Category: Editorials

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Thoughts on the HTC Desire Eye and the Rise of the Selfie Phone…

HTC-Desire-EYE-Press-Images-2Yesterday HTC took the wraps off of the Desire Eye, a phone similar to the flagship One M8, but made out of plastic, and featuring a 13MP front facing camera with dual LED flash. We’ve seen other companies touting the true “Selfie Phone” from the Lumia 735 to Apple’s new Facetime camera on the iPhone 6. Now HTC is pushing more megapixels into the conversation with the Eye.

It’s not such a crazy idea. The way we create content, and the fact that we don’t often walk around photographers capturing our happy moments. If you own a “nice” camera, chances are pretty good you rarely show up in photos of fun events as you’re usually the one operating the camera.

HTC is banking on the popularity of the selfie, the growing market for video chat applications, and are experimenting with their phone design. It’s not a radical experiment though. Putting more megapixels on a camera doesn’t mean you get better stills or video. It’s an easy headline: “UNBELIEVABLE THIRTEEN MEGAPICKLE FFC WOWZ!” Continue reading “Thoughts on the HTC Desire Eye and the Rise of the Selfie Phone…”

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One Terrible Day Without a Smartwatch…

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It wasn’t something that I planned to do. In fact the problem was I didn’t plan as much as I should have before a shoot, and I left my house in a scattered flurry. Arriving at the studio after an hour on the 405, I checked my phone to see an assault of tweets, G+ messages, Youtube comments, emails, and a new survey for the Google Opinion Rewards app.

Why hadn’t my amazing wearable data device alerted me to all of this digital activity? Because I had carelessly left it on its charging dock at home.

It was an opportunity to see if smartwatches really did provide a benefit beyond just being cool techy gadgety things. For the last couple months, between a Pebble, a Toq, a Martian, and a Gear 2, there really haven’t been any days where I haven’t been wearing something on my wrist. Like my favorite traditional timepieces, I often wondered if they were more of a fashion statement than actual productivity devices. Continue reading “One Terrible Day Without a Smartwatch…”

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FFC VLOG: Will the iPhone 6 EVER be able to shoot 4K? NO. Here’s why. (shot on LG G3)

After producing our iPhone 6 camera review, I got a handful of comments from folks wondering if the iPhone 6 will ever be able to shoot UHD video. Unfortunately, I think it’ll be impossible, but not because the phone isn’t powerful enough. Let’s do a little math…

Continue reading “FFC VLOG: Will the iPhone 6 EVER be able to shoot 4K? NO. Here’s why. (shot on LG G3)”

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Do QHD Phone Screens Provide Enough Benefit to Outweigh Performance and Battery Woes?

It’s a feature I’ve been struggling with recently.

We’ve quickly stepped up through higher resolution displays, with higher PPI (pixel per inch) counts, and now it’s pretty common to hold pocketable computers which have the same resolution screens as the super large TV’s we enjoy mounting in our living rooms.

Higher resolution screens provide a more pleasant visual experience. Text is crisper. Photos are more detailed. It’s easier on the eyes, and stepping back to lower resolution screens can make you feel like you need to visit an optometrist.

However, after we started building out smaller 720p screens, I worry that we’re starting to see diminishing returns on packing more dots into a phone display.  Continue reading “Do QHD Phone Screens Provide Enough Benefit to Outweigh Performance and Battery Woes?”

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What lessons can we learn from the iCloud celebrity nude photo leaks?

After an event like this, where hundreds of cloud backed up photos of celebrities have leaked online, what lessons can we take away in regards to our data security and privacy?

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Verizon Shows Off HTC One M8 for Windows in Teaser Video

The phone is real. The phone looks good. The name is still kinda dumb.

Sorry Big Red, I just can’t bring myself to call this “The HTC One M8 for Windows”. I mean “HTC One M8” is already clunky enough, but “For Windows”? FOR Windows??? It makes the phone sound like an accessory FOR a Windows PC. Even “With Windows” sounds better. From here on out I will now be referring to HTC phones as the M8 and W8. No more “One” this and “For” that.

That said, the W8 looks like a great crossover to the Microsoft side of the fence. HTC’s build quality is second to none, and the changes made to the Windows Phone OS (allowing manufacturers to more easily swap over Android hardware) appear to be working.

Plus, many of the apps developed by HTC already have that modern minimalist look, which should help them blend in with Live Tiles. Blinkfeed for example already looks like a Metro app.

Lastly, it’s just nice to see another company giving Nokia a little competition in this space as we wait to see if Microsoft and Samsung will ever settle their licensing squabbling.

We’re you considering switching to a Windows Phone? Does an HTC W8 sweeten the deal for you? Drop us a comment! And catch Verizon’s teaser vid below.

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Why Wikipedia is WRONG to Share the “Monkey Selfie” as Public Domain

David J Slater, a British photographer set up a camera in Indonesia to capture monkeys at play. One monkey managed to snap an extraordinary “selfie”.

Wikipedia claims that because the monkey hit the shutter button, the image belongs in the Public Domain. I disagree…

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Pro Tip: How I would Fix the Camera on the LG G3 (Exposure and Metering Tutorial)

The LG G3 is a monster phone on paper, with bleeding edge specs for a flagship. While we’ve really liked the improvements to the camera, there’s always room for improvement.

How would we fix LG’s camera? Let’s have a quick conversation about Metering and Exposure controls…

Shop the LG G3 on Amazon.

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