motorola

Google's Motorola Mobility filed a motion today with the U.S. International Trade Commission to drop two patents from its patent infringement complaint against Microsoft.

The motion (see below) puts to rest part of the ITC patent battle between the two companies, which began in November 2010 when Motorola sued Microsoft over wireless and video coding patents used in Xbox and its smartphones. Microsoft countered that Motorola was unfairly seeking excessive royalty payments for the H.264 video patents, which are an industry essential standard and as such must be offered on FRAND (fair, reasonable, and nondiscriminatory) basis.

An … Read more

The latest version of Android is now sitting on about 10 percent of all Android devices, while Gingerbread dropped below 50 percent, according to the latest numbers from Google.

Jelly Bean -- that is, Android 4.1 and 4.2 -- is up in the two weeks ending January 3, though it's Android 4.1 that's made most of the gains (see chart below).

That's a sizable jump from the first two weeks of December when Jelly Bean, released in July, was on 6.7 percent of all active devices.

Driving the uptick are devices including the … Read more

Google is putting its acquisition of Motorola to use by building a powerful new device known internally as the 'X phone' to compete with offerings from Apple and Samsung, according to a new report.

The Wall Street Journal reported that engineers at Motorola are working hard on the new handset, to be released some time next year. It will mark the first time that Google has built a phone with struggling Motorola, which it acquired for $12.5 billion.

Motorola will continue to produce devices for its carrier partner Verizon, while also devoting resources to the 'X' partnership with Google … Read more

Brace yourselves: 2013 is upon us, and that means a whole new generation of Android devices, rumors, and expectations.

Android will have a strong showing at CES, and the next few months will be littered with new smartphones and tablets. Let's take a look at some of the trends we can expect in the Android space over the coming year.

This article will touch on many trends in the Android ecosystem, including hardware advancements, vendor decisions, and key events of the year. Given the sheer number of players in the space, there will be much to look forward to … Read more

Google apparently sweetened the sale of its Motorola set-top box business to Arris in an unusual way -- by largely indemnifying Arris against potential losses in a Motorola-TiVo patent tussle.

According to TechCrunch, which listened to a conference call Arris CEO Bob Stanzione held with analysts yesterday, Google has offered to cap any liability Arris might face in the event Motorola's set-top box business Home is found to have violated patents owned by DVR maker TiVo.

The trouble started in October when TiVo filed a patent-infringement claim against Motorola, saying that the Google-owned company's set-top boxes were infringing … Read more

Google has sold the Motorola Home set-top business -- which it inherited as part of its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility earlier this year -- to the Arris Group, for $2.35 billion in cash and stock.

Under the terms of the deal, Google will receive $2.05 billion in cash and $300 million in newly issued stock, giving it a 15.7 percent ownership stake in Arris upon the deal's closure. Arris will also gain access to a collection of Motorola Mobility patents.

The broadband technology provider is expected to use the acquisition to enhance the … Read more

Apple's iPhone does not infringe on a sensor patent held by Motorola Mobility, a judge at the U.S. International Trade Commission said today.

In an initial determination, ITC Administrative Law Judge Thomas Pender said Apple's iPhone did not infringe on a patent covering proximity sensor technology, because the main claim in that patent is invalid.

The ruling is preliminary and needs to be approved by the ITC's full six-member commission.

"We're disappointed with this outcome and are evaluating our options," a Motorola representative told Bloomberg, which reported the news Tuesday afternoon.

The spat … Read more

Microsoft and Motorola aren't even close to agreeing on how much the software giant should pay for the right to use patents held by its Google-owned rival.

In court filings released yesterday and obtained by Reuters, Microsoft indicated that it would be willing to pay as much as $502,000 per year to license Motorola's H.264 video patents. The company would also pay as much as $736,000 for Motorola's 802.11 wireless technology.

Motorola, meanwhile, insists that a simple fee isn't enough -- it wants Microsoft to pay a percentage of its revenues derived … Read more

The Motorola Atrix HD is getting its chance to bite into Jelly Bean according to AT&T.

The Android 4.1 software update is available immediately for Motorola Atrix HD owners, reports the nation's second-largest carrier. AT&T subscribers can manually install the Jelly Bean by navigating to Settings > About Phone > Software Updates on their phone.

The software update brings about a number of improvements, most notably Google Now, richer notifications, and a smarter keyboard. Additional details include enhanced widget support, Quick Settings, and offline voice-to-text.

The Atrix HD marks the fourth Android smartphone from … Read more