Nokia's new Lumia packs a crazy 41-megapixel camera

The new Lumia 1020 has the potential be a photographer's smartphone dream.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney)

After releasing two intriguing quasi-updates to last year's flagship Lumia 920 phone, Nokia finally has its true Windows Phone successor: the Lumia 1020, which packs a 41-megapixel PureView camera.

Despite the extra camera power, the phone looks and feels thinner than the too-bulky Lumia 920.The sensor and camera lens protrude from the back in noticeable fashion, but not so much that the phone becomes unpocketable.

The Lumia 1020 has a 4.5-inch screen and a 1280 x 768 resolution, 2 gigabytes of RAM, and a dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 chipset. Aside from doubling the RAM, it's basically the same as Nokia's previous Lumia phones.

These non-camera specs aren't any major improvement over the status quo. That's Nokia's gambit: There's not much to upgrade anymore besides the camera, so that's where Nokia is throwing down.

The 41-megapixel sensor isn't there to provide some insane bump in image quality, and you're not meant to handle 41-megapixel images. Instead, it's meant to replace the zoom function found in most point-and-shoot cameras.

With smartphones, trying to capture an object off in the distance usually means settling for a speck-sized representation of that object in the frame or using digital zoom, which adds blurriness and graininess. Nokia's 41-megapixel PureView technology uses those extra pixels to capture details you can't even make out with your own eyes -- but when you zoom, you can later crop the photo and get what you want with little or no drop-off in image quality.

If you don't want to zoom, the PureView camera will use all that pixel power to "oversample" (meaning it will capture the same pixel area multiple times and combine the best parts of each one) and generate a 5-megapixel image with added clarity and detail. It's a noticeable boost in image quality, and applies to video as well.

To support this blinged-out camera, there will be apps from both Nokia and third-party developers. Nokia's excellent Pro Camera app allows full manual control over your images, with an intuitive interface that gives quick access to settings including exposure, ISO, shutter speed and white balance. Apps from Vyclone, Path, Snapcam, Panagraph, Hipstamatic, and, yes, CNN, will be newly available or updated to take full advantage of the camera.

On stage at the new phone's New York unveiling, Nokia CEO Stephen Elop made a vague reference to Hipstamatic allowing uploading to rival photo app Instagram (owned byFacebook (FB)) -- a wildly popular service that has no official app for Windows Phone.

Offstage, Ignacio Riesgo, Nokia's head of app relations for the Americas, confirmed that Nokia worked with Instagram to get this feature on the Lumia 1020, but he couldn't offer any other details on when an official Instagram app might appear for Windows Phone.

Using the Lumia 1020's camera confirms that the zoom functionality has strong potential. In an area with full natural lighting -- or with the aid of the excellent xenon flash -- you can use the digital zoom to crop in tight on a subject five to 10 feet away with little noticeable image degradation.

But the real kicker come in the post-processing. If you choose to crop an image after the fact, Nokia uses a feature that it calls re-framing. Instead of letting you choose a section to zoom in on and deleting the rest of the photo, it will create a locked-in zoom setting for a photo, and leave it that way every time you view it -- but it won't delete the parts of the photo you can't see. If you decide you want to revisit the full photo later, you can simply tap a button and re-frame the shot.

Long story short: This has the potential be a photographer's smartphone dream.

But whether or not this is the Nokia (NOK) phone to buy still (still!) remains to be seen. Windows Phone 8.1 has yet to be released, and it will support a beefier processor than the dual-core Snapdragon Nokia is using here. While you won't notice the extra power in general use, a quad-core processor could come in handy for quicker processing of these PureView images. Nokia CEO Stephen Elop confirmed that Nokia will have a another major phone launch later this year.

For those who can't wait, the Lumia 1020 will arrive at AT&T (T, Fortune 500) stores on July 26 for $300 with a two-year contract. 

Google's gaming console: The latest sign that Apple's trailblazing days are over?

By Will Shanklin

June 28, 2013

Have competitors trumped Apple's ability to innovate? (Originals: Shutterstock [1] [2])

Apple's supposed "lack of innovation" has been a hot topic this year. Though the finger usually gets pointed at the loss of Steve Jobs, maybe that isn't the only force at play here. The recent report of an upcomingGoogle gaming console and smartwatch is just the latest example of a rival willing to gamble on beating Apple at its own game: seeing the future before anyone else does.

Apple hasn't yet thrown its full weight into gaming, and maybe it never will. But with the App Store being the casual gaming mecca that it is, the opportunity is there. Industry observers have been eying this potential for years, and it's one of those areas where the company could come up with an – ahem – game-changing product.

Familiar playbook

But here's the problem. After catching rivals off-guard three times in the last twelve years (iPod, iPhone, iPad), Apple became a role model of sorts for the rest of the industry. So now we have Microsoft re-branding itself as a "devices and services" company, Samsung throwing everything that hasn't been done against the wall in the hopes that something will stick (and some of it certainly has), and Google forging ahead with Glass, a smartwatch, and the gaming console.

One segment in the Wall Street Journal's scoop stood out to me:

With the game machine and digital watch, Google is hoping to combat similar devices that Apple Inc. may release in the future, according to the people.

In the past, Apple snuck up on people. It entered markets filled with clunky, overly-geeky products, released groundbreaking consumer-friendly versions, and established its dominance before rivals had the chance to respond.

But today, we have huge companies investing millions of dollars in products that Apple "may release in the future."

If there's any area in which Apple can innovate, chances are, someone has already imagined it, written a blog post about it, Photoshopped it, and created a ready-made blueprint for any company that wants to gamble on it. And that's just the part that happens in public: we can all imagine what it looks like behind closed doors at the Googles, Microsofts, and Samsungs of the world.

Apple's success has made many of the company's principles (simplicity, elegant design, hardware/software integration) standard fare in consumer technology. What was once a battle of "Apple's way" vs. "their way" is now more complicated. It's more like "Apple's way" vs. "a bunch of companies who have studied Apple and can probably guess Apple's next move's way."

The rule of threes

In comedy, there's a principle called the "rule of threes." The first time you use a gag, it's an introduction to something funny. The second time you use the gag, it establishes repetition. Even funnier. The third time it happens, it establishes a pattern. Let the guffaws commence.

That's usually where comedic writers leave the gag alone and move on to something else. After the third time, the laughs aren't there, because the audience now sees the pattern. It now expects the gag, and the joke is dead. Occasionally they can squeeze a fourth laugh out of it, but it's usually because it threw the audience for a curve, changed the gag up in some way, and played with the new expectations.

You see where I'm going here. With the iPod, Apple introduced a game-changing product. With the iPhone, it established repetition. But with the iPad, it established a pattern. Now everyone is expecting that pattern to continue. So far, Apple hasn't been able to conjure up that fourth act, and that's what has the audience's underwear up in a bunch.

Can the company disrupt the pattern, throw us all for a curveball, and come up with one more showstopper? That remains to be seen.

Passing the torch

The list of areas where Apple can repeat its swoop-in-and-turn-the-industry-upside-down act is dwindling. TV? Microsoft beat Apple to the punch with futuristic voice and gesture control, and Hollywood doesn't appear willing to let anyone innovate on the content distribution front. Wearables? Everyone and their mother is making a smartwatch, and Google has Glass locked, loaded, and almost ready to fire. Mobile/desktop PC convergence? Microsoft has already put its chips in that basket.

... and then there's gaming. The established players Sony and Microsoft are continuing to innovate, and now that Google is reportedly making this Android-based gaming console, that's one less way that Apple can sneak in the backdoor and set the house on fire. Apple could still move in that direction, and it could make an excellent product. But, like just about every other possible area of innovation, it's becoming less and less likely that we'll see more Apple "trailblazing."

By the time Apple does it (no matter what it is), it will have already been done ... and probably much more elegantly than the pre-iPod MP3 players, pre-iPhone smartphones, or pre-iPad tablet PCs.

Steve Jobs injected Apple with his visionary DNA, but he also injected the entire industry with that DNA. Today's Apple is competing against its own disciples. That may not bode well for a dominant Apple future, but for consumers, I'm not sure how that could be seen as anything but a sweet, innovative victory.

Guess who just filed for an "iWatch" trademark in Japan?

By Will Shanklin

July 1, 2013

If Apple's rumored smart watch hits store shelves, a new report suggests it might indeed be called 'iWatch.'

Unless Apple is sending us all on a wild goose chase, it looks like there might be something to those smart watch rumors. Apple's alleged wrist-based computing device, which has been leaked several times during 2013, is looking even more likely now, as the company recently filed paperwork in Japan for a device called "iWatch."

The news comes from Bloomberg, which says Apple filed for the trademark on June 3 with the Japan Patent Office. The filing categorized the iWatch as a "handheld computer or watch device," which puts it right in line with previous expectations.

This is, however, the most solid clue about what Apple will actually call it. Apple's branding tendencies (iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iCloud, etc.) make "iWatch" the most obvious choice, but sources of the previous rumors only pointed to a nameless wrist-based computing device. It was the media that took the liberty of dubbing it "iWatch." But, if this filing is any indication, then it looks like Apple might embrace that obviousness as well.

The device, which could launch as early as late this year or as far off as late 2014, is expected to duplicate select iPhone and iPad functions. It could run a modified version of iOS, and could potentially combine native processing with notifications and select information transmitted from an iPhone. It could also rely heavily on Siri's voice control, and use some kind of biometric sensors for both security and health and fitness monitoring. Apple bought biometric sensor company Authentic last year.

Without a truly groundbreaking device since 2010's iPad, Apple (and its investors) would surely love to deliver another new landmark product. It might not be as easy this time around, though, as a handful of other big companies are also reportedly developing similar wrist-worn computing gizmos. Not long after the first iWatch rumors hit the press, we heard about smart watches from Samsung, Google, Microsoft, and LG. So much for flying under the radar

Under the microscope: Samsung Galaxy S4 vs. iPhone 5

By Will Shanklin

May 29, 2013

Gizmag goes in-depth to compare the Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4

Image Gallery (53 images)

It’s a tricky business, comparing iPhone and Galaxy smartphones. Too often the conversation disintegrates into finger pointing, one-up manship, and sermons from the Church of the Holy Fanboy. But when it comes down to it, we're talking about two great smartphones. Some people will prefer one, some will prefer the other. Who cares? The only important question is which is better for you? Let’s do our best to help you answer that, with our in-depth comparison of the Samsung Galaxy S4 and Apple iPhone 5.

Big and small

When we compared the Galaxy S4 to the HTC One, we were looking at a relatively minor difference in size. Not here. The GS4 is over 10 percent taller, and about 19 percent wider than the iPhone 5.

It’s a big difference. Though we can’t definitively tell you which you’ll prefer, I personally think the benefits of the Galaxy S4’s size outweigh its drawbacks. I spent several months using the iPhone 5 as my main phone. But after using the GS4 on-and-off for about a month, the iPhone just feels undersized in comparison.

If you have very small hands, you might lean towards the iPhone’s smaller build. It’s also easier to reach your thumb all the way across its screen. If you really want to nitpick, wearers of skinny jeans will find the iPhone easier to pocket.

There’s also something to be said for easily wrapping your fingers around the svelte iPhone. Its size is great for those times when you snap it out of your pocket to take a few pics. The iPhone 5 harkens back to the days when smartphones were PORTABLE computers. Most Android phones today are more like portable COMPUTERS.

But I don’t think the Galaxy S4's size is too big of a concern for most of us. And, as we’ll soon find out, that larger size leads to some big advantages that can make the arguments for the iPhone’s smaller size sound petty.

Light and lighter

The iPhone 5 is about 14 percent lighter than the Galaxy S4. Make no mistake, though: both phones are certified featherweights.

In fact, the GS4 beats the iPhone in relative weight. When you look at each phone’s surface-area-to-weight ratio, the Galaxy S4 is actually 11 percent lighter.

The iPhone 5 is the lightest high-end smartphone you can buy right now. The Galaxy S4 is the lightest big high-end smartphone you can buy right now.

Plastic vs. aluminum

Of course you can’t mention weight without talking about build materials. The Galaxy S4’s exterior is made of plastic, while the iPhone is made of more expensive anodized aluminum. There’s been a lot of angry internet debate over whether smartphones made of aluminum and glass are inherently “better” than those made of plastic (as usual, a consensus wasn't reached).

In my experience, though, the GS4’s build does feel a bit cheaper in hand. I’d rate the iPhone 5’s aluminum unibody construction as second only to the HTC One in terms of having that “premium” allure. The iPhone 5 only looks slightly different from the previous two iPhones, but it’s still a great example of Apple’s obsessive attention to simple, unified design.

On the other hand, the Galaxy S4’s plastic chassis opens the door to fun goodies like a removable battery and microSD card slot. It’s nice to be able to swap batteries on the go, or expand your media storage without buying a new phone. The iPhone 5 doesn’t offer either of those perks.

Familiar buttons

The iPhone’s button layout hasn’t changed since the 2007 original. We’re looking at a lone physical home button below the screen. The power/sleep button sits on the top right. Volume buttons and the silence switch sit on the upper left side.

The Galaxy S4’s buttons are also unchanged from its predecessor, theGalaxy S III. It too has a springy home button below the screen. Unlike the iPhone’s circular and depressed home button, the GS4’s is elongated and raised. The GS4 also has a capacitive menu key to the left of home, and a capacitive back key sitting on the right.

With only the one navigation button (home), the iPhone makes you rely on on-screen cues for finding your way around apps and iOS. The GS4's ever-present back button eliminates any confusion there. Its menu key can also be handy for quickly finding settings screens.

Screen comparison

Like overall size, screen sizes are also radically different. Measured diagonally, the iPhone 5’s display is four inches, while the Galaxy S4’s is five inches. Both have 16:9 aspect ratios.

But diagonal measurements are misleading, and don’t really tell the story. A much more relevant measurement is screen area. So here’s the only screen size metric you need to know: the iPhone 5 gives you 63 percent as much screen real estate as the Galaxy S4.

If you were buying property, it would be obvious which was the better value. Do you buy the lakefront property that sits on one acre, or the one next door that sits on 6/10 of an acre? The realtor selling the smaller property might claim that its size is “just right” (as Apple does with the iPhone 5 ), but you probably wouldn’t take that very seriously.

Of course you don't have to hold lakefront property in your hand or put it in your pocket, so the metaphor only goes so far. But the only tradeoff to the GS4’s screen size is the phone’s larger size. As we already mentioned, though, the Galaxy should still be comfortable for all but the tiniest adult hands (and the tightest adult pants). I see screen size as a huge advantage for the Galaxy S4. Your opinion, naturally, may vary.

Screen size, though, is only part of the equation. There’s also screen quality. But here too the scales tip towards Samsung’s side of the fence.

The Galaxy S4 has 1080p (1,920 x 1,080) resolution, at 441 pixels per inch (PPI). The iPhone 5 has 1,136 x 640 resolution, at 326 PPI. Maybe a more telling way of looking at it, though, is that the iPhone 5 has 35 percent as many pixels as the Galaxy S4.

The perceived difference, however, might not be quite as big as these numbers would suggest. The iPhone 5’s pixel density is approaching that supposed threshold where your eyes can't differentiate between individual pixels.

... but it isn’t quite there. The Galaxy S4's display most definitely is. When my eyes look at the Galaxy S4, they see a sharper display. To me, it’s just a hair behind the HTC One for the prize of Best Smartphone Screen. The iPhone 5 is probably a couple steps behind both of them.

We’re also looking at different display technologies. This is one area where the iPhone’s IPS screen might have an advantage over the GS4’s Super AMOLED. Expect more realistic colors from the iPhone, and ultra-vibrant (not as realistic) colors from the GS4.

Both screens are excellent. But the Galaxy S4’s is much bigger, much sharper, and leaning a bit towards hyper-saturation. Take that as you will.

Performance comparison

If you look at the numbers, this looks like a blowout for the Galaxy S4. Its processor has more cores (four to the iPhone’s two), and is clocked higher (1.9 GHz to the iPhone’s 1.3 GHz). The GS4 also doubles the iPhone's RAM (2 GB to 1 GB) and scores much higher in benchmarks (3,224 to the iPhone 5’s 1,664 in Geekbench).

When you’re using both phones, though, the performance difference doesn’t feel that big. In fact, I can’t say that anything on the iPhone 5 feels a whole lot slower than it does on the GS4. That isn't a knock on the GS4's performance: it's outstanding. It's more a testament to Apple's hardware and software integration. It makes the iPhone zippier than you'd expect it to be.

But don’t mistake this for the old days, when Android phones looked better on paper, but still lagged behind the buttery-smooth iOS in real world use. Android has caught up in the last year (more on that in a minute), and you’ll see it first-hand when using the Galaxy S4. It’s ridiculously fast and as smooth as you'd want it to be.

Of course there’s also that octa core Exynos version of the GS4 (sold in some parts of the world). I only tested the quad core Qualcomm version sold in the US, but it’s a safe bet that those eight cores won’t give you anything to worry about either.

The bottom line: despite the GS4’s overwhelming technical advantage, the iPhone 5 holds its own in most casual day-to-day use. Though the GS4 still has the edge, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything to complain about with either phone’s performance.

Software

You could write a book on the differences (and similarities) between iOS and Android, but we’ll just hit on a few key points here.

Right now, iOS’ identity is as the reliable, you-know-what-to-expect platform. If you’ve ever used any iPhone, everything will be familiar. Just about everything you do is simple and obvious. It “just works” like it always has. The inconsistent Apple Maps is one big exception, but you can easily fix that by downloading Google Maps from the App Store.

That doesn’t mean that Android doesn’t also “just work.” For all of the platform’s improvements over the last few years, I think the most important was “Project Butter.” Introduced last year with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, it got rid of the choppy, laggy UI that old Android phones were known for.

When combined with blazing-fast quad core (or octa core) processors, Android phones are now on the cutting edge of mobile performance: not just on paper, but, finally, also in actual experience.

Keyboards are one area where I think Android has a huge advantage over iOS. It’s a bit baffling that Apple still uses the same tap-only keyboard that shipped with the first iPhone – with no option to change it. Android trace keyboards like Swype and SwiftKey aren’t for everyone, but once you get used to them, they can make hammering out text much faster and easier than on the iPhone’s antiquated keyboard.

If we’re breaking down the sheer number of individual software features on each phone, Samsung has gone out of its way to win that battle. The company threw everything under the sun into the new version of Touch Wiz, and the result is an insane batch of software features.

We have everything from Air Gesture (control a few select features with a mid-air gesture) to Smart Pause (pause a video when you turn your head away). We have Air View (preview some items by hovering a finger over the screen) and the highly-marketed Bump (share photos or files with another nearby Galaxy via NFC).

The question is how many of these features you’ll actually use for more than a few minutes. For most of us, I’d say very few, if any. There’s a reason the GS4’s software has been repeatedly branded as “gimmicky.” You get the sense that Samsung threw in most of these features just to differentiate the phone’s marketing. An understandable move, but also not something to base your decision on.

Fortunately, you don’t have to mess with any of the gimmicky stuff if you don’t want to. And even more fortunately, what’s left is an attractive and playful UI (Touch Wiz) on top of an excellent, up-to-date mobile operating system (Android 4.2 Jelly Bean). All in all, I found very little to complain about in the Galaxy S4’s core software.

iOS’ feature list isn’t as extensive (or gimmicky), but it also isn’t doing much to help sell us on the iPhone. Siri has, in my opinion, been far surpassed by Android’s Google Now. You can also use Now on the iPhone, but it’s confined to the standalone Google Search app, with no system-wide permissions.

Apple Maps, the marquee feature of iOS 6, has been an embarrassment for Apple. Passbook (a one-stop shop for gift cards, boarding passes, and other similar items) hasn’t really caught on. iCloud and Photo stream syncing can be handy if you use multiple Apple devices, but they can also be slow and inconsistent. iMessage and FaceTime make it simple to keep in touch with Apple device-owning friends and family, but their functionality can be duplicated by third-party apps on Android.

At this point, both iOS’ App Store and Android’s Google Play are chock full of great apps for just about anything you could imagine.

The App Store still has an advantage in terms of gaming, but that’s shrinking. Sometimes hot new apps still pop up in the App Store before moving to Android, but that also happens much less than it used to. For the most part, you have nothing to worry about with either marketplace (just try the Windows Phone Store or BlackBerry World if you want something to worry about).

So when you get to the heart of the software battle, you’re basically left with the old iOS vs. Android dilemma. Because I don’t see either of these phones’ unique software features being obvious, universal must-haves.

If you aren’t already in one of those two ecosystems, try each of them out and find which works best for you ... and try to filter out the feverish fanboy rage you’ll hear from both sides.

Camera comparison

On a technical level, the Galaxy S4 sports a 13-megapixel rear camera, while the iPhone 5’s rear shooter has 8 megapixels.

... but why blabber on about specs when we can look at some sample shots?

Here is each camera in direct sunlight:

It might be hard to tell when viewing on the web, but in the originals, the GS4’s shot looks a little bit sharper.

Let’s crop those same shots a little closer, to see how they hold up:

Here you can see more clearly the finer detail from the Galaxy S4 shot.

Now let’s look at an outdoor scene taken in the shade:

As you can see, the Galaxy S4 handles the lighting a little better.

Now let’s crop those to get a closer look:

The GS4’s shot still looks brighter, though the iPhone’s still has plenty of detail.

Now let’s move into some moderate indoor lighting:

Interesting. I might give the very slight edge here to the iPhone. It’s a hair brighter, and I’d say the contrast looks a bit better too.

... and let’s crop those shots:

The iPhone’s shot still has slightly better contrast. But it also has a bit more noise under the lower lighting.

Now let’s move into an extremely poorly-lit scene:

Neither handled that very well. Both are unusable. Of the two, though, the iPhone’s at least gives us a hint of what we’re looking at.

By the way, the HTC One handled this same setting much better (see the camera section of its comparison for samples). The One’s handling of extremely low lighting easily beats both of these phones.

And finally, let’s turn on the flash in that same low-lit setting:

Pretty close. Both scream “flash photography!” Otherwise the GS4’s shot has a bit sharper detail and slightly deeper colors.

So which camera is better? I’d say the Galaxy S4 has the edge, but not by much. It gives you more detail under the best of conditions, which isn't surprising considering its higher pixel count. The GS4's camera also holds up well under moderate lighting. The iPhone is slightly better under terrible lighting, but you’re still much better off with a flash under those conditions.

The Galaxy S4 also has a ridiculous amount of software-based photography features. Like other Touch Wiz features, some can be handy, but more often they're marketing-friendly gimmicks. For a detailed breakdown of the GS4’s photography goodies, skip to the “Camera software” section in our comparison of the Galaxy S4 and HTC One.

Battery life

Here’s another area where, on paper, the Galaxy S4 looks like it would have a huge advantage. It packs a 2,600 mAh battery, while the iPhone 5’s battery holds a mere 1,440 mAh.

But my tests found the discrepancy in actual battery life to be much smaller than you'd expect. I looped a Net flix movie on each device, with the battery starting at 100 percent. Brightness was turned all the way up. Mobile data was turned off.

In this extreme conditions test, the Galaxy S4 completely drained in almost exactly five hours. The iPhone 5 lasted four hours and forty-six minutes.

How does Apple squeeze nearly as much up time out of a battery with much smaller capacity? It's likely the display. Remember when we said that the iPhone 5’s display had only 35 percent as many pixels as the Galaxy S4? Well, each of those pixels needs some power to do its thing.

Under regular, day-to-day use, I found both phones to easily last a full day. The Galaxy S4 probably held up a bit longer there too, but I don’t think you’ll have much to worry about with either phone’s battery.

... and don’t forget that you can always buy a spare battery and swap it out in the GS4. You can’t do that with the iPhone.

Storage

If you listened only to marketing, you’d think storage options were identical. Both phones are sold in 16 GB, 32 GB, and 64 GB models.

But all of those wacky software goodies that Samsung threw in take up space. A lot of space. When all is said and done, the 16 GB Galaxy S4 only gives you around 9 GB of usable storage. The 16 GB iPhone 5 gives you about 13 GB of usable storage.

You can cancel out some of that with the Galaxy S4’s micro SD card slot. You can easily move photos, videos, and similar media to an external memory card (sold separately). Unfortunately, though, Android no longer lets you move apps to SD storage. So after downloading a few big console-like games, you could see that 9 GB of usable storage filling up awfully quickly.

So the clear advantage here goes to the iPhone. You could always just buy the 32 GB or 64 GB Galaxy S4 to solve the problem, but at that point, you’re also paying a lot more upfront for your phone. We prefer solutions that don’t nearly double your upfront cost.

Wrap-up

So which phone is better? Well, we're going to leave that up to you. But, if nothing else, this should give you an idea of what each phone’s strengths and weaknesses are.

The Galaxy S4 has a big and beautiful screen, blazing-fast performance, and a slightly better camera. It isn’t as light as the smaller iPhone, but when you take its size into account, it’s as light as you'd ever need it to be.

On the other hand, the GS4 has lots of gimmicky software features that you probably won’t use. You can ignore them, but that might be hard when you see your available storage quickly dwindling away.

The iPhone 5, meanwhile, delivers Apple’s trademark simplicity and slick design. It fits easily into any hand, and its aluminum and glass build trumps the GS4’s plastic in the “premium” department. If you’re already familiar with the iPhone, there’s no learning curve for using the latest model.

But on the flip side, the iPhone’s screen is extremely small compared to the GS4. And though it’s hard to complain about its Retina Display, it isn’t nearly as sharp as the GS4’s 1080p screen.

Of course we can’t touch on every aspect of these two phones. And the iOS vs. Android debate only opens up a whole new can of worms. But this should at least nudge you in the right direction. That is, the right direction for you.

Retina iPad mini "delayed" until 2014?

By Will Shanklin

July 12, 2013

A report from the far East suggests Apple has pushed back the release of the second-generation iPad mini with Retina Display until early 2014, rather than the 2013 holiday release many expected.

Image Gallery (2 images)

It was probably about three seconds after the original iPad mini launched, when the question was first asked: "How long until it gets a Retina Display?". For all of the current model's great features (premium build, light weight, compact form factor), its 163 PPI display isn't exactly cutting-edge. Rumors have been all over the place about the inevitable Retina upgrade, but a new report says that it may be showing up a little later than expected.

According to Economic Daily News, Apple's original plans to launch the iPad mini with Retina Display before the 2013 holidays have been scrapped, and the company is now targeting early 2014. The move is allegedly due to shortages of the expected 7.9-inch, 2,048 x 1,536 display panels.

The report suggests that Apple may offer both Retina and non-Retina versions of the mini-tablet. Would that mean that the Retina version would ring up for more than the current model's US$330 starting price? Or would the non-Retina version be cheaper, in order to better fend off competition like the Kindle Fire and Nexus 7? Or both?

Either way, assuming this story holds water, then you might not want to count on unwrapping that iPad mini: Eye Candy Edition this holiday season. Being an Apple rumor, however, making any assumptions might not be such a wise thing to do.

Source: Economic Times, via Macrumors

Transparent cell phone 'will happen near the end of 2013' promises tech company

Taiwan-based Polytron Technologies may have the next leap forward in cell phones, promising a transparent mobile by the end of 2013.
The company has already begun marketing a transparent multi-touch.
The company's prototype uses what they call Switchable Glass technology. That's a conductive OLED using liquid crystal molecules to display images.
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See through you: This prototype transparent phone could be in production by the end of the year

When the phone is off the molecules align to form a milky composition, but when switched on they realign to form text, icons, and other images.
Electric current is carried through transparent wires.
'It will happen near the end of 2013. Trust me,' said Polytron general manager Sam Yu.

More...

The device still has some parts that are not transparent, including a SD card and SIM card. The microphone, camera, and batteries are also visible, and will be hidden behind a dark glass cover when the model goes into production. 
Yu said the company will develop a smaller lithium ion battery that would be much less noticeable.

Cutting edge: The phone uses a technology called Switchable Glass and liquid crystal molecules to display images

When complete, the phone will have a dual-sided multi-touch display in front and back.
The prototype has yet to feature any software or operating system.
Still to be determined is what the market demand for such a device is. Samsung and LG have had large transparent displays for years, but there's been little effort to make smaller devices.
Tokyoflash recently used a transparent LCD in its Kisai Spider wristwatch but had trouble adding hardware to the smaller frame.
'The challenge of using a transparent display in a wristwatch, and I suppose other wearable technology, is that you need to store the batteries somewhere else (usually they are stored behind the LCD panel),' Tokyoflash marketing manager Paul Cooper wrote in a e-mail.

Good looking: Noticeable hardware will be covered with a dark glass to keep the phone aesthetically pleasing

Polyton's model will offer much more room to work in hardware.
Also at question is whether transparency by itself will attract buyers, as the prototype doesn't offer significantly different functions than most smartphones.
'Display quality is paramount,' Avi Greengart, research director at Current Analysis, told The Verge. 'If the display quality is not up to par with the best of today’s AMOLED and LCD screens, a phone using it won’t sell even for its novelty value.'
Yu isn't worried. He even plans to announce a prototype transparent tablet within the next couple weeks.

iPhone 5 review: Specs, Pricing, Release Date and Pictures of Apple’s newest smartphone

Apple showed off the massively anticipated iPhone 5 for the first time in San Francisco on Wednesday morning (September 12, 2012). The brand new handset is the successor to the popular iPhone 4S and it brings more new features expected than the previous version does. During the Apple event, the handset was unveiled as the thinnest iPhone ever made, at just 7.6mm thick. The phone is available in black and white with the all glass and aluminium chassis. It is also light, just weighs 112 grams that means it’s 20 percent lighter than the earlier iPhone. The 5 hits users with a larger display with a fifth row of icons on the home screen, which is the biggest and most obvious difference from the predecessor. Despite still remaining a super-brilliant and high-resolution Retina display, this one is noticeably longer than any iPhone that’s come before it. The updated handset also contains an eight-megapixel camera with the best resolution being 3,264x2,448 pixels and a front facing camera, which can shoot 720p HD video and gets a backside illuminated sensor. Besides, the iPhone 5 is set to support 4G LTE networks in addition to the current support for EV-DO, EDGE, GPRS, and HSPA data networks. The iPhone 5 also delivers respectable battery life with 8 hours of 3G browsing, 8 hours of 3G talk time, 10 hours of Wi-Fi browsing, 8 hours of LTE browsing, 10 hours of video playback, 40 hours of music playback, and 225 hours of standby time.

Apple unveils the new iPhone 5 in San Francisco on Wednesday (September 12, 2012). The phone is available in two colors: White & Silver (white front with an aluminum backing), and Black & Slate (black front with an anodized-looking rear panel).

The white iPhone 5 gets an A6 processing chip which makes app loading, onscreen interactions, and webpage opening practically instantaneous. Apple also comes out with a new cable charger called Lightning that is 80% smaller than its predecessor as well as a smaller dock connector for the device.

The black handset has a taller (but not wider) 4-inch Retina Display at 1136 x 640-pixel resolution, which has 16:9 proportions, a perfect fit for HDTV shows and a better fit for movies.

The iPhone 5 weighs 20 percent less and is 18 percent thinner than Apple's previous handset iPhone 4S. It will also come with revamped earbuds, now called EarPods.

The phone comes in three capacity models: the 16GB ( $199), the 32GB ($299), and the 64GB ($399). It will go on sale in 9 countries: the United States, Australia, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Hong Kong, Japan and Singapore on September 21, 2012.