British
digital TV service YouView took its time in launching, but for those
people who do have it in their homes, there's now an official companion
app for Android. You don't watch shows on it, though. Instead, it's a TV
guide app showing seven days of listings, and the ability to set the
YouView set-top box to record shows remotely.
Anonymous search engine DuckDuckGo is on a post-Prism growth spurt
at the moment. Now its official Android app is aiming to be a haven for
more users who are turning away from Google. The app offers
similarly-anonymous search functions to the website, but also doubles as
a news-reading app, serving up "the most shared stories from
hand-crafted sources" in news, entertainment, sports, technology and
other areas.
Circular
puzzle game Hundreds was a critically-acclaimed hit on iOS, but now
it's on Android too. The game sees you tapping on circles in each level
to make them (and the numbers inside them) bigger – adding at least 100
points overall without them touching. Which sounds slightly tortuous
written down, but the game's genius is its stripped-down simplicity,
wedded to stylish visuals and fearsome addictiveness-factor.
This
game may come from a well-established RPG game franchise, but its Clash
of Heroes incarnation is a more modern beast: a puzzle-RPG. That means
you'll be battling monsters and looting dungeons, but with the battles
built around match-three puzzling. Publisher Ubisoft promises more than
20 hours in its campaign mode, plus multiplayer modes to challenge
friends.
Excited
about the new Jay-Z album Magna Carta Holy Grail? Join the club. And in
a sponsorship deal that's been making waves in the music world, he's
giving the first million copies away as free downloads to owners of
Samsung Galaxy devices (the S4, S3 and Note II to be specific). You'll
need to download the official app smartish before the album goes live on
4 July, three days before its official release.
Trading
card game Magic: The Gathering continues to have a large and devoted
fanbase. They'll be the people excited about this new digital version,
updated for 2014 with new cards, opponents and campaign levels to test
your skills. As a free download, the game comes with three decks with
five unlockable cards each, but more decks, cards and content can be
bought via in-app purchase.
Cats!
And other things too, but particularly cats. As an image-sharing
website, Imgur prides itself on being able to spot memes as they go
viral. Now it's bringing that to Android devices, enabling you to browse
popular pics, vote and comment on them, and upload new images from your
smartphone.
"It's
1972. Love is free. Flipflops, English leather and bandanas are the
height of fashion..." The Silent Age is a critically-acclaimed
point'n'tap adventure that sees the hero time-travelling from the early
70s into the future to save humanity. It was a hugely atmospheric game
on iOS, and that looks to have translated well to Android.
iPhone
owners are well stocked for email apps trying to bring order to the
average Gmail inbox. Now Android has its own equivalent with Boomerang,
which offers features like "snoozing" emails for later, switching
between multiple accounts, scheduling emails to send later, and full
support for Gmail's labels and folders. Its developer says it's working
on support for Exchange/Outlook and Yahoo among other Gmail rivals.
TOWIE?
Pfft. I remember Mark Wright when he was playing football for my local
team Bishop's Stortford. Nowadays, of course, he's a telly celebrity,
now with his own app. It's part social network and part dating app, from
the company behind Flirtomatic. "Get to know Mark and his fans
personally by chatting and sharing vids, pics & shout outs," as the
Google Play listing puts it. "Win prizes, including the chance to meet
Mark in person..."
Street-racing
games with shiny red cars leaving cops in their wake are enduringly
popular across gaming platforms. Crescent Moon Games' Redline Rush is an
accessible example, with suitably shiny cars, suitably crashy crashes
and friend challenges to settle bragging rights.
British
band The Nyco Project are behind this music app, which includes three
of their songs "deconstructed into their component parts" as video
clips. Your job is to turn individual parts on and off to create your
own versions of the songs.
Swords!
There are lots of swords in Samurai Shodown II – enough to put the
average Game of Thrones episode to shame. SNK Playmore's venerable
action game makes it to Android with 15 swordsmen, new moves and
faithfully-ported graphics from its original Neo Geo version.
Something
for children now, without a sword in sight. It's a storybook-app based
on a journey up the Amazon river, meeting animals and collecting
souvenirs along the way. Five mini-games and 20 pages of story provide
plenty for kids to enjoy.
It's
been out since December 2011 on iOS, but Warner Bros has finally gotten
around to launching its last Batman movie game for Android. Tweaked for
tablets, it's an Infinity Blade-style brawler, with Batman facing off
against The Joker, Two-Face and other villains.
Colourful
action game Bombcats is a rarity: freemium on iOS but a paid game on
Android – often it's the other way round. It offers 194 level of
exploding-cat jumping, rescuing kittens and mastering the abilities of
the seven individual bombcat characters.
This
looks interesting: a puzzle game for children that wants to help them
develop their programming skills. Each level involves turning on some
golden music plates by moving a droid around the screen. "To move your
Droid you need to build a Main Function across the screen using
instructions and then call it by running the Main();" as the Google Play
listing explains.
"The
world's first ever side-scrolling runner powered entirely by lasagne,"
according to publisher Namco Bandai. It's probably on safe ground with
that claim for this official Garfield game, although the "just touch the
screen to take off and release to descend" is more akin to Tiny Wings.
One
more Android app for kids this week, and it stars a familiar face:
Scandinavian character Pippi Longstocking. It's a jigsaw-puzzle app,
with children piecing together six digital puzzles with a choice of
difficulty levels to suit different ages.
Finally,
the latest Android game from Korean publisher Com2uS, which knows a
thing or two about RPGs. Here, you're fighting battles, choosing a hero
from more than 30 characters and classes, then honing their skills to
support your preferred fighting style.
That's this week's
selection, but what do you think? Make your own recommendations, or give
your views on the apps above, by posting a comment.
Smartphone started off by combining the functions of a personal
digital assistant(PDA) with a mobile phone, 16 years later, voila! The
term has a whole new dimension. Now the question is ‘How smart can a
phone get’? and no one has the answer. We all know the transition which
took place over the years in the smartphone universe, let us now look at
what is installed for us in the future. Here are some of the most
awaited and amazingly smart phones which are going to hit the shelves
soon. Few of the devices are already available in market. Let’s start
with Motorola X Phone-
1. Motorola Moto X- Coming Soon
Motorola Moto X
A
smartphone that can understand what the user is doing with it and can
adjust itself accordingly. Well, it surely sounds like a gadget from a
science fiction movie but Motorola is all set to launch such a device in
October 2013. Motorola’s upcoming smartphone will go against the iPhone
and galaxy devices.CEO Dennis Woodside revealed recently that Moto X is
‘contextually aware’, which means it is amazingly smart, it will be
aware of its surroundings and can make a few adjustments by itself. For
example, it will know when you want to take a picture and will
automatically start up the cameras. This will without any doubt be one
of the most eagerly awaited phones. This is Motorola’s first smartphone
after it was bought over by Google.
2. Samsung Galaxy Mega 6.3-Coming Soon
Samsung
is all set to launch the Galaxy Mega 6.3, a mega Phablet. It is
expected to be a mid-range with a 6.3-inch HD PLS screen. Running on
Jelly Bean 4.2.2, its looks like a decent tablet with dual-core 1.7GHz
CPU and 1.5GB RAM. The battery seems to be impressive at 3200mAh and so
does the camera at 8 MP rear and 1.2 MP in the front.
3. HTC T6-Coming Soon
HTC T6
HTC
will also be coming up with its Phablet and take Samsung head on. The
tablet looks strong with a 5.9-inch full-HD display, powered by
Quad-core 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor along with 2GB of RAM. HTC
would definitely leverage the success of ultrapixel with a good camera
and LED flash. Rumor has it that it might use the next Android, Key
Lime. With HTC One named one of the best phones, HTC will not cut any
corners in getting similar reviews for its first tablet. HTC T6 will be a
device to watch out for.
4. Apple iPhone 5s-Coming Soon
Change
is good, and it’s even better when it is powered by innovation. That is
exactly what Apple does; it brings out change along with innovation.
Now everybody is looking forward to what goodies will iPhone 5s and
iPhone 6 bring along. iPhone5s will be marginally better than
iPhone5;Apple is expected to repeat the usual 4 inch display but with
enhanced camera capability and an innovative fingerprint sensor which
will be a first in a smartphone. The rumor mill is strong on the iPhone 6
and only time will tell what Apple plans to pack in its next big
smartphone.
5. LG Optimus G Pro-Released
LG Optimus G Pro
With
the success of LG Nexus 4, the Korean giant is planning to release its
next phone in the Optimus series. The LG Optimus G Pro is expected to
have a lot of goodies packed in. With a Qualcomm Snapdragon 600
processor, 1.7GHz quad-core CPU, Adreno 320 GPU and 2GB of RAM it’s a
powerhouse. Again the focus is on an amazing screen with a 5.5-inch
display of 1080×1920 pixel resolutionsand a solid pixel density of
400ppi. It’s running on Android 4.2.2 and supporting 13-megapixel rear
camera and a 2.1-megapixel front facing camera. The LG Optimus G Pro
offered with Dual Camera/Recording, VR Panorama to capture a full
360-degree view and Smart Video that recognizes the position of the
viewer’s eyes and automatically plays or stops the video without any
manual input from the user.
6. Microsoft Surface Phone-Coming Soon
Surface
is gaining popularity and Microsoft is planning to leverage that by
having a Surface smartphone. It’s 274.6 x 172 x 9.4 mm and weighs around
680.4g. It runs on Windows 8 RT OS with a 2GB RAM. The memory is 32 GB
expandable to 64 GB. It has a 7MP rear camera and 2MP front camera for
video calling. It contains Quad-core 1.3 GHz Cortex-A9 CPU. The
non-removable Li-Ion 3150mAH battery sounds decent. Let’s wait and watch
if Microsoft is able to pitch Surface against Android and iOS.
7. BlackBerry Z10-Released
BlackBerry Z10
BlackBerry,
formally RIM, is launching a smartphone with BlackBerry 10 operating
system. The Z10 is the first BlackBerry with no buttons for navigation
whatsoever. Its 4.2 inch Capacitive touchscreen with predictive text
set-up and multiple languages supports makes typing easier and accurate.
The keyboard lets you flick suggested words. The phone runs on a
dual-core 1.5 GHz processor and is coupled with a 2GB of RAM on board.
It also includes a series of connectivity options like Bluetooth, GPS,
GSM, NFC, 4G LTE, EDGE and GPRS. The BlackBerry 10 OS also features a
combined inbox called the BlackBerry Hub.
8. Nokia Lumia 950/ Nokia Lumia Catwalk-Coming Soon
First
time a Windows smartphone is releasing with a 1280 x 768 display and a
hefty 2GB of RAM. The display is a 4.5 -inch with HD resolution. It
would still have a sensor larger than the likes of which are on the 920,
so the camera might be a 13-megapixel. It will feature optical image
stabilization and a real xenon flash. Even though it was a Windows
phone, Lumia 920 received raving reviews for its camera quality. Lumia
950 is expected to go step further by improving image and video
stability and taking better pictures in sun light and an enhanced low
light imaging.
9. Panasonic P51-Released
Panasonic seems
to a little late in the smart phone game. Still there are talks about
the Japanese company re-entering phone market makes this smart phone
worth a wait. It’s launching P51 that supports android 4.2.2 with
5-inch, 720p LCD display and quad-core with 1.2GHz MediaTek processor.
Panasonic bundles both a capacitive stylus and a magnetic flip cover in
the box. The screen is good and it’s impressive to have an 8-megapixel
rear camera, a 1.3-megapixel front camera and support for both HSPA+.
But weather Panasonic is able to make its place with this dual SIM phone
is yet to be seen.
10. HTC First-Released
HTC First
Targeting
the social media generation, HTC is coming with a smart phone that has a
home screen called Facebook Home. Specs are fairly standard and include
a 4.3”1280×720 HD display, a 5-megapixel rear camera with a
1.6-megapixel front camera powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual core
chip clocked at 1.4 GHz along with Adreno 305 GPU. It will be
interesting to know if by launching HTC First, this Taiwanese company
can finish what it started with ChaCha.
Andriod had changed the market of smart phones. In a very short time,
Android got very good response from the public and their updated
versions also make attractive operating system among technology lovers.
Android is a new operating system which is using in the Smartphone and
changed the totally interface and make user more interested in itself.
Android is operating system working on the linux language and it is not
only limited to smartphone but also using in many of the tablets. An
average data was collected regarding smart phones from which we
estimates that only in United dates, 6 billion cell phone calls are made
by public and over 200 trillion text messages are sent among each
other. When they use their Smartphone, most of the peoples not
interested in knowing the origin of their Smartphone or how their
Smartphone developed. If you are not from them, we collected here some
interesting information related to Android operating system and
important facts which surely make you more interesting in Andriod OS.
Alphabetical Pastry based updated versions
If you ever notice that Whenever any update come related to Android
OS< it gets new name which is related to dessert and mostly pastry.
But, no one notice that Versions also not come in series but in series
of Alphabetical orders of Pastry names.
There is common famous quote in Public that First impression is last
impression whatever you bring updates that will not change impression of
first. So, here we collected information regarding the first Smartphone in which Andriod OS get used and which was the first game which gets developed on the Android Platform.
HTC Dream G1 was the first Android smartphone.
Shake was the first and popular game of Android platform.
Android was not developed by Google
In October; There was a company in the Palo Alto, California named as
Android Inc. which starts to develop the OS which will take care of
user choice, user preference, location etc. Founders Andy Rubin, Chris
White, Nick Sears, and Rich Miner. Were really great innovators but they
have less money to complete this project. On 17 August, 2005 Google
decided to take down Android INC. and latterly after one and half year;
they asked for patent of Mobile technology. Now, Sundar Pichai is
director of Android as well as Chrome Project. Open Source
There are many members of Open Handset Alliance including Google
which believed that this will help user to get new products and
different designs. There are about 12 million line of codes behind this
Operating System. Android Logo
If you ever play game named as Gaumet, you will notice that Android
Mascot is little bit similar to design of famous character of that game.
You can checkout below.
Some Wow Facts
Advertisers also favor Android OS games because Android is of Google and Google is king of Ad market.
A survey was conducted before some days form which as result came
out that Android is a Men’s phone while iPhone is women’s phone. About
43 % of Women use iPhone checked form iPhone buyers while 27 % of Total
women use Android Smartphone.
After getting Android 4.3 update, all are now waiting for the Android
5.0 key lime pie version which surely gonna surprise everyone as it
comes with many new features like battery saver (Without help of 3rd
party), own camera app and much more.
Google's showing no signs of slowing its pace of Android development, with Android 4.0 appearing on the Galaxy Nexus late in 2011, followed in July of 2012 by the Android 4.1 Jelly Bean release that arrived powering the super Nexus 7.
But,
forward-looking, update-obsessed people that we are, we can't help but
imagine how Google's going to maintain the pace of innovation in its
next major release of its mobile OS, Android 5.0.
All we know so
far is that Google's working away on the K release of Android, which
it's developing under the dessert-related codename of Key Lime Pie.
Regarding the version number, it's likely that the Key Lime Pie moniker
will be given to Android 5.0. We thought we might find out on 29 October 2012 but as yet there is no official word from Google.
So
now as we wait on official news of the Android 5.0 release date and
features, we can start to pull together the Key Lime Pie rumours from
around the web, with the first sighting of Android 5.0 on a benchmarking website, apparently running on a Sony smartphone.
There has previously been speculation that Sony is in line to produce
the next Nexus phone, which may lend some credence to this rumour.
Android 5.0 release date
The
Android 5.0 release date is currently looking to be some time in
October 2013, although we originally expected to see it break cover at Google IO which was scheduled to take place from May 15 to May 17 2013, a month earlier than 2012's June dates. Given that Google announced Android 4.1 Jelly Bean at 2012's IO conference, it seemed reasonable to expect to see Android 5.0 at this year's event.
On 31 January, a Google IO showing of Android 5.0 looked more likely when screengrabs of a Qualcomm roadmap were leaked, showing Android 5.0 as breaking cover between April and June 2013.
But
on 24 April 2013, we read that Key Lime Pie may not make its debut at
Google IO after all. Apparently, "trusty internal sources" told a site called Gadgetronica that Google decided to delay Android 5.0 for two to four months to give hardware makers the chance to properly roll out Android 4.2 Jelly Bean.
The notion of Key Lime Pie being off the menu at Google IO raised itself again on 26 April when Android 4.3 surfaced in server logs over at Android Police.
Those log entries supposedly came from Nexus 4 and Nexus 7 devices
running an updated version of Jelly Bean - Android 4.3 - and apparently
the IP addresses of those devices trace back to Google HQ. So might that
point to a delayed Android 5.0 arrival?
And on 13 May, we got our
(almost certain) confirmation that there would be no serving of Key
Lime Pie at Google IO from Sundar Pichai, Google's new head of Android. Pichai told Wired
that this year's IO is "not a time when we have much in the way of
launches of new products or a new operating system". Boo! "Both on
Android and Chrome, we're going to focus this IO on all the kinds of
things we're doing for developers so that they can write better things,"
he added.
Google wasn't entirely quiet on Android 5 at its IO conference, though. As Android Authority spotted,
during a session entitled 'Android Protips 3: Making Apps Work Like
Magic' Android developer relations tech lead Reto Meier teased attendees
with a slide showing an Android eating a piece of Key Lime Pie and
later with a game where the options included Jelly Bean and Key Lime
Pie. LOOK THE ROBOT IS EATING KEY LIME PIE IT IS A SIGN!Word on the street, or at least on the streets of VR-Zone as of 13 June, is that Android 5 is now going to land in October 2013, along with the Nexus 5 phone.
In the meantime, we do have the minor Android 4.3 update to look forward to.
Android 5.0 phones
Rumours of a new Nexus handset started trickling in during the third quarter of 2012, as we reported on 1 October 2012.
There was speculation that this phone would be sporting Key Lime Pie,
but sources who spoke to AndroidAndMe correctly claimed that the
handset, which turned out to be the Google Nexus 4, would be running Android Jelly Bean.
While the Nexus 4 didn't appear with a helping of Key Lime Pie, speculation that we reported on 21 January 2013 suggested that the Motorola X Phone
was the Android 5.0-toting handset that would be revealed at Google IO.
According to a post on the DroidForums website, the phone will also
feature a virtually bezel-free, edge-to-edge, 5-inch display. The
Motorola X wasn't on show at IO but we're still expecting to see it
break cover this year.
The same leaked Qualcomm documents cited above also made mention of a two new Snapdragon devices, one of which will be, unsurprisingly, a new Nexus phone.
That Nexus phone is most likely the Google Nexus 5. We weren't surprised that it was absent from Google IO, given that the Nexus 4 only went on sale at the end of 2012.
On Monday 18 March, supposed images of the Nexus 5 surfaced,
with the handset apparently being manufactured by LG. If the
accompanying specs, leaked along with the photo by the anonymous source,
are true, then the Nexus 5 will feature a 5.2-inch, 1920 x 1080 OLED
display, 2.3GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor and 3GB of RAM. Androids out in force at Google IO 2012While we warned that a sighting of the Nexus 5 at Google IO was unlikely, rumours that we wrote up on 19 April
reckoned that there would be an Android 5.0-powered Nexus 4 launched at
the event. Apparently, the revised handset would feature 4G capability
and improved storage of 32GB. That rumour turned out to be incorrect as
the only handset launched at IO was Google's take on the Galaxy S4, which is running Android 4.2.
If rumours that we covered on 30 May are correct, then HTC will be bringing us an Android 5.0-powered 'phablet' in the form of the HTC T6.
Featuring a 5.9-inch full-HD screen, the HTC T6 would be squaring up against the also-rumoured Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which is likely to break cover at IFA 2013. According to tipster evleaks, the T6 will feature a 2.3GHz quad-core Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal storage.
Android 5.0 tablets
The original Nexus 7 tablet was unveiled at Google IO 2012, so we thought it possible that we'd see a refreshed Nexus 7 2 at Google IO 2013. The speculation earlier in the year was that Google would team up with Asus for this, as it did with the original Nexus 7. We expect an upgraded display on the new Nexus 7 tablet, while Digitimes is reporting that the 2nd generation Nexus 7 will have 3G service and and range in price from $149 to $199.
We're still waiting to see the Nexus 7 2 as, like the upgraded Nexus phone, this tablet was a now-show at IO.
Samsung's Android 5.0 upgrades
Although Samsung is yet to officially confirm its Android 5.0 schedule, a SamMobile source is claiming to know
which phones and tablets will be getting the Key Lime Pie upgrade.
According to the source, the devices set to receive the upgrade are the Galaxy S4, Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, Galaxy Note 8.0 and Galaxy Note 10.1. As you'd expect, the S4 will be getting an Android 5.0 update
Android 5.0 features
For 24 hours, it seemed as though the first kinda, sorta confirmed feature for Android 5.0 was a Google Now widget, which briefly appeared in a screenshot on the company's support forum
before being taken down. As it was so hurriedly pulled, many people
assumed it was slated for the big five-o and accidentally revealed
early.
As it happened, the following day, on 13 February 2013, the Google Now widget rolled out to Jelly Bean.
On 28 February 2013, we learned from Android Central
that Google is working with the Linux 3.8 kernel, which gives rise to
the notion that this kernel might make it into Android 5. One
improvement that the 3.8 kernel brings is lowered RAM usage, which would
mean a snappier phone with better multitasking.
On 13 June 2013,
in posting its story that Android 5.0 would be seeing a November
release, VR-Zone also claimed that the new OS will be optimised to run
on devices with as little as 512MB of RAM. Android Geeks reported that Google Babble
would debut on Key Lime Pie. Babble was the code name for Google's
cross-platform service and app with the aim of unifying its various chat
services which include Talk, Hangout, Voice, Messenger, Chat for Google
Drive and Chat on Google+.
Android Geeks' source also
(correctly) said that Google Babble will be supported by devices running
Android 2.3 and above, which makes sense given that Google will want as
many people as possible on the platform.
A screenshot that we were sent from a Google employee on 8 April
confirmed that not only was this unified chat service on the way, but
that it was called Google Babel not Babble. The service was to come with
a bunch of new emoticons and Google+ built-in so you can jump from
Babel chat to hangout. A leaked Google memo on 10 April provided a few more juicy details including talk of a new UI and synced conversations between mobile and desktop. We've been fishing for info on BabelOn 10 May, we discovered that Babel would launch as Google Hangouts, and on 15 May we saw it come to life for devices running Android 2.3 and up. So much for it debuting on Key Lime Pie.
Following an 18 April tear-down of the Google Glass app MyGlass by Android Police, it looked as though there may be an iOS Games Center-like service coming to Android 5.0. Android Police found
references in the code to functionality that doesn't exist in Glass,
which suggested that developers accidentally shipped the full suite of
Google Play Services with the Android application package.
The
files in the package contained references to real-time and turn-based
multiplayer, in-game chat, achievements, leaderboards, invitations and
game lobbies.
As expected, we found out more about Google Play Games at Google I/O, but it's not a Key Lime Pie feature after all as it has been made available already.
Android 5.0 interface
While
this is pure speculation, we're wondering whether Android 5.0 might
bring with it a brighter interface, moving away from the Holo Dark theme that came with Android 4.0.
Google Now brought with it a clearer look with cleaner fonts, and screenshots of Google Play 4.0 show Google's app market taking on similar design cues. Is this a hint at a brighter, airier look for Key Lime Pie? Google Play is lightening up [image credit: DroidLife]
Our Android 5.0 wishlist
While
we wait on more Key Lime Pie features to be revealed and scour the web
for more Android 5.0 news, TechRadar writer Gary Cutlack has been
thinking about what we want to see in Android 5.0 Key Lime Pie.
Hopefully the new mobile OS will feature some of these things...
1. Performance Profiles
It's
bit of a fuss managing your mobile before bed time. Switching off the
sound, turning off data, activating airplane mode and so on, so what
Android 5.0 really needs is a simple way of managing performance, and
therefore power use, automatically.
We've been given a taste of this with Blocking Mode in Samsung's Jelly Bean update on the Samsung Galaxy S3 and the Note 2 but we'd like to see the functionality expanded.
Something
like a Gaming mode for max power delivery, an Overnight low-power state
for slumbering on minimal power and maybe a Reading mode for no
bothersome data connections and a super-low backlight.
Some
hardware makers put their own little automated tools in, such as the
excellent Smart Actions found within Motorola's RAZR interface, but it'd
be great to see Google give us a simple way to manage states.
Another little power strip style widget for phone performance profiles would be an easy way to do it. Set telephone to BEDTIME SLEEPY MODE
2. Better multiple device support
Google
already does quite a good job of supporting serious Android nerds who
own several phones and tablets, but there are some holes in its coverage
that are rather frustrating.
Take the Videos app which manages
your film downloads through the Play Store. Start watching a film on one
Android device and you're limited to resuming your film session on that
same unit, making it impossible to switch from phone to tablet
mid-film.
You can switch between phone and web site players to
resume watching, but surely Google ought to understand its fans often
have a couple of phones and tabs on the go and fix this for Android Key
Lime Pie?
3. Enhanced social network support
Android
doesn't really do much for social network users out of the box, with
most of the fancy social widgets and features coming from the hardware
makers through their own custom skins.
Sony integrates Facebook
brilliantly in its phones, and even LG makes a great social network
aggregator widget that incorporates Facebook and Twitter - so why are
there no cool aggregator apps as part of the standard Android setup?
Yes,
Google does a great job of pushing Google+, but, no offence, there are
many other more widely used networks that ought to be a little better
"baked in" to Android.
4. Line-drawing keyboard options
Another
area where the manufacturers have taken a big leap ahead of Google is
in integrating clever alternate text entry options in their keyboards.
HTC and Sony both offer their own takes on the Swype style of
line-drawing text input, which is a nice option to have for getting your
words onto a telephone. Get it into Android 5.0 and give us the choice.
UPDATE: Google heard us and this feature appeared in Android 4.2. P-U-T T-H-I-S I-N A-N-D-R-O-I-D 5-.-0
5. A video chat app
How
odd is it that Google's put a front-facing camera on the Nexus 7 and
most hardware manufacturers do the same on their phones and tablets, yet
most ship without any form of common video chat app?
You have to
download Skype and hope it works, or find some other downloadable app
solution. Why isn't there a Google Live See My Face Chat app of some
sort as part of Android? Is it because we're too ugly? Is that what
you're saying, Google?
6. Multi-select in the contacts
The
Android contacts section is pretty useful, but it could be managed a
little better. What if you have the idea of emailing or texting a
handful of your friends? The way that's currently done is by emailing
one, then adding the rest individually. Some sort of checkbox system
that let users scroll through names and create a mailing list on the fly
through the contacts listing in Android Key Lime Pie would make this
much easier. Make this a destination, rather than a never-used list
7. Cross-device SMS sync
If
you're a constant SIM swapper with more than one phone on the go,
chances are you've lost track of your text messages at some point.
Google stores these on the phone rather than the SIM card, so it'd be
nice if our texts could be either backed up to the SIM, the SD card, or
beamed up to the magical invisible cloud of data, for easy and
consistent access across multiple devices.
8. A "Never Update" option
This
would annoy developers so is unlikely to happen, but it'd be nice if we
could refuse app updates permanently in Android 5.0, just in case we'd
rather stick with a current version of a tool than be forced to upgrade.
Sure, you can set apps to manual update and then just ignore the
update prompt forever, but it'd be nice to know we can keep a favoured
version of an app without accidentally updating it. Some of us are still
using the beta Times app, for example, which has given free access for a
year. Let us keep older versions. Many people fear change
9. App preview/freebie codes
Something
Apple's been doing for ages and ages is using a promo code system to
distribute free or review versions of apps. It even makes doing little
competitions to drum up publicity for apps much easier, so why's there
no similar scheme for Android?
It might encourage developers to
stop going down the ad-covered/freemium route if they could charge for
an app but still give it away to friends and fans through a promo code
system.
10. Final whinges and requests...
It's be nice
to be able to sort the Settings screen by alphabetical order, too, or by
most commonly used or personal preference, as Android's so packed with a
huge list of options these days it's a big old list to scroll through
and pick out what you need.
Plus could we have a percentage count
for the battery in the Notifications bar for Android 5.0? Just so we
know a bit more info than the vague emptying battery icon.
You can have both a Mac and a PC on a single computer, using Apple's new Boot Camp software. Boot Camp lets you install Windows on your Mac in addition to Mac OS X.
With Boot Camp set up, when you start your Mac, you can choose whether
to use OS X or Windows. Boot Camp is a great way to consolidate the
computers in your life and to run essential Windows programs that aren't
available on the Mac. Here's how to set up Boot Camp to get a Mac and PC all rolled into one.
Note:
Setting up Boot Camp is not a trivial task because it involves
repartitioning your Mac's hard drive and installing another operating
system and drivers. Block out a couple of hours for this project.
What You Need
Getting Boot Camp and Windows up and running on your Mac requires specific hardware and software. Here's what you need:
An Intel-based Mac running OS 10.5 (Leopard) with all software updates installed.
At least 10GB of free space on your Mac's hard drive.
A working printer connected to your Mac (with plenty of ink and paper!).
A
genuine Windows XP installation disk, which includes Service Pack 2.
(Important: You cannot install XP using a disk that does not include SP2
and expect to download it after the fact. If you have an old XP CD
without SP2, here's more on how to add SP2 to your older Windows XP installation disk.)
OR
A genuine Windows Vista Home Basic, Home Premium, Business, or Ultimate installation disk (32-bit version only.)
Set Up Boot Camp
Before you get started, free up as much space on your Mac's hard drive as possible. (Here's more on how to identify and cut back disk space hogs.)
Then back up all your important data, just in case. Do not skip this
step! Finally, log on to your Mac as an administrative user (and log off
any other users), quit all running applications, and if you're using a
portable Mac, make sure it's plugged into a power source. Got all that?
Great. Now it's time to get Boot Camp going.
Step 1: Launch the Boot Camp Assistant
The Boot Camp Assistant is a step-by-step wizard, located in /Applications/Utilities/,
but it can help you only as long as you're in Mac OS X, which you are
not throughout this entire process.
Experienced users may be annoyed by this seemingly unnecessary step,
but because you'll be rebooting your system and making major changes, a
paper copy of the guide is a comforting help along the way when the
on-screen Assistant isn't available.
In fact,
Apple's user guide printout is more complete than any instructions I
could include here, so rather than repeat the instructions it already
contains, I offer additional information not included in the official
instructions.
Step 2: Partition Your Mac's Hard Drive
After
you've told the Boot Camp Assistant that you want to set up Windows on
your Mac, you come to the scary (and fun!) part: splitting your Mac's
hard drive into pieces and setting Windows to install on one of those
partitions. The Assistant will show you a map of your Mac's hard drive.
Click the divider to drag it and set the size of your Windows partition
(which will take space away from the Mac partition). Alternatively,
using the buttons, you can split the drive equally, or use exactly 32GB
for Windows, as shown.
What size
should your Windows partition be? Good question. This decision is
difficult to undo later, so do consider a couple of questions before you
decide:
What will you use Windows to do and how much how much hard drive space will that take up?
If
you're using Windows just to play PC games, for example, you won't need
much space (10-20GB will do.) But if you want to manage your photo
library in Windows (which I do, with Picasa, because I prefer it over
iPhoto), you'll need enough space to accommodate all your photos. It's
impossible to know in advance exactly how much space you'll need, but
guesstimate as best as you can. Also, keep in mind that you can attach
external drives to add space in Windows. But remember: Files stored in
the Mac OS cannot be accessed from within Windows, so make sure you have
enough space for all the programs and files you'll want in Windows.
What format will the Windows partition be, FAT or NTFS?
If your Windows partition is larger than 32GB, you will have to format
it as NTFS, not FAT. Mac OS X cannot write to NTFS-formatted drives, but
it can write to FAT drives. That means that a Windows partition greater
than 32GB will be read-only in Mac OS. In general, FAT is considered
less reliable than NTFS. (Windows Vista uses only NTFS, so the 32GB
threshold isn't a factor if you're installing Vista.)
After you've chosen how to split your hard drive between Mac and Windows, click the Partition button.
Step 3: Start the Windows Installation
With your
partition created, insert your Windows installation disk and click the
Start Installation button in the Boot Camp Assistant. Your Mac will
reboot from the Windows installation disk and begin working. Two things
to know when you're installing Windows:
When it comes time to select the partition to format, be absolutely sure to choose the partition labeled C:Partition3 . Vista will list it as Disk 0 Partition 3 BOOTCAMP. One false move here and you could wipe out your entire Mac, so choose carefully.
If
your partition is less than 32GB and you're installing Windows XP,
you'll have a choice between the NTFS or FAT Windows format. NTFS is
recommended, although FAT is okay, too. Whatever you do, don't select
Leave The Current File System Intact—make sure you format the partition
to NTFS or FAT.
Complete the rest of the Windows XP installation per the installation disk's instructions.
Step 4. Install the Windows Drivers for Your Mac's Hardware
After
you're completely booted into your new Windows installation, eject the
installation disk and insert your Mac OS 10.5 installation CD. Let
Autorun launch Setup.exe, and follow the on-screen
instructions. When the drivers are installed, Windows will recognize
your Mac's devices (such as the Bluetooth receiver, video adapter,
iSight camera, and wireless receiver.) If you receive a message saying
that the software hasn't passed Windows testing, click the Continue
Anyway button. You'll have to reboot to finish this installation. Then
you're done!
You Choose
Now you
have the choice to start either Mac OS X or Windows on your Mac. To make
that choice when you turn on your computer, hold down the Option key
and you'll see the two partitions you set up, as shown. Click the one
that has the operating system you want to use.
Alternatively,
if the computer is already running, use the Boot Camp software to
restart in a particular operating system. In Windows XP, click the Boot
Camp icon in the system tray, and in the Startup Disk tab, select
Macintosh HD or Windows and click the Restart button to move into that
operating system, as shown.
While you're in OS X, you can do the same thing by going into System Preferences and choosing Startup Disk.
Using a Mac Keyboard in Windows
When you
first start using Windows on your Mac, one of the first things you'll
notice is that the Mac keyboard is different from Windows keyboards. It
has a Command key but no Windows key; on MacBooks and iBooks, the
keyboard has a Delete key but no Backspace key; it also has no Print
Screen Key. The Boot Camp user guide you printed includes a complete
table of Mac keyboard Windows action mappings, but the most important
ones to know are the following:
The Option key is the Windows Alt key.
The Command key is the Windows key.
The
Delete key is the equivalent of Backspace. To forward delete with it on
built-in Apple keyboards (on your Mac notebook), use Fn-Delete.
(External Apple keyboards have a forward Delete key.)
The Windows Print Screen key is F14 on an external Apple keyboard.
So you got your shiny new pre-installed Windows 7 computer over the
holidays, but you want to have trusty XP standing by in a dual boot
setup. Today we’ll walk through creating a new partition in Windows 7
then installing XP on it.
In this process we are going to shrink some free space on the Windows
7 hard drive to allocate toward a new partition. Make sure to take a
moment and decide how much space to use for the XP partition. Make sure
you have enough space on your hard drive for files you’ll be adding to
each. Create a New Partition
The first thing we need to do is create a new partition on the
Windows 7 machine. Luckily we can do it without any 3rd party software.
To begin, click on Start and type either partition or disk management into the search box and at the top of the menu click on Create and format hard disk partitions.
The Disk Management window opens, and from here we need to free up
space on the (C:) drive Windows 7 is installed on. Right-click on the
drive and select Shrink Volume.
A window pops up showing the drive is being queried for available space.
Now enter the amount of space you want to shrink the volume. You’re
shown the total size of the disk and the amount of size that is
available to shrink. In this example we’re freeing up 40GB of space.
After the process completes you’ll see the new Unallocated space. Right-click that and select New Simple Volume.
The New Simple Volume Wizard launches which is a straight forward
process. When you get to the Format Partition section, NTFS is selected
by default as the file system and you can leave that as is. You might
want to rename the Volume label something else like “XP Partition” so
it’s easier to identify when installing XP. Also you’ll probably want to
make sure to check Perform a Quick Format.
After the format is complete you will see the new volume as a healthy partition listed.
Now when you go into My Computer you’ll see the the new disk and
notice that space has been taken away from the (C:) drive Windows 7 is
installed on. Install XP on the New Partition
Now that you know how to create a new partition on your Windows 7
machine, it’s time to install XP on it. Here we’re installing XP
Professional on the new partition. Boot from the XP installation disk
and start the install process.
When it comes to choosing a partition, make sure you select the one
you created using the steps above. In this example we made a 10GB
partition for the XP install.
If the partition you created was already formatted as NTFS you can
leave it, or you can choose the FAT file system if you want.
Basically you continue through as if you were doing a clean install on any hard drive. Create Boot Loader
Once installation of XP is successful you can now go through and
install the latest Microsoft Updates and drivers. You will undoubtedly
notice that the machine is booting directly into XP at this time. This
is due to XP writing it’s bootloader over Windows 7’s. To get both XP
and Windows 7 as an option at the boot screen you can use the free
utility EasyBCD 1.72 or their new 2.0 Beta.
After getting the bootloader back you should see both XP and Windows 7 as options in the Windows Boot Manager. Conclusion
To download the EasyBCD 2.0 Beta, you’ll need to
register with the NeoSmart Technologies Forum first. If you’re hesitant
to try out Beta software, EasyBCD 1.7.2 is also free and will still work
as well. Of course there are other ways of creating a dual boot
system, but this is the method I have been using and it’s simple and
effective.
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