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Samsung has admitted it needs some refocusing and will cut costs by dropping the number of models it sells by up to 30 percent next year.

The company recently saw its profits fall 49 percent year-over-year for the last quarter, and high-level executives have promised investors a more cost efficient company moving forward.

Samsung offers a plethora of different models aimed at pretty much the whole range of consumers, from the entry-level to the premium but only a few models have ever been truly successful.

Over the past few quarters, the company has seen its margins slide and sales drop due to the fierce competition of lower-cost Chinese smartphone makers, most notably Xiaomi and Huawei.

So, Nokia finally made its return to consumer business with the introduction of Nokia N1 Android tablet. Device is priced aggressively and doesn't seem to fail in terms of specs on any particular area.

However, it has few potential obstacles to overcome:

Lack of Google Play

As Google's terms are notoriously harsh on how manufacturers can use Google's apps and services on their devices, Nokia simply cannot use Google Play store in its device (their Z Launcher isn't conforming to Google's guidelines on how to present Google services in the homescreen). This means that Nokia has to use an alternative app store for its device. Yandex and Amazon both have excellent alternatives, but both tend to miss at least some of the major apps and games.

Only one model available: No 3G nor 4G

While it might not be a problem for most people, who use their tablets mostly at home or in locations where WiFi is freely available, the complete lack of 3G and 4G versions might put off some people. This is true especially in countries where unlimited, cheap data plans are commonplace (and thus, free WiFi access points are slightly more rare than elsewhere in the world).

x86 Android

Sure, x86 powered Android devices exist, but none of them have really, really made it into big league. All the apps should work, as Android is essentially a big Java virtual machine that hides the underlying CPU structure from the apps. For apps built using Android NDK (mostly games), the CPU issue might cause some level of compatibility issues, but that is just an assumption of ours.

Availability

Will Nokia expand the availability of N1 to other territories after Q1/2015 China launch? And if so, how soon it will happen? Nokia used to be notoriously bad at keeping its production and shipping schedules when it used to be a major player in mobile phones. Lets see if they have improved their game now that they're relying completely on OEM manufacturers.

Nokia, who sold its phone manufacturing business to Microsoft, has made a return to consumer markets by releasing its first-ever Android device: The Nokia N1.

The Nokia N1 is a 7.9-inch Android tablet, featuring the proprietary Nokia Z launcher as its default UI. The display has a 2048x1536 resolution, an 8MP rear camera, a 5MP front camera, 2GB RAM and 32GB storage memory. The exterior is made out of aluminium and the entire device is only 6.9mm thin. In addition, Nokia's latest utilizes the new USB Type C reversable connector.

Nokia has emphasized the audio capabilities of the device: it ships with Wolfson's audio codec and two 0.5W speakers.

Sony has announced this week that their PlayStation 4 was once again the top selling console in the U.S., marking the 10th month in a row it has done so.

"October 2014 marks the first 12 months of sales for the Xbox One and PS4; and after the first year, these consoles have had a great start as cumulative sales are currently over 70 percent higher than the combined first year totals of Xbox 360 and PS3," said The NPD Group's analyst Liam Callahan. "Hardware sales of eighth generation consoles represent close to 80 percent of dollar sales this month driving overall consoles sales to increase by 186 percent over October 2013."

That streak is likely to end this month, however, as Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox One in November and the console (especially bundles) have been selling very quickly.

In addition, Call of Duty Advanced Warfare and its bundles are expected to have pushed console sales for both major platforms.

Nvidia has proudly announced two major updates for their SHIELD tablet and SHIELD handheld console.

First, the devices have been updated to Android 5.0 Lollipop, with the rollout of the new operating system beginning on Tuesday, November 18th. The devices run a basically stock version of Android, with the exception of a suite of Nvidia apps. Adds the press release: "Also included in the update: SHIELD tablet's preloaded Dabbler app. Besides a new interface inspired by Lollipop's material design language, our painting software will offer full support for layers, and users can now share live Dabbler sessions over Twitch."

The second major update is the launch of GRID for SHIELD. The company calls GRID a "Netflix for games," in which you can stream video games right to the tablet/handheld. Gamers do so "by connecting to state-of-the-art NVIDIA GPU servers, the GRID service delivers a GeForce GTX gaming experience on SHIELD devices."

GRID will launch for North American gamers this month and already includes 20 titles such as Batman: Arkham City, Borderlands 2 and Psychonauts, with a new game launching weekly.

The service is completely free for owners until June of next year.

Thanks to some major first-party games, it looks like the Nintendo Wii U is back in business.

Nintendo says that for the first 10 months of the year, Wii U hardware sales have increased 47 percent year-over-year. In addition, software sales have jumped 84 percent, thanks mainly to Mario Kart and a few other hit titles.

Adds Nintendo: "Those numbers are both poised to grow with the one-two punch of Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and amiibo on Nov. 21, which are then quickly joined by Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker on Dec. 5."

One would also expect a price cut in the coming month to get more hardware out there (especially in conjunction with Super Smash), but Nintendo has not confirmed such a move, as of yet.

Activision has another hit on their hands.

The latest blockbuster in the 'Call of Duty' franchise, 'Advanced Warfare' sold 7.51 million units worldwide in just its first week of availability, beating out other 2014 stalwarts including Destiny and Titanfall.

Although the numbers are big, they really don't show serious growth compared to last year's launch of "Call of Duty: Ghosts," which sold 7.25 million units in its first week, and 8.23 million if you include the late launches for the (at the time) new PS4 and Xbox One.

The game sold best for PS4, at 3.05 million units, followed by the Xbox One at 2.06 million units. The 360 outsold its late gen counterpart the PS3 1.22 million to 1.09 million, but it still shows demand. The PC version barely moved 100,000 units.

Google has confirmed that the standard silent mode has disappeared from the volume rocker options in Lollipop for phones, but has been replaced.

In previous iterations of the operating system, you could use the volume rocker to take the ring settings down from loud to vibrate and then finally "silent" which meant no vibrations or rings for notifications.

With the new launch of Android 5.0, users have been complaining that the silent mode is no longer offered, with vibrate and ringer being the only options.

However, with "Priority" mode, the company has taken the traditional silent mode and given more customization options. Your notifications will be silent, and you have the option to let specific things ring or vibrate, including phone calls or alarms.

That being said, please do not fret everyone. Your standard silent mode is dead, but it's still around (and improved).

Despite being the most popular Windows operating system, by far, it appears gamers who want the benefits of the upcoming DirectX 12 will have to upgrade their operating system.

DirectX 12 promises gamers reduced CPU overhead and much improved multithreading support leading to increased performance while gaming. In addition, the software promises reduced power consumption, which is great for gaming notebook owners.

The news comes via AMD's Chief Gaming Scientist Richard Huddy who said Windows 7 is now installed on 52 percent of all machines, and that number grows daily. "It's a very, very popular operating system. One thing that's not going to happen to it is DX12. Yup, DX12 is not coming to Windows 7."

Although unsurprising, since Microsoft has used tactics like this in the past, Microsoft's bigger issue will be convincing potential Windows 10 buyers that the OS is actually worth upgrading to.

New Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri says the company is looking to revive its brand name in the consumer electronics market, but they will not be building phones again.

"I think you can expect our brand will return to the consumer world," said Suri. The telecom equipment maker sold its struggling handset business to Microsoft earlier this year, and Microsoft just unveiled their first smartphone with Microsoft branding rather than Nokia's.

Suri says the easiest way to get back in is to license the name to other OEMs who will bank on the name recognition. "We see brand licensing as an opportunity ... But I would say it is more of a long-term opportunity," Suri added. "This is not a sentimentality thing."

Nokia was once the biggest phone maker in the world, and Interbrand says its brand ranking was as high as #5 in the world, as recently as 2007. It has since fallen to the #90s.

According to new reports, the Justice Department via the U.S. Marshals Service program is collecting data from thousands of Americans cellphones in an effort to find criminal suspects.

The program flies small Cessna airplanes across the U.S. equipped with "dirtboxes" (hardware that mimic cell towers and basically trick cellphones into reporting their unique registration information back) allowing the criminals to be tracked to within 3 meters of their location.

Unfortunately, a criminal is not usually sitting alone in a rural area, so the devices collect data from thousands of innocent American's phones. The flights are said to be done regularly.

All modern phone are internally programmed to connect to the strongest cell tower signal available, and the reports claim that the dirtboxes will always identify as the strongest signal, even though it does not. Any phone that connects, even for a second, will then relay back its unique registration information. Full phone encryption, found on Android 5.0 and iOS 8.x devices, does not matter.

While the overall goal of trying to find fugitives, drug dealers and other criminals has been approved by court order, it is unclear if the orders give free range for any kind of method, like the "dirtboxes" say the sources. It is also unclear how long the government will hold onto the data collected from unsuspecting innocent Americans.

Earlier this week, BlackBerry and Samsung announced a new joint partnership in which BlackBerry will provide "end-to-end encryption" and expertise on Samsung Knox devices.

BlackBerry's upcoming BlackBerry Enterprise Services 12 platform will be the home of the added Android security, and from most vantage points appears to be a great deal for both companies. While BlackBerry is dead as a hardware maker, it has held onto its reputation for enterprise security.

Knox, Samsung's security platform for businesses, allows employees to have just one device (rather than a work and personal phone) with the ability to transition between both, securely. Knox even received Pentagon approval last year, alongside BlackBerry's own BB 10 operating system.

BlackBerry has not provided information on subscription prices as of yet, but there will be more info to come as the platform gets closer to launch in 2015.

Google Glass, the wearable headset that allows users to basically attach Google services and a camera to eyeglass frames, will not see its consumer debut in 2014 as originally planned.

A developer edition, for $1500, became available for all to buy earlier this year, but stock remains plentiful as even Google faithful have begun to lose interest. Reuters contacted 16 Glass app developers, nine of which said they have already abandoned their projects for the wearable, citing a lack of customers and the limitations of the device and software itself.

Within Google, key employees who helped create the Glass have left in recent times. Lead developer Babak Parviz, electrical engineering chief Adrian Wong, and Ossama Alami, director of developer relations have all left for different projects or startups in the past six months. Google still says development is active, and there are hundreds of employees still working on the wearable. "We are completely energized and as energized as ever about the opportunity that wearables and Glass in particular represent," added Glass Head of Business Operations Chris O'Neill. However, the consumer launch is slow coming. "We are as committed as ever to a consumer launch. That is going to take time and we are not going to launch this product until it's absolutely ready," O'Neill said.

As we normally do here at AfterDawn, we want to make sure our gamer readers know when the scheduled PSN maintenance times are.

Sony confirmed that the PlayStation Network will be down on Monday, the 17th, for routine maintenance from the following times: 12:00PM-6:00PM EST.

The company will be 'deploying a series of back-end improvements to the network', and Sony noted that you will still be able to play online if you are logged in before the network goes down.

Reads the post: "If you've signed in to the network any time since November 13th, you will be able to play games online and access partner apps such as Netflix during this maintenance period. The PlayStation Store, PlayStation Home and Account Management will not be available during this time, and users may receive a maintenance notification when attempting to access these services."

Streaming music service Rdio has dropped the price of their family plans to better compete with Spotify's new offering.

Rdio launched family plans back in 2011, letting family members (or friends) share an account for a discounted price, along with individual controls for playlists, favorites and stations so that track selections don't have to commingle.

Here is the new pricing

• Family of 2 = $14.99
• Family of 3 = $19.99
• Family of 4 = $24.99
• Family of 5 = $29.99

Spotify recently unveiled their Family Plan with identical pricing, which led to a burst in subscriber sign ups.

Source:
Rdio