1.21.2014

Windows & Nokia What's Going On?

So with the merger of Nokia into the world of Windows we are wondering what is going to come next. Who will be crowned the next CEO after Balmer leaves, what devices will be coming out, will they be Nokia or Microsoft branded, and does Nokia actually have Android on the mind?
That said I want to talk about what maybe the last Nokia branded device coming out this year. It's dubbed the Icon aka the Lumia 929 for Verizon. From the looks of it this phone will be a killer Windows Phone that's not in the phablet category and can compete with some of the top contenders currently out on the market now. Phonearena.com tipped the world today of Verizon's page with the new device up and out for the camera scene. This could be a great device for Verizon customers to try something new or jump ship completely to a new OS. The specs on it match up pretty close to the LG G2 which is a beast of a phone and the camera looks to be the star of the show on this phone. The only thing Windows really needs to go to town on to make this phone sell better is the ecosystem of apps in its market. If Windows can get more developers on board and more premium apps out for the OS then they have a chance of really lighting things up.

What's Next?

So in the mobile world we have a lot of news to catch up with with the CES event already come and gone there have been announcements from Asus, Sony, Lenovo, Samsung, Nokia, Insignia, and many more. However we are going to focus more on what's not here today rather than what is. First and foremost everyone and their best friend are waiting for MWC with hopes that Samsung might announce the Galaxy S5. Phone Arena and BGR have already given their leaked information on pure hardware specs on the phone but one thing is still not certain. Fingerprint scanner or iris scanner? With the announcement of Apples darling, the iPhone 5s and the fingerprint scanner and the 64 bit processing chip it seems that the mobile industry is yet again trying to play tit for tat. Not that Apple is far ahead of the curve, because they aren't, but the fact is they usually set the standard in the mobile world and many have followed. Some with success and actually doing a better job and some have been left in the dust. With security being a huge ordeal this year not only with the NSA but with Blackberry's secure devices, Samsung's attempts with their Knox system, and Apples fingerprint scanner, more and more manufacturers are trying to one up their competitors in order to look like they are staying ahead of the curve. The only issue with this is why do you want a phone to scan your finger print or your eye in the first place? If you are a government employee sure I see the point, or a spy haha, but in all seriousness why does a phone need to be so secure when the average consumer really should only be using it for doing what a smart phone is made to do. In order of importance, texting, phone calls, surfing the web, using social applications, and photography. With each year I am amazed at the quality of photos coming out from some smartphones and the pure processing power to run certain applications. I also am impressed with the abundance, and overabundance sometimes, of apps in each eco system. The screens also are impressive with the overall clarity and vibrancy,  for the most part. There's just so much a smart phone is capable of now it's almost overwhelming. However there is one thing that stands out to me the most and that's call quality. I still feel like I don't have the clarity of the almost extinct land line telephone system. Sure there are companies that offer voice over lte and hd quality voice but in the US market it's not as prevalent as one might think. Sure we use texting as a way to communicate more often than actually calling but there's a problem in that. Texting can be misleading, read the wrong way, and impersonal. You can't tell the tone of a text message by just reading words on a screen. You have to imply that you are mad, or not mad, by lol or ! marks or :-( faces and it's a bit time consuming and impractical. So why not take voice and improve upon that? Yes we have voice to text and vice versa and can even send voice message via text which is great but instead why not go a step further or is that just silly talk?