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GALAXY S5: Samsung's latest top-tier smartphone, the Galaxy S5, will officially launch on April 11. Several reviews have surfaced, and give the phone glowing reviews. AnandTech praises Samsung for upgrading the S5, particularly in battery life, processing power, and a cleaner UI. Some of the more prominent new features include a heart rate monitor to sync with fitness tracking apps and an iPhone-style fingerprint sensor home button for added security. Samsung will also allow users to sync their PayPal accounts to their fingerprint detector to authorize payments and purchases. (AnandTech)
But Geoffrey Fowler at The Wall Street Journal has a review we're on board with: aside from a few new bells and whistles, the S5 shows that smartphone innovation is dying, especially at the top. Fowler encompasses the sentiment nicely, "The Galaxy S5 offers a powerful phone with a big screen, but it is not the only phone that does."
Even though the next wave of smartphone growth will be driven by low-price phones, companies who cater to the top end of the market still have to innovate in order to keep existing customers satisfied. With the S5, Samsung has presented S3 and S4 users marginal incentive to upgrade, and little reason for competitors' customers to jump ship. (Wall Street Journal)
GEAR FIT: Along with the launch of the Galaxy S5 smartphone, Samsung will also debut its new wearable device, the Gear Fit. The device is primarily a fitness tracker but also doubles as a smart watch thanks to a bright, curved screen, which distinguishes it from competitors like the well-known trackers — Nike FuelBand and FitBit Force. The Gear Fit will cost $199. (Business Insider)
WEARABLE BATTERIES: One of the biggest barriers for wearable computers to overcome is the generally poor battery life on devices. Ineda, a startup that has raised $30 million, has developed a battery optimized for wearables that offers 30 days of always-on battery life, according to Re/code. Sanjay Jha, the former CEO of Motorola Mobility, serves as the company's chairman. (Re/code)
BALLMER'S LEGACY: Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was actually the exec who gave the go-ahead on Office for iPad, though new CEO Satya Nadella is getting all the praise for its quick success. (TechCrunch)
QUOTE OF THE DAY — "I say: who cares? It’s all the web. We shouldn’t think of 'the web' as only what renders in web browsers. We should think of the web as anything transmitted using HTTP and HTTPS. Apps and websites are peers, not competitors. They’re all just clients to the same services." — developer John Gruber in response to Chris Dixon's article arguing that the app-first world means that the Web itself is being short-changed. (Daring Fireball)
NOKIA SALE APPROVED IN CHINA: Nokia is reporting that Chinese regulators have approved the sale of its device business to Microsoft. The tie-up was first announced in early September 2013 and now, with Chinese regulatory approval, the two companies feel the transaction should fully close at the end of this month. The deal has now received regulatory approvals from China, the EU, and the U.S. (Nokia)
APPLE/SAMSUNG AD SPEND-GAP NARROWS: Note that this data is for the U.S. market — "Samsung outspent Apple by $68 million in 2012, but the iPhone maker responded last year with a TV-led counter-attack and closed the ad spending gap to just $12 million as Samsung dialed back its outlays." Samsung spent $363 million on U.S. mobile phone ads. (WSJ - Digits)
WHATSAPP SIM CARD: Facebook-owned WhatsApp is now working directly with carriers to make the mobile messaging app easier on people's data plans. German carrier E-Plus will offer a prepaid SIM card that gives users unlimited data usage on WhatsApp. German blog Androidnext thinks the point of the move is actually to help E-Plus pick off users from rival wireless carriers, according to TechCrunch. WhatsApp is already installed on 90% of smartphones in Germany, so more market share is not exactly something WhatsApp needs to go after. (TechCrunch)
GLASS AT WORK: Google is calling on developers to create Glass-native apps specifically for the enterprise market in a new program called Google at Work. In a Google+ post, the company cites oilfield services company Schlumberger's move to utilize Glass in the field for employee safety and workplace efficiency. No word yet on what business-savvy developers will receive from Google for working on enterprise-specific Glass apps. (Google+, Business Insider)
Good read — Bloomberg has a nice, long feature on Xiaomi, the innovative smartphone maker based in Beijing, which we also analyzed in a recent report.
Peter Bright at ARS Technica has an in-depth overview of the new Microsoft strategy that manifested in the company's critical Build 2014 conference last week. (ARS Technica)
Former Apple Genius Bar employee Scotty Loveless found that the Facebook app may be the biggest battery suck on the iPhone. (Overthought)
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