YouView explain where they are: Android app, Internet television and how they're doing!

   YouView are a UK company which offer you subscription free TV and all you really need is to buy the box and hook it up to your internet and you're good to go. With such a simple solution it's not too much wonder than the  box is being labelled as the "fastest growing TV product in the UK."

   YouView's CEO, Richard Halton, said that the system s now live in more than 400,000 homes in the UK and about 2.2 million video streams are viewed each week. That includes an average of 3 hours of week of on demand TV per box and about 60% of the users make the most of the OnDemand services which are offered on the platform.  YouView don't have exact details on which providers offered how many of those boxes, but TalkTalk said that they've installed 230,000 so that means the rest are BT and other sales of the boxes.

   Halton was keen to emphasise that this is only a good start, he said:

"We are far from resting on our laurels … If launching was crossing the start line, this is the first marker."

   YouView have confirmed that there will be support for internet TV channels coming to their set top box! The company said that this will give the company a massive boost from their current line up of 70 live TV channels which they offer already. YouView did say that initially the TV channels will be offered through BT and TalkTalk so you'll need to be a customer of one of those companies initially and don't worry you can get both HD and standard definition TV shows from these providers.

   There will be a software update for the YouView boxes which will add in the availability this summer and the hope is that it will be ready for BT's new sports offerings! After this integrating update there will be another one in autumn this year which will add pause, skip and record features.

   YouView also confirmed where they are with their Android app. Obviously mobile devices are vital to television offerings these days and the company already has an app for iPhones out in the wild, but YouView have said that the Android app will have the exact same functionality as the iPhone app and it will be available in "the next couple of weeks". The app will be optimised for the Samsung Galaxy S2, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Ace, Nexus 4 and HTC One S and it should work on any device with Android 2.3 or greater!

Via PocketLint (1), (2) and (3).

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04/07/2012

RIM in for more pain after carriers make some demands!

   The same week RIM announced their planned saviour, BB10, was delayed and they posted another loss, the company has also heard rumblings from carriers that they're not overly content either. 

   Bloomberg has claimed that carriers like AT&T and Verizon have requested that RIM reduces the cost of subscriptions to Blackberry services such as BBM. Understandable the Canadian co. is reluctant to do this because this sort of service accounts for more than a third of RIM's income.

   RIM has essentially refused to comment on the debate officially, instead saying; “RIM intends to continue generating a revenue stream from the services we offer”. That's all their spokesperson, Nick Manning, would say and unsurprisingly both AT&T and Verizon declined to comment.

There's still something 'smart' for the QWERTY lovers coming from Samsung!

   While Blackberry devices may be struggling to gain some market share right now thankfully not every company on the planet is avoiding qwerty devices with a barge pole.

   Now this definitely isn't going to be rivaling your best friends new Galaxy S3 on the spec front, but if you must have a hardware keyboard this is going to be an appealing little device. The screen is a 3" QVGA touchscreen, 2-megapixel camera and a poultry 4GB of internal storage. Although, thankfully there's also a microSD slot and a solid 1,200 mAh battery. The WiFi b/g/n and Bluetooth 3.0 should be great to keep you connected.

   There's two interesting features here that have caught our attention; the first is that this phone runs a Touchwizzed version of Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, so it's relatively up to date on the software front. But there's also said to be an LTE version of the phone coming, which is a surprising addition given that we expect this phone to be squarely aimed at the low to mid-end range. Unfortunately we don't know what sort of processor will be powering the show and we don't have any details on price points, but as soon as we hear we'll be sure to let you know!

One of HP's unreleased WebOS beauties!

   We've all been witnesses to the untimely demise of the beautiful WebOS operating system. But, before the axe came down on the smooth little system it seems HP had plans for a full touch device! 

   The image above was sourced by WebOS Nation and it appears to show a 3.6" device with an uncanny resemblance to the Pre's and Veer's of this world. It was supposedly codenamed WindsorNot and it's just a shame this device never made it to market, we do have a soft spot for WebOS over hear at TTF!

In other news:

• The stock of Apple's iMac's has dropped and we know what that means! refresh inbound!
• Thankfully the UK courts have seen sense and have thrown out Apple's case against HTC over slide to unlock patents. It looks like the US is taking a much harder line on 'essential' technologies to the rest of the world.
• Samsung has signed a deal with Qualcomm to produce 28nm chips for the company.
• The YouView set top box will be coming to the UK in the next couple of months!
• Google's Galaxy Nexus has been temporarily banned after their collaboration with Samsung in the courts failed to convince Judge Koh to change her mind. But, alas Google has promised the device will be available again in no time!
• It's come to light today that Sony have been working on the PS4 since 2012 and apparently the work continues!
• Bloomberg have today claimed knowledge of iPad Mini production!
• Is the next Xbox set to follow the Windows 8 naming scheme? Or is it set to be called Xbox infinity? Either way Microsoft has bought up the website Xbox8.com.

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