Mihăiță Bamburic

In 2013, for the first time, yearly smartphone shipments topped one billion units, according to IDC. Rival firm Strategy Analytics, though, begs to differ and says the milestone has yet to be reached in the past year, with only 990 million units being shipped. Regardless of the number, this market continues to show strong gains year-over-year, as shipments increased by over 34 percent (according to SA; IDC says 38.4 percent) compared to the previous year (for 2012, IDC says 725.3 million units, while SA estimates 700.1 million units).

Apple and Samsung remain the market leaders, according to both firms. The South Korean maker continues to be the largest smartphone vendor, shipping in excess of 310 million units in 2013 (IDC -- 313.9 million units, SA -- 319.8 million units), which represents a healthy increase over the 2012 results (IDC -- 219.7 million units, SA -- 213 million units). Its share of the market also increased, slightly, to 31.3 percent from 30.3 percent, according to IDC, or to 32.3 percent from 30.4 percent, according to SA.

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The underwhelming Nokia Lumia sales from Q4 2013 have put a damper on Windows Phone's momentum, as, for the first time last year, the Finnish maker moved less units compared to the previous quarter. Growth was already slowing down, as I pointed out three months ago, but a decline in moved units was unexpected, potentially leading to irreparable damage, in the short and the long run as well, for the market share of the tiled smartphone operating system.

Lumia sales are extremely important for the growth of the platform because Nokia's Windows Phone market share has been holding steady around the 90 percent mark for a very long time. This means that if the Finnish maker has a great quarter, in regards to Lumia sales, the tiled smartphone OS has a better chance of holding its own against Android and iOS, and increasing its market share. Luckily, we do not have to wait any longer to find out how the Lumia sales from Q4 2013 have impacted Windows Phone, as Kantar Worldpanel ComTech just released a report for the respective quarter.

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Yesterday, Microsoft released its earnings report for Q2 FY2014 (that is Q4 CY2013), revealing revenue of $24.52 billion and net income of $6.56 billion (78 cents per share). The Redmond, Wash.-based corporation has managed to beat the average analyst consensus of $23.68 billion and 68 cents per share respectively, as my colleague Joe Wilcox noted.

Aside from the strong overall results, there was another part of the earnings report which has caught our attention -- Surface sales. Revenue from Microsoft's Windows RT and Windows 8 tablets reached $893 million during the quarter. That is $493 million more than in the first fiscal quarter of the year. Good news, right? Surface is finally starting to take off, after all. Well, an SEC filling puts a damper on any enthusiasm, as Microsoft actually lost money on its tablets in Q2 FY2014.

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Finnish maker Nokia has released its earnings report for Q4 2013, the first that indicates how the company, and its financial health, will look like without the Devices & Services arm that is set to be part of Microsoft's portfolio. That business is listed under "Discontinued operations".

Another effect of the sale of this business is that Nokia no longer lists the exact volume for the mobile phones and smartphones sold during the quarter. This effectively rules out any precise Lumia Windows Phone performance comparison. However, the company gives bad news as it reveals unit sales are actually lower for its Windows Phones compared to the previous quarter, when it sold 8.8 million of them.

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In June 2013, Edward Snowden was revealed as the whistleblower behind the NSA surveillance revelations, shortly turning the man into one of the most controversial public figures of 2013. The documents he stole while working as an NSA contractor and later leaked to the press have exposed a significant number of questionable practices employed by the US agency and its UK counterpart, GCHQ, to collect information and spy on people worldwide with debatable results.

Undoubtedly, many people have questions that they would like to ask Snowden about the outcome of his actions, his personal life or trips to certain countries. If you are part of that group, you can join the Q&A hosted by freesnowden.is, "the support site [...] run by The Courage Foundation and [...] the only endorsed Snowden Defence Fund". Edward Snowen will answer your questions on Thursday, starting at 3 pm EST (8 pm GMT).

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In March 2013, popular note-taking service Evernote announced a partnership with German mobile operator Deutsche Telekom which would enable the latter's subscribers to receive free access, for one year, to the Evernote Premium plan. First available only in Germany, the offer is now extending to 12 more European countries.

There is a caveat, however. While German subscribers have been able to benefit from 12 months of free Evernote Premium, the Deutsche Telekom customers in the additional eligible countries -- Albania, Austria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Greece, Hungary, Montenegro, Macedonia, The Netherlands, Poland, Romania and Slovakia -- only get half as much (six months).

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What do you get after taking out the cellular prowess from a very, very large smartphone? The answer would be a tablet, albeit one that falls on the smaller side. It is exactly what Japanese maker Sony has done with its Xperia Z Ultra, which will be available in a Wi-Fi only version this week.

For those unfamiliar with the Xperia Z Ultra, the device was announced in the first half of 2013 with a 6.44-inch display, Android 4.2 Jelly Bean and 4G LTE/HSPA+ cellular connectivity, as the main selling points.

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South Korean maker LG has announced that its G Flex Android smartphone is set to reach 20 European countries. The roll out of the handset, that offers a curved display and self-healing coating as its main highlights, commences in February on the old continent.

"The introduction of the LG G Flex in Europe demonstrates our confidence in the global marketplace for a curved smartphone", says LG CEO Dr. Jong-seok Park. "As a premium smartphone, the G Flex will further establish LG as a brand that offers something unique for every consumer segment. This is a device that is guaranteed to start a conversation wherever it goes".

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The Lumia 929 is, without a doubt, the worst kept secret in Nokia's recent history. Pictures of the new Windows Phone have appeared numerous times, leaving nothing to the imagination. Furthermore, the handset even went on sale in China, at a local online retailer with its Verizon branding, ahead of its official launch.

Also ahead of its official launch, the Lumia Icon -- known as the Lumia 929 -- has appeared on Verizon's site, revealing every detail that one might want to know about the device. As you may have read so far, this Windows Phone is allegedly a big red-exclusive offering.

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According to rumors that have been popping up over the past few months, Nokia is preparing to launch a new Windows Phone 8 handset called Lumia 929. The smartphone is expected to bear the Verizon logo, as an exclusive model designed for the US mobile operator. It should be the successor of the Lumia 928, that was introduced in the first half of last year.

One might naturally assume that, when the Lumia 929 actually goes on sale, Verizon's online and brick and mortar stores would be the first places to offer the Windows Phone. The mobile operator's logo implies it. Well, the Lumia 929 is now available, but at Chinese online retailer Taobao.

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For a long time, dedicated websites and apps have been able to separate the audio content in YouTube videos, in order for users to download it for offline playback. Even the full-blown YouTube app that was developed by Microsoft for Windows Phone offered a similar feature, which allowed users to grab the whole video instead and store it on their smartphone.

Ripping the audio from YouTube videos can come in handy for those who want to enjoy their favorite tracks, but may find themselves in areas without good-enough cellular coverage for YouTube streaming. I have experienced this scenario first-hand while traveling. For Windows Phone users, there are a couple of apps that can get this job done, with MusicTube being one of the most appealing choices.

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In order to get more battery life out of your Windows Phone you have two viable options. The first is to purchase an external or extended battery and connect it to the smartphone -- that is not quite convenient as it adds more weight and bulk -- and the second is to tweak Windows Phone for the device to consume as little power as possible, preferably without sacrificing any important functionality.

Taking the former route involves spending time to research the available options -- there are many of them, but only a couple may suit your taste and preference -- and spending money, while the latter requires considerably less effort on your end and, best of all, has no price tag attached to it. Since you are reading this article I can only assume you are interested in finding out more about the latter option, so let us take a look at the following tips.

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I have often wondered how many Windows Phone users are relying on Google Search, instead of Bing, to look things up on the InterWebs. The percentage should not be very high seeing as Microsoft deeply integrates Bing with the dedicated search button and makes it the default choice for processing queries from Internet Explorer. I can imagine the software giant saying "This time they will all bing it, not google it" and doing an evil laugh afterwards.

To use Google instead of Bing, Windows Phone users can change the default search engine in the Internet Explorer settings and/or navigate to its web page and look things up from there. Personally, I prefer the former route as it is more convenient and faster, though I would not be surprised to learn that there are people who are not familiar with this option. However, Microsoft does not allow users to change the default search engine when using the dedicated search button. As you can see, the odds favor Bing. It should, therefore, be the users' favorite by a long shot, shouldn't it? The answer is not so clear.

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Of all the services I use, Facebook knows me best. It knows where I live, who my "friends" are, what movies I like, what my favorite bands are, where I like to go out for a drink, what sort of content I want to see when I scroll through my feed and which sources I like for news stories.

Facebook also knows that when it comes to reading news on my tablet I prefer Flipboard. Why? Well, the apps are nicely designed, pleasant to use and, because of the newspaper-like layout, provide a certain sense of occasion. The content that I get, after having carefully selected the sources and added my social network accounts, mostly suits my preferences. There is still stuff that I have to filter out but, generally speaking, Flipboard does a good job at tailoring the news content to my liking. Facebook, though, could do an even better job, if it decided to offer a rival service.

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BlackBerry's efforts to improve its sliding sales and consumer relevance with the BlackBerry 10 touch-friendly lineup have failed. In fact, the company's latest available handsets are actually selling less nowadays compared to the old, and dated, BlackBerry 7 OS devices. For anyone paying attention that means the writing is already on the wall, but BlackBerry is (still) planning and hoping to make a comeback.

After bringing BBM to Android and iOS, the Canadian maker will shift focus back to QWERTY keyboards, and away from all-touchscreen designs, and could also embrace more competing platforms in BlackBerry Enterprise Server. The company's CEO John Chen hinted that the enterprise-grade device management software might add support for Windows Phone, on top of Android and iOS.

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