New iPhone, New Issues

Every iPhone release comes with its own issues. From Antennagate on the iPhone 4! Where the metallic strip arounnd the device doubled as an antenna resulted in poor network reception depending on how the phone is held. Then the 4S had its brief battery performance flaws related to the OS itself, quickly sorted out with a software update. No phone is ever released problem-less but the iPhone tends to get the biggest attention. Why, they say it's the best smartphone so it's expected. The latest one has had mainly 2 complaints by its owners, being delivered with scuffs on the supposedly unscratchable aluminum back panel and a purple glare from photos taken facing a bright light source. Apple says the scuffs are beyond their control but that makes the metallic finish look bad because they promoted it as scratch resistant and smudge proof. Not a good look Apple. The misfiring camera on some phones is probably a quick fix for Apple, cue iOS 6.1 which will certainly look to also fix the fail which is the in-house maps by Apple. Next big device will bring its own shortcomings and we'll be there.

CONSOLE DESIGN REFRESHES: Gamesmanship or a lack of ideas

I spent a good amount of time looking up the correct spelling of 'console' just to make sure I started off right.

Home video gaming hardware has a come a long way in the last 20 or so years. SEGA & Nintendo held a monopoly till Sony joined the fray with the PlayStation. The gaming space seemingly couldn't take all three at once so one had to make room for Sony. Despite bringing us the Mega Drive, Saturn & Dreamcast, SEGA found itself marketless and went to game development entirely.

SEGA Dreamcast

Then came Microsoft with the Xbox. An odd move by a traditional pc maker, trying to move from desks to living rooms. They withered the lukewarm reception to their first generation hardware and bettered it with the Xbox 360. This was all at at parallel time to the release of Sony's own Playstation 3, released a year later. This has put these two in direct competition ever since and has made picking an overall winner hard.

Nintendo, meanwhile, has steered clear of this somewhat. Focusing on innovations that have made both Sony and Microsoft react with versions of their own i.e. the Wii movement concept spawned Microsoft's Kinect and the Playstation Move. The later not being well received by consumers.

Sony PlaysStation 3 ('12)

2005 & 2006 saw the birth of the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 respectively....Fast forward more than 6 years later, neither Sony nor Microsoft is talking a complete overhaul in the hardware they brought us. Microsoft freshened up the 360 by slimming it down in 2010 and just the other day Sony followed suit, slightly reshaping the PS3. One would then start to wonder, when will we see a whole new console from either?

Xbox 360 ('05) & Xbox 360 Slim ('10)

Are these two companies trying to stick to the winning formula?
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. So far both consoles have sold in hundreds of millions, their manufacturers could be trying to milk out the most from them without having to bother changing how  the hardware looks or feels.

Or maybe they are waiting to see who blinks first. It could be that they are both waiting for that one killer innovation to push them further ahead of the competition. Motion control is yet to be perfected, hard to tell where the next big thing could come from. If I knew, I'd be a billionaire. Microsoft will not venture into the mobile gaming world with PS Vita like xboxes, too risky a market.

I strongly doubt we'll see a PS4 in 2013, more likely a new Xbox but that is debatable. And where is Nintendo in all of this? Quietly prepping the Wii U, possibly with the aim of stealing a march on sales.

Nintendo Wii U

I have owned the same Xbox 360 for a good 4 years, looks good, firmware updates keep me I'm touch. Safe to say I'm only changing to the Xbox 720 if it will be called that.