Microsoft

Six Inches of Pleasure.

Six months ago I was lying in bed with my head on a posturepedic pillow… Not sleeping, mind you, but reading technology news on my phone.  Why an exciting moment!  Except that I’m squinting to read text and flinging my finger to scroll every few sentences. As a Windows Phone user I was jealous of phones like the Galaxy Note and HTC One MAX which despite their gigantic screens seemed to be selling gloriously to consumers like myself who watch videos and browse the interwebz constantly. While giant phones are seemingly goofy and were not thought to catch on, they’ve gone and done it anyhow.  My inner geek made an educated guess Nokia was coming out with a plus-size phone with one of their fancy cameras… Was I right?

Flash forward to November 22nd and the Nokia Lumina 1520 is being released. Sweet glory, it’s even better than expected.  Full 1080p resolution, a 20 megapixel Purview camera with Carl Zeiss lenses and image stabilization, 2.2Ghz Snapdragon 800 processor and 2Gb of RAM… sweet glory.  The biggest surprise is likely the massive 6.0″ screen; much bigger than the Galaxy Note and other pallets and only 1″ smaller than full blown tablets like the iPad mini and Nexus 7. Holy burned retinas, Batman!  And just look at this thing: It’s beautiful.  Special technology helps the screen be more vibrant and readable in direct sunlight, as well as sensitive enough to be effective while wearing gloves.  Perfect for the invading chill of the Northwest.

Colors are vibrant, coming in yellow, black, red, and white (the first two being matte). Gorilla Glass 2 should keep the screen safe enough to survive a few small drops.  Most should know already how hard it is to kill a Nokia.  Here’s hoping you can hammer it with nails and come away scratch free like other Lumina variants.

The only downsides to consider?  AT&T is the only carrier available and they’ve done two things that were not in the best interest of the consumer. 1) Storage was reduced from 32Gb to 16Gb.  Perhaps this could be to keep cost down, though no matter seeing we have up to 64Gb of additional storage to be added via storage car. 2) Qi wireless charging, an amazing feature that plow you to charge your phone by simply placing it near a charging source, eliminating the need to plug it in, was removed by AT&T so their own PMA wireless charging could be used.  Only problem with that?  It’s not built in, you’ll need to buy a bulky case in order to take advantage.  If you’re a Nokia fan, that means buying new charging plates as well… harrumph.

My order?  Placed earlier this week through the Windows Store which is currently giving $50 of free apps and one flip cover which provides some easily removable protection that doubles as a stand.  Sweet!   Are you as stoked as me for this new top-of-the-line device? Sound off below.-Tizz

The New Xbox One: Microsoft’s Ploy To Take Over

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With so much excitement around the new gaming systems, Microsoft had a lot to win or lose at their event today revealing the new Xbox, dubbed the ‘Xbox One’ as in, the only ‘one’ system you’ll need.  While the Xbox was revealed later than Sony’s PS4, it actually got the jump on releasing images of their system.  They also gave us a good look at how Microsoft plans to use this system, both to the benefit and detriment to you, the consumer.  More details?  Read on.

First, the upsides.  Microsoft plans on replacing every other set top box you own… which might be nice considering how many remotes we have.  It responds entirely to voice, so imagine saying “Xbox, on.  Watch tv,” and sitting back to relax without having to find the remote.  “Xbox, watch a movie,” will instantly switch on a DVD, and when you’re bored, “Xbox, play a game” will switch back to your latest-saved conquest.  Cool.  An improved Kinect sensor is also being added which now reads both orientation and depth and can help you control the entire system without even touching a controller.  It is clear Microsoft is looking to turn this into a media center and not ‘just’ a game console.  There are 13 titles getting readied for release and with a number of franchises such as Halo and Forza exclusive to the system it looks like we’ll in for a number of really cool games.

Speaking of games… that’s where what seems to be bad news comes in.   Remember when you used to bring the new game you bought over to your buddies house to play with them? Ha, ha! Not so more, little gamer.  Microsoft’s way of “protecting against piracy” means games aren’t played off the disk you buy them on.  That info is downloaded to the hard drive and matched to your specific Xbox Live account (Did I mention, an active Xbox Live Account and subsequent bill needs to be paid before you can use your system?) and will not allow duplicate usage.  That means you’d have to bring your entire gaming system next door and stack in on top of your friend’s identical gaming system just to play.  What?  Xbox has said to be working on a way to disable games when you’re done so you can sell used games, but nothing has really been announced and who knows how that will pan out.  Need any more proof Microsoft has ditched the hardcore gamer as it’s consumer and broadened that to anyone with a television set… Xbox 360 games will not be backwards compatible.  If you were planning on selling your Xbox 360 in order to finance the Xbox One, think again.  If you do, sell off every game as well because they’ll be useless.  This also means I’ll need another system attached to my TV if I want to play any of those games which kind of goes against what the Xbox One is all about.  Why did they do that?

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What’s funny is immediately after the announcement of the Xbox, Son’y stock soared. That’s good news for the Playstation 4 which seems to be more focused on the end consumer.  I’m not sure how this will all play out, but as a former Xbox supporter I’m timid to give my support to yet another corporation who values making money over my happiness with the way their products work for me.  Hm…

-Tizz

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Nokia’s Major Opportunity

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Nokia has had one heck of a decade.   Back in 2003 Nokia used to be what Apple and now Samsung are today. When innovation struck and smartphones with large screens and no physical buttons became big, Nokia lagged causing the giant to become a straggler.  Where they used to be the #1 cellphone manufacturer they dropped to less than 1% of new product sales. Yikes!  In case you’ve been hiding under a rock, they’ve made a run with their Lumia line using Windows Phone operating system the last few years.   How’s that been going?

At first, not seemingly well.  They built solid phones but Windows Phone was still a baby in the world and while moving a few phones, “results” isn’t really the term we’d use.  They’ve developed a strategy though. Their approach is to offer some of the best cameras available on phones today along with stunning build quality designed to please the user.  The Carl Zeiss cameras (some of which use floating lenses to reduce vibration) now rack up to 41 megapixels with a PureView system.  The pictures from these phones, especially the ones in low light, look simply stunning.  Having atrictly used a Lumia 920 one  at the Portland International Auto Show, I must say the ability to have such stunning results so easily accessible was fantastic.

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The other place Nokia is pressing dominance is in build quality.  Yes, the iPhone is a finely crafted phone, but can you physically drive a nail into it without damage? The answer is no.  While devices have been criticized at times for being larger and perhaps a tad heavier than the competition, Nokia claims it’s because the device feels better in the user’s hands.

The Lumia line and Windows Phone in general is set to pick up steam with Verizon picking up the Lumia 928, their first flagship, T-Mobile picking up the Lumia 925, and now topping 5% of the marketplace.  That stat helped Windows Phone recently become the #3 most used mobile operating system.  With early adopters now showing, they’re primed to have the early majority hit soon and if Microsoft can gain more than 12% of the public they’ll we widely accepted for adoption henceforth.  I’m certainly excited to see where this takes us.  From my account, Nokia has a very big opportunity here.

–Tizz