Top newsmakers in technology in 2013

New Delhi: It has been a big year in terms surprises and new product launches. Almost all the major technology giants launched their latest products offering major technology and hardware upgrade along with a major overhaul from the previous models. Here is our list of the biggest technology newsmakers over the past 12 months, both in India and globally.BlackBerry Z10 - January BlackBerry launched its much-hyped device, the Z10, in January. The BlackBerry Z10 is a well-built, sturdy phone with an exterior comprised almost entirely of plastic, aside from the slab of glass. The device has a 4.2" LCD screen that pumps out a resolution of 1280 x 768, resulting in a pixel density of 356 dpi. That means you get great color clarity and reproduction. A 1.5 GHz dual-core processor and 2 GB of RAM are the power under the hood, and there are 16 GB of internal storage, as well as the all-important microSD card slot. A high-performance processor means lesser hiccups and performance issues, even when hopping back and forth between active apps. The BlackBerry Z10 comes with an 8MP rear snapper and a 2MP front-facing senor. A single LED flash accompanies the camera on the back of the Z10, and the handset is capable of shooting 1080p video with the rear lens. Overall, the Z10 was a decent all round phone sporting a pleasing 4.2-inch HD display, a good camera and a messaging hub which could be the envy of some other platforms. Still the device was a big flop. Of its $965m loss for the second quarter, $934m was due to the "Z10 inventory charge", as the touchscreen device has failed to sell in the quantities that BlackBerry hoped.Google Glass - February After months of teasing and flashy marketing videos, Google released its augmented reality headgear, called Google Glass in February 2013. The company said the device will be available for purchase by average consumers by the end of this year. It is basically a "heads-up display" that is suspended slightly above your eye places data right in your field of vision, without completely obstructing your view. It was intended to give you all of the benefits of a smartphone, without the need to hold the device up where you can see it. Google Glass allows you to browse the Internet, obtain directions to locations, send text messages, take pictures and more, all from a simple and compact device. The device can download and run a variety of apps, just as a smartphone can. These apps provide a glimpse at the device's current capabilities and its potential future applications.HTC One - March The HTC One is probably the best smartphone that HTC has ever made. It offers excellent built quality as the precision machined aluminium body is seamlessly joined to the rest of the phone using a technique which leaves no gaps. The HTC One sports an aluminium unibody casing with a polycarbonate frame at the sides and accents at the back. . The HTC One comes with a 4.7-inch 1080p Full HD display sporting a pixel density of 468ppi. The screen gives excellent colors and viewing angels. HTC has used Corning Gorilla Glass 2, making the screen durable, and comparatively more resistant to scratches. The phone sports HTC's revolutionary new UltraPixel Camera with a 1/3-inch BSI image sensor. It comes with a dedicated HTC ImageChip 2 technology (that captures 300 per cent more light than ordinary phone cameras) and a 28mm lens that takes photos employing 5 levels of flash automatically. The 4MP camera supports HDR for Full HD 1080p recording and features HTC Zoe that compiles 30-second slideshows to create 'live' photo/video stories. A 1.6MP front camera is also available with HD 720p capability. HTC Sense UI is offered for screen navigation and comes with BlinkFeed integration that delivers live updates for social networks, news and 10,000 other available feeds right on your homescreen. The handset features a Dual-core 1.4GHz Snapdragon 400 processor on a Qualcomm SoC. It offers 1GB DDR2 RAM and 16GB built-in storage. Adreno 305 GPU is also provided for fast graphics acceleration and color reproduction for games and movie playback. Other prominent specs of this newly announced smartphone are - Wi-Fi, micro SIM support only, 3G connectivity, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS with GLONASS, DLNA for wireless streaming to HDTV/PC, HTC Connect, BeatsAudio integration, Sense Voice, simultaneous image & video capture for primary camera, 25GB free Dropbox cloud storage for 2 years, HTML5 browser, SNS & Google integration and an 1800mAh batterySamsung Galaxy S4 - April For most of 2013, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has reigned supreme as Samsung's flagship smartphone. The device, which arrived back in April of this year, has taken on the likes of the iPhone 5, iPhone 5s, HTC One, and even in-house competitors like the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 and Samsung Galaxy Note 3. The Indian version of the Galaxy S4 comes loaded with 1.6 GHz octa core Exynos 5 processor. The 5-inch display screen of this smartphone offers visuals at full HD (1920 x 1080 pixels) resolution, with 441 ppi pixel density. The display screen of the Samsung Galaxy S4 is protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. The Samsung Galaxy S4 has a 13 MP primary camera with supporting features like auto focus, LED flash, face detection, smile detection and image stabilization etc. It also has a 2 MP secondary camera loaded in it. The device comes with 16 GB, 32 GB or 64 GB internal memory variants, which can be expanded up to 64 GB through a microSD card. The Samsung Galaxy S4 comes with Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean OS loaded in it.Jabra Motion - May The $129 Jabra Motion is a premium Bluetooth headset that offers excellent hands-free audio quality. It is a comfortable to wear gadget and is tricked out with all the latest mobile bells and whistles. The device boasts NFC technology for fast pairing and comes with a sophisticated smartphone app. The headset connects to phones and tablets via wireless Bluetooth version 4.0 and has dual microphones for noise cancellation in difficult audio environments. Jabra also claims that the Motion's comparatively large speaker offers increased volume and audio frequency range. The Jabra Motion is equipped with an accelerometer, or motion sensor.Sony Vaio Duo 13 - June The Sony Vaio Duo 13 is a Windows 8 hybrid that measures 13 x .8 x 8.2 inches and weighs about 2 pounds and 14 ounces. The model offers a larger screen and a smaller hinge, and it's outfitted with a fourth-generation Intel Core i5 processor. It's got a better keyboard, a SIM card slot for 3G usage. The biggest improvement has to do with battery life; it managed over eight hours on our battery rundown test. The Duo 13 uses Sony's Surf Slider design to make the transition from a tablet to a laptop. It still uses a spring-loaded hinge mechanism to move the tablet into a semi-upright position. The screen is held in place by two metal studs on the keyboard deck that fit into two notches on the bottom of the tablet. The 13.3-inch screen is housed in a silver carbon fiber chassis. It weighs in at 2.9 pounds, and when in tablet mode it measures a relatively thin 0.77 inches thick and is 13 inches wide by 8.3 inches deep.Nokia Lumia 1020 - July The Nokia Lumia 1020, Nokia's newest flagship handset, is probably the best smartphone camera available in the market. The Lumia 1020 is 130.4 mm tall, 71.4 mm wide and 10.4 mm thick, and has a 4.5 inch Amoled display with 1280 x 768 pixel (HD) resolution. The display has ClearBlack technology, which is said to give good contrast. The screen is also protected by Corning Gorilla Glass 3. It has high sunlight readability and super sensitive touch response. At 10.4mm thick (minus the camera) and 5.6 ounces, it's both thinner and lighter than the Lumia 920. The familiar matte, polycarbonate shell envelops the phone. The clicking sensation of the volume rocker, lock button and camera button all feel sturdier and more responsive. You take 38-megapixel photos in a 4:3 or 16:9 aspect ratio. The sensor uses pixel oversampling, stuffing seven pixels worth of data into a single pixel's footprint. This results in sharp and clear images. The Lumia 1020 has up to 6x zoom. Though you can take full, 38-megapixel resolution photos, the images saved to your camera roll are actually a more manageable 5 megapixels. You get the clarity of the shot without it taking up a huge amount of space in the phone's 32GB memory.4K TV - August 4K Ultra HD TVs (also known as UHD TVs) deliver four times the picture resolution of 1080p Full HD, that's eight million pixels compared to two million pixels. That means more image clarity in terms of fine details, greater texture and an almost photographic emulsion of smoothness. 4K resolution is now being employed in an increasing basis in commercial digital cinema projection using the 4096 x 2160 pixel option, where more and more films are shot or mastered in 4K, or upscaled from 2K (1998x1080 for 1.85:1 aspect ratio or 2048 x 858 for 2.35:1 aspect ratio).iPhone 5s and 5c - September Apple launches its latest and the best, the iPhone 5s, priced between Rs 53,500 and Rs 71,500, depending on the size of the internal memory, while iPhone 5c is priced at Rs 41,900 (16 GB) and Rs 53,500 (32 GB). The 5S comes with the "world's first and only smartphone" with a 64-bit chip. The new phone introduces Touch ID, the rumoured fingerprint sensor for the iPhone. Built into the home button, Touch ID uses a laser cut sapphire crystal, together with the capacitive touch sensor, to take a high-resolution image of the user's fingerprint and use that to unlock the device. The Apple iPhone 5s also has a 4-inch Retina display. At the same time, the iPhone 5C is made of hard-coated polycarbonate body with a steel reinforced frame for a sturdy feel. Apple has also created soft, matte, microfibre-lined cases for the iPhone 5c.iPad Air and iPad Mini with Retina Display - October Apple recently released the iPad Air and iPad mini. The iPad Air was redesigned to be lighter, thinner and smaller than its predecessor while the iPad mini comes with a Retina display along with a much better processor. Both the iPads - iPad Air and iPad mini – come with Retina display and are almost similar in terms of specifications. They are powered by the same 64bit A7 processor along with M7 co-processor. There is a 5MP rear camera that can record 1080p videos along with 1.2MP front facing Facetime camera. The only difference is their display sizes – iPad Air has a 9.7inch display while the iPad mini with Retina display has a 7.9 inch display and both these displays have the same resolution of 2048×1536 pixes, thus giving the iPad Air a pixel density of 264ppi while the iPad mini with Retina display gets a pixel density of 326ppi.PS4/Xbox One - November The Xbox One and PS4 are here. The huge console size of the Xbox One gives air more room to circulate. In addition, at launch, the Xbox One offers a better selection of games than the PS4. Not everyone likes Kinect, but it has serious potential that you don't get with the PS4 camera. The Xbox One can be plugged another piece of hardware using its HDMI input. This lets you switch between, your digibox and the Xbox One, using the Xbox interface. Asus Transformer Book T100 - December The Asus Transformer Book T100 is a fairly low-cost 10-inch Windows 8 tablet that can also function as a laptop thanks to its keyboard segment. It has a practical laptop-style hinge. With the keyboard module attached, the T100 could easily pass for a small laptop. Practicality-wise, the design is spot on for an affordable hybrid. The keyboard module and tablet are around 550g each, and between 11-12mm thick. At around 1.2kg, the Asus Transformer Book T100 only weighs as much as a light Ultrabook. One of the triumphs of the Asus Transformer Book T100 is that it runs full Windows 8.1 rather than the cut-down RT version. The T100 uses a 1.3GHz quad-core Intel Atom Z3740 CPU, which is from the new Bay Trail generation of processors. It's much, much faster than the equivalent Clover Trail chip of last year.