For all of the flak that Windows 8 received from desktop users, it certainly had some interesting and unique features. For instance, the "Charms" bar allowed you to easily access several key menus by simply hovering your mouse pointer in the top- or bottom-right corner of the screen.
While its hardware may already be a little outdated compared to newer flagship phones, the OnePlus One is still a great value thanks to the dedicated community that continues to develop ROMs for it. Cyanogen 12 and Oxygen OS are the two most popular ones, but neither offers the type of unique experience you get with Xiaomi's MIUI (pronounced "Me You I").
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.
Samsung has a long-standing reputation for packing their devices with lots of added functionality, and the Galaxy S6 Edge is no exception. It comes with a nifty feature called "Information stream," which allows you to get quick, at-a-glance information by swiping the edge of your screen back and forth while the display is off.
Ever feel like you're receiving notifications way too late on your Android device? Many Android apps use Google's Cloud Messaging service to send and receive notifications, including Hangouts, Gmail, Pushbullet, Facebook, and even WhatsApp to an extent.
The vast majority of Android apps use background services to sync data, check for location updates, and perform various silent tasks. These background services can start up whenever they'd like, and they continue to run in the background even when you're not actively using the app that they originated from.
Android has a system-wide user dictionary file that any third-party keyboard can utilize, if it so chooses. This file contains all of the words that you've added to your keyboard manually, and of the big-name players, Minuum, TouchPal, and the Google Keyboard call on this file to determine their user dictionaries.
The only mail I like getting comes in the form of an Amazon package, but when I go to my mailbox, it always ends up being a pile of credit card offers and catalogs I could never see myself ordering from. Those pieces of junk mail usually end up in the trash, which is horrible when you think about all the trees that had to get cut down in order to produce them.
Beginning with KitKat, I've been used to customizing every aspect of my Android phone, but with the release of Lollipop, there is quite a bit of catching up that developers need to do. Most customization features, like quick settings rearrangement and theme support have already been ported over, but any type of lock screen customization has been noticeably absent.
If you're an Android fan, you probably made your choice in mobile operating systems based on the insane level of customization options that Google's software offers. Don't like your home screen app? Simply replace it. Not a fan of a particular app's sharing system? No big deal, just share through a third-party app.
I grew up eating Korean, Japanese, and Chinese food, but it wasn't until college that I experienced Thai and Vietnamese cooking. Once I started, I couldn't get enough of these cuisines. The dishes had an incredible richness and savor that I couldn't identify, but whatever it was, it made me want to keep eating.
With the Nexus 6, you get a very clean software experience with minimal bloat. While this is generally the main selling point for most Nexus fans, it can be a bit of a detraction for some.
CyanogenMod has always been on the forefront of ROM customization, and its newest release, CyanogenMod 12, is no exception. In the newest nightlies, they have included an updated version of their Theme Engine, which allows you to effortlessly change the way your entire system looks.
With Apple's Yosemite build of Mac OS X came Continuity, a feature that has allowed us to connect our mobile devices to our computers, letting us access apps, send text messages, answer phone calls, and more while seamlessly switching from one device to the other.
If you've ever flashed a custom ROM on any of your devices, one of your main motivations for doing so was likely the set of neat tweaks and extra options that come with something like CyanogenMod. Another deciding factor was probably the fact that most custom ROMs offer a much cleaner interface than manufacturer skins.
When installing flashable ZIPs and custom ROMs, we always hear the same old adage: "Make a full NANDroid backup first." Trouble with this is that you don't always need an entire system backup, since many mods only apply to specific folders on your device. And while custom recovery software like TWRP will let you select from a few individual partitions to back up, every system mounting point is not always included among the options.
On-screen navigation buttons offer many distinct advantages over physical buttons—they can change orientation along with your device, they're capable of visually morphing to indicate secondary functionality, and the user experience is more consistent when buttons and app elements require the same amount of force to press. Add to that the fact that they're far less likely to fail and can be themed or even switched out altogether, and it's hard to come up with an argument in favor of physical b...
If you own multiple Android devices, you're surely familiar with the struggle of keeping apps and games in sync. While games with proper Google Play Games support will indeed sync progress across your phone and tablet, many developers neglect to include this feature in their wares.
Many Nexus 6 owners, myself included, have already started to experience the dreaded burn-in issues that often come with AMOLED display technology. These displays are different than your typical LCD screen in that each pixel emits its own light instead of using a backlight, so this leaves AMOLED screens more susceptible to issues with dim or unresponsive pixels.
Like many others, I like a good cocktail every now and then, and I've always been impressed when my cocktail enthusiast friends would come up with a new drink or even just remember how to concoct a Clover Club (FYI, it's made with gin, raspberry syrup, lemon, and egg white). There's a secret bartenders and craft cocktail aficionados know, though: It's all about math, the simplest and most intoxicating math. Pythagoras would be so proud.
Blizzard Entertainment, the wildly successful video game developer that brought us World of Warcraft and StarCraft, has finally released their popular trading card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft to the Android platform.
Android Lollipop's new Material Design interface does its best to strike a delicate balance between intuitiveness, usability, and aesthetics. For some folks, though, the use of a lighter color palette throughout the interface disrupts this balance.
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.
In my quest to find the perfect OS for my HTC One, I try any and every ROM I can get my hands on. This leads to countless repetitions of the wipe, install, and boot routine when I flash a ROM in recovery, especially when the newest ROM I try is a buggy piece of junk.
In today's world of ordering food from your PC or hailing a cab with an app, it almost seems archaic when we have to actually use our vocal cords to contact a local business. It sure would be nice if we didn't have to use our smartphones as, well, you know...phones.
The Nexus 5 and Nexus 7 (2013 edition) boast beautiful 1080p screens that are capable of displaying images and videos in ultra-sharp high definition. But for some strange reason, the YouTube app only allows for streaming of 720p content on these devices. It's not a limitation of YouTube for Android, since other devices support 1080p playback out of the box, and some, like the LG G3, even support higher resolutions.
Officially, in order to use AirPlay to stream music from your iOS device, you would need either an Apple TV, AirPort Express, or an AirPlay-enabled receiver or set of speakers. Despite what Apple wants you to think, there is another way to stream music without any of those AirPlay-capable devices—you just need to have two iOS devices (or just one iOS device and a Mac).
In recent months, HTC has decided to start breaking its proprietary apps out of its own ecosystem and into the Google Play Store. Along with the benefit of allowing its users to update their system apps more easily, this move also means that other folks can get a glimpse of what it's like to use an HTC device.
Back in the day when computers relied on CRT monitors, having a static image displayed for too long actually resulted in the image being burned into the screen. For this reason, screensavers were developed, which display animated images in constant motion to prevent burning in when you stepped away from your computer.
The weather widget on the main home screen of a fresh-out-of-the-box Galaxy S5 is meant to show off the screen. Super-high contrast and crisp definition on the individual blades of grass in the background let you know that the phone you're holding has one helluva display.
The level of customization that Android has to offer is insane. You can replace the stock keyboard and home screen with any third-party app of your choosing, allowing core experiences to be tailored to fit your needs.
With Geohot's Towelroot allowing us to root our Nexus devices in under a minute without ever leaving Android, many of you are probably enjoying all of the Gadget Hacks that root access has unlocked.
Rather than just use the stock Apple keyboard, iOS 8 now lets you use keyboards from TouchPal, Fleksy, SwiftKey, Swype, and more. I'll be showing you how to set up a third-party keyboard on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, as well as giving you a firsthand look at TouchPal's keyboard for iOS 8.
Multitasking has traditionally been one of Android's strengths. As the first mobile operating system to introduce true multi-process management, it even took things a step further after version 4.0 by dedicating a button to your recently-used apps.
Google's new camera, aptly named Google Camera, has been all the rage since it was released onto Google Play last Friday. The main reason is the amazing Lens Blur feature that adds depth-of-field Lytro effects to photos, without the use of any expensive accessories or extra hardware, like on the new HTC One M8. The camera does this by utilizing a depth map through the processing of multiple images. Frame your photo, move the camera (phone) in an upward tilt or motion, and the software capture...
What's the point of having a 1080p screen if you're not using it to get in some quality gaming time? Google Play is great for downloading games, but you probably already have an extensive library of games for your consoles, so use those!
Online gaming is nothing new, and with live YouTube streams becoming ever more popular, there always seems to be a way to watch people play video games. Twitch TV offers the same spectator experience you've come to know and love, but the people over at TwitchPlaysPokémon have gone a step further and made it so that the spectators are the ones playing the game.
Windows 8's interface was met with criticism when it was released, mainly directed at the tiled Start screen, a departure from Windows versions of old. Many felt that this new home screen style was better suited for mobile devices like Microsoft's Surface tablets and Windows Phones.
When you enter the softModder realm by rooting your Nexus 5, you open up an exciting world of possibilities and deep customizations for your device. Among other things, it gives you the ability to flash custom ROMs which, individually, act as entirely different operating systems that can vastly alter your user experience.
