Monthly Archive: August 2015

Since the advent of smart phones the Android platform is elevated itself from an inglorious semi part-time project within Google’s ranks to become one of the most prolifically utilized mobile operating systems on the market. Android and its supporting app ecosystem’s success has grown in a symbiotic relationship to become an absolute dominant force on the world market.

With over 1.6 million apps available on Google Play alone it can be difficult to find the best apps suitable to a user’s needs and the following apps are indispensable and represent the best of its kind on Google Play as at current. Any.DO is a productivity assistant to-do list, featuring voice recognition, day planner, missed call notifier, calendar, folder browser, and several other helpful features. Google Keep is an alternative productivity assistant to-do list, offering similar features with an incredibly simple easy-to-use interface. As a third option Wunderlist is also packed with great to do list with similar assistive features. Users can be assured any one of the three options would be a purely personal choice as all three offer wonderful functionality.

Boomerang inbox for Gmail will become a firm favourite for handling your emails on mobile that offers incredible versatility and useful features such as scheduling of messages, a message snooze function, have a message recur. A second option called Inbox from Google themselves now improved with similar functionality and in addition can pin emails as to dos, tracking options, schedule reservations and several other very useful functions including plugging into your Google account and show Google Now task reminders in app.

Today Calendar is a fully featured calendar application that works easily, offering a simple interface and overcame the difficult task of creating a user friendly phone calendar in the limited screen real estate available. This calendar excels offering a user-friendly split to displaying an overview of the users month in the top of the phone screen and your agenda for that selected day displayed in the bottom half. Several quick actions allow users to make calls, or pull up an address, or even send a quick email with a single tap.
All of the above apps offer features that are about as good as anyone can achieve from any app utilising the limited screen real estate available on a cell phone.

The iPhone remains one of the company’s most high-end devices and comes equipped with the latest and most powerful specs offering new features and increasingly powerful CPU and GPU’s, added RAM with every new derivative released upon and expected Apple community. It has become one of the most demanded cellular handsets globally that has become so well-known for its exquisite design, quality and leading performance it has become a must have as soon as a new model appears on the horizon.

Because we use these incredibly handy gadgets so often so many different purposes they can slow down over time, gradually losing its brand-new glossy feel, but this is not something that users need to accept there are ways to rectify it. Following are a number of ways to speed it right back up to a shiny new performance standards in just a few simple steps by cleaning and optimising and tuning for maximum performance without resorting to drastic measures.

Firstly in order to work at maximum performance rather of free RAM is required somewhere between 500 MB and 1 GB depending on the number of applications on your phone, to achieve this check under your settings tab in general usage the currently installed apps and the amount space they occupy on your phone. Select the largest apps storing the greatest amount of data and clear out the cache as well as useless documents or temporary files, continue doing this until you have at least the above-mentioned amount of RAM available, your handset will with near instantaneous effect improve its performance markedly.

Secondly to improve battery life check for potentially power sapping application settings that you might have switched on after the phone was newly acquired. You never may have used these features again while they continue sapping precious available battery life also check your phone settings such as screen timeout and Bluetooth standby times. Also disable app push notification settings, disable Ping, email push notifications, and or location services if you don’t use them often.

The third method to improve performance is to check the iTunes sync settings you may have unrequired podcast managers enabled or deleted that may now broadcast unnecessary Wi-Fi syncing requirements. This would imply emails, calendars, and contacts as well as default apps the settings that will slow down the syncing process.

Immaterial of the version the freedom offered by the Android OS makes it a tinkerer’s dream, since it allows users to tweak, optimize and customize its system performance from all angles. Tweakers can utilize junk file hunters, cash cleaners, CPU over clockers, task automation, app disablers, or complete replacement UIs, and the following three makes a good start to get more out of your android’s system.

Clean Master a free app from Cheetah Mobile offers an automatic Junk Files tracing tool to clean up both the app and system cache including all their temp files of all widowed and temporary droppings. In addition it provides an automatic ram cleaning Phone Boost tool for older or phones overloaded with apps, together with other handy tools that includes and APK backup tool, which also has the ability to move apps to the SD card and/ or uninstalls, a robust but lightweight antivirus tool that scored very high in AV-TEST’s newest mobile survey.

DU Speed Booster another free app that offers users an all in one optimization tool for Android offering a Trash Cleaner to clean out junk files and app cache, and app manager, a single touch ram accelerator, a privacy advisor, an antivirus, as well as a very handy built-in internet speed testing tool. While many question the benefits and advantages of task killers to accelerate low memory phones, the instant advantages clearly visible on those older phones.

CCleaner yet another top of the line free app from Piriform has for a long time been one of the most trusted sidekicks as a PC Windows cleaning tool, now available as a near-perfect app on Android mobile to do the same job. Android OS focused CCleaner is once again brilliant multipurpose cleaning weapon that will clean out app cache, browser history, download folders, SMS log, call log either selectively or by bulk. It represents the best of the breed in many aspects as an ad free, incredibly quick cleaning experience to help take the old junk that clogs up and slows down your phone, which additionally also offers CPU, app, RAM, as well as storage and battery meters and temperature monitoring tools.

Late last week mobile device leader Samsung announced that two new devices will be available on the market. This includes the galaxy s6 edge+ and the new Note 5. The company reportedly revealed that both products will be available on the market in the U.S on the 21st of August. They also announced that their mobile payment option known as NFC will be launched on the 28th of September, also in the U.S.

The features of the Note 5 incorporates a number of features from the S6 edge+. These include the class front and solid back metal case. A high quality camera and super fast octacore processor can be expected in the phone for incredible usability and picture quality. The newer version of the Note smart phone has a fixed battery and no longer supports MicroSD memory cards. The changes on the new device may not provide problems for most customers, but “you’ll probably hear an uproar from the tech community,” said Tuong Nguyen, a principal analyst at Gartner. He also included “You’re getting rid of the phone in two years anyway, so who cares? People are comfortable with upgrading to the latest and greatest device because product releases are so frequent,” he told Tech-News-World.

Both these devices will be launched with a 16 mega pixel OIS camera in the bank and the 5 mega pixel in the front. The bet she’s will provide super fast charging via wireless and wired connection to its 3,000 mAh at. Both the mobile devices provide 4K video and allows users to screen high definition video from YouTube to any smart TV, computer, other smart phones and tablets. The mobile devices are expected is a 32 GB as well as 64 GB version and the opportunity for 128 GB may be in the pipeline.

The current generation smart phone is probably the most private and personal item that one can carry in public without getting arrested, containing all types of highly sensitive and private data of the owners and in the process serves to be a media centre, the means to record one’s life, a knowledge base, a social connector, and will serve many other purposes. This makes these little devices incredibly valuable to its owner, carrying an intrinsic value far beyond its monetary worth, while serving as the Swiss army knife of modern society, it has become a target for petty thieves and other long fingered types.

To protect this valuable little gadget is one of the foremost concerns on a new owner’s mind, the following apps will ease your life as the owner of a cell phone. Firstly, one of the greatest concerns is losing one’s iPhone and the app to resolve this issue is called Find My Phone once it’s installed on any iOS device and the owner signed in with their Apple ID, the app will assist you in locating any missing device. The app will sound an alarm even when the device is set to silent mode, or enter Lost Mode that will lock your lost device that can now only be entered via a pass code it can also display an alternative contact number on its lock screen should your phone be found.

Secondly, to keep that sensitive data private owners would require an app like MyPermissions, which is an online privacy shield and offers new ways to regain control of how many and which apps you connect to while socialising on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. It offers users the ability to automatically scan for apps of which they might be unaware, review their viability and legality, and then remove any unnecessary or illegal apps. Users can set it to receive alerts whenever newly added apps connect the first time to their personal data.

Thirdly, the one app we never think about until we truly need it is a Flashlight, which will provide a near instant source of light in case of power outages or or simply quickly needing a flashlight to look for a fallen item such as a contact lens or earring that disappeared into a nook or cranny, download Flashlight for your iPhone. The app provides absolute simplicity while giving the appearance of an actual flashlight sporting on-and-off buttons on your screen.

Despite the fact that we use our cell phones and other portable devices for all kinds of purposes, which for the greater part involves texting, social media, and gaming. The first thought in our minds after un-boxing and lovingly admiring our new phone, is normally to protect and secure our new device. This normally comes before all the keyboards, productivity apps, social media, and games; essentially this is due to the fact that a cell phone is first of all a tool that should make our lives easier. It may also contain valuable and sensitive information about our lives and financial matters, to aid in these matters the following tools will prove useful and invaluable.

Firstly, we need to protect passwords that allow cell phones to be such invaluable assistants in all matters from financial through social and the way to ensure this is to install an app such as AppLock. It still remains one of the very best in password protection, this essential security app assists in locking up various areas in any device in order to prevent thieves, snoops, or curious kids from getting access. It will lock up the contents of your contacts list, SMS, photo gallery, Facebook, Google Play, your device settings, calls, and just about any app as well.

Secondly, we need to protect our devices against viruses and keep it clean from clutter that builds up after being left behind when an app is uninstalled. The recommended tool to use for this purpose is Clean Master. The intensely popular and useful application will clean up the mess left behind after an app is uninstalled. Clean Master will automatically find the bits and pieces left behind so often after an app is uninstalled, it also offers a very secure but stripped down antivirus program offering ideal solution to users that prefers to have all these features in one app.

Thirdly, the unexpected emergency! Your phone is now fully secure, virus, and clutter free, but you’ve broken down next to the road in the dark or overstayed on a visit and arrived at a dark house where a light would make it so much easier to see where you walking and get the key in the door lock. That’s where DashLight will prove invaluable, the market is already flooded with a multitude of flashlight applications that all provide just about the same functions. By either lighting up your screen or activating the camera flashlight LED, the difference is that DashLight provides a widget for your home and lock screens. Giving quick and easy access to provide quick and easy light for you during those unexpected and sudden moments, which would be so much less troublesome if you could only access your flashlight from your lock screen.

First let’s discuss the reason for texting’s incredible popularity! One of the greatest reasons is probably that you are able to talk to, or contact a person immaterial of their or your location, time of day, at work in a meeting, walking down the street, your doctor or specialist while in surgery, areas with poor cell phone coverage. Teens are the main drive behind the surge in texting, with 13 to 17-year-olds averaging around 1750 texts per month while conversing by phone approximately 230 times a month. Tweens i.e. kids under age 12 averages 430 text a month

According to an Ofcom market report, adults in Britain average at around 200 texts monthly, in excess of double the figure from four years ago, 58% of British adults make use of text messaging a minimum of once a day, mostly for communication with friends and family. In the US, American Airlines are now texting their passengers to inform them of flight delays, and the NYPD also prefers to use texting in order to check license plates, instead of the relatively bulky computers available to them while on the road. Any single platform texting app would, due to its social nature, be close to useless if it was confined to only one type of operating system. Due to each person’s individual tastes and specific requirements that might be best met outside of the two major platform suppliers – Android & iOS. These reasons are the main drive why we considered only cross-platform apps, because our associates, friends, and family quite often prefers a different platform!

WhatsApp, available on iOS, Android, and WP8, the app has always been remarkably easy to set up and automatically syncs with the user’s contact list to offer an ad free, feature rich experience. Featuring abilities to handle texting, photo sharing and in app camera, VoIP, voice messages, as well as short video messages, to provide a full rich experience, which made it the most subscribed app worldwide!

Blackberry Messenger lately available to iOS, Android, arrived on the two major platforms after a protracted struggle by BlackBerry to keep their proprietary app contained to its own ecosystem. The company finally relented, releasing into iOS and Android during 2013, to offer a robust IM app offering free texting, VoIP, photo & file & and location sharing, with its PIN system protecting subscribers email and telephone numbers.

Facebook Messenger available for iOS and Android is a dedicated IM app, building on its existing Facebook chat network while adding mobile texting features. The user’s Facebook account signs them in to offer texting, voice messaging, and voice calls.

Skype a highly trusted standby, already long available to WP8, Android, and iOS users, it first became famous for its voice and video call conferencing capabilities. The app now boasts a fairly decent IM that presents users with texting, photo sharing, and short video messages, even when other user is off-line. With the added capability of making paid call using Skype credits calls to landline as well as mobile numbers.

As portable devices such as iPads and iPhones have become essential tools and in part extensions of ourselves and our daily lives, containing sensitive essential financial and highly confidential personal information, security of these devices and the data the hold have become of paramount importance. The security of these devices does not extend only to protecting the data they contain from electronic theft, but also to the physical security of the device itself, being Mobile by nature and the devices themselves quite valuable they’ve become sought after targets for petty thieves. That broadly outlines the reason why the market has been overrun by a plethora of security apps specialized for mobile devices like iPhones and iPads. The best of these apps go a long way towards securing these personal electronic extensions of ourselves.

The best of the breed for the Apple protection stable is contained in the following apps, the first app 1PasswordLock is one of the most popular currently around and possesses fantastic levels of security to protect you and yours on an electronic level. With a clear user-friendly, simplified, easy-to-use UI the app will generate high-level security passwords and your accounts can be split based on type offering easy individual management.

The second security beast, mSecure, offers the secure management of passwords with additional features like auto-fill and group sync, in addition presents a sleek slimmed down app that does not weigh down the performance on your device get still presents admirable security.

Lookout has been a trusty standby for years and works nearly the same manner as the Apple Find My iPhone app. It has the ability to track your devices via GPS offering capacity of finding your last iPhone while the web by allowing you to utilise your personal Lookout.com account. It can force your iPhone to ring continuously via the web browser and will send a message to the phone. It offers several additional features that does not come with the Apple app i.e. Lookout will automatically save your phone’ s last known position before running out of battery or being switched off and additionally backup your contacts for emergency use, it can also lock and completely wipe your phone.

Find My iPhone is the stock Apple GPS tracking app and offers the best tracking and security features by far such as the ability to remotely control your phone and forcing your phone to raise an alarm as well as erasing all your personal data before any possible misuse could occur. Tracking is similar to that of the Lookout app.

Best Phone Security Pro protects the user’s iPhone from any potential unauthorized access, offering a passcode lock similar to the iOS 7 passcode. The main difference with this app in control, persons trying to access a protected iPhone or warned-off by an alarm that cannot controlled from the phone at that moment offering the ability for personal recording of the alarm including taking a photo of the potential perpetrator if they attempt to enter an incorrect pass code.

Foscam Surveillance Pro gives the user the capacity to become the surveillance guy manning his own cameras, offering the user the ability to monitor up to 6 live IP cameras set up in locations of his choice and then receive and record live feed from them. If a Foscam IP camera is used, the user could even control its movement, providing cheap and easy solutions to small warehouses and offices.

A continual debate has been raging regarding the necessity of antivirus and anti-malware apps since the advent of the first smartphones, considering that over and above millions of viruses written specifically to target android devices there are currently over 4500 kinds of malware that specifically target android apps and devices.

Out of 31 tested apps, 18 scored a 100% detection rate in a series of tests conducted during March 2014 by AV-Test clearly illustrating the level of improvement in device and data protection offered by the current crop of security apps. 360 Security, developed by one of the major players in China, Qihu exploded into the market and scored close to flawless detection rate of 99.9% in the September 2013 AV-Test, recording an all-time high for any tested security app and followed it up in March 2014 so 100% detection rate. The latest version offers loads of extras including a power saver, junk file cleaner, memory booster, privacy encryption tool, app manager, as well as anti-theft and location tools of the option of remotely wiping and your phone.

Avast! Mobile Security offers a truly free application for android platforms, featuring a comprehensive range of defensive tools and that would include antivirus protection, monitoring & scanning of app details and their purpose, a URL scanning Web Shield for malware protection. This ESET Mobile Antivirus & Security, represents a relative newcomer to top end protection earning its place with a 100% protection and detection rate in the last report from AV-Test sporting an intuitive interface. A fully free app with real-time detection and scanning capabilities against malware and potentially unwanted programs that could be pilfering data in the background, or make illegal premium rate calls or send illegal text.

Avira Antivirus Security is another major player in the freeware stakes managing to score a 100% detection rate with no false positives; it also is one of those welcome apps with light and tiny footprint with a minimal impact on device performance. The app sports minimalist design and sleek appearance fitting in well on the android platform. AVL, many users demand malware and anti-viral protection in the most barebones manner possible, this app is for those without the need for anti-theft tools, identity protection, but definitely requires the strongest malware protection without any superfluous or extraneous features that fill up the majority of security apps then AVL will be the perfect partner for your device protection.

The top-most downloaded camera app in 2015 for android called Camera51 initially developed to guide those of us severely challenged by our photographic skills by guiding you to achieve perfect photo framing. After this amazing apps introduction late in 2014 its popularity grew in leaps and bounds to boast with over 1 million downloads registered within just a couple of months since its launch, storming on through the popularity stakes to become the most downloaded camera app on Google Play during 2015, and is now available on Apple Store as well.

Users generally award the app very high ratings, commenting on its ease-of-use. It analyses everything within the photo frame before you trigger your shot and then guides you via a highly intuitive interface to produce the best possible photo composition, immaterial of it being a landscape, a selfie, or even a group picture. As an example of the sophistication of the app algorithms in selfie’s it will center up a photo and automatically take the photo as soon as the app is satisfied without waiting for the user to click the button. Eliminating the potential ensuing camera shake while fumbling or reaching for the shutter button with the resultant blurred or out of focus photos so commonly seen in selfies, also offering support for multiple people’s faces in selfie’s. It automatically reverts to manual triggering of the shutter button as soon as the use the main rear-facing camera.

In day-to-day use, the software decisions appear to be pretty solid and logical, making life for novices or quick point-and-shoot photographs with mobile devices much quicker and easier, while still allowing more experienced shooters to frame photos for themselves. All its photos remain saved in your camera roll for later uploading to photo editors or social media sites, also allowing for instant uploading to social media sites or a host of other multimedia sharing options.