While most people would argue that tablets are actually an entirely different breed of portable, mobile personal computers (PCs), even the smartphones of today are not merely communication devices anymore. They’re much more than that; combining features from an internet device, a portable media player, a handheld gaming console, a personal information manager (PIM), to a lot more other features. I remember when Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone back in 2007, saying that Apple was releasing three devices, all combined into one. This holds true today for any smartphone, whether it be on iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Phone, or any other operating system. For this very reason, you cannot treat any area of the device as less important than others, and among the top critical features is connectivity.
One of the biggest reasons I, and a lot of other Android users, would want to root their smartphones and tablets, and install a custom recovery, is the ability to take nandroid backups. The stock Android recovery console allows you to only either wipe data/factory reset, or to install legitimate, signed ZIP updates for the Android operating system. Custom recoveries offer you so much more, one of which is the ability to back up all the partitions – system, data, cache et al – which lets you restore the device to the state it was originally in.
If you’ve ever wanted to modify your Android device, or actually done any changes, including rooting, for most part, you’d have come across the recovery. For those who are not really aware of what it means, in Android Open Source Project (AOSP), “recovery” refers to the isolated, boot-supporting partition that contains the system recovery console, and which can be invoked to perform system-level modifications without booting the Android GUI. Recovery console is usually invoked using a certain combination of key presses on the device itself, or through the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) via a computer. The stock recovery console of almost all Android devices is rather similar, containing a matching set of options which is rather restricted in its nature. Thankfully, owing to the open source nature of Android, there’s loads of room for customization and enhancement in this partition, and that’s where custom recoveries come in to fill the void.
Flashing new ROMs every now and then is something that’s almost a must for any Android owner that wants to modify their device in any way, and if you’re using custom ROMs, this phenomenon is going to be even more frequent. Developers continually release newer versions of their offerings at a very fast pace, and more often than not, you may find yourself flashing a new ROM every other day. While all of this is both exciting and rewarding, you may at times run into some problems with the firmware that you’re trying, ultimately resulting in the need to go back to a stock one. Samsung devices here have a clear advantage over the rest of the crowd, in that they have Odin3 – the magical tool that lets you download stock Samsung ROMs and flash them to your Android phone with ease. While other manufacturers do prefer offering something similar, Odin3 remains, by far, the easiest to use.
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!
Just as we are approaching the final run-in to the wonderful festive season where everything should be all about smiles and joyful memories, it seems that a mysterious illness has started affecting Samsung's wonderful Android powered Galaxy S III smartphone. We all know how great the S III is, with it widely being regarded as the best Android device currently available on the market, but a rising number of users are reporting that their beloved Samsung smartphones are starting to give up and die with no prior warning or reason given for their digital suicide.
Flipboard is lauded in the mobile industry as a prime example of how the touch interface can make the gathering and reading of content as pleasurable as possible. The app flows like a magazine both aesthetically and functionally, and while Apple's iPad has been supported from the get-go, Flipboard has dragged its heels in bringing support for those on a wide selection of Android tablets. Today, however, the wait is over, and having only recently launched a series of new features for its iOS app, Flipboard has now been tailored to those wielding a tablet of the Google software variety.
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.
Microsoft may be planning to bring its revered Office productivity suite to a bunch of new devices in the near future, but hitherto, a service by the name of CloudOn has allowed consumers to use the software on their mobile devices. Today, CloudOn has been updated to version 3.0, and among the refinements in usability, it now boasts support for the iPhone, iPad mini, as well as the Google / ASUS Nexus 7.
