Review TechRadar: Phone and communications news 12-22-2013

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In Depth: How to make your old iPhone as good as new Dec 22nd 2013, 14:00, by Hollin Jones When Apple released iOS 7 it was surprisingly accommodating with backwards compatibility, allowing it to be installed on devices as old as the iPhone 4 and iPad 2. This seems less generous and more practical when you remember that Apple still sells the iPad 2 as new, and until recently sold the iPhone 4 as new as well. So there are a huge number of older devices out in the wild that can run iOS 7, but that doesn't mean they will run it all that well out of the box. Apple is known for prioritising newer devices when it updates iOS, probably because it wants you to buy a new iPhone. But that's not realistic for many people, so we're going to show you how to get the maximum possible performance out of your older device running iOS 7. Must read: iOS 7 review The good news is it doesn't involve as many compromises as you might think. Cut back on the SFX Apple introduced some snazzy new visual effects in iOS 7 but these are especially taxing on older graphics hardware. If you install it on an iPad 2 or iPhone 4, you won't actually see many of these flourishes as Apple knows they won't render properly so it disables them. On an iPhone 4S or newer device you can still get rid of them to preserve battery life and increase general interface snappiness. Go to the Settings app and locate the General > Accessibility section. Here, turn on the Increase Contrast option, which will get rid of the blurring effects. Then below it, turn on Reduce Motion. This stops the parallax effect on Home screens and as of iOS 7.0.3, also replaces the zooming effect when launching apps with a simple fade. As well as saving power, many people find this much more agreeable to look at. My eyes! Believe it or not, screen brightness is a real battery hog and running the screen at a lower brightness can significantly save battery power, so we suggest you go into the Settings app again and find the Brightness and Wallpaper section. Turning auto brightness on is good, but manually setting a lower brightness is helpful too. In the Control Centre - which is accessed by swiping up from the base of the phone's screen - you can quickly get at the brightness slider and turn it up when you need to, then back down when you are in a darker environment. In the General area of Settings, switch Auto-Lock to 1 minute if it isn't already as this puts your screen to sleep quickly when not in use. Speaking of Control Centre, you'll find some other great power savers here as well. Turning Bluetooth and Wi-Fi off when you're not using them will save battery, and switching Airplane mode on when you're either unavailable or on the tube will stop the phone from continually searching for cell towers, which uses power. If you have a Siri-capable device, turning Siri off saves power as your phone will make fewer network requests. Where am I? iPhones have GPS location built in and that's really useful but it uses a lot of power, so limit the number of apps that are allowed to use it. Go into the Settings app again and then the Privacy > Location Services section. Turning GPS off altogether saves power but severely limits the usefulness of a lot of apps, as well as meaning Maps won't work. So you'll want to leave a few switched on but limit these to things you really need like Maps, travel apps and the like. You can always re-enable location for any app if you decide you need it. iOS7 is able to do more things in the background but this can use a lot of power so you need to set it up correctly. Go into the Settings app and find General > Background App Refresh. Here you'll see a list of apps that can make network requests when in the background. Sometimes this is really useful, say for travel or mapping apps, but you should turn off anything that you don't need. Apple's Stocks or Facebook for example may not be vital. The same goes for Apple's Mail app - push email can be really useful but it hammers your battery, especially on a cellular connection. In Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Fetch New Data, turn Push off and consider switching Fetch to Manual, which means you have to physically check for new mail, but saves a decent amount of power. Restoring features With each generation of hardware Apple tends to introduce a new feature that is hardware-dependent, but that doesn't mean that your older hardware is left entirely out in the cold. Often, third party apps exist to restore similar tools to older phones and iPads. Siri for example only works on an iPhone 4S, iPad 3 or higher but apps like Dragon Dictation, Evi and Vlingo run on earlier devices and provide voice-based interaction of various kinds. Only recent iOS devices support Airdrop, Apple's device-to-device file sharing system, but there are alternatives. There's Dropbox of course, which is an excellent file sharing solution, but also DeskConnect, InstaShare and Pastebot, all available from the iTunes Store. These involve a little extra effort, typically signing up so that you can link devices, but generally work very well. The iPhone 4S was the first model to directly support panoramic photo mode, but there are apps to let you do this on older phones. In fact there are loads, including 360 Panorama, Autostitch Panorama, Panorama Free and Pano. Many are free so you can check them out. You will want to upgrade eventually… You can't make your device as fast as the latest iPhone or iPad – there will come a point when the lure of that blazing fast new device simply becomes irresistible - but you can use some or all of the tips we have mentioned to minimize battery use and reduce the overall load on your processor and graphics hardware. The good news is that these things really do make a difference and will help you to squeeze more life out of your beloved older phone or iPad. By installing a few free or inexpensive third party apps you can also bring extra functionality in line with newer models so don't despair, help is at hand. In Depth: 10 ways to make Siri brilliant Dec 22nd 2013, 13:00, by Thomas Thorn Siri is the best known digital personal assistant on the market, making its name with human-esque speech capabilities. Its biggest competitor, Google Now, may be lagging behind in the popularity stakes, but it's rapidly gaining ground and Apple needs to keep ahead. Google's release of the Experience launcher on the Nexus 5 has meant that Google Now features very heavily in Android. It is pushing to learn more about you and become far more relevant, and is doing a good job (if you invest in Google's app ecosystem). 10 ways to improve Google Now Apple's first go at Siri certainly wasn't right first time, so there are a lot of things that it could, and should, change in its quest to become the ultimate digital PA. Luckily, we got out a whiteboard, drank a lot of energy drinks, and had (quite possibly) the world's best brainstorm: 1. Offline Mode One of the biggest problems that faces the modern digital assistant is its need to be connected to the internet. Being used on many different devices, including Wi-Fi only versions of the iPad range, means Siri should be able to function without a web connection for some tasks. We use Siri to make appointments in our calendar and search our iDevice, things that should not require a connection to Apple's servers. Going abroad we take our gadgets, but we don't want to get hit with extortionate roaming charge so an offline function would be greatly beneficial. Of course an offline mode would require more data to be stored on our iPhone, iPad or iPod, so there should also be an option to opt in/out of this feature. Anyone who has picked themselves up a 64GB or 128GB iDevice can probably fit offline mode in already, and for those with smaller storage option it might even provide incentive to buy larger storage devices in the future. Our favourite idea is to create downloadable packs so users can pick and choose what content and functions they want to have offline. Creating foreign packs so users can translate text and currency when we go away, or for when we're near our data limits, would also be useful. 2. Increase language support Siri has a relatively large language base; including four varieties of English, three Spanish and French, two German, Italian, and Mandarin. There is notably no support for Portuguese, an official language in nine countries totalling over 220 million native speakers. With Apple selling devices in over 120 countries, a lot more needs to be done. Millions of users are missing out. iOS7's dictation feature highlights how much work Apple needs to do. 15 countries can dictate to Siri; that's only around 12.5%. Increased language support would bring Siri to the masses. It would also allow for the creation of regional dictionaries, catering to 'slang' and variations in dialect throughout individual territories, rather than just the broad differences between UK, US and Australian English. 3. Improve voice recognition Accurately recognising voice input, and then to deliver relevant responses is at the heart of Siri's operation. It is, as yet, unable to distinguish between two different voices. This means that we can use Siri on our device, but so can our friends and anybody that gets hold of our phone. A simple set of phrases or paragraph of text read aloud should calibrate Siri to individual voice patterns. Multiple users would then be able to use Siri securely with parental controls introduced to protect and educate kids. Increased language support and voice recognition would allow for the creation of regional dictionaries. Analysing trends from different regions would allow Apple to manage and update these, making them more relevant. 4. Act as an automatic translator Increased language support would lead to the ability to translate between a greater number of languages. Translation software has been done before, and done well, but this requires both an active internet connection and having to manually search each phrase. With a downloaded language pack installed, Siri could act as an automatic translator without the associated roaming charges. Using a basic command like "Siri translate conversation to French" should allow you to talk freely. After all, Samsung can (sort of) do it, and Apple loves to be the brand that makes things simple - what's better than international interaction? Siri should actively translate what you're saying into French (Or other languages) and vice versa, reducing the disjointedness that is associated with communicating abroad. 5. Be 'always on' Google is pushing its 'always on' feature in both Now and Google Glass as well as on the Moto X, allowing results to be found without manually locating a search app. This element is missing from Siri, and we can't see why. iOS in the car is making Siri safer, bringing it to motorists without the need to hit a home button on your iPhone. This safety feature is then missing to all motorists, being available only to those purchasing new iOS toting vehicles. Always on features have garnered a lot of negative press; people are increasingly concerned about privacy. Apple would need to address this and by allowing the feature to be manually enabled (or disabled), public fears would be allayed. A better phrase than 'OK Siri' is also needed. 6. Contextual Google Now's major advantage over Siri is its ability to provide you with relevant data immediately without manual input. This makes it more able to impersonate a human assistant, if Siri can provide relevant data in a similar way it will make searches both quicker and more useful. In order to make the most out of Now, a heavy investment is required in Google's ecosystem; using it to search, Gmail and calendar for instance. Apple doesn't need this, it can tap into the data that we provide from other services via Apple apps. Steps to make Siri more contextual have already been taken but these need to be implemented quickly. Cue, a service that took data from your daily plans, contacts and emails, has already been snapped up by the Cupertino firm. 7. Individual app settings Apple excels in its handling of settings menus, making them all accessible in the same place. It is possible to manually change notification settings without having to open each app, as well as view each apps menu. The same menu for Siri would allow you to control which apps Siri pulled data from. Siri would become more personal, knowing what you want it to know. This would aid privacy and allow better contextual searching within the device. 8. Give Siri notifications Notifications are part of the package that Google Now offers, with it able to give live traffic and weather updates when it feels you need to know. This makes it useful, but at the same time is rather annoying. Siri should notify us when it has something useful to say, but allowing us to control what and when. Let us know what the weather is like at work, but only on a weekday morning. Let us know we have a shopping list, but only when we're near the supermarket. The weather and calendar are already in the notifications bar, but if they're irrelevant let us remove them. Apple already has an impressive 'Do Not Disturb' feature, so bring the same technology over to Siri, controlling when apps can be muted. 9. Make features universal One of the biggest bugbears of any app, device, or just about any big product launch is a lack of global availability. Users are increasingly aware of what features are available in their area, and what is available elsewhere. Apple needs to be an industry leader and make features available globally at the same time. Dictation is available in 15 countries, yet movie show times can only be found in Canada, the US and UK. A lot of Siri's early problems centred around its inability to search for businesses outside of the US, leaving Apple a little red-faced. If features cannot be made global immediately, give a time frame for release or let us know of problems. Openness truly is the key to placating the baying crowd. 10. Downloadable voices Our last suggestion may seem a little comical, but there is method in our madness trust us. Sat-nav devices have become the kings of third party voices, able to offer a novelty take on something as mundane as giving directions. Apple may initially be lambasted for the introduction of celebrity voices, but an increase the appeal of the digital assistant could give a whole raft of users the incentive to use Siri. Couple that with crowd sourcing data, Apple would be able to create a large contextual database that providing the most relevant data to the widest range of people. Google adds 'I'm Feeling Lucky Radio' to iOS app, takes fight to iTunes Radio Dec 21st 2013, 16:38, by Chris Smith Google's perennial attempts to turn Google Play Music into a force against iTunes have been boosted by the arrival of 'I'm Feeling Lucky Radio' within the company's iOS app. The random radio feature comes to iPhone, iPad and iPod touch two months after it was rolled into the Android version, while an iOS 7-inspired UI has also been introduced. The feature, like its search engine forebear, allows users to access a selection of music the app thinks they will like, auto-generating a radio station based on previous listening habits. The app will automatically bring tunes from the users most listened-to genre. Big Thumbs Up! The revamped iOS app also offers access to auto-generated playlists (such as Thumbs Up) for the first time and All Access subscribers will also have the opportunity to search genres within the app. The new Google Play Music features come into competition with Apple's own iTunes Radio platform, which is yet to launch outside the United States. It's a streaming throwdown: Google Play Music vs Spotify BLIP: Selfie In The Sky With Live Tiles: Windows Phone users get SkyDrive boost Dec 21st 2013, 15:41, by Chris Smith Microsoft has offered a little festive treat for Windows Phone users by offering 20GB of bonus SkyDrive storage for an entire year. The offer, which runs until the end of January, was publicised to Windows Phone owners via email this weekend. Users can follow the link within the email to sign up. This adds to the 7GB of free storage Microsoft already gifts those using its mobile operating system, allowing them to safeguard files and photos on the cloud. Microsoft hasn't made clear what will happen at the end of that one year, but it's possible that the company will start asking you to pay for that 20GB once the promotion is over. More blips! These blips will always be free because we love you guys... Motorola cries Timber! as it launches wood-backed Moto X Beyonce's secret album puts other iTunes sales records to shame Breaking Bad spin-off Better Call Saul heading to Netflix Buying Guide: Best mobile stocking fillers Dec 21st 2013, 14:06, by Thomas Thorn With Christmas here and a shiny new mobile under the tree, we're here to help avoid the yearly stress associated with buying Christmas gifts. We've prepared a handy guide to the best stocking fillers to accompany your lovely new smartphone. Wether you've broken the bank, or spent wisely on the mobile in question, there's something for everyone in our best stocking fillers guide. So what are you waiting for? Pull on an awfully festive jumper, pop on a woolly hat and maybe even a scarf, then sit back and smugly swig a mulled beverage safe in knowledge you've got Christmas sorted. Headphone hats For those that love to listen to music, but also enjoy the comfort of a warm head, headphone hats are a great compromise. We could have suggested a variety of earmuffs with built in headphones (also a good idea), but we've plumped for a hat as they provide all round cranial protection. There are so many to choose from, but you can grab a trapper hat, pompom hat or knitted beanies to ensure you stay warm, while still being cool! It doesn't matter what phone you've purchased, headphone hats will generally suit any phone with a 3.5mm headphone port. They are ideal for any media lover, so couple the Galaxy Note 3 with its big screen, or the iPhone 5S and HTC One with their heavy music slants, with a headphone hat and you're on to a winner. Price from £12.50 - £25 Lego iPhone Case We're trying to avoid the dreaded phone case, but sometimes one catches our eye and we can't help go 'oooooh!'. The Brickcase (for iPhone 4/4S and iPhones 5/5S) comes in a variety of colours and it's compatible with "all major brick brands", or you could opt for the official Lego case from Belkin (for iPhone 5/5S or iPad Mini). As well as protecting your new Apple device, playing with your phone has never been so literal. The brick cases make us feel like we were fiver years old again. Let's face it, there has always been a budding architect or spaceship designer in all of us, so we're letting our creativity out and asking for one this Christmas. Price from £14.99 Photo lenses The standard cameras that come equipped on the modern smartphone are able to cope with a wide variety of situations, but they will never be able to provide the same range of options that can be found on mid-range compact cameras, let alone DSLRs. Although they will never be able to solve that problem, clip on lenses go some way to adding another level of professionalism and creativity. Just think how cool your Instagram photos will look! Get the right set and these will be the perfect add on to complement the UltraPixel technology found in the HTC One, One Mini or One Max, as well as the 13MP camera sat behind the LG G2. Lenses would even help the iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C in their domination of Flickr. Price £9.90 Touch screen gloves One of the biggest bugbears of the ice cold weather is the decision between putting on a pair of gloves or being able to use your touchscreen phone. This wasn't the case a few years ago when the likes of the HTC Tattoo came with resistive displays, but that tech has been and gone. The Samsung Galaxy S4 and Nokia Lumia 1020 both come packed with super fancy screen tech, making touch screen gloves completely irrelevant. However there are still many capacitive screens that need the extra help; the HTC One and the iPhone 5S are prime examples. The solution? Touch screen gloves, like the pair we found on I want one of those. Price £6.99 iPhone fan Not to be associated with the legions of Apple fanatics, the iPhone fan is an attachment that turns your iPhone into pocket fan for the summer. It could be used in the winter too, but we're already finding the winter breeze sufficient for our cooling needs. Ideal for the frequent traveller, or for those living in the sunny climes of anywhere but the UK, the iPhone fan is easy to store and doesn't require extra batteries. It is compatible with the old 30-pin connectors (3G through to 4S), running off your iPhone's battery instead. Unfortunately we can't find an iPhone fan that runs off the lightning dock, but those with the iPhone 4S or earlier will find this the ultimate summer accessory. Price £7.99 Phone stylus A phone or tablet stylus in the tech world is something that is as mundane as the pencil, yet somehow a stylus shaped like a pencil is a lot more interesting. Who'd have thought? How about one that is shaped like a paint brush? Or one shaped like a crayon? Colour us excited. It is even possible to get a stylus that is shaped like a key, that doubles up as a phone or tablet stand. If you're after something a little more serious, why not check out our guide to some of the best stylus' around. While your smaller smartphones don't really require stylus input, anyone rocking a HTC One Max, Nokia Lumia 1520 or Sony Xperia Tablet Z could well find one very useful. Be careful though, as some stylus' won't work with every device. If you're unsure, contact the manufacturer or retailer. Price from £3.99 - £7.99 Power Tap Manufacturers don't throw a lot of money towards the design of USB chargers, then again their sole purpose is to provide power to your gadgetry when its running a little lower than you'd like. Power taps (such as on Firebox or Amazon) change this. Whilst power taps don't add a lot of functionality over a standard charger (they can be turned on and off), they come with an inbuilt indicator to let you know when your device is charged and "won't flood your house with electricity if you leave it on". Neat. The great thing about the Power Tap is that it is compatible with any USB cable, although we can't vouch for how well it works with the likes of the iPad Air. Just pop in the cable that came inside the box of your Moto G, Galaxy S4 Mini or Nokia Lumia 925 and away you go. Price from £16.20 - £19.99 Screen Cleaner Smartphones can get very grubby and covered with a million fingerprints, especially if you tend to loan them out. Everybody needs a screen cleaner then, but who really wants just another boring micro fibre cloth? Why not opt for something more fun like a puppy or a panda? You could even go the whole 'hog' and choose a screen cleaner in the shape of a pig. There are a variety of screen cleaners out there, so why would you go for something boring anymore? For those that hadn't guessed, screen cleaners work with every mobile screen going. To be honest, you could use them on any surface, even the bathroom mirror, but we wouldn't recommend that. Fashion conscious individuals might find the pig screen cleaner suits their pink iPhone 5C, pink Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini or pink Galaxy Note 3 perfectly. Price from £6.49 - £6.99 Apptoyz Appfisher Fishing is a sport that appeals to many, yet the desire to sit outside by the side of the water on a wet and windy day soon turns something fun into something a little more laborious. Sitting inside in front of an open fire whilst fishing sounds more fun, doesn't it? It might not appeal to the hardcore fishing fans, but AppToyz App fisher turns your iPhone or Android into a fishing rod, saving on all the expensive fishing kit and the lost toes due to frost bite. The App fisher is perfect for anybody sporting an iPhone 4, 4S or iPhone 5, although there is no word on the 5C or 5S. It will also work with most smaller Android phones (under 4.7-inches in size). Price £16.49 The Brick Think of the 1980's and chances are that you'll think of leg warmers, popped collars and mullets. It was a time when things were big, not just the hair, but the mobile phone too. For those with a little more cash to splash, you can recapture the magic of the 80's with the Binatone Brick from Carphone Warehouse. We really like The Brick, not only for nostalgic reasons but because it works as both an accessory for a smartphone (connecting via Bluetooth) or as an entirely separate handset (complete with SIM port). Surely it won't be long until we're all in brightly coloured clothes and listening to Frankie Goes to Hollywood again. As we said, The Brick is compatible with all handsets that support Bluetooth, as well as being an ideal PAYG handset too. LG G2? Samsung Galaxy S3? Huawei Ascend G510? Yes, yes and yes. The majority of smartphones come with Bluetooth on board, so The Brick will work with anything Price £29.95 BlackBerry commits to five more years of smartphones Dec 20th 2013, 15:03, by Hugh Langley BlackBerry has just signed up for a five-year partnership with Taiwanese iPhone maker Foxconn. The two will work together to create new devices, according to BlackBerry, which stated that the initial focus of the partnership will be Indonesia and "other fast-growing markets" with an early 2014 target. The news comes on the same day that BlackBerry announced a painful third-quarter loss of $4.4bn, with the company only shipping 1.9 million smartphones last quarter compared to 3.7 million the quarter before. It's even had to cancel its annual developer conference, BlackBerry Live - an event which has been running for 12 years. The better news is that over 40 million users have registered the BBM app for iOS and Android in the last 60 days. New year's resolution "Partnering with Foxconn allows BlackBerry to focus on what we do best – iconic design, world-class security, software development and enterprise mobile management," said BlackBerry's new CEO John Chen. Chen also made it clear that it's committed to hardware "for the long-term", despite the company's declining fortunes. While it will be focusing on emerging markets for the time being, we could well see some Foxconn-built handsets winging our way in the near future. For now, we just hope that BlackBerry's new partnership can help it to turn its fortunes around. We returned to the BlackBerry Z10 to see what's changed

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