Google's iPhone/iPad G Drive app tries to take on Dropbox. It does its basic job reaosnably well, despite a crappy captcha.
And here it is:
The idea is you can access your files in Google Drive that have been uploaded from a Mac or PC. You download the app on your iPhone easily enough from the App Store and it installs and then, naturally, wants you to sign in with a username and password. So far, so good, only - oops - it wants you to enter a Captcha, and your password again.
Google Drive IOS app captcha screen
Tsk, tsk, Googlers, there is little space on the iPhone screen for the keypad and captcha and input area. The curling compressed captcha letters can be very hard to read too.
Eventually you get over that and meet a second welcome screen. Tsk, tsk, Googlers, this overflows a portrait mode iPhone screen, and the phone has to be turned to landscape mode to read it. The idea here is good though; supply a mobile phone number or email and you get a reset code sent to you when or if you forget your password.
Okay, on we go and now we get the G Drive navigation screen with five options listed plus a synch button to the lower right and a settings button to the lower right.
So, having a Mac Google Drive app and files loaded up to the Google Drive already, I touched the My Drive button and pretty soon up came a file list.
You touch a 3-bar button at the top left of the screen to go back to the navigation screen.
I wondered how Dropbox for OS compares and, having a Dropbox app on my Mac and files uploaded to Dropbox, I went ahead and installed Dropbox on my iPhone.
On it went and, on starting, asked for my Dropbox username and password. In they went and up came my files ... just like that.
No crappy Captcha, and no overflowing reset code screen. You get a listing in alphabetic sections with iPhone contact list style alphabet running down the right-hand side of the screen. The main navigation difference is that Dropbox navigation options are at the bottom of the file list screen. But, basically, the two apps do what they say on the tin; share files via synching to the cloud.
But Dropbox has started an intercept strategy on the Mac to get photos uploaded to its cloud store. An iPhone sync session gets you one of these annoying intercept windows. All I want from a file-sharing app is just that; file-sharing, with no in-your-face intercept messages. Push off Dropbox or I might just move to Google Drive instead. ®
Comments to this storage forum topic please.
Vodafone delights: Telco keeps the buzz going with old & new campaigns - Economic Times
This year, one of the new advertisements shows a growing friendship between a young boy and an old man. The old man rewards the boy with gifts emerging from magic tricks each time the boy visits the old man's house.
Ogilvy & Mather, which has been producing stellar ad campaigns for the company for the past 10 years, was given the mandate to develop a campaign that had the emotional resonance of the earlier campaign.
The third largest mobile phone company in India with more than 150 million subscribers said it had a new set of products that demanded 'something different.'
Its new products include a special offer to Vodafone customer who visit telco's store. The customer gets special offer every month, like additional talk time, for instance - on their birthdays. Vodafone will also introduce discounted tariffs on calls and messaging between 2 pm and 4 pm every day.
This six-week long campaign will be backed by full-scale media exposure on television, radio, print, outdoor, on ground, digital and online.
This is not the first time Vodafone has brought back a concept to offer something new for its customers. When launching mobile number portability in January last year, Vodafone resurrected Cheeka the Pug.
The key canine inheritance from Hutch has been a symbol of 'best quality service' for Vodafone since it began operations in India in 2003. Vodafone retained it, banked on it consistently to bring new products and drew massive brand recall.
Again early this year, the telco pasted large banners of the pug across the country to popularize its 'superior' network quality. This time, the campaign was aimed at drawing a large group of 79 million customers from mobile operators whose licences were cancelled by the Supreme Court.
"The Pug is a strong symbol of Vodafone, what used to be Hutch, and it associates a loving feeling with us. It helped us grow from 35 million customers to where we are now. It helped us transform to Vodafone without losing the brand's warmth.
Today, it signifies what's good about the brand and has a universal appeal," said Anuradha Aggarwal, vice-president brand communications and insights at Vodafone's India arm.
iPhone 5 battery problems could prompt September launch - Phones Review
More speculation on the next iPhone to keep all those iPhone 5 hungry iOS faithful at bay today, in the form of a rumour that one of Apple’s supplies could be experiencing problems supplying the battery for the upcoming new iOS smartphone, as the batteries are not up to Apple standards.
According to an article over on Apple Insider, Topeka Capital Markets analyst Brian White discovered an article on Chinese website Sina, from where these claims stem, and White shared a note to investors with Apple Insider, with the report claiming that just 30% of battery volumes currently hit Apple’s standards.
Apparently, the battery vendor, which remains unnamed, is currently working to solve the battery problem whilst development of the next iPhone, which is currently being called the iPhone 5 ramps up for an expected release later in the year.
Another rumour found by the same analyst that originates from ifeng.com, apparently suggest that the next iPhone could see release by Apple by the end of August; however, White still maintains he believes Apple will release the iPhone 5 sometime in September, saying that if there is a battery problem then they trust that Apple will sort out the issue in time for that September release.
Obviously last year Apple released the iPhone 4S mid-October, whilst industry watchers expect Apple will deliver the iPhone 5 roughly a year from the previous iOS smartphone, although other hope Apple will deliver the next iPhone earlier, but really when it boils right down to the nitty-gritty, end of August, sometime in September, or middle of October, the iPhone 5 will come when it comes, and anything to do with that release date is of course just speculation.
Would you prefer to see the iPhone 5 arrive at the end of August, or could you wait until September or mid-October to be able to grab the latest iOS smartphone?
Vodafone to win EU approval for CWW buy - source - Reuters UK
BRUSSELS |
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU regulators are set to approve British mobile provider Vodafone's (VOD.L) 1 billion pound bid for fixed-line network operator Cable & Wireless Worldwide (CWP.L) without conditions, a source familiar with the matter said on Monday.
World No. 1 mobile phone operator Vodafone unveiled the deal in April, to boost its capacity to offer fast-growing smartphone data services.
The acquisition will make Vodafone the leading player in fixed-line and mobile telecom services to British businesses.
"The deal is expected to be cleared without any conditions," said the source, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
The European Commission has set a July 3 deadline for its decision.
Last week, the EU competition watchdog stepped up its investigation into a bid by Hong Kong's Hutchison 3G to buy France Telecom's (FTE.PA) Orange Austria, worried that the 1.3 billion euro deal would reduce the number of players in Austria to three.
In contrast, EU telecoms chief Neelie Kroes has voiced support for consolidation in the sector. She told Reuters in an interview last month that mergers would create strong cross-border leaders able to invest in mobile and broadband networks to close the gap with the United States and Asia.
There are four mobile telecoms providers in Britain including Vodafone, and more than 40 virtual network operators that operate through the telecom networks.
CWW, which split from Caribbean-focused Cable & Wireless Communications (CWC.L) two years ago, provides voice, data and hosting services to British government departments and companies while its cables span the globe.
(Reporting by Foo Yun Chee; editing by Rex Merrifield and Hans-Juergen Peters)
'Google answers better than Apple iPhone's Siri' - Times of India
LONDON: Google search engine has performed far better than Apple iPhone's much-hyped voice recognition app Siri in a rigorous test conducted by an analyst.
Siri, the signature feature of the Apple iPhone 4S that was introduced in October, has received a lot of criticism from consumers.
A recent test by Gene Munster of Piper Jaffray, a U.S.-based banking firm, proved that the app, which lets you use your voice to send messages, make calls, set reminders, and more, is not doing its job as expected.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Munster had asked Siri a series of 1600 questions to get some hard data on how well it works and asked the same questions of the Google search engine for a comparison.
Munster asked Siri 800 of the questions in a quiet room and asked the others out on the streets of Minneapolis in the US.
His results showed Siri understood 83 per cent of the questions asked during noisy situations and 89 per cent in quiet situations.
The app answered 62 per cent of the questions asked in noisy conditions correctly and 68 per cent in the quiet room.
By comparison, questions typed into Google were understood every time, and Google replied accurately 86 per cent of the time.
"In order to become a viable mobile search alternative Siri must match or surpass Google's accuracy of B+ and move from a grade D to a B or higher," Business magazine Fortune quoted Munster, as saying.
"We expect Siri to improve meaningfully while reducing its reliance on Google from 60 per cent to 48 per cent," he added.
According to Munster, at present, Siri gets 60 per cent of her answers from Google, 20 per cent from Yelp, 14 per cent from WolframAlpha, four per cent from Yahoo and two per cent from Wikipedia.
iPhone 5 NFC and Thunderbolt connector the overkill - Phones Review
The Apple iPhone 5 continues to be the subject of intense debate even though a release may yet be some months away. With more rumors and leaks occurring almost every day we like to bring readers all of these developments although of course nothing is yet confirmed. Today we want to talk about the possibility of NFC and a Thunderbolt connector for the iPhone 5 and ask if this could be overkill?
Many of you will have heard of Near Field Communication (NFC), a digital mobile payments system, which is being slowly brought to more and more devices, particularly those using the Android platform. It hasn’t taken off in quite the way we anticipated yet but of course if it was to come to the next iPhone this would be a huge boost and make its use far more widespread. A few days ago we looked at the idea that NFC could come to the iPhone 5 after reports that code from prototype models revealed NFC chips so it does look as though this idea could be plausible for the iPhone this time around.
The new iPhone is guaranteed to sell in huge numbers but we have spoken before about the need for Apple to bring something new and fresh to the iPhone 5. We feel that Apple really has to bring something new and groundbreaking to the table for the iPhone 5 but would NFC be enough or will people be expecting much more? Also is it possible to add too much new technology to the iPhone 5 for effect, that’s not actually needed? With that in mind we found an interesting report on Product Reviews. This looks into leaks that appear to show that a Thunderbolt connector could come to the iPhone 5 but asks if this is simply overkill.
The possibility of a Thunderbolt port-equipped iPhone 5 comes from some leaked photos that appear to show what could be a Thunderbolt connector but could possibly be a microUSB port. Nothing can be confirmed as the leaked photos cannot be authenticated but it’s intriguing nevertheless. First thoughts about Thunderbolt for the iPhone 5 may well have people salivating over the extra speed but it’s easy to assume that any new technology for the iPhone 5 would be widely welcomed. However Product Reviews points out that although this sounds great, the average iPhone user simply would not need such a huge boost in speed.
Recently we also gave news about a possible new 19-pin dock connector for the iPhone 5 while Product Reviews also talks of the possibility of Apple moving to a new common connector that could be used over a range of phones. If Apple is considering changes here, the idea that a Thunderbolt port could appear raises issues such as extra cost and power consumption. Another concern that comes to mind is whether Apple would really want to promote Thunderbolt connector use, considering its push to get users to transfer files wirelessly using iCloud? Therefore we wonder if this is a step too far at this stage and if Apple might be better concentrating on a Thunderbolt iPhone 6 or later.
We’d be interested to hear your opinion on this. Do you think an iPhone 5 with Thunderbolt connector and NFC would be a great idea, after all, the more speed and convenience the better? Alternatively you may feel that Thunderbolt for the iPhone 5 is not necessary and would simply be overkill and you would prefer a standard connector? Let us know with your comments.
Major Advantage for Apple - Analyst Blog - NASDAQ
Apple Inc. ( AAPL ) was yet again on the favorable side in its fight against Samsung as the U.S. District Court of Northern California sided with the iPhone maker and granted a ban on Samsung's' Galaxy Nexus smartphone in the country, reported Bloomberg. The court decided to ban Samsung's smartphone owing to infringement of four patents that are held by Apple. Earlier, the same court had imposed a ban on Samsung's Galaxy 10.1 tablets in a design-related patent case.
Among the four patents that Apple alleged Samsung to have infringed upon, is the voice activated navigational system, Siri, used in the iPhone 4S. In its ruling against Samsung, Judge Lucy Koh noted that Apple would "suffer irreparable harm" without the ban. However, this ban would be effective as soon as Apple would post a $96 million bond in damages, which is to be paid to Samsung if Apple loses the case when it goes on trial in 2014.
The Galaxy Nexus range of smartphones is a collaborated effort of Samsung and Google Inc. ( GOOG ) and is powered by the latest Android operating system of "Ice Cream Sandwich", which debuted in U.S. in December last year. Getting banned in the U.S. would have serious implications on the company's sales figures in the near term.
Over the last couple of years, Apple has been highly vocal about saving its intellectual property from misuse and violations. The company has been aggressive in filing lawsuits against other handset makers such as Samsung and HTC in order to protect its patents. Apple has accused these manufacturers of blatantly copying its iPhone and iPad designs.
Apple is protective about its iPhone designs because of the fact that iPhones have been a major constituent of Apple's top line. iPhone unit sales were 35.06 million during the last concluded quarter, representing a year-over-year growth of 88.0%. Revenues from iPhone handset sales, accessory sales and carrier payments skyrocketed 85.0% year over year to $22.69 billion in the last concluded quarter.
However, Samsung with a 29.1% market share in the smartphone market has outperformed 24.2% market share of Apple in first quarter 2012 estimates, according to IDC. The more astonishing part was that Samsung's year-over-year growth in units shipment was a whooping 267% compared to Apple's 88.7% over the same period of time. Therefore, the fact that Samsung's Android-powered smartphones are finding larger popularity globally is a major headache for Apple.
Thus, the current ban on Samsung is a positive for Apple as the unavailability of Nexus smartphones gives Apple a chance to increase its market share. Moreover, we believe this ban may compel Samsung to go for an out-of-court settlement providing significant bargaining power to Apple in case of a cross-licensing settlement. We believe that Apple remains the biggest growth story based on its product pipeline, popular apps, iCloud, iPhone 4S, the new iPad, Apple TV, and a loyal customer base. With solid balance sheet and robust revenues, we expect Apple to outperform its peers in the long run.
We maintain our Outperform recommendation over the long term (6-12 months). Currently, Apple has a Zacks #3 Rank, which implies a 'Hold' rating in the near term.
APPLE INC (AAPL): Free Stock Analysis Report
GOOGLE INC-CL A (GOOG): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
Zacks Investment Research
Reviewing the iPhone review -- 5 years later - IDG NEWS
It's five years since the original iPhone launched (in America at least -- we had to wait till November in the UK) and we thought it'd be interesting to look at our original review of the iPhone, and see how our predications passed.
We're extremely glad that we didn't go with the egg-on-face 'iPhone is doomed' approach that many tech pundits reached for. But it's also clear that we had a tact and reserve that really doesn't seem appropriate now that Apple is selling over 35 million units every financial quarter. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Click here to read the iPhone (First Generation) UK review
Much of our review seems to hone in on the cost and data plan of the original iPhone, which was at the time a remarkably expensive phone, and to be fair: a poor deal. Although we obviously seemed more hung-up on it than customers.
"The contract starts at £35 per month, so the overall cost of the iPhone will be a minimum £899. For this you get a piffling 200 minutes and 200 texts per month. Although unlimited data access for the internet with no usage restriction is included in this price ... One of our friends curtly pointed out that the only way he'd spend £269 on a mobile phone was if it had £300 in cash taped to it."
What's interesting to us is how Apple has changed this situation. The iPhone is still an expensive piece of kit, far more expensive than mobile phones used to be (although to be fair the call and text allowance is now universally better). But people seem to be happy to pay this amount of money for the iPhone (or a rival phone like the Samsung Galaxy S3) these days, and to be fair they are worth the money. The feature set and functionality is so much more than the old phones used to have.
When we stopped moaning about the price we started on the lack of 3G coupled with poor EDGE coverage in the UK, and to a lesser extent the lack of GPS. All fair comments, the iPhone became infinitely better when 3G was added and -- even though we're sure Apple had its reasons -- it should have been in the device from the start.
The rest of the review waxed lyrical about the style of the phone, and in particular the style of the interface and how this proved to us that design matters. Here's the key quote
"Of course, this opens up the handset to accusations of style over substance; that the large screen and animated menu gloss over what is a fairly standard device. But we're not convinced the style of the iPhone interface is a bad, or even insignificant thing. While the fantastic menu design gives the iPhone a visual flair we'd associate with Apple, it also provides a level of interaction sorely missing in other mobile phones."
We'll stand by that any day. The amount of attention Apple put in to the original iOS interface absolutely made the device what it is. Apple nailed the iPhone interface right away, and completely changed the way we thought about mobile devices. The interface is what sold the device - so much so that it got away with missing out on a lot of technical features in the first iteration.
Perhaps the only real oversight was that we said "most calls sounded good, although the speakerphone is faint" although over time we noticed just how bad the iPhone was for making phone calls. Much worse than rival handsets. There was some suggestion that networks deteriorated call quality because they gave more bandwidth over to providing data services, but we're not sure if we just didn't pick up on it in the review. Call quality on the iPhone is much better now but in retrospect we could have made more of the issue.
We also pulled it up on the camera, which again was an area where the iPhone was poor. Although this didn't really bother us too much at the time. We were still using digital cameras for photos and being able to take snaps on a mobile phone still seemed like a novelty, rather than a key feature.
Mark Hattersley, editor in chief says "in all we gave it a surprisingly harsh review, which given the fact I used it relentlessly for the next 12 months, to the point where people started making fun of me, seems a little hypocritical. I still think it was the best investment I ever made. Just so far ahead of its time, and I remember almost everybody wanting to see it in action. But telling people how much it cost and seeing the shock on their faces was a wake-up call."
We're glad we gave it four stars given how many Apple sold. The iPhone 3G was much better though, and the 3GS was the point where Apple truly nailed-it. And, of course, when Apps were introduced it became a whole new ball game.
Oh! And we still think the original iPhone was a beautiful piece of kit. Truly stunning to hold and in terms of looks it wasn't bettered until the iPhone 4 came along.
iPhone 5 could arrive in September despite battery problems - Techradar.com
Apple may be planning on releasing the iPhone 5 a month earlier than expected, with a September launch on the cards.
We saw the iPhone 4S launch in mid-October last year, which broke the traditional cycle of the June/July launches of previous iPhones, and the Cupertino-based firm could well be about to shake things up once again.
Chinese site Sina published a report that was picked up by analyst Brian White, of Topeka Capital Markets, predicting the sixth generation of iPhone would be launched in September but hinting that the end of August could also be a possible date.
Possible battery issues
White went on to reveal that just 30% of batteries produced for Apple were meeting the firm's high standards, which he believes puts the August date in doubt.
"If there is a battery challenge, we trust that Apple will be able to figure it out in time for a September launch," said White.
It's still unclear what Apple will pack into the iPhone 5, but we reckon a beefed up processor, bigger screen and NFC technology are highly likely.
We're not sure exactly where Sina.com is getting its information - possibly from one of the battery vendors concerned - so we recommend a pinch of salt be taken with it (as is ever the case with Apple rumours).
Apple's potential decision to launch the iPhone 5 in September may be in reaction to rumours surrounding the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 predicting a launch in the same month.
From Sina via Apple Insider
Smartphone Survey: iPhone is tops among Network World readers - IDG NEWS
The Apple iPhone was the runaway winner in Network World's exclusive online survey of reader smartphone preferences, with 42% of 638 respondents saying that they currently own one.
In a distant three-way tie for second place were the Motorola Droid, HTC and BlackBerry smartphones, which were each owned by 10% of respondents.
The survey results painted a particularly bleak outlook for Research in Motion: When asked what their next smartphone purchase would be, only 1% named BlackBerry, while 20% said they wanted the latest and greatest iPhone and 49% said they planned to upgrade to some version of iPhone.
SEE THE RESULTS: Readers sound off on smartphone preferences
LOOKING BACK: iPhone users: Five years later, the device is more than a machine
Not surprisingly, the iPhone was also the top pick when readers were asked to name their "favorite" smartphone, as noted by slightly more than half of respondents. Just 3.6% of respondents identified BlackBerry as their favorite smartphone.
Although Apple's famously loyal following is undeniably responsible for some of the iPhone's success, the survey suggests that the majority of users are more attracted to its features than its mystique. When asked to identify what aspects they take into account when purchasing a new smartphone, 89.3% said hardware, while 84.5% said software and 77.7% cited applications. The brand of smartphone came in fifth at 39.3%, while the "hype" or "coolness" factor was cited by just 8.2%.
With mobile software such a valued aspect of a smartphone, the high regard for Apple's iOS mobile operating system may account for some of the iPhone's popularity. When asked to rate the smartphone platforms they've used on a 1-to-10 scale, iOS got the most 10s by far. By comparison, just 12.9% rated Google's Android a 10, although 27.2% agreed that it was worthy of an 8.
Android outpaces iOS in total market share
Market studies of the past few years show that Android's open source format has enabled Google to reach a larger base of users than Apple, and that trend held true among Network World's readers. When asked what platforms they've used in the last two years, 394 respondents reported Android, compared to 379 who've used iOS.
Other key trends found in the study:
- Windows Phone shows signs of life. The survey included 101 respondents who used Windows Phone in the past two years and 256 who used BlackBerries in the past two years. But Windows Phone users had a higher satisfaction rating: 4.7% of respondents rated Windows Phone a 10 in satisfaction, just 2.6% said the same for BlackBerry. Conversely, 17.8% rated BlackBerry a 1 on the scale, while just 15.4% said the same for Windows Phone.
And more than three times as many respondents said they plan to buy a Windows Phone than a BlackBerry, including 3.6% who plan to buy a Windows Phone 8 device, despite the fact that no such device exists yet.
- Verizon, AT&T dominate, Sprint's satisfaction is a mixed bag. Respondents were asked what carrier they subscribe to, and then rated them based on satisfaction. Verizon Wireless and AT&T came out at the top two in both categories. Sprint, interestingly, saw almost as many users (11.1%) issue a rating of 9 as those who rated it a 1 (12.8%).
- Carriers and vendors may be wasting time and money on marketing and advertising. When asked what most influences their smartphone purchasing decision, just 3.8% said commercials -- the same amount that cited sales representatives. The leading influences were reviews, with 85.6% of the vote, followed by price at 54.7%, friends at 43.4% and co-workers at 33.7%.
- Similarly, 4G LTE was identified by just 24.3% of respondents as the most important offering from a carrier. The only feature to receive fewer votes in that category was the bundled pricing plan, at 23.4%. Considering that carriers' advertisements continue to push 4G LTE as a key selling point, this survey suggests that they may see a better return if they were to direct their efforts elsewhere. In fact, a recent Nielsen study found 55% of respondents are still unable to identify any form of 4G technology, while just 8% said 4G was the most important factor of their smartphone purchasing decision.
- Social, productivity apps are absent in the mobile enterprise. In two separate questions, respondents were asked to name the mobile app they use most for personal and work purposes. Email was the top response to both questions, although Facebook was a close second in the personal app use category. In the work category, no social networking or productivity app received more than 1% of the vote. Behind email, calendar, Google search and GPS topped enterprise apps.
- Smartphones ownership leads to tablet interest. Respondents were asked how owning a smartphone would affect their next PC purchasing decision. The majority, 77.3%, said it would not, but that was followed by 13% who said they'd buy a tablet. Another 7.7% said they would buy a PC of the same brand as their smartphone, while just 2% said they wouldn't need a PC if they had a smartphone.
- The Prize Winner: We promised that one lucky participant would win a new Apple iPad. That reader is Katherine F. from Amesbury, Mass.
Colin Neagle covers emerging technologies, privacy and enterprise mobility for Network World. Follow him on Twitter @ntwrkwrldneagle and keep up with the Microsoft, Cisco and Open Source community blogs. Colin's email address is cneagle@nww.com.
Read more about anti-malware in Network World's Anti-malware section.
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