{"id":249,"date":"2012-12-11T10:13:15","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T15:13:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.nccomputertech.com\/?p=249"},"modified":"2012-12-11T10:13:15","modified_gmt":"2012-12-11T15:13:15","slug":"the-state-of-smartphones-in-2012-part-i-of-our-ultimate-guide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2012\/12\/11\/the-state-of-smartphones-in-2012-part-i-of-our-ultimate-guide\/","title":{"rendered":"The State of Smartphones in 2012: Part I of our Ultimate Guide"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The last six months or so has seen a veritable storm of high-end smartphones. While you can generally count on new hardware being released year-round, this holiday season is particularly busy. Between the iPhone 5, iOS 6, the Nexus 4, Android 4.2, and Windows Phone 8, things have changed quite a bit since the summer.
\nEven more exciting, the smartphone wars aren’t just a two-horse race anymore. Apple and Samsung continue to be the giants in the field, but we’re seeing attractive handsets from a newly competitive LG, a Google that seems more eager than ever to show its Android partners how it’s done, an HTC that’s eager to thin out its product portfolio and reverse its ill fortunes, and a Nokia that really wants its bet on Windows Phone to pay off.
\nWe know all this new hardware and software can be hard to keep straight. To that end, we’ll be taking some time over the next few weeks to go in-depth on the state of the smartphone: we’ll be examining not just the available hardware and software, but also which hardware and software will work best for particular uses. More than ever, smartphones are powerful devices that can handle an increasingly large amount of the work formerly unique to full-fledged computers. But just like the PC market, the hardware and software you buy is going to depend on what kind of things you need to use it for.
\nFor the purposes of this overview, we’re going to be focusing on current, high-end iOS, Android, and Windows Phone 8 handsets. These aren’t the only players in the field, but they’re certainly the most consequential: smaller platforms like Tizen, Open WebOS, and Firefox OS are either still in development or not widely available commercially. As for BlackBerry, RIM seems to be all but begging users, developers, and the press alike to wait for BlackBerry 10 to come out before writing it off… so that’s what we’ll do. Expect more coverage of RIM’s latest as its projected March 2013 launch date approaches, but BlackBerry won’t factor into today’s discussion.
\nTo kick off this series, we’ll examine each platform’s major strengths and weaknesses, then dive into specific phones and use cases.
\nFull Story: The State of Smartphones in 2012: Part I of our Ultimate Guide | Ars Technica<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The last six months or so has seen a veritable storm of high-end smartphones. While you can generally count on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[65,549,559,745,986,1218],"class_list":["post-249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hardware","category-technology","tag-android","tag-ios","tag-iphone","tag-nexus","tag-smartphone","tag-windows-8"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/papNkV-41","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7387,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/01\/09\/apples-market-share-grows-as-windows-phone-continues-to-drop-android-still-king\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":0},"title":"Apple’s market share grows as Windows Phone continues to drop, Android still king","author":"NCCT","date":"January 9, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Kantar Worldpanel ComTech has released quarterly data for smartphone market share, and it is again bad news for Windows Phone fans, as the mobile operating system continues its decline in both U.S. and Europe, and barely manages to survive in other markets. Apple's market share has been given a great\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3187,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2013\/08\/13\/acer-will-have-a-tough-time-using-chrome-os-and-android-to-offset-sliding-pc-sales\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":1},"title":"Acer will have a tough time using Chrome OS and Android to offset sliding PC sales","author":"NCCT","date":"August 13, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"In response to a surprise second quarter loss of NT$343 million (US$11.4 million), Acer CEO JT Wang said in a conference call with investors on Thursday that the company is going to increase its range of Android and Chrome OS products, while offering fewer Windows-powered products. The loss was caused\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/acer-w3-640x476.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/acer-w3-640x476.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/acer-w3-640x476.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7490,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/01\/21\/windows-10-can-microsoft-get-it-right-this-time\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":2},"title":"Windows 10: Can Microsoft get it right this time?","author":"NCCT","date":"January 21, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Later this week Microsoft will provide more details of Windows 10, most likely focusing on how the new operating system will look and feel on smartphones and tablets. According to Mary Jo Foley, Microsoft is likely to unveil a version of Windows 10 that's expected to work on Windows Phones\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Microsoft"","block_context":{"text":"Microsoft","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/microsoft\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6841,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/11\/14\/mozilla-blasts-at-android-and-ios-for-lack-of-openness\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":3},"title":"Mozilla blasts at Android and iOS for lack of openness","author":"NCCT","date":"November 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Mozilla has accused Google and Apple of not being transparent with their mobile technologies and misusing their dominant positions. Google's Android and Apple's iOS make up for the majority marketshare in smartphone OSes globally and Mozilla has shown concern over the irresponsible behavior of the companies by not being transparent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Apple"","block_context":{"text":"Apple","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/apple\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6912,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2014\/11\/20\/the-nexus-10-lollipop-and-the-problem-with-big-android-tablets\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":4},"title":"The Nexus 10, Lollipop, and the problem with big Android tablets","author":"NCCT","date":"November 20, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"I've never been tempted to buy a large widescreen tablet. They're good at certain things, but they're too wide for everything onscreen to be reachable if you're holding it with both hands. They're too tall for portrait mode to be comfortable for long stretches. One-handed use is generally tolerable at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hardware"","block_context":{"text":"Hardware","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/hardware\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/img_0493-980x612.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/img_0493-980x612.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/img_0493-980x612.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/11\/img_0493-980x612.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":8617,"url":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/2015\/09\/11\/the-first-monthly-android-security-updates-start-rolling-out-for-nexus-devices\/","url_meta":{"origin":249,"position":5},"title":"The first monthly Android security updates start rolling out for Nexus devices","author":"NCCT","date":"September 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Google has delivered on its promise to release monthly security updates today, with the first of said updates now rolling out to nearly all Nexus devices released in the past three years. The updates haven't been given their own Android version number, with Google instead opting to simply change the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Security"","block_context":{"text":"Security","link":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/category\/security\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nccomputertech.com\/techtalk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}