Smartphones with 5.3-inch displays were the sweet spot for U.S. consumers in 2015's first half, Strategy Analytics reported. Smartphone owners also are more likely to prefer thicker handsets with a third more battery life over phones that sacrifice battery life for their thinner profiles, said the researcher Wednesday. Though most smartphone owners surveyed preferred a prototype with a display larger than their current device, “more than half of respondents expressed interest in a device that was only slightly larger than their current display size,” it said. Suppliers should “take into account that the largest battery capacity does not always mean the best battery life and finding a way to optimize battery performance is key,” it said.

NTCA and the Rural Wireless Association jointly supported a request by the Blooston Rural Carriers that the FCC change a mandate (see 1512070010) that bidders in the TV incentive auction remain active on 95 percent of their eligibility from the start of the auction, without activity waivers even for small carriers. “The Associations agree with Blooston that requiring bidders to use at least 95 percent of their bidding eligibility could unnecessarily limit the ability of rural service providers to pursue alternative bidding strategies as bidding in markets of interest develops,” the associations said in a Wednesday filing in docket 15-146.

The launch of the 3.5 GHz shared spectrum band came another step closer to reality as the FCC sought proposals for spectrum access system (SAS) administrators and environmental sensing capability (ESC) operators to act as traffic cops and early warning systems, respectively, for the band. Proposals will be accepted Jan. 15-April 15, said a notice from the FCC Wireless Bureau and Office of Engineering and Technology. “SASs and ESCs are essential components necessary for future operations in the 3.5 GHz Band,” the FCC said. “SASs will serve as advanced, highly automated frequency coordinators across the band, protecting higher tier users from harmful interference from lower tier users and optimizing frequency use to facilitate coexistence among all users in the band.” The ESCs will provide networks of sensors to detect the presence of signals from federal systems in the band and protect federal operations, the notice said.

“Significant” enhancements to Bluetooth will help drive the market for enabled devices to 4.6 billion shipments annually by 2020, from 2.8 billion this year, said ABI Research analyst Andrew Zignani in a Wednesday report. A throughput increase from 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps will reduce latency and increase responsiveness, while providing a “very compelling power consumption ratio” compared with competing technologies including 802.15.4, which tops out at 250 kbps, or the more power-hungry Wi-Fi, Zignani said. Smartphones will remain the bulk of the Bluetooth product market, with 45 percent of shipments in 2020, said ABI, but beacons, smart lighting, home automation and consumer robots will grow to 20 percent of shipments by 2020. Chipset suppliers are working toward integrating IPv6 over Bluetooth Smart, which will help provide the foundation for IP-based application layer-level interoperability between different types of devices operating on different transport layers, said Zignani. As more device types enter the IoT, adopting a common language will become increasingly important to ensure interoperability, he said. The development of Bluetooth and near-field communication combination integrated chips can secure provisioning of IoT devices, Zignani said.

The ZigBee Alliance ratified 3.0, opening the door to improved communication and interoperability among IoT products, it said Wednesday. ZigBee 3.0 extends from the physical to the application layer, the nonprofit alliance said. The alliance also said it's collaborating with EnOcean Alliance to develop an open, global specification for energy-harvesting wireless communication technology for interoperable, self-powered IoT sensors. The effort will bring together EnOcean equipment profiles for sub-GHz networking with ZigBee 3.0 in the worldwide 2.4 GHz band, called “the key to the consumer market” by EnOcean Alliance Chairman Graham Martin. It will provide a foundation to bring data to IoT frameworks of other industry initiatives and facilitate interoperable communication from the sensor to the cloud, they said.

The United Union of Roofers, Waterproofers and Allied Workers told the FCC it should approve rules that protect workers from RF radiation. Sources of emissions on a rooftop “often are not obvious and usually are not properly marked or defined as danger zones by warning signs,” the union said. “In many cases, for aesthetic reasons, transmitters or antennae are hidden by building elements that can obscure their presence yet not reduce the risk of serious harm to unsuspecting workers. Our members are left unaware and unprotected from the physical and mental harm the wireless antennas produce.” The Nov. 20 filing was posted Wednesday in docket 13-84.

The FCC should reject Twilio’s calls for clarification that messaging services should be regulated under Title II of the Communications Act (see 1510130040), the Free State Foundation said in reply comments. “The wireless messaging services market is competitive and consumers have choices not only among messaging services provided by wireless carriers but among wirelessly-accessible IP-based alternatives, including instant messaging, social media, and email,” FSF said. “Title II regulation would saddle messaging services with special burdens and unnecessary costs and put them at a competitive disadvantage vis-à-vis those alternatives.” Replies are due Monday in docket 08-07.

The Consumer Technology Association urged the FCC to make changes to equipment certification rules aimed at keeping commission-certified labs in business. CTA endorsed the thrusts of petitions for reconsideration or clarification by the Telecommunications Industry Association and Motorola Solutions. CTA urged the FCC to clarify the path for re-qualification of test labs in nonmutual recognition agreement countries that were either accredited or listed under Section 2.948 of agency rules. CTA also encouraged the FCC to establish a two-year transition period during which Section 2.948-listed labs would be allowed to submit data in support of certification applications. “The Commission should act promptly to ensure that the dynamic consumer technology industry continues to have access to a sufficient quantity of FCC-recognized laboratories that help ensure that consumers have the most innovative, safe, and reliable technologies available at market speed,” CTA said in docket 13-44.

One in 10 U.S. broadband households plans to buy a smartwatch by mid-2016, a Parks Associates report said Tuesday. Smartwatch adoption in broadband households grew from 4 percent at the start of 2014 to 7 percent now, Parks said. Analyst Harry Wang noted smartwatches are especially popular in broadband households with children, due to family-oriented uses. Smartwatches also have “significant health applications,” Wang said.

On average, cellphone users received 5.5 unwanted calls monthly in 2015, Whitepages found in its annual “State of the Unwanted Call” report, said a news release from the company. Fraudulent scam calls increased by 55 percent in 2015 over 2014, and spam calls rose 22 percent. Of 1.2 billion calls scanned, Whitepages found 6.7 million were unwanted, with 74 percent of those unwanted calls categorized as spam and 26 percent as scams. The No. 1 scam of the year -- which grew by 248 percent in 2015 -- was the IRS scam, where someone calls claiming a consumer has a tax issue. The other biggest scams included "lucky winner," extortion, tech support and phishing. The top reported spam calls came from telemarketers, debt collectors, robocalls, and surveys, it said. Whitepages tracked 1.2 billion calls scanned since April through an app called Whitepages Caller ID to create the report. Another firm counted 980.8 million U.S. robocalls in November (see 1512100023).