These apps, granted that some some of them work better than others, might indeed give a run of the mill iPhone some spyphone-like features. If they are useful or not, it’s up to you, and keep in mind that some of these apps are better at make-believe than reality. Nevertheless, they are still cool to have and they might stir up some laughs at the very least.

What spy apps could you download?

As a spy, you might be in a tough situation every once in a while, therefore, you must rely on your gear to obtain the information you need, and of course, to escape. When spying on enemies, it’s a good idea to have a recorder app on your iPhone, even more important, a recorder app that runs without giving you away. There are some apps out there that use clever interface tricks to mask their identity so that an observer won’t know that he is recorded. The same is true with video surveillance.

Another good tool that you might consider adding to your iPhone spy app collection is a GPS tracker that will update your phone’s position on a regular interval. This will help your allies to know where you are and, if the worst should happen, and you are captured, they can send reinforcements.

Secret coded messages are what any self respecting spy will send. And before he can send anything, he must scramble the message, so if it were to be intercepted by enemies, they will only have an encrypted message that will look like gibberish. The same message might be even equipped with a self-destruct function, so it will delete itself after a few seconds of being received by the recipient. This will ensure that no trail will lead back to you and blow your cover.

As you can see, there are a number of possible functions that some iPhone spy apps can add to your device. But, from the thousands of apps that are on the iTunes Store, which are fit to be used by a spy? Well, if you want to turn your smartphone into a 007 iPhone, then check these apps out.

Best iPhone apps for spying

As mentioned before, some of these apps do not have a practical use, and they are only able to give off the impression of a spy gadget, but nevertheless, they are still pretty cool for some make-believe spy role playing. We’ll start off with some of the apps that actually offer a functionality to the user.

• My Hidden Folder Pro ($0.99) – A safe iPhone file vault is a great idea for a spy to use. This is where he can keep his “sensitive” information away from prying eyes.
• Spy Kit ($0.99) - Offering a number of tools for the novice spy, this handy toolbox can be easily accessible and its tools can be quite useful in a number of situations.
• ReconBot ($2.99) – If you want to get some evidence against your enemies, then this discreet video and audio recorder might just do the trick.
• Security Cam with Dropbox & YouTube Sync ($9.99)- Offering a number of impressive features, such as audio triggers and others, as well as instant upload, this app is a good solution for getting information out fast.
• Secret Voice – Recording Voice Secretly ($0.99) - This app can record sound even when the screen of your device is turned off. This makes it easy to record unsuspecting victims.
• Call Log Pro (Free) – If you have important conversations in the US and you want to record them for later use, then this app is the perfect tool to do so.
• Top Secret Audio Recorder (Free) – A tool for secretly recording sound that shows different backgrounds on your iPhone’s desktop. It also has some other interesting features to check out.
• GPS Location Tracker for iPhone and iPad – Standard Edition ($3.99) – This app tracks via GPS your every step, so your superiors will always know your route and your exact position.
• The Spy Recorder ($1.99) – Schedule your iPhone to start recording a specific time, so you will be free to do all the other spy stuff and not worry about your phone.
• Self Destructing Message (Free) – If you have to send sensitive information, better do it with this app. It will “attach” a self delete feature to the message so that it will delete automatically after a set time.
• Spy Gizmos (Free) – Sending secret information poses a risk, and it’s better to have your message encrypted before sending it. This app can encrypt or translate to Morse code any text.
• Contact Spy ($0.99) – Spies change phone numbers like they change their socks, so a search engine for phone numbers might come in handy sometimes.
• Night Vision Camera ($0.99) – A spy might have some sophisticated video surveillance equipment. With this app, you can at least pretend to have the same gadgets.

A word of advice

Apart from these simple apps, there are other services, like mSpy, that actually allow you to spy on other phones. However, it’s not recommended to use them on unsuspecting people. They are mainly used by employers who want to make sure that their employees don’t use company resources for personal gain, or for others that are really in need of such software. In some parts of the world, it is even illegal to use such services, so be careful and try to stay away from them.

Also, keep in mind that filming or recording someone for your own benefit and without their knowing can also be considered a crime, and, in fact, is illegal in some parts of the world.

These apps are perfect for those that want some cool iPhone spy apps on their device, so that they can benefit from some awesome features, or just for some role playing. Whatever the purpose for this type of apps, it’s a good thing to know that they are here, at your disposal, whenever you need them.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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For the week that has ended on the 16 of June we’ve compiled a nice list of both free and paid Android apps and games. There’s a game here whose price might raise a few eyebrows, but die-hard fans will buy it nonetheless. We’ve also got games for kids, cards games and some really useful Android apps that are bound to remain installed on your device for a long time. Let’s have a look at them all.

Google Cloud Print (Free)

No longer shall we have to relay on third-party apps to make use of Google’s Cloud Print service as the company has recently released an official, standalone application which is completely free, of course. You will only need a Cloud Print enabled printer for that and your Android device.

This app will prove to be very useful for those that happen to check the news while commuting to work. You will be able to push for print a certain file everywhere you are and read it once you are back. Not to mention how useful this will prove to be in your work environment.

BBC Weather (Free)

BBC is one of the most reputed broadcasting companies in the world. And they are also aggressively promoting their services in the mobile world, as you will see that there are so many Android and iOS apps out there that are branded by BBC. The BBC Weather app will prove to be useful especially for those living in the UK, since it comes with some extra features for them, such as “hourly forecasts with detailed information for the next 48 hrs” and “sunrise/sunset times, UV, Pollen and Pollution information”.

But this app will work for you everywhere you are and will definitely help you plan your next days. If you’ve been following Technology Personalized, then you know we love weather apps, so do check out some of them we’ve reviewed:

• Haze – Weather Never Looked THIS Good!
• Yahoo! Weather – I am Gonna Love you, Come Rain or Shine
• Swackett: Weather with Character

Space Colony ($1.95)

Most likely, none of use will get to see the days when humans will establish colonies on other planets. Luckily enough, we have at least technology to help us envision how will that be. If you are passionate about stars, space travel, planets, then Space Colony is the “game” for you. Watch human colonies in space, straight from your Android smartphone or tablet. Space Colony is actually an Android live wallpaper and you can play around with it by changing colony background, city illumination, toxic aura, camera tracks and other things.

What’s the Phrase ($1.99)

Word games represent a great way to keep your vocabulary rich and your memory trained in the same time. What’s the Phrase is an Android game developed by the Zynga company that got famous thanks to its social games on Facebook. Inside the game you have 40 fresh and unique categories to choose from. You can challenge your friends to see who guesses faster the right word. You can also play this word game in Spanish, French, Italian, German or Portuguese.

CPU-Z (Free)

Many people use powerful Android smartphones but theydon’t have a clue about their innards. And maybe they don’t even need to know, it’s sufficient for them for the device to keep up with its tasks.

However, with the help of the CPU-Z application, you can learn more about your device. It will reveal the following technical details about your device:

• Microprocessor name, architecture & clock speed for each core
• Device brand & model
• Screen resolution
• RAM
• Storage
• Battery information : level, status, temperature
• Sensors

Final Fantasy IV ($15.99)

The priciest item in our weekly list of the best Android apps is Final Fantasy IV. The original game first debuted in 1991 and soon became as popular as the previous editions. Final Fantasy fans will be pleased to know that voice acting for event scenes has been added into the game.  There is also a new mapping feature which makes “players start with a completely blank dungeons map”. Those of you who don’t know, Final Fantasy has already reached its 14th game.

Vodio Personal Video Curator (Free)

Did you know that there are 100 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute? Of course, it’s impossible to watch all that content as it’s being consumed separately by users according to their preferences and personal tastes. To help you discover more of what you like, Vodio “learns from your preferred viewing choices and your social profiles” and then suggests other videos for your viewing pleasure. If you want, you can also browse the following categories: most popular, entertainment, tech, music, sports, news, comedy, science and more.

Guncrafter Pro ($0.99)

Guncrafter Pro is a game where you get to build your own weapon and then use it to compete against friends and enemies in a Minecraft-like style. If you want, you can also choose the free version, but the Pro one comes with some nice features, and, of course, no advertisements inside. But I think the best way to discover how this game actually works is to have a look at the gameplay video.

UNO & Friends (Free)

I still don’t know how to play this famous card game, but I’m sure many of you do. UNOL & Friends is developed by Gameloft, a company that needs no presentation. Join a community of milions of UNO fans across the world. You can also compete in weekly contests to win rewards and to rank higher in the precious leaderboards. If you’re a cards games lover, then this should be on your Android phone or tablet.

Crayon Physics Deluxe ($2.99)

What if the drawings you make could be brought to life? Well, not 3D life as we know it, but rather, a 2D physical “life” that happens in the boundaries of your mobile phone’s screen. Everything you draw become a physical objects and drops. So, if you’ll draw an oblique line and then a circle, naturally, the circle should roll. Have a look at the video to get a better understanding of the game.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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At 48.2 MB, it is a very hefty download for a filter app, and it comes with a 99 cent price tag too. But then, it does deliver a lot of bang for that slightly lesser than a buck price. Mind you, at many times, it does seem like the antithesis of Instagram. Unlike that worthy, Vintique lets you generate images in three different resolutions – a very basic 612 x 612, a more hefty 1224 x 1224 and an even heftier 2448 x 2448. Yes, you can actually think of getting prints of images tweaked using this app.

And tempted to get prints you will be because Vinitque literally throws the kitchen sink at you when it comes to playing around with filters, and delivers some very good results. To start off, there are thirty-odd filters (you can purchase another 26 for another 99 cents if you like it), which is plenty more than what Instagram gives you and what’s more, they are all pretty high quality, if you loved the seventies and eighties. But add to that the option to increase or decrease the effect of the filter, the ability to play around with elements like temperature and exposure, the power to add vignetting and texture, and a top that off with the option to put the picture in a frame (there are dozens of those too, with the option to add more if you wish to part with some money), with text to boot, and the app takes on a whole new dimension. You have of course the option to share the fruits of your filtration genius across social networks and mail, if you think it worthy.

Yes, it is the antithesis of the simpler and more intuitive Instagram in many ways, but what cannot be denied is that for those wishing to spend time willing to master it, Vintique delivers some stunning results. It is not perfect – it takes some time to add filter effects and frames and the interface can feel intimidating to some- but if you are willing to give it time, Vintique is perhaps the best vintage camera filter app we have seen, in terms of not just effects but also the flexibility to tweak them to your convenience.

Available from: iTunes App Store
Price: US $0.99

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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For the week ending 16th June, we have curated an impressive list of new and noteworthy apps which includes a couple of Gameloft games, a couple of email productivity apps and a handy travel app. For a change, we have more games than usual this week, and that wasn’t intentional to be clear.

Office 365 (Free)

Microsoft Office finally made its way into the iPhone with the Office 365 app. Though it’s a great news for some, it comes with a list of limitations. The app is free to use only if you hold an an Office 365 subscription. Moreover it comes with a basic set of features and not optimized for the iPad yet. A Office 365 Home Premium subscription will cost you $99.99 per year or $9.99 per month.

Evomail for iPhone (Free)

Evomail was introduced exclusively for iPad and even made it into our earlier weekly roundup of best iOS apps. It’s designed with three guiding philosophies of being beautiful, frictionless and simple. It currently supports Gmail only, but IMAP support is coming early next month. If you’re bored with the default Mail app, Evomail is worth a try.

Pet Rescue Saga (Free)

Pet Rescue Saga has been quite popular on Facebook and is now ported on to the iOS platform by its developer King, who is more popular for creating the hit game, Candy Crush. Pet Rescue Saga is about saving animals from two evil snatchers by eliminating colored blocks from the board. We have very less doubts that this will be yet another hit game for King.

Pivo ($0.99)

Do you travel a lot? And do you love beer? If yes, the Pivo is a must-have travel app for you. Pivo teaches you how to order a beer in 59 different languages, each with the correct spelling, phonetic pronunciations and supporting videos from native speakers to help you along the way.

Mail Ninja ($2.99)

Here comes yet another third party email client for iOS. Mail Ninja aims to make mail processing super efficient, easy and fun. Unlike other similar mail apps, it supports Yahoo! mail, AOL and iCloud mail in addition to Gmail. Unlike Mailbox, Mail Ninja does not store your emails on its servers. Check their video demo for more details.

Gangstar Vegas ($6.99)

Much like other games from Gameloft’s Gangstar series, Gangstar Vegas too looks similar to the GTA series. This new game is based in Las Vegas, and comes with lots of cars and weapons at your disposal. At $6.99, the game doesn’t come cheap, but the graphics and gameplay should make up for the steep price, specially for GTA fans.

LAUNCH Ticker (Free)

I’ve a subscriber to Jason Calacanis’ LAUNCH Ticker email for a while now, and thankfully, he has now come out with an iOS app. It’s a great place for curated tech news. If you are tech news junkie like me, you ought to download and try this app yourself. You can thank me later.

Way of the Dogg ($2.99)

The name of the app should tell you who’s behind it. “Hell bent on revenge, America comes to the Temple to train with Snoop Dogg”, says the official description of the game. The game has 14 levels, and you are required to battle through them while listening to some of Snoop Dogg’s hit songs.

Dictonic (Free)

Voice recording apps are available aplenty on the App store, but Dictonic scores big with simplicity and usefulness. “Snap a picture, record audio, pick one of amazing voice changing effects and post it to Facebook and Twitter – as simple as this!”

Despicable Me: Minion Rush (Free)

Another Gameloft game which makes into our list this week is Despicable Me: Minion Rush. The official game for the Despicable Me movie is an endless runner like the Temple Run games. Leap, slide and dodge the obstacles & enemies while earning power-ups and costumes.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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Unfortunately, live wallpapers have some setbacks too, because if you are using one it will drain the battery more quickly. Also, the phone has to have good performance to be able to run live wallpapers smoothly. All in all, this capability is a great asset for all Android fans, so keep on reading because today we will present some of the best live wallpapers for the Android operating system. You should also check our quick launcher customization guide.

10 of the Best Android Live Wallpapers

A live wallpaper is basically an app that works on Android devices as a background wallpaper for the home screen. It dynamically changes when the user is interacting with the touch screen and accesses in background the software and hardware of the device, such as the GPS or mobile data.

To set a live wallpaper, just place a finger on the touch screen and perform a long press, until a menu will pop up. From the newly appeared menu select “Live Wallpapers” which can be found under the “Wallpapers” section. Select the desired one and apply it. Just to be clear, the following list are not in any particular order.

Device Info Ex

Device Info Ex is one of the most functional live wallpapers in the market which shows almost every possible data about your device. It features a great number of statistics about your phone, for example the CPU/RAM consumption, temperature, time or even compass and much more.

Device Info can be customized in various ways, from changing the color of its background to matching different themes to moving and choosing what information you want to be displayed. All in all, this application is one of the best and can be downloaded for free, but without having all features. The full version retails for $1.03.

Koi Live Wallpaper

Koi Live Wallpaper is one of the most beautiful wallpapers of its type. Basically, it’s a little pond with a bunch of Koi fish that are swimming. It’s very customizable letting the user choose the number of fish, their color (over 20 possibilities), background and even to add lily pads on the water surface.

To interact with the fish, just tap once on one of them and it will get scared and swim away. If you tap two times, some blue flakes will drop into the water to feed the Koi fish and if you tap only one time on the screen, the water will ripple.

Koi is available as free live wallpaper, but for some features users will have to choose the full version, for $0.99.

Thunderstorm Live Wallpaper

Thunderstorm Live Wallpaper is one of the pioneers of this type of wallpapers which shows a thunderstorm on users’ devices. It controls the behavior of rain, clouds and lightning strikes. For a live wallpaper like this, it has lots of different settings that can be changed.

One of the most interesting features is the one that permits starting a lightning on the device’s screen when the user taps on it. Also, it allows changing the color of the sky, lightning and controlling the wind speed, bolt frequency or the number of clouds.

This wallpaper is available in two versions: free and paid ($0.99). The difference between them is obviously the number of features that are included.

Gold Future Interface Live Wallpapers

Gold Future Interface Live Wallpaper is one of the simplest apps that provide a great live wallpaper improving the appearance of your device. As the name says, it has a gold color scheme that includes a clock whose position can be changed according to your preferences. Also, there are a few types of clocks which can be alternated as you want.

This application doesn’t have many customization options, but you will be able to change the speed of the animations and the position of other graphics. Unfortunately, the color scheme of this live wallpaper cannot be changed, so that if gold is not your favorite color, you should think better before buying it.

This application can be obtained for free, but you should know that some features aren’t available. Also, there is a paid version which contains all features that can be bought for $0.99.

Sun Rise Live Wallpaper

Sun Rise Live Wallpaper is a lovely background replacement for your Android device that will make your every morning better. Practically, it’s composed by a silhouette of a tree situated in a beautiful morning environment, some moving clouds and birds. In addition, it has a nice capability of setting a rainbow to appear when receiving a SMS.

The possibilities of customization are restrained, letting you change only the speed or direction of the wind and the manner the birds are flying to form a Good Morning message.

The application is available as a free and paid version ($0.79)

Panda Chub Live Wallpaper

Panda Chub Live Wallpaper is the best choice for animal lovers from all around the world. Whose heart won’t melt when seeing a curious little panda? Unfortunately, this is all you get because the possibilities of customization are very few, you will be only able to choose between five different backgrounds.

When tapping the screen of your device, the eyes of the little panda will move after your touch. It’s available as a free application, without the possibility to change the backgrounds, and as a paid version for $0.99.

GyroSpace 3D Live Wallpaper

GyroSpace 3D Live Wallpaper is one of the best 3D animations, which is also recommended by the editors from Google Play Store. It presents a cosmic scene with a beautiful colored nebula and very detailed planets which in addition, creates a very nice 3D depth effect. This live Android wallpaper has multiple themes and some interesting customization settings.

In GyroSpace 3D Live Wallpaper one can also set the performance level, if the planet has a ring around it or if to show asteroids. Note that the application works only with devices that have gyroscope, such as Nexus 7 or Samsung Galaxy S3. This live wallpaper can be downloaded for free and if you like it and want all features included, buy the paid version for $1.59.

Earth HD Deluxe Edition

Earth HD Deluxe Edition brings the most interesting and awesome view of our planet. The thing that instantly pops out is the fact that the position of the Earth and Sun depends on your device’s current date. Also, it has beautiful HD textures for background, stars, planet and every detail is very accurate making this application one of the best.

This live Android wallpaper has five different Earth themes (classic, realistic, frozen Earth, future and post-apocalyptic) and ten different animated camera types. It permits setting the speed of the Earth’s rotation, camera distance and even the FPS number for conserving battery lifetime.

It can be bought for $1.00, while at the same time it can be downloaded as a free version, but without having some of the most important features and HD textures.

Androids Pro! Live Wallpapers

Androids Pro! Live Wallpaper is one of the simplest, but most customizable wallpaper. Practically, you have to create your own live wallpaper choosing from basic options, such as different shapes and backgrounds or color pattern. After that, change the size, speed, FPS and physics of objects until you feel pleased with them and save your settings.

It has a great number of different combinations which you can play with to obtain unique live wallpapers. The free and the paid versions are the same, except that for the first one some options are locked. Note that the paid version costs $1.49.

Season Zen HD

Season Zen HD brings your Android device to life with amazing nature wallpapers. It’s a park scene which consists of a twig with a bird’s nest, butterflies, a bench and flowers. It’s a beautiful 3D wallpaper which has four themes for every season: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter.

It’s very customizable allowing you to set everything from the image. You can change the type of the bench, flowers and even the eggs, and if you don’t like one of the objects it’s not a problem, because the application permits to hide or show them from the settings menu. It’s available only as a paid version and it costs $1.99.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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When it comes to premium tablets, most arguments fall flat when the Apple iPad is brought up, and not without good reason. However, that’s not to say there’s no market for rivals – you could attribute it to personal preferences or sometimes, a more practical matter of desired capabilities and features, such as say, expandable memory or plug-n-play connectivity with a computer. And this is where Sony’s new Xperia Tablet Z comes in.

Not to be confused with the manufacturer’s flagship smartphone with the same moniker, the Tablet Z brings with the entire gamut of enticing features and capabilities apt for a high-end slate, many of which are shared with its handset sibling. And at the top of the list is IP5X and IPX5/7 certifications for dust and water resistance respectively. In fact, it can survive submersion in up to 3 feet of wear for up to 30 minutes at a time, and we’re sure you can imagine all the possibilities that open up. But how does it fare otherwise?

Design and Hardware

The Xperia Tablet Z borrows quite a few design elements from its smartphone namesake, and sports a similar blocky design. Except for small rounded corners, there are no curves at all, and it’s essentially a flat, rectangular slab. The Tablet Z’s highly anorexic chassis is a mere 6.9mm thick, and is extremely lightweight, weighing just 495 grams. This makes it the thinnest and the lightest 10-incher, at least at the time of writing. Thanks mainly to this, and also its soft-touch rear, the slate is quite comfy to hold, which is more than what can be said for the Xperia Z smartphone.

Meant to be help primarily in the landscape orientation, as is evident from the placement of the branding and the controls, the device doesn’t have any hardware keys on the front, and the fascia is dominated with the 10.1-inch display. The screen is surrounded by a black border, but when it’s on standby, the front is just a large expanse of piano black. When held in the landscape orientation, the Sony logo is on top left of the screen, with the front camera placed right in the center. The top is home to the IR blaster and a microphone, while there’s nothing on the right save the right speaker grille closer to the bottom. At the bottom, you’ll find the stereo speakers placed on both extremes, a tab-covered microUSB port on the left, and the micro-SIM and microSD slots hiding under a single tab towards the right.

The left spine sees a lot of action, with the 3.5mm audio socket on top, again covered with a tab. Right below that is the metallic circular power / sleep button, a notification LED, and the volume rocker. Moving town below on the same side, you’ll find a couple of dock connectors and the left speaker grille. Intelligently, the stereo speakers get outlets both on the bottom as well as the sides, so that the audio isn’t muffled if you’re using the slate on your lap. As far as the back is concerned, there’s just the main camera on top right, Xperia branding bang in the center, and a small NFC logo close to the bottom. Overall, the build quality is solid, and as we mentioned earlier, it’s svelte chassis and light weight make it supremely easy to hold for long periods of time — a vital criterion for any portable device like this. The dimensions also translate well into portability — just slip it into a bag and you’ll hardly realize it’s there till you need it.

Rating: 8.5/10

Video Review

Display

Sony’s known for its displays, and the one on the Xperia Tablet Z is of the LED backlit variety and sports a resolution of 1,920×1,200 pixels with a density of 224 ppi. The screen boasts Mobile Bravia Engine 2 tech, and as such, the colors are crisp, and the display quite sharp. The screen isn’t overly saturated and that appears as dullness on occasion, but it does seem more natural overall. If we had to nitpick, we’d say that it’s not the best display we’ve seen till date. That said, it’s still quite capable and responsive.

Rating: 7.5/10

Camera

Cameras on tablets, especially large-screened slates like this one, remain useful just for casual photography. As anyone who has tried shooting with one will testify, the size and the form factor isn’t exactly conducive for anything more. However, we’ve seen more than a few users using tablet cameras, and if you’re one of them, you’ll be a tad disappointed with the Tablet Z’s snapper.

The 8.1-megapixel shooter here boasts the Exmor R for mobile image sensor, and offers most of the frills we’re accustomed to, including HDR, burst mode, Sony’s Sweep Panorama, and control over settings such as exposure, white balance, ISO and metering. It also includes a “Superior Auto” mode that adjust settings based on the scene, but shoots only at the max resolution of 7-megapixels.

At front, a 2.2-megapixel camera handles video calling. The UI is quite straightforward, and allows you to capture stills and video without switching modes. In fact, you can shoot 1-megapixel stills while capturing video. Speaking of video, the main camera is capable of full HD video recording too. However, while shots taken in good light are usable, they aren’t really outstanding. And shots taken in low light tend to appear noisy and grainy. While this may not be a deal breaker for those who don’t prefer using a tablet for shooting, it’s still worth noting since a premium device like this is expected to deliver great results, and also if you’re depending solely on it for capturing important moments.

Photo Samples

Video Samples

Rating: 7/10

Software

Again drawing parallels with its smartphone sibling, the skin atop Android 4.1.2 is very similar in look and feel to what we’ve seen on the handset earlier. The lock screen, in fact, is the same, and offers the same quick access for camera and music, along with a lovely windows blinds animation while unlocking. The skin has been tweaked for the tablet’s large screen, and hence, you get the three Android keys as software overlays towards the bottom left on the UI, and the notifications and status indicators on the bottom right. The bar on top offers quick access to Google Now and space to place four of your fave app shortcuts alongside, while the top right has a button for editing home screens, plus access to the app drawer. The main gripe we have here is that the size of these onscreen controls is too small, and therefore, it’s possible to tap the adjoining one by mistake or miss your target completely at times. “Small Apps” as seen on the Xperia Z are present here as well, and are accessible via a tiny button at the bottom. Hitting said button pops up a menu bar with the available small apps — including the likes of notes, a calculator, and even a mini browser. These can be dragged around, but not resized, and for some reason, you can only have one of them running at a time. Some of them pop out as full-sized versions. You can add more Small Apps via the Play Store, and even include any of the available widgets as part of the small apps menu. These widgets pop out in the same fashion as Small Apps, and can also be resized.

Next, another button next to the small apps key gives access to the small version of the Remote app, which turns goes full sized with a tap. Also accessible via the main app drawer, the Remote app uses the IR blaster on top of the slate for universal remote functionality. A useful capability, and one that’s quite similar to what we’ve seen in some of the recent smartphone flagships such as the HTC One and the Samsung Galaxy S4, the one on offer here doesn’t provide an EPG feature. However, it’s capable of controlling almost the entire gamut of home entertainment kit, including TVs, set-top boxes, projectors, iPod docks, amplifiers, DVD players, Blu-ray players, and more. The setup process could vary depending upon the specific brand and model you have — it worked with our LG TV in a single shot but it took numerous hits and misses before it shook hands (reluctantly, for not all functions could be controlled) with our Humax-made Tata Sky Plus box.

Sony also crams the Xperia Tablet Z with software, including quite a few multimedia apps. The music and movie players are quite worthy, capable of downloading media info and artwork from the internet. And if you get bored of music stored locally, there’s FM radio available too. Deserving a special mention is the “Smart Connect” app that lets you specify tasks and actions that are carried out automatically when you connect accessories. For example, you could set it to launch the Walkman music player app when you connect a pair of headphones. In yet another interesting twist, while the slate can’t (thankfully) be used for making cellular voice calls, it does have SMS capabilities that can be used via the included Messages app. For text input, there’s the Xperia keyboard that, apart from the usual full-sized option, also offers a smaller iteration that docks to one side for easier typing when the tablet’s held in the hand.

Rating: 8.5/10

Performance and Battery life

The guts inside this slim gadget are home to a Snapdragon S4 Pro quad-core chip clocked at 1.5GHz, an Adreno 320 GPU, 2GB of RAM and 16GB of expandable storage. These are solid specs, and they reflect in the tablet’s performance. There was nary a hiccup in our testing and usage — with the device coming out triumphant on the smoothness and responsiveness quotient. It didn’t have trouble with any of the apps and games we threw its way, and it multi-tasked like a champ.

When you consider the options it offers for hooking up to other devices, you won’t be disappointed — there’s dual-band Wi-Fi, NFC, DLNA, and HDMI via MHL apart from the other usual stuff. USB OTG support is present too — and comes in handy when you need to transfer some data or media in a crunch. The sealed 6,000 mAh battery pack seems decent too, for it lasted us a full working day with reasonably heavy usage and the tablet hooked up to either 3G or Wi-Fi at all times. Realistically speaking, you should expect nightly charging if you’re using it for gaming and media, and carry the charger with you for trips that extend into the second day. If your usage is more sporadic, the battery can see you through the second day as well, especially if the customizable Stamina mode is used. To put it in a nutshell, we were quite impressed by what’s on offer.

And then we saw the price tag.

Rating: 8.5/10

Conclusion

High pricing is the undoing of many a capable gizmo, especially considering the competitive landscape… and that seems to be the case with the Xperia Tablet Z too. Apart from its Achilles’ heel of a camera, most other criteria work quite well in its favor. Everything from its sexy, svelte design, good build, snappy performance, to the decent screen and battery life strike the right chords. And the dust- and water-resistance is really the icing on the cake — useful in so many scenarios including trips to the beach and when faced with a sudden downpour. The importance of this feature cannot be over-emphasized.

While the Xperia Z handset’s pricing at launch time worked out well in the face of more expensive smartphones, the Tablet Z’s sticker of Rs 46,990 (~ $810) in India could definitely act as a deal breaker because it’s very tough to ignore the Apple iPad’s pull at such price points. If you’re the US, you can get the Tablet Z for $499, and the iPad starts at the same price too, so you’re still facing a similar quandary. Undeniably, there’s a certain coolness attached to any Apple product. But even if you look at it objectively, the iOS ecosystem has significantly more tablet-optimized apps compared to Android, not to mention other factors such as the iPad 4′s gorgeous display and awesome battery life.

However, for all it’s goodness, the iPad doesn’t offer features such as memory expansion, the convenience of USB On-The-Go and plug-n-play PC connectivity. And it certainly isn’t water resistant. The Sony Xperia Tablet Z is the panacea you need if you’re looking for a premium, feature-rich Android slate, and we can have no qualms in saying that at this time, you really can’t do better than this.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

The post Sony Xperia Tablet Z Review – a Feature-Rich Android Slate appeared first on Technology Personalized.

Well, they would if the app was like the rather curiously named Swackett. Yes, it is not a spanking new app and has been around for a while, but hey, we just noticed it a few days ago, courtesy a few readers, and well, now we just cannot get enough of it. It is a 2.4 MB download on Android, a 4.0 MB one on the iPhone and well, if you want to savor its joys on the iPad, get ready for a 26 MB download. There is a silver lining, though – it is totally free.

Start off the app, however, and you will see why we consider it to be so special. For instead of the plethora of data that emanates from other weather apps, Swackett mixes graphics, trivia and information, in what is a pretty potent cocktail. Of course, you can get the basics such as current temperature and forecast over the next few days, but adding a spin to them are some very interesting illustrations. You will, for instance, always see a person dressed up in a manner that the app considers appropriate for the weather it is representing – and you can swipe up and down to get more options (they are available for both men and women). There is also a UV index that indicates whether you need sunglasses, a sunscreen or a hat, and even an index that shows just how much your pets might like the weather. Round that off with slices of trivia (ranging from coffee plant yields to pet behavior to skin problems), and what you have is a weather app that goes beyond information and gets close to entertainment territory.

There is information too, for those who prefer mathematical figures to human ones or are just plain weather freaks – you can get forecasts and satellite imagery. But if it is plain common sense information you want about the weather, presented in an entertaining format, well, Swackett is an app that you really must download. The interface can be a little cluttered, but when in doubt, just swipe in any direction and it is a fair chance that you will come away with a handy snippet of information. Hardcore weather fans will still opt for Accuweather’s data delight, but those wanting something less intimidating and more, well, interesting, will just love Swackett.

We certainly do.

Download from: Google Play, iTunes App Store
Price: Free

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

The post DailyApp: Swackett (iOS, Android): Weather with Character appeared first on Technology Personalized.

Up until now, there wasn’t a standalone and official Android application covering the Google Cloud Print service as users had to rely on third-party apps (official Cloud Print access being limited only to Chrome OS). The Google Cloud Print app will work, of course, only with Cloud Print enabled printers. You can set up your own printer to be Cloud Print enabled by following the instructions on the official webpage. Also, keep in mind that the file that you want to print still has to be “funneled through” your PC if you use a wired printer.

Within the app, you can also send files to other Android devices, save them to Google Drive as PDF files or track the status of your print jobs. Alex Chitu from Google Systems gives us a few important tips regarding the printing process with the Google Cloud Print Android app:

One way to print a file is using the “print” button from the application and selecting the file you want to print. Make sure you’ve installed a file manager like ES File Explorer or OI File Manager to be able to print other files than images. Another option is to use the “share” button or menu item from almost any Android app and select “Cloud Print”. For example, you can open a web page in Chrome for Android, pick “share” from the menu and you can print the entire page. You can also select some text from the page and print the text selection.

You will also have access to some settings on the printer, depending on the model, of course. But if you’ll pick one of the latest and greatest printers, then you should be able to choose things like the type of color, media and orientation, resolution, number of copies. Google Cloud Print will work on Android devices that run at least 2.3.3.

Download the free Google Cloud Print Android application from the Google Play Store and start printing from anywhere you are!

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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In this latest release which should be available (in beta) right away for developers, design and internal functionality have been heavily altered. Everything has been reworked and the difference from iOS 6 to 7 will be visually dramatic. Now let’s see what Apple has managed to pull this time.

The Best features of iOS 7

As Tim Cook affirmed today, iOS 7 is perhaps the most re-worked version of iOS until present. Packed with a lot of new features, Apple’s latest mobile platform should be a joy to run on tablets and smartphones alike. But here’s what really stirs our excitement in the new release:

Revamped design

The general design of iOS 7 has been completely revamped in contrast to previous versions. Simplicity has taken over and elements like flat icons, a new slide-up control panel and even a reworked slide-to-unlock has been implemented. All basic icons have been redesigned alongside typography and a new palette of colors has been introduced. Alongside simplicity, translucency and the use of animations can be seen at each step, Apple upping the ante even with a 3D interface that changes perspective when the phone is tilted. The screen looks bigger and everything else fits in place.

Control Center 

Simply by swiping from the bottom of the screen, future iOS 7 users will have the possibility of accessing vital device functions, like Airplane Mode, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, screen brightness, music controls (pause, play, jump or AirPlay stream) and Do Not Disturb. Simpler applications such as Clock, Camera, Calculator and flashlight can also be accessed from here.

Notifications Center

Just like on Android, iOS 7 will allow notification to pass through the lockscreen and be visible with a simple gesture. Apple went beyond that and a new Today service gives users a brief summary over upcoming weather, traffic, meetings and events. Moreover, the interface is now card-based which has been recognized by many as a webOS borrowed element.

Improved Multitasking

Any 3^rd party application can now be optimized to run in the background thanks to a new API. Moreover, switching between active processes will be done smoothly and the platform will learn which application is used more frequently and update it continuously.  All of these supposedly without affecting the battery life.

Peer-to-peer Transfers

Using a new service called AirDrop, iOS users have a simple, fast and secure way of sharing files to contacts close-by, without needing a pre-defined network or other complicated arrangements. Simply by selecting the desired contact, AirDrop will automatically setup a peer-to-peer connection (like the one used by torrents) and commence transfers. This will work only on the iPhone 5, iPod Touch 5G, the new iPad and the iPad mini.

New Photos app

Complete with a wide range of new filters  and Moments, a new way of automatically sorting photos and videos based on time and location, the new Photos application now comes with zoom in / out function to properly glance all entries, iCloud sharing and a new Activity view display which displays updates left on your streams.

Updated Safari

Full-screen browsing, a new smart search field and enhanced bookmarks are simply three of the many updated elements of the new Safari. Just like in the desktop version, iOS’s browser will come with iCloud Keychain and Enhanced Parental Controls. Also, browsing can be done using gestures and there’s a new flipping card tab overview similar to Google Chrome.

Better Siri

Although not quite a jump, Siri can now speak in both male and female voices (that works for English, French or German) and can include Twitter feeds in its searches. Moreover, Apple’s assistant is now integrated with Wikipedia and can also use Bing for web queries. In addition, control to Bluetooth and brightness functions was also surrendered.

Music and iTunes Radio

The new Music application has been redesigned from ground-up. There a new design that might gauge some people’s eyes but on the inside, everything works great. Integrated with the new and free iTunes Radio, users will have the ability of choosing from over 200 online stations and other iTunes Store entries. As we learned, iTunes Radio will learn its owner in time and suggest relevant songs on-the-go.

Find My iPhone

An activation lock features at base, Find My iPhone does more than the name suggests. Unlike conventional services that could be erased clean off after a phone was stolen, Find My iPhone preserves some data after the phone has been wiped remotely and asks for your original Apple ID and password before someone can turn the service off.

Other worthy mentions

• Largest marketplace – not quite a features, but Apple held closely to note that the App Store currently has over 900,000 live applications and users will soon rejoice a Popular Near Me feature, which sorts applications by popularity and location. Helpful for country-related apps. Moreover, the marketplace now comes with a new Kids category, letting parents and children browse what’s best for their age.
• Night  Mode for Maps
• FaceTime audio for high quality calls
• Notifications synchronization which dismisses events across all devices
• Blocking possibilities for phone calls, FaceTime and Messages
• Enhanced in-car integration which allows various car manufacturers to bring a bit of Apple inside vehicles

iOS 7 is pegged to arrive this fall as a free update for iPhone 4, iPad 2, iPad Mini, iPod Touch 5G and all later generations. Unfortunately, some of the features showcased today will not be available for all devices.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

The post iOS 7 and its 10 Best Features Explained appeared first on Technology Personalized.

The new MacBook Air has some awesome specs and judging by them, and from what Apple says, it is vastly superior to last year’s models. As before, there are two versions of the MacBook Air: the 13.3 inch version and the 11.6 inch version.

Macbook Air 2013

The company stated that the new MacBook Air has more power and is far more efficient than its predecessors. No surprise here, since the new lightweight notebook is powered by Intel’s new Haswell processor, which offers better performance, but at a lower power usage. We know that the two versions of the MacBook Air will use the Core i5 and Core i7 processors, but we don’t know what models exactly.

We do know that the integrated graphics on the device will be Intel’s HD 5000 series, which Apple says it gives the MacBook Air 40% faster performance in gaming and visually demanding applications. The flash storage of the device will also up its speed by a whopping 45% over the last generation.

The battery autonomy of the MacBook Air has been upgraded thanks to both the new Intel Haswell processors and the low power LED-backlit displays. This allows the MacBook Air to keep running for 8 to 12 hrs, which is way more than the 5-7 hrs that the older ones had.

In terms of connectivity, the MacBook Air will provide two USB 3.0 ports, high-speed Thunderbolt port, 802.11ac Wi-Fi connectivity that can push speeds up to 1.3Gbps with the AirPort Extreme. If you want more information on the two devices, here are the specs the new MacBook Air:

• Processors: Intel Haswell i5 and i7
• Processor Speed: 1.3 GHz / 1.7 GHz
• Graphics: Intel HD 5000
• Screen Size: 11.6 inch / 13.3 inch
• RAM: 4GB / 8GB
• Storage: 128GB / 256GB / 512GB
• Battery: 8-9 hrs

Note: The 1.7 GHz with 8GB RAM and 512 GB flash storage will be available via configure-to-order.

Price and Availability

Both versions of the MacBook Air will be available starting today from the Apple Store. Apple announced the cost of the devices starting at $999 for the 11 inch / 128GB, $1199 for the 11 inch / 256GB and $1099 for the 13 inch / 128GB, $1299 for the 13 inch / 256GB. The configure-to-order version of the MacBook Air that comes with 1.7 GHz processors might cost more than the basic versions.

In India, the 11-inch MacBook Air with 4GB of memory & 128GB of flash storage will be available for INR 67,900, and 256GB of flash storage for INR 81,900. The 13-inch MacBook Air with 4GB of memory will be available with 128GB of flash storage starting at INR 74,900, and 256GB of flash storage starting at INR 88,900.

As you can see, Apple has upgraded most of their products, and the MacBook Air has become much more powerful and more energy efficient than the previous generation. This, coupled with the updated version of the OS and other products make this notebook one of the best that money can buy.

© Raju PP for Technology Personalized, 2013. This Feed is for personal non-commercial use only. If you are not reading this material in your news aggregator, the site you are looking at is guilty of copyright infringement. Please contact us, so we can take legal action immediately. If you are on Twitter you can follow me @rajupp! | Permalink |

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