Category: Android
Switch view

Out with the new and in with the even newer. Opera Mini Beta for Android is now up to version 9.

by 19 comments

Yesterday, Opera marked its 10-year birthday by finally ushering Opera Mini 8 for Android out of beta. The app comes with a flashy new, material-inspired look and is still backwards compatible all the way back to Android 2.3 Gingerbread.

This move definitely didn’t go unnoticed, but, as it turns out, the team is already hard at work on the next major version on the mobile browser. The Play Store now features a brand new Opera Mini 9 Beta, already up for download by eager early adopters. It still doesn’t pop up in search results though, so here is a direct link. Read more »

‘Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft’ now available on smartphones

by 30 comments

Extremely popular online card game Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft, based on World of Warcraft characters, is now available on smartphones. Whether you have an iPhone or an Android smartphone, you can now download and play the game on the small screen.

Hearthstone is originally a PC game that was ported over to the iPad last year and later on to the Android tablets. Since then it was limited to the tablets, which made sense since the game requires moving around small objects that may not have worked well on small screen phones. However, with phones getting bigger every year, that may not really be a concern anymore, so it’s logical to have the game running on smartphones as well. Read more »

iFixit teardown finds Samsung Galaxy S6 a bit easier to repair than S6 edge

by 29 comments

Samsung Galaxy S6 is the latest flagship smartphone to receive a teardown from by iFixit. A week ago, the device’s shinier sibling, Samsung Galaxy S6 edge got the same treatment.

The SM-G920 received a below average repairability score of 4 out of 10 by iFixit, which is slightly better than than the 3/10 rating received by Samsung Galaxy S6 edge. Read more »

Samsung launches engraving service for the Galaxy A3, A5, and A7 in Russia

by 15 comments

The A series of smartphones from Samsung comprises of midrangers with metal builds. The use of this material for phone construction by the Korean company was still very rare when the Galaxy A3, A5, and A7 debuted – though lately it looks like Samsung is getting more and more in love with metal.

Anyway, one of the nice things about having a metal back is that it can be engraved with different things if you so wish. There are obviously countless third parties who can do that for you, but over in Russia Samsung itself is offering just such a service for the aforementioned members of its A line. Read more »

Opera Mini gets new Android version with revamped UI

by 48 comments

Opera Mini was the browser of choice for early phone platforms and has outlived many of them. For the 10-year birthday of thrifty browser Opera is releasing a new version with a native feel on Android along with Private mode.

Keeping up with the tradition of bringing modern browsing even to old devices, the new version of Opera Mini is available even for ancient Android 2.3 phones. Read more »

Samsung Galaxy S6 Experience app demoes S6 features on Android

by 48 comments

If our Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge reviews didn’t help you decide if you should get one of the new Galaxy S6 flagships, maybe Samsung’s latest promo app will do the job.

Samsung Galaxy S6 Experience for Android is a nicely designed app demoing and explaining all key features of both the Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. There you can learn about the benefits of the new camera sensor, the new S-Health app, various themes, the exclusive design, plus you can learn about all available original accessories. Read more »

WhatsApp finally gets a material design makeover

by 73 comments

The Android version of the popular instant messaging service WhatsApp finally embraced the Material Design language which made a debut with Android 5.0 Lollipop. An experimental build of the redesigned app is available to download directly from the messenger’s official website.

For Android users, the WhatsApp build 2.12.38 version brings revamped appearance with new icons, animations, and color-flipped emoji tray. Read more »

Google is the latest major retailer to give Moto 360 a price cut

by 19 comments

Google gave Moto 360 a major price cut. The search giant is offering the smartwatch for a rather sweet $165 with free shipping in its brand new online store for Android hardware.

The new price tag of Moto 360 is a cool $85 off the original $249.99 Motorola and Google asked for the smartwatch at launch. Read more »

This promo video shows five years of Samsung Galaxy S evolution

by 89 comments

It looks like Samsung released the coolest Galaxy S6 & Galaxy S6 edge promo video to date. The Korean giant’s latest clip focuses on the rich history of the Galaxy S series, which started in 2010 with the now classic I9000.

A tad longer than a minute and a half, the clip show each Samsung Galaxy S iteration launched over the years alongside its key features. Read more »

The latest Samsung Galaxy S6 video ad showcases its wireless charging credentials

by 48 comments

Hot on the heels of last week’s comedy-centric clip, Samsung released yet another video ad for its Galaxy S6 flagship smartphone. As you probably know already, the handset went on sale alongside its Samsung Galaxy S6 edge sibling last week, on April 10.

The latest Samsung Galaxy S6 promo focuses on its wireless charging capability. Read more »

Samsung outs kernel source code for Galaxy S6 and S6 edge

by 29 comments

Samsung released the kernel source code for Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 edge. Interested users can download the source code for a number of variants of the two flagships from the Korean giant’s Opensource Release Center.

Access to a device’s kernel source code allows enthusiasts to develop custom ROMs for it. Read more »

vivo Xshot battery life test

by 15 comments

The vivo Xshot just made it through out rigorous review procedure and didn’t do too shabby in terms of battery endurance. But, there are still a few things to note on the matter and we intend to do so in the following paragraphs. And if you want to check out the full, in-depth review, you can do so right here.

The vivo Xshot boasts an impressive specs sheet, featuring a Qualcomm MSM8974AA Snapdragon 801 chipset with Adreno 330 GPU, 2GB or 3GB of RAM, depending on the version and a 5.2-inch IPS LCD display. Yet, the device punches well below its league in terms of performance, a problem, we attribute mostly to its outdated, custom Funtouch OS, based on Android 4.3. Read more »

Best Apps and Games of the Week

by 41 comments

Welcome to our new weekly feature, the Best Apps and Games of the Week. Here we will try to cover some of the most notable apps and and games that were released in the past week or so on the mobile platform.

The list will include both new and apps that received some major update recently. The list is not limited to any particular mobile platform, but considering the current situation you’d likely only be seeing Android and iOS apps in the articles. Read more »

LG AKA hands-on

by 29 comments

LG AKA is an extraordinary smartphone and in a good way. Its key feature is the front mask, which allows the AKA to use its signature feature – the eyes. At first we thought about Tamagotchi, but the AKA isn’t a pet you need to look after. Each of the four AKAs has different personality, but they have one purpose only – to notify you about missed events in a cool way.

Outside the notifying eyes and front mask, the AKA is no different than the LG G2 mini. It’s a well-build phone with the iconic rear control deck and the premium laser-assisted auto-focus LG’s proud of. The rest is rather unimpressive – a 5″ 720p display and a dated Snapdragon 400 chip with 1.5GB of RAM. Read more »

Huawei Honor 4X review

by 41 comments

The Honor 4X is the company’s latest entrant in the budget smartphone category. It is also the launch of Honor as a brand in itself, still owned by Huawei but running independently without the Huawei branding.

The Honor 4X is a competitively priced big screen smartphone. Some of the salient features include a 5.5-inch 720p IPS display, Snapdragon 410 processor, 2GB RAM, 13 megapixel camera, dual SIM connectivity, 4G LTE, and a 3,000mAh battery, all for a price of Rs. 10,499 ($168). Let’s take a closer look at it. Read more »