Wednesday, 30 November 2011

How to speed up your android phone


There’s no doubt that Android is the most powerful, flexible and intuitive operating system for smartphone users and perhaps that’s the reason it has reached a whopping 40% market share worldwide. Everyday newer and more advanced Android applications are being developed & released in order to cater to this growing market and since these applications can be quite demanding, they tend to have an impact on the speed of Android phones as well. If you feel that your Android phone is running a bit heavy and has slowed down over time, here are some ways to speed it up.

1. Remove Widgets

Widgets on the home screen of Android phones such as clock, calendar, contacts etc. tend to eat up a lot of resources thereby causing the phone to slow down. Especially live widgets that use the internet to update such as weather widgets etc. have the maximum impact. It’s best to remove all these widgets and clean up the home screen, which will have a major impact on the speed of your phone. Here’s how to remove these widgets from the home screen:

- Tap on the widget and hold it until a trash can appears.

- Now drag that particular widget to the trash can, following which the trash can will turn red. The widget will be removed from your home screen.

2. Remove Unwanted Applications

Just like widgets, applications also have a major impact on the speed of an Android phone as they consume a considerable amount of resources. There is no point in installing a number of applications since they will keep slowing down your phone. Ideally you should only have those applications installed on your phone which you use regularly and remove the ones that are infrequently used. Go through the installed applications on your phone regularly and uninstall all the unwanted ones.

3. Upgrade to the Latest Firmware

If you are still running the pre-loaded version of Android on your smartphone and a more latest Android version is officially available for update, then you go should go ahead and install it immediately. Upgrading the firmware will generally result in faster speeds, more stability and some new features as well.

4. Kill Background Apps

At times there might be some applications that may be running in the background and consuming system resources unnecessarily. These are generally the apps that you may have started but forgot to close them properly so they are still running but not visible to you. While detecting such apps and killing it is not all that difficult, you can install free task killer apps like Taskiller or Advanced Task Killer that let you close (kill) all your running applications in one click.

5. Avoid Live Wallpapers

Live wallpapers (the ones that have some sort of animation in them) generally eat up huge amounts of resources and slow down your Android phone tremendously. While it may be fun to use these wallpapers and watch animations liven up your smartphone, they certainly cost a lot in terms of performance. So it’s wise to use a static wallpaperrather than installing all those fancy live wallpapers out there.

Did you like this article? Stay tuned for the Part II of this article in which we’ll cover 5 other ways for speeding up your Android phone.

How to Root LG Optimus 3D P920


With the release of the Ice Cream Sandwich update almost all smartphone users want to upgrade their devices to this latest version of Android. However in order to be able to upgrade your Optimus 3D smartphone to ICS, you need to root it first otherwise you won’t be able to install the update. Here’s a simple tutorial which shows how you can root your Optimus 3D P920 smartphone.

However you should be aware of the fact that rooting your device will void the warranty, so it’s up to your whether you want to root it or not.
Before rooting your phone, please ensure that it has at least 70% battery before rooting so that it doesn’t switch off in the rooting process. Also you should backup all your data so that in case anything goes wrong, you will be able to restore your data.
Steps for Rooting Optimus 3D
Now that you know all the pre-requisites before rooting your device, here are the instructions to root your Optimus 3D P920 smartphone:
1. Download the SuperOneClick app via this link and install it on your computer.

2. Enable the USB debugging in your phone by going to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debugging.
3. Now connect your device to the PC via the USB cable.
4. Run SuperOneClick on your PC as administrator and click on the Root button at the top-left of your screen.
5. The rooting process will start and will be completed in a few minutes, following which you will get a message informing you that your device has been rooted.

How to Install ICS on Optimus 3D

The latest version of Android i.e. Android 4.0 or Ice Cream Sandwich is finally available for download. Optimus 3D users can now update their mobile to the ICS using this simple tutorial which shows how you can install ICS on your LG Optimus 3D smartphone.


Before Installing the Update:

First and foremost you need to enable USB debugging on your handset by going to Settings > Applications > Development > USB debuggingAlso you need to root your device in order to be able to install the ICS update. If you don’t know how to root it, read this tutorial.
Make sure you back up all your data so that in case anything goes wrong you don’t lose your vital data.
Steps for Installing ICS:

1. Download the Ice Cream Sandwich 4.0 Firmware Zip to your computer via this link.

2. Now connect your phone to the PC via the USB cable.

3. Locate the zip file you had downloaded and copy it to your phone.

4. Now download the ROM manager from the Android market and install it.

5. Launch the ROM manager on your phone and select “Flash Clock Work Mod” option to flash it.


6. Tap on “Backup Current ROM” option in the ROM manager to create a backup of your current ROM so that you can revert back to the previous ROM if need arises.

7. Now select “Install ROM from SD Card” option in the ROM manager and choose the zip file you had copied to your phone (IceCREAMSandwich4.0_for_LGOptimus3D_KingROM).
8. The process of firmware update will commence and will be completed in a few minutes, after which the device will restart on its own.

Voila! You can now enjoy using Ice Cream Sandwich OS on your LG Optimus 3D smartphone!

Did you like this tutorial? Do express your views in the comment section below.

How to backup your data stored within Google Services

Google and various Google services are already an eternal part of our online world. Internet is full of articles like”A day without Google”,”A month without Google services”,”Top 10 alternate to Google services” and much more. With our best memories in the form of pictures stored in Picassa albums, Our winning moments Videos stored in YouTube, Our updates posts in Google plus, Google buzz,Our business contacts stored at Gmail etc, it would be no less than a nightmare if one day all of our data somehow gets lost.

google takeout
Google offers a great feature to back up and export all of our data stored in Google servers. The best part of the Google Takeout is that it offers you to get your data in open formats, so it’s easy to import to other services quickly.


google takeout Data liberation
The Data Liberation group is the team inside Google that made it possible for us to make our Google data portable. Data portability has long been a war between Facebook and Google. Facebook also allows its users to take their data in zip format but this isn’t a format third-party websites can use. Google offers you to select the services and the data that you want to download thus giving you more freedom.
To backup your data using Google Takeout just login at www.google.com/takeout and select the services that you want to back up and click on Create Archive the zip would be created and would be ready for download in less than a minute.

Android Skyfire browser view flash Videos

Skyfire browser one of the best browser in android smartphones ranked #2 by Appolicious and Techcrunch.

With the increasing craze of android smartphones and keep decreasing in its price. Users exceptations from Android OS are always on high and many of them loves to watch videos and movies on their smartphones as they were used to watch on their computers.

Well Adobe flash player supports 2.2+ android with minimum 800MHz processor to play flash videos. But if you have Android 2.2- and 2.3 OS and low end processor that isn’t compatible with adoble flash player.

You have the options to view those flash videos with skyfire browser.Suppose you want to view in your skyfire Jimmy Pardo Is Never Not Funny on teamcoco which is obviously encoded in flash a small popup video icon appears on the left-bottom that enables you to watch that video smoothly.

skyfire plays flash contents
How Skyfire plays Flash videos?

* Like most browsers skyfire is also a HTML5 browser. It plays HTML5 videos but that is not likely too be impleted on all the video streaming sites.

* Skyfire unlocks contents by transcoding the Flash content into HTML5 on Skyfire’s servers.

Click here to Download skyfire browser and unlocks the flash content.

3 most popular custom ROMs for Android of all time

There are a variety of mobile operating systems available today among which iOS, Windows Phone, Blackberry OS and Android are the major once having a strong foothold in market. But in spite of so many options, Android still remains user’s first choice, not only because it is available with cheaper devices but also because of its open nature. Where Android allows its users to customize every available feature, others don’t. This surely makes Android very flexible! If you are an Android enthusiasts and have tried every customization available on web.. you might have surely tried a few custom ROMs, but which once are the best and why? In this post, I’ll answer this question!

CyanogenMod



CyanogenMod is without doubt the best ROM available for Android devices. Not only is it available on larger number of devices but because of the great features it include which are not available in stock versions. CyanogenMod offers great features like lock screen gestures, supports for theme, incognito browsing, DSP equalizer, FLAC support etc.

CyanogenMod is now in 7.1 stable version and a list of devices that it supports can be found here. To download and install it please visit its homepage.

MIUI

Pronounced mee-yoo-eye is again a very popular ROM for Android devices. Though it does not support as many devices as CyanogenMod but it is popular for its distinctive GUI, which is arguably the best among all. It offers enhanced notification system, enhanced apps for music, camera and gallery and the best part is smart dialing. You can visit its homepage here and download it here for your device.

DarkyROM



Darky is a manufacturer-specific ROM which is specially developed for Samsung’s ultimate devices (i.e. Samsung Galaxy and Samsung Galaxy SII). This ROM obviously brings down the not so good touchwiz GUI and adds a better look and feel to these devices. Apart from GUI, it removes a lot of bloatwares from stock and adds new features and functionality. You can visit Darky’s homepage here.

These are the top 3 ROMs I would suggest anyone who is drifting away from the stock version, the most stable and full of feature ROMs. Hope you liked this post, we would be glad to hear your feedbacks on this post.

Siri Vs. TellMe – The Voice Assistants Fight!

Who hasn’t heard of “Siri”, the personal voice assistant available with iPhone 4s winning the hearts of many! But what you might have not heard about is Microsoft’s “TellMe”. Yes you heard that right.. Microsoft launched its own branded Voice Assistant which would work hand in hand with WP7. You might be excited to know that how well this combo will work and is it better than Apple’s Siri. Well I will answer all your questions and even will show you the live performance on Siri and TellMe side by side.

Microsoft is not new to voice assistant thing, it introduced it’s own voice assistant way back before even Siri was launched. We could see it even with Kinnect Accessories and Windows Phone. But what has not changed since then is the ability of Microsoft’s Voice Assistant to recognize voice properly. Users already reported this problem with Kinnect Voice Accessory and same is the case with it’s Mobile Voice Assistant i.e. TellMe.
TellMe can not understand you until you stress every syllable, this isn’t natural at all when compared to Siri. Let’s not waste more time talking, instead I’ll show you this video first which shows the side by side comparison of both the voice assistants..
The results speak for itself. Microsoft is way behind in this game, they will surely need to teach TellMe a lot on how to obey its master.. So we wish Microsoft to copy up in this game and pray Siri becomes more intelligent with its future releases.

If you liked the post, do share it with your friends and family.

Nimbuzz 2.0.1.0 New Android Update

Nimbuzz free calls and messaging yesterday at 26th November enrolls it’s new 2.0.1.0 updates  for Android Smartphones.
nimbuzz updateNimbuzz is very well known for it’s ALL IN ONE: Connect to different IM accounts (Yahoo! Messenger, MSN Messenger, AIM, ICQ, GoogleTalk, Facebook, MySpace and Hyves) and  all friends under  one list with over 60+millions registered users.



What’s the latest features updates?

  • Previously the header of nimbuzz was red. Now it’s blue and looks amazing
  • Always online and push notifications for chat  2.2+ Android only
  • Free HD calls to all Nimbuzz contacts
  • Block irrating contacts
To be updated with your friends Click here to download the latest version of Nimbuzz.

Sunday, 27 November 2011

Cloud Computing Advantages & Comparison: Public vs Private


When it comes to saving both time and money, cloud computing offers business owners and multinational companies alike one of the best solutions. Understanding cloud computing is not as easy as you might want, as you will need to learn how to use the service properly and store information there in a way that will be secure. However, if you are looking into cloud computing for your company, here are some things you need to know.
Cloud Computing: Private vs Public
There are two types of cloud computing that are available to small businesses:
  1. Private clouds are made specifically for a single organization or entity, and it can be stored either on or off premises. Most large businesses prefer a private cloud to a public one, as they feel more secure knowing that their information is stored on a cloud that is dedicated exclusively to their data. It will require a lot more to manage the private cloud, however, and IT managers need to be prepared to spend a lot of time studying how to operate and modify the cloud as needed.
  2. Public clouds are usually owned by large companies that sell cloud services to organizations or companies, and these services are usually made according to a specific application. The pricing of these services is usually good deal simpler than private clouds, as they are usually priced according to a specific cost per seat per month basis.
Using cloud computing is one of the best ways for companies to be able to store their information where it will be easily accessible, but it is essential to make a plan for using cloud computing.
Cloud Computing: Why Cloud Computing?
There are a number of reasons why your company may choose to purchase could computing services, especially if yours is a large company that is looking to expand steadily.
  • What is your data storage currently like? Do you need more storage space? Cloud services may be exactly what you need.
  • Does your company face problems in the support and management of applications that are widely used? If so, your company may benefit from the support and ease of use offered by the cloud computing services.
Are your servers nearing the end of their life? If you don’t want to spend money purchasing a new server system, you may want to consider upgrading to a cloud computer service instead.
The cloud computing concept is divided into 3 major parts – Application, Storage and Connectivity. These don’t have to be interlinked, and they individually can serve the purpose of serving products and services among the interested individuals or large businesses. Cloud computing, although is new to many in the world of Internet, if taken seriously by businesses would surely prove to be a boon in the coming future.
The cost of cloud computing depends on the type you are selecting, and usually the public cloud computing is proved to be more cheaper than the other, as most of the times these cloud servers are sponsored by 3rd party companies and the end users don’t have to pay much when they choose the public cloud computing. Compared to the other types of the hosting and computing solutions, the cloud computing has an advantage of asking the least maintenance because there is nothing one has to do locally to use the cloud computing service.

Send Money to Facebook Friends using Paypal on Facebook

Paypal has now provided options for people to send money to their friends on Facebook, making things easier where they could send the payment in the form of gifts, just as the payment or accompanied with the cards they are gifting on any special day. They can send the payment using the Paypal Sendmoney app.

According to the ConnectionPoint company,
Send money to friends and family with PayPal, and include a customized greeting card for that personal touch. With hundreds of cards to choose from, we have the perfect card for any occasion. PayPal Send Money is the fast, secure, and social way to send money for gifts, special events, or any occasion. The Send Money Facebook app provides the same level of security trusted by millions of PayPal users.
According to the users who already tried to carry out any transactions through the app, they saw that there is no transaction fee for the payment, but as usual the international fee and the sending limitations are applicable.
The app is pretty easy to use, asking for options whether to send the payment directly or along with a card, and once you have selected that option, you would be asked to select the friend to whom you want to send the payment, and you may enter their email address too if not selecting a Facebook friend.

paypal sendmoney whos it to
This option of sending money to Facebook friends is pretty beneficial to the Indian users because they have been always facing problems in sending payments to other Indian users directly through the Paypal interface, and so the Facebook app would come handy in such cases. Apart from that, it is a pretty easy few-step process, where after selecting the friend, you need to login to your paypal account and send the payment. The Indian users always had problems with Paypal in one or the other ways, a couple being the Paypal purpose code and auto withdrawal options, which were all implemented due to the RBI regulations.

Blackberry Insurance – Coverage and Advantages



For those who are addicted to using their Blackberry device for their work or personal life, Blackberry insurance is one of the best ways to ensure that the smart phone is protected against theft, damage, or data loss. The insurance can be taken out on nearly any Blackberry smart phone, and will provide users with peace of mind that their smart phone can be recovered should anything happen to it.
Insuring a blackberry phone is an option that those who have their entire lives on their Blackberry can take out. Many people store all of their personal data on their Blackberry smart phone, and the thought of losing that information is one of the things that keep them up at night worrying. For professionals who use their Blackberry for just about everything, the insurance on the smart phone can be a way to rest assured that no harm will come to their information. No one can guarantee the safety of the information in the phone, because once the phone is lost, the information is open for others but the device isn’t guaranteed to be returned to the owner. At that time, the insurance plans come handy with the quotes being pretty low and helping in getting a link up with the mobile phone company to recover the cost or get a new phone within the limits of cost.
What Does the Blackberry Insurance Cover?
The insurance that can be taken out on a Blackberry smart phone will provide owners with a way of replacing their smart phone should it be lost, stolen, or damaged. Seeing as the cost of the top Blackberry smartphones can run higher than 100 pounds, it is a good idea to invest in the insurance to protect the Blackberry against anything that could harm it.
With the insurance, the Blackberry is protected against:
  • Fire damage
  • Water damage
  • Accidental damage
  • Theft
  • Loss
Most of the official companies might exclude the fire and water damage coverage, but you need to keep a check and compare the different companies before selecting one, if you are worried about all the ways that could be a reason for your loss after the purchase of the phone.
The international cover included in many insurance packages ensures that owners can recover their phone no matter where they are in the world. The extended warranty that is offered together with the insurance will give Blackberry owners a way to repair their phone should it break or stop working.
The insurance packages for Blackberry range from basic coverage to comprehensive, enabling owners to recover partial or full value for their phone should something happen to it. Those who use their Blackberry for nearly everything will understand just how important this insurance is, as it will enable them to recover their phone should anything happen to it.
Backing up along with Insurance
Those who depend greatly upon their phone for their work life should take the time to back up the information either on the computer or on paper. There are a number of computer programs that can back up the information on the SIM card, or owners can simply note down all important data in a file on their computer to ensure that they have the valuable data should something happen to their phone. It is not just the theft that could make one lose their information on the phone, but also the other causes like breakage, fire, water etc. due to which the entire phone could get damaged and cause irreversible changes. Before that, regular syncing with the backup softwares and keeping the phone information safe and backed up is essential. No insurance company would provide a cover and help in recovering the phone’s internal information.
Not everything is advantageous, so the Blackberry insurance plans too have the other side. When you are too careful and handle the things pretty well, there is no need to insurance and you are just wasting the money by paying for the insurance.

About the Author:
Paul is a technical expert, and deals with the gadgets, especially the mobile phones and their insurance, especially the Blackberry Insurance, helping the users with the various insurance plans and coverage details.

EverDroid Sync And Backup for all phones


We all undergo through a gargantuan task of transferring all contacts and data from our old phone to our new phone.

everdroid apps for allBut it becomes even more difficult for us when the two phones are on different Platforms.
To resuce from all these headache EVERDROID comes to your help. These app not even help you to backup your contacts but also backups your personal messages , Calender notes and Bookmarks too.
Key features about EVERDROID:
  • It  lets you to sync your phone calender enteries with google calender
  • You can share your calender on the web with  family and friends
  • Supports every phones and  mobile platforms
To start your backup and sync Goto everdroid.com . Create an account there and login you will be presented by various of procedures.
Once you have completed all the steps you will receive a sync setting on your phone. Now you are to sync your phone’s data.

Once your sync is completed you can view your data from web. That means you will never lose you important data.


Best Android Phones Less Than Rs. 10000


Earlier Android phones were generally associated with high prices and though most people craved them, only a few could afford them. However with the launch of a wide variety of mid-range Android phones by major mobile manufacturers, now you can grab great Android phones with impressive features for less than 10k. Let’s discuss the best Android phones less than Rs. 10000.

1. Samsung Galaxy Y S5360

A recently launched smartphone from Samsung that looks like an exact replica of Galaxy 3. However it’s much more affordable and has a quickly become a bestseller in no time at all. Powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, Galaxy Y S5360 sports a 3-inch touchscreen and supports Bluetooth, 3G and Wi-Fi. It is priced at around Rs. 7100

Let’s take a look at its specs:
§                                          Android V2.3 (Gingerbread) OS
§                                          2 MP Primary Camera
§                                          3-inch TFT Touchscreen
§                                         832 MHz Processor
§                                         FM Radio
§                                          Wi-Fi Enabled
§                                          Expandable Memory up to 32 GB

2. Samsung Galaxy Fit S5670


Another popular Samsung mobile that is the lower end version of Galaxy Ace smartphone. Boasting a 3.31-inch touchscreen, Galaxy Fit features an impressive 5 megapixel camera and supports 3G, Wi-Fi and Wi-Fi hotspot. Comes with 160MB internal memory that can be expanded up to 32GB. Priced at around Rs. 9400 odd


The features are as follows:

§                                         Android V2.2 (Froyo) OS
§                                         3.31-inch TFT Capacitive Touchscreen
§                                         5 MP Primary Camera
§                                         600 MHz Processor
§                                         2G And 3G Network Support
§                                         Expandable Memory up to 32 GB
                                            GPS Navigation
                                            Up to 7 Multiple Home Screens

3. Motorola FIRE



Undoubtedly the best Android smartphone from Motorola below Rs. 10,000. Powered by Android 2.3 Gingerbread OS, Motorola Fire sports a 2.8-inch touchscreen display and features a QWERTY keypad layout along with a decent 3-megapixel camera. It costs around Rs. 9000 and supports major connectivity options including 3G, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

 Here are its complete specifications:

                    Android V2.3 (Gingerbread) OS
                    2.8-inch Touchscreen
                    3 MP Primary Camera
                    600 MHz ARM11 Processor
                    QWERTY Keypad
                    2G And 3G Network Support
                    Wi-Fi Enabled
                    Expandable Memory up to 32 GB
                    Gmail, Googletalk, Facebook, Twitter Apps

4. Samsung Galaxy Pop S5570


A mid-range Android smartphone that has been in the bestseller list for quite some time now. Galaxy Pop S5570 features a 3.14-inch touchscreen display and runs on Android 2.2 Froyo operating system. An ideal phone for those who want an affordably priced touchscreen Android phone with decent features. Costs Rs. 8000 approximately. 

The specifications are as follows:

                      3.14-inch Capacitive Touchscreen
                      Android V2.2 (Froyo) OS
                      3 MP Primary Camera
                      600 MHz ARM6 Processor
                      2G And 3G Network Support
                      FM Radio
                      Expandable Memory up to 32 GB
                      Social Networking Apps



5. Micromax A70


Though Micromax is famous for its low-end touchscreen phones, Micromax A70 is a great mid-range Android phone with impressive features. It sports a 3.2-inch touchscreen and comes with a 5-megapixel primary camera along with a 0.3-megapixel secondary camera for video calling. It is priced affordably as well, just a bit more than Rs. 7500.

 Here’s a quick look at its specs:

                 Android V2.2 (Froyo) OS
                 3.2-inch Touchscreen
                 5 MP Primary Camera
                 0.3 MP Secondary Camera
                 600 MHz Processor
                 2G And 3G Network Support
                 Wi-Fi Enabled
                 Expandable Memory up to 32 GB


What do you think about this list? Do share your views with us.