Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101 to get Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update in February 2012

Source from AsusTek is saying that Asus Eee Pad Transformer TF101, the predecessor of Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, equipped with Android 3.2 Honeycomb OS, will get its Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) update soon within February 2012.

This 10.1" Android tablet sets itself apart from other tablets on the market by featuring an optional docking station with full QWERTY keypad, touchpad, secondary battery, USB port, and SD card reader, making it convertible to netbook-like Android machine, has been selling very well since its launch in 2011.

With its new Android OS update, we can anticipate more fun and new experience in using this Transformer tablet.

Singapore ranked #1 in terms of smartphone penetration

According to recent smartphone penetration statistics from several sources including Netsize Guide, Informa, Google, Ipsos, and Go-Gulf.com, it is concluded that by December 2011, Singapore is the champion in terms of smartphone peneration, and also is the world's first country that have more smartphone than feature phone in used.

Singapore:
Population = 4.9 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 8.1 million
(many people carries more than 1 phone!)
Feature phones = 3.7 million (45.68%)
Smartphones = 4.4 million (54.32%)

The top 10 countries in smartphone penetration as compiled by Go-Globe.com is as below:

How about Malaysia? Here is the data:

Population = 28.1 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 36.6 million
(some people carries more than 1 phone!)
Feature phones = 31.4 million (85.79%)
Smartphones = 5.2 million (14.21%)

 

 

I think one reason for Singapore to achieve such a high smartphone penetration rate is that mobile operators in Singapore are offering smartphones bundled together with their data plan at very low price or even for free. In Malaysia, smartphone price is relatively high, and the discount offerred by mobile operators in their bundled data plan is not attractive enough.

 

 

Surprisingly, Korea (which Samsung is based in) is not in the top 10 list, yet. Here is the data:

Population = 48.6 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 54 million
(some people carries more than 1 phone!)
Feature phones = 37.6 million (69.63%)
Smartphones = 16.4 million (30.37%)

 

 

And Japan:

Population = 126.9 million
Mobile phone subscriptions = 126.8 million
Feature phones = 108.7 million (85.73%)
Smartphones = 18.1 million (14.27%)

 

 

References:

• Smartphone Penetration Rates by Country! We Have Good Data (finally)
• Smartphone Usage Statistics 2012 [Infographic]

Security flaw in some HTC Android phones might expose WiFi password

It has been reported that a security flaw in some HTC Android phones might expose WiFi password stored in the phone to hackers.

This security bug was found by Chris Hessing and Bret Jordan back in September 2011, and they have posted the detail of the exploit in their blog recently.

Affected HTC Android smartphones include but not limited to: Glacier, Desire HD, Desire S, Droid Incredible, Thunderbolt 4G, Sensation, Sensation 4G, EVO 3D, EVO 4G, ...

HTC had been informed about this bug before it was published, and they have just announced that the fix has already been developed.

"Most phones have received this fix already through regular updates and upgrades.However, some phones will need to have the fix manually loaded. Please check back next week for more information about this fix and a manual download if you need to update your phone."