Nokia and Samsung Extend Patent Agreement

A number of people had been wondering about the patent agreement between Samsung and Nokia that was about to expire. There was considerable speculation about whether the deal would continue or ended once and for all. However, it seems that the two technology companies have decided to carry on the mutually benefitting agreement. It was announced by the Finnish phone maker, Nokia Corp today that Samsung Electronics has extended its patent deal with them for another five years to come. The expiry date of the patent deal was at the end of this year. Nonetheless, the revised deal means that starting on 1st of January 2014, Samsung will be paying Nokia a greater amount than before.

Nokia provided this information and stated that the exact amount to be paid would be settled in a binding arbitration finally and this would conclude at the end of the year 2015. A statement was made by the Chief Intellectual Property Officer of Nokia Corp, Paul Melin, in which he said that the agreement and extension of arbitration is simply a hallmark of the construction resolution of settling licensing disputes and would end up saving considerable costs associated with transaction for both the parties involved.

There had been some murmurs when Nokia had announced in September that it would be selling off its handset business to none other than Microsoft Corp. But, the company had also announced that it would not be giving off its patent portfolio and would retain its ownership. The company said today that it sees plenty of opportunity for creating value by making investments in innovation and the company would achieve this by managing its licensing activities and its patent portfolio actively. Furthermore, the struggling Finnish company could benefit from the licensing fee that it would obtain from the South Korean giant because Samsung Electronics is the number one phone maker in the world.

Nevertheless, Nokia and Samsung have had a testy relationship for the most part. In the continuing patent suit between Apple and Samsung, it was revealed last month that Samsung insiders had had access to some confidential information and documents that pertained to Apple Inc. These documents included the patent deals of Apple with companies like Ericsson, Nokia, Phillips and Sharp. As per the court filings, licensing had been discussed on June 4th by Dr. Seungho Ahn of Samsung Electronics and Paul Melin of Nokia Corp.

Melin stated that Ahn had admitted that they had seen the terms of the deal that had been signed between Apple and Nokia. He had tried to coerce Melin to sign a similar deal with Samsung and this act had not been appreciated or well received by the court. In other news regarding patent licensing, it was also reported that last week, in the UK, Nokia had managed to win a patent battle that it was raging against Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. It had been decided by the patent court in London that Nokia’s accusation regarding HTC’s infringement of ‘Modulator structure for a transmitter and a mobile station’ was quite accurate.

Samsung Boasts Record High Profit

The South Korean smartphone maker still seems to be going strong, despite the predictions of the analysts that the smartphone market has become saturated. Another record high was established by the operating profit of Samsung Electronics in the July-September quarter. However, as per the experts, this record profit was most probably driven by the robust sales of the mid-range and cheaper smartphones that it’s marketing in developing countries. According to the maker of the Galaxy line of smartphones, as compared to its last year earnings, its operating income had increased by 25%. The result had turned out better than the expectations in the market.

The sales of the third quarter had also shown a record 13% increase. The net income and other related details of its complete financial performance were not disclosed by the South Korean giant. The company will be announcing its complete results later in this month. The analysts were of the opinion that the record quarter had come to be because of the increased profit from the semiconductor business of Samsung Electronics and the high sales of its low-end and mid-range smartphones in emerging markets. It had been expected that the profits of the South Korean firm would be dented because of the slowing growth of high-end smartphones in developed countries.

However, the success of the company’s expansion in the mobile phone market of developing countries was underlined by the latest results. The sales of the current flagship smartphone of the company the Galaxy S4 that was launched in April saw a plunge in the third quarter, but as per the analysts, the company had still managed to sell more smartphones in contrast to the previous quarter as its cheaper smartphones had been snapped up pretty quickly. Last month, the company launched its latest device of the phablet line; the Galaxy Note 3.

Along with the most recent iteration of the Galaxy Note line, the company made another introduction in the form of Galaxy Gear. This is a wristwatch that not only has a touchscreen display, but also has the capability of placing and receiving phone calls through the Samsung smartphone owned by people. While other smartphone companies are struggling to remain stable in the market, Samsung is not facing so much trouble as it is quite diversified. Not only is Samsung Electronics the largest maker of smartphones all over the world, but it is also the largest vendor of TVs and computer memory chips.

In recent years, only two thirds of its overall profit was earned with the contribution of smartphones. There is a tepid demand for personal computers and televisions that are also an integral part of the company. Samsung beat Apple Inc. in the race of introducing a smart watch and has launched its own device in the wearable technology market. The company is expected to expand on its line of watches and introduce better versions, just like its smartphones. So far, it remains quite stable in the smartphone market with its variety of phones at every price point.

Samsung Introduces Android Hybrid Camera

Just after Nikon announced its Android based point and shoot camera, Samsung has also tried its luck. The idea of a camera running on Android OS is not new. We have seen several such products from time to time in past however we were waiting for a major manufacturer to step in. Nikon announced its first digital camera with Android OS, the Coolpix S800c.

The hybrid or smart camera, which it has been dubbed, from Samsung features Android OS 4.1 Jelly Bean and comes with a 1.4 Ghz quad-core processor at its heart. The LCD screen incorporated on the back of the camera is a 4.8 inch touchscreen with multi touch capability. The shooting capacity of the device is 16 MP with BSI CMOS compact zoom technology. The camera lens has been designed to incorporate a compact zoom equivalent of 21x 23-481 mm on the front. Image stabilization and low light shooting will ensure high quality images in unfriendly and changing conditions.

The first look on the specifications and the camera itself resembles it to Galaxy S III, the latest smartphone released from Samsung a few months back. A surprising factor in the android cameras that we have seen is the inclusion of wireless connectivity features. WiFi as well as 3G, and in a different version 4G, have been incorporated in the device. It is nearly a high-end smartphone with the exception of ability to make calls and send messages.

Since the presence of Android OS also means the availability Google Play Store, so providing the wireless connectivity was necessary. Yes you can access the full fledged Play Store from this device and download apps from the complete collection of android apps through Wifi or 3G/4G connectivity.  The Samsung Galaxy camera also has a built-in app to edit your photos in the camera, you can also download and install additional apps for this purpose.

The hybrid Android cameras are designed to make photo sharing easier and quicker. Now you can share your pictures and videos with a single touch through Wifi or 3G/4G network with a single touch. Your pictures will be shared and uploaded directly from your Android device. Whether it is emailing, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or anything other sharing service, it’s all made easy.

The 4.8 ClearBright HD screen features vivid colors and crisp graphics with a rich pixel density of 308i. The camera features a number of different shooting modes and effects for enhanced photography experience. It will come with a stock memory card of 8 GB You can expand it as per your choice. The video shooting comes in two moods; a 1920 x 1080 shooting mode with the frame rate of 30fps and another with 720 x 480 at 120 frames per second. Samsung Galaxy camera also features a built-in GPS which will be responsible for Geo-tagging your media shot with this device. A HDMI and microUSB output will provide more choices for data transfer.

Samsung has introduced a high quality product that will entice many camera and smartphone users. However, the price will determine its usability and success.