We take a fond look back at the design classic that was the Motorola Razr. 130 million sales made it the most popular flip phone of all time. Seven years ago it was the best Christmas present you could hope to receive.
It has been almost seven years since I left the house without a mobile phone in my pocket. Seven years since I unwrapped a Christmas present from my wife and set eyes on the Motorola Razr. It was my first proper cell phone. My wife had an ugly blue thing that looked like a wireless house phone before then, but I had avoided getting a mobile on the grounds that I couldn’t be reached on the weekend for overtime requests provided I was out of the house.
The Motorola Razr was the first cell phone that I can remember seeing that kindled some desire. This phone was so stylish it was worth extra overtime. It was a sleek, black design with a dual display and it flipped open to reveal a futuristic nickel-plated keypad. It came in a black leather holster with Bluetooth accessories. The aluminum body felt reassuringly tough. It was also really comfortable to use – the fact that it flipped open and had a hinge in the middle meant that your mouth was naturally at the microphone and the speaker could be held to your ear, something that still feels odd on candy bar designs.
I eventually replaced it with a Nokia pic6131 (which was the first phone to have NFC), but while the Nokia is long gone, I still have the Razr. Even with the cracked front display and worn keypad, it still looks pretty good. I loved my Motorola Razr and I wasn’t alone.
Razr on the cutting edge
Before the smartphone and iPhone revolution, there was a period in time where the Motorola Razr ruled all. By the summer of 2006 Motorola had sold over 50 million Razr handsets and the manufacturer was continuing to churn out new variants with subtle improvements every few months. There was a hot pink version, new models to support GSM and EDGE, and various hardware improvements to the displays, the camera and the internals. The line would eventually account for 130 million sales at the end of its four-year run. That made it the best-selling flip, or clamshell, phone of all time.
The Motorola Razr was first released in 2004 and it wasn’t intended to be a mass market phone. It was a high-end fashion conscious release designed to show off Motorola’s skill and style. It cost around $600 when it first hit the market, but by the time I got one for Christmas in 2005, the price had come way down and Motorola had a massive hit on its hands.
Motorola’s monster
There’s no denying the Razr was a fantastic phone, although beyond calls and texting, the early versions were limited. The V3 had 5.5MB of storage and a VGA camera. You could send and receive email, and browse the web … slowly. For a feature phone it was actually pretty light on features so Motorola just kept adding to it while retaining the iconic design.
You could argue that the Razr’s success ended up hobbling Motorola because the company was afraid to move on to new designs. When the BlackBerry and then the iPhone started to take off in 2007 Motorola was still flogging the Razr and by 2008 it was definitely the proverbial dead horse. In fact, a 2008 report revealed that 24 percent of new iPhone owners in the U.S. switched from the Razr.
Motorola was slow to the smartphone party. A revival for the Razr brand in the shape of the V13 in November 2009 didn’t go as planned. It had a touch screen and a 5-megapixel camera, but demand for the clamshell form factor was gone and it wasn’t coming back. Increasingly big touchscreens were the new trend and Motorola had to get with the program.
It was back to the drawing board and the modern candy bar, Android smartphone, the Droid Razr came out in October 2011. It was a solid release, but all it really shared with the original was the Razr name and that didn’t prove to be enough to capture major consumer attention. Motorola Mobility was acquired by Google last summer and despite some good-looking devices with a focus on solving the battery life pain point, Motorola is lagging way behind market leaders, Samsung and Apple.
Remembering the Razr
The Motorola Razr V3 deserves its place in the pantheon of great phones. Not many phones break through that 100 million sales barrier, so to sell 130 million was a pretty amazing achievement for Motorola. That anodized aluminum body, just half an inch thick with gentle curves, was a true design classic.
Taking a look on eBay as I write this, I see that there’s still a bustling trade in Razr V3 sales. The top result is a pink, mint condition Razr V3 and 26 bids have pushed it over the $100 mark. Not bad for a phone that’s seven years old.
Hot on the heels of yesterday's skillful render, a fresh rumor has emerged, potentially shedding light on the specifications and the release date of the upcoming Samsung Galaxy S IV flagship. Reportedly, the hotly anticipated smartphone is pegged for an April 2013 release with an S Pen on board.
The Samsung Galaxy S IV is expected to pack a quad-core Exynos 5440 chipset whose CPU cores will use either 28nm high-K metal gate technology, or ARM BIG LITTLE architecture, which uses an energy-sipping A7 CPU, paired with a more powerful A15 units for heavier tasks.
Once again, we hear about a 5" 1080p AMOLED display gracing the Samsung Galaxy S IV. A 13MP camera and a 9.2mm waistline are mentioned as well. The latter has grown slightly over the Galaxy S III's in order to accommodate the S Pen.
If the S Pen report turns out to be true, the Samsung Galaxy S IV is bound to one up all its competitors as far as productivity is concerned. As is the case with most rumors, we would advise that you take all the above information with a pinch of salt.
Self-destructing messaging apps Snapchat and Poke aren't as "safe" as you thought. A loophole that allows users to save videos to their computer has been discovered.
Snapchat messages aren’t as fleeting as we thought. While we all know photos can be saved via screen shots, videos hadn’t yet aroused much concern. But Buzzfeed discovered a loophole that will allow you to retrieve, save, and rewatch both Snapchat and Poke videos.
Just when you thought there was the perfect app for self-destructing messages, it’s too good to be true. When the recipient of the message takes a screen shot to save an image sent through Poke and Snapchat, the sender is alerted. This isn’t the case if the recipient decides to access the temporary file. So how does it work?
Even on your computer, files are stored locally as a temporary file and the same goes for files sent to and from your smartphone. These files though aren’t visible unless you download an iPhone, iPad, iPod file browser to your desktop, like iFunBox — which for the record doesn’t require you to jailbreak your phone either.
When you’ve received a video through Poke or Snapchat, don’t open the file. If the video is opened when using Poke and played, the temporary file disappears and there’s no way of retrieving it. Instead connect your iOS device to your computer and open up the iPhone file browser where you can view all of the files inside of your phone.
To access Snapchat videos, access the Snapchat folder. Within this is a folder is a subfolder labeled “tmp,” which stands for “temporary.” You’ll find the temporary files of the videos here.
To view and save the temporary files from Poke, you’ll have to navigate to Poke/library/caches/fbstore/mediacard.
Buzzfeed notes that while Poke videos disappear after viewing it, Snapchat’s videos instead linger around. And the loophole doesn’t work for photos since they’re not cached.
Snapchat founder Evan Spiegel doesn’t appear to be fazed enough by this loophole to patch it and chalks it up to the nature of the app. He tells Buzzfeed, “The people who most enjoy using Snapchat are those who embrace the spirit and intent of the service. There will always be ways to reverse engineer technology products — but that spoils the fun!”
Facebook, on the other hand, is working on a fix.
Loophole or no loophole, there really is no panacea for protecting users from duplicating content sent to and from any of these “self-destructing” apps. If someone really wanted to record a video or photo without alerting the sender, most would opt to use another device and record the clips or take a photo of the image. If you’re under the impression that these apps have your privacy in mind, consider this a wake up call.
Unsurprisingly, it appears that the Samsung Galaxy Note II will follow the suit of its Galaxy S III sibling and add more colors to its lineup. A press image of a black N7100 has emerged, thus pointing in this direction.
A black Samsung Galaxy Note II addition makes perfect sense - we reckon that plenty of people will opt for the stealthier color option of the Android powerhouse. A darker color scheme is sure to at least make the device appear smaller.
There is no word on when will the new color scheme become officially available. MWC 2013 seems like a fairly safe bet to us.
Starting out with 10,000 Windows 8 apps at its October launch, Microsoft heads into the new year with over 35,000 apps in its Windows Store.
According to stats by MetroScore Scanner, the Windows Store has exceeded 35,000 available Windows 8 apps. The marketplace is currently adding about 415 new apps daily, an even steeper rate than the 362 apps being added each day back in November.
The official tally now stands at 35,167 apps for the new Microsoft machines, 22,000 of which are available in the U.S. According to The Next Web, Windows 8 started out with 10,000 apps on October 30, jumped to 16,000 apps by November 14, and reached the 20,000 mark on November 22. It’s also important to keep in mind that many of the apps are free, meaning that revenue is not growing at the same exponential rate.
As the first Windows OS to offer an app store, it makes sense for all the companies that had programs and software for old Microsoft computers to push to get their wares up in the most appropriate format for the new system. Growth for the marketplace has been on a consistently positive trajectory since the OS debuted in October. But not everyone has jumped on the bandwagon for the app store; Google said it will not be developing any apps for the Windows 8 computers.
Considering the dire predictions that faced Microsoft when the new OS came out, a rate of 415 new apps a day is reflective of the high level of interest developers are showing in the platform. If the store keeps up its current rate of new apps, the Windows Store will surpass 50,000 apps on February 1. Windows 8 has sold more than 40 million licenses so far, so it appars that Microsoft will begin the next year with a solid position.
Tim Cook, in his first year as CEO of Apple after the late Steve Jobs, earned $1.4 million in salary this year, along with $2.8 million in bonuses. This is significantly less than his 2011 earnings of $378 million.
According to Reuters, Cook's actual salary went up by some $900,000, but this year he did not receive any Apple stock, which accounts for the large disparity. In 2011, Cook received some $376.2 million in long-term stock awards.
Almost all of Cook's stock bonuses will be awarded in two large chunks, the first of which will vest in 2016, the second in 2021. This will act as an impetus for Cook to perform well as head of Apple in the meanwhile, as the value of the bonuses will depend on how high the stock is in 2016 and 2021.
Since taking over for Jobs in October of 2011, Apple stock has risen almost 37%, although it is down 27% since a record close of $702.10 on September 19.
Check out our list for the best car apps for the Apple iPhone.
Apps might seem cheap, with a majority pricing in at $0.99, but over time that money adds up. Next thing you know you’ve emptied your coffers and littered your screen with icons you barely use. In an effort to help you save some coin — and sift through the overflowing amount of digital junk on iTunes — we present to you this list of car apps for the iPhone that won’t waste your time or money.
They say two heads are better than one, but how about 23 million? According to GasBuddy,’s developers, that’s the amount of people using this crowd-sourced gas app. Simply put, GasBuddy helps you find the cheapest gas prices in your area, for free! Users are encouraged to submit prices routinely, with prize points offered for each accurate submission. Simply load the app and enter in your zip-code, or use the iPhone’s GPS, and GasBuddy will then supply a list of prices in your surrounding area as well as how recently those prices were updated. It’s a fast and easy way to ensure you’re getting the best price possible. Who doesn’t love saving money on gas?
RepairPal is a quick and easy way to keep your vehicle’s repair history accurate and up-to-date. But the app’s best feature by far is its ability to cross reference repair costs. Need to know how much that new transmission is going to set you back? RepairPal will search your area and give you an honest estimate. It’s a handy way to ensure you never pay out the nose again and an essential app for any car owner.
Another community-sourced app, Waze works much like GasBuddy, providing up to date gas prices, but also alerts drivers of approaching traffic jams, road hazards, police traps, and accidents. Boasting a user base of 30 million strong, Waze gives up-to-date turn-by-turn voice navigation and even incorporates a social element, allowing users to share their destination on a live map. The whole app can be operated hands-free so you can keep your eyes on the road and your hands on the wheel.
A very simple and handy app, GasHog lets you track your fuel consumption by entering in your odometer reading and the amount of fuel added when you fill your tank. For those seeking long term fuel frugality, GasHog tracks your fuel consumption averages, so you can see if you’re fuel economy has dipped throughout the year.
As busy as you are these days, you can’t possibly be expected to remember mundane details like how much time is left in the parking meter. Thankfully, Honk is here to help avoid those pesky parking tickets from piling up in the glove box.
Honk’s interface is both simple and easy to use. With a swipe of a finger, user’s can set an alarm based on the amount of time they’ve paid to park. A countdown timer is then displayed on the app’s icon badge, so you don’t even have to launch the app to see how much time is left. Once your meter begins to run down, Honk will notify you that it’s time to head back to your car.
We’re not going to blame old age, but there are times we simply forget where we parked. Luckily iFind My Car (formerly the equally obnoxious, Walk Me To My Car) is here to help. Simply launch the app and tap the “Pin Car” button to record your current location. Using the iPhone’s built-in GPS, iFind My Car stores your location. When you’re ready to return to your four-wheeled chariot launch the app again and hit the “Walk Me” button. The app will vibrate once your car is in sight. It’s as easy as that.
Looking for parking sucks, especially in busy cities where finding an empty spot is as rare as a Nicolas Cage film that isn’t dreadful (please stop making movies … please). Parkopedia aims to solve the former by helping you find a parking space when you need it. You can use your current location, or enter in an address before you head out the door. Using its crowd-sourced database, Parkopedia will then list and direct you to all available parking spots in your area, including information regarding rates, availability, and hours of operation. The app currently boasts over 25 million logged parking spots in 40 countries.
Not every car is equipped with the latest, most advanced safety tech. But instead of plunking down the cash for a new and expensive ride, iOnRoad provides users a number of safety tech features found in many of today’s premium vehicles. By utilizing the iPhone’s native camera, GPS, and sensors, iOnRoad can detect forward collisions, provide tailgating alerts, warn of unintended lane changes, and features a built-in car locator. iOndRoad offers real-time protection for drivers, relaying both audio and visual messages so drivers can take evasive action and avoid accidents. For best results, be sure to mount your iPhone to your windshield or dash.
Sometimes saving money on gas is as simple as altering our driving habits. Using the iPhone’s accelerometer, greenMeter measures your braking and acceleration techniques by taking into account aerodynamic drag, acceleration and mechanical rolling resistance. The app gathers information in real time and computes fuel usage/cost, oil consumption, and carbon emissions, with data able to be shown in both U.S. and metric units. Because greenMeter gathers its information from the iPhone’s accelerometer, it’s recommended users mount it to the windshield or dash while driving.
Don’t have access to your own dynamometer but want to know what performance numbers your car is spittin’ out? That’s alright, most of people don’t, which is why Dynolicious serves as the ultimate app for the digital greasemonkey in all of us. Using the iPhone’s accelerometer, Dynalicious measures horsepower at the wheels, 0-60, quarter mile drag times, and lateral Gs. Simply enter your car’s curb weight, drivetrain loss, and go. Planning on adding some aftermarket modifications to your car? Dynolicious is a great way to measure your performance numbers before and after. The app even has a built in social function, allowing you to upload your performance times to Facebook and Twitter, so you can boast about how cherry your ride truly is.
Only a short while after Nokia launched its new Lumia family of smartphones, prices are already beginning to drop.
Nokia’s flagship Windows Phone 8 device hasn’t been on the market for too long, but the Lumia 920 has already seen a significant price drop. The AT&T exclusive debuted in November for $100, and the phone is now available on Amazon for as low as $40.
The $100 price point still stands when purchasing elsewhere, but the online retail giant has slashed a significant amount off the device’s price tag. Its sister phone, the slightly lower-end Lumia 822, was originally made available on Verizon’s network for $100 as well. However, the carrier is now offering it for free with a two-year contract.
T-Mobile is offering a similar deal for its subscribers. T-Mobile USA is selling Nokia’s Lumia 810 for free a contract as well.
“Pricing is always a carrier decision, but holiday season promotions are fairly standard at this time of year,” Nokia spokesperson Doug Dawson said to The Wall Street Journal.
While Nokia has not released any official sales figures for its new Windows Phone 8 Lumia line, sales in the second quarter of 2012 reached four million, Mashable reports. This may sound like a lot of phones to sell within three months, but the number pales in comparison to Apple’s iPhone sales. The Cupertino, Calif.-based company sold 35.1 million units of its smartphone during the same time period. That’s more than eight times the amount of Nokia Lumia devices sold.
This price drop could work to Nokia’s benefit. Its Lumia line will now target an entirely different sector of the market, providing another smartphone alternative for budget and value smartphone shoppers. At the same time, it maintains its $100 price point aimed at smartphone buyers willing to shell out a few more bucks.
Amazon is no stranger when it comes to offering sizeable discounts on smartphones. While purchasing a Nokia Lumia 920 for $40 may be one of the biggest bargains on the Web, Amazon has also slashed Samsung’s Galaxy S3 down to the same price range. Sprint users can purchase the 16GB Galaxy S3 via Amazon for $50, Verizon users can buy it for $60, and AT&T subscribers can snag it for a slightly higher cost at $80.
The results of a new survey suggest more Americans than ever are reading e-books, reflecting the rapid rise in e-reader and tablet ownership.
The US is a nation of bookworms turning in ever increasing numbers to electronic devices to devour their novels, biographies and such like. Data published on Thursday by Pew Research showed that 23 percent of Americans aged 16 and over now read e-books, up from 16 percent in 2011.
Accordingly, the number of those who read printed books this year is on the decline, down to 67 percent from 72 percent a year earlier.
As of November – before the gift-giving season –Pew found that 33 percent of Americans own a tablet or e-reader, a significant jump from 18 percent a year earlier. Break those figures down and we see that a quarter of those in the US now own a tablet, up from 10 percent in 2011 and just 3 percent a year before that. Even e-reader ownership is on the rise, although with the growing popularity of the more versatile tablet – including smaller, more portable models like the 7-inch Kindle Fire HD, Nexus 7 and iPad Mini – a rapid decline in e-reader sales is expected.
Pew notes that libraries have been changing their ways to cope with the shift to electronic reading devices like Amazon’s Kindle Paperwhite or Apple’s iPad. Many are now offering e-books for loan, with 5 percent of users borrowing an e-book in 2012, up from 3 percent a year earlier. This relatively low figure can be linked in some part to awareness, with only 31 percent (24 percent in 2011) of library users realizing that libraries offer e-books.
According to Pew’s research, those most likely to read e-books include people with college or graduate degrees, those living in households earning in excess of $75,000 a year, and those aged between 30 and 49 (see table below for full breakdown).
One thing is not in doubt – reading books continues to be a hugely popular pastime for Americans, with 75 percent of Americans aged 16 and over saying they’d read a book on any platform in the last 12 months, about the same as a year earlier.
Pew’s survey involved 2,252 Americans ages 16 and older and was conducted in October and November this year – before this year’s gift giving season.
Indeed, with so many consumers tearing the wrapping off tablets and e-readers this week, and with e-book purchases just a couple of taps away, it surely can’t be too long before the number of e-book readers catches up with the number of those who still prefer the feel of the printed page.
With 2012 drawing to a close, there are plenty of retrospective views around. So who are we to differ?
It's been a brilliant year in the technology space, so let's focus on what really got us excited: the stuff that changed the technology landscape, for better or for worse.
These are our key tech highlights from the last year.
It's been another bumper year for phones. Things are as tight as ever at the top, with key launches, patent wars and new tech taking centre stage in a way we rarely get to see. Be it Apple and Samsung's interminable courtroom battles, RIM's persistent system failures or mobile networks crashing, there's been a lot of negativity flying around.
Galaxy S3 takes on iPhone 5 and wins
The two key handset releases saw Samsung's Galaxy S3 rival the iPhone 5 in terms of hype and sales. It shows that perhaps the Apple hype-machine is starting to slow down.
Both launches came with a huge fanfare and impressive specs, but interestingly Apple's newest mobile hasn't gained the approving reception the Cupertino brand is used to.
It's impossible to expect something amazing to appear every year, but Apple also suffered badly from the fiasco surrounding its inaccurate Maps app and the subsequent embarrassing apology. This was definitely the biggest apology of the year – Apple event went as far as to suggest rival apps for users to download.
Now that Google has released its Maps for the iPhone, reports are suggesting that huge numbers of people are upgrading to iOS 6.
That mess aside, it's been an excellent year for phone software. Windows Phone 8 appeared to join Android Jelly Bean (in two variants) and iOS 6.
The iPhone 5 impressed, but it wasn't the best
Windows Phone moves up a gear
As we'll discuss in the computing space shortly, it's been a huge year for Microsoft. Windows Phone 8 is absolutely key to Microsoft's future stategy with phones and it brought a tranche of new features: resizable Live Tiles, NFC support, HD screens and multi-core processors, all designed to helps its devices sit proudly alongside the best on the market. And it's a decent OS – some may not like the stark design or limited apps store, but it's certainly a worthy addition to the landscape.
The UK finally got itself 4G mobile speeds, courtesy of EE. This means up to five times faster downloads on phones and tablets, although the cost is ridiculous - up to £56 a month for 8GB of data, £36 for 500MB.
The rollout is only in major cities at the moment, and while it's certainly faster, it's only useful where it's available. The spectrum auction for the other networks is taking place over the next couple of the months - expect rollout later in 2013.
Can Windows Phone 8 make a difference?
The year of seven inches
Moving onto tablets, this was the year that gave us three iPads, a Surface and two Nexuses plus new Amazon Kindles. We've long been of the opinion that a seven inch tablet is a great size of device as well, so hats off to Google and Amazon for forcing the price down.
Saying 2012 was the year of the tablet is a bit like saying 2012 was an Olympic year – the buying public sucked up iPads, Kindle Fires and Google Nexus 7 tablets like there was no tomorrow.
The Google Nexus 7 (made by Asus) has had a huge impact, as has the Amazon Kindle Fire HD. So Apple was forced into producing an iPad mini in October which failed to match the Google and Amazon efforts on price.
All three devices offer consumers a great choice: be it stunning design from the iPad mini, simple content access from Amazon's offering or raw, cheap power from the Nexus 7.
Apple forced home its advantage in the 10.1-inch space, replacing Spring's iPad 3 with the iPad 4 late in the year. Other players including Samsung and Asus also played to strengths here and Samsung partnered with Google for the Nexus 10.
The tablet of the year: Google Nexus 7
Can Surface make an impact?
And then there was Surface and the cut-down version of Windows 8 that it runs, Windows RT. This is Microsoft's reaction to the iPad, which is essentially Windows 8 on ARM. Surface has been a success in terms of profile but it doesn't seem to be translating it to sales, with everybody acknowledging £399 ($499) is too much for a stripped-back version of Windows 8.
Despite Microsoft reportedly upping production late in the year, it boasts lovely hardware but a poor app ecosystem at the moment. With Windows RT you see, desktop apps aren't supported, just apps from the Windows Store. As time goes on it seems more like Windows RT is a dead duck.
Onto full-blown Windows 8 for Intel and AMD devices then – this certainly is a seismic shift for Windows as Microsoft. We saw a lot more touch-based hardware than we were expecting to and more exciting Windows hardware continues to appear by the week.
Surface isn't selling in numbers, while Intel is surely rubbing its hands with glee as it continues to push laptops hard on price. The Intel-powered Surface Pro is due in January, but for a high end price – rather 'cheaper' is where laptops are heading. We've seen laptops like the Asus VivoBook S200 that combine portability, Windows 8 and a touchscreen for £450.
Our favourite Windows 8 laptop so far, the Asus VivoBook S200
Ultrabooks and Apples
2012 was certainly the year of the Ultrabook – these Intel-backed thin and light MacBook Air-equivalents made an impact over the last 12 months (even if sales seem a bit of a mystery), as did touchscreen tech thanks to Windows 8.
Google continues to try and launch Chromebooks (why? And why aren't they Android-based?) – some for as little as £199 – but, like Windows RT, they disappoint with their restricted approach to computing.
Apple trundles on, its Macs continue to succeed, but its sales remain dwarfed by the still-powerful PC. OS X received an iOS-style makeover with version 10.8 Mountain Lion, but it was mainly window-dressing. Still, the hardware impressed. One of its smartest moves was the Hybrid Drive, an innovation on OS X that makes an SSD and traditional hard drive appear as a single storage drive, with oft-used apps transferred to the SSD.
Apple continued to plead the post-PC message with iOS 6 for iPad and iPhone, but was quite happy to innovate in the Mac space, seemingly missing the point that Macs *are* PCs.
The retina display Macs impressed
Going beyond the PC
We didn't see a big leap in x86 CPU performance during 2012. We did see Intel launch the 22nm die-drink of its Intel Core processors (codenamed Ivy Bridge). AMD continued struggle and make cheap, decent chips, but it faces serious questions about its future next year despite the performance message of its new Trinity A-Series. AMD has said it will also make ARM chips in future.
Despite the ropey start to ARM-powered PCs, ARM-powered chips will press Intel hard over the coming years. "Is the era of x86 over? Not yet, but maybe soon if the weight of ARM-related processor developments is anything to go by," says our own Jeremy Laird. "One thing's for sure. The desktop CPU war is over."
But 2012 has been more about laying the foundations for a potentially epic 2013. Not epic in the traditional sense of major developments in CPU or graphics technology (though we'll see developments there, too).
But it could well be the year when we see the dissolution of the traditional concept of the PC. In 2012 it wasn't just Apple talking about taking things beyond the PC - even Microsoft is now showing it wants to reinvent PC tech. Every major PC manufacturer turn its attention to tablets; with some remarkably varied results, from convertible laptops to sliders to slates.
Are we seeing the beginning of the end of the x86 era?
OLED and 4K
But these are challenging times for tech companies, not only in computing, but in home entertainment, too. Many tech brands – Japanese ones in particular – are struggling just to keep their heads above the rising tides of financial ruin.
The endless conveyor belt of new products in home entertainment is truly impressive, especially when you consider that we're living in an age of such financial hardship.
The big stories this year revolved around OLED TVs, with Samsung and LG both launching amazing new 55-inch products, and Ultra HD, aka 4K. Ultra HD TVs have four times the number of pixels as regular full HD TVs, making them capable of producing fantastically sharp pictures and also enabling passive 3D tech to operate at a full HD resolution.
Ultra HD as an emerging theme is helped on by the fact that movie studios are now starting to shoot films at 4K resolutions, creating buzz and triggering visible marketing. Of the two televisual themes of 2012, it certainly seems as though OLED is the one that's fast falling out of favour.
Despite the tech producing the best, brightest pictures, yield rates in factories are so low that they're prohibitively expensive to buy and sell. It's been a long time now and no one has figured out the answer, so it could be that OLED goes the way of Canon and Toshiba's SED tech and dies a death.
One possible alternative is Sony's Crystal LED tech which it also launched at CES earlier this year, but that again, while super-impressive, is prohibitively expensive. And so while those two OLED monsters from Samsung and LG, announced in January, are still nowhere to be seen, 84-inch Ultra HD TVs from several brands are going on sale in time for Christmas. All you need to do is save up £25,000 and you'll be able to buy one.
The TV is fast becoming the central hub of entertainment and communication in the home, with Smart TV finally starting to come through as a feature people actually use. The reality is, though, that the high price of the best products continue to keep them out of most of our hands.
The Toshiba 55ZL2 was the first Ultra HD consumer TV announced. It uses the extra resolution to create glasses-free 3D
What happened to Blu-ray?
Since 2006, Blu-ray has had more marketing money thrown at it than any other home ents tech. But in 2012, Blu-ray seems to have hit its peak in terms of market saturation of devices and also in terms of innovation.
Instead, the interesting story in the world of content delivery has taken place deep in the digital ether. In 2012, Netflix became available outside the USA for the first time and launched a worldwide invasion, starting with the UK. A deal was first struck with Sony to get Netflix available on PS3, and smartphone apps,
Philips set-top boxes and other compatible products followed in their hundreds. Netflix chose the right time to offer its TV and Movie streaming services to a wider audience – at the same time, Amazon announced that streaming overtook DVD rentals in terms of usage within its Lovefilm service for the first time. Streaming is where it's at. And other services like Rdio and Spotify have come on leaps and bounds, too.
The streaming battle is hotting up
The year in gaming
2012 was also an important year for gaming hardware. We've seen new consoles launch shaped like PlayStation Vitas, Nintendo 3DS XLs, super-slim Sony PS3s, Nintendo Wii Us and in Canada Nintendo has also launched a super-cheap Nintendo Wii Mini.
Most of this new gear was received warmly. The PS Vita was not without its flaws but demonstrated its power and mobile gaming class.
The Nintendo 3DS XL was more or less the console that the disappointing 3DS should have been and thus was also embraced by the gaming world.
However, the super-slim PS3, made out of cheaper materials and containing a cheaper drive tray was a bit more disappointing. "It wasn't cheap enough", was the main complaint.
The Wii U also received a mixed reaction when it landed in November. Its hardware was said to be only just on a par with the 6-year old PS3 and 7-year old Xbox 360. Its games are just not as accessible as the original Wii games - an opinion mirrored far and wide. The Wii U's fortunes will surely make great reading moving into 2013.
Chock full of noteworthy layoffs, hires, acquisitions, and enough legal battles to talk about well into the new year, we take a look at the tech personalities that shaped 2012.
Can you believe it’s almost 2013? A lot has happened in the world of technology in the past 12 months, and most of it can be traced back to these 13 people. Below, we take a look at the personalities that shaped and defined technology in 2012.
Steven Sinofsky – Ex-Microsoft Executive
A part of Microsoft since the late 1980′s, Steven Sinofsky abruptly left the company in November, shortly after the release of Windows 8 and Microsoft’s Surface tablet. Sinofsky’s took over Microsoft’s Windows division in 2006, leading the development of Windows 7. His resignation came as a surprise and is largely shrouded in mystery. While he issued a statement over his departure, there are many speculations about why he truly left the company after more than two decades at the company – and especially at that particular time. Having taught at Harvard back in 1999, Sinofsky recently announced on Twitter that he will be returning to the Harvard Business School to teach in the spring of 2013.
Scott Forstall – Ex-Senior Vice President of Apple iOS
Scott Forstall, Apple’s former executive responsible for creating the iOS operating system that runs on your iPhones and iPads, started out at Steve Jobs’ first company, NeXT, in 1992. Still with Jobs’ company twenty years later, Forstall oversaw the development of Apple Maps. A popular subject of Internet vitriol, Apple Maps eventually led to Forstall’s departure from the company. According to The Wall Street Journal, Forstall refused to sign his name on Apple’s official public apology over the Maps app. Despite him being one of the most recognized names at Apple, Cook fired him in October. When asked why he let Forstall go, Cook gave Businessweek a lengthy reply, part of which reads: “You have to be an A-plus at collaboration. And so the changes that we made get us to a whole new level of collaboration.”
Kevin Systrom – Instagram CEO and Co-founder
Headed by CEO and co-founder Kevin Systrom, 2012 was a huge year for the Instagram team. Systrom, a Stanford graduate, briefly worked for Google before joining forces with Mike Krieger for the startup that became Instagram. In April, Facebook acquired the popular photo filter app for a whopping $1 billion. What’s even more astounding is the fact that Instagram had no revenue model. A end-of-year kerfuffle shook Instagram users when news that the company could legally sell users’ photos and put them in ads. Systrom clarified the murky terms of conditions that sent users in a panic, but the company isn’t out of hot water yet. Instagram has been slapped with a class-action lawsuit over its terms of services.
Mark Zuckerberg – CEO and Co-founder of Facebook
Who doesn’t know Mark Zuckerberg? The Facebook CEO had an eventful 2012. Eight years since its launch, Facebook went public in May, offering anyone with money the chance to own a chunk of the world’s largest social network. Merely a day after the company’s initial public offering (IPO), Zuckerberg married his long-time girlfriend, Priscilla Chan, whom he met at Harvard.
But May wasn’t all roses for Zuck. When Facebook shares hit a new low by the end of its first month after a very successful IPO, it was believed that Zuckerberg lost roughly $4 billion of his own fortune. We almost felt sorry for him until we remembered that losing $4 billion was no skin off his back. Zuckerberg gave his first post-IPO interview at TechCrunch Disrupt in September, and admitted Facebook’s stock performance had been disappointing. “We are going to do things that are going to build value over the long term,” Zuckerberg said. “It all comes down to how well we do with mobile.”
Bre Pettis – CEO and Co-Founder of Makerbot
Bre Pettis is CEO and co-founder of one of the most widely-recognized names in 3D printing. Makerbot Industries, which is responsible for creating a range of commercially available and relatively inexpensive 3D printers, took a huge leap forward in 2012 when it opened a physical store in New York City. Not only does the store sell 3D printers and supplies, it also gives visitors a taste of what 3D printing is all about thanks to booths that print out your head on demand. Makerbot’s newest printer is the Replicator 2 priced at $2,199.
Do you remember coming across blacked-out websites back in January? Some of those websites, including Wikipedia, have probably linked you to SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial bill authored by U.S. Republican Representative Lamar Smith. SOPA died before ever becoming a law thanks to big companies like Google taking a strong stance against it. Had it passed, SOPA would’ve given the U.S. government even greater power to take legal action against websites for alleged copyright infringement. SOPA would have allowed the government to block entire Internet domains, threatening free speech and innovation. Lamar Smith also authored IPAA in July, another intellectual property bill.
Elon Musk – Co-founder of Tesla Motors, PayPal, and SpaceX
The South African-born entrepreneur – who’s believed to have served as a model for the movie version of Iron Man – left home at 17 and went on to build online payment service PayPal, electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, and, more recently, private space company SpaceX. SpaceX made headlines this year when it became the first private company to shuttle supplies for astronauts in the International Space Station via the Dragon space capsule. According to Musk, SpaceX will focus on developing technology that can shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station in the future. The company’s long-term goal is to transport people to Mars. Oh, did we mention a ticket to the red planet will cost you $500,000?
Markus “Notch” Persson – Creator of Minecraft
Better known as “Notch” in the gaming community, Markus Persson is responsible for creating one of the most addictive games to date: Minecraft. The game, originally for PCs only, was released in 2009. A number of versions have since been available for various platforms, including ones for iOS, Android, and Xbox 360. As of December 13, 2012, Notch and his team have sold 17.5 million copies of Minecraft overall.
Reed Hastings – CEO of Netflix
Reed Hastings founded streaming company Netflix in 1998. With high-speed Internet becoming more and more accessible to the average consumer, Netflix has steadily grown over the years. But Hastings is currently on the Securities and Exchange Commission’s naughty list after he failed to follow protocol. The streaming media executive posted a status update on Facebook when Netflix exceeded one billion hours of monthly viewing in June. According to the SEC, this type of information should’ve been announced in a press release available for viewing by the public, which leads us to believe that the SEC has no idea how a public Facebook profile works.
John McAfee – Founder of McAfee Inc.
Founding the McAfee anti-virus company in 1987, John McAfee left the company in the ’90s and had done a fairly good job at lying low since – that is, until news of running from a murder allegation hit the media. McAfee had been living in Belize the last few years, investing millions into businesses in the country, when his name was linked to the murder of his neighbor. McAfee was reportedly not on good terms with the victim who was found dead after being shot in the back of his head. While the Belize police claims that he wasn’t being charged for anything, and that they only wanted to bring him in for questioning, McAfee, convinced the country’s government wanted him dead, chose to run and leave everything behind. McAfee ran from the law for a month, donning disguises and faking illnesses along the way. After being deported from Guatemala, which he entered illegally, the nearly penniless McAfee is now staying in Miami.
Amazon has gotten pretty aggressive with the price cuts for Windows Phone 8 handsets. About a month ago, they cut the price of two WP8 flagships, the Nokia Lumia 920 and HTC Windows Phone 8X, and now they've cut them again.
The Nokia Lumia 920 is now $40 with a two-year contract from AT&T (used to be $60), if you get it through the Amazon Wireless portal. Both the black and white versions are available. The Lumia 820 is free with two-year contract at Amazon Wireless too, has been for over a month.
The HTC Windows Phone 8X is free (well, $0.01) if you get the Yellow 8GB version for AT&T. The Blue 8GB version is $40 for some reason. The 16GB versions of the HTC 8X for both AT&T and Verizon are $50. The prices are for the phone and a two-year contract, of course.
As always, if you find an even better deal, let us know!
