Tech Roundup: iOS 7, Surface 2 Tablet & More
[A recurring feature on the latest trends in Science & Technology.]
Apple's latest version of iOS is indescribably gorgeous:
Ah yes Apple's iOS 7 is out, and possessing a third-generation iPad myself, I simply couldn't resist the temptation to upgrade my tablet to the latest version on September 18, the day the global rollout began. The update complete by 01:30 am early next day, I stayed awake another hour or so exploring the design facelift first-hand (and since then several times). To be honest, there can be no second thoughts about this. The new paint job is refreshing, beautiful and undeniably colourful. With a completely overhauled visual experience emphasizing on simplicity and minimalism (two things that I adore in anything!), iOS 7 can be considered the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.
While Android underwent multiple design revamps in its four year journey from Cupcake to Jelly Bean, iOS relatively remained the same, and continued to be so even after Microsoft re-entered the mobile market with its vibrant Windows Phone operating system. But Apple is not the one to change something just for change's sake (to quote from my own post last week), and hence this long-anticipated makeover is perhaps an indication that even the guys at Apple got bored with the same design that spanned six iterations!
Coming back to iOS 7, the Helvetica Neue typography is striking, and the interface erases all traces of skeuomorphism to pave way for something that's flat, stark and minimalist. The color choices are bold, bright and sometimes too colorful even, while the swipe-based multitasking, parallax, translucency and blurs add a nice touch.
However, there are times when these animations come in the way of function, slowing down things a bit. Touches and swipes take time to respond, and there's an annoying lag while swiping down to access Spotlight search. Not to forget the god-forsaken amount of time it takes to change a wallpaper. The notification center, while now occupying the whole screen estate, does exactly the same it did in iOS 6 (by the way, what's with the text based weather information; it looks odd), and despite being the most useful feature that's Control Center, it looks cluttered and crammed with toggles, settings and sliders, and more so on the iPhone if I may say. For some strange reason, Apple still feels it's not necessary to include its native Weather, Calculator and Stocks apps on the iPad.
Lastly, as much as I bemoan the lack of better sharing options and the ability to set default apps a la Android, these are things that I can only wish for unless Apple decides to loosen up its developer guidelines. But one good takeaway from the upgrade has been the battery performance, which seems to have gotten a new lease of life. With most of the popular apps already updated to iOS 7 (my favorites being Kindle and Zite), I wonder when such a day would come to Android, though it has to be added that app developers had enough time to redesign their apps in time for the release (iOS 7 has been available to developers since June). Meanwhile, Apple is already touting 9 million sales of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c's in three days, a record no less!
Microsoft announces 'the most productive tablet' Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro:
Redmond's debut tablet offering Surface might have met with a lukewarm response, but that's not stopping Microsoft from catching up on the opportunity it lost to Android and iOS. Outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer in fact regretted having not focused on mobile much earlier. "I regret there was a period in the early 2000s when we were so focused on what we had to do around Windows [Vista] that we weren't able to redeploy talent to the new device called the phone," said Ballmer at a recent conference with analysts. "That is thing I regret the most."
Well there's no use crying over spilled milk, and as if to affirm that very belief, Microsoft took the wraps off its latest tablet offerings Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro today. Retaining more or less the same externals, the Pro tablet features an updated kickstand, and of course the new Haswell processor from Intel. It has also unveiled the much-awaited Power Cover, which acts both as an extendable battery and as a keyboard. The tablets themselves ship with Windows 8.1 RT and 8.1 respectively.
Brazil wants to shield data in the wake of Snowden revelations:
The repercussions of Edward Snowden revelations have no doubt triggered widespread debate about the extent of US spying and its Big Brother attitude. But Brazil may be soon taking the first decisive move by forcing US based internet firms to open local data centres, which would make them subject to privacy laws of the country. It also plans to have a new undersea internet cable in place that would bypass the US, reports the BBC. If the leaked documents by the whistleblower were any indication, the NSA and GCHQ tapped into internet cables passing through their countries to collect and analyze vast amounts of data circumventing their encryption, thus prompting the Brazilian postal service to announce a new plan to unveil an encrypted email service as an alternative to Gmail, Yahoo! and Outlook.com.
Nokia aims to target first time mobile phone users with the ultra-affordable Nokia 108:
Connecting the next billion and beyond was Nokia's aim with which it launched Nokia 105 early this year. It has now followed it up with the Nokia 108, a colorful dual-SIM mobile handset equipped with VGA camera, Bluetooth, FM Radio and microSD card support (up to 32 GB). All this at a low price point that is affordable to millions of people worldwide who are ready to buy their first camera phone, writes Adam Fraser on Nokia Conversations blog. The phone is priced at Rs. 1800.
Google launches Quickoffice for free on Android and iOS:
Seems like search giant Google loves things to be spread across. Just when I'm wondering why there exists a separate note taking app (referring to Keep) when it can very well be integrated into Google Drive (all hints indicate it's not far off), here comes another stand-alone app in the form of Quickoffice, which it has relaunched for free on iOS and Android after acquiring it last year. Quickoffice also doubles up as a file manager letting you browse your device contents in addition to integrating with your Google Drive account. So an official file manager for Android finally!
Say hello to Ubuntu Touch!
Canonical may have missed its crowdfunding goal to finance its first Ubuntu smartphone by $19 million, but it's definitely not sitting idle either. According to a blog post, the touch based operating system is all set for a planned release on October 17, by which time it hopes to deliver an image of the OS for Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices. And if you are still in the mood to try out something new, Jolla has an answer. After having announced their first smartphone running on Sailfish OS back in May, the Finnish startup has now announced the platform's compatibility with Android in terms of apps and hardware. That not only means Android apps can run on Sailfish OS, the operating system itself can now run on Android smartphones and tablets. Hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as Blackberry!
In other news:
Apple's latest version of iOS is indescribably gorgeous:
Ah yes Apple's iOS 7 is out, and possessing a third-generation iPad myself, I simply couldn't resist the temptation to upgrade my tablet to the latest version on September 18, the day the global rollout began. The update complete by 01:30 am early next day, I stayed awake another hour or so exploring the design facelift first-hand (and since then several times). To be honest, there can be no second thoughts about this. The new paint job is refreshing, beautiful and undeniably colourful. With a completely overhauled visual experience emphasizing on simplicity and minimalism (two things that I adore in anything!), iOS 7 can be considered the biggest change to iOS since the introduction of the iPhone in 2007.
 |
| iOS 7, colourful is the word! |
Coming back to iOS 7, the Helvetica Neue typography is striking, and the interface erases all traces of skeuomorphism to pave way for something that's flat, stark and minimalist. The color choices are bold, bright and sometimes too colorful even, while the swipe-based multitasking, parallax, translucency and blurs add a nice touch.
However, there are times when these animations come in the way of function, slowing down things a bit. Touches and swipes take time to respond, and there's an annoying lag while swiping down to access Spotlight search. Not to forget the god-forsaken amount of time it takes to change a wallpaper. The notification center, while now occupying the whole screen estate, does exactly the same it did in iOS 6 (by the way, what's with the text based weather information; it looks odd), and despite being the most useful feature that's Control Center, it looks cluttered and crammed with toggles, settings and sliders, and more so on the iPhone if I may say. For some strange reason, Apple still feels it's not necessary to include its native Weather, Calculator and Stocks apps on the iPad.
Lastly, as much as I bemoan the lack of better sharing options and the ability to set default apps a la Android, these are things that I can only wish for unless Apple decides to loosen up its developer guidelines. But one good takeaway from the upgrade has been the battery performance, which seems to have gotten a new lease of life. With most of the popular apps already updated to iOS 7 (my favorites being Kindle and Zite), I wonder when such a day would come to Android, though it has to be added that app developers had enough time to redesign their apps in time for the release (iOS 7 has been available to developers since June). Meanwhile, Apple is already touting 9 million sales of iPhone 5s and iPhone 5c's in three days, a record no less!
Microsoft announces 'the most productive tablet' Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro:
Redmond's debut tablet offering Surface might have met with a lukewarm response, but that's not stopping Microsoft from catching up on the opportunity it lost to Android and iOS. Outgoing CEO Steve Ballmer in fact regretted having not focused on mobile much earlier. "I regret there was a period in the early 2000s when we were so focused on what we had to do around Windows [Vista] that we weren't able to redeploy talent to the new device called the phone," said Ballmer at a recent conference with analysts. "That is thing I regret the most."
Well there's no use crying over spilled milk, and as if to affirm that very belief, Microsoft took the wraps off its latest tablet offerings Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro today. Retaining more or less the same externals, the Pro tablet features an updated kickstand, and of course the new Haswell processor from Intel. It has also unveiled the much-awaited Power Cover, which acts both as an extendable battery and as a keyboard. The tablets themselves ship with Windows 8.1 RT and 8.1 respectively.
Brazil wants to shield data in the wake of Snowden revelations:
The repercussions of Edward Snowden revelations have no doubt triggered widespread debate about the extent of US spying and its Big Brother attitude. But Brazil may be soon taking the first decisive move by forcing US based internet firms to open local data centres, which would make them subject to privacy laws of the country. It also plans to have a new undersea internet cable in place that would bypass the US, reports the BBC. If the leaked documents by the whistleblower were any indication, the NSA and GCHQ tapped into internet cables passing through their countries to collect and analyze vast amounts of data circumventing their encryption, thus prompting the Brazilian postal service to announce a new plan to unveil an encrypted email service as an alternative to Gmail, Yahoo! and Outlook.com.
Nokia aims to target first time mobile phone users with the ultra-affordable Nokia 108:
Connecting the next billion and beyond was Nokia's aim with which it launched Nokia 105 early this year. It has now followed it up with the Nokia 108, a colorful dual-SIM mobile handset equipped with VGA camera, Bluetooth, FM Radio and microSD card support (up to 32 GB). All this at a low price point that is affordable to millions of people worldwide who are ready to buy their first camera phone, writes Adam Fraser on Nokia Conversations blog. The phone is priced at Rs. 1800.
Google launches Quickoffice for free on Android and iOS:
Seems like search giant Google loves things to be spread across. Just when I'm wondering why there exists a separate note taking app (referring to Keep) when it can very well be integrated into Google Drive (all hints indicate it's not far off), here comes another stand-alone app in the form of Quickoffice, which it has relaunched for free on iOS and Android after acquiring it last year. Quickoffice also doubles up as a file manager letting you browse your device contents in addition to integrating with your Google Drive account. So an official file manager for Android finally!
Say hello to Ubuntu Touch!
Canonical may have missed its crowdfunding goal to finance its first Ubuntu smartphone by $19 million, but it's definitely not sitting idle either. According to a blog post, the touch based operating system is all set for a planned release on October 17, by which time it hopes to deliver an image of the OS for Galaxy Nexus, Nexus 4, Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 devices. And if you are still in the mood to try out something new, Jolla has an answer. After having announced their first smartphone running on Sailfish OS back in May, the Finnish startup has now announced the platform's compatibility with Android in terms of apps and hardware. That not only means Android apps can run on Sailfish OS, the operating system itself can now run on Android smartphones and tablets. Hope it doesn't suffer the same fate as Blackberry!
In other news:
- Curiosity rover fails to find evidence of Methane on Mars.
- Arctic sea ice reaches record low.
- Iranians get access to Facebook and Twitter briefly; later blamed on technical glitch.
- Microsoft revamps Bing with social features, page zero (answers to user queries even before getting to search results page); gets a new logo.
- In the meanwhile, Google logo goes flat; does away with persistent top black navigation bar (which by the way Yahoo! adopted recently) for an app launcher on the top right.
- Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and Sony Xperia Z1 launched in India for Rs. 49,900 and Rs. 44,990 respectively; LG G2 to be launched September 30.
- BlackBerry announces 5-inch smartphone Z30 running on BB 10.2 OS; halts rollout of BBM apps for iOS and Android after an unreleased version of the Android app is posted online.
- Nokia to unveil 1080p WP8 smartphone Lumia 1520 at an Oct 22 event.
- Yahoo! outs redesigned My Yahoo!; allows you to import your iGoogle settings (clever move considering that iGoogle is to be shut down on Nov 1, 2013).
- Photo-sharing social networking site Pinterest forays into advertising with Promoted Pins.
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