Though companies like Samsung, Sony and – of course – Apple have all succeeded in becoming household names in the Smartphone market, there are a few manufacturers you may not be as aware of. HTC have managed to make a dent in the Western market by virtue of high-end devices like their One X and Windows Phone 8X, but other Eastern telecommunications companies – such as ZTE – are still trying their hardest to make any significant progress. But today we’re focusing on the Chinese corporation Huawei – not only because we believe that they stand an excellent chance of expanding their market share significantly in the UK (they are now the world’s largest telecommunications company, surpassing Swedish telecom giant Ericsson), but also because they make a huge range of high-quality phones; everything from the bargain-rate low-end of the market to top-end, quad-core powerhouses!
Our most recent cases are designed for one of their midrange options, the Huawei Ascend G300, and we can assure you now: this is one device that doesn’t disappoint! Released in February of 2012, it’s a phone designed for the consumer who doesn’t care about having the glitziest, top-end device on the market – rather, it’s intended to have all of the necessary utilities you’ve come to expect from a Smartphone while shaving as much as possible from the price. Nevertheless, it boasts serviceable specifications: a 1 GHz Cortex-A5 processor, Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset, 5 Megapixel camera and a 4 inch capacitive touchscreen all ensure that you have the most comfortable user experience possible without having to shell out the big bucks! A sleek and utilitarian design rounds off the Ascend G300, which perfectly complements its Android 2.3 operating system (Gingerbread still being the version of choice for low and mid-end devices, due to its excellent array of features and lower power usage). Additional utility features such as active noise cancellation, a microSD card slot and photo editing software enable you to retain access to all of those useful extras you’d expect from a good Smartphone. But we’re not here to talk about the device itself; if you own one, you should know just how good it is! We’re here to talk about our Huawei Ascend G300 cases – and what cases they are!
Our stock is fairly small at the moment, but like Huawei, it’s set to expand significantly in the near future. But we’re confident we still have enough variety to satisfy your taste! The first case we’re showcasing is our PU leather flip: a durable and long-lasting case cover, the flip comes equipped with a magnetic clasp for easy open/close access to your touchscreen, and a plastic internal holder, to avoid the issue of your phone slipping out when in use. Though its exterior feels soft and plush in the hand, it still provides an excellent degree of protection from scratches and scuffs, helping to keep the body of your Ascend G300 looking newer for longer! The second case we’ve stocked is the butterfly IMD case – an aesthetically-minded design inspired by Japanese floral prints, it’s guaranteed to draw admiring (or envious!) glances from your friends, even as it provides consummate shielding from scratches and dents to preserve the cohesion of your Ascend G300’s outer casing. Our third and final case designs are our silicone gel cases. Lightweight and flexible, they’re guaranteed to preserve the sleek and slimline aesthetic of the G300 – but don’t be fooled by their skinny frames; they’re padded with a soft gel underlay, which will absorb impacts from drops and preserve the internal components of your Ascend. 
If you want to purchase one of our superb cases for yourself, simply click upon one of the above images; we've embedded links to take you directly to the product page of the case in question – convenient! And speaking of convenience, our ultra-fast delivery and ultra-competitive prices ensure that if you opt to purchase one of our high-quality case covers, you won’t have to worry about breaking the bank OR waiting on tenterhooks for your accessory to arrive! With a wide (and expanding) array of designs, colours and styles to choose from, we’re confident that at least one of our cases will appeal to your aesthetic, no matter what it may be. So if you own a G300, what are you waiting for? Purchase one of our great Huawei Ascend G300 cases today! And remember, as ever, you can pose questions, comments or suggestions in the comment section below.
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They reported a loss of £1.1 billion in the second quarter of this year, a huge amount by any reckoning. With the latest round of announced cuts, they’ve slashed more than 40,000 jobs since 2010. And Standard & Poor’s, the European credit rating company, has recently downgraded their rating from BB+ to BB-, reflecting the lack of faith that many of Nokia’s consumers and investors now have in the once-giant of industry. Even in terms of volume, Nokia have fallen behind; while once the chief provider of devices, if not profits, they’ve recently been usurped by the South Korean giant of commerce Samsung in terms of devices shifted. The huge amount of cheap feature phones and Smartphones offered by Samsung has effectively sidetracked Nokia’s main source of commerce – that is, providing low-end devices to emerging markets such as India and China. And the future looks no brighter for Nokia; they project estimated costs of £600 million for their restructuring plans in 2012, and a further £550+ million in 2013.
It’s a shame that the Smartphone market has so comprehensively altered the way consumers view companies such as Nokia. They still provide some excellent devices; as a company that deals in phone cases and accessories, we’ve had in-depth experience with Nokia’s flagship Lumia range, and they never fail to provide a sleek and polished experience. Similarly, the Windows OS of Smartphones such as the Lumia 900 is both attractive and utilitarian – it just has the bad luck to be competing in a market saturated by ultra-customizable Android devices and the omnipresent iOS, which has reached near-mimetic status to today’s consumers. The issue is not with Nokia’s devices, nor even, necessarily, with their market plans – it is the way that customers perceive Nokia, and the pressure that investors are piling upon Nokia to deliver fast results, that is giving the company so much trouble.
But given the amount of resources they've piled into downsizing their company – and their utter dedication to Windows Phone – it’s unlikely that Nokia plans on changing horse’s mid-race. Nevertheless, we remain confident that even if Nokia doesn't return to its glory days, it's always going to remain a contender in the feature and Smartphone market. Devices as polished as the Lumia 900, and a long and storied history of providing superb products, means that even if their downsizing is as significant as it appears to be, Nokia will always have dedicated consumers who desire their superb devices. And we proudly count ourselves amongst them!
The original Firefox was a revelation on release: the first internet browser to truly offer an alternative to the then-ubiquitous Internet Explorer, it attained success through a combination of superior features and a conspicuous lack of any serious competition. Mozilla managed to build up some serious goodwill amongst its users (courtesy of its non-profit, open-source nature and extensive add-ons) and briefly emerged as the premier internet browser of the time, before Google released Chrome and usurped their crown. Now Mozilla is planning on penetrating the Smartphone market too; but this time, it seems, the positions are reversed. Now it’s Google that has the early lead with the Android OS, and Mozilla that is planning on stealing first place. But it’s not that simple, because a very different situation has arisen in the Smartphone market.
Mozilla is no longer competing with Microsoft, a company well-noted (and well-criticized) for a decade-long decline in both hardware and software manufacturing; Mozilla are not up against an antiquated foe in a strictly two-horse race. The Smartphone market is dominated by Android on one side and the iOS on the other. The battle lines have already been drawn: Apple have approximately 30% of the Smartphone market, while Google dominate over 50%. Apple have established a closed-circuit system, manufacturing both hardware and software in-house for a cohesive user experience - while Google are lauded for their open-source approach, freely distributing the Android OS to developers to create a broad spectrum of devices. The two major players have been going from strength to strength, gradually inching out competitors such as RIM and Symbian, while effortlessly steam-rolling emergent operating systems such as Tizen… so what can Firefox bring to the market?
Mozilla claim that they’re aiming for the lower end of the Smartphone market, but the large number of older Android operating systems like Gingerbread and Honeycomb – coupled with simpler operating systems like Windows Phone and Bada – means that there’s no real gap in the market. The higher end is dominated by the more powerful iterations of Android and, of course, Apple’s iOS. As if Mozilla’s position were not tenuous enough, they’re currently being paid $300 million a year by Google, to ensure that Google remains the default search engine option in the Firefox browser. So how will the information supergiant react when Mozilla attempts to muscle in on their Smartphone market with a new OS? It could cause serious financial issues for Mozilla if Google decide the upstarts are more trouble than they’re worth, and simply opt to not renew their agreement in 2013.
We have to wonder if Mozilla have a trump card up their sleeve (or simply think they do), because this endeavour seems to have the odds stacked against it. Even if they were to succeed in harvesting a piece of the pie of the low-end Smartphone market, it wouldn’t be an especially notable victory; profit margins in the shallow end of the pool tend to be unspectacular, compared to the kind of annual profits seen by the likes of Apple. And even if Mozilla succeeds in offering a superior experience to its competitors, will anyone notice or care to adopt a new OS in a market where most customers have already developed entrenched brand loyalty? In the opinion of Mobile Madhouse, Mozilla should have struck to the arena of browsers, where it’s guaranteed a profit instead of just a pipe dream!
What does this mean for the consumer? Given the lower version number, we can assume that Jelly Bean is going to be a less radical overhaul of the Android OS than previously anticipated. Images of the Galaxy Nexus HSPA+ seem to corroborate this, with new default wallpaper and a different version of Google’s search bar on the homepage, but few other differences from the standard ICS. We confidently predict Google to notch up a few additional features, too; it’s likely Chrome will become the default browser for the iOS at this point, and the drivers will probably be optimized to help save battery life, especially considering the surplus of new quad-core Android Smartphones like the One X and Galaxy S3 (which can run out of battery in a mere day of hard usage).
But if you’re looking for any kind of overhaul – whether in terms of software or UI - we’re afraid you’re going to have to wait for the Key Lime Pie update!
But as a site that manufactures mobile phone peripherals, our chief area of interest lies in Google’s mobile phone operating system – the freely distributed Android OS. Owing to this open-source policy of distribution, Google have successfully manoeuvred themselves into a position of supremacy in the Smartphone market; the concept of a mobile OS that can be tinkered with extensively is an attractive prospect for companies like Samsung and HTC, who incorporate their own GUIs to ensure browsing their unique phones is a singular experience. It’s the anti-iOS: unlike Apple’s proprietary operating system, which is singularly linked to the experience of owning an iPhone, Android prides itself on its diversity and usefulness across a broad spectrum of devices.
But Google, clever company that they are, know that there’s always room for improvement, and they’re looking to their competitors for inspiration. In the past, Microsoft attempted to run their Windows OS across different types of devices, such as tablets, phones and desktops, to provide a homogenous user experience, building up brand familiarity. Their efforts, sadly, failed. This stands in contrast to Apple’s successful policy of building up a brand through marketing, while utilizing thoroughly different operating systems for different devices – just compare the iOS, their iPhone operating system, to the OS X, the classic operating system of their wildly popular Macs. Keeping this in mind, Google are opting to move towards a gradual conflation of Android, their Smartphone operating system, and Chrome OS, their cloud-based operating system that recently debuted on their chromebook and chrometop devices.
It makes sense from a business perspective. In the past, Google had to adopt the simpler Android system for phones, because they lacked the processing power to run software as sophisticated as that found in the Chrome OS. But as Smartphones grow smarter, and prices gradually decrease, it’s becoming more and more cost effective and easy to premiere powerful, versatile software like Chrome OS on a device small enough to hold in one hand. But they don’t want to make the mistake that Microsoft did, which was, essentially, brutally ramming an operating system designed for desktops across platforms that simply didn’t complement it. So their plan is to smoothly and organically combine the two platforms, taking the best features of each to create a seamless (but still distinctive) browsing experience. Their Chrome web browser has already made its debut on Android 4.0, marking Google’s first steps into convergence; who knows what kind of conflated Chrome/Android powerhouse could be created by the time the 5.0 or 6.0 versions roll around?
It’s easy to lose yourself in the clouds (or perhaps simply place your head in cloud-based storage for a time) when thinking of such heady notions, but for the casual consumer, there’s likely to be little change. Google is a superb company ran by bright and forward-thinking people; they’re sure to retain the unique elements that make Smartphones and desktops special, no matter how similar the operating systems of each may become!
