One of the ongoing battles faced by smartphone and tablet vendors, particularly when attempting to bump the specs up a generation, is maintaining a relatively strong battery life. Squeezing better hardware into the same (or an even smaller) package places an incredible amount of strain on the juice-o-meter, and while the major companies have managed relatively well thus far, there are always those occasions where we wish the battery retention was just a little bit greater. There are plenty of remedial peripherals currently on the market, particularly for Apple's flagship iPhone 5, and in our quest to bring you as many of the latest and greatest gadgets and accessories, we'll today be checking out the NuCharge battery pack and case designed by London-based iKit.
The icon badges currently gracing iOS certainly aren't to everybody's taste, and serve perhaps as a stark reminder of just how in need of updating the notifications system within Apple's mobile software is. Nevertheless, for what they're meant to do, they do a decent job, and whilst we're stuck with them, iOS developer merdok has come through with a tweak offering a bunch of different customization options. It's called Badge Customizer, and is available for free over at the BigBoss repository for jailbroken iPhones. More details after the break.
Every year, Microsoft holds its BUILD conference, which aims to give developers an insight as to what the company has in store with regards to its major software products. While not necessarily limited to Windows, the Redmond company's OS is a significant talking point, and with speculation already in full force with regards to what changes Microsoft is looking to make to Windows moving forward, the software maker has announced that this year's BUILD conference will commence from June 26th this year. You can check out further details right after the jump.
The Samsung Galaxy S4 mightn't yet be gracing the smartphone arena, but that doesn't mean its presence cannot be felt. In fact, it's fair to say that, aside from the iPhone, the Galaxy S4 is easily the most anticipated device to be releasing in 2013, and thanks to a ROM dump being drip-fed by different sources, we're beginning to get a real good look at what's contained within the device's firmware. Along with the earlier leak of S Voice, we're now being treated to some of the beautiful, native HD wallpapers within the 1080p handset. A batch of seven are available to download, and range from the strictly natural to the very beautiful. More details after the jump.
After what has seemed like an eternity in waiting, T-Mobile will finally begin carrying the iPhone 5 from April 12th. The carrier, which currently sits behind AT&T, Verizon and Sprint in the pecking order in the United States, will be the fourth major network to offer the Cupertino handset after the aforementioned, and as well as being compatible with T-Mobile's just-launched LTE network, there'll also be HD voice thrown into the mixer. The pricing structure is also rather impressive, with a 16GB iPhone 5 costing $99 up-front, followed by 24 monthly installments of $20.
Millions of users religiously jailbreak their devices in order to install minor tweaks that change the way specific aspects of the system looks or works, which is why the new LiveWire tweak is sure to be extremely popular with those looking for a free-of-charge animation based download. More details after the jump.
It’s pretty fair to say that the average iOS device user has a significant number of third-party apps installed on their device. Regardless of whether it's an iPhone, iPod touch or iPad; the chances are that the user has browsed through the App Store, found the apps that interest them and gone through the installation process multiple times. Not only does installing different apps mean enhanced functionality on the device, but it also means that sooner or later there will be a large amount of updates for those apps that filter through from the App Store. We should all know from experience that those little App Store badges can become quite annoying if the update isn't installed right away.
If you regularly enjoy modding your Android smartphone or tablet by running custom ROMs and such, it stands to reason that your tendency to dabble would also stretch to your computer. XDA Forum Member FrozenCow has, it would seem, taken this idea of a 'modding mentality' to the next level in the development of his DriveDroid app which, as the name implies, allows an Android device to double up as a convenient boot device for your computer.
Chevrolet has, along with Honda, outlined its intention to integrate Apple's Siri technology into production cars, in a system known as "Eyes Free". Handsfree technology, while useful in helping prevent drivers from becoming distracted whilst behind the wheel, isn't without flaw; and by implementing this new, Siri-based system, major car manufacturers hope to make our roads even safer moving forward. The initial reports of Chevrolet's Siri integration, which first came to our attentions at the end of last November, we got a fairly good insight of how the system would work. Now, following last month's announcement that the 2013 Chevy Sonic and Spark would be among the first to feature Eyes Free, the company has just aired an advertisement showcasing the technology.
Apple has done a pretty comprehensive job of including most of the things that the majority of iOS users would actually need from their daily mobile device usage. Access to the App Store, messaging and email, as well as a feature-rich calendar experience are all staple parts of the iOS ecosystem. Live weather feeds, access to social networks and financial information are all just a screen away, but what if you wanted implement a new and attractive way of telling the time on a jailbroken iPhone or iPod touch? Well, you would use the new animated Flip Clock for Notification Center widget of course, which is styled after HTC's iconic flip clock which we've known for years.
