DeskNotifier – cool app lets you receive and reply to SMS messages and Android phone notifications on your PC instantly [Freeware]

DeskNotifier App for SMS messages

We don’t know about you, but we often miss important messages or SMS texts coming in to our mobile phone because we’re working on the computer in another room, or the phone is buried in a pocket or bag and we don’t hear the alert chime. Now if only there was a way to link the PC and the phone together we could avoid the problem and stay updated constantly.
 
DeskNotifier is a cool little app and computer freeware program which connects your phone and PC together, either over USB or via WiFi, so you will always receive notifications and messages even if you’re working on the computer away from the handset.

DeskNotifier App for SMS messages

To set it all up, you simply download the PC Windows software and install it, and then install a small free app on your phone. You can set the system to connect only via USB cable, or do as we did and select WiFi as your connection method, which makes things much easier. Once the computer and the phone are connected via the phone’s IP number on your network (easy to do via the menus) you’re good to go.

DeskNotifier App for SMS messages

From then on, every time your phone receives a message or notification, it will automatically be sent to your desktop via a task bar popup. The really cool thing is you can respond instantly to the SMS by clicking on the pop up and entering in the return message, which means you don’t have to touch your phone to carry on a text conversation. You can also initiate new SMS conversations using the PC as well. Very neat.

DeskNotifier App for SMS messages

The software can cope with call notifications, SMS messages, WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook and other incoming notifications, in fact most 3rd party apps. There are two versions, the free one and a $0.99c Pro version, which offers more functionality such as notification filters, password protection and file transfer between phone and PC. The software is well written and works as promised, although it is a little disconcerting to stumble across German menu text from time to time, where the developers have not finished translating properly.

We would also like the ability to store and recall past alerts and conversations, because at the moment the notifications disappear after a while and you can’t retrieve them on the computer or store them for later action. Nevertheless, despite these niggles, we’re really enjoying the new functionality, and will definitely keep this puppy installed for the duration. Definitely worth checking out!

Best iPhone and iPad apps this week

Best iPhone and iPad apps this week

Turn your iDevice into a spycam, and indulge in a sizeable dose of retro in this week’s pick of the best iOS apps.

The Other Brothers

The Other Brothers

1.99c App Store
Two brothers, moustaches, sewers, and a damsel in distress might sound rather familiar, but this modern twist on a platformer follows the story of the ‘other brothers’ Joe and Jim, racing through levels against the clock and taking on boss fights to save a girl named Tavy who’s been captured by the Mob. Calling itself the “new retro”, it features excellent 16-bit graphics but with modern mechanics and a mixture of linear and non-linear environments – though you still employ the satisfyingly retro technique of jumping on the heads of the bad guys to see them off.

Badland

Badland

$4.49 App Store
We’ve seen a number of excellent atmospheric side-scrollers recently, and the award-winning Badland is the latest. Set in a forest that has been filled with traps and obstacles, you take control of one of the forest’s rather strange-but-cutesy inhabitants. Simple one-touch controls see you dodging all manner of spinning saws, turning cogs and shooting spikes in this gorgeous-looking game – there’s even a local multiplayer mode that lets up to four people play on the same device.

Slayin

Slayin

99c App Store
Slayin is one of those games that seems quite simple in theory – but in practice it's plenty challenging. Confined to the size of your device’s screen, it’s an endless RPG that sees you simply pacing backwards and forwards, hitting enemies with your sword and avoiding their strikes when your back is turned. There are weapon upgrades and spells that you can buy as you level up, and character upgrades to unlock as well – but once you die in this game, it’s game over. Retro graphics, an old-school on-screen control pad and an excellent chiptune soundtrack only add to its simplistic charm.

Prescence by People Power

Presence by People Power

Free App Store
If you’ve got an iDevice sat at home when you’re not, this app can turn it into an instant Wi-Fi video camera, offering real-time audio and video streaming, motion detection and a two-way conversation mode. All you need to do is ensure it is connected to the internet, plug it into the power and leave it in the spot you’d like to monitor. Once you've downloaded the app onto the iDevice you carry around in your pocket, you can check in to it whenever you like, wherever you are – you can even get an alert with a short video clip every time motion is detected – handy if you’re using it as a security measure. Or if you want to see what the dog gets up to when you're out.

Press Event Reawakening Facebook Smartphone Rumors

FaceBook SmartPhone

Facebook has scheduled to hold a media event on Tuesday, reawakening rumors that the social netowork will launch its own phone.

The event, set to be held at Facebook's headquarters on January 15, is prompting - for one more time - speculations that a Facebook smartphone is on the works.

Last November reports surfaced that HTC had been working with Facebook to develop a phone, code-named the Opera UL. However, the phone never materialized Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg had denied the rumors.

TechCrunch is now claiming that the launch of a phone is imminent, indicating that "multiple sources have told us that they expect some sort of Facebook Phone to be on display on Tuesday."

iPad mini vs. Nexus 7: The debate

iPad Mini vs. Nexus 7

The iPad mini and the Google Nexus 7 aren’t the only 7-inch tablets on the market, but right now they’re the two that matter most: More buyers will be looking at those two models this holiday season than at any others, by a fair margin.

It’s hard—perhaps impossible—to compare them objectively; you can’t just compare the specs. You have to use them to truly appreciate their differences. That's why we asked Cool-Technology senior editor Chris Baron and Michael Patterson to have a little debate over the relative merits of Apple’s and Google’s little tablets. Both editors have used both of the tablets, and both experts have definite opinions about what’s good and not so good about them. Here’s how their conversation went.

The screen

Chris Baron: Reading is one of the primary reasons I use a tablet this size, and to me the iPad mini’s wider display area—4.75 inches versus the Nexus 7’s 3.75 inches—makes it a more pleasurable device for that. In both portrait and landscape orientations, pages feel more natural and readable. The Nexus 7’s display seems too narrow, as if I’m reading a tall and skinny page. For reading in landscape mode, pages feel too wide and squashed from top to bottom.

Michael Patterson: I appreciate the extra width of a larger screen too, but only for some specific uses—games with navigation controls overlaid on top of the action, for example. I actually don’t find it better for reading: It feels as if the page is too wide for books at an average font size. However, for large print, the iPad mini’s extra screen space comes in handy.
 
CB: Although I like the size of the iPad mini’s display, I have a hard time acclimating to its resolution, most likely because of my experience with the Retina display on the third-generation iPad. Pixels are evident in all text-based apps—small text in Web browsers is particularly annoying. My eyes get weary reading books on the thing because of the roughness of the text. Pixel-doubled apps look just awful. However, apps written for Retina displays and larger iPads—particularly games—can look pretty good. Photos and videos look quite nice on it, too. And here again, the wider screen makes that media feel less confined.

MP: In today’s market, I’d expect to find a relatively low-res screen like the iPad mini’s on a tablet that’s priced a lot lower—not on a major product from Apple. The market has evolved, and high pixel density—which Apple itself pioneered with the third-generation iPad—is now the norm. After using a display with higher pixel density on my phone for more than two years, I’m not willing to go backward and see all of those pixels on a tablet. The reason is simple: I spend a lot of time looking at my tablet’s display.
 
So there’s no getting around the fact that the iPad mini’s 163-pixels-per-inch resolution is not only paltry, it’s not even close to being competitive. The Nexus 7’s screen is 216 ppi; that’s not even the highest in this size class, but it is far superior to the iPad mini’s display.

Dimensions and weight

CB: The Nexus 7 is easier to hold than the iPad mini if you like to wrap your hand around your device. That’s because, again, it’s narrower than the iPad mini. If, however, you tend to hold the tablet by its edge, the iPad mini is (I find) a more comfortable device to hold, because it’s lighter. If I switch between the two, the Nexus 7 feels heavier—and, at 0.75 pound compared to the mini’s 0.68 pound, it is heavier.

MP: No question that the Nexus 7 is heavier; lighter tablets such as the iPad mini (and Barnes & Noble’s Nook HD) are friendlier to hold one-handed for long reading sessions. That said, I think the Nexus 7’s weight is still acceptable for such sessions.

Storage

CB: If you’re looking for the greatest possible capacity, the iPad mini has it at 64GB of storage; the Nexus 7 tops out at 32GB.

MP: The bigger question is whether you’ll want to spend $529 on an iPad mini to get that much storage.
 
It’s true that the Nexus 7 tops out at 32GB. And unlike most other Android tablets, the Nexus 7 has no MicroSD expansion slot, so you can’t add storage. But I will say that—like all Android tablets— the Nexus makes managing that storage space easy: Because your computer sees it as a mass storage device, you can just drag and drop content over to the tablet. (If you’re using a Mac, you’ll need to download the Android File Transfer application to access the Nexus’s storage, which doesn’t appear on the Mac’s desktop.) The iPad mini still relies primarily on iTunes to transfer content locally, as opposed to accessing it through the cloud, so I find the Nexus 7 easier to use.

Cameras

CB: The front-facing cameras on the two tablets are both 1.2 megapixels. The rear-facing camera on the Nexus 7 is…well, missing.

MP: Yup, the rear-facing camera is missing. And that is an annoying omission, although at the moment most 7-inch tablet competitors (Amazon, Barnes & Noble) lack that feature, too. The reality is that it should be present—for use with bar-code scanning, if nothing else.

Input

CB: I’m not sure either of these devices is something you’d want to type a novel on. The iPad mini gives you a bit more room. And I make more mistakes on the Nexus keyboard, although that could be because I’m more accustomed to the iPad’s keyboard. Both tablets support Bluetooth keyboards, so you can ditch the on-screen one altogether.

MP: For me, the Nexus 7 and Android get the nod here; I find the keyboard better designed and organized than the one on iOS. I agree that you’re not necessarily going to type a lot on a small tablet, but that doesn’t mean you don’t want the most functional keyboard you can get. And if you’d prefer another layout or keyboard design, there’s an app for that: You can buy a replacement keyboard, such as SwiftKey, for just a few bucks in the Google Play store.

Controls and ports

CB: I often pick up the Nexus and can’t tell which way is up. Partly that’s because feeling for the on/off and volume buttons is difficult. The lack of a Home button on the bottom throws me. A Home button makes sense, but the Back button’s behavior seems inconsistent. I expect a Back button to be restricted to the app I’m currently working with; in this case, I tap Back and suddenly find myself in an app I was using a couple of hours ago.

MP: The Nexus 7 may lack a Home button, but it does have a Micro-USB port at the bottom, so I think it’s pretty clear which side is up. I’ve never had an issue with the power and volume buttons’ locations: They are clearly located along the upper-right edge, and have a solid, distinctive design (unlike the flat, annoying buttons on the Amazon Kindle Fire HD).
 
CB: Hmmmm...I think that’s a stretch. That tiny port isn’t obvious to the touch, at least not as clearly obvious as an iOS device’s Home button. On the other hand, I think the universal nature of the Nexus 7’s USB port is a good thing. It means that you don’t have to purchase expensive connectors and cables if the one included in the box won’t do. However, Apple’s new Lightning connector is more flexible. With the Nexus 7 you can’t do wired video-out (with or without an adapter), for example, and there’s no HDMI-out, either.

MP: I echo that. Micro-USB is heaven-sent. Having Micro-USB means that you don’t have to give up universality—just grab a cable and go. I’m surprised that the iPad mini has no native HDMI-out; even the inexpensive Amazon Kindle Fire HD 8.9 has that (though you can add HDMI-output capability to an iPad mini with Apple's $49 adapter).

The software environment

CB: Here’s where the iPad totally rules the roost. Google is trying with Google Play, but a lot of Android apps I’ve looked at are pretty subpar. I’ve yet to find an Android Twitter client that gets anywhere near Tweetbot. The built-in ebook reader is okay, but you can’t sideload ePub files from your Mac and read them on the Nexus; you have to download those files from within the app. I found the ePub-compatible ebook readers for Android that I’ve tried (Moon Reader and Aldiko) to be clumsy.

Apple’s head start in the app arena continues to show. Additionally, some of Apple’s apps—GarageBand and iPhoto in particular—are remarkable. (The iWork apps are pretty good, too.) Google has done really well with information-specific apps that use Google’s services, but in terms of “creation” versus “consumption,” the iPad wins.

The Nexus’s interface seems goofy to me. For example, I’m working on what I believe should be my home screen. I shut down the device and restart it. Now I’m on a different home screen, one that’s cluttered with huge images. When I swipe to the left, Google is pushing recommendations at me. Leave me alone. Let me see a predictable home screen.

And moving files around seems clumsier than with iOS. Apple was on to something when it hid the file system from users. File management is clumsy enough with a mouse, but nested folders on a touch device seems like a step backward. Mostly it doesn’t seem to be through-composed—that there’s no single thought about how users will interact with the thing but rather gimmicks piled on top of a hierarchical file structure. Again, it may be because I’m used to the iTunes/iOS device ecosystem, but the Nexus and Android don’t seem to be as thoroughly cemented.

MP: It’s true to say that Apple’s tablet ecosystem has a wider app selection—and in many cases, better apps, though both sides have a fair amount of garbage in their respective app stores. The trick is finding apps on Android that aren’t just blown up from the phone to the tablet. Find those, however, and you’ll discover many apps that provide a high-quality, satisfying experience.
 
Google’s own moviemaking app is a work in progress, but it’s a step in the right direction. And in my experience Google’s own Gallery app—with built-in editing, the ability to move files around, and a view of your image’s metadata—is infinitely better and more functional than the Photos app in iOS. Google at least has a straightforward file system, something Apple lacks, and that makes using and manipulating files far easier.

Pricing and value

CB: At $249 for the 32GB Wi-Fi model and $299 for the same model with cellular connectivity (compared with the iPad mini, at $429 and $559 respectively for the 32GB models), the Nexus 7 wins on price. But you make some sacrifices: no rear-facing camera, no LTE, no video-out, a smaller display than on the iPad mini.

MP: I agree, I think the Nexus 7 is the far better value. The difference is still quite clearly in favor of the Nexus 7 when you consider the 16GB models: $199 for the Nexus 7, versus $329 for the iPad mini.

The bottom line

CB: I have both a Nexus 7 and an iPad mini. I pick up the Nexus more often than the mini when I want to read, despite the more confining screen, because I find its display easier on my eyes. For everything else, it’s the iPad mini, largely because it just makes sense, from hardware to software. If the mini had a Retina display, the Nexus would be relegated to the sock drawer.

MP: I find it impossible to recommend the iPad mini, except for two sets of shoppers: people who want an iPad because of the brand’s cachet or those who want one because they’re already committed to the Apple ecosystem, and in both cases want the least-expensive model they can buy.
Otherwise, to me the Nexus 7 is superior to the iPad mini. Its display is better, I can find most of the apps I want or need on Android, and I prefer the open flexibility of the Android ecosystem.

 

Nintendo Hopes Its New Wii Will Appeal To U

The new Wii U console could let Nintendo shrug off its casual gamer image and enhance its appeal among core players.

Handheld device as primary device

The handheld device can be used as the primary controller

Nintendo aims to recapture the core gamer market with its new Wii U console

Nintendo is gearing up to launch its new Wii U video games console - and aims to address the shortcomings of the original device.

The Wii U is the first entry in the eighth generation of video game home consoles and delivers HD graphics and a 6.2-inch touchscreen controller.

Nintendo deliberately targeted the casual market with its original Wii.

Game designer and producer Shigero Miyamoto, the man behind the Mario and Zelda games, admitted this decision meant the Wii was not seen as a direct competitor to its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 rivals.
The Wii had inferior graphics, but the new Wii U pushes the resolution up to 1020p on high definition TVs and monitors which support this display.

But the most radical innovation is the tablet-style controller, an attempt to mix traditional console gaming with the ever-more-popular casual touchscreen gaming of iPads and other tablets.

The Wii U can be used with a big HD screen - and its own inbuilt screen

The controller, which features its own screen, can be used either to enhance the big screen gaming experience or as a standalone handheld device.

"What we're layering on are all types of new unique experiences," said Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime.

"Sure you'll be able to use the touchpad just from a touch perspective, but there will be a lot more activity that we'll be able to bring.

"For example, this device has near-field communication technology. So that brings a whole new level of interaction and different things that can be done beyond what you can do today with a tablet.
"But really the key part of this is that it's all one integrated system. So what you can do on the big screen and what you can do on the smaller screen.

"It's all connected, versus right now those are very separate experiences that aren't talking to each other."
Over the summer at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, Nintendo illustrated how New Super Mario Bros. U could be played on either a TV or the touchscreen controller.

The Wii U lets up to five people play together (Nintendo)

The latest instalment in the brick-smashing, coin-collecting franchise lets up to four people play simultaneously with traditional controllers, while another can join in with the touchscreen controller to jab enemies and build platforms.

New Super Mario Bros. U and another title called NintendoLand demonstrate what Nintendo calls "asymmetric gameplay" - where a group of people playing together are having very different play experiences on a single game.

And after taking on board criticism of the original Wii's awkward online system, Nintendo has boosted the new console's connected capabilities.

"The system will know when you're playing with your user account - everything that you've played in the past, what your preferences are," said Mr Fils-Aime.

"So it will truly be an experience unique to you. Versus if your wife or your children want different experiences, they really are tailored for each particular consumer.

The Wii U is scheduled to be released on Saturday in North America, November 30 in Europe and Australia, and December 8 in Japan.

Smart bombs

Smart Bombs for Smart Phones

Vital utilities for work, rest and play - available on the AppStore.

1. KORG iKaossilator (£13.99)
Ever scoffed at Kraftwerk? KORG iKaossilator lets you put your money where your mouth is. Tap the screen to squeeze
loops through filters and effects, mixing over 150 built-in sounds.
Click here to download this app for iPad.
Click here to download this app for iPhone.

2. Cardiio (£2.99)
Your pulse is a key fitness indicator, but can be hard to measure. Cue Cardiio, the new sports tool that monitors your heartbeat by detecting the changing colours of the light reflected off your face via the phone's front camera.
Click here to download this app for iPhone.

3. Fluid Football (Free)
Run your own team, determining big-picture strategy and in-match manoeuvres, with this next-gen football game. Just try to avoid losing six months of your life to it, like you did with Championship Manager all those years ago...
Click here to download this app for iPad.
Click here to download this app for iPhone.

4. Divided Bill Splitter (£0.69)
Indulging in "bistronomics" is an unfitting end to an evening out. This app calculates exactly how much everyone owes, taking into account individual orders, so you'll never suffer the embarrassment of underpaying again.
Click here to download this app for iPhone.

5. Unlike City Guide (Free)
Travel guides are not only a drag to schlep around but they're also quickly out of date. Unlike City Guide recommends premium locations directly on your handset, and allows you to share your own tips across the globe.
Click here to download this app for iPhone.

Colorware blasts your retinas with custom iPhone 5 colours

Colorware for iPhone 5

Colorware continues its tradition of beautifying (or uglifiying) devices by announcing that the iPhone 5 can now receive its special paint job treatment.

For US$1700, you can use your own black or white 64GB iPhone 5 as a blank canvas, with options to change the colour of the home button, SIM tray, rear backplate and the top and bottom rear glass segments.

Colorware for iPhone 5

We've whipped up two versions, a hideous sense-destroying mess which needs to be set on fire, and a sleek and simple red and white Stuff-inspired affair. We'll let you guess which is which...

How to make any phone into a smartphone

Angry Birds on Nokia Phone

If you’re rocking an old school candy bar blower you might not need to upgrade just yet: here’s our handy guide to making almost any phone into a smartphone with the web at your fingertips.

Get a better browser

Angry Birds on Nokia Phone

First thing’s first, you need to get a better browser for your phone. That browser is the free Opera Mini, which does an impressive job of turning desktop web pages into readable, surfable pages for your dumb phone. Opera’s servers load up the web pages before sending them to you, so it’s fast and saves data on your end too. You can get it for almost every phone under the sun: just head to m.opera.com to download and install the right version for your model.

Tune into RSS
Opera Mini isn’t just a web browser. You can also use it to stay on top of all the latest posts from your favourite blogs. Just add the feeds you want in the RSS section of the app (Look for the little orange box with white lines through it).
 
Social networking skills

Social Networking on Nokia

Facebook has an app not just for every smartphone, but for every phone. Literally. Called Facebook for Every Phone, it’s a free download for even the most bare bones handsets that lets you see other’s updates and pics, post your own and keep in touch. The team that makes the app used to make a great social networking app for all phones that included Twitter too, called Snaptu – before they were acquired by Facebook. If you can find it still, it’s the best way for Twitter addicts to get their fix on the go. Otherwise, m.twitter.com is your best bet.

Turn on notifications
They may have rubbish battery life, but smartphones have a real advantage over Regular Joe phones when it comes to notifications – that little ping you can set up whenever something happens in your favourite app. Luckily, there’s a workaround for some of your favourite social networks: you can set up SMS alerts instead. You can register for Facebook alerts in the Mobile section of your account settings – the same goes for Twitter. Now you’ll always now when someone’s @mentioned you, even if you’re on the bus.

Get instant messaging going

Instant Messaging on Nokia

Think chat apps like Google Talk and Windows Live are just for smartphones and PCs? guess again. If you’re using an old school Nokia, first check to see if it’s got any chat apps built in: many do. The popular WhatsApp service also supports some Nokia S40 devices so head over to whatsapp.com to see if yours is supported. If not, no worries: just download the IM+ Java app for instant messaging across several popular services including AOL Instant Messenger and Windows Live. There’s also a Facebook Chat Java app that runs on almost every phone too.

Games on the go

Games on Nokia

Smartphones are renowned for their gaming back catalogues, but there’s lots of fun to be had with games on any mobile. Even the most basic Nokia phones have access to the Nokia Store so have a cruise of that for some top titles (Some even run Angry Birds – no, really), or otherwise head over to m.getjar.com for all the games your phone can handle. Our pick? The full, original Final Fantasy RPG. That’s hours and hours lost right there.

Location location location

Location Service on Nokia

Your phone’s an A-Z of the entire world: you just didn’t know it. New basic Nokia S40 phones have access to Nokia Maps and even directions while they walk, while for everyone else, there’s Google Maps for Mobile, a Java app designed to run on any old phone. You can’t see your exact location, but it can still help you get around wherever you need to go with handy address look up.

LG Optimus G is first LTE smartphone with quad-core Snapdragon processor in the world

LG Optimus G

LG breaks new ground yet again with the introduction of the LG Optimus G, which is touted to be the first LTE smartphone in the world to carry a quad-core Snapdragon processor. There is definitely no doubt right from the very beginning that this will be a high-end smartphone, delivering powerful performance right out of the box while coming in an elegant and sleek design, in addition to offering an innovative user experience. Since it is the first LTE device in the world that features Qualcomm’s Snapdragon S4 Pro Quad-Core processor, you can be sure that the LG Optimus G will be the prime example for all future flagship handsets from the good people at LG.


Just what kind of hardware specifications can you expect from LG’s flagship smartphone? Well for starters, it will not only deliver LTE supported capabilities, the LG Optimus G will also feature the latest generation Adreno 320 GPU for all your mobile graphics needs. The Snapdragon S4 Pro will clock in at 1.5GHz, delivering Asynchronous Symmetric Multiprocessing (aSMP) that is said to allow each core to power up and down independently, which is good news for the handset’s battery as every single drop of juice will be maximized in this manner. As for the Adreno 320, it is touted to deliver more than three times the speed of the Adreno 225 which can be found in previous Snapdragon processors.

Thanks to assistance from LG Display, the LG Optimus G will come with a beautiful 4.7″ WXGA True HD IPS+ Display with 320ppi high pixel density (1280×768 pixels) and Stripe RGB IPS Panel with 15:9 aspect ratio. You know that this is a beauty right from the get go, where the display offers sharper and crisper images with color accuracy of sRGB 100% to showcase natural and life-like images.

You can perform Live Zooming that enables zooming in and out while viewing a video, while the Dual Screen Dual Play feature enables mirroring between the smartphone and a TV, in addition to displaying different content on each screen. The LG Optimus G will come with 32GB of internal memory, 2GB RAM, Bluetooth 4.0 and Wi-Fi connectivity, USB 2.0 support, A-GPS, DLNA and NFC capabilities. It has a 13-megapixel at the back and a 1.3-megapixel in front. Any takers for the new superphone?

HTC One V

Small, compact smartphones are becoming a rare sight on carrier shelves these days. Indeed, much of today's cellular buzz centers around big-screened mobile machines such as Samsung's ubiquitous Galaxy S III, the HTC One X, or its Sprint variant, the HTC Evo 4G LTE. Yet there's still a place for phones of tiny stature, especially if they're well-crafted like HTC's One V. Sculpted from one piece of aluminum and shamelessly sporting a curved chin, this handset surely will turn heads. The $129.99 HTC One V for U.S. Cellular isn't outrageously priced, either, but it is saddled by a weak processor and slow 3G data.


Design

Part of HTC's past success has stemmed from having the courage to craft phones with daring designs. A classic example was the HTC Legend, which was carved from a single block of aluminum. The HTC One V furthers the Legend's high-class looks by flaunting its unibody aluminum chassis.

Colored in a silvery champagne gray, the One V's metal surface is matte, possessing an almost almost sandpaperlike roughness. Like its big brother the HTC One S, the handset's texture absorbs moisture, repels fingerprints, and provides a sure grip.

The HTC One V takes another design element from the Legend playbook, a distinctive curved chin at the base of the phone. Love it or hate it, the One V's sloping bottom edge helps it stand out in a world filled with basic flat slabs.

The One V has a chin reminiscent of the HTC Legend and the older HTC Hero.

With softly rounded edges and compact size, the One V's small stature also makes it an oddity. Compared with the massive 4.7- and 4.8-inch-screened monsters now flooding the market, the HTC One V's 3.7-inch, 800x480-pixel-resolution LCD screen feels practically lilliputian.

Despite its minute size, the display produces accurate colors and wide viewing angles. It doesn't get as bright or render images as sharply as the HTC One X. That said, the One V's screen doesn't oversaturate and distort colors like the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator's 4.3-inch Super AMOLED (800x400) display.

The HTC One V sports a small 3.7-inch (800x480-pixel) LCD screen that produces accurate colors and wide viewing angles.

Measuring 4.74 inches tall by 2.35 inches wide by 0.36 inch thick, this device is tiny enough to use one-handed and slide into pockets without drama. It's been a long time since I could say that about any new Android phone save the HTC Droid Incredible 4G LTE. At a hair over 4 ounces, the One V shouldn't weigh you down either.

HTC keeps the One V's ports and buttons to a minimum. On top you'll find a power key and 3.5mm headphone jack. The right side houses a long, thin volume rocker while the handset's left side contains a Micro-USB port. Three capacitive buttons for back, home, and recent programs sit below the screen. Keep in mind the phone lacks a front-facing camera for video chats.

A back compartment holds a microSD card slot for adding additional memory storage.

Features
As the lowest phone in HTC's One series lineup, the HTC One V doesn't come equipped with the same powerful components that grace the One X and One S. Even so, the handset runs the same modern software, including Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and HTC's Sense 4 user interface layered over it.
Designed to be less intrusive than previous Sense versions, Sense 4 skips many of the fancy graphics effects, such as the perpetually spinning 3D carousel of home screens and in-your-face weather graphics.

To unlock the phone either flick a virtual ring from the bottom of the screen to the center, or drag icons into the ring to quick-launch major phone functions. Pulling the camera symbol inside the ring for example powers up the One V's imaging system to snap pictures and shoot video without navigating through menus. Other lock-screen shortcuts include the Web browser, text messaging, and phone dialer.

Use quick-launch icons to unlock the phone.

As on the HTC One S, and HTC One X, you have seven home screens to choose from, each ready to populate with app shortcuts and animated widgets. You'll find HTC's classic weather clock front and center on the main screen. One difference though is that tapping the widget's digital readout launches a world clock that lists capital city times in basic text, not the slick 3D globe visual found on the One X and One S.

Hitting the weather portion of the clock does pull up a detailed forecast but the One V lacks the graphics-heavy weather wallpaper that the One X and One S have as an option. On those phones it displays animations in the background and on the lock screen corresponding to current atmospheric conditions.

The bottom of each home screen contains a tab with the same four quick-launch icons shown on the lock screen. I definitely appreciate being able to swap these icons for others or even create and add folders holding multiple app icons. Changes made here are also reflected on the lock screen and placing application shortcuts on top of one another creates a folder.

Sense enhances the browser too, with a Pure Content Reader view that removes ads and displays only the text of a selected Web page. You can also select pages and video to bookmark for later enjoyment offline.

Tapping into the power of Android, the One V has the usual allotment of Google services installed, including Gmail, Google+, and Navigation, plus the Play Store for downloading apps from a catalog of over 700,000 titles. Additionally, Play serves up digital books, movies, games, and music to purchase. I couldn't find HTC's Watch app, however, which hawks its own library of TV shows and movies for rental or purchase.

Easily create folders for neatly storing app shortcuts on any of the One V's home screens.

Useful third-party software on the One V includes the Kindle e-book reader, the Audible audiobook subscription service, and TuneIn Internet radio (a personal favorite). U.S. Cellular injects the phone with its own selection of apps, such as Daily Perks for news and weather, and Mobile TV, which offers both live programming and full TV episodes and movies. Like similar services from other carriers, the service costs an extra $9.99 per month and is clearly designed to burn through your data minutes since it won't work over Wi-Fi.

Camera

HTC makes big bones about its One series phone's camera prowess. All three handsets (the One X, One S, and One V) rely on special electronics to improve speed and performance. As with the One X and One S, I found my One V test unit to focus on subjects quickly and capture pictures nearly instantly.

Of course, the One V's 5-megapixel shooter has lower resolution than the 8-megapixel sensors found in many of today's high-end smartphones. As a result, the camera produced images that were comparatively soft and lacked crisp detail. Indoor still-life shots weren't as clear as I would like either. On the whole they were dark and colors didn't have much punch. For example, the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator snapped crisper and more pleasing still-life images.

Still-life shots were soft but color accurate.

 

The HTC One V, however, managed to perform well in low lighting. Thanks to its BSI (Back Side Illuminated) sensor and quick auto focus, I was able to shoot pictures of fast-moving children -- something that gives many phone cameras trouble.

The One V was able to capture rowdy kids in low light.

 

Video performance was less inspiring, though, and the One V had a hard time keeping subjects in focus. Similarly, despite its claim to capturing video in 720p HD quality, movies I made were grainy and soft. To be fair, due to recent stormy New York weather, I recorded my test videos and images indoors and without strong lighting. I'll reserve final judgement until I can use the camera under better conditions.

Frequent phone photographers will certainly appreciate the HTC One V's feature-packed camera though. Just like the One X and One S, the handset's camera app boasts a wide range of shooting modes, scene settings, and fun filters. You can also fire off multiple shots continuously by pressing and holding the shutter icon on the screen, and you can nab stills while the video camera is rolling.

Performance

Just because HTC qualifies the HTC One V as a One series handset doesn't mean you should expect it to offer blazing application performance. Driving the One V's Android 4.0.3 operating system is an underpowered single-core 1GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S2 processor. As a result, the phone felt a bit slow on the uptake. Menus and applications appeared and opened without much delay but I did experience some hesitation on the One V's part.

Every so often the device would stutter while I swiped through various home screens, especially if the One V was preoccupied performing other tasks simultaneously such as downloading apps or syncing e-mail.

Linpack benchmark tests confirmed the One V's pokey processing with the phone notching a low score of 33.6 MFLOPs (Single-Thread) completed in a long 2.5 seconds. Still, that was enough to beat the Samsung Galaxy S Aviator's showing of 16.2 MFLOPs (5.17 seconds). HTC's top-of-the-line One X, however, turned in a nimble 99.3 MFLOPs (0.84 seconds) on the same test.

One bright spot is the HTC One V's call quality. When I tested it on the U.S. Cellular phone in New York, it was roaming on Sprint's CDMA voice network. Callers described my voice as extremely clear, almost pristine with no static, compression, or other audio artifacts. To my ears, voices piped through the phone's earpiece were warm, rich, and loud. Additionally, while the speakerphone doesn't produce much volume, I could easily hear people even in a medium-size conference room.

Don't expect much in the way of fast data throughput though. The HTC One V for U.S. Cellular is strictly a 3G device. Downloads I measured with the phone roaming on Sprint's network in New York barely cracked an average of 1Mbps (1.06Mbps to be exact). Upload speeds were slow as well, coming in on average at 0.61Mbps.

The HTC One V's 1,500mAh battery lasted decently long during anecdotal battery drain tests. The handset played an HD video file continuously for 6 hours and 4 minutes. By comparison, the HTC One X clung on for 6 hours and 35 minutes in the same situation.

Conclusion

For $129.99, the HTC One V certainly has a price that isn't unreasonably high considering its solid mix of features. It also has a distinctive style, and a premium unibody design that stands out from the crowd. That said, $99.99 would be a much more attractive price for this phone considering its outdated processor and lack of a swift 4G connection. I recommend spending a little more cash and splurging for Samsung's latest superphone, the $199.99 Galaxy S III. While we haven't reviewed the U.S. Cellular version, based on our reviews of the device on four other carriers it offers a truly impressive Android experience. I'm talking a massive screen, 4G LTE data where you can get it, plus a nimble dual-core processor...the clear choice for die-hard Android fans. For those who don't need all that horsepower and prefer a more compact size, the HTC One V is a sensible alternative.

Laugh Louder: This iOS app helps you search for live comedy shows around the UK

There’s no shortage of apps that profess to help you find the best things going on around you at any one time. But if you want to drown out all the noise, and only access the information that matters to you, then that’s where niche apps such as this can help.

You’re not looking for music, cabaret, fine dining or fancy cocktails. No, you want to laugh at some comedy nearby, which is where Laugh Louder could come to the rescue.

Our initial doubts about this app soon disappeared after ten seconds of tinkering, as a fair selection of local London comedy gigs were offered with just a few clicks.

Laugh Louder iPhone App

When you first launch the app, you’ll be asked if it can access your location – I clicked yes, so it would automatically throw up local shindigs for me.

You can sort by date or location, and when you click on each event, it lets you see profiles of the performers in question, and book tickets by guiding you to the venue’s box office.

Laugh Louder iPhone App

You can also search by comedian. An alphabetically-ordered list gives you full profiles on hundreds of comedians, with their associated tour dates around the country. And a Google-powered map lets you visualize gigs in your vicinity.

Laugh Louder iPhone App

The ‘Your Favourites’ section lets your store your top gag-artists too, so you quickly access information on any upcoming performance.

We’re told that all the gigs are uploaded manually, with some added by the Laugh Louder team, and others added by promoters – with more signing-up every day.

While gigs are listed from around the country, London seems to have the most content by quite some way. I checked the ‘What’s On’ section for Edinburgh whilst in town, and it had a mere two listed for three weeks away.

That said, the app has real potential to grow. It has been nicely designed, and the content at the time of writing is decent, if a little London-centric.

HTC One S Review

HTC one

So here it is, our review of the brand new HTC One S. This phone is part of the trilogy of next generation smartphones from the Taiwanese mobile giant that is HTC. Having refined their product line for this year, the One S really is a great sign of things to come.

Hardware

Not to change from the norm, the build quality of this phone is fantastic. With its 4.3 inch Super AMOLED screen and ‘micro arc oxidation’ finish’ this really is one sexy phone. At just 7.8mm thick at its thinnest point, it also fits really well in the hand and the pocket. The One S is packing the same impressive camera as its big brother, the One X.

HTC one

HTC have developed a new ImageSense chip to help the camera take some of the best shots on any smartphone. With new improved features such as an Fstop of 2.0 and 28mm wide angle lense, this phone really can take some amazing shots.Under the hood is the newly developed Qualcomm Krait dual-core chip which offers up some buttery smooth performance.

HTC one

Software
The phone comes with the latest version of Android, Ice Cream Sandwich or Android 4.0.3. It also has the latest and more streamlined version of HTC Sense, Sense 4.0. The combination of the two results in extremely quick phone navigation and just an all round pleasurable experience when using the phone. The camera can launch from the lockscreen in under a second, again, thanks to the new improved software and there are some really cool new features which you can use in the new camera application.

HTC one

With this new camera, you are able to shoot 1080p video whilst simultaneously taking 8MP photos! The screen layout has the camera shutter button and video record button right beside each other so you can easily snap a photo without ever having to stop recording your video. You can also hold down the shutter button and take up to 99 photos in very quick succession, again, making sure you don’t miss that crucial shot.

As with some previous HTC phones, the One S comes with the Beats audio software also installed but with the very much welcomed improvement of the software being used thoughout the entire phone and not just the stock music player. So now if you’re watching a Youtube video or listening to the radio, you get the great Beat audio experience. I have to say I love the Beats integration and it really does offer some of the best audio I’ve ever heard from a mobile device.

HTC one

Conclusion
This phone really does show that HTC have gone back to the drawing board and started from the ground up. It’s extremely well built, screamingly fast (can even hold its own against it’s quad-core older brother the One X) and has features that you will just love to show off. Even though the One X is the flagship device for the One series, I actually see this phone being one of HTC’s most successful phones in recent months. If your interested in the One X, we’ve also got our review of that here.

ViewSonic VCD22 Android Smart Display is 22-inches of ICS

ViewSonic Android Smart Display

Asus and Acer aren't the only companies launching desktops at Computex in Taipei. As expected, ViewSonic has unveiled a 22-inch model, though sadly it doesn't turn into a tablet like some we've seen.

It does, however, run Android 4.0, aka Ice Cream Sandwich. See, it's not all about Windows 8 at Computex.

The 22-inch screen is 1,920x1,080-pixels. Inside is a 1GHz dual-core TI OMAP processor and 1GB RAM. These specs don't sound anything special, especially considering quad-core processors are finding their way into handsets, but we'll have to reserve judgement until we see it in the flesh. Android Ice Cream Sandwich comes as standard, bringing such features as face unlock, and the ability to group apps in folders.
ViewSonic has skinned ICS its own way, with learning apps aplenty. It'll sell the 22-incher with these educational apps preloaded, hinting it's maybe aimed more at schools than at us regular punters. Though with ViewSonic announcing a price of $479 (£311), here's hoping it finds its way onto shelves. At that price, it'd be rude not to at least give it a look.

Also at Computex, Acer announced its own Windows 8 touchscreen desktop computers. And while the Asus Transformer AiO might be a little smaller, at 18.4-inches, it does detach from the base, meaning you can carry it around. Neat. It also runs Windows 8 as well as Android, which is pretty handy.
Could we see Windows 8 and the growth of Android prompt a new glut of touchscreen desktops? I personally don't think touchscreens are suited to desktops, except for presentations or demos. But it seems plenty of companies think otherwise.

iPhone 5 launching with 3.95-inch display, more pixels?

That's the word from Apple blog 9to5Mac, which claims to have heard Apple is testing two iPhones featuring a 3.95-inch display.

May 22, 2012 5:16 AM PDT

iPhone 5

(Credit: Apple)

 

With each new Apple product launch, there's typically one feature that gets the most attention in the rumor mill. This time around, it's the iPhone 5's display.

According to Apple blog 9to5Mac, citing sources, the Cupertino, Calif.-based company is currently testing at its headquarters two iPhones -- only one of which will be released -- boasting larger displays. And although rumors have suggested the device will come with a true 4-inch screen, 9to5Mac claims it'll actually boast a 3.95-inch display.

The new iPhone's screen will be just as wide as its predecessor, 9to5Mac claims, but will be slightly taller, allowing Apple to add 176 pixels. The new resolution on the iPhone will be 640 x 1,136, according to the blog. Apple's current Retina Display on the iPhone 4S features a 640 x 960 resolution.
 
Although Apple hasn't confirmed it'll even launch a new iPhone, let alone what size screen it'll have, the rumor mill has been saying for months now that the device will come with a larger display.
Last week, the Wall Street Journal reported Apple is currently buying 4-inch screens for its next handset. Earlier this month, Apple-focused site iLounge made the same claim 9to5Mac has, saying that the iPhone 5 will have a taller screen measuring about 4 inches.

The larger screen should help Apple make some customizations to iOS 6, according to 9to5Mac. The blog claims Apple is currently considering adding a fifth row of icons to the operating system's home screen, thanks to the additional screen real estate. It might also change the look and feel of built-in applications to accommodate the taller display.

One other tidbit from the 9to5Mac story: its sources say Apple's next iPhone will, in fact, come with the long-rumored smaller Dock connector.

3G/4G Performance Map: Data speeds for AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon

May 8, 2012 12:30 pm  

 

In our April 16 article “3G and 4G Wireless Speed Showdown,” we reported the results of our exclusive 13-city tests of the four national wireless services: AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon. Our study is the largest and best-known independent test of wireless service in the United States.

Here, in Part Two of our story, we drill deeper into the massive amounts of data that we collected over six weeks in February and March of this year. Whereas the first article reported the 13-city average speeds of the carriers, in this story we detail the carriers’ performance in each of the ten testing locations we visited in each city.

We’ve assembled a full-page map showing all 127 of our testing locations in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New Orleans, New York, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. When you zoom in on a particular city, you’ll see ten blue map markers—one for each place we tested. Click the pin, and you’ll see our full testing results for that location.

T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 service dominated the 3G testing, earning the highest marks for upload speed and download speed in 11 of the 13 cities we studied. The exceptions were Chicago (where AT&T captured the best download and upload speeds for 3G) and Dallas (where AT&T took the lead for 3G downloads, and Verizon won for 3G uploads).

We saw three major patterns in our 4G test results. In five cities (Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, and San Francisco), AT&T swept the 4G upload and download competitions; in four (Denver, New Orleans, San Jose, and Seattle), Verizon swept both; and in the remaining four (Chicago, Dallas, New York, and Washington, D.C.), AT&T won for downloads and Verizon prevailed for uploads. Notably, in two of the cities where Verizon ruled (Denver and Seattle), AT&T doesn’t offer 4G LTE service.

webpage and Video Load Times

In addition to the speed results, you can see the results of our “behavioral” tests, which are meant to closely approximate the wireless usage of real people. At each of our testing locations, our field researcher loaded a 100KB static webpage and viewed a 1-minute video while connected to each of the 3G and 4G services of the carriers. For each one, the researcher logged the time the webpage took to load, as well as the time necessary to stream the video.

In Video: Demystifying Spotty Cell Phone Coverage

You can see a lot of variance in the performance scores from location to location within our testing cities. The same service may deliver radically different results in two locations in the same part of town. Or two different wireless services might produce very different connection speeds and call quality at the same location.
That’s because a number of variables are constantly affecting the quality of the wireless service you get—factors such as nearby physical structures, your distance from a cell tower, whether you’re connecting from indoors or outdoors, the time of day, and the total number of users connecting to a nearby cell tower at the same time.
Such variables are important to remember when you’re selecting a cell service. Keeping them in mind is also key when you’re choosing a device, because some phones and tablets do much better than others in challenging cellular environments.
In this video we drove around San Francisco to demonstrate how some of these conditions can affect your wireless coverage.
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Quick Facts by City

Atlanta: T-Mobile had a strong showing in Atlanta on the 3G side, with average download speeds at 4.53 mbps and uploads at 1.93 mbps. In 4G, AT&T showed the fastest average download speed of any carrier in any city we tested, at 11.60 mbps. Verizon had its next-to-worst 4G download showing in Atlanta, at 6.24 mbps on average.
Boston: T-Mobile clocked the fastest 3G speeds in Boston, while AT&T won on the 4G side. Both AT&T and Verizon delivered solid download averages, at 8.60 mbps and 7.24 mbps, respectively. Sprint’s WiMax service performed unusually well in Boston, averaging 3.90 mbps for downloads.

Photograph by Robert Cardin

Chicago: AT&T finished first in average 3G download speed (3.45 mbps), despite the fact that its 3G numbers weren’t great in Chicago compared with its performance in other cities. AT&T also had the fastest average 4G download speed (9.70 mbps). Dallas: AT&T’s best numbers came in Dallas, with an average 3G download speed of 3.73 mbps and an average 4G download speed of 10.22 mbps. Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 service registered 13-city worsts for average download rate (2.62 mbps) and average upload rate (0.45 mbps).
Denver: Verizon had the top marks in average 4G download speed (6.68 mbps) and average upload speed (3.70 mbps). T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 service rolled past its rivals on the 3G side, with solid averages for downloads (3.59 mbps) and uploads (1.53 mbps).
Las Vegas: AT&T delivered an excellent average download rate of 11.15 mbps, the third-highest rate for any carrier in any city. T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 was the fastest 3G service, though its download average (3.11 mbps) ranked as the lowest city-winning mark for 3G download speed in our study.
Los Angeles: We recorded the fastest average 3G download speeds in our study in Los Angeles, where T-Mobile won with a robust 4.78 mbps. AT&T had the best 4G scores in L.A., although its average download speed of 6.62 mbps was the second-slowest winning download speed in our tests.

New Orleans: T-Mobile’s HSPA+ 21 service proved fastest among the 3G field in the Big Easy, with averages of 4.49 mbps for downloads and 1.70 mbps for uploads. Verizon’s winning average 4G download speed (8.46 mbps) was the second-highest city score for the service in our tests.
New York: In New York we found a wide gap between the best 3G download average (3.30 mbps for T-Mobile) and the best 4G download average (11.35 mbps for AT&T)—an 8.05-mbps difference.
San Francisco: AT&T posted the best average 4G download speed, producing an impressive 10.71 mbps, while Verizon turned in a solid 8.40-mbps download average. AT&T’s 3G service performed very well in San Francisco, delivering the company’s second-highest average download rate at 3.47 mbps; but T-Mobile was faster, with downloads averaging 4.08 mbps.
San Jose: Verizon 4G clocked average speeds of 7.66 mbps for downloads and 6.52 mbps for uploads, compared with 4.74 mbps for downloads and 2.5 mbps for uploads from AT&T LTE. T-Mobile delivered a winning average 3G download rate of 4.61 mbps.
Seattle: T-Mobile turned in the top 3G download speeds (averaging 3.87 mbps) in Seattle, while its 4G HSPA+ 42 service generated a surprisingly fast average download speed of 7.46 mbps, the carrier’s 13-city high. Verizon posted its best 13-city mark for 4G downloads (10.87 mbps on average), making it easily the fastest 4G service in town.
Washington D.C.: T-Mobile had the fastest average 3G download speeds (4.14 mbps), handily beating AT&T, whose 3G scores in D.C. were the worst from the carrier in our 13 test cities. AT&T, however, won on the 4G side with an average download speed of 8.52 mbps.
For details on how we conducted the testing for our 13-city study, see “Methodology in a Nutshell.” And, again, for a close-up look at the individual charts for each city, see our full-page testing locations map.