No surprises on price or color selection. The camera has a big f/2.5 lens for better low-light conditions and is optically image stabilized (with gyroscopes and micro-motors to take the jiggle out in the x and y plane). The camera also has an HDR (high dynamic range) option for taking pictures in widely-varing brightness. There will be some competition in this arena in the next year, but this camera will be in the ball park with the top-tier ones costing, literally, twice as much.

It’s interesting that there will only be two variations that will work in Asia or Europe/Americas. The only carrier left out in the US is Verizon. 

KitKat will be released for many older phones shortly. It will work with phones having 0.5 GB RAM, which will include many phones running Gingerbread. This is a deliberate attempt to make cheap Android phones work with a modern OS in Russia and Africa and places that only sell unsubsidized (cheap) phones. BTW, these are HUGE markets.

Nexus 5 is fast as hell, competing with the iPhone 5S which has a 64 bit processor (Samsung S5 will also have one when it’s released early next year).

Part of the reason for speed and decent battery life is that KitKat is a less-bulky and faster operating system. When you match that with the astounding Google Now performance (voice) and Nexus 5’s always-listening feature, things look awfully good.

The voice and messaging have been integrated into a new version of Hangouts, dropping the need for a separate Messaging app. Also, the integration with Google Now is enhanced.

My opinion (as stated several times) is that a whole new era of flexibility with watches, and glasses, and voice is about to begin…..

Some screen shots of Kitkat (Android 4.4) show a tap-and-pay setting. So far, tap-and-pay has been a non-starter, with in-fighting and non-compatibility among carriers. Now, it appears, Google has figured out how to do it without an embedded security chip, allowing ANY Android phone with NFC (near field communication) to have a form of tap-and-pay that is non-proprietary. I realize this brings up more questions than answers. Maybe we’ll find out in a couple days with the release of KitKat.

McDonalds will drop Heinz ketchup after 30 years now that the new CEO of Heinz was the former CEO of Burger king.

Right now, a 4.7 or 5 inch smartphone screen is the “happy medium” for the current crop of phones. People with small hands or tight jeans like 4.7. That would be the iPhone 5s or 5c or the HTC 1.

This most current crop have 1080p displays and super-fast processors, with the iPhone 5c having last-year’s fast processor.

The reigning-king, the Samsung Galaxy S4, has a 5″ super Ameloid (bright) display, a super processor and replaceable battery and a flash card slot and a decent camera. That makes a pretty good combination.

LG has the Nexus 4 (discontinued) with straight Android UI, very good connectivity (like many of the others), except you have to “hack” it to turn on the LTE data communication for T-Mobile, and it doesn’t have an OTG USB plug for adding a flash drive or wired keyboard or mouse. It has a 4.7 inch screen and a passable camera and the ability to use a wired adaptor or wireless to send the screen directly to your TV (like several of the top-tier phones mentioned).

LG has a Nexus 5 coming out in a couple days with a 5 inch screen and a better camera (equivalent to the S5), better USB (OTG) and the highest rated processor (equal to the iPhone 5s) of any out there. It will cost $349 outright and directly competes with the Galaxy s4 if you don’t need the removable battery or flash card slot. It costs HALF what the S5 does and you can use it directly in Europe. (Samsung hobbles ALL its phones with a “Reagion Lock” (not the same as a carrier lock) that doesn’t let it work with a simple sim card purchase in Europe. I’ll keep a Nexus phone around for travel to Europe….

LG has a bigger brother to the unanounced Nexus 5, the G2, with a 5.2 inch screen and the same processor but a bigger battery and LG’s added software, and a software stabilized 13MP camera that looks pretty good. But it has a non-removable back, so, no external flash card and no removable battery. It costs closer to the S5.

Both the LG G2 and LG Nexus 5 will work with Sprint, AT&T, and T-Mobile. 

The 5.4 inch Galaxy Note 2 has been replaced by the 5.7 inch Note 3. It has, now, a 1080p super Ameloid screen, a HUGE replaceable battery, a super-fast processor, a flash memory slot, the OTG usb and MIRACAST and slimport for duplication the screen wired or wirelessly (like Nexus 4, 5, and several others). 

The Note 3 is my current “dream machine” because it fits my taste in music storage and battery life and connectivity and has a bright(er) screen for use in the sun and, most importantly, a big-enough screen for my fat fingers and occassional Netflix usage. For most people this is too big, but it fits my shirt or jacket pocket just fine. The cost new is HUGE, but used, maybe I’ll catch one on ebay when the price settles.

Of course, it’s EASY to want something. People claim to have “invented” the pushbutton automatic transmittion long before the Edsel, they just didn’t know how to DO it…..

The biggest problem with the smartwatch is the power usage, or “battery life”. The $300 Samsung is slow to respond and has a battery life of only ONE DAY!

It’s one thing to charge your phone in the car the next morning after meeting someone in a bar the night before but taking off your watch and putting it in your pocket because it died last night JUST WON’T DO! A watch needs a few days battery to match most people’s life style.

I can thing of two scenarios that I like. The best is a three-day battery and a wireless charging pad that you throw your phone and watch on at night, next to the bed. THAT works for me. (I have a wirelessharger on order for my phone.) There is a standard (“Q1”) that several phones match these days. It is for people who don’t want to plug that TINY plug into their phone when going to bed.

The same would go for the smartwatch, except it would have an EVEN TINIER PLUG. No, it needs wireless charging; just throw it close to the phone wireless charger.

The second scenerio is charging it by light from built-in photocells. This is a push of the technology, but is a  lofty target. It works GREAT for regular watches.

Right now Bluetooth 4.0 (low energy Bluetooth) is, for all practical purposes, REQUIRED for smartwatches. That’s why Nexus 4 and Galaxy S4 have it (and of course the Note 3). It’s NEEDED for smartwatch battery life. 

So, you’ll probably NEED a phone built in the last year (with Bluetooth 4.0) to match all the neat gizmos (pedometers, blood pressure gadgets, Google glasses, bike exercise computers, etc.). THAT, and maybe NFC (Near Field Communication), for paying at the checkout are a few good reasons to invest in a new phone this Christmas. 

Nexus 5 is going to be a beauty when it is announced in a couple days. It’s even been up (accidentally) on Google Play Store for an hour or so (and then yanked off). That’s $349 for the 16GB, and (probably) $399 for the 32GB.

Curved screens are just hitting the phone market, with one out by LG, the LG G Curve. I don’t know if this will take off for a phone, because it would break if you sat on it on a table or dropped something on it when it was on a flat surface.

HOWEVER, it is PERFECT for a smartwatch, such as the GEM, which is rumored to come out in a few days. Even the flat wrist-radio of Dick Tracy was a little clumsey, back it the days that the side and back windows on a car were flat. A curve to soften the edges of the case would be, well, perfect.

There is a long history of plastic or rubber electronic watches (much to my dismay), so probably something in silicone that is washable would probably work. The trick is to get the cost well below $200. Remember, there is a whole generation that considers wearing a watch “retro”. I can see the competition to have a metal-like watch that doesn’t look too cheap, for executives and wannabes.

I’m starting  to hear some rumors of a Google smartwatch to be released in October, probably at the same time as Android 4.4 and Nexus 5, probably Halloween. It will interface to ANY Android phone that has Google Now and give driving directions and notifications of calls and messages and have, as a generality, a voice interface. This is EXACTLY what I have been predicting for the last few months (by the way)…..  And I’ve been pushing Google NOW since it came out. (Google NOW requires Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.) If this rumor proves out, I will take a bow, even if you didn’t pay any attention to my predictions…

It is rumored to have the code name GEM, and will probably come in a few colors, similar to the Samsung GEAR (which has not taken off because it only works with the Note 3).

We might find out as early as tomorrow, but more likely at the end of the month.

I want to point out that Nexus 5 (and Android 4.4) will have an “always listening” feature that will NOT require to first touch the device (watch or phone) to make it work. Only a statement like “Google, text Doug ‘I’m gonna be late for the general meeting'”. None of that twisting a knob, like it the original Star Trek. Usually they didn’t have to touch the communicatior to talk to one another in Next Generation. This will have to have a noise-cancelling microphone to work well. I’d pick a price around $150.

There are several “specs” for the Nexus 5 that seem suspicious. One claim is that it will use the nano-sim as is used on the iPhone 5. Not much plastic real estate is gained by shaving the micro-sim card down but they could be purchased new or cut down with any of several gadgets available through Amazon.

There were  stories of a super-fast focusing system for the camera, but they will probably only be with the LG G2, its bigger brother.

There were stories of a 13 or even 16 megapixel camera, which, now nobody believes. It will be 8 MP, but include image stabilization, probably.

It seems to be true that it will include “Miracast”, a peer-to-peer network method to replicate the screen on your home TV.

I don’t know if it will be (also) possible to use an adaptor to go to a HDMI connector, but it makes sense with the 1080p screen resolution.

This Nexus will continue to have wireless charging and NFC for tap-and-send file transfer to other other phones with this feature and, I suppose, various cash registers at your local store.

It is rumored to have an OTG micro-usb port for easy access to thumb drives and keyboards and mice. I’m holding my breath for this one….

Did I mention wireless charging? I want to just set it on my end table at night. I don’t want to fumble with micro-usb charging ports when I’m tired going to bed or getting up. I have a need to keep the phone close by, probably you don’t.

There are persistant rumors that the 32MB model will also have a MUCH bigger battery for the additional $100. Doesn’t make sense in terms of case size, but the rumors persist.

The KitKat version (4.4) will run faster and need less RAM. This is a welcome evolution for people still running Gingerbread. It seems to me that phones couldn’t or wouldn’t upgrade. This is a welcome improvement.

My personal favorite rumor is the announcement of a Google smartwatch. Not much word of this, but it makes a lot ot sense with me despite the unpopularity…..There seem to be “hooks” in the code to accomodate proximity and pairing for such devices. The refinements for the Blutooth and wi-fi interest me along with the (new) ability to have the microphone always-on, like the MOTO X. Drives the conspiracy-theory folks nuts, of course.

I’ll let you know in just a couple days at the rumored announcement date…

Big news for laptops.

The 4th gen core processors are rolling off the line now and through Christmas. Also called HASWELL, these new processors have significantly better battery life. I’ve talked about them for the last year — and I said to WAIT FOR THE 4TH GENERATION! The third generation will be discounted slightly while they sell out, but they will not really compete in battery life.

The same goes for the BAY TRAIL atom processors for tablets and Windows tablets. These will compete in either the Android or Windows RT catagoties and should shake things up a bit around Christmas.

Not much going on in the desktop category.