Author Archive: henry

IPhone’s standard GPS app made after its introduction short work of nearly annihilating the purchase of personal navigation devices, and while still available their market has shrunk, forcing entrepreneurial manufacturers to shift the focus in creating better apps to be deployed on cellular devices. Many casual users are content with the standard iOS GPS navigation system which works well, but can be a little bare bones and short on value adding useful features that would ease the lives of regular travelers.

Smart phone users in general would expect their phones to come preloaded with virtual navigators offering turn by turn directions from companies that supply freeware apps with currently the most popular being Google maps. However there are also quite a number of premium solutions currently available for iPhones that also offer regular, free map updates, lane assistance, live traffic updates, delivered with clear concise and timeous voice instructions. Additional features would address safety, local information, route planning, and favourite waypoints as well as off-line maps.

Users would do well to consider a top end product such as Magellan RoadMate, able to offer 3D buildings, text to speech, lane assistance, as well as a very handy in app music volume control. Users receive updates in on speed camera locations, red light alerts assisting them in avoiding unnecessary traffic violations and its resulting fines. It also offers multiple voice choices, life long map and traffic updates, as well as a data base offering local search features.

A highly viable alternative would be TomTom for iPhones it offers loads of potential and the company has gone not just the extra mile but several extra miles to make its own brilliant and inexpensive technology available on iOS. Users receive TomTom’s own downloadable offline maps, together with lifetime free map updates that would perform essential updates for changes to daily maps, multi-stop routing, IQ routes, selectable 2D/3D screen views, as well as lane guidance, with yet many more features available in the standard in the standard app.

As would be expected from an always professional company such as Garmin USA despite the fact that the company’s very first iPhone app encountered and showed a few shortcomings and was even removed from App Store until improvements were made. Garmin USA continue to and has already been improved throughout comprising many of its areas. This trustworthy companion offers its own Garmin based offline downloadable maps, featuring turn by turn voice prompted directions, a lane assist feature, 3D landmark viewing capability, as well as speed limit alert functions, and multiple stop route planning.

The advent of digital photography allowed us take tens of thousands of photos recording the special moments in our lives in much greater detail than ever before, and since the advent of cameras in mobile handsets making it so much easier to capture those memory making moments with reasonably high-quality images. We all love watching these memories of our past moments unfolding in front of us… and then one day the hard drive crashes are not all lost in a digital rainstorm of tears. The next app in the discussion will prevent the heartache of lost photos on a crashed drive that they were unable to save.

Google Photos app that stands head and shoulders above the rest, since it offers you unlimited storage capacity for all your photos and videos with the app & storage capacity both totally free. And that provides most of us with more than enough reason to jump aboard, since this represents just the tip of the iceberg as a bonus it works on iOS, Mac, PC, and Android. The app provides fairly extensive but easy-to-use editing tools one of which offers the capability to compile albums and collages, followed on by the standard cropping, clipping, resizing, and contrast adjusting, sharpening tools. To any normal photo taking this would be a first and last answer to all their requirements.

Snapseed presents iOS users with Google’s very own photo editing app designed from scratch to ease users into tweaking their own snaps with as much fun as is possible on the limited real estate of touchscreen devices. Despite the simple design of the interface making it easy to manipulate with only your fingers, the app offers quite a bit of depth as well. You can use its tools to enhance and tweak photographs until they look as good as possible, and still be able to play with lighting filters which can transform your photos taken with a mobile handset into true breath-taking beauties.

Periscope is a live video stream capable app for Twitter and is definitely an essential tool to download for any Twitter subscribers who prefers the social channel’s immediacy, but still craves a more visual approach. Twitter subscribers can now create their own live video streams or even watch other subscribers streams, send and receive comments and emoticons real time. It even offers a 24-hour time window for re-plays.

The two fantastic apps discussed in the following article brings the flexibility and freedom of access open only to android users to the forefront, a openness and flexibility currently offered by no other mobile operating system. These two tasks highlight the flexibility and user-friendliness, as well as extremely high levels of customisability that is intrinsic to the android OS.

Nova Launcher is a free app that would appeal to owners of slightly older generation cell phones and tablets as well as who find the manufacturer’s preloaded bloatware unacceptable to live with. It requires no root access which might compromise manufactures guarantees and warranties, yet will negate the negative performance effects all the doodads and trinkets that manufacturers find necessary to install, but which most users never look at or use. Nova Launcher represents a highly customisable, sleek, fast, and modern interface that does away with all of the above yet provides extensive utility and appearance customisations with an absolute minimal effect on performance. It allows users to set up and screens according to personal preferences, offering tons of icon packs, a multitude of colour schemes, scrollable docks that provide app drawer customising, infinite settings for scrolling and folders. The magnitude of available options in all areas must be seen to be believed, yet remain rock stable while doing so.

Tasker task is available for a menial amount and will remove some of the menial repetitive trivialities that take up an unnecessary part of your life. The app offers several powerful features with ability to automate repetitive and trivial tasks determined by variety of job triggers. It offers task automation through user written automatic scripts offering a huge variety of possible actions with customisable triggers, that allows features such as automatic silencing of a fine wallet work, or switching off mobile data after the user arrives at home.

It will even launch a music player and the user’s favourite playlists whenever headphones are plugged in or connected via Bluetooth. Its potential uses are so wide-ranging it is virtually only limited by the user’s imagination and personal requirements in its base form, with the added functionalities gained after routing a phone providing even further functionality, customisability vine even greater number of customised task options. Users even have the ability to publish their own scripts or download other user’s scripts with the Tasker factory add-on.

IPhone users are spoilt for choice with a multitude that includes all kinds and types of apps available to them some paid for, some free and the perception that free apps are inferior persists with some. This is not the case as is borne out by the quality, usefulness and user-friendliness of the four free apps below.

BillGuard app connects to a user’s credit card on-line statements to flag merchants frequently charged for consumer products and services, which the user forgot about to prevent its users from running out or running short of frequently or even infrequently purchased items. No other company provides this kind of intuitive and fantastic service in a structured and informative manner as well as BillGuard.

Box app provides a cloud-based storage and file syncing service that easily unifies all the users work and personal items with no need to carry potentially sensitive data continually with themselves and handsets or laptops with a might be lost or not in the right place at the required time. It becomes doubly effective when installed on work and home computers as well as all user handsets simultaneously, you will never forget that important file or document at the office or at home again. The free Box provides 10 GB of free storage space, while offering fantastic collaborative business uses in shared folders.

Converter Plus app provides users with an all in one conversion tool and calculator with ability to provide statistics or converted tables on nearly every subject under the sun from loan interest figures, to currency converters, cooking volumes, temperature measurements in imperial and metric, length, electrical tension -resistance- amperage, and a multitude of others.

Digg app will deliver all the possible news and on-line content any user prefers to read through one convenient app in one easily navigated place. Digg comprises a great RSS feed reader, as one of the apps major selling points. It will also deliver all blogs as well as news in a user chosen custom feed with tons of other content that may be explored. This app is the end all and be all and with the users will need no other news reader or deliver.

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.