Consumer Reports tests Apple's iPhone 5 and 6 for bends against Android rivals (with video). http://www.theverge.com/2014/9/26/6852593/consumer-reports-finds-iphone-5-holds-up-better-than-6-6-plus

It's a cool idea, but yeah, just have to wait and see if it really takes hold.

I just find it funny that my PC is modular, and phones may become modular, but my laptop is still locked into a single configuration and not upgradable other than memory/hard drive.

I suspect the hardest part is getting manufacturers to let go of control. One thing that pissed me off about Android is that here we have a phone/mobile computing operating system that is upgradeable, but yet, whether or not you get those upgrades is pretty much determined by the manufacturer, because they lock you into their "flavor" of Android. That's like Dell telling you that you can't install certain patches on your computer, or upgrade to a new OS, What's that? you want to install Linux, nope sorry, we're going to try to prevent you from doing that.

..unless of course you root your phone to upgrade it yourself, but that voids your warranty.

NSA knows what's best for you.

I mean, surely their filtering algorithms have already analyzed a more accurate profile of you, than what your psychiatrist ever could? What with all the years of records of your internet searches, emails and videosift comments..

Seriously though, about this nice video, if you have a popular smartphone, no matter how you trust that fruit, droid or window logo, there's seriously no real guarantees that your activities are not recorded in whichever way, whenever. Any data on 'customers' is precious to these companies, or the NSA for that matter.

To be a bit cynical, I'd say that most people don't mind, they can't perceive anything strongly negative to come out of any of these privacy breaches. After all, so far the system has kept them relatively safe from the other ones, the evil ones.

To be even more cynical I'd say this hip guy, 10k likes on FB and all, seems to be quite smoothly riding the next generation's "My mom uses FB" disdain to .. I don't know? Maybe try to gain respect among this, certainly most sought after viewer demography, the younger generation, about to become consumers?

It could even be that he makes money on ads on YT views? But certainly Youtube, or their parent company, would never breach anyone's privacy, or make questionable sudden changes to their TOCs? Say, they wouldn't use the Chrome browser's or the Android OS's capabilities to use a connected mic to sift through recorded data?

Well, in any case, I've got to appreciate anyone who makes these matters more public and talked about, what ever their motives might be.

On another topic, as a loyal user of Google's mostly brilliant services, and mobile operating system, I was quite surprised to realize that I could see where I (or my phone) had been about, through their service here: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory

Luckily the feature can be turned off from the same site. I mean I'm sure it's off now, because I can't see any data there anymore..

I never heard of rand-net modem cartridge, nor the video capture cartridge, but did know about most of the other factoids. I was sad that they never released Mega Drive in the US, but with only 6 titles I don't miss it.

It's crazy to think smartphones have way more graphics power and at least 60x as much ram. But what iOS or Android game comes close to Mario 64, DK64, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Conker's Bad Fur Day ?

So, for all three platforms (Lenovo, Macbook Air, Android phone), it did indeed appear to need some or all of the following actions:
1) You had to not update the OS's
2) You had to go to "bad" websites, at least one connected to Sochi duping
3) You had to click on things and do deeply unwise stuff once you were on the site.

That makes me feel better.
A little.

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/how-nbcs-russian-hack-actually-happened-according-to-the-security-expert-who-set-it-up

Download the app for iOS and Android now!

Impressive, but i built a fully realistic and anatomically correct Morgan Freeman android.

Might I suggest
http://videosift.com/video/Baroque-Androids-Automata-and-Watches

I am under impressed with Hearth Stone. I much prefer Faëria... However HS is well polished and they have a nice balance between the free to play and items to purchase. I might put it ahead of Infinity Wars, as IW tends to be overly complex and deep when many times I want a simple fun game, I go back to Faëria for my more complex type game... I would also put it ahead of Magic 2014, but then I was never a Magic fan... Android Netrunner if that came in digital form (aside from the OCTGN module)... then I'd be in trouble... as would the digital card game world as Fantasy Flight's Netrunner is perhaps the best card game out there...

Apple's strategy appears to be progressive in releasing new products and conservative in making iterations.

It's particularly obvious on the iPhone. (1) On screen size they've barely budged while competitors have offered options varying widely from 3-7 inches. While some would argue phones larger than 5 inches are ungainly, it's very much a personal preference and where there's clearly demand say for Samsung's Note series, the option should be available. (2) The UI may have also been revamped but compared to the customisability of Android, it's still immensely basic and locked down, (3) File access continues to be restricted through iTunes which keeps transferring files, and sharing them between apps a massive pain. Apple's bandaid solution to this is to stick a 'share' button everywhere, but this is hardly a real solution.

The problem is Apple's slow pace of change means they're losing their competitive advantage. I'd argue the big change that has kept the iPhone successful even as Android was beginning to catch up several years after the first iPhone was the (1) all metal design that came with the iPhone 4 & (2) the smoothness of their UI. Now with phones like the HTC One, the durable/water resistant series from Sony and the rumor that Samsung is going all metal with its next generation, the first advantage is going. The second went with Android Jelly Bean which mostly fixed Android's laginess. I just don't see anything coming along that will significantly differentiate them in the future, both the iPhone 5 and 5S really didn't offer anything as compelling as the build quality of the 4.

The iPhones main remaining advantages are its user friendliness and the relative strength of its app store. I'd argue the first is over-exaggerated, and even if it is such a large factor, the sheer fact that it has already seen sizable portions of the older generation being enticed into smartphones makes the next step of moving to a new UI a relative cinch. Effectively Android phone makers/Google can capitalize on the market Apple helped create. With the build quality gap diminishing and Android device prices coming down, while iPhone prices remain largely unchanged I think the incentive to switch will rise.

The App Store's strength is largely a factor of the revenue that it brings in for app creators. Yes, no doubt iOS apps are generally pricier and it's users more willing to pay. But with the dominance in market share for Android in developing markets, even if their consumers are poorer, it's only a matter of time before at the very least app makers move from the iOS first, Android second model to a simultaneous release. From there I think it will be a steady decline for iOS.

I bought a low end Android as my first smart phone two years ago. Disappointed with the performance I switched to a 4S (which had just been released) and have been pretty happy with it since. I intend to put off updates and upgrades as long as possible.

Don't do it. Stick with Android, just change the brand. I highly recommend one of 3 chinese brands. either Jiayu, Oppo, or Xiaomi.

I know, I know.. Chinese phones, they must suck right? wrong. These 3 brands are not only really good, they have a much lower price.

I have a Jiayu G3 Turbo, which cost 199€ and it outperforms a Samsung Galaxy s3. 1280x720 resolution, Gorilla Glass, Quadcore 1.5ghz processor, 1gb ram, 4gb internal memory, and a decent design.

It comes rooted, and it works great. Investigate one of these 3 brands. Supposedly the Oppo Find 5 is a very high quality phone, but it costs a bit more. Still a lot cheaper than a samsung or iphone

As an app designer/developer, I'd have to say that I have absolutely no interest in this. It's already challenging enough to support Android devices, where there are SO MANY different flavors and versions out there. If you suddenly had a phone where it could be any combination of pieces and parts... yikes. That sounds like a huge challenge to develop for.

I'd rather figure out better ways to recycle our old devices.

Me too, although I think I'd actually prefer the numeric keypad layout.

Presumably, someone has written an android app that allows you to change that....

Is it just iPhone? What about Android and other mobile devices?