2011: Year of the Restless Sun

After five years of surprising quiet, the sun roared to life in 2011. Our star erupted with numerous strong flares and waves of charged particles. Many researchers predict the surge will culminate in a peak in the sun's 11-year activity cycle in 2013.

Eruptive prominence blasting away from sun

This year also marked several key advances in scientists' understanding of the dynamics driving our favorite star. Having been relatively quiet since 2005, the sun spouted off a number of powerful flares and coronal mass ejections (CMEs) this year. CMEs are made up of massive clouds of plasma that are sent streaking through space in any direction at several million mph. When these clouds are aimed at Earth, they can spawn geomagnetic storms that wreak havoc with GPS signals, radio communications and power grids.

"We are getting more CMEs and starting to get some more-energetic CME/flare combinations," Terry Kucera, deputy project scientist with NASA's Solar and Heliospheric Observatory spacecraft, told SPACE.com via email.

Scientists classify strong solar flares in three categories: C, M and X, with the X-class being the most powerful. So far in 2011, eight X-class flares have been observed. The largest solar flare in more than four years exploded from the sun in August. The blast wasn't directed at Earth, instead jettisoning into space.

Giant sun spot activity

Our planet had not been as lucky on Valentine's Day. The first wave of radiation reached Earth eight minutes after a big flare and CME, disrupting radio communications and GPS systems. The particles from the ejection arrived a day or so later, triggering dramatic northern lights displays and spawning a geomagnetic storm that caused further radio interruptions. In March, a solar storm created the fastest-traveling CME seen in six years. A wave of particles racing at 5 million mph (8 million kph) shot into space away from Earth.
Similarly, around Labor Day in September, the sun erupted with several CMEs and solar flares, including an X-class outburst Sept. 6. But Kucera said her favorite eruption occurred on June 7: a medium-size solar flare, a minor radiation storm and a unique CME from an active sunspot region.

"A lot of cool, dense material didn't make it out and fell back to the sun," she said.

The spectacle of plasma crashing backing into our star had never been seen before. "It was amazing to look at," Kucera said. C. Alex Young, senior support scientist with SOHO and NASA's Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO), agreed, calling it "the top natural event" of 2011. "More than likely, such an event has occurred, but never before would we have seen it in such detail," he told SPACE.com by email.
All of these active eruptions are considered normal for this level of solar activity. "During solar minimum, there is an average of one CME every five days, and during solar maximum the average is around three per day," Young said.

Eruptive prominence blasting away from the sun

Kamikaze comets
A number of comets crashed into the sun in 2011, and on July 6 scientists captured one such death dive in its entirety for the first time ever. The observations, made by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory spacecraft, should improve scientists' understanding of comet composition, researchers have said.
Sometimes daredevil comets survive their ordeals against all odds. In December, Comet Lovejoy had a close encounter with the sun that experts thought would be fatal. It passed within 87,000 miles (140,000 kilometers) of the solar surface — but re-emerged on the sun's other side and zipped off into space.

Lovejoy is part of a group known as Kreutz sungrazers. Most of these comets are thought to come from a single giant comet that broke apart several centuries ago. They are named for the 19th-century German astronomer Heinrich Kreutz, who first showed that such comets are related. "Seeing a comet enter the million degree solar corona with an extreme-ultraviolate imager (SDO), then to see one enter and exit is so cool!" Young said.

Sun's coronal holes in an x-ray image

A year of advances

The year also brought a greater understanding of what's happening on the sun. At the start of the year, NASA's twin Stereo probes took up their positions on the side of the sun farthest from Earth, allowing solar scientists to view that previously hidden surface. "This is fantastic," Young said. "With SOHO, SDO, and Stereo, we really see the sun with a completeness like never before." Solar researchers now have their eyes on the entire star, meaning it will have a harder time surprising us. Scientists can identify active sunspots, which may birth intense flares and potentially damaging CMEs, on the "back" side of the sun before they rotate around to face Earth. In January, astronomers reported using the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) spacecraft and the Japanese satellite Hinode to image and measure giant plumes of gas zooming up from the sun's surface. Known as spicules, these fountains were found to be hotter than previously observed, which means they could be a significant cause of the heating of the sun's outer atmosphere, or corona.

Images of 191 solar flares by SDO also helped a separate group of astronomers make some new inferences about the sun. Many of the images showed a delayed brightening, or a "late phase," minutes to hours after the peak. Because they were not connected with another X-ray burst, these late phases had managed to escape scientists' notice in the past. Analysis of a year's worth of images revealed that solar flares generally release more energy than was realized. The solar activity is likely to continue increasing until 2013 or so, Kucera said.

Young agrees. "With the increased activity and the great data we have from SDO, Stereo, SOHO, and more, 2012 should be a very exciting year in solar physics."

Ten best gadgets of 2011

Samsung Galaxy S II: One of the biggest competitor to Apple's iPhone, the Samsung Galaxy S II has sold more than 10 million units since its launch. Among the Galaxy S II's features are a dual-core 1.2 GHz processor, 1 GB of RAM and a Super AMOLED Plus screens, which are stunningly bright and make for an extremely sharp, colorful display. The Samsung Galaxy S II is photo-ready with a built-in 8 megapixel rear-facing camera, with a 2 megapixel cam up front for video chat. All three devices can record video in 1080p HD.

Apple iPhone 4S: At about four times the US retail price where customers buy mandatory data-service plans, the Apple iPhone 4S still finds buyers among affluent young professionals in India. The final gadget unveiled during Apple co-founder Steve Jobs' lifetime, the new iPhone comes with a faster processor, a better light-sensitive camera, and voice-activated assistant 'Siri'.

Samsung Galaxy Tab 750 : Also known as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1, the Tab 750 is seen by Apple as a real threat to the iPad. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 inch is an upgraded version of the 7-inch introduced in October. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 runs on Google's newest Android version and Nvidia's dual core processor Tegra 2. The Galaxy Tab 10.1 has a bigger and brighter screen and weighs less than the iPad 2. However, it has access to only about half the applications Apple users do at more than 200,000 applications compared with over 425,000 applications from the Apple App store. 

Apple iPad 2: The iPad 2 dominated the tablet market fighting stiff competition from Samsung and other Android based devices. The iPad 2 is 33 per cent thinner and up to 15 percent lighter than its predecessor, while it maintains the same 9.7-inch LED-backlit LCD screen. The dramatically faster iPad 2 boasts a dual-core A5 "system on a chip" processor under the hood, which is good for twice the CPU power and nine times the graphics performance of the original while maintaining the same 10-hour battery life. 

Samsung Galaxy Nexus: While there are several smartphone manufacturers that use Google's Android operating system, the Nexus line is considered the cream of the crop. The combination of Google's software and Samsung's hardware makes the Galaxy Nexus one of the best candidates to compete with Apple's latest iPhone. With the latest version of Android under the hood, Ice Cream Sandwich, the Galaxy Nexus is packed with new and improved features like a massive 4.65-inch touchscreen and the Android Beam, which lets you share such content as a Web page, map or video between two Android phones by bringing the backs of the phones close together. 

Kindle Fire: Billed as the common man's tablet, Amazon's Kindle Fire has taken on technology giants Apple and Samsung in the tablet war as the largest Internet retailer revealed that it is selling more than one million Kindle devices a week. What Amazon did best was not to rush an iPad clone in the market but to play on iPad's weakness. What makes the Kindle fire standout is its 7" screen size, affordable price, unlimited cloud storage, nonstop steaming and Amazon's wealth of resources right at its fingertips. 

Aakash tablet: Dubbed the world's cheapest tablet computer, Aakash is powered by Android 2.3 and has a resistive touchscreen, Cortex A8-700 MHz processor and graphics accelerator HD video processor, 256 MB of RAM and 2 GB of internal memory. Other specifications are a one standard USB port, 3.5 mm audio jack, a 7 inch display with 800 x 480 pixel resolution, resistive touchscreen, GPRS and WiFi support.

Samsung Galaxy Note: Phone? Tablet? It's a Galaxy note says the tagline of the newest member of its Galaxy lineup of smartphones and tablets. The Galaxy Note is nominally a smartphone, albeit with a massive 5.3 inch HD Super AMOLED display. The Note worked on the weakness of the Dell Streak 5 and came out with a winning device, that has a 1.4GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM and 16GB or 32GB of built in storage. It also comes with a stylus pen, which allows users to operate the touchscreen with increased precision and convenience. 

MacBook Air 13": The new MacBook Air is not quite as light as a feather, but it' s pretty darn close. Apple's MacBook Air began the anorexic laptop trend but the MacBook Air 13" take it to another level. The 13-inch MacBook Air has the latest Intel CPU and outperforms its predecessor in key ways. The notebook is also more versatile and can now be used for more mainstream function unlike the MacBook Air 11".

Nokia Lumia 800: The Nokia Lumia 800 is the first Nokia-made device to run Microsoft's Windows Phone mobile operating system. It's also the first handset to be released in Nokia's new Lumia range. It sports a colorful polycarbonate body with subtle curves and features an expansive 3.7" curved ClearBack glass display. Inside there is a 1.4GHz processor, an 8MP camera with Auto Focus and LED flash, and 720p video recording at 30fps.

Time-Saving Touchscreen Secrets

Touchscreens can be quick and convenient, but frustrating if you're entering large amounts of text.
If you're one of the 22 million lucky people who got a new iPad for the holidays — or one of the 200 million people who already own an iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad — here are my top tips for how to get the most out of your Apple touchscreen device in the least amount of time.

Baby Powder
If it's particularly humid, or you suffer from clammy hands, that moisture on your fingers makes for jumpy touch control. Sprinkle a little baby powder on your fingers, and you will suddenly have pinpoint accuracy and command of the cursor. Corn starch will also do the trick.

Video Scroll Control

Video Scroll Control
You've got this perfect video moment stored on your phone — just 10 seconds within a five-minute video — that you want to share with a friend. You scroll too far forward, then too far back. What you need is finer control. Try this: touch the timeline at the top of the video screen, then slide your finger below the timeline. You should see the timeline expand.
Without lifting your finger, slide it to the right or left to scroll forward or back through the video at half speed. This also works with audio files in iTunes. (Note: this feature may not work if you are running an older version of IOS - Apple's mobile operating system).

Web and Contacts Scroll Control
Want to scroll up on a website? Just tap the top bar. Rather than swiping back through a bunch of images you've already seen, this move will jump you right back to the top. This trick works the same with your contacts: tap the top bar, and boom, from the z's to the a's in one motion.

Tap the Top Bar

Keyboard Shortcuts
Suppose you want to add a period to a sentence — a pretty common occurrence. You could do it the slow way: hit the number button, tap the period, and then tap the "abc" button to get back to typing. Or you could try the fast way: hit the space bar twice. This automatically adds a period and a space — and even capitalizes the next letter as you start a new sentence.
Another trick: don't worry about adding apostrophes. Type doesnt, Ill, Im and youre all without the punctuation, and your iPad or iPhone will automatically correct these words to read doesn't, I'll, I'm, and you're.

Press and Hold
Pressing and holding certain keys reveals all the options associated with that key. Touch the dollar sign ($) and hold; the keyboard will reveal other money symbols, like the yen (¥), the pound (£), and the euro (€).  Then just slide your finger to the option you want to select. Release your finger there to get your chosen character to appear on the screen.

Reveal Hidden Keys

Want an accent aigu (é)? Press and hold A, then slide to the exact character you want. Need a cedilla (ç)? Press and hold C. For an umlaut (ü), press and hold U… you get the idea. Pressing and holding also works with certain punctuation marks. To get that upside down question mark at the beginning of a Spanish question, for example, press and hold the regular question mark.
Pressing and holding even works for Internet addresses. When you're typing a web address in Safari, there's a special .com button. Hold it, and the keyboard will reveal other web address options: .net, .edu, .org, etc. And if your keyboard is set to a different country, options will appear for those domains as well, like .co, .uk, or .eu. This function works in email, too: hold down the dot  (period button) when typing an email address to reveal .com and a similar batch of alternate domain options.

The Slide
All of the tricks in this article are aimed at saving you time and motion. The goal: as few clicks and taps as possible. By sliding your finger instead of multiple taps, your motion can become more fluid. The most common usage is when you're typing on the regular letter keyboard, and you suddenly need a number or a symbol. The slow way takes 3 taps: number layout, the number, and then one more tap to take you back to letters. Now try The Slide instead; it's a bit like Press and Hold: tap the numbers button (123), but then — without lifting up your finger — slide it to the number or symbol you want, and release. This will give you the character you want, and return you to the letters keyboard automatically — officially, only one tap instead of three.

657 mobile devices launched in India in 2011

The 881 million mobile subscribers in India, in 2011, had numerous mobile devices to choose from with models varying from the cheapest tablet of the world, Aakash, for Rs 2,500, to the latest sensation iPhone 4S which is available for around Rs 50,000.

This year saw the launch of a whopping 657 mobile devices, which include mobile phones and tablets, by Indian as well as MNC handset players in the country.

Operation system
This year saw growing demand for high-end handsets that use a mobile operating system, but Java emerged a clear winner. Of 657 handsets launched this year, 525 were based on Java with a lot of innovative offerings like web browsing, pre-loaded apps, powerful cameras, touchscreen and support for maps.

After Java, it's Android that emerged as the second-most successful operating system. In total, 100 mobile devices including smartphones and tablets were launched this year running different versions of Android operating system.

Nokia's operating systems - S40, Anna and Symbian - bagged the third slot. This year, we saw Nokia launching 13 devices based on these operating systems. The fourth spot was jointly shared by iOS and BlackBerry with seven devices each launched by Apple and RIM respectively.

The latest entrant in the OS space, — Windows, bagged the fifth slot with four new smartphones. This year Samsung also launched one device based on its proprietary operating system - Bada.

Brands
In 2011, the maximum number of mobile devices were launched by Maxx Mobiles. It launched 52 mobile phones in India. The second slot was bagged by Fly Mobiles with 41 new devices including one tablet and 40 feature phones.

Samsung, which has been growing by leaps and bounds in India, came out with 39 devices including the Galaxy series of smartphones and tablets. Samsung occupied the No. 3 slot jointly with Spice (S Mobility) which also launched 39 devices including a dual SIM Android smartphone.

There was a tie for the fourth slot between Videocon, which entered the mobile device segment last year, and Karbonn Mobiles. Both of them launched 35 devices each, which were mostly feature phones. Intex, an Indian handset player, bagged the fifth slot with 26 mobile phones. Notably, it launched India's first projector phone — IN 8809.

Indian handset major Micromax, which launched three Android devices this year, occupied the sixth slot with 23 new devices. Beetel, which also forayed into the mobile space for the first time, occupied the seventh slot. Beetel was in the limelight for two sub-Rs 15,000 Android tablets that it released in 2011.

LG with 17 and Onida with 16 mobile phone launches occupied the eighth and ninth slots respectively. Finnish handset major Nokia, which forayed into the dual SIM segment, and Chinese player Huawei, which launched the Ideos range of smartphones, tied at the tenth position with 15 new devices each.

There was a tie for the 11th position as well, between G'Five and Red, which launched 14 devices each in 2011. Sony Ericsson, which had launched its Xperia range of phones this year, bagged the 12th position with 13 devices. HTC and Airphone were jointly at the 13th position as they launched 12 devices each.

At the 14th position there was again a tie between Motorola and Maxphone, with 11 devices each. Philips, with 10 phones in the year 2011, stayed at the 15th place.

Overview
The key factors that contributed to this phenomenal growth in mobile phones were rapid advancements in technology, both hardware and software; the rise of dual-SIM handsets; launch of 3G services; and decrease in the average price of mobile devices.

Going by the success of so many smartphones and features phones, it looks like the introduction of innovative features with sophisticated technologies that have potential to live up to customers' growing expectations has become more of an industry norm and a challenge for existing players to survive in the market.

Another conclusion that can be drawn from the number of mobiles launched by Indian players is that they understand the growing appetite of Indian consumers and because of local advantages such as good commission agreement with distributors, low cost of manufacturing and strong links with small retailers especially in tier two and tier three cities, they have been able to strive in a highly competitive mobile space.

Moreover, Indian handset players are expected to continue their growth journey in 2012 too. When urban markets touch saturation levels, the focus is bound to shift towards the rural sector, where they have a good presence and customers are highly price sensitive. Apart from that, most buying decisions are taken at the point of sale, that is, retail shops where the salesman will try to push products that get him the maximum commission.

With increasing consumer awareness and a plethora of options, it can be inferred that in coming years mobile consumers will love to buy value for money smartphones with advanced capabilities, rather than mere communication and SMS devices.