FTC continues to push throttling charges after AT&T issues denial

As this site wrote about yesterday, the FTC has come down on AT&T for misleading millions of customers by charging them for “unlimited” data plans while reducing their data speeds, in some cases by nearly 90 percent. In the complaint, the FTC notes how long this has been going on and the fact that AT&T has a long history of this type of practice. AT&T has throttled at least 3.5 million unique customers a total of more than 25 million times.

AT&T responded to the FTC complaint by playing stupid and claiming that the FTC allegations were “baseless” and that AT&T has “been completely transparent with customers since the very beginning.”

I say “playing stupid” not to be mean but because most of the charges are indeed facts. Facts that AT&T has admitted on a number of different occasions. First AT&T claimed that data caps were due to congestion. Then they admitted that the data caps had nothing to do with congestion.

Michael Powell told a Minority Media and Telecommunications Association audience that cable’s interest in usage-based pricing was not principally about network congestion, but instead about pricing fairness…Asked by MMTC president David Honig to weigh in on data caps, Powell said that while a lot of people had tried to label the cable industry’s interest in the issue as about congestion management. “That’s wrong,” he said. “Our principal purpose is how to fairly monetize a high fixed cost.” - TechDirt 

As GigaOM writes today, FTC Chair Edith Ramirez did not back down when asked about AT&T on a conference call with reporters. In fact, she didn’t rule out additional legal action against AT&T and continued to point out what has been reported for years now.

Ramirez, however, retorted during the call that AT&T had degraded “unlimited” users’ data even at times when its network had plenty of capacity. She also suggested that the news and notices were not enough to protect existing AT&T customers from early termination fees if they wanted to escape the throttling. - GigaOM

Considering AT&T recently settled a case with the FTC on cramming charges to the tune of a $100 million fine, it seems clear based on AT&T’s response that this will go to court

LG Display engineers talk foldable and transparent screens

Mobile display technology continues to move at an exceptional pace and one of the companies pushing this industry forward is LG Display, which recently posted strong Q3 profits. Lee Bu-yeol, chief research engineer for transparent displays at LG Display, and Park Weon-seo, chief research engineer for flexible displays, have been talking a little about the future.

First up, transparent displays. A technology that we’ve not heard too much about for a while, as there’s not much point in a transparent display if the rest of your smartphone is still made from opaque components. Lee restated the same point, but indicated that transparent display technology could find uses in smartwaches and other wearables. Presumably in instances where the main electronics can be housed in another part of the device or where the user needs to see through the display, such as with a pair of glasses.

However, the technology is still a little way off from being useable. At the moment LG’s displays are about 30 percent transparent, making them about as clear as a slightly tinted car window. By 2017 LG expects to have the visual clarity up to 40 percent, which would mark a significant improvement. The delay comes as LG is attempting to design its displays for smaller transistor components, which would allow for more space, and therefore light, between pixels. For comparison, traditional glass is about 92 percent transparent.

The target is to bring up the clarity to 40% by 2017, which should be significantly clearer. In comparison, traditional glass has clarity levels of approximately 92% but getting to this level with the current technology is unlikely without some breakthrough

As for smartphones, Park states that foldable displays are still on the cards. He envisions a display that can be folded out in two stages, from a small display to a larger smartphone size screen, and then once more into a larger tablet size. However, there’s only so much stress that display films can take and a fold would damage most of the films. Instead, curved hinge points would likely be visible in the screen, but that would likely have an impact on the look of the screen.

The displays won’t fold completely. A close look would show that the hinges of the screen where it folds will remain minutely curved.

Instead, curved displays are likely to be as futuristic as mobile device get for a little while longer. Improvements in backplane technology is also gradually pushing the industry towards curved TVs, and we could soon reach a point where colourful, e-paper type displays are viable. Improvements to flexible, transparent, and foldable displays should eventually lead to some interesting devices in the not too distant future, it’s just a shame that we have to wait.

Android continues to grow in the US and dominate the European OS market

According to Kantar Worldpanel ComTech, smartphone sales from the last three months show that Android is continuing its dominance of the European OS market with a 73.9 percent share, with Apple holding 15.4 percent and Windows having just 9.2 percent of the market. In fact, Android continues to hold a 70 percent or higher market share in many countries.

In the US, Android grew the most with an increase of 4.5 percentage points over the year to 61.8 percent, ahead of iOS which declined 3.3 percentage points to 32.6 percent. Android’s overall share of the Chinese market was up 3 percentage points to 83.4 percent, while iOS was up 1.4 percent, to take a 15.2 percent share.

Kantar Worldpanel shows that iOS market share is barely outgrowing Android across the five largest markets in Europe, growing 1.5 percent year-on-year against Android’s 1.4 percent, but dropping 3.3 percent in the USA. However, Apple’s share in countries like the United States and Japan were lower when compared to the same timeframe last year.

Kantar also found that Windows Phone continues to flop with just a 9.2 percent share of sales in Europe’s big five countries: Germany, Great Britain, France, Italy and Spain. That figure is down 0.3 percentage points year on year. In the US, Windows Phone took 4.3 percent of sales in the quarter, also down from last year.

One of the oddest findings was that Italy seems to be the only country where the Windows Phone is growing with a 1.5 percentage point rise. This gives Windows Phone a 15.2 percent share in the country, second only to Android’s 71.8 percent share.

Could there be a global version of the Droid Turbo?

The newly announced Motorola Droid Turbo is an exceptional smartphone, but its exclusive ties to US carrier Verizon have left some feeling that they might miss out. However, the handset might be heading out to other countries around the world too, as an invite for a launch event has appeared in Brazil.

The invitation, which was sent to Brazilian media, suggests that a launch event will be taking place on the 5th of November at 10AM. The message invites guest to a “technological experience without boundaries”, suggesting a high-end launch of some kind, and is accompanied by an unmistakable image of the Droid Turbo’s nylon back cover.

Left: Invitation. Right: Droid Turbo at the Verizon launch event.

Furthermore, a mysterious Motorola XT 1225 with 64GB of memory and the same 3,900 mAh battery as the Droid Turbo recently passed through Anatel, Brazil’s telecommunications regulator. The model number has also just cropped up in an XDA forum post. Motorola also has an active history in Brazil, having launched the Moto G in the region not too long ago. The bigger question is will the smartphone ship out globally as well?

Additional rumors are suggesting that the Droid Turbo might be renamed to the Droid Maxx come its Brazil launch, and there’s a chance that the name could stick in other regions too. Motorola filed for the “Moto Maxx” trademark at the US Office of Patents and Trademarks back in July, suggesting that this could be the name of the handset if it retails through other US carriers.

It’s all a little unknown right now, but I would be surprised if such a great smartphone remained exclusive for long. Hopefully everything will be a lot clearer come November 5th.

Video: here’s what a $2000 gold-plated Note 4 looks like

Too much disposable income? No problem. This gold-plated Note 4 edition can relieve you of $2,000 in a pinch.

The Note 4 is already one of the most expensive Android smartphones you can buy (alligator leather-clad Vertus not included). The device starts from $700, though in many countries from around the world, the price tag is closer to $1000.

One of the color versions the Note 4 is available in is bronze gold, but if you live in Vietnam, you can get the unmistakable sheen of real gold for an extra $1100. A company called Golden Mobile plates the aluminum frame of the Note 4 with precious 24k metal, and the result is quite striking. You will need to supply your own device, bringing the total price of the extravaganza close to two grand. But our guess is, if you’re even considering gold-plating your phone, you don’t really care about the price, do you?

This, of course, isn’t the first mobile device clad in real gold. HTC released an 18k gold-plated special edition of the One (M7) in October 2013. And there are specialized companies out there that will infuse your device of choice with as much bling as you like.

€300 Flagship Killer: Huawei Honor 6 arrives in Europe

Huawei’s Honor series has often punched above its weight for its price, but the handsets have rarely ever left the Chinese market. In an attempt to expand into new regions and pinch even more market share from the big brands, Huawei has launched its new Honor 6 flagship smartphone in Europe.

The Honor 6 is undoubtedly a high-end smartphone in the hardware department but carries the price-tag of a modest mid-ranger. The smartphone is priced at £250 in the UK and €300 in the rest of Europe, putting it in direct competition with the OnePlus One, but without the pesky invite system. Here is a summary of the Honor 6’s hardware:

• 5” inch, 1920×1080 display, 445 PPI
• 1.3 GHz octa-core Kirin 920 SoC
• 3GB RAM
• 13 MP rear camera, 5 MP front camera
• 16GB internal storage
• MicroSD card slot (64GB support)
• 3000 mAh batter
• Dimensions: 139.30 x 68.80 x 6.50 mm
• Weight: 135 g

Kirin is Huawei’s own line-up of SoCs. The 920 is built from four Cortex-A15 and four Cortex-A7 CPU cores and a Mali-T628 GPU, just like Samsung’s Exynos 5 line-up. This is the same makeup as the Ascend Mate 7’s processor, albeit with a slightly lower clock speed. The SoC is also capable of Cat 6 LTE speeds of 300Mbps when making use of carrier aggregation, so long as your network supports this.

That’s a lot of phone for £250/€300 and the Honor 6 is substantially cheaper than the likes of the Galaxy S5, HTC One (M8), LG G3, or Xperia Z3.

Huawei may be synonymous with previous Honor handsets, but the company is making a calculated effort to keep the Huawei brand name out of the picture this time around. By presenting Honor as its own company, Huawei perhaps hopes to dodge accusations that the phone comes from a questionable Chinese brand.

Huawei is also planning to sell a flipcover case, protective case, and a set of headphones as accessories to the Honor 6, but these are still listed as “coming soon”. If this handset has piqued your interested, you can order yours from a local retailer through the official Honor website.

PS4 Remote Play app now available for Xperia Z3 devices

Sony has been updating its Android gaming software suite lately. The PlayStation App has received a couple of new features and Sony’s PS4 Remote Play service, which allows users to stream PS4 games wirelessly to their smartphone or tablet, has arrived on the Google Play store with support for a small number of devices.

PS4 owners can now remotely play their PlayStation 4 games through their Xperia Z3 or Xperia Z3 Compact phones, as well as the Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact. Other Xperia devices are not officially supported yet, but you could always try out this hack. A PlayStation 4 running the latest 2.0 software version is also required for remote gaming, but that should have already arrived by now. Just bring your DualShock controller along for the ride and you are good to go.

Sony’s PlayStation App, which allows users to browse the PlayStation Store remotely, message friends, and manage their profile, has also been updated. The home screen has received a visual overhaul and now supports a tablet layout for larger devices. Other players that you may know now appear in your friends list as suggestions for new people to play with and other players can now be found through a search for their real names.

If you fancy testing out the Remote Play app, you can grab the Google Play link from the source below.

Life is good for LG, selling a record-breaking 16.8 million Android phones

Life is good for LG. How good? 450$ million dollars in the bank good. The company that was once synonymous with home appliances has reinvented itself into a smartphone manufacturing juggernaut. LG Electronics has just announced their third quarter earnings which saw an operating profit of $450 million, in big part thanks to their record breaking 16.8 million Android phone sales. The company has doubled their year over year profits and isn’t expecting to slow down anytime soon. They announced that they expect to strengthen their positioning in the budget smartphone market with its L Series III models, despite the landscape becoming more competitive.

LG is doing well in the component business as well, spurred by the good performance of its mid-range and high-end devices, including the G3 and its variants, G3 Beat and G3 Screen. LG Display recently announced good earnings as well, while LG Electronics recently announced its first smartphone processor designed in house, the Nuclun.

On thursday we’ll find out exactly how much of the pie LG has taken away from their Korean counterpart Samsung. Samsung is set to release their third quarter earnings and it’s expected to be bad, and even Samsung has admitted that it will be worryingly bad.

Oppo R5 announced: hands-on with a crazy thin smartphone

Alongside the swiveling-camera N3, Oppo unveiled today the extraordinarily thin Oppo R5. At 4.85 millimeters in thickness, the R5 is likely the thinnest phone you will actually be able to buy.

We were fortunate to get an early preview of this amazing device and here’s what you need to know about the Oppo R5’s specs, features, price, and availability.

Oppo R5 specs and features

Display	5.2-inch AMOLED, Full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels), 423 ppi
Processor	2.1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 615 Octa-Core (MSM8939)
RAM	2GB
Camera	Rear: 13MP, f 2.0, Sony Exmor IMX214 sensor, 4K video @ 30 fps, 120fps. Front: 5MP, 80 degree wide angle
Battery	2,000 mAh, VOOC fast charging
Storage	16GB
Networks	GSM850/900/1800/1900  WCDMA850/900/1900/2100 FDD-LTE B1/3/7 TD-LTE B40
Connectivity	GPS, microUSB 2.0, WiFi a/b/g/n, 5GHz, NFC, Bluetooth 4.0
Software	Android 4.4 Kitkat, Color OS 2
Dimensions	148.9 x 74.5 x 4.85 mm, 155 grams
Colors	Silver, Golden, Grey

Judging from the processor inside the Oppo R5, you’d be tempted to dismiss this striking device as a mid-ranger. The Snapdragon 615 processor is a octa-core, but Qualcomm positions it in the middle of the range, behind the high-end 805/810 bracket. However, the rest of the components in the Oppo R5 are quite impressive – you get 2GB of RAM and 16GB of storage, a beautiful AMOLED Full HD display, a 13MP camera with a Sony sensor (similar to what you got in Oppo’s devices from last year), and a respectable (for the phone’s thickness) 2,000 mAh battery.

The most exciting thing about the R5 is, of course, its design. The phone is just 4.85 millimeters thick, which may be a record, given that several Chinese phonemakers announced devices with similar sizes. All things considered, the Oppo R5 is the thinnest device from a major international player.

It’s not just the thickness that’s impressive – the R5 features a straight metallic frame and angular corners, with this motif carrying on to the camera module. The camera, however, protrudes visibly, a tradeoff that Oppo had to make to shave off millimeters without affecting image quality.

On the inside, Oppo says that the R5 features a special cooling system made of a “phase-shifting” material, that absorbs heat and helps keep the tight confines of the device at reasonable temperatures.

Like the Oppo N3, the R5 comes with a VOOC Mini fast charger, that should allow you to juice up the 2,000 battery very fast. The camera comes with many of the software features present on the N3, including HD Picture, GIF pictures, tracking focus and more.

The Android 4.4 KitKat-based Color OS 2.0 doesn’t bring many visual changes compared to the last iteration of the OS, but keeps all the software features Oppo is known for, including on-screen gesture shortcuts.

Price and availability

The Oppo R5 will be available for $499 in the following months. We will update this post when we learn details about the N3’s availability by country – from past launches, we think the N3 will be available in China and other East Asian markets first, but global availability is still in question.