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Vibrant is the new black, at least for Windows Phone 8

Lifestyle Windows Phone has always carried an air of promise. Its creators and their largest partners – Nokia, HTC and Samsung, at least here in the States – continue to convey their confidence in the fresh platform. It bears a different interface...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 7

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The Samsung Galaxy Note II could be the phone of the year for me

Android In January when I was glumly leaving CES, out of the thousands of nifty gadgets and flashy new prototypes at the show, there was a single device that I just could not wait to get my hands on. Earlier in 2011, I had called this particular...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 121 74 Reactions

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We need better battery life and more storage space before 1080p displays arrive

Android Considering the vast majority of smartphones look a lot alike, manufacturers are digging deep for that key differentiating feature that makes consumers want their devices. Some of these features, however, are noticeably more viable than...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 93 70 Reactions

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How often do you clean unused apps off your phone?

Android I am a proud and practicing mobile application hoarder. I love applications, and I love finding new apps to incorporated into my daily routine. Nothing gives a warm and fuzzy feeling quite like finding the application that does exactly...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 14

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What form factors would you like to see in the near future?

Business And Money There are hundreds of mobile manufacturers working hard to churn out another smartphone as groundbreaking and game-changing as the first-generation iPhone, OG Motorola DROID or even the HTC EVO 4G. All of these phones played a major role...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 18

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Has the iPhone 5 stolen your attention from other upcoming smartphones?

Android While some readers persist in disproving me, the general reaction to the iPhone 5 remains the same. Just like the iPhone 4S before it, the iPhone 5 has mostly been received as a disappointment , although personal reasons may vary. ...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 119

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I'm not ready to go prepaid just yet

Business And Money Back in June, when Verizon came forward to announce their Share Everything plans, I didn't take the news too lightly. Big Red made no bones about their endgame: they want everyone on Share Everything, and they want to kill unlimited data...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 39

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Is simultaneous voice and data an important feature to you?

4g As we transgress into mobile data era, consumers have grown to expect a multitude of things from both their smartphone and their wireless provider. One of the expectations is 4G speeds from their phone – or the respective coverage by the...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 37

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What would have made the iPhone 5 less disappointing?

Iphone 5 It doesn't take a lot of digging to find that yesterday's iPhone 5 announcement yesterday was overall accepted as "disappointing" or a "letdown". In my post-announcement piece which I published before the press event was over, there were...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 149

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Is the Apple iPhone 5 everything you were hoping for?

Ios For two and a half very long years, Apple fanatics have been trying to piece together what it is Apple has had up its sleeve for the iPhone 5. Leading up to Apple's announcement, we were asking ourselves the very same question we asked...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 732 429 Reactions

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How long can Apple emulate Steve Jobs?

Ios Anyone remember Fake Steve Jobs, the satirical blog created by Newsweek's Dan Lyons? How could we forget? Well, the site itself and the persona are long gone. Lyons had a moment of morality when the world learned of Steve Jobs' poor health...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 9

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Motorola of all manufacturers should release new phones with current software

Android In July, following the Jelly Bean announcement at Google's I/O developer conference, I wrote New Android phones on old software will eventually become a thing of the past. During the opening keynote, Google also announced the new platform...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 17

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Are you looking for a last-minute trade-in for your old iPhone?

Ios Well, it's that time again, folks. We're one day out from what we can only believe is the announcement of the new iPhone. Tomorrow we all will be on the edge of our seats, tapping our toes and biting our nails in anticipation. Even those...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 8

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Motorola's big gambit is extra large batteries … and it might just work

Android Having ragged on Motorola so much over the past few days, I felt compelled to take a step back and look for the good in the announcements from last week. Being so critical of everything all the time, most people believe I'm just a hater of...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 20

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Do you prefer on-screen, capacitive or physical buttons?

Android With more than a couple hundred Android phones having been released, there is no shortage of one thing: choice. You can find smartphones in just about any price range shy of $800 (sans contract, of course), with great cameras, extra small...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 121 80 Reactions

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Less is more, Motorola

Android This weekend, I finally got a chance to relax and recover from the craziness last week. (I'm definitely not used to the press event grind yet. It was extremely fun, stressful and hectic all at once.) But between my Battlefield 3 binge,...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 29

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Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD Gallery

Android In January of this year, Motorola announced a step-up to its flagship DROID RAZR, which released earlier in November 2011. The only notable differences between the DROID RAZR and DROID RAZR MAXX was the 3,300mAh battery in the MAXX (versus...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 5

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Motorola DROID RAZR M Gallery

Android One growing concern with the ever-increasing size of smartphone displays and smartphones is the footprint of such devices. One giant phone can very nearly fill an entire pocket by itself. With the DROID RAZR M, Motorola aimed to offer...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 3

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PureView on the Lumia 920 is quite impressive

Windows Phone 7 You may have heard through the grapevine that Nokia wasn't exactly forthright about the commercial advertisement they used to promote the optical image stabilization (OIS) of the PureView technology in the new Lumia 920. Nokia first...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 11

Gallery

Motorola DROID RAZR HD Gallery

Android Last year, Motorola made a splash by bringing back its timeless classic RAZR brand. The DROID RAZR was a marvel of mobile phone design, proving that a smartphone could still be stylish and slim without sacrificing durability. Earlier this...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 4

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The never-ending stream of application updates

Android With a quick preface, I want to clarify that application updates are usually a good thing. Software updates of any type can and will fix bugs, make the software more stable, add new features and, most importantly, improve overall user...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 17

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Is Apple toying with us?

Ios You may recall last year that Apple completely stumped us all. Based on mountains of coinciding rumors constantly flowing in over the course of 10 months or so, most of us were convinced that Apple indeed would announce the iPhone 5. After...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 61

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Stop announcing products without tentative launch dates and pricing

Android All eyes were on four major tech companies yesterday in New York: Nokia, Microsoft, Motorola and Verizon Wireless. Both Nokia and Motorola had an arsenal of new handsets to unveil. As per usual, the media flocked to the events with bags...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 18

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Nokia Lumia 920 Gallery

Gallery Towards the end of last year, we got our first look at Nokia's very first Windows Phone device. At the beginning of this year, Stateside customers were graced with the Lumia 710 and Lumia 900. Both valid entries from Nokia, we wondered...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 7

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Motorola DROID RAZR M Hands-On

Android Taylor gets hands-on time with the recently announced DROID RAZR M from Motorola. Available for pre-order at 5:00 PM today, the DROID RAZR M is the signal of a new direction from Motorola and claimed to be the first edge-to-edge...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 3

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Motorola DROID RAZR HD Hands-On

Android Taylor gets some hands-on time with the DROID RAZR HD from Motorola and Verizon Wireless. The DROID RAZR HD is the pinnacle of the new Motorola, which indicates the first products released by Motorola since the acquisition by Google. While...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 9

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Motorola DROID RAZR MAXX HD Hands-On

Android Taylor gets some hands-on time in New York with the recently announced DROID RAZR MAXX HD. Coming to Verizon Wireless later this year, the DROID RAZR MAXX HD is the successor to the DROID RAZR MAXX from January. Like its slimmer brother,...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 19

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Nokia Lumia 820 Hands-On

Videos Taylor gets hands-on time with the Nokia Lumia 820 at the Nokia-Microsoft event in New York. The Lumia 820 is the smaller sibling of the Lumia 920 and is a follow-up to the Lumia 800 we saw late last year. With removable covers, add-on...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 0

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Motorola. On Display. Liveblog!

Android Okay, so I'm sitting in the press room for the Motorola. On Display. event. We're not positive what it is Motorola is going to announce, it could be the DROID RAZR M or the DROID RAZR HD. Or maybe it's the edge-to-edge device we heard...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 0

Updated

Nokia Lumia 920 Hands-On

Videos Taylor gets some hands-on time with the Nokia Lumia 920 at the Nokia-Microsoft joint Lumia event in New York City. In an attempt to grow the Windows Phone ecosystem and brand, Nokia packed several innovative software and hardware features...

from 2012 by Taylor Martin 53