Customization is definitely one of the main reasons why mobile smartphone users prefer to have their needs handled by the fantastic Android operating system. Most aspects of customization are extremely popular within the Android community, but being able to replace the home screen with an alternative launcher setup is growing in popularity, partly thanks to developers who produce work like the lightweight and open-sourced LauncherAdvanced app which provides a great set of highly-configurable options to tweak the device.
Ever since Temple Run took the casual gaming world by storm, there has been a marked spike in the number of similar, running-based titles. TheEndApp, Agent Dash, and PITFALL! are prime examples of titles which have enjoyed great success by adopting the tried-and-tested motif, the latter of which has finally debuted over at the Play Store. PITFALL!, as many veteran gamers will be more than aware, is a classic in its own right, and having left millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users hooked on its challenging levels, those on Android can now lose themselves in the immersing world of PITFALL!
A MacBook Pro, Air or iMac may come pre-installed with the latest version of OS X, but it hasn't always been the case. Once upon a time, when buying a new Macintosh computer, users would have been opting to let their computing needs be handled by the old Macintosh operating system that may have served its purpose at the time and formed the foundation for what we have today. But it was in no way as functional or as aesthetically pleasing as OS X Lion or Mountain Lion. We have seen in the past that some people do love that nostalgic trip down memory lane and now that is possible with the Mini vMac emulator software for Android on the Play Store.
If you cast your minds back to the month of June, you may remember the news of Google's decision to acquire the powerful mobile productivity suite Quickoffice for an undisclosed fee. All told, things have been pretty quiet since then, but today, Google has made Quickoffice for iPad free to Apps for Business customers. In addition, the search giant also stated that free Android and iPhone versions would be coming soon, which although promising, all but wipes out any possibility of Quickoffice hitting the comparatively less-used BlackBerry and Windows Phone platforms.
If you're tired of waking up having forgotten to charge your smartphone, and realize that a relatively high amount of battery has been reduced considerably, you are not managing your device's functions properly. If you run out of juice much quicker than you think you should be, the chances are, a few tweaks and alterations to the way you manage your handset could make all the difference. Deep Sleep Battery Saver wants to help with the science of battery retention, by slipping your smartphone into a deeper sleep overnight -while you're tucked away in bed.
When iOS 5 was released, the most effective feature that I found to be was iMessage – Apple’s own web-based messaging solution that worked not just on iPhones, but also iPad, iPod touch, OS X, and then some, making conversation easier than ever before. I had used a lot of internet messengers before for both Android and iOS, but none matched the convenience of iMessage in my opinion. However, if you’re on Android, the best alternative that you get is, beyond question, WhatsApp Messenger. The app is fast, it’s sleek, and works just right. The support for almost all versions of Android also mean that it doesn’t suffer from the platform’s segmentation issue as much as some others do.
It’s a generally accepted fact that first mover advantage exists in all fields of life, including the online world. If you look at the most famous web services and applications today, this indeed seems to be the case. However, there are almost invariably always some exceptions to the general principle, and Facebook happens to be one of those. When today’s social networking giant entered the market, there were already big players like MySpace, Orkut and Hi5 in operation, but Facebook offered something different, continued to improve on it, and thrived with it. Today, the online portal boasts enough active members that had it been a country, it would’ve been one of the largest in the world by population.
Yahoo! may have been bullied from its once-prominent web position by the likes of Google, but the Sunnyvale-based company still has something to offer. Today, Yahoo! has released a glut of new mail apps targeting those on iOS, Windows 8 and Android, as well as revamping its web-based offering, and we've got all the details after the jump.
Since being acquired by Facebook for close to a billion dollars all those months ago, it's fair to say Instagram hasn't changed a great deal. The tried-and-tested method of facilitating photos, filters, comments and likes hasn't gotten any less popular as we approach the end of 2012, and today, Instagram has pushed out a couple of new features to keep Instafans happy-snapping.
All smartphones and tablets facilitate the activation and deactivation of the ringing / alert system. Without this ability, we'd be left with loud ringer or message tones in the most inconvenient situations like meetings, libraries, or other such environments, but while slipping a device into silent mode isn't particularly taxing, it would be a great deal better if we could simply create a schedule for when we want our device to be silent, and when we want to hear it speak. It's certainly on my list of 'simple things smartphones should be able to do natively, but often can't,' and help is at hand for those on Android courtesy of an app by the name of Silence.
