Samsung is well known for pushing the boundaries in the mobile division, never shy to pack in seemingly excessive hardware like the Galaxy S4's octa-core Exynos 5 processor. As well as continually pushing the overpowered SoCs, the Korean company also enjoys pushing the displays sizes up further and further, and although there must eventually come a point whereby the limit is reached and the screen cannot get any bigger, it doesn't look as though that time will be coming anytime soon. With the Galaxy Note II at 5.5-inches and the Galaxy S4 offering 5-inches of real estate, the latest reports suggest the company is ready to turn things up a notch with a new line of 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch 'Galaxy Mega' handsets.
BlackBerry has spent the past year preparing and reinventing itself for another serious assault on the smartphone market, and although the company did try sticking with the old formula and essentially flogged a dead horse for far to long, the company looks ready to be taken seriously again. BlackBerry 10 looks like an intuitive, innovative operating system much more in line with the likes of iOS and Android, and with the BlackBerry Z10 certainly strong enough to hold its own against many of the market's considered elite, the Waterloo, Ontario-based company is looking for customers once more.
Apple has just begun seeding the next installment of Mac OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4) to both AppleSeed testers and developers registered at Dev Center. The associated information offers very little in the way of detail, but considering this is just a minor number bump up from OS X 10.8.3, we wouldn't expect anything groundbreaking to reveal itself here.
April is an exciting month mainly for two reasons. The first is Samsung's Galaxy S4, which is easily the most anticipated smartphone release this year; and the second is the HTC One, which, for numerous reasons, has already been touted as the best Android handset the market has ever seen, and we agree with the notion wholeheartedly. The latter of the two titans was announced some time ago, but yield issues on some of the hardware powering the device's marquee features have beset numerous delays upon the Taiwanese company. Now though, it looks as though folks interested in the One won't have to wait that much longer, with reports suggesting pre-orders on AT&T could begin as early as Thursday April 4th, with the HTC One release date touted in the April bracket officially.
Playboy has launched a brand-new lifestyle app for the iPhone, and although the magazine is renowned for its very colorful content, the new app is decidedly toned-down, and different in some ways from the web version. As well as pictorials featuring fully-clothed subjects, there is plenty of lifestyle-orientated content on offer, and the app, which is free to download from the App Store. More details can be found after the jump!
With Google having confirmed its intention to cease operation of Google Reader (in spite of hundreds of thousands of petition signatories pleading them to reconsider), Reeder has found itself looking a little bit lost. The app's creator Silvio Rizzi has spent the past couple of weeks trying to assure users of the popular app that it wouldn't "die with Google Reader," but with Rizzi himself lining up one or two projects in the same field, many still suspect the service is about to be culled, the outlook is bleak. On a brighter note, as of today, Reeder for Mac and iPad is free of charge, and we've got the details and download links coming right up after the break.
Earlier on, sources revealed that Facebook's big revelation at Facebook Home on April 4th would entail an all-new operating system from the social outfit, based on Android. Much in the way Amazon offers its own, custom OS atop Google's open-source ecosystem, Zuck is said to be about to reveal a similar offering tailored to the world's largest social network, and now, AndroidPolice has gotten its hands on a system software dump of the very first device said to carry the new software.
Google's Maps is by far the navigation utility of choice not only on the company's very own Android platform, but also iOS, where millions of iPhone, iPad and iPod touch users have downloaded the search giant's third-party offering from the App Store. Why do we all love Google Maps so much? Well, besides being one of the most accurate and feature-rich experiences in the field, it is also incredibly easy to use, and the swiping, tapping and pinching gestures make the whole process pretty seamless. Thanks to mobile device enthusiast Carl Sednaoui, we've got a little video demonstration of a feature many of you may have missed within Google Maps, which allows users to zoom in and out effectively using a little-known one-handed shortcut.
Google set the tone nicely for this year's April Fools by announcing the closure of YouTube alongside a new "Treasure Mode" for its popular Maps service, but the Big G isn't the only company feeling a little mischievous this Easter Monday. Many other big names, from Twitter to Samsung, have joined in the camaraderie, and here, we take a look at some of the good, the bad, and the downright hilarious of today's spoofs.
A lot of iOS users go through the jailbreak process so that they can install different packages and tweaks that go some way in improving the functionality of their device. Apple has undoubtedly gone through a lot of effort to make their iOS devices some of the most powerful pieces of consumer technology available, but it can never hurt to have different tweaks available that build on that great work from the fruit company. Those who have been looking for a way to improve the capture quality from the front-facing camera on the iPhone or iPod touch should definitely check out the Front HDR package on Cydia.
