Showing posts with label android. Show all posts
Showing posts with label android. Show all posts

Monday, August 18, 2014

 Android is a really awesome mobile Operating System and its pretty flexible unlike iOS. Its built-in features are also great and with its settings you get complete control on your Android device. But with that its not a secret that the default video player that comes in Android OS is not as great as there are many others available in Google Play Store. Let's have a look at the 5 best video player applications in Android OS:
1) MoBo Player

MoBoPlayer is a perennially popular video player app, and for good reason.

When you first install the app, it scans your device and associated SD cards, reeling in all the content it detects as ‘video’ on your device. And it supports folders too, so if you have all your content divided into categories, such as ‘TV Shows’, ‘Documentaries’, ‘Movies’, it will display this as such – though one tap can change the view to include everything on a single screen.

 
MoboPlayer isn’t perfect though. Getting it to resume automatically from a previously paused/stopped point isn’t a consistent experience. Sometimes you can hit pause, go away and do other things, come back and kick off from where you left it. Other times, however, it will play from the start again. There doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason for it, and seems arbitrary, so as a back-up, remember which position in the video you were at.

Overall though, it’s a great player that performs consistently well in terms of playback and video quality, and is easy on the eye to boot.

Download MoboPlayer by clicking the following button:

playstore

2) WonderShare Player

You get the ability to copy/paste video links into Wondershare and save for later, but this goes further in that it contains a built-in browser letting you search for videos across a number of sites.

 

For many, Wondershare will lose some appeal through trying to be too many things at once. The locally-stored videos, for example, require a few clicks and scrolls to get there, though there is a ‘Play History’ shortcut buried in the menu button to take you quickly to recently viewed skits.

It would be good if the menu options could be configured to bring the local library to the forefront, and also if it would detect folders on the device, so that any manually-curated categories would be reflected within the app.

Downloaded Wondershare Player by clicking the following button:

playstore



3) MX Player

MX Player has emerged as one of the preeminent video-player apps on Android, with an ad-supported free version and an ad-free alternative that costs $5.60.

MX Player has a main folders view but, again, it would be good to be able to switch to ‘All’ a little easier – as things stand you must navigate to settings and switch this view off. Not a big deal-breaker for sure, but it’s just that little extra bit of friction.

 

In terms of ads in the free version, well, they’re not overly intrusive. You’ll see some at the bottom of the screen when navigating your videos, and when you have a video paused.

You can also set things so that it always resumes from the point where you left off, or have it ask you on launch whether to start from scratch. And there’s an easy option for switching to portrait mode, unlike many of the other apps which typically require you to dig deep into the settings to enable this.

Download MX Player by clicking the following button:

playstore





4) VLC Player

From the vaults of VideoLAN comes VLC for Android, which remains in beta having initially launched more than a year ago.

Given that it’s still classed as a beta product, it’s being targeted at power users and hackers, and is “not stable”. It might even kill your kitten and destroy your house.

 

When you launch the app, things do feel a little on the slow side, and it takes a while to reel in all your content – this is an audio player as well as a video player. So if you have many gigabytes of music on your device, you’d better be patient. And things do lag a little bit, but hopefully all these issues will be resolved once this is a fully ‘launched’ product.

As things stand though, it gives a good insight into what this product may eventually become. It has a nice interface, though this could change as it nears its full launch, and it does offer browsing by folder through navigating down into the directory. However, it would be nice to see folder view become an optional view alongside the ‘everything on your device’ view.

Download VLC Player by clicking the following button:

playstore

5) Archos Video Player

Archos is well-known for its hardware, but it also has a great-looking little Android app that might be worth your time.

You can filter through your library according to how your videos have been labelled, so ‘TV Shows’ and ‘Movies’ for example. You can also manually sift through the directories by folder, and sort your collection alphabetically, by date order, duration, rating and more.

 

But where Archos really shines is in its design and layout. It is a beautiful app, and automatically retrieves movie and TV show data, including posters, which gives this app more of a DVD-shelf look-and-feel. This really comes to the fore when you flip your device into landscape mode:



Archos Video Player is one of the lesser-known video-player apps, but one that does deserve your attention.

Download Archos Video Player by clicking the following download button:

playstore

Top 5 Video Players For Android

Tuesday, August 12, 2014

On almost every smart-phone today we see an option named Airplane Mode. Yeah we all certainly know that when we turn it on we get ready for not getting any text messages, any calls, and any data roaming services over our SIM card. But that's not what it is really behind Airplane Mode. Let us explain you...

Airplane mode disables a device’s cellular radio, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth — the wireless transmission functions. But many airplanes now offer in-flight Wi-Fi, and cellular access may be coming to planes soon — so where does that leave airplane mode?

Even if you never fly, airplane mode offers a quick way to disable your device’s battery-draining radios. It can extend your device’s battery life as long as you don’t need any of those wireless radios.

What actually does Airplane Mode do...?

Whatever device you’re using — an Android phone, iPhone, iPad, Windows 8 tablet, or whatever else — airplane mode disables the same hardware functions each device. This includes:

  • Cellular: Your device will stop communicating with cell towers. You won’t be able to send or receive anything that depends on cellular data, from voice calls and SMS messages to mobile data.

  • Wi-Fi: Your phone will stop scanning for nearby Wi-Fi networks and attempting to join them. If you’re already connected to a Wi-Fi network, you’ll be disconnected.

  • Bluetooth: Airplane mode also disables Bluetooth, a wireless communication technology most people associate with wireless headsets. But Bluetooth can be used for many other things, including keyboards and mice.

  • GPS: Airplane mode also disables GPS-receiving functions, but only on some devices. This is a bit confusing and inconsistent. In theory, GPS is unlike all the other technologies here — a device with GPS turned on is only listening to GPS signals it receives, not transmitting any signals. However, some aircraft regulations do not allow the use of GPS-receiving functions for some reason.

When airplane mode is enabled, you’ll often see an airplane icon in your device’s notification bar — this appears on the top bar on Android devices, iPhones, and iPads. You can still use devices on the aircraft — even during takeoff and landing — as long as airplane mode is enabled. You don’t have to power them off.



Why the heck is Airplane Mode necessary...?

Regulations in many countries prohibit the use of devices that transmit signals on commercial aircraft. A typical phone or cellular-enabled tablet is communicating with several cell towers and attempting to maintain a connection at all times. If the towers are far away, the phone or tablet has to boost its signal so it can communicate with the towers. This sort of communication could interfere with an airplane’s sensors and potentially cause issues with sensitive navigation equipment. That’s a concern that brought these laws about, anyway. In reality, modern equipment is robust. Even if this does cause problems, your plane won’t fall out of the sky because a few people forgot to enable airplane mode!

A more demonstrable concern is that, as you’re traveling very quickly, all the phones on the plane would be constantly handing off from cell tower to cell tower. This would interfere with the cellular signals people on the ground receive. You wouldn’t want your phone to do this hard work, anyway — it would drain its battery and it wouldn’t be able to maintain a signal properly, anyway.



Battery Saving

Airplane mode can help even when you’re on the ground. It’s an excellent way to save battery power on your device. The radios on a device use a large amount of power, communicating with cell towers, scanning for nearby Wi-Fi networks and attempting to connect, waiting for incoming Bluetooth connections, and occasionally checking your location via GPS.

Turn airplane mode on and all the radios will be disabled. Bear in mind that this will block incoming phone calls and SMS messages on a phone, but it can be a great battery-saving tip if you really need that last bit of juice. It’s especially useful on a tablet when you’re just using your tablet as an offline eReader anyway.



WiFi and Bluetooth are able to be enabled in Airplane Mode

Wi-Fi is allowed on some airplanes — in fact, many airplanes now offer in-flight Wi-Fi you can pay for. Enabling airplane mode always disables Wi-Fi. However, on most devices, you can enable Wi-Fi after enabling airplane mode. Cellular signals will still be blocked, but Wi-Fi will be working so you can connect to that in-flight Wi-Fi network.

Some devices also allow you to enable Bluetooth when airplane mode is enabled. Whether this is allowed depends on your airline and the regulatory agency is in charge.


[Thanks to: How-To Geek]

What Does Airplane Mode Do And Is It Really Necessary

Sony's Xperia T lineup has been growing out of 007's tux and the third generation is putting on a t-shirt. OK, an oversized t-shirt, although the T3 has lost some weight, and screen real-estate, compared to the T2. Gone is the Ultra moniker and the massive 6" display - the Xperia T3 is closer to smartphones than phablets.



It is indeed that simple, the Sony Xperia T3 is a more compact version of the Xperia T2 Ultra phablet, one that you can slip in your pocket. The screen is still a high-quality IPS unit of 720p resolution and Sony once again goes for the Snapdragon 400.


The Xperia T3 is running KitKat out of the box which is good, but other specs are taken a notch down. The camera, to begin with, is now an 8MP unit, down from 13MP in the T2 Ultra. On the upside, the proper shutter key is there.



With a 2,500mAh battery, the Xperia T3 will probably struggle to match the impressive times of the T2 Ultra, but we'd be happy if it gets close enough. Here is the complete list.



Key features



  • Impressively thin at 7mm

  • 5.3" 720p IPS capacitive touchscreen Triluminos display (277ppi), X-Reality engine, ambient light sensor

  • LTE connectivity

  • Android 4.4.2 KitKat

  • Qualcomm Snapdragon 400 chipset with quad-core 1.2GHz Cortex-A7 processor, Adreno 305 GPU and 1GB of RAM

  • 8MP camera, single LED flash, 1080p video recording, dedicated hardware shutter key

  • 1.1MP front-facing camera with 720p video recording

  • 8GB of built-in storage, expandable via the microSD card slot

  • Active noise cancellation with a secondary microphone

  • 2,500 mAh battery; STAMINA Power Saving Mode


Main disadvantages



  • Non user-replaceable battery

  • No water or dust proofing


The Sony Xperia T3 seems reasonably equipped for the midrange and does well to offer LTE connectivity on top of good looks and solid build. It's also one of the thinnest Sony smartphones around with only the Z Ultra having a thinner profile.



The sealed battery should hardly be a surprise, we guess it's part of the price you are paying for the Omni Balance design. That said, we have perhaps seen too much of it already, though it isn't something to hold against a device of the Xperia T3's price bracket and level of equipment.
Anyway, the Xperia T3 sure looks like a familiar package but, if we're lucky, not a pedestrian effort. As usual, we are kicking off with our traditional exterior checkup.



[Thanks to GSMArena]

 

SONY Xperia T3 - Wits And Looks

Sunday, August 3, 2014

There came a day when text messages took over phone calls, and thus commenced the never-ending reign to text messages which is surely there to stay forever. The reason is that text messages are comparatively damn cheaper than calling rates.

5 Best Free Android Messaging Apps

 
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