We have recently seen quite a lot of excitement being created over the release of Google Chrome in beta for Android smartphones, with users experiencing genuine delight at the thought of being able to use one of the world’s most popular browsers on their mobile device. Owners of the Apple iPhone haven't been lucky enough to get a feature packed browser like Chrome, but for the most part, Mobile Safari does an excellent job of offering a very rich browsing experience which keeps users relatively happy.
Samsung's Galaxy S III is, without a shadow of doubt, the most eagerly-anticipated Android smartphone release of this year. With 1080p full HD visuals, a 1.5GHz quad-core processor and a revamped ceramic encasing reckoned to be amongst the new features - it's hardly difficult to see why.
In the past few days, we here at Redmond Pie have (generally) been reviewing apps that replace pre-included, first-party apps; apps that replace the stock launcher, music, gallery, browser etc. etc.
Once again, folks, it's that same old cliché - another day, another tweak; and yet again, another tweak aimed at enhancing the usability of Siri - Apple's answer to Halo's Cortana.
Originally released on November 22nd, 2005, the Xbox 360 has been around for just over six years now. Sure, there have been multiple variations of the 360 that have been launched during that six year period - such as the Elite, Arcade, and the sleek, thinner S - but there is yet to be a major revision to its hardware. That being said, Microsoft's huge focus as of late with the Xbox 360 has been software. At E3 of last year, several major updates to the 360's software were announced and subsequently released, such as Live TV, a redesigned, Metro-inspired dashboard, voice commands, and improvements pertaining to the Kinect.
Privacy - particularly in this most digital of times - is a massive deal. You don't have to look a great deal further than the commotion surrounding Google's big privacy policy amendment today to realize that consumers care a great deal about privacy, and will kick and scream to the high hills if said privacy is threatened in any way.
It was only yesterday morning that the Microsoft team held an event at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona and announced that the Windows 8 Consumer Preview, essentially a prerelease version of Windows 8, would be made available immediately for public download. Windows 8 was described by Microsoft was "Windows reimagined", which sounds awfully familiar to the "Inspired by iPad, reimagined for Mac" tagline that Apple are muttering with their Mountain Lion OS.
If you're an Android user and a fan of custom launchers, well, I have some good news and bad news. The good: TSF Shell, a standout custom launcher which demoed back in December to critical acclaim, has finally been released. The bad: they want a mind-blowing $17 (yes, that's seventeen dollars) for it.
The guys over at OnLive Inc. have been a busy bunch of individuals, bringing us the iPad launch of their OnLive Desktop application a few days ago, and today releasing the Android version of the software which is now available in the Android Market. A lot of you may hear OnLive and relate it to the ability to stream video games without the need for a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360, and you'd be right. The company are also responsible for that gaming platform but have also extended their cloud services further in recent months.
Although I am personally not a regular user of an Android device, I was shocked to read some statistics which showed that only one device currently ships with the latest version of Android, which is 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich installed, and that only approximately one percent of Android devices in existence actually have ICS installed. With a Google Executive hinting that Jelly Bean could be ready for prime time this fall, it seems that Android 4.0 may not even make it onto the majority of devices.
