As Apple readies for an early March launch of the iPad 3, some sources are claiming that Apple is looking for suppliers for a device with an 8-inch screen.  Apple’s screen maker partners are Taiwan-based AU Optronics and LG Display of South Korea.  Officials of the said companies who asked to be kept anonymous stated that those companies would be supplying the test panels for the smaller device.

A person familiar with the matter stated that the smaller device has a similar screen resolution to the iPad 2.  The move to make a smaller device than the iPad is a response to consumers looking to buy smaller devices than the larger tablets.  Dell, Samsung and HP have all toyed with varying tablet sizes, combining the best of the tablet and smartphone.  It is still unclear whether the smaller device will be the iPad 3 or a different iDevice all together.

“Samsung’s 5.3-inch Galaxy Note and Amazon’s 7-inch Kindle Fire have been selling well. It means consumers want a tablet that is smaller than the existing 9.7-inch iPad,” said Diana Wu, an analyst at Capital Securities in Taipei. “IPad’s features are good enough but pricing would be an important factor in the mass market, especially in big emerging markets like China and India.”

As for the trademark issue they’re facing in China, Shenzhen Proview Technology is taking things further.  Aside from seizing iPads in stores in the Xinhua district, they are now asking the authorities to block shipment of iPads in and out of China.

Proview lawyer Xie Xianghui said “We are now working on a request to China Customs to ban and seize all the import and export of the iPad products that have violated the trademark.”

In a statement Apple said “We bought Proview’s worldwide rights to the iPad trademark in 10 different countries several years ago.  Proview refuses to honour their agreement with Apple in China and a Hong Kong court has sided with Apple in this matter. Our case is still pending in mainland China.”

The Reverse Smudge Engineering Security Risk

In a way to dodge a bullet for Apple’s slide-to-unlock patent, Google came up with quirky way to unlock your Android device through swiping a pattern on your screen.  The problem is, that type of security can easily be decoded just by looking at the screen for smudges.

Tim Bray discussed in his blog how his colleagues unlocked his Galaxy Tab 10.1 just by retracing the smudges on his tablet screen.  He stated that because of the grease, either natural or through handling oily food like chips or peanuts, on his hands, it left visible marks on his tablet screen.

Aside from that, when unlocking an Android tablet or smartphone, the pattern you make is visible for anyone to see, and images are easily registered in the brain than number codes which makes it easier for people to bypass your security.  Bray recommends to not use the pattern-swiping security method and stick with the PIN.  But if you like swiping when unlocking your device, make sure to always wipe your screen clean to remove any trace or evidence of your pattern and, uncheck the “make pattern visible” option in the setting so nobody can see what you’re doing.

Other Mobile News

Nokia Siemens Networks introduced Customer Experience Management on Demand, a software offering designed to make information easily accessible across all parts of a carrier organization.

Nokia is said to be unveiling six devices at the Mobile World Congress.  The six devices are the Lumia 900, Lumia 610, the Symbian powered Nokia 808 Pureview, Asha 302, Asha 203 and Asha 202.

Crackberry released leaked images of the BlackBerry 10 OS.  The most striking features of the new OS are the appearance of widgets and the very accessible video chat virtual button.