New Exploit to 'Hack Android Phones Remotely' threatens Millions of Devices

Attention Android users!



Millions of Android devices are vulnerable to hackers and intelligence agencies once again – Thanks to a newly disclosed Android Stagefright Exploit.



Yes, Android Stagefright vulnerability is Back…



…and this time, the Stagefright exploit allows an attacker to hack Android smartphones in 10 seconds just by tricking users into visiting a hacker's web page

How to Install Android 6.0 Marshmallow and When will Your Smartphone Get it?

Google is eager to release the latest version of its mobile operating system, Android 6.0 Marshmallow, to some of its Smartphone and Tablet lineup.



The latest Android 6.0 Marshmallow update brings a whole host of new features, including Doze mode, App permissions, Google Now on Tap, "Do not disturb" setting, and easier volume controls, among other features. 



Read: You can check out the

LG G Flex2 With 5.5-Inch Curved Display Launched

LG G Flex2- First Revealed Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 Smartphone

At CES 2015, LG has launched the G Flex2 smartphone which would be made available by the end of January in Korea and will be released in the global market, thereafter. The flexible phone could probably cost more than the LG G3. The LG G Flex2 is the first revealed Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 smartphone and is coupled with the Adreno 430 GPU together with 2GB of LPDDR4 RAM. This single SIM smartphone features a 5.5 inch full HD curved P-OLED display with a 1080 x 1920 pixels resolution and a 403ppi pixel density and runs Android 5.0Lollipop.

It has a display of 700mm radius curvature and the back is a bit sharper with a 650mm radius curvature for the purpose of gripping. According to LG, the Corning Gorilla Glass 3 has been toughened to around 20% from the earlier generation with the firm’s own special chemical treatment technology and LG calls this Dura-Guard glass. The complete phone is apparently 30% more durable than the original one. Besides this, the company has also enhanced the `Self-Healing’ back from the earlier LG G Flex which will now get healed at room temperature within 10 seconds, that is considerably lower than the last generations’ of three minutes to recover.

Curved Embedded 3000mAh Non Removable Battery

The new LG smartphone also features advance 13.0 megapixel main camera with laser based auto focus technology which is seen in the company flagship G3. It has a 2.1 megapixel snapper with gesture shot feature in the front, where the user could use hand gesture in order to take a selfie from a distance of 1.5 meters away from the phone.

LG G Flex2 would be competing against top tier brands such as Samsung Galaxy S6 & S6 Edge, HTC one M9+ as well as Apple iPhone 6 & 6 Plus. With regards to connectivity, the LG G Flex2 comprises of 4G LTE-A together with tri-band carrier combination, HSPA+, Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac, Bluetooth Smart Ready (Apt-X) 4.1, NFC, GPS/A-GPS, SlimPort, GLONASS and USB 2.0. It measures 149.1 x 75.3 x 7.1 – 9.4mm, weighing 152 gms. It packs a curved embedded 3000mAh non removable battery

Gesture Shot/Glance View/Fast Charging

Other features include simple hand `Gesture Shot’ recognisable from around 1.5 meters distance, and `Gesture View’ helps to check the last clicked shot. For `Glance View’, one could swipe down for notifications even when the screen is off while `Fast Charging’ can charge the better up to 50% within 40 minutes. Presently the smartphone is available in Titan Silver/16GB variant. The LG G Flex2, at first glance seems every bit of a premium device from LG.

 It is equipped with a fast processor, a decent camera and sharp display and is comparatively a good improvement from the first gen LG Flex. We need to wait and see how fast it would be over its contemporaries as this is the first Qualcomm Snapdragon 810 SoC sporting phone to be launched in India. The company has confirmed that the product would be made available all over India in stores as well as on e-commerce sites like Flipkart and will be priced at Rs.54,990.

5 Things You Can Do By Shaking Your Smartphone

Shaking Smartphone to Get Things Done

There are various things that one can be done with the smartphone though most of them need to go through the user interface in order to get things done. One could do things by just shaking the device and from undoing typos to dating, there are five things which can be done by simply shaking the smartphone or even the power bank. If something is written and there is an error.

 The need of holding the delete key is now not essential and one could just shake the phone and this trick works with the iPhone which enables the user to undo or cancel any action by shaking the phone. Once the iPhone is shaken, a pop up window provides two options of `Undo or Cancel’. On tapping the option on Undo will remove the unwanted text just typed in. Should the need to restore arise; you could shake the iPhone again and tap the Redo option.

Shake to `Undo’ works apps are built in iOS such as Safari, Notes, Mail and Messages. Changing music by sliding down the playlist has become out-dated.

Shake to Shuffle seems to be a handy feature for the iPod Touch and iPhone users to rapidly shuffle their present playlist and the need to unlock the device and navigate through the Music app does not arise. By going to the music settings, this feature could be activated.

Shake to locate the charge available in power bank where most power banks tend to come with a button which indicates how much charge could be left. However the OnePlus Power does not seem to be the average power bank. One could simple shake it and the LED’s light that lights up provides the information on how much charge is available.

Shake to date – We Chat app provides a variety of features such as Live Chat, Group chat , Video calling as well as push-to-talk though the feature known as the `Shake’ feature is not known by many which helps the user to find new friends. To make use of this feature, all that is needed is to shake the phone and the app will be able to help the user to get connected with other individuals who tend to simultaneously shake their phone, at the same time.

Shake to get talktime and freebies – My Airtel’ app of Airtelhas come up with interesting features which enables prepaid users with free talktime, internet data packs as well as other offers. Prepaid subscribers of Airtel have to install the app and get connected with their account to find offers and to locate offers; they have to simply shake their phone when they are within the app. This feature presently functions only with Android.

LG Snaps At Apple and Samsung with Photo-Focussed G4

LG Unveiled Its New Flagship – LG G4

LG recently unveiled the leather clad G4 smartphone, the brand’s new flagship which looks nothing like its competitors. Surrounding the screen, the front features a fake carbon-fibre finish if one opts for one of the textured composite version, while the back of the G4 handsets are of real leather.

Options of few colour choices are available which range from conservative black and tan to more outlandish yellow and teal. They tend to have a double stitched seam down the back which is expected to look handmade, though it is not.

The most impressive part of the LG G4 is the screen which has a refined curve that supplements the arched back of the case and the screen is more approachable than the G Flex 2 without noticing the concavity while viewing a picture or watching video.

The size is five and a half inches with resolution, brightness as well as saturation and one of the best smartphone displays at the moment. LG is still unclear on the details but has assured that the G4 would be getting more than a full day’s recharge even if the usage is quite heavy

Camera Great Improvement 

The camera is a great improvement from what was earlier offered by LG in the G3. The back facing camera is 15 megapixels having an f/1.8 lens which tends to focus in 0.276 seconds and the tool can launch and snap an image in just 0.6 seconds from sleep.

It is difficult to state if the 0.1 stop bump over the camera of Galaxy S6 would be an obvious improvement for the users though LG would be marketing the G4 as the phone for the purpose of photography conscious users. On viewing the LG G4, it is notable that LG’s approach to this new entry is distinct from the Apple or Samsung which looks different.

The LG G4 seems like it would be a strong flagship smartphone, though not a bona-fide luxury product. Its big screen which would make Instagrams looks more enticing. With the camera being a major step up in its feature and the phone claiming to have long battery life, it could offer the greatest luxury of all, which is more time.

To Debut in Early June 

The G4 will debut in the U.S. in early June and would be at a cost comparably to the G3. No firm details are available at the moment. Till then LG is planning phones with actual user in beta test and probably more information would be revealed shortly.

Some of the key features comprise of a sophisticated as well as a powerful camera, enabling users in obtaining professional grade adjustments in capturing image. The launch comes at a key time for the South Korean firm and the company is said to have reported its latest quarterly figure on smartphone of around 26% on the same period last year, forming the main part of its profitability.

It has a distinctive design feature in the form of leather back. BBC had been at the London launch of the phone to enquire with the technology media, for its opinion on the device.

Windows 10 For Phones May Launch On A High-End Smartphone

In case you are amid follower of the news that is being published about Microsoft in the last couple of months, you have started wondering about their plans for the high end segment. Rumours suggest that the company is planning to debut a high end phone with Windows 10.

The company at present is awaiting the official announcement of the Windows 10 before they can unveil its high end windows based phones. This information has been revealed by Ravi Kunwar, who is the Director - North, Nokia India Sales.

He had participated in a chat along with the company during the launch of Lumia 430. He added that their Company has been focusing on their budget segment, as they still have to work on the premium budget as well. Once the budget has been done, they will start working on the unveiling of the devices later in this year alongside Windows 10 launch.


From the perspective of the company, this move is appropriate, as it will allow them to continue and improvise on the computing power of all the features of the Windows 10 specially the Continuum aspect. This is the main reason why the highly rumored the high end Lumia 940 might debut later this year and somewhat the same time as that of Windows 10. What is the most important thing to remember is that the Windows 10 Continuum feature is similar to that of 'Continuity' feature of Apple and other similar features by Google as well.


What remains a surprise is that a company like Microsoft has been shying away from the 4G connectivity from a long time. The company has never tried to impose the 4G element in any of their devices apart from the Lumia 638. Compared to this the competitors of the company like Xiaomi, Samsung, and Motorola apart from others have already started incorporating 4G connectivity as critical part of many of their devices.

Kunwar has also confirmed that Microsoft is already 4G ready at the back end. This indicates that whether they are using the 4G or not, the current phones from the company are already capable of 4G connectivity since Microsoft has the capability of adding the 4G functionality by means of a software update. He further added that 3G is currently the most widespread method of internet connectivity in India. This is the main reason why even Microsoft is focusing on this area.


In the past, Microsoft has already unveiled many more devices like Lumia 540, Lumia 530, Lumia 430, 435, 532, 640XL and 640 among others. All these devices have been marketed in India despite the fact that they are operating only using the 3G connectivity.

They have never tried to market or sell any of their devices based on 4G element. From what it looks like all or atleast most of their devices are easily capable of working on 4G connectivity and the company is already working on enabling these features in India owing to increasing 4G connectivity.

Smartphones Could Be Used to Detect Earthquakes

Smartphones – Used as Initial Warning Signals for Earthquakes

According to a latest research, smartphones could now be used as initial warning signals for huge earthquakes. The built-in GPS sensors in the smartphones could help in detecting the quakes, giving several seconds of warning to people living in the vicinity which would be yet to be hit by earthquakes. The smartphone can detect big earthquakes with magnitude of 7.0 or larger as per the study published in the journal Science Advances.

The study indicate that the technique `crowdsourcing’, could be useful in sections of the world, which are vulnerable to quakes, in the absence of costly warning systems. With crowdsourcing observations from user’s smartphones, one can detect earthquakes, analyse and customize quake warnings which can be transmitted back to users. According to LiveScience, the system is still to be tested though a pilot project is scheduled later this year in Chile.

Geophysicist, Kristine Larson, of the University of Colorado, Boulder, states `what is really nice about this work is they are using sensors that people carry around anyway and it could be very useful’. Prior to an earthquake,a little bit of warning could help the people in seeking some help by taking shelter, nuclear power plants could take last minute precautions and natural gas utilities could shut down pipelines.

Crowd sourcing Earthquake Initial Warning System 

Japan has an early warning system which relies on over 1000 seismometers all over the country thus saving lives during the magnitutde-9 Tohoku earthquake which hit in 2011. Mexico too has a similar system while another is under research in California. Though these systems could be time-consuming and expensive to install together with maintenance, cell phones could be an attractive choice in case of earthquake prone countries in developing world.

Earlier research of crowdsourcing earthquake initial warning systems have trusted on phones’ accelerometers that estimate the phone’s movement instead of GPS tracking locating the position of the phone with satellites. Though scientific GPS stations have been utilised in detecting earthquakes, the new study indicate that consumer devices with GPS could also be useful for crowd sourcing signals. Since most of the prevailing devices integrate GPS navigation which also includes vehicles, increasing amount of data could enhance the sensitivity of these efforts.

To comprehend if smart phones and other consumer devices could identify quakes with GPS, researchers tested the sensitivity of these devices. The cell phones tend to use a typically coarser method of positioning than the most sensitive scientific instruments that take advantage of more information that is encoded in the GPS signal.

Consumer GPS Devices – Identify Earthquakes of Magnitude 7 & Above

They studied the accuracy of cell phone GPS on shaking the phone, matching its recorded displacements with more accurate scientific device and monitored the phone for movement while holding it stationary and measured the chance for false alarms. The scientist believed that consumer GPS devices could identify earthquakes of magnitude 7 and above enabling probable warnings to people located away from the epicenter of the most critical earthquake, as reported in Science Advances.

Thereafter they tested the concept by using a computer stimulation of a magnitude-7 earthquake near Oakland, California on the Hayward fault, a probable area for future tremors which runs through the San Francisco Bay Area. On stimulating the typical response of cell phones shaking, they appraised the signals in cell phones near epicentre.

As per the researcher’s system, a quake activates a phone if the same and four adjoining devices tend to record instantaneous movements which could be greater than 5 centimetres. To clear out coincidences, the system tends to issue only an alert if more than 100 devices tend to see such causes.

Adequate Data –Improvement in Warning Potentials

Presuming data from 0.2% of population, less than 5000 people, the system was capable to identify the stimulated earthquake within five seconds a speed enabling a few seconds of warning prior to the strongest shaking started in San Francisco and 10 seconds before it started in San Jose, thus giving time for children to get beneath their desks and for trains to come to a halt.

They then tested their system with real data from Tohoku quake and used an array of 462 GPS stations all across Japan to estimate the data coming from cell phones. Though scientific instruments tend to be more precise than cell phones, they record lower quality data too which is same to data from consumer devices. With enhancement in technology and more devices integrate GPS tracking; this system could turn out to be more useful according to study author, Benjamin Brooks, an earthquake scientist in the U.S. Geological Survey in Menlo Park, California.

He states that `it is not really just about smart phones, it’s about all sorts of internet connected devices that have positioning associated with them – and think the numbers are going to be so large that one could be very liberal with criteria for using a specific device’. Detecting with cell phones could be difficult since users are always on the move though with adequate data, the system could depend on devices which are not in motion prior to the quaking thus improving the warning potentials.

BodyPrint Technology Turns Smartphones into Biometric Scanners

Yahoo! don’t want you to every time type a PIN or swipe your phone or scan your thumbprint in order to unlock your smartphone. Instead, it only wants you to place your smartphone device on your ear in order to do that.



A new concept from Yahoo’s Research Labs is out that doesn’t focus on old fingerprint biometric scanners that are major form of biometric security on today’s smartphones,

Your Location has been Shared 5,398 Times in Last 14 Days

Do you realize how often your smartphone is sharing your location data with various companies? It is more than 5000 times in just two weeks. That is little Shocking but True!



A recent study by the security researchers from Carnegie Mellon reveals that a number of smartphone applications collect your location-related data — a lot more than you think.



The security researcher released a

Samsung Galaxy S6 and Galaxy S6 Edge — 8 Things You Should Know

A whole lot of things gone in the official kickoff of Mobile World Congress 2015, but a unique phone with a curved screen on both sides of the device acquired everybody’s attention. That’s what unveiled by Samsung late Sunday.



Samsung has officially unveiled its next-generation flagship Smartphones — Samsung Galaxy S6 and Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge. This time, the company didn’t just focus on

ASUS ZenFone Zoom is the Thinnest 3x Optical Zoom Smartphone

Smartphones manufacturers are continually improving the cameras in the mobile devices. But ASUS has just run past the top mobile device manufacturers by bringing in the world’s thinnest 3x Optical Zoom in its new Smartphone offering. Asus new Smartphone Zenfone Zoom is similar to the Samsung’s Galaxy Zoom Line but it claims to have the thinnest and best Smartphone featuring a 3x optical zoom camera.

Specifications of Asus Zenfone Zoom

The Asus Zenfone Zoom boasts a robust and efficient 13 MP shooter with a 3x optical zoom along with a 12x digital zoom. It also possesses laser auto focus with optical image optical stabilization. For the users who are crazy about clicking selfies Asus had given a 5 MP front facing camera.

This camera is aptly complimented with a 5.5-inch screen featuring a full 1080x1920 resolution of IPS display on Gorilla Glass 3. ZenFone Zoom will run on Android 5.0 Lollipop with a ZEN UI which provides excellent interface and adds multi-functionality. It will have the modern 802.11 ac WiFi and storage could be enlarged upto 128 GB for storing all the beautiful photos.

Asus Zenfone is the thinnest of all with a 3x optical camera at just 11.95mm. It weighs around 185 grams and is powered by a 3000 mAh battery.

Some other distinct features of ZenFone Zoom are a dual-color LED Flash, HDR mode, Low light mode and enhanced beautification mode. It also has a zero shutter lag feature and manual camera controls which gives more opportunities to the users to take better pictures.

Anatomy of 3x Optical Zoom Camera

Wondering how ASUS happened to place 3x optical zoom camera within a slim body of its Smartphone. All credit goes to its development team which intelligently placed the periscope flat against a round metallic place. The front group of moving optics helps in zooming while the group behind helps in focusing and optical stabilization. Furthermore the camera machinery is crafted in such a way that the camera mechanics lies flat inside the phone’s body and there is no protruding part while zooming.

Technical Features of Asus Zenfone Zoom

Asus has undertaken a careful engineering in implementing a 10-element lens into a phone which is extremely thin. The lens of Zenfone Zoom has an aperture of f/2.7 to f/4.8 as well as it has a 13 mega-pixel sensor which promises to deliver highly sharp and detailed images. In order to enhance the photographing experience on the Smartphone Asus gives an important optical image stabilization system which stabilizes the photo and video capturing.

Price and Availability of This Influential Smartphone

Asus had revealed that this iconic is all set to launch in the second quarter of 2015. Tech experts believe that Asus wants to clear its existing ZenFone 4,5 and 6 series before it could launch another mobile device. However this Asus Smartphone falls under the premium phone category and therefore it rightly commands a price of $399. Company would inform about the geographical availability later on.

ViewSonic V55 Smartphone With Iris Scanner

One of most exciting rumors of 2014 was the inclusion of Iris-scanning technology as a prominent feature of the smart phones. Even though the technology was expected to be introduced in the flagship Samsung Galaxy handset, it really did not happen but still kept making headlines throughout the year. The technology was expected to see the daylight in 2014 but it could not happen.

However, the good news is here in 2015, the New Year brings out a break to this jinx and hopes are soaring higher as we will see the very first smartphone featuring the iris scanning and recognition technology. This is expected from ViewSonic, which is company largely associated with displays. The company will reportedly launch a smartphone packed with the Iris recognition technology sometime in January 2015.

Viewsonic’s New Smartphone: 

The California-based company is known to highlight their products at CES every year and hopes are quite high that the company will be launching the smartphone at the event this year. Gizmochina in a report has depicted the functions, features and also some of unseen images of this new  smartphone. The publication has even gone ahead and posted a YouTube video with the title "ViewSonic V55 teaser with Iris recognition technology". This video highlights the different features and how these features work on the smartphone. At the moment there is no information pertaining to the price of the new smartphone.

According to some of the reports, the new technology will ensure that only the owner of the phone, whose iris patterns are pre-recorded with will able to unlock the phone and allow the user to access information from the smartphone.

The reports also suggest that the ViewSonic V55 smartphone will have the iris scanner on top right corner of the handset, which will be covered with a small piece. The users of the phone will have to slide this covering piece to use the scanner. The report also indicates that when the user slides the screen to open the scanner, a light will automatically turn on to indicate that that scanner has been activated.

 The user or the owner of the smartphones will be able to protect their personal files and documents stored on their V55 smartphone by making use of the iris scanner. The reports add that for anyone to access any information that has been stored and protected by the Iris recognition sensor, they will need to the owner to scan their eye into the sensor and that’s how the information will be unlocked.

Specifications of ViewSonic V55: 

This smartphone is expected to be full of pack a 64-bit Snapdragon 410 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4GHz; 2GB RAM, Adreno 306 GPU; and comes in two built-in storage variants - 16GB and 32GB.

Further the smartphone is expected to sport a 5.5-inch full-HD (1080x1920 pixels) OGS display and also includes a 13-megapixel rear Sony camera. The smartphone is expected to support 4G LTE networks. But the only drawback is that there is no information pertaining to the operating system used on the smartphone.

Google Nexus 9

Google Nexus 9 is the first handset designed that is powered by Google’s new release “Android 5.0 Lollipop”. Well, having the new android version, you will be the first one to receive the latest android updates and enjoy all the advanced features and enhancements. Everyone got something to choose for them from over 1 million apps and games from Google Play. Well, now coming to its design, it is a perfectly designed handset for life.

It is a carefully crafted device with metal frame, soft-grip back and provided with unique colors. It has a perfectly sized8.9 inch IPS LCD display that is easy to carry and also big enough on work basis and for entertainment like watching movie, videos or playing games. You can get your work done at home, at office place, or on a move with the nexus 9 keyboard folio that can be purchased separately. Well, one can say that it is designed with keeping you in mind.

Powered by Android 

This android powered device is powered by a 64 bit NVIDIA tegra k1 dual-core processor with 2.3 GHz that equalizes to PC’s power and can perform all tasks like mailing, watching videos, or playing games, or documenting all at once by easily switching across tabs.

Crisp, clear sound that surrounds 

It has a high sound quality. With HTC introducing its front-facing stereo sound speakers, the sounds generated are more immersive, layered and distortion free. This is the most beneficial product that Google has received after tying their bond with HTC to give us the future of smartphone’s-Nexus 9.

Specs 

A handset is rated top based on its specifications. There are some specifications that an android phone must be efficient in and should be considered before buying them. So let’s have a look at some of the specified specs of this handset.

Hardware: 

It runs a processor dual-core 64 bit processor, giving it an anonymous power to perform several task all at once. Besides, it comes with 2048 MB RAM, making the accessibility of the device quite faster with built-in storage capacity of 32 GB.

Camera: 

The next specification that everyone have a look at is the camera pixel. Now-a-days everyone wish to have a high pixelate cams in their android to get a professional click as the trend of clicking pics is on high among this generation and desires to have all the features within one device. Well, it stands up to all the expectations in this field too as it provides 8 megapixels rare camera with LED Flash and auto-focus feature.

Apart from this, you are also benefited with a front cam of 1.6 MP and video recording with 1080p HD resolution.

Battery: 

Any device lags in their battery capacity but Nexus 9 had overcome this issue to with 6700 mAh battery capacity which cannot be found in any of the device. This helps you carry out your whole day with your handset. But the drawback is that this is not a user replaceable battery.

These are the mostly focused specs of every device and all the general specs are same like connectivity, media, internet browsing and all.

From all the discussions made, one can point out the pros and cons of this handset.

Pros: 

Large system memory, i.e. 2048 MB RAM that makes your device fast, effective and efficient.

4G connectivity, which increases the connectivity speed with mobile data.

Cons: 

Lacks in microSD slot, so there is no chance for storage expansion.

Non-replaceable battery.

Different Means of Taking Screenshots on Any Smartphone or Tablet

If you are the person who is looking to show off your new wallpaper, your amazing desktop screensaver in front of their friends or even if you want to show off of your new games and Android widgets that you have experimented with, then what to do you do? No need to think of high end ways to achieve this, you simply need to take a screenshot of the things and be ready to show off. The following steps will help you achieve your aim depending on the type of device you are using:
The users of laptops and desktops:

If you are among the people who still rely on and use any one of the versions of the Microsoft windows, then the easiest option they have is to take the complete screenshot share it with your friends. The user just needs to follow the following steps:

1.  The user just needs to click on the print screen tab on your keyboard of on your laptop 
2.  Open the Microsoft paint and just press the Ctrl+V option. 
3.  You will have the entire screenshot of the desktop and you should be able to save the file at your desired location.

If you are looking for more control over the screenshots then you might want to download IrfanView. This will allow the users to capture take the screenshots by following the below mentioned steps:

1. On a regular desktop the user needs to press the C tab and then you will get the option to select the type of screenshot that you are looking for. The users will get a lot of details and options for better experience. The users will be able to move their mouse over the area they want to be captured as the screenshots, click on start and save your screenshot.

2. Mac users will have to follow 2 commands to take screenshots. They can capture the screenshot by pressing the command as cmd + shift + 3 and if you are looking for, capturing only a part of your screen then just press the “cmd + shift + 4 and it will direct you to, drag and select the area that you might want to capture and save the on the desktop.

The users of tablets and Smart phones

Irrespective of what device you are using, Windows Phone, Android phone or even any apple series, the user just has to press the power button and ensuring that the home button is also pressed at the same to time to get a screenshot of the entire screen. But if you have an older version of Android (less than 4.0) then you can follow the below steps:

 Holding the power button for a long time might give option to take a screen shot apart from reboot and shut off.

If not, then when pressing the power button, press the volume button and you might get the option to take screenshot. This feature has been enables in Samsung Galaxy and Sony Ericsson Xperia phones.

How to Delete Your Data From Your Android Phone Safely

There have been numerous ways through which a user can delete their data when switching between iPhones, but what about the users relying on Android phone. If you are looking to sell your phone or even to lend it to a friend, then you need to make sure that all your data is deleted from your phone. The steps might vary depending on the type and model of the Android phone and also the device manufacturer. There have been changes in the settings and name of certain menus in different models of the Android phones, but at the end the basic steps of deleting the personal data will mostly be the same.

1. Data from the MicroSD card:

The first thing that comes to our mind when changing a phone is the data available on the microSD. Usually if one inserts their SD card from the old phone to the new phone then the data like videos, photos and music should be easily migrated over. In case your latest phone doesn’t have any slot for SD card or by any reason you don’t want to carry over the card then first thing you need to do is to backup all the data and then format the card. The simple steps are:

1. Connect your phone to computer and you have necessary application available for data transfer

2. Now click on my computer and navigate through your phone and copy all the data to your computer

3. Unplug your phone and reformat the SD card.

One can even format the card on their phone by going to the settings and clicking on erase the card. However there are people who can trace your data from your card. To avoid this, one should copy some other data about the size of the SD card and delete it. This will replace the old data and your old data will be gone forever.

2. Back up data on the phone:

Apart from deleting the personal data, you might to back up your contacts and other information. Google account has been a benefit for Android users as they automatically back up your data but one can manually do this by going to the setting options and choosing back up my data. This will lead them to Google account to further back the different types of data available on your phone.

3. Deleting everything

Once the data has been back up, completely delete all the data from the phone. Carrying out a simple factory reset will ensure all the data on the phone is deleted. Users will just have to go to setting and they have the option of Factory reset.

4. Restore data to another phone

If a user has followed all the above mentioned steps then they will be able to restore their data to another device. If you have your microSD, just insert in the new phone and all your music, photos and videos will be automatically restored. If not you can just sign in you Google Account and get all your contacts and photos that were backed up.

How to Stop Android Devices from Lagging?

As we all know, now-a-days most of the people use Smartphone’s or Android devices for their daily use. Most people spend time playing games on handsets, develop new apps or very useful for developers and for many more purposes. For this reason, all people hate if their smart phone lags or get slower as it interrupts them from their routine work. People have become more impatience now-a-days, so they can’t tolerate a slight delay in their work and the same is going on with the android devices.

There are many reasons causing the Smartphone’s to lag from their original speed. To cope up with this, the user must first know about the cause of lagging and then be able to fix it for the better functioning of their handset as it used to be before.

With time every the smart phones slows down, so it’s important your devices by following these simple and easy steps and boost your device speed.

Updating the Firmware: 

Your Smartphone’s firmware plays crucial role in fixing up some lags, and other issues without your awareness. So having a regular update of your firmware may help you fix the lagging of your handset ensure its user with better performance.

Put apps into Hibernation: 

Your handset may have tons of apps out of which you might use hardly few. Others may be used occasionally by you. These apps not in use consume more of battery and causes lagging of your device.

So you can put these apps into hibernation and whenever you need them just tap on the app and they will wake up and perform as normal. You can perform this task by using Greenify app.

Once you install this app, click on the + button and tap the apps that you wish to put to sleep and then select Accept button.

Resetting your device: 

Resetting your device is a temporary solution. It helps you to erase everything and brings your phone to the original condition same as you received in the box. But after some days when you start using it, the same lagging problem arises.

Assure that you backup all your important contacts and other important data before heading towards resetting of your device.

Low internal memory: 

Having low internal memory may be the reason behind lagging of your device. So you can use some external storage device like SD card to store media files like songs, videos and other files. This will free your internal storage and prevents your device from lagging.

Some low-end phones come with low internal memories, so they might not observe much difference with this solution.

Rooting: 

Even rooting up your phone can help boost the speed of your Smartphone. This might be a risky one as unsuccessful rooting may brick your phone and if rooted successfully, it might void your handsets warranty. Voiding of warranty might not be the point of concern as you may enroot your phone and restore the warranty again.

After rooting you can over clock your phone’s processor which will boost up the speed of your device but will consume more battery than before.

Conclusion: 

Before performing any of the above steps, it is advisable that you backup your mobile data so that you do not lose any of them during the process.

Moto X Voice Commands

Once your Moto X is trained to recognize your voice, you can use several different voice commands and it does not need you to touch your phone. Simply say the command together in one phrase and Touchless Control will process the command and does the relevant thing.

To enable Touchless control, open the notification panel by swiping down from the top of your Moto X screen, and select the option Touchless Control. You will then enter the Touchless Control setup and then train the Touchless control with your voice. First and the most important command you got to keep in mind is “ok google, help me” - say this to open a set of commands you can say to the phone.

First, you need to train your phone in a quiet place and then the phone will recognize you when you speak either in a quiet place or in a noisy place. This is achieved through a software called crystal talk. Some of the commands are

• Call “contact” - to make a phone call to a person, replace the contact in the command with the name of the person.
• Navigate to “location” - to get directions to the location name given in the command.
• Text “contact” - to send a message to a person, replace the contact in the command with the name of the person.
• Remember “meeting tomorrow at 2″ - to set reminders
• Schedule “an appointment on the 21st of this month at 3 p.m.” - Schedule appointments
• Play “song” - Play music & movies
• Set “alarm for 6 in the morning” - Set alarms
• Open “calendar app” - Opens google calendars application
• Post to Google + “blah blah…” - Post Google+ update
• Goodnight - Turns on the Sleeping do-not-disturb mode in Moto Assist
• Take a selfie - This will turn on the front-facing camera and count down from three.
• Talk to me - Will read incoming calls and texts for half an hour.
• Take a photo - Starts the rear camera.

You can ask questions like “what is the temperature today?”, “where is googleplex?”. This machine has the answer to most of your questions.

The “What’s up?” command reads out aloud the notifications from the notification bar. After reading the items are marked read. If the “what’s up?” command did not work as expected, try saying “Read Notifications” command.

If you are worried that your notifications are being read aloud when you are out hanging with others, you can reduce the detail of reading the notification by activating the Notification details and turning off the setting. The Moto X’s Touchless Control can be useful when your hands are busy or when you want to remember something important and you are in a situation of need of information.

Many examples are there when the Touchless control will be useful. Some of them are while driving a car, when you want to find your phone, to set reminders when your hands are busy with some other work or when you are in a position to not to be able to use your hands to touch the phone and mostly will be useful for blind people.

Deciding Which New Phone Is The Best For You

Deciding which new phone is best for you comes down to what features you cannot live without. Keep these options in mind when you go shopping.

Office Demands vs. Home Business

                                               Image via Flickr by Sergey Galyonkin

A Smartphone that can handle multiple email accounts is essential for work but has little utility for home use. Blackberry devices, including the Blackberry 10, support POP email accounts and corporate servers that run Microsoft Exchange and Outlook Web Access. The downside for these phones is the general lack of an app store to give added business value.

If you're running a business from your home, try the iPhone 5S. Email connectivity is still possible across multiple accounts, including POP mail, IMAP and Microsoft Exchange, and you have access to the iTunes app market. The disadvantage you'll run into here is price -- about $600 without a contract.

Taking High Quality Pictures

Cameras on today's phones rival any standalone point-and-shoot on the market. Android phones and Windows phones dominate this segment of the industry with the Nokia Lumia 1021 leading the way with its 41-megapixel camera. This Windows phone's ZEISS element lens and PureView technology combines seven megapixels into one, enabling DSLR-quality photos with just a button touch.

On the Android side, the Samsung Galaxy S5's 16-megapixel camera provides high-end camera options that still best anything Apple has out there at the moment. The phone also incorporates real-time HDR technology, white balance presets, image stabilization, multiple focus settings and white balance presets.

Power to Run Your Apps

What good is it to have millions of apps available for download if your phone doesn't have enough RAM to run them? If you like to run a ton of apps at once or use your phone for graphic heavy games, you need a device that can handle the increased power demands. Samsung makes the devices with the highest RAM (random access memory) now available, including the Galaxy Note 3 (3GB of RAM). Sony's Xperia line of phones also features 3GB of RAM and comparable processor speeds to the Samsung Galaxy series but has lower display resolution.

Into the Future: Multiple media outlets confirmed that Samsung developed the world's first 4GB RAM chip for a smartphone back in 2013. That's enough power to run most desktop applications.

Phone Security Features

Keeping sensitive business information on your phone? You need a device that can keep your data secure and prevent access even if you lose it or someone steals it. Built-in fingerprint scanners on the iPhone 5S, HTC One Max and Samsung Galaxy S5 make certain that only you can unlock your phone. Remote data wiping for phones using Android or iOS operating systems helps you and your company cut sensitive information should the phone fall into the wrong hands. Take advantage of cloud storage features on the Android or iTunes app markets so your data doesn't need to live on your phone.

Handling a Heavy Workload

How long your phone can hold a charge can mean the difference between getting work done on the road and a desperate search for a wall outlet. PC Mag's own testing crowned the Huawei Ascend Mate2 as the leader in battery life with more than 30 hours available on a single charge. If you've never heard of the phone, that's because it's manufacturer only started offering smartphones in the United States in 2014. If you'd like a device with a more established sales history in the US, try the Droid Maxx. This phone has over 19 hours of battery life and full access to the Android app market and a 10MP camera.

Decide with Special Features

Some proprietary features set phones apart from the rest of the pack. If you have relatives and friends scattered across the country, you may want an iPhone to leverage FaceTime for more personal communication. Are you a person who hates typing on a touch screen? Try a phone like one from the Galaxy Note series, which incorporates a stylus for hand writing your notes.
Special features are no sign of a phone with staying power, however, so it's important to look at all factors before making a final decision.

Choosing the phone that's best for you comes down to how you view its importance in your daily life. Take these tips and go forth to make informed choices.

Simon Celebrates its 20th Birthday

Today the cosmopolitans are very much familiar with the Smartphone, which have a sleek body containing a wide array of features ranging from high-resolution camera, 1080p video support, and large data storing capacity. But has anyone wondered what was the 1^st Smartphone being like?

 Well, the world’s 1^st smartphone was designed by IBM Technologies and American cellular company BellSouth and marketed under the name Simon. The advent of 16^th August 2014 marks the 20^th birthday of the first ever smartphone being marketed all over the globe irrespective of the geographical topologies.

Structural Details of Simon:

 

The forerunner of the smartphone, which was marketed under the name Simon was not much like today’s smartphone. In fact, it was not regarded as a smartphone back then, reported by the curator Charlotte Connelly. It was manufactured and entered the multinational market on 16^th August 1994, and gained international acclaim within a very short span of time

Some of the features of Simon are enlisted below:

• It had a black and white 4.5-inchgreen LCD screen.

• Pixel resolution was 293x160 pixels, with a stylus touch capacity.

• It ran on 16-bitVadem processor having anx86 compatibility. 
• It had 1MB RAM and 1.8MB storage drive.

• It weighted more than 500gm (1.1lb) and it was about 20cm (9 inches) long and was powered by nickel-cadmium battery.

Apart from that, Simon has the capability to send fax and emails only when they can be synchronized with the desktop computer. Users could operate The Simon with the stylus that was provided along with the handset. Apart from that, users could create notes, draw pictures and could even synchronize the calendars as per as their needs.

Market Value of Simon back then:

IBM Technologies mastered in manufacturing a smartphone, which possess the capacity to optimize workload. However, a good technology comes with an expensive price. It was coined in the open market for a price of $900(539 GBP) in the initial years of marketing, with a 2 years contract with BellSouth (now AT&T) as network connectivity. An estimated 50,000 handsets were sold to the customers of 15 states of United States of America, and the primary buyers were business tycoons and corporate magnates.

The battery lasted only for an hour, and it had no access to internet connectivity at that time. Owing to heavy weight and shorter battery lifespan and an expensive cost, the demand of the smartphone Simon did not last long in the market and soon it became obsolete within 2 years of its launch. Nevertheless, it was a groundbreaking innovation at that era, when wireless technology was just its juvenile stage.

The Science Museum in USA bought Simon over eBay with an anonymous sum of money. Owing a wireless technological device was way too out of league for ordinary citizens, so its demand was slowly diminished. That is when Nokia introduced its Nokia 9000 Communicator to get the top-notch in the wireless device market.

The advancement of technology has ushered a technological revolution resulting in making the 1^st ever invented smartphone to be long forgotten in the pages of history. Apparently, Simon will be remembered as the first ever-designed smartphone.

Android Voice Commands which Most of the Users are not Utilizing

The Android Operating Systems has carefully and precisely integrated the Google Now to the central part of their system. The Google Now offers new and advanced functions and capabilities to the Smartphone on the Android platform. Google has worked hard at improving the Google services on the phones and Voice Commands has always been at the core of developing its service. Every now and then, it keeps updating and launching new features to the Goggle services.
But with the latest Android KitKat update it allows the mobile users to jump right into Google Now simply by saying “OK,Google” at any point of time. This does not imply that the Voice Commands are the new feature rather it has been present in the Smartphones since the beginning but nobody utilized it. Still wondering what you have missed then check out the list of awesome and advanced voice commands, which would give you a new outlook and ease in using the Android Smartphone.

Here are the lists of some vital Voice Commands
 
Some essential voice commands to save your time. Just add your special needs at the dotted line or in the brackets while using the voice commands; like ‘Go to Facebook’ etc.

a. “Go to …..”- This command would straight forwardly take you to whichever website you wish to browse.
b. ‘Search for…’- This voice command would search for whatever you ask it to search.
c. ‘Open …..’- It will open whatever application you wish for.
d. ‘Take a Picture’- Simply it would take a picture of you and it gives freedom from clicking.
e. ‘Record a video’- It would start record the video from the moment you said it.

Productivity related Voice Commands
 
a. ‘Remind me to ….’- This command would remind the users to call, buy etc. at the appropriate time.
b. ‘Set an alarm…..’- It will set the alarm for the specified time.
c. ‘Note to self: ………’- it would save the note.

Communications related Voice Commands
 
a. ‘Call …..’- This command facilitates the call smother and faster. Just add the name of the contact after saying call.
b. ‘Text …….’- Just say the whole text after saying ‘Text’.
c. ‘Send email to [NAME, SUBJECT, ’Say your subject’, MESSAGE, ‘say your message’]’- Just simple.
d. ‘Listen to voicemail’- It will let you hear all the voice mails.
e. ‘Post to [website name]: [your message/post]’- It will post your messages instantly on the said website or forum of your choice.