Smartphone Status: 2014 Smartphones and iPhone Air?

Christmas came and went. Hopefully you had a good Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or anything else that I forgot. Is it just me, or did 2013 fly? Some years just feel faster than others. So, if 2013 is almost gone, then that obviously means 2014 on the horizon. What does this mean for smartphones? In 2013 we had the iPhone 5, 5s and 5c, the HTC One, and an unnecessary number of Samsung smartphones. Of coarse, there are hundreds more, these are just a few. There have been a bunch more tablets too. Some of the best selling were the iPad mini and iPad mini with Retina display, the Surface 2 and Surface 2 Pro, and the Samsung Galaxy Tab and Mega. Right now, the main tablets that's getting all the love and attention is the iPad Air. Hmmm. I wonder where Apple got the idea for that? (Hint, hint, the MacBook Air). The tablet is really nice and is true to its name. Apple really likes their products that are "light as air". Nobody saw that coming.  I think it is fairly accurate to say that Apple will have another Air product within the near future. Maybe, an iPhone Air. I personally think this is the dumbest idea ever, but people seem to be talking about it a lot. I think Apple would be smart enough not to make an iPhone with that name. Then again, they did make 3 iPhone 5's so who knows.

The iPhone Air isn't the only rumored smartphone of 2014. There are at least a dozen. Another one of my favorites is the HTC Two. We know that there will be follow up smartphone from HTC, but no one knows what it will be called. The HTC 2 would be really stupid. It will probably  be called something with a bunch of random letters and numbers. Once again, everyone has been calling it the HTC Two. I'll give everyone who thinks that 10 bucks if it's called that. And considering how many people actually think that it will be called the HTC 2, I won't be able to give even half that many people 10 dollars. So, I can't make that promise. 

What We Want From iOS 8... And What we Don't Want

 iOS 7 wasn't the greatest success. I like it, but my opinion doesn't matter to Apple. They have plenty of other things to worry about. Like, for example, iPhone 6, or iPad mini 3, or the iWatch, (ahem, Apple, I'm talking to you) or maybe even the much anticipated iOS 8. Android 4.2 is on the horizon, Android needs to have something to compete with. So, I made a list of things that I want to see in iOS 8, if that's what they decide to call the new operating system.

•  Which leads me to my first point. iOS needs a new name. iOs 4, 5, 6, and now 7 are all numbers. They should get creative with they're names. Like the Mac operating systems. They were all named after cats. Mountain Lion, Panther, Jackal, etc. At least until OS X Mavericks came along and ruined it all. I can't blame them though, eventually they were going to run out of cats, unless they revert to 'OS Tabby' or "OS Hairless'. Apple would really get some crap for that. I don't really have any suggestions to call the future operating systems. As long as they don't do roman numerals or dogs. The last thing we need is in 20 years to have iOS XL. So, my first word of advice is to make the iOS names more interesting.
•  Secondly, I would like to see or in this case feel, a new way to access things. On an iOS 7 iPad I'm always opening the search bar when I want to check my notifications and vice versa. I find the accessing controls messed up. i don't know if iOS should switch to voice controls, or just make everything accessible through the command bar that is featured in iOS 7. My second word of advice regarding future iOS updates is to make the controls more user friendly.
•  Let's talk a little deeper. As an iOS 7 user, and knowing many other iOS users, it's sad to say that the future iOS's need to improve their stability. iOS 7 crashes all the time. It doesn't matter if it's an app, the actual phone. iOS 7 crashes. It's unacceptable. Especially for  an Apple product. That's kind of sad. I hate to be saying this but Apple needs to improve the stability with there software and operating systems. It's weird because iOS 6 never crashed. All of the sudden everything crashes.

 Is there anything else in iOS 7 that needs improving?