After tons of rumours, leaks and weeks of speculation, the HTC One M8 is finally out and this time its official. It's the new flagship device from HTC and is predecessor of the HTC One which was launched last year.
Let us have a quick look at what this device has to offer. When it comes to design and built of the device HTC stands out as a clear winner. HTC puts a lot effort and dedication to make their devices look classy and premium and their dedication clearly shows up in the new HTC One M8. The beautiful shiny metal body of the HTC One 8 with soft curves and thin edges can beat its every single competition out there. The phone has a 5-inch full HD display and is powered by the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 processor with 2.3 GHz quad core Krait CPUs in US version whereas 2.5 Ghz in the Asia and version and runs on Android 4.4 Kitkat with a 2GB of RAM. No surprises here that HTC One M8 is the most powerful smartphone in the world.
The most interesting feature of the HTC One M8 is its rear Duo camera setup which offers a 4 Ultrapixel alongside a depth sensoring camera, which lets you do creative stuff with your photos. For selfie lovers the front camera is packed with 5-MP capacity. The rear camera also features a dual flash with 1080p HD video recording. The phone will be available in 16GB and 32GB versions with an expandable capacity upto 128GB.
On the UI side it packs the latest HTC sense 6 UI which according to HTC is the biggest improvement to its UI since the launch. Like the most other newly launched high end phones the device will also come in google play edition. In the press release the CEO of HTC Peter Chou said:
"In 2013 we introduced the best smartphone in the world, but we never stopped challenging ourselves and the status quo in this category. As pioneers in mobile innovation, we continue to design and build devices that will dazzle, inspire and transform the smartphone industry. Today I’m proud to launch the most stunning, intuitive and advanced handset that the industry has seen to date, the new HTC One (M8)."
The device is already available in many locations throughout the world and can be purchased via Amazon or through major retail carriers in UK and USA. In USA, Verizon, AT&T and sprint are offering the device for 2 year contract at 199.99$ while in UK it is available via sellers like O2, Three and EE on both monthly and and 2 year contracts, whereas it is set to be released in april in some of the Asian countries including India. Stay tuned for the India release, in depth review and detailed features.
It's such a hassle to transfer songs to your Smartphone from your PC or Laptop every time you download a new one. But what could be more amazing for music lovers to download the music right to their smartphones without having to transfer your favourite songs from your PC or Laptop. There are a number of apps available on the Google Play Store that lets you download mp3 songs for free on your Android device. But here we have picked some of the best ones for you-
This app is for all the music maniacs. Music Maniac app has been rated highly and is available for free on Google play store. This app lets you search and download millions of free mp3 songs from public search engine. It gives you various options for searching music.
You can search for songs by title or artist, or album, but you can also search for top songs by an artist, making it easier to just find a certain hit.
This app is very simple and easy to use. Type in the search box what you are looking for and you will be good to go. Just like the other mp3 downloader apps, Download free music app allows you to play the song before you download it and you can pause or resume the download too.
Mp3 Music Search Download Pro is a nice app for downloading free music from search engine and public domains.
What's great about this app is that you can actually edit songs, and set them as ringtone. Like other apps above the app also allows you to pause or resume the download as well as share the download link.
MP3 Music Download is also a great app for downloading free music to your Android.
This app lets you download music from public domains via public search engines. Like the most other apss mentioned above it also has a search app making the things easier for you.
At recently concluded Blackberry's Q4 conference call the company’s CEO John Chen discussed Blackberry's future plans for the year and here comes the good news for all the users He confirmed that Blackberry Messenger(BBM) for Windows Phone is coming soon to the Windows Phone OS.
He revealed the dates when the app will be available on Windows Store ,It will probably come
in May and July 2014. Also in some markets the lumia device will come preloaded with Blackberry Messenger(BBM)
BBM is installed on the handsets of 113 million users, and has almost 85 million monthly active users.
You can easily transfer your BBM pins from Android to Windows Phone.
Like our Fb Page to stay updated about the launch
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Samsung Galaxy S5 is yet to be released in the market but guess what? S5 already got a root(or at least one of its variant) even before it reaches to the people. All thanks to the famous XDA developer, ChainFire, for successfully rooting the SM-G900F variant of the device. ChainFire’s who is well known for his SuperSu app. And his CF-Auto-Root tool has already been successful in rooting various other Samsung flagships like Galaxy S and Note series in the past. The CF-Auto-Root method is one the most popular root methods out there.
CF-Root is relatively easy to use but still does require the use of tools like Odin for flashing. While he refrained from getting into the specifics to keep it simple, ChainFire says that his CF-Auto-Root tool currently flashes a temporary modified recovery and then installs the SuperSU app after which it flashes the stock recovery again. The instructions for rooting the Samsung Galaxy S5 are fairly simple and should be under the realm of every user who has even the slightest experience of rooting a Galaxy device. Unfortunately, this root method works only for the SM-G900F variant of the Samsung Galxy S5, other variants are not yet supported but those might come later once the firmware for those devices become available because the tool actually uses the stock Samsung firmware. ChainFire has already confirmed that “there’ll be a lot of models, but I believe this will be the most common ‘international’ model”. Since Samsung Galaxy S5 still hasn’t been made available commercially, there are not many people who were able to test the root method but for what it is worth, ChainFire does say that his root tool will break Samsung’s Knox security suite. Want to Root Your device??/ Check Here-- http://www.techzoot.com/2014/01/how-to-root-your-android-device-using.html
A complete version of the Captain America: The Winter Soldier game is available at Rs. 179.67.
Marvel Studios has a new movie lined up for next week and here comes a new superhero game based on it starring Captain America.
As a player you will control Captain America and his squad titled as S.H.I.E.L.D The game runs entirely in the portrait mode with improved graphics.
Captain America: The Winter Solider also offers asynchronous multiplayer mode just like we have in Clash of Clans and you can even create clans in here.
The game is available for free, but only for you the first two levels of the game.If you want to unlock the full game you’ll have to pay shed $2.99(180 bucks in INR) in-app purchase.
NOTE -The game requires Internet connection to function at all times and this could be a deal breaker for those who like to play games on the go.
Will you try the all new Captain America tie-in game?
By now we all know that the Windows XP is officially retiring on April 8, 2014, Microsoft is doing every possible efforts to switch the users of Windows XP which has almost completed 13 years.
"Friends don’t let friends use#WindowsXP. Support is ending on April 8!"
— Microsoft Europe (@MSEurope)
This tweet is dated February 11, 2014.
With this tweet, Microsoft Europe asked all its followers to encourage their friends to switch from the Windows XP as they are taking away support for the OS is ending on April 8.
This is really important as 29% of personal computers still use the Windows XP, and they are aiming to cut Windows XP's share down to 13% by April end.
Putting the iceing on the top they are promoting the latest Windows 8.1.
Well considering the possible scenerio.People still don't care infact talking about the education scenarios in Indian colleges and banks windows XP is still ruling.
In higher studies students still are forced to use Turbo C/C++ even when we have options of Visual Studio and all these PC's are running Windows XP.
Do comment below giving your opinions on the same?
Is this the right move from the Microsoft ? Should people upgrade to Windows 8.1?
The G Watch is a 1.65 inch(280 x 280px) wearable device that will have a pixel density of 240ppi.
According to the famous tech leaker @Evleaks, LG hasn't chosen a processor yet for its flagship watch but probably it will sport a 512MB RAM and 4GB of ROM storage, similar to the Samsung's Galaxy Gear 2.
Some of you might be thinking this is another Nexus device but NO!
LG has furthur promised to offer a pure Android experience and plus full connectivity will be provided to all Android devices. One can expect the G Watch to release by early May.
While we are talking about the gears its worth to mention that Motorola is gearing up for its own watch the Motorola 360, a round-faced Android Wear that was announced soon after the announcement of the G Watch. Google might unveil all the related info on this new Android Wear at its annual dev conference.
So the rumours were true! Now Apple has made its 8GB iPhone official.Though no official announcement has been made on its price in INDIA.
Apple has officially launched its 8GB variant of the iPhone 5C in the UK as of now. This smartphone variant is priced at GBP 429 (Rs. 43,536 approximately) unlocked and the 16GB variant is priced at around GBP 469.
Not only the storage reduction, the display size is same though of 4 inch powered by A6 processor and 8MP rear camera with 1.9 MP front camera, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.0.
This new 8GB version of this new iPhone 5C variant is aimed to boost the smartphone sales in the growing markets also going by some reports the Apple will soon discontinue its iPhone 4S.
As earlier we pointed out there is no update on the pricing and availability of this variant in India. Currently, the iPhone 5C is priced at around Rs. 39,600 approximately. We can expect this newer variant of iPhone 5C 8GB version to be priced around Rs. 30,000.
Just couple of days ago it was reported that Apple has about 3 million unsold iPhone 5C units. It's worth noting here that the iPhone 5C recieved poor reception when compared to other flagship devices from Apple.
Do you think this 8GB model will help boost the iPhone 5C sales globally?
As it was earlier speculated Microsoft is planning the launch of its Windows Phone 8.1 update 1, reports suggests that Microsoft has already started working on Windows Phone 8.5 update..
This version of the mobile OS was spotted in a specifically assigned tool-tip popup in the updated Windows Phone 8.1 SDK files. The update hinted at a secondary live tile that might be revamped, and the API is being re-designed for some other new features. According to rumors, Microsoft is also planning to change the start screen of Windows Phone 8.5.
The Windows Phone 8.1 update will allow the developers to add a shorter update/refresh period for the live tiles. Currently, the update might occur in every 30 minutes, but with the Windows Phone 8.1, update might happen after every 60seconds.
The leak also speculates, "As a WP8.1 application is now almost similar to WinRT application we can also use the background tasks used in WinRT apps which will allow us to run a background tasks in every 15 minutes."
Microsoft is planning to launch the Windows Phone 8.1 update in April at the Build developer conference. The update will bring in its own voice assistant similar to siri. The voice assistant will come in all Lumia handsets and will be open to all developers in the US.
Hey Geeks,
Some of you might have received an update for Google Play Store and many of you are still looking forward for one.
But wait no more here we get you the link to download them. Batch install, app management, improved UI and force update are among some major highlights of the new update.
So what's new in this??
So, what's new in Play Store 4.6.16 compared to 4.5.10?
Here we have listed all the updates that came in this update..
Batch install in My apps -> All tab
Update #1: We can now mass install them. Yes you read it right. We can now install multiple apps together it makes installing the similar apps on a device way easier, though it is still time-consuming.
Removing apps from My apps -> All no longer jumps to the top of the list
New Require password option has been added after the lawsuits were filed against the play store ,now we have a new option which will ask us to enter password for your purchases, its just once for every 30 minutes. If you have kids, you should probably check this out.
Left: old Play Store. Right: new Play Store
Settings and Help finally moved to slideout navigation
Settings and Help - you can now find these options in the slideout navigation drawer on the top menu quite similar to youtube.
Left: old Play Store. Right: new Play Store
Confusing Auto-add widgets setting renamed
The "widget" part of Auto-add widgets was kind of confusing as it was actually adding icons and not widgets. It is all fixed now, finally.
Left: old Play Store. Right: new Play Store
We can finally force Play Store self-update
Yes, we can trigger the self-update action on the Play Store itself - just by tapping the Build version in the settings.
IAPs now included in the App permissions screen
Seeking the IAP indicator added in the earlier version, another warning about IAPs has now been added in the App permissions as when you press Install.
Google+ +1 counts are now exact for large quantities
Ah! This is pretty self-explanatory. If you still don't get it... killing someone is bad, hmm?
Left: old Play Store. Right: new Play Store
Styles have been tweaked
Add buttons are now blue, and bold, and there is also a white border around the profile image:
Left: old Play Store. Right: new Play Store
For all those who have multiple accounts, the account selector look is a little bit different now and no longer makes the navigation items disappear:
Left: old Play Store. Right: new Play Store
If you came across something else that I haven't, feel free and drop a comment below.
Download
This will update your existing app. The cryptographic signature guarantees that the file is completely safe to install and has not tampered with in any way.
Step 2) Once Installed pen that app and head to the settings menu.
Step 3) In settings menu check the box option to Record Calls and then go to Media settings menu. Change the recorded call file type to .WAV format as it produces the high-quality cell phone recordings and you can change it anytime Good quality means large file. Atlast, change your default Audio Source to Mic (most phones have this by default).
Step 4) Test if the app is working by calling someone. You will find a red recording dot under your phone’s notification . Once your phone call ends, you will receive a notification about a New recording. You can tap that notification and do all sorts of file-related functions, including Play, Delete, Share, Save, and Call Contact.
Automatic Call Recorder is not just the only Android app available for recording phone calls, but it is good. As the recording capabilities are automatic and you’ll never forget to record an important phone call. It also gives you the option to save phone calls on the cloud to free up some device space.
Alternative Method if you use Google Voice users.
If you are a Google Voice user, there is even easier way to record your phone calls. Google Voice only works through Gmail, but if you are calling a contact on your Android phone, then you simply have to press 4 (key on your keypad) while the call is active in order to record the incoming cal
NOTE-
Don’t forget: recording someone’s phone calls without their knowledge is a criminal offence. Going by the United States, federal law requires the parties to know if they are being recorded. That’s why some call centers always say , “This phone call may be used for training purposes.”
As our traffic comes from India, so India’s recording laws: it is illegal to record a telephone call without approval by “a designated authority”, which means that you will need permission from the government.
iOS 7.1 is finally out, this time with loads of new features and improvements over the much criticised iOS 7. The new update comes with some with very nice pack of features. Here we are pointing out some of the best features in the all new iOS 7.1.
Switch control: Introducing head gestures
Arguably the most amazing feature of iOS 7.1. It lets you control your phone with head movements. The front camera will track your face movements and the phone will act accordingly.
Here's how to enable switch control on your device-
Settings > General > Accessibility > Switch Control
Tap the icons to "on" for switch control as well as for auto scanning. To add new control tap "switches"
Tap "camera" to set up new head gestures. Head gestures can be used to perform basic functions like bringing up Siri pre defined head movement.
Auto HDR
The new camera app in iOS 7.1 comes with some new features, one of the biggest features being auto HDR(High Dynamic Range). The auto HDR lets you know whether to keep HDR mode "on" or "off" while clicking a picture. HDR is preferred for shooting landscapes and low light pictures and with auto feature the HDR becomes even cooler.
Improved Touch ID Reader
That one feature that makes iPhone 5s stands out from the crowd is Touch ID reader, commonly known as finger print scanner which allows people to access device with touch of the finger. However, this feature mainly received a negative feedback at its initial launch with iOS 7 with people having to re calibrate their finger print again and again. But after the new update the problem seems to be solved with people finding Touch ID more stable now.
Siri Push-To-Talk
iOS 7.1 brings with it some awesome new Siri features too. Siri now knows when to stop listening. You can now manually control to make Siri start listening by holding down the Home button while you speak and releasing it when you're done. This feature is useful when operating Siri under noisy conditions.
Updated UI
UI has been significantly improved in the update with some awesome changes to the icons. The most noticable UI changes are the ones in phone dialler app, incoming call screen and and Power off screen. The more stylish rounded buttons have replaced most of the rectangular buttons in dialler app with newly designed accept and decline icons in incoming call screen. The UI is much more responsive and fast all thanks to the scaled down icons. Random reboot and crash bug while on home screen is also been taken care of.
DO YOU FANCY THE NEW FEATURESON THE NEW SAMSUNG GALAXY S5? HEART RATE MONITOR,PEDOMETER, DOWNLOAD BOOSTER, SELECTIVE FOCUS, ETC.? WELL, HOW ABOUT IF I TELL YOU THAT YOU CAN GET THESE FEATURES ON YOUR CURRENT ANDROID PHONE. WITHOUT SPENDING A SINGLE PENNY... YEAH, THAT'S RIGHT! IT’S THE ERA OF SMARTPHONES, AND YOU KNOWWHAT THEY SAY — “THERE IS AN APP FOR EVERYTHING“.
You can get most of the Galaxy S5 features on your Android device . However, features that are fully dependent on the hardware components may not substitute in the form of an app, like the fingerprint scanner on Galaxy S5, it cannot be substituted by just an app. But the heart rate monitoring has a completely different story. Apps like these could utilize the your phone’s camera to get heart rate, we’ll discuss on this in detail later.
Hmm...So before I start let’s take a look at some of the new features of Samsung Galaxy S5. Thankfully, Samsung has released an ad video detailing upon all the new features of its flagship device Galaxy S5.
Here's the video:-
Let’s see now what alternatives we can use in order to get these Galaxy S5 Features on almost anyAndroid deviceout there. We’ll go sequentially with explanation of each feature and apps that can be used as an alternative for these features.
HEART RATE MONITOR
There’s dedicated hardware support on Samsung Galaxy S5 which lets users monitor their heart rate/pulse instantly on the phone. It works just by placing the tip of index finger on the heart rate checker (located on the back of your device, just below camera) for a few seconds and your heart rate bpm starts showing up on screen.The button is quite similar to what we saw in LG's G flex.
It’s exciting, but there is nothing new. Heart rate monitoring apps are available on Android since 2009 (5 years). Let’s have a look:
ALTERNATIVES: 2
The two apps provided below can check your heart rate without a dedicated heart rate sensor on the phone.
HOW? Heart rate can be monitored just by placing the tip of your index finger on your phone’s camera. The key part is that your index finger should be near some light source — if your phone has flash near the camera then it’ll surely work for lightning up your index finger, otherwise after placing your index finger on camera move your finger near some light source (a torch or a lamp) and you’ll be good.
INSTANT HEART RATE
Instant Heart Rate is one of the oldest heart rate monitoring app available for Android. This app works great and gives you highly accurate heart rate measurement with graphs/charts to make it easily understandable. It also alerts you if your heart rate is good, average or bad.
Runtastic Heart Rate is a relatively newer app for monitoring your heart rate but it’s somewhat advanced than its older brother Instant Heart Rate app. Runtastic has intractive UI and allows you to compare or share your heart rate with friends and family on various social networks Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
Samsung has introduced an amazing new feature on Galaxy S5 that combines all the available internet connections on your device and then lets you use the combined data speed to boost download speed of your device. The WiFi and LTE/2G/3G/4G connections are combined and then their commutative data speed is used to boost your download speeds.
Interesting isn't it you can get super high speeds plus it will optimise your usage so that you don't end up using one.
ALTERNATIVE
SUPER DOWNLOAD – Fast
The Super Download – Fast app will do the same magic of combining data speeds of all your available internet connections available on your device and then use it to give a boost to your current downloads. However, as you know this is kind of tricky stuff, the app requires root access to be able to combine these download speeds from WiFi and 2G/3G/LTE/4G.
On a good point, the app is also works as a download manager with support for increased concurrent threads to further boost your download speeds.
Another fitness bonus that Galaxy S5 comes is an built Pedometer which intelligently counts all the steps that you have taken all throughout your day and then uses that data to show you how much health benefits you’ve gained just by walking. The Ghardware component to get the job done and
unfortunately only three other phones on the market currently have dedicated hardware for counting steps — Nexus 5, LG G2 and Galaxy S4 Google Play Edition.
Anyway, the good news is that even if your device don't have the dedicated hardware component you can still manage to count your steps. While a hardware component might help in saving some juice of your battery but then its no big deal. The job can also be done using other available sensors on your Android device — Accelerometer and Gyroscope.
Check out these cool apps given below to see it in action yourself:
ALTERNATIVES: 2
NOOM WALK: PEDOMETER
Noom Walk has smoother interface, advanced features, with some social sharing options, Infact you can match up over the number of steps you take with your friends interesting isnt it. And most importantly the developers boasts that Noom Walk utilises even less than 2% battery during a day of use.
Runtastic Pedometer is another amazing app to count the number of steps you walk throughout the day while using your phone. And while it’s almost similar to Noom Walk feature wise, It has just one additional feature that it can tell you How fast you are walking.? That's Cool, right?
Galaxy S5 lets you create a blurred out background or foreground on your photos even after you have clicked them. It makes the photos look beautiful and gives your photos more detail now this is something for which DSLR camera’s are popular for.
I have seen some great apps on Play Store that lets you do the same thing, but then I have to admit that on Galaxy S5 it’s painlessly simple to do that, as compared to the alternative apps that I have shared below:
ALTERNATIVES: 2
AFTER FOCUS
AfterFocus is the most robust and slicker app available on Play Store to defocus and blur out the background or foreground on your photos. However, unlike Galaxy S5 it doesn’t automatically blurs the background at one-touch, you have to select the area which you really want to bring in focus and the app will then blur out everything else on that photo.
Easy Focus is just another great app to perform SLR camera like blurring on background objects in your photos. The app’s interface is simple and like AfterFocus, you just have to select the area which you want to keep focused in a photo. You should give this app a try too along with AfterFocus.
The S Health app on Galaxy S5 comes pre installed on other Samsung Galaxy devices as well. It helps you to keep a track of your fitness and sports activities.
There are plenty of such apps available on Play Store for tracking your fitness level and chances are that you might have already tried some of them. In case you haven’t, follow the links below:
Runtastic: Runtastic has we already pointed out is the widest range of fitness apps available on Play Store.So do check out their apps.
Endomondo: Endomondo is another great app to keep track of your fitness and sports activities.
"Samsung GALAXY S5 can last for 13 hours at battery level as low as 35% only"
Samsung has loaded in the best power saving features on Galaxy S5 ever possible,It could last for almost 13 hours at battery level as low as 35% Imagine!! no more need to keep those square portable bricks with you. There’s this ‘ULTRA Power Saving” mode on the Galaxy S5 that once you turn on your device display to Grayscale display it will block every background process on the phone keeping only the Call and SMS function active. We could easily imagine how much battery that can possibly save on a phone.
We did not find any app on the Play Store that could bring in such wonders, since it requires deep integration to system files of your device. And as of now I’m not aware of any custom ROM which can do that much power saving. But hopefully soon enough some developer might take up this idea and integrate it into a customized ROM.
Anyway, we have got some apps below that can still help to save you a good amount of battery power and are quite similar to other power saving modes available on the Galaxy S5:
GREENIFY
Greenify lets you freeze background apps from running in background and take extra spin on your ram killing your battery. Once you freeze an app with greenify it’ll no longer be able to drain your battery ever, unless you use it often. If you have root access on your device then in that case you can even freeze system apps, but be very careful with that since it can lead to an unstable system if you freeze an app that’s actively required for the system processes.
Easy Battery Saver takes the pain of you toggling between connectivity WiFi/Data/Bluetooth options to save your battery power. Plus, it couple of enhanced automated options for blocking certain apps from using data in the background and consuming both phone’s resources plus network data causing unnecessary battery drain. A must have app for your Android devices.
HDR is short form for High Dynamic Range, this feature lets you capture photos with natural colors under any lightening conditions. With HDR, the camera captures the same image at different levels of exposure and then layers them up to create one fully optimized photo. It helps you to take pictures in high contrast situations, like near to an open window or when the sun is behind your subject.
Samsung names it “Rich tone” on its devices.
If you bought your phone last year then chances are that you already have these feature on your phone. Check in your camera app. If not, you can download this HDR Camera app from the Play Store (link below)
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