Project Treble to fix Android software update problems

Project Treble to fix Android software update problems

If you have an old Android phones, you now how dire the software update situation is. Android updates arrive late, sometimes never, bugs following the update are not always fixed in time, and - unless you have a Google Pixel phone - it's just one big frustration.

Google has tried for years to fix this, but it might finally succeed in 2018 with Project Treble. This codename stands behind a massive push to make it easier for Android phone makers to update their phones. It comes as part of Android 8.0 Oreo, but most devices that will be updated to Oreo will not get the feature (we know Samsung's Note 8 and S8 will not). This means that we have to wait for the new phones late 2018 with hopes that they will finally bring those update improvements.

Simply Good Food TV now available in the apple and android app store.

Simply Good Food TV is the world first dedicated mobile app food TV channel. The very best of food TV programs from all over the world all in one place in just a few clicks.  Imagine all your favourite chefs and recipes with a few simple clicks, from simple how to instructions, great food ideas to some of the best factual cooking programmes from all over the world.

So if you are baking bakes with Mich Turner or chilling out with Jamie Oliver in Italy the Simply Good Food TV app will have it all for you.

The app has been design not just to look good but is very easy to use with a simple search function and easy navigation.   There are thousands of hours of great cooking programs with a section on baking, what’s cooking and how to,  from how to fry an egg to roasting a succulent chicken.

The app will be updated monthly with hundreds of new video and the most exciting part is we will be making brand new exclusive videos with exciting new programs like

Some of the great chefs who will be making new shows are:

 

·         Mich Turner

·         Peter Sidwell

·         Jon Fell

·         Theo Michaels

·         Nikki Walsh and more.

To find the app go to the app store and search for Simply Good Food TV or have a look at our website.

http://www.simplygoodfood.tv

The new Angolan police app now available in nthe apple and android store

The Angolan police app for the general public is now available for the iphone. This app allows users some unique functions at the click of a button.

Some of the unique features are.

·         SOS button, no matter where in the country you are only  click away from safety.

·         Live updates for lost people.

·         Live updates for wanted criminals.

·         Find your closest police station

·         Report a crime

The main feature is the SOS button, if you press this in the main HQ for the Police a map appears with your details requesting assistance.  The controller can find the closes police person to you and tell them exactly where you are transferring your location to the police man and he can come and find you.  If you change location the system keep track of you no matter where you go.

Android

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.policia

 

Apple

https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/policia-nacional-de-angola/id910417304?ls=1&mt=8

PS4 comes to android phones

Sony's latest smartphones and tablets can stream PlayStation 4 video games.

Owners will be able to attach the new devices to an existing PS4 controller via a special mount to play titles powered by the console's processors.

Until now this "remote play" facility had only been offered to the firm's PlayStation Vita handheld console.

Experts said the feature should help Sony's kit stand out from Android rivals at a time when competition is intensifying.

But despite the popularity of the PS4, they added, the move was likely to have only a slight impact on sales.

The Japanese company also unveiled a new smartwatch and a fitness tracker at a press conference in Berlin, ahead of the start of the Ifa tech show.

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Forget the Android Auto Alliance and Apple CarPlay: Get a connected car now!

 

Google, Apple and Nokia have spent the past few years working on the ultimate connected car, but you don’t need to wait years to kit your car out with gadgets and apps. There are loads of things you can do to make your journey better, from stereos that sync effortlessly with your smartphone to apps that turn your phone into music streaming sat-nav device. Read on to find out how to get CarPlay-like tech here and now!

Oxygen Audio O Car head unitThere are loads of car stereos out there that hook up to your smartphone wirelessly, but not many ditch a screen completely in favour of your handset. The Oxygen Audio O Car stereo does just that, with your iPhone clipping into the head unit and a companion app letting you control the stereo from the phone’s touchscreen. It may not be quite as elegant as CarPlay or the Google Auto Alliance, but it’s not far off!

The in-car personal assistant

Last year we showed you ways you could control the tech in your car by voice alone, but things have come on in leaps and bounds since then. If you want to use your smartphone, you’ll now be able to choose from other digital assistants as well as Siri, with Cortana on Windows Phone and Google Now on Android both letting you make searches, send text messages and a whole lot more all without touching a button on your phone.

The perfect Car App

If you have a Windows Phone, there are few apps better suited to driving than Nokia Car App. One of the simplest and easy to use apps we’ve ever tried, Nokia Car App removes all the clutter, setting up a faux Start Screen with just three buttons on it. Even when you’re driving along, it would be easy to tap a button to launch Spotify, HERE Drive or any other Windows Phone app, without worrying about hitting the wrong one or needing to take your eyes off the road for precious seconds.

Find your way home

Whatever phone or tablet you go for, you’ll be spoiled for choice when it comes to sat-nav apps from Android, iOS and Windows Phone. Go for a smartphone like the Nokia Lumia 930 and you won’t even need to download additional apps – HERE Drive is included as part of the package, and you can add free offline mapping for anywhere in the world. Both Apple and Android offer free turn-by-turn navigation apps as well, in the form of Apple Maps and Google Maps, respectively, and there are also plenty of paid for options too. If you don’t mind paying, apps don’t get much more comprehensive or easy to use than TomTom’s smartphone packages.

Apps apps apps

Connected tech like CarPlay promises to bring a host of prominent apps to the big screen in your car, but they’re all apps you can already get for your smartphone and tablet. All you need is a universal cradle to hold your device in place, a suitable means to charge your phone or tablet on the go, and a regular car stereo with Bluetooth or an Aux-in lead. Once you’ve connected your smartphone to your stereo, you’ll be able to stream music using Spotify and other services, listening to your favourite tracks through your car’s speakers! With audio streaming through your speakers, it’s even easy to set up a mini cinema in the back of the car for the kids, with apps like iPlayer and YouTube perfect for watching video on the move. Who needs CarPlay now?

Smartphone breathalyzer

Turning your car into a mobile tech fest doesn’t have to be restricted to entertainment either, with loads of cool gadgets out there that can help to keep you safe. Like the MobaBlow Bluetooth Brethalyzer, a Kickstarter gadget that works alongside your smartphone to help tell you when you’re OK to drive, or if you had a couple too many the night before and need to put the keys away for another couple of hours. And if you have drank too much, the accompanying app offers some nifty features like ‘Call a Cab’, ‘Call a Friend’ and even a ‘Find me’ feature!

Turn your iPad, Windows or Android tablet into a desktop PC replacement!

 

The Microsoft Surface Pro 3 may seem like the perfect tablet when it comes to actually doing work, but if you don’t have one, there’s loads you can do to turn your Android, Windows or iPad into a replacement for your desktop computer.

We’ve already looked at different ways you can turn your tablet into a laptop, but tablets these days are a lot more powerful. With quad-core processors and stacks of memory, gadgets like the Samsung Galaxy Tab S can be ideal replacements for your desktop PC. So read on for some of the accessories and apps you’ll be needing if you want to ditch the desktop.

The big screen!The size of the screen is one of the biggest barriers to getting work done on your tablet, and nobody want to hammer out long documents on a tiny eight or 10-inch display. Thankfully, following a recent announcement at Google’s IO conference, it’s now possible to mirror the display on your Android tablet to your HDTV with a little help from the Google Chromecast, meaning you’ll no longer be left squinting at work you’re trying to do.

Apple’s iPad offers a handy solution when it comes to wirelessly streaming content from tablet to the big screen, in the form of the Apple TV. Meanwhile, the Windows 8.1 RT-based Nokia Lumia 2520 may not offer wireless screen mirroring, but it does cram in a micro HDMI-D port, making it easy to hook up to a big screen via cable.

Beating the Surface at typing

There’s no point in viewing content on your TV if you still have to resort to typing on a tiny touchscreen keypad though. Thankfully, there are loads of Bluetooth keyboards out there that are perfect for your tablet. Check out the Archos Ultrathin Bluetooth Keyboard for the Apple iPad, for example, or the Ultrathin Keyboard Folio from Logitech for your Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Productivity apps

If you’re serious about replacing your desktop computer, one of the first bits of software you’ll be needing is an office suite. Few are more accomplished the Microsoft Office, and the app is free for your Android tablet.

It’s just as easy to add Microsoft Office to your Apple iPad, but unfortunately, unlike your iPhone, you’ll still need to pay if you want to edit documents in addition to simply reading them. How much? Prices start at $70 (£43) for one computer and one iPad.

The Nokia Lumia 2520 goes one better, and it already has everything you need to start editing documents the second you take it out of the box. A full version of Microsoft Office – including Word and Excel – is pre-installed on the Lumia, so you’ll be good to say goodbye to the desktop as soon as you hook up to a proper keyboard and screen.

Add some tunes

If you’re working in a home office, the chances are you’ll also spend plenty of time listening to music. You’ll be needing speakers for your tablet then, letting you get the most out of Pandora, Spotify or your local music collection. Check out the NudeAudio Move L Bluetooth speaker as a great wireless solution for your iPad, Windows or Android tablet. We also loved the Creative Sound Blaster Roar SR20, which is another compact yet powerful wireless speaker.

You can print too…

Just being able to work on your tablet sometimes isn’t enough, and there’s a good chance you’ll want to print something every now and again. Thankfully there are loads of wireless options around, letting you connect straight from your tablet and print all without the need for cables.

The HP Envy 5530 e-All-in-One printer is a great example, offering integrated Wi-Fi to let you connect to a home network, or even letting you use Wireless Direct to let you beam data straight from your tablet to the printer. Perfect for the home office!

www.easyappsbusiness.com

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You’ll soon be able to control Google Glass with your mind!

 

Google’s Glass Explorer program has just kicked off in the UK, and thanks to its wider availability, plenty more apps have sprung up for Google’s wearable – including one that lets you control Glass with your mind! It’s called MindRDR, and with it, you’ll be able to snap a photo and share it to your favourite social network with just a thought! Read on for all the details!

Navigating through Google Glass with your voice or by using the awkward touch panel on the side, can sometimes be a pain, but what if you could simply carry out actions just by thinking? That’s what London-based design studio This Place is aiming to enable, all thanks to its new MindRDR app. Simply by thinking, you can snap a photo using Google Glass, and then share it to Facebook or Twitter with just a few brainwaves – the only drawback is that you need some extra kit to get it to work.

The first version of the free app links your already pricey £1,000 Google Glass wearable with a Neurosky MindWave EEG headset, which will set you back another £70 or so, and it’s an extra item to wear on your head. The MindWave also only measures four different senses out of a possible 18, meaning functionality is just limited at the moment – but it does open up the possibilities for the future, and as the app is open source, you could see even more apps pop up that let you use Google Glass with just your brain.

We’re excited to see where this app and hardware will take us in the future, and you could soon be seeing a fully integrated mind-reading solution too – we know we can’t wait to get our brains on it. No doubt you can expect to see more developments with the MindRDR app, and we’ll be sure to keep you updated on the latest as soon as we hear it.

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Android on everything: the oddest gadgets armed with Google's OS

 

Android is on practically everything. There’s no getting away from the world’s most popular mobile operating system, it’s on phones and tablets from the likes of Samsung, HTC, Sony and many more. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. What about all the other gadgets and gizmos that run Google’s open source OS? If it’s got a processor and an electrical supply, the chances are someone’s hacked it on there – join us as we take a look at five of the weirdest and most wonderful devices that have been souped up with Android, proving Google’s OS is not just for phones.

The Android-powered microwave

Put your tablets and phones away, and carry around this microwave running all your favourite apps instead. Thanks to the fine folks at Touch Revolution, the company has kitted out a microwave with an Android brain, meaning you can whack on Spotify while you’re waiting for your pizza to reheat up, or set the timer to play your favourite song of choice when your food is ready to go. Perfect.

Exercise even smarter

You might have seen spinning bikes in the gym that have computers attached to them, but they’re not the smartest two wheelers in the gym, especially if you place one of them next to the Peloton exercise bike. This Android 4.1-powered static cycle hit its goal on Kickstarter last month, and packs in apps, games, the web and more on a personal training machine that’s armed with a 21.5-inch 1080p full HD screen. You’ll be able to get exercising with your favourite tunes, ride with friends over video chat, tune into live spinning classes, or even beam down Netflix while you ride. What more could you want?

The ultimate fridge for your recipes

Here’s the perfect companion to your Android microwave: Samsung’s T9000 Four-Door Android-powered fridge packs in Epicurious and Twitter skills, letting you grab recipes where your food is stored or catch up your own news feed while you look for the OJ. There’s also Evernote included on the fridge too, letting you jot down what groceries you need on your fridge, and pick them back up on your phone while you’re out – it’s the ultimate fridge for your smart-connected home, and we just wish it’d arrive sooner as there’s currently no release date in sight.

The smart espresso maker

While it’s only a concept, it’s one that we’d love to see turned into reality. Picture an espresso maker with a smartphone brain that can run all your favourite apps, and even scan QR codes from specially designed coffee capsules. Meet MetaTrend’s Appresso, a concept kitchen gizmo that tells you all about your chosen coffee brew, and will even play a specific tune based on the pod you’ve picked. Let’s see this one turned into reality!

The phone with two screens

We couldn’t leave an Android round-up without at least mentioning a phone, and it’s the Kyocera Echo that takes the oddest handset prize. It’s a dual screen device that lets you run two different full screen apps at the same time or use both as one large screen for all your phone or pseudo-tablet needs. An optimised mode lets each display complement the other: you could run full-screen email on one screen, with a keyboard on the other, for instance. We’ve not seen another device like it since it first came out in 2011, but here’s hoping we could see one soon.

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Samsung Galaxy Gear: Turbo charged Android smartwatch arrives next month!

 

It looks like Samsung’s got a gadget packed September for us: as well as the heavily rumoured Galaxy Note 3 phablet, according to a new report, it’s set to reveal its own take on the smartwatch, an Android powered wrist computer that can even make calls.

Bloomberg reports today that Samsung will release its smartwatch, the Galaxy Gear, next month, on the same day as the Galaxy Note 3 – expected to be 4 September, just before the start of the IFA trade show in Germany. The device will run Google’s Android operating system, browser the web, show email and even make calls.

The report claims that while the Samsung Galaxy Gear we’ll be seeing next month won’t pack a flexible screen, the South Korean tech giant remains hard at work on a version that will bend, perhaps to better fit your wrist.

Regardless, the Samsung Galaxy Gear will face stiff competition. Many indie start-ups are hard at work on their own smartwatches after successful Kickstarter and Indiegogo crowdsourcing campaigns, while rival Sony has already announced its own SmartWatch 2, due out at the same time. Then of course there’s the 800 pound gorilla in the room, Apple, which is also believed to be hard at work on a timepiece that connects to your iPhone, and may even use Siri for voice control.

Which will you be rooting for? Do we even need smartwatches? Tell us where you stand in the comments below!

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Edible QR Code to Raise Awareness

 

San Diego-based Harney Sushi is printing quick response, or QR, codes on rice paper wafers using edible, water-based ink. The sushi rolls are wrapped in the wafers, making it easy for smart phone-carrying diners to scan in the codes and learn more about the fish they’re consuming.

The QR codes direct diners to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s FishWatch website, a clearinghouse for seafood news and sustainability facts.

“Sustainability is based on a simple principle – meeting today’s needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs, for example, using a resource but leaving some for the future,” the NOAA says on its FishWatch website

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Samsung Galaxy Note 3 coming next month!

 

 

Phablet fans, hold on to your styluses: the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is coming. Rumours about the next entry in Samsung’s hit series of giant Android phones with epic battery life have been whirling around for months, but now a new report has pegged it with a release date just a month away!

South Korean news site Asia Economic reports that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 will be unveiled on 4 September, two days before the big IFA gadget expo – where the Galaxy Note 2 was revealed last year – kicks off in Berlin, so we’re expecting the huge slate that makes calls will be the star of the show.

The report says we can expect Samsung’s much rumoured smartwatch to arrive on the same day as the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 – given the latter’s likely enormous screen (The Galaxy Note 2 display measured a huge 5.5 inches across) we could see them making helpful bedfellows: phablet for on the sofa, wrist display for alerts when you’re on the go.

Samsung’s sold scores of millions of Galaxy Note phones in the last two years, but it’s now facing tough competition in the new “phablet” category, with the likes of Sony, Huawei and Asus all outing their own takes on the plus-sized smartphone. Will the Galaxy Note 3 help keep Samsung on top? Tell us what you think in the comments below.

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Five amazing iOS 7 secrets Apple forgot to mention

 

Five amazing iOS 7 secrets Apple forgot to mention

You may have seen iOS 7’s snazzy new look and natty new features, but chances are you haven’t seen all it can do. Apple didn’t demo all its new skills at the announcement, and it’s made developers sign a lip-buttoning non-disclosure agreement that swears them to secrecy. Well, it does in theory, anyway.

Plenty of developers have been only too happy to spill the beans, it seems, because since they got their hands on it, we know a lot more than Apple originally let on. So let’s take a look at what else Apple’s next operating system can do.

1 It can controlled hands-free

That’s right, using iOS 7, you’ll be able to control your iPhone or iPad using just your head. You can set functions to activate when you move your head to the left or the right. So a jerk to the left could be set to act as a touch on an icon, while one to the right can be used as the Home button. Switch on the option in the Settings menu, and the software will cycle through every icon on screen, highlighting each in turn. Just move your head to select whichever is highlighted, and there you go, hands-free controls!

2 The icons are alive

This one might remind you of Windows Phone 8’s Live Tiles, but that’s no bad thing. The icons on the home screen are animated, meaning you can see certain info at a glance. Need to check the time? The clock app ticks away right there on the home screen, so you don’t need to open the app. This also has the added bonus of making the home screen seem more alive, and less static than iOS 6.

3 It’s easier to find that crucial email

Apple has been hard at work adding colour to iOS 7. In fact, some might say it’s been a little heavy-handed with the paintbrushes. But in this case, the colour comes into its own. Every email in a conversation shows up in a different colour font to the last, so if you’re scrolling through a long email chain, it’s easy to see when someone new chips in. Which will make finding that crucial email easier than ever.

4 Maps acts as more of a satnav

Apple’s Maps was an unmitigated disaster when it launched, prompting Apple to publish an apology admitting it wasn’t up to scratch. But it’s gradually getting better. And with iOS 7, Apple has added some new satnav features to make it more useful than ever. You’ll be able to set your direction type to driving or walking, just like Google Maps. There’s no option for public transport yet, which Google Maps offers, but Apple could add it before iOS 7’s official launch.

5 It can zoom in while recording video

Fancy getting in closer to the action while you’re videoing? Now you can, with iOS 7. Despite the fact iOS products lack an optical zoom, you can still bring the action closer by just pinching the screen while you’re videoing. And there you go, you’re zooming in. Anyone using Vine or Instagram’s video service will no doubt find some creative uses for it.

Nokia's 41-megapixel monster, more Surface tablets incoming, and more:

 

Nokia's 41-megapixel monster, more Surface tablets incoming, and more: Gadget Digest

It’s the end of the week, and that means it’s time for the gadget digest. Missed some of the week’s top tech stories? Or just fancy a refresher of what’s been going on in the gadget world? We’ve got all the stories you need to know about right here, served up in bite-size chunks for your delectation.

Nokia Lumia 1020: 41-megapixel monster phone unleashed!

Nokia’s 41-megapixel Windows Phone 8 blower was the worst-kept secret in tech, and now it’s official. It looks a lot like standard Lumia fare, until you turn it around and see that 41-megapixel legend emblazoned on the back. That’s the same megapixel count as the company’s previous 808 PureView. With this and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Zoom, is the compact camera dead?

BlackBerry A10 leaks: Biggest BlackBerry ever!

BlackBerry has a new phone up its sleeve, though it’ll have to be a pretty wide sleeve to fit this 5-incher in. The A10 – seen here in a leaked snap – is the biggest blower BlackBerry has ever made. But what’s with the screen resolution? It’s reportedly stuck at a paltry 720p, which will pale in the face of the 1080p displays seen on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy S4. Must do better, BlackBerry.

Microsoft teases even more Surface tablets are on the way!

Microsoft has let slip that more Surface tablets are coming next year. Updates to both the Surface RT and Surface Pro will be with us soon, the Redmond-based company accidentally revealed in a presentation. So what can we expect? Will they be powered by Intel’s Haswell processors? Will they run Windows 8.1? We’ll just have to wait to find out.

You can play PS4 games on any console!

That’s right, games for Sony’s next console can be played on any PS4. This is thanks to the company’s ‘play as you download feature’. So if you’re round a friend’s house, you can access your full digital library of titles from their console, as long as they have an internet connection, that is. Bonus. Microsoft really has some catching up to do with its Xbox One.

LG’s next-gen G2 gets leaked again!

This week, LG sent out an invite to the launch of its G2 handset, but the mobile has already leaked a couple of times. The latest snap shows it looking a lot like the Nexus 4, with the same rounded corners. And there are no buttons on the side, with the volume controls on the back under the camera. This is one seriously slim mobile, we can’t wait to get our hands on it.

www.tell-me-first.com

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Sony SmartWatch 2 unveiled: Tick tock, Apple!

 

Alongside the gigantic Xperia Z Ultra, Sony had one more surprise for us this morning: the Sony SmartWatch 2, the second intelligent timepiece for Android phones from the company. Is it time to finally retire the Rolex or kick out the Casio?

Like its Xperia siblings, the Sony SmartWatch 2 is water resistant and carries the same angular design, and it carries many of their smarts under the bonnets too. You can pair it with your Android phone easily with one tap via NFC, and use the 1.6-inch touchscreen to read notifications from supported apps and even Facebook.

It does much more than deliver notifications this time round though: there’s an on-screen battery indicator to show when you’re running low on juice, and an on-screen user interface that looks just like Android to make navigation easy. You can use the watch to do everything from field calls to taking photos remotely with your phone, controlling presentations and even pulling up a map on a bike ride. Don’t like the strap? You can swap it out for any other 24mm band that you like.

We liked the idea of Sony’s original SmartWatch, but in practice it simply wasn’t reliable enough to justify the price: with any luck, Sony’s fixed those problems this time round. The Sony SmartWatch 2 goes on sale in September, price still TBC – your move, Apple.

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Five of the best apps to fix iOS

 

Apple’s iOS 7 update is still a few months away, along with its new looks and under-the-hood-tweaks, and if you feel like iOS 6 just isn’t cutting it on your iPhone or iPad anymore, we wouldn’t blame you. If you’re tired of the inaccuracies of Apple Maps or you just need a better email client than Apple Mail, we’ve got just the apps for you. Read on for our top five picks that will give your iPhone a much needed refresh.

Maps – Google Maps

Apple Maps is still a sore app for many iPhone users, but Google has stepped up to the plate and delivered an even better Maps application than it originally provided on previous iOS versions. It comes complete with local Google search, voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation, public transport directions, Street View, traffic updates and even more. Who needs Apple Maps?

Browser – Google Chrome

There are a few different options to Safari in the app store for all your browsing needs, including Opera and Mercury, but Google Chrome is easily the best alternative you can find in the app store, especially if you use it as your main desktop browser too. Sync your Google account across your Chrome browsers, and you’ll get all your bookmarks and history in one place, plus you can sync over currently open tabs on each device letting you pull up a website super quick instead of hassling about – absolutely perfect if you do a ton of browsing on your mobile.

Five of the best social reader apps

Mail – Mailbox

Stylish email app Mailbox edges out Sparrow and the official Gmail client as our top pick for an Apple Mail replacement, thanks to its simple and fast way to get through countless emails in a particularly slick way. Mailbox plugs right into your Gmail account, and once you’re set up you can start to slide away emails with a flick of the thumb to delete or archive them, while you can rearrange your mail how you like in your inbox and even “snooze” nagging emails to a later date for when you want to get around to them. There’s push support too, so you’ll never be away from your mail.

Notes – Evernote

Some people love the simplistic nature of Apple’s Notes, but some dislike the fake notepad style of it and lack of power user features. While it might do the job for a quick list for when it comes to doing the shopping, you might want to sync your notes to your computer for future reference or for a project. Enter Evernote, an extremely powerful note app that lets you chuck in anything you want, ranging from full resolution photos, rich text and multiple ways of arranging all your notes. Evernote’s killer feature is that syncs over to the desktop application through the cloud so you’ll always have your notes handy, and you can even clip items from your web browser to dunk into your Evernote collection. A bit of power comes in handy, even when you’re doing the shopping, right?

Camera – Camera+

Forget the filter-focused Instagram, ditch Hipstamatic and toss away Apple’s own Camera, as Taptaptap’s Camera+ rules supreme in the photo snapping department, packing in a myriad of features including a self timer, manual controls, plus a stabiliser function to let you get the best shot. While it does come with filters, some of them enhance your photos in ways that Instagram could only dream of, plus you can add borders, effects and even share straight to your social network of choice. Even if you don’t need to make use of any of the effects or filters, the extra additions Camera+ adds to your phone’s snapper makes it a better pick than Apple’s own Camera app.

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Wimbledon serves mobile app, push notification to drive engagement with attendees

 

This year’s annual Wimbledon tennis championships will have a dedicated mobile application that will enable attendees to track their favorite players and stay abreast of all the happenings via streaming video and radio.

Users will be able to track up to ten tennis players and receive push notifications on their progress throughout the tournament. Additionally, the app features an interactive map enabling users to find restrooms, restaurants and other amenities.

“They are trying to create a way to deeply engage tennis enthusiasts - those who are attending the events at Wimbledon as well as those who are not,” said Coleen Carey, vice president of product marketing at Urban Airship, Portland.

“They’ve created a really great experience that is compelling from a content perspective with a lot of video and radio, and this is the one-stop shop via the mobile device for everything you want to know about the Wimbledon games as well as deeply personalizing that by allowing an individual to go in and track their favorite players,” she said.

“It is really taking all of the benefits of mobile and the fact that not only is this a major worldwide event but a local event for those who attend and creating all points of information via that app.”

Urban Airship is providing the push notifications for the Championships Wimbledon 2013 app, which was built in partnership with the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club and IBM.

Real-time updates
The Wimbledon Championships take place June 24 - July 5.

Custom mobile apps designed specifically for live events are becoming more common as mobile adoption grows and organizers discover that mobile can drive deep engagement with attendees, who are away from home and their desktop computers but still want to be connected to information about an event.

For big events such as Wimbledon, push messaging can be used to remind users when a specific performance or match begins or inform users when there has been a change in the schedule.

Push messaging has also been used at several events in the past year to inform attendees in real-time when a dangerous thunderstorm was forecasted, for example.

Inherently mobile
Events such as Bonnaroo, Lollapalooza, South by Southwest and last year’s London Olympics have all offered custom mobile apps that included push messaging with good results.

For example, the Lollapalooza app saw an opt-in rate for push messaging of around 90 percent. Additionally, users opened the app on average 15 times per day.

“Events are inherently mobile and they are inherently location centric,” Ms. Carey said. “Mobile provides an ability to reach attendees at events in ways that we have never been able to do before.

“Because events are mobile in nature and facilitated around a location, you get the real-time nature of the device, you get the value,” she said. “We have found that for users at an event, the event itself is very important to them so the response rates and the value of that have become really apparent.”

www.tell-me-first.com

Vodafone Smart Mini gives you Android Jelly Bean for just £50!

Outside the excitement of E3 and Apple’s WWDC conference, Vodafone has had its busy worker bees hard at work, and this week, the company is launching a low-priced mini-marvel that’s packing a lot of software goodies under its pint-sized hood, all at a similarly small price too. Say hello to the Vodafone Smart Mini, a £50 handset that’s armed with Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Is this your next budget phone?

The Vodafone Smart Mini won’t cost you much, but that doesn’t mean the phone’s potential is as small as its price tag. Far from it: it might just be the perfect phone for the younger ones in the family, or if you need a temporary, yet capable smartphone, as the Smart Mini is an extremely effective mini handset that comes complete with a 3.5-inch touchscreen, a two megapixel camera and a 1GHz processor that’ll keep things humming along nicely.

There’s also 4GB of internal memory to get you started, but you can upgrade your storage options up to 32GB with a microSD card, and you’ve also got access to all of the hundreds of thousands of apps on the Google Play store. It also comes with the usual 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS connections to keep you connected, and while it might not be a HTC One superphone, you can’t go wrong for £50 on Pay as you go if you need a solid, cheap handset right now.

Is the Smart Mini the budget smartphone you’ve been looking for, or would you rather shell out for an expensive phone? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below www.tell-me-first.com

iOS 7: Massive iPhone software revamp and iTunes Radio announced

 

Apple promised us iOS 7 would be on show at WWDC this week, and it made good on that pledge today, with CEO Tim Cook revealing the latest version of its iPhone software on stage at its opening keynote – it’s the biggest change to iOS, ever. Read on for the details.

You can’t miss it: the big news in iOS 7 is the all-new look. After six very samey visual iterations, iOS 7 sports a slick new lick of paint. Everything looks brand new, including a new slide-to-unlock, flat and redesigned icons, a new slide-up control panel, brand new fonts across the board and a whole different palette of colours. There’s a heavy use of translucency across the OS, and each icon has been redesigned from the ground up – it all looks very, very pretty.

The whole home screen interface responds to the phone’s movements with a sliding parallax background. As you move the device in your hand, it tracks your motion.

All the core apps have been redesigned too: gone is the wood and green felt from apps like Game Center, and that carries across the whole system from clocks to fonts and even the calculator. Mail has been given a facelift and includes a new gesture where you can swipe messages straight to the trash.

But it’s functional too – the Notification Center is now available on the lockscreen too, and there’s a handy new accompanying feature, Control Center, which packs easy to access toggles for your most used settings such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and orientation lock.

Multitasking too has been given a shake-up too, as iOS 7 lets you multitask with all your apps without a drop in your battery life, and your phone quietly makes use of your uptime to intelligently update apps in the background.

Apple is also taking on Instagram with its update to the camera app. There’s a couple of new options stacked next to the video and photo modes, including square and panoramic, the former which takes Instagram-style square photos while the latter lets you stitch together photos right on the fly. You can also organise your images by Moments, sorted by location, month or year.

Siri meanwhile gets a new look, and a few IQ points too: the internet assistant has been given an all-new facelift. You can tweak your settings across the phone right with Siri, as well as search Twitter and Wikipedia.

Lastly, there’s iTunes Radio, baked right into iOS 7, iTunes on PC and Mac, and Apple TV. Apple is touting the service as a whole new way to discover music, and it’s built right into the music app on your phone. Just like Pandora, it sports a bunch of featured stations, including what’s trending on Twitter, and once you’ve found a station you like, you can also share it with a friend or even start a new one based on that song – or even buy it, if you like. The service is ad-supported, but if you’re an iTunes Match subscriber, it’s completely free. It’s US only to start with, but heading elsewhere in the near future.

Want a taste of it? It’s available as a developer beta for iPhone today, with support for iPad on the way – it’ll work on every iPhone from the fourth generation on, and should be out later this year.

www.easyappsbusiness.com

Five of the best social reader apps

 

Need to keep up on your reading? Need help just deciding what to read? You’ve come to the right place. While tablets and mobiles with internet connections have made it easier than ever to read the news or even a novel on the bus, it can be tough to know where to even start with so much to choose from online.

That’s where social readers, apps that pull together the must read articles from your friends on social networks and other sources, come in. Grab one of these and you’ll never be bored when you’re stuck on the train again. Here are five of the best social readers for your mobile or tablet that will keep you on top of all your feeds.

Flipboard

Flipboard is one of the most jam-packed reader apps available right now: it takes your social feeds and favourite sites and turns them into a gorgeous digital magazine that’s tailored just for you to flip through. A recent update to the app now lets you even curate your own magazines, through either saving articles within the app or through a bookmarklet on your desktop browser, plus you can share them with friends too and subscribe to other people’s magazines.

Pulse

While it’s similar to Flipboard in that it takes your news feeds and spruces them up, Pulse is a little bit different in that it’s just for reading news and not pulling things into a magazine. Pulse stacks up your feeds in a visual, mosaic layout that’s consistent throughout the mobile apps and the online site. Sharing is a doddle on the mobile apps, with Instapaper, Pocket and Evernote functions, but it’s a bit limited on the desktop, with only Facebook and Twitter sharing.

Feedly

Feedly is great alternative to Google Reader, boasting slick mobile applications and sharing functions across the board. It’ll even suggest articles to you based on what you’ve been reading, and you can share anything you like by a single tap to Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Pocket, Instapaper, Buffer plus e-mail too. The mobile apps are slick and responsive, and the desktop versions are the next best thing once Google’s beloved news reader app shuts up shop on 1 July.

Reeder

One of the most powerful news reading apps available on iOS, Reeder takes you through your news feeds with ease and looks good doing it too with its simple interface and easy to use gestures. Tricky pages can be rendered easily through Readability, and it syncs in well with all the sharing options you could possibly need, from Twitter, Facebook, Evernote, Pocket, Quote.FM and more. The Mac and iPad versions are currently free while they play catch up to the latest 2.0 update on the £1.99 iPhone version.

Zite

Zite is available on both Android and iOS and boasts a clean, newspaper style view as well as a straightforward news feed view too that looks slick and helps you get through your news quickly. It also packs in decent sharing options through Twitter, Facebook and email.

Huawei Ascend Y300: Incredible £60 Android phone hits the UK!

 

Smartphones just keep getting cheaper and cheaper, but while we’ve seen the odd Android phone for under £60 before, none have been quite as powerful as this. Meet the Huawei Ascend Y300, a new droid with a big screen and some serious internals, all for the tenth of the price of the Samsung Galaxy S4!

Up for an upgrade but don’t fancy breaking the bank? You could do far worse than the Huawei Ascend Y300, which packs in a four-inch display (the same size as the iPhone 5, no less), a zippy dual-core 1GHz processor, and speedy, app-packed Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Around the back, there’s a five megapixel camera, so you can get your Instagram and Vine on, as with any other pricier competitor.

We’ve seen a glut of cheap Android phones of late, from the beefy Huawei Ascend G510 to Vodafone’s smaller Smart III, but this might jsut be the best combination of price, specs and size yet.

Want in? The Huawei Ascend Y300 is out today with Carphone Warehouse, priced up at £59.95 on prepay for existing customers and £69.95 for newcomers, and from just £7.50 per month on contract.