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The LG Cloud service that wipes the floor with Google, Apple and Microsoft »

LG Cloud

You have probably already come cloud storage offerings from the likes of Google, Apple, Microsoft and Dropbox. They are all very good, but now LG has come up with a product that it hopes will take cloud storage to the next level.

What’s different about the LG cloud?

When news of LG Cloud first emerged, there was an expectancy that it would emerge as just another Cloud storage service, brought on to the market in order to keep pace with Google Drive, iCloud, SkyDrive and Dropbox.

But LG have done things a little differently. As you might expect, it is possible to share files between your personal computer and your Android device, via the relevant software and app. But unique to the South Korean company, your Smart TV can also become part of the cloud.

Advantages of connecting your devices

Photos taken on your phone will also be available on your PC, where they can be edited, before being shown off to your TV.

And there’s no need to mess about with a HDMI connection anymore in order to watch 3D videos recorded on an LG smartphone, as thanks to the cloud, these will now be available to view via LG Smart TVs.

Why LG Cloud is faster than its rivals

The real magic of LG Cloud is that it streams media directly to devices, unlike its rivals, which require files to be downloaded from the cloud. This is all possible thanks to LG’s propriety Real-time Streaming Transcoding technology, which gives it a significant edge over the competition.

As files don’t have to be downloaded, waiting times are minimal. And there are plenty of other advantages too. As all the graft is done by LG’s servers rather than your device, media playback – normally amongst the most resource-intensive tasks for a mobile device – places less demand on the battery.

The benefits of Real-time Streaming Transcoding don’t end there, either. Users don’t have to worry about making sure they download and install all the latest codecs, simplifying cross-platform compatibility

Storage and availability

There’s a whopping 50 GB of storage available for LG device owners, and a still reasonable 5 GB for everyone else.

However, LG Cloud is in beta at the moment, and as a result is only available in the USA and South Korea. Worldwide availability is expected later this year.

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Posted by: admin on May 5, 2012 @ 10:35 pm
Filed under: Features

Opera Mini 7 – Android version »

Opera 7 Mini

With the release of Opera Mini 7 for Android, we are going to take a look at exactly what this popular third-party browser has to offer.

Opera Mini is one of two browsers developed for Android by the same Norwegian software company. The key difference between Opera Mini and its sibling Opera Mobile is that the former sends data to the company’s servers first, before it is delivered to your phone.

The advantages of Opera Mini centre around the web browser’s data compression capabilities. By passing web pages and images through its own servers, Opera is able to compress data by up to 90 percent. This is particularly useful for anyone who uses a data plan with a restrictive download allowance.

Opera Mini 7 download

Opera Mini 7 is available for download from the usual places. You can get your hands on it via app stores like Google Play or Amazon’s equivalent offering.

Unfortunately the official site for Opera Mini 7 doesn’t currently allow you to download the apk package directly, for those of you who prefer that option.

A quick Google search will reveal sites that claim to be offering the apk for download, although – as with all Android apps – you should only install apps sourced from places you trust.

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Posted by: admin on April 4, 2012 @ 11:08 pm
Filed under: Features

What is WebGL? »

Even if you haven’t heard the name WebGL before, you will almost certainly have used something that makes use of this exciting technology. WebGL is employed by applications as varied as Google Maps and HTML5 games.

The neat thing about WebGL is that it allows impressive 3D graphics to be built-in to a web page, without any need for a horrible, laggy plug-in.

In a desktop environment, WebGL is supported by a number of major browsers, including Opera, Chrome and Firefox. When it comes to smartphones, though, support is patchy.

For most people, you won’t find WebGL support in the stock Android browser at the moment. Although, as usual in the world of the smartphone, there is an exception. Owners of a Sony Ericsson Xperia handset are in luck, as at the end of November last year the manufacturer in question released an upgrade which enabled WebGL support.

In January this year Sony open sourced their WebGL solution, so we may see other handset manufacturers implementing this soon. But for now, Android device owners who don’t happen to have a handset from the Xperia range don’t need to wait to see what WebGL can do in a mobile environment, as applications such as Google Maps make use of the technology. And support is also offered by a number of third-party browsers, with Firefox, Opera Mobile and even Opera Mini getting behind the 3D graphics standard.

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Posted by: admin on @ 5:40 pm
Filed under: Features

How to get an ad-free version of Angry Birds on Android »

Angry Birds ad-free

Android users no longer need to feel frustrated over the lack of an ad-free version of one of the most popular mobile games. Whilst users of other platforms were long-since given the option of paying a small fee to remove ads from Angry Birds, this hasn’t been easily available to owners of Android phones and tablets.
There is now a number of options available to anyone looking for an ad-free Angry Birds experience, which we will run through in this post.

On the face of it, the lack of an ad-free version of Angry Birds for Android users doesn’t seem like a huge problem. After all, if you are being allowed to download the game for free, then surely having to view a few ads isn’t much of a drama.

But let’s not forget that we are speaking about relatively small devices here. And a lot of users found that the in-game ads were just taking up too much screen space, meaning it was necessary to fully zoom out in order to be able to judge the birds’ flight paths.

Angry birds ad-free on other platforms

To many people it has seemed a little strange that the option to pay for an ad-free version hasn’t been available to Android users, as a premium version of the game has been offered though channels like iTunes and webOS’ App Catalog.

Rovio, the publishers of Angry Birds, stated that they were seeking an appropriate payment solution, before making ad-free Angry Birds available on Android.

Although with revenues in excess of $1 million per month from the in-game ads present in the Android version of Angry Birds, it is likely that Rovio didn’t feel under any particular pressure to find a solution.

Why did Rovio not offer an ad-free version previously?

Of course, Rovio have always had the option to sell a premium version of Angry Birds through Google Play (nee Android Market). No-one is entirely sure why they didn’t. It’s possible that they were so happy with the ad revenue generated from Android’s large user base that they saw no need to pursue this option.

Ad-free Angry Birds on Android

Although not particularly widely known, there is an ad-free edition of the original Angry Birds available to buy through Amazon’s app store. However, this has limited geographic availability.

With the launch of the latest Angry Birds release, we at long last see a change in strategy from Rovio. As was expected, there is an ad-supported version of Angry Birds that is available to download for free. But both Amazon’s app store and Google Play offer a paid edition, which offers an experience not blighted by ads.

Where to download Angry Birds ad-free

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Posted by: admin on March 24, 2012 @ 12:20 am
Filed under: Features,News

Yahoo Messenger Android update – revised app unveiled »

Yahoo Messenger Android update

A Yahoo Messenger Android update has been released, so in this post we are going to take a look at developments made to the app and assess how it compares to its competitors.

There was a time when Yahoo Messenger was amongst the pace setters of the instant messaging world. Even if you didn’t use it yourself, you knew someone who did.

Long before the days of smartphones, Yahoo Messenger was a pretty prominent contender amongst the big four clients, which also included AIM, MSN and ICQ.

Back when the IM scene was dominated by these four big players, a major software upgrade would come in the form of a couple of extra smilies. This was before Skype made an appearance, forcing everyone to raise their game.

Skype included nearly all of the features that could have been found in Yahoo Messenger, AIM, MSN and ICQ, but these weren’t really the attraction. What made everyone sit up and take notice was the ability to make free video calls to other Skype users.

It is true that Skype didn’t invent video calling, but they did it better than everyone else at the time. The combined technology of a centralised server and peer-to-peer communication proved to be a winning formula.

Skype’s video calling technology allowed bandwidth to be used efficiently. The end result for the user was good quality, reliable communication.

Today Skype isn’t the only service to combine instant messaging with free video calling that actually works. There is a wide range of clients and systems to chose from, all looking to update their software and apps regularly in order to get an edge over their competitors.

For some time now we have been seeing a trend of communication platforms borrowing features from each other, which has largely been driven by social networking. As the dominant social networks add a feature that users find useful, everyone from forum developers to IM programmers will look to replicated it.

The reason for so much attention being paid to what the likes of Twitter and Facebook are up to is simply due to the number of people using them. If a developer adds a feature that is already present in one of the major social networks, then they know that a large number of people will already be familiar with how it works.

Yahoo Messenger Android update

This brings us neatly to the Yahoo Messenger Android update, with the latest revision adding support for location sharing via status updates.

Status updates have been an essential feature for social networks, although it could be argued that instant messaging clients got there first. And when updating your friends to tell them about a great new band you have seen, or about a new restaurant you have found, it is pretty handy to be able to show them exactly where you happen to be.

Location sharing has been integrated into the likes of Facebook and Twitter for some time, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that it is being offered up by the latest Yahoo Messenger Android update.

Now anyone using the Yahoo Messenger Android app can let their friends know there whereabouts with every status update simply by using the all-new ‘Add Location’ button.

We have been very impressed about how well the new feature has been integrated. If you have gone out for a drink with friends, then there is a good chance that the Yahoo Messenger Android app will automatically detect the name of the pub you happen to be sitting in, but if it doesn’t, you can easily add this to their database.

The mere thought of location detection is understandably going to concern some people, but there really is no need to worry about the latest Yahoo Messenger Android update as location sharing is opt-in, so it is entirely up to you whether you decide to share your whereabouts.

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Posted by: admin on March 11, 2012 @ 6:58 pm
Filed under: News
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