A Rage Phenomena

A Rage Phenomena

The Actor Network theory and The origin of MEMES 

Christopher Kelty (2008) came up with the idea of a recursive public. The actor-network theory (Lataour 1999) is a concept that was conceived as a means to address societal processes without being drawn into a closed, cultured and mechanical universe by traditional organisations. Actors can be anyone and when a network is established, things start to move hence becoming important. Deleuze & Guttari (1988) Rhizome principles instigates that any point of the rhizome can be connection to anything which is similar to networks.

To explain these concepts is best explaining with the use of an example. Rage comics are a prime example of a cultural phenomenon. These originated from the popular site 4chan in 2008 and gained popularity due to its simple art, real life experiences and humorous punch-lines at the end. At first, the simple image was of a guy showing rage, however these have since changed when another website named Reddit in 2009 launched a sub-reddit named ‘FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU’ which created numerous more characters. As the popularity increased, there was a need for easier method of creation, management and thus, rage makers were introduced (Knowyourmeme 2014). Organisations such as New York Times even circulated the works (Boutin 2012). There are numerous actors that occur here that has caused this popularity and it still continues. From one site to another and from various people and creation of more characters, this cultural phenomenon has merged technical and the human to operate around networks mixing entries of social, politic and aesthetics compared with previously.

As mentioned above, this phenomenon had a problem. It is often difficult to find who created the origins of the characters as the various places they are posted but altered. Some faces even remain unknown and some faces meanings were changed such as the ‘Me Gusta’ Face and some were used without authorization (Mar 2012). Faces even have emerging stories and receiving attention from other non-English speaking countries showing the network capability of a cultural phenomenon. This shows the potential power of without interference by traditional processes.

BibliographyBoutin, P. (2012). Put Your Rage Into a Cartoon and Exit Laughing. The New York Times. [online]. Avaible at: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/technology/personaltech/rage-comics-turn-everyday-stress-into-laughs.html [Accessed 8 November 2014].Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1988). A thousand plateaus: Capitalism and schizophrenia. Bloomsbury Publishing.Kelty, C. (2008). Two bits: The Cultural Significance of Free Software and the Internet. Durham: Duke University Press.Know Your Meme, (2014). Rage Comics. [online]. Avaiable at: http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/rage-comics [Accessed 8 November 2014].Latour, B. (1999). On recalling ANT. The Sociological Review. 47(1).  pp.15-25.Mar, T. (2012). Fffuuuuuuuu: The Internet anthropologist’s field guide to “rage faces”. Arstechnica. [online]. Available at: http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/03/the-internet-anthropologists-field-guide-to-rage-faces/2 [Accessed 8 November 2014].

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The Interface Conundrum and Dark Patterns

The Interface Conundrum 

Challenges and the use of dark patterns.

Interface is an important connection between humans and machines but also machines to machines. Interface instantiates information, how it is produced, works and embodied into technology.

One challenging interface aspect is dark patterns, which are patterns that are designed by using the interface specifically to deceive users into purchasing items or doing actions they might not have done (Darkpatterns, 2014). Individuals are studying our behaviours online, our movements and our habits and use this knowledge to set ‘traps’ for said users (Puchalska, 2014).  However, this study of habits has already occurred prior to the web and could be suggested as continuation. One controversial, but famous study would be Milgram (1963) who studied humans and obedience of a higher authority. Duhigg (2012) states that almost every retailer or company has some form of department that is devoted to understanding not just shopping habits, but personal lifestyles too; for increased market efficiency. But are dark patterns all that bad?  Mesibov (2013) suggests that the design of dark patterns could be learned and used for good in fact.

Another aspect is tethering. We are tethered to companies such as Google, and their interface is designed in a way that penetrates privacy. The products we use on Google and their multiple platforms collect data from us and are intruding into our privacy. The more we use Google, the more information it collects on us (Ketcham and Kelly, 2010). This includes their other platforms such as Google Maps and Gmail (Rosenfeld, 2014). We are constantly monitored, yet we allow this to happen as we stay loyal to certain companies. Even if we use alternative platforms, we are still coupled with Facebook or Twitter data to use the application (Larson, 2014).

Another challenge that interface poses for critical media analysis is highlighted by Drucker (2011) that the design of an interface to support human or a humanistic approach is still an on-going issue but a central issue nonetheless. Interface designs are catered to us not as humans, but more as subjects who potentially hinder the true value of data being collected and more suitable design of interfaces. Drucker (2011) also reiterates that the challenge for humanists is to express the theory and designs of interfaces.

Bibliography

Darkpatterns.org, (2014). Dark Patterns - User Interfaces Designed to Trick People. [online]. ( http://darkpatterns.org/). (Accessed 2 November 2014).Drucker, J. (2011). Humanities approaches to interface theory. Culture Machine. 12(0.  pp. 1-20.Duhigg, C. (2012). How Companies Learn Your Secrets. The New York Times. [online]. (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?pagewanted=1&_r=0).  (Accessed 6 November 2014).Ketcham, C. and Kelly, T. (2010). The More You Use Google, the More Google Knows About You.[online].Available at: http://www.alternet.org/story/146398/the_more_you_use_google%2C_the_more_google_knows_about_you  [Accessed 8 November 2014].Larson, S. (2014). Are There Too Many Social Networks?. [online]. Readwrite.com. Available at: http://readwrite.com/2014/01/07/are-there-too-many-social-networks [Accessed 8 Nov. 2014].Mesibov, M. (2013). Using Dark Patterns for Good UX Booth. [online]. Available at:  http://www.uxbooth.com/articles/using-dark-patterns-for-good/ [Accessed 6 November 2014].Milgram, S. (1963). Behavioral Study of obedience. The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 67(4), pp.371-378.Puchalska, E. (2014). Dark Patterns in UX – The Jedi Way. [Blog]. Usability Tools. Available at: http://blog.usabilitytools.com/dark-patterns-in-ux/#sthash.p41qIQnu.dpbs [Accessed 8 November 2014].Rosenfeld, S. (2014). 4 ways Google is destroying privacy and collecting your data. [online]. Available at: http://www.salon.com/2014/02/05/4_ways_google_is_destroying_privacy_and_collecting_your_data_partner/  [Accessed 8 November 2014].

The Extended Mind Relationship With Devices and Technology

The Extended Mind Relationship With Devices and Technology

Have devices and technology become part of our bodies and mind?

It was suggested that devices have become part of an extension outside of our bodies and minds. Clark and Chalmers (1998) denote Active externalism and advocates that the external environment plays a crucial role in driving our thought processes by creating a coupled system. If we remove the external part, behavioural competence will drop. Just like a fragment of the brain being removed. Note the word active, which is particularly significant and differentiates from Putnam (1975) and Burge (1979) of passive externalism. The distal nature of passive externalism does not drive cognition so it is therefore irrelevant.

Apple advertisements cater towards a materialistic, affective and emotional attachment to devices https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODmfmUWqlSA. This shows the shift in focus when it comes to the construction of new technology. In addition, human and technology have become ubiquitous as well as the processing of information now differs from the past.

Clark’s notion of the extended mind proposes a mutual relationship with technology and our minds. Mcluhan (2001) in understanding Media had a similar hypothesis to Clark as well, which in essence, complement each other but are both unique yet similar perspectives. Elmore (2014) a term coined nomophobia which is the fear of being without phone contact and produces anxiety. This supports the notion of the extended mind that external environment does affect our cognition. This spreads into Digital Media too with social media sites and the web. Harraway (1991) also likened us to cyborgs with digital technologies that can be associated with our body suggesting our connection with machine and technology too. Robert Logan (2013) in Mcluhan’s extended and the extended mind thesis identifies fourteen messages that support our relations with data, knowledge and information which therefore extend our minds.

However, there are numerous problems that come with this theory and for digital media. The theory stretches the limit of cognition too far implying that entirety of the internet is part of individual cognition (Adams and Aziwa, 2010) but also continues to divide biological part and non-biological part, thus this comes as a relabeling as suggested by William Ramsey (2010). If active externalism is true, then would this medium indicate a potential concern of control and surveillance over our cognition and minds?  Could this change the way we think and change our emotions? Could the accumulation of data through extension and technology eventually replace our whole cognition?

 Bibliography

Adams, F., & Aizawa, K. (2010). Defending the bounds of cognition. The extended mind. pp. 67-80.

Apple - iPhone 5s - TV Ad - Powerful. (2014). [video] Apple.

Burge, T. (1979). Individualism and the Mental. Midwest Stud Philos, 4(1), pp.73-121.

Clark, A. and Chalmers, D. (1998). The Extended Mind. Analysis, 58(1), pp.7-19.

Elmore, T. (2014). Nomophobia: A Rising Trend in Students. [online] Psychologytoday.com. Available at: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/artificial-maturity/201409/nomophobia-rising-trend-in-students [Accessed 19 Oct. 2014].

Haraway, D. (1991).  A Cyborg Manifesto. [online]. Available at: http://www.egs.edu/faculty/donna-haraway/articles/donna-haraway-a-cyborg-manifesto/ [Accessed 20 October 2014].

Logan, R. (2013). McLuhan Extended and the Extended Mind Thesis (EMT). Pismo Awangardy Filozoficzno-Naukowej, [online]. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/3776248/McLuhan_Extended_and_the_Extended_Mind_Thesis_EMT  [Accessed 21 October 2014].

McLuhan, M. (2001). Understanding media. London: Routledge.

Putnam, H. (1975). Mind, language, and reality. Cambridge [England]: Cambridge University Press.

Ramsey, W. (2010). The Extended Mind Reviews Notre Dame Philosophical Reviews. University of Notre Dame. [online]. Available at: https://ndpr.nd.edu/news/24553-the-extended-mind/ [Accessed 20 October 2014].

The Map of the internet

Ever wondered what the map of the internet looks like? Now you can!

I found this website and thought it would be useful for people to perceive the internet visually and alternatively. For starters the visualisation used are those of circles. The size of the circle determines the amount of traffic it gets ( basically how popular). Users' form links by switching between websites and the stronger the link, the closer the circles will be which makes the structure of the circles.

Google.co.uk etc, would of course, be one of the biggest. What is more fascinating is that you can see what sites are the most popular within countries. This is particularly interesting as searches and site popularity are different within different countries. For example, Baidu is bigger than Google since Baidu is their go-to search engine or Naver for South Korea.

It makes you think how different people search is and how they optimise for each country or how closes linked sites are with other sites. Can this be changed to increase traffic etc?

Play around with it and see for yourself!


This link and source for this is http://internet-map.net/

Crowdsourcing a Song

Remember when I blogged about Twitch plays Pokemon? Now there are people trying to create a song through crowdsourcing. The lyrics will also be crowdsourced too! A melody is being generated in real time and each note is voted by the crowd or also known as wisdom of the crowd.

I have viewed the song and played and so far it does sound really pleasant! Sometimes you just have to wonder that the introduction of the internet has created incredible things and produced amazing feats.

For the source more information, check out the website where it is being generated https://crowdsound.net/

Also vote and help create something unique!

Screenshot of the website https;//crowdsound.net

DuckDuckGo: an alternative search engine

DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is an alternative search engine that does not track what you search. It emphasises heavily that privacy of their users are important so they do not track. This is opposite to search engine such as Google. It also highlights that it gets the best sources rather than the most sources (Which Google search engine does but this is slowly changing). 

Google search engine is all about personalisation and each google search can be different, if two different users search the same thing with personalised ads etc. DuckDuckGo is different where you will not be tracked when left and there are no personalised ads and just ads which fit with your keywords. DuckDuckGo also has the feature of bangs (!) that can directly take you to the website without searching on the page. For example, if I search '!twitter' (not case sensitive) and click on it, this will directly take me to the site. Very nifty.

Personally I have tried it and really do think it is a great alternative to Google search. In fact, it seems a lot of people think the same as there was a 600% increase in traffic when the Snowden revelations occurred about the tracking of the NSA. This search engine has seen its popularity rise and is seriously competing with Google.

It provides everything that is the opposite of Google, but that is not to say it is all a good thing. Are we too used to Google or are we just forced to use it since everyone does? Can DuckDuckGo become the next top search engine? What do you think?

Sources: https://duckduckgo.com/about 

               http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/business/2015/10/talk-talk-hack-how-safe-our-data-                hands-big-companies

The Useless Web

While many parts of the internet is utilised for business, products and entertainment. There are some sections of the internet that is made that are entirely...pointless.

The site http://www.theuselessweb.com/ lets you click and directs you to a random site that is useless in every way. Some examples of the sites that you are directed to include: eel slap, mouse pointer location, a mango and many more.  Yet it shows and proves that the internet is vast and can be used for anything if effort is ensued. The internet gives you potential to curate, remix, go viral, communicate and much more.

The site is indeed pretty useless, but nevertheless, it did remotely entertain me and did give me a sense of curiosity of what other useless sites that could be found via this.

Check it out if anything and see for yourselves. What websites did you get and what can you do with these websites?

http://www.theuselessweb.com/

Twitch Plays Pokémon

Twitch Plays Pokémon

"Twitch plays pokemon animated" by Source (WP:NFCC#4). Licensed under Fair use via Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Twitch_plays_pokemon_animated.gif#/media/File:Twitch_plays_pokemon_animated.gif

One of the most incredible scenes I witnessed on Twitch was when Twitch viewers played Pokémon through the chat channel or IRC by inputting words which translated to actions on the screen.

This social experiment had over 50 million views and over 80,000 concurrent viewers trying to move the character. Twitch estimated that over 1 million different viewers participated. The channel was chaotic, yet somehow it was addictive to try and see if the game could be completed. On March the 1st, the game was completed after 2 weeks (with a few tweaks).

This was an incredible feat and I myself, tried to help and give input into the game for a good few hours. I believe this experiment gave way for new interactions and a new original way to use live streaming than just spectating. It shows that even through chaos, that order can appear through the midst and still complete something through crowdsourcing. It shows crowdsourcing is a valuable way of working. Furthermore, It gave way to new games catered towards viewership and live streaming such as Choice Chamber as well as Quiplash. I further believe that while this experiment was not the first of its kind, it was the first in its type to really become popular and viral. This then gave popularity to more interactive games for spectators of Twitch. Recently Twitch has tried to complete the game Dark souls and eventually succeeded after 43 days. 

There is certainly potential for more interactive games for live viewership and I believe that developers are considering and taking this into account when developing games. Even if they do not, they cannot ignore the popularity that is Twitch as well as the importance of live-streaming. The input of viewers can produce important crowdsourcing material as well as paving an alternative way for games to be played, but still enjoyed.

Source: http://www.twitch.tv/twitchplayspokemon 

Other Reading:  

Ramirez, D., Saucerman, J., & Dietmeier, J. (2014). Twitch plays pokémon: a case study in big G games. In Proceedings of DiGRA (pp. 3-6).

Margel, M. Twitch Plays Pokemon: An Analysis of Social Dynamics in Crowdsourced Games.

iPhone 6 Review

I have now used the new iPhone 6 64 gb Space Grey for more than a month now and these are my thoughts about the phone.

Build Quality and Colour

One of the best aspects of the iPhone has to be the build quality. It feels premium and has a very good weight to it yet, it has a very slim design and very easy to use in one hand (not about the plus). The buttons are clicky/mechanical and no quality control problems such as dead pixel or anything alike. A minus of it could be the protruding camera module as well as the slightly slippery design. Without a case, I feel that it is prone to damages from extraneous variables. On the other hand, the phone with a case also rends its attractiveness. 

Space Grey with Ozaki case

I chose the Space Grey colour for its black front panel as the other colours come with a white front display. I wanted a black coloured phone and was forced to buy the Space Grey. However, I do wish that Apple continued with an all black and all white colour option similar to those of the 4 and 4s. Heck, even more colours for the black front would have been better. Funnily enough, from online polls (and speaking to the Apple specialist), Space Grey is the most popular colour. I really hope the next iteration of the will have more colour options or a darker back for the black coloured iPhones. Furthermore, the Space Grey colour makes the phone slimmer looking than the white, but finger prints/dust are highly visible!

Bigger Screen!

One of the major aspects and redesign of the new iPhones have been the increase in screen size (two in fact). The iPhone 6 has a 4.7 inch screen with a retina display. The screen size upgrade was a much needed improvement since Apple would have lost the smartphone race if they continued with smaller screen sizes. The iPhone 6 fits perfectly for one handed use, but at the same time big enough to watch videos and do daily tasks on the phone.

Typical iPhone screen

While the screen does look nice, the resolution of the screen is only 750p which compared to my previous HTC phone does not look as clear. For everyday use the screen is good to use but when watching videos on Youtube, I feel the screen is somewhat...lacking. When you are used to 1080p screens and videos, going back to 720p/750p really has a big disparity. Luckily, the plus does have a 1080p screen resolution. I am hoping for the next iPhone, the screen resolution on the smaller iPhone will have at least full hd quality. 

Battery Life

The battery life on the iPhone 6 may look on paper to be visibly poor due to the small battery capacity (About 1,810mAh and non-removable). It is larger than the previous model (iPhone 5s), but compared to the Samsung and LG, it is tiny! 

However, I am happy to say that it holds up to the other phones with bigger batteries and in general, my battery lasts for the whole day and I usually have about 20-30% left at the end. In fact, it lasted much longer than my previous phone. The best aspect is the incredible standby time on iPhones. Typically it only drains 1-2% over night where as android would drain 10-15%. I have to say that I am satisfied with the battery but of course, it would be great if it could have a bigger battery. Everyone wants larger batteries.

Battery Life and incredible standby time

Performance and IOS

Performance has been incredible. With the new A8 chip it is said to be about 25% faster than the A7 and coupled with Apple's iOS means it is very fast at what it needs to do. Everything feels really smooth and I think the iOS plays a part in this. There are times when it has to reload apps or tabs since the 6 only uses 1 gb ram which in my honest opinion, should have been upgraded to at least 2gb.  Lets just say the iPhone 6 is fast, very fast! It's been a pleasure using this phone and forgot how simplistic and easy it is to use a phone again. 

Verdict

It is a very very good phone and if you have the money or chance to buy, then you should go ahead. It is fast, aesthetically pleasing and now bigger!

Rating: 9/10

HTC one (M7) died

So my HTC one (M7) died just before I was to pick up someone from the airport. I attempted to revive it by doing a hard reset, but to no avail. Luckily, I was at the airport before it died so I was able to meet with my friend.

I sent it to repair since HTC does not have a straight swap like Apple does. When it came back (it took 2/3 weeks), the person who repaired my phone basically said I should have updated it to prevent this from occurring. Yep, totally a software problem when it did not turn on. Obviously hardware, thanks HTC guy!

In fact, I decided to get the iPhone 6 64gb Space Grey before it returned. So expect a review to come soon!

iPhone 6/ 6 Plus impressions

Impressions and Thoughts

The iPhone 6 and 6 Plus were announced last week and will be available to those on the 19th of September 

This is the first time that Apple has released two different sizes to choose from. Previously this had not been done.  But let's get on with the specifications of the two iPhones:

iPhone 6 Specs

• Dimensions 138.2 x 67.1 x 6.9 mm
• Weight: 128g
• Display : 4.7 inch LCD, 750 x 1334 pixels , 326 PPI
• Battery: 1800 mAh
• Processor: 64-bit A8
• Ram: 1gb
• Storage: 16gb / 64gb / 128gb
• Colour: Silver/ Gold / Space gray
• Data: LTE, HSPA+ etc
• Simcard: nanosim
• Camera: 8MP iSight Rear - 1.2mp front facing
• Sound: loudspeakers
• Platform: Apple IOS, IOS 8

iPhone 6 Plus Specs

• Dimensions 158 x 77.7 x 7.1 mm
• Weight: 172g
• Display : 5.5 inch LCD, 1080 x 1920 pixels , 401 ppi
• Battery: 2915 mAh
• Processor: 64-bit A8
• Ram: 1gb
• Storage: 16gb / 64gb / 128gb
• Colour: Silver/ Gold / Space gray
• Data: LTE, HSPA+ etc
• Simcard: nanosim
• Camera: 8MP iSight Rear  with OIS- 1.2mp front facing
• Sound: loudspeakers
• Platform: Apple IOS, IOS 8

Impressions

Generally the biggest change to iPhones has been on the outside and the size. The iPhone has become more rounded and now the colour or finish takes over the whole back instead of just the middle. The camera module actually protrudes out compared to the previous models. Now, this many not be a bother if you have a case on, but having a phone naked with a camera that protrudes out seems just a bit silly. This is the danger of making a phone slimmer and improving the camera at the same time. Although Apple seems adamant that the new camera is worth it. But just how well will this hold if you, like me, like to play your phone rear side down on hard surface. Time will only tell. I would suggest getting a case.

Now Apple fans have a dilemma with two different phone sizes a 4.7 inch and a 5.5 inch screen. Personally, 5.5 inch for me is way too big. The 4.7 inch is the perfect size which is the same as the HTC ONE M7. It's comfortable to be held with one hand and big enough to watch videos with. Now, the screen sizes aren't the only differences, but the resolution as well. The 6 Plus has a better resolution as well bigger battery, OIS on the camera and possibly a bigger RAM. Everything else between the two are the same. 

In my opinions the two difference are very minimal and with most people, it wouldn't be noticed. Although the battery has improved in both models, the iPhone 6 battery stats which were shown on the unveiling, showed minimal improvements. This is probably due to the bigger screen and the amount of power it needs. The iPhone 6 Plus however, has great battery life.

I thoroughly expected people to go for the iPhone 6 over the Plus, but it seems that the Plus is much more appealing to the fans. This is because most Apple fans always believed that their screen size were fine as it was and always secretly poked fun of Android users with how big some of their phones were. But it seems everyone wanted a bigger screen. I think the screen size change has put Apple right back in with its competitors and it is what they needed to do. Although this is the first step, this step will gain many new fans or returning customers to give the iPhone a try.

If you have an iPhone 4 or  4s this would be a great upgrade, however, if you have a 5S and maybe a 5, this upgrade will be minimal. Unless the screen size is a factor that you most desired then by all means, go for it!

Today Apple also announced that has sold or preordered 4 million iPhones 6/Plus in the first 24 hours. That is an incredible feat! It seems the screen size does play a big factor and many were waiting for it.

Edit: A lot of people seem to hate the new iPhone design, but I believe it is one of the better phone designs and much improved over the previous model. However, it definitely does not beat HTC when it comes to design.

A tip to make your Android faster!

Just a quick tip to make your Android faster

Did you know that you can turn off animation? - Well you can! It's really simple and it'll make your older android phones much faster.

Here's how to do it:

Step 1:

Go into settings of your chosen Android Device.

Step 2:

Now you may have already have the developer option enabled but if not do not fret! It is really simple to enable!

Scroll down until you find  the ABOUT tab.

Click on the tab then click software and find the build number (this could be in more)

Tap the build number (7) times and around the 3rd time it will say tap four more times to enable developer options. 

Tap it four more times and voilà! You have enabled developer edition!

Step 3:

Now go back and tap of developer options. Scroll down to find advanced - then find animation!

Here you can either uncheck the animation to make it very zippy or you can just reduce it like I do (Around .5).

This is a really simple way to make your older phone faster! This should work with most android phones! I did this with my HTC ONE (M7).


I hope this helps!

20+ Tips and Tricks for HTC One

Just a quick post, this video really helped me get used to android ( previous iOS user) OS and the HTC one. I hope you find it useful if you ever decide to get the one!

Tech Review: HTC ONE (M7)

So I have been using the HTC one for about a week and a few days now and I have to say, I have not regretted one bit on getting this smartphone.

Let's get on with the tech stuff that almost everyone thinks they know about (but in reality they have no clue, including myself).

Technical specs and features

• Dimensions 137.4 x 68.2 x 9.3mm
• Weight: 143g
• DISPLAY: 4.7 inch, Full HD 1080p, 468 PPI
• Battery: 2300 mAh
• Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon 600 1.7 ghz
• Ram: 2gb
• Storage: 32gb also available in 64gb
• Data: LTE, HSPA+ etc
• Simcard: microsim
• Camera: Ultra pixels (4mp)
• Sound: HTC Boom-sound, stereo speakers
• Platform: android, HTC sense 5 ui

Design, Build quality and Practicality

HTC one is definitely THE best looking phone around hands down and hands up and wave your hands all around. It's aluminium finish is a sight for the eyes. It's gorgeous and it definitely goes with apple products! Is this what the iPhone 5 should have looked like? Probably! Throughout the week I have had many many compliments about the phone and how aesthetically pleasing it is. This phone just oozes class. It's sturdy in the hand, light but still feels premium. Compared to the S4 with it cheap plastic design and less premium feel. Although this does not mean the S4 is pants. It just does not look as good and very similar to the S3 ( I can hardly tell the difference). Prior to this silver HTC one, I actually intended to get the black counter-part. However, there was no release date for the black version. So I went with the silver. I must say, I think silver really looks better than the black now. ( Then again I haven't got my paws on the black one or have I seen a demo). 

Yet this doesn't mean it was without it's problems, numerous consumers had problems with the phone straight out of the box. Many reported that there were gaps above the phone between the speaker and the the screen. This occurred at the bottom as well. One particular HTC one phone had a huge gap which could fit a receipt straight through the screen Others found that the edges were not smooth. Mine came with those defects and I got it instantly exchanged. My  exchange has none of these defects and it is in perfect condition!

Storage and microSD

I currently have the 32gb model, but out of the box, it comes with 27.6 GB worth of free space and the rest was used for the OS. In my opinion that is not bad. However, it does not have a removable battery or micro SD slot which I hear people going crazzzy about. According to reports online, the Chinese version of the HTC one will have a microSD slot and dual micro sim (Asians :D). In all honestly I do no mind since I owned an iPhone previously. 

People argue that They NEED a micro SD card in phones, but most average consumers don't use that much space anyway! What most consumers don't know is that, you CANNOT download apps onto your MicroSD card, it pretty much making it useless unless you like to put music and movies on to it. ( which I don't really). Recent reports about the S4 has emerged that their 16GB storage, comes only with HALF of the storage ( That's 8 GB if you can't do maths). 8GB of S4 is their OS and bloatware. 

TD:LR, Storage is fine ( maybe I should have just said that).

Display

With HTC one packing 468 PPI on a 4.7 inch LCD 3 screen. It is the perfect size for me. The glass of the display is made from gorilla glass v.2 and and the screen resolution is just fantastic. It is a bright screen and very sharp indeed. It made my iPhone look like an analog TV. It is readable in the sunlight too! Well almost. You really have to see it to believe it. From pictures you just cannot comprehend how good the screen is until you lay your beautiful eyes on it. 

Just a quick snap of the lock screen. Simple and elegant.

Camera

I had many doubts about the one's camera. This is because, HTC decided to jump out of a Megapixel car race. We all know ( myself included ) believed that more pixels equates to better pictures- pew pew pew!

That is not the case and HTC decided to go with a fresh approach. Instead of more pixels, they enlarged the pixels. Too technical? Yes for me too! Basically, they named it the 'ultra pixel' which is 4 mega pixels but they have been enlarged to capture more light, thus better pictures than your average 4mp shooter and thus reducing the noise of pictures. You can read more about it here. Megapixels only increase resolution and how much you can zoom in and retain details. HTC believed that most consumers, will point and shoot then oftenly upload to their favourite social network. This camera is the perfect for that. I also agree that this is the way to go too. Screw the megapixel race haha.

The camera has many settings and it does get a little used to. One thing is for sure, generally point and shooting is ok however, it is over sharp sometimes. So to get the best results by a quick point and shoot would be going with -1 sharpness in the camera settings. I have also found that it takes better pictures when shooting vertically than horizontally. That is not to say it's rubbish when horizontal, it just needs a few more shots to get a perfect shot sometimes. Other camera shots included are HDR, macro, landscape, portrait, night and sweep panorama. Funnily, I used to just shoot with my iPhone but now with the HTC one, I want to get THE best, most awesome super duper pictures and often I would carefully choose the settings.

This is one  of the first pictures I took with the HTC one, as you  can see, macro photos are amazing. Definitely the highlight of the camera!

Jjim dak- yummy! Plus excellent picture :D

Macro photo. I love how natural the colours are!

As you can see, macro shots are well good! Pictures below are just random point and shoot with -1 sharpness and using modes such as landscape mode etc. They turn out great! However, it generally looks better on the phone than when you upload.

I generally, like the natural colours are the photo and they look great on social network sites! Win win right. I also love how it captures motion really really well. There is no blur where people are walking or the fountain above. I think this is because of the amazing speed of the shutter. Simply brilliant! 

Low light performce

The low light performance on this camera is definitely the best thing about the camera, since it takes in more light, there is reduced noise on dark photos and generally still takes decent photos. Likewise, it performs better than any other phone I have seen in low light conditions. Now I can finally take photos in the dark! haha.

Features: ZOE, Boomsound, Sense 5, Blinkfeed, Video

ZOE

Now there's a crazy feature on HTC one that really makes this phone stand out. It is called the HTC Zoe  What is this ZOE, is it a girl you get with the phone? Not quite. Ever feel like pictures don't always tell the bigger picture of a great night or memorable one? Well that's where Zoe ( my girl) comes in! A simple click of Zoe and it will capture a 3 second video and 20 shots and including images before you clicked the camera button. You might think that's stupid! But it really is quite the opposite. It can capture great moments, the perfect photo and then it will be create a highlight and mix of all your photos and videos into a 30 second video automatically! WOW? Yes WOW. It's a great way to share other than a photo to capture what happened in a night in in 30 seconds. Visuals are always better right? 

An example is this https://share.htc.com/em1jLObM3# 

With Zoe you can also remove objects, get the perfect smile , ace sequence shots and all done with relative ease! This feature is a winner with me right here!

Boomsound

There's not much to say about the audio as it's the best sounding audio experience on a phone that I have ever had. Endorsed by Dr Dre, the beats audio makes everything sound so much better! You have to hear it to believe it! It's the first phone to have front-facing stereo speakers. Hurrah for not cupping your hand for better sound! 

Sense 5

Sense 5 is the user interface that HTC uses. At first it was very confusing to use since I did not know how to move apps and change the dock icons. But anyone with a bit of brain can figure it out. Sense 5 ui looks great, does not contain crappy bloatware that some other devices come with  very smooth transitions between apps. I'm not sure if this is sense 5 or because of the previous model of jelly bean but I don't like how you can't  have two different wallpapers for the screen and lock screen. Minor gripe, so I'll let it slide. Another Minor gripe is that, when some apps are launched, there is a massive button for the menu/settings of the app that takes up way too much space of the screen. HTC definitely needs to short that out. 

Blinkfeed

Blinkfeed is htc's take on the already established app on android called the flipboard. It's very simple, it just gives you updates on news , social network , channels all in one easy way to read them. Clicking on an image will expand the story or open up Facebook. It is a very useful feature for people like me that just like to scroll and scroll about news etc. However, many people complain about it because you cannot turn it off, you can only make another screen the homescreen. It is also currently in its infancy stage and has not started teething yet. There is a limitation to what news you can subscribe to and you can't add your own personal ones. Once htc updates blinkfeed, I think it will be a very useful feature!

Blinkfeed

Video

Video quality on the phone and sound quality recording are absolutely amazing. The colours are right, the sound is perfect. I haven't experimented with video too much but from initial impressions, it has been great and the playback look superb as well. Since HTC has two microphones or dual membrane as they call it, the phone can reduce the distortion of noise making it much clearer than other phones. That is to say, it will come very handy in night club recordings and concert!

Check it out here! MUSE MUSE MUSE 

Closing Comments

I have to say I am very happy with this phone, I think it is the best phone out in the market, although it is heavily overshadowed by the S4 ( which is a good phone still) I still think, the usefulness of the HTC's features and its aim for consumers to share ( which we love to do right now) makes this phone the most desirable at the moment.

HTC has done well, it looks great, sounds great, performs well with killer features such as ZOE and boomsound it definitely deserves an award. ( you can tell I love this phone right?) 

Tech Impressions: HTC ONE (M7)

So I just upgraded my contract and finally have my hands on the HTC ONE...! Hurrah!

Can I just say, this is the most beautiful looking phone I have ever set my eyes on! This is just the initial impressions but so far, it's a wonderful phone, snappy, no lag and the display is gorgeous!

The sound is just out of this world! It's loud, it's crisp and clear! Wowee

Some minor gripes though, there are some rough edges but can't really be noticed as well as a little bit of a gap at the top of the phone. Phone provider gave me the worse screen protector too! Charging the phone is a bit slow as well as the syncing.

Here are some of the shots I took from my iPhone!

This is the box it came with, unfortunately, the charger is separate which was a bit of a bummer! I had to buy the charger individually.

First time turning on the HTC one, the intro sound nearly made me jump out of my skin, It was that loud!

The Back, aluminium build, very very nice! 

A full review and  a more in depth look will be done!