One of the disadvantages of using head/ear-phones is that once you put them on, you lose all track of the (sound of) things happening around you. In a crowded, noisy environment this is actually a good thing, but when you’re at home where there is, more often than not, complete silence, it isn’t.
JoinedSeptember 6, 2010
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Passionate writer at Redmond Pie, casual photographer, sharer of amusing links and an amalgam of all things geeky. Follow me on Twitter: @waisybabu
While Apple offers a more straightforward unified system of backup and restore of its iOS devices through iTunes, Google has a more modular approach with Android. Your contacts are backed up through Gmail, apps and other purchases through Play Store, list of apps, bookmarks and system settings. Other, more important data such as photos, text messages, homescreen configuration, apps settings etc. have to be backed up through third-party solutions.
HTC's "Sense" is one of the top manufacturer skins on Android and for good reason: while some call it bloated, it is undoubtedly one of the most powerful skins of the bunch. Rooting and flashing different tweaks enhances Sense but no tweak enhances HTC Sense like developers j4n87's (co-developed by richmondo & m0narx) "LeeDroid Tweaks".
Smartphones of today are the ultimate example of the convergence of technology. These devices act as a camera, music player, video player, internet communications device, a phone and, in relation to this post, a powerful torch.
Have I mentioned how Android is really good with context-sensitive apps? Just a few days ago we covered Timeriffic which allowed users to set custom WiFi/data, ringtone and notification, media/system volume settings based on the time of the day. One area where Timeriffic lacked was in its inability to set profiles based in other contexts.
While the iPhone 4S has, hands down, the best camera on a smartphone today, HTC’s last flagship device - the HTC Sensation - is no slouch. It takes sharp 8MP stills and Full HD 1080p videos.
Dropbox is everyone’s favorite cloud storage, backup and syncing service, and for good reason: it is fast and secure, supported on a wide variety of platforms, free space is given away on a regularly basis and, well, it just works.
The most popular custom aftermarket firmware CyanogenMod is seeing a big update today. In an post published over on their official blog, the CyanogenMod team has released the first Release Candidate (RC) of CyanogenMod 7.2.
While everyday folk are completely fine with the stock configuration that their Android smartphone comes in, enthusiasts like you and me prefer customizing things for either a better looking user-interface (UI), better performance or both.
Battery life is hardly the most impressive feature of today’s most popular smartphones. For enthusiasts like you and me, there really isn’t any smartphone that can come off the charger in the morning and make it through the night to be useable the next work day. And so, until the next revolution in battery technology comes along, it’s best to work on conserving as much battery life as possible without losing features that make your smartphone smart.

