Bucket Tech - Huawei Mate S: Preview

While most of the techno geeks eyes and ears were cast on Apple Event last night, be it Apple fanboys or Android defenders, everyone attention was focused on what Tim Cook and his merry men had to say and show the world technology that others have already come up with but they only figured out now. Yes, Apple is undoubtedly one of the worlds largest technology company and responsible for most of the innovative devices that we use today on a daily basis but I think another event that happened last week should have warranted at least half the coverage that this got. Obviously marketing has a big role to play in this aspect and of course building up hype around it but the company that launched their new flagship model phone last week wants their product to speak for it self.

                    

When we mention things that are made in China, our initial reaction would be, cheap, generic and of inferior quality. While Huawei's devices might be cheap, it's definitely not of inferior quality. In fact, some of the best quality phones I've had to test over the past year were Huawei's, I'm testing the P8 at this moment of which the review will be up soon, but even that, for the price it's offered is a steal if you take into account the specifications of the device. The build quality is excellent, their adoption of Android is probably the best I've seen on a manufacturer and usability is easy as they come. Huawei is attacking the market, and attacking it hard. Their eyes are firmly set to knocking off top competition which is Apple and Samsung. 

They're so blunt in this regard, that at the launch they compared their product with the competition, that is the iPhone 6 Plus, I mean at the end of the day, that's what the consumer is going to do so why beat around the bush? In almost every aspect the CEO took the crowd through, why and how the Hauwei device is better. The MateS is has a number of key characteristics that makes it not only the flagship device for Huawei but also for all manufacturers to try and catch up or to better. While it isn't miles ahead in terms of innovations but it's the small things that they're doing that makes the device great. 

Force touch was a big talking point, where by the more pressure you apply on the screen will trigger a different command on the phone. The screen is pressure sensitive, the developers were so bold with it that the phone also comes with a scale to measure the weight of small items. Don't try to stand on the phone though and I'm sure it will be a costly price to pay to replace this screen! That wasn't the deal breaker for me though, what I like about them is that they do the simple things right. Like the actual phone for example, it has a 5.5" AMOLED so naturally the phone would be large but they managed to keep the size to a minimum. The phone is housed in a full metal body but with a coarse finish that doesn't make it slippery. The phone also has a curved back that makes it sit comfortably in the palm of your hand. 

They've improved on the finger scanner, not only is it faster but just requires a single touch to activate. They've also expanded on the use of the scanner, before it was just used for unlocking the device, now it can be used to scroll through pictures, take photos and many other things. Then theres the knuckle touch which the P8 also has but again, for the Mate S it has been improved. On the P8 you can only make square selections but on the Mate S you can do any shape that you like. 

There's a whole lot more this phone can do than just a few party tricks and I can't wait to have one in my hands to test but for now I'll enjoy the P8 I've been given to play around with. Like I said earlier, Hauwei are coming to dominate and it you're not aware already, they slowly are, their products are reasonable priced, great quality and actually better than what the competitors have to offer. In my opinion its only a matter of time for them to succeed in their mission. 

Bucket Tech: iPhone6 - First impressions

Disclaimer: I do not belong to any affiliation of mobile device type or make, I own a god damn Blackberry, yes, its 2014 and I still have one, deal with it. I don't hold preference to any brand or OS, I'm just a tech observer, not a guru but I know enough to know what makes a device good or shit.

So if you are on Twitter or follow tech updates on various other channels, you would have known that Apple have launched their new mobile device, the iPhone6, along with an iPhone6 Plus which has a larger screen display. Like most of their other mobile phones, they are available in various memory size, being 16, 64 and 128gig. Whilst most Apple fanboys were, lets us a Netflorist expression here, "creaming their pants" while watching the live stream reveal, most other onlookers didn't seem to phased. Most of the stuff Apple have added to their new flagship device has been on other competitors devices for over the past year and in some cases more than 2 generations of phones!

The phone to me didn't surprise me, there was no "wow factor" and instead of giving specifications of the phone, they kept comparing it to the original iPhone, why?! We don't give a shit about how much better it was to your mp3 player that could make a phone call, we want to compare it to the other market leading devices! Then some of the features of the phone didn't make sense, they still opted to go for an 8 megapixel rear camera which has optical image stabilizer. That's nice, Sony and LG have 13 megapixel rear cameras with that and laser focus. Health App? That trick is old now. Apple Pay, which allows you to make purchases with your phone? Really? Even beep bank invented that before you! Steve must be thrilled... not Jobs. #JustSaying 

Don't get me wrong, its not a crappy phone, it seems pretty much on par with the others that are available on the market, its just not mind blowing like what we've come to expect from Apple. What I do like about Apple is their build qualtity, many of the new Android devices are good but feel like cheap toys from the Chinese bazar. Apple's devices feel like they're worth the money you paid for them and while my only gripe would be the non-removable battery, my hope is that they have improved on the life of it.  iOS8 seems promising and will be released to iPhone5S devices later on this month, sadly there will be no Android crossplatform usage interms of applications. 

Now the phones were not the only devices being launched on the night, as predicted, Apple Watch made its debut. They had to launch such a device seeing that Samsung and now recently LG have one on the market but for me this was the show stopper. Compared to their competitors, the watch kicks ass, besides it looking cooler and available in various styles and wrist bands, the functionality is so much more than seeing who is calling or previewing incoming messages and emails. It makes use of a digital crown which uses technology simlar to that of the track wheel from the original iPod to navigate around and select apps. It makes use of a force touch command to enable user preferences and theres a host of other things that it does all this and tell you the time.

You got to give it to them though, even though they've lost the creative guru that was Steve Jobs, their brand still holds great value and the hype around any of their events is nothing short of news stopping. So I honestly don't think they are in a state of demise as other people might be saying but of course when it comes to things Apple, it would be different and expensive... very expensive. It's almost like they want to have this false sense of exclusivity.

Which brings me to my next point, they still remain in their own "clique", which allows intergration with only their devices with the help of blody iTunes, down the line  this would end up being a pain in the ass. In this day and age with various mobile ecosystems, it will be hard for every user to have a preference. In a basic house hold everyone would have their own taste when it comes to these things but streamless sharing and connectivity may prove to be a problem if companies like Apple continue this way in the future. Sure, their brand was once highly regarding as the forefront of innovations but what they must come to realise now that others are beating them in that race now so its time, not to concede defeat but rather join the party.