With LG's new flagship phone, the LG G3, being out in the wild, it was only a matter of time before the company did its usual trick of downsizing it for the more budget-oriented markets out there. It's a tried and tested formula for many companies these days, and LG is not shy about following suit.
As tech rivalries go, Apple and Samsung are two of the fiercest adversaries in the game, and with the Cupertino outfit having recently put down a cool $3 billion to acquire Beats Electronics, it was somewhat inevitable that its Korean counterpart would retaliate with a similar endeavor. Just a few weeks after the Apple-Beats deal was made official, Samsung has responded with an audio hardware announcement of its own, and despite the Galaxy maker's famously extravagant spending when it comes to advertising new products, the new "Samsung Level" range hasn't, for once, forced the Tizen maker to dip so deeply into its apparently bottomless pit of funds.
For cellular customers in the United States, it’s time for good news again, as the US Senate has just passed a bill that makes unlocking of cellular phone devices legal again, preceded by the passing of a similar bill back in February this year by the House of Representatives.
Even though developer Dong Nguyen pulled his immensely popular Flappy Bird game from the App Store and Google Play Store earlier on this year, the cult following it garnered has since spawned various tribute acts and spin-offs. But while most of these clones have been pushed out by opportunistic developers looking to cash in on the title's success, one Apple enthusiast has come through with a port for the Apple II, and surprisingly, it works like a charm. Having released a clip of his creation, aptly named Flapple Bird, in action, he seems to have replicated the graphics and gameplay down to a fine art, and as I think you'll agree once you see the clip, the result is simply awesome.
Apple's next-generation iPhone won’t be officially announced until September, but that doesn't stop the rumor mill from going into overdrive early. We won't know exactly what the Apple has in store for us until the covers are removed from the device, but if you simply can't contain your excitement and are happy to base your decisions purely on speculation then you can already purchase a working clone of the "iPhone 6", designed and manufactured entirely from the leaked designs and components over the last few months.
Even though Apple's iPhone remains the subject of acclaim for its high-end, premium finish, the same cannot quite be said when it comes to durability, with scratches, scrapes, cracks and dents commonplace among the iPhone-rocking faithful, and as such, the market for protective cases and shields is very lucrative indeed. Logitech, an official distributor of third-party Apple accessories and peripherals, has just come through with a cheap, robust solution for iPhone users looking to keep their handset guarded at all times, and notably, doesn't go overboard with regards to adding bulk.
One of the great benefits of owning a Nexus device, or a Google Play Edition of any other popular handset, is that the updates arrive quickly and without those cumbersome delays as vendors take the time to make their own personal tweaks. With Android KitKat 4.4.4 having trickled out a short while ago, those rocking the Nexus 5 have been able to get their fill almost immediately, and today, the search giant has rolled out a very minor bump to those based in Australia, New Zealand and India. Allied to this release of Android 4.4.4_r2, the Big G also pushed Glass's software to XE19.1, and below, you can catch all of the relevant details regarding both updates.
When it comes to voice-enabled personal assistants on mobile devices, Apple and Google have dominated that space, forcing others to either play catch-up or risk losing a percentage of market share from users who require that advanced functionality. BlackBerry hasn’t exactly been up there batting alongside the best-of-the-best in recent years, but while the company may lack traction within the consumer space it still holds some weight with corporate users. In an effort to improve the BB10 experience for that loyal corporate user-base, the company has taken to its Inside BlackBerry blog to officially introduce the Blackberry Assistant, a digital experience that will attempt to rival Siri on iOS and Google Now on Android hardware.
Apple's addition of quick replies to iOS 8's Messages is the kind of feature that iPhone users have been begging for, but it is capable of doing much more. Wouldn't it be great if you could also send quick replies to messages that come in from other apps, and other social services? The mind immediately turns to the ever popular WhatsApp messaging client, and with good reason.
It's a polarizing fact that, to many, celebrity is everything, and when we consider those who command the lion's share of the media spotlight, reality TV queen Kim Kardashian is right up there. But while, in tech circles, she doesn't really get much of a mention, her new iOS and Android game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood has taken the charts by storm, and the free-to-download app, it is reckoned, could rake in an eye-watering $200 million per year.
