Month: February 2018

Top 5 Augmented Reality Apps for iOS

We have all been hit with an augmented reality buzz on all our apps. From Pokémon go to every shopping app, we are being given the ability to use our camera to bring a whole new layer to our lives. Here are the top five out of the box and interesting applications for augmented reality

1. Miratia City Treasure Hunts

Miratia is smartphone treasure hunt games played live outdoors.Miratia games are played live on the streets of your current city. Become your own Indiana Jones and set up a treasure hunt with historical places through out all your sight seeing visits. This is endless fun, and adds a whole new dimension of traveling and exploring new cities. Finally Paris is interesting, and Budapest will never be the same.

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February 20, 2018
5 Great Mobile Gaming Apps

We all love the mobile games and we all need them to pass a little time here and there. Some are duds, some are expensive, some are just too addicting. Here are some great games that keep you entertained and casually having you coming back for more!

5. Marvel’s Contest of Champions

With a long list of all your favorite Marvel Universe characters, this “Arcade-Fighter” game has a lot to offer. It’s visually pleasing animations, smooth fighting mechanics, and fully customizable Marvel superheros will have you playing at length and loving it. Because of its constant additions and challenges, you’ll have this game on your mobile device for quite some time.

4. Plague Inc.

Do you need your “Destroy the World” fix? Then look no further. Plague Inc. has a plethora of viruses, bacteria, and world ending organisms at your fingertips and it’s up to you how to use your tools to cause a global catastrophe. The object is to keep your deadly pathogens one step ahead of the world governments and CDC in order to end all life on Earth. With the amount of options and routs of evil to achieve your objective, this mobile game will give you hours of twisted fun.

3. Rusty Lake Roots

This extremely dark and alluring indie-puzzle game is one that you can’t seem to step away from. With intricate puzzles and a twisted plot, Rusty Lake Roots keeps you on the edge of your phone. The animations are simplistic but perfectly capture the creepy factor and suspense that mirrors the dark plot. Follow a man Thomas as he explores his family tree in the abandoned farmhouse that his ancestors left to him.

2. Injustice: God’s Among Us

Quite simply, this is the best arcade-style fighter possibly ever. Mobile, Console, PC or otherwise. The visceral animations, coupled with your favorite DC superheros beating the tar out of each other makes this a very enthralling game. Add on a very simple but sophisticated character upgrading system and, voila! You have an amazing fighter game. I consistently played Injustice for the better part of 2 and half years and never tired of it. I still miss it, but I traded Injustice in for Injustice 2 which is a very good game, but not as good as the original.

1. Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes

Even if you aren’t a huge fan of the Star Wars universe, this is still a very entertaining and great game. But if you are a fan of SW…oh man is this game for you. Find your favorite Star Wars heroes and villains in this turn based fighter game and pair them up to form an elite fighting squad. Each Star Wars character has their own special set of skills that if teamed up with other characters correctly, can form a deadly fighting squad. Training and upgrading the characters of your choosing is very rewarding and the game challenges are difficult but not to the point of frustration. If you enjoy Star Wars, it’s a borderline perfect game.

Summary

All these games are great in their own right and have done amazing work. They have each mastered the concept they were looking to achieve and the end results are so satisfying and entertaining. All are available is the IOS App Store and Android Market. Hope you give them a try!

February 20, 2018
Samsung Gear 3 is Still Just a Timepiece
Samsung’s Gear 3 is a boldly designed smartwatch that’s ready for anything and tailored to you. There are two versions with sleep tracking ,multi-day battery life all day calorie tracking , and Samsung Pay it has all the functions and Android smartphone one could hope for.

The Great
- Big Bold Design
- Always-on display
- Decent Activity Tracking
- Built-in LTE
- Samsung Pay
- OLED display is bright and crisp
The Not
- Poor Gps tracking
- Lacking compatible app
- Missing intuitive functions
The Conclusion

This is an average looking watch and a lack luster smartwatch. While Samsung tried to squeeze a lot into the new Gear S3 its really just not enough.

More Gear from Samsung

For the Gear S3, Samsung has decided to offer up two designs. There’s the more rugged Frontier for outdoor types, and the Classic, which aims to be the more luxurious option of the two. Both still run on Samsung’s own Tizen operating system and that rotating bezel makes a welcome return. It can be pair with all samsung and most android smartphones, even and iPhone with reduced functionality. With the LTE model of the Gear S3, you can leave your phone behind and still have complete functionality on the watch. Note: LTE is only avilable on the Frontier model. The call quality is surprisingly decent if you turn the volume up to the highest level. It’s still weird talking to someone on your watch, but it can be handy sometimes. You can also use it to listen to music, but get some Bluetooth headphones, its not enjoyable from the watch speaker

Not for the Weak Wristed

the Gear S3 is a big smartwatch, its a heavy watch, and its beastly. Its hulking 46mm frame makes it most certainly a more mans man’s watch. It’s also noticeably heavier and thicker as well, probably to house the additional sensors and a larger battery. The Frontier rocks a more rugged look, with a knurled, rotating bezel, a chunky stainless-steel body design and IP68 certified water resistant.

The Interface

The Gear S3 runs Tizen, it’s very easily laid out to make the most functionality of the spinning bezel. The highlight that makes the Gear smartwatches unique is the innovative rotating bezel. Crank it clockwise and you’ll get all of your notifications in one place. Spin it the opposite direction to breeze through the widgets you’ve added. The default set up includes thee current weather, favorite contacts, calories burned and what’s up on your calendar. Sadly that is all there is to the Gear S3’s interface.

The Apps or Lack of Apps

According to Samsung, there’s something like 10,000 apps in the Tizen Store, but just a fraction of those are tuned for the Gear’s small display. Whats worse it that most of them are not wort using to begin with. Its as if no developers consider creating apps with Tizen in mind.

The Final Thought

All in all the Gear doesn’t excite me as much as I’d have hoped. Though it has a very intuitive interface, complete with a rotating bezel for navigation, many parts of the experience still need more engineering attention, whether that’s the dreadfully useless selection of apps or the irritatingly malfunctions of S Voice digital assistant. In the p rophetic words of american Idols Randy Jackson, This is gonna be a hard no for me dawg.
February 19, 2018
5 Things We are Anticipating From the MWC 2018

MWC (or Mobile World Congress to give it its full name) is one of the biggest events on the mobile calendar, with 2017’s Barcelona show bringing us the LG G6, Sony Xperia XZ, and Huawei Pro among dozens of other devices. The 2018 Congress takes place February 26th- March 1st in Barcelona. Here are the Top 5 reasons to pay attention to the MWC this year

1. Samsung Galaxy s9

The Galaxy Flagship latest installment is going to be one of the highlights of MWC 2018. This upcoming flagship has already been confirmed for the show. Samsung is having a unveiling conference the day before on the 25th, but all the hands on and non corporate views will happen at the MWC. From what we are guessing the Galaxy S9 and its larger sibling are rumored to have a similar design and screen to the S8 range, meaning a metal frame, a glass back and an almost bezel-free curved display, but with the fingerprint scanner likely moved from beside the camera to below it. What we dont know is what will blow our sock off.

2.Nokia 7+

One of the devices we see is expected to be the Nokia 7+. We have all been waiting for our old trust Nokia to jump in to the android game and bring snake with it. The picture shows the front of the Nokia 7+, and as you can see, this will be the first Nokia phone to adopt a modern design with slim bezels. The Nokia branding can be found near the top left next to the front-facing camera, and the fingerprint sensor will be moved to the back. rumored specs for the phone include an FHD+ resolution for the screen, Snapdragon 660 processor, dual 12MP and 13MP cameras, microSD card support. Im really hopping this one is a boom and not a bust, id love to see a big Nokia return.

3. LG

There are two options we could see out of LG. while we’re fairly certain we’re going to see an upgraded LG v30 at MWC, stocked with a new AI. That means better image recognition for the on-board camera, so it can recognize what you’re shooting and adjust the settings accordingly, and an improved set of voice commands for Google Assistant. On the other hand there is buzz we will see the new G7, but most insiders are speculating that LG is going to push the launch of the successor to the LG G6 to later in the year

4.Huawei Honor 7X and Watch 3

Last Year, Huawei took full advantage of MWC to announce the P10. Whatever this new smartphone ends up being called, it’s likely to be the star of Huawei’s MWC 2018 appearance that won’t include the announcement of the P20 and P20 Plus flagships with them being pushed to a late march release. We are also hoping to see a Huawei Watch 3 upgrade. Some patents suggest added sensors would detect gestures you make on the back of your hand, so you could for example sketch a letter with your finger and have it appear on the watch screen, or make double tap and long press gestures, allowing you to interact with the watch without touching it.

5. Motorola: New G6 or Z Force3

The latest rumors have Motorola planning to announce a series of successors to last year’s Moto G5 lineup. The phones I’m looking to see are the Moto G6, Moto G6 Play, the Moto G6 Plus or a Z force3. Some mind blowing Moto Mods would be exciting as well. It is noted thought that Motorola does not have an event scheduled at MWC, so maybe not.

February 19, 2018
Smartphone Spotlight: Samsung Galaxy S8
Samsung Galaxy S8 has the cutting-edge features you need to do the things you love faster, easier and better. An eye catching, 5.8″ inch curved display goes all the way to the edge, so you can see more. The 12MP camera and advanced processor takes sharp, clear photos faster. The Galaxy S8 comes in 64GB. Available in Orchid Gray, Arctic Silver or Midnight Black

The Great
- LTE Advanced
- MSM8998 Octa-Core, 2.35 GHz (Quad) + 1.9GHz (Quad
- Experience HD Voice
- Flash: 64GB RAM: 4GB
- 12MP rear, 8pm front camera
The Not
- Lacks dual cameras for optical zoom
- Questionable sound quality
- Odd Fingerprint reader placement
The Conclusion

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a fantastic phone because of its captivating infinity display, very strong performance, long battery life and great cameras. Absolutely in love with this phone. It took longer than I’d like for the fast charge. and I miss an actual home button, but not too much

We all know Samsung’s new flagship phones forge a beautiful new path for smartphone design by stripping away unsightly bezels with their respective 5.8-inch infinity displays, and this is the first handsets to boast Qualcomm’s monstrous Snapdragon 835 for speedy performance. All the spec and power are here. The quality is top notch. This phone is beautiful and sleek handles 4k @ 60 FPS extreamly well. Throwing the expandable memory feature back in is great.

Introducing Bixby

So for the Galaxy S8, Samsung made an effort to do something different. It combined everything it did in the past few generations of its phones and added some new ideas to produce something different from everything else on the shelf of the average phone store today.What we got was Bixby. Samsung’s Bixby is a personal assistant answer to Alexa and Siri. You have a few different options to open Bixby. On the left side of any of the compatible phones, just below the volume buttons, is a dedicated Bixby button. A quick press of the button will launch Bixby, a long-press opens Bixby Home. The third method to access Bixby is through the camera app.

With a swipe to the right from the home screen, a stream of information ranging from smart reminders for tasks you commonly carry out on your phone, to news and weather are displayed. Third-party apps such as Facebook or Uber can also display cards in Bixby Home. It also as expected has voice commands. When using your voice to interact with Bixby, it will accept commands such as, “Set screen brightness to 37 percent” or, “Show photos I took in Savannah.”You can also summon Bixby using your voice, with the wake word of “Hey Bixby,” obviously. The Coolest part of Bixby is being able to identify and search for thing by looking at them using the camera app.

Thanks for nothing Bixby

Trying to use Bixby Voice to do things on your phone is not any faster or easier than just tapping the screen the usual way. It takes a second or two to launcg Bixby Voice. I’ve tried both the press and hold the Bixby button to activate listening mode and the “Hey Bixby”. Now by the time it hears what I’m saying that I could have performed the task three times by the time it has processed what I said and performed my action. If and its a big IF it gets it right. In short if i want something done right ill just have to do it my self. Thanks for nothing Bixby

The Final Thought

The Samsung Galaxy S8 is a fantastic phone because of its memorizing infinity display, powerful performance, endless battery life and astonishing cameras. While Im not a fan of the fingerprint sensor’s location the rest of the phone is on point and the standard for which all other androids are measured and found wanting.
February 19, 2018
Top 5 Androids You’ve Never Heard About

We are flooding with new android smartphones. Every month one of the big 5 companies are blowing our minds off with a new latest and greatest. Even though we get these releases constantly, they always seem to fall short and Im left wondering what else is out there in the Android cosmos. Let’s take a look at the top 5 Androids you probably don’t know about.

1. Vivo X20 Plus UD

The Vivo X20 Plus UD is the world’s first phone to feature an under-the-OLED fingerprint sensor. The X20 Plus UD has a 6.43″ 1080×2160 (376 PPI) Super AMOLEDdisplay, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 660 chipset, 128GB of storage, 4GB of RAM, microSD slot and a dual-lens 12 MP camera.

2. Elephone U Pro

Elephone’s U Pro smartphones are high-end smartphones that use a flexible 5.99″ 2160×1440 AMOLED display reportedly produced by BOE Display. The Elephone U is powered by a MediaTek chipset, while the U Pro uses a 2.2 Ghz snapdragon 660 and features dual 13MP camera, 6GB RAM and 128GB of storage.

3. Gionee S11S

Gionee’s S11S is a high-end smartphone that features a 6.01″ 1080×2160 (18:9, 402 PPI) AMOLED display, an Octa-Core Mediatek Helio P30 chipset, 6GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, a microSD slot, Dual SIM and a Dual 16+8 MP camera.

4. Oppo R11s Plus

Oppo’s R11s smartphone has a 6.43 1080×2160 (402 PPI) AMOLED display, an Octa-Core Snapdragon 660 CPU, 4 GB of RAM, 64 GB of storage, micro-SD slot, a dual 20 MP camera and Dual-SIM

5. Huawei Mate 10 Pro

Huawei’s Mate 10 Pro is a flagship smartphone that features a 6″ 1080×2160 AMOLED display, an Octa-Core CPU, a Hisilicon Kirin 970 AI-dedicated chip, 4/6 GB of RAM, 64/128 GB of strage, a 20M camera and Dual-SIM. The Mate 10 Pro is IP67 certified (dust and water resistant)

February 18, 2018
Smartphone SpotLight: LG V30
LG’s finest industrial design, power packed Android smartphone. The V30 is distinctive, modern, and stacked with desirable features, a phone seemingly destined for inevitable stardom.

The Great
- 16MP camera
- Snapdragon 835 processor,
- Massive OLED screen,
- Excellent battery life,
- Waterproof
- Wireless charging,
- MicroSD storage
- A headphone jack on a phone.
The Not
- Awkward to hold
- Slow camera autofocus
- Nothing Special
The Conclusion

The LG V30 is a terrific alternative to Samsung’s Galaxy S8 Plus and the Google Pixel 2 XL with no advantages over either.

Jack of All Trades

want a sleek, durable handset that’s practically all screen. A device with gobs of performance, super long battery life, an amazing camera and a headphone jack. How about water resistance, wireless charging, microSD expandable storage and support for any cellular carrier, too? This is it

That Screen

The only thing that sets LG’s phones apart is there screen. They have the best looking and highest quality OLED screen on the smartphone line up. It gets as bright or clear as Samsung’s screen outdoors but with a crisper more attractive color segment. OLED stands for “organic light-emitting diodes,” and it’s very different from the popular LCD screen technology seen in most phones recent years. This screen is robust and beautiful and can display true, actual blacks.

The Design, Don’t let it Slip

The LG V30 has almost nothing in common with the V Series phones that have come before it. The only thing remaining from the Second Screen is a floating widget.The metal back and giant chins have been replaced with glass and slim bezels. Everything that was sharp and industrial is now more premium and svelte. It’s a gorgeous design that is absolutely stunning, Its sleek and by sleek I mean slippery. It will slip through your fingers like star systems slipping through Grand Moff Tarkens fingers.

The Final Thought

Instead of straying from the pack, the LG V30 blends in with this year’s fleet of flagships. LG finally decided to stop playing around with gimmicks and made the best phone they possibly could. Its has everything you wants but lacks the thing you didn’t know about, and that is where it fails.
February 18, 2018
Top 5 Moto Mods

So now you have purchased the most comprehensive and capable android smartphone, the Moto Droid z. Its got all those cool mods, but what are the mods you really need and want. Let look at the Top 5 Moto Droid Z mods.

1. Moto Insta-share Projector

This Mod Easily snaps on, projects up to 70 crystal clear inches. Project your photos, games, and videos, its the perfect addition and makes the mods all the value in the world.

2. Incipio’s Offgrid Power Pack

at 2220 additional mAh you get all the battery power you will need. This Motorola Incipio offGRID power pack is lightweight, and its slim, lightweight design lets you continue to use your phone as you normally would.

3. JBL SoundBoost 2

Snap the JBL SoundBoost2 Moto Mod on device for powerful, high–quality stereo sound. it can pump up the volume and get the party started. Great for picnics, the boat, beach, the golf cart and every back yard.

4. Motorola-Smart Speaker with Amazon Alexa Moto Mod

This lets you crank up your favorite tunes with a powerful stereo speaker. Four microphones make it easier for Alexa to hear your questions, even when music’s playing or you’re sitting across the room.

5 .Motorola-Hasselblad True Zoom Camera Mod

This is an advanced imaging experience to your Moto Z Droid, Moto Z Force Droid or Moto Z Play Droid in a snap. The Hasselblad True Zoom Moto Mod enables you to capture shots normally impossible with a standard smartphone camera. 10 x optical zoom. Killer flash. Plus you get the Hasselblad photo editing software for further perfection

February 18, 2018
Smartphone Spotlight: Droid Z2 force
The moto z² force edition is Motorola’s most advanced phone ever. The screen is guaranteed not to crack or shatter* and boasts a sleek, yet durable aluminum unibody. Moto Z2 Droid places a world of previously unimagined possibilities right in your smartphone.

The Great
- Droid
- TurboPower battery
- The advanced 12MP dual camera
- Qualcomm® Snapdragon™ 835 processor.
- The Mods
The Not
- Fingerprint magnet
- Can’t charge while listening to music
- No headphone jack
The Conclusion

Its cutting-edge Android phone, works in the new Google Daydream VR headset. The Mods are awesome. Its got the power. This is the Droid you are looking for.

Overview

The Moto Droid Z2 has the power, while its not the latest 845 Snapdragon processor the 835 still has the juice you need. All the tech specs are right in line the premium Androids. Good specs, world-class design and nice camera is the criteria when purchasing an android, until now. Motorola is disrupting the status quo with its modular Moto Z and Moto Z2 Force

The advantages the Droids have over all other androids is there is no corners cut in terms of build quality, design and performance. Add in the swappable Moto Mod accessories that connect through magnets, and its premium hardware, the Motorola Moto Z Droid is a powerful handset but its only available to US customers, On Verizon… or is it.

If you think its terrible that the fanciest and coolest of all the androids can only be for Verizon customers, hold up. If you remember all Verizon phones are factory unlocked. The Moto Z can be easily used on any carrier, just pop in your sim.

The Design

At 5.2mm thick, the Moto Z2 is the thinnest flagship phone I’ve ever used, and it’s just stunning. In fact, when it comes to design, the Moto Z2 couldn’t be any more different from the flagship Moto Xs that came before it — the friendly curves and sloping back are gone, leaving us with something more angular and elegant.

21MP Camera

the Moto Z Force’s camera does a stellar job of capturing fine detail, which really isn’t surprising, it’s a 21-megapixel sensor. there’s also a new Beauty Mode that irons out the wrinkles and blemishes that might mar one’s selfies. Sounds massively important, too bad it doesn’t really work. Motorola also added a Professional Mode that allows for more granular control over your photos. Once enabled, you’ll get full control over ISO, white balance, shutter speed and exposure — change any of those settings and you’ll get a live update on your display. careful, too much and it will crash the camera app. lame.

The Mods

This is the coolest feature of the Droid Z Force. The mods make the Droid z standout among the field. In a nutshell, they are extremely convenient, and make the Moto Z a blast to use, like a Bluetooth speaker or a separate HD projector. They are quite expensive, especially the projector and i wish they were stackable. Yes that sounds ridiculous, but add a projector, JBL speaker and a extended 12000 ml amp battery, you have a portable theater system.

The Final Thought

Its got all the power, features and functions you need. It looks beautiful and you can easily change the back glass to a load of beautiful options to make it stand out. Then you add the mods. Its a great android option, pick one up from the Verizon store and use your sim to work on any carrier.
February 18, 2018
Smartphone Spotlight:Moto G5
The new moto g⁵ plus smartphone is the latest from motorola’s android boasts a head-turning metal design, the most advanced camera in its class, and an all-day battery.

The Great
- TurboPower Charging; 6 hours of power in 15 minutes of charging
- 12MP Camera & Fingerprint Sensor Unlock
- 24-Hour Battery
- Precision-crafted metal design
- moto experiences
- affordable
The Not
- lacks Ram and processing power
- previous model g4 seems like an upgrade
- Bluetooth/audio features are unreliable
The Conclusion

With no real stunning upgrades over the g4, even some downgrades this is just a cheap android to get the job done for the average to basic user. It looks good though

the Moto G5 is a completely forgettable, attractive looking phone with some functions that give it a slight advantage over some of the competition . If you are already familiar with the Moto G family, there are some highlightable changes.

The screen has been reduced from the 5.5 inch Moto G4 to 5.2 inches, the is slightly wider though and significantly slimmer. This is the design change which I thought looked and felt great. It looks like a uni body metal design, how ever it is just a small cut of aluminum on a plastic frame.

Underneath the screen is a impressive fingerprint scanner. As standard it’s not used as a Home button, but pop into the Moto app and it will let you have it replace all the home keys. This allows you to swipe left for ‘back’, right for ‘recent apps’ and a tap for Home, this is nice.

The Final Thought

I pretty much just gave up on this phone, its pretty cookie cutter android. The fingerprint reader is really the only note worthy aspect to mention. Its completely average for an average price, it the android for those who just dont really care. If you are looking at this phone its fine, I mean its alright if you finally stop caring, but dont go telling some one who does and spend the extra $50 for the 4gb of ram.
February 18, 2018