Hamza Khalid

Handles Windows Phone, iOS and Cydia. A big WP7 fan, who just loves writing about anything and everything. Google+

Find New Friends For WhatsApp & Other iPhone IM Apps With Pingbox

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While there are many messenger apps that focus on location, very few of them rely solely on this aspect to let users discover new profiles and interact with strangers near them. In the past, we have covered a service by the name of GeoCha that provides an interactive map of users in any given area, letting them chat and share information with each other. The messenger scene on iOS has gotten really crowded lately though, and not many people might like to maintain a new account just in order to discover new friends. This is why Pingbox might be the perfect option for some of our more adventurous friends, who want to connect with more people without moving away from their existing chat accounts. Read More

Add A “Flash” To iPhone Front-Facing Camera With FrontFlash

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Rumors about iOS 7 and the next iPhone are pretty abundant these days. Of all the wild ideas that have been thrown around the blogosphere, one that has particularly appealed to me is the possibility that the next iDevice might have a dedicated notification LED on its front. The mention of an LED on the device's front also brings to mind the idea of having an LED flash for the front-facing camera under low light conditions. For now, there are no mainstream smartphones that come with a front-facing camera flash. App developers are clever folk though, and they usually come up with ways to overcome any obstacle. Last November, Camera+ introduced a neat way of adding a sort of flash to the front-facing camera. It has taken some time, but a developer has finally thought of adding a similar feature to the stock Camera app. As you might have guessed, we are talking about a Cydia tweak. FrontFlash increases the screen brightness and turns the screen white momentarily while shooting a photo or video, resulting in improved lighting in dark conditions. Read More

Browse & Upload To Instagram From iPhone Home Screen With InstaVelox

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As we predicted in our compilation of the best add-ons for Velox, the steady flow of the tweak’s amazingly useful widgets isn't looking to dry up any time soon. Velox offers a great way of controlling different iOS features from the SpringBoard, but it can also go beyond that and let you use almost entire apps without actually going away from your phone’s Home screen. These app-related Velox add-ons have managed to attract a lot of users and for that reason, the release of InstaVelox is pretty big news. This widget focuses on one of the most popular apps available in the App Store: Instagram. With InstaVelox, you get to access just about any part of your Instagram account right from the app’s icon. It is not even necessary that you use the account configured on the Instagram app itself, as InstaVelox works independently from that. You cannot upload new images using the widget, but everything else is possible with InstaVelox. Read More

Get App-Specific True Multitasking On iOS 6 With Background Manager

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True multitasking has been the Holy Grail of iOS for quite some time now. Among all major smartphone platforms out there these days, Android is the only OS that offers true multitasking. In iOS, you get the impression of multitasking, but the apps restart from scratch if they stay in the background for too long, or if the App Switcher has too many apps in it. In the past, we have seen tweaks like Backgrounder and InfinityTask that bring true multitasking to iOS, but the new Background Manager has clearly demonstrated that there is still room for a tweak that refines the concept and offers a certain level of control over true multitasking. Background Manager lets you choose different settings for each app, or configure true multitasking for all apps at once. The tweak even has options to let users keep an app running when the phone is rebooted or the app is manually killed from the App Switcher. Read More

Record, Edit & Annotate Audio Clips On iPhone & iPad With Recordium

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Much like Apple’s stock Voice Memos app for iOS, most third-party audio recorders for iPhone aren’t too feature-rich. Even the developers over at the Cydia store haven’t felt a great need to add a ton of new options to Voice Memos, and the few tweaks dealing with the app do nothing more than adding some gestures to the mix. Some third-party audio recorders, however, do show that it is possible to shake things up a little when it comes to this genre. The previously covered Highlights app was petty simple, but offered the option to annotate recordings. Recordium is somewhat similar to Highlights, but there is more to it than just annotations. With Recordium, users get to configure the format and sound quality they want for their recordings. The file management of the app is pretty neat as well, and you can share your sound clips over cloud services, or using Wi-Fi file transfer. To top it all off, Recordium makes it possible to trim or edit recordings once they have been captured. Read More

Mentor For iOS Uses Social Pressure To Help You Take Up New Activities

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You can’t help but think of the previously covered Lift app when using Mentor for iPhone, but the apps are subtly different from each other. While Lift is meant to let users adopt new and beneficial habits by committing to them in front of strangers, Mentor lets you connect with both strangers and friends. The app also takes a more practical approach towards letting you establish a routine that has some room for the target activity. Mentor makes use of push notifications to remind you of your pledges at the times of your choice. The app’s elaborate notification system adds an extra social dimension to the mix, which might inspire you to adopt activities that your friends are interested in. Read More

SntapCamera Is A Completely Gesture-Based, Buttonless iOS Camera App

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Everyone likes apps that are capable of accomplishing their target tasks without coming up with too many bells and whistles. One might argue that stock iOS apps aren't too heavy on features, being quite simplistic in their own way. The stock Camera app has been endowed with panorama mode only in iOS 6, but the overall look-and-feel of the app is still rather uncomplicated. There have been a few third-party camera apps around though, that clearly show that there are ways of making the process of capturing photos even simpler. The previously covered TapShot uses gestures to make photo capturing efficient, but the newly released SntapCamera takes the same concept to the n-th degree. The app has no buttons, and works completely with gestures. You can use it for capturing photos & videos, and sharing your media over Facebook, all with a few swipes. Read More

Create Colorful Comic Strips & Collages On iPad With Halftone 2

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You wouldn’t necessarily use an app like PhotoComic to edit all your photos on an iDevice, but on the other hand, where’s the fun in using feature-rich photo editors like Touch Image Manipulator? Apps available for iPad are usually this way; they either have so many features that using them becomes nightmarishly complicated, or there are not enough features to serve users in all situations. Maybe that’s why the developers behind Halftone 2 have attempted to strike the perfect balance between simplicity and features in this release. The Halftone photo editor was released for iPhone quite some time ago, but the new Halftone 2 is iPad-exclusive and quite different from its predecessor. It has been designed to get fun-looking results, but comes with some pretty serious features and Aviary's image editor. You can use the app to create comics and collages, or just do some casual editing on your photos. Read More

Bamboo Loop Combines Collaborative Drawing & Picture Messaging On iOS

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Draw Something has enjoyed a lot of fame on iOS, and many people are still using it to laugh at the sketching skills of their friends. I play the game quite regularly, and there are times when a given drawing becomes more about getting a message across rather than winning a point. When you stop and think about it, a photo can convey a lot more than a paragraph of text (or as the saying goes, equal to a thousand words). With modern messengers, you can send photos as attachments with your messages, and one or two options are available for fans of doodling as well. Released by Wacom - the popular maker of styluses and graphics tablets - the new Bamboo Loop might look like a photo editor at first glance, but it is actually a messaging app. You can doodle on your favorite photos or beautiful background textures, and send these end results to any of your friends. Your friends can then send your creation back to you by making changes and additions of their own, thereby creating a loop of interaction. Read More

Shazam Comes To iPad With Auto Background Tagging & Interactive Maps

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Back in December, the famous music recognition app Shazam was updated with support for offline tagging, which seemed like a pretty revolutionary feature. Looking back, however, you have to admit that Shazam needs support for more platforms before it goes about adding novelty features to the mix. It was quite heartening to see Shazam arriving on Windows 8, but the owners of iPad continued feeling a bit ignored. Of course, the app has been around on iOS for a long time, but wasn’t display-optimized for the tablet. After taking a look at the new universal version of the app, we can safely say that the wait has been totally worthwhile. Not only does the iPad version of Shazam come with a gorgeous interface, it also debuts some features that will only arrive later on other devices. These include continuous scanning of your surroundings for new music even when the app is in the background, and a prominent place for popular tags from different TV shows. Shazam now also has an ‘Explore’ view, where users get to see trending tags belonging to a particular city or country. Read More

PC & Mac Remote Control App Splashtop 2 Comes To Windows Phone 8

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When it comes to apps that let smartphone users access their desktops remotely, Splashtop is sure to be among the first names that crop up. Splashtop became available for iOS quite a while back, and the Android app wasn’t too far behind. After some time though, the company behind the awesome remote access software decided to revamp it and came up with Splashtop 2. The new app became popular for its better streaming quality, and audio support. However, Windows Phone users could only watch in jealousy as their friends on other platforms went around using Splashtop 2 for playing PC games on their smartphones. Finally though, the situation has suddenly changed for the better. Despite the fact that the WP Store did not have the original Splashtop app, it has directly received Splashtop 2! The app isn't too different from its Android and iOS counterparts, but does have a few features designed exclusively for Windows 8 and WP8. Read More

Get Gestures For Quick Calls, Texts & Emails From iPhone Contacts App

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Thanks to its support for iCloud, Gmail, Hotmail and other similar services, the contact management in iOS is pretty good. You don’t have to worry too much about importing contacts to your iPhone manually, and the stock Phone app integrates the address book quite nicely as well. There are a few things, however, that might entice some users to shift to third-party contact managers for iOS. ReachFast Contacts is a pretty decent example of an app that offers something that is unavailable in iOS by default: gesture control. Admittedly, it only takes a few extra taps to make a call from the stock Contacts or Phone app, but if you have access to the Cydia store, it is now possible to have the best of both worlds. QuickGestures lets you make calls, send a text or start composing an email right from the stock Contacts app simply by performing different gestures on each contact’s name - no extra buttons added! Read More

Drive Awake For iPhone Scans Your Eyes & Prevents Drowsiness Behind The Wheel

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There can be no denying the importance of navigation apps for smartphone users, since they let them reach their destination quickly. Having said that, there is an even more important objective that you must always remember while driving, and that is to reach your destination alive and in one piece. Drunk driving, texting while driving and falling asleep on the road are among the biggest causes of automobile accidents. Of course, being sensible is always the best precaution you can take against these problems, but technology can also help you to some extent. Meet Drive Awake, an iPhone app that scans your eyes while you are driving, and literally raises the alarm as soon as your eyes start closing. Since Drive Awake has been developed in collaboration with Café Amazon, and points you to its nearest outlet whenever you are caught napping. Read More

Manage Notifications For Each iPhone App From Home Screen With Badger

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Some Cydia tweaks end up being bit disappointing after a lot of hype has been created around them, but Velox did not prove to be such a flop. People were talking about it well before its release and now that it has been available in the jailbreak store for a few weeks, the large number of available Velox add-ons are a testament to its growing popularity. While most people have been focusing on its ability to display interactive widgets on the iPhone SpringBoard, there is something else the tweak can do: letting you view and dismiss notifications for any app simply by performing a few gestures on the app’s icon. If you like this feature but don’t want all the extra (albeit awesome) baggage that comes with Velox, Badger might be worth a shot. This tweak is a notification manager that offers a ton of customization options, and can work with any app that has pending notifications. It’s like having a separate Notification Center for each app. Read More

Track Your Habits, Activities & Work Hours With tenXer For iPhone

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The first step towards solving any problem is identifying it. If you feel your life needs some changes but you just can’t put your finger on the problem, there are some apps out there that can help you. The idea of an app helping you get your life back on track might sound a bit too outlandish, but the popularity of apps like Lift and Juice clearly shows how much people can get out of such tools. Both the aforementioned apps, however, are a bit limited because you can’t track everything about your life using them, and the level of automation they offer is close to zero. tenXer, however, has the potential to become a frequently used app on your iPhone by letting you keep an eye on your real-life routine and social media habits. The app can even track your working hours automatically by monitoring your location. Read More

Use Any Photo Or Color As Background For iPhone Notification Banners

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BannerImage has not been around in the jailbreak store for too long, but many people are already comparing it to the FlagPaint tweak. The comparison is justified to a large extent, since both tweaks are designed to let users change the appearance of notification banners, but we have to point out that BannerImage takes things to the next level. While FlagPaint renders quite good-looking results, it gets a bit monotonous after a while, since there are only so many colors or styles you can apply to your banners with it. With BannerImage, on the other hand, you get all that, plus the ability to use any image from your iPhone’s camera roll as the background for the banners. Although the newer tweak’s controls don’t look as refined as FlagPaint’s, we have to say that the customization options are certainly better. Read More

Discover Songs & Listen To Your Own Music Collection With Legato For iPhone

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exfm and MusicBunk are great music discovery tools but a lot of effort goes into organizing and collecting songs in your local collection, and it seems a bit of a waste to rely solely on online streaming to get your daily dosage of music. Legato is a new iPhone app that is part music player, part music discovery tool. You can view a list of songs that have been played by your friends from their iPhone collection, or just let the world know what your favorite song is these days, simply by playing it in the Legato music player. The songs you discover using the app can be previewed and purchased, and users can also leave feedback on them, thanks to the Legato rating system. Read More

Here Are Some Great Velox Add-Ons To Spruce Up Your iPhone Home Screen

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Velox hasn’t been in the Cydia store for even a month yet, but the tweak has made a huge impact on the jailbreak scene. Everyone expected a few add-ons to come out for Velox but nobody had the idea that in less than a month, the Cydia store would be bursting with extensions for the tweak. Velox already works with most of the stock apps but thanks to these third-party add-ons, you can now get a modified versions of your favorite Velox widgets for even the third-party apps installed on your iPhone, and make the tweak handle them. With so many of these add-ons available in the Cydia store, it has become a bit of a nightmare to find the exact extension you want. Searching in Cydia only yields a rather confusing mix of Velox-related themes and add-ons, so we decided to compile a list to help users who want to get the most out of this awesome tweak. Read More

Tumblr Gets Revamped Posting Options On iPhone & Web

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With the news of Yahoo’s acquisition of Tumblr still no more than a few hours old, everyone was a little surprised to see the service’s iOS and web versions getting significant updates. Almost certainly though, the updates don’t have anything to do with the acquisition because the new features don’t deal with any additional Yahoo! integration, and the service keeps getting updates pretty regularly anyway. The focus in both the updates seems to be on enhancing the user experience and offering a better interface. This doesn't mean, however, that the main Tumblr UI has been overhauled. The changes have mostly occurred in the options that deal with posting new content to Tumblr blogs. On the web, you get a much cleaner ‘compose’ box for text posts, and a photo upload dialog that support drag-and-drop. For iPhone users, the app might appear unchanged at first glance, but when you try to compose a new post, a revamped selection list for post types shows up. Read More

Itsdagram Is A Neat Instagram Client For WP8 With Upload Capability

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Apps like Metrogram and InstaCam were the only way for Windows Phone users to get a taste of Instagram on their devices, until recently. While both these apps look great and have some nice features, they can never be true alternatives to an official Instagram client, since you cannot upload photos to your account using them. In a bid to get the official Instagram app on WP8, Nokia even came out with the #2InstaWithLove campaign, but that hasn't done much good so far. Things took a turn for the better recently though, when Instagraph was released. The app was the first for WP8 to offer the ability to upload photos to Instagram. People might have been content with it, but competition makes everything better, so it is good to see that another app with support for uploads has appeared in the WP Store. Itsdagram has a really neat interface, which resembles Instagram’s UI on other platforms. The app offers a variety of filters and account management options, and unlike Instagraph, has a free trial version. Read More