Posts by Stephen Schenck
Stephen has been writing about electronics since 2008, which only serves to frustrate him that he waited so long to combine his love of gadgets and his degree in writing. In his spare time, he collects console and arcade game hardware, is a motorcycle enthusiast, and enjoys trapping blue crabs. Stephen's first mobile device was a 624 MHz Dell Axim X30, which he's convinced is still a viable platform. Stephen longs for a market where phones are sold independently of service, and bandwidth is cheap and plentiful; he's not holding his breath. In the meantime, he devours smartphone news and tries to sort out the juicy bits
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 7:51 PMWe sure are hearing a lot of nay-saying form analysts lately. This morning we were talking about perceived issues with demand for the Galaxy S 4 and the effect this was having on Samsung's stock price, but now we're going to switch gears and take a look at HTC, with assessments coming in that suggest the best days of the HTC One are already in the company's past. You might remember our coverage of some HTC earnings reports from the other day, which indicated that a recent upswing continued through the month of May and had the company nearly performing as strongly as it had this time last ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 6:36 PMThere's plenty of last-minute debate over just what will and won't show up at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference next week, but the one product that hardly anyone's strongly campaigning for is the iPhone 5S. It's not that we don't expect a new iPhone sometime this year, but the rumors have made an announcement at this point sound a bit premature. Some had talked about the idea of a launch in September, but today we get another assessment of when Apple could finally pull the curtain back on the successor to the iPhone 5, as well as looks at a few more components attributed to the ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 4:56 PMEvidence sure seems to point to HTC working on something called the T6, and if we're to believe the rumors, this guy could be a 5.9-inch Android phablet. We've heard it attached to some pretty impressive specs, like a Snapdragon 800 SoC, 1080p display, and an optically-stabilized UltraPixel camera. Today we learn what might be the name by which the T6 arrives, and get a look at how the handset could appear. Supposedly, HTC could launch the T6 as its One Max - we know, there are some serious shades of Motorola there, but at least it seems to be sticking with a single "x." It may not be the ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 4:18 PMWe've been talking about the Galaxy S 4 family of phones for weeks, and now the GS4, the GS4 Active, and the GS4 mini are all official. The one that continues to remain unannounced is still the biggest mystery of them all, the Galaxy S 4 Zoom. From the start, we've struggled to positively ID the device as a smartphone or an Android-running camera, and though we've been strongly leading towards the "phone" side in recent weeks, rumors continued to play both sides. Today, we may be able to put that business to rest, getting our first look at what just might be the GS4 Zoom. As you can see, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 3:46 PMThe rumored HTC Tiara Windows Phone handset first popped-up back in February. Later, we heard from Sprint that it would get a late start on Windows Phone 8 with a pair of smartphones, and a rumor suggested one would be the Tiara. Eventually, we caught wind of a phone identifying itself as "HTCP0881_Sprint" and wondered if it this was the Tiara we were looking at. Now that same model's back, getting its FCC certification and preparing to launch on Sprint. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to match up the HTC model PO88100 which just saw its FCC paperwork go public with that HTCP0881_Sprint ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 3:06 PMWhile we still have plenty of questions about what we'll hear announced during next week's WWDC 2013, the one certainty has been news of iOS 7. As if all the rumors and leaks weren't enough, we've heard confirmation from Apple's Tim Cook himself that iOS 7 would be on the agenda. Still, they say a picture's worth a thousand words, and as Apple starts setting things up for the conference, a banner has been revealed that sure seems to confirm everything we've heard about an iOS 7 announcement. The lack of any apparent "iOS" wording is itself very interesting - could this stark, featureless ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 1:24 PMWe've been wondering a lot lately about just how this new program of stock-Android-running "Google Edition" smartphones would play out. We've seen the GS4 and One confirmed, but have plenty of questions about which additional manufacturers and phones might get involved. Today, we get to hear a source share some supposed insider information on the project, as well as efforts to launch the Moto X. According to this source, Google is planning to release three and only three of these Google Edition phones this year. With the first two out of the way, that leaves us wondering about the third. ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 12:48 PMThe most interesting rumored Sony smartphone at the moment is arguably the so-called Togari, which with a screen measuring over 6.4 inches would be the company's first phablet. When we saw Sony send out invitations for a June 25 event in Germany, we wondered if this Togari might just be on the menu. We might have been on to something there, as today a flurry of Togari rumors arrive, suggesting the phablet could arrive as the Xperia ZU, and reiterating that idea of a June 25 launch. We also get that pic up top, and the slate that tiny kitten is balancing on is reportedly the Togari/ZU. Then ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 11:47 AMApple's heavy-handed control over iOS can be a bit of a double-edged sword. On one hand, that lets it give users a consistent user experience, but that's at the price of not giving users greater freedom. As we get ready for news of iOS 7, some of Tim Cook's comments about openness have developers wondering which aspects of the platform might soon see themselves freed a bit from Apple's stranglehold. TouchType, the firm behind SwiftKey, is anxious to learn if this might mean iOS support for third-party keyboard software. While many of us treat software keyboards as an afterthought, moves ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 7, 2013 10:54 AMSome of the biggest stories to break this week dealt with leaks concerning the US and its domestic intelligence gathering efforts. First it was revealed that Verizon was sharing vast quantities of call data with the NSA, followed yesterday by claims of a far broader effort, dubbed PRISM. From the sound of things, PRISM was being run with the cooperation of a number of tech companies, giving the government unfettered backdoor access to their systems. Now a few of those companies named in the leaks are speaking up, protesting their innocence. While these companies will grant legitimate, ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 6, 2013 8:04 PMWhat's going to happen at WWDC 2013? Sure, iOS 7 is a given, but beyond that there's a whole lot less certainty. New services sound possible, but actual new hardware is a tougher proposition to push. Sure, rumors have been all over the place, with everything from new iPhones, to a new iPad, iPad mini, or even an iWatch suggested as possibilities, but how much of that stuff might be ready to launch so soon? One case maker sounds pretty convinced that a new iPad will be on the menu, and has some new cases ready to ship next week. Hard Candy Cases has two protective shells for the "iPad 5" up ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 6, 2013 7:29 PMA story we covered yesterday afternoon presented the case that files on your iPhone, placed their by Apple, contained settings pertinent to many of the major US carriers that seemed to indicate that Apple was being complicit in artificially limiting data speeds. While that analysis was accompanied by a bunch of evidence, a new report is out today refuting many of the findings, claiming that the data was quite thoroughly misinterpreted and that it makes no case for there being any secret throttling going on. The problem with so many of the settings contained in the relevant files is that ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 6, 2013 6:54 PMWhat's the deal with Instagram on Windows Phone? We've been hoping to see this app arrive for what feels like ages, and while we've seen the arrival of some workable substitutes, we'd really love to avoid yet another off-brand WP app experience and have a full-on, official solution. Nokia's been busy campaigning with its #2InstaWithLove app, and today we get word that a proper Instagram client could actually soon be on its way to the platform, with rumors suggesting a launch this month. The details are a little unclear, but the release date is supposed to fall on a Wednesday in June, with ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 6, 2013 4:58 PMA couple weeks back we got word that Facebook was slamming the breaks on plans to bring the HTC First – and the Facebook Home software that comes along with it – to the UK. Reportedly, Facebook wasn't quite loving the user experience the software delivered and wanted time to give things a bit of a refresh and add some "new customization features." We're not sure if we're already seeing the fruits of that labor, but today a new version of Facebook for Android has arrived that does deliver some adjustments to Facebook Home. The big new thing in this release is the creation of a favorites ...
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by Stephen Schenck | June 6, 2013 4:17 PMThe next few weeks are going to be pretty busy when it comes to smartphone events. This year's WWDC is only a matter of days away, and on June 20 we've got that Samsung event in London – although it sure feels like Samsung's been racing to announce things early and ruin any surprises. Now we've got one more to add to the calendar, with Sony distributing save-the-dates for a June 25 event of its own. The invitation for the German event asks "So you want more?", which we could read a couple different ways. The most straightforward interpretation may be that this is just anything new – ...