Review TechRadar: Phone and communications news 12-12-2013

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Video: Here's what the HTC One 2 should look like Dec 12th 2013, 14:30, by Owen Hughes With the HTC One currently parading around as the number one smartphone in the world, you can bet we're on tenterhooks waiting for its successor. The HTC One 2 (aka the HTC M8) is currently being drip-fed through the rumor mill, and while details on the fame-bound handset remain sketchy for the time being, it's done nothing to quell our excitement. In fact, we're so excited for its arrival that we've had enough of squinting longingly at the few, poor quality "leaked" images currently doing the rounds online, and have taken matters into our own hands. Taking the snippets we've heard on the tech grapevine and adding a healthy dose of TechRadar imagination, we've come up with our very own 3D concept video. Check it out below, and be sure to tell us what you think in the comments. FutTv : 7aJ0chO3V2478 In depth: 6 global catastrophes that could kill your gadgets forever Dec 12th 2013, 14:00, by James Rivington Since the Sony Walkman crashed onto the shelves worldwide in 1980, consumer technology has slowly been taking over our lives. From washing machines to digital watches and from electronic word processors to modern tablet computers, the march of technology has been unstoppable. It now sits at the heart of everything we do, as we manage our schedules with Google Calendar, keep in touch via Facebook and mobile phones and entertain ourselves with games consoles and Netflix. But it could all change in an instant. The (atrocious) NBC drama series Revolution explores what the world would be like if all technology were to suddenly stop working. An appalling prospect, but could it actually happen? Here are six scenarios for the death of tech. 1. Financial collapse Bubbles always burst in the end, and a catastrophic failure of the global markets would certainly stagnate the development of technology if nothing else. In the 21st century a collapse of this nature is certainly not hard to imagine. Indeed, technology itself has often been blamed for financial crisis in the first place. The late Charles P Kindleberger was just one of the historians to lay the blame for many a crash at the door of technological innovations. The theory goes that new technologies such as the internet cause financial instability as new investment opportunities arise and cause widespread failures in economic reasoning. Kindleberger blamed the dot com bubble crash on the irrational exuberance caused by new internet technology. The truth is that technology changes the world in ways that are rarely predicted. It brings us back to the well-trodden theory that humans will eventually destroy themselves. But if there's one looming disaster that could cause the mother of all financial disasters and the end of the connected, technological world as we know it, it's be the (hypothetical) horror story of peak oil... Tech that might survive: Bitcoin becomes the de facto currency of the new order! Litecoin rebels plot in secret for global domination. 2. Peak oil Peak oil refers to the exact point in human history where oil production reaches its absolute peak and then begins to decline until it runs dry completely. The theory goes that when this peak is reached, demand for oil will continue to rise as supply diminishes, causing huge and unstoppable price escalations (sound familiar?), eventually reaching the point where no one can afford oil anymore, bringing the whole industrialised world to a grinding halt. So why is this relevant to technology? Well because everything we know and rely on in the 21st Century is entirely dependent on an ever increasing supply of oil out of the ground. This is how we're able to continue printing money every day without inflation taking over, making tangible oil supplies absolutely critical to sustainable economies. But more than that, oil is used in practically every single aspect of human life, including the, conception, design, manufacture and shipping of our gadgets. "All plastic is oil. Most paints, all pesticides are made from oil. Everything from toothpaste to toothbrushes is made from oil. There are 7 gallons of oil in every tyre. There is nothing anywhere in any combination that will replace the edifice built by fossil fuels. Nothing." Michael C Ruppert Oil is used to heat metals in the manufacture process, it's used to build cars and planes and ships and to fuel the transportation of products around the world. It's the most important raw material on our planet and when it's gone, there will be nothing to replace it. In short, without oil, there would be no way for Foxconn to manufacture Apple's iPhones, and certainly no way to then ship them around the world. The fact is that oil is a finite resource and one day it will run out. On top of that, we don't even have any idea how much oil is left, and when it runs out we could see the biggest population crash in human history. Tech that might survive: Hand made tools and toys. Use them to plough the garden to grow your own food. Pee on everything. 3. Solar superstorm Every joule of energy we use on Earth ultimately comes from the sun. But the sun also looms over us as one of our biggest threats. In 1989, a geomagnetic solar storm knocked out the hydro-electric power grid in Canada, leaving millions of Canadians and Americans without power. The geomagnetic storm altered Earth's magnetic field, causing huge current surges in powerlines, damaging all sorts of sensitive equipment. A massive solar flare has the power to knock out satellites, communications systems and damage the digital technologies we now all use daily - phones, tablets, computers, smartwatches. Most of these things didn't exist in the 1980s. Hurricane Katrina cost in the region of $100m to recover from - a solar storm could cost up to $2trillion. Some studies of solar activity say the risk of a serious event will peak in 2015, threatening to leave many places without power for months. It might not even be our own sun that bathes us in this harmful radiation. Any star in our galaxy within a few tens of lightyears would cause mayhem beyond imagination if it went supernova or worse, hypernova. It would bathe planet earth in x-rays, scorching to ashes anything not stowed away deep underground. This is extremely unlikely to happen within the next few million years, but that's just the blink of an eye in cosmic terms. Tech that might survive: Mechanical timepieces. Your digital watch is dead but the grandfather clock in the shed still works OK. 4. Cyber terrorism There are many ways that an unprecedented cyber attack could take down our tech and change the world forever. Computer viruses could, in theory, devastate our infrastructure to the point where every digital device on the planet would be left useless. Stuxnet is one active example of this threat. Stuxnet is an infamous computer worm and was first detected in 2010. Of unknown origin, it's assumed to have been coded by the US and Israel in order to destroy Iran's uranium enrichment infrastructure. The worm is highly complex and spreads indiscriminately between all kinds of devices, searching for and targeting the very specific computer codes that control the centrifuges inside nuclear power stations. "We've connected all of our lives - personal, professional and national, to the Internet. That's where the bad guys will go because that's where our lives are, our money, our secrets." FBI Director James Comey Whatever its original purpose, the worm escaped into the wild almost immediately and is still spreading virulently and out of control from device to device all over the world, attempting to find more nuclear centrifuges to destroy (it spins them out of control so that they disintegrate, while fooling computer systems and engineers into believing all systems are running normally). Now imagine a super-worm that's designed to do a similar thing to Android smartphones and Windows PCs and you've got a potentially world-changing technological disaster on your hands. Cyber terrorism has so far been only a minor threat but it's likely to become a more serious obstacle in the decades ahead. Of course, there's always the looming threat of a Skynet-style artificial intelligence gaining sentience and deciding we all deserve to die. But most people in the know say this is not only unlikely but technologically impossible for an army of Terminators to achieve. Tech that might survive: Your granddad's electronic word processor from 1992. It can't interface with other devices so it's immune to viruses and if you're lucky it might let you play Snake. 5. Nuclear winter Nuclear winter would potentially have the opposite effect to a solar megastorm with essentially the same consequences for our gadgets and lifestyles. What's worse is that there are many plausible ways that it could happen. By sending millions of tons of debris into our atmosphere, we'd block out the sun and slowly everything on Earth would die. Our gadgets would be the first to go belly up because we wouldn't be able to generate the energy required to make them work. Nuclear holocaust would be one way for this to happen, but it could also come about through impact winter - an impact with a comet or asteroid - or volcano winter - caused by the eruption of a supervolcano. The most famous supervolcano on Earth lays under Yellowstone National Park and it's overdue a world-changing eruption already. Be afraid. Nuclear oblivion comes hand in hand with an additional threat, of course - the dreaded electromagnetic pulses which have the same sort of effect as a geomagnetic storm. A large nuclear bomb detonated high in the atmosphere above a developed country could potentially kill every mobile phone, computer, car and power station in the area. A carefully targeted EMP attack could bring a developed country to its knees. Tech that might survive: The wind-up radio. Unfortunately as transmitters are powered by electricity of which we now have none, there's nothing to listen to except the sounds of the cosmos, natch. 6. Heat death of the universe This is some way off, but it's worth mentioning because there is a fundamental law of physics - the second law of thermodynamics - that says that eventually, every gadget and piece of technology, along with every living organism and every celestial object in the entire universe, will one day disintegrate and die. The only way to escape this cold fate would be to either travel back in time or escape to another dimension. As the universe expands it will reach a state of thermodynamic equilibrium, or maximum entropy, a state of zero thermodynamic free energy. So there would be no stars, no planets, no people and no iPhone 4,569,000's. Even individual atoms will decay into sub-atomic particles. "With or without warp drives, the long-term fate of the cosmos cannot be postponed or avoided. No matter where you hide, you will be part of a universe that inexorably marches toward a particular oblivion." Neil DeGrasse Tyson Of course, for this death to be sealed, every black hole in the universe would have to evaporate through Hawking Radiation which would take about a googol (10,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000,­000) years. So you've still just about got time to charge your Galaxy Tab before we all head over to Milliways, the restaurant at the end of the universe (this is, of course, impossible). Tech that might survive: Everything is dead, remember? Illustrations by Jane Wan Samsung Galaxy Note 3 Lite to still sport supersized screen? Dec 12th 2013, 12:57, by John McCann Talk surrounding a more affordable version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is refusing to go away, and now some specs for the Note 3 Lite have appeared online. The details cropped up on Korean site ETNews, with an "industry source" claiming that the Galaxy Note 3 Lite would sport a 5.68-inch display - pretty much the same size as the Note 3 - although it wouldn't be treated to the same AMOLED screen tech. Instead Samsung will apparently opt for a cheaper LCD display for the Lite version, and while the resolution isn't stated we wouldn't be surprised if this model didn't have a full HD offering. Apparently Samsung's decision to not reduce the size of the screen on the Galaxy Note 3 Lite is due to the S Pen stylus, which works better on larger displays. Snap not-so-happy The Galaxy Note 3 sports a 13MP camera, the same as you'll find on the flagship Galaxy S4, but the Galaxy Note 3 Lite may have to make do with an 8MP sensor - which was found on both the original Note and Note 2. Apparently Samsung has already started production of the Galaxy Note 3 Lite, and it's still in line to make an appearance at MWC 2014 in February. Samsung risks confusing consumers with its supersized handsets, as there are reports of a Galaxy Grand Lite and Galaxy Grand 2 also lined up for MWC appearances. If all three handsets make it out they would join the Galaxy Note 3, Galaxy Mega and Galaxy Grand in Samsung's big phone line up, and if you ask us that's simply too many. Updated: 90 best free Android games 2013 Dec 12th 2013, 12:45, by Gary Cutlack Best free Android games 1 - 20 As Android phones and tablets have increased in popularity, the number of apps available for the platform has rocketed. And that means more free Android games. There's a lot of junk out there but, fortunately, there are gems among the junk. We've worked our way through a whole load of Android games to reveal the ones you should download to your phone. So without delay, here is our pick of the 90 best free Android games available. FutTv : vcMx23YC204zK 1. Angry Birds The amazingly popular iOS game earned over two million downloads during its first weekend of availability on Android and despite myriad sequels and spinoffs, it is still a great game to play. The Android version of Angry Birds is free, unlike the Apple release, with maker Rovio opting to stick a few adverts on it rather than charge an upfront fee. The result is a massive and very challenging physics puzzler that's incredibly polished and professional. For free. It defies all the laws of modern retail. 2. Bebbled Bebbled is your standard gem-shuffling thing, only presented in a professional style you wouldn't be surprised to see running on something featuring a Nintendo badge with an asking price similar to that of a Blu-ray disc. You only drop gems on other gems to nuke larger groups of the same colour, but with ever-tightening demands for score combos and scenes that require you to rotate your phone to flip the play field on its head, Bebbled soon morphs into an incredibly complex challenge. 3. Red Stone There's an awful lot of square-shuffling games on Android and Red Stone is one of the best. And one of the hardest. You start off with a big fat 'King' square that's four times of the normal 'pawn' squares, then set about shuffling things so the fat King can get through to an exit at the top of the screen. It's hard to accurately describe a puzzle game in the written word, but seriously, it's a good game. 4. Newton Released in beta form, Newton is a maths/physics challenge that has you lining up shots at a target - but having to contend with the laws of nature, in the form of pushers, pullers, benders (no laughing), mirrors and traps, all deflecting your shot from its target. The developer is still adding levels to it at the moment, so one day Newton might be finished and might cost money. But for now it's free and a great indie creation. 5. Angry Birds Star Wars The Angry physics phenomenon took a turn for the weird late in 2012, with Rovio acquiring the rights to blend Star Wars characters with its popular Angry Birds play mechanics. Angry Birds Star Wars is actually pretty nice, with players using Star Wars weaponry to smash down scenery alongside the usual destructive physics action. Not the car crash IP clash we were expecting. 6. Drop Some might call Drop a game, others might classify it as a tech demo that illustrates the accuracy of the Android platform's accelerometer, thanks to how playing it simply involves tilting your phone while making a little bouncy ball falls between gaps in the platforms. Either way it'll amuse you for a while and inform you of the accuracy of your accelerometer - a win-win situation. 7. Frozen Bubble Another key theme of the independent Android gaming scene is (ports of) clones of popular titles. Like Frozen Bubble, which is based around the ancient and many-times-copied concept of firing gems up a screen to make little groups of similarly coloured clusters. That's what you do. You've probably done it a million times before, so if it's your thing get this downloaded. 8. Replica Island Replica Island is an extremely polished platform game that pulls off the shock result of being very playable on an Android trackball. The heavy momentum of the character means you're only switching direction with the ball or d-pad, letting you whizz about the levels with ease. Then there's jumping, bottom-bouncing, collecting and all the other usual platform formalities. 9. Gem Miner In Gem Miner you are a sort of mole character that likes to dig things out of the ground. But that's not important. The game itself has you micro-managing the raw materials you find, upgrading your digging powers and buying bigger and better tools and maps. Looks great, plays well on Android's limited button array. Go on, suck the very life out of the planet. 10. ConnecToo Another coloured-square-based puzzle game, only ConnecToo has you joining them up. Link red to red, then blue to blue - then see if you've left a pathway through to link yellow to yellow. You probably haven't, so delete it all and try again. A brilliantly simple concept. ConnecTooused to be a paid-for game, but was recently switched to an ad-supported model - meaning it now costs you £0.00. 11. Tetris The most successful game to come out of Russia since, er, Russian roulette, Tetris has lost none of its gaming lustre in the 25 years since it was first released. And now you can play the game on your phone, and thanks to EA's slightly irksome free-to-play model it is free! Well, free as in you have to dodge some awfully intrusive ads. Still, it's got the original Tetris music so we are happy and so should you be. 12. Trap! Not the best-looking game you'll ever play, with its shabby brown backgrounds and rudimentary text making it look like something you'd find running on a PC in the year 1985. But Trap! is good. You draw lines to box in moving spheres, gaining points for cordoning off chunks of the screen. That sounds rubbish, so please invest two minutes of your time having a go on it so you don't think we're talking nonsense. 13. Jewels Coloured gems again, and this time your job is to switch pairs to make larger groups which then disappear. That might also sound quite familiar. The good thing about Jewels is its size and presentation, managing to look professional while packing in more levels than should really be given away for free. 14. OpenSudoku We had to put one Sudoku game in here, so we'll go with OpenSudoku - which lives up to its open tag thanks to letting users install packs of new puzzles generated by Sudoku makers. It's entirely possible you could use this to play new Sudoku puzzles for the rest of your life, if that's not too terrifying a thought. 15. Abduction! Abduction! is a sweet little platform jumping game, presented in a similarly quirky and hand-drawn style as the super-fashionable Doodle Jump. You can't argue with cute cows and penguins with parachutes, or a game that's easy to play with one hand thanks to its super accessible accelerometer controls. 16. The Great Land Grab A cross between a map tool and Foursquare, The Great Land Grab sorts your local area into small rectangular packets of land - which you take ownership of by travelling through them in real-time and buying them up. Then someone else nicks them off you the next day, a bit like real-world Risk. A great idea, as long as you don't mind nuking your battery by leaving your phone sitting there on the train with its GPS radio on. 17. Brain Genius Deluxe Our basic legal training tells us it's better to use the word "homage" than to label something a "rip-off", so we'll recommend this as a simple "homage" to the famed Nintendo Brain Trainingfranchise. Clearly Brain Genius Deluxe is not going to be as slick, but there's enough content in here to keep you "brain training" (yes, it even uses that phrase) until your battery dies. The presentation's painfully slow, but then again that might be the game teaching you patience. 18. Coloroid Coloroid is aery, very simple and has the look of the aftermath of an explosion in a Tetris factory, but it works. All you do is expand coloured areas, trying to fill them in with colours in as few moves as possible - like using Photoshop's fill tool at a competitive level. 19. Cestos Cestos is sort of a futuristic recreation of curling, where players chuck marbles at each other to try and smash everyone else's balls/gems down the drain and out of the zone. The best part is this all happens online against real humans, so as long as there's a few other bored people out there at the same time you'll have a real, devious, cheating, quitting person to play against. Great. 20. Air Control One of the other common themes on the Android gaming scene is clones of games based around pretending to be an air traffic controller, where you guide planes to landing strips with a swish of your finger. There are loads of them, all pretty much the same thing - we've chosen Air Control as it's an ad-supported release, so is technically free. Best free Android games 21 - 40 FutTv : d3qL803bfG178 21. GalaxIR GalaxIR is a futuristic strategy game with an abstract look, where players micro-manage an attacking alien fleet. Pick a planet, pick an attack point, then hope your troops have the balls to carry it off. There's not much structure to the game as yet, but that's what you get when you're on the bleeding-edge of free, independent Android gaming development. 22. Graviturn Graviturn is an accelerometer based maze game, where the aim is to roll a red ball out of a maze by tilting your phone around. Seems embarrassingly easy at first, until increasing numbers of green balls appear on screen. If any green balls roll off the screen you die and have to try again. It's abstract. It's good. 23. Alchemy Classic There are a few variants on Alchemy out there, each offering a similarly weird experience. In Alchemy Classic you match up elements to create their (vaguely) scientific offspring, so dumping water onto earth makes a swamp, and so on. It's a brain teaser thing and best played by those who enjoy spending many hours in the company of the process of elimination. 24. ActionPotato In ActionPotato you control three pots. Pressing on the pots makes them jump up into the air, where they harvest potatoes. See how many you can get in a row. That's the gist of it. And don't collect the rotten potatoes, else you die. That really is it. The Google Play stats say this is on well over 1,000,000 downloads, so it's doing something right. 25. Scrambled Net Scrambled Net is based around the age-old concept of lining up pipes and tubes, but has been jazzed up with images of computer terminals, high score tracking and animations. Still looks like something you'd have played on a Nokia during the last decade, but it's free - and looking rubbish hardly stopped Snake from taking off, did it? 26. Dropwords Dropwords is laid out like your standard Android block-based puzzle game, the difference here is we're not dealing with gems - you make blocks disappear by spelling out words from the jumbled heap of letters. There's not an enormous amount of point to it, but you can at least submit your scores and best words to the server, where an AI version of Susie Dent will pass her approval. 27. Barrr What you do in Barrr is man-manage a bar world, pointing men at the beers, games or tattoo parlour, then taking their money off them once they're drunk and happy like a good capitalist. And make sure they go to the toilet. Things, as things do in games, soon start speeding up and it gets rather insane and difficult. 28. The Simpsons Tapped Out We'll be the first to admit that the Simpsons of today is a husk of its former self, with many a writer going on to bigger and better things. But, The Simpsons Tapped Out is one addictive game that will bring you both frustration and elation. Yes, it will bombard you with in-app purchase requests but you can play for free, building your own perfect version of Springfield. 29. Wordfeud Wordfeud is a superb little clone of Scrabble, with a big, clear screen and online play options that actually work. The game's been offered for free with some hefty advertising over it thanks to the developer being based in Norway - which only received paid-for app sales support recently. A paid version may arrive soon, but Wordfeud remains free right now. 30. Friction Mobile Friction Mobile is a very odd concept that makes no sense in still images. You fire a ball into the screen, then try to hit that ball with other balls until it explodes. The catch is you're not allowed to bounce balls backwards into your own face. Because then you die. Sounds rubbish, but works well. It's free, so give it a no-obligation, no-commitment whirl. 31. Geared Geared is a weird little thing finally converted over to Android from iPhone. It's an embarrassingly simple concept - players slot different sized cogs into place on the screen, with the aim being to power one gear from another. Then, as is video game tradition, it gets harder and harder. Plus there are 150 levels of it all. 32. Meganoid A stunning little retro game, Meganoid plays and looks like something that ought to be running on a Nintendo emulator. But it isn't. It's new and on Android. It's a speed-based challenge, using on-screen or accelerometer controls to jump and bounce through ever-hardening levels. Developer Orange Pixel is aggressively supporting it, too, with constant map packs, characters and more regularly appearing for download. 33. Cordy A standard and traditional platform game. Cordy is a speed-based affair, with players running, jumping and collecting their way through its pretty green levels, using an electrical cable to jump, swing over obstacles and grab energy. Uses on-screen buttons so can be a bit tough to play, but comes with 12 free levels to get you going. 34. Angry Birds Rio Yet more Angry Birds for fans of the simplistic trial and error physics game. Angry Birds Rio is another chapter-based effort as well, with developer Rovio leaving tempting empty slots on the menu screen for periodic updates of new levels. More of the same, but with a prettier, 3D look to it this time thanks to a vague association with animated movie Rio. 35. Grave Defense Holidays As with Angry Birds, the maker of this superb tower defence game has spun out a separate version it fills with seasonal levels. Recently updated with an Easter map, this free version of the game also includes Valentine, Christmas and St Patrick's Day themed maps. Currently calls itself Grave Defense Easter. Easily one of the best examples of the tactical genre. 36. Words with Friends Free The popular iPhone Scrabble-alike is now on Android, with an ad-supported version up on Google Play for free. Words with Friends Free should actually be called Words for People Without Any Friends, as once installed it lets users play with complete strangers online - or pick specific people from your contacts list. It's turn-based, so several ongoing games can be strung out for days. 37. PewPew Very similar in style and concept to Xbox and Xbox 360 retro classic Geometry Wars. In fact, one might legally be able to get away with calling it a right old rip-off. Android PewPew is a rock-hard 2D shooting game packed with alternate game modes. It's a bit rough around the edges and requires a powerful phone to run smoothly, but when it does it's a fantastic thing. 38. Angry Birds Friends It's Angry Birds business as usual; only with Angry Birds Friends you get a social-themed makeover that adds challenges, Facebook integration galore and scoreboard tools to make the simple physics game more of a multiplayer experience. The good thing is the way you can access the same account and see your progress on mobile and through Facebook on desktop, the bad is the looming presence of in-app purchases, with "bird coins" required to be earned or bought to progress quicker. 39. Beats, Advanced Rhythm Game A standard rhythm action, button pressing music game for Android. Beats manages to outdo the official music games by including a Download Song tab, where it's possible to install new song files created by users. It's very hard and very fast. Just like they should be. Runs perfectly on an HTC Desire, too, so there's no blaming glitches for not doing very well. Best free Android games 41 - 60 FutTv : 2B66VRr27Ivc6 40. Pinball Deluxe Pinball Deluxe is an actually decent pinball sim for Android, and it's free. At the moment it comes with four tables - Wild West, Carnival, Space Frontier and Diving for Treasure. Ball movement is convincing, and although a bit of the magic is lost thanks to having to use on-screen buttons, it's a smooth enough experience. It's ad-supported. Don't press those. You don't get a bonus. 41. Winter Walk Winter Walk is madness. You play the part of a gentleman, out for an evening walk. From time to time the wind picks up, so you have to hold on to his hat to stop it blowing away. While this is happening, the chap's internal monologue appears on screen, giving you an entertaining and distracting read in the process, too. Very simple, but a perfect little high score challenge game for the touchscreen era. 42. Colosseum Heroes Publisher Gamevil takes a break from churning out the role-playing games to give dumb action a go here. Colosseum Heroes is a 2D slasher, where you simply try to survive for as long as possible, building up your armour and weaponry to make yourself tougher and meaner. Technically this is a "freemium" game paid for with in-app purchases, but if you're prepared to spend a while building up your character's skills manually, there's no need to pay out. 43. Stardash Free Developer Orange Pixel has a knack of creating excellent retro titles, with Stardash a fine example. Designed to look like a Game Boy game from before many of you younger readers were born, Stardash is clearly a bit of a Mario homage - but it's done exceptionally well and is endlessly replayable. If you like it, and you probably will, there's an alternate paid version that removes the adverts. 44. Scramble With Friends Free Zynga's puzzler Scramble With Friends Free is technically a free game, but in order to get the most out of it and play as it's meant to be played you'll need to use the in-app purchasing system to buy "tokens" to let you access games quicker. Which leaves a slightly bad T-A-S-T-E in the M-O-U-T-H, but at least it's free and perfectly playable at a slow pace if you're just curious. 45. Dead on Arrival Dead on Arrival is a very impressive looking 3D survival horror game, which dumps you in a hospital infested with zombies. You then try to not get eaten by buying new weapons, boarding up doors to keep the brain-eaters at bay and using wall-mounted weaponry to quicken the zombie mincing process. As with many of today's Android titles, there's the option to pay for stuff within the game to unlock features and remove ads - but you don't have to. 46. Stick Cricket Stick Cricket is a fantastically simple little game that reduces cricket to its core values - you just smash every ball as hard as you can. There's no worrying about field positioning, just a bat and a ball coming at you very quickly. Initially it seems impossible to do anything other than make a complete mess of things and having your little man smashed upside-down, but it soon clicks. 47. Draw Something Free Draw Something Free was a phenomenon that's taking the world by storm. Now four people play it. It's basically a mobile version of Pictionary, where you're given a choice of three words of varying difficulty, then tasked with drawing them so someone can tell what it is. Syncs with Facebook, too, for easy cross-platform play. If you like the free trial, there's a paid accompaniment with more content. 48. Fragger The popular web-based Flash game Fragger is now on Android. It's pretty much a clone of Angry Birds, mind, offering simple physics-based challenges based around chucking grenades all over the place to make stuff blow up. It comes with some rather intrusive ads, but that's the price you (don't) pay for sticking with the free version. 49. The Sims FreePlay Global mega-corporation EA has gone literally mad, giving away its Android version of The Sims for nothing in the form of The Sims FreePlay. In return for sitting through some full-screen adverts every now and again, players get a decent mobile version of The Sims, complete with pets, plants, lifestyle points and all the usual mundane activities that make the series popular. It's not perfect, but does fit in most Sims core features. 50. Super Bit Dash About as far away from The Sims as you can get. Super Bit Dash is a retro-style 2D platform game, with controls as simple as its pixel art design. The game runs at a constant pace, so all the player has to do is jump and super-special-jump at the right time in order to avoid smashing into the scenery. Obviously it's a lot harder than that makes it sound. 51. Chrono&Cash Free Chrono&Cash Free is very hard and sweet little one-screen platform game, where players jump about collecting bags of cash while avoiding enemies. And that's all there is to it, aside from some mini challenges to boost your score multiplier and online sharing of your scores to goad friends into trying to beat you. Looks cool, is a tiny download and a great laugh to play. 52. Autumn Walk A weird little gem, Autumn Walk sees players controlling a man and his dog as they stroll through a Victorian park landscape. The challenge here is dog management, with the hound either running ahead or hanging back - both precarious scenarios that could cause the lead to snap. It's basically a high score challenge, to see how long you can stand the weird experience. Worth it for the awesome comic dialogue that accompanies your stroll. 53. Meganoid 2 Meganoid 2 is an insanely difficult 2D scrolling platform game, once again presented in developer Orange Pixel's awesome pixel art style. The levels are rather short, with the challenge here being to simply play them again and again and again so you can get through them without death. Might drive you mad. Might be your favourite game of the year. Close call. 54. Pitfall Developer Activision has updated one of its oldest and most fondly remembered classics, turning the ancient platform game into a posh, 3D infinite running thing. Pitfall uses swipe and tilt controls like the famous Temple Run, including power-ups, vehicles and changing camera angles to add a bit of variety to the look and feel of it all. 55. Bad Piggies A shock move from developer Rovio, in that this one isn't a simple take on the Angry Birds style. Bad Piggies is a clever building game, which dumps you at the beginning of a big map with a pile of component parts. You then build a flying machine using the given elements, then try to fly it to the end of the level. A really nice, original little idea from the physics game specialists. 56. Pocket Planes Pocket Planes puts you in charge of an airline. You potter about the world looking for paying jobs, whether that's passenger or freight routes, then send off your planes to do the little delivery tasks. As things progress the complexity increases, until you're eventually flying customised jumbos with hundreds of passengers around major international cities. It works in real time in the background, so you can minimise it and do other things while all your birds are finding their way home, then pop back in when the game notifies you that something's arrived and needs attention. 57. Neon Blitz Neon Blitz is a kind of a posh tracing game, where you use your finger to draw over the shapes on the screen. You're rated on accuracy, with scores compared against the world on its global leader board. There are power-ups and stuff like that, but it's all about having a jazzy, bright experience, that works perfectly on a touchscreen. 58. Agent Dash Agent Dash is another take on the infinite runner genre that's come to dominate the smartphone gaming landscape, only with a comedy spy angle. As well as swiping to dodge objects, Agent Dash incorporates weaponry and spy gadgets, making it more of an interactive and action-based experience than most of its "Step Right" peers. 59. Whale Trail Frenzy Whale Trail Frenzy is an updated version of the iOS original, with the developer heaping in more levels for the Android release of its bonkers flying game. You just fly a little whale around the sky (for reasons never explained), collecting things, avoiding bad clouds, building up a multiplier and generally being wowed by its unique and gorgeous style. A really sweet experience. 60. Radiant Defense Radiant Defense is a fantastic tower defence game, given a dazzling modern look. You do all the usual tower defence stuff like building up your weapon strengths and deciding how best to stop the endless marching enemy, with some "super weapons" to unlock and hundreds upon hundreds of waves to beat. And it all looks astonishingly pretty on a big screened device. In this age of austerity and scrimping, we've all long since sold our last set of dominoes and melted down our Monopoly counters for scrap. So where's a frugal gamer to go for fun that won't break the bank? Why, straight to the TechRadar top 10 free Android games of course… Best free Android games 61-80 61. Temple Run 2 The original Temple Run made staring at a man's bottom on public transport a wholly acceptable pastime, and this sequel augments the endless-running fun with slicker graphics, more power-ups, obstacles and achievements – plus a bigger monkey hot on your heels. 62. CSR Racing The best cars require in-app purchases, but there's plenty of free fun to be had with this fast and furious racer. Console-quality graphics show off the mean machines (from Audi, BMW, Bentley and others), and gameplay blends strategy as well as speed. 63. Mini Golf MatchUp Putting (putt-ing, geddit?) the crazy into crazy golf, the five courses in Mini Golf MatchUp take in dinosaurs, sharks and pirates across 70 holes, with realistic physics to temper the unreal environments. Facebook integration is par for the course, while in-game chat keeps things swinging. 64. SongPop Free A bit like Never Mind The Buzzcocks' intro round, SongPop Free is the handy alternative to carrying Phill Jupitus and someone you've never heard of in your pocket. Guess song clips from loads of genres, then challenge your friends to do better. 65. Dead Trigger That zombie shooter Dead Trigger is set in the dystopian future of 2012 is testament to its lasting appeal. Frantic first-person missions set in realistic 3D environments are sure to get your heart racing (unless you're a zombie), even on smaller screens. 66. Cut the Rope Full Free Cute critter Om-Nom in Cut the Rope is the Daniel Day-Lewis of puzzle games, with a BAFTA amid his haul of gaming awards. The simple premise (cut the ropes to release Om-Nom's lunch) sustains 350 well-pitched levels, packed with character and cartoonish charm. 67. Lexulous Scrabble by another name (its second, after "Scrabulous" proved a tad too copyright-infringing), Lexulous has all the social gaming options you'd expect, but beats its many rivals with its antisocial options: three AI opponents ranging from the simple to the sesquipedalian. 68. Pac-Man + Tournaments Fed up of 3D, HD, 360-degree action? This authentic recreation of a arcade classic Pac-Man is the kind of good, clean pill-munching fun they enjoyed in the 1970s. A tournament mode offers regularly updated mazes, but the retro original is hard to beat. 69. Scrabble Yes, the proper Scrabble, not some copyright-infringing clone that'll be pulled by the time you read these words. EA bought the license, tidied it up and stuck it out on Android, where it's a remarkably advert and in-app purchase free experience. It's been beefed up with a few new modes, but stuff like the ability to sync with Facebook and play multiple matches is actually exactly what you need. A classic that's not been ruined. Hooray. 70. Blip Blup Blip Blup is the kind of original little idea we love stumbling across. It's a sort of geometry-based puzzle game that has you pressing squares on the screen to fill in areas of colour. Your light beams are limited in the directions they can travel, so, once you're through the troublingly simple tutorial levels, it soon becomes insanely tough and will soon have you scratching through your skull's skin and bone until you actually itch your BRAIN in confusion. 71. Doodle Jump Doodle Jump is ancient, but there's a reason it's down here at the newer end of the Triple-A Android freebies list. It's recently been reworked, updated for today's higher resolution displays and, better still, been stuck up on Google Play for free. If you haven't played it, or played it four years ago on iOS, give it another spin. It's a timeless bit of upwards bouncing action. 72. Super Stickman Golf 2 Super Stickman Golf 2 is a big-hitter on Android, with the superb 2D puzzle golf game doing insane business. It's free, albeit propped up by in-app purchases, with heaps upon piles of golf courses to whack yourself around, challenging your knowledge of physics and angles as much as your sporting abilities. Looks great and even manages to head online to offer turn-based multiplayer against friends or randoms. 73. Real Racing 3 Extremely controversial thanks to its use of in-app purchases to buy your way to better cars, quicker play time and much more, there's one reason you really ought to give Real Racing 3 a go - it's the best looking 3D racer on Android by a mile. If you want something that gives both, all four, or even the full eight of your phone's cores a full workout, this is the one. And you don't have to pay for anything, as long as you don't mind staring at timers and waiting a lot. 74. Gunslugs Another awesome little 2D pixel art classic from developer OrangePixel, Gunslugs is your standard sort of action platformer given a gorgeous old fashioned retro look. It's been optimised for play on Sony's old-but-popular Xperia Play buttoned Android model, plus the Moga controller and Green Throttle systems will also let you experience it with proper, physical buttons. A random level generator makes it different every time, too. 75. Nun Attack: Run & Gun Frima Studios' popular battling nun series has been transformed into the modern trend that is the "runner" game in Nun Attack: Run & Gun where your favourite of the four available nuns smash though levels, equip weaponry and, inevitably, earn the gold coins that can be used to unlock extra features. Or you can pay real money to buy coins. Real nuns wouldn't approve of that. 76. Guardian Cross Famed developer Square Enix has created this highly regarded fantasy card battle RPG, with, so it claims, some input from developers involved in building the legendary Final Fantasy series. But it's not like those games. Guardian Cross is all about collecting a powerful deck of card characters, which are then used to battle both in-game fights and real human friends online. There's a bit of mindless grinding and waiting if you want to avoid in-app purchases, but none are compulsory purchases. 77. Flatout: Stuntman Supposedly a spin-off from the home console racing titles, Flatout: Stuntman takes one of the more shocking elements from the driving games – the crash dummy physics of drivers thrown from their cars – and turns it into a whole game. The idea is you have a crash, trying to ensure as much damage is caused to your little ragdoll character. Possibly the sort of tasteless thing that might trigger a 'Ban All Games' campaign, but... fun. And free. So your wallet won't get hurt. 78. Pocket League Story 2 Mobile developer Kairosoft went down the "freemium" route with this sequel to its superb man-managing football business sim, so Pocket League Story 2 is playable for free if you don't mind suffering a little more than those who pay for upgrades. It's still a great little game, in which you take charge of managing the ground, scouting for players, coaching matches, building facilities and much more. 79. GYRO GYRO is exactly the sort of thing we like - a clever new idea that makes the most out of today's touchable devices. It's a bit abstract. You are the circle thing in the middle, and you rotate yourself to absorb the incoming spheres, matching the balls with the right coloured segment. Shields and score multipliers then fire in, and, inevitably, it all gets quicker and harder. Perfect even on older phones and tablets of modest performance. 80. Galaxy on Fire 2 HD Galaxy on Fire 2 HD is one of the most visually impressive 3D shooters to be found on Android, Galaxy on Fire 2 also chucks in some trading and exploration play to add a little more depth to the combat, making it into something similar to having your own little portable Eve Online. You also get to play as a lead character called Keith, which is quite an exciting rarity. Best free Android games 81-90 81. New Star Soccer New Star Soccer is a previously paid-for game that has undergone a complete refresh, with the developer making it a freebie - but adding in the scourge of modern software in the form of "stars" to buy with real money instead. If you can tolerate the effort needed to bypass the new emphasis on paying to progress quicker, it's still a staggeringly good game, offering a mega-deep football management sim for mobile. 82. Badland This is a right old gem. Badland is an abstract physics platformer kind of thing, where you play a flapping monster that has to navigate some gorgeous maps while listening to bird song. Power-ups and power-downs increase and decrease the size of your blob, also multiplying it until you control several of the things. Weird and dark and interesting. Definitely try it. 83. Juice Cubes Another free game that's actually about as "free" as the "free" mobile phones we all own, Juice Cubes is a seemingly innocent take on the Candy Crush Saga style of gem-swapping. You can play through it without indulging it in any in-app purchases, but be prepared to wait and be forced to spam your Facebook friends with links in order to do so. 84. Dots Dots is really, really free, and pretty damn awesome, too. All you do is draw lines between dots of the same colour, with the idea being to earn as high a score as possible within 60 seconds. Then, because it's simple and pretty and makes nice bleepy sounds, you do it again. And again. And continue forever or until your battery dies, so probably just until your battery dies. 85. Angry Birds Star Wars II The original was so beneficial to furthering consumer recognition of both major brands that they made another one - aptly titled Angry Birds Star Wars II. It's really free thanks to being ad-supported, which, it turns out, is nicer than being asked to buy imaginary space money every 30 seconds. Loads of levels and stupid Star Wars references galore make this a no-brainer for fans of either enormous super-franchise. 86. Star Wars: Tiny Death Star Another in this new-wave of controversial "free" games. Tiny Death Star gets the look right, offering a superb pixel-art take on the classic universe. Things get a bit flaky when you play it for more than 20 minutes, tough, when the PECK-PECK-PECK demands to pay real money for in-game "Bux" start to come in thick and fast. Great fun until you uninstall it in a rage at today's shameless rush to monetise children, though. 87. Sonic Dash Sonic Dash is a really stylish and very pretty endless runner, that is indeed free to download and play. The happy Sega experience is then ruined by overbearing and endlessly menacing reminders that buying a lot of stupid in-game tokens will make progress easier, though, which is a shame. How we wish games didn't all demand direct debit access to our bank accounts these days in order to work properly. Very nice game apart from that, mind. 88. CBeebies Playtime CBeebies Playtime is a nice, harmless, ad-free collection of silly little games, ideal for children who have been successfully raised by the pulsating yellows and greens of the CBBC pacifier and babysitter channel. We'll save the discussion about whether parents and the BBC should be encouraging children to spend their precious little like staring at screens and being as sad and sedentary as dad for another time. This is good if you let your child touch your precious stuff. 89. Champ Man What the developer of Champ Man is trying to say with the name is "This is quite a bit like Championship Manager, that old football game you probably remember." And it is, offering a decent, if slightly bug-ridden and bizarre portable management game. It does feature in-app purchases, but these can be stepped over or dribbled around (football references) without too much hassle. 90. Tic Tactics Tic Tactics is a simple and stylish puzzle game that takes the noughts & crosses concept and jazzes it up with online and local multiplayer, rankings, cross-platform play with Facebook friends and more. You battle on multiple boards at once, choosing where to make your mark and what grid your opponent must play next. Hassles you to pay to remove the ads, but nothing more. Facebook pulls an Instagram with auto-playing videos on iOS Dec 12th 2013, 11:45, by Hugh Langley Facebook has pushed out a new update for its iOS app, adding a feature that sees videos automatically play as you scroll past them. Like it or loathe it, the version 6.8 update introduces the mandatory auto-play function, which follows in the footsteps of Vine and Instagram. Like Instagram, the sound will be muted unless you actually click on it, but if you want you can alter the settings so that video and audio start playing together in harmony. While it won't be embraced lovingly by everyone, the good news is that you can set auto-play to Wi-Fi-only if you're watching the old data allowance. Play it again, Sam Facebook also told TechCrunch that it plans to roll out the feature to the web version of Facebook. This means that everything is in place for Facebook to start rolling out those 15-second autoplaying ads that are rumoured to start appearing soon. Right now this is just on the iOS app, but we've asked Facebook when the same feature might roll over to other platforms and will update when we hear more. So what can the iPhone 5S do, then? Updated: iOS 8: 10 things we want to see Dec 12th 2013, 11:01, by Craig Grannell When Apple unveiled iOS 7, CEO Tim Cook called it the "biggest change since the iPhone". The OS received a major visual and interaction overhaul, along with a slew of new features. The OS should arrive in the hands of consumers around October 2013, and in the meantime Apple has already released several beta versions, one of which radically altered the system's typography. Still, there are many other things we'd like to see Apple change by the time iOS 8 rolls around in 2014 - although in some cases we've gpt a sneaking suspicion Apple would disagree. FutTv : n4950K8zVLF4m 1. Change and hide default iOS apps We'd love to be able to choose non-Apple alternatives for handling email, browsing and maps, but doubt it'll happen. However, Apple not providing the means to hide preinstalled apps you don't use is an irritant that goes back to the very first iPhone. Even if there was a similar 'parental controls' trick for hiding apps to the one on the Apple TV, that'd be good enough. 2. A guest/child account Apple's mantra is everyone should own their own device. That's lovely, but not everyone's pockets are as deep as those of Apple board members. OS X-style user accounts are unlikely, but it can't be beyond Apple to provide a single-tap child account or a guest account that doesn't affect your settings and data, and doesn't retain settings or data of its own. 3. Better iOS app management As of iOS 7, Apple automates app updates, but it should go further. Devs wrestle with iCloud app data, but this should be child's play to save and also (optionally) restore whenever you reinstall an app. And the App Store itself should offer trials and paid version updates (rather than devs being forced to use IAP or 'replacement' apps as a workaround). 4. Stronger inter-app communications One of the weakest elements of iOS is inter-app communication. If a service bumps you to another app, you're not always returned when you've finished performing an action. Worse, when making document edits across several apps workflow can be a nightmare with document copies in various states strewn throughout individual app sandboxes. 5. Better document management Following on from the previous point, iOS should introduce at least some kind of centralised access to documents. Right now, Dropbox is a surrogate file system because iCloud is a bunch of silos. It's absurd that you can't easily attach documents within Mail in an OS that boasts a version number of 7. The lack of collaboration opportunities within iCloud document workflow is also disappointing. 6. Group FaceTime calls This isn't specifically tied to iOS, but Apple's mobile platform is where FaceTime began life, and although the one-to-one model is great, it's about time you could call several people at once, rather than a group having to crowd around an iPhone. 7. iOS notifications like in OS X Mavericks In OS X Mavericks, notifications are interactive - get a message and you can deal with it there and then, rather than leaving the app you're in. This is even more important on iOS, and so we hope Apple adds similar functionality on mobile. Google does it with aplomb, so we want to see the same here. 8. More Do Not Disturb options Do Not Disturb gained extra power in iOS 7, enabling you to silence notifications only when a device is locked. Bizarrely, it still retains only a single schedule though. Is it beyond Apple to enable you to at least set one for weekdays and a separate one for weekends? 9. Better text manipulation Apple's text-selection, cut, copy and paste seemed elegant when it was introduced, but only compared to disastrous equivalents on competing mobile systems. Today, it comes across as awkward, and it's a barrier to usability for far too many people. We'd like to see a rethink from Apple and more usable and intuitive ways of dealing with text. 10. Two-up apps We love the focus iOS provides, but there are times when we'd like to work with two apps at once. Much like messing with default apps, we doubt Apple will ever go down this path, but OS X Mavericks now has a more powerful full-screen mode for multiple monitors. So there's perhaps the slightest hope a multi-screen mode might one day arrive for the iPad or a larger iPhone, and would be one in the eye for all those Samsung owners out there. Sony: 'Android 4.3 update is around the corner' Dec 12th 2013, 10:37, by John McCann Owners of Sony smartphones are waiting with baited breath for an upgrade to the latest version of Jelly Bean, with reports suggesting the update for the Xperia Z1 has been certified. According to Xperia Blog the Android 4.3 upgrade for Sony's latest flagship model has passed through the PTCRB testing system, which means it should be with us in the coming weeks. A Sony spokesperson told TechRadar: "After sharing our latest upgrade plans last month, Sony's Android 4.3 Jelly Bean upgrade is around the corner, set to kick off throughout December. "We'll be sharing more details and plans on Android 4.4 KitKat in the New Year" Phones in line The statement Sony released in November confirmed that a range of handsets would be getting the Android 4.3 update. "We're pleased to tell you that we'll start rolling Android 4.3 for Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia ZR, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia SP, Xperia Z Ultra and Xperia Z1 from next month." It went on to reveal which devices will be first in line for an Android 4.4 upgrade next year. "The first raft of Xperia products that we'll make Android 4.4 Kit Kat available for are: Xperia Z, Xperia ZL, Xperia Tablet Z, Xperia Z Ultra and Xperia Z1." We just hope Sony has done a better job with Android 4.3 than Samsung, who has been dogged by issues on the Galaxy S4 and Galaxy S3. Spotify's pricing scorched by music streaming startup Dec 12th 2013, 10:10, by Hugh Langley Spotify spent a bit of time yesterday raving about how it's leading the way on piracy by offering a "great service". But over in London at a debate on the future of music streaming, attended by Google, Universal music and UK streaming app Bloom.fm, the story was a little different. According to Oleg Fomenko, CEO and co-founder of Bloom.fm, no matter how good a service might look or feel, a lot of people just aren't willing to shell out for the full subscription - we need a wider range of payment plans. "It's clear that people are not going for it," said Fomenko, addressing the fact that music piracy is still a problem. "Right now if you're on a mobile device, the choice you have is either be on free or pay £120 a year," he said on services such as Spotify. Music streaming app Bloom launched earlier this year with a tier-based subscription. People can access genre-based radios for no price at all, while subscription levels then go up from £1 (about $1.64, AU$1.81) to £10 (about $16.36, AU$18.14). "We need to give people a tiered proposition that will allow them to start paying an amount of money that they can afford," Fomenko added. 8 out of 10 tracks While it was one way to big up Bloom, Fermenko's words were also meant as advice for the streaming industry at large. He also said that Bloom recently carried out research and found that more an average of eight out of ten consumers said that £10 a month is too much for them to pay "We're going for an audience that has been historically accused and noted to be using piracy more than anyone else," said Fomenko. "Let them move from one level to another as and if they feel that it is right". Will Spotify Shuffle help reel in some more subscribers? Vodafone Australia CEO Bill Morrow to head NBN Co in 2014 Dec 12th 2013, 04:28, by Farrha Khan NBN Co confirmed today that current Vodafone Australia head Bill Morrow has been appointed CEO of the government-owned company charged with rolling out the national broadband network (NBN). With Morrow set to begin his role as CEO of NBN Co sometime in 2014, Vodafone said in a statement that Morrow's date of departure from the telco "will be finalised on the announcement of a successor". When talking to journalists, Morrow said that the announcement and handover could be made by March or April. Voda's overhaul Morrow joined Vodafone Australia in March 2012 with the goal to turn the company around following droves of customers leaving the telco because of network problems. This year saw major improvements to the network, the launch of its 4G network and new Red plans, as well as a renewed focus on customer care. "While it has not been an easy decision to leave Vodafone, we have fixed the fundamentals, stabilised the business, invested heavily in the network and we are already starting to see signs of customers coming back," he in a statement said. "At the same time, I'm honoured and privileged to be offered the opportunity to lead one of Australia's most important infrastructure projects, which has the potential to shape the nation's economy and change the lives of all Australians." The right man for the job? NBN Co Executive Chairman Dr Ziggy Switkowski said that Morrow has the right mix of experience and knowledge of the telco industry to head NBN Co. "I am delighted that a senior business leader of the calibre of Bill Morrow has agreed to accept the challenge of delivering the long-promised upgrade to Australia's broadband infrastructure," Switkowski said. Talking to journalists about his new role, Morrow said "I'm delighted by the opportunity." He said that he would continue to advocate for mobile backhaul and tower sharing as part of the NBN project as it is important to have good competition, whether that be for mobile or fixed line. New start for new NBN One of the first things Morrow will be doing as NBN Co CEO is getting his head around the strategic review and talking to the employees about what is and isn't working. "With the right infrastructure and industry collaboration, Australia will reap the benefits for decades to come," he said in a statement. "I am looking forward to rolling up my sleeves and ensuring every Australian is able to benefit from a world class national broadband network." Want to know more about the NBN? Here's our guide to everything you need to know about the NBN CommBank teams up with Samsung, MasterCard to launch NFC mobile payments Dec 12th 2013, 02:53, by Farrha Khan The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CommBank) has today launched its NFC mobile payments solution, CommBank Tap & Pay, in what the bank is calling a world first. In collaboration with Samsung and MasterCard, the Samsung Galaxy S4 has become the first phone to offer contactless payments at MasterCard PayPass locations with the use of NFC. "The future of mobile payments has become a reality today," said Matt Barr, Head of Market Development and Innovation, MasterCard Australasia. "Today marks the next step in the introduction of a mobile wallet into our everyday lives, simplifying the convenience of payments from our phones and laying the foundations for future innovations," said Angus Sullivan, CommBank's Executive General Manager for Cards, Payments, Analytics and Retail Strategy. The smartphone wallet CommBank first announced the new technology back in October, with Tap & Go becoming available late yesterday afternoon for customers who have the bank's new app. While the app is available for Android and Windows Phone, Tap & Go payments is only being offered to Android customers at the moment. For mobile payments at PayPass terminals, you need to either have a compatible Samsung Galaxy S4 model or a PayTag sticker attached to your Android phone, along with the CommBank app. Check your S4 model, however, as there are currently 3 Galaxy S4 models available in Australia, but only two (i9505 and i9507) are compatible for NFC payments with CommBank at the moment – though Samsung has indicated that it is working to include the remaining model within the new year period. Commbank's Executive General Manager for Digital Channels Lisa Frazier told TechRadar that the CommBank app and PayTag will be available for iOS "by the end of January 2014". We imagine that compatibility for more devices will be announced down the road, while CommBank has said that it will be keeping an eye on Windows Phone adoption. Don't know what NFC is? Here's a little guide to what NFC is and why it is in your phone Android Device Manager app finally found in Google Play Store Dec 12th 2013, 02:02, by Matt Swider Careless Android device owners will take heart in knowing Google has their back this holiday season and through the foreseeable future thanks to its new Find My iPhone-style app. An official "Android Device Manager" app is finally available to download in the Google Play Store, making it easy to track down a lost phone or tablet, lock it or wipe it's data remotely. The same functionality came to Android devices in August, but it was a cumbersome browser-based solution that wouldn't help anyone in a panic. The messy setup forced users to visit a website with an extremely long URL and it didn't have the option to lock the phone or tablet at first. It was either "ring" or "erase everything" with no in-between locking measure. Today's update puts Google's Android Device Manager on par with Apple's well-serving security equivalent, Find My iPhone. Auto-responder: Gmail for Android gets an update Android owners will also want to keep their finger on the Google Play update trigger for Gmail 4.7. This latest version adds a vacation responder and the ability to send even more types of attachments. "If you forget to set a vacation responder as you scramble to pack for a flight, you're in luck since you can now create or update an auto responder message right in the Gmail app on Android," announced Google on its Gmail Google+ page. New attachments that can be sent from a phone or tablet include documents, PDFs and zip files. Previously, Android owners were limited to including photos and videos. Rounding out today's useful Gmail for Android enhancements is the ability to print hard copies of emails if you're one of the lucky ones with a device is running Android 4.4 KitKat or, in very select cases, Android 4.4.2. Check out: The specs on Dell's Chromebook 11 laptop. Smarty Ring wraps smartphone control around your finger Dec 11th 2013, 20:30, by klee Even though smartwatches like the Samsung Galaxy Gear and Pebble are just starting to penetrate the market, it looks like they could soon be overshadowed by smart rings. Although consumers won't quite be able to channel their inner Green Lantern and speak to their fingers, the Smarty Ring, a project that launched on Indiegogo, claims it will bring smartphone connected wearable devices to the jewelry world. The 13mm-wide stainless steel ring features a built-in, curved LED screen that displays the typical notifications users are accustomed to seeing on their smartphones. The screen lights up with icons for incoming caller IDs, text messages, and updates from social networks. The ring's screen is flanked by two physical buttons that control apps and can trigger a smartphone's camera. Another neat feature having to do with a handset is an anti-theft warning that goes off when the ring and phone stray more than 30 feet away from each other. The one ring to rule all devices The Smarty Ring is said to be able to do all this through a Bluetooth LE connection. It supports both Android and iOS as long as the device has Bluetooth 4.0. In another lofty lob, the ring's creators say the device has a 24-hour battery life coming from a 22mAh battery, which happens to charge through a wireless induction pad. With this spec, the ring's battery has more than 10 times less energy storage capacity than the 315mAh equipped Samsung Galaxy Gear, which promises 25 hours of operational time. That said, in our review we found the Korean smartwatch actually lasted for even more time than Samsung originally let on. The same thing could happen with the Smarty Ring, but we won't know until we really get our hands – err fingers on it. Much like the Pebble smartwatch, the Smarty Ring has blown past it's initial $40,000 (about £24,395/AU$44,125) fundraising goal. As of this writing, the project has a little less than 12 hours to go and is currently sitting at $223,436 (about £136,270/AU$246,482) in funding totals. YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXQlpY0LXgg Those that want to get their fingers wrapped with this fully featured smart ring can do so by preordering one on Indiegogo for $175 (about £106/AU$193) with free international shipping. There are also a number of stripped down versions that only feature a watch and other bits like the phone tracker. The creators estimate the Smarty Ring will begin arriving to backers around the world by April 2014. Microsoft's next gen Xbox One sells out at most major retailers with over 2 million sold in under three weeks. Foxconn to fund startups in the pursuit of next Google Glass, other wearable tech? Dec 11th 2013, 20:15, by klee Foxconn, Apple and others hardware manufacturer, is reportedly joining the wearable technology sector starting in early 2014. Two sources told Bloomberg that Foxconn is launching a new investment fund to finance startups developing new wearable devices, including the next Google Glass-like product. Foxconn supposedly enlisted the help of a new group called the Syntrend Creative Park Company to administer an incubator wallet of $200 million New Taiwan dollars (about $6.8m/£4.1m/AU$7.4m). Twenty startups will be selected to develop hardware with the possibility of support for new software developers as well. The end goal of this incubator seems to be focused on creating wearable or connected device technologies such as the Pine Smartwatch or Vuzix M100 smart glasses. Student power In a move to make things pro bono, Syntrend purportedly plans to work with local and international universities to promote student programs and to sponsor startup competitions. However, actual products from this development initiative could be a long time off. The participants for the trial will reportedly be selected in the first quarter of 2014. Meanwhile, real operations, such as providing offices and advisory services for startups, won't begin until the end the next year. A sleeping Taiwanese electronics dragon While Foxconn is better known for manufacturing products for Apple, it's recently been trying to strike out with products of its own including a rumored and unofficial iWatch. Foxconn seems to be putting its future stake in wearable tech - namely, it's own wearables - but we have to wonder; Does the have something to do with the head-mounted display patent we saw from Apple December 10? Start streaming now, Spotify is free on all mobile devices. Step aside iBeacon, Qualcomm has low-cost Gimbal Proximity Beacons Dec 11th 2013, 17:05, by Alex Hamilton The iBeacon, Apple's tool for tracking users in stores to personalise their shopping experience, is no longer the only such solution on the market. Semiconductor giant Qualcomm has released a new rival sensor called Gimbal Proximity. At a price of $5 (£3, AU$5), the concept of the sensor is similar to the iBeacon in that it tracks the in-store location of customers accurately. Use of the platform promises to allow brands to increase sales and drive loyalty by delivering relevant and targeted messages while their consumers are physically in the store. "With the availability of Gimbal proximity beacons, we are empowering brands to take mobile engagement with their customers to a whole new level through micro-location," said Rocco Fabiano, president of Qualcomm Retail Solutions. Using the sensor, retailers would know what area of the store customers are in, and can then tailor adverts, information and special offers towards those people. Two Gimbal sensors are available, the Series 10 and the larger Series 20, both of which use low-energy Bluetooth Smart technology, which is said to be accurate to within a foot. These can be be placed throughout any brick-and-mortar store without loss of connectivity. Versatility Qualcomm's Gimbal combines "physical location, activity, time and personal interests" and is available for iOS devices with support for Android coming later. It is versatile enough to be used in many other ways. Interaction for marketing purposes, as an early demo of the Gimbal showed with the Star Trek film franchise, is also a possibility. They would allow consumers to complete actions and tasks to reward them with special offers and increase their loyalty to the brand. Using Bluetooth Smart technology gives the Gimbal an easier mode of connection, with GPS and NFC both having drawbacks in usability. Rather than using the cloud, the Gimbal Beacon processes the data received within its device, making the interface and interaction at a customer level, far faster. Qualcomm has also announced a new 64-bit mobile processor EU warns Nokia not to become 'Patent Troll' Dec 11th 2013, 16:40, by Alex Hamilton In a wide-ranging speech in Paris on Monday, the vice president of the European Commission, Joaquín Almunia, reserved a strong warning for Nokia. Following the agreement to the $7.2 billion (£4.38 billion, AU$7.87 billion) sale of its devices business to Microsoft in November, Nokia held onto its portfolio of patents, one of the most valuable in the mobile industry. Selling its smartphone business could clear the way for Nokia to enforce its patents more aggressively in the global market. This new stance would see them evolve into a so-called 'patent troll', a company which looks to obtain its revenue solely by exploiting their licenses. Last year Nokia's chief financial officer said that he saw "good opportunities" for profit in Nokia's pool of patents. Lawsuits Almunia warned that "if Nokia were to take illegal advantage of its patents in the future, we will open an antitrust case". The threat of opening of such a case would give the company a good incentive to regulate its actions. He later added "I sincerely hope [we] will not have to." Nokia has not been unafraid of using lawsuits alleging patent infringement in the past. In 2012 it filed lawsuits against HTC in Germany and the USA for patented parts in mobile devices but didn't persevere because of the threat of counter-lawsuits on its own devices. Having now sold that sector of their business removes that threat to Nokia. The Commission had previously dismissed the possibility that Nokia would attempt something along these lines when it allowed Microsoft to acquire its devices division. Although Nokia has not said that it would use its portfolio to take action against other companies, its sheer size, nearly 39,000 patents, may compel it to do so. Can Nokia teach Microsoft to be one company?

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