Microsoft unveils new Windows 8 after complaints - BBC News

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Windows 8.1 start button appears as Microsoft's Blue wave breaks - Register

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Microsoft's Blue wave of Windows, tools and services updates has started breaking complete with an early glimpse of the Windows 8.1 start button.

The company revealed on Tuesday the availability of Windows Server and System Center 2012 RT, Windows Intune and SQL Server 2014 and Visual Studio 2013. MSDN subscribers had started downloading the new code early Tuesday morning.

Brad Anderson, corporate vice president of Windows Server and Systems Center made the formal announcement at TechEd Europe, in Madrid, Spain.

Windows Server is the first hands-on experience devs will get of the new Windows 8.1 Start button, introduced following an outcry from users and tanking Windows 8 sales.

The full Windows 8.1 preview code is due to be made available for release on Wednesday - the first day of Microsoft's BUILD conference in San Francisco, California.

The company had told attendees of TechEd North America earlier in the month that the wave of Windows releases would be made available on or around 26 June. ®

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iPhone 5 'Slowest' In Smartphone Speed Test - Sky News

Apple's iPhone 5 has turned out to be the slowest smartphone in a test of seven handsets by Which?, the consumer watchdog.

It is possibly the world's best-known mobile, but it ended up at the bottom of the Geekbench 2 technical evaluation of the UK's most popular phones.

The test measures processor and memory performance across smartphone platforms - if a phone has a high score, it will work well when photo-editing, playing games and using apps.

The results revealed Samsung's Galaxy S4 was almost twice as fast as Apple's star phone with Samsung's Note 2 also scoring higher in the Geekbench pecking order.

Sony, Google, Blackberry and HTC smartphones also outranked the iPhone 5 for tasks such as games, pictures or apps.

The low score will be a disappointment for the US giant's huge fan base who tend to believe Apple's products are superior to all their competitors.

"Undoubtedly, Apple will upgrade its next iPhone with an improved processor when it launches later this autumn," Which? said.

"For the moment, Samsung's Galaxy S4 is the phone to beat when it comes to speed."

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Microsoft (Finally) Confirms WebGL Support For Internet Explorer 11 - TechCrunch

Our own Frederic Lardinois noted that the new version of Internet Explorer wasn't a major revamp, but it does play home to some very compelling changes under the hood.

Take WebGL for instance — nearly all of Microsoft's major browser rivals have already jumped on that bandwagon, and now Antoine Leblond confirmed at Microsoft's annual BUILD conference in San Francisco that Internet Explorer 11 (which should officially debut alongside Windows 8.1 later this year) will indeed support WebGL too.

Finally.

Granted, this tidbit won't come as much of a shock to those paying very close attention — an early version of Internet Explorer 11 spotted in a leaked Windows Blue build this past March late last month basically confirmed as much, Microsoft posted a kooky Vine (seriously, with browser puppets and everything) that strongly hinted that WebGL support was in the works. All that said, this is a major win for proponents of the cross-platform graphics acceleration API, especially considering how dicey the prospect of universal adoption looked for a while. As one of the last major WebGL holdouts, Microsoft raised its share of concerns with WebGL — consider this pointed critique of WebGL's security shortcomings from a few years back.

Leblond also took a few moments to talk up the implementation of MPEG Dash –a streaming video standard that has been slowly picking up steam among industry players — in IE11. It's slowly been picking up steam among industry players, though Microsoft's interest in it hasn't exactly been a secret. After becoming a standard in 2011, Adobe adopted MPEG Dash in 2012 and Microsoft committed to it just a few months later.

HP StoreOnce has undocumented backdoor - Register

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HP is being accused of leaving a serious security vulnerability in its StoreOnce SAN system: a hard-coded administrator account in its management software.

According to this blog post published under the handle Technion, weeks of contact with HP's Software Security Response Team have failed to elicit a response, so the poster decided to go public.

"My last three weekly requests for an update have gone ignored," Technion writes.

It's a simple and all-too-depressing scenario: during product development, someone creates a vendor admin account because nobody wants to waste time with password recovery, and the account stays in the product because nobody remembers to remove it.

It certainly looks like an accident: while Technion didn't post the password that the HPSupport account uses, he posted the SHA1 hash of it, and H Online writes, "The password is just seven characters long and draws on a ten-year old meme", suggesting that someone's already brute-forced it.

As Technion writes, "This hash is out there and it can't be taken away. Someone will crack it, and they will do so soon."

HP has previously been bitten by secret backdoors. In 2010, its StorageWorks P2000 G3 MSA was found to have a similar undocumented account. The company's advisory at that time was that the admin account password could be changed by users through the command line interface. It's not yet known whether the StoreOnce admin account can be similarly secured.

The Register has sought comment from HP in Australia and the US, and will update this story if a response is received. ®

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Microsoft's Age of Empires Heading to iOS and Android - IGN

UPDATE: Microsoft has confirmed with Polygon that Klab Inc. will, in fact, develop at least one Microsoft Studios game for Android and iOS. As previously reported, Age of Empires will be the first port to be released, although the spokesperson specified that the licensing agreement was for the entire Age Empires franchise. The port will initially be made in English, with the company planning to launch the game in other languages and for Windows Phone "in the future."

The company did not confirm plans to launch mobile ports of any additional Xbox Live-based games beyond Age of Empires.

Original Story:

Microsoft's Xbox and Windows games may be making their way to Android smartphones and Apple's iPhone in the near future. According to Reuters, Japanese news sevice Nikkei reports that developer Klab will allegedly handle the mobile versions of select games through a licensing deal. The first port, Age of Empires, will purportedly launch by the end of the 2013 fiscal year and is said to be a free-to-play title. Details regarding Xbox Live integration were not mentioned.

While the report is far from official, Microsoft has previously shown acceptance of mobile platforms outside of Windows Phone and Windows 8 / RT with the release of its SmartGlass app on Android and iOS.

Justin is all about his family and his gadgets. Follow him on MyIGN or on Twitter at @ItsTheLingo.

Xbox Music For Windows 8.1 Preview Adds Pandora-Like Radio Feature - TechCrunch

One of the redesigned apps Microsoft is introducing in the Windows 8.1 Preview is an update to its Xbox Music app that now puts the emphasis back on your own music – whether in the cloud or on your local machine – and less on music discovery, which the previous version focused on.

When you first open the app, you'll immediately notice that it's now designed around your music collection, and while the 'explore' feature is still available, it has been somewhat de-emphasized in this update. As Microsoft notes, this new version now lets you play your music with just two clicks, while before, it often took six clicks or more to listen to your collection.

The main new feature in this update, however, is the introduction of a Pandora-like radio feature that lets you pick any song in the Xbox Music collection and start a new station with related results. This feature, it's worth noting, is even available when you don't have an Xbox Music subscription. This means, of course, that you will have to watch an ad every now and then, similar to when you listen to other free radio-like services.

One thing Xbox Music doesn't seem to allow you to do, however, is to vote songs up or down to influence the song selection for a given station. In return, though, there doesn't seem to be a limit on how many songs you can skip per hour per station.

Turning Websites Into Playlists

The coolest feature of Xbox Music, however, is sadly not in the Windows 8.1 Preview yet. At a press event before today's official unveiling Microsoft showed a feature that allows you to take a website about music (think a top-10 list, review, set list or something similar) and automatically turn it into a playlist for Xbox Music. From Internet Explorer, you can simply invoke the regular Share charm, click on 'Music' and the service will scan the page for artists' names, songs and other information to put together this playlist.

Microsoft says this feature will launch "by the end of this year" but didn't provide an exact date. It's fair to assume that it'll be available by the time the final version of Windows 8.1 launches.

Stock dips as fanbois complain of dodgy Wi-Fi on MacBook Air - Register

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Peak Apple Apple is investigating claims that new Macbook Air notebooks are suffering from crippling Wi-Fi connection problems.

Cupertino's latest creation, the Macbook Air, boasts an epic battery life, but customers are reporting terrible Wi-Fi problems.

Apple has reportedly confirmed the problems, in a briefing note to shop staff seen by 9 to 5 Mac.

The note apparently said:

In the United States, Apple Geniuses and Advisors should capture MacBook Air (13-inch, Mid 2013) and MacBook Air (11-inch, Mid 2013) computers with any Wi-Fi issues.

If the computer does not qualify for capture, troubleshoot for the specific issue. If necessary, arrange for service.

The Register has not been able to verify the existence of this note, as Apple's UK tentacle is being tight-lipped about the situation, but the wording suggests the fruity firm is taking the problem seriously.

The fruity firm's problems have been compounded by a stock price tumble into the sub-$400 danger zone.

Shares in the fruity firm plunged to a low of $398.05 yesterday, below the level that sets investors and shareholders shuddering. Shares then rallied slightly and closed at $402.54.

Any connectivity issue is likely to lie in the adoption of the 802.11ac Wi-Fi standard, which is expected to offer triple the speeds available from kit using the older 802.11n protocol.

On the official Apple forum, customers have been lining up to complain about the Wi-Fi connection.

One customer wrote: "I have a brand new Macbook Air which is able to connect to the internet for just a minute or two before suddenly it drops out. This is even though the signal still shows at full strength and all my other devices are still able to surf the net as per normal.

"This device is straight out of the box so no 3rd party applications have been installed. I heard that the Wi-Fi has been upgraded to 802.11n on this machine, could that be an issue?"

El Reg contacted all the London Apple stores, but were told that there had not yet been any returned Macbook Airs, even though they have been enormously popular.

Has your brand new Apple Macbook Air gone rotten? Let us know. ®

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Telefonica backs Windows Phone to target iOS, Android duopoly - ZDNet (blog)

(Image: CNET)

Telefonica on Wednesday announced it is throwing its weight behind Windows Phone 8 as part of an enhanced marketing effort, in a bid to raise sales of its moderately performing range of devices.

The mobile phone and cellular giant said in a note that for an initial period of one year, it will boost its device marketing support with the help of Microsoft in the U.K., Germany, Spain, Mexico, Brazil and Chile.

First thing to think about here is "why." Telefonica gave a reason, but it's as hollow as Swiss cheese.

The reason is, quoting the press release, to "improve the current balance of mobile operating platforms on the market" by "encouraging it to be more diverse and less of a duopoly."

Ouch. One might think that's a kick in the ribs for Apple and Google, but there is method to this madness. 

Windows Phone sales are chugging along gently, albeit without leaving much of a dent in the market. Latest research from Kantar Worldpanel suggests Microsoft's share in the mobile space has grown to 8.4 percent of the U.K. market, thanks to an uptick in Nokia sales. IDC concurs, with the platform taking the third-place slot in Western Europe, with a market share of 6 percent. Meanwhile, sales have grown in the U.S. from 3.8 percent in 2012 to 5.6 percent this year.

So that's reason number one.

Also in the note, Telefonica said it plans to offer its clients enterprise-class business features, including Office 365 and SharePoint, as well as SkyDrive and Xbox, in a bid to increase distribution of Windows Phone 8 devices. The mobile phone giant will work closer with Samsung, HTC, and Nokia to bring its devices to the market as quickly as possible.

Do you see what's going on here? There are a lot of moving cogs, but it seems to be a working relationship between Telefonica and Microsoft that is beneficial to both.

Microsoft has found a partner willing to enter into a win-win pact. Telefonica wants to diversify its range of smartphone sales, and Microsoft wants to increase sales of its Windows Phone platform for not only sales but to spread its love for Metro — which spans desktops, laptops, tablets, mobile and now consoles — across the ecosystem.

Meanwhile, Microsoft continues to plug its business features in order to gain momentum in a space it has typically seen great success in its desktop and software divisions. It's a pitch to both consumers and business users, while at the same time plugging the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trend.

Telefonica sees Windows Phone 8 as being a contender in taking on the two top platforms in the market space.

Eventually the Android and iOS bubble will pop. We've heard plenty about Android's fragmentation problem, which restricts its place in the enterprise, and the innovation "problem" that Apple faces, amid claims of iPhone fatigue. It's about time a third place opened up, and the stresslines are beginning to show. Telefonica has already thrown its weight behind Firefox OS for smartphones even at this early stage, so it's clear the company is looking for a duopoly get-out clause.

And that's reason number two.

If Telefonica and others — and they will have to sooner rather than later — pick a third-place runner in the mobile marathon, for now it's either going to be Windows Phone or BlackBerry.

Yeah. I'll say no more. 

So, where does Linux fit into the post-PC world? - ZDNet (blog)

"The year of the Linux desktop is coming!" This has been the battle cry of the Linux stalwarts for well over a decade now, but the operating system's impact on desktop and notebook computing has been insignificant.

But now with the era of the PC on the wane, and post-PC devices such as smartphones and tablets grabbing the headlines, where does this leave the open source operating system?

Linux has failed to take advantage of a number of opportunities over the years. While Windows was dominant, it had little chance of breaking into the lucrative PC market, but Microsoft has stumbled a few times with its operating system, with Windows Vista's release being mired by problems, and Windows 8 failing to ignite hearts and minds with its touch-centric approach to computing. On each of these occasions Linux could have stepped up to the plate as a real contender, and while there's been plenty of noise from Linux fans, traction has been painfully poor. In fact, in five and a half years the platform's usage share has gone from a little under one percent, to a little over one percent. 

By any yardstick, that's slow progress. Perhaps now is the time to give up on the platform and call it a day?

But I'm not ready to give up on Linux just yet.

First off, Linux is all around it, as the kernel powering hundreds of millions of Android devices. Most users might not be aware of the Linux name, but without the effort that's been poured into the platform by countless enthusiasts and companies, Android as it is today wouldn't have been possible. It could be argued that without Linux, Android might not have come into existence, and the massive PC machine that was driving the tech industry might not have ground to a halt like it did.

So in some ways, Linux did bring down the PC industry, indirectly, and not by going head-to-head with Microsoft over the desktop.

Read this

Android invades the desktop

Computer makers are suddenly obsessed with putting a smartphone operating system on PCs. Here's why it may not be such a crazy idea.

• Read more

But I'm also not ruling out Linux as a contender on PCs.

Microsoft has taken Windows 8 in a touch direction, and there's a large — and discontented — subset of users who are not keen on this shift and are planning to either stick with an older version of Windows, or look to alternatives. While OS X is one such alternative, it's an expensive route, and one that isn't open to all.

This is where Linux comes in. There was a time when application compatibility was paramount, and people simply couldn't switch to Linux, but now that the browser has replace the operating system as the primary platform, and apps have moved from the drive to the web, Linux becomes an option.

And there's a good reason for PC makers to embrace Linux on PCs – price. PC prices have been driven into the dirt, and Windows now makes up the bulk of the cost of a PC, and if manufacturers could eliminate this cost, it would allow them to cut prices a little, while at the same time pulling in a few extra dollars per PC. I've spoken to a number of OEMs who, off the record, have said that they are actively exploring the possibility of putting Linux on hardware aimed at mass-market users. The problem, I'm told, is marketing and how to make it clear that Linux won't run Windows applications.

Just because Linux hasn't made it on the PC yet doesn't mean that it won't. In fact, the stars might be better aligned now than ever. And while I don't think that Linux has a chance of ousting Windows as the dominant PC operating system, but it could offer consumers and manufacturers a way forward without having to embrace touch.

Sony launches giant waterproof Xperia Z Ultra phone - BBC News

25 June 2013 Last updated at 05:03 ET By Leo Kelion Technology reporter

Sony has announced a waterproof Android smartphone with a 6.4in screen (16.3cm).

The firm is pitching the Xperia Z Ultra as being the slimmest large-screened handset on the market.

It can also accept sketches or notes written using a standard pencil or metal-tipped pen in addition to an optional stylus.

The firm says it intends for the device to challenge Samsung's dominance of the jumbo-sized handset sector.

According to a study by consultants Transparency Market Research, Samsung accounted for 70% of the overall "superphone and phablet" market in 2012 thanks to the popularity of models including the Galaxy S3 and Galaxy Note 2.

Earlier this year, it added the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Mega - a 6.3in-screened handset - to its line-up.

Sony already offers a 5in handset of its own, the original Xperia Z, which it unveiled in January.

The Ultra follow-up was unveiled at the Mobile Asia Expo in Shanghai. The new device will go on sale in China, Indonesia and Singapore in July and August, and then in Europe from September.

"Southeast Asia is the key market for the product because the trend towards large-screened smartphone devices is stronger there," Calum MacDougall, director of Xperia marketing, told the BBC.

"But we also see the trend in Europe as well.

"In the large-screen segment at the moment most consumers are looking at the Galaxy Note. Now we can offer something that is really distinct: a stronger screen, greater portability, waterproofing and something different around the stylus and the pen."

Sony is not alone in seeking to erode Samsung's lead.

Over recent months Huawei has announced the the 6.1in Ascend Mate; ZTE the 5.7in Grand Memo; Acer the 5.7in Liquid S1; Asus the 6in FonePad Note; and Lenovo the 5.5in Ideaphone K900.

Mr MacDougall said Sony intended to compete against these by promoting the Xperia Z Ultra's "premium" features rather than trying to match or undercut the Chinese and Taiwanese firms' prices.

The Japanese firm reported its first annual profit in five years in May, but some analysts said its figures were skewed by asset sales and did not reflect a turnaround for its electronics divisions.

Headphone flap-free

The Xperia Z Ultra is 6.5mm (0.26in) thick - only slightly deeper than the thinnest device on the market, Huawei's Ascend P6.

Unlike the original Xperia Z the new phone does not need a flap over its headphone socket to protect it from water damage, addressing complaints the feature was fiddly to use.

It can also be submerged to a deeper limit - 1.5m (4.9ft) in freshwater for up to half an hour.

The device also features:

• A 1080p resolution screen with in-built software to upgrade lower definition videos and photos
• 16 gigabytes of internal storage with support for 64GB microSD cards
• An 8 megapixel rear camera
• A battery offering up to 11 hours talk time or 120 hours of audio playback - a figure which Sony claims is a record

Those concerned about using such a big device for quick tasks are also offered an optional bluetooth add-on which can be paired to the handset using NFC (near field communication) to make calls, view text messages or stream music.

The accessory is similar to the HTC's Mini accessory announced in January for its 5in Butterfly handset.

Transparency Market Research said that over 150 million Android super-sized phones were sold in 2012 and predicted the market would grow to 400 million by 2018.

Another consultancy firm, Frost & Sullivan, agrees that demand for such devices appears to be robust despite the fact many users would struggle to use them unless they had both hands free.

"For many people in developing parts the phablet is their first communications and computing device and allows them to have a single machine rather than multiple ones," the firm's managing director Manoj Menon told the BBC.

"But going forward companies are going to find it increasingly hard to differentiate between their products on size - it will have to be on software and other features. So, Sony seems to have the right strategy at this time."

Microsoft to unveil latest Windows adjustments - Yahoo! News

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Microsoft has released an update to Windows 8, aiming to address some of the gripes people have with the latest version of the company's flagship operating system.

The company made a preview of Windows 8.1 available for free as a download on Wednesday.

At an event Wednesday in San Francisco, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer acknowledged that the company pushed hard to get people to adopt a new tile-based user interface. Microsoft is now back-pedaling, making it easier to reach and use the older "desktop" interface.

Windows 8.1 will allow people to start in the desktop mode automatically. In that mode, the company is restoring a button that resembles the old Start button. The button will now take people back to the Windows 8 start screen, rather than the old Start menu, but the re-introduction of the familiar button may make it easier for longtime Windows users to get accustomed to the changes.

Other new features of Windows 8.1 include more options to use multiple apps. People will be able to determine how much of the screen each app takes while showing up to four different programs, rather than just two. The update will also offer more integrated search results, showing users previews of websites, apps and documents that are on the device, all at once.

The preview version of Windows 8.1 is meant for Microsoft's partners and other technology developers, but anyone can download it. The release comes exactly eight months after desktops, laptops and tablets with Windows 8 went on sale. The version of the Windows 8.1 update meant for the general public will come later in the year, though the company hasn't announced a specific date.

Many of the new features have been shown off already. A three-day Build conference, which started Wednesday in San Francisco, gives Microsoft developers a chance to learn more about the new system and try it out. It also will give the company a chance to explain some of the reasoning behind the update and sell developers on Microsoft's ambitions to regain relevance lost to Apple's iPad and various devices running Google's Android software.

Windows 8, released Oct. 26, was meant to be Microsoft's answer to changing customer behaviors and the rise of tablet computers. The operating system emphasizes touch controls over the mouse and the keyboard, which had been the main way people have interacted with their personal computers since the 1980s.

Microsoft and PC makers had been looking to Windows 8 to revive sales of personal computers, but some people have been put off by the radical makeover. Research firm IDC said the operating system actually slowed down the market. Although Microsoft says it has sold more than 100 million Windows 8 licenses so far, IDC said worldwide shipments of personal computers fell 14 percent in the first three months of this year, the worst since tracking began in 1994.

Windows 8 was also supposed to make Microsoft more competitive in the growing market for tablet computers. But Windows tablets had less than a 4 percent market share in the first quarter, compared with 57 percent for Android and 40 percent for Apple's iPad.

One big problem is the fact that Windows 8 doesn't work well on smaller screens, making Windows tablets less competitive with cheaper tablets such as Apple's iPad Mini, Google's Nexus 7 and Amazon's Kindle Fire HD. Microsoft built Windows 8 primarily to run on tablets with 10-inch to 12-inch screens, and it is trying to address that shortcoming in Windows 8.1.

Other complaints with Windows 8 include its lack of a Start button on the lower left corner of the screen. In previous versions of Windows, that button gave people quick access to programs, settings and other tasks. Microsoft replaced that with a tablet-style, full-screen start page, but that covered up whatever programs people were working on, and it had only favorite programs. Extra steps were needed to access less-used programs. Settings, a search box and other functions were hidden away in a menu that had to be pulled out from the right. How to do that changed depending on whether a mouse or touch was used.

Although Microsoft is addressing much of the criticisms with Windows, it is positioning the update as more than just a fix-up job. From its perspective, the tuneup underscores Microsoft's evolution into a more nimble company capable of moving quickly to respond to customer feedback while also rolling out more innovations for a myriad of Windows devices — smartphones, tablets or PCs.

It's crucial that Microsoft sets things right with Windows 8.1 because the outlook for the PC market keeps getting gloomier. IDC now expects PC shipments to fall by nearly 8 percent this year, worse than its previous forecast of a 1 percent dip. IDC also anticipates tablets will outsell laptop computers for the first time this year.

Microsoft is addressing that shift by banking its future on touch controls. Its strategy calls for having just one operating system work on both tablets and traditional computers. That allows popular Windows programs such as Office to work well on tablets, too. But in making Windows easy for touch screens, mouse and keyboard commands are more complex to use and figure out.

Apple and Google, on the other hand, believe people use those machines differently and have opted to keep their operating systems separate. Apple, for instance, believes that it can be tiresome to have to constantly move your arm to touch a desktop or laptop screen. That's not a problem with tablets because you're already holding it.

As for the growing interest in smaller, cheaper tablets, Microsoft has said the company was working with other manufacturers to make some. But it has yet to confirm reports that it is making its own. A smaller Surface with an 8-inch screen would be significantly smaller than its current, 10.6-inch models.

Such a device would coincide with Intel Corp.'s recent release of a new chip line called Haswell. Intel said Haswell chips offer a 50 percent improvement in battery life over the previous generation when playing back high-definition video.

In an indication that Microsoft Corp. is clearing out inventory of a Surface tablet running the lightweight Windows RT operating system, the company is effectively cutting the price of that by including a keyboard cover for free. The cover sells for $120 or $130 on its own.

Microsoft also said this month that it would give buyers of the RT version of Surface the Outlook email and calendar program at no extra charge — joining other Office freebies Excel, Word and Power Point — and sweetening the offer for the device that is priced starting at $499. That will come as part of the Windows 8.1 update.

___

Online:

Build conference: http://www.buildwindows.com

Windows site: http://windows.microsoft.com

Windows 8.1 site:

http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/enterprise/products-and-technologies/windows-8-1/default.aspx

___

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed from New York.

iPhone vs Android: Why the Apple iPhone beats Google Android - Macworld UK

Which is the best smartphone operating system: the iPhone's iOS, or Google Android? In this article we argue for the iPhone's superiority. Here's why Apple's iPhone 5 is the best smartphone around.

Is the Apple iPhone the king of the smartphone market? Or is Google Android and its numerous phone handsets a better bet? In the following article, David Price argues the case for the iPhone 5, which he thinks is the best smartphone around. (For an alternative view, take a look at PC Advisor's Android vs iPhone vs Windows Phone 8: what phone should I buy?)

iOS vs Android: iOS is more secure

You should never allow yourself to get complacent about mobile security, but Android faces far, far more malware threats than the iPhone's iOS platform. An F-Secure report in May noted that more than 90 percent of all mobile malware is written for the Android platform, while the remainder is aimed at the Symbian software found on older Nokia phones. The 'closed' platforms - Apple iOS, Windows Phone and BlackBerry - simply don't have malware written for them. It's too hard to break in, and malware writers will generally go for the low-hanging fruit.

There are still dangers out there, but for an iPhone user they largely amount to 'human error' threats - you have to be fooled into clicking on the wrong link or responding to phishing requests for your personal details. You should still be careful, in other words, but by picking iPhone you give yourself a massive security advantage.

iOS vs Android: iOS provides a better user experience

Personally I think iOS provides a better user experience than Android; and it would appear that a lot of my fellow smartphone users agree, since iOS users are on average more loyal to the platform than their Android counterparts. Once people have tried the iPhone they tend to be happy with it.

But quality of user experience is hard to quantify. A better way of approaching the idea might be to think about the design process behind iOS and Android.

Apple builds both software and hardware, enabling it to create a seamless whole. These days the design teams even overlap for greater collaboration, with Sir Jony Ive bringing his minimalist hardware design aesthetic to iOS 7. Every aspect of the iPhone 5, then, has been designed with iOS in mind - not only the current build of iOS but future iterations. In some cases the same people are involved in the design of hardware and software.

Android handsets, on the other hand, are built reactively: hardware and software are designed by separate teams in separate companies (in separate continents, quite often). Expecting the same level of polish would be unrealistic.

(For a more detailed run-down of the features in iOS 7 and the latest version of Android, try Apple iOS 7 vs Google Android Jelly Bean: the biggest mobile OSes compared.)

iOS vs Android: Apple's apps are better

The mighty Infinity Blade II, which is not available on Google Android because of piracy concerns

The number of apps on Google Play and the App Store are roughly the same. But if Google has caught up on quantity, it's still miles behind on quality.

Apple 'curates' its store in the sense that developers are obliged to follow stringent rules before getting their software approved for release. (Sometimes, indeed, Apple takes this too far, with its generally admirable stance against distasteful content sometimes leading it into areas that seem politically partisan - or creating a climate in which publishers censor themselves.) This means that everything you'll find on the store has some degree of quality control.

Now, we're not saying that making it into the App Store is like Nintendo's Seal of Quality; there are still bad apps, and boring apps, and ethically iffy apps, and plagiarised apps (and even a few that tick all four boxes) that make it through the net. But the proportions of these are vastly lower than on Google Play.

It's easier to find good apps as an iOS user. And discoverability is no small issue in a store closing in on a million apps.

What's more, quality apps are more likely to appear on iOS that on Android, and if they appear on both they tend to appear first on the Apple App Store. Why? Because on average, Android users are less inclined to pay for apps, which means developers have less incentive to put the effort in. It might seem unfair, but by joining the platform with the more spend-happy consumers, you're earning yourself preferential treatment from software developers.

iOS vs Android: You get what you pay for

A common refrain of Android advocates centres on the price differential between Android and iOS handsets, and it's true that iPhones are near the top of the smartphone budgetary scale. It's also true that today's Android handsets are both cheap and beautifully made: sadly, though, to paraphrase an old gag, the handsets that are cheap are not beautifully made and the handsets that are beautifully made are not cheap.

Two of the best Android smartphones are the HTC One and the Sony Xperia Z. They're great, and well worth a recommendation. But to call them a budget alternative is misleading: they cost £529 and £520 respectively, compared with £529 for the entry-level iPhone 5.

Equally, it's possible to find an Android phone for less than the equivalent iPhone - the Samsung Galaxy S4 offers a saving of almost £100 - but don't expect the same quality of design.

iOS vs Android: Conclusion

Ultimately the iPhone vs Android debate comes down to a choice: between Android's flawed, fragmented openness, and Apple's quality experience in a closed environment. Openness sounds brilliant, and if we were talking about a lifestyle or a political philosophy then Android would be hard to beat. But this is about a phone. And if you just want a phone that's safe, easy and enjoyable to use, and connected to the best-quality app store around - not to mention sumptuously designed and reliable - then iPhone is the only answer.

iOS vs Android: Your views

That's our view, but we're keen to hear what you think. Send the writer your point of view, whether pro-Apple or pro-Android, on Twitter or in the comments at the bottom of this piece.

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See also:

iPhones dominate wealthy areas, Android 'more common in poor regions'

91.3% of smartphone malware/viruses written for Android

Apple iOS vs. Google Android: It comes down to security

Samsung Galaxy S4 vs Apple iPhone 5 comparison review

5 reasons Android users will switch to the iPhone 5

iPhone loses market share in Europe as Android surges - CNET

Samsung Galaxy S4. Android OS gained 14 percent in market share year to year in the first quarter as Apple lost five percent, said IDC. Android owned 90 percent of the Indian market in Q1.

(Credit: Samsung)

Apple lost market share to Android in Western Europe, according to market researcher IDC.

Market trends in Western Europe are not looking good for Apple's iPhone. "Apple's iOS continues to lose ground as market share declined to 20% from 25% in 1Q12 [first quarter 2012]," IDC said Tuesday.

Android, meanwhile, is gaining operating system market share, up 14 percent year-to-year in the first quarter. "Android continues to dominate the smartphone landscape," according to IDC.

In the quarter, Google's OS shipped 21.9 million units and market share increased to 69 percent in the first quarter of 2013 from 55 percent in last years' first quarter.

Apple lost 11 percent, while Samsung gained 31 percent in market share in Western Europe during the first quarter.

(Credit: IDC)

Overall, the Western European economies contracted, according to IDC. "Most Western European countries experienced a slowdown in smartphone sales as economies deteriorated, with a consequent decline in disposable income for consumers."

IDC also released a report last week on smartphone market share in the India, where Apple struggles to remain relevant.

Apple got knocked out of the top five smartphone vendors in India in unit shipments, according to a report, citing first-quarter numbers from IDC.

Android dominated the Indian smartphone market with a 90 percent share, driven by sales in the low end segment, according to the report.

Sony Xperia Z Ultra dwarfs rivals like the iPhone 5 - The Sun

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Ars Technica

Sony Xperia Z Ultra dwarfs rivals like the iPhone 5 The Sun Sony Xperia Z Ultra. Billed as the Japanese giant's first "phablet" — a smartphone-tablet hybrid — the cutting-edge device has a diagonal screen size of 6.4ins, beating the Samsung Galaxy Mega's 6.3ins. Smartphone screen sizes. Does size matter ... Sony's Jun Katsunuma on the inspiration for Xperia Z Ultra's designEngadget Sony launches giant waterproof Xperia Z Ultra phoneBBC News Sony's Xperia Z Ultra is a 6.4-inch Waterproof SmartphoneIGN Yahoo! News -CNET -Ars Technica all 416 news articles »

AT&T sells out of HTC First Facebook phones - Register

Cloud based data management

Are you one of the silent minority that's still planning to buy a Facebook phone but just hasn't got around to it yet? You may be out of luck, as AT&T has reportedly sold out of its initial stock (and it won't be ordering any more).

AT&T had an exclusive deal with Facebook to offer the HTC First, the only Android handset to come with the social network's UI-skinning Facebook Home software bundle preinstalled. But in May it said it was ending the partnership, citing dismal sales.

That announcement came after AT&T had already slashed the price of the device to 99¢ when purchased with a two-year contract – down from $99.99 – leading many to the conclusion that the carrier couldn't even give the things away.

Apparently that wasn't quite the case, however, as Cnet received confirmation from AT&T Mobility CEO Ralph de la Vega on Monday that the company had indeed cleared out its remaining inventory.

"We sold a bunch more when we lowered the price," de la Vega said in an interview. "We sold everything we had on that."

Just how many phones AT&T had to sell is unclear, but it can't have been particularly many. Shortly after the HTC First launch, some sources said the carrier had moved less than 15,000 units in the first week. If true, that's less than 1 per cent of the number of Samsung Galaxy S4s sold in that device's first week.

Sadly for Facebook, such poor results aren't surprising. In a recent survey of Android smartphone owners commissioned by mobile app development house Bite Interactive, 91.7 per cent of respondents said they weren't interested in owning an HTC First or any other Facebook Home–enabled mobe.

Only 45 per cent of the same group said they were even interested in downloading Facebook Home to their current devices.

"Facebook Home solves Facebook's needs for more user data, but what does it solve for its users?" Bite executive VP of operations Joseph Farrell said in a statement. "With Home, Facebook presents its desire to shift focus from 'apps to people.' However, it appears users are rejecting Facebook Home's assumed position of dominance as a layer above all other apps."

Those thousands who bought HTC First handsets needn't worry that their devices will become orphaned any time soon, however. Facebook continues to develop its traditional mobile app, which forms the core of the Facebook Home user experience, and it even says it's working on improving Facebook Home for its (rather few) fans.

One thing Facebook is in no hurry to do, however, is update the Facebook Home apps to support more handset models than they already do. Apparently, there just isn't enough demand. ®

Steps to Take Before Choosing a Business Continuity Partner

Microsoft: Someone gave us shot in the ARM by swallowing Surface tabs - Register

Ensure Ease of Recovery with Asigra's Agentless Software

Microsoft has produced the name of a corporate customer in a fresh attempt to convince us Windows 8 is being adopted by businesses.

Unfortunately, and in a sign of just how desperate things have really become, that customer is ARM - one of Microsoft's co-conspirators on Windows RT and Surface RT.

The threadbare "news" comes courtesy of a Microsoft press release titled "Enterprises bet on Microsoft devices and services to accelerate business worldwide."

We're also informed carrier Telefonica will roll out Windows Server Hyper-V and SQL Server and an Italian ads agency is hosting a service on Windows Azure.

But something like the Wehrmacht at Stalingrad receiving parachuted crates of condoms rather than ammo or warm food, the hapless IT employees of ARM Holdings' IT, quality assurance, marketing and sales teams have received crate upon crate of Surface RTs.

With a straight face Microsoft told the opening of its TechEd conference Tuesday that Surface RT is allowing ARM's IT troops "to work more efficiently with features such as live tiles and notifications while being virtually always on and always connected."

For those with short memories, which seems to include Microsoft's PR and marketing, Surface RT and Windows RT were built specifically to run on ARM in the first place.

The closest Microsoft's announcement comes to conceding this is a sub clause in a sentence that mentions that Surface RT with Windows RT "utilizes an ARM-based chip"."

Microsoft goes on to tell us ARM already uses Microsoft Office for "a variety of productivity solutions". This is rather handy, because Microsoft Office - or, rather, a limited version of Office that's actually aimed at students, teachers and home users and has been compiled specifically to run on the ARM instruction set - Microsoft Office and Student 2013 RT - is one of the few apps of any use for an RT device.

That's because Surface runs on ARM, Microsoft's slabs cannot run the vast back catalogue of off-the-shelf, third-party or in-house apps built for Intel or AMD x86.

It's therefore likely that ARM - the principal brains behind ARM architectures - is probably one of the few customers on the planet to actually have more apps for ARM than for x86.

This is Microsoft's latest attempt to prove Windows 8 and Surface have a serious side, with the majority of Microsoft's PR having pushing a consumer-first strategy anchored on Bring Your Own Device (BYOD). Last year, Microsoft tried to convince journalists that Windows 8 was business-ready by parading BT and Poste Italiane rollout of 5,000 Windows 8 tablets to staff.

In reality, however, most businesses are upgrading to Windows 7, finally coming off of Windows XP, and not even remotely considering Windows 8. Overall, Windows 8 has sold so badly that analysts reckon it was responsible for the industry's worst PC sales since records began.

As for Microsoft Windows-8 loaded Surface tablets, IDC says just 900,000 Surface RT devices and Surface Pros, using Intel, shipped in the first three months of 2012 versus 19.5 million iPads sold. Microsoft is now slashing the price of Surface RTs by up to 60 per cent for students and teachers. ®

Agentless Backup is Not a Myth

Windows 8/Android hybrids: it's all about the apps – or lack of them - The Guardian

Desperation makes strange bedfellows.

The advent of hybrid devices running both Windows 8 and Android is a painful reminder of what OEMs think of both Windows RT and Windows 8 as tablet OSs.

Two of the major PC vendors (Samsung and Asus) have now released hybrid devices that run Android in tablet mode and Windows 8 in laptop mode. This takes "Windroid" from what looks like a silly experiment and changes it into an earnest attempt to address some of the shortcomings of Windows 8.

The ability to pin Android apps onto the Windows 8 start screen is a clear sign that the real problem with Windows 8 is the availability of apps for its "Metro" mode.

Microsoft will proudly tout a number in the region of 100,000 for apps available for Windows 8 this week at its Build conference but the cool, new and cutting edge apps never seem to be available.

This problem could also have been solved by running an Android emulator on the device – so the choice of a full Android implementation points to other issues in addition to app availability. It strongly implies that the OEMs also do not see Windows 8 as a good user experience for a tablet which is a huge problem for Microsoft.

The whole point of Windows 8 is its flexibility and ability to provide a great user experience in both Metro and desktop modes, but if no one is interested then one may as well stick with the excellent Windows 7.

In desktop mode there is not much to separate the Windows 7 and Windows 8 experiences.

I have long held the opinion that Microsoft has done an incredibly bad job at telling users why they should buy Windows 8.

However, I am not expecting much traction as hybrid OS devices have been tried before and have been show to be very niche with low volumes.

Furthermore, the devices are very heavy for tablets, and the inability to share data between the two modes is likely to substantially limit their appeal.

These devices (and the new Samsung ATIV Tab 3) are also a damning indictment of Windows RT, where manufacturer support has dropped virtually to zero.

The best that I can hope from Windows RT is that it is folded into Windows 8, and devices on the ARM architecture begin to appear where the only choice the user has to make is based on performance, battery life and price. Its persistence as a shadow of Windows 8 confuses users and makes them less willing to join the Windows 8 ecosystem.

If Microsoft can make strides towards informing users how they can live their Digital Lives with Microsoft and solve the confusion around Windows RT then it becomes a very compelling proposition. However, while its biggest OEM partners feel that they have to include Android to make a viable hybrid device, one can tell that something is seriously wrong.

A version of this post first appeared on Richard Windsor's Radio Free Mobile site.

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Sony Xperia Z Coming to T-Mobile in the 'Coming Weeks' - IGN

Sony's high-end and waterproof Xperia Z finally has a carrier in the United States. Via Engadget, T-Mobile has announced that the high-end Android handset will be arriving in the "coming weeks" and, unlike the unlocked HSPA+ version previously sold directly through Sony, will be an LTE device.

Check out our Sony Xperia Z hands-on.

Introduced at CES earlier this year, the Xperia Z is equipped with a 5-inch 1080p "Reality Display," Snapdragon's 1.5GHz quad-core S4 processor, 2GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera capable of capturing HDR video with the help of its Exmor RS image sensor . At the moment, the device, which is already available in other markets, is loaded with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, although it is unclear as to exactly what version of the operating system the T-Mobile model will be using when it launches this summer.

Pricing and pre-order information for the Sony Xperia Z have yet to be announced, although the device will be available in black or a limited-run purple finish. You can sign up to get more information as it comes through T-Mobile's site.

Justin is all about his family and his gadgets. Follow him on MyIGN or on Twitter at @ItsTheLingo.

Microsoft Injects New Creative Tools Into Its Tiny Social Network - Mashable

Microsoft is rolling out a series of social features to make creating on the web even easier, from a new meme generator tool to creating animated photographs you can share on social networks.

The updates are coming to the company's Socl online community, which was first designed as an experiment aimed at students. Developed by Microsoft Research FUSE Labs and launched in 2011, the community has since attracted more than 400,000 registered users across all demographics, especially those with a creative spirit. In that vein, the new features will allow users to create more digital content that is shareable with other social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr.

Among the most compelling new features is a new app for Windows 8 devices, allowing users to blend both video and photography together. Microsoft is calling these creations Blinks.

Here's how it looks: An image of a woman sitting in a cafe may look like a still picture until you see her hair move slightly by the wind.

"These are actually very hard to create, so we wanted to make a tool that would let people easily put them together," Lili Cheng, GM of Microsoft's FUSE Labs, told Mashable.

Jumping on board the meme-generator train, Microsoft also now lets you assemble your own memes, while adding a gaming element to it at the same time.

By typing a message such as "What's up, Dog?" and clicking go, the tool will deliver a message with your text on a photo.

The Socl platform is also enhancing its existing Collage feature, which lets you search for images — and now upload your own — to create a photo montage that is sharable on social networks.

"We've been hearing for awhile that our users want to mix personal content with public content," Cheng said. "Now that you can add your own photos and blend it with existing stuff online, we know this will give members even more opportunities to get creative."

Image courtesy of Microsoft

Microsoft lures buy-curious vixens, corduroys with a cheap fondle - Register

What you need to know about cloud backup

Microsoft is slashing the price on its Windows 8-powered Surface RT tablets to slap the unwanted kit into students' palms.

For a limited time, Redmond will knock 60 per cent off the price of a 32GB ARM-driven fondleslab to $199 (£127); a 32GB with Touch Keyboard Cover will be slashed by 58 per cent to $249 (£158); and a 32GB RT with Type Keyboard cover will fall by 54 per cent to $289 (£184; amounts in pound sterling are Reg conversions for guidance rather than Microsoft's official pricing).

The offer will run until August 31 this year, and is only available to schools and universities, which can presumably purchase the gear for their fresh-faced students and corduroy-wearing academics. The promo covers Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, the UK, the US and others.

Although Microsoft said the offer opened yesterday, according to Microsoft-watcher Mary-Jo Foley, the deal won't go "live" until 24 June. This explains why any Microsoft web pages linking to the promotion aren't working at the moment.

According to a Redmond brochure announcing the sales promo, found here [PDF]:

Surface RT is a terrific tool for teaching and learning and we want students and educators to have the best technology on the market today.

The slabs apparently come with Office Home and Student 2013 RT, a high-definition display for reading digital text books and viewing educational videos, Skype and use Microsoft's Lync for online collaboration. Microsoft also boasts of 20,000 "educationally relevant" third-party apps in the online Windows Store.

The primary target, of course, is the iPad, and Microsoft and Apple have fought long and hard through special-discounting wars to get their hardware and software into the hands of the young on the basis you get a user for life.

The RT, though, has failed to excite the computer-buying public despite a TV ad campaign chasing the Glee demographic.

Microsoft shipped just 900,000 Windows 8 Surface RT and Surface Pro tablets - the latter running Intel chips - according to IDC's figures for the first three months of 2013. Apple let the field, shifting 19.5 million iPads over the same period.

The student offer is the latest from the Steve Ballmer-led business in what's shaping up to be a summer of RT deals. Attendees of next week's BUILD developer conference will get a free 32GB Surface while those at the recent TechEd get-together were offered a 64GB RT with touch cover bundle for $99.99 - the usual price is $699. ®

Cloud based data management

HP shakes up management team of PC division - PCWorld

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Washington Post

HP shakes up management team of PC division PCWorld Bradley will be replaced by Dion Weisler, who is currently the senior vice president for HP's PPS division in Asia Pacific and Japan. Weisler previously worked at Lenovo as vice president and chief operating officer of the company's Product and Mobile ... HP swaps PC, printer unit captains: It's all about China, LenovoZDNet HP Moves Bradley Aside , Taps Weisler To Run Consumer UnitForbes Head of HP's Printer Business to Take On Strategy RoleWall Street Journal- India Bloomberg -Business Insider -All Things Digital all 46 news articles »

Microsoft beefs up Windows Phone voice recognition technology - The Guardian

Good news for Windows Phone owners in the US: you can now shave 0.5 seconds off the time it takes to find a decent pizza in Seattle by speaking to your smartphone.

Okay, this isn't earth-shattering news, even for pizzaphiles. But Microsoft is excited about the technology behind this development: improvements to the speed and accuracy of Windows Phone's voice-to-text and voice search features.

"Now when you compose a text message or search using your voice, Bing will return results twice as fast as before and increase accuracy by 15 percent," announces Bing's speech team in a (possibly dictated) blog post.

The team has been working with Microsoft's research division for a year to improve the technology. Here's the science bit:

"To achieve the speed and accuracy improvements, we focused on an advanced approach called Deep Neural Networks (DNNs). DNN is a technology that is inspired by the functioning of neurons in the brain. In a similar way, DNN technology can detect patterns akin to the way biological systems recognize patterns.

By coupling MSR's major research breakthroughs in the use of DNNs with the large datasets provided by Bing's massive index, the DNNs were able to learn more quickly and help Bing voice capabilities get noticeably closer to the way humans recognize speech."

Actually, there's an even deeper science bit in a separate post on the Inside Microsoft Research blog, where senior researcher Dong Yu contributes this anecdote on a crucial point in the project:

"I first realized the effect of the DNN when we successfully achieved significant error-rate reduction on the voice-search data set after implementing the context-dependent deep-neural-network hidden Markov model. It was an exciting moment. I was so excited that I did not sleep that night."

Don't laugh: this is a genuinely charming insight into the work going on behind the scenes of the technologies we increasingly take for granted. Not least because Yu's sleepless night may contribute to a much wider range of benefits than just slightly-quicker ordering of a deep-pan Hawaiian with extra pineapple.

It's the smartphone battle between Apple, Google, Microsoft, BlackBerry and other platforms that's pumping investment into speech recognition, voice search and related technologies with wide applications.

Or, as Yu puts it: "I believe this is just the first step in advancing the state of the art. Many difficult problems may be attacked under this framework, which might lead to even greater advances."

Microsoft's challenge is to make the fruits of this research a big selling point for Windows Phone, as it tries to secure a bigger foothold in the market against iPhone and Android, which both feature their own prominent voice recognition features.

Many people's purchase decisions will come down to more basic questions: whether the phone looks nice, how good its camera is and whether their favourite apps are available for it, rather than its speech recognition speed and accuracy.

Nokia is working hard on the design and camera questions, while Microsoft seems well aware of the challenge faces on the apps side of things. Just this week, Business Insider claimed it is paying some developers up to $100k to bring popular apps to its platform.

In some areas, like games – N.O.V.A. 3, Temple Run: Brave, MapQuest, Jetpack Joyride, Rayman Jungle Run and Angry Birds Rio in the last month alone – its efforts are paying off. Elsewhere, even long-term holdout Instagram is rumoured to be on its way to Windows Phone, possibly as soon as the end of this month.

Microsoft's efforts, whether in the research labs with DNN technology or out in developers' offices with a cheque book, are important.

Apple and Google's fierce rivalry with iOS and Android means neither can afford to rest on their laurels, but stronger competition from a third player in Microsoft / Windows Phone (with BlackBerry, Firefox OS and Tizen all hoping for a say as well) is good news for smartphone owners. Whatever their pizza preferences.

Choosing between iOS and Android has never been harder - Know Your Mobile

Back in the old days when Apple was king and Android was the unruly upstart, it was relatively easy to decide which phone you wanted to purchase.

Desirability, attractive icons and loads of apps to download, but aren't concerned with being locked down at all times? Choose Apple. Want deep customisation, freedom to tinker and robust multitasking, but don't mind the odd catastrophic system crash or crippling lack of decent app support? Android's the OS for you.

While some of those points still apply today, iOS and Android have never been more alike than they are right now. Apple has enhanced iOS to include multitasking, improved notifications and an all-new "colourful" appearance thanks to the iOS 7 update, while Google has made stock Android more visually appealing and stable, and developer support has grown.

The two rivals have now converged and the end result of this osmosis is that consumers have little to choose between them. Just comparing simple screenshots reveals how similar they are. 

This in itself isn't a bad thing at all – it's good that both Apple and Google are able to appreciate what makes their respective software tick, and what elements of their rival's output is ripe for replication. Google copied iOS way back in 2008, switching from the planned BlackBerry-style interface to a touch-screen, icon-based arrangement.

WWDC 2013 debrief:

• WWDC 2013: Apple's App Store numbers are insane – 50 billion app downloads, $10 billion paid to devs
• iOS 7 release date & features confirmed
• iOS 7: Features, Design, iTunes Music & Release Date detailed
• iOS 7 vs iOS 6 in pictures
• iOS 7 will alienate Apple traditionalists, claims Ovum
• iOS 7 channels Fresh Prince of Bel Air and Gasper Noe's Enter the Void in equal measures
• iOS 7 update only fully featured on iPhone 5
• Nokia slams Apple's iTunes Radio
• iRadio confirmed as iTunes Radio – and it has Led Zeppelin!
• iPhone 4S and iPhone 4 will not get AirDrop

In turn, Apple has lifted elements such as multitasking and pull-down notifications from Android, and has copied Google Now with the new "Today" feature, which outlines your schedule for the next 24 hours, as well as giving information on the weather, or the traffic on your journey to work. 

The problem is that when you have two operating systems which essentially do the same thing the market suffers as a result. Companies which make software of this kind should be trying to offer something different - although Microsoft's Windows Phone hasn't succeeded in toppling either Apple or Google, you have to give it respect for at least trying to do its own thing.

BlackBerry appears to have taken the other route, and is now trying its hardest to replicate what iOS and Android are doing.

Predictably, someone has already created an iOS 7 skin for Android, but there really seems like little point in applying it when the two operating systems are almost indistinguishable. And that makes me feel a little sad. As someone who uses both on a regular basis, I kind of liked the fact that iOS and Android offer different experiences.

Now the two seem to blend into one, and the almost uncanny likeness only serves to accentuate each platform's deficiencies - lack of control in iOS, lack of overall polish in Android. I hope that future updates will see the two erstwhile rivals diverge on different paths, because it would be a crying shame if they slavishly copied one another and ended up losing their uniqueness as a result.

What are your thoughts on this? If you're a long-standing iOS supporter, do you dig the new look? Perhaps you're an Android fan who has long taken issue with iOS' skeuomorphic appearance, and you're now wondering if it's time to make the switch? Post a comment below to share your thoughts, and also let us know if you think we're talking complete hogwash and that iOS and Android are still poles apart.