Latest news

For the month ended October 31st, it appears that Android 2.3.3-2.3.7 (Gingerbread) has finally taken the lead in distribution.

43.9 percent of all Droids now use the operating system compared to 40.7 percent for Android 2.2 Froyo.

The numbers should continue to move in favor of Gingerbread as carriers and handset makers finally update the devices to the OS update that was released many months ago.

There are no more phones being launched with 2.2.

Honeycomb has moved to about 1.1 percent share, as it is available only on a few elite tablets.

Perhaps the most notably is the fact that there are some poor fools still stuck on Android 1.5. It's time to upgrade, guys.

Giant retailer Best Buy has announced today that it will buy out its British partner Carphone Warehouse from the joint venture the two have in mobile phones.

Best Buy will pay $1.3 billion for Carphone's share.

The news about the Best Buy Mobile buyout was announced today along side news that Carphone would close all 11 trial Best Buy superstores in the UK due to poor performance.

Carphone has also noted that it will return some of the profits from the sale as a special dividend to shareholders.

Best Buy initially purchased 50 percent of Carphone's retail operations for $2.1 billion in 2008, in an effort to use the popular company's expertise in the mobile arena.

The Mobile venture has been mightily successful, but the brand's expansion into the UK has been a massive flop.

As expected, Barnes & Noble unveiled their new Android-powered tablet today. The Nook Tablet is the successor to their wildly successful Nook Color.

Like its predecessor, it features a 7" display with a resolution of 1024x600. This is the same as Amazon's competing 7" tablet, the Kindle Fire.

Also like the Kindle Fire, the Nook Tablet is powered by a 1GHz dual core processor, but the Barnes & Noble tablet has 1GB of RAM, twice that of the Kindle Fire.

It is also significantly better when it comes to storage. Where the Amazon tablet has just 8GB of internal storage and no expansion slot, the Nook Tablet includes 16GB onboard and accepts SD cards up to 32GB.

Battery life on the Nook Tablet also seems impressive, with Barnes & Noble claiming it will be capable of 11.5 hours of reading or 9 hours of video playback.

The Nook Tablet also offers free Wi-Fi from both Barnes & Noble and AT&T hotspots.

Specs aside, the most obvious differences between the two tablets is price. Amazon is selling the Kindle Fire at a loss, for just $199. The Nook Tablet will cost you $249, so the question is whether it is worth the extra $50.

Top smartphone seller HTC has announced today that a number of its most popular devices will be getting the much-anticipated Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update in the near future.

For now, the company only describes the update as "coming in early 2012," so HTC fans can hope that means as early as possible.

Reads the company's Facebook post:

HTC knows how excited our fans are to get their hands on Google's latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich, so we're thrilled today to announce the first wave of HTC phones that will receive upgrades.

Ice Cream Sandwich is coming in early 2012 to a variety of devices including the HTC Sensation, HTC Sensation XL and HTC Sensation XE, as well as the HTC Rezound*, HTC EVO 3D, HTC EVO Design 4G* and HTC Amaze 4G* through close integration with our carrier partners.

We're continuing to assess our product portfolio, so stay tuned for more updates on device upgrades, timing and other details about HTC and Ice Cream Sandwich.

Carphone Warehouse will close all of Best Buy UK superstores, citing very disappointing financial performance.

Each of the 11 stores opened at some point in 2010, after being delayed for opens in 2009.

Best Buy and Carphone teamed up to bring the popular American retailer to Europe, but competition and a Europe on the brink of recession has killed the venture.

Performance was so bad that Carphone's plans to launch 200 stores in the EU by 2013 was scrapped after the first 11 were built.

When asked for comment, Carphone only had this to say (via Lint):

We always said we would open 11 stores and then conduct a strategy review. We are now conducting our evaluation with our partners and will provide an update in due course.

GameStop has announced today that the special white colorway PlayStation 3 will hit Germany and the UK beginning tomorrow night at midnight.

The limited edition "Classic White" console is an exclusive for the retailer.

Consoles will ship with 320GB storage and two white Dual Shock 3 controllers for 250 pounds in the UK.

Additionally, a holiday bundle for 299 pounds will add a game and a 25 pound credit for PSN.

In Germany, the same 320GB console will sell for 300 euro or just 150 euro when you trade in a slim PS3 and two games.

Firefox 8, set for an official release on November 8th, is available now via AfterDawn.

The updated browser adds integrated Twitter search in the address bar, a number of tab tweaks and more security restrictions for third-party add-ons that could potentially be malware.

Download the browser here at AfterDawn:

Firefox 8 for Windows

Firefox 8 for Mac

Firefox 8 for Linux

After numerous high-profile losses in court, the RIAA's senior vice president of litigation Jennifer Pariser says the labels may soon ask Congress to make changes to the DMCA.

Pariser claims that the DMCA does not protect against online piracy like it is supposed to.

The attorney, speaking during a recent panel discussion said (via Greg Sandoval of Cnet):

I think Congress got it right, but I think the courts are getting it wrong. I think the courts are interpreting Congress' statute in a manner that is entirely too restrictive of content owners' rights and too open to [Internet] service providers.

We might need to go to Congress at some point for a fix. Not because the statute was badly drafted but because the interpretation has been so hamstrung by court decisions.

Earlier this week, Samsung announced that the flagship Galaxy Nexus would go on sale in Europe on November 17th.

The device will cost 549 euro unlocked, as expected.

Today, we get our first hint as to an American price for the smartphone, via Costco.

A leaked screenshot of the inventory shows the wholesaler selling the device for $289.99, making it likely that Verizon will sell the phone at their average $299 price point for LTE phones with contract.

There is still no word on release date but rumors have pointed to Black Friday.

According to multiple sources in the supply chain, Amazon is prepping an 8.9-inch version of the Kindle Fire for future release.

Amazon's upcoming tablet/e-reader has a 7-inch screen and will retail for $199.

Many had expected the company to launch a 10.1-inch screen device that would directly compete with the iPad and other larger tablets, but if the report is accurate, that is not so.

Panel suppliers Chunghwa Picture Tubes and LG Display have already begun to prepare production capacities for the displays.

The Kindle Fire, set for a November 15th release, is so popular that it allegedly seeing 50,000 pre-orders per day. Analysts expect up to 5 million to be sold in this quarter, alone.

Winamp, made popular in the late 90s as a light media player with a heavy feature set, has finally made its way over to Macs.

The Winamp for Mac Sync Beta is the first ever version of the software to hit Apple products but it is very light on the features.

As a "Sync Beta," the software will focus on the wireless and wired syncing abilities of music and playlists to Android devices.

Of course, the software will do its basic job of playing music just fine.

Nullsoft, the company behind the product say they have a "new long-term commitment to the Mac OS platform," and will be updating features regularly.

You can download the software here: Winamp.com/Mac

Verizon has confirmed that the much-anticipated Motorola Droid Razr will be released on 11-11-11, and some flyers even have the device being launched at 11:11 AM.

The time is not confirmed, however.

Motorola's latest smartphone will be available to Verizon customers for $299.99 with a 2 year contract.

The device will run on Android 2.3.5 (Gingerbread), a 1.2GHz processor, 1GB RAM, 16GB of internal storage, and a 4.3 inch Gorilla Glass display. In addition, it has an 8 megapixel rear camera with 1080p video recording capability and a front facing camera for video chat.

Additionally, the phone is just 7.1mm thick, has a Kevlar body, and water resistant coating.

In anticipation of the upcoming "Nook Tablet" (Nook Color 2), retailer Best Buy has slashed the price of the first-generation Nook Color.

Best Buy has dropped the price $50, from $250 to $199.

The move will also help the device compete against the upcoming Amazon Kindle Fire, which will retail for the lower price.

B&N's upcoming Nook Tablet will allegedly offer the same 7-inch touchscreen along with a powerful 1.2Ghz dual-core processor and 16GB internal storage. The device will launch at the $250 price point of its predecessor.

Amazon's tablet offering will have lesser specs but will be deeply integrated with the Amazon ecosystem of shopping, e-books, music, movies, TV, cloud storage and streaming.

Kotaku has reported today that some upcoming Vita titles will require gamers to purchase an external memory card.

Many Vita titles will let you save the progress right to the game cart but others will not.

The list (for launch titles):

Uncharted: Golden Abyss
Disgaea 3: Absence of Detention
@Field
Hot Shots Golf 6
Monster Radar
Dream Club Zero Portable
Touch My Katamari

Despite Samsung's rise to top smartphone seller (by volume), Apple remains far and away the most profitable phone maker.

In the last quarter, Samsung took advantage of consumer's wait for the iPhone 4S and rose to the top volume seller of smartphones.

According to figures from Canaccord Genuity, Apple was the most profitable, collecting a whopping 52 percent of the industry's operating profits during the quarter.

Making that figure more impressive was the fact that Apple controls under a 5 percent market share in the global handheld market.

In order to be so profitable, Apple made "35 cents for every dollar of handheld sales," a number that was 110 percent higher than any competitor.

On the other end, Nokia continued its quickly accelerating death spiral while collecting just 4 percent of the industry's total operating profits with a much larger market share.