The Android Blog announced today that Google is updating its suite of app icons to give them a fresh, consistent look. The new icons will be gradually rolling out across Android devices and online sites over the next few weeks.
Play Store, Play Movies & TV, Play Music, Play Games, Play Books and Play Newsstand are all among the apps getting updated, with a focus on the triangular Google Play icon.
“Whether you like watching Despicable Me on Google Play Movies & TV, streaming “Sorry” on Play Music, battling your friend in Clash Royale on Play Games or reading John Grisham’s latest on Play Books, Google Play is your home for the best apps, games and digital entertainment. Since launching Google Play four years ago, we’ve always had dedicated apps in addition to the Google Play store. Today, all our icons are getting an update to provide a consistent look across the entire family of Play apps.”
For even more consistency, I’d like to see Google use the same colors for the Google logo and the Play icons, but we can’t have everything. What do you think? Do you like the new icons?
Purchasing a new smartphone can be quite a fun thing to do. But, it can also be quite expensive or confusing, too. Not only that, but it can also be a bit of a headache as consider which phone, which carrier, and which rate plan is right. We’re here to help you with at least one of those segments: the phone. And, more specifically, we’re going to help nail down at least one place to check for your handset needs. This time up we are looking at Best Buy.
Why unlocked?
The benefit of an unlocked smartphone, for those who aren’t aware, is that it can be used on a variety of wireless service providers. Going this route ensures you don’t have to worry about contracts or long-term obligations. Want to hop from T-Mobile to AT&T or vice-versa? That’s no problem when you’re using an unlocked GSM phone.
Why Best Buy?
As one of the first names in electronics, Best Buy and its Best Buy Mobile stores are a great place for customers to purchase smartphones. Sometimes you’ll find discounts and savings that you won’t get from carriers. Other times, you might see an occasional exclusive color variation or model. Additionally, there’s plenty of unlocked models, to choose from, too.
We’ve gathered up the 10 best-selling unlocked Android devices from Best Buy so you can get a sense for what’s available. Indeed, you’ll see a nice mix of big-name vendors and devices from other, scrappy players. Note that we’ve omitted color variations; you might find other colors available.
So, the next time you need to replace your existing phone, consider scooping up one of these. It’s often a heck of a lot cheaper than going through your carrier in the long run.
If there’s one piece of advice we can offer, it’s jump on the instant discounts. These prices are gone as quickly as they show up. In other words, act fast if you see savings of $30 or more.
Setup is a breeze, simply download the app from Google Play and launch the application. The app automatically searches your messages for attachments that it can grab.
Impression –
Backups MMS is not the most intuitive name for this app. While there are a lot of apps that will backup your SMS and MMS messages so that you can install a new ROM or transfer them to a new phone, I have not seen a lot of apps that will actually allow you to easily save the attachments to those messages directly to your internal storage.
Once you have launched the app it automatically searches your MMS messages for all attachments and puts them into three categories for you: Image, Audio, Video. Simply press the floppy button at the bottom right of the screen to save everything to your phone’s storage. Unfortunately, you are not able to specify where you would like to save these files.
The app is limited to backing up all items unless you would like to upgrade to the pro version. This unlocks features like selection of items you would like to backup, renaming of files, removal of ads, and it allows you to save higher quality images (saves them as .PNG, .JPG is the default).
The app also allows you to see statistics about how many items it found and how many of each category were found in your messages.
Likes:
Does what it sets out to do
User-friendly GUI
Dislikes:
More customization would be nice
No app integration (Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.)
Conclusion –
Despite a confusing name, Backup MMS is an app that completes what it sets out to do; backup those attachments in your MMS messages, and with the Pro version only costing $0.99 for those extra features, it’s not a bad price to pay. With the addition of some storage customization and app integration for things like Google Drive or Dropbox this app would be a real winner.
I was watching Jimmy Kimmel the other night and he reminded me of an old article I read from Time Magazine about the dirtiness of our hands and smartphones.
According to London scientists, 1 in 6 phones has fecal matter on it. In another word, there is a high chance your smartphone has poop on it. The study reasoned that people do not wash their hands after using the restroom, and transfer the fecal matter onto their phones. The vast majority of us do not know what others do in the restroom, but many people are seen going into stalls with smartphones in hand. That contributes to the nastiness too.
E.Coli is commonly found in human fecal matter and can make you very sick if ingested. E. Coli was behind the massive food poisonings earlier this year from Chipotle, and I am not linking smartphones to that incident, but am simply stating what E.Coli can do to you.
Smartphones are a somewhat new phenomena, only gaining massive acceptance over the last 10 years, so we haven’t had a lot of time to dissect their overall impacts on our daily lives. We have learned over the past few hundred years how good hygiene, like cleaning teeth, pasteurizing milk, washing hands, and bathing can all lead to longer lives. Yet for many of us, we NEVER clean our smartphones with anything more than the back of our t-shirts or sweaters.
Our phones go practically everywhere with us: the bathroom, diaper changing room, in the kitchen for recipes, the gym, at the dinner table, in the office and car. They’re with us more than any other device, and they are dragging the germs they have accumulated along with them. Logic would tell us we need to start cleaning our smartphones a little better than what we have been doing.
I use a multitude of device cleaners when I am home, but the one I have in the office and in my car is the HÄNS Swipe all in one cleaning kit.
Description
HÄNS is a dual-sided, all-in-one device cleaner for complete and convenient on-the-go use. It’s very simple to use and you can control the cleanliness of your smartphone or tablet in less than one minute.
First, Swipe with the Cleaning Side to apply HÄNS Cleaning Solution and begin actively cleaning and cutting through and lifting grease, grime, dirt, and oils.
Then flip and Swipe to Polish; removing any remaining residue.
HÄNS works that easily and that well. Clean your smartphones, tablets, touchscreens, car touchscreens, plus cases and covers and more. ” Germs can live up to a week in the grease, grime and oil that builds up when not properly cleaned, making your device’s surface a germ breeding ground!”
Even if you don’t care about germs, you should be at a minimum using some sort of cleaner to give you the best pictures possible.
Fully cleaned.
Grease build up on the camera lens can completely ruin a picture and trying to wipe off grease with cotton isn’t going to work.
I highly recommend the Hans Swipe all in one cleaning tool for everyone who owns a smartphone or tablet. Don’t bring the gym bacteria to the dinner table with your smartphone. Wash your smartphone like you wash your hands.
I also use a variety of other cleaners when I am at home. I listed them below and they are great for cleaning larger devices like televisions. Consider picking one up for yourself and loved ones too.
Designed to clean all tech device displays and touchscreen surfaces. Fast and effective. No drips, no streaks, no film. Suitable for daily use.
Achieve maximum optical clarity by easily removing residue, smears, dirt, fingerprint grease, sweat, makeup, everyday grime and gunk. Smooths surface for optimal Stylus response. Equally good for eyewear.
Proudly made in America. Our NO-RISK GUARANTEE: If your iCloth experience is not 100% positive we will make it right or refund your money.
Preserve good resale value: our aerospace-grade soft fabric wipes are premoistened with our purified water-based formula – contains isopropyl alcohol (not harmful ethyl alcohol) and proprietary ingredients that are safe on all sensitive optics and specialty coatings.
Capcom has confirmed that it will be “aggressively” bringing many of it’s popular IP’s to mobile. Currently, Capcom has plans to begin releasing mobile titles for four of it’s major franchises. Three of the four have been confirmed:
Mega Man
Monster Hunter
Sengoku BASARA
It appears that these titles will be original creations and not ports of previous titles from the franchises. According to IGN, Capcom has begun to reorganize its mobile operations and has created a Mobile Business Division, internally. This division will be producing “hit titles both domestically and abroad by aggressively utilizing the company’s popular IP.”
“hit titles both domestically and abroad by aggressively utilizing the company’s popular IP.”
Capcom plans to release four games based on these franchises before March 31, 2017. This is exciting news for Capcom fans. This is coming on the heels of Nintendo beginning its foray into the mobile space with Miitomo. It will be interesting to see what other major publishers will begin to bring original IP based content to mobile.
Be sure to check out our review of Miitomo here. These are exciting times for mobile gaming! Let us know how you feel about beloved franchises hitting mainstream mobile, in the comments below.
Bouncing Journey is the story of a blue ball (apparently his name is Zhee) that is intent on rescuing the princess ball who was captured by the evil squares. On this journey, you will help Zhee collect stars, defeat squares, and make is way through the maze-like levels to rescue his fair maiden.
Free to download (supported by ads between levels)
Exceptional physics engine
Vibrant colors
Setup –
Setup is fairly straight forward. Download the application from Google Play and launch (no Google Play Games integration). The download is pretty large for not requiring wifi (184MB) but depending on your data plan it may not be a big deal.
Impression –
Have you ever wanted to turn into a ball and travel through the world rolling on trampolines that randomly toss you into the air? If you have, Bouncing Journey is for you; if not, then you can enjoy being the god that tosses the ball (Zhee) in whatever direction you please.
The gameplay experience is wonderful. The controls are responsive and the physics are great. Things fall as you expect and bounce, or not, appropriately on surfaces. The first level quickly tells the story of the princess getting kidnapped and Zhee being dropped into a dungeon from which he must escape to rescue her.
Five worlds to play through
There are two objectives to each level; collecting all of the stars and finding the finish line. The stars (like many other games) are a rating of how well you complete each level. The stars become increasingly difficult to get to get as the levels progress. Unfortunately, there is no advantage to collecting all the stars; I would love to see something added here to make it worth my while to collect them.
Getting to the finish line is the main goal of each level. When you reach the end of the level the square that holds the princess is there to taunt you and continues his escape with the princess (he is a cheater – he can fly).
Falling from the sky
Unfortunately, the graphics are the major letdown. While they have included bright, vibrant colors the graphic style used here is sub-par. If these were tuned up and refined this could make this game a must play.
Likes:
Bright colors
Great physics
Dislikes:
Graphics could use refinement
Limited depth
Stars are not beneficial
Conclusion –
Bouncing Journey is an entertaining game with complexity, dungeons, and great physics. Improving the graphics and adding some reward for collecting stars would move this game to another level. If you feel like helping Zhee rescue his princess please download and give Bouncing Journey a shot.
It’s that time of year again! Major League Baseball opening day is tomorrow. The biggest sport in America draws millions of views every year. Unfortunately, we’re not always at home to catch the big game, and you definitely don’t want to miss opening day! MLB has you covered with their official MLB.com At Bat app.
The MLB.com At Bat app lets you watch every game (with a MLB.TV subscription) across Android, iOS, Apple TV, Android TV, and many other platforms.
What do you get?
MLB.com At Bat (Premium) brings you a whole slew of features this year including:
60fps live or on demand streaming of this season’s out of market games
Picture in picture with supported devices
Gameday Audio, Gameday PitchFX and in-game highlight to help keep you in the know as it’s happening
At Bat’s single team features include:
Access to watch only your team’s regular season games live or on demand
Pricing
MLB.com At Bat offers two subscription features for getting access to it’s premium features and coverage of live MLB games:
Yearly recurring fee of $19.99
Monthly recurring fee of $2.99
Remember that an MLB.TV subscription allows you to watch ALL of this season’s games with the At Bat app. To make things even better, current subscribers of MLB.TV will receive all of At Bat’s premium features for free.
The growing desire for higher audio quality means that Android is showing more presence in the digital audio player (DAP) world. Folks may see it silly to carry around an additional device when our smartphones can play audio, but unfortunately, the quality isn’t great on phones yet. LG has recently shown an effort to remedy this with it’s B&O HiFi module for the LG G5.
Therefore, things are getting interesting in the portable audio market, as manufacturers try for the first time to power their devices with Android. A promising attempt that we’re reviewing today is the FiiO X7. FiiO is a Chinese manufacturer that has made a boom with audio lovers by producing great bang for the buck devices.
However, the X7 isn’t such device. It’s new territory for FiiO – a premium flagship (with a premium price). And Android is along for the ride. Let’s check out if that was a good move.
Design
FiiO takes the typical “premium” approach to design with the X7 by building it from a block of metal. That’s no understatement. It’s thick, as if FiiO doesn’t care whatsoever about device thinness like the rest of the industry does.
I’m personally not one to care for the thin fetish that surrounds mobile devices, but the X7 does manage find my limit. It shows through a pocket and is heavy (220 grams). It’s not a huge deal, but I wish that FiiO would have recognized the considerable girth and worked it down.
The X7 is 16.6mm thick
If we look at the profile, you’ll see that part of thickness is attributed to a hump on the back and an elevated display. It would have been nice if the front and back were flush with the body, and the protruding display is a bit worrisome. That makes the glass more vulnerable to life’s perils.
FiiO put in some nice looking design cues in the metal to up the aesthetics. The edges on both front and back have a shiny chamfer, the finish on the metal is super smooth, and the physical buttons have a flashy circular texture.
The panel under the display has a sweet brushed-metal look. Something you won’t notice until you turn the X7 on is that there’s a blue light embedded between the glass and metal. There’s no real purpose for it that I can tell, I think it’s just merely to look cool.
You’ll notice a symmetric button layout on both sides. The left side has the power button and volume rocker, and the right side has the play/pause button and back/forward track rocker. Also on the left is support for microSD expansion – always a welcomed feature. You can drop in up to 128GB extra on top of the on-board 32GB.
The bottom of the X7 is pretty simple; there’s the 3.5mm headphone jack and microUSB port.
But there’s actually more than meets the eye here. The portion of the X7 below the display is the amp component and is removable via the T5 Torx screws on the sides. FiiO designed the device to be able to accept different amp modules for headphones with higher power requirements.
The unit comes with the lowest power module installed (which works just fine with most headphones), but if you find yourself needing more volume headroom, FiiO produced two higher power tiers that you can purchase. There’s also a module that can do a balanced output.
Lastly, on the top of the X7, you’ll just find a 3.5mm jack for line out or coaxial output.
Performance
Let’s take a look at what’s under the hood.
Chipset: Rockchip RK3188 SoC (quad-core @ 1.4GHz) and 1GB of RAM
Display: 3.97″ IPS LCD, 480×800 resolution
Storage: 32GB internal, with microSD expandability up to 128GB
Battery: 3,500mAh (non-removable)
DAC: SABRE ESS ES9018S
Connectivity: WiFi (2.4GHz, 802.11 b/g/n) and Bluetooth 2.4GHz V4.0 + EDR
Software: Android 4.4.4 (KitKat), customized and FiiO Music app
Supported audio formats: WAV, FLAC, APE, ALAC, WMA, MP3, OGG, DXD, DSD64/128, and PCM (up to 384kHz/64-bit)
The core specs are yesteryear, but this is a digital audio player first and foremost. FiiO packs the X7 where it counts in that regard – there’s a hefty battery, plenty of storage, and a proven digital-to-analog converter (DAC).
The performance is where you’d expect from a lower spec’d device. It gets the job done, but doesn’t necessarily fly. In my use, there was the occasional hiccup, but navigation has been surprisingly smooth overall.
The same can be said for the display. It functions just fine. The low resolution is a little hard to swallow if you’re a snob like me, but the fact that it’s a small 4″ size helps the ppi a little bit. Viewing angles are decent; the image slightly dims but you can see the content at even the most extreme angle.
The 3,500mAh battery performed well in my experience. I typically stream HiFi music using TIDAL over WiFi and the battery dissipated roughly 10% an hour.
With my on/off usage, I was glad that the X7 minimally sips battery on idle. You can further efficiency by setting the device to turn off after a certain time. And of course, the battery life is a little better on offline mode.
Software
*It’s crucial to update the firmware upon receiving the X7. FiiO has since made important updates, such as sound quality improvements and additional software features. This review uses Firmware v1.8.
I was somewhat surprised to see that the X7 runs a pretty old version of Android – 4.4.4 (KitKat). Any newer Android device should be at least running Lollipop. But it is what it is. The X7 is meant to be a digital audio player with Android capabilities. Let’s go over what that means.
FiiO subtly but heavily customized Android for its own. When you boot up the X7, you’re greeted with a fairly bare-bones, stock interface. You’ll however find significant tweaks here and there. For instance, the top pull-down has a tile layout of different functions, as opposed to notifications.
This isn’t a phone, so notifications aren’t so crucial. Weirdly, sometimes the pull-down does show me notifications. And I, for the life of me, can’t figure out how the system decides to show me either the tiles of functions or notifications. I’d be nice if FiiO incorporates a way to flip between them.
The lock screen always shows the basic playback controls – play/pause and previous or next track. Fortunately, the controls aren’t just tied to FiiO’s own music app, but third-party services as well. That goes for the X7’s physical button controls too. I use TIDAL for my HiFi listening, and had no major problems with integration on the X7. The only bug that I found is when you pause the music for a while, the play button doesn’t reinitiate it. You have to go back into the app and hit play.
You’ll also find that FiiO made some additions to the system settings. Under Sound Settings, you can change the Gain (amplification) between High and Low, or alter the L/R channel balance.
Some folks (including myself) found that blue light on the front of the X7 to be annoying in dark environments. Within the Display settings, FiiO considerately added control for its brightness and status when the device charging or playing (the light can be lit, pulsing, or off).
A few more notable, custom features:
Powertimer setting – Set an idle timer, for X7 to sleep or power off.
Power-on mode – FiiO has two modes that the X7 can operate, in Android mode or FiiO Music only. The FiiO Music mode only gives you access to the music app. It saves battery if you only plan to use the X7 to listen to stored music.
USB DAC function – The X7 can be used as an external DAC, if you wish to use another source.
Unfortunately, there is no global EQ setting. The custom FiiO music app keeps its 10-band, customizable equalizer for itself.
Speaking of the FiiO music app, it’s nicely user-friendly. The app scans device’s storage for any music and organizes it in the interface. Navigation is pretty intuitive, except, you may not know what some of the icon buttons mean until you try them.
Tap the Now Playing bar on the bottom to expand it. You then have typical playback controls, a favorites button, and a shortcut to the EQ. The settings cog shows up on the top left corner. There’s not much more that the app’s settings offer than the system’s sound settings, it’s mainly options for the app’s UI.
Being that the X7 is FiiO’s top-end audio device, you can probably guess that the sound is killer. Indeed. Let’s go over how it excels and what you should know.
Overall, the sound is clean and concise. This is what a DAC should do – articulate the signal so that you can clearly hear each element of the sound. You won’t find muddied frequencies here.
The treble and the soundstage are two aspects that stood out to me, and made my headphones shine. The X7 gives highs a wonderful presence, where sometimes inferior DACs allow the detail to get lost in the mix. The soundstage is satisfyingly wide. It brings another level to the music and experience.
The mid-range frequencies are right behind. Shure’s headphones are known for prominent mids, and together with the X7, I get full power from my SE846 earphones. Guitar strums feel like they’re right on your ears. I have heard deeper vocal details from the iFi Micro iDSD DAC I’ve reviewed, but the X7 isn’t far behind.
However, the X7 is “reference” sounding to my ears. That’s not necessarily a bad thing; it depends what you like. To me, the sound could be livelier, particularly on the low-end. The bass detail is great, but I could use more oomph. I wish that FiiO had included an analog bass boost like many audio manufacturers do on their units.
I must mention that at times I hear some static noise when streaming music. I checked with FiiO and turns out that the X7 can transmit some interference while listening on WiFi. In this case, it happens when the tracks buffer (for a few seconds). You can check out their response on Head-Fi.org, but in short, that’s just how it is on the X7. Adding interference resistance could compromise audio quality, and FiiO does not want to risk that.
That’s understandable, and you could download offline content from streaming services, which would bypass the interference. I just can’t help feel like device isn’t finished until this issue is addressed. The X7 is marketed as an online-capable player; it should be able to do that efficiently.
Final Thoughts
The FiiO X7 is a great device overall. Is it perfect? No. There are a few standout things that need work. It’s too thick, the Android version is old, and there’s some interference noise when streaming. But I figure that these concerns would be minor to most audio lovers who pick this up. We can’t forget that the X7 is a dedicated audio player above all.
But then I look at the steep retail price tag – $700. My feeling is that a device like the X7 should be perfect at that price-point, and have more audio features (like a bass boost or balanced output out of the box). The amp module concept does add some uniqueness and versatility, so props to FiiO for that. There also aren’t many Android HiFi players out there, and the X7 is a real fine one out of the bunch.
AppLock+ offers a unique spin on mobile device security. Instead of being relegated to a one time pin unlock to access your device, AppLock+ offers you the ability lock and require a pin code for any and every app on your device.
Cost: Free (further features unlockable via in-app purchase)
Highlights
Beautiful, simple, and effective user interface
Affordable
Unique take on mobile security
Review
At this point in time, most of us are pretty used to the standard unlock features for our mobile devices; we either swipe to unlock, hold to unlock, or, for extra security, we enter a pin number. There’s nothing wrong with this setup in and of itself, but some people just need a little more security for their devices. Enter AppLock+.
AppLock+ is unlike any security application I’ve ever seen. What makes it unique is that it offers you the ability to lock down individual apps and features on you device with and require a pin number to access them. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg. You can further customize these locks by scheduling a specific app, or group of apps, to lock and unlock on specific days and times of the week, and you can even configure apps to lock based upon your geographic location.
This also brings me to the next feature I really like about AppLock+: grouping. Some of us have tons and tons of apps on our phones and the idea of going through each of them individually and configuring a lock for them can seem daunting and troublesome. AppLock+ has you covered by offering app grouping. You can lock down apps in groups based on their function. For example, your social media apps will be grouped together under AppLock’s Group tab, and you can configure lock options for all of them in bulk versus configuring locks for each of them individually. If you decide that you want specific lock configurations for any of these apps, however, you still have the ability to configure them individually.
Group locking in AppLock+ is not perfect. The default groups AppLock creates for you are pretty effective. You can also create and customize your own groups, but the default ones AppLock creates will suffice for most users. Unfortunately, you really start running into problems when you want to configure lock settings for an individual app that happens to be nested in a group.
Using social media apps as an example once again: if I want to configure a lock for, say, Google + by itself, I have to go into the Groups tab, select ‘Social media apps’ and then swipe the Google + entry to the left to delete it from the group. I then have to go back to the Apps tab and find Google +, select it, and then I can configure the lock options for it individually. This does not take that much time to do in the scheme of things, but it’s inconvenient and I would love to be able to just go to the Apps tab and configure the apps individually without having to mess with the app’s group if it happens to be in one.
On the settings front, AppLock+ is pretty simple. The Settings menu consists of six items:
Enabled
Change Pin
Change Recovery Password
Device Administrator – AppLock+ needs this permission to allow you to lock down individual apps
Unlock Duration
Lock apps when screen is off
My favorite setting in AppLock is the ability to set an unlock duration. I had mine set at five minutes. Essentially what this feature does, is it will not require you to enter your pin code for a recently used app, after closing it, for a designated amount of time; in my case, five minutes. This can be quite convenient and help eliminate potential frustration by having to enter your pin every time you re-open an app that you were using just recently. This is great for multi-tasking on your device.
User Interface
AppLock+ is beautiful. I bragged about it’s UI to a fellow AndroidGuy’s writer not long after installing it on my phone. I like that there’s not a lot of menus and sub menus to navigate. The white color scheme works really well. It almost has sort of a futuristic lab feel. In my opinion, AppLock+ defines what I would call minimalistic effectiveness, in that it offers a very basic and simple UI that still captures the power and features you would find in a complex and convoluted UI. I applaud AVIRA for accomplishing this.
In-app Purchases
As much as I dislike in-app purchases, AppLock+ is very reasonable about them. The app will be effective and adequate for most users without requiring them to spend a dime. You can, however, unlock the geo-lock and schedule lock features individually, or as a bundle. The bundle unlock was $2.21 at the time of this review.
Conclusion
I am very impressed with AppLock+. It’s a great solution if you’re looking for a little extra security for you device. AVIRA definitely needs to make the above suggested changes to the app’s grouping feature, and I would also like to see them make the numbers on the pin screen bigger and with more space in between them. I found myself mistyping my pin if I was entering it very quickly. Despite these issues, AppLock+ is a great app and is definitely worthy of your consideration.
oCharger is a campaign currently on IndieGoGo asking for $25,000 to build an all-in-one charging solution for your smartphone of choice. Whether you use an Apple device, an Android phone or one of Google’s new Nexus line sporting a Type C USB port, oCharger has a solution for you. Its list of features is ambitious, to say the least:
Retractable, 2.5’ Micro-USB Cable and full-size, reversible Type A USB.
Optional Lightning or Type C Adapter.
Expandable Storage (16 or 32gb included)
Backup Battery: 2000mAh (or 5000mAh stretch goal)
Priority Charging: Charges your phone first, backup battery second.
Fast Charge: Turns off the data portion of the cable to boost charging speed.
Optional Wireless Charging: Qi or Apple Watch, with Solar (!) as a stretch goal.
The oCharger is set for a Summer ‘16 launch, which is a pretty quick turnaround as far as crowdsourced hardware goes.
We sat down (figuratively speaking) with Calvin Na, inventor of the oCharger:
AG: Who are you, and what do you do?
CN: My name is Calvin Na, and I am an entrepreneur in Los Angeles. I own a small startup company, developing an All-in-One Wireless Charger for smartphones.
AG: What was your biggest inspiration in development?
CN: My biggest inspiration in development was my own need and desire for an all-in-one wireless charger that combines battery, cable, and storage memory. I wanted to create a device that is ultra-portable, multi-functional, and all-in-one to satisfy all my charging needs and more.
AG: What sets you apart from your competitors?
CN: My product, oCharger, is the first and the only device in the market that can charge two different devices wirelessly & wired on the go. For instance, oCharger can charge your smartwatch wirelessly and smartphone via a full-size cable, delivering 2x faster charging. Another feature oCharger offers is a memory card slot that works as a portable hard drive for your computer and your smart devices. The most impressive aspect of oCharger is that it achieves all these different functions (battery, cable, memory, & wireless charger) in an ultra-compact size.
AG: Personal favorite quote?
CN: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” -Thomas Edison
AG: Any advice for aspiring developers?
CN: Never Ever Give Up! If you feel like you have failed, get back up and try again. You have not failed until you quit trying.
AG: Anything else you’d like to add?
CN: Personally, I am a big fan of Steve Jobs and a lot of my aspiration comes from his view of how he perceives the world. For example, Steve talks about how if you poke life, something comes out and how everything one knows about life is made up by people who are no smarter than you. So what I would like to add is that I not only came up with this product to simplify our everyday usage of our smartphones but to make a small dent for the better future. I would hope that this is only a start of my chapter in life to keep developing new/better tech gadgets.
There you have it, straight from the man himself. For what it’s worth, oCharger has at least one backer in this writer; I love portable charging solutions, and this figures to be one of the more impressive ones on the market – or if nothing else, one of the most innovative and versatile.
Backups MMS is not the most intuitive name for this app. While there are a lot of apps that will backup your SMS and MMS messages so that you can install a new ROM or transfer them to a new phone, I have not seen a lot of apps that will actually allow you to easily save the attachments to those messages directly to your internal storage.
The app is limited to backing up all items unless you would like to upgrade to the pro version. This unlocks features like selection of items you would like to backup, renaming of files, removal of ads, and it allows you to save higher quality images (saves them as .PNG, .JPG is the default).
