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Android Update Upcoming – The Best New Features

Google has been steadily improving the Android operating system for mobile phones, adding lots of new features with every update. Its latest Android update, dubbed “Ice Cream Sandwich”, is a huge step forward for the company, enhancing the mobile operating system in almost every way possible. This brings to the forefront a complete makeover of the already-robust operating system; it is also filled with fresh features that will be loved by Android fans all around the world.

This Android update brings the version number to 4.0, combining the best of its predecessor’s phone interface and Honeycomb’s tablet GUI. It results in a visually appealing interface that is not only aesthetically pleasing, but is also very practical. It contains smart and useful innovations that will be utilized by next-gen mobile phone models from various manufacturers, including Motorola, Samsung and HTC. Below are five features that make it stand out from the crowded smartphone market.

Android Beam – this is basically the incorporation of near-field communication technology that has been picked up by other phone makers, including BlackBerry. It will let users share content with each other by tapping the back of the phone with another. Users will be able to send web links, YouTube videos, pictures, and other digital content simply by touching others’ phones. This is only applicable to other Android 4.0 users only though.

Face Unlock is one of the most talked about features in this Android update. There are no other smart phones in the market that have this technology. It scans and verifies your face before letting you use your phone. This uses advanced facial recognition technology that is simply not there in other high-end phones, including Apple iPhone 4S. On top of this, Google claims that it is impossible to fool the system with a picture of the owner. Only the actual owner will be able to use his or her phone. It is a technological marvel.

Taking a cue from Microsoft’s Windows Phone, Google has introduced a People App. The company has placed your friends, family and acquaintances at the center of your device. It will keep you informed on what everyone has been up to. It uses social networking websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter to grab status updates, work information and photos straight to you. Additionally, it will allow the user to reject any untimed calls.

This Android update also enables re-sizable widgets, letting users embed live content. It will let users check email, listen to music and carry out other tasks without even having to open the related apps. It also helps people save screen space.

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Various Versions Released For Android

What is Android?

It is an operating system that is used on smart phones, lap tops, tablet computers and so on. Android mobile applications are a group of software that includes operating system, key applications and middle-ware. With an open and flexible Android development platform Android developers will be able to build rich, innovative and interesting applications. Google took over the Android Inc in 2005 and thereafter released android code under the name of Apache License. Android developers write the applications in customized version of JAVA. This was listed as the top selling Smartphone application in 2010 by the C analysis and still the most sought after android mobile applications.

Features:

Android Mobile Applications comes with loaded features that are sure to take the android developers by storm. The features include:

  • Better connectivity using CDMA, Blue tooth, Wi-Fi, NFC, WiMax, GSM, LTE etc
  • Android push messaging service which is a part of Android Cloud to Device Messaging Framework also known as C2DM
  • Supports numerous human languages
  • Adapts to both traditional smartphones as well as VGA, 2D graphics, etc
  • Better and greater storage medium
  • Supports audio/video formats like JPEG, GIF, BMP, AMR, AAC, MPEG-4, WebM, MIDI, WAV, PNG etc
  • Contains web browser base on Web-Kit, Chrome’s V8 Java script engine which is the best
  • Is capable of multi tasking and multi-touch options
  • Supports hardware like touch screens, accelerometers, barometer, magnetometers, pressure sensors, thermometers, 3D graphics and many more
  • Also supports tethering that helps in the phone being used as wireless Wi-Fi spot

Recent Releases and their added features:

There have been various versions of android mobile applications that have been released with the intention of fixing some particular bugs of previous version and also adding to the list of new features. The various versions show the continuous android development that makes the component and its features customer friendly and flexible enough for easy and efficient usage. The following are the latest versions of android:

2.3 Gingerbread

  • Better user interface
  • Enhanced copy/paste features
  • Improved gaming experience
  • Supports SIP
  • Also supports Near Field Communication

3.0 Honey comb

  • New User interface features
  • Adapts to larger screen devices
  • Supports multi core processors
  • Supports hardware for better graphic presentation

3.1 Honey Comb

  • Has enhanced input devices
  • Books Applications
  • Google Movies compatibility
  • USB host mode that enables transfer of data from cameras and devices directly

3.2 Honey comb

  • Supports many android powered devices
  • Provides Zoom to fill screen compatibility mode
  • Provides better control for the developers in display functionality
  • Supports transfer of media files directly from SD card
  • Improved screen support API

4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich

  • Facial recognition unlock facilities
  • Controls and monitors network data usage
  • Supports unified social networking contacts
  • Enhances the photography features
  • E-mail searching made possible even offline

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iPhone App Developers Harness The Potential Of Unity Game Engine

Unity is an authoring tool for creating 3D video games and other interactive content such as architectural visualization’s or real-time 3D animations. Currently, Unity’s developers work on Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, and produce games that play on Windows, Mac, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Wii, iPad and iPhone. Games also work on the Android platform. Unity can produce browser games that will actually use the Unity web player plug-in. Linux does not support Unity, but Mac and Windows do. Mac widgets can be used on the web player.

iPhone Developers both Apple and outside developers

iPhone developers can use Unity to become a casual game developer, and the possibilities are endless. Casual games are a niche in the gaming category and are a growing entity. Casual games have simple design and invite the gamer to step in the game, play, and get out without outlaying complicated skills or time commitments. iPhone game app developers need to remember: small, fun, easy. Competitive Opportunity Casual games are smaller in scope and limited in terms of game play with lower end-use expectations. Resources to develop these games are on small scale. An iPhone development team of one to three people can do well immensely using Unity to develop their small tier “casual games.” The casual games market is an excellent vehicle for iPhone development app teams to break into the iPhone or Smartphones game app download market.

Characteristics of Unity app developer

Unity is simple. World building tools enable iPhone application developers and others to assemble and tweak levels of the application at the speed of thought. Edit, test, and play developing apps using Unity. Your ideas are only a click away. Unity lets you drill down to find the fun, then control and polish until everything is perfect. Platforms can be switched at just a click. Develop from a single source for iPhone, iPad, mobiles, webs, Mac/PC and consoles. Application developers need Unity to design aural ambiance and audio. These are included. Unity brings Beast light mapping and Umbra occlusion to make games look good and run fast. Unity’s rendering pipeline helps games look great for the casual game market.

Tips for outsourcing and developing iPhone casual games

Entire courses cover the topic of game design and what elements help make a “good game.” Outside iPhone application developers recommend that when developing these casual gaming apps several items need to be recognized. Think about the target audience. Free browser-based web games appeal to males in their teens and twenties who lean toward action, adventure or driving style games. Puzzle, work or story type games appeal to female audiences that tend to just play for very short time bursts.

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iPhones for Sale With Great Functionality

There are quite a few different iPhones for sale now, different models vary in upfront costs, so this can really affect your choice of handset.

There are variable features, options, functions, apps and the lot that you can use on different phones. For example the new iOS 5 operating system was released with the iPhone 4 but was extended to be able to be used with the iPhone 3gs for existing users. So a unit appears to be one thing at first, then suddenly it`s range in certain areas gets extended. This can sometimes be a reason to stick with an existing handset and investigate upgrades before trading it in for a new one!

The 3gs was a faster version of the iPhone 3g when it was released originally. The 3 megapixel camera was a vast improvement whilst not including a flash option. The tap and focus on parts of the screen was pretty useful especially with the YouTube upload facility too.

The touchscreen reaction facility means that the screen is electronically sensitive to your kinetic instructions. You can swipe, roll across and tap for enter all on the actual screen visuals. It seemed amazing at the time I must admit, there only needs to be the one actual clunky button.

Again amazingly, this little unit has great battery life, even compared to some of the later models which admittedly are running more functions on them. However, if you don`t want or need those extras then why bother running your battery down so much?

The iPhone 3gs also has a whopping 32gb for storing everything like music, videos, web searching facilities etc.

Whichever model you go for though, be sure to look at whether they are unlocked, iPhones for sale are not always, sometimes you are tied in to a pre existing contract.

There are also fake iPhones for sale and some that have been subjected to “jailbreaking” so be careful when buying the cheapest iPhones for sale.

The latest iPhone 4s has just been released at the time of writing and there is some debate about how versatile it is compared to other smartphones. Many users report that they are over the moon with it, whilst others report that it is not so good as they find other phones to be. The “s” in the name refers to the dramatically improved speed at which everything on the iPhone 4s works. From Wi-Fi to camera speed to virtually instant voice responses on Siri. This improvement is supposedly the result of the better 3g connection, a faster graphic chip and a 2x speed processor. When you are trawling the internet, looking at Emails or opening pages on url sites it all seems so much faster than before.

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