Our Favorite Android, iOS and Windows Phone Apps of the Week

If you celebrated Thanksgiving yesterday, no doubt you're feeling a little overstuffed and loaded down today. Give your smartphone the same feeling by downloading some sweet new apps. And since today is Brown Friday, these apps will give you something to do while you're warming up the royal throne.

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Multi-Platform Updates

Showtime Anytime

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Newly revamped for Android and iOS, Showtime Anytime lets subscribers on most of the big cable networks watch unlimited Showtime on-demand programming on any device. Even better, the free app lets you watch live Showtime programming on either East or West Coast schedule. [Android] [iOS]

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Android

Amazon

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Amazon's shopping app now lets you browse any of Amazon's worldwide sites. With a barcode scanner that lets you sneakily compare prices between Amazon and your brick-and-mortar store, easy in-app purchasing, and even a button to call Amazon's customer service hotline, this app brings the Everything Store right to your pocket. [Free]

Duolingo

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Knowledge should be free, right? Duolingo sticks to that ideal with a cost-free and ad-free language learning tool that's just been completely revamped. Teaching you Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Italian and English in a fun, game-based way, the newest app has smoother graphics and, at 5MB, takes up 1/3rd the space of the old version. [Free]

SidePlayer

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If you're on a device that hasn't gotten Android 4.4 KitKat just yet, you probably can't swipe your audio controls into a fullscreen game or app. SidePlayer gives you an easy-to-access toolbar to adjust volume, pause or change tracks on a variety of music players. Upgrade to the Pro Version for $1.75 t0 unlock custom positioning and animation. [Free]

Doctor Who: Legacy

 

Hot on the heels of the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary special, this adventure game lets you pick your favorite Doctor, companions and allies to fight enemies from episodes spanning all 50 years. Tiny Rebel Games promises daily character and episode updates through December, so hop in your TARDIS and start adventuring! [Free]

iOS

TimeShutter

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Time lapses are a ton of fun, but the best ones are the most painstakingly crafted labors of love. TimeShutter makes it easy with tools to help you align, crop and overlay frames with a few finger swipes. You can even export the final product in video or GIF format, so nobody will be without your time-bending genius. [Free]

Reeder 2

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Reeder's handy client for newsfeeds including Feedbin, Feedly and Readability updates with new themes, an expanded list of sharing services and smoother, cleaner navigation. With new ways to sort subscriptions and the ability to work with your Safari Reading List, Reeder makes sure you'll never be without something interesting to read. [$5]

Tweetbot 3

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Beloved among diehard tweeters, Tweetbot updated this week with a new Night Theme that manually or automatically switches for low light reading. Version 3.2 also brings easy, single-swipe account switching for those with multiple Twitter personalities, and the iOS 7 design looks as good as ever. [$3]

Yonder

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Sort of like Yelp for outdoor adventuring, Yonder helps you find great places to hike, kayak, camp, mountain bike and more, with geolocated images and videos chronicling over 20,000 destinations worldwide. The complete iOS 7 redesign gives slick, streamlined design, and the social side lets you follow the activities of fellow outdoor enthusiasts and shares directly to Facebook and Twitter. [Free]

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Windows Phone

6snap

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This sharp looking Snapchat app for WP does all the things you expect from Snapchat, sending self-destructing pics and videos to friends and letting you build a storyline. It also adds a fun live tile to your screen, and takes great advantage of Windows Phone's photo muscle. [Free]

Super 8

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The Start menu is a hallmark Windows feature, and Super 8 brings it to your Windows Phone. When you've got quick one-touch access to your apps, tools and settings, you'll spend less time swiping around your live tiles and more time doing whatever else it is you do with your phone. [Free]

Lockmix

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Lockmix brings livetile-style widget buttons to your lock screen. You can arrange, resize and configure the widgets the same way you do on your start screen, and they'll automatically update with new info. With an ever-expanding list of widgets, you can customize your lock screen to your heart's content. [Free]

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Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas coming to Android, iOS and Windows Phone in December

If Grand Theft Auto V left you eager to spend more time in Los Santos, you'll be glad to hear that Rockstar Games is porting Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas to mobile devices. Android, iOS and Windows Phone users will get to relive Carl Johnson's early '90s gangster saga this December, with more detailed graphics and touch-optimized controls coming to all platforms. Gamers will also get full controller support, including Made for iOS devices if you're using iOS 7. Rockstar isn't providing release dates and prices just yet, although the imminent launch suggests that we'll get more details in short order.

Source: Rockstar Games

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WP to put pressure on iOS in enterprise market

ABI Research has issued a report on the Windows Phone and Apple iOS shares in the enterprise market and their foreseeable future. According to that report Windows Phone's share will grow a lot because of the iOS 7 failure to deliver improved enterprise features.
Apple's iOS is a huge player in the consumer market, there is no denying that. Windows Phone however is young, inexperienced and still growing. Yet WP8 turned out to be the fastest growing platform in Q3, which helped it extend its global market share significantly. And the larger amount of users, the bigger interest from the enterprise sector.
As it turns out the Windows Phone adoption rate in Europe has never been stronger and the platform is expanding its popularity. ABI Reseach expect Apple to keep its 18% market share by 2018, while Microsoft's Windows Phone should climb up to 6%. These number are for the mass market only though.

The analysis report suggest Microsoft will win a huge piece of the enterprise market because of the failure of iOS 7 to bring better enterprise features and the increased interest of the consumers to Windows Phone. Even though iOS 7 brought new enterprise functions, it seems those were just not enough to make the business stick with the iOS.
So, this is a huge chance for Microsoft to win those business users on its side and the company will most probably make the best of it, at least according to ABI Research.
Only time will tell if the report actually has some truth to it or if it's another case of analysts speculating about a subject they have little knowledge of.
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Nokia Lumia 1520 review: the best Windows Phone device yet

Windows Phone has never looked this good. The latest update to Microsoft's mobile operating system, known as Update 3, added support for 1080p displays, large smartphone screens and state-of-the-art processors. And now, these features are finally showing up on actual hardware. The first device to tick off all these boxes is the Nokia Lumia 1520, a 6-inch flagship with all of the trimmings we've been waiting to see on a Windows Phone device for three years now.
Because high-end Windows Phones have been limited to whatever specs Microsoft officially supports, we've felt that Nokia's flagships didn't differ enough in specs from the lowest-end Lumias to justify the enormous price difference. At least, they didn't until now. The Lumia 1520 is the first top-of-the-line Windows Phone device that brings the best possible components. So, what's WP8 like on hardware that isn't behind the times? Let's find out.

Hardware

The design language of the Nokia Lumia series has changed little since the introduction of the first device, the Lumia 800, more than two years ago. The 1520 has the same type of build as most other Lumia flagships (one exception being the 925), which is to say it's fashioned out of unibody polycarbonate plastic. Just like many of its predecessors, it's an incredibly solid device, and that's even more important with the 1520 than with earlier models.
Why? Because it's a 6-inch beast of a phone, and if you're not careful, you might drop it. At 162.8 x 85.4 x 8.7mm, it's thinner than the 5.9-inch HTC One Max, which makes the 1520 a bit more comfortable to hold. Still, it's wider, taller and a hair thicker than the 5.7-inch Galaxy Note 3 -- not to mention heavier, at 7.27 ounces (206g). Thanks to the 1520's thin, curved sides, you can get a decent grip on the phone simply by wrapping your fingers around the device, but this has an unfortunate side effect. Whereas the Lumia 1020 has rounded edges, the 1520's sides are sharper, making it difficult for the tips of your fingers to actually rest comfortably on them. This is especially troublesome when you're trying to take pictures with the 1520 and you feel like you have nothing to grip when you want a more stable shot.

Our review unit was a white AT&T model, but you can also get it in black, yellow or red. With the exception of the glossy red version, the Lumia 1520 sports a matte finish quite similar to the white Nexus 5. It's smooth on the back and sides and doesn't involve any special material or texture. Again, this is nothing new for Nokia's Lumia phones, but it feels a bit more slippery here because it's less comfortable to hold.
Taking a look at the back of the phone, you'll see the 20-megapixel rear camera atop a hump that looks precisely like the one on the Lumia 925. Above that is a dual-LED flash module and multiple mics. A speaker grille and three silver pogo pins are on the bottom of the back, the latter of which will come in handy for the optional wireless charging cover that you'll be able to buy separately.

Before moving on, let's double back to one particular hardware feature that hasn't received much attention: the multiple mics located just above the camera on the back of the 1520. Nokia's included four microphones for directional stereo recordings. The idea here is to do a better job of capturing sound coming from objects in front of your camera -- people, pets, perhaps a band at a concert -- while rejecting noises picked up from other directions. We'll discuss more about how it fares in the section on video performance.
On the left side, you'll find a microSD reader, supporting cards up to 64GB, as well as a nano-SIM slot (this SIM is the same size as the Moto X and iPhone 5/5s, so it's smaller than the standard). To the right is the Lumia-standard trio of volume, power and two-stage camera shutter buttons, all of which are difficult to press because they're nearly flush with the phone's body. There's also a 3.5mm headphone jack on top and a micro-USB port on the bottom.

Now, onto the front. The usual suite of capacitive Windows Phone navigation keys lines the bottom, while an earpiece, front-facing camera and carrier logo (AT&T in this case) sit up top. From a distance, the glass appears to be draped over the display so that there's no interruption between it and the rest of the phone's body, but upon closer inspection you'll see that there's a small gap between the glass and the polycarbonate.
The gap itself isn't such a big deal, but something else about the glass gave us pause: It's fitted with Gorilla Glass 2, the version of Corning's scratch-resistant glass that came out last year. The Lumia 1020, on the other hand, uses Gorilla Glass 3, which does a considerably better job protecting the screen. While this won't be a dealbreaker for most, we've already noticed various scratches on the corners and edges of the screen, and that's after just a few days of use. Basically, this means that you'll want to avoid putting the device in your pocket or purse alongside pointy items.
At the time of this writing, the Lumia 1520 has only been announced on one US carrier, but it's widely available in other parts of the world. There are three different model numbers, each offering compatibility with different networks. Each variant has quad-band GSM/EDGE (850/900/1800/1900) and at least four HSPA+ bands (850/900/1900/2100), but AT&T's model (the RM-938) comes with a fifth band for AWS, technically making it compatible with T-Mobile's HSPA+ network. Only two of the models come with LTE: the RM-937, which features compatibility with five bands (800/900/1800/2100/2600), and the RM-938, which offers support for a different set of five bands (2, 4, 5, 7, 17). Those mainly serve AT&T and T-Mobile in the US. (Update: We didn't clearly state another pair of differences on the AT&T version versus the global units. The AT&T option only comes with 16GB internal storage and wireless charging requires an optional cover, whereas the global models are 32GB and have the capability built-in.)

Display

High-resolution smartphone displays come a dime a dozen, but this is unchartered territory for Windows Phone devices. Nokia's recent flagships have featured beautiful ClearBlack screens, so we were excited to see that the Lumia 1520 brings a similar panel, just one with more pixels. The Lumia 1520 sports a 6-inch ClearBlack IPS LCD screen with a resolution of 1,920 x 1,080, which means you're looking at a pixel density of 368 pixels per inch. The 1520 still isn't quite as pixel-dense as the Galaxy Note 3, which offers the same resolution in a screen that's 0.3 inch smaller, but let's focus on the actual quality rather than minuscule differences in pixel density.
To cut straight to the point, we love the 1520's display. It offers vibrant colors for an LCD and has brighter whites than the AMOLED panel on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, although its darker shades aren't quite as deep. The viewing angles are better than on almost every other phone. In fact, even if we weren't impressed by anything else on the display, we'd still rave about how easy it is to ready in direct sunlight.
Still, what if your eyes have completely different color preferences from ours? Perhaps you're a fan of warmer displays and hold colder ones in complete disdain, or maybe you simply can't stand colors so saturated that they look cartoony. It's cases like these where the high-end Lumias come with a competitive advantage: You can actually adjust the color profile yourself by changing both the temperature and saturation. As it happens, we rarely felt the need to make any adjustments, but it's worth noting there aren't many smartphones offering this option. As an aside, the 1520's capacitive touchscreen is also sensitive enough that you can use it with gloves on, but this has been included on the last few Lumias and is nothing new with the 1520.

Software

With each new generation of Windows Phone, the OS becomes more and more enticing. An increasing number of major developers are now starting to give WP8 a closer look, and as a result, the ecosystem is starting to feel more mature. Companies that were once hesitant to pour resources into Microsoft's OS are now jumping on board: Pandora, Instagram, Vine, Path, Tumblr and many other heavy hitters now either have apps in the Windows Phone Store or have at least committed to releasing something in the near future.
In addition to offering support for 1080p displays, larger smartphone screens and Snapdragon 800 chipsets, the third update to Windows Phone 8 came with a few software enhancements as well. Included in the list of new features is Driving Mode, which keeps distractions to a minimum while you're on the road. The update also brings the ability to lock screen orientation, as well as assign ringtones to text messages and other notifications. You can also tap on an open app in the app switcher to get rid of programs running in the background.
As a way of doing its part to grow the Windows Phone ecosystem, Nokia bundles together its own software and firmware updates alongside Microsoft's and then rolls them out to several Lumia models. (Nokia's Amber update, for instance, was first seen on the Lumia 1020 earlier this summer and rolled out to other Lumias afterward.) The latest package, which comes pre-installed on the Lumia 1520, is called the Black update.
What's unique about this particular refresh? It builds on the Amber update with several new features, many of which can be found on the Glance screen. As you may recall, this screen lets users check the time when the display is turned off, but that's about it. With Black, you'll now have access to the same notifications that are found on the lock screen, as well as custom text and calendar info, pedometer support and red, green and blue color options while the screen is in Night mode. The new hues are extremely subtle so they shouldn't be distracting (that would, of course, defeat the purpose of Night mode).
Outside of Glance, Black also delivers a few more imaging features, including the Refocus Lens, support for the RAW picture format in the 1020 and 1520 and a few new camera algorithms for tone mapping and noise reduction on the 1020. But wait, there's more: The Black update also ensures that all Lumia devices can get the new Nokia Camera, which combines the Pro Cam and Smart Cam apps. We'll go into much more detail on these new imaging features in the next section.

Finally, the update also brings support for Bluetooth 4.0 LE -- a feature that's becoming increasingly common in fitness trackers like the Nike FuelBand SE and the Jawbone Up24. Additionally, the update adds another new app called Nokia Beamer, which "beams" multimedia from your phone to your TV, laptop or other smartphones. It's not a new concept in the mobile world, but we'll happily welcome more opportunities to share stuff to other devices.
Another new feature is Storyteller, which is being introduced on both the 1520 and the 2520. Basically it's a clever interface that takes your geotagged photos and lets you group them into collections called "stories." If you like, you can group them by location, date or event -- it's up to you how to present them. Additionally, you can split stories up, merge them together or separate each individual photo. It's a nice feature, but it's nothing more than a fancy photo album viewer that may confuse users who are accustomed to the standard Windows Phone viewer.

One positive side effect of using a Windows Phone with such a large screen is a much more pleasant typing experience. It's true that we've been spoiled over the last couple of years by fancy third-party Android keyboards capable of swipe gestures and word predictions, but we've always enjoyed the Windows Phone keyboard thanks to its ease of use, larger keys and smart autocorrection. On a 6-inch display, that same keyboard is even easier to type on -- provided you're willing to use both of your hands. Additionally, we noticed that one-handed use is a little easier on a large Windows Phone than an Android device of the same size, and it's primarily because Live Tiles can be so much larger than your typical Android app icon.
In many ways, Microsoft's original mantra of "Glance and Go" is even easier on a 6-inch display, thanks to an extra column of medium-sized Live Tiles on the right side. On smaller screens, we sometimes worry that the largest Live Tiles will take up too much of the available real estate, but that's not the case on a panel this big. There's plenty of room to customize the screen as you see fit, but we can think of at least one downside: A few screens, such as the app switcher or application list, don't take advantage of the extra space afforded to them on larger displays. In those specific cases, then, a smaller display actually feels more ideal.
Outside of what Nokia has added on the software side, Windows Phone feels the same as it ever did. The ecosystem is getting much more exciting, but otherwise any issues you may have had with WP8 devices won't magically go away with Update 3. (One such complaint is the lack of a robust notification center, but we recognize that many users' needs are met with Live Tiles and toast notifications.)

Camera

The Nokia Lumia 1020 made waves with its 41-megapixel camera, which featured some new imaging technologies that even put some point-and-shoots to shame. After such a fantastic introduction, what's the best way to follow up? Well, something tells us that the real follow-up to the 1020 is yet to come, as the 1520's shooter is actually a downgrade. But we can't really blame Nokia for this: It clearly had to cut some corners in order to make room for some of the 1520's other new features mentioned earlier, and if a 20-megapixel camera counts as "cutting corners," you know that Nokia's certainly doing something right.
We won't do another recap of how Nokia's PureView technology works -- we spent a considerable amount of time discussing the nitty-gritty details in our review of the Lumia 1020, so add that to your essential reading list -- but let's dig into what makes this particular version of the PureView special. Just like the 1020, the 1520 offers oversampling options, but due to the lower resolution, you'll get a high-res image taken at 19 megapixels along with a 5MP lower-res shot, which will come in handy for uploading your photos to Instagram, Facebook or whatever service you want. By the way, the higher-res image can also be taken in RAW format, which you can switch to in the settings (Nokia refers to it as DNG, or digital negative). Nokia also claims that since the 1020 came out, it's improved many of the imaging-capture algorithms involved in snapping shots.
The 1520's lens uses an aperture of f/2.4, compared to the 1020's f/2.2; it has a sensor size of 1/2.5 inch, which is significantly smaller than the 1020's 1/1.5; it features optical image stabilization (OIS) and offers a focal length of 26mm, which is the same on both. Finally, the 1520 matches the 1020 with a max ISO of 4000.

Nokia Camera and Refocus Lens

When we reviewed the Lumia 1020 this past summer, we noted that the new Nokia Pro Camera app was one of the best -- if not the best -- we've ever had the pleasure of using, but there was one thing missing: integration with its other clever imaging app, Nokia Smart Camera. A shame, since it offers cool options like action shot, eraser mode, best shot and motion blur. These were incredibly useful tools for imaging enthusiasts, but the fact that they were contained in a separate app felt inefficient. Fortunately, Nokia found a way to merge the two, and is calling the final product "Nokia Camera." To access the Smart Camera features, just slide up on the toggle switch to the right -- the one that previously only let you switch between video and photo mode. It's faster to use it this way, and you stand a much better chance of selecting the right type of picture you want to take in a split second.
The user interface is still mostly the same as it was on the 1020, but the row of icons on the top can be transformed into a much simpler "auto mode." This consists of two switches: one for the flash, and the other to change to sport mode and night mode (apparently the result of another algorithm Nokia is using to make for better low-light shots.
Nokia's added another lens to the phone, and this one's a doozy: It's called Refocus Lens, and in many respects, it's Nokia's answer to the Lytro, which can change a picture's depth of field after the fact. Press the shutter button and the Lens will take a few seconds to do its magic. Once it's ready to go, you can choose any part of the image and change the focus to the area you selected. We found that this feature works best when your picture includes a close-up object and another object in the distance. The color pop feature is also now included as part of this Lens, so keep that in mind if you plan to experiment with color. The Lens is a lot of fun to play with, but if you have a critical moment that needs to be captured in a short period of time, we wouldn't recommend going this route -- it's still a separate app for now.

Imaging Performance

An unmistakable advantage the PureView-branded Lumias have over any other smartphone is the large number of manual settings: ISO, shutter speed, white balance and exposure are among the options you can tweak to make the picture do what you want it to, rather than having it go the other way around. Sure, you're not going to get as many details in the 19-megapixel stills as you would in the 38MP images that were taken by the Lumia 1020, but what you get in the 1520 camera still far surpasses anything else on the market today. In other words, you may have to sacrifice just a small amount of the quality you can enjoy on the 1020, but we have a feeling it won't matter to the vast majority of users -- especially if you aren't trying to replace your point-and-shoot. The colors are mostly accurate, although we noticed that the white balance was sometimes off in dimmer shooting conditions. Depending on the angle, some pics taken in direct sunlight would look slightly washed out, but these kinds of things are easy enough to address by tinkering with the settings.
Lowlight performance is another area of intense focus for Nokia. Few other companies can match the latest PureView devices, with the 1520 being just the latest triumph. I was elated when I was able to take a Night Mode picture of my kids in a nearly pitch-black room and still easily pick them out. As expected, there's still a little bit of blur if you keep the shutter speed too low, and there's also more than enough noise to go around when you try to show off your latest triumph.

With video performance, you have a choice of either 1080p or 720p, and you can record those videos at 24, 25 or 30fps (the default setting is 1080p at 30fps). Moving objects look incredibly smooth in our test footage, which was recorded at a 19Mbps Bit rate. The movie-making experience was pretty much the same as on the Lumia 1020; the camera's optical image stabilization kept shakiness to a minimum, and the four directional mics made a rather large difference in audio clarity. In one sample, for instance, the mics couldn't pick up my voice very well because I was on the front side of the Lumia, but I could perfectly hear the song playing out of the speakers not too far away from where I was standing. As I panned away from the large speakers, though, I noticed that the sound from the same place suddenly became distant.

Performance and battery life

For a long time, Microsoft insisted that it didn't need to support the absolute fastest processors in order to provide a smooth Windows Phone experience -- especially since these more robust chips often put a dent in battery life. Indeed, when it came to everyday use, the company had a point. However, faster chipsets often make it possible to add new features that slower processors simply can't handle. These often include new opportunities for better image signal processors (obviously a big deal for Nokia), stereoscopic 3D, UHD video capture/playback, USB 3.0 and things like 802.11ac WiFi, which is now included on the 1520.
With the latest update, WP8 now supports faster chips like the quad-core Snapdragon 800, and Nokia didn't waste any time tossing it into the Lumia 1520. The silicon, which is also known as the MSM8974, comes with four Krait 400 cores clocked at 2.2GHz and a quad-core Adreno 330 GPU, and Nokia topped it off with 2GB of RAM. Indeed, this is the first time we've been able to say a Nokia flagship comes with the latest and greatest processor.
As much as we'd like to use the usual buzzwords like "buttery smooth," our first experience with Snapdragon 800 on a Windows Phone didn't prove to be that much better than what we've seen on an S4 Plus device like the Lumia 1020. In side-by-side comparisons with the 1020, the 1520 loaded programs only slightly faster (the one exception being the camera). Meanwhile, transitions, animations and everyday tasks all felt the same as ever. Two groups of people will likely have more to benefit from the Snapdragon 800 on Windows Phone than anyone else: there are those who want support for more functionality on the side, as we briefly discussed earlier, and improved gaming performance.
Of course, we're not saying that all the extra power is going to waste -- we're just not seeing as huge a difference as we were expecting. In contrast, Android devices running Snapdragon 800 are often exponentially improved over older devices, and you can usually tell the difference immediately. Our takeaway, then, is that Windows Phone was already quite efficient; Microsoft's done a great job ensuring lower-specced devices are able to run as well as the flagships.

	Nokia Lumia 1520	Nokia Lumia 1020	Nokia Lumia 925
WPBench	466	223	216
Battery rundown	3:30	2:12	3:55
SunSpider 1.0 (MS)	546	906.2	905.4
AnTuTu (*GPU test off)	25,148 (22,275*)	11,084 (9,874*)	11,819*
SunSpider: lower scores are better.

We only run a handful of benchmarks on Windows Phone, but you can certainly tell that Snapdragon 800 is killing it behind the scenes, even if we can't see it up front: The 1520 blows away any other Windows Phone that's ever seen the light of day. Nothing even comes close. What this tells us is that while you might not notice a huge difference on the day-to-day stuff, the most exciting benefits of Snapdragon 800 are still ahead of us.
New features like a quad-core processor and high-res display are fantastic additions to Windows Phone, but what kind of impact does it have on battery life? Runtime on the 1520's battery is about what we expected; this battery is one of the largest in a phone of its size, so our preconceived notions of its performance were admittedly pretty high. On our first full day of regular use, which included taking quite a few pictures, downloading a few apps, checking email and social media and a few other standard smartphone activities, the phone yielded around 12 hours of juice. This would be pretty good for most phones, but a power-efficient platform like Windows Phone should be able to squeeze even more life out of a 3,400mAh battery. On the second full day of regular use, however, its life appeared to bounce back after conducting countless photo sessions and other activities. By the end of that 13-hour day, we still had roughly 30 percent left. Because of the inconsistencies, we're conducting some additional tests. We'll continue to update this review as those results come in. (Update: the WPBench battery drain test merited a time of 3:30. This is just shy of the Lumia 925's time and significantly better than the 1020.)

The competition

The Lumia 1520 is coming out this Friday on AT&T, and will be available for $199 on a two-year contract (or $585 if you want to purchase it with no strings attached). This is the same on-contract price as the Lumia 1020, which is still a good option, especially if you're interested in getting a Windows Phone with a smaller screen or if you want the best possible imaging performance.
If size is of utmost importance, the only competition you'll find out there runs on Android. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3, which is available on all four major national networks, has a 5.7-inch display and is slightly smaller in every dimension, and you'll get to use the S Pen and Multi-window functionality. In our opinion, it's also more comfortable. There's also the HTC One Max, which measures 5.9 inches and features a fingerprint scanner, along with plenty of other nice features. If you're looking to go even more extreme, you might want to check out the Sony Xperia Z Ultra and Huawei Ascend Mate, but each one has a display even larger than the Lumia 1520's.

Wrap-up

So how does Nokia look when its flagship smartphone has all of the latest and greatest hardware? Pretty darn good. The Lumia 1520 has a beautiful 1080p display, fast Snapdragon 800 processor and some of Espoo's best imaging software to go along with a 20-megapixel camera. As soon as the 1520 was announced, we had a feeling this would be the best Windows Phone we've ever had the privilege of using -- and our time with the device has confirmed that.
Of course, there are going to be some people who don't want this big a screen. Fortunately for them, we strongly suspect Nokia will soon put a 1080p display on a more moderately sized screen. This brings us to perhaps an even more important point, which is the impact Nokia has had and will continue to have on Windows Phone itself: The ecosystem is growing like a weed, and now manufacturers can finally build devices with the best components. These two factors alone are helping Microsoft stay relevant in an increasingly tough market. Now we just have to wait and see how successful Windows Phone can be with the right tools.
Edgar Alvarez contributed to this review.

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First Nokia Refocus samples are interactive, impressive

Nokia is doing some very interesting things for mobile photography and I don’t just mean the PureView hardware – software like the recent Refocus app creates impressive results. You know how you can zoom in and reframe photos on the Lumia 1020 after the fact? Nokia Refocus lets you do that with focus.

Nokia published the first samples from Refocus that you can play with in your browser.
Easy sharing is vital – Samsung’s Sound & shot feature sounded interesting too, but even we were stumped when it came to sharing those shots. Good thing is Nokia made sure not to repeat that mistake and enabled posting of Refocus images on Facebook and embed them in web pages.
Anyway, here are the sample images for you to play with – just click anywhere and that part of the image will magically come into focus. You can also hit the button in the lower right corner to have the whole image in focus.




The all in focus option is interesting. While bokeh is a great way to simulate a large sensor camera, sometimes you want the whole image to be in focus, but you can’t do that, especially for close-ups.
The way refocus works is snap several photos, with the focus set between the closest and furthest settings. After processing, you get 8 images (so 8 possible focus points), plus an all in focus image. This does raise the question of how long it takes to snap all the necessary photos and process them, but with Snapdragon 800 already joining the WP8 fun this shouldn’t be an issue.
There’s also a color-pop that makes the image black and white except for the part that’s in focus. That doesn’t seem to work with the current web-based viewer though.
Nokia Refocus will be available for the flagship Lumia phones (920, 925, 928, 1020) and the Lumia 1520 phablet in the coming weeks.
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Asphalt 8: Airborne arrives on Windows Phone and Windows

Asphalt 8: Airborne, one of our favorite games of the year, has finally arrived to both Windows Phone and the Windows stores. Asphalt 8 is an arcade racing game that’s all about the adrenaline with ramps scattered across tracks that you can jump on. Forget about realism here, it’s about the fast-paced action and the game excels at that.

Asphalt 8 on Windows Phone costs $0.99 and on the Windows store it’s $1.99. Even though that’s a bit steeper than the now zero-dollar cost the game carries on iPhone, iPad and Android, it would still be money well spent.

Asphalt brings you the choice of 47 performance cars that most people can only dream owning in real life like the Lamborghini Veneno and Bugatti Veyron. The action happens in 9 exotic locations including Venice, Guiana and the Nevada desert.

To download the game, just hit the links right below.

• Asphalt 8: Airborne on Windows Phone

• Asphalt 8: Airborne on Windows store

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Android, Windows Phone grow in smartphone share, while iPhone drops

Android grew to 81% of all smartphones shipped globally in the third quarter, while Apple's iPhones slipped to 12.9% compared to 14.4% a year ago, according to IDC.

The latest data from IDC, released Tuesday, also notes that Windows Phone grew to 3.6% market share, an increase from 2% a year ago.
Part of Apple's decline in iPhone share can be attributed to not having a large-display smartphone to sell, while nearly all Android manufacturers have a phablet on sale that has a display larger than 5 inches, IDC said. Android's third-quarter market share of 81% was up from 74.9% a year ago.
Even Nokia, which made up 93.2% of all Windows Phone-powered smartphones shipped in the third quarter, is introducing two new Lumia phones with 6-in. displays. The Lumia 1520 will be sold by AT&T starting Nov. 22, and the Lumia 1320 will be sold outside the U.S. early next year.

Running on phones like the Nokia Lumia 1020 smartphone, the Windows Phone OS is picking up market share.

Phablets, with screens of 5 inches to 7-inches, made up 21% of the smartphone market in the third quarter, IDC said, up from just 3% a year ago.
"We believe the absence of a large-screen device may have contributed to Apple's inability to grow share in the third quarter," said Ryan Reith, an IDC analyst, in a statement.
"It would help for Apple to have a larger phone, since they are popular in some hot markets where Apple wants to be, including North America, Europe and China," said Ramon Llamas, another IDC analyst, in an interview. "When you put all things together, there's an opportunity that Apple's not in right now and that other vendors are offering, like Samsung and now Nokia."
Llamas said he's heard the many rumors that the next iPhone, coming in another year, will have either a 4.7-in. or 5.7-in. display. Apples's latest phones, the iPhone 5S and 5C, have 4-in. displays.
IDC also described the 156% increase in Windows Phone in the third quarter as "amazing" even though Windows Phone still makes up a small portion of the overall smartphone market. What's so impressive is that 3.7 million Windows Phone units shipped in the third quarter of 2012, but that figured jumped to 9.5 million smartphones in the third quarter this year.
Earlier this year, IDC said that Windows Phone would pass the 10% market share threshold by 2017. Whether that happens, however, will come down to how Microsoft addresses the future of Windows Phone and updates of the OS beyond the current Windows Phone 8.
Candidates for the job of Microsoft CEO reportedly include former Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, who might put a greater emphasis on Windows Phone over other products such as the Bing search engine or the Xbox. Microsoft is in the process of purchasing Nokia.
"There's a lot in flux with Windows Phone and getting a new CEO at Microsoft," Llamas said. "If Elop's picked, Windows Phone will be near and dear to his strategy, but if it's somebody else not tied to Nokia, then that person may have a different agenda."
Even so, Llamas said Windows Phone performance is impressive, while still a small part of the global market. "You can't deny what Windows Phone has done in recent years and especially with Nokia, which is really doing incredibly," Llamas added.
"Windows Phone is the clear number three platform worldwide," Llamas emphasized. "Part of the reason is their efforts and the decrease in BlackBerry, but Windows Phone is a legitimate third-place platform coming from sustained growth over 2012 and a broader and deeper portfolio recently than in years past."
IDC also noted that low prices have helped both Android and Windows Phone, with both platforms having a selection of devices that are priced low enough to be affordable to the mass market. "It is the mass market that is driving the entire market forward," Llamas said.
Average selling prices for smartphones dropped by 12.5% in the third quarter, reaching an average unlocked price of $317. Phablets averaged $443.
IDC said there were 261.1 million smartphones shipped in the recent quarter, up nearly 40% from the 186.7 million shipped in the third quarter of 2012.
BlackBerry still held fourth place, despite a 41.6% decline, from 7.7 million smartphones shipped in third quarter 2012 to 4.5 million shipped in the third quarter this year.
In the top two spots, Android shipments reached 211.6 million, up 51.3% over the 139.9 million of a year ago; Apple iPhones reached 33.8 million, up 25.6% over the 26.9 million shipped a year ago.
 Source :  Computerworld.com.

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Speed up a slow PC without buying new hardware

 

Gamersim17 complains that his PC is "moving extremely slowly and not performing like it should." He asked the Desktops forum for advice.
If a once-fast computer has slowed to a crawl, you can't really blame the hardware. Sure, you may be able to improve speed by adding RAM, upgrading the CPU, or replacing the hard drive with an SSD. But none of those solutions--all of which cost money--address the underlying problem. Your hardware isn't underpowered. It's overloaded.
Cleaning out Windows will very likely speed up a PC. And no, I'm not suggesting reinstalling the operating system. There are less drastic fixes.

Look for hog processes

Click for full size

Your computer may be running a poorly-written process that's hogging a lot of resources. To find out, right-click the taskbar and select Start Task Manager. Click the Processes tab, then the CPU column header. The top items will be the ones hogging the CPU.
If you see an obvious culprit, close the program that's running the process (it's pretty easy to figure out what it is). If that doesn't work, click the End Process button and confirm that you really want to kill this process.
Should that fix the problem, avoid using that program in the future. Or find a better-written replacement.
Otherwise, back on the Process tab, click the Memory column header and see if you can find the culprit there.

Clean out autoloaders

When Windows boots, it automatically loads additional programs--sometimes a lot of them. One big autoloader--or a lot of little ones--can slow the PC down.
The trick is to bring up Windows' list of autoloaders, and by disabling and re-enabling them, and rebooting, figure out which ones are causing the problem.
In Windows XP, Vista, or 7, click Start (Start>Run in XP), type msconfig, and press ENTER. Once System Configuration comes up, click the Startup tab. You can disable items by unchecking them.

If you're using Windows 8, right-click the taskbar and select Start Task Manager. If you see a Startup tab, click it. If you don't, click More details, then Startup. To disable an item, right-click it and select Disable.

Check for malware

I doubt an infection is causing your problem--successful malware doesn't draw attention to itself that way. But just to be on the safe side, scan for it, anyway.
See When malware strikes: How to clean an infected PC for scanning advice.

Do less multitasking

The more programs you run, the slower they will all be. Consider changing your working habits to have less programs up at the same time.

Turn off Aero

Windows 7 and Vista use a technology called Aero to improve the esthetic look of the screen. It's not necessary, and  it slows down the PC a bit.
For more on Aero, and how to turn it off, see How important is Aero?

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Mobile OS Revolution: Android 4, Windows Phone 7.5, and Apple iOS 5 Explained

It’s been a busy month for three of our favorite mobile platforms. Microsoft launched “Mango” in late September, Apple released iOS 5 on October 12, and Google announced the long-awaited Ice Cream Sandwich on October 19 (the evening of the 18th in the US). Each update offers significant improvements in features and/or UI, but keeping track of all those new goodies can be an arduous task. We’ll give you a look at what’s new on these platforms, as well as some idea of how or if you can get them on your device.

Android 4 (Ice Cream Sandwich)

Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) is the only update that hasn’t actually been released as of the time this writing, but Google did hold a launch event demonstrating new features and capabilities in Android 4. ICS will initially be available on the recently announced Samsung Galaxy Nexus, with updates proceeding to other eligible devices at a later date. Presumably Google will follow its policy of updating devices released by partners over the last 18 months.

General

It seems like we’ve been hearing rumors about ICS since the dawn of time, but it hasn’t been quite that long. Reportedly the major benefit of ICS was the unification of the phone and tablet form factors, but the absence of a tablet demo to this point has been frustrating. The UI sports a lot of elements that will look very familiar to users of Honeycomb (Android 3.x) tablets. The three buttons that are always on display at the bottom of the screen, the app switcher, and even the neon glow around the UI bits are almost identical to Honeycomb. Those of you looking for better ways to organize your home screens will love folders and resizable widgets.

Image credit: mobilissimo.ro

Messaging and Social Networks

Smartphones are all about communication, and Ice Cream Sandwich reinforces that. Google+ is an integral part of ICS, in much the same way Gmail or Google Voice have been. As Google’s central social networking service, Google+ is going to provide key communication capabilities, such as chat and video calling via Google+ Hangouts.

Beam

Undoubtedly the most innovative new feature in ICS, Beam uses Near Field Communication (NFC) to transfer images, contacts, or links between devices simply by touching them together. Beam will require a device that includes NFC hardware. NFC is the same technology that powers Google Wallet, and will become much more prevalent in the coming months.

Camera and Imaging

Camera use was a major area of (ahem) focus at Google’s ICS event. From the start, ICS helps you catch that perfect image by offering a shortcut to the camera app directly from the unlock screen.
The camera app itself has been reworked and provides many upgrades such as continuous focus and zero shutter lag, both of which will help you capture better images using your phone’s camera. Panoramic images are incredibly simple with ICS as well. Simply snap an image, sweep the camera slowly across the area you want to capture, and Ice Cream Sandwich will stitch the images together to make a panorama.

Image credit: Gadgetian.com

The Gallery app has also been updated in a big way, offering impressive image editing opportunities out of the box. Once your image is perfect, ICS provides an avenue for you to share your image to different social networks or photo sharing sites, as well as using email or Bluetooth.

Other

Image credit: mobilissimo.ro

Google also provides some other innovative uses of technology that can make your life easier. Face Unlock allows you to use the front-facing camera on your device for facial recognition to unlock your device, instead of a pin or swipe pattern. Quick Responses let you respond to an incoming phone call using predefined text messages, a terribly handy solution for anyone who has received an inopportune phone call during an important meeting. ICS makes the problem of monitoring and managing your metered data usage much more intuitive. Using the included tools you can determine when and why spikes in data usage are occurring, and define how individual apps are allowed to use your data.

iOS 5

Arguably the world’s most hyped smartphone platform, iOS 5 boasts a maturity in both platform and ecosystem that everyone else is trying to catch up with. Much of the iOS 5 update simply improves on features that have been available for some time, but Apple certainly has some new tricks up its sleeve. It comes installed on the new iPhone 4S and is available for the iPhone (4 and 3GS), iPad (1 and 2), and iPod Touch (generation 3 and 4).

Siri

Easily the coolest new feature in iOS 5, Siri is also the most frustrating because it's (needlessly) exclusive to the iPhone 4S. In its simplest form, Siri is the best mobile voice activation solution on the market, but it’s much more than that. Instead of always listening for specific key words, Siri attempts to translate your words into something the iPhone can act on. The result is a very usable voice interface that allows you to play music, set reminders, reply to text messages, inquire about the weather or traffic, and a host of other uses.

iCloud

Apple’s second attempt at an integral cloud service, iCloud rains down convenience all over iOS 5. It integrates nicely with Apple’s iWork suite (Pages, Numbers, and Keynote) to provide a means of synchronizing your documents to the cloud, or to multiple devices. The iCloud website lets you view thumbnails of these documents, and upload or download individual documents. iCloud also provides quick access to your @me.com email, and lets you manage your contacts and calendar in a central location. At iCloud.com you can "Find My iPhone", which allows you to locate, track, and remotely lock or wipe your device if it gets lost or stolen.

Notifications

For such a mature platform, notifications prior to iOS 5 were hideous. Notifications would interrupt the app you were currently using, which was especially painful during video playback or key moments in a game. In iOS 5, Apple has taken a major step in the right direction with notifications. Instead of constant popups that demand your attention, notifications appear at the top of your screen, and disappear after a few seconds. A list of recent notifications is visible by dragging downward from the top of the screen, revealing the Notification Drawer, similar to the UI in Android. iOS 5 also offers the ability to display notifications on your lock screen, adding an additional layer of visibility without being obtrusive. Using Settings you can configure notifications for individual apps, indicating when and where an application is able to notify you. You can even revert to the old method of notifications, if you’d prefer.

Messaging and Social Networks

iMessage is Apple’s implementation of a unified messaging platform. It can seamlessly switch between SMS and chat with other iMessage users. You can even begin an iMessage conversation on your iPhone, and pick up where you left off on your iPad or iPod Touch.
Twitter integration also makes its debut in iOS 5, though you won’t be removing your Twitter app anytime soon. iOS 5 uses Twitter to share photos, links, maps, or videos with only a few touches. App developers also have access to APIs that let them integrate built-in functionality, meaning more socially-aware apps should be on the horizon. What Twitter integration in iOS 5 doesn’t provide is an easy method to interact with your timeline or post a simple Tweet without going through Safari, Photos, or Maps.

Other

There are a lot more less significant features and updates in iOS 5 as well. For example, iPads get a Split Keyboard to benefit thumb typists, and Safari adds enhanced tabbed browsing. Significant AirPlay updates mean you can now mirror your entire screen to an HDTV display with an Apple TV.

Windows Phone 7.5 (Mango)

Windows Phone is the newest member of this group, and as such had the most room for growth. Microsoft’s Mango update to WP7 launched simultaneously to multiple devices on carriers throughout the world, and did so without any major hiccups. The update will be available to all Windows Phone devices and will become stock on a new wave of hardware arriving in the coming months.

General

The biggest update in Windows Phone 7.5 is Multitasking. Like iOS, most Windows Phone apps don’t truly run in the background, but Windows Phone 7.5 provides the APIs that developers need to do critical things, like play music or continue downloading files while the application is inactive. You can switch between running applications by holding the back button, swiping through the available options, and tapping on the app you want.

Messaging and Social Networks

Microsoft’s tagline for Windows Phone is “Put People First”, and Mango improves on that goal in dramatic ways. Already one of the more socially connected platforms with Facebook integrated directly into the OS, WP7.5 also includes Twitter and LinkedIn integration, as well as improving the Facebook support. The “Me” tile can update any of the connected social networks, and you can follow friends through the People hub. Also through the People hub, the new History pivot tracks your interaction with individual friends, both via the integrated social networks and the more traditional means.
The Messaging app in Windows Phone is where you would typically read and send SMS and MMS messages. The Messaging interface itself received some minor tweaks, a rarity in this update, with incoming and outgoing messages being colored differently. The Messaging app is also the home of integrated Facebook chat. Messaging allows you to seamlessly switch back and forth between Facebook chat and SMS, much like Facebook Messages. Voice integration is another new feature of the Messaging app, allowing you to easily dictate text messages using only voice commands.
Windows Phone 7 included one of our favorite mobile email implementations before Mango, and it only gets better. Email in Mango has a threaded view, making it simple to view an entire conversation without searching through your email history. Also new in Mango is the ability to link inboxes. Linked inboxes let you associate two or more email accounts to handle as one, simplifying the task of managing your email without losing the benefits gained by having multiple accounts.

Bing

When the search button gets one of the three mandated hardware buttons on every Windows Phone device, there’s a good chance that Microsoft has big plans for Bing in Windows Phone 7. We’ve already covered much of Bing’s new functionality in our piece on Tips and Tricks for Mango, but know that if you aren’t using Bing on a regular basis, you’re missing out. Scout, Music, Vision, and Voice all have new features and use cases that have major potential, and compete favorably against the best Apple and Google can offer.

Other

There are too many new features in Mango to fully delve into here, but some other items of interest include support for custom ringtones, new features in Zune (Music and Video), and the ability to save Office documents to SkyDrive. Mango also offers many new capabilities for developers that you'll see in your apps, such as the ability to pin multiple live tiles to your Start screen.

Let's Get Moving

Regardless of which mobile platform you use on a daily basis, there are some good reasons to be excited about the new things on offer. Each platform has made major steps forward in features and how the UI presents those features.
The real question for many people is if their device will be supported, and unfortunately that often depends on the device. Most Apple devices are eligible for iOS 5, but will miss out on the most innovative feature in Siri. All Windows Phone devices are upgradeable to Mango, partially due to the small segment of the market held by Windows Phone. The upgradeability of Android devices is an entirely new conversation. The general rule of thumb says that popular devices from Google partners released in the last 18 months have the best chance for an upgrade, but the schedule for those devices to receive their update is anyone’s guess.
Which is your platform of choice? What new features are you looking forward to the most? Let us know in the comments!

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