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Sky Dancer: A Temple Run-style game for all the dreamers out there (Review)

Overview

Endless runner-style games aren’t a novelty, but the poetically named Sky Dancer manages to distinguish itself from the slew of Temple Run alternatives out there.

Not only does Sky Dancer provide gamers with challenging gameplay, but it also creates a unique atmosphere thanks to its beautiful graphics and immersive music. Did I get your attention? Keep reading below to find out more.

Developer: Pine Entertainment

Price: Free

Impressions

If you’ve been playing Temple Run before, you’ll have no problem navigating the word of Sky Dancer. At first you play a character called Tharbadis, a martial arts experts of sorts, whose objective is to jump down platform, avoid obstacles and collect as many coins as possible.

There are actually 10 different Sky Dancers characters available and more will be coming with future updates. However, you’ll need to collect orbs of light and coins to unlock additional characters.

Game controls are quite simple. You keep running automatically and tapping on both sides of the display will make your character jump over an obstacle or from one platform to another. Tap left or right to control the direction of your character. In theory it sounds quite simple, but in reality it proves quite challenging.

Navigating through the air towards the next platform is probably what makes this game so hard to master. My strategy, after numerous failures – mind you, involves moving in the general direction of the platform while in the air, and making some last minute adjustments as the character reaches the platform.

At first, when you make the plunge it’s quite complicated to approximate the location of the platform and sometimes you end up moving the character too far to the left or right, only to see it get swallowed up by the void.  But after numerous trials, I finally managed to get the gist.

Gamers can gain more points by completing Challenges like Dive across a chasm or Survive for 30 seconds and Perform a precise jump right after a perfect landing. The majority of missions are accumulative and can be completed after multiple attempts.

But to be frank, it’s not the game play that drew me to the game, but its almost-dreamlike atmosphere. You see, the game is dominated by an eerie sentiment, as the world of Sky Dancer seems remotely distant from our own with its peculiar geography and spectacular sunsets and exponentially large moon. Atmospheric effects allow you to start the game at sunrise or sundown and as to advance through the levels watch the moon rise in the distance.

There’s not much of a story to backup game play in Sky Dancer, but for me this proved to be a positive feature, as it allowed me to create my own narrative – one involving an alien race descendant from humans, fighting for survival on a distant planet.

While the app is free to download and play, but you should be aware there are in-game purchases that can get you coins or new characters. The game is also ad-supported, so expect a few annoying ads to pop up while  you’re navigating the game’s settings or such.

Video ads are also present – but the good news is that they are hidden behind an optional button that appears when you die. Even so, the ads do not disturb game play in any way, so you can expect a seamless game experience.

I couldn’t finish off this review without mentioning the game should run fluidly on most devices. I didn’t have a problem playing it on my average-specced Samsung Galaxy A3 (2016) – no random freezes or slowing down of game play involved.

Conclusion

The game’s developers freely admit they have created Sky Dancer out of their passionate love for Temple Run. Still Pine Entertainment took things to the next level with Sky Dancer by placing the gamer within unearthly world full of mystery and wonder. The simple controls and engaging playing style also contribute to the unforgettable experience that is Sky Dancer.

Download Sky Dancer from the Google Play Store

From slow data speeds to space issues, these ‘Lite’ apps are a must-try (Sponsored)

With the advent of smart phones everything is available at the download of an app. There are some services which are even available exclusively via app. Rich apps do provide the best service but they also take up a lot of memory space and tend to slow down the phone. The market is flooding with phones which do not have an expandable memory and in this scenario, it becomes difficult to manage all the necessary apps and yet have enough space for pictures, messages etc. Moreover, if you are on a slow speed Internet plan or travelling somewhere with bad Internet, it is impossible to access your apps. But there is a wise solution to this issue. You can download these Lite app alternatives for most of the essential things you do on the Internet.

Note that not all of these titles may be available in your market or for your device.

Facebook Lite

There is barely anyone who doesn’t check their Facebook from their phone. But it does take up a lot of RAM, making your phone run slower and even hang from time to time. Hence, a number of people even install the Facebook app to browse it. But being quite a large app. It takes up precious memory space. Instead, install the Facebook Lite app, which uses less than 1 MB of your device space, and browse at super fast speed.

Suggest: Facebook Lite (Official) | Swipe for Facebook

Messenger Lite

Do you like to stay connected all the time? If you want to receive every single message, wherever you go, irrespective of Internet speed or memory space, install this excellent app and never miss another message again. Light and user friendly, this is the best way to browse through your messages, reply or delete them in a jiffy. Although it lacks camera features right now, it is extremely useful for your basic messaging needs. Moreover, with the latest developments, you can expect all the features soon.

Messenger Lite (Official) | Lite Messenger for Facebook

Twitter Lite

Isn’t it incredibly frustrating when you have just thought of a witty one liner or a fiery political tweet but Twitter simply wouldn’t load or worse, your phone hangs! Put your woes to rest with this amazing Twitter Lite app which is super fast, efficient and has all the features of your desktop site, right on the phone. It is a Progressive Web App and even comes with a data saving mode for those times when you are low on money as well as data.

Twitter Lite (Official) | Fast Lite

“Instagram Lite”

One of the most annoying situations is when you are looking great or hanging out with your friends but cannot take a picture because you have run out of memory space on your phone. With this Instagram Lite app, save up your precious memory for all those amazing pictures.

Lite for Facebook and Instagram

MobiKwik Lite

With this Lite app, you can make your payments with much ease instead of worrying about payment failure or slowing down your phone. It is high speed and super efficient as well.

Mobikwik Lite (Official)

Opera Lite

Popular browser like Chrome or Firefox are notorious for their consumption of RAM. Instead of that, give Opera Mini a try. It is an incredibly fast, neat browser with the most advanced features that you will need. Want to book a table at the newest restaurant or check out the features of the latest laptop reviews to find the best of stunning designs, display, performance and connectivity and support? Why not use Opera Mini instead of your regular browser! Give this a try and you will be wowed by how easy and fast it is!

Opera Mini

These Lite apps are available for most of your essentials apps. These save space and work even on slow Internet as well. Being small in size, they do not consume too much RAM and hence, can function smoothly even on older models. With all the saved space, you can take pictures with your friends or your kitten’s videos without have to worry about space. So, go out and make memories instead of burdening your phone with a heavy app!

This gorgeous Pokemon watch will cost you an arm and a leg

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Do you find smartwatches dull? How about an analog watch that can attest your love for tech? Swiss watchmaker Romain Jerome has something you might find quite interesting.

The timepiece maker has created the epitome of Pokemon merchandise – a super expensive luxury watch called the Tourbillion Pokemon. And listen to this, the product is available for purchase for a staggering $258,000 price tag.

For this exorbitant price-tag you’d expect Tourbillion Pokemon to be made of white gold and rubies, but that’s not the case really. Actually customers will be paying for the amount of time Romain Jerome invested to create such a timepiece (only the dial took over 100 hours to make).

The watch is not the intelligent type. It does not relay notifications nor does it count your steps. It merely shows the time in style on a dial filled with colorful Pokemons. To be fair, the watch looks quite awesome, leather strap with yellow/blue stitches included, but does it warrant such a huge price-tag? Probably not.

If you don’t like the colorful dial on the Tourbillion Pokemon, you should know Romain Jerome also offers another Pikatchu-themed model which comes with a more “austere” black/yellow color combination.

So Pokemon fans who have money to spend or are just plain curious, head on to the Romain Jerome website to admire the two models.

Hangouts for Android no longer supports SMS as of this week

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Don’t say we didn’t warn you – Google confirmed it was ending SMS support in Hangouts back in March. Now the inevitable has happened, as the company finally pulled out the SMS component out of the Hangouts equation.

Still Project Fi subscribers and Google Voice subscribers can still access the feature. As Google is increasingly trying to migrate Hangouts into the enterprise environments, consumers will be forced to start looking for alternative apps.

The easiest route is to turn to Google’s own Android Messages solution, but this app won’t merge chats and SMS like Hangouts used to.

Google’s other messaging app, Allo doesn’t have SMS capabilities for the time being, who maybe the search giant will choose to add this feature in the near future.

If you’re looking for something akin to Hangouts used to offer there’s always Facebook Messenger and Signal which blends SMS and chat solution.

Google’s extensive host of messaging apps does not include a full Hangouts replacement at the moment. Still the company encourages users to use Meet and Chat for work, Allo for multimedia messaging, Duo for video calls and Android Messages for texting.

Moto G5S with full metal body leaks out

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Motorola unveiled the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus at MWC 2017, but as it appears these aren’t the only phones coming under the Moto G banner that we’re going to see launch this year.

Through a recent leak which revealed Motorola’s upcoming Moto product release road map for this year, we could see the company has at least two more Moto G models in the pipeline. And now it seems one of them surfaced online.

The folks at Android Authority have managed to get hold a bunch of renders depicting the upcoming Moto G5S. The images were obtained from a trusted source who is familiar with Lenovo’s upcoming plans.

According to the information, the Moto G5S will be a bit more high-end than the Moto G5 and Moto G5 Plus. While the two current Moto G5 models feature an aluminum back plate and plastic sides, the new phone will boast a full metal design.

The Moto G5S is revealed in Grey, Gold and Blue paint jobs.

While the source didn’t reveal anything about the specifications of the upcoming phone (s), the leaked slide revealed the Moto G5S (if indeed this is the phone that appeared in the slides) will come with a 5.2-inch FullHD display (1920 x 1080) while the Moto G5S Plus will feature a 5.5-inch fullHD screen and a dual-camera setup.

We expect the specs of the new Moto G5S models to be a little higher, so maybe the G5S Plus model will get a Snapdragon 660 treatment. We’re just speculating at this point, as nothing in this sense has been confirmed.

Samsung Gear S3 Classic with LTE landing at AT&T on May 26

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A few months back Samsung unveiled a LTE equipped version of its Gear S3 Classic smartwatch in South Korea. The product was said to also launch on the US market via three major carriers including Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile.

Now AT&T just confirmed it will start selling the LTE-equipped variant of the Gear S3 smartwatch starting this Friday, May 26 online, as well as in brick in mortar stores. Interested customers will be able to purchase it for $17.50/month for the next 20-months on an AT&T Installment Plan. Or you can grab the device for $249.99 outright.

The carrier also has an interesting promotion going on until June 30. Get the Galaxy S8 or Galaxy S8+ and you’ll be able to grab the Gear S3 Classic or Gear S3 Frontier from $49.99 a pop.

Naturally the watch comes with AT&T NumberSync feature, which means users will be able to port their smartphone number on the smartwatch as well, so they will be able to receive phone calls and messages even with no phone nearby.

As a quick refresh, the Samsung Gear S3 Classic comes with a circular Super AMOLED display and the rotating bezel which first debuted on the Gear S2. It bundles an 1GHz processor, 4GB of internal memory and 768MB of RAM, as well as a 380 mAh battery, wireless charging and a IP68 water and dust resistance. Unlike the majority of smartwatches out there, it runs Samsung’s own homegrown Tizen OS and not Android Wear.

Mophie’s Juice Pack battery case for Pixel XL launches for $99.95

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Have a Pixel XL and you want to make sure your phone is always charged? Popular accessory maker, Mophie has just introduced a Juice Pack battery case for Google’s largest smartphone. The company launched similar cases for the Samsung Galaxy S8 a few days ago.

The new juice pack bundles a 2,950 mAh built-in battery, which according to Mophie will be able to add an extra 50 hours of battery life. On top of that, the case also adds wireless charging to the Pixel XL, so users will be able to recharge the phone using any Qi-based wireless charging pad.

What’s more, the rugged of design of the case ensures it will keep your phone safe in case of accidents. The raised corners add further protection against scratches and cracked screens. The Mophie Juice Pack also features a LED indicator which shows battery levels and charge status.

Those interested should know they can get the Mophie case from mophie.com  for $99.95. The accessory can also be purchased from Verizon retail locations from across the country. Verizon is the carrier that holds exclusivity for the Pixel and Pixel XL in the US.

AT&T to exclusively offer the resilient LG X VENTURE

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The LG X Venture is a rugged, dustproof, water resistant handset designed specifically for those of us who, let’s say, tend to air on the more active side of life.

There have been several circulating rumors about a possible ACTIVE version of the Samsung Galaxy S8 which I excitedly reported on back in April; this is also penned to be a AT&T exclusive in the states, so with that in mind, it comes as a great surprise to see LG appearing to pip its Korean rival to the post on this one.

In a recent press release we received from LG, the mobile giant provided us full technical specifications of the anticipated device and before I get all “science like” with you let’s talk about price:

In the United States AT&T are looking sell the X Venture for $11 per month beginning May 26th, which comes out at around $260 after 24 months. $260 people !!!!!!

Now, I suppose you are now thinking what’s the catch? Rubbish camera? Poor battery life? Insufficient processor? Well you’d be wrong, wrong and wrong again.

Here’s the science bit:

The LG X VENTURE Key Specifications:

  • Chipset: Qualcomm Snapdragon™ 435 Processor
  • Display: 5.2-inch FHD In-Cell Touch (1080 x 1920 / 423ppi)
  • Memory: 2GB LPDDR3 RAM / 32GB eMMC ROM / Micro SD Slot (up to 2TB)
  • Camera: Front 5MP Wide Angle / Rear 16MP Standard Angle
  • Battery: 4,100mAh (embedded)
  • Operating System: Android 7.0 Nougat
  • Size: 154.0 x 75.8 x 9.29mm
  • Weight: 166.5g
  • Network: LTE / 3G / 2G
  • Connectivity: Wi-Fi 802.11 a, b, g, n, ac / Bluetooth 4.2 / NFC / USB Type-B 2.0
  • Color: Black / Brown
  • Other: IP68 Water and Dust Resistant / Fingerprint Sensor / Qualcomm Quick Charge™ 2.0 / QuickButton / Outdoor Essentials / FM Radio / GPS / Accelerometer / Digital Compass / Gyroscope / Barometer

So let’s pull a few nuggets out of that epic listing that especially caught our eye.

A 5.2-inch 1080p display under Gorilla Glass 4.

Snapdragon 435 chipset.

2GB of RAM and a HUGE 4,100mAh battery.

32GB of storage out of the box expandable via microSD up to 2TB!!!!!

16MP rear lens and 5MP front lens cameras and of course LG are including its signature 120-degree wide angle tech to get everyone in the selfie.

Add all that to its military grade protective shell, easy access to the phone when it’s cold outside with the convenient glove touch mode. You can also enjoy Outdoor Essential features including LG Health, Compass, and Flashlight.

It runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box and weighs 166.5kg, measuring 154 x 75.8 x 9.29mm. There’s a fingerprint sensor too!

I am going to be brutally honest here, I have found it incredibly difficult while writing this article not to wander off into the internet abyss and start looking into when I can get my hands on this device, rather than talking myself into it, it’s fair to say I am on the brink of writing myself into it (if that’s even a thing) and to be honest, I did wander, and this is what I found:

The LG X Venture will launch first in North America, and that’s available from today. Some areas in Europe will follow, along with regions in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Price is yet to be revealed for said countries.

If this going to be a phone for everybody? I dare say not. Life can be a lot about individuality and that can sometimes come at a cost. I fail to see how getting this phone will be a negative in either the price or performance brackets. Sure, it isn’t the prettiest phone out there but let’s be honest.

Is it really going to matter when you are climbing to a glorious mountain top or equally as you find yourself texting your boss saying you are going to be late for work, gloves on, scraping the ice off your car windscreen? I doubt it, but I will let you decide.

How to install the Android O Pixel Launcher now

Google I/O 2017 came and went last week, and brought many new things for us to talk about whether it’s Android related or not. One of the biggest new things that was given to users was the first (and second) public beta for Android O.

However, the problem here is that Android O is only available on select devices and that the rest of us are left waiting (months and months) to get a taste. The great thing about the Android community is that folks are able to bring apps and features to devices that wouldn’t regularly be supported.

This is the case with the new Pixel Launcher which came along with Android O. A trusted contributor at the XDA Forums was able to port the launcher to those running Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow and above. There isn’t much new here, but it does add app shortcuts when you long-press on various app icons.

Since this app isn’t available on the Play Store, you’ll need to get your device ready to download the “unofficial” APK. In order to do so, you’ll need to follow these steps:

  • Navigate to Settings
  • Select Security
  • Toggle ‘Unknown Sources’

Once toggled, you’ll need to download the Pixel Launcher APK file itself, which you can do from the link here. After it has been downloaded, you can drag down your notification shade, or open the Downloads app, then select the downloaded APK and it will install.

Since this is Google’s stock launcher, you won’t be able to import all of your settings, so you’ll have to set your home screen up again. But if that doesn’t matter to you, you’ll be good to go and can experience the latest Pixel Launcher on your non-Pixel device.

After you’ve downloaded it, show us your various home screens in the comments below.

App Highlight: Tempest – Pirate Action RPG

The App

Developed by HeroCraft Ltd who is tagged as a top developer on the Google Play Store, Tempest Pirate Action RPG is a new app with only 1000-5000 installs. Having been updated on April 21, 2017, the developer is constantly fixing various bugs and introducing performance enhancements. The game allows you to become a pirate, assemble your crew, and battle and defeat other pirates and monsters such as the Kraken, the Leviathan, and others.

What it does

You’ll be placed in an open world with an arsenal of cannons, mortars, flame throwers, and a lot of other various weapons to overcome a number of quests across dozens of islands in three regions. You can share the huge world of Tempest with two friends and it is up to you if you decide to become companions or wage war against each other. You’ll need to buy and upgrade your ships by robbing galleons, sinking warships, and destroying forts.

Why we like it

I always like a good pirate game and this one is one of the best. It’s one of the most immersive I’ve ever played. The instructions on how to play could do with a little work and prompting as to what each thing does. There is a question mark that will give hints but I think this could be improved and made part of an overall tutorial. With great graphics and lots of quests, this is a great game that you need to check out.

How to get it

Tempest: Pirate Action RPG is available for $7.99 from the Google Play Store. You can download it right here.