Being fixated on all of the great additions to Android 5.0 Lollipop, it can be a little difficult to take notice in the features that went missing. For instance, lock screen widgets. It's speculated that the lack of practical use for lock screen widgets and the implementation of the revamped Lollipop lock screen may have lead to their departure, but some of us want them back!
Left-handers only make up about ten percent of the world, which means they typically have to use things made for the majority, i.e., right-handed people. If that wasn't annoying enough, there are studies that show that lefties actually get paid less.
Facebook is really good at two things: connecting people all over the world and force-feeding changes to its users (ahem...Facebook Messenger).
I love the holidays, but man am I sick of receiving oversized sweaters as Christmas presents. As well as people think they know us, their gifts often say otherwise. Instead of stocking up on useless items and articles of clothing you'll never wear, it's high time to create a wish list that's easily sharable amongst family and friends, and it's incredibly easy to do on Android.
Before you head to class, work, or sleep, you're probably doing the same thing over and over again—toggling off system settings like Wi-Fi, sound, data, or brightness, depending on the circumstances. Schedules and routines can help increase efficiency, so while you abide to a particular schedule, so should your Android.
One of the more talked-about features of Google's new flagship device is the fact that all of the data on the Nexus 6 is encrypted by default. At face value, this certainly seems like an added bonus for the 6-inch phablet, especially in this day and age with growing security concerns abound. It's definitely something that the FBI is none too pleased about.
The hardware running your One is nothing short of powerful, but the people at OnePlus can't control how developers choose to utilize that power—or rather, not utilize it. Most popular developers have removed all signs of lag from their apps, but others still have archaic lines of code that can make your shiny, new device feel like a first-generation smartphone.
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."
The OnePlus One comes with CyanogenMod 11S built in, but there are certainly some traditional CyanogenMod features missing from this version. One of the most obvious missing ingredients is the lack of a native SuperUser app, most likely to prevent inexperienced users from causing unintentional damage to their device's software.
Accumulating approximately one million downloads on the Google Play Store in less than 72 hours from its initial release, TouchPal instantly became a favorite among Android users.
Lending someone your phone to make a call is always an awkward situation, as you closely monitor them to make sure they stick to a phone call rather than wandering off into private applications like your photo or messaging apps. You don't necessarily want to eavesdrop on their conversation, but trusting people with your phone is difficult, especially if you have some risqué or embarrassing pictures stored on it.
If you've ever noticed that the stock launcher on an Android device seems to just feel faster than any third-party home screen replacement app, this is not a placebo effect. Most manufacturers, Samsung included, force their stock launchers to reside permanently in your phone's memory, thus reducing the risk of redraws.
Many Android games use large, storage-heavy OBB files to store supplemental data. Generally, games with high-end graphics download these extra files when you install them from the Google Play Store.
There are a ton of great new features in iOS 8, and one of the most interesting (and perplexing) ones is called "Family Sharing."
Voicemails are like chores for me. I have to listen to them, but never really feel like doing it. When I finally do, most of them get deleted right away, but every so often they'll be one I save and listen to over and over again, whether it's a cute birthday wish from grandma or a hilarious joke from my friend.
Quickly jotting down grocery lists, recommended books, phone numbers, and addresses, among other things, has been a pretty straightforward process on an iPad or iPhone. Through the Notes app, you can enter information and have it seamlessly synced across all of your iOS devices, making access to them simple, quick, and universal.
Watching a YouTube video while surfing the web is real multitasking, and easily achievable on the LG G3. Like the "Multi Window" feature on Samsung Galaxy devices, the G3 has the ability to run two separate apps simultaneously with its Dual Window feature.
Personality is something we're constantly attempting to inject into our lives, whether it be the car we drive or clothing we wear—and our mobile devices are no exception.
If you're using iOS 10 or lower, there is no built-in way to record an iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch screen, and Apple doesn't allow any third-party apps to screen record either. If malicious, an app could theoretically continue recording even after you think it's off, allowing it to capture account and password information that you enter on your device. This changes in iOS 11, which introduces native screen recording, but what do you do if you're still running iOS 10 or lower?
The latest software update to the Amazon Fire Phone packed a lot of new and enhanced features, one of which makes the Carousel (a favorite feature of mine) much more useful.
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.
My OnePlus One easily gets over a day of battery life without a problem, but when I try to charge it, it seems to take just as long. For some reason, no matter what charger you plug your OPO into, it never gets more than USB-level power, meaning that charging times are more than double when compared to traditional AC-charging.
Aside from the most basic functions, most of us are pretty useless when it comes to Photoshop. Yes, we can all add filters, but who wants to see everything in black-and-white or sepia? Why not change a sunflower blue, your hair pink, or your lips purple—without having to spend hours with editing software.
Whether it's a chaotic family day meetup at the beach, barhopping with buddies, or getting stranded in the middle of nowhere with a dead car battery, being able to share your exact location with others using your smartphone makes life easier and less stressful.
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!
Using Facebook and Twitter as a news source can be frustrating at times, mainly because opening links will divert you away from your current application. Instead of a smooth process, you find yourself going back and forth from app to browser, over and over again.
Included among the many new features in Android L is the new "Heads Up" notification system, showing notifications as interactive floating windows anywhere on your device. Floating windows are nothing new, though, as we've already showed you how to get floating widgets, floating application shortcuts, and even floating notifications.
Unless you are or know a developer, you'll have to wait until sometime in September for the official iOS 8 to hit your iPad or iPhone. However, that doesn't mean you can't get some of iOS 8's new features on your iOS 7 device right now. For example, the new Notification Center, which I'll show you how to install below.
Resflux is an Xposed mod developed by Julian Paolo Dayag, aka WisdomSky, that provides users with a straightforward and functional way to customize and theme almost every aspect of the packages (apps and system components) installed on their Android device.
Remember the good old days of Winamp? It was one of the first mainstream media players to support music visualizations, graphics with intricate designs that react to the tempo and pitch of the audio playing.
Tricking out your phone is nice, but there's nothing better than saving money in the process. Google Play is full of apps that offer great functionality, but some of them are not always cheap, and that's why AppSales was made. AppSales is an app browser that lists apps that are currently on sale, and can also keep track of those you are interested in buying in case the price drops.
It looks like Snapchat, it feels like Snapchat, but after using it for a few minutes, you realize there is a huge difference between Facebook's new Slingshot app and the Snapchat we've all grown so accustomed to.
Screen timeouts serve mostly as security measures and energy savers, but they can also interrupt you when you're reading a book or editing a document. There is no built-in way to manage screen timeouts on a per-app basis, but if you've got root access, you can do just that using Never Sleep from Android dev Hamzah Malik.
We don't typically cover games here on softModder, unless they have some special feature to offer like unlocking your device, but sometimes you've just gotta game. When you've only got a few minutes to do so, you've gotta choose the right game, and I've got just the thing for you.
If you've ever used the automation app Tasker, then you know exactly how powerful the tool can be. If you haven't, suffice it to say that there's virtually nothing on your Android phone that Tasker can't automatically do for you.
When I first used the Google Now Launcher, I appreciated the transparency that came with it, and how it made the real look larger than it did before. But now that I'm used to it, that transparent navigation bar is beginning to look a little stale.
I'm a textaholic. One of the problems with being a textaholic is that your device just can't keep up with you.
LastPass is a password manager that's been around for some time, and has finally made its way over to Android for use with apps, not just websites.
Starting today, you can experience all the unique feature of Samsung's next flagship device, the Samsung Galaxy S5, right on your Galaxy S3 or other Android device.
I still remember when I had to get up from my comfy spot on the couch to change the channel on my old television. So for me, the remote control may be one of the most underrated inventions of the last century. These days, remotes take on all sorts of shapes, not just the typical brick, but also in the form of watches and cell phones.
