Mikael Ricknäs, Author at NetworkingNexus.net

Mikael Ricknäs

Author Archives: Mikael Ricknäs

Here are the components that will power your next smartphone

The last couple of months haven seen the launch of a clutch of new smartphones—and also new chipsets that aim to make the next generation of smartphones more powerful and simpler to recharge.Competition between chip makers is increasing, with companies spurring each other to improve smartphone performance. Here are some of the components and technologies that will help make it happen:Qualcomm’s next-generation processorsThe Snapdragon 820 will be the first processor to use Qualcomm’s homegrown ARM-based Kryo architecture—and also the first to use the company’s new Zeroth platform for adding machine learning capabilities. The company plans to make samples available to phone manufacturers in the second half of the year. Qualcomm will need to have the chips ready for mass production in the first half of 2016 to catch the next wave of high-end smartphone launches, or manufacturers may look elsewhere—as Samsung Electronics did this year, choosing to use one of its own Exynos processors for its Galaxy S6.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Wireless router from Huawei hints at new ways to speed up LTE

In the hunt for more spectrum to offer higher wireless broadband speeds, mobile operators and equipment vendors are showing a growing interest in a new candidate.Huawei Technologies has laid the groundwork for speeds up to 220Mbps using LTE-Advanced at 3.5GHz. On Friday, the company said it has launched the world’s first device, a wireless router, that combines the speedy network technology with that frequency band.The amount of spectrum is one of the things that determines what speeds a network can offer. The 3.5GHz band is an ideal candidate for offering high speeds because it has a lot of spectrum available, according to Huawei. What the vendor does not mention is that using the higher band also means worse coverage than what mobile operators can offer with current networks.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

5G faces technical, political hurdles on the way to offering multigigabit speeds

For 5G to be successful, the whole telecom industry has to re-evaluate how networks work and are developed. Multiple challenges, both political and technical, have to be overcome before the technology can become a reality.“Availability of spectrum is obviously a big thing,” said Gerhard Fettweis, who heads a Vodafone-sponsored program at the Dresden University of Technology.The amount of spectrum allocated to 5G will determine how fast networks based on the technology will eventually become. If they are to reach multiple gigabits per second, which proponents are already promising, operators are going to need a lot more bandwidth than they have today. A first step in securing that will hopefully be taken at the World Radiocommunication Conference in Geneva in November, according to Fettweis.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SAP and Deutsche Telekom join forces to connect machines

In a bid to give the local manufacturing industry a leg up, Deutsche Telekom and SAP have joined forces to create standards for what the Germans have dubbed Industry 4.0.At this year’s Cebit trade show, Industry 4.0 is the hottest buzzword. It’s an umbrella term for connecting every part of mainly the manufacturing industry, which is an important driver of the German economy. The term is related to the Internet of things, since sensors and machine-to-machine communications are an essential part of industrial connectivity. The concept covers connectivity for everything from development and production processes to logistics, services, and after-sales support.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Vodafone, Deutsche Telekom put mobile security in the spotlight

Telecom operators Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom are betting that in a post-Snowden world, “made in Germany” is more attractive than “made in U.S.A.”The need for more secure communications has been a hot topic in Germany since former U.S. government contractor Edward Snowden made his revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) snooping.The operators see the revelations, rightly or wrongly, as a golden opportunity to differentiate their products from competing U.S. offerings. As often as they can, Vodafone and Deutsche Telekom are highlighting that the German credentials of two new security products that were announced on Sunday at the Cebit trade fair in Hanover.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google picks London for its first shop-within-a-shop

Google has opened its first shop-within-a-shop in London, yet another retail experiment by the company, which already has counters in third-party stores.The London shop is located inside the Currys PC World store on Tottenham Court Road, and it features Google’s Nexus devices, Chromebooks and other products. Currys PC World is the biggest consumer electronics retailer in the UK.Google’s shop is not a full blown retail outlet like Apple’s huge and sophisticated stores, but more of a modest test balloon for the search giant. It builds on dedicated areas Google has already in big electronics stores.Although not very big, the shop is prominently located by the entrance of the Currys store, so it’s impossible to miss. Shoppers can test and buy Google’s Android phones and tablets as well as Android Wear smartwatches and Chromebook laptops from partners such as LG Electronics, Motorola Mobility, HP and Asus.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Google picks London for its first shop-within-a-shop

Second generation Moto G with LTE goes on sale in Europe

Motorola Mobility will start shipping the second generation Moto G with LTE in Europe later this month, while smartphone buyers in the U.S. will have to wait.The price will be €199 (US$210) in countries such as Germany and France and £159.00 in the U.K. with tax. It will start shipping the week of March 16, according to Motorola. The company didn’t provide any details on a possible U.S. launch, only saying that it wasn’t included in the launch.The exclusion of LTE when Motorola announced the second generation Moto G back in September was surprising, since there already was a 4G version of the original model. But the company is now starting to rectify that by expanding availability outside Brazil, where the 4G phone went on sale earlier this year.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SugarCRM acquires Stitch to boost mobile CRM offerings and know-how

SugarCRM has acquired software and programmers from Stitch, the developer of an iPhone app that acts as a personal assistant for sales staff, in order to boost its customer relationship management offering.Future releases of the Sugar CRM platform will be enhanced with Stitch capabilities, SugarCRM said Monday without offering any details. Following the deal, however, the Stitch app is no longer available.The growing popularity of smartphones is having an effect on all types of software, including CRM. Stitch’s technology analyzes email, calendar and customer relationship management (CRM) data and makes personalized recommendations to sales staff on how to make the most effective use of their time. The recommendations are aggregated in the mobile app or in Google’s Chrome browser with the help of a plug-in.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

SugarCRM acquires Stitch to boost mobile CRM offerings and know-how

Five takeaways for CIOs from this year’s MWC

A broad range of companies at Mobile World Congress this week have teamed up to improve smartphone security and offer better software integration for Internet-of-things deployments.The conference in Barcelona covered a wide range of topics, but for enterprises the most important issues were IoT and how enterprise resources can be made available on smartphones without sacrificing security.Here are some of the trends and announcements from this year that will have an impact on enterprise mobility:IoT can be more tightly integrated with business processesTo make data from connected sensors more useful, IoT platform vendors are joining forces with software companies to open the door for better integration.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Against the odds, Canonical and Jolla trot out iOS, Android alternatives

Four smartphone OSes that hope to find room next to Android and iOS were on display at Mobile World Congress, but the most exciting were Ubuntu Phone and Sailfish OS. Apple and Google have further tightened their grip on the smartphone OS market; they had a market share of 96.1 percent last year, up from 94 percent in 2013, according to Gartner. However, that hasn’t deterred Mozilla, Samsung Electronics, Canonical and Finnish start-up Jolla from developing their own OSes.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 + At Mobile World Congress they all showed commercial devices for the first time. Mozilla’s Firefox OS and Samsung’s Tizen have user interfaces that are very reminiscent of Android, but Canonical with Ubuntu Phone and Jolla with Sailfish have been either brave or stupid enough to try something different.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Budget smartphones shine at Mobile World Congress

Budget smartphones from the likes of Sony, Microsoft and up-and-comer Alcatel OneTouch have improved to such an extent that the question whether or not to buy one of the latest high-end smartphones is tougher than ever before. The launches of the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge from Samsung Electronics and the One M9 from HTC didn’t disappoint. However, it wasn’t expensive flagship smartphones like those that dominated in Barcelona, but smartphones that cost US$300 or less unlocked. Even with such cheaper phones, manufacturers are increasingly focusing on looks. A company that has succeeded in this regard is Sony, with its Xperia M4 Aqua. The product has a plastic frame and back, instead of glass and metal, but Sony has chosen materials that still look good.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

AirWatch and Cisco help developers build enterpise-friendly smartphone apps

A group of companies, including Cisco Systems and mobile device management software vendor AirWatch, have joined forces to help enterprises take advantage of features that are integrated in Android and iOS.The companies have launched an initiative called ACE (App Configuration for Enterprise), which provides documentation for developers to help them build applications that can be more easily managed and secured.The first version of the ACE documentation covers six areas: remote app configuration, app tunneling, single sign-on, access control and security policies.There are tips regarding technical approach, security considerations, sample code and best practises. In addition to AirWatch and Cisco, development tool company Xamarin, online-storage vendor Box and ERP provider Workday are also helping get ACE off the ground. The group made the announcement Tuesday at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

BlackBerry launches all-touch Leap with $275 price tag

BlackBerry isn’t giving up on the smartphone market, and now hopes to make a mark with the Leap, an all-touch LTE device with a keen price tag. The company launched the new product on Tuesday at an event in Barcelona, where Mobile World Congress is now in full swing. And just like many other vendors at the event, BlackBerry isn’t focusing on the high end of the market but the mid-range, with smartphones that cost about US$300 or less.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 + The Leap will run BlackBerry 10 OS and cost $275 unlocked when it goes on sale in April. The smartphone has a 5-inch, 720 x 1280 pixel screen and is powered by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor from Qualcomm.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Spec showdown: HTC One M9 vs. Samsung Galaxy S6

If you’re on the lookout for a new Android high-end smartphone, the One M9 from HTC and Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy S6 are two hot possibilities.The products were announced on Sunday in Barcelona. They are both good-looking devices with the latest components integrated, but there are also differences that might sway you one way or the other. Here’s a spec comparison between the phones:ProcessorAs anticipated, Samsung chose its own Exynos processor to power the S6. The version used by the smartphone has four cores running at 2.1GHz and another four cores running at a slower 1.5GHz. HTC decided to stick with Qualcomm, and the One M9 is powered by a Snapdragon 810, which has four cores running at 2.0GHz plus another four cores running at a slower 1.5GHz.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Jolla’s Sailfish tablet shows promise thanks to upgraded OS

Finnish company Jolla seems to be making good progress on its first tablet, which runs an improved version of its Sailfish operating system.Since its inception in 2011, Jolla has bet on the Sailfish OS to differentiate itself from the competition on smartphones and now tablets. Android and iOS may dominate the tablet market, but Jolla’s Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign has showed there is an appetite, albeit not very big, for products running other OSes. The company has so far sold about 10,000 tablets after two rounds on Indiegogo, the second of which is still running.Development on the tablet has come a long way since the product was first announced back in November. Back then it wasn’t much more than a mock-up, but at an event on Monday the company showed the tablet running an upgraded version of Sailfish without many glitches.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Jolla’s Sailfish tablet shows promise thanks to upgraded OS

Finnish company Jolla seems to be making good progress on its first tablet, which runs an improved version of its Sailfish operating system. Since its inception in 2011, Jolla has bet on the Sailfish OS to differentiate itself from the competition on smartphones and now tablets. Android and iOS may dominate the tablet market, but Jolla’s Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign has showed there is an appetite, albeit not very big, for products running other OSes. The company has so far sold about 10,000 tablets after two rounds on Indiegogo, the second of which is still running.+ See our full coverage of MWC 2015 +To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Finnish companies join forces to build secure OS for smartphones and tablets

Finnish companies Jolla and SSH Communications Security are counting on their European origins to help sell a secure mobile operating system they are co-developing.The need for more secure mobile communications has been apparent ever since former U.S. government contractor Edward Snowden made his revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) snooping.SSH is best known for the Secure Shell encrypted communications protocol invented by the company’s founder Tatu Ylönen. Jolla, founded in 2011 by a group of former Nokia employees, sells a smartphone running its open Sailfish OS, and will start shipping its first tablet running the OS next quarter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Finnish companies join forces to build secure OS for smartphones and tablets

Finnish companies Jolla and SSH Communications Security are counting on their European origins to help sell a secure mobile operating system they are co-developing. The need for more secure mobile communications has been apparent ever since former U.S. government contractor Edward Snowden made his revelations about National Security Agency (NSA) snooping. SSH is best known for the Secure Shell encrypted communications protocol invented by the company’s founder Tatu Ylönen. Jolla, founded in 2011 by a group of former Nokia employees, sells a smartphone running its open Sailfish OS, and will start shipping its first tablet running the OS next quarter.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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