Samsung shakes up mobile division after disappointing Galaxy S 5 sales

Samsung has enjoyed a tremendous amount of success through marketing and the fact that they offered larger displays before anyone else. Now that Apple has finally given the iPhone a respectable display, and other manufacturers are cutting prices, things haven’t been so wonderful for the Korean giant. It was reported last week that sales of the Galaxy S 5 fell short by as much as 40%, so it can’t be surprising that Samsung is shaking things up with the management team.

Out are Lee Don-joo, who was the chief of the mobile business unit’s strategic marketing office, Kim Jae-kwon, chief of the global operations office, and Lee Chul-hwan, who headed the mobile R&D office. Interestingly enough, mobile chief JK Shin will retain his job based on his past contributions of helping Samsung to become the global mobile market share leader.

So the big question is how long will JK Shin last? If the Galaxy S 6 doesn’t make a huge comeback, you have to think he will be gone by next Summer. Samsung needs to actually innovate moving forward instead of just offering a bunch of apps that no one uses or cares about. Samsung has tried to build their own ecosystem, but does anyone really care about S Voice, the Samsung Apps Store, and Milk Music & Videos?

source: Patently Apple

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A Customized Version Of SwiftKey Helps Stephen Hawking Communicate More Quickly

Most of you have probably heard of theoretical physicist and author Stephen Hawking, one of the most high-profile scientists in the world. Hawking suffers from a rare condition related to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis that leaves him with extremely limited movement; for the last few decades he has used a customized mobile computer and a voice synthesizer to speak and write with tiny muscular actions. The latest version of his personal setup was created with the help of Intel and SwiftKey, and the keyboard software developer detailed the process on its company blog.

A Customized Version Of SwiftKey Helps Stephen Hawking Communicate More Quickly was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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Android 5.0 Lollipop is still on less than 0.1% of all Android devices, but how long will that last?

Google has released the latest platform distribution numbers for Android, a periodic report that gives developers an idea of what they should be targeting when developing their apps. The biggest takeaway for the 7-day period ending December 1st? Android 5.0 Lollipop isn’t even represented on the chart. Google doesn’t show platforms which account for less than 0.1% of the total install base, which means Android 5.0 Lollipop hasn’t yet made a meaningful dent in adoption rates.

But that’s not to sound doom and gloomy — Lollipop is still relatively new, with most folks only getting a taste if they have a Nexus or Google Play Edition phone. That, or be one of the happy campers who bought Motorola’s latest phones. New platforms always take a few months to get off the ground and into many of the popular handsets so this shouldn’t be alarming anyone at the current juncture. KitKat didn’t have a hot start either, but it went on to command a 33.9% of the share as of yesterday.

All of that is to say that the lack of Lollipop isn’t something to be worried about. It will come, and it will be a glorious time when it does. For now, just sit tight and enjoy KitKat (it’s always getting new features at a frequent pace thanks to Google Play Services).

The rest of the numbers lay out as you’d expect them to. Alongside the aforementioned KitKat and Lollipop percentages, Jelly Bean combines for a whopping 48.7% of the share, Ice Cream Sandwich is still alive and well at 7.8%, and Gingerbread unfortunately still lingers around with a pretty good chunk at 9.1%.

[via Google]

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Verizon Galaxy Note 3 OTA Update Brings The Phone To Android 4.4.4, Improves Data, Voice Quality, And Bluetooth

No, it's not Android 5.0. There, we've got that over with. And while I'm sure at least some owners of the Verizon version of Samsung's penultimate Note are disappointed at the lack of Lollipop, others will be happy to see it updated to the latest version of KitKat. A new software update is rolling out to Verizon's Samsung Galaxy Note 3 right now (PDF link), with Android 4.4.4 in tow. The last time the phone got an Android version bump was the KitKat (4.4.2) update back in May.

Verizon Galaxy Note 3 OTA Update Brings The Phone To Android 4.4.4, Improves Data, Voice Quality, And Bluetooth was written by the awesome team at Android Police.

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OnePlus One arrives at Amazon India today, here’s how to win an invite