Sure, there were lot of mobile flops this year, but that makes these winners even sweeter
It was too easy to find mobile flops this year.
As mobile devices mature, it's harder to come up with true innovations,
and as a result, many vendors turn to gimmicks and half-baked ideas.
That slippery slope leads to flops like the Amazon Fire Phone.
But
in the sea of dubious products were islands of excellence that comprise
the best mobile products of 2014. Here, I focus on the smartphones and
tablets that should be at the top of anyone's list, especially for
professionals who need more than a media playback and communications
device.
Best smartphone: Apple iPhone 6
Apple's newest iPhone is not merely larger — a welcome but obvious change — but smarter in ways that matter and push mobile technology forward in relevant ways.
Most
tech products seem designed for 20-somethings, with UIs that penalize
older adults. The Zoomed View mode option for the iPhone 6 is a
hallelujah feature; you can have the iPhone enlarge everything, so
you're less likely to need reading glasses. Also, you can pack more
pixels into the larger screen to get more, if smaller items onscreen.
The iPhone 6's new GPU takes care of the scaling in hardware, so there's
no performance penalty for zooming your screen's contents.
The biggest advances in the iPhone 6 are for groundbreaking capabilities: Apple Pay and Handoff, both of which combine specialized hardware and standard protocols.
In
a single stroke, Apple Pay does for the languishing mobile payments
industry what the iPhone did for the static mobile phone industry in
2007: make it real.
Apple's Secure Element hardware works with several standard standard
approaches to payment transmission and authorization, with the goal of
of further improving the payment industry's best practices.
Handoff
is the first cogent example of liquid computing, where workflows can
move as needed across devices, even without an Internet connection. It's
one of those features whose Eureka moment comes when you actually use it.
Runner-up smartphone: HTC One M8
HTC has had several nice-looking Android
smartphones, such as its original One. The One M8 builds on that legacy,
offering strong hardware, a polished look, and a clean user interface.
That clean focus and sophistication is especially welcome in a year where Android industry leader Samsung has largely tarnished its smartphones with design compromises and partially baked software. By contrast, the One M8 is smartly finished.
Runner-up smartphone: Apple iPhone 6 Plus
Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus
Although I personally find phablets too large, they appear perfectly
sized for people who want a microtablet that can make calls. If that's
you, the iPhone 6 Plus is the best phablet on the market, offering the strengths of the iPhone 6 with extensions that allow it to work well as a microtablet.
Runner-up smartphone: Samsung Note 4
The granddaddy of phablets is of course Samsung's Note, now in its fourth generation. It's Samsung's best smartphone,
with a smart approach to one-handed use and a convenient if
underutilized built-in stylus. However, the fingerprint sensor can be
difficult to use and won't work at all if your Exchange server or mobile
management server enforces password policies, as almost every business
does.
Runner-up smartphone: Motorola Moto G
Not everyone needs or wants a phone that
functions as a computer -- that is, like iPhones and high-end Android
smartphones. For those whose smartphone needs center around
communications, Web usage, and core apps, I recommend the
second-generation Motorola Mobility Moto G. It's inexpensive (about $200
without a contract) but solidly built and nicely designed.
Its
specs are middling but more than sufficient for how you'd use it. (If
you're outside the United States or in a country that has extensive LTE
cellular network coverage, go for the cheaper, 3G-only, but otherwise
equivalent Moto E instead.)
Best tablet: iPad Air 2
I called the iPad Air 2 a flop
a few weeks back because it doesn't really move the needle in
innovation -- the addition of the Touch ID sensor is a duh addition.
That's still true, but it's also unquestionably the best tablet on the
market. If you need a new tablet, this is the one to get. And if the
9.7-inch-screen iPad Air 2 is too big, the 7.9-inch-screen iPad Mini 3
is perfect, with the same capabilities as the Air 2.
Runner-up tablet: Samsung Galaxy Tab S
Android tablets are often cheapies that end up
collecting dust, as usage data from various sources continues to show.
But periodically, an Android maker tries to compete with the iPad on
quality and style. The Galaxy Tab S is that kind of tablet: beautiful to view, pleasing to hold, and plenty capable.
It
comes in both 7- and 10-inch versions, so you can pick the size that's
right for you. Where the Galaxy Tab S falls short is in its balky
fingerprint sensor (also used by the Note 4) and the lack of a cellular
model for most carriers.
Source: http://www.infoworld.com
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