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Best Android Apps of April 2013

Sukhraj Singh

-

May 5, 2013

Every day lots of apps came into the Google Play. Again to ease down you work for we made the list of some best android apps of the April 2013.

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Snapchat

Snapchat is becoming the popular messaging app that allows teens to exchange the photos to share light movements of their lifes without risk of having them go online. Through this app sender is notified if the receiver takes the screen shot of the image. It also has the snapchat Video. It is available for free. Download From Play Store

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SketchBook

SketchBook is the is an intuitive pen & ink drawing app designed for tablets 7″ and above. SketchBook lets you create the beautiful sketches with the various tools available in this app and you can also export high resolution images directly from your Android tablet. Other Features SketchBook:

Full Screen work space with support for any device orientation
Multi-Touch Interface
7 Preset Ink-styles
Color Editor & Color Picker
You can create the shetch upto 8 Layers
Export options

Download From Play Store

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Iron Man 3

After the success in cinemas now gameloft comes with Iron Man 3 game for android. In this game you have to kill enemy using many weapons available in the game. The game has very good graphics for a mobile game. Tiny issues aside, people seem to really enjoy this game and it’s definitely worth checking out.

Download From Play Store

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Facebook Home

Facebook home is like the various launcher available in the Play store to change the stock android experience. Facebook home puts your friends in the heart of your phone. As it replaces the standard home screen with a steady stream of friends’ posts and photos. As soon as you turn on your phone, you see posts from your News Feed, so you always know what your friends are up to. Swipe through to see more, double tap to like a post, and comment right from cover feed. It is a great app to keep in touch with your friends. Download it from Play Store

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Swype

Swype pays attention to the way you input text and creates a personal language model that follows you from device to device. It has many features which make Swype the world’s most powerful keyboard. the features are like Smart Touch, Language Downloads there are 60 downloadable languages, Voice & Text Dictionary Sync, Gestures, Keyboard Themes with very good color combinations. Download it from Play Store

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You can also read our Previous month edition Top 5 Android Apps for March 2013

How To Add Start Button In Windows 8

Simranpal Singh

-

Apr 30, 2013

0

As we all know Windows 8 from Microsoft is between us from past 6 months. Microsoft introduced live tiles in the Windows 8 and booted up its User Interface to match up and compete against other Operating Systems. In order to make it compatible and customer luring operating system with Mobiles and Tablets Microsoft added Metro UI. Well, it transformed Windows 8 OS into all rounder OS but some guys don’t like it as there are some functions missing from the OS and which are present in old version of the Windows.

Most of the users are missing Start button on Windows 8. In old Windows versions, Start Button performed many useful aspects and functions and it provided ease of access to all windows programs. This time Microsoft used the Start screen instead of the Start button and therefore it has no setting to enable or disable the start button.

If you’r doing this for some program shortcuts than we advise you to use taskbar for shortcuts. To Set up shortcuts on Taskbar >>Open program>> Head over to taskbar >> and right click on opened program icon and select “Pin To Taskbar” and you’r done.

Let’s see how we can bring or Add Start Button In Windows 8:

Create Taskbar Start menu: Well its the most easiest way to browse programs. To insert Start menu in Task bar follow these instructions:
- Make sure show hidden files has been enabled.
- Right-click on the Taskbar and click Toolbars and then New toolbar.
- Browse to C:\Program Data\Microsoft\Windows and select Start Menu and choose Select Folder
- Its done

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If you’r not satisfied with above options then you need to install third-party software to add the Start button in Windows 8. Here are some Third Party Software:
- Classic Shell: Its great free and open source software tool to add the start menu and many other previous Windows features to Windows 8.
- Start8: Another great tool to add the start button to the Taskbar.
- Start Menu 8: It is free and installs as quickly as Start8, but its beta status results in distracting orange “Send Feedback” button below your account picture at the top of the Start menu.
- Classic Start 8: It is a free app that adds a traditional-style Start Button that leads to the search box as well as Control Panel, All Documents and Documents.

There are many more software or third party apps available to insert Start Button in Windows 8 but above ones are the best.

Well, if you can wait for sometime than its best as Microsoft is coming with official start button with Microsoft Windows 8.1 update.

Having any problem while installing it than leave us a comment and we will solve it for you.

Twitter for Mac Update Brings Retina Display Support

Sukhraj Singh

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Apr 25, 2013

0

Twitter is doing lots of improvements in its mobile applications for quite some time and we must say they had forgotten about its Mac app. As the twitter app for Mac is not updated since 2011. But today they have released the update which provides the Retina Display support.So, now their Twitter experience will now be clearer and sharper. Twitter tells us to expect more improvements for the app in the near future

This Update brings Tweet composer with which posting tweets is better than ever with a new design, and you can now post photos to pic.twitter.com and their is also Updation in icons and overall iconography.

This update to the twitter app for mac also brings 14 new languages, including Dutch, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Malay, Portuguese, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish, Traditional Chinese and Turkish. It also brings improvements in the photo uploading now it is easier and faster to upload photos through the app. Offers keyboard shortcuts as well as support for multiple accounts and timelines. The update is available now through the Mac App Store

Source – iTunes

How To Extend Battery Life Of Smartphones

Sukhraj Singh

-

Apr 21, 2013

6

How To Extend Battery Life Of Smartphones

As now days the smartphones are equipped with powerful mobile operating systems like Android, iOS, RIM, Windows Phone, etc. These Smartphones are also allows you to listen to music, Click pictures, have access to the internet, stream videos and to play games. The Smartphones provides you the wide range of services but battery life has always been a concern for developers, manufacturers and the users themselves.

Instead of being waiting and waiting for the hardware development to catch up with this problem. We should concentrate on finding the alternatives to conserve the battery life. We suggest you some tips to conserve the battery life of a Smartphone. Like:

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Turn the brightness down

This is the thing with which the Display screen of a smartphone will become little awkward and tricky. But you might be surprised at how much screen brightness affects a phone’s battery life. You can also put your phone on autobrightness mode with which it will adjust the brightness to its optimal level for reading while conserving battery life.[/box_light] [divider]

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Switch off your phone while getting very weak signals

When you’re entering somewhere, Where you will get very weak signal or you will get no signal put your smartphone on airplane mode or switch it off. If you turn your phone ON in these conditions Smartphone will consume more power to work in these conditions rather than in normal conditions. Likewise, turn off wifi when you don’t need it. When it’s active, your phone scans for available wifi connections constantly, which kills battery life.[/box_light][divider]

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Turn off unnecessary functions

The energy is consumed while the functions like Bluetooth, Wifi, GPS is running on a smartphone. The general habit is that after working we don’t turn these functions off. These functions are running in background and consuming lots of battery. To tackle with this we should turn off these unnecessary functions after the task is completed.[/box_light]

You can save your phone’s battery by using these tips. Do tell us after using these tips whether they were helpful to you or not. If you have some more ideas do tell us via comments.

How to Connect Laptop to a TV

Simranpal Singh

-

Apr 17, 2013

0

Laptops, an essential part of today’s lifestyle to get connected, to do work, to play and for many other daily activities. But there’s main advantage an? or sometimes you huddled around your laptop with family and friends trying to view vacation photos on its small screen? or you want your Youtube videos on your TV screen? Now you not need to worry about these things as today we going to tell you how to connect Laptop to a TV set.

Before heading ahead checkout what type of ports your devices have (on both laptop and TV set) aka its a VGA, HDMI, S Port, RCA Stereo Audio & Composite Video ports or any DVI Port? We have attached image below indicating type of video ports. Depending on the ports you will have to buy that type of wire. Checkout the image below:

Connect Laptop to a TV Via

HDMI

Use a simple HDMI cable to connect your laptop to an HDTV. Until now its been the best connectivity to transfer media from one to another device. Despite its HD video it also offers Dolby digital 5.1 audio sound. If your laptop have HDMI port and same as on TV also than you need to buy single HDMI cable to connect your Laptop to a HDTV. If your laptop do not have HDMI port than you’ll have to get a converter to go from the 15 pin DVI cable to HDMI. Buy HDMI cables and Convertor[divider]

VGA Cable

From long times VGA has been the standard connectivity type between two devices. If your device have VGA port than you can connect using this type of connectivity. On laptops this port was usually built for projector or monitors but we can use it to connect it to standard definition or High Definition TV. You can buy VGA Cable From Here.[divider]

S Video

It also an old connectivity but via this connectivity you can connect your laptop directly to the TV. Super Video is not the best but its also not the lowest. These cables are round, with either four or seven pins. To get audio signal you need to connect different or separate cable. If you have DVI or HDMI port then do not use S Video Connectivity as it is not suitable for transferring Audio signals. Buy S Video Connectors and adaptors.[divider]

DVI

Digital Video Interface is used in monitors since 2003. You need to buy DVI to DVI cable or DVI to HDMI if have suitable support on either of devices. If you want sound with a DVI connection, you will need a separate audio cable. Shop for DVI connections and adapters.[divider]

RCA or Composite Connection

These are typical 3 cable connections and colored as red, yellow and white. From which red is right analog audio, and white is left analog audio. Its the lowest quality connection. Head over to buy RCA Cables.[divider]

Additional Information If Both devices have different ports:

If your both don’t have same type of port than you need to use adaptors or convertors or connectors to convert one type of port signals to another. For eg: a DVI-to-HDMI adapter, DisplayPort-to-HDMI adaptor and many others.

So guys now if your cables or connections are correctly seated and ready to connect then just head over to your Laptop/PC panel. If you are using Windows 7, press the keyboard shortcut Windows + P to quickly access the display settings or search for “Connect to External Display” in the Windows Run box.

Now switch to TV’s or HDTVs external input, if all things are correctly joined then you will see your laptop’s display on your TV.

Finally its done from here.

Note: If the picture appears distorted, you can change the screen aspect ratio and resolution with the Display Settings in the Control Panel of a PC laptop. Mac laptops automatically adjust these picture settings. Also after inserting all wires restart your PC or Laptop.

Have any problems? Comment below we will resolve it for you. Stay connected with us.

Also checkout our guide to backup your laptop drive.

Karbonn Smart A12 Review

Sukhraj Singh

-

Apr 14, 2013

6

As all the smartphone manufacturers companies focusing on the low cost phones. Now again Karbonn mobiles has launched their low budget Karbonn Smart A12 for just Rs. 7,990 in the market with good specifications. The Phone is powered with a powerful 1 GHz processor and has 512 MB of RAM. Now lets discuss Karbonn Smart A12 features in detail.

Design

Karbonn Smart A12 is designed very elegantly and company has tried to give fine touch to it. During Hands On the Smartphone it feels very comfortable for us. Dimensions of the phone are 135 x 66 x 11 mm. Smart A21 is designed in the rectangular shape which gives the feeling of a high end phone. But the bad thing about the phone is its weight, which is 164 g i.e its quite high.

On the front panel of the phone company has not provided any physical button. In addition the Front panel consist the 4.5 inch display and above that there is a front camera. On Back Panel there is the 5MP camera with flash and at the bottom there’s a speaker. On the left side of the phone, volume up and Down buttons are placed and on the right side phone has the lock or power button.

Hardware

Hardware of Karbonn Smart A12 is pretty very powerful as comparing to its price. It is powered with 1 GHz powerful processor with 512 MB of RAM in it. The Phone is packed with the 4 GB of internal memory space which can be expanded upto 32 GB. Coming onto its camera which is packed with 5 MP sensor and there’s secondary camera also which has the 0.3 Mp sensor for video calling. As stated above it is bolted with 4.5 inch Display having multitouch facility in it.

Software

Karbonn Smart A12 runs on the Android 4.0 ( Ice Cream Sandwich) along with all its luxuries. Phone is coming with preinstalled apps like Skype, Google Talk, WhatsApp, Google Plus, Gmail, Facebook and you can download more apps via Play store App. In real words you will get vanilla Android taste as company hasn’t applied any custom User Interface. It seems to be best Android phone available in the market at this price range.

Battery

Coming to the Battery of the Karbonn Smart A12, it has 1800 mAh battery which is perfect for the smartphone having the 1 GHz processor. If we look at the battery sustaining time after full charge than it disappoints us as it requires charge after small piece of time. So guys if you’r going out of your town with the Karbonn A12 than don’t miss your charger.

Verdict

If we look at its features and functioning along with its design than its perfect deal for INR 6790. While all hardware and software functioning is as per our expectations. Its available in Black and white colors.

Buy Now From Flipkart: A12(Black) , A12 (White)

Best iOS Apps Of March 2013

Simranpal Singh

-

Apr 14, 2013

0

We are here again with best iOS apps of the march 2013. Last month many new apps, games and social apps were launched and many old ones received updates to increase apps performance and experience. This time we have recorded many new apps gaining instant popularity. So we’re going to list them below:

This time the app which is sitting at the top is:

Fetch

Its an adventure game by Big Fish Games, Inc. for its young audience. According to developers it will warm your heart and keep you glued to the screen! It’s the story of a boy and his dog. The story of Fetch unfolds through animated cutscenes aimed at tugging the heartstrings of the young and young-at-heart alike.Game will give you extreme fun and developers have developed the game by littering mini games through the game.

It was launched this year and have support of around 11 languages.

Download fetch from here.[divider]

Repix

Here’s another Picture editor for your iOS device. By using Repix You can remix your snapshots by “painting” on them using different preset brushes. In technical way, Repix gives you more Photoshop-like control, letting you paint on effects for a more original result. It is available for free but additional add ons in the app will cost you.

Its compatible with almost every iOS device. Repix can be downloaded from the App Store.[divider]

NightSky

Its a physics based game available on iOS and as well on Android also. NightSky consists many scenes, only you have control a ball, rolling through two-dimensional dark, moody environments with seemingly no purpose but to enjoy the ride.

Game immerses you in its virtual world: Each environment is rendered with consummate imagination and care. As according to gameplay it have tight controls and effective ambience which make it one of the best physics platformers around.

You can download it by shelling out $4.99. Head over to the App Store here.[divider]

Skeeball 2

Freeverse, Inc. is now offering Skee-ball 2 for free in the App Store. All you need to do is roll the ball up the ramp and into one of the numbered holes. Play by simply flicking your finger across the screen or making a bowling motion. A fun, amusing bit of nostalgia for those who remember rolling a wooden ball up a ramp into a plastic cup. Its available for free in the App Store.

Also check our best ios app of february month.[divider]

Applauze

Bored at home? Than get out of your home and enjoy events in your city by searching hem on Applauze. Despite searching events it also helps you to book tickets and that too at lowest prices. In other words it helps you to discover, plan, and attend the best events around you.

Its available without any cost in the App Store here. For more Best Articles head over to the Portal here.

For more stay connected with us by registering your email with us:[ois skin=”top tgs”]

Share your best apps via comments below.

HTC First – A Facebook Phone

Mobiles
News

Simranpal Singh

-

Apr 14, 2013

0

As we all know HTC has released its second Facebook Phone, HTC First couple of days ago. Its the first device having Facebook Home pre installed. Facebook Home is a launcher giving you the overall Facebook experience over your Android Device.

HTC First is affordable mid-ranged device available for only $99 on 2 years contract.

HTC First Specs:

Display: 4.3-inch
Resolution: 1280×720,
Processor: 1.4GHz dual core processor
Internal Strage: 16GB of storage.
Primary Camera: 5-megapixel camera
Secondary Camera: 1.3-megapixel eye in front

It also support LTE, and it’s running Android version 4.1. HTC First Is packed with a 2000mAh battery. It packed hardware has been optimized for less battery usage via software controls. The whole phone is designed, built and developed for Facebook using its Home Launcher. What it is? Check out Details about Facebook Home below.

Facebook Home

In detail Facebook Home launcher takes over your entire homescreen with Cover Feed, photos and updates from your Newsfeed. Now you’ll not need to sign in to your FB App aka You’ll never miss a moment with upfront notifications about events, calls and Facebook updates.

“Home is a completely new experience for your phone,” said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder. “With Home available right out of the box, you’re getting the best quality experience for connecting with your friends.”

Features Of Facebook Home

Cover Feed: It will show your friends, pages and groups status messages and posts in a rotating display. You can flip or read the updates by swiping and tapping on it.
Chat Heads and Messenger: Actually its a magical feature of the Facebook Messenger not Home Launcher. You can access incoming messages without opening messenger app or closing your running app.
Notifications: All your notifications will stick on your device’s Home screen and there’s much more functionality also.

There are many other features of the Facebook Home but these are main aspects of the the new launcher.

Devices Compatible With Facebook Home:

Except HTC First, its available only to selected mobile devices – Samsung Galaxy S3, Galaxy Note 2, HTC One, One X, or One X+.

If you’r not much impressed by the Facebook ‘s launcher then you can also disable the Facebook Home layer for a rather clean and untarnished version of Android 4.1, something that is hard to come by.

Earlier, from past one week its was available for pre-order, currently the HTC First is available exclusively on AT&T stores and online for $99 (£65) on two-year contract. If you want unlocked without any contract phone than you need to shell out $449.99. It is offered in white, black, red and baby blue.

Currently HTC is facing some downturn in the market since 2012 but they are trying hard to get out of it. Recently they launcher HTC One device with some great features and specs like ultrapixel camera and blinkfeed.

Buy HTC First From AT&T

Microsoft Working on 7 inch Surface Tablet

News
Tablets

Sukhraj Singh

-

Apr 11, 2013

0

Microsoft Working on 7 inch Surface Tablet

Reports says that Microsoft is expanding its tablet ambitions as the sales of desktop and laptop computers are sinking. More than half of the tablets sold in the last quadrant were less than 8 inch in size and that’s why Microsoft thinking of tablet market. According to The Wall Street Journal, Microsoft is working on a 7-inch version of the Surface tablet. Other than this there is not any detail leaked about what it will consists or what is packed in the tablet and its specification. WSJ does say, however, that the tablet will go into mass production later this year.

Earlier this year Company has launched its Surface tablet pro. To know more about this read our article on it Microsoft Surface Windows 8 Pro Tablet To launch On Feb 9 For $899.

With this news it is also reported that Microsoft also is planning price breaks for its Windows and Office software as part of a strategy to spur lower-cost touch-screen devices enabled by its Windows software. Microsoft also is continuing to test its own smartphone, although it isn’t clear whether it will bring such a device to market or not. What you say will you buy a mini surface tablet?

Share your views about it via comments below.

Source – The Wall Street journal

Review Sony Xperia ZL

Simranpal Singh

-

Apr 9, 2013

1

As we also know Sony has announced the Xperia Z at CES 2013 in Las Vegas and is now available in almost every part of the world. Sony launched Xperia ZL along with its big brother Xperia Z. Mainly there’s no big difference between both the devices as both of them have same technology.

After reviewing Sony Xperia Z couple of weeks ago, today we have Xperia ZL on our hands for a test drive aka review. Sony Xperia ZL is packed with pretty impressive specs like Quad Core Processor, 5 inch display and much more. So guys let’s check is it worth to buy Xperia ZL.

Design And Display

Sony Mobiles are always known for best build quality and design. Even for every device, Display and Design are the main attraction points for normal buyers. In Sony Xperia ZL both the Design and Display are attractive, elegant and have fine build quality. While during hands-on I felt this device more ergonomic than Xperia Z.

Sony has used Plastic rather than glass-on-glass in its body. Xperia ZL have the Candy Bar design which facilitates a comfortable grip which lets you operate the phone without any trouble. Its dimensions are 131.6 x 69.3 x 9.8 mm (5.18 x 2.73 x 0.39 in) and it weighs around 151 g (5.33 oz).

It consists 5 inch TFT capacitive touchscreen having 1080 x 1920 pixels of resolution at ~441 ppi of pixel density. The Capacitive Touch Screen lets you make precision actions using your fingers. Next, coming to Viewing angle where the device totally outperformed. You can’t see anything on the display if you’r viewing or going to view something on the display without picking it up.

In display company has added support for multitouch (upto 10 fingers touch). Sony has embedded shatterproof and scratch resistant glass along with Timescape User Interface and Sony Bravia Engine 2.[divider]

Hardware

Sony Xperia Z is powered by a 1.5 GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor complemented by the Adreno 320 Graphics chip. In order to boost the performance Sony has embedded 2GB of RAM. Its available in 16GB of Storage and you can also expand its external Storage via microSD up to 64GB. You can easily use the device for high graphics gaming, can do multitasking and it runs apps smoothly and very quickly.[divider]

Software

Sony Xperia ZL runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean which have features like multitasking, project butter, Google Now and many more. In order to make it typically Sony device, Company has added Timescape User Interface which includes new Skins and a recorder, a timer, a notepad, a calculator, a floating remote control for the built-in IR blaster, etc. Sony has tweaked every part of the Android OS from Gallery to Camera and Lockscreen to Notification Menu via its custom User Interface.[divider]

Camera

Xperia ZL is bolted with Primary camera of 13 MP Sensor with an LED flash and auto focus feature. It can take up images of upto 4128×3096 pixels resolution. You can also record 1080p HD videos at 30- Frames per Second with video stabilization.

There’s also primary camera on the front of the device of 2 MP. It can also record 1080p@30fps.

There are also additional software bound features like Geo-tagging, touch focus, face detection, image stabilization, HDR and sweep panorama.[divider]

Other features

There’s 2300 mAh battery in Xperia ZL which supports a talk time of 13 hrs on 3G, with a standby time of up to 500 hrs. In connectivity Xperia ZL is packed with LTE, HSPA+, 3G, Bluetooth 4.0, GPS, WiFi and other usual connectivity options. Device includes sensors like Accelerometer, gyro, proximity, compass and barometer. In order to improve the audio quality of the device Sony has loaded it with xLOUD, 3D Surround and ClearAudio+ features.

Device includes microusb and 3,5 mm headphone jack on the top. This handset doesn’t have the dust- and water-resistant properties of the Xperia Z.

Sony has made a solid hit with the Xperia ZL. It’s a gorgeous phone that doesn’t seem like if it’s going to break with normal use.

Buy Now From Amazon and Flipkart

Thanks Sony Distributor, Sec 22, Chandigarh