A final word from Taylor Martin

This article is my 628th piece of content (give or take) for Pocketnow. After somewhere over half a million words written (not including video scripts), it’s also my last.I have been sitting on my bed every night this week, staring at a blinking cursor and trying to figure out where to even begin. No goodbye is easy. I’ve been putting this one off, just like I’ve been avoiding the inevitable for the last three years.Before I get into all that, let me begin by saying ...

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HTC is making a mistake by not making the One M8 Eye broadly available

As is the case for most smartphones these days, the One M8′s time in the spotlight was very limited. Unlike the One M7, which won awards for all of 2013 (and even some in 2014), the One M8 is quickly fading into the background as competitors pile dozens of overpowered, chiseled pieces of art on shelves.Just look at the Oppo ...

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Can HERE Maps compete with the likes of Google?

HERE Maps has sort of been the salvation for navigation for Windows Phone users, especially offline navigation. The praises of this feature are sang across the internet almost any time the service is mentioned. Many prefer Nokia’s take on mapping over the baked-in Bing Maps on Microsoft’s mobile platform and understandably so. Although Nokia’s mapping services, such as navigation or transit directions, are divided across multiple applications, it’s typically a more reliable and renowned service.HERE Maps is one of the ...

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Why Oppo deserves more credit than it gets

I admittedly do not have a ton of experience with Oppo. The first Oppo phone I ever held was the Find 7a I reviewed earlier this year. The first time I even heard the name Oppo was when the N1 was announced, and that was only because it had a massive 5.9-inch display and a rotating primary camera which can be likened to some flip phones from way back when.Outside that, my knowledge of the company, its products, and its perception globally is pretty limited.That’s mainly because Oppo hasn’t thrust itself ...

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When will your phone get updated to Android Lollipop?

Google teased its new software update, previously known as the Android L Preview, back at the I/O 2014 developer conference back in June. It showed off new features a new and improved recent apps menu, lock screen notifications, and Project Volta, meant to improve battery life. Among the most important changes, however, is the all new design language, called Material Design.This new interface design is meant to make the UI react to the user’s input the same way their analog – ...

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QHD smartphone displays: do they really use more power?

This newfangled tech world is some sort of heaven for pixel junkies.A few years ago, the thought of a 4K (3,840 by 2,160 pixels) monitor, television, or projector wasn’t terribly far-fetched. 4K projectors and cameras have been available since the early 2000s, but personal monitors and televisions in ultra high-definition are a far newer product of this pixel-obsessed world.Prior to 2013, however, the buy in price to the budding world of 4K was illogical for most of us normal humanoids who don’t draw six-figure salaries each year. The first 4K televisions were large and expensive. Very ...

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5 great reasons to buy an oversized smartphone

I remember a time when a 4.3-inch display on a smartphone seemed absolutely absurd to most. My friends would ask me, “Why would anyone want a phone that big? I can do everything just fine on my phone.”At that time, the average high-end smartphone sported a display that measured, diagonally, anywhere between 3.5- and 3.8-inches. An average person could palm any given phone and reach all four corners with their thumb without adjusting their grip of choking-up on the phone.

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How to better secure your mobile devices

Personal privacy and device security are two ever-important concerns in an increasingly digital world. Where there is personal, private, and potentially important information being stored, there is always someone out there who seeks to use it for personal gain. Harmless or not, keeping your information and devices locked down is never a bad idea. It’s always smart to keep wandering eyes out of your sensitive information, even if you have nothing to hide.Fortunately, there is an ...

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How to use Continuity in iOS 8 and Yosemite (Video)

At WWDC this year, Apple announced a brand new feature for iOS devices and Macs called Continuity. The idea was to streamline the process between switching devices and to make iOS and Mac OS work more closely together.It’s a software feature that lets you use your iPhone, iPad, and Mac interchangeably, for almost any task. Answer an incoming phone call on your iPhone using your iPad or Mac, load the same web page you have open in Safari on your Mac on ...

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Motorola Moto G (2014) review: bigger, better, and just as affordable

Last year, I called the Moto G “a surprising pleasure to use.” When I revisited it for our After The Buzz series, I said it was stil the best bang for your buck. Anyone who has owned or used the original Moto G will likely corroborate those sentiments. It’s a damn good phone for the money – no ifs, ands, or buts about it.Motorola took us all by surprise last year, not just because the Moto ...

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The new money: using Apple Pay in the real world (Video)

Paying with your smartphone using NFC is nothing terribly new. Our own Michael Fisher showed us how to use Google Wallet on the Verizon Galaxy Nexus – something that wasn’t officially supported at the time – back in April 2012. It was as simple as tapping the phone to a compatible card reader, entering your Google Wallet PIN on the phone, tapping once more to confirm, and grabbing your receipt on the way ...

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Top 5 widgets for your iPhone and iPad (Video)

We’ve talked about iOS 8 and all the new and useful features plenty of times now, but we haven’t had the chance to focus on those individual features and, more importantly, the third-party support for said features.One of our favorites, which actually surprised us, was the introduction of widgets in the Today section of Notification Center. These widgets display different types of at-a-glance information, provide shortcuts to different features or settings, and even help your remember things.There are ...

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Stop blocking my view with your tablet

Taking photos is an activity practically everyone partakes in, whether it be for a profession, capturing an important moment, keeping track of vital information, or just for fun. Out of sheer convenience, smartphones have quickly become the go-to device for snapping photos for the vast majority of the population, and also because mobile camera technology has improved exponentially since the turn of the century.Smartphones often make rather amazing cameras, and they slip into your pocket much easier than their dedicated ...

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These are the best cloud storage options for mobile users

While smartphones haven’t exactly changed all that much in the last two or three years, the services and applications that make them run definitely have. The apps and services are smarter, more affordable, and more openly available to a wider array of devices and operating systems.More specifically, cloud storage is available in abundance. Two years ago, cloud storage was relatively expensive, corresponding mobile application support was sparse, and there were only a few services to choose from.

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Apple iPad Air 2: is it too thin?

Today was Apple’s day to breathe new life into a slowly stagnating lineup of iPads that … do exactly what the original iPad did, only faster.Image via 4k.comGoing into today’s announcements, we were told we might see something new, something potentially game-changing. Rumors suggested there could be an iPad ...

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