Smartphones. Who here has 'em?

[zetachi]

here we go again

Japanese photo and imaging company FujiFilm has filed a lawsuit in the United States against Motorola Mobility for alleged infringement of four patents on digital camera and photography technologies.

Tech news site IDG News reported on Saturday that the issue of patent violation began in April 2011, when FujiFilm first notified Motorola Mobility--now owned by Google--that the phonemaker was infringing on four patents.

FujiFilm claimed the two companies had a number of face-to-face meetings to work out a licensing deal, but the issue was not resolved to FujiFilm's liking and this led to the lawsuit, it said. FujiFilm, Motorola Mobility, and Google could not be reached for comment, it added.

These patents relate to technologies which allow a phone to capture color pictures and convert them into monochrome; a telephone and data-transmission method; a facial detection system; and processing a high-resolution image into a lower-resolution one, the report revealed.

In the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court in San Jose, FujiFilm said a number of Motorola Mobility devices, including the Droid X, Razr Maxx, Droid Bionic, and Xoom, infringed some or all of the patents. The Japanese company is seeking damages for the patent violations as well as for the phonemaker to cover its legal costs, IDG News noted.

[zetachi]

rofl once more into the Patent wars. HTC in the spotlight this time

HTC Files Counterclaims Against Apple With Two Acquired Patents

By John Ribeiro, IDG News Jul 18, 2012 7:55 am

HTC has filed a counterclaim before a court in Florida stating that Apple has infringed on two of its patents, originally assigned to Hewlett-Packard and Electronic Data Systems, a company that HP acquired in 2008.

The Taiwanese phone maker is being sued for patent infringement by Apple in the court along with Motorola Mobility.

HTC claimed in a filing on Tuesday to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida it has been assigned all rights, title and interest of U.S. Patent No. 7,571,221 (the '221 patent) entitled "Installation of network services in an embedded network server," which was assigned to HP.

It also claims all rights, title, and interest to U.S. Patent No. 7,120,684 (the '684 patent), entitled "Method and system for central management of a computer network," which was assigned to Electronic Data Systems.

HP has a program for license or sale of its more than 4,000 patents.

HTC has claimed that Apple's products and services including but not limited to Apple Remote Desktop, Apple Profile Manager, and/or products and services that use Apple Remote Desktop and Apple Profile Manager infringe on claims of the '684 patent.

Apple also has infringed, according to HTC, one or more claims of the '221 patent in consumer products using the iOS or OS X operating systems, which contain embedded network servers and software and services such as Newsstand. The infringing products include Macs, mobile communications devices such as various versions of the iPhone, and mobile computing devices including versions of the iPad, it said.

Apple could not be immediately reached for comment.

[Big B-man]

Anybody played with Windows Phone 7 phones? I really like the interface. It's awhile yet before I can jump, but I'm seriously considering a Lumia 710 with a prepay plan.

The interface-formerly-known-as-MetroUI is excellent for phones. Android offers a lot in customization, but I don't care. WP7 focuses on great handset usage out of the box. I detect no lag with a single-core SoC and the battery life on these things is great. A review looked at a full day with heavy usage on a single charge, two if you aren't a heavy.

[Brandito]

Anybody played with Windows Phone 7 phones? I really like the interface. It's awhile yet before I can jump, but I'm seriously considering a Lumia 710 with a prepay plan.

The interface-formerly-known-as-MetroUI is excellent for phones. Android offers a lot in customization, but I don't care. WP7 focuses on great handset usage out of the box. I detect no lag with a single-core SoC and the battery life on these things is great. A review looked at a full day with heavy usage on a single charge, two if you aren't a heavy.

iOS and WP7 are making the smartphone stupid, not to mention boring. With iOS you have no choice of hardware or software, unless you like outdated hardware. With windows phone at least you have a choice of hardware or the illusion of choice. MS has such strict hardware demands they don't allow for any innovation.

Sure wp7 looks cool and runs great, but it's at the cost of choice. So yeah, I guess I'm not down with wp7.

[John C]

An awful of us just want a simple phone that works right out of the box, and doesnt have to be tweaked. We have families, computers, pads, etc, and just dont have TIME to fiddle with a phone. Frankly my phone is my last choice to do almost anything smart-phone related, and then only because I am not near a computer or within wireless range of the ipad. I really dont like staring at a 4" screen for much besides messaging.
IMHO of course.

[Activate: AMD]

An awful of us just want a simple phone that works right out of the box, and doesnt have to be tweaked. We have families, computers, pads, etc, and just dont have TIME to fiddle with a phone. Frankly my phone is my last choice to do almost anything smart-phone related, and then only because I am not near a computer or within wireless range of the ipad. I really dont like staring at a 4" screen for much besides messaging.
IMHO of course.

don't forget.. this is PCPerspective... that sounds like traitorous crApple talk! And who said you need to fiddle with an Android anyway? Just because you CAN doesn't mean you HAVE to.. but I'd much rather be able to do it and choose not to, than want to and not be able to.

But if you'd just like a simple phone that just makes calls, I think I might have an old-StarTAC in the basement somewhere
Other things John C has said lately:
"dang kids need to stay off my lawn!"
"What is it with kids these days and wanting to do multiple things with their devices? In my day having AM and FM on the same radio was enough!"
"I don't have TIME to do anything with my phone, these crosswords won't do themselves you know!"

[Big B-man]

An awful of us just want a simple phone that works right out of the box, and doesnt have to be tweaked. We have families, computers, pads, etc, and just dont have TIME to fiddle with a phone. Frankly my phone is my last choice to do almost anything smart-phone related, and then only because I am not near a computer or within wireless range of the ipad. I really dont like staring at a 4" screen for much besides messaging.
IMHO of course.

Agreed. I'm not saying WP7 is for everyone, but it's straight and to the point. I want to check out one thing, but it's no rush and more like something I should learn. WP7 was fairly straight forward to learn, plus it's going to be the same no matter what WP7 device I end up purchasing. Android is different. It's wide swath of openess is a blessing and a curse. I don't have time to learn all this stuff. I have 3 kids and work full time. I'm not a tech-idiot, but I don't have time to blow like I did five years ago. Kinda like why I can't sit down for hours and hours to game.

[kbohip]

^^^Learn what stuff? I guess I'm a bit confused as to why iphone users always seem to think Android is so complicated. I've used both and they both seem very similar. Well, that is until it comes time to replace a battery, or add a 32gb Micro SD card to hold all of my songs and pictures.

[John C]

don't forget.. this is PCPerspective... that sounds like traitorous crApple talk! And who said you need to fiddle with an Android anyway? Just because you CAN doesn't mean you HAVE to.. but I'd much rather be able to do it and choose not to, than want to and not be able to.

But if you'd just like a simple phone that just makes calls, I think I might have an old-StarTAC in the basement somewhere
Other things John C has said lately:
"dang kids need to stay off my lawn!"
"What is it with kids these days and wanting to do multiple things with their devices? In my day having AM and FM on the same radio was enough!"
"I don't have TIME to do anything with my phone, these crosswords won't do themselves you know!"

Dang whippersnappers!

[John C]

^^^Learn what stuff? I guess I'm a bit confused as to why iphone users always seem to think Android is so complicated. I've used both and they both seem very similar. Well, that is until it comes time to replace a battery, or add a 32gb Micro SD card to hold all of my songs and pictures.

Android isnt complicated at all. But if all you want is what a phone will do out of the box, with no modifications, other than loading the apps you prefer, does it offer ANYTHING over an iphone? Be honest. If you want to play with it, modify, etc, then the Android has it all over the iphone. If you want to leave as it came out of the box, iphone has it beat. Simply because of itunes. Which I, frankly hate. But my fiancee' uses it. It makes life simple. And as long as I can use flac files for my home stereo, I really dont care what crap lossy algorithm is on my portable device, they all SUCK.

[kbohip]

Out of the box? I'd say they are both the same, with maybe more usability going towards Android for things like navigation. Itunes is a definite HUGE demerit point though for Apple. I HATE that piece of software and all of the control it takes away from the user, only to give to Apple. It amazes me that people willfully throw away their money at the itunes store under the impression that they are "buying" songs or videos. They are merely paying a rental fee.

[John C]

Out of the box? I'd say they are both the same, with maybe more usability going towards Android for things like navigation. Itunes is a definite HUGE demerit point though for Apple. I HATE that piece of software and all of the control it takes away from the user, only to give to Apple. It amazes me that people willfully throw away their money at the itunes store under the impression that they are "buying" songs or videos. They are merely paying a rental fee.

I dont think I have paid Apple $10 total ever. I just ripped my CD's first to flac, then to MP3, which iTunes reads just fine.

[Activate: AMD]

Out of the box? I'd say they are both the same, with maybe more usability going towards Android for things like navigation. Itunes is a definite HUGE demerit point though for Apple. I HATE that piece of software and all of the control it takes away from the user, only to give to Apple. It amazes me that people willfully throw away their money at the itunes store under the impression that they are "buying" songs or videos. They are merely paying a rental fee.

I mostly agree. Android offers no less of an experience than iOS from stock, and it doesn't take much effort to improve the experience with some of the most basic widgets. Google Maps Navigation is also a fantastic application. If laypeople were really honest with themselves they'd admit that the number one reason they own an iPhone is because other people have it.

Where I do disagree with you is iTunes. its bloated and the rentals masquerading as purchases are a joke, but it is very appealing to lay-people. Integrating everything into a single program to manipulate or buy music/apps/video in an intuitive way is basically the only thing that is unparalleled in Android. Yes theres the android store, but I don't know that people have caught on to the idea of Google as iTunes. I think theres a mental leap that needs to be made in order for people to realize that all the services Google provides ARE iTunes for Android, and laypeople have a hard time making it. And IMO, in terms of offline local music management, I like the alternatives even less than I like iTunes...

[Keven]

I mostly agree. Android offers no less of an experience than iOS from stock, and it doesn't take much effort to improve the experience with some of the most basic widgets. Google Maps Navigation is also a fantastic application. If laypeople were really honest with themselves they'd admit that the number one reason they own an iPhone is because other people have it.

Where I do disagree with you is iTunes. its bloated and the rentals masquerading as purchases are a joke, but it is very appealing to lay-people. Integrating everything into a single program to manipulate or buy music/apps/video in an intuitive way is basically the only thing that is unparalleled in Android. Yes theres the android store, but I don't know that people have caught on to the idea of Google as iTunes. I think theres a mental leap that needs to be made in order for people to realize that all the services Google provides ARE iTunes for Android, and laypeople have a hard time making it. And IMO, in terms of offline local music management, I like the alternatives even less than I like iTunes...

I only use iTunes because the podcast integration. If I could find a way to get podcast RSS integration into another media player, I'd switch in a heartbeat.

[mmettin]

I only use iTunes because the podcast integration. If I could find a way to get podcast RSS integration into another media player, I'd switch in a heartbeat.

{cough} http://www.stitcher.com/