A look back at year 2013
OCWorkbench started in 1998 and we have been providing news and review for tech products for the past 15 years.
For those who have been with us, you would have noticed the site has evolved these years. From our old HTML hard coded to PHP scripts and now on WordPress, we are able to manage the site with more ease and add ons.
Year 2013 is a year of gadgets. The Sony Xperia Z was launched in January and we reviewed it right after. We did something insane and dumped it into the toilet bowl. So, it is not only water and dust proof, it is also ‘shit’ proof. It caused a stir on the Xperia blog and it. For those who missed the review, you can read it at https://en.ocworkbench.com/feature/review-of-the-sony-xperia-z-5-jellybean-smartphone/
Right after, we did a review of the WD My Net N900 Central 2TB dual band wireless router. This router is one of it’s kind as it has a 2TB HDD storage right in the box. So, you not only have a wireless router, you can also do a remote backup of all your PCs. As for the wireless capability, it is a non 802.11ac but at that point of time, the wireless speed we reached surpasses that of the ASUS 802.11ac router (when paired with the same 802.11n dongle).
April 2013, we tested the ASUS RT-AC66U Dual band 802.11ac wireless router, the performance is decent but the signal seems to be too strong as we can receive it across the street. You can read about it here.
Computex is just two months away and AMD has started pushing out the Socket FM2 boards with A10-5800K. We did a couple of them with Richland processors. They really offer value for money.
May was the most hectic month with many launches. They include the nwe ASUS padfone infinity followed by a Z87 series introduction. MSI also launched their new gaming notebooks then. We also did our first NAS review, the Synology DiskStation DS213 with 2 x 3TB NAS hard disk.
Sony also launched their Xperia Z tablet https://en.ocworkbench.com/feature/sony-unveils-sony-xperia-z-tablet-the-only-dust-and-water-proof-lte-supporting-tablet-in-singapore/
In June, we reviewed the first Z87 Haswell motherboard ASUS Z87-A with a non K Core i7-4770. https://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/asus-z87-a-intel-z87-haswell-motherboard-review-with-intel-core-i7-4770-processor/
Computex Taipei 2013 was happening during the 1st week of June and other manufacturers are also pushing out new products e.g. DELL notebooks based on Haswell processors. MSI also showcase their latest Z87 boards at IBIS hotel. Sony also unveil their new Haswell notebooks.
AMD enters the ring in July with their 5GHz FX-9590 and 4.4Ghz FX-9370 procesors, probably to counter their Core i7-4770K Haswell solution. We also review the ASUS SABERTOOTH Z87 board
In the same month, Nokia lanuched their 41 megapixel smartphone Lumia 1020. In Singapore, telco M1 launched their IPTV solution with the M1 MiBox Vodoke IPTV set top box.
In August, Sony launched another Z series product, the Xperia Z Ultra 6.44″ phablet. It is a nice phablet but lacks flash led for night.
In September, Apple launches their iPhone 5S and 5C with high anticipation. It introduced finger print scanning which was the first smartphone to support such a feature. There was much controversial over it as it was reported to be hacked just days after it was launched.
We did a review of BIOSTAR Hi-Fi Z87X 3D motherboard and tested the LG G2. We also had a chance to view the latest 4K TVs from Toshiba.
October was a quiet month and we did a HDD review, the superslim Western Digtial Blue UltraSlim 5mm WD5000MPCK 500GB OEM. It is quite stunning to see such a slim hdd as compared to a standard SSD.
Before the year closes, we did a review of the ECS Z87H3-A2X Golden GANK DOMINATION Intel Z87 chipset motherboard with Core i7-4770K. This board may not be the fastest but it showed the determination of ECS trying to make it different by venturing into high end gaming boards. We also set up take a first look the LG G Flex smartphone which can withstand bending even if you sit on it. This month, we also see local TV broadcaster finally delivers HD broadcast through DVB-T2 standard. We managed to captured some images and there are lots of interest from Johoreans as they can receive the spilled over signal.
Of course, we also provided the quarterly tech event price list.
So, what is next for 2014 ? 2014 will start off with CES 2014 happening in LAS VEGAS in Jan 2014. Right after it there is MWC in Barcelona. Do stay tuned to OCWorkbench, join us in the discussions in our forum, facebook, twitter at the following addresses.
http://www.facebook.com/ocworkbenchconnect
http://www.twitter.com/ocworkbench
Do send us your feedback. We also welcome contributed articles so long it is original article with pictures.
OCWorkbench wishes all readers a Fruitful year 2014.
For our list of review/articles please go to https://en.ocworkbench.com/reviews-and-articles-list-ocworkbench/