With Android 5.0, Google introduced a new "Heads Up" notification system for incoming calls and messages. While the new incoming call interface seems to be a rousing success, the rest of the Heads Up system has been met with much less enthusiasm from users.
Google debuted YouTube Music Key in November, and for $10 a month, this essentially turned YouTube into a music streaming service. With ad-free music videos and background audio playback, YouTube serves as a viable alternative to Spotify or Pandora for Music Key subscribers.
There's no such thing as a perfect Android keyboard. Some, like Swype, have gesture typing down to a science, but lack in predictive technology. SwiftKey, on the other hand, boasts awesome next-word prediction, but less than stellar gesture typing. Many others are optimized for multiple languages, space saving, or emojis, but none are without their flaws.
Yes, "Safer Internet Day" is a real thing, and it's actually been around for 12 years. This year, Google again will be commemorating the event by giving away a 2-gigabyte storage bump for their Google Drive cloud service if you simply run through a security checkup.
Many manufacturers add a custom skin on top of their Android builds, but none are more widely praised than HTC's Sense UI. The general consensus among Android users says that HTC's visual tweaks are done in good taste, and the features they add are both functional and warranted.
In today's world, we're constantly switching back and forth between all of our internet-connected devices. A PC may be great while you're at your desk, but the living room couch is tablet territory, and nothing beats the portability of a pocket-sized smartphone while you're on the go.
When you search for a specific location or business with the Google app, a Knowledge Graph card is usually the top result. This card displays a handy mini-map and offers a quick link for directions to the location of your query, but it has one irksome flaw—these links can only be opened by the Google Maps app.
Android's biggest selling point over alternatives like iOS or Windows Phone is the level of customization that it offers. If you don't like something about the UI, you can change it, whether it's as small as an icon set or as big as the entire home screen.
One of the more talked-about features of Android Lollipop is a new Priority Mode that allows you to mute all notifications except for those coming from starred contacts. As simple as that sounds, this can still be a bit confusing—or at least lead to some unwanted interruptions.
Picture this scenario—you're using your phone in a dimly-lit room, then you move to an area with a lot more ambient light, and Auto Brightness kicks in within a few seconds to ramp up the backlight. That's the way it should be, right? But then you move back to the darker area, and your phone takes 30 seconds before it decides to dim back out. Pretty annoying, isn't it?
The front-facing stereo speakers on the Nexus 6 certainly pump out some awesome sound—but it could always be better, right?
Google+ doesn't have quite the user base of Facebook or Twitter, but for Android enthusiasts, it's definitely the place to be. All of the major developers—such as Chainfire and Koush—make their social media home on Google+, and the Android app sports one of the nicest interfaces of any comparable platform, chock-full of Google's Material Design.
The attention to detail and build quality that Motorola put into the new Nexus 6 is amazing. Its curved backplate fits the hand like a glove, and fingers slide effortlessly across the rounded edge of its glass front, making the swipe gesture for side navigation menus feel more natural than ever—even for its huge, nearly six inch display.
Most diehard Mac users have used TinkerTool at some time or another, and if you haven't, it's time to start. Whether it's to change your system's font or to disable UI animations, it seems like anything you could ever think about tweaking in Mac OS X is doable through TinkerTool. And now, developer Marcel Bresink has updated his app to work with Yosemite, so let's see what it can do now.
The Google Calendar app hasn't really changed much over the years. As a pre-installed staple on most Android devices, the interface is definitely lacking in some areas. Google knows this, and has plans in the pipeline to completely revamp Calendar's UI alongside Android 5.0's official release.
Google's new Inbox by Gmail service offers a new take on email with a particular emphasis on productivity. But, as an invite-only service at this stage, not many people can access Inbox just yet.
Google has a practice known as dogfooding, where they use their employees to test new and upcoming features for their various services. Back in March, they accidentally released a dogfood version of YouTube on Google Play, and many Android users got their first behind-the-scenes glance at the internal testing features.
Say goodbye to your boring stock Apple keyboard, because when iOS 8 is finally released, you'll be able to use Fleksy, SwiftKey, Swype, TouchPal, and other third-party keyboards on your iPad, iPhone, and/or iPod touch.
Some apps have a nasty habit of ignoring your Android's auto-rotation settings and locking the display into either portrait or landscape orientation.
In the past few weeks, the internet has been abuzz with nightmarish horror stories of Comcast's questionable decision-making and downright terrible customer service. The central theme of many of these disputes with the nation's largest cable provider is that without evidence, the conglomerate will refuse to acknowledge its mistake and place the burden of proof on the customer.
When it comes to passwords, the longer and more complex they are, the better the security. Even professional hackers say so. But if you've ever tried to type in such a password, you've surely noticed that it can be a bit of a pain. Mistype one character, and you're probably going to have to clear the field and start all over again.
Reddit is home to tons of fun and unique content. A starting point for the various memes and videos that eventually make it into your Facebook feed, you could seriously spend all day just browsing different subreddits and not get bored.
Honestly, Android's stock alarm icon is completely useless. It doesn't relay any information other than the fact that, at some point in the future, you have an alarm coming up. Considering how pointless it is, I normally install GravityBox or other similar mods just to get rid of it.
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.
It happens to everyone: you set a lock screen password in a hurry and cannot remember it the next day. To unlock your device again, you need to reset the password (or PIN, pattern, etc). There are two official methods of doing this.
The Galaxy S5's screen is truly a feat of modern technology. It uses what is known as an AMOLED display—an acronym for Active-Matrix Organic Light-Emmitting Diode. In short, this technology means that every individual pixel on your phone's screen emits its own light. This is a break from the traditional LCD technology that requires a backlight for any pixels to be visible.
Even as a writer by trade, I'm not intimately familiar with every word in the English language. When you're typing something out on your Nexus, sometimes you think to yourself, "Is that right? Am I using the correct word here?" Then, you have no choice but to bring up Google Now and do a search for that word to make sure you're using it correctly.
One of the coolest features of the Galaxy S5 is its IP67 certification. This means that the S5 is internally impenetrable to dust and can be submerged in water for thirty minutes at a depth of one meter. It's definitely a handy feature for folks who've lost a phone to a toilet in the past.
When Google first introduced Android 4.4, the most glaring user-facing change was a new trend towards transparency. The stock launcher, originally exclusive to the Nexus 5, had transparent status and navigation bars and its app drawer added a touch of transparency.
When theming Android, it's the little touches that complete the look, making your device yours. If you're rooted, you probably know by now that there's virtually nothing you can't change the look of on Android.
With the Galaxy S5's root bounty over $18,000 and climbing, there's still no Superuser in sight. That doesn't mean we can't tweak and personalize our shiny new toys, though. Several customization options are available just by virtue of the S5's Android base, and installing a custom launcher is one of the fastest ways to get a fresh look.
The fact that we own a Nexus means we get to experience the Android interface exactly as Google intended it. But that doesn't mean we can't make a UI tweak here and there, does it?
You can't always have your media on the same network as your Chromecast. Say you're at a friend's house or even out of town—it sure would be nice to cast your videos when you're out and about, wouldn't it?
Let's say you're watching a video and everything's going great, but you feel the need to raise the volume a tiny bit. You hit the volume button on your Nexus 5, and all of a sudden, a giant volume slider appears that obscures half of your video for 3 seconds.
Amazon just announced its entry into the set-top streaming content marketplace with its new Fire TV box. Competing directly against Apple TV, Google's Chromecast, and Roku, Amazon is betting on big processing power and voice controls to stand out from the competition. Features include the following.
If you use your Nexus 7 like me, then you're constantly downloading APKs, installing new games from Google Play, taking a million photos, and using multiple apps at the same time.
The lockout feature in iOS 7, which securely locks your device after a few incorrect passcode entries, can be a real pain in the ass sometimes.
"Enter your email address. Confirm your email address." I absolutely hate seeing those two sentences when I'm signing up for something online, especially on my Samsung Galaxy S3. The less keyboard work I have to do on my mobile the better. Luckily, there is a way to enter your email address without having to type it all out, and I'm going to show you how it's done.
For the most part, keyboard shortcuts are great. They save you some time and make it easier to do everything right from the push of a button. But like most things in life, there is always a caveat, and in this case, for me—it's a huge one.
Most of the time, asking to borrow someone's car will elicit a really long string of excuses. But unlike letting your buddy use your car, which usually gets you nothing more than an empty tank, GM has found a way to make car sharing beneficial for everyone involved. If you're one of the 6 million people who have a GM vehicle that's connected to OnStar, you're in luck: according to an OnStar employee, you can make up to $1,000 a month just by letting other people rent out your car when you're ...
