As of early last week, Samsung has taken over London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 in a typically over-the-top ad campaign that has seen the entrance renamed "Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5." On top of that, the place is awash with billboards advertising the Korean company's most celebrated handset, and this exhibition is set to continue for another week yet. Before Samsung's takeover, though, Nokia - now Microsoft - had quite a sizeable advertising stake in Terminal 5, and given the mobile industry rival, it's no surprise that the Windows Phone giant has begun trolling Sammy's efforts with a little campaign of its own.
It's a familiar story, unfortunately, but once again we're here to warn Android users that their smartphones and tablets could theoretically be recording video and taking pictures without them knowing, with the output then being uploaded to a remote server without any indication whatsoever.
With the smartphone market now fully fleshed out, companies like Apple and Google are now looking to try and find the next big growth market, which means both firms are now throwing as much at the metaphorical wall as possible, just to see what, if anything, sticks. Apple has already made a play for the car, while Google's push in wearables is easy to see in its Android Wear and Google Glass product.
In a world where we carry around smartphones and tablets as a matter of routine, it's true that an unfortunate outcome of that is that we seem to be constantly charging things. if we're not charging our smartphones, then we're charging that tablet that we've been playing that hot new game on. In our houses here at least, there's always something on-charge.
Google Glass is currently being trialed in a multitude of different fields. From Virgin Airline check-ins at Heathrow Airport to the Dubai Police and New York Police in the ongoing fight against crime, the empowering nature of having a head mounted camera and ready-made apps is really starting to show, and now, surgeons appear to be getting in on the act as well.
The Samsung Galaxy S5 and HTC One M8 may have given us a fairly exciting start to 2014's major smartphone release schedule, but there's still a great deal more to come, and in a follow up to last year's impressive G2, LG Electronics looks to be pulling out all of the stops to impress consumers with its successor. From what we've heard up until now, it's going to be a real humdinger, and according to the latest report on the handset, it might even be the first smartphone to pack laser autofocus.
Touch-screen phones are great, but sometimes there is just no substitute for a good old hardware solution. Being able to have a button that's always available, and always does the same thing is not something that should be overlooked, and that's why there are more than a few Kickstarter projects aiming to bring a little more physicality to our touch-based world.
When it comes to mobile data plans, most of us are tethered to some kind of contract, and if you want a half-decent smartphone thrown into the bargain, these monthly agreements can prove costly. FreedomPop has long since sought to shake the market up by offering basic smartphones for a one-off fee, and continued monthly minutes, texts and data for free. More recently, the company has opened its doors to the more lucrative iPhone range, and now, last year's flagship Galaxy S4 from Samsung has also been added to the ever-growing roster.
Even though Samsung is renowned for releasing a bunch of spin-off devices after every new flagship, we naturally thought that the South Korean company might skip the Galaxy S5 Active this time around. After all, the Galaxy S4 Active's main draw was its dust and waterproof nature, and given how the standard Galaxy S5 is already both of these things, we naively touted the demise of the Active. However, a new video showcasing the Galaxy S5 Active in full working order suggests otherwise, and as well as being more rugged than its just-released cousin, is notably different in a few other departments, too.
Google Glass has become a source of interest in the recent weeks, with the company first opening up the expensive and highly advanced eyewear for sale for just a day, and then making it available for everyone in the US. It seems clear that Google is out to ensuring some rather heavy marketing for the Google Glass lineup, and their latest stint with tennis sensation Roger Federer and Stefan Edberg is sure to help that cause. Apparently, the two tennis giants stopped by the Google campus to try on the new eyewear, and take on each other in a friendly match that offered a unique perspective into the game.
