Technologies

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan’s Sony Corp said on Friday it expects operating profit to fall 8.8 percent in the financial year through March 2019 as a stronger yen eats into profit from the image sensor business. The electronics and entertainment firm forecast profit to fall to 670 billion yen ($6.13 billion) from 734.86 billion yen a year prior, when earnings exceeded the previous peak set in the year through March 1998. The outlook compared with the 765.04 billion average of 23 analyst estimates compiled by Thomson Reuters. Sony expects profit at its semiconductor business, which includes image sensors, to fall to 100 billion yen from 160 billion yen a year earlier due to a stronger yen that pulls down profit earned overseas. Sony’s image sensors, central to the company’s revival after years of losses in consumer electronics, are used by Apple Inc and other major smartphone makers. Meanwhile, the gaming business, another driver behind the firm’s turnaround, is expected to ...

It’s 2017, and I still see people criticizing Android for “fragmentation”. This gives Android in general a bad name, and I want to make the facts clear: this isn’t Google or Android’s fault. It’s the fault of your manufacturer. While this has been a talked about issue for some time, a recent piece from Boy Genius Report got me thinking about it—infuriatingly titled “No iPhone user can even imagine dealing with what Android users have to tolerate”. I want to set the record straight: this type of thinking isn’t just unfair to Android, it’s flat out wrong. What Is Fragmentation? Basically, when people talk about fragmentation, they’re referring to the spread of Android versions that are still running on devices “in the wild,” because the adoption rate of new version of Android is much slower than that of iOS. It makes sense, really—there are a handful of iPhones, but hundreds of different Android phones, from a variety of manufacturers, and they don’t all update to the latest ve...

With the Galaxy S8 family, Samsung took an all-in bet on a different aspect ratio for the display. Instead of a traditional 16:9 ratio, the S8 uses 18.5:9. It’s not that different, but different enough that it can cause some issues with certain apps. When an app isn’t officially supported, it gets bars at the top and bottom that really creates a disjointed look on the screen—like the notification and navigation bars are completely segregated from the rest of the screen, instead of that seamless experience that Android has been using for the last couple of years. It’s the little things, you know? The good news is that Samsung seemingly anticipated some backlash to this disconnect, so it incorporated a way to “force” unsupported apps into full screen mode anyway. There is, of course, the disclaimer the app may not work properly, since it’s being scaled in a way that’s against what it’s designed to do, but I haven’t had any issues yet. To fix these apps, pull down the notific...

With more than 1 billion smartphone users worldwide, it’s not surprising to see that manufacturers are doing their best to come up with even more tech innovations for the mobile phone market. One such innovation that was introduced recently is the flexible phone. LG’s G Flex and Samsung’s Galaxy Round were the first phones to bring this innovation to the masses. Question is, do we really need a flexible phone? While flexible display smartphones may seem like a wonderful innovation, I can think of many other innovations that I’d prefer to hear about rather than another flexible phone. Sure, we are pushing the limits with curved phones, but there are other mobile innovations that are also in development, innovations that carry more purpose and are more desirable. For instance… 1. Better Batteries It’s no secret that smartphone batteries die fast (and sometimes at the worst possible moment). Researchers have long recognized the problem and have been working hard to give us po...

Enterprise customers eager to get their hands on the new BlackBerry KEYone, with its old-fashioned hardware keyboard, will have to wait another month until its May 31 release. The delay isn't expected to hurt sales much, analysts said, partly because there are 275 million BlackBerry customers worldwide — many of whom may want a newer phone with physical keys. Hardware keyboards have been a hit for years in countries like India and Indonesia, which are mainstays of the BlackBerry and BlackBerry Messenger. The May 31 launch date for KEYone sales in the U.S. and Canada was announced Wednesday by TCL Communication. TCL is licensed by BlackBerry to make the Android device. In an email to Computerworld, TCL North America President Steve Cistulli said the delay was needed to ramp up production due to overwhelming demand. "TCL Communication has grown to be a top-5 smartphone [manufacturer] in North America by focusing on delivering great quality and value, and this remains ...

This article has been updated throughout with details from a presumed spy shot of the box. Even before the U Ultra was available for purchase, HTC was already teasing a better phone on the horizon, one that takes full advantage of the next-generation Snapdragon 835 processor. Now it looks like it will arrive on the heels of the Galaxy S8, and it could be one of the most interesting handsets of the year. A flurry of information has leaked about the new handset, and since the U Ultra was such a disappointment, we're hoping this handset is the one that puts the company back on the map. There's already some tough competition out there from LG and Samsung, but HTC might have a few tricks up its sleeve that could set its new phone apart, assuming its marquee feature isn't a giant gimmick. A new U: While we certainly had our issues with the U Ultra, this phone smacks of desperation on HTC’s part. One of our biggest complaints with the U Ultra was that it was too big, an...

Google’s finally done it. Android 6.0 Marshmallow includes a new, iOS-style permission system for new apps. You can also manually revoke permissions from any app — even ones designed for old versions of Android. You don’t need to root, install a custom ROM, or switch to an iPhone to do this anymore. Android finally has the app permission system it should have had all along. Apps designed for Android 6.0 will now ask for a permission when they need it. For example, instead of giving an app access to your camera when you install it, you’ll be prompted the first time the app wants to access your camera. But you can manually manage any app’s permissions, even if it was designed for an older version of Android and doesn’t normally ask you. Manage a Single App’s Permissions To do this, you’ll need Android 6.0 Marshmallow or a newer version on your device. Open the Settings app and tap “Apps” under the Device heading to get started. You’ll see a list of all the apps in...