Triplicate Thoughts

Air View - a gimmick, or a legitimate feature? Image: Dial A Phone Over the last few product cycles, the word "innovation" has seen its significance dwindle quite a bit. Almost every "new" feature is said to be an innovation by OEMs trying to sell their product. But when it comes to journalists, reviewers and consumers like you and I, we tend to say that "features" nowadays are not innovations, but merely gimmicks.  When is a feature a gimmick? Are all features gimmicks? What's the difference? If we were to look at textbook definitions, a feature is " a distinctive attribute or aspect of something ", while a gimmick is " a  trick or device intended to attract attention, publicity, or business ". Now if you ask me, as far as smartphones go, these two definitions are practically synonymous. All distinctive attributes of a smartphone were put in there by the OEM with the sole purpose of attracting attention and business, right? So...

Image: Team-Android I've been very critical of Apple in my blog. It started out when I shared the reasons why I fell out of love with the iPhone and iOS . I then followed that up with my thoughts on how WWDC 2013 was more of the same , vindicating my decision to leave the platform. I then wrote what was to be my most popular and most +1'd post, which highlighted the reasons why I think Apple are one of the most hated tech companies in the world . On the other hand, I've written nothing but positive articles when it comes to Android. Like my favourite announcements from I/O 2013 , and the top 5 things I love about Android . So to prove that I am not a blind fandroid , and I am indeed aware of the shortcomings and weaknesses of my favourite platform, this post will be about the top 5 things I dislike about the best mobile platform in the world. Yes, this will be difficult to write.

The bright invitation served  as a warning of things to come. So Apple finally made the oft-rumoured iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c official. Was there anything unexpected? No. Everything that was announced was already known well in advance. The iPhone 5s does indeed come with a fingerprint scanner, and the plastic iPhone 5c is real, and not exclusive to China as some people had thought. But looking at the big picture, this is quite a significant change in direction for Apple. A few things have changed since Steve Jobs passed, and yesterday's event proved it. We all know the iPhone 5s was never going to be a huge upgrade over the iPhone 5, but the way Apple announced it was, different . And the iPhone 5c? That's a whole new road Apple are taking. Here's what I think of the iPhone 5s and 5c, followed by some of my thoughts about the change in direction Apple are taking under Tim Cook.

Unedited image: Howard Forums Not too long ago, I asked you how far do you think the Android spec wars will go . At the time, it seemed like Android OEMs would just keep pushing the limit, and events at IFA show no signs that the war is coming to an end, with phones running on  3GB of RAM and housing cameras capable of 4K video recording , despite the fact that many people don't even have 4K screens to watch the video on. From an OEM perspective, it seems that the war will continue for quite some time yet. But what about from our perspective, the consumer? Do we want the war to continue? Do we need it to? My current phone is the HTC One X, HTC's flagship from 2012. Now for me, my upgrade path is clear; get a phone with a better screen (1080p), a better processor (Snapdragon 600 at least), more RAM (1GB just ain't enough anymore), and a larger battery ( 1800 mAh is freaking tiny! ). Those are the most important for me, hardware wise. But what about people who already ...

Customisation is probably the greatest strength of Android. There are of course other reasons why Android is so great , but when it comes down to something that every Android user can easily do, without needing to do any hacking (i.e., rooting), simple customisation is what I see as Android's greatest strength. Some of the more advanced methods of customising an Android device like changing icon packs, the colour theme, grid size and transitions may require a bit of know-how with regards to custom launchers , but there are three things I believe anyone can do on their own right from the start; changing their wallpaper, ringtone, and notification tones. Don't laugh, it may seem trivial to many of us, but there are a lot of Android users who seem to not know about this simple customisation, or simply don't care. I've seen friends' phones that still use the stock wallpaper even after months of owning the phone, they use boring ringtones that come out of the box, an...

If you take note of the happenings in the world of technology, you must know of Microsoft's purchase of Nokia. Ok they didn't actually buy the entire company, just the company's Devices and Services Unit, which is basically the only part of the company people care about - the phone part. A lot has been said about the deal. Primarily how Stephen Elop was a trojan horse planted into Nokia by Microsoft , and how this puts an end to any hopes of an Android powered Lumia device , but here I want to take a different route. Instead of speculating about why or how the deal happened, or what the future holds, I want to look back to the past at all the great Nokia handphones of yesteryear. If you are anywhere near my age group, mid-20s to lets say, mid-30s, chances are your first handphone was a Nokia. I remember getting my first phone when I was 15  I think , a Nokia 8210 . Only to lose it a few weeks later at school. My next phone? Also a Nokia, the Nokia 6510 . Nokia phones repr...

Image: zmags Things have changed over the past few years with regards to how we go about using technology in our daily lives. Before the age of smartphones, our computers and laptops were entirely separate entities from our dumbphones . What we did on our computers stayed on our computers, and what we did with our phones stayed on our phones. Of course, with the exception of certain business-minded individuals whose BlackBerrys were at the time, considered smart due to their ability to handle e-mail. Things have changed now. What we used to only be able to do on a computer can now also be done on a smartphone, and what we have on our phones can also be accessed from our computers. The barriers between desktop computers and the mobile computers we carry in our pockets have been knocked down. We now live in a multi-screen environment , and that doesn't seem like slowing down anytime soon.