So, your grandmother finally wants to ditch her flip phone for a shiny new smartphone? Congratulations. But helping her get used to her new device, even when it's an iPhone, is no small task. Grandma mastered checking her email in late-2012 and just recently learned there's a thing called "Facebook." But we love grandma, and thanks to this guide, we can definitely make this happen for her.
Google caught a lot of flak for the Pixel 2 XL's POLED display issues, regardless of whether the problems were real or perceived. It's too late to contract another screen manufacturer at this point, but Google is doing the next-best thing: Fixing as many user complaints as possible with software updates.
Shortly after we detailed several indicators that the Galaxy S8 Oreo Beta Program would begin rolling out in the month of November, we now have a full changelog for the update.
Razer, the company known for PC peripherals and laptops, is joining the smartphone industry with a new device. Rumors have been swirling since they announced an event on November 1 at 4 PM EDT, but now, we have our best look yet with a leaked promotional video before the actual announcement.
If you need a little inspiration for tonight's Halloween festivities, this augmented reality magazine cover featuring the Dark Knight himself, Batman, may do the trick.
The Pixel 2 has a number of new unique features. One of the most interesting is the Now Playing option to identify songs you hear on a daily basis. Now Playing displays the artist and title of songs playing in the background of your day and shows this information on the lock screen. While this functionality is incredibly useful, the song history is not saved anywhere on your phone.
It's finally that time. Stranger Things 2 dropped today, just days before Halloween. And to get you in the mood, Snapchat has quietly launched a spooky new filter that lets you immerse yourself in the world depicted in the hit Netflix series.
It's not rare to see an advertisement in tech directly call out the competition. Whether it's the famous Mac vs. PC ads from back in the day or the Pixel burning the iPhone 7's lack of a headphone jack, rivalries in these commercials are certainly commonplace. Samsung's new ad campaign takes a more subtle approach to this "throwdown" advertising, but the message is still clear — Samsung wants you to know its AMOLED displays are better than Google's and LG's POLED.
The Pixel 2 debuted a really cool feature that identifies any songs playing nearby and automatically displays the track's name on your lock screen. It's honestly one of the most inventive smartphone features we've seen in a while, especially considering how Google did it — but strangely, it's not enabled by default.
The Pixel 2 is a solid upgrade when compared to the 2016 model, but we've reached a point where the latest generation of a smartphone is never leaps and bounds better than the last. It's hard to justify dropping nearly a grand on a phone when it doesn't improve your situation much — especially when a few software tweaks will give you most of the upgrade for free.
Update 10/14: Developer paphonb has added rootless Google Now integration to the leaked Pixel 2 launcher, so now, anyone running Android Nougat or Oreo can get the full Pixel 2 home screen experience. For those running Lollipop or Marshmallow, we've left the unaltered leaked version linked out below, but we've added a new link for the tweaked version with Google Now integration.
Google announced a partnership with Movies Anywhere that allows you to connect your iTunes, Amazon, and Vudu movie library with Google Play Movies. In other words, movies you purchase from any of these online retailers will be available for playback in the Google Play Movies app after a little setup.
With so many Chromecast-powered devices available, chances are, you're near something with casting abilities right now. Whether it's Android TV, Google Home, or any one of the various gadgets with Chromecast built-in, you can use a more powerful speaker to play media from your smartphone. The only caveat is that the app you're streaming from needs to support Google Cast, but thankfully, Tidal does.
The new iPhone 8 and 8 Plus models come with a gorgeous Retina HD display with Apple's True Tone technology, which automatically adjusts the white balance on the screen to match the ambient light around you. The iPhone X also has True Tone built into its Super Retina HD display. However, if you're coming over from any previous model iPhone, it may look a little strange in some situations.
When you first use Kodi, it can be intimidating. The main menu has numerous options for the various types of media Kodi can play back, and the settings menu has a broad array of tools to customize Kodi to your needs. After poking around in theses menus, you might realize that you don't like the default look. But whether it's the color, font, layout, or just the general theme, Kodi skins can change it all.
With the new iPhone X, Apple introduced a buttonless design for the first time. But without a home button, navigation within iOS 11 had to change to accommodate the new model. To solve this issue, Apple created gestures to perform the actions that the home button once executed. But while Apple users have to wait until November 3 to use these gestures, you can get these features right now on Android.
If you've spent countless hours scrolling through Instagram feeds full of selfies, then I'm sure you know that some are, well ... better than others. There are so many different things you can do to start taking better selfies to post on social media. One really easy way is to start shooting in VSCO.
Remember the live fish wallpapers from iOS 9? They may be a fading memory at this point since Apple removed them all from the iPhone in iOS 11, but there is a way to get those fishies animated on your device again. They'll be live photos for your lock screen, which is as good as it will get until Apple lets us use all its live wallpapers, new and old, one day, which will probably never happen.
Smartglass maker ThirdEye Gen, Inc. has introduced an augmented reality solution for enterprises that includes their X1 Smartglass and a suite of software applications that enable completely hands-free computing.
Sharing your Wi-Fi password is like giving an unlimited pass to snoop around your network, allowing direct access even to LAN-connected devices like printers, routers, and security cameras. Most networks allow users to scan and attempt to log in to these connected devices. And if you haven't changed the default password on these devices, an attacker can simply try plugging them in.
Tossing an old Android smartphone with a decent battery into your hacking kit can let you quickly map hundreds of vulnerable networks in your area just by walking or driving by them. The practice of wardriving uses a Wi-Fi network card and GPS receiver to stealthily discover and record the location and settings of any nearby routers, and your phone allows you to easily discover those with security issues.
If you maintain a digital library of your favorite movies, Plex is the perfect solution for bridging the gap between your computer and your mobile device. All you have to do is install the server program on your Mac or PC and point it to the folder where you store your movies, then you can use the Plex app for Android or iOS to watch the movies on your phone or tablet.
One of the more interesting improvements to the Photos app in iOS 11 includes a way to drag and drop a photo from one album into another album. In fact, you could even drag and drop multiple photos at the same time. And this is not an iPad-only feature — it works just as well on an iPhone.
There's good news for iOS 11 beta testers — Apple just dropped the fourth version of the iOS 11 developer beta today. That means the newest iOS 11 public beta 3 will be released in a day or two.
Apple has changed up quite a few things regarding notifications in iOS 11. They've added optional persistent notifications, made it possible to disable notification previews for all apps, and changed "Notification Center" to "History." In the process, they've also included another handy feature — the ability to hide certain app notifications from appearing in that History list.
It seems that every major social media platform is adding a "Go live" feature to their apps lately. Twitter, in particular, has been at the forefront of the live broadcasting craze for quite some time now.
Apple's screenshot editing tool first appeared for iPhone in iOS 11, and it's only gotten better with age. Instead of just a flash of light and maybe a noise, you're also greeted with a thumbnail preview of what you just captured — and that tiny image holds a lot of superpowers.
Bed bugs are parasites not yet known to spread disease — but they cause plenty of irritation. As scientists and landlords search for new ways to deal with the pests, a new study examines how we can deter bed bugs without so many chemicals.
The beta firmware for OnePlus devices lets you record calls from the stock Oxygen OS dialer, but this feature is never included in official updates. This is likely due to legal issues with recording calls in some jurisdictions, but thankfully, there's a way to get this feature without having to run beta software.
We are totally buggin' about Pinterest's update to their Lens. I know, I had to.
Apple gave the Messages app a massive makeover with iOS 10, with a slew of options that made iMessages on the iPhone a lot more fun. While not quite as comprehensive, iOS 11 builds upon that success and makes the app more user-friendly and all-inclusive.
Though its necessity is less frequent compared to Android devices, iPhones still need to be shut down from time to time. Whether it's to help correct a buggy app, prevent overheating on a hot day, or conserve battery life in a pinch, the power button on any device is an indispensable tool that can't be taken for granted. So when it's busted, what do you do?
Apple gave us the ability to invert colors on the screen a very long time ago. Then they gave us grayscale mode in iOS 8, Night Shift in iOS 9, and the red screen filter in iOS 10. While the long-awaited "Dark Mode" finally appeared in iOS 13, iOS 11 and iOS 12 both have a decent placeholder for it you can use on your iPhone.
Running commands on Linux seems so complicated for the layman that it may as well be a foreign language. But for the die-hard terminal users, or for those who are just curious about the Linux experience, there's a new Android launcher that gives your home screen a command line makeover.
WWDC 2017 is right around the corner, where Apple is expected to reveal iOS 11, the newest version of their mobile operating system. There have been many rumors floating around about what iOS 11 will have in store for us, but not all of those features will end up in the final product — and a lot of the features you want won't actually make the cut, either. But that doesn't mean we can't hope for the best.
Google Play Services has been near the top of every Android user's list of battery-sucking apps for years now. It's a core system app, so you'd expect some battery drain, but for many folks, it runs rampant.
Samsung has some competition as LG may be incorporating OLED panels for their new flagship V30 launching later this year.
The Pixel is now rumored to be the next phone up in line to be getting a curved display. ET News just reported that Google is in talks to invest $875 million (KRW 1 trillion) in LG Display to give their next-generation Pixel 2 smartphone some curves around the edges.
Making a NANDroid backup can save you from all sorts of flashing-related mishaps and accidents. Bootloops, SystemUI crashes, accidental wipes, bad ZIPs, or a dozen other possibilities—there's almost no condition in which a NANDroid is unable to correct problems with your device. However, recent changes to Android have created an almost paradoxical situation where restoring a NANDroid can actually lock you out of your phone.
One of the biggest hurdles for making touchscreen text input easy on the user has been finding a simple way to move the cursor around. With all the advancements in mobile technology, we're still left fumbling around with tiny arrow indicators or magnifying glasses when we need to add a letter to a word we've already typed. But thankfully, developer Ouadban Youssef has found a better way.
