Wi-Fi is now one of the most essential services a hotel can provide apart from a bed, and yet poor internet connection is on the top 3 list of complaints from hotel guests around the world.

Nah! It is really my #1 complaint.

There was time when all of us road warriors walked around with a laptop and a phone (probably a Blackberry). Now we carry around a phone, a tablet (or a Kindle) and a laptop. I am guessing connected cameras are coming next and a slew of other gadgets with a built-in need for the network. And at the same time we are all going to be using cloud services for everything; listening to music, watching videos, working, buying and ordering food. In such a world, the network (both in terms of stability and quality) takes on greater importance.

The common refrain is — well let’s just use LTE. And while we all like to believe that LTE is the panacea to our networking woes, the fact remains that we still are heavily reliant and will be reliant on Wi-Fi, especially when on the go. According to ABI Research, there were a total of 4.9 million hotspots owned by carriers (including those run by the likes of Boingo and iPass) and the total number will hit about 6.3 million in 2016.

Of course, the place where one feels the pain most acutely is in the hotels — who in my opinion are the worst offenders in providing decent and generous connectivity. It is not as if they don’t have a way to quietly tuck in the charges into our room rates! As someone who spends a sizable amount of time on the road checking into random hotels, I can safely say that bad Wi-Fi is one of my biggest complaints.

According to Hotel Chatter’s 2013 Hotel WiFi Report:

• Nearly two-thirds of hotels offer some kind of free Wi-Fi. (It is hard to say if it really is free if the price of the hotel room goes up a few dollars a night and we don’t know about it.)
• The standard amount of bandwidth in a hotel with free Wi-Fi is usually about 1Mbps per each room. (I can categorically state that is not really true.)

It doesn’t matter if the hotels (or motels) are big or small. It doesn’t matter if they are in New York or Nashville, the fact of the matter is that both the quality of network connections and the bandwidth available on the network simply sucks. Even in the best of hotels one struggles to 500 Kbps to 600 Kbps. Try watching Netflix at that bandwidth, or in my case the MLB game! I guess our shifting media habits are killing the in-room video-on-demand business, a lucrative sideline for the hotel industry. (When I am in a really bad mood, I am likely to call it a nice racket!)

Sure, I can do some basic surfing and emails on this so-called free Wi-Fi, but that’s about it. And someone who needs to blog — and thus keep up with a whole slew of news and information sources when on the go — it is virtually impossible to use the Wi-Fi for even getting the work done. I almost always take the upgrade option, paying more for more bandwidth only to find that it still sucks. Unless these guys get their act together and build high-quality robust networks, they can’t really expect people to pay up.

For now, I almost always end up using the LTE network (if it is available.) But we are already starting to see that LTE networks are getting crowded and slower and slower. So it is not difficult to imagine things are going to get a lot worse for those of us dependent on-the-go internet.

Like I said — I love the connectivity in the hotels, I just hate the poor quality networks.

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The slightly blurry image shows a handheld controller that fits around the iPhone like a case, with the directional pad and buttons that are standard with most controllers on either end of the device. Kotaku won’t say where it got the image, but says that it’s of a Logitech device that fits an iPhone 5.

(Incidentally, if this is a Logitech case planned for introduction when a new iPhone is announced later this fall, the fact that it’s the same size as an iPhone 5 indicates that the new model will have the same form factor — more of an iPhone 5S upgrade than an iPhone 6.)

Apple hasn’t completely detailed its vision for the iPhone and iPod touch as gaming devices just yet. At WWDC last week it briefly mentioned a new API for turning devices into a game controller and an official MFi designation for some yet-to-be-named hardware makers. But come fall, when a new iPhone is likely to be announced, Apple should have more to share about how the controllers will work and interact with other devices like Apple TV via AirPlay and which hardware makers will be involved.

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Bearing the rather clunky name of “Office Mobile for Office 365 subscribers”, the app does require a subscription to Microsoft’s cloud service, but the fundamentals are present: you can use it to access, view and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents on an iPad or iPhone — although the app is optimized for the iPhone 5, so don’t expect a tablet-friendly experience.

According to the product blurb:

“Documents look like the originals, thanks to support for charts, animations, SmartArt graphics and shapes. When you make quick edits or add comments to a document, the formatting and content remain intact.”

The app can be used on Office documents received as email attachments, or those stored on SkyDrive, SkyDrive Pro or SharePoint. If your desktop Office 2013 is connected to Microsoft’s cloud, you can also pull up documents that were recently viewed there, from your mobile device.

It is possible to edit documents while offline. The app is compatible with iPhone 4 and up, and with the 3rd generation iPad and up (and yes, with the iPad mini too). Devices have to run iOS 6.1 or later.

It doesn’t seem the rollout is global just yet, though. My iPad mini, which is set to the U.K. App Store, isn’t seeing it at the time of writing. No sign of an Android version, either.

UPDATE (5am PT): Microsoft has now published a blog post explaining the functionality in greater detail.

NOTE: This article originally bore the headline “Microsoft quietly pushes out Office for iPhone and iPad”. A few minutes after posting the “… and iPad” was excised because, while the app will work on iPads, it’s not optimized for them.

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Since launching in January on iOS, Vine grew from 1.77 percent of U.S. iPhone users for that month to 10.7 percent in May. And the number of Vine users grew an impressive 39.9 percent from April to May. Google Chrome — which is also arrived on iOS last summer – also saw increased usage — perhaps because iPhone users aren’t thrilled with Safari. According to Onavo: “During the first quarter, Chrome stayed relatively stable around 10 percent, but in April it jumped up to 14.3 percent and in May it jumped further to 17.4 percent.”

But pictures are worth a thousand words:

And, it appears that the uptick in use of Yahoo apps that Onavo previously tracked is continuing, perhaps due to a recent Flickr app refresh and the introduction of its Apple award-winning Weather app.

• Yahoo Weather grew 31.9 percent to 3.73 percent of users in May from 2.83 percent in April.
• Mail gained 6.91 percent to 2.13 percent of users in May from 2 percent in April.
• Flickr gained 41.3 percent to 1.15 percent in May from 0.81 percent in April.

Onavo has access to this behavior data because its free iOS app helps iPhone and iPad users minimize their monthly bandwidth charges by compressing application data in the cloud. In return, users provide Onavo with information about how long they actually engage with their apps.

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“It’s about bringing order to complexity,” Jony Ive said in the introductory video. “To create it, we brought together a broad range of expertise from design to engineering. With what we’ve been able to achieve together, we see iOS 7 as defining an important new direction, and in many ways, a beginning.”

Consumers will be able to download iOS 7 “in the fall,” the company said.

A few of the changes: the slide to unlock button is now vertical, the app icons and keyboard are translucent, the weather app has major updates, and control buttons recede when you’re browsing Safari. iMessage bubble icons for text no longer have shadows on them — they’re totally flat, along with many of the new features. The notification section is expanded to show more room, and in Safari mobile, users won’t be limited to 8 tabs anymore.

The iOS camera app gets in on the filters game with filters of its own, and now you’ll be able to view photos by location in the camera roll. Interestingly, these groupings of photos by time and location are called “moments” — which is the exact term Path uses for its posts.

My colleauge Erica Ogg has more descriptions and insights on the changes in our liveblog from the event, and the full description of changes are in Apple’s press release.

Siri has also gotten some updates, including multiple languages and the addition of both male and female voices. Siri can now increase brightness or turn on and off brightness. Apps will also now update automatically.

Apple also announced the launch of iTunes Radio, a streaming music service to compete with Pandora, which we have more details on here.

Cook noted that the company has now sold over 600 million iOS devices, and highlighted stats showing user satisfaction with iOS products compared to Android. He noted that 90 percent of iOS users are using the latest version of iOS.

We had already been expecting big changes coming to the design of iOS 7. Prior to the event there were reports that it would look more modular and less skeumorphic, echoing the trend toward “flat design” that’s been sweeping all sorts of apps and systems on mobile. With Ive in charge of Human Interfaces, we had expected to see changes to the software that mirrored Apple’s hardware capabilities.

We wrote how some developers haven’t seen Apple as being at the forefront of mobile design, recently, and how an iOS refresh might change this. There were also reports that in order to get iOS 7 out the door, the team was scrambling to finish it and grabbed members of the OS X software team to help.

You can check out all of our coverage of the other Apple announcements here. We’ll be highlighting the future of interface design at our annual RoadMap conference in San Francisco in November. Tickets will go on sale later this Summer, and to learn more about the event sign up here.

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AT&T said on Monday it has started offering its enhanced push-to-talk (PTT) services on the iPhone 5 and 4S through an iTunes app, though it’s only available to Ma Bell’s business customers for now. For those of you unfamiliar, push-to-talk functions like a walkie-talkie radio, allowing you to instantly communicate with a similarly enabled phone, rather than initiate a phone call. The service was a big selling point on Nextel, and later on Boost Mobile, particularly popular with blue-collar workers and the younger crowds.

Other operators have launched their own IP-based PTT applications, but they’ve been able to match Nextel’s success, largely because of the peculiarities of the iDEN. Motorola used its public safety communications expertise to build PTT directly into the iDEN’s core infrastructure. That close integration meant Nextel’s service routinely beat out its competitors in call set-up times and call quality.

But on June 30 that network goes dead, which has led many carriers and developers with competing PTT apps to put their services forward as alternatives. Sprint offers its own CDMA-based PTT service, called Direct Connect, and managed to lure many of its Nextel and Boost subscribers over to the Sprint side of the business. But at last count Sprint had 1.3 million iDEN customers remaining. Other operators probably feel the playing field is being leveled, making this summer the perfect time to go after PTT users.

Whether AT&T’s iPhone support will lead to a big boost in customers using PTT remains to be seen. While the iPhone isn’t exactly the ruggedized handset you’d expect to see used by construction workers and field technicians, the iPhone has become popular in almost every mobile circle. With bring-your-own-device (BYOD) trends gaining steam among enterprises, this could be a good way for businesses to hook one of the most popular phones among their employees to their PTT communications networks.

AT&T also announced on Monday that all PTT users will now be used over Wi-Fi connections, including its 32,000-hotspot Wi-Fi network. Wi-Fi support means phones can take advantage of stronger WLAN signals indoors, increasing chances of establishing and maintaining a PTT session.

This won’t be the only iPhone news we’ll likely see today. Apple’s WWDC is kicking off right as this post goes live.

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It’s true that HTC was held up from offering the flagship phone by at least a few weeks. The problem was related to component sourcing as early as March. HTC resolved the issue quickly enough for Chang to boost sales expectations from 1 to 1.2 million for the month. That’s a far cry from the 5 million that an anonymous HTC executive said were sold through the first month of availability, however.

With such delays, HTC’s already small window of opportunity closed a little more. The HTC One could have beat Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 to market by weeks, but instead is competing head-on. Samsung says it sold 10 million units in the first month. Making matters worse in Chang’s mind is that consumers are now readying for Apple’s next iPhone iteration. I think it’s a bit early for that, but with Apple’s WWDC event next week, it will surely get some buzz and marketing going to remind people about its iPhone.

Phone Arena raises another good point on HTC’s challenges. Even if the company finds success here in the U.S. with the HTC One, the bigger opportunities are overseas. Too much focus here doesn’t help HTC because the U.S. is heading towards a point of smartphone saturation. Perhaps the rumored HTC One Mini will arrive before Samsung’s Galaxy S 4 Mini in overseas markets and the company gets a sales boost.

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Can it be over already?

Since both devices stepped on the block, there has been endless comparisons between iPhone and Android. Researchers conduct countless “head-to-head” data analyses, polls and measurements to find out which is the better phone. But, especially within the last year, a clear (if unfavorable) result has emerged: iPhone and Android are different phones with different approaches. As such, comparing the two is fruitless.

A study by mobile company Flurry shows what months of studies have proven: iPhone and Android are inherently better in different ways. Android leads slightly in global device share, and Apple commands a stronger share of apps both in volume and time spent.  The company certainly points to valid reasons why these statistics are the way that they are, including the fragmented nature of Android app development, greater dissemination of Android phones in general, and the immense push that Apple has made in advertising premium apps. But it doesn’t tell  us anything new – it just casually avoids the idea that comparing the two is moot.

Android devices and iPhones aren’t in the same race, and it’s impossible to even tell if they’re on similar tracks. Android has achieved the great feat of widespread penetration all across the world, and its unique hardware options mean that low-cost devices can successfully navigate rising markets. Meanwhile, Apple has entered the rising global hunger for smartphones with little momentum, although its recent foray into financial subsidies has worked well in India.

Android’s diversified system and widespread market appeal simply cannot be compared against the more concentrated pockets of iPhone users, and sometimes these statistics don’t actually prove dominance in a particular market. Sure, Android may get more downloads overall, but Apple’s revenue from the App Store remains unmatched. Other times, they’re different depending on what time, place and particular region of the world.

In a lot of ways, it comes down to the semantics of how we view this debate: holding a head to head between two different phones with two different aims and environments is just impossible. It discounts the strengths and weaknesses both have, and it eliminates burgeoning competition from Windows Phone and Blackberry.

So let’s agree that this “head-to-head” nonsense just doesn’t work anymore.

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On June 13, representatives from Apple, Google (parent company of Motorola), Microsoft and Samsung are meeting with top law enforcement officials in the U.S.’s two biggest markets for smartphone thefts, San Francisco and New York City: SF District Attorney George Gascón and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman. The two will demand to know why these companies haven’t made smartphones harder to steal or at least less attractive to thieves.

Gascón is calling it “a national epidemic” and Schneiderman says it’s about time for these companies “to be as innovative solving this problem as they have been in designing devices.”

From the joint press release issued by their offices on Wednesday.

At the meeting, which will take place on June 13 at Schneiderman’s office in New York City, Gascón and Schneiderman will press cell phone manufacturers and mobile operating system suppliers on their failure thus far to produce technology that would allow stolen devices to be rendered permanently inoperable and that would, therefore, eliminate incentives for theft. Representatives from Apple, Google/Motorola, Samsung and Microsoft will attend.

It appears current measures in place aren’t helping cut down on the problem. Carriers and the FCC worked together last year to create a national stolen phone database to prevent resale, and third-party consumer electronics resellers have also stepped up their efforts to prevent subsequent selling of stolen devices. Yet half of the robberies in San Francisco last year involved a smartphone, and New York City thefts ticked up last year as more Apple device thefts were reported.

Clearly Gascón and Schneiderman want the manufacturers to take a larger role in helping to stop these thefts beyond things like the ability to remote wipe a device through Find My iPhone — which would be nice. However, declaring their “failure to produce technology that would allow stolen devices to be rendered permanently inoperable” seems just a bit unfair. That seems like asking – since 700,000 cars were stolen in 2011 — why automakers haven’t created cars that aren’t drivable if they’re stolen.

In both cases, that seems like a great idea, but it’s probably just a bit more complicated than Gascón and Schneiderman are assuming.

Thumnail image courtesy of Flickr user Tex Texin.

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The patent in question has to do with wireless technology and the models singled out for exclusion are all Apple devices built for AT&T’s wireless network.

Apple will be appealing the ruling, according to a statement given to AllThingsD by an Apple spokeswoman: “We are disappointed that the Commission has overturned an earlier ruling and we plan to appeal. Today’s decision has no impact on the availability of Apple products in the United States.”

AT&T did not immediately responded to a request for comment.

Samsung’s patent claim with the ITC was filed two years ago. It’s part of the ongoing war between the two competitors who dominate the global mobile market. But this issue is separate from last summer’s federal court trial where Apple won a $1.1 billion verdict over Samsung; that award has since been reduced and some products involved in that decision are getting a new trial.

Tuesday’s ITC ruling (PDF) has been labeled a “final” decision but it can still be reversed. It will be sent to the White House and the president has 60 days to overrule it.

It’s not the end of the world for Apple if a three-year-old iPad and four-year-old iPhone can’t be sold in the U.S. anymore. But the ban on the iPhone 4 could pose some real consequences for Apple (and AT&T). The iPhone 4 is free with a two-year contract, and it’s doing really well with late arrivals to the smartphone revolution and with price-sensitive customers. That could throw a small kink into Apple’s plans to use the older devices to broaden Apple’s customer base.

But if anything it’s temporary; even if President Obama elects not to overrule the ITC’s decision, Apple was very likely to stop selling the iPhone 4 in three or four months anyway. Once the iPhone 5S or 6 or whatever it will be called is introduced this fall, the iPhone 4S will in all likelihood become the iPhone that’s free with contract and the iPhone 5 will be $99 with a two-year agreement.

This post was updated at 3:17 p.m. PT with Apple’s response.

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