time.com - The move should boost the number of Windows apps
App developers whistled and applauded at Microsoft's bombshell announcement Wednesday that they'll be able to take code for Android and Apple apps and import it directly into the Windows ecosystem.
The announcement marks an enormous strategic shift for Microsoft, but a logical one. Microsoft's move could translate into a flood of new "universal apps" for the Windows store, which has long lagged behind Apple's App Store and Google Play in terms of selection and updates.
Microsoft Executive Vice President Terry Myerson said the popular mobile game Candy Crush Saga, for example, had already made the leap from iOS to Windows 10 without a hitch. Whether other app makers will follow suit depends on how easily they can repurpose their apps for the new devices. It will take more than copying and pasting to make use of the unique features on the various devices that will run Windows 10, which include everything from desktop computers to smartphones to the HoloLens augmented reality headset.
To lure developers over those hills, Microsoft has offered a second sweetener: So-called "universal apps" that will work across the whole universe of Windows 10 devices using the same code, regardless of screen size or even if they have no screen to speak of (see HoloLens). Today, Microsoft offered its first estimate of just how many devices that might entail. Microsoft predicts that up to 1 billion devices will run Windows 10 in just two to three years, far outpacing the number of users currently on Apple and Google's ecosystem.
That's a mighty tempting figure for developers, who will be watching closely as Windows 10 launches this summer to see if Microsoft's heady predictions pan out.

theverge.com - Google is now a mobile carrier. Today the company has made official its plan to offer wireless service to owners of its Nexus 6 smartphone. It's called Project Fi, and Google is launching an early invite program beginning today. "Similar to our Nexus hardware program, Project Fi enables us to work in close partnership with leading carriers, hardware makers, and all of you to push the boundaries of what's possible," the company wrote in a blog post.
The service is only available for the Nexus 6 and requires a special SIM card for Project FI - it will work with both existing Nexus 6 devices and new ones. Google is says that right now the service is only available as an "early access program," and during that program it won't work on other phones.
Google's new offering is unique in that the company will charge consumers only for the data they use rather than hit them with a flat monthly fee that comes with a preset amount of data. If you fail to use all the data you've paid for, Google will refund you the difference.
For $20 a month you get all the basics (talk, text, Wi-Fi tethering, and international coverage in 120+ countries), and then it's a flat $10 per GB for cellular data while in the U.S. and abroad. 1GB is $10/month, 2GB is $20/month, 3GB is $30/month, and so on. Since it's hard to predict your data usage, you'll get credit for the full value of your unused data. Let's say you go with 3GB for $30 and only use 1.4GB one month. You'll get $16 back, so you only pay for what you use.
If you go over your plan, Google will simply charge you at a pro-rated rate of $10 per GB. In other words, if you pay for data and don't use it, you get refunded. If you don't buy data and use it, you end up paying the same amount. There are no family plans available, but neither does it require a contract of any kind.
As reported previously, Google will operate its wireless service with the help of both T-Mobile and Sprint; customers will have access to both networks, and Google's service will intelligently switch between them and Wi-Fi to maintain strong reception. "We developed new technology that gives you better coverage by intelligently connecting you to the fastest available network at your location whether it's Wi-Fi or one of our two partner LTE networks," the company said. Project Fi also supports voice calls and texting over Wi-Fi, lending subscribers more flexibility and how and where they can communicate with their contacts. Google also says it's using secure tech (there's a key that shows up in your menu bar) for when you're using public Wi-Fi hotspots.
Google says Project Fi phone numbers "live in the cloud," according to Google, enabling you to text and place voice calls from a laptop or tablet without your actual phone nearby. When you are on the phone, Google says calls can seamlessly transition to LTE when you leave a Wi-Fi network. Google seems to be using the new, combined Hangouts / Google Voice infrastructure in some way for Fi, as its FAQ references it often.
If you're interested in being part of Google's mobile experiment, the signup page is here. Google says it'll be sending out a small number of invites every week starting now.

theregister.co.uk - First Look Google has popped the lid off its Google Handwriting Input, new Android software that lets you input your text longhand in any 'droid app.
The Chocolate Factory's research arm says handwriting recognition is needed because touchscreen keyboards remain modestly effective and while "Voice input is an option, but there are situations where it is not feasible, such as in a noisy environment or during a meeting."
"Using handwriting as an input method can allow for natural and intuitive input method for text entry which complements typing and speech input methods," say Google's boffns.
The app works in 82 languages and offers the chance to swap to other input methods.
Does it work?
Pretty well, I found, after installing in on a Galaxy S5. I have shocking handwriting, the legacy of a post-childhood-injury left-to-right-handedness conversion and a resulting predilection for keyboard use. The app had no trouble with my scrawl even when I made just-more-than-minimal effort to form letters elegantly. When I really let myself go, the app couldn't figure out what I'd scrawled. But neither can I, at my worst.
I found I wanted to write in the centre of the writing area, which was a problem because it left me without enough space in which to finish a word. The app scrolls letters it has interpreted out of sight to the left, but not quite fast enough to leave enough space for comfortable writing.
On a larger screen, this won't be a problem. With a stylus that enables faster input than a finger, it might be.
Installing the app and getting it working won't trouble anyone with even passing familiarity with Android. The app asks a couple of questions, downloads language packs and is then available as an input option across Android. Recognition of characters like quotation marks and the @ symbol was spot on.
Overall, it's pretty impressive. Whether there's a genuine need for handwriting recognition is another matter. Just why one would write instead of using an on-screen keyboard in a meeting is anyone's guess: you'll obviously be giving your device more attention than those in the room with either input method.
My gut says that on smartphones, the small writing area will mean typing is faster, but that on tablets and phablets - especially those with styli - Google might just have a winner here. Even if the app doesn't become a hit, Google has added a big feature to Android without an upgrade of the OS itself (although you need at least 4.03 to run it), a reasonably neat trick.
Google has prior form in this area, having previously introduced scribble-cognition (in 50 languages) for laptops.

mhealthintelligence.com - At the 2015 HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition taking place in Chicago over the next few days, new announcements about mobile health technology are being disclosed frequently.
For example, Influence Health, a vendor of a digital patient engagement platform, will be partnering with the fitness and wellness mobile application provider Tactio to showcase their mobile health technology and patient engagement applications at the HIMSS conference, according to a company press release.
The demand for mobile health technology is rising among consumers and healthcare providers would be wise to invest in these tools for the patients, caregivers, and medical professionals at their facility. The particular technologies available through the Tacio and Influence Health partnership include connected health tracking devices, EHR data access, a patient portal, and the ability for patients to generate their own health information.
"With Influence Health and Tactio, patients can track their health on their iPhone, iPad and Android devices. They can receive the coaching and education to live healthier lifestyles and better control chronic diseases such as obesity, hypertension, diabetes, atherosclerosis and COPD," Michel Nadeau, P.Eng., President, CEO and Founder of Tactio Health Group, said in a public statement.
Another announcement stemming from the 2015 HIMSS conference is the agreement between Cerner Corporation and Qualcomm Life to extend medical device connectivity capabilities from the hospital to the home. Medical data will be captured from devices and sensors located in patients' homes and delivered to a healthcare facility through a connectivity platform.
This partnership will be key to monitoring chronically ill patients remotely and receiving near real-time data to reduce the risk of serious health episodes. Some typical medical devices that would be located in the home include blood pressure monitors, pulse oximeters, and weight scales. Currently, the connected devices are on display at the Cerner and Qualcomm Life's booths at the 2015 HIMSS conference.
"The industry is more concerned than ever about monitoring a patient's health outside the walls of the hospital through intelligently connected devices," John Gresham, vice president of DeviceWorks at Cerner, said in a public statement.
The company Everbridge will also be taking part in exhibiting their healthcare communication tools at the 2015 HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in Chicago. Particularly, its scheduling and secure messaging platforms will be displayed, according to the company's press release.
Specifically, the organization will be unveiling its HipaaChat tool, which is the first HIPAA-compliant, secure messaging and telehealth application the industry has seen. The company will be showing in its HIMSS exhibit booth how their platforms can streamline staffing, decrease code alert mistakes, and enhance emergency response times.
"We are very excited to further introduce HIMSS attendees to Everbridge's comprehensive healthcare communication solutions," Imad Mouline, CTO of Everbridge, said in the press release. "This is a great venue to showcase how our platform can deliver everything from STEMI alerts, to on-call staffing notifications, to real-time telemedicine and video consultations for doctors, nurses, pharmacists and patients."
This year, the mobile health sector has wide representation at the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition. Don't miss these many opportunities to learn about the benefits of mobile health technology.

techrepublic.com - The best mobile apps are giving companies unprecedented efficiency, convenience, and the ability to deliver a topnotch customer experience.
Tens of thousands of mobile apps have been deployed by companies in the past three years. What we've learned from these deployments is that certain application scenarios are head and shoulders above others in terms of their usability and their ability to make a difference in the business. The industry a company is in also matters--because the same mobile app won' t work equally well in every business context. What we do know, though, is that certain mobile apps have worked exceptionally well and are beginning to provide us with some outstanding examples and mobile app best practices. Here are 10 of them.
1: Voice-based warehouse operations
Warehouse workers need both hands when they picking items off shelves and packing them in boxes for outgoing orders. They have been using RFID (radio frequency identification) devices for this, but they have to keep one hand free to operate the device. Now, new mobile apps enable workers to have telephone headsets with portable mobile units strapped to their belts so they can use voice commands to report when they move from one inventory station to another or when an order is complete. The voice-based commands are digitized into data that directly flows into their warehouse management systems.
2: Order configuration in the field
Salespersons for technology and equipment companies have struggled for years with correctly translating customer requirements into the right product configuration for the customer. Today, many companies have succeeded in developing software-based "configuration engines" that salespersons in the field can connect with through their mobile devices. The salesperson inputs the customer needs and the config software returns an equipment "recipe" that fits the customer.
3: Financial planning using tablets
Portfolio allocation, retirement planning, and applying for insurance products can be complicated and confusing. Now a financial planner can sit with a client at a table and work through what-if scenarios and portfolio management with the help of a tablet everyone can see.
4: GPS logistics tracking
Logistics companies use mobile devices and sensors to track the routes and locations of their trucks. The technology enables them to reroute vehicles in emergency situations and to optimize routes for better delivery results.
5: Project collaboration
More and more companies are working globally, with employees collaborating on projects located in different geographical areas. Some of these employees are field-based. Mobile technology is enableing employees to collaborate on projects in real time, keeping project data and timelines fresh. This real-time collaboration is contributing to more projects working "right" the first time.
6: Instant messaging and expert finding
In companies that are global or distributed across a wide band of locations, mobile technology is enabling instant messaging and "expert finding" through access to employee expertise databases. As a result, employees can solve difficult problems faster.
7: Training
A new generation of talent management software enables employees to receive company training videos over their mobile devices in the field. The mobile training is a breakthrough for field technicians who must keep pace with new features and functions of the products they are responsible for servicing.
8: Alerts
Airlines and tram systems now issue auto alerts and updates to passengers on their mobiles to let them know if their flights/routes are on time--or to suggest alternative if problems develop. These mobile apps have improved customer satisfaction ratings.
9: Claims
If you're involved in a fender bender, the claims adjuster from your insurance company can inspect the vehicle and input the claim form from his or her mobile device--and give you an immediate answer on how much of the claim will be covered and what your options are.
10: Contextual GPS
GPS is moving to the next level with contextual information for users--like finding the nearest restaurant in your locale and providing restaurant reviews, photos, and directions. More companies and industries are adding contextual information to GPS through downloadable mobile apps, so the field of GPS contexts will continue to expand for consumers.

cio.com - Modern mobile technology may have been born with the first iPhone, a quintessential consumer device, but it wasn't long before the business possibilities began to emerge. Fast forward to today, and it's difficult to find a company that hasn't embraced phones and tablets for its employees to some degree.
More than 500 top IT leaders responded to our online survey to help us gauge the state of the
It's not difficult to see why. After all, the potential is nothing if not compelling: an untethered workforce equipped with easy-to-use tools for workers to be productive no matter where they are and at any time of day.
That allure, indeed, is surely part of the reason IT organizations will dedicate at least 25 percent of their software budgets to mobile application development, deployment and management by 2017, according to IDC. By that same year, in fact, the vast majority of line-of-business apps will be built for mobile-first consumption, IDC predicts-and for competitive necessity at least as often as for efficiency or productivity.
The "bring your own device" trend-in which employees bring their own devices into the workplace-is one key factor contributing to this massive shift in enterprise computing. It's an extension of the consumerization trend seen in enterprise technology more broadly: People want to have the same mobile tools at work that they've become accustomed to in their personal lives.
"This is a revolution," said Eldad Eilam, CEO of mobile productivity vendor HopTo. "Everyone is looking into BYOD."
A veritable "tsunami of devices" has entered companies as a result, said Rana Kanaan, vice president of products at workspace-as-a-service provider Workspot. Also playing a role, however, is what Kanaan calls "the rise of the corporate citizen": independent-minded employees who place a high value on the ability to work wherever and whenever they want.
Put those two trends together, and IT is left with a very different landscape than what it faced years ago.
"Originally, we all worked on desktop computers in the office," Kanaan said. "Then, in the first generation of the mobile enterprise, we started working from somewhere else, but still on computers; we tried to solve that through desktop virtualization."
When mobile technology first began to enter the corporate world, employers tried to limit it to specific, locked-down devices and applications. But users rejected that.
"The problem is, computing happens everywhere," Kanaan said. "That kind of control doesn't work-it made users revolt."
Today's workers simply expect to be able to use the technologies they want and to be able to use them any time, said Michael Luu, IS director for the city of Milpitas, California, which uses Workspot's technology for mobile access. "The expectation is that even if you're on vacation, you respond to email," he said. "It's just part of normalcy now."
Vendors of enterprise software are racing to address these new expectations in numerous ways. With its workspace-as-a-service offering, for example, Workspot lets users securely access apps and data from any device, it says.
Enterprise-software heavyweight Salesforce has committed to a "mobile first" philosophy with its own applications, said Anna Rosenman, senior director of product marketing for the Salesforce Analytics Cloud.
"If you look at the consumer space, people spend at least 50 percent of their time on mobile devices," Rosenman said. "We're seeing our users closely mirroring that behavior."
Even Facebook is working on an offering focused on the mobile enterprise: Facebook at Work, which is now in beta.
"The cornerstone of the experience is mobile," said Elisabeth Diana, Facebook's director of corporate communications. "It's a similar look and feel to Facebook; the primary difference is that information shared through Facebook at Work stays within the company."
A handful of companies are currently testing out the technology, and Facebook hopes to expand that number soon, Diana said.
HopTo focuses on enabling mobility while allowing companies to leverage their existing Windows-based infrastructure, including Windows Remote Desktop Services, Active Directory, SharePoint sites and cloud storage services.
"The challenge we're seeing is that many companies have a massive amount of legacy software that's used to run the business," Eilam said. "Converting that for mobile is extremely challenging."
Indeed, even as new solutions continue to emerge, there is no shortage of challenges remaining for today's newly mobile organizations-and the vendors that serve them.
Security, for example, remains a big one: By the end of this year, only 15 percent of large companies will have adequate mobile security governance, according to IDC.
"Mobile devices tend to store things locally," Eilam said. "That creates a really serious challenge: document sprawl." HopTo's answer to that problem is to keep storage at the back end, he said. Files can be edited remotely but are saved back to the place in which they were opened, such as SharePoint or cloud storage.
Workspot's Kanaan points to a need for what she calls contextual security. The idea is to build security technology that can recognize when a user is trying to get to sensitive data on a mobile device and respond by requiring extra authentication.
"That's a huge industry challenge for us to figure out, especially when you look at regulated industries like health care and finance," she said.
There's also a need for common ground on mobile app development, Kanaan said.
"It's slow and costly to make enterprise apps work on mobile," she said. "We don't have standardization there, and enterprises are still struggling with that."
In short, there's no doubt the process of mobilizing the enterprise world is happening quickly, but there's still plenty to be addressed. Said HopTo's Eilam, "I think we'll continue to see a mix of legacy and mobile technologies for a couple of decades still."

toptechnews.com - The latest Android tablet from Dell is aimed at a growing mobile workforce looking for a way to keep personal and business information safely and securely separated on the same device. The Venue 10 7000 features a 10.5-inch OLED screen, comes loaded with Android 5.0 Lollipop and can be converted into a laptop with the addition of a full-size magnetic keyboard.
A unique feature of Dell's newest device is the large, cylindrical "spine" that runs along one side of the tablet. That cylinder not only provides a place for attaching the optional keyboard but also houses the battery and front-firing stereo speakers. As Dell notes, the spine also gives users a "unique barrel-edge grip" that makes holding the tablet more akin to holding a book or magazine.
The Venue 10 7000 will also be enabled for Google's Android for Work enterprise Relevant Products/Services mobility management platform. Announced in February, Android for Work is aimed at BYOD (bring-your-own-device) business users who want to isolate and protect Relevant Products/Services work data Relevant Products/Services from the personal information on their devices.
Designed for 'Blurring Lines'
Dell's latest tablet builds on the features it baked into its Venue 8 7000. That device, with a 6-millimeter-thick profile that Dell says makes it "the thinnest tablet in the world," was named a "Best of Innovation" honoree at this year's International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
The new Venue 10 7000 is equally thin, though it weighs considerably more (1.32 pounds) than its 10.76-ounce predecessor. It features an OLED touchscreen with a resolution of 2560 x 1600 and a quad-core Intel Relevant Products/Services Atom Z3580 processor.
Another feature included on the tablet is an Intel RealSense snapshot depth camera like the one Intel has been advertising so heavily on TV these days. The camera -- or, rather, three cameras in one -- lets users refocus images after they've been snapped and estimate distances between different points on photos.
A spokesperson for Dell told us the reason the company chose to release a business-focused Android tablet. "As the lines blur between work and play -- with people checking in on work after hours for example -- people want to access their work materials regardless of OS," the spokesperson said. "Also, many small to mid-size businesses and startups use Google Docs and Hangouts to collaborate and work across geographies today and want to extend that collaboration across more devices."
Another Model for Education
Set to go on sale in May in the U.S., Canada and China, the Venue 10 7000 has a starting price of $499 -- $629 with the optional detachable keyboard. Attached magnetically, the backlit keyboard accessory lets users set up the Venue 10 7000 in five different positions: tablet, slate, stand, tent or clamshell.
"We put a lot of work into our keyboards to ensure that they're durable, they attach securely to the display without wobbling, and that they comfortable to type on with good travel," the spokesperson added.
Dell is also releasing another model -- the Venue 10 5000 -- designed specifically for the school market. Priced starting at $299 ($349 with the keyboard), the device is one of the first tablets to be certified with Google Play for Education, according to Dell. The Venue 10 5000 is available now in the U.S. and select countries around the world.

biztechafrica.com - Ghana has been rated among the highest-ranked Sub-Saharan African countries on the continent in this year's Open Data Barometer Report released by the World Wide Web Foundation. Ghana and Rwanda tied in third place on the list with a score of 46, followed by Kenya with 49 and Mauritius with 54. South Africa was ranked first on the list as being the country with the highest open data initiative.
According to the Report although African countries lag behind other developing countries in regions such as Asia and Latin America, few countries including Ghana have established open government data initiatives but was quick to reveal that these remain highly dependent upon a limited network of leaders and technical experts.
Ghana was also mentioned alongside with Kenya in the area of government spending as doing well in publishing it data on government spending which could go a long way to help uncover corruption and enhance service delivery except that this data is not provided in a format that can be easily used by members of the public.

computerworld.com - With its Galaxy S6, Samsung finally delivers a phone that's both powerful and premium. Could it be the device for you?
I never thought I'd say this, but here we go: Samsung is about to release a beautifully designed phone.
It's true: The company long criticized for chintzy devices with cheap-looking plastics has finally upped its game. The Galaxy S6, launching on all the major U.S. carriers on April 10, is a phone that's as classy as it is capable. With glass-and-metal construction and plenty of horsepower to go with it, this latest flagship has the potential to reinvent Samsung as a serious player in the premium smartphone game.
The Galaxy S6 starts at $200 on contract or $600 to $685 outright, depending on where and how you buy it.
So what's the phone like to use in the real world -- and does it actually deliver when it comes to user experience? I've been living with the S6 for the past week to find out.
Body and display
As I noted in my first impressions, the Galaxy S6 still looks like a Samsung phone -- only better. On the front in particular, it retains the company's distinctive visual identity and bears a strong resemblance to past products in the Galaxy line.
When you pick the phone up, though, it immediately becomes clear just how much Samsung's approach to design has evolved. In place of the tacky faux-leather plastic of yesteryear is a smooth glass back -- and in place of the plastic posing as metal on the phone's perimeter is an actual aluminum frame. At last, Samsung's flagship phone feels like a high-end device.
In tech-familiar terms, the best way to describe the Galaxy S6 is as a mashup of the Galaxy S5 and the iPhone 4. It may not be the most original design, but it's a merging of classic styles that looks great and works well. In the U.S., the phone will be available in black, white or gold; the bolder green and blue hues shown off at Samsung's launch event are limited to international availability as of this writing.
At 5.6 x 2.8 x 0.27 in. and 4.87 oz., the Galaxy S6 is reasonably sized and comfortable to carry, with one caveat: The glass-centric design makes it somewhat slippery. I've had a few close calls when grabbing the phone out of my pocket over the past several days. The aluminum frame has a solid grip, though, so as long as you're careful to keep your fingers around the perimeter, the device isn't generally too hard to hang onto.
Of course, holding isn't the only consideration: When I placed the Galaxy S6 near the edge of a shiny coffee table one night, it shimmied along on its own and eventually slid off onto the (thankfully carpeted) floor. It gave me a flash back to other times I've used glass-backed phones and experienced similar challenges. And while I lucked out with this particular tumble, a glass back -- even one that uses strengthened material like Gorilla Glass 4, as this device does -- is inherently more prone to cracking and shattering than other materials. Like every glass phone before it, the Galaxy S6 has the potential to be somewhat fragile.
Decorative surfaces aside, the Galaxy S6's 5.1-in. Quad HD display is downright stunning. The 577ppi Super AMOLED screen is bright and crystal clear, with deep blacks, pure whites and brilliant colors that look fantastic without venturing into unrealistically oversaturated terrain. The display is easy to see even in direct sunlight. It's truly a treat for the eyes; smartphone screens don't get much better than this.
On a slightly less positive note, Samsung has stuck with its typical hybrid button configuration on the Galaxy S6 -- an Apple-reminiscent physical Home button flanked by old-school capacitive keys for Android's Overview (a.k.a. Recent Apps) and Back functions. While that setup will feel familiar to anyone accustomed to Samsung devices, it remains awkward and unnatural compared to the virtual on-screen buttons that have been standard on Android since 2011 (and are now used by nearly all other Android manufacturers). In terms of usability, it's probably the biggest remaining downside to a Samsung Android device.
02 galaxy s6 fingerprint scanner
One interesting element of the approach, however, is the fact that it's allowed Samsung to build a fingerprint scanner into the phone's Home button. And the Galaxy S6's scanner is light-years better than the one on last year's Galaxy S5: You can now simply touch and hold your finger to the surface to identify yourself instead of having to swipe along it, as you did with the S5 (usually numerous times before it'd work).
The S6's sensor was frustratingly finicky during my first few days with the phone, but ever since a pre-release software update was sent to the device on Saturday, it's worked impressively well. I'll occasionally have to touch my finger to the button twice before it'll recognize me -- and once in a great while, if my hand is damp or sweaty, I'll have to resort to using a backup password to get in -- but 90% of the time, my print is recognized almost instantly on the first try and I'm into the system within about a second.
The S6 marks a long overdue move away from Samsung's shoddy back-of-phone speaker setup and instead has a single speaker on the device's bottom edge. Audio played from the device is loud and sounds reasonably good; it's somewhat hollow and nowhere near the level of quality you'll get from HTC's BoomSound setup or Motorola's dual front-facing speaker configuration, but it's quite serviceable and a massive leap forward from Samsung's previous efforts.
Performance, storage and connectivity
The Galaxy S6 uses Samsung's own Exynos 7420 octa-core processor along with 3GB of RAM. And while past Samsung flagships have suffered from lag and jerkiness despite their impressive-sounding internals, the Galaxy S6 is consistently smooth and snappy. From app-loading to Web browsing and multitasking, I've yet to encounter anything that hasn't felt fast and responsive.
Battery life on the S6, however, could be better: On most days, I've reached dangerously low levels of power before the end of the night, usually with around three hours of mixed-use screen-on time (news-reading, social media browsing and so forth -- nothing out of the ordinary or particularly resource-intensive). Some days, I managed to push it a bit higher than that, but not by much -- and other days, I didn't even make it to the three-hour mark before seeing the dreaded "low power" warning.
On the plus side, the Galaxy S6 does support wireless charging -- both the popular Qi standard and the less common PMA protocol -- so you can always plop the phone down on a charging pad or wireless battery pack to juice it up midday. The S6 also utilizes Fast Charging, which allows you to gain up to four hours of extra battery life with just 10 minutes on the charger. The phone ships with a Fast Charging wall adapter and is also compatible with any Quick Charge 2.0-compatible accessory.
It's worth noting that the Galaxy S6's battery is not removable -- a change from past Samsung devices. If you're among the power users who enjoy being able to carry spare batteries and swap them out on demand, you're out of luck with this year's flagship.
Another previously standard Samsung element absent this go-round is an SD card slot for expandable storage. The Galaxy S6 ships with a choice of 32GB, 64GB or 128GB of internal space; pricing varies from one carrier and payment plan to the next, but you're basically looking at about a hundred bucks extra for each step up from the base 32GB level. And remember, you'll end up with less usable storage than what those numbers suggest. On my 32GB review unit, about 24GB of space was actually available after factoring in the operating system and various preinstalled software.
The Galaxy S6 review unit I've been using is a T-Mobile model. Calls on the device have been A-OK for me; I've had no qualms about the unit's voice quality, and those with whom I've spoken have reported being able to hear me loud and clear as well. Data speeds over T-Mobile's LTE network have also been fine and in line with what I expect to see from that network in my area.
I have noticed something unusual with the phone's Wi-Fi connectivity, though: In short, the device seems to have trouble maintaining a strong Wi-Fi connection. Speeds periodically get slow -- even when connected to a reliably stable Wi-Fi network on which other devices, including Android phones, are simultaneously connected and having no problems.
The pokiness isn't limited to any one particular app or process; I'll see it on the Web, in social media apps and even in Google Now. Pulling up pages or articles is slow, images fail to load and refreshing content takes far too long. I've discovered that disabling Wi-Fi and then re-enabling it seems to fix things for a while, but the slowness eventually returns and the cycle repeats.
On top of that, the S6 has a feature called Smart Network Switch that's supposed to detect when a Wi-Fi connection is unstable and then automatically switch you to mobile data instead. The feature has frequently caused the system to disconnect from a reliable Wi-Fi network when the phone is idle, however, which in turn has prevented notifications like new emails from getting through.
I reached out to Samsung to inquire about these issues and a representative told me the company wasn't aware of any widespread occurrences of such problems. It's possible they could be fluke defects limited to my review unit or something specific to my situation.
Photography
We can keep this section simple: The Galaxy S6's camera is really, really good. With the aid of optical image stabilization, the phone's 16-megapixel shooter takes beautifully crisp photos with great detail and vibrant, true-to-life colors.
Indoors or out, close-ups or broad landscapes, I've yet to find many scenarios where Samsung's camera stumbles. Even in low-light environments, the Galaxy S6 manages to deliver surprisingly sharp and balanced images. If there's any limitation, it's with moving objects: The S6's camera does pick up a fair amount of motion blur if a subject is moving quickly. With a small amount of motion, though -- something like a child's swing moving back and forth -- it's able to capture a sharp-looking shot.
A sample photo taken with the Samsung Galaxy S6, taken with default settings and no editing.
Equally important, Samsung has made huge strides in simplifying its camera software and making it easy to use. The once cluttered and overwhelming user interface is now pleasingly minimalist, with only the few basic controls most people will need on screen by default. And most features you'd want, like HDR mode or night mode, enable themselves automatically when the environment calls for it.
What's even more impressive is that Samsung manages to achieve that simplicity while still offering a slew of advanced photography options for users who want them. Change the camera's mode from Auto to Pro, and you'll gain controls for manually adjusting everything from ISO sensitivity to focal length and white balance. The phone also has tucked-away options for more ready-made effects, too, if you want to go beyond the basics with your images but aren't a full-fledged photography expert.
The Galaxy S6 follows the lead of other devices in offering a system-wide "quick launch" shortcut to open the Camera app on demand, anytime, whether your screen is on or off: You just double-tap the phone's Home key, and -- literally in about a second -- you're looking through the viewfinder and ready to snap away. As anyone who's watched a photogenic moment fly by knows, the value of that can't be overstated.
The S6's shutter speed is fast, meanwhile, if not instantaneous -- and if you really want to play paparazzi, you can hold the shutter button down to take several rapid-fire photos with almost no delay between them. Factor in video recording options going all the way from 1080p (the default) to Ultra HD, and there's little more you could want from a smartphone camera.
For the selfie-takers and video-chatters among us, the Galaxy S6 has a 5-megapixel front-facing camera that can capture 1080p or QHD video and features gesture-based commands for starting a shutter countdown.
The software
The Galaxy S6 runs Samsung's custom TouchWiz software atop Google's Android 5.0.2 Lollipop operating system. I've been tough on TouchWiz in the past, but with its latest incarnation, Samsung has really evolved its software to a very usable state. It's much, much better than it used to be -- but it still needs work to go from being "pretty decent" to "great."
Part of that is strictly a visual issue: From a design standpoint, TouchWiz is kind of like a less polished and attractive version of Lollipop. It retains much of Google's visual language, like the card-based Overview configuration for switching among recently used apps, but then arbitrarily changes things here and there that I found less pleasant to use.
For example, Samsung continues to dump buckets of teal paint across the entire OS and is now replacing standard Android icons with plain text alternatives ("More," "Add" and so on). The latter introduces new inconsistencies between the S6's native apps and practically everything else you'll use on the device, including Google's apps and the vast majority of third-party Android programs. Ecosystem-wide design standards exist for a reason, and changing them in one small corner of that ecosystem does little more than introduce confusion.

techcrunch.com - Enterprise mobile applications - like enterprise cloud applications a decade before - are poised to become a $100 billion market opportunity. I've worked with enterprise technologies exclusively for more than a decade and have watched as cloud apps took the enterprise by storm, giving businesses more flexibility and power than ever before. Now, enterprise mobile is taking a page from enterprise cloud's play book - but with a twist.
Obviously, mobile technology is less expensive, more accessible, and easier to use in many ways than cloud technology, and that makes it attractive to the enterprise. But what may not be so obvious regarding the allure of mobile for the enterprise is the degree to which it will democratize the use of technology for businesses in underserved sectors and far-flung locations.
There are more than 3 billion people globally who work in some capacity. Yet only 20 percent of them have ever had access to technology to help them perform their jobs more effectively. That leaves 2.5 billion workers not being supported by technology today. Some of them are in industries like construction, an $8 trillion a year space that spends less than 1 percent of its revenue on IT. Others are in manufacturing, the world's fourth-largest industry with 40 million workers globally - it spends less than 2 percent of revenue on IT.
A significant portion of those 2 billion-plus workers without technology are in the developing world, with 50 percent in Asia-Pacific, 10 percent in Latin America and another 10 percent in the Middle East and Africa. This global opportunity is enormous, and mobile technology is uniquely poised to capitalize on this market as the heavy infrastructure improvements necessary for hard-wired solutions are expensive and time consuming to deploy.
Overall, we're talking about some pretty staggering numbers, but just how big is the mobile enterprise opportunity? Consider this quick calculation. If we take the 2.5 billion workers that don't have desk jobs and assume we can monetize each one at about $40 per year (a mere 10 percent of what is spent today on technology for a typical desk-bound worker) we're looking at approximately $100+ billion in annual revenue.
This opportunity is vast in many ways - and it is also unlike anything we've seen in enterprise technology in the past. Any industry that would benefit from the features that smartphones now have can leverage an enterprise mobile solution. Industries like construction and surveying can empower their mobile workforces with camera-based technology to get fast and cheap quotes and communication to their central offices. Delivery and transportation workers can utilize mapping, billing and other phone-enabled mobile solutions to achieve greater efficiency. Healthcare is likely the largest opportunity, in India, mobile healthcare apps are taking off. In fact, 500 Startups has launched a fund dedicated to investing in mobile health in India, China and Africa.
What will it take for entrepreneurs who want to seize this opportunity and build a leading mobile enterprise company? Here are a few best practices that I have seen in some of the early leaders:
In order to best leverage the mobile platform, capitalize on what is unique about mobile devices. Consider the following:
Use the latest smartphone capabilities (e.g. sensors, cameras, GPS, voice) to your advantage. Great examples are how Shyp uses your location and that of its networked "shippers" and how Expensify uses the camera features to capture receipts.
Consider how some of the leading mobile platform providers, like Box and Salesforce can help you as you scale.
Mobile go-to-market expertise
This is just as important in the mobile arena as it is in other spaces, but there are some interesting differences.
Learn how to successfully manage app store optimization for a business user or for a business-oriented company. Tools like SearchMan, apptamin and Sensor Tower can all help you achieve optimization without a lot of time or resources.
Build a customer acquisition model that matches your offering, for example, mobile messaging company Cotap, relies on enabling viral growth through its interface.
Leverage word-of-mouth in vertical markets. PlanGrid in the construction space has grown through their customers spreading the word.
Global orientation
Most mobile enterprise developers today are not thinking much about international coverage, which can put you at a competitive advantage. There is a much more significant international opportunity in the mobile space than even in the cloud or SaaS spaces. Map out your global ambitions in the earliest days of your company, and plan how you'll actually embed that into your organization's DNA.
Global planning can't be an afterthought because 70 percent of the opportunities you will be pursuing are outside of developed markets.
Localize your product or make it easy to localize. It's very costly to retrofit a product.
Think about mirroring best practices of SaaS companies that have expanded internationally, and how these same techniques translate to mobile.
Consider a range of international go-to-market strategies before committing to one. There are different paths to success - working with a partner to be distribution arm, building local teams/hubs in each region or market, acquiring a company in another region that is doing something similar and make that your expansion strategy - choose which strategy or combination of strategies makes the most sense for your product after you have fully evaluated each.
Once in a great while, a revolutionary technology and platform comes along; one that changes the game in the enterprise. I think we're in the midst of just such a revolution. When we look back in 2025, it will be incredible to think that the mobile enterprise sector had less than $100 million of revenues just 10 years earlier.

cio.com - The Samsung Galaxy S6 and iPhone 6 are two of the hottest smartphones available, but they each have their own individual strengths and weaknesses. Here are six ways the GS6 outperforms the iPhone 6.
Samsung and Apple are the undisputed kings of the smartphone world, and both own right about 20 percent of the global market, according to recent research from IDC. Apple and the iPhone beat out Samsung and its seemingly endless array of handhelds in total sales to end users for the first time during the final quarter of last year, thanks in no small part to the white-hot market reception of both the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus.
However, Samsung's latest darlings, the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge are about to go on sale next week in the United States, and the Korean electronics leader has every intention of stealing back some of that share. During the coming months, millions of consumers will fire up their Web browsers or strut into local wireless carrier shops to compare the latest and greatest smartphones. On the top of their lists of options will be the GS6 and iPhone 6.
I got both my GS6 review phones last Tuesday, so I've had more than a week to spend with the new Galaxys. And I've been using the iPhone 6 since the day it was released last September. One of the first things I do after a company sends a new smartphone that piques my interest (and not all of the review devices I receive do, mind you) is stack it up to the iPhone, to see how (or if) it compares.
That's exactly what I did with the GS6 and GS6 edge. While it's too early to make a decision between the iPhone 6 and the GS6, I will say this: I like the new Galaxys. A lot. And the new phones do quite a few things that Apple's golden child cannot. This article is not intended to point out each one of them. Instead, it's meant to spotlight the things that jumped out at me because I can't do them with my iPhone 6.
As is always the case with these matters, there are two tales to be told, so make sure to check out my companion story, "4 things iPhone 6 does that Galaxy S6 can't." To be clear, I am not saying the GS6 is better than the iPhone 6, or suggesting the GS6 would win in an arm-wrestling bout.
Now that that's out of the way, on to the things the GS6 does that iPhone 6 cannot. (Note: With the exception of a curved display and slightly different battery capacity, the new Galaxy phones are identical, so all of the points made in this post apply to both new handhelds.)
1) Galaxy S6, Samsung Pay and MST tech
In March, Samsung announced its upcoming mobile payment service, Samsung Pay, which will be available on both GS6 devices "later this summer." Much like Apple Pay, it will use NFC and fingerprint authentication to enable secure mobile payments.
The main competitive differentiator, and competitive advantage, for Samsung Pay compared to the popular Apple Pay is its support of magnetic secure transmission (MST) technology, which in theory lets you pay at any PoS terminal that accepts magnetic stripe credit cards. That includes about 90 percent of U.S. retailers, compared to the roughly 5 percent that support NFC and Apple Pay, according to Samsung. (Read "4 things you need to know about Samsung Pay" for more details.)
Of course, Samsung Pay is not yet available. When it is released, however, it has the potential to see much wider adoption than Apple Pay because it's expected to work at so many more retail locations. Samsung also told me that GS6 users wouldn't need any sort of accessory or add-on to enable MST payments via Samsung Pay, so you'll be able to use the service at many different retail locations as soon as it's available.
2) Samsung Galaxy S6 and wireless charging
Both new GS6 smartphones support wireless charging without any sort of add-on accessory. The devices support both the Wireless Power Consortium (PWC) Qi (pronounced "chee") and Power Matters Alliance (PMA) wireless charging standards, so they work with charge mats that use either technology. In other words, hungry GS6 users can charge their famished phones at select McDonald's, some of which have PMA charging stations, and GS6 owners in need of caffeine fixes can also wirelessly charge their sleepy smartphones at some Starbucks locations, where Qi stations are available.
It takes longer to charge the GS6 wirelessly than if you use a traditional power cable. For example, using the special charger that came with the GS6 edge, which enables "Adaptive Fast Charging," I was able to fully charge that dead device in just under two hours, while it took me almost three hours to fully charge the dead GS6 edge using Samsung's new Wireless Charging Pad, which costs $50 and uses Qi. In many cases, wireless charging is more convenient, though.
iPhone 6 users can purchase cases to enable wireless charging, but most of these accessories support only one standard, and many are bulky and relatively expensive. (On a separate but related note, the GS6 phones both use standard micro USB ports, compared to Apple's proprietary Lightning ports, so you can use micro USB cords and accessories from a variety of other manufacturers with Samsung phones but not Apple devices.)
3) Samsung Galaxy S6 security and Smart Lock
The GS6 and GS6 edge both support Android Smart Lock features that let you keep your device unlocked when it's in range of a trusted Bluetooth device, NFC tag or when it's in range of a designated trusted location, such as your home or office.
A GS6 owner can, for example, set his Android Wear smartwatch to be a trusted device, so his phone stays unlocked when in hand or in a pocket but then locks if he takes the watch off and walks off. Or he can program NFC tags, such as Samsung's TecTiles, to be trusted tags, then set his phone on the tag to keep it unlocked at his desk or on a night stand.
Android's Lollipop Smart Lock features are not unique to the Galaxy S6 - other newish Android devices also offer variations of Smart Lock, including a unique "face unlock" option that's absent from the GS6s - but you won't find anything like them in the iPhone 6. (Certain IT policies may block the use of Smart Lock on corporate connected devices, so if you use Android for work, you may not be able to take advantage of Smart Lock.)
4) Samsung Galaxy S6 customization and personalization
One of the most significant differences between iOS and Android, and the iPhone and GS6, is the level of control owners have over customization and personalization. Apple lets you pick your wallpaper and lock screen images, add select widgets to a "Today screen," and you can organize your applications (in rigidly arranged rows) and related alerts the way you want them. But that's about it. Android, on the other hand, offers many more customization options.
I could fill 10 pages with minute customization options in Android, but these three stand out to me, and you won't find any of them in the iPhone - at least not unless you "jailbreak" it.
It's a personal pet peeve how iOS lets you move applications and folders around your home screen, but if you place one of them somewhere random, instead of next to the last app or folder in a row, the OS moves your selection out of place and back into order. With Android, and the GS6, you can put apps and folders wherever you want them. For example, if you want only two apps on a home panel, and you prefer one in the top left corner and another in the bottom right, that's your prerogative - Android is OK with that. Apple isn't having it, however, so don't even to try to sort apps out of order on an iPhone.
Another nice touch in the Android software for GS6 is the capability to change the color of app folders, so they match or complement your wallpaper or theme.
Speaking of themes, Samsung's Theme Store lets you download "skins" that change the look and feel of Android with custom graphics, icon sets and other navigation elements. The store doesn't offer many options right now, but it will likely bulk up during the coming months.
Again, these are just a few examples. Bottom line: The GS6 fosters personalization while the iPhone seems to stifle it.
5) Galaxy S6 Power Saving Mode, Ultra Power Saving Mode
The GS6 devices have two different power saving modes designed to extend the battery life of your device and give you more control over the apps and services that drain power when you're running low.
The first, and less severe, Power Saving Mode option limits maximum CPU performance; reduces display brightness and frame rate; turns off the backlit buttons next to the GS6 home key; disables vibration feedback; and minimizes the amount of time the screen is lit when you're not using it.
Ultra Power Saving Mode takes it a bit further. For example, it applies a grayscale theme to your device, so it uses no bright colors; it limits the number of available apps to preset "essentials" and any others that you deem necessary; turns off mobile data when the screen is dark; disables Wi-Fi and Bluetooth.
You can check the GS6 Battery page for estimates on just much life is left on your device in normal mode, Power Saving Mode and Ultra Power Saving mode, to help plan when to switch between them. The iPhone 6 has a number of software-based battery optimization tweaks, and you can check battery usage states, but it has nothing like either of the two GS6 power saving modes.
6) Samsung Galaxy S6 'selfie cam'
From a selfie perspective, the GS6 owns the iPhone. Not only does it have a higher-resolution camera (5MP) than the iPhone (1.2MP), it takes noticeably better selfies in a variety of lighting conditions. (Why, yes, I did take selfies all over Boston during the past week to test the cameras.)
My favorite thing about the GS6 selfie cam is the capability to the tap the flash panel on the rear side of the device to take a picture with the front-facing shooter, instead of having to awkwardly tap the display with your thumb and possibly shake the device at that crucial moment when your selfie is just perfect.
Honestly, I can't remember the last time I took a selfie before I got the GS6. I am, however, aware that society at large holds selfies in high regard these days, for better or for worse, so the GS6's selfie dominance over the iPhone seems relevant.
Again, this article tells only one side of the story, so be sure to check out my companion piece, "4 things iPhone 6 does that Galaxy S6 can't."