We all love emoji, don’t we? Well, ok, maybe not all of us love them, but they sure come in handy. And there’s no stopping the Unicode Consortium, which keeps churning out more or them on a regular basis. Case in point: the organization proposed 51 brand new emoji for acceptance in Unicode 10.
Those shoppers who are looking forward to the Office Depot and Office Max Black Friday deals this year are in luck. The Black Friday 2016 ad has leaked well ahead of the actual shopping event, just as expected. More →
Sharing GIFs, short videos, and Live Photos is now possible in WhatsApp, as long as you have an iPhone. The functionality is built in other popular instant messaging apps, including Facebook’s Messenger, its other valuable chat platform. Apple’s iMessage also does GIFs. But it’s only now that WhatsApp is beginning to see the light. More →
Pokemon Go came with a handy Pokemon tracking feature when it launched this summer. But Niantic soon removed the Nearby tracker, prompting a massive wave of backlash from the community. The company did promise that the Nearby functionality would be fixed and returned to players, and it looks like Niantic is getting closer to that goal. More →
We may never find out exactly how many Android users switched to the iPhone 7. Apple keeps telling us that many iPhone buyers come from the dark side, but at the same time, research notes indicate that Apple is losing market share to Android (although it’s still handily making the most profit).
So how many people leave Android for iPhone in general? We have a partial answer to that.
iPhones, Android smartphones, tablets, and laptops all have great displays, and every year brings a few new screen innovations. But they can only be so big given that these are portable devices you need to be able to slide in a pocket or carry in a bag. What if there was a portable 24-inch computer monitor to take with you on the road. Would you buy it? More →
We recently discussed how trivial and ridiculous it is to judge a person by what type of smartphone he or she uses. In fact, it’s absolutely preposterous to concern yourself even the slightest bit with what type of phone complete strangers might use. Unless you have some sort of vested interest, the iPhone vs. Android argument matters in one way and one way only: If you are personally looking for a new smartphone and you’re trying to decide which platform to adopt.
If you find yourself in that situation right now, you should definitely check out a new iPhone 7 Plus video review that was posted by a hardcore Android fan. Is your first instinct to think that it’s biased just because an Android user posted it? Well, think again. More →
“Never give me the odds” might be one of the best quotes from The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s not how most Pokemon Go players feel about catching rare and powerful Pokemon. In fact, not knowing the odds can be infuriating when a Venasaur or a Dragonite pops out of a Poke Ball for the tenth time, which is why Pokemon Go Hub has developed a calculator that will help players understand what their chances are when they attempt to catch any given Pokemon.
For as long as iMessage has existed, smartphone owners have speculated about the possibility of Apple bringing its messaging service to Android. Although there have been hints and rumors in the past, the release of Apple Music on Android late last year reignited conversations about iMessage being ported over as well.
Nearly a year later, the blogosphere has been relatively quiet, but a new report from John Gruber of Daring Fireball claims that Apple has indeed been considering expanding the reach of iMessage beyond the iOS platform.
Just over three months ago, I was having a casual conversation with an acquaintance about a few rumors surrounding Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 7. At the time, Samsung’s sixth-generation phablet was one of the most hotly anticipated smartphones of the summer. He knew what I did for a living and asked if I had heard anything about the new phone that hadn’t already been reported, and I told him about some display and design improvements I had caught wind of that were in the works, as well as a few new software features that hadn’t yet been revealed in leaks.
Then, the conversation took an interesting turn that ended up sending me on a three-month mission. More →
There’s two separate wars in the smartphone market today. On one side, you have big brand names fighting to sell expensive smartphones to customers, still largely in Verizon stores on two-year financing contracts. On the other, you’ve got no-name Asian firms selling the same phones (or better!) for half the price, but only online and cash up front.
LeEco is the latest entrant to the cheap Android world. It announced two phones today, costing $300 and $150 for phones that can hold their own (or outdo) the very best Android phones on the market today, or at least the ones that don’t explode.
We should be freaking out about devices these good being sold for this little money. But we’re not, because about ten people total are going to order this phone, and that’s a little sad.
When is the last time you looked at a laptop computer and thought to yourself, “this is a truly innovative device”? For me it was more than eight years ago, but I can remember the exact date: January 15th, 2008. Late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs was on stage delivering a keynote at the 2008 Macworld conference, and he pulled a shockingly thin all-aluminum laptop out of a manila envelope to give the world its first ever look at the MacBook Air. It was nothing short of remarkable, and Apple’s rivals have been chasing it ever since.
I’m not yet convinced that the new Yoga Book will have the same dramatic impact on the laptop computer market. Still, the day I first set eyes on Lenovo’s new hybrid device marked the first time since January 2008 that I felt I was looking at a truly innovative laptop. More →
