Although the smartphone and tablet market is mostly dominated by Apple, Samsung and Google et al, Amazon has been keenly interested in adding its own hardware to proceedings. While the Kindle Fire didn't live up to the pre-release hype, the world's foremost online retailer could be, so says the WSJ, testing its very first smartphone effort, complete with a 4-5 inch display.
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The smaller iPad, which the tech world has been chattering about non-stop for the past couple of weeks, is said to be a 7.85-inch slate designed to counter the new releases of the Google Nexus 7, along with the purported new Kindle Fire.
If you're not a keen follower of Apple rumors, you may want to look away now, for in breaking the continual flow of iPad Mini rumors comes an update on the state of play regarding the next iPhone. The device, which, unlike the iPad talk, is actually backed up by hardware "leaks", looks set to become a little longer, and the display, which has sat at 3.5-inches since the very first day it hit the market back in 2007, is expected to increase rather significantly, measuring in at nearer the 4-inch mark.
Although many of the large consumer electronics companies outsource their work to China, the number of legitimate products produced within the world's most populous country is eclipsed by the number of fakes lurking about. Apple is the usual target of the fakery, and although none of us would consider purchasing the grossly inferior rip-offs, it's certainly entertaining to look at them - particularly when placed alongside the real deal.
Using Twitter, perhaps more so than any other social platform, seems perfectly matched to the mobile market. Everything said is within the 140 character limit - fending off those who like to broadcast an unabridged version of their life story, and it has overtaken the RSS reader in allowing users to keep up with the news feeds they really want to follow.
Although Google+ has sat around in a somewhat dormant state since arriving last year, Google has continued to maintain it has big plans for its social network. The mobile market, a field in which Facebook has continued to disappoint, will obviously be a key area to corner if Google+ is to be a success, and the official iOS app has just been given a pretty significant update, taking the version number up to 3.0.
As has been discussed on numerous occasions, photo-based apps are seeing an unprecedented rise in popularity, thanks to the advancements of smartphone and tablet cameras as well as sharing mediums, notably Instagram. Although the influx of new apps means a lot more choice for us, it also unfortunately means developers, looking for a quick buck, are capitalizing on the current trend by releasing sub-par apps which promise much yet deliver precious little.
If it turns out there is no "iPad Mini" featuring a 7.85-inch display, it will surely go down as one of the most out-of-hand rumors in recent tech history. When the likes of Bloomberg and the WSJ corroborate stories circulating in the rumor mill, that usually means said murmur has some substance, but with conflicting reports and no real solid evidence, the jury remains out with regards to whether Apple is actually plotting such a tablet.
Google's I/O conference brought little in the way of surprise, but still presented aficionados of the Big G with plenty to get excited about. As well as the Nexus 7 tablet, which has seen an uprising in talk of a smaller iPad (a device which, as yet, hasn't been proved to be in development), Google also announced Android Jelly Bean (4.1), the successor to the rather tasty Ice Cream Sandwich (4.0) operating system.
The tirade of Android malware continues to appear, and although it's been a quiet month of July for those who like to wreak havoc on our devices, a new outbreak is never too far away. The latest case in the continual Android malware debacle actually buys applications for you, and while that should be a positive thing, you're the one footing the bill when the waiter arrives.
