The official combination of hardware and software feature sets that ship with most devices is usually enough, but in some cases it just makes sense for developers to push the boundaries a little and extend the published capabilities of a device.
Every so often Google does something that reminds everyone of just how close to the creepy line it likes to sail. With hooks into email, social networking and of course the entire Web, Google knows just about everything there is to know about us, and what we do online.
The company might be in the process of being sold to Microsoft, but Nokia isn't going to sit on its hands and wait for the assimilation to happen. Instead, it's forging ahead with its new product lineup and perhaps the most interesting new device to be on its way out of Nokia is the Lumia 2520 tablet.
The new versions of Android have been arriving thick and fast over the past year, and although Android 4.3 Jelly Bean is still only a couple of months old, Android 4.4 KitKat has already been confirmed by Google. Since it first came to light that Android 4.4 was incoming, the tech world has been diligent as ever in its search for details, and has just unearthed some screenshots of the upcoming release in action. As you'll spot below, those previously-visited UI tweaks are present for all to see, as well as larger home screen icons.
Although the launch of Grand Theft Auto has been, as recently confirmed by Guinness World Records, an unprecedented success by all accounts, it's fair to note that Rockstar's efforts to get GTA 5 Online up and running has been more than a struggle.
Samsung, it would seem, simply cannot stop selling smartphones, and with the Galaxy Note having only been released a matter of weeks ago, rumor has it that the next flagship - the Galaxy S5 - could be set to arrive as soon as January. If true, it would be a real break away from the spring-summer launches we've witnessed these past couple of years, and would leave Galaxy S4 users feeling more short-changed than they perhaps already do.
What do you get when you lock two of the world's most rockstar designers in a room, infuse them with inspiration and throw a charitable cause into the equation? It might sound like the beginning of a terrible joke doing the rounds on the Internet, but the reality is actually a lot more inspiring, heart-warming and aesthetically attractive. What you actually get is a bespoke, purpose made work-surface crafted out of solid aluminum that has been designed to raise money for one of the world's worthiest causes.
Apple, known for its painstaking attention to detail and unerring design principles has been accused of losing its charm of late, with the iPhone 5c's official case proving quite the catalyst for much discussion about whether the Cupertino firm is as focused on the details as it used to be.
We may yet to have heard anything official from Rockstar Games, the creator of the record-smashing Grand Theft Auto 5, but Intel has chimed into GTA 5 for PC release by suggesting that a version for Windows computers will indeed be happening at some point in the near future. We already heard NVIDIA's director of investor relations slip that the popular title would be hitting the market at some point later on this fall, and although it's hard to take anything as gospel until we hear it from the horse's mouth, it's certainly encouraging for the many millions waiting for that PC release.
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