Speaking of the technology, 2016 was a great year, and we have seen so many things. From new iPhones to issues with the Galaxy Note 7, this year has had its ups and down, so we will see some of the most significant gadget stories that went down in 2016.
1. Explosions of Galaxy Note 7 devices
This news simply had to be on the top of our short list, and you probably know all about it, but let’s look at it one more time. Samsung is a serious company and what happened to their Galaxy Note 7s was a horrible fiasco and a huge disaster, which will definitely influence the decision of the future Samsung customers. This can be called the biggest disaster in the short history of smartphones.
The problem with the Galaxy Note 7 was that it often overheated, exploded or caught on fire. This is something that Samsung should never have allowed because they are the ones who are supposed to produce cutting-edge smartphones.
The South Korean giant recalled their phones and they promised that they would replace the Note 7s with the new devices in the US. Unfortunately, the replacements would also catch fire, and this gadget had to be withdrawn for good. Hopefully, this will not happen with the Galaxy S8 which will be launched in the spring of 2017.
2. Headphone Jack Controversy
Two of the flagship smartphones iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus were released earlier this year and the big news was that they featured no headphone jack. For some reason, Apple decided to remove the 3.5mm headphone jack that can be found on other previous iPhone devices. Most people found this move annoying, but for Apple, this is a revolutionary step.
In order to listen to music on their iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus the users need to buy wireless Apple Airpod headphones, the company developed. These Airpods are expensive, so the customers can also use wireless headphones from a third-party provider or a separate dongle to which they can connect the corded earphones. Although this was an unpopular move, many people still bought the new iPhones.
3. Fitbit Acquires Pebble
This was also news for the cover, and it was a bit unexpected. Pebble was a successful smartwatch producer, and they were bitter rivals to the wearable manufacturers like the Apple Watch and Fitbit. The reason why Fitbit decided to acquire Pebble is the software technology, while the Pebble hardware is killed off.
There are 2 million Pebble users, and this company said that their watches would “continue to work as normal” despite the fact that the company is sold. However, they also stated: “Pebble functionality or service quality may be reduced in the future.” What they meant was that the users might not be able to update their watches at some point.
4. Google’s New Devices
In 2016, we have seen an array of new devices from Google, with the most famous device called the Google Pixel. The Google Pixel is an Android phone from Google that competes with the best, such as iPhone 7 and Samsung Galaxy S7. Google also launched Google Home, Google Wi-Fi and Google Daydream VR.
For example, the Wi-Fi was produced as an answer to Eero, while Home and Daydream were developed in order to compete against Amazon Echo and Oculus Rift respectively.
5. Snapchat Spectacles
Snapchat became a hardware company in 2016, and it rebranded itself as Snap Inc. This year, Snap Inc. released new Spectacles sunglasses which you can use to take 10-second snippets of video and upload them directly to Snapchat.
Which of these stories do you like the most? Is there an important story you would like to add to the list. Speak your mind in the comment section.
