Top 5 Free Apps for Rio Olympics games 2016

Technorati Tags: Free Apps,Olympics 2016,Rio 2016,Olympics App,Top 5 app,iTunes,Google play,Android,iPhone

 

The 4 year long wait of the sport lovers around the world is finally over. The biggest sporting extravaganza all set to kick off from  Rio De Janerio in 3 days! It's going to be a month long sport entertainment in 39 different categories.

 

Here is a list of apps that will help you to catch the games on the go even in your busy schedule.

1. Rio 2016

This is the official app the 2016 olympics. Keep abreast with the competition scheduls with this app. The app gets you real time results along with the photos and videos of the games.You can also track the torch relay live here!!!
Note : This app gives you venues, maps and spectator guides as well and is available in many languages (English, Portuguese, Spanish, French, Mandarin Chinese, Japanese and Korean.)

Get the app :
iPhone
Android 

Windows

2.The Olympics

This is the app hosted by the international olympics committee - another official app. Get the daily regular updates, top news and event schedules from the app.
Note: This app is slow and can sometimes test your patience

Get the App:
iPhone
Android

 

3. NBC Olympics: Rio News & Results

NBC has bought the rights for olympics in USA. Their app will keep you posted with latest news, medal standings and results of olympic games. Know more about the athelets in the athelets profile section of the app. You can configure alerts and notifications too
Note: This app is limited to users in US

Get the app here:
iPhone
Android
Windows

4. Brazil 2016 Games

Boasts to be a complete, useful and easy to use app. Gives the Medals table, complete schedule and latest news of the 2016 games.

Note: This app is only available in Google Play
Android

5. ESPN

This regular sports app is prepping itself up in full gear for the olympics and you can catch all the latest action in Olympics along with event schedules and medals tally in this app.
Note: Add Olympics as a favorite to set alerts, and check out the Olympics clubhouse to stay up to date on every event

Get the app here:
 iPhone
Android
Windows  
 

Here is the list of all sports that is a part of Olympics 2016. These are links to the official olympics website and has many interesting information!!!!!! Do check it out
Archery
Artistic Gymnastics
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball
Beach Volleyball
Boxing
Canoe Slalom
Canoe Sprint
Cycling BMX
Cycling Mountain Bike
Cycling Road
Cycling Track
Diving
Equestrian
Fencing
Football
Golf
Handball
Hockey
Judo
Marathon Swimming
Modern Pentathlon
Rhythmic Gymnastics
Rowing
Rugby Sevens
Sailing
Shooting
Swimming
Synchronised Swimming
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Tennis
Trampoline Gymnastics
Triathlon
Volleyball
Water Polo
Weightlifting
Wrestling

Keep checking this page for more updates on Apps for olympics!!

Have you started tracking the Olympics? Do you use a better app? Do post them in the comments

 

Canvas Turbo A250 – Micromax launches its latest Canvas 4 Turbo

Micromax has been a boon to the low budget touch phone aspirants in India. It has brought to life the dreams of owning a touch phone with pretty decent  features for many. Despite the market share being not significant when compared to Apple, Samsung and Nokia, Micromax has never stopped coming up with newer and better versions of their touch phone. The new Canvas Turbo A250 is the new feather in its cap. Here is how the canvas turbo review goes:

Canvas Turbo Specifications:

The canvas Turbo specifications are:

Display	5 inch FULL HD(1920x1080p) Continuous Grain Silicon (CGS) True IPS 441PPI pixel density
Processor	MediaTek 6589T (Turbo) 1.5 GHz processor Quad core
Memory	2 GB RAM 16 GB Internal memory External memory expansion not available (No SD Slot)
OS Version	Android 4.2 Jelly Bean
Battery	2000mAh Promises 105 hrs standby time
Rear Camera	13 MP rear camera BSI Sensor LED Flash Auto focus camera
Front Camera	5 MP Sensor
Bluetooth & Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n WiFi 4.0
Thickness	8.6 mm
Other Features	Canvas Turbo Mobile sports some exciting features like Gesture Controls Pop up Video

 

Canvas Turbo 250 – Feature that WOW!

Smart Gesture Control – To compete with the likes of Samsung, Micromax Turbo is loaded with intuitive gesture control. Forget tapping and touching, the Micromax responds to mere wave of the hand. So why is this exciting? – It saves battery life!! With a comparatively lesser battery standards than its competitors, this is a much required saving.

Here is what you have to do to operate the canvas turbo mobile without even touching the screen

Lift the mobile to the ear to answer a call

Tilt the phone over to make the mobile silent during an incoming call

Flip the phone over to activate speaker for the currently active call

Select a contact and move the phone to ear to place a call to that contact

Blowing / shaking unlocks the canvas turbo mobile (though security freaks might not like the idea)

The proximity sensor switches the phone screen off automatically

When in proximity mode, wave the hand in front of the screen to take a pic.

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Camera – The camera also comes with some exciting feature such as Cinema graph and Object Eraser.

Now vertical panoramic capture is also possible in addition to horizontal panorama.

Take up to 99 images with the burst mode

360 degree Panorama capture – like Nexus 4

Object eraser allows removing objects giving you the perfect shot you always longed for

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iFloat – Similar to the quick launch in Samsung Note 10.1, the Micromax canvas turbo has the iFloat which allows launching frequently used apps without having to go back to the home screen every once.

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Dual SIM – GSM + GSM

GPS

Video PopOut – Multi video view. Watch 2 videos at once!

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Canvas Turbo 250 – Feature that OUCH!

1. The Battery – 2000mAh is way down than what other mobiles have to offer. Especially this being a touch sensitive smart phone, one would expect it to have long battery life. Whereas, with this battery specification, one might have to carry a portable charges if they want to use it for its smart features (like browsing net, downloading) apart from talking. I mean 7 hours talk time is like WTF?

2. No SD Slot: You may go what? But yes, sadly this phone does not support external SD. This can make life a hell for these days people like to communicate more with photos than with words. With a rear camera of capacity to record HD Videos, it simply does not make any sense that there is no place for an external memory card.

3. No HDMI: Though this feature is not really critical like battery, the canvas turbo mobile could at least have had a mini HDMI slot

4. Battery not replaceable: Though the Aluminium casing looks sleek and elegant, it comes with the disadvantage of not being able to replace the battery.

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The Micromax canvas Turbo price is set as Rs 19,999 and comes in 2 color options: Midnight Blue & Pristine White color. With a smart pricing under 20K, this Micromax canvas turbo smart mobile would be a great gift for the festive season without hurting the pocket!!

Flipkart has the mobile with some great combo offers. Do check out the link – Flipkart link

Have you tried the Micromax Canvas Turbo? Have I missed any feature that you liked? Do share in the comments!

Copy Paste bug in Samsung device -How to fix the clipboard issue

I was introduced to smartphones in 2010 by my husband. He had bought an Apple iPhone. The fascination was beyond words and I could just not keep my hands off that toy! Later, in 2011 I got a Samsung galaxy S phone as a surprise gift on my birthday. I have never once thought if only it were some other Smartphone. Samsung was just perfect. This year as an addition to the smart gadgets, I got a Samsung galaxy Note 10.1 - yup, the note with the stylus. Even though I could not spare much time to explore this wonderful gadget, I have loved what I have seen so far. Much to my bewilderment, all of a sudden, the copy paste feature started giving problems.

The problems that I faced were:

1. I could cut or copy, but I could not paste anything anywhere
                    It was not specific to an app or a particular task.I could just not paste the stuff that I just had copied. when I searched for this problem on the net, many people had mentioned that the paste option was not working on some apps while it worked in someother.

2. Unlike most commonly reported,  the device did not crash upon paste. Instead nothing happens when I click on clipboard.

3. I tried to force stop and clear data of the clipboard from the app manager. But, I could not find Clipboard either under the running apps or under the All apps tab.

4. I tried connecting the note to Computer  in an effort to clear the old data on the clipboard. I could not see a folder called "Data"

The Solution:

I had two options (from what I could gather on the net)

1. Upgrade the tab to the latest firmware version - many sites were not optimistic about this solution

2. Rooting the device. Eventhough this was the widely suggested solution,I did not want to try it.

So I tried updating the firmware. I did the firmware upgrade using Kies. It did take a lot of time (close to 3 hours). Now the issue is gone!!

What Should I do to avoid this bug?

The only way seems to be clearing your clipboard once in a while. Don't just keep adding stuff to the chipboard without clearing it.

Verizon unleashes 4G with HTC Thunderbolt - A review of features and deals on Thunderbolt

The wait for 4G is finally over - Verizon has launched the 4G service with HTC Thunderbolt today! The 4.3 inch Thunderbolt is priced at $250 at Verizon wireless with a 2 year contract. The phone looks very cool and hopefully experiencing 4G on it would be cool as well. The only thing that bring a frown is the Android version in the mobile. With android already working on Ice cream Sandwich, this mobile only sports the Android 2.2 version (the version most widely in use today).

Features:

Android 2.2 (Froyo) with HTC Sense 2.0 OS

4.3” TFT Touch screen, 8MP rear cam with LED Flash and 1.3MP front cam

MicroSD expandable up to 32 GB

802.11 b/g/n wireless, 2.1 Bluetooth, 4G network

Qualcomm® MSM8655, 1GHz, Qualcomm MDM9600 chipset

 

 

The best deal on this phone is available at Amazon.com – $180.00

Ordered your HTC Thunderbird already? What is your expectations? Do share your comments here!

Froyo (Android 2.2) is the most popularly used Android version!

Just after 9 months of its release, Froyo (Android 2.2) is the most widely used Android version in all of the Android devices. This version of the Android OS is popularly used in both mobile devices and in tablets.

When  combined with the Android version 2.1, the overall popularity of the 2.x version swells to 90% on all the active Google devices.

The disappointing part of this statistic is that the most recent version for mobile phones – Gingerbread has not even reached 2% in terms of usage. Also the honeycomb version which was exclusively developed for tablets is just 0.2% in use.

Android Version	Usage
1.5	3 %
1.6	4.8 %
2.1	29 %
2.2	61.3 %
2.3	0.7 %
2.3.3	1.0 %
3.0	0.2 %

 

 

Though the popularity of Android is steadily climbing up in the market, the users would love to see that the most recent versions are also the most widely used versions in market.

 

Do you own an android? What version are you running?

Apple iPad 2 vs Motorola Xoom vs Samsung Galaxy tab - A comparison of features, hardware and usability

Its Showtime for the tablet competitors Apple, Motorola and Samsung and for tablet lovers, it can’t get better than this. Gone are the days of Apple monopoly in the market. Now, the customer is the king and we have for the first time real competitors to consider when thinking about the latest in electronics market – tab. The release of iPad 2 (read the features and highlights here) had Samsung do some serious re-thinking about its price and features before launching it in the market. Also there were reviews on Motorola Xoom which showed that there were some areas of improvement when compared to the iPad2. However, with Android making its presence felt among users of wide ranges of age group and profession, it is customer oriented market yet again and here is how I compare the tabs (Read a detailed comparison of Android vs iPhone here). Again, in this case too, I am not going to say if one tab beats the other or if Apple wins over Android or Android gets better than apple – just trying to bring out an unbiased review.

Comparison Chart:

	Motorola Xoom	Samsung Galaxy tab 2	Apple iPad 2	Advantage
OS	Honeycomb	Honeycomb (android 3.0)	Apple iOS 4.3	Purely for the brand power and also because Honeycomb is still raw and yet to be experienced – Apple
Display	10.1”	10.1”	9.7”	Though Apple’s display is slightly smaller than the other two, it looks cuter than the other two to me – Apple
Resolution	1280 x 800	1280 x 800	1024 x 768	Definitely Motorola
RAM	1 GB	Not Available	512 MB	Motorola
Processor	1 GHz Terga 2 dual-core	1 GHz Terga 2 dual-core	A5 1GHz dual-core	Again for the tested and extremely satisfying performance – Apple
Camera	5 MegaPix rear camera with LED Flash / 2 MegaPix front camera	8 MegaPix rear camera with Flash and 2 MegaPix front camera	Rear camera pix rating unspecified, front camera VGA	Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 – Apple disappointed everybody big time here
Memory	32 GB – Expandable memory up to 32 GB in microSD	16 or 32 GB – Nothing specified yet about external memory	16, 32, 64 GB but no external expandable memory	Motorola – MicroSD slot was one of the most expected feature in the new version of Tabs
Wi-Fi	802.11 b/g/n along with Personal Hotspot	802.11 b/g/n	802.11 b/g/n	Tied – similar specs
Network	3G (upgradable to 4G – if you don’t mind shipping it back and forth to Verizon to get this done)	4G HSPA / EDGE / GPRS	3G HSDPA / GSM / EDGE / CMDA	Samsung Galaxy Tab for the 4G
Externals	9.8 x 6.6 x 0.5 / 12.7 mm / 1.61 lbs	9.67 x 6.7 x 0.43 / 10.9 mm thick / 1.32 lbs	9.5 x 7.3 x 0.34 / 8.8 mm thick / 1.33 lbs	Apple – truly lives up to its marketing slogan – thinner, lighter and smarter
Ports	HDMI, USB 2.0	USB 2.0	HDMI (with adapter)	Motorola Xoom

 

Apple’s exciting features like Facetime, excellent multitasking still scores overs minor hitches in Motorola (like problems with microSD, confusing buttons in different applications and heftier finish than iPad2). However Motorola Xoom is a serious competitor to Apple in the tablet race and we are in for some exciting market analysis in near future!!

What do you think about the latest tabs in market? Do share your views and reviews on your tab experience

Android Malware Apps with Trojan Rootkit–Details of the Apps and how to protect your android from Malware Apps

Google has now come to face the biggest problems of open sourcing – malware apps are in circulation. These apps disguise themselves as if they are genuine and legitimate apps. More than 50 apps have been pulled from Android market after they were identified to have malicious code in them. Which means, if you download any of these apps, it will be automatically deleted from your phone. This malware attack has showcased one of the biggest weakness of Android OS – no app moderation. I had mentioned about the certificate errors that we were receiving on the market.android pages for most of the apps in my post on the Cricket apps for android. Furthermore, when you choose to download and install an app from the android.market website  it happens as smoothly as downloading it from the phone’s android market and there is absolutely no authorization prompted at the device end. Even my Nokia E51 (which is like a 3 yrs old model) has a second layer of authorization at the device level to install an app that was chosen from Nokia apps website!

What does the malware App do?

Once you install one of the malware apps, it will root the device via rageagainstthecage or exploid. This can then steal the device data and the personal data and transmit it to a remote server when you will still be playing with the new free app! The details that are stolen are:

* IMEI

* IMSI

* Product ID

* Language

* Personal Details (like user ID and other data you have in the phone)

The scariest bit is that, it just not stops from stealing the data but, it acts as a open backdoor – which means, now more malicious code can be downloaded into your phone without your knowledge!

How do I protect my android?

Lifehacker has a detail post on how to tell if an app is a malware or not – this one is a worthy read to protect your phone from future attacks. However, if you already are a victim of this malware attack (Google did a great job of pulling out these apps in a matter of 5 minutes from the first report – though this deletes the app from the phone, it can do nothing about the malicious code that might have been already downloaded through the backdoor), then you have either of the following two options:

* Try doing a reset to factory defaults. Yes this means losing all the precious data and apps that you have collected so far, but there is no choice other than this.

* Taking the phone back to your service provider (hopefully they’ll replace it with a new phone)

What is remote disabling?

When I said Google had pulled these apps back, it means, these apps were deleted from the users phones without taking any permission from the users for doing so. Not that we are complaining for removing the malware, but this posed the bigger question of how Google can tamper with the apps of an user’s device without the permission from the user. It was not long ago that Amazon had to face the user’s wrath for remotely deleting a book from Kindle across the country. Apple also got into a tight spot for remotely disabling iPhones  that were running on unauthorized OS (Update: Apple has applied for patents to do this now). So it is another question that Google has to answer for

What are the malicious Android Apps?

There were 21 malicious apps by one publisher Myournet – this publisher has now been entirely removed from Android market

• Falling Down
• Super Guitar Solo
• Super History Eraser
• Photo Editor
• Super Ringtone Maker
• Super Sex Positions
• Hot Sexy Videos
• Chess
•下坠滚球_Falldown
• Hilton Sex Sound
• Screaming Sexy Japanese Girls
• Falling Ball Dodge
• Scientific Calculator
• Dice Roller
• 躲避弹球
• Advanced Currency Converter
• App Uninstaller
• 几何战机_PewPew
• Funny Paint
• Spider Man
• 蜘蛛侠

Apart from this list, there are 30 more identified to be malicious by the security app Lookout. These were by the publishers ‘Kingmall2010’ and ‘we20090202’

• owling Time
• Advanced Barcode Scanner
• Supre Bluetooth Transfer
• Task Killer Pro
• Music Box
• Sexy Girls: Japanese
• Sexy Legs
• Advanced File Manager
• Magic Strobe Light
• 致命绝色美腿
• 墨水坦克Panzer Panic
• 裸奔先生Mr. Runner
• 软件强力卸载
• Advanced App to SD
• Super Stopwatch & Timer
• Advanced Compass Leveler
• Best password safe
• 掷骰子
• 多彩绘画
• Finger Race
• Piano
• Bubble Shoot
• Advanced Sound Manager
• Magic Hypnotic Spiral
• Funny Face
• Color Blindness Test
• Tie a Tie
• Quick Notes
• Basketball Shot Now
• Quick Delete Contacts
• Omok Five in a Row
• Super Sexy Ringtones
• 大家来找茬
• 桌上曲棍球
• 投篮高手

As long as Google leaves the android apps market un-moderated, use your better sense when downloading and installing any apps. Take the necessary precautions and have the security app installed in your droid to add the extra layer of security!

Android OS Versions Comparison

Android OS started off as a small competition to the iPhone from Apple. But its popularity and market presence growth has been exponential in the recent days. Android sales has surpassed iPhones since the 3rd quarter of 2010 (with respect to the number of units sold) and there has been several comparisons made between the market competitors iPhone and Android. At the same time, Android also keeps releasing a new OS Update once in every 6 months. Since its modest version 1.0 in September 2008 to the most awaited version Ice-cream sandwich (expected in April 2011), there has been constant improvements in OS functionalities and features. I have given a pictorial representation of the various features in each of the Android OS since Cupcakes till Honey Comb.

The Cupcakes version 1.5 experimented with capturing videos through the inbuilt camera and enabled sharing it with your friends on YouTube and Picasa. The key improvements were the ability to have widgets on home screen. The next version 1.6 - Donut came with the voice search and voice dial enhancements. Nearly 6% of users are using this version of Android OS

The next update of OS was Éclair OS 2.0/2.1. This enhancement saw a lot of improvements and additional features over its previous versions. HTML 5 was introduced and Microsoft Exchange server ActiveSync was supported. This is one of the popular versions of Android OS and has close to 31% of users.

With 58% users running on this OS, the Froyo OS 2.2 released in May 2010 is by far the most used and most popular version of Android OS. This update saw drastic speed and performance improvements with JIT Compiler in place. The update included Chrome with V8 JavaScript engine, Wi-Fi hotspot, batch/automatic updates for the apps, Adobe flash support and ability to point to where the apps must be installed (internal or the SD memory)

The December 2010 released Gingerbread OS 2.3/2.4 is yet to catch up in its market presence (less than 1% use this OS as of now Feb2,2011 Source-Wikipedia). The key features of this update are the improved resolution for large screens, Near field communication, Copy-paste feature, improved graphics for gaming and multiple camera.

The last OS released of late (22Feb 2011) was Honeycomb OS 3.0 SDK. This is the first ever tablet only release of Android and has opened the Pandora box for the non-Apple manufacturers! Moto Xoom will be the first tablet to run on this OS. The attractive features are the 3D desktop with redesigned widgets, Gtalk video chat and improved performance with hardware acceleration.

Ice-cream Sandwich is speculated to be released by mid-2011 and just as the name suggests, is probably going to be an amalgamation of the fascinating features from Gingerbread and Honeycomb!

Which OS versions do you use/like? And what is your expectation from the most awaited Ice-cream sandwich update? Do share your thoughts!