BWB Monthly: Top 10 Articles of January ‘15

While we go through our daily lives, we don‘t always have the time to read up about all the interesting things we necessarily want to. While consumer technology news never really stops, hopefully your workday does, and you can take a look at ten of our biggest articles in tech news in the last month, according to our readers. Samsung and Apple were big interests in the news (again), but some other interesting stories feature in our top 10.
Check out this month‘s countdown below.
10. Interesting iPhone 7 concept surfaces
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Ever since the original iPhone was released, Apple has been praised for the top-notch build quality and design. Some of that magic seems to have gone missing in the last iteration, however, with what many pundits are calling a “˜bored‘ design. While we still think the iPhone 6 is a great looking device, we do agree that it is a slight step backwards for Apple.
Business Insider recently reported on a very interesting concept design by famous engineer and designer Nikola Cirkovic.
Read more here.
9. Kepler telescope discovers “œmost Earth-like“ planet yet
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Scientists are discovering loads of new planets every day. Recently however, through the use of the Kepler telescope, they discovered 8 new exoplanets. One of these explanets is described as perhaps the “œmost Earth-like alien world.“ The Kepler telescope has now identified more than 1,000 exoplanets since launching in 2009. Of the eight newly confirmed planets, three are within the so-called “œhabitable zone“ that could hold water.
The most Earth-like planet, known as 438b, is only 12 percent larger than Earth and closer to our home planet‘s temperature. 438b now replaces 186f (discovered last year) as the closest Earth-like exoplanet discovered to date.
Read more here.
8. Has the new Canon EOS 80D accidentally been spotted?
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Canon‘s enthusiasts camera range (double-digits) is currently topped by the EOS 70D and a lot of Canon partial photographers are waiting for its successor to launch, to either upgrade their old equipment or jump onto the DSLR bandwagon. If you are one of these Cononites or just take a special interest in anything photography you will be happy to know that the EOS 80D might just have accidentally poked its head out.
The “œnew Canon“ was spotted by PetaPixel on Canon Austria‘s Facebook page, and speculation has been growing about what model it could possibly be.
Read more here.
7. This smartphone battery charges full in under 2 minutes
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Last year, we reported on a “˜super battery‘ that could charge a smartphone in 30 seconds flat. It sounded too good to be true, but the accompanying video, testifying to the battery‘s immense power, proved it‘s the real deal.
That battery, was developed by an Israeli start-up technology company called StoreDot, that has now furthered their development of super batteries and revealed a new, super battery.
While the first battery demoed last year was only a prototype, it seems that the company has made a lot of progress over recent months, and has moved closer to the real deal as their most recent demo at CES 2015 shows.
Read more here.
6. New Microsoft browser to include Cortana, other features
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Earlier in the week we reported that Microsoft is allegedly building an entirely new web browser to be launched with the new Windows update, Windows 10.
Apparently, the new browser is specifically designed to be more streamlined and a so-called “˜light-weight‘ browser. The browser is supposedly codenamed “˜Spartan‘ for now, and will be completely separate from Microsoft‘s long-standing flagship browser, Internet Explorer.
Read more here.
5. Samsung‘s Galaxy S6 to get a dual-edge display variant
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You may be getting tired of Samsung rumours, but this one is actually very interesting. In the couple of months leading up to its launch there will undoubtedly be more, but this may actually give us some inkling as to what Samsung actually wants to do with its curved display technology.
Previously news hit the internet that the Galaxy S6 will have a variant called the Galaxy S6 Edge, pretty much in the same design as we saw with the Galaxy Note 4 Edge. Now, though, another source is claiming that Samsung‘s been working on a dual-curve GS6 Edge design.
Read more here.
4. Samsung Galaxy S6 to sport 2K display, 64-bit processor
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The last couple of months have been pretty dry as far as interesting flagships go. The year is starting to gain some momentum now, however, and even though we didn‘t see a massive mobile presence at CES 2015, Mobile World Congress is around the corner and it might be a bit more exciting when it comes to flagship phones.
Read more here.
3. Galaxy S6 doing the rounds behind the scenes at CES 2015
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CES 2015 is the place to be seen if you want to show off your latest and greatest tech devices. We have seen launches from LG and Microsoft over the past couple of days and it seems there might be a huge upcoming flagship device doing the rounds behind closed doors at the event. Initially word on the Galaxy S6 was only expected to surface a bit later in 2015 but it seems as though the phone is reportedly being shown (behind closed doors) at CES 2015.
Read more here.
2. Apple iPhone 6 Review: Still the go-to smartphone?
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Apple introduced the iPhone 6 models in September last year and the devices made it to South Africa by the end of October, which in itself was a great surprise for Apple consumers of our rainbow nation. The iPhone 6 range is supposed to be the “œgame-changer“ model for the Cupertino based company. Apple finally caved on the idea of a larger phone and the iPhone 6 (at 4.7 inches) and iPhone 6 Plus (at 5.5 inches) clearly shoves Apple out of the “œ4-inches-is-perfect-Steve-Jobs“ mentality.
As an Apple user with a perfectly timed Vodacom contract I was able to pick up the new iPhone 6 a week after its launch and have been using it for a little over two months. This review will hopefully provide an unbiased (as far as possible) view of the iPhone 6 (4.7-inch model) and whether Apple has been able to step out of their comfort zone and produce a truly top of the range smartphone
Read more here.
1. Samsung Galaxy S6‘s TouchWiz to be much sleeker
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We can‘t express how happy we are to hear this news. If you have followed us for some time or read our reviews about Samsung products, the overall feeling can be summarised as “˜a good device with bad software.‘ We have been calling for Samsung to make changes to TouchWiz for years, and it seems like we may finally be granted our wish.
Read more here.
What are your thoughts on the news of the last month? Let us know in the comments below.
Follow Theunis on Twitter: @Theunis_BWB