Best Skype alternatives for Android

Skype for Android offers you a way to make free voice and video calls to other users, and lets you save money on your phone bill by enabling cheap international calls. It’s great when it works, but the latest version of the app is quite buggy. It can drop calls, hang up automatically, fail to log you in, and resize video wrongly, among other problems reported by users.

If you’re fed up of problem calls with Skype then perhaps it’s time you tried a different chat app for Android. There are lots of different applications that let you talk via voice, video and text on your Android phone. Here’s a selection of some of our favorites. All are free to download from Google Play.

Continue reading “Best Skype alternatives for Android”

Xbox everywhere for Microsoft

While there was no news about the next generation, Microsoft has announced two big services that will make the Xbox integrate with Windows Phone and Windows 8. Here’s what we found out at the Microsoft E3 Conference…

Xbox SmartGlass is a system that will connect to Windows tablets and phones – I assume this works with a Windows 8 PC too. You could be watching a TV show on your tablet on the bus, then switch straight to your TV when you get home, and pick up right where you left off. Your tablet will now offer additional information about what you were watching (like a world map for Game of Thrones, for example).

Continue reading “Xbox everywhere for Microsoft”

What we’re hoping to see at E3

This week sees the biggest gaming event of the year kick off – E3 2012 in Los Angeles. We’ll be there all week bringing you the best of the show. There will be big announcements from Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo, plus plenty to see from big publishers such as UbiSoft and Electronic Arts. With the current generation of consoles reaching the end of their lives, PC games are looking very much next generation. 2012 looks like a great year for desktop gaming.

Here are the games I’m really looking forward to seeing this year.
Continue reading “What we’re hoping to see at E3”

The new Android in 5.0?

It took a long time, but the majority of Android users now have Android 2.3 Gingerbread. Tablet users are sitting with Android 3.0 Honeycomb or slowly receiving the 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich update. Phone users are feeling the trickle of updates for Ice Cream Sandwich, or are just plain being denied by their carriers.

The promise of Android 4.0 is a nice market share scheme that keeps users from quickly purchasing a new phone from another manufacturer or even another wireless carrier.

Android 4.0 isn’t even a year old, but the talk of Android 5.0 Jelly Bean is starting in front of 2012’s Google I/O Developers conference.

Continue reading “The new Android in 5.0?”

Manage your data usage with My Data Manager

Data capMy Data Manager helps you monitor data usage on your phone. Data caps are annoying, but the unlimited data plan is on its way out. Out of the major four carriers in the United States, only Sprint offers unlimited data (and they’re not shy about touting it). AT&T and Verizon offer 2GB plans for about the same money. You will be charged a fee for each additional gigabyte that you use. T-Mobile doesn’t do this but will begin to throttle your connection once you hit their 5GB cap. If you aren’t careful with how you use your data, you can hit your cap quite quickly, especially if you stream music and video. Continue reading “Manage your data usage with My Data Manager”