One of the perceived downsides of the smartphone industry is the monopolization of devices through carrier locking. At point of sale and when you sign up to a contract with a carrier, it's understandable, but thereafter, getting a handset unlocked can be a trying, if not impossible process. If you want to check whether your device is unlocked for use on any network, a nifty online service completely has your back, and not only is the website incredibly easy to use, but if you're on Android, there's also an app available to download over at the Google Play Store. More details after the break.
Firefox has been one browser that has improved a lot over time, and while Internet Explorer continues to receive the negative feedback from users across the globe, Mozilla’s offering has actually grown into a worthy contender against almost any internet browser, most notably Google Chrome. Mozilla’s focus towards bringing the best of the best to its users continues, and with the release of Firefox 20, they’ve brought some much needed (and appreciated) enhancements to their already popular browser. The new Firefox 20 has not only been released for desktop systems – including Windows, OS X and Linux – but also for Android, albeit with a slightly different change log. Let’s take a look at what’s new and improved just past the fold.
Further to the earlier reports that AT&T would begin taking pre-orders of HTC One handset on April 4th, it has also been revealed that the device will cost $200 as opposed to $250. Moreover, the device will be available on the carrier as of April 19th, meaning it will in fact retail before Samsung's Galaxy S4 hits US shores, and at $200, it would be 20% cheaper up-front than its main Android rival.
Samsung is well known for pushing the boundaries in the mobile division, never shy to pack in seemingly excessive hardware like the Galaxy S4's octa-core Exynos 5 processor. As well as continually pushing the overpowered SoCs, the Korean company also enjoys pushing the displays sizes up further and further, and although there must eventually come a point whereby the limit is reached and the screen cannot get any bigger, it doesn't look as though that time will be coming anytime soon. With the Galaxy Note II at 5.5-inches and the Galaxy S4 offering 5-inches of real estate, the latest reports suggest the company is ready to turn things up a notch with a new line of 5.8-inch and 6.3-inch 'Galaxy Mega' handsets.
April is an exciting month mainly for two reasons. The first is Samsung's Galaxy S4, which is easily the most anticipated smartphone release this year; and the second is the HTC One, which, for numerous reasons, has already been touted as the best Android handset the market has ever seen, and we agree with the notion wholeheartedly. The latter of the two titans was announced some time ago, but yield issues on some of the hardware powering the device's marquee features have beset numerous delays upon the Taiwanese company. Now though, it looks as though folks interested in the One won't have to wait that much longer, with reports suggesting pre-orders on AT&T could begin as early as Thursday April 4th, with the HTC One release date touted in the April bracket officially.
Earlier on, sources revealed that Facebook's big revelation at Facebook Home on April 4th would entail an all-new operating system from the social outfit, based on Android. Much in the way Amazon offers its own, custom OS atop Google's open-source ecosystem, Zuck is said to be about to reveal a similar offering tailored to the world's largest social network, and now, AndroidPolice has gotten its hands on a system software dump of the very first device said to carry the new software.
The ability to control devices and machines remotely is invaluable to many of us in our everyday and working lives, and although remote desktop apps tend to offer a broad range of functionality, sometimes, only the very basics are necessary. XDA-Developers Member RavinduSha has come up with a nifty app offering a remote switch-off feature for Android, and although we'd perhaps struggle to think of many occasions where such an app would be immediately necessary, it's certainly a useful one to have in the inventory.
We told you just recently about the invites that Facebook has sent out, asking the press to join Mark Zuckerberg and co at the company's Menlo Park HQ. Whilst the invite makes mention of a new home on Android, the context of such a phrase was rather cryptic, leaving us all to wonder just what Facebook has up its sleeve. Now, thanks to claims by a fellow blog, it seems we may have some answers.
Google offers an impressive array of useful apps, and one of the benefits of owning an Android device is that each Google App, or GApp, is offered right from the company's famed Play Store. Akin to the Web and desktop versions of apps such as Drive, Keep, Maps and Translate, the mobile versions offer clean, minimalistic and uniform interfaces; but if you're looking for something a little alternative to that quintessentially-Google appearance, one developer has spent a great deal of time inverting the color schemes of said apps to give a radically different appearance. One look is described as "transparent", whilst the other, darker look is "blacked-out", and if you feel as though your Google apps are looking a little washed-out, you may want to check out these modded APKs.
There's not much we like more than a good emulator here at Redmond Pie. There's something about taking a modern, high specification smartphone and making it run software that was written long before anyone could ever have dreamt about such a think as an iPhone or Galaxy S. We'd call it magical, but Apple might try and take us to court over it.
