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My favourite Android apps

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

The HTC Hero's homescreen After Editor/Overlord Tim Danton gave it a glowing review last month I took the plunge and upgraded my aging phone to the HTC Hero – and, so far, it’s been a fantastic experience. Android is proving to be a solid OS and HTC’s TouchFLO 3D interface makes the phone more intuitive than any I’ve used before.

I’ve been particularly impressed by the Android Market, though, which has introduced me to numerous tools and widgets that have quickly become indespensable.

Take Google’s own Places Directory, which is a prime example of how apps can be used to make life easier. Using the Hero’s built-in GPS, the software notes down your location and figures out what banks, bars, restaurants, shops, attractions and transport links are in your area – and then provides you with a route to the service you’ve chosen using Google Maps, which updates in real-time. It’s already proved invaluable when wandering around unfamiliar areas of London and works extremely well – and is a superb advert for the Hero.

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Tags: Android, apple, apps, Google, Hero, htc, iphone

Posted in: Random

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How to get the most from your new iPhone

Friday, December 26th, 2008

You’ve ripped off the wrapping, pried open that little black box, plugged in your SIM card and charged and registered your brand new iPhone. You spend an hour gleefully reading the BBC News site and checking your inbox for emails that don’t appear; you take a few photos and giggle as you zoom in and out by pinching. And then… err… then what?

Tweak the settings

First things first. The iPhone’s battery isn’t its strongest point, so the priority is to get rid of any unnecessary drains. Go to Settings and change the Fetch New Data settings to a wider interval – or off completely – if you don’t need constant email updates, lower the auto-lock timer, and consider disabling Bluetooth and the GPS location services until you actually need to use them.

If you don’t generally need your phone for communication at night you should seriously consider switching on Airplane Mode, as it disconnects you from all networks – thus saving on power – but keeps the clock, alarm and all other basic functions running as normal.

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Tags: App Store, Apple iPhone, apps, FieldRunners, Google, iTalk, shortcuts, Super Monkey Ball, tips

Posted in: Hardware, Software

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