The term "selfie" is taking the world by storm. Having been around since 2002, the slang word for "self-portrait" went into hyperdrive thanks to the addition of front-facing cameras on mobile devices. It's even popular enough to have been included in the Oxford Dictionary, and to have broken Twitter (thanks to the Oscars selfie taken by Ellen DeGeneres).
There has been a lot of news over the last couple weeks about the popular Flappy Birds mobile game and its creator, Dong Nguyen.
Long before Windows Phone hit the scene, Windows Mobile was the operating system for Microsoft's older brand of smartphones through the early 2000s. But due to its clunkiness and inability to keep up with modern features, it was scrapped in 2010.
You don't need to be a robot to be overly concerned with battery life, especially if we're talking about Terminators, which have nuclear or hydrogen fuel cells that keep them running for years straight. It will be a long time before smartphones get that upgrade, so in the meantime, we have to figure out how to make them last more than a couple hours in a single charge.
There is no such thing as too much space when it comes to our smartphones. Space is the great equalizer of all things. No matter how many awesome features a device has, the amount of storage space available will always be a determining factor. Be it music, apps or photos, it's easy to fill up your phone's memory fast.
Lock screen exploits are becoming increasingly common in the mobile world. Four weeks ago there was the iPhone 5 passcode bug (which just got fixed yesterday...kinda). Then there were a couple lock screen bugs on the Samsung Galaxy S3 two weeks ago.
PRL, or Preferred Roaming List, basically tells your phone which towers to connect to first. Changing PRLs can improve reception and data speeds, and in some cases even give you access to corporate/test towers.
Unfortunately, there are plenty of situations where having a can of pepper spray could come in handy. Even worse, in most of those situations your state of mind isn't really conducive to remembering important details like the facial features of the person who's trying to mug you, which means the police will have a harder time catching the culprit.
As someone who writes an extreme amount, it's a necessity for me to have an organized and multifunctional text editor. The stock iPhone Notes application is useful to an extent, but it sorely lacks in features and design. Writing and text editing applications are nothing new to the iPhone, but many of them are overloaded on features, making it even harder to keep organized. Here are just a few alternatives that I find helpful in my day-to-day writing.
Most of us have some sort of malware scanner or antivirus program on our computers, but what about our smartphones? A lot of people don't realize that computers aren't the only devices that are susceptible to malicious software and apps—they can follow you on your smartphone or tablet, too.
Hiding apps that you don't want or don't use is a no-brainer, but with Apple's mobile iOS, they try to make it virtually impossible without a jailbreak. Now, with a few downloads and clicks, you can finally get rid of that pesky Newsstand or Stocks app without jailbreaking!
If you use apps on your smartphone, chances are you have no idea what those apps are doing with your information. Just this year, there have been several scandals involving apps transmitting user data, like Path uploading users' entire address books onto its servers, HTC's Security Flaw, and Brewster exposing users' personal information (even Ashton Kutcher's). A new service called Mobilescope wants to make sure you always know where—and to whom—your data is going. Lots of apps copy your cont...
As deeply as smartphones are integrated into our daily lives, it's no surprise that people are finding ways to use them to stay healthy. From detecting cancer and radiation to diagnosing STDs, phones have come a long way, baby.
Jordan Patterson the Cheap Geek has made a video showing you the steps to sync your contacts and calendars on three mobile devices together, the iPhone, a laptop running Windows, and a Mac running OS X utilizing a few downloaded programs and Google Calendar. First he shows you how to sync calendars on the Apple computer, by downloading a program from Google code called collaboration code, and then running it. After putting in his g-mail account information, he tells the program which calendar...
Many applications, especially those found in the Android Market are more effective when they know your physical location; like an app that's going to find the nearest gas station, restaurant or ATM. One of the salient advantages of a Google Android smartphone over, say, an Apple iPhone, is the inherent extendibility of the open-source Android mobile OS. There are a seemingly infinite number of settings to tweak and advanced features to discover and use. This free video tutorial, in particular...
Activate/Use iPhone 3G and 3GS with Go Phone Prepaid SIM Card:1. Eject the SIM tray using a pointy (thin) object.2. Firmly, insert the Gophone SIM card to the SIM tray (which got ejected from the iPhone).3. Insert the SIM tray along with SIM card into the iPhone.4. You will be able to notice that a new symbol pops up in the iPhone (which symbolizes SIM Card inserted).5. Create and send a new message to your Secondary mobile.6. You will be able to observe that, your other (Secondary) mobile ge...
In this video tutorial, viewers learn how to change the lock pattern on an Android phone. The lock pattern allows minimum security on the phone to prevent other people from tampering with your mobile files. Begin by going into the Settings and click on Location & security. Under Screen unlock pattern, select Change unlock pattern. In order to change the unlock pattern, users will have to type in the current unlock pattern. Now type in the new unlock pattern and press Continue. Then retype the...
Ever wish you could see in the dark? Well, you can't but this how-to will show you a way to build a device to help you out. You will need light polarizors, a flashlight, and a digital camera. Make an infrared night vision device, just follow along with the steps in this video tutorial. Now you can see at night!
The Xperia Play is a Sony Ericsson smartphone on Verizon built for gaming on the go. The mobile phone features a slide-out gamepad that you can use to navigate the web and play different gaming apps preloaded on the phone or downloadable from the Android market.
Smartphones are becoming pocket computers, jammed full of data essential to our personal and professional lives. With AT&T's 360 Backup app you can protect your important information with the push of a few buttons.
Enjoying the many benefits of Facebook Places? But what if you want to check in somewhere you're not? Your smartphone can automatically detect your geographical location, preventing you from just checking in just anywhere, but like all technology… it's a long way from perfect, even Android mobile devices.
This is, by far, the easiest way to root your Android phone, and it's even got its own name— the "SuperOneClick" method. This is a universal technique that applies to most Android-based smartphones (minus the HTC Evo and T-Mobile G2/Vision). TheUnlockr shows you the secret behind rooting your Droid, so watch and learn. Anyone with an Android-enabled phone can do this.
In this clip, you'll learn how to gain root access on a Samsung Epic 4G mobile phone. Whether you're the proud owner of a Sprint Samsung Epic 4G Google Android smartphone or are merely considering picking one up, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including a complete demonstration of the rooting process and detailed, step-by-step instructions, and to get started rooting and running custom ROMs on your own Samsung Epic cell phone, take a look.
In this clip, you'll learn how to gain root access on a Motorola Droid 2 mobile phone. Whether you're the proud owner of a Verizon Droid 2 Google Android smartphone or are merely considering picking one up, you're sure to be well served by this video tutorial. For more information, including a complete demonstration of the rooting process and detailed, step-by-step instructions, and to get started rooting and running custom ROMs on your own Droid 2 cell phone, take a look.
iMovie is probably the easiest-to-use suite of movie editing software ever put together, and in June Apple released a mobile version for the iPhone 4. Since the iPhone 4 can shoot HD video, this puts a lot of filmmaking power in the palm of your hand, literally. This video will show you some basic uses of iMovie, like adding sound and transitions to videos, that will get you started shooting really high-quality video from your awesome new phone.
Now that it's legal to jailbreak mobile phones, why not finally take the plunge and jailbreak your iPhone? This video will show you how to create a custom .ipsw for iOS 4 for installation on an iPhone 3GS using Pwnage Tool 4.0. The process is pretty quick and easy, and will allow you to create the custom iPhone interface that you've always wanted.
Swype is already the fastest way to type on a mobile phone and in this tutorial you will learn how to practice so that you get even faster. Once you get the hang of it, you will be Swyping like crazy. Try these little exercises and work out your fingers so that you can beat the world record for text messaging (which is currently held by a Swype user)!
In this tutorial, learn all about Swype. Swype is an app that you can add to your cell phone to make texting and e-mailing lightening fast. Say goodbye to tap texting - with Swype you just let your finger glide on the keyboard until it creates your desired word. Check out this clip and learn how to install and use Swype on your Samsung Omnia II cell phone (that is running Windows Mobile).
Craft a mobile phone holder for your car by bending and cutting an old CD. It doesn't actually hook up to your car but maybe with a little modding...
A new Sony patent shows the company doubling down on mobile gaming, and it could mean more advanced controller features for your iPhone or Android phone, similar to those in PlayStation's DualSense and DualShock controllers.
It's getting harder and harder to escape ad tracking by the day. For the latest example, look no further than T-Mobile. The No. 2 carrier updated its privacy policy on Feb. 23, 2021, indicating that it would start sharing customer data with advertisers under the guise of more relevant ads starting April 26. If that's not something you'd like to participate in, there's a way to opt-out.
Following its dominance as a provider of silicon for smartphones, Qualcomm is eager to replicate that ubiquity with not only processors for augmented reality headsets but also reference designs to give device makers a head start.
When Facebook launched its first hardware products last year, the Portal and Portal+ smart displays, the company mostly touted its video-calling features as it faced off against Amazon and its Echo Show.
Unless you've been hiding under a (moon) rock for the past month, you already know that Saturday, July 20 is the 50th anniversary of NASA's Apollo 11 lunar landing.
A company whose sole product line is smartphones might be worried about early proclamations that the smartphone is dead with the advent of augmented reality wearables.
For some reason, the Slack app on Android and iOS is a little less customizable than Slack on other platforms, so you can't adjust the sidebar theme to different colors directly inside the app. But that doesn't mean you can't customize the look of your mobile app at all. It's just a little less convenient.
After years of waiting, Microsoft has finally updated its industry-leading augmented reality device, the HoloLens.
Snapchat made augmented reality selfie effects famous, with Facebook copying the feature across its mobile apps. Of course, others have followed, but their face tracking apps often pale in comparison to the original.
An augmented reality system developed by Lyft might make it less awkward for drivers to figure out who they are supposed to pick up.
Many popular IoT devices have terrible security. For instance, a hacker who's on the same Wi-Fi network as a Sonos speaker can assume direct control over the device's behavior. If an IoT device doesn't secure the messages used to control it over a network, it's easy for somebody to write a few Python scripts to make it do whatever they want.
