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Smartphone gaming continues to improve with ever sharper displays and raw processing power to deliver console-quality graphics right in the palm of your hands. Nonetheless, you still stand to improve the gaming experience on any phone by adding the right accessories to the mix ...more

With Google's new Pixel 4, we now have another device in the pool of phones designed for normal-sized hands. The other major player in this segment is as big as it gets — metaphorically. Apple's iPhone 11 Pro is the small phone to beat, but can Google be the one to dethrone it ...more

The Files app received a big update in iOS 13. Before, it was limited to local and cloud-based files, but now you can access data from external storage devices, including SD cards and USB drives. But before you try to connect your favorite card or drive to your iPhone, there a ...more

As the Augmented World Expo (AWE) prepares to open its doors to AR developers and enthusiasts, we sat down with founder Ori Inbar to talk about AR's growth over the past decade, and what the future may hold. In its eleventh year of summoning developers to its own conference, ...more

The augmented reality industry had enough twists this week to surprise even M. Night Shyamalan. With barely a mention of augmented reality throughout its annual unveiling of the Galaxy S line of smartphones, Samsung showed off its forthcoming 5G version of the Galaxy S10, whi ...more

You can feel it in your bones. You may die if you don't get this phone. There's just one problem — the price. Suddenly, you come across what seems like manna from heaven. That very device, at a deeply discounted rate, can be yours. The only thing that makes you pause is that ...more

Fortnite's long awaited arrival on Android has ramped up excitement among gamers who are installing the beta version in astounding numbers. With so many midrange and budget devices running Android, however, it's important to stay on top of your device's performance to ensure s ...more

UPDATE: The ported APK covered below is now obsolete because Fortnite beta is officially available for all Android devices! Alongside its Galaxy Note 9 announcement at Unpacked this year, Samsung confirmed that Fortnite would initially launch on Android as a Galaxy-exclusive. ...more

A team of academics from three different universities and two private companies have just discovered a new vulnerability that affects almost every Android device since 2012. The vulnerability is known as RAMpage, and it could be used to gain complete control over the device. ...more

You may have noticed improved photo quality in the Android Snapchat app in recent months. Believe it or not, this is because Snapchat only just recently started using a decade-old camera API that predates every Android phone in existence. The basic premise of APIs is simple — ...more

One of the biggest gripes we always hear about is the changes OEMs make to Android's notification shade. Icon styling and home screen layouts can be fixed with custom launchers like Nova and Action, but we're stuck with the tacky Quick Settings theme our phones came with. Toda ...more

Essential just dropped the Oreo Beta Program for their flagship PH-1 phone. Users have been eagerly awaiting this update as the early Nougat builds of the PH-1 software have suffered from numerous performance issues and lag. The good news is that you can grab the Oreo update t ...more

ARKit is a marketer's dream. By providing tools for creating augmented reality experiences on mobile devices, AR apps can now be deployed easily alongside just about any campaign. As expected, we now have ARKit apps pushing wares ranging from automobiles to tequila. Of course ...more

While ARKit and ARCore are poised to bring AR experiences to millions of mobile devices, one company is poised to anchor those experiences anywhere in the world with just a set of geographic coordinates. The geospatial augmented reality platform Aireal enables developers to p ...more

The Xposed Framework is an incredibly powerful tool. But because of this power, there's a chance that something could go wrong when installing a broken or incompatible module, which can cause bootloops or even soft-brick your phone. Depending on how bad the situation is, the ...more

What makes YouTube such a special platform is that anyone and everyone can upload their own content. Big players upload their videos to the same site that the little guy does. But what if you're a little guy who has never uploaded a video before? Or, what if you're a regular ...more

YouTube is nothing without its creators — the people who make the content worth visiting the site again and again. Many of us have favorite channels and creators we return to, but it can be difficult to keep track of all the new videos they make, as the alternative is to be pl ...more

A groundbreaking new Android feature called seamless updates was announced at Google I/O 2016. No longer would we have to wait for updates to download and install — instead, they'd be applied silently in the background, and the new Android version would be waiting on us the ne ...more

Unless you're experienced using the Linux terminal, running ADB and Fastboot commands can get confusing very fast. The problems often stem from having to hunt for various files — usually IMG or ZIP files that you need to mod your Android phone — and then move them to your plat ...more

Looking past the obvious visual similarities between the iPhone 7 and Google's new Pixel phones, there are several indications that the search giant had Apple in its sights as they released their latest flagships. For once, this isn't an Android phone we're talking about, it's ...more

When it comes to Android automation apps, Tasker has never had much competition. But considering how difficult it can be for a novice user to get the hang of things, and factoring in Tasker's drab and complicated interface, there's definitely room for another developer to step ...more

Ever since the Google Play Store removed its "Designed for tablets" section, it's been a lot harder to find good, tablet-optimized Android apps. Not that it was all that great to begin with considering that they used to list apps like Facebook and Twitter, which only have over ...more

If you're completely new to Android, you're in for a treat with all of the software tweaks and customization options that your smartphone or tablet offers out of the box. But if you really want to take things to the next level, the ability to mod your device expands exponentia ...more

Welcome back, rookie hackers! We recently began an exploration of ways to hack using the Bluetooth protocol. As you know, Bluetooth is a protocol that connects near field devices such as headsets, speakers, and keyboards. Its minimum range is a 10-meter radius (~33 feet) and ...more

Depending on your child's age, their first smartphone may be a little too open for them, or you, to handle. With essentially a world of information—both good and bad—available at their fingertips, it can seem like a huge hurdle to instill parental controls on their device. Th ...more

There are many reasons to root Android, but for me, the most important one is to have the Xposed Framework. Xposed gives you access to hundreds of modules, which take away the need to manually modify core system files to add new features and functionality to your Android devic ...more

We recently lost Grooveshark, the free music streaming service that supplied users with a huge catalog of free music anytime, anywhere. Since its shutdown, I have been scrambling to find a half-decent alternative, and my expectations were more than exceeded when I found NetEas ...more

While you can do a lot of things on your smartphone that were once only done on a computer, having a laptop is still necessary and critical for many tasks. Often times, the two devices work very well together. We recently covered Google's Chrome Remote Desktop, an app that al ...more

Whether you have the original Nexus 7, or the 2013 Nexus 7 tablet, rooting it will give you access to tomorrow's features, today. Sure, without root there's lots you can use it for. It's helped me get out of bed, became my own personal bartender, and a lot more. But with a r ...more

It seems nowadays the word "easy" has taken on an alternate meaning. When I see "easy," I expect a quick and painless process, but when it comes to flashing or installing a custom ROM, easy means anything but. That's the main reason I've avoided installing CyanogenMod on my S ...more

For new Android users, rooting an Android phone can often be an intimidating process, especially since there are so many different ways to gain root access, depending on your model and firmware version. I've previously covered a way of doing it for the AT&T version of the Sam ...more

Whenever the word "popup" pops up, I immediately cringe because all I can think about are those obnoxious ads that ruin my everyday browsing experience. But, not all popups are evil. On your Samsung Galaxy S3 or other Android device, popups are used to notify you of important ...more

One of the most heated topics in the Android community now (and probably forever) is stock Android, with lots of users requesting the ability to use it rather than the manufacturer's skin. That's why Google has been offering phones like the HTC One, Samsung Galaxy S4, and Mot ...more

Rooting is usually the first thing on the to-do list whenever one of us softModders gets a new Android device. Unfortunately our efforts are sometimes hindered by certain obstacles; a common one is a locked bootloader. What Is a Bootloader? A bootloader is the lowest level s ...more

In the past, we've shown you how to install CyanogenMod 10.1 on your Nexus 7, but that version was based off of the older Android 4.2 Jelly Bean. If you want to stay current, the newer CyanogenMod 10.2 is out in the nightly stage, which is based on Android 4.3, and you can get ...more

The NSA's massive internet spying efforts will continue. In President Obama's latest press conference, he went public to (in so many words) say that the NSA's spying efforts will continue uninterrupted. This, coming just weeks after the Amash Amendment which would have defund ...more

One thing that gets overlooked on Facebook is the amount of videos you can watch, and I'm not just talking about videos uploaded directly by Facebook users—I mean everything ever shared—YouTube, Vine, Instagram, Vimeo, etc. Sometimes one of those videos is just so good that y ...more

The biggest complaint I have with my Nexus 7 is the lack of support for different types of media files. I have a lot of movies and music that I've downloaded off the web, in many different formats, and I want them on my tablet. Want to play that 1080p MKV file of your favorit ...more

Jumping right into the most captivating part of a podcast episode can make all the difference when sharing episodes with others. But this functionality has never been available in Apple Podcasts — until now. Starting with iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia 15, released on S ...more

There is a whole world of smartphone accessories out there, some of which are more quirky than others and don't get the recognition they deserve. But these sometimes strange, sometimes embarrassing products can really make life easier on your iPhone or Android phone. We've fo ...more

With the global COVID-19 pandemic preventing Pokémon GO players from venturing into the real world, developer Niantic has adapted the game for trainers to play in a socially-distanced manner. Likewise, with the annual Pokémon GO Fest, typically an exclusive gathering of playe ...more

The Los Angeles Rams are the latest NFL franchise to introduce new or modified uniforms for the 2020 season, joining the Atlanta Falcons, Cleveland Browns, Indianapolis Colts, New England Patriots, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and their neighbors, the Los Angeles Chargers. However, ...more

If you thought the news coming from China about the coronavirus might not affect your daily life in Europe and in the Americas, think again. Apple, the maker of the best selling augmented reality hardware on the market, the iPhone, has just revealed that the coronavirus will ...more

When it comes to the athletic footwear retail game, it's just not enough to just sell shoes anymore. Count Puma as the latest brand to pump up the customer experience in its stores with augmented reality, as the brand recently celebrated the opening of its flagship New York C ...more

While Google isn't ready to commit to a wide release of the AR walking navigation mode for Google Maps, the company has begun testing the feature with members of its Local Guides crowdsourcing community. As a result, I've had the opportunity to test an alpha build of the feat ...more

Public beta testers are no longer stuck on iOS 12.1.3. Apple just released the first public beta for iOS 12.2 today, Jan. 28. The company released the first developer beta for the software Thursday, Jan. 24, which includes new features for HealthKit and News, as well as a slew ...more

One day after the official release of iOS 12.1.3, Apple released the first beta for iOS 12.2 to developers. The software appears to be the first in some time to be a major update. Apple's last beta cycles included 12.1.2 and 12.1.3, incremental updates to iOS 12.1. Now, we've ...more

Augmented reality gaming company Niantic Labs is now instigating conflicts between Pokémon GO players, but it's not as bad as it sounds. On Wednesday, Niantic began rolling out the new Trainer Battles player versus player fight mode, starting first with players level 40 and a ...more

The app that Lego demoed at this year's iPhone launch event is now available in the App Store, and it showcases several new capabilities available in ARKit 2.0. The Playgrounds app enables players to access augmented reality multiplayer games with ARKit's new shared experienc ...more

Ingress, the godfather of location based-AR games developed by Pokémon GO creator Niantic Labs, is getting a new lease on life via Ingress Prime, a reboot of the game built on the Niantic Real World Platform. After teasing the reboot late last year, Niantic launched the new g ...more

Overall, iOS is more impressive than ever with its stability enhancements, security tools, suite of apps and services, and intuitive user interface. With each passing update, things just get better and better for iPhone users. But don't think for a second that this is all beca ...more

The OnePlus 5 doesn't have too many weak spots, at least not when you consider the price. But you might feel that the company with the slogan, "Never Settle," might have actually settled a bit with its camera. The OnePlus 5 and 5T don't have bad imaging specs, but they could u ...more

So far, consumer augmented reality headsets haven't found mainstream success. That's primarily because no manufacturer has managed to hit the sweet spot between slim form factor, performance, and affordability. So when you hear that a Norwegian company called Ludenso is offer ...more

Though not as popular as Super Mario or Zelda, Konami's Contra nevertheless remains as one of the greatest titles that helped put Nintendo on the map. This retro shooter is set to make a comeback, and has been soft-launched in select Asian countries ahead of a worldwide releas ...more

While most kids his age are busy playing Fortnite, 11-year-old Yumo Soerianto is developing augmented reality games. Kids like Soerianto are the future of the augmented reality field — they'll likely be coming into their own as professional developers right as AR technologies ...more

OnePlus pulled out almost all the stops with their latest flagship, but there are a few areas where the phone falls just short of perfect. The single bottom-firing speaker leaves a lot to be desired, for instance, but thanks to the awesome development community for the OnePlus ...more

Augmented reality is really picking up steam as a tool for marketing departments to pitch their products. Over the past week or so, we've seen numerous examples of the augmented reality used to promote events in the world of entertainment. In the movie business, Disney/Pixar ...more

If you cover a particular area in tech long enough, you develop certain pet peeves, and one of mine happens to be devices that attempt to keep us wed to the Google Glass style of augmented reality. And while I remain mostly uninterested in such devices, one of these products r ...more

As expected, Apple revealed today at the WWDC keynote that ARKit 2.0 will support multiplayer gaming support and persistent content, which will arrive this fall with iOS 12. In addition to persistent and shared experiences, ARKit 2.0 will bring improved face tracking, more re ...more

You really can't beat Google Photos. Not only does it give you free unlimited cloud storage and let you search for almost any object in one of your pictures, but it also packs a few powerful editing tools. Among these is a dead-simple way to create your own animated GIFs out o ...more