Despite having been around for considerably less time than the App Store, Google Play has grown to house almost as many apps as its Cupertino rival. With 2012's conclusion nigh, the Big G has released a list pertaining its favorite apps and games released this year in two separate lists. "Games We Love" focuses on those addictive, exciting, and thought-provoking releases this year, while "App Focus" gives an insight into the rich, diverse quantity of apps available.
It is being reported that the Samsung Galaxy S IV, the next generation of Samsung’s flagship smartphone, will hit the shelves in April 2013 and include features from the Samsung’s mini-tablet, the Galaxy Note, such as the infamous ‘S Pen’.
Android is constantly a target for those looking to spread malware, and the latest - discovered by Russian security outfit Doctor Web - is probably one of the more significant to date. Arriving in the form of a trojan, it can aid the loathed Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks, while also housing the ability to send spam SMS messages and receive commands from the criminals behind them.
Galaxy S4 Concept Features An Edge-to-Edge 1080p Display, Laser Keyboard, Android 5.0 & More [VIDEO]
The Galaxy S IV is yet to be announced officially by Samsung, but given the popularity of Android's most successful smartphone series, it's not too surprising to see the blogosphere abuzz with speculation regarding the features of the Galaxy S III's eventual successor. We've heard various talk of 1080p unbreakable displays, CES announcements, and April release dates, but as yet, we haven't much of an idea of its aesthetic form. As we await our first leak, Russian blog rozetked has thrown up a very intriguing concept design featuring a laser keyboard, super-svelte form factor, and an edge-to-edge display, all topped off with a delicious helping of Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie. Sound intriguing? We've got more juicy details - and a sumptuous demonstration video - right after the break!
Samsung’s Galaxy Note and Galaxy Note II were two devices that redefined how the world viewed smartphones. The Dell Streak had been perhaps one of the original phablets (phone + tablet), but the Note lineup’s revolutionary design, hardware specifications, and the exclusive S Pen stylus made it something much more than any of its predecessors. Add to the fact that the device was produced by the famous Korean manufacturer that had already made for itself a towering reputation with droids, didn’t hurt the device’s success in any way. If you think about it, the Galaxy Note is a complete winner in almost all aspects, except for the large size (which is completely a matter of preference and opinion, by the way).
While most people would argue that tablets are actually an entirely different breed of portable, mobile personal computers (PCs), even the smartphones of today are not merely communication devices anymore. They’re much more than that; combining features from an internet device, a portable media player, a handheld gaming console, a personal information manager (PIM), to a lot more other features. I remember when Steve Jobs introduced the original iPhone back in 2007, saying that Apple was releasing three devices, all combined into one. This holds true today for any smartphone, whether it be on iOS, Android, webOS, Windows Phone, or any other operating system. For this very reason, you cannot treat any area of the device as less important than others, and among the top critical features is connectivity.
Being able to use a keyboard of your choice, and not just by aesthetics, but a completely unique package with a distinct feature set of its own, is one of the biggest freedoms of owning and using an Android device. I have used both the iPhone and iPad as my daily drivers, and while iOS boasts one of the best touch-based character entry mechanisms in the market, there’s still a lot to wish for in the stock iOS keyboard. Even with a jailbroken device, you don’t get a really staggering number of choices, and definitely nothing close to what Google’s droid has to offer. Android simply leaves iOS biting the dust on this front.
If you’ve ever wanted to modify your Android device, or actually done any changes, including rooting, for most part, you’d have come across the recovery. For those who are not really aware of what it means, in Android Open Source Project (AOSP), “recovery” refers to the isolated, boot-supporting partition that contains the system recovery console, and which can be invoked to perform system-level modifications without booting the Android GUI. Recovery console is usually invoked using a certain combination of key presses on the device itself, or through the Android Debug Bridge (ADB) via a computer. The stock recovery console of almost all Android devices is rather similar, containing a matching set of options which is rather restricted in its nature. Thankfully, owing to the open source nature of Android, there’s loads of room for customization and enhancement in this partition, and that’s where custom recoveries come in to fill the void.
Some developers in the Android community had been inspecting the internal CSC file of their Galaxy Note 2 smartphone in order to find out what possible features and handy little shortcuts Samsung had decided to prevent users from gaining access to in different localities on the phone. In an extension of that work it seems that the same developers have dedicated a little bit more time to the cause and have provided a list of modifications that can be made to the system CSC file in order to enable a few hidden and secret features that lie dormant on the international Galaxy Note 2.
Customization is definitely one of the main reasons why mobile smartphone users prefer to have their needs handled by the fantastic Android operating system. Most aspects of customization are extremely popular within the Android community, but being able to replace the home screen with an alternative launcher setup is growing in popularity, partly thanks to developers who produce work like the lightweight and open-sourced LauncherAdvanced app which provides a great set of highly-configurable options to tweak the device.
