Tech Roundup: Galaxy S4 vs. HTC One, Google I/O & More
[A recurring feature on the latest trends in Science & Technology.]
First world problem: Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One?
In what could be termed as a heavyweight battle, the tech world pitted Samsung Galaxy S4 against HTC One head-on when the former landed on markets towards the last week of April. While most reviews criticized Samsung's shoddy design choice and its inclination for overstuffing the phone with S-bloat, the S4 has been nevertheless selling like hotcakes. If recent reports are to be believed, the sales figure is likely to touch 10 million in less than a month thereby becoming the fastest selling phone in chaebol's history.
Having bought an S4 myself (I would have got the One if not for Samsung's irresistible cash back offer!), here are my observations about the smartphone after almost a month's use:
>> Yes, the design is terrible, especially that glossy plastic back. But at least it's an improvement over the hideous Galaxy S III, and really doesn't matter if you plan to go in for a case or Smart Cover.
>> The bloatware is incessant: There is an endless list of S-apps, creating a duplicate for every Google offering that's out there (S Translator, S Planner, S Voice, Samsung Hub, S Health, ChatON and so on). The gesture tricks are sure gimmicky but work quite well enough, particularly the Air View and Air Gesture, which are quite useful to preview messages, emails and stuff.
>> The drawback to all this extra fluff is that only about 8-9 GB free space is available (for the 16 GB version), with the rest taken up by the operating system itself. Samsung, which initially pointed out that such storage issues could be easily sorted out with a microSD card in place, has now backtracked and is said to be looking for ways to optimize its memory usage after the company's storage claims were investigated by a BBC TV show Watchdog.
>> Coming to its positives, the smartphone feels incredibly light, the 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display is just fantastic and the 13 MP rear camera - with its myriad features - is simply mind-blowing (though low-light photos seem to be much better on the One).
Comparing it with HTC One, the latter wins hands-down when it comes to design. One thing which I noticed in my own day-to-day use of the S4 is that it can be handled with less or little care which unfortunately cannot be the case with the One owing to its premium aluminium build. Just like the S4, HTC One too has a fantastic 4.7-inch display and is a performance beast. The software (Sense 5 vs. TouchWiz), while mostly a preference, is virtually non-existent if you plan to use a different launcher like Nova or install a custom ROM.
In the end, both Galaxy S4 and HTC One are great Android devices. If you like endless customization, a bigger display, a removable battery and expandable storage, Galaxy S4 could meet your needs. But if you prefer better build quality, good speakers and an overall attractive smartphone, HTC One is your closest bet. For HTC, this could be its last attempt to regain some of the lost ground it ceded to Samsung in the last few years. But with Google partnering with Samsung to announce a Galaxy S4 Google Edition at the Google I/O Keynote last week, the Taiwanese company has a tough job ahead (unless of course a stock version of One is also on the anvil!).
Google I/O 2013:
Search behemoth Google's much anticipated developer conference, the usual venue for the company to showcase its latest offerings, had its fair share of big announcements this time. Amidst rumors of a merger between Android and Chrome OS under the leadership of Sundar Pichai and Android Key Lime Pie, the event saw Google+ getting a complete Google Now like makeover, apparently in an attempt to ensure a consistent user interface across all its services.
In addition, the social network's photo gallery has received a facelift with a host of new features added to enhance and categorize user photos. The big story was however Google Hangouts, a new messaging service that unifies Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, SMS and Google Voice all into one umbrella. While this service - available in Android, iOS, Chrome and Gmail - was long anticipated under a different moniker Babel, it has so far only replaced Talk with the rest to be soon integrated in future updates. Google Play Music for Android too received a major user interface redesign that's consistent with the recent Google Play Store update, and now boasts of an online music streaming offering (available only in US at present) much like Spotify and Rdio. A new Google Play for Education was also announced in an attempt to expand Google Play and challenge Apple's iTunes U.
Google Maps for desktop's drastic design overhaul brings, among others, better integration with Google Earth and Street View, and the left sidebar has been sacrificed to let the map occupy the whole screen. The updates, for both desktop and its Android app, will roll out this summer. But the surprise package of Google I/O was Galaxy S4 Google Edition, a new Google smartphone (or Galaxy S4) running on stock Android minus Samsung's TouchWiz and other software tweaks. Will this be the ultimate Android smartphone? Let's wait and watch.
In Other News:
First world problem: Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One?
In what could be termed as a heavyweight battle, the tech world pitted Samsung Galaxy S4 against HTC One head-on when the former landed on markets towards the last week of April. While most reviews criticized Samsung's shoddy design choice and its inclination for overstuffing the phone with S-bloat, the S4 has been nevertheless selling like hotcakes. If recent reports are to be believed, the sales figure is likely to touch 10 million in less than a month thereby becoming the fastest selling phone in chaebol's history.
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| The battle heats up! |
>> Yes, the design is terrible, especially that glossy plastic back. But at least it's an improvement over the hideous Galaxy S III, and really doesn't matter if you plan to go in for a case or Smart Cover.
>> The bloatware is incessant: There is an endless list of S-apps, creating a duplicate for every Google offering that's out there (S Translator, S Planner, S Voice, Samsung Hub, S Health, ChatON and so on). The gesture tricks are sure gimmicky but work quite well enough, particularly the Air View and Air Gesture, which are quite useful to preview messages, emails and stuff.
>> The drawback to all this extra fluff is that only about 8-9 GB free space is available (for the 16 GB version), with the rest taken up by the operating system itself. Samsung, which initially pointed out that such storage issues could be easily sorted out with a microSD card in place, has now backtracked and is said to be looking for ways to optimize its memory usage after the company's storage claims were investigated by a BBC TV show Watchdog.
>> Coming to its positives, the smartphone feels incredibly light, the 5-inch 1080p AMOLED display is just fantastic and the 13 MP rear camera - with its myriad features - is simply mind-blowing (though low-light photos seem to be much better on the One).
Comparing it with HTC One, the latter wins hands-down when it comes to design. One thing which I noticed in my own day-to-day use of the S4 is that it can be handled with less or little care which unfortunately cannot be the case with the One owing to its premium aluminium build. Just like the S4, HTC One too has a fantastic 4.7-inch display and is a performance beast. The software (Sense 5 vs. TouchWiz), while mostly a preference, is virtually non-existent if you plan to use a different launcher like Nova or install a custom ROM.
In the end, both Galaxy S4 and HTC One are great Android devices. If you like endless customization, a bigger display, a removable battery and expandable storage, Galaxy S4 could meet your needs. But if you prefer better build quality, good speakers and an overall attractive smartphone, HTC One is your closest bet. For HTC, this could be its last attempt to regain some of the lost ground it ceded to Samsung in the last few years. But with Google partnering with Samsung to announce a Galaxy S4 Google Edition at the Google I/O Keynote last week, the Taiwanese company has a tough job ahead (unless of course a stock version of One is also on the anvil!).
Google I/O 2013:
Search behemoth Google's much anticipated developer conference, the usual venue for the company to showcase its latest offerings, had its fair share of big announcements this time. Amidst rumors of a merger between Android and Chrome OS under the leadership of Sundar Pichai and Android Key Lime Pie, the event saw Google+ getting a complete Google Now like makeover, apparently in an attempt to ensure a consistent user interface across all its services.
In addition, the social network's photo gallery has received a facelift with a host of new features added to enhance and categorize user photos. The big story was however Google Hangouts, a new messaging service that unifies Google Talk, Google+ Messenger, SMS and Google Voice all into one umbrella. While this service - available in Android, iOS, Chrome and Gmail - was long anticipated under a different moniker Babel, it has so far only replaced Talk with the rest to be soon integrated in future updates. Google Play Music for Android too received a major user interface redesign that's consistent with the recent Google Play Store update, and now boasts of an online music streaming offering (available only in US at present) much like Spotify and Rdio. A new Google Play for Education was also announced in an attempt to expand Google Play and challenge Apple's iTunes U.
Google Maps for desktop's drastic design overhaul brings, among others, better integration with Google Earth and Street View, and the left sidebar has been sacrificed to let the map occupy the whole screen. The updates, for both desktop and its Android app, will roll out this summer. But the surprise package of Google I/O was Galaxy S4 Google Edition, a new Google smartphone (or Galaxy S4) running on stock Android minus Samsung's TouchWiz and other software tweaks. Will this be the ultimate Android smartphone? Let's wait and watch.
In Other News:
- CERN brings back the world's first ever website back at its original URL as part of the Web's entry into public domain 20 years back.
- First ever 3D printed gun Liberator fired in the USA; blueprints later taken off the Internet.
- Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach 400 parts per million for the first time since the advent of humans; scientists call for urgent action.
- Yahoo!'s acquisition spree continues; snaps up to-do app Astrid, and reportedly set to acquire Tumblr for a 1.1 billion USD.
- Google fined $190,000 USD by Germany over illegal Wi-Fi data collection for its Street View service.
- Apple App Store hits 50 billion download milestone since its launch in 2008.
- Microsoft Windows Phone platform overtakes BlackBerry to become the third largest mobile OS after Android and iOS.
- Nokia unveils next generation Lumia 925 Windows Phone 8 smartphone; launches Asha 501 to take on emerging markets.
- 100 million licenses of Windows 8 OS sold so far; public preview of Windows 8.1 (codenamed Blue) confirmed for June 26.
- Google Search for iOS gets Google Now.
- YouTube unveils paid subscription channels that charges viewers a monthly fee to watch content.
- Flipboard's Magazine feature debuts on Android.
- Amazon's much speculated smartphone to have a 3D-screen.
- Windows Phone finally gets a proper YouTube app; Google balks at Microsoft for not incorporating ads on the app!
- Microsoft Outlook gets Google Talk (or rather Hangouts) integration.
- Google's note taking app Keep now available for Chrome.
- Apple iOS 7 to get a drastic user interface overhaul; but running behind schedule.
- BlackBerry to make its popular BBM messaging service multi-platform; to be available on Android and iOS this summer.
- Mobile chat apps go past traditional SMS for the first time in terms of message volume.
- Facebook hits 1.11 billion users last quarter.
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