Monthly Archive: October 2015

Android users that enjoy gaming on their mobile devices will be astounded by the gaming excellence displayed by the two games in the discussion below, both being new improved sequels to long-running highly popular games that have been given a new modern lease on life via its updated graphic capabilities, improved controls and excellence in Video gaming innovation.

Eternity Warriors 4 represents the newest in this series of fantasy RPG’s from popular developer Glu. It involves players in a classical fairy-tale with the player having option to play as an assassin, a mage, or a warrior while travelling across its fantasy world in a quest to complete goals and upgrade his gear. The relative lack of originality is made up for by the exquisite styling, excellent graphics, and extremely good animations. Gameplay is superb with background textures and lighting effects creating a drama filled atmosphere, excellent smooth and accurate player controls contributes to the excellent fast paced action. Players will be carving up tons of bad guys in an action packed game that resembles an amalgamation of Diablo meets God of War.

It is quite evident that its software has been created by team of gaming experts at the pinnacle of their craft, with the production standards being about the highest to be found available anywhere in the Google Play Store. As one of the free Android videogame titles Eternity Warriors 4 offers brilliant entertainment that includes one-on-one player battles as well as guilds that players may join where they will be able to quest sociably with other players.

Lara Croft GO follows on from last year’s success that Square Enix’s enjoyed with the Hitman GO video game, and now the developer has provided the well-established Tomb Raider gaming franchise with the same opportunity to build on its previous successes. Lara Croft GO is once again ensconced within Tomb Raider’s familiar world, with the main difference being that it no longer plays exactly like the Tomb Raider titles of the past. This new videogame now offers turn-based play while focusing on the player resolving puzzles rather than being engaged in action as in past versions.

If this sounds like a bit of a copout players will be pleasantly surprised since it somehow just works, gameplay offers five chapters containing 75 unique puzzles, sporting brilliant cel-shaded gaming aesthetics with gameplay being of an acceptable length. The game also offers a number of in app purchases which are relatively inexpensive and does not represent anything essential to complete your missions/puzzles. However the in app purchases are well worth their while and players can take a look at them for five bucks, where after players free to request a refund if they dislike the contents.

Both the below apps should never be considered a trivial matter since both have achieved global fame and recognition in the popularity stakes since the initial inception with the one finally entering the mobile industry, hopefully with a bang of success. The other app is an oldie but known to be one of the best of its kind that have now received a much-needed interface revamp to modernise its look and keep it contemporary, while adding a few new innovative features.

The first app is the age-old family game now a newby in the mobile market, Trivial Pursuit, and a singularly successful social trivia quiz game, that is now at last making its entry into the mobile arena by newly introducing us once again to company’s latest baby dubbed Trivial Pursuit & Friends. The focus of the game remains on having fun by testing your general knowledge in a contest of to and fro questions against like-minded competitors hailing from all corners of the globe. Contestants clash in head-to-head general knowledge and specialised field trivia matches encompassing an expansive range of categories. With gameplay engaged in via two modes Blitz and Duel, with Duel pitting two opponents in competition with one another, while attempting to survive the required six rounds. Blitz represents group matches played at speed that engages up to three players in quick test match rounds. Players on the winning end of matches will unlock additional power ups that include benefits such as re-spins, other player tips, as well as extra time.

The second app reliably provides tons of us with the quickest possible way home through traffic on a daily basis and has helped countless numbers of travellers to find their way around unknown country sides and cities. Now the gurus introduced a newly revamped Waze iOS app earlier in the week with the promise of an Android release in the near future. The latest update is focused around in the ease-of-use enabling its users to find required destinations easier and quicker via their contacts, locations history while accurately providing ETAs via improved algorithms to account for traffic flow and hold-ups allowing its users to be in time for the next important appointment every time.

Smartphone techies might have missed a couple of excellent new apps launched during the past week especially with the excitement of Apple Pay being rolled out to new retail chains that include the likes of Starbucks was quite possible that the whole world was distracted by the additional excitement caused by mashing Facebook’s new Like button.
The two must haves below offer numerous extremely handy features that might just be an answer to your unspoken prayers.

Burner is a free app available to both Android as well as iOS users that provides an opportunity to hastily create numerous quickly disposable cell phone contact numbers that users might wish to store temporarily allowing them to easily make phone calls and receive texts. The capacity to perform these services can coming extremely handy while conducting short-term visits to friends that introduce you to other friends in a social group that you might need to communicate with while in town visiting, but may never see again after your departure. It might prove to be equally handy serving business purposes for people who travel frequently to new destinations where they will require making frequent calls to marketing, advertising, store fitters which they may never communicate with again after the launch. The service just became incrementally smarter after the addition of new integrations with cloud-based services such as Dropbox, Slack, Evernote, and Soundcloud which enables users to automate actions of received voicemails and text messages.

Meter is free to Android users and the result of the latest experimental coding by Google’s Creative Lab wherein it users will be able to view an interactive wallpaper displaying customisable, essential system information regarding the workings of your Android smart device. The Meter interactive wallpaper visualises the current Wi-Fi signal, battery level, and notifications of the smart device the app is installed on. The displayed details are continually updated during the course of the day, but still allow users to interact with the displayed details by tilting the device in various directions, the displayed numbers update after each unlocking of the device. Now users can closely monitor when they run out of space, RAM, take note of excessive Wi-Fi activity, thereby potentially saving themselves a truck load of frustration.

In early September this year a Samsung employee demonstrated the yet to be launched Samsung Pay service, which is aimed at delivering a user-friendly mobile payment system at a retailer in Seoul South Korea. This is in the meantime and with bated breath of Android audiences worldwide have now finally come to full fruition after it became available in the Google Play Store earlier this week, unfortunately is currently still just available on just a few smart phones.

This mobile payment dark magic also going by the name Samsung Pay is currently already available in all its fully functional glory to Samsung’s own mobile devices that include the Galaxy S6, S6 Edge+, S6 Edge, or even a Note 5. So owners of the above devices are itchy to get their first hands on Samsung Pay mobile experience can handed over to the Play store right now and grab the new Pay App which its subscribers will be able to use at any conceivable electronic payment terminal.

This app unlike Android Pay which is severely limited in its use to NFC enabled electronic terminals, applies Magnetic Secure Transmission or MST that employs an electromagnetic coil placed just inside the back cover of the device in order to emulate the magnetic strip found on the back of any physical card. Android users choosing to utilise the benefits of the Samsung Pay app should in the beginning not be too surprised if store clerks should a few awkward glances at you when you first attempt payment via your phone. In addition the Samsung Pay App is also fully compatible to NFC enabled electronic terminals which are essential to process Android Pay transactions.

Samsung in its quest to put its personal stamp on all its software action like its insistence on providing the standard android OS with its own TouchWiz personal stamp of customisation as well as having a finger in the pie with services that include its own Galaxy Apps and Milk Music. In its quest for world dominance Samsung Pay will be another tool strengthening Samsung’s brand armour, but it certainly could be set for a long hard road competing against the likes of android pay. This is especially so since numerous large banking institutions as well as Google themselves by heavily promoting the Android Pay app pretty vigorously, which has an advantage in that the Google option will work on just about any Android based smart phone sporting and NFC chip.

Cortana, Microsoft’s new android-based assistant will go hands-free after the company’s latest software update, this news arrives in the wake of Cortana for Android being leaked out too early. The Microsoft shocker is beefed up by an even earlier statement of a cyanogen chief stating the Windows phone is dead and the company is planning to integrate Microsoft’s Cortana into the Android marketplace.

Android users are already able to activate the Cortana assistant by yelling Hey Cortana at their smart phones; however currently there are still a couple of limitations on her services. If this gives potential users the idea that Cortana on Android must be considered second-rate to the Windows version, they can think again! The new Cortana on Android beta will actively listen for commands whenever users call out Hey Cortana.

All users are required to do beforehand is to go into Cortana’s settings menu and ensure they tick the Hey Cortana checkbox. The current limitations on Cortana’s Android based functionality simply pertains to the fact that the service will only be active while the smart phone screen is on and unlocked, or alternatively if users already have the app open even with the screen off. These limitations remain true even for Android’s native Google Now services on a great number of Android devices. Cortana country remains in a public beta version where anyone is allowed to sign up and try it for themselves, while the world awaits Microsoft’s official announcement of a non-beta launch date.

In more great news for Android users, the media has been filled with a multitude of leaked screenshots that purportedly shows an Apple Music app developed for Android. The newly leaked screenshots illustrate a number of features that include a For You screen as well as a Beats One screenshot. Unconfirmed insider information revealed that the Android version is expected to be arriving soon as a number of details have started seeping out. The screenshots first published via German mobile tech site MobileGeeks and SlashGear show the app to retain the iOS version’s appearance while integrating a number of Android design standards which include Android’s Hamburger menu in the top right hand corner. Apple had previously announced they would launch Apple Music for Android during this year’s fall season.

As any android user will attest acquiring the best apps within the Google Play store remains a daunting task, immaterial of whether you may be in the market for a new pod cast tool, or just dislike your standard camera application, or even wish to see a totally new look on your android device, which is something that makes iOS users green with envy. The discussed apps below should make life a little easier in these aspects, with each of them representing the best of its kind currently available in the marketplace.

Podcast Addict offers players a beautiful experience due to the fact that it piles a number of free services on top of other free services such as the ability it offers its users to listen to incredible podcasts. The itself is free to download and offers it users a seamless experience whereby they may search, download and then listen to their favourite podcast with a apps own incorporated audio player. It also offers the standard set and a number of extra user options to further customise their personal podcast experience with options to create playlists of forthcoming shows its users may wish to listen to. Over and above is the cool Trending search feature that allows users to view alternative content currently popular in their podcast existence, but the main attraction feature is the fact that it is already excellent at doing everything a good podcast app should do with now a couple of newly launched features included.

Camera360 Ultimate is an app that made its way onto best camera app lists worldwide due to its incredible range of featured options that includes in excess of 200 filters, allowed of one touch touch-up tools, as well as its ability to NFC photo share. All its customising and user adjustment options are incredibly powerful while remaining simple, quick, and easy to use with its intuitive UI makes this one of the greatest choices for both new as well as seasoned photographers. The free app certainly ensures that users squeeze best possible out of their Android’s camera.

The fierce rivalry between iOS and Android have been alive while with the fires of competition stacked whiteout since the day each OS’s inception, however iOS even today in its latest format certainly does not offer the flexibility and freedom that android users enjoy. Nova Launcher is one of those free apps that brings Android’s flexibility and openness to the fore in no uncertain terms by underlining exactly the characteristics that makes Android great. The Nova Launcher app is compatible with all versions of android from 4.1 onward and this app allows it users to change the complete look and feel of the standard android operating system with a near endless range of customisable features which will change anything from themes, to font sizes, to the grid size i.e. number of other apps that appears on the lock screen, a variety of customisable features of the app drawer. This app is a premium illustration of Android will allow itself to be moulded in order to suit each person’s tastes and requirements.

Instagram recently made all their GIF aficionados happy campers with their latest and just released Boomerang stand-alone app. If you are one of the many Instagram subscribers the reins explicitly hypnotised by these one second looped play videos that some people watch ad nauseam while giggling like an insane monkey, Instagram just provided you with an early Christmas present.

The visual -media social-service’s latest stand-alone app allows its users to lend their lives and lifestyles an improved look through providing them with the ability to create GIFs by taking a series of five photos which the app will string together to form a GIF. The GI if may then be uploaded to Instagram and played over by the users and their friends ad nauseam while giggling like insane monkeys leaving onlookers amused, annoyed, perplexed, or confused, or any combination, or all of the above. The new app taps into society’s collective obsession with funny animated GIF clips by making Boomerang as simple as tapping a single photo button on any user’s smartphone, whereafter the app will do whatever is necessary to successfully form a GIF.

Instagram explains it on their blog, by stating that Boomerang stages a burst of photos together to form a high-quality mini video clip that will both play forward and backward. Users may shoot either in landscape or portrait modes, where-after the app will do the necessary before sharing it to their Instagram page. Their Boomerang app will also automatically save the GIF to their camera rolls, the app’s capabilities essentially renders a user’s conventional Grams into turbocharged mini videos.

It allows users to capture precise moments into memorable videos whereby they will be able to remember special occasions, funny friends, or birthday parties where their friend blows out their birthday candles that comes back to life time after time. This will be Instagram’s third standalone app, joining the company’s previous brilliant creations that includes Hyperlapse a time-lapse video clip creator, as well as Layout the collage creator. The app isn’t entirely unique in the

This latest sequel easily deserves to be called one of the greater iPad games ever and this statement is qualified by considering that it’s originating game, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Manor, is still considered by many to be one of the very first truly great mobile games. The newly launched game improves and exceeds its life-giving predecessor all aspects of gameplay, storyline, graphics, animation, and sound effects.

It is now available on iTunes at only $4.99 it performance its duties as a strategic game brilliantly, as well as numerous unique insects that players can stalk, kill and consume throughout multiple environments featuring gothic details as well as a myriad of clues that must be discovered and as a cherry on top gameplay incorporates weather data from your immediate surroundings in the real-world. Back in 2009 when the first Spider was released developers were still figuring out exactly how to make use of smart phone touchscreens to control gameplay, and this game was an instant hit because it ticked all the above boxes, which it combined with highly interactive and engaging gameplay. This latest game follows up the winning Editor’s Choice award game with a strong dose of the same medicine, but much improved to make use of tremendous advances in smart pad technology.

The natural fear humans have of spiders makes these scary arachnids one of the most entertaining gaming characters out there if the developers make full use all their natural abilities. The goal in this game, as in the first, requires players to achieve the highest possible score by consuming the highest number of insects possible. In order to achieve this, players will be required to weave webs which will catch their meals. The action of flicking a spider from different spots across a room leaving silver silken in their wake creates a tremendous feeling of achievement. The trick comes in remembering that the spider silk is not unlimited, but may only be refilled by eating more and more bugs which in turn allows you to place more and more intricately patterned webs.

YouTube’s long-awaited and much vaunted Red Subscription Service will finally be launched next week Wednesday, 28 October, the service will become available to iOS users through the standard YouTube app, or alternatively via Mac, or even Apple TV.

The new yet to be launched service brings a substantial surprise to Apple fans, to whom it will become available on their iPhones or iPads at the expense of $12.99 per month, while Android devices will be able to field the same service at just $9.99 per month. The significant variation in charges is due to Apple’s policy of taking 30% from any subscription revenues on apps and YouTube decided to pass the buck directly to Apple’s consumers.

YouTube subscribers within the US borders will be able to try out the new subscription viewing service by benefit of a one-month free trial. The new service is vaunted to be the ultimate experiences by allowing subscribers to view their videos in an advertisement free milieu, where it subscribers will soon be able to download their videos for later viewing without the requirement of a live Internet connection.

YouTube’s Gaming app as well as the company’s yet to be launched Music app will enjoy these same advantages. Its Music app was designed with an eye on providing a much more intuitive and user-friendly experience to subscribers wanting to discover new, watch, or listen to music. Subscribers will enjoy one of the richest catalogues available in music worldwide to start them off on their personal musical journey.

As with their recommended Video list its Music app will offer a similar recommended list which will become increasingly accurate as it users continue on their journey, as a special surprise YouTube’s Red works in conjunction with Google Play Music so whenever users subscribe to the one they will automatically benefit from free access to the other. YouTube Red subscribing members will at the start of each year benefit from new original movies and shows featuring numerous major Tuber stars that include the likes of CollegeHumour, PweDiePie, as well as a multitude of others.

Tweetbot 4 integrates a number of new Twitter features into its brilliant new interface and best of all delivers its new package to the long neglected iPad as well as iPhones.
The new Tweetbot 4 beta delivers very similar yet it totally different air of competence that was lent from its predecessor to iPhones after Twitter purchased and totally destroyed Tweetie, which in itself quickly treated the deadly wounds displayed by Twitter without breaking its stride. Their new app deserves great accolade for its ability to perfectly capture the essential Tweetie ambiance, while Twitter’s official app sported a convoluted difficult to use interface which the company ignored and felt improve or continuously adding new features, some of which were quite compelling.

The newly iOS focused Tweetbot 4 toward filling the gap left by the sad departure of Tweetie, whilst maintaining the essence of what originally made the app such a compelling experience. Aside from the new iPad integration its biggest new offering must be the interactions that gives its users a list-based as well as graphical view of the day’s activities and statistics, its users will in addition be able to view re-tweets, followers, as well as favourites.

The new stat feature will be a boon for analytics geeks, with its capacity to provide colourful and clean data visualisations that strikes a well-balanced pose between trend and details. An Activity tab displays exactly what it describes telling you who’s done what thereby informing its users of any feedback or actions on their own tweets, which will also identify the respondent and the response time and date. The live blue and yellow link bars underneath each tweet provides a whole host of extremely handy interactive shortcut features at item level. It users can now also enjoy viewing their own activities via its profile view, in addition it also offers numerous customisable features that allows its users to set up its display to visually represent exactly what they wish to instantly see.

Tweetbot owners will now be able to upgrade to Tweetbot 44 only $4.99, which will only continue until the end of the promotional period where-after it will be available at $9.99. However, wise Tweetbot users can upgrade but only paying the difference between your old and new price if they use their bundles intelligently.