The iPhone 6 is easily the most eagerly-anticipated device releasing in 2014, and although this tends to be the case with each year that goes by, the reported size increase has certainly helped to ramp up the hype this time around. A new listing on the Amazon Japan marketplace, which has since been removed, showed the device as on sale for upward of $1,300, and although the source of this posting is currently unknown, some intriguing details were recovered prior to the page's swift removal.
Snapchat has just added a cool new feature allowing users to add location-specific filters to snaps before sending them out. The image and video-sharing IM service, which has a popular following among college-age users, has seen its user base soar in recent times, and having added IM-like chat features in a large update earlier on in the year, has now baked in a geofiltering service as an extension of those traditional, Instagram-esque overlays it recently rolled out.
Google is inarguably the most innovative company in the modern mobile industry, with several exciting products already in the pipeline. The head-mounted Glass device is perhaps the most eagerly-anticipated of them all, but as far as allowing us to engage with digital products using just our eyes, it's not the only project that the search giant is plotting. The company is also working on some smart contact lenses offering significant health benefits those suffering with diabetes, and today, this enterprise got a significant boost with the Big G having struck a licensing deal with Novartis subsidiary Alcon.
It's a fair assessment to make that Apple's Passbook feature hasn't been adopted by consumers with the kind of enthusiasm that the early hype suggested, but with NFC said to be arriving with the iPhone 6, the voucher / pass / wallet service could soon become a staple part of iOS users' diets. The Cupertino's move to launch iTunes Pass in Japan is certainly indicative of a more concerted push with Passbook, and as of today, Japanese consumers will be able to top up their iTunes credit via Passbook at Apple's brick-and-mortar retail outlets.
Not content with already having singlehandedly cornered the music recognition market, Shazam has just updated its iOS apps to include some new music streaming integration that will see users able to identify and then listen to entire tracks without ever having to leave the comfort of the Shazam app.
At the I/O Developers Conference, Google took the opportunity to unearth several new products, and among them was Android L, the next major release of the company's flagship mobile OS. Much was made at the time, and since, of the so-called 'Material Design' that would see the the interface overhauled from the ground up with layering and other effects helping to make the operating system feel more alive and active. The UI, it was also said, would be a lot more clean, and below, you can catch a pretty decent glimpse of how some of the search company's own apps like apps like YouTube, Gmail and Maps may eventually look.
Beats Electronics, which was recently acquired by Apple, has enjoyed an immensely successful first few years in business, and while its hardware arguably offers premium audio quality, there's no doubt that the company's ties with music and popular culture have helped it to reach the dizzy heights of being Apple's largest ever acquisition. As well as music, an industry in which founders Dr. Dre and Jimmy Iovine are heavily invested, football / soccer players have certainly helped to broaden the appeal of the brand, and now, Beats has returned the favor by presenting Germany's World Cup-winning squad with some 24-carat gold Beats Pro headphones.
Even though Apple makes every new iOS device considerably better than the last and, by some miracle, thinner and lighter than the preceding model, one common quibble that consumers have is in the waning battery life. Even though the likes of the iPhone and iPad excel in most departments, battery retention is not one of them, and as such, users are often left with a well-built, stylish, and feature-rich device that won't power up. Apparently, though, Tim Cook's company is joining forces with Intelligent Energy in a collaborative effort that may see iDevices, as well as other products like the MacBook, keep going for up to a week by embedding fuel cells into them.
Apple's iPad is among the most coveted in the tablet game, and given that the Cupertino outfit is credited with forging this now-lucrative market, this is to be expected. However, while it's a well-made device - as is the case with most hardware out of Cupertino - the nickel element of its metal finish is apparently causing irritation on the skin of young children coming into contact with the slate.
For a good while now, it has been suggested that Samsung would be coming through with a device finished in a more premium, perhaps metallic material. The Korean outfit has stuck faithfully with polycarbonate through the Galaxy generations, and although the sales figures would suggest that, at a consumer level, this isn't a problem, there's definitely a growing faction of Samsung fans that would love something a little more substantial. With the likes of the iPhone and HTC One series having catered to those with a thirst for the stronger stuff, it now looks like Samsung will finally cave, and according to a new report, the so-called "Galaxy Alpha" will be announced next month.
