So the iPhone 5 has been announced and if you are reading this you probably know the deal. Taller screen, better display and camera, lighter, thinner, faster, bettery battery – you get the idea. All in all a very solid upgrade on the 4S. I’m not one for ‘reviews’ so instead I thought I’d do a post on the specific things that I think stand out, both positive and negative, from a hardware and software perspective.
This is an old draft I never got around to publishing but here goes…
I spotted Zeebox a couple of weeks ago and having thought about its implications I was surprised that it was the only prominent app on the iOS store doing what it is doing.
I think most people would agree that social TV is the inevitable next step; it just hasn’t been implemented properly yet (e.g. the disastrous performance of Google TV). Zeebox provides real-time twitter and cast/crew etc information about TV shows. You pick the show that you are watching, and it will show you what people are tweeting about it, and will promote tweets from cast and crew.
So, they’ve now sold 10% to BSkyB, announced on both the Sky and Zeebox blogs. This is a pretty big deal as this is a public demonstration of the sort of technology that we will see in Sky’s satellite TV service (they’ve admitted as much in the announcement). You don’t usually get such an advanced preview of a company’s plans.
There are still loads of glaringly stupid things about using iOS that never get mentioned, so I thought I’d write this. This could be an ever-evolving post, but more likely I’ll get bored and move on so here it is, my stupid list of Apple stupidity.
A few weeks ago Facebook announced a new app store to compete with Apple’s, Google’s and Amazon’s. Its an interesting but not surprising move and here the main thoughts I had on the news:
Ok so I’ve installed iPhoto on my iPhone. Its pretty nifty, with some great features that make photo editing really easy. But oh my have there been some strange decisions made on the UI.
I was having a gander through Wikipedia’s list of Apple acquistions, and noticed that they now own not one, not two, but three mapping companies. Each time one of these purchases took place, there was the inevitable speculation about the potential replacement of Google Maps on iOS. This has yet to materialise, but Apple are showing no signs of losing interest in mapping, so what can we conclude? Here’s a quick summary of the mapping acquisitions so far:
Quick background: I’ve been going a bit social-media crazy of late, in a bid to explore the latest trends in social media. Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are all mature and so I’m interested to see what the next phase in social will be. In the UK, I think location-based apps like FourSquare and Qype are going to grow as companies make better use of location-based promotions and more users gradually join the services, but what else?
So, on my social media travels I thought I may post my discoveries. Some of the new apps I’ve tried include Pin Drop, Path, Thumb, Localmind and Soundtracking, all of which I may come back to, but today I’m here to talk about…
My work have just given me a Nokia Lumia 800, here is what I think so far…
First impressions
First-off, as I’m sure many have said before me, this is a really nice looking phone. It is well designed, feels solid and sturdy in your hand, and reminds me of Nokia in their heyday; making indestructible yet stylish mobile phones. It also is original – it doesn’t resemble an iPhone! It has a mix of lines and curves, usually all in contrast to where the iPhone’s lines and curves are, and it makes a refreshing change from other iPhone competitors that seem to take more than an inspiration from it.
Flipboard (www.flipboard.com), my absolute favourite social reading app when I had an iPad, have announced an iPhone version, finally!
Take note of the website. Spot any similarities with Path that I mentioned earlier? I’m highlighting this not to call foul play, but rather to show how simplicity and fluidity are becoming the staple diet of a modern brand, in order to stand out within a stereotypically feature/specification-heavy market.
Flipboard:
Path:
