As an avid user of both iOS and Android-based devices, I am pretty pleased with what they can achieve at stock level. Having said that, the real fun arrives in what can be done to extend the capabilities offered as standard, and I am constantly amazed by some of the apps and modifications one can perform to make a smartphone even smarter.
Translation apps are very popular among travelling enthusiasts because of, well, their ability to near instantly translate snippets of foreign languages into your language of choice with a good amount of accuracy. Apps available on smartphones and tablets reflect this, with them being among the top apps under Lifestyle / Utilities.
Remote desktopping has long since been an integral part of computing, but tablet devices have made this practice a whole lot easier. The quality of remote desktop apps for mobile devices varies as much as the prices do, and although there are plenty available for both iOS and Android, only a handful of them seem to be worth bothering with.
Even before the well-documented IPO a few months back, Facebook had been placing increasing emphasis on improving its mobile prowess, and the purchase of Instagram for a cool billion dollars outlined this desire even further. Despite acquiring the most formidable social image app on the planet, Zuck and his team has continued without relent to improve its range of apps, while also bringing forth some new ones at the same time.
Voice recognition wasn't a new invention when Apple introduced Siri towards the end of last year, but it certainly caused a stir within the mobile industry. Packaged in iOS 5 for those lucky enough to own the Cupertino company's iPhone 4S, much was made about a technology scarcely touched upon in an industry seemingly apt for it.
One of the most popular features of any connected device, regardless of whether it is a desktop machine, mobile smartphone or a games console, is being able to get onto the internet and see what marvels are available. To be able to achieve this the device in question obviously needs to have some kind of web browser application that acts as the medium between the device and the user. With Google only recently releasing their Chrome browser onto the iOS App Store, mobile web browsing has been a recent topic of discussion, especially the performance issues that surround browsing.
Third-party apps really extend your smartphone’s functionality in ways you couldn’t even really imagine before. Sure, there are games and browsers and dictionaries and whatnot, but I’m talking about apps that do something unexpected and turn out to be quite useful; today, we came across a new app that meets that description. Check it out after the jump.
It doesn't matter which mobile device you own or use, or what mobile operating system it is powered by, the relevant app marketplace for that platform will be packed full of social networking applications. Staying in touch with friends and family via social networking sites such as Facebook, Google+ and Twitter is definitely the new big thing, but sometimes having to sift through all of the available software to find which one is best can be nothing short of a nightmare, dramatically removing the enjoyment of being social.
Smartphones are the ultimate example of the convergence of technology. These gadgets that fit in the palm of your hand can act as your music player, portable movie player, handheld gaming console, voice recorder, portable storage device and a whole lot more thanks to third-party apps.
As many of you already know, Android 4.1 Jelly on the Google / ASUS Nexus 7 uses a mix of tablet and phone user interfaces. The home screen launcher is fixed in portrait mode with virtual buttons at the bottom like the Galaxy Nexus, but when you go into landscape mode for landscape-oriented apps / games like Dead Trigger, the virtual buttons are placed at the bottom unlike the Galaxy Nexus. This is a completely new mix for UI (with respect to placement of virtual buttons) that has never been seen before on Android tablets; Google developed this specifically for the 7” tablet form factor.
