TouchWiz UX Nature | Mobiles365

OEMs: If you’re going to mod that far, give us a path back to stock

Posted on August 5, 2014 by Joe Levi

My mother-in-law isn’t exactly what you’d call “technologically savvy”, but that doesn’t stop her from upgrading to the latest and greatest Android-powered smartphones every chance she gets. Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem, but I’ll give you three guesses who gets to support those devices. It wouldn’t be such an issue except at her age — how can I put this lightly — she’s a bit “set in her ways”.Don’t get me wrong, she can whip out her phone and call anyone in her extremely wide social network faster ...

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Four ways full-sized Android tablets (still) aren’t ready for primetime

Posted on March 10, 2014 by Michael Fisher

I’ve had some wonderful experiences with Android tablets. Loading CyanogenMod on the HP TouchPad, an activity I documented in my first-ever video for Pocketnow, filled in some crucial capability gaps left open by the TouchPad’s native OS. Carrying a first-gen Nexus 7 for a week in 2012 taught me just how compelling Jelly Bean in the 7-inch form factor ...

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Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – After The Buzz, episode 028

Posted on January 16, 2014 by Michael Fisher

Most new device launches go the same way: usually the press gets review units before they’re widely available, and we get to use them for a few days -or a week if we’re lucky- as we work on our review. Then press day arrives. The embargo on media coverage lifts, and everyone posts their reviews and videos at the same time. It’s a huge frenzy, commenters go nuts, and it’s a giant explosion of frantic opinion-sharing activity. For about … a day. And then it all goes away. Sure, there’s followup coverage as people find bugs and hidden features, but after that initial blast, not ...

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Samsung spitballing: what might TouchWiz 6 look like?

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Michael Fisher

Yesterday, I recounted my experience re-adopting stock Android after an extended period using skinned builds of the platform. Since the vehicle for my reintroduction to the stock lifestyle was the Google-Edition HTC One, I spent the majority of my time in that editorial comparing the device with its skinned sibling, running the third-party UI called HTC Sense. But Sense isn’t the only Android ...

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Pocketnow Weekly 048: Galaxy S 5 rumors meet Nokia EOS leaks in back alley, nasty knife fight ensues

Posted on June 13, 2013 by Michael Fisher

Before we begin, we’d just like to say something to everyone who’s going to call us out for click-baiting with that “Galaxy S 5″ title: your allegations are completely founded and true. But look here: even though Galaxy S 5 rumors are (to say the least) premature and indicative of a serious problem with our nasty-fast industry -an issue we discuss on the air- they’re also important. That’s because, as unreliable and, frankly, stupid as they are, they also give us an opportunity to discuss the future of Samsung industrial design. And any opportunity we ...

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Early Adopters: How’s Your Galaxy S 4 Treating You?

Posted on May 6, 2013 by admin

There is a zone, somewhere between the initial review frenzy surrounding a brand-new smartphone and our After The Buzz re-review, where a followup is called for. A check-in period. A built-in hold to allow the reviewers to catch their breath while they pass the mic to the buyers for their impressions on a brand-new device. Not just any buyers, either, but that special class of customer that tells a critical part of any device’s story: the early-adopters. The

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Weather Station Gives Galaxy S4 Features A Boost (Video)

Posted on May 3, 2013 by admin

The Galaxy S 4 ships with more sensors than it knows what to do with. As we described in our full review, the new Samsung superphone boasts a thermometer, barometer, and even a hygrometer beneath its glazed polycarbonate shell, making the device almost as much tricorder as communicator. But sensors are only as good as the apps that can make use of their data. Realizing this, one talented developer

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Galaxy S 4 vs Lumia 920 (Video)

Posted on May 1, 2013 by admin

You’ve been asking for it: a head-to-head matchup of the best of Windows Phone with (one of) the best of Android. We had to get the hotter comparisons out of the way first, but here for your viewing enjoyment is the latest piece of Nokia versus Samsung hotness to come out of Pocketnow. Why the delay? Funny you should ask. We’ve been churning out quad-vs-octa, Samsung-vs-HTC, and

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Galaxy S 4 Guided Tour: Features, Gimmicks, and Everything in Between (Video)

Posted on April 25, 2013 by admin

The Galaxy S 4 comes packing a wide array of features. Some, like its flip-to-mute functionality, are minor but useful. Others, like the Smart Pause function that promises to interrupt playback when you look away from a playing video, are great ideas sullied by lackluster execution. And between those two extremes lies a dense field of additional functions. We tried to squeeze as much feature coverage as we could into our full review of the Galaxy S 4, but there’s only so much room in even the ...

Samsung Galaxy S 4 Review

Posted on April 24, 2013 by admin

There are a lot of things the fourth smartphone in Samsung’s halo Galaxy S series is not. It’s not a reinvention, or a revolution. If it were a movie, the Galaxy S 4 wouldn’t be the blockbuster revival of a flagging film franchise: the reboot that kicks a sagging series back into high gear. That’s because the Galaxy S line has never been a disappointing one. For years, Samsung’s flagship smartphone series has dominated the Android landscape, making the word “Galaxy” synonymous with Google’s platform in much of the public vernacular. Last ...

The Pocketnow Weekly Podcast: HTC One vs Galaxy S IV Special Edition

Posted on March 13, 2013 by Michael Fisher

Sometimes ya ain’t got time for dilly-dallyin’, spit-swappin’, or tall-tale-tellin’. Sometimes even dropping in a few time codes is too much to ask. Because sometimes the meat just needs to get out to the masses. This is one of those special times, and the meat we’re putting on the market is our jawing. Our opinions. Our stories. And the subject this week is the two biggest Android smartphone launches of the year, coming from the two biggest sworn enemies of the entire Android landscape. That’s right: this is the episode where we talk HTC One vs Galaxy S ...