Review: Apple iPhone SE

By Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Fans of smaller smartphones and refugees from the iPhone 4, 4S, 5 and 5S models who could never consider a larger phone, now have somewhere to land with the iPhone SE. This smaller iPhone has the same power, performance and camera capabilities as the larger iPhone 6 based devices that have ruled the market these past two years. 

It is easy to have mixed feelings about the iPhone SE. On one hand, it brings back a popular and known size and form factor and imbues it with the latest processing power, camera technology and software enjoyed by the larger flagship iPhones; yet it doesn’t look new or as innovative as some of the newer devices that have come to market. 

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Jony Ive takes on new post as Apple’s Chief Design Officer

Updated on Monday, May 25, 2015 at 11:54PM by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Photo by Gadjo C. Sevilla - Canadianreviewer.com

Apple’s Senior Vice President of Design Jony Ive is taking on a new role and a new title for the company as its first Chief Design Officer. Aside from dealing with hardware, software, and packaging of products, he’ll now add the design of their retail stores to his responsibilities. He’ll even have a hand in picking the furniture and fittings of the new Apple Campus 2.

With an ever expanding line of Macs, iOS devices and various Watch models and iOS and OS X visual design and UI requirements under his jurisdiction, Ive has a lot on his plate, so the move makes sense so he can apply his razor focus on products.

Two of his lieutenants are also getting promoted, which will help Ive divest himself of the more administrative tasks. Richard Howarth will be heading Industrial Design and Alan Dye will be head of User Interface. Howarth has been a key member of the iPhone program since the beginning and Dye has done work with the Apple Watch’s UI. Both will report directly to Ive.

Source: SlashGear

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Special Report: The design story behind the Moto 360

Text and photos by Gadjo Cardenas Sevilla

Chicago: Motorola is no stranger to the wearables market. It actually pioneered the health tracker segment a few years ago with their MOTOACTV  device, which focused mostly on music playback, health and exercise. When the company decided to create a smart watch ( a term their designers seem to dislike), they went back to the drawing board and looked into what a traditional timepiece had to offer. 

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Special Feature: HP Houston Labs Tour – A Focus on Quality Part 1

Photo courtesy of Mario Nagano of www.ztop.com.brText and photos by Alex Davies

A few weeks ago I had the privilege of touring HP’s Houston Labs, where they put their commercial hardware through the wringer to test its durability and quality. This large facility was the former headquarters of Compaq before the merger with HP, and it was interesting to see the relics of the former company everywhere we went. Many of the engineers we spoke to on the tour were former Compaq employees who have been working in these labs for years.

One of the mantras that we heard during the tour is that they “freeze it, bake it, shake it, break it”, and as we walked around the facility, we really did see HP’s engineers  subject desktops, notebooks and tablets to all manners of torture – the job wasn’t done until the product broke.  Hit jump for our report on HP's Houston Labs.

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