| In Depth: Winter warmers: top GALAXY apps to prep for winter Oct 28th 2013, 14:47, by Your Mobile Life 
Winter is coming. The nights are getting darker and soon it will be time to dig out your scarf and gloves and get ready for another three months of central heating and wooly jumpers. We've selected ten apps for the Samsung GALAXY Note 3 to get you in a wintry mood and help prepare you for chilly weather and the fun wintertime activities that will get your through until spring. 
Final CountdownFree – Get it here If you are celebrating New Year 2014 away from the TV or a big crowd it would be good to know exactly when 2013 shuffles off into history and 2014 bounds into view. Final Countdown is an app for displaying accurate countdown timers for upcoming events, displayed in days, hours, minutes and seconds. New Year is one of the preset timers but you can set countdowns to any date you like, from birthdays to exams. The app will run full screen but works even better as a widget which can sit on your GALAXY Note 3's home screen and tick down to Midnight. The timer widgets are customisable with different colours and backgrounds. 
BBC WeatherFree – Get it here Winter is traditionally the time for bad weather (who are we kidding, that's potentially any time in the UK) and the BBC's own weather app is one of the best around. It combines the accurate and trusted data of the Met Office with a well thought-out and clear interface, plus the rather comforting sight of the weather symbols used on BBC weather reports. Quickly flick through the coming day's weather in multiple locations and get detailed, hour-by-hour predictions of humidity, temperature, wind speed and more to make sure you're not caught out by a winter flurry when you're dressed for drizzle. 
DroidSnow Free – Get it here It has now become customary for Twitter users living in the UK to use the service to announce that it is snowing, using the #uksnow hashtag. The locations of people tweeting (derived from their postcodes or just from the geotag of their tweet if they turn on GPS) are collated by this handy app, giving a crowd-sourced view of where it is snowing across the United Kingdom. You can add your own #uksnow report directly through the app, too. 
EMERGENCY FLASHER HD 99p – Buy it here No, not that kind. This Flasher is an app that could help you survive being stranded in your car. If winter delivers severe weather and the sun has gone down early again and you have a breakdown, the Emergency Flasher turns the Note 3's screen into a glowing plea for assistance. On running EMERGENCY FLASHER HD you can choose between STOP, HELP or CAUTION as the message to be flashed on your Note 3's screen in bright, contrasting colours. Tapping the display increases the rate of flashing. Simply place your GALAXY Note 3 on your car's rear window ledge or parcel shelf and it will act as both a beacon and warning. 
UK Traffic Alerts £1.20 – Buy it here And to find out if being stranded in your car is likely... UK Traffic Alerts will give you the instant low-down on the state of major UK roads. Using data from the Highways Agency, this app is a useful driving companion at any time of year, but more so in bad winter weather, You can select the roads you will be driving along and see alerts for poor driving conditions, road closures or accidents ahead of you on your journey. Alerts appear as 'road signs' on the app's main page and you can select an alert to see more details and pinpoint it on Google Maps relative to your current location. 
Fireplace HD 63p – Buy it here You may be nice and warm in your centrally heated home but you can't beat a real fire for the ultimate in winter cosiness. In lieu of real logs to burn, running Fireplace HD on your GALAXY Note 3 is the next best thing - just fire it up (so to speak) and the Note 3 becomes a portable fireplace with a realistic flame effect. Just don't try to toast marshmallows on it as this may invalidate your warranty. 
Ski & Snow Report Free – Get it here If you enjoy winter sports like skiing or snowboarding, this app from top skiing site OnTheSnow.co.uk will give you all the information you need about conditions on more than 2,000 resorts and pistes across the globe. You can see weather conditions, on-the-ground reports from skiers in each location, live webcams and 'Powder Points' alerting you to the biggest new snowfalls. Trail maps are available for each location and the app will use your GPS coordinates to show you the nearest slopes if you have you skis or board on you and feel the urge to slalom. 
My Christmas Shopping List Free – Get it here If you installed the Final Countdown app you might now have a timer on your GALAXY Note 3's home screen showing the impending Christmas celebrations. If the proximity of Yuletide is giving you the fear, this handy Christmas Shopping app will make buying gifts and planning your pressie budget a breeze. Enter the names of everyone you will be buying gifts for and assign each one a colourful avatar, then as you think of a present for each one, just enter the details in the app. The Note 3 will show you what you still have left to buy plus keep a running tally of how much you have spent and show you how much is left of your Christmas shopping budget. 
GhostCam: Spirit Photography Free – Get it here This Halloween, why not freak out your friends, or even visiting trick-or-treaters, by taking a photograph of them and revealing the spectral form lurking over their shoulder? GhostCam lets you take a super hi-res picture with the GALAXY Note 3's 13MP camera and then insert a spook. There are several phantoms to choose from and you can place them wherever you want for maximum creepiness. Older pics from the Gallery can be ghostified too, should you forget and take a 'normal' picture by mistake. 
Fireworks Live Wallpaper Free - Get it here Should Bonfire Night be rained off this year you can still experience the wonder of fireworks wherever you are with this rocket-powered app which uses the GALAXY Note 3's nifty Live Wallpaper feature to display animation behind your homescreen icons. This fireworks wallpaper shows artificial displays over a variety of famous views. Fireworks go off randomly and can be adjusted for colour, frequency and size in the app's settings. Optionally, a firework will go off wherever you touch on the home screen's background, if you're a fan of emitting 'oooh' and 'aaaah' sounds whenever you're stabbing at the display.        |  | BBM Voice and Video coming to Android and iOS 'within months' Oct 28th 2013, 09:05, by John McCann 
BlackBerry has confirmed BBM for iOS and Android will be gaining new features "within months" as Voice and Video calls are lined up to join the IM offering. Anyone currently rocking a BlackBerry 10 device can make free voice and video calls (as long as your data plan/Wi-Fi covers it) to other BlackBerry users using the Canadian firm's BBM application - but these features are set to become more universal. Andrew Bocking, BlackBerry's VP of BBM, confirmed to Canadian broadcaster CBC that the update to the newly launched BBM app for Google and Apple devices would be arriving in the near future. Money, money, moneyBlackBerry offers its BBM service free of charge and it raised eyebrows when it announced that its premium messaging service would be taking the leap onto rival platforms - especially considering the firm's rocking financial standing. There is a money-making end game however, with Bocking also confirmed that the BBM Channels feature would be making the transition to Android and iOS soon - although we're still waiting for an exact release date. BBM Channels are, in short, a way for companies to gain a presence on BBM and ultimately a way for BlackBerry to sell ads and sponsored posts on the platform - think of them like Facebook Pages merged with company Twitter accounts. While Channels is yet to take off it a big way just yet, the addition of 10 million new BBM users on two new platforms could well boost the appeal and eventually make BlackBerry a few bucks in the process.        | | Competition: Win! BlackBerry Q10 with case and battery pack Oct 28th 2013, 09:00, by TechRadar 
Here's your chance to get your hands on the best QWERTY keyboard phone on the market, the BlackBerry Q10. As well as providing a brand new BlackBerry Q10 handset, the kind folk over at BlackBerry have also bundled in additional accessories including a case and external battery pack to make sure your new handset is well protected and even longer lasting. It's a prize pack worth over £500, so certainly not one to be missed! Details on how to enter are below. Superfast surferThe BlackBerry Q10 is a 4G enabled handset, allowing you to take advantage of the latest superfast networks. You'll be browsing the web at lightening speeds, as the BlackBerry Q10 has one of the quickest browsers on the market. Also featured in the BlackBerry Q10 is a 3.1-inch HD display, 1.5GHz dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, 16GB of internal storage, microSD slot, 8MP rear camera, 2MP front facing snapper and the new BlackBerry 10 operating system. To be in with a chance of winning a BlackBerry Q10, just click here and answer the ridiculously easy question. Please note that this competition is only open to UK residents over 18 years of age.   | | Telstra tests LTE-Broadcast to reduce 4G congestion Oct 28th 2013, 06:38, by Farrha Khan 
First it was LTE-A, and now Telstra is looking into LTE-B (or LTE-Broadcast) as a possible solution to keep its 4G network from congesting and slowing down. Calling it a "world first" and working with Ericsson, the telco announced that it was testing the new LTE technology to help its current 4G network. "One of the biggest challenges to mobile network operators across the world is how to manage the ever-growing demand for data," said Channa Seneviratne, Telstra's acting Director of Wireless Network Engineering. With 3.2 million devices connected to its 4G network, Telstra says it is seeing an uptake of up to 23% each month. The B in LTECurrently, when we download a video, OS upgrade or newspaper, it gets downloaded by each user as a different data stream. The new technology would allow Telstra to stream the same data content to multiple devices at the same or differing times, similar to a TV broadcast. "Traditionally, if 100 people in a mobile network cell area wanted this content, we would send out 100 different streams of data – which uses a lot of network capacity," Seneviratne said. "Through our LTE-Broadcast trial, we have today demonstrated that it's possible to use one stream of data, to deliver the same content to multiple users." While the technology is still in trialling phase, Telstra has said that it will be looking specifically on how to integrate LTE-B into its current network and what services would best suit this type of tech. - Telstra's got it's eye on all types of LTE, including testing out LTE-Advanced.
       | | LG G Flex curved, 6-inch phone unveiled with 'Wolverine' self-healing coating Oct 28th 2013, 03:13, by Chris Smith 
LG has officially unveiled its first smartphone with a curved display, in the form of the 6-inch LG G Flex. Following a series of leaks, the Korean company has lifted the lid on the handset which curves vertically from top to bottom, rather than horizontally like the rival Samsung Galaxy Round. The device, which will only be on sale in South Korea, carries a 720p display, is powered by a Qualcomm 800 Snapdragon processor with 2GB of RAM. It's also got a 13-megapixel camera and a 3500mAh battery. The real news, of course, is the presence of the curve, which LG says offers better ergonomics for making calls, holding and, of course watching video, which it likens to watching a movie in IMAX. The Wolverine phoneInterestingly, there's also a completely new feature; a self healing coating on the rear of the device which LG says will eliminate scratches on the rear of the device within minutes. In its press release the company likens the new tech to Wolverine from the X-Men. Naturally. The device, which also features the rear-mounted volume keys a la the LG G2, will launch in Korea next month, but the company is mum on a potential roll out around the world. Like the Samsung Galaxy Round, this could be a test model for a future launch around MWC 2014 in February.        | | LG G Flex curved, 6-inch phone unveiled with 'Wolverine' self-healing coating Oct 28th 2013, 03:13, by Chris Smith
LG has officially unveiled its first smartphone with a curved display, in the form of the 6-inch LG G Flex. Following a series of leaks, the Korean company has lifted the lid on the handset which curves vertically from top to bottom, rather than horizontally like the rival Samsung Galaxy Round. The device, which will only be on sale in South Korea, carries a 720p display, is powered by a Qualcomm 800 Snapdragon processor with 2GB of RAM. It's also got a 13-megapixel camera and a 3500mAh battery. The real news, of course, is the presence of the curve, which LG says offers better ergonomics for making calls, holding and, of course watching video, which it likens to watching a movie in IMAX. The Wolverine phoneInterestingly, there's also a completely new feature; a self healing coating on the rear of the device which LG says will eliminate scratches on the rear of the device within minutes. In its press release the company likens the new tech to Wolverine from the X-Men. Naturally. The device, which also features the rear-mounted volume keys a la the LG G2, will launch in Korea next month, but the company is mum on a potential roll out around the world. Like the Samsung Galaxy Round, this could be a test model for a future launch around MWC 2014 in February.   | | Nexus 5 appears in white again, reportedly arriving on November 1 Oct 27th 2013, 23:09, by Chris Smith 
The Nexus 5 release date has been the subject of fervent speculation in recent weeks and, to be honest, we thought it'd be here by now. Google has yet to announce a launch event for the eagerly anticipated Android 4.4 KitKat device, and the latest online estimates have suggested the company may wait until the October 31 to pull the trigger. However, ever-prolific Twitter leak artist @evleaks weighed in on Sunday suggesting the device will be arriving on November 1, which is this coming Friday. Along with a press render of the device in white, the anonymous leakster wrote: "In white. 11/1." Wait nearly over?Of course that is open to interpretation. It's unlikely that Google would hold a launch event on a Friday, so November 1 could be the on-sale date? Anyway, we shouldn't have to wait to long to find out. Or will we...   | | Nexus 5 appears in white again, reportedly arriving on November 1 Oct 27th 2013, 23:09, by Chris Smith
The Nexus 5 release date has been the subject of fervent speculation in recent weeks and, to be honest, we thought it'd be here by now. Google has yet to announce a launch event for the eagerly anticipated Android 4.4 KitKat device, and the latest online estimates have suggested the company may wait until the October 31 to pull the trigger. However, ever-prolific Twitter leak artist @evleaks weighed in on Sunday suggesting the device will be arriving on November 1, which is this coming Friday. Along with a press render of the device in white, the anonymous leakster wrote: "In white. 11/1." Wait nearly over?Of course that is open to interpretation. It's unlikely that Google would hold a launch event on a Friday, so November 1 could be the on-sale date? Anyway, we shouldn't have to wait to long to find out. Or will we...        | | Blip: Moto X price slashed to $99.99 in three places Oct 25th 2013, 17:29, by Michelle Fitzsimmons 
The price of the Moto X has been hacked at a few outlets, bringing the price from $199.99 for an on-contract, 16GB phone down to $99.99. You'll find the new price at Motorola's Moto Maker, where you can customize a version of the handset and at Sprint. For its part, U.S. Cellular is not only cutting the price of the phone but keeping its $75 "switcher bonus," which takes the on-contract price of the X to $24.99. According to Android Police, the 32GB AT&T Moto X sold through Moto Maker is down to $149.99. However, on the carrier's website, the 16GB Moto X is still listed as $199.99. We asked Ma Bell if the cut will extend to its own offerings. We've also asked Verizon if it has any plans to chop its Moto X price tag, and will update if we hear back. More blips!No price drop with our blips. Just pure nuggets of newsy goodness.   | |
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