Control Center For Android Brings The iOS 7 Beta Experience

In the long line of Android apps hoping to capture some of the iOS experience ahead of the official iOS 7 release, comes Control Center. Control Center is deeply inspired by the latest iOS 7 beta and aims to get the experience to all Android devices well ahead of the day that iOS 7 is finally released. Control Center is a way to quickly access your device’s settings and utility apps with a series of toggle switches and slider bars. The toggles now appear as full, larger icons which makes pressing them easier as well as more visually appealing. All of the standard settings options are there including WiFi, rotation lock, volume, etc. Brightness and volume come with useful sliders for fine control. Some core apps can also be accessed with attractive icons in the lower part of the control center panel. These include handy apps like flashlight, calculator, and camera that you might find yourself going to so frequently that it’s much more convenient to have them all in one place.

When you install Control Center, it becomes a special menu on the device screen that can be accessed at any time. You simply tap the defined area on the bottom to bring the panel up. There are a great variety of customization options and you can control whether the menu sits on the bottom, bottom right, or bottom left. You can even control the size of the touchable area to activate Control Center. There is an option to disable or enable vibrate on touch for the icons as well.

Control Center looks fantastic and is much better than many clunky settings menus that dominate mobile devices. While it may be inspired by iOS 7, it does a great job in its own right. Control Center is available now on Google Play for free.

[Image Credit: Google Play Store]

WORDWAVE : A Predictive Keyboard for Android

WORDWAVE is a new entry in the arena of predictive keyboards for Android. While Android comes with Google Keyboard and its own predictive abilities, users may be looking for a little something extra. WORDWAVE has a bunch of little improvements that cater more toward the individual user and their habits. The app studies provided data, learns from your typing over time, and can adjust how aggressive it is in correcting or predicting. There are options to ‘learn’ from Google And Facebook if you choose to allow WORDWAVE access to the data. It will then be able to scan your data from these services and better predict the types of words you use for higher accuracy. There is a slider setting where you can set the typing style from fast (corrective) to precise (predictive). If you love to keep your thumbs moving at lightning speed but are prone to errors, WORDWAVE will keep watch and try to correct your mistakes. On the other hand if you’re more cautious, WORDWAVE will emphasize its predictive powers to offer up accurate suggestions to save you typing time.

The keyboard itself is very similar to Google Keyboard and suggestions appear above the keys. The backspace button is placed in the bottom left which is very disconcerting and there should at least be an option to place it back in the top right. WORDWAVE comes with a great variety of settings to control the typing experience from volume and vibrate on touch to the color and font of the keyboard. The typing experience is also enhanced by some extra shortcut swipe gesture for capitalizing letters, deleting the last word typed, etc. that can speed up typing once you get used to them. WORDWAVE is also reportedly going to update the keyboard with Swype style functionality for even faster input.

As a fun incentive to improve your typing, WORDWAVE keeps track of your overall accuracy as well as its own performance in correcting or predicting the right word. You can even turn it into a kind of game to see how well you type or improve over time. WORDWAVE is free for now on Google Play, give it a try.

[Image Credit: Google Play Store]

Difference Between Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4 Minis

The Samsung Galaxy S3, when it debuted in 2012, aroused overwhelming interest in a very significant number of consumers. It is no wonder that this Smartphone by the Korean company Samsung Electronics greeted the end of that year as the bestselling Smartphone of 2012. Many people, not only in the United States but also worldwide, were enamored of its features and high-end specifications.

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This year, the Smartphone giant has released its newest flagship handset, the Samsung Galaxy S4. While still months into its life span, the Galaxy S4 has already captured the minds of many consumers, presaging a repeat of the success of its predecessor.

People liked the device for a number of reasons, not necessarily mutually exclusive of each other. For instance, there are consumers who would prefer the open ecosystem of an Android device over the closed system of the iPhone, yet also want the computing power offered by the latter. Others, especially businessmen, preferred this Smartphone as a conduit of the features they subscribe from phone service providers, among others.

Miniature versions of these astounding devices

While there is much to be said about the usefulness of the Samsung Galaxy S3 and S4, the problem remains that they still come at a very stiff price, especially for cash-strapped small and mid-sized businesses. Thus, these types of enterprises are thwarted from their desire to acquire these Smartphones.

Samsung recognizes this situation, in order to make these Smartphones, or at least a likeness of them, accessible to a wider number of consumers. For this reason, the company has chosen to release miniature version of its flagship Smartphones, the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini and the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

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What are the differences between the two?

Easily, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is the more powerful device between the two, being the most recently released device. But what are the specific dissimilarities between the two? Read on below to find out.

  • The S3 Mini and the S4 Mini are essentially similar when it comes to design—they are effectively the smaller versions of the original devices. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini is the smaller, taller and thinner device, with a dimension of 61 x 125 x 8.9mm as opposed to the S3 Mini’s 63 x 122 x 10.2mm. It is also way lighter, weighing only 108g. The Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini weighs 113g.
  • Strictly speaking, these handsets are by no means small. They both sport larger than 4” screens. The Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini has a larger 4.3” screen that packs a 960 x 540p resolution, which translates into 256ppi pixel density. The Galaxy S3 Mini, on the other hand, has a 4” panel that has a resolution of 800 x 480p and a pixel density of 233ppi.
  • When it comes to performance, the Galaxy S4 Mini is fitted with a 1.7GHz Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 dual-core chipset coupled with 1.5GB of RAM. Meanwhile, the Galaxy S3 Mini boasts of a lower-spec 1GHz dual-core processor couple with 1GB of RAM.
  • The Galaxy S4 Mini comes with the more up-to-date 4.2.2 Jelly Bean operating system while the Galaxy S3 Mini runs on the 4.1 version. Both uses Samsung’s own TouchWiz user interface.
  • In terms of battery performance, the Galaxy S3 Mini sports a 1500mAh removable battery while the galaxy S4 Mini boasts of a 1900mAh battery, also removable.

Which of the two should you buy?

In almost all areas and specifications, the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini wins over the Samsung Galaxy S3 Mini. If you want a device that performs excellently even though at a deeply slashed price, then you should choose the Samsung Galaxy S4 Mini.

Author Bio :

Mark is a freelance writer who is deeply interested in business and technology. He likes to follow all the latest developments in these fields. In his spare time, he involves himself in getting the word out about the RingCentral phone service. You can add him on Google+.

Floating Touch For Android Now Available On Google Play

Floating Touch is a combination app organizer and settings menu on steroids. It works more like a utility than a separate app and is essentially a way to extend your menu options. When you start Floating Touch, a small circle icon is displayed on the screen. When this circle is tapped, a wheel is shown with eight fully customizable switches. The circle can be dragged anywhere on the screen or hidden until you want it displayed again. The advantage of having it always visible is that it can be accessed at any time, even while running other apps. The downside is sometimes the dot can be distracting or take away from the appearance of whatever app you’re using.

The switches in the wheel can be used to get to your most commonly used Android system settings like Brightness, Wifi, Volume, etc. or you can launch a specific app. It is all fully customizable and within the Floating Touch menu, you can change the position and switch for every panel on the wheel. If you want to create a series of folders for many different switches, you’ll need to pay a small fee. You’ll also need root access if you want to add Home or Back switches to your wheel.

Another nice touch is the option to personalize the wheel and icon with your favorite designs or colors. The default is grey but you can choose from a few provided designs or even import one of your own to use for the small floating icon. The colors of the wheel can also be changed at will.

Floating Touch is available now on Google Play for free. If you find yourself having to go back and forth between apps and settings or you have many frequently accessed menu items, this could be a great help.

Source: Floating Touch For Android

[Image Credit: Google Play Store]

jbOS7 An iOS7 Inspired Theme For Android

With all the buzz around Apple’s upcoming iOS7 update, it’s no wonder that many Android users are curious as to what all the commotion is about. The recent release of iOS7 beta to certain users has given plenty of information about the look and feel of the new iOS and some intrepid Android developers have brought the experience to Android devices. The name jbOS7 stands for Jelly Bean OS 7, a play on the name of the current Android distribution and the upcoming iOS update.

To use jbOS7, you’ll need a launcher for the skin to work with. If you’ve got a working one, jbOS7 is a simple download and install from a provided link at Dropbox. Once the theme has been applied, you’re ready to play around with the finest faux iOS7 skin for Android around. The developers have definitely done their homework in emulating the exact look of iOS7’s color scheme and icon styling. If you like experimenting with a bunch of different themes, jbOS7 is definitely worth a try. To be honest, it looks like it borrows a lot from the look of Windows 8 in terms of the minimalism and font usage. The skin is full of bright, airy colors that make the whole thing feel lighter and sunnier.

Some people might debate how necessary it is to bring the atmosphere of Android’s arch nemesis to an Android device. Others just want to experience the whole gamut of styling options. Either way, you have the choice with jbOS7 to bring the look of iOS7 to your device a few months before it is officially released. Like many modern interface designs, it looks clean, bright, and free of unwanted clutter.

You can download jbOS7 from here.

Top 5 Network Switches for 2013

What are some of the best network switches for 2013? When comparing network switches, it’s worth thinking about how many ports they can handle, as well as the amount of layers they can provide for a network. The best network switches will also offer integration with fibre optics and admin services that can allow you to manage large scale LANs. The best switches at the moment still come from leading brands like Netgear and Cisco, with Cisco switches being particularly impressive in 2013. Some of the best switches include:

1 – Netgear GSM7328S

This premium switch can handle 24 ports, and operates at Layer 3 as a managed device. The extra capacity that the switch offers makes it one of the best available for gigabit switching, with 10 Gbps slots available. The GSM7328S is also recommended as a low latency switch capable of handling large amounts of traffic, as well as connections to fibre optic cabling. A power module is also available for backing up data onto an RPS if a mains power supply goes down.

2 – ASUS Ethernet Switch GX-D1051

A budget switch from ASUS, the GX-D1051 has a Gigabit capacity, and can be ideal for small businesses and homes that don’t require comprehensive switching; this switch has five ports, an extended warranty, and Jumbo Frame support. Compact enough to be discreetly used in the home or an office, the Gbps speeds that this switch can handle puts it above most other Ethernet devices in its category.

3 – Cisco Catalyst 2960S-24TS-L Switch

Of the many Cisco switches currently available, the 2960S-24TS-L is recommended if you want to manage a large scale network; it has 24 ports, and 4 dual purpose SFP GigE ports, as well as a LAN base. The enhanced switching services that Cisco offer can be combined with IP communications, and can be set up to handle multiple levels of traffic, while also being stackable with other switches if you need to build up a server room system.

4 – Netgear GS605

Another good option for a home switch, the Netgerar GS605 can handle 5 ports, and can push into a capacity of 1000 Mbps. In this way, the GS605 is a worthwhile investment if you’re regularly transferring large files, or if you’re playing online games. One of the best for detecting when a network is overloading, this switch is also useful for small businesses that only require a desktop switch for handling traffic.

5 – Cisco SF102-24-UK

If you’re looking for a solid switch for your business, then the 100 Series from Cisco remains one of the best options you can take in 2013. This plug and play switch is part of Cisco’s Small Business Range, and as an unmanaged switch it can be used to deliver efficient, low power networking. You can also upgrade the SF102-24-UK if you need to, while also combining a small switch for your LAN with larger managed switches if you decide to expand your IT infrastructure.

Author Bio :

Rosette is a blogger with a special interest in network solutions and business IT. She’s been particularly impressed by the performance of cisco switches over the past few years.