It has long since been known that Google could be offering as many as five new devices to its Nexus range this Fall, and seeing as Google brands rather than builds hardware, it teams up with reputable manufacturers in order to bring such new and exciting products to market. The Galaxy Nexus, for example, was made by South Korean mobile device glutton Samsung, while the much-lauded Nexus 7 tablet was hooked up thanks to the engineering work of ASUS.
It wasn't that long ago when Samsung answered consumer calls to offer some additional color options for those who wanted to purchase their flagship Galaxy S III Android device. Samsung introduced some nice alternatives in the range with colors which they claim were inspired by "earth's richest materials". We aren't really sure why Samsung felt the need to include a backstory with each color choice rather than just pushing out the new handset to consumers and let them make them choice. Nevertheless, the Amber Brown, Garnet Red, Titanium Grey and Sapphire Black options all added a new dimension to the powerful handset.
Among the first things hardcore Android enthusiasts do after unboxing their shiny new smartphone or tablet is to look for ways of gaining root access to it. “Rooting” is the Android equivalent of “jailbreaking” (an iOS term) which lets users run apps that can make changes to or access system level data and resources.
Because of just how many liberties Android offers before you even root your phone, apps that replace built-in functionality like the keyboard, launcher, and our category of interest today, the gallery app are very popular. We’ve covered a good variety of high quality gallery replacements over the last few months, and we’ve come across another interesting gallery app today called iGallery. Check it out after the jump.
The last few weeks have been dominated by the announcement of new hardware from Apple and Nokia in the form of the iPhone 5 and the rather gorgeous looking Lumia 920, respectively. Media events held by Nokia and Apple concentrated on introducing the world to the two new pieces of kit and have succeeded in raising excitement levels for the future of the industry. Apple's new iPhone and the Lumia 920 are sure to be extremely successful in their own right, but it's also worth paying some attention to what the world's largest smartphone vendor - Samsung - has in store for us.
If the old saying bigger is always better is actually true, then it looks like HTC could be onto a winner with one of their latest pieces of hardware. We've been expecting HTC to announce something big (literally) for a while now and have even caught the odd glimpse of some prototype images that have been doing the rounds on the web for the last few weeks. As we brace ourselves for public release of the iPhone 5 at the end of this week, we can also get our hopes up about a great new HTC smartphone, possibly carrying the One X 5 moniker.
Fans of innovative products and mobile gaming will probably be familiar with the original iControlPad hardware that connected to mobile phones, allowing the user to control their favorite games without having to fiddle with on-screen controls. The initial bit of kit connected to smartphones through Bluetooth and brought an extra fun element to mobile based gaming, but things have been taking a little step further with the company's second iteration of the product that they are trying to get funding for via the Kickstarter platform.
We definitely live in a world where we all value the benefit of receiving something for nothing, which is why a lot of the most popular mobile apps are ones that are entirely free of charge to download and don't cost anything to use. Consumers may not immediately see the value in developers building software that isn't monetized, but a lot of times, the work is supported by investors or finances that come from advertisers meaning that savings can be passed onto the consumer. The AireTalk app is a great example of a free of charge piece of kit, but it also has a ton of functionality as well.
Regardless of what side of the fence you happen to sit on when it comes down to the old and rather tiresome Android vs. iOS debate, the fact remains that each of the mobile operating systems has definite benefits over the other. The flip side is also true that each of the firmware comes with a definitive set of issues that can, on occasions, deter users from purchasing a device that runs them. One of the oldest myths that still seems to get airtime is that iOS is security tight, but we have seen that disproven on multiple occasions. However, even though Apple still has a little work to do with iOS, the latest reports suggest that Android users are definitely at risk.
S Voice for Galaxy S III may look and work a lot like Siri for iPhone 4S, but it has been shown in multiple tests that both voice-based services are, in most ways, inferior to Google Now that comes built-in with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.
