Articles (page 5 of 50)
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What’s a Hardware Abstraction Layer and why should you care? (Video)
On the Pocketnow Power User so far this season we’ve talked mainly about hardware. What is the hardware abstraction layer, and why should you care? The Hardware Abstraction Layer…
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2014 TARS KAYSVILLE WATER PARADE
With the help of their advisors, Kathy Wilson (Leg 15 Chair) and Natalie Levi (Leg 15 Vice Chair), the Teenage Republicans (TARs) assembled the morning of the Fourth…
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A week with the ASUS PadFone X
Not long ago we had the opportunity to share our experiences with a unique device: the Asus PadFone X . If you haven’t checked out our full review, make sure you find out why we…
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What’s on Joe’s Android smartphone: Pocketnow Insider
One question I get asked more than all the others is “what do you have on your phone?” Sure, people wonder what phone I have, who my carrier is, how much I pay for my plan every…
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Why would you rather buy last year’s flagship than this year’s mid-ranger?
Each year almost every manufacturer releases a flagship device. It’s got the latest and greatest hardware, the best specs, and all the latest bells and whistles in the software…
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Android Keyboard lag: what causes it and how to fix it
There was a time when, if you wanted to type something on your smartphone, you’d just type it. No muss. No fuss. It was simple. You pressed the keys of the letters you wanted to…
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Using your phone number as your chat ID is a bad idea
Our smartphones offer us many ways to communicate with each other. We can send SMS messages to one another. We can use Facebook to chat. Twitter lets us send direct messages back…
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Android’s back button is still a ball of confusion and inconsistency
Buttons on Android-powered devices have long been a source of confusion and frustration. Sometimes they’re there, sometimes they’re not. Sometimes the back button is on the left,…
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HTC Desire 816 review: a mid-tier phone with flagship DNA
Devices in HTC’s Desire line have never been intended as flagships, but phones sporting the vaunted “D label” have usually been quite well received. Rather than going all-in and…
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Cross-combing in top bar hives
My wife and I are first-time beekeepers, though we both have a familial history of tending hives and harvesting honey. Her dad and my late-date both kept bees while we were…
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Why some plastic phones are better than others
Our phones have to be durable, but exactly how that’s accomplished is something that some OEMs are still trying to figure out. The material for the front of a phone is pretty…
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Are third-party battery saving apps worth it?
CPUs, GPUs, RAM, and even storage space all seem to be headed in the right direction: more! Thickness and weight are headed in the opposite direction: thin and light. What’s stuck…
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Pocketnow Power User: Everything you need to know about the CPU (video)
We live in a day and age where electronic devices are an integral part of our daily routine. What’s inside them that gives them the power to do so many amazing things? On today’s…
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Here’s why city-wide WiFi deployments are a bad idea
Everyone loves “free”, and everyone loves wireless Internet access. Combining the two, what could possibly go wrong? When talking about broadband Internet, we often hear about the…
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Turn your Nokia X into a real Android (video)
The Nokia X is a great little device, although it’s a bit under-powered compared to what we’ve become accustomed to recently. It also has a very interesting launcher, and by…
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Here’s why System-in-Package is a big deal for Apple’s upcoming iWatch, and everything else
Pebble and other small companies are already major players in the wearables niche. Google is prepping for an imminent launch of watches powered by Android Wear . Even Samsung has…
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Here’s how “OK Google” everywhere could make your Android completely hands-free
Most of you already know that I began my digital life as a Newton guy. To this day my MessagePad 2000U could do things that even the latest smartphones running the most customized…
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Airplane mode isn’t just for when you’re on an airplane
There was a time not too long ago when we were directed to turn our smartphones, tablets, and other personal electronic devices off as soon as we got on a plane and the cabin door…
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Why doesn’t every browser do word wrapping?
Mobile devices used to be primarily portable email boxes with integrated calendar and contacts. In the early days, some of them may have included web browsers, but they were very…
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Here’s why carrier and OEM Kill Switches are a really bad idea
A “kill switch” is often referred to as an “emergency stop switch”, and is typically a safety mechanism used to shut something off in case of an emergency. When talking about…
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USB 3.1 is reversible, fast, and awesome, but here’s why you shouldn’t get excited just yet
Printers from yesteryear used parallel ports. Modems used serials ports — which were available in either 9- or 25-pin varieties. High-speed devices like scanners and external…
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Why aren’t OEMs using wireless charging?
If you’ve never used wireless charging, you’re missing out, and you just can’t understand how convenient it is. Every time you need to charge your device, you’ve got to have a…
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I hope Microsoft brings Cortana to Android
Back in the day we used to refer to our electronic devices as PDAs — Personal Digital Assistants. They weren’t. In fact, they weren’t much more than battery-operated day planners,…
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ZENS Qi-enabled portable battery makes charging truly wireless, almost
Last week we showed you a very novel Qi wireless charger for you to keep your smartphone topped of while in your car , and we were quite impressed with it. Unlike most car…
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When it comes to broken phones, LG knows how to take care of customers
Remember back in February of 2013 when I dropped my Nexus 4 and shattered its screen ? That was the first phone that I’d ever broken. Up until that time I’d always thought my…
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Here’s why Google’s new “Powered by Android” boot animation is a great idea, but won’t fix the problem
Not long ago we we started hearing that Google would be implementing a new boot logo requirement. The document, first reported by Geek.com, is a bit vague and incomplete, but what…
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With so many devices crowding the airwaves, is 5GHz really better than 2.4Ghz in practice?
Yesterday we talked about the benefits of 802.11AC over 802.11n , and the majority of our readers agreed that the newer AC spec wins out almost every time. But what if you don’t…
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802.11AC versus 802.11N in practice
I’ve been having some problems with the WiFi side of my router — the wired side works fine, but WiFi has been giving me problems. This isn’t an uncommon occurrence and usually…
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Which tethering method is better: WiFi, Bluetooth, or USB cable?
Tethering is one of those things that many of us got really excited about way back in the early days of cell phones. Here we had a little phone that we could connect to our laptop…
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Dual-booting: the pros and cons
Over the last little while we’ve heard that various devices (typically tablets) may be released that have the ability to dual-boot into your choice of operating systems. Some may…
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Android Dog Food releases explained
Last week Google updated several of its Android apps. While there’s nothing unusual about that, what was out of the ordinary was an interesting little “bone” icon where YouTube’s…
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How to speed up your original Nexus 7, and others?
The original Nexus 7 was quite a piece of work when it was originally released back in 2012. Pocketnow’s own Brandon Miniman even rated the device an 8.7 out of 10 in his review.…
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Why can’t we have unlimited tethering?
Finally, after years of you and I telling them so, mainstream carriers are starting to offer “unlimited” plans. Why the “air quotes”? Because even though we’re told they’re…
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Should this year’s Nexus phone use LG’s curved-screen tech?
Curved screens are nothing new to Google’s Nexus family of smartphones — or are they? The second iteration of Google’s flagship phone was made by Samsung . It was called the Nexus…
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Hacking a Nokia X can turn it into a real Android
As you might recall, Nokia showed off its first “Android” phones at MWC this year. Why the “air quotes”, you ask? Because the Nokia X family aren’t real Androids, at least not in…
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So called “black phones” are the future for mobile devices
We’ve heard quite a bit about the new “ Blackphone ” which promises to keep your contacts and conversations secure — as long as you’re talking to someone else who is using the…
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Here’s what “water resistant” and “water proof” really mean
“Water proof” and “water resistant” mean the same thing, right? Apparently that’s what Archos CEO Loic Poirier thought — he was wrong. Poirier was happily showing off his new…
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How secure could Blackphone really be?
Why would you want a “black phone”, one that’s not susceptible to the privacy holes found in all of today’s smartphones? That’s a question that Jaime Rivera touched on at this…
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Smartwatches sorely need cross-device app standards
Wearables, especially smartwatches, are the next “big thing” in mobile technology. Exactly what they should do is still being discovered through iterative trial and error.…
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ZAGGsparq 6000: As close to perfect as a portable battery can get
When OEMs started moving away from removable batteries, many of us were disappointed, frustrated, even angry. Before then we had been able to extend the runtime of our devices by…
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Hands on with KitKat’s built-in printer support (video)
Ever since the advent of the modern personal computer, the promise of a “paperless” office has been omnipresent. To-date, that promise hasn’t been fully realized. Even with…
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Custom ROMs for smartwatches will soon be available
As I sit here writing this article, my Pebble smartwatch is on my wrist and my mind is racing back to my time with the Galaxy Gear — and finally getting it to “work” with my Nexus…
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How to use the Galaxy Gear with the Nexus 5 (video)
The Galaxy Gear is a really interesting and fun wearable, but it only works with a select few devices. Only a couple of Samsung phones and phablets are currently supported, but…
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How to encrypt your Android for extra security (video)
You’re out on the town, you’re having fun, and your smartphone is the furthest thing from your mind — until you get home and check your pockets, and it isn’t there. It’s happened…
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Realistically, what could we expect from a $50 smartphone?
Back when I started getting involved in cellphones I was a Nokia guy… so was everyone. VoiceStream gave me the option to pick up any one of several phones — all of which were made…
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A new BusyBox is on the horizon, here’s why you should be excited
Anyone who has ever rooted their Android-powered device should be familiar with two things: superuser and BusyBox. The former is a permissions management tool that lets you, the…
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All my friends are abandoning their carriers for T-Mobile
I’ve been a T-Mobile customer since the company was known as VoiceStream Wireless. Back then coverage of its PCS network wasn’t that great. Big cities and highway corridors were…
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Here’s why you should use 5GHz WiFi instead of 2.4GHz
We’ve updated our 5GHz WiFi article to help address some of the points our readers have brought up, as well as to clarify the theories at work. Many have opined that using 5GHz…
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How to re-enable tethering in KitKat with T-Mobile
I’ve been a T-Mobile customer for well over a decade. Since I picked up my T-Mobile G1 (way back in the day) I’ve been a happy user of both the carrier and Android as a platform.…
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Why using your mobile device as your bitcoin wallet is a bad idea
Using your smartphone or tablet as a wallet isn’t all that new. I had wonderful wallet programs that held virtual versions of my cards, numbers, barcodes, and even pictures way…