Xiaomi, China’s Fast-Growing Android Phone Maker, Posts 271% Sales Bump In The First Half

The fast-growing Chinese Android devices startup Xiaomi has put out a new set of sales figures for the first half of the year, revealing exactly how fast it’s now selling phones. Xiaomi shifted 26.11 million handsets in 1H14, an increase of 271% from a year earlier — and more than its total phone sales for the full-year 2013 (18.7 million).

Xiaomi has previously stated it’s aiming to sell 60 million handsets this year. Its phone sales in 2012 were 7.19 million, underlining how fast this business is blowing up.

The company also said today its phone sales revenue for the first half of 2014 was 33 billion Yuan Renminbi ($5.3 billion), up 149% year-on-year.

The startup was founded four years ago by Lei Jun, an angel investor and serial entrepreneur who also founded companies such as Amazon-acquired Joyo.cn and YY.

Smartphone market research put out by Kantar WorldPanel ComTech at the end of May noted that Xiaomi had outsold Samsung in China for the second time in April, with its budget RedMI device the top selling smartphone in the country. The largest proportion (41%) of consumers buying Xiaomi’s handset were first time smartphone buyers, but almost a quarter (23%) were Samsung switchers.

Xiaomi’s initial target demographic has been young users, with a focus on selling handsets to teens via social media sites helping to deliver viral levels of growth.

As part of its strategy to scale up very fast, the company is now moving overseas quickly — with a big global push planned for this year, expanding its availability to 14 regions in total: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, and Mexico.

Xiaomi’s current flagship handset is called the Mi 3, which has a quad-core 2.3GHz processor and a full HD display — and costs circa $330 unlocked. It also sells the lower cost popular Redmi, targeting the mid-range, which costs circa $130 – yet still packs a 1.5GHz quad-core chip and 720p HD display. The devices run Xiaomi’s own Android firmware, called MIUI.

The relatively low price of Xiaomi’s handsets (vs the specs they pack) helps explain why it’s handsets are selling like hot cakes.

However thin hardware margins mean the business needs an alternative strategy to monetize these sales. Xiaomi is pegging that future monetization on building services revenue off of a swelling hardware fan-base. So selling lots and lots of phones to scale up is crucial.

It also launched an iPad competitor back in May, extending its device portfolio to tablets.

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LokLok’s New Messaging App Lets You Draw On Your Friend’s Lock Screen

Another experimentation in mobile messaging arrives today, this time from a company innovating on the Android platform first. Yes, Android.

LokLok, as this latest app is called, replaces the Android phone’s lock screen with a “synchronized whiteboard” that allows you to leave notes and drawings directly on your friends’ lock screens. That means, unlike traditional messaging apps, you don’t have to unlock your phone and launch an app to chat with your friends. You just take out your phone and start drawing.

The idea comes out of Kwamecorp, a technology and creative consultancy and startup incubator behind a number of other projects, including FairPhone OS, Bond and Impossible.

LokLok, the company explains, began as a small experiment.

“I was curious to see if I could use the screen as the communication channel itself,” says LokLok CEO Guillermo Landin, also a UX director for Kwamecorp, via email. Around six months ago, he created a prototype of the app using widgets and HTML5. He then put together a small team around the project, which has been, until today, in private beta testing on the Android app store.

Landin tells us the reviews have been fairly positive so far during this pre-launch period. But what seems to be intriguing users the most is the fact that this interesting and unique new app is something that’s not just launching on Android first, but is the kind of thing that would only be possible on Android.

Because of the way Apple restricts apps from replacing the core pieces and functions within its mobile operating system, an iPhone app today could never allow users to draw on each others’ lock screens.

That being said, Landin has some plans to address the iOS market in the future, just in a different way. He says an iOS version is already in the works, but the team doesn’t have a release date for it yet.

Because of its current inability to work cross-platform, LokLok will remain, for now, a clever toy.

You can doodle on the screen, doodle over photos, share privately with individuals or groups, or post your messages across social media. A handful of basic drawing tools are also offered, including different brushes, a color-picker and more.

Similar to a number of other messaging apps on the market, LokLok’s messages are also “ephemeral”; the app only retains the latest image from each group on the server, so when users clear their screens, the messages are gone forever.

LokLok is a free download here on Google Play.

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Firechat Enables Cross-Platform, Off-The-Grid Chat Between iOS And Android

Open Garden’s Firechat was one of the first — if not the first — application to make use of Apple’s new multi-peer mesh networking capabilities. This enabled its users to anonymously chat with each other, even when there was no Internet connection available. Because Android doesn’t offer this feature, Open Garden then used its own networking tech to enable this same feature on Google’s operating system a few weeks later, but at the time, there was no way for Android and iOS phones to talk to each other.

With today’s update to Firechat — which the team decided to brand Firechat <3 — that’s changing. Android and iOS users can now chat on the same off-the-grid mesh network. This will make Firechat, which has seen some pretty nice growth since its launch, significantly more interesting.

The obvious question here is how the team managed to create a bridge between its own Android mesh network and Apple’s multi-peer technology. Sadly, that’s exactly what the team doesn’t want to talk about, except for saying that the service uses peer-to-peer Wi-Fi and the Bluetooth personal area network. Open Garden has developed quite a bit of in-house knowledge about mesh networking over the last two years, so if anybody could build this, it was probably this team.

Open Garden’s sales and marketing vice president Christophe Daligault was able to share that the team is working on an SDK that will soon bring its Firechat and Open Garden technology for third-party apps.

The idea here would be to give third-party apps a third on-ramp to the Internet in addition to Wi-Fi and the cellular network. So even when there is no network available, users may be able to either get online through other Open Garden users or connect to other users off-the-grid. It’s unclear how exactly the company will charge for this service, but Daligault tells me it will likely price the events that come through the SDK.

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Microsoft Presses Ahead With Office For Android

Prepare another entry into your File Of No Surprise: Microsoft is moving ahead with its efforts to bring the highly lucrative Office franchise to Android tablets.

According to The Verge, Microsoft is currently prepping a private beta of the new software. A sign-up page has been mostly taken offline since the news broke.

A full Office suite for Android tablets is roughly as surprising as San Francisco morning fog. Microsoft confirmed that it was building the native suite earlier this year, and rumor followed that the Android apps would beat a touch-first build of Office for Windows out of the gate.

To see Microsoft begin to ramp up testing is hardly surprising.

Office for iPad has been a material success for Microsoft. Despite some market doubt that the apps were too late to make an impact, or that users wouldn’t use them due to Office 365-related restrictions, Microsoft’s latest sally into iOS has gone well. Android may be no different.

The mystery that I can’t unravel is why touch Office for Windows tablets is so damned late.

The above is merely another plank in the current Microsoft effort to have its corporate focus be both mobile-first, and cloud-first. Office, of course, is now heavily based on OneDrive, Microsoft’s cloud storage service. What will be interesting to gauge is market response to Office for Android, measuring if it can match the prior response to the iOS suite. Microsoft saw 27 million downloads of its iOS Office apps in 46 days.

Microsoft declined to comment.

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Facebook Tests Android L-Style Lock Screen Notifications

A new update for the test group of Facebook for Android users briefly enabled lockscreen notifications, at least for new message activity, before a later update today seems to have disabled the feature. The notifications looked very similar to the lock screen notifications Google showed off at I/O this year, one of the new upcoming features of Android L, the next major update for Google’s mobile OS. Facebook has confirmed to TechCrunch the update went out to a “small group of beta testers.”

The update doesn’t require Android L to be installed to work, however, as I encountered the new feature using an HTC One M8 running Android 4.4.2 with Sense 6. It features a Settings expander with viewing options, and tapping on the notification itself will take you to the Facebook app directly, after you unlock your device. As indicated on the notification itself, swiping will dismiss the notification and keep the device locked. Multiple notifications from multiple message senders stack visually one on top of the other.

I was only able to see message notifications because of the type of activity on my FB account during the test, but other FB activity was also included in the new test feature. Facebook often tests new features on Android, but they don’t always necessarily make it to a shipping release. Presumably once Android L becomes production software, it won’t be required, but Facebook could still gain a user attention advantage by delivering lock screen notifications regardless of what version of Android handset owners have installed on their devices.

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Samsung Galaxy Tab S Review: Beautiful Screens Make These Tablets Magic For Movies

Samsung has never made a tablet that truly got my blood pumping, but that might’ve just changed. I bought an original Galaxy Tab when it was first released, only to find the experience frustrating and return it a few days later because of a dropped Wi-Fi issue. Now, Samsung has a new line of tablets called the Galaxy Tab S, and though there have been many different Samsung slates between then and now, these represent the biggest changes to date, and put an entirely new face on Samsung’s flagship tablet devices.

10.5? or 8.4? 2560×1600 display
Wi-Fi 802.11ac
1.9GHz Quad Core/1.3GHz Quad Core Octacore processor with 3GB RAM
16GB storage, expandable up to 128GB via microSD
MSRP: $399.99 for 8.4, $499.99 for 10.2
Product info page

Pros:

Amazing display
Size and weight

Cons:

Design choices aren’t for everyone
Weirdly I miss the S Pen

Samsung has produced a tablet that’s deserving of lots of praise with the Tab S when it comes to design – and an almost equal amount of scorn. These slates look an awful lot like every other device Samsung has put out this year and late in 2013, including the Galaxy Note 3 and Galaxy S5, with a metal-look band surrounding the entire device, and a faux-leather back panel that feels nice in the hand. The size and weight are amazing, as these are incredibly thin and light devices given their impressive screens and internals, but they also clearly aren’t designed to appeal to my particular demographic.

There’s a gold tint on that metallic border I mentioned, and the back in both white pearl and “titanium bronze” look has a strange silken sheen to it that’s a little flashy for my tastes. Both types of cover, including the full front-and-back Book Cover and the lightweight front cover come in similar shiny finishes, delivering an appearance overall that would be quite at home with bedazzled garments but that could never be called austere or simple, both adjectives I like to be able to use when describing my electronics.

The snaps included in the back of the Tab S to affix the covers do work wonderfully and keep things ultra secure, however, and the finishes are such that the tablets don’t feel like they’re going to easily slip out of your grasp. The side facing speakers naturally project sound forward when you’re hold thing the devices with two hands to watch movies, too. Button placement on the 10.2 puts the sleep/wake switch at the top left, which is not ideal, but otherwise these are ergonomically pleasing and well-built, questionable aesthetics aside.

The Tab S devices both perform very well, considering how much power they have to put out to make sure those displays are looking their best. The processor provides ample muscle to power HD video, including video captured in 2560 x 1440 resolution at 30 fps. There’s a sample video included on the tablet that shows just how awesome stuff looks at this resolution on this screen, and some cameras will capture at that resolution (though the Tab’s built-in 8 megapixel camera doesn’t).

In general browsing and other OS performance I found the Tab S to be mostly solid, but there were some times where the homescreen stuttered when paging through. Running apps in split screen proved no problem, however, which is one of Samsung’s key tablet signature features. Photos from the 8 megapixel camera aren’t amazing, but they’re more than tolerable if the Tab S is the only camera you have on you. If you’re using a 10.2-inch device as a camera you have other problems to worry about.

Some of the highlight features on this tablet include the split-screen app multitasking, which again works as advertised, and Samsung SideSync feature. SideSync is pretty great, letting you see your screen exactly as it appears on your Galaxy S5, Note 3, S4 and S5, and letting you send and receive voice calls on the Tab S from your S5. Pairing is a cinch, and it worked well during my tests, making for a useful tool if your phone is downstairs or across the room.

Another feature new to the Galaxy Tab S is the Adaptive Display, which is designed to make the most of the SuperAMOLED screen included in the tablets. The screen really is the highlight here, and the adaptive mode works like it does on some modern TVs, changing things like color rendering and contrast depending on what kind of content you’re viewing. In practice, it really does seem to help with the experience of watching movies, playing games and more.

The fingerprint scanner from the GS5 makes an appearance in these tablets, and works as it did in that smartphone, which is to say well and reliably, but with a little bit of futzing required to get the positioning right when you’re performing a swipe. On a tablet, it honestly doesn’t seem all that appealing as a feature, but the payment authorization through PayPal is still here and still impressive.

Founded 1969     Overview Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, is engaged in consumer electronics, information technology and mobile communications, and device solutions businesses worldwide. It develops, manufactures, and sells various consumer products, including mobile phones, tablets, televisions, Blu-rays, DVD players, home theaters, and digital cameras and camcorders; home appliances, such as … Website http://www.samsung.com/us Full profile for Samsung Electronics

As just mentioned, the display is the star here. Samsung has indeed nailed the tablet screen  – both look terrific, and you’d be hard-pressed to tell that the 8.4-inch model actually has a higher pixel density, as both defy your ability to distinguish individual pixels. In fact, these are top contenders for best screens in the industry, and that’s really going to help when Samsung starts offering up content sources that are better-than-HD quality.

Some Netflix content is already optimized for super high-resolution TVs, so it’s logical that they could eventually make that available to other platforms too. But for photos and other types of content, it’s going to make a difference right away.

These screens are so good that with the 10.2-inch device, it starts to feel like you’re not compromising by using a tablet to watch a video over, say, a TV or home theatre setup. It’s really that good, and if you’re looking for essentially a portable movie machine, Samsung’s devices are a safe bet.

The Tab S line packs a better battery than previous devices, and gets some power savings thanks to the SuperOLED display using true blacks instead of backlit dark tones. But this is an area where these tablets still lag considerably behind iOS devices, especially when in standby. They’ll do a fairly decent job still, however, and should give you plenty of viewing time on a long haul flight, so it’s not as much of a concern as it has been in the past. They do take a long time to charge, however, so be ready for that.

The Tab S line is a solid showing by Samsung, but their real value can be summed up in one line: these are the tablets to watch movies on. They really do the best when they’re playing back any kind of media, and the rest of their features and software feels like a gloss on top of that. Truth be told, that’s likely what most tablet users are in the market for – especially those who don’t need the power and productivity of a notebook. I still find that the Android tablet ecosystem lags behind that of Apple and its iPad, but Samsung has put a lot of work in since the first Galaxy tablet devices, and it really shows.

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LG G Watch Review: This Early Android Wear Watch Could Use A Bit More Time To Bake

LG is one of the first to market with an Android Wear smartwatch. Their hardware runs on Google’s smartwatch platform, which is pretty locked down in terms of what kind of customizations Google allows OEM to make. But there’s still plenty of room to shine – and fall short – when it comes to hardware design. LG’s watch seems to have missed the mark in some key areas, possibly by virtue of being rushed, but in others it leaps ahead of the competition.

1.65-inch IPS 280×280 displayQualcomm Snapdragon 400 1.2GHz processor512 MB RAM, 4GB storageAvailable in Black and GoldMSRP: $229Product info page

Pros

Longer battery lifeEasier to personalize

Cons

Screen has banding issuesHarder to read in direct sun

LG’s G Watch is my favorite Android Wear device in terms of design thus far. Of course, there are only two commercially available, so that’s not necessarily saying much, but LG really has done a good job here. The basic rectangle offers little in the way of flair, but it’s the perfect vehicle for an operating system that is likewise designed around offering up the bare essentials, instead of reaching for unnecessary extras.

The screen is the star in the design, which means that Android Wear is front and center. That’s exactly the scaffolding that Google’s new smartwatch OS needs to show off its potential benefit to consumers – the entire concept of the OS is to provide users with something that feels organic, and that recedes out of mind when not needed or in use. The G Watch translates that experience into hardware, especially with the black version I tested. It takes things almost too far by leaving off a physical button, however – I had to read the paper instruction manual to figure out how to power it on (plug it into its charging cradle).

The industrial design is spare but not devoid of care or attention. It’s comfortable, and constructed out of a durable stainless steel body that’s light on the wrist. And the 22 mm rubber strap it ships with is comfortable and easy to fasten and size, but easily swappable with a standard strap of your choosing, allowing owners to put their own stamp on the overall look and feel of the device.

Android Wear is Android Wear, regardless of where it appears, and in testing the G Watch side-by-side with the Samsung Gear Live over the past week, it’s clear that Google has provided little to no wiggle room for OEMs using the platform. As such, what I have to say about the software experience on the G Watch mostly applies to the Gear Live and vice versa, and likely to any and all Android Wear watches to come for the foreseeable future.

With that caveat out of the way, Android Wear is actually mostly a joy to use, and the closest anyone’s come yet to getting the smartwatch experience right. Google has focused on the essentials, delivering all notifications from your Android smartphone or tablet through the watch without any change required on behalf of developers. You can also launch any app from which you receive notifications right from the watch. With some added work, you can reply to messages from various apps, launch on-watch navigation from nav apps and do much more, as Google has demonstrated with its own software first.

For the bulk of my time with Android Wear, that’s about all I could do, and that was surprisingly enough. It allowed me to keep abreast of what was going on in my digital world without dipping in to the point of distraction, and made the act of browsing and keeping current with notifications much easier and less intrusive.

Over the past day or so, third-party apps like Duolingo, Glympse and Allthecooks have introduced Android Wear support, and these add a lot of value when used correctly. Duolingo’s flashcards are arguably only a bit more convenient than using your phone, but Allthecooks’ recipe directions, which proceed step-by-step on the wrist, feel like a natural implementation for use in the kitchen.

Finally, LG has done the best work in terms of creating original watchfaces for Android Wear, which is significant as that’s what you’ll be looking at on your wrist most of the time.

Founded 1947     Overview LG Electronics is a South Korean multinational company that produces electronic and telecommunications products. It is a member of the [LG Group](/company/lg) and is based in Yeouido-dong, Seoul. LG Electronics was launched in 1958 as [GoldStar](/company/goldstar), which produced Korea's first radios, TVs, refrigerators, washing machines, and air conditioners in the 1960s. It was renamed to LG Electronics … Website http://www.lg.com/ Full profile for LG

The LG G Watch uses an IPS display for its screen, which LG says was a choice made to help with battery life. And the display works well and looks good, especially indoors and out of direct light, but unfortunately after many days of use I noticed a banding issue on the screen which is especially evident in dark settings when the device is in its dimmed, passive mode. Two large rectangles are clearly visible as ghosted impressions along the top.

The display is also less brilliant than that of the Samsung Gear Live, which might be a good thing to some, since it’s probably actually truer to real life colors than is Samsung’s device. LG’s is, in my opinion, the weaker of the two overall when it comes to the screen, however, partly due to the banding issues, partly due to it being slightly harder to read in direct sunlight, and in my opinion Samsung’s exaggerated colors work better to make pictures and graphics pop on the smaller screen.

LG’s watch is the Android Wear device to get if battery is your main concern. The Gear Live lasts around a day under normal usage circumstances, while the LG can often manage to extend most of the way through a second. Both devices are best served by being put in their charging docks overnight, however, so this isn’t as much of a concern if you’re making a decision between the two.

The charger for the G Watch uses a magnetic connection to keep it in place, and has a replaceable sticky pad on the bottom to allow you to stick it anywhere. Of the two Android Wear watches, this charger is the better design in terms of easy use.

As a first crack, the LG G Watch brings a lot to the table for Android Wear, including staid design that lets the platform shine. Overall, though, it also suffers from a number of issues likely related to it being first out the gate (Samsung has the advantage of having built multiple devices using almost exactly the same hardware before the Gear Live). The LG G Watch will serve Android Wear fans well enough, but prospective buyers should think long and hard about whether the design choices LG has made warrant paying $30 over what the competition charges and potentially running into the issues described above.

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