Latest Articles
As excited as many of us are for NVIDIA's upcoming Android TV-powered SHIELD set-top box, there has been a distinct lack of enthusiasm for the rather measly 16GB storage option. We all know that modern games - even ones designed for mobile platforms - can easily clock in at two or three gigs apiece, filling that 16GB drive with just a few titles. Sure, there is expandable storage, but it's just so convenient to have everything all in one place and not have to worry about SD cards, USB drives, and the like.
I just love creepy stuff. Creepy movies, creepy music, creepy old buildings, creepy dolls and other little toys. Even creepypasta. But most of all, I love creepy games. That thrill of being part of the action...there's nothing quite like it (I mean, except actually being in a situation like that...which I probably don't actually want).
If there's one market I've seen change dramatically over the last three years or so, it has to be the portable speaker scene. It went from being a category with a few mostly niche products that you had to convince yourself to spend a couple hundred bucks on to something pretty incredible - there's easily something for every type of person, lifestyle, and budget on the market right now. And really, it keeps getting better. More features, better sound quality, improved portability, and increased battery life are all things that we continuously see these days.While we've looked at waterproof (or completely submersible) speakers in the past, the Nyne Aqua stands apart from the crowd with one very unique feature: it's not only waterproof, but it also floats. So you can throw this little guy in the pool and keep the party going both in and out of the water.The floating design is definitely unique, and is clearly what the entire speaker is based around. The unit looks somewhat like a small boat, with two openings in the center part. The audio drivers, which are relatively small given the overall footprint of the speaker, are found on either side, with all the controls in the very center. Speaking of, the set of controls found on the Aqua are pretty straightforward: volume, EQ, play/pause/speakerphone, and power. The EQ button toggles through four different presets, all of which are surprisingly different from one another. That makes it pretty easy to find the one that sounds best according to your ears and musical tastes, thankfully.
Look, I love zombies as much as the next guy (assuming he actually loves zombies - if he doesn't, then I actually love zombies more than the next guy). I also love zombies games. Here's the problem: good zombies games are hard to find on basically any platform. I realize that they're not all going to be The Last of Us - especially on mobile - but I'd like to see something different every once in a while.
About four or five months ago, I got my Acer Chromebook 13, the second Chromebook I've owned. The first was the original Samsung Chromebook, which was more of a "test" device for me - something to get more familiar with Chrome OS, but it definitely didn't have the chops to be my daily driver. After getting the Acer, however, I realized that I basically stopped using my Windows laptop completely. In fact, I sold it a few weeks ago. I'm committed to Chrome OS at this point. (I still have a Windows desktop though, for those who are inevitably going to ask in the comments.)
I've been a long-time fan of Blu phones - they are, generally speaking, solid handsets for the money. Whether you're looking for an affordable daily driver for yourself, a backup, or a cheap alternative for someone else, I feel like Blu is a great place to start the search.
If I said Lollipop didn't have its own share of bugs, I'd be lying. But I'd also be lying if I said that it's not the best version of Android to date, because it really is. And today, Note 3 and Note Edge users on Sprint are getting a taste of what 5.0 is like on their handsets, as the Now Network has finally started pushing it.
Back in December, Instagram made available some new filters for the first time since the app's arrival on Android. These new tools brought even more creative freedom (I know, that's a matter of opinion - just go with it, OK?) to the app, and most hardcore IG users surely appreciated the new options.
If you're carrying a first generation Moto X, E, or G LTE, then you've likely noticed a distinct lack of Lollipop running on your device. The main reason for that is, well, because Motorola has been testing the 5.0.2 update in several markets over the past several weeks, but it still hasn't released it publicly. According to Motorola's David Schuster, they've also been testing 5.1 on the aforementioned devices in tandem with 5.0.2, and now the company has decided to skip 5.0 altogether and bump those devices directly to 5.1. A similar announcement was made back in mid-March regarding the DROID Turbo, so it's really not much of a surprise to see the same strategy used here.
So here's a fun fact: when you look at a carrier's coverage map, you're actually seeing its best guess as to where coverage is strong/weak/dead/etc. It's basically a theoretical map – it's where they should have coverage (but no promises are being made).
Back in December of last year, we teamed up with Feedly to give away three Feedly Pro Lifetime accounts to celebrate the launch of APK Mirror. That went over pretty well, and now we have three more to give away.
Back at CES in January, Blu announced a handful of upcoming devices that were all basically slated to hit shelves in the first quarter of 2015. We've already taken a look at two of those phones: the super sleek and thin Vivo Air, as well as the massive battery-packing Studio Energy. Today, I have the Studio X Plus (which is exactly like the Studio X, just larger) and the ultra-affordable Studio G, two more devices that were announced in that same lineup.
Back in early January of this year, IK Multimedia announced the iRig 2, one of three Android-compatible digital music interfaces announced by the company in recent months. While the first one -- the iRig HD-A -- is compatible exclusively with Samsung Professional Audio devices (Note 3/4, Galaxy S5/6/Edge), the iRig 2 is the first interface on the market that should support most Android 5.0 devices in some way or another.Today marks the public release of the iRig 2, and it's already available from retailers like Musician's Friend and Sweetwater Music, though Amazon shows that it's actually not available until March 30th.[EMBED_YT]https://youtu.be/VsC2HXisQFw[/EMBED_YT]The iRig 2 comes a full five years after its predecessor, and brings with it a half-a-decade worth of changes, too. This version features a gain control, which allows musicians to tweak the sound of their instrument to always get the best sound. For example, a humbucker-equipped guitar may require less gain than something like an acoustic guitar to get the best results.It also features a new 1/4" amplifier output, which allows the unit to be used through a traditional guitar amp or powered speaker. And with the new FX/THRU switch, iRig 2 allows musicians to play live and use the iRig with their mobile device as a tuner or with a recording app to capture the dry signal.The iRig 2 is currently fully compatible with the Galaxy Note 3/4 and S5/6/Edge on the Android side, and other Android 5.0 devices are also supported but "can't do low-latency processing." I'm not exactly sure what that means (or what the iRig 2 can do on those devices), but I've reached out to IK Multimedia and will update when more information is available. It's worth noting that the iRig UA will be available at some point in the near future, which will be able to do full audio processing on Android 4.0+.You can pick an iRig 2 right now for $40.
Back in 2004 (or thereabouts), Opera was my go-to browser. I liked that it was available on both Windows and Linux, and it just seemed faster than Firefox to me at the time. That was of course long before mobile phones were what they are now - I was probably carrying an old Nokia bar phone and changing the faceplate every three days. Good times.
Several weeks ago, rumors started floating around about a purported Google MVNO codenamed Nova. It looks like that's a little more than a rumor now, as Android lead Sundar Pichai essentially spilled the beans at a talk today at Mobile World Congress. Now, before you get too excited, it looks like this is going to be on a much smaller scale than we originally thought, and is in fact not intended to go head-to-head with the Big Four. That said, Pichai didn't exactly make it clear what Google's intention actually is in terms of coverage area and services provided.
When it comes to portable Bluetooth speakers, the Ultimate Ears BOOM ($199) and MEGABOOM ($299) stand above the rest in my opinion. Each speaker has outstanding sound quality for its size, they're both incredibly robust, and Ultimate Ears backs them with an unprecedented two-year warranty.
A little while ago, I went hands-on with some dbrand skins. I say that if you're looking for a way to spice up your phone without going for a big bulky case, these are hands-down the way to go. They look great, are easy enough to apply, and come off easily should the need ever arise.
A couple of weeks ago when dbrand offered up all its skins for 25% off, I mentioned how boring most Android phones look these days (save for a few, like the Moto X since it's customizable). As a result, we decided that going hands-on with some dbrand stuff might be pretty fun, and what better phone than the oversized-and-aesthetically-boring Nexus 6 to be the guinea pig? I threw a variety of different combos on this beasty, which includes some super sleek options and also a couple of the worst combos I could possible think of (because why not?).
One of my favorite innovations that has started to become more mainstream over the past several years is wireless charging. I'm bummed that every phone doesn't have it at this point (looking at you, Motorola - the Moto X should've been qi-compatible!), because it's easily one of the most convenient changes of all time. OK, maybe that's a little hyperbolic...but really, I do love it.
A couple of days ago, we reported that NVIDIA was pushing update 2.2 to SHIELD Tablet units. For the most part, the update is a good one – it brings more GRID games, improved battery life, broader support for high performance chargers, and overall performance enhancements. Those are all the makings of an excellent update, no doubt.