The Verge 2016 tech report card – The Verge

The Verge 2016 tech report cards: Virtual reality, TV, and apps

2016-12-31T10:00:01-05:00

Oculus Rift | James Bareham

Consumer VR has yet to establish itself as a viable commercial product or mass-market artistic medium, and it's still possible that it never will. But there's no denying that 2016 was a huge turning point, both socially and technologically. VR didn't exactly soar this year - but it didn't crash and burn, either.

At the beginning of 2016, virtual reality was almost purely the province of developers, artists, and the lucky few who got to see their work. Concepts were usually more important than execution, and VR experiences didn't have to be good, just novel. The only real options for most people to try it were the Samsung Gear VR, an interes …

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The Verge 2016 tech report cards: Headphones and streaming music

2016-12-31T09:00:01-05:00

This has been a queer year for headphones. Two groundbreaking pairs of cans were introduced by an unlikely suspect, but with each of them commanding a four-figure price, those breakthroughs might as well not have happened for most people. Apple catalyzed the move toward wireless technology with its omission of a headphone jack in the iPhone 7, while a bunch of smaller players launched terrific wired options that fit into most people's budgets. So just as it starts to seem like headphones are reaching a peak of consistently high quality, the tech industry is flipping everything on its head and giving us reason to consider buying yet more stuf …

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The Verge 2016 tech report cards: Cameras and gadgets

2016-12-31T08:00:02-05:00

Cameras

Two things immediately struck me when I walked onto the show floor at this year's Photo Plus Expo. Nikon's booth was all about the company's new line of action cameras, including the one that shoots 360-degree photos and videos. Just across the way, Canon's booth was covered in imagery of the M5, the company's most serious attempt at making a mirrorless camera. These two companies put out fantastic flagship DSLRs in 2016 - Nikon with the D5, Canon with the 5D Mark IV - and yet here they were, showing off cameras that were decidedly not their moneymakers.

Facebook and YouTube stepped up support for spherical content in a big way

2016 w …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Drones

2016-12-30T10:00:01-05:00

2016 was a year of highs and lows for the drone industry. DJI led the way with Mavic Pro, a gadget that made huge improvements on the size and simplicity of a powerful camera drone. It fits into a jacket pocket while delivering four miles of range and advanced autonomous features.

While DJI was climbing to new heights, a lot of its competition stumbled

Unfortunately, while DJI was climbing to new heights, a lot of its competition stumbled badly. 3D Robotics, which last year seemed like the most promising competitor to the throne, more or less abandoned the consumer drone market after its Solo drone delivered disappointing sales. The heavy in …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Tesla

2016-12-30T09:00:02-05:00

In 2016, Tesla started to move into adulthood. Though the company hasn't been a startup for years (Tesla was founded in 2003), it's still a small fish in the world of car manufacturers. But it's getting bigger, and as it grows, Tesla is becoming a large company with consequential responsibilities.

Grown-up companies can no longer blame problems on youth and inexperience. While Tesla has been experiencing some growing pains, especially around the rollout of the Model X, overall things seem to be going according to plan. Whether things will continue to go according to plan is the great question for 2017.

At the beginning of this year, Tesla …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Uber

2016-12-30T08:00:01-05:00

The Verge published an estimated 165 articles about Uber in 2016. To me, that seems low. So much Uber-related news happened this year, it boggles my mind: Lawsuits, self-driving cars, a new logo, new app, more lawsuits, new community guidelines, a murder spree, self-driving trucks, and finally, the first Uber gadget.

There's no question which company won the ride-sharing wars - but at what cost?

In many ways, the company strengthened its stranglehold on the ride-sharing industry by making deals and releasing products at a furious pace, all with the purpose of remaining the most widely used transportation service on the planet. Lyft and oth …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Samsung

2016-12-29T10:00:01-05:00

Samsung has always had a history of ups and downs, and that was none more evident than in 2016. The year started out remarkably strong for the company, and it put out impressive products that turned out to be huge hits with the buying public. But Samsung pushed its luck and got burned - literally.

Samsung came out the gate running in 2016 with its Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, launched in March. The pair proved to be the best smartphones Samsung had ever made, complete with great design, class-leading cameras, long battery life, and stunning displays. Samsung even brought back fan-favorite features that were dropped from prior phones, such as wate …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Microsoft

2016-12-29T09:00:02-05:00

Microsoft used the past year to put some of its failures behind it, and paint a clearer picture of its future. That future looks a lot like artificial intelligence, augmented reality, and universal apps everywhere, and the software giant has been laying strong foundations towards it in 2016.

While HoloLens was announced in 2015, Microsoft started shipping the head-mounted display to developers earlier this year. Microsoft is pushing its idea of mixed reality with devices like the HoloLens, but the company also revealed recently that it will support virtual reality headsets in Windows 10 in early 2017.

It's safe to say Lumia is over and done …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Apple

2016-12-29T08:00:01-05:00

For Apple, the year 2016 may be best remembered as the year the headphone jack was stripped away from the iPhone, without any real apology, by one of the few organizations that has the power and gall to kill popular consumer tech standards and call it "courage." It was a year of awkward product launches, and it seemed that every new gadget was also coupled with disappointment.

But 2016 was also the year that gadgets weren't necessarily the most important thing at Apple. The company's most critical moment actually had its roots in the end of 2015, and it's something that may be of even more importance in 2017.

Things were tweaked, lost ports …

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The Verge 2016 tech report card: Nintendo

2016-12-28T09:00:02-05:00

From years of watching E3 and knowing deep down that every cool game being demoed from Nintendo won't be released for at least another year (or two), the company was a refreshing surprise this year. By capitalizing on nostalgia, Nintendo made 2016 the year it truly got our inner kids excited again - even if the thrill was temporary.

'Pokémon Go' turned augmented reality something that finally felt accessible

The Pokémon Go craze was cultural phenomenon despite the whole thing lasting about two months. Rarely do we see games that manage to get people outside and exploring the physical world with a sense of childlike discovery. With Niantic's …

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