Theming is a popular hobby on smartphones like iOS and Android because of two basic reasons. Firstly, it takes less of a toll on system performance than some of the skin packs on desktop operating systems (at least in my personal experience) and, secondly, it’s much more easier, module-based and can result in a significantly different user experience.
Although both Apple and Samsung legal representatives are spending most of their working days locked in a Californian court room battling out their difficulties, it hasn't stopped the two companies putting plans in place to make an assault on the smartphone industry. After all, business is business, and although the two largest smartphone vendors in the world clearly have issues. With Apple planning to entice users over to the fruity side with the announcement and release of the next-generation iPhone sometime next month, it seems that Samsung have their own plans for market domination.
Microsoft has a pretty busy schedule coming up over the next couple of months, and as well as Windows 8, Windows Server 2013 and the introduction of the Surface tablet, Office 2013 is also in the pipeline. The next iteration of the popular productivity suite has been available to download as a preview version for the past couple of weeks now, bringing many new features including deep cloud integration, and now the Redmond-based software extraordinaire has launched a dedicated Store for Microsoft Office 2013.
Late last month, Samsung ensured the tech world's attention wouldn't be solely focused on the iPhone 5 or Nexus 7 by pinpointing August 15th as a date for a key announcement. The tactic worked, and fans of everything digital have been speculating what the Korean company may have up its sleeve.
With Apple recently pushing out the fourth beta of iOS 6 to developers, it represents a chance not only for developers to test and discover the latest changes, but also those who are involved in the production of new jailbreak tweaks to liberate devices that are running this latest beta.
Over the last few weeks, we have been hearing numerous reports about the future of Apple hardware and the purported changes which Apple is planning to implement while going forward. One of those major changes is set to be revealed with the announcement of the next-generation iPhone, is the move away from the existing 30-pin dock connector to a smaller connection that is reportedly going to be a 19-pin setup. The change in connector on the iPhone makes perfect sense considering they want to move the headphone socket to the bottom of the device, but if the latest reports that are surfacing are true, then we could be introduced to the new 19-pin connection on all iOS devices in one swoop.
Voice recognition wasn't a new invention when Apple introduced Siri towards the end of last year, but it certainly caused a stir within the mobile industry. Packaged in iOS 5 for those lucky enough to own the Cupertino company's iPhone 4S, much was made about a technology scarcely touched upon in an industry seemingly apt for it.
Apple, perhaps more so than any other tech company, tries its utmost to shave as much unnecessary baggage from its product range through generations, and although we've seen some significant downsizes in recent times - the Retina MacBook Pro, for example - sometimes the reductions can only be achieved a little at a time.
WhatsApp is undoubtedly the most popular cross-platform instant messaging service for smartphones. It works on all major mobile platforms – iOS, Android, Blackberry OS and Symbian - over Wi-Fi / cellular data and allows you send and receive text messages, photos, videos for free. With so many smartphones in the hands of teenagers and young adults, it’s no surprise that many of them prefer using WhatsApp over services like Blackberry Messenger and iMessage.
One of the things about Windows which a great deal of users have come to love is also one of the things which a lot of people have taken the opportunity to have a dig at the Redmond company for. There's no doubt that Windows has been the most popular desktop operating system over the years, with millions of people across the world loving the fact that Microsoft has introduced new versions of the OS while rigidly sticking to a tried, tested and familiar visual user-experience. By that I mean it doesn't matter if you pick up Windows 98, XP, Millennium, Vista or 7, you automatically know from experience where things are and can get up and running right away.
