How to Totally Maximize the Battery Life of Your Samsung Galaxy S4

The battery in the Samsung Galaxy S4 may pack 500 more milliamps per hour than the old S3 battery, but that doesn't necessarily mean more battery life.

High-powered devices need lots of juice, and the S4 is definitely more powerful than its predecessor. The new battery can handle a third more in standby days, and over twice as much in talk time hours. But, when you live on your phone all day long, that means nothing. You're battery is still going to have a hard time keeping up with you.

However, like any mobile device, there are things you can do to prevent battery drain. Use the tips below to obtain the best battery life possible and squeeze every minute out of your Samsung Galaxy S4.

Adjust Brightness

Use the brightness slider to adjust levels, or set it to auto.

For the best battery life, keep the levels at half or below, and increase only when you need it, like in direct sunlight.

Power Saving Mode

The GS4 comes with a great Power Saving feature. To access it, go to Settings -> My Device and press on "Power Saving Mode", or simply long-press the "Power Saving" toggle on your notification bar.

As you can see, there are three aspects to Power Saving:CPU, Screen, and Haptic feedback.

If you click on "Learn about Power saving mode," you also see some of the most basic tips for saving power. Some mentioned are:

• Set a small interval for screen timeouts and turn the screen off when it's not needed.
• Keep Bluetooth and GPS off when they aren't needed.
• Avoid Live Wallpapers and/or use dark wallpapers.
• Turn off Auto sync.

Use Wi-Fi as Much as Possible

Wi-Fi will always consume much less battery than a cell signal, so whenever you have the option, it should be your preferred connection. You can always be aware if there is Wi-Fi around by enabling "Network notification".

Turn Off "Smart" Features

Many of the features that set this phone apart and really make it unique can strain the battery. All the following can be found in Settings -> My Device.

Smart screen

This may be one of the coolest features on the device because it's based on tracking your eye movements. Seems like something pulled right out of a sci-fi movie. The problem is, the eye tracking is accomplished by using the front-facing camera (FFC). This means that with these features enabled, your FFC is always active, and always draining your battery.

Voice control

Voice controls are convenient...you can wake the device, take pictures, and launch S Voice. At the same time, the device is constantly listening for your voice, and that's draining your battery.

These simple yet effective tips will help you get the most out of your new device. Have any more tips? Share them with us at the forums or comment below.

How to Make the Stock Weather Widget Transparent on Your Samsung Galaxy S4

The stock weather widget preloaded on your Samsung Galaxy S4 is really great, but there's one thing that's missing—options. The weather widget shows just the right amount of information at a glance, and it's not too shabby looking either, but for us softModders, it'd be really nice to have more options.

Well, today I'm going to provide you with a couple. Interestingly enough, this is a topic I first covered on the Samsung Galaxy S3.

How to Get Transparent Weather Widgets

Android dev and themer Jon Ciepiela (aka reverepats) has created two variations to the stock AccuWeather widget on the GS4—a 70% transparentand 100% transparent one.

Best of all, Installing these mods on our Galaxy S4s is super easy.

Simply download the style you want (70% or 100%) onto your GS4, move the file to your internal SD card, and flash in recovery (no need to wipe anything, the install script will handle all of that for you).

That's all there is to it.

How to Revert Back to the Stock Weather Widget

If you want to revert back to the original widget, simply flash the restore filein recovery mode like you did with one of the mods above.

Comment below if you have any questions on this, or head to the forum if you have any other problems on your GS4.

How to Fix the Home Button Lag on Your Samsung Galaxy S4

Your new Samsung Galaxy S4 is fast, but it can definitely be faster. One issue that carried over from the Samsung Galaxy S3 is Home button lag. Instead of it being an instantaneous response, it takes a split second for the action to take place—and a split second is enough to irritate the best of us.

The culprit here is S Voice.

The built-in voice assistant is great, but whether or not you use it, one of its features remains persistent—its strenuous use of the Home button—where you double-tap Home to activate it.

This means that, no matter what, every time you hit the Home button, your GS4 is waiting for a second press to see if it needs to launch S Voice.

That's great and all, but maybe you use gestures to launch it, or maybe you don't want to use S Voice at all. In these cases, that extra second lag can become extremely annoying.

Disable Your GS4 Home Button Lag!

A quick trip to S Voice settings is all that is needed, which is much less painless than what was needed for the S3.

Open up the S Voice app, hit the Menu button (the one to the left of the Home button), and tap on "Settings".

Simply uncheck "Open Via Home Key".

Bam, that's it!

Now, if you want to launch S Voice, you can go straight to the app, use a widget, or if you use a custom launch like Apex or Nova, you can set a gesture.

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Galaxy Note 3 Processor Rumors Take Another Twist

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 could potentially have a new version of Samsung’s Exynos 5 processor line with an unknown Exynos 5420 making an appearance in a kernel listing, a sign that it could be under development at Samsung.

Samsung’s upcoming Galaxy Note 2 successor, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, has managed to leak out in copious amounts of rumors over the past few months. In fact, yesterday, the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 emerged from the shadows in a leak that showcased many of its likely specifications including a 5.99-inch 1080p display and a slimmer design.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 could feature a Exynos 5 processor.

One of the deeper mysteries that remains, in regards to the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, is its processor, which has been rumored to be several things including the Exynos 5 Octa processor also known as the Exynos 5410 and the Qualcomm Snapdragon 800, a processor that debuted with the Exynos 5 Octa at CES 2013 in Las Vegas.

Another potential Galaxy Note 3 processor has been thrown into the hat today as the generally reliable Japanese-language site RBMen has discovered a reference to a new, unknown Samsung processor, inside of a kernel listing.

The listing suggests that a processor called the Exynos 5420 is in development, which judging by the model number, points to a successor to the Exynos 5 Octa processor that is inside the Samsung Galaxy S4 right now. It’s unclear just what this new processor might bring to the table but companies are always working to increase battery life while also increasing performance.

As we know, the Samsung Galaxy Note series is a powerful stable of devices with large displays, lots of unique software and more. So, it could be that Samsung is preparing this new and improved Exynos processor for the Galaxy Note 3, a device that is looking extremely powerful, at least on paper.

Rumors thus far have not pointed to a Exynos 5420 but they have pointed to a Exynos 5 Octa so while this should be taken with a grain of salt, it would not be surprising to see a new version of the Exynos 5 Octa CPU inside the Galaxy Note 3.

Samsung isn’t expected to announce the Galaxy Note 3 until later this year with September and IFA the likely candidates for launch.

Android in May 2013

While Jelly Bean and ICS combine for almost 60% of the Android landscape, it's still Android 2.3 Gingerbread that accounts for roughly 36.4% of all Android handsets used in May.

While the gap between Jelly Bean and Gingerbread has narrowed over the last month (4.6 percent point increase and 2 percent point decrease, respectively), it's clear that Gingerbread devices will be around for quite a while. Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich has gone down by close to 2 percent point as well, likely losing some of its share to Android Jelly Bean upgrades - a trend which should continue in the coming months.

It's important to note that starting last month, Android usage calculations are based on the number of devices which manually access the Google Play store, rather than background activations through the Google servers, which arguably is a more accurate reflection of the Android landscape.

Source

New inbox comes to Google's official Gmail app for iPhone, iPad

The new Gmail for iOS is now available as a free download in the App Store. Version 2.3.14159 is 13.7 megabytes, and requires iOS 5.0 or later.

The new notification options promise to alert users to all messages, only important messages, or none at all on an account-specific basis. Users can customize these settings from the in-app settings page.

And the new inbox, when enabled, groups mail into categories, allowing users to see what's new at a glance and more easily decide which emails to read.

The updated application shows primary mail first, while emails in other categories can be viewed by opening the menu. Users can configure this feature by accessing gmail.com on a traditional computer.

The updated Gmail inbox layout was brought to iOS devices via the Safari Web browser last week. The new tabbed interface was first unveiled by Google at its annual developers I/O conference last month.

McAfee: Hackers increasingly targeting Android devices

Cyber criminals are targeting everything from social networking sites to desktop machines, mobile devices and in some rare cases, medical equipment.

But more and more, Android is gaining focus in the hacker's eyes.

According to the latest McAfee Threat Report [PDF], which covers the first quarter of 2013, malware on the Google developed mobile platform surged by more than 30 percent in the first three months of the year. Mobile attacks remained on course to surpass 2012's total numbers. 

Total mobile malware samples in the database (Image: McAfee)

According to the antivirus firm, mobile malware has also spread to booming smartphone economies, such as South Korea and India, the latter where there will be approximately 67 million smartphone subscribers in the country by the end of this year. This represents around 6 percent of the total Indian population. 

Overall, there are just shy of 51,000 new malicious attacks in McAfee's database of mobile malware samples for the first month. But, this is down slightly from the last three months of 2012. This is compared to just 792 samples in all of 2011.

Android takes the largest slice of the mobile malware by platform pie. Symbian was next with low single-digits percent, followed by Java, which by now is almost non-existent. Other platforms, such as BlackBerry and iOS, didn't even register.

New Android malware (Image: McAfee)

McAfee said the threats of Android-based mobile commercial spyware and adware was declining, with many spyware and targeted attacks becoming more prominent. The increase in botnets is also clear, the company warns, reiterating comments made earlier this year when it warned that the more developed nations and regions are becoming a hotbed of activity.

Talking about targeted Trojans, the report reads: "As late as the end of last year, it was possible to say that the majority of mobile attacks were located in Russia and China. This quarter, however, we have seen criminals expand their activities to other parts of the world."

Many appear to be directly targeting activists, McAfee warns.

Also in the report, PCs remain the most targeted vector for hackers and attacks. McAfee reports a total of 128 million samples in its database.

Social networks are also being targeted, such as Facebook and Twitter, in order to trick friends and associates into installing malicious code. McAfee reported a "significant" spike in the Koobface work during the first quarter.

Apple Campus 2 report predicts more jobs coming to Cupertino

It’s not exactly easy to build a new structure in cities, and not even all the money in the world will speed up the process. An environmental impact report is a necessary step in the that process, and Apple published theirs today detailing Campus 2 and the impact that the new campus will have on the city of Cupertino.

Apple notes in the report that Campus 2 will allow the company to hire 7,400 more Apple employees in Cupertino, which will bring the total number of employees up to 24,000 in the city itself. Along with more employees in Apple’s Campus 2, the construction of the new building is expected to create 9,200 full-time “high quality, high wage” construction jobs.

Apple also expects the base salary to increase to $2.9 billion once the new campus is completed. Previously, Apple’s base salary was $2 billion in 2012. The report also details investments being made in public improvements surrounding Apple’s new campus, including infrastructure, utility improvements, and the company’s transportation program.

We also got to see a nifty map of the new campus geographically compared to Apple’s current campus. No real surprises here, but we get to see just how much bigger this new campus will be compared to the current location at 1 Infinity Loop. Granted, most of that land will be trees and such, but when looking at it overall, it’s quite a step up from the current campus.

Overall, the report is 82 pages long, it mostly includes details that you and I probably don’t care about for the most part. Of course, though, you’re more than welcome to read through it in its entirety if you need some weekend reading. Apple’s Campus 2 is expected to be complete in 2016, so we still have awhile before the “spaceship” lands, so to speak.

Apple patents curved battery: space saving for iWatch

Now that Tim Cook has effectively paved the way – without saying so – for Apple to create wearable devices in the near or distant future, the appearance of a so-called “curved battery” in the US Patent office isn’t all that much of a surprise. While it’s not a guarantee of any bit or piece of technology using this battery any time soon – Apple often patents technology without using it, ever – it does open some rather interesting miniature doors of possibility.

With the patent – awarded this week, filed this January – Apple describes a system in which “a curve is formed” on a battery on one or two ends of a battery during the manufacturing process. From here, the battery can be used in a variety of ways not currently possible with modern “flat” designs.

NOTE: The concept image above comes from ADR Studio, and is not based on real, working technology today – but it could be some day soon!

Apple’s curved battery will be used “to facilitate efficient use of space”, as they so eloquently put it. This could mean anything, of course, not necessarily just lending steam to the idea that a watch will be using the technology first – or ever. While battery technology has not had a whole heck of a lot of advancement in the recent past, this is one of the few ways in which mobile devices will be able to move forward hardware-wise.

While most battery innovation exists outside of the battery itself – optimizing the device’s mobile processor, for example, Apple’s suggestion is that the construction of the battery and its casing could have an effect on the amount of space it takes up and how it could fit inside a device in a variety of ways.

“The battery cell includes a set of layers including a cathode with an active coating, a separator and an anode with an active coating. The battery cell also includes a pouch enclosing the layers, wherein the pouch is flexible. The layers may be wound to create a jelly roll prior to sealing the layers in the flexible pouch.” – Apple Patent Application

Does this mean we’ll have bendy displays in the iPhone 5S? Probably not. Does it mean Apple will be able to create squishy batteries in the near future? That’s a little bit more likely, but also probably not. As with most Apple patent applications, we’ll just have to wait and see.

VIA: Mashable
SOURCE: USPTO

Zombie Master World War review (iPhone)

Zombie games may be fashionable of late but when done right they sure can be a lot of fun. Zombie Master World War is more than just a blood-splattering shoot 'em up - it's a deep, varied and complex game that, considering it's free to download, has a lot to shout about.

Zombie Master World War

FORMAT

iOS | Android

PRICE

£Free

WHERE

iTunes / Google Play

In the future, you guessed it, there are zombies everywhere. Good job that there are armies out there to fight off the undead then. That's exactly what Zombie Master World War is all about - you play the lead in not only shooting (almost) everything that moves but also building up an army to maintain your defence.

The bulk of the game is a third person shooter, but there are 45 game sectors, each of which can be built upon and need to be maintained and defended. It's this creation aspect of the game which brings in the management side - you'll need to be frugal with money, create the right forces and buildings and be ready to go back in and defend at a moment's notice when the zombie threat gets too high. A bit Command And Conquer in some respects.

800HP of utter madness

As monstrously over-the-top supercars go, anything from Italian marque Pagani is going to pretty much count, but seldom do they get quite as extreme as the new Zonda Revolucion. Revealed this week, the carbon fiber beast is probably about as close to an F1 car as most (obscenely rich) people could afford, borrowing liberally from performance motor-racing to deliver on the promise of its €2.2m ($2.9m) price tag.

So, you get a carbon-titanium monocoque chassis to keep weight down and strength up, and to that Pagani bolts an AMG Mercedes powerplant, specifically a 6.0-liter V12. That’s the same core engine as in the “regular” Zonda R, but here Pagani’s engineers have given it a quick fettling so that it pushes out 800HP and 730 Nm of torque.

A total of 748 HP per ton gets squirted through a 6-speed sequential gearbox, which can shift between cogs in 20ms. Bosch supplies the special traction control system and ABS, which has 12 different settings to suit the driver.

Although from the outside it may look like Pagani took the normal car and then slapped a huge spoiler on it and some front whiskers, in actual fact they’re mighty important if you want to keep on the road. So, there are new deflectors for the bonnet that work with a vertical stabilizer at the rear and a driver-adjustable drag-reduction system integrated into the wing; a button on the steering wheel flicks between modes, or if you hold it down the computer kicks in and adjusts it automatically.

Brembo brakes have been on a diet and shed 15-percent of their weight compared to last time around, and they’re stiffer and more resilient to extremes of temperature, Pagani says, too. As well as making a difference on the track, it should have an effect on the owner’s wallet, too, as Pagani claims they’ll also last four times as long.

As you may have guessed, Pagani’s new Zonda Revolucion is targeted at track day use, not for out on the road; free of those practical considerations, it’s the fastest car in the company’s range. On sale now, though we doubt many would be able to afford it.

Beautiful iOS 7 Concept Teases a Better Music App

In less than a week Apple will show off the future of iOS, which will likely bring the iOS 7 name and a new look to the iPhone and rumored iPhone 5S.

Apple is reportedly refreshing the look of iOS 7in small ways and is reportedly updating apps to offer a better overall experience. While we won’t know what Apple has in store until next Monday, a new iOS 7 concept shows a great looking iOS 7 Music app that would look at home on the iPhone 5 and rumored iPhone 5S.

Brye Kobayashi shares a collection of iOS 7 concept images showing a flatter music app that offers more than just a facelift. This iOS 7 music app is designed from the ground up top deliver a better user experience when searching for music on your phone and listening to music. We would certainly not be disappointed if Apple rolled out a similar looking IOS 7 music app next week.

A new iOS 7 Music app concept appears ahead of WWDC 2013.

This iOS 7 Music app concept includes a flat look, but it is not an extreme one. Kobayashi explains his choices saying, “We just need to find the balance between Metro and Skeutomorphic.” He’s talking about the flat look of Windows 8 (Metro) and the real-world inspired touches found in many apps in iOS (Skeutomorphic). Let’s take a look at how this could come to life.

The most appealing part of this iOS 7 concept is the focus on usability, with faster access to the information most users want to see in a Music app and easier controls. At the top of the iOS 7 Music app concept we see the song that is now playing and users can pull down from here to see album tracks. The new top row offers fast access to common settings and the EQ. Users can also scrub to a further point easier with a larger progress indicator.

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This iOS 7 Music app concept offers faster access to common options.

The playback controls at the bottom of the app are now larger for easier touch. The volume slider no longer looks like an aluminum knob yanked from a home theater deck.

The visual style of the iOS 7 Music app concept includes faster access to playlists and alternate views, with a Spotify like menus slider. One annoyance with many iPhone music apps is the number of taps it takes to switch from one playlist to another. On top of the new menu access there is an album view mode that puts cover art front and center.

This iOS 7 concept focuses on the music app and offers the Up Next feature from iTunes.

iTunes 11 brought an Up Next feature that allows users to see what tracks will play next and to create an on-the-fly playlist by adding songs to the Up Next queue. This vision of iOS 7 adds an Up Next feature to the iPhone, where it would arguably see more use.

Apple will take the stage at WWDC 2013 on June 10th to show off the future of iOS. We expect to see iOS 7 and several new features for the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch at this software focused event.