Call forwarding is the diversion of a call that Wikipedia defines as allowing “an incoming call to a called party, which would be otherwise unavailable, to be redirected to a mobile telephone or other telephone number where the desired called party is situated”. However, it’s a lot simpler than that sounds — basically, we’re talking about redirecting an incoming call to another phone number.
On Android, there are a couple of different ways that you can forward calls, including the ability to forward missed call information to an email address. This is especially useful if you left your phone at home before your commute to work, or if you just lost your phone but still want to keep on top of things. Let’s take a look at some applications to help in these situations. (more…)
Whether it’s at the actual bus stop, or somewhere completely different, you’ve probably experienced a time when there’s a need for casual entertainment to while away the minutes. Boredom is a horrible plague that normally seems uncureable. But, with the dawning of smartphone apps, an entire gaming and entertainment system is built right into a device you take around with you every day.
The Android Market hosts a selection of application categories that can aid your boredom-fighting times, including games, entertainment applications and media. In this review, we’ll be covering some of our favourite apps from these categories in order to banish boredom forever! (more…)
Both Google and Apple have had some big privacy concerns pushed upon them in the past week after revelations that phones powered by iOS or Android store a user’s location in a history that can even be mapped out to show where you’ve been. Of course, we’ve known for a long time that our smartphones know where we are, but not that they’ve been storing that data in a file that’s relatively easy to access.
Location services that use a phone’s GPS have been fairly popular on smartphones. They provide an interesting specification to phones that allow them to transform into navigation systems and to allow you to find out their position should they be lost or stolen.
For iOS, a user can download a simple application that maps out your location history from accessing a database file that’s stored on whatever computer you’ve synced your phone with. For Android it’s a little more difficult to retrieve the file, but it’s still there and doing a similar job to Apple’s file. (more…)
Apple has an interesting relationship with Samsung. They are Samsung’s biggest customer, buying up valuable components to power the successful iPhone and iPad lines. However, right now they’re suing Samsung’s mobile division for copying Apple’s intellectual property.
Samsung are, of course, the makers of the Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets, all running Android, while Apple produce the iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad, all running iOS. The intellectual property specified in Apple’s case refers to both the hardware and software design aspects of iOS and the devices that run them.
Today, we’ll take a look at the claims of Apple and the community’s response. (more…)
There’s a number of times you might need send a polite hint that you’re busy. Say you’re watching a movie at a cinema and don’t want to break the unwritten rule against phone activity. Or you’re driving and don’t want to break the governed law of not texting whilst driving. However, it would still seem rude to completely ignore the sender’s attempts to get in touch with you.
Well, luckily you’re phone is smart. You can use a variety of applications to automatically respond to your messages noting your inability to respond. Bzzy is one of these applications that not only responds to text messages, but also counts how many you missed.
The IGDA (International Game Developers Association) has warned Android game developers about Amazon’s Appstore, telling them to read Amazon’s terms carefully. They have been told to “educate themselves on the pros and cons of submitting content to Amazon”.
In their “important advisory“, the IGDA’s main concern is over the payment terms with Amazon. Amazon pays developers “the greater of 70% of purchase price or 20% of list price”. For reference, Amazon does not allow developers to set list prices in the way they can on other marketplaces. Like other Amazon-sold products, from TVs to toasters, the list price is set by Amazon. (more…)
You’re Android handset comes with a built-in camera application that is fine for taking the odd shot. I’m not sure whether this is specific to my HTC Sense phone, but my stock camera app has options to change photo saturation, brightness, and other variables. There’s also the option to add some very basic filters like sepia and negative. This is a nice set of features that my iPad 2 (and, presumably, an iPhone) doesn’t have and, especially if your phone has a nice five or eight megapixel shooter on it, can be helpful in taking some valuable shots you can look back on.
Cisco’s recent decision to kill off the Flip video camera family also demonstrates that smartphone cameras are becoming the tool of choice for most people’s photo and video capture needs, so these options are becoming increasingly important.
The quote, “the best camera is the one that’s with you”, is tossed around a lot and, although I can’t seem to find its origin, I certainly know it’s true. Everyday moments can be captured with relative ease and with quality to compete with most point-and-shoot cameras. However, these cameras are smart and not like their dumb-phone counterparts. (more…)
Since the dawning of “real” smartphones, Apple loyalists have argued that Android is fragmented. And this is certainly not a lie. The variety of operating systems in play under the Android umbrella is a lot wider than with iOS, and this is a problem that Google recognises. Now, they’re apparently taking some action.
The company is refusing to release Honeycomb’s source code as they have done with previous, phone-based versions of Android. Google seems to be, according to a Bloomberg report sans official comment, considering standardising Honeycomb in an effort to reduce fragmentation across its lines.
[Editor's note: since this article was written, Google has spoken about their decision in an interview.]
Google’s exact plans aren’t very clear right now, but, what is more visible, is their intention to not make the same mistake they made in phones. Limitations will be in place to OEMs that restrains what tweaks can be made to Honeycomb.
Amazon launched their own Android application marketplace recently, dubbed the “Appstore” (to the dislike of Apple). The marketplace allows users to download and purchase applications for Android handsets right from the Amazon website, in a similar manner to Google’s own Android Market.
Android’s strength has always been in choice. Choice of handset, choice of skin, choice of carrier, and so on. And while there have always been some third-party app discovery sites and marketplaces, nothing like Amazon’s offering has came along. Now there’s choice in marketplace but also choice in payment method too. Amazon already has the strength and the scale to bring their store to a wide audience, which is an immediate advantage over Google’s fairly-tucked away store.
In this article, we’ll discuss how the Amazon Appstore can benefit you, the consumer.
(more…)
Calendars have been used throughout the ages as a way of organising one’s work, social, or religious events into a single view. The dawn of mobile applications meant that this could be taken on the go and provide necessary reminders to get things done at ease. For some, especially business users, the calendar is the most important app on their phone.
Android has a built-in calendar app, and some phone manufacturers, who add their own skin on top of vanilla Android, also provide their own calendar app. However, for those looking for something new, there’s also a bunch of alternatives available on Google’s Android Market.
In this roundup, we’ll be taking a look at a handful of the best looking and most functional calendar replacement apps and discussing which is the best.
