Review TechRadar: Phone and communications news 06-02-2013

TechRadar: Phone and communications news TechRadar US latest feeds

In Depth: 10 fun apps for hacking your phone Jun 2nd 2013, 11:00 Sure, you can keep your phone with the same wallpaper, icons, home screens and settings that it had when you first bought it - but where's the fun in that? A plethora of apps are available to enable you to get under the hood of your device and start making tweaks, and here we've collected ten of our favourites, from modding the notification lights and automating tasks, to revamping your home screen and managing files. Our round-up of tools is slightly weighted towards Android because it's a more 'hackable' platform and there are more tools available for changing different parts of the OS. If you're happy rooting your Android phone or jailbreaking your iPhone, then there are plenty of other apps and hacks you can consider, but we've restricted ourselves to tweaks and customisations that are possible without voiding your warranty. As ever, share your own recommendations in the comments. 1. Tasker Tasker lets you set up specific conditions (such as a time of day or a particular GPS location) and associate them with a related action (turning off Wi-Fi or muting your phone's sounds, for example). The app recently received an interface overhaul to bring it into line with the look of Android 4.0+, and you can also use it to create customised menus and pop-ups. It's not the easiest app to get to grips with, but it enables you to automate a whole host of functions on your Android device. Download for Android 2. Launch Center Pro Unless you're going to jailbreak your iPhone, you're somewhat limited in terms of the tweaks you can make to the interface and iOS settings. Launch Center Pro is one of the apps that can make a real difference, enabling you to create 'quick links' (like desktop shortcuts) to other actions within apps. You can create a link to a specific option in Settings (such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth), to the compose window for sending a specific friend a text, or to the 'take a photo' screen in Instagram, for example. Download for iOS (5.1+) 3. Advanced Task Killer Android tries to do its best when managing your multi-tasking apps, but if you want to take charge yourself then enlist the help of Advanced Task Killer. You can stop dozens of tasks with one calculated tap, add specific apps to an ignore list, automatically kill apps at certain intervals and free up memory for the tools you do want to use (some technical know-how is useful if you want to avoid closing system apps that you should keep running). Buy the £3.19 Pro version to remove the ads Download for Android (1.6+) 4. Nova Launcher If you're running Android 4.0+ Ice Cream Sandwich on your phone, then you can take advantage of Nova Launcher, a tool that's able to customise almost every pixel of the mobile OS's interface. Change colours, icons, dock behaviour, widgets and more as you like. Upgrade to the £2.60 Prime version to get extra goodies such as unread counts and gesture control. It's one of the most comprehensive launcher tools on the market for Android, and you can back up and restore your customisations at any time should you need to. Download for Android (4.0+) 5. Pimp Your Screen Combine wallpapers, app shelves, icon templates and lock screens to create a look for your iPhone that is truly unique. Pimp Your Screen has an impressive number of templates to pick from, and you can combine resources from within the app with your own artwork to tailor your iOS device's home screens to suit. There's a built-in preview feature so you can see the results of your customisations without exiting the app, and you can use the same settings across all of your iDevices if you wish to. Download for iOS (4.3+) 6. Light Flow Available as both a free and paid-for app for Android, Light Flow lets you take control over your notifications and specifically the notification lights on your device. Install the free Lite version first, to check compatibility with your phone - Light Flow requires root access on some models but not others. Once you're up and running, you can use the app to choose notification colours for certain apps and events, and even cycle through a series of colours if required. Vibration alerts and a special sleep mode can also be controlled by Light Flow. Download for Android (2.2+) 7. App Icons Get hold of App Icons for your iDevice and you can switch between customised themes of icons, as well as build your own for specific apps or links to websites. You'll need to have the apps in question installed, and only certain apps are covered by the templates provided, but you can radically transform the look of your iOS device with just a few steps. If you don't want to have to shell out any cash straight away, you can pick up a free version of the app that contains ads. Download for iOS (4.3+) 8. Dropbox Dropbox works across computers, mobiles and tablets and has become much more than a file-syncing and back-up tool. So how does it help you hack your phone? It creates an intuitive, simple file system for your device, it enables you to easily install apps from outside of the official stores, it gives you more options when sharing and attaching files in other apps, and more besides. Whether you want to automatically back up your Photo Stream on iOS or install a beta app on Android, Dropbox can lend a hand. Download for iOS (5.0+) Download for Android (2.1+) 9. Zedge Zedge comes packed with wallpapers, themes and ringtones you can apply on your Android or iOS device - it's all free to download and use, and new content is added on a regular basis. On iOS you'll find yourself limited to wallpapers for your home screen and lock screen, but the Android version extends this to cover audio features too, including notification sounds and other types of alert as well as calls and text messages. You can set wallpapers to automatically change based on a preset schedule too, if you wish. Download for Android (2.0+) Download for iOS (5.0+) 10. Apex Launcher Another of the many app launchers available for Android, Apex Launcher is one of the most popular and well-respected in this particular bracket. As well as a customisable grid size across nine separate home screens, you can hide apps and on-screen elements (like the Google search bar), add animations and transition effects, and play around with the theme engine that covers icons and wallpapers. Upgrade to the £2.59 Pro version and you can access more advanced features (including unread count notifications) and additional gestures. Download for Android (4.0.3+) Opinion: Intel's new Atom could give phones PC-level power Jun 1st 2013, 15:00 Remember the Pocket PC, back in the days when that meant a PDA and pointing stick? Ironically, those Pocket PC devices were based on ARM CPU cores. Yup, Intel made ARM chips back then. Today, of course, the idea of the Pocket PC seems pretty quaint. It's all about iPhones and Galaxies and iOS and Android. But you know what? I think the notion of a PC in your pocket is just about to become relevant again. Windows 8.1 detailed: 12 key changes coming in the Windows 8 update That's because Intel is finally going to give us a new Atom processor core. For clarity, Intel has rolled out all manner of Atom chips. Single-core, dual-core, models for netbooks, models for tablets and most recently models for phones. At last, a new Atom core But the actual CPU cores used in all those chips has remained the same since the first Atom chip appeared in 2008. At last, Intel is about to give us a new Atom core, codenamed Silvermont. The big news is the transition from in-order to out-of-order execution instruction. The short version of why that matters is that in-order architectures involve quite a bit of waiting around for instructions to execute in careful succession. Best Windows 8 tablets: all the Windows 8 tablets we've reviewed Out-of-order chips can plow on and worry about tying everything together later. A gross oversimplification, but the key notion is that out-of-order chips do significantly more work every clock cycle. The shift to out-of-order alone should boost Silvermont's per-clock-per-core performance by 30 per cent, maybe more. It's a big deal. Indeed, so critical is out-of-order processing that ARM's new Cortex A15 chip, as found in many of the latest tablet and smartphone chips, have gone out-of-order. Pocket PC promise Intel has tweaked Silvermont in various other ways, too, for additional performance. Net result? Very probably an ultra-mobile x86 chip that delivers on that ancient Pocket PC promise. The impact of all this will be multi-pronged. First up, I'm hoping it will mean cheap tablets running Windows 8 will be properly usable. Personally, I wouldn't fancy anything running Windows 8 on the existing Atom chips. They're just too feeble. Then there's Silvermont in a smartphone handset. Atom already compares pretty well to the best smartphone chips, so Silvermont is shaping up to absolutely blow them away. Frankly, Intel needs nothing less if it's to break into the smartphone market. Being merely as good or a bit better isn't enough to wean everyone off their ARM addiction in the smartphone arena. So, Silvermont could give Intel the leg up it needs in smartphones. But it also reboots that age-old idea of device convergence. Forget about phablets I'm talking, here, about an end to lugging about phones, tablets and laptops, all the while you have a desktop PC at home or in the office. If you could pack proper desktop x86 performance into a handset, well, your only limitation becomes the screen size. Admittedly, the desire for a decent screen for certain tasks does mean that you're going to need more than just a handset for the foreseeable future. But I certainly like the idea of picking up my production PC and popping it in my pocket when I walk out the door. OK, I'm not sure that even Silvermont is quite on that level. But it might be surprisingly close and, like I said, it should make for cheap Windows 8 tablets that are decidedly decent to use. Sounds good to me. Galaxy S4 spin-off watch: Rumoured 'Zoom' Galaxy Camera sequel hits FCC Jun 1st 2013, 14:28 Just when you thought it was safe to let down your 'S4 spinoff' guard for a day or two, the rumoured Galaxy S4 Zoom device may have made an appearance in the United States. A Samsung device with the model number SM-C101 has whizzed through the Federal Communications Commission in the US, which may be the new smartphone-cum-camera though to be on the way. Recent speculation has pegged the as-yet-unannounced Galaxy S4 Zoom as a 16-megapixel sequel to last year's impressive Galaxy Camera, but with added celular capabilities. The Galaxy Camera offered Wi-Fi and 3G, along with a touchscreen and apps from the Google Play store, while this upgrade would potentially make it a true hybrid device. Milking that Galaxy cow The FCC listing brings word of quad-band GSM network compatibility, along with HSPA+, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and NFC connectivity. Last month we reported on claims the device will rock Android Jelly Bean, come with a 4.3-inch screen, dual or quad-core processors and arrive in black and white in the months of June or July. That same model ID appeared on the Bluetooth SIG's website a couple of weeks ago, which is another big sign that a gadget is primed for launch. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on this one. In the meantime, check out our coverage on the Galaxy S4 mini and Galaxy S4 Active for more on Samsung's 'milking it dry' strategy. Google will reject Glass facial recognition apps amid privacy fears Jun 1st 2013, 13:41 Google has officially announced that it will not be accepting Glassware submissions that include facial recognition tech, at this time. The confirmation comes amid the host of privacy concerns surrounding the Google Glass specs, with the possibility they could be used to recognise individuals at the forefront of most complaints. Last month, US congress sent a letter to Google addressing the potential privacy concerns and now Google has now duly responded. In a post on the Project Glass Google+ page, the company said that, while developers have expressed an interest in building facial recognition apps, they won't be allowed until security measures are in place. Interest and concern The post read: "When we started the Explorer Program nearly a year ago our goal was simple: we wanted to make people active participants in shaping the future of this technology ahead of a broader consumer launch. "We've been listening closely to you, and many have expressed both interest and concern around the possibilities of facial recognition in Glass. "As Google has said for several years, we won't add facial recognition features to our products without having strong privacy protections in place. With that in mind, we won't be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time." All in all, it seems like a pretty smart call from Google. The growing panic over facial recognition and other privacy issues was starting to overshadow the general excitement about their revolutionary new eye-wear.

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Review TechRadar: Phone and communications news 06-01-2013

TechRadar: Phone and communications news TechRadar US latest feeds

In Depth: 10 best iPad and iPhone apps for planning your holiday Jun 1st 2013, 09:10 Booking a holiday used to be easy, kind of expensive and occasionally disappointing: you'd spend hours poring over brochures before popping to the travel agent and booking a fortnight in what inevitably turned out to be a building site halfway up a volcano. Now we have access to the kind of information holidaymakers of yesteryear could only dream of. We can find out what many of brochures don't to tell us, as well as the best time to hit the buffet; how to shave hundreds, or even thousands, of pounds off the price of hotels, car hire and flights; and how to find the best attractions, exhibitions and eateries in places we've never been to before. A few well-chosen vacation-planning apps can make sure your holiday memories are happy rather than horrible. Some apps will help you find the cheapest deals or advise you on the best days to fly. Others can help you find the perfect place with the help of hundreds of other holidaymakers' honest opinions and top tips - some apps will even make sure you don't forget to pack your pants. Whether you're a creature of habit or a fearless explorer - and whether your holiday's a budget break or an expensive extravaganza - the right apps can make sure you don't pay more than you need to while helping you find the best places to stay, the most interesting places to visit and the best times to go. They can even help you learn the lingo and find your way around when you get there. So grab your bucket and spade, and discover how you too can plan an app-y holiday with these top holiday planning apps for iOS. 1. Kayak Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad Kayak is a kind of Swiss Army Knife for travelling: it enables you to search for the best and/or cheapest flights, hotel rooms and car hire deals, and it has a handy Price Alerts feature to let you know if prices go up or down. It knows about add-on fees such as airport charges and hotel taxes, and you can even book everything from within the app. That last bit is how Kayak makes its money: it gets paid for referring people. It's a very good app - especially if you're planning to visit the US - but it isn't perfect: for example, if you search for flights from Glasgow to Faro, it suggests British Airways via Heathrow without letting you know that, if you go a few days later, EasyJet has direct flights for one-fifth of the cost. Kayak does know about those flights, but it doesn't tell you about them because they aren't on the dates you specified. It's definitely worth trying a few different date ranges to see what difference it makes. Kayak comes in two versions: the standard app (free) and Kayak Pro (69p). There's hardly any difference between the two versions bar airport terminal maps - which Pro users get and free users don't. Everything else is the same, so whichever version you go for, you're getting a really handy travel app. 2. TripAdvisor Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad The main draw with TripAdvisor isn't the booking engine or the hotel prices (although TripAdvisor is a good deal finder); it's the user reviews. We've used the TripAdvisor website and app for years, and despite the odd bit of obvious fakery - 'this run-down hotel is the best hotel in the world and I am not the owner in disguise, honestly, I'm not!' - it's saved us from booking the kind of holiday you remember for all the wrong reasons. It tells you what the brochures don't: that this hotel is on top of a cliff; this one's next to a building site; this one's full of stag nights, and so on. TripAdvisor doesn't just warn you - if 400 people reckon your first choice is a god-forsaken hell-hole, the sidebar shows you a whole host of alternative options with equally honest reviews. The trick is to ignore the very worst and very best reviews and concentrate on the 'it was great, but…' ones - they tend to be the most reliable and trustworthy opinions. TripAdvisor is as good at finding local restaurants as it is at finding things for you to do when you travel abroad. It also provides access to TripAdvisor's great forums, where you can get advice on everything from gayfriendly hotels to the best places to take easily bored children and adults alike. 3. Skyscanner Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad When it comes to booking flights, Skyscanner is the app to beat. When you launch the free app it shows a collection of last-minute deals from your nearest airport, and if you're looking for something specific, it brings the results back as a handy graph showing just how expensive flights for each day is. If your dates are flexible, that feature alone will save you a fortune, because prices vary from day to day. For example, if we'd wanted to fly to Paris from Glasgow on the fifth of the month, the cheapest flights were £94 per person, but if we were willing to wait a week, the same flights were just £34. You can filter the results by the number of stops, direct flights and so on, and when you select certain times, Skyscanner looks for the best prices from multiple booking agents including Expedia and Lastminute.com. 4. TripIt Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch, iPad So what if you're organising a trip with more than one provider or service? With Tripit, you email all your confirmations to them using the app and the service works out what's going on and adds it to your TripIt itinerary. It can easily recognise confirmation emails from some 3,000 different booking services for flights, concerts, restaurants, hotels and other key travel services - it also converts those emails into diary entries with related information such as contact information and prices paid. If, for whatever reason, the emails don't work - and we found a few instances where emails simply vanished into the ether without turning up in our TripIt app - you can enter the details manually. The app also includes a 'find what's nearby' feature to help locate cash machines and other essentials during your trip. The core TripIt app is free, or 69p if you don't like ads - there's also a $49 annual subscription. 5. Airbnb Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch You don't need to spend a fortune on accommodation when you travel. With the excellent - and free - Airbnb app, you can find details of incredibly cheap places to stay all over the world, and there's a handy 'I need somewhere tonight!' option that finds places near you when you haven't booked ahead. Airbnb knows about accommodation in some 33,000 cities across 192 countries, and it's great for finding deals. The available options cover everything from shared spare rooms to full apartment rentals. It's important to note that Airbnb is a marketplace, not a travel agent. Think of it as eBay for accommodation, a service that brings buyers and sellers together, but one that doesn't do background checks and might attract the odd conmerchant. Make sure you read airbnb.co.uk/safety - Airbnb's Trust & Safety Centre - before you commit to anything. 6. British Airways Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch BA was quick to embrace the power of iOS, and its BA app does everything you'd expect with the minimum of fuss. There are downloadable maps for the world's bigger airport terminals, a very fast search engine that doesn't try to lead you to the most expensive options, online check-ins, Wi-Fi passwords for the airport lounge if you're a Silver or Gold Executive Club member and up-to-date information about arrivals and departures. The app even doubles as a boarding card - it enables you to download and display a machine-readable boarding pass that'll satisfy security and get you on board the aircraft. If you're in the Executive Club, you can also use the app to store and display all your future bookings - membership is free and, of course, you can join from inside the app. It's typically BA: smart, stylish and efficient without fuss or faffing around. 7. Travel List Price: £1.49 / $1.99 Works with: iPhone, iPod touch If you've ever got to a destination only to discover that you forgot to pack your pants, you'll see the value of Travel List immediately. This useful app lets you put together a list of everything you need and ensures you pack it. As you pack, you tick items off the list, and if you attempt to leave with items still unticked, the app will sound an alarm to alert you. Travel List comes pre-populated with most items - shirts, t-shirts, dresses, makeup, personal care, gadgets, chargers and so on - and you can, of course, add your own items if the developer hasn't included them already. In a nice touch, you can copy any existing packing lists to new destinations or trips, because there are some things (underwear, passports, sun cream) that might appear on every list you make. It also syncs over iCloud, letting you update your lists from any iOS device or Mac - perfect if you're making a list between devices. 8. Jets - Flight & Seat Advisor Price: £1.99 / $2.99 Works with: iPhone, iPod touch These days, many airlines allow you to choose your own seat - charging handsomely for the privilege, of course - but how do you know what you're paying for? Enter Jets, an app that can make the difference between travelling in comfort and being unable to stand up when your plane lands. Simply enter the name of your airline, pick the plane you'll be flying in, and Jets shows you exactly what each seat does. You'll see which ones recline and which ones don't; which ones have the most legroom; which ones are next to the food preparation area or the toilets and which ones have funny little tray tables and nowhere to put your stuff. The app knows most but not all airlines - so Ryanair, BMI Baby and EasyJet are there, but not Jet2 - but if you can find out what kind of plane you'll be on, you can see the seating plan and make your booking based on the standard seating plans. 9. Google Maps Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch Google Maps isn't just a great app to have on holiday (although you need to watch out for data roaming charges if you're using it to navigate while abroad) - it's a great app to help you plan your holiday, too. Google's driving directions are superb, and we've found its estimates of driving times to be very accurate - and that means the app's a great way to plan days out or road trips, exploring different options and zooming in to see what the terrain is like. You can also use it to prevent disappointment by switching to satellite view and/or Street View to get a really good look at potential places to stay. That way, you can see if the location is really as unspoilt and idyllic as the brochure blurb suggests - or if it's between an army firing range and a sewage treatment plant. The combination of Google Maps and TripAdvisor can really help you avoid a nightmare holiday. 10. EasyJet Mobile Price: Free Works with: iPhone, iPod touch One day, every airline will embrace Apple's Passbook and make travelling that little bit less annoying, but for now, the British ones prefer to have their own proprietary apps, if they offer apps at all. EasyJet is one of the airlines that has embraced apps, and its EasyJet Mobile app enables you to find and book flights; add options such as specific seats; sports equipment or extra baggage; see the status of your flight on the day and book additional items such as hotels. The app works well enough, but it's not ideal for people who like to think long term - when we tried to book flights four months ahead, the app listed outbound flights, but no return ones. There are also some curious omissions, so, for example, you can't use the app to check in online, and you can't use it instead of a paper boarding card. It's more of a travel booking app than a travel app. Related Stories Cook: Just because Android is bigger, doesn't mean it's winning European commission questioning if Apple coerced mobile networks May 31st 2013, 20:58 The European commission is investigating claims that Apple used its considerable influence in the mobile world to bend network operators to its will, said a report today. According to the Guardian, the European competition authority is sending questionnaires to mobile networks asking whether they were coerced by Apple into anticompetitive behavior. The questionnaire asks whether companies are required to purchase a minimum number of iPhones, whether they're forced to agree to treat the iPhone preferentially and other questions that could reveal unfair terms set by Apple. The document also asks about any technical limitations Apple may be imposing on the iPhone on certain networks. Apple could be in trouble The questionnaire is prefaced by an explanation that the European commission "is currently investigating alleged anti-competitive behavior in the EU/European economic area… relating to the distribution of Apple's smartphones ('iPhones') and the limitation or exclusion from use of technical functions on 'iPhones.'" Regardless of how the documents are filled out, it would be difficult to prove that Apple is in fact the dominant force in the EU, as Samsung is actually the top phone maker. On the other hand, Apple's influence on the market is undeniable. The iPhone maker could be found in violation of article 101/102 of the treaty on the functioning of the European Union and article 53/54 of the European Economic Area agreement, which have to do with competition and anti-trust laws. When will the next iPhone be revealed? Whether it's the iPhone 5S or the iPhone 6, TechRadar has all the rumors in one convenient place. Opinion: Why HTC shouldn't make the T6 phablet May 31st 2013, 15:29 What's this, another one for the oversized smartphone bandwagon? But before HTC jumps headfirst into the over-hyped and badly named "phablet" market, perhaps it should take a minute to read this. In theory, a handset with a seriously huge display is great. Samsung, ZTE, Huawei and LG are all churning these things out - but that doesn't mean this is the right direction for HTC. One and only HTC has already got a hero handset, and it should be fixing all its attention there. The HTC One is only the third phone ever to win a five star review on TechRadar. This is the mobile to get the Taiwanese firm back to the top. So why launch a monstrously huge handset which will undoubtedly overshadow the HTC One - especially when the One needs its full share of the limelight? Check out our HTC One review Launching the much rumoured HTC T6 will only distract consumers from the flagship phone. And while the HTC One has seen decent sales, it hasn't reached Samsung Galaxy S4 levels of 10 million in less than a month. HTC has no reason for complacency. Big enough It's worth noting that the HTC One isn't exactly a small handset anyway, with a more than serviceable 4.7-inch full HD display. Does anyone really need any more than this from a smartphone? A 5.5-inch Samsung Galaxy Note 2 or 6.1-inch Huawei Ascend Mate might sound tempting, but get one of these porkers in your palm and you'll see what I mean when I say it's just too much. I'd probably recommend the HTC One to anyone trying to decide between it and a bigger option. That, coupled with the Note 2's dominance, means that there's very little reason to believe the T6 has a market at all. Range down If HTC is looking for a big win in the mobile market without cannibalising the the sales of its flagship, it needs to start by thinking smaller. The mid and low-end regions of the industry are overflowing with various Android and Windows Phone devices, but if HTC can bring what it's learned from the One to smaller, more affordable handsets it could be onto a winner. Currently there's no standout phone in either the budget or mid-tier arenas and if HTC can nail both, the payoff could be huge - even huger than an ungainly phablet screen. HTC has history in the lower levels of the mobile world. I loved the One S when it launched last year - it was the perfect example of a mid-range smartphone - although the likes of the One V, Desire X and Desire C were less of a draw. HTC needs to concentrate on building a solid range of three or four handsets which span the main price points in the market. Only when it's cemented a respectable position across all tiers should it look at pushing the mobile boundaries. The T6 won't ruin HTC, but it won't help either. The One deserves to be the king of mobiles, so why hide it behind another ridiculous lump of a phablet? Smartphones are continuing to grow and there doesn't seem to be an end in sight. We ask "just how big can they get?" Related Stories Updated: Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini officially unveiled Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini release date, specs and features Huawei Ascend W2 leaks again, this time with a stylish design UPDATED: Best Sprint Phone: seven we recommend LG could be working on the Nexus 5 after all

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