Instagram, the long beloved photography app for iOS users finally made it to the Android marketplace yesterday and in less than 24 hours, it was downloaded more than 1 million times. The Android application opened for its pre-registration last week and attracted a steady 430,000 users. When the app officially kicked off in the Google marketplace yesterday, downloads approached 2,000 sign-ups per minute, almost crashing servers.
New to Instagram? The popular app allows users to capture photos and edit them using a number of filters that give images a unique retro look. Pictures can then be shared with friends through Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and good ol’ fashioned email.
As the company urges, after 17 months all you Android users can now officially join the 30 million users on iOS to “transform everyday moments into works of art you’ll want to share with friends and family”.
Apple just announced they are seeding developers with their next OS, Mountain Lion for the Mac. As Apple has eluded to, they are working to bridge the gap between iOS and OS X and Mountain Lion is the closest to date. It essentially brings all the iOS apps to desktops and laptops in one seamless package. This means everything you’ve loved about the mobile apps you’ve been running on your iPhone will now mirror themselves on your Macbook. What’s even better is everything is integrated, meaning you can pick up right where you left off between devices, whether you’re chatting, sharing media, listening to music, playing games or syncing data. It all happens wirelessly and effortlessly.
One of the best features is the integrated messaging. iMessage, FaceTime, and iChat are all integrated into one platform now and all your conversations are unified in one area. No more piecing together conversations. Furthermore, all of your messages are fully visible on your iPhone, iPad, Macbook and iPods at the same time so you never have to switch between devices. This is definitely one Apple ecosystem we can see ourselves getting used to. It had us a little nostalgic about AIM and BBM, so we hope that everyone jumps on the iMessage bandwagon and gets chattin’!
Airplay is also greatly improved, allowing seamless video and audio content transfer from your computer to a TV or other display – wirelessly.
Expect to hear a lot more of these words in the next six months – Share Street. It’s a system-level sharing app which is introduced in Mountain Lion.
While this is only the dev version, expect the full version this summer at MacWorld conference. We definitely see the direction Apple is taking here – unifying their OS’s in an effort to better unify your entire Apple ecosystem of products – and we like what we’re seeing.
We’re going to start a new category here entitled “BuyBackWorld Reviews” and use it to perform in-house reviews of all the hottest tech right here inside our own offices. Grab your labcoats and enter the world of BuyBackWorld (no pun intended).
For our first review, we’re going to be taking a look at Apple’s latest iPhone, the iPhone 4S. When it was announced, skeptics claimed to be disappointed as everyone was looking for the tear shaped larger screened iPhone 5 body type. Since everyone already knows the specs we’re going to focus our review on user interface and overall experience instead of boring you with just another spec showdown. We’ve had the device in-house for a little over two weeks now and here’s the rundown:
Pros:
Same beautiful form factor as the iPhone 4. If you were in awe of the 4 you can’t really complain about form factor
Camera = SUPERB. We’ve had a chance to shoot photos in every environment and haven’t been let down once. Bringing a traditional point and shoot out is now a thing of the past
Speed = SNAPPY. All apps open and close seamlessly and flawlessly. Browsing through your phone has never been easier
Display = Retina Display which is still the best in its size/class
Rearranged antenna locations for better reception and less “antennagate” issues
SIRI = GAME CHANGER. Mark our words – Siri will get better and better. And better. And it will become more ubiquitous across multiple Apple platforms. Look for it to make its way to the new Apple TV as a central control station and we think there is still huge progress to be made into every day consumer life such as housing and our cars. Wouldn’t you like to live in a smarthouse which knew you woke up at 630, so started the heat at 615, shower at 635, and coffee at 645? Oh yeah, your car is being started at 6:55 so when you get inside it at 7am to drive to work you don’t have to deal with the hot or cold of summer and winter without appropriate AC or heat. What we would like to see from Siri in the next 12-18 months is successive learning. What we mean by this is the ability to tell Siri one thing, but allow it to perform the next 3-4 steps beyond that initial command based upon your preferences. For example, say I like to set reminders for Dr’s appointments. I would like to say, “mark my calendar for Dec 10 at 5PM for Dr XYZ.” If my preferences are to have this reminder set the day of 1 hour in advance, 24 hours before and sent to my Outlook calendar at work, Siri should be able to perform all these tasks simply based on my one command. In terms of car integration, that is more up to the automobile industry, but in an effort to cut down on cellphones and driving, there needs to be more R&D spent on smartphone integration through a live 3G connection. We see Siri as a major way to bridge this gap.
CONS:
Battery Life – some people say turn off the automatic time and date settings. We say send us a patch Apple. Whether or not it’s an iOS bug, we need it fixed ASAP so we can enjoy our phones ever more
WiFi = This is single handedly the largest problem on the iPhone 4S. Switching between WiFi zones simply doesn’t work at times even though the phone displays full Wifi signal strength. The easy (and annoying) fix is to switch WiFi off and let it essentially reset your wireless connection, but who wants to do that three times within their own house mid browsing? Since when do people opt for 3G browsing when in WiFi zones? Again, if this is an iOS 5 issue, Apple needs to send out the patch ASAP because in such a premium product there shouldn’t be any unaddressed error like this.
There you have it, great phone, great overall user experience. What makes Apple so appealing to customers is their product integration. Everything on an iPhone is so easy to navigate and every app out there seems native to iOS – developers know where they gain the most market exposure and make sure to get their products to the app market. All Apple needs to do is release iOS 5.1 and everyone can live happily ever after.
Nokia hosted Nokia World today in London and used the show to unveil two of their newest Windows smartphones – the Lumia 800 and the Lumia 710. What’s the difference? We’ve got the roundup below. Look for these devices to make their way to the US within the next year:
Nokia Lumia 710
1.4 GHz processor
3.7″ ClearkBlack screen with 800 x 480 resolution
5 megapixel camera
512MB of RAM
8GB of storage
Launching in Hong Kong, India, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan
Nokia Lumia 800
1.4 GHz Snapdragon processor by Qualcomm
3.7″ ClearBlack AMOLED display
8 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss lens
512MB of RAM
16GB of storage
We see the Lumia 710 as a great value looking to directly compete with the iPhone 4 and the Nokia Lumia 800 taking a shot at the newly released iPhone 4S. Nokia has long made beautifully designed handsets and before Apple they were the premiere manufacturer of all the hottest devices so if Windows can develop the OS to match Nokia’s flair, we might be looking at some winning combinations for years to come. The only feature we would’ve liked to see is a front-facing cameras for video calling and NFC support. Nonetheless, a strong first showing for the newly designed Windows phones from Nokia, we’re looking forward to testing some out, although they wont make it to the US any time soon.
Here’s the video for each, let us know what you think!
Verizon Wireless announced the all new DROID RAZR today in NYC, bringing back to life the much loved flip phone name with a bionic overhaul courtesy of Droid. Using the tagline “Faster. Thinner. Smarter. Stronger.” (no, we’re not talking about Kanye’s song either) Motorola Mobility is definitely taking a direct shot at the newly released iPhone 4S. We have to say, from what we’ve heard this new Droid Razr is all business. Here’s what it’s packing:
8 megapixel camera with 1080p video and front-facing camera
4G LTE speeds and Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot feature
Thinnest LTE phone ever at 7.1mm thick
16GB on-board storage and 16GB microSD card
Goes on sale in November for $299.99 with 2 year contract
The DROID RAZR will also feature a water-repellent nanocoating to protect from everyday use and spills. Preorders start October 27th and you can pair your new DROID RAZR with a bunch of accessories ranging from laptop docks, touchpads, keyboards and more.
Looks like Motorola is really making your phone the center of all communication and driving more utility through the ability to power computer operations.
Click to Check Out the Official Motorola Mobility Release
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s an iPhone 4s? Whoa, what happened to all the hype about an all new, tear dropped, enlarged screen iPhone 5? Where’d all those elongated home buttons and aluminum back talks go? Before we echo the disappointment that Wall St definitely felt, let’s actually absorb what was shown to us today and take a step back to snap back to reality. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a crash course in planned obsolescence. What do we mean? Read on for more.
Do we think that there will be a body redesign in the iPhone’s future? Definitely. Will it be the most revolutionary handset to date? Of course. People have built iPhone launches into the holy grail of smartphone releases and have definitely built up expectations that are extremely difficult to satisfy. Let’s look at Apple’s product development with the iPhone.
Introduced in 2007, it changed the smartphone market forever. Different body type for the 3G, improved specs for 3GS, total redesign for 4, improved specs for 4S. Throw in the app store introduction (which changed the way we interacted with our phones forever – clue, you’re probably reading this on a Facebook or Twitter app as we speak), add a little Siri (which is sure to further change how we personally interact with our phones) and Apple has shown us nothing short of greatness. But, it is of course, planned to what degree we receive all this at.
Look at how many iPad 2′s were sold with only improved specs. The iPhone 4S will still be a hot seller and it allows Apple to reach new markets through Sprint and a more robust global rollout. The iPhone 5? Sure, it’s going to be a game changer altogether, but let’s look at what the iPhone 4S is packing before we scream, “letdown!”
Dual-core A5 processor – up to 2x faster performance and 7x graphics
8 Mega-pixel camera supporting full 1080p HD video recording
World phone supporting BOTH GSM and CDMA networks
Battery has 8 hours talk time, 10 hours video viewing time
Siri voice controlled personal assistant which operates in natural language
iOS 5 – iMessage, new notifications, etc. Released October 12
Preorders: October 7th
In-Store: October 14th
Price: $199 16GB, $299 32GB, $399 64GB
The 64GB version will be a nice addition to the lineup for media heavy fans, although we do have to say from an economical and resale standpoint an increase of $100 for a piece of memory that is worth far less is a beautiful marketing approach by Apple.
Anyway, all in all we’re looking forward to all the promotion that will ensue over the course of the next week and yes, we will be handing out CASH in front of Apple stores all over NYC. Come on down and check us out!
Here’s the official video detailing everything the 4s will offer.
Motorola is all set to drop its latest LTE handset on Verizon tomorrow. The much anticipated Droid Bionic has been in the works for over a year now, but based on the reviews it will be worth the wait. Here’s what it has:
4.3″ qHD LCD screen with Corning Gorilla Glass
Dual-core 1GHz Processor (T1 OMAP chip)
16GB or 32GB internal memory expandable with additional 16GB microSD
1GB RAM
8 MegaPixel camera and 1080p HD recording capability
Lapdock compatible (similar to Atrix)
With its $299 pricetage on a two year contract, it is competing directly with the top level iPhone. As Motorola’s Droid Bionic Fact Sheet States, “control it, and you control everything.”
The Motorola PHOTON 4G is the first 4G handset on the Sprint network. It also happens to pack a lot of power under the hood, most noticeably:
1 GHz dual-core NVIDIA Tegra 2 processor
1GB of RAM
4.3″ qHD display
8 mega-pixel camera with dual-LED flash and VGA front-facing camera
16GB built-in storage
4G WiMax connectivity
In short, it is the most feature packed phone to ever hit Sprint (sorry Evo fans). It is available now to “Premier Customers” online before its official launch this Sunday, the 31st and of course, will run Android 2.3 Gingerbread.
Motorola’s Photon 4G will be released on Sprint’s network July 31st this summer which should be welcome news for Sprint users. Coming in at the usual on contract price of $200, this is one of the most loaded phones we’ve seen to date. Motorola is targeting both the consumer and business market with the device by offering remote wipe, the ability to plug in your phone to a laptop dock a la the Atrix and Sprint ID to add a litle more personality to your Motoblur features.
Here’s what it’s packing under the hood:
Gingerbread
Tegra 2 dual-core 1GHz CPU
1GB Ram, 4.3″ qHD display
2 cameras (8 megapixel rear)
16GB of on board memory.
This and the Evo 3D should keep subscribers loyal to Sprint as the carrier battles the AT&T/T-Mobile merger and fends off the pending iPhone 5 release.
Motorola announced today that they will launch the 2.0 version of their popular DROID X smartphone on May 26th in stores, with preorders starting tomorrow. Typical pricing applies, with the handset coming in at $199.99 on a two year contract. Motorola seems to have juiced up the phone over the previous version, giving it a 8 megapixel camera with built-in HD video capture support, a HDMI-out port and a dual-core 1GHz processor run by Android 2.3 Gingerbread. This all fits under a 4.3″ touchscreen and needless to say, is capable of “double the does” in the world of Droid.
If you’re looking to upgrade tomorrow, don’t forget you can get up to$146 for your old Droid X right here at BUYBACKWORLD - that means the device will only cost you $50 out of pocket! Did we say we offer FREE Shipping too! Enjoy!
