[App review] BOINC - donating cpu power

If like me you're a little (lot) cash strapped but feel guilty about not being able to donate to a good cause then this is a fantastic way of helping in a free(ish) but geeky way. It's an app called BOINC developed by Berkeley university with the help of others such as IBM.

What's the deal?
Instead of donating money, you are donating processing power. The app uses your phone's cpu (central processing unit) to help with various projects Berkeley are running in different areas such as astronomy, physics etc. You can choose which project to donate processing power too and when you want to donate (obviously!) so you can feel just that little bit better everyday.

How does it work?
Nowadays many projects require supreme processing power to complete, these are generally stuff like simulations, studying diseases or looking for a certain thing. A simulation in reality might happen over a few fractions of a second but in the virtual world, depending on the processing power of the device running it, generally take days to complete. While institutions like university may have funds for supercomputers, the power of volunteers all around the world willing to donate processing power is incomparable to these supercomputers. This is why there are quite a lot projects similar such as Folding@Home which as well as being available for desktop PCs, became available on the Playstation 3. This was mainly because that was also seen as a powerhouse and it was very successful, the developers with the help of PS3 users set a world record of one petaFLOP of computation power (a huge amount!). Considering how many Android devices there are compared to PS3s sold, surely it shouldn't be too difficult to top that?

Conclusion
In time this app will no doubt have more functionality in terms of a scheduler and more ease of use setting but for now the developers are ironing out a few kinks it has with some Android devices. It's still a solid, functional app that works very well, especially if you set it to work overnight but make sure that you're not relying on your phone as an alarm clock because the battery will almost definitely be drained, or if you are, connect your phone to a charger.

Mo

Android 4.3's permission manager

For those who have never tried Cyanogenmod, you probably won't have come across permission management. For those who have, you will know what I'm talking about and what a powerful tool it is. This is an attempt by Google to bring permission management on an app to app basis to the masses, so you won't have to go through the whole process of flashing custom firmware to be able to decide what an app can and can't do on your phone.

What's this you talk of?
Permission manager is a very nifty tool. You will have noticed when installing an app, that the Play Store presents you with all the permissions this app will be granted. Sometimes you want to install an app but you feel the permissions it needs are too intrusive and unnecessary. Depending on how much you want the app, or how much you want to protect your own privacy, or indeed how paranoid you are (Dad, I'm looking at you!) you'll make a conscious decision whether it's worth installing the app or not. But imaging if you no longer had to do that. Permission manager is the reason why.

How does it work?
It works by allowing you to revoke a permission an app has but targets that specific permission for just that specific app. It will not affect other apps (unless they are somehow linked) and the apps other functions should work fine given that you didn't do something like revoke the permission for a camera app to access the camera! So you can stop an app being able to read your call logs if you think it shouldn't have that capability. Why should a game access your logs or see who you're messaging any longer?

Things to look out for
While this is a fantastic tool, it's worth keeping in mind the permissions you are revoking and the apps you're revoking them for. It might be the case a few days or weeks down the line that an app doesn't function as it should and it may well be the case that it doesn't have all the required permissions to function properly. If you do experience problems like these then it's definitely worth checking out what you've revoked before blaming the developers for bugs they have in their apps. Similar to me getting frustrated that an app can't go online only to find I'm the one that's blocked its internet access using a firewall.

Conclusion
This has been a long time coming for Android users, especially for those who can't or don't want to play around with the firmware of their phones. It might take a bit of getting used to but this function will no doubt increase end user privacy and to some extent ease the worries of a lot of people. My only concern is that developers remain as they are with app permissions and don't start getting lazy with the permissions they include, expecting users to remove them after installing.

Mo

Bluebox uncovers Android's Master Key

If you've kept in the loop at all with news on Android, you will have noticed a security company named Bluebox who discovered a vulnerability in Android that allows a hacker to modify the code of an APK file, i.e. an app, without changing the signature of the app. Essentially they could change the code and we, the end user would be none the wiser when we download this app as Android would not be able to tell that the app has been tampered with. Obviously this is a problem but do we need to panic?

How bad is it?

According to Bluebox, this vulnerability affects 900 million Android devices or 99 per cent of Android devices out in the wild. Any phone with Android 1.6 or above possesses this vulnerability so more or less anyone with an Android smartphone. These at first are pretty scary figures and you are more at risk if you install apps from a third-party source as they are generally less well regulated and more susceptible to being tampered with. If you like to try new apps and venture into apps made by individuals then that probably increases your risk even more, but we could go on and on about what increases your risks. 

Is there a fix?

A fix has been released by Google but it is up to manufacturers to implement it onto their devices and some have been slower to do so than others. Given the seriousness of this, most manufacturers have patched their devices but some have still not. It would be worth finding out if the manufacturer of your phone have taken steps to patch this vulnerability and if not, getting in touch and letting them know your concerns. Most companies nowadays take customer opinions much more seriously than they used to so it is a worthwhile method of making yourself heard.

Anything else to do?
Bluebox have since released an app that scans your device, checks to see if it is patched, and whether or not you have apps that have been tampered with. To download the app, follow this link. If your device is patched then your phone manufacturer has taken steps to prevent this vulnerability and if you do not have any apps that are infected then you're pretty safe. Otherwise, take the advised steps given by the app.

Conclusion
We can't underestimate the importance of vulnerabilities like this. To put it into perspective, your phone data could be available to a hacker if you install an app that has been tampered with. Even if you have nothing to hide, you will no doubt not want all your personal information and perhaps sensitive information being available to a total stranger who is up to no good!

Mo

Bluetooth accessories for Android?

How many of us can say we use a Bluetooth accessory with our phone or tablet? Out of all my friends, I reckon it's just me and only it's only a  recent phenomenon that I've started using a Bluetooth keyboard with my tablet. I'm no stranger to Bluetooth accessories, I've been using them with my games console, PC and laptop for years now but didn't see the need for one with a tablet. I made a point of writing this post on my tablet, with my keyboard to prove that they are actually quite useful. I find carrying a keyboard and tablet much easier than lugging my Mac around. But why aren't more people doing the same?

How cool are they?
You rarely see people with Bluetooth headsets walking round do you? I certainly don't. Taxi drivers are about the only people I see with them sometimes and the odd few people in supermarkets (not sure why they lurk there with their headsets...). Maybe they're just not cool and so people don't want to use them? I think it's probably more to do with not really needing them, how often do you think 'I wish I could tap a button on my ear than take my phone out of my pocket'? Rarely. I admit it would be easier, but there just aren't enough scenarios for that to happen for it to be worthwhile.

The same applies with a keyboard, there aren't many times when you're on the move and a tablet and keyboard would trump a laptop, except for maybe on a busy train? Or when you're trying to travel as light as possible?

What accessories are there?
Keyboards, mice, headsets and I'd have to search online for more suggestions after this. I'm currently using a normal sized Motorola keyboard on my Nexus 7 but I certainly wouldn't use a mouse with it, what's the point of that?! So I guess maybe there needs to be more accessories? Bluetooth watches such as the Pebble watch are likely to be the next big thing with phone manufacturers all eyeing them up. If it wasn't for the price tag, I would probably purchase one, maybe if they didn't look so hideous too (sorry Pebble!).

Better productivity?
I am already more productive with this keyboard and I can write stuff up with more flexibility, like the type you would get with something like a Macbook Air or a netbook but for a fraction of the price and a touchscreen so there are clear benefits. It makes more sense than a Windows RT/8 tablet too since they are very pricey too. I wouldn't take a laptop on holiday but I might contemplate taking this combination on holiday just in case I wanted to check something up or perhaps if I wanted to blog about my travels abroad!

Conclusion
With smartphones and tablets become so powerful and rivalling laptops and desktops, I think the combination of a tablet and keyboard is an awesome idea and one that perhaps shouldn't be so quickly disregarded as being unworkable. It remains to be seen whether there will be demand for this but looking at online retailers and manufacturers, there is already plenty of devices which are there to help make the most of your phones and tablets which might be worth a look. You could end up surprising yourself. I know I did!

Mo

HTC and Samsung's Nexus experience - Less is more or less for more?

Ever wanted a Galaxy S4 or a HTC One without Touchwiz or Sense skins? Well now you can! It seems like both companies are eager to get rid of their skins on their phones and present a Nexus style phone alongside their skinned phones. The price tag for these phones are either the same as their skinned counterparts or more expensive. So why would anyone want to pay more to have less? It's a pretty simple reason as far as I can see, more timely updates.

The Nexus feel
If anyone's every used a Nexus phone they'd see how simple the interface is. Basically a no nonsense version of Android as Google meant it to be. Very clean and straightforward, with very few apps that come as standard.

For some, this might be a bit too simple, but for most, it's quite nice to have a clean canvas that you can paint on. You're not forced to use any specific software and everything on the phone except the core apps are added by the user. For those coming from Android which has been skinned, it usually takes some getting used to though it didn't take me long to fall in love with my stock Nexus 7 tablet.

Updates from Google
Arguably the biggest benefit of having a stock Android phone, you'll get updates as and when they are released by Google. This is in contrast to waiting for the manufacturer of your phone to decide whether they want your particular phone model to receive the update and then provide it for you in a few months time. Judging by how many phones are stuck in a past iteration of Android, i.e. Ice Cream Sandwich or older, it's easy to see why this is such a big bonus.

Less for more?
Losing all the features Samsung and HTC put into their phones and gaining a stock feel seems odd at first. Even when you continue to think about it, there's not much that makes it that appealing so it will be interesting to see how sales of these phones progress. To lose features such as HTC Zoe on the One or all features Samsung have on their S4 camera and to have it replaced by the stock Android camera app seems crazy. I've used the Nexus 4 camera and the app is very restrictive compared to a skinned version. You might say, just take the app from either Samsung or HTC and put it on the stock version, if only it were that easy! Generally speaking, they work on a different framework and so this would only be possible if Samsung and HTC implemented it, but that would mean it was a modified version of Android and defeats the purpose of the whole exercise.

So...is it worth it?
No, I don't see how it is. When Google refresh their Nexus range, they'll probably bring out a phone that will be around the same spec as the One or S4 for half the price so save yourself the money and wait a few months until that happens. Either that, or go down the avenue of a custom ROM and wait until the Android developers get their hands on the stock ROMs for the two phones and flash it. I can't say for certain that this will happen but I bet it will be possible on previously skinned phones. Then you can try it out and decide which version you prefer.

Mo

HTC - are you coming or going?

So much news about HTC in this week, both positive and negative, shows the company is going through a very turbulent time. It's an absolute shame in my eyes because I could see them turning their fortunes around with the HTC One and at least attempting to compete with Samsung, not that it seems any other Android manufacturer is able to at the moment.

HTC First
Reports are coming in that the HTC First is not being launched here in the UK on the back of unfavourable reviews it has received in the US. Not surprising really, since there appeared to be a lot of excitement for a Facebook phone for a continued period of time but nothing ever came to fruition until a few months ago, at a time when people are leaving Facebook, rather than joining. It's a hit for HTC since they were the manufacturers and will miss out on the revenue of a phone which was widely publicised, but it seems everything about this phone was a mistake, including its price tag. The phone costs more than the Nexus 4 sim-free and that pretty much says it all. I don't know how much Facebook had a say in the various aspects of the phone, but I wouldn't be surprised if they are mostly to blame.

Mass exec exodus?
Maybe not quite an exodus, but several high profile executives of HTC have left over the past few weeks and it's a worrying sign for the company and its staff when something like this happens. Why would they leave unless they knew something we didn't is what I imaging some workers must be thinking, and who would blame them? Especially after one of their ex-employees went on Twitter encouraging his friends at HTC to leave and they would be much happier after doing so.

HTC One sells 5 million
An unnamed executive at HTC has gone on record to say that they have sold 5 million HTC Ones, a pretty impressive feat when in direct competition with the S4. Although Samsung may have sold 10 million S4's in under a month, it is still an achievement when you think about the relatively weak brand naming the One range has in comparison to the Galaxy range. Reviews for the One have been very favourable in comparison to the S4 and having both of the phones in my household, I for one (get it?) am much happier with the One than the S4.

Turbulent times indeed for HTC, let's hope their next quarter performance gives them some hope for the future otherwise who can stand in the way of the goliath that is Samsung at the moment? From a more selfish viewpoint, I want them to be around so they update the HTC One!

Mo

[App Review]Greenify - How Android should be

Since apps are a major part of Android, I thought I'd start doing reviews of apps that I use regularly. This is hopefully the first of many and I've based it on an app which does something I think Android itself should do, put apps to sleep until you need them. First things first, you'll need a rooted device to install Greenify.

What it does
In very simple terms, it does what iOS does to its apps. People regularly mention that iOS doesn't have proper multi-tasking and in a sense that's true. Once you leave an app on iOS, it takes that apps and put them in a suspended state until you open it up again. This app does something very similar, it takes any app you want and freezes it, until you need it. But instead of freezing it completely, it only disables the app from doing anything when you're not using it, as soon as you open it up it operates normally. It's only when it's sent to the background that the app is frozen.

Is it for me?
The developer describes what Greenify does as putting apps into hibernation, but claims to do it in quite a unique way so that you don't lose any functionality when you're using the app. Lets take the Facebook app as an example. I find no use for any of its background notifications and I only need it when I'm actually on it so for me, it's a perfect candidate to be hibernated. Once you put an app on the hibernate list, it won't be allowed to run any background processes at all and can't wake up your phone (gets rid of a lot of pesky wakelocks!) when its supposed to be asleep.

When the app first loads up, it scans to see which of your apps has woken up your device and how many times which makes it very easy to make a decision on which apps to hibernate. Personally, I picked all the games which woke my device up and some apps which I had no idea were waking my phone up!

Since installing, I have so fewer unexplained wakelocks and much happier knowing that if an app is running processes in the background, I won't necessarily have to uninstall the app, just Greenify it!

Conclusion
I've been waiting for an app such as this for years, finally it's here! I would make sure you bear in mind that if you hibernate an app, you will not get any notifications from that app so for something like the eBay app, you'll not get any activity updates. Apart from this, Greenify is an app worth having in your fight against background processes and I know I go on about battery life an awful lot (I promise I'll stop soon) but it will aide your battery life too.

Mo

Battery life - when did we settle for a day?

For the majority of us that own a smartphone, we have to charge it once a day. Why? When did we settle and think 'well we can live with this'? Gone are the days where we would plug in our phones once a week and not have to worry about them running out of juice at awkward moments. Some people might argue that the days where we only used our phones for calls and texting are over too, so it was a tradeoff in the end. I disagree.

Why?

The reason we have phones that last just one day with moderate use is because we want it all from our phones. We want them to look stylish, give us push notifications, have a glorious touchscreen and allow us to play games/update statuses and anything else you can think of. Now if we were prepared to let one of these slide, like the stylish factor, then maybe phone manufacturers could fit a larger capacity battery and our phones wouldn't have such a close relationship with the wall socket. Before the iPhone came about, we didn't care much for how phones looked, we cared a little but nowhere near as much as we do now. After their release, manufacturers had a wake up call that as good as their phones are, they need to look good too. Phones became as much a fashion accessory as they did a device for communication. It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it's not a good thing either. It's just how our tastes as consumers have changed.

How to fix it?

Android phone manufacturers have started to implement battery saving software to help the longevity of a single charge. Samsung started a while back with its power saving function, Sony and HTC both have it implemented in their phones now too. The three flagship Android phones on the market now, the S4, the Xperia Z and the HTC One, all have some form of this on their phones as standard. It means that manufacturers know consumers want longer battery life, but they cannot put a bulky battery on as it won't sell, regardless of how long it lasts for. This is their answer for the time being.

Unfortunately for us, there's no real fix either. You could get an extra battery, but you'd have to keep it topped up all the time and phone manufacturers are increasingly moving towards non-removable batteries. You could buy a battery pack to charge your phone on the go when the battery is low but they're bulky and realistically you can't use your phone while it's charging on the go. Apps like Juice Defender have been around for a while now, but they only increase your battery life at the cost of less connectivity. Most of these apps are very limited in how much battery they save, since the biggest drain of our battery is the screen, which is something you can't really disable. Either way you look at it, we're stuck.

Our only hope?

While advances in processing power and storage are extremely quick and exponential, advances in batteries in general are much much slower. It has been the case for years now. Moore's law observes that the number of transistors on integrated systems doubles abut every two years, which means that processing power doubles too. This has been the case for some time now and looking at the mobile phone market, it seems to follow this phenomenon too. While the advances of memory hasn't been as quick as this, it has still been much faster than battery capacity improvements. In a way this is also stifling advances in the mobile phone market since manufacturers can't put their fastest chips in their phones as batteries can't sustain them for long enough. This forces them to spend more money trying to make them energy efficient, essentially making the whole research and development process longer. We'll have to sit tight and hope that there is a breakthrough in this sector, otherwise we will be forever doomed to need to charge out phones once a day...

Mo

HTC One - Best phone out there?

So contrary to what I said earlier, I found a deal on the HTC One that I just couldn't pass up. I am now a fan of HTC, bar their twitter feed, and an owner of the One. It was a mixture of a cheap contract and not being able to put up with my temporary phone that made my decision a pretty easy one. If I'm honest, it was a good decision. After using the phone for five days with it being rooted, I can't see myself looking over at anyone with an S4 with jealousy.

Now that I have a HTC One, I might as well review it. There are a lot of reviews for the One, but they are either too technical, focussing on just one aspect of the phone (such as the screen) or not very thorough. I'll aim to keep it simple and go through as much of the phone's features and some of the negative points, of which there aren't many.

Display
The phone has a full HD screen, very clear and sharp and for a 4.7 inch screen, it has a very high resolution. In direct sunlight, it is still relatively easy to see the screen but you may struggle a little bit even on full brightness. We don't get the sun very often in the UK so it's not a big problem but generally speaking, most phones don't perform as well as this in the sun so it's probably as good as it is going to get.

Phone design
This is one area where I cannot stress just how beautiful the phone is. In my opinion, it's much better looking than the iPhone 5. You only have to hold it in your hand to feel the build quality to fall in love with the phone. I was a big supporter of plastic phones but no more, design such as this will definitely catch people's eyes. Front speakers are also something which it is a fantastic addition to this phone. You'll find watching videos, playing games, and listening to music a totally different experience with these speakers. They also deliver very crisp and clear sound, with HTC's Boomsound technology. Many videos dotted around to show comparisons with the S3 and other phones and it's pretty incredible for playing and for recording music.

Functionality
First off, let's discuss Blinkfeed since there's no way of getting rid of it! It's not as bad as I first thought but not that useful for me either. Blinkfeed basically tries to mesh your social networks and news onto one RSS like feed so you can get everything you want from one place.

As you can see, it brings news from various media sources and merges them all together, you can scroll down for news and social updates in chronological order. It also brings up other stuff such as calendar reminders and TV shows (which you can personalise) but I do wish you could switch it off, as some people just won't find enough use for it and the amount of battery it uses is no doubt pretty high.

Next is Sense 5 which is definitely the best skin out of any Android manufacturer I've seen so far. I go as far as saying that it's better than vanilla Android and that is saying a lot. There are a lot of nice touches that Sense has that makes me need less widgets on my homescreens, one of which is the weather which is displayed at the top of your app drawer by default.

I admit that I didn't use Sense at first. I rooted the device, restored Nova Launcher and thought I was happy but then my friends wanted to see what the HTC skin looked like and afters showing enough of them, I found myself preferring it too and removed Nova and rebuilt my app and widget layouts on Sense.

HTC haven't opted for on-screen keyboards but instead left two touch sensitive buttons, the back button and the home button. The home button has the functionality of accessing Google Now and multi-tasking. Long press to get to Google Now and double press to access multi-tasking. Took me a while to figure out!

This is the multi-tasking window you see when you double tap the home button, you can swipe up apps to remove them from the list. As you can see there are just nine spaces, I haven't figured out if more than nine apps are open then would the tenth one be closed or not...?

The phone has a notification light behind one of the grills of the top speaker, but I found out the hard way that it only has one colour for notifications. So no more having personalised colours for different people, the green light just flashes when you have an email, text etc. and it's actually quite small! Bit of a shame they didn't go for a normal RGB notification light like the S3. If I had my way I would have a different coloured notification light under each grill and make them shine light a disco ball! How cool would that be?

The phone has a kid mode which restricts various different functions when enabled so that you can easily let children play on the phone. Very easy to enable and disable, I think it's a nifty feature worth mentioning for people with children.

The one thing I will mention, which isn't phone related but more web related is searching for help online will mean you'll have to sift through all other HTC phones before finding the right article, like the HTC One X or S! It can be very frustrating if I'm honest. I'm sure as time goes on, HTC One results will come up further on search engines so this might become less of a problem.

Camera
This is where HTC aren't doing themselves justice, after buying the phone I was a little disappointed that the One would not have the features the S4 has like removing passer-bys from a photo. In fact it does, using a feature called HTC Zoe, you can take a three second 'photo' and then edit the photo to remove someone using object removal. It has a whole host of other features on the camera which I have yet to fully explore but I'll definitely be using the camera on my holidays and hopefully being very happy with the results. There are a lot of comparison of photos taken on the One compared to the S4 and most are in favour of the One even if it does have 9MP less on it's camera.

Speed
2GB RAM and a very snappy processor makes running many apps at the same time a piece of cake. For so long I've had to put up with simple apps on my S3 taking more than five seconds to load up, quite embarrassing when you want to take someone's number and the contacts app is loading, many awkward situations of me staring at my phone...never again! I guess it comes with the territory of these new generation phones but it is such a relief, especially when I want to run more than three tasks at the same time. There's not much else to say here and no point doing a benchmark test, I prefer to play with a phone and see how smooth it is rather than some number on Quadrant which I can only use to show off with.

Accessories
Pretty standard here: headphones, USB cable, wall charger. The headphones are pretty good, capable of producing a lot of bass, similar to Beats headphones but without the logo. Not a surprise since the phone has Beats audio built in and HTC own Beats.

Storage and battery
The phone comes with 25GB Dropbox storage for two years and comes in 32GB and 64GB models. Moving from a 16GB phone with a 64GB memory card has been hard but I've managed it. Time to utilise the cloud! The battery is a big issue, or so I thought. The only time I remove the battery is when the phone locks up, but you can easily hold the power button to reboot so a bit of a non-issue. Apart from that, the bigger problem of replacing the battery is still there.

Overall
In my opinion, this phone is better than the S4. It's a breath of fresh air in a world of incremental updates. I hope HTC claim some marketshare for their own sake (struggling profits at the moment) as this phone is underrated and its features hidden until you try the phone for yourself. I've never been this happy with a phone and left it relatively unadulterated, which I guess doesn't mean much to people who don't know me but it is supposed to say a lot! Either way, I think this phone should be given serious consideration if you're looking to upgrade soon.

Mo

Low-end Android smartphones?

So in an effort to be savvy and save as much money as possible, I decided to sell my Galaxy S3 a couple of weeks before the S4 is released. In the meantime I have to put up with a low end Android phone, the Orange San Francisco 2 (OSF2) aka ZTE Crescent. I'd like to say right now, I have a lot more respect for people who can get by on using these types of phones because they are not for me, at the same time I wouldn't wish this phone on my enemies (slight exaggeration...). I've also come to the realisation that I used my S3 across many aspects of my life. Quite scary that someone can have so much dependence on a single device.

What's so bad?
Let's start with the speed. the OSF2 has a measly single core 800 MHz processor, compare to the S3 which was a quad core 1.4 GHz processor. For normal day-to-day processes, the phone struggle. SwiftKey has gone out of the window and Kii keyboard is being used as a replacement. SwiftKey just locks up the phone and predictions would often be behind my typing and the frustration was too much. Then there's the matter of games, the phone is rooted and it's on Android 4.2.2 and I still haven't been able to come across a single game that I've had on the S3 that works on this. That might be partly to do with the fact that I can't access the Play Store for some reason, but even using my Titanium Backup games, none are working! Boring lectures are now going to be just that for me...boring and without distractions.

The amount of screen time I've racked up on this phone is pretty much the same as my S3, which might be down to the fact that any task on the phone takes about 5 times as long to complete than on my S3, even a simply text or call. Another very important point is the lack of internal storage, it's nearly non-existent. After you account for the ROM partition and cache you are left with 160mb to use for apps. You do have a microSD slot but unless you move apps to the SD card (only some will let you do this), you'll be able to install a couple of apps and you're full up!

What's so good?
It's a cheap phone. That's really it.

Uses for a smartphone?
Compared to the average smartphone user, I think I use my phone a lot more and so my predicament is made even worse. On an average day these are some of the different uses I found for my smartphone:

• Alarm clock
• Phone calls
• Instant messaging
• Games
• Online Banking
• Exercise (Endomondo and Jefit)
• Voice recording
• Pictures
• Videos
• Music
• Organiser
• Calendar
• Getting directions
• Browsing the web
• Social networkings (Twitter and Facebook)
• Viewing documents/presentations
• Emails
• And some more which I can't remember off the top of my head

Basically, my phone is a pretty big part of my life, which I'm not saying is something to be proud of, but it does make it much harder. I envisage walking to lectures without being able to listen to music and have to admire and take in the sights and smells that I've experienced near enough everyday for the past 4 years as opposed to having my head firmly in my phone and music blaring in my ears. The phone can't play a song without interruptions when the screen is off let alone when I need to use it for something else.

Improvising is hard, there isn't a good substitute or way round for some of the things listed above but my Nexus 7 has stepped up to help. It's also made me realise just how useful cloud storage is for some apps. Let's take Jefit as an example, for those of you who don't know what it does, the app tracks your workouts and keeps a log of how much you lift so you can monitor your progress. It syncs your workouts at the end of each session and so you can get the app on a different device, log in and it will download all your logs and routines ready to go. This is one thing ticked off that list, plenty more obstacles to come across yet!

11 days until the Galaxy S4 is released, I imagine I'll have to take it one day at a time. Yes, I know some people might think I might be exaggerating but believe me, I wish I was.

Mo

Jellybean up, Gingerbread down - full steam ahead

The Jellybean iteration of Android experienced a bit of a jump this month, claiming 25% of the whole Android platform, up from the 16.5% it had last month. Part of this is down to the way Google now collect this data, as they noted that:

'Beginning in April, 2013, these charts are now built using data collected from each device when the user visits the Google Play Store. Previously, the data was collected when the device simply checked-in to Google servers. We believe the new data more accurately reflects those users who are most engaged in the Android and Google Play ecosystem.'

Now I can't really tell how sincere this is, as it could just be an attempt to make it look like Android is moving forward rather than staying about the same in terms of software versions, but then again Google doesn't gain much from doing so as this argument usually rages amongst fanboys and the 'old fragmentation is rife on Android' war. So I guess you'll have to judge for yourselves, but it's worth noting that in essence Google is trying to cut out those who don't regularly access the Play Store, which I think is a bit unfair as they still could be using their phones.

Other flavours and their performance
Since the way the data is collected has changed, you should be a bit cautious comparing figures month-on-month this time around but I've done it anyway for comparison  It seems Gingerbread is starting to fade (finally), claiming 39.8% of the overall share, down from 44.2% last month. Still a majority but falling very quickly. Ice Cream Sandwich is gaining slightly with 29.3% of the shares, up from with 28.6% last month and as mentioned above, Jellybean is up from 16.5% to 25%.

This chart taken directly from the Google blog represents the numbers as a pie chart.

What does this mean?
Well, not much as there is still a division between three different versions of Android and with Key Lime Pie coming up very quickly (touted for a summer release) it will likely cause more fragmentation. What's clear is that Gingerbread is stubborn as it's likely that older devices which are no longer officially supported are stuck on the OS but Jellybean is powering ahead and should overtake as the main OS in the near future, with the sales of the Galaxy S4 no doubt accelerating that.

Is it a problem?
I don't think it's a particularly big problem, most apps on the Play Store are compatible with phones that have Froyo and above on them, which translates into 98.2% of all Android phones, with only a slew of new apps now requiring Ice Cream Sandwich and above to operate. As long as developers create apps that are compatible with legacy phones then it's not a problem and since there is no sign of it stopping then I'm not worried about older devices becoming a relic that have no compatible apps available for them. It also wouldn't make sense for developers to create apps specifically for the later versions of Android as the older one still have a commanding slice of the shares.

Mo

Facebook Home and HTC First

Yes! Finally I can have Facebook on my lockscreen. But I never really wanted it nor does it even fill me with the least bit of excitement. I don't know what goes on in Facebook HQ but this just seems like a last ditch attempt to monetise their business model further. It's also a U-turn on what they've been saying for years now, they wouldn't make a Facebook phone. Does make me wonder how much data they need for targeted ads though.

Why on Android?

Well that's pretty easy, because of how versatile Android is and how the lockscreen has been developed allows Facebook to come along and implement this. This is why it's so closely linked to Android and iOS is left slightly in the rain as developers can't replicate the same thing on an iPhone. This is the same with the HTC First, the Facebook phone, similar to the skins that Samsung, HTC and other phone developers put on top of Android and the forked version of Android that Amazon use on their Kindle Fire, Facebook and HTC have put together a Facebook version of Android which is supposed to have Facebook at the heart of it. 

Who's this for? 

Good question! I really don't know, I use Facebook less and less and their app for Android is so poor in my opinion that I just need a final push to uninstall it and save myself so much battery in the process. I just can't quite make myself yet as it's still quite a convenient way of messaging some of my friends. I really think the HTC First must be for the younger generation because I can't see anyone older than me wanting to use this phone or Home for that matter. Why would I ever want to see my newsfeed on my lockscreen, I don't particularly want other people to be able to see my newsfeed with the click of a button either.

So...privacy?

Facebook quickly tried to make sure that they wouldn't let privacy become an issue if anyone uses their app or phone. This hasn't stopped analysts predicting the software could "destroy" privacy though. Facebook claim that the only data they will receive is the apps you run and nothing more but I don't think it's that clear cut, doesn't seem enough for them to be honest and I can understand if they were trying to quash privacy fears only to slowly intrude on your privacy a little further down the line. This is just my natural inclination to be wary of big companies who want as much data from you as possible to sell or use to make money.

Conclusion

Like I said earlier, I don't know what goes on in Facebook HQ but I hope they don't think people view Facebook as the most important thing in their life because they are going to be bitterly disappointed. I think they're also overestimating the number of people who will purchase the phone and download Facebook Home as a result, maybe it will be a wakeup call that Facebook is becoming less and less relevant in this world and I welcome that wholeheartedly.

Mo

Best deals for the Galaxy S4...

...or lack of!
I mentioned in my previous blogposts my next phone purchase was going to be the Galaxy S4. There's still about a month left before it's released but my sister had recently managed to get the Sony Xperia Z for £26 a month so I was optimistic for myself. How wrong I was, having scoured all the comparison sites and different outlets, the cheapest deal I found was for £32.04 per month for 24 months after cashback, giving a grand total of £768.96. This deal gives a mediocre package of 600 minutes, unlimited texts and 1GB of data, pretty decent for a normal smartphone but not so much for a top end phone nowadays. I put together a comparison table for various deals but unfortunately for me, I'll have to keep looking...

Network	Mins	Texts	Data (mb)	Upfront cost	Monthly cost	Duration	Total cost	Link
Vodafone	Unlimited	Unlimited	4GB	£29.00	£57	12	£713	Click
Orange	600	Unlimited	1GB	£0	£32.04	24	£768.96	Click
Three	300	5000	Unlimited	£0	£33.31	24	£799.44	Click
O2	Unlimited	Unlimited	1GB	£0	£34.29	24	£822.96	Click
T-mobile	2000	Unlimited	Unlimited	£99.00	£36	24	£963.99	Click
Vodafone	Unlimited	Unlimited	2GB	£0	£42	24	£1,008	Click
EE	Unlimited	Unlimited	3GB	£29.99	£41	24	£1,013.99	Click

Buy now? Buy later?
Let's wait and see, these are only a small number of deals but I wanted to find some from across the board for comparison. Only EE offers 4G, the rest will all be on the 3G network but I think EE have got a greedy pricing structure and would advise anyone to wait until other networks get their 4G up and running to get it cheaper. You should also note that T-mobile will slow your data connection down after you exceed their fair usage policy, whereas 3 will not.

What's a good deal?
I've found the Xperia Z and the HTC One for £26 a month, so I know the S4 should fall to around that price too, until then I'll hold out. Bear in mind there's still a month left before the S4 is released so you won't be missing out if you want the phone on launch day and because of that I think you should hold out for a better deal too.

Mo

Permissions and Warnings - should we pay more attention?

If you've ever installed an app on your phone (who hasn't?) then you'll have seen a list of permissions an app requests before being installed. You've probably also come across warnings on Android, but how much attention do we really pay to either of them? I think too many people blindly agree to a lot of things on their phone without fully understanding what they're asking for, similar to how we always click the little check-box asking if we agree to the T&Cs when we're signing up to stuff.

You have been warned
You rarely get warnings on Android but when you do, make sure you know what you're agreeing to before clicking to go ahead. I've picked the two below that I want to talk about, partly because I was quickly trying to find warnings to use as examples (it's harder than you think!), but mainly because I think they are very important to have a think about. The first is the location services using Google's database, it might seem innocent enough but have you ever had WiFi at your house and gone on Google Maps only to find your location given to a couple of feet without GPS? Chances are that it was your phone that transmitted your WiFi and its location to Google, who are now able to give you an accurate location by only using WiFi. This service constantly runs in the background when WiFi is on and you are not connected to any network. This happens because data is collected from all the networks your phone comes across. As it states, data can be sent back to Google even when there are no apps running, so when your phone is in your pocket this is likely to be happening too. 

Now I might make this seem really evil, but in fact it's not that bad. If you think about it, a database such as this is most effectively built by using thousands of phones to relay data back because of the nature of what's being collected. Basically because WiFi networks come and go quickly, it would never make sense for Google to independently collect this sort of data. Still, bearing in mind what it actually does, at least now you can make a better informed decision about whether you want this going on or not right?

The next warning I want to look at was the input method whereby it warns you about any application potentially being able to collect sensitive data you input onto your phone. I think this one is more serious than the last as it depends more on the app that will handle your input. There are a lot of keyboards on the Play store, but how can you be totally sure that the one you're using right now isn't storing and sending your data to a server about what you've just written? I'm not saying that keyboards on the Play store are doing that, but I think people should take care when trusting apps with their sensitive details. As with all apps, if you're getting it from somewhere that's not the Play store then you should really be wary as apps are very easy to manipulate and what might seem like a legit copy of a keyboard app could be an altered version to record all your keystrokes. You just never really know.

Permission to do what?

Well permission to do a lot of things actually! Permissions are basically rights you give an app in terms of what it can and can't do on your phone. I've taken Viber as an example as it requests a long list of permissions but I think you should have a little flick through the permissions any app requires before installing it just in case you find something that doesn't quite add up. This isn't a witch hunt against Viber as it's an over-the-top service provider like Skype or Whatsapp so they require various permissions, whilst sometimes a permission might only be required for a small thing, such as verifying your phone number at the beginning. You might also notice the system tools permission, which might seem a bit scary at first and hard to work out why an app would need it but for something like Viber, if you receive a call then the app needs to be able to disable your lockscreen to allow you to answer.

These permissions are somewhat expected of a messaging and calling app, to be able to access your contacts and logs to extract and match who uses Viber on your phone. Nothing really that worrying here but again, it's always good to have a think about how an app would use these permissions and how they could potentially abuse them too. 

I don't mean to scare anyone or cause paranoia, but giving permissions a bit of thought before you blindly accept it on your phone might save you a headache or two further down the line, especially at a time when Android is becoming so popular that malware is being created specifically for it.

Mo

Google's answer to Evernote - Google Keep

As some people might have seen, Google has released a new app to compete with the likes of Evernote. It's a pretty simple app and I think that's exactly what it needs if it wants to stand any chance of toppling a market leader like Evernote. The app was released just three days ago and has already racked up more than half a million downloads, not many other apps can boast the same feat, then again not many apps have a developer of such reputation.

Features

The features include being able to create to-do lists, take on the fly notes, capture photos and annotate them and  colour code notes to make it easier to sort and keep track of them. In terms of features, it's still pretty basic and updates will no doubt bring more features but at the moment I find myself using it more than Evernote and even if they didn't bring out any new features, it's definitely an app that satisfies my needs. It's the simplicity that Google always brings to the table I find myself attracted to. Before using either of these, I was using Tasks as it was so easy to use and everything I needed, a basic to-do list app that would sync with Gmail so I didn't always need my phone to access my to-do lists. 

The app itself

When you open Keep, you are presented with this screen:

Very clean and very simple, you have four options to select from, create a note, create a to-do list, use voice dictation or take a picture. It's pretty hard to say much else about the app as it's very straightforward and doesn't require you to create a separate account as it will link to a Gmail account of your choice. Give Google Keep a try and see if you'll be converted from one of its competitors or become a user of an organiser app.

Coming or going?

The only worry I have is how long this will be around for, you might have read that Google Reader is being retired in July, which has left a lot of people wondering if this will be around to stay or become a casualty of Google's spring cleaning a few years down the line...

Mo

LG and HTC's attempt to steal limelight

A lot of attention was focussed on Samsung's midweek launch event of their new flagship phone, the Galaxy S4 but while this was going on, HTC and LG were not so quietly trying to steal some of the limelight with what I can only describe as borderline distasteful advertising, well in HTC's case anyway. I have to hand it to LG in that their advertising was at least clever and funny, but if anyone had a look at HTC's twitter feed at the time then you might have seen some of their tweets. I'm a fan of Samsung, I'll admit, but not to the point where I will foam at the mount to defend them and the constant tweets that came from HTC made it quite hard for me to even contemplate taking their phones seriously or even their company. I'm all for advertising but not in that way.

LG be trolling...

Here's LG's advertising in Times Square:

Courtesy of Gizmodo

You have to give them credit for come up with this, plastered right above Samsung's ad, you can see LG advertising their phones, the Optimus G.

HTC be boring...

And here's HTC's tweets:

 

Quite a few retweets but I don't understand this kind of tactic, there were a lot of people for and against this one Twitter. I guess all publicity is good publicity and in HTC's case, a lot of people are talking about this stunt they pulled so maybe they got what they wanted but I for one don't approve of this style of shameless self-advertising and behaviour. At least try to be original or funny so people don't feel like the only reason you set out to make fun of a rival is because you can't compete with them.

At times I felt a little bit sorry for HTC and it was a bit cringeworthy. From their performance it's easy to see they, as well as most other Android phone makers, are struggling but this really isn't the answer. Try to stay professional next time eh? Failing that, try to be funny than pathetic. Thanks.

Mo

Clash of the Titans - S4 vs HTC One

We finally got what we all wanted, well most of us did. The S4 has been announced and we did actually see quite a few features which weren't leaked before the event. I watched the launch event and like a lot of launch events it was quite flashy and pretty fast paced. I wasn't a fan of everything they did and at times it was a bit dull and in between the gimmicky features, I saw quite a lot of things that Samsung are bringing out that I think are very useful additions to a phone.

Let's compare phone specs, as if they haven't been done already to death:















Design
The design of the two phones are very different with Samsung deciding to stick to its S3 design and HTC brining out a very sexy looking phone made of aluminium. HTC have always made good looking phones with amazing form factor and this is no exception, although the plastic of the Samsung might be more durable, I have to give this to the One as it does look fantastic.


Screen
The S4 has a Super AMOLED 5 inch touchscreen while the One has a Super LCD3 4.7 inch touch screen. Both have the same resolution, 1080 x 1920 pixels, often referred to as 'Full HD'. Since the S4 has a slightly bigger screen, the ppi (pixels per inch) pixel density is slightly lower as it covers a larger area so we get 441 ppi for the S4 and 469 ppi for the One. The winner really depends on how you look at it, but given the S4 has Cornering Gorilla Glass 3 instead of 2 to protect the screen, I am tempted to just give it to the S4 but let's call it a draw.

Storage
Quite an easy one here, the S4 comes in three different storage capacities, 16/32/64gb while the One has two, 32/64gb but the winner is the S4 by a mile as it has the ability to increase storage using a microSD card up to 64gb. I can't see it any other way, microSD slot is always a winner in my eyes.

Connectivity
Boring stuff here, but basically the two phones have more or the less the same type of connectivity here. They are both LTE capable, so 4G in areas which it is available, they both have v4.0 Bluetooth, NFC, infrared ports and microUSB v2.0. The only slight difference is that the S4 has USB on-the-go which means you can plug in extra storage if you ever need it, something which will probably be available for the One if you decide to go down the custom firmware route. We'll call it another draw.

Camera
The S4 has a 13 megapixel camera while the One has a 4 megapixel camera which they have marketed as the 4 Ultra Pixels camera. At first glance you might think that S4 wins but early camera comparisons have shown that the One does indeed appear to perform better. I think it's always important to bear in mind higher megapixels isn't always better and the One indeed seems to prove this. Have to give it the HTC One for the camera.

Processor and graphics
On paper there doesn't seem to be a competition here. The S4 has the Exynos 5 Octa 5410 which is an eight-core processor while the One has a Qualcomm APQ8064T Snapdragon 600 processor which is quad-core. So the S4 has four more cores than the One, but again until these are properly benchmarked then it's not easy to compare. In terms of the GPU (graphics processing unit), it's another difficult one with the S4 sporting a PowerVR SGX 544MP3 and the One with the Adreno 320. A lot of fancy words and numbers there but S4's GPU has three cores clocked at 533 MHz which is roughly between the performance of the iPhone 5 and the iPad 4. The Adreno 320 is a little bit older and has already been featured in the Nexus 4. Overall I think we'll have to give this to the S4 in theory and wait to see what happens in reality.

Sensors and features
The S4 will come fitted with the usual accelerometer, gyro, proximity and compass, all of which the One has too but on top of this, the S4 will also include a barometer, temperature and humidity sensors. These are going to be used for various features that come with the S4. Talking about features, Samsung have introduced a lot of new things that the S4 will bring. Overall this round goes to the S4 as Samsung appear to have added in many little things, some gimmicky, that I can see being quite useful such as touch-less gestures, dual camera, drama shot, S-translate and so on.

Battery life
I don't know why HTC continue down this road but they've fitted the One with a non-removable 2300 mAh battery while the S4 has a 2600 mAh battery that is removable. It's a no brainer for me, the S4 wins in this category as I have the choice of buying an extra battery if I wanted to and overall it does have a higher capacity battery fitted.

Final remarks
Samsung - 6
HTC - 4

Obviously this is my view but I find the S4 more appealing that the One, maybe because of a slight brand loyalty to Samsung nowadays or it might just be that it is the better phone, either way I firmly believe that Samsung will sell many more units than HTC and this is most down to their incredible marketing budget! Having said that, my next phone is likely to be the S4.

Mo

Apps you can't live without?

As you might have noticed if you've been on the Play store, its celebrating one year since the renaming and rebranding of the Android marketplace. To celebrate, Google has launched a sale across its movies, books and apps, which is a bit of a letdown to say the least. There's not much on there that's enticing or new in terms of sales. It's basically an EA sale at the moment, one that happens every now and again and I really hope that more apps are added otherwise this will be the worst promotion they've done, period. It's also quite difficult to find what's on sale as there doesn't seem to be somewhere on the Play store where all these promotions are collated. You can check out the 'sale' here.

Since we're on the topic of apps, I always wonder what apps other people have that they think are 'must haves'. I mean the ones that you can't do without and quite unique in what they do. I have quite a few, with the most used app on my phone being Whatsapp, if you don't know what it is then either you've been living under a rock or you have no friends (sorry!), or both. I think the next most important app I have is Titanium Backup but this one is only for rooted users and if you're rooted then you've probably heard about it and what it can do. I guess most of my 'must have' apps are some of the most popular on Android so here's a few gems which I think people could definitely do with:

• mSecure
• AirDroid
• CurrentWidget
• Endomondo PRO
• Kingsoft Office
• Plume

mSecure

Store all your important data in this app, be it credit card details or website passwords. You can even create complicated, random passwords that the app can store for various websites so you can rest easy in the knowledge that your password is very strong and you don't have to remember it as it's stored, fully encrypted mind, on your phone. Instead of having to remember all your passwords for various websites, you only need to remember the password to access the app! Bear in mind you, if someone manages to guess this password then all the information stored is at their mercy. If your password is strong enough you can at least be assured that no-one can access the data stored on mSecure even if your phone is stolen or lost.

AirDroid

A very neat, simple app that allows you to access many of your phone's functions over wifi. You can send text messages, check your phone log and access your media and files and transfer files to and from your phone to your PC/Laptop. It's a feature rich app that you have to try to understand where the reviews are coming from and I think once you've tried it, this app will definitely remain on your phone. One drawback if you plan on using this app for transferring files is that you have to accept the slower transfer speeds compared to connecting your phone up using a USB cable so I wouldn't plan on transferring movies or your music library just yet using this method. For the odd files here and there though it does save you the hassle of connecting your phone up every time or trying to use Dropbox/Google Drive. 

CurrentWidget

This is a bit of a niche app, but I think a lot of people have come across a time when their phone hasn't been charging as quickly as it usually does. This clever widget can tell you what current your phone is accepting when charging so you can see whether your phone is charging normally or not. If it's not, you usually need to unplug your phone from the charger and just plug it back in. If this doesn't solve your issue you might have to change your charger or there could be a more serious problem. Either way, this phone is very useful for isolating the cause of why your phone is charging slowly.

Endomondo PRO

Do you do any sort of distance sports? If yes, then the chances are Endomondo can track your progress when your training. I do a lot of running and use it very regularly, it provides invaluable data when you're training and helps you to train with different modes such as interval training. The best part of the app in my mind is that you can make an Endomondo account online and view in depth how you work out and view all the data the app has collected. I haven't come across another app that does what Endomondo does anywhere near as well or as efficiently. It's definitely one that you must have if you do distance based training of any sort.

Kingsoft Office

One of the best mobile Office suites I've been able to find and it's free! It really doesn't get any better that this, I've tried both free and paid Office apps but none of them are as functional as this or as easy to use. I use this day to day and have slowly started removing my other Office suite apps as I've always kept a few on my phone just in case I want to use a feature that one of them didn't have. It doesn't feel like this with, I can do everything I need to do and do it well and on top of that, it can read PDFs. Perfect, well near enough.

Plume

For Twitter users only! This app is one of the best Twitter clients on the market in my opinion. We've lost quite a few Twitter apps recently owing to the ridiculous 100K user token ceiling that some apps have hit. But that aside, I've found Plume to be a very clean, efficient Twitter client that is much better than the official Twitter app (then again most 3rd party clients are) and competes very well with other Twitter clients on the market. I especially like the design of the app and how easy and intuitive it is to use. 

I'm sure there are a lot of apps that are vital to other users, let me know what your 'must have' apps are and your reasons why.

Mo

Virus scanner for your phone? Hell no!

Are they being serious when they say you need to have a virus scanner for your Android phone? I never understood who 'they' were and why 'they' recommend this but no doubt a lot of people have virus scanners on their phone. Phones are becoming more like computers nowadays, but I'm still adamant that 'they' are giving the wrong advice to people about this topic.

The Play Store and Malware

Android is not Windows, it doesn't need a virus scanner unless you're really pushing the envelope in terms of dodgy activities on your phone. For the average user of an Android smartphone, downloading apps from the Play store, browsing the web, checking social networking and so on are all perfectly safe tasks that you can do without the worry of malware (malicious software; an umbrella term for viruses, worms, trojan horses and so on). Sure there have been reports of malicious apps making their way onto Google's Play Store but Google is constantly monitoring the apps that are published on there using Bouncer, an automated system checking all apps published. Google also remotely monitor apps that are installed on phones to prevent an app that is later flagged as a virus or one might have been downloaded from a third party source remaining on the end user's phone. This technique might seen invasive but think of it as someone doing the rounds on the apps you have installed rather than rifling through your personal details.

Safest way to download

There are many ways that users can prevent a virus or other types of malware making their way onto their phones. It takes just a little bit of vigilance which will save you a lot of headache. The easiest way is to download apps from the Play Store as opposed to other sources. This will dramatically reduce the chances of having malware on your phone as any app on the Play Store will have gone through Google's checks before being made available. After all, when you download an app you only see the file size and you unless you're a programmer, you don't even know what the app contains. You end up having to trust the source you downloaded the app from. There are literally thousands of apps on the Internet that you could potentially download that would fool you into thinking they are genuine when really, they are running background processes doing who knows what to your phone.

Permissions, permissions, permissions!

Always check the permissions of any app you download. This might seem a bit time consuming but it's definitely worth doing. Always think about the app you are about to download to see if you can justify why they need the permissions stated. Most developers avoid asking for permissions which aren't required by their app as it arouses suspicion. You should also be wary of an app that requires new permissions during an update. Developers usually justify the reason for new permissions but think about whether it's actually needed or not. If not, simply don't update the app and voice your concerns to the developer.

Play in my Sandbox?

Android has a sandboxing feature which basically separates each application so that it only acts within certain parameters, namely the permissions it has been granted by you. This means applications cannot interact with each other so if a malicious app tries to read your contacts, it will simply fail if it does not have the specific permission. This is a very handy feature to prevent any apps running rampant on your phone. This feature doesn't allow apps to completely corrupt the phone's memory either, like you might see with other operating systems. The memory for each app is sandboxed too so if an app attempts any such thing, it will just end up crashing itself and nothing else, very handy if you end up in that situation. This safety feature drastically limits the damage a rouge app can do but doesn't eradicate the problem completely as the app can still carry out tasks within its given permissions which is why it is vital to check the permissions an app is asking for before installing.

Still not convinced?

If you're still worried about malware then obviously I can't stop you downloading a virus scanner but just bear in mind the safety features and failsafes built into Android and the common sense that you, as a user, can apply when downloading apps. Then make sure you free yourself from battery draining virus scanners!

Mo

Android and battery life - not a lost cause yet.

How long does your Android powered smartphone last with a full charge? My guess is that no more than a day, maybe two at a big stretch. Hell, I don't think people who claim their phone lasts two days are using it enough! My phone is currently sat here on 22 per cent battery remaining and I've only used it for nine hours. To be fair, I've used it for a run amongst a lot of other things today so this is a bit of a special case. Usually it does last me the whole day without any problems.

In my mind, I think a lot of people are missing out on decent battery life because of ignorance. Not to say I blame them, finding out why your phone doesn't last too long after a full charge isn't easy, but it's not that difficult either. I'll explain what I mean and how I try to extend my phone's battery life.

Background apps

First, let's talk about how your phone is inadvertently draining without you even realising. How many applications do you have installed on your phone? How many of them are running services in the background that you're aware of? The chances are that you don't know, or you do but only to some extent. The easiest way to check is to have a look in the phone settings, then click on 'Applications Manager' and scroll to the right to have a look at the running applications and services. Take a look at the list and see if any of them surprise you. Every widget you have on your phone's launcher (the thing you see when you press the home button) will constantly run in the background, after all it needs to since it's an interactive widget and if it didn't then nothing would happen when you tap on it. Strip them away and what else is left? There could be some applications which you didn't expect to run in the background. These are generally the ones to look out for as they can cause extra battery drain. Usually you can open up the application that is running in the background and adjust the settings so that it desists from doing so, at the cost of maybe giving you push notifications. If some applications don't have the option to stop running in the background or you think they shouldn't be, then I would suggest getting in touch with the developers and/or removing the app. Most apps shouldn't run in the background unless they're giving you something back.

Extending battery life

Now lets talk about ways to save battery life, I alway see posts on forums on how to do this but most of the time they're just a bit over the top and generally limit the functionality of your phone. For example, using 2G (Second generation) network rather than 3G/HSDPA (Third generation/High-speed downlink packet access). What is the point of having a fast data connection and smartphone if you're going to limit yourself to technology first introduced in 1992? I'm going to try to be different, I'm not going to tell you to put your phone in airplane mode until you need to make a call or anything like that. Instead I suggest using Tasker and Juice Defender (Standard and Ultimate combined) to come up with ways of saving battery when you are definitely not going to use your phone. Both of these applications are on the Play Store and they are very powerful tools, although Juice Defender unfortunately seems to be lacking updates at the moment.

Match made in heaven 

Starting with Tasker, you can set it to disable auto-sync, turn off data connectivity or reduce screen brightness (amongst a whole host of other things) to its lowest level during certain times of the day to save battery. Most people sleep during the night (hear me out before you say anything!) and don't need their phone to retrieve emails and other notifications. So instead of disabling auto-sync at night or turn off data manually, you can make a profile in Tasker that does it automatically, say between the hours of 12 midnight and 8 in the morning, every day. This saves a lot of battery and you'll find your battery hasn't drained nearly as much during the early hours as it would have done otherwise. You can also set an end task so that Tasker enables auto-sync at the end of the time period so the next day you'll get push notifications. I used to use this to save myself some battery during the night until I started using Juice Defender and Tasker combined.

Juice Defender by itself can save you a lot of battery, but if you're like me and always on your phone you might find it a little annoying especially when it comes to applications like Whatsapp. I've resorted to using Juice Defender while I'm asleep instead of all the time. Tasker is able to enable/disable Juice Defender so you can set up a profile in Juice Defender and then let the two apps do all the work at night. You can set Juice Defender to do a lot more to save battery with a lot more ease compared to Tasker alone so these two apps make a perfect couple for saving battery.

Wrap up

I've only scratched the surface of the functionality of these two apps and how to save battery but it's definitely a start. I've also tried to keep this guide for non-rooted phones as everyone can benefit this way. Have a play around with both of the apps until you get the hang of them and take control of your phone and it's battery usage! There's a bit of a steep learning curve but you'll be so happy once you've passed it.

Apart from this, there are other way of reducing battery drain but I don't believe in reducing your phone's functionality for more battery. Like I said before, it defeats the purpose of having a smartphone in the first place!

Mo

Come and meet the next Galaxy!

Wouldn't you know it, I decide to set up a blog and there's very little going on in the Android world at the moment. Well I'm sure there's some stuff going on but nothing that interests me. I use Appy Geek on my Galaxy S3 to get all the latest tech news (well, Android news) and every day I come across articles that I have a view on...except for today.

The Galaxy S4...

I guess I'll talk about the Galaxy S4 since I've been salivating over it for so long and already thinking about selling my S3 in anticipation. I think my friends might appreciate this too as long as I talk to someone else about it and not them. It's not even like my S3 has done me any wrong, I think I'm just a fashionista for phones. I'm sure a lot of people know the rumours about the S4; a 5 inch screen 1080p screen, 2 gigabytes of RAM (random-access memory) and a 13 megapixel camera. The rest of the details are a bit shady and contested with some sources saying the CPU (central processing unit) and GPU (graphics processing unit) of the S4 will be made by Qualcomm, while others are touting the Exynos processor. Either way you can expect it to pack a punch, but it seems the octo-core Exynos processor that Samsung announced has been shelved for now as they had problems trying to manage the power hungry chip.

...and the Galaxy range

The S4 will no doubt sell, the Galaxy range is becoming somewhat similar to the iPhone name in that it's recognisable and increasing in popularity. I've never seen so many people with Galaxy phones when I walk around town. I do think that Samsung might not be bringing much more to the table than its counterparts this time round. Sony and HTC have both announced their phones and the specs are very similar to the rumoured specs of the S4. The only difference is that Samsung have established their range of phones much better than the other two and no doubt that will clinch it for them when it comes to sales, but if they think they can rely purely on the Galaxy name then they should think again. Take a look at Apple and their iPhone and how the name is slowly (in my opinion) becoming less cool and alternatives are being taken much more seriously. If it can happen to Apple, it most definitely can happen to Samsung.

The Competition

Having had a play on the Sony Xperia Z, I was very tempted to pre-order it. The screen was incredible and Sony's own apps and skins were enough to make me think twice about sticking with Samsung. I haven't had a play around on the HTC One, but I was never really a fan of HTC's Sense skin but I imagine it will be a very impressive device with beautiful build quality. All manufacturers of Android phones like to customise their devices (which always leads to delayed roll-out of the latest version of Android), but some of the features that Samsung has are just too tantalising for me to want to switch to a different manufacturer. For example take Smart Stay, which sounds like a massive gimmick, is actually really useful for me when I'm reading something and it's not the only Samsung feature I use. Multi-window is another that I've found very useful in some circumstances when you just don't want to keep switching between applications and it's the perfect solution!

To wrap up...

March 14th can't come quickly enough, I would use the 'I'm throwing money at my screen but nothing is happening' meme but I think it's getting a bit old. Instead I'll just wait patiently for a couple of weeks for the Samsung event and try to hatch a plan on how to acquire the S4 as cheaply as possible (as I've done every year around this time). For now I'll just slowly get more annoyed at the number of people who own an S3, they're making me feel less geeky about owning a smartphone which isn't an iPhone!

Mo