As photo-sharing truly hits its stride, an entire ecosystem is born around it. But what is creation without consumption? That’s what Divvy is all about.

We met the folks behind Divvy at the TC Meetup + Pitch-Off. At its core, the app aggregates all your photos from Facebook and Instagram (Twitter, Flickr, Dropbox all coming soon) into one filter-capable stream. You can also save photos from Instagram, zoom in on photos, and share with groups or individuals.

The Divvy team drove cross-country to get the Divvy word out before hitting up the Austin Pitch-Off. But does standalone consumption have a place in the already-crowded photo space?

While the idea of a centralized location for photo viewing and engagement (rather than multiple social networks to check) makes us pink* with barely controlled glee, we also maintain that a photo creation experience is integral to making any app of this kind a true “one-stop shop” experience.

But that’s not to say that the team isn’t already working on that.

I give Divvy a hesitant fly — I’m on board with idea and trajectory (assuming they add photo creation soon) but also don’t feel addicted to using the app. John also gives Divvy a fly, as well as his blessing.

*We got the memo.

In lieu of a formal review, Matt Burns and I sat down to take a look at the Samsung 700T AKA ATIV Smart PC Pro 700T, a convertible tablet that has a small button on the keyboard that pops out the Windows 8 tablet that forms the brains of the machine. The device is a bit chintzy – more pressed metal and injected plastic than I like to see on a laptop – but at about $1,000 retail it’s an acceptable compromise for Win8 users who are looking for a nicer tablet.

I gave this device a Fly simply because I like the idea – a laptop that turns into a tablet with much fuss – but Matt was unimpressed. A little treat for you: this thing was so hard to describe that I had to read the name off of my phone and I still mispronounced it.

The laptop hit about 6 hours of battery life and a Geekbench score of about 4,000, on par with the i5 tablets we tested. The lower price – especially at this late in the game for this laptop, make it an interesting choice for a fleet laptop but I think the fit, finish, and power could detract from its overall appeal. It’s an interesting laptop, to be sure, but not the best of the bunch.

Haven’t quite gotten your fill of the Galaxy S4? We haven’t, either. First came the announcement, then the obligatory berating posts about the crazy launch event, followed by the review, which brings us to this fateful judgement day.

Will the Galaxy S4 fly or die?

The answer is clear, and still multi-layered.

There’s no doubt that the Galaxy S4 — packed to the max with the best specs in town — will sell more than its predecessor, the Galaxy S III. Not only does it have a 5-inch 1080p display, a speedy little quad-core Snapdragon 600 CPU, 2GB of RAM, and a 13-megapixel camera, but it has a whole bevy of new software features that are sure to delight and surprise.

But what does the GS4 tells us about Samsung’s greater strategy? Well, it’s clear that the Galaxy S4 morphs Android to something beyond recognition, which is almost entirely Samsung-influenced.

Many of the stellar features like AirView are baked in on an OS level, and you can expect to see even further deviation from the Android ecosystem (while still being the industry leader on Android) as we move forward.

Still, you’d be hard-pressed to find much to complain about with the Galaxy S4.

Fly on, Samsung. Fly on.

In a land where entrepreneurs are struggling desperately to integrate location into the worldwide photo-sharing phenomenon, Albumatic may have swooped in just in time.

Ventures like Color and others have tried and failed, and not for lack of funding, to let users enjoy location-based events by sharing photos with each other around that specific event. However, it turns out that sharing photos with strangers, whether you find yourself in the same location or not, doesn’t attract users as much as you’d think.

It’s not the photo-sharing that stops people, but more the “location” bit. Even Highlight, which has nothing to do with photos per se, hasn’t taken off as expected due to the fact that location has very little to do with relevance when it comes to social.

Albumatic takes a new approach, by letting users close-by join Albums and add to them, while users far away can join to watch, but not add. This gives a little more control to the user, and also allows people who aren’t right there next to you still enjoy the photo-sharing process.

Albumatic is in the process of raising $4.5 million in funding, according to a recent SEC filing.

All in all, it’s unclear if people really want or need a service like that, especially alongside our many media-sharing apps like Instagram, Vine, etc. However, if there is a demand for location-based photo-sharing, Albumatic seems to have it figured out.

Two flies.

Skullcandy’s Crusher headphones may not be John’s favorite, but I must applaud the headphone maker for stepping outside the box and doing something different with the Crusher headphones.

The Crushers don’t try to fake a bunch of bass with digital signal processing, but rather use two Sensation55 drivers (one in each ear cup) to trigger a vibration system that gives the sensation of head-rattling bass. Plus, there are two REX40 drivers built in to deliver highs and mids.

I was wrong in the video when I said there was a sub in each ear cup, and John was wrong when he said these are awful headphones, so there are our admissions.

Sure, the Crushers use a gimmick to get their message across, but once you strap in that battery and get to listening, you’re sure to enjoy the same reaction that we had at CES.

To be clear, the Crushers wouldn’t get the same kind of endorsement for me if it wasn’t for the $100 price tag slapped on to these bad boys.

For less than you pay for Beats, Sennhesier, or Bose, you can have the sensation of true, club-style bass direct to your ear, with that same Skullcandy style the company has become known for.

These aren’t meant for the audiophile, musician, or DJ. However, anyone who enjoys over-the-ear audio at an affordable price should check these out. They’ll make you feel like your stroll down the street is a part of a Nicki Minaj music video, and who can put a price on that?

The Crushers come in a number of colors and are available in April for $100 at various retailers and Skullcandy.com.

Google’s new Chromebook Pixel is a curious device. While its beautiful, seamless hardware nearly justifies its $1,299 price tag, the Chrome OS (which only offers access to a limited pool of third-party apps and Google products, plus the Internet) does not.

In the specs department, both John and I are impressed. The Pixel has a 12.85-inch 2560 x 1700 touchscreen. To be exact, that’s 4.3 million pixels (not 4.1 billion, like I mentioned in the video). As MG points out in his review, the touchscreen is truly beautiful. I find myself longing for it at this very moment, while I type this out on my MacBook Air.

The Pixel powered by an Intel Core i5 processor, and comes with 1 terabyte of free storage on Google Drive over three years. If you prefer, Google is also coming out with an LTE-capable version of the Pixel soon, which will come with 100MB/month for two years courtesy of Verizon.

And boy is the Pixel a beauty! It’s possible that the Pixel is one of the best looking laptops I’ve ever set eyes on, and John seems to agree (albeit less enthusiastically).

The main obstacle between the Pixel and two flies is how caged-in the user will eventually be. If you use all Google services, exclusively, then please don’t hesitate to pick up the Pixel. However, if you’re fond of Skype or Microsoft Office or TweetDeck, you’ll find yourself quite displeased the moment you realize you can’t download any of that.

Of course, Google has its own answers for those services with Docs, Hangouts, Drive, etc. But we all have our preferences, and no one likes to feel restricted while at the computer.

As we move toward life entirely in the cloud, the Pixel will become increasingly relevant. For now, however, you either need to adore Google products exclusively or be ready to install Linux.

The BlackBerry Z10 running the new BB10 operating system is a pivotal phone for the company formerly known as RIM. It’s BlackBerry’s flagship all-touch device, and while it has fine specs and cool features, the phone may not be enough to save the beleaguered Waterloo-based company.

To be clear, the BlackBerry Z10 is not a bad phone by any means. According to various sources, the phone’s launches in the UK and Canada were quite successful.

It has respectable specs, including a 1280X768 4.2-inch display, an 8-megapixel camera, NFC, LTE, and plenty of storage, and that doesn’t include all of the nifty features built into BB10.

Unfortunately, many of those features and specs are already on competing phones from Android OEMs and Apple, making it difficult to convince users on other platforms to jump ship. Even messaging, which BlackBerry has taken to a new level, might not be enough to pull Android and iOS users from their respective platforms.

BB10 has possibly the best all-touch messaging experience available, but traditional BlackBerry users will hold out for the QWERTY-packed Q10, while non-BlackBerry people will likely need more than a cool keyboard to migrate.

And then you start to measure the various platforms ecosystem-for-ecosystem, both in terms of digital content and accessories. Apple’s content library for music, movies, and apps extends way further than BlackBerry, and the same is true for Android.

BlackBerry has promised that BB10 will launch with over 70,000 apps, more than any other OS at launch time. In fact, many of them will be the top apps we use today. However, I’m not convinced it’s enough to compete.

At the end of the day, the BlackBerry Z10 is a fine phone. It just happens to be very late.

By the way, the BlackBerry Z10 is allegedly delayed getting to U.S. carriers, but it appears that T-Mobile wants to be first in line with a mid-March launch.

The gap between a full-fledged PC and a touchscreen tablet has finally found a bridge in the Microsoft Surface Pro. The Windows 8 device will be available for purchase on February 9, but we got a sneak peek with the Surface Pro and took it for a test spin in the Fly Or Die studios.

So what’s the verdict?

Well, both John and I agree that this is some of the best work we’ve ever seen out of Microsoft. The company sent some mixed messages with the Surface RT, which was more of a web-browsing, email tablet with a cute keyboard than a full-fledged computer.

But the Surface Pro steps up where the RT fell short, letting users load up any programs they want. It’s the difference between a working, usable computer and a pet project by Microsoft engineers.

As it stands, we’re both very excited about the prospect of a real and powerful Win8 machine to finally stand alongside similarly powerful OS X devices.

We’re both still a bit hesitant towards Windows 8. The Surface Pro rides the line between old, Classic Windows and the new “Metro” UI. The developer base needs time to figure out the Metro side of Windows 8, and having the desktop model as a backup helps ease the transition.

Will it be the most popular consumer gadget on the market this year? No.

But does it prove that Microsoft can be a powerhouse in the hardware realm? Absolutely.

Two flies.

As an old man, I find Snapchat to be baffling at best but Jordan and I duke it out in the Thunderdome that is Fly or Die and come, in the end, to a conclusion.

As Jordan notes, the draw to Snapchat comes from this era’s impetus towards over-sharing. Whereas my generation – slackers, baby boomers, and the like – feel that photographs are essentially permanent memories, this generation believes they are overexposed. By offering a vent for various silly urges, Snapchat lets kids post funny pictures without worrying that they’ll show up on Facebook or the evening news.

Some believe it’s a sexting app and we both disagree. As we note, it takes a lot longer than a few seconds to really pull off solid sexting.

In the end, Jordan and I disagreed and I deleted Snapchat, secure in my world of Kodachrome, Instagram, and the immutable image.

Just in case you haven’t heard enough about the Google Maps for iOS app in the past few months, we decided to take the new app into the Fly or Die studios to figure out whether Google’s navigational offering is worth its salt.

As usual, John and I disagree over a couple of key points, but we both agree that Google Maps is an excellent upgrade to the old version of Google Maps, and it still has a leg up on Apple.

John finds that general search (finding a grocery store nearby instead of searching a specific address) is far superior in Google Maps. I actually feel that both address and general search are better in Google. In either case, we both enjoy the Google Now-style design upgrade.

Google Map Filters have also been revamped, and give all kinds of helpful info like Public Transit directions and traffic conditions.

John seems sure he’ll stick with Apple Maps for his mapping needs, but the proof is in the pudding. iOS adoption has soared 29 percent since the release of Google Maps for iOS. In other words, I’m with the majority when I say that Google Maps is a superior product to Apple’s Maps app.

Flies all around.

You’d think that doing an iPhone 5 Fly Or Die would be a piece of cake, what with 2 million pre-orders in 24 hours, but it’s not so simple. All the complaining of boredom and slight lack of innovation out of Apple… well, it’s not too far off of the truth.

Apple took a huge risk with the original iPhone, and even with the iPod. But it turns out that those products changed their respective industries. And the iPhone, in particular, is the company’s most profitable product ever, usurping the iPod. Now, Apple is the most valuable publicly traded company in the world, and while they’ll take smaller risks with products like the iPad, there’s no reason to make a major change to their shining star.

For this reason, many see the iPhone 5 as a very slight upgrade to the iPhone 4S. The design isn’t all that different, though the screen is a bit larger, and even iOS 6 isn’t all that revolutionary. Especially Maps, but don’t get me started on that.

But in the end, Matt and I still felt compelled to give the new iPhone a fly. It’s not necessarily about the product itself, though I maintain that it’s still one of, if not the, best phone on the market. Our flies have more to do with Apple’s ecosystem. Owning a MacBook, iPad, iPhone (and iPod Touch, if you’re really serious) makes life much easier than owning a Galaxy S III, a Samsung Z series laptop, and a Nexus 7 tablet.

It’s about the ecosystem, and the iPhone 5 is now the flagship of that ecosystem.

The Kindle Fire HD is a big deal. Big.

It has rather excellent specs — a 1280×800 7-inch display, TI OMAP processor, dual stereo speakers, and dual-antennae Wifi (with MIMO) — and it comes at a ridiculously low price: $199.

If the original Fire was competitive (and trust me, it was), this one is about to entirely disrupt the tablet space. We all agree. For the perhaps the first time ever, John, Matt and I all believe that the Kindle Fire HD is a fly.

The build quality is superior to the Nexus 7, which is the tablet’s only direct competition. The display resolution is on par (but doesn’t quite beat) the new iPad. The form factor is all the rage. Plus, it has a bevy of new features including Whispersync for Games, X-Ray for movies, and Parental Controls. Why wouldn’t this tablet be a fly?

Oh, and let’s not forget, it’s hooked into Amazon’s incredibly bountiful ecosystem. Winning on all counts.

Until the iPad Mini…

Subscription services are blowing up. You can have your razors, socks, or really anything delivered to your doorstep. But what about love (and not on a creepy way)?

Dejamor — a new subscription service that essentially delivers his and hers boxes of romance once a month — is disrupting the dating space in a relatively original way.

Instead of picking up a Cosmo or doing Internet research on romance, Dejamor delivers special moments for you and your partner with little to no work (or imagination) on your part.

Both John and I agree that the idea is creative and sound, but the content of the boxes failed to impress John, who was hoping for something a bit more spicy.

But I spoke with founder Rodrigo Fuentes, who said that the boxes will get better and better as the company learns more about who you are and what you want as a couple.

Even so, John didn’t see much flight in Dejamor’s future. Take a look and decide for yourself.

For those of us who enjoy the occasional puff of sumptuous greenery, whether that’s flavored tobacco, leaves of mint, or good ol’ wacky tobacky, the Ploom Pax may be just what you’re looking for.

It’s a botanical vaporizer, meaning that it doesn’t combust the materials you intend to smoke, but rather vaporizes them offering a much cleaner, less smelly smoking experience. Since the Ploom Pax is a botanical vaporizer, you can’t put any smoking oils in its vaporizing chamber, but it’s a small price to pay for a state-of-the-art piece of stoner gear.

It’s an entirely closed vessel, meaning that you can’t bust in and fix a chamber or mouth piece, but that’s likely what makes it so glamorous. It’s made of aluminum, with a little LED light to display when the materials have been vaporized and how you’re doing on battery life.

It retails for $249, which is a reasonable price for this type of equipment, so both John and I felt that the Pax will do nothing but fly.

Fly high, for sure.

Ever since I/O and the unveiling of Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, the blogosphere has been measuring Google’s new Nexus 7 tablet. The verdict in almost every case is good, including our very own iPad lover’s take.

John and I thus found it only fitting to bring the little 7-inch tablet into the studio for Fly or Die. The tablet, with a 7-inch IPS 1280×800 display, a Tegra 3 quad-core processor, and the latest version of Android, didn’t fail to impress.

And the specs have very little to do with it. Sure, that Tegra 3 proc probably contributes quite a bit to the snappiness of the tablet, but the display isn’t anything to write home about, nor is the measly 8GB of on board storage. (I know there’s a 16Gb model, but without external memory you’ll be walking around with a rather “light” amount of content.)

What makes the tablet great is that it’s the first truly premium tablet available in this size and price range. Amazon’s Kindle Fire is great but it isn’t really a computer replacement the way the iPad is, but rather a mobile Amazon content portal. And the iPad, though exceptional in performance and usability, is a little large and way too expensive to fit into the category.

The Nexus 7 fills that gap, and so we believe it’ll fly and fly into many a home. It’s already sold out once.

The real question is whether or not it’ll still have such high demand once Apple unveils that long-awaited iPad mini. September will be here before you know it.

The new MacBook Pro with Retina Display. Sure, it stands to fudge up the Internet, but boy is it pretty!

The display boasts 5.1 million pixels, with a bump from 1440×900 (on the 15-incher) to a full 2880×1800 resolution. It brings Apple’s laptops into the display big leagues with the iPhone and iPad, and gets a bit thinner to boot. Plus, you’ll get an HDMI port instead of that optical drive.

But is the lofty price tag enough to replace your current MBP? The question can be answered in two parts: first, do you have the cash, and second, how much do you love the Internet?

If your laptop is mostly for creating projects, etc. using Apple’s software, then the Retina display will change your whole perspective on pixels. If, however, you’re mostly a web surfer, you may find yourself sourly disappointed by the resolution bump. The Internet, according to Biggs, looks fuzzy and will need to undergo a bit of a revamp to be where it should be on the new MacBook Pro.

Then, of course, there’s the price to contend with. With the 15-inch model starting at $2,200, this is, by far, one of the most expensive laptops on the market.

Let’s just cut to the chase. The Parrot AR.Drone 2.0 is awesome. Pricey? Sure — it’s $300. It’s a toy that costs as much as the smartphone you’d be controlling it with, but it’s a grown-up’s toy, and one that makes a jaded John Biggs very happy. This is far more than I can say for most of the gadgetry on the market today. But John’s opinion aside, this thing just rocks.

The quadcopter has a 720p camera that streams the feed directly to your smartphone, along with a QVGA camera measuring the terrain below. Plus, it comes with a built in GPS and allows you to store to a USB key on the device and upload the footage later. Oh, and it can do a flip.

Now, they can be a bit difficult to maneuver. Matt nearly broke one at Disrupt this year, and flew it straight into a wall. But I think it’s one of those things you have to get used to. John didn’t have that much trouble weaving that thing around cameras and ducking it under lights in our studio. And I imagine that a game of chicken between two AR.Drones at once would probably be a pretty good time.

All in all it’s an expensive, but totally worth-it toy. Two flies.

[AR.Drone 2.0 website]

The Olympus OM-D E-M5 is arguably the best micro four-thirds camera Olympus has to offer. We’ve had issues with past m4/3 iterations like the EP1 and EP3, like awful color reproduction and slow auto-focus. The same problems don’t persist here, and anything that impresses John on the photography front is a rare gem certainly worth consideration.

In terms of specs, we’re looking at a 16-megapixel sensor with removable flash, a digital viewfinder, and obviously interchangeable lenses working with a retro design. It’s compact, and in the words of John, we “really like the solidity of the device.”

In his testing he also found that it’s quite fast to shutter, and that color on this thing is a huge improvement from past iterations. Our one issue of resistance would be the price point, but the best of the best deserves a high price point, which in this case is $1,000 for the body alone ($1,200 with lens).

It’s a bit hard to officially review the Nook Simple Touch with GlowLight as it’s almost exactly the same as the previous version but with one important improvement: it glows.

Arguably, the Nook and the Kindle are equal contenders in the race to the e-reader throne and although I do prefer the Kindle Fire over the Nook Tablet, I feel the Nook Simple Touch is still an excellent choice and one of the best e-readers on the market. Luckily, it just got better.

How does it work? When you hold down the Nook button, the internal backlight smoothly winks on, offering a bright black-and-white reading surface. The backlit text and images are crisp and clear and the device is finally readable at night. In short, if you’re a frequent traveler or someone who often reads in the dark and you don’t want the harsh glare of an iPad or tablet device, this is the Nook for you.

Using the backlight reduces the battery life from 2 months to 1 month and the light adds $40 to the price of the device ($99 for the original vs. $139). All of the other features are the same – the store, the Wi-Fi connection, the ability to take notes and share chunks of text.

Should you buy this version of the Nook over the previous, non-backlit version? If you have the money, I think the added cost is worth the investment. You’ll also want to remember that a similarly outfitted Kindle is definitely in the works so soon fans of Amazon will be able to grab a similar e-reader.

As it stands, however, the new Nook Simple Touch is definitely a fly.
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Opinions on the new break-out social location app Highlight certainly aren’t in short supply.

Alexia thinks that friend-of-friend notifications should be customizable and that women may have trouble getting on board with the idea of constantly broadcasting their location. Eldon thinks that Highlight goes past social networking to be a potential business card swapping service, leaps ahead of a similar style app called Bump. He also thinks that the new update is quite clever. Then of course, Mr. Butcher over in the UK thinks that Highlight is a recruiter’s wet dream, while 500 Startups mentor Brenden Mulligan feels like SXSW wasn’t necessarily the best launchpad for Highlight.

But a few extra thoughts on the SXSW sweetheart can’t hurt, right?

That’s why The Daily tech writer Nicholas Deleon and I sat down in the studio to chat it out. Nick seems cynical about the app’s mainstream attractiveness, while I’m wondering whether or not we actually want or need yet another social network.

It’s a tough call to make, predicting the future of a product, and this one seemed more difficult than ever.