By Future Android Phones Wednesday, June 8, 2011 3 comments

When Apple presented iOS 5 — the latest version of its mobile operating system — we couldn't help but point out how many features and elements it seemed to borrow from other platforms and apps. But as we started examining the software we realized something: The combination of those features with Apple's special touch should have Android — the biggest competitor to iOS — shaking in fear.

Yes, we realize that when it comes to a lot of features — notifications, in particular — it seemed like Apple was playing catch up with Google's baby. But with iOS 5 Apple isn't just catching up — it's leapfrogging Android.

Of course, not everything we're about to list will make everyone's jaw drop as the earth shakes, but, along with the nearly 200 other new features found in iOS 5? They form the most compelling mobile operating system available today.

So let's just look at some of these highlights, so you can see for yourself.


The notification system in iOS 5 is one of the bigger features to be added since iOS 4. It's a well-designed and perfectly integrated scheme of notifications, alerts and popups which revolve around one central drop-down pane — which Apple has dubbed the Notification Center.

New emails, text messages, multimedia messages, reminders, Game Center notifications, mail alerts, Twitter notifications and any other sort of items which could normally trigger a push notification can find their way into the Notification Center. They'll be called to your attention on your iOS lock screen, via a regular pop up alert, or with a small non-intrusive banner which briefly flashes across the top of your screen.

So far this sounds a lot like what you get out of Android, right? But hang on ... there's a reason it's better: Control.


Built straight into iOS is a set of controls which will allow you to arrange the notification system of your dreams. Do you want emails to trigger a banner but not appear on the lock screen? Do you want Twitter alerts to make a sound but not appear anywhere? Should voicemail alerts show up in the Notification Center and on the lock screen and as a banner? No problem!

You can customize the notification system however you want — right down to custom sounds for voicemail alerts, text messages and so on. (Yes, you can finally set custom sounds for those types of alerts.)



Another one of the great little details about iOS 5 is that it has full Twitter integration. You can tweet straight from the Photo app, Safari or just about any other apps. All you need to do is log in with your regular Twitter credentials once, and let iOS prompt you to download the official Twitter app. It'll take care of the rest and present you with new buttons in the appropriate places.


Smile! The Camera and Photo apps have received a tune-up in iOS 5. There's a lock screen shortcut to the camera app — which unfortunately does not appear to work in the first beta version of the operating system — and a pinch-to-zoom feature that you can use while taking a picture. If that's not enough, you can use a volume button as a shutter button and keep your greasy fingers off the screen.

As far as the Photo app goes, there are now some basic image editing features built right in. You can enhance, remove red-eye or crop images right on the spot — without having to open up a third-party app. (Sorry, third-party apps!)


It wouldn't surprise us if many iOS users considered the Mail app one of the most important items on their devices, so we're definitely happy to see that it too has gotten a little bit of an upgrade as well. It now offers rich text formatting, address dragging, indentation control, message flagging, full message searches and S/MIME support on top of the usual assortment of features.


Now Android's not the only one who's got something to fear when it comes to the new iMessage system — Research In Motion should be dreading that BlackBerry Messenger users finally have a solid alternative, provided all their friends jump to iOS too.

iMessage is basically an iOS-only messaging client which allows you to send text, photos, videos, contacts and group broadcasts to iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch users. It basically is a lot like BlackBerry Messenger, and will show delivery receipts, read receipts, even IM-style typing indicators.

But as a bonus, messages will be pushed to all your devices over Wi-Fi or 3G — and will be encrypted. And you can start a conversation on your iPhone and switch over to your iPad to continue things there without missing a word.


Little ol' Safari has grown up quite a bit with iOS 5. The mobile browser now features an Instapaper-style Reading List feature which allows you to mark and sync articles for later reading, something called Reader which'll format articles to be easier on the eyes, and private browsing for — ahem — the things that you don't want to be saved to your browser history.


There are several other little features in iOS 5 which you might not notice right away, but will quickly learn to love and appreciate.

There's a text expansion tool called Shortcut. It basically allows you to create keywords which will trigger a custom replacement text. Just imagine how much time that can save you when it comes to commonly used phrases such as "Oh, hey! Do you think you can grab some ice cream on the way home?"

And if you don't have a shortcut that applies to a situation, then perhaps a global dictionary will help you make sure that you sound as coherent as possible most of the time.

There's also Photostream, which will sync your photos to the iCloud and download them across all your iOS devices. Pretty handy if you want to edit photos on your iPad, but don't want to fuss around with cables or manually upload images.


Speaking of the iCloud, that's another feature that'll make your life a great deal simpler. You can sync all the important things to it and always have easily accessible copies of your images and documents.

And if that's not wireless enough for you, then take a gander at iTunes Sync. It's just what it sounds like: A way to sync your devices to iTunes over Wi-Fi. Oh, and your iOS device will back itself up — wirelessly — before it syncs, so you'll have daily backups. Believe us, those are more valuable than you might realize.

Of course you'll be able to do more than just back up your device over the air — you'll finally get to update your device over the air as well and you can go entirely PC-free as no connections to iTunes are necessary to activate an iOS device now.

Once you're up and running with iOS 5 in the fall, you'll be able to enjoy all these features along with new default apps such as Reminders and Newsstand which will basically be your one-stop shops for to-do lists and digital magazine consumption respectively.

Sound good? Or are you still rolling your eyes and muttering that that most of these features are available on Android already? If you are, then allow me to remind you about what I said at the beginning of our little exploration of iOS 5: It's a threat to Android not just because of the individual features, but because of the punch they pack when wrapped in a rather gorgeous user interface.

We know where Apple stands for the next year or so. It's your move, Google.

Source : http://gadgetbox.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/06/08/6813349-25-reasons-android-should-fear-ios-right-now

By Future Android Phones Tuesday, May 24, 2011 0 comments

We love both mobile operating systems and their corresponding devices, but just like Android has its many advantages so does iOS. Here are our favorite parts of iOS that outdo their Android counterparts.

10. The iTunes Media Store

While iOS still doesn't allow you to sync wirelessly, you can, at least, use your Wi-Fi (and in some cases cellular data) connection to purchase and download music, video, and books over the air. While Android's not without Amazon's media offerings, Apple gives you access to an enormous library of entertainment that you can purchase in a few taps. Everything you buy is sent to it corresponding app and transferred over to your computer the next time you sync. The process is seamless. When it comes to buying media for your device, there's really no better implementation.

*Personal note: I greatly prefer Amazon to iTunes for several reasons, but I think that Apple's implementation of the iTunes store is far better because of how simple and well-integrated it is.

9. AirPlay

There are plenty of alternatives to Apple's AirPlay, but none that work quite so elegantly and intuitively. Out of the box, AirPlay doesn't really seem all that useful if you don't own other Apple devices but there are actually several ways to make your non-Apple devices AirPlay compatible. Two-tap video streaming that actually works really well is pretty great, and you won't find such a nice solution on Android.

8. Find My iPhone

It's not like you can't roll your own device-tracking setup on Android, but now that Find My iPhone (or iPad or iPod touch) is free it's no longer the best paid option—it's just the best. It's simple to use, it's easy to track your phone, and it has even helped people catch criminals when the loss was a result of theft (like this or this, for example). It's been proven effective and costs you nothing. There's not much more you need.

7. A Better Support System

What happens if your Android phone breaks? There are a few answers to that question, but often times it means dealing with your specific carrier. They didn't make your phone and they have many different kinds of devices to support. Neither of those things are in your favor. What about your iPhone or other iDevice? You take it to an Apple Store or call Apple tech support. Often times you can make a Genius Bar appointment and get your issue resolved right away (assuming that problem isn't the total obliteration of the hardware). If you've ever tried to get tech support at a Verizon store, for example, you know how frustrating that can be. Apple's support team—while not perfect—is one of the best there is.

6. Better Battery Life and Management

Over the past few years, Apple's started to consider battery life to be one of the most important features of its products. This is especially evident in the iPad, which contains around as much battery as humans contain water, but it's also Apple's battery management tactics that make this possible. Some may be disappointed that the lack of true multitasking is lost in the name of power economy, but true multitasking isn't all that great when you device dies because it ran out of juice. While it didn't start off that way, the latest batch of devices running iOS will get you through the day (and sometimes longer). That's not always something you can count on with Android.

5. iTunes and Tethered Syncing

iTunes is a behemoth of a media manager but it handles a lot of data as it goes from your computer to your iDevice and back again. It has an enormous amount of responsibility for those who do sync with their computers. You can certainly argue that DoubleTwist brings the features of iTunes to Android, but the fact of the matter is that an application needed to be created to bring iTunes to Android. Android is missing iTunes in the same way iOS is missing Android's wireless capabilities.

*Personal note: I really don't like iTunes, but I think it's hard to argue that there's anything that does what it does as well. It is a very ambitious piece of software that doesn't work as well as I'd like it to, but I do appreciate the difficulty of creating something like it. While there are definitely other great music players, there really isn't anything else that can do everything iTunes can do (even if it often fails to do some of those things well).

4. No Crapware

Sure, you can pick up the Nexus S and get a phone with no added applications and have an Android phone without any crapware added by the manufacturer, but most people aren't getting their Android phones from Google. When you buy your Android phone from a particular carrier, you can often to expect a few apps you won't want and can't get rid of. With iOS you just get iOS. While Apple might be a little overprotective at times, their walled garden is not without its upsides. It's nice buying an iDevice with the knowledge you won't get stuck with a Sprint NASCAR app you don't want.

3. A Bigger and Better Variety of Apps

While the iTunes App Store is never going to sell classic game console emulators and other questionable apps—and that's a shame—there is, on average, more money to make when developing for iOS. The downside is that most apps cost a bit of money, but it's rarely more than a couple of dollars. The upside is that developers who make money are more likely to be able to afford to spend time developing. The gold mine that is the iTunes App Store has also attracted plenty of big name game developers who've brought some pretty amazing titles to iOS. Sometimes a little money can go a long way, and it does with apps. iOS has some of the most elegant, polished, fun, and even useful apps. They may be a bit more restricted than Android apps, but it's not like you can't jailbreak if you're looking for more.

2. A Well-Designed, Intuitive User Interface

Whether you like Apple's hardware and software or not, it's hard to argue that they aren't beautifully designed. Apple puts a lot of thought in the design of the interface, from its looks to its ease of use. iOS' user experience is one of the most intuitive. Android can take some time to figure out, and there's a lack of consistency in the way third-party apps operate, but if you give someone an iOS device they'll generally be able to figure out much of the functionality on their own. People are posting videos of their very young children using iPads. Android ends up with sites like this (which isn't representative of the platform and a bit much, but still makes a point). iOS is nice to look at and easy to learn, welcoming pretty much everyone to the party.

1. Consistency

iOS is nothing if not consistent. When you pick up an iOS device, you know exactly what you're getting. This shouldn't come as a surprise from a company like Apple, who likes to control every aspect of their products. When it comes to receiving major feature updates, you get them on a fairly regular schedule. While there's some update fragmentation with iOS, it's only ever been between phones and tablets. With Android, it's between the many, many different phones as well as fragmentation between phones and tablets. Knowing what you're getting and that you'll be receiving updates for at least the next two generations of devices increases the value of an iDevice long past the date of purchase.



Source : http://lifehacker.com/5804230/top-10-ways-ios-outdoes-android

By Future Android Phones Friday, April 8, 2011 0 comments

Speaking is some thing the majority of us consider for granted, but a brand new app known as MyVoice -- at present obtainable for iOS and coming quickly to Android -- is trying to provide the capability back again to people who are not as lucky. Created by a group of University of Toronto pupils right after becoming approached by a guy who had a stroke, the location-based app enables consumers to "speak" pre-programmed text macros employing text-to-speech. You cannot add new phrases from inside the app just however, although for now there is an on the internet portal that also makes it possible for family members to configure strings and organize them into "places" for that final consumer. We checked out the app and it appears to perform as marketed -- there is a fairly in depth phrase pack that arrives with it. You'll be able to score the free of charge download in the a lot more protection hyperlink beneath, and we have received a video clip demo right after the break.

By Future Android Phones Sunday, April 3, 2011 0 comments

Android has officially overtaken RIM as the leading US mobile phone platform, comScore reports. Apple, still number three, saw its market share increase with stellar Verizon iPhone 4 sales.

Google’s Android operating system leads the US smartphone market by a significant margin, according to a new study by comScore. Apple also saw a boost in customers, with the Verizon Wireless version of its iPhone 4 outselling all other smartphones in the month of February.

Last November, handsets loaded with Android came in with the second largest share of the smartphone market, with 26 percent, according to comScore’s count. That ranked Android just behind Research In Motion’s BlackBerry devices, which had 33.5 percent as of November. As of February, however, Android