walkthroughs

While I have the LG G Watch for a limited time, I figured it might be a good time to do a walkthrough of Android Wear for anyone still wondering, “what the heck does it do?”. Without further ado, here’s what the heck it does…

Every Android manufacturer adds their own UI skin on top of Android as a way to differentiate themselves from other manufacturers also running Android. Oppo, the new Chinese manufacturer getting a decent amount of publicity lately, is no different. Their UI is called ColorOS and it’s, um, different. I figured I’d do a walkthrough of ColorOS to show anyone thinking about getting the Find 7a, for example, what they’re in for in terms of software (for hardware, the full review of the Oppo Find 7a will be coming shortly). My rundown isn’t terribly brief but I’ve broken it down into a

Windows Phone 8.1 has brought a bunch of new features to Microsoft’s Windows Phone that are getting them a lot of attention across the web. From huge functional changes like the “Action Center” (a notification center similar to iOS and Android) to creative aethstetic changes like the new background image that, instead of being behind your tiles on the home screen, takes over certain tiles’ background and adds a parallax effect as you scroll. Microsoft even has added their own virtual personal assistant called Cortana (named after the AI woman from the popular Halo series of games for the Xbox)

Nokia finally did it. They made an Android device (three in fact). But, they did manage to change Android quite a bit with their custom UI and even took out most (if not all) of Google’s presence in the device and replaced it with either their own software or a Microsoft equivalent. Because of this, I thought it might be interesting to check out Nokia’s version of Android on the Nokia X that I just received. Let’s go through all the things they took out, added, and the overall experience. Here goes. Nokia’s Android Features Lockscreen Simpler Version – No animations

Samsung’s new Galaxy S5 is getting plenty of attention (and sales apparently), but alongside the new device is a new version of Samsung’s custom user interface they put on top of Android called TouchWiz UX. If you are getting a new Samsung Galaxy S5 and coming from any other Android device, then it could be helpful to get familiar with the changes over stock Android that are present in version 3 of TouchWiz UX. Firstly, I, for one, am happy to say that Samsung has scaled back TouchWiz a little and it is a bit less intrusive than their last

In my overly thorough walkthrough of Sense 6.0, the latest version of HTC’s UI skin for Android that launched on the new HTC One M8, I left out one thing; the camera. There was a good reason though. The new HTC One M8’s camera setup is unlike anything we’ve seen on an Android device. In fact, it has some people pretty confused. Instead of just one high-megapixel camera on the back for taking pictures, there are two, modest, 4MP cameras. Add to that the inclusion of a higher, 5MP camera on the front of the device and you can see

Along with the new flagship phone from HTC, the HTC One (M8), HTC also released a new version of their Android UI called Sense (Version 6.0). As with most manufacturers, HTC puts their own skin on top of Android to try and help differentiate their devices from others in the market. But, unlike the other manufacturers in the space (Samsung has TouchWiz UI and LG has Optimus UI), HTC’s latest version of their UI wasn’t necessarily about adding more to it, in fact, it seems as if version 6.0 of Sense, is less in your face than the previous version.

I’ve had the pleasure to play with Android’s newest iteration Jelly Bean (4.1) for a few days now (thanks to XDA developers, of course) and figured I’d do our normal walkthrough when a new version of Android is released to showcase some of the new features of the OS compared to the last iteration (Android 4.0). In addition to some of the main features announced there’s also a few others that are worth mentioning. So here is the quick walkthrough of the new features in Android 4.1 Jelly Bean. Oh, and don’t worry, shouldn’t be as long as our 4.0

What is Ice Cream Sandwich, you ask? It’s the latest version of Google’s Android operating system and, oh boy, is it pretty. Tons of things have been changed, polished, and added. So many in fact that it can be a bit troublesome to know everything your new version of Android can do. That’s where we come in. Here’s our complete walkthrough of Ice Cream Sandwich to show you all the things that have changed from previous versions of Android. Hang tight, it’s a long one. Highlights Lockscreen New additions to the ways to lock the screen; none, slide, face unlock,

David goes through everything you could possibly need to know about the Nokia N9. Word of warning… it’s long… Before you watch this, you should watch our original review here (this will just make more sense if you do).