The Apple Beat: Pressure mounts on Apple to make iPhone 7 truly great

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

“Skate to where the puck is going to be, not to where it has been,” that’s a quote by the Great One, Wayne Gretzky, which Steve Jobs referenced during the momentous launch of the original iPhone in 2007.

Jobs continued by saying, “we try to understand as we develop our product road map, what’s going to be exciting in the future. And that’s one of the advantages we have over our competitors. Our competitors tend to put the cross hairs on where we are now, and by the time they come up with a product that tries to match where we are now, we’re beyond them. We’re one or two generations beyond, moving faster than they are.”

That was the spirit of innovation that powered the Apple engine and that’s what made the iPhone such an audacious, brave and, in hindsight, timely invention. But the world has changed and while Apple is still the most valuable company, the pressure is on to see if it is still the most innovative.

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Review: Apple iPad Pro 9.7-inch

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

iPad Pro is truly evolving into a platform. While the iPad mini and older iPad Air devices will continue to offer all the great content consumption features and still be the best tablets on the planet, the iPad Pro line can focus on more serious and mission critical applications.

Apple’s iPad Pro 9.7-inch offers the biggest evolution in the tablet space by bringing many of the key features of the larger iPad Pro (12.9) into a more familiar size as well as a lower price point. 

Apple’s always positioned the iPad as a Post PC device and the heir apparent to personal computing. Larger than the iPhone, yet smaller than a MacBook, the iPad’s evolved thanks to a supportive ecosystem of applications and accessories as well as Apple’s quest to consistently make it thinner, lighter and more powerful. With the iPad Pro, Apple’s actually managed to make their tablet’s performance match that of a PC’s and even surpass some PCs in terms of display quality, 4K video capture and editing right on the device.

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SlideShow: HTC 10

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

The new HTC 10 looks and feels like a proper premium smartphone from a company that's carefully developed devices with many core strengths. HTC may have missed a beat or two with some of their previous offerings, but the company is back in full force with what could be their perfect 10 device and the best flagship they've ever built.

The HTC 10 is about simplification. A pared down OS that's closer to Pure Android than ever, a sleek yet purposeful new design that succeeds in making a 5.2-inch phone fit in the dimensions of a 5-inch device. Improved front and rear camera optics, top-shelf processor and performance, plus a battery that can last the whole day and night (and be quickly charged to 50% in 30 minutes), are just the tip of the very cool iceberg that is the HTC 10.

For better or for worse, the HTC 10 will only be released via Bell Mobility in Canada (but you can pay full price to get it unlocked from HTC online). 

Microsoft: Windows Phone isn't our focus this year

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Microsoft unloaded a heady mix of exciting announcements, new technologies and developer news at its first Build 2016 conference keynote today. The company is pushing productivity and creativity, putting the Pen front and centre of the experience and getting ready to make Windows 10 even more universal.

One thing that seemed to be missing was any mention of moribund Windows Phone. The company, who kept mentioning Android and iOS in its demos, is apparently putting mobile on hold. The Verge's Tom Warren quizzed Windows and devices head Terry Myerson about this and the response doesn't sound good.

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