Top Call and SMS Filter / Blocker Apps for Android

There is nothing that is perhaps more annoying than unsolicited phone calls or text messages to your smart phone. Contacting your cellular provider won’t help, because they can’t directly control who is calling you, once someone has your number, either from purchasing the information or by sending random text messages or phone calls, it’s just a matter of time before you start getting hundreds of unwanted calls and messages and your phone start getting inundated by those unwanted junk. Fortunately, if you have an Android smart phone, there are several apps you can use to block these unwanted calls and messages.

Free Call / SMS Filter Apps -

Call Filter – Call Filter is an Android app that blocks incoming calls from unwanted, blocked sources that you’ve designated previously. The interface is basic, but the blocking capability is effective nonetheless.


SMS Filter – Like Call Filter, SMS Filter stops the unwanted SMS messages. With this app, you have the ability to add or remove phone numbers to a running blacklist. It even logs blocked messages in a file. and silently blocks messages to maintain your privacy. For your reference each blocked SMS message is viewable with the time and date it was received.


SMS Blocker – SMS Blocker uses some of the most advanced technologies to block unwanted SMS and text messages from your Android phone. The app is kept current with a database of blacklisted sources that are blocked from your phone. The interface is easy to use and understand, and allows you to have complete control over approving and blocking specific sources.


Call Blocker – Call Blocker helps you cut down significantly on the number of times your valuable time and minutes are wasted. With this app, you can easily block calls from unwanted callers at the press of a single button. This app also blocks SMS text messages and that too at the touch of a button. The interface is easy to use and understand, and is created to resemble the Windows default interface.

Premium Call / SMS Filter Apps -

Call Guard – Call Guard blocks both incoming unwanted calls as well as unwanted SMS text messages. It’s a premium app. Unlike many other call blocking apps, Call Guard leaves absolutely no trace of an unwanted incoming call or message, so your privacy is kept confidential. You can also choose to allow the app to answer your calls from unwanted sources, without allowing them to go to voice-mail.


Advanced Call or SMS Blocker – Using Advanced Call or SMS Blocker, you can block all incoming and outgoing calls, block numbers that aren’t in your contacts, and block numbers that start with the most common prefixes used by telemarketers. In addition, the app can send off a custom text message on block to the blocked number.

Best Windows Phone 7.5 Smartphones

Not a fan of Android or iOS, than you will surely love Microsoft Windows Phone 7. With growing sales of rivals Android and iOS, Microsoft is working actively, now a days to promote some newly launched Microsoft Windows Phone 7. And if you are looking forward to buy one, then this list will surely help you out to choose the best. So here it goes.Nokia Lumia 800 – Price: $499.90

Newly launched Nokia Lumia 800 is sure one of the eye candy gadget by Nokia. Nokia Lumia running Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 Mango is the best in class because of it’s one piece body and looks worth appreciating. Here are some of it’s key features -

• AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches display.
• 16 GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM, no memory card slot (is absent in almost all Microsoft Windows Phone 7)
• 3G HSDPA 14.4 Mbps, HSUPA 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, microUSB v2.0
• 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, dual-LED flash, capable of recording video 720p @30fps, Secondary camera for video calling is absent.
• Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon CPU 1.4 GHz Scorpion
• supports micro SIM card only.

Another Microsoft Windows Phone 7 launched along with Nokia Lumia 800 is Nokia Lumia 710, sort of downgraded version of the same, with 8GB internal storage instead of 16GB, 5MP camera replaces the 8MP and having TFT LCD capacitive touchscreen, same size display. If Nokia Lumia 800 is not worth your money, then Nokia Lumia 710 is for you. Priced at $329.99.
HTC Titan – Price: $509.99

Another 8MP snapper, sure competitor to Nokia Lumia 800. Here’s why it’s better than the above two.

• S-LCD capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, larger display size measuring 4.7 inches, 480 x 800 pixels.
• 16 GB storage internal storage, 512 MB RAM, no memory card slot.
• 3G HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, DLNA, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, microUSB v2.0
• 8 MP, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, enjoy video calling with 1.3MP camera upfront. capable of recording video in HD(720p).
• Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset, CPU 1.5 GHz Scorpion.

Another option to choose from HTC is HTC Mozart with almost similar features as that of HTC Titan. S-LCD display measures 3.7 inches, half the internal memory as compared to mentioned above. Where HTC Mozart lacks front facing camera having same 8MP rear snapper. And fall a bit short in terms of processor power too with 1 GHz Snapdragon CPU. But priced at $314.99.
Samsung Focus S I937 – Price: $509.99

If you are looking for something to beat HTC Titan, then this is the best option to choose. Seems like Samsung is always kind enough to load their devices with features at the alluring prices. This is the case with this one. Check whether it can beat HTC Titan or not.

•  Super AMOLED Plus capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 4.3 inches display.
• Available in two variants 16GB/32GB internal storage, 512 MB RAM, no memory card slot
• 3G HSDPA, HSUPA, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth v3.0 with A2DP, HS, microUSB v2.0
• 8MP, Capable of recording HD videos 720p @30fps, 3264×2448 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, 1.3MP secondary camera(for video calling)
• 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU

Samsung Omnia W I8350 – Price: $489.99

Released October 2011, Samsung Omnia W I8350, is Microsoft Windows Phone 7 value for money smart phone. Relatively cheap as compared to other with decent features.

• Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors, 480 x 800 pixels, 3.7 inches display.
• 8 GB internal memory, 512 MB RAM no memory card slot here as well.
• 3G HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, basic Bluetooth v2.1 with A2DP, microUSB v2.0
• 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, capable of recording HD videos, with VGA front facing camera
• Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU

HTC Radar – Price: $419.99

Released in May 2011, HTC Radar is a nicely designed smartphone running on Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 OS. Features of this single piece crafted metal says -

• 3.8 inch LCD capacitive touch screen, corning glass display with 16M colors.
• 8 GB internal storage,512 MB RAM with no memory card slot.
• 3G up to 3.1 Mbps/ HSDPA 7.2 Mbps; HSUPA 2 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11b/g/n, DLNA, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, microUSB v2.0
• 5 MP, 2560?1920 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, videos can be recorded at 720p@24fps, having front facing video calling camera.
• Qualcomm MSM8650 Snapdragon, 1 GHz Scorpion CPU is enough to satisfy a gamer.

ZTE TANIA

Another vibrant device from ZTE has some amazing specification and features which is yet to make it to the market. Anyways, check out what it has got.

• 4.3 inches, TFT capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors.
• 4GB internal storage kind of low, but it has microSD card slot to further expand it to another 32GB of storage, and it comes with 512 MB RAM.
• 3G with HSDPA, 14.4 Mbps; HSUPA, 5.76 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g/n, Wi-Fi hotspot, v2.1 with A2DP, EDR, with microUSB v2.0 support.
• 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, autofocus, no words about LED Flash, no secondary camera, manages to record videos at 720p@30fps.
• Qualcomm MSM8255 Snapdragon, 1.4 GHz Scorpion CPU

Not only feature-wise this device is only 10mm thick providing the ambiance to what features it holds and off-course a good value for money.
So these are some Microsoft Windows Phone 7.5 worth buying. Which one is your favorite?

Get Siri[like] Assistant on Your Older iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch

Since the release of Siri with iOS 5, it has always been in NEWS for some or the other reason. Apple proved yet again its ability to keep users tied up to their Apple devices. The only glitch was Siri was officially launched for only iPhone 4s, leaving iPhone 3/3gs/4, iPad 1/2 and iPod Touch underhanded.

So what, if Apple left those old devices orphan, devs worked on a number or Siri like assistants which enables users owning older devices to have a feel of virtual voice assistant. I bring you a list of such clones which are not only like Siri but intelligent as well. These application are supported on iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

Evi

To begin with the list, the first one I would like to place is Evi, a simple yet powerful Assistant. She’s a cute and intelligent assistant. Not only does she know a lot of things that could increase your productivity, it loves to help you. The devs have worked hard to develop it and though after launch the servers were overwhelmed with the responses, it now works alright. The downside is it can not perform native tasks such as creating a note, calling your contact and sending SMS etc. A good feature and the one that let’s you know it’s always learning is, after every action it performs it’ll ask you for the feedback in terms of “Thumbs Up” and “Thumbs Down”.

The UI is pretty much clean and beautiful and you can get it for a decent $0.99 from App Store. But if you are someone looking for more than just churning out information from Google, then go for other options.

SpeakToIt Assistant

SpeakToIt Assistant is the brain child from SpeakToIt (Speak To It) which does more than just churning out information from Google. It’s the new addition to App Store and Android Market and provides much more productivity then EVI. It can do almost everything that Siri can but with the limitation that it is not totally integrated with the iOS. Speaktoit Assistant is a visual overhaul of Siri that comes with two avatars that react to your questions through facial expressions, blink of eye and more. You can create notes, make calls, send text messages and much more, unlike Evi.

Overall it’s a nice legal assistant which matches up very closely to Siri and can make you smile for just $1.99, although it was free for first 100,000 users on Valentines day. Visit App Store to do download.

Play Retro Games like Street Fighter & Megaman on Android Phones with CPSEmu

When I was a kid, the only gaming equipment I had was my NES on which I used to play Street Fighter and Contra. When I was playing on my NES, there were several thousand kids around the world who were playing Capcom games on CPS2 arcade board.

Now however, almost every gamer has a PlayStation or Xbox, and those who don’t enjoy games on their Android/iOS phones.  Well, if you’re interested in playing retro games like Street Fighter, Megaman & Cadillacs and Dinosaurs on your Android Device then there is an app at Android Market that has been designed just for you and it is called CSPEmu.

CPSEmu enables you to play CPS2 games on your Android device without any problem; it has been developed by the same team which released NeoDroid for Android last week. CPSEmu uses full touchscreen controls which might not be comfortable for guys who are accustomed to playing games on consoles but like NeoDroid games it is optimized for Xperia Play.

Also, you can easily play games on your tablet computer because this app runs perfectly in Honeycomb.

But before you spend money on buying this app for your Android phone, remember that this app requires your phone to have at least 1 GHz processor. Also, you can’t directly emulate ROMS in CPSEmu, full instructions on running this app is provided at XDA website, where you can also find a free version of this app. Though, if you want to support the developer and show him some love for this fantastic app, you can buy it from Android Market for $3.99/-

So, what do you have to say about CPSEmu for Android Smartphones and Tablets?