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If you exceed your monthly mobile data limit, your cell phone bill can skyrocket pretty quickly. This is why a lot of people vigilantly monitor internet usage and even uninstall apps that use too much background data. Don't Miss: 10 Tricks for Conserving Data on Android Up u ...more

After a few months, I get so fed up with hearing the same ringtone go off alongside each new notification that I'm forced to switch things up—only to end up repeating this whole process when the new one gets played out. And I'm sure people around me are equally sick of listeni ...more

Say you're sending a snap to a friend at a restaurant, bar, store, what have you, but you're curious about the song that's playing in the background. You could leave the app to Shazam it, or you could ask screen-hogging Siri or Google Assistant what the track is, but why not j ...more

Every once in a while, we find ourselves in a predicament where we need an inexpensive smartphone. Whether we're finally upgrading from that feature phone we held onto too long or we dropped our current smartphone, sometimes we need a quick replacement to get back on track. Th ...more

Smartphones are almost always connected to the internet, so it stands to reason that they can be hacked remotely. Or perhaps a jealous boyfriend or girlfriend got hold of your device physically, in which case they could've potentially installed a keystroke logger, a virus, or ...more

As you already know, the Galaxy Note 10 and 10+ have gotten rid of the beloved audio jack (RIP). Fortunately, it has never been a better time to switch to wireless. There are Bluetooth headphones and earbuds for every budget and every need. Wireless headphones nowadays have g ...more

Many OEMs create skins that run on top of Android to differentiate themselves from their competitors. One example is the LG UX 6.0+ found in the new LG V30, which is Android at its core, but improved upon by the addition of unique features. One such feature is the ability to c ...more

Android's Quick Settings menu is quite handy—just swipe down with two fingers from the top of your screen and you're ready to toggle several different system settings on or off. It got even better with Android 6.0 Marshmallow, since you can even use the hidden System UI Tuner ...more

Among a treasure trove of new developer information on the Lumin OS that Magic Leap recently published on its Creator Portal appears to be the official confirmation of the Magic Leap Mobile Companion App. The app was alluded to in job postings previously reported by Next Real ...more

Microsoft, even being Apple's fierce competitor, is no stranger to producing iOS apps—in fact, they've made 94 of them. But their latest iOS app may be their silliest yet: a goofy photo editor named Sprinkles. Released on April 1 (coincidence?), Sprinkles is reminiscent of Sn ...more

Android has not had the best reputation for privacy and security, though Google has made strides in those departments in recent years. A new feature called Safe Folder in the Files by Google app may help assuage and fear, uncertainty, and doubt that consumers may have with re ...more

It's easy to copy text from webpages, messages, documents, and other views on your Android device — except when it isn't. Many apps block or prohibit text selection, forcing you to take screenshots or write out the whole excerpt manually. But you don't have to resort to those ...more

Google has started to release a Go line of Android apps. These apps offer a minimalistic version of their major app counterpart. So far, we have Go versions of Maps, Photos, Gmail, and more. Who are these apps for and why would you want to use them? Here's a quick overview of ...more

The software updates from Canadian smartglasses startup North keep coming, each with a unique new twist. In the latest update to the software running on the company's Focals wearables, North has included a functionality facilitated by a mobile device heavyweight: Google. Don ...more

If you have some experience in the Google world, you'll know that Google Assistant has had location-based reminders since it dropped nearly two years ago. Before that, Google Now offered the same feature. Even with that precedent, you've never been able to ask Google Home to r ...more

Android O doesn't have an official code name yet, but it's certainly got plenty of cool new features. The OS won't officially debut until Q3 2017, but we've gotten our hands on some of the updated stock apps thanks to the Android beta program. Developer krisyarno went ahead a ...more

The EFS partition on modern Android phones houses the unique IMEI for your device, which is essentially an identification number that lets you connect to mobile networks. But sometimes, when you're flashing ROMs or restoring backups in custom recovery, the EFS partition can be ...more

When Lollipop was released, Android's lock screen got a huge makeover. But most of the changes were made for aesthetic purposes rather than functionality. In fact, one of KitKat's best lock screen features was removed altogether—the ability to add custom widgets. We've since ...more

Amazingly enough, some of us still have to worry about exceeding our monthly mobile data limits. You'd figure carriers would have given the customers what they want by now by offering truly unlimited plans, but with two conglomerates sitting atop the U.S. cellular market with ...more

As the developer behind the most popular root methods for hundreds of Android devices, Chainfire knows the ins and outs of Android root procedures. But this doesn't mean he's infallible—occasionally, some of his root utilities can cause minor bugs. Many users have reported th ...more

Smartphones generally have limited storage, but counter this issue with an always-on internet connection. This led to the proliferation of cloud storage services, which allow us to store and access our large media libraries remotely. The problem here is that most cloud storag ...more

The buttons on most Android devices are laid out (from left to right) in a Back, Home, Recent Apps format. Samsung is the lone exception to this rule, which flip-flops them, so this can make for an inconsistent experience if you own multiple Android devices. But thanks to a f ...more

Recently, a group of Duke University students got together to tackle an age-old problem with mobile devices. You see, mobile data coverage isn't exactly ubiquitous, and many folks have restrictive mobile data plans, which means internet connectivity is not always an option. T ...more

Smartphones are great at keeping us busy with games, social media, and messaging apps, but there has been a recent push for them to also help keep us safe (and I'm not talking about from hackers, though that is equally important). A while back I covered an app that sent out a ...more

In an effort to make things simple and more secure, Google decided to slim down the power menu in Android 5.0. What once provided a quick link to shut your device down, turn on Airplane mode, and toggle volume states, has now been relegated to a simple power switch. Lucky for ...more

Samsung devices may dominate the Android market, but that doesn't mean everybody loves TouchWiz, the user interface on all of their smartphones and tablets. It's difficult to modify, comes with lots of bloatware, and isn't much to look at, to say the least. The solution is ea ...more

The inclusion of the parallax effect caused a shitstorm amongst iPhone users when it was released in iOS 7, especially when it came to creating custom wallpapers. It was hard to control, and even disabling it didn't fully get rid of it, making it one of the most hated new feat ...more

If your current cellular provider costs too much, has poor reception in your area, or doesn't support features you'd like to use, switching to another carrier is the obvious move. But can you bring your current iPhone or Android phone? In most cases, your current smartphone w ...more

With every new Android update, hidden features are lurking under the surface. Google hides these options to prevent unnecessary tinkering by average users, leaving them in place for power users to discover. These secrets range from silly to really useful, with the latter openi ...more

Google's new Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL have a new camera mode called "Motion Photos." As the name implies, it's quite similar to Apple's Live Photos feature or HTC's Zoe before it. For every picture you take, a few seconds of video footage from before and after the shot was taken ...more

Since iCloud's introduction in 2011, you get only 5 GB of complimentary cloud storage with your Apple account. With iPhone backups, app data, iCloud Drive files, and even emails (if you have a Mac, Me, or iCloud email address), you'll quickly run out of space to back up photos ...more

For a friendly mobile game, Animal Crossing: Pocket Camp has an overwhelming number of items and collectibles — from fruit to fish to friends. Even though it can be difficult to keep up, this guide will be a great stepping stone to creating the campsite of your dreams without ...more

Now that the the iPhone 8 and iPhone 8 Plus have been revealed, we've been eager to see how the new devices will stack up against top-of-the-line Android phones like the Galaxy S8 and S8+. We can't compare real-world usage right now since the new iPhone models haven't been rel ...more

Your iPad has a superpower that iPhone models don't and probably never will have (even though they could) — one that will make you want to take your iPad with you everywhere you go from now on. While it's not a hidden or secret feature, it has eluded many iPad owners. Most of ...more

Recently, many manufacturers have started offering phones with a clean, stock Android UI. Motorola, Essential, Nokia, and OnePlus are probably the biggest names that have listened to user feedback and shifted more towards AOSP. But if your phone still has a bloated OEM skin, t ...more

With certain apps and games, it's all about the settings. In order to get your money's worth with one of these, you simply have to take the time to tweak and adjust various options, which is something a lot of users don't necessarily want to do. Take GravityBox for example—th ...more

NFC, or near-field communications, is a hardware feature that has been built into most Android phones for the last four years. It's essentially a low-power data connection that can be used to initiate a quick command by bringing your device within range of a compatible receive ...more

The average business person likely recognizes Epson for its printers or even its projectors, not the futuristic AR wearables. Yet it is Epson's experience with projection technology that has enabled the company to compete in the enterprise-grade smartglasses game, with its la ...more

While Android 9.0 Pie introduced some significant changes to the core operating system, the feature most people will be talking about is the native gesture controls. By default, these gestures are disabled — but for those of us wanting to try to the future of Android, here's h ...more

The Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL launched in 2017 with three colors: Clearly White, Just Black, and Kinda Blue. For those who wanted to stand out from the crowd a bit, Kinda Blue was the clear choice. Verizon, however, had other plans in mind, and Kinda Blue became exclusive to the ...more

If you or someone you know has younger kids and you're looking for an augmented reality toy, Pai Technology has just the educational option for you. For $199, the toy maker offers Augie, a spherical robot that uses augmented reality to teach children the basics of programming ...more

Matteo Pisani, CTO and co-founder of Remoria VR, has managed to do something the folks over at Google said couldn't be done for at least a couple of years. With a little bit of tinkering, Pisani was able get his Google Daydream VR headset and remote to work on an iOS device. V ...more

Samsung will begin preorders for the upcoming Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge on February 21st, the same day the company plans to unveil its handsets ahead of the Mobile World Congress, according to Dutch site Android World (via Droid Life). Customers who preorder a Galaxy S7 or S7 Edge ...more

If you're a developer looking to get some exposure for your high-quality app, or if you're a user hunting for new apps and would like a chance to win a paid app at no cost, then Jack Underwood's new Promo Codes app may get you there, which you can install for free from the Goo ...more

Quickness and efficiency should always be a fundamental aspect of the experience when using any Android device. Anything less, and we've got a problem. As app development continually progresses, these adjectives become much more refined and polished, making the use of a smartp ...more

After parting ways with Papa John's, the National Football League has drafted Pizza Hut as its official pizza purveyor, and the company has hit the field with an augmented reality game to entertain hungry football fans. After scanning specially marked pizza boxes using the Be ...more

If you're sick of playing chess in Facebook Messenger, there's another little-known game you can play with your friends directly in the app—basketball. This hidden game was originally added to Messenger before March Madness 2016, and still works perfectly to this day. Just ma ...more

With every version bump, Android gets a new Easter egg that can be accessed by tapping the "Android version" entry in Settings. For the most part, these have generally been little animations or live wallpapers that depict the Android code name, but starting with version 5.0 Lo ...more

Ask around anywhere that Android users gather online, and you'll find that SwiftKey is almost unilaterally the most highly-recommended keyboard for our favorite mobile operating system. It's no surprise either—SwiftKey's combination of insanely accurate word predictions and ra ...more

If you're just starting out with Android—or smartphones in general, for that matter—there are a lot of little things to learn. One of the first terms you'll likely encounter is "Wi-Fi," which is a wireless internet connection served up by a router in your home, office, or loca ...more

Have you ever had one of your Android games post a notification in a lame attempt to remind you to play? This is becoming a common practice these days, and to me, it's about as annoying as a Best Buy blue shirt when I'm just trying to check out the latest TVs. Or perhaps you' ...more

Based on OTW's encouragement in his post on "How to Find the Exact Location of Any IP Address", I decided to make a gui(graphical user interface) which would hopefully make the process easier. However, because turning a python script into a standalone executable is a right pai ...more

Sony's Xperia line of smartphones are beautifully crafted and have many great features. But considering the fact that Sony has evolved into a media company over the last two decades, it's their media-related apps that stand out the most. Just recently, they've updated their s ...more

AMOLED display panels like the one found in most Samsung Galaxy devices, including the Galaxy S6 models, are known for their deep blacks and vivid colors. The downside here is that the colors tend to be over-saturated and not very realistic. Samsung countered this issue by of ...more

Apple's latest round of devices—including the MacBook Pro, Apple Watch, and the iPhone 6S—use a new touch input method that can detect when you've applied a bit more force than usual. Dubbed "Force Touch" ("3D Touch" on the new iPhones), this gesture simulates a long-press or ...more

The Galaxy S6 Edge comes with a very nice pair of earbuds, which might possibly be the best set I've ever owned. They're quite comfortable, and they provide clear and robust sound, but they could still use just a little boost in volume. If you've found that your Galaxy S6 Edg ...more

For every contact photo you add, Android keeps two copies. The first is stored at a 720p resolution, and this is used for high-definition imagery when you're looking at a full-sized contact card. But the second image is only 96 pixels by 96 pixels, and this is used for all thu ...more

As it stands, Android's notification system is one of its biggest strengths—but that doesn't mean it couldn't use a few tweaks here and there. For one thing, when you receive multiple notifications from the same app, there is no indication as to exactly how many notifications ...more

For some strange reason, not all variants of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge have a menu option for changing the backlight timeout for their capacitive keys. According to user reports, only the AT&T variant of these phones has such an option. But thanks to an app from devel ...more

The Gmail app recently became stock Android's central hub for all of your email accounts. Instead of being limited to just Gmail accounts, the app can now handle POP3, IMAP, and exchange service email accounts, making it a one-stop shop for all of your emailing needs. But the ...more