In with a bang, out with a whimper. After making us fear for the Xbox 360's (shelf) life by delivering an adverse ruling in Motorola's ITC patent infringement case against Microsoft last year, the presiding Administrative Law Judge reversed his stance a couple months ago after prodding by the full Commission. While the finding of non-infringement was good news for Microsoft, the decision still needed to be OK'd by the Commission before the investigation could be officially closed. We thought we weren't going to get a final ruling until later in the summer, but the ITC apparently agreed with the ALJ's initial ruling ahead of schedule, and has decided not to review the decision today. As a result, the investigation is now closed, and this particular battle in the patent wars is finally over.

Update: Naturally Microsoft Corporate VP and deputy General Counsel David Howard is a excited to see this case be closed, and issued the following statement:

This is a win for Xbox customers and confirms our view that Google had no grounds to block our products.

Filed under: Mobile, Microsoft, Google

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Via: Reuters

Source: USITC [PDF]

The future of Motorola's smartphones are now falling into place, and we couldn't be more excited. Following the FCC certification of the XT1058 for AT&T, a similar test report for the XT1056 has just crossed our desk. This time around, the smartphone carries certification for LTE Band 25, which puts it as a dead ringer for a Sprint device. Regardless of whether this handset turns out to be the purported "X phone" is almost beside the point, because we already know that cross-carrier availability and stock Android are key to Motorola's future in the smartphone realm. There are a few worthwhile points to take away from the FCC certification of the XT1056, which suggest that this will be a very capable handset.

First and foremost, we're looking at a device that'll offer NFC, Bluetooth 4.0 LE+EDR and 802.11ac. In addition to support for Sprint's network, the phone also carries certification for HSPA+ 21 Mbps over the 2100, 1900 and 850MHz bands, although the documentation specifically states that it'll be SIM-locked for all US carriers. All in all, these are good signs of what's to come. Now, if only Motorola could get on with the reveal.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google

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Source: FCC

We'd heard talk long, long ago of Verizon hooking up with VMware for a virtual workspace on its smartphones, and we can at last say that it's more than just chatter. Starting today, Verizon's business customers can buy VMware's Horizon Mobile for their Android devices. The solution gives corporate phones a common desktop with encrypted apps, data and policies that can't be touched from the device's regular environment. While this puts the Verizon-VMware partnership in competition with the likes of BlackBerry Secure Work Space and Samsung Knox, it won't be a perfect match for those services: the two companies are asking $125 per person for Horizon Mobile, and the initial device support is oddly limited to the LG Intuition and Motorola Droid RAZR M (neither is pictured here). Nonetheless, the deal might be a good fit for companies that would rather tie their phones to a single carrier than any one hardware manufacturer.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile, Google, Verizon, LG

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Source: VMware

If you didn't get enough mobile news during the week, not to worry, because we've opened the firehose for the truly hardcore. This week brought hints of changes to the Droid RAZR lineup, a peek at Sense with Android 4.2 and the arrival of the Lumia 520 to Canada. These stories and more await after the break. So buy the ticket and take the ride as we explore all that's happening in the mobile world for this week of May 6th, 2013.

Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless, Mobile

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We've been waiting to see what Motorola would produce now that it's a part of Google, and one of its first phones to bring the stock Android 4.2 experience may have just been revealed in an FCC filing. The XT1058 sports AT&T compatible LTE bands and NFC, and its model number matches some of the rumors mentioned for phones codenamed Yeti, Ghost or Sasquatch. More concrete ties to the original X Phone rumors are pictures of an AT&T-bound "XFON" posted by @evleaks last week, and the XT912 Vietnamese site Tinhte.vn got its hands on in March. When will we find out what's hiding behind door number 1? Google I/O is next week and it seems (to us) like the perfect time for a big reveal, while we wait you can hit the source link to dig through the documents for any more information.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Source: FCC

It was almost a year ago to the day that the European Commission began investigating Motorola over reported abuse of its standard-essential patents (SEPs), and now the regulators have a little more to say on the matter. The Commission has issued Motorola Mobility a Statement of Objections, which doesn't mean any judgment has been reached, but lets the company know its preliminary view, and it ain't good news. According to these initial findings, Motorola wanting an injunction against Apple in Germany based on some of its GPRS-related SEPs -- the particular legal encounter that was the catalyst for a complaint by Cupertino and ultimately, the EC's investigation -- "amounts to an abuse of a dominant position prohibited by EU antitrust rules." Motorola originally said it would license these patents under FRAND terms when they became standard-essential, which Apple was happy to pay for. However, the company pursued an injunction nonetheless.

The Commission's statement goes on to say that while injunctions can be necessary in certain disputes, where there is potential for an agreement under FRAND terms, companies with bulging SEP portfolios should not be allowed to request injunctions "in order to distort licensing negotiations and impose unjustified licensing terms on patent licensees." Joaquín Almunia, the Commission Vice President who's responsible for competition policy, echoed what we've heard from other important folks entrenched in the never-ending patent battlefield (such as Judge Koh), saying: "I think that companies should spend their time innovating and competing on the merits of the products they offer -- not misusing their intellectual property rights to hold up competitors to the detriment of innovation and consumer choice." So, what happens next? Motorola will first have its right to address the statement before the EC makes a final decision, but it's looking like a fine is headed the company's way. Hopefully, the outcome will also have a wider impact on patent cases of the future, so companies will spend more time making shiny things for us, and less on courtroom squabbles.

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Mobile, Apple, Google

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Via: Reuters

Source: European Commission

Motorola's been talking up its phones in the pipeline as of late, which are said to feature stock Android, broader carrier availability and less bloatware. We first saw hints of such a device from a leak in Vietnam, but now @evleaks has weighed in with a stock Android smartphone that looks eerily familiar -- although this time, it's in a black box. What's to gain from the latest peek? First of all, it's plain as day that the phone in question is for AT&T, which features the carrier's name in the top left corner, its unique LTE logo in the top right and a bundled myAT&T app. Granted, it's not much of a surprise that Motorola is giving carriers some sway in the development of its smartphones, but given the latest leak, it seems that some of the more egregious customizations and bloat might stay on the sidelines. As for the back of the device, with a label that reads "XFON," well, we'll leave that to your interpretation.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile, Google

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Source: @evleaks (1), (2)

Your smartphone and / or tablet is just begging for an update. From time to time, these mobile devices are blessed with maintenance refreshes, bug fixes, custom ROMs and anything in between, and so many of them are floating around that it's easy for a sizable chunk to get lost in the mix. To make sure they don't escape without notice, we've gathered every possible update, hack, and other miscellaneous tomfoolery we could find during the last week and crammed them into one convenient roundup. If you find something available for your device, please give us a shout at tips at engadget dawt com and let us know. Enjoy!

Filed under: Cellphones, Tablets, Software, Mobile

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Google Glass may represent the future of wearables, but its components are a vestige of the past -- 2011, to be exact. That's according to developer Jay Lee who dug up some interesting Glass tidbits using Android Debug Bridge. Taking to his Google+ page, Lee verified that Google's smart eyewear currently runs on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwich - a fact CEO Larry Page has apparently fessed up to -- incorporates an OMAP 4430 processor running at an unspecified frequency and is paired with about 682MB RAM (out of a likely 1GB), though it's not clear if this is a dual-core setup. For non-mobile industry historians, this particular Texas Instruments OMAP chipset hasn't been used since the Droid Bionic and Atrix 2 in 2011, making it relatively ancient by industry standards. So, what other surprises lurk beneath the Glass? We'll leave those mysteries to our EIC Tim Stevens to suss out in his Glass diaries.

Filed under: Wearables, Google

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Via: Ars Technica

Source: Jay Lee (Google+)

Among the many patent cases currently ongoing between Motorola and Microsoft is one in US District Court in the state of Washington concerning standards-essential WiFi and h.264 patents. AllThingsD reports that while Motorola was requesting billions in royalties for the technology it owns, Judge James Robart -- who invalidated a number of its patent claims a few months ago -- ruled it's entitled to around $1.8 million per year. The reason given? There are so many patents that are part of the h.264 standard, that if every patent were licensed at the amount Motorola sought, those fees would be more than the current cost of the Xbox 360. And, Judge Robart found that Motorola hadn't proven its patents were more valuable than those of other companies included in the same pool. All 207 pages of the decision are available beyond the source link if need more info on the hows and whys of today's decision. ATD also has quotes from each company, and while Microsoft called it a good decision for consumers, Motorola chose to acknowledge the decision, but didn't hint at any reaction or future moves.

Filed under: Gaming, Microsoft

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Via: AllThingsD

Source: Court ruling [PDF]