Your smartphone has a GPS chip inside of it that can pinpoint your location down to the nearest 4 meters, and this little device stays in your pocket or purse all day. Combine those two facts and you start to realize that your phone knows exactly where you've been during every moment that has passed since you've owned it.
Android TV devices have had those beautiful Chromecast background images as their screensaver for quite a while now. Envious of this feature, Apple copied the idea for a similarly-styled screensaver in their newest Apple TV, but with one big twist—they used videos instead of still photos.
Shopping for a new phone is an entire ordeal. Even when you've narrowed it down to a few choices, comparing the finalists can be difficult, because specs and prices are scattered around on various different manufacturer websites, and if you're trying to do this on your current phone, most of these websites aren't optimized for mobile viewing.
Apple's once flawless mobile operating system has seen its fair share of bugs recently. From Messages and Wi-Fi settings crashing to having your photos and contacts exposed, iOS has been standing on shaky ground for a while now.
There have been plenty of rumors and lots of speculation about the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, and now we're finally getting our first look at Samsung's newest flagships—in the form of two images.
A lot of things have been changing over at Microsoft recently. Not only did they acquire the ever-popular Android keyboard SwiftKey and give away Windows 10 for free, but they've started a Google X-like experimental division called Microsoft Garage, and they've actually released quite a few awesome Android apps.
Ever since developer bponury created his TouchControl app for the Galaxy Nexus back in 2011, manufacturers and modders alike have been racing to re-implement the "Double-tap-to-wake" functionality it brought to the table. We've seen LG do it with their "Knock On" feature, we've seen Motorola put a twist on it with "Active Display," and we've even seen Google implement the feature in their Nexus 9 tablet.
Android's main UI is looking so good these days that you hardly ever see developers spend time creating themes anymore. But even with the beauty of Material Design working in our favor now, there's always room for improvement, right?
Sony's Xperia smartphones are some of the most beautiful Android devices out there—but unfortunately, they're rarely promoted in the U.S. and are seldom available through major carriers (aside from the new Xperia Z5 devices), so not many Americans are aware of how awesome these devices really are.
Samsung makes some wonderful phones, but one thing I've noticed is that battery life can start to degrade over time, causing the phone to die a lot faster than it used to. If you've been experiencing this issue, and have asked yourself, "Why does my Galaxy S5 die so fast?" there are a few likely causes—and we've got you covered with troubleshooting tips and simple fixes below.
The Google Cast feature that serves as the primary interface for the Chromecast and comes bundled with Android TV devices like the Nexus Player is a marvel of modern technology. But as these things go, troubleshooting issues can be difficult with something so groundbreaking, especially when you consider that there are two parts to the equation—the casting device (your phone, tablet, or computer) and the receiver.
Cord cutters are changing everything about TV—the more of us that sever ties with cable, the more changes we start to see. In fact, viewing habits have already changed so drastically that waiting a week to see the next episode in a series is no longer acceptable, as binge watching has completely eclipsed this old-fashioned format.
A few lines of code in the iOS 9.1 library cache found by Chase Fromm (@uloshe) indicate that Apple could be working on making iPhones that are Li-Fi compatible.
My least favorite aspect of the winter season is how my fingers always turn into stiff, numb digits, unfeeling and seemingly incapable of making even the slightest movement. Yes, that might sound overdramatic, but if you hate wearing gloves like I do, you probably know exactly what I mean.
Starting in Android 4.3, Google added some code to AOSP that tagged your internet traffic when you were running a mobile hotspot, which made it incredibly easy for carriers to block tethering if you didn't have it included in your plan. But as of Android 6.0, this "tether_dun_required" tag has been removed, which means you no longer have to edit a database file to get tethering up and running.
Android's copy/paste menu and text selection options have traditionally been downright terrible, but things are starting to get better with some recent improvements made in Marshmallow. That being said, there's still a lot left to be desired, and there's always plenty of room for more useful functionality.
The Creative Lab at Samsung, also known as their C Lab, is trying to make wearable fitness devices more inconspicuous with its wearable smart belt, the WELT, but that might not be all.
You've probably heard the old joke about how Ford is an acronym for "Found on Road Dead." Well, the Detroit automaker on Monday announced a new and much better way to help you find your parked vehicle, as well as a whole host of other features—just use your smartphone.
The first time you launch any type of file, Windows 10 will usually prompt you to select an app to open it with. Occasionally, though, this "Open with..." screen doesn't show up, and instead Windows will use a pre-installed system app to launch the file without ever giving you a choice in the matter.
The Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P have identical camera hardware—in fact, both use one of the highest-end camera sensors ever put into a smartphone. The only real difference between the cameras on Google's latest flagship devices is that the 6P natively supports electronic image stabilization (EIS) whereas the 5X does not.
When they were purchased by Google back in 2011, Motorola underwent a sweeping change in software philosophy. All throughout the UI on their flagship devices, edgy design patterns were replaced by clean, minimalist interfaces akin to vanilla Android. This philosophy has continued on as Motorola's signature, even though they have since been sold to Lenovo.
The volume buttons on the side of most Android devices—also known as the volume rocker—make it easy to adjust sound output without having to dig around in any settings menus. But the trouble is, they control notification and ringtone volume by default, and will only adjust media volume after a song or video has started playing.
Apple makes it easy to access your favorite and most recently used applications and documents in Mac OS X. You can simply add your favorite apps and folders to the dock, and you can always visit the Apple menu from the menu bar to see a list of your most recently used apps and docs.
Starting a few months back, you might have noticed that some text messages you received from certain friends or family members had blank or missing characters. This was because Apple included all of the new Unicode 8.0 emojis in an update to their iPhones, but Android devices didn't have some of these just yet, so they weren't capable of displaying them.
Windows 10 universal apps are actually pretty awesome—regardless of if you're using a desktop, laptop, tablet, or convertible, the same app automatically scales up or down to suit your device. Definitely cool, but the Windows Store is pretty bare-bones as it stands, so the downside is that you can't always find a good universal app for every purpose.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West have fittingly named their second child "Saint," but I'm sure you don't care about that—and neither do I. Unfortunately, regardless of our pop culture interests, we're forced to know these types of stupid facts because the internet is so densely populated with Kardashian-related content that it's impossible to avoid. It's enough to make you puke.
The notification light on phones and tablets is slowly disappearing. The once staple feature is now only found on a few devices, and a bevy of other notification systems have sought to fill the gap. The most popular of these systems is Ambient Display, which has grown in popularity with OEMs over the last couple of years; even Google's own Nexus line of phones have made the plunge.
I had the chance to play around with an iPhone 6s this past weekend, and I have to say, I found the new 3D Touch feature to be pretty intriguing. It's still only partially implemented, but when it does work, it works quite well—you simply press a bit harder on certain elements like image thumbnails, then instead of opening in a full-fledged view, you'll see a pop-up preview that fades away as soon as you let go of the screen.
Google Play Music has been my go-to music service ever since its release. The free cloud storage for 50,000 songs and full access to Songza-powered radio stations make it a great music app, even without the $10/month streaming service.
Google Maps, in conjunction with the Android operating system, is a powerful tool for navigation that is often underutilized. While it's no secret that it can get you to wherever you're going and back, some of you might not know that you can use Google Maps without even having to touch the screen. Not having to touch your display means you can concentrate on other things, you know, like driving or eating that jelly-filled donut.
Say what you want about Samsung's TouchWiz UI being cluttered or overbearing, but one thing you can never complain about is a lack of features. In fact, it's been almost 8 months since I first took my Galaxy S6 Edge out of its box, but I'm still discovering features to this day.
Before you sell your old iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch to a buddy or a company like Gazelle, it's vital that you wipe the entire device of all its content; including sensitive material like contacts, messages, pictures, and videos. There are two easy ways to wipe your iOS device, so let's show you how to do it using iTunes or directly from the device itself.
Smartphones are almost always connected to the internet, so it stands to reason that they can be hacked remotely. Or perhaps a jealous boyfriend or girlfriend got hold of your device physically, in which case they could've potentially installed a keystroke logger, a virus, or any other type of tracking app to spy on you.
While it took Apple a damn-long time to finally include widgets in iOS, I do admire their implementation. Accessible from within any screen by pulling down the Notification Center (or, more correctly, the "Today" view), the home screen remains clean and minimal, which some of you with Android devices might appreciate—despite any Apple hatred you may have.
The dock in Mac OS X is intuitive, customizable, and aesthetically pleasing, which is a stark difference from its clunky Windows alternative. In fact, in Windows, it takes both the Start menu and taskbar to accomplish what Apple's dock does—but it doesn't have to be like that. Below, I'll show you how to add an OS X-inspired dock on any PC running Windows XP or higher. Step 1: Install Aqua Dock
You need a good microphone on your computer in order to make audio recordings, voice chat, or use speech recognition. However, not every computer comes with a built-in mic, and not every built-in mic works great.
With every version bump, Android gets a new Easter egg that can be accessed by tapping the "Android version" entry in Settings. For the most part, these have generally been little animations or live wallpapers that depict the Android code name, but starting with version 5.0 Lollipop, things got a bit more interesting.
If you exceed your monthly mobile data limit, your cell phone bill can skyrocket pretty quickly. This is why a lot of people vigilantly monitor internet usage and even uninstall apps that use too much background data.
A growing trend for many artists (most recently Kanye West) is to offer exclusive or experimental tracks on music streaming sites like SoundCloud or YouTube before releasing them anywhere else. On rare occasions, some of these great songs never make their way onto an official album, which can be disappointing for die-hard fans who need to download every song available from their favorite artist or band.
Ask around anywhere that Android users gather online, and you'll find that SwiftKey is almost unilaterally the most highly-recommended keyboard for our favorite mobile operating system. It's no surprise either—SwiftKey's combination of insanely accurate word predictions and rapid-fire gesture typing comprise a hard combination to beat.
