Survey Finds Android Users Love The Little Green Robot

The world is awash with smartphone operating systems and whilst a lot of people don't care about them and are quite happy to use whatever is put in front of them there are equally a lot of people who very much do care about those differences. So much so that some users might be better described as 'fans' rather than users. Looking at this sort of behaviour British research firm ICM Research conducted a survey of 2,000 British adults using Android late last year and they have recently made their findings public.

One of the biggest questions to answer would be why people choose Android over other platforms. Answering that we have a wide range of responses from the 70% of people who said that Android offers better value for money than other platforms to the 48% who said Android is a better long term investment of their resources. 61% of those surveyed cited the wide range of handsets as a factor in choosing Android. Hit read more for details.

Google Says China Blocking Gmail

Google and China don't exactly have a great history together and in the latest twist Google has accused the Chinese government of blocking access to its Gmail email service. A Google spokesperson summed it up:

There is no issue on our side, we have checked extensively. This is a government blockage carefully designed to look like the problem is with Gmail.

Gmail users within China can apparently still login to their account, but they can't actually carry out tasks such as sending email or accessing contacts. In other words it's pretty much unusable. Hit read more for details.

iPhone 5 To Have Metal Back? Already In Mass Production?

The summer is just around the corner and that means it's almost new iPhone time. Anyway iPhone 5 rumours have been gathering pace for a while now and the latest is that the newest iPhone will keep the same shape as the current iPhone 4, but will feature a larger screen and also a metal backing. Speculation around the screen centres on what sort of resolution it will have with some commentators wondering if Apple might push it up even higher thanthat found in the iPhone 4.

To reinforce this rumour we have some sightings of the iPhone 5 apparently having been made at Foxconn, Apple's Chinese manufacturing partner. The iPhone 5 is said to be in mass production there in anticipation of a summer launch. And no, that isn't the real iPhone 5 picture above.

Nokia Ovi to Android SMS convert utility

How many of our readers have just switched over form Nokia to Android and are saddened by all the saved messages that will go away with the old phone. You don't need to worry now. We have here a step by step guide to help you transfer those messages from your Nokia to your Android. Please let us know how it went and ask us any questions in the comments section below if you need further help. Good luck!

Description

Nokia2AndroidSMS is a small application that allows you to convert SMS messages from Nokia Ovi datafiles into an xml file supported by SMS Backup & Restore Android application.
Process for transferring SMS messages to your new Android Phone is the following.
Nokia phone side:

1. Install Nokia OVI, (You don’t need the OVI account!)
2. synchronize messages from your phone with OVI
3. Disconnect your Nokia Phone and close the Nokia OVI application. WATCH OUT. Noia OVI likes to minimize to system tray please be sure you really closed the application

Hit read more for further instructions.

AMD announces first Fusion chips: 10+ hour battery life with DirectX11 graphics

Is this real? Is this happening? It's been over four years since AMD and ATI completed their $5.4 billion merger with the promise of Fusion hybrid CPU / GPU chips, and after what's seemed like nearly endless delays, the company's delivering here at CES 2011. And it's delivering in a big way -- the first Fusion chips are a direct assault on Intel's Atom and the netbook market, offering what AMD says is better CPU performance, vastly better GPU performance with DirectX11 support, dedicated 1080p HD video processing and HDMI out, and "all day" battery life that can hit 10 or more hours. There are four total chips in two families built around the new "Bobcat" CPU core to start: the "Zacate" E-Series for mainstream laptops, AIOs and small desktops will have an 18W TDP and come in the 1.6GHz dual-core E-350 and the 1.5GHz single-core E-240, while the "Ontario" C-Series for HD netbooks and "other emerging form factors" will clock in at 9W TDP and come in the dual-core 1.0GHz C-50 and the single core 1.2GHz C-30. The "Llano" A-Series designed for mainstream laptops will offer up to four cores and arrive later this year. Hit read more for details.

HTC Arrive now available for $200 from Sprint, $50 at Amazon

It's March 20th and, right on schedule, Sprint has started taking orders for its first Windows Phone 7 handset. The HTC 7 Pro, renamed the Arrive on the Now Network, can now be had for $200 after rebate when bought with the customary two-year contract. Amazon's doing its usual thing of undercutting carriers' own pricing by offering it up for 150 greenbacks less at $50, and we suspect other online retailers will follow suit. So affordability shouldn't be a problem.

HTC Orders A Million Tablets For First Run

HTC is yet to enter the tablet game, but it will soon with its first device the HTC Flyer. It's an Android 2.4 tablet with a 7 inchs creen, 1.5 GHz chip, 32 GB of internal memory, 1 GB of RAM and a 5 MP camera. 

Taiwan Economic News is reporting that HTC placed an order for a million of these things to be made for the first run. HTC clearly has high hopes for its debut tablet and that's in addition to the two other rumoured tablet devices HTC is expected to announce/launch this year.

Initial speculation has the Flyer priced somewhere in the $600 range, which is roughly equivalent to what we're seeing from other manufacturers although crucially $100 cheaper than the iPad 2 3G model.

Apple - Demand for iPad 2 Is 'Amazing'

Apple haven't been forthcoming with sales figures for the iPad 2 yet, but they have given us the next best thing, a pretty obvious statement. Apple spokesperson Trudy Miller claims "Demand for the enxt generation iPad 2 has been amazing. We are working hard to get iPad 2 into the hands of every customer that wants one as quickly as possible".

Pretty much everyone who has been stocking the iPad 2 has already sold out including the likes of AT&T, Best Buy, Walmart etc. So even in the absence of actual figures we can see what we expected to happen, the iPad 2 is a hit.

Google VP lays down mobile stats, boasts 150 million Maps users

Care for a cup of Google data, anyone? The vice president of location services, Marissa Mayer, stated some interesting facts about the state of all things mobile at the Goog. Most notably, the company provides its map service to 150 million users. Just to give you an idea of how many peeps that is -- it's about half the number of individuals in America. Crazy, we know. What's more, Mayer claimed thatGoogle Maps guided users 12 billion miles per year and that its latest build of the app saves people an average of two days worth of travel time each year. Another bit worth noting is how the company feels about Google Maps for iPhone. "We like being the default provider, but we'd like to get some of these updates out to a broader audience. That's still a debate / question we're considering." Updates? Anactual Google Maps application that works as a GPS on an iPhone? Wake us up when iOS 5 is previewed, or we can just keep dreaming.

Motorola Droid 3, Droid X 2 and LTE-equipped Targa pictured?

The Motorola Droid 2 and Droid X are both headed toward their one-year anniversaries this summer, which has pretty much become the culling hour for a smartphone of any creed these days. Their successors, ingeniously titled the Droid 3 and Droid X 2, have seemingly made an appearance over atHowardForums, courtesy of longtime forum member wnrussell. He's also kindly provided imagery of a heretofore unknown device, called the Targa, which promises Verizon 4G LTE and has a protrusion on its rear that looks to be dedicated to accommodating an outsized camera sensor. It reminds us most of Motorola's XT720, though it sports a chrome outline to its body similar to what you see above on the purported Droid 3. Click past the break to get an eyeful of this Targa device and its Droid X 2 brandmate.