A. Rehman | 12/54 | AddictiveTips

Maluuba: Android Search Assistant With Modern UI & Event Management

by A. Rehman on September 14, 2012

The number of Android voice assistants and search apps, such as Vlingo, Google Now, Nuance’s Dragon Go!, Iris, et al, has grown to a point where one needs a very succinct analysis of what exclusive features a new entrant supports. Maluuba, the brainchild of the company with the same name, is the latest to join the list of the apps mentioned above. Sporting an eye-pleasing Windows 8-style UI, the app accepts voice and text input to help you with virtually anything on your Android (Update: Now available for Windows Phone as well). Using Maluuba, you can explore nearby food points, conduct general knowledge search queries, request for navigation to desired destinations, get business information, ask for detailed weather forecasts, manage & interact with your contacts via phone calls, mails, text messages & social media, post to various social networks, launch apps, get upcoming event details, play music, set reminders, alarms & calendar events, get movie showtimes, maintain routine schedules, and search across the wide world for web to get accurate answers for your queries. In some areas, the app can help you through its built-in features, whereas for all unsupported features, it presents you with the choice to head over to the concerned apps. Like most aforementioned solutions, Maluuba is quite effective in certain aspects, but can also leave users desiring for more in others. How? We shall explore past the break. Read More

noozy: Zune Style Android Media Player With Podcast & Sound Processors

by A. Rehman on September 13, 2012

Android

Elegant and power-packed Android music players are plentiful in the Google Play Store, and quite a few of them try to replicate the looks and functionality of Microsoft’s Zune player, such as the previously-reviewed InstaMusic and Fede’s Music Player. The latest to join the club of Metro-style Android music players is noozy – a sleek freemium that not just possesses powerful audio playback capabilities (courtesy of enhanced sound technology imported from the Noozxoide Laboratories), but also supports playing videos. In addition, the app lets users subscribe to, stream & download podcasts, listen to live audio broadcasts from noozy.live & last.fm services, and keep a close tab on the world's leading tracks, artists & albums. noozy also happens to be a great online music discovery tool that suggests tracks based on whatever you’re currently listening to. Users can get listen to samples of recommended tracks, browse complete albums of suggested artists, and purchase their favorite albums from various global music stores. Die-hard music lovers can also keep an eye on their favorite artists’ biographies, top tracks, album reviews & playlists, and get recommendations for similar artists. We’re not done with the app’s features yet; continue reading past the break to find out what else noozy has on offer. Read More

MyScript Calculator Is A Handwriting-Based Number Cruncher For Android

by A. Rehman on September 11, 2012

Android

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Android’s stock calculator app is handy enough to let users easily perform standard mathematical and scientific calculations. That being said, we’ve been frequently bringing you several useful and feature-rich alternatives in the form of CALCNEXT, AirCalc, Statistic Calculator and Handymate etc. Where almost all aforementioned options present you with a button-laden, tap-to-input calculator interface, MyScript Calculator takes an entirely different route to offer you a canvas on which you can draw/write mathematical expressions to get all the required answers. Supporting several basic mathematical operations and functions, the app has the capacity to automatically interpret input (user-drawn) data, complete with both the operator and the operands detection, and perform requested operation on any amount of operands that you provide via drawing. Interesting, isn’t it? What’s even more fascinating about MyScript Calculator is that, unless you wipe the canvas clear, the app lets you continue with further operations, thereby amending the results accordingly. It accepts input via finger as well as stylus, and supports palm rejection, with additional support for left-handed users. Read More

Feedly For Android & iOS Gets Facelift, Smart Search, Sharing & More

by A. Rehman on September 11, 2012

Android

The official mobile client of the crowd-favorite RSS feed reader for Android and iOS, Feedly, has been updated in the Google Play Store, as well as the iTunes App Store, with a host of new changes. If haven’t yet had a chance to try out Feedly, you better get your hands on the updated variant now, simply because it’s downright awesome, courtesy of a totally revamped UI and all the various new features that the latest update has brought along with it. Besides a much more intuitive and minimalist UI, the app now supports brand new means of discovering interesting items via a fresh navigation bar, ably supplemented by real-time suggestions for your queries. The app’s integration with the popular blogging platform, Tumblr, is a welcome addition, as is the option to instantly share favorite content on Facebook & Twitter. Feedly now displays top news channel recommendations under their respective categories for various supported localized editions. That’s not all; the update also adds a couple of different gestures to close currently open articles. All that, coupled with the usual bug fixes and performance enhancements, accounts for a pretty impressive update. Read More

Total Commander Beta 2 For Android Gets Native Media Player & More

by A. Rehman on September 10, 2012

Android

Total Commander has the distinction of being one of the first root-level dual-pane Android file mangers, and if it’s your primary choice for a file explorer, here’s some good news for you; the developer has just released a fresh beta (v2.0) of the app that can be downloaded from the official TC forums (link provided at the end). The latest beta release brings with it a slew of new and updated options that are surely going to help Total Commander strengthen as a full-fledged and dynamic Android file explorer. Included within the update are several noteworthy features comprising audio/video playing and streaming capabilities via a native media player, a 5-band equalizer with multiple (customizable) audio presets, drag-and-drop gestures for maneuvering files/folders between directories, uninterrupted background operations, option to specify owner and group for file(s), write to restricted ext-SD cards, advanced file modification permissions in the native editor, custom time/date format allocation for files and folders, and a handful of other minor additions to the overall app structure. We take a closer look at all the features in detail past the break. Read More

Battery Doctor Is Arguably The Most Comprehensive Free Android Battery Monitor

by A. Rehman on September 10, 2012

Android

With battery being one of the integral and attention-demanding components of an Android device, it comes as no surprise that there are so many different apps in the Play Store that aim to address various issues related to the juice you can extract out of your device without charging it. While apps like Trend Micro’s Longevity Battery Saver, Cosmos and all the different Android system optimizers help users with getting the maximum life out of their batteries, tools like Battery Compare allow you to benchmark your device’s battery life in comparison with other Android devices. While none of the available options can be deemed as bee’s knees, there are certain apps that actually come very close to being out-and-out awesome and functional. One such app is the recently-released Battery Doctor that not only happens to be aesthetically rich, but is also equipped with some of the sought-after battery enhancement and analytics tools. Battery Doctor is among those few apps that can list out estimated battery timing for more than a dozen different types of activities (media playback, internet usage, gaming and camera etc). Using the app, you can also keep an eye on the total standby time available under current, as well as user-specified profile settings. Plus, it lets you toggle system features to prolong the battery timing substantially, monitor day-to-day battery usage via graphs, check real-time battery consumption stats by individual apps/tasks, get useful & viable battery life enhancement tips, maintain monthly charging records, and feast your eyes with a visually attractive Battery Doctor lockscreen and overall app graphics. Read More

Voice Shortcuts Launcher: Control Your Android via Custom Voice Commands

by A. Rehman on September 07, 2012

Android

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The idea of conducting online searches, indulging in friendly chitchats and accessing system-wide features via voice commands on smartphones is actually quite old, but few would disagree with the fact that it was Apple’s virtual mobile assistant, Siri, that took the concept to a whole new level. Owing to Siri’s exclusivity to iDevices, Android developers tried to follow suit by releasing their own solutions in the form of Dextera's Iris and other similar alternatives. In between, we also got to see the likes of Nuance’s Dragon Go! and plenty of other apps that focused on presenting users with a specific facet of voice recognition in a much refined form. Then, Android 4.1 Jelly Bean rolled out, bringing with it a much enhanced, intelligent and user-friendly search feature, aptly supplemented by a variety of Google Now Smart Cards. As much as each of the aforementioned names is assistive and purposeful in its own respect, they all have their own specific restrictions; the most common of all being the reliance on a specific set of voice commands and query formats. Moreover, Google Now, the most comprehensive tool of the aforementioned ones, currently doesn’t support launching apps or accessing system features, which somewhat diminishes its overall usability as a full-fledged voice-enabled assistant. Enter Voice Shortcuts Launcher by Project Trinity that lets you access virtually anything on your Android using whatever voice commands you prefer. Read More

uTorrent Beta For Android Released; Provides On-The-Move Downloading

by A. Rehman on September 06, 2012

Android

If you think that you’ve had enough of all the various unreliable torrent downloaders and remote torrent clients for Android, and are looking to enjoy a full-fledged torrent downloading experience on your Android device, then here’s some great news for you; a promising looking beta of the famous torrent client, uTorrent, has just hit the Google Play Store, which brings almost the complete set of capabilities that you’ve so far been able to enjoy on your desktop. Besides catering to your torrent downloading and management needs on Android, this Holo-themed app supports several other handy options, including user-specified torrent download/upload speed limit allocation, BitTorrent featured content & RSS subscriptions, simultaneous downloads, support for local torrent files, downloading over W-Fi only, auto-start on boot, search across the web for required torrents, instant previewing of downloaded content, custom download folder allocation, notification bar alerts for download tasks, and lots more. Read More

Calistic For Android Generates Multiple Graphs & Charts For Call Stats

by A. Rehman on September 05, 2012

Android

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If you’re not overly amused by the rather simple-looking call logger of your Android, and are looking for a feature-packed alternative, then you should consider trying Calistic! Fresh to the Play Store, Calistic is a neatly-designed call analytics app for Android that keeps a close tab on your phone calls to present you with breakdown of all the logged content via various graphical illustrations. Be it the learning about your most frequently called numbers, total number of calls made/received during a specific time period, breakdown of the duration of these calls, a timeline of calls made to your top 10 contacts, or the analysis of call history by individual contacts, Calistic lets you check them all from under the same roof, and via visually appealing graphs/charts. The app has the capacity to automatically detect all calls made after a specific analysis instance, and hence refreshes its statistical content accordingly. In addition, Calistic also has a touch of social media integration, which means that you can use the app to share your call history with a specific contact to your Facebook Wall. It is free from any sort of configurations whatsoever, and can present you with updated analysis, facts and figures regarding your call logs upon request. Read More

Norton Spot Ad Detector Scans For Annoying, Spammy Adware In Android Apps

by A. Rehman on September 04, 2012

Android

Mobile ads are a very vital source of revenue for app developers, and while most users seem to be fine with the idea, there are certain apps that, besides sporting the usual in-app ads, test users' patience with additional adware that appears in different, mostly inconvenient locations. Examples of such adware are ad-supported widgets, fake app shortcuts, notifications bar/panel ads and pop-up ads etc. Not only are these ads a source of irritation and distraction, but can also prove to be an easy means for hackers and untrusted advertising networks to access sensitive information on your Android device. Luckily for Android users, various renowned security giants have been releasing their respective mobile adware detecting tools in the market at frequent intervals, and the latest to join said list is Norton. Currently in beta, Norton Spot is a simple yet pretty effective mobile ad detector and reporting tool that has the capacity to scan your Android device for vulnerable apps, sort all potentially harmful apps by their respective annoyance level, ad network type & relevant permissions, and present you with the option to take appropriate action against the most susceptible apps. Read More

Battery Compare Lets You Benchmark Your Android Device’s Battery Life Relative To Others

by A. Rehman on September 03, 2012

Android

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Limited, poor or fast-fading battery timing is one of the most widely debated issues among smartphone users, and Android is no exception in this regard. In fact, the level of fragmentation in the Android world, the variety of custom ROMs, and the depth of tweaking that Google’s mobile OS allows may result in varying battery timings for two Android users owing exactly the same device. Atop all that, one has to take into consideration the varying mileage that you might be getting from your device’s battery as a result of your normal usage and preferred settings, which are seldom the same for any two users. There is no simple means to obtain detailed battery comparison results, statistics and analysis reports to see how your device fares as compared to other similar devices, or there hasn't been one, until now. Fresh to the Google Play Store, Battery Compare is a free Android battery benchmarking tool that presents you with various filters and settings that you can apply to analyze your device’s battery performance in detail. Using the app, you can have your battery’s drainage recorded for a user-specified time, and then submit it to its servers to obtain detailed results based on comparison with reports submitted by other users from around the world. Read More

Koush’s TabletSMS Lets You Send & Receive Text Messages On An Android Tablet

by A. Rehman on September 03, 2012

Android

Koushik Dutta (or simply, Koush), the developer behind the popular ClockworkMod custom Android recovery, also known for the handy SMS forwarding solution DeskSMS, has made another commendable addition to the Play Store similar to the latter. Released last year, DeskSMS lets Android users tie their Google account with their mobile number, allowing them to respond to their SMS messages right from the Gmail web interface and/or the official Gtalk desktop client without having to rely on their devices. The developer's newest endeavor, TabletSMS, is effectively an extension of the DeskSMS app that lets you send and receive all your text messages (SMS and MMS) right from your Android tablet. Apart from adding texting capabilities on tablets, the app supports receiving text messages from various third-party IM clients, including Beejive and Trillian etc, and is capable of pushing incoming SMS directly to your Gmail client, Google Talk, as well as the DeskSMS extension for Google Chrome. Setting up TabletSMS is as simple as it can possibly get, since all you need to have is the DeskSMS app to be configured on your Android smartphone, and TabletSMS to be associated with the same email address you used to register DeskSMS. Read More

1Tap Eraser Provides Customizable, Scheduled System Cleaning On Android

by A. Rehman on September 01, 2012

Android

Root Uninstaller, the the team behind many popular Android system tools, have just pushed a new app to the Google Play Store. Titled 1Tap Eraser, the app happens to be a very handy junk cleaner that helps you get rid of your Android device's cached and private content in multiple ways, including a fully customizable scheduled system cleaner. Be it the overall apps’ cache, your call logs, SMS/MMS history, stock browser & Google Apps’ cache or your search history from Google Search and YouTube etc, this app lets you clear it all from under the same roof, with just a tap. Better yet, with the minimalistic 1Tap Eraser homescreen widget, you don’t even have to bear the hassle of launching the app itself in order to perform a cleanup operation. In addition, the app supports creating various exceptions for including, as well as excluding select content or contacts to/from its cleaning mechanism so that you can retain your important content whilst getting rid of all junk material. For browser cache, the app lets you pick specific URLs or entire domains. You can use multiple filters to add exceptions for adding or removing your personal mobile data (call logs and message history) to or from the app’s white and black list. Read More

Popcorn Player: Free Holo-Themed Floating Video Player For Android

by A. Rehman on August 31, 2012

Android

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With the conception of the very first floating Android app, one thing was for sure: the idea is bound to become an instant hit among users. As expected, ever since then, Google Play Store has regularly been bombarded with numerous apps based on the concept of popup/floating/resizable window(s). In terms of free and most feature-rich video playing & streaming apps belonging to said genre, Super Video Floating & Popup and MoboPlayer by Mobo Team are the two that deserve a mention. If you’re still undecided over selection between both said candidates, we’re going to make the task even more difficult for you, as a new ‘player’ has just appeared on the horizon; it’s called Popcorn Player, and has simplicity and intuitiveness written all over it. Like both aforementioned apps, Popcorn Player supports playing and streaming high quality videos through an omnipresent resizable, movable and floating window, as well as in full-screen mode. Designed to run specifically on Honeycomb or higher Android devices, this Holo-themed app lets you simultaneously enjoy a couple of different videos, whether local or those fetched directly from YouTube. It supports playing/streaming videos in MP4 and WebM formats, lets you minimize player window to easily navigate to your required app/homescreen, keeps track of the last played position of each video, and on top of all that, doesn’t annoy you with on-screen ads. Read More

SwatchMatic: Capture & Identify Colors via Your Android’s Camera

by A. Rehman on August 30, 2012

Android

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If you’ve ever had a chance to work with colors, you’ll be very well aware of the fact that finding the exact combination is not an easy task. There are plenty of different color shades scattered all around us, but precisely identifying and differentiating among most of them requires an expert eye. While designing your new website, application, game, artistic masterpiece, apparel or any graphics project, you might have the exact required color right before your eyes, but due to the lack of adequate knowledge or a proper color identification tools, you won’t be able to learn about the exact shade that you’re looking forward to use. What can you do at best in such situations? Look for and then sift through multiple pages of some color catalogue? Verbally try explaining to the shopkeeper or the graphics designer about the exact color that you’re looking for? Or, maybe, snap the object through your mobile’s camera and then try to solve the dilemma with the aid of some color picker tool. Well, if you own an Android device, all you need is SwatchMatic to be installed on it. This free app has the capacity to instantly identify virtually any color that comes within the sights of the viewfinder of your device’s camera. The core purpose of the app is to help you with finding instant information about required colors around you, look for matching/contrasting shades, analyze their HSV, RGB & web values, create new color palettes using custom combinations, and share the color-filled pallets to your friends with a tap. Read More

Official Android App For Online Password Vault Dashlane Now Available

by A. Rehman on August 29, 2012

Android

Dashlane has the distinction of being one of the most widely used and trusted cross-platform online password vaults for Windows, Mac, Android and iOS-powered devices. Once installed on your computer, the app has the capacity to fetch login information from your various web browsers, store them all under one roof using a fool-proof AES-256 bit encryption, and keep all the accounts in sync with your other (computer and mobile) devices, allowing you to auto-fill online forms and switch between multiple accounts without going through the tedious chores of hectic signups. While our detailed review of the official Windows and Mac variant of Dashlane should be enough to list out the desktop app’s salient offerings, we’ll keep our focus intact on the recently-released Android variant that aims to help you with carrying your personal security vault with you on-the-go. A feature-packed iOS variant of Dashlane has been around in the iTunes App Store for quite some time now, and going by the comprehensiveness of that particular app, the Android equivalent happens to be a far cry. Why? We shall explore past the break. Read More

Official Microsoft SkyDrive Android Client Released In Play Store

by A. Rehman on August 29, 2012

Android

It’s been almost nine long months now since Microsoft released the official SkyDrive mobile client for Windows Phone 7 and iOS-powered devices, whereas Android users had to wait in anticipation. However, it all changes today, as the guys over at Redmond have finally landed the official Android client of their cloud storage service on the Google Play Store. Packed with almost the same set of goodies as its iOS and WP7 counterparts, the app lets you access your world of SkyDrive storage right from your Android device. Be it the content that you’ve pushed to your personal cloud space, files shared by your colleagues, or your recently used documents, you can access and manage them all via the app. In addition, it supports batch uploading of photos & videos, and lets you share required content with your mates on-the-go. Sporting a gorgeous blend of Android’s Holo and Windows’ Metro Modern UI, the official SkyDrive Android app also lets you download content from cloud to your Android, stream music & videos, preview common file formats via thumbnails (both online & offline), view images in full-screen, switch between multiple browsing modes, create new folders and upload any required file format from your device to cloud on the move. Read More