By Tuckerson, year 12 intern
What a busy, busy year it has been in the technology world – with so many really amazing products being pushed to the market all year. In the mobile world, we saw the dominance of the Samsung Galaxy S II, the ever-so delayed announcement of the iPhone 4S and of course the latest Google Nexus phone. In gaming, Nintendo released its latest handheld, the 3DS, unveiled its next-gen console the Wii-U and Sony announced its upcoming handheld the PSVita. We had the launches of massive video game titles such as Skyrim (I don’t play it yet... ladies?), Battlefield 3, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and of course the sad death of one of the most influential people in our lifetime, Steve Jobs.
Through all this, there have been 4 areas, which have had particularly big years, for better or for worse. I’m talking about the rise of Samsung in the mobile market with its Galaxy line, the endless amounts of Android tablets brought onto the market to try and steal the iPad’s thunder, the annoying amounts of half-baked 3D-tech in just about every aspect of our lives and of course the endless legal battles, mainly between Samsung and Apple.
The Samsung Galaxy S II has undoubtedly been one of the best, if not the best mobile devices in 2011, and in turn has sky rocketed Sammy’s rep in the mobile world. Its sales have gone through the roof and the Galaxy line has become the best selling in the Android world, even topping Apple in the 3rd quarter of the year. With the release of the Galaxy Nexus and the upcoming Galaxy S III, that dominance is sure to continue.
Tablets, tablets, tablets—haven’t they been the hot product of 2011? Ever since the iPad’s success, every man, woman and her dog have tried to create something that can compete—initially with horrible versions of non-tablet optimised versions of Android. But with the release of Honeycomb, Google’s tablet-optimised OS, we saw a massive influx of Android tablets from every direction, swarming like bees around their honeycomb (I know its meant to be pot, but just appreciate my punniness (Tuckerson, I can’t find this word anywhere! However, you do have much 'puniness'—FB photos don't lie. Ed.)) but with no single tablet having a real impact on the iPad’s dominance. With Google’s new OS, cheaper hardware and more awareness of tablets change that in 2012? Time will tell…
I’m just going to say this upfront so there is no confusion – I hate 3D. There, I said it – I hate it, and boy has 2011 been the year of 3D. Nearly every movie has been released in 3D (they destroyed Lion King!), all the latest televisions have 3D, Nintendo released the 3DS and we’ve seen some horribly gimmicky 3D phones such as the HTC EVO 3D and LG Optimus 3D. Please can we stop supporting 3D? At least until it works properly, because for now it’s ruining my childhood (it ruined the Lion King, God damn it)!
Patent Wars, almost as fierce as Star Wars and as stupid as Muppet Wars have been non-stop throughout 2011, with Apple trying to stop Samsung’s selling just about everyone of its mobile products all over the world, mainly its Galaxy S. In Australia, in particular Apple has targeted the Galaxy Tab 10.1 which only just has been allowed to be put back on the market. In other patent wars, Apple has got some HTC products banned in America, and Microsoft now gets roughly $10 from every Android device sold. The latest however is Hasbro suing Asus for its Transformer Prime tablet. Attorneys, roll out…