We are, some more quickly than others, gradually adapting to the touch-based keyboard. With that said, we've all cursed the auto spell-checking features of our devices, and at a time when we can carry out so many complicated tasks using our smartphone or tablet, doing something as simple as typing a message or note should not be so trying. TouchPal Keyboard for iOS offers a refined, gesture-based typing experience built very much in the image of Swype for Android, and if you happen to be jailbroken, you can make this intuitive keyboard a system-wide implementation.
There are lots of benefits to rooting your Android device, many of which we've touched on at length in previous articles. The best thing about it, in my opinion, is the fact that you can get right into the guts of the Android software, and although Google's mobile OS is quite a bit more flexible than, say, iOS, rooting can still be a very advantageous and fruitful pursuit. Without meaning to continue in the theme of morbidity, if rooting were the practice of dissection, the eXperience tool could perhaps be seen as the noob's meat cleaver, for it allows you to really explore the depths of what your Android device can do, and with a broad repertoire of features, it's a must-have for any fledgling rooter.
The Vice President of Swype Inc. has confirmed that his company has been in talks with Apple, and although he stopped short of divulging any details on whether the Swype keyboard technology could be headed to iOS in the near future, it would seem from the comments he made during a Reddit AMA that things went rather well.
In this fast-moving smartphone industry, it's fair to say that both Apple and vendors of Android devices move in similar ways. If one device contains a certain feature, it's almost certain that a rivaling model will look to bring something similar with the next generation, but one area in which Android and iOS handsets have always differed is the display. Apple has stuck faithfully with LCD, while the likes of Samsung have placed their faith in OLED, but according to DisplayMate, the new 1080p Super AMOLED panel of the Galaxy S4 more than holds its own against the iPhone 5's Retina LCD display.
The updates to the official Google Play app have been arriving thick and fast over the last couple of weeks. Google Play Store 4.0.25 APK brought a substantially revamped user interface when released earlier on in the month, and that was quickly followed by last week's arrival of Google Play Store 4.0.26 APK, which offered a bunch of bug fixes and performance enhancements. Today, the APK of Google Play Store v4.0.27 has appeared, and as with the last week's version, it's mainly a housekeeping update.
Companies like Nike are showing an extreme will to embrace the mobile landscape and bring forward the benefits of fitness to users around the world by using accessories like the FuelBand that wirelessly transmit captured data back to a dedicated app. General day-to-day activities can be recorded and turned into a fitness challenge. Nike themselves have just brought out a great update to the official FuelBand for iPhone app that introduces some new social sharing features, so it makes perfect sense that jailbroken users should also receive some Nike based love with the NikeNotification+ tweak.
Ubuntu is trying desperately to transition from hugely popular enthusiast platform to mainstream competitor for Mac OS X and Windows. It's fair to say that it has had limited success in doing that so far, but much is resting on the latest big release of Ubuntu, which is almost comically called 13.04 - Raring Ringtail.
The pull to refresh feature within the iOS Mail app is not only a win for smooth, seamless functionality, but the animation has a certain laid-back element of fun about it, something you wouldn't necessarily associate with Apple's often uptight mobile operating system. One developer has taken such a shining to the feature that he's decided to bag up the look and feel of the pull to refresh and distribute it among other apps using WebView. With support for custom colors and just about any app that utilizes WebView, it's a novel little tweak, and we've all the details coming up for you after the break.
As you will probably have heard by now, Microsoft yesterday began sending invitations for its Xbox launch event on May 21st, but one person who wasn't surprised was Paul Thurrott. He initially said the announcement would be coming on April 24th, but later went on to note that plans had changed, and it would instead be unveiled on May 21st. As it transpired, the original date turned out to be the day the invitations were sent, and his revised information about the announcement proved to be right on the money.
The official Twitter app for Mac has just been bumped to version 2.2, adding a whole host of new features including improved photo sharing, support for 14 more languages, and very belatedly, Retina display support. All the features, as well as that all-important download link, can be found after the break.
