Modern smartphones are designed to be online constantly. With fast 3G and 4G radios built right in and Wi-Fi on tap, it's fair to say that we live our lives through our smartphones these days, and that means they're full of data that needs keeping safe.
If you have deep pockets, or more likely just a large handbag, it might often be difficult to hear notifications from your phone, leading you to return home with multiple unanswered notifications of text messages, important emails or Facebook notifications. A new Kickstarter project, known as the EMBRACE+, is an electronic bracelet that will light up whenever a notification from your phone is displayed.
Over the last few months, speculation has been all over the tech world about Samsung’s major upgrade to its flagship smartphone, the Samsung Galaxy. At last, the company announced its intentions to hold a press event to officially show off the device; now, it seems that the same event will be open to the public, a move that the company hopes will kickstart customer interest in the new product.
I cannot say it enough that Android has evolved a lot over the years that it has been out there in the market. Not only has the operating system received a major interface and performance (under the hood) overhaul, but a slew of new features has also been added to the mix, making it all the more useful to any smartphone owner out there. With the improvements in the operating system also came certain new technologies to the block in terms of hardware, and some of them joined hands such that they not only complement each other, but are so dependent that you cannot use one in the absence of other. One such technology remains, NFC.
Real Racing 3 has finally arrived for iOS and Android in the U.S., and is available to download right now from the respective stores of each platforms. Being free to play, it's sure to attract a large audience, and if you enjoy the likes of Asphalt or Need for Speed, then Real Racing 3 is a release you'll most certainly want to try out.
Root is one of the fundamental concepts for Android, right from the inception of the operating system, to the point where it has today become the leading smartphone platform, evolving far beyond it was when it started. When it was started, gaining root access on Android wasn’t as simple as it has become today, and much credit for that goes to the Superuser apps developed by ChainsDD, and then the SuperSU by Chainfire. Both these apps have made it “super” easy to get Superuser access, but that, too, is dependent on a custom recovery. And when it comes to custom recoveries, nothing could perhaps ever gain as much popularity as Koush’s ClockworkMod.
Back at WWDC 2012, Apple announced that iOS 6 would be getting a new native app called Passbook, which, as we now know, is a utility offering an organized, digital solution for vouchers, tickets, boarding passes, and other wallet-fodder. Not to be outdone, arch-rival Samsung has just taken the wraps off a very similar utility by the name of Wallet, which looks to be an Android incarnation of Apple's fledgling offering. Having made the announcement at the big Mobile World Congress, the Korean company has also given a short video demonstration, and although the clip is only 45 seconds long, it looks as though the app offers the same functionality as the Cupertino company's earlier version.
In its essence, Android is a variant of Linux, built over a shell of the open source operating system that has been a major contender in desktop systems for Microsoft’s Windows and Apple OS X. Since the mobile operating system is running a Linux kernel underneath, it therefore follows the same pattern and rules that apply to its elder sibling. Generally, Linux-based operating systems have a very efficient memory management mechanism, enabling users to make full use of the system’s available RAM. However, one thing that has plagued Android since its inception is the sluggishness that the OS generally presents, which becomes even more pronounced as you continue to use your device.
Visa's very own NFC software is about to hit the mobile market, and with Visa being a well-established, world-recognized brand, it's no surprise to see the company has found a mutually beneficial deal with Samsung to implement the software into a fleet of Samsung smartphones. First up for some Visa NFC treatment will be the eagerly-anticipated Galaxy S IV, which is set for announcement in New York next month, on March 14th.
Thus far, it has been a pretty winning formula. Devices created by Samsung, but running Google's Android software, account for 40% of total Android smartphone sales, and have helped Android become the number one ecosystem in terms of reach. With this in mind, you may think Google would be happy that its key manufacturing ally is doing so well, but while the search giant is grateful its partner is shifting such vast quantities, the Mountain View-based outfit is also a little worried the Korean company's dominance is getting a little too big, and wants other vendors to step up their games and offer some competition.
