You doubled the time spent on a Smartphone or Tablet in 2015

Image courtesy of patrisyu at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

It is time for one of these statistics comparing this to that.
Time spent on mobile devices was up 117% in the year compared to 2014, Flurry, a Yahoo-owned analytics company, said in a report on Tuesday. The data, which looks at worldwide smartphone and tablet use, found that usage among “phablet” owners, or those who have a large-screen smartphone, was up 334% year-over-year. In comparison, usage time was up 81% for small-screen slates and 26% for larger tablets.
By 2017, Flurry said that phablets will top smaller smartphones be the most-used mobile device type.
Phablets are a category of smartphones with large screens (generally in excess of five inches). While the devices have been available for a few years, phablet usage started to explode in 2014 following to premiere of Apple’s big-screen iPhone 6 Plus. Apple has since introduced an updated (and similarly popular) phablet in the iPhone 6s Plus. Meanwhile, competitors, including Samsung, LG, and others, have also found a welcoming marketplace for their own phablets.
Phablet popularity has translated to a significant growth rate in the way people access apps on those devices. For instance, Flurry found that between 2014 and 2015, use of news and magazine apps on phablets was up 721% year-over-year, compared to 135% across all mobile devices, including phablets. Use of sports apps was up 274% on phablets during the same period.
Flurry, which bases its information by tracking app usage on 2.1 billion smart devices around the world, found that total mobile device usage was up 58% in the last year. Although the rate was up, it was down from the 76% growth rate the mobile industry tallied in 2014.

Bags with brains

From suitcases funded like start-ups to bags that can be tracked from your phone, luggage went high tech in 2015. The BlueSmart, which comes complete with a device-charging battery and digital scale, has a companion app that syncs its GPS location to your phone. The suitcase connects seamlessly via Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) to your phone. Global coverage is provided in partnership with Telefonica which is Spanish broadband and telecommunications provider. That means as far as you have 3G coverage or better your suitcase would be able to communicate back to your phone so you can track your suitcase anywhere in the world. The Space Case (due out in early 2016) adds a Bluetooth speaker, turning your carry-on into the ultimate mobile entertainment system. Big names are also on the case: Samsonite and Samsung are working on bags that can be tracked anywhere worldwide.

The clash of the 8 inch tablets

Samsung Galaxy3 8

If you on the market for 8’’ tablet following information might help you to decide. We personally thing that two things are most practically important for the end user - screen resolution and the response to touch , scroll, new browser page or an app opening. Something you can do when you go to the electronic store and try to choose one.
In the 8 inch tablet category there is now the following tablets in the order of my overall judgment of their desirability (see specs at the end of each for comparison purposes):
Samsung Tab 3 8 - at 249.00, this is still a bit costly, but it is light, responsive and has a good screen. Probably has a slight edge on reliability over the others.
Specs: 1.5 GHz Samsung Exynos 4210 Dual Core processor, 1.5 GB DDR2 SDRAM memory, 1280 X 800 resolution, Mali 400 GPU, .68 pounds

Asus Memo 8

Asus Memo 8 - at 229.00, this tablet is a slight bit costly (when you consider the MeMO HD 7 has been seen as low as the $100 range on sale.) ASUS is asking a slight premium for that extra 30% of screen space as compared to the MeMO HD 7. Depending on your preference and the sale price, We rate the Samsung and ASUS a virtual tie for overall value/desirability.
Specs: AMD Quad Core 1.6GHz processor, 1 GB DDR3L SDRAM memory, 1280 X 800 resolution, Mali 400 MP4 graphics, .8 pounds

We did not perform hands on comparison on the effect of the quad core versus two core between Samsung and Asus – any comments on that are welcome.!