Considering that Windows 8 is still relatively new, and that a lot of people are still trying to adapt to the new operating system with its unorthodox design and layout changes, problems are nothing surprising. One of the issues, apart from the subjective criticism that the operating system has been receiving, is certain folders slowing down under Windows 8. More specifically, this complaint has been lodged repeatedly against the Downloads folder, whereby users claim that clicking the Downloads directory from the sidebar, to the actual folder’s contents loading up, can take up to 10 minutes in worst cases. While I haven’t personally encountered the problem, there are some steps that you can take to remedy the situation, not just for Downloads, but for any folder that slows down under Windows 8.
One of the biggest hindrances with buying a top-of-the-line smartphone, is the premium price that you have to pay for it. There are usually two ways of how high-end phones are sold; either you pay the full price to the manufacturer and get an unlocked device, whereby getting the freedom to go with whatever network fancies you. Or, you may opt to buy the phone through a wireless carrier, where you pay a much subsidized rate for a big trade-off: getting stuck with that carrier for the term of your contract. In the latter case, the carrier pays the full price to the manufacturer but sells you the device at a much lower rate, and in turn, locks down the smartphone to their network, so you cannot use a SIM card from another network just like that. That’s a generally agreeable rule for most users.
Whenever consumers are considering to purchase a new piece of kit like a smartphone or a tablet, there are always important questions to be asked about whether or not that device meets their specific requirements and whether or not it is fit for their overall intended purchase. One of the most important aspects of any mobile device is the battery life, and although each manufacturer gives an indicator on how long it should last for before requiring a charge, we should know by now that this information is based on perfect factory conditions without any load being applied to the device. An independent consumer group has taken the chance to look at the main players in the tablet game and pit their batteries against one another with some rather expected results.
With every new revision of iOS, the firmware modding folk are always waiting to pounce, sourcing ways we can potentially jailbreak, unlock and downgrade our devices. With the release of iOS 6.0.1, the mindset is no different, and while there's real big news on the jailbreaking front, those of you wishing to revert from the latest iOS 6.0.1 back to iOS 5.1.1 can do so with relative ease.
What we use our smartphones for the most is, unarguably, communication. There can be various forms of communication – cellular, short messages, IM, social networking, email and whatnot – but the fact remains that the basic usage of any smartphone device stays the ability to connect to the world and communicate. It’s also a no-brainer that you don’t keep glued to your phone twenty-four hours a day, which is why these devices continue to operate and send and receive communication for us even when they’re not being actively put to use. For those times when we were not actually looking at the screen (heck, we didn’t even hold the phone in our hands; it was in the pocket), we have notifications – ringtone alerts, vibrations patterns, LED lights – but there’ll always be a notification.
Rockstar Games promised, and has finally delivered a mobile version of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. To commemorate ten years of the legendary title, a touch-friendly version has been created, and for those running on iOS, it is now available at the App Store for download.
The Apple iPad is so popular right now, that the word "iPad" is often used synonymously with the word "tablet." Although tablets already existed in various forms prior to the 2010 release of the first-generation iPad, Apple really forged a competitive market, and nearly three years and four generations later, the iPad is still by far the most popular slate of them all.
There’s one very big difference between Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android: how the updates and fixes work. Of course, there are much more differences than merely that, but this one has its own significance. So, if Apple messes something up in one iOS update, users will have to wait for the company to release another before that issue can be fixed. Be it battery woes to some driver having one line of code messed up, you have to rely on, and wait for, Apple to fix it (unless you’re jailbroken, that is). With Android, however, that’s now how things work. If something’s wrong with even a newly released device, chances are high that someone from the massive developer community will come up with a generally-implementable fix.
Whenever something, be it an achievement, product, or person, sets new, unprecedented benchmarks within any field, there are always those few skeptics ready and waiting to cast fresh doubt wherever an opportunity arises. With the Call of Duty franchise having continually blown other titles out of the water in terms of sales statistics during the past couple of years, there were still plenty of question marks pondering whether the famed CoD series had lost its touch. Today, publisher Activision has answered that question quite emphatically by delivering the damning news that the latest installment - Call of Duty: Black Ops II - has passed the billion-dollar holy grail in a mere 15 days.
If you live in the United States and regularly make use of the powerful Google Voice service on iOS; have you ever wished that there was something that made the whole experience a little more streamlined, attractive and just that little bit more enjoyable? I hear a yes from most of you, and if so, then the gMessage app for iPhone and iPod touch could be the little piece of software that provides that enhanced Google Voice experience.
