Microsoft is suing Motorola alleging it has infringed nine patents in its Android phones, in that certain functions of said phones – including but not limited to synchronizing e-mail, calendars and contacts – are based on Microsoft technology.
Microsoft said Motorola licensed some of its mobile technology from 2003 to 2007 but continued to use the technology without renewing the license. So they have now filed a lawsuit in a federal court as well as filing one with the International Trade Commission.
Its court filing specifically mentions the Motorola Droid 2 and the Motorola Charm smart phones, but Microsoft claims that the infringements were not limited to those devices.
A Motorola spokeswoman said the company has not yet received a copy of the suit, but based on its strong intellectual property portfolio, plans to “vigorously defend itself”.
The G1 smartphone from T-Mobile was the first Android-powered handset to hit the market, and it was arguably a very good introduction for Android to the Smartphone market. But that was a few years back, and since then we’ve seen far superior Android smartphones hit the market. It didn’t take long, therefore, for people to spread rumours that T-Mobile was working on a sequel to the phone to hit back at the newer, stronger competitors. But T-Mobile stayed silent all this time.
Until today.
T-Mobile has just announced it is mounting a comeback with a sequel phone that’s “better than ever”. The new phone is called – what else? – T-Mobile G2 (with Google), and is Read the rest of this entry »
You’ve probably heard of HTC, right? A former unknown in the Tech World to all but the biggest nerds, HTC have actually been a manufacturer of Mobile Phones for some time. However, most of their phones were made for other, big-name brands, who would brand the phone their own and never once mention HTC. Now though, not only do they make phones with their OWN brand, but they have earned a well-deserved reputation for creating some of the best handsets around.
So is it any surprise other lesser-known companies are looking to follow in their footsteps?
HUAWEI certainly are. A China-based company, they are the largest telecommunications equipment supplier in the country, but are relative unknowns elsewhere. Their main claim to fame is that almost all of the mobile internet dongles used by millions around the world, come straight from their company. They also make a large number of Wireless Routers. So their latest announcement, that they will be entering the Mobile Smartphone market with an Android-based device, certainly turns a few heads. Read the rest of this entry »
Last night, Google officially launched a new VoIP telephony service called GMail Calls. The service, which lives inside Google’s Email service, GMail, can be used to call landlines and mobile phones directly within Gmail, simply by clicking the new “Call Phone” icon. The service is currently only available for American users, but Google says they will roll it out to other countries as soon as they can.
It seems the service has got a significant early interest and may well prove to be a good move by Google, because in a statement released today, Google claims to have logged one million calls in the first 24 hours of the service being launched! Google is obviously pleased about this and is calling this a very successful launch, and who can blame them? Google confirmed the news in a Tweet, although it didn’t give information on where the callers were placed.