As 2016 draws to a close, so do some of the more ambitious mobile tech projects of recent years. Cyanogen OS is dead. Pebble is dying a slow death and wearables aren’t necessarily the hot commodity some had hoped.
This was also the year that I launched the LPX podcast, featuring interviews with people like:
- Jim Hall: founder of freeDOS
- Brooke Binkowski: managing editor of Snopes
- Michael Mrozek: developer of the DragonBox Pyra handheld computer
But as we get ready to greet 2017 with new chips, smartwatches, phones, tablets, notebooks, desktops, and more… let’s take a look back at some of the most popular topics we covered in 2016.
Note that this list is compiled from Liliputing’s Google Analytics stats. In order to make the cut, these stories had to be published in 2016 and had to be one of the top articles in terms of traffic… but not necessarily in terms of comments or other metrics. It’s not necessarily the best way to evaluate a year in tech, but it’s one of the simplest.
Remix OS
AÂ bunch of our top posts this year were related to Jide’s Remix OS. This Android-based operating system is designed to make Google’s software feel more like Windows or other desktop operating systems.
Initially released as firmware that tablet and laptop makers could preload on their devices, this year Jide released a version of Remix OS that you can run on nearly any PC.
Here are some of the most popular Remix OS-related  posts published on Liliputing:
- Running Remix OS on a PC
- Remix OS for PC: How to install the Google Play Store (largely obsolete now that Remix OS includes a link to install the Play Store)
- Remix OS for PC beta: How to dual-boot Windows and the Android-as-a-desktop OS
- How to run Remix OS on a Mac (Written by my friend Lory Gil, before she got scooped up by iMore).
Hardware/software hacks
- Playing with Fire: Hacking Amazon’s $50 Fire tablet
- Turn an $11 microSD card reader into a WiFi router
The only Laptop story to hit the top 50
Seriously, I looked at the 50 articles that got the most views in 2016 (some were written in previous years), and this is the only one about a laptop:
Other software-related articles
- Phoenix OS is (another) Android-as-adesktop OS
- Now you can install Android TV on a PC (unofficially)
- Turn a $35 Raspberry Pi into a Chromebox with Chromium OS for SBC
- Coming soon: Android TV for your Raspberry Pi 3
Mini PC articles
- Intel Compute Stick Review (Atom x5, Windows 10 model)
- Gole1 mini PC review: Blurring the lines between tablets and desktop PCs
- $40 ODROID-C2 is faster, has more memory than a Raspberry Pi 3
- 70+ Raspberry Pi alternatives in one convenient list (we didn’t write the list, but our article about it generated a lot of traffice and discussion)
So what have we learned? While Liliputing began as a website about netbooks and morphed into one that also covers smartphones, tablets, portable notebooks and other mobile devices, some of the most popular articles this past year were about cheap, tiny desktop computers, software, and a perennial favorite: how to get more out of cheap devices that you’ve spent money on.
What are you looking forward to in 2017?
I’ll be honest – items like the Surface Studio are amazing, but I’ll never be able to afford one. Therefore, I don’t pay much attention to those high end devices. Anything in the sub $200 range is they type of thing I click on. Anything about hacking a cheap device or installing a different OS is going to get my eyeballs. Please continue these things.
PS Fuck Brooke Binkowski.
We’re not that kind of friends.
Cool, hope that 2017 will be as interesting and innovative in the “little computing” world…
personally I am still waiting for the “one device to rule them all” that I can do all my computing on… something affordable, powerful and light.
In 2017. tablets and the “like” with really good, responsive keyboards.
And nowadays we regard all “more Memory” as good.
Ah, the days of relying on Quarterdeck’s DesqView for multitalsking.
Iff cheap enough, like the micro drones, tablets and the netbooks coulde be laid out as multi-independent gatherers and intelligent gadgets.
Better than set one program going, now another and go back and look at first results, all on the same machine.
What else is OUT in 2017?
Windows PCs with only 32gb of storage.
Touchscreens that require a Stylus.
Blackberry, they’re toast.
Windows 8, good riddance!
32 bit operating systems
Ubuntu Touch
Happy New Year to Brad and the Lilliputing community!
Looking forward to more miniaturised computing of course!:) This is my favourite tech-site these days, I migrated over from UMPCportal and the like, when that dried up.
Am always interested in the odds and ends of the business, instead of the mainstream tech, like the Yotaphone and other dual screen devices, UMPCs, mini pcs and all the other fun stuff.
Oh oh, and stuff like that crowdfunded “laptop” HDMI screen with keyboard, that was basically a dock for a phone of a interl-stick. That was pretty cool in that it was using common standards, instead of a very proprietary interface like those folio or continuum devices use.
So Brad…. how did the GPD Win articles go?
I thought they would be number 2, but didn’t even make your list.
PS Thanks for an awesome year at liliPuting!
https://uploads.disquscdn.com/…
I’ve been waiting something like 5 years for a phone sized product with a desktop OS. And no, I don’t mean something lightweight I mean something powerful enough to finally be The Only Device You Need.
I thought Blackberry would do it with QNX, then Ubuntu with Touch… finally MSFT brought something like it to market but it needs work still.
Maybe 2017 will be the year.
In 2017 I am looking forward to the growth of VR, more versatile cell phones (i. e., more cell phones that double as desktop pcs) and more powerful yet affordable 2 in 1 PCs.
Happy new year Brad.