...but rather on the future of iOS. If the past is any indication, we should see an iPhone 5S, an incremental spec-bump, just like the iPhone 4S. Regardless if that will be the case, or a completely new phone, the mobile future of Apple doesn’t really depend on the phone itself. No quad-core, 2GB of RAM, and 13MP camera with X number of lens, in addition to a fingerprint reader and maybe adopting NFC/wireless charging will stop the already ongoing decline. It’s not about hardware anymore, looks, materials, or specs. iOS, just like Windows Phone, does an excellent job at offering an ...

At the opening Google I/O 2013 keynote, Google revealed that it would be taking a much different approach to the developer conference than it had in years past. It was less about consumers and consumer products, and more about services and developers – as it should be. Many were upset over the lack of new hardware and the lack of a true point update to the Android operating system. But as I explained in an editorial on Wednesday, there was much more to the keynote than what initially met the eye. It was about updating the OS in a way all existing users (or every user on version 2.2 and ...

We've been talking about two smartphones in particular these past few weeks: the HTC One and the Galaxy S 4. You may have noticed. We've kept our focus on these phones for an especially long period because they're flagship devices - the high-end superphones representing the best of the best their manufacturers can offer. As we've discussed at length in venues like the Pocketnow Weekly podcast and Pocketnow Live hangout, the varying construction approaches used by these manufacturers also provide a window into their design philosophies. Samsung has staunchly defended its use of ...

It's not common to see Larry Page on stage for a Google event, regardless of how big it is. Usually Eric Schmidt or Sergey Brin have been the ones that have shined the most for their showmanship, and as I watched the Google I/O keynote yesterday, Larry changed that, and he said something that really struck a nerve - "We should be doing what nobody else is doing". He also said things like "We should work on getting technology out of the way", and other phrases we've heard in the past, but by the late CEO of another company I don't even need to mention. It's no state secret that Larry Page ...

The keynote of Google I/O 2013 has come and gone. This would have been the time when Google announced a new version of Android. Instead they went into great detail about new features that are coming to Google Play Services. To bring everyone up to speed, Google Play Services are a set of application programming interfaces (APIs) -- hooks that developers use to make apps do awesome things. While some may argue that APIs alone don't do much to help end users like you and I, others would say they provide a foundation upon which developers can write new applications and extend current apps ...

One of my biggest pet peeves with smartphones has been their branding. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, it's all a bit like a car showroom: some models have lovely, flowery names without the slightest hint of a descriptive element, where others bog their names down with overly-descriptive initialisms - instead of GT and 4WD we have HD and LTE. In recent years, I've had the feeling that things were slowly getting better, with phone names trending towards a happy medium between those extremes. Most recently, some of Samsung's models caught my eye as a prime example of really ...

What will be announced at Google I/O 2013? That's the question of the hour, especially for supporters and enthusiasts of Google's wildly popular mobile platform. The developer conference is generally where Google unveils its latest groundbreaking products, where we were first introduced to the Nexus Q, Nexus 7, Project Glass and Jelly Bean last year. Skydivers jumped from a plane, BMX riders jumped over building gaps, and one crazed man ran down the side of a building, all to demo Glass to the world, and to deliver a Glass unit to Sergey Brin on stage. Word has it, this year's I/O will be ...

Well, we're about six hours past the announcement of the latest Windows Phone out of Finland, the Nokia Lumia 925, so it's about time to start armchair quarterbacking. Everyone ready? Good. Let's hit it. What do you do when your flagship Windows Phone (indeed, your only flagship phone, period) is well-received by the marketplace, but draws criticism for a few elements of its design? Well, you correct those deficiencies in the next flagship, of course. But what if you want to address those concerns sooner, while also broadening the number of carriers which offer your device? Answer: you ...