Microsoft reportedly plans to invest in Cyanogen: what could this mean for Android?

Microsoft is reportedly investing in Cyanogen Inc., the developer of one of Android's most popular custom ROMs. If confirmed, Microsoft would form part of a 70 million USD investment group. The move would see Microsoft - a major rival of Google - become a minority investor in the open-source OS developer, which currently accounts for around 50 million Android users.

The news, via The Wall Street Journal, may come as a surprise to some, as Microsoft already has its own Windows Phone platform. Cyanogen currently only develops software based on Android.

"We're attempting to take Android away from Google," Cyanogen CEO Kirt McMaster said in a recent interview. This notion, coupled with speculation of Microsoft's interest, could have a major impact on the Android ecosystem.

Cyanogen made a name for itself largely thanks to its CyanogenMod ROM, which offers a rebuilt version of Android free of Google-imposed restrictions. It was also the OS of choice for the popular OnePlus One flagship from 2014.

A reported 1 billion Android smartphones were shipped in 2014 alone, proving Android's immense popularity and growth. This growth is likely to have a roll-on effect for Cyanogen, meaning an investment in the startup a safe bet. With Microsoft yet to hit big with its Windows Phone platform, an investment in a successful OS like CyanogenMod would make sense.

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Infographic Depicts Evolution of iOS From iPhone OS 1 to iOS 8

Fancy a trip down memory lane? Take a look at this infographic from 7dayshop that depicts the evolution of iOS from its beginnings as iPhone OS 1 all the way to today’s iOS 8.

While the grid of icons might be mostly the same (save for more rows on larger screens) looking at old versions of iOS certainly makes you feel old despite the first version only debuting in 2007.

I won’t add in everything from the infographic as it’s best viewed as a whole — you can check it out at the source link. It’s not just about home screens and icon design, though — it also provides a useful little lesson in iOS and iPhone history with added features, release dates, supported devices and more all listed for reference. It’s crazy to see how far the iPhone App and iOS have come in such a short space of time.

What’s your favorite iOS feature from the past or from today? I have to say I’m torn between the addition of multitasking in iOS 4, iCloud in iOS 5 or all the new Continuity and Extensibility features iOS 8 brought.

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7 best keyboard apps for Android

Tap tap tap, tappety tap tap, tap tap tappy tap, tappy tap tap… oh, sorry I was just busy typing something. Typing words into a computer is a breeze for me with my giant keyboard and giant fingers, heck, I could type all day (if anybody asks – I do type all day). But when it comes to typing on my smartphone, I often struggle. It’s never fast enough, it never autocorrects autocorrectly and it often leads to frustration: that's why I've been investigating the best keyboard apps for Android. Here's what I've found.

Google Keyboard

Google? Never heard of it myself but apparently it's got some good credentials. Anyway this "Google" company has made an Android keyboard with a simple and clean interface that just works very well. Material design themes, a ton of languages, text-to-speech, gesture typing – it has a lot to offer. Apparently Google is quite good when it comes to making useful software (who knew?!) and you can download this keyboard for free in the Play Store with no in-app purchases. It's compatible with devices running Android 4.4 and up - there's no good reason not to give Google Keyboard a go.

Multiling O Keyboard

Multiling O Keyboard is a feature-packed keyboard app, and while it lacks the understated sophistication of Google Keyboard it does bring a lot to the table. For example, it's the only app on the list to come with a calculator included (for when you want to message your pals and divide 600 by 19) and it has a plethora of customization options. If you're the kind of person who really likes to tinker with every little detail (and we think you are), this app is perfect for you.

When I said it had a lot of features, you can check out Multiling O Keyboard's Play Store promo video to take a look at some of them in action. It's over seven minutes long.

TouchPal

TouchPal narrowly missed out on my last keyboard list because at the time I didn't consider it to be a "serious" keyboard app. Truthfully, it is still heavily focused on emojis/emoji art/smileys/pictures, but it also features over 85 languages, swipe/glide functionality and cloud prediction and contextual prediction. Don't let its cutesy Play Store store description and branding put you off, there is far more to TouchPal than just colors and themes; as a straight up keyboard for messaging quickly and comfortably, it should easily make its way onto any best keyboard list.

Swype

Swype is a popular keyboard which employs the swipe (or "glide") method for character input. You slide your finger across the letters of the word you wish to type, and then let go once it’s finished (you can learn more in our article on swiping verses typing). It's a common feature on a most keyboards now, but nowhere is it better implemented than in Swype.

Swype learns from your messaging habits, automatically updating its dictionary with new phrases that you type. It creates automatic spaces between words to speed up your workflow and adapts to common mistakes you make. Only when you’re swiping very fast do you encounter problems, but it’s silky smooth for the vast majority of the time and highly responsive. I’m a long-time fan of Swype, though I recognize the swiping technique is an acquired taste. If you want the best example of it, however, then look no further than Swype - the autospace feature alone means faster typing.

SwiftKey

Possibly the most well known keyboard app on the Google Play Store, SwiftKey has one of the finest typing interfaces available on Android. Like Swype, you can type in the traditional manner or use swiping (which SwiftKey calls "flow"), and both methods function equally well.

Swiftkey isn’t the only keyboard that offers predictive sentence creating but it might be most useful here. Based on past messages you have typed, SwiftKey is able to guess what the next words in your sentence will be. For example, if you normally follow the word “how” with “are you,” then you can be sure that when you type "how" in future it will offer "are" as the next word. It's an attribute that often allows you to type common sentences in seconds.

There are some great options for keyboard size and layout to suit most preferences, including an intriguing “thumb” mode which creates a space between the left and right half of the keyboard. I don’t know exactly how this improves functionality when using your thumb, but it certainly didn't harm the experience in my tests. It's a convenient keyboard and is the only completely free product on our list. Download it and see what you think.

Adaptxt

Adaptxt utilizes the standard input method or swipe, but swiping definitely works best. It comes with a number of unique features, like enabling you to post straight to Twitter or Facebook once you’ve typed a message, and it can even use your GPS to give word suggestions, like street names or landmarks, based on your current location.

Adaptxt also contains the ability to put your keyboard in “private mode”, meaning it won’t learn any of the terms or phrases you use while its enabled. It's something I'd like to see in other keyboards, though maybe it’s a function that’s of more use to me than most other people.

I find it annoying that pressing backspace deletes the whole word, not just individual letters, when trying to make quick edits, and overall it doesn’t seem quite as responsive as Swype. However, Adaptxt beats most other keyboards on features and customization options, so it's well worth checking out.

Fleksy

The first keyboard on the list which doesn't employ swiping, Fleksy nonetheless focuses on speed and accuracy, with large buttons and brilliant autocorrect. It's extremely user-friendly but also houses additionally features like keyboard shrink and even the ability to make the keyboard invisible. Typing with the invisible keyboard actually worked surprisingly well (I was surprised it worked at all, to be honest) but I can’t really see a practical application for it, except to show others how quirky your keyboard can be.

I find the default button size a bit large for my personal tastes but I can’t deny its efficiency. It delivers accurate typing, and the simple swipe up and swipe down functions for correcting / adding new words to the dictionary are great. Pressing a button or swiping to make a space does seem slow when other keyboards come with automatic spacing, but for those not yet onboard with how swiping handles, this is my top recommendation for standard typing.

Minuum

This is an intriguing little number. The Minuum keyboard isn’t strictly QWERTY-based, but is capable of shrinking in size to allow the alphabet to sit on one line. With such 15px keyboard, Minuum’s autocorrect function needed to be extremely tight to compensate for mistakes, but somehow I was able to type with relative ease and I quickly became proficient.

It’s a unique interface and I hope it becomes a success as it genuinely offers something new and credible. I don't usually feel a need to minimize my keyboard, personally, but if it is something you want to do I don’t think you could find a 15pxer or more efficient solution. Will it speed things up for regular users? I'm not sure. Try it for yourself.

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How to transfer everything from iPhone to Android

You’ve seen the light. You’ve left Apple’s embrace and joined the happy world of Android, and you’ve got just one question: What about your stuff? How do you transfer everything from iPhone to Android? We can help with that.

If the apps you use are cloud based - such as Gmail for email, Spotify for streaming music and Facebook for seeing pictures of cats and other people’s children - you hardly have to do anything: it’s just a matter of installing the apps, entering your usernames and passwords and picking up from where you left off. Here’s how to transfer everything else.

Contacts

If you don’t already have one, sign up for a free Google Account: you’ll need it to do pretty much anything on Android. Once you’ve done that, backup your iPhone and then log in toiCloud.com. Click on Contacts, select the ones you want to transfer and then click on the little gear icon at the bottom left of the screen. You’ll see an option to Export vCard. Clicking on this will export the selected contacts in vCard format.

Now, log in to Gmail and click on Gmail > Contacts. You’ll see the option to Import Contacts in the left hand sidebar. Click it, choose the vCard file you just created and let Google do the rest.

Calendar

This is a little more complicated, but it’s still easy. Go back to iCloud and this time, open the Calendar app. You’ll see a list of your calendars in the left hand sidebar, and a little wireless icon next to each one. Click on that to open that calendar’s sharing menu.

What we want to do here is to create a public calendar we can then import into Google Calendar. To do that, click Public Calendar and copy the entire link you see on screen.

Open a new browser window or tab and paste the link, but don’t hit Enter just yet: you need to change the bit that says “webcal” to “http”. Do that and press Enter, and your computer should now download an .ics calendar file with a really long and incomprehensible file name.

Repeat this process for each calendar you want to transfer.

Now, we need to log in to Google Calendar and click on Other Calendars in the left hand sidebar. Click on the drop-down arrow and choose Import Calendar, and then select the .ics file you just downloaded. Clicking on Import will now add the events to the Google Calendar you select (if you have more than one). You’ll need to repeat the process for each calendar.

iCloud Documents

If you’ve been storing files in iCloud, you can get them by logging into iCloud.com, clicking on iCloud Drive and then choosing the appropriate app folder - but remember that some file types, such as Pages documents, won’t work in non-Apple programs. If you’ve got files in proprietary formats such as Pages, convert them to text or Word files in the Pages app before transferring them.

Music

This one’s a bit trickier. You’ll need Apple’s iTunes and Google Music Manager installed. First of all, in iTunes make sure all your music is actually on your computer: if there’s a little icon of a cloud with a downwards arrow on it, it hasn’t been downloaded. Make sure your purchased music is there too (it may be hidden in Preferences > Store > Show iTunes in the Cloud Purchases”).

Once you’re sure you’ve got everything, open Google Music Manager and in the setup page, select Upload Songs to Google Play. Specify “iTunes” as the source and let Google Music Manager do its thing. Read More.....

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Nexus 6 tips: 5 to unleash your device's true potential

So you’ve just opened the Nexus 6? First, congrats, you managed to get a Nexus 6! Do you have friends on the top floors of Mountain View? Well, now that you have it in your hands, what’s the first thing you notice? First, it’s huge! One hand operation is going to prove really difficult when texting, emailing, and writing Facebook statuses. With today’s Nexus 6 tips and tricks, we are going to try and make your life easier with Google’s latest flagship in more than one way!

1. Resize the entire user interface

If you are a 15px-handed person, the first mistake you probably made was the buy the Nexus 6. When you read about ‘’a 5.96 inch display’’, did a lightbulb not go off in your head? If you don’t have basketball player hands, the phone could be very hard to operate. To resolve your text messaging woes, try installing Swiftkey which comes with a keyboard that can be comfortably positioned either on the right or the left of the screen. Once you have installed the app, follow the instructions to make Swiftkey your default app.

f you are having issues not only with the keyboard but the entire interface, you can get the one operation mode like Samsung introduced on the Galaxy S5 from Xposed Framework as long as you have root permissions. For non-rooted phones, there’s no way of doing this at the moment.

2. Get your priorities straight!

No, not your life priorities, you can reflect upon those another time. Right now we're talking about prioritizing your Nexus 6 notifications. Thanks to Android 5.0 Lollipop, you can keep an eye out for all your notifications, even when the screen is off. However many of them are unnecessary and get your hopes up for nothing! To be able to filter out the ones you don’t want, head to the Settings, then select Sound & Notifications. Next you can choose which apps should have the notifications blocked or set as a priority.

3. Make it stop vibrating, please!

One of the biggest sins that Google committed in developing Android5.0 Lollipop was probably that you can’t easily get silent mode. Usually you would just need to press volume down until the silent icon appears, but now this isn’t possible, it will still vibrate when the volume is down. The simplest option which is offered by the operating system is to select None for the level of priority for interruptions in your volume settings. The problem here is that you won’t get any notifications, which isn’t great either. Fortunately, an Italian editor from Android came up with a great solution and developed an app that will solve the problem once and for all! It’s a free app that will block any sound without interrupting notifications.

4. Switch to Messenger

If Hangouts isn’t your cup of tea, did you know that Google just launched a new app called Messenger? It’s simple and colorful, inline with the new Material Design look brought by Google, and can be set up as the default SMS/MMS app in just a few steps. Head into the Settings, select More, and then Default SMS app. Now tap on it and choose the app you prefer.

5. Restrict access for guests

While we don’t like everything about Android 5.0 Lollipop, there is one ingenious feature that Google implemented that we’ve been hoping and dreaming about for a long time: multiple accounts on one phone. The cool thing about it is that you can create a guest account with restricted access to apps and services, perfect for sharing your phone with family, friends and even children.

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LG G3 tips: 12 to master your LG smartphone

Here's a more in-depth look into the LG G3 and its innovative software features. Get the most out of the latest smartphone from LG with the help of our LG G3 tips and tricks.

Knock, knock, knock

Relatively well known, the LG G3 sports some tools that rely on your tapping skills to enable them: if you double tap on the screen, you can turn the display on and off (however, this only works on an empty spot on the home screen if the display is active), you can use a knock code to lock and unlock your device instead of a conventional pattern lock, and you can even wake the display of your device simply by doing a single tap.

Guest Mode: restricted access

In guest mode, the owner of the LG G3 can specify a limited number of apps that are available to third party users. This is convenient as you can now lend your phone to a friend or family member for an extended amount of time and not have to worry that they’ll snoop through your own personal stuff. As well, the App Drawer and Notification bar are disabled when in guest mode. You can also set up a knock code that allows you to disable guest mode on the fly.

Adjust navigation buttons

As we revealed in the Optimus UI comparison, you can adjust the navigation buttons to whatever you see fit. Do you want the home button on the left? How about the back button on the right? No problem, you can personalize this and change the arrangement of these capacitive buttons. In addition, these can be hidden when not in use.

Notes and Camera: quick access to volume buttons

Through a long press on the volume buttons, you can start two apps directly from stanbdy: if you long press the volume down button, you’ll fire up the camera app. If you long press the volume up button, the note app will fire up. Unfortunately, these assignments are set in stone and cannot be modified. These features are also constrained by whether or not you’ve got your G3 protected by a knock code, pin code, or pattern code. If so, you’ll have to unlock the device prior to either the camera or notes firing up.

Dual Window: use two apps at the same time

A long press on the back button will open the dual-window function: a variety of system apps can be displayed at the same time on the screen (browser, maps, news, e-mail, etc). Just drag and drop the two apps that you want to use to either the upper and lower half of the screen. The size ratio between the two displayed apps can also be adjusted by dragging the middle bar.

QuickMemo+ : screenshots with handwritten notes

While you can take screenshots with just about every Android device out there, LG’s QuickMemo+ function (or QMemo+) allows the user to directly add handwritten notes to the screenshot after the fact. There are a bunch of ways to get QuickMemo+ fired up: you can either access it from the icon in the Quick Settings, add in its own navigation button (as per your ability to customize this bar that we mentioned above) or by swiping to the top and then to the right on your home screen.

Customize the keyboard size

If the keyboard is taking up too much space or you need it just a teeny bit bigger due, you can customize the size of the keyboard on the LG G3 as long as it’s being held in portrait mode. In the Settings menu, head to Language and Input and then select LG Keyboard. From there, you can make the desired changes to the keyboard height and layout. You can also choose to have the keyboard split apart when you hold the phone in landscape mode as well as enabling a one-handed operation mode.

Intelligent Screen: display stays on as long as you look at it

LG has taken a page out of the Samsung playbook with this feature: if enabled, your display will stay lit up as long as you’re looking at your device. Of course, this sucks the battery a little bit more than if it was off, but it is a handy feature if you’re spending a long time looking at something in particular.

Color adjustment: control your app icons and backgrounds

In the Settings, under the Accessibility portion, you can find the option for Color Matching. With this, you can change the look and contrast of the entire surface, including app icons. Once activated, you can simply drag your finger across the screen and depending on whatever color you choose, the entire user interface will be changed to reflect that.

Universal Touch: floating access button

Key functions such as volume control, on / off, home screen, settings, and back can be reached via an extra button that can be placed anywhere on your screen and accessed across all screens. In order to enable this, head to Accessibility > Universal Touch. The button will now appear on your screen and by tapping on it, it will bring up a menu with a bunch of the basic functions available.

Different themes for chat history

If you’re not a big fan of the default theme of the messaging app, you can change that in the settings on your device. By heading to the settings of the messaging app, you can choose View Conversation Topic and change the background and the look of the speech bubbles. As well, an image can even be used as a background if you so choose.

Change app icons

If you don’t like a particular app icon, you can do a long press on it and then let go of it. You’ll see on the top right of icon a small paintbrush icon that when tapped, brings up an overview of different icons you can pick and choose to replace it.

This is just a glimpse into some of the customization possibilities with your LG G3. While not every feature is exclusive to this device, the G3 still has a ton of options that make it unique compared to the competition.Once you’re able to get your hands on the device and had a chance to play around with it, definitely let us know what your favorite feature of the LG G3 is in our comments!

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