Blog Category: Apps

It’s difficult. It’s infuriating. Its undoubtedly the 2014 game of the year. Its developer yanked it from the market for among others, the first two reasons. (Or did he?). By now you know we are talking about flappy bird!
Flappy bird was developed by Vietnam based game developer Nguyen Ha Dong (Dong Nguyen in short) and published by Vitenamese game development outfit, GEARS studios. The developer yanked it from the market in early 2014 through the now infamous tweet:

While new versions and clones have hit the market since the original was yanked, no clear contender has yet to take root. You can download the original Flappy Bird .apk here

Flap Flap Flappy Bird.
On the face of it, the game is simple. Tap on the screen to keep a small bird moving forward between a row of green pipes without colliding with then...

When you finally realized that you need to move away from iOS and finally enjoy the many benefits of Android, root, and heavy levels of customization. There are a few things you imagine you’d have to give up. One of them is the SMS that you have kept in record in your iOS device for a very long time.

You are correct in assuming that one cannot simply transfer iOS contacts to Android devices. While there might be some difficulty in the process, it is not impossible at all to do. You just have to dodge a few bullets and go through some hoops, but in the end of it all, you would keep all the lovey-dovey messages you have saved on your previous device.
Backing up iOS Messages
Your first order of business is to backup your SMS messages from your iOS...

One thing Android lacked for a long time is native mobile theft security. While we have been able to somehow mitigate this lack of theft security with 3rd party apps, there is nothing quite like a native, ROM based anti-theft solution. It seems that Google finally recognized that gaping hole in Android. They unveiled the Android Device Manager feature later this year, which is now one of the best perks of having a Google account synchronized with your Android device.

So what exactly is an Android Device Manager? It is a service that confirms one thing we knew all along – Google can easily track each and every smartphone by using the location data it sends to its servers. Rather than keeping all that data for themselves, Google finally decided to give back by letting us use this remote locating feature...

Emulation on Android has been very rocky so far. The development scene has tried its best to allow Android to run older gaming devices. Why would you go that far? Simply because games on older handhelds are a lot more fun in many cases. Any hardcore mobile gamer would feel a bit lost in the sea of games in mobile. While fun, they don’t really offer the same depth and completion that you would get on a Gameboy for example.

While Gameboy emulation has mostly been a success, NDS emulation has been rocky at best. They can’t even get it to run perfectly on PCs. The fact that you need a touch screen to make NDS gaming actually enjoyable is a factor why it isn’t catching on PCs. That is why development has moved on to focusing on mobile devices with...

We live at such a time when we are forced out of our comfortable unlimited data plans and into tiered and shared data plans. Carriers say that they simply can’t keep providing unlimited data access to all of their customers like they could before simply because there are so much more to cater to right now. There is what they call network congestion, because nearly every citizen in the country now holds a form of smartphone or tablet that makes use of mobile network data.

While many of us believe that this is simply some network propaganda to ensure that they earn more money as demand for data increases, it is a fact that we can’t escape these limited data plans unless you are willing to shell out a lot of money or move to a smaller network that can still...

Have you read that news about the little kid that accidentally caused her dad to pay for a really old and beat-up car that needs a lot time, effort, and more money to restore? Well, as it turns out, the dad left the kid with the tablet alone one day, and a stroke of curiosity got to the little tyke as she explored the Amazon store.

This could happen to anyone. A little kid may just take hold of your device and browse whatever strikes their curiosity. The worst part is what if that little kid wasn’t the guy’s daughter? What if it was a complete stranger? What if it wasn’t a kid? Just about anyone could become you next financial liability nightmare.
So what can you do to prevent such events from happening?
Lock up your Smartphone
This is actually very basic and...

There is a long and seemingly never ending debate about the practicality and the actual purpose of Android Task killer apps. These apps have been out since Android came to be. It has become a staple in some people’s lives, with people often talking about their phones having much better battery life and performance with every use. At the same time, there are others who swear to have stopped using a Task Killer and actually have better performance and battery life than when they avidly did. Then there are those who say they had crappy performance and battery life before they met their perfect task killer.

With all these information swirling around the net, it is no surprise how we can be conflicted as to exactly which one is right, which one is dead wrong, and which one actually has a...

For a long time now, we have learned to change the way the phone looks, the way we interact with the device, the way it sounds, and even the way it performs. We have touched UI changes time and again. In terms of communication, we have learned how to change ringtones and message tones. Now, we will find out how to change the actual way we see the notifications that come through.

Let’s review. How do the regular notifications go again? Well, once it comes in, the phone will display an icon over at the notification bar. For you to see the details of the notification, you need to swipe down from the notification bar to reveal the notification shade that shows notifications by app.
So what is a variation of a notification? Probably the most popular custom form of receiving notifications...

There is no real 100% safe software, but with everyone’s combined efforts, Android can be made safer for all of us. Unfortunately, the price of an open system is that the vulnerabilities are also open to be explored and exploited by both good and bad alike.

There are people who explore the Android code simply to find vulnerabilities. There are the good guys, who look for it to report and maybe find a way to patch it, while there are those who seek to exploit in in delivering malware and stealing precious information from Android users everywhere. Thankfully, Google watches these developments as well and they patch it as soon as they can.
Unfortunately, while manufacturers are quick to take all the benefits of the open source code when they make an Android device, they are not too keen on fixing the...

There are literally thousands of apps in the Play Store to choose from. Sometimes, these apps may have one or two nifty features we want, while other features are only available in a similar app. We end up installing a lot of apps to make sure all our bases are covered when we need it. The fact is, these apps are becoming variedly useful. Many apps can do similar things or also respond to similar actions. Why, sharing a photo from the gallery is sure to unleash a load of apps that can take the action initiated by your gallery.

While it may be necessary to keep all those apps ready just in case that the next time you perform an action, it you will have the option to use that app, there are cases when we want only one app...