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2012. No Flying Car but at Least We Have Google Wallet


 

First officially introduced back in Early 2011, Google Wallet is… still well a work in progress. The concept itself is amazing. Almost everyone forgets their wallet from one time to another; plus there is always a sense of concern the security and location of one’s money and credit card. Google Wallet addresses these issues. Where’s your wallet: “Your Phone.” Is it secure: “well I hope didn’t give your PIN away to your Ex right?” Only until recently have more and more retailers are coming on board with the new Google Wallet application. So for those with a Google Wallet capable device, using this “Fancy Utility” is becoming more and more and a viable option rather than a silly concept.

 

A really special aspect about Google Wallet is that it is going to let you not just make payments but also give you the chance to redeem different coupons which will help you earn many reward points, just with the tap of your phone. And, this app is the first of its kind in theU.S.This has been termed as Google Wallet SingleTap by the company. The list of retailers where you can use this feature are Foot Locker, American Eagle Outfitters, Toys“R”Us, The Container Store, Jamba Juice, Guess, Macy’s and OfficeMax.

 

Here are a few more reasons why you should be using Google Wallet. You would be simply saving a lot of money. The app offers a tab called, “Featured Offers” that gives you special deals from retailers that can’t be found anywhere else. In addition, Google is also working along with more retailers to bring reward cards also under this experience. With Google Wallet, all you require is your Android smartphone and a single tap from your phone. Promotions, Coupons, and special sales will be featured before purchases and should hopefully save you money on Google Wallet items and Services. Some of the retailers with whom Google is working to make partners are D’Agostino, Chevron, Gristedes Supermarkets, Faber News Now, and Pinkberry.

 

So, hopefully this new app from Google is going to save you a lot of blues when you forget your wallet next time. (Unless of course you also forget your phone, there isn’t an app for that… or is there.) At this time though only a few devices can support Google Wallet, but Google is pushing this app to become the future. So who knows, keeping your wallet home may just become the new trend. Personally though, I’d rather have that flying car already.

 

Let us know what you think about Google Wallet in the comments below!

Top Free Media Players for Android: Everyday, We’re Shuffl’n (through our music playlist)

 

This post is for the music lovers everywhere especially if you love to listen to music whether you are home or on the go. Google has made it possible for you to enjoy your favorite music in the form of video or sound on high resolution screens supported by powerful Android media apps. So without further adieu,  here’s your guide to the top media player apps that you should check out and add to your Android phone. The best part: these apps are FREE. Though each app has their share strengths and weaknesses all of our recommendations will hopefully give you a great music listening and video watching experience.

 

 

First on our list is MortPlayer. This app will be a favorite for those of you who love audio books as well as music. There is a save and restore position for each and every track meaning that you can bookmark audio books and songs like you would bookmark a novel. In addition MortPlayer gives you the ability to organize your bookmarks and files into separate folders. This player is a favorite for people who prefer organizing their music in folder structure rather than endless tag after tag.

 

 

 

 

Another Android music player is Cubed which is a beta version with options like switching between artist sorting and album sorting. The default sorting in this player is by artist name. Though its playlist options are very simple compared to other players in this list, Cubed music player puts focus on album art presentation and has a simple but very pleasing aesthetic design.

 

 

 

 

 

Next up is TuneWiki which  focuses on being more of a “social media” player than its peers. It also has a killer feature for karaoke fans; TuneWiki displays the subtitled lyrics while you are listening to music. (We cannot recommend using this app while singing in the shower though.) Another TuneWiki feature is the ability to watch videos or stream songs from the SHOUTcast feature. You can get the lyrics for more than 2.5 millions songs with translations available in over 40 languages.

 

 

 

 

 

Now for MixZing, one of the most advanced media players with features like lock screen and home screen widgets, MP3 tag editor, album art, recommending new music, automatic downloading of missing album art and much more. 

 

 

 

 


DoubleTwist 
Player is among the top media player apps in the Android market. It is a full-featured music play video app that easily blends with the doubleTwist client for desktops. You can do a lot with the media player – import your playlists, playcounts, ratings and enjoy audio and video podcasts and do much more.

 

 

 

 

 

Astro Player Nova is currently available as a beta application. Astro, is probably the least known of the apps and developers on our list. However, it has all the main features of a great full-media player, supporting both podcasts and audiobooks, auto-playlists, bookmarks, skins, equalizer, fetching album art, scrobbling, lyrics, auto-resume, podcasts and much more.

 

 

 

 

When you want to organize and play all your favorite music and video on the go, it doesn’t get better than the RealPlayer multimedia application. As of this writing the Android App version is still currently in Beta. If you are familiar with the PC version RealPlayer, you’ll find that nearly all of functionality of the PC version has made it to its smaller Android cousin. RealPlayer is the best option on this list if you need an app that can both play Video as well as music files.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for joining us! If you are not already familiar with Android market or apps in general please let me give you the following advice: the majority of great apps on android are absolutely free but they are usually marked as “trial” versions. This gives you a chance to try many different applications without much worry or hassle. If you do like any of the Apps we’ve recommended here please support these hard working developers by either buying the full versions of these apps or donating. That great thing with the current App market is the amazing range of choices and options currently available. The best part is always finding that one app that works best for you and your Android experience.

 

Sony’s Tablet Ventures: (aka the Sony DS and Sony iBook)

 


 

You may call Sony a very late entrant into the rough and tumble market of Android tablets.  Companies like Samsung, ASUS, and of course Apple have saturated stores throughout the country with device after device for the last year now. All the while, Sony had and has been patiently developing like a tiger in the brush. Forgive the horrible analogy, because tigers obviously do not develop tablets nor do they brush. But what Sony can certainly do is market gadgets that stand out both in their build quality and design (like this recently released gaming device); all this despite the nicknames given in this article’s title. Whether their offerings will be able to find their place in this market will be completely up to you, the consumer. Lets take an in-depth  look at the released Sony S tablet and the soon to be released Sony Tablet P.

The Sony Tablet S, released last year certainly stands out from its peers with its remarkable and actually unique design. Rather than simply copying a certain, pad; Sony has gone along melding the old and the new with the Tablet S design.At a weight of just 598g, the Tablet S is quite lighter as compared to the likes of Motorola Xoom. The tab has a 9.4 inch LCD screen with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels that gives that characteristic sharp and colorful visuals that is the trademark of Sony. The unique design of the screen ensures that even when kept flat it is at an angle, which is ideal for typing, reading or browsing.

 

It has been said that Tablet S is similar to a folded newspaper and it feels precisely like that in your hand. When other tablets feel a little tricky to hold in a single hand, the Tablet S is easy to grip in portrait. You would also find the design to be easy to grip in the landscape mode. Compared to most of the similar-spec tablets, the Tablet S is much lighter and easier to hold. The Sony Tablet S’ 160ppi pixel density is among the highest you can find , giving you finer detail – the texts are crispier and you can view more on the website without zooming much. The Tablet S runs on Android 3.2. A Honeycomb tablet, it has all the controls on the screen except for the volume and power/standby controls.

 

It has microSD and USB card slots hidden under the flap and a 3.5mm headphone jack. It is interesting to note the SD card feature, as it is included to facilitate those who want to insert the card from their digital camera instead of those seeking to enhance storage capacity. The Tablet S has wireless connections in the form of Bluetooth 2.1, Wi-Fi b/g/n while the top model has 3G connectivity. It has a 5 megapixel main camera on the back and a 0.3 megapixel camera on the front. The hardware consists of Nvidia Tegra 2 chipset with a speed of 1GHz and 1GB RAM.

 

In addition, Sony has packed several applications that display different aspects of the existing machine from Sony. This includes Video Unlimited, Music Unlimited and Reader to handle e-Books. There is a Social Feeds Reader that gives you access to Facebook and Twitter, and SelectApp gives you suggestions about more apps. There are some amazing IR remote features in the tablet. It has hundreds of remote configurations of several manufacturers, allowing you to run several televisions and media accessories. The unique thing about this feature is that you can control your television through your tablet without using its remote.

 

I secretly want the Sony Tablet P; despite gearing up to be an exclusive AT&T device. The Tablet P’s design is what I wish this device looked like. The tablet P’s wide screens and clean aesthetic undoubtedly make it one of the best designed products to be released this year. We hope to do a full report on the Tablet P when it is released in the US later this season; until then I hope that two of the most glaring issues with the Tablet P are resolved before its late spring US release.  First, this: £500 ($780). At that price tag, you can afford a iPhone, a PS3, several games, and maybe even a really nice dinner with that certain someone. Making the Tablet P also an Exclusive AT&T offering without a cheaper Wi-Fi option will likely limit sales for the device. Possibly setting the device to be fated as a niche toy for the rich, famous, and AT&T. Join us later for our full review on the soon to be released US Sony Tablet P.

 

 

Fascinating Android Apps We Reccomemnd


Last time, we presented some information on some of the newest iOS apps and games. Lets go to the other side of the aisle and into the world of Android applications. Though (as of this writing at least) not yet on equal numbers or arguably quality of iOS Apps, Android has been quickly catching up in both fronts. Here is a list of some of the latest and most fascinating Android apps that you may not have tested yet.

 

 

 

 

Radio.com is an app that gives you everything that you seek from radio. It lets you listen to WFAN, KROQ, 1010WINS, CBS Radio stations, AOL Radio and Yahoo Music. There are more than 600 stations and 19 genres to be enjoyed in this app.

 

 

 

 

Another highly sought-after Android app is Joystiq. It is a great source of information and news on video game. you get updated daily coverage, screenshots, reviews and even videos of the new games. This app also gives you access to the Joystiq Podcast episodes and much more.

 

 

 

 

If you are searching for a wallpaper app for your phone, then you should explore Fireflies Live Wallpaper. This wallpaper gives great looks to your phone screen and at the same time ensures minimum usage of the CPU. The free version has a frames per second rate of just 20, while the commercial edition has an fps of 10. This is the ideal wallpaper to make an impression on your friends and colleagues here fireflies will dance around hanging light bulbs with a dark background.

 

 

 

 

Sanity is an app you should certainly get onto your phone especially if your someone whose worried about all that cellphone radiation getting to your head. This app makes phone supposedly makes calls healthier and convenient. This innovative app reduces the amount of electromagnetic waves emitted by your phone when making or receiving calls. This app turns the Bluetooth, wifi and even mobile data whenever you are speaking over the phone. In addition, it has sensors that shut down or switch on the antenna when the phone is too close to the ear.

 

 

 

 

Another innovative app for your Android phone is in the form of Smarter Alarm. If you are annoyed with the beeping alarm, then this alarm soothes your eardrums with the sound of a British-accented woman who is even going to read out customized information to you. In addition, this app can also read out many feeds such as forecast and current weather, daily news headlines, major stock indexes and prices, NBA team scores, names of Facebook friends with birthdays and today’s Facebook events. The news feeds can be customized for your category of interest such as business, entertainment, technology or others.

 

 

 

 

Vevo is another app for music lovers. You can search, enjoy and share your faovite music videos at any time and at any place. You can use voice enabled search to find your favorite song or artist, view live concerts and video premieres. The Vevo music video catalog consists of over 25,000 videos from over 7,500 artists. You can easily share any video through email or Twitter and buy your favorite music on Amazon.

 

 

 

 

A very useful app is in the form of System Status Live Wallpaper that displays useful information on your phone including battery status and time, available memory and performance graph for both RAM and CPU. There are so many Android apps to be explored it would be worth your time to learn more about them.

 

Let us know what you think and if you guys have any apps you would like to recommend. Its always great  discovering about new apps and gadgets if you’re an Android, iOS, or Windows Phone fan!

Latest Fascinating Updates and Games from the World of iOS Apps

 

 

 

Everyday new iOS apps are making the rounds, and remaining updated about them is essential if you want to get the best out of your smartphone. Here are the latest updates on new gaming, messaging, image and other apps added to the list.

 

 

 

WhatsApp Messenger is an app that keeps you in touch with your buddies through messaging. In addition to iPhone, this app can work on different platforms including Android and BlackBerry. It offers facilities including group chatting, push notifications, integrating address book, sending 3 kinds of media and doing much more. This app is rated 4 star and is presently available for free.

 

 

This iOS app is for the gaming enthusiasts. Q Pang is arched shooter game where you would be fending off the invading aliens. There are various types of weapons at your disposal. You have the lasers and machine guns to bring them down and the cakes to distract them. There are 2 modes, more than half a dozen types of weapons, upgrades and much more. The game can be downloaded free and has a star rating of 4.5.

 

 

 

 

PlainDiary is your plain and simple dairy app for recording entries. The entries can be recorded in both landscape and portrait orientation. You can backup the entries using iTunes File Sharing, add photos email entries, sort entries and select different fonts. This iOS app is also presently available for free and has a rating of 4.5.

 

 

 

 

Another app for gamers on iOS is Dodo Fly. This is a wind-up toy game where you can take toy through 8 interesting environments. The journey involves jumping over the enemies in order to collect as many stars as possible. There are lots of power-ups, elegant graphics, special skills and lots of scores to be made. This game is also free and has a rating of 4.5.

 

 

 

 

Land-a Panda is another highly popular iOS app game where you would be helping Yang Guang, a lonely panda reach his dream partner. This is a puzzle game where Yang can be made to jump from one place to other using different cannons. There are 3 coins to be collected in each level so as to impress the partner. This 80-level game has several types of obstacles to be overcome. This is a free game for the time being and has a rating of 4.5.

 

 

 

 

Poly HD is another game app for iOS users. In this brick breaking type of game, you would be dragging a sea creature called Poly so as to keep a magical ball bouncing around. You can move Poly easily around the screen and break the bricks with utmost ease. All that you have to look out is the garbage falling from the top. There are 45 levels in the game along with lots of power ups, star ratings and Game Center integration.

 

 

Everyday hundreds of other games and other apps being updated daily for iOS users, we hope you like some of the standouts recommended here. Keep checking for all the latest fascinating applications. You may never know what new innovative games will be created next.

 

 


 

 

For the best protection for your Apple iPhone and other Apple products check out our Skinomi iPhone 4/4S Protectors. We have a great selection of screen protectors and skin Protectors that will protect your iPhone from scratches, scuffs, and daily wear and tear. If you’ve ever wondered what the differences between our screens for each of the iPhones 4 on different carriers, there are some very slight but important differences between them. For example, there is a gap for the SIM card slot on the AT&T version that isn’t needed for the Verizon skin. The Sprint version is identical to the Verizon version as well. Design wise the iPhone 4s is actually nearly identical to the original iPhone 4 they are very similar. Remember though, all iPhone 4 Screens should fit perfectly across all the iPhone 4 variants regardless of carrier.

 

Alright, that’s all for now. See you guys next time!

 

 

BlackBerry Curve 9350 Now Available for U.S. Cellular; Business Men and Women Rejoice

 

 

Recently U.S. Cellular announced the launching of new cell phone from BlackBerry, the Curve 9350. The new phone is believed to contain everything for which BlackBerry is loved by its many, still loyal, customers. Even though other BlackBerry NFC phones are shipped without switching on the NFC, the Sprint Curve 9350 has its NFC functioning. As per the latest news, it is not yet known about the types of supported NFC forum tag and the software that can read/write these tags. The point that NFC is active in the Curve 9350, it is still far ahead of the Bold 9930 when it is about its abilities.

 

The Curve measures just 0.43 inch of thickness, which in other terms is equal to just 1mm. It has a 800 MHz Qualcomm MSM8655 processor that is supported with 512MB RAM. You will find the most up-to-date BlackBerry 7 OS running on this phone that gives you the fastest and most convenient BlackBerry experience. However, you would not find any touch screen feature in this phone. It has a 2.44 inch display featuring HVGA+ screen having 480×360 pixel resolution. The rear side of the phone has a 5 mega pixel EDoF camera along with an LED flash. It is ok for recording VGA videos. The connectivity wise the Curve 9350 is enabled with the your standard affair of options including Wi-Fi b/g/n along with UMA, Bluetooth and aGPS/GPS. The Curve has a 512 MB storage that can be extended to 32GB using a microSD card. It has a 1000 mAh battery that can keep the 9350 running for a long time. However, the figures for standby and talk time hours are not yet released.

 

The Curve 9350 has a full QWERTY keyboard along with an optical trackpad. The phone has some new features such as BBM6, which is the BlackBerry Messenger, BlackBerry Music Store, latest Social Apps such as Twitter and Facebook and Social Feeds app. You can also customize your Curve 9350 by searching from thousands of apps found on BlackBerry App World. Overall the Curve 9350 is a decent entry-level smartphone offering for you if you still want to own a BlackBerry. Though with so many higher end options out there exist, there are still some faithful left in the BlackBerry crowd.

Motorola Xoom Still Going Strong


When the Motorola Xoom was launched, it was termed as an iPad killer. And, it was especially priced expensively compared to the iPad. The fact is that there is very little that makers of tablets can do in order to differentiate their creations from others in the market. However, Motorola seems to have done enough to stand out from the rest with some tweaks in design. Featuring an all-black tablet, the Xoom has round edges with a rubberized and textured rear that breaks a quarter way from the top. You will find the top part more velvety and smoother than the bottom part. Similar to other tablets in the market, the ports can be found at the edges. It features mini-HDMI and mini-USB ports at the bottom along with the charger port and docking input, and it has a 3.5mm headphone jack along with a SIM card and microSD slot.

 

Compared to other Android tablets, the Xoom doesn’t feature any buttons on the front. You will just find a front camera along with the 10.1 inch screen. You may feel that the lack of buttons may reduce its ranking but surprisingly, the Xoom achieves the opposite. It helps give a modern and more sophisticated look to the Xoom compared to other tablets. Compared to its newer rival: the Galaxy Tab 10.1 , the Xoom is more a double handed device. It’s larger and heavier and can’t really be used too long being held by a single hand. However, you would notice that the Xoom feel sturdier than the thinner tablets in its class.

 

Its features include Android 3.4 OS, a 10.1 inch diagonal capacitive touch screen, 1GB LP DDR2 RAM, Dual Core NVIDIA T20 processor, and expandable microSD memory slot with maximum capacity of 32 G. For those who are more eager to know the camera configurations, the rear camera is a 5.0 megapixel feature with flash and the front camera is a 2.0 megapixel feature. The connectivity features on Xoom include wifi b/g/n, 3G, upgradeable 4G and Bluetooth 2.1. The tablet has an overall weight of 1.61 pounds. Compared to the 0.75 inch bezel found in the iPad, the Xoom is slimmer with a 0.5 inch bezel round the screen. It may be a tiny difference, but it is still a major variation in many ways. When you are holding the tablet in portrait, it is easier to get the thumbs across the screen. This makes easier to thumb type on the screen as compared to the iPad.

 

The Xoom really makes a lot of score when it comes to the keyboard. It offers you sufficient space between the virtual keys, making typing easier in both portrait and landscape orientations. The Xoom keyboard also offers multi-touch support for fast typing along with emoticon keys, dedicated tab and a dedicated button that helps you instantly jump to the keyboard settings. You will find the Xoom keys a little more rectangular and smaller compared to the iPad keys. However, you will find the performance to be faster and more precise.

 

Back in the spring of 2011, the Xoom became one of the hottest selling Skinomi Screen protectors of all time. Even months after it was released our protectors for the Xoom are still selling well which means the device hasn’t been forgotten, even with all of the new Android Tablet choices like selection of Asus Transformer, Screen and Skin Protectors. If you own a Xoom or are looking into owning one. Check out some of our Carbon Fiber Xoom Skins, or Skinomi Lightwood Xoom Skins or Skinomi Darkwood Xoom protectors. Skinomi Skin protectors arn’t just for show, they can really go a long way in protecting your devices from scratches, dents, and wear. If you haven’t had a chance yet try a Skinomi Protector for your Motorola Xoom.

Amaze 4G is actually, well Amazing


In its continuous contribution to add a set of killer devices, HTC has released its amazing handset Amaze 4G. There are two things special and direct about the Amaze 4G – it is among the fastest T-Mobile phones and it has among the best cameras you can find anywhere on a phone. The HTC Amaze 4G is a step ahead of the Sensation 4G released a few months prior. It has a better display a more proficient camera and faster data speeds. Even though the design has stuck to the earth-colored hues, there are slight changes with techie black and silver taking the place of deep brown. It has a 4.3 inch screen with qHD resolution of 960 x 540 pixels. This high resolution makes graphics, icons and text look smooth and clean.

 

When it comes to signal, the Amaze 4G performs great on the signal tests. It was found to be always connected during tests and never dropped down to touch the edge, and the speed was also regularly fast. The Amaze 4G has a larger display, a dual core 1.5 GHz processor and a fast 4G access. All this means it needs to have a good battery. If you are going to use it regularly, then it needs to be charged at night. The Amaze has the latest Sense 3.0 software along with Android 2.3.4 Gingerbread. The home panels on the Sense are almost the same as found in the earlier versions. There is the regular weather widget along with new watch and music widgets.

 

There are many ways you can listen music on the Amaze. You have the FM radio, Slacker and the HTC music player. Even though the music application is not entirely Android, it has a new skin to blend with the Sense 3.0, but the features are unchanged. When using Google Music, you will have to download the latest Android music player for access.

 

When you want to enjoy video, the HTC Amaze 4G has several options available. You have the Mobile TV app from T-mobile, the YouTube app and one latest service known as Watch. This is a movie rental or download service from HTC. It has a home screen widget where you can scroll through the library of videos you have purchased and you can play them directly on the home screen.

 

The HTC Amaze 4G has an 8 mega pixel camera having special buttons, image stabilization, constant focus, face and blink detection and lots more. You don’t have to unlock the phone in order to use the camera. You will find some easy controls on the screen’s side for adjusting the modes and flash without accessing the menu. You can also use these controls to jump between the video camera and the camera facing the user. Other controls can be found only in the menu button. There is the unique feature of touch-to-focus, where if you want the camera to focus on a spot, you can touch press it. The Android browser in Amaze has new looks from HTC. It is fast no doubt, but it has slicker looks compared to earlier version.

 

Skinomi’s Amaze 4G Skins are currently available right now. Our Full Body designs completely cover the device and are very easy to install. As of this writing our Carbon Fiber Skins for the Amaze have become especially popular enhancing the black vs white build of the device. But our Natural Wood series skins are also receiving praise for durability as well as adding some color to the “Storm Trooper” look of the phone as one customer pointed out. Our screen protectors are also on sale on AMAZON.com Check them out, Skinomi TechSkin protectors add protection without adding any weight and are no doubt “Amazing” in their own way.

 

The Amazon Kindle Fire, the Great Monster of 2011


The Amazon Kindle Fire was one of the hottest selling devices over the holiday season. (It was literally a… fire sale.) The Kindle Fire, was the first truly capable Android Tablet for 199$. It features a vibrant 7″ IPS screen similar to the iPad, a swift Dual Core Processor, the revolutionary Amazon Silk Web Browser, and instant access to the massive breadth of Amazon Apps, Books, Videos, and Games. Probably the most important aspect of the new Kindle Fire is its incredible price point that break a family’s budget or bring geeks everywhere further into recession.

Most Android tablets are placed close to the the price point of the iPad or iPad 2. Unfortunately perhaps because of a combination of ridiculously high prices (like the  650$ Xoom?) as well as the painful lack of options in apps and games. Android tablets in general are not doing as well compared to the iPad, iPad 2, and the New iPad. As of this writing there may only be about 3.4 million Android Tablets sold compared to the far lager numbers of Apple iPads in the field. However this trend may have been turned around with the Kindle Fire.

The Kindle Fire, though lacking the larger screens, newer processors, and fancy 3D cameras of its other Android Kin has the complete backing of Amazon. The focus of the Kindle Fire is going to be very similar to the Kindle E Readers, which will be to sell great Amazon Products: Amazon Music (is already one of the great contenders to iTunes with its DRM free easy downloads), Amazon’s Books (which will soon outnumber those found in every library in the world),  and Movies (which will be great for Amazon Prime members). Going forward, as Android apps continue to improve in quality and numbers the Kindle Fire should continue to be a great entertainment source for those who purchased it. There are currently rumors of a new larger Amazon Tablet on the horizon. Will a larger Amazon tablet finally take on the iPad in the numbers game or culturally at that? Only time will tell.

Finally, despite the Kindle Fire’s great price and decent build quality it still needs the best kind of protection out there. If you haven’t done so already check out our selection of Skinomi Kindle Fire Skins and Screens. For each product we create, our designers make sure that design is custom tailored for each device for an easy, perfect fit, with every installation. We offer a wide range of options such as Carbon Fiber, Natural Wood, Brushed Metal, and Dry-Install options.

If you were one of the many customers who purchased one of our Kindle Fire protectors tell us about your experience in the comments below!