While it's true that the iPhone release that we recently endured is perhaps the biggest thing to happen in technology in the month of September, gamers would no doubt offer a dissenting word on the subject.
JoinedJanuary 21, 2011
Articles20,355
Oliver Haslam has written about technology for over a decade. His work has been published in print at Macworld and online pretty much everywhere else. If it plugs in or has a battery, it's fair game.
With the iPhone 5s quickly becoming old news on the Internet, attention is now very much beginning to turn towards what Apple has hidden up its sleeve for both the iPad 5 and iPad mini 2. All the leaks and rumors that were reserved for the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c just a few weeks ago have now made way for rumors about tablets, though some of it does feel eerily familiar.
Playing games on a PlayStation 3 or PC is great fun using a game controller like the Dual Shock 3 from Sony, but inputting data like usernames, passwords or messages to friends using the controller and an on-screen keyboard is no fun at all. Yes there are chatpads and keyboards available with an aim of making getting words onto the screen less of a chore, but that's further expense that in this day and age we can all do without. But, as is always the case, there's another way to achieve the same goal without spending a penny.
Today's modern smartphones wear so many hats that it's often hard to truly compare them against each other. While it's true that at their core they are all indeed mobile phones, some are more like point and shoot cameras with built-in smartphone capabilities and others are powerhouse computers with a camera attached. When you're making your buying decision, many things have to be taken into account, but it's a fact of smartphone life that we are all taking photos on a daily basis, especially if you happen to be hooked on Instagram-ing everything you go near.
Apple is rightly pleased with its inclusion of 120fps slow motion feature in the iPhone 5s, and if the videos we have already seen taken with the device are any indication, it will be more than another feature that never gets used beyond the first couple of weeks. We're looking at you, Samsung.
Gaming on smartphones may be something of a boom industry, but that doesn't mean that all developers are falling over themselves to launch on every platform imaginable. Take EA and PopCap's Plants Vs Zombies 2 as an example - the title had its worldwide launch on Apple's iOS last month, but so far Android gamers have been left looking over the fence at what their cool neighbors are playing. Yes, Plants Vs Zombies 2 for Android is available to download if you happen to be in China, but that doesn't really help everyone else now, does it?
There's little doubt that the big topic of discussion surrounding Windows 8's launch last year was the removal of the Start button that we had all grown to love ever since its addition in Windows 95. The cornerstone, and literally living in the corner of Windows ever since, the Start button was unceremoniously removed in Windows 8 as Microsoft tried to push its users towards the Metro/Modern interface that it hoped would replace the old way we navigated our apps, settings and documents.
Now that the iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c releases are out of the way, attention is beginning to turn to what we all expect to happen within a few weeks; new iPad announcements. Now that the iPad 4 and iPad mini are nudging their 1 year birthdays, it doesn't take a genius to come to the conclusion that Apple is more than likely gearing up to release newly revised versions of its two tablet devices.
One of Apple's biggest selling points for the iPhone 5s, or at least the one that is easiest to demo in-store, is the addition of the Touch ID system. Hidden below the Home button, Touch ID allows iPhone owners to unlock their device securely, without having to enter a passcode. Instead, the clever technology reads the fingerprint of the person pressing the Home button, and if it matches what it's looking for, then the phone unlocks. Magic.
As is always the case with such things, and especially anything involving streaming video or music, Google’s Chromecast dongle immediately attracted the attention of modders and developers alike. If there’s anything that gets the geek juices flowing it’s going to be a mini dongle with a bit if computing power. Sure enough, Chromecast was hacked, but in a good way which we users always like.
