Apple’s new iOS 7 software is undoubtedly polarizing. Unveiled on Monday, the reimagined mobile platform has harsh critics and avid fans. Some find it “positively mind-blowing,” while others find the new design to be an eyesore. Opinions will change over time, of course, and the currently available version of iOS 7 is merely Apple’s first developer beta, so the software will change a great deal before it finds its way to consumers’ iPhones and iPads this coming fall. Love it or hate it, however, one things is certain: Visually, iOS 7 is a drastic departure from the user interface Apple fans are used to. As such, Co.Design put together a great photo series that helps users visualize the evolution from iOS 6 to iOS 7. A few images follow below, and the full set can be seen by following the link in the source section. More →
The Galaxy S4 has only been available for a couple of months, however Samsung is already said to be hard at work on its next flagship smartphone. Critics have blasted the company in the past for its excessive use of plastic, which many have argued makes its devices look and feel cheap. Competitors like HTC, Sony and Nokia have attempted to capitalize on Samsung’s shortcoming by releasing all-metal smartphones such as the HTC One, Xperia Z and Lumia 925. But according to a rumor from Android Geeks, the Galaxy S5 will be part of the company’s “Design 3.0″ strategy and will be the first Samsung smartphone to feature an aluminum body. The new design will have its drawbacks, however. An aluminum body means the Galaxy S5 will not have a removable battery, a simple feature previous Galaxy owners have come to appreciate. The Galaxy S5 isn’t expected to be announced until sometime next year.
Is Samsung saving any surprises for its June 20th press conference? The world’s top smartphone vendor by sales volume has been a busy beaver lately, churning out smartphone after smartphone. The latest addition to the company’s always expanding portfolio may be its most intriguing in recent months. Samsung on Wednesday unveiled the Galaxy S4 Zoom, a smartphone with just one thing on its mind: capturing amazing photos. The S4 Zoom features a 16-megapixel camera with 10x optical zoom and image stabilization, a xenon flash, a 4.3-inch qHD display, a 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 8GB of internal storage, microSDXC support for up to 64GB of removable storage, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean. The handset will begin rolling out this summer and we expect to get our first hands-on look at it next week. Samsung’s full press release follows below. More →
Earlier this year, NVIDIA announced a variant of its quad-core Tegra 4 processor that adds support for LTE radios. The Tegra 4i is equipped with four cores that can be clocked to up to 2.3GHz, a fifth processing core for battery conservation and an integrated NVIDIA i500 LTE modem. The chip also includes support for LTE Advance networks and NVIDIA’s Chimera camera technology. AnandTech reports that the Tegra 4i processor will debut in smartphones and tablets in the first quarter of 2014. Furthermore, NVIDIA has also designed a ‘Brand’ smartphone can be sold by wireless carriers. The handset is equipped with a 4.8-inch 720p display, a quad-core Tegra 4i processor, 1GB of RAM, up to 32GB of storage and a 13-megapixel camera. NVIDIA said the Brand smartphone will be priced between $300 to $400 without any subsidies, while other Tegra 4i-based phones could retail for under $200 with no contract.
Officials have previously called on Apple and Google to add additional security features in their mobile operating systems that would prevent criminals from being able to use stolen devices. Apple on Monday announced a completely revamped version of iOS at its Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco. The operating system includes many new features such as “Activation Lock,” which will prevent an iPhone or iPad from being activated if a thief attempts to wipe the device. San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have voiced their support for the feature and look forward to seeing it in action. More →
Apple unveiled a complete reimagining of its mobile platform on Monday, and beyond the completely new look of the user interface, iOS 7 is packed full of new features. Among them is a great new 3D parallax effect that moves shadows and lighting effects on home screens as the user moves the phone in his or her hand, resulting in a very cool 3D effect that gives the interface a Z axis. Apple’s new iOS 7 software doesn’t launch to the public until sometime this fall, but users don’t have to wait to get this great new parallax effect. A newly available tweak called “3DBoard” does its best to imitate the effect, and it actually does a decent job. The tweak is only available for jailbroken iPhones and it can be downloaded from Cydia, the jailbreak app store. A video showcasing 3DBoard on an iPhone 5 running iOS 6 follows below. More →
Apple unveiled a brand new version of its iOS operating system on Monday and now that the dust has settled, an interesting question is raised — does Apple plan to get rid of the “Black & Slate” color option on its next-generation iPhone 5S? This is purely speculation on my part, but consider two things: First, take a look at the mockups Apple posted all over its website to show off iOS 7. There are dozens upon dozens of images showing iOS 7 on the iPhone 5, but I just looked through them all and aside from tiny thumbnails, I was only able to find one mockup of iOS 7 running on a black iPhone. By itself, this isn’t necessarily evidence that Apple is ditching the black iPhone — but now take a look at BGR’s exclusive report from last month. More →
Responses to Apple’s newly reupholstered iOS 7 software have been mixed — personally, I’m not sure how I feel about it yet — but one thing seems certain: iOS 7 made Apple exciting again. Among those who were thoroughly impressed by Apple’s work was Bob Lefsetz, an acclaimed music industry critic and consultant who, from time to time, offers commentary on the technology industry as well. Following Apple’s iSO 7 unveiling on Monday, Lefsetz issued a very enthusiastic note to subscribers of his newsletter, going as far as to call iOS 7 a “positively mind-blowing” effort that will make Apple cool again. More →
BlackBerry is expecting big things from its QWERTY-equipped BlackBerry Q10 smartphone. Not everyone is optimistic about the handset’s future, however. Strategy Analytics analyst Neil Shah noted that the Q10 brings fragmentation to the BlackBerry platform “in terms of applications development and availability of apps across different form-factors.” The analyst explained that developers are forced to “specially tweak” their BlackBerry 10 apps that were originally designed for the Z10 to be compatible with the Q10′s 3.1-inch, 720 x 720-pixel display. More →
Emerging markets are expected to greatly contribute to the continued growth of smartphones, tablets and PCs over the next few years. Research firm IDC projects shipments of “smart connect devices” will grow to 1.7 billion units in 2014, roughly 1 billion of which will be shipped to emerging markets. China, India, Brazil, and Russia are expected to generate shipments of 662 million units valued at more than $206 billion, while the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan will account for more than 650 million units valued at $204 billion. Tablets and smartphones are expected to make up a bulk of the shipments, accounting for more than 1.4 billion units worth around $500 billion. The PC industry will likely continue to suffer, only seeing shipments of 300 million units valued at less than $200 billion.
Nokia and Windows Phone go hand in hand, according to data from advertising network AdDuplex. Nokia’s smartphones accounted for 80.2% of all Windows Phone devices in May, ahead of HTC at 13.7% and Samsung with just 4.5%. The Lumia 920 was found to be the most popular Windows Phone device globally, however the mid-level Lumia 822 beat out the Lumia 920 and HTC Windows Phone 8X in the United States. AT&T remained the most popular Windows Phone carrier in the U.S. with a 42% share of the market, ahead of Verizon at 33% and T-Mobile at 20%. Perhaps the most troubling statistic was the breakdown of software versions. AdDuplux found that while Windows Phone 8 gained more than 6% market share over the past month, the operating system remained less popular than Windows Phone 7. Windows Phone 8 accounted for 49.4% of the market last month, compared to the 50.6% owned by Windows Phone 7.
Apple announced an entirely new mobile operating system earlier today, and it’s the company’s vision for the future of mobile computing. Led by Jonathan Ive instead of Scott Forstall, iOS 7 is a complete reimagining of iOS, both in terms of design as well as function. The design begs to be explored, tapped, and swiped in order for you to understand how profound a rethinking this actually is, and why it makes sense. More →
