5 features we’d love to see on Android phones in 2015

Smartphone technology moves fast, but manufacturers can also be pretty cautious at times. The easiest and surest route to profit is often to match the competition and build on what’s there, rather than go back to the drawing board. While there’s an ever-expanding roadmap of possibilities opening up before us, many prove to be dead ends, and it takes major success with a road less traveled before the pack takes note.

I wrote this exact feature two years ago, 5 features we’d love to see on Android phones in 2013, and while there’s been some progress, three of those entries are going to make this list as well. Better Wi-Fi and more antennas don’t seem pressing anymore, but flexible displays, better batteries, and tougher phones are still totally relevant.

Flexible displays

We’ve seen a toe dipped in the water with regard to flexible displays as Samsung and LG have experimented with curves in the shape of the Samsung Galaxy Round and the LG G Flex. But a very slight curve in the rigid display is not what we have been waiting for.

The Samsung Galaxy Note Edge is a real step in the right direction. Here’s something that’s genuinely innovative. It has a strip on the edge that can come to life independently of the main display and offer extra controls. It’s also potentially readable on the nightstand when you’re lying in bed. It would have been more impressive if Samsung had the bravery to launch it as the flagship Note, the next step in the series and really throw some marketing weight behind it. The strip is a good idea, but you also get the feeling it needs imaginative software developers to make the most of it and Samsung might not be the best company to deliver. Honestly, it’s still not what we’ve been waiting for.

What we’ve really been waiting for is a device with a genuinely flexible display that folds from smartphone size for your pocket up to tablet size when you want a larger screen. Flexibility introduces serious technical challenges relating to touchscreen functionality, not to mention the rest of the components that make up the average smartphone. Although I could see the value in a device with a normal smartphone touchscreen and an extendable display without touch functionality for reading and watching movies on.

It’s going to take a seriously clever design to pull this off. I don’t expect it next year, or even the year after that, but we should see some new designs in the short term that challenge the slab form factor and use flexible displays in innovative ways.

Better batteries

The average size of batteries is going up, but OEMs keep building bigger, higher resolution screens. A lot of the new hardware inside smartphones is about doing more with less power, but are we really feeling the benefit? I think battery life has improved a lot, but it depends on what device you use. My Xperia Z2 definitely outlasts any previous Android phone I have owned (HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S3, Nexus 5), but I’m greedy and I still want it to last longer.

We’ve looked at why wireless charging hasn’t taken off properly in the past. There is technology in the works to charge your device while it sits in your pocket, but is this kind of charging really the answer to our battery woes? Charging speeds have been increasing and there’s obvious value in being able to fully charge a phone in an hour or less, but it still won’t solve the problem of running out of juice.

Battery saving software has been improving as well, but maybe the designers need to do more to consider power usage. What kind of trade-off would you accept? If you got 25% longer battery life if your phone had a 1080p display, over a 4K display would you take that deal? Battery life is improving, but OEMs could be taking more advantage. The E-Ink display on the YotaPhone 2 is a great example of some smart design that could really boost battery life.

Tougher phones

This has been tackled to an extent, as Sony pushed waterproofing into the Android mainstream. I’ve dropped my phone in the bath twice without any ill effects; though in the past I probably wouldn’t have risked using my phone in the bath. Water resistance should be standard in a smartphone now.

The trouble is that general toughness has not improved. My Xperia Z2 survived a fall from standing height onto a tile floor unscathed, but then fell off my lap while sitting onto a wooden floor and cracked. There’s a definite element of luck to smartphone falls, but a thin slab of glass and metal or plastic is inevitably going to be prone to breaking on impact with a hard surface.

I resent having to slap a case on my beautifully designed smartphone. I want it naked. There are some great case manufacturers out there, but they’re still a reluctant necessity rather than something to get excited about. The trouble from an OEM point of view is that greater durability without adding bulk is tough and everyone wants slim devices. There’s limited benefit to them because they make money if you break your phone and have to repair it or buy a new one. The strength of durability as a selling point for consumers isn’t all that clear.

No more passwords, wallets, or keys

Imagine that your smartphone knows when you are holding it without you having to enter a password, PIN, or pattern. Biometric finger or eye scanning, or voice recognition are all potentially much more convenient. It could even learn the way you move, measure distances, recognize your gait. A combination of factors could make this really secure. It should unlock automatically when you hold it and lock up when someone else does, unless told otherwise.

If your smartphone can reliably identify and authenticate you then it would be safe to use it as your universal key. I want my smartphone to start my car and unlock my front door. I want to use my smartphone to pay for goods and services. I don’t want to have to carry anything else. The technology is here, it just needs to be polished and proven trustworthy.

People often argue the dangers of a system like this, but fail to recognize that the current system is less secure. If I steal your wallet, I can spend your cash. I can probably get away with using your plastic in certain scenarios without needing the PIN. I can certainly use your keys to enter your house or drive your car. I can’t do any of that with your smartphone if it has a secure authentication system that won’t let me in.

Thinking ahead

I’m possibly overexcited by the potential pre-emptive powers of Google Now, but the reality is often disappointing. Pushing up a train timetable as I arrive at the station, warning me about traffic, or providing a sports score update is all well and good, but I’d like to see it go further.

As Google Now spans more devices and potentially has access to more data about me, I’d like it to do more for me. For a start it should be able to sync across devices and update accordingly when I dismiss something, I don’t want to see the same card I swiped away on my phone still there on my tablet or desktop (that applies to all Android notifications).

It should be the hard-working personal assistant that most of us can’t afford. Remind me to send a message to this person without me having to set a reminder, tell me that my favorite band is playing close by next month, or make sure I don’t forget to pay a bill. How about telling me I could save money by switching to this service, or alerting me to a big discount deal on something it knows I want?

I want an Android phone that’s thinking ahead for me.

That’s it for now. Agree or disagree? Want something else I didn’t mention? Hit the comments and tell us. I’ll see you in two years when hopefully I’ll have to draw up a completely new list because these features have been delivered.




Source from:

http://www.androidauthority.com

6:38:00 PM   by Unknown ·   0

Upcoming Android Phones for Last Season of 2015

Looking for the best android phone for the last season of 2015? Android is very popular and almost all mobile phones by any names of the brands or companies uses Android as the OS of the phone. And for you as an Android hunter, it is important to get up-to-date with the upcoming android phones to always update the information of new Android that will be introduced in the market. And you will also find a list about the new android that will come.

In the list of upcoming android phones 2015, almost all brands or companies will introduce the new update of their Android phone either with the new type or the next generation of the previous time. And sure, it is not only about the type or brands of the upcoming android phones that you need to know but also the specs and feature of each type of the Android phones. Sure, the change may not be so different with the previous android phones.

Commonly, the upcoming android phones will offer more features and some also update and upgrade the system and technology to make the phone more than just a mobile phone or for entertainment but also for working. So, it depends on what you want to look for the phone as each type of phone may have the good point at certain feature and for another may not. It is just like other brands of Android phones that may be excellent in one feature but not for another one.

That is why, if you go online, you may find a list of upcoming android phones with certain number of the new Android phones that will come in the market with their own pros and cons. Therefore, it is a good idea to read the review of each type of the phones. And there are also some reviews from professional editor or reviewer you can read to find the best one from these upcoming new android phones.

Description: upcoming android phones give you more options with new Android phones and with new features and technology and system. Reading the review of the phones is a good idea.

Source from:

http://appsfree.us

6:24:00 PM   by Unknown ·   0

The Forgotten Capital of Khmer Empire

Posted on May 12, 2013

Most people are familiar with Khmer Empire’s capital of Angkor in the Siem Reap district in Cambodia, but not many have heard of Koh Ker, the once grand capital of the Khmer empire for a brief period between 928 to 944 AD.

Left for a millennium in the jungle in the northern province of Cambodia close to the border of Thailand, Koh Ker is the most remote archeological site in the country. It was very inaccessible for a long time and was rarely visited until the road development in 2004. The site can now be easily reached by car from Siem Reap in about two hours and forty-five minutes.

Khmer Empire’s capital was moved from Angkor to Koh Ker (pronounced ‘Ko Kei’) by King Jayavarman IV during his reign. Being the least studied among Khmer temple complex, it is unclear what motivated King J IV to move the capital.  The capital was moved back to Angkor when his son succeeded him to the throne.

More than 100 temples and sanctuaries were built in Koh Ker during its brief stint as a Khmer capital. However, only about 40 of them are accessible to visitors today. Most of them are still hidden in the thickness of the jungle.  Local authorities are unable to clear them of vegetation as they are located in areas that have not been cleared of landmines.

Koh Ker temples housed extraordinary sculptures, but none of them are left at the site as the temples were heavily looted.  Many of them are illegally in the possession of private collectors and international museums, and some are kept in Cambodian museums.

Interestingly,  New York Times recently published an article reporting that the Metropolitan Museum of Arts in New York was  returning two Koh Ker statues to Cambodia. This was the outcome after Cambodia’s officials successfully documented that the two statues that were donated to the museum were actually smuggled out of the country in the 1970’s.

It looks like efforts are being made to secure some of Koh Ker’s structure from further falling apart, but no restoration works has been done at the temple complex. Archeological surveys were undertaken in the 1960’s but all studies were destroyed during the rule of Khmer Rouge regime.

The main temple in Koh Ker is Prasat Thom, a 7-tiered pyramid that look more like a Mayan than a Khmer temple. A giant linga, a phallic symbol for Hindu god Shiva,  used to sit at the summit but has long disappeared.

Visitors used to be able to climb to the top of the temple but the staircase has been closed for safety reasons. We thought it was too bad; we heard the view from the top was very spectacular.

Our driver, Mr. Pop, who had been to Koh Ker many times, was surprised to get a cell phone signal at the site for the first time. He saw wires going up behind the  temple and realized that it is now used a cell tower.

Most temples and sanctuaries housed a linga. Most of them are gone but some of their bases still stand.

We hopped back into our car to visit some of the Prasats (temples) that dotted the access road that circles the main temple area.

The largest remaining Shiva linga in Koh Ker is housed in the ruin of Prasat Thneng, located one km from Prasat Thom.

Prasat Kra Chap

Prasat Neang Khmau known as the Temple of Black Virgin.

Aside from the two of us and Mr. Pop, the only other souls in the temple complex during our visit were the lovely caretaker and her adorable children and pet.

If you’re looking for well-restored temples, then obviously Koh Ker is not for you. What we liked about this site was that it gave us a sense of how the Khmer temples were like when the explorers just stumbled upon them in the 19th century. It also let our imagination go wild on how grand the temple complex was at its peak. Also, Koh Ker may be a long drive from Siem Reap but we very much enjoyed the beautiful and tranquil view of the countryside along the way.

Source from: http://www.travelingsolemates.com

7:17:00 PM   by Unknown ·   0

200GB MicroSD Cards, 3D Images and Hologram Will be Soon In Your Smartphones

With the advancement in technology we can hope to have many new features in our smartphones that were always imagined and wanted by us. There were times when floppy disks with tiny storage capacity were used for data storage and transfer. The advancement in computer technology led to development of CD’s, DVD’s and microSD cards. Now, tech companies claim that we will be able to see realistic 3-D image on screens. The most amazing and awaited advancement in graphics technology is hologram. And according to the news we will be able to have hologram in our smartphones in near future.

MicroSD cards which are very much smaller in size than floppy disk holds a lot more memory. We are already using thumb sized MicroSD cards with capacity of 16 GB and even 32 GB in our smartphones. As the technology advances, the storage capacity of memory cards also increases while at the same time, their size is shrinking to extraordinary size. Imagine MicroSD cards which already have large storage capacity of many GB’s expanded to 200 GB. Such MicroSD cards with large capacity have already been revealed recently.

SanDisk, a leading MicroSD cards providers recently revealed a ultra MicroSD card in a press release with the huge storage capacity of 200GB, enabling the user to have 20 hours of full HD movie right in his pocket on a finger nail sized memory card.

Buy Professional Ultra MicroSDXC 128GB SanDisk With High Speed.

“As the needs of mobile users continue to change, SanDisk is on the forefront of delivering solutions for these demands as is clearly illustrated through their growing portfolio of innovative products, including the new 200GB SanDisk Ultra microSDXC card.” said Christopher Chute, Vice President, Worldwide Digital Imaging Practice, IDC.

The statement of Christopher Chute indicates that in future, we might come across memory cards with capacity of tera bytes maybe, depending upon the demands of the smartphones users.

Related: Hendo Hoverboard | A Real Life Levitating Hoverboard That Actually Works

In case of graphics technology, holograms and 3-D images are always shown in movies but these technologies were not considered to be realistic until a technology review, reveals David Fattal’s intentions of making the graphics technology able to show hologram in the smartphones in near future.

Fattal’s company named Leia, plans to display a module capable of producing 3-D image without using any special glasses, later this year. According to Fattal, the 3-D image will be viewable from 64 different view points.

The technology by Fattal will be refined to produce hologram coming out of the conventional liquid crystal display (LCD). Gordon Wetzstein a professor of electrical engineering at Stanford University believes that the impressive advancements in image technology producing hologram is ready to be commercialized.

3-D technology is only an initial step for Leia. According to Fattal, hologram technology is the most essential one which involves 64 cameras placed at precise places. Fattal’s technology has not yet made it possible to view hologram video like princess Leia in star wars. But the technology makes it possible to view hologram image within a 60° arc.

The company plans to release a module in Asian market hoping to get positive response after the failure of recent 3-D televisions. The company hopes its technology to be good enough to make people spend money on it. An obvious opportunity will be mobile gaming. Do you think hologram technology will be able to have positive impact on users?

 

Source from: http://www.techestuff.com

9:54:00 AM   by Unknown ·   0

Apple iPhone 7 Release Date And Rumors To Have Liquid Metal Technology

This year has been great for apple with the simultaneous release of two smartphones from the company for the first time- the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus. Both the phone have been a great success in the markets across the world as the sales are concerned. After bringing some drastic changes from its predecessor to the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus, Apple now has a huge responsibility to make its next device something good enough to challenge the growing competition from a whole new bunch of manufacturers that came into the picture recently.

According to Pocket Lint, there are many things we should take in consideration when thinking of the future iPhone’s name. The iPhone 6S name will be possible if Apple wants to bring an overhauled version of the current iPhone, with a few minor upgrades. However, if they are going to bring some significant changes to the upcoming iPhone they will most likely name it iPhone 7. Many analysts think that Apple will not go for iPhone 6S and instead they will prefer a totally changed iPhone 7. Back in September 2012, Apple released the iPhone 5 and in 2013 they released the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. The iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus were released in September 2014, which means that Apple is not expno ected to release a new iPhone anytime soon. With other words, we will most likely expect a new iPhone release sometime in September 2015.



Rumors say that the upcoming iPhone will also have a new display technology, as Foxconn Technology Co Ltd reported to be working on a new building exclusively for Apple. For now, Apple didn’t say a word about the upcoming iPhone and we think that they will keep their mouths shut until Q1-Q2 of 2014. Apart from that according to a report from the blogger John Gruber, the next iPhone will make the biggest jump in the camera section. The iPhone 7 should feature two camera lenses, which should vastly improve the quality of the images. Little is known, but the blogger believes that the rear camera captures DSLR quality images using two lenses.

 

Source from: http://www.littletips.in

9:37:00 AM   by Unknown ·   0

Top 10 worst smartphone gimmicks we’ve ever seen

The old idiom proclaims that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. There is seemingly no stronger testament to the staying power of this truism than the smartphone.

Ever since mobile phones first exploded in popularity in the late 1990’s, manufacturers having been cramming trash down our throats and proclaiming it to be treasure. And who could blame them? Mobile communications is one of the most competitive markets in the world, and they must to continue to innovate to stand out from the crowd, or perish.

But when that one-hour-before-deadline, half-baked, eye-catching ‘feature’ that we’ve been force fed falls flat? That’s when we get to poke fun.

Here are ten of the worst gimmicks in smartphone history:

1) LG G Flex – Curved screen

The Concept:

As TV’s in our living rooms get bigger and bigger, so does their resolution. 4K will soon be the norm, our eyes popping in excitement over the cinematic levels of clarity and colour.

Just like in the cinema, larger home television screens are beginning to curve too. LG’s curved OLED TV is the latest to hit the market, and can really enhance the viewing experience when position just right. The screen curves slightly inwards in the middle, granting the viewer a sense of immersion and preventing the picture from becoming distorted at the edges due to the extremity of the viewing angle.

Through some remarkably reverse-engineered logic, LG have since decided it would be appropriate to do the same with your smartphone. The LG G Flex is also curved in the middle, only in this case the curvature runs from top to bottom.

The Reality:

What exactly is the point? What purpose did they hope this would serve? With their curved television LG have actually enhanced the viewing experience, albeit minutely. With a curved smartphone there is no such visual enhancement. LG claim that it is more ergonomic when held up against your face. It isn’t. In fact the curvature is so incredibly slight that it is barely noticeable, even when placed on a flat surface next to a regular phone.

The LG G Flex simply looks like it’s been put through the wash in the back pocket of your jeans, emerging just slightly warped enough to be visibly unsettling but completely functionless.

2) Samsung Galaxy series – Samsung Air View

The Concept:

Your Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet with Air View enabled is able to detect when you hover your device’s S Pen Stylus (or even your finger on some devices) just above the screen.

As a result you can, for example, scroll up and down a page or preview the contents of an email simply by hovering.

The Reality:

Have we been taking crazy pills? This is complete madness! Who thought this was a feature that people wanted? You’re hovering your finger one centimetre above the device – just touch it. The device is already being held in on hand, with your weapon of choice (be it your finger or your stylus) in the other, so there are no mobility advantages to be gained.

Similarly, it’s not as if you’re interacting with your phone in a fundamentally new way. You aren’t navigating your brand new Galaxy Note 2 with hard buttons. You’re performing the exact same actions as always – only one centimetre away from the screen.

3) Sony Ericsson Xperia Play – Everything

The Concept:

It’s a smartphone but, get this, it turns into a portable games console. A portable games console made by Sony! Carrying the PlayStation name! Never seen that before, right?

The Reality:

Hold on. Yes we have. Twice. The PlayStation Portable and its sequel the PlayStation Vita have sold just shy of 90 million units worldwide between them. And here is a phone with a ridiculous PlayStation-branded slide-out gamepad which can only play Android games available to every Android phone ever. Great selling point, guys.

Not to mention its meagre four-inch, 854 x 480 pixel display which was outdated, even by early 2011 standards. There was also the small matter of the £500 price point – enough to buy you both a brand new, top of the line portable games console as well as a new smartphone, if you have any common sense.

4) HTC Salsa, HTC ChaCha – ‘Facebook Phones’

The Concept:

People love Facebook. Heck, even people who hate it still find themselves glued to it for multiple hours a day. Facebook has been one of the greatest innovations in the way we communicate with one another since the mobile phone itself. By combining the two, you have the ultimate social tool.

The Reality:

Who decided to name two phone handsets ‘Salsa’ and ‘ChaCha’? That’s just terrible. And so was their unique selling point.

What the greatly anticipated ‘Facebook Phone’ ended up manifesting itself as was a regular smartphone with a button dedicated to Facebook. Press the button, go to Facebook. That’s it. Again, these were phones released in 2011. Apps were ubiquitous at this point, none more so than Facebook’s own. You can already open Facebook at the press of a virtual button, so why hardwire one into the case of the phone? The Salsa and ChaCha were low points, even by HTC’s ever-slipping standards.

5) Samsung Galaxy S4 – Samsung Smart Scroll

The Concept:

Just about every other action performed on your smartphone is scrolling. It’s nigh on impossible to do almost anything without putting thumb to screen. It is an inherent, core aspect of the way we operate our smartphones. A smartphone that does away with scrolling would be like a car that banishes the steering wheel.

Great Korean innovators Samsung believed they had found away to change phone interfacing forever, with Smart Scroll. The Galaxy S4’s front-facing camera utilised retina-tracking technology to follow the user’s gaze. When the user’s eyes reach the bottom (or top) of the page, it begins to scroll automatically. Manual scrolling is a thing of the past.

The Reality:

Here is a list of issues which may cause Smart Scroll not to perform correctly, courtesy of Samsung’s official support website: When the front camera fails to detect face and eyes, when the source of the light is behind you or when using the device in the dark, when the front camera is being used in an application, when you are using other gestures, such as Air View, when there are popup messages or screens being displayed, or when you have multiple windows open.

You can probably guess how well ‘Smart’ Scroll worked most of the time. We should also point out to Samsung, once again, that when you already have your thumb resting against the device in question, making said device ‘thumbs free’ is completely redundant.

6) Motorola Atrix – Webtop Lapdock

The Concept:

Two years before the rise of the tablet/PC hybrid, Motorola conceived the Atrix. The idea was to turn a mobile phone into a mobile computer.

Through the use of the Atrix Webtop Lapdock, the Atrix can become a laptop. Simply dock the phone and it displays its content on a full-sized laptop screen, complete with functioning keyboard and trackpad mouse.

The Reality:

To be fair to Motorola, there is nothing inherently wrong with this feature. ‘Second screens’ are a major trend in mobile tech right now – pick any tablet off of the shelf at your local electronics store (if you can find one) and the chances are it can connect to your home television, either wirelessly or via HDMI cable.

What was unacceptable, though, was the absurd price. If you wanted to purchase the Lapdock along with your new Atrix smartphone you would have been facing upwards of £300 – and that’s the price when purchased on an expensive contract.

For £300, plus a hefty £45 per month contract, why on earth would you not just buy a tablet? Or a netbook? Or anything at all other than this ridiculous machine? The Atrix simply aimed to fill a niche that never existed.

7) HTC Evo 4G – Kickstand

The Concept:

It’s a kickstand. Need to stand your phone up? Fold it out, and there you have it.

The Reality:

Think about where you are when you use your smartphone to watch video. On the bus perhaps, or the train. Maybe you’re walking down the street or waiting in line at a shop or cafe. Maybe you’re sat with a friend on the sofa and want to show them a quick video you saw earlier.

In any of the scenarios that come to mind wherein you watch video on your smartphone, is there a stationary, flat surface place immediately in front of you?

It would seem that the HTC Evo 4G falls that the first (and only, really) hurdle. It’s practically useless. Even if you were to find somewhere out-and-about to place your phone to watch a bit of film, what if your headphones then don’t reach your head from the device? Or the speakers are too quiet? Or the screen isn’t sitting at quite the right angle?

For those determined to have a kickstand attached to their phone, there is a case offering that feature available for just about every handset under the sun. For HTC though, they might do well to bear in mind that some selling points are ‘unique’ for a reason.

8) Samsung Galaxy Beam – Built-in projector

The Concept:

Wouldn’t it be fantastic to share all of the fun and exciting media on your phone with your friends, without them all having to huddle around your device’s tiny screen? Or perhaps you want to watch a movie or video clip on your phone, but with all immersion of watching it on a television screen?

The ever-brilliant brain trust over at Samsung have been slaving away in the lab yet again. This time, they’ve found a way to put a projector inside your phone. A full-on projector, just like you’d deliver a presentation on at work, or watch a movie on at the cinema – but integrated into your smartphone. The future is truly here.

The Reality:

Like a chocolate teapot, the Samsung Galaxy Beam may sound tasty, but its real life applications are few and far between. For a start, unless you plan on amassing your pals inside a dark room with a big, clear, white wall, just how are you supposed to show them anything on a beam projector? Just like any projector, this one works best in the dark.

In fact this one works only in the dark, thanks to its output of 15 lumens. Lumens are the unit by which visible brightness is measured and, for comparison, a standalone low-end budget projector will usually output at around 2000 lumens. So you don’t need to be Thomas Edison to work out how the Galaxy Beam performs.

Combine this with the fact that the Galaxy Beam’s projector has a maximum range of two metres and a battery life shorter than the running time of Lawrence of Arabia and you have one pretty terrible gimmick.

9) Motorola Moto X – Quick Capture

Being unable to reach your device quick enough to take the perfect photo in the perfect moment is a problem that just about everyone has probably experience at some point, and it long pre-dates smartphones.

With the Motorola Moto X’s Quick Capture feature smartphone photographers need never miss that once-in-a-lifetime snap ever again. With two quick flicks of the wrist your previously locked smartphone awakens itself and jumps straight to the camera app – all you have to do is shoot.

The Reality:

If the concept of shaking the device versus, say, the iPhone’s lock-screen camera button seems redundant, just wait until you see what a ‘flick of the wrist’ entails.

It’s a small miracle that each Moto X handset didn’t come with a warning from the surgeon general about excessive use and carpal tunnel. The promotional trailer for the handset shows a woman twisting her wrist back and forth as if the Moto X were the lid on a particularly tough mayonnaise jar.

Of course the motion works first time in the advert, but anyone with any experience of this sort of feature will know full well that they never perform first time of asking. All it takes is for the Quick Capture’s motion recognition to fail once and it’s already cost you time versus simply unlocking the phone.

10) Samsung Galaxy S4 – Samsung Smart Stay

The Concept:

Of we couldn’t finish this list without another one of Samsung’s Bond-esque innovations. Their track record has been stellar so far, what could possibly go wrong?

With Samsung Smart Stay, your Galaxy S4 has yet another use for retina tracking – this time it knows when you’re paying attention to your device and when you’re looking away. The result is that if you’re writing a text message or email and stop midway to have a chat with someone or pay attention to the world around you, it will put the screen to sleep to preserve battery.

Similarly, if you’re watching a video and get distracted it will automatically pause it for you.

The Reality:

The reality is that it is completely ridiculous and unnecessary. The reality is that it does not work as intended. The reality is that Samsung are so plainly out of ideas with regards to real technological innovation that they continue to roll out bizarre features that attempt to fix problems which never existed using hardware which was never designed to do so. The reality is that all of these gimmicks make both the user and the trillion-dollar multinational corporation behind them look utterly stupid.

When companies throw in cheap parlour tricks to sell unremarkable technology, it cheapens their brand, cheapens their product, cheapens the medium which they have worked so hard to legitimise, and cheapens the fragile relationship they have built with the consumer.

If mobile companies could just focus on plainly bettering their product rather than trying to seduce users with digital snake-oil, they might just find that the profits and accolades they have been so desperately seeking will come easier than they first thought.

Source from: http://www.whatmobile.net

6:13:00 PM   by Unknown ·   0

Windows 8 Survival Guide: All the Tips, Tricks, and Workarounds

Give Me Back My Desktop

Windows 8 looks drastically different from what you’re used to. Those colors! Those tiles! Charms! While we’re big fans of the overhaul, you may long for the Windows desktop of old. Don’t worry; Microsoft built an ejector seat specifically for people like you.

If you press Start+D, you’ll shoot instantly to the desktop environment from wherever you are. Press it again, and you’ll clear all the windows to show the desktop you’ve spent the last two decades getting comfortable with. Press it once more and your fancy tiled windows come back. A four-fingered vertical swipe also accomplishes this, but we found the keyboard shortcut a little easier.

Choose New Default Apps for Music, Video, and More

A lot of the default apps in Windows 8 will shoot you into a Live app—and out of the desktop environment. To remedy this, you just have to right click on any file of the type you want, and mouse over the Open with option. From there, select Choose default program…. You’ll be able to select whether any app opens in Windows 8 or desktop. You can do this for multiple file types at once by going to Programs > Default Programs.

If you set all your file types to desktop apps, you’ll never get booted out of desktop for anything, and you can enjoy all of the other benefits of Windows 8, like its smaller footprint and better performance.

Know Which Version of an Application You Want to Install

With Windows 8, a lot of apps are going to have two versions for you to choose from, or, often, that you can run at the same time. It can be confusing, and leads to useful stories with insane headlines like “Understand The Differences Between The SkyDrive App And The SkyDrive Application.” That’s more punchline than headline, but the point is a good one: As you use more and more apps that have been updated for Windows 8, you’re going to have to decide whether you want the Modern version or the desktop version.

How You Should Actually Multitask with Live Apps

If you do choose to embrace Windows 8 in all its tiled goodness—and you really should—the first trouble you’re going to run into is fluidly switching between apps. Your programs will now open full screen, which means going back and forth is more complicated than just clicking around. And Alt+Tab doesn’t behave quite like you’re used to any more. So here’s how to get around:

Your New Most Used (But Kinda Clumsy) Gesture: You can zoom through Metro apps while multitasking easily enough just by swiping (or clicking in the top left corner, if you’re on a mouse), but there’s one problem: It can be a crap shoot which app you’re going to get, since there’s no visual reference point about what’s coming up next, and in what order. The gesture to get around this isn’t super obvious.

If you’re using a touchscreen, pull from the left side of the screen, like you’re going to yank an app over for that fast-change multitask, but then shove it back to the left. This brings up the Windows 8 app selector, where only Windows 8 apps are shown, with the desktop environment being a single app. As far as we can tell, this doesn’t work on trackpads (at least the ones we’ve used). Once you used to it, though, it’s actually a more natural way to access multitasking than iOS, and a little easier than Android since you don’t have to reach for a button—it’s just always on the left side of your screen.

Alt Tab vs. Start Tab: This is another big difference. In Windows 7 and Windows Vista, Start+Tab cycled you through your apps using the Aero view, with previews of each windows rather than the regular Alt+Tab. Now, though, Start+Tab accesses the same Windows 8 multitasking menu, while Alt+Tab is unchanged.

The difference between the two is that Alt+Tab has an icon for each of your Windows 8 apps, but also each of your desktop apps. So if you’re just Alt+Tabbing around, you can get disoriented by zapping from full screen app to full screen app.

How to Use Gestures Without a Touchscreen or a (Working) Trackpad

One of the best things about Windows 8 is that it adds an incredible amount of functionality to your arsenal with swipes and taps. You know, gestures. But if you don’t have a touchscreen or a compatible trackpad, here’s how you can still take advantage of all the new shortcuts. Microsoft calls them “hot corners,” but they’re basically just mouse-friendly maneuvers:

Start: Mouse to the bottom left corner, left click the tile.
Power User Navigation: If you right click the bottom left popup instead of left clicking it, you’ll get options for a host of commands, like opening Task Manager or Control Panel, or individual settings like Power Options or Device Manager.
Multitask Quick Swap: Mouse to the top left corner and left click it (You can also right click to close or snap left or right)
Multitask Bar: Mouse to the top left corner, then slide your cursor down the left side of the screen. (Right click closes or snaps left or right here as well)
Charms: Mouse to the top or bottom right corner.
Close Live App: Click the top-center of the app and drag it to the bottom of the screen.
Live App Menu: Right click anywhere in the Live app
Aero Peek: Aero Peek is still here! Mouse to the bottom right corner and leave the cursor there.

Other New Keyboard Shortcuts

Start+C: Open charms
Start+Q: Search charm
Start+H: Share charm
Start+K: Devices charm
Start+I: Settings charm
Start+Q: Search apps
Start+W: Search settings
Start+F: Search files (It’s easier to just type directly into the Start screen, but these take you directly to your desired search category.)
Start+,: Peek at desktop
Start+B: Back to desktop
Start+Enter: Open Windows Narrator
Start+X: Open system utility settings menu

For Live Apps
Start+.: Snap app left
Start+Shift+.: Snap app right
Start+Z: App options
Start+Tab: Cycle through app history
Start+F4: Close an app

You Might Actually Prefer a Mouse

The weird thing about Windows 8 in its Modern (formerly Metro) interface is that while it’s meant to be touched, and gestures are enabled on (most) trackpads, using a mouse with it is surprisingly great. So good, in fact, that using the scroll wheel to zoom around the horizontal areas and right clicking and using keyboard shortcuts is easier than dealing with trackpad drivers a lot of times. Go figure.

Pin Desktop Apps to the Start Screen

If you like the new Start screen, but you just want to use it as a hub and do all the rest of your work in Desktop mode, you can use it as, basically, a fancy app launcher, widget hub (with Live Tiles), and favorites hub by yanking out all of the tiles that would open a separate Live app. You do this just by right-clicking a desktop app and selecting Pin to Start.

This is a good tip to use in conjunction with picking new default non-Modern apps. You can also keep just one or two Live apps there, and use them as your Snap apps. That will also have the added bonus of making the fast-swap gesture more usable since it would always be the same thing.

Get Your Google Apps and Search Working

A lot of people rely heavily on Google services for their PC life. Google’s made it easy to maintain those services—and replace their default Microsoft equivalents in Windows 8—by making a landing page called getyourgoogleback.com. From there you can easily download the Google Search app and Chrome, and stick them on your Start screen.

Take the Time to Sync Up with a Microsoft Account

You can run a regular local account on Windows 8, but it’s definitely worth your time to set up a Microsoft account. All that requires is a Hotmail, Live, Outlook, or other Microsoft email address.

To sign in systemwide, go to the Charms bar, and select Settings > Change PC Settings (this will send you to another window) > Users From there you can select Switch to a Microsoft account. From there, just enter your account email, or you’ll be given the option of creating one. A new subhead will now appear in PC Settings called Sync your settings. You can pick out which kinds of settings you want to sync.

It’s worth your while, especially since it’ll save you the trouble of having to sign in each and every time you try to access Xbox Music, the Windows Store, etc.

Turn Off the Lock Screen

Windows 8 turns on the lock screen by default, which is probably for the best. But if you’d rather not deal with it, you can disable it, and launch right into the screen you left off at.

Type “netplwiz” into the start screen, and launch the app that comes up. Then select your user account, and uncheck Users must enter a user name and password to use this computer. You’ll be prompted to enter your password twice. Now just restart and you’re password-free. You can re-enable the lock just by doing this in reverse.

BEWARE: Live Tiles Make ALL of Your Photos and Video Thumbnails REALLY VISIBLE

Speaking of security! This is a very funny side effect but also a very real one for, basically, all of you. Any embarrassing photos or videos you have on your computer, once displayed in the new Modern interface, will be used as thumbnails for your folders. So. If you’re in SkyDrive, for instance, and you have a folder with a bunch of photos of your family at the beach, but in another folder carefully hidden and innocuously named there are photos of scantily clad furries, guess what: you’re running a roulette game that the furries will be the top level folder’s thumbnail.

Basically: Burying your porn is no longer good enough. All the more reason to just keep that stuff in your browser, where it belongs.

Nuke All of the Bloatware on Your Machine at Once

Windows 8 makes making a clean install simpler than ever. Just go into PC Settings > General. Scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see two options: Refresh your PC without affecting your files and Remove everything and reinstall Windows.

The first option will retain your music, photos, and other personal files, while the latter option will just give you a toasty fresh install of stock Windows 8. That’s it. No discs, no hassle.

It’s probably a good idea to run this as soon as you buy any new computer.

Change the Boot Drive if Windows Boots Too Fast

Traditionally, when you’re changing which drive or partition your computer boots from, you do it at startup. But Windows 8 boots really fast, so if you need to switch the drive and don’t want to futz with timing your keystrokes, just go to PC Settings > General > Advanced startup options. From there, you can restart into a screen that will let you switch operating systems, troubleshoot, continue to Windows, or restart.

Take Advantage of the New Task Manager

Task Manager (Control + Alt + Delete) is one of the more boring parts of Windows, but it got a bit of a facelift in Windows 8, and there are some new features that can make your life easier.

The biggest advantage is the Startup feature, which doesn’t just tell you which programs are set to load when you start your computer; it also tells you how much they’re going to affect startup time. That ranges from None, to Low, Medium, and High. Some are Not Measured, but for the most part, this should let you more accurately pick which programs to launch at startup.

Other features include an updated Users tab that shows you a bunch of information about how many resources each logged-in user is sucking up, and how. You can also get at the App History tab, which tells you how much data each of your Live apps is sucking up. That’s mostly for tablet users on a data plan, but still a nice peek under the hood for desktop users.

Easy Screenshots! Finally!

There’s finally an easier way to take screenshots on Windows. Here’s the keyboard shortcut, which will dump the screenshots into a Screenshots folder in your Pictures folder.

Start+PrntScrn: Take screenshot and save to Pictures

Try Out Xbox Music—But Know What You’re Getting

Xbox Music is Microsoft’s new streaming music service. It’s activated by default if you’ve connected your Microsoft account to your Windows 8 install, meaning that you can just boot up Windows 8 for the first time and play free music in the Music app. Think of it as a built-in Spotify. And it took a while, but Xbox Music now how cross-platform support in the form of iOS and Android apps, as well as a browser player.

When it launched last year, Xbox Music was trapped in a Microsoft-only bubble. Starting today, Xbox …

Know the Difference Between RT and Windows 8

Microsoft hasn’t done a great job of explaining that Windows RT is not the same as Windows 8, even though they look very much alike. If you’re buying one of the new computers made specifically for Windows 8, take a moment to figure out which version of Windows you want. Here’s our full

You probably know that Windows 8 comes in two different versions—Basic x86 Windows

But in short, Windows RT is more of a mobile OS than a true desktop OS, and you should know that going in. You’ll be able to use the new convertibles to do some of the stuff you’d do on a regular laptop, but it’s absolutely a compromised experience. Which is fine! It’s better than not having the option on your tablet. But anyone telling you it turns your tablet into a full-on laptop is full of it.

Run Windows 8 in Its Own Partition First

Maybe you’d rather just dip your toes in the Windows 8 waters, and not go all the way in. Totally fine. You can install a partition and run Windows 7 and Windows 8 side-by-side, and even select which is the default.

If you’re starting from Windows 7, just go to Windows’ Disk Management and set up a 20GB partition for Windows 8. From there, you can simply install Windows 8 on that partition. You can use the aforementioned boot drive selector in Windows 8 to pick which OS you’d like to make the default.

Wipe Windows 8 Out and Install Windows 7 Instead

OK. Last thing. If you REALLY don’t want Windows 8, you can get out of it. Simply install Windows 7 on a partition, as detailed above, boot it up, and erase your Windows 8 partition. But know that you’re not getting making a full escape; you’re just buying yourself some time before the future fully takes hold.

   Source : http://gizmodo.com

6:06:00 PM   by Unknown ·   0