iOS 7 is hungry for Ice Cream Sandwich

This past week, Apple unveiled to the world their long anticipated iteration of their mobile software, iOS 7. The software update comes with new features as you'd expect - but also the first major design overhaul the iOS has seen since it's launch in 2007. A pretty big deal for Apple - considering it's taken 6 years for a change.

Apple had always taken baby steps when it comes to design revisions and feature additions when it came to the iPhone - for instance video recording being added in iOS 3 and being able to set a background in iOS 4. This is because Steve Jobs had been quoted in saying that 'customers don't know what they want until you show them' - a business philosophy to which Apple stays loyal to - however, it does intrigue me as to why these simple features weren't available on a premium phone from the get go.

For context, I had the original iPhone, back in 2008 I think - then the 3G; until I moved to Android. I've since worked closely with all sorts of phones from all sorts of brands. I did love my iPhone, I really did. The design is sleek, the build is solid and it did feel good owning one. After a while however, limitations did show. I couldn't do many things without needing to jailbreak (gaining root access to the phone to be able to truly modify it to your own needs) the phone.

Back when I had an iPhone; here's how it went. The jailbreaking community would always stay 2 steps ahead in terms of offering tweaks and features in which Apple did not want to include. Many of the official iOS updates generally started to include these features. Video recording? Bluetooth Transfer? Tethering, Quick Settings? Jailbreak beat ya to it. If it wasn't for Cydia and the third party apps, I wouldn't have enjoyed the iPhone experience as much - and this brings me to iOS 7.

SBSettings - the original "control centre"

I am very happy that Apple is progressing and finally adding such features into their OS - it's a good step. The thing that bugs and irritates me is that they will introduce these things as 'revolutionary' and 'amazing'; but the fact is that hell of a lot of these features have been lifted directly from Android (lockscreen anybody?) and have been available many years before the iPhone even came to be.

The lockscreen has been taken from Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4) - the multitasking interface taken from HTC's Sense - the 'control centre' has been deemed similar to Android's quick settings (but look at SBSettings above..) and AirDrop is rivalling NFC transfer and Samsung Beam  etc. etc.

I feel like at one point - Apple was at the top of the game in terms of smartphones - hell, it is literally because of the iPhone that we had the influx of smartphones and the true innovation & progress we've seen from our handheld devices within the past half-decade. I think that now every other company has played catch-up and, inevitably overtaken Apple in terms of out-of-the-box features (not including third party apps) - Apple seems to be the one who need to catch up. In doing so, the mass redesign is seen as a radical move in hopes of breathing new life into iOS - without forgetting the irresistible force of Apples dominate marketing team.

The icons are ugly, though.

"i got a blackberry and all i got was this lousy messenger service"

Earlier today, Blackberry announced that BBM would be available for free on Android & iOS - this is a pretty big deal (or at least I think it is).

I see this as the first step towards the end of Blackberry as we know it.

It has been rumoured for a while that Blackberry would turn BBM cross-platform; but I didn't think they'd actually do it. I think there's no doubt that Blackberry are getting desperate to retain their customers - the whole 're-imaging' of the brand via the Blackberry Z10 & dropping the 'Research In Motion' title for 'Blackberry'. Not to mention that they literally paid Android developers to quickly port their apps over to Blackberry.

There was a time where Blackberry's were the top dog in the smartphone industry (hell, they're the original smart phone manufacturers); targeted at business environments due to the how secure it was. Since the iPhone, however - the smartphone has become a mass consumer point and frankly, Blackberry are falling behind as the alternatives have rocketed ahead. It appeared that Blackberry's one major selling point was the BBM service; exclusive to Blackberry's and from the people I've spoken to overtime was the one thing keeping people owning a Blackberry.

Since data messaging services such as Whatsapp, Kik & Facebook Messenger have emerged though; is it too late to save BBM? I see making it available on iPhones & Android as a move of desperation on the companies behalf to simply keep customers. If they're not buying their phones then at least they're using a Blackberry service, right? Right?

It might be a little too late, though. I think BBM was popular in it's prime but a lot of people have moved on. What I'd like to see in the Android version though; is unified messaging; similar to iMessage but with BBM and Google Chat integration  I don't think it'd happen - in reality it's just going to be yet another data messaging with Push notifications.

I think that the Z10 hardware is gorgeous, similar to the HTC One but a huge step up for Blackberry. The OS is pretty nice, but not quite there yet. If I had to make a bold prediction it would be that eventually Blackberry will go the way of Nokia & start focusing primarily on hardware (& software services?). Judging by the lack of Windows 8 BBM - I'd be sure they'd manufacture for Android.

In a sick way, it'd be nice to see Blackberry evolve and become legitimate competition in the smartphone wars again - however, I think they've missed their opportunity window. The Blackberry name has become an unreliable joke, meanwhile customers are sitting comfy in the world of iOS & Android.

Tech & Life

It's no doubt that in the world of 2013, smartphones have become even more prevalent in our lives. For years, we've been sold the idea of 'constant connection' in terms of socialising and information online. While I do think this is a great concept, I certainly feel the power of the smartphone has been greatly underutilised by the masses.

Since the integration of Siri into Apple's iOS 6, it seems to be that the focus of smartphones has now become more than the already established 'communicating' element and now, marketing domination is now being fixated onto the 'assistance' element of smartphone. As in, your smartphone is not only a tool to communicate, but your very own assistant. Google Now is a brilliant example of this. I referenced how Google Now operated in a previous post - but the brilliant element of this is automation.

Automatic assistance is the thing which, I honestly believe is going to propel this year within the smartphone environment and is something which I am currently looking into integrating more in and around myself now. Android apps like Tasker - an app which revolves around automation based on situation (e.g. If WiFi on, turn sound up) am going to seriously start looking into and utilising more.

As the Nexus 4 is NFC capable, I am going to be buying a few NFC tags and utilising them around my house along with Tasker, just to make things more and more convenient. Eventually, I want to work my way up to create some form of ecosystem between Android, Windows 8 & the PS3. Specifically for TV & Films and what not. I haven't quite thought of the most convenient way to automate this, but it'll come.

Something I honestly can't wait for is NFC payment in-stores to become a mainstream thing. You just have to hover your phone over an NFC tag at the store and you've paid. I can see myself wasting a lot more money when this comes into play. Something else that I think would work wonders is NFC and public transport. Flashing your phone on a tag at the station and a list of ticket options appear on screen to instantly buy

I'm going to London at the end of the month for two days with Charlotte, I'm taking her for a 10 month anniversary present and I cant wait! There's going to be a lot of photosphere's and Android utilisation. We've already made our own Google Map to load onto our phones with places we want to go, so Google Now should recognise that and direct us!

While we're down there, I guess we plan to "see the sights" and we want to go on a lil' shopping trip, so there'll be a "London Pickups" post very soon!

The Nexus 4 is fantastic

Nexus 4 & it's box

If you're aware of the Nexus 4; you're more than likely aware of how much of a struggle it has been for the majority of people (me included) to obtain one. The original release in late November definitely flopped, leaving so, so many people disappointed. Fast forward to December 4th. The UK was having a second release!

I geared up at 4:30pm on the Play Store, passing time and F5ing slowly, the closer to 5pm, the more rapid the refreshing. Eventually, I managed to get through to the checkout after quite a few server crashes and successfully copped a Nexus 4 16gb at 5:07pm. Fantastic, or was it? Multiple errors?! Turns out Lloyds TSB were blocking the transaction on account of 'fraudulent activity' - are you kidding me? Weeks of anticipation and this is what happens?!. So, after nearly an hour and a half on hold with the bank and many new curse words later, I finally had the transaction authorised and was able to pay Google (pending transaction!).

Upon reading that many people were stuck in limbo from Google, with no acknowledgement of payment, shipping - any information at all; like many others I had no idea what was going on. Some were shifted to 5-7 weeks of waiting for the phone; whereas some were having their phones delivered despite being quoted 3-4 weeks. Unsettling, my patience is truly being tested here.

So, fast forward to Saturday 8th December. A day off work and I awake to a phone call from Meg at work. Our Birmingham store has a Nexus 4 in stock, it's on reserve for me. After initially crapping my pants, I rushed and dragged my girlfriend out of bed to head to town and God bless Charlotte for doing so (I think I paid her back by buying her a Harringtons jacket). I rushed down to our store, brought the phone and traded in my broken HTC Sensation. £257 after discount for a mint condition 16gb Nexus 4? I'm game. We had to rush home immediately to cancel the transaction on Google and I was preying it hadn't gone through. But all is well!

The phone itself is absolutely phenomenal. It just feels so good in my hands and I haven't even used it outside of my home yet (I'm waiting for my case to arrive!). I keep picking it up and just looking at it. It's so nice to look at. It feels like one of the more finely polished Android phones in recent years, I think this is a very good sign to the prospected future of Android (alongside the Galaxy S3). I wish I could write a more detailed review of actually using the phone, but hey - this is a blog. There are plenty of dedicated websites for that.

The long and short of it is: if you've ordered one and are in limbo - the phone is absolutely worth it. I haven't come across one of the complaints I've been reading online (battery? Over 24 hours of use here and I just hit 15% writing this..).