Tag: android

Since the very beginning when Android first came out, people liked it very much. The credit is to be given to the development team that took complete care of all the aspects. Despite this special care there were some features that were not present initially but gradually they were added. However, one very important feature was still missing from the list but with the release of Android 4.3, Google managed to bring the same to all its devices.

We are talking about the dial pad autocomplete feature where when you begin dialing a number, the device uses your address book to guess who you are going to call and offers resembling numbers so that you do not have to enter the complete number.

This feature may have not been present on stock Android OS up to 4.2.2, but manufacturers like Sony, Samsung and others have been providing this feature since the start. So it was something that Google should have taken care off well before but now that the feature is finally there we find no reasons to complain.

How To Enable Dial Pad Autocomplete On Android 4.3

Step 1: First and foremost you have to launch Phone app. The dial pad settings can only be accessed from here so there is no point in going to the stock Settings app.

Step 2: Now tap the menu button which is present at the bottom right corner (the one with three vertical dots). From the pop up menu, select Settings.

Step 3: You will see a new window that says Call Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the page until you see an option saying Dial pad autocomplete. You would find the feature under Other Call Settings section. You need to check the corresponding box and that’s it, you are done.

Now you may go back to the dial pad and try entering a known number and matching contacts will be displayed just above the dial pad.

This is a very useful feature when you need to dial a number quickly and we are glad it has been added to the stock Android OS finally. If you have not enabled this feature yet, do follow the aforementioned guide and do it right away.

iOS 7 beta was released a while back and it is being debated as both a hit and a miss. The design has been completely overhauled, as Apple promised, and while many developers are liking it, many are criticizing it at the same time.

But one feature that has really come out as a surprise is the iOS 7 Control Center. The control center is basically an official replacement of SBSettings from where one can toggle airplane mode, bluetooth, wi-fi, and other features on or off, without moving away from the very screen you are on. One can invoke the control center by swiping upwards from the bottom of the screen which makes it extremely convenient to use.

While we are waiting for Apple to release the iOS 7 for all the users, developers from the Android community have found ways to replicate the control center on the android OS. Now even a regular android user can experience how iOS 7’s control center feels, so if you want to try this out on your android device, follow the guide below:

Step 1: Download Control Center from Google Play Store and install it on your device.

Step 2: Launch the application form the application drawer and on the very first screen toggle the Start Service feature ON. After doing so tap on the Touchable Area.

Step 3: Under Touchable Area section, select the area style along with the width and height of the area. We would recommend you to keep it close to 5dp or else you would face problems while using other applications.

Now you are done with the configuration part and you can exit the application to experience the iOS 7 control center on your device. To launch the control center you will have to swipe upwards from the bottom of the but make sure you do not drag open Google Now. As you can see you have toggles for the basic features as well as brightness and volume sliders on the control panel. You will also be able to switch between general and silent ringer profiles.

The last row of apps at the bottom do not work as per one’s expectations. For example, the camera button does not launch the stock camera app and instead you will have to map it to launch a third party camera app. To change the apps you want to launch using the last row of buttons, you can long press any of the icons and an application list will pop open. You can select the desired app from there.

Conclusion

A great development coming from the developer community, however, the app still has a couple of bugs which if resolved will make it more appealing.

Recently I bought a new Netgear wireless router for my home and since I have been using Netgear products for a while now, I was able to get it up and running within minutes. It was fairly easy to go ahead with the default settings while setting up and router but the question arises how performance efficient the default settings are?

To be honest the default settings could work wonders for some while prove to dissatisfactory for others. So what is the best possible way to configure your wireless router without getting into the technicalities? Well if you have an android device we have a brilliant solution that would let you enhance the performance of your wireless router within minutes. Wifi Analyzer is an application that scans the nearby wireless networks and the channels they are using. Once spotted, it will display a list of channels that are less crowded to which you can configure your wireless router to. Basically the less crowded a channel is or the less shared it is, the better the reception of your wireless network would be.

How To Use WiFi Analyzer

Step 1: Go to Google Play store and install Wifi Analyzer. Enable wifi and launch the application and immediately it will display your current channel graph which is useful for two purposes:

• It highlights the channels used by the networks your device has picked up, and
• It also shows the signal strength of all the nearby networks

If you swipe across the screen to the left a number of graphs are available for in-depth study. Or you can also tap on the Eye button present on the top and switch to the respective graph. In my case my home router is Netgear which has the highest signal strength as is evident by the height of the curve shown in the graph.

The time graph, the first one in the images above, tells the signal strength with respect to time. So you will have to keep it running for a couple of seconds before you are able to get the results. Also there is a Channel Rating page wherein you can select your wireless router and get to know which channel has the most stars (most efficient) for your home network.

Moving on you have there is an AP List page that displays all access points, the channels they use, their signal strength and names. The last page is the Signal Meter where you actually test the strength of a wireless network.

There is also a Settings page where you can enable or disable auto scan and also select the scan interval. You can also change the channel available in your region, set it to auto enable or disable Wifi and even select the color for your wireless network, the color to be used on the graphs.

Step 2: Once you get familiar with the application and understand what it suggests, you can open your home router’s settings page using a browser on your android device or pc and select the best channel for optimum performance.

Conclusion

I have used this for a couple of days and it really does help in increasing the performance of your home wireless network. Furthermore it is quite easy to understand and does not involve any technicalities. So I would suggest that you go ahead and get this free app right away.

Many people do not care about the weather but it is a well known fact that the weather fully determines how we spend a particular day. From the dress we are going to wear, to the outdoor events we are going to be present at, all is dependent on the weather on that day. So it becomes important that we keep ourselves updated with the latest weather information and for that, we bring you the five best weather apps available for your Android device.

WeatherBug Elite

WeatherBug Elite is in existence since Android version 1.5 and 1.6, and impressively it is still one of the most loved weather apps. The app comes loaded with all the standard features like hourly and weekly forecasts, and radars. What makes it even more powerful is the app’s widget that provides all the latest info under one roof and at the same time lets you customize the background and text so that it matches perfectly with your device’s default theme.

Download: Android | iOS

ilMeteo Weather

ilMeteo Weather is the next app on the list. This app is quite useful when you are looking for the international weather as it lets you look up and save locations across the globe. The app comes packed with a dedicated weather widget and a clock widget. Besides the interesting bits, the only downside of this app is that it is not as feature rich as its competitors are.

Download: Android | iOS

Yahoo Weather

This is one of the top three weather apps available for both iOS and Android. Yahoo weather app may not be as complex looking as other apps are, and is rather quite decent in terms of the interface. Recently the app received a comprehensive overhaul and now features a new and slick user interface. Some of the highlights include daily forecasts, maps, wind and pressure, precipitation, and sun and moon phases.

Download: Android | iOS

Go Weather

The next top app is from a versatile developer team and instead of being an entirely separately, is more of add-on to a popular Android Launcher application. We are talking about GO Weather which comes as a widget for GO Launcher EX android launcher. The app has most of the basic features you would wish for but the area where it really beats others is theming. You get a whole lot of options to theme your widget and make it look as funky as possible. Having said that, the app is not as feature rich as many other competitors are.

Download: Android

1Weather

1Weather is the app that stands on top of the weather apps list. The app not only packs all the required feature such as radar, forecasts, weather by the hour, weather fun facts, but also is extremely beautiful interface wise. The widgets of this weather app look brilliant and come in variety including a clock widget, a circle widget and more. The app is free to use but features ads which one can get rid of, by paying a reasonable amount.

Download: Android

Similar Applications

For users who have already tried the aforementioned apps may try other weather apps such as WeatherPro, AccuWeather, and RadarNow.

Conclusion

All the apps mentioned above provide the needful information as fast as you would require but the question arises which one has the most user friendly and good looking interface, and offers enough features ? The answer to that is 1Weather and Yahoo Weather as they are the best ones out there.

Twitter is one of the most used social networking websites in the world, and for sure there is no doubt on that. There is a dedicated app for Twitter available on all major mobile platforms i.e. iOS, Android and Windows Phone OS, but the same offers less features and functions compared to other Twitter alternatives present out there in the market. Today we will be talking about the top five twitter alternatives for your Android device.

Tweetcaster

Tweetcaster is one of highest rated Twitter aps with over 10 million downloads. The app packs loads of features including searching within your own timeline or someone else’s timeline, knowing which of your tweets are most mentioned, favorited and retweeted, filter timeline according to content (photo, video or link), hide users and specific keywords without unfollowing them, photo effects, smart lists, and a super useful widget.

Download: Android | iOS

Hootsuite

Hootsuite is not just about Twitter but Facebook as well and it lets you manage multiple social platform accounts from the same screen. The app has over 6 million users and lets you manage Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google+ accounts all from one screen. It allows you to add upto 5 social profiles and if you are willing to shed $10 a month for a Hootsuite Pro account, the app further integrates Google Analytics and Facebook Insights to track the popularity of your tweets.

Download: Android | iOS

Plume

The next well known Twitter alternative is called Plume. The app presents a beautiful user interface with noteworthy features such as colorizing your timeline/friends from Twitter, Multiple twitter accounts support, Scrollable widgets to display your twitter timeline on your home, Lockscreen widget (Android 4.2+), Mute twitter users, word or applications, Facebook timeline & posting, large view of images with pinch to zoom, Twitter geotagging, and more.

Download: Android

Falcon Pro

If there is a Twitter alternative which is fast and innovative, it has to be Falcon Pro. Most of the common sections that one wishes to access, such as lists, contacts, profile, etc., are available at a swipe of your finger. If you find it difficult to understand Falcon’s interface, at one touch of a button, the interface changes to that of the dedicated Twitter app. It also features an integrated browser, and offers load of interesting features.

Download: Android

Seesmic

Seesmic for Twitter is another strong contender for the best Twitter alternative, and which is why millions of users are use it on a daily basis. Highlighting features of the app include Multiple Twitter accounts support, Cross-posting to multiple Twitter accounts and your Facebook account at the same time, Preview photos of messages from Instagram, Twitter, Twitpic and more, Full Twitter search capabilities, Share videos and images, Geotagging, Access and view your Twitter List timeline, and much more.

Download: Android

Similar Applications

Some other Twitter alternatives that we have come across are EchoFon, Tweecha, Scope. Buffer is also a decent Twitter client.

Conclusion

There is no sure shot winner here, but we really liked Tweetcaster and Falcon Pro. Tweetcaster, in spite of being free, offers way too much that one can think of. The same goes for Falcon Pro too, though paid, it offers a good amount of features and a lovely interface that you would like for sure.