US-Iran nuclear talks might be less complex than this arbitration
The idea of Apple and Google's Motorola Mobility coming together to resolve their never-ending patent disputes seems more likely today now that both companies are expressing interest.
"Apple is also interested in resolving its dispute with Motorola completely," Apple said in a filing picked up by Bloomberg. "Arbitration may be the best vehicle to resolve the parties' dispute."
This conciliatory tone matches Motorola Mobility's arbitration suggestion floated on Nov. 5.
The terms, though undisclosed officially, are said to have HTC paying Apple up to $8 (UK£5.03, AUD$7.67) for every device it sells.
Even though this is a lower figured than Apple had originally proposed, according to analyst Shaw Wu, it's a lot more economical than paying for drawn out lawsuits.
Wu estimated that the deal could make Apple anywhere from $180 million (UK£113, AUD$176) up to $280 million (UK£176, AUD$268) a year.
That's $323,529 per patent
The proposed arbitration between Apple and Google would be much more complicated, as the search giant has 17,000 of Motorola's patents to bring to the table.
Google says it spent $5.5 billion (around £3.5 billion) of its $12.4 billion (around £8 billion) bid on Motorola's catalog of patents alone. That comes out to $323,529 (£203,708) per patent.
Global framework preferred
The idea arbitration is seen as a positive step forward for both companies, but Google also expressed interest in a global framework for patents down the line.
"We have long sought a path to resolving patent issues and we welcome the chance to build on the constructive dialogue between our companies," said Google General Counsel Kent Walker in a Nov. 13 letter to Apple that was filed with the court.
"While we prefer to seek a framework for a global (rather than piecemeal) resolution that addresses all of our patent disputes, we are committed to reaching agreement on a license for our respective standard-essential patents."
To this point, United Nations got involved last month, hosting Apple, Google and Microsoft at a Geneva summit to discuss the global problem.
However it comes about, settling patent disputes may be a boon for innovation.
Samsung might be pulling out all the stops at CES 2013, at least according to a rumor coming out of Korea.
The firm might unveil a phone loaded with a 4.99-inch Full HD Super AMOLED display at the Vegas show, one that rivals devices coming out of HTC, LG, Sharp and Sony.
According to a Samsung official speaking to a Korean newspaper, the company will pull out a handset featuring the ultra-thin AMOLED material and a screen with a 441 pixel per inch density.
Such blockbuster screen specs are likely to only show up on a blockbuster handset, pointing to the possibility that the main attraction Samsung offers the CES crowd is the Galaxy S4.
S4 time
According to the paper's source, Samsung is using its current mass production method mixed with advanced LITI technology to bring the phone to life.
It should feature a resolution of 1920 X 1080 and if kinks in mass production scaling can get ironed out, the S4 should arrive during the second quarter of 2013.
The source also reportedly said that the head of Samsung Electronics demanded the SIV feature a Full HD AMOLED display and not (yawn) LCD, giving it a unique selling point over new arrivals like the Droid DNA, the rumored Sony Yuga and Odin and Sharp's Aquos SH903W.
TechRadar will be in the lion's den that is the CES show floor come January, so stay tuned for word on what Samsung brings forth.
Windows Phone 7 will start to look a lot like the WP8
The internet got some official looking confirmation for the new features supposedly coming to Windows Phone 7.8 Friday.
The source of the info is reportedly a slide from Nokia training material. And, even though it's in Chinese, a translation outlines the features that should come with the update.
There have been all sorts of rumors surrounding what Windows Phone 7.8 owners will see once their phones upgrade, but this is the first sighting of anything official with talk of the new features.
Microsoft, by the way, has promised those with older Windows OSes (and not the most recent Windows Phone 8 OS) to keep their phones current with updates, so this could be a sign the Softies weren't just blowing hot air.
You can teach an old phone new tricks
The slide lays out a new start screen for Windows Phone 7.8, while three live tiles sizes are available to let owners give their phones a unique, personalized feel.
The update brings 20 more themes to match what's available in WP8. Users can also plaster their lock screens with Bing wallpapers instead of single photos.
The new WP7 should also let users edit MP3 files to make ringtones, which is a pretty nifty feature. It will include a new patch and security upgrade for Internet Explorer, as well.
We knew most of these additions would likely appear in the update, but now this slide seems to back up those earlier assertions.
Those are all the goodies we could glean from the slide, but much more are rumored to be in the works.
Though WP7 appears to be getting a new bag of tricks, it's still missing out on a lot of features coming to WP8. Those include true multi-tasking, NFC support, over-the-air updates, multi-core processor support and IE 10.
But Microsoft has to save some stuff for its new OS.
Though the leak gave us confirmation of the features coming down the pipes, there was no mention of a release date, though we've heard plenty of rumors about that as well.
A Chinese tech blog clocked the 7.8 update to arrive four to six weeks after WP8 launches. Since the HTC 8X was the first WP8 released on Nov. 2, the update could roll out at the end of November or middle of December.
A new study indicates that Amazon's Kindle Fire HD will outsell Apple's iPad Mini by a margin of two to one this holiday season.
This holiday season shoppers are seeing more tablets on the market than ever before. With Microsoft, Apple, Google, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble each offering their respective slates, it could be difficult to determine which one will reign supreme.
On Thursday, CouponCodes4U made some predictions on which tablets will fare better in the market during this crucial time. They say that the Kindle Fire HD will outsell Apple’s iPad Mini by 2 to 1, according to the LA Times. The couponing website also cited data from its own user base, pointing out that there have been twice as many searches for the words “Kindle Fire HD” than “iPad Mini” in the last three weeks.
The Kindle Fire HD also proved to be a more popular search term after its initial unveiling. Data from the couponing website shows that there were more searches for the Kindle Fire HD the week after it was announced than there were for the iPad Mini following its world reveal. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the Kindle Fire HD will outsell the iPad Mini, but it’s an interesting tidbit to keep in mind as the infamous Black Friday approaches. Apple may boast about the slenderness and sleekness of its iPad Mini, but the 7.9-inch slate is weighed down by a hefty price tag. The iPad Mini starts at $330, while the Kindle Fire HD begins at about $200. That’s a pretty significant price difference of approximately $130.
Although Apple’s decision to release an iPad Mini can be considered a move to bust competitors like Google’s Nexus 7, Apple decided to completely bypass the $200 price range. Other smaller tabs on the market, such as Barnes & Nobles’ Nook HD, tend to fall within this spectrum when it comes to cost.
But that didn’t stop the California-based computer design company from selling 3 million iPad Mini units during its first three days on the market. However, for Mark Pearson, chairman of CouponCodes4U, the survey results aren’t a shock.
“It’s no surprise that although some families would probably love to purchase an iPad Mini device for every member of their family, they simply cannot afford the higher cost and would rather purchase a Kindle device instead,” he said in a statement.
Windows Phone 7 will start to look a lot like the WP8
The internet got some official looking confirmation for the new features supposedly coming to Windows Phone 7.8 Friday.
The source of the info is reportedly a slide from a Nokia training material, and though it's in Chinese, a translation outlines the features that should come with the update.
There have been all sorts of rumors surrounding what Windows Phone 7.8 owners will see once their phones upgrade, but this is the first sighting of anything official with talk of the new features.
Microsoft, by the way, has promised those with older phone OSes (and not the most recent Windows Phone 8 OS) to keep their phones current with updates, so this could be a sign the Softies weren't just blowing hot air.
You can teach an old phone new tricks
The slide lays out a new start screen for Windows Phone 7.8, while three live tiles sizes are available to let owners give their phones a unique, personalized feel.
The update brings 20 more themes to match what's available in WP8. Users can also plaster their lock screens with Bing wallpapers instead of single photos.
The new WP7 should also let users edit MP3 files to make ringtones, which is a pretty nifty feature. It will include a new patch and security upgrade for Internet Explorer as well.
We knew most of these additions would likely appear in the update, but now this slide seems to back up those earlier assertions.
Those are all the goodies we could glean from the slide, but much more are rumored to be in the works.
Though WP7 appears to be getting a new bag of tricks, it's still missing out on a lot of features coming to WP8. Those include true multi-tasking, NFC support, over-the-air updates, multi-core processor support and IE 10.
But Microsoft has to save some stuff for its new OS.
Though the leak gave us confirmation of the features coming down the pipes, there was no mention of a release date, though we've heard plenty of rumors about that as well.
A Chinese tech blog clocked the 7.8 update to arrive four to six weeks after WP8 launches. Since the HTC 8X was the first WP8 released on Nov. 2, the update could roll out at the end of November or middle of December.
One year after investors called on Nintendo to give up its policy of only releasing games on its hardware, the company releases its very first paid app on Apple's App Store. Pokedex 3D may be the small start of a very big change.
Nintendo’s career in the video game industry has been largely a solo affair over the past thirty years. Nintendo makes Nintendo video games for Nintendo consoles, and with a few very rare exceptions where it licensed its characters to third parties, that’s the way it’s been through good time and bad alike. This week, as Nintendo embarks on the sixth generation of its home game console business, it’s also quietly stepping out of its comfort zone. Nintendo is releasing a Pokémon app for iOS devices.
On Friday morning, the Pokédex 3D app already available on the Nintendo 3DS was released on Japan’s iTunes, making the 170 yen ($2) app the very first paid Nintendo content on Apple’s handhelds, or any non-Nintendo handheld for that matter. There are four downloadable expansions to the Pokédex available for 500 yen ($6) a piece.
There are qualifying factors to consider. Like all Pokémon products, the app isn’t a pure Nintendo product. It was developed by Creatures Inc. who, alongside Game Freak, develop the mainline Pokémon games like the recently release Pokémon Black 2 and White 2. Both of those studios are part of The Pokémon Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo, but a separate corporate entity all the same. That means that the Nintendo brand itself isn’t associated with Apple’s device, even if it is in name only. It’s also not the first time this brand has been on iOS machines. It is the second Pokémon app to hit iOS. Pokémon Say Tap came out in 2011, but that app was offered for free, whereas this new one costs cash.
Even if Mario and Link aren’t on the iPhone 5 yet, this is still a significant development for Nintendo going forward. Back in July 2011, after Nintendo reported terrible earnings and had to drop the price of the recently released Nintendo 3DS handheld, the company’s shareholders began to demand that Nintendo stop isolating itself in the tech market. It’s profitability lay in its brands, so it was time to leave behind its stagnating hardware business and leverage those brands on Apple’s booming portables. Bloomberg reported that a number of shareholders were calling on Nintendo to get its games on the App Store. That report also claimed that Nintendo was making a Pokémon game for Android handhelds. Pokémon Say Tap and this new app are the realization of that rumor.
Will Nintendo go full third-party publisher? Not any time soon. The Wii U and growing Nintendo 3DS sales demonstrate that the company is committed to the hardware business for the foreseeable future. Whether they will remain a market leader is unclear.
Vodafone has come to the rescue of dedicated early adopters who struggle to keep up with the latest smartphone releases. It has announced a plan named Red Hot, where the latest and greatest phone is yours, every year.
Every one of us has experienced that desire to own the latest smartphone to be announced, even if our existing phone is the model it replaces, and is therefore is almost certainly still capable of performing its duties. However, thanks to the joy of 24-month contracts, it’s not always possible to fulfill that desire. Vodafone UK feels our pain, and has come up with an intriguing solution, a new tariff named Red Hot. It turns the traditional mobile contract on its head and removes the need to plan for a yearly upgrade. Instead, for one monthly fee, you’ll get unlimited texts, voice, and cellular data on top of a brand new phone every 12 months.
Sound too good to be true? Well, it’s not without its drawbacks, so let’s take a closer look at how Red Hot works. Unlike regular plans, you sign two contracts with Red Hot: one for the network and one to lease your phone. Currently, you get to choose between the Samsung Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note 2, and the Apple iPhone 5, and the monthly plan is the same for all of them: Unlimited calls, unlimited texts and 2GB of data.
If you go for the 16GB Galaxy S3, the Galaxy Note 2 or the 16GB iPhone 5, you won’t pay anything for the device, although if you want an S3 or iPhone 5 with more memory, there will be an extra charge. Your monthly line rental will be £47 ($74), £52 ($82), or £59 ($93) respectively on a 12-month agreement, and the phone will be insured against loss or damage.
After 12-months has passed, you pop back to see Vodafone and they’ll provide you with the very latest device to be released – be that the iPhone 6, the Galaxy S4 or the Note 3 – as you hand back your old phone, provided you sign a new 12-month Red Hot contract.
Boiled down, Red Hot is a phone leasing scheme for early adopters who don’t care about long-term ownership, but still want the latest hardware on release.
Say that again, £50-plus per month?
Totaled up, a 16GB iPhone 5 on the Red Hot plan will cost £708 ($1124) for a year, at the end of which you’ll have nothing to show for it. Unless you count the new phone Vodafone will give you, of course. Using the iPhone 5 as a guide, let’s compare Red Hot with a regular Vodafone tariff.
Vodafone offer 12-month contracts, where 1GB of data, unlimited texts and 900 minutes costs £46 per month, and the phone a hefty £229 ($363). Purchased this way, the annual total is £781 ($1240), but selling the iPhone 5 at that point could recoup at least a third of that figure.
Sign on the dotted line of a 24-month contract, and you can get yourself 2GB of data, unlimited calls and texts, plus a free 16GB iPhone 5, all for £47 per month. That’s a frightening £1,128 ($1789), and though your phone will probably fetch a couple of hundred pounds on the used market.
The Red Hot tariff slots somewhere in-between the normalcy of a 12-month contract, and the hideousness of a 24-month plan. Although the thought of paying more than £50 ($80) per month will sting – it’s right at the top-end of the scale in the UK, with many expecting to pay half that per month – it’s not ridiculously over-priced.
The first rule of Red Hot is, don’t jailbreak your phone
Dig around in the small print and you’ll find a few restrictions and rules related to the Red Hot tariff. Because the phone isn’t really yours, it’ll need to be looked after, and if you try to return a damaged device you’ll get charged – up to £150 ($240) if you’ve really abused it. However, as the phone is insured, provided you make a few calls before it’s time to upgrade, this shouldn’t be a problem.
If you’re a fan of jailbreaking iPhones or installing custom ROMs on Android devices, and don’t return it to stock before heading back for an upgrade, Vodafone charges at least £300 to £400 ($475 to $635) for a “non-approved operating system.” Swapping the SIM for one from a different provider breaches the contract too.
Ultimately though, all this is to be expected and provided you follow the rules, Vodafone Red Hot comes out looking like good value for money. After all, how many of us sell or pass on our old phones when upgrading anyway; why not cut that part out and ensure we’ve always got the latest, must-have smartphone in our hands, at a reasonable price with a decent tariff attached, every year?
The development of our social login system is finally complete and we just flipped the switch. It took us a while, but we hope it’s going to be worth it, as we have some big plans in store.
As of now, you can once again use your Facebook account to reserve your nickname for our opinion and comments sections. We've also added support for Google, so even if you don’t have a Facebook account, you can still get a nickname of your own.
Another important benefit of our refreshed login is that we extended the browser cookie we use, so you don’t need to click the login button every day anymore. The cookie will only expire once every three months now.
If you're still hesitant to use our anonymous login system, we've got a few reasons you should. For one, your posts won’t need to be approved by one of our moderators to be published on our site, plus you’ll get the option of editing your comments for the first ten minutes after posting them, and you will be able to rate other peoples' posts in our comments section. Also, since we don’t actually store any of your data or password, it’s perfectly safe.
In the future we also plan to use the social account login to help improve our user rating system and reduce fanboy down-voting.
If you experience any issues with the updated log-in, please report them right here along with your browser version. Happy browsing!
It's been a year today that the first Windows Phone bearing the Nokia brand landed in the UK – so are there any signs that Nokia's made the right move?
In that time Nokia has created the Lumia brand, re-thought its design strategy and, apparently, had a big influence on the direction Windows Phone is taking – a big move away from the brand than spammed high street phone retailers with every style of handsets imaginable.
'Last year we didn't have the Lumia brand, Nokia was [essentially] a new player in the smartphone space, especially in the UK,' Conor Pierce, Nokia's Western Europe general manager, told TechRadar. 'We were resurrecting Windows Phone in its own right, which is a big challenge for any company – especially one that's in the turnaround we're in. We have to think differently.'
Pierce: "We have to think differently"
There's no doubt that Nokia led the charge in the Windows Phone space over the last 12 months. In the relatively short amount of time since the likes of Stephen Fry took to the stage to proclaim Microsoft's rebooted phone platform was a worthy contender to the likes of Android or iOS, the sales of HTC, Samsung and others' Windows Phone handsets were mediocre to say the least, with around 8 million handsets sold worldwide before Nokia jumped in.
It was also good to hear Pierce talking about Nokia 'thinking differently'. From an industry point of view, one of the biggest problems the Finnish had pre-Windows Phone was promising amazing handsets that didn't deliver.
Memories of sitting through a 30 minute 'lecture' in 2010 by Nokia executives on how important it was for consumers to be able to hook your N8 up to a big screen TV and play 5.1 surround sound still rankle – cries from those assembled that this was pointless without content (as well as not addressing the fact the UI was so poor) fell on deaf ears.
It was this thinking, this stubborn refusal to notice that handsets running Symbian paled in comparison to the likes of the technically-inferior iPhone 3GS in the eyes of consumers that caused CEO Stephen Elop to send that memo, talking of Nokia's 'burning platform'.
While Nokia's stance may not have changed completely in Elop's reign (Nokia World 2012 was far too heavily skewed towards extolling the unlimited virtues of the Lumia 920 without revealing the key details on price and release date) the last year has clearly been a worthwhile learning experience for the brand.
"The likes of the Lumia 800, 610 and 900 have been great starts and given us good momentum in the UK,' said Pierce. "We're proud of what we've achieved. Would we like to be somewhere else in terms of growth? Of course we would. Have we learnt a lot? Yes we have. Are we a different company? We now have this start-up mentality whereby where we are hungry to add value, to listen to people and become a leaner organisation that makes sure the feedback lands in the right place."
But let's not forget the task Nokia was faced with this time last year: essentially giving up on its mature-yet-flawed Symbian OS and starting from scratch with the Windows Phone brand, with only its strong retail channels and brand awareness for company.
And while Nokia was responsible for increasing the share of Windows Phone worldwide, around 10 million Lumia handsets sold in those 12 months isn't a strong number at all, considering Apple sold over double that amount of iPhones in the last quarter alone.
While you can't expect a company even of Nokia's magnitude to come in and start selling phones at a frantic enough pace to start troubling the big players, it still showed the magnitude of the journey ahead.
And to compound that, the launch of Windows Phone 8 didn't help things in terms of timing; consumer awareness of a new range of handsets coming in November contributed to slow sales of the current Lumia brand in Q3.
Pierce was quick to jump on that point, suggesting that the Windows Phone 7-powered range of Nokia handsets had become another retail choice:
"The Nokia Lumia 610 and 800 have never been selling better than they are now; they're positioned very competitively and [retail staff] are more happy selling it now as they can enhance the messages that it all the benefits in terms of SkyDrive, Office, Xbox [that Windows Phone 8] has. Early signs, in terms of sales, show there's strong interest in that.'
It's been widely reported that Nokia was forced to slash the price of its Windows Phone 7 handsets in the lead-up to the next iteration of the OS in order to clear the surplus stocks – cuts of up to 15% on handsets now mean it has strong propositions in the PAYG space with the aforementioned phones.
Windows Phone 7.8 could present a headache a few months down the line
But these handsets could present a headache a few months down the line, when they're stuck on Windows Phone 7.8 (which has still yet to launch – Pierce tells us that isn't stifling sales 'And when it comes, a huge base will be able to upgrade') and the flagship phones will be running Windows Phone 8, with many apps that will only run on the newer platform.
With Windows Phone being such a nascent platform though, this kind of division is necessary to propel it forward – every OS has a history of abandoning the early adopters when it attempts to become more mainstream, and Nokia was forced to ride the same current.
But how is this once-great brand attempting to offer something unique in the face of the merciless competition? Ideas like polycarbonate shells, innovate camera optics and inbuilt music services help give it an edge over the Windows Phone competition, and give consumers something different to consider when browsing at their local phone emporium.
It's a strategy to be commended; aside from the obvious benefit of not being accused of copying the designs of another firm, which can be costly even when innocent, Nokia is working to prove that not everyone clamours for the shiny aluminium phone, that there are millions looking to differentiate themselves more.
However, therein lies the company's biggest failure since its rebirth. While alternative and colourful designs will attract many, there are far more consumers out there swayed by the super-svelte, the impossibly thin, the brushed aluminium designs that can still house all of Nokia's impressive technology.
By stubbornly refusing to go down this path, Nokia is creating a rod for its own back – instead of consumers being attracted to a design then asking for reasons to buy it, Nokia is being forced to spend many hours educating retail staff in the benefits of Windows Phone and its technology, especially when the weighty 920 is compared to the lighter-than-air iPhone 5 or Samsung Galaxy S3 by the uncaring customers.
If you have to tell people why your product is brilliant, you're already at a disadvantage in these hyper-competitive smarpthone wars.
With its strong feature phone market share being eroded quickly by super-cheap Android phones, and net cash shrinking with each round of financial results, Nokia (obviously) needs to make sure its Windows Phone strategy is a success
So how to sum up the last 12 months? Pierce himself stated that the brand would have liked to have seen better sales and more market share by now, and while early sales of the Lumia 920 have been promising, it's still locked as an exclusive to the EE network at a high tariff thanks to the 4G connection.
So 2013 will be a critical year for Nokia if it's going to start cutting swathes in the smartphone market, and Pierce believes the current focus is precisely geared for that: "Nokia is in a new position; we're driving towards a new goal and you'll see lots more coming with some very exciting things in the pipeline. But the most important thing is that we focus now."
That focus needs to be laser pointed on delivering what the consumer wants, not what the Finnish firm thinks it needs. The next phone needs to be something that compares with the Samsung Galaxy S4 on price, specs and design, not just one of those. It needs to say 'Nokia is back' in a way that doesn't rely on the benefits of Xbox integration or Skype to make the sale.
In short, Nokia has quietly impressed over the last year, getting itself in a position to really make a strong play for consumers' affections. Now it needs to deliver a phone that can capture that.
Evernote has been helping people harness every idea that crosses their mind since 2008. Now its iOS app has reached version 5.0 and it's getting a visual upgrade. Along with it comes some new navigation for iPhone and iPad and a nice perk or two that utilizes the iPad's size.
We all have silly little fleeting thoughts that might not have much value, but at the time they seem to be a good idea. It’s hard to judge the actual worth of those concepts right then and there, and it’s a battle to remember them long enough to look back at. This is a problem that Evernote has been solving since 2008. An idea archiver and note taking app, Evernote lets users hold on to every last thought that crosses their mind – even the ones that have little to no merit. The iOS version, Evernote 5.0, just got an overhaul that aims to make it even easier to store things that you will look at later and shamefully delete before anyone else can see it.
The previous layout of Evernote clearly served its owners well as the app amassed 34 million users over the years. That said, even the best options out there need a little refresher to stay on top. Evernote’s navigation has be flipped and now features a home screen that resembles a filing cabinet. Not the kind of filing cabinet that I have, with mislabeled manilla files falling off the hanger and papers bent and crumbled as they lie misplaced throughout, but like an actual functioning file cabinet. The folders contain all of the notes you’ve created and are accessible in four different ways: Places, Tags, Notebooks, or All Notes. This puts everything right at your fingertips and no less than two taps away. It’s definitely an improvement on the previous approach that worked but was less direct. This system will feel quite natural to most people.
The display of notes also takes on a new new notecard style, showing off more information and content than previous iterations. It’s handy when scrolling through notebooks where notes may contain similar content or when there’s just a very quick bit of info that you need and don’t want to dig for. It may be right there on the title card. That said, it would be nice to have some color-coding functionality. That may bring back nightmares of writing out notecards and playing the matching game to study for tests, but it could still serve a purpose in this instance.
Notebooks have a new look as well, and now include all of your own notes and any note that has been shared with you. This is great for switching between notes that have been shared for a multi-person project and content you’ve kept to yourself. If you’d only like to view one set of notebooks, there’s a filtered view that changes to your preferred viewing. The notebooks have a moleskine look to them and are shown in neat looking stacks on the iPhone or spread out on the iPad. It doesn’t really serve any benefit, but it’s easy on the eyes. That may make it sound sexier than it is, but you get the idea.
A feature lost on the iPhone version but now available on the iPad is Recent Notes. If you’re using Evernote on the iPhone, this may be a sorely missed section. It makes it easy to continue working on a project that you’ve been editing continuously. Without it, you can’t just glace at where you last left off. It’s likely little more than a mild inconvenience, but it’s still a casualty of the redesign. If you’re an iPad user, though, turn all of the negatives of that paragraph into positives because you’ve got the extra screen space to afford a feature like Recent Notes.
While some sacrifices were made for the sake of navigation and visual appeal, plenty more have been added in the name of organization and ease of use. The pros of Evernote 5.0 outweigh the cons, and when you combine it when the new version of Evernote for Mac, it makes for one lethal and uniform combination. With it, you can keep tabs on every idea that crosses your mind. Finally, you might remember that great idea for a new . On second thought, use Evernote with discretion.
Evernote 5.0 for iOS is available for free in the iTunes App Store.
The new Nokia Lumia 920 flagship for AT&T has sold out in every color but white at the major US retailers.
Among the first colors to get gobbled up were red, yellow, and cyan off of Amazon and Walmart's online store, as well as AT&T's own website.
The huge demand really comes as no surprise, considering the very enticing $49.99 price tag which AT&T is putting on the 920 with 2 year contract.
Hopefully AT&T will be able to fulfill all of the Lumia 920 backorders, as the last thing Nokia needs is a supply shortage while trying to salvage a horrible 2012 sales season.
The Nokia Lumia 820 isn't meant as the Finnish firm's flagship handset - that accolade belongs to the Lumia 920 - but this colourful Windows Phone 8 smartphone is impressive nonetheless.
The Nokia Lumia 820 carries plenty of unique features and costs less than the Lumia 920, making it a tempting offer for anyone considering making the move to Microsoft's OS.
It goes without saying Nokia is pinning a lot of hope on this phone. Apple's iPhone 5 and Samsung's Galaxy S3 are kicking up dust both in terms of sales and as standard bearers for their respective operating systems.
You can pick the Lumia 820 up free from £25 per month on Vodafone, albeit with only 300 minutes and 250MB of data, on a 24 month contract. Alternatively the SIM-free version of the phone will set you back an entirely reasonable £380.
There's a reasonable amount of power on offer at that price thanks to the dual core 1.5Ghz Snapdragon processor and Adreno 225 GPU. Windows OS is a typically smooth operating system the Lumia 820 runs off 1GB of RAM which keeps things nice and slick.
Outwardly though, this is a different-looking phone from the Lumia 920. The unibody is gone, replaced with a removable plastic back that lets you change the colour of the handset. Our review model came with a bright yellow rear cover, although red, black, magenta, blue, white and grey are also available.
Hopefully over time third-party designs will become available allowing you to customise your handset just like the Nokia's of old.
Unfortunately, the back cover is also where we run into our first problem with the Lumia 820. Basically you'll need fingernails like Wolverine to claw the cover back from the body of the phone. It took the TechRadar team several amusing minutes trying to remove the casing in order to insert our SIM to begin using the phone.
Once you're happy with the casing, and you've spent the required ten minutes struggling to get your Micro SIM installed, you'll be able to sit back and notice that at 160g, the Lumia 820 isn't as heavy as its bigger brother.
It's also got slightly smaller dimensions - but at 124 x 69 x 10mm with a 4.3-inch AMOLED screen we wouldn't go so far as to call it tiny.
The curved sides and rounded corners of the handset make it comfortable to hold and certainly give it a friendly appearance. We could easily wrap our hand around the Lumia 820 and access the physical buttons, which are all located along the right hand side of the phone.
You get a volume rocker at the top, followed by the power on/off button in the centre and then a physical camera shutter button - something we're always happy to see on a smartphone. All the buttons can be easily flicked with either the thumb of your right hand or the fingers of your left, depending on which you use to hold the phone.
One point though, the plastic backing on the Lumia 820 is completely smooth which looks nice but doesn't offer any great amount of grip.
The front of the phone is minimal in terms of design, with just the Nokia lettering at the top and the three standard Windows phone soft touch keys at the bottom. While the 4.3-inch AMOLED, 800 x 480 screen is up to Nokia's usual high standard, there's definitely a noticeable black bezel around the display.
Usually this doesn't cause too much concern, but given the near edge-to-edge displays of handsets like the Motorola Razr i and the iPhone 5, it's becoming more of an issue.
The display isn't as large as other smartphones out there. It won't compete with the 4.7-inch HTC One X+, the 4.8-inch Galaxy S3 or the 4.5-inch Lumia 920, for screen real estate but compromises with portability.
Screen size itself is becoming far more of a subjective issue anyway with a device on offer at pretty much every stage from pocket-friendly smartphone to sofa-surfing tablet.
The top and bottom of the Lumia 820 are given over to the 3.5mm headphone jack and the micro-USB charging and connection port respectively. There's also a small speaker to the right of the micro-USB port which we felt didn't look as nicely uniform as the dual speaker vents on the Lumia 920.
Overall build quality is as good as you would expect given Nokia's long history of mobile phone craftsmanship. While we would expect the casing to scratch fairly easily if this phone took a tumble, there's a reassuring heft to the handset that suggests the internal workings would stay protected.
Importantly then, first impressions are quite good. It's a good looking, feature-packed phone from a pair of companies that really have something to prove this time around. So, how does it fare when we dip below the surface?
Microsoft needs you to be passionate about Windows Phone 8, and it has employed an army of celebrities to try and elicit just that emotional response. It has never really worked before, but surprisingly, there's a chance it may do this time.
The reason Ms. Alba was using the Lumia 920 became clear a week later, when she joined Steve Ballmer and Joe Belfiore on stage at Microsoft’s Windows Phone 8 launch, and chatted about using the new Kids Corner feature. It was a big moment for Microsoft, as she was introduced almost as a brand ambassador – and she spoke enthusiastically about a smartphone she had been pictured using.
Since then, Microsoft has bombarded us with adverts for Windows Phone 8 featuring a host of international stars, showing it’s making the most of the $1.8 billion pot it set aside to promote its new Windows software this holiday season. Microsoft is putting everything it has got into making Windows Phone a success, and it needs you to be equally as passionate about it. Having chosen to go down the celebrity road, its choice of stars is crucial.
But it’s not the first time the fabulous and famous have been roped into pimping a new gadget and most efforts have been less than inspiring. Can Microsoft break the trend?
Night of 1000 stars
We asked Microsoft to explain its thinking behind the gallery of stars it had employed to promote Windows Phone 8. Here’s the explanation from a Microsoft rep:
“We looked for people that had very natural and relatable stories about how their phone keeps them connected to the people and stuff they care more about. Each of them have unique personalities and are known for a variety of personal passions … We knew it’d be a lot of fun to bring their worlds to life through their own personal Start Screens.”
Microsoft’s list of celebrities includes the aforementioned Jessica Alba, plus Gwen Stefani, Andy Samberg, Cam Newton, Jay-Z, James Cordon, Will Arnett, and Holly Willoughby.
It has even put out an anti-celebrity ad – the one starring Will Arnett - to appeal to those who find the celebrity lifestyle gag-inducing. It’s damn funny, too. We doubt this is an exhaustive list either; it’s just the ads we’ve seen so far.
For Microsoft, it’s all about building the Windows Phone brand, which in the past, it has more or less left to its hardware partners.
Things are getting out of hand
Well known faces have been used to advertise everything from watches to alcohol for decades, but the tech world has managed to remain fairly celebrity free until recently, primarily because it was a bit too niche for large scale, expensive advertising campaigns.
There are some notable exceptions, such as the time Microsoft got Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry together for a Windows 95 video guide, and the unusual pairing of Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld for another Microsoft promo. Naturally, Apple has enjoyed dropping a few names over the years too, including its Get a Mac ads with Justin Long and John Hodgman, then using everyone from Mary J. Blige to Coldplay to advertise the iPod and iTunes.
More recently, the trend switched to big name manufacturers holding parties to celebrate the release of a new device, then inviting a few celebs along to get the event – and the product – into the tabloid press. Witness Paris Hilton at the launch of the Nokia 5800, where Lady Gaga was the DJ, Anna Kendrick and Christina Ricci at the BlackBerry Torch party, and Facebook pages for the Motorola Droid Razr and HTC Status social events for the depths to which some sank.
Then the seriously nauseating televised stuff started. Megan Fox talked about Motoblur (well, at least someone did), Mariah Carey used AT&T’s 3G network and perhaps most cringe-making of all, Eva Longoria and Victoria Beckham using fashionable LG phones together. Apple recently released a series of mildly (or hugely, in the case of Zooey Deschanel) embarrassing TV spots promoting Siri to round it all off.
That brings us almost up to date, and as you can now see, using celebrities to advertise tech isn’t anything new. But doing it well certainly would be.
Will trying to attract a different type of buyer work this time?
But isn’t advertising with celebrities a bit old fashioned? The writer of an Ad Age article entitled “Celebrities in advertising are almost always a big waste of money” certainly thinks so. He shows graphs indicating campaigns featuring a well known star underperformed compared with those that didn’t. Written nearly two years ago, it correctly predicted the rise in social networks in advertising over a “weak celebrity connection.”
Then there are the celebrity meltdowns and scandals, which can’t help but impact the brands with which they’re associated. Tiger Woods, Brett Favre, Kobe Bryant, Charlie Sheen (who unusually, did bounce back) and most recently Lance Armstrong have all caused many emergency marketing meetings.
There’s no shortage of fame seekers willing to take on a bit of advertising work, but the challenge is for the company to chose a celebrity who not only embodies the brand image, but is also relatable to its customer base.
Microsoft has been promoting Windows Phone to people who aren’t particularly into tech since it first came out, but judging by its tiny market share, it hasn’t managed to strike the right chord just yet.
This celebrity line-up though, each seen to be perfectly integrating Windows Phone into their everyday lives – and not talking about processors, memory or battery capacity at all – is doing a much better job. Microsoft is appealing to people who don’t want to buy a ‘complicated’ Android phone, or who feel the iPhone is too showy. For that to work, we have to relate to those advertising it.
Has it worked on you?
Ultimately, Microsoft wants you to buy a Windows Phone. That’s why is is blanketing the airwaves with passionate celebrities whose lives are being enriched by a product they’re new phone. Of almost all the celeb advertising examples I listed above, very few featured passionate people, but Microsoft’s do. It’s irrelevant whether it’s put on for the camera; it appears to be genuine, and passion is exactly what the company wants from you.
And so we come full circle, as those seeds were sown when Jessica Alba talked on stage during the Windows Phone 8 launch event. Take another look at the video if you don’t remember. Though we all sneered when she first walked on, expecting nothing more than a hello and goodbye; we instead saw someone who appeared to genuinely enjoy using Windows Phone.
The question is, has all this effort paid off, or will it? While you may not have decided to buy a Windows Phone handset on the strength of Jessica’s, Will’s, or Holly’s say so, has it made you want to look at one more closely, or recommended that a friend do so? Or perhaps it made you click on an article discussing it, or even just talk about Windows Phone on Twitter, or share one of the ads on Facebook?
If the answer to any of these is yes, or you catch yourself doing something like it over the coming months, then Microsoft’s billions have been well spent.
Sony Mobile sales chief Dennis van Schie has said that Sony will soon be releasing a handset to directly compete with the iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S3.
Speaking to the Financial Times Deutschland, van Schie openly acknowledged that nothing in the Japanese firm's current lineup of phones could stand up to the likes of Apple and Samsung's flagship devices.
He told the German newspaper, "We will create, in the near future, a flagship model that can compete with Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S3". A spokesperson for Sony confirmed that the contender would appear at CES and the Mobile World Congress in spring 2013.
Too little, too late?
Although this is great news for the Sony faithful, it may be the company should instead turn its attention to the next generation of smartphones, rather than trying to play catch-up.
It's already been beaten to the play by a long way, and if conjecture is anything to go by, both Apple and Samsung will be releasing the next incarnations of their bestselling smartphones next year, instantly casting a shadow over Sony's contender.
Such comments are unlikely to sit well with owners of the recently-released Xperia T 'Bond Phone', which the Japanese firm has been touting as a handset worthy of consideration by today's smartphone buyers.
Sony is essentially trying to feel its way in the mobile space as a new brand, and despite raising fortunes since losing the Ericsson brand admissions like these, while honest, will do little to convince consumers it's a decent alternative.
Sony is working on a high-end Android smartphone, ready to take on the iPhone 5 and the Samsung Galaxy SIII. Best of all, the company will have it on display at CES and MWC next year.
"In the near future we'll finish a flagship model, which will be able to compete with Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy S III," said Dennis van Schie, CVP, Head of Sales and Marketing for Sony Mobile Communications in conversation with Financial Times Deutschland.
Additionally, a spokesperson for Sony has also suggested that this flagship model would be available on display at CES in Las Vegas and at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona early next year.
According to Van Schie, currently, Sony doesn't have any plans to release a Windows Phone device and the company will focus all of its mobile efforts on Android.
There are several rumored Sony phones and the only one that fits the description of a true iPhone/Galaxy S III competitor is the Sony C660X 'Yuga'. It's supposed to run on a quad-core Krait CPU, have a 13MP camera, and enjoy a 5-inch 1080p display. Of course, you can never know with these things as some rumors suggest an Xperia C650x Odin will be the company's flagship for next year.
"We will unveil new tablets besides our existing Xperia S tablet, but not many," Van Schie also shared. The reason for that is the cut-throat price competition in this segment. "It has become very difficult to make money with tablets."
After the drama, hold-ups, bitching and sniping that has so far been the UK's 4G roll-out, Ofcom is keen to avoid a repeat performance so it's already talking next-next-gen networks.
The future networks, which we'll refer to as 5G for now, will run on new airwaves that Ofcom plans to release in the relatively near future.
The body is concerned that as we use more and more mobile data, we're running the risk of a 'capacity crunch' which could affect both mobile networks and digital TV.
Gee up
This doesn't mean we can flick a switch and get 5G now; although more airwaves will be available, Ofcom isn't unveiling any secret hidden spectrum today.
In fact, it's only unveiling plans that still need to be agreed internationally, and the fruits of today's labour won't be in place before 2018 at the earliest.
Ofcom plans to draw on the 700MHz frequency band - currently used for digital terrestrial TV (e.g. Freeview) – to bring the UK in line with the rest of Europe.
Digital TV can use alternative frequencies now which may require people to retune their TVs, but won't mean another major switchover style operation. Some may need to replace their rooftop aerials too.
But it's all for the greater good, says Ed Richards, Ofcom's chief exec, who warns that the upcoming 4G spectrum auction "may not be enough to meet consumers' future demands".
Give your android device added beans with these hints and tips
Jelly Bean may not be the same huge leap forward as Ice Cream Sandwich, but it still brings a lot of new features and functionality to the operating system.
Many of these are improvements to the smoothness of rendering on the device - it even briefly boosts the CPU when the screen's turned on to make things super slick and speedy. Google dubs these little performance and software improvements as being "buttery", assumedly referring to some nice spreadable Lurpak rather than a solidified hunk of congealed milk.
The other big addition here is Google Now. This adds personalised recommendations and information based on your browsing history. Some people love its perceptive usefulness, others hate its pervy, intrusive nature.
One thing's for sure though: the Siri-like voice search feature is awesome.
As ever, these tips are based on the vanilla installation of Android, so your mileage may vary depending on how many layers of extra "features" have been added by your phone or tablet's manufacturer.
1. Say "Google" to search
If you're in America, you can open Google Now and say "Google" followed by your query to search the net. If you're not in America, you can trick Android into thinking you are. Open the settings on your device, choose "Language and input", then switch Google Voice Typing's language from "Automatic" to "English (US)". Next go to Google Now's settings and again change the language to "English (US)". You should see "Search or say Google" in Now's search bar. Faking an American accent: optional.
2. Now settings
You can open now in two ways - either swipe up from the Home icon, or swipe the lock icon up when the screen is locked. When you first start it, Now will run through the basics of what it does, and even show you some example cards. In Now's settings, you'll find each card has its own notifications settings, which apply to both the Now homescreen and the Notification shade. Standard means that new cards are accompanied by a ringtone and vibration, Low priority places them at the bottom of the list without any notification, and off, well, turns them off altogether.
3. Talk to Google Now
Google Now also includes Siri-like functionality, supplying spoken answers to your inane questions. Try things like, "what time is it in Kuala Lumpur?", "when's Tom Cruise's birthday I want to send him a card?", "how do I get home?" or "will it be sunny tomorrow?" and Now will speak the answer back at you or search the web for relevant pages.
4. Get more Google Now cards
Google Now presents relevant information such as weather and places on "cards". To begin with it may be a little sparse, but searching the web from any device will give you more. Just make sure your web history is enabled: visit history.google.com, hit the settings cog and ensure that Web History is on and not paused. Next, search Google for favourite football teams, planned flights and destinations and the relevant cards will pop up automatically.
5. Notification Shade
We previously referred to it as the "pully-down menu thing", but apparently it's officially called the "Notification Shade". Niftily, certain notifications in the shade can be expanded by sliding two fingers outwards on them, giving you an overview of the subject headers in your email inbox, for example. Moving two fingers inwards on a notification neatly contracts them, too.
6. Rotation lock
You're sitting on a plane watching a vid in horizontal orientation. Suddenly, the plane banks sharply to the left and - oh no! - the video changes orientation. This worst-case-scenario can be avoided by tapping the rotation lock in the Notification Shade, which keeps the screen in its current orientation. Tap it again to unlock the rotation.
7. Turn notifications off
Install enough apps and the notification bar at the top of your Android device becomes the digital equivalent of an unending stream of ticker tape. In fact, Airpush is an entire advertising company that makes money in this way. Fortunately, each and every app you install in Jelly Bean has the option to turn this off. Go to its info page under Apps, uncheck the box labelled "Show notifications" and enjoy your empty notifications bar.
8. Equalise your music
The ability to adjust those all-important bass and treble settings has been sorely missed on Android devices - so much so that a bunch of apps have been made to enable it. It's fixed in Android's stock music player, though. Open a music file in the stock player, hit Settings then choose Equaliser. Here you'll find manual sliders, a load of presets and bass and 3D effects. Unfortunately it doesn't work for the whole device, but it will give your tunes a little more oomph.
9. Rearrange your home screens
Long-press on any icon or widget on your homescreen and you can move it around, and other icons and widgets will shift out of the way to fit it in. Bigger widgets can also be resized by long-pressing and releasing them, and then dragging the circles that appear on the edges. It's actually quite fun and satisfying. We just spent three hours doing nothing but this.
10. Fling to remove
Homescreen app clutter (surely the worst of all types of clutter) can be quickly and easily defeated. Long-press an icon or widget, then fling it upwards and it'll ascend into shortcut heaven. This won't uninstall the app, though - it'll still reside in your app drawer.
11. Owner info
Wait! Put down that blunt rock you were about to use to chisel your contact details into the back of your Android device! Jelly Bean includes the ability to display a few lines of contact details on the lock screen, such as your email address, name and phone number. You'll need to enable a screen lock from Security, and then you'll see the Owner info option appear. This information is mirrored across all Jelly Bean devices, too.
12. Access App info
The all-important App info screen - which allows you to uninstall, stop and disable apps - can be accessed in a completely new way with Jelly Bean. Pull down the notification shade, long-press on an open task and you'll be taken straight to the settings page for the relevant app. It's handy if you don't know which app displayed the notification.
13. Volume controls
You can now set the volume for all the noisiest bits of your Android device individually. Press the volume up or down key and you'll the familiar little slider with a settings icon to the right of this. Tap this and you'll see separate sliders for media, and notifications and ringtones. Bonus tip: each of these sliders can be, er, slid, with your finger.
14. Talkback
Designed for blind and low-vision users, Talkback provides an ongoing narration of what's displayed on your phone or tablet. You can turn it on via Accessibility, and then you'll be taken through a tutorial of its functions. It's a very different way of navigating your device, and quite interesting to experience. It also supports braille input and output devices via USB and Bluetooth.
15. Blink to unlock
While face unlock is smart and quick, more paranoid users may worry that a ne'er-do-weller could somehow steal an image of their face - or their actual face - and use it to access the device. Android's Liveness check requires the user to blink before the device is unlocked, preventing access if a quick eye-shut isn't detected.
16. Offline speech-to-text
Being able to dictate long and rambling texts to loved ones is quite an old Android feature, but it's just got a whole lot better with an offline mode. Go to Google voice typing settings under Language & input and choose Download offline speech recognition. Now you'll be able to dictate that great novel without being distracted by Reddit.
17. Beam it across
Android Beam works with near-field communication (NFC) to enable fast data exchange between two devices. You'll need to make sure it's enabled first - you'll find it under Wireless & networks. You'll also need to know where the NFC area is on your device. This isn't a problem for phones, but it can be just about anywhere on the back of a ludicrously large tablet, so do a quick Google to find out where it is.
18. Simple secure pairing
Simple secure pairing works alongside NFC to provide a quick and easy way to connect Bluetooth accessories such as headsets, speakers and keyboards. You don't actually need to do anything other than activate NFC to use it, but make sure whatever you're pairing with is Simple secure pairing-compatible.
19. Calendar notifications
Any events you've been invited to via Google Calendar will show up in the notifications blind. From here you can expand it and quickly send a pre-defined response (Such as "I'll be there in 10 minutes") or type your own. Quick responses can be edited from within the General settings of the Calendar app itself. Perfect for you social butterflies.
20. Gallery views
Android snappers will love its new gallery features. Pinch on photos to zoom out into a filmstrip mode, where all your pics are displayed side-by-side. Swipe left and right to browse all your snaps quickly, and slide up and down on individual images to delete them. The gallery then gives you just enough time to realise you've canned the wrong thing and undo your delete.
21. Wi-Fi savings
It's all too easy to run up costs when you're on public or mobile WiFi. Tethering a tablet to a phone can suck a surprising amount of data, and public WiFi, such as that found in hotels, sometimes have ridiculously strict usage policies. In Jelly Bean's Data usage settings you'll find the option to designate certain WiFi networks as Mobile hotspots, which stops background apps accessing data and could save you lots of cash. If there's another Jelly Bean device on the same network it'll pick up its Mobile hotspot settings, too.
22. Try the stock keyboard
The Swiftkey keyboard is enormously popular among Android users, and for good reason: it monitors your typing and grammatical style uses this to predict words. Jelly Bean's keyboard now offers the same functionality, using bigram prediction and correction to complete words and sentences. We've found it to be every bit as good as Swiftkey, and even slightly faster and slicker.
23. Reboot to safe mode
Ah safe mode, the saviour of so many Windows PCs. Thanks to the sheer amount of dodgy apps on the Play Store it's on Android now, too. Long-press the power button, then long-press the Power off option. Choose OK to reboot in safe mode, which completely disables all third-party apps on your device. Then hunt down and destroy that nefarious bit of software..
24. Reset app preferences
Android gives you loads of different options for each installed app, and on the whole this is a very good thing. Sometimes it can be a bad thing, though: you may find your phone playing up because a crucial app has been disabled, or you've changed the notifications for something important like emails. In the apps drawer, you'll find Reset app preferences under the settings. This resets all your apps on a global level, returning actions and data settings to their original levels.
25. Add emojis
"Emojis" are the Japanese version of emoticons, and like most things from Japan they're much better and cooler than their western counterparts. You can enable emoji support for the default Jelly Bean keyboard by choosing Language & input in the settings app, then going to the settings for the stock Android keyboard. Here, choose Add-on dictionaries and select Emoji for English words. When you next type certain words (there's a complete list here) you'll see its symbol appear in the predictions bar. It's like Wingdings never died.
26. Sound search
The good news: Google has created its own version of Shazam. Known as What's that Song?, the widget works in much the same way, matching snippets of music to its database and providing you with the artist, track and album. The bad news: due to licencing restrictions it's only available in certain countries, and we don't live in one of them. Keep an eye on your widgets tray when you update, though - Google could well re-implement it in the future.
27. Add accounts
Android devices - especially tablets - are great for passing around and sharing. But until now switching between various Google accounts has involved wiping the whole device and starting again. Jelly Bean's handy Add account feature takes pride of place in the settings app, making it easy to add multiple Gmail addresses to your device. There's still no quick way of switching users, but it is a step in the right direction.
28. Take and share screenshots
The number of times we've pressed the power button and volume down to take a screenshot is truly astonishing. It gets even better in Jelly Bean - as soon as you've taken a screenshot, you can expand its notification from the blind and share it from there. Perfect for showing off just how handsome and brilliant Android is to your iOS friends.
29. Device encryption
Paranoid users with sensitive materials on their devices love encryption: it basically scrambles all your content so it can't be read by hackers or thieves. It's been a part of Android for a while, but Jelly Bean gets it spot on, even periodically reminding you to encrypt your device. You'll find Encryption under your phone or tablet's security settings.
30. Voice searches on the go
Plug an Android-compatible headset into your device, then long press its button and voila: Google voice search. You'll get spoken results and answers straight into your brain, and it comes in especially useful if you're lost but don't want to stop listening to your banging, disorientating tunes.
31. Add quick controls to the browser
One of the options buried beneath the Labs section of Android 4.0's web browser is the Quick Controls option. This adds a pop-out menu to the browser, which pulls in a little semi-circular collection of shortcuts to the main browser features, removing the URL bar and giving you more screen to play with. Also, holding down the Back button is the Android standard way of bringing up the bookmarks and history tool, too. But that's been around for years.
32. Long-press to uninstall
Long-pressing on an app within the app drawer lets you drag it to a Home screen, but it also pops up a couple of menus along the top of the screen. App Info gives you the boring technical stuff about how much memory it's taking up, or you can fling it off the other way to uninstall it.
33. Flying Android screensaver
One odd undocumented little secret within Android 4.0 is this strange little collection of flying Androids, which you can... look at. Look at for as long as you like. To activate it, head into the phone's About screen and hammer away at the Android Version tab and it'll all happen.
34. Save your eyes with inverted rendering
Inverted rendering is a posh way of saying it makes the pages black and turns the text white, so it looks like you're reading the internet from 1997. It also supposedly saves battery, plus is easier on the eyes if you're reading in the dark. It's under the browser's settings tab, within the accessibility area - and there's a contrast slider, too.
35. Set a custom rejection text message
When your Twitter action is rudely interrupted by someone actually telephoning you, there's a polite way to give the caller the boot. Android 4.0 lets users ping a rejection text message to callers - and you're able to customise this too. Just answer a call and ping the lock screen notification up to access to custom rejection messaging area.
36. Stop app icons automatically appearing
One of the many new ICS features is the way Google lets apps automatically add shortcuts to themselves on your Home screen when they've finished installing. It's useful, but if you're a control freak and wish to remain 100% in charge of your Home layout, head to the Google Play app's settings tab and untick the Auto-add Shortcuts toggle.
37. There's a Settings shortcut in the Notifications pane
That little settings icon in the ICS notifications area isn't just art to fill the space. It's a shortcut to your phone or tablet's settings area. So use that instead of giving it a Home screen icon slot all to itself.
38. Manually close apps
Google's lovely new recent apps multitasking menu also lets you close apps quickly, should you suspect one's gone rogue. A Long-press within the Recent Apps listing lets you visit the app's info page, from where you can easily force close it.
39. Remove the lock screen
It's possible to entirely bin your Android 4.0 lock screen, making the phone instantly turn itself on when you press the power button. It's a security nightmare, but if your phone lives entirely on your desk and you demand instant access without any unlocking, head to Security > Screen lock and select none. Then be very careful.
40. Folders in the dock
Android's new official love of folder formation makes it dead easy to combine app shortcuts and make folders, simply by dragging one icon on top of another. You can make these groups of apps even easier to access by dragging a folder onto the ICS floating dock, meaning you can squeeze stacks more content on to each creaking Home screen.
41. Take photos while recording video
The Android 4.0 camera app that arrived with the Galaxy Nexus has one cool little extra feature - the ability to fire off still photos while recording video clips. Simply tapping the screen takes a shot at full resolution, which is saved to the phone's gallery while the video's still happily recording away.
42. Bin animations and transitions
Hidden within the Developer Options section of the Ice Cream Sandwich software are quite a few nerdy ways to adapt your phone. Most won't be of any use to those who are just using their phone as a phone, but if you want it to feel faster, or at least look a little different, the scrolling, zooming effects on windows and menus can be edited in many ways.
43. Take a grab of your phone
Screen grabbing of your phone's display is finally in Android. On the Galaxy Nexus, it's activated through holding the power button and volume down switch. On HTC's new models it's done by holding the power button and pressing Home. Other phones had different techniques for doing this before Ice Cream Sandwich, but it's good to see this now becoming part of the standard Android feature set in Android 4.0.
44. Long-press dotted words
When typing on the Android 4.0 keyboard, you may see some suggested words appear with the "..." icon beneath. Doing a long-press on this one will pop up a much bigger window of suggested words, letting you bail out on some of that tedious typing a little quicker.
45. Add additional faces
The ICS face unlock feature, as found in the Galaxy Nexus, lets you unlock it by scanning your face with the front camera. Which is great, but what if you haven't shaved for a month? The software can actually store multiple images of your face, so you can do left parting, right parting, shaved, unshaved - or even add a trusted a friend to the visually verified user list.
46. Experiment with GPU settings
Another hidden little gem found within the Development options tab is the hardware acceleration 'Force On' toggle. This makes ICS attempt to boost the performance of any apps that don't already use the feature. It may also break them in the process, though, so it's something of a trial and error fiddling exercise to do on a very rainy day.
47. Type like an adult
Make a stand for grammatical standards in this day and age by long-pressing on the stock Android 4.0 keyboard's full stop button. This brings up such doomed punctuation as commas and speech marks, plus even a semicolon for the extra brave mobile typist.
48. Nick wallpapers off the internet
Found a lovely photograph of some stars, a pretty computer generated planet or even the mighty Professor Brian Cox himself? Long-pressing on any image in the web browsers lets you instantly set it as your wallpaper, without the hassle of saving it, finding it, and setting it the long way.
49. Limit background process
If you fancy an even more serious bit of fiddling, the same ICS developer area contains the option to "limit background process" demands by the OS. You can use this to stop your phone or tablet storing so many apps in memory. Whether this has any effect of the actual battery life of us users is up for debate, but again, it's something to play with and see if it suits your phone use patterns.
50. Quickly access Notifications
Here's a simple yet huge change Google's made in Android 4.0 - the Notifications pane can be accessed from the lock screen. Press power, touch the Notifications area, then scroll down to read your latest messages. Obviously it's a bit of a security risk and lets anyone access your messages, so best be careful.
