Android's personal assistant is more than just a sassy backtalker—it's a full-on suite of all the information you could need at a given time. Google Now, as it's called, uses data from various sources to predict what you'll want to know before you even search for it, and it's an amazing experience once you've got everything set up.
Many users across the web have reported issues with receiving notifications from the Gmail and Hangouts apps on Android. The problem is most prevalent with users running Marshmallow, and the gist is that notifications from these apps are extremely delayed or don't come through at all.
To serve as a framework for the "Nexus Imprint" feature in their new Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P smartphones, Google added native fingerprint scanner support to Android 6.0. Sure, Android devices have had fingerprint scanners in the past, but this is a unified, system-wide implementation that all devices can use—meaning that in the near future, we may finally start to see apps that let you log in to your account with your fingerprint instead of a password.
If you've ever rooted an Android device in the past or installed a custom recovery, you're surely familiar with the term "unlocked bootloader." But if all of this sounds like gibberish to you, some major changes in Android have made it to where you should definitely get familiar with the concepts.
Manufacturers like Samsung and LG have added their own implementation of multi-window features to Android for years now, but with the release of version 6.0 Marshmallow, Google has finally gotten around to working the same feature into stock Android.
If your PC setup includes a mouse and keyboard, you'll be happy to know that most of the touchscreen-first features of Windows 8 have gone by the wayside in Windows 10. Where it once required awkward gestures to access key features, Windows now recognizes when you're using a traditional desktop or laptop, then responds by making sure that all features can be easily discovered with clickable buttons and menu entries.
Organizing contacts is a bitch, especially on the iPhone. Some contacts will have multiple entries, you can only delete contacts one by one, and certain types of contacts can't be deleted at all. If that isn't enough to make you pull your hair out, then I don't know what will.
The Galaxy S6 might just be the best Android phone on the market right now. From a hardware standpoint, Samsung truly knocked this one out of the park with its finely-crafted build quality and amazing screen.
Exclusive to the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, "Information stream" is a screen feature that lets you see quick, at-a-glance information with a simple swipe while the screen is off. It also supports plug-ins, or additional streams of information that can come from third-party sources. So developers are starting to come up with nifty little add-ons for Information stream, and the team at 3C has some cool new system feeds that might come in handy.
Reddit is one of the internet's greatest sources of funny and interesting videos. Its user base is extremely active, and a system of upvotes and downvotes ensures that the best content always rises to the top.
Hangouts is a great cross-platform messaging service from Google that works with almost any device, making it one of the few messengers that can be installed on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android gadgets alike. With its many useful features, one of the few debatable downsides is its not-so-attractive color scheme.
Sony has a gorgeous line of smartphones using the moniker "Xperia," and the latest and greatest model is the Z3. The firmware for the Xperia Z3 was just updated to Android Lollipop, and many system apps of course got tweaked and refreshed with this latest version.
In the weeks before Apple officially released iOS 8, consumers were abuzz over rumors that a new feature would password-protect your photos and text messages from prying eyes. Unfortunately, this ended up being untrue, though we did cover some alternatives to protecting your important information using some built-in features and a third-party app. Now, there's a new iOS app that can do it all.
There's a common bug that affects many Samsung Galaxy S5 users, myself included. The software that drives the fingerprint sensor can randomly fail to load, leaving you without one of the most unique features of your beloved smartphone.
It didn't take long at all for developer Chainfire to sort out a root method for the new Android 5.0 Lollipop. After handling a few issues with changes to the SELinux kernel module, Chainfire pushed out an update to his popular SuperSU root app.
As much as app developers would like to simplify things with icons and visual cues, text is still a huge part of a smartphone's interface. Much of our media consumption is text-based, and while Google's Roboto font is a beautiful typeface, a little variety here and there certainly wouldn't hurt.
On most Android devices, the various volume levels are comprised of either 7 or 15 steps between minimum and maximum. For voice-call volume, alarms, and notifications alike, 7 presses of a volume button will bring you all the way from silent to full-blast. With media controls, you get 15 steps between mute and max.
Google Keyboard, which comes pre-installed on Nexus devices (and is available for all others from the Play Store), is one of the most functional keyboards currently available for Android. With features like gesture-based typing, next-word prediction, and even text expansion macros, it's a very capable form of text input.
All Android web browsers are not created equal. Some, like Chrome, have slick interfaces and quick rendering, but are not very robust. Others, like Firefox, boast tons of functionality and support add-ons, but are lacking in the interface department and could use a boost in performance.
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.
One of Android's strengths when compared to other mobile operating systems is its ability to set third-party apps as the default handler of certain file types. Instead of being stuck with pre-installed system apps when it comes to opening files and links, you're free to choose a better-fitting alternative.
You have a cool picture that you want to show someone, but when you hand your phone over, they start swiping through all of your photos. Surely, you've encountered this scenario before. I definitely have.
Yes, I know. Nexus owners aren't exactly the biggest Apple fans out there. That "Pure Android" experience was one of the main reasons we bought our Nexus devices. But give the other side some credit—the iPhone's operating system has come along way, and is still the champ when it comes to aesthetic design (at least until Material Design dethrones it this fall).
I am not a morning person. This is a fact that has been proven with science. I need every bit of help to get me out of bed in the morning—multiple alarms, extremely loud tones, Pandora—I've tried everything.
Just about every softMod requires some kind of reboot. Whether it's because something in the System UI was changed, or because a ZIP needs to be flashed in custom recovery.
With the release of Jelly Bean, Chrome became the default web browser on Android. The wildly successful desktop browser was now fully entrenched in the world's largest mobile operating system.
If you are interested in hooking up and using a bypass tool to incorporate a methane tank in your supply gas system, watch this video and follow the instructions. This video demonstrates how you can use the Atmos meter bypass tool.
Watch this winds tutorial video to learn how to play "The Silver Spear," a common Irish reel, with ornamentation like the roll on your tin whistle. The teacher first plays the reel slowly, then adds ornaments and plays up to tempo. Intermediate tin whistlers will find this instructional video most helpful to learning how to incorporate rolls into Irish wheels on the tin whistle.
Learning and incorporating decorative borders on crochet projects can be a headache when they start to scrunch up. This crochet how-to video is a tutorial on how to do single stitch borders around a project without scrunching or messing up corners. Watch and let Mike show you how to work the needle so that you don't get any bunching around the edges.
An ounce of garlic is worth a pound of prescription heart drugs. This how-to video discusses the benefits of garlic and what you should know before preparing garlic, or taking garlic supplements. Watch and learn more about reducing cardiovascular diseases by incorporating garlic into your diet.
This how to video has whole food recommendations for relieving depression from a nutritional and herbal perspective. Watch and learn how simple it is to prevent and beat depression with a wide variety of fruit, vegetables, and whole grains. Avoid caffeine and make an attempt to incorporate leafy greens into a diet.
Parsley has more beta carotene than a carrot, twice as much vitamin C as an orange and more calcium than milk. Parsley adds a great highlight to many foods and freshens your breath. Watch this Diet & Health how to video to learn how to incorporate it into your diet.
Are you going out in that little black dress that you've always wanted, but you don't know what to accessorize with? Well, The beauty of the little black dress is that you can accessorize it to reflect your personal style. A fashion designer shows you how to incorporate funky and classy pieces into your wardrobe.
IPython provides a far more powerful alternative to the standard Python interpreter, incorporating features such as string-completion, code-line macros and a rich history. This is free software that Ian Ozsvald has found to enhance the Python coding experience.
We never thought that yummy chocolate cupcakes could get any better...until we saw this recipe. Combining the godlike perfection of chocolate cupcakes with oodles of chocolate icing, pilled on until tipping point, these high-hat chocolate cupcakes are outrageously overdone treats that have us drooling in our seats.
Fish & chips is the most popular fish meal in the country, & you can make it yourself instead of paying a fortune at your local fish eatery. The special ingredient for these fish and chips… beer.
The term "hacker" often has negative associations attached to it, yet the world is in dire need of professionals with hacking skills. White hat hackers are ethical computer hackers that use their hacking skills to pinpoint network vulnerabilities and patch them up before they can be exploited by the bad guys.
Before the internet, acquiring enough data to analyze was challenging. Now we have the opposite problem: a deluge of data makes trying to sort through it nearly impossible. That's where data science comes in.
Even with Pixels now coming with 128 GB of internal storage, many folks still struggle with low storage. The culprit is usually photos and videos, which can quickly eat away the space. Thankfully, there's a feature that solves this problem.
It's gotten so much easier to screen record on your Galaxy thanks to One UI 2. You no longer need third-party apps — just tap a button. And while the built-in recorder doesn't have an indicator to show what's being touched on the screen, there's a simple way to enable it.
