Smartphones these days are not mere communication devices, and I’ve said so many times before as well. What they’ve turned into is an all-in-one solution for portable media playback, internet surfing, managing personal information, manipulating documents, spreadsheets, presentations on the go, and so much more. Not to miss out on one of the key uses that a capable smartphone is put through, is photography. The powerful camera units being mounted atop these devices nowadays have practically redefined the whole digital photography frontier, and spawned an entirely new breed of photographers who have a reasonable quality capturing unit for every moment, right there in their pockets.
For Linux-based operating systems, especially Android, bootloaders are more like a double-edged sword. On one hand, you’d want an unlocked one, because that will enable opening up your device to all sorts of modifications, including gaining root/super user access, but at the same time, an unlocked bootloader also means a potentially vulnerable smartphone or tablet that’s open to malicious attacks. With the amount of new apps that the Play Store gets on a daily basis, it’s also hard to figure out whether an app is truly what it claims to be, or some developer with the intent of stealing your personal information that’s unleashed a Trojan horse in the guise of an otherwise-innocent-looking application. Thus, the risk of remaining exposed stays lingering above you.
If you’re looking for yet another way to enjoy your mobile Android games, NVIDIA has just announced a new portable console that is worth looking at. Project SHIELD is NVIDIA’s take on the portable gaming market: it features a full-sized gaming controller, the latest version of Android and PC connectivity.
In the world of Android, and modern smartphones in general, apps are what define how useful the device is going to be. The popular phrase, “there’s an app for that”, might’ve been notorious for Apple’s iOS platform, but it holds pretty true for the rapidly-growing Android operating system as well. No matter what the hardware capabilities of your device are, unless you supplement them with the right apps, it’s going to be pretty much useless. Android, as a mobile OS, has matured a lot over the years, adding features and useful gimmicks to the AOSP as the versions have evolved. One particular thing, however, that remained pretty much unchanged, was the way how you launch apps on your Android smartphone or tablet. Other than introducing the recent apps list in the newer iterations, Google hasn’t really changed app-launching method, and hence, you have to usually hit the Home button and start a new app from the launcher itself.
For a long time, Facebook was always thought of as a web-based company that didn't put a lot of importance on users who prefer to access their services through mobile devices. The official Facebook app was built around cross-platform technologies making it notoriously slow, unpredictable and unstable, and their mobile website didn't really make things much better. That focus started to shift with the acquisition of Instagram, followed by the updating of their mobile apps into native languages as well as the release of standalone apps such as Messenger and Camera. For the first time, we can now actually get an insight into Facebook's mobile users and devices and firmware that they actually use, thanks to some meticulous data collection from Benedict Evans of Enders Analysis.
My primary camera for day-to-day photos remains my smartphone, for various self-explanatory reasons. It’s portable, has a high-quality lens with reasonable detail and post processing, comes with significant storage space, can shoot high-definition videos, is easy to carry around, and stays with me no matter where I go, allowing me to capture moments wherever and whenever I want. The truth is, smartphones, especially the high-end ones, have revolutionized how we look at amateur digital photography. While nothing beats a true DSLR camera, or even a normal dedicated point-and-shoot one, smartphone cameras have upped the game a few notches recently, and if you consider Nokia’s PureView 808 to be any indicator of what’s to come, with its 41MP sensor and outstanding photo quality, things definitely seem to be headed in the right direction.
Whether you avoid Windows Phone or if Microsoft is not quite your cup of tea, you might have felt at least some interest whenever you see your friends walking in with a new Windows Phone device. Maybe you’re quite a fan of Windows 8 and are looking for a way to bring the same look-and-feel to your Android phone. Tile Launcher Beta might just be the perfect solution to let you do that.
With this year’s CES just around the corner, the world wide web is rife with speculation surrounding the possibilities of what we will see during the event. Various arms of Samsung Electronics are already confirmed to be exhibiting their works at CES, with a number of teasing videos whetting our appetites for a potentially big announcement during the trade-show, but could this leaked image show us exactly what to expect from the Samsung Galaxy SIV ahead of any possible announcement during CES?
Facebook's Messenger started out as an MSN-like instant-messaging service, but has since evolved into an all-singing, all-dancing service complete with its very own app. When it broke away from the official Facebook mobile app, some questioned the necessity of two separate entities, but as Zuck and his merry men have continued to pile on the features, it has become very clear that Messenger is worthy of its lone identity. Today, the popular app for iOS and Android have been updated with even more goodies, such as thee ability to send out voice messages, as well as call friends free of charge.
Thanks to the thriving nature of the Android community, most issues pertaining Google's mobile OS take very little time to be fixed. The likes of XDA-Developers are key hubs in ensuring Droidsters can enjoy the smoothest possible experience, on any given device, and Senior Member lambgx02 has come through with the Seeder Entropy Generator to prevent persistent gaming lag on a deluge of Android devices, notably the Nexus 7. Details after the break.
