Warranties, app stores and me

Friday, January 6th, 2012

My late uncle and I were very different people. Despite being the two ‘fixers’ in the family, the ones who got the busted kettles and the snapped gear cables from the rest of the clan, we were poles apart in one area: our approach to warranties. Even though he would keep his cars going for 20 years, he had a very sharp understanding of what should be his responsibility, and what was down to the vendor.

Actually, that’s an understatement. Woe betide the firm whose slipshod customer handling captured his attention. Once the horn-rimmed specs and the Brylcreemed bonce were aimed in their direction, he would pursue them relentlessly, his measured drawl torturing their receptionists until they actually did put him through to the MD or the Company Secretary (which incidentally is still quite a good one to try, since chancers seldom know enough about company law and structure to try that route).

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Windows 8: apps and the Store

Tuesday, September 13th, 2011

As we discussed in the new interface section, Windows 8 now supports two different kind of applications: the new Metro Style apps and conventional desktop software. What’s more, Microsoft is launching its own Store to sell them both from.

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Android App of the Week: Garmin Mechanic

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Garmin is best known for its satnav devices but, with smartphones encroaching on its territory, the Swiss firm has begun releasing smartphone software — with Garmin Mechanic, our Android App of the Week, one of the first to arrive.

As the name suggests, it’s not a traditional satnav service. Instead, it’s a monitoring and diagnostic tool for your car, tracking your journey and serving up a wealth of details for inquisitive drivers.

The main screen — with a sleek, gunmetal grey UI — shows your average speed, distance travelled and total time for your current journey, and below these vital statistics sit bars that illustrate your accelleration, braking and variation to your average speed in real time. At the bottom of the screen is a graph that illustrates your speed, average speed and, if you choose, your current and average fuel economy. (more…)

Android App of the Week: BBC iPlayer

Monday, February 14th, 2011

The sluggish attitude of the BBC to Android apps has meant that numerous pretenders have appeared: search for BBC in the Android Market and you’ll find dozens of tools that provide stories from the corporation’s news and sports sites, as well as a couple that provide iPlayer content unofficially.

That’s changed with the release of an official iPlayer app. It’s potentially one of the biggest apps to ever hit the market, and it’s been released simultaneously with the iPad edition.

Boot up the app and it’s immediately obvious this is something special. Featured programmes sit at the top of the screen, and scrolling down sees more fade into view smoothly. Switch your phone around and you’re able to scroll horizontally through Auntie’s top content.

Click on a show and the familiar iPlayer layout appears, with options to share the the show over any social-networking apps you’ve got installed or add it to your favourites for later viewing. Graphics illustrate the programme’s channel, duration and availability on iPlayer, and there are eight links to recommend shows at the bottom of the screen – just scroll through them horizontally and click. (more…)

Google doesn’t know what an “app” is

Thursday, February 3rd, 2011

Words are frequently abused in the tech industry. There are “hacks” that involve zero hacking, “downloads” when people mean uploads, “viruses” used to refer to anything faintly malicious on a computer.

Yet, the one that’s been so wildly abused that it deserves a sugary cup of tea and its own counsellor is the word “app”.

Until the iPhone came along, the word “application” largely meant a self-contained piece of software installed on a PC or Mac. Then Apple took ownership, trimmed it to three letters, and within months the word “app” became synonymous with small widgets of code for smartphones. Now, Google’s pushing the boundaries of the “app” definition even further.

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Intel AppUp vs Mac App Store

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

You may think that Apple beat the PC world to the punch when it comes to desktop app stores, with the January launch of the Mac App Store. However, Intel actually unveiled its own AppUp store last year, although you’d be forgiven for missing its less dramatic arrival.

To help raise the Intel app platform’s profile, PC World and Currys are giving away free copies of Angry Birds. As I own the lovely but limited HTC Wildfire, I’m yet to play the game, so figured now’s my chance — and when deputy editor Barry Collins looks over at my screen and sees me faffing about with furious cartoon birds, I can genuinely say it’s for a news story.

But it wasn’t to be.

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Android App of the Week: Pulse

Monday, January 17th, 2011

Android news apps are pretty samey. I’m a regular user of a pair of unofficial BBC News apps alongside software such as World Newspapers and Eurogamer, and, while they’re undoubtedly useful, many of these apps aren’t what I’d call attractive.

Our first Android App of the Week for 2011, though, takes this basic template – listing the latest posts from popular news and entertainment sites – and gives it a thorough makeover.

It’s called Pulse, is developed by Alphonso Labs, and formats the news in a grid rather than in a list: scroll down through different sources, and swipe from left to right through the stories available.

Each story is presented with a small headline and a bigger picture, and it’s all wrapped up in a clean UI with a black, blue and grey colour scheme.

Adding a news source is as easy as clicking a button at the bottom of the list, and sources are divided into categories – from business, entertainment and fashion to food, gaming, music and tech. Each category’s packed with top titles, and Google Reader integration makes it easy to add your favourites. There’s even the option to use bump and trade your news sources with other Pulse users. (more…)

Is the Mac App Store the start of another revolution?

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

Apple’s Mac App Store opened its virtual doors today, and if it’s like any other Apple Store opening, hordes of fans will have flooded it to shop.

But is this an idea that’s going to take-off like the iPhone or sink like the Newton?

The store interface itself is as slick as anything designed by Apple, with much in common with the iPad App Store. One of the nicest features is the tabs along the top. While three offer ways to find and buy apps — featured, top charts and categories — the other two allow one click access to previous purchases and updates, which seems a handy organisational tool.

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The 10 best Android hacks

Sunday, January 2nd, 2011

The web’s massed fanboy armies will debate the relative merits of iOS and Android until the apocalypse, but there’s no denying Google’s OS wins out when it comes to customisation – and, if you’ve taken the plunge and rooted your device, then a whole load more options will become available.

It sounds like a complex procedure but, for virtually all Android handsets, it’s surprisingly easy: our own Technical Editor, Darien Graham-Smith, explained how to do it back in September, and instructions for major handsets – such as the HTC Desire, Samsung Galaxy S and Sony Ericsson Xperia X10 are easy enough to find, although you’ll be taking your phone and, perhaps, your warranty, into your own hands if you proceed.

Still, that’s not to say that you need a rooted handset to take advantages of some of these tweaks – here are ten of our favourite Android hacks and tricks, rooted or not:

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Android App of the Week: Posterous

Monday, December 20th, 2010

Social-networking tool Posterous has been around since May 2008, and it’s gained a sizeable following thanks to its minimalist design, which allows you to post links to photos, MP3 files, documents and video in seconds.

While Posterous has a fully functional mobile site, we’re surprised that it’s taken this long for an Android app to appear, especially since the iPhone version was launched in August 2009.

We’re pleased it has, though, because the new app makes using this simple service even more convenient. Open the app and click the button marked Post and you’re presented with a simple blogging interface, with title and body copy boxes alongside a couple of option buttons: the former allows you to add tags and location information, and the latter facilitates photo or video attachments.

The app lets you post to several different sites – handy if you’ve got one to post news about your favourite sports team, for instance, and another for personal links and musings – and a range of settings means you can choose different levels of picture and video quality to conserve bandwidth. (more…)