AT&T Galaxy S II Skyrocket users rejoice! An Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich ROM (official) has been leaked for the device which can be flashed in a few simple steps. Those of you interested can check out our easy-to-follow step-by-step guide right after the jump!
When the iOS App Store was first launched in 2008, not even Apple themselves could have predicted the store’s meteoric rise to become the undisputed heavy-weight champion of the app distribution world. At the beginning of 2011 Apple launched a competition, offering a $10,000 iTunes gift card to the lucky App Store user who downloaded the 10 billionth app from the store. The Cupertino company has since repeated that offering by giving away a gift card of the same value to whoever downloaded the twenty-fifth billionth app.
Although the first ten days of the new iPad have been relatively successful - particularly regarding initial sales - it hasn't passed without its usual dose of hitches and gripes.
The iPhone is a bit of an all rounder, that it handles its core purpose extremely well, while managing to carry out a whole host of other tasks. However, that doesn't mean that it doesn't have its fair share of issues.
Skype, the popular VoIP communications software, has just updated its iPad app, improving visual quality for those using the new Retina display.
Advanced enthusiasts like to customize every aspect of their smartphone, whether it is the keyboard, the launcher, the overall theme or the boot animation! Yes, it’s not very uncommon to find people spending hours on choosing just the right setup which includes choosing a boot animation that fits the overall theme of the device.
As a company, Apple doesn't particularly like to rely on Samsung or Google to keep its affairs ticking over. It's been common knowledge for a while now that Apple is looking to have its own maps/navigation system - a move which would see the current Google Maps app disappear from iOS, and just today, Sina Tech has reported that Apple is looking to replace Google Search on iOS devices in China with Baidu. Although Baidu is not such a big deal in the Western World, but is the number one search-based outfit in the Chinese market - by a long shot.
So, before I begin, let me preface this post with a little backstory: During CES, Microsoft hosted a competition called 'Smoked by Windows Phone'. Basically, the premise of it was that you would be issued a task on your smartphone, and evangelist Ben Rudolph of Microsoft would then wield a Windows Phone and try to perform that task quicker. If you lose, you would have to admit that you were 'Smoked by Windows Phone'. And, if you do beat the Windows Phone to performing the task, you'd win $1,000.
One thing that Apple did right when they copied Android’s excellent notifications drawer feature was its ability to work even with full-screen apps such as games, video players and alternative browsers. By default, Android doesn’t give you this option. If you’re inside a full-screen app and wish to see the time or the latest notifications, you are forced to exit the app and then pull the notification drawer from the homescreen. It’s inelegant, ugly and simply makes for an inconsistent user-experience.
The official iOS App Store from Apple changed the way consumers think about and purchase software in a similar fashion to how the launch of the iTunes music store revolutionized the online music industry. The App Store was born in 2008 and has grown at a rapid rate over the last few years as millions of users tap into it on a daily basis to download and install apps spanning across multiple genres. Only recently Apple announced that the App Store had served up over 25 billion downloads since its inception, bringing proof if anyone needed it of the phenomenal success of the store.
