Daily iPhone 5s production now matches Moto X’s entire Q3 sales

A new report on iPhone production at Foxconn does an amazing job of putting demand for Apple’s latest iPhone in perspective. The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday issued some insights into Foxconn’s iPhone production that really help illustrate how much work is involved with building and shipping the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c. According to The Journal’s unnamed sources, which are said to be executives at Foxconn’s parent company Hon Hai, Foxconn has 100 production lines, 600 people per line and a total of more than 300,000 workers dedicated solely to building the iPhone 5s — and that’s just at one factory in Zhengzhou, China. How many iPhone 5s handsets can all those people build? According to the report, they’re pumping out a staggering 500,000 iPhone 5s units each day.

To help put that remarkable figure in perspective, consider this: According to data from market research firm Strategy Analytics, Motorola only managed to sell 500,000 Moto X phones during the third quarter this year. The phone was first released on August 23rd, so it was available for more than a month in Q3.

In other words, Apple has more iPhone 5s handsets built each day than the Moto X sold in over one month.

One anonymous executive also noted that the iPhone 5c and iPhone 5 were easier to build than the iPhone 5s, which makes it even more impressive that Foxconn is managing to achieve the kind of output described in the report.

“For the iPhone 5C or the iPhone 5, we only have 500 workers per production line as the assembly procedure is less complicated,” the Hon Hai executive told WSJ. “Although the market had concerns over demand for the new iPhone before its launch, our Zhengzhou site’s production capacity for iPhones has continued to grow over the past two years.”

Another executive noted that Foxconn’s production of 500,000 iPhone 5s handsets each day is the highest daily output the company has ever achieved for a single smartphone model.

Via: 9to5Mac

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Galaxy Gear 2 Set To Be Thinner, Lighter And Come Bundled With The Galaxy S5 [Report]

The technology world never stops turning, and the smartphone portion is more fluid than most, which means it’s no surprise to anyone that Samsung is hard at work making the Galaxy Gear 2 so soon after the first version hit stores alongside the third generation Galaxy Note.

Not only is Samsung working on the device, but it seems that the company is more than happy to talk about it after an unnamed Samsung spokesperson told the Korean site ET News that not only is the Galaxy Gear 2 on the way, but that it will also be between 15% and 20% thinner than the original model. This new svelte design also means that the device will be lighter, which will come as good news to those that baulked at the idea of lugging the firstGalaxy Gear around on their poor unsuspecting wrist.

The same spokesperson said that the new smartwatch will tie in well with the also unannounced Galaxy S5, which will come as no bi surprise to anyone. What that does mean though is that we may just see the Galaxy Gear 2 bundled alongside Samsung’s next flagship smartphone in a similar way to how the Galaxy Gear was with the Galaxy Note 3. And yes, that’s the most times we’ve written the word ‘galaxy’ in a sentence, and yes, it’s lost all meaning at this point.

With Apple still yet to announce its own smartwatch, let along release one, it’s entirely possible that Samsung will be up to its second generation device before Apple is out on the blocks. Of course, that doesn’t mean that Apple won’t be competitive. Either Apple simply refuses to ship until the unannounced watch is at a standard with which it is comfortable, or it’s simply not on the cards at all. At this point, we’ve honestly no idea which of those two options it is.

Samsung seems happy to push forward with its own smartwatches regardless, and with the new device apparently set to be more functional – games, entertainment and healthcare are on the agenda – we could be in for an interesting 2014 as far as our wrists are concerned.

Bring it on, we say!

Would you buy the Galaxy Gear 2 when it comes out? Considering how much the current Gear lacks in terms of functionality.

(Source: ETNews [Google Translate])

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HTC outs Desire 701 and 500 handsets in Taiwan, sets sights on the mid-range market

As if that recently announced trio of Desire smartphones wasn't enough, HTC today introduced a couple more, this time in Taiwan. Meet the Desire 700 and Desire 501, both aimed at the mid-range market in said Asian territory. For its part, the 700 (pictured above) features a 5-inch, qHD display alongside BoomSoundspeakers, an as-of-yet undisclosed quad-core Snapdragon chip, 1GB RAM, 8GB of internal storage and a 2,100mAh battery. The 501, on the other hand, packs those same traits but with a smaller 4.3-inch, WVGA screen and a 1.5GHz dual-core processor -- oh, and it comes in a few different colors. HTC is pricing its dual-SIM-packing Desire 700 at NTD 13,900 (about $470), while the Desire 501 will be available with a cheaper NTD 9,900 price tag.

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Multiple Samsung, HTC devices banned from benchmark site for cheating

Despite the company’s denial last month, Samsung has been found by multiple reputable testers to cheat on benchmark tests. According to reports, several Samsung smartphones and tablets crank up the heat when they detect benchmark tests being performed. The problem seemingly extends beyond just Samsung though, and several other vendors including HTC and LG apparently juice their benchmark tests as well. Now, it looks like benchmark test providers are starting to fight back.

As noted by The Register, benchmark test creator Futuremark has publicly shamed Samsung and HTC by removing several of their devices from its website. The site ranks smartphones and tablets according to their performance on its 3Dmark test for Android, which measures graphics performance on mobile devices.

So far, Futuremark has delisted Samsung’s Galaxy Note 3 smartphone as well as the company’s flagship Galaxy Note 10.1 tablet. From the HTC camp, the One and One mini have both been banned from the site’s rankings as well.

“The platform may not detect the launch of the benchmark executable,” Futuremark’s regulations clearly state. “The platform must not alter, replace or override any parameters or parts of the test, nor modify the usual functioning of the platform based on the detection of the benchmark.”

Via: The Register

Source: Futuremark

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Rumours of Samsung Galaxy S5 specs and release date hit the web

Are you ready for some Samsung Galaxy S5 rumours?

According to an overseas report from ETNews, Samsung is pushing to unveil the next generation of its successful Galaxy lineup with the Galaxy S5 sometime in March or April, which is a few months ahead of the May release of the GS4.

Apparently the company will start mass producing the next “Life’s Companion” Android in January and make it available in two variants, a “Premium” model that sports the rumored metal design; and a standard GS5 made from plastic. No word yet on the colour variations.

As for specs, the Galaxy S5 is rumored to come with a 64-bit Exynos or a Snapdragon processor, 3 GB of RAM, a 16 MP camera with Samsung’s new imaging technology, a 4,000 mAh battery, running Android OS 4.4 KitKat with a new version of TouchWiz.

Of course, none of this is certain until Samsung officially announces its plans.

Source: SamMobile

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Create a complete System Image Backup with Windows 8.1 and File History

I feel better when things are backed up. I use the File History feature of Windows 8 to backup files every hour or so. I really encourage folks to use the Computer Backup Rule of Three.

One of the features of Windows 7 that I love is System Image Backup. I used to use 3rd party products to image my system. In Windows 8 (8.0, that is) it's kind of hard to find System Image Backup. While I use File History locally as well as regular cloud backup (using CrashPlan on my Synology) I also like to do a full System Image every month or so.

I've seen a number of tutorials on the web on "how to create a system image backup on windows 8.1" that have folks going to a PowerShell prompt to start a backup. While that's possible, it's certainly not the primary way you want to start typical backup at home.

In Windows 8.1, go to the Start Menu, type "File History" and run it.

Now, hit System Image Backup in the lower corner there.

You can put an image on DVDs or an external hard drive.

Now, to be clear, should this be your primary backup strategy? No. I've got most things in the cloud or automatically backed up to external drives. If I needed to totally reinstall Windows from scratch, I can get back up and working in about an hour without using a complete System Image. However, I'm comforted by having at least one or two System Image backups. It's nice to have options.

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