http://liliputing.com/2015/06/allwinner-to-help-qualcomm-get-snapdragon-chips...

Allwinner to help Qualcomm get Snapdragon chips into cheap tablets




"Allwinner is a Chinese fabless semiconductor company that designs its own chips, which are often used in cheap tablets produced in China. But for the most part those tablets are WiFi-only.

Qualcomm, meanwhile, is an American chip maker that already has a series of low-cost chips with integrated support for 4G LTE, including the Snapdragon 210 and Snapdragon 410 processors. The chips also support for dual SIM cards and Qualcomm Quick Charge technology.

While Qualcomm chips are widely used by smartphone and tablet makers that sell their products in the US and Europe, the company’s chips aren’t as popular with budget tablet makers in China, who often opt for processors from Allwinner, Rockchip, and MediaTek.

By partnering with Allwinner, Qualcomm could leverage that company’s connections to convince Chinese device makers to use its chips. Allwinner gets a chance to offer device makers a solution for 4G LTE-capable tablets without having to design its own 4G chips in-house."

Allwinner and Mediatek are arch rivals in China -- Allwinner has no 4G LTE modem of its very own although it has chipsets that are much like Mediatek's everywhere else.

Allwinner NEEDS a 4G LTE radio/baseband combo tech to glom on to and to build into their future designs.

Both Allwinner and Qualcomm see Mediatek rising to be a SIGNIFICANT threat to each one of them --- but can the two of them acting together stem that rising tide ????

The Hockey sticks are out and the blood is flying -- Qualcomm has gone and gotten them a hockey stick now and has gotten some fresh stick cuts and bruises on their face already .....

But unfortunately if you choose the Accer chromebook (best rating when I researched it) you musthave wifi to set it up
My ISP charges more for wifi

still a better overall value, though, I'm just frustrated I did the 'smart' thing and it backfired

http://liliputing.com/2015/06/upgrading-to-windows-10-here-are-features-youll...

"We already knew Microsoft was dropping support for Windows Media Center. Here are a few other things you’ll lose if you upgrade to Windows 10 (or buy a new PC running Windows 10):

Native support for DVD playback
Windows 7 desktop gadgets
Native support for USB floppy drives"


Why is Win10 abandoning removable media?   Other people's software comes on removable media and MS doesn't want you loading that old "malware" on their MS OS machine any more.

Count on MS to try to lock out all other folk's software by using a variety of means  ---  they really do want you LOCKED into only using MS PRODUCTS ONLY from now on.

Make no mistake, MS is NOT an open platform -- yet they want Google Android and ChromeOS and Linux to be totally open platforms so they can move onto those platforms and then try to lock themselves down once they get in there.

I think FOSS should catch MS using some Linux code and sue to have the whole MS Windows thing made FOSS ....

$119 for "free OS" software  ???     ..... right .....


=======================================


Consider the free alternatives out there -- Linux and ChromeOS to name just the two most complete and relatively easy to do.

IMHO, Linux Mint is an "easier change over" for an old Windows person -- not seamless, but much easiest to get past the seams.   Linux Mint is written and maintained for folks who want to know NOTHING about their OS system other than the menus offered -- and it will work on that sort of basis just fine.

Chromebooks go a step further, there isn't a visible OS to have to get used to.   Just a 3 bar "preference settings" menu up in the top right corner.

Or you can plunk down your endless stream of MS money and be a MS minion forever   .....   it's your box and your choice.

http://liliputing.com/2015/06/remix-os-1-5-is-coming-this-summer-based-on-and...

Remix OS 1.5 is coming this summer (based on Android 5.0)

https://youtu.be/NicS4VTm7Bk      ..... it is a video, click on it ....

Win10 for Mobile is being compared to this Remix OS 1.5 product as similar in look and feel.    

Since you can get all the major MS software (it is all in the Play Store now) to run on Remix OS, plus all of Android and all of the major Linux softwares (LibreOffice, Calc, etc. which are all in the Play Store now too) one wonders if the FOSS "general use OS" response to MS Win10 Mobile isn't already out there and already readily available for free through the Play Store.

You see, all of the "classic" heavy iron PC softwares are strictly limited to PC class hardware by the new MS Windows 10 implementation --- indeed there really isn't much different about Win10 structure-wise from Win 8.1.    Some would say that apart from Cortana and some new start screens it is really pretty much same ol same ol.



Whereas Remix OS is all the android tablet/laptop tricks developed in the last few years over in the Orient, where Android is their favorite (and in most cases only) operating system.

Could people live off Remix OS ????

Yep.

http://emerset.com/licensing-negotiations/articles/analysis-of-microsofts-2nd...



"Windows 10 is expected to be released during the second half of 2015 and it promises to be the most ambitious and complex version to date. Windows 10 will include new features such as Cortana®, the new personal digital assistant, and Sparta, which is a completely redesigned browser. This latest version of Windows will also include scaled down Office functionality with touch enabled editions of Word, Excel®, PowerPoint®, OneNote®, and Outlook®. Microsoft is also promising unprecedented security features and a suite of utilities for managing photos, videos, music, maps, messaging, mail, and calendars. These new additions and others would be difficult under any circumstances, but perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of Windows 10 is that it promises to work across all devices, including desktop and laptop PCs as well as tablets and mobile devices and the user is expected to be able to seamlessly migrate from one device to another with little or no change in their experience or interface. The new tools and the multi-device functionality are difficult to implement on their own, and the combination of both raises the challenge exponentially. Early reviews have been quite positive, but skeptics question whether Windows 10 can meet expectations.

Shifting Revenue Stream
As reported in this earnings release and others, Microsoft’s cloud revenue (primarily Office 365, Azure, and Dynamics CRM Online) is growing nicely, but these gains are offset by declining revenue elsewhere. The move to the cloud and associated competitive pressure is forcing Microsoft to dramatically cut prices on some of their traditionally more profitable products. Perpetual licenses for Office are being replaced by Office 365 subscriptions. This results in a predictable recurring revenue stream, but competition from Google Apps™ and Apple iWork™ has driven O365 subscription prices lower than desired.  Perhaps more concerning is the announcement made last week that Windows 7, 8.1, and Windows Phone users will be able to upgrade to Windows 10 at no charge during the first year after its release. Microsoft hasn’t traditionally made a tremendous amount of money on Windows upgrades, but the precedent is very concerning. Additionally, they are no longer charging OEMs a Windows royalty for devices nine inches and smaller."

Make the long story short, MS is showing signs of "over-reaching" with Win10.   It isn't going to come out of the gate "anywhere near complete" in the eyes of the end users and the price has been set too high at $119 for the non-upgradeable machines.

There are alternatives out there now, and all the computing cattle are actually used to using those alternatives now and they may find that they no longer care to contribute to MS's blood bowl in an ongoing fashion.

Microsoft is now following the subscription model for all their products now, so we will be interested in seeing if the $119 is actually really the normal yearly subscription price for Windows 10 and forward after the "free introductory year" is up.

The plug in mini looks similar to what I saw in Japan, but it plugged into your phone outlet and then into your laptop or desktop and the access to the net was supplied by a semi-dsl connection using the regular phone lines.
Only lasted for about 3 years though.... I guess there was not enough "power" going through the phone line and the speed was limited, unlike true dsl.

They were also experimenting with one that plugged into an electrical outlet, but it turned out to be noisey.
Not sure what became of that, but haven't checked lately, something about frequency modulation or some sort.

Here is what i'm talking about
http://kotaku.com/5881535/this-magic-box-makes-wifi-so-stable-and-so-easy

Over the last mountain trip I realized something -- I carried an iPad and Dave had a laptop but I didn't touch either one much the whole trip.

I was working with the old Samsung Galaxy S3 and the off-line GPS navigation software a lot and as I did so I kept using my current phone and the "OK Google" touch icon to do research and to find things.

Dave was using his iPhone and was having trouble getting directions to places while I could just talk to my Android and get what we needed instantly.    Since I was driving, Dave was holding my phone while we looked for a rainy day restaurant that wasn't packed with people.

So, for Father's Day I just got a Moto G sized handle bar holder for my phone ......

-----------------------------------

Folks are currently asking "What happened to tablet sales this year?"

There is an answer to that -- 6" phones happened to tablet sales.   Folks are finding that their phone is big enough now to replace their tablet pretty much completely for daily use and with no downsides for much that folks have discovered so far anyway.  

They have NO MOTIVATION to buy an upgraded tablet at all right now.

That big cell phone might drop into a docking station soon to run your big desktop screen as your PC replacement, since pretty soon Android and Apple phone OSs will have it all built into them.    And Windows phones too, let's not forget them.

This will be a total industry paradigm changer .... and MS is worried right now, as is Intel.    Intel is inside ONE (1) major released phone right now (and is paying ASUS mightily for that Zenphone privilege) and MS Windows Phone in general has a 3% and shrinking phone market share right now (and that is with all the very numerous & nebulous promises for a revitalized Win 10 phone experience that are being PR'd all over the place).

This is what you can take to the bank -- all the players are looking at phone OS systems that will dock to a big screen and give a total computing experience to the person who just upgraded his ONE AND ONLY COMPUTING DEVICE.