Once again, 2013 was a year of impressive innovations in the field of technology, with gadgets accounting for billions and billions of dollars in sales for the year. It seemed as though the world was seeing the release of some type of new phone, tablet, console, or electronic release every week throughout the year. At the same time, consumers continue to spend money on this new technology, as the market continues to flourish. With 2014 just around the corner, we look back at 2013’s best and worst technology of 2013.
Probably the biggest technology release(s) in 2013 were the two latest video game consoles from Microsoft and Sony: the Xbox One and the PlayStation 4, respectively. It’s been 8 years since Microsoft’s previous release and 7 years since Sony’s, and neither of the console giants disappointed with their newest systems. With both selling more than 1 million units within 24 hours of its release, the two consoles have set the sales bar higher than ever before. Despite the increase in sales, the prices of the consoles have also increased with the Xbox’s price jumping $100 from $400 to $500, and PlayStation’s jumping from $300 to $400. Of course the increase in price correlates with the improvement in the unit’s specifications as its technical capabilities, video quality, and sound quality have all improved. The new PS 4 system comes with a new state-of-the-art design, as well as new social media capabilities, and amazing hardware, including an 8-core X86 AMD Jaguar CPU, which basically eliminates any loading times as experienced in previous systems. The Xbox One also comes with a sleek new design, as well as an updated version of Xbox Kinect, new voice controls, and an updated 8-core CPU. These things add up to the newest and most advanced gaming systems available on the market today, which more than warrants its selling price. With its high demand and impressive sales for the year 2013, the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 come in as the best technology of 2013.
Worst:
The Smartwatch
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| Photo from: http://www.t3.com/news/google-smart-watch-all-the-latest-news-rumours-on-google-gem |
The Smartwatch
One of the most creative pieces of technology to make a statement in 2013 was the smartwatch. The smartwatch is a computerized wrist watch with extra functions such as a calculator, games, radio, and other applications to make life easier. The problem with the smartwatch is it doesn’t do anything which the smart phone cannot, which was the initial cause of the dying watch market. To put it simply, the smartwatch, though cool at first use, does nothing new and is actually quite boring. Some of its basic functions include acting as a second screen for your smart phone to screen and channel texts, calls, music, email, and other. The biggest problem with the smartwatch was the tiny screen. For a watch to function as such, the screen should be kept small, as to not take away from its initial function, but the screen being to small renders it useless as people can just as easily run the same apps on a bigger screen on their smartphones. While, the original idea was interesting, the biggest problem with the smartwatch was that it didn’t do anything new. In a world where the newest and latest technologies are the ones in demand, the smartwatch simply doesn’t have anything new, which has yet to be seen. It is because of this, that sales have floundered this 2013, making it a flop for consumers, and 2013’s worst technology.
Blogpost by: Peter Paras Bugayong
References:
Lal Shimpi. A, 2013. Anandtech. [Online] Available at http://www.anandtech.com/show/7528/the-xbox-one-mini-review-hardware-analysis. [Accessed 29 December 2013]
Haywald, J. 2013. Gamespot. [Online] Available at http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ps4-and-xbox-one-launch-broken-hardware-and-one-million-sales/1100-6416478/ [Accessed 29 December 2013]
Kenrick, J. 2013. ZDnet.com [Online] Available at http://www.zdnet.com/the-problems-with-the-smartwatch-even-apple-cant-solve-7000019996/ [Accessed 29 December 2013]
Wong, David. 2013 Cracked.com [Online] Available at http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-signs-tech-industry-finally-ran-out-ideas-in-2013/ [Accessed 29 December 2013]
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