When looking at weather applications and widgets, one major characteristic I look for is efficiency; something that will separate it from the rest of the herd. The stock weather widget looks great on my home screen, but I have to exit whatever app or game I'm in when someone asks me about the weather.
HTC's Sense 6 has been out for over a month now with the One M8, and most of you have probably played around with its better known features, like the new Camera app and Harman Kardon audio.
Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even older siblings have all likely dealt with handing their smartphones over to young children. No matter if they want to play games or watch cartoons or record funny noises, you're handing over a very personal device to those who can mess up what they don't know.
Just like some of its popular puzzle predecessors, 2048 is an extremely simple yet insanely addicting game that pits you against a slew of blocks, to be configured into increasing sums with fervid, high-paced moves. If you have yet to play it, check out either the iOS (by Ketchapp) or Android (by Estoty) versions of the game. Due to its overwhelming popularity, dev TalkLittle has ported the puzzle game as 2048 for Chromecast (available for Android only), which lets you play the game solo or b...
As an added functionality to the S Pen, the Pen Window enables you to create floating application windows on your Samsung Galaxy Note 3—a tool that's extremely useful when it comes to multitasking.
Lock screen security provides a means of safety when it comes to keeping others from breaking into our smartphones and snooping around on or stealing private information like documents, emails, photos, and videos.
If you're as bad at locking your Nexus up as I am, you have the "slide" option set for your screen lock. It may not be the most secure option, but it's definitely the easiest way to unlock your device while being able to utilize lock screen widgets.
Apple is very tight lipped about their products, and their iPhone is certainly no exception, but when products depend on global manufacturing, it's nearly impossible to keep good secrets contained.
When it comes to smartphones, we can sometimes get a little carried away with the "smart" aspect of it all. Things like apps, games, and softMods take center stage, and we can almost forget that the device also functions as a phone.
Utility tool apps provide extremely powerful and useful lightweight replacements for your parents' heavy archaic tools—everything from flashlights to tracking systems and more.
Figuring out someone's password, pattern, or PIN isn't very difficult—simply watching over their shoulder or following the oil marks left across their screen is enough to figure them out and bypass whatever lock screen security they have.
The outstretched arm, the perfectly positioned angle, the shot and the subsequent array of tinkered saturation, contrast and shadows. In almost every car, changing room, or Starbucks, these string of events happen—you might know it as the selfie.
Notifications, while certainly helpful, can at times be overbearing. There are banners plastered every which way on your smartphone for almost every application. While many of the notifications can simply be swept away or turned off, the same can't be said of persistent notifications.
There are a lot of cool new features in iOS 8 that weren't available in previous iOS versions, but it's still lacking overall in terms of customization.
If somebody really wants to gain access to your iPhone, they'll get in. Phone thieves (and mischievous friends) can easily figure out your passcode just from looking over your shoulder or tracing over the oily smudges on the screen. And if you're using popular passcodes, birthdays, and addresses on your iPhone, you might as well disable lock screen security entirely.
Exclusive to only a handful of smartphones, including the Nexus 5, the Google Experience Launcher allows us to open Google Now simply by speaking out a certain phrase, at any time—dubbed a "hotword."
As an avid reader, I come across a plethora of words I don't know, but my iPhone is always right there to help figure out their meanings.
Improved S Pen functionality materialized in the form of Air Command controls on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, allowing users to access shortcuts for their stylus features from anywhere on the screen. While the pie-interface controls are extremely useful, the only way to access them is when the S Pen is removed—making it impossible to use otherwise.
Let me begin this tutorial by reiterating how boring an iOS device can get, like my iPhone. It's extremely popular, yet extremely strict in terms of personalization.
There's no shortage of reasons to love the One, yet a feature curiously omitted from the device, much to the chagrin of power users, is a multitasking button.
Seemingly out of nowhere, something strange started happening on my Nexus 7. Every time I restarted my device, the camera application on the far right of my dock kept disappearing on me.
Change is something everyone needs every now and then. President Obama used it as his campaign slogan and adult movie stars use it to hide their real identifies. Change is in itself versatile. You never want to have the same thing day in and day out, and that's why us Android users appreciate the massive amount of customization available.
Quickness and efficiency should always be a fundamental aspect of the experience when using any Android device. Anything less, and we've got a problem. As app development continually progresses, these adjectives become much more refined and polished, making the use of a smartphone a flawless affair of swipes and gestures.
No, we aren't talking Pinterest here, we're talking your Xbox One dashboard. You can pin your favorite apps and digital downloads to the Xbox One home screen for quick access, just like you can on the Xbox 360. It's similar to the Windows 8 tiles, where you can bookmark certain apps in place. All you need to do is go to your Home Screen by either saying, "Xbox, go home," or hitting the Xbox button on your controller. Then, locate and select the game, music, video, or app that you want to pin ...
If you're like seventy percent of America and find it hard to focus on just one thing at a time, the Xbox One had you in mind. If you ever thought that being able to watch The Walking Dead while playing The Walking Dead video game would be awesome, you're in luck. How about looking up cheat codes on Internet Explorer without ever leaving the game? Easy as pie.
Not only does your mobile phone auto share your location. Now Windows 8 does the same thing. I'm going to show you the two (2) ways to disable that.
Most hardcore Android fans loathe carrier or manufacturer additions to the Android operating system. Whether it's bloatware or changes to the user interface, many enthusiasts prefer the clean look of stock Android.
Whenever the word "popup" pops up, I immediately cringe because all I can think about are those obnoxious ads that ruin my everyday browsing experience. But, not all popups are evil.
You saw our post on the 18 coolest new features of iOS 7, but now that you've had a chance to play around with your updated iPhone, it's time to lock it down.
I've been playing around with iOS 7 for a while now, and for the most part, I dig it. It's a nice update for a stale OS, and there are a lot of great new features. But like any good piece of tech, there are a few things to be disliked. Some of these are big issues, and some could be considered nitpicking, but given that I'm fairly used to the older iOS 6 version, they feel big to me. Paper cuts always hurt worse than gashes.
It's that time of the year again when scores of students are flocking to stores for school supplies. Pens, pencils, books, and for math students, calculators.
"Ain't No Sunshine" might just be a classic song to you, but for me and my Samsung Galaxy S3, it means so much more. For the most part, my GS3 does a decent job at automatically adjusting the brightness of the screen when I'm in normal lighting, but when I'm in little or no lighting, or there's just way to much, I usually have to switch over to manual to get the right balance. Luckily, we're not stuck with Samsung's built-in auto brightness feature. There are some really good third-party solu...
From a very early age we have an intrinsic obsession with things that float. Why do you think we love balloons and bubbles so much? So, it's no surprise that our smartphones are being invaded by floating features.
The new Moto X is still a couple of weeks from being released here in the United States, but that doesn't mean we can't play around with a few of its cool features.
I never really get tired of staring at the beautiful Halle Berry wallpaper on my Samsung Galaxy S3, but occasionally she needs a break. There are literally thousands of different wallpapers to choose from, but since the new Moto X just came out, its stock wallpapers are ripe for the picking. Step 1: Download the Moto X Default Wallapers
We use ADB and Fastboot for so many things in our softModder tutorials, and to get them, you normally have to download the entire Android SDK and install them. But not anymore.
If you still have time left on your warranty, taking your HTC One in for repairs can be a serious pain if you've modified it in any way. To avoid the chance that they'll reject your phone because it's been tampered with, you'll have to return it to stock condition.
During a contest in 2010 regarding which country Justin Bieber should visit next on his tour, North Korea won by a landslide. Unfortunately, he never went, and that's partly because nobody in the internet-less dictatorship probably voted. Instead, the contest was rigged by 4chan members and a few playful bots that voted for NK hundreds of thousands of times. What this shows is that not only is Justin Bieber an asshole, but that bots can be used as a very powerful tool—not only to cause mischi...
There are hundreds of sites that host high-res wallpapers for your Android's home screen, but most of us stick with the same old drab stock wallpaper because we're too lazy to go hunt for new ones.
The iPod changed the music and electronics industries when it was first introduced way back in 2001. It is credited with ushering in the age of "connected devices," and has held a huge market share of around 70% for years. At the height of its popularity, the iPod made up almost 50% of Apple's revenue. Now that the smartphones and tablets we use every day have the ability to store and play music, the iPod's glory days are over. Nevertheless, there are millions of people who still use them, an...
