Smartphones have made our lives a lot, well, smarter, to put it in one word. They serve multiple purposes in our daily lives, such as portable media players, capable replacements for point-and-shoot cameras, personal information managers, handheld gaming devices, internet browsers, social connectors, news and eBook readers, email managers, document suites, and of course, communicators. We have become too accustomed to all these luxuries, that it would be hard to imagine going back ever to a dumb phone, and we have become so reliant on these conveniences, that our lives definitely feel incomplete without taking full advantage of the capabilities that a smartphone has to offer.
Sometimes, you just need to transfer a presentation to a co-worker or friend, or a home movie to a family member. In the age of fast Wi-Fi and smartphones, why use physical medium when you can simply send files around over the air? If you are using Android, Fast File Transfer is an easy-to-use utility that lets you do just that.
Nike has enjoyed great success in its ongoing partnership with Apple, to bring its sporting and athlete-focused technologies to first the iPod, and more recently, iOS devices. The FuelBand, in particular, has been a huge hit among active folks, and although wireless syncing for iOS is nothing new, those of the supposition that such an Android app would follow suit have today had their dreams abruptly shot down.
Application launching on mobile devices has been an issue that many have been trying to address ever since the widespread use of smartphones became a reality a few years ago. Swapps is a new Android app that takes an interesting approach to app launching, bagging cues from Ubuntu’s Unity interface, more specifically the sidebar.
Back when smartphones first became a reality in most of our lives, we quickly began struggling with managing all of our installed apps, as app stores have become increasingly filled with games, productivity apps, weird camera apps and even completely useless utilities. AppSpace is a new app launcher for Android that takes a different approach, placing apps in a virtual space, associating your favorite apps with different physical objects which are placed in a virtual “room”.
Launchers are one thing that truly define Android. While iOS has been following a strictly conventional design for a long time now, Google’s smartphone and tablet operating system has consistently and elegantly been different thanks to a huge variety of third-party launchers that are available across various forums and Google Play Store. In fact, the popularity and utility of launchers is such that big Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) like Samsung and HTC, have their own brand of custom Android skin that runs on top of the native OS underneath.
Smartphones and tablets, in fact most computers, tend to deplete with age. Like their human masters, they succumb to viruses and such, and over time, become a little bloated, sluggish, and cannot reach the kind of peak levels they could when new. As is the case when a human decides to take to the gym and eat a little healthier, there's always hope for our beloved devices, and if you feel like your Android handset or slab is not performing at the levels you expect, you may find some respite in the form of All In One Booster PRO.
For many, sending text messages is a huge component of a social life, especially when sitting on your work desk, or lying at the beach, is just much more comfortable than speaking to people in person. If you are using Android, there is a new intuitive and appealing SMS messaging app that makes this form of social interaction much easier and intuitive.
Samsung's Galaxy S IV is the most eagerly-anticipated Android smartphone release this year, and considering it has the ever popular S II and S III as its predecessors, it's little wonder Samsung is said to be pulling out all the stops with the fourth addition to the Galaxy S family. According to reports originating from Korea, the 4.99-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display that the company showcased at CES is nearing the production line, with manufacturers set to begin assembling the part by the end of this month. As a result, screens will start shipping to Samsung Electronics in early March.
The fact that many Android smartphones and tablets offer expandable memory via the microSD slot means quite a few users need not worry about how much space they are using up as they accumulate new content. This cannot be said for all mobile devices though, and when a small amount of storage is coupled by the lack of cheap, expandable media support, one must be a little more economical with how much music, video, and images one retains. Image Optimizer, the brainchild of one XDA-Developers member, seeks to reduce the oft colossal file sizes yielded from taking high-res shots, but in turn keeping the quality loss of said images down to a minimal level.
