core processors and larger-screen options and Firefox OS without raising the price.

Firefox OS v1.1 is the latest version of the HTML5 based operating system which comes with Twitter and Facebook. HERE Maps is available with offline feature. The update to version 1.1 adds MMS capabilities. Adaptive App Search lets you type in something that you are looking for and find out which apps will give it to you. One can load the app instantly for one time use and discard it, or install it for future use. One can download apps from Firefox OS market.

"The positive market reception of the first Firefox OS smartphones demonstrates that people like the user experience and openness we’re building with Firefox OS. We continue to enhance Firefox OS to deliver the best experience for the many people around the world buying their first smartphones. We are looking forward to seeing the response to the next round of Firefox OS launches."-Jay Sullivan, COO, Mozilla

Version 1.1 of Firefox OS also allows you to import your contacts from Gmail, Hotline, Facebook and from your SIM card while the QWERTY keyboard now offers auto-correction. Search your music by artist, group or song title and more than 15 languages are now supported.

Alcatel's The One Touch Fire S will take Firefox OS to new heights, a quad-core processor and support for faster new 4G LTE networks and Alcatel also showed off an early version of a planned new tablet, the One Touch Fire 7.

At Mozilla's event, Huawei also announced its first Firefox OS phone known as the Y300. It comes with a dual-core processor, 512MB RAM, 4-inch 800x480 display, a 5-megapixels rear camera, 0.3 megapixel front facing camera and Firefox OS v1.1. No news about when the Y300 model will be in market.

Arriving at the show are two ZTE phones and four Alcatel phones:

The ZTE Open C has a 4-inch, 800x480 display, a dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 200 processor, 3G networking; 1,400mAh battery, 512MB RAM, 2GB flash storage, and 3-megapixel camera. The Spanish carrier Telefonica will sell it in Venezuela and Uruguay in the second quarter of 2014, ZTE said.

The ZTE Open II has a 3.5-inch 480x320 display, dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon processor, 3G networking; 1,150mAh battery, 256MB RAM, 2GB flash storage, and 2-megapixel camera. Telefonica will sell this model in six countries

The Alcatel One Touch Fire S, the company's highest-end model, has 4G LTE networking, a 4.5-inch 960x540 IPS screen, a quad-core 1.2GHz processor, an 8-megapixel rear-facing camera, and 2-megapixel front-facing camera, and support for near-field communications (NFC).

The Alcatel One Touch Fire E is a step down. It's also got a 4.5-inch 960x540 screen, but not with in-plane switching, and its 1.2GHz processor is only a dual-core model. Its rear-facing camera has a 5-megapixel resolution, but its front-facing camera is only 0.3MP.

The Alcatel One Touch Fire C is the clear successor to 2013's model. Its 3.5-inch 480x320 screen is the same size, but it now is accompanied by a dual-core 1.2GHz processor. Its camera is pretty low-end, just a 0.3-megapixel model.

Google is pushing toward lower-end phones, with Android 4.4 memory-saving techniques that fit KitKat into phones with 512MB of RAM. Firefox is pushing, too. It uses the same ZRAM memory compression technique to halve its memory requirement to 128MB of memory, Eich said.

Alcatel is also pushing Firefox OS tablet, The One Touch Fire 7, into the market. Alcatel plans to reproduce a low-budget Firefox OS tablet. It's got a 7-inch 960x540 display, dual-core 1.2GHz processor, 0.3-megapixel front and rear cameras, a 9.9mm thickness, and 285g weight.

Mozilla itself will sell phones: Firefox OS Flame. It's got a Qualcomm 1.2GHz dual-core Snapdragon processor, a 4.5-inch 854x480 screen, a 5-megapixel rear-facing camera and 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 3G networking, 8GB of flash storage, NFC, a 1,800mAh battery, 256MB - 1GB RAM.

Mozilla's main focus is on smartphones, but it's encouraging others to help push Firefox OS into tablets. Via's 7-inch Vixen 7 and Foxconn's 10-inch InFocus are available to developers who are interested in the area.

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After Airtel, Reliance Jio to launch 4G LTE by September 2014 in Mumbai and Delhi

RJIL(Reliance Jio Infocomm) is looking forward to launch its 4G LTE by September 2014 in Mumbai and Delhi.

"Reliance Jio is engaged in building up team for telecom services which is almost done. Telecom services are likely to be launched in third quarter of 2014 i.e July-September period starting from Delhi and Mumbai," a source privy of the development told PTI.

RIL announced to add 7,000 employee in July with the total of 10,000 employee in 2014-2015. RIL may share details of services launch in June.

Reliance Jio has allocated 22 million numbers for launch of services. The company is evaluating devices from Samsung(Korea) and ZTE(China) for its customers.

The company has started its trail of 4G services in Delhi, Mumbai and Jamnagar, After launching the services in Delhi and Mumbai, the company will focus on Southern part followed by West, North, East.

Reliance Jio, during the trials showcased broadband speed of 49 Mbps, which is 10-12 times faster than 3G mobile internet speed. At this speed, a user can download a 600 MB movie in about 2 minutes.

The company has built its network architecture plan providing booster antenna kind of device. This antenna will receive signal from mobile tower and a cable from this antenna connect a set-top-box (works on android) or a modem inside home that will create wifi network for telecom service inside home. Beside this RJIL planned to give connection at home with optical fibres where signals are weak.

Reliance Jio also plans to launch TV services on 4G network. Reliance Jio Infocomm (RJIL) has loaded 150 channels that it will provide across all devices ranging from mobile phone to TV sets using its high speed 4G network.

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Chipmakers are focusing on China in MWC 2014

The world's popular mobile brands are coming together at the premier mobile industry event MWC(Mobile World Congress) in Barcelona, Spain.

MWC will be a war to stay on top of others between many different mobile companies.

Companies like Qualcomm, MediaTek, Marvell, Intel and Broadcomm are looking forward for the oppurtunities as China brands and telecoms carrier such as China Mobile moves on to 4G LTE(Long Term Evolution), this gives Intel and other chipmakers to knock out Qualcomm, The main supplier of LTE chip.

Chipmakers will debut the new upcoming LTE oriented microprocessors which are designed to consume low power and low price, ideal for China's mid range phones.

Qualcomm is sending pre-shows e-mailsin Chinese, posted translation of signs around its display area and created a Chinese version smartphone app to attract Chinese visitors. "We're going to have a lot of demos targeted at China, a lot of demos on LTE," said Executive Vice President Cristiano Amon. "Qualcomm looks at the opportunity of LTE and the smartphone migration in emerging markets as a very big opportunity."

Taiwan's MediaTek, despite being top player in smartphone chip is launching a brand campaign aiming 75,000 attendees in the MWC event, with ads displayed at convention center, airports and around the city.

Qualcomm being a sole provider of LTE chips for four years is expecting more demands as the adoptation of LTE in more countries.

"They're very good at LTE," MediaTek Chief Marketing Officer Johan Lodenius said. "What's in our favor is that all the operators worldwide are really looking for an alternative. They don't want to be single-sourced with Qualcomm."

Marvell, California based company has made progress in its LTE oriented chips and is aiming at the upcoming low-priced phones in China market. Broadcom also debuted its new LTE chip aimed at mid to low priced smartphones.

On Sunday, Qualcomm unveiled two upcoming mobile chips targeting China and 10 new Qualcomm based phones, which includes several LTE phones.

On Monday, Intel announced a new LTE chip being tested with major wireless companies and can be used in smartphones this year. "There are a lot of people making a lot of noise about getting these things to market. We're really getting ours to market," Coppernoll said. "We have made radical shifts in progress and improvements in our products and our working relationships."

Microsoft is also keen to attract China handset market. It announced a new reference design program to make it easy for manufacturers to quickly launch Windows-based smartphones using Qualcomm chips.

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'Project Tango', A new way to watch our world on our phone by Google

Google wants to build a new kind of smartphone that is capable of seeing like a human eyes. It is a new experiment which works on Android platform. Google calls it 'Project Tango'.

Motorola's ATAP(Advanced Technology And Products) Team is working on Project Tango and is leaded by Johnny Lee, A Human-Computer Interaction researcher.

Johnny Lee wrote, "The goal of Project Tango is to give mobile devices a human scale understanding of space and motion".

Since many years Google team has been working with universities, research labs and industrial partners from nine different countries around the world to gain research works from the last 10 years of work in robotics and computer vision to consolidate into a unique mobile phone.

Johnny also stated, "Now, we’re ready to put early prototypes into the hands of developers that can imagine the possibilities and help bring those ideas into reality. We hope you will take this journey with us. We believe it will be one worth traveling."

"What if you could capture the dimensions of your home simply by walking around with your phone before you went furniture shopping? What if directions to a new location didn't stop at the street address? What if you never again found yourself lost in a new building?" Johnny said, "The future is awesome. We can build it together,"

Currently Google developed a prototype, a 5 inches phones which contains customized hardware and software designed to track the full 3D motion of the device along with simultaneously creating a map of the environment. These sensors allow the phone to take a quarter million 3D measurements every second, updating its position and orientation in real-time, combining that data into a single 3D model of the space around you.

It runs Android and includes development APIs to provide position, orientation, and depth data to standard Android applications written in Java, C/C++, as well as the Unity Game Engine. These early prototypes, algorithms, and APIs are still in active development.

The Prototype phone comes with Movidius's Myriad 1 vision processor platform, which features ultra-low power computational chips, software and development tools used to enable mobile devices to understand and contextualize their surroundings.

"Google has paved the future direction for smart mobile vision systems and we're excited to be working with a company that shares our vision to usher in the next wave of applications that fundamentally alter how a mobile device is used to experience the world around us," El-Ouazzane said. "Project Tango is truly a groundbreaking platform, and we look forward to seeing the innovation the developer community achieves with unprecedented access to the Movidius Vision Processor."

Google is looking for the professional developers  to work on the top of this platform and build applications. Google have kept some devices for itself for projects in the areas of indoor navigation/mapping, single/multiplayer games that use physical space, and new algorithms for processing sensor data.

Google is providing 200 prototype development kits to the developer only who are working in an incorporated entities or institutions due to 'FCC restrictions'. To apply for the prototype, fill this form.

Many universities and development collaborators are working and contributing in 'Project Tango'.
Bosch, BSQUARE, Compal Comm, ETH Zurich, flyby, The George Washington University, hiDOF, MM Solutions, Movidius, University of Minnesota, JPL, Ologic, Omni Vision, Open Source Robotics Foundation, Parcosm, Sunny Optical Technology.

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WhatsApp Messaging app will be sold to Facebook for $19 billion

Facebook takes over WhatsApp Messaging App for $12 billion in Stock and $4 billion in Cash and an additional $3 billion in restricted stock units that will be granted to WhatsApp’s founders and employees vesting over the next four years.

Facebook CEO Mark Zukerberg posted a Facebook update about WhatsApp acquisition. “WhatsApp is on a path to connect 1 billion people. The services that reach that milestone are all incredibly valuable,” Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “I’ve known Jan for a long time and I’m excited to partner with him and his team to make the world more open and connected.”

WhatsApp co-founder and CEO Jan Koum will join Facebook's Board of Directors. WhatsApp has built a leading and rapidly growing real-time mobile messaging service, with over 450 million people using the service each month. 70% of those people active on a given day. Messaging volume approaching the entire global telecom SMS volume.
Continued to strong growth, currently adding more than 1 million new registered users per day.

Jan Koum, WhatsApp co-founder and CEO, said, “WhatsApp's extremely high user engagement and rapid growth are driven by the simple, powerful and instantaneous messaging capabilities we provide. We're excited and honored to partner with Mark and Facebook as we continue to bring our product to more people around the world.”

As per the deal, WhatsApp's headquarters will remain in Mountain View, CA.

If the deal fails of aquiring WhatsApp, Facebook has to pay a breakup fee of $1 billion in cash to WhatsApp. 

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Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One Max to get Fingerprint Sensor

After Apple iPhone 5S its time for Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One Max to get fingerprint reading technology into the device's home button.

Samsung is launching its new Galaxy S5 on February 24 at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. On which Sammobile has released a report saying that it's "confirmed" that the fingerprint sensor will available with upcoming smartphones on device's home button.

Sammobile also reported that contrary to earlier rumors of using the whole screen as a fingerprint sensor, The sensor will be built into the smartphone's home button. The fingerprint sensor works with a vertical swipe of the pad of the finger while keeping the finger flat and swiping at medium speed. User can register up to seven different fingerprints and assign them various tasks or app shortcuts.

Last month, A Samsung executive reported that the company was looking at iris-scanning technology and fingerprint sensor technology, But iris-scanning technology won't be available with the Samsung Galaxy S5.

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Apple A8 processor production by TSMC

Taiwan based TechNews (via MacRumors) from Asia points to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) that Apple is looking forward for the production of Apple A8 processor. TechNews also reported that TSMC has already started the production of Apple A8 processor. TSMC was expected to handle 70% of production and rest 30% by Samsung, but due to some production problems, Apple A8 production shifted completely from Samsung to TSMC.

Till Date, Apple's Processors was manufactured by Samsung, but TechNews is claiming that after the latest 20 nanometer manufacturing process, TSMC will be the main manufacture for Apple A8 processor.

Report suggest that this deal will not affect production of A9 production in 2015. Apple will start A9 production with TSMC and its 16nm process and then shift to Samsung and its 14nm process.

A8 is expected to be the new processor update in iPad Air and next generation iPhone.
Rumors says that "iPad Pro" will be postponed to 2015.

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$50 off for all iPhone buyer for a week

Best Buy is giving $50 off on all the iPhone  from Sunday (Feb 16), through Saturday (Feb 22). This will be applicable when bought via the usual two-year contract with AT&T, Sprint or Verizon Wireless. Consumers who reserved their iPhone today will get a $50 gift card that can be applicable to the price of any phone bought in this year. From today, Best Buy is giving $50 discount on iPad Mini too.

For the same duration, Samsung Galaxy Note 3's  price has been reduced by $100 which brings it to the price of $199 on two year agreement with AT&T or Verizon.

Samsung's Galaxy Gear Watch's price reduced from $300 to $200 with the purchasing of either one of Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy S4, Galaxy S4 Active, or the Galaxy Mega. From Today Nexus 7 16GB, 32GB and Nexus 7 LTE 32GB will get $30 discount, this offer will be applicable till Monday.

Consumers who are fan of  "Games of Thrones" can save money too. On buying HTC One and "Game of Thrones: Season 3" will get $50 discount on the phone. The phone then will cost $49. Online buyer will receive a $50 gift card.

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Airtel, The first to launch 4G on mobile in Bangalore, India

On 14th Feb 2014, Bharti Airtel released a joint released with Apple announcing the first to launch Airtel 4G services on mobile in Bangalore, India. As iPhone 5S and 5C phones support the 2300MHz TD-LTE band, The customers carrying these phones will be able to use 4G services on their devices. Ascend P1 LTE will also be able to enjoy the 4G services as it supports 2300MHz TD-LTE.

Announcing the launch, Srini Gopalan, Director - Consumer Business, Bharti Airtel India said, "Airtel has always set the technology trends in India and was the first operator to introduce 4G to the country. The Information Technology capital of India saw the advent of 4G in 2012 and today we are proud to announce the launch of the much awaited Airtel 4G services on mobile in partnership with Apple. We will together give customers in Bengaluru the power to upgrade to cutting edge 4G LTE technology at no additional cost. As a brand we are committed to enriching lives of millions by giving them the best user experience and invite our data savvy customers in the city to enjoy this world class data experience."

Airtel promises to give 4G mobile Internet speed at the same rate as their current 3G tariffs, existing subsciber will have to upgrade their 2G or 3G SIM card to a 4G SIM card. Airtel also annouced the launch of new plans for hardcore data users, giving customers 10 GB for Rs. 1,000.

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