HowTo :: Update Nexus 5 to Android L (Developer Preview)

First in the ‘HowTo’ series is about the latest Android version that is going to hit the streets soon. Google is expected to publicly release Android’s latest version that is so far referred with different names – Android L or Android 5.0 – by November 1st week. It is another month before users can get their hands on stable release of Android L.

However If you are one of those souls, like me, who cannot wait till November but at the same time find it inconvenient to go through (bit) difficult steps listed on various sites, I am here to provide you all with an easy step-by-step guide that will make your update process smoother.

Colossal War :: Note 4 / Edge vs. iPhone 6 Plus

After the launch of iPhone 6 Plus yesterday, now almost all the major smartphone manufacturers on the planet have phablet (a category that covers large size phones like Galaxy Note, Nokia 1520, Sony Xperia Z Ultra).

Of all the phablets, Galaxy Note has been most successful so far. Based on reports on BGR.com it has even made roads into tablet market share. It is predicted that tablet market growth rate will be witnessing a nose dive from 51% in 2013 to 6-7% in 2014. Will the launch of iPhone 6 plus hurt it more? A question for some other day.

Windows Phone 8.1 :: A Crisp and Concise Review

I am not a BIG fan of windows phones for several reasons. Let’s put those reasons in a comparison chart:-

	Windows 8.1	Android 4.4	iOS 8	My Opinion
Number of Apps	300,000	1 million +	1 million +	Huge difference not only in quantity but in quality too; many apps in windows store are fake / duplicated; Microsoft recently deleted several of such apps
Security Issues	Med-High	Low-Med	Low	With several fake apps in MS and google stores, there are high chances of getting viruses or malware on these phones. Apple has robust app screening process that reduces such risks.
Release Date Availability	Slim	Good	High	Windows store lacks several known apps from leading developers like Gameloft, Google etc.
Widgets	Workaround	Yes	Yes, in a way	Windows has live tiles but from my experience not all apps support this feature. iOS8 will support widgets in a way in notification screen.
Google Support	Still Lacking	Full	Partial	Windows phone still do not have google apps (except google search i.e. No google maps)

iOS vs. Android 4.x :: iOS 8 plays the catch-up

In this post, I will cover why I am primarily an Android user and why I expect things to change. There are various posts on internet that compares iOS with Android from software viewpoint; so I will try my best to provide my readers something new or atleast something that is not yet exploited in detail.

I was initially an iPhone 3GS user and subsequently moved to android (S2); primarily to quench my thirst of exploring something new. Since then I have stayed with Android as it offers several advantages that I have mentioned here:-

• Larger Screen sizes with various options ranging from 4″ to 6″ (another post of mine covers screen sizes and its merit in detail)
• Multiple Keyboards available on Google PlayStore e.g. Swype, Swiftkey etc. Most loved feature of these keyboards are that you can just glide your thumb to type. Another useful feature is that it supports multiple languages including Hindi.

              

• Widgets in Android let you have quick access to information like weather, calendar appointments, share prices, settings like wifi/bluetooth, shazam for song search, boarding pass etc. A point to note here though is multiple widgets can be taxing on your battery life. (an example of some widgets shown below)

Finally the BIG Apple – iPhone 6 and 6+

 

Since last 2-3 years, phone sizes have increased considerably with phones like Galaxy Notes and Nokia Lumias. Larger screen size has various advantages –

• Convenient and efficient game playing
• More real estate means more information
• Enhanced experience while watching videos

Due to this and other reasons (that I will cover in another post); I have been using iPhone as my secondary device and android devices as primary over the past 2-3 years. But with today’s release of iPhone 6 game has changed or will change for most users like me. Though the analysts says that only 5% android users will switch to apple but that might change over a period of time as apple is trying to be more flexible than ever; be it with their ecosystem or hardware that is offered.

I would like to state here that I always have valued functionality over brand or luxury. I am not a Sammy guy or Apple fanboy; whichever provides me with better value for money gets my money.