Operating Systems

Jide Kills Remix OS

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Remix OS-- the desktop-style Android fork complete with floating windows, mouse and keyboard support, and a start button-- is no more, as developer Jide announces an end to its consumer products.

Remix OS A simple announcement on the Jide website states work on "all existing products," including Remix OS software and various hardware products, is over. The company is even going to refund preorders on devices, such as the Remix IO and IO+ STBs, made on both Kickstarter and its online storefront starting from 15 August.

But why is Jide bringing such work to an end? Apparently this is due to a reshuffling of company priorities. As the announcement puts it, “over the past year, we received an increasing number of inquiries from enterprises in various industries, and began helping them build great tools for their organisations... [G]iven our existing resources, we decided to focus our company efforts solely on the enterprise space moving forward.”

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Farewell, Windows Phone

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Microsoft brings Windows Phone to an end as it stops support of Windows Phone 8.1, more than three years after the company introduced the update back in April 2014.

Windows PhoneA victim of the Android-iOS duopoly controlling the mobile OS arena, Windows Phone 8.1 and its 8/7 predecessors power around 80% of the millions of devices running on the Microsoft software, according to AdDuplex. As a result such devices are now unsupported, and only 20% of Windows phones run on the latest version, Windows 10 Mobile OS.

Currently Microsoft sells a limited number of budget Windows 10 Mobile smartphones, and in any case the OS appears to be receiving little support from the Windows maker. The company has stopped making own Lumia-brand devices, and rumours suggest Windows 10 Mobile will only be maintained until support ends in 2019.

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Kantar Worldpanel: Life in a Two-OS World

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According to Kantar Worldpanel the days of a BlackBerry OS, Symbian or Windows Phone making "significant" impact are over, since the mobile industry is all but dominated by iOS-Android duopoly.

Kantar mobileThe biggest 5 European markets (Great Britain, Germany, France, Italy and Spain) are dominated by Android-- the Google OS accounts for 74.3% of smartphone sales in the quarter ending January 2017, a "marginal" increase over the 72.9% of the same period in the previous year. In the meantime iOS holds 22.7%, with the iPhone 7 remaining the top-selling device in Great Britain, France and Germany.

Kantar points out Nokia as a potential success story in the region, as brand owner HMD Global is focusing on quality for cost with well made mid-tier devices. Such smartphones will not rival the iPhone 7 or the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S8, but do compete with the likes of the Huawei 8 and P9 Lite, both strong sellers in the price-conscious Italian and Spanish markets.

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Android Wear Reaches 2.0

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Google releases the next version of the Android Wear smartwatch operating system-- Android Wear 2.0, an upgrade with features such as standalone apps, LTE support and improved fitness tracking.

LG Watch Android Wear 2.0 is redesigned to be easier to use through simple swipes and the voice-controlled Google Assistant (summoned through the "OK Google" command). Complicated wrist gestures are disabled by default, and watch faces are customisable through 3rd party apps, allowing one to display current weather, stock prices, nearby places or a favourite contact.

Users can also install apps directly on a smartphone through a miniature version of the Google Play Store, while health tracking promises improvements through a pre-installed Google Fit app able to automatically detect workouts and give exercise tips. Notifications also get a boost through grouping and actionable options, such as deleting an email or replying to an SMS.

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Huawei Working on Own OS?

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China's Huawei is working on two software projects , The Information reports-- a different look for the Emotion UI Android skin and, far more ambitiously, an own mobile OS.

HuaweiInterestingly, according to the news story Huawei sets to fight criticisms of hardware and software design with an appearance all too similar to that of iDevices by hiring directly from the Apple stable. The employee in question is former longtime Apple designer Abigail Brody, who should provide the Emotion UI with an "own flair" able to grab the attentions of Western customers.

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