Two Thousand Techteen

2013 ended.So here's a quick recap!

Wearables:

2013 was dominated by wearable devices.We had Google Glass,Pebble Smartwatch,Oculus Rift,et al!

Starting off with Pebble Smartwatch,which was showcased in CES,right at the beginning of the year,it paved the way for Sony's smartwatch,Samsung's Galaxy Gear.But the problem with the latter ones were the bloatware that came along.

Pebble was neat,minimal and e-ink!

Then Google teased it's Glass,and well,I need not say anything.It's just one of those,"Shut up and take my money" moments.

While Glass was more like HUD,Oculus(yet another Kickstarter porject),was like a freaking display slashed onto your face!Oculus Rift displayed the most immersive experience that is to when it came to Virtual Reality.

With Valve in process of showcasing their own VR goggles,whatever the future holds,whenever wearables become commonplace,2013 will be marked as the year that wearables became mainstream.

Displays:

There was HD,then came 2K.What was to follow?
4K of course.

And this Ultra-HD wasn't just restricted to TVs.No sir,we had tablets offering 4K resolutions.

Just feels like yesterday when I was awestruck by a 720p resolution and here we were witnessing more than 4 times the pixel density!

Ultra-mega-humongous resolutions were the only highlights for displays.We finally witnessed what had been teased a lot 2012,flexible displays.Not only did we get prototypes,there were consumer products,with curved OLED displays on sale.
And as the year drew to an end,we got phones with curved displays from LG and Samung.

Gaming Consoles:

It was like 7 years since Sony had a major refresh for the PS,and almost same time since Microsoft updated their XBox.So,well,come 2013 and both Sony and Microsoft updated their consoles to PS4 and XBox One,respectively.

With on paper specs which made the previous versions look like handheld,8 bit consoles,both the consoles took things online and cloud storage.Both a pro and con.

There was also OUYA's,ultra cheap Android based gaming console,Razer's and NVIDIA's,hand held consoles,Razer's gaming laptops,Android updating its Play Games app,and what not!

All and all,a good year for gamers. :)

Mobile Phones:

Two major headlines of the year,RIM renaming itself to BlackBerry,and BlackBerry with its final ace in the pack,unveiling the BB10,and failing.

Other being Nokia's takeover by Microsoft.

Samsung unveiling tons of mobiles under the Galaxy series,Apple,for the first time unveiling more than one iPhone,LG releasing the next Nexus series.
Amongst these,my picks were Sony giving huge support to the development community with the release of source codes for their flagship devices,and,Motorola.Boy,did Moto make its presence felt in 2013!
Firstly the Moto X,and towards the end of the year,the mid range Moto G.Again,embracing Open Source with open arms,and updating their devices to the latest software on offering.If only Moto,you'd release your phones all over the world!

And just before the year ended,Oppo released the first phone,with out-of-the-box after market ROM,CyanogenMod.

Oh,the usual patent trolls continued through the year.

OSs:

All pc,mobile OS saw their yearly updates.

Biggest of them all,Canonical's preview of Ubuntu for phones.Ubuntu,by far cleanest Linux experience was finally a full fledged OS for the phone.Though just a preview,it got the ball rolling,with the OS ported to major Android devices.

Windows bumped both desktop and phones OS,with desktop version criticized for leaving out the iconic start button.The phone version getting incremental updates,to finally compete with Android and iOS.Also,helped with the merger of Nokia,Windows can finally develop the mobile OS,with control on both software and hardware.

BB moved to a touch-oriented OS with the BB10,betting all its fortune on this one piece of software.While BB10 did have it moments,it couldn't really connect as a whole OS,and failed to revive BB.

Android updated it self from 4.2 to 4.3 Jelly Bean and finally 4.4,Kit-Kat.With 4.4 came major Kit-Kat promotions and on the software front,Google's promise to optimize low end devices.To an extend,I did feel the 4.4 better than 4.3,on my i9000,and no,this isn't placebo!
With 4.4,Google also pushed it's new runtime environment,dubbed ART(Android Runtime).Set to optimize the startup time for applications,and amongst other things,its a step ahead from the Dalvik VM,but the downside being it's still in Beta phase and not many apps as of now.

And finally iOS completed its Android transformation with the release of iOS 7.Moving away from the black-white-grey colour scheme,iOS 7 was all about bold colours,for the software(and,it came with matching hardware).It included an improved notification center and a central command center.

Macs updated themselves to OS X Mavericks,shying away from the tradition of naming the OSes after cats,to places in California.That being the only major change,rest being the usual incremental updates on visual and functional line.

Miscellaneous:

- CyanogenMod went from being an Open Source ROM to a corporate company,Cyanogen Inc.,and finding itself an OEM partner in Oppo,to release the Oppo N1 with out-of-the-box CyanogenMod

- Ballmer stepped as CEO for Microsoft

- JBQ quit. :(
- Hugo Barra left Google to join Xiaomi

- Bitcoin became serious moolah!

- Nokia released its Windows based tablet
- Fingerprint scanner on phones

..And lots more that I missed!

BB10

After months of hide and seek with Mr.Blurrycam,BlackBerry unveiled their much awaited BB10 series.But,this was far from an ordinary launch,as the whole fate company was to be decided on its success,which is why they had to develop the whole OS from scratch.

At the beginning of the new millennium,RIM launched the BlackBerry,aimed at people who need access to their mails on the go.Armed with dedicated secure servers and top notch qwerty,BlackBerry was far from being just a phone,it was a status symbol.They ruled the roast when came to smartphones.BBM,an exclusivity to BB owners.

But towards the latter end of decade,with the launch of iOS,Android functionality started losing precedence to form factor.Suddenly mega-pixels,4 inch touchscreen displays,high pixel densities were more important than robust qwerty or dedicated servers.
Losing most of its clientele,RIM finally gave in,and joined the touch-screens/mega-pixels bandwagon.But a horrid a fusion of a dated OS with a comparatively newer hardware got BB nowhere,and they still couldn't win over the lost crowd.
Amidst this,came the tablet evolution,and RIM tried its hand there,and failed there too with half-baked Playbook.Pretty soon,BB was down the drain in terms of market share,with its only clientele being the avid BB buffs,who just couldn't do without the qwerty or BBM.

On the verge of being extinct,RIM gave it their all,with BB10.Designed the OS from bare-bonesb,taking into consideration the current "needs" of their new client base,they are willing to win over,at the same time not disappointing the already loyal fan base.

Renaming itself from RIM to BB,it set itself in motion again,with the launch of BB10.
Their efforts are clearly visible,as their flagship device,Z10 has barely any reminiscence to the pre-BB10 era.Near zero in weight,non-glossy body,8 mp camera,with full HD recording capabilities,no qwerty(heck,no button on the front panel!),this one barely seemed like a BlackBerry.
On the software front,the story is the same.A touch based OS,with gestures being the heart of navigation,again no resemblance to any of its previous iterations.And with no buttons to guide you,gestures are the only way to get around this device.While you may seem lost for a few moments,gestures seemed to stick after a couple of tries,and to be frank were quite intuitive and hard to let go after a while!
Lockscreen was minimal,which notifications for calls,messages,mails.Very neat and functional.
The multi-tasking screen,made visible by swiping from the bottom of a screen looked like a brilliant feature.Only downside being the number of apps being limited to 9,which meant adding further would automatically removed the former ones.
The Hub,a central place for all calls/messages/emails,again accessible by gesture swipe from any application was another great feature,as the key feature on a BlackBerry is obviously mails.
But the biggest drawback of the Z10(atleast for the aficionados)would be no qwerty.BB had to deliver a keyboard worthy enough to replace their trademark.While at first glance,it may not have seemed any different from other touchscreen keyboards out there,a few taps on them revealed predictions,which can be completed by swiping up on them.Also the predictions seemed quite accurate.Very neat!
Voice commands,another need of the hour,accessible through a button,jammed between the volume controls.

Though what BB10 lacked the most,in comparison to Android and iOS,was sheer no of apps.Though they that covered a little,by having the ability to run Android apps,via Android Player.

Given the nascent state of the OS,not many people are likely to switch over to BB instantaneously,but BB has surely got their wheels rolling,with Z10 targeted at the touch-oriented base,and Q10 with the qwerty,for the loyal base.But the high pricing is not a smart move by BB,if they are trying to gain a strong hold on the current market.Hopefully better pricing,little improvements on OS front,and of course an increased app market in the coming years,BB might have just saved the ship from drowning.

Apples,berries,mangoes and desserts

No,I am not talking about food,albeit,this is what every geek thrives on.

The 4 main categories of the smartphone eco-system : Apple,BlackBerry,Windows and Android.

Smartphone market,at one time,dominated by BlackBerry, were soon replaced by Apple and Android,with Windows Phone hot on their trail.The main reason being the change in the user base of the smartphone market.

Smartphones were earlier used by people who needed access to their mails/internet on the go.But now,every tom-dick and harry owns one.The basic purpose of the smartphone was soon killed and looks/form-factor/camera,et al have now become the criteria for smartphones.Checking in to places,tweeting about the traffic/movie is why you need internet on your devices,these days.

Apple(iOS) :
The most beautiful hardware,atop one of the slickest mobile OS.Navigating through it is a breeze.Responsiveness of the touch is next to none.And Apple only creates one version of each of its device in each iteration,maintaining its vital stats.
Screen with sharpness and pixel densities,that can easily put high-end screens to shame,and still,battery life is one of the best in the competition,brilliant.And an ever flooded App Market.
Probably what Apple manages to pull off the best,is their software and hardware integration.

But,the OS built on a UNIX core,lacks of the key features of its parent,openness.
For a normal,it might not seem much of a problem,but for a power user,it sometimes pisses off,the fact that there are so many things which they do not have control upon,because Apple Inc has decided that you shouldn't.
Also,a tablet with a 9.7" screen has so much to offer.Don't use the inflated version off the 3.5" screen.Please !

But,one the most douchiest things they do is patent wars.Seriously,just get over with it.Just because a rectangular phone has a full touch screen and one button,doesn't mean they copied it from you.And the last time I checked,the LG Prada had adopted that design before you.
Also,the pull down notification was a direct rip-off.But you didn't see infringements being filed.
Let your devices proves their worthiness,themselves.

Android :
The most open and free OS available in the market.Hence,the abundance of devices.Android doesn't discriminate,be it the chip architecture or OEMs,you'll find Droids everywhere!
The openness is what drives everyone towards the Android eco-system.The degree of customization is unparallel,be it the software or the hardware.

But this very fact,is one of the biggest drawbacks of all Androids.Android just has control over the software.OEMs are responsible for integrating them into their devices.This creates a considerable delay in the updates.Also,most older devices are not given support to by the manufacturers,even though they are more than capable of running the latest version.
Hopefully,this thing gets resolved,post Google's acquisition of Motorola Mobility.

Its support for multi-core processor has made it possible for devices to have configurations,that could put full-fledged desktops to shame.Support for 1080p content,high screen resolutions,the works !
Also,a separate OS iteration for the tablets,makes it all the more possible to utilize the device's true capabilities(in terms of UI & UX).
The app market over here is also flooded,though still not as much as that of Apple.

And their alphabetical naming convention is another thing to look out for. :)

BlackBerry :
They were built for a purpose,and they served it.
BBs always held a special place for business people,who wanted mails on the go.Dedicated servers,provided both secure and efficient means of mailing.Till date,there is nothing that can be compared to a BB keypad,and that trackball,bliss.

But,with changing times,BB decided to drop its trademark qwerty to adopt the touchscreen,and it was a disaster.So was their decision to enter into the tablet world with the Playbook,with loses that couldn't even be looked at.Whats the point of having a tablet,if you just HAD to pair it with your phone,everytime ?
They did manage to improve the half-baked OS with v2.0 and BB 10 looks extremely promising.Hopefully,it will set RIM,in motion,again !

And please,don't ever drop your qwerty,for full touch devices.Its what defies you from the others.

Windows Phone :
From a replica of a desktop in the palm of your hand to a tile display,the Windows Phone has come a long way,since the dawn of WP7.Still in its nascent stage,but still can be described as the most beautiful UI.The tile layout,is probably the best UX on a touch-screen,which is further accentuated on a tablet display.
Learning quickly from its flaws and backed by hardware giants of yesteryear's,WP is catching up real quickly.
Like the OS,the app market is still in its nascent phase as well,something which needs to be looked upon.

No support on multi-core processors/support for expandable memory or more importantly,bluetooth file transfers,still remains one of its fallouts.

With a slew of tablets in pipeline,Windows 8 platform surely looks promising.


Already spoilt for choices,and likes of Mozilla jumping in with their own Boot2Gecko,Tizen being developed in collaboration,the future for Mobile OS looks all but promising.
The more,the merrier !