This Week's Tech News & Opinons

News of the Week //06/20/13//

A lot has happened over the last couple weeks with E3 and WWDC. E3 was it's own mess of things--in both good in bad ways. I think it is safe to say that WWDC came across the same way to those of us on the sidelines and not actual investors (that includes the emotionally invested too).  

Apple revealed iOS 7 after stressing that they can still innovate. They detailed how absolutely lovely and "beautiful" the new design is. The design came across as very familiar to many and prompted copy-cat calls from social media outlets. What were they copying? The very OS Apple is mainly competing against may have just served as a source of inspiration.  Check out this article for a side by side comparison of Android and iOS 7.

There was also a little bit of outrage on twitter over the design, some saying the design needs a complete re-do. Khoi Vinh, a prominent graphic designer, tore apart Apple's rampant use of the Helvetica Neue Ultra light font. Honestly, I love this font, but Vinh has a point that the actual user base might have a hard time using the OS as a daily driver.

E3 has long been over, but one of the biggest announcements just came as I am writing this. Xbox is reversing some of their DRM policies after waves of online backlash. The question cycling the tubes now is but is it too late? Since pre-orders were capped before this announcement I think this will only help Microsoft, but that doesn't mean that Sony has lost all of their swayed gamers--including me.


There were quite a few phone announcements and rumors this week. The HTC Butterfly looks like a dream and sounds like it will perform like one too. The battery alone will be well worth the upgrade when compared with other devices. More and more consumers are opting for extended batteries which bulk up the phone and make case buying awkward. The phone is boasting a 3.5 day music playback rate, but lacked specifics when factoring in actual phone usage. Does the 3.5 day playback include the screen being awake? Using on board speakers? Streaming through WiFi or mobile data? From my experience with 3500mAh batteries the screen would be off and the phone would be playing back music already on the device, but this is all speculation.

The Oppo Find 5 may just be a Google phone which would join the ranks of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and the HTC One. It will be interesting to see how manufactures react to sales without their overlaying software such as Sense, Blinkfeed, or Touchwiz. Software is what brands Android phones. Sure, us power users care about hardware, but the average user cares about the interface--and sometimes the megapixels in the camera. This is a great phone though, and the manufacturers are all about helping people root and put custom roms on their phone as if it is a feature. They even highlight the range of roms that can be used on the phone on their website. If they do make a Google phone, I hope the company will see a little more success and stop letting HTC and Samsung hog the limelight. 

I'm not even sure where to begin with the Huawei phone, the Ascend P6. Brown. They're making a brown one, and I like it--I don't even.

The world's slimmest phone sparked a lot of attention on social media, but many were left unimpressed. There were some concerns about privacy in a lot of threads such as Chinese spyware, but once again, this is all speculation. Huawei has stated that they will not be making a Google phone. I didn't notice anyone else mentioning this, but in all of their announcements they came across as a little cocky.

Tomorrow the Samsung active is promised to start shipping from AT&T. It looks like a great phone, but I'm anxious to see the YouTube videos where people start actually testing how well the device works.

Samsung announced earlier today that they will be releasing a new camera with specs quite out of my price range. The camera will be running android and carries the name Galaxy. I think this could be the gateway to a new realm of photography. Plus, I think once the camera is rooted, the custom roms could be really fun to play with. 

On the last note: I like big screens. The Samsung Mega might be for me.