Recently Google added advanced voice search to the Chrome browser. Google's advance voice search feature was previously only available for Android and iOS but is now available on Mac and Windows. The feature is similar to Apple's Siri but works on your computer as well as mobile devices. To access the feature navigate to Google using the Chrome browser and press the microphone icon to the right of the search bar. Then you can search by voice and Google will speak back select results. I have found the voice recognition to be very fast and accurate. One of the most notable features for struggling spellers is that you can ask how to spell a word and then Google will speak back the correct spelling. Google will also provide spoken responses for many other queries as well. Watch the above video to learn more.
Android 4.2 Jelly Bean did not bring any new major feature, but it did bring some usability enhancements like a gesture typing keyboard and lock screen widgets. The current implementation of lock screen widgets in Android 4.2 is pretty poor, though, with the restriction of only one widget and no permanent maximised mode.
However, the ability to keep multiple lock screens with a widget should be a decent workaround for the majority of people out there.
Lock screen widgets will provide access to all your important updates or notifications from your favorite apps or services in just a single glance, without requiring you to unlock your phone every single time. They are especially handy if you use a pattern or numeric lock on your smartphone, since you can view all your important notifications without the need to unlock your phone.
Here are our favorite lock screen widgets for Android.
DashClock is an alternative lock screen widget from one of Google’s own developers, Roman Nurik. DashClock, via extensions, allows you to have multiple widgets on a single lock screen. With the help of third-party extensions, you can have all your important information and notifications via DashClock at a glance on your lock screen including your missed calls, SMSs, emails, alarm, battery status, short cuts to your frequently used apps and much more.
In fact, DashClock makes Google’s own lock screen implementation look terribly limited. There is no death of third-party extensions for DashClock as well, with every major app already having released a DashClock extension. If you hated the lock screen implementation in Android 4.2, chances are DashClock will fix it.
The Play Store is filled with thousands of weather widgets and apps. Most of them look beautiful in their own right, and do their job of adding the wow effect to your home screen. After all — let’s accept it — how many people actually use a weather widget to actually know the current weather?
HD Widgets/Beautiful Widgets are among the most popular weather apps available on the Play Store, and both feature a lock screen widget that shows the full weather detail when maximised, and only the current weather when minimized. If you are looking to just add a wow factor to your lock screen, you cannot go wrong with either of them.
If you are among the minority that still use their smartphone for its primary purpose i.e. to make calls, Simple Dialer Widget is for you. The widget basically places a dialer right on your lock screen, so you can directly dial a number without needing to unlock your phone every single time. The widget also allows access to your call log and contact list to make your life easier.
The CyanogenMod team includes a very hand cLock lock screenwidget with CyanogenMod 10.1. The widget provides you with weather updates, and also displays your calendar entries right on the lock screen, making it perfect for people who like simplicity.
You can manually install the cLock widget on your Android 4.2+ device by downloading the APK from here.
After Weather apps, the Play Store is filled with a plethora of To-Do apps. While most of them are of high quality, two apps which standout from the rest are Tasks and Any.Do. The former has a very simple Holo based theme, while the latter has a gorgeous UI that is inspired from Metro. However, both the apps share one common objective of allowing the user to focus solely on his pending tasks, and not spend time on organising them in various folders or categories.
Both the apps are among the most popular To-Do apps in the Android community, and feature a very useful lock screen widget that solely focuses on displaying all your pending tasks and nothing else.
Android Pro Widgets is a collection of multiple, Sense UI inspired, widgets. It contains multiple widgets for different purposes including a widget for Bookmarks, Facebook, Twitter, Messaging, and Calendar. If you are looking for a beautiful Twitter or Facebook widget or a widget for quick access to your bookmarks from your lock screen, Android Pro widgets will definitely get the job done.
The paid version of Android Pro Widgets also includes a Google Reader widget, which should help in satisfying your news hunger right from your lock screen.
One of the key advantages to Android’s openness is the ability to customise the look of the OS to your liking. With third party launchers, widgets and themes, you can give your Android device a beautiful new look with just a few taps. No wonder third party launchers like Nova, Apex, and GoLauncher are among the most popular apps on the Play Store.
These launchers also support icon packs, allowing that extra level of customization. If you’re bored with the stock icons of your Android device, you can use icon packs to give your device a brand new look within minutes. Considering that there is no shortage of beautiful icon packs in the Play Store, we’ve chosen ten of the best to get you started.
If you are not a fan of flashy icons, and are looking for something simple then the SMPL White icons might just be perfect for you. The icons are etched on a white background, and have a transparent look. The icon pack consists of more than 1200 icons, with over 4500 icons themed. It also contains a theme for Go Launcher users.
If you are not particularly fond of white, the developer also has icon packs available in different colors and shapes (square or round).
Love the Sense 5 icons or trying to achieve the Sense look on your Android device? Sense 5 icons consists of more than 100+ icons that are inspired from the stock Sense 5 icons on the HTC One. The developer has also included a couple of Sense 5 wallpapers to help you achieve the Sense look on your Android device.
MeeUI icon pack consists of more than 200 icons that are inspired from the MeeGo UI as last seen on the Nokia N9. For Apex launcher users, the icon pack also contains the beautiful Nokia font.
The developer also has a paid version of the icon pack available that contains higher quality HD icons.
MIUI is a very popular custom ROM based on the Android source code, but looks similar to iOS. UI wise, it can be argued that MIUI looks much more polished than even stock Android. If you are looking for a MIUI inspired home screen, MIUI 5 icon pack from tung91 is exactly what you need.
The icon pack consists of more than 300+ icons, all inspired from icons from the MIUI ROM.
Tersus contains more than 900 custom icons with full HD resolution for extra clarity even on extremely high resolution devices like the Nexus 10. The icons are squarish in nature, and while they don’t look like stock icons, they still have the essence of the stock icons. This allows you to recognise your apps instantly from their icons. The icon pack works across a range of launchers including Nova, ADW, Apex, Action Launcher and Holo launcher.
The developer has also bundled some wallpapers that should go along very well with the icon pack.
While I am not particularly fond of them, DcikonZ is among the most popular icon pack available on the Play Store. The icon pack is among the largest on the Play Store with over more than 2000 HD icons and growing. Unlike some other icon packs in this article, DcikonZ does not keep the essence of the stock icons. Instead, all the icons look very much different from the stock icons of their respective app.
Considering the price of the theme (free) and the wide variety of launcher it supports, DcikonZ is a must have.
It can be argued that some of the icons in the Stark icon pack look very familiar to Minimal UI icons, but then there is a limit to how much icons of the same shape (square) can differ in their looks, while not deviating too much from the stock look.
Even then, Stark includes some beautiful icons that make it worth a buy.
Looking for an icon pack in which the icons are smaller than stock? Tiny White icon pack is what you need then. The icon pack consists of more than 1000 icons; each made in white, and are much smaller than the default icon size generally used in Android devices.
Holo Icons follow the Android design guideline to deliver a “simple, flat and unobtrusive design that can be seen throughout the UI”. The icon pack consists of more than 350 icons, and has been made only for XHDPI (Nexus 4 and other 720p) devices, so they might not look that sharp on the HTC One and other Android devices with 1080p resolution screen.
Minimal UI is hand down the most popular, and stunning icon pack available on the Play Store. The icon pack was earlier known as Minimal MIUI, but was removed from the Play Store due to some copyright issues with the name.
Minimal UI packs more than 600+ icons, with a resolution of 96*96 each, so they all look super sharp even on the Galaxy S4, HTC One or the Nexus 4. If there is one icon pack you must have on your Android device, Minimal UI is the one.
So, which icon pack do you prefer? Did I miss a must have icon pack in this list? Drop in a comment and let us know!
Here’s the complete details Micromax Canvas 4. Micromax Canvas 4 price in India and its features, specs are given below:
Micromax Canvas’s newest version, Micromax Canvas 4 dubbed as “Micromax A120 Canvas HD Pro”, the concept smartphone has been announced by the company and it is going to hit the retail stores pretty soon. In this article we will provide you a brief-up of the lineament of this much-hyped concept smartphone from Micromax.
You can also check the latest Micromax mobile phones price in India 2013 here.
Micromax Canvas 4 Features
Micromax Canvas 4 is a 5.5 incher phone with touchscreen (16M colours)
This smartphone, along with 2 GB of RAM, is powered with 2 GHz Quad-core Cortex A7 processor.
Micromax Canvas 4 boasts off 13 megapixel rear side camera with autofocus (touch to focus), complemented by other features such as 3.2 MP front facing camera.
This smartphone packs along the latest OS instalment of Android 4.1.2 Jelly Bean till date, which adds tons of new functionalities to the already-wonderful gadget.
Videography: High Definition Video Recording with 1080p at 30 fps.
Rear camera: 13 megapixels, touch-to-focus function (autofocus), face & smile detection with dual-LED Flash. Also includes Geo-Tagging & Image stabilization.
Other features: MP3/ WAV/ eAAC+ player, MP4/ WMV/ H.264/ H.263 player, Organizer, Document viewer, Image/ video editor, Google Search, Maps, Gmail, Voice memo/ dial/ commands, YouTube, Calendar, Picasa, Google Talk, Predictive text input, Tethering, Computer sync, OTA sync.
Micromax Canvas 4 Final Review
This Android based smartphone has a smooth and beautiful design with wider and thinner than its predecessors. With its screen and such exciting features, you’re not only buying a phone but also a fully capable pocket-tablet merged in a single hardware. A highly recommended android beast for those who just can’t get enough of whatever they already possess.
Micromax Canvas 4 Release Date
Micromax Canvas 4, dubbed as “Micromax A120 Canvas HD Pro”, is likely to get released on 30 June, 2013 in India. However, its prebooking will be starting from 30th June, 2013.
Micromax Canvas 4 Price in India
Official Price of Micromax Canvas 4, dubbed as “Micromax A120 Canvas HD Pro”, for India is not yet announced by the company. However it may cost you around ₹20000, which is a good buy, considering the best-in-line hardware specs it comes with.
The iPad is dead, long live the iPad... although only an incremental upgrade, the new iPad 4 has been released to usurp this model. However, at only £359 the iPad 3 is still on sale and still offers a strong experience with the latest version of Apple's operating system, iOS 6. However, the iPad 3 is a device that from the outside looks remarkably like the iPad 2 but with an overhaul on the innards. The question most people ask us when it comes to the third iteration is: what's different from the old one? Well, in this case it's pretty easy: there's a Retina Display that makes everything looks superbly crisp, an updated A5X processor bringing quad-core graphics and a 5MP camera on the rear with a VGA sensor on the front.
Oh, and the iPad 3 was also the device that brings iOS 5.1 to the masses (well, it's also on the likes of the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 as well, but hey, we're not reviewing those today.) The design of the iPad 3 isn't really anything different from the original duo from Apple's tablet range. Actually, while we're thinking about it, it looks almost identical to the iPad 2 – to the point you'd struggle to tell them apart when turned off.
TechRadar rating
4/5
For
Superb screen
Slick gaming
Simple interface
Against
Can overheat
Apps take up too much space
No expandable storage
Thicker than iPad 2
iPad 3 review
Sharper screen, faster innards - but is it worth the update?
The iPad is dead, long live the iPad... although only an incremental upgrade, the new iPad 4 has been released to usurp this model. However, at only £359 the iPad 3 is still on sale and still offers a strong experience with the latest version of Apple's operating system, iOS 6. However, the iPad 3 is a device that from the outside looks remarkably like the iPad 2 but with an overhaul on the innards. The question most people ask us when it comes to the third iteration is: what's different from the old one? Well, in this case it's pretty easy: there's a Retina Display that makes everything looks superbly crisp, an updated A5X processor bringing quad-core graphics and a 5MP camera on the rear with a VGA sensor on the front.
Oh, and the iPad 3 was also the device that brings iOS 5.1 to the masses (well, it's also on the likes of the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 as well, but hey, we're not reviewing those today.) The design of the iPad 3 isn't really anything different from the original duo from Apple's tablet range. Actually, while we're thinking about it, it looks almost identical to the iPad 2 – to the point you'd struggle to tell them apart when turned off. However, in the hand, there's a little bit of a difference, especially when it comes to the weight. The new iPad is nearly 60g heavier than the previous iteration, and while it's not terrible, it does add a little arm strain during a marathon movie session.
Retina Display
Before we get onto all the normal insight over the frame of the new iPad, it's worth talking about the main feature: the Retina Display. Apple has packed a huge amount more pixels into the 9.7-inch screen - 1536 x 2048 to be exact. However, despite the fact that the Cupertino brand makes a big thing about the 330 PPI density of the iPhone 4, we're looking at a screen that's technically a lot less sharp than its smartphone brethren - around 264PPI. Apple has got around this fact by stating that the screen is meant to be held at 15 inches from the face, rather than the 10 inches the iPhone is supposed to from your eyes, and as such the sharpness is the same. Given the fact the term 'Retina Display' really isn't a legally binding term, we don't care. What matters is the effect - and it's one of the most impressive we've seen on a tablet to date. If someone took an iPad, printed out a really hi-res image of an iOS system and stuck it on the front, we'd struggle to tell the difference - it's superb, and even squinting up close you'll be hard pushed to notice any pixelation. The colour reproduction will also appeal to many, as it's pretty close to reality - it lacks the punch of the Super AMOLED HD screens seen on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note for instance, but it will depend on personal preference as to whether that's a good thing. We like the vivid colours of Samsung's screens, but we know plenty of people that loathe them too. The main thing is things like internet browsing; photo viewing and movie sessions are all much, much improved over the iPad 2, and is one of the main reasons to pick up the iPad 3. Check out how the iPad 3 display got on when it went head-to-head with the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity in our video below.
For
Superb screen
Slick gaming
Simple interface
Against
Can overheat
Apps take up too much space
No expandable storage
Thicker than iPad 2
iPad 3 review
Sharper screen, faster innards - but is it worth the update?
The iPad is dead, long live the iPad... although only an incremental upgrade, the new iPad 4 has been released to usurp this model. However, at only £359 the iPad 3 is still on sale and still offers a strong experience with the latest version of Apple's operating system, iOS 6. However, the iPad 3 is a device that from the outside looks remarkably like the iPad 2 but with an overhaul on the innards. The question most people ask us when it comes to the third iteration is: what's different from the old one? Well, in this case it's pretty easy: there's a Retina Display that makes everything looks superbly crisp, an updated A5X processor bringing quad-core graphics and a 5MP camera on the rear with a VGA sensor on the front.
Oh, and the iPad 3 was also the device that brings iOS 5.1 to the masses (well, it's also on the likes of the iPhone 4S and iPad 2 as well, but hey, we're not reviewing those today.) The design of the iPad 3 isn't really anything different from the original duo from Apple's tablet range. Actually, while we're thinking about it, it looks almost identical to the iPad 2 – to the point you'd struggle to tell them apart when turned off. However, in the hand, there's a little bit of a difference, especially when it comes to the weight. The new iPad is nearly 60g heavier than the previous iteration, and while it's not terrible, it does add a little arm strain during a marathon movie session.
Retina Display
Before we get onto all the normal insight over the frame of the new iPad, it's worth talking about the main feature: the Retina Display. Apple has packed a huge amount more pixels into the 9.7-inch screen - 1536 x 2048 to be exact. However, despite the fact that the Cupertino brand makes a big thing about the 330 PPI density of the iPhone 4, we're looking at a screen that's technically a lot less sharp than its smartphone brethren - around 264PPI. Apple has got around this fact by stating that the screen is meant to be held at 15 inches from the face, rather than the 10 inches the iPhone is supposed to from your eyes, and as such the sharpness is the same. Given the fact the term 'Retina Display' really isn't a legally binding term, we don't care. What matters is the effect - and it's one of the most impressive we've seen on a tablet to date. If someone took an iPad, printed out a really hi-res image of an iOS system and stuck it on the front, we'd struggle to tell the difference - it's superb, and even squinting up close you'll be hard pushed to notice any pixelation. The colour reproduction will also appeal to many, as it's pretty close to reality - it lacks the punch of the Super AMOLED HD screens seen on the likes of the Samsung Galaxy Note for instance, but it will depend on personal preference as to whether that's a good thing. We like the vivid colours of Samsung's screens, but we know plenty of people that loathe them too. The main thing is things like internet browsing; photo viewing and movie sessions are all much, much improved over the iPad 2, and is one of the main reasons to pick up the iPad 3. Check out how the iPad 3 display got on when it went head-to-head with the Asus Transformer Pad Infinity in our video below.
Design
The iPad 3, as we said, is only marginally thicker and a little heavier than the iPad 2, and if you pick it up with no knowledge of the former, you'll likely be mighty impressed. The rest of the design is premium too - given you can be paying a fair whack for a top end model, it needs to seem like a worthwhile investment, and it does. The curved edges, the oleophobic scratch-proof glass and the aluminium chassis are all the kind of thing that some Android tablets have tried to ape and failed. Of course, many will prefer the feather-light frames of some of the Samsung models but, like the screen, it really comes down to personal preference. The buttonry on the iPad 3 is pretty sparse though - we're talking four buttons and that's your lot. The iconic home button is back once again, despite rumours of its demise, and is easy to reach and hit within the thick bezel. The rest of the buttons are all clustered tightly together in the top left-hand corner of the device, with the rocker/volume key, the mute/orientation switch and power/lock key all within an inch of one another. As you can see, Apple has been pretty efficient with the button placement, with all of them performing more than one function. And they say the iPad can't multi-task... tsk.
Nokia has done what we asked: released a Windows Phone handset in metal. Except it's not all metal. And it's very similar to the Nokia Lumia 920. And it's in the high-end price bracket... but does a stunning camera warrant the extra cost?
Last year's Lumia 920 was a decent handset. It married striking looks to a quality screen and an even better camera. However, while it was undeniably good there was still some room for improvement, as being a flagship phone many hoped for better specs, less weight and a more premium build.
Now the Finnish phone-smiths are back with the Nokia Lumia 925. It's only seen a small number boost in its name, and if you assumed that meant that not much had changed, well, you'd be right.
While Nokia has equipped the Lumia 925 with a similarly brilliant camera and gone some way to addressing the build of its flagship, it hasn't really improved the specs, leaving the Nokia Lumia 925 in the curious position of feeling more like a tweaked handset than an all new one.
This could be a problem, since it's priced at a wallet-bothering £500 (around US$785/AU$820) SIM free, while the Nokia Lumia 920 can be had for around £150 less.
With a 1.5GHz dual-core processor and just 1GB of RAM the Nokia Lumia 925 matches the Lumia 920 for horsepower and trails some way behind the likes of theSamsung Galaxy S4 or Sony Xperia Z - both of which have double the RAM and quad-core processors.
Arguably Nokia didn't need to go all out, since it doesn't have a huge amount of competition in the Windows Phone space - only the HTC Windows Phone 8X really poses much of a threat. But it seems like a missed opportunity to compete on a level playing field against the wider phone world.
At first sight you might almost not recognise the Lumia 925 as a Nokia handset. It has the same sharply rectangular shape that the Nokia Lumia 920 has, but where that was all brightly coloured plastic, the Nokia Lumia 925 has a shiny aluminium band running around the sides. It gives it a premium edge that is sorely lacking from other Nokia handsets, and it looks good for it.
Unfortunately Nokia hasn't gone the whole hog and made a completely metal handset like the HTC One, and instead made the back from polycarbonate. It still looks decent and the fairly conservative colour options (black, white or silver) mean that it looks a lot classier and more grown up than the Nokia Lumia 920, but it doesn't come close to the premium look or feel of the HTC One.
Despite incorporating metal into its design, the Nokia Lumia 925 is actually lighter than the Nokia Lumia 920, coming in at 139g (4.9oz) compared to the 185g (6.5oz) Lumia 920. The weight was one of our key qualms with the Nokia Lumia 920, so it's good to see that it's been addressed.
At a sleek 8.5mm (0.33 inches), the Nokia Lumia 925 is quite a bit thinner than its 10.7mm (0.42-inch) predecessor too, while the length and width remain almost identical at 129 x 70.6mm (5.08 x 2.78 inches).
It feels nice in the hand and it's generally quite comfortable to hold, though there are a couple of caveats to that. Firstly the position of the camera lens on the back makes it very easy to accidentally put your fingers over it, which is uncomfortable and could leave marks on the lens.
And secondly, the corners aren't very curved, which means they can dig into your hand if you hold the phone in a certain way. On the plus side, the polycarbonate back feels soft and warm against your palm, which is a comforting sensation.
The front of the Nokia Lumia 925 is dominated by the 4.5 inch 768 x 1280 AMOLED screen. It's not quite edge to edge but it's not far off at the sides - although there's reams of plastic above and below, which seems a trifle unnecessary. It's a good size too in our opinion, big enough to use easily without becoming unwieldy.
At 332 pixels per inch it also has a pretty good pixel density, though not one that will bother the HTC One or Samsung Galaxy S4. And in fact it's exactly the same size and resolution as the previous model, which is a little disappointing. However it does use the same impressive PureMotion HD+ ClearBlack technology as the Nokia Lumia 920.
Above the screen there's Nokia's logo, the earpiece and the 1.3 MP front-facing camera, while below the screen there are three soft touch buttons with icons for Start, Back and Search.
Flip the Nokia Lumia 925 over and you'll find another Nokia logo stamped across the middle of the polycarbonate back, while above that there's an 8.7MP Carl Zeiss camera lens and flash, and near the bottom of the handset there's a speaker.
The plastic around the lens is raised, leaving the lens itself slightly indented. That gives it a little protection when putting the phone down, but it also makes the phone less comfortable to hold as your fingers will often stray over the raised area.
The left edge of the phone consists of a strip of metal with no real features on it, while the right edge has the power button in the middle, a volume rocker just above it and the camera button near the bottom. The buttons are all quite raised and responsive, making them easy to press and easy to find by touch alone. They're also spaced out enough that there's no confusion over which is which.
The top of the Nokia Lumia 925 houses the micro SIM card slot at the left, the micro USB port and 3.5mm headphone port near the centre and the microphone to the right.
The bottom edge is left unadorned, with just the metal band running along it.
You can't remove the back cover so there's no getting to the Nokia Lumia 920-matching 2000mAh battery and there's also no microSD card slot, so unlike some lower-end Nokia handsets (such as the Nokia Lumia 520), the storage isn't expandable. This leaves the Nokia Lumia 925 with just 16GB of memory, which is half what the Nokia Lumia 920 offers - although 32GB options are apparently going to be available.
The Nokia Lumia 925 is slimmer and lighter than the Nokia Lumia 920. It also has a more premium build and a slightly improved camera (more on that later) but with the same core specs, less storage space and a much higher price tag it's got an uphill struggle on its hands.
