Taylor Martin

From Concord, NC

Taylor Martin is the Managing Editor for PhoneDog and has over six years of experience with BlackBerry and two or more years of hands-on experience with mobile platforms like Android, webOS, and iOS. When he isn't writing into the wee hours of the morning, Taylor is hacking, tweaking, and modding one of his phones or tablets to do his laundry and cook his breakfast. Away from cell phones and other gadgets, Taylor spends his time with friends and family and enjoys playing video games, eating sushi, tweeting, and watching anything of worth on Netflix – especially documentaries. If you have any Netflix recommendations or tech-related questions, follow him on Twitter. Just remember to keep it under 140 characters, folks.

Taylor's latest articles, videos, reviews and more...

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Farewell: A final thank you from Taylor

Lifestyle The last two years, eight months and 18 days have absolutely flown by. They have, without a single doubt in my mind, been the best years and months of my life. I have had the opportunity to play with the newest mobile technology, often...

Feb 10th by Taylor Martin 137 35 Reactions

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Then and now: The perfect smartphone

Android For any of you who have been reading along since the beginning of my time here at PhoneDog, you know my preferences have changed … a lot. I have gone from serious BlackBerry fanboy to an every-OS man. I went from thinking BlackBerry would...

Feb 8th by Taylor Martin 34

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What features will we see in the Key Lime Pie update?

Android Android has come an unbelievably long way from the first time I used the operating system in 2009. In fact, it wouldn't be much of a stretch – if at all – to say Android has come a long way in every single update since Android 1.6 Donut....

Feb 7th by Taylor Martin 32

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Google, an all-in-one communcation platform is long overdue

Android There is no shortage of options when it comes in the various ways to get in touch with me at virtually any hour of the day. Thanks a to a multitude of different services and social media accounts, getting in touch with Taylor Martin is...

Feb 7th by Taylor Martin 5

Poll

Will the HTC M7 have a fatal flaw?

Android For the longest time, I have harped on the fact that no single smartphone has it all. Even the best and most highly-rated phones are missing something important or have a certain feature that could be much better. There is always that one...

Feb 6th by Taylor Martin 48

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How I would change the Nexus 4

Android As many of you know, I purchased the Nexus 4 the moment it came back in stock last week. The phone arrived a surprising two days later and I immediately popped my SIM card inside and never looked back. It has been entirely too long since I...

Feb 6th by Taylor Martin 42

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Do you ever need a break from social media?

Lifestyle We spend the better part of every day of our lives connected to the Internet and, likewise, to everyone we know either in real life or solely online. Many of us never step away for more than a couple hours at a time an just long enough to...

Feb 5th by Taylor Martin 7

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Are we entering a new era of gorgeous Android applications?

Android Being a long-time Android, I have come to accept that few of the applications are, well … lookers. After years of sifting through Google Play and checking out new applications, my typical "form over function" mentality has gone to the...

Feb 5th by Taylor Martin 7

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Will the HTC M7's rumored Ultrapixels up the ante?

Android One thing you can always rely on is me griping about a smartphone with a terrible camera. Although smartphones are effectively shooting through pinhole-sized sensors, several manufacturers have proven that capturing quality images with a...

Feb 4th by Taylor Martin 6

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Does the Nexus 4 deserve a free pass?

Android For those of you who have learned my smartphone preferences over the years, you have also likely discovered that I'm pretty difficult to please. David Beren and I tend to bicker back and forth over which one of us is more picky. Clearly,...

Feb 4th by Taylor Martin 35

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I find myself relying on Google Now multiple times every day

Android When Apple first announced Siri, I wasn't all that impressed. That's mainly due to the fact the service had already been around for quite some time and was effectively more efficient and powerful before the being swooped up by Apple. Don't...

Feb 1st by Taylor Martin 16

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What is the perfect smartphone size?

Android What is the perfect smartphone size ? It's a question we continually find ourselves coming back to as mobile manufacturers seem to be throwing various smartphone sizes at a metaphorical wall of users to see what sticks. Over the...

Feb 1st by Taylor Martin 180 122 Reactions

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My Nexus 4 just arrived, and it feels like it was made for a hobbit

Android I was out of town when the Nexus 4 first went on sale. If I recall correctly, I was in New York City that day for a one-off HTC press event – the announcement of the DROID DNA. I wasn't able to stay up late the night before to hit the 3:00...

Jan 31st by Taylor Martin 30

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Would you share data to have the favor returned later?

Lifestyle Tiered and shared data are two unnecessary evils forced upon us, the consumers, by the two biggest wireless providers here in the States. AT&T and Verizon may work tirelessly to keep people believing that there is a desperate need for...

Jan 31st by Taylor Martin 4

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Do you have to have the latest software on your phone?

Android For the longest time, I would never settle for anything but the latest and greatest on all mobile fronts. I had to have both the latest hardware and software in any scenario. I never waited for official software updates, and the minute new...

Jan 30th by Taylor Martin 81 60 Reactions

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Is BlackBerry 10 too little too late?

Blackberry Os All eyes have been on Research In Motion all month long, waiting, wishing, hoping that the once mobile giant can turn things around. The Waterloo-based handset and software maker has worked through some serious turbulence over the last few...

Jan 30th by Taylor Martin 18

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Here's to hoping Apple can standardize 128GB

Android For months now, I have been hounding virtually every mobile manufacturer about an increasingly problematic matter. You guessed it! Storage space. As smartphones and tablets have matured and substantially grown in capabilities over the last...

Jan 29th by Taylor Martin 20

Popular

Do you still hack your phones?

Android When I bought my first Android smartphone, the last thing on my mind was breaking out my laptop and flashing the latest mod. I wasn't even sure what "rooting" was, considering it was the second Android smartphone to grace the U.S. market....

Jan 28th by Taylor Martin 43

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I'm only two six-second videos in and I love Vine

Iphone Os Ever since Kevin Systrom's and Mike Krieger's co-creation, Instagram, sold for a cool $1 billion to Facebook, there has been a mad grab for the next big mobile media sharing platform, a metaphorical gold rush of the 21st century. More...

Jan 28th by Taylor Martin 3

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My ideal mobile setup is a high-end smartphone and mid-sized tablet

Android Earlier this week, I explained that my week spent carrying nothing but the DROID DNA every day was great and that switching back to a two-phone setup was both annoying and difficult to cope with. As much as I like having the option to...

Jan 25th by Taylor Martin 41 25 Reactions

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I want dual-LED notifications on all smartphones

Android So I've moved on from the DROID DNA. I carried it exclusively for a week and discovered a lot about the highlights and sore points of the device, what it's like to carry a single smartphone again and what really matters when I only have...

Jan 24th by Taylor Martin 8

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Should unlocking your cell phone be illegal?

Lifestyle One of the several advantages of SIM technology is the ability to seamlessly swap out cell phones with like-banded phones. For instance, if you got tired of your current phone one day and had another phone laying around, you could simply...

Jan 24th by Taylor Martin 141 102 Reactions

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How many different mobile devices do you use each day?

Android As we strive to have a single device that does it all, no mobile device can … yet. So many of us have found comfort in using multiple devices to get the job done. With every generation, though, mobile devices become more powerful and,...

Jan 23rd by Taylor Martin 86 66 Reactions

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Carrying just one phone is remarkably and understandably serene

Android For the last four years, I have carried no less than two smartphones with me everywhere I have gone. I plug up two phones beside my bed each night; I pack (at least) two phone chargers when I plan an overnight trip; I send and receive text...

Jan 23rd by Taylor Martin 25

Gallery

HTC DROID DNA Written Review by Taylor

Android The HTC DROID DNA was first announced in November 2012 and to date, it is one of the best built smartphones to come into our possession here at PhoneDog. It is the first 1080p smartphone to grace the U.S. market and it packs a serious...

Jan 22nd by Taylor Martin 19

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Mid-sized tablets need 1080p displays, too

Tablets The modern tablet boom started with the 9.7-inch iPad and arsenal of 10.1-inch Android tablets. In late 2010, however, tablet manufacturers began to deviate from the 10-inch standard and have since experimented with all sizes on both sides...

Jan 21st by Taylor Martin 31 13 Reactions

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HTC DROID DNA Challenge: Day 8

Android A lot can change in a week. When I woke up last Monday, I had content plans and ideas that I had full intentions of seeing through. And, well, things changed. Moving forward, I will no longer be PhoneDog's primary video guy and am back to...

Jan 21st by Taylor Martin 117 96 Reactions

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OEMs, can you please stop making phones with anodized aluminum?

Android Phones are generally only made of a few different materials: silicon, plastic, glass and some metal. From time to time, there are anomalies like this Bamboo phone, for instance. But if you make the rounds at your carrier store, you will...

Jan 16th by Taylor Martin 20

Poll

Are you interested in a Facebook phone? (Poll)

Android In case you missed it, there was a Facebook event earlier today, where Facebook was believed to be unveiling a phone. Of course. Every inkling of a Facebook event over the last two years has led to mass hype and countless rumors detailing...

Jan 15th by Taylor Martin 17

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I want a Nexus One part deux

Android For years now, the Taiwanese-based handset manufacturer, HTC, has produced my favorite Android hardware. Lately, though, the company has found itself in a rather deep rut, struggling to turn a profit and combat the likes of Samsung's two...

Jan 15th by Taylor Martin 19