It's pretty accurate to say that most iOS users who make use of a jailbroken device have been paying attention to the progress of a particular multitasking tweak, after it was revealed that a designer’s fantastic concept was being brought to life by a dev team. That package has since been given the name Auxo, and is now available as an initial release in Cydia, with the hope of becoming the accepted method of handling multitasking on iOS devices by reinventing the controls that are contained within the switcher as well as the greatly enhancing the aesthetics and presentation.
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.
Being able to use a keyboard of your choice, and not just by aesthetics, but a completely unique package with a distinct feature set of its own, is one of the biggest freedoms of owning and using an Android device. I have used both the iPhone and iPad as my daily drivers, and while iOS boasts one of the best touch-based character entry mechanisms in the market, there’s still a lot to wish for in the stock iOS keyboard. Even with a jailbroken device, you don’t get a really staggering number of choices, and definitely nothing close to what Google’s droid has to offer. Android simply leaves iOS biting the dust on this front.
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.
For years, many have been trying to figure out how to add physical gaming controls to the iPhone: a few solutions have surfaced so far, such as the BladePad and the iControlPad, but many of them are either too bulky or just downright unpractical. Luckily, there’s a new case in town: albeit in prototype stage, it has the potential to make your gaming experience much easier and keep the nacho smudges off your iPhone touchscreen.
As part of the plan to bring the full-sized 9.7-inch iPad in line with the recently released iPad mini, Apple is reportedly planning to announce and release the fifth-generation of their popular tablet in March of 2013. The speculated release date is notable due to the fact that it would come only five months after the current model iPad was introduced, and would effectively mean that the Cupertino based company will have launched the third, fourth and fifth-generation models in one twelve month cycle.
Facebook's Poke app has taken the App Store by storm, and in less than a day, already sits aloft the iTunes Free app chart. The app, which, in essence, is a chat app with a few twists, only just released for iPhone, but already, has become the most popular free on the App Store.
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.
The Facebook messaging platform has been on aspect of the social network that has changed dramatically over the years. When Facebook first launched the service, it was driven by the upload of photographs and proved to be an extremely media heavy social gathering place and while that is still true, the built-in messenger functionality has been significantly beefed up recently. Facebook have also recently announced that they are making additional changes to the conversation streams within messages as well as putting a pay-to-message test in place with a subset of United States based users.
I think we all understand the emotive human desire to spend the holiday season with our loved ones and the people that are closest to us but unfortunately it isn't always possible to share the festive season in person with those who matter most. Apple's latest iPad and iPad mini TV ad that has just surfaced today shows that the company not only understands that we can't always connect in person with the important people but that the 9.7 and 7.9-inch tablets make great digital companions that can act as a gateway to the people we love through the FaceTime protocols.
