BlackBerry has been pretty much out of the smartphone business for years, but 2022 is starting to look like the year when the company puts a few more nails in the coffin. After shutting down some key services used by BlackBerry OS phones earlier this month and announcing that some of its Android apps would […]
patents
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Lilbits: Xiaomi drops the Mi, Saygus sued, and a new UI for Linux phones
Once upon a time, there was going to be a phone called the Saygus V2 that had an unusual design, best-in-class specs, and support for up to 320GB of storage thanks to dual microSD card slots. It was unveiled in early 2015, went up for pre-order a few weeks later for $600, and then it […]
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Samsung Patent application describes phablet with slide-out displays
Samsung’s been working for years on a folding phone with a flexible display that can fold in half, letting you use a single mobile device as either a phone or a tablet. But it’s not clear if or when that device will make it to market. It looks like the company may not be putting […]
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Patent reminds us LG is working on a foldable smartphone too
Rumor has it that this year Samsung will release its first phone with a flexible OLED display that lets you fold the phone in half. The Samsung Galaxy X would essentially let you have a tablet-sized display when you want one, a smaller phone-sized display the rest of the time, and the ability to fold […]
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BlackBerry smartwatches? Timex and BlackBerry announce patent license deal
BlackBerry doesn’t make its own smartphones anymore. Instead the company licenses its intellectual property to companies including TCL and Optiemus who build and sell phones like the BlackBerry KeyOne and DTEK60. Now it looks like BlackBerry may be planning a similar move for smartwatches. Maybe. Timex and BlackBerry announced a patent license agreement this week, […]
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Report: Samsung wants to buy BlackBerry
A lot of folks have been suggesting that the only way BlackBerry could save itself would be to start selling phones that run Google Android rather than BlackBerry OS. But if there’s any truth to a new report from Reuters, maybe future BlackBerry phones will run Tizen instead. According Reuters’s sources, Samsung wants to buy […]
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Lilbits (6-16-2014): Testing new Bay Trail gear
A number of new products featuring Intel Bay Trail processors are hitting the streets this summer, including Chromebooks, Windows tablets, Android tablets, and 2-in-1 systems. Thanks to some devices Asus and Acer loaned me, I’ll be testing some of each in the coming weeks. Today an Acer Switch 10 Windows 2-in-1, Asus C200 Chromebook, Asus […]
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Google, Samsung announce 10 year patent cross-licensing deal
At a time when mobile companies often seem to prefer litigation to licensing, Samsung and Google have announced that they’ve signed a 10 year cross-licensing agreement for existing and future patents. It’s not sure if this covers all patents from the companies, but it does mean we’re a bit less likely to see lawsuits fly between […]
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Lilbits (11-01-2013): Rockstar patent suit
Google and some of the top makers of Android smartphones are now facing lawsuits over the technology used in their devices. A few years ago a coalition of companies including Microsoft, Apple, and RIM (now known as BlackBerry) spend $4.5 billion to acquire patents from Nortel, a company that had gone out of business. Then […]
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HP could sell off some mobile patents
HP has had a rough time in the mobile space over the last few years. After spending more than a billion dollars to acquire Palm and its webOS software, the company killed its webOS hardware division just months after launching the HP TouchPad tablet. These days HP is banking on Windows and Android for its […]