Just yesterday, a little digging by Ars Technica revealed that Samsung had rigged its Galaxy Note 3 device for benchmark tests in order to make it appear as though it performed at higher levels than it did. But while Samsung may have born the brunt of the criticism - not less since, this has happened before with the International Galaxy S4 - the problem doesn't begin and end with the South Korean company. Nope; as it transpires, many of the market's well-respected vendors like to, shall we say fine tune certain aspects of a device's make-up to reflect favorably when those benchmark apps are running, and the fully classified list, as collated by AnandTech, makes for very interesting reading.
Smartphones are more than just communication devices, and have been so for quite a while now. They have replaced personal information managers, multimedia players (famously known as MP3/MP4 players), portable gaming devices, and even photo albums. In fact, the massive internal storage spaces on Android based devices, alongside the ability to supplement it with microSD expansion cards, make perfect combination for keeping your precious memories - both photo and video - with you anywhere. That’s a convenience that we all enjoy, and have become completely accustomed to.
As soon as a new mobile device hits the market and even before, statisticians keenly run the hardware through a series of benchmark tests, which offer a fairly accurate idea of the general overall performance. In the past, we've seen evidence of Samsung rigging the International Galaxy S4's GPU to perform better when running these apps, and now, the folks of Ars Technica have concluded beyond doubt that the Korean company has been up to its tricks again with the Galaxy Note 3.
New smartphones hit the market every couple of weeks nowadays, and although a large portion of them tend to be run-of-the-mill, some of the mobile industry's big companies like to make a bit of a statement with certain releases. This year, Samsung has done exactly that with the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy Note 3, both of which feature, among many other things, a new-look, intuitive lock screen. Unless you're in ownership of either of the Korean company's marquee releases, it's likely you've simply been admiring from afar, but thanks to the admirable work of the folks at XDA-Developers, you can enjoy this neat little feature on your own device.
Playing games on a PlayStation 3 or PC is great fun using a game controller like the Dual Shock 3 from Sony, but inputting data like usernames, passwords or messages to friends using the controller and an on-screen keyboard is no fun at all. Yes there are chatpads and keyboards available with an aim of making getting words onto the screen less of a chore, but that's further expense that in this day and age we can all do without. But, as is always the case, there's another way to achieve the same goal without spending a penny.
Gaming on smartphones may be something of a boom industry, but that doesn't mean that all developers are falling over themselves to launch on every platform imaginable. Take EA and PopCap's Plants Vs Zombies 2 as an example - the title had its worldwide launch on Apple's iOS last month, but so far Android gamers have been left looking over the fence at what their cool neighbors are playing. Yes, Plants Vs Zombies 2 for Android is available to download if you happen to be in China, but that doesn't really help everyone else now, does it?
As is always the case with such things, and especially anything involving streaming video or music, Google’s Chromecast dongle immediately attracted the attention of modders and developers alike. If there’s anything that gets the geek juices flowing it’s going to be a mini dongle with a bit if computing power. Sure enough, Chromecast was hacked, but in a good way which we users always like.
The Galaxy Note 3, which Samsung announced earlier on this month, may be a beast in every sense of the word, but it's not without its shortcomings. Upon looking at the specs alone, it's hard to pick a fault in a device to which Sammy has applied some of the most high-end hardware at its disposal, but if you're a frequent traveller and wishing to use that unholy amount of display real estate to browse the Web from outside your own country, you're going to have a spot of bother on your hands. Yes, as you can see from the title, the Galaxy Note 3, including the Note 2, Galaxy S3, S4 and S4 mini are now being sold region-locked, and considering what the company is offering for its consumers, it would seem a counter-intuitive move on the part of the Korean company.
Facebook may have been around for what feels like forever, but the social network is still missing one or two features that some of us have been crying out for. One of those features is something that seems rather simple on the face of it, and today Facebook announced that we will soon be able to edit our own posts on the social network.
Apple's AirPlay Mirroring feature has been popular among those in ownership of several Cupertino-made devices, but while folks on Google's Android have many similar alternatives, few offer the smooth ease-of-use that Apple's offering is famed for. But the team behind CyanogenMod are working on a system that brings AirPlay Mirroring-esque services to those on Android, and given how dedicated this group of individuals always seem to be, we don't doubt that when it does arrive, it will be a very well polished competitor.
