iOS 7

It was known for a fact that Apple was going to completely rebase the existing iOS UI,into a flatter model.Now,this went completely against Jobs and Ive's skeuomorphic,leather-wood laden,grey-white-black based UI.Infact,these were the very points,which they boasted about themselves,and riddled about its competitors.
And so,following the latest trend of drifting away from Jobs' Apple-esque world,iOS too,was sucked into the Tim Cook world!

Being a complete rebase,there is barely anything reminiscent of the old UI,right from the patented icons/slide to unlock to the multi-tasking,every freaking thing,flatter,colourful.

Switch on the screen,and trademark lockscreen,with place holders for time,camera and slide to unlock are no where to be seen.Instead,both blend in with the wallpaper and a simple arrow,which on swiping would take you directly to camera.Seriously speaking,looks so much sexier than the earlier renderings.

Unlocking the phone,takes you directly to the apps,and the first thing you'll notice is the childlike,colourful array of icons.
Sexy? NO!
Classy? NO NO!
Disaster? YES!
I mean come on,its a smart-phone,not a child's plastic replica to have icons like that.Not that flatter icons with colours are always child-like(MIUI),but seriously,theres no co-relation between the icons and the apps they launch.The Photos app for example,how does an overlapping,multi-coloured array of ellipses,againsr a white background represent photos? or Overlapping,multi-coloured spheres anyway resemble a gaming center ?
Only useful change I could see is the clock app is not static and updates itself with the current time,like the calendar app.

Notification panel is still a disaster.Instead merging multiple notification for an app into a single event or a centralized clear-all (or even a larger clear-all button against each app notification),all Apple did was changed the background from a dull grey,a gaussian blurred one!

A "new" feature,the control center,which can be accessed from anywhere,by swiping the screen upwards.As the name suggests,its a control center for all the settings and a few other.This by far is the most messed up update.
While this is pretty much what iOS lacked,Apple has tried to include everything into this.Toggles are good,but a persistent brightness bar,music controls,AirDrop,everything is dumped into this,irrespective of its use.We need some organization,Apple.And again,the background is a plain gaussian one.

Double tap the home button,and we move onto the multi-tasking screen.No longer does the screen slide up to reveal a row of open apps with a small 'x' mark to close them,this time,we get an active screen,revealing the status quo of the app,with a swipe gesture to remove them.Apple just took a leaf out of WebOS's book!

Apart from these,there are certain universal changes,like the font.Also a swipe gesture that takes you back.

Frankly speaking,iOS now looks how WP8,Andorid,WebOS,would look together.Which is not bad,but given Apple's out look towards "inspired designs",seems a bit hypocritic.
The changelog is huge,so much so,that I wished they would have named it iOS 2.0 .

iOS 7 looks promising,but it is still in its diapers at the moment.Its going to take more than just a few quick updates to make this as robust as say iOS 4 or 5 was.But its a start none-the-less and I am happy they finally moved away from the grey-white-black UI!

S4

Hypes-anticipation-disappointment,this one had everything.The much awaited successor to the best Android series,the Samsung Galaxy S series,the S4 was finally launched.

Sure,the launch was pathetic :
a)Well,it was plain dumb(I mean c'mon,tap dancing,kittie parties?)
b)Leaks had already showcased everything(well,almost all the features)

But that doesn't make the S4 a dumb phone.In fact,S4 is quite a powerhouse,and a glimpse of future.

Starting off with the design,which many totally detest for the sheer amount of plastic(polycarbonate) on the phone,but,who cares as long as I am able to hold it,as I want it,without the need for bumper stickers.But,apparently,looks takes precedence over functionality.

The phones heart is an Octacore/Quadcore processor depending upon the regions.Yes we like to show-off power,be it cars,phones.But seriously,I don't see any point an Octacore processor.
There are only a handful of games/apps which demand real high performance,and frankly,these processors are overkill most of the times.

2 GB DDR3 RAM is spot on.
13 mp camera,meh.But some good software bundled in for various modes,and a first of its kind dual shot and sound in still photos is something worth checking out.
NFC.LTE,et al in place,in short,all the standard features expected from a flagship device.They also bundled in an IR blaster.

On the software front,its running 4.2 out-of-the-box.Bravo,Samsung,brownie points for you.While the rest of world is running 4.1,Samsung is already a step ahead of the competition.
Picking up from the Smart Stay they brought in with the S3,they took it a step up,with the ability to scroll a page,based on eye movements,and play/pause videos,in case of turning away head from the screen.
S Health

Sure,the S4 looks shit in front of its competition(Sony Xperia Z/HTC One),but apart from that,there isn't much to complain about.The hardware and a few software capabilities,are a glimpse of what lies in store.
Lets just hope Samsung doesn't screw up the Android community again,by locking up their sources!

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.

Cooked Apple

Almost a year back,Jobs stepped down as the CEO of Apple,and put Tim Cook incharge,owing to his ill health.Though the main man,all his moves were under constant scrutiny of Jobs,until a couple of months,when Jobs finally gave in to his bad health.
It was said at that time that Apple would not be Apple,in Jobs' absence.Heck,it was even said that Jobs had prepared a 4 year roadmap for Apple as well,as he didn't trust anyone,but himself to run his brainchild.(And I agree on the second part)

For starters,the leaks about iPhone 5,ear pods,and now iPad mini.
Now we all know what happened to Gray Powell,when the iPhone 4 was leaked.
But this time around,there was no reaction from Apple.The launch event was almost boring,we knew what was going to be displayed,we knew the specs,we knew about the "revolutionary" new headphones.There was barely anything worth watching.
(That said,I am not with Job's decision on firing an employee.)

There was a reason why all the iPhones and iPods,pre-Cook era were 3.5".Jobs believed that 3.5" was the "perfect" size for a phone(irrespective of one's palm size).He always criticized Androids on having different screen sizes,which led to fragmentation.He even made fun of 4" screens on Droids.
Come 2012,Cook's first year,without Jobs,we have iPhone 5,with its 4" screen.And to our surprise,it still is the "perfect" size for a phone(again no consideration of different palm sizes).
And with the rumoured iPad mini,make that 2 different resolutions for phones,and 2 for tablets.

Jobs always wanted perfection in his products.
With the iPhone 4S,came Siri.With all her awesomeness,came a tag,Beta.
Siri-ously?
And,with iOS 6,came Apple Maps,Apple's replacement for Google Maps,and boy was it a failure.Forget Beta,Maps seem to be in their Alpha phase of testing!
Jobs would have never approved half-baked products to be released in the market.But still,here we are,and Cook has a hit ratio of 100% !

Sticking the perfection thing,Jobs was meticulous about every little thing,be it the hardware and software.He'd reject anything and everything that didn't feel right.
The Apple TV's UI,released in the Cook era,was supposedly a design rejected by Jobs,almost 5 years back.But still,it was embraced by Cook.

Hugely criticized for Apple Maps,Cook recently made a public apology,and said they'll work on getting it right.He also suggested on using alternatives for time being.
It takes balls to accept your mistake,especially when you are at such a high position.Take nothing away for Cook.I guess this might be the first time,Apple has issued a public apology for a product.
It is only Jobs who can get away with an antennagate issue by saying,"You are holding the phone wrong!"

Filling into Jobs' shoes was a huge responsibility,let alone maintaining Apple's legacy.Cook might have changed Jobs' vision of Apple,but the growth of Apple,post Cook's takeover is surreal.To have a company's  revenue greater than few country's GDP,is mindboggling.
For all the rumours about Jobs preparing a roadmap for Apple,I highly doubt,considering the route taken by Apple.Even if there was one,I guess there might have been only one point made,sue everyone !

Patent Wars Episode I : The Apple menace

A quick search on the word patent,on wikipedia reveals the following :

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention.

It also mentions the following,typically, however, a patent application must include one or more claims defining the invention which must meet the relevant patentability requirements such as novelty and non-obviousness.(keywords here being invention and non-obviousness)

Armed with a zillion "patents",right from pressing a button to start the phone,to making square icons,Apple quickly sued every freaking competitor in sight for billions of dollars.

Apple's claim being Samsung "copying their unique design".Well these "unique designs" were actually first visible on LG Prada phone and even Samsung's F700(both of which were released before iPhone).Only difference being,unlike Apple,neither LG nor Sammy claim sole rights on these design,because they weren't inventions,they were sort of industry standards.Neither were any of the previous bar/clamshell designs ever patented,because again,they were industry standards.
Oh and btw,this design was based on Sony's Shin-Nishibori's concept of a whole touch device,as Sony would conceive them to be.Nishibori was asked to share his thought's on a Sony phone,by Apple's design brainchild,Jony Ive.He then used Nishibori's renderings to design what we know the iPhone as.(In one of the early renderings,he even replaced Sony by Jony.Now thats innovation!)

Apple claimed Sammy even copied Apple's patented icon styling,a square with rounded edges.Seriously?Thats an invention? I can remember having icons on every electronic device ever made,since the start of GUI.

Anyhow,Apple claimed Samsung,HTC,Motorola,among others have violated their zillion "patents" in one way or other,like using square icons,sliding to unlock device,etc.At the same time,they shamelessly copied stuff like drop down notifications,or a camera shortcut,right on the homescreen !
Frankly,I detest the patent offices even more,for granting Apple these patents in the first place.

Henry Ford was the biggest loser in that case.He should've patented the use of wheels,steering wheel,engine,etc to make a car.Because thats an invention too,right? Then he would've sued the asses of Mercedes and Ferrari.The world be such a happier place!

What Apple has done by winning the patent wars,is actually gradually killed off competition,and to an extent the whole concept of innovation.Instead of wasting so much time,effort and money on these stupid patent wars,there is so much that can be done in terms of innovation,like using the energy generated while walking down the road to charge the ever discharging smartphones.That is something worth getting a patent for.

Think about it,at this rate,the day ain't far when someone is granted a patent for dialing digits and pressing a button to make call.

Monopolizing the market with these stupid patents,is plain dumb.The love and respect I once had for an Apple device is somehow lost now.

Fab-let !

Almost a year back when Sammy outed the Galaxy Note,it brought back the much doomed stylus(or S-Pen as they call it),which were somehow lost in the world of capacitive touchscreens.Interestingly though,the Note still had a capacitive screen.

Note was killer in terms of its specs,a dual-core processor,full HD video recording,a gig of RAM,blah,and lastly,a ginormous 5.3" display,with a measly 1280x800 resolution.
Now,large screen phones aren't a new thing in the Droid world,so Samsung had to get their act together with their ace in hole,the S-Pen.Though not as advanced,it provided the novelty factor of doodling around,creating notes,and a handy screenshot feature.Rightly dubbed the Phablet(a cross between,a phone and a tablet),the device crunched strong numbers for Samsung,globally.

Personally,it seemed too big a device for a phone and too small to be a tablet.But hey,numbers speak otherwise !The S-Pen was a killer feature,which differentiated the device from other phones available in the market,but a 5.3" screen seemed a little too small to completely utilize its true potential.

Cut,MWC 2012,Samsung showcased the Note 10.1.Finally,a full-fledged tablet with the S-Pen.
Okay,so a 10.1" screen was a start,but the hardware wasn't quite upto mark.(Considering it was just a preview device)
And so,after months and months of speculation,Samsung released a video,demonstrating the new Note 10.1.It seemed quite snappy than the preview device and boasted of new features.One which will be marketed by Samsung a lot will be the "Multiscreen" feature,wherein you can actually tile 2 windows and share things from one window to the other,via the S-Pen.Although,its restricted to 5-6 apps at the moment,it will be interesting to see where Samsung take this feature.The video made by Samsung looks really promising.Personally,I love the PS Touch app,coupled with the S-Pen.(Lets see what Apple comes up with this time around,to sue Sammy :P)

Specwise,Note 10.1 is right there at the top,with a quad core processor,2 gigs of RAM,the usual memory configurations,microSD,etc.Although an out of the box ICS seems a little outdated,in the JB world now.Lets hope Sammy fix that soon.

And with the Note 2(rumoured to be a 5.5" display and the best benchmarks scores as of now),already slated for release by the end of the month,it will be interesting to see how the two Note siblings hold up against each other.

Samsung's preview video for Note :

Thank you dev teams!

In this age of ever evolving technology,it makes absolutely no sense to buy a piece of defunct technology.Even the OEMs regard their latest one as obsolete within weeks of its launch and being work on the next one.Hell,the company manufacturers a new device/chip whilst you are buying the "latest" one.

And so,to a normal person,it makes you look like a fool when you tell them that you bought the 1st iteration of the series,when the world is expecting its 3rd.
But,little do people know about the Godly people know as 'Dev Teams',who pump new life into our so called "old" device.
While the world was on stock 2.3.4,I was running ROMs based of 2.3.7 for a couple of months.The difference was clearly visible,as without the bloatware,my device was much smoother than that of my friends,running the same hardware.

But the real deal was getting onto ICS,while the most of the world,with same hardware,was still running high and dry on GB ROMS,totally cut-off from support from OEMs.Heck,even most new released devices(read Xperia) were still running GB ROMs.
Although these ROMs are labelled as nightly builds,I can vouch for them being more stable and usable than most of the GB ROMs available out there(including the stock ones).And there is still a stable one in the pipeline.
Making a 2 year old hardware run the latest piece of software,is an achievement in itself,let alone making it more stable and usable than the stock softwares.And to my amazement,the battery life keeps on getting better!
And with their unrelenting support and love for the device,I'll be soon off to JB!

Thank you all the devs who make my "2 year old device" put the "latest devices" to shame.Keep up the good work.Oh yeah,and I love your work,and when we meet,I shall definitely buy you all beer :D

- Obsessive Compulsive Flasher(CM9 nightlies,almost every week .. CM10 in a couple of weeks)