Tag: google android

New realme 8i – with bang for buck features

Say hello to the latest value offering from realme, the 8i Before I start, let us get the elephant out of the room – This phone is not a flagship killer, bleeding edge, top of the line or revolutionary, nor is it meant to be. What it does …

Whats the point of launch events?

It probably hasn’t escaped your attention that there have been multiple events in the last few months. Apple started the rollercoaster unveiling the new iPhones & iPads. This was closely followed by a Google event unveiling its new Nexus phones (Nexii?) Chromecasts etc. There was also an LG …

Hitman Sniper Explodes onto Mobile – Review

Hitman is one of the big name brands in gaming and provided one of the smash mobile hits of last year with Hitman Go, and now Square Enix Montreal brings Hitman Sniper to the small screen. Sharing similarities with the PC game of the same name and taking …

HTC M9 leaks… yet again

HTC seems to be having a problem keeping a lid on things recently. As a result the HTC M9 has been leaking like a burst dam during monsoon season. I honestly have not seen this many leaks for any other phone that doesn’t have an Apple logo on …

Sony Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact unboxing and initial impressions

It is here. The day I’ve been waiting for. My newly acquired Xperia Z3 Tablet Compact has arrived. Although I had to wait a little longer than I would’ve liked (due to issues with the shipping companies), it’s here now. So, let’s find out if it was worth …

Nokia Normandy could this be the replacement for the Asha range?

So. over the last few weeks the interwebs have been getting in all sorts of a muddle over a phone called the Nokia Normandy. This phone is purportedly Nokia’s Android handset. What? Nokia running Android? Yep, you read that right. It is believed that the boys and girls …

Sony Smartwatch 2 – Review

Do you remember back to when you were a kid and you used to watch Knight Rider? Remember looking wistfully at the Hoff’s watch communicator that he used to talk with Kitt? I did anyway. Now we’re getting a step closer to this becoming a reality. I present …

How to: Enable Dial Pad Auto Complete in Android 4.3

There has been something missing from stock Android since the very beginning. Many many times I have seen people ask for the inclusion of auto complete for the dialler but the calls have always gone unheeded. Until now. This option doesn’t appear to be turned on by default …

All in the numbers: 4.2.2 coming to HTC One

Yes, The One is a contender for this years best Android smartphone, and yes, its been stuck on 4.2 since it came out, but there have been rumblings on the interwebs that all that is about to change. @LlabTooFeR, who is an HTC ROM developer happened to let …

Google Play gets facelift and a makeover

You may not see it on your device immediately, but you will, and it’ll thank you for it. The Google Play marketplace has gone through another iteration (one of our colleagues called it Google Play 4 due to the APK being 4.0.25). The formerly-named Market more has a …

Samsung starts to tease the Galaxy S IV

MWC is done and dusted for another year, HTC have made their big announcements which now means that it is of course Samsung’s turn. With the fact that the Galaxy SIV event is being held on the 14th March in New York already having been made public, Samsung …

My Phone History – By Ronnie Whelan

Before I start, I have to apologise for my lack of detail with regards to my pre-smartphone phones. I had very little enthusiasm for phones before my Orange SPV, and even a brief spell working in the Nokia factory in Finland didn’t spark an interest. Motorola MR30 It …

Numbers are everything… Can Microsoft reverse the trend?

Figures recently released  by comScore reveal a telling story regarding market share for the major smartphone manufacturers in the United States. Perhaps the biggest suprise is the fall of Microsoft’s share of the market from 5.2% in November ’11 to only 3.9% in Februrary ’12. Microsoft can only …

Face Unlock… a gimmick or actually usable?

For me, one of the stand out features that Google presented to the world when they announced the Google Galaxy Nexus, was Face Unlock. My thoughts ran wild with ideas about how this technology could be useful… at least for me. Shortly after their announcement, various people demonstrated that …

Android Video App Review – Shush

Well finally I am back with my video reviews. YouTube have been less than helpful with my upload problems but they have been fixed! I’ll kick things off with a video review of one of my favourite apps, ‘Shush’. It’s very simple, it just lets you put your …

500k Android Activations Daily!

Andy Rubin from Google has just come on Twitter and posted the news that the Android OS has now hit 500,000 activations a day!.  A massive milestone for the OS helped by some great hardware from major manufactures and great progress with the Android OS itself Considering we are …

How to Maximise Your Android Phone’s Battery Life

Battery life has always been a concern with a lot of Android phones. In extreme cases, devices like the US-only HTC Evo 4G would only manage four hours with heavy use. The Desire HD is also another device that has battery life issues; it’s clear to see that …

Google at Mobile World Congress – Android is taking over

I wanted to give you guys a feel for how things are here in Hall 8 of Mobile World Congress. I know I’ve mentioned this before but I’m hereby rebranding Hall 8 as the “Google Hall”. Every single partner here has an Android sitting on the desk with …

The Desire HD and HD Voice – Does it have it?

Back in November we first got to hear about the HTC Desire HD having the Orange HD Voice capability. Eagle-eyed readers had spotted Orange stores displaying the feature right next to the new Android handset. A short while later Orange got in touch to ...

Rockbox Port for Android available

Rockbox is an open source firmware for MP3 players provided by the likes of SanDisk, iriver, Archos and Toshiba. Ports are now available for a range 's. A port is now available for Android which plays tunes without stutter and includes neat touches li...

Bing release three new apps – none for Windows Phone 7

Screw it, I'm going to do an editorial here. Microsoft have yet again released a load of very useful apps but there's nothing for their own mobile OS. Snowboard Hero and Powerboat Challenge are both out for the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. Meanwhile a...

Android Market suffering some bugs?

This weekend a lot of you received the new Android Market app. It looks a lot nicer but there seems to be an issue when accessing the "My Apps" area. Many have received the "Server Error has occured" message and, despite clearing the cache, rebooting ...

HTC Wildfire to receive FroYo update this week

Android 2.2 (FroYo) is on its' way to the HTC Wildfire just in time for Christmas. The official official Facebook page also answers your questions on the rollout, with most areas in Europe receiving the update this week and the rest of the world by Fe...

Carphone Warehouse Drop Nexus S To £429.99!

BREAKING NEWS!.  Carphone Warehouse have just dropped the price of a Sim Free Nexus S to £429.99 from £549.99 With just one day left until the new Google phone hits the UK, Carphone Warehouse have just this last few minutes dropped th...

Notion Ink Adam video overview

Notion Ink (no, me neither) have shown off their Adam Tablet in this rather unfinished video. It comes with a USB ports, swivel camera, panel interface, ebook reader and more. Specs fans can expect the NVIDIA Dual Core Tegra 250, transflective display...

Android App Review – WidgetLocker

WidgetLocker is an android lock screen replacement. The point of the app is that you can add widgets and shortcuts to your lockscreen. The first thought I had about this was "why would I want to do that". First of all WidgetLocker is a paid app it cos...

LinkedIn for Android – Beta available to try

LinkedIn is a popular business-to-business social network for professionals to exchange information. It's fast becoming a good sales and contact tool for companies and staff, and now LinkedIn for Android is available as a beta for handsets running And...

Google Maps 5 arrives

The new Google Maps we spotted last week has now appeared in the Android Market. Google Maps 5.0 brings vector maps, 3D buildings and better performance. Google are really hammering out the updates, extra features and apps at the moment. This new ver...

Facebook app updated to 1.5

Facebook have released an update to their popular Android app in the Android Market.  As well as bug fixes, this brings Chat to Android for the first time, and push notifications.  It is available from Android Market now.   Link - Phand...

Android 2.2.1 drops for the HTC Magic

Hey HTC Magic owners. We know you're out there, somewhere. You can give your device a new lease of life thanks to an Android 2.2.1 update from Vodafone. The update includes..“The latest Gmail and Android Market clients; ability to save applicati...

Android Pay As You Go Christmas ideas

With only a few more days until Christmas we've taken a look at some of the bargain-basement Android devices costing around £100. There's a fairly decent selection of low-priced Pay As You Go phones to choose from. Check out our selection below... -...

Get the new Android Market, right now

We've already told you about the new Android Market UI which is rolling out soon. But, if you really can't wait, you can download the APK's from the links on MoDaCo and jump the queue. Ohhh purdee. For those who aren't familiar, you'll need to tweak y...

Android App Review – Folder Organizer

Do you have a cluttered android homescreen? Do you hate the way you cannot easily manage your home screen folders? Do you hate the way you cannot easily change standard icons? If you answered yes to any of the above questions then this application may...

New Android Market UI Rolling Out

Google have been busy recently updating their suite of applications, we recently announced that Maps was getting a big update, then GMail was next in line for a change and now the Market application is getting a refresh. All Android phones running 1.6...

Windows Phone 7 UI, now for Android

Hot on the heels of yesterdays' Gingerbread Launcher comes another home screen replacement called "Windows Phone Android". If you're an Android owner and want to get a flavour of Windows Phone 7 device, just hop into the Android Market, download it an...

BlackBelt Defence – Special report

One of the most popular misconceptions about smartphones is that they are safe. There’s a very good reason for this – the manufacturers and operators have gone to extreme lengths to make sure you think that. Otherwise, the smartphone revolution wo...

HTC Legend devices get Android 2.2

HTC Legend owners, it's your turn for Android 2.2 now. The Over-The-Air update is now arriving on handsets and will bring your device up to version 3.15.405.3. There's the usual advice about backing up important data and we of course recommend downloa...

GMail Updated For Android Users

Google have released an update for it's GMail application for Android handsets.  This is available for people to upgrade too now by simply checking Android Market and downloading the update once it shows as long as you are running 2.2 FroYo. Big ...