If someone thinks smartphones are merely devices for telephonic communication, chances are that they’ve either never used a smartphone, or they’ve actually been living under a rock. Today’s smartphones are nothing short of an electronic Swiss knife – they offer portable multimedia players, news readers, internet communication, handheld gaming, digital cameras, all packaged into one. With powerful quad-core microprocessors, adequate RAM chips and more than sufficient storage capacities, these devices are actually computers that you carry around in your pocket all day long.
In the world of Android, launchers are really what define the outlook of your phone, even if not the actual performance (although that, too, varies significantly with your choices in this arena). For that very reason, there’s no shortage of really solid and well-equipped launcher/home replacement apps in Google Play Store, or available choices across the ecosystem anyway. Tencent Technologies’ QQLauncher is nowhere a new addition to this collection, but it deserves a particular mention now, since the developers behind the neat and smooth home replacement have made it available in English (prior availability was only Chinese), much to the delight of general user base.
We live in an age now, whereby if we don't have our smartphones by our side, we feel somewhat naked. Most of us check our devices more than we'd perhaps like to admit, and with notifications coming through from numerous apps at any given time, keeping on top of them all can be something of a headache.
Getting apps onto an Android device just got a little easier, with a free Windows app being released that makes installing APKs as easy as dragging and dropping them.
We've been teased by Rovio with screenshots and short video casts over the last few weeks showcasing their latest edition to the extremely popular Angry Birds franchise, but now the wait is finally over as Angry Birds Star Wars is officially available to purchase.
Remember the days of yesteryear when smartphones were all about the Windows Mobile experience with a good old stylus to assist with navigating around the system? We may not have had the advanced technology that we have now in terms of touch panels and high-definition displays, but even the early Windows Mobile devices had a set of fantastic and powerful apps like the original G-NetSpeed creation that allowed connected cellular networks to be monitored.
Amusement parks and theme parks are an excellent way of having family, adrenaline fuelled fun, but sometimes they can just be to expensive and too far away. The next best thing is clearly settling down in the comfort of your own home, pulling out your Android smartphone or tablet and creating your own unique theme part right in the palm of your hand. Thankfully, EA Mobile has us covered with Theme Park for Android.
Xbox SmartGlass has been in the offing for quite a while now, and with Windows 8 finally available to purchase online and at all good retailers, the remaining Redmond releases are also beginning to trickle out. SmartGlass for Android is now available to download for free at the Google Play Store, and if you're an Xbox 360 and Android user, this is an app you will not want to miss.
We all remember when Apple introduced their Siri digital assistant software with the iPhone 4S and iOS 5 back in October of last year. The immediate aftermath of that announcement saw a number of voice activated/guided apps landing on the iOS App Store as well as the Google Play Store for Android devices, but nothing really came close to matching Siri. If anyone could produce software to rival Apple’s offering then it was going to be Nuance Communications Inc. and that is exactly what they have tried to do with the initial beta release of Dragon Mobile Assistant.
Experienced and hardcore gamers on the Windows platform will more than likely have used, or at least be familiar with, tools that integrate with the system to provide a visual outlet showing how many frames-per-second the running software is achieving. To a lot of people, and the average user in general, the information is irrelevant, but to developers and those who take things a little more seriously; it is extremely useful to see the real-world performance levels that are being reached. The FPS Meter app on the Play Store now mimics that functionality on Android devices.
