The Mobile Evolution

Imagine life without mobile phones. For most of us, it would be impossible. The mobile technology today plays such an inherent role in our everyday lives that it would be more than just difficult to go an entire day without it. Let’s take a look at how this wonderful technology evolved over the years.

Imagining a time without smartphones is as hard as believing that bigger-than-bricks wireless phones ever existed outside of Saved By the Bell. Believe it or not though, even 10 years ago journalists were skeptically analyzing things like “text messengers” and “M-payments” that we now use without thinking.

Check out some of the milestones that contributed to the miracle in your back pocket:

1899: In an attempt to reduce maritime collisions, Italian inventor Russo d’Azar devises a wireless system that ships can use to communicate. The Times notes that the Italian Navy has “definite orders” to adopt the technology once it’s been perfected.

1946: Ralph Hersey, a native of New Jersey, receives a patent for a combination radio-telephone system that doesn’t rely on wires to send transmissions.

1973: Motorola releases the “Dyna T-A-C,” the first wireless portable phone. The device weighs just under two pounds, and “can connect with any telephone anywhere.”

1983: Ameritech Mobile Communications introduces the “first cellular mobile radio service” — what we would later call a “car phone.” The article also predicts that the device will pave the way for “telephones that will be small and light enough to fit into a briefcase or back pocket.”

1990: The Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Company reveals it has developed the lightest and smallest telephone in the world, at 9.2 cubic inches and 8.1 ounces. The device allows for continuous conversations of up to 45 minutes.

1992: Pacific Bell says it won’t offer its customers caller ID, citing low profit potential and customer concerns about privacy as the reasons. Had it approved the service, it would have charged $6.50 a month to “see a caller’s phone number on a special display.”

1996: AT&T announces “Pocketnet,” which allows customers to wirelessly connect to the Internet and view data on a three-line screen.

1997: Nokia announces project “Responder,” which aims to “combine Internet, computer and phone technologies to produce a portable machine that could use all of them equally.”

1999: Complaints regarding lack of service are on the rise as the number of devices, and the stress they put on networks, finally draws attention to the importance of wireless infrastructure.

2000: Tech thought leaders start predicting the next step in mobile revolution will be something they called “m-payments,” or transactions made on your mobile device.

2001: The Nokia 5510 is released, with a list of features including the first QWERTY keyboard, a headphone jack and a whopping 64 megabytes of memory.

2003: Long before Instagram, Snapchat and #selfies , the introduction of camera phones makes people concerned, paranoid and really uncomfortable.

2004: The popularity of the Razr, the Motorola phone that prioritizes a thin body of rich data services, is seen as evidence that voice will continue to be the primary use for cellphones, rather than text messaging or data services.

2006: After two years of “Apple phone rumors,” people still aren’t sure if Apple will ever release a cellular device.

2007: In the first of many anticipated events, Steve Jobs reveals the first “iPhone” and says that Apple will drop “Computer” from its name to better represent the suite of products they will now make.

2007: The tech world celebrates the 15^th anniversary of the first text message, a humble “Merry Christmas” sent from a computer to a phone.

2012: The Galaxy S III dethrones the iPhone 4S to become the best-selling smartphone in the world. The release of the iPhone 5 means Samsung doesn’t get to stay in the top spot for long, however.

2014: Amazon announces Fire Phone, with image recognition software and a 3D image display.

2014: In a landmark decision that validates the importance of data held on devices, the Supreme Court rules that a cellphone can’t be searched without a warrant.

Source: Mashable
Image: New York Times

The iPhone 6, iWatch and More.

A few more days and the much-awaited iPhone 6 will be available for all. The closer we get to the launch, more the number of rumors start to float about. Being one of the most anticipated smart phone, it looks like Apple is again on its way to record breaking sales even this year.

This year, there are rumors that Apple will also introduce the iWatch – A smart-watch, if you may, with capabilities of a smart phone. Now wouldn’t you like to own one of that? Of course you would! So what do we know so far?

Stop it, you love Apple rumors.

That’s why, believe it or not, we have even more last-minute, hail-mary Apple rumors to share as the countdown to tomorrow’s event expires. Put on your skeptical detective fedora and adjust your doubting investigator monocle, because some of these rumors are pretty juicy.

iPhone launch date

Let’s start with the iPhone 6, which is rumored to come in 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch sizes for the phablet lovers out there. According to French website iGeneration, although the phones will be announced tomorrow, they won’t actually be available to consumers until Sept. 19. MakingApple fans wait an extra week to lay their hands on the new iPhone may seem like cruel and unusual punishment but, if true, this is pretty much par for the course with new Apple product launches.

iPhone X: What’s in a name?

Most rumors in the last few months have claimed that the names for the new iPhones will be the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6L, which, given the most recent iPhone naming conventions, sounds about right.

But a rumor floated on Monday by Japanese website Macotakara claims that the phones will actually be called the iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 Plus. “6 Plus”? That sounds just unoriginal enough, and just pedestrian enough to be real. But really. “6 Plus”? We’re betting ‘no’ on this one, but Apple almost always OFFERS a curveball at these events, so anything is possible. Suddenly, iPhone 6L sounds downright sexy.

The iWatch cometh — in pieces

Perhaps the most interesting rumor to emerge in the hours leading up to Apple’s launch event is the supposed uncovering of schematics of what looks like a watch-like device.

Posted on Reddit on Monday by a user called “OwenCarlyle,” the images, some of which are watermarked with the name of Quanta, an Apple supplier, look tantalizingly real. And, if you stare at the images long enough, and if you’re really as iWatch-obsessed as we are, a vision of what the iWatch might look like will begin to materialize in your mind.

Okay, not really. The truth? We hope these images are bogus, because even though we know Apple can’t defy the laws of physics, even the tiny glimpses of what may be an iWatch here are uninspiring.

Yes, glimpsing a corner of the Eiffel Tower and judging its design merit without seeing it at full scale is foolish, but hey, we told you this was a last-minute, crazy rumor zone, so we’re taking a little speculative license and hoping for more from Apple.

The post even goes on to claim knowledge of several rather specific details, namely: the device will have a mic, speaker, Siri functionality, a battery that lasts a day, a touch interface, will be waterproof, will come in eight models, four colors and two sizes and that Apple will being manufacturing the device in January.

Those are a lot of details to digest, and you’d be right to be skeptical. But even if the images and specs turn out to be bogus, you have to admit that these are at least pretty good guesses.

So there you have, just a little more Apple catnip to tide you over until tomorrow. You’re welcome.

Source: Mashable

Here’s more than just a low-down on the iPhone 6

September 9^th, 2014 – The day all Apple fanatics are excited about at present. And they should be too. The latest in Apple’s line-up of mobiles, the iPhone 6, is said to launch on the said date.

Considering their marketing strategy in the past launches, the iPhone 6 should be available for sale on the 19^th September, the following Friday. If not, it should be available on 26^th September, the next Friday. The pre-order should be open by the 12^th September. This traditional marketing strategy has provided record-creaking sales weekend for the iPhones in the past years continuously.

However, there are reports stating that the larger 5.5 inch iPhone was facing production problems and might be delayed by a month. Don’t worry though, the 4.7 inch iPhones are ready to be shipped and should be available, like we mentioned earlier, by the 19^th September.

Two major questions, that had been haunting everyone in the past, how the iPhone 6 will look and what’s new about it this time, have been answered.

The one brand that has never failed to impress in terms of design and functionality is undoubtedly Apple. And it has proved so with the iPhone 6 as well. In the recent leak by the Russian website Rozetked, we get to see what the iPhone 6 will look like from all angles.

To begin with, the iPhone 6 is made of a metal-alloy called ‘Liquidmetal’. This Liquidmetal is believed to self-heal from scratches and also resists corrosion. Now that’s impressive.

The size has increased to 4.6 inch, from the previous year’s 4 inch. The increase in size also made the iPhone 6 considerably thinner and wider as well. That only translates to a larger viewing screen to watch movies and play games on.

With a unibody casing, similar to that of the Macbook, the iPhone is believed to be powered by the latest A8 chip, alongwith an NFC (Near-field Communication) module on the system board.

Other note-worthy updates in the new iPhone is the power button being relocated to the side-panel. The nano-sim fits on the right. The display has a nicer feel and provides a more transparent viewing angle. Furthermore, the FaceTime camera is now beside the dynamic speaker and not above. It kind of looks like the 5^th generation iPod Touch.

The iPhone 6 with iSight, is believed to have been upgraded to 13 MP, and TruTone double flash to back that up with. All in all, the iPhone 6 is set to break another record this year as well.

Source: Business Insider

When a Smartphone gets Smarter with Fireflies.

Image: Mashable

Amazon launched its first smartphone – Fire Phone – after four years of dedication & effort put into the project. In terms of looks, Fire Phone is not very different from any other Android phone. What really distinguishes the Fire phone from the regular flock is, ‘Dynamic Perspective’ and ‘Fireflies’ feature. To know why so, read on.

Amazon unveiled its first smartphone on Wednesday at an event in Seattle near its headquarters, four years after the company started working on the project.

On the surface — and even under the hood — the 4.7-inch Fire phone looks like any other Android phone on the market, but Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and team have baked both big and small touches into the Fire phone to make it stand out in such a crowded market.

The Fire phone boasts a 2.2GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, an Adreno 330 graphics processor, 2GB of RAM and runs on Amazon’s custom version of Android, called Fire OS. While none of the specs are true differentiators, Amazon is taking some risks to get noticed.

Although other phone manufacturers have failed in the 3D-display space before, Amazon is embracing what it calls “Dynamic Perspective,” which creates the illusion of depth behind the screen, as opposed to outward. This is noticeable right away on the lock screen, which will ship with 18 options, including slowly moving balloons to jungle or casino scenes.

To create the 3D-like effect, the phone uses four front-facing cameras that detect the head’s position. When you move your head slightly to the left or even closer to the screen, the dimension and perspective slightly changes. Amazon confirmed you can turn this function off but, if you’re buying this phone, why would you want to? It’s one of its biggest draws. (See our earlier coverage for more on how the technology used for Dynamic Perspective works.)

Having a funky lock screen might be fun to show your friends over dinner, but the screen’s real potential is within apps, especially games. By tilting your head to one side, you can get a different feel and view that gives you the sense that you’re inside the game.

Dynamic Perspective is a cool addition to its maps app too. The feature adds depth perception to landmarks like the Empire State Building or Seattle’s Space Needle, but it also shows restaurants and other areas of interest on the map. By clicking on these points of interest, you can see Yelp ratings directly on the screen, which could be very helpful when trying to find a spot to eat nearby without doing a web search.

Incidentally, Amazon got its mapping data from Nokia HERE, but built its Maps app in-house.

Gesture-based navigation

After swiping up from the lock screen, users see an app grid that’s typical of Android devices. By tapping a physical button on the top of the device, you can switch between this view or a carousel look that lets you tap through maps, the calendar and other features.

The carousel was my preferred way of viewing, allowing the user interface to get out of the way so I could discover the content I wanted.

By swiping (or physically tilting) the phone to the left, a panel pops up with utility-like features like apps, maps and so on. Tilt to the right and you’ll see more personalized content, like local weather, upcoming meetings and your most recent text messages.

The ability to tilt the device one way or another to reveal this information works seamlessly and adds to Amazon’s vision of making it easier for users to get what they want without trying as hard. (look, Mom, no hands!)

The same goes for reading content on the web. While visitingMashable’s website, tilting to the right displayed different sections. When I wanted to read a story, I just tilted the device slightly downward and it started to automatically scroll. When it landed on a paragraph I wanted to read, I held the screen straight up again and it stopped — you can use a finger to stop the scrolling too.

Sure, this isn’t a new feature to phones all together, but Amazon’s execution is beautiful and easy to use. It’s fun to check out sites like Facebook and Twitter with the infinity scroll function too.

Firefly brings outside objects inside your phone

But one of Amazon Fire’s strongest features is Firefly, which lets you scan any product for more information. And like the popular Shazam app, Firefly scans audio from songs and TV shows.

During our testing, Firefly was able to identify that the Matrix was playing on the TV and that it was nearly 30 minutes into the film. It also offered up information about who was in the specific scene, using the X-Ray feature powered by Amazon-owned IMDb.

Firefly works with restaurant signs, phone numbers and food products. Thanks to a partnership with My Fitness Pal, I discovered that a box of Nilla Wafers has 120 calories in a serving-size of eight cookies.

When it comes to scanning music, Firefly not only detects a song and lets you buy the track from Amazon, you can also create a playlist around the song using iHeartRadio or buy upcoming concert tickets through StubHub.

Amazon wants to make buying the Fire phone an easy decision for its tens of millions of Prime customers. It’s not only putting the Amazon store in its users pockets, it’s adding its whole range of digital content from music and videos to books. Ultimately, with Firefly, Amazon is making it easy for people to bridge the gap between the physical and virtual world.

Help when you need it

We didn’t get a demo of the Mayday function, but Amazon will bring the instant-customer-service app on the Kindle Fire HDX tablets to the smartphone. Amazon told Mashable that the company is prepared for an influx of users of this feature and is willing to help with inquiries about how to add filters to photos to how to get started with the device.

As we noted earlier today, the Fire phone won’t ship with Bluetooth LE enabled. That means it won’t work with some wearables — such as the Fitbit Flex or Fuelband SE. The good news is that the Fire phone has the hardware needed to support Bluetooth LE and Amazon says it will be adding support sometime in the future.

The Fire phone is exclusive to AT&T for now, which will exclude people outside of the United States. It’s available for $199.99 for a 32GB version with a two-year contract. For $299.99 and a two-year contract, you can get a 64GB Fire phone. AT&T Customers can also buy the phone contract-free via the carrier’s Next program, wt no money down and 24 monthly payments of $27. Without Next or a contract, the Fire phone is $649 for the 32GB version and $749 for the 64GB option.

Source: Mashable

Reviewed by: Niharika Puri