Quick Review: Android 5.0 Lollipop @ Nexus 7

As I mentioned in my previous post, I'll cover the tablet-specific aspects of Lollipop, and Android in general, in this post.

Before I go any further into this review, I'd like to make something clear. I own an Asus Nexus 7 (2013) which was bought within a week of its announcement in August 2013. As I will elaborate further on in another post that's in the pipeline, you should never buy Day 1 products. 

My tablet has serious touchscreen sensitivity issues, where it will register ghost touches or not register it at all when I tap something. As a result, I don't use it as much as I would like to. Regardless, I will write up what I've personally noticed, but be warned that it won't be as complete as I would like.

How It Looks...

Over the years, Android's tablet UI has undergone some pretty drastic changes. In 3.x Honeycomb, the Holo design language was introduced, and a very Tron-esque look prevailed. This was pared back in 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and gradually phased out in favour of Material Design in 5.0.

Up until recently, Android tablets had a dual-panel settings layout, where you could scroll through the settings on the left and interact with individual settings on the right. This is gone in Lollipop, replaced by full-screen menus. 

Some people might lament this change, others welcome it. I've yet to fully make my mind up about it. It was definitely the better option for tablets such as the Nexus 7, but I'm not so sure about larger tablets.

How It Feels...

I could say "smoooth", but that isn't quite true. There are definitely a good few instances when I'm using my Nexus 7 that it slows down a bit, or is quite jerky. However, Lollipop has definitely improved some things, such as the Recents menu opening speed. Before, there would be a good 2 second delay between my tapping the icon and it opening, and it now happens virtually instantly.

How It Disappoints...

I had a set of things I was disappointed with long before Lollipop arrived on the scene. My list is largely unchanged, with only one or two minor annoyances scratched off the list, such as the Recents menu speed boost.

No, the bigger problem is that my device is not as good as it should be, and that, I'm afraid, is not something that I can do anything at all about.

Should I Upgrade...?

Yes, without a doubt. Now that Android 5.0.1 has begun to roll out, there is absolutely no reason not to upgrade. My issues have more to do with me not being a smart buyer rather than any specific fault of Lollipop or the Nexus 7 in general.

Quick Review: Android 5.0 Lollipop @ Nexus 5

Hi guys, sorry about the long delay since the last post. Here, finally, is my review of Android 5.0 Lollipop on the Nexus 5 phone. You might notice that I'm specifying the device here. I'll write up a separate review for each device, namely the Nexus 5 and 7. The Nexus 7 review will focus on just the tablet-relevant bits, as well as any differences between my experience of Lollipop between these devices.

How It Looks...

Android 5.0 Lollipop brought a brand new design language known as Material Design. It's really about trying to make everything about using your device as natural and intuitive as possible. As such, there are now subtle shadows under certain elements, and the dark blue of Holo has been replaced by white and green.

Most of Google's own apps have been updated to incorporate this new design language, with excellent examples being the new Keep, Google+ and Gmail apps. Unfortunately, there are still a few Google apps that remain to be updated, with Hangouts being the most obvious example.

As regards the system apps, for instance the Dialler, all of these have been overhauled visually. There are loads of new animations and eye candy in these, with a very nice example being the animation when you make a call. The call button expands to become the overlay containing the in-call control options. Most of these animations are small and quite pointless, but they make the OS feel smooth and natural.

How It Feels...

Smoooooooth! For the most part that is indeed how it feels. In general apps load quickly, and there is little to no lag between touching the screen and something happening. One thing that does take a little getting used to is the new way in which dialogue boxes are laid out. Now, as opposed to the buttons being spread evenly across the bottom of the box, they are now all in the bottom right-hand corner, meaning that you have to relearn where you expect the options to be.

How It Disappoints...

Lollipop is prone to stutters and frequent force-closes. This is an issue which was not present in Android 4.4 KitKat. My problems begin with the fact that Chrome will often Force Close when I'm opening a link in a New Tab. The issue goes away if I disable the "Merge Tabs and Apps" option. This is a new feature in Lollipop where you can access your Chrome tabs using the Recents button, as opposed to having your tabs separate from your apps. This is an example of Google totally integrating into Android, but, if it worked without issue, I would have no problem with that.

The other problem I have is that Google+ will often fail to start if I try to launch it from the Recents view. I haven't properly looked into why that happens, but if I had to take a guess, I would blame poor or overly-aggressive memory management. This is where Android removes apps that have not been used in a while from memory. This issue has also been cited on the Nexus 9 by Android Police, so it's clear that there's some problem with Lollipop's memory manager. Hopefully a 5.0.1 or 5.1 update will fix both of my problems.

To Wrap It Up...

Those two bugs aside though, I'm quite happy with Lollipop on my Nexus 5. The new look is head and shoulders above Holo, and I hope that more major app developers get their apps updated to match. A lot of smaller app developers have already updated, but larger companies always seem to take their sweet time, probably due to testing.

Quite honestly I'm surprised that there haven't been any Lollipop maintenance updates for either the Nexus 5 or 7 since the original update landed. They definitely need a little bug fixing, particularly the Nexus 5.

Should I Upgrade...?

Yup, absolutely! Besides just the visual update, Lollipop introduces a huge amount of behind the scenes changes, making for a drastically improved user experience.

I'll release another post soon hopefully about the Nexus 7.

What do you guys think of the new font? Like? Dislike? Please vote, either on Google+, Facebook, or right here on the side!

Quick Review: "Clariel"

As promised in my previous post, here’s my review of Garth Nix’s Clariel. In case you didn’t know, Garth Nix is an Australian author, who has written the popular The Old Kingdom Trilogy, and Shade’s Children, among other novels and series’.

Clariel marks Nix’s first return to the Old Kingdom since the novella The Creature in the Case, set six months after the conclusion of Abhorsen, the last book in the trilogy. Clariel plays the more difficult role of prequel, being set 600 years prior to the beginning of Sabriel and The Old Kingdom series. The very nature of a prequel, particularly in this case, is that unless you have read the main series, much of the impact of Clariel’s choices and actions may be lost on you.

As regards the series itself, the Old Kingdom is a world of magic, both good and evil. The two main types of magic are Charter Magic (generally used by the protagonists) and Free Magic (usually the weapon of choice for the antagonists). The Dead also feature strongly, as both mindless minions and more powerful, and more intelligent, monsters.

All throughout the original trilogy, Free and Charter Magic are seen as polar opposites, and it is stated again and again that Charter Magic is good, and that Free Magic is evil. In Clariel, all this is thrown into doubt. Clariel, our heroine, has little aptitude for, or interest in, Charter Magic, despite being a member of two families known for their strength in Charter Magic.

In a recent Q&A, Garth Nix stated that Clariel was given very little control over her own destiny, unlike Sabriel and Lirael, who were basically given free reign to follow a vague goal. Everything in Clariel's life is controlled by some outer force, be it her parents or her very situation. Her struggle for freedom leads her, seemingly inevitably, to Free Magic. The irony is evident in the fact that even though Free Magic is, by its very definition, free, Clariel's use of it does not lead her to greater freedom or happiness.

It is interesting to see how different the attitude of the residents of Belisaere in Clariel as opposed to the earlier novels. It is seen as the domain of servants and the lower classes, and not something for the upper classes to dirty their hands with. Even the Abhorsen, the man charged with keeping the Dead dead, shows little to no interest in his appointed task, and simply wastes his time at hunts.

Clariel features old favourites of the Old Kingdom series, such as Mogget. This sardonic feline plays a far more manipulative role than in previous books. The laxness of the Abhorsen, combined with other factors, bring his true nature as an ancient Free Magic creature far closer to the surface.

If you are a fan of the Old Kingdom series, then this is an absolute must-buy. If you're just a casual reader, then I would recommend reading the original Old Kingdom novels before Clariel. That way, you will fully appreciate the in-world relevance of Clariel. However, I think that the novel can certainly stand up on its own merit. In short, read it!

Quick Review: Google+

For the purposes of this review, I'll be focusing on the web and Android versions of Google+, as opposed to iOS, mostly because I don't have an iDevice.

Ask most Facebook users about Google+ and they will either not know anything about it, or will call it a "ghost town." A similar attitude is seen in the media. The vast majority of people don't know anything about Google+, and instantly dismiss it for that very reason. However, those of us who do use Google+ tell a very different story.

In general, posts in my Facebook feed usually consist of pictures from nights out and other such pictures. Whereas in my G+ feed I have loads of links to articles on other websites, as well as posts on the social network itself. Re-sharing posts seems to be a lot more important on G+ as well. A lot of what you see in your feed are re-shared posts, as opposed to originals.

G+ has full integration with Google's other services, and this is very prominent in G+'s Photos section. You can save all your photos to Google's servers, with two quality options. You have a choice between saving them at full resolution and saving them to your Google Drive, eating into your cloud storage, or you can store an unlimited number of photos at 2048 px. The Photos app, installed as part of the Google+ app, allows Android users to manage their G+ Photos. It also supports casting your photos to Chromecast and, probably, Android TV.

Communities are places where people of similar interests can congregate and chat, sharing pictures, advice or similar as appropriate.Regardless of what you're interested in, there is probably a Community or two on G+ that suits you perfectly. Posts from the Communities that you are a member of show up in your Feed. Naturally some of these communities can become clogged up with spam, flaming or other things that you don't want to see, so you'll be glad to hear that you can control how often you see posts from Communities, or indeed whether you see any posts at all.

You don't have a Friend List per se on G+, instead you organise your friends into Circles. For instance, by default I believe you have a Following Circle, which is where you put people you want to Follow, celebrities for example. It's also easy to share posts with specific Circles. You can also view posts from only one particular Circle. This is just one place where G+ gives you a lot more control over your posts than Facebook.

Google+ gives people a chance to meet new and interesting people. It's often said that Facebook is useful for keeping in touch with people you know or met once, while Google+ allows you to meet new people, if only by virtue of the fact that the people you normally chat to on Facebook simply aren't on Google+.

What do you think? What do you use Google+ for? Feel free to leave a comment below.

Quick Review: OPPO Find 7a

OPPO may not ring many bells for most of you, but this Chinese manufacturer has been making pretty big waves in the Android world. Normally known for mid- to high-end audio systems and blu-ray players. OPPO's latest offering, the Find 7, comes in two variants, the Find 7 and the Find 7a. The Find 7a has been available for a few months,and the Find 7 has come onto the market in the last month or so. The only differences between the two devices come in the specs, where the Find 7 outclasses the Find 7a pretty much everywhere. I got the Find 7a a while ago, and I've been playing around with it to get a better idea of what it's like to live with.

In Ireland, the Find 7a costs a total of €399 shipped, and they include a free UK plug adapter. In case you're interested, the Find 7 costs €479.

I have been switching between the stock ROM and the Paranoid Android (PA) custom ROM on this device. The good news is that it is relatively easy to get the custom ROM installed providing you know your way around ADB and Fastboot. Either way, you're getting a pretty solid ROM, although I've spent more time with PA than with the stock ColorOS ROM.

The camera is excellent, easily capable of Cover-Photo standard snaps with no particular settings enabled. In terms of modes, you get HDR and a 50MP mode, where the camera takes multiple pictures and uses technical witchcraft to make your picture either more vivid or sharper respectively. Selfie lovers will also be delighted with this phone's 5MP front facing camera.

Gestures are where this phone really comes through. Gestures can be used either through a pull-down from the status (by default on the left-hand side), or, most excitingly, with the screen turned off! You can configure these gestures to open any app you have installed, or to toggle a certain number of settings.

The performance is solid, with the only slowdowns or lags caused by OPPO's ColorOS. Even with that, it does not lag when taking pictures, or when listening to music. The battery, however, is not as reliable. In use, the battery is excellent, especially compared to the Nexus 5's less-than-stellar battery consumption. However, its standby time is atrocious. Many other reviewers have also complained about the poor standby time. I can vouch for their complaints, even on a custom ROM. With WiFi and phone signal turned on, the battery can drop anything up to 20% overnight. The drain is far more acceptable when you put the phone in aeroplane mode, ranging from 2% to 5%.

My problems with the phone begin with the capacitive hardware keys. The placing of the back button on the opposite side to Google's standards causes far too many headaches, especially for a leftie like me. The power key, on my device anyway, had a huge amount of play in it, literally being able to tilt fully on the underlying button. The software helped compensate for this by allowing me to double-tap the screen to wake the device, and double-tap the home capacitive key to lock the device again. However, this is a cure for a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place. The battery life, as I have mentioned above, is also quite a deal-breaker. OPPO's fast charger balances this however, by allowing you to charge the device to around 75% from empty in about 30 minutes. I didn't time the charger, but I can report that their claims are not unrealistic, as the battery can make significant gains in very little time.


So, in conclusion I give this phone a 3.5/5 score. The large vibrant screen and generally solid performance, occasional stumbles aside, coupled with the sensational camera make this phone a force to be reckoned with, even amongst the competition from the likes of Samsung, HTC and LG. However, its unreliable battery, weak power button and unconventional capacitive navigation keys let it down big time. However, OPPO has been able to lighten the impact of these flaws by compensating with the Double-Tap to Wake and Sleep, and the fast charger.

Quick App Review: Today Calendar Pro

Hi guys, sorry about the delay since the last post. Hopefully I'll be able to resume regular weekly updates from now on.

Right, Today Calendar Pro. As you can probably guess from the title, this is a calender app. A couple of months back, one of my favourite developers, a guy called Jack Underwood, decided to revamp and modernise the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) Calender app.

In short, he completely rewrote the interface, which now features Cards UI, and lots of revamped and modern updates to the UI. It also, unlike the Google Calender app, features Android 4.4's translucent status and navbars, although they are turned off by default.

The app also features two calender widgets, with Agenda and Month views. These were once a separate app on the Play Store called Today Widgets, but the developer has bundled these in with Today Calender. The widgets are pretty customisable, with controls for transparency, and a choice of light and dark themes, among other things.

Those of you with iDevices probably take it for granted that the date changes on the calender app on the homescreen. Believe it or not, that's not actually a feature of Android really. Or at least, it wasn't, until lately. Underwood worked with the developers of the popular 3rd-party launcher Nova Launcher, to develop an API (Application Programming Interface) allowing an app to have dynamic icons. Long story short, now the app shows the current date both on the homescreen and in the app drawer on certain launchers.

The app isn't free, although there is a free 14-day trial, with a link below. The full version costs €2.49, and it's well worth it. A well-deserved 5 stars.

Links:
Today Calender Pro
Today Calender (Free 14-Day Trial)
Nova Launcher

Quick Review: Chromecast

We all know the feeling. You've found a great new song on YouTube. You want to show your brother, sister, or friend. You have a great TV in your sitting room, but you have to show them this new song on your laptop or phone, and it doesn't sound half as good as it did when you had your headphones blaring. That's where Google's Chromecast comes in.

It's a £30 dongle for your TV, with virtually zero setup. Quite literally, it's plug-and-play. Once you've plugged it into your television and connected it to your Wi-Fi network, you simply go to a Chromecast-enabled app on your Android or iOS device, and tap the 'Cast' icon in the app. Here in Ireland, we have access to a few Chromecast-enabled apps, with the biggest being YouTube, Netflix and Google Play Music. Naturally, in other countries there is a much larger selection of available services.

To be perfectly honest, there's little to fault the Chromecast on, especially when you consider the price. It is competing with devices such as the Apple TV (~€100) and the Roku streaming stick (~£80), and, although it isn't quite as robust as those products, considering that it doesn't have a navigable UI, among other things, the Chromecast has a lot of the same functionality, for a fraction of the cost.

The Chromecast has no built-in support for local media, such as memory sticks or hard drives. There are a few workarounds for this, such as playing the video through Chrome on PC, or apps such as AllCast on Android. However, there can be issues with unusual codecs or formats, so something I'd love to see is video players such as VLC Media Player implementing Chromecast support on desktop platforms.

This is the perfect device for anyone who doesn't have an Internet-enabled television, and doesn't want to splash out on one. In truth, that's more or less what's you have when you have a TV with a Chromecast plugged into it.

Links:
Chromecast on Amazon.co.uk
Chromecast Apps

Quick Review: Acer Chromebook C720

A while ago, I wrote a post about computing devices for students. In it, I suggested that you're best off with either a proper laptop or a Chromebook, depending on your usage habits.

I've owned a tablet for well over a year now, and I can confirm that a tablet, even if combined with a keyboard dock, is nothing compared to a proper laptop. By its nature, a tablet in a dock will be very top-heavy, as the tablet contains the motherboard and battery, as well as the screen, while a proper laptop has all this in the bottom half of the device, leading to a more stable base. If you're working with a tablet on a desk, you'll either have to keep your weight on the dock all the time, or keep the tablet at an almost upright position all the time.

It probably doesn't help that my tablet has a consistently jerky UI, despite my best efforts to use highly optimised firmware. As a result of all this, I've decided to purchase a Chromebook, namely the Acer C720.

I've had the Chromebook for about a month now, and I'm delighted to report that it is, most definitely, worth getting as a secondary device. The interface is smooth, and it has regular updates (roughly every six weeks).

The build quality is solid, although it is plastic, rather than a more premium aluminium or similar material. It really is a nice bit of kit. In case you're wondering, it really does boot up as fast as it says on the box (about 8 seconds). The desktop is pretty barebones, which makes sense considering that this is primarily a Web Browser. The Files app is very simple, with only a few functions, such as a Video Player, and allowing you to browse USB drives or SD cards.

The great advantages of a Chromebook are the battery life and the sheer convenience of the thing. You can literally just pick it up and start using it. In a way, it's more like a phone than a proper laptop, in that you don't really turn it off, you just close the lid whenever you're finished with it. The battery life is also really good. I haven't actually done a full battery test to see how long it would last, but, having just taken it off charge, it has an estimated 9 hours and 30 minutes of charge left. That is a bit more than I used to get with my tablet.

Chromebooks run, essentially, a glorified version of the Google Chrome browser. It is a very specialised device, but, if you're willing to only work with tools that work online, or in a browser, such as Google Docs, etc, then it's a great device. I haven't found any sites yet where the Chromebook is much slower than my primary laptop, despite having drastically less RAM, and an inferior processor. Relatively heavy sites like Google Play Music and YouTube load quickly and work well.

tl;dr, A Chromebook is a great purchase, providing you accept and work within its limitations. You won't get Office, unless you're willing to Office.com. You can buy it in technology shops like Curry's, or online on Amazon, or directly from Google Play if you can buy devices from Google wherever you live.

Quick App Review: Talon for Twitter

You may remember that one of the last apps I reviewed was EvolveSMS by Klinker Apps. They launched Talon for Twitter at the same time. I've been using the app over the past few weeks to get to grips with it.

I'd be the first to admit that I'm not a heavy Twitter user (I just never got into it). However, since I bought Talon, I've been checking my Twitter a good deal more than I used to.

The app itself is a joy to use. Like EvolveSMS, it makes use of the translucent status and nav-bars introduced in Android 4.4.

The app was recently updated, bringing a load of fixes and optimisations to the app. I tend to use the Beta version of these apps, seeing as I'm not too worried about stability just so long as it doesn't crash every two seconds. Generally, the Beta versions are only slightly less stable than the release versions.

One of the more prominent features of this app is a feature the developer calls "Talon Pull". In short, it's a persistent notification which shows you how many unread Tweets you have. On Android 4.1 and higher, it also has three options, allowing you to Stop the service, post a Tweet, or launch a Popup right from the notification, regardless of which app you're in. This level of multi-tasking is what Android is all about!

The app costs €1.49, and is on the Play Store now.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.klinker.android.twitter&hl=en-GB

Quick Review: EvolveSMS

One of the first reviews I wrote for this was of Klinker Apps' Sliding Messaging, a nifty SMS app with lots of customisation. It's been around for a year now, and to celebrate, the Klinker brothers released two new apps, Talon for Twitter, and EvolveSMS. I'm not a heavy Twitter user, but I've bought Talon, and I'll bring you a review in the next while.

Now, EvolveSMS. It features some features from Sliding Messaging, but not too much, just enough to make it useful without being overloaded with settings. It's a beautiful looking app, and, like Talon, it takes advantage of the translucent system bars introduced in Android 4.4 KitKat. For an app that was just released yesterday, it's pretty damn stable, if you pardon the expression.

Naturally, it has teething problems, but, remarkably, nothing major. Some people are complaining of graphical issues, like text not aligning correctly with the textboxes, but I've no doubt that these issues will be stamped out really soon!

As with Sliding Messaging, EvolveSMS doesn't feature any internal messaging system, a la Facebook/WhatsApp/Kik/etc. It's just a straight SMS/MMS app. Maybe that doesn't have the same appeal as it might have some years ago, but it's still very relevant.

EvolveSMS is, itself, a free app, although you can pay for extra features in-app. That said, even with just the free app, it's a very nifty app, and well worth trying out. All you need is an Android device running Android 4.0 or higher. Try it! You can't go wrong.

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.klinker.android.evolve_sms

Quick Review: Nova Launcher Beta

If you're into customising your phone and making it yours, chances are that you've already installed a custom launcher. Nova is a good solid example, and it's been my launcher of choice for a good while now.

It's very similar to the AOSP (Android Open Source Project) launcher, except that you can customise the bejeesus out of it. You can choose the grid size, and even the speed of the animations. Thankfully, the stock settings are perfectly good if you're a bit daunted by the amount of settings.

There are any amount of other more in-depth reviews out there, so I'll just finish up by saying that it's a good option for anyone looking for a way to waste a lot of time getting it just so ;)

Seeing as I won't be posting until next weekend or afterwards, I'd like to say:

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to everyone!

Quick App Comparison: Swiftkey Pro vs Google Keyboard

One of the biggest things people do on their phones is to text, be it with SMS, WhatsApp, Facebook, or whatever. As with everything, it's worth getting a good keyboard for the job. I mostly use either Swiftkey or Google Keyboard. Both of these are available for Android. IOS, due to its highly restricted nature, only has the stock keyboard, although you can do your typing in apps like Fleksy, and paste your stuff where you want it.

Please bear in mind that these are just my personal thoughts, feel free to comment if you disagree.

Google Keyboard is a pretty straightforward keyboard, with no real bells or whistles, aside from its swipe gestures, which now include being able to swipe to the spacebar to insert a space without taking your finger off the screen. As such, it has little to no customisability. Instead it offers simple stability which you can count on all the time. Oh, and you can download it free of charge, providing your phone is running Android 4.0 or higher.

Swiftkey offers you any amount of customisation. It includes 13 themes, and an extensive range of language packs, including Irish! Swiftkey also offers Cloud Sync, meaning that you can add words to your dictionary on one device, and have that word in the dictionary across all devices. In my experience, however, Swiftkey isn't quite as snappy in opening, closing, and general typing, as Google's offering. Swiftkey isn't free however. You can download a free trial for a month, but then you have to buy the full app for €3.99.

For phones, my keyboard of choice is most definitely Google Keyboard.

But, what about tablets? Here is where Swiftkey comes into its own. Google Keyboard takes up about half the screen real estate in landscape, and probably about a third in landscape. It still types perfectly well, but it's always seemed to me to be a terrible waste of screen. Obviously, the devs over at Swiftkey had the same thought. Layouts for Living allows you to change the keyboard to a two-handed split layout, or shift all the keys to the left or right. My personal favourite is the ability to completely undock the keyboard from the bottom of the screen, and move the keyboard around the screen to where you want it. While this does mean that text boxes don't move up to be above the keyboard, it also means that the keyboard only takes up a fraction of the space on-screen, allowing you to see much more of the app or webpage you're in.

Thanks to Layouts for Living, Swiftkey is much better than Google Keyboard for tablets, especially in landscape. It may be a bit steep, but if you type a lot on your tablet, it's well worth it.

Google Keyboard: Recommended for phones and smaller tablets
Pros:

• Free
• Stable
• Smooth
• Gesture typing

Cons:

• Not so much customisability

Swiftkey Pro: Recommended for larger tablets (i.e. 10" tablets)

Pros:

• Loads of customisability
• Layouts for Living
• Innovative developers
• Cloud sync
• Lots of languages

Cons:

• Not free
• Some small performance issues

Links:

Google Keyboard

Swiftkey Pro (30-day Free Trial)

Quick Review: Tapatalk 4

Chances are, at one point or another, you've had to read through a forum to try and get an answer or opinion on some question you want answered. If you post regularly in forums, especially on mobile devices, then you'll know that, very often, the experience of posting via the browser is pretty poor.

Enter Tapatalk, a forum reader for both Android and iOS. This nifty little app is fully optimised for phones and tablets (at least on Android), meaning that there's no shifting the page about to try and see what you're typing or reading.

Tapatalk for Android is currently at version 4, and sports a modern Cards UI look. I'm going to focus on the Android app for this, seeing as I don't use the iOS version at all.

I mostly use Tapatalk for the XDA-Developers forum, but I've got it up and running very easily with Android Central,  and a few other forums handy enough. One interesting thing to note, for Irish users, is that Boards.ie does not work with Tapatalk. You have to use the mobile site.

In practical use, the app is fast and responsive, with full support for attachments such as pictures. Very importantly, it supports the Thanks system found in many forums.

One small complaint I would have, is that it does not support signatures. If a user has an important link in his/her signature, you can't see it, leading to a bit of frustration. I don't expect to see signature support implemented in the future though, it goes against the look of the app, and besides, you can always use a computer if you're stuck.

There are nowhere near enough apps like this one in the Play Store. It has a modern UI, works well, and integrates with social media very well.

Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.quoord.tapatalkpro.activity

App Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/tapatalk-community-reader/id307880732

Quick Review: Google Nexus 5

Right, every year or two years, I tend to upgrade my phone. For financial reasons, I've tended to buy off eBay, where I could save quite a lot, by buying not-so-hot phones.

For my last purchase however, the Nexus 7 (2013), I decided to buck the trend and buy new. Of course, Google's amazing pricing helped. So, that's what I've done for my latest buy too, namely, the Nexus 5.

First off, this is one serious bit of kit. It runs the latest version of Android (4.4 Kit-Kat) and has class-leading hardware too. Rather than post rather geeky specs here, I'll just link them at the bottom. But, I will say that it has a top-class screen and processor, and has a great feel, both in software and hardware.

I went for a black device, which, reportedly, has a softer feel than the white version. It feels great in the hand. It's also very easy to use one-handed (very important for me!) with only a little jiggling needed to reach the furthest corner from your thumb. That's also helped by the very narrow bezels around the screen. That's been my experience anyway. It's also very light, so your hand won't get tired by it.

The screen, oh the screen. It is fantastic! It has a full HD resolution (1080p), in a 4.95" screen. Colours aren't overblown like on Samsung screens, although they could be a little more vivid. Text is pin-sharp, and it's a joy to read on.

Now, the software, the pride and joy of the Nexus range. It runs pure Google Android, like the Nexus 7, and is absolutely lightning-fast! It opens, installs and uninstalls apps way faster than the phone I had before it, the Galaxy Nexus. Every app feels liquid-smooth, and I've seen webpages load literally instantly.

One of the features I'm really looking forward to seeing implemented is what Google call "immersive mode". The Navigation buttons and status bar are hidden away, and you can use the full screen for the app content. So far, this has only been implemented in the YouTube and Google Play Books apps (that I know of) but hopefully it'll come to loads more apps soon.

People have had two big complaints about the Nexus 5; the camera, and battery life. I hardly ever take pictures, so the (supposedly) lackluster camera won't bother me. Even so, I took the liberty of shooting the same shot with both the Nexus 5 and my old Galaxy Nexus, just to compare. The difference is startling. I doubt I'll ever find the camera really lacking. As for battery life, I brought the phone to school, and tested out how it would do at being in a locker, not touched for 7 hours, and left in Airplane Mode. Under the exact same conditions, my Galaxy Nexus dropped an average of 3-4%. The Nexus 5 dropped just 1%. That's pretty impressive, even if it is doing nothing. In general use I've noticed a huge increase in battery life. I can actually use the phone for an hour or two now without needing to look for a charger.

Unfortunately, you can't actually buy this device directly here in Ireland. You can either do as I did, and get someone in the UK to buy it for you, and ship it over, or use a Parcel Motel, although that requires a UK credit card. It still works out fairly cheaply, compared to similar flagship phones available here in Ireland, such as the Samsung Galaxy S4 or HTC One.

Links:
Specs: http://www.gsmarena.com/lg_nexus_5-5705.php
Camera comparisons: https://plus.google.com/101927269278367311255/posts/JApsXoNSH2t

Quick App Review: Easy Voice Recorder + Waves

If you're a musician, especially if you go out gigging or playing in sessions fairly often, then you'll want a few apps on your phone, for all occasions.

First is a good reliable recording app. I use Easy Voice Recorder Pro. It does exactly what it says on the tin, it's an easy-to-use recorder. There's literally no setup, and you can get straight to recording. Even better, it has an attractive user interface, that isn't too cluttered, but has everything you need.

It has a few options for tweaking the quality of the recording, but for the average user the default settings are as good as any.

There is a free version, which has fewer settings than the Pro version, and it may have ads.

Easy Voice Recorder: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.digipom.easyvoicerecorder.pro&hl=en-GB

You'll also, if you play an instrument which you tune manually, want a tuner app. My go-to tuner is Waves. Like Easy Voice Recorder, it has an attractive Holo-style interface, although you can change the accent colour to either blue, orange or black and white.

The main pull for me is that it's very easy to use, it's literally plug-and-play. That's what you want in a session or at a gig, something that (to quote a certain company) "just works".

It's also a paid app, although you get a  7 day trial period before having to commit to a purchase. It's well worth it, if you need a reliable tuner, this is a good option.

Waves: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.cohortor.gstringsng&hl=en-GB

Quick App Review: DynamicNotifications

There are loads of cool apps out there that try to make your life a little easier. Typically, a manufacturer's fiddling with Android tends to do more harm than good, overall. However, some manufacturers do give us useful features we will actually use in real life. One of the most prominent examples is Motorola with the Moto X. Unfortunately, like many of Motorola's recent high-end phones, this one's a US-exclusive model.

You can, however, get at least some of the useful features from it on your phone today, so long as it's running Android 4.0 or above.

DynamicNotifications replicates the Active Notifications feature found on the Moto X. Essentially, when you get a notification, a text/Facebook message/Google+ notification, the screen will only partially come on, saving battery life (if your phone has an LED screen, Samsung, for example), and allowing you to either open or dismiss the notification without having to fully turn on the screen.

Really, the best way to see if you like it or not is to try it out.

Play Store: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.greatbytes.activenotifications&hl=en

Quick App Review: Google Play Music (All Access)

There are plenty of good music players for Android. PowerAmp and MX Player spring to mind straight away. But how about Google's own offering? Is that good enough for the job?

Google's Play Music is available for all Android devices running Android 2.2+. An iOS version is, reportedly, coming sometime this month (probably around the 28th-29th).

The app plays music files stored on your phone, songs you've uploaded to Google Play, and, if you're subscribed to Google Play All Access, tracks stored on Google's servers too.

One of the big pulls for this app is the ability to upload up to 20,000 of your own songs to Google Play, and download or stream them to any of your devices. Google provides a Music Manager to install on your computer and will upload your songs bit by bit until they're all up. This can take quite a long time, based on your Internet speeds. It took me the best part of two weeks to upload ~7000 songs, although my internet isn't the fastest around.

All Access is Google's equivalent of Spotify. Unlike Spotify though, there's no free option, apart from your own Library. All Access costs €9.99 per month, and, for that, you get unlimited streaming.

So, how does this service work in practice? I've found it to be really quite stable. It's never Force Closed on me, on any of 3 Android devices, and the Web player is also pretty good.

Google updated the app in the last day or two, with an "I'm Feeling Lucky" option. What this does is analyse your listening history, and gives you a Radio station based on that. My music taste isn't quite typical for someone my age, and, so far, I've heard nothing I don't like.

You should try it out, even the free part of the service is well worth checking out.

Google Play Music: https://play.google.com/about/music/‎

Quick App Review: Sliding Messaging Pro

There are any number of texting apps for Android, even without going into the alternative messaging services such as Viber, WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc. There are so many, that it's difficult to know where to start.

I've found the Sliding Messaging Pro app to be pretty damn close to ideal, for what I want in a texting app.

The User Interface (UI) is smooth, and there's a huge amount of customisation. Don't let the customisation freak you out though, it's great even with the default settings.

The developers are really helpful, and respond very quickly to any complaints or comments you may have. They're a great example of good devs.

There's one tiny issue with this app though. It's not free. On the other hand, you get a free 15 minute trial when you buy it, and if you don't like it, you can get your refund.

Well, that's my opinion on it. Feel free to comment.

Here's the link for the app, in case you're curious:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.klinker.android.messaging_donate&hl=en

Quick Review: Nexus 7 (2013)

I got this device shortly after it first came out, around mid-August. Having had over a month to get used to it, here are my opinions on it.

I, personally, love this thing. It's really light, the battery life's amazing, and the screen and performance are mind-blowing.

I mostly use it for reading, and the screen size and aspect ratio are perfectly suited for it. I also have a few games on it, although I don't play them too often. I've generally found the device gets a little hot while playing more graphics-intensive games like Real Racing 3. On the other hand, you can turn all the graphics settings up to 11, and it'll still play smooth as silk.

I'm not going to use benchmarks for these kinds of reviews, I've always found that they have very little in common with real-world performance. I've yet to find any situation where the tablet gets bogged down in processes, although I have had a few "deadlocks". These are where the tablet completely stops responding for a few seconds. This, unfortunately, is an issue with the Android firmware on the device, and we'll have to wait for Google to get around to fixing it.

Speaking of the firmware, the Nexus 7 comes with the latest version of Android (4.3), pushed directly by Google. This device being a Nexus means that you're guaranteed to be on the latest firmware within a month of it being released. While this does mean that you lose out on a lot of the gimmicks and features pushed by other manufacturers, the overall experience on the device is way smoother and faster because of the lightweight firmware. Additionally, because this device is a Nexus, there's a huge amount of aftermarket firmware you can download onto it, giving you loads of features, if you want them. Thanks to this, your device will be supported for a very long time, even after Google drops support.

My only issue, and it's a really small one, is that the bezel on the sides of the device when you hold it in portrait are very small. There's nowhere to put your thumb if you hold it by the side in one hand. You get used to it though.

Right, that's my (not so) quick review of the Nexus 7 (2013). I completely recommend it to anyone in the market for a small tablet.

Final score: 4.5/5