Nokia's first device to the post Microsoft era

Nokia isn't exactly known for its tablets, but having sold its phone-making division to Microsoft it's hoping to catch your eye with its latest compellingly priced Android offering. The Nokia N1 starts at $250 and is set to go on sale in China before the Chinese New Year -- that's February 19, 2015. Information on other international pricing and release dates have yet to be announced, but the US dollar price converts to around £160 or AU$290.

The N1 looks trendy and slim. It's 6.9mm thick and an aluminum frame that comes in dark gray or silver. Its 7.9-inch IPS LCD screen boasts a 4:3 aspect ratio with a 2,048x1,536-pixel resolution. Inside you'll find a 64-bit 2.3GHz Intel Atom Z3580 CPU and PowerVR G6430 GPU with 2GB RAM.

In a somewhat unusual move, the Nokia N1 houses a whopping 32GB of internal storage. Initially this sounds impressive, until you realise it can't be expanded. Nonetheless, some manufactures have the gall to leave you with a lot less and no microSD card slot, so it's a satisfactory trade-off. That amount of space can accommodate a large number of apps, movies and games.

The Nokia N1 is one of the first tablets to sport a USB Type-C socket, which is a reversible USB port that's set to replace all types of USB connections. It's not the sexiest cutting-edge feature, but it's useful future-proofing.

The N1 is also the first to sport Nokia's Android launcher, Z Launcher. Running on top of the latest version of Google's operating system, Lollipop 5.0, the Z Launcher simplifies the home screen with a gridlike display of apps. It customizes the look of the home screen according to where you are, what time it is and what you're doing, as well as making adjustments geared toward your typical activities.

If you want to try out this user interface before you buy the N1, Nokia invites you to download it from Google Play and install it on your current Android tablet or phone.

Source: CNET

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WhatsApp add new features to Group Chat : Multiple Admins

The new Group Chat feature in WhatsApp lets you chat with up to 100 people at once. Previously it was only 50. It is a great way stay in touch with your family, friends and colleagues. Specially for people with larger number of peers, like students in a class or in a big office, it is now easy to add all the people as members of the group. In addition to the change in number of people you can add to a group, there are a few more changes :

• Every group has one or more admins. Only admins can add or remove participants. Previously you had only one admin for a group. 


• Now you can see the Received and Read receipt for all the members of the group, even if they have set privacy option.

Other things you must know about Group Chats are:

• There is no limit to the number of groups you can create.


• Only admins can make other participants admins.


• If the last admin leaves the group, a new admin will be randomly assigned.


• You can always control your own participation in a Group Chat, by staying in or leaving the group when you wish. Remember that only group admins have the ability to add participants. If you have any questions about being added to a group, or prefer not to be added, please speak to a group admin.


• If you have blocked a contact, you will still receive messages this contact sends into any group you have in common. Likewise, they will still receive messages you send to those groups.

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Read Receipts: WhatsApp - Lets you disable Blue Ticks

WhatsApp introduced a new feature recently that showed two blue checkmarks next to messages when a message was read by recipients. The problem was that there was no option to turn it off or at least suppress it. As soon as you opened a chat a read receipt would appear on the sender's screen. Earlier I have mentioned on my post (WhatsApp's Blue Tick: Really an Upgrade or a menace ?) that WhatsApp's Blue Tick may be a reason for Divorces And BreakUps.

For the millions who use the WhatsApp service, a new feature is creeping up into a few conversations: blue check-marks. Fear the blue, feel its icy chill run to your core. No more excuses, no more evasions, no more forgetfulness. You did read those messages, and the other person knows.



Now WhatsApp brings good news for those who don't want, that the person on the other side knows when you have read the message. 

A new update (v2.11.444) has been released, which allow us to disable read receipts. To disable read receipts follow these simple steps: 

1. Tap on the three dots icon in the top right corner and select Settings from the context menu that opens up.


2. Select Account under Settings and on the next page Privacy.


3. Scroll down until you find read receipts listed there.


4. Remove the checkmark and you are done.

This turns of read receipts on both sides meaning that you won't get read receipts for your messages and that others won't get them for messages they sent you.

There is also no option available to turn off read receipts for group chat. According to WhatsApp, those are always sent out no matter what.

This is definitely an appreciated move for the WhatsApp users. There were many requests for removing this feature.

Download

Android

Windows

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WhatsApp's Blue Tick: Really an Upgrade or a menace ?

"But honey, I only opened WhatsApp to reply to my boss. He still forwards me every stupid joke he gets. I didn't notice your message about the dinner with your parents!"

"Oh. I thought you did and you ignored me."

"No, no, I swear. Is it too late to reschedule now? Please don't tell me that I'm missing another lovely evening with your mother!"

"See, I had a hunch that you were lying, but now I'm sure. You would never use the word lovely in the same sentence as my mother. Plus, WhatsApp showed me two blue checkmarks."

"Two what-now?"

"Blue checkmarks. It means you read the message, moron. Before noon. And you didn't answer until now... Eight in the evening. How convenient!"

He mutters "Shit!" then hears a click. Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.

WhatsApp's Blue Tick may be a reason for Divorces And BreakUps

That and many other similar scenarios are bound to start occurring in the near future. For the millions who use the WhatsApp service, a new feature is creeping up into a few conversations: blue check-marks. Fear the blue, feel its icy chill run to your core. No more excuses, no more evasions, no more forgetfulness. You did read those messages, and the other person knows.

Up until now, WhatsApp had a two-tier message delivery visual feedback: one grey check when the message is delivered to the WhatsApp servers and two checks when it successfully reaches the other person's phone. Unlike BBM, you had no way of knowing whether the person on the other end actually read the message. You could speculate based on their Last Seen timing, but you couldn't be sure. Now you can. When the grey checks turn blue, the other person has actually opened the app and read your message.

What are those check marks next to my messages?

Check marks will appear next to each message you send. Here is what each one indicates:

  message successfully sent.

  message successfully delivered to the recipient's phone.

  the recipient has read your message.

In a group chat, the second check marks will appear when all participants in the group have received your message. The two blue check marks will appear when all participants in the group have read your message.

The Message Info screen shows you who has seen your message and when. 

If you only see a single check mark next to your message, there is likely nothing wrong with WhatsApp or your phone. There may be several reasons why your message has been sent, but not delivered to your chat partner:

- Their phone might be off.

- They could be sleeping, especially if they live in a different time zone.

- They might be experiencing network connection issues.

- They might have seen the notification on their screen, but did not launch the app (especially common if the recipient uses an iPhone).

- They might have blocked you.

How it Works?

Based on my own tests, the feature seems to be more of a back-end change than an update-related one. It is randomly activated in a few conversations but not in all of them, and it appears to be there on various versions of the app from 2.11.399 to 2.11.432. The person with an updated version of the app, only shares the information, that the message has been read and also share the time.

What Should I do?

There's a silver lining if you use an Android Wear watch: it seems that you can circumvent the checks. You can still open the notification on the watch, read the messages, and dismiss them, without triggering the blue checks of death from the app. 

You can obviously do the same thing by disconnecting your connection before opening the messages on the phone (that's the premise of many apps that circumvent WhatsApp's Last Seen status), but that's a bit of a pain to set up or remember. You may also downgrade to an outdated version, available across the internet. 

Alternatively, when you receive a message from your sender, pull down the notification bar and you will be able to see read message without opening it. If it is a one line message, you are lucky. If it is up to four or five lines, iPhone users cannot see this, but Android users can pinch outwards on the message and expand the notification message to read up to a few lines. But if the message is longer or there are multiple messages, you cannot do anything. If you are an Windows Phone 8.1 user, you have an advantage. Multiple messages show multiple notification. You can just read and swipe the tiles. 

If you are an Android user you can simply add another desktop to your launcher and add a WhatsApp widget in full screen mode on a blank desktop. When you get a message, simply head on to the widget and check out all the messages in full length. You can scroll and read the entire messages one after the other. Make sure you don’t click on any message, else you would open up WhatsApp accidentally. Try out the same and let me know if it worked for you. Hopefully this trick works well till WhatsApp makes adequate changes. 

For Symbian, BlackBerry or other platform users I will update you as soon as I get something.

Do not forget to Support the Petition : 

Add an option to hide WhatsApp Double Blue Tick

Via:  WhatsApp, Deccan Chronicle, Android Police

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How to Install Android Apps on SD Card

If you are using an Android Phone with low Internal Memory, you might feel to Install all your Games and Utility Apps on an External Storage. But some Phones are programmed such that, you can only install Apps on your Phone's Internal Memory. So have you ever ran low on memory space on your android and had to delete some apps? Now I have a solution for you. With a computer and a microSD card you don't have to worry about running out of space on your phone any more! You don't even need to root your phone! After this, your phone will automatically install apps to your external memory.



Note - This works on both Windows and Mac OS



Items needed:

1. Android Phone

2. Micro USB cable

3. A computer



Warning for galaxy users!

This method of moving your apps to External Storage is known for not working with the Galaxy series, if you own a galaxy or you are getting a galaxy and is thinking of moving your apps to an External storage, I recommend rooting your device, enabling further access to files though it may void the Manufacturer's Warranty.

. Good Luck!

Step 1: Getting Ready to Change Installation Location

1. Get the Google Android SDK

     - Unzip the file and place the folder onto your desktop or anywhere that can be easily accessed.

     - find the platform-tools folder (default, it should be : adt-bundle/sdk)

2. Get the JDK

     - The Android SDK needs JDK installed on your PC



3. Find cmd/terminal (for mac)

     - Hold down the Shift key, then right click anywhere inside the folder and click Open command          window here.

     - (for mac users) go to [System Preferences > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Services]

        and then check the box [New Terminal At Folder]



4. Go onto your Android phone and select USB debugging

     - Go to [System settings > Developer Options] and select USB Debugging (if the option is grayed out, unplug your phone first)

     

Step 2: Using adb 

You might suddenly see a pop-up on your phone that says Allow USB debugging.  It may read something like this:

This computer's RSA key fingerbrint is: something:something:blah:blah

Just click OK.  It’s basically a security feature that forces the user to explicitly allow the connecting computer to execute debugging commands on the phone.



Now let’s make sure the adb can see your phone. In the command prompt type:

adb devices

Now, that it shows you the list of devices attached, you can proceed.

To set the default installation location of your phone to your SD card type this:

adb shell pm set-install-location 2

If you want to revert these changes just change that 2 to a 0 (that’s a zero).  The 0 will force the phone to install to your local device storage first.

Check if you did it right: if you did it right, the output should say: 2 [external]

  adb shell pm get-install-location

For Windows the commands are :

       adb devices

       adb shell pm set-install-location 2

       adb shell pm get-install-location

For Mac the commands are : (note - there is a period before the slashes)

       ./adb devices

       ./adb shell pm set-install-location 2

       ./adb shell pm get-install-location

If you did it right, CONGRATS! Your phone will now install your apps to your SD Card by default! Have fun now! If this helped you at all please share in the comments!  I would love to hear from you





Source: instructables, Android

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Trick to use dual number on WhatsApp from a Single Phone

When I think about the features that I need in a smartphone, I tend to be pretty practical. Sure, apps, a media player, and a good-quality Web browser are great, but what I really want is a good dual-SIM card phone. Now I know that dual-SIM phones have been around for years , but the biggest problem is How to use WhatsApp from two different numbers at the same time.

WhatsApp allows only one number to be logged in at a time. If you Google, you will find different methods, which actually doesn't work, or you need to have ROOT access to your device, which may void the Warranty. So, here I have a Solution !! Though there is no Risk in this process, but still be sure about what you are doing. 

For this you need an Android Device (KitKat or higher), and an App - OGWhatsApp (Download Link Below).

Once you install OGWhatsApp on your Android device, the app allows you to use two different telephone numbers with WhatsApp from the same smartphone.

It´s much easier to install OGWhatsApp than it might seem at first. You just have to follow these simple steps:

- The first step is to make a backup copy of all of your messages (if you want to save them) 

- Then delete all of the user information for the app (or you can just reinstall the app)

- The next step is to rename the /sdcard/WhatsApp directory to /sdcard/OGWhatsApp. You can do this using any file manager for Android, i recommend to use ES File Manager 

- The  last step is to verify your old number in the OG version of WhatsApp, and then verify your new number in the normal version of WhatsApp. That's it.

OGWhatsApp is a very useful tool for users who want to have two WhatsApp telephone numbers on their Android device.

Download Links: 

WhatsApp Official Version

OGWhatsApp

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Use Visual Studio to Build Android Apps

You might think you need x-code to write an iOS app. You might think you need eclipse to write an Andriod app. Visual Studio, is it just for Windows?

The answer is a solid “No”. Since the recent update of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3, developers have comprehensive tooling to support Apache Cordova.

WHAT’S APACHE CORDOVA?

Apache Cordova was PhoneGap; it was purchased by Adobe, then spun off as an open source project to build a consistent, universal shell to run apps written with HTML/JavaScript/CSS across all the mobile platforms. Today we call PhoneGap, Apache Cordova.

Lots of developers know how to build iOS apps. Lots of developers know how to build Windows apps. Lots of developers know how to build Android apps. But, every developer knows how to write HTML, code in JavaScript, and edit CSS. Look at your development team; are they ready to write a mobile app? Before you answer, ask: do they know how to code for the web?

The consistent, universal shell that makes Cordova work across platforms connects your app’s JavaScript with native APIs and device hardware. You get the capabilities you want, cross-platform. You use the responsive design techniques you already know. You use the UI tooling you already have. And, you use the client-side libraries you already love.

INTRODUCING MULTI-DEVICE HYBRID APP TOOLING FOR VISUAL STUDIO

Before Visual Studio’s support for Cordova projects, developers had to use all kinds of crazy tools cobbled together in a delicate dance. With Multi-Device Hybrid App Tooling for Visual Studio, consumer and enterprise developers accustom to the power and love of Visual Studio, keep the IDE benefits that make them productive, and release cross-platform apps to whatever mobile store they choose. They really do.

WHO’S THE TARGET?

The reality, almost every app is a candidate for Cordova. If you think about apps that have a branded, identical, cross-platform look-and-feel, those are a great candidate. If you think about apps that today are simply mobile web sites, those are great candidates. if you think about version 1 apps that are just dabbling in the mobile space, those are great candidates. And if you think about internal apps that an enterprise needs to extend to more devices, those are great candidates. But, those are the only good candidates. They are, certainly, the sweet spot for Apache Cordova solutions.

You might wonder where to get this tooling. You get it here.







Via: Jerry Nixon

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