AllThingsD » Galaxy Nexus http://allthingsd.com Wed, 19 Jun 2013 21:24:55 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://allthingsd.com/theme/images/logo-rss.jpg All Things Digital http://allthingsd.com/ 144 22 Apple Loses Bid to Ban Samsung Galaxy Nexus http://allthingsd.com/20130131/apple-loses-bid-to-ban-samsung-galaxy-nexus/ http://allthingsd.com/20130131/apple-loses-bid-to-ban-samsung-galaxy-nexus/#comments Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:08:08 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=290628 you_loseApple’s request for a ban on U.S. sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus smartphone has been denied again, this time for good.

The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., on Thursday said it would stand by an October decision rejecting Cupertino’s demands for a ban on the Nexus ahead of a March 2014 intellectual property infringement trial.

The appeals court’s decision is a clear win for Samsung, which can now keep its products on store shelves in the crucial U.S. market while it slugs it out with Apple in the pair’s smartphone-IP Hundred Years War.

News of the decision follows Judge Lucy Koh’s finding this week that Samsung did not willfully infringe Apple patents, and her denial of Samsung’s motion for a new trial in the $1 billion verdict issued against it last August.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130131/apple-loses-bid-to-ban-samsung-galaxy-nexus/feed/ 0 The Implications of Patent Rulings With Limited Remedies http://allthingsd.com/20130130/the-implications-of-patent-rulings-with-limited-remedies/ http://allthingsd.com/20130130/the-implications-of-patent-rulings-with-limited-remedies/#comments Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:35:35 +0000 David Long and Matt Rizzolo http://allthingsd.com/?p=290186 patent380Recent court decisions will require companies to refocus patent litigation case strategies to ensure that potential remedies for infringement are worth the risk and expense of litigation. Patent litigators typically focus on whether a patent is valid and infringed, and proving entitlement to a remedy for infringement is often an afterthought. But a favorable verdict may be largely meaningless without an effective remedy. In a recent pair of cases — LaserDynamics, Inc. v. Quanta Computer, Inc.1 and Apple, Inc. v. Samsung Elecs. Co., Ltd.2 — the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit drastically limited the scope of infringement remedies, particularly where the patent covers a small feature of a complex, multicomponent device (e.g., a laptop computer or smartphone). Litigants would be wise to incorporate the Federal Circuit’s guidance into strategies early in the case to ensure they can obtain a remedy that will outweigh the hassle and expense of litigation.

In many cases, discovery relating to damages and injunctive relief is given short shrift. Companies may balk at the cost of market studies or surveys that analyze the value that the patented invention provides to the accused products, deeming them unnecessary. But the Federal Circuit’s rulings show that remedy-related discovery will become increasingly important — especially where the patented invention may drive demand for the accused products. If this link cannot be clearly shown, damages may be reduced and injunctive relief forfeited. Settlement amounts may be driven down, and cases may be resolved more quickly. These decisions have likely cost the holders of relatively insignificant or unimportant patents considerable leverage in future licensing negotiations and litigation.

Both LaserDynamics and Apple-Samsung are linked by a common theme — the high burden being placed by the Federal Circuit on patent holders to demonstrate that the remedies they seek are commensurate with the value of their inventions. This is especially true in litigation involving high-technology, multi-component products such as mobile devices. The Court’s rulings may begin to assuage the concerns of regulators, commentators, and industry participants about excessive jury verdicts, increased costs due to royalty stacking, patent hold-up and the potential improper enforcement of standard-essential patents in litigation. The Federal Circuit will likely continue to develop this area of case law further in the next year.

LaserDynamics v. Quanta — “Damages Control”

The LaserDynamics case involved a non-practicing entity that owned a patent covering a method of automatically recognizing discs in optical disc drives. Quanta sold laptop computers containing drives alleged to use the patented method. Even though the patent covered only a portion of the disc drives, LaserDynamics sought damages based on a percentage of the selling price of each Quanta laptop. The jury awarded LaserDynamics damages of $52M, based on a two percent royalty on each laptop. But the district court overturned the jury’s verdict, finding that using the entire laptop sale price as a royalty base was improper. LaserDynamics appealed to the Federal Circuit.

The Federal Circuit agreed with the district court, explaining that royalties should typically be based on the “smallest salable patent-practicing unit” — in this case, the optical disc drives. The Court expressed concern that juries not overcompensate the patent holder by awarding damages based on features that are not covered by the patent. By basing damages on the smallest salable patent-practicing unit, that risk is reduced — because the amount and value of unpatented features will be relatively small. Limiting the royalty base to the smallest salable unit thus provides some “damage control” to damages.

According to the Court, the only way the entire product could be used as the royalty base for damages was if the patented feature created the demand for the entire product itself. Simply because the patent might cover a feature that consumers expect or would like a product to have does not mean that damages may be based on the entire product’s price — even if the patented feature is valuable, important, or essential to the use of the product.

The LaserDynamics decision’s damage control may significantly decrease uncertainty in patent damages, especially for cases involving mobile devices and similar multicomponent products. With the many features found in devices like smartphones, no single feature may actually form the basis for demand for the smartphone itself. In the future, significant damages awards may be limited to those truly valuable patents that actually drive demand for products.

Apple v. Samsung — Limiting Injunctive Relief for Multi-component Devices

The issue in Apple v. Samsung involved not money damages, but injunctive relief — the ability to force an infringer to cease infringement. Apple claimed that the Quick Search Box (QSB) feature in Samsung’s Android Galaxy Nexus smartphone infringed its patent covering a “unified search” function. Apple moved for a preliminary injunction, asking the court to ban sales of the Galaxy Nexus phone. The district court granted Apple’s preliminary injunction motion and barred sales of the Galaxy Nexus phones. Samsung appealed to the Federal Circuit.

The Federal Circuit reversed the district court, ruling that Apple was not entitled to a preliminary injunction. The Federal Circuit focused on whether Apple had shown that Samsung’s use of the QSB search feature irreparably harmed Apple — a prerequisite for injunctive relief. The Court held that a patentee must show a “causal nexus” between irreparable harm and infringement — that it will be irreparably harmed unless it receives an injunction, and that the harm is caused by the infringement.

Here, although Apple showed that its Siri functionality was important to its own iPhones, Apple failed to show that the accused QSB feature drove customer demand for the Samsung Galaxy Nexus. Therefore, the harm was not caused by the alleged infringement, and the requested remedy did not match the relative importance of the patented feature. Echoing its opinion in LaserDynamics, the Court explained that an injunction is not warranted even where a device without the infringing feature would be less valuable or even inoperable — the feature must be a core component that drives demand for the entire device. The QSB did not drive demand for the Galaxy Nexus, so Apple was not entitled to an injunction.

A Renewed Focus on Remedies

The reasons why remedies for infringement may be overshadowed by the focus on liability are simple. Historically, injunctions were automatically entered upon a finding of patent infringement. Faced (or armed) with an injunction, the parties would often settle, with any damages award being considered as a factor in that settlement amount. Further, damages awards themselves have been unpredictable, with large jury verdicts often getting overturned on appeal. In contrast to the uncertainty of damages, infringement is a more predictable determination that may be resolved even before a jury trial — so litigants typically focus on this more certain target.

But patent law has evolved. Injunctions are no longer automatically entered — patent owners must now show specific harm requiring an injunction and why that harm could not be addressed by damages alone. And the Federal Circuit has recently provided more guidance on damages in patent cases, making these awards more predictable and tied to the value of the patented invention. LaserDynamics and Apple-Samsung warn litigants to place a renewed focus on patent infringement remedies.

Recent Developments

In fact, their effects are already being felt in a variety of pending cases. For example, in the high-profile district court litigation between Apple and Samsung, the jury found that Samsung infringed several of Apple’s user interface and design patents — yet Judge Lucy Koh held that because Apple failed to link Samsung’s infringement of Apple’s patents to the customer demand for Samsung’s accused products, Apple was not entitled to a permanent injunction.

Apple has now asked the full cohort of Federal Circuit judges to review Judge Koh’s decision, as well as reconsider its denial of the preliminary injunction in Apple v. Samsung. If the Federal Circuit takes these cases up in an en banc hearing, the focus will likely be on the “causal nexus” requirement. This appeal warrants watching, as it will have wide implications for future patent cases.

1 694 F.3d 51 (Fed. Cir. 2012).

2 695 F.3d 1370 (Fed. Cir. 2012).

David Long is a Member in the Intellectual Property and Litigation practice groups at Dow Lohnes with over twenty-five years experience in telecommunications. Matt Rizzolo is an Associate in Dow Lohnes’s Litigation practice group and concentrates his practice on intellectual property matters, with a specific focus on patent litigation.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20130130/the-implications-of-patent-rulings-with-limited-remedies/feed/ 0 Apple, Samsung Can Escalate Patent War, but Android OS Is Off-Limits http://allthingsd.com/20121116/apple-samsung-can-escalate-patent-war-but-android-os-is-off-limits/ http://allthingsd.com/20121116/apple-samsung-can-escalate-patent-war-but-android-os-is-off-limits/#comments Fri, 16 Nov 2012 17:43:23 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=270330

Image by Joy of Tech

The already sprawling legal battle between Apple and Samsung grew broader this week when a California court allowed both companies to expand their allegations of patent infringement to newer products.

Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California said late Thursday that Samsung can add the iPhone 5 to its infringement claims against Apple, and Apple can add the Galaxy Note, the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Nexus, which runs the latest version of Google’s Android operating system — Jelly Bean.

Grewal, however, quashed Apple’s attempt to bring a blanket claim against the OS, saying Jelly Bean is a Google product, not a Samsung one.

“Samsung also does not have any design control over the content of Jelly Bean as it is a Google Android product that Samsung itself did not develop,” Grewal wrote. “The court will not permit a sweeping amendment that might apply to devices other than those properly tied to Samsung. … The court will allow this proposed amendment, but only as to the Jelly Bean product Apple has specified: the Galaxy Nexus.”

By granting the two companies’ requests to include newer products, Grewal is dramatically expanding their current case, but he’s also reducing the likelihood of additional lawsuits over those devices. Not that that will make the Smartphone IP Hundred Years War between Apple and Samsung any more manageable. The battle rages on, with no end in sight.

Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to Magistrate Judge Paul Grewal as Judge Paul Grewal.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20121116/apple-samsung-can-escalate-patent-war-but-android-os-is-off-limits/feed/ 0 Court Overturns Apple-Won Ban on Samsung's Galaxy Nexus http://allthingsd.com/20121011/court-overturns-ban-on-samsungs-galaxy-nexus/ http://allthingsd.com/20121011/court-overturns-ban-on-samsungs-galaxy-nexus/#comments Thu, 11 Oct 2012 15:36:25 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=259119 A U.S. appeals court on Thursday overturned an Apple-won preliminary injunction banning the sale of Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone.

Granted by California district judge Lucy Koh in late July, the injunction prohibited Samsung from selling or importing the Galaxy Nexus smartphone into the U.S. on the grounds that Apple would suffer “irreparable harm” if a ban wasn’t put in place. The iPhone maker had argued that the Nexus infringed upon a patent covering technology for searching multiple databases — one facet of Siri, a marquee feature of its latest iOS devices.

But on Thursday a U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which had earlier slapped a stay on the injunction, ruled that Koh’s court had “abused its discretion” by issuing it in the first place. And it overturned the ban, ruling that “Apple has presented no evidence that directly ties consumer demand for the Galaxy Nexus to its allegedly infringing feature. … the causal link between the alleged infringement and consumer demand for the Galaxy Nexus is too tenuous to support a finding of irreparable harm.”

Apple declined comment on the ruling. Samsung was predictably overjoyed.

“We welcome this reversal by the Federal Circuit, finding that the District Court abused its discretion in ordering a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus,” the company said in a statement given to AllThingsD. “Today’s decision confirms that the role of patent law is to protect innovation and not to unreasonably stifle competition and restrict consumer choice. We will continue to take all appropriate measures to ensure the availability of our innovative products.”

Below, a copy of the appeals court ruling.


12-1507 –

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20121011/court-overturns-ban-on-samsungs-galaxy-nexus/feed/ 0 Apple Adds Galaxy Note, Galaxy S III to List of Targets in Samsung Patent Battle http://allthingsd.com/20120831/apple-adds-galaxy-note-galaxy-s-iii-to-list-of-targets-in-samsung-patent-battle/ http://allthingsd.com/20120831/apple-adds-galaxy-note-galaxy-s-iii-to-list-of-targets-in-samsung-patent-battle/#comments Sat, 01 Sep 2012 02:28:53 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=247028 Fresh off one victory in a San Jose, Calif., courtroom, Apple has expanded a separate suit against Samsung to include two of the Korean company’s latest popular devices.

Apple on Friday amended its second lawsuit to add the Galaxy S III smartphone and Galaxy Note “phablet” to a list of products that it says infringe on its intellectual property. This is a second suit, also before U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh, but separate from the one decided by a jury last week.

In the first case, a nine-person jury ruled that a number of older Samsung devices infringe on protected Apple designs and patents, and awarded more than $1 billion in damages. In the second case, Apple had been targeting some of the same devices, and some newer devices, including the Galaxy Nexus.

Koh had already issued an injunction against the Galaxy Nexus in the second suit, which isn’t expected to go to trial until next year. That injunction has been put on hold while an appeals court considers the matter.

The amended complaint was reported earlier by AppleInsider.

Amended Galaxy Complaint

Apple versus Samsung Full Coverage

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]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120831/apple-adds-galaxy-note-galaxy-s-iii-to-list-of-targets-in-samsung-patent-battle/feed/ 0 Make Any Bag a Powerbag With myCharge Battery Pack http://allthingsd.com/20120820/make-any-bag-a-powerbag-with-mycharge-battery-pack/ http://allthingsd.com/20120820/make-any-bag-a-powerbag-with-mycharge-battery-pack/#comments Mon, 20 Aug 2012 13:00:24 +0000 Lauren Goode http://allthingsd.com/?p=242659 It’s back-to-school season, which means it’s time to stock up on gear. The upside of digital devices like smartphones, e-readers and tablets invading the classroom is that they’re replacing the 20 pounds of textbooks that students would normally carry on their backs.

The bad news is that, unlike the dead tree versions of books, these items are battery-operated and require constant recharging.

So, for this week’s review I took a look at some battery-charging products that can juice up multiple devices while you’re carrying them in a backpack or laptop bag. I mainly focused on the portable myCharge, made by Michigan-based RFA Brands. This multipurpose battery pack launched Aug. 1, and is available in a variety of colors and prices, from $50 to $100. The one I tested, the myCharge Peak 6000, is at the high end.

RFA also makes Powerbags that come with built-in packs for juicing up your phone and tablets. The ones I tested — a messenger bag and a backpack — cost $140 and $180, respectively.


[ See post to watch video ]

At two-and-a-half to three pounds each, the Powerbags were too heavy and bulky for my everyday use, and I discovered that they charge certain devices at a snail’s pace. The portable myCharge, however, was more useful. Unlike some countertop power-pack solutions with tentacle-like wire attachments, the myCharge was light enough to throw in a bag to create my own homemade Powerbag. And when I was carrying around multiple devices, I found a myCharge to be much more helpful than something like an attachable battery pack for a phone.

It’s important to note, though, that none of these products charge laptops, which might be their biggest drawback.

The myCharge Peak 6000 is named as such because it’s a 6,000 milliamp (mA) battery pack. That means it can charge an iPhone four times in a cycle before the myCharge itself needs to recharge. If you charge two devices at once, it cuts those charging claims in half.

The myCharge can actually charge up to three devices at once, with little rubber arms that hold micro-USB, USB and Apple connectors, in addition to its USB port. It works with iPhone, iPod, iPad, BlackBerry and an assortment of other phones. While it is compatible with the new iPad, it won’t charge it very well, due to discrepancies in milliamps.

The myCharge casing is made of glossy white plastic with gray sides and a matching strip down the middle. Overall, the device measures 4.25 inches by 7.25 inches, is 2.5 inches thick and weighs half a pound. All of the charging connectors snap in and out of the device, keeping it compact and free of wire tangles. Even the device’s own AC wall plug is wire-free and tucked into the back of the myCharge.

While the myCharge Peak 6000 packs a lot of power, it isn’t super-speedy. When I charged my nearly-dead iPhone using the myCharge Peak 6000, it took nearly two hours to get to 100 percent, longer than it would normally take to charge my phone when it was plugged into a wall outlet. I found that I used the myCharge more often when I was looking for a quick boost on the go. When I was home, I would still plug my devices into a wall outlet.

I really liked the myCharge’s new voice notifications, which the earlier version of the 6,000mA myCharge lacks. It told me how much power the myCharge had, and acknowledged when I plugged in different devices. It also told me when the myCharge itself needed to be charged.

One drawback of the myCharge is that you can’t charge two of the same devices simultaneously without carrying a cord. So, when I was charging my iPhone, I could only charge an iPad 2 via the USB port on the myCharge. When I created a makeshift Powerbag one night by tucking the myCharge in my purse, my dinner companion and I couldn’t both charge our iPhones.

However, I could charge an iPhone at the same time as I charged a Kindle, or a Samsung smartphone, via micro-USB. And with the myCharge, the Galaxy Nexus charged much more quickly than it did with the Powerbag.

The $140 Powerbag messenger bag contains a 3,000mA battery pack that can charge four devices at once. It has micro-USB, mini-USB and 30-pin connectors — the proprietary plugs for Apple devices — as well as a spare USB port. It has some style, and smartly weaves charging cables through the bag. When I plugged in my 50 percent-charged iPhone, it fit neatly into a small pocket in the bag, and by the end of a hour-long business meeting, the phone was charged.

The Powerbag backpack offers the same connectors, and contains a more powerful 6,000mA battery back. But it has so much unnecessary bulk that I doubt anyone would be the cool kid in school — or the office – with this bag. I carried it to a tech event here in New York City and, while I appreciated the extra source of battery life, I found it to be just as cumbersome as the backpack I usually use for carrying my professional camera gear.

In my experience, the Powerbags charged one of my test phones — a Samsung Galaxy Nexus — at an incredibly slow rate. After more than an hour of charge time, the initially-drained smartphone had charged 33 percent.

RFA Brands says that even though the Powerbags come with 6,000mA and 3,000mA batteries, they only deliver a 500mA current (comparable to charging from your laptop via USB) to tablets and other newer devices, including the Samsung Galaxy Tab and the phone I tested. This results in slower charging.

Also, while the Powerbags are compatible with all Amazon Kindles and the Barnes & Noble Nook e-reader, as well as the original iPad and iPad 2 — they won’t fully charge the new iPad, due to the new iPad’s high-milliamp battery.

While I wouldn’t recommend investing in the Powerbags, the myCharge Peak 6000 is a solid device with multiple charging options, ideal for regular travelers, business people shuttling to and from meetings, or students looking to charge those digital devices for class.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120820/make-any-bag-a-powerbag-with-mycharge-battery-pack/feed/ 1 Galaxy Nexus Sales Will Continue -- For Now http://allthingsd.com/20120731/galaxy-nexus-sales-will-continue-for-now/ http://allthingsd.com/20120731/galaxy-nexus-sales-will-continue-for-now/#comments Tue, 31 Jul 2012 11:03:45 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=235750 Looks like Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus smartphone will remain on sale in the U.S. for at least another few weeks.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday continued the temporary stay
of the injunction Apple won against sales of the Galaxy Nexus back in June. The continuation order extends a stay granted by the court in early July, most likely until August 20, the date of a now-expedited appeal hearing.

For Samsung, which is currently slugging it out with Apple in another legal battle that kicked off today in a San Jose, Calif., this is a small bit of good news. Sales of the Galaxy Nexus, which it codeveloped with Google, can continue uninterrupted for the time being, while the appeals court decides on whether to grant a stay for the entire duration of the appellate proceeding. And that gives Samsung more time to sell off whatever Nexus inventory it has already accumulated in the States, while it works to prove that the unified search patent that Apple has asserted against it has been improperly interpreted, or is outright invalid.

One sign of the Nexus’s diminishing appeal: Best Buy is offering the phone on Verizon for free with a two-year contract.

[Image Credit: The Tech Block]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120731/galaxy-nexus-sales-will-continue-for-now/feed/ 0 Sprint on Galaxy Nexus Ban: Carriers Suffer Collateral Damage http://allthingsd.com/20120711/sprint-on-galaxy-nexus-ban-carriers-suffer-collateral-damage/ http://allthingsd.com/20120711/sprint-on-galaxy-nexus-ban-carriers-suffer-collateral-damage/#comments Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:05:27 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=229021 Samsung has managed to rally another supporter for its motion to stay the Galaxy Nexus ban Apple won against it until a federal circuit court resolves the intellectual-property questions at issue in the case.

On Tuesday, Sprint filed an amicus brief in support of Samsung, adding its voice to that of Google, which has dismissed the alleged infringement at issue in the case as a “trivial patented aspect of a single [smartphone] application.” Sprint’s argument: Injunctions against smartphones are generally a bad idea because they turn carriers into “unwitting victims” of litigation they’re not party to.

“[An] immediate preliminary injunction against a device substantially and irreparably harms Sprint by leaving a void in its device portfolio,” the carrier said in its brief opposing the injunction.

It’s perfectly understandable that Sprint would prefer the case to be fully resolved without an immediate ban, avoiding any disruption to its smartphone lineup. That said, it’s equally understandable that Apple feels that the Galaxy Nexus should not be sold during the appeals process. After all, it has already managed to convince a federal circuit court that the device likely infringes all four of the patents it has asserted against it.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120711/sprint-on-galaxy-nexus-ban-carriers-suffer-collateral-damage/feed/ 0 Google Beams Out Jelly Bean to Some Galaxy Nexus Devices http://allthingsd.com/20120710/google-beams-out-jelly-bean-to-galaxy-nexus-hspa/ http://allthingsd.com/20120710/google-beams-out-jelly-bean-to-galaxy-nexus-hspa/#comments Tue, 10 Jul 2012 23:27:23 +0000 Liz Gannes http://allthingsd.com/?p=228920 Google just started pushing its new Android operating system update, known as Jelly Bean, to a large number of Galaxy Nexus devices.

AllThingsD.com

Initially the update is going to those devices running the HSPA+ version of the phone, that is the one sold for use on networks such as AT&T and T-Mobile rather than the varieties sold for use on Sprint or Verizon.

Jelly Bean includes Google’s highly personalized assistant app Google Now as well as better notifications and a more accurate software keyboard.

Google had open-sourced Jelly Bean yesterday, and made a preview version of it available on the Galaxy Nexus phones and Nexus 7 tablets given away at Google I/O, but this is the first mass release.

Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ owners will be prompted about the update “over the next several days,” Google said.

Who’s getting Jelly Bean next?

Other Galaxy Nexus phones, Nexus S, Motorola Xoom and Nexus 7 owners. The Nexus 7 tablet ships later this month.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120710/google-beams-out-jelly-bean-to-galaxy-nexus-hspa/feed/ 0 Galaxy Nexus Back on Sale at Google Play http://allthingsd.com/20120707/galaxy-nexus-back-on-sale-at-google-play/ http://allthingsd.com/20120707/galaxy-nexus-back-on-sale-at-google-play/#comments Sat, 07 Jul 2012 21:16:06 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=228027 Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus has returned to the virtual shelves of the Google Play store almost as quickly as it was pulled from them.

On Friday, the injunction barring sales of the Galaxy Nexus was suspended pending a response from Apple, which claims the device infringes four patents. And now, not 24 hours later, it’s back on sale.

The Galaxy Nexus is strategically important to Google as its lead device for the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, so it’s critical to the company to get the device back on the market. It won’t ship for another two to three weeks, but when it does, it will presumably be running a version of Android that avoids infringing the Apple patents that led to the injunction.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120707/galaxy-nexus-back-on-sale-at-google-play/feed/ 0 Federal Appeals Court Grants Temporary Reprieve on Galaxy Nexus Ban http://allthingsd.com/20120706/breaking-federal-court-grants-temporary-reprieve-on-galaxy-nexus-ban/ http://allthingsd.com/20120706/breaking-federal-court-grants-temporary-reprieve-on-galaxy-nexus-ban/#comments Fri, 06 Jul 2012 22:55:35 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=227972 A federal appeals court has temporarily put on hold a lower court’s order banning sales of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus.

Abdel Ibrahim/The Tech Block

Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Apple was likely to prove that the Galaxy Nexus infringed on four patents and issued an injunction banning U.S. sales of the device. Samsung appealed that ruling to the federal appeals court, but Koh said Tuesday she would not put the ban on hold while Samsung pursues its appeal.

Although the ban is temporarily on hold, Apple has until Thursday to submit papers to the appeals court arguing why the ban should continue while Samsung pursues its appeal. There’s no immediate timetable for when the court could rule on that.

Meanwhile, the appeals court declined to put a separate ban on hold, that one against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Apple and Samsung representatives were not immediately available for comment.

Google had pulled the Galaxy Nexus from its online store, but said it planned to return the product to its virtual shelves as soon as next week via a software patch designed to work around Apple’s patented technology.

Though not Samsung’s biggest seller, the Galaxy Nexus is strategically important to Google as the lead device for Ice Cream Sandwich, the current version of Android. It is also among the first devices scheduled to get Jelly Bean, the next version of Android which Google has said should arrive in the middle of this month.

Google also gave developers at its recent I/O conference a Galaxy Nexus loaded with a test version of Jelly Bean. It is unclear whether Google may alter some of the features of Jelly Bean in order to avoid the Apple patent.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120706/breaking-federal-court-grants-temporary-reprieve-on-galaxy-nexus-ban/feed/ 0 Amid Sales Ban, Google Removes Galaxy Nexus From Its Online Store http://allthingsd.com/20120703/amid-sales-ban-google-removes-galaxy-nexus-from-its-online-store/ http://allthingsd.com/20120703/amid-sales-ban-google-removes-galaxy-nexus-from-its-online-store/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 03:39:14 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=227382 Google doesn’t plan to allow the Galaxy Nexus to remain off the market for long, but it has taken it off its online store in the wake of a judge’s injunction banning sales of the smartphone.

The phone, which had been offered unlocked for $349 via the Google Play store, is now listed as “coming soon.” The move comes hours after District Court Judge Lucy Koh declined to put a sales ban on hold pending an appeal by Samsung.

The Galaxy Nexus was designed by Google but is manufactured by Samsung. Apple sued Samsung over the device, arguing that it infringes on four of its patents. Koh ruled that Apple is likely to prevail and last Friday issued a preliminary injunction banning sales of the device.

Samsung has appealed the ruling.

Google has said it plans to push out a software update that should allow sales of the Galaxy Nexus to resume.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120703/amid-sales-ban-google-removes-galaxy-nexus-from-its-online-store/feed/ 0 Google, Samsung to Release Software Patch to Keep Galaxy Nexus on the Market http://allthingsd.com/20120703/google-samsung-to-release-software-patch-to-keep-galaxy-nexus-on-the-market/ http://allthingsd.com/20120703/google-samsung-to-release-software-patch-to-keep-galaxy-nexus-on-the-market/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:33:13 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=227365 Google isn’t taking a sales ban on the Galaxy Nexus lying down.

First and foremost, Samsung and Google have a software patch that they believe avoids infringing the Apple patent that led to the injunction. That patch is expected to be pushed out imminently, Google said.

The move follows a decision on Tuesday by District Court Judge Lucy Koh not to hold off while Samsung pursues its appeal of the ban. Koh ruled Friday that the Galaxy Nexus is likely to infringe on four Apple patents, but issued the injunction based specifically on a patent related to universal search.

Even as it pushes out the software update, Google plans to support Samsung in its appeal of the injunction, as well as to challenge the universal search patent at issue in the case.

Google and Samsung are also expected to challenge the validity of the patent, seeking a reexamination by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office. Their argument likely will center on the notion that universal search predates the Apple patent.

Although the Galaxy Nexus is not the best-selling Android phone, it is highly strategic for Google as the first device with the Ice Cream Sandwich version of the operating system. It is also the device that Google gave out to developers last week to begin their testing of Jelly Bean, the next major update to Android.

The Galaxy Nexus is slated to be one of the first devices to get Jelly Bean when it is finalized later this summer.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120703/google-samsung-to-release-software-patch-to-keep-galaxy-nexus-on-the-market/feed/ 0 Judge Denies Reprieve in Galaxy Nexus Case, Allowing Sales Ban to Take Effect http://allthingsd.com/20120703/judge-denies-reprieve-in-galaxy-nexus-case-allowing-sales-ban-to-take-effect/ http://allthingsd.com/20120703/judge-denies-reprieve-in-galaxy-nexus-case-allowing-sales-ban-to-take-effect/#comments Wed, 04 Jul 2012 00:20:03 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=227044 A federal judge on Tuesday refused to hold off on an injunction that prevents U.S. sales of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone, ruling that Samsung is unlikely to prevail in a patent infringement suit brought by Apple.

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled that there was not sufficient evidence to put the ban on hold while Samsung pursues an appeal.

“Although some consumers may be disappointed that they cannot purchase the Galaxy Nexus, the Galaxy Nexus, as Samsung itself has repeatedly insisted, is not Samsung’s only smartphone product on the market,” Koh wrote in the ruling.

In order for the sales ban on the Nexus to go into effect, Apple must post a $95.6 million bond to account for the potential impact should a court later decide the injunction was issued in error.

While the ruling means that the Galaxy Nexus is barred from being sold as is, Google and Samsung have been preparing a workaround software patch that Google says should enable sales of the Nexus to continue.

On Monday, Koh declined to put a separate injunction on hold, that one related to Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet.

Although not the biggest-volume Android phone, the Galaxy Nexus is critical strategically for both Samsung and Google, as it was the first device running the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android and is also the reference point for developers testing the next version of the operating system, known as Jelly Bean.

Google gave out Galaxy Nexus devices to developers at last week’s I/O conference in San Francisco.

Update: Samsung said in a statement late Tuesday that it is disappointed with the ruling and will continue to pursue its appeal.

“We believe today’s ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior products to consumers in the United States,” Samsung said in a statement. “Meanwhile, we are also working closely with Google to resolve this matter, as the patent in question concerns Google’s unified search function.”

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120703/judge-denies-reprieve-in-galaxy-nexus-case-allowing-sales-ban-to-take-effect/feed/ 0 Galaxy Tab Ban Set to Take Effect as Judge Denies Samsung's Request for a Reprieve http://allthingsd.com/20120702/judge-denies-samsung-reprieve-with-galaxy-nexus-ban-set-to-take-effect/ http://allthingsd.com/20120702/judge-denies-samsung-reprieve-with-galaxy-nexus-ban-set-to-take-effect/#comments Tue, 03 Jul 2012 02:30:08 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=226779 A federal judge on Monday paved the way for a ban on U.S. sales of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 to go into effect.

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh issued an injunction on that product last week, as well as a separate injunction barring sales of the Galaxy Nexus smartphone in patent infringement cases brought by Apple against Samsung.

Samsung appealed the ruling over the weekend, asking a federal appeals court to put the injunctions on hold. Koh is also being asked to put the injunction on hold. On Monday she denied a stay for the Tab ban, but has yet to rule on that request relative to the Nexus.

“Samsung is disappointed with the court’s decision that denied our motion to stay,” a Samsung representative said on Monday evening. “We believe today’s ruling will ultimately reduce the availability of superior technological features to consumers in the United States. Regardless, we will continue to pursue a request for an appeal of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 preliminary injunction, which we filed on June 26 to the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.”

The ban on the Nexus is potentially even more significant. Although not the biggest-volume Android phone, the Galaxy Nexus is critical strategically for both Samsung and Google, as it was the first device running the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android, and is also the reference point for developers testing the next version of the operating system, known as Jelly Bean.

Google gave out Galaxy Nexus devices to developers at last week’s I/O conference in San Francisco.

In order for the sales ban on the Nexus to go into effect, Apple must post a $95.6 million bond to account for the potential impact should a court later decide the injunction was issued in error.

Correction: This story originally indicated that Koh had denied the request to put the Galaxy Nexus injunction on hold. A ruling on that has yet to occur.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120702/judge-denies-samsung-reprieve-with-galaxy-nexus-ban-set-to-take-effect/feed/ 0 Samsung Appeals Galaxy Nexus Injunction http://allthingsd.com/20120702/samsung-appeals-galaxy-nexus-injunction/ http://allthingsd.com/20120702/samsung-appeals-galaxy-nexus-injunction/#comments Mon, 02 Jul 2012 10:02:39 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=226488 Samsung’s response to the preliminary injunction granted to Apple last week against its Galaxy Nexus phone was both swift and obvious.

On Saturday, not 24 hours after the injunction was issued, Samsung filed a motion with the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, seeking to stay it for the duration of its appeal. Among its arguments for doing so: Samsung contends that Apple hasn’t proven that the two companies are true rivals in the smartphone market, which is ludicrous, considering: A) Samsung surpassed Apple in the first quarter to become the world’s largest smartphone manufacturer; and: B) internally, Samsung Chairman Lee Kun-hee has been calling upon his lieutenants to beat a certain “rival” in smartphones.

“The Court’s finding that Apple will suffer irreparable harm was based on legally insufficient evidence that Samsung and Apple are competitors,” Samsung said in its motion to stay the injunction as reported by FOSS Patents. “The Court’s order is inconsistent with the Federal Circuit’s directive that market share losses must be substantial.”

In other words, Samsung claims that regardless of whether the Nexus does or doesn’t infringe Apple’s IP, its sales haven’t had any ill effect on Apple. If Apple can’t prove the iPhone has lost market share to the Galaxy Nexus, then what are its damages — aside from a spike in its leadership’s blood pressure over what it alleges is “blatant copying”?

Thing is, when U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh granted the injunction, she ruled that the “risk” of harm was reason enough to support it.

“Apple has made a clear showing that, in the absence of a preliminary injunction, it is likely to lose substantial market share in the smartphone market and to lose substantial downstream sales of future smartphone purchases and tag-along products,” Koh wrote.

Koh’s view, then, is that the likelihood of irreparable harm is sufficient justification for the injunction. And Samsung’s legal team is going to have a tough time convincing her otherwise.

That said, it does have another angle to pursue here: To argue that Koh erred by defining the scope of Apple’s unified search patent too broadly. If it’s able to do so convincingly, and get the scope of the patent narrowed, it might then make the case that there was no infringement.

“The Federal Circuit, which hears all patent appeals, reverses about one-third of the time when it reviews how district courts interpret patent claims, so it is not a stretch at all to imagine the Federal Circuit disagreeing with Judge Koh’s definition of the patent’s scope,” Brian Love, a professor at Stanford Law School, told AllThingsD. “Samsung is unlikely to prevail on appeal if it cannot bring into question whether Apple’s patent is valid and infringed.”

Koh has scheduled a hearing for today on whether or not to stay the injunction pending appeal.

[Image credit: Kung Fu Cinema]

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120702/samsung-appeals-galaxy-nexus-injunction/feed/ 0 Apple Wins Order Barring Sales of Samsung Galaxy Nexus Phone http://allthingsd.com/20120629/apple-wins-order-barring-sales-of-samsung-galaxy-nexus-phone/ http://allthingsd.com/20120629/apple-wins-order-barring-sales-of-samsung-galaxy-nexus-phone/#comments Fri, 29 Jun 2012 22:25:15 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=226311 In another major patent victory on Friday, Apple won an order barring the Galaxy Nexus, a phone designed by Google and manufactured by Samsung.

U.S. District Court Judge Lucy Koh ruled that Apple is likely to be able to prove at trial that the Galaxy Nexus infringes on four Apple patents, though the injunction is based specifically on one particular patent, the so-called ’604 patent, which covers core voice and search functionality.

The ruling was issued minutes ago by Koh in San Jose. The injunction becomes effective as soon as Apple posts a $95.6 million bond securing against the damages Samsung would incur if the injunction were found to have been wrongfully issued.

Koh’s ruling prevents Samsung from selling the Galaxy Nexus or any other product that is “no more than colorably different” and infringes on the Apple patent in question. However, Koh set a hearing for Monday morning to decide whether to put the injunction on hold pending an appeal by Samsung.

It follows an order by Koh earlier this week that would halt sales of another Samsung product, the Galaxy Tab 10.1.

The Galaxy Nexus is strategically important to Google as its lead device for Ice Cream Sandwich and for being the phone given to I/O developers this week to test out Jelly Bean, the next version of Android. Google said that the Galaxy Nexus would be among the first devices to receive the final release of Jelly Bean.

Asked for comment, Apple reiterated a past statement.

“It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging,” Apple said. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong and, as we’ve said many times before, we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.”

Google’s reaction, as delivered by a spokesperson: “We’re disappointed with this decision, but we believe the correct result will be reached as more evidence comes to light.”

Samsung officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Regarding the ’604 patent, Koh wrote: “The Court is persuaded by the evidence in the record that the ’604 unified search functionality drives consumer demand in a way that affects substantial market share. Even accepting Samsung’s argument that the intelligent voice-recognition aspect of Siri, as advertised, also contributes to consumer interest in the iPhone 4S, Apple has shown that the ’604 Patented feature is core to Siri’s functionality and is thus a but-for driver of demand for Siri. Accordingly, the Court finds that Apple has adequately established the requisite causal nexus between Samsung’s alleged infringement of the ’604 Patent and Apple’s risk of suffering irreparable harm.”

Koh went on to say Apple is more likely to suffer hardship if sales are allowed to continue as compared to what Samsung will suffer if sales are halted.

“Although Samsung will necessarily be harmed by being forced to withdraw its product from the market before the merits can be determined after a full trial, the harm faced by Apple absent an injunction is greater,” Koh said. “Apple’s interest in enforcing its patent rights is particularly strong because it has presented a strong case on the merits. As discussed above, Apple has shown a likelihood of prevailing on the merits of all four of its asserted patents. Apple has further shown a likelihood of irreparable harm attributable to Samsung’s infringement of the ’604 Patent if the injunction does not issue. Samsung, by contrast, does not present any evidence of what hardship it will suffer if the injunction issues.”

Image credit: Abdel Ibrahim

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120629/apple-wins-order-barring-sales-of-samsung-galaxy-nexus-phone/feed/ 0 Samsung Hopes High-Tech Stickers Help Boost Near Field Communication http://allthingsd.com/20120612/samsung-hopes-high-tech-stickers-help-boost-nfc-use/ http://allthingsd.com/20120612/samsung-hopes-high-tech-stickers-help-boost-nfc-use/#comments Wed, 13 Jun 2012 04:00:34 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=219562 While much of the attention around Near Field Communication has been around its potential for mobile payments, Samsung is hoping to boost use of the technology for other tasks.

The company is launching TecTiles, inexpensive NFC tags that phone owners can use to automate various tasks. Via a free application, customers will be able to assign various commands to one of the stickers.

A tag outside a conference room could be set to silence phones or to join the Wi-Fi network.

Businesses could use a tag to allow customers to check in on Foursquare, or “Like” the company on Facebook.

Samsung will sell the stickers in a five-pack for $15 via the major cellphone carriers’ stores.

NFC technology is built into a number of Samsung phones, including the Nexus S, Galaxy Nexus, and its newest smartphone, the Galaxy S III, which is just about to go on sale in the U.S.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120612/samsung-hopes-high-tech-stickers-help-boost-nfc-use/feed/ 0 Apple Tries to Stop Samsung Galaxy S III at the Border http://allthingsd.com/20120606/apple-tries-to-stop-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-at-the-border/ http://allthingsd.com/20120606/apple-tries-to-stop-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-at-the-border/#comments Wed, 06 Jun 2012 23:31:52 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=217651 Samsung says its lawyers didn’t design the Galaxy S III. Well, perhaps they should have, because the device has already been challenged by Apple, and it hasn’t even arrived at market in the U.S. yet.

Late Tuesday, Apple filed a motion in U.S. District Court in San Jose, requesting a preliminary ban on the Galaxy S III, which it alleges infringes two of its patents: U.S. Patent No. 8,086,604, “Universal interface for retrieval of information in a computer system,” and No. 5,946,647, “System and method for performing an action on a structure in computer-generated data.” The former applies to Siri — Apple’s speech-recognition personal assistant — and the latter to data tapping.

Rather than lodge an entirely new complaint against the SIII, Apple asked the court to simply add it to an existing complaint regarding Samsung’s Galaxy Nexus. A welcome gesture, though it’s not going to make this rat’s nest of patent litigation the company is involved in any less confusing.

“Apple has been able to obtain the Galaxy S III sold in the United Kingdom and determined that this device clearly infringes on at least two of the Apple patents at issue in the preliminary injunction motion for the exact same reasons as the Galaxy Nexus,” Apple wrote in its filing. “Because the Galaxy S III contains two of the exact infringing features already at issue with respect to the Galaxy Nexus, the S III is not more than colorably different from the Galaxy Nexus, and falls within the scope of Apple’s current proposed order submitted in connection with its motion for a preliminary injunction.”

The company has asked the court to impose an injunction on the Galaxy S III before June 21, its launch date in the U.S.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120606/apple-tries-to-stop-samsung-galaxy-s-iii-at-the-border/feed/ 0 If at First You Don't Succeed: Google to Hawk a Nexus Phone Again http://allthingsd.com/20120424/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-google-to-hawk-a-nexus-phone-again/ http://allthingsd.com/20120424/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-google-to-hawk-a-nexus-phone-again/#comments Tue, 24 Apr 2012 15:00:38 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=199237 Google is getting back in the business of selling Android phones direct to consumers.

The search giant had sold the Nexus One directly to consumers over the Web, but got out of that business back in 2010.

On Tuesday, though, Google is announcing that it will start selling an unlocked version of the Galaxy Nexus via its Google Play online store. It will be under a new “devices” section, though for now the Samsung-made phone will be the only device for sale.

Google will sell the HSPA+ version of the Galaxy Nexus for $399 without a service contract, though the phone contains the radios necessary to work on both T-Mobile and AT&T networks.

Sprint and Verizon sell their own LTE-capable versions of the Nexus directly to consumers.

At the time it got out of the business, Google acknowledged that most U.S. consumers prefer to buy their phones from a carrier. Carriers typically subsidize the phones in exchange for a two-year contract.

“Certainly, a lot has happened in the last couple of years,” Jamie Rosenberg, Google’s Director of Digital Content, said in an interview. “We’ve seen in the market that consumers [have] an increased desire for … the flexibility that comes with an unlocked phone.”

Google was also panned for its customer service when it sold the Nexus One, but Rosenberg said the company has since added a phone-support team that is part of the Google Play store. Google will support both sales and technical questions on the device, with the ability to connect customers to Samsung if necessary.

“Because of that, we think this will be a very different experience for consumers and has different motivations for us as well,” Rosenberg said.

The last time around, Google had ambitions to turn the traditional carrier business model on its head. Rosenberg said Google understands that most people will continue to buy direct from carriers, though it still thinks its store can be meaningful.

While the device store is currently focused only on Galaxy Nexus sales, Google is creating a home to sell other kinds of devices. The company is widely expected to start selling a Nexus tablet in the not-too-distant future.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120424/if-at-first-you-dont-succeed-google-to-hawk-a-nexus-phone-again/feed/ 0 Take a Note: Typing With No Hands http://allthingsd.com/20120410/take-a-note-typing-with-no-hands/ http://allthingsd.com/20120410/take-a-note-typing-with-no-hands/#comments Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:08:24 +0000 Walter S. Mossberg http://allthingsd.com/?p=195119 I am writing this paragraph on an iPhone. But I am not typing it on the phone’s virtual keyboard. I am dictating it using a little-known feature that allows you to employ your voice instead of your fingers, wherever text entry is possible on the device.


[ See post to watch video ]

And now, for this paragraph, I have switched to an Android phone. Once again, I am composing these words using only my voice, and not typing them on the virtual keyboard.

Those two paragraphs, dictated as emails and then cut and pasted into this column on a computer, required far fewer corrections than you might think, given the bad reputation for accuracy that voice input on digital devices has acquired. I only had to add a comma I’d forgotten to specify in the first paragraph and capitalize the word “Android” in the second paragraph.

For me, a daily user of virtual keyboards, the process was quicker and more accurate than typing would likely have been, even for the relatively short blocks of text typically composed on phones.

So, on the suspicion that dictation on smartphones might prove useful for others as well, I’ve been testing it heavily over the past week. I used a top phone with Google’s Android software, the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, and an Apple iPhone 4S. In general, I found that, while dictation could occasionally fail badly, it worked surprisingly well in a wide variety of environments and applications.

On both leading smartphone platforms, I found that relatively short dictation—such as emails, texts, tweets, Facebook posts and notes—was at least as accurate, and often more, as typing on a glass screen. It was better in quiet environments, but did OK even in most noisy places like grocery stores, coffee shops and carwashes. It was also faster, since, as long as you don’t have to correct numerous errors, speaking is usually faster than typing on glass.

For this review, I am not mainly referring to Siri, the widely publicized, voice-controlled feature on the new iPhones, which can do things like tell you the weather, or stock prices. Nor am I discussing the “voice actions” on Android, which can perform Web searches and other tasks. Both can also help with some text dictation. I concentrated on a much simpler feature of both platforms: a small microphone key that’s included right in the phones’ on-screen keyboards.

PTECHjump1-alt

Apple’s dictation system did better at capitalizing proper names.

Android phones have had this microphone key for a couple of years, and Apple added it to the latest iPhone, the 4S, last fall, and to the new iPad, when it came out last month. But I’m guessing that many users of these phones either haven’t used this special key, or haven’t even noticed it.

While the microphone keys work a bit differently on the two platforms, they are basically similar. When the keyboard appears, ready for you to type, you can instead hit the microphone key and simply dictate what you want to say. The phones then send your spoken words to a remote server, which rapidly translates them into text and sends them back to the phone’s screen. If corrections are needed, you make them by typing, though both platforms make this easier by indicating the likeliest errors, and suggesting alternatives.

A couple of caveats are in order. I didn’t compare dictation to typing on a phone with physical keys, whose devotees are often speedy and accurate. Instead, I thought the apt comparison was with a virtual keyboard, which is becoming the norm on phones, but is still a source of frustration for many users.

PTECHjump1

But Android was more reliable.

I also didn’t try dictating a long document, like this column, because phones are rarely used for lengthy composing.

I found that both platforms’ dictation systems worked well enough for me to recommend them. In case after case, both phones got it right, or close enough to require little correcting.

But there are differences. Android has an advantage in that, in the newest version of its operating system, it displays the dictated text almost in real time, lagging just slightly behind your spoken words. On the iPhone, the system only reveals its rendering of your dictation after you’ve tapped on a “Done” button.

Android’s dictation system also supports many more languages than Apple’s—40 languages and dialects, including Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and Hebrew. On the iPhone, only English, French and German are currently supported, though Apple says Chinese, Korean, Italian, and Spanish will be added later this year.

However, I found the iPhone 4S worked better than the Galaxy Nexus in noisier environments. For instance, in a crowded shopping-mall food court, while neither phone was perfect, the iPhone understood me to say: “I am dictating this email from the very noisy Court at Montgomery Mall on the iPhone”—missing only the word “food” and capitalizing “Court.” The Android phone mangled a very similar sentence as: “I am dictating this email on droid phone from the bearing noise for it montgomery mall.”

Google notes that, unlike Apple, it supports many phones, and that the results might have differed on another model, with better noise cancellation. Apple says the iPhone 4S does have noise cancellation. And, in any case, the two phones’ results were more comparable in quieter settings.

Apple’s system also did better at capitalizing proper names, like Stradivarius, or Red Sox, or even Google (which my Android phone, ironically, always rendered in lowercase). But Google says it will be updating its dictation feature in weeks to better handle proper names.

On the other hand, I found that, when Android did err, it had a more extensive and easier to use manner for correcting those mistakes than the iPhone did. Android was also more reliable; sometimes the iPhone returned no text at all.

Still, I found these differences less important than the fact that, for me, the results on both platforms were impressive. On both, if you say words like “period” or “comma,” you generally get the punctuation mark (though both try to make the distinction when you actually want a word like “period.”)

And, in test after test, both did a good job. Errors were generally fewer than if I had typed the words quickly.

Both have a downside: Because they do the transcription on their servers, and they are anxious to improve, they do retain some information about what you’re saying. Both companies say they respect your privacy, but, if you worry about transmitting your messages or notes to Apple or Google, don’t use dictation.

Otherwise, especially for those who find typing on glass clumsy, the microphone key on Android and the new iPhone is something you might want to add to your arsenal of ways to use your phone.

Email Walt at mossberg@wsj.com.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120410/take-a-note-typing-with-no-hands/feed/ 0 The iPhone and iPad Tops for HTML5, With Google's Galaxy Nexus a Distant Second http://allthingsd.com/20120305/the-iphone-and-ipad-tops-for-html5-with-googles-galaxy-nexus-a-distant-second/ http://allthingsd.com/20120305/the-iphone-and-ipad-tops-for-html5-with-googles-galaxy-nexus-a-distant-second/#comments Mon, 05 Mar 2012 17:00:19 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=180658 While many people talk about HTML5 as a potential long-term threat to Apple’s mobile dominance, it turns out that, these days, iOS does the best job of rendering the Web standards.

A study by Spaceport.io found that Apple’s phones and tablets perform up to three times better than Android devices at various benchmarks. Performance on Android devices varied widely, with the Galaxy Nexus far outpacing phones running earlier versions of Google’s operating system.

The Spaceport study focused on the two biggest mobile operating systems, as opposed to those from RIM, Microsoft and others.

The collection of Web standards — HTML5 is actually a bunch of different Web technologies — boasts the promise that developers might one day be able to write applications once and have them smoothly run on multiple mobile operating systems.

The most recent versions of iOS and Android offer vast improvements in HTML5 rendering, though game makers and others still see a need for native apps.

“HTML5 is getting faster over time, as seen in the latest OS updates across Android and iOS,” said Spaceport.io founder Ben Savage. “Although this is a welcome trend, there is still a long way to go.”

All kinds of companies big and small are counting on HTML5 as their mobile platform of the future including, perhaps most notably, Facebook.

Mozilla has announced plans for an HTML5 app store, while Facebook last week called for industry cooperation on various HTML performance standards.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120305/the-iphone-and-ipad-tops-for-html5-with-googles-galaxy-nexus-a-distant-second/feed/ 0 "Saturday Night Live" Has Verizon's Number in 4G LTE Spoof (Video) http://allthingsd.com/20120213/saturday-night-live-has-verizons-number-in-4g-lte-spoof-video/ http://allthingsd.com/20120213/saturday-night-live-has-verizons-number-in-4g-lte-spoof-video/#comments Mon, 13 Feb 2012 13:30:52 +0000 Ina Fried http://allthingsd.com/?p=173798 Verizon has spent quite a bit of time and money trying to teach Americans the term 4G LTE.

“Saturday Night Live” spent 30 seconds pretty much destroying those efforts.

In a commercial spoof, SNL has a Verizon sales person touting LTE without really saying what it does, and also mocking the company for just throwing out all kinds of device names. What, a customer wonders, does all that really mean?

“Let’s say you’ve got the new HTC Thunderbolt, or even the LG Vortex. You can hook up your HTC or your LG to your 4G LTE and you’ll have Verizon’s 4G LTE in over 190 cities.”

“So, it’s faster?” the guy asks.

“Well, let’s say you’ve got the new Droid Razr by Motorola or the HTC Rezound or even the Samsung Galaxy Nexus,” the salesman says. “You are talking 4G LTE on almost our entire 3G footprint.”

One song is four seconds, the salesman continues. “The song is four seconds?” the confused customer asks, before the sales guy throws out more stats.

Verizon, the ad concludes, “It’s an old person’s nightmare.”

Anyway, it’s worth a watch:

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120213/saturday-night-live-has-verizons-number-in-4g-lte-spoof-video/feed/ 0 Apple Seeks Injunction Against Samsung Galaxy Nexus http://allthingsd.com/20120211/apple-seeks-injunction-against-samsung-galaxy-nexus/ http://allthingsd.com/20120211/apple-seeks-injunction-against-samsung-galaxy-nexus/#comments Sat, 11 Feb 2012 23:36:00 +0000 Ian Sherr and Jessica Vascellaro http://allthingsd.com/?p=173721 Apple is asking a California court to issue a preliminary injunction to block sales of Samsung Electronics’s new Galaxy Nexus smartphone, alleging the device infringes four Apple patents.

The Cupertino, Calif., company has launched suits in multiple jurisdictions against Samsung and other companies making products that compete with its hit iPhone and use Google Inc.’s Android operating system. In its latest action, Apple argues the Samsung device — which uses a new version of Android dubbed Ice Cream Sandwich — is the most credible competitor to the iPhone yet and poses a potent threat to Apple’s market share.

Read the rest of this post on the original site »

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120211/apple-seeks-injunction-against-samsung-galaxy-nexus/feed/ 0 Apple Versus Samsung: Win Some, Lose Some http://allthingsd.com/20120202/apple-versus-samsung-win-some-lose-some/ http://allthingsd.com/20120202/apple-versus-samsung-win-some-lose-some/#comments Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:04:16 +0000 John Paczkowski http://allthingsd.com/?p=170677 Apple’s celebration of a recent German court ruling upholding a sales ban on Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablets was cut short when another German court handed it a defeat to go along with its victory.

The Munich I Regional Court on Wednesday evening denied Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction against the Galaxy Nexus, Samsung’s flagship Android smartphone, and its Galaxy Tab 10.1N, a newer version of the tablet intended to further differentiate it from Apple’s iPad, keeping it immune from litigation.

That differentiation didn’t much come into play in this ruling, though.

At issue in this case was a touchscreen-related patent that Munich Regional Court Judge Andreas Mueller evidently felt wouldn’t stand up. Said Mueller, “Samsung has shown that it is more likely than not that the patent will be revoked because of a technology that was already on the market before the intellectual property had been filed for protection.”

So, two patent spats resolved — for the time being. But the broader intellectual property battle between Apple and Samsung continues to rage on in various courts around the world.

]]> http://allthingsd.com/20120202/apple-versus-samsung-win-some-lose-some/feed/ 0