Remix OS Android operating system – but for PCs

Deep dive Jide’s Remix OS is Android for a desktop or tablet OS: with multitasking, overlapping windows and the shortcut conveniences you need for productivity-style work.
And the firmware tweaks to make it run well on x86 processors. I’ve seen what the next billion internet users will be running.
Jide was founded by three Google veterans and draws heavily on the Android-x86 project, a heroic solo effort by Chinese engineer Chih-Wei Huang, that he began seven years ago. The founders moved to Beijing to be close the Huang and China’s supply chains.
“It’s where the talent pool is,” the founders told me when I met them recently. There are now more than 150 staff at Jide.
Jide’s first product was a nifty, pebble-shaped Mini, which raised $1.6m on Kickstarter. It’s also unveiled an 11.6-inch Surface-like tablet, NVIDIA Tegra powered,with detachable keyboard. Both are ARM-based hardware.
Jide sees its mission as “unifying the whole computing platform” – and from the results so far, I reckon it stands a very good chance of doing just that.
The most promising market for Remix OS is emerging markets. Dumb terminals like Chromebooks are too limited; they need always on connectivity that isn’t there. Full fat Windows 10 is still too complex and bloated. The slimmer Windows 10 Mobile just doesn’t have the apps. (Yet).
I chose to set up Remix OS from scratch on a 2011 Lenovo Thinkpad. I found a few minor convenience glitches but overall it was surprisingly slick and functional. And the apps just rain down from the Google Play store.
To get an idea of what Remix has achieved, and what it needs to do be truly prime time, here’s the journey.
Remix comes as a ZIP file with a USB installer and the image file. USB 3.0 and 8GB are recommended for the USB stick. You can run it off the USB drive but here I installed it side-by-side with Windows.This boot screen will appear every time you start the machine from now on. It’s a bit misleading. Choose Remix OS at this point and the Thinkpad BIOS Flash screen will appear. On installation we get a familiar GRUB screen:

There isn't too much of an interrogation...

Another reboot and we’re in the desktop:
It’s slick but could be slicker. There’s a several second delay before it invites you to configure the menu before you see the Linux loader. But here we are.
Does it look familiar?

Click to enlarge

From the Terminal we can see it’s Android KitKat (4.4) with regular SE Linux underneath.

Click to enlarge

The big addition is a desktop/tablet-class file manager, with drag and drop between windows.

Shutdown and Standby hang from the Start menu – but also from every file manager window too:

On my Thinkpad X220, I needed to manually connect to the Wi-Fi network, a bit of a pain.
Another familiar Windows element....

And the bundled browser is KitKat's.
Now came the most consuming part...

Getting Google Play store to work

Once you’ve allowed Remix to download from unknown sources, you can install a Play .APK. Don’t download from unknown sources – I went with one recommended in the Google+ Remix group.

Android app split-screen multitasking

Split-screen multitasking and improved notification controls are among the new features being added to the Android operating system (OS).

An early build of the new OS, known as Android N, was released on Thursday for app developers to test.
Google said it had released the beta software earlier than usual so that device manufacturers could get the finished version sooner.
At the moment, fewer than 3% of Android phones run the latest OS, Marshmallow.

"Early release"

On Monday, Google published statistics that showed an older version of Android, Lollipop, was still more widely used than the latest variant.
About 36% of Android devices run Lollipop, with fewer than 3% running the newer Marshmallow.
But a range of new smartphones running Marshmallow, from manufacturers such as Samsung and LG, are due to be released.

New features

Android N will introduce split-screen multitasking that allows people to use two apps at the same time.
Information can be copied across from one app to the other.
A similar feature is already available on some iOS and Windows 10 devices, and Samsung has already added the feature to some of its Android smartphones.
The new software also introduces some cosmetic changes to settings and notifications, and aims to improve battery life.
Google has traditionally named new versions of the operating system after sweet treats, as was the case with Lollipop and Marshmallow.
The newest version has not yet been named but it has been suggested that Android N will be named after a popular chocolate and hazelnut breakfast spread.

New Android Keyboard app

We used to call ginormous phones “phablets,” and they were novelties. Now they’re just phones. And as big as they are—the Nexus 6 may have been too big—everyone’s making devices with ever bigger screens, and people are buying them.
This makes sense. After all, everyone’s spending more time on mobile devices and less time on computers. As phones increasingly replace desktops and laptops, the need for a larger screen for typing, reading, surfing, streaming, and gaming becomes really important. A bigger phone can also accommodate a bigger battery, and obscure less of the screen beneath your fat thumbs as you’re typing and swiping.
But even the biggest smartphone screen is more cramped than a flight on Spirit Air, making things that would be multi-window tasks on a computer very tedious. To share a link, a contact, or a chunk of text, you’ve got to hop, skip, and jump between apps, poking and dragging to make a selection, revisit the messaging app, and paste your info there.

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The problem, says Steve Won, a senior designer at Microsoft Office, is everything is siloed. “On a small screen, there isn’t a scalable way to run apps side by side. The interesting UX challenge for the small screen is breaking down these silos and having what the user needs readily available,” he says.
Microsoft has a slick solution to this problem: the Microsoft Hub Keyboard, a software keyboard that eliminates a lot of that app-hopping. And what’s really interesting is Microsoft created it for Android devices, not its own Windows 10 Mobile devices.
The Hub Keyboard, which is free at the Google Play Store, offers handy shortcuts and tunnels into other apps without being overly complex. Above the keys, which can be long-pressed to bring up punctuation and numbers, lies a strip of options akin to the Microsoft Office Ribbon. It offers five choices: View your clipboard archive for easy pasting, search your OneDrive documents for easy linking, type in the name of a contact for easy sharing, translate your text to a different language, or disable those features to enter autocorrect mode.
Instead of jumping between your browser and your contact list and Google Translate, you access data within other apps through the keyboard. This keyboard follows you from app to app, so there’s far less finagling involved to share a contact or a link. (Other perks: Through its inline translation feature, I discovered that the Slovak word for pepperoni is “feferónky,” which is now my new favorite word.)
The Hub Keyboard is still a work in progress, but it’s off to a great start. At the moment, the keyboard’s functionality is limited. You can’t use it as a swipe keyboard, you must disable its unique menu to enable autocorrect, and it still needs support for third-party apps (Dropbox and Google Drive in addition to OneDrive, for example) to reach its full potential. But there’s plenty of room for it to grow into an essential part of the mobile experience.
Before it can become truly essential, though, Hub Keyboard must work on other mobile platforms. Microsoft wouldn’t say whether that’s in the pipeline—it won’t even say if it will become the default keyboard for Windows Mobile 10—but Redmond wants to use the next month or so as one hell of a suggestion box. “In the coming weeks, a number of new features will be introduced,” Won says. “We are very excited to hear feedback and evolve the product.”
Hub Keyboard is yet another example of a growing trend in the mobile space. In the past year or so, Apple and Google have been razing the walls between apps, surfacing information within them in core OS services. Increasingly, you don’t have to open an app to see what’s in it; you can use system search tools and voice assistants to access that data.
But what makes the Hub Keyboard so unique and promising is that it helps us use our phones more like we use our computers: crazily, quickly, and with plenty of shortcuts. It’s the direction we’ve been headed for years, without the interface or input device to do it right. That may be about to change, or at least take a big step in the right direction.

Best music player app for Android

The Walkman and the iPod are as good as dead, because our smartphones have taken over as powerful music players. While the default music apps on your Android device probably do a fine job, if you want to crank up the bass or other aspects of your music, you'll need something more.
One of the best music player apps for Android is Poweramp. It’s a great way to enjoy your favorite music, with a ton of options and support for almost any type of file. You can’t go wrong with Poweramp.

Best Android file manager app

ES File Explorer has been our go-to file explorer for years. If you're having trouble tracking down documents or pictures in your internal storage or microSD card, this is the app for your.
ES just works. It offers myriad extra features, but the reason it's so widely used it because it has nailed the basic sorting of files. You can find all of your music, images, videos and more without having to dive through layers and layers of subfolders: the most common types of files are all accessible with simple shortcuts on the main screen.
The subtle animations are great, it rarely bothers you with notifications and it provides a one-touch way to clear out old and unused files to free up space. In short, ES File Explorer is the best way to keep your data organized on Android.

ES File Explorer File Manager download from google play

top 10 andriod apps

Apps

BBC Music (Free)
Currently a UK-only app, this brings together live performances and interviews with musicians from the BBC’s TV and radio output, as well as playlists curated by its DJs. The app learns your tastes as you use it to refine its recommendations, with songs available as 30-second clips or – via Spotify or Deezer – in full.

Glow Baby: Feeding Tracker (Free)
Glow’s previous apps have focused on helping women track their periods and pregnancies, so it makes sense to follow them with one for babies. This isn’t just about tracking breast or bottle feeds: you can also use it to log sleep, nappy changes, weight and other milestones.

BuzzFeed Video (Free)
There’s already a good app for watching BuzzFeed’s fast-growing video output: YouTube. But now the news site has launched a standalone app for its video division, including alerts when shows you’ve subscribed to have a new episode, and a trending feed to spot popular videos.

Reuters TV: Video News (Free)
More mobile video courtesy of news service Reuters, with the inventive idea of creating a news bulletin tuned to your interests. You tell the app how long you want to watch for – between five and 30 minutes – and it draws together video reports from its correspondents around the world.

TapTapSee (Free + IAP)
This is a truly intriguing use of smartphones for blind and visually-impaired people: using their device’s camera to take pictures of objects in the real world, and identify what they are. The app uses Android’s TalkBack feature to read out the details, with photos snapped by double-tapping the screen.

Peach (Free)
When it launched for iPhone in January, social app Peach surfed a wave of hype from tech sites that has since died down. Can its Android release revive the buzz? Peach is certainly fun: a quick way to post photos, doodles, gifs, songs and other stuff to your network. Inventive, but it relies on your friends being on it.

Sleepfulness (Free + IAP)
With a Google Play blurb like “Better sleep. Better days. Powered by mindfulness” this app will raise your hackles if you’re sceptical about the mindfulness boom. If you’re curious, though, Sleepfulness is worth a look: made by the developer of popular app Buddhify, it promises soundtracks to help you get better shut-eye.

Everalbum: Organise Photos (Free + IAP)
This app has a firm fanbase on iOS, so its appearance on Android is welcome news for non-iPhone mobile photographers. It backs up your photos (and videos); can import from Facebook and Instagram among other sources; and most usefully helps you free up space for more stuff on your device.

MyShake (Free)
If you’re in the UK, hopefully MyShake will never be an app you need: designed, as it is, to measure the tremors before and during earthquakes. But this is a really interesting idea for people who do live in quake-affected parts of the world: an app from Berkeley Seismological Laboratory that aims to “create a dense network that could one day provide warnings prior to shaking”.

VHS Camcorder (£2.47)
Any self-respecting hipster wanting to share videos on social networks that look like they’re filmed with a 1980s VHS camcorder will, of course, go out and buy a 1980s VHS camcorder. But this is an app shortcut to creating retro videos. And yes, if there’s a demand for this it’s probably as an Instagram filter, but the app is well put together with good attention to period details.
There’s already a good app for watching BuzzFeed’s fast-growing video output: YouTube. But now the news site has launched a standalone app for its video division, including alerts when shows you’ve subscribed to have a new episode, and a trending feed to spot popular videos.

The Walking Dead: Road to Survival

The Walking Dead provides the basis for another Android game, as well as more evidence that franchises thrive as well as zombies on the post-apocalyptic earth. The Walking Dead: Road to Survival is probably the richest Walking Dead Android experience yet. It functions mostly as a base-building game, and Woodbury is the setting in which you construct the usual workshops, training grounds and farms to get humanity back up on its feet.
Outside the base, there are missions and raids. The former finds you exploring the surroundings through story-led turn-based combat, and the latter lets you face off against opponents online, fighting for reputation and supplies. The story mode lets you make decisions at key moments, and will prove particularly enjoyable for fans of the comic books.
Overall, the game is pretty involving to start out with, and its dynamics function well, but its pay-to-win nature becomes apparent after a few hours of gameplay. There have been complaints about the random chance of characters and equipment you acquire and the cost of doing so. We would advise you to enjoy the game as far as possible for free, and try to avoid dropping any (or at least too much) money into it.

UNKILLED

MADFINGER Games, the folks behind Dead Trigger 1 and Dead Trigger 2, have now released Dea… er, UNKILLED, a new and completely different kind of first-person zombie shooter. In it, you blast your way through New York City streets during the onset of a zombie apocalypse, using the left side of the screen for movement and the right side for aim.
Because your weapon fires automatically once something is in your sights, the controls of the game feel incredibly smooth. There’s a cheesy storyline to follow, but the real fun is in blasting through undead hordes with extras like rockets and bullet-time buffs. If you want to see what the latest tech is capable of, you need to check this game out.

Need for Speed: No Limits

Need for Speed: No Limits is almost the complete opposite of Prune. It’s big and loud, and is the latest game in a long-running race series. EA has pushed out a number of these titles on Android, and this latest installment sees you competing in races in order to improve your reputation and your car.
The game takes place in an urban setting and the races are often short and sweet – some take less than a minute to complete – making it ideal for short sessions. EA nails the look and feel of the cars and environments, and the game is undeniably polished, but do expect in-app purchases.

download from google play

Color Switch

Color Switch might be the most popular game on Android right now and if you play it you'll immediately see why. You tap the screen to bounce a ball upwards through a series of obstructions. Each of these obstructions is made up of four colors, and your bouncing ball will only pass through it if it is the same color. The tricky part is that the obstruction is also moving. Each time the ball passes, it changes color and faces a new moving obstacle.
It sounds more difficult in theory than it is in practice: it plays like a minutely more nuanced Flappy Bird. The key difference is that, unlike Flappy Bird, you progress at your own pace: it’s possible to keep the ball aloft without actually moving through the next goal.
You are forced to be patient and wait for the right moment, before pushing through the next goal. Rushing ahead regularly results in an early demise – and it's a painful experience. Color Switch is another one of those frustrating, just-one-more-turn, "tap tap tappy" titles which are great for comparing high scores with friends.  

Download Color Switch from Google Play

Dead Effect 2

 

This is another not-so-original Android title (even its name is a cross between two other games, Mass Effect and Dead Space). It’s a free-to-play first-person shooter that takes place onboard a zombie infested space station and sees you killing mutants and solving some light puzzles in order to survive.
Dead Effect 2's major strength is that it looks incredible – the graphics are really pushing boundaries. The movement controls are a little floaty by default but, thankfully, they’re completely customizable. What it lacks in gameplay depth, Dead Effect 2 makes up for in polish. If you want something that feels like a console FPS on Android, this is it.
Dead Effect 2
download now from google play and enjoy 

Dying Light: The Following Review

Discerning gamers often view downloadable content (DLC) with suspicion: they believe that too often, it exists solely to give games publishers a means of making an extra buck on the back of once-popular games. However, there are signs of a recent shift in attitudes, resulting in slabs of DLC which conform to what gamers actually want – rather than what publishers want to sell them. The Following, a substantial piece of DLC for last year’s excellent open-world zombie game Dying Light, is a case in point.
For a start, it’s huge – its map, developer Techland reckons, is twice as big as that of the original game, and that feels like a plausible claim. The action begins with protagonist Kyle Crane outside the city of Harran, in a mountainous region, from which he descends to find farmlands. Most of those are overrun with either zombies or bandits, but Crane comes across pockets of survivors, who apparently owe their continued existence to a shadowy cult run by the mysterious Mother. Intrigued, he sets out to find their secret. But first, he must gain the locals’ trust, which he achieves by performing story and side-missions.
Gameplay-wise, there’s a big twist on top of the original game: because The Following is set in a rural area, rather than a city, Crane gets to drive around in a buggy – which can be upgraded (for which you must scavenge parts and fuel from abandoned vehicles) and has its own skill-tree. The buggy is great, and since you gain experience points for mowing down zombies in it, it adds a welcome whiff of Carmageddon to proceedings. Localised driving challenges also often crop up, and as in the original game, you often come across random location-based missions, and – after dark – nests of Volatiles you can clear out.
The story missions are, if anything, better-written and more imaginative than those of the original game, and the same can be said of the side-missions. There are points at which the story comes to a halt and you’re forced into side-missions, in order to build up your local respect, but that never feels like an imposition. You come across new weapons – such as an excellent crossbow – and enemies, such as Freaks, which are essentially bosses which you must approach in highly strategic ways. Often, it’s worthwhile finding a co-operative partner in order to take them down.
On the PlayStation 4, at least, The Following also looks notably better than the original, which itself was by no means a bad-looking game. Overall, it’s a prime example of how DLC should be done: it returns you to a thoroughly enjoyable and beautifully fettled game-world, with plenty of welcome additions and nearly as much substance as the original game. If you played Dying Light but have recently neglected it, The Following is pretty much a must-buy. And if you didn’t, you might want to check out the just-released Enhanced Edition of the game, which includes The Following and other items of DLC such as The Bozak Horde. A rare treat for those who love to slice and dice the undead.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition PC Requirements Revealed

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition - a remaster of the 2006 Xbox 360 classic released on the Xbox One last year to rave reviews. Prior to the third-person shooter hitting Microsoft's latest black box, the company announced at E3 2015 that the game would be coming to Windows PCs. Since then though, we haven't heard much else. That is, until now.
Perusing through the Windows 10 Store led us to a listing for the game. It's unavailable for purchase at the moment and there's no price either, but we won't be surprised if it isn't long before it will be. Most importantly though, the page indicates what kind of machine you'd need to play it.

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition minimum requirements: 

• OS: 64 bit Windows 10 (v. 1511)
• Processor: Intel Core i5 @ 2.7Ghz / AMD FX 6-core
• Memory: 8GB RAM
• VRAM: 2GB
• GPU: AMD R7 260x / NVIDIA GTX 650 Ti
• HD Space: 60GB
• DirectX12

Gears of War: Ultimate Edition recommended requirements:

• OS 64 bit Windows 10 (v. 1511)
• Processor: Intel Core i5 @3.5GHz+ / AMD FX 8-core
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• VRAM: 4GB
• GPU: AMD R9 290X / NVIDIA GTX 970
• HD Space: 60GB
• DirectX12As per the store page, the above configuration is the "recommended system requirements for 1920X1080P", what this means is, you should ideally be able to play the game at full HD/1920x1080 at 60 frames per second without much trouble. There's a third configuration that's even steeper.
  Gears of War: Ultimate Edition ideal requirements:
• OS 64 bit Windows 10 (v. 1511)
• Processor: Intel Core i7 @4GHz+ / AMD FX 8-core
• Memory: 16GB RAM
• VRAM: 6GB
• GPU: AMD R9 390X / NVIDIA GTX 980 Ti
• HD Space: 60GB
• DirectX12

With a Windows PC of this calibre, the listing claims it is the "recommended system requirements for 4K", so hitting 3840x2160 at 60 frames per second should be of little worry.
Much like Quantum Break it appears that you'll need a superlative Windows PC to get the most out of it. Perplexing considering how underpowered the Xbox One is in comparison to the average gaming PC these days.
As with all Microsoft first-party games, this will be exclusive to the Windows 10 Store, ruling out Steam and other digital storefronts. The Redmond-based firm is hosting an Xbox One and Windows 10 event on February 25 so don't be surprised to see more information, including a potential release date soon.

How to speed up your Android smartphone

Though the hardware of smartphones is steadily becoming more capable it can't be utilised to its fullest potential without the software to tap it. This is personal technology's modern hurdle - the optimisation of both hardware and software to ensure a fast and seamless user experience.

The effects of this optimisation are most tangible for smartphone users, who in today's fast-paced world become impatient and frustrated if their smartphone starts slowing down, hanging, or otherwise impeding their productivity.

The slowdown of Android smartphones can be caused by several reasons, and usually starts becoming noticeable after several months of using them. Here are a few tips for users that feel their Android smartphones have slowed since they purchased the devices.

1.    Install a third-party app launcher
Most Android smartphone manufacturers customise the OS on their devices, with specially-designed skins, launchers or UIs that sport widgets, layouts and other custom features in addition to the vanilla OS offering. While some users do find these customisations and added features useful, they can potentially slowdown the smartphone.

A simple workaround is to install a good third-party launcher (simpler than rooting or installing a custom ROM on the smartphone), which should remove most of the custom features, whilst also providing personalisation options. Some of the best launchers available in the Google Play store are 'Nova Launcher', 'GO Launcher EX', and 'Apex Launcher'.

2.    Remove extra apps, wallpapers, widgets
If users have a significant number of apps installed, it could slow down their smartphones. Users need to ask themselves if all the apps they have installed are being used, and then uninstall unused ones. Some apps cannot be uninstalled (especially bloatware apps from smartphone manufacturers), so users will have to settle for disabling them.

Live wallpapers, and an excess of widgets on home screens, can also slow down smartphones, and if users are experiencing performance issues they should consider using static wallpapers instead, and removing any non-vital widgets.

3.    Disable non-vital background processes, check syncing appsSome apps start up with the phone, while others are constantly syncing with online services. Both of these can dramatically slowdown users' smartphones. To check which apps are running in the background, users should visit the Apps section in Settings, and swipe to the 'Running' tab. If there are apps running in the background that are not being utilised, users should try uninstalling the apps, or disabling them, in case the apps can't be removed.

Another thing to be checked is if there are apps that are syncing in the background, and if the benefits of syncing are being utilised by the user. If not, users can turn off synchronisation, saving both data and system resources. To do this, visit Settings>Data usage (could be a separate section called 'Usage' under 'Wireless & networks' menu, depending on your Android version), and scroll down to see which apps are using data.

Users can then either visit individual app settings to turn off synchronisation, or visit the 'Data usage' section's context menu, which has the 'Auto-sync data' option (not present in all Android versions), which can be turned off.

To do the same for any Google app or services, users will need visit Settings>Accounts>Google>UserProfile. Here they can turn off sync settings for individual Google apps and services.

A must-install for Android smartphone users is Advanced Task Killer, which allows users to kill any apps that are taking too much memory (RAM) or slowing down the device for other reasons, such as instability.

4.    Clear app cache
Much-used apps will build up a cache that can slowdown an Android smartphone, and users can delete each used apps' cache regularly to speed up their devices. Unfortunately, this will have to be a rather regular process, as apps will start rebuilding their cache from the moment they are launched. To individually delete each app's cache, users will need to visit Settings>Apps, select the relevant app, and then click on the 'Clear cache' button.

To bulk-delete multiple apps' cache, or to set up scheduled cache-clearing, users can download a third-party application called 'App Cache Cleaner' from the Play Store, which can delete cache for multiple apps, and allow users to set up intervals for regular cache cleaning. Users can also delete cache data for all apps via a native Android option, found at Settings>Storage>Cached data.

5.    Disable animations
Animations are usually graphical transitions between menus, app drawers, and other interface locations. They use system resources to be generated, and occur quite regularly when navigating through a smartphone. They serve no purpose apart from beautifying the smartphone experience, and if users find their devices are slowing down, it is a good idea to turn off animations with no adverse impact on day-to-day use.

Turning off animations unfortunately is not very easy, with the option usually hidden behind the 'Developers options' section. To access 'Developers options', users need to visit Settings>System>About Phone where they can find the 'Build number' of their phone. Once they tap the 'Build number' seven times, users will then see 'Developer options' in the system menu. Here, they turn off all types of animation.  Users should be careful not to turn on or off any other option in this section.

6.    Clean out built-in storage
If the built-in storage of a smartphone is nearly full, the device will slow down quite dramatically. Between 10 and 20 percent of the total built-in storage should be available or free to avoid slowdowns. While a simple solution could be to simply delete all unused apps and clear cache data to save space, ideally users should be looking at a longer lasting solution. Most smartphones come with the option to expand built-in storage via microSD card.

If users' smartphones feature microSD card storage expandability, they should move all media to it, such as pictures, music and videos. Apps can also be moved from internal storage to SD card, by visiting the app's settings via Settings>App and navigate to individual apps. Some older versions of Android don't support this feature, and users will have to download an 'Apps to SD card' app from the Google Play store.

7.    Update firmware
While certain updates can have adverse effects, the general rule of thumb is that a firmware update for a smartphone will bring improvements of various types, usually including performance optimisations. Users experiencing reduced performance on their smartphones should check if the manufacturer has released a firmware update for them.

To do this, users should visit Settings>System>About>Software Updates and check if an update is available over-the-air. If not present here, users can also check by connecting their smartphones to the PC suite software provided by the manufacturer, and check for updates there.

While most updates do not require users to back up their smartphones before the update, we recommend users do so just in case something does go wrong - it's better to be safe than sorry.

8.    Root phone, install custom ROM
While we don't recommend this method to anybody but a power user, the problem of a slowing Android smartphone is often solved by this method, with the user installing a custom ROM that is lighter and less-resource intensive than the manufacturer-customised UI and firmware. The method is similar to installing a third-party app launcher (Tip 1), however, has a much wider effect, essentially replacing all the software on the phone.

There are several guides and resources available online that can help users root their devices, and install custom ROMs from a database of independently developed firmware. XDA Developers Forum is one of the best resources for this, and users are recommended to read in detail the instructions and discussions about the specific custom ROM for their particular smartphone before going ahead. You can also visit CyanogenMod's website, which provides several easy installation tools and walkthroughs for its ROMs.

Please note, rooting smartphones or installing custom ROMs on them is usually (there are some tools also available) a rather complicated task, and a risky one that can see users lose all their data, or end up with a bricked device. Rooting or flashing smartphones also usually voids manufacturer warranty.

9.    SSD TRIM
Smartphones utilise solid state drives for their storage needs, and an inherent flaw with such a storage device is that when data is deleted from flash memory cells, the cells need to be completely wiped before they can used for a write process again. This requires the OS to issue a TRIM command to the drive to specific which cells are unused and should be wiped.

Google reportedly fixed this problem in Android 4.3 and higher, but if you are running an older version of Android, a solution does exist that will allow users to issue TRIM commands to the SSD. Users will need to root their smartphones, and install LagFix from the Play Store. Once again, rooting smartphones is a risky process and we recommend caution.

How to root Nokia X and get access to Play Store

Few handsets have seen the kind of speculation that preceded the launch of Nokia's first Android smartphone. But a lot of people were let down to learn that the phone runs a highly customised version of Android, making way for Microsoft's services such as Bing search, OneDrive (earlier called SkyDrive), Outlook.com and Skype among others, instead of the Google Play store and Google services.
(Also see: Nokia X Dual SIM review)
The Nokia X is based on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP), and is powered by Microsoft and Nokia services. Nokia has used the AOSP version corresponding to Android 4.1 Jelly Bean as the baseline for its operating system. The highlight of the Nokia X is the highly customised version of Android, with Metro-inspired UI and access to Nokia's own app store. While there's no access to Google's Play Store, Nokia is offering side-loading of Android apps from any third-party source: 1mobile market, SlideME market, Aptoide, and Yandex Store.
However, it is possible to install the Google Play store on the Nokia X through rooting. This means giving the user root permission on the phone. By rooting a device you can run apps that require access to certain system settings, and the ability to flash custom ROMs to the phone, which can actually add extra features. Before starting, note that unlocking the bootloader or rooting process voids the warranty of your device. And more importantly, the rooting process might brick the device if you make any mistakes, so be careful when following these steps.


Method 1-

Rooting the Nokia X:
In order to run Google apps, you will be required to root your Nokia X with the following steps-
-Users will be required to enable USB debugging on the Nokia X that can be found in Settings' Developer option. You will have to tick the USB debugging box to successfully perform the rooting process.
To start, you will have to enable USB debugging. To do this, first go to your phone's Settings > Developer and tick the USB debugging box.

-Next users have to download the Farmaroot.apk to the Nokia X or to a Windows PC (transfer it to the Nokia X). Use the automatic setup to install the root tool on the Nokia X phone.
To start, go to the Farmaroot.apk folder in your Nokia X > Click the .APK file and it will start the automatic installation of the app on to the phone, follow the instructions.
(If a file is transferred from PC to the Nokia X, users can search for the required file on the phone via the ASTRO File Manager, which comes pre-installed on the device.)
Once, the Farmaroot has installed on your Nokia X, choose the app icon in app drawer to install SuperSU. To install, open the SuperSU file and choose the Gandalf exploit, which is a dropdown option in the Farmaroot app.
When the installation is complete, there will be a success pop-up message on the screen. Now you just need to reboot your Nokia X for successful completion of the rooting process.
- The Farmaroot app on the Nokia X also gives an option to unroot the device, if you want to bring it back to normal.
Installing the Google Play store on the Nokia X:
-Download the Google services APKs from here on your Nokia X or a Windows PC and copy the APKs to the phone using a USB cable.
To start, go to this link install the Google services APKs to your phone or Windows PC. Transfer all the Google APKs to Nokia X using a USB cable.
-Now, you will be required to extract all the Google APKs. To do this, first download a root explorer app on your Nokia X, which is a file manager for root users.
Go to the folder where you saved the Google APKs and select all the files; next from the menu choose the option Extract all. The extracted APK files will be automatically stored on to microSD card's SpeedSoftware folder. At this stage, do not install the APKs.
-The extracted files then must be moved on to /system/apps folder of the Nokia X. (Use the root explorer app, and go to the SpeedSoftware folder on the microSD card. Select the files, and from the menu, choose Cut. Then, go to the /system/apps/ folder, and choose Paste from the menu.)
-Next, you will have to change the permission of all the extracted files in the /system/apps folder by selecting all the files that were extracted (Google APKs) and opening the Permission option in the menu for the all the apps. The Owner, Group and Other options should have Read Only checked in the popup that comes when you press Permission. Only Owner should have the Write option checked. Reboot your Nokia X once the permission has been changed for all the extracted Google APK files to make the device more stable.

-Now you will find the Google app icons for Hangouts, Gmail, and Google Play Store among others in the app drawer.
Enjoy, you have successfully installed the Google Play store and other Google services on your Nokia X. Now sign-in to your Google account to access Google services on your Nokia X and you can explore your favourite Android apps directly from the Play Store.
This method works with the earlier version of the Nokia X software, but once you move to version 11.1.1, new security features don't permit this technique. There's a new method that can help if you've updated your phone though.

Method 2-
In case the above method does not work because of new security restrictions, here's what you can do:
-Install the Nokia composite ADB interface on your Windows PC, in addition to installing the Framaroot.apk on your Nokia X (following the steps detailed above).
The Nokia composite ADB interface folder installed on your PC should have two sub folders for KingoRoot_NokiaX_Mod and Nokia X USB drivers.
-Plug your Nokia X to the Windows PC with a USB cable, open the device manager and right click on the connected device. This gives the Update Driver option on your Windows PC, to install the ADB drivers.
You might be prompted to enter new drivers for your Nokia X, which can be found the Nokia composite ADB interface folder - Nokia X USB drivers. Just choose browse, go to the folder and select the driver.
-Now you need to open the KingoRoot.exe file on your Windows PC, which can be found in the Nokia composite ADB interface folder. Please note that you need to keep your Nokia X connected to the Windows PC during the complete process.
-Once you have started the KingoRoot app on the PC, it will appear on your Windows PC screen giving you an option to root the connected device. When the phone is not rooted, KingoRoot on the PC shows the status of the connected device as Not Rooted.
-Now users need to choose the Root button in the KingoRoot app on your PC to root the device. This will also install the SuperSU app on the connected Nokia X device automatically. This will take few minutes.
-Reboot the phone after the connected device (Nokia X) status in KingoRoot app shows Rooted on your PC. After the reboot, open the SuperSU app on the Nokia X, this will for the ask grant option on the app. Press grant and move ahead.

-After pressing grant, open KingoRoot on your PC again. This time the KingoRoot shows two options - Root again or Remove Root. To return your phone to normal, you can click on Remove Root.
-Now you can repeat the method of installing the Google Play store on the Nokia X (check Method 1) by extracting all the Google APKs using the root explorer.

*Note- Our recommendation would be to install Google Play Store and other services on your Nokia X when it is running version 10.0.3, rather than updating the phone to software version 11.1.1. This is because the new method requires the KingoRoot app on your PC and the steps are a bit complicated to the Framaroot app that worked well enough.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 - How to Bring Back High and Ultra Settings on PC

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is arguably one of the better PC ports this generation, and a feature pakced entry in the long running first-person shooter series. From advanced options like downsampling - the ability to render games at 4K, and to then project them at 1080p for a higher quality image - to options for tweaking textures and lighting there's a host of ways for you to enhance your experience.
However, a month or so after release, developer Treyarch removed the ability for users with video cards that have 2GB or less of VRAM to choose options above and beyond medium settings. It's an odd move considering that new cards like Nvidia's GTX 960 can comfortably manage the high settings even with 2GB video memory. While the developer has been quiet about the reason for this change, the Call of Duty community believes this change was done to ensure cards with lesser memory don't run the game at settings that may impact performance adversely.And while you can splurge on a more powerful card like the AMD R9 Fury or the Nvidia GeForce GTX 980 Ti there's another, cost-effective method to bring back high and ultra options. Here's how.

1.  Find your Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 configuration file. It's usually config.ini in your Steam
   folder, Steam\steamapps\common\Call of Duty Black Ops III\players
   
2. Open config.ini with Notepad or any text editor.
   
3. Look for "RestrictGraphicsOptions = "1" ". Change 1 to 0. It should look like RestrictGraphicsOptions = "0".
   
4. Save the file and close it.

When you boot up the game you should be able to select high and ultra options with a video card that 2GB VRAM or lower. What do you do to optimise your Call of Duty experience on PC? Let us know via the comments.

Need for Speed Most Wanted Is Now Free on Windows PC

Need for Speed Most Wanted is now free for Windows PC. It's one of the last decent entries in a series that's been in steady decline for years and has seen its developers change hands from the now defunct Black Box Studios to Criterion (of the Burnout fame) to Ghost Games--the studio that was responsible for last year's abysmal Need for Speed. The downside though is that you'll need to use the Origin client to get it. In our experience, it hasn't been the most reliable piece of software, and our attempts at playing FIFA 16 on PC only served to compound the perception. In fact, even trying to claim Need for Speed Most Wanted for free now is throwing up errors, which may be due to the traffic on Origin right now. Nonetheless, you might be able to fare better.
There's no telling when EA might decide to flip the switch and make it a paid purchase though, so we suggest grabbing it as soon as possible. As the site says, "make sure to act fast because On the House specials can appear and disappear at any time."
And while we're yet to see Need for Speed reach the heights it did with 2005's Need for Speed Most Wanted, the 2012 version is solid There's a ton of cars to choose from, a varied number of environments to race in, and a surprisingly immersive open-world. Throw in the new low price of free and you have something well worth checking out. You can download it now.

12 best Ways to Use Your Android Smartphone More Efficiently

Android tips are a little trickier to offer than iPhone tips, for a couple of reasons. For one, it's often up to carriers or manufacturers - rather than consumers - who have control over which version of Android your phone is running. Furthermore, there are so many more kinds of Android phones, which have their own neat little features. My phone is a Samsung Galaxy S6 (Review | Pictures), but menu options may be different depending on what type of phone you use.
I've tried to keep these tips as universal as possible.

1) Customise, customise, customise
In my opinion, the very best part about being an Android user is the fact that you can mess around a lot with your phone to make it your own. Many readers wrote in to say that they like using custom keyboard apps on their Android phones.
But there's a whole world of customising apps out there available exclusively to Android phones. For example, you can choose to change the way your very home screen looks, or how your apps are organised by using something called an app launcher. I personally use Yahoo's Aviate, which automatically organises apps by type, time of day and location. So if I'm at work, for example, it won't put Netflix on my short list of apps. If it's time to commute, travel apps may get a more prominent billing.
You can also download a variety of diallers and caller ID apps, for example, to further customise your phone. Really, the world is your oyster.

2) Embrace all of Google
Another key advantage of the Android life is that there's a lot of integration if you're a Google user. The core apps such as Gmail, Calendar, Photos and others should work seamlessly with your phone. Google's voice assistant is just an "OK Google" away.
A particularly nice feature in the latest version of Android (Marshmallow) is Google Now on Tap, which sort of acts as a Google-powered footnote to whatever you're reading tap a word and you'll get a Google search about it.
But even if you don't have Marshmallow, you can run a Google search on any phrase on any website in Chrome by highlighting text. A small window should slide up from the bottom of the screen, and tapping it will initiate a search. You don't even have to leave the page you're on. You can also turn this off in Chrome's settings. Just head to Setting> Privacy > Touch to Search.

3) Know what you're sharing
One question I get often about apps is how you can see what you're sharing with them. You can do this by going to your Settings menu and finding your Applications Manager. Selecting any particular app should give you a list of permissions, along with an explanation of what they mean.
If you happen to have the latest version of Android, you should also be able to get a little more control over the app permissions. So if you want to, for example, share your location with an app but aren't that happy about sharing your contact list, you may be able to switch that off. It depends on the app, as well, so this may not work for every program.

4) Mess around with your defaults
Another major perk of being an Android user is that you can change the apps that handle certain functions automatically. So if you have a browser you prefer, or a PDF reader you really like, you can use it automatically. If you'd rather always see YouTube videos in the YouTube app instead of on the mobile web, you can do that too.
It's pretty easy to do this; most often, your phone itself will ask you if you want to set a default app when you perform various functions. If you change your mind, you can go into the settings for whatever default app you've chosen through the Settings menu and choose Clear Defaults.
Some phones, such as the Samsung Galaxy S6, also have a menu called Default applications, which will list all the defaults you've selected on your phone.

5) Track your data use
Worried about exceeding your data plan? Android phones should have a built-in data tracker that lets you keep tabs on what you're using. This should be in your Settings menu, under the heading such as Data usage.
You can also customise this feature so that it fits with your billing cycle.

6) Disable useless apps
You may not be crazy about every app that comes with your phone; often carriers and manufacturers add apps that you simply won't use. But while you can't always uninstall these apps, you can often keep them from running on your phone. On Android, you can disable these apps to keep them from running in the background. Just head to your phone's version of the application manager, tap on the app you want to sedate, and hit Disable.
If you ever want to re-enable the app, you can do that by following the same steps.
(Also see:  Five Simple Tips to Increase the Life of Your Phone's Battery)

7) Conserve your battery life
If your phone has a power-saving mode of some kind, you can choose to have it automatically kick in when your phone's battery hits a particular charge percentage. Head to the Battery section of your Settings menu. If your phone does have a power-saving mode option, go into that feature's settings and set it to kick in automatically when your battery's at various power levels. (On my Samsung Galaxy S6, the options are 50, 20, 15 and 5 percent.) That could get you an extra hour or so of battery life when you're running low.

(Also see:  Eight Simple Tips to Increase the Battery Life of Your Mobile Device)
8) Become a developer to make things run more quickly
If you want to make your phone move a little more quickly, you can enable its developer options to speed it up. The process to turn on this option is a little funny; you have to head into the About this phone menu in your settings, then find the section that says Build number. Then - and I'm completely serious about this - you tap that item seven times.
Congratulations, you're now a developer! At least, according to your phone. You should see a new item pop up in the About menu, called Developer options. Within that menu, you can change a few options - namely Window animation scale, Transition animation scale and Animator duration scale - to .5x or lower. This should speed up your phone by reducing the time it spends animating transitions between windows and apps. This does make things feel a little more abrupt when you're switching between windows. But remember: you can always put it back if you have problems.

9) Swipe down for quick access to settings
Need to get quick access to your flashlight? A one-touch option for Airplane Mode? Locking the screen rotation? Swipe down from the top of your phone and you should find the Quick Settings menu. This is a pretty basic tool for navigating your phone, but you'd be surprised how many people either don't know about it or forget it.

---

Many readers also wrote in to note that you can rearrange which notifications appear in this drop-down menu on various phones -- I heard from Samsung, HTC, LG and Nexus users on this one.
Reader tips

10) Try out multitasking
Several Samsung owners wrote in to say that you can run two applications at the same time on many of their newer devices. To trigger that, you can tap and hold the Recent Apps button on your phone, which tends to be to the right of the physical home button. That will prompt it to go into split-screen view.

11) Use the Gesture search app
One reader wrote in to rave about Google Gesture Search, an Android-only app that lets you navigate through your phone with a number of gestures.
"If you need to find almost anything on your phone, you can usually find it with just a couple swipes of your finger," the reader wrote. The app works with a wide variety of Android devices and versions of the operating system.

12) Get quick access to the camera
Another Samsung user wrote in to share a tip about getting to the camera app faster. "The Samsung Galaxy 5's excellent camera is just a swipe away thanks to a shortcut that saves a few seconds normally spent on unlocking the device," she wrote. You can enable the shortcut on that device by heading to the Lock screen menu in your settings and selecting Camera Shortcut.
Other phones may already have a camera shortcut on the lock screen by default -- take a look! Some phones may have their own ways of getting to the camera fast. Some HTC phones, for example, will launch the camera if you hit the volume up button. Other phones, such as the Nexus 6P (Review | Pictures) and Nexus 5x (Review | Pictures), have options to launch the camera with gestures.

Apple Is Working to Make iPhones Even Tougher to Hack

 Fearing that the government may be able to order it to bypass security features in newer-model
 phones, Apple has begun working on enhancements that would prevent the company from updating the software of an iPhone without knowing a user's password, according to individuals familiar with the effort.
These security improvements would make it impossible for Apple to help the government unlock newer iPhones in the manner authorities want the company to do so now. The move would force those authorities to find a new technical solution even if they gain the legal authority to force the company to unlock the phones of suspects.
The move by Apple is another twist in a high-profile battle between Apple and the Justice Department, which last week demanded that the company help unlock the iPhone of Syed Rizwan Farook, one of the killers in the San Bernardino, Calif., shooting rampage.
The enhancements cannot be installed on older model phones, such as the iPhone 5c used by Farook. But engineers are trying to fix a problem on newer models, which have a security feature called Secure Enclave that protects some of the most sensitive data such as the phone's encryption keys. Currently, the software on the Secure Enclave can be updated without knowing a user's password.
(Also see:  Apple Being Asked for Access to Just One iPhone)
That, Apple engineers realized, was a vulnerability. Those engineers began thinking about addressing the issue before the San Bernardino attacks, but the fix became a priority more recently, said the individuals familiar with the effort, which was first reported by the New York Times.
Security experts hailed Apple's move.
"They've never thought before that they might be forced by the government to break into its own products and reverse security procedures," said Jonathan Zdziarski, a security researcher who has proposed about a dozen solutions to the problem to Apple. "Now that they've been forced into this mode of thinking, a lot of the security updates in the future will be not just to keep the hackers out, but to keep themselves out until the user authorizes the update."
News of the technical fix broke on the same day Apple chief executive Tim Cook defended his company's controversial refusal to help the FBI access the passcode-locked iPhone that belonged to Farook.
(Also see:  Why Even the FBI Can't Hack the iPhone)
Cook said that helping the FBI to bypass the iPhone's security "could expose people to incredible vulnerabilities."
"This would be bad for America. It would also set a precedent that I believe many people in America would be offended by," Cook said during an interview on ABC's "World News Tonight With David Muir."
Cook said Apple tried to help the FBI with other technological solutions, offering "significant advice" on how the iPhone might be cracked. But Apple does not want to go as far as the FBI says it now needs - writing software to get around the phone's security measures. Cook called it "the software equivalent of cancer."
"What is at stake here is can the government compel Apple to write software that we believe would make hundreds of millions of customers vulnerable around the world, including the US, and also trample civil liberties that are the basic foundation of what this country are made of," Cook said.
Cook said this case was about the future.
FBI Director James B. Comey, in a letter published Sunday, wrote that this case highlights the tension between privacy and safety.
"That tension should not be resolved by corporations that sell stuff for a living," Comey wrote.
Cook, in his interview, insisted that obeying this one court order would mean opening hundreds of other Apple devices if law enforcement wanted access to them as well.
"It is a slippery slope. I don't fear one - it is one," Cook said.
Muir asked Cook whether he has any doubts that opening this iPhone might help prevent a terrorist attack.
"David, some things are hard and some things are right. And some things are both," Cook said. "And this is one of those things."

Sony Xperia M5, Xperia M5 Dual Android 5.1 Lollipop Update

Sony has started rolling out Android 5.1 Lollipop update to its Xperia M5 and Xperia M5 Dual smartphones. The update brings the single SIM version (E5603, E5653, E5606) build to 30.1.A.1.33 and the dual-SIM variant (E5633, E5663, E5643) build to 30.1.B.1.33.
As per user reports (via the Xperia Blog), the Android 5.1 Lollipop update for the Sony Xperia M5 features better memory management alongside some improvements to volume mode control. The update also gives user the ability to take pictures from the smartphone using the Sony Smartwatch 3. In addition, the Android version update from Sony also carries the latest January security update. The complete package weighs around 596.4MB. It is worth mentioning that the duo came with Android 5.0 Lollipop pre-installed.
Since the update is heavy, the company recommends users to download it over Wi-Fi. The two smartphones can also be updated manually via the Sony PC Companion tool. Users can check for OTA updates by navigating to Settings> About Phone> Software updates.
Sony last month rolled out the same Android update for its Xperia C4 and the Xperia C5 Ultra smartphones.
The Android 5.1 Lollipop update started rolling out in March last year, starting with Nexus devices. The OS version brings stability and performance improvements. With the new OS version, Google added new features such as support for multiple SIM cards, Device Protection and HD voice on compatible devices.
Another highlight is built-in Device Protection, which makes sure the device is locked when lost or stolen, until signed-in using a Google account. The Android 5.1 Lollipop update also brings high definition voice calling on the mobile phone. The HD voice calling will be available only on compatible Android 5.1 devices. Other features include ability to join Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth paired device option directly available from Quick Settings.
The latest OS version Google has made available to OEMs is Android 6.0.1 Marshmallow, and few manufacturers have started rolling out that update to users of their smartphones. The OS version brings support for the new set of emojis and can be used on Google's Keyboard app that ships with the Nexus devices. It adds new emoji characters with full support for Unicode 7.0 and 8.0 emojis.
Missed the news? Here's a list of all phones launched at MWC 2016 on one handy page - or catch our full Mobile World Congress coverage.

Display

5.00-inch

Processor

2GHz

Front Camera

 13-megapixel

Resolution

 1080x1920 pixels

RAM

 3GB

OS

 Android 5.0

Storage

16GB

Rear Camera

21.5-megapixel

Battery capacity

2600mAh