Review TechRadar: Phone and communications news 08-02-2014

TechRadar: Phone and communications news TechRadar US latest feeds

Shop Tervis tumblers. Create a one of a kind personalized gift. It's fun and easy to design! From our sponsors

In Depth: 10 iPhone speed hacks: great ways to be more efficient on your handset Aug 2nd 2014, 12:01, by Craig Grannell 10 iPhone speed hacks Apple's iPhone is designed to be efficient, the minimal operating system mostly getting out of your way and providing fast access to content. However, various settings and shortcuts can speed things up even further, resulting in a more usable and streamlined iPhone experience. 1. Prune Spotlight Even on an iPhone 5s, Spotlight is sluggish. Search for something and as you go to tap a result, it might have changed to something else, launching contacts rather than an app. In settings, go to general > Spotlight search and turn off everything you don't access through Spotlight. The more you get rid of, the more responsive Spotlight will be. Leave only applications ticked and Spotlight will become a speedy app launcher. 2. Use dock folders Folders in iOS are a useful way to stash a number of apps in a small space, but you can also drag folders to the dock. Doing so means that you always have two-tap access to any of the apps within. That's potential speedy access to 36 apps rather than just four. 3. Create a bookmarks grid In Safari any new tab will initially display a grid of tappable icons that represents pages or folders stored within the favourites location within bookmarks. When using iCloud, these appear within the optional favourites bar in Safari for Mac. For very commonly used websites, also consider adding them to your home screen (via the 'add to home screen' option found in Safari's share menu). 4. Turn on Reduce Motion In settings > general > accessibility > reduce motion, turn on reduce motion. This replaces folder zooms with simpler cross-fades and at least gives the impression of a faster and more responsive system. (In admittedly unscientific tests with a stopwatch, using the interface with the cross-fades does also seem a touch faster.) 5. Edit mailboxes in Mail Tap the top-left button in Mail until you're in the mailboxes view, and tap edit. Tick mailboxes you want to see and reorder them to have those most useful to you appear at the top. If you never use VIP, get rid of it; if you'd find it useful to have fast access to unread emails, turn that option on and drag it upwards. 6. Share photos using iCloud If you have friends, family and coworkers with iOS devices or Macs, consider using iCloud Photo Streams to share photos and other images. You can set up a shared stream in the shared tab of Photos, and then invite people to it via their Apple ID emails. Optionally, you can allow subscribers to post, show notifications when someone comments or adds an image, and define whether you want the images to be shared publicly online as a website. 7. Use your Mac's keyboard to type on your iOS devices If you have an iOS device docked during the day while working on a Mac, and yet regularly have to type on the device, install 1Keyboard. The app communicates with your device via Bluetooth and enables you to type using your Mac keyboard rather than the fiddly on-screen equivalent. 8. Hide unused apps on a folder's second page If you use folders to manage apps, don't bung unused stock apps into a folder called "Apple" that distracts and hangs around like a bad smell. Instead, stash them on the second page of one of your other folders, whereupon you'll never have to see them again. On the rare occasion you need one of the apps, find and launch it using Spotlight. 9. Define typos within typing shortcuts If you're forever misspelling certain words make use of iOS auto-correct. In settings, go to general > keyboard, and scroll down to shortcuts. Add any common misspellings using the add new shortcut option. In each case, the phrase should be the correct spelling and shortcut should be the typo. 10. Add several Touch ID fingerprints Apple's Touch ID is a great way to quickly unlock an iPhone or make an App Store purchase, but one thumb isn't enough. To speed things along, make it so you can use Touch ID however you're holding your device. It's a smart idea to register both of your thumbs and index fingers. Want more hacks? Try these 35 brilliant iOS 7 tips and tricks. Roundup: Best of TechRadar: this week's best features and hottest reviews Aug 2nd 2014, 07:00, by James Rivington How to make an iPhone completely invisible The race to create the first cloaking device is on Imagine a smartphone that remains "cloaked" until its owner whispers a pass phrase. It's an incredible concept, but could it be that the ultimate smartphone security feature is invisibility? If you think that sounds crazy, how about rendering an entire car or a space ship invisible? Even crazier, it's rapidly becoming science fact rather than science fiction. And that's because it's not only been shown to be possible within the laws of physics, but it's being worked on by scientists and researchers right now. Read: The real science behind tomorrow's invisibility tech How on Earth can you make a smartphone for £26? Simple answer: don't expect it to be brilliant Recently launched in India by low-cost manufacturer Karbonn, the Smart A50S looks like a modest smartphone that's unlikely to tear you aways from the Apples and Samsungs of the world. But it has one fantastic USP: it's on sale for just Rs. 2699 (around £26). Its availability online in the UK has quickly led to outrage at the fact we're forced to spend over £500 for a handset from Apple, Samsung, Sony or HTC – so are we being overcharged? Read all about it Facebook forcing us to download Messenger is a brilliant move But predictably, the internet is mad anyway As you may have heard, Facebook is making a significant change to the way messaging works on its mobile app. Specifically the company is removing the messaging functions from the primary Facebook Mobile app and has begun shunting its users into the separate Facebook Messenger app for chat. And contrary to popular opinion online, Scott Alexander things it's a good thing. iTunes 12 in OS X Yosemite Why Apple needs to think different It's sometimes hard to recall just how revolutionary iTunes was on its debut in 2001. It arrived during a genuine revolution in music, as the industry lurched from the comfort of CDs to the unknown territory of digital. But by iTunes 10, the app had mushroomed into a messy, complex beast. Here's why Apple needs to change course with iTunes in Yosemite Why your iPhone won't be replacing your doctor just yet Your smartphone won't see you now Tracking health and fitness on your smartphone is big business these days with numerous companies developing trackers and apps to help you stay on top. This may sound great, but it's not ready to take our hospitals by storm just yet, as Dr Dushan Gunasekera - founder of the myHealthCare clinic in London - explains. Why your iPhone won't be replacing your doctor just yet 4K TV broadcasts are on the way but there are problems ahead Live 4K trials reveal weird time troubles, but look amazing As the final whistle was blown in Rio, the BBC's engineering team collectively breathed a sigh of relief. Its ambitious trial to deliver 4K live, simultaneously via DTT over the air and the Internet, appeared to have been a resounding success. I was invited along to watch the epochal kickabout at BT Tower, which offered an unprecedented opportunity to compare both feeds on nearly every major brand 4K UHD TV available. The event, organised by the Corporation, BT and Arqiva, was hailed as "a unique moment" in broadcasting history. But it also highlighted some unusual problems and anomalies. Read may on 4K How HTML 5 is speeding up apps for iOS and Android INTERVIEW The perfect test bed for apps? When HTML 5 first arrived on the scene it promised big things for the web and mobile - one app compatible across all platforms without the need for developers to tinker with code sounded great. Thing is, it hasn't worked out that way just yet. Developers are still stuck with the intricacies of iOS, Android and Windows Phone which demand some level of native programming for each platform. Read all about it 10 ways The Last of Us Remastered is better on PS4 vs PS3 How PS4 makes this Naughty Dog-developed blockbuster even better Next-generation consoles aren't backward compatible, so gamers have had to keep their older systems plugged in order to play games like The Last of Us and Grand Theft Auto 5. The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 released this week to help alleviate this messy dilemma within our media cabinets. There's one less reason to cling onto that old PS3 hardware. Developer Naughty Dog didn't just port the original game to the new system. It enhanced the critically acclaimed post-apocalyptic adventure of characters Joel and Ellie. This has inspired a new debate among early adopters of Sony's new gaming platform: Is The Last of Us Remastered for PS4 worth the upgrade? 10 things Google should fix on the Chromebook Chromebooks might be fast, but Google seems slow to fix their problems There's a lot to like about Chromebooks: they're lightweight, start in seconds, have amazing battery life and of course are dirt cheap. But the platform has problems, too. There's a shortage of quality apps, limited video and audio playback support, various PDF issues, no direct access to network shares, outdated documentation and more. 10 things Google should fix on the Chromebook Will video kill the photography star? Shooting 3,000 frames a minute you'll never miss a moment I've been told on more than a few occasions in the last week or so that video is the way forward for all photographers. More specifically, that once we all have the ability to record 4K video with our DSLRs we'll have no need or desire to shoot stills. The smart guys will be pulling 8-millon-pixel still images from their video footage and never relying on chance and never missing a moment. Beats Music chief may now be on the hook for making iTunes Radio a success Aug 1st 2014, 19:59, by Chris Smith Both Beats Music and iTunes Radio have reportedly struggled to attract the anticipated listenership since arriving on the stream scene and now it appears their fortunes will rest on the shoulders of one man. According to the Wall Street Journal, Ian Rogers, the head of Beats Music will also take the reins at iTunes Radio following the completion of the $3 billion Apple-Beats takeover on Friday. Rogers, who will join Apple alongside co-founders Dr Dre. and Jimmy Iovine, will "run both teams to create cohesion in Apple's streaming-music options," according to WSJ sources. It remains unclear whether the services will be united under one banner in order create a free, ad-funced random radio and a paid for pick-your-own streaming service combo to rival the likes of Spotify. Job losses The acquisition isn't all good news for Beats, with some 200 jobs going as a result of the take over. Apple has said it'll try to find new roles for those affected. Beats Music vs Spotify in a streaming showdown The HTC One (M8) running Windows Phone is apparently real and here it is Aug 1st 2014, 19:23, by Chris Smith The rumours appear to be true. HTC will apparently launch a version of its flagship HTC One M8 smartphone running the Windows Phone operating system. Following reports earlier this week claiming the device would be on the way, a press render of it has been spotted on the server's of U.S. mobile network Verizon, who will presumably be stocking the phone The photo discovered by PCMag sources comes a little over two weeks before HTC holds a press event in New York on August 19. Previous reports which dubbed the phone the 'One M8 for Windows' had suggested it will go on sale shortly after the reveal on August 21. No comment Speculation had suggested the device would come in silver and would be identical to the Android version, aside from the obvious OS differences. The Windows Phone 8.1 device will also support smart cases like the innovative Dot View cover and would offer voice over LTE in the United States. Should the device launch, it'll be HTC's first Windows Phone in over a year. Both Microsoft and HTC have declined to comment. HTC One E8 review Galaxy Note 4 will be present for back-to-school, says report Aug 1st 2014, 17:19, by Michael Rougeau Our best guess for the Samsung Galaxy Note 4's release date up to now has been "probably September," and one site has upgraded that estimate to "definitely September." September 3, to be exact, according to The Korea Times, which quotes an unnamed executive from an unnamed display supplier supposedly working with Samsung. "Samsung will hold an event to announce the Note 4 on Sept. 3, just few days before this year's IFA trade fair in Berlin, Germany," the executive reportedly said. According to the site invitations to the event will go out "soon." Sunshine Executives at the supplier said Samsung is rushing the Note 4 out to preempt Apple's iPhone 6 release (duh). More interesting is the Korea Times' claim that the Galaxy Note 4 will have a UV sensor that measures ultraviolet radiation within the phone's S Health app. Maybe the app will tell users when to apply more sunscreen? In addition, while rumors about the Note 4's screen size have been all over the place, the site pegs it with a 5.7-inch OLED display. It also says the Note 4 will have a metal frame, a claim that could tie in with a late July rumor that Samsung will release two more phones in 2014: one a phablet (likely the Note 4), and the other built from "new materials." Finally the report says Samsung will also reveal a curved Galaxy Note 4, though it may not be for mass release. There's a Galaxy Note 3 behind the latest Oculus Rift Twitter introduces a hashtag codebreaker in new test feature Aug 1st 2014, 17:10, by Chris Smith Understanding the meaning behind popular Twitter hashtags can at times be tricky. There's acronyms, no spaces between the words and sometimes people don't even have the common decency to use casing. Twitter is testing a new feature that could make things easier for those struggling to decipher the message behind trending tags, by spelling them out for some users of the iOS app. The Wall Street Journal reports popular tags like #tbt and #smh are being explained as 'Throwback Thursday' and 'Shake My Head' when users click on them. Likewise #OITNB appears as Orange is the New Black and #manutd is expanded to Manchester United, with Twitter giving users the opportunity to rate the interpretation for accuracy. Small sample It's not clear how wide the test is right now. It's common for Twitter to trial new features on a small percentage of its use rbase before rolling them out. Sometimes they make it into the main app, sometimes they don't. In this case a hashtag codebreaker would certainly be a welcome addition to the service. Opinion: Twitter's new mute feature is for chumps Via Engadget

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions