The Gangnam Style music track might be the most immediately recognized sounds of recent times, but without the power, that is YouTube, it is extremely likely that the majority of us would have never even heard of it. There's a good chance that the majority wish they never had heard it, but gathering the momentum of a runaway steam train and becoming the most viewed YouTube video of all time has propelled PSY's track into a worldwide phenomenon, and now thanks to the official Gangnam Style live wallpaper app, Android users can ensure that they are never without a small piece of that horse dance in their lives.
It has always been a subject of curiosity as to why Facebook decided to make its Messenger feature a separate entity on mobile devices. The fact the version 1.0 of Facebook Messenger was riddled to the core with bugs certainly didn't help, but while many had seen the move to separate the two as merely arbitrary or for purpose of vanity, it appears there is, after all, some method to the madness. The Android department of the Facebook Messenger app will soon be releasing an update fairly soon to users in select countries, and intriguingly, it will no longer require users to own an account to log in and get chatting. A direct challenge to the likes of WhatsApp and the traditional SMS app? We think so.
A new Facebook app? Does it really deserve a mention? What’s so special about it? Why should I consider recommending it to my readers? What does it have to offer that current ones don’t? These, and some more, are generally the questions I ask myself whenever I come across a new client for any platform – iOS, Android, Windows, or anything else – for the social networking giant. There are some obvious reasons for that. Being the largest social network on the planet, Facebook has no shortage of client apps – both official and third-party – for any platform. Some of these, like the one for iOS, are really functional and decent, while others are catching up pretty rapidly, and the Android counterpart is no exception. With all of that, a new player like oStream does make one raise eyebrows. However, after my run with the unofficial Facebook client for Android, I was pretty impressed, and satisfied enough to recommend it for your downloading pleasure.
Smartphones and tablets are playing an increasingly important role in our connected lives, something that is extremely evident by the versatility and number of apps that are popping up on the various app marketplaces for individual platforms. Things like email, messaging, social networking, server administration and even remote security monitoring can all be handled from the palm of our hands, and Android users can now transform their tablet or smartphone into a wireless mouse, thanks to the new WiFi Mouse app on the Play Store.
In a few earlier posts of mine as well, I have stated the biggest challenge that I faced when I jumped ship from iOS to Android – the terrible battery life of the phone, and the quest to improve it. It’s not really a particular device’s fault, either; the way Android is coded, it’s bound to eat more battery. Nevertheless, there were quite a few tips and tricks that I came across, along with apps like JuiceDefender that worked wonders as per masses, and perhaps rightly so. However, then I came across another reliable source that advised against using the said app, since that actually contributed to poor battery life, according to them. Beyond that, JuiceDefender is paid if you want total control, so that’s another caveat.
The amount of apps that are available to download for Android and iOS is growing every single day, but it seems that some of the most successful and universally praised apps available are ones that are used to access social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. It has already been proven that developers who manage to create a stunning and functional Twitter client will almost guarantee themselves success, which could be one of the reasons behind the release of the new Falcon Pro Twitter app for the Android platform.
At a time when many carriers offer very limited cellular data packages, Wi-Fi awareness is of much importance to smartphone and tablet users. Many of you will have fallen victim to roaming or download charges at one point or another, but if you stick to a Wi-Fi hotspot, browsing and other online activities suddenly get a great deal cheaper. Unfortunately, when you're not in a Wi-Fi location and forget to turn it off, the strain - or rather, drain - on your battery can be significant. Thankfully for those on Android, a little app called Smart WiFi Toggler does exactly as its name implies, and only prompts your Wi-Fi connection into action when you are in the vicinity of a favored hotspot.
Android toting users of Microsoft's Outlook.com email service rejoice, for today is the day that your prayers have been answered, with the Redmond firm launching a bespoke Android app, bringing Outlook.com email to the Google Play Store.
If you’re into shopping at all, and online version of it in particular, Black Friday and Cyber Monday would be nothing unfamiliar or new to you. Every year, retailers, brand manufacturers, stores and supermarket chains, wireless carriers, and almost everyone else, goes on a sale spree for the shopping frenzy that both these days are. Cyber Monday, in particular, caters to the digital crowd, and aside from the sales on goods that it brings, the app crowd can also rejoice, for this year’s no exception – both the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store – the conveyors of world’s biggest share of smartphone apps – are seeing massive sales on apps that have gone on pricing diets to mark the celebration weekend. We brought you a compilation of all the greatest iOS apps that went free for Black Friday a couple of days back, and now it’s time for its Android counterpart, the Google Play Store.
When I switched over from iOS to Android as my daily driver, the first thing that I ensued was the quest for battery optimization. It’s no hidden truth that iOS beats Google’s cute little droid hands down in this arena, and if someone claims otherwise, they might want to try reaching out to the likes of Guinness World Records or something, for that matter. Nevertheless, despite the platform’s own shortcomings, there are always steps that one can take to maximize the potential that the Li-ion cells in the back of your handset have to deliver.
