Google Play Editions are all the rage right now. After years of smartphone enthusiasts wishing that hardware makers would offer versions of their smartphones with a stock installation of Android as an option, the GPE versions of devices like the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 have proven predictably popular amongst enthusiasts. It's debatable whether the general phone-buying public even noticed, but that's not the point.
When Apple launched the iPhone 5s and 5c, and along with it released iOS 7 to the masses, it was a move unlike any other that the company had made since it launched the iPhone back in 2007. You see, iOS 7 was not just a visual overhaul - it was something revolutionary to the iDevice users, who’d be accustomed to the same look and feel for their devices since they got hold of one. iOS 7, and how Jony Ive executed it, have received accolades of praise for being simplistic, elegant and beautiful, not to mention fully functional as a smartphone and tablet operating system. It may even serve as the foundation for the fruit company’s future Human Interface Guidelines for every production interface.
The extremely popular Gridlock tweak can now be added to the growing list of packages that have been revamped to support modern iOS devices with 64-bit architectures. Any jailbreak enthusiast worth his salt will have more than likely investigated the Gridlock package, especially those who jailbreak their iOS device with aesthetic customization in mind.
Following on from its introduction of the Xperia Z1S and Xperia Z1 Compact smartphones at CES, Sony has introduced two additional devices to compliment the Xperia range. The Xperia T2 Ultra and the Xperia E1 are built with relatively modest specifications and look like they will be aimed at the lower entry level smartphone market rather than those looking for a powerhouse device to compete with the best of Android.
Does it need saying that there are never enough rumors in the world of technology? Probably not, because we all know that pretty well enough already. The truth is, whenever there’s something big coming up, the rumor mill only seems to pick up pace further, and now we get to hear about the alleged specs for Samsung’s new and upcoming Galaxy S5 flagship Android phone that is expected to be unveiled around March this year.
Even though you can pick up an iPhone 5s with up to 64GB of storage space while the iPad ranges push the boat all the way out to 128GB, most of us still like to de-clutter wherever possible. Whether this takes the form of moving our media content to the cloud or simply deleting apps as and when they're no longer needed, it's nice to have a substantial amount of space spare. One way you can save space in the beta'd iOS 7.1 is by removing unwanted OTA updates that have been downloaded onto your device, and as discovered by the folks at Macerkopf, you'll be able to save yourself a tidy 1GB!
Windows 8, it's fair to say, did not make the kind of impression on users that Microsoft had hoped, and although the Windows 8.1 follow-up has been generally well received, it goes without mention that the preceding Windows 7 is considered by most to be the strongest release to date. It should come as very little surprise, then, that Windows 9 - or Windows 8.2 as we like to call it here - looks set to arrive next year in 2015, and according to a report by Paul Thurrott, we'll be getting an official word on it at April's BUILD 2014 dev conference.
With any new technology standards or formats, there's always a trial stage whereby an assessment is made as to whether moving towards it is a viable or necessary pursuit. While 3DTV continues to struggle through lack of content and general interest, 4K looks to be taking strides as the next de facto quality level for our viewing pleasure, and the Blu-ray Disc Association's decision to announce 4K Blu-ray discs suggests that this will be the natural next step.
Microsoft's acquisition of Nokia's products and services department back in September of last year had thrown any aspirations of the Finnish company delivering an Android handset into doubt. Its Redmond overlord is, after all, trying to make strides with its own struggling mobile ecosystem in Windows Phone. But nevertheless, talk of a Nokia-made device running Google's Android has remained, and as far as we know, it's being developed under the codename Normandy. Today, courtesy of various sources on both Twitter and China's Weibo, we could have our first legitimate glimpse at the so-called "engineering prototype." Check it out after the leap!
So sometimes we see jailbreak tweaks pop up that wow us immediately, and then sometimes we see tweaks that have us wondering why anyone would really use them beyond the initial novelty factor. Somehow, Touchy for iPhone 5s fits squarely into both of those categories, and with good reason.
