New technologies in current-generations smartphones allow for much faster charging—Qualcomm Quick Charge 3.0, VOOC Flash Charge, and USB Type-C, for instance, can charge a phone up to 4 times faster than traditional methods. However, the majority of phones on the market still don't support these standards. So for the rest of us, I'll go over an easy tip that can charge any smartphone as much as 25% faster.
LG is set to launch its G5 handset on February 21st at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. This shouldn't be too much of a surprise, but images of the G5 have now been leaked ahead of the event by Evan Blass (@evleaks). This image shows that the handset will indeed have two lenses on its rear-facing camera so that you can shoot wide-angle 135º photos.
Whether you're ready to admit it or not, we've all got our alter egos—especially when it comes to the internet. Perhaps you have one Facebook account that you use publicly, while maintaining a second account for more private interactions.
Earlier this week we showed you how to use multiple accounts on Instagram, and now Facebook is rolling out a similar feature for its Messenger app, as well as a few other features.
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.
This is my first How-To on Null-Byte, so I hope it's not too complicated written, because I am not a native english speaker. I don't use pictures, but this Tutorial is a good supplement for my updated Tutorial here.
When an album sells a million copies, it gets certified as platinum and cements itself as one of its generation's biggest hits. When an album sells 10 million copies, it reaches diamond status and transcends generational gaps. But when an album sells well over 40 million copies, there's only one thing you can call it—Michael Jackson's Thriller.
After my hard drive crashed recently, I lost everything. Old college essays, half-written stories, short films, and most importantly, all of the photos that I had saved from the past five years... all gone.
It's bad enough that we have to deal with autoplaying video advertisements all over the Web, so why do we have to be subjected to autoplaying videos on Twitter, too? Autoplay video are muted by default, but that doesn't make them any less annoying, especially if you have a small data plan on your phone.
Snapchat has built upon the photo-sharing service it once was to become a money-sending, commercial-shelling, video-messaging giant. They improved their user experience by adding Stories, Geofilters, and even the rarely-used Snapcash feature, but why isn't there something as simple as color filters? Yes, they have filters for black and white, saturated, and sepia, but that's it as far as color goes.
SoundHound, the Shazam-like song-matching service, recently announced a new mobile app called Hound, which wants to be your one and only intelligent personal assistant.
Chances are your hearing isn't the same as the person next to you. Personally, I have moderate hearing loss, so I tend to turn the volume nob towards the loud side. For others, it may be that one ear is slightly better or worse than the other, not only in perceiving volume, but tone as well. Considering this, is it possible for smartphone manufacturers to ensure the best sound quality on their devices?
Snapchat developers insist that the app stay true to what its always been: a service for snapping and sharing self-destructing images. This belief is further hit home with their strict 31-character text limit, which some people refuse to abide by. Namely, Snapchatter Shayne Skellett.
No one is perfect, and this goes double for software developers. All of the quality assurance testing in the world does nothing when you put a new OS in the hands of everyday users, since we all use our devices in different places and for different reasons. Recently, Cyanogen released their version of Android Lollipop, Cyanogen OS 12, and with it came a whole lot of great features, but some bugs also slipped in.
As your Galaxy S6 lies on your desk while you're hard at work, it's difficult to resist from periodically pressing the wake/lock button to check the weather or glance over any notifications you may have on your lock screen. While pressing the hard key is easy enough, there's an even easier method where you simply hover your hand over the device to wake the screen.
Aside from the fact that it was the only game available on my cell phone at the time, I was really good at Snake. I still occasionally play it on my smartphone, but I've never been able to duplicate the same level of achievement as I once did.
Upon getting the new Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge here at the office, there are countless things we wanted to do before actually diving in and using the device. One of those things is removing all of the unnecessary pre-installed applications we never asked for.
With 16 megapixels and optical image stabilization technology, it's safe to say that the Samsung Galaxy S6 is well-equipped to take badass pictures. Packed with additional camera modes, like Panorama, Selective focus, and Virtual shot, there's always a way to capture an image as intended.
Whether you're a secret spy or just a regular person with a few secrets, you may want to keep certain information on your smartphone private, and it's totally possible on Android to do so.
Thanks to Verizon Wireless, I pay over $220 a month for my phone bill. It's just me on the plan—no family members, and it's not even unlimited data. So, when I receive that data alert message telling me that I've used up 90% of my plan and that I've still got a few more week until my billing cycle starts over, you know that I'm left scrambling to connect to some Wi-Fi.
Android has plenty of features that provide multitasking support, which are especially useful on smartphones with larger screens. One such feature that I loved on the Samsung Galaxy Note 2 was the popup browser, which brought up a floating window whenever I opened a link inside of third-party apps like Facebook and Twitter.
The front-facing stereo speakers on the Nexus 6 certainly pump out some awesome sound—but it could always be better, right?
As competition for Spotify and Pandora, Samsung released Milk Music earlier in 2014, a free music streaming service for their Android devices. While Milk was unique to Galaxy owners only, it was popular enough that we showed you ways to get it on non-Galaxy devices as well.
The vague 90-day release window for CyanogenMod 12 has done nothing to stop my craving for Lollipop on my OnePlus One. Luckily, there are other "unofficial" means of getting my hands on it. Since CyanogenMod still gives users a way of building their own variants of their ROM, we can install user-compiled versions of CM 12 pretty easily.
Amazon is currently offering over $80 in free Android apps in the Amazon Appstore, but only for Friday and Saturday, so make sure to grab them quick before they all go back to normal price. Highlights include the Fleksy Keyboard (normally $3.99), Oxford Dictionary of English with Audio (normally $24.99), and EasyTether (normally $9.99).
Native screen recording was initially introduced on Android 4.4 KitKat and, although useful, was primarily utilized by developers to showcase their apps. It required either a rooted device and an app or a non-rooted device with some ADB commands, which, while totally doable, wasn't necessarily ideal.
Silencing my phone always gives me mild anxiety; while my Android is muted, my girlfriend or boss may be trying to reach me with some urgent news or task. On the one hand, I want to enjoy some peace and quiet, but on the other, I don't want to come back to a phone with 100 missed calls and countless exclamatory texts.
Call it OCD if you will, but I make it a priority to have a clean Notification panel. Like a chalkboard that isn't wiped spotless, I get an unsettling feeling that something in the universe isn't complete when there's unnecessary clutter in the drop-down. For this reason, I loathe the fact that I can't remove the "Wi-Fi connected" tile from my "Notifications."
Trust can be a touchy subject in general, and is often required when sharing personal information—especially so when handing our phones over to others. You may not have a ton of secret or nefarious information on your device, but that doesn't mean you want your mom or snoopy coworker having easy access to your messages or Facebook app.
It's been a long-awaited feature since being announced at Google I/O in June, but Backdrop for Chromecast has finally started rolling out. With an update to the Chromecast app for Android and iOS, users will be able to personalize the background images that appear when Chromecast is idle.
Lenovo didn't have as much to show off at IFA 2014 as Samsung and Sony did, but its new Android-powered Tab S8 is certainly worth a look.
Rooting is a great way to unleash your device's full potential, but not everyone's comfortable with it. Rooting can void a warranty, cause issues with certain apps, and the process itself can be tricky for older devices. Alas, most of the great apps or mods out there require root access, like the ability to utilize a built-in KitKat feature known as Immersive Mode.
Many game developers have finally realized that in order for their games to be successful, they have to support Android. To really win Android users over, they should also accommodate us hardcore gamers who have OTG cables with the ability to hook up controllers to our devices.
The Android lock screen interface is an integral part of our everyday use. For those of us who use lock screen security, it functions as a barrier between the sensitive data contained within our smartphones and potential outside access. Even if you don't use a pattern or PIN to secure your phone, you still interact with the lock screen every time you go to use it.
The idle screen for the Chromecast is certainly beautiful. Full of many high-definition pictures taken of various parts of the world, it's almost a shame that we have to dismiss this screen in order to cast content.
Apps that save your passwords have been around for quite a long while. But apps that complete the entire login process automatically? Now that's a different story.
Maybe it is narcissistic to take selfies, but it has become a socially accepted norm, no matter how stupid you might look doing it. Since so many people are seemingly in love with themselves and mobile photography, I thought it was about time to show you how to step up your selfie game.
It seems like every cloud service out there is offering tons of upgrade options and free promotions to give people as much space as they need to store their files online. I personally have over 100GB of Google Drive space which is shared between multiple computers, phones, and tablets, so keeping track of everything can be a huge pain in the ass.
There's a lot you can access from the Notification tray on your Galaxy S4. Quick settings toggles, brightness controls, and of course, notifications. However, despite the power this simple pull-down gives you, you're still left with a boring, black background for the shade.
Podcasts have been around and popular for close to a decade now. For the uninitiated, podcasts are like radio shows that can be downloaded directly from the web and listened to on any device. Up until now, only paid apps allowed podcasts to be casted via Chromecast, but with the latest update to Xavier Guillemane's Podcast Addict, you can now do the same thing for free!
