Here's a thing I don't get. Restrictions. Restrictions are, as a rule, kinda bad. There is little in this world more frustrating than the absolute declaration of “This shall not be done”. It's rather like those memos you get at work. You know the ones. The ones that say “From now on you can only use these two phrases to end a phone call – blah and blah” (Bear with me. I work in a call center). But when the phone call ends, that awkward moment comes when your customer says some type of good bye, and you're forced to utter, “Thank you for calling [wherever], and don't forget ...

The other day, I was using Windows Phone's “Baby-Siri” to text a friend of mine after a frustrating experience. “Nevermind”, I said “Turns out the guy is a &^!^^@&”, only I didn't say “&^!^^@&” I said...well, this is a family friendly site. But it sort of drove me nuts. I wasn't just angry, I was …...&^!^^@&.....gar! Now, I don't want to get off on a rant here, but listen up, phone. Stop &^!^^@& bleeping my &^!^^@& texts. If that &^!^^@& is coming out of of my &^!^^@& mouth, it better &^!^^@& go onto my ...

In the past six months, I've handled some of the world's most advanced mobile technology, including BlackBerry's new Z10 flagship, Nokia's one-of-a-kind N9 smartphone, and Sony's super-portable Xperia Tablet Z. And the thing I value most from these experiences isn't the Z10's unified messaging hub, or the N9's one-of-a-kind interface, or even the Tablet Z's water-resistant nature. Rather, the aspect I love most about these three products is that they all offer a variation on a buttonless unlock. This revelation might force you to question my priorities, and I acknowledge that idolizing ...

We got an early peak at iOS 7 earlier today. Love it or hate it, it's finally a change from the same old boring grid of icons. For some this will be considered too extreme a change. For others it won't have been significant enough. Oh well, I supposed you can't please everyone all of the time. Once you look past all the glitz and glamour, what does iOS 7 mean for the future of Android? Multitasking is in! One of the more technological differences between Android and iOS has been the way each platform handles multitasking. Android handles running apps much like your desktop computer, ...

Now that it's all said and done, we know iOS 7 is pretty light on new features. Siri has a few new parlor tricks; Control Center now allows users to quickly toggle settings without navigating to the Settings app; Notification Center sports a less cluttered, more useful interface; multitasking is smart and learns which apps you use most; and Safari handles tabs better than ever. And, yes, we have a few complaints about the update – like how it's still closed down and, despite the giant app ecosystem, doesn't allow third-party sharing or user-defined default apps. Feature-light or not, ...

As Tim Cook, Jony Ive and Craig Federighi revealed iOS 7 today, a lot of things crossed my mind. iOS in a way is very different to every other operating system. In the case of Android, it doesn't matter how much thought Google puts into their OS, OEMs have all decided to change it and enhance their experiences on top of it. In the case of Windows Phone, even though the design is unified, the approach each OEM has given to design and software enhancements defines your choice for the product. In the case of iOS, Apple approaches the product differently. Company executives have always said ...

Today is the day every iOS fanatic has been awaiting for years. From the time iOS was first announced to the last major update, iOS 6, the operating system has looked mostly the same. Apple added features along the way but, for the most part, it has always been the same iOS. For the last six years, the interface has remained mostly unchanged. And few viewed that as a serious problem. The vocal minority and us tech writers have griped about it for years, about how stale iOS has become as new and existing operating systems have been graced with new looks and groundbreaking features. But the ...

Google used to have "launch partners" to help it show off a new operating system or new platform. Motorola showed off its XOOM tablet, Logitech showed off its Google TV set top box. After that, Google leaned more toward Nexus devices to show its new features, rather than its traditional "launch partner" approach. Many of us in the tech industry mused about the potential (albeit remote) of multiple Nexus devices in each category (smartphone, 7-inch tablet, and 10-inch tablet), perhaps even the flagship smartphone from every top-tier manufacturer, being made available for sale unlocked, ...